The Jade Dragon

by DR_FACER

Disclaimer: Shampoo, Mousse and other Ranma characters are the property of Viz communications. Original work and copyright to Rumiko Takahashi.

Note: this fanfic takes place between volume 35 and 36 of the manga.

Note: Most of this story takes place in China, which means that most of the dialogues are in Chinese. That's why Shampoo is not using her broken Japanese.

 

 

The Jade Dragon

By

Dr_Facer

 

 

 

Shampoo was definitely not happy, this letter her great-grandmother had just received...it was just terrible! And it had arrived at the worst moment too. Shampoo had been planning to introduce herself to Ranma's mother in the next few days. Now her plans were foiled.

"I'm afraid it can't be helped my girl." Cologne said to Shampoo, who was nearly climbing the walls in despair. "You and him will have to do just what this letter says."

"It not fair!" The girl complained, "Shampoo not doing that!"

"Still, it's a request from the elder council, there's no way you can get out of this."

"Why must Shampoo do it?" The teenager Amazon asked, fuming at the same time she tried to clean the tables of the Neko Hanten.

Cologne closed her eyes and sweat dropped; it was really her fault that Shampoo was in this predicament, if she had been stronger…

 

…180 years ago….

 

Cologne, still a beautiful young woman was sweeping the entrance of her house, and her mood was incredibly good, she had good reasons for it. This was her final day as a single woman. She had just been beaten last week by a very handsome fighter, an imperial soldier from the emperor's elite guard, with skills unmatched in all China.

 

Only one cloud appeared in the horizon. The man who defeated her before her elite soldier, it was him, Happosai, or Happy as she called him. But Cologne loved her soldier, she was supposed to, but Happosai was so… so… so incredibly impolite. So incredibly arrogant. So incredibly stupid. So incredibly attractive. She knew that he would forever be her only sin in front of the eyes of the amazon council. Happosai had been Cologne's first man in everything. Maybe it was just because she liked dangerous and wild men. For god's sake! Happosai was literally a midget and he was plain ugly! Still… his puppy eyes, his weird smile… His memory was all that she needed to sigh, wondering what he was doing.

 

A stone suddenly fell at her feet; the stone had a note tied to it. Cologne picked it up and quickly read the note, her hearth jumped when she saw who had sent it.

Happosai.

Her sin.

Her burden.

Her first man.

He was calling for her. Calling her for one last time. But she could not go! Cologne remembered all the times she had ignored Happosai, how many times she had kicked him out of the village and out of her sight, how many times she had skipped their dates, all for naught, that didn't help her to resist. When the memories of the few times she had been with him came to her mind, Cologne's willpower vanished. She had to see him, just for one last time. And maybe, for one last… kiss.

 

Later that day, Cologne walked into the forest that surrounded Joketsuzoku, she knew she shouldn't be here, but she couldn't help it. She wasn't strong enough to resist his charm, the charm of all that was forbidden.

She smiled when she heard him call her name. She kept smiling even when she saw that he was featuring his full battle aura. That aura was just so involving and beautiful. Cologne loved him. She really did, but he was a bad man for the village, and she had to marry a man that was Happosai's total opposite.

"So, you are marrying a stiff soldier." Happosai said, taking one-step closer to her, "After all the things we've done, you are marrying another man!" He shouted, "You know what that feels like!?"

"I can imagine." Cologne replied.

"No, you can't!" Happosai shouted back, his battle aura growing as he spoke, "You have no idea!"

Cologne sighed and shut her eyes tight, "Happy, I love you." She said softly.

"What? I think I didn't hear you..."

"I said that I loved you, you idiot!" Cologne shouted, "I never wanted to, but I can't help it!"

Happosai's battle aura disappeared and he sat on the floor, "Then why?" He asked, "Why are you marrying that stupid soldier?"

"He's all my mother and grand-mother have ever desired in a man."

"Like if you should care of what your mother and that crazy mummy think!" Happosai complained.

"My grandmother is not a mummy!" Cologne replied.

"Fine, then she's not." He said, "Look Cologne, that's not important right now."

"Then what's important?"

"We are." He said.

"Why?" She asked.

"Because…" Happosai started, "Sometimes is good to break the rules." He sighed, "You have done that already, why not continue?"

"I have my reasons." Cologne said and sat on the floor, next to the young Happosai.

 

She reached for his hands, and she gently squeezed them, "But… If you say it and really mean it, I might do it, I might break the rules for you."

Happosai gulped, "I've said it before…" He answered, "Don't you remember that night in the barn when we made lo…"

"That was a week ago." Cologne interrupted, "I want to hear it now."

Happosai blinked and began to shake like a leaf in the wind, "Cologne I…"

"Yes?"

"I…"

"Say it!" Cologne thought, "Our future depends on these three words!"

"Granddaughter, stop now!"

 

Cologne and Happosai jumped away from each other, Cologne was scared and Happosai was on his guard, he could guess what was next, a beating from Cologne's grandmother.

"Good job granddaughter! You did great leading me to this leech!"

 

Happosai stared at Cologne in disbelief, "You set me up?" He asked.

Cologne's grandmother answered the question, "Of course she did! We have to get rid of you before my little girl gets married!" She shouted, "Vermin!"

Happosai was furious, he could do nothing, he still was too weak to defeat that mummy and take Cologne with him. He had only one choice, escape and come back later.

Turning to face Cologne, a fully enraged Happosai frowned, "I should have know your laws were more important than me!" He said and jumped into the forest, quickly disappearing, "Now your precious village will meet total chaos! I swear!" Were Happosai's last words.

Cologne was left behind, she was crying, "I didn't set you up, I didn't betray you." She whispered, "Have you said it sooner… I should have gone with you." She whispered again.

"Come with me my girl. We have lots to do." Cologne's grandmother said, "Your life starts now."

 

"Great grandmother, what you thinking?" Shampoo asked, staring at Cologne with great curiosity. It was not often that Shampoo could see the elder so concerned about something.

"You planning how to get Shampoo out of stupid assignment?"

"No." Cologne replied, "I too want you to do this Shampoo, it's very important."

Shampoo fumed again, "Why must be him? Can't Ranma be the one?"

Cologne jumped to the table so she could better face Shampoo, "No, it has to be him." Cologne said, "Now, go find that blind dork!" She ordered, "I must tell you both what this is all about."

 

Shampoo just nodded and left the Neko Hanten, but she was clearly not enjoying it, not at all.

"Why must I, of all people, do this stupid thing?" Shampoo asked herself as she strolled slowly down the streets. Now, where the hell was Mousse?

Shampoo spotted Mousse jumping from rooftop to rooftop, he was holding something that looked like a box and he was moving very fast. Shampoo had seen Mousse moving that fast only a couple of times before, she was impressed by his speed, a little.

Frowning, Shampoo jumped to the nearest roof and then waited until Mousse was near, then, with a quick back flip, Shampoo landed in front of him.

"Stop Mousse!" She demanded.

"Shampoo!!!" Mousse yelled as he stopped, "What are you doing here?"

"Great-grandmother wants to see you."

"M…m…me?" He asked afraid. "W...why? I haven't done anything bad lately!"

"That not important." Shampoo said trying to calm him down, "Great-grandmother wants to tell you something about a mission."

 

Mousse's eyes lit up, "A mission? Maybe related to this?" He said while opening the box so Shampoo could see its contents, "A woman gave this to me a while ago, she said it was very important for a mission."

