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"Ranma" - Japanese speech

'Akane' - Thoughts

{Grandmother} - Chinese

Attack -Martial Arts Technique

Chapter 24: Missing Matriarchs

Unknown Location, Nerima Ward

Qiáng Wang scowled as he ran through one of his Shaolin Kata, the repetitive movements that had long been ingrained into his muscles, helping keep his mind focused and his temper under control.

That dratted boy had proven to be a far more formidable opponent than the Chinaman had anticipated and the reason for that reversal of fortune only caused the aged Mountain Master's fury to grow and burn to new heights. The Jade Reincarnation Technique was said to have been lost half a century ago, and yet it was now in the hands of both the Revenant of Kowloon Walled City and some young upstart as well!?

As a man who had spent centuries seeking out stealing, learning, and mastering lost and forbidden techniques, the idea of those two…peons having access to such a powerful art was infuriating. Neither could use or refine such a potent skill to its full potential, not like a man like himself could.

Qiáng Wang knew his own weaknesses well, one did not survive as long or rise as high as he did amongst the Triads and kept any delusions of their own strength. While in terms of raw power he was perhaps the weakest amongst the Mountain Masters of China, he made up for that in his vast repertoire of secret techniques and skills.

He was not the Dadao, heavy and powerful, nor was he the light and swift Jian. He was the Hudie Shuangdao, sharp and focused, his techniques allowing him to rise amidst men who'd far surpassed in terms of raw might through ruthless skill and cunning.

And for such a rare jewel to have fallen into the hands of a half-blood harlot and her foreign waif, it was maddening!

'Then there is the Amazon…' the former Tong Boss scowled. For the boy to have attracted the attention of one of Cu-Long's spawn was nothing short than a curse straight from the gods in Qiáng's opinion.

Even now, he could now sense the old hag's powerful chi signature inside of Nerima, meaning that she had arrived to personally supervise Ranma's eventual induction into the Joketsuzoku. Possibly as a result of his own appearance as well.

The ancient tribe of the Joketsuzoku, with its 4,000 years of history and tradition, was also the repository of 4,000 years of martial arts research, development and lore. The Amazons were some of the most ancient practitioners of the martial arts still in existence, and they had been refining the arts of chi manipulation since their very inception. Their village held more than he, his fellow Mountain Masters, and the Revenant knew combined.

It was a treasure trove that Qiáng Wang had lusted after since he'd first learned of its existence, when he was little more than a neonate in the martial arts himself. Though one particular treasure had stood out, the secret medicine that allowed the Joketsuzoku Elders to live for centuries without losing more than the smallest fraction of their power.

It had taken decades of training and preparation, learning and mastering the techniques he'd needed and refining his own skills, but eventually he'd readied himself and attempted to gain that which he had coveted for so long.

Only for his plan to be foiled by a single woman

That thrice-accursed Cu-Long had ruined his plan and denied him the treasure that he had sought, forcing him to learn from the darkest and foulest practitioners of Chinese Medicine and Martial arts in order to find a way of extending his life, as well as maintaining his prized skills.

'I must eliminate Ranma soon, before he calls in the Revenant.' The foul little man thought furiously. Facing Cu-Long again after all these years, alongside Ranma, would be…challenging, yes, but not impossible. He had managed to get the best of her all those years ago and had only been forced to flee due to a lucky shot on her part. And, powerful as Ranma was (even Qiáng could no longer deny it) the Mountain Master still overwhelmingly outmatched the young prodigy when it came to experience.

However, should the damnable Revenant show her face, then his chances would crumble to ashes.

The main problem was that Ranma and Cu-Long were both very much aware of his usual methods of operating. The irritating boy had crushed the Yakuza group he had taken over the very next day with none of his family or friends even realizing, thus denying him a pawn to use in their ongoing battle.

Granted, the fools wouldn't have been useful as anything more than a minor inconvenience or, at best, a distraction to either of his current foes. Particularly considering how easily that slip of a girl had been able to beat the group he had taken with him unconscious.

The girl…was another wrinkle that he had not expected. Ranma was about her age, and was still in the process of learning himself, so why had he taken her as an apprentice? Worse still, he had discovered that the girl was a Tendo. When Happōsai had attacked his organisation in Beijing, one of his apprentices had been a Tendo. A bit of poking and prodding had revealed that the girl was indeed the progeny of the Imp's apprentice. More surprisingly, the other apprentice was Ranma's father of all people.

'Accursed Japanese barbarians.' Qiáng thought bitterly, 'To vex me over not one but two generations. I'll see this accursed line end; that I swear!'

