[Ranma][FanFic] Dynasty - Chapter 3

[Cele...@aol.com]

DYNASTY - CHAPTER THREE - PART A
By Sydney Kyle <jant...@hotmail.com>

Author's notes: Hang on. This's gonna get serious...

=========================
* * * DYNASTY * * *
A Ranma 1/2 Fanfic
=========================
* * * * * *
=========================
CHAPTER THREE:
Part A
Soul's Mate
=========================

Mousse groaned, floundering somewhere between consciousness and
unconsciousness.

As his senses began to clear somewhat, he automatically commenced a
mental check of his current condition.

He felt sore all over, yet at the same time, curiously refreshed. A
dull nagging pain pounded at the back of his skull, and he felt
peculiarly tired, almost lethargic.

On a whim, he attempted to move his left arm.

He couldn't.

After some contemplation, he tried to stir his right leg.

He couldn't. There was no sensation at all.

Panic flooded through him. Was he immobilized? Had he lost all
control over all physical action? Or had his limbs all been amputated?

The thought made him positively ill.

Then he shivered as he felt something metal against his wrists and
ankles.

He was strapped to some vertical surface, bound via shackles and
possibly chains. It felt very dungeon-like, like a scene out of some
primeval sort of torture chamber.

But instead of the damp, cold atmosphere that was reminiscent of a
dungeon, his surroundings felt rather warm, humid, and breezy. It was
nighttime, no doubt.

Was he outside?

He tried to open his eyes to appraise his environment, but his
eyelids refused to comply.

His ears, however, could detect the faintest sound of night crickets
chirping and grass and foliage rustling.

His mind, meanwhile, embarked on its own find-and-locate mission,
trying to procure the necessary files from his memory banks.

Everything was hazy. Snatches of images danced through his mind. He
recalled hearing a footstep sound behind him in that deserted alleyway.
He remembered the apparitions that surrounded him, seemingly out of
nowhere, with undoubtedly malicious intent. He remembered fighting back,
then the splash of water that triggered his curse...

And after that, his mind drew a blank.

Mousse shook his head. He was in human form again, so they must have
at least had the consideration to douse him with hot water after they'd
taken advantage of his weakness in duck-form. But right now, he was too
tired to think about that...

And then he heard something.

"Aiii-yah...Ranma?"

His brain screamed out. <Shampoo? What's _she_ doing here?!>

He tried to call out her name, but he all he could manage to do was a
croak.

"Ranma, wake up. Ranma!"

Yes, it was definitely her.

But Ranma?!

Mousse felt rage well up inside his soul. So Ranma _was_ here. And
even now Shampoo was fussing over him, giving no thought whatsoever to
the danger in this situation she was in.

"Sh-Shampoo..." he rasped.

"Mousse?" She sounded astonished. "Mousse, you awake now, yes?"

"A-are you all right? Are you shackled as well?"

"Shampoo fine, Mousse--just have big headache. Shampoo no move,
either. But Ranma--Ranma no wake up..."

<Well, well. Looks like he couldn't handle the attackers either,>
thought Mousse.

"Wake up, son! DAMMIT, WAKE UP!!!"

Mousse blinked. That sounded like Ranma's father.

"RAANMMAAA! WHAT'VE YOU GOTTEN US INTO NOW?!!"

And _that_ sounded like Ryouga Hibiki.

The gears in Mousse's brain began to turn. Ranma, his father, Ryouga,
Shampoo, and him. What could have induced their attackers to tag them
especially, instead of, say, a megapervert like Happosai or a nutcase
like Principal Kuno?

There had to be some connection between them. Then it hit him.

<The curse. Jusenkyo's curse. We're all cursed...>

Ranma turned female every time he got drenched with cold water.
Shampoo became a cat when wet, and Mousse himself turned into a duck. He
suspected that Mr. Saotome was that giant panda that hung around the
Tendo domicile all the time (he recognized those beady eyes), and Ryouga
turned into an adorable black piglet Akane Tendo had named P-Chan.

So, if the Jusenkyo factor played a major part in their kidnapping,
then how come? Was there something more ominous in the Jusenkyo curse
than they were aware of so far?

It was a question to ponder later.

Right now, Ranma was unconscious, Shampoo had been rendered immobile
as well, Mr. Saotome didn't seem to know any way to get out, and Ryouga
was too busy yelling at Ranma to even consider escaping.

He could already hear something humming, and he still couldn't open
his eyes.

