Ryoga turned around and saw a young woman in green clothes, bearing a huge spatula. He blinked. He recognized that huge cooking tool/weapon from somewhere...
"Ukyo? Is that you?"
Ukyo grinned. "Hey, it IS you! How have you been, rock-head?"
Ryoga smirked. "To meet you here, of all places... small world Hyrule, eh?"
"Hey, I told you I was from the forest, right?"
"Yes, but..." He shook his head. "Never mind that now..."
"But what are you doing here?" Link wondered. "Is there a special reason why you came into the forest?"
The Goron frowned and nodded. "Yes, it's because of a friend... um, I mean... someone I know. We came here because we quickly needed to bring her to cool water, and there are no cool springs on Death Mountain, so we used the portal in the woods to come here..."
He looked around. "I think she's getting better now..."
Ukyo and Link looked past him... and saw a Zora girl sitting in the small pond in front of the item shop. Link thought she looked familiar, but before he could place her face, they both saw the lavender-haired girl with the curved scimitars that was crouching next to her.
Link glared at her. "Is that the Gerudo?"
"Well, yes," Ryoga nodded. "She..."
"That's all I needed to know," Link said grimly and raised his blade. With determination, he stormed forwards.
"Hey, wait a second..."
"Get out of our woods, Gerudo scum!" Link yelled.
Shampoo only heard a loud voice, but her sharpened warrior instincts told her that a dangerous weapon was coming at her from behind. She quickly moved to the side so that the sword that was aimed at her missed and instead sliced into the soft earth.
Instantly, she drew her own blades in a fluid motion and scowled at her attacker. "Hey, why you attack Shampoo from behind? Honorless coward!"
"Shut up!" Link yelled. "I won't let any servants of Ganondorf destroy the peace of the forest anymore!"
Upon hearing that, Shampoo narrowed her eyes. "Green boy Never call Shampoo that again!" she screamed. "Or green boy will be sorry!"
"You are a Gerudo, that's all I need to know!" Link snarled. "Now get out of here, or else..."
"Hey, STOP!!" a loud voice suddenly yelled, and two wet, but strong hands grabbed Link's sword arm and pushed it down. "Calm down, Link!"
"Stay out of this, you..." Link turned around to look at the Zora girl, who had just come out of the water and was now holding him back.
Then he recognized her. "R-ranko? Is that you?"
"Yeah, it's me!" the buxom Zora girl said with a frown. "And I'd like you to leave my fiancee in one piece, please!"
One of the Kokiri girls that were watching the scene and tugged at Ukyo's tunic. "Hey, miss... what's a 'fiancee'?"
"Fiancee?" Tatl wondered. "But you're both girls!"
Ranko ignored the commotion around them and glared at her old pal. "What's the matter with you, Link? It's not like you to just attack people out of the blue. And I know you aren't an honorless coward... so why did you attack her from behind?"
"But... but she's a Gerudo!" the Hero of Time said accusingly and pointed at Shampoo. "They are followers of Ganondorf... and he was the one who attacked our forest. He sent the monsters that killed the Deku Tree... and his men kidnapped one of my best friends, and they would have killed her as well, if we hadn't saved her in time."
"Link... I admit that most of the Gerudo work for that creep, that's true, but... Shampoo is different! She hates Ganondorf as much as everyone else around here."
"Airen is right," Shampoo said, putting away her weapons. "Shampoo is so sorry that other Gerudos listen to Ganondorf, especially... especially great-grandmother..." She clenched her fists as a single tear appeared in the corner of her eye. "But Shampoo is honorable warrior and will not allow Ganondorf any longer to be king. Shampoo fight with Airen! Shampoo will free Hyrule from tyrant!"
Link looked at her suspiciously. "So... you really hate him as well?"
"Is true," Shampoo nodded. "Auntie Nabooru disappeared... Shampoo sure that Ganondorf is responsible... or ugly elders Koume and Kotake."
"Put your sword away, Link!" Ranko said again. "She isn't your enemy! She only wants to help!"
Link looked at the Gerudo girl for some time, then he sheathed his sword. "Fine! I'll believe you... for now!"
Ryoga and Ukyo sighed in relief. Then Ryoga approached the pond, a bit nervous because of the water. "Ranma... are you feeling better?"
Ukyo froze. WHAT DID HE CALL HER?
"Yeah, I'm all right... thanks for bringing me here, pal! I really appreciate it." She then growled. "That stupid witch... if I ever get my hands on her..."
"Link..." Ukyo said in a flat voice. "How about you introduce me to your... friend?"
"Huh? Oh, that's Ranko, the Zora princess I told you about, remember? We saved her sister from the parasite in the whale's belly..."
Tatl sweatdropped. "You're kidding me! You wanna tell me that story was true after all?"
"So, if her name is Ranko... why did Ryoga call her 'Ranma'?"
Link gasped when he remembered the grudge Ukyo was holding for the Saotomes.
"Well, that's because Ranma has a Jusenkyo curse," Ryoga explained. Unlike me, he turns into a Zora girl with cold water."
