Hmm. Since I sent this out early yesterday, and it still hasn't shown up,
going to try a resend. If it shows up twice, I offer my apologies.


Xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"I can't believe this happened to me," Pink moaned from her sister's bed.
Even with the sheets doubled up and pulled up to her chin, she was still
wracked by shivering. She could not remember the last time she felt this
bad, even when she five and had a case of the chicken pox.

"Nor I. This is the absolute worst timing possible. Your sister is the one
that's supposed to get sick, not you."

Both sisters stared daggers at Chen Wu, the rotund individual that was their
agent. Ostensibly, he was supposed to serve as their representative in
arranging top ranked fights to get them noticed and trying to get them
decent contracts with either a ziabatsu or a rich individual. Thus far he
had proven both incompetent and annoying, barely doing them a thing for the
twelve percent he was receiving from each for their winnings.

Struggling to sit up, Pink said, "Maybe this is some twenty-four hour virus
and the time is almost up?" In answer to her suggestions, her stomach did a
flip-flop and gave its owner a message that sent her head reaching into the
depths of the nearest garbage can.

"I'm not cleaning that up," Link informed her sister as she finished hurling
out more of the contents of her stomach.

Bringing her head from out of the receptacle, Pink said, "But it's your
can."

"With your puke in it, which means you get to clean it out, but after you
feel better."

Wu wailed as he pranced back and forth in near hysteria. "This is terrible.
She's in no condition to fight. Snakebite's going to get the match. We're
going to lose this golden opportunity. What are we going to do?"

Link stuck out her foot and tripped the man. Unable to regain his balance,
he ended up crashing facefirst into the floor hard enough to make him remain
motionless upon it for a moment before moaning in pain. Even Pink was taken
aback by the mostly uncalled for action.

Grabbing the large man by the back of his greasy hair, Link raised his face
next to her own. Leaning in close, she softly intoned, "Don't be a moron.
The answer's simple. I'll take Pink's place."

There was dead silence in the room as the other two occupants stared in
shock at the suggestion, which sounded more like a command.

Pink was the first to recover her voice. "It'll never work. No one will
believe you're me."

Link scoffed, "Aside from the fact that we're identical twins who use the
same fighting style? And I swear to god, Sis, if you say one word about how
I don't look half as good in your outfits as you do, I'll hit you in the
stomach so hard, you'll be dry heaving for a week."

Sensing the seriousness of the threat, Pink uncharacteristically kept her
mouth shut.

It was Wu who said, "Are you crazy? You can't do that. Do you know what the
penalty is for even attempting to put a ringer in a match at this level?
Especially one that's this important?"

"We'll all be permanently expelled from the fighting circuit and our
citizenships would be revoked if we had any," Pink said, the full impact of
what her sister was proposing was only now starting to sink in.

"That's only the official punishments. It's really far worse than that," Wu
hissed. "I've heard the stories of what happened to people that try to throw
in ringers. In the dog pits it can get overlooked, but not once you get to
the inner circuit. Every now and then some stupid fool thinks he can pull a
fast one, but they always get caught. After they get their 'official'
punishment, within a couple of weeks both fighters, the ringer and the real
one, as well as their manager, mysteriously end up with their limbs broken
permanently, so they can never fight anywhere ever again. It's worse than
killing, since they continue to serve as a living reminder for the price of
deceit. The Arena's too valuable a tool for the government to allow anyone
to jeopardize its reputation through cheating like that. We'll get
discovered, and once that happens, it'll be the end for all of us."

Through gritted teeth, Link got out, "We're not going to be discovered, you
quivering mass of jelly. We're identical twins. No one can tell us apart. We
even use the same fighting style. Everyone knows I'm the one that tends to
get sick, so we'll spread the word around that it's me who fell ill and no
one will be the least bit suspicious."

"It'll never work," Wu moaned.

"He's right," Pink said weakly from her bed. "Sooner or later, you'll screw
up and we'll all get busted. You can't act like me for long; we're too
different."

"I'm not going to have to act like you for long. Just for tonight." Seeing
the confused look Pink was giving, Link said in exasperation, "I have no
intention of going to the Imperial Arena in your place. After I win and you
recover, we'll switch back and you'll go to Japan."

That cleared up some questions for Pink, but left others in their place. "If
you don't care about advancing, why are you so determined to risk so much?
And don't tell me it's for my sake. I know you better than that."

"If you have to ask, then you've never known me at all." There was a cold
and distant tone to Link's voice that Pink had never heard before. "Can't
you see? This unusual challenge match? Your sudden illness in my room on the
night of the fight, where no one else would be aware of it? Even our being
twins so I can take your place? It all points to one thing: it's destiny. My
destiny to kill Shampoo."

Link felt a horrible feeling settle in the pit of her stomach, one that had
nothing to do with her sudden illness. "You're starting to scare me here."

A glazed look formed in Link's eyes. "Don't be scared. The only one you
should fear for is Shampoo. The pains you said you were going to inflict on
her were nothing compared to what I'm going do to her. I'll have her
screaming so loudly even the most bloodthirsty of fans will cover their eyes
and ears and try to hide from the horrors I'll inflict upon her. It's going
to be the most glorious night of my life."

This was bad. Extremely bad. Pink had seen her sister worked up before, but
never anything like this. The way Link was behaving reminded Pink of when
she was five and their beloved pet dog, Blackie, contracted rabies. He had
the same look to his eyes that Link now possessed. Or at least he had them
in the moments before their father put him down. The resemblance was
chilling to the core.

Something had to be done. As much as Pink despised Shampoo and wanted her
dead, Link's hatred was a hundred times worse. Pink had no idea it was this
bad for her twin. Link must have been storing up her rage, keeping it hidden
under the surface until, like a pot left to boil too long, everything came
bubbling over the rim and spilled everywhere with no end in sight.

It was not Shampoo Pink was concerned for, but rather her sister's mental
health. Killing Shampoo might solve the problem, or it might make things
worse, doing irreparable harm and sending Link even further over the edge.
The memory of their father raising his ax and burying it in Blackie's skull
returned almost as powerfully as if it had happened yesterday instead of a
decade ago.

No risk was too great for Link. It was time to tell the truth. Pink cleared
her throat and said, "About Shampoo and all those incidents, there's
something you should know. I was sort of respons-"

The glaze in Link's eyes seemed to worsen as she came out of her fantasies
that ran wet with blood. Link was only able to focus on the first handful of
words her twin had spoken. "Yes. Those incidents. The beating. The drugs.
The traps. Ruining my chances with men and making me a laughingstock in the
arena. She just couldn't let it go, even though I did nothing in revenge to
her. The electrocution was the final straw. After that, I'd kill anyone for
doing those things to me. Even you." Part of the glaze then left Link's
eyes. "I'm sorry. Were you going to say something else?"

Pink's jaw shut with an audible snap as she shook her head.

"You look even paler than before. Are you feeling worse?" Link asked, with
the sound of caring in her voice standing out in chilling contrast to the
bile-filled litany from before.

"Yes." Pink was barely able to get the words out.

"You should get some rest," Link soothed in an almost motherly way. "I'll
take care of everything from here."

Pink gave an involuntary shudder as Link leaned over her and tucked the
sheets in tight for her sister. A brief vision of Link picking up the pillow
and smothering her until she stopped moving flashed across her mind.
However, Link just leaned over to give Pink a peck on the forehead.

Giving a cheery, "Goodbye," Link all but danced out of the room in order to
prepare for the upcoming match.

Wu, who had wisely remained silent during the entire incident, said, "She's
insane."

"Let's hope it passes." But all Pink could think about was a dog lying
motionless with its skull split open and its brains spilling out on the
dirt.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

A thousand recriminations raced through Pink's mind as she lay in her bed,
convinced death would soon claim her given how nauseous she felt from this
mysterious virus. There had to have been something, some word or action
taken, that could have prevented her sister from going off half-crazed,
intent on killing an exceedingly dangerous opponent. For the first time in
recent memory, guilt weighed heavily upon Pink's shoulders, and it was
proving a near impossible burden to bear.

A knock on the door interrupted her worrying. "Who is it?" she called out
weakly.

"It's me, Snakebite."

"Come in."

As he entered, Pink almost greeted him with a "Thomas," before remembering
where she was and who she was supposed to be impersonating. Of course,
Thomas's presence, especially on this night, gave rise to a host of other
questions, starting with what he was doing visiting her sister's room alone,
since the two of them did not get along in the least. Did they have an
affair going on the side that Pink was unaware of? She knew Link lusted
after him, even if she would not openly admit it. Had she somehow worn down
his resistance and played upon her identical appearance and successfully
seduced him? If so, Shampoo wouldn't be the only person not surviving the
night, or at least making it out with her limbs intact.

Snakebite pulled a plain wooden chair from the nearby desk and sat down a
good distance away from the bed. Pink noted an uncharacteristic somberness
to her boyfriend's demeanor which gave her pause. She could never recall him
looking so pensive, perhaps that was why he had been unable to tell she was
his girlfriend and not her sister.

Hesitantly, Snakebite cleared his throat. "Look, I know we don't
ordinarily... Is there something different about you?"

So he had noticed. That delighted Pink. "I'm just sick."

Snakebite nodded his head in understanding, eager to continue. "Anyway, I
know we usually don't get along too well, but I'd appreciate it a lot if
you'd be willing to hear me out this one time. It's something that sort of
indirectly involves you, and I think you have a right to hear it, especially
from me."

It took Pink a moment to realize the pause was for her. She nodded her head,
agreeing to listen to him.

His eyes scanned the room once, before settling back on Pink. "Well, you
see, I've been doing a lot of thinking lately. Yeah, I know, I know. I'll be
the first to admit I'm not a deep thinker, but I do think about the future
every now and then. Anyway, with your sister getting this here opportunity
to move on to the big show in Japan, well, that's sort of what got me
wondering. Looking ahead, sort of.

"Now I'll be the first to admit that you're right about me. Up till now,
I've been happy to describe myself as the sort of guy that just isn't ready
to settle down. I'm a bit rambunctious and stuff. I like women, and they
like me. I'm young, you know. I want adventure in my life, not to settle
down and raise a family. That's for people that get too old and forget how
to have a good time."

"Go on." Pink's voice held as much ice as she could muster with the way she
felt. She failed to drop the temperature more than a couple of degrees.

As caught up in the speech as Snakebite was, he missed the change in tone of
her voice. "Anyway, that's what I used to think. But once Pink got this here
challenge to advance, I realized there was a good chance my honey and me
might not be together. Now I admit, I've flirted with some of the other
girls around here, but I haven't been unfaithful to her, which is sort of
unusual for me. You'd think that with her moving on to Japan, that might
really free me up and put me back on the open market, at least until I make
it to the big Arena where we'd pick up where we left off. You think I'd be
glad about this golden opportunity for me as well as her. But, and I'll
admit it caught me by surprise, I don't feel that way at all. Instead I feel
really, I guess, depressed over the idea that Pink might be leaving and I
won't be getting to see her for a while. And when I realized that, and that
it wasn't a momentary thing, it got me to reevaluating our relationship and
what it means to me.

"It means a whole hell of a lot more than I thought. It's the first time I
ever felt that sort of stuff about a woman. So I started thinking what it
might be like if we, you know, had a long term future together instead of a
short one. Finally considered what it might be like to have little ones to
raise. Maybe getting a home after one of us gets our citizenship. Making
home-cooked meals and stuff. And, well, it's got an appeal now that wasn't
there before. I tried seeing myself doing it with other women, just to see
if it was one of those biological clock things and some deep down need for
me to settle down, but I can't see doing it with anyone but my honey. She's
the only one that makes me want to do that. Once I figured out my feelings
were legit, and not just some kind of momentary whim or something, well, I
knew what I had to do."

His hand went into his pant's pocket. It took a second of fumbling before he
pulled out a small case and opened it up for Pink to see. Her eyes widened
at the sight.

