Part Three: Someone to Watch Over Me

"Nihao, Ranma!" Shampoo called as the martial artist entered the Neko Hanten. "Ranma come date with Shampoo?" she asked expectantly.

Ranma rolled his eyes and pried her off his arm. "Nah, I'm here ta see the Old Ghoul. She said she had somethin' for me."

The Amazon pouted for a moment, then cheered up. "Shampoo go get great-grandmother for «airen.» Ranma wait here, yes?"

He nodded, and she went dashing up the stairs to find Cologne, returning a minute or so later with the old woman.

"So, Son-in-Law, I see you have arrived."

Ranma crossed his arms and tried to look indifferent. "Yeah, well, ya said ya had somethin' for me."

"Yes," she rasped slowly. "I do."

"Come on," Ranma grumbled impatiently, "I ain't got all day. What is it?"

"A cure for your curse."

Ranma missed the chair he had been trying to sit down in and ended up on the floor on his backside. He jumped up immediately. "Whadya mean, 'a cure'?"

"I have discovered a possible way for you to get rid of your Jusenkyo curse, but it will not be easy."

"Just lemme at it!" Ranma cried confidently. "I can take it…whatever it is…"

"Hmm… We shall see."

"How do I get it!"

"Tell me," croaked the Amazon Matriarch, "have you ever before heard the legend of the Mokatsu?"

"If he's not careful, one of these days he's going to end up with a French braid."

Ryoga and Jesse were sitting on a blanket, watching Erin and Mousse. Erin was sitting on the ground with her back against a tree, and her legs up in front of her, while Mousse was propped against her legs, with his head back and his eyes closed, while she played with his hair.

"Um, Erin," Jesse said, "He looks comatose."

"I'm just relaxed," Mousse mumbled. "That's all."

"Yeah, well, any more relaxed and your heart might stop."

"Actually," Erin interjected, responding to Ryoga's original comment, "I tried French braids last week, and it didn't look right. A ponytail, on the other hand, looked cute."

Ryoga snorted, then grumbled, "Forget I said anything."

Erin smiled, and Mousse opened one eye and looked at the other couple. "So, what are we going to do tonight?"

The other three teenagers were thinking about his question, when all of a sudden, there was a splash, and Erin had a very wet, and, consequently, very un-relaxed duck sitting in her lap.

"RAAANMAAA!" she yelled.

The pigtailed martial artist appeared from behind the tree, swinging an empty bucket from one hand, and wearing a cocky expression. Erin immediately picked up a cup of water sitting next to her and sloshed its contents at Ranma, who promptly dodged…right into the spray of water from Jesse's cup.

Girl-type Ranma stood there for a second, dripping on the ground, before complaining, "Hey! No fair gangin' up on me!"

"Sorry," said Jesse unconvincingly. "It just needed to be done."

Ranma glared at Jesse as she refilled her cup. Meanwhile, Erin had pulled a thermos of hot water out of her backpack and poured most of the contents over Mu Mu-Chan, who changed back into a human. The two young ladies had gotten quite good at carrying supplies to counteract their boyfriends' curses should they strike while they were not near a sink.

"What do you want, Ranma?" Ryoga asked, totally forgoing tact.

For a second, Ranma actually seamed to be searching for the right words. Finally, he muttered, "I need ta talk to you and Mousse." Then, with a glance toward the two American girls, he added forcefully, "Alone."

«Well, excuuuse us!» Jesse mumbled sarcastically in English.

«How rude,» her cousin added.

Mousse and Ryoga smiled slightly, glad that they could now be a party to the wonderful world of Ranma-bashing in other languages. Then, Ryoga spoke up.

"Oh, fine. But only for a few minutes."

"We were, after all, previously occupied," Mousse put in.

"That'll work. Let's go over there."

Ranma pointed to a few trees over by a small pond about twenty yards away. The other two boys nodded, told their girlfriends that they would be "right back," then followed Ranma to the previously designated spot of conference.

"Well," Ryoga began, somewhat impatiently, "you got us. What did you so desperately want to tell us?"

"I just found out a way for us ta get a cure."

"You're kidding us," Mousse said skeptically.

"Would I lie ta ya?"

The other two martial artists wisely refrained from answering. Ryoga raised an eyebrow in anticipation. Ranma continued.

"Ya see, it all started this morning when I went to the Neko Hanten. Cologne had told me ta come, 'cause she wanted ta tell me about this weird race called the Mokatsu…"

"Tell me," croaked the Amazon Matriarch, "have you ever before heard the legend of the Mokatsu?"

Ranma shook his head. "No, but I'm listenin'."

"Very well, have a seat."

Ranma sat. Cologne made herself comfortable atop her cane before beginning her tale. "The Mokatsu," she intoned, "are a mythical race in ancient Amazonian legend; powerful monsters that are capable of incredible destruction and devastation. Every thousand years, their fortress appears atop Muchitsujo-Yama, Chaos Mountain. Very little is know about their ways, but it is told that there are always two at a time. Never more, and almost never less. The main creature is a powerful "Master," with a significantly weaker "Heir." If the adult is destroyed, the juvenile absorbs its energy, becomes the new Master, and will make itself a new Heir through parthenogenesis."

Ranma's face went blank at the last word. She stopped and explained it, then continued. "The legend goes on to say that if you can defeat them, you will be granted a wish. No one has ever defeated them, to my vast knowledge. However, they enjoy the battles. Because of this, they return every thousand years, for a period of three days. During that time, they allow people to challenge them. If the people win, they get their wish; if they lose, they die, and the master Mokatsu absorbs their chi energy, becoming increasingly powerful with each human it kills.

Now, I have heard from undisclosed sources that the fortress has been sighted and the legends are true. The Mokatsu have returned, and will be wanting to fight."

For once, Ranma actually looked interested in what the Old Ghoul was saying. Off to the side, Shampoo leaned against the wall, listening intently as well.

"One person alone, however, will be turned away. There must be two, or at most three, before the Mokatsu will consider accepting the challenge. I do not know why. Perhaps it does not feel that fighting one person is a worthy test of its prowess."

"Then it's never met me!" Ranma boasted.

Cologne closed her eyes and shook her head. "Son-in-Law, even you would not be powerful enough to defeat it alone. Never mind the fact that it wouldn't even bother fighting you by yourself, as I have already said. You need two other people to go with you."

"Hmm," Ranma thought aloud. "I can't take Akane, she's not good enough. Ukyo, maybe… No, even she isn't all that great in a straight fight. What about Shampoo, maybe?"

The Amazon girl interrupted his train of thought. "Shampoo not go."

Ranma was a bit taken aback. Shampoo was turning down a chance to go somewhere with him? This was a new experience. After a second or two of Ranma's stunned silence, she continued.

"Shampoo hear stories about evil monsters since child times in Amazon village. Shampoo have no wish to fight one, even with Ranma. Ranma need find someone else."

"There were only two likely choices to begin with, Son-in-Law," Cologne broke in.

Ranma nodded in resignation. "I'll take Ryoga."

"That is very well and good, but you are going to need all the help you can get."

Ranma snorted, then grumbled, "Fine, Ryoga and Mousse. Any other ways you'd like ta make my life harder than it already is?"

"Yes," she croaked with a sly smile. "You're going to have to get them without their girlfriends finding out. Or, you may end up with more complications that you bargained for."

Ranma cringed. He still had occasional disturbing dreams about his humiliating defeats at the hands of the two American ladies. And, over the past year, as they began to make friends with most of the people in Nerima, he had done his best to stay civil to them, but mostly, just to stay out of their way. They gave him the creeps.

"You bet," he responded wholeheartedly. Then, getting carried away in the moment, he yelled, "I'll defeat the Mokatsu, and then, GOOD-BYE, GIRL HALF! WAH HA HA HA!"

With that battle cry of overconfidence, Ranma turned and went running out the door to begin assembling his "strike team."

After his departure, Shampoo turned to Cologne. "Great-grandmother, you really think this work?"

The old woman shrugged, then said, "Maybe, maybe not. But, if it does, Ranma will not only be the strongest man, but he will be all man. Then he will truly be the perfect husband for you."

Ranma paused after recounting his story, and waited for Mousse and Ryoga to respond. Silence dragged out for a few more seconds, as the two young men processed what they had just heard. Ryoga spoke first, rather loudly.

"I can be rid of the pig!"

Girl-type Ranma clamped his hand over Ryoga's mouth. "Keep it down," he hissed. "We can't let the American squad know."

Mousse, who had still been processing the full ramifications of Ranma's tale, spoke up. "Why not?"

With an exasperated look, Ranma snapped, "Because, we can't take them with us. We already have three people, and they're not martial artists, anyway. Besides, ya really think that if ya told them, they'd just say, 'Oh, yes, please go get yourselves maimed. Have fun!'?"

Ryoga and Mousse fell silent.

"What are we supposed to do?" questioned the fanged martial artist.

Ranma shrugged. "Leave 'em a note, or somethin'."

After a few more seconds of deep internal contemplation, Ryoga said softly, "I'll do it. To be cured of that which has destroyed my life for so long, I'll fight beside you."

Both boys looked at Mousse. The Chinese young man shifted his feet, and stared at a nearby tree for a moment. "I'm going to hate myself for this…" he thought silently.

He pulled his glasses off and played with them for a second. Then putting them back on, he replied slowly, "I too shall come."

Ranma seemed utterly oblivious to Mousse's internal trauma.

"All right!" he exclaimed. "We'll meet at the Neko Hanten tonight, after dark."

"Uh, how am I supposed to get there?"

Mousse and Ranma stared at Ryoga.

"I already live at the Neko Hanten," Mousse reminded them. "I could go and get Ryoga, but it would make more sense if you did it on your way, Ranma."

Ryoga grimaced, but for once, Ranma ignored it.

"Tonight then. We'll begin our quest for the cure!"

With that last comment, Ranma turned and went running off, probably to the Tendo Dojo, to pack. This left Ryoga and Mousse standing alone by the pond.

"Good grief," Ryoga grumbled, "He sounds like a TV add."

Mousse nodded, and mumbled something about Ranma and overly happy people on late night infomercials, before joining Ryoga in walking back to their girlfriends.

"What are we supposed to tell them?" he asked Ryoga.

The other boy just shrugged noncommittally. He had no idea either.

"So," Jesse began inquisitively, "What did Ranma have to say?"

Ryoga and Mousse stared at each other. Mousse gave Ryoga a look that seemed to say, "She's your girlfriend. You answer her." Ryoga made himself a mental note to personally "thank" Mousse for his help, later. He looked back at Jesse.

"Actually, he, um, just wanted to ask us a pointless question…nothing important. Heh…" Ryoga put his hand behind his head, and laughed nervously.

Erin and Jesse glanced at each other with raised eyebrows. However, both girls decided not to pursue the strange interpersonal relationships between the competing martial artists of Nerima. As in, they just did not ask.

"Alrighty then…" said the older cousin. "Then, how about going for ice cream or something?"

Mousse breathed an internal sigh of relief, and stole a glance at Ryoga. After which, he wished he had not, as the other young man was glaring at him in a disturbing manner.

"Uh, oh," he muttered.

That night, after the two couples had parted ways, (after several goodnight kisses, which the two boys for some reason seemed particularly desperate for) Mousse sat alone in the Neko Hanten. Cologne was in the kitchen preparing supplies for them to take on their trip, and Shampoo was in her room, doing who-knows-what. Ranma and Ryoga were taking much longer than they should have been. He stood up and went to look out the darkened window, for at least the eighth time. Sitting back down, he pulled one of his knives out, and sighed. He felt terrible about not telling Erin what they were planning. He turned his stool to the counter, placed his left hand on it, and spread his fingers. Then, he began tapping the knifepoint back and forth between them, picking up speed as he went. It was something that he did periodically to relieve stress. He was fairly sure that Erin would not appreciate it if she knew, but at the moment, he just needed something to focus his attention on.

He had been playing with the knife for about five minutes, when the door to the Neko Hanten slammed open, causing him to jump in surprise. Mousse was sure he had just missed his finger by half a millimeter.

Whirling on whoever had entered the shop, he cried out, "What were you trying to do! Make me cut my hand off!"

Ranma and Ryoga stared at him strangely.

"What's up with you?" Ryoga asked the hyperventilating Chinese boy in front of him.

"You took forever," Mousse complained.

"Yeah, well," Ranma grumbled, "Ryoga got a little sidetracked on the way…"

Mousse looked at Ryoga, mild agitation showing in his green eyes. "You got lost again? I thought you were getting better."

Ryoga, who was also feeling bad about keeping his whereabouts from Jesse, inadvertently took it out on Mousse.

"So I get lost. Big deal. At least I don't go around professing my love to potted plants."

Mousse's face fell a little. "I haven't done that in over a year," he protested weakly. "Besides, can't you think of anything better to make fun of than my eyesight?"

"Well, I could insult the rest of you, but that would be too easy."

The second he said it, he felt worse than he already did, especially as he watched Mousse slump, and stare at floor.

"That was a cheap shot, Ryoga," he mumbled.

"You're right," Ryoga apologized. "It was. It's not your fault that I'm uneasy about this whole mess. I'm sorry."

"It's alright," Mousse said softly, looking up at Ryoga with a small smile. "I know exactly how you feel."

"Touching," came an old voice from the kitchen doorway.

The three martial artists turned to face Cologne, who was perched atop her stick. Ranma spoke up.

"Well, O-baba, we're all here. Now what?"

"Now I shall give you final instructions, your provisions for your journey, and the map to lead you there."

Cologne hopped over to a table and motioned them to do the same. After they had seated themselves, she began her speech. Mousse, Ryoga, and Ranma listened intently, as they all wanted to come back from this particular adventure.

"I trust Ranma has told you both the legend of the Mokatsu?" she questioned first. Mousse and Ryoga both nodded, so she continued. "Very well then. I will not lie to you by saying that this will be easy, or without a price. If you do not fight well, and fight to win, there is a distinct possibility that one or more of you will not be coming back alive."

