Author's note: I can't write Ryoga anymore. Every time I write the name, I
feel I have to follow it with "NO!" Like "Ryoga, no! Don't eat the wires"
or "Ryoga, no! Don't bite me!"
Sigh… that' what happens when you name your new kitten after an anime character, ne? I find myself yelling at him in Japanese… not that I have any idea what I'm saying. I think I need to stop listening to the "Chinatown Letter" song.
* * *
Ranma looked wearily down at the food. Monsters he could handle. Demons too. Even Asuza in the Forgotten Tower would have been better than this.
"Ranma-sama, aren't you hungry?"
Ranma looked up at the concerned looking Kodachi. Yeah, concerned that he wasn't going to eat the drug laced food.
"You are going to eat it," she said, a bit of malice creeping into her voice. "I spent so long cooking it. I set the table, I lit the candles, and now you won't even eat it?"
Come on, Saotome, think! Think of something to get out of this. Okay… imagine it was Akane's cooking. How would you get out of that? Actually, right about now, I'd rather be facing Akane's cooking then Kodachi's. Wow, things must really be getting bad…
"Ranma-sama!" Kodachi cried. "You have one second to start eating that or…"
The door behind Ranma opened and Kodachi looked up. Her face darkened as she looked at her visitor. "What do you want?"
"I don't want anything. It's the boss who wants you to stop playing with your new toy and do some work."
Ranma froze. The voice… it was familiar. Turning around, he found his breath caught in his throat. It couldn't be, there was just no way.
"Tsu-san," Kodachi said standing up and throwing her napkin to the table. "Your timing is horrible." She walked out the tent flap, pushing him aside. Ranma started to stand up but the moment he cleared the chair, there was a rush of wind and he found himself trapped inside of a bone cage.
"Stay there. We don't need stray running around."
As the man left, Ranma couldn't help but shake his head. No, it couldn't have been Mousse. After all, the spell had been cast perfectly and Mousse was half-blind. But Ranma had to find out.
He pushed against the sides of the bone cage and tried to break through but it held firm. Trying another approach, he began to toss himself from side to side, causing it to tip and fall onto the table. A shower of wine and food flew into the air as it did and moments later, Ranma found himself as a girl. A second after that, she passed out from whatever was in the food.
* * *
"Stupid Ranma," Akane muttered as she and Shampoo crouched at the edge of the camp. From the place behind the rocks, they could see the tents of an army sprawled across the plain of hell. A few larger tents dotted the area, with the largest concentration of those in the middle.
"No worry Akane," Shampoo said, pointing to the larger tents. "Ranma be in there."
"I'm not worried," Akane said testily. "If the dumb baka hadn't done this to save my life, I would just leave him with that witch."
Shampoo rolled her eyes and decided to drop it. Suddenly, she saw exactly what they were looking for. Pulling on Akane's sleeve, the two watched as Kodachi strode out of one tent and headed towards the largest.
"That must be where Ranma is," Akane said starting to get up.
"Wait!" Shampoo said, pulling her back down. "Too close to center of camp. Too many demons around."
"So how are we going to get in?"
Shampoo looked around and frowned. "Shampoo have idea but Akane no like it."
* * *
Ryoga and Ukyo finally reached the Angel Sancutary. It had taken longer than expected because either Ukyo was running away from Ryoga or Ryoga had been running in the wrong direction.
"Where's Akane?" Soun said immediately.
Ukyo sighed and quickly related the story, which immediately brought Soun to tears. Ukyo threw her hands up and walked away. "That's IT!" she cried. "I am not the messenger anymore."
"So do you know anything about the soul stone?" Ryoga asked, trying to push the conversation along.
Genma looked at them and shrugged. "Never heard of it. Where would we have seen it?"
"I don't know," Ryoga said. "Maybe after our fight with Taro."
