------------------------
The Perfect Warrior
Chapter 4: Unto the Breach
------------------------

	With a final downward sweep, Ranma finished his weapons kata, 
sheathed his sword, and faced Ruby.  She grinned broadly and nodded in 
approval; if anything, Ranma was a fast learner.  After only a few 
weeks of training with his chosen weapon, it appeared as though he had 
been practicing with it for months.

	For one thing, the Japanese-style katana that she and Ranma had 
settled upon as his weapon of choice did seem to suit him particularly 
well.  It was a weapon that had been introduced to the Amazons by 
travelers over three hundred years ago, and the Amazons had 
subsequently assimilated it into their own fighting styles and 
strategies.  In the current war against the Musk, the curved-bladed 
katana had proven itself over and over again as a deadly and effective 
weapon against the Musk swords, and had become one of the Amazons' 
primary weapons.

	Ranma had picked up the katana's use quickly, but despite his 
quick learning, he was far from perfect.  There were several flaws in 
his style, and it would be some time before he would be ready to go 
into battle with a weapon.  Still, that time was a long way off, and at 
the rate he was learning, it wouldn't be long before his skill with the 
katana would be on par with other Amazons who had been training with 
them for years.

	Meanwhile, the aforementioned student was standing perfectly 
still, eyeing Ruby carefully, and waiting for her assessment of his 
kata.  Ruby obliged.  Ranma deserved praise for his progress, but at 
the same time she knew that if he was not made aware of his mistakes he 
would not improve.  "That was very good, Ranma.  You need to work on 
your form a little, though; I don't think you trust yourself enough 
with a weapon.  Even when you're holding a sword, you tend to attack 
too much with kicks.  Musk warriors wield swords, too, and if you try 
to kick one you may end up with your foot cut off."

	Ranma smiled wickedly.  "Then I guess I'll just have to be 
quicker than they are."

	Ruby continued, unfazed by both the smile and the comment.  
"Or you'll just have to change your technique.  I don't mind if you 
integrate your unarmed style into your armed style, in fact I encourage 
it, but fight smart.  Don't make risky maneuvers if there's a way to do 
it that's just as effective but less risky.  In this case, the best way 
is to use your sword as the primary means of attack.  A sword hitting 
your sword won't hurt you.  A sword hitting your leg will hurt you a 
lot."

	Ranma nodded.  "I understand."

	"Good."  Ruby smiled.  "That's it for tonight.  Go get some 
sleep."

	As Ranma left the building, Ruby looked over to the other side of 
the training hall where another student was doing a kata with bonbori.  
"Shampoo, don't you think you should take a rest now?"

	The girl stopped in her tracks, and sighed.  Her shoulders 
slumped, she held her bonbori loosely at her sides, and she turned to 
her mother with a disappointed look in her eyes.  "Aw, Mom, do I have 
to?"

	Ruby looked at her daughter understandingly.  "I know that you 
want to train hard, dear.  But if you don't get enough rest, then 
training hard may end up hurting you instead of helping you.  Now let's 
go home."  She smiled as Shampoo reluctantly walked over to the wall, 
placed the pair of bonbori against it, and walked over to her.

	Ever since her daughter had returned from her trip three months 
ago it was like she was a whole new person when it came to her 
training.  Before she had left Ruby had worried that she was slacking 
off; now she was worried that her daughter was practicing too hard.  
She wondered if it was the result of the training trip or, more likely, 
the result of Ranma's arrival.

	Ever since Shampoo had met him, she had treated him as a rival.  
She saw him as a rival for attention and for space, but most 
importantly, she saw him as a rival for fighting skill.  She had never 
said it, and Ruby doubted that she would admit it, but she was sure 
that her daughter's true goal in training so hard was to be as good a 
fighter as Ranma. 

	Well, she thought, maybe it'll be good for her.  It's certainly 
not hurting her technique.  I just don't want her to become obsessed 
with it.  Ruby thought about Ranma, who she would definitely put under 
the heading of 'obsessed with martial arts,' and what he was like as a 
person.  No, she thought.  I won't make the same mistakes Ranma's 
father did.  Never.  My daughter will be a decent human being first, 
and a warrior second.  The statement was not said aloud, but to her it 
was a promise for her daughter's sake, and in her mind it had all the 
weight of a sacred vow.