"It's not that small of a ring. I've been saving up my winnings. I've had to
leave in a hurry before, and it's always good to have a stash on hand. But I
figured this was as good a time as any to tap into my emergency funds, since
this is sort of an emergency, and get something to make it official between
her and me."

It took every iota of restraint Pink had, and some she didn't know she
possessed, to keep from running over and accepting on the spot. If she had
not been so ill, she probably would have been unable to do it anyway, but
there was a realistic possibility she'd merely throw up on her Thomas as a
form of acceptance. There was no way that would be the way she would
remember the day he proposed to her. Instead, she asked with an amused grin,
"Why tell me?"

Snakebite replied, "Since you're her sister and all, I know you two are
close. I don't want to be some sort of wedge between the two of you, since I
know you don't approve of me at all. Just because I'm hoping she'll marry
me, doesn't mean I want it to affect the relationship the two of you have
any more than it has to. Pink loves you to death, and it would hurt me too
if there was some reason you two didn't get along. So I just wanted to let
you know I'm not just marrying your sister on a whim. This is for real. I'm
changing my ways and everything. I just hope she accepts."

Pink saw the trembling in his hand from the confession. Her heart went out
to him, even if she was unable to let him know the proposal had already been
accepted. "Let me just say that as well as I know Pink, I know for a fact
she'd be more than happy to spend the rest of her life with you. I guarantee
that from the bottom of my heart."

That seemed to remove a tremendous burden from Snakebite's shoulders. "Then
you don't have any objections against us getting hitched up?"

"No, but even if I did, it's not a sister's place to tell her sister who she
can and can't marry." And Link would just have to accept that, even if she
did have some objections.

Snakebite shot up his feet and gave a whooping yell of joy. He said, "I'd
give you a little ole' peck on the cheek for that, if you didn't smell like
vomit, sister-in-law."

"I appreciate the sentiment," Pink said, now anxiously counting the seconds
until the fight was over and she could tell her Thomas the truth. She almost
did on the spot, probably should have since he'd never breathe a word that
it was Link taking her place tonight, but decided not to. Physically she was
not up to celebrating in the slightest, and it was sort of fun to hear
Snakebite speak so openly about her to her face like that. It was an honesty
she had never heard from him, and she found she liked it, and didn't want
him to realize that he had been tricked into doing it, lest he never do it
again. Or worse, he got second thoughts about the proposal from a perceived
deception, or took it as a sign of mistrust since she had not informed him
of the substitution. It was definitely in her best interest to keep her
mouth shut for the present.

To reassure him that he was making the right choice, Pink said, "I know for
a fact that Pink has been waiting for a while for you to propose and that
she'll accept, so don't be getting any cold feet now and changing your mind,
or I'll beat you up and make you put that ring on her myself."

The look of relief on his face was a joy to behold, making Pink's heart
soar. "No worries about that. I'm going to pop the question to her tonight,
right after the match. Night, Sis."

Snakebite raced out of the small room and closed the door behind him with a
slam that shook the thin walls. Pink felt nothing but sheer joy; this was
the best cure for her ills. And to think, after tonight, she would be an
engaged woman, once he finished proposing to...

"Oh no," Pink softly moaned. Thomas was going to propose to the wrong
sister. And to make matters worse, there was Link's state of mind. Given how
out of whack she had acted, there was no way to really determine how she
would react to being proposed to by Thomas. It was true that Link might
understand that he had been fooled by the substitution and react properly
either by accepting or claming she needed time to accept and allow them to
switch back into their proper roles. On the other hand, she was dangerously
unbalanced, making her unpredictable. What if she refused him in an
obscenity-laced tirade, or worse, attacked him? Pink was far too ill to make
it to Tridome; she was too weak to even leave the arena. It wasn't like she
could call on the phone, Link wouldn't respond before the match, and
afterwards would be too late. There was no way to contact either person now.

More worried than ever, Pink sat back and counted the seconds until she
received word of what was about to happen. Suddenly she discovered something
far more burdensome than guilt: waiting.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Jaddo watched Shampoo engage in a number of exercises meant to relax her
muscles as they waited in the fighter's area of the Tridome. It was a
private place for her to limber up before her match. There was much more
space devoted to the fighters, given the limited number of fights that were
held here. It was one advantage Jaddo would admit Tridome had over the
normal arena. The owners thought it best that the fighters have no contact
with one another before a bout. Grudge matches were popular here, especially
between two capable fighters. This fight was one of the primary reasons the
private facility had been built, so the elite could have the privilege of
watching the blood pour for them and them alone.

"Where will you be watching?" Shampoo asked as she gripped one leg by its
ankle and held it straight up, making it as parallel to her body as was
humanly possible. She showed no signs of strain at the effort.

"Kiber is letting me sit with him in OMC's box seat, near the top. Beef will
be there with me since Kiber said I could bring a guest. I figured it would
be a way to repay Beef for all the stuff he's done for us since he got here.
Seats here are expensive, even for a guy like him."

Shampoo nodded her head in approval. She would miss Beef a great deal when
she won and had to go to Japan, just like she'd miss all of the friends she
had made in her stay in Hong Kong. But it couldn't be helped. She always
knew this was going to happen, it was just that the date had been moved up
somewhat.

Jaddo shook his head. "I still can't figure out why that Kiber's being so
damn polite and gracious with me. If he wanted something from me, he should
have spit it out by now. Instead he keeps treating me to dinners, plays, and
offering me jobs to run training facilities for outrageous salaries. I just
can't figure him out."

"He's gay." Shampoo switched to her other leg.

"What?!"

Shampoo's nod was full of confidence, as though only a brain-dead idiot
would dare to challenge the veracity of her statement. "Absolutely. He looks
at you with open adoration. He tries to hide it, but he doesn't do a good
job."

"But we went to a bordello together. Although now that I think about it, he
was watching me more closely than the girls."

"There you have it."

"Well I'll be. That makes sense. Perfect sense." Jaddo placed his hand to
his chin thoughtfully. "How could you tell?"

"Women always keep an eye open for that sort of thing. We want men to look
at us that way, so we train ourselves to recognize it. You're a man, and
wouldn't think to look for it, especially in another man. That's why you
didn't notice."

"But I'm not interested in that sort of thing. I like women. Only women.
They don't even have to be pretty, just so long as they're women," Jaddo
protested.

"Don't look at me. You're the one that's going to have to let him down
gently."

Jaddo continued grumbling. "Too bad. I kind of liked the guy, but not that
way."

"Unless he feels you up or proposition's you, I wouldn't worry about it. In
the meantime, just accept his gifts and brag about how you like women.
Eventually he'll get the message."

That made Jaddo nod in agreement. "Yeah, treat him just like a girl whose
intentions are unwanted. You got to be polite about it, so you don't break
their heart. Besides, the last thing in the world I need is the head of OMC
trying to have me erased for refusing his advances."

A man poked his head into the room. "Twenty minutes to the fight. Make your
final preparations, and I'll introduce you when we're ready."

Both student and mentor nodded. The man left.

Jaddo said, "I'd better head up to the box seat. Anything you need before I
go?"

"Cheer for me." Shampoo's smile was one of total confidence, but not with
the cocky airs she had held before arriving at Hong Kong. Jaddo noted this
change in maturity with pride. That was good, very good. His student had
come a long way. It would make what had to come next easier. Not easy, as
Kyoko had reminded him in their walk through the gardens, but at least
easier. That would have to suffice.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Shampoo repeated the kata slowly, intent more on calming herself rather than
focusing on the graceful moves she was using. It served her, to a degree, as
she gathered enough focus to slow her heart rate and coalesce her thoughts
into recognizable patterns so that she would be mentally prepared for the
upcoming fight.

Mental preparations were still being made when the announcer slipped into
the room and informed her it was time to walk down the ramp for her
introduction. Her heart rate increased, and this time she did not try to
fight it. There was a great deal riding on this match, possibly more than
any other fight she had been in to date. It was another step closer to her
ultimate goal. She was entitled to a little excitement. Even Jaddo would
have granted her that.

The walk to the ramp leading to the arena proper was short, much shorter
than the one she was used to in the Big arena she had grown accustomed to.
But the concrete beneath her feet was smooth, and she chose to focus on that
rather than be distracted by fighting in unfamiliar territory.

There was something off about the feel of this arena. It lacked the
character that the big one held. There was something about the big building
that felt as though it were a grand old man that carried the scars just the
same as the warriors who had fought in it. The maintenance staff did an
impeccable job of keeping the place running and in top shape, but it was
obvious the building had been around for a while. Chipped plaster, small
cracks, even an area or two where the flooring might have settled a bit. The
tiny blemishes did not detract from structure, rather they gave it a sense
of identity. But not so with this place with the gleaming sheen the marble
walls held and the lack of even the smallest cracks, which the walls of the
real arena could never have thanks to the years. It was perfect; too
perfect. There was an antiseptic feel to the place, making it feel sterile
and bland. It felt more like a giant showcase than the big arena ever did.

Such thoughts were pushed from her mind as Shampoo entered the combat area
and saw Tridome in all of its 'grandeur.' As she had been told, it was far
smaller than the main arena, smaller than Hellmount, for that matter. There
were few open seats, less than two thousand by her estimation, which only
enhanced its small appearance. However to counterbalance this there were
twice as many box seats lining the circular dome as there were in the main
arena. They started off with one right next to the highest row of open
seats. Rather than forming rings one on top of another, they seemed to
spiral upward instead, with each box being slightly higher than the one next
to it. It made for an unusual design. Given Jaddo's descriptions of the
competition among the elite, she wondered if this too was a form of ranking
they applied to themselves, with the richest and most powerful at the top,
able to look down upon the others that were beneath them in every sense of
the word.

Turning her attention to the boxes themselves, she looked carefully at them,
her eyes scanning until, near the top, she spotted the familiar forms of
Jaddo and Beef waving down at her. Beef made them easy to distinguish from
the other box seats with the very large and very purple suit he was wearing.
One thing the man knew how to do was stand out in any crowd. Shampoo made
certain her first wave was for them, before her professionalism kicked in
and she moved on to the rest of the audience. It seemed to her that the
crowd seemed subdued, but there was unquestionably an air of expectation
about them. Everyone sitting in the open seats was dressed as elegantly as
any of the fans she had seen before, making her wonder if this event was
being treated more like a large cocktail party than an actual fight.

And then her opponent was introduced. Shampoo watched closely. The Amazon
knew her opponent could play the crowd as well as anyone in the business.
However, uncharacteristically, she did not bother with showing off, all but
ignoring the audience. Instead she walked across the concrete floor directly
to Shampoo, stalking past the announcer's introduction of her as though he
wasn't even there.

The moment Link's eyes settled upon Shampoo it was not trepidation, but
elation, she felt as she drew nearer. This was it. Her chance. The Gods had
given her the opportunity for justice, and she would savor every second of
it. At this moment, no one existed, save Shampoo. And in a matter of
minutes, she too would cease to exist. It would be glorious.

The crowd was forgotten as the duelists eyed each other warily.

Deciding to take the initiative, Shampoo spoke. "You don't stand a chance,
Pinky." Shampoo had heard rumors Pink disliked the nickname that had so
recently been created by the newer fighters and was making its rounds. Of
course, most of them did not dare voice it in her presence, but then,
Shampoo was not like most.

The comment was met with a sneer. "It's sad, really, that you're going to
die after only discovering one truth tonight."

Shampoo knew it was unwise to pay any attention to her opponent's banter; it
would validate to some small degree her boasts. However, the young Amazon
could not prevent her curiosity from being piqued. "What truth?"

"That I'm better than you." Link gave an unexpectedly warm smile.

"Hardly. What's the other truth?"

"I'm afraid you're going to die without ever finding it out."

Shampoo looked more closely at her opponent's eyes. Now that she was
focusing on them, she noticed that they were wide-eyed and a bit glazed,
almost as though Pink had started wearing contacts and was just beginning to
become used to them. It unnerved the young Amazon. Not enough to throw her
off her game, there was nothing that could accomplish that, but it was
sufficient to make her regard her opponent far more warily than before.