"Did you see anything," Ukyo asked rejoining the group," after we defeated him. Maybe he dropped it…"
Suddenly the air was filled with a high pitched yet. Ryoga drew his axe quickly, Ukyo crouched down for an attack and even Genma seemed on edge. They saw the attack coming from the sky, a little dot that grew as it sped towards the ground. It crashed into the ground, not hitting any of them. As soon as the dust cleared, it stood up.
"Happosai!" Ukyo said, recognizing the little man.
Happosai looked up at Ukyo and his eyes went wide as he leapt straight at her before she react. Lucky for her though, Ryoga's hand flew out and he caught the little ball of perversion before he hit his target.
"What are you doing here?" Ryoga demanded.
As if to answer them, a soft light filled the cathedral and their angel appeared. "Do you know this monster?"
"Not by choice," Ukyo said grimly.
"He hid in my wings," she said, "and came up to Heaven with me. As soon as we got there he began to run after all the angels, trying to… to…"
"Oh, come on," Happosai said. "I thought you said it was Heaven! With all those beautiful babes running…" He paused and looked at the angel, with a lecherous glint in his eyes.
She caught it and suddenly, the light around her shifted. She grew several feet in height, suddenly holding a shield and a sword. "Do not trifle with the residents of heaven," she said, her voice booming and causing the cathedral to shake. Ryoga and Ukyo suddenly found themselves on the floor. "We are not as helpless as you would believe."
And then as suddenly as it had begun, it was over and she was back to normal. "Now, did I hear you mention a soul stone?"
Ryoga and Ukyo slowly stood up and look at the now peaceful angel. "We kind of need it," Ukyo said.
"Ah…" She paused and turned to Happosai. "Are you going to show it to them?"
Happosai's eyes got big and started to water. "But… but I was going to give it to someone so they would marry me."
"You are not getting into Heaven again," the angel said firmly. "And that is not an opal you have."
"You have it?" Ukyo said.
Happosai looked over at Ukyo with a grin. "You want it?"
Ukyo smiled sweetly and knelt forward, making sure to give him a good cleavage shot. "Of course, I do!"
Happosai whipped out the makeshift ring, which was in actuality a piece of metal wrapped around the soul stone. Ukyo snatched it with one hand and delivered an elbow blow to the top of his head with the other.
"Great, let's move Ryoga," she said, quickly heading towards the stairs. Ryoga looked back at the flattened Happosai and grimaced slightly before running after Ukyo.
* * *
Ranma-chan's eyes flickered open and she groaned. She tried to stretch and suddenly found her cage collapsing around her. Standing up quickly, she dusted herself off and headed towards the door just as Kodachi returned.
Kodachi took one look at the redheaded girl and frowned, reaching for her weapon. "Who are you? And where is my Ranma-sama?" Ranma-chan paled. How the hell was she going to explain this before Kodachi cleaved her in two?
"Filthy girl," Kodachi said. "You're not even worth my trouble. And if you won't tell me where Ranma-sama has gone, I'll have my minions do it for me." Kodachi leaned out of her tent and grabbed the two nearest monsters.
"You two," she said. "Take this girl away and make her tell me where Ranma- sama is." She turned back to Ranma-chan. "You had better tell them quickly or they will…"
While Kodachi began to describe the various means of torture they would use, the two monsters were standing behind her trying to signal to Ranma- chan. Meanwhile, the redhead could only stare at them with confusion. It wasn't until she saw one of them start to get real frustrated and clench its fist that she realized it was Akane.
"Take her away!" Kodachi suddenly said and the trio snapped to attention. Ranma-chan let herself be dragged away, past the tents, past the fringes of the camps and finally out of the valley.
As soon as they were clear, Akane and Shampoo pealed off the monster skins they were wearing. Akane looked a bit green as she turned to Shampoo. "You're right, I really didn't like that idea."
"Shampoo try to warn," she said as she began to push the layer of monster slime off her arms.
"Oh man," Ranma-chan said. "I thought I had it bad."
