Chapter 10

Arriving at the doujou, the four martial artists cautiously started searching the grounds for anything that would tell them where the families had disappeared too. Ukyo quickly searched for a hidden key and was rewarded when she found it lying under one of the rocks in the garden. Hey guys! Over here! she yelled, getting their attention.

What is it Ukyo? Ryoga asked as he started walking in her direction. He was determined that this time he wouldn't get lost so he focused all of his will on making his way towards Ukyo's side.

Yes, what spatula girl find? Shan-Pu asked as she jumped down from the roof.

"I've found a key to get into the house. I don't think that the Tendo's would appreciate us destroying their door and making it easier for thieves to steel their stuff. Come on, lets look inside for any clues and we'll meet back here in fifteen minutes, the okonomiyaki chef said as she unlocked the door and enter the house.

Shan-Pu grabbed the lost boy's hand and yanked him in after her. Ryoga exclaimed as he lost his balance and landed on his face.

Shan-Pu glanced down to see the lost boy lying on the floor and asked, What you doing on the floor? Frowning, she continued while not giving him a chance to answer her first question. It no time to be sleepingwe search now for clues. Get up!

Mumbling incoherent curses under his breath about women and Amazons in general, Ryoga pushed himself off the floor and stood up glaring at the one who had put him there. Mu-Tsu didn't say anything but, the grin he was currently sporting said everything.

Ok guys, if we're going to search this place in a hurry, we better split up. Ryoga, you search the rest of the upstairs and try not to get lost," the okonomiyaki chef said while praying that he would remain in the house. Then, scanning them with her eyes, she piped up and asked, Ok now, who's good with computers?

Mu-Tsu hesitantly stepped forward, I can break into any system even if it's protected by a password, he said sheepishly, scratching the back of his head.

Shan-Pu turned around and gaped at him. "When you get time to learn how to use the comthat thing? she asked him as she remembered how much free time he had while at the village. They had kept him so busy that he would practically have to sneak away to get some free time.


Mu-Tsu grinned as he replied, Do you remember the times when I had to go into the mountains to gather some herbs and wouldn't end up coming back until two days later?

what has that go to doOh, Mu-Tsu sneak away to study when supposed to work!" Shan-Pu exclaimed as it finally dawned on her.

"Yep, and it was fun when I didn't have to work for a few days. I'm glad I did it, because I can get a computer job anytime I want to," Mu-Tsu replied, grinning like a Cheshire cat.

Shan-Pu's face started turning redder than a tomato as her anger over past memories surfaced. She remembered that every time he failed to return, she was made to do his chores. "Grrrr, duck boy going to be in pain when Shan-Pu get through with him!


Ukyo noted that she'd better interfere or Mu-Tsu would be in too much pain to help them look for Ranma. Quickly, she stepped between them and raising her arms, blocking the amazon from getting any closer to the target of her anger. The okonomiyaki chef cleared her throat and said, "Not now, Shan-Pu! We have to find Ran-chan, before it's to late!"

The busty Amazon took a deep breath to calm herself. Then, glaring one more time at Mu-Tsu, before nodding her head in agreement. "Ok, Shan-Pu not kill duck boy now, we find Arien first," she replied.

Ukyo nodded her head before turning around and looking over her shoulder on the way out, "You can kill him after we find out where they've gonecome on you can help me search the down stairs for any clues," she said.

Ok, Shan-Pu help spatula girland then when we find Airen, Shan-Pu take him all to herself. The busty Amazon followed the Okonomiyaki chef down the stairs. She started looking for any loose papers indicating where they had gone while Ukyo searched in the kitchen for any clues.

Shan-Pu opened all of the draws and started looking in the, when a she spotted a piece of paper from the corner of her eye. Banding down, she started to reach for it but it was just out reach. Stupid paper make it difficult for Shan-Pu to grabwhy Shan-Pu have to reach for it and not destroy things in Shan-Pu's way she grumbled to herself as she got down on her hands and knees and crammed herself up to her shoulder to try and grab it. When all of a sudden the phone rang.

Shan-Pu screamed startled. that hurt! she said as she smacked her head on the corner of the table as she lifted her head to see where the noise was coming from.


Ukyo, hearing the commotion coming from the living room, ran to see what she was screaming about. Are you ok, Shan-Pu?

"Shan-Pu, ok...just hit head on stupid table!" The phone rang again interrupting their conversation.

"You think we should answer it?" Ukyo asked as she walked over, her hand hovering over the receiver.

"Shan-Pu think should check caller ID first," the perky amazon answered while rubbing the bump on her head, trying to ease the lingering pain.

"Oh, yeah...good idea," Ukyo replied as she checked the caller ID. She recognized the number as the Neko-Hanten's and quickly answered it. "Moshi, Moshi" she said and listened to what Ku-Lon had to say.

"Yes, ok...I'll tell them. Bye" Ukyo hung up the phone and turned towards Shan-Pu. "That was your great-grandmother on the phone. She said that her sources could only trace them as far as the Tokyo train-station before their tracks disappeared. I bet Nabiki paid them off," Ukyo said, frowning.