"Very nice, Ryoga..." Ranko grumbled. "I wanted to keep that a secret, you dolt!"
Ryoga chuckled. "Oops... sorry 'bout that..."
Ranko sighed. "Well, it doesn't matter, since you're Link's friend... so, yeah, Ryoga's right... my real name is Ranma, I just chose the name Ranko for my Zora form, and since my sister is an actual Zora, I..." She then blinked when she saw how Ukyo's fists were shaking. "Um, you feeling all right? You seem a little tense, um... what was your name again?"
"Ukyo!" the okonomiyaki chef grumbled while reaching for her spatula. "Ukyo KUONJI!"
"Well, nice to meet you, but..." Then Ranko hesitated. Kuonji? Kuonji? Where did she hear that name before?
"Ukyo..." she murmured, not noticing how Ukyo was approaching her with firm steps. "Ukyo... sounds familiar... wait... I think I got it!"
She snapped her fingers and grinned. "Ukyo, of course! You're Ukyo, my childhood pal, right? Your father owned that okonomiyaki cart..."
"My father is DEAD because of you, Saotome!" Ukyo yelled. The Kokiri standing around her gasped in fear as they heard the hostility in her voice. "You and your greedy bastard of a father stole our cart when we were small... and I believed you were my friend back then..."
She went in her battle stance. "Now I know better... you stole it! And we lost our only way of income! Father was sick... and I couldn't do anything to help him! He died... and I was all alone! And it was just because of YOU that it happened!"
"Whoa, calm down there, Ucchan!" Ranko said surprised. "Pops always told me he bought the cart from your Dad... I was surprised too, when we had to leave in such a hurry..." She scratched her head. "Come to think about it, he did act kinda strangely that day, but I never thought anything about it..."
"Why should I believe you? You signed the contract yourself, didn't you?"
"Contract? What contract?"
Ukyo had enough. With teary eyes, she pulled a small bundle out of her pocket. It was a small leather pouch, wrapped around an ancient piece of parchment. She shoved it into the Zora girl's surprised face. "There! Can you read? Do you see that handprint? That is yours! My Dad gave it to me before he died, and I kept it over all those years, so I had something to remind me of what you and your father did... so I could finally have my revenge! And now the day has come!"
"W-wait a minute, Ukyo..." Ranko stuttered. "That handprint... I remember it! Pops has asked me if I like you or Okonomiyaki better... and I said okonomiyaki... and then he made me put my hand on this parchment." He frowned. "Damn, Pops... what were you thinking? If I only knew..."
"Shut up and defend yourself already!" Ukyo shouted. "This is it, Ranma! After all those years, I'll finally have my revenge! Prepare to die!" And she raised her spatula and jumped at him.
"Now, Ukyo, don't do anything rash..." Tatl shouted. "Oh dear..."
Shampoo jumped in-between Ukyo and her fiance. "You no touch Airen, spatula girl! You lay one hand on him and Shampoo give you Kiss of Death!"
"Out of my way, you Gerudo bimbo!" Ukyo snarled. "I won't let anyone stand between me and my revenge!"
"Ukyo, calm down already!" Link shouted. "It has been a long time since that happened, and I know that Ranko would never do anything that..."
"Can't you see what I went through, Link?" Ukyo cried. "I thought you understood me, you always were my best friend... my father died because of him! Honor demands that I must avenge him!"
"But Ukyo... what if everything was just a big misunderstanding?" Link asked.
"THERE IS NO MISUNDERSTANDING!" Ukyo yelled. "I'm gonna kill that bastard and... GAH!" She yelled in surprise when suddenly, Ryoga's powerful arms wrapped themselves around the flailing girl. "Leggo of me, Ryoga! I'm gonna kill him!"
"No, you won't!" Ryoga said firmly. "Not today, Ukyo... I always wanted to do the same thing, but... you know, I really think Link is right about this. I really can't imagine that Ranma would do such a thing. Honor is the most important thing to him, next to his family... and ever since how he risked his life today just to help me save my own people, I know that he is an honorable man."
"Well, right now, he's an honorable woman..." Navi murmured.
"I don't care!" Ukyo yelled and tried to get out of the Goron's powerful grip. "I don't care, I don't care! My father is dead because of him!"
"Ucchan, I'm... I'm sorry!" Ranko murmured. "I'm really sorry... honestly!" She knelt down in front of her childhood friend. "I never knew what was going on... I was sad that I had to leave you behind... and now that I know what Pops did, I wish I hadn't done what I did back then. I was a young fool... and I know I can't make it undone, but please... please forgive me!" And she bowed down to the ground in front of her. "As the princess of the Zora, please accept my sincerest apologies!"
Shampoo knew her fiance was serious about this. He very rarely slipped into the role as the princess of the aquatic people, but this showed her that she was indeed genuinely sorry.
Ukyo stopped her flailing, although she still stared down at the crouching Zora girl with disgust. "Okay... I'll let you live... for now! If you manage to prove to me that you are sorry, I might forgive you some day. And I still have a bone to pick with your father!"
"That Airen's line..." Shampoo muttered.
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(Posted Sat, 15 Sep 2007 11:55)
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