"What?" Shampoo said. "Is old Amazon trick. Dress wolf like sheep."
"I still think we should have washed them out before we put them on," Akane said, shivering as the skin dropped.
"No time," Shampoo said, "since Sorceress kept getting sick and Shampoo had to skin both."
Ranma-chan laughed. "Yeah Akane would get all weak stomached by something like that."
"What?!" Akane cried. "Ranma no baka! I did this for you!" She blushed slightly. "I mean I did it for me. What made you think you could do something as stupid as…"
"Ah, guys," Shampoo said softly as she held her already strung bow. "Shampoo think we have problem."
Turning away, Akane looked up at the hill and saw a couple of skeletons looking down at them. She moved quickly evaporate two in fire while Shampoo phased a few out of existence with a lightning arrow.
"Great," Ranma-chan said. "We better get moving. I think the entire camp just saw that show." She got up and headed up the hill, rather than get yelled at by the two girls. She was halfway up when she stopped short.
Turning around she tried to warn them but it was too late. Akane and Shampoo had frozen in place.
* * *
"Stupid Ryoga," Ukyo muttered as she looked down the edge of the cliff. She felt her knees go a bit weak. She hated heights.
"I could have sworn we came this way…"
Ukyo put her head in her hand. "Why did I follow you?"
"But, it was this way…"
"Really?" Ukyo cried, stamping her foot. "And when exactly did we take stairs down a never ending cliff, eh?"
Ryoga scratched his head and looked over at the stairs. "Are you sure we…"
"YES!" Ukyo said stamping her foot again. "I know we were not…"
The cliff side finally gave out under her yells and stamping. Ukyo barely had time to react before she could throw up a claw and grab the side. A second later, she felt Ryoga trying to pull her up.
"Uph, did you gain weight?" he asked, struggling to pull her up.
"RYOGA!"
Her cry echoed across the chasm and the remainder of the cliff gave way. Ukyo found her self-falling to the ground. Images of her splattered against the floor of Hell suddenly filled her mind.
Ryoga cursed as he found himself falling. Looking around, he quickly grabbed Ukyo by the waist and watched the ground fast approaching. He timed it and took in a deep breath just moment before they hit. He let out a war cry and watched as the ground beneath them exploded in debris.
The resulting shock wave was just what he needed to push them back up and slow their descent so that he could flip to the ground. They still landed hard, but he took most of the brunt of it in his feet.
The dust started to clear and he let out a sigh. "Oi, Ukyo, we're okay now."
But Ukyo had completely frozen. Mixing a fear of heights with falling had pretty much turned her to stone. Ryoga looked at her with a sigh. And then something clicked in his brain. There was a very pretty girl clinging on to him. Very closely. Wearing something that didn't leave much to the imagination.
And there goes the nose.
* * *
Shampoo and Akane didn't move. Ranma-chan debated what to do. She could drag them away quickly and explain it to them later but Shampoo acted before she could.
It was him, Shampoo knew. His features hadn't changed, though his face was paler. His long black hair was tied back. He wasn't wearing his robe, instead it was a gray and black uniform.
"Mou…" she started.
The only response she got was a bone spear aimed right at her. The only reason she got out of its way was before Ranma-chan had reacted and pulled her to the ground.
"Akane! Fire wall!" Ranma-chan called.
"But…" she said, somewhat confused.
"Not at him! Cover our retreat!!"
Akane quickly cast the flame wall and Ranma was right. It caused Mousse to balk a bit so that they could run like hell. Shampoo was mostly being dragged but as soon as she realized what was going on, she wrenched her arm free of Ranma-chan and ran for herself.
"What happen?" she asked him.
"I don't know!" Ranma-chan said. "I saw him in the came and he was real chummy with Kodachi. Said something about a boss too!"
"That's just great," Akane said. "So is it Mousse or is it just a demon in his form."