Link gave another smile at her soon to be deceased adversary. The officials
had not paid attention to her when she had dressed, only giving her a
cursory pat down that was done for formality's sake. The edge she had
secreted for this fight had remained hidden, just as she had hoped it would.
Ideally, Link would prefer to beat Shampoo to death with her own two hands,
but there were more important matters than winning the match. Everything
came in a distant second to righteous vengeance, especially when it was
directed against the likes of Shampoo. One way or another, Shampoo was not
leaving this building alive.

The two backed to their proper positions opposite from one another as the
announcer prepared to start the fight.

Xxxxxxxxx

Up in the box seats belonging to Otoni Media Conglomerate, others were also
assessing the situation. Two men leaned over the side, taking as close a
look as they could from the high position the box held. Tridome was small
enough to allow every seat to be comfortable and have an unobstructed view
of the floor. From the height the duo were at, they would be able to make
out every detail of the match with ease.

"That Pink girl looks like all business tonight. Shampoo might have a tough
time of it," Beef commented with an eye for fighting that had been dulled by
neither the years nor the acquisition of kilograms.

"She's still better than the bookend." That was Jaddo's own nickname he had
created for the twins. Usually he didn't bother to give such disparaging
titles to people that did not directly annoy him, but for some reason their
constant verbal harassment of his prot�g� had rubbed him wrong, and he had
dubbed the duo that. Shampoo had thought it amusing and appropriate. Jaddo
had agreed it was one of the better nicknames he had come up with in some
time.

Jaddo looked over his shoulder just in time to catch Kiber looking pointedly
away from him, a fair indication of where his eyes had been. He elbowed Beef
in the side and spoke quietly enough so that only the large man could hear
him. "You ever have a gay guy hit on you?"

"In my prime, all the time. You'd be surprised by the number of wealthy men
that seemed to engage in that behavior. Even considered it a few times
before deciding I wasn't that adventurous. Not that I have anything against
homosexuals, just that it wasn't for me. Why, do you have someone hitting on
you?"

"Yeah, maybe."

"Who?"

Jaddo made sure his finger was hidden from sight as he pointed at his chest,
directing his finger toward where Kiber was seated directly behind him.

Beef chuckled. "Then he swings both ways. I know personally some of the
ladies he's romanced, and had liaisons with, though nowhere near my quantity
or quality when I was his age. It's remarkable what you'll overhear in
dinner conversations. Not that he tries to hide his dalliances. He's rich
enough that he can woo any woman and no one would protest. Actually, he's
regarded as one of the most eligible bachelors on the island."

"Then I hope he marries real soon and forgets about me."

"What would he see in a broken down old man like you when he could have his
pick in handsome young studs?" Beef asked.

"Maybe he's into that sort of thing. I don't know," Jaddo said, then had to
check his voice so he wouldn't' be overheard. "He's been looking at me again
while my back's to him."

"Don't dress in such tight pants then."

Jaddo smacked Beef in the arm. "I don't dress in tight pants. What do you
think I should do?"

Beef shrugged. "Unless he comes right out and hits on you, don't worry about
it. Besides, I'm not so sure he is gay. Yes, he does look at you sort of
affectionately, but not in that way, at least I don't think so."

"Then how's he looking at me?"

Beef shrugged. "Very oddly, I'll admit. Oh, I could be wrong, but my gut
tells me I'm right this time, and that he's straight."

"Yah, I suppose you're right," Jaddo admitted. And he did like Kiber's
company well enough. The man was witty and charming, even more likable than
Jaddo had been at that age. He supposed as long as Kiber didn't try
anything, they could continue getting along, even if the younger man did
tend to look at him oddly. Jaddo afforded another look over his shoulder,
only to see Kiber's attention riveted to something other than himself or the
fighters below. "What is it?"

Kiber indicated with a nod of the head a box seat that stood directly
across, and higher than them. "Someone is in the Morimoto box. They usually
don't bother attending these things."

"Which means?" Jaddo asked.

Beef understood and answered. "Morimoto's involved up to its neck in illegal
dealings, but they somehow manage to keep one step ahead of the law and make
a bundle in the process. Just the sort you need to keep an eye on, lest they
insert a nice big knife in your back the moment you show it to them."

"I wonder why they're here," Kiber said softly as he continued staring
across the way.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Down on the floor, matters of much greater concern were confronting two
young women that were about to engage in their duel, one fighting for
victory, the other for death.

"You're dead," Link softly promised.

"Someday, but not today, and certainly never at your hands," Shampoo
responded.

That made Link laugh. One that was full of far more confidence and energy
than anyone had a right to. "It's my destiny. You're just a victim of fate.
But then, aren't we all?"

"Enough talk!" This was completely unlike the Pink Shampoo knew. As one of
her primary threats in the arena, Shampoo had paid close attention to the
girl in her matches. Never had Pink approached a fight like this using that
sort of talk. The Amazon did not bother trying to get around her opponent's
dialogue. She knew from the look in her adversary's eyes that there were no
words that would affect her, and talking would just affect concentration and
waste energy. It was now just a matter of basics. All that was left was the
fight.

"Let it begin!" the announcer shouted and quickly got out of the way.

Even in all the fights Shampoo had been in, from the Northman to Watambe,
never had anyone come after her so fast and furiously. The young Amazon
found herself put on the defensive from the outset, and a hard-pressed one
at that, barely blocking the first series of blows directed at her head and
chest.

Link had no regard for her own safety as she lashed out with every lethal
kick and punch that she knew. The object of her hatred, the one that had
been responsible for creating the black boil of rage that resided in her
soul ever since her electrocution, was before Link now. It was time to lance
the boil, even as she lanced Shampoo's chest with her fist and allowed both
her fury and the Amazon's blood to be released and spread out for the world
to see.

Thinking was no longer possible for Shampoo; there was only instinctive
reaction. Deflect the punch aimed at her stomach. Evade the kick aimed for
her knee. Move back and away from the fingers meant to dig out her eyes. It
was no longer about fighting, it was about killing.

The unrelenting offense began yielding results for the shorter of the
combatants. A light punch connected with the side of Shampoo's head. A hard
chop struck the elbow cleanly, causing the joint to send waves of pain every
time the Amazon bent it. A telling knee to the stomach opened things up for
a follow-up punch to the shoulder that nearly broke the collarbone.

Panic began to disrupt Shampoo's composure, which, despite the ferocity of
the attack, had still been in place. The stakes in this were too high for
her to lose. It was more than not advancing immediately. Her opponent was
intent that she not leave this arena alive, and was rapidly succeeding in
making that outcome a reality.

Another kick connected with the lower spine, and for a split-second, Shampoo
lost the feeling in her legs. But just as she was about to fall, the feeling
returned, and the fall became a roll just in time to evade the follow-up ax
kick that would have broken her neck.

The crowd, at long last awakened by the savage spectacle, cheered as loud
and as hard as Shampoo had ever heard. Even the bloodthirsty horde at
Hellmount could not compare with the shrieks and cries coming from the women
and men who were supposed to represent the finest society had to offer. In
the end, they were just like everyone else, once their masks of propriety
were tossed aside and a little blood was thrown their way.

In the recesses of Shampoo's mind, a voice that sounded like her
great-grandmother's shouted out that this was ridiculous. Was Shampoo not
the greatest fighter of her generation? Did she not win the tournament
easily, so easily that she had lamented the lack of satisfaction in her
victory? And here she was, being run ragged, being beaten upon at will, by a
fighter than she knew in her heart was inferior to her. It was shameful. It
was disgraceful. It was scandalous to both herself and her ancestors.

It was time to put a stop to it.

Just as Link moved in for another strike, one in which she was certain a
telling blow would be landed, Shampoo's fist lashed out, connecting with the
underside of her jaw. Link's head was snapped back, breaking the steak of
pure offense she had unleashed since the fight began.

As Link backed up to recover, something else also happened. Until that
point, she had thrown nothing but a continuous barrage of offense that
Shampoo had been forced to defend against or die. However, it was not Link's
usual style of fighting. On the contrary, against an opponent of any higher
caliber she ordinarily paced herself while allowing her foe to exhaust their
strength. Once they were properly winded, they became vulnerable, and she
would then step in to finish them off. But now, thanks to her blind rage,
she had fallen into the same trap she set for others. Unused to fighting so
vigorously so early, and allowing her body to realize that for just a
moment, it began to unwillingly slow down.

No! She would not allow that to happen! Link called upon her reserves of
energy, allowing even more adrenaline to pump through her body as she
unleashed another volley of attacks.

But this time Shampoo was ready and met her blow for blow. It was a
stalemate in the beginning, with each fighter exchanging strikes evenly. A
backfist to the temple was met with a palm thrust to the chest. Crescent
kick returned by a front kick. Left for right and right for left. Two
fighters showing nearly identical symmetry.

Superior endurance began to tell the tale. Shampoo landed two blows to every
one. Then three to one. Then it was all the Amazon's offense as she hammered
relentlessly upon Link, showing only slightly more mercy than was afforded
to her in the beginning of the match.

Link tried her best to prolong the inevitable. She dodged, wove, and parried
like she never had before. At first, she succeeded, and dared to hope she
could reverse the flow of battle and regain the initiative. Then Shampoo
would pay.

Watching from high above, Jaddo felt reminded of the similarities between
this and his own match with Jun Fan Li three decades ago. Surprisingly, he
felt a touch of sorrow for Pink, who was fighting so far beyond her true
abilities, reminding him of his own insidious desire to win no matter the
cost. He knew what the outcome of this would be, and though he truly wanted
Shampoo to win, he could no longer see Pink as anything other than an object
to be pitied. On this night she would learn some prizes forever remained
beyond one's grasp, no matter how far they stretched to reach out for them.

The final turning point came in a blow identical to the one Shampoo had
landed on the 'Thunderer.' It did not drive two ribs into Link's lungs, as
it had to the large man, but it was more than enough to send messages of
pain through her body, overriding the ability to do anything other than
bellow out in agony.

The final blow arrived with an elbow point driven right between the eyes of
Link, though there had been a dozen or so strikes that landed in between,
each wearing the smaller girl down. But it was the elbow that drove Link to
her knees. She tried telling her body to get up, but it refused the order,
and instead decided consciousness was an overrated thing and subsequently
shut it down.

Shampoo watched her opponent totter on her knees then fall over. A huge gasp
of relief escaped from her lips. No burns this time, but in many ways it was
a far worse fight than the one with Watambe. It had not been decided on
tricks and illusions, but on pure power. Muscle straining against muscle and
bone meeting bone in the most primitive of struggles for dominance. And as
with all of her struggles in recent memory, save the brief one with Jaddo,
Shampoo had emerged victorious again. As always. And this time she did feel
some satisfaction in victory at being taken near her limit.

With the match over, the Amazon played to the crowd. It had regained some
measure of control with the ending of the fight and applauded in that manner
that the elite were taught is gracious. Shampoo accepted their accolades,
but all she was doing was going through the motions. The fight had tired
her, and her body was coming down from its warrior's high. Aches from the
blows, many that had landed so early on, set in. Her left arm felt like it
was growing stiff from the blow it had suffered, and now every muscle was
starting to inform her that they would like a relaxing break. She would play
the crowd no more than thirty more seconds before bowing and retiring for a
relaxing bath and massage that the administrators at Tridome had informed
her they offered. Then it was off to bed. No victory celebration tonight,
despite her accomplishment.

She was going to Japan.

A small smile spread across her face as she understood that this was a
reality now. It was such a great opportunity that she had been certain it
would slip from her grasp. It had seemed too good to be true, to shave so
many weeks from her goal. But it had not, and now the match was over. Hong
Kong would soon be nothing but a memory, and the winner's circle that was
her true goal lay ahead. She gave one more triumphant fist to the air,
directing it at the box where Jaddo stood. He applauded her in a rare open
display of encouragement.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

It was the applause from the crowd that roused Link from her
unconsciousness. She opened her eyes, wondering what the people were
cheering. And then it came back to her, the blow between the eyes, trying to
rise and failing. Failing because of Shampoo. Again.