Ranma glared, Ryoga snorted, and Mousse twitched ever so slightly. She stared at them for a long moment before going on.

"The Mokatsu are strong, skilled, and clever. And, not at all above using tricks and ruses to split you up, or injure you. 'Divide and conquer' will most likely be one of their chief methods of weakening you. Fight as a group whenever possible."

She cleared her throat, and checked to make sure her audience was still listening. To be precise, they were hanging on every word. She nodded in approval, then began to speak again.

"You will be traveling away from Nerima and Tokyo, to the south. You will come to a relatively unassuming mountain. I will give you a map to show the exact location. On the top of Muchitsujo-Yama is the mountain fortress of the Mokatsu, your ultimate destination. I have packed enough food to last both ways if you do not squander it needlessly." That last comment with a stern look in Ranma's direction.

"What!" complained the pig-tailed martial artist. "So I like ta eat! Big deal!"

Cologne muttered something under her breath in Chinese. Mousse snickered, while the other two just looked confused. The old woman then pulled out an ancient looking map, and placed it on the table in front of them.

"This is the Amazon map marking the precise location of the mountain and the fortress it supports. If you leave in a few hours, you should get there on the morning of the last day the Mokatsu will accept challenges."

Jumping up, Ranma proclaimed, "Alright! Then let's go!" He began to go towards the kitchen, when Cologne hopped off her stick and thwacked him over the head with it. It made a nice hollow sound when it connected, and Ranma ended up on the floor, rubbing the bump on his head and scowling.

"What'd ya do that for, Old Ghoul!"

"Apparently," Cologne chided, "you were not listening to me. I said, 'in a few hours'. The three of you should try to get at least four more hours of sleep before starting on your journey. It may be that this will be the last opportunity for you to do so, until after you have fought the creature. As such, you should make the best use of it."

She folded the map and slipped it in the pocket of Mousse's backpack, which Shampoo had placed by the door along with Ranma's and Ryoga's. Cologne then turned back to the trio now standing by the table, waiting for further instructions. Privately, she wondered how they could possibly hope to win, but she kept such thoughts to herself, not wanting to worry them any more than necessary.

"Well," she rasped, "Don't just stand there looking blank. You now know everything that I had to tell you. Anything else you need to know, you will have to learn there."

They nodded. She sighed tiredly.

"You may use Mousse's room upstairs. I have placed futons on the floor for all of you."

As they filed up the stairs, Ranma bumped Ryoga who growled back at him. Mousse tried to calm them down, which only caused them to turn on him.

The old Amazon shook her head, then yelled up at them. "Remember, you will need each other for the fight. The enemy is the Mokatsu, so do try to refrain from killing each other tonight, won't you!"

Ranma, Mousse, and Ryoga all mumbled their apologies and consent, then went into the attic bedroom. After a few minutes of arguing over who was sleeping where, they did all finally go to sleep.

Four hours later, Cologne woke them. They gathered the rest of their supplies together, and, with a finally warning to be careful from Cologne and a final Ranma-glomping from Shampoo, they set off towards Chaos Mountain.

The next morning, after the three young men had already been traveling for a few hours, Jesse and Erin woke up. After having breakfast and getting ready for the day, they decided that they wanted to see their boyfriends. Jesse went to the phone and called Ryoga's house. Fifteen minutes and several tries later, she slammed the receiver down in frustration.

«Good grief!» she griped in English. «Why isn't he picking up the phone?»

«Well,» Erin said calmly as she walked out of the kitchen, «maybe he can't hear it. He might still be asleep, or he could be in the bathroom, or—»

Jesse rolled her eyes and interrupted. «For fifteen minutes! Be realistic.»

«Or,» Erin finished, «he could be in the shower. Don't worry about it. Just try again in a little while.»

Half an hour later, with still no response from Ryoga, even Erin agreed that there might actually be something to worry about. The two cousins decided to make a quick trip to his house, just to make sure he hadn't wandered off to Hokkaido, or somewhere else, by mistake.

Arriving at his house, they went through a rather time-consuming process of knocking on all the doors and windows, and trying to peer inside. They were only able to see through one of the side windows, which gave them a very nice but utterly unhelpful view of the hallway.

«Arrrgh!» complained Jesse loudly, as she proceeded to kick the side of the house in annoyance. «He's not here. Piff!» She grumbled as she rubbed her toe.

Erin thought for a minute. «We could try the Neko Hanten. Maybe Mousse or one of the Amazons might know where he is.»

Jesse shrugged, and they headed off, arriving a little under twenty minutes later. Upon going in, they found Shampoo cleaning tables and looking slightly grouchy.

«That's strange,» Erin thought to herself. «I thought that was one of Mousse's jobs…»

Shampoo looked up and saw them, then turned and called into the kitchen, "Great-grandmother, is crazy girlfriends of pig- and duck-boys."

A few seconds later, Cologne came bouncing out of the kitchen, on top of her cane again. Shampoo, who did not want to be present for the interrogation to follow, quickly retreated into the kitchen.

"O-hayô," Cologne croaked. "What can I do for you?"

Jesse began, a little too sweetly. "You wouldn't happen to know where my Ryo-Chan is, now would you?"

"No," Cologne said simply. "Not at the moment." She had learned over many years that if you were going to conceal something, it was always best to stick as close to the truth as possible. And, although she knew where he was going, she did not know exactly where he was right then.

"Are you suuure?"

"What reason would I have to keep it from you if I did?"

"Grrr," Jesse growled at the old woman.

Cologne blinked.

"What!" Jesse snapped. "So I'm high-strung. So sue me."

About that time, Erin, who had been looking around randomly, focused on the Amazon Matriarch and asked pointedly, "Where is Mousse?"

Cologne paused a second longer than she should have. "He's out getting ginger root."

Erin and Jesse exchanged incredulous looks. Quoting her favorite cynical feline, Erin turned back to Cologne and said, "Your lying to me isn't half so insulting as the credit you're giving to my intelligence."

The old woman snorted. The two American girls stood there, arms crossed, looking incredibly unconvinced of anything she had told them. Finally, Cologne gave in…partially.

"Very well," she rasped slowly. "I do not know exactly where they are, but I do know what they are doing. The only thing I will tell you is that they are together, along with Ranma, and have gone to search for something important to them."

"That's what all that stuff was about," Jesse blurted, putting two and two together. "This is why Ranma wanted to talk to them so badly yesterday."

"And," her cousin added, "for them to listen to Ranma, it would have to be something life-changing. Probably a possible way to cure their curses, as that's the only common goal between them."

"And it would have to be very dangerous," Jesse began.

"Or they would have told us about it first," Erin concluded.

They stared at the Amazon and waited. Cologne sighed. She preferred dealing with the people in Nerima who could not think something through if their life depended on it.

"Very well," she finally conceded, "Sit down. I have a story to tell you."

The old woman proceeded to give them the Reader's Digest version of everything she had told the cursed boys the previous day, careful to leave out some of the more unpleasant parts. By the time she was finished, though, both girls were irate anyway.

"You mean to tell us," Erin began, making a great effort to keep herself as calm as possible, "that you sent the three of them off into the mountains to fight a pair of incredibly powerful creatures that will most likely kill one or more of them, on the off chance that they can beat it, and by doing so get rid of their curses!"

Cologne nodded. "That's about it."

Erin turned to Jesse, and they whispered back and forth for a few seconds before turning back to Cologne.

"Fine," Erin stated. "We have decided that there is only one thing to be said."

"And what is that?"

"We'd like a second map."

The old woman blinked at them. "You're not really martial artists, or any sort of fighters at all. It would be ridiculous for you to go. There would be nothing you could do."

"That'll be our problem," Jesse told her. "Besides, sometimes just being there is all that needs to be done."

"As to fighting," her cousin commented, "they can have it. But, I refuse to just sit here while the man I care about goes off and tries to get himself slaughtered."

Jesse backed her up. "Agreed."

Cologne watched them for a second, then asked, "And if I refuse to give you a map?"

Erin smiled disarmingly. "Then, we will ransack your room. If we do not find one, we will go through the rest of the restaurant. If we still don't find one, then, after packing supplies, we will head in the general direction you described, and find them ourselves. Although it would be much easier if you helped us."

The old lady stared at her for a moment, unsure of whether or not she was serious. Then, she came to a decision.

"I do not have another map," she croaked. "However, if you go home and gather everything you need to bring with you, and come back within the hour, everything will be ready. I shall draw up a copy of the map, and I will give you food to take with you, as I did for the others."

The two cousins nodded their consent, and did as the old lady had instructed them. About forty-five minutes later, they returned with backpacks and supplies, to which Cologne added the food she had prepared. As they began to leave, Cologne stopped them.

"As you know," she began seriously, "you are entering a very dangerous situation. I will assume no responsibility for anything that might happen as a result of your attempting to join up with Ranma and his group. Also, I warn you, do not interfere with Ranma's quest for a cure for the curses. It could go badly for all involved."

Erin replied, "We have absolutely no intention of getting in the way of Ranma's little ego trip. We just want to be there in case Mousse or Ryoga needs us. That's all."

Cologne nodded and grunted. "Mmm. Very well, then. Go down the main road out of the city until you come to the first marker as shown on the map. Then, simply follow the map until you reach the mountain; it won't be difficult to climb. Only a moderately tiring hike to the top. Kentou," she concluded.

"Thank you," Jesse and Erin told her. "And, we'll be back soon."

As they headed out the door and off down the street, Cologne stood on her cane for a moment, staring after them.

"I would expect nothing less," she rasped.

The next morning, Ranma, Mousse, and Ryoga finally reached the top of the mountain and cautiously approached the fortress of the Mokatsu. Upon entering the courtyard, they walked up to the large, black metal double doors at the front. After checking to make sure there were no visible holes through which arrows could be shot, or the like, Ryoga knocked. It made a deep, hollow sound that echoed in the still mountain air. The three boys stared at each other, and after a few more seconds of waiting, while feeling conspicuously exposed just standing there, the doors swung slowly open.

"Come in," came a voice from out of the darkness.

After a short moment of indecision, they stepped through the doorway and found themselves in a long, dimly lit corridor running parallel to the front wall. The tall doors behind them slammed shut with a loud "bang," causing all three of them to jump slightly. Ranma looked at Mousse and Ryoga, who both wore slightly embarrassed looks.

"Huh, you two are pitiful," he said archly.

Ryoga turned to him with an annoyed expression. "If you'll remember, Ranma, you were startled too."

"Hmph," the pigtailed martial artist returned, "I was not."

As their eyes adjusted to the lack of illumination, the trio moved slowly towards the direction from which the voice had originally come. Now that they could see better, they saw that the speaker was a short, wizened old man with a long, white beard, and many wrinkles. He stood in front of another set of large double doors; this time, wooden, with intricate designs carved on them. He was dressed in a black robe, and was wearing a mildly disinterested expression. He greeted them as they came within a few feet of where he was standing.

"Yokoso," he began. "State your business in the fortress of the Mokatsu, or be on your way. Because if you don't have any business here, then you should be going."

Ranma stepped in front of Mousse and Ryoga, and, putting on one of his most overconfident expressions, he said, "We have come to challenge the Mokatsu to a battle."

The little old man nodded. "Very well. First, let me tell you what you will be facing…" He then proceeded to launch into an overly detailed explanation of the history of the Mokatsu, which they had already heard from Cologne. Ranma looked impatient, but listened, as did Ryoga, who wore a rather characteristic scowl. Mousse however, allowed his gaze to wander, and soon it settled on a small alcove down the hallway off to his left. There appeared to be a large, black book sitting on a stone ledge inside. Glancing back at his two companions, whose eyes were looking rather glazed as the old man droned on, he decided to go have a look. He turned and walked towards the alcove, about forty feet away. The old man, deeply involved in his monologue, did not notice or simply did not care. Either way, he made no move to stop the Chinese boy from wandering off on his own.

Now that Mousse could see it up close, he found that what he had thought was a bound book was actually only a thick sheaf of yellowing papers sandwiched between a folded piece of leather. On the front cover was a single, gilded, interlocking design; pretty, but if it had any significance, he was unaware of it. Mousse turned the front cover and tensed. After allowing a few seconds to pass, during which nothing landed on his head, impaled him, or electrocuted him, he assumed that it was safe to continue. He scanned down the first page. It was split into five columns, each containing a different language. The first column on the right was made up of an unfamiliar language with characters he had never seen before. Next was a column of Japanese, followed by one with Chinese. Then came one with awkward English, as it was still written from left to right, although the book was designed for languages read from right to left. After the English came another language he did not recognize. It was written in Latin characters, but there were strange squiggles over some of the letters and accent marks or dots over others. He concentrated on the Chinese column, as it was the one he was most familiar with, and could absorb the fastest.

The text appeared to be mostly about the creatures that they were preparing to fight. Skimming the parts discussing its history and race, as he already knew that, he slowed down when he reached a section on its fighting style, and various methods of killing its opponents. Although it could just kill outright, the book said that it preferred to injure its opponents, drain their chi energy, adding it to its own, and then let them die on their own, as that took the least amount of effort from the Mokatsu.

"Yuck," Mousse muttered under his breath. "Adding insult to injury in the worst possible way. Cologne was right, though."

He turned the page and discovered that the following section prefaced itself with the statement: Undoing the Effects of Chi-Draining.

"That means that you can fix it!" he thought to himself.

He was about to continue reading when Ranma called to him.

"Hey, duck-boy! Come on already. We've been accepted!"

«Yippee,» Mousse mumbled unconvincingly as he looked up.

The old man was facing away from them, while he pulled something out of a case attached to the wall. Mousse quickly folded the piece of paper he had been looking at and stuffed it up his sleeve before closing the book and walking over to join Ryoga and Ranma. He got there just as the old man turned back around, an ornate dagger cradled in both hands.

Holding out the knife, he said, "With this knife, you can kill the creature. It is the only weapon that will kill it, and it can be killed and destroyed with this knife alone, and no other."