Still, now that the two were middle-aged, Sōun and Genma were undoubtedly weaker than they had been at their peaks and even then the two would only have been a moderate challenge working together. Now neither one should pose anything close to a true threat. And of the children, only the youngest of the Tendo children and Ranma had any true level of martial arts training.

Dismissing the non-combatants from his mind for now, Qiáng focussed on what he should do regarding Ranma. He was unquestionably weaker than Cologne, but was still beyond what you might call the normal range of skill expected for an ordinary human. Definitely in the top one percent of the world's martial artists.

Such an opponent required the…appropriate sort of adversary.

Fortunately enough, he had several acquaintances that he could get to Japan in order to deal with Ranma. He would have to pay a hefty amount of Yuan for their services, but he had enough money stored in various banks, building societies and buried at the bottom of lakes to pay every single one of them to fight Ranma and still have enough to live a life of luxury for the next decade afterwards.

And if all else failed…well it wasn't as if Qiáng was any stranger to crime, though he viewed something as lowly as robbery as beneath a man of his skill.

'Let me see…ah yes. Those two should be perfect to deal with Ranma.' He thought, a wicked grin crossing his face. He set about organising the arrival of the two he had in mind. It would be…interesting to see if they would be effective.

If nothing else monitoring their fight would provide more information so that he could better plan his next strike.

Whether he'd have it with one blow or a hundred, nothing would keep Qiáng Wang from his revenge.

The Next Day

Tendo Dojo

Ranma was running through the Joketsuzoku Wushu moves that he'd copied from Shampoo and came to the conclusion he'd have to adjust them slightly. They were specifically designed with the female body in mind, including the different centre of gravity, slightly different bone structure and range of movement. It would be awkward to use as a male until he did that.

The main reason he was going through his kata was because of the contents of the letter he had received from his Guru, via Cologne.

'To my student, Ranma,

I must confess that I am surprised you let that oaf of a father get you involved in the Joketsuzoku, especially right after his idiocy at Jusenkyō. Some of the blame in this situation falls on me; I should have warned you of Jusenkyō and spoken more of the Joketsuzoku while you were under my tutelage. Had I known that fat fool would drag you in that direction, I would have.

You are to be commended for defeating my granddaughter Xian-Pu. If she is truly the champion of the Joketsuzoku for this year, then she had to have fought down all of her peers in order to claim that title.

Now we are at the important parts, aren't we? I know you are aware of my opinions regarding family, so I will simply say this: give Xian Pu a fair chance. While you will undoubtedly have some reservations regarding her due to the Kiss of Death incident and the subsequent chase, she is undoubtedly a sweet girl. No, don't give me that look. All members of the Joketsuzoku are blunt and forthright, aside from the Elders, where cunning and craftiness are a requirement. What you see with her is exactly what you get.

I understand that you have honour-bound commitments to the Tendo family, but nevertheless, I wish for you to give Xian a fair shot. Come to know her and you will be pleased by what you find. Should you not give her a fair chance…well, I would be most irked and express it to you when next we meet.

Ranma shivered at that. His Guru was not someone Ranma ever wanted to have irked, irritated, or annoyed at him.

On to more serious matters, it is my understanding that you have faced that loathsome cockroach Qiáng Wang once again. The coward strikes at you in order to hurt me. Apprentice, I would rarely ask this of someone who has been my apprentice for just a year, but I must. He cannot be allowed to continue on with his evil schemes and foul habits. Stop him at all cost, even if it should mean that you must deliver the ultimate punishment to him. Elder Cu-Long, my honourable mother-in-law, will be a good teacher for you in this endeavour and I have her assurances that she will assist you in any way she can, her own grudge against that cockroach requires no less.

Should it prove necessary, send me a letter and I shall come to your aid. Qiáng shall not harm you or yours while I am present.

Your ever-watchful Guru

Parvati Chun.'

That letter had been on his mind since he had read it after he had come back from demonstrating the Umi-Sen Ken and Yama-Sen Ken styles to Cologne and Shampoo. The first thing she asked him to do was difficult, but not impossible. Shampoo had been following the strictures of her tribe when she had pursued him, and had quietly apologised to him for allowing her emotions to get the best of her.

That, more than anything else, was what was tempting him to forgive her. Acknowledgement for your failings was vital in a warrior, and for a person. By admitting that she had made a mistake and apologising for it, Shampoo had earned Ranma's respect for more than her skill at martial arts; she had earned his respect for who she was as a person.

Everything he had seen and heard about the Joketsuzoku had screamed to him that, like himself, they possessed an incredible amount of pride. To willingly take damage to her pride and apologise to him like that showed that she wasn't consumed by pride like he had been before he had met his Guru.