"I think it's him," Ranma-chan said softly.
"Shampoo know it him," she said. Suddenly she stopped. Turning around, she saw him still at the top of the hill.
"Shampoo!" Ranma-chan cried as soon as she realized the other girl had stopped.
Shampoo didn't listen. She was staring back at the man standing at the top of the hill. The warm breeze in Hell played with her purple hair as she pulled out her bow. She took careful aim.
"Shampoo, NO!" Akane cried.
But it was too late. She let the bow string go. Akane and Ranma-chan watched horrified as the arrow took flight towards Mousse. Even he seemed a bit surprised. He tried to block his chest but the arrow wasn't headed there. A second later, he felt a sharp shock as it embedded itself in his leg.
Shampoo moved quickly, loading the bow and walking straight towards him. Mousse scowled and raised his yew wand to cast a spell. But Shampoo fired again and this time the shock hit his casting hand. He knelt down to the ground and tried to regain his composure.
He lifted his head to cast his next spell and found her standing in front of him. She said something, in a language he almost remembered. Then her bow came down, crashing into his temple and the world went black.
Shampoo looked down at him grimly as Akane and Ranma-chan walked up to her. "No leave him behind this time."
* * *
Ukyo finally came to and found herself in one piece on the ground… or well something soft. Looking down, she saw Ryoga, lying unconscious, blood over most of his face. She got up quickly to examine him. No! He would have taken the brunt of the blow just to save her.
But he wasn't moving… and the blood and… Ukyo sniffled and knelt by his side. Stupid idiot. He didn't have to go and do something like…
Ukyo collapsed into sobs on Ryoga's chest. Just then, he decided to regain conscious.
"What's going on?" he asked.
Ukyo looked up and her face instantly shifted from sadness to happiness. She engulfed him in a hug. Ryoga's brain quickly got unconfused and realized her was in a similar situtation.
And there goes the nose.
At that point, Ukyo finally realized what had happened. Her eyes darkened, she flushed three shade of red and then calmly pulled away from him. With clenched fists, she started to pound him.
"BAKA! You made me worry for nothing!!"
She finally stopped as soon as she felt a bit winded. She stood up and wiped herself off. For the first time, she took in her surroundings. It looked vaguely familiar. What with the flowing lava and black ground.
But this place had an added bonus. A very nasty looking creature sitting next to a huge anvil and holding a great big hammer. And it looked like he had just noticed them.
"Ryoga…"
A moan came from the ground.
"Ryoga!!"
He moaned again.
"RYOGA! GET UP RIGHT NOW!"
Ryoga's eyes opened and he looked over at Ukyo who was already sitting in a fighting stance. Looking over he saw the creature staring at him. With a groan, he tried to stand up.
"What's the matter with you!" Ukyo cried.
"I don't know! Maybe some half insane woman nearly killed me!"
Ukyo's stance dropped. She turned to him. "I'm sorry if I got upset that were groping me while I was out cold!"
"Groping?" he said. "GROPING?! I was saving your life!!"
The monster looked at them, with a raised eyebrow. "Ah… excuse me," he said.
"Saving my life indeed! And what your reward was to cope a feel!"
"I never touched you!!"
"Hey!" The monster called. "I'm over here. I have a big scary hammer that I'm going to use to…"
"Then how do you explain the bloody nose!"
"Well maybe if you wore something that made an attempt to cover your ass!!"
"Oh screw this," the monster said dropping his hammer. "You people are just mean!" Ryoga and Ukyo stopped fighting long enough to look over at him.
"Here I am," the monster continued, "trying to do my job, which is incidentally smashing mortal's soul stones to pieces so that they can never return to the plane of existence. And I have done so for millennia! Everyone has feared me! And now you won't even pay attention to me! Well, fine! Now you've gone and hurt my feelings. Smash your own soul stones."
And with that, he left the area, sniffling about how he was under appreciated.