The three young men stared at him for a few seconds. Then, Ranma reached out and took the knife, placing it in his belt.

"What next?" he questioned.

The old man gestured for them to follow him to the double doors he had been standing next to. He pulled one open, only enough for them to step through, then said, "Kentou," and shut the door, sealing them in.

«I'm sick of hiking!» Jesse yelled at a rock that had the misfortune of being in her way. She picked it up and hurled it back down the mountain in the direction she and her cousin had come from. They had been traveling for at least twelve hours, not counting the various necessary stops along the way. Tired and bored, but with no intentions of giving up, they had finally reached Muchitsujo-Yama, and were presently about halfway to the summit, and, consequently, the fortress of the Mokatsu.

Erin turned and regarded her cousin, who was giving an offending sapling a dirty look. «At least the scenery's pretty,» she offered helpfully, gesturing at all the trees around them.

Jesse shrugged. «I suppose. But I want a decent bathroom for a change.»

Erin wrinkled her nose slightly and muttered, «Eh, yeah, well. There is that…»

As they stood there contemplating the lack of suitable toilet facilities, there came the sound of crunching leaves from off to their right. Turning, they saw an older woman carrying a gathering basket, coming out of the woods. She looked up when she heard them.

"Welcome to Chaos Mountain," she intoned. "May I ask what you are doing here? This is no place for two young ladies to be taking an afternoon walk."

"We're not just taking a walk," Jesse returned. Then she added, "And we could ask the same of you."

"I live here…at least, in the general vicinity."

After they stared at one another for a few more moments, Erin answered the old woman's question. "We're traveling to the fortress of the creatures called Mokatsu. Our friends have gone to challenge the Master, and we're going after them."

The old lady acquired a knowing look. "Ah, yes, the three young men who came through here a while earlier, no?"

Jesse rolled her eyes. "Well, two of them, at least."

The woman merely nodded. Jesse was beginning to look rather impatient, and she nudged her cousin in the ribs to make this fact known.

Erin, for her part, addressed the woman. "We should probably be going on our way," she said, trying to excuse herself and her cousin as politely as possible. "They've already been gone over a day."

The old woman replied, "Yes, of course, and, kôun o inori masu!"

"Thank you," the two girls replied in unison.

As the old woman was turning to leave, a small, low-flying bird swooped over her head. When it was slightly behind her, it did something most unusual. It appeared to spasm in midair, and then drop to the ground, insensate. The three people stared at it.

"Stupid birds," the old woman groused. "They do that periodically. I think it must be something in the local water."

She waved farewell, and shuffled back into the forest. As she passed under the trees and disappeared, Erin watched the leaves above the woman rustle as if in a gentle breeze. Nevertheless, Erin could feel no wind whatsoever.

«Must be an updraft,» she mumbled in English, turning back to her cousin, who was bent over examining the bird.

After a few seconds, the bird righted itself, shook its feathers as if to clear its head, and took flight. Jesse and Erin watched for a moment before standing. Jesse shook her head in befuddlement.

«Weird, weird,» she muttered.

Then, they continued their ascent.

Upon closer inspection of their surroundings, Mousse, Ryoga, and Ranma saw that they had been left in a very large, long room with high, vaulted ceilings. Filling the whole room were large statues of various creatures, many of which the three had never before seen in their lives. The only light came from evenly spaced torches hanging from the walls, which only served to give the room an eerie glow and cast long shadows off the sculptures. Ranma began walking toward the opposite end of the room, and motioned the other two to follow him. As they walked, periodically stopping to look at particularly strange statues, Mousse finally broke the silence.

"So, what are we supposed to be doing?"

Ryoga turned and shrugged his shoulders. "The old man basically just told us that we should be prepared to meet up with the Mokatsu at any time after entering the Battle Room."

"Which is where we are," Ranma added.

"Right," Ryoga continued. "When we find it, or it finds us, Ranma's supposed to formally challenge it. Then, we try to destroy it while it tries to destroy us. Or, uh, we, um…"

"Die," Mousse finished for him. "Slowly and painfully. After which, it shall absorb our energy and in so doing become even harder for the next person to beat."

"Uh, yeah," muttered Ranma. "That's one way ta look at it."

"And, as the old man said," Mousse began, "we might be able to injure this creature, but we can only kill it by using that knife," here he pointed to the dagger in Ranma's belt, "right?"

The other two boys nodded. They walked in silence for a few yards before Mousse spoke up again.

"Actually," he said softly, "it gets a little worse."

Ranma and Ryoga abruptly stopped walking and turned to face the Chinese boy. Mousse was forced to stop too, lest he run into Ryoga.

"What do you mean, 'worse'?" asked the Lost Boy.

"Weeeell," Mousse stalled, "You see, I found this book in the hall, and well—"

"Spit it out, duck," Ranma commanded.

Mousse scowled at him for a moment, then said, "There was a great deal of information in that book, so I only read part of it. But, what I did read was absolutely fascinating, if somewhat gruesome."

Ranma and Ryoga glowered. "Mousse…"

"Oh, uh, sorry. Basically, this creature can change shape to aid it in its battles. And, it can teleport, so it is most likely going to be very hard to pin it down. Although, there is the possibility that it might consider that unsporting…although I wouldn't bet my life on it, and I might have to. Also," he continued, "we're going to have to fight both Mokatsu. They could come one at a time, one right after the other. However, just based on what I've heard so far about these things, it's probably more likely that they will choose to attack us at the same time."

The other two martial artists grimaced.

"That's going to be really annoying," Ryoga grumbled.

Ranma nodded, but then acquired one of his 'listen-to-me-brag-about-myself' looks, and said, "It ain't gonna matter. I've beaten greater odds than these. I can take 'em, no problem. It'll be a breeze."

Mousse put his hand to his face, and Ryoga rolled his eyes.

"Oh, boy…" Ryoga mumbled.

Mousse looked at them. "I wonder, do you really think that a mere showing of brute force will convince this entity to counteract our maladies?"

Ranma stared at him. "Huh?"

Ryoga muttered something under his breath, then turned to Ranma. "He means, if we beat it up, will it fix our curses."

"Oh," the pig-tailed martial artist said blandly.

Ranma began walking again, with Ryoga close behind, and Mousse trailing a little further back.

"That's what I said," the Chinese boy complained softly, once he was out of their hearing range.

They had been walking for another hundred yards or so when they reached the end of the statue garden and found themselves in a wide, open part of the room. It was better lit, with several large flames along the walls, and there was a door on the far wall, most likely leading to other parts of the castle.

Ranma turned to Mousse and Ryoga, and whispered, "We had better start bein' careful from now on."

A low, growling laugh echoed through the room. Ranma turned around, and looked up…and up. Behind him, he heard Ryoga gasp and Mousse choke. Standing before them was one of the largest bipedal creatures they had ever seen.

It was easily twenty feet tall, and its very being radiated raw, animalistic power. Almost humanoid in appearance, it had thick legs supporting a muscular torso with two main arms—complete with yellowing claws—underneath which were what looked like two more vestigial arms, with short tentacles instead of fingers. Bony plates covered its shoulders and ran, scale-like, down its back. It had nothing that could actually be called a neck, in any sense of the word, as its head seemed to connect almost directly to its torso. A huge slit was all it had for a mouth, but the inside was replete with sharp teeth, both small and large, and its eyes were small and black. In the middle of its forehead, was a third, lidless eye—blood red—with tendrils of black throughout. Its ears were set back on the sides of its head, and tapered to points. The creature had some sort of metallic adornment in one of them, which reflected the torchlight and glowed orange. It had nothing resembling clothing, but strange tatters of a fleshy material seemed to be growing on its body. A pungent odor, like rotting meat, emanated from it in warm waves.

The three martial artists stood there, staring dumbly. Even Ranma, normally loud and boastful, was silent. Ryoga glanced over at Mousse, who had turned a unique shade of gray, and was chewing on his bottom lip.

"Go ahead," the fanged boy mumbled out of the corner of his mouth. "Just say it."

Mousse swallowed. "We are all going to die."

"Pessimist," Ryoga huffed under his breath.

It took almost a full minute for Ranma to get himself together enough to speak. He summoned his bravado and ample ego, and issued the formal challenge.

"Venerable Mokatsu," he intoned, "we have traveled to your fortress seeking honorable combat with you."

Another growl sounded behind them. Ranma twitched, Mousse stiffened, and Ryoga turned his head to look. Behind them stood the Heir, having appeared noiselessly, like the Master had a few minutes before. Basically just a smaller version of its counterpart, it was only about nine feet, but still looked to be a formidable adversary. Ryoga's eyes narrowed as he thought to himself, "This is not good…"

The elder creature grinned menacingly, its fangs dripping saliva, and made a guttural noise. No words came out, but a grating, invasive thought implanted itself in their heads.

Very well, it projected to them. We accept your challenge.

Mousse turned slightly to Ryoga and whispered, "Whatever it is that it's doing is making my mind itch."

Ryoga nodded, then addressing both Ranma and Mousse, he said softly, "I'll take the Heir. You two concentrate on the Master."

The two other boys nodded. Ryoga turned so that he was back to back with them, before assuming a slightly crouched position, readying himself for an attack. Ranma took up a similar position, while Mousse readied his weapons. The pig-tailed boy nodded slightly to the waiting monster in front of him.

Let us commence, it projected simply. Then, the Mokatsu attacked.

"Ranma!" Mousse yelled over the din of battle. "Duck!"

At any other time, he might have found that comment ironic, but as things stood, no one was in any position to be amused by anything.

The three martial artists had been fighting the creature for what seemed like forever, but was actually closer to fifteen minutes. The fight had been uneven from the start. Although Ryoga was holding his ground against the Heir, he certainly had not succeeded in injuring it in any significant way. His strength was almost gone, and now his adrenaline was starting to give out. Sheer willpower drove him on; that, and the fact that he knew if he lost, he would shortly be very dead.

Even Ranma, normally able to claim swift victory over his opponents, was finding it increasingly difficult to catch his breath. He had been moving almost nonstop since the beginning of the battle, striking, blocking, and ducking, but with almost no visible effect on the Mokatsu. Their attacks had not even been able to perceptibly slow their foe.

After ducking the blow aimed at his head, Ranma glanced briefly over at his partner. The Chinese boy had metal claws strapped to one of his hands, and held a small mace in the other. He had been throwing weapons from his sleeves in great quantities since the start of the battle, and the floor was now strewn with hundreds of things, both sharp and blunt. The pig-tailed martial artist wondered briefly if Mousse would eventually run out of weapons, as he was fairly sure that he had recently seen a teddy-bear go flying through the air.

The Mokatsu, on the other hand, seemed unruffled, toying with its victims as a cat would with a mouse, just before it kills it. It rarely ever bothered to block the attacks and weapons, but rather dodged them. From its perspective, it was in absolutely no danger of being defeated by these puny humans who sought to destroy it. After all, not only were they rather weak, but without the knife, they could do nothing to it. And, due to a rather glaring error on Ranma's part, they no longer possessed it.

Ranma had been attempting to jump it from the side, while telling Mousse to distract it by throwing as many weapons as possible. The creature however, had sidestepped the projectiles at the last moment, resulting in Ranma falling short of his goal, quite literally. The Mokatsu had used his moment of instability to its own advantage, catching him off guard, and knocking the knife out of his hand. It skidded to a stop about fifty feet away, effectively placing it out of their immediate reach. Since that time, both Ranma and Mousse had been far too busy protecting their own existences to give much more than a fleeting thought to retrieving the knife, and Ryoga was much too far away.

Out of the corner of his eye, Ryoga saw Ranma dodge one of the creature's leisurely attacks. He had a feeling that the Mokatsu were even more powerful than they had expected, and as such, did not feel a great need to expend much energy during this fight. To him, they seemed to be doing only enough to force him, and Ranma, and Mousse to wear themselves out, while inflicting only minute damage. He wondered when they would decide to actually attack, but at the same time, he hoped they wouldn't. He wanted to see Jesse again, even if he was still cursed.

Five or so minutes later, the three young men were almost spent. Ryoga was trying to gather enough chi to perform a Shishi Hôkôdan, Ranma was powering up for a Mouko Takabisha, and Mousse was searching his robes for a bomb, when the master Mokatsu stepped back. The three humans paused, slightly tense, in anticipation of a possible attack. The attack, however, never came. The Heir broke from its fight with Ryoga as the larger creature "spoke."

Excellent, it projected coldly. You have proven to be fascinating opponents. I have the power to destroy you all, but you amuse me.

Mousse and Ryoga exchanged worried looks, as Ranma glared at the creature for daring to call him "amusing."

It went on, You have fought harder and lasted longer than any of your predecessors. Never before have I found a battle with any creature as stimulating as this one has been. You have my appreciation. Because of this, I have decided to grant one of you your wish.

It turned slightly, raised its arm, and made a downward motion. A rift formed in midair, widening until it was a little larger than a person. Undulating sparkles and colors floated within, giving no hint of what was beyond it. Looking back at the three exhausted martial artists, the Mokatsu lifted one of its hands and pointed a clawed finger at Ranma.

I have selected you, it decided. You may step through the portal.

Ranma blinked; the creature's words filtering through the hot air that occupied his cranial cavity. The thought, "I can get rid of my girl-half!" flitted through his head, and he took a step towards the portal.

Mousse grabbed his arm, and Ranma turned to look at him. Mousse's face was blank, but his eyes were wide with apprehension.

"Ranma, how can you trust it?" Mousse whispered urgently. "You don't know what might be on the other side of that doorway. It could lead anywhere…oblivion, even!"

The pig-tailed teenager paused for a brief moment. Then, shaking off Mousse's hand impatiently, he turned back to the portal.

"Aw, you're just jealous," he grumbled at the other boy over his shoulder. Then, "No more curse!" he cried, as he ran up to the portal and leaped in, leaving Mousse standing there, his mouth hanging open.

It took Mousse and Ryoga a moment to register that Ranma had actually just leapt through the offered doorway to an as yet undisclosed location.