Dismissing it from his thoughts, Ranma walked over to a bucket and splashed his face with cold water and turned into a girl, which was slightly irritating. The curse made no sense to her. It apparently distinguished between temperatures and didn't count anything s/he drunk towards the curse, which was a relief. Still, that had been about a cupful of water s/he had splashed himself with, towards the low end of what it took to trigger the curse.

"Dangit. I wish this curse thing was more damn predictable." The petite redhead grumbled before returning to the centre of the dojo and running through the Joketsuzoku Wushu again. This time, it was far more fluid and natural. She still wasn't used to her…breasts…getting in the way like that though. Stupid overstuffed things.

"Still not used to your female body, eh?" a familiar voice asked wryly. Cologne hopped into the dojo on her cane.

"I'm a guy." Ranma reiterated for the nth time, "While I've accepted, to some degree, that my curse is something I'm going to have to deal with for at least a while, that doesn't mean I have to like it. As soon as I find a cure, I'm getting my hands on it."

"Wait a year, young one." The Matriarch warned her, "All Jusenkyō curses have to last at least a year before the possibility of being cured can come up."

"You're joking!" the aquatransexual said in shock.

"I am not." Cologne refuted, "We of the Joketsuzoku have had extensive experience with the Pools of Sorrow down our long history. I checked the records before I left; no Jusenkyō-cursed human has ever had their curse removed until a year and a day has passed, at the very earliest. For some, they never receive a cure. Others can wait a decade or more before a cure is found. As you have received a human-type curse, with the added factor of an extra strong portion of the chaos portion of the curse, I would guess that your cure will be long in coming."

"No way…" Ranma whispered, sapphire eyes wide.

"I am sorry to be the bearer of bad news, Young Warrior." The Elder bowed her head slightly, "But I felt that you had to know."

"I…" the redhead gulped slightly, "I understand. It's just…this is so much harder than I let Akane or Nabiki or anyone know. It's harder to control my emotions when I'm a girl. Stupid hormones. And…I'm so much weaker in this form than I am in my real body. It's…disturbing."

"Understandable. Even after my daughter-in-law cleansed your chakras, you still have a reasonably large amount of pride, especially masculine pride." The old woman nodded absently, "Your father's ridiculous opinion that females are weak can't have helped much while you were growing up. You know better than that now, but getting forcibly transformed into a cute girl at the splash of a cup of water must be…unsettling for you."

"Preachin' to the choir."

"An easy remedy for that is to train your female body, as I have offered to do for you." Cologne said sharply, "Leaving things as it is will only lead to a similar situation as what happened during your rematch with Shampoo."

Ranma sighed. "Yeah. I figured. How does next weekend sound? We can get it done along with learnin' those three techniques you want to teach me."

"Very well. And when shall you teach Shampoo those two styles that you demonstrated?" the Elder nodded.

"I mainly teach Akane three or four days in the week, so every day I ain't reaching Akane or learning from you." Ranma answered, "Plus at the end of our training on weekends."

"Reasonable. With your talent, I would say it will only take you a month to learn both the Kachū Tenshin Amaguriken and the Bakusai Tenketsu. The Hidden Weapons Style might take you longer than the two combined, due to the esoteric techniques it requires, but you seem to have something of a flair for chi techniques, so I could be wrong."

"Not that it helps me in this Cursed Form." The petite redhead snorted, "Using chi in this form tires me out like no-one's business. I keep meaning to learn how to channel it properly, but with one thing or another…"

"Something else to be added to the schedule then." Cologne said with a firm nod. "Learning how to channel chi as a female is somewhat different than it is as a male, but once you grasp the subtleties of it, you'll master it in no time. Now, could you demonstrate that kata again? I am curious to see how well you copied Shampoo's techniques…"

Once more, Ranma ran through the kata.

"Aside from your lack of awareness of your breasts, you executed an Advanced Kata of the Joketsuzoku Style almost perfectly." Cologne shook her head in disbelief. "When Parvati told me of your talent for copying styles through observation and combat, I was sceptical, but this is incredible. Your natural talent as a martial artist is unprecedented."

"All I've ever wanted to be is the best martial artist in the world." Ranma said softly as she changed between a Jiu-Jutsu kata and a Capoeira kata. "Pop may be a deadbeat father and a lousy human being, but he is a good martial artist. He taught me well enough to hold off a pair of Master-class fighters just before I met my Guru. Not many can say that at fourteen. And a year with my Guru did me a world of good, and not just for my training. She got rid of my bad habits, cleansed my chakras and taught me so much that I honestly don't think I'll be able to repay her."

A fond smile crossed Cologne's face. "Repay her by becoming the best that you can be, young one. That is all a good teacher asks for in repayment. I taught Parvati myself over a century ago and I was happy that she got so strong. It makes an old woman happy to see the next generation showing such promise."

