% Yeeehaaww. Well, I did review it once before, but what the heck, I'll do
this part again to get me in the mood.


Hi all,

When I released part 1 of this a while back, I was expecting the other half
to be done in a few days. My muse had other ideas.

% Yes. It is a vexing creature, isn't it?


I hope you enjoy this completed chapter. I'm already 25 pages into chapter
21, so hopefully that one will come a little quicker.

% Yes. Excellent.

% This will be more sparce than last time since I've already made a bunch of
snide comments.

Steve


Finishing the exercise, Shampoo came to a rest, bringing the palms of
her hands together as if in prayer, her head slightly bowed. Her own
mother had taught her the core movements of the exercise many years
ago, back when she had first learned to walk, for it was the way of her
people to begin training children how to fight from a young age. Such
traditions kept the village strong. Shampoo often used it to find her
center whenever she felt troubled by anything.

% nice set up on the scene and her thoughts, BTW.

A short distance away, Ensign Shan Pu sat on a smooth boulder, having
watched Shampoo go through the exercise. It was identical to one she
had once

% this 'one... once' thing parses off to me, but not sure how you would
change it


"<About what?>" Shampoo began another combat exercise as she spoke,
one that brought in techniques from the many styles she had come into
contact with through her time in the Arena. She managed to seamlessly
flow them together, a sign of how far her skills had improved since
leaving her village and learning more about the martial arts than she
had ever before imagined was available to learn from the world outside
its walls.

% Use 'learn... learning' might want to switch one.



Shampoo paused in her exercise and looked at Ensign Shan, a serious
look on her face. "<How could I refuse to help an amazon sister?>"

Ensign Shan was surprised again at Shampoo's words. "<But I'm not an
amazon. Not really.>"

"<You come from a world where women rule over men, and you don't think
you're an amazon?>"

% True. Should it be capitalized, though?


Ensign Shan was stunned at the ease of Shampoo's acceptance. It took
her a few moments to find her voice again. "<As soon as I can locate
the source of the resonator technology on this world, I can contact the
Matriarchy and guide them here. They should be able to extract my
memories from you and put them back into my original body. It will be
like I was never here, except maybe for some random bits and pieces.>"

% Well, methinks she'll be hanging around for a wee bit longer than that.

"<Then you are my guest,>" Shampoo replied, nodding in acceptance. She
sat down on the boulder in a lotus position. "<Tell me more about this
Matriarchy of yours.>"

Ensign Shan began to speak. "<Well, according to our best records, it
all began some three thousand years ago, when a Solnoid vessel with its
crew in cold sleep crash-landed in ancient China...>"

% Shampoo: Excellent, once I unearth this spaceship, I will be poised to
take over and rule the world. I always wanted to be an Evil Overlord (tm)


Shampoo stood up, shaking her head slightly. She still remembered once
being Ensign Shan, but the memories seemed less important to her, less
vivid than those of her life here. Her analog's life, she very quickly
amended, blinking for a moment as a slight case of vertigo assailed her
once again. Merger was always an uncertain process, she recalled from
one of Ensign Shan's classes, and the human mind was a very complex
instrument.

% Nice to see a gestalt happening so early as well.



That was why, when she was still a very young girl, Shampoo had vowed
that she too would find a man to marry who was strong like her father,
to have a man who could stand at her side instead of behind her, like
the typical servile male that most other amazons turned their husbands
into. That being said, she hoped she found him soon, so she could
finally end her nights of sleeping alone. She had managed to hold off
her frustrated sexual desires up until now by maintaining a rigorous
training regimen, but it didn't help her peace of mind any to now have
Ensign Shan's memories of bedding a comfort male, an erotic reminder of
what she was missing by not having a mate to call her own.

% Yep, those memories would be bad, letting her know what she was missing.


While she rinsed the soap from her body and hair with jets of hot water
from the sprayer, Shampoo's hand brushed across the tiny bump of the
contraceptive implant on the inside of her upper arm. She had ceased
noticing it some time ago, and only noticed

% two 'notices' close together here. Odd how that's one thing that tends to
draw my eye.