Shampoo stared curiously at the thing that was inside the box, then she reached for it and examined it in the sunlight.

It was a small dragon. A dragon made of Jade that shined beautifully in the sun. The statue, however, was in a very weird pose, it was crouching like a sphinx, but its neck was pointing up, towards the sky, the face of the dragon was pretty odd too, it didn't look like a normal dragon, it looked more like a wolf's face or something canine that was smirking evilly, that face made Shampoo shiver in disgust and she quickly placed the small statue back into the box.

 

"I was following the woman who gave this to me when you showed up Shampoo." Mousse said while adjusting his glasses, "I think I lost her."

"Silence Mousse! This dragon not normal statue." She stated, "I don't like it."

"Yeah, me neither." Mousse answered as he put the box in one of his sleeves, "I wonder why they gave it to me."

"Great-grandmother should know. We go ask her." Shampoo said and headed to the Neko Hanten.

Mousse just followed her, this was rather mysterious, and he really hated mysteries. With any luck, the old mummy should be able to explain what was going on.

 

Back in the restaurant, Mousse and Shampoo were sitting silently, looking at Cologne who was drinking tea and smoking from her old pipe. The dragon statue was in the middle of a nearby table.

"Does great-grandmother knows what that is?" Shampoo asked pointing at the jade statue.

"Yes, I know."

"Then tell us what it is!" Mousse said.

Cologne drank another sip of tea and sighed, "Very well, I will tell you. That statue is the wicked dragon. You two surely know about it, don't you?"

Both Shampoo and Mousse nodded.

"Great-grandmother talks about evil dragon from fairy tale?" Shampoo asked.

"Indeed my child." Cologne said and jumped besides the dragon, "The wicked dragon that was so lustful that tried to marry all the women in our village."

"Shampoo remembers rest of story. When lusty dragon almost killed by amazons, he stole all Joketsuzoku's treasure in revenge, right?"

"Yeah, I remember too." Mousse interrupted, "The dragon disappeared in a cloud of smoke, leaving only a small statue of itself as a way to mock on all the amazons for what they did to him." The young man stopped and blinked, "Wait a minute, does that means this is the statue the dragon left behind in that fairy tale?" Mousse asked.

The elder nodded, "Yes, and the amazon council told me what is to be done with it."

"Can't Mousse do it alone?" Shampoo asked hopefully.

"No, you'll have to take part on this job too Shampoo. If you succeed, you will be accepted as a member in the amazon council." The elder explained, "I, Your mother and grandmother failed this test." Cologne stared at Shampoo, "Now my child, it's your turn."

Mousse scratched his head, "What is it that Shampoo has to do? Is it really that hard?"

"Yes, it really is hard." Cologne answered, "She will have to take this statue to the center of the spiral labyrinth and you will have to help her."

"Me? Why?"

"The dragon was delivered to you." Cologne replied.

"Shampoo still not doing this! Especially not with him!" The young amazon shouted and slammed her hands on the table.

"You have to!" Cologne said, "If you don't at least try, you will be expulsed from Joketsuzoku."

That froze Shampoo, "Expulsed?"

"Yes." Cologne said seriously.

 

Shampoo frowned again and turned her hands into fists, she took in a deep breath to fight her growing frustration and then she spoke, "Shampoo will do what council says, but it not fair! Mousse will only get in the way!"

"That's a part of the job." Cologne said, "Now go upstairs and prepare for your journey, it's late already and you'll be leaving tomorrow." The elder waited until she was alone and then she stared at the jade dragon. She knew its real story, because she had played a very important role in it…

 

…180 years ago…(again)

 

It was Cologne's wedding day, she was supposed to be happy, she was supposed to smile, but she couldn't. she had spent the last night wondering what Happosai was going to do. Cologne had no idea of what kind of revenge was he planning, but she had the feeling that it was something very bad.

 

A few hours later, Cologne, now wearing her wedding dress was waiting for her future husband to arrive. She was standing in the middle of the council's hall, and every elder was staring at her, most of them with doubt in their faces. Her little affair with Happosai had caused her to be in shame. Only the word of her grandmother, who told the elders how Cologne had set up a trap for Happosai restored their trust in her, at least partially.

It was then when the shouting began, every woman in the village started to yell and curses could be heard. Cologne hurried outside, the elders ordering her to stop but she didn't listen to them. What the young Cologne saw was Happosai, chasing every other girl on the village, molesting them, groping them and trying to hit on some of them. It was, indeed, total chaos; just as Happosai had promised. But that was not enough for him, he had yet to do one last thing. He stole the village's treasure, ALL of it.

 

Cologne had been a part of the horde of amazons that chased Happosai, and when they were about to catch him, Happosai used a smoke screen to cover his escape. All he left behind was that hideous jade dragon. Well, that wasn't all the truth, Happosai left a pregnant woman in the amazon village too.

That woman's name?

Cologne.

 

Shampoo finished packing her things and put on her pajamas, she still was angry by the council's request but she knew she had to do it, she didn't want to be an outcast. After she prepared her bed for sleeping, Shampoo tried to calm down, she hated to go to bed angry. It always gave her nightmares.

"I'll get the elders for this someday." The young amazon thought before closing her eyes.

 

Mousse was taking this a lot better than Shampoo, not only will he be able to spend a lot of time alone with his love, they would be far away from Saotome! Which meant Ranma would not get in the way! Mousse knew that if he played his cards right, Shampoo would finally learn who the man of her life was! "At last! Destiny has given me the chance to make things the way the should be! I will prove Shampoo who is the man she should marry!" Mousse thought and curled himself in his sleeping bag.

 

Cologne and Shampoo's father were sitting together in the restaurant area, they were drinking sake as they usually did every Sunday night.

"I never imagined that my girl would get the challenge so soon." Shampoo's father said.

"She is sixteen already, and soon she will be seventeen, it is time for her to take this trial." Cologne replied, "You seem to forget that my granddaughter and you took the challenge at this age too."

"That was a very long time ago Cologne."

The elder frowned, "I still think that you made my granddaughter fail."

"Oh yeah?" The man answered, "Why are you saying that?"

Cologne grinned, "You know why." She replied and drank a sip of sake, "Wooing her while you both were alone in the labyrinth. You had no shame then and you have no shame now."

"Your granddaughter has never complained about that." Shampoo's father said and drank some of his sake. "In fact, I think she has been very happy with me."

Cologne just mumbled.

"Besides, I did beat your granddaughter in a fight Cologne, it took me more than three hundred tries but I did it."

Cologne mumbled again.

"Still…" The man said, "I don't know what to think this time, I never imagined that my Shampoo would have to do this."

"There is a reason for this quest to exist." Cologne affirmed, "Its purpose is to purify the body and soul of all the young amazons."

"Then why is our family the only one that has to take that quest?" The man asked.

"You are not ready to know that yet." The elder answered and walked to the stairs, "I think I've drink enough, good night."

"Yeah, good night." He said and began to clean the tables.

 

Next day…

 

"Boat is filthy!" Shampoo complained when she saw the boat that was supposed to take her back to China.

"Yeah, it sure looks miserable." Mousse agreed after he put on his glasses.

"Can't Shampoo go on a better boat?" The young amazon asked.

"No, this is part of the challenge." Cologne explained.

"But…" Shampoo started.

"Enough Shampoo! You will go on that boat and that's it!" Cologne shouted, something she hardly ever did, "Now get onboard!"

