doug_w@mail.geocities.com wrote:

        Lanko of the Amazons
        part 2
        By
        Douglas whiddon

        Lanko ducked low to avoid Shampoo�s foot. At the same
moment she lashed out with her own leg, aiming at Shampoos

Shampoo's

supporting leg. Shampoo leapt up to avoid the blow. Lanko twirled
on the ground bringing her leg up into Shampoo�s stomach as her
opponent came back down. Shampoo dropped to the ground,
Lanko jumped up and backed off. She took a defensive stance a
few feet away.
        Shampoo stood up slowly, her hand on her stomach. Lanko
eyed her warily, waiting for an attack.
        Shampoo held up her hand. �No more, we�re done for
today.�
        Lanko nodded and bowed. Shampoo walked past her,
Lanko turned to see Shampoo�s elbow on a collision course with
her face. Reflexes she didn�t know she had took over. Lanko
caught Shampoo�s elbow and held with a deathgrip. The
momentum of Shampoos swing dragged both of them to the
ground. Lanko rolled over Shampoo and came up on top. She
quickly straddled the larger girl and used all of her weight to hold
her down. Lanko drew her arm back into an open handed blow. A

So we're talking a spear hand strike?  

killing strike.
        Lanko glared down at Shampoo. �Now, we is finished.
Yes?�
        Shampoo nodded. Lanko got up off of her and held out her
hand. With a sigh of resignation, Shampoo took the offered help
and the two walked back to the village.
        sitting in the front door of the house the two shared was an

Sitting

older man with a long thin mustache. He was smoking a pipe.
Lanko noticed him first.
        �Who he?� Lanko pointed at the man.
        Shampoo didn�t answer, instead she ran to the man and
hugged him.
        Lanko watched as the two babbled away in Chinese, way to
fast for Lanko to follow. She watched for awhile then tapped
Shampoo on the shoulder. �Who this?�
        �Oh, Lanko, this is my father.� Shampoo�s smile beamed.
        Lanko bowed politely. �Hello.�
        Shampoo resumed her rapid fire conversation with her
father. Lanko picked out a few words. �communists� was one and
�jail� another. Lanko guessed that Shampoo�s father must have been
in jail. Why, she couldn�t get.
        Eventually Shampoo invited her father inside, Lanko
followed.
        Once inside Shampoo explained. Her father, Yo, had been
teaching Japanese at the Peking university when he had been jailed
after a student demonstration. He hadn�t been involved, but that
made no difference to the communists.
        He had been fortunate not to be executed, as it was he had
spent the last 10 years in prison.

Comma splice.

        That night the tribe welcomed home their errant member
with an impromptu feast.

        Meanwhile, back in Japan.

        �Ranma Soatome! Prepare to die!!�

Saotome

        The cement in front of Furinkan high exploded in a shower
of dust. In the new crater stood a boy wielding an umbrella. Ranma
blinked, trying to clear his eyes. Yup, definitely an umbrella. Tan
shirt, fangs, bandanna, 80 miles of road dust (or fallout from the
blast).
        Ranma stared at the newcomer, dumbfounded.
        Akane came up behind Ranma. �Ranma, do you know who
this is?�
        Ranma shook his head. �No idea.�
        �RANMA! Because of you I have been to hell! And now, I
shall return the favor!�
        Ranma grinned. �If that�s a challenge, fine. But who the
heck are you?�
        The boy approached Ranma. �You know perfectly well who
I am! I am Ryouga Hibiki. And you are a coward!�
        Ranma thought for a moment. �Ryouga? Hmm.� Ranma
looked of into the distance for a moment. �Oh, yeah! You�re the

"off"

guy who never showed up for the fight.�
        Ryouga fumed. �I DID TOO!! You just run away, that�s
all.�
        �Ryouga, I waited at the vacant lot behind your house for
FOUR DAYS! It�s you who never showed up. I can�t wait around
forever, Pop and I were going on a trip.�
        �THAT DOESN�T MAKE ANY DIFFERENCE!
PREPARE TO DIE!!�
        Ryouga leapt at Ranma, who sidestepped the blow. Ryouga
landed gracefully a few feet from Ranma, he whipped open his
umbrella and sent it twirling towards Ranma. Ranma leaned to the
left, neatly avoiding the razor sharp edges. The umbrella did a
U-turn and headed back to Ryouga. Ranma leaned to the right to
avoid it on the return flight.
        Ryouga caught the weapon with a sneer. �Beware, Ranma. I
shall destroy everything you cherish, and then I will kill you.� With
that he turned and left.

        �Ranma? Were you in a fight at school today?�
        Ranma stared at his mother for a moment. How the heck
had she known? �Not really. I was attacked by a guy I used to
know. He seemed a little ticked at me.�
        Nodoka sighed. �Well, put your uniform shirt on the table,
I�ll stitch the hole.�
        Ranma looked down at his uniform. Hole? Then he noticed
the cut, right on the sleeve. Ryouga�s umbrella had been closer than
he thought. He wondered idly if Akane�s blouse had been torn too.