A fleck of blood shot out from her lips as a soft cry of rage slipped out of
her throat, one that was drowned out in the applause. Link returned
unsteadily to her feet and looked around. The people were still cheering.
That meant Shampoo must have still been present. Disorientation departed as
Link became increasingly aware of her surroundings. She spun in a half
circle until she saw Shampoo standing there, her back to her, pumping her
fist to the crowd.

Not again. Never again.

Link went down to one knee and slipped her hand into her boot. Her fingers
fell on the crude piece of jagged metal, and she pulled it out. It was a
crude thing, a knife she had tried to make at a forge when she had been
friends with the blacksmith's son in their village. She had kept it as a
memento to remind her of the past. It was hers, as pitiful as it was. As
small and as jagged as it was. It was a poor sample of a knife, like the
poor sample Link made of everything she tried to do. Second best to Pink in
everything. Never able to be the best at anything. Always just there, never
on top. Just like now. Second place again. One place away from success,
which meant she was a failure, just like every other time.

No more. Shampoo would pay.

Link lunged forward with the knife. The back of her mind told her not to let
loose the roar of rage that came bubbling forth from her the depths of her
soul. Crying out would make her feel better, a primal way of showing the
world what she felt, but it would alert her prey and prevent her from
achieving her goals again. Results were all that mattered. A person died
just as easily from a stab wound to the back as she would to one in the gut.
What difference would it make where the blow landed, just so long as Shampoo
died.

There were only six steps to her goal.

Xxxxxxxxxxx

Later, Shampoo would not say what it was that made her turn around at that
instant. It might have been the sudden confusion that mingled in with many
of the cheers, or perhaps it was some latent ability to sense the imminent
threat to her life. Personally, Shampoo thought it was the look of alarm in
Jaddo's eyes as he saw Link moving up behind her, intent in plunging her
shaft of blackened metal to its hilt in the flesh of her back.

But Shampoo did turn in time to see Link planting her feet and lunging
forward with the knife. Reflexively, Shampoo brought her hand up and caught
the wrist deflecting the stab downward. Rage and momentum sent the blade
forward, and nearly half a centimeter of it pierced the young Amazon's flesh
near her pelvis. There was an instance of pain, and then the Dragon's Rage
flooded her body.

During the course of the fight, it had played its siren's call in her mind,
but Shampoo had refused its beckoning temptation. Even as dire as the
situation had been early on, she had needed the favors the double-edged
ability imbued within her. So it had remained slithered and coiled just
beneath the surface, waiting to be summoned forth and protect her by
crushing the things that represented a threat to her life. Even after the
fight had ended it remained there, ready to lash out and protect with
destruction. Such ideas were usually mutually exclusive terms, but that was
what the Rage was created for. The only purpose for which it existed.
Protect the body from harm, as primal and instinctual a reaction as it had
been in the dawn of humankind. Though if it was let loose too long to would
destroy that which it was created to protect.

As the pain from the stab wound struck, it was there, deadening that area by
dulling pain receptors and preparing the body to return the violence in
kind. All the aches and pains were forgotten in the flood of chemicals that
surged through Shampoo's body.

Now it was time for the Dragon's Rage to be unleashed.

Link saw the wild look in Shampoo's eyes, and for a moment was stunned by
the close resemblance to the fleeting image of herself she had caught in a
mirror before the fight. For just a moment, the unbridled hate in Shampoo's
eyes washed over and drowned the raw malevolence that had been released from
Link's soul when the opportunity for revenge had unexpectedly come for her.
For a moment, Link was shocked out of her dementia and could see the world
for what it was again.

Now it was Link's turn to feel pain as the grip on her stabbing wrist
tightened like a vice. Trying to withdraw her own limb did no good; Link
could not move it forward or backward a fraction of a centimeter. All she
could do was feel unrelenting pain that increased geometrically by the
second.

And then the air was filled with a snapping noise as the bones in Link's
wrist cracked. A wail of agony far worse than anything she had ever felt
before flew from her lips and to the crowd's ears. Only the sounds of the
pigs that had been slaughtered on her farm back home was comparable to the
cry that burst from her. At least that was what it sounded like to her ears.

Link's entire attention was focused on her wrist, which was why she was
unaware of the fist that had been drawn back with Shampoo's free hand. The
left hand, that had become more akin to a vice than an appendage as it held
the shattered remnants of Link's right wrist, was all she could concentrate
upon as she wished she could escape the pain and power it held.

The blow from Shampoo's fist landed cleanly and lightning fast, the most
powerful punch she had ever thrown, backed with the Dragon's Rage powering
it. Link was completely unprepared as it caught her perfectly under the jaw.
She had only a split instant, less than an eyeblink, of awareness as her
head was forced back with blinding velocity. As the head reached the apex of
its backward arc, there was a snapping noise from the bones in the back of
the neck as vertebrae slipped from their positions and severed the nerves of
the spinal column connecting the head to the rest of the body.

For the second time in the night, the world went dark for Link, but this
time there was a peace that had not been present the last time night fell in
her eyes. For some odd reason, the dark rage that had been in her soul, the
raw hatred that had festered and spilled over, was no longer present. It had
slipped away with the severing of nerves, never to return. What remained
behind was a pleasant sensation of being free of anger and feelings of
inferiority for the first time since she had been so very little. Now all
that was left was the unique essence that made Link what she was for perhaps
the first time in her life. She wished it would last forever, that feeling
of peace.

And it did.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

All present in Tridome knew what had happened. The way Link's body had gone
limp in a heartbeat. The way her eyes stared lifelessly at nothing as the
body slowly sagged towards the floor, though the strong grip on the broken
wrist remained tight. The only curiosity was the soft smile on Link's lips.
It was there now, but certainly had not been there when the blow landed. Why
would anyone smile when they must have known they had been struck with such
a killing blow? It defied explanation, and would forever do so.

High above, Jaddo gave a sad shake of his head. Why couldn't the stupid girl
have let it go? Why did she sneak the weapon in and try to kill an opponent
she had lost fairly to? It was such a waste. Now Link was dead, and what did
she have to show for it? Just another corpse decorating a fighting floor. No
different from a broken body in a dog pit in some nameless shantytown
instead of the gaudy arena built for the elite. Well, they had gotten their
fill tonight. Seen what they had wanted to see. He hoped they choked on it.

"Hey, Jaddo?"

He looked curiously at Beef. "What?"

"Do you have any idea why she's shaking the girl's body like that?"

Earlier thoughts of the crowd had made him stop paying attention to his
prot�g�. Now Jaddo refocused his attention upon her to see what his old
friend was referring to. Sure enough, Shampoo had maintained her hold on
Link's wrist and was shaking the body back and forth, as though not
understanding why Link had stopped moving. He had a bad feeling about it.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Down below, Shampoo shook Link, barely aware of the crude knife sliding out
of Link's hand and the wound bleeding only slightly due to the Dragon Rage's
intense efforts to heal the cut. Ordinarily, as much as the Rage could cloud
her thinking, Shampoo could still maintain coherent thoughts. However, due
to the speed of the attack from Link, and how quickly the Rage had asserted
itself, it had temporarily overloaded Shampoo's senses, making it nearly
impossible to think in anything other than the most basic of terms and
concepts. Likewise the speed with which Link had fallen, and that there were
no other opponents despite the fact her body was ready for a fight, confused
her. So Shampoo shook Link's body, not quite comprehending exactly why her
opponent wasn't trying to kill her any more.

The announcer, who had made his way into the middle of the floor to hold
Shampoo's hand up and declare her the winner, was equally confused by her
behavior. He started to say, "Excuse m-"

The rest was cut off as Shampoo backhanded the man away, reflexively
reacting as though he was another attacker. It took a moment for her to
realize that was not the case, and in any event the little man with the big
voice had been knocked out cold by the casual blow.

"Shit!" Jaddo said between clenched teeth.

"What's going on? That's not part of her act, is it?" Kiber asked, concern
over Shampoo's behavior finally starting to register on his features.

This was a matter to be decided delicately. Jaddo was uncertain of how much
about Shampoo he wanted to reveal to the man, even if he had purchased her
contract. "Every now and then when she enters a life threatening situation,
like when people try to stab her from behind, she gets this big time
adrenaline rush she calls the Dragon's Rage. It really sends her over the
top, and she has problems coming out of it, like now. Still, as long as no
one tries to attack her, she'll come out of it in a few seconds."

"She might not get those seconds." Beef pointed to the floor below.

Jaddo looked at what he was referring to. A couple of men, burly guards of
some kind, had emerged from one of the entryways and raced to Shampoo,
obviously ready for a fight.

"Wranglers," Kiber informed them. "A while back, one of the fighters didn't
like some of the disparaging comments coming from one of the folks from the
stands, so he took it upon himself to jump into the stands and beat the hell
out of the heckler. Unfortunately, the heckler was fast, and a lot of rich
people ended up getting stepped on and punched out before the fighter got
his hands on him. Since then, a fund was created to ensure that a security
service provided a bunch of people called Wranglers to keep a fighter from
going nuts and maybe assaulting everyone in the stands again."

"Shit!" Jaddo repeated. "I got to get down there."

"I'm sure the Wranglers won't hurt her. They're professionals that know the
fighters are valuable," Kiber told him

"It's not her I'm worried about getting hurt," Jaddo called out as he headed
towards the nearest stairway.

Kiber gazed over the edge to see Shampoo tossing one of the first two
Wranglers, a full grown man that had to weigh at least two hundred and fifty
pounds, as easily as she might toss a ball. "I see what you mean."

Xxxxxxxxxxxx

In the box seat reserved for the Morimoto Ziabatsu, a high, feminine laugh
rang out as its owner watched Shampoo defeat the second Wrangler as easily
as the first. Now other Wranglers began springing into action as they ran
out into the floor in sets of twos and threes.

The woman laughed in approval again as Shampoo viciously took out the
nearest Wrangler with a powerful leap kick. "I want her now more than ever."

"It shall be as you wish," a short Japanese man sharing the seats with her
assured her.

"My dear Tojo, first we must make certain the item remains in working
condition." She pointed to the two other occupants of the luxury
accommodations. "You two, see to it that she is subdued but not damaged. I
have little doubt she'll make short work of the remaining members of
security, so switch to your fighting outfits quickly."

"As you wish," the two said as one. They quickly stripped off the seven
hundred thousand yen suits that were their standard outfits when they were
on the job and switched to their more accommodating fighting gear.

Xxxxxxxxxx

Jaddo had just made it down to the fighting area when he saw the last of the
Wranglers, a sumo of some considerable size, go down under Shampoo's furious
assault. She was showing none of the restraint she usually held in a fight.
Luckily, most of the men were in top shape, even if they had proven
insufficient for the task of restraining Shampoo. Had they attacked her all
at once, they might have succeeded in overpowering her, but most of them,
all men, opted to foolishly 'prove' themselves by taking her on one at a
time or in pairs. Only the sumo had made much of a fight of it, and even by
the end, he had fallen with barely a mark on the girl.

He made his way across the floor towards her, avoiding several of the fallen
bodies. "Shampoo," Jaddo said softly, more than aware that he needed to
appear non-threatening to calm her down. She had described the Dragon Rage
to him before, but this was the first time he had ever seen it in action. As
good as she was normally, her reflexes and strength seemed at least three
times faster than before, and despite the injury from the knife, she did not
show any sign of the wound hampering her in the least. However, her loss of
control seemed even worse than she had described it. While it was true he
was confident he could stop her if he had to, he was also certain he would
end up hurt as well, at least while she was in this state of mind. No,
better to play it quiet and hope she responded.

When Shampoo heard someone else speak, she turned, fists still clenched and
obviously wanting to hit something else. However, with the sound of Jaddo's
voice, she seemed to hesitate slightly: a good sign He would work with that.
"Here now, girl. You know I wouldn't hurt you. Why don't you just calm down
a bit and we can talk things over?"

