An Amazon Named Tendo

by Gregg Sharp

=====

char & situations tm their respective owners.

------------------------------------------

	"Bets are closed," Toltiir announced. "At least
for now."

	"Awwwwww," the wood nymph pleaded. 
"Can I put this one up anyway, just in case, for next time?"

	Toltiir shrugged, not easy when one is 
wearing the form of a cat. "Okay, but you understand this
doesn't count and will probably be erased by that team of
dimension-hopping adventurers."

	The wood nymph nodded, sending her cascade
of green curls bobbing. "Mmmph! I just wanna chance!"

------------------------------------------

	Soun Tendo ran. Happosai was ANGRY! He
had never seen the master this angry before and both Soun
and his partner-in-crime Genma needed to get away from
the diminuitive but powerful Anything Goes kempo master
before they ended up needing an undertaker.

	Soun wasn't aware of the bizarre double image
as he came to a fork in the road. One road lead back to 
Japan, where he would meet a girl named Kimiko. Figuring
that he would be expected to go to Japan, Soun took
the other road, leading deep into the mountains of China.
The image of Soun on the other path faded away.

-------------------------------------------

	Soun Tendo found his path blocked by a 
half dozen young women in martial arts clothing. One
of them said something in Mandarin that sounded
vaguely threatening.

	"<You look lost. Whatever you seek, it is
not here!>"

	Soun considered his options. Happosai was
back that way, and most likely still quite angry. He could
flee but be heading back down towards the master, or he
could try to win his way past these warriors. He took a
martial arts stance. "Get out of my way, I mean you no
harm but if you attack I shall defend myself!"

	"<What language was that?>" A blonde
girl asked, absently twirling a dagger in her hand.

	"<Looks like neither of us speaks the other's
language. Hey, is he challenging us?>" A girl with 
purple hair blinked. ""

	"<Then the reason he isn't attacking is
so we can make a choice who responds.>" A black
haired woman smiled. "<Well, sisters? He's got guts,
I'll grant him that.>"

	"<Nah,>" the blonde shook her head. "<I
think he's just an ignorant lout who's lost in a country
where he doesn't speak the language.>"

	"<Come now,>" the black haired woman
smiled and whirled her trident around as she stepped
forward. "<Who is to say that this is not the workings
of fate?>"

	Po Ki lunged forward, her trident stabbing out
towards the man's chest. Soun sidestepped, and brought
a palm-heel forward to the girl's nose. She dodged, snapping
the trident close to her body as she kicked out.

	The palm strike had been a feint however, and
Soun's kick caught her in the belly and lifted her up
briefly before she landed again.

	"<Well, whatever you want to say about him,
he's not bad as a fighter.>" The purple-haired girl said
with a smile. "<Guess you won't be competing in the 
unmarried woman's tournament next year, Po Ki!>"

---------------------------------------

	"Soun, WHO is this?" Happosai sat on the
windowsill and looked down on the couple in their bed.

	"Master, you've come to rescue me!" Soun
sobbed.

	"Oh stop blubbering. My goodness, you can
be such a wienee."

	Po Ki kept her eyes closed and listened, her
hand reaching for a set of throwing spikes she kept 
close to hand. She still didn't understand her husband's
odd language, but he was beginning to learn hers and
in the course of teaching him her language, she'd picked
up a few bits and pieces of his.

	"Let me guess, you defeated her in combat,
and then she declared you to be her husband, dragging
you back to this village so you could be kept on a short 
leash. Right?"

	"You have it exactly, master, how clever of
you."

	Happosai considered. Soun groveled really well,
even better than Genma. "I ought to leave you here, but I've 
spent so much time breaking you in...OK, let's go."

	Po Ki prepared to use her throwing spikes
when she felt a pressure on her hand and a whisper
to wait. After her husband and visitor had left, Po Ki
turned her gaze to the one who had stopped her.

	Cologne spoke without further prompting.
"<Po Ki, you are a fine cook, an excellent musician, and
a talented glassblower. Your skills as a warrior quite
frankly, have never been particularly impressive. No
fault of yours. I want you to follow that husband of
yours, but don't fight the little guy if you can help it.
I'm about the only one in the village who can take him
on and have a chance of winning. I want to be kept
informed, though, as the little man is a thief who stole
many of our treasures years ago. If he leads you to
his stash, let me know about it immediately.>"

	"<Yes, Elder.>" Po Ki nodded her head.
"<Will I be gone long?>"

	"<Many years, I suspect, child. Do not
worry, you will remain welcome here.>"

----------------------------------------------

	Poki Tendo looked at the postcard,
signed by Elder Cologne's hand. It was simple,
that there was another skirmish with the Musk
impending and they needed all the warriors
they could get.

	Kasumi could maintain the house,
she had learned much from her mother. Nabiki
was still too young, and Akane was too young
to be seperated from her mother.

