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Left – right strike. ‘Good.’
Pa Fum brought her sword around for a downward cut. Mir Or quickly brought her Bo staff up to block the strike. The blade cut deeply into the wood.
Letting go with her right hand, Mir Or swooped with her left, twisting the staff until it was above the blade. While Pa Fum, caught off guard by the unusual move, tried to pull back her blade, she missed Mir Or’s right fist coming in hard against her face.
Mir Or dropped off of the challenge log after her opponent hit the ground. Calming her breath, she smoothed out some of the wrinkles in her yellow tunic then adjusted her red breast plate. Flicking one of her long twin tresses over her shoulder. Her hair waving defiantly in the slight breeze. The hint of blue she had gained since coming to live in the valley shimmering under the bright sun. Her face held the grin of a predator.
Shan Pu would be facing her opponent next. Mir Or knew who would win that match, she was favored this year. If Mir Or could won her next fight, only Shan Pu would stand in her way of total victory. Mir Or allowed herself a smirk.
7 years ago:
‘Girl! Come here!’ – ‘Girl! Carry this!’ – ‘Girl! Pick up that piece of paper!’
One of village slaves finally slipped out to her clearing, fighting back the tears and anger. Looking around, she satisfied herself that she was now alone.
Taking a deep breath, she took up her position. She couldn’t remember its name. After taking a second breath she began the basic kata’s she had been taught by her father. Slowly at first, speeding up with each repetition. This was her time.
Once, in the beginning, she had made the mistake of letting her anger get to her. She had lashed out at one of the girls that had gone too far. She still cherished the look on her face after it had been slammed into the ground. But the punishment she had received afterwards…
She paused after a kick, her leg held high in the air by the force of that memory. She had been tied to a tree limb and subjected to a bare-bottom paddling. Administered by Shan Pu, the girl she had ‘wronged.’ In front of the whole village. Then she had been left there over night. A punishment meant to teach humility. A punishment usually reserved for the young boys of the tribe.
It was hard, but she had learned to curb her anger. She could never get rid of it. Not here. Not among the people that had killed her family. Not among the people that had stolen her life. No. ‘Some day, I will get out of here,’ she promised herself again as her battle aura flared to life.
With her anger fully focused now, she lasted out at a boulder, shattering it. A kick brought down a tree. Quickly she suppressed her anger again. It would not due for a slave to be caught practicing.
As she quickly slipped back toward the village, Ke Lon smiled. She knew there was a reason for keeping the girl.
It was a few days after that Akane found herself dragged before the Council of Elders. Ke Lon confronted her about her fighting spirit. The Council had given her a number of tasks to complete. She would have thought it to be punishment for her trying to train herself, but the tasks had been strange.
It had taken a full week before she learned what they where thinking. During which, each night she would be given a task. After she returned, with the last task completed she was brought forth before the tribe again.
She remembered the last time, but she was not going to let them intimidate her. To this end, she had only half listened to the words the Elders spoke. It did not matter what punishment they would hand her, she would face it. They would never beat her.
When a gasp escaped from the tribe, she started paying better attention. They where going to make her an Amazon. She was to be granted the privilege of a warrior. Her mind almost completely shutdown.
‘I wonder what my warrior name will be?’ she considered. Chewing on a useless bit of trivia in an attempt to comprehend the surreal situation she found herself in. ‘Maybe Vanity, or Make-up. Possible Shower or Mirror,’ she mused to herself. The funny coincidence that tended to appear around their names had been one of the things that had helped her keep control of her anger. After all, it was hard to take someone whose name sounded like shampoo as serious as she took herself. Which made it even more hilarious.
During Ke Lun’s long life, she had seen many different responses a new warrior would give to receiving her warrior name. Most stood stoically, taking it like they thought a warrior would. Some jumped or danced for joy. Some shouted to the great mother. A few even cried. Never, not once, in all her years had she seen the reaction this girl gave.
As Ku Lon pronounced "We now bestow upon you, the honored name of Mir Or," Akane Tendou face-faulted.
Shan Pu had now finished with her opponent. It was Mir Or’s turn again. If she won this, only Shan Pu would stand in her way.
Koh Om had given her the way out, if she could win the tournament. After the feast in the honor of the winner, she would be given the honor of leading the next hunt. That would give her the opportunity to make a run for it.