She took one step forward, a step that Jaddo was uncertain if it was meant
to be menacing or one of relief. No second step followed as two figures came
down from their jump from high above, landing between him and Shampoo. One
was a girl in her early twenties, Asian, with black hair pulled into a
ponytail and tied back with a yellow ribbon. She wore a black, gi that
showed off a pair of long and powerful legs. A distinctive yellow orchid
emblem was sewn on the shoulder.

The other figure was one that was all too familiar to Jaddo, having spent
many months fighting in the same arena, even going head-to-head with him on
several occasions. The giant Thai man wore only his standard blue shorts
with red piping and had his feet and hands taped up, as always. Aside from
appearing older, he also seemed taller and heavier, and, as impossible as it
seemed, now possessed two eyes.

"Long time no see," Sagat said without bothering to turn around.

"She's mine," the woman with the orchid said as she stepped forward and
confronted Shampoo.

"This is a mistake, Rei Lan," Sagat warned.

"I can take her again," Rei assured him.

The gesture was recognized by Shampoo, and she fell back into attack mode
again. Unlike the Wranglers, this woman was far more skilled, and blocked
and deflected Shampoo's initial attacks, though not easily. The battle waged
for only about twenty seconds when Jaddo thought he saw a hole in the new
girl's defense. Apparently, Shampoo saw the same thing, and lunged in.
Almost impossibly, Rei Lan managed to twist away and out from under the
punch, only to strike under Shampoo's extended arm with a jab with her
fingers, landing them in the Amazon's armpit.

"There," Rei said. She was a bit off balance from the daring maneuver, and
would have been open to a counterattack from Shampoo's right had she not
already neutralized the limb by hitting the nerve cluster located there. Now
Rei had to take out the other arm, then Shampoo would fall easily.

Even as those thoughts raced through Rei's mind in less than the blink of an
eye, Shampoo's right connected with the back of her head. A momentary
thought of the impossibility of the blow was interrupted as a reverse thrust
kick met Rei's chest and drove her backward. She would have fallen had her
partner not been ready to catch her.

Sagat set her back on her feet, and well behind him. "It's not like last
time. She's faster and more powerful than before. Leave her to me."

Reluctantly, Rei Lan backed away and let Sagat take over.

Sagat was hesitant at first, allowing Shampoo the first series of attacks.
She took him up on the unspoken offer and came at him with a series of high
blows. Most would have been aimed at a normal man's head. On Sagat, the
strikes only reached to his upper torso at best.

The Thai man blocked every attack, allowing many of them to glance off his
arms, which he was using to shield his vital parts. Jaddo watched in
surprise as the man shrugged off the blows as if they were being thrown by a
five-year old rather than from a highly trained warrior that could shatter
four inches of concrete in a single blow. It reminded Jaddo of how Shampoo
was ignoring her own injuries, yet where Shampoo was all emotion, Sagat was
ice. His face betrayed nothing as he blocked every blow that came his way.
Jaddo watched everything with a careful eye. Nearly thirty years ago, Sagat
was one of the hardest hitting men around, but mostly a power merchant. He
would trade two or three blows dealt to him for every one he could deliver,
and usually he came out ahead. But this man before him was different. He was
weathering the storm, but mostly by either deflecting or countering the
blows instead of absorbing them, while not bothering to use any of his own.
There was no doubt he was considerably better than what he had been in the
past, but his whole style of fighting had changed.

There was something about Sagat's eyes that bothered Jaddo. Aside from the
fact that the left one obviously worked, and was not merely made of glass,
the movements were odd in some way that he could not define. The eyes moved
fast. Too fast. They darted about almost too quickly to be seen. Jaddo did
not know what that meant, but he doubted it was good.

At last Sagat launched an attack of his own. He hit Shampoo cleanly in her
solar plexus with an open palm thrust designed to knock the wind out of her.
Jaddo assumed that it would at least slow his prot�g� down, but much to his
distress, all it did was knock the air out of her lungs as she began
breathing much more quickly while attacking just as rapidly as before.

Again Sagat parried the majority of the force behind the attacks, not
allowing Shampoo to get in a single clean hit, and once again Jaddo was
surprised by the ease with which he did it. Once more Sagat struck Shampoo
in the stomach, though this time with a double open palm thrust. The second
blow sent Shampoo back, obviously disorienting her. Sagat moved in to
disable his opponent once more, but impossibly Shampoo attacked again, this
time getting a clean kick in on the leg Sagat had planted. He winced
slightly from the blow, and seemed angry that Shampoo had not fallen to
either of his strikes.

"Just hold her still and I can calm her down!" Jaddo told Sagat. It was a
chancy thing. He and Sagat had never gotten along, but considering how the
current fight had unfolded, it was obvious the huge man was trying to avoid
making any lasting damage on Shampoo, for whatever reason that may have
been.

Sagat grunted, and Jaddo hoped it was one of approval. Again the large man
moved in, but this time he made no effort to block the kick he received to
his chest. A second punch hit him in the side of the face, which he took
with even more impassiveness than Shampoo had. The young Amazon was about to
unleash a third attack when she discovered that the first two blows had
placed both her and her opponent in such a position that Sagat was able to
go behind her and bring both arms under hers, locking her in a full nelson.
Bringing all of his strength to bear in restraining her, Sagat kept her
firmly in his grip, despite her struggles. No curses escaped Shampoo's lips,
only a snarl of inarticulate rage flew out as she squirmed back and forth
trying to slip out of his grasp and return to the attack. Even with all of
the power she had, Sagat was equal to the task and held her firmly.

Then her squirming slowed down to almost nothing and she remained nearly
motionless. Just as the Thai man was certain she had realized the futility
of her struggles, she managed to bring her leg up over her head in an
impressive show of flexibility and unleashed a kick that connected right
between his eyes. At that angle she was only able to hit with the front of
her foot, and probably stood a good chance of breaking several toes against
his skull. Unconcerned, she unleashed a second kick. What surprised Sagat
was the amount of force she was able to get behind the kick despite the
awkward angle it was being delivered from.

"You'd better calm her down quickly," Sagat warned. The threat held the
promise that he would take more desperate measures to neutralize the threat
she represented to everyone around her, as well as herself, if Jaddo was not
successful.

Jaddo moved in front of Shampoo. For a moment, he considered staying far
enough back that she would be unable to reach him with her nimble legs.
However, after a second's hesitation, he found himself stepping within her
reach. Softly, with his hands raised in a placating gesture of surrender, he
said, "Shampoo, calm down. No one's going to hurt you anymore."

Her foot came up, crossing half the distance between her and Jaddo before
coming up to a halt. She still carried a wild-eyed look, but now it held an
edge of exhaustion to it.

In that calm, steady voice, Jaddo said, "That's right. You took care of the
girl that stabbed you. Everyone else either misunderstood what you were
going to do, or were just defending themselves, or trying to keep you from
hurting yourself. You can calm down now. Just relax and stop fighting so we
can get that nasty cut looked at."

That voice seemed to cut through the red haze that surrounded Shampoo's
thoughts. It was a nice voice that belonged to a nice man, despite all of
the frustrations he could cause. It was a voice she had grown to trust
almost more than any other, and the words were soothing and seemed to make
sense. And the truth was Shampoo's body felt tired. Very tired. More tired
than she could ever remember it being. A part of her thoughts, whether it
was from the Rage or somewhere else, told her if she continued on the path
she was on she would die, not from the actions of others, but from her own
out of control power, consumed from within, just as her great-grandmother
warned her might happen.

The warring in her mind continued until a huffing came from behind the
group. All eyes turned to see a crimson-faced Beef, forced once again to
move a large mass a long distance in a short amount of time. Between gasps,
he said, "I'll tell you what, Shampoo. If you calm down, I'll give you all
the pasta you can eat for a week."

The utter inappropriateness of the statement caught everyone off-guard,
including Shampoo. Somehow it cut completely through the haze, allowing her
to think clearly once again.

"Sure," she said. And as Sagat released her, she slumped to her knees upon
the ground.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxx

"I think I've got a bag of Raisonettes somewhere in a pocket here. Ah ha!"

The bag was snatched out of Beef's hand the moment it came into view.
Shampoo poured the entire contents down her throat, barely taking the time
to chew.

"You choke, you're on your own," Jaddo warned, but it was half-hearted.
Seeing Shampoo physically healthy in the medical ward of Tridome,
frustrating the hell out of the doctor trying to examine the cut on her
pelvis as she wiggled around and tried eating nearly everything in sight,
relieved him.

Jaddo had thought Beef had a voracious appetite. Despite the dark rings
under her eyes and the obvious signs of exhaustion she was showing, Shampoo
was putting him to shame. Anything edible and within arm's length was being
devoured. Jaddo was beginning to worry if they ran out of food she might try
to nibble on Beef's arm, not that he couldn't spare a pound or two.

"Oh, look, a moldy crust of bread." Jaddo pointed to the corner of the
infirmary.

Shampoo turned around to see where he was pointing at for a moment before
realizing what was said. She shot him a glare. The reaction relaxed him; it
meant she was back to normal.

"Would you please keep still!" the doctor examining Shampoo complained.

"You've got to have something to eat around here," she complained right
back.

"I have some lovely stool samples in back you can chew on," the doctor said
acidly.

Shampoo grimaced. "Aren't you supposed to have lollipops or something to
give your patients?"

"Along with pretty pink balloons that say, 'Congratulations on your
victory'. It's what we give all the fighters here. Now keep still!" the
doctor grumbled as he tried once again to examine her wound.

"Package of peanut brittle," Beef declared as he pulled a packet out of his
pocket and waved it in the air triumphantly. After looking more closely at
the label, he then said, "Or maybe it's peanut butter that's petrified into
peanut brittle. It's hard to tell from how old it is."

Shampoo did not care. She all but ripped the package open and began chewing
on the contents. There was a loud crack as she snapped off a chunk of the
peanut brittle. It was either that or one of her teeth shattering as she
tried to chew on the rock-hard substance. It was hard to tell, and as
ravenous as Shampoo was, Jaddo was uncertain she would notice if one of her
teeth had broken.

Another occupant in the room was also taking note of the food Beef was
providing, although for different reasons. Rei Lan told him, "I once saw a
picture of you when you were part of the Six Pack. I thought you were the
most handsome man I had ever seen. I can't believe how fat you got."

"Makes you want to slam your head into a table, doesn't it?" Shampoo said
through loud crunches.

Rei Lan nodded her head in agreement.

Beef said, "Ah, my dear. I might have gotten bigger, but let me assure you
that every part of me has also grown. And I promise you that my vast
collection of exotic techniques still can't be matched."

He winked and gave Rei Lan a quick pat on the butt. She seemed to consider
the proposition for a moment before turning away and back towards Sagat.

An aide to Kiber burst into the room. His arms were laden with a plethora of
multi-colored items from vending machines. Almost out of breath, he gasped
out, "I have what you asked for, Sir. Everything I could get out of the
closest machines, except for chewing gum. The only drink machine I could
find was a beer one. I could go look for another one deeper in the complex,
if you want."

Before Kiber could respond in approval at the man's quick work, the aide
wandered too close to Shampoo. She grabbed him by the collar and pulled him
to the examining table she sat upon. She then forced him to place all of the
food and drinks on the table next to her, then released him from her grasp.
In a panic from being handled so brusquely by the ravenous girl, he darted
from the room as quickly as he could. Within an instant what little remained
of the not so brittle peanuts was tossed aside in favor of something softer
that could go down more quickly. After she ingested three candy bars in
about as many seconds, she popped upon one of the beer cans and chugged its
contents down.

"Well, now, this could get interesting," Jaddo softly mumbled.

"I swear to you if you don't stop moving I'm going to give you a
proctological exam. And let me warn you, I have the biggest hands on the
medical staff," the doctor huffed.

Kiber gave Jaddo a look. With a sigh, he said, "Girl, quit squirming around
and let the doctor do his job."

With enough food and drink to work on for a while, Shampoo finally stopped
moving around long enough to let the doctor examine her.

