Ranma 1/2 Unexpected Results Part 11
Cologne watched sat watched her granddaughter closely, though she doubted the girl noticed. She watched as Shampoo squeezed her eyes closed and watched the tremor run through the girl's body. The young amazon bit her lower lip hard enough that Cologne wondered if she tasted blood. She watched the play of emotions as Shampoo struggled to regain herself, to restore some sense of control to her body. Her time in the healing bath was over; her body had mended so that not even a scar remained to show how badly it had been broken. Her body could almost have been called pristine, if one overlooked the neon green tint that her skin from the neck down had been dyed.
Coloration aside, it had been a miracle, or had seemed one at first. She had been warned that there would be consequences of using the method. Cologne winced as she watched Shampoo struggling with those consequences now. Another tremor ran through the girl's body and caused a low moan to escape her lips. Her eyelids fluttered then opened and she once again stared at her enemy, her foe that had caused her self-control to crumble.
The dumpling stared back, mocking her. With a cry the young amazon pounced upon it and devoured it in an orgy of sticky, sweet carnage. Cologne shook her head as she sat at ease on a nearby stump. She closed her eyes and inhaled lazily from her long stemmed pipe.
"I warned you, grand daughter," she said. "Your body has just gone through nearly a year's worth of healing in the space of a few hours. It used a lot of fuel, and now it needs that fuel to be replaced."
Shampoo moaned and turned towards her grandmother. The young amazon's eyes were glazed, feral, and her face was dumpling crumbs, and the remains of previous culinary victims.
"I..I no can stop. Too...hungry." she panted, then shook as her stomach growled. She looked around wildly, her head whipping back and forth in desperation, till her eyes locked on a bowl of ramen sitting steaming on a stump. She hissed and pounced towards it. Cologne opened one eye and glanced over at the girl. She watched as the ground around Shampoo suddenly erupted in violence as the first trap was triggered. Spears jutted from the ground shooting up to skewer the green dyed girl. Shampoo, yelped and dodged passed them, her hungry eyes never leaving the prize. Her foot hit a small dirt mound that exploded.
Shampoo screamed in panic as she was thrown back, and sharp rocks turned to shrapnel that shredded her silk dress, one leaving a small gash to bleed on her arm. Despite this, she managed to land on her feet and charge again, her brain cutting off all pain as her driving hunger over took her. She lunged forward and triggered a third trap. She leapt up as the ground under her gave way, as the one side of the trap door fell down and the other raced up. She growled as she leapt and caught the edge of the wooden planks and used it as a push board to throw herself into the air. She landed with a animalistic squeal on the stump with the bowl and lifted it, downing the steaming contents in one large gulp.
Cologne watched the girl and nodded. "Not bad. You managed to avoid most of the traps that time."
The old woman stood up and stretched, working out a kink. Shampoo shivered and crouched on the stump and tried to fight down the gnawing need from her belly.
Cologne watched the girl as the young girl crouched and panted, her chest heaving and a feral look in her eyes. The elder closed her eyes for a moment and let a sigh escape her lips. There was much at stake in this fight along with hopes that she had not shared with Shampoo. She was stacking the deck, now it only remained for the players to use the hands they were dealt the way she intended. She watched as Shampoo dodged a swinging rock to grab a sandwich that hung from a string from a tree branch and shove the entire thing into her mouth. Cologne sighed again and went back to smoking her pipe. For now there was nothing to do but sit and wait, and watch over her great granddaughters training. That and hope that she had not misjudged Ranma.
Her thoughts were interrupted by a loud thwack. The amazon elder opened her eyes and winced. Her great-granddaughter was flat on her back. Her eyes had rolled back and there was a mark the shape of a broom stick running down the middle of her face where a trap had caught her. Cologne shook her head and clucked her tongue as she moved to collect Shampoo from where the trap had laid her flat. She carried Shampoo over to the river and tossed her in.
The little pink cat yowled and sputtered as it came to the surface then struggled to the shore. It shook itself dry and the glared balefully up at its elder. Cologne arched an eyebrow and stared back at it.