Normally, she would never get the chance to get very far. Especially with Shan Pu watching her for any mistake or weakness. They had never become friends. And with Ku Lon teaching the both of them, they had become very strong rivals. There had been no doubt that the contest would come down to the two of them. But Shan Pu was still the favored.
Between them both, they had split the younger generation. Not that Mir Or had any friends. Just allies against Shan Pu. ‘Heh.’
If she could lead the next hunt, she could get far enough ahead of the rest that she might have a chance. The real test came with the Pools of Sorrow, if Koh Om was to be believed. Koh Om opposed Ku Lon, but that did not mean that she was on her side. Like it or not, this was the best chance she had to get away.
As far as she knew, the Pools of Sorrow where a forbidden training ground. Once, long ago, they had been the training-ground. Now, they where occasionally brought up as a means of punishment for warriors who had dishonored the village, but they had never been used to her knowledge. Koh Om had told her that if she jumped into one of the pools she would be temporarily transformed into some animal. With an unknown form, she could easily make her escape, as they wouldn’t know what to look for. Koh Om had said that the change would wear off after a time, but was sketchy on the details. She knew more than she was telling her, but Mir Or didn’t think she could make it any other way.
She was going to keep her promise to get away from here. And winning against Shan Pu, would just be the icing on the cake.
Mir Or smirked, as she knocked out the last opponent between her and Shan Pu.
Shan Pu wasted no time in jumping onto the challenge log. She knew she could beat the little slave tramp, but it would be close. And in a close fight, anything could happen.
"Ready for another paddling?" She taunted softly, so that her voice carried just far enough to be heard by her opponent. Mir Or’s expression darkened, causing her to smirk. They hadn’t started yet, and already she had scored a point.
She had to be careful though. Now that the slave tramp was considered a warrior, she could get in trouble bringing up things that occurred before in front of men. But it was such a delicious taunt, and a memory she would not let her forget.
"Begin!"
A quick jab, followed by a sideswipe by Bon-Bori missed the girl by a cloth’s width. Using her Bo-staff as a pole vault, Mir Or launched over the crush attempt and slamming down hard on Shan Pu’s head before bounding over to the other side.
Mir Or’s attempted leg sweep only caught air as Shan Pu jumped over, slamming downward with one of her Bon-Bori. Mir Or barely managed to roll out from under just before the strike, which created a crack in the log.
Spinning her staff, Mir Or deflected the follow though jab, causing Shan Pu to leave herself open to correct for the heavy arch of her Bon-Bori. Mir Or struck viscously at her exposed side, then spinning as if for a leg sweep, she brought the staff up at the last moment, striking her hand.
Mir Or was good, but Shan Pu was faster. Only the weight of her Bon-Bori slowed her down enough to let Mir Or have the chance she had enjoyed thus far. For the Tournament, weapons where required, or else they both would be up here, unarmed. However, where Shan Pu’s favored weapon slowed her down, Mir Or’s weapon gave her a decidedly unfair advantage.
Mir Or had only just begun working with her aura and her ability to sense aura’s when she realized what all of the Elders did with their canes. They could store their ki in them, to be used later when they needed. It had taken her over a year but she had finally learned the beginnings of the skill without instruction.
Only a few of the advanced techniques where allowed to be taught to a maiden. Only once she had married, and thus took on the greater role of providing for the future of the tribe, did they begin learning the other advanced techniques.
It was this advantage she now began to apply. Mir Or was marginally stronger than Shan Pu. But even with the Bon-Bori, she was quicker and had more endurance. The full out dodging she was having to employ just to keep away from Shan Pu’s strikes, which where meant to knock her off the log, had already begun to take there toll. Slowly Mir Or gathered the energy she had stored in the wooden shaft, directing it to revitalize her and keep up her speed and strength.
Unlike the Elders, she could only put so much energy into her wooden staff. And even then, it would dissipate quickly over time. She had spent a lot of time charging her staff. And hadn’t used any until this fight. Now she needed it, but also had to be careful not to attract attention to what she was doing.
Like most close fights, in the end it was a lucky slip that both lost and won the fight. Mir Or had finally been knocked down onto the log. Shan Pu had jumped to the back of the log to launch herself into a final strike, leaving Mir Or two choices. Attempt to take and block the blow or dodge off of the log, and lose. She didn’t have the strength to do much more.