A Few Days Later

Nyuchiehzu Village, Byankala Mountains, China

Inside one of the many huts belonging to the Village of Women Heroes sat a woman who looked greatly similar to Cologne. The main differences were that whereas Cologne held her hair back with a simple hairband, this one tied it in a firm and severe pigtail that was longer than she was tall. Her robes were also different. Where Cologne wore a green robe with red trimming, this woman wore a red robe with black trimming.

The door opened and a single Amazon warrior entered and knelt before her. She had green hair and dressed in a more formal version of Shampoo's usual outfit.

{Report.} The old woman croaked.

{High Matriarch, the alliance against you grows by the hour.} The warrior answered with a gulp. {As I speak, the Council is meeting and deliberating. At best estimate, you will be informed of your removal from power within the day.}

The old woman cursed. {Traitorous dogs!}

{With respect, you should flee.} The warrior suggested, {With your skill, evading them should be-gurk!}

The tiny woman had seemingly teleported in front of the girl and grasped her throat with one hand. {Flee? I am the High Matriarch of the Joketsuzoku! I have been for over a hundred years! I will not flee from my home!}

The girl's thrashing indicated she was close to passing out from lack of air, so the High Matriarch released her. After gasping in a lungful of air a couple of times, the warrior looked at the old woman firmly.

{My lady, they plan on imprisoning you after removing you from your seat!} She insisted, {And in order to imprison one as powerful as you, they will have to block your chi flow!}

A shiver ran down the High Matriarch's back. While the treatments to extend one's lifespan did not depend on an open flow of chi to be used, cutting that flow severely limited their effectiveness. She would scarcely live another decade if she did have her chi flow blocked.

'I cannot die so soon! I cannot be rendered powerless! I AM the Joketsuzoku!' Moisturiser thought furiously. Her long rise to power had been three centuries in the making, rivalled by that bitch Cologne all the while. While her line was full of great historians, researchers, and other sage classes, they had only boasted average warriors, whereas Cologne's brood had several champions and Guard Captains dotted all over the place. Not to mention that slattern of a half breed that she had exiled fifty years ago.

Moisturiser was utterly convinced of her own righteousness and rectitude. Anything she supported was for the best of the Joketsuzoku, while anything that went against her was an attack against them. Cologne, who had long since rivalled her in family, skill and political acumen, had also opposed several of her policies over the many years.

Cologne was a progressive; one who believed that time had come to change some of the older and more archaic laws of the tribe to better suit the modern world.

Needless to say, Moisturiser did not agree with her. She was a conservative, one who was rather firm in her belief that if it was good enough millennia ago, it was good enough today. The laws had kept the Joketsuzoku alive and strong through wars, barbarian invasions, the fall of Imperial China and the constant probing by the People's Republic of China soldiers.

Punishing her granddaughter's Shield-Sisters had been a rather petty way of getting back at Cologne, she had to admit. As had forbidding them to go with her, in defiance of tradition. That act had shaken her foundations with her fellow conservatives and those who followed her.

She would admit that, in hindsight, the act had been hypocritical and one done far too rashly, but the damage was done.

And now, things were coming to a head. She was going to have to flee her village before she could be rendered almost powerless. All thanks to a foolish, petty whim. This was something she was going to blame on Cologne, simply because she could.

{…fine.} She growled, {I will flee this place. You have served me well, Conditioner. I will now knock you unconscious so that you are not suspected of colluding with me.}

With a tap to the side of her head, the girl was sprawled on the floor of the hut, unconscious.

Looking around her home for the last century, Moisturiser sighed. She would miss it, true, but the important thing to bear in mind was that she had to stay alive. She had to remain powerful. The existence of the Joketsuzoku depended on it, as she was the Joketsuzoku.

It would surprise many that the ingredients that made up the potions, tinctures and balms that, when used in a specific and regular regime, extended the life of the Matriarchs were actually quite common in the surrounding mountains. Only a small handful of rare herbs were required to keep a regular dosage, and those she could easily requisition as she left.

It would be a suitable act of retribution for those traitorous dogs on the Council of Matriarchs. She wouldn't take all of it, of course; just enough that one of them would have to go without until a new batch of the herbs could be gathered.

With a half-insane snicker, the old woman vanished in a blur of speed.

When grim-faced and well-armed members of the Village Guard, led by the Captain of the Guard, arrived at Moisturiser's hut, all they found was a hastily ransacked hut, an unconscious warrior and a foreboding premonition in their stomachs.

Former High Matriarch Moisturiser had fled into the night, leaving no trace of her destination.

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Next Chapter: Nabiki Makes Her Move

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