        Once more across the pond. (Or the Sea of Japan.)

        Lanko wasn�t sure were she was. The scenery was best
described as �scenery�. It wasn�t terribly real. The pit in front of her
was real, however. As were the long links of sausage wrapped
around her torso. A bamboo grate covered the pit. The grate was
lifted away and she was pushed into the pit. A thousand pairs of
glittering eyes shone out of the darkness. A thousand sets of claws
tore at her flesh.
        Lanko sat up with  a gasp. Shampoo shot up with her, her
eyes darted from corner to corner, searching for a midnight
attacker. She looked at Lanko. �Another bad dream?�
        Lanko nodded.
        �Panda�s again?�

Pandas

        Lanko shook her head. �Cats.�
        �Well, I don�t know about the pandas, but the cats probably
had something to do with all the food you ate today.� Shampoo lay
back down and was quickly asleep.
        Lanko took several deep breaths. She wished it was that
simple. After awhile, Lanko was again able to fall asleep.

a while

        Cologne stared at the images before her. An army of pandas
glared back at her. Lanko had rendered her nocturnal horrors onto
the pages with such a simple clarity that Michealangelo would have
been hard pressed to top.

Michelangelo

        �She�s been having nightmares every night?�
        Shampoo nodded. �Every night.�
        The words of the Jusenkyo guide filtered back from
Cologne�s memory. �The father is now a panda.� Cologne looked
up at Shampoo. �Shampoo, you should have brought this too me
sooner.�

to me

        �Sorry. I thought it would pass.�
        Cologne gathered the papers. �Go. This will be dealt with in
it�s proper time.�

its

        Ranma fiddled with the bow tie on his jacket. It just didn�t�

didn't

want to go straight. Finally, after much adjustment he got it the way
he wanted. He stepped back and looked at himself in the mirror. He
had to admit, he liked what he saw. The tuxedo fit perfectly, and it
looked pretty good on him.
        He took the steps down to the ground floor two at a time.
His mother came out of the kitchen. �Ready? Well, let me have a
look.�
        Ranma sighed as his mother circled around him. She
brushed some lint off his shoulder. �You are so manly! I wasn�t
sure your father could actually do it... but, here you are.� Her smile
widened. �Here, take these.� A bouquet of flowers was pressed into
Ranma�s hand. Ranma stared at the flowers as though they might
reveal a great secret to him. After a few moments he gave up and
left his house.
        If a line were drawn on a map of the Nerima ward - starting
at the Tendo Dojo, to Furinkan High, to the Soatome house, and

Saotome

finally back to the Tendo Dojo - the line would form a perfect
Triangle. 

Of course if you drew lines between any other three points the
result would also be a perfect triangle (not Triangle).

The �Nerima Triangle� would never achieve the fame of

it�s Bermuda brother, but it was just as intriguing.
        Ranma took a slightly longer route than was necessary. He
really had no idea what he was going to do. Here he was about to
embark on his first date with his future wife. A girl... no, a woman,
three years older than him. It wasn�t that three years was a huge
stretch of time, yet they were three years that made a huge
difference. He was just begging his first year of high school. Kasumi
had finished high school. That time was a major turning point in
anyone�s life.
        Ranma�s thought were a million miles away. Unfortunately
his attention was too. He tripped over something in the dark and
smacked his head firmly against a wall.
        As he stood up he heard something crack, and found it very
difficult to straighten out his neck.
        �Oh, great.� Ranma wondered what to do next. A lamp
post, which had up until now been dark, suddenly flickered to life.
The light illuminated a the sign of a nearby Doctor�s office. Had

illuminated the sign

Ranma taken a moment to consider the chain of events he might
have thought them odd. As it was he merely considered them
noteworthy. And entered the open door of the office.
        �Hello?� Ranma called.
        �Yes! I�ll be right with you!� came a voice from the back
room.
        Ranma followed the sound of the voice and almost collided
with a young man in a black Gi. �Uh, hi. Are you the doctor?�
        The man nodded. �I�m Dr. Tofu, what can I do for you?�
        Ranma wondered if the doctor was joking. �Uhm, my
neck...�
        �Oh, of course. Hop up on the table.�
        That was a trick, even for a skilled martial artist. Hopping
up and backwards while all of one�s equilibrium was in one ear.
Ranma managed it, with a little luck, while the doctor was washing
his hands.
        �So, were are you headed to? A date?�
        �Uh, yeah. I�m heading over to the Tendo Dojo.�
        �Really? I know the Tendo�s. Which one are you dating?�
        Doctor Tofu had his hands on Ranma�s neck and was
applying gentle pressure to the base.
        �My parents have arranged for me to marry Kasumi...�
        CRACK.
        Ranma�s head was firmly tilted in the opposite direction.

        A few minutes later Ranma clawed his way out of the clinic.
He neck was again straight, but his suit jacket was in tatters. He
had left Dr. Tofu unconscious on the floor of the clinic. Apparently
the doctor also studied martial arts. He wasn�t quite as good as
Ranma, but with the element of surprise on his side it had been
quite a fight. Ranma had no idea what the fight had been about.

