The characters of the Ranma 1/2 universe are the
creation and possession of the brilliant Rumiko Takahashi.
They belong to Rumiko Takahashi and her licensees
(Shogakukan Inc., Kitty-Fuji TV, Viz Communications Inc.)
    No copyright infringement is intended.



                                                 Daughter of
Amazons
    Original story idea by: Kyle Berndt
    Re-written and continued with permission by: Kit
    (jun 25, 01)
(retitled by suggestion)


                                        The Fight.

        Left - right strike. 'Good.'
        Pa Fum brought her sword around for a downward cut.
Mir Or quickly brought her Bo staff up to block the strike.
The blade cut deeply into the wood.
        Letting go with her right hand, Mir Or swooped with
her left, twisting the staff until it was above the blade.
While Pa Fum, caught off guard by the unusual move, tried to
pull back her blade, she missed Mir Or's right fist coming
in hard against her face.
        Mir Or dropped off of the challenge log after her
opponent hit the ground.
        Shan Pu would be facing her opponent next. Mir Or
knew who would win that match, she was favored this year. If
Mir Or could won her next fight, only Shan Pu would stand in
her way of total victory. Mir Or allowed herself a smirk.

7 years ago:

        'Girl! Come here!' - 'Girl! Carry this!' - 'Girl!
Pick up that piece of paper!'
        One of village slaves finally slipped out to her
clearing, fighting back the tears and anger. Looking around,
she satisfied herself that she was now alone.
        Taking a deep breath, she took up her position. She
couldn't remember its name. After taking a second breath she
began the basic kata's she had been taught by her father.
Slowly at first, speeding up with each repetition. This was
her time.
        Once, in the beginning, she had made the mistake of
letting her anger get to her. She had lashed out at one of
the girls that had gone too far. She still cherished the
look on her face after it had been slammed into the ground.
But the punishment she had received afterwards.
        She paused after a kick, her leg held high in the
air by the force of that memory. She had been tied to a tree
limb and subjected to a bare-bottom paddling. Administered
by Shan Pu, the girl she had 'wronged.' In front of the
whole village. Then she had been left there over night. A
punishment meant to teach humility. A punishment usually
reserved for the young boys of the tribe.
        It was hard, but she had learned to curb her anger.
She could never get rid of it. Not here. Not among the
people that had killed her family. Not among the people that
had stolen her life. No. 'Some day, I will get out of here,'
she promised herself again as her battle aura flared to
life.
With her anger fully focused now, she lasted out at a
boulder, shattering it. A kick brought down a tree. Quickly
she suppressed her anger again. It would not due for a slave
to be caught practicing.


        As she quickly slipped back toward the village, Ke
Lon smiled. She knew there was a reason for keeping the
girl.


        It was a few days after that Akane found herself
dragged before the Council of Elders. Ke Lon confronted her
about her fighting spirit. The Council had given her a
number of tasks to complete. She would have thought it to be
punishment for her trying to train herself, but the tasks
had been strange.
        It had taken a full week before she learned what
they where thinking. During which, each night she would be
given a task. After she returned, with the last task
completed she was brought forth before the tribe again.
        She remembered the last time, but she was not going
to let them intimidate her. To this end, she had only half
listened to the words the Elders spoke. It did not matter
what punishment they would hand her, she would face it. They
would never beat her.
        When a gasp escaped from the tribe, she started
paying better attention. They where going to make her an
Amazon. She was to be granted the privilege of a warrior.
Her mind almost completely shutdown.
        'I wonder what my warrior name will be?' she
considered. Chewing on a useless bit of trivia in an attempt
to comprehend the surreal situation she found herself in.
'Maybe Vanity, or Make-up. Possible Shower or Mirror,' she
mused to herself. The funny coincidence that tended to
appear around their names had been one of the things that
had helped her keep control of her anger. After all, it was
hard to take someone whose name sounded like shampoo as
serious as she took herself. Which made it even more
hilarious.


        During Ke Lun's long life, she had seen many
different responses a new warrior would give to receiving
her warrior name. Most stood stoically, taking it like they
thought a warrior would. Some jumped or danced for joy. Some
shouted to the great mother. A few even cried. Never, not
once, in all her years had she seen the reaction this girl
gave.
        As Ku Lon pronounced "We now bestow upon you, the
honored name of Mir Or," Akane Tendou face-faulted.


