Some days later...
Shampoo was still amazed by the fact that the large bison had the ability to fly through the air by its own means, something that similar creatures of her world could not do. When she had asked Aang about it he had mentioned the legend that the airbenders had learned to bend from the example that the flying bison had shown them. The fact that she might have such a gift in this world for controlling one of the elements of the west was amazing.
The only sad part was the fact that there was no one else in the group that could use the same element as she could. Katara had power over water, with the grace and skills of Tai Chi. Ranma and Aang had the elusive nature of Ba Gua which gave them the power to control the element of air. The only thing that she knew was that she had the power to control the element of earth, but she didn't know which martial arts was linked to this element. Ranma had told her that Northern Shaolin style was the base for the firebending of their recent enemies.
But from what Aang had told them about Omashu, it seemed that she might be able to learn the style that would give her the mastery of her elemental style. She might not know it as she was not an expert in all martial arts, but either Ranma or her great grandmother would likely know it. The idea of her being able to move rocks and stones or even mountains made her smile with a joy like finding a new toy. It would still be hit or miss even if they knew the base art, as she would have to work out the moves that match the bending powers. However, it would be worth it to the purple haired girl as she would be like the heroes of old in her tribe's traditions.
Shampoo tried to move closer to Ranma from her seat on the saddle of the great furry flyer, but he moved a way from her inch by inch. That made the Amazon's mood turn blue, as she realized that she was still so far from getting close to the man that she wanted as her husband.
Looking around the oval saddle she decided instead to seek the companionship of the only other female near her age in the group. Sliding up to Katara Shampoo leaned her head over the edge of the saddle and gazed out over the landscape.
“Something wrong Shampoo?” Katara asked when she saw the forlorn girl.
“Shampoo no know how to win airen’s heart. Nothing Shampoo does seems to work; in fact sometimes it seems to make things worse. Shampoo is at wits end in trying to get Ranma to love this one.”
“Well," Katara began thinking about what the other girl had told her so far about her attempts in wining the pigtailed boys heart. “I don’t really know a lot about how these things are done where you’re from. But from the sound of it, it seems like your and Ranma’s culture has a whole different set of rules when it comes to dating. Here we don’t use magic and potions like you do, usually when a girl wants to go out with a guy she drops little hints and waits for the guy to make the first move. It probably sounds pretty boring compared to what you guys are used to.”
Frowning Shampoo’s brow creased in thought. Something about what Katara said seemed a bit off for some reason. Looking over towards Ranma she realized what it was. “Oh no, Shampoo is from a small village far from the outside world where Ranma spent most of his life. It sounds like your world does it the same way his people do it as well. But like you said, that way is boring and Ranma is an exciting guy, why would Shampoo use slow boring dating methods on Ranma?”
Looking surprised Katara reassessed her beliefs in Ranma’s culture. If what Shampoo said was right then it was no wonder Ranma wasn’t responding well. If some guy tried using potions and magic tricks on her she’d probably freak out as well and call Sokka, er well no Sokka had a knack of making those sort of problems worse, but she’d call GranGran to chase the freak right out of the village.
Of course Shampoo did seem honest in her pursuit of Ranma and she could see that the girl was clearly in love big time with the other boy. It was just that she seemed to be completely clueless when it came to gauging his feelings. She treated love like some sort of martial arts technique where you could just learn the steps and have everything fall into place afterwards. The problem seemed that not only were the moves she learned dangerous and plain freaky, but she didn’t seem to take into account what her partner would be thinking and feeling every step of the way. Now how would she broach this to the stronger tribe girl without having her skull caved in?
“You know Shampoo; his culture might not have the same kind of games that yours does. Suddenly being approached like that might actually be offensive and scare him off.”
Eyes widening in shock Shampoo thought about it. It sounded absurd but Ranma’s culture did seem to have several weird social hang ups. Could jumping naked out of his bath be some how insulting rather than erotic? What of all the other courtship rituals that she tired? If they were somehow offensive then it would explain quite a few things about her airen's behavior.
Seeing that she was making progress Katara pressed on, “Try to take your time around him. Use care to get closer to him without doing anything that might offend or scare him off. This will be a lot of hard work I know, and you’ll probably want to forget everything you learned previously about courtship, but I know you can do this Shampoo.”
Looking down Shampoo considered Katara’s words, “No sounds easy, sounds like Shampoo will have to fight against everything Shampoo knows. Not only that but sounds dull and boring, like it will take a long time. Shampoo no think that Ranma is the type to waste a lot of time with pointless talking. Isn’t it faster for Shampoo to just sneak into airen’s tent make sweet sweet love, get pregnant with baby and marry Ranma?” Shampoo asked earnestly.
“NO!” Seeing everyone staring at her Katara nervously chucked and waved them away. “Trust me Shampoo that would be a BIG mistake. If Ranma’s culture is anything like ours then that would be completely out of the question. Try doing it this way first, who knows, there might be a chance that with the struggle to find your way home you two might learn more about each other. As you discover new things together I’m sure that your shared experiences will bring you closer together. Plus if you ever have any questions or just want to talk I’ll always be right here for you.”