"Stupid mercenary girl make Shan-Pu mad! Why she no tell us where they go anyway? Shan-Pu think she up to no good...probably help get Airen married to violent kitchen destroyer. When Shan-Pu find...I KILL!"


"Calm down, we..." Ukyo started to say but was interrupted by a scream coming from upstairs. "AAAAAAAA!"

BOOOMMM! The force of the explosion shook the house.

"What that?" Shan-Pu exclaimed as she stared up at the ceiling.

"The boys. They must have found something...come on, let's go!" Ukyo practically yelled in excitement. Turning, she grabbed her battle spatula and ran up the stairs. Shan-Pu followed right behind her as they raced towards Nabiki's room. When they arrived, think smoke billowed out o the room and made it impossible to see anything clearly. Ukyo took a step into the room while coughing and waving her hand in front of her face while trying to see through the thick smoke. "Ryoga honey...Mu-Tsu, What happened? Are you two ok?"

When Shan-Pu saw the mess she gaped in amazement and said slightly awed, "Aieyaaaa."

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Mu-Tsu and Ryoga searched the upstairs thoroughly. Although Ryoga got lost in a closet only once and ended up in the bathroom five times when he was just trying to find Ranma's bedroom. He managed not to leave the upstairs, this in its self was a great accomplishment for the lost boy, who could find himself in Timbuktu in just a blink of an eye. Finally, after one more trip into the closet, he found Nabiki's room again. Mu-Tsu was in the process of lifting aside a false wall panel and the funny thing about the amazon boy was that he was sweating profusely and seemed to be very nervous. His sleeves were covered in multiple burn marks and his hair was smoking slightly. Ryoga couldn't for the life of himself figure out why, so he decided to ask. "Mu-Tsu, why are you smoking like that? And how come you're shaking like you're nervous?"

"You don't know what I've been through in the past five minutes! It could make one of our fights look like a playground compared to this!" The blind martial artist turned around and screamed in Ryoga's face. Then he went on to say, "In the past five minutes I've missed being a pin cushion by the shirkin that suddenly flew out of a locked compartment by the computer! Then, when I went to look in the closet, I barely missed being flattened by one of Akane's barbells...not a small one...this one weighed over two hundred pounds! And just after that," he panted heavily, trying to catch his breath and to prevent himself from hyperventilating. "After that, I tried to open the wall safe over there," he pointed to a picture lying slightly askew, revealing a safe behind it. "This flame, the size of a bus, came shooting out...I almost got BARBEQUED!"

Ryoga scratched his nose while trying to hide the grin he was currently sporting. The lost boy thought that this was really funny. "Well, Nabiki does keep allot of secrets. And you have to admit she is good at Anything Goes blackmail and extortion but, I never expected her to lay traps all over her room. I've been in here more than I can count and I've never tripped any." The lost boy neglected to mention that he had been in the room only when Akane was carrying him.

Mu-Tsu sighed, letting out all of his tension while deep in thought. Then he smiled and said, "Yeah, you're right, she does have a lot of secrets to hide and I guess she'd want to protect them when she's away from home. And I've got to agree with you, she is good at her form of Anything Goes." The blind martial artist turned back to the wall panel and completely forgot to be careful when pulling it out. When the panel was removed, it revealed a big safe and a clock that was currently running backwards. "Hey Ryoga," he said.

"Yeah, what is it? Did you find anything important?" the lost boy asked as he took a few steps closer.

"Umm...what's that?" Mu-Tsu pointed to the blurry image that he could barely make out to be a safe and a clock.

Ryoga walked closer and bent down to get a better look. It took him less than a second to figure out that it was a booby trap that was just about to go off. Gulping, he quickly glanced at the blind martial artist and said one word, "Run!"

"Wha....why?" Ryoga asked.

"That!" Mu-Tsu replied pointing towards the ticking clock.

"AAAAA!" they both screamed when they saw that they had less than a second to clear the room. Unfortunately they were not fast enough. They had barely taken one step when the explosion hit them like a freight train on steroids. The blast singed their clothing, blackening both their faces and making them look like they had been hit with a thousand volts of lightning. Ryoga and Mu-Tsu landed on the floor, twitching and continued to twitch when the girls ran into the room.


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"What the!" Ukyo uttered as she stepped into the room. Both boys were a mess to put it mildly, taking a look around she noticed that there were scorch marks all over the wall. "Are you two alright? We heard an explosion."

"Yeah, what you do to make something go boom!" Shan-Pu asked as she entered the room right behind the okonomiyaki chef.

When the girls received only groans for a reply the decided that it wasn't worth it to beat the information out of them. So the took a closer look at the wall where the blast had originated. As Ukyo reached for the safe, Ryoga suddenly jumped up and shouted, "No! Don't touch it!"

"Aaa!" Ukyo screamed startled, turning around, she pulled her battle spatula out of its sheath and reflexively slammed it onto the Ryoga's head. It took her a few seconds to realize what she had just done and by that time there was a large dent in her battle spatula with the impression of the lost boy's head. Glaring at him she growled, "You jackass! You know better than to startle a martial artist!"