As he did so, Jaddo turned to the last occupant currently in the room, a man
standing right next to him, arms crossed and doing his best impression of a
statue as he remained motionless. It would not have surprised the aborigine
overmuch if there had been a pigeon perched atop his head with how still he
was standing.

Jaddo had to bend his neck back until it almost hurt to look Sagat in the
eye. "Still in prime shape, I see."

"I work out a lot," Sagat low bass made it sound more like a rumble than a
series of words.

"Is it just me, or did you get a bit bigger since the last time I saw you?"

"Just a late growth spurt,"

"Your eye seems to have grown back as well."

"You're very observant."

"I notice things like that." Jaddo quickly grew frustrated by the large
man's reluctance to speak.

Beef came over and elbowed Sagat gently in the side, though if he had taken
a crowbar to his ribs instead it might have done about the same amount of
damage, given the rock hard texture of his stomach muscles. Seeing he had
the Thai's full attention, Beef remarked jovially, "I guess I can't refer to
you as my cyclopean associate anymore, now can I?" Beef chuckled at his joke
using the old nickname only he had dared give to the giant, at least to his
face.

It was Jaddo's turn to watch impassively. It was just like old times. Beef
telling Sagat jokes while the big man looked on without batting an eye. Or
so the aborigine thought until a slight smile, barely perceptible, appeared
on Sagat's face.

The giant said, "You were the only person I ever knew that tried to make me
laugh. I never told you how much I appreciated that. Thank you."

Even Beef was taken aback by the comment. "You smiled at one of my jokes.
Surely it's a sign of the Apocalypse."

"Probably," Sagat said.

This time it was Jaddo's turn to look at the man in shock. "Give me one of
those beers," he told Shampoo as she reluctantly handed one over, then
returned to stuffing her face with cheese curls and peppermints.

Kiber was more focused on the matter at hand as he watched the doctor's
examination with a careful eye. Once the doctor appeared finished, Kiber
asked, "I don't mean to sound uncaring or cold-hearted, but I am responsible
for managing my corporation's assets, and Shampoo is an important one of
them. I have a responsibility to many others to run things effectively, so I
need to know if she's okay, and if the cut is going to leave a scar."

The doctor pulled away from Shampoo. "She's in fine health, though she shows
signs of exhaustion from her fight. And aside from the fact I can
practically hear her arteries clogging from all of that junk she's dumping
inside herself, she's in superior physical shape."

Shampoo deliberately overstuffed her mouth with potato chips in response to
the doctor's comments.

"If you think this is bad, you should try training her for a few months,"
Jaddo threw in.

"I'd sooner give myself that procotological examine I threatened her with,"
the doctor said. "As to the wound, well, as hard as it is for me to believe,
that thing is healing at an incredible rate. Ordinarily I would say one that
deep would scar, but at the pace it's healing, I doubt there will be
anything that would show up unless one was looking real close."

"I've always healed fast," Shampoo offered through a mouthful of half-chewed
pretzels.

"Excellent! We wouldn't want such a precious commodity damaged in the
least."

All eyes turned to the new speaker. It was a Japanese man, about Kiber's
age, dressed in a white business suit and carrying an expensive briefcase.
He was of average height and build, but possessed a more than passingly
handsome face. Like Kiber, who was already in room, he radiated an aura of a
man who had wealth and influence and knew how to wield both with supreme
ease.

As he entered the room, both Rei Lan and Sagat took up bodyguard positions
at his side. Almost by unspoken agreement everyone between the newcomer and
Kiber moved out of the way, though all looked on in rapt attention. Even Rei
and Sagat fell back a couple of steps to allow their superior to speak on
his own.

"I'm Masichi Tojo, president of the Acquisitions Section of Morimoto
Incorporated." The newcomer bowed before Kiber, who returned the bow,
dipping neither higher nor lower.

"And I take it that you know who I am, else you would not be here," Kiber
replied.

Tojo seemed relieved. "Excellent. Let's cut to the chase, shall we? After
witnessing your fighter in action tonight, my superiors wish to purchase her
contract. We are prepared to offer you five times what you paid for it, as
well as an additional two hundred million to cover anticipated profits from
merchandising sales."

Shampoo let out a gasp, and Jaddo's eyes nearly bugged out of his head. Even
Kiber seemed momentarily taken aback by the offer. But the moment passed,
and he turned his gaze to Jaddo, smiled at him, then returned his focus on
Tojo. "I'm afraid I'll have to pass, although I'll admit it is a generous
offer."

"Come, come," Tojo said chidingly. "Didn't I just overhear you saying
something about being responsible for your corporation's assets? This is a
guaranteed profit far and above what could be expected from any fighter's
contract."

"Be that as it may, I'm afraid I still must refuse."

Tojo let out a tired sigh. "Very well. I've been authorized to increase the
offer by twenty percent if you should prove reluctant to part with the
girl."

"Triple it."

Tojo was taken aback by the statement. "I don't know if I can do that. I'll
have to clear it with my superiors."

Kiber gave Tojo an amused grin that told him who had the upper hand. "I
wasn't finished. I was going to end it by saying, even then it would not be
enough. The contract is not for sale."

If there was an advantage on Kiber's side, Tojo gave no indication he felt
the same way. "You drive an unexpectedly high bargain. I respect that.
However, there is something you should know. As you are aware, OMC has
recently gotten into the shipbuilding business. It has had some middling
success with smaller pleasure craft, but it's currently trying to enter the
business of military seacraft. Your zaibatsu is currently trying to obtain a
lucrative contract with the Imperial Navy to build three heavy cruisers. At
the moment, your offer is a distant second behind the Fujikawa-Misawa
Zaibatsu's offer. However, my employer has certain, shall we say, influences
within Fujikawa-Misawa. Their offer could be withdrawn and there would be
nothing to stand in the way of your company obtaining the contract, and that
would be worth far more than any ten fighters you could name. You would be a
hero, and there could possibly be a promotion in it for you. And that's in
addition to the money I offered you earlier. All for one fighter's contract.
It's an offer you can't refuse. All you need to do is say yes and we'll make
it official."

Kiber let out a slight clucking sound. "It appears Morimoto has been hiring
presidents that are hard of hearing. I specifically told you that Shampoo's
contract is not for sale, and here you are, making further offers and
wasting my time. Not a very good way to conduct business. Not at all."

Tojo looked at the man as if he had grown a third eye. So had just about
everyone else in the room, save Sagat, who seemed completely unaffected by
the events surrounding him.

"I am not joking when I say the Fujikawa-Misawa offer will be withdrawn. Of
course you can wait for the actual results to take place before handing us
her contract if you don't believe us." Now there was a touch of pleading in
Tojo's voice.

Kiber made a dismissive wave with his hand. "You bore me. If you have
nothing further to say, our business is concluded."

Tojo remained looking at Kiber uncomprehendingly for another moment before
collecting his wits. "I see. Very well. Given the way you conduct business,
perhaps I should not worry. We'll end up owning OMC within six months with
your kind of decision making."

"Now that would be a neat trick. Now please run along and tell your masters
they need to send a bigger lapdog next time," Kiber said.

The insult caused the veins on Tojo's forehead to twitch, but he said
nothing further and indicated to his two bodyguards they should leave.

Once the trio had exited the room and were well out of earshot, Kiber turned
to Shampoo. "Tell me, do you shit gold?"

"What?" Shampoo asked, completely taken aback by the bizarre question.

"I ask because that's the only reason I can possibly conceive of them
offering so much money for you." The frosty demeanor was now replaced with
open disbelief, although if it was at the offer or his refusal of it, even
Kiber could not say.

"Why did you turn it down?" Jaddo asked, though he quickly added, "Not that
I'm sorry you did."

Kiber reacted as though he was hurt by the question coming from Jaddo. "I
would never sell her contract to them. I think we all know who Mr. Tojo's
superiors really were. There's no telling what would happen to Shampoo in
that sort's hands. Besides, they offered too much money to just have her
fight for them. They wanted her far too badly for anything so simple. Say
what you will about them, they are not stupid. Whatever plans they really
had in mind would have boded badly for her, of that I have no doubt."

"You turned down a lot of money," Beef mentioned.

Kiber shrugged. "We're still going to make a ton off her once she hits the
Imperial Arena, and that was all we projected anyway. We lose nothing in the
bargain."

Jaddo shook his head. "There might be reprisals over that little encounter.
You weren't exactly congenial with Mr. Tojo."

"He's nothing more than a highly-paid lackey," Kiber scoffed. "I figured
that out halfway into the conversation. It's his masters that hold the real
power there. And even Shadowlaw wouldn't dare open warfare with OMC, even
using Morimoto as a front. We're too powerful and have too many resources
for that. And even if we weren't, we still wouldn't back down. OMC has
always rode high on its ideals, and we always will. Maybe we aren't the most
powerful zaibatsu around, but we are the most ethical and reliable. It's as
much a trademark as our symbol." There was unmistakable pride in Kiber's
voice as he uttered those statements.

Jaddo looked at the man in a newfound light. Until then, as much as he might
have personally liked Kiber, he had still thought of him as a well-mannered,
polite elitist that stood for money rather than ideals, but now that
illusion had been shattered. Certainly he was a man of many layers. "I don't
say this about too many people, almost no one, in fact. but you're a heck of
a guy. Not too many folks could have passed up that kind of a deal, but I
thank you for it."

Kiber seemed genuinely moved by the compliment. For a moment that concerned
Jaddo, but then he decided to not worry about it. Let Kiber take the
compliment for what it was, but by protecting Shampoo, Jaddo owed him a debt
of thanks, though he still wasn't going to sleep with him.

"Why don't we go out and celebrate at my place? It's all on the house," Beef
offered. Kiber, Jaddo, and even the doctor were quick to accept. Realizing
there was still someone that hadn't spoken up, all eyes turned to Shampoo.

The young warrior lay asleep on the examining room table, buried under a
blanket of multi-colored plastic wrappers and empty beer cans.

"Aww. She looks so sweet like that. We'll let her be," Jaddo said.

The others agreed and turned out the lights, allowing Shampoo her rest as
they headed out to celebrate until the wee hours of the morning.

Xxxxxxxxxxxx

Tojo felt his cheeks turn crimson and his heart race in panic at what was to
come. It had not always been this way. In the beginning, he had wielded
power, influence, and ungodly amounts of wealth. He was the envy of
everyone. Everything any man could want was all at his beck and call, and he
demanded much. All the so-called 'vices' were his to indulge in. Drinks,
drugs, women, and gambling were all that he needed to sustain his flesh.
Especially the games of chance. The more illegal, the better. Tojo had been
a gambler that had won all of his bets. At least until he wagered against
Shadowlaw.

It was a game with the highest stakes and the greatest of rewards. He put
everything on the line in attempting to do what only one other had
accomplished in trying to catch the Tiger by her tail. The contest had been
magnificent, everything he had thought it would be and more than he could
have ever imagined. Never had he felt more alive than when he had played the
game. Never had he felt his soul more damned than when he lost.

Now he found himself in the private box where they had watched the match
earlier in the evening, on his knees before his mistress, having already
given her the report on Kiber's refusal. Tojo wasn't stupid enough to
believe she would kill him over this matter --he was too important to the
organization-- but importance did not mean invincibility, and punishment did
not always mean death. There were things worse than death. He had already
endured them once at this woman's hands. He had no desire to repeat the
experience. He would do anything to avoid that, which had been proven many
times over as he eagerly obeyed whatever commands his mistress ordered, no
matter how depraved or demeaning they were.

The woman curled her hand to her chin, a distant look in her eye. "A pity. I
did so have my heart set on that one. Especially when I learned of her
special breeding. That she proved so... entertaining in the fight tonight
was a delicious added bonus. Alas, it seems it was not meant to be."

"We could abduct her before she sets off for Japan," Rei Lan said. "I doubt
she'll be guarded heavily, and Sagat and I could take care of any
complications."