Fuming, Shampoo went inside the boat. She walked slowly, ignoring the lusty faces of the crew. Sighing, she walked to the deck and sat on her backpack.

 

Mousse, after being guided inside the boat by Shampoo's father (the young man had refused to wear his glasses), focused on finding his beloved. By the time the boat set off and Mousse listened to the chatter between the sailors, he felt enraged, most of them were talking about how good would Shampoo look naked. Mousse didn't like that, and fighting the urge of kicking the butts of every sailor in the ship, he continued his search for Shampoo.

 

Five hours later, Shampoo, who was still seating on her backpack, wondered for the first time where Mousse could be, she was bored and she really felt like talking a little. But Mousse was nowhere to be seen, so Shampoo just kept looking at the ocean. She was so bored that she didn't notice when a bunch of sailors approached her, there were twelve of them.

"Hey, good looking!" One of the soldiers called in Chinese, "Aren't you the lonely one?"

Shampoo turned and gazed at the mob of sailors that surrounded her, she grinned a little, this could be interesting.

"I'm fine, thank you." Shampoo answered, looking away from the men.

"Good, we want to make you company." Other sailor said.

"Yeah, good company!" The rest of the men sang.

Shampoo got up and smiled, "I don't want any company."

"But we insist!" The sailors shouted and walked towards the girl, all of them laughing evilly.

 

Shampoo stood there and waited for them to do the first move, she didn't wait for long, the boldest of the sailors reached for her and tried to grab her breasts. The young woman smirked at his stupidity and dodging the man's hand, she smashed her palm in the sailor's chest, breaking three of his ribs and knocking him out in the process.

"Still want to make me company?" Shampoo asked.

The sailors hesitated a little, how could this girl here do something like this to one of them?

"Well?" Shampoo asked. "Don't want to play anymore?"

One of the sailors, the one who seemed to be the leader, walked forward, "Listen to me my friends! she's only one little girl! She got lucky, that's all!"

"Yeah!" The rest of the men shouted.

"She can't take all of us at the same time!" The sailor yelled.

"We will show her a lesson!" The men chorused.

"Let's get her men!" The leader shouted and attacked Shampoo, the other sailors followed their leader example and all of them jumped at the young woman, some wielding knives, some wielding mops and one of them had a rope.

"We'll show you not to mess with us!" They yelled.

The amazon dodged the first wave of attacks and then behind the men, "You're too slow. You're nothing but a bunch of horny drunks!" She laughed as she took a fighting stance, smiling when the sailors attacked her again. It didn't take Shampoo more than thirty seconds to dispose of her opponents, a few kicks, a couple of uppercuts and three punches was all she needed to lay waste on the assaulting mob, in the end, she was not even breathing hard. Now only the leader of the sailors was still standing, Shampoo had saved him for last.

"Hey, calm down honey, we were just playing with you!"

"Really?" Shampoo said as she walked to the man, her eyes shining with anger.

"Please…" He begged, "Don't hurt me!"

Shampoo was in front of the sailor now, staring at him, "What were you and your tugs planning to do to me?" She asked, "Don't you think that would have hurt me too?"

"No…I mean…you're a woman! You should like it and…

*Crunch!!*

The sailor couldn't finish the sentence, Shampoo had just kicked him in the groin so hard that tears began to roll down his face, whining, the man fell on his knees and then shouted, and yelled, and screamed.

 

Shampoo reached for the yelling sailor and grabbing him by the neck, she lifted him so his face was right in front of hers, "You are trash." She whispered, "Say it. Say that you're trash."

Despite the pain in his groin and the lack of air, the sailor got angry. How could a GIRL treat him like this? Who the hell thought she was?

Shampoo clenched her fist and the man felt his neck was about to explode, "Say that you are trash." She demanded.

"Who... are...you?" He gasped.

"I am an amazon, and you are TRASH." She answered and increased the pressure of her grip on his neck. "Are you going to say it or not?"

The man was struggling for air, and after listening the word amazon, he was also shaking with fear. He had heard terrible stories about the Chinese amazons and what they often did to their enemies. He was fearing that if he didn't obey this girl, he was going to die.

"I…am…trash…" He managed to say, almost immediately, the pressure on his neck vanished and he fell on his back.

"That wasn't so hard was it?" Shampoo said and lifted her backpack, "Never underestimate a woman again, you don't know how dangerous we can be." She warned as she left the deck.

 

Mousse managed to get out of the engine room, he hated it when his bad eyesight caused him this kind of troubles. He had been following a sailor with long hair thinking that he was Shampoo, it wasn't until they got into the engine room that the sailor, tired of being followed around, asked Mousse if he was weird. Mouse, of course, had covered his mistake with a stupid excuse that only made the man angry and he challenged Mousse to a fight. All that happened less than one minute ago, the sailor proved that he was not a worthy opponent for the master of the hidden weapons.

"There you are!" Mousse shouted as he spotted something that looked like Shampoo's hair, he ran and hugged it so hard that it broke with a loud snap. Mousse ended up with a broken mop in his hands.

 

Shampoo shook her head as she spotted Mousse, the dork had just broke a mop, and the most insulting part was the she was absolutely sure that he had thought the mop was her. She walked towards him and spanked his head, "Do you think I look like a mop!?" She shouted.

Mousse turned and put his glasses on, "Shampoo!!" He yelled, "I've been worried sick about you!"

"Hands off." Shampoo said and kicked Mousse's face so he couldn't hug her.

"But Shampoo! I've been looking for you for hours!" He complained.

"You sure were not trying hard enough!" She said and walked away, "Now follow me and try not to get lost!"

"Who do you think I am? Ryoga?" Mousse replied, trying to make a joke.

Shampoo, however, did not laugh, "Ryoga is a better man than you." And she just kept walking.

 

Next day, it was Mousse who woke up first, he had slept in his duck form inside a cage, located in a corner of Shampoo's stateroom. He looked around and noticed that his love was still sleeping.

Sighing, the duck searched in his wings until he found a small picklock he used to unlock the cage.

Minutes later, Mousse, now a human being, gazed at the sleeping beauty that was Shampoo. He thought he could wake her up with a kiss, but he rejected the idea, the prospect of being punched into a bloody pulp so early in the morning was not appealing at all. Mousse instead left the room and walked to the deck, he put on his long distance glasses and, as he expected, China could be seen in the horizon.

 

Mousse noticed that many of the sailors staggered while walking, and one of them would occasionally stop and rub his neck. Mousse decided that whatever the sailors had done last night, it wasn't anything he should care about. He instead remembered that soon, he would be alone with Shampoo inside a maze. He knew they had to take the damned statue to the center of the labyrinth, but in the way there, a lot of things could happen.

 

Not too long after Mousse began to imagine all the things he could do to woo Shampoo inside the Spiral labyrinth, the blue haired amazon showed up in the deck, nearly every sailor ran away when they saw her and she smiled, pleased to see that these men had learned their lesson. Shampoo found Mousse and went to his side, she didn't say anything. Mousse had always had this ability to know when she approached him. Something to do with his ears and nose being too sensitive, too bad he never used that skill when he wanted to find her.

"Good morning." Mousse greeted.

"Good morning." She replied.

"We'll be home soon." He said.

"Yeah, it's been a while."

"It will be great to see everyone in Joketsuzoku again."

"No." Shampoo replied quickly, "We're going straight to the spiral labyrinth."

"But I wanted to see my parents!"

"There's no time for that." She explained, "I want to finish this as soon as possible, got it?"

"Yes."