	"Hey Mom, are you all right?"  She snapped out of her thoughts 
with a shock, and looked down to see her daughter standing in front of 
her.

	She smiled sheepishly.  "Yeah."  They walked out the door of the 
training hall, and onto the dark dusty street.  "I'm fine."  She put 
her arm around her daughter's shoulder, and the pair headed for home.

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

	The next morning, Ruby waited at the training hall as Shampoo and 
Ranma did exercises in opposite corners of the room.  She sighed and 
looked out the window at the dense early morning fog that blanketed the 
earth, and silently hoped that it would lift quickly.  She was taking 
her students outside the village today, and had decided to leave two 
hours ahead of when class normally started so they would have more 
time.  If the fog didn't lift soon, however, it could counteract any 
possible benefits of leaving early.

	The door opened slowly.  Well, here they come, she thought, and 
she turned to the door to greet the student entering.

	Instead, she found herself standing up and bowing.  "Good 
morning, Matriarch."

	Cologne used her staff to push the door closed behind her.  "Good 
morning, Ruby."  The Matriarch paused for a moment as she watched Ranma 
and Shampoo practicing, and smiled.  "It's good to see the children so 
devoted to their training."

	Shampoo suddenly noticed the Matriarch's presence, and bowed to 
her quickly before returning to her exercises.  The elder Amazon 
watched the girl's kata for another moment before turning back to 
Ruby.  "Anyway, I'm glad I made it here before you left.  I need to 
talk to you about your planned expedition today."

	Ruby sat back down, bringing herself eye level with Cologne.  
"What about it?"

	"Last night at the Council, we discussed a couple of reports by 
recent patrols. Apparently, the Musk have begun using new attack 
strategies. It's nothing particularly dangerous, but they were 
nevertheless strategies and patterns we haven't seen before."
	
	Ruby looked at the Matriarch questioningly. "Why is that such a 
big deal?  It seems natural that they'd develop new strategies 
occasionally."

	"That does seem natural, doesn't it?" Cologne mused. "Tell me, 
Ruby. You've been fighting the Musk for twenty years now. That's not 
very long compared to the Matriarchs, but you've still got a decent 
grasp of how the Musk operate. How many times have the Musk altered 
their basic strategies? How many times have you had to adapt to Musk 
fighting styles because they changed?"

	Ruby thought for a moment before she realized the answer.  
"Never. The Musk have always stuck to the same strategies and fighting 
styles.  We've never once had to change our tactics to fit the way the 
Musk fight."  She cursed herself for not realizing that immediately- 
she had known the Musk tended to use the same strategies over and over, 
but it had never sunk in until now just how unchanging they were.

	"Correct."  Cologne's voice snapped Ruby out of her thoughts, and 
she directed her attention back to the Matriarch.  "We have been 
fighting the Musk for over a hundred years now, and for reasons we 
don't know, the Musk rarely change their attack methods. This is one 
thing we can count as an advantage, because it means that quite often 
they're predictable." Cologne narrowed her eyes and gazed steadily at 
Ruby, who shifted uncomfortably under the intense gaze of the 
Matriarch. "Right now, that is no longer an advantage we have. For 
whatever reason, the Musk are introducing new strategies into their 
attacks, and they are not predictable."

	"I understand. How does this effect the training exercise?"

	"The Musk," Cologne continued, "do not attack in the daytime. 
They prefer to attack at night, when they can sneak up undetected. This 
has been true for years. Yet with these recent incidents, I am no 
longer willing to take anything for granted."

	Ruby's face took on an expression of concern. "Do you want me to 
call the expedition off?" While she understood the need for keeping the 
children safe, she would also be disappointed if Cologne wished her to 
cancel the expedition. She had been trying to build up anticipation 
among her students for the past couple weeks, and they would probably 
be quite disappointed if it turned out that today would be another 
typical day training inside.