"Who the hell was that?" Ukyo asked Ryoga.
"I don't know… but did he say something about smashing soul stones?"
Sigh… that' what happens when you name your new kitten after an anime character, ne? I find myself yelling at him in Japanese… not that I have any idea what I'm saying. I think I need to stop listening to the "Chinatown Letter" song.
* * *
Ranma looked wearily down at the food. Monsters he could handle. Demons too. Even Asuza in the Forgotten Tower would have been better than this.
"Ranma-sama, aren't you hungry?"
Ranma looked up at the concerned looking Kodachi. Yeah, concerned that he wasn't going to eat the drug laced food.
"You are going to eat it," she said, a bit of malice creeping into her voice. "I spent so long cooking it. I set the table, I lit the candles, and now you won't even eat it?"
Come on, Saotome, think! Think of something to get out of this. Okay… imagine it was Akane's cooking. How would you get out of that? Actually, right about now, I'd rather be facing Akane's cooking then Kodachi's. Wow, things must really be getting bad…
"Ranma-sama!" Kodachi cried. "You have one second to start eating that or…"
The door behind Ranma opened and Kodachi looked up. Her face darkened as she looked at her visitor. "What do you want?"
"I don't want anything. It's the boss who wants you to stop playing with your new toy and do some work."
Ranma froze. The voice… it was familiar. Turning around, he found his breath caught in his throat. It couldn't be, there was just no way.
"Tsu-san," Kodachi said standing up and throwing her napkin to the table. "Your timing is horrible." She walked out the tent flap, pushing him aside. Ranma started to stand up but the moment he cleared the chair, there was a rush of wind and he found himself trapped inside of a bone cage.
"Stay there. We don't need stray running around."
As the man left, Ranma couldn't help but shake his head. No, it couldn't have been Mousse. After all, the spell had been cast perfectly and Mousse was half-blind. But Ranma had to find out.
He pushed against the sides of the bone cage and tried to break through but it held firm. Trying another approach, he began to toss himself from side to side, causing it to tip and fall onto the table. A shower of wine and food flew into the air as it did and moments later, Ranma found himself as a girl. A second after that, she passed out from whatever was in the food.
* * *
"Stupid Ranma," Akane muttered as she and Shampoo crouched at the edge of the camp. From the place behind the rocks, they could see the tents of an army sprawled across the plain of hell. A few larger tents dotted the area, with the largest concentration of those in the middle.
"No worry Akane," Shampoo said, pointing to the larger tents. "Ranma be in there."
"I'm not worried," Akane said testily. "If the dumb baka hadn't done this to save my life, I would just leave him with that witch."
Shampoo rolled her eyes and decided to drop it. Suddenly, she saw exactly what they were looking for. Pulling on Akane's sleeve, the two watched as Kodachi strode out of one tent and headed towards the largest.
"That must be where Ranma is," Akane said starting to get up.
"Wait!" Shampoo said, pulling her back down. "Too close to center of camp. Too many demons around."
"So how are we going to get in?"
Shampoo looked around and frowned. "Shampoo have idea but Akane no like it."
* * *
Ryoga and Ukyo finally reached the Angel Sancutary. It had taken longer than expected because either Ukyo was running away from Ryoga or Ryoga had been running in the wrong direction.
"Where's Akane?" Soun said immediately.
Ukyo sighed and quickly related the story, which immediately brought Soun to tears. Ukyo threw her hands up and walked away. "That's IT!" she cried. "I am not the messenger anymore."
"So do you know anything about the soul stone?" Ryoga asked, trying to push the conversation along.
Genma looked at them and shrugged. "Never heard of it. Where would we have seen it?"
"I don't know," Ryoga said. "Maybe after our fight with Taro."