"Good." Shampoo said and noticed that Tong Po harbor could be seen in the distance, "The boat is moving faster?" She wondered.

"It seems so." Mousse answered, "I wonder why?"

 

In the engine room, twelve sailors were stuffing coal as fast as they could in the steam engine.

"Hurry up and bring more coal!" A sailor ordered, he had a nasty bruise on his neck, "The sooner we get that amazon girl out of this ship, the better!"

"Yes sir!" The rest of the sailors shouted.

 

Tong Po harbor was, despite its small size, a very crowded place. Merchants from many of the villages in the nearby mountains came here to trade and shop, Mousse and Shampoo both knew this place, all their lives they have come here with their respective parents to buy things that couldn't be found in Joketsuzoku.

 

"Hey! Did you see that Mousse?" Shampoo said and stopped.

"What?" He asked and adjusted his glasses.

"Never mind." She answered, realizing how futile it was to expect Mousse to actually see something. Still, that small, dashing shadow she had just seen, it really looked a lot like her great-grandmother, but that was impossible, Cologne was in Japan, but...

Mousse scratched the back of his head, Shampoo was acting strange; she was searching the crowd, as if she wanted to find someone, "Did you see someone you know?"

"I'm not sure." She said, "Anyway, that's not important. Let's go Mousse, we have to buy some food for the trip."

 

Up in the roofs of the houses that surrounded the harbor, Cologne watched how Shampoo and Mousse bought several packs of dried meat, fruit and some rice. The elder figured that Shampoo was heading straight to the labyrinth. Cologne sighed and dashed to the forest, if she was going to have her plan ready, she had to hurry. She had to find him soon, before her great-granddaughter arrived to the spiral maze.

 

Shampoo and Mousse were sitting besides the road. They were chewing some dried meat while they waited for the rice to be ready, it wasn't the best breakfast they had had, but they were hungry, and a hungry stomach knows nothing about taste.

"When we get to that labyrinth…" Shampoo said, "You have to promise that you won't get in the way, hear me Mousse?"

"But I want to help!" He answered.

"Not getting in my way will be help enough!"

"Okay…" He said, not really paying attention to her. Mousse had felt that someone just passed by them, at a very high speed.

"Hey, are you listening?" Shampoo shouted.

"Someone just passed by."

"How are you so sure?" Shampoo asked and looked at the road, "I don't see anyone."

"Not there, in the woods." He explained.

Shampoo blinked, the woods Mousse was pointing at were silent, and if someone had been there, the birds would have made a scandal, "I think you're so hungry you're imagining things." She said dryly, "Here, have some rice and stop bugging me."

Mousse sighed and grabbed the rice bowl.

 

Jumping from tree to tree, Cologne tried to remain calm, she had decided to finish this stupid jade dragon trial once and for all. She was going to make sure that Shampoo would be the last of the females in her family to take this quest, even if Mousse had to die in the way. The elder was, of course, expecting help. Cologne had called to Joketsuzoku before she used her ‘bird basket' to travel back to China, and she had ordered her daughter and granddaughter to find the man she was looking for.

"This cursed test." Cologne muttered, "I never understood why the amazon council decided to do this to all my lineage." But she did understand. It was her fault, the elder frowned and tried to avoid the memory…

 

…180 years ago (yes, another flashback)…

 

A young Cologne stood in the middle of the council hall, a week ago, she had been here during her weeding ceremony. Today, she was here to have her marriage annulled.

"Cologne!" An elder called, "Is what your husband says true?"

"Yes." She whispered, not looking at the elder.

 

Her husband came here the day after the weeding, he had complained that his wife was not a virgin. In Joketsuzoku, virginity was important because it was the ultimate gift an amazon could give to the man that best her in combat.

"And who was the man who did this to you?" Other elder asked.

Cologne didn't say anything, she closed her eyes and focused her efforts on keeping the tears away, it wasn't bad enough that she had to bear with the council's accusations, she also had to bear with the way her soon to be ex-husband and her mother and grandmother were looking at her.

"Isn't it quite obvious?" An elder in the corner of the room said, "It was that cursed thief who did this to her!"

All the elders stared at the young Cologne, then, one of them spoke, "Why cologne? You are the best fighter of this generation, why did you do this?"

"…I…I don't know!" Cologne shouted, "It just happened!"

"We shall decide your fate now Cologne." The elders said, "Please stay where you are and don't move."

 

Cologne shivered a little, ‘decide your fate' they have said. She didn't like those words, or the way they said them. Cologne looked at her family, searching for comfort, but in the eyes of her mother she saw only sadness. In the eyes of her grandmother, she saw disappointment and in the eyes of the man she had married, she saw hate. Cologne then understood that she was alone.

After what seemed like and eternity of deliberating, the leader of the council raised from her seat and looked at Cologne, "Amazon Cologne." She started, "Your marriage is annulled from this moment on."

 

When he heard that, the man that had been Cologne's husband for less than a week smiled and left the building. Cologne didn't care, she was more worried about the punishment the council had in store for her.

"As for you…" The leader of the council said, " We will have to erase you from the list of possible members of this council."

"But it's not fair!" Cologne shouted, "Mother, tell them it's not fair!" She yelled looking at her mother. Her mother, however, just closed her eyes and lowered her head.

"Silence!" The elders ordered, "There's still more."

"More?" Cologne said.

"You have disgraced us. Thanks to your relationship with a man with no honor, we lost a treasure that countless generations of amazons had gathered." The leader explained, "And for that, we are forced to punish not only you, but all of your female descendants from now on."

"What kind of… punishment?" Cologne asked.

"You will be allowed to become and elder, however, you will never be a member of this council." Said the leader, "As for your female descendants, they will have to prove they're worthy of being considered as adult members of our village, and that will start with the child you are bearing!"

 

That was the worst punishment they could give Cologne, she had worked all her life to become a member of the council. Becoming an elder and not being a member of the council was the worst humiliation for an amazon, even worse than being defeated by an outsider woman. But there was something that made her feel even worse, the leader of the council said that she was pregnant, and she knew that this child's father was not her former husband, "Happosai, look at all this mess you've caused!" Cologne muttered.

"What did you say, Cologne?" An elder asked.

Young Cologne blinked, "What…? I…I want to know why you think I'm pregnant!"

The leader of the council stared at her, "You know the rituals we do after one of our amazons gets married, don't you?"

"Yes." Cologne replied.

"Then you surely know why do we do the blood burning ritual, or maybe you forgot?" The leader asked.

 

For Cologne, the words of the leader of the council were a severe shock, she knew that the blood burning ritual was used as a way to know if a woman was pregnant, but she never thought that she was…bearing Happosai's child.

"Now, young one." Another elder said, "Do you recognize this?" She asked, holding up the Jade dragon.

"Yes." Cologne replied.

"Good." The elder stated, "This dragon will represent the shame you had caused to your family and to the village."

"We will keep this statue with us." The leader of the council said, "But, when your daughter is sixteen…"

"A daughter? How do you know the sex of my baby?" Cologne wanted to know.

"The blood burning ritual reveals more than just pregnancy." The elder from the corner of the room answered, "It's not a surprise that a young one like you didn't know that."

Despite the situation, Cologne smiled a little, "A daughter." She thought, "I'm having a little girl!"

"…She will have to take this statue to the center of the spiral labyrinth… Cologne! Are you listening!?" The leader of the council shouted.

"What?" Cologne said blinking, "I'm sorry, I was not paying attention."