	Cologne shook her head. "No, that won't be necessary. The chances 
of the Musk changing this particular strategy on this particular day 
and choosing your party to attack are virtually zero. Virtually zero, 
however, is not the same thing as zero, and I wanted to warn you of the 
increased risk."

	"Are you sure it's safe?"  She was now feeling uncertain of her 
own desire to go forward with the expedition.  "Very few of my students 
are prepared to fight to Musk."

	The Matriarch nodded.  "I'm sure you'll be fine.  The only thing 
I'm going to do is assign one of the morning patrols to meet you 
outside the village.  They will then stay with you throughout the day.  
If you want, they can be your teaching assistants.  It's almost 
certainly safe, but that doesn't mean I won't take precautions."  
Cologne hopped up onto her cane.  "The patrol will meet you at the 
Eastern edge of the village."

	Ruby bowed her head.  "Very well, Matriarch.  Thank you for your 
concern."

	"Don't worry about it.  It's my responsibility as chief Matriarch 
to make sure your students are kept safe."  Cologne turned to leave, 
but then looked back over her shoulder.  "Besides," her voice took on a 
more kindly tone, "I would never forgive myself if anything happened to 
you, granddaughter."  With that, she hopped toward the door and was 
gone.

	Ruby looked up and noticed that about half of the class had 
gathered while she had been talking, and they were now talking amongst 
themselves or practicing.  Ranma was doing a kata to one side, and 
Shampoo had picked up a sparring partner.  Ruby waited a few more 
minutes for the rest of her students to get there, and then with a 
shrill whistle gathered them to her.

	"All right."  She clapped her hands.  "Everyone have a water 
sack, their weapons, everything they need for today?"

	A chorus of 'Yes's greeted her.  "Great.  We've been doing a lot 
of training in the dojo recently, so I want you to get a feel for 
fighting outdoors and on some of the local terrain.  So for the next 
couple days, we'll be going out of the village.  Hopefully, we'll get 
the chance to work on some survival skills, too.  Now," she looked at 
the students, "Musk attacks in the daytime are virtually unheard of.  
Still, though, that doesn't mean we should be careless.  If I tell you 
to get back to the village, you do so and do so quickly.  Nobody- I 
mean nobody-" she looked directly at Ranma- "is to attempt to join the 
battle."  She smiled.  "But that's not going to happen.  So let's go 
and train so that when you actually do meet the Musk you'll be 
ready."  She turned around, heading out the door and motioning for her 
students to follow her.

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

	Several hours later, she was leading her students down a rocky 
trail.  The trail ran close to the mountains bordering one side of the 
village, and led directly into the village itself.  The trail had 
existed since before the current war with the Musk, and though it had 
not been maintained for over a century it was still very passable.  
While the trail could conceivably be used by the Musk to make entrance 
into the Amazon village easier, it had never been considered enough of 
a threat to expend the effort necessary to make the trail impassable.  
Besides, on days like today, it came in handy.

	Actually, she wasn't particularly happy to be on the trail in the 
first place.  Over the course of the day, she had led her students a 
little farther West than she had intended in order to let them study 
more of the terrain that surrounded the village.  West was in the 
direction of Musk territory, and so while they were still not far from 
the village Ruby was anxious to head back in that direction as soon as 
possible.

	Not that they were really in danger.  The sun was still high, 
although it was beginning to move into the Western half of the sky.  
The Amazon patrol that they had met up with in the  morning was still 
with them, but so far there had been no need for them.  Even if a Musk 
raiding party was around here at this time of day and happened to spot 
them, Ruby was confident the Amazons could deal with them easily.  
Although she had specifically forbade her students from doing so, she 
was confident that if things got desperate then several of the students 
would be able to hold their own in fighting.  Pepper was her oldest 
student and had already been going on Amazon patrols for two years.  If 
it came down to it, she had no doubt that Ranma could hold his own in a 
battle with the Musk either, but for reasons she was not entirely sure 
of she hesitated at the prospect of him fighting in battle.