	Soun would fuss and moan and cry,
but she had never let him forget that she was
an amazon and would not be budged on some
things. The only reason Akane would come 
with her was that her daughter would still be
nursing for another month.

	Poki nibbled another one of the
chocolate covered pretzel sticks that some
clever woman must have named after her,
and considered. If she brought the whole
family, they would be stuck there in the 
village, unable to return. She could at
least show off Akane, though.

	As long as the family were not
all together at the village, then there would
always be an excuse to leave.

	Her decision made, Poki went
off to inform her husband of it.

-----------------------------------------

	Soun opened the door to
see his youngest daughter, plus two
taller and older women, plus a shrunken
old mummy on a stick.

	Poki told her husband to 
make some tea, there was much to talk
about.

	All three of the Tendo daughters
were in attendance for this, as they were the
ones to be spoken of.

	"During the battle," Poki said in
a quiet tone, "some of our relatives were 
killed by the Musk. Others found that rather
than face them openly in honorable combat,
some particularly dishonorable Musk planned
to use Jusenkyo water to transform their 
opponents into animals, then carry them off
to their Citadel."

	"Jusenkyo?" Nabiki blinked, ever
the inquisitive one. "Is that the story of the
springs of cursed water? They are real?"

	Cologne held a glass over Poki's
head. "Quite real." The waters came down on
Poki, who seemed to melt inside her clothes.

---------------------------------------------

	"Well, Akane, this _was_ your first
Tournament, and you did very well all things
considered."

	Akane looked up at her sisters. "You
did better than I expected, Kasumi. You're not
even a warrior, but you made it through two 
rounds of the fights."

	"Don't discount a Healer's skills,
Akane." Kasumi smiled at her sister and 
finished applying the bandage. "You even
managed to surprise Nabiki with how well
you did, and surprising even an apprentice
Lore Master is not an easy task."

	Their cousin shrugged, as they
were still talking that weird foreign language
of theirs. Why couldn't they speak Mandarin
like civilized people? She could guess why
Akane looked so unhappy, though. "<Akane,
you have said you fought your way through
crowds of boys at school ever since this 
warrior-poseur found out that he had to defeat
you in combat to win the right to court you. 

	"<In the place you live, you are the
best, as befits one with the blood of amazons in
your veins. Here, you are not the best. Here,
there are many who have trained longer and
harder, and faced tougher opponents than you
have. It is what makes them better.>"

	Nabiki snorted, and fingered her braid.
She'd long wanted to discard the hairstyle for 
something more practical, but long hair was a 
status symbol within the amazons. Shaving one's
head was a punishment for dishonoring the tribe.

	"Shampoo's got a point, sis. If you
want to be better, maybe you ought to stick around
here for awhile and get some serious training. You
can even work on that atrocious Mandarin of yours."

	"<Shampoo!>" The referee called for their
"cousin"- actually Poki was Shampoo's mother's 
shieldmate, so there wasn't a blood tie, but there was
a strong one. There was every indication that if Akane
accepted the honor, and came to the village, that she
would be asked to be the shieldmate of Shampoo. 
"<Shampoo, it is time for the final battle. Dowel is
ready to end the Tournament.>"

	"<This will be quick,>" Shampoo nodded
and winked at Akane. "<Dowel is very strong, stronger
even than Akane, but has holes in her defenses that
you could drive an ox through.>"

	"<Look at that, there's a panda and a girl
heading for the Prize?!"> Kasumi started, she wasn't
as interested in the fighting as some others.

	"<That's the Jusenkyo Guide?>" Nabiki's
eyes widened. "<Well, I better go warn them off.>"

	"Would you two speak Japanese, you
know I can't follow that stuff!" Akane rubbed a sore
shoulder and stared at the two figures a few yards
away. "I thought pandas only ate bamboo?"

	Nabiki detoured towards one of the huts,
bringing a kettle out just as Shampoo was chewing
out the young girl whose panda was interrupting her
moment of triumph.

	The girl in question made a challenge
in response to the hasty translation by the Guide.
This brought some dismay to the audience, as such
a bright occasion as the Tournament shouldn't be
marred with unnecessary death.

	Shampoo agreed to the terms, then
facefaulted when Nabiki turned first the panda,
then the girl into different forms.

	"Thanks," Ranma said, with a smile.

	"You'll owe me later," Nabiki replied,
noting that she had earlier heard them correctly
and that they were speaking Japanese. 

	Shampoo noted the exchange. Well,
she'd teach this upstart male to go challenging
her, no problem.

	Kasumi, Nabiki, and Akane watched
as Shampoo attacked.

	"<Overconfident,>" sighed Kasumi 
as Shampoo launched herself across the log.

	"<Pride before a fall,>" was Nabiki's
summation, as Shampoo was kicked off the log.