 

The leader shook her head, "Pay attention!" She scolded and repeated what she had just said, "But that's not all…"

"There's more?" Cologne asked.

"Yes, your daughter will have to take a man that is not adequate to our village with her." The leader explained, "If your daughter can accomplish this test without showing any kind of interest, whether is friendship or pity, for that inadequate man, we will lift the punishment from your family."

"And…if she fails?"

"If she fails, then your daughter's daughter will have to take the quest." The leader started to explain, "But if your daughter's daughter fails, then a female from the next generation will have to take the challenge, and this will continue until one of your family passes the trial we have set." The leader finished.

 

Cologne needed a few minutes to fully understand what the leader had said, and when she did, she felt enraged, "That's the biggest…monstrosity I've ever heard!" She shouted, "Why are you punishing all my descendants just because I did something I wanted to do!?" Cologne yelled, "My daughter will not go inside the spiral maze, I will not allow it!" She yelled, her hands on her belly, "I will not allow it!" She shouted again.

"Are you saying that you want to be expulsed from Joketsuzoku?" The leader asked.

"What?"

"So unfortunate…" The leader said, "If you don't obey, we will have to vanish you from the village, forever. Is that what you want Cologne?"

"…….No." Cologne answered, but for a minute, she considered leaving all behind as a real option, abandoning this village and search for Happosai. But she didn't have the courage to do it, "I don't want to be expulsed, I will do as the council says."

"We knew you would listen to the voice of reason." The leader said, "Amazon Cologne, you may go now."

Young Cologne bowed and left the council hall silently, in her mind, she swore that even if she wasn't a member of the council, she would be as respected and feared as one. Unfortunately, little did she know that she had just set the path all her descendants would take. They all would fall in love with inadequate men…

 

"But not Shampoo." Cologne thought as she reached Joketsuzoku. Shampoo had it all to beat this quest. She had the skills, she had a fiancée that was an excellent warrior, and she also had the determination needed to win at all costs. Cologne was sure that Shampoo would be the one to finally defeat the Jade Dragon, all she had to do was to get rid of Mousse before he did to Shampoo what Happosai had done to her such a long time ago.

 

The elder smiled when she saw that her daughter and granddaughter were waiting for her in the village's entrance, she smiled even more when she noticed that the young man she needed for her plan was also there.

"Greetings my children." Cologne said, "I see you were able to bring him here."

"He resisted a little." The two women replied, "But he finally agreed to help."

"Good." Cologne said and looked at the man, "Well, what will you want in return?"

The young man stared at Cologne and grinned, "I understand that you have quite an influence in many of the villages around." He said, "If you want my help, you'll have to promise that you will talk to the mayor of my village about a certain matter."

"That should be easy." Cologne replied, "In fact, I can imagine what you want me to talk about with the mayor of your village. You want a new name, don't you?"

He nodded.

"Just keep in mind that if you fail, I will not help you." Cologne told him, "Don't forget it."

"I will not." He said and headed to the road next to the village, "Let's go, I want to finish with this as fast as possible."

The elder promised to her daughter and granddaughter that Shampoo would be victorious and then she joined the young man.

 

"Hey Shampoo, are you sure this is the way to the labyrinth?" Mousse asked.

"Yes, it's right on this map great-grandmother gave me."

"Let me see it."

"Why? Are you trying to say that I can't read a map?" Shampoo said angrily.

"No! Of course not." Mousse answered, "It's just that I want to see if there's a route that could save us some time."

"A shortcut?"

"Exactly."

"We could take the left path in the next fork." Shampoo said, "It seems to be the shortest route."

"Very well."

Up until now, Mousse had been too busy thinking about ways to impress Shampoo inside the maze that he had not tried to hug her like he always did. And that intrigued Shampoo. She suspected that Mousse was planning something, but she couldn't quite figure out what. For that reason, she decided to be on her guard, just in case Mousse tried to throw some chains at her.

 

Shampoo and Mousse walked for a few more hours until they finally saw the entrance of the Spiral Labyrinth in the distance.

The spiral labyrinth did honor its name, built in a plateau deep in the Bayankara Mountains, the maze was an ancient construction made of huge, tall walls set in a circular motion, and it was filled with traps. But from the distance, the vegetation that covered the walls created a magnificent view.

 

Nobody really knew who had built the labyrinth or for what reason. Just like Jusenkyo, the labyrinth had been there long before any of the villages like Yaocaicun, Joketsuzoku or even the Musk dynasty ever appeared.

"We're almost there, let's go Mousse!" Shampoo said and ran in the direction of the maze.

Mousse smiled and followed her love.

 

Not too long after they had spotted the maze, Mousse and Shampoo reached the massive entrance. One of the things that made the roofless labyrinth so confusing was precisely the height of its walls, not to mention its circular form, or the countless traps.

"Let's finish with this." Shampoo exclaimed and entered the labyrinth, "Come on Mousse, or are you afraid?"

"I'm coming!" He replied, "Uh, which way should we go?" He asked, there were three paths in front of them, one to the left, one to the right, and the one in the middle kept going straight.

Shampoo considered for a moment, "Let's take the path in the middle." She said, "If this thing is a big circle, the only way to the center is to go straight."

"I hope you're right."

"I am right." She told him and took the middle path.

"Wait for me!" Mousse called.

"Move then!" She scolded, "I have better things to do than waiting for you. Slowpoke."

None of them noticed that they had accidentally stepped in a strand of thin silver thread

 

In the center of the labyrinth, Cologne felt that one of the strings in her hand moved a little. She smiled slightly, "They're here." She announced.

"Good, I was starting to get bored." The young man behind Cologne muttered, "I'll go get them."

"Not yet." The elder played with the silver line, "Let them get deeper into the labyrinth."

"Fine." He said and sat, "I can wait a little bit longer, but I'm really getting bored. I hope the little duck is worth the wait."

"The maze is not that hard." Cologne said, "If they can avoid the traps, they'll be here soon. Just remember, don't touch my great-granddaughter."

"Yeah I know, I won't get a new name if I do that." He said and leaned his back in the pedestal that was in the center of the circular chamber, the young man stared at the clouds and hummed an old folk song.

Cologne noticed, by the vibrations of the strings, that Mousse and Shampoo had just entered a corridor with a trap on it, "Be careful my child." She thought.

 

Shampoo didn't know what happened, one minute she was standing in the corridor, looking at the weird figures carved in the walls, the next one, she was hanging upside down above a pit filled with insects! The ugly part was that the chain she was hanging from was slowly descending, soon, she would be swimming in bugs.

"MOUSSE!!" She yelled, "What are you doing, you blind dork? Help me up!"

"I'm working on it!" Mousse shouted, "Just hang there for a minute."

"I can't do anything else, Moron." Shampoo said to herself and tried to keep her hair out of the bugs' reach.

Mousse smiled, this was his first chance to prove himself to Shampoo. The young amazon analyzed the problem, the trap was surely triggered by some switch in the walls, because it activated when Shampoo touched them. He could use a rope to help her up, but the space was too limited to throw it accurately.

"Anytime this millennium would be fine Mousse!" Shampoo shouted, she was now very close to the insects and she had spotted lots of cockroaches, and she hated cockroaches! "HURRY UP!!" Shampoo yelled, "There's cockroaches down here!"

"Calm down, I know what to do."

Shampoo was about to answer when she felt that she was being pulled up. Relieved that none of those filthy insects got a chance to get in her hair, the amazon allowed herself to breathe again.