	Still, the large majority of her students were incapable of 
holding their own in a fight and would be put at great risk if a fight 
occurred.  With her daughter among the students who were vulnerable, 
she felt even more pressed to get as far away from Musk territory as 
possible.

	She took a deep breath, reminding herself that there was really 
no reason to worry.  The Musk did not attack in the daytime, and just 
because the Council sensed the Musk were changing some of their 
strategies did not mean that this particular aspect of Musk fighting 
would change.  She sighed; it was amazing how little comfort that 
thought gave her.

	As they walked, the area gradually became more wooded, and soon 
they were surrounded by a light scattering of trees that grew thicker 
as they walked out of the mountains and into the valley.  Still, her 
nerves were not put at ease.  Her danger sense was telling her that 
they were not alone.  The hairs on the back of her neck were standing 
up, and she pulled her bonbori out of her sleeves, attempting to look 
casual as she did it so she wouldn't alarm the children who were behind 
her.

	"Is everything all right, Mom?"  Her daughter was only a couple 
of feet behind her, and Ruby looked back to see the concerned 
expression on her face.

	Ruby attempted to smile reassuringly.  "Yeah, everything's fine.  
It's just that my arms were itching a little.  The Hidden Weapons 
techniques aren't perfect, after all."

	Shampoo pulled on the strap across her shoulder which carried her 
own bonbori.  "It has to be better than carrying them around on your 
back.  When are we going to learn Hidden Weapons, anyway?"

	Ruby smiled.  Talking to her daughter did make her feel a little 
more at ease, but she also knew she wasn't being nearly as vigilant.  
"When it's time to for me to teach it to you, I will."

	Her daughter grumbled at this answer, but Ruby turned her head 
forward again.  She was probably being paranoid, and besides, they were 
almost totally out of the mountains.  Once they were in the valley, it 
was virtually no time at all before they were back in the village.  She 
looked back at her students, most of whom were dragging themselves 
along tiredly, and decided to call a quick break.  It would give the 
students a chance to rest, and she could talk to the Amazon patrol in 
the rear and possibly search the area.  She hoped that would at least 
put her nerves at ease.

	She raised her hand and stopped, causing several of the students 
to gasp in relief.  As her students rested, unsheathed their weapons, 
and sat down, Ruby turned around and walked toward the three Amazon 
warriors who were escorting them.

	Ruby only knew one of the warriors from the village, a woman 
about her age named Lavender.  The other two warriors were about ten 
years younger than her, so she had never had the opportunity to teach 
or train with them.  The three warriors were also walking towards her, 
concern written on their faces.

	Lavender spoke first.  "What's wrong?"

	Ruby frowned, trying to phrase her answer so she didn't seem too 
paranoid.  "I just have a bad feeling, is all.  My nerves are a little 
on edge, so I called a break."  She paused for a moment, debating 
whether her course of action was the right one.

	She decided to go ahead.  "I'm going to search the area and let 
my nerves relax a little.  Besides, most of my students needed a break 
anyway."

	Lavender nodded.  "Yeah, I've been feeling a little on edge too.  
All right, we'll search the immediate area.  Blossom, Ivory-" she 
looked at the other two Amazons, "stay here with the children.  Ruby 
and I will look around."

	Ivory nodded.  "All right."

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

	With a sigh of relief, Shampoo leaned against a boulder.  She let 
herself sink slowly down toward the ground until she was sitting 
cross-legged next to the bonbori she had dropped a few moments 
earlier.  Taking her water sack off her shoulder, she opened it and 
took a long drink, thankful that they had finally gotten a break after 
what seemed like at least an hour and a half of nonstop hiking in the 
summer sun.

	She leaned her head back against the rock and closed her eyes 
most of the way, but watched her mother out of the corner of her eye.  
She was talking with the other warriors, and they seemed to be anxious 
about something.  Shampoo's hand inched toward her bonbori leaning next 
to her.  She looked around at the students around her, and spotted 
Ranma.  He was about ten feet away, standing up and leaning against a 
rock with his arms crossed in front of him, intently watching the older 
Amazons.  His katana was sheathed and rested by his side against the 
rock.  She also noticed that a couple of the older students were moving 
toward the warriors, apparently intent on finding out what was going on.