With Ensign Shan's memories now mingled with her own, Shampoo now knew
better what she had been denying herself. Before, she had only known
about the pleasures shared between a man and a woman in an abstract
sort of way, through the occasional stories that some of the other
girls had told her about what it was like to have intimate relations
with a man. Even back home in her village, some of the older girls had
bragged about their experiences with the local boys, leaving a younger
Shampoo to wonder about what it would feel like to bed one. And while
her mother had told her the mechanics of what to expect,

% Mostly that after orgasm the male tended to sleep instead of cuddling was
a point she harped on about endlessly.

 hearing about
it and feeling it were two entirely different things.

Such thoughts of home and her mother caused her mind to drift off into
pleasant imaginings of her eventual triumphant return to her village,
hopefully with her new husband in tow. In her brief fantasy, he was a
handsome trophy of her time spent in the outside world,

% Especially since she'd have him bronzed. :)


Shampoo sighed happily at the pleasant thought of having children, and
of having a strong husband to love her and be loved by her. Every
night after they were married would be spent enjoying long hours of
sweaty, amorous exertions with him as they each learned how to satisfy
the other's every carnal desire. She and her future husband would work
hard at that, as many times a night as their stamina lasted, hopefully
producing several strong daughters together during their future years
with each other. And who knew? Perhaps someday she might even take
over her mother's duties as the Enforcer for the Amazon Council, or
maybe even become a Matriarch herself.

% And have to answer hundreds of beuracratic forms from dusk till dawn.

As she showered, Shampoo began singing a song she had heard on the
radio the other day.

"Yap-pap-paa yap-pap-paa 1

% stray 1 there



A shadowy personage watched Ranma pass by while remaining well-hidden,
one of the Kuno Family's numerous ninja retainers. The hand that had
drifted to grasp the hilt of a sword moved back to a neutral posture,
when another bright flash of lightning revealed the face of the young
intruder to the guard's sight. That face was known to them all, and
strict and explicit orders had been given by the young mistress to
allow him access to the manor at any hour, day or night.

% Especially night.

Ranma paused near the guard's position, sensing danger for a moment,
but then it seemed to pass, and he continued on his way to the main
house. He leaped up to the trees after taking several squelching steps
on the muddy ground of the enormous lawns that surrounded the mansion.
Leaping from tree to tree, he advanced towards his goal, Kodachi's
bedroom. He hoped she wouldn't misinterpret his sudden appearance,

% Probably. She'll think you're there for hot sex. She'll be very angry with
the misassumption. ^_^

remembering her teasing words from the last time he had visited her.
But he needed to use the resonator, and he would not have time after
school, because of his scheduled date with Nabiki then.

The window to Kodachi's bedroom was unlocked and opened easily at his
touch, swinging inward quietly. He shed his outer garb and shoes on
the small balcony, not wishing to tread mud and water into the finery
of Kodachi's bedroom. Gloom cloaked him as he stepped in quietly and
looked around, pausing a moment to shut the window behind him, unable
to make out very much in the darkness cast by the heavy curtains that
covered the windows. He remembered the general layout of the room from
his last time visiting,

% 'his last visit' (would be better)

 and he slowly made his way to the bed, hoping
to wake Kodachi quietly, without waking

% 'rouse' perhaps for the first 'wake'?

everyone else in the house as

% might need a comma there between house and as

But then Sukeban-Kodachi's bravado awakened within her. Without making
a sound, she slipped from her bed, on the far side from the intruder's
approach. She would deal with whoever had dared invade her chambers by
herself, feeling no need to shout for help.

% Good thing for Ranma she doesn't sleep with her ultra deadly yo-yo under
her pillow. :)


likely either that perverted Ukyo or one of those thuggish Tendo girls,
intending her some mischief. It might even be that treacherous Asuka
Saginomiya, finally attempting to exact revenge for the last beating
that she had received at Kodachi's hands. But still, what sort of a
dishonorable wretch would sneak into someone else's room at night and
attack them while they were lying in their own bed?

% A smart one that would like to win. :)


Ranma revised his adversary's abilities upwards even as he struggled to
get the initiative in this fight. Unable to connect with his elusive
foe with punches or kicks, he shifted over to grappling maneuvers when
his adversary suddenly drew closer and began punching him in a powerful
hailstorm of blows. They rained into his torso with enormous force,
and one just missed his solar plexus. He managed to get a hold of one
of his foe's arms, and he was puzzled when he only felt bare skin. Was
his opponent naked?