"Did you see anything," Ukyo asked rejoining the group," after we defeated him. Maybe he dropped it…"
Suddenly the air was filled with a high pitched yet. Ryoga drew his axe quickly, Ukyo crouched down for an attack and even Genma seemed on edge. They saw the attack coming from the sky, a little dot that grew as it sped towards the ground. It crashed into the ground, not hitting any of them. As soon as the dust cleared, it stood up.
"Happosai!" Ukyo said, recognizing the little man.
Happosai looked up at Ukyo and his eyes went wide as he leapt straight at her before she react. Lucky for her though, Ryoga's hand flew out and he caught the little ball of perversion before he hit his target.
"What are you doing here?" Ryoga demanded.
As if to answer them, a soft light filled the cathedral and their angel appeared. "Do you know this monster?"
"Not by choice," Ukyo said grimly.
"He hid in my wings," she said, "and came up to Heaven with me. As soon as we got there he began to run after all the angels, trying to… to…"
"Oh, come on," Happosai said. "I thought you said it was Heaven! With all those beautiful babes running…" He paused and looked at the angel, with a lecherous glint in his eyes.
She caught it and suddenly, the light around her shifted. She grew several feet in height, suddenly holding a shield and a sword. "Do not trifle with the residents of heaven," she said, her voice booming and causing the cathedral to shake. Ryoga and Ukyo suddenly found themselves on the floor. "We are not as helpless as you would believe."
And then as suddenly as it had begun, it was over and she was back to normal. "Now, did I hear you mention a soul stone?"
Ryoga and Ukyo slowly stood up and look at the now peaceful angel. "We kind of need it," Ukyo said.
"Ah…" She paused and turned to Happosai. "Are you going to show it to them?"
Happosai's eyes got big and started to water. "But… but I was going to give it to someone so they would marry me."
"You are not getting into Heaven again," the angel said firmly. "And that is not an opal you have."
"You have it?" Ukyo said.
Happosai looked over at Ukyo with a grin. "You want it?"
Ukyo smiled sweetly and knelt forward, making sure to give him a good cleavage shot. "Of course, I do!"
Happosai whipped out the makeshift ring, which was in actuality a piece of metal wrapped around the soul stone. Ukyo snatched it with one hand and delivered an elbow blow to the top of his head with the other.
"Great, let's move Ryoga," she said, quickly heading towards the stairs. Ryoga looked back at the flattened Happosai and grimaced slightly before running after Ukyo.
* * *
Ranma-chan's eyes flickered open and she groaned. She tried to stretch and suddenly found her cage collapsing around her. Standing up quickly, she dusted herself off and headed towards the door just as Kodachi returned.
Kodachi took one look at the redheaded girl and frowned, reaching for her weapon. "Who are you? And where is my Ranma-sama?" Ranma-chan paled. How the hell was she going to explain this before Kodachi cleaved her in two?
"Filthy girl," Kodachi said. "You're not even worth my trouble. And if you won't tell me where Ranma-sama has gone, I'll have my minions do it for me." Kodachi leaned out of her tent and grabbed the two nearest monsters.
"You two," she said. "Take this girl away and make her tell me where Ranma- sama is." She turned back to Ranma-chan. "You had better tell them quickly or they will…"
While Kodachi began to describe the various means of torture they would use, the two monsters were standing behind her trying to signal to Ranma- chan. Meanwhile, the redhead could only stare at them with confusion. It wasn't until she saw one of them start to get real frustrated and clench its fist that she realized it was Akane.
"Take her away!" Kodachi suddenly said and the trio snapped to attention. Ranma-chan let herself be dragged away, past the tents, past the fringes of the camps and finally out of the valley.
As soon as they were clear, Akane and Shampoo pealed off the monster skins they were wearing. Akane looked a bit green as she turned to Shampoo. "You're right, I really didn't like that idea."
"Shampoo try to warn," she said as she began to push the layer of monster slime off her arms.
"Oh man," Ranma-chan said. "I thought I had it bad."
"What?" Shampoo said. "Is old Amazon trick. Dress wolf like sheep."