Smiling at Katara’s kind words Shampoo nodded her head. “Shampoo thank Katara, you is a good friend and if Katara need anything you is only need to ask.”
As they flew, she was looking forward to the city that seemed to have a fond place in the heart of the Avatar. It was then that Appa took a dive as he started to land, his body sinking down upon a hill top. With a slight bump as he hit the soft snow that covered the little mound the group took to the ground as Aang hopped off of his animal friend. The Avatar smiled and spread his arms and announced, "I present to you the Earth Kingdom city of Omashu!"
Shampoo looked like the others in the direction that Aang was facing as they walked in the snow. It was a beautiful view as they saw what looked to be a walled city made entirely of light brown-white stone that sat on top of a rock promontory. The only road leading to the city was a narrow and twisting road that passed through what looked like a solid wall of stone, which seemed strange to Shampoo. The city looked impressive to the eye and seemed to be impregnable to any army.
Aang smiled as he seemed to recall something that seemed to make him feel happier than he had been for a while. He said, "I used to always come here to visit my friend, Bumi."
"Wow, we don't have cities like this in the South Pole." Katara called out, her face revealing that she was impressed with the size and stature of the city. Shampoo didn't know what cities in the South Pole looked like, but it appeared that they were not like the castle like mound that was the city of Omashu.
Sokka also replied with amazement, "They have buildings here that don't melt." That did seem to give Shampoo more of an image of the home village of the Water Tribesmen.
“Do they have cities like this on your world Shampoo?" Katara asked as she looked over at the Amazon, likely curious about the strange world that the purple hair woman and her family came from.
"Yes, but they are also different from Omashu. Shampoo followed Ranma to his home city, which was larger than Omashu seems to be. But Tokyo was mostly made of metal, glass and concrete, not made of stone like this city." The female martial artist told her newest friend.
"Concrete?" Katara said as she was confused with the term that the Amazon had just mentioned.
Realizing that the term might not be known in this world, Shampoo tried to translate. She said, "It is a stone like material that is usually stronger than stone. It is made by mixing stone, water and certain other elements to make a liquid stone that hardens into a rock like substance." Katara and Aang looked at her confused, but Sokka looked thoughtful at the idea.
Aang was the first to recover saying, "Well, let's go slowpokes, the real fun is inside the city." With that Aang launched himself into the air and then landed himself lower on the ground.
"Wait Aang, it could be dangerous if people find out you're the Avatar." Katara called out to her friend as she tried to give him good advice before he rushed into trouble once again.
"Katara is right, Aang. It might not be the best idea," said Shampoo's great grandmother. She added, "We might not only find friends in the city, but we might also find foes that which us harm. Remember that Zuko is still hunting you as well as the rest of the Fire Nation when they learn you have returned. They could have people in disguise in various Earth Kingdom towns and cities looking for you."
"Disguise! You need a disguise!" Sokka said as he started to look around as coming up with a plan.
"So what am I supposed to do? Grow a mustache?" Aang asked, sounding curious about the idea.
Ranma pointed to Appa and said, "That might not be a bad idea."
Moments later...
Aang stood before the other five people that were traveling with him as he wore his new disguise. He now had a head of white hair and a similar white mustache, both of which had been made of hair gathered from a certain flying bison. It made him look slightly older than he normally did. Aang scratched the hair on his head with vigor.
"Oh, this is so itchy!" Aang said as he turned to Appa. "How do you live in this stuff?" Appa replied to his friend's question with a great grunt.
"Great! Now you look just like my grandfather." Sokka said as looked at the disguised Avatar.
"Technically, Aang is a hundred and twelve years old." Katara said with a smile, trying to hide her laughter.
"This disguise might work, especially if you have me to add to the story as his wife." Cologne said with an impish smiled, which didn't quite work on her face.
Aang picked up his staff and started to lean on it like an old man would on a cane. Speaking in a fake old man voice, he said, "Now let's get to skippin', young whippersnappers! The big city awaits."
Shampoo herself was trying to hold back the laughter at the disguise that they had developed for Aang to use while in the city. The Amazon didn't think that Aang could pull it off, likely tipping their hands to the guards, if it wasn't for her great grandmother being there to back him up as his 'wife'.
Still Shampoo was excited to visit a city where she could see more earthbending being performed than what she had seen in the time that she had been on this world. To see skills that she could develop and nurture so that she could become a master in the art.
It was like entering Tokyo for the first time, seeing the large city in a strange wonder that was shocking to a girl that had been raised in a simple mountain town. It had been a jarring experience that had only been muted by the fact that she was on the hunt for her rival. Then the shock of her rival being her airen had to wash over her.
'So many shocks and bumps that Shampoo had to live through. But Shampoo is stronger for it.' Shampoo thought to herself. In a hopeful turn of mind, "Perhaps this city might not be as shocking as Tokyo was on Shampoo's first visit to that city. At least Shampoo will not have to deal with rivals here.'
The six people set down the road to the city of Omashu and the secrets it held for all of them.
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(Posted Mon, 25 Sep 2006 14:12)
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