From a distance, he could hear the strands of a lowered conversation.
For any other man, the sound would have gone unnoticed. But for Mousse's
Chinese Amazon-trained ears, it was audible.

The conversation was in a strange tongue. Then without warning, it
lapsed into Japanese.

"Are the upperworlders ready?"

"Indubitably. Are the preparations in order?"

"Indeed." There was a third voice. "They will be taken care of once
the Emperor gives the command."

Whoever these people were, Mousse thought, they were nuts.

"And their Tama-Tebako?" a fourth voice demanded.

"I have them right here," said a fifth voice.

"Then the ceremony will proceed." The final voice was unnerving.

And whoever these people were, Mousse realized, they also meant
business.

* * * * * *

"Will this one do?" Akari asked. "Got it this morning. It's the most
accurate one the manager could produce."

Ukyou took the proffered map and spread it flat on the floor.
"This'll do just fine, sugar."

Akane peered over her shoulder. "All right, so what's the plan?"

Cologne studied the map from her perch on Ukyou's shoulder. "Well, I
suggest we start by pinpointing the spots where son-in-law, Shampoo, and
the others were attacked. We will see where we go from there."

"O-kaay." Ukyou examined the map of Nerima, noting rather absently
that in the key box along with the necessary stats was a comparison of
the town's property values and a comprehensive list of the Places In
Nerima To Avoid Like Hell. She deliberately skipped it.

"I don't understand what all this has to do with finding my Ranma
darling," Kodachi sniffed haughtily.

"Big surprise," Akane muttered under her breath.

"Akane Tendo! Come into my arms, my love!" yelled Kuno.

Akane distractedly punched him into the wall. "Can we hurry this up,
please?" she complained, jerking her finger back at Kuno's prone form.
"He's getting more restless by the minute!"

They all leaned over hurriedly to inspect the map.

"Over there!" Soun reached over and poked at a certain point on the
paper with his index finger. "That street over there near the market--
that's where Saotome disappeared."

"And that's the place where I found the cloth," said Cologne. She
pointed to a vicinity about seven blocks away from the Nekohantan, not
far away from the place Soun had singled out. "That's where Shampoo
vanished. And here--" She backtracked a few blocks back. "--is where I
presume Mousse was taken."

"And Ryouga's ki-blast came from this part," volunteered Ukyou,
pointing at a site near the bridge. "I was just a couple of blocks
behind when I saw the explosion."

"And here is where son-in-law was abducted." Cologne jabbed at the
map with the tip of her staff. "We were right on the school grounds of
Furinkan High."

"There has to be a pattern here," said Akane.

"Is there a body of water nearby?" Cologne spoke up.

Several heads oscillated to face her.

"Water?" repeated Kasumi.

Cologne closed her eyes. "Trust me."

"Well, yes." Akane studied the map more closely, her brow furrowing.
"In fact, there're several. There's that river at the back of the hill
near Furinkan High, the lake near the park..."

"Anyone got a pen?" Nabiki asked.

Akari produced one immediately. Nabiki accepted the writing implement
and uncapped it. "Mind if I mark the map?" she queried casually.

"Oh, not at all," replied Akari.

Nabiki leaned over and, to the spectators' surprise, circled the
locations of the kidnappings with thick red ink.

"Now," she declared, recapping the pen, "can you see anything?"

The marked places formed a huge circle--a little uneven, but
nonetheless a circle.

"Oh my," Kasumi breathed. "And look in the middle..."

"That's it!" Akane exclaimed in excitement. "The canal near the
bridge! Nabiki, you're a genius!"

Nabiki smirked. "So I've been told. No charge this time, though."

"Not bad at all," Cologne remarked, impressed.

Soun, as was his habit, burst promptly into tears. "I'm so proud of
my little girl!"

"I'm sure you mean that, Daddy."

Akane jumped up, shifting once more into unstoppable Akane Tendo-
mode. "All right, we know where they are," she announced confidently.
"Mr. Saotome, Mousse, Shampoo, Ryouga, and Ranma--it's up to us to
rescue them from those Dragon jerks." She grinned wickedly, rolling up
the sleeves of her dress, an indication of much violence to come. "Feel
like kicking some butt tonight?"

The answer was a resounding yes, with even Katsunishiki snorting his
agreement.

And with that, a series of silhouettes filed out of the dojo, one by
one: a girl wearing a dress uniform, a two-foot tall crone utilizing a
stick as a means of transportation, a man charging forward with a single
fist, a girl wielding a monolithic spatula, a girl thrashing a
ribbon-whip amidst bubbles of insane chortling, a boy recklessly
swinging a bokken, a girl relentlessly counting yen, and a girl riding
atop a pig of ungodly proportions.