        Shan Pu had now finished with her opponent. It was
Mir Or's turn again. If she won this, only Shan Pu would
stand in her way.
        Koh Om had given her the way out, if she could win
the tournament. After the feast in the honor of the winner,
she would be given the honor of leading the next hunt. That
would give her the opportunity to make a run for it.
        Normally, she would never get the chance to get very
far. Especially with Shan Pu watching her for any mistake or
weakness. They had never become friends. And with Ke Lun
teaching the both of them, they had become very strong
rivals. There had been no doubt that the contest would come
down to the two of them. But Shan Pu was still the favored.
        Between them both, they had split the younger
generation. Not that Mir Or had any friends. Just allies
against Shan Pu. 'Heh.'
        If she could lead the next hunt, she could get far
enough ahead of the rest that she might have a chance. The
real test came with the Pools of Sorrow, if Koh Om was to be
believed. Koh Om opposed Ke Lun, but that did not mean that
she was on her side. Like it or not, this was the best
chance she had to get away.
        As far as she knew, the Pools of Sorrow where a
forbidden training ground. Once, long ago, they had been the
training-ground. Now, they where occasionally brought up as
a means of punishment for warriors who had dishonored the
village, but they had never been used to her knowledge. Koh
Om had told her that if she jumped into one of the pools she
would be temporarily transformed into some animal. With an
unknown form, she could easily make her escape, as they
wouldn't know what to look for. Koh Om had said that the
change would wear off after a time, but was sketchy on the
details. She knew more than she was telling her, but Mir Or
didn't think she could make it any other way.
        She was going to keep her promise to get away from
here. And winning against Shan Pu, would just be the icing
on the cake.

        Mir Or smirked, as she knocked out the last opponent
between her and Shan Pu.
        Shan Pu wasted no time in jumping onto the challenge
log. She knew she could beat the little slave tramp, but it
would be close. And in a close fight, anything could happen.
        "Ready for another paddling?" She taunted softly, so
that her voice carried just far enough to be heard by her
opponent. Mir Or's expression darkened, causing her to
smirk. They hadn't started yet, and already she had scored a
point.
        She had to be careful though. Now that the slave
tramp was considered a warrior, she could get in trouble
bringing up things that occurred before in front of men. But
it was such a delicious taunt, and a memory she would not
let her forget.

        "Begin!"
        A quick jab, followed by a sideswipe by Bon-Bori
missed the girl by a cloth's width. Using her Bo-staff as a
pole vault, Mir Or launched over the crush attempt and
slammed down hard on Shan Pu's head before bounding over to
the other side.
        Mir Or's attempted leg sweep only caught air as Shan
Pu jumped over, slamming downward with one of her Bon-Bori.
Mir Or barely managed to roll out from under just before the
strike, which created a crack in the log.
        Spinning her staff, Mir Or deflected the follow
though jab, causing Shan Pu to leave herself open to correct
for the heavy arch of her Bon-Bori. Mir Or struck viscously
at her exposed side, then spinning as if for a leg sweep,
she brought the staff up at the last moment, striking her
hand.
        Mir Or was good, but Shan Pu was faster. Only the
weight of her Bon-Bori slowed her down enough to let Mir Or
have the chance she had enjoyed thus far. For the
Tournament, weapons where required, or else they both would
be up here, unarmed. However, where Shan Pu's favored weapon
slowed her down, Mir Or's weapon gave her a decidedly unfair
advantage.
        Mir Or had only just begun working with her aura and
her ability to sense aura's when she realized what all of
the Elders did with their canes. They could store their ki
in them, to be used later when they needed. It had taken her
over a year but she had finally learned the beginnings of
the skill without instruction.
        Only a few of the advanced techniques where allowed
to be taught to a maiden. Only once she had married, and
thus took on the greater role of providing for the future of
the tribe, did they begin learning the other advanced
techniques.
        It was this advantage she now began to apply. Mir Or
was marginally stronger than Shan Pu. But even with the
Bon-Bori, Shan Pu was quicker and had more endurance. The
full out dodging she was having to employ just to keep away
from Shan Pu's strikes, which where meant to knock her off
the log, had already begun to take there toll. Slowly Mir Or
gathered the energy she had stored in the wooden shaft,
directing it to revitalize her and keep up her speed and
strength.
        Unlike the Elders, she could only put so much energy
into her wooden staff. And even then, it would dissipate
quickly over time. She had spent a lot of time charging her
staff. And hadn't used any until this fight. Now she needed
it, but also had to be careful not to attract attention to
what she was doing.