"You got careless. If you can not defeat a simple trap because of a little hunger, how do you expect to defeat your foe?" The cat hung its head and meowed, then shivered as its stomach growled. Cologne shook her head
"I will reset everything, then change you back and you can go through it again while there is still light. Go and wait by the fire"
Shampoo nodded and slowly trotted over to the small fire sullenly. Cologne patted out her pipe and sighed before speaking to herself. "Ah my Shampoo, gods willing, we will have a happy ending of this yet."
Of course that would require that Ranma acted as she expected he would when the time came. Given the current situation, that wasn't a certainty. She hopped along, resetting the traps and replacing the bait as Shampoo sat at the fire and fought to tear open a bag of crackers with her teeth and claws. Cologne watched her for a moment, and couldn't help but shake her head. Shampoo thought she knew what the price for the healing would be, but she had yet to realize just what it would actually mean. Despite herself, the old woman couldn't help the small smirk on her lips. She reset the last trap and moved back to the fire where her Shampoo had managed to tear the bag open and was hungrily inhaling the crackers from the dirt. The elder took up the kettle from the fire and poured it over the cat. Shampoo hissed and jumped as the very hot water poured over her.
"Aiiie..too hot.." she panted and shook then groaned and put her hands over her belly as it growled. "Shampoo still hungry..." She looked around, not seeming to care that she stood naked, or that her arm had only just stopped bleeding. Cologne put the kettle back then sighed. "You have to learn self-control. It was your lack of it that got you into trouble in the first place, and now it will get you killed. You rule your desires, don't let your desires rule you. Do what you NEED to do, not what you WANT to do, and don't let your emotions, or your belly get in the way."
She looked up at Shampoo, then whacked the girl on the head with her cane when she saw that the younger amazon was staring off at a plate of noodles instead of listening. Shampoo winced and rubbed her head and murmured an apology. Cologne sighed and rubbed her eyes. "Pay attention, child."
"Shampoo, pay attention!" The purple haired girl replied and stood firm for a moment, before a look of doubt crossed her face and she turned again to look at the food. "But..maybe Shampoo have small snack it help."
Cologne shook her head as Shampoo leapt for the noodles. The girl was nimble she had to admit as she watched Shampoo dodge between two spiked planks sprung up to catch her between them like a bear trap. She twisted in midair landed in a handstand a hairs breath away as the jaws snapped shut. She then sighed as the ground under Shampoo's hand gave way and the girl shrieked as she fell into the pit. Cologne hopped over to the edge and gazed down at her granddaughter who lay at the bottom, sprawled rather indecently in the rubble.
"In one ear and out the other," the elder sighed and leaned against her staff. She studied the semi-conscious green girl trying to decide the next best course of action. As she watched, the girl twitched and lifted her nose to sniff the air. Her eyes were closed tight, but that didn't start the tears from slipping free. Cologne winced and sighed, feeling old as she gazed down at the girl.
"Shampoo get up," she commanded in a soft voice, soft so that if it broke the girl would not hear. Shampoo shivered but did not move.
"Why?" Shampoo whispered in response. "Shampoo dead now, dead people should stay in graves, yes? Should stop fighting, it no matter in end anyway." She gazed up at her grandmother with empty, vacant eyes.
"Shampoo have nothing now. I no want do this anymore! Ranma should kill Shampoo at Cat Cafe." She slammed her fists into the dirt. "Damn Ranma, why he no kill me, stupid, stupid Ranma! Shampoo hate him, hate him...Sh-Shampoo...hate everybody!"
She rolled onto her side and curled into a tight ball as she broke off into coking sobs. She lay there bruised and naked in the dirt, the broken at bottom of the abyss. Cologne watched as the girl sobbed and squeezed her own eyes shut. "Shampoo stop."
Shampoo sobbed and pulled herself tighter, her body shaking. "Shampoo want to die!"