"You jerk," Ryoga snarled.

Mousse, however, was slipping into panic. "No!" he yelled after Ranma. "It's lying! Remember what Cologne told us!"

But it was too late; the portal shut on Mousse's words. He took a shaking breath and looked back at the master Mokatsu. It was grinning evilly.

Foolish human, it projected to him, an undercurrent of malice in its words, you almost ruined my plan. For that, I will punish you. And then, I will kill you.

It took a step towards him, and he in turn, backed up, almost tripping on a pike from earlier in the fight. Ryoga, sensing the other boy's distress, was about to go to help, when a low growl came from behind him, and a voice echoed in his head.

Where do you think you are going, mammal? asked the Heir.

Then, it rushed him, its clawed fingers stretched out, ready to impale.

«I can see it!» Jesse, who was standing on a large rock, called to Erin.

The other girl looked up from tying her shoe. Her cousin was pointing to the top of the mountain, where the peak of a stone tower could just be seen above the tree line. She estimated that it would take them another fifteen or twenty minutes of hiking to reach the base of the Mokatsu's fortress. Jumping up on the rock next to Jesse, Erin shaded her eyes with her hand, and stared for a moment.

«I have a very bad feeling about this,» she mumbled.

«Come on,» Jesse prompted, hoping off the boulder, and picking up her backpack which she had previously deposited on the ground. «We should be there soon.» She paused. «And then we can beat the stuffing out of Ranma for pulling all of us into this.»

Erin glanced down at her cousin with a slight smile. «I thought that we told Cologne we wouldn't interfere in his 'quest'?»

Jesse did her best to look innocent. «Oh,» she said sweetly, «we won't interfere in his quest. Just…delay it a bit…»

Erin laughed and jumped off the rock as well. «Riiiiight…» she said as she retrieved her own backpack. «Delay…»

The two girls continued up the mountain, reaching the base of the Mokatsu's castle inside twenty minutes. Standing directly in front of the large, jet-black metal doors, Erin and Jesse paused for a moment.

Jesse broke the silence. «What do you think?»

Erin looked lost in thought for a moment before answering. «I think,» she began, sounding very serious, «that those doors break the sixty-fifth rule of being an Evil Overlord.»

Her cousin snickered. «Remind me which one that is.»

Erin, who was grinning slightly, looked at her cousin and replied, «You know, the one about, 'I will make the main entrance to my fortress standard-sized. While elaborate 60-foot high double-doors definitely impress the masses, they are hard to close quickly in an emergency.'»

Jesse twitched. «Oh, yeah, that one…»

Finally, Erin turned to Jesse. «Alrighty then,» she said, gesturing sweepingly at the doors. «Shall we?»

«Surely!» replied Jesse.

The older cousin reached out and knocked loudly on the elaborate entrance. Shortly after the echo of her knock had faded, the doors swung slowly open, revealing the oppressive blackness inside. The two girls looked at each other with a shared expression of suppressed excitement barely overshadowed by worry.

After a short moment of indecision, they stepped through together into the lair of the Mokatsu.

Ryoga hurled himself out of the way of the Heir's razor sharp claws for at least the fifth time. He landed on the floor, rolling just in time to avoid a downward slash from the monster. After Ranma had disappeared, the creatures had showed their true colors: fast, powerful, vicious, and sadistic. Ryoga had been struggling to survive, and his skills as a martial artist were not helping him much. How could you attack something that never let you stop dodging? He never had the time to try to find the Breaking Point of any of the stones lining the floor, and a chi blast was certainly out of the question. The second he tried to stand still long enough to gather his chi, the thing would dice him. He was beginning to wonder if he could modify his Depression Blast into a Frustration Blast, but the Mokatsu never gave him the chance to try.

"Maybe Mousse was right," he thought to himself as he dodged yet another of the Heir's swipes. "Maybe we are going to die."

As soon as he thought it, however, he banished that option from his mind. He was absolutely unwilling to acknowledge the possibility that this creature might be the instrument of his death. He did know, though, that if he was to have any chance of winning, he would have to come up with a different strategy, and soon. He already had several minor injuries, from times when his dodging had been a little slower than it should have, and the Heir was a fast learner, adapting to everything he had tried so far.

"I'm running out of ideas!" he complained silently.

Then, he ducked behind a statue as the creature once more swung its sickle-like claws at his head. Although the blow missed Ryoga, it sliced the head and shoulders off the statue he was hiding behind, showering him with dust and small pieces of sculpture.

"Rrrrrrrrr," he growled in frustration, as he was forced to leap out of the way yet again.

"Ouch!" Mousse grunted as he smashed into the sculpture of some type of unidentifiable bird. He rolled over and grabbed the sword he had dropped on the floor when he landed.

Whereas the heir Mokatsu seemed determined to slice Ryoga into ribbons, the Master seemed to prefer tossing Mousse about like a rag doll. Every time he tried to attack it, it would either dodge or block the attack, then backhand him, hurling him bodily into whatever happened to be in his path. It was both frustrating and painful.

Mousse rubbed the back of his fist against his forehead, trying to wipe off a thin trail of blood before it could trickle into his eye. A small gash ran from just above his left eyebrow to his temple, courtesy of one of his Mokatsu-induced flights into a particularly pokey statue of something that, as near as he could tell, resembled a platypus with spines. Fortunately, his glasses were still on his face as he slowly stood to face the Master again.

The creature seemed to smile at him. I will greatly enjoy draining your energy and adding it to my own, it projected to him. Of course, you will die almost immediately afterward. Pity. You have been fairly gratifying prey.

Resisting the urge to tell it, "over my dead body", as it would probably take him at his word, Mousse risked a quick glance around him. About forty feet to his left, the knife given to them by the doorkeeper lay forgotten on the stone floor.

"That's my only chance," he thought desperately, as the Mokatsu advanced on him, claws outstretched.

Mousse dropped the sword suddenly, turned, and ran as fast as he could towards his only possible means of victory. The Mokatsu however, quickly figured out what he was attempting. Moving amazingly fast for something of its bulk, it lunged after him, intent on preventing him from attaining the dagger. It aimed a blow directly at his head, claws extended. They would have sliced straight through Mousse's neck had he not, in his haste, tripped over a loose flagstone. The Chinese boy sprawled on the ground, the deadly claws slashing harmlessly through the air above him. He rolled out of the way, as it thrust at him once more.

The sought-after knife lay less than four feet to his left, as he lay on the ground. Mousse pushed himself to his knees, and reached for it. His fingers had just brushed the handle when a searing pain shot through his left leg, and he yelled in shock and agony. The creature's claws had finally found a purchase, and it dragged him backwards, ripping a long gash in his pants, and consequently, his leg, from the middle of his thigh to his ankle, before it lost its grip on him. Mousse was now at least ten feet from the dagger, and it was all he could do to limp out of direct range of the Master.

At least two hundred feet away, Ryoga was busy trying to avoid the attacks of the Heir when he heard Mousse's pained cry. Startled by the exclamation, he made the mistake of turning to look. The Heir used the opportunity to strike him in the chest. The blow drew four thin cuts across his torso, and sent him hurtling backwards into a nearby statue. The Lost Boy crashed into the top of the rock sculpture, then slid down and landed on the floor with a loud thump, his right leg twisted under him at an odd angle.

The smaller creature began advancing on him, a gleeful, wicked grin on its distorted face. Left without any other options, and unable to stand, Ryoga began trying to build enough depressive chi to perform a Shishi Hôkôdan. However, having the Mokatsu coming at him "maliciously and with intent to wound" did nothing for his concentration.

Mousse winced as he watched Ryoga hit the ground. There was absolutely nothing he could do, though, as the larger Mokatsu was preparing for what would probably be its final attack. The young man was standing propped against one of the smaller statues, as he was having trouble putting any weight on his injured leg. He was running low on weapons; he estimated that he only had enough left for one more attack, and the creature seemed to be tiring of its game.

"This is it," Mousse thought silently. "It's going to kill me, and there's not a thing I can do about it…" He paused for a second, then decided, "I refuse to die just sitting here. If it gets my life energy, it's going to have to work for it!"

All of a sudden, the Master leaped towards him. Mousse ducked under its first strike, and ran to the side, ignoring the burning pain in his leg to the best of his ability. He skidded to a stop about twenty-five feet away from the creature, turned, and threw every last weapon he had in his possession. The massive barrage flew towards the astounded monster. Its eyes narrowed, and just as the first of the weapons would have connected, it disappeared. Mousse gave a startled cry as the weapons crashed into several of the statues lining the battle area. The master Mokatsu was nowhere to be seen.

Ryoga started when he heard Mousse's exclamation of shock. For some reason that he could not fathom, the Heir had stopped its advance, giving him the chance to turn around. He could see the Chinese boy standing in the middle of the battle area, favoring one leg, with a very confused and slightly frightened look on his face. He turned, wide-eyed, to look at the young man sitting on the ground.

Ryoga was trying to decide what to do, when all of a sudden the Master reappeared only a few feet in front of Mousse with a very angry expression on its face.

I have grown tired of this game, it 'said' darkly. It is time for your pathetic existence to cease.

Mousse stumbled backwards in terror as one of the creature's arms shot towards him. He was unable to stop it as it grabbed him by the shoulder, its large hand closing like a vise on him.

"Don't kill me, please…" he whispered, almost inaudibly.

Ryoga was forced to watch helplessly as the gargantuan beast placed one of its other hands flat against Mousse's chest. Then, using an attack that neither boy knew it was capable of, it shot a long, thin bone spike out of the center of its palm. The Lost Boy screamed in furious protest as the spike slammed through Mousse's body. The Chinese boy's only sound was a short, ragged gasp, as he stared dazedly at the creature that had just impaled him.

Ryoga began to glow, his depression mingling with his anger to form an emerald green battle aura. "This is my fault," he mentally accused himself. "I should have stopped it, somehow…"

After a moment of absolute stillness, an icy blue aura formed around Mousse and the spike still embedded in his chest; he shuddered. It only took Ryoga a second to figure out what the Mokatsu was doing.

"Leave him alone!" Ryoga screamed at the creature.

It completely ignored him, intent on the task before it. After less than a minute, the aura flickered, then faded all together. Having drained his chi energy, the Mokatsu withdrew the spike as Mousse moaned softly. "I'm sorry," he whispered to someone who was not there. The Master released the Chinese boy. Ryoga watched helplessly as Mousse crumpled to a heap on the stones. Then, the creature opened a portal similar to the one it had sent Ranma through, and disappeared inside, leaving Mousse's body on the floor.

Behind him, Ryoga heard a snort. He turned back to face the Heir; it was laughing scornfully.

One less worthless human, it projected with obvious derision.

That did it. Ryoga's battle aura flared in barely contained fury. He placed his hands in front of him.

"SHISHI HÔKÔDAN!" he screamed.

A huge green blast of chi energy shot from his palms. It streaked toward the Heir, barely seven feet away. The blast caught it completely by surprise, hitting it squarely in the center of its body and carrying it back several yards into the wall. When it hit, there was a blinding flash of green light, and the Heir was gone. By the time Ryoga's vision came back, all that was left was a scorch mark on the wall and a burnt smell in the air.

The young man heaved a sigh of defeat as he thought of Mousse's fallen body. Then, he slumped back against the statue and closed his eyes, wondering what he could possibly do now.

It was dark in the hallway Jesse and Erin found themselves in after walking through the impressive front door of the fortress. As both girls were quite well versed in science fiction and all its eccentricities, neither one was surprised or startled when the door slammed behind them, of its own initiative. They stood a moment, letting their eyes adjust to the dark before proceeding forward. This time, there was no one there to meet the newcomers.

The two girls looked around, and Jesse immediately walked over to the large double doors barring the entrance to the Battle Room. She knocked on them, and when she received no answer, she tried to open them. When that, too, failed, she began looking up and down the ornate carvings on the doors, trying to find some means of unlatching them.

Her cousin, on the other hand, had already noticed the large black book that sat off to the left of the doors, and had gone to look at it. After admiring the knotted design on the cover, she began flipping pages, scanning to get a general idea of the content. Although, like Mousse, she was unable to decipher any of the first language, the others, she at least recognized.

"Hmm," she thought to herself, "Let's see. We've got Japanese, Chinese… Whoa, really bad English, and, um, Spanish. Unique…"

She began reading the English column, skipping any information she already knew, or deemed unnecessary. When she reached the part about fighting, she slowed down, and paid more attention. She found the part about the Mokatsu's ability to drain energy particularly fascinating, and also, disturbing.

«Hey, Jess, come 'ere,» she called her cousin over.

«What?»

The older girl pointed to the page in front of her, the one that told about the Mokatsu's abilities to teleport, and to not only kill, but to gain energy from those it killed.

«Read this,» she said, looking up at her cousin with a mildly unsettled expression.

Erin moved to the side to allow Jesse to get a better look at the words. Acquiring a look of deep concentration, the blond girl began to carefully read the section her cousin had shown her. When she had finished, she was scowling.

«Cologne never mentioned anything about that,» she said stiffly.

Erin shrugged, and replied, «Must've slipped her mind.»

Jesse snorted. Then, looking back down at the offending text, she said, «It sort of sounds incomplete. Like whoever wrote it forgot to finish the thought.» She reread the last paragraph, then turned to the next page and scanned down the English column. «Hey!» she complained suddenly, «It is unfinished.»

Jesse pointed to the book, and Erin got closer to see what her cousin had found. Sure enough, the next page started in the middle of a completely unrelated topic.

«There's a page missing,» Erin muttered, somewhat unnecessarily.

Jesse looked slightly peeved. «I wonder what went there?»

Erin smiled wanly. «Probably the Hints and Tips page,» she said with a slight giggle.

«Well, piff!» Jesse grumbled.

The two girls had been looking through the book for at least another few minutes, when they heard a noise behind them. Turning, they were confronted with the same little old man who had greeted their predecessors. He looked slightly haggard, and was a bit out of breath. Nevertheless, he made a slight bow.