	Ruby shooed the older students away, and the group of warriors 
broke up.  Shampoo saw one of the older students, Pepper, approaching 
her.  Shampoo knew her fairly well; occasionally the older Amazon had 
been a mentor to her during various training exercises.  She twirled a 
bonbori idly in one hand as she passed, and Shampoo coughed to get her 
attention.  "What's going on?"

	Pepper looked over and shrugged.  "They won't say.  I think your 
Mother is just feeling nervous, and they're going to search the area 
while we rest."

	Shampoo about to reply, but her attention was distracted by a 
group of three Amazons about her age who were talking quietly amongst 
themselves and walking towards Ranma.  She wasn't friends with any of 
them, but she knew one of them all too well.  Autumn, the girl in the 
lead, had been on the recent training trip with Shampoo.  She was a 
stereotypical bully, and it appeared her chosen target of the afternoon 
would be Ranma.  Shampoo smirked.  Autumn had been in a different 
class, and had been transferred to Ruby's class only a few days ago.  
Because of this, she had not yet had the chance to see Ranma fight, and 
so she had no idea that bullying him was about on a par with bullying a 
cobra.  This could be interesting indeed.

	Autumn walked up to Ranma, flanked on either side by a 
companion.  Ranma did nothing- his posture and his gaze gave no 
indication that he had even noticed her.  Shampoo had no doubt that he 
had noticed, but figured he probably didn't care.  Autumn took it as a 
deliberate insult.

	"Look at me, Outsider."  Ranma didn't look at her, but continued 
staring into space.

	"I said look at me!"  She reached forward and pushed him.  Since 
Ranma was leaning against a rock, the shove did absolutely nothing.  
Ranma's eyes narrowed, but other than that he continued to make 
absolutely no acknowledgement of her.

	Autumn growled in anger.  Shampoo knew from her own experiences 
with the bully that she was nothing if not persistent.  She wondered 
which would happen first- whether Ranma would snap or Autumn would give 
up.  She hoped Ranma would snap- she would love to see the bully get 
her comeuppance, but had never been able to fight Autumn herself.  Like 
many bullies, the girl made it a point never to go after somebody when 
she was alone.  That was generally the way it was with people like 
her.  They were always willing to attack someone when they were with 
their friends, but never willing to face someone one-on-one.  Autumn 
was almost all talk and no fight, and was going up against someone who 
was nearly the exact opposite- all fight and no talk.

	"Hmmph."  Autumn crossed her arms and glared at Ranma. "Just like 
I thought.  You're not so tough.  I bet you can't even fight.  Why a 
weakling like you got adopted into the tribe, I'll never know."

	Ranma looked at her, as though he had just noticed her for the 
first time.  He continued leaning against the rock, but he spoke to her 
in a casual tone of voice.  "Well, believe me..." he spoke, watching 
her with an unreadable expression.  "If I had realized that there were 
idiots like you in the tribe, I would never have agreed to become an 
Amazon."

	Shampoo tried not to laugh.  She could almost see the steam 
rising from the girl's head.  She thought Autumn was going to attack 
him, but the girl got her temper under control.  She frowned in 
disappointment.

	Autumn lowered her head and chuckled softly.  When she looked 
back up at him, her eyes were filled with anger.  "It's pretty clear to 
me that you don't know the first thing about being an Amazon."  She 
looked back up at Ranma.  "First, the females are superior to the 
males- not the other way around.  So you'd better treat me with some 
respect, Outsider!"  It was then that she threw a punch at Ranma's 
head.

	For a brief moment, Shampoo thought that he was just going to 
stand there and take the punch.  But at the last second, faster than 
she could track, he uncrossed his arms and grabbed Autumn's wrist.  Her 
fist was scarcely two fingers' width away his face.  Autumn stared at 
his fist in shock, unable to believe anyone could move as fast as he 
just had.