"I still think we should have washed them out before we put them on," Akane said, shivering as the skin dropped.
"No time," Shampoo said, "since Sorceress kept getting sick and Shampoo had to skin both."
Ranma-chan laughed. "Yeah Akane would get all weak stomached by something like that."
"What?!" Akane cried. "Ranma no baka! I did this for you!" She blushed slightly. "I mean I did it for me. What made you think you could do something as stupid as…"
"Ah, guys," Shampoo said softly as she held her already strung bow. "Shampoo think we have problem."
Turning away, Akane looked up at the hill and saw a couple of skeletons looking down at them. She moved quickly evaporate two in fire while Shampoo phased a few out of existence with a lightning arrow.
"Great," Ranma-chan said. "We better get moving. I think the entire camp just saw that show." She got up and headed up the hill, rather than get yelled at by the two girls. She was halfway up when she stopped short.
Turning around she tried to warn them but it was too late. Akane and Shampoo had frozen in place.
* * *
"Stupid Ryoga," Ukyo muttered as she looked down the edge of the cliff. She felt her knees go a bit weak. She hated heights.
"I could have sworn we came this way…"
Ukyo put her head in her hand. "Why did I follow you?"
"But, it was this way…"
"Really?" Ukyo cried, stamping her foot. "And when exactly did we take stairs down a never ending cliff, eh?"
Ryoga scratched his head and looked over at the stairs. "Are you sure we…"
"YES!" Ukyo said stamping her foot again. "I know we were not…"
The cliff side finally gave out under her yells and stamping. Ukyo barely had time to react before she could throw up a claw and grab the side. A second later, she felt Ryoga trying to pull her up.
"Uph, did you gain weight?" he asked, struggling to pull her up.
"RYOGA!"
Her cry echoed across the chasm and the remainder of the cliff gave way. Ukyo found her self-falling to the ground. Images of her splattered against the floor of Hell suddenly filled her mind.
Ryoga cursed as he found himself falling. Looking around, he quickly grabbed Ukyo by the waist and watched the ground fast approaching. He timed it and took in a deep breath just moment before they hit. He let out a war cry and watched as the ground beneath them exploded in debris.
The resulting shock wave was just what he needed to push them back up and slow their descent so that he could flip to the ground. They still landed hard, but he took most of the brunt of it in his feet.
The dust started to clear and he let out a sigh. "Oi, Ukyo, we're okay now."
But Ukyo had completely frozen. Mixing a fear of heights with falling had pretty much turned her to stone. Ryoga looked at her with a sigh. And then something clicked in his brain. There was a very pretty girl clinging on to him. Very closely. Wearing something that didn't leave much to the imagination.
And there goes the nose.
* * *
Shampoo and Akane didn't move. Ranma-chan debated what to do. She could drag them away quickly and explain it to them later but Shampoo acted before she could.
It was him, Shampoo knew. His features hadn't changed, though his face was paler. His long black hair was tied back. He wasn't wearing his robe, instead it was a gray and black uniform.
"Mou…" she started.
The only response she got was a bone spear aimed right at her. The only reason she got out of its way was before Ranma-chan had reacted and pulled her to the ground.
"Akane! Fire wall!" Ranma-chan called.
"But…" she said, somewhat confused.
"Not at him! Cover our retreat!!"
Akane quickly cast the flame wall and Ranma was right. It caused Mousse to balk a bit so that they could run like hell. Shampoo was mostly being dragged but as soon as she realized what was going on, she wrenched her arm free of Ranma-chan and ran for herself.
"What happen?" she asked him.
"I don't know!" Ranma-chan said. "I saw him in the came and he was real chummy with Kodachi. Said something about a boss too!"
"That's just great," Akane said. "So is it Mousse or is it just a demon in his form."
"I think it's him," Ranma-chan said softly.
"Shampoo know it him," she said. Suddenly she stopped. Turning around, she saw him still at the top of the hill.