When Mousse had lifted Shampoo above the pit, the girl broke the chains with her hands and jumped down, landing at Mousse's side.

"I hate bugs." Shampoo said, "Hey Mousse, thank…" She wondered why Mousse was such a big idiot. Mousse was posing in front of her backpack, mumbling some nonsense about being her chivalrous knight and her protector. Shampoo sighed and tossed Mousse apiece of the broken chain, hitting him in the head, "I'm over here; you dope."

"How did you move so fast?" He asked.

"Forget it." Said Shampoo, "Just follow me, okay?"

"Okay."

 

Mousse was a little bit disappointed, he had screwed his first attempt of wooing Shampoo, but he wasn't giving up, the maze was big, he was sure that he would have a new chance soon.

"Another fork in the road" Shampoo announced, "Should we go left, or maybe right?"

"You're asking me for help?" Mousse said happily.

"Of course not." She answered, "But is always nice to have a second opinion." She stretched a little, "Well, left or right?"

"Hmmm, Let's take the left path." Mousse decided.

"The same path I have chosen." Shampoo said, "It seems we're on the same frequency Mousse, that's good!"

"Really?"

"Yeah, let's go!"

 

The strings in Cologne's hand vibrated again, "They're almost here." Cologne said to the young man, "They've taken the correct path."

"I was starting to believe they would never make it."

"Remember, just concentrate on Mousse. Try not to kill him if possible."

"I can't guarantee anything." He said and got up.

"Go to the interception point." The elder ordered.

He didn't say anything, he just did what he was told. Amazed at the things he did just to get his name changed.

 

Shampoo helped Mousse break the bars of the old rusted cage that had spurted out of the ground, "This one's number twenty." Shampoo said, "We must be on the right path."

"Why are you so sure?" He asked as he slipped out of the cage.

"Because this corridor's filled with traps. If you made a labyrinth, wouldn't you put more traps in the right path? To discourage anyone who was getting near the end of the maze?"

"Good point." Mousse said, "It does make sense."

"I always make sense." Shampoo said proudly.

 

Mousse and Shampoo walked carefully, until now, all the traps had been easy, but who knew if a really dangerous one was behind the next corner?

"Mousse." Shampoo called.

"What?"

"You have not been as much of a dead weight as I thought you would." Shampoo said.

"Gee, thanks." Mousse replied, "A simple ‘thank you' would have been better, you know?"

Shampoo frowned, "I have nothing to thank you for." She tossed Mousse a rice ball, "Eat it, I'll rather waste some food than listening to your complains."

"Who is complaining?" He said while catching the rice ball.

"You are."

"Yeah, and I was the one shouting for help just because I had some bugs in my hair."

"That's not true! The cockroaches never got to my hair!" Shampoo argued, "And I wasn't shouting!"

"Yed du wed!" Mousse said with his mouth full with rice.

"Don't do that! It's gross!"

He swallowed and smiled a little, "You always say that. Ever since we were kids."

"What else could I say? It IS gross!"

 

Mousse and Shampoo continued chatting about the things they did as little kids. After a little while, they reached a huge rectangular area. This new room had a large square shaped platform in the middle, and only one exit.

Shampoo climbed a set of marble steps and walked to the middle of the platform, "What's with this place?" She wondered.

"I don't know. It looks like some kind of a battle arena, don't you think?" Mousse said and walked besides Shampoo, "Whatever it is, I don't like it."

 

Suddenly, the doors of the chamber closed and water began to flood the room, "What's going on?" Mousse shouted worriedly, the only place that was not covered by water now was the platform he and Shampoo were standing on.

"Is this a trap?" The young woman asked.

"Of course is a trap!" A male voice responded.

"Who are you?" Shampoo asked.

"Show yourself!" Mousse demanded, "Where are you?"

"Up here." The voice said.

The two amazons looked up. A man was standing in the edge of one of the walls, he was wearing a black cloak, but the couple of amazons promptly recognized him. Shampoo frowned and Mousse paled slightly.

 

The mysterious man jumped down and landed in the platform, just in front of Mousse, "I can see that you do remember me."

"How could we forget you, Taro." Mousse said angrily, "What are you doing here?"

"Yeah! And what's this all about? Why this trap?" Shampoo added.

Taro tossed his cloak to the water, "I can't tell you that just yet, you'll have to beat me to find out." The boy smirked, "Not that you have a chance, of course."

"Who says we don't!?" Shampoo shouted, "We can do it very easily!"

"Oh yeah?" Taro said, the little cat was starting to get on his nerves, "I don't think an idiot duck with bad eyesight and a clumsy, dense cat could ever defeat me."

"Who are you calling dense!" Shampoo yelled fully enraged.

"Wait Shampoo." Mousse said and grabbed the girl's hand, "He wants to make you angry, remember how he fights."

"The mighty duck is smarter than he looks." Taro mocked, "Maybe you're not such a featherbrain after all."

Now it was Mousse's turn to get angry, he didn't like to be called featherbrain. "At least my name's not PANTYHOSE!!" He shouted, "And unlike you, I don't have to rely on my cursed form to win my fights!"

"Yeah, Mousse is right!" Shampoo said, "Pantyhose, you're a lame fighter! Besides, you are UGLY!"

 

Taro's little patience snapped, not only have they called him pantyhose, but this little tramp, she dared to call him ugly? "How…how dare you!?" He shouted, "The hell with that old witch and her promise of changing my name! You two are DEAD!!"

*SPLASH!!!*

"I think calling him ugly was a little bit extreme, Shampoo." Mousse said when Taro's monster form emerged from the water.

"Maybe you're right." She agreed, "Well, I guess we'll have to fight!"

 

The giant beast roared and tried to squash Shampoo with a massive hand but the amazon managed to jump out of the way. Meanwhile, Mousse was busy dodging several of Taro's tentacles.

"Mousse, do something!" Shampoo shouted.

"I'll try!" Mousse then threw some of his chains at the monster, but they all bounced, on the thought skin, "Damn, this is not good!"

"Stupid." Shampoo said and somersaulted behind Pantyhose, she had spotted an opening in the beast's back. All the tentacles were busy trying to catch Mousse, and the creature couldn't move fast enough to turn and punch her effectively.

The amazon woman smiled and jump-kicked Taro's back. The monster howled, more from the surprise of being hit that from pain, and then it threw its tentacles back, hoping to crush the girl with them.

Shampoo dodged some of the tentacles, but just when she thought she had dodged all of them, the last one hit her with unbelievable force.

"AAAAAAHH!!" She yelled painfully as she crashed in a wall, cracking it from the strength of the impact. Shampoo plunged into the water, she emerged as a cat just to sink like a rock.

"No!" Mousse shouted and threw a chain to the water, he quickly reeled it back. Inside the metallic claw at the end of the chain was an unconscious cat. He put the cat inside his sleeves, it was the safest place he could find.

 

"You've made a big mistake." Mousse said facing the monster, "Now I'll have to teach you a lesson!"

As an answer, Taro charged towards Mousse, trying to impale him with its horns. Mousse jumped on top of the creature and pulled out the first weapon he found in his sleeve, it was a long sword. Mousse knew a sword would probably have no effect on this monster and he wished he had a gun on him.

Pantyhose noticed that Mousse was about to stab him with a rather large sword and quickly wrapped the amazon male with its tentacles. Mousse trashed desperately, trying to release himself from Taro's deadly grip but it was impossible, the tentacle was too strong.