Straightening, he queried, in Japanese, "Is there something with which you require assistance that I might be able to help you with?"

The two girls looked at each other, then back at the doorkeeper. After a moment of silence, Jesse said, "Yes, there is. You see, we have a little problem…"

"No more curse!" Ranma cried, as he ran up to the portal and leaped in, leaving Mousse standing there, his mouth hanging open.

As soon as Ranma's feet touched the ground on the other side, the colorful doorway shut. He had landed in a small room, with tiles covering everything: floor, walls, and ceiling. There was a black door on the wall opposite him, covered in ornate scrollwork. It was actually a very pretty room, but there was just one problem. After approximately one third of a second, Ranma deduced that there was absolutely no air whatsoever.

Unfortunately for him, when he had landed, he had exhaled sharply on impact, simply out of reflex. It meant, though, that he had very little air left. He pressed his hands over his mouth and nose, to prevent any more air from escaping without his prior consent.

"Gotta get to the door," he thought frantically. "Can almost reach it…"

He concentrated on forcing himself to move toward the door at the far end of the room. It was hard to think, as he had been unable to inhale for almost a minute. Colorful spots and flashes danced at the corners of his vision, as he stumbled forward, striving to attain his only means of egress.

"Come on, Saotome," he snarled at himself mentally. "You've fought harder battles than this before, and you've always come out on top."

He was getting closer; for some reason, the room seemed a lot longer than he had originally estimated. He was almost there. Five feet, four feet, three, two… He reached out for the doorknob, and life, when, obscenely, the door curved—actually, bent away from him, taking itself out of his reach. Against all known laws of matter and science, the room somehow elongated itself, and the door had bowed outward.

Ranma knew he could not hold his breath for much longer; he was pressing into two minutes. Desperately, giving an inward cry of frustration and defiance, he lunged at the door, hoping to…take it by surprise, maybe?

Thwarted again; his outstretched hand touched only air, and the last remnants of oxygen stored in his lungs were forced out as he thudded heavily against the tiled floor. The only possible solution he could think of was to simply remove the door with a chi blast. He lacked an opponent on which to focus a Hiryû Shôten Ha, so a Mouko Takabisha was his only option. (He wished he knew how Ryoga performed a Depression Blast, as it seemed particularly fitting to the moment, but…) Unfortunately, Ranma was not feeling particularly confident as he began to build his chi, while his peripheral vision failed him.

"This is it," he thought, "all or nothin'!"

"Mouko Takabisha!" he managed to croak.

A faint orange glow formed around his hands, and a slight tendril of focused chi slinked towards the door, but dissipated before it came anywhere close. Ranma watched in growing shock as his last chance failed…miserably. His eyes bulged, as his body betrayed him, sucking spasmodically for something that was not present. He pounded the ground weakly in utter frustration.

"This sucks!" his mind screamed.

Somewhere off in the distance, on the edge of his consciousness, he could hear faint, mocking laughter. His last thought, before his eyes closed, was, "You were right, ya stupid duck…" And then, the blackness claimed him.

It took Jesse and Erin less than two minutes to explain their situation to the doorkeeper, who listened patiently until they were done.

"So," Jesse concluded, "Have you seen a Japanese guy with a bandana and a Chinese guy with really long hair?

The old man paused for a moment and stroked his beard.

"I thought you said at the beginning that there were three young men traveling together, with the intention, of course, of defeating the Mokatsu." He gave a slight chuckle at that part. "Did you not?"

Erin interjected. "Um, yes. There's also a guy with a pigtail with them. He likes to pretend he knows what's going on, but frequently he just comes across as overconfident."

The doorkeeper nodded knowingly. "Yes," he told them finally. "I have seen them. However, they have already been granted access, and have entered the Battle Room. And, now that they have entered the Battle Room, after gaining entrance, of course, they have engaged the Mokatsu. No one is allowed in until they are completely finished. Although, I believe they already are…"

The two cousins stared at him intently, as he took a breath before continuing with his speech. "I'm afraid, though, that it doesn't matter. Only those who challenge the Mokatsu are permitted entrance into the Battle Room and beyond, should they get that far."

Erin and Jesse spent a few moments in deep contemplation of the flagstones on the floor while they digested this new information. Finally, Jesse spoke up.

"Sorry, Cologne," she mumbled. Then, she blurted, "All right. We challenge the Mokatsu!"

The doorkeeper blinked a few times, and Erin closed her eyes and sighed. When she opened them, she stared at her cousin with a "have-you-gone-nuts!" look on her face. Jesse shrugged. Erin began to say something to the old man, then paused. She looked back at her cousin and something akin to a smile passed over her features.

"Well," she said, "you heard her." And here, she did smile…slightly. "We hereby officially challenge the Mokatsu."

The old doorkeeper stared blankly at the two young women for at least half a minute. They were almost beginning to wonder whether or not he had fallen asleep with his eyes open, when he finally spoke.

"Very well, your challenge has been accepted." He turned around, and when he turned back, he was holding a dagger very similar to the one he had given to Ranma. "Here," he told them. "You will need this."

Erin took the proffered knife, and the man proceeded to give them the same speech he had given the first group. When he had finished, he went to the carved doors leading to the Battle Room.

"Good luck," he said formally, then, he began to open the doors.

"Why couldn't I do that?" Jesse thought.

He only had them open about a foot when two very single-minded girls went darting past him into the Battle Room. They did not even notice when he closed the doors behind them, locking them in with whatever lay beyond. A wisp of a cold smile flitted across the doorkeeper's face as he turned away and walked back down the corridor.

"Fascinating," he muttered to himself.

The two girls hardly noticed the strange statues that filled the room, as they ran between them, frequently looking around to see if they could find any of the boys. After a couple minutes, they reached the end of the statues, and found themselves at the place where the Mokatsu had fought Ranma, and Mousse, and Ryoga. They stopped and surveyed the scene.

"Oh, Jesse," Erin said softly, "look at all of this."

Her cousin gazed around at all the various weapons on the ground, mixed with broken bits of sculptures, and bandannas from Ryoga's Iron Cloth technique.

"There was definitely a major battle here," Jesse agreed. "But where are they?"

About ten feet to their left, Ryoga, still sitting against the statue where he had fallen, opened his eyes.

"That's strange," he thought, "I was sure I heard voices."

He waited for a few moments, listening intently, when he heard it again. It seemed to be coming from somewhere on the other side of the statue. Painfully, and with much effort, he supported himself with his hands and leaned sideways to see who was there.

It was Jesse, talking to her cousin in hushed whispers. Ryoga's first thought was that he was hallucinating. But, as he watched them, he decided that they seemed too real to be figments of his imagination.

"J-Jesse?" he stuttered. "What are you doing here?"

Both young ladies immediately spun around. As soon as they saw him, they ran over and dropped down on the floor, Erin in front of him, and Jesse beside him. He got hugs from both girls, followed by several kisses from Jesse, mixed with scolding about the insanity of the whole endeavor. After a minute or so, when the sheer relief of finding him alive was wearing off, Erin finally asked the question he had been dreading since the end of the battle.

"Ryoga," she questioned softly, "where is Mousse?"

His face fell as he looked up at her. Instead of answering, he began rapidly apologizing, a look of utter failure on his face. She had to break in and ask again. He looked down, and sighed defeatedly.

Pointing farther down the row of sculptures, he said slowly, "He's over there."

He looked back at Erin, as she quickly got up, and jogged off in the direction he had indicated, leaving Jesse by his side, with a confused look on her face.

"I'm so sorry," Ryoga called after the older girl, but she had not heard him.

Erin looked down each of the rows she went past, looking for some sign of her Chinese boy. About twelve rows from Ryoga, and a little more than ten feet in front of her, she saw something. It looked like the tip of a black shoe poking out from behind one of the larger statues. She quickly ran to the other side of the sculpture, and stopped, letting out a soft cry.

It was Mousse, collapsed on the ground, flat on his back, his eyes closed and a large red stain on his chest, where a hole marred his robe. He had a cut on his face, a long gash on his left leg, and she could see blood on the floor under him. He was very, very still. Erin dropped her backpack and knelt beside him. Carefully brushing a strand of hair off his face, she placed two fingers gently against his throat. His pulse was slow and slightly erratic, but there. His eyes fluttered open at her touch.

"Erin," he whispered, "Is that really you?"

Beginning to cry softly, she scooped his upper body into her arms, and cradled his head against her shoulder.

"It's me, Mousse," she told him. "I came for you."

He tried to smile at her, but grimaced in pain. He groaned quietly.

"Everything hurts," he murmured.

Erin stroked his cheek, and gazed at him. She wanted to tell him that everything would be fine, and that he would be all right, but in reality, she knew that he was about to die in her arms.

"I know," she said. "I wish I could make it stop."

He looked at her face. "I'm sorry," he told her. "I wanted to tell you…I should have told you. Forgive me," he begged.

"I do. I promise. It's «O.K.»"

He looked relieved. Shifting slightly in her embrace, he reached up and gently touched her cheek.

She smiled at him. "I love you, Duck-boy." When she said it, it was no insult, but a sign of affection.

This time, he really did smile. Then he moaned, and grabbed her arm, clinging to her as if for dear life, which he might have been.

"Erin…" he whimpered.

"What is it?"

He trembled in her arms, and tried to hold her. He shut his eyes and laid his head against her.

"I love—" he murmured.

Then, he shuddered once, and went limp, his arms sliding from around her neck.

"Mousse…" she whispered softly.

She laid her cheek on top of his hair, and held him, until Jesse's voice broke the silence.

"Erin, can you help me for a minute?"

Stroking Mousse's face one last time, and kissing him lightly on the forehead, Erin whispered, "I'll always love you, my dearest one."

Then, gently lowering his slender body onto the floor, she stood up, and slowly walked over to her cousin and Ryoga.

Jesse looked up to see Erin coming towards her. She was about to finish her earlier comment, when she noticed streaks of blood all down the front of her cousin's shirt.

"Oh my goodness!" she gasped. "What happened! Where's Mousse? Are you hurt?"

"Only on the inside," Erin thought to herself. Then, almost whispering, she said, "It's not my blood." There was an unusual intensity in her voice. "It's Mousse's," she finished. "That…creature…stabbed him." She let out a small, shaking sob. "Jesse, he's…he's dead."

Jesse's eyes widened in shock, and then, she stared at the ground, unsure of what to tell her cousin. Erin sat down next to Ryoga, who looked horrified.

"Please," he begged her, "forgive me. There was nothing I could do."

The girl nodded slowly. "I believe you," she told him, as reassuringly as she could manage.

They sat in silence for a long moment. Erin stared up at the ceiling, and then, at the Japanese boy next to her.

"What happened here, Ryoga?"

He sighed, and then, beginning with their departure from Nerima, told the two girls everything that had transpired since. He ended with the Master's final attack on Mousse, and his last battle with the Heir. When he finished, the two cousins were quite disgusted with Ranma's conduct, albeit not very surprised.

"Sounds just like something he would do," Jesse groused under her breath.

Erin stared at her, and then, picking up on a loose end, asked, "What was it you needed my help with?"

"Oh, um, Ryoga's leg."

"What about it?"

The blond girl pointed to the young man's right leg, which he had landed on. She had already helped him stretch it out, but she was unsure what to do after that.

Shoving her hurt as far away as possible, Erin focused on the problem at hand. "Do you think it's broken?"

Ryoga shook his head. "I just think I sprained it pretty badly. Painkillers might be nice."

The older girl smiled a little. Jesse spoke up.

"The First Aid kit is in your backpack."

"Oh, right." Erin reached down to get it, and discovered that it was no longer beside her. A confused expression flitted across her face. Then she realized where it was. "I left it by Mousse," she told her cousin.

Jesse looked concerned. "Do you want me to get it?"

"No. I will."

Erin stood up, and began walking back towards her boyfriend's body. When she got there, she reached down, fully intending to retrieve said backpack, and return as quickly as possible, but something held her back. She slung the strap over her shoulder, and paused, turning to look at Mousse. "I'm so sorry," she murmured. She reached out and brushed her fingers against his arm; there was a crackling noise, like paper rustling. Erin squeezed his arm gently, and it happened again.

She thought about it for a moment. After all, it was Mousse, and he did have a habit of storing things in his sleeves. She smiled at the memories of some of the strange things she had seen him pull out. Then, her thoughts drifted back to her arrival at the fortress, and the strange black book in the hall. It had been missing a page.

"You wouldn't have…" she said to the lifeless boy lying on the floor.

Before she could stop to think about what she was doing, Erin stuck her arm up Mousse's sleeve and felt her fingers brush against a piece of paper. She grabbed it, and pulled it out.

"Erin," she heard her cousin call out. "Are you all right?"

"I'm coming," she mumbled.

Sticking the folded paper in the pocket of her jeans, she walked quickly back to her cousin and Ryoga, arriving in the middle of a conversation.

"I intend to finish this," she heard Ryoga say.

The brunette sat down next to her cousin, and began rummaging through her backpack, looking for the First Aid kit.

"Ryoga," Jesse admonished, "are you serious? I mean, look what's happened already, and who knows what Ranma's gotten himself into. The idiot…"

"I know, Jesse, but I need to do this. It's not just about a cure for my curse anymore." He paused, glancing at Erin, and then, in the general direction of Mousse, before looking back at his incredulous girlfriend. "Now it's personal," he said forcefully.

She shrugged, as Erin pulled the kit out of her backpack and opened it. The two girls set to work wrapping Ryoga's leg from the knee down, and finding suitable medication for his discomfort. When they had finished, Erin stood up, walked a few feet away, and sat down against a particularly strange statue of what looked like a panda bear with horns. She pulled the piece of paper out of her pocket, and began to read.

Several minutes went by before Jesse decided to go check on her cousin. She left Ryoga sitting by the statue and walked over to where the other girl had retreated. Erin was so engrossed in studying the piece of paper she had found that she did not even notice Jesse's approach until the younger girl sat down next to her. Erin looked up from her reading.