"Shampoo!" Ranma-chan cried as soon as she realized the other girl had stopped.
Shampoo didn't listen. She was staring back at the man standing at the top of the hill. The warm breeze in Hell played with her purple hair as she pulled out her bow. She took careful aim.
"Shampoo, NO!" Akane cried.
But it was too late. She let the bow string go. Akane and Ranma-chan watched horrified as the arrow took flight towards Mousse. Even he seemed a bit surprised. He tried to block his chest but the arrow wasn't headed there. A second later, he felt a sharp shock as it embedded itself in his leg.
Shampoo moved quickly, loading the bow and walking straight towards him. Mousse scowled and raised his yew wand to cast a spell. But Shampoo fired again and this time the shock hit his casting hand. He knelt down to the ground and tried to regain his composure.
He lifted his head to cast his next spell and found her standing in front of him. She said something, in a language he almost remembered. Then her bow came down, crashing into his temple and the world went black.
Shampoo looked down at him grimly as Akane and Ranma-chan walked up to her. "No leave him behind this time."
* * *
Ukyo finally came to and found herself in one piece on the ground… or well something soft. Looking down, she saw Ryoga, lying unconscious, blood over most of his face. She got up quickly to examine him. No! He would have taken the brunt of the blow just to save her.
But he wasn't moving… and the blood and… Ukyo sniffled and knelt by his side. Stupid idiot. He didn't have to go and do something like…
Ukyo collapsed into sobs on Ryoga's chest. Just then, he decided to regain conscious.
"What's going on?" he asked.
Ukyo looked up and her face instantly shifted from sadness to happiness. She engulfed him in a hug. Ryoga's brain quickly got unconfused and realized her was in a similar situtation.
And there goes the nose.
At that point, Ukyo finally realized what had happened. Her eyes darkened, she flushed three shade of red and then calmly pulled away from him. With clenched fists, she started to pound him.
"BAKA! You made me worry for nothing!!"
She finally stopped as soon as she felt a bit winded. She stood up and wiped herself off. For the first time, she took in her surroundings. It looked vaguely familiar. What with the flowing lava and black ground.
But this place had an added bonus. A very nasty looking creature sitting next to a huge anvil and holding a great big hammer. And it looked like he had just noticed them.
"Ryoga…"
A moan came from the ground.
"Ryoga!!"
He moaned again.
"RYOGA! GET UP RIGHT NOW!"
Ryoga's eyes opened and he looked over at Ukyo who was already sitting in a fighting stance. Looking over he saw the creature staring at him. With a groan, he tried to stand up.
"What's the matter with you!" Ukyo cried.
"I don't know! Maybe some half insane woman nearly killed me!"
Ukyo's stance dropped. She turned to him. "I'm sorry if I got upset that were groping me while I was out cold!"
"Groping?" he said. "GROPING?! I was saving your life!!"
The monster looked at them, with a raised eyebrow. "Ah… excuse me," he said.
"Saving my life indeed! And what your reward was to cope a feel!"
"I never touched you!!"
"Hey!" The monster called. "I'm over here. I have a big scary hammer that I'm going to use to…"
"Then how do you explain the bloody nose!"
"Well maybe if you wore something that made an attempt to cover your ass!!"
"Oh screw this," the monster said dropping his hammer. "You people are just mean!" Ryoga and Ukyo stopped fighting long enough to look over at him.
"Here I am," the monster continued, "trying to do my job, which is incidentally smashing mortal's soul stones to pieces so that they can never return to the plane of existence. And I have done so for millennia! Everyone has feared me! And now you won't even pay attention to me! Well, fine! Now you've gone and hurt my feelings. Smash your own soul stones."
And with that, he left the area, sniffling about how he was under appreciated.
"Who the hell was that?" Ukyo asked Ryoga.
"I don't know… but did he say something about smashing soul stones?"