Somewhere deep within Tojo a part of him seethed at how eager Rei Lan was to
make their mutual mistress happy. Once, Rei had belonged to Tojo as surely
as Tojo belonged to his mistress now. But the woman had destroyed that,
breaking what Tojo had with the girl he had once owned and loved. She had
reforged those bonds between Rei and herself, making them even more
unbreakable than what had existed before between man and woman and making
him detest her all the more. But that was what the mistress could do, which
was how she had obtained the rank she had in Shadowlaw. She was the very
best at what she did. That he could attest to firsthand.

It was a long time before the woman answered the request. "No. She's not
worth risking OMC's wrath, though we will see to it they never get their
hands on those ship contracts. As much as I might wish it otherwise, even
our organization can't win them all. Ah well. I shall simply have to find
something else to entertain me tonight and distract me from this annoyance.
Now who shall I choose to help me forget? Let me see. Hmmm."

Tojo didn't know which would be worse: being chosen or ignored. Again a part
of him damned the woman, but only a tiny part.

The woman stepped forward with feline grace and cradled Rei Lan's chin. The
young woman who had once defeated a dozen armed fighting men in under a
minute all but melted at her mistress's touch.

Again Tojo raged in a distant part of his being.

The woman allowed her finger to play across Rei's lips, gauging the reaction
and finding she approved of it. "Yes, I believe you shall do quite nicely,
my sweet." She turned to Sagat "And would you like to join us?"

Sagat remained impassive to the suggestion. "You know that I'm no longer
capable of responding to that sort of stimulation, and that I no longer have
interests of any kind along those lines."

The woman gave a sad shake of her head. "Ah yes, a pity about that. One of
the numerous drawbacks to vertebreaker technology. Such a loss of one so...
manly," she drawled, running her nails across his torso hard enough to leave
faint red marks which disappeared even faster than they came. Casting one
last melancholy glance at Sagat, she then turned her attention to Tojo. Now
directed at him, the look changed from depressed to sly. "And as for you, I
believe I shall allow you to stand by and watch as Rei distracts me from the
disappointments I have suffered."

So that was the punishment he was to endure for his failure. If there was a
worse one that could be done as quickly with the resources at hand, he could
not name it. Again he damned the bitch's eternally black soul.

She walked over to Tojo and ran her hand under his chin. Like Rei, he all
but melted at her touch. "What do you say to your mistress for her
graciousness?"

"Thank you, Mistress." And the worst part of it was, he meant each word.
Each syllable.

Truly she was the best at what she did.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

It was getting hard to breathe. The air, something was wrong with the air.
It was flat and stale and lacked the ability to preserve life. It was
weighing down in her lungs, like water. She was suffocating, and she was
going to die.

"Listen to me, or we're going to be as dead as your sister," Chen Wu's voice
warbled as much as his body did with his groveling. "You have to be Link
forever. If anyone, and I mean anyone, ever tells the truth as to what
happened, we're both dead. Do you understand? Do you understand?!"

He grabbed Pink by the shoulders and began shaking her. Had she not been so
deathly ill, she would have broken his hands for the offense. Instead, all
she could do was allow him his defilement. The shaking upset her stomach and
for the third time in as many minutes she tried to throw up, but all Pink
could do was give off dry heaves until it felt like her stomach would come
bursting out of her esophagus.

"You need to be Link!" Wu repeated, so desperate he did not care whether she
threw up on him or not.

"Thomas. I need Thomas," she sobbed weakly.

"Tell me! Do you understand? Do you understand?!"

"Yes. I'm Link. I'm Link forever," Pink sobbed, too weak to scream. "Please
let me see Thomas. I need him. I need to tell him. I need him to be with me,
or I'm going to die."

Wu considered that. "All right. You can tell him. He'll keep your secret
safe. But he's the only one that can know."

Pink paid little attention to the words. She was barely able to stand. She
was clad only in a nightgown and bare feet as she made her way out of the
room and to the hallway beyond. It was late, late enough that most of the
arena personnel were asleep or out enjoying themselves. She made her way
through the halls, uncontested. It was difficult. With every step she felt
like curling into a ball and crying or dying. Either one would have been
acceptable. She was nearly at the breaking point. Physically exhausted.
Emotionally worse. She wished she was dead.

Link was dead.

She was Link.

But someone was dead, so was it Pink?

No! She was Pink, who had to be Link.

It was confusing. Was she delirious? Only Thomas could set things right.
Only Thomas could make her feel alive again. Thomas loved Pink, and she was
Pink. He wanted to marry her. He told her so, though he thought it was Link,
who she was now, so it was her sister he must have wanted to marry, but she
was her sister and...

Her head hurt now. She staggered and brought both hands up and cradled it as
gently as she could. A soft whimper filled the air. She thought it came from
her. All that mattered was Thomas. She had to get to him. She might have had
to be Link for everyone else, but not him. He only wanted Pink, and she
would only be that for him. Just Pink. No Link.

Pink's tears began to flow. She had never been alone, not even in her
mother's womb. Link was there. Link had always been there. They were always
together, close even by twins' standards, even if their personalities were
different. They had always lived under the same roof. They had been in the
same classrooms. They had chosen the same career. They tried to do the same
things. Where one went the other followed, and it was usually Pink that had
led. Except this time. This time Link went on a journey all of her own, and
Pink could not follow. Now Pink would have to be both while at the same time
being alone. It was a horrible feeling, of being alone for the first time in
her life.

No, not alone. Thomas would be there with her.

That solitary thought was all that remained, all that could drive her to
move. It felt like days passed as she staggered through the halls. She had
two more bouts of dry heaves, but no one came to help her. It was just as
well. They could not help her, could not give her what she needed. Only one
man could do that.

And just when she thought she couldn't make it another step, she found
herself there. It was his room. She recognized the door. There was a crack
down the left side of it. Pink had put that there. It was from that time she
had thrown a girl into it, one she had caught trying to seduce Thomas right
after they had first started going out. The girl had not tried it a second
time. It was for the best. She and Thomas were meant to be together, even he
saw that now. He was all that she had left.

Link was dead.

She was Link.

"Thomas," she softly pleaded into the door, too weak to knock. She tried to
remain conscious and hold onto her sanity at the same time. It was a furious
struggle in which she had no strength. She was alone, and the solitude was
suffocating her. Only Thomas could breathe life into her again.

"Thomas," she said again, and was heard, though not by anyone from within
the room.

"Link."

Bloodshot eyes turned to where the voice came from across the hall. It was
another American. Bertram Sykes, if Pink remembered correctly. It was hard
to think. He and Thomas were the only Americans here, and they felt a
kinship with one another, even if they weren't close friends. So when their
rooms were located close together, they had struck a casual friendship with
one another. Or so she thought. It was hard to remember anything.

"I heard what happened to your sister tonight. I'm real sorry for you," he
said.

Pink thought he looked like a mouse with his small nose and soft brown eyes.
Link hit on him once early on, but he didn't respond to her advances, so now
he wasn't romantically linked to a corpse. Except Pink was Link now, just
like he said, which meant Thomas was the one romantically linked to a corpse
that wasn't dead. It was hard to think. Where was Thomas?

"If there's anything I can do for you, I'll be glad to help."

"Thomas?" she whined.

Bertram gave her a soft look. "He... he's gone. He was at the match tonight.
He... oh god, the poor man must have seen her die. He came back and... if
you saw the look in his eyes... he was crushed. I ain't never seen anyone
broken like that, not even in the worst fights when a soul knows he's going
to die from his wounds. It was like he was dead too, and just walking
around. He didn't say anything to me. He just went in his room, grabbed a
few things, and left. He isn't coming back."

Pink now Link looked at him in uncomprehending horror. "Not coming back?"

"He didn't say anything. But if you saw his eyes, you'd have known. He's
broken, and I don't know if there's anything that can help, especially now.
No. He's never coming back."

No. She needed him. She wasn't dead yet. She was alive. She needed to find
him and tell him and love him so he could love her and she could be Pink for
someone instead of Link to everyone and he couldn't leave her since he
proposed to her and wanted to spend the rest of his life with her and told
her so even though she couldn't say anything since then she had to be Link
for him but that was over and she could be Pink again...

Bertram caught her as she slumped to the ground. "Oh geez. I heard you were
sick. And with your sister and all. I'll... I'll get a doctor for you."

She wanted to scream and yell and make him let her go. She had to go out now
and find Thomas before he disappeared and she would not be able to tell him
she could still be Pink for him. Instead she lay there like a limp ragdoll,
barely aware of the world around her.

Bertram picked her up and carried her to his room, setting her on his bed
before calling the medical staff and telling them she needed aid. She cried
as she lay there, knowing somehow Thomas was gone and she was never going to
see him again. She and the fighting had been the only two things tying him
here, and with one gone and him unable to continue in the other, he would
wander again and be lost to her forever. If she knew nothing else, she knew
this was the truth, and she wept even harder for it.

As she faded in and out of consciousness, one other thought became as clear
to her as the knowledge that Thomas Cantrell was lost to her forever.

She had lost her sister.

She had lost her lover.

She had lost her very identity.

And it was all the fault of one person and one person alone. One who had
taken all of those things from her in the span of a heartbeat.

Shampoo.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"I think I have everything packed," Shampoo said to Jaddo as she placed the
last of her clothes in the steamer trunk she had purchased for this very
trip. The red monstrosity would have been too big to lug around if they had
been gong to travel like they had at the beginning of their journey.
However, much to her delight, the days of walking were past. She was headed
for the big time now and traveling in style. It was a good feeling.

"You've got a lot of stuff," Jaddo commented idly from the doorway of
Shampoo's room.

"You were right about me making more money here. I used some of it."

"On clothes," he said acidly.

"Why not?" Shampoo snapped back. "I needed new ones. I don't wear the same
seven shirts you do."

"One for every day of the week," Jaddo said, playing along with the joke. He
owned more than that. Not many more, but more.

As Shampoo closed the lid on the trunk, a great depression swept through
her. It was as though all the preparations until now hadn't been real, or
more appropriately, had not seemed real to her. But now, with the lid
closing, it also seemed to represent a closing of the door on this stage of
her life. It was proving almost as hard as leaving her home. That had felt
like that had happened eight years ago instead of eight months ago. She had
done so much in so little time. It was hard to believe.

Almost as though reading her mind, Jaddo said, "Feels like your leaving it
all behind, doesn't it?"

Mutely, Shampoo nodded her head.

"You made a lot of friends."

Shampoo smiled at that. They had even thrown her a going away party. It was
a moving thing, since no one back home had thrown one for her, not that they
had known she was going anywhere. But even if they had, it would not have
been as heartfelt as the one Chingmy, Apollo, and the others had given her.
It was made all the more depressing by the fact she knew it was unlikely she
would see any of them ever again. Oh, there were promises made that they
would try to look each other up, but Shampoo knew better. Their paths would
branch off in different directions, and it would only be the purest of
chance that would afford them the opportunity to meet again.

"Strutted your stuff before thousands."

Shampoo grinned at the memories of the antics she would go through to get
the crowds to cheer for her. When she was in the middle of the fighting
floor, winning the audience over, it was as though she were a band leader
giving orders to her marching band. It was a pity she had no real desires to
lead people around in that manner.

"Tasted the foods of far off exotic lands."

That made her snicker. The majority of 'exotic' food she had sampled was at
Beef's. Still, the foreign dishes had been a delight.

"Killed someone."

That made the smile disappear. Shampoo looked at him curiously, and perhaps
with a bit of trepidation.

Jaddo continued. "It's been a week now, and you never really talked about
it. That's a bit odd. Something like that, people tend to talk about, unless
you don't feel comfortable talking with me."

Shampoo shook her head. "It's nothing like that. I think about it a lot
myself. But..."

"Go on."

She responded to his prodding. He was right. It was time to get this off her
chest. "This might sound strange, but, I was sort of worried. I mean, I felt
bad about killing Pink, but not as bad as thought I would have. I mean,
she's dead. Forever, and it was because of my fists. These hands." She held
them out before him. "These hands ended someone's life. And though it does
depress me, and saddens me, it's not plaguing me like I thought it would
before it actually happened. I'm afraid I don't feel bad enough about it,
and that worries me. I don't want to end up a homicidal killer, like the
Northman or something. I don't know if that makes sense, though, which is
why I never said anything about it."