To make matters worse, Mousse had dropped his sword and only had one arm free, Taro raised its tentacle and smashed Mousse violently into the ground. Mousse screamed in pain and managed to threw a spear with a special piercing blade at the monster, hoping to hit it somewhere.

 

Mousse got lucky, the spear hit Taro's neck. Roaring, the beast lost coordination of its tentacles and Mousse was released. The amazon male fell on the edge of the platform, he tried to get up, but he failed, Mousse ended up on his knees, breathing hard and staring at the monster. Pantyhose had pulled the spear out of its neck, and amazingly, the creature was bleeding pretty bad, "The spear probably hit him in an artery or something." Mousse realized, "Maybe I still have a chance." He thought when he saw that the monster was trying to stop the bleeding with its left hand.

 

Gathering all his strength, Mousse managed to get up. Pantyhose growled and punched in Mousse's direction, aiming for a killing blow.

"That will not do!" Mousse shouted and jumped out of the way, "Now you'll pay for what you did to Shampoo!" He yelled.

Taro tried to punch Mousse several times, but he couldn't hit him, Mousse just kept moving, besides, the bleeding was not stopping, was the wound so bad? The monster hesitated a little, its head was not feeling right; maybe the bleeding was causing it.

 

Mousse took advantage of Pantyhose's hesitation and searching in his sleeves, he found what he was searching for, something to be used in a special technique he was saving for Ranma. He didn't want to use it, but considering the situation, this was the best thing he could do to get rid of Taro.

"Hey Pantyhose!" Mousse called, "Pantyhose! Pantyhose, look at me!"

The monster turned and roared, staring fiercely at the boy who dared to call him by his name.

Just as Mousse expected, Taro sent its tentacles at him. Mousse waited until the last second to jump out of the way, still in midair, Mousse released a rain of his trademark egg bombs on the creature. The male amazon laughed as he watched how Pantyhose was engulfed in a cloud of smoke caused by the explosions, "Hah! I bet not even you can resist my bomb rain!"

Mousse's laugh vanished when the smoke cleared, the monster was still standing and it didn't look happy, staggering, Pantyhose slammed Mousse with its palm.

"This is going to hurt." Mousse said just before the massive hand crushed him.

 

Shampoo felt dizzy, she had been bouncing around in this weird place for the last few minutes and she didn't like it. Besides, she had no idea of where she was either. The cat blinked a few times, this place was like a tunnel, but no, it was not, there were too many weapons for this place to be a tunnel. Shampoo sat and tried to remember, she had been fighting Pantyhose Taro, and she got hit, then she fell in cold water. The rest was all blurry, Mousse helped her out of the water and then he did something, "He put me inside his sleeve." She thought, "I have to get out f here. Pantyhose is going to kill Mousse if I don't help him!"

The cat wondered why it all looked so big inside Mousse's sleeves, it was like a different dimension in here, "Now how the hell do I get out?" She wondered as she gazed at all the things that were here, chains, iron balls, swords, maces, bombs, she even spotted a couple of hens! Then she saw two things that could be useful, one was a steaming kettle; the other was a spare robe Mousse had placed next to it. The cat meowed happily, it didn't matter how Mousse could keep all this here, what matter was that she could be human again, and some of the water in the kettle could be used for something else. Yes, she had an idea, as strange as it was, Shampoo had and idea of how to defeat Pantyhose.

 

Taro sneered as he removed its fist from the crater-sized hole in the ground, he gazed at the crushed man inside of it, satisfied. The stupid duck had caused him more trouble than what he had expected, and seeing Mousse's trembling body was a nice revenge. But it still was not enough, Taro was still bleeding and the bombs had wounded some tentacles, he was hurting and he was going to make this duck pay for it. The creature raised its fist and prepared to crush Mousse for good. But he stopped, the duck's right sleeve literally burst into shreds, and the amazon girl appeared, wearing a cloth just like the one duck kid was wearing.

She also had a kettle.

 

Shampoo stared at Pantyhose, then at Mousse, she wished she had kept watching at the monster. Mousse looked awful, even worse than the times Ranma had trashed him.

"You have not win yet." She said, "He can't fight no more, but I can!"

The beast made a horrible sound, Shampoo assumed that it was laughing, "I'm going to show not to mess with me!" She shouted and prayed for her plan to work. She concentrated and her battle aura appeared, glowing all around her.

 

Taro roared and attacked with the tentacles that weren't wounded. Shampoo ran under them and launched herself as hard as she could, aiming at the beast's chest, but Taro reacted quickly and covered itself from the attack with its arms, blocking the amazon missile that tried to hurt him. Shampoo bounced back and landed in one corner of the platform. She was panting heavily, she had used nearly all of her strength in this last move, and that blasted monster had blocked it! Now, her last chance was to use the kettle she still had in her hands.

 

The creature grinned and prepared a new attack, but its arm stiffened when it tried to move it. The monster tried to move its other arm and it went stiff too. Was this thing that girl's doing? But how? She never showed this kind of skills in the past. The beast stopped worrying, so what if its arms were stiff and most of its tentacles were hurt? Who cared about the bleeding in its neck? It had already won! The duck was unable to fight and the amazon cat was in only a slightly better condition. All it had to do now was to stomp them, like the bugs they were! With that in mind, the beast ran, preparing itself to crush the amazon woman.

 

Shampoo stood still even when the creature rushed towards her. The monster was about to trample her when she threw the kettle at it, and the hot water splashed Taro's legs.

 

Human Pantyhose was not a nice thing to look at, his body was scorched and his chest was damped with his own blood, he also had a nasty wound on his back, but he still wasn't defeated, "Curse you girl!" Taro managed to say and headed for the edge of the platform, clearly intending to jump on the water.

Shampoo shook her head, was he really thinking she was going to let him turn into a monster again? Sighing, the amazon girl punched Taro in the head and watched how he crumbled unconscious to the floor.

"You really are a lame human fighter." Shampoo muttered; she then went to see how Mousse was doing. The girl smiled when she saw that Mousse was sitting, rubbing his jaw.

"How are you feeling." She asked.

"I've been better." He said, "Where is Pantyhose?"

"He's taking a nap."

"You beat that monster!?" Mousse said surprised, "How?"

"I turned him into a human." Shampoo answered, "I thought that if his monster form could resist all that damage, his human one couldn't. It turned out that I was right."

Mousse got up and saw, Taro was indeed laying motionless in the floor, "I can believe it only because I'm seeing it." He exclaimed, "You really defeated Pantyhose."

"Well…you helped a little bit." She said, "It was a good fight, don't you think?"

"Yes, it sure was." Mousse replied, "Shouldn't we do something about his neck?"

Shampoo saw that he still was bleeding, "Maybe, if we had something to help him, that is."

"I have some bandages here." Mousse said and pulled some of those from his backpack, along with a blanket, "No use leaving him naked there." He explained as he covered Taro.

Next, Mousse put a bandage around Taro's neck and tied it in a knot.

"Do you want to strangle him?" Shampoo asked.

"Strangle him? I'm only stopping the bleeding."

"Just give me the bandages Mousse." Shampoo said, "I can do this better than you."

"Okay." He answered and handed them to her.

 

Minutes later, Shampoo had stopped the bleeding in Taro's neck, but she didn't sew the lips of the wound, she didn't have the tools to do that, "The wound bleed a lot, but it wasn't so bad, this will have to be enough for now." She said to her partner, who had just finished tying Taro's legs and arms, just in case he woke up.