Ryoga started backing away when Ukyo started to emit a slight battle aurora and started growling. "A wise man knows when not to piss off a female martial artist. They're very scary when pissed off," Ryoga thought to himself while gulping in fear. Ryoga tried to explain himself before Ukyo exploded again like she had at the restaurant. "Um, Ukyo...Nabiki has the whole room wired...um that is to say...its Booby trapped!"

Ryoga, you Ukyo said but she was cut off by the sound of laughter.

the laugh echoed around the room.

Shan-Pu turned around to see her great-grandmother in the window balancing on her walking stick and smiled in relief. Ku-Lon hopped into the room and balanced in front of the safe while running her gaze over the traps with an experienced eye. Yes, you should be careful girl. In all my three hundred years, I've never been so impressed on an outsider's ingenuity with traps.

Great-grandmother right, mercenary girl is good! the purple hared Amazon replied.

Mu-Tsu finally dragged himself up on his knees and nodded wordlessly in agreement. Yes, if anyone can dismantle a difficult trap when I can't, it would be you elder.

Boy, that's the nicest thing you've said to me in ten yearsoh, if only I were two hundred seventy years younger I'd give my great-granddaughter a run for her money. Ku-Lon replied, smiling.

Everyone shuddered involuntarily as they suddenly had a picture appear in their minds. Mu-Tsu stuttered incoherently as he tried to think up an excuse to change her mind t-that's ok, I-I-I'm sure

Ku-Lon grinned again while waving her hand in the air in a dismissive gesture as she said, Just kidding boy, you don't have to worry about that. Even if I jumped into the spring of drowned young girl I'd probably go for a more muscular martial artists. Now stand back from the safe while I open it. The amazon elder hopped closer to the safe then, reaching out, she poked it with her index finger, causing the lock to explode. Reaching deep within the opening, Ku-Lon rummaged through the piles of information before she spotted what she was looking for.

What is it! Ukyo asked excitedly.

What you find great-grandmother? Shan-Pu said while rocking back and forth on the balls of her feet.

Yeah, tell us! Ryoga and Mu-Tsu chimed in.


Be patient and let me read this! Ku-Lon snapped glaring at them and causing the four young martial artists quickly shut up and waited patiently for the Amazon Elder to finish reading what appeared to be a diary. Ah, so that's where they've gone off too, but why? she muttered to herself before closing the diary and glancing up to meet everyone's curious gaze.

Well, where are they? The four martial artists said simultaneously.

Ku-Lon replied, frowning.

Ryoga shuddered in response backing away quickly and waving his hands in warding gestures while babbling, big mNononono! Not thereanywhere but there!

So, you've been there before? Ukyo asked while grabbing onto the lost boy's arm and trying to get him to spill the beans.

The lost boy just nodded his head and continued to babble incoherently. Shan-Pu rolled her eyes at Ryoga's behavior and said, Pig boy scared of Ryowatsit-place. Shan-Pu wonder why? Is ordinary forest

Mu-Tsu nodded his head in agreement to Shan-Pu's question and asked, Yeah, it's an ordinary forest, right?

Ku-Lon shook her head and sighed as she tried to remember the tales she had been told ninety years ago. Finally remembering she replied, No, I'm afraid that it is not an ordinary forest anymore and it never was. The valley is the home of the Japanese dragon The Omatto Rochi. The villagers used to feed the Orrochi one young virgin to appease it and force it to go back to sleep. About ninety years ago, the man who is the caretaker of the valley brought in some exotic animals as pets and unfortunately they drank the water from the Orrochi's spring. Once the water was ingested, it caused the animals to grow to enormous sizes and they are still there today. That is why the valley is dangerous. Not only is the Orrochi there but the animals will eat you if given the chance.

Jeez, and we have to go there? Ukyo exclaimed nervously.

No, I'm afraid that we have to go through there to reach the secret valley just beyond the forest of Ryogonzawa. We best hurry since they have a few days lead on us, Ku-Lon replied as she started hopping out the door.

Ukyo, Shan-Pu and Mu-Tsu all glanced at each other and then towards the lost boy, who, at the moment was trying to wedge himself into a corner and kept mumbling about large animals that wanted to eat him. Cut that out you jackass! the okonomiyaki chef yelled at the lost boy while shaking her fist just underneath his nose.

I don't see what you're so scared about. I'm going and you don't see me trying to hide, Mu-Tsu said trying to bolster the lost boy's courage.

Pig boy is no manis scared pig! If you is manyou come with us! Shan-Pu exclaimed as she folder her arms across her amble chest and turned her back on the lost boy.

Ryoga heard this and got angry. Stomping closer to the purple hared Amazon he yelled, Take that backI am a man! And just to prove it to you, I'll go!

Good, let's go now! Mu-Tsu said loudly, then to himself, Or you'll change your mind and chicken out.

Suddenly, an impatient voice called to them from outside, Are you children coming or do I have to come in there after you. We're leaving within the hour!

Yes, Great-grandmother we're coming now! Shan-Pu yelled loud enough to be heard.

"Hurry or she'll do something really terrible to us to punish us for lagging behind," Mu-Tsu said as he ran out the door, Ukyo and the others shrugged their shoulders and dashed after him.

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