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"Such anger. That boy is going to tear himself apart at the rate he's going." Cologne muttered to herself, turning again as Ryu returned to her feet and began to leave. "I suppose I should just ask you for an explanation, then, child. What are your intentions with my son-in-law?"

"Son-in-law?" Ryu muttered, rubbing her shoulder a bit, "Look lady, the only thing I intend to do with Ranma right now is beat the tar out of him. Don't go thinking anything else."

"Is that what they call it these days?" Cologne replied, chuckling slightly at the look of horror that crossed the girl's face.

"I'm a man, damn it!" Ryu shouted, red in the face as Cologne only chuckled some more.

"That was a joke, child." The old woman said, getting back up on her staff, "And I already suspected you were a man."

That gave Ryu pause, her anger vanishing as she looked at the woman in confusion.

"How?" She asked, honestly curious.

"Because you use your chi like a man." Cologne answered. Seeing only more confusion, she continued, "That technique of yours, that aura, what do you call it?"

"Yamasenken." Ryu replied quickly, wondering where the old bat was going with this. Used her chi like a man? What the hell did that even mean?

"You should consider yourself lucky, child. That technique is indeed quite impressive, however, I have my doubts you would be able to master it had you not become a woman." This only served to make Ryu even more confused.

"Huh?" She asked eloquently.

"Sigh...youngsters these days don't understand anything..." Cologne muttered, holding the bridge of her nose as she thought of a good way to explain this.

"Chi is generated in the lower abdomen, child, below the navel. All the chi in your body is contained there, and it is like a great reservoir that you tap for all its uses." Cologne began, bouncing up to Ryu and poking her just below the navel, for reference.

"Now, the male and female bodies are built very differently. This point happens to reside within the pelvis, and coincide with the uterus, and just as your hips are naturally wider to accommodate a child, so too is the tap on your Chi." She continued. Ryu immediately tried to forget all references made to her uterus and hips, not even allowing the image of pregnancy to enter her mind.

"A man's tap is thus far narrower than a woman's. To compensate for this reduced flow, a man learns to control his chi by releasing it at high pressure, expelling it from his reservoir explosively to obtain the amount he needs for his techniques. A woman, by contrast, releases her chi at a steady flow, having no need for the high pressure technique of a man." Cologne bounded away from Ryu at this point, briefly looking towards the horizon.

"The Jusenkyo pools of drowned man and woman are thus especially debilitating for martial artists. A man who becomes a woman calls on his chi, expecting a burst and receives a trickle. The result is a massive loss in power output, and a tendency to become exhausted far faster from calling far more chi than is necessary in an attempt to match the same explosive results as their male body. By contrast, a woman who becomes a man will often find herself unable to perform techniques at all, her power completely crippled by this reduced flow." Ryu blinked in surprise, blown away by the idea that her chi might flow differently than when she was a man. Could that...could that really be the answer to her weakness? She had to completely relearn how to draw on her chi?

"What does this have to do with the Yamasenken?" Ryu asked, still not sure what the old woman had meant by her first comment.

"That technique of yours is something quite unique, drawing on all the power you have and calling on it in one massive burst, supercharging your entire body. Such massive amounts of chi...I don't believe it would be possible to summon so much at once without the greater flow a woman's body offers, and yet, its completely impossible to do without an explosive release, something only a man would know how to do." Cologne explained, turning towards Ryu as realization finally dawned on the girl's face.

"So...that means..." Ryu looked down at her hands, having trouble comprehending this new information.

"As I said, you should count yourself lucky. Had you not become a woman, you never would have mastered that technique." Cologne repeated, watching the girl cope with this revelation for a few moments before moving on to a more pressing subject matter. "Now then, for the more important question: Who are you, and why is my son-in-law helping you hunt demons?"

Bishonen Senshi Sailor Moon, Chapter 10