With the bitter taste of defeat, she rolled over only to find that part of her dress had been caught in the spilt that had been created at the beginning of their fight. With a sound of tearing, she grabbed onto the fabric and swung around, planting her feet into Shan Pu’s side. With a huff, she landed hard on her stomach, bent over the log. Her battle dress torn, exposing her panties to everyone. As embarrassing as that should have been, she couldn’t care for the moment. She had beat Shan Pu and was on her way home.
After a few seconds to catch her breath she dropped down and started over to claim the winners feast. Everyone stopped cheering when they saw a small red head dressed in dirty white with a panda eating her prize.
"Who do you think you are?" She yelled at them, as she stormed over.
"Huh?" The red head answered. Her eyes opening wide as the speaker stepped into view.
"Just what do you think your doing?"
"She say, ’what you doing?’" The guide helpfully translated to Japanese.
"That prize feast for winner!" Mir Or shouted, shifting to Japanese for the first time in years. It felt unfamiliar on her tongue. She took a closer look at the girl that knew her home language. Too bad she wouldn’t get to ask where she had learned it from.
"So this is first prize, huh?" The girl began. "So, if I beat ya, then there won’t be any problem, ne?"
"Uh, sirs?" The guide began, but the girl had already jumped up to the challenge log.
With a grin, Mir Or joined her. This would be easy, and maybe after she trounced her, she would still get to ask about her homeland.
They stood, sizing each other up. Then Mir Or leaped forward, bringing her staff across in a waving attack pattern. The strange girl easily wove in and out from her strikes like they were nothing. Advancing further, she began with the double-handed spinning side strikes. The girl agilely leaped over her.
Mir Or was not going to let this girl make a fool of her. Stepping back, she pointed the staff at her opponent, and brushed her hand along the wood. The sudden release of ki from her focus flashed forward like a chaotic storm. The girl had to jump up on to one of the support poles to escape. Her face changed to one of determination. Good, now she would at least fight back. Unfortunately, while she might be able to pull that off one more time after all the grueling fights she needed that reserve for herself now.
The ‘girl’ on the pole, one Ranma Saotome, had to think quick. He had issued the challenge without thinking, now he was cornered. He didn’t want to fight a girl; it went against everything he believed in. But if he didn’t fight, there was no telling what price they would demand for the theft of her first prize. His father would have just run away, but Ranma didn’t want to start down that path. He paid his debts, or at least tried to. This girl was playing for keeps, and if he let himself become incapacitated, he wasn’t sure the guide would be able to save his pops from becoming the replacement feast. After all, he hadn’t stopped them from making their mistake.
Ranma felt the weight of the world on his very feminine shoulders. Men don’t fight girls. But he was a girl now. Girls were weak and helpless. He definitely was feeling that now. He wasn’t use to fighting in this form, and she had nicked him several times already. And if she had any more of those, whatever it was she did up her sleeve, the fight was hers. The temptation to make use of the Saotome Ultimate Technique was strong. He had started this; he had to finish it.
Leaping off of the support log, he aimed a kick at her stomach. She brought her staff up to block like he knew she would. At the last second, he slipped his feet around the middle of the staff and locked his feet to it. Performing a strong mid-air twist that the Saotome school of Anything-Goes-Martial Arts was infamous for, he forced her balance off the log just before releasing to drop onto the log. It was a desperation maneuver, one that wouldn’t work twice, but he had won, they where free and in the clear.
Mir Or was stunned. Here, on the brightest day of her life, she was humiliated. Beaten by an outsider. Worse, she had revealed her ace and still lost. She would not get lead the hunt now. Her last chance to… wait a minute. Mir Or smiled as fate had finally smiled upon her.
Standing up, she strolled purposefully over to the girl, now being declared the winner. Cupping her face in her hand, she smiled to the girl, then leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. The girl’s eyes opened wide and she started to stammer like one of the village idiot boys.
"If Mir Or were girl, she start running fast." She said calmly, once again testing her native tongue again.
"Wh- h- how did ya know…" the girl stammered.
"That was kiss of death. It promise to chase all over world until killed." She noted the girl’s complexion paling. "I now get new battle dress and weapons for hunt. You should run now, while you have chance."
"Uh, uh… Pops, I think we should be out of here." The panda seemed to nod emphatically, just before they both took off running out of the village.
Mir Or hated to scare her like that. But she was now her ticket out of here. She would have to chase her until they left China, hopefully for their homeland. Once there, she could try to find any family that might still remember her.