% Lot's of people wear short sleeved shirts. :P

Her arm caught, Kodachi suddenly shifted in and delivered a brutal knee
strike low into her foe's gut, narrowly missing the groin area, hoping
to free herself. Her ears were rewarded with a sharp gasp of breath,
but the off-center blow didn't take as much fight out of her opponent
as she had been hoping.

% had hoped (sounds better to me)


Eventually, after a fierce struggle, he managed to muscle his adversary
down and pinned to the ground, and both of them paused to catch their
breath. Ranma felt an intense thrill of excitement coursing through
him at his apparent victory, surging past the veil of semi-controlled
savagery that he was coming to grow used to

% wordy. 'that he was growing used to...' is better

were not supposed to become aroused from wrestling around on the floor,
like some kind of plebian tramp. She nibbled guiltily at her lower
lip, wondering what her mother would say if she ever found out about
this.

% Probably to make sure the guy is using protection. :)


He really should be getting off of her,

% can drop the 'of'


Bright light from the hallway suddenly spilled across them both as the
door was flung open with a loud crash, and Ranma glanced over at the
doorway, startled and momentarily blinded.

% well, he didn't exactly arrive at the 'worst moment' since they did just
kiss. :)

"I understand quite well, dear sister," Kuno snarled, taking another
vicious swipe at Ranma. "This foul, iniquitous beast shall feel my
righteous wrath for attempting to prey upon your tender innocence to
slake his brutish cravings for your maidenly charms."

% He still has quite a way with words.

Quickly realizing what he was looking at, Kodachi demurely and speedily
covered her bosom as best she could with one arm and sidled over to
grab up her robe from off the bed. Her face practically glowed red in
the light coming in from the hallway, and she cursed herself for acting
so shamelessly earlier with him. She had kissed him so brazenly, and
things could have gone even farther. What must he think of her now?

% That she was obviously a tease. :)


Well, she would show Saotome-kun. She would get all dressed up in a
beautiful new gown and accompany her oldest and dearest friend from her
childhood to Ohtori Academy's dance and enjoy herself. It was going to
be a perfect evening, and she swore she would not let herself even
think about a certain pigtailed boy while she was there.

% Yeah. Right.

the situation, since they had been such close friends as children.
Despite the strong feelings for Miki that she had been discovering
within herself lately, she kept telling herself that she was only doing
this to teach Ranma a lesson. But Sukeban-Kodachi's vivid memories of
many pleasurable couplings with his analog on her own world kept rising
unbidden in her mind, flustering her a bit at their erotic vividness.

% Yep. Much fun to come.


Now that he thought about it, he wasn't happy that she had chosen to
spend time with that Miki guy from Ohtori when they had all gone over
together for his rematch against Utena. But he also felt rather
uncomfortable that his gut response to that was to beat Miki up, for
daring to invade his 'territory.' Admittedly, the guy had looked down
his nose at him, not to mention being far too friendly with Kodachi,
but he did seem to be Utena's friend as well as Kodachi's. So, as
tempting as it was, beating him up should probably be held as a last
resort. Unless Miki was dumb enough to start something with him, he
would try and be nice, for Kodachi and Utena's sake.

% I think we can count on that not working out. :)


Touga, on the other hand, troubled him far more.

% Men that bishonen always had the girlys swooning over him.


Akane seemed strongly enamored with him now, as if she was suddenly
seeing him as something other than an object for her aggressions. What
was worse, this Akane, even as brutal as her nature appeared, possessed
a sense of true self-confidence that many of her other analogs lacked.
This version of the Tendo girl did not care that she was not skilled

% 'proficient' (spelling off there) would be better than 'skilled' since you
use 'skills' later.

in
traditionally feminine skills, for she obviously saw herself first and
foremost as a warrior. It made for a rather profound difference in
personality from her other selves, and that bravado was even somewhat
attractive, now that he thought about it.


That decided, he moved on to the other remaining girls in his life,
ignoring the qualms that thoughts of Akane were still causing him and
stubbornly refused to vanish.

% Heh. She's cute, in her own way. Just possessive and not disingenuious
enough to hide it. :)

At least with Ukyo and Utena, things were simpler, although he would
not call those situations simple either

% Yes, best to qualify that.