        Like most close fights, in the end it was a lucky
slip that both lost and won the fight. Mir Or had finally
been knocked down onto the log. Shan Pu had jumped to the
back of the log to launch herself into a final strike,
leaving Mir Or two choices. Attempt to take and block the
blow or dodge off of the log, and lose. She didn't have the
strength to do much more.
        With the bitter taste of defeat, she rolled over
only to find that part of her dress had been caught in the
spilt that had been created at the beginning of their fight.
With a sound of tearing, she grabbed onto the fabric and
swung around, planting her feet into Shan Pu's side. With a
huff, she landed hard on her stomach, bent over the log. Her
battle dress torn, exposing her panties to everyone. As
embarrassing as that should have been, she couldn't care for
the moment. She had beat Shan Pu and was on her way home.
        After a few seconds to catch her breath she dropped
down and started over to claim the winners feast. Everyone
stopped cheering when they saw a small red head dressed in
dirty white with a panda eating her prize.
        "Who do you think you are?" She yelled at them, as
she stormed over.
        "Huh?" The red head answered. Her eyes opening wide
as the speaker stepped into view.
        "Just what do you think your doing?"
        "She say, 'what you doing?'" The guide helpfully
translated to Japanese.
        "That prize feast for winner!" Mir Or shouted,
shifting to Japanese for the first time in years. It felt
unfamiliar on her tongue. She took a closer look at the girl
that knew her home language. Too bad she wouldn't get to ask
where she had learned it from.
        "So this is first prize, huh?" The girl began. "So,
if I beat ya, then there won't be any problem, ne?"
        "Uh, sirs?" The guide began, but the girl had
already jumped up to the challenge log.
         With a grin, Mir Or joined her. This would be easy,
and maybe after she trounced her, she would still get to ask
about her homeland.
        They stood, sizing each other up. Then Mir Or leaped
forward, bringing her staff across in a waving attack
pattern. The strange girl easily wove in and out from her
strikes like they were nothing. Advancing further, she began
with the double-handed spinning side strikes. The girl
agilely leaped over her.
        Mir Or was not going to let this girl make a fool of
her. Stepping back, she pointed the staff at her opponent,
and brushed her hand along the wood. The sudden release of
ki from her focus flashed forward like a chaotic storm. The
girl had to jump up on to one of the support poles to
escape. Her face changed to one of determination. Good, now
she would at least fight back. Unfortunately, while she
might be able to pull that off one more time after all the
grueling fights she needed that reserve for herself now.

        The 'girl' on the pole, one Ranma Saotome, had to
think quick. He had issued the challenge without thinking,
now he was cornered. He didn't want to fight a girl; it went
against everything he believed in. But if he didn't fight,
there was no telling what price they would demand for the
theft of her first prize. His father would have just run
away, but Ranma didn't want to start down that path. He paid
his debts, or at least tried to.
        This girl was playing for keeps, and if he let
himself become incapacitated, he wasn't sure the guide would
be able to save his pops from becoming the replacement
feast. After all, he hadn't stopped them from making their
mistake.
        Ranma felt the weight of the world on his very
feminine shoulders. Men don't fight girls. But he was a girl
now. Girls were weak and helpless. He definitely was feeling
that now. He wasn't use to fighting in this form, and she
had nicked him several times already. And if she had any
more of those, whatever it was she did up her sleeve, the
fight was hers. The temptation to make use of the Saotome
Ultimate Technique was strong. He had started this; he had
to finish it.
        Leaping off of the support log, he aimed a kick at
her stomach. She brought her staff up to block like he knew
she would. At the last second, he slipped his feet around
the middle of the staff and locked his feet to it.
Performing a strong mid-air twist that the Saotome school of
Anything-Goes-Martial Arts was infamous for, he forced her
balance off the log just before releasing to drop onto the
log. It was a desperation maneuver, one that wouldn't work
twice, but he had won, they where free and in the clear.
        Mir Or was stunned. Here, on the brightest day of
her life, she was humiliated. Beaten by an outsider. Worse,
she had revealed her ace and still lost. She would not get
to lead the hunt now. Her last chance to. wait a minute. Mir
Or smiled as fate had finally smiled upon her.
        Standing up, she strolled purposefully over to the
girl, now being declared the winner. Cupping her face in her
hand, she smiled to the girl, then leaned over and kissed
her on the cheek. The girl's eyes opened wide and she
started to stammer like one of the village idiot boys.
        "If Mir Or were girl, she start running fast." She
said calmly, once again testing her native tongue again.
        "Wh- h- how did ya know." the girl stammered.
        "That was kiss of death. It promise to kill." She
noted the girl's complexion paling. "I now get new battle
dress and weapons for hunt. You should run now, while you
have chance."
        "Uh, uh. Pops, I think we should be out of here."
The panda seemed to nod emphatically, just before they both
took off running out of the village.
        Mir Or hated to scare her like that. But she was now
her ticket out of here. She would have to chase her until
they left China, hopefully for their homeland. Once there,
she could try to find any family that might still remember
her.

-----


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