A girl waved cheerfully from the shoji. "Good luck!"

It was an odd procession of figures that charged out into the warm
Nerima night.

* * * * * *

"FALL ALREADY, DAMN YOU!"

Ryouga heaved yet another concrete boulder at the energy wall.

*CRASH*

The boulder was promptly smashed into little pieces, and the wall
remained there, impassive and unyielding and shimmery as ever.

Ryouga dropped to his knees, breathing hard from the exertion. He had
flung about ten or eleven chunks of rock against the barrier in an
attempt to somehow disable it, but to no avail. And right now, he was
just beginning to realize that maybe he was just wasting his time trying
to find a way beyond this kind of prison. Besides, his supply of
concrete--the dam-like structure behind him--was running out.

"TENSHIN AMAGURIKEN!"

Ryouga looked to his left and watched as Ranma unleashed his infamous
Chestnut Punch technique on the bars that lined his prison.

"DAMMIT!"

Ranma kicked savagely at the bars, much to Ryouga's amusement.

"Your Chestnut Punch thing not working, Ranma?"

Ranma scowled at him. "I really don't need this right now, Ryouga,
all right? I've gotta get outta here somehow. 'Sides, it ain't like
_you're_ makin' any more progress than me."

Ryouga glowered back at his rival. "Oh, yeah? Well, at least you
aren't stuck in--in some kind of energy bubble! Now if _I_ were in
there, I'd just punch a hole through the wall and get it over with!"

"And if _I_ were stuck in some kind of energy bubble, I bet I could
find some way out by actually usin' my BRAIN 'steada brute strength!"

"Will you PLEASE save your petty squabbles for later?" snapped
Mousse, who was definitely wide-awake now. He tugged at his shackles,
rattling the chains. "We are not going to go anywhere if you two keep on
ARGUING instead of THINKING!"

"Mousse, you leave Ranma alone!" Shampoo ordered tartly.

"Buh-buh-but Shampoo, w-we are going to be sacrificed..."

"Hold it--sacrifice?" Genma demanded. "What are you talking about?!"

"I overheard our captors talking," said Mousse sullenly. "It seems we
are to participate in some sort of ceremony. And if there's a ceremony
associated with a weird cult like that, then it's inevitable that there
should be some form of sacrifice..."

Ranma peered through his cell bars. "Oh, I dunno," he remarked
casually. "Maybe they're just firing up the grill for some special
entrees--like, say, Duck L'Mousse and Ryouga pork-kebabs."

"That's NOT funny, Ranma!" Ryouga snarled.

Genma was thinking, an action that was surprising, to say the least.
"Wait a minute--when they attacked all of you, did they first use water
to revert you to your cursed forms?"

Mousse and Shampoo nodded, followed by Ranma.

Ryouga cracked his knuckles. "They pulled that trick on me, too.
Those cowards couldn't handle me in my normal form so they used water to
turn me into--"

"P-CHAN!!!" Ranma announced, grinning like a madman in spite of the
direness of their straits.

Ryouga looked stunned. Then his hands clenched into fists as his body
began to radiate an alarming battle aura. "RANMAAAAAA, PREPARE TO DI--"

His speech of doom was interrupted by the intercession of a rather
deep, echoing voice.

"I presume you all are prepared, yes?"

They all looked at the speaker. He was tall and gaunt, with high
cheekbones, a fiery red beard, and oddly luminous eyes. His robes were
festooned with gold and red designs and symbols, and in his hand was a
magnificent gold staff with a mounted dragon's head.

Ranma narrowed his eyes. There again. That dragon motif. The people
responsible for their abductions were probably some sort of fanatical
cult. But still, the warriors who attacked him wearing that same dragon
mantle were definitely not a bunch of zealots looking for kicks. Ranma
had no way of proving it, but he couldn't shake off the feeling that
there was something far more to this "cult" than what he saw.

A disturbing smile tugged at the corners of the man's lips. It looked
more like a grimace. "It is a pity that you five must die. For more
years that you can possibly fathom, we have hunted your kind down,
whittling away at our only source of opposition, until there would be a
day when you no longer existed..." He gestured at the five of them with
a sweep of his staff. "You are the last of the line, and after tonight's
ceremony, there will be nothing to stop the Dynasty."