.. Ukyo seemed so much like her
analogs that it had been easy to fall back into buddy mode with her,
but with the added dimension of physical attraction he felt towards
her. In one reality he had visited, she had been his wife, and theirs
had been a wonderful and loving relationship. And, unlike how it was
with Kodachi and Nabiki, there did not appear to be any other boys in
the picture,

%Only because Ryouga got too lost to show up yet. But it's coming. :)


Wait. What the hell was he thinking?

% Normal teenage guy thoughts.

Ranma stepped away from Kodachi's door with a sigh. Dealing with girls
was a far more complex problem than any sort of scientific conundrum
that he had ever come up against. But, at least for now, he needed to
try and keep the situation stabilized and under control until he could
rescue his father. Then he could start dealing with the girls. Then
the problems in his life that the resonator had caused would finally be
behind him.

% Heh.


Exploring well over a hundred alternate timelines in that quest, her
former self had driven his crew relentlessly for some sign of Sage,
even while maintaining the cover that they were looking for new worlds
for the Musk to exploit in their war against the Matriarchy, even as
they moved further and further away from the front lines. Herb was
certain that Sage was still alive, trapped somewhere across unexplored
timelines in an analog of himself, carrying the knowledge of the
precious advance in resonator technology that would finally allow the
Musk to break the deadlock with the Matriarchy, the knowledge that had
been destroyed with his lab.

% Hmm. Possibly we'll be seeing Sage again at some point then.


this unwanted new existence she now had as a woman. Life for this
analog had been a fairly simple affair repeated in an endless cycle of
sleeping, eating, and exercising, with occasional breaks for bathing
and taking care of life's other biological necessities. This analog's
mind had been oddly content with such a dull routine, and one devoid of
any significant memories prior to three years ago, apparently from some
kind of amnesia.

% Hmm. Interesting.


Her nipples stiffened from her gentle ministrations to them, feeling
like miniature erections, and they responded to her stroking them with
intense feelings of eroticism. She kept at it, almost unable to stop,
and then reached down between her legs with one hand, doing to herself
what she wanted to do to herself. Herb imagined herself, her old self,
here with this beautiful girl, first working her up into a fever pitch
with his touch upon her body, and then penetrating, thrusting.

% Ought to label this part 'lime'


"Yes." Kado tapped his cane on the ground as he made his way up the
steps to the front door. "It will be interesting to see what the boy's
been up to while we've been gone.

% Lot of basic naughtiness, really. :)

"What?" Kado sputtered, taken by surprise. "You should have no need to
involve yourself with one of them. Trust me on this, boy. Why bother
to involve yourself with a human woman, with all of her petty needs and
abstinence, when a lilith can provide you with all the companionship,
loyalty, and love you could ever want?"

% It's still like playing with a doll instead of a real girl. :)


"Even worse," Kado remarked sourly. "The absolute last thing you need
is a woman with her own agenda.

% It serves to keep one on their toes, though.


Kado raised a finger and waved it from side to side. "Ah, but Genom
has finally cracked that flaw, boy, and that's where those three come
into play." Kado pointed proudly at the trio of young catgirls. "Each
of them is designed to be as naturally fertile as any mere human woman,
but the ovums they produce can only combine with human sperm to form
human male children, thereby ensuring Genom remains as the only source
for future liliths. Think about it, boy! Our market share will grow
to crush that of all of our competitors, now that we can provide any
man who can afford one with his own beautiful, perfectly loyal and
loving, tailor-made lilith, who can now even give him human sons. No,
mankind no longer needs women, now that Genom can provide an improved
alternative."

% Heh. Wonder if the old coots crazy, or if some woman in his past broke his
heart so badly he wants to see them gone.


A cold sort of smirk suddenly crossed his features as he turned away
from them and began walking. He muttered grimly, "After all, he is
only human."

"Yes, Kinnosuke-sama," said all three catgirls, feeling a new spring
entering their step as they happily trailed along behind him, looking
forward to committing some mayhem upon the one they hated above all
others in the world: Nabiki Tendo.

% Should be fun. Will hopefully have time to get to the second part
tomorrow.

Thanks for sharing.

DB Sommer





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