"Makes perfect sense," Jaddo assured her. "You see, us fighters are
different from normal folk, especially when you've been on the circuit as
long as we have. We see death all the time. How many people you think you've
seen die since your first dog pit? Twenty? Thirty?"

"Probably over fifty by now," Shampoo said. Most of the deaths had been
early on in gross mismatches by untalented fighters, but it was always
there, casting the threat of its shadow on every match.

"Right. You've seen lots of people die in gruesome ways. It's a reality for
us. It can happen to us, and sometimes it can happen to the others we fight
at any time. You get desensitized to it, and the idea gets in your head that
this can happen. It sort of prepares itself for something like this
happening with Pink. So when it does come, even though it bothers you, it
doesn't have quite the same impact it would if it just happened out of the
blue.

"Most of us guys that were on the circuit for a while killed someone during
our time. Hit a guy too hard by accident. Go all out in a fight with someone
as good as or better than you. These things happen. It affects each guy
differently. My first kill I felt bad about. Guy moved left when he should
have moved right. Instead of hitting his face, I hit his head. Broke one of
my knuckles on it, but sent parts of his skull into his brain. He died in a
coma five hours later. It bothered me for a while, but not enough to affect
me in my next fight. You ask Beef, it weighed heavy on him for a week. Don't
think he even slept with more than one girl in that time; that's how much it
bothered him. But like a good soldier, you put your life back on track and
deal with it, not allowing it to eat you up alive, especially since Pink was
the one that was trying to kill you after losing a fair fight. No offense,
but you can't feel too bad for something that was little more than
self-defense. It was too bad it happened, but that's life. Sounds like what
you're doing now is getting yours back on track." He paused a moment before
saying. "Makes me proud of you."

Shampoo was genuinely moved by the sentiment. "Thank you."

"No problem."

Jaddo's speech lightened the load upon her heart. She had not realized how
much Pink's death had bothered her until she spoke of it to someone else.
Now she felt even more parts of her discomfort falling to the wayside as she
was indeed putting her life back on its proper path. It was still
depressing, leaving the nearest thing to a home she had since departing her
village, but as long as she had her goals in sight and her mentor at her
side, all would be well.

"They're really going to be strapped around here with you moving on, Pink
gone on, and Snakebite and Link disappearing like that."

The truth was Shampoo felt relief at the disappearance of the last one.
Shortly after Pink's death, she had been certain Link would go ballistic and
try to kill her, especially since she had blamed Shampoo for a series of
incidents that she had nothing to do with. But surprisingly, after a short
stay in the infirmary for some undisclosed illness, Link just upped and
disappeared, just like Snakebite had. That was another one Shampoo was glad
was gone. Trying to avenge the death of a loved one was a possibility for
the sort of man he was, and Snakebite probably would have advanced to the
Imperial Arena where the two might have met. But unlike Link, there were
doubts Shampoo had about his desire to kill her. After all, the man was a
faithless bastard that hit on other women all the time, not the sort to
swear revenge for a lost woman when he could just seduce another. How much
could he have loved Pink if he behaved like that?

As to the loss of most of the four hottest commodities, Shampoo did feel bad
for Tetsuo, but more would come up in the next crop of fighters. That was
the way it always worked. There might be a couple of slow months until then,
but the arena in Hong Kong was too resilient to allow such a relatively
minor loss to affect it in anything but a small way. No doubt it and the
fights would still be going long after Shampoo was dead and buried. But not
until many years after she became a citizen.

"Do you have everything packed?" Shampoo asked. Their ship's departure was
within the next three hours, and she wanted to be certain they arrived there
with plenty of time to spare. There was no telling what might go wrong on th
e way there. Knowing how rough her luck sometimes ran, it would probably be
plenty.

"I do," Jaddo answered somewhat hesitantly.

Shampoo looked around the room again. "I'm going to miss this place. I think
I'm going to miss Beef's food most of all, and don't accuse me of only
thinking with my stomach. Do they have Italian places in Japan?"

Jaddo's discomfort seemed to grow. "Some. Most aren't as good as his,
though. The man knows his food."

"That he does," Shampoo agreed with a laugh. "When we get to Japan, do you
think you could show me to one of those places? I don't mean to bug you
about it, but everyone says Tokyo's really different from Hong Kong and
since the people will be speaking Japanese, and you keep telling me my
Japanese isn't any good, even if you are the only one that says it, I'd
appreciate the additional help until I get settled in."

"I'm not going to Japan with you."

The words caused Shampoo to stiffen. She gave a wide-eyed stare to her
mentor. "What do you mean you're not going? I saw you packing last night."

"I'm going back to the mainland. Going to see if I can scare up some more
fighters."

Shampoo's lip began trembling. "But what about the Arena? We're supposed to
go there."

"You are going there," Jaddo assured her. "They don't much approve of
trainers there, except only dropping by occasionally. If you're any good,
you're supposed to not need them by the time you get there. You hit the big
time like that, you got to be your own person. You got to stand on your own
two feet."

"But I still have a lot to learn. You said so yourself," Shampoo protested.

"You do, but I'm not the one to teach it to you," Jaddo said reluctantly.
"Look, I've taught you everything you need to make it in the big league. I
sharpened you up, honed your skills, taught you how to play the crowd, kept
your head on straight in the early days when you needed my guidance. I even
stuck around extra after I sold your contract to make sure you kept on the
right path. You did. You don't need me anymore."

"Yes, I do!" Shampoo protested.

Jaddo laughed at that, but it was a bittersweet one. "That's the first time
you ever admitted you need my help, and it's the first time you don't need
it. Now that is a good one."

"No, it's not!" Tears started to form in Shampoo's eyes.

"Now quit crying, you big baby. No one else I ever taught cried, and I don't
want to hear it from you." Even if she was the fighter he had grown to care
about the most. Not that he would admit that to her, even now. It would just
guarantee she would bawl her eyes out, and it might be bad enough to make
his eyes get moist. He was above that sort of cheap emotional crap, he
assured himself.

Shampoo firmed her resolve, though her eyes remained watery. "I want you to
go with me. I won't have any friends there. No one will know me and everyone
will hate me."

"When we first go here you didn't have any friends here either, and only
some of the people hated you, and most of them are gone. I'd say that's a
good sign," Jaddo pointed out. "Look, there is like here. Oh sure, the
competition is tougher and there's going to be a lot more attention on you,
but when it comes to the fighters themselves, it's always the same. We got
our own little subculture going on, and all the flashy stuff the Impys add
isn't going to change that. You'll find a clique to belong to. You'll
probably make some nice friends there. You'll probably piss some people off
since you're so much better than them, so yah, it will be tough, but you'll
come out on top. If I didn't think so, I would never have let you enter that
fight. You'll do fine. You just got to give it time."

"But my Japanese is bad," she said. Even she would have admitted it was a
pathetic attempt to get him to stay.

Jaddo's voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper. "Want to know a secret?"

Intrigued, Shampoo said, "Yes."

He placed his hand next to his mouth so no one would be able to read his
lips. "When I first got to the Impy Arena, I spoke it worse than you." He
gave her a wink.

Shampoo stared at him in disbelief. Then it happened. She did not want it to
happen -she was too depressed- but it still did. A snicker slipped out. Then
another. Then a third. It got progressively worse, like a snowball thrown
from the top of a mountain, picking up snow as it rolled down the hill. The
snickers became chuckles, then it became outright laughter until Shampoo was
nearly crying from how hard she was laughing.

Once she got it under control, she asked in a much more elated, yet at the
same time somber, voice, "So you really are leaving?"

"Afraid so." This time Jaddo did not hide his reluctance. "I will drop by at
some point though. I should have the time to do that. Sure got the money to
do it after what you racked in for me. I'll see how far you've let yourself
get fat and lazy without me around. Maybe I'll make you do a workout or two
to toughen you up."

"I'll look forward to it," Shampoo said, and for perhaps the first time,
meant it.

On impulse, she moved forward and embraced him. After an awkward moment, he
returned the gesture. He had never hugged a fighter before when they parted
company. Given most of them, he wouldn't have wanted to. But Shampoo was
different. As different as day was to night.

In a moment that was as rare for Jaddo as a four leaf clover growing in a
field of dandelions, he said, "You know something. I've never had a pupil
that kept me on my toes as much as you do. I never had anyone so cocky,
headstrong, stubborn, or exasperating. I've also never had one that I've
been so fond of either. Why, if I had a daughter, I bet she'd have turned
out just like you."

"Really?" Shampoo asked, looking up at him.

"Yah. Thankfully, the good Lord above has seen fit not to plague the world
with two of you."

Shampoo snickered at the jibe. She was going to miss them so. She remained
in his embrace, wishing that she had had an uncle like him back home. Her
life would have been more interesting, if nothing else.

After another minute of remaining that way, Jaddo broke off the embrace and
bent down to kiss her forehead. "That's all the sentimentality you'll
squeeze out of me. I'll see you to the docks and make sure you get on the
ship all right. We can bullshit about all the good times we had while we
wait."

Shampoo gave him an incredulous look.

Jaddo relented. "Okay, we'll make up stuff and pretend we had nothing but
good times we shared."

That made Shampoo laugh. He was right. Too much sincere sentimentality did
not fit him at all. She liked Jaddo just the way he was, and wanted to
remember him that way, even if he found being insufferable as easy as
breathing.

Looking over her bags and trunk, Shampoo turned to him and asked, "Since
this is our last time together, would you help me carry some of my bags?"

Jaddo's mood changed in an instant. The smile he wore was replaced with a
scowl. He went over to where the steamer trunk lay on her bed and said,
"Don't be stupid, girl. Since this is our last time together, you're going
to get a good workout."

"What?!"

Before Shampoo could react, Jaddo picked up the trunk and heaved it at her.
Despite its tremendous weight, she managed to catch it, though it took a
moment for her to properly balance it. By the time she had a firm grasp, he
had taken the rest of the bags, tied a cord around them, and wrapped them
around her neck.

"Now that's more like it. Since we're not taking a taxi to the dock-"

"We're not?!"

Jaddo unfolded a segmented meter long ruler from a pocket and smacked her
rump with it. "No interruptions! Now, as I was saying, since we're not
taking a taxi, you're going to have to jog with all that stuff down to the
dock or you'll miss your boat."

"I am not!"

That got her another smack. "It figures the instant you think you're be free
of me you'd get lazy. Now get moving. Hut, hut, hut!"

Having no choice but to do as she was instructed or remain standing for her
entire sea voyage from a sore bottom, Shampoo did as she was ordered and
began jogging with the trunk and bags around her. "Only three hours until
I'm finally free."

"You'll never be free of me. When you least expect it, I'll pop out of
nowhere and make you work out instead of letting you eat pasta and making
your behind wider."

"Not if you're dead."

"Don't be stupid, girl. If I die, I'll come back and haunt you when you
start slacking off!"

"Now there's something to look forward to."

Another smack was applied. "Less talk, more run. Miss that boat and you'll
be swimming to Japan."

Shampoo shut her mouth and kept jogging. Despite the unexpected nature of
what was going to be an exhausting workout, she wore a smile the entire
time. This was the perfect way for the two of them to part ways, masochistic
as it sounded. The insecurities that had plagued her since the reality of
her advancement set in had disappeared. Now she felt ready to take on
whatever the world would dish out and was confident she could come out on
top.

It was all just one more step on the path she had set out upon.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

This is the end of Path of the Warrior. The rest of Shampoo's story will be
covered by Jurai-Knight in the main story of Quantum Destinies. Other
factors, such as Pink, Snakebite, and Shadowlaw will likewise be covered in
future tales either by myself or him. No, it's not a nice ending wrapped up
neatly in a bow. It was never going to be. This was a tale of beginnings for
many, rather than an ending for all. And so it has been.

Special thanks to:
L.B. Drifter
Chris Horton
Wade Tritschler
Jurai-Knight
Jim Bader
Ryan Anderson























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