Shampoo strained against her manacles. "Shampoo no care about stupid
Dynasty! Shampoo only want that you no harm Ranma!"

"Oh, do not worry about that," said the man with mock courteousness.
"In fact, there is only one thing we must have from all of you."

"And what's that?" Ranma prompted warily.

He smiled again, and the eyes of the dragon staff began to glow
blood-red.

"Your souls."

To Be Continued in Part B

DYNASTY - CHAPTER THREE - PART B
By Sydney Kyle <jant...@hotmail.com>

Author's notes: Hang on. This's gonna get serious...

=========================
* * * DYNASTY * * *
A Ranma 1/2 Fanfic
=========================
* * * * * *
=========================
CHAPTER THREE:
Part B
Soul's Mate
=========================

"There's the canal!" Akari shouted from atop Katsunishiki as he
approached the bridge.

The eight of them halted, their gazes fixed on the ground beside the
water, straining their eyes against the twilight backdrop.

"Alas, but I still do not comprehend the point of this excursion,"
declared Kuno regally. "Akane, surely thou hast tired of this--"

"Hold it!" Akane interrupted tensely, pointing. "Over there!"

She was pointing to a congregation of about twenty figures, enveloped
by a soft, ethereal green glow, gathered at the water's edge, far down
below...

* * * * * * *

"Leggo of me! Argh--dammit, leggo!"

Ranma cursed under his breath as he was forcibly escorted toward the
front of the company. There were seven guards on either side of him, so
any chance of escape was made moot. His wrists were shackled behind his
back, which normally would have been a mere handicap for him.

Normally.

But this time, he couldn't use his legs. Or his fists. Or his head.
He couldn't even move. There seemed to be an invisible cocoon that
encompassed his body, rendering his limbs almost immobile, and he felt
oddly lethargic.

He was still struggling halfheartedly when he fell to his knees in
front of the one who seemed to be the head of the group. It was the same
red-bearded man who had spoken to him and the others earlier--the one
with the dragon staff.

Ranma tried to get to his feet, and fell back down. Through the dim
fog that swirled around his mind, he could hear the chanting of the
congregation that surrounded him, as well as some shouts from Ryouga,
Shampoo, and his father, commanding him to snap out of his daze. And
then he became aware of a blue-green glow that emitted from an object
just above his head.

He looked up.

His reflection stared back at him, framed by a ring of fluorescent
mist, from inside a beautiful jewel box nestled in the palm of the red-
bearded man's hand.

The chanting grew louder, more incessant.

Ranma watched, fascinated, as his reflection shimmered and dissolved
into the visage of his female form, who stared at him with the slightest
hint of a smirk on her lips. And then it dissolved again--into a face he
knew well. It was the face of a girl with a bob haircut and dark eyes...

It was Akane Tendo's face.

Ranma couldn't tear his eyes off her.

"What--what're you doing?" he managed to say. "What _is_ this...?"

Lord Takuma smiled at him, the blue-green light turning his visage
into a maze of shadows. "I think, young man, that you already know."

Ranma smiled back at him, his head feeling strangely light. He closed
his eyes as his body relaxed. "Oh, yeah. It's my soul, ain't it..."

And then he felt his life force ebb away.

* * * * * *

"Akane--where are you going?" Soun yelled as she hauled herself over
the side of the bridge and skidded down the grassy slope.

Akane barely heard him as she ran toward the gathering, never taking
her gaze off the green-hued light. What she saw next made her heart stop
in mid-beat.

It was Ranma, on his knees. But what was more alarming was the fine
mist that hovered above him, resembling a vaguely familiar human form.

Akane took a deep breath.

"RANMA!!!"

* * * * *

Takuma never saw it coming.

Someone had screamed a name, interrupting the ceremony. And then,
without warning, a spatula shuriken had hurtled toward him and
effectively knocked away the jewel box from his hand.

The box toppled to the ground, and the glow abruptly vanished. The
clan was in an uproar.

Takuma whipped up his head toward the source of the disturbance, his
chiseled features contorted in anger.

There, in front of him, stood a girl with short cropped hair, her
face set obstinately, fists clenched at her sides. Behind her, emerging
from the umbra, were seven more forms--a long-haired, middle-aged man, a
withered old crone clinging to a stick, a young man holding a bokken, a
leotard-clad young woman twisting a gymnastic ribbon, a young woman with
pageboy-style shoulder-length hair, a girl with long mahogany hair, and
a girl in a sundress riding atop an obscenely huge white pig.