I think Ranma would be dead before he realised what
was happening if Tofu was serious and Ranma was initially unsuspecting.  

        He stood up and brushed off what remained of his jacket.
He considered going home. he could call and explain, they could
reschedule the date. On the other hand, in many ways this was a
challenge. Ranma had never backed down from a challenge. Maybe
Mr. Tendo would have a jacket Ranma could borrow. He should
have just worn some of his Chinese clothes, he could have fought
and still been okay for the date.
        Ranma removed the torn jacket. Surprisingly his shirt was
fine. He Continued onto the Tendo Dojo.

continued

        Nabiki answered the door. �Aren�t you supposed to be
wearing a jacket?�
        Ranma held out the shredded coat.
        �Oh.�
        �Does  your father have one I could borrow?�
        Nabiki held out her hand. �Jacket rentals are 1000 yen.�
        Ranma narrowed his gaze. �I�ll just ask your father myself.
It�s his jacket.� Ranma pushed his way past Nabiki. �Where is
Kasumi?�
        �I�m right here.�
        Ranma looked up the stairs towards the voice. Kasumi was
a pretty girl, but it was clear she was making no special attempt for
this date. She wore a plain blue dress that she could have worn to
church. The skirt came halfway down her calves, the top of the
dress came all the way to her neckline, and the sleeves were all the
way to her wrists.
        Kasumi stopped a foot from Ranma. �Ready?� She asked.
        Ranma suddenly realized he lost the flowers in the fight with
the doctor. �Uhm, I uh,� Ranma stammered. �I need to borrow a
coat, from your father.�
        �Oh, my. I�ll go get one.� Kasumi turned and went back up
the stairs. Ranma resumed considered banging  his head on a wall.
That might help.
        After a few minutes Kasumi returned with the coat. It didn�t
fit as well as the one he had to begin with, but it would do.
        �How did you tear your jacket?�
        �I sort of got into a fight with Dr. Tofu.�
        Kasumi gave Ranma an incredulous look. �You fought Dr.
Tofu? Over what?�
        Ranma shrugged. �I have no idea, I tripped near his office
and went in for help with my neck. We were talking one minute,
and the next he was trying to tear my head off.�
        �Oh my! Do you think you might have said something to
upset him?�
        �I don�t see what, I only mentioned that I was headed here
and we were engaged.�
        �Well, maybe you should go and find out what it was.�
        Ranma nodded. �All right, I�ll go by tomorrow, okay?�
        Kasumi nodded and the two continued on to the train
station.
        Ranma�s mother had given him tickets to a movie. It turned
out to be a tear-jerking mellow drama about a love triangle, and
ended with a murder and two suicides. Not that Ranma noticed, he
fell asleep during the first fifteen minutes.
        After the movie they had dinner, during which neither said
more than ten words.
        After dinner Ranma suggested they take a walk in a nearby
park. Not because he was interested in the flowers, but because he
knew if he came home too early his parents would not be happy. It
was in the park that the date went from uncomfortable to the hall of
fame for awful dates. Not because of anything Ranma did, but
because of what began with the cry....
        �RANMA SOATOME, PREPARE TO DIE!!!�

You are still spelling his name wrong.  

        The instant he heard the cry Ranma jumped back from
where he was standing. The ground where he had been exploded
outward with the impact of an umbrella, knocking Kasumi
backwards onto the grass.
        Ranma mentally kicked himself for not trying to get her out
of the way. �HEY! You could have hurt someone!� He yelled.
        Ryouga looked around, noticing Kasumi for the first time.
�Oh, no.�
        Ranma drop kicked him into the fountain while he was
distracted. Ranma then proceeded to check on Kasumi. �Are you
okay?�
        �Yes, I�m...� Kasumi�s voice trailed off, her gaze fixed
steadily behind Ranma.
        Ranma turned to see what she was looking at.
        The thing coming out of the fountain was definitely not
Ryouga. It was a huge monster. The size of a grizzly bear, the
creature had a bulls head, cloven feet, snake like tentacles and
wings.
        Ranma stared at the thing. �Oh, shit.� he whispered.

TBC

        Notes:

        I really like Kasumi. I just felt it important that I make that
clear. I don�t think Ranma would ever have a real chance with
Akane. Love is good, but a solid relationship requires a level of
trust that Akane is incapable of. 

Akane wasn't particularly untrusting until she started finding Chinese
girls in Ranma's bed and bath.  (Irritable, yes, untrusting, no) I'd 
be willing to bet that if the same things happened to a Ranma who was 
engaged to Kasumi, she would develop a very low opinion of her fiance 
even if she wouldn't express it the same way.  

I think that Ranma�s mother would

want Kasumi as a daughter in law too. She wouldn�t think it was
proper for a wife to be into martial arts, she would want someone
who could handle the parts of the marriage that Ranma (and Akane)
is incapable of.

        Bonus points for the first person to identify the thing coming
out of the fountain.

It's a Boviyeti Avis.