«Hi,» Jesse said in English. «Just checking on you.»

Erin nodded, the look on her face saying, "More input, please."

«Erin, are you O.K.?» Jesse asked. «I mean, you've been pretty quiet since, well, you know…»

Erin sighed and propped her arms on her knees.

«I'll be all right, I guess. I need to save my crying for later. If I start now, I won't be able to stop.»

Her cousin nodded, and was about to stand up, when Erin continued.

«I suppose it sort of works like maniacal laughter does for evil overlords.»

Jesse raised a disturbed eyebrow. «How's that again?»

Erin looked at the blond girl, and smiled slightly. «You know, "Despite its proven stress-relieving effect, I will not indulge in sobbing. When so involved it's too easy to miss unexpected developments that a more attentive individual could adjust to accordingly."»

Jesse blinked. «Yeeeah…»

Her cousin, however, was not finished. «Also, I don't think Mousse is dead.»

That got the other girl's attention. Her eyes widened as her cousin began to elaborate. Erin held up the piece of paper she had been reading earlier.

«Remember how the book in the hallway was missing a page?»

«Uh, huh.»

«Well, I found it.»

Jesse looked up as Ryoga limped over to see what the two girls were discussing.

Switching back to Japanese for Ryoga's benefit, Jesse questioned, "Where on earth did you get it?"

"Mousse had it."

A vague look of worry passed over Jesse's face, but she decided not to ask for further clarification.

Ryoga sat down, allowing his confusion to show on his face. "What are we talking about?" he whispered to his girlfriend.

Erin answered instead. "Did Mousse ever mention a large black book by the front entrance?"

Ryoga nodded. "He told us several things that he had read in it. Like, the Mokatsu's ability to change its shape, and the way it drains people's energy when it kills them…" he drifted off at the end, but Erin did not seem to notice.

"That's it," she confirmed. "Actually, it can only assume the shapes of people that it's absorbed. But it's the other part that's really important." She paused for a moment, gathering her thoughts, then continued. "See, when Mousse found the book, he wasn't able to read all of it, I guess, so he took one of the pages with him. I found it when I went to get my backpack. It talks about what happens when a Mokatsu drains someone's chi energy…like it did to Mousse."

Ryoga stared at the floor, and Jesse put her hand on his arm. Erin went on.

"This particular page says that there's a way to reverse the process!"

The Lost Boy's head snapped up, and he stared at her intently. "What did you say?"

"According to this," she said, looking down at the page, then back up at her audience, "the absorption process isn't instant. It takes a period of about twelve hours for one of the creatures to fully integrate another person's chi energy into its own. During that period, if you kill the creature, the life-energy of anyone it has drained in the past twelve hours reverts to the original person!" she concluded triumphantly.

She was rewarded with two very blank stares.

Jesse spoke up. "You wanna try running that by us again?"

"It means," Erin started over, "that if we can kill the master Mokatsu before midnight, at least, which is in about eleven hours, Mousse will get his chi energy back. So, he won't be dead, or on pause, or whatever it is that he is now." When she finished, she was breathing a bit faster than normal.

Ryoga stared at her for a minute. "But Erin," he said gently, but with disbelief evident in his voice, "technically, Mousse died from his injuries, not the chi-stealing. So, how would getting his chi energy back help him any?" Erin opened her mouth to answer, but he continued. "And, even if it did, why wouldn't he die of his wounds all over again?"

Erin finally lost it. She turned to Ryoga and began waving her arms in the air and yelling. "Look, it's a legend for crying out loud, not a scientific thesis! I'm sorry, but it didn't come with a four-page proof!"

She calmed down just a touch, and took a deep breath. "All I know," she continued more quietly, "is that this piece of paper tells me that there might be a way for me to save Mousse…" She rubbed her forehead with her hand as she spoke. "I love him, and I am not willing to lose him, so I intend to try."

Jesse and Ryoga stared at her, waiting for her to finish.

She sighed and then concluded, "You were planning to fight the thing again anyway, right? I'm simply giving you another reason. Ryoga, you said that you felt partially responsible for Mousse's death. Please help me fix that. You'd do the same thing if it had been you and Jesse."

Looking at it that way, Ryoga had to agree. He stared at the ground for a moment, then looked up at Erin.

"What the heck," he said with a small smile. "I've fought a multi-headed dragon that had another head instead of a body, while wearing high heels, make-up, and a dress. Compared to that, this all sounds perfectly sane."

Erin grinned for the first time since they had entered the Battle Room. Ryoga smiled back, oblivious to the horrified look Jesse had been giving him since he had mentioned high heels.

Looking thoughtful for a moment, Erin then added, "Although, since I don't know how this is going to work once we defeat the creature, we're going to have to bring Mousse with us."

Ryoga wrinkled his nose. "All right," he mumbled, "but the minute he starts to stink, he's outta here."

Jesse's jaw dropped at his comment, and Erin gave him a look that could have curdled fresh milk.

He laughed nervously, realizing what he had just said. "I didn't really mean it… It was a joke, honest!"

"Well, it wasn't funny."

"Sorry…" he muttered, sounding fairly repentant.

Around ten minutes later, the trio finally started moving again. Ryoga, who felt bad about his rather tasteless earlier comment, offered to carry Mousse's body, even though he was slightly adverse to the idea. He wondered what exactly Erin had been planning to do before he had volunteered, but he wisely decided not to ask. So, after, Jesse and Erin put their backpacks on, and Ryoga had scooped Mousse off the floor and slung him (as gently as humanly possible under the circumstances) over his shoulder, they began working their way toward the door at the end of the Battle Room.

Once they arrived, Erin reached out, and gave the handle a few quick jabs with her finger. The other two teenagers stared at her like she had just gone a little crazier.

"What?" she said primly. "I was just checking to make sure it wasn't going to explode, or get red hot, or grow spikes, or anything. Do you mind?"

Ryoga shrugged. Under the circumstances, he supposed, it was not so ridiculous. Jesse just rolled her eyes and muttered, "You read waaay too much science fiction…"

Finally convinced that the door handle was as safe as it was ever going to be, Erin pressed down on the latch and pushed on the door. Nothing happened. After two or three more tries, once with Jesse helping her, the three began to wonder whether it was just stuck, or actually locked. Ryoga was to the point where he was considering chi-blasting the door.

"Jesse, Erin, move out of the way," he told the two girls, while looking for the best place to lay his charge.

Erin was still standing in front of the door. "Wait a second," she mumbled, while examining the door hinges. "I do believe I have discovered the source of our difficulties."

Turning back, she reached out and grasped the door handle. Then, again pushing down on the latch, she pulled. The door swung open. Ryoga shook his head, as Jesse pounded her forehead with the palm of her hand. Erin sighed as she followed Ryoga and her cousin through the door.

"It's been a long day…"

Thirty-two long, twisting, identical passageways later, Jesse, Erin, and Ryoga were getting tired. The door from the Battle Room had led them into a seemingly endless maze of halls. There were doors at regular intervals, but so far, they had all led into more halls. There did not seem to be any more rooms. They had been searching for almost four hours, and were getting frustrated. Erin, especially, was getting nervous the longer they continued.

Finally, Ryoga had had enough. After more than two hundred minutes of walking on a sprained knee, while carrying Mousse's dead weight—no pun intended—he was too worn out to continue.

"I have to rest for a minute," he told the cousins, who were a few feet ahead of him in the passage. "My leg can't take anymore."

Jesse nodded and walked back to him; Erin shifted anxiously from one foot to the other, then nodded as well. She helped Ryoga set Mousse carefully on the flagstones, and then handed the bandanna wearing martial artist a bottle of water.

After a few minutes of sitting on the floor, drinking, staring at each other, and trying to ignore the fact that one of them was no longer breathing, Jesse snapped. "This is getting us precisely NOWHERE!"

"Settle down, dear," her cousin suggested calmly, "before you burst something."

"Hey," Ryoga interjected, "that gives me an idea."

The two girls turned to him expectantly.

"Walking through all these insane corridors is pointless," he observed, rather unnecessarily. "What we need is a way to get around them."

Erin smiled. "What a lovely «B.F.O.»"

"Huh?"

"It's an abbreviation a friend of mine uses. It stands for «Bright Flash of the Obvious.»"

Ryoga looked a bit put out. Erin placed a placating hand on his arm.

"Don't be offended. I was just kidding. Besides, I think I know where you're going with this."

"Well I don't!" complained Jesse.

Ryoga, not wanting his thunder stolen, explained quickly. "I can use my Breaking Point Technique to, well…"

"Plow straight through the surrounding obstructions?" Jesse supplied helpfully.

"Right."

"I think we should go for it," Erin commented. "First of all, it's our only idea, second, we're don't really have time to sit around trying to come up with anything more specific, and third, if nothing else, it's at least bound to get someone's attention."

Jesse nodded in agreement. "I guess the Mokatsu probably won't like us blowing holes in its house," she began.

"But too bad," Erin finished, sticking her water bottle into her backpack, and standing up. "Are we ready, Ryoga?"

The young man smiled and stood as well, helping his girlfriend to her feet.

"Let's do it."

As the girls gathered their things together, Ryoga picked up the fallen Chinese boy. Then, Jesse selected a wall through a careful and thoughtful process (she spun around and pointed to one), and Ryoga walked up to it. He studied it for a brief moment.

Then, "Bakusai Tenketsu!" he cried, jabbing his right index finger against the smooth, gray stone wall.

A large section of it exploded out, showering them with pebbles and dust. After a brief coughing bout, they surveyed the spacious hole in the ex-barrier.

Erin raised her eyebrows. "Yep, that'll do."

They stepped through into the next hall, Ryoga in the lead, and proceeded onward.

"I miss Mousse," Erin murmured to her cousin, at least two and a half hours after Ryoga had begun blasting holes through the walls. "I miss the way he talks. And also, having him call me beautiful, and beloved, and stuff like that."

Jesse nodded sympathetically. Then, without thinking, she replied, "I could have Ryoga call you that for a while."

Erin turned her head, and cocked an eyebrow at her cousin, who had just realized what she had said. "Um, I think I'll pass. I appreciate the gesture, though…"

Jesse just shook her head. "I need some sleep," she muttered.

The three continued in silence for a few more minutes, before arriving at the next wall. They had adopted a simple pattern of walking in a straight line away from the Battle Room, with Ryoga simply "removing" any solid structures in the way. So far, they had discovered no rooms of any kind, and nothing (or, no one) had tried to stop them from rearranging the architecture.

As Ryoga prepared to do away with the next obstacle, Jesse asked, "Don't you think it's a little strange that the Mokatsu hasn't showed itself, or given any kind of reaction whatsoever in response to our, uh, remodeling?"

Erin shrugged noncommittally. "Maybe it knows something we don't. Or, maybe it likes Ryoga decorating its floors with dust and rubble."

"Somehow I doubt that."

"Maybe it doesn't care…"

The two cousins turned back to the wall, which Ryoga had been examining.

"Does this wall look different to either of you?" he queried.

They peered closely at the aforementioned construct.

"Hmm," Jesse mused. "It doesn't look quite as…firm."

Erin raised her eyebrows, and then proceeded to thwack the back of her hand off the stones. "It's perfectly firm," she replied, flexing her fingers.

"Oh, yeah," her cousin snorted, "that was scientific."

"What?" the older girl replied, "I was gathering data." Then, "I know what you mean, though. It looks slightly less substantial than the surrounding walls… Like it might be able to move or something."

Strange as it sounded, the other two agreed. They stared at it for a few more moments, before the fanged boy asked slightly impatiently, "Well, are we going through?"

The girls nodded. Turning, Ryoga shouted and, with one finger, stabbed the wall, which crumbled obligingly at his touch. The three teenagers stared, hard, at what Ryoga's Breaking Point had uncovered. They had found a room, and it wasn't empty.

Upon first glance, the room itself was lovely, and rather peaceful looking. Tiles of various colors and shades covered the floors, walls, and ceiling, and the patterns they formed almost seemed to swirl and shift. The only two things marring its serenity were the large hole Ryoga had blasted in one wall, and the body on the floor.

The two girls beat Ryoga to it, and Erin was already leaning down, checking for a pulse, when he came over. He stared at the body in shock.

"Is…is that…"

"Ranma," the older girl finished for him. "There's no pulse… He's dead, too."

The diagnosis hung in the air for a moment, before anyone said anything.

"Well," Jesse observed, rather unnecessarily, "now we know what happened after he jumped through that gate the Mokatsu offered."

Ryoga scowled. "What did happen? Did it kill him, too."

"I don't think so. At least, not directly," Erin answered. She looked down at the body for a moment, then back at Ryoga as she continued. "There aren't any noticeable marks on him, aside from the ones you already described. From the lack of injuries, my best guess would be that he might have died of asphyxiation."

"It strangled him?"

"No, that would leave fairly noticeable marks, especially from something that large. I just don't think he got any air."

"You think there was a vacuum in this room?" Jesse asked skeptically.

Erin thought for a second before answering. "Probably not a vacuum. That would cause other problems. I just think it dropped him in here, um, without oxygen. Gasses, maybe, just not the right kinds to breathe."

"But what about the chi draining," Ryoga protested.

Jesse answered. "If what she said is right, or at least, close to right, I would think it could just wait till he passed out, then drain his chi, then let him die on his own."

Ryoga grimaced, understanding. "No resistance."

The cousins nodded together. "Exactly."

They stood in silence for a few moments, Ryoga feeling Mousse's weight more acutely than before. Jesse bent down.

"Hey, look at this," she said, picking something off the floor and standing up with it. She held it out. "Look familiar?"

Ryoga and Erin leaned in to look. It was part of the wall they had come through. One side was the same smooth stone used throughout the castle, but on the other side…

"A doorknob," Erin said, surprised, "and a piece of door."

She took it from her cousin, and examined the small carvings on its ebony surface. Ryoga and Jesse looked back towards Ranma's body, lying on the floor, its hands stretched toward the direction they had entered from.