There was stony defiance etched on all their faces. And from the way
they were standing, it was apparent that they were on the verge of
readying themselves into their battle stances.

Takuma raised an eyebrow. Were they actually considering fighting
_them_?

"Give them back," the girl in front said in cold, well-modulated
tones. "Whoever you are, give them back now."

With a resigned sigh, Takuma nodded at the assembled figures at his
side. The clan rippled outwards, as gracefully as any wave. It was
battle synchronization in its most deadly form.

If it was a fight they wanted, then it was a fight they were going to
get.

Takuma couldn't help but suppress the faintest hint of a sneer. It
had been a _long_ time since the Dragon clan had been challenged in
combat.

This was going to be one interesting night in Nerima.

* * * * * *

Cologne observed the formation of the clan with growing apprehension.
From what she had seen of their adversaries so far, there was no doubt
left in her mind that there was no way in hell that she and Team Nerima
were ever going to defeat them. They showed no sign of trepidation at
all, even when confronted with the monstrosity that was Katsunishiki.

There were about twenty of them, donned in ancient samurai garb,
complete with lacquered helmets, layered breastplates, and iron face
masks that concealed their mouths and noses. The cloth that they wore
was similar to the piece that Cologne had found--a cloth that seemed to
be sewn out of a fabric that glimmered as if alive. Adorned all over the
fabric were strange characters emblazoned onto the material with gold
thread, and the images of various green serpentine creatures that
grinned from a gold, red, green, and black background.

There was definitely something eerie, almost supernatural, about
these people.

Never in her two hundred seventy-five years had Cologne imagined that
she would actually bear witness to a supposed myth that had been passed
from her ancestors in whispered tones. Never had she imagined that she
would even have been bestowed the honor of participating in a battle
against a clan that had been drawn from the very heart of legend.

She readied her battle-stick as the apparitions surged closer. Her
blood was of a Chinese Amazon, and she would die first before she would
fall to any one--even the legendary Clan of the Dragon.

They were standing in a defensive circle, all eight of them, as the
clan surrounded them, flowing as smoothly as water in a fast-flowing
river, moving as if connected with a psychic rapport.

And the Dragon clan charged forward.

* * * * * *

Takuma was surveying the melee below him when he became aware of that
familiar humming sound.

He frowned, slightly baffled, then became aware of a light that began
to pulse from his right. He turned to face the source.

Sure enough, he saw what he had expected to see.

"Is something wrong, your Eminence?" he asked, his voice detachedly
polite.

{I want you back here. All of you. _Now_.}

Confusion flickered briefly by Takuma's ice-cold blue eyes. "You wish
us to leave, my emperor? But--but we have not even finished the
ritual--"

{I don't care.} The boy's tone was cool and indifferent, and yet
imperious enough to make one think twice before questioning his orders.
{Order the warriors to retreat. Leave the five Chosen alone. Do you
_understand_?}

"But--but if they are still alive, then what of the Dynasty--?"

{Trust me, old man. I have a far more...interesting way to deal with
these distractions. Now call off the clan.}

"Y-yes, my Emperor. A-at once."

{And _I_ don't want any of them hurt. Not any of the chosen or any of
their friends. Not one. Do you hear me, Takuma?}

"You have my word, Empress," Takuma muttered. He would never admit
it, but the Empress scared him far, far more than the Emperor. And for a
reason that had nothing to do with her temper.

Takuma picked up his staff, regarded somberly it for a minute, and
then raised it up high.

A crack of red thunder sliced its fingers across the night sky.

* * * * * *

Flames. Red flames.

One second, the eight of them had been tensing themselves for the
incoming onslaught that was rushing toward them, and the next second,
their visions were awash with red flames.

Soun, Akane, Kuno, and Cologne had experienced something similar
before--when Prince Toma of Togenkyou Island had conjured up an illusion
of blue fire as a deterrence in order for him to escape.

But even Toma's illusions had never felt so real.

They could feel the intense heat, hear the crackling of the flames
licking at their ankles and elbows.

And in front of them, charging through the curtain of a crimson
inferno, were the Clan of the Dragon, swords flashing, armor gleaming,
their eyes glittering with fierce determination.

Akane let out a scream, and somewhere in the distance she heard Akari
do the same.

The clan was almost upon them when they were all suddenly assailed
with a flash of immense red light.

The brightness faded a second later.

And the only ones standing in the middle of the grassy battlefield
were Akane, Akari, Soun, Nabiki, Katsunishiki, Kuno, Kodachi, and
Cologne, surrounded by only the sound of crickets and the rustle of
grass.

