Inclement weather locked most of the Joketsuzoku Amazons inside their
huts that night, but the rampaging dragon brought them out again, armed 
and ready for action. Brook ran towards the largest group of warrior 
women, dragging a hapless Shun and a helpless Tachi along with her.
	*Take the outworlders to my daughter's hut, young Brook,* ordered 
one of the matriarchs.  Her eyes, sharp as the spear she carried, 
dismissed the Nerimites out-of-hand.  *My grandchildren will see to their 
safety while the village avenges your mother.*
	*I can take care of myself,* Tachi cried, but no one paid her any 
heed.  It was difficult to command attention when you were being held 
upside-down, particularly in such a strength-ordered society.
	A dark shape uncoiled from the wreckage of Shampoo's hut.  *BROOK!* 
they heard the dragon roar.  *YOU CAN'T HIDE FROM ME!*	The Amazons took 
this as their call to battle and moved out, surrounding the beast with a 
ring of cold steel and iron determination.

* * * * *

	Shun groaned.
	His head hurt, and his left eye was swollen shut.  "What hit me?" 
he muttered.  "Was it a bird?  A plane?  No, it was Tachi!"
	"I'm not in the mood, Shun," his friend replied.  She paced back and 
forth across the room, tossing occasional dirty looks at the young Amazon 
sitting by the door.
	"You're not in the mood?"  Shun wasn't sure, but he thought the 
guard looked awfully young.  "_You're_ not in the mood?"  And was that 
condescention in her smile?  "Hello?  Who was the one doing all the 
hitting here?"
	"Not me."  Tachi squatted next to Shun and stared him in the 
face.  "Thanks to you I've been relegated to the nursery while everyone 
_strong_ enough," she pointed outside, "is busy fighting."
	"Beep, beep."  Shun said.  "Why, look, Tachi, it's a clue 
phone."  He held his left hand to his head, thumb and pinky splayed 
wide.  "What's that?  Facing a mad, obsessive, huge demon lizard from 
hell is a bad idea?  Well, imagine that!"
	"Shut up, Shun."  Tachi's hands closed slowly into fists.  "Have 
you taken a good look at our babysitter?"
	"Well, no.  My left eye happens to not be working very well at 
the moment.  I wonder why that is?"
	"Shut up, Shun," Tachi repeated.  "She's nine years old.  
_Nine!_  And the only reason she hasn't picked up a mace and charged into 
battle is because Brook told her to watch us."
	Shun sat up, wincing a bit as he moved too quickly.  "Listen to 
yourself, Girl.  These barbarians are willing to rush into glorious 
battle against something that is quite possibly eating them all one by 
one.  Plus they think it's a good idea for prepubescent girls to go with 
them.  That's stupid.  That's really stupid.  It's probably the second 
most stupid thing I'll ever hear of in my entire life."  He pointed at 
Tachi, poking her in the nose.  "The only thing that tops it is that you 
agree with them.  You, the girl who was so successful at running a 
lemonade stand that the city made you buy a business permit."
	"Dammit, Shun, I'm the undefeated Shooting Star of Furinkan 
High!"  Any thunder accompanying her pronouncement was drowned out by the 
storm and the battle that raged outside.  "I can do some good out there!  
I refuse to be a sideline player when lives are on the line!"
	"Yes, you're a good Kendoist," Shun agreed, "but that's it.  You 
spar against other high school students in formal settings while wearing 
body armor."  He grabbed her by the shoulders.  "You're not a street 
fighter, or a samurai, or even a ninja turtle.  You're a sixteen year old 
jock, and if you go out there with your wooden sword You... Will... Die!  
You say your mom sent me to keep you out of trouble.  Well, that's what 
I'm doing.  If you don't like it, tough.  Complain to Nabiki, and see 
where that gets you."
	Tachi knocked his arms away and stood up.  "Don't you see?  
That's the point!  It's about courage, Shun, and doing the right thing, 
even if it's dangerous."  She turned away.  "But you're just a coward, 
a little girly man wuss.  What would you know of courage?"
	"Yes, I am a wuss," Shun growled.  He sounded like an angry 
chipmunk.  "Yes, I am a girly man."  Using a nearby chair he hauled his 
battered body upright.  "But I am not a coward.  There's a difference 
between bravery and foolishness.  Your mom knows the difference, and if 
you actually read any of your father's poetry you'd see that he does, too."
	"You actually read that doggerel?"
	"Doggerel?"  Shun couldn't believe his ears.  "Doggerel?  Tachi, 
your father is one of the most respected poets of the twenty-first 
century.  Sure, you see his work in the book section of Wallmart, but 
you also find it on reading lists for literature classes.  Don't tell me 
you didn't know that."
	"I didn't," she whispered, still facing away from Shun.  "He never 
made a big deal out of it.  _Nobody_ made a big deal out of it.  And the 
stuff he would program into the home computer as a prompt or a lockout 
message was just lame."
	"That's because it was a _joke!_"  Shun hobbled closer to his 
friend.  "You know how your father was a twit when our parents were our 
age.  He told me that it was a reminder to him on how not to act."
	"He told _you?_  Why were you talking to my dad about poetry?  
You're not into art."
	Shun threw his hands in the air.  "Why do you _think_ I was talking 
to your father about literature?  I'm not into sales, either, but your mom 
got me a job at Grace Brothers'."  He shook his head.  "You know, Tachi, 
for such a smart girl, you can be really dense some times."