"Shampoo!" Cologne barked. "So you want to die? Very well then, you can sit there and do nothing. And in a few days, I will deliver you to Ukyo and she can kill you. Is that want you want, child? Do you want Ukyo to kill you? Will that take away your shame? Will you let her see you as a broken coward?"
Shampoo stiffened and sniffled. She turned to looked at her grandmother. Her face was flushed from the tears, and her eyes had started to turn red, but there was a spark there now, a fire suddenly coming to life.
"Shampoo, Shampoo no coward. Shampoo hurt Ranma, so Ranma kill Shampoo, not stupid Spatula Girl." She glared up at her grandmother as if defying her to say otherwise.
"Shampoo not give up," she stopped and chewed on her lip. "I..will not give up." She looked up to her grandmother and got to her feet and trembled. Their eyes met and Cologne could see the iron coming back into her granddaughter, the iron that her shame had taken away. She would need that iron if things by some miracle went the way Cologne hoped.
"Shampoo will...not give up," the teen panted and wobbled a bit on her feet. Cologne smiled and offered her cane down to help Shampoo from the pit. Shampoo gripped the end of the cane and used it to help scamper out.
"What grandmother want Shampoo..me..do now?"
"The first thing you need to do is put your clothes back on." That caused Shampoo to look down at herself and blush. "Then, we are going to continue your training. You must learn to go after the food, without the hunger turning you into a mindless nitwit."
The green dyed girl nodded with a blush still coloring her cheeks. She squeezed her eyes closed as her stomach growled and let out a ragged breath. "I try grandmother..but is very very hard."
"I know child, I know, but its the hard things that usually have the most worth," she hopped up on her cane and patted her grandchild's cheek. "Now then, enough of this laziness. Go put some clothes on and lets get started."
Shampoo blushed and dashed to the water and carefully retrieved her clothes. She wrung them out as best she could, which left them a wrinkled, sodden mess. She shivered as the wet material clung to her frame like a second skin.
"Shampoo is ready grandmother."
Cologne inclined her head, giving a little nod, and Shampoo turned back to the training field, setting her sights on a bit of curry bread hung by a noose from a pole. Cologne took some heart in the fact that the girl took sometime to study the situation and didn't just blindly jump in to grab what she wanted. She felt tired as an deep, guilty part of her told her that she should have taught the girl that lesson long ago. She watched Shampoo snag the bread and avoid the spring loaded spear that tugging the noose caused to shoot up from the ground. She watched Shampoo land in a crouch a few feet away and stare down at the bread in her hand, and couldn't help the little smile when the girl only took one bite of it before turning to find a differant target, putting the bread in one of her pockets instead of devouring it.
When night came, Cologne was satisfied with the progress that had been made. Mentally, Shampoo had managed to put the hunger out of her mind for the most part, though she had gourged herself at dinner before curling up on a blanket by the campfire and drifting off. Physically, the girl had worked out the last kinks from her injuries, and had managed to gain a little speed and agility from the training. Cologne watched the girl sleep and shook her head. Tomorrow Shampoo would learn the second consequence of the treat. All that food she had eaten was refueling her body, but it DID have to go somewhere.
The old woman enhailed deeply from her pipe and slowly let it escape, forming misty vapors that hovered over her head in the firelight. Two or three more days and it would be time to head back. In her heart, she wanted get to get the duel over with as soon as possible, but she knew she needed time, if for nothing else then to let tempers settle and level heads to return. Shampoo whimpered in her sleep and Cologne moved over to place a small, wrickled hand on her forehead to brush her hair back and try to sooth her. The girl truely was nothing in the eyes of the tribe now, she had lost everything. In the old woman's eyes, however, she was still her beauitful, impatient child. While there was still the faintest chance, Cologne was going to see that the best was done for her. To do that, Cologne would have to make a great sacrifice. Her granddaughter would never win the duel.
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Hiya, hehe I know an update already..even I'm shocked. No hints for the future, I'll just let you figure things out.
next time back to the Tendo Dojo, and yes maybe even a look into Nabiki's mind.