	Ranma's arm muscles flexed, and his grip on Autumn's arm 
tightened.  Autumn tried to glare at Ranma, but as his grip tightened 
her angry glare turned into a grimace of pain.  He spoke quietly, but 
the ice in his voice was mistakable.  "Keep it up and you'll regret 
it.  Walk away.  Now."

	Finally, Autumn recovered enough to lash out at him with her 
other fist.  Ranma ducked under it and as he used his grip on her arm 
to pull the girl towards him, he hammered a fist into her stomach.  She 
gasped and doubled over in pain.  Both of Autumn's friends leapt to her 
aid, moving into fighting stances, and Ranma grinned as he got into a 
loose fighting stance of his own.  Shampoo was grinning in anticipation 
of watching the fight when a voice yelled out, "That's enough!"

	Shampoo looked up.  It was Pepper, who had been standing next to 
her watching the scene play itself out.  Pepper frowned.  "All of you, 
that's enough.  Autumn, stop picking fights.  Ranma has proven he has 
what it takes to be an Amazon- for the moment.  When the time comes and 
it really matters, we'll see if he still does."  She glared fiercely at 
Ranma, then snapped her gaze back to Autumn.  "For now, Ranma is an 
Amazon warrior with all the same rights and privileges as you have."  
She turned away, and Shampoo saw a brief flicker of intense rage cross 
Pepper's face as she walked away.

	Autumn was still hunched over and trying to get her breath back.  
She glared up at Ranma for several seconds, who returned her gaze 
coldly.  Finally, she regained her composure enough to walk away, 
stopping to glare over her shoulder at him one last time.

	Ranma leaned back against the rock and crossed his arms, as 
though the entire altercation had never happened.  Shampoo also leaned 
back where she was sitting, and was about to close her eyes when she 
was interrupted again- this time by someone yelling.  She sat bolt 
upright, startled as the sound got closer.  It sounded like a battle 
cry- but it wasn't one she recognized as being used by the Amazons.  
She realized in horror that if the battle cry wasn't from the Amazons, 
it could only be from the Musk.  As the sound got closer, she felt a 
combination of excitement, fear, and dread.  Knowing from the battle 
cry that the Musk were very close by, she grabbed her bonbori and 
looked around, waiting for them to appear.

	The Musk warriors came into view over the edge of a small hill on 
the other side of the trail.  They ran toward the Amazons, and as she 
watched the large group of armored warriors charge, swords drawn, she 
felt her muscles turned to jelly.  She dropped her bonbori and shrank 
back against her rock, as though hoping she could vanish from the awful 
scene unfolding before her eyes.  She stared, paralyzed, at the 
charging warriors.

	She snapped out of her paralysis as another cry joined the Musk 
cry and she looked, startled, toward the other Amazons.  Most of them 
had gathered into a defensive knot, and the older Amazons were 
brandishing their weapons and yelling their own battle cry as the Musk 
slowly encircled them.

	Most of the students were her age, and there were only a few 
older Amazons capable of defeating a fully trained and armed Musk.  
These older Amazons had formed a protective ring around the rest, but 
as more Musk arrived, she realized with a horrible sensation that this 
would not be a battle; it would be a massacre.  There were about thirty 
Musk warriors, and at maximum she figured there were perhaps seven 
Amazons who were capable of fighting them.

	For a moment there was silence as the enemies regarded each 
other; but it lasted for only a moment.  The Musk warriors brandished 
their weapons and prepared to charge; but as the battle cry pierced the 
air she realized that it was not a Musk cry but an Amazon one.

	A little further down the path, her mother stood with another 
warrior.  For a moment the two Amazons stood there.  They got into 
stances and prepared to charge, yelling loudly and making far more 
noise than she ever imagined two people would be capable of.  She 
scarcely believed that the warrior she was watching was her own 
mother.  She was surrounded by a bright red battle aura which flared 
brightly, her eyes glowed with fury and determination, and her mouth 
was open in a yell of rage and defiance.  To Shampoo, the woman 
standing there looked more like some arcane war goddess than the 
mild-mannered person she had always known her mother to be.