* * * * *

	The battle was going poorly for the villagers.
	The Joketsuzoku Amazons were among the best native warriors Earth 
had to offer.  Centuries of breeding and a lifetime of training combined 
in each woman to make a natural fighting machine.  They were stronger, 
faster, and more determined than any human had a right to be.  But in the 
end, they were just human, and no match for a dragon.
	Spears and arrows bounced off jade scales like rocks hitting the side 
of a battleship.  Swords struck coiled, sinewly limbs and blunted, having 
little more effect on the beast than butterflies have on windshields.  
Maces and staves were momentary annoyances.  Unarmed attacks were an 
exercise in futility.
	On the other side of the balance sheet, the dragon was wreaking a 
terrible toll on the village.  Every lash of its tail signaled the 
destruction of another home.  Each backhanded slash of its talons knocked 
another woman out of the fight, if not entirely out of the village.  And 
through it all, the beast kept searching and kept shouting for Brook.
	The young Amazon was no coward; she fought the dragon with more 
cunning and ferocity than anyone else there.  She was bait, though, and 
she knew it.  He job was to keep the dragon focused so the other women 
could attack.
	Playing hide and seek with an obsessive dragon was easy, particularly
at night in the middle of a rainstorm.  Capitalizing on its obsession was 
something else.  It was only luck, or perhaps some strange benevolence on
the monster's part, that had limited the casualties to broken houses and 
broken bones.
	*This will be a glorious battle for the histories,* one of the 
matriarchs shouted, encouraging the warriors within the sound of her 
voice.  They rushed the dragon yet again, with as little success as any 
of their other attacks.
	*Perhaps a bit too glorious,* another matriarch muttered as she 
carried one more wounded Amazon from the heart of the battle.  *Young 
Brook, perhaps you should lead your suitor elsewhere.*
	*But surely we can win," the odango haired girl said, confused.
	*Child, your parents have already fallen to this beast.*  She 
shook her head, but the age-grey locks of hair plastered to her cheeks 
remained stuck to her face.  *For all their outworld ways, they are the 
best fighters we have.  If they were here, perhaps we could triumph.  As 
it stands now...*  The old woman brandished the broken shaft of her 
spear.  *As it stands now, the village will not last much longer.*
	*BROOK!*  The echoes of the dragon's call hung in the air.
	*I... will go," the girl said.
 ______
{B-{=__
	Sorry it's been a while.  I had another project to work on, and 
I'd reached the limits of my detailed plotting.  Now I know where I want 
to go with my subplots, though.  Hopefully this means another installment 
this weekend.