"I bet he spent his last few minutes trying to get to this door," Jesse decided, pointing to the section she had handed to her cousin.

"Not that it would have done him much good," Erin commented softly. "It was completely solid on the other side."

Although she had no great affection for Ranma Saotome, she was still upset that he had given up his life for a futile pursuit. Next to her, Ryoga snarled. His battle aura was starting to flicker periodically.

"First it killed Mousse, now Ranma," he spat, "for sport! It disgusts me."

Erin nodded. "I know." She paused. "Although, judging from what you told us about the progression of the first battle, I think it was probably the other way around."

"Huh?"

"Ranma, then Mousse."

"Oh…"

"Should we go?" Jesse asked suddenly. "Only about four hours till midnight."

"Oh, my goodness!" Erin blurted.

"What?" the other two chorused apprehensively.

"I just realized something."

"Yeees!" Jesse prompted.

"Well," Erin explained quickly, "I think it's pretty safe to say that Ranma died before Mousse, right?" Jesse and her boyfriend nodded. "Then, judging from Ryoga's description of their battle with the Mokatsu, Ranma probably died between thirty minutes and an hour before Mousse did, meaning—"

Ryoga interrupted. "Meaning, that we have less time to kill that…creature…than we thought."

Erin nodded in agreement. Jesse looked thoughtful for a moment.

"Maybe we should wait a while," she muttered.

"Jesse," her cousin chided half-heartedly.

"Hmph, sorry," the other girl mumbled not at all convincingly. She still had a few "complaints" against Ranma.

Ryoga gave her a curious glance. "Were you serious?"

She fixed him with a rather withering look; he dropped the subject.

A few minutes later, the three teenagers had decided that, for the same reasons that Ryoga was carrying Mousse, they needed to bring Ranma's body with them.

"This is going to severely impair our average traveling speed," Erin observed, as she grabbed Ranma's ankles, while her cousin held his wrists.

"Not to mention my average comfort," Jesse grumbled. "I didn't ask for this, I want you to remember."

"Yes, dear."

Ryoga shifted Mousse on his shoulder, as he watched the two girls hoist Ranma about two feet off the ground.

Erin grunted, and Jesse said, "This is as high as it gets. He's heavier than I would have thought, what with all the hot air in his head."

Her cousin smiled, then said to Ryoga, "We're as ready as we're ever gonna be."

The fanged boy nodded once and then turned to the wall opposite the one they had entered through. "Bakusai Tenketsu!" he shouted, touching his finger to the stones. They lost all cohesion, and shattered, creating a functional doorway.

Ryoga stepped through, walked three feet, and stopped dead in his tracks. Glancing back over his shoulder, he could see Erin backing slowly out of the hole in the wall, followed by Jesse, with Ranma suspended between them. He looked back at the room they had just entered, then back at the cousins.

In an utterly befuddled voice, he told them, "Uh, we have a slight problem…"

"What?" Erin asked, as she cleared the wall, and turned her head. She stopped as well, her mouth partially open, as she lowered Ranma's feet to the floor.

Impatient with the sudden pause, Jesse asked, "Why is everybody stopping? Is there some kind of roadblock?"

The blond girl squeezed her way past the remainder of the wall in her way, bending Ranma's midsection into an odd angle in the process. Once out, she plopped his upper body on the ground, none too gently. Looking up, she realized what had stopped her friends.

"Oh, yeah," she said, "This is just great."

They were back in the Battle Room.

The three teenagers stood side by side for a few moments before anyone said anything.

"Hey, Ryoga," Jesse began, "Is it just me, or haven't we been traveling away from this room for the past several hours?"

The fanged martial artist nodded in complete bafflement. "I thought so."

Erin snorted softly, then added, "This is in utter, complete, and total conflict with all known and accepted laws of physics."

Ryoga turned to look at her. "Weren't you the one who said, 'It's a legend, for crying out loud'?"

Rolling her eyes, she mumbled, "This goes beyond ridiculous…"

"Although" Jesse interjected, "this could be called progress, of a sort. After all, we were trying to get the Mokatsu's attention. Maybe we did, and this is its first response."

Her cousin nodded, thinking. "It may intend to fight Ryoga again, but it might only choose to have its battles in this particular room… Uh, hence the name of it."

Ryoga enlisted Erin's help in setting Mousse down on the floor next to the wall.

As he stood back up, he asked, "Then, what's taking it so long to get here?"

Jesse responded first. "Who knows? These creatures seem to operate on their own timetable. It could show up anytime, unless…"

Her cousin finished for her. "Unless it's already here."

A low laugh echoed through the dimly lit room as the master Mokatsu shimmered into visibility mere yards in front of them. The two girls looked up in amazement, as Ryoga glared venomously at the creature.

Well, the master Mokatsu projected, to all of them, but directing its comment at Ryoga, you've come back to die as well. I have been observing you, and I see you have acquired reinforcements. No matter. I shall eradicate you all.

"It's been spying on us!" Jesse hissed to her cousin, who simply nodded.

Ryoga moved to stand a few protective feet in front of Jesse and Erin, and braced himself for the coming battle.

The Mokatsu "smiled" wickedly. Prepare to be obliterated, it projected coldly.

Ryoga's battle aura flickered as he faced the Master. He was desperately trying to ignore the fact that it had defeated Ranma and Mousse together, and he was alone. Above all, however, he wanted to keep the two girls from becoming involved, afraid that the creature would turn on them. The young man was unaware that the Mokatsu had also accepted them as challengers.

"I'm going to make you pay for what you did to Mousse and Ranma!" Ryoga yelled up at the smirking monster. "I'll destroy you!"

The Mokatsu made a slightly incredulous noise. I will not be making it as easy as last time, human.

Suddenly, the Mokatsu shimmered, and disappeared.

"What the…!" Ryoga cried out, spinning around to see where it had gone. "How dare you run away!" He yelled in challenge.

"I have not run," a voice behind him said.

Ryoga paused as Jesse's and Erin's eyes widened. The words he had just heard had been spoken, not projected, and the voice by no means belonged to the Mokatsu. It had been stolen from someone else. The young man turned slowly, to see the new face of the enemy.

"Mousse…" he whispered.

"What's the matter?" "Mousse" asked. "I thought you said you were going to destroy me. Or, can't you?"

Ryoga was unsure what to do. In the back of his mind, he knew he was seeing the creature's shape-changing ability. He still remembered Erin saying, "It can only assume the shapes of people that it's absorbed." But at the moment, all he saw was Mousse standing in front of him, his hands tucked into the sleeves of his robe as usual.

The Mokatsu spoke up, still using Mousse's form and voice. "It was your fault I died," it snarled at him. "Now it's your turn."

It took a step towards him, murder gleaming in its eyes. He backed up and almost ran into Erin, who was coming to a slow boil.

"How dare it…" she hissed through clenched teeth.

Ryoga looked back at her, confused. She pulled something shiny out of her backpack. Putting her hand on his shoulder, she whispered emphatically, "That thing is not Mousse. Remember that. Mousse didn't blame you for what happened."

The Lost Boy nodded half-heartedly. "I'm sorry…"

The brunette nodded once, then whispered, "Remember what that book said. We have until eleven, approximately, to save them." She held out her hand. "You'll need this."

Ryoga looked down at what she was holding out to him. It was the other dagger. He gave her and Jesse a small smile, and took the knife. Erin pointed to Mousse's body, still lying on the floor beside her, then at the creature using his appearance.

"That killed Mousse and Ranma, not you." She winked. "Now, «sic 'im»!"

Ryoga turned back to the Mousse-creature, who was staring at him with undisguised derision.

"Insignificant mammals… Are the two of you finished yet?" It asked, sounding rather disgusted.

"Definitely not Mousse," Ryoga thought to himself. "He would never comment about Erin that way."

"I'm ready to defeat you!" He yelled, launching himself at the Mokatsu.

The fanged boy intensely hoped that the creature could only steal forms, and not abilities, as well. The last thing he needed was to try to fight an evil, teleporting, shape-changing monster that could also throw knives, spears, and bombs.

The Mokatsu jumped back, avoiding Ryoga's lunge. The look of murderous rage it affected did not look natural on Mousse, but then, neither did the long, sickle-shaped claws that suddenly grew on the ends of his fingers. Ryoga turned just in time to duck a vicious downward swipe, and, once more, the battle was on.

Erin and Jesse stood by the bodies of Mousse and Ranma, as Ryoga and the creature fought. They rather got the idea that it was a little beyond their abilities to help, and they did not want to distract Ryoga or get in his way, so they watched. Still ready, however, to render any kind of aid if needed.

The battle so far had been similar to the first in that Ryoga was doing most of the running and ducking and dodging, while the Mokatsu attacked leisurely, but violently. It was still quite disconcerting to them, Erin especially, that it had chosen to use Mousse's form to defeat Ryoga. It was effective, though, in that the creature would taunt him frequently about his previous inability to save Mousse, using the dead Chinese boy's voice.

Fortunately for Ryoga, it did seem as though the Master was unable to use any of Mousse's weapons or techniques. Only a small consolation, however, as the Mokatsu lunged at Ryoga, its out-of-place claws extended. The martial artist did his best to dodge the blow, but only succeeded in lessening it. He rolled mostly out of the way of the attack, but the Mousse-creature did manage to cut three large gashes into his left shoulder.

Ryoga's injured leg was throbbing, and now, his left arm felt like someone had dripped molten lead on it. He still had the dagger, tucked tightly in his belt, but had been unable to get close enough to actually do anything with it. So far, the only mark the creature had received was a slash in the sleeve of its robe, courtesy of one of Ryoga's Iron Cloth bandannas.

"I can't keep fighting like this for much longer," Ryoga thought to himself. "I haven't eaten or slept in hours."

When they were close to twenty feet apart, the Mokatsu paused a moment to look at him. "You're weak," it declared. "It's no wonder you couldn't help me. You can't even help yourself. Too bad." It glanced over at the two cousins, who were glaring at it. "Of course," it continued, "after I finish you, I still have them to play with."

Ryoga growled angrily at the Mousse-thing.

"Maybe," it taunted, smiling cruelly, "I'll even use your form for that one."

"Over my dead body!" Ryoga screamed at it, trying to decide which attack might buy him some more time.

The Mokatsu chuckled. "Exactly. Of course, that might be what that one over there was thinking, while he couldn't breathe, or this one too, right before I impaled him."

Ryoga's eyes widened with guilt, and he let loose an inarticulate cry of fury. A bright emerald aura suddenly blossomed around him, enveloping him in roiling energy.

"HOW DARE YOU!" He screamed. "You won't get away with this!"

The Lost Boy stopped cradling his injured shoulder, and put his arms out in front of himself, palms facing the creature. He was trembling slightly; his eyes narrowed.

He began. "SHI…"

Erin saw the Mousse-creature retract its claws, and begin to lift one of its hands towards Ryoga. Then, she heard it intone, "Mokatsu Special Attack…Baikyû Utsuri!" Ryoga was not paying any attention.

"…SHI…"

Her cousin had heard it as well. In the heat of the moment, it took a few seconds for their minds to translate its cry. Then, it clicked. "Baikyû Utsuri"—"Increased Reflection." They stared at each other for one long moment, eyes wide.

"…HÔKÔDAN!" Ryoga cried.

The two girls screamed in unison. "STOP!"

"Don't, Ryoga!" Erin cried out.

Her cousin yelled, "Get down!"

It was too late. A cylindrical blast of deep green chi energy streaked from Ryoga's hands towards the Master. It just stood there, one arm now fully extended, its palm towards Ryoga and its fingers spread. The emerald spiral sped across the distance between them. The creature smiled, a shimmering globe of energy forming in its hand. Ryoga's chi release reached it and a thunderous cracking sound shot through the Battle Room, forcing the two girls to clap their hands to their ears. The green of Ryoga's Depression Blast seemed to swirl in front of the Mokatsu, collecting in the orb it held, suspended in the air. Then, it shot out. Like a giant tornado, the blast reversed, becoming almost blinding in intensity, as it streaked towards the young man, already on the point of collapse from the exertion.

"Ryoga…" Jesse whispered.

It connected with its target, catching Ryoga directly in the chest and sending him hurtling backwards, into the stone wall behind him. He screamed once, quickly, and then was silent. He hung suspended against the wall for a moment. Then, the chi funnel sped back towards the Mokatsu's hand, absorbing into the ball of energy it held. When there was none left, the Master in Mousse's guise closed its fist on the bright globe, and it disappeared.

Ryoga dropped to the floor with a dull thud, and laid there, motionless, empty…dead.

It took at least fifteen seconds for the two cousins to register what had just happened. Then, it hit. Temporarily ignoring the creature, they raced over to where Ryoga had fallen. Jesse kneeled down beside him and cradled his head on her lap, as Erin stood beside her.

The blond girl gently touched her boyfriend's cheek, then, eyes flashing, looked up at the Mousse-creature. It was smiling crookedly.

"You're a liar," she snarled at it.

The creature stood a few yards away, with its feet apart and its arms crossed. It raised a slightly bemused eyebrow. "Really?" it asked, sounding unimpressed.

The older girl nodded, picking up on what Jesse was getting at. "You told Ranma that you were going to grant his wish…a cure for his curse."

Uncrossing its arms, the creature walked a few steps closer, then said, "But I did. He doesn't have a curse anymore, does he?" Neither girl said anything, as the creature continued. "After all," it told them callously, "death cures everything."

Erin stared at the creature in disgust. It was still using Mousse's appearance. Jesse looked up at her. Their eyes met, and they both looked down at Ryoga's body, where the dagger was still tucked tightly into his belt. Erin moved slightly to her left, so as to obscure her cousin's movements from the Mokatsu.

The creature watched them impassively for another moment, before it spoke again. "And then, there were two…" It smiled. "Let's see what you can do for me."

The blond girl gritted her teeth, and turned her head to stare at the Master. "We'll kill you."