	The Amazon yell got louder as the Amazons trapped inside the Musk 
circle responded with a yell of their own, and she felt an overwhelming 
sense of pride that the Amazons, that her own people, could be so 
defiant in the face of such overwhelming odds.  As the Musk yelled in 
response, her mother and the second warrior charged, and the Amazons 
inside the circle charged their attackers.

	The Amazons were more skilled, but they were dreadfully 
outnumbered.  After a couple minutes of furious fighting, the Amazons 
managed to unite together in a cluster, but they were completely 
surrounded.  She watched in horror as two of the Amazons were cut down, 
and the Musk closed in around the remainder.

	Then she heard a cry, "The children! Protect the children!"  It 
was her mother, and she was fighting to get through the Musk and back 
toward where the rest of the students were huddled, most of them too 
scared to move.  She realized that there were several Musk heading 
towards the group of children, and if nothing was done then there truly 
would be a massacre.

	Forgetting her own youth and inexperience she decided that she 
could not sit where she was and do nothing.  If she truly wanted to 
become a strong warrior, it would have to start here; if she allowed 
her cowardice to take over her now than she would forever be haunted by 
it, and she might never overcome her fear in the future.  She was an 
Amazon warrior, and it was her responsibility to do anything she could 
to help her comrades, regardless of her own fear or how desperate the 
situation was. 

	With this realization, she found her own strength again.  Getting 
up, she gripped her bonbori tightly.  Pausing for a moment to steel her 
nerves, she ran toward where the rest of the children were, determined 
to do anything in her power to help the Amazons.

	As she ran, she saw someone running in front of her, yelling 
loudly.  She stopped, and realized it was Ranma.  His battle aura 
flared a bright blue, and he charged toward the Musk like a tornado.  
With only a slight pause in his stride, he cut down a Musk warrior.  
He spared no second glance as the warrior hunched over and fell, blood 
staining the ground around him as he collapsed.

	She saw three Musk warriors charge at him and she ran to help, 
fearing that even someone as strong as Ranma would quickly get 
overwhelmed.

	It didn't seem, though, that he would need her help.  With the 
same speed and agility Shampoo had seen him exhibit in the training 
hall, he avoided two of the Musk swords and cut down their owners, 
showering his face and clothes with blood.  He turned to deal with the 
third warrior, but his inexperience with the katana caught up to him.  
He was a fraction of a second too slow, and by the time he turned he 
was too late- the sword strike was unavoidable.  He twisted away, 
barely avoiding most of the blade.  However, the tip of the blade cut 
deeply into his right shoulder.  It sliced a bloody line through his 
shirt and down his chest, causing him to drop his sword and collapse to 
the ground in pain.

	She got there just as the Musk raised his sword to deliver the 
killing blow.  With his attention on Ranma, he had left an opening in 
his defenses.  She saw it and charged in, running as fast as she 
could.  As she closed in, she swung her bonbori with all force she 
could muster, aiming it directly toward his head.

	Suddenly the Musk, sensing her approach, turned toward her and 
she saw his face clearly.  She realized with a horrible shock that he 
was only a boy; surely he could not have been more than thirteen or 
fourteen years old.  She saw genuine fear in his clear blue eyes as he 
realized his fatal error.

	She suddenly wanted to pull back from her attack, but it was far 
too late, and momentum carried her forward.  He barely had time to open 
his mouth in shock before her bonbori slammed into the side of his 
face.  She heard a sickening crunch as his skull collapsed inward, his 
face becoming horribly disfigured before the entire left side of his 
head erupted in blood and bone fragments.

	As she watched the boy's skull explode from the bonbori's impact, 
the full realization of what she had done barreled into her; and as the 
momentum from her attack continued to carry her forward she felt all 
her muscles go slack, and she stumbled.  As she fell to the ground, she 
suddenly felt incredibly nauseous.  She hit the ground on her side with 
a hard thud, sending a searing jolt of pain from her head all the way 
down to her spine.  A second later, she gave in to the terrible nausea 
that had gripped her and she vomited.  The sounds of the battle faded, 
and she gratefully succumbed to the inky darkness that seemed to 
envelope her entire being.