	"He's pretty good, I guess," said 
Akane. "Bet I could take him, though."

	"I dunno, sis," Nabiki attempted to
"look deep" as Lore Master Lo Xion had taught
her. "Destiny seems to swirl around that one. In
fact, I think he's going to..."

	"...run." Kasumi sighed. "The Guide
mistranslated what was going on, AGAIN. You'd
think he would have learned after all this time."

	"Well, at least it wasn't as bad as what
happened with that American last year..." Nabiki
snickered. That had been HER first Tournament,
even though she wasn't obligated to participate
as she was not specifically a warrior.

	"What happened?" Akane watched
as the boy saw Kasumi move nearby in what
he obviously assumed was an attack, and did
an elegant running legsweep that brought Kasumi
down as he slid past and then resumed a run
again.

	"Kasumi, you okay?"

	Kasumi blinked, dusted herself off,
and stared at the figure now quite a ways down
the road. "Well now, he _is_ quite a fighter, isn't
he? I wouldn't have thought many in the village
could manage to get through _my_ defenses so
easily."

	Nabiki sighed, shook her head, and
decided she'd better read up on those marriage
laws. She had a feeling she was about to get a
headache.

------------------------------------

	"Let go of me, pop!"

	"That must be them! Saotome, my
old friend." Soun ran for the door.

	Nabiki froze at something. No, it
couldn't be.

	"I hope he's a decent fighter," Kasumi
said with a sigh. "It wouldn't be so bad if he was
young, if he at least could get Sponge off my back."

	"Boys! Hah! Like any of them are worth
anything anyway."

	"Now, now, Akane," Poki held up a hand.
"Just because they're the weaker sex, that doesn't 
mean they don't have their uses. This agreement 
of your father's is valid in Japanese society, and
arranged marriages are not uncommon within the
Nichieju- though if the woman doesn't approve of
the mate he must prove his battle skills."

	"So if I don't approve of this guy, he's
gotta defeat me in combat?" Akane cracked her
knuckles. "Like _that_ is gonna happen."

	"C'mon, pop, let me go! You're
scaring him spitless!" A panda walked into
the room, and its eyes widened as it recognized
three of the figures in the room. The girl who
was struggling to get free hadn't seen them
clearly yet.

	"Oh, know this is something I've
got to tell Lotion about." Nabiki smiled. "It is
a small world after all."

------------------------------------------------
	
	Well, how does this one go?
Kasumi has been defeated by Ranma? And is
a Tendo, oh my. That makes her the primary
choice, doesn't it? Even though she wasn't
actually attacking, merely trying to get Ranma
to stop long enough for her to explain what was
really going on.

	Shampoo won't do anything against
her "cousin," but feels that her claim takes 
precedence over Kasumi's. She also feels that
warriors make a better match than warrior+healer.

	Nabiki sees the destiny swirling around
Ranma and is intrigued. At the very least she feels
that she can manage to profit from the situation. She
isn't quite the Ice Queen, as she has actually had a
family life. She's also in training to be a Lore Master,
not a magician so much as a keeper of knowledge.

	Akane challenges Ranma, eager to prove
her skill, and loses though the fight is a lot closer than
the one in TOS. Ranma actually has to block a couple
of times instead of merely dodge. Akane has learned
quite a bit of Amazonian Wu Shu, as well as their
customs and culture.

	Kuno actually has a reason for the silly
"you must defeat Akane in order to date her" rule,
as it is now based on Amazon Law. 

	Ryouga, Ukyou, and the rest are largely
unchanged.

	Kasumi + Tofu. Yeah, it _could_ happen.
Though THIS Kasumi is neither oblivious or particularly
the housewife. She hasn't had to turn her back on
her dreams, merely temper them somewhat. Kasumi
is now a college student, pre-med, who uses a 
hwarang-do style of martial arts. It's her dream to be
a great healer. She just wants someone who can fight,
so she doesn't have to deal with would-be boyfriends
like Sponge <shudder> anymore.

	When Cologne shows, she's much friendlier
to Ranma. After all, if he marries a Tendo- he'll become
part of the tribe and Cologne can then get the newlyweds
back to the village sooner or later. If he marries Shampoo,
then the same scenario. Cologne just loves win-win
situations.

	Gets pretty divergent in some ways, doesn't
change at all in others, ne?

	

------------------------------------------------

NOTE: Friday is the deadline for your votes. i've
heard requests for reposts of the earlier stuff, but 
i'll wait for permission on that from Tybalt-sama,
especially as Stardancer and the mirror site RAAC
have made it so easy to find the fics.

NOTE#2: Have noticed that there are at least TWO
other fics out there with the name of "Ranma Muyo"-
haven't read these yet. Will have to come up with another
name for that series if it wins. 

ja matta, ganbatte yo!
gregg-san
-----------------------------------------