The Clan of the Dragon, meanwhile, was nowhere to be seen.

* * * * * *

"Ranma? Ranma?"

Ranma grimaced as he felt someone slapping him. His first instinct
was to sit up and yell at the guilty party, but somehow he didn't even
have the strength to open his eyes. "Ouch, ouch, ouch," he mumbled.
"Stop that, y-you crazy macho tomboy...y'makin' my head...hurt..."

"Ranma! You're okay!" Akane cried in relief. "You jerk! I thought--I
thought you were--"

"Geez, Akane, you sound like you're _worried_ 'bout me, ya know."

"Well, I--I, ah--" Akane tried not to acknowledge the faintest trace
of a blush on her cheeks.

"You're lookin' for a test subject for your cookin', right?"

Every indication of compassion in Akane's eyes evaporated as she
raised her hand to give him a concussion-inducing slap. "Why, you
arrogant--"

"OHOHOHOHOHO! RANMA DAAAARLING!"

"I SHALL SMITE THEE LIKE THE CUR THOU ART, SAOTOME!"

"I'm in hell," mumbled Ranma, eyes still shut. "Yup, I've died and
gone to hell."

Soun knelt by Ranma's side, visage grim. "Son, where are the others?"

Ranma groaned and pointed weakly to the right. "Last time I heard
'em, they were yellin' at me from that direction."

"No need to look for us, Tendo. We're all right."

The group turned simultaneously toward the voice.

Genma, Ryouga, Shampoo and Mousse emerged slowly from the shadows
below the bridge, looking exhausted but none the worse from the whole
experience.

"Saotome!" cried Soun. "You're alive!"

"But of course," replied Genma, smirking through his missing front
teeth. "You didn't actually think that anyone could have defeated _this_
master, eh, Tendo?"

"Heheheh...indeed, Saotome."

Nabiki rolled her eyes. Ranma would have done the same had his eyes
been open.

"Great-grandmother!" Shampoo called. And then she spied Ranma on the
ground. "RANMA!" She flew over and wrapped his defenseless form in a
hug--much to Akane's, Ukyou's, Kodachi's, and Mousse's aggravation.

"RYOUGA!"

Ryouga looked up wearily, and was stunned to see a pretty young girl
running ecstatically toward him, followed by a huge white pig.

"A-a-a-a-a--" was all he managed to croak out before she threw her-
self blissfully in his arms.

"I'm so glad you're all right!" Akari whispered, burying her face in
his chest.

Ryouga was speechless. Even though he and Akari had been going out
steadily for a month now, he was still knocked senseless when she demon-
strated any show of physical affection toward him. Not to mention that
he'd expected Akari to be furious at him for departing his surrogate
home in the country because he was still in love with Akane Tendo. Oh,
he'd told her as delicately as he could about his mixed emotions before
packing up and trekking back to Nerima. And all that did was rouse her
supposedly deceased grandfather out of his grave. From there,
Grandfather Unryuu had made that earth-shattering decision that he and
Akari move from the country to the city in order that she pursue her
conjectural fiance properly. All that trouble, all in the name of love.

The problem was, Ryouga wasn't sure about his feelings for her were
at the moment. Akari's feelings for him, on the other hand, were so pure
and unsullied that he felt like a two-timing, lowlife jerk.

Akane stood up. "Ryouga!" she exclaimed in concern. "You okay?"

His eyes almost bugged out. "A-Akane! Y-yeah, I'm fine," he squeaked.

Ukyou was able to tear her gaze away from Ranma long enough to watch
their exchange. She suppressed a tiny scowl. <What a wimp,> she thought
in irritation.

* * * * * *

Cologne, meanwhile, was combing the scene of the ceremony when her
sharp eyes caught sight of something twinkling amongst the grass. She
reached over and picked it up.

It was the most exquisite jewel box she had ever seen. It was
laquered, and imbedded on its walls were unidentifiable gems of every
shape and color. But what caught her attention the most was the
greenish-blue glow flickering weakly within it.

<The Tama-tebako...>

"Can you get up, boy?" Cologne overheard Genma say to his son.

The gleam inside the box vanished abruptly, leaving behind nothing
but a dark, empty velvet interior.

"Yeah, Pop--I'm okay now. Let's just get outta here, all right?"

Very thoughtfully, Cologne pocketed the box somewhere within the
folds of her green Chinese robes and followed the others as they headed
back for home.

=end of Chapter Three=

Next: Next battle plan