"I don't think he'll need more." Mousse replied, "He's a bad fighter, but he's like weed, he won't die that easy."

"A real pain in the butt is a better way to describe him."

Mousse chuckled, "You're right."

"Well, now we only have to find a way to get out of here." She said, "Any ideas Mousse?"

"There must be a switch somewhere." He answered, "Maybe in the walls."

"We can't reach the walls, have you forgot we're surrounded by water?"

"Well, that's a problem." Mousse replied and adjusted his glasses.

"Hey, I know!" She said, "If you turn into a duck, you can swim to the walls and check them!"

"I don't think that's a good idea…"

 

Cologne sighed, she had been watching all from a crack in the wall. For a moment, she had been tempted to intervene in the fight, but she was glad that she didn't have to. She was proud of Shampoo and Mousse, they had defeated an enemy that only a few had been able to defeat before. What made her feel uneasy was that The elders from the council were watching this too, most of them were hiding between the walls of the maze just as she was doing now.

 

Cologne was pretty sure that the council had already decided that Shampoo failed the quest. Shampoo had helped Mousse out of a few traps, and she had fought with him as a team to defeat Taro. The only good thing she still had for Shampoo's future was Ranma, but she still had to catch the Saotome boy for her great-granddaughter.

"I think using Taro was a mistake." Cologne sighed and pulled a lever, it was no use keeping Shampoo trapped in the square chamber anymore. A little bit sad that her idea backfired, Cologne went to the center of the labyrinth, all the members of the council were probably heading there already.

 

Mousse and Shampoo were still trying to find a way to escape the room when the doors opened.

"What?" Mousse shouted, "The doors opened alone!"

"And the water's gone too!" Shampoo said happily, "Now we can keep going!"

"Don't you think this is very strange?"

"Yes, but we don't have time to think about it." She explained and ran out of the room.

"I guess so." Mousse said and followed Shampoo.

The next corridor was long, and filled with flowers in full bloom, it was a very beautiful sight, and Shampoo wowed at it.

Mousse ignored the flowers and just walked, his whole body was still aching from the fight, and he wondered why Shampoo was so fresh and seemingly not hurt. He hadn't noticed when she left his sleeves, so he didn't have any idea of how much time she fought against Pantyhose. What he did notice though, were the clothes Shampoo was wearing, she was wearing his spare robe. Mousse had considered telling her that she looked great in it, but he was afraid that she would get angry and he remained silent.

 

Shampoo entered a circular chamber, the room had marble walls and a pedestal stood in the center.

"I think this is the center of the maze." Mousse said.

"I think so too." Shampoo agreed, "The pedestal great-grandmother mentioned is here."

"Now all we have to do is to put the dragon on the pedestal."

"Give me the dragon." Shampoo said. "You still have it Mousse?"

"Right here." He answered and handed Shampoo a box he pulled out of his sleeves.

Shampoo noticed that the box made a strange sound, like that of broken glass. She opened the box slowly, hoping that what she was fearing was only her imagination.

"Mousse."

"What is it Shampoo?"

"The dragon is BROKEN!" She yelled, "Now what are we going to do!?"

"I…I…"

"It's all your fault!" She shouted, "Why didn't you protect it?"

"I…I…"

"I'm going to be expulsed from the village!" Shampoo sobbed.

"Don't worry Shampoo, I'm sure they won't expulse you. You did try to do what the council said." Mousse said and placed his hand on her shoulder, "It's not so bad."

"But I failed!" She yelled, "Now what will great-grandmother think?"

"I think is a good thing the dragon broke." Cologne said.

 

Shampoo couldn't believe that her great-grandmother was here, "You…here?"

"We are here too." Several members of the amazon council said as they jumped down to the circular chamber, "You did great in you quest, amazon Shampoo." The new leader of the council greeted, "But you still failed."

"She carried the dragon all the way to the center of the labyrinth!" Cologne interrupted, "I don't think she failed."

"Silence amazon Cologne!" The leader of the council said. "Your great-granddaughter accomplished the dragon part of the quest, that's true, but she helped the inadequate man we chose for her. That's why she failed."

"Inadequate man?" Shampoo asked, "What's going on here?"

"Your great-grandmother made a mistake when she was young." A member of the council explained, "And that's why your family has to take the spiral maze quest as a punishment."

Shampoo looked at Cologne, "Is that true?"

"Yes my child, it is." Cologne replied with her eyes closed, "I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner."

 

"But we have watched you amazon Shampoo." The leader of the council said, "And we have decided that even if you failed, your family will be free from the spiral labyrinth quest from now on."

Cologne's eyes shined. "Is it true?"

"Yes, Shampoo has proven that she is a true amazon warrior." A different member of the council stated, "She showed the determination to win a battle that only a true amazon could have."

Shampoo jumped with joy, Mousse smiled at his beloved and Cologne thought that her plan didn't backfire after all.

"And her helper did a good job too." The leader of the council said, "It's a shame that your father is against us amazon Mousse, otherwise, we could have rewarded you with anything you have asked for."

"A….anything…I…wanted?" He asked.

"Yes."

Mousse didn't reply, he entered in a state of shock. "Why me!?" he thought.

 

Cologne, Shampoo and Mousse spent a few days in the amazon village, there, the council announced to the village that Cologne's family was free from the Jade Dragon and that Shampoo was now in the list of possible council members.

Shampoo's family celebrated for the next four days, but then Cologne decided that it was time for her and Shampoo to go back to Japan.

After Shampoo closed the Neko Hanten's doors, she went to the kitchen and looked at Cologne, "Great-grandmother, what mistake you did when young?" She asked.

"You're not ready to know that." The elder replied, "I will only say that it has to do with the man that was my first husband."

"You married twice?"

"Something like that." Cologne said and left the kitchen.

"Great-grandmother, wait!" Shampoo called.

"When you are older, I'll tell you the rest."

The young amazon fumed and grabbed a soda from the freezer, "She's sure good keeping a secret." She thought.

"Shampoo."

She turned, "Mousse, about time you showed up."

"I told you I wanted to see my parents."

"You stayed two more days than us in China!" She said, "Hope you had fun."

"I did." Said Mousse, "Well, can I help you with something here?"

"Mop the floor." Shampoo ordered and left him alone in the kitchen.

"Nice to see you too." Mousse said to the walls, regretting what he asked.

"Hey Mousse." Shampoo called from the door.

"What?"

"There's something I've wanted to tell you since after we defeated Pantyhose." She told him in Chinese.

"What is it?"

"Thank you." Shampoo said softly so only he could hear, "You did a great job back there. Amazon Mousse." And then, she closed the door.

Mousse smiled and began to clean the kitchen's floor.

 

END.

 

Author's notes:

First of all, thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed this fanfic.

Now, why did I use Taro. Well, he was the only major villain that was available. I could have used Herb, but he's too powerful for Shampoo and Mousse, besides, Herb is a prince and wouldn't have plotted with Cologne, and the bird people from phoenix mountain appears until volume 38, that let me only one choice for a villain, Pantyhose Taro. That's why I used him.

And about the whole punishment plot? I've always thought that Cologne and Happosai had a romance going when they were young and I wanted to write the possible implications of that relation.

Well, that's basically it. The story has a few connections here and there with Hidden Memories and The man who loved Shampoo, but they don't affect the overall plot.

 

Facer.

 

send feedback to dr_facer@yahoo.com