It threw back its head, and laughed at her. "I've heard that several times today. There is nothing either one of you can do to me. Not only are you part of an inferior species, but you are also part of the weaker gender."

Erin crossed her arms, and tried not to look at her cousin. Jesse's right hand moved slowly across Ryoga's stomach.

The space around the master Mokatsu flickered, and seemed to glow. The face and form of the Chinese boy blurred, then shifted, and re-formed into another's. Ryoga stood in front of them, smiling maliciously, even as he lay silently on the ground.

Walking toward the two cousins, the Ryoga-creature continued where the Mousse-creature had left off.

"And finally," it concluded, its eyes narrowing, "you seem to be limited in your effectiveness by irrational emotional constraints."

The blond girl's fingers closed around the dagger's handle.

"And you," Erin said softly, "suffer from a superiority complex, and inferior research skills."

"Hell hath no fury," Jesse murmured, "like the fury of a woman scorned…"

The Master extended its claws. Suddenly, Erin crouched down, and in one smooth motion, scooped one of Mousse's stilettos from the ground and threw it straight at the creature's heart. The creature, mere yards away, managed to dodge the blade, but was not anticipating the full effect of her action.

The moment Erin had thrown the first knife, her cousin had sprung to her feet, yanking the dagger from Ryoga's belt as she went. Then, as the Mokatsu moved to avoid her cousin's attack, she launched herself at it, the knife held tightly in both hands, extended directly in front of her. She did not care whether it looked like Ryoga, or Mousse, or anyone else; she knew exactly who and what it was, and what she intended to do about it.

After dodging the first attack, it was unbalanced enough for Jesse's to succeed. With a loud cry of defiance, she collided with the Ryoga-creature, her knife catching it directly in the chest, and plowing into its body. Its claws retracted, as the force of the blow knocked it onto its back, with the infuriated teenager landing directly on top of it, driving the dagger in further. It cried out in rage and, she hoped, pain.

After a few seconds, she rolled off, and pushed herself to her feet, her chest heaving, and a look of supreme satisfaction on her face. She began to walk towards her cousin.

"Jesse!" Erin yelled suddenly.

The younger girl spun around, and yelped. The Ryoga-creature was moving. They watched in perverse fascination as it rose to its feet, and fixed them with an insanely vengeful glare. Letting loose an incomprehensible scream of fury, it tore the knife from its chest, leaving a tattered, bloody hole.

"Um, Erin…" Jesse began.

"Yeah?" her cousin said numbly.

"That man at the entrance told us that knife would kill the Mokatsu."

Erin nodded. "Yeah."

Looking back at the incensed human-looking monster in front of them, she muttered, "It would appear that there were a few things he neglected to tell us…"

Jesse stared back at her cousin for a moment. The older girl appeared to be deep in thought. Jesse nudged her.

"What now?" she hissed.

Erin looked up in time to see the Mokatsu flip the knife around in its hand, and pull its arm back. Her eyebrows shot up, and she yelled, "MOVE!"

Her cousin obliged by flinging herself, not quite gracefully, off to the left; Erin dove to the right, just as the Master threw the knife at the exact spot they had occupied only seconds before. As it was, the blade shot between the two of them with such force that it impacted on the stone wall behind them, and buried itself up to the hilt in the rock. It would have been as impossible for them to remove it as it was for anyone other than Arthur to remove the Sword from the Stone.

"We're screwed," Jesse mumbled, as she hauled herself off the flagstones.

The older of the two girls landed on her stomach with a grunt, as the Master extended its claws, and began walking towards her. She looked down, and something caught her eye. She turned her head, searching for her cousin.

"Jesse!" she shouted, "Get the spear!"

"Huh?"

Erin pointed a bit to Jesse's right, where one of Mousse's spears lay forgotten on the floor. "Get the spear, get the spear, get the SPEAR!"

Running over, the younger girl grabbed the metal spear, briefly wondering how the Chinese teenager managed to fit it into his robe sleeves.

The Ryoga-creature paused for a moment, unsure what was being planned, and not intending to be caught off-guard again. It swung around, fixing its eyes on Jesse, who was standing to face it, spear ready.

"Ready to die so soon?" it growled in a voice not quite Ryoga's.

With a quick glance at her cousin, who was doing an undisclosed something on the floor, she told it, rather un-originally, "After you."

It roared, and she screamed back, fairly matching it in intensity. It lunged, and she hurled the spear, and proceeded to move rapidly in the opposite direction. Its outstretched claws barely missed her. She landed, rolled, and came up running. The Mokatsu regained its balance, and started after her.

The second Jesse had thrown her spear, Erin had reached across the flagstones to grasp the jeweled handle of another dagger. This one, however, did not belong to Mousse; it was the knife that the gatekeeper had given to the three boys when they had first been accepted as challengers.

As soon as her fingers closed around it, she jumped to her feet, and turned. Jesse was in the process of running for some kind of cover, and telling the Mokatsu, quite colorfully, exactly what she thought of it. She reversed directions suddenly, pausing to throw a large, sharp chunk of statue at the creature's head as it overshot her.

Erin reversed the knife in her hand, trying to calm herself enough to remember as much of what Mousse had taught her about throwing knives, as possible. She pulled her arm back. Jesse could see her, and she did not seem to be aiming at the creature chasing her.

"This is for Mousse…" Erin whispered.

She threw the dagger.

Jesse watched in complete bafflement as the knife flew over her head, streaking to a point near the end of the rows of statues, seemingly occupied by nothing. Behind her, she heard the Ryoga-creature skid to a dead stop.

It reached out its arms and howled, "NOOOOO!"

Suddenly, at a place approximately ten feet from the sculptures, the knife stopped it mid-air, with a resounding crunch. The room echoed with a cry of enraged agony from nowhere. All at once, the Ryoga-creature shuddered, flickered, then it disappeared. To Jesse's left, the air shimmered, and the true form of the master Mokatsu flickered into visibility, the dagger firmly embedded in the middle of its chest.

Erin brushed a stray strand of hair from her face, and said, in no uncertain terms, "Die, you oversized renegade from a poor science fiction novel."

Her cousin blinked twice at her, then turned back to watch the Mokatsu, its ebony blood forming a strange breastplate, as it writhed in fury.

IT! CAN'T! BEEEEE! its mind cried out.

As the two girls watched, the gigantic creature seemed to shrink in on itself, then, in an instant, it expanded, shooting out in all directions at once. Finally, with one last scream of rage, the master Mokatsu exploded in a brilliant blast of red, green, and blue chi energy. An earsplitting roar accompanied it. Both girls turned away from the burst, shielding their faces with their hands, fully expecting to be splattered with various Mokatsu remnants. None came.

After a few seconds, the sound died out, the light faded, and the two girls were left standing alone in the Battle Room.

Jesse watched as the jeweled dagger fell to the floor with a hollow clatter. She shook her head, as if to clear it.

She turned to her cousin. "Wha—?"

Erin looked at her, a drained but extremely pleased expression on her face, and was about to say something, when a low groan sounded from behind them. They both spun around to look. On the floor, a few feet away from the wall, Ryoga lay, still motionless.

"I know I heard something," the blond girl insisted.

Her cousin was about to reassure her that she was not hearing things that were not there, when Ryoga stirred. The two girls stared warily for a moment as he winced, and tried to push himself into a sitting position.

"Ooh, my head…" he moaned, giving up and slumping back on the ground.

"Ryoga!" Jesse questioned, slightly in shock.

He put his hand to his forehead. To him, it felt as though his brain was about to pound its way out of his skull, and he was having trouble remembering what exactly had happened to him. He closed his eyes for a second, then focused on his girlfriend.

"Jesse, what just happe—" He didn't get a chance to finish, though, as Jesse and Erin both raced at him, throwing their arms around him, and yanking him into a sitting position a little more violently than they had probably intended.

"Ryoga!" Jesse almost squealed, her arms wrapped firmly around his neck, "You're alive!" She hugged him harder, and planted a kiss on his cheek.

Erin, for her part, was slightly behind his back. He could feel her squeezing his chest from behind, in a platonically affectionate manner that left it a bit hard to breathe.

"It worked!" the older girl crowed, her voice rather muffled by Ryoga's right shoulder. "Just like the book said!"

Bit by bit, Ryoga's memory reactivated itself, not exactly aided by the hug-induced lack of oxygen to his brain. The more he managed to piece together of his final battle with the master Mokatsu, however, the more confused he became. On the other hand, he did have two attractive girls attached to him, both absolutely ecstatic to see him alive and well…even if only one of them was romantically inclined toward him.

After the cousins had calmed down enough to back off a bit, Ryoga took a deep breath, brushed his hair out of his face, and looked around, surveying the carnage. The only discernable signs of the last fight that he could see were hundreds of small scorch marks on the ceiling and the tops of the walls. Aside from that, all the weapons on the floor had been there since that morning. He was not paying enough attention to notice which pieces had been moved.

This time, it was his turn to ask the questions. "What happened?"

Jesse grinned wolfishly, her arms now wrapped around one of his. "We killed it," she stated, sounding quite pleased with the current turn of events.

The fanged boy did a double take. "Y-you…you what!" he stuttered in disbelief.

The other girl nodded solemnly. "She's right. It exploded."

The young man sat there, taking in the full ramifications of her statement, as Jesse stared at him lovingly and Erin began to poke around at his chest and shoulder.

He was about to ask her what she was doing, when she suddenly announced, "Look! His wounds are gone."

The other two teenagers, after a brief examination, agreed with her.

"Aside from a pounding headache," Ryoga assured them, "I actually feel fine. My leg doesn't even really hurt anymore."

"Fascinating…" the older girl murmured.

She watched Ryoga and her cousin for a brief moment. Then, she leaned forward, gave Ryoga one more hug and a sisterly peck on the cheek, and whispered to him, "I'm so glad you're alright."

He wrapped his free arm around her shoulders, and squeezed her gently. "Thank you. I just hope it works for…" His words trailed off at the end.

Erin sat back on her legs, and nodded. "I know." She smiled at Jesse and her boyfriend, then said softly, "Now, if you'll excuse me, I believe I have someone waiting for me."

She stood, turned, and walked over to the body of the young man she had originally come to the mountain for. Jesse and Ryoga watched her go. Then, the fanged martial artist put both arms around the only girl who had ever returned his love, and held her tightly. Some small corner of his mind, though, waited guiltily for any word on the Chinese boy who had fought beside him, and died before him.

Erin knelt next to Mousse's still figure, watching anxiously for the first signs of returning: a heartbeat, a breath, movement, anything. Still, he remained motionless beside her. Several feet away, the other two teenagers watched her. Jesse looked up at Ryoga, who was staring intently at the other couple.

Nudging him gently in the ribs, the blond girl asked softly, "Do you think something's wrong?"

Ryoga shook his head in indecision. "I don't know," he responded, keeping to himself the thoughts that there were already many things wrong with their current situation.

After a few more seconds of stillness, he came to the same conclusion that, unbeknownst to him, Erin was also entertaining. He voiced his ideas to Jesse. "Maybe," he offered, "since he's been this way for much longer than I was, it's just going to take a little while more for his chi to fully return…"

His girlfriend stared at him, one eyebrow slightly raised.

He shrugged. "Or, something like that…"

Erin, meanwhile, was getting a bit nervous, even though she shared Ryoga's theory. Uncurling her legs from under herself, she reached down and picked up one of Mousse's hands, holding it in both of hers. It was cool to the touch.

"Come on, Mousse," she prompted in a barely audible whisper. "Come back now, please. I miss you…"

Still holding his hand in one of hers, she stroked his face with the other, brushing his bangs aside. She noticed that his glasses were missing, lost sometime during all the fighting or carrying he had been subjected to.

«Good grief,» she muttered to him in English. Then, switching back to Japanese, she asked, "Will you ever learn to keep those things on your face?"

She placed her hand on his still chest, and sighed. "Please…"

Bowing her head, she studied his hand as it lay on her lap. Suddenly, she felt something. Her head snapped up, and her eyes got wide, as she looked at her other hand. Under it, she thought she had felt a weak heartbeat.

"Mousse…" she whispered. Jesse and Ryoga both watched, as she closely observed her boyfriend for any signs of life.

Just when she began to wonder if she had imagined it, she saw him move. Not very much, but she definitely saw her hand move, as his chest rose and fell with a breath. She slid her hand up to his throat; he had a soft, but stable pulse. A broad grin broke out on her face as a tear slid down her cheek. Leaning down, she wrapped both arms around his neck, and held him tightly, never wanting to let go.

He moaned softly, and turned his head until his face was against her hair. He took a deep breath, and his eyes fluttered open. "Erin…" he murmured.

Suddenly, his girlfriend released a heartfelt sob that she had been restraining since his arms had fallen from around her neck the first time she had been in the Battle Room. The sharp noise next to his ear jolted him fully awake. He slid his arms around her, and held her close. "I'm so sorry," he whispered in her ear. "I love you."

She pulled back from him, just enough to be able to look into his face. «Goodness gracious,» she choked out, "Don't you ever do this to me again!"

He smiled slightly. Bringing one hand up to her face, he brushed away a few strands of hair that the crying had stuck to her cheek. She, in turn, took his face in her hands, and kissed him. He did not mind at all. After she released his face, she helped him into a sitting position, both of her arms again around his neck. Erin hugged him once more, burying her face in his shoulder. Mousse rested his cheek on the top of her head.

"I like the way your hair smells," he told her.

She snorted, and lifted her head to look incredulously at him. "Mousse, love," she said, "after today, I can't imagine I smell much better than you do. And you reek."

He blinked at her. "Sorry."

She smiled warmly at him, and he smiled back, completely in love.

After Mousse received a few more hugs, and a kiss or two (approximately), Ryoga walked over, still limping very slightly, with Jesse trailing behind him. He knelt beside the recovering Chinese martial artist and held out his hand.

"Forgive me," Ryoga asked.

Mousse stared at him for a moment, then nodded. Leaving one arm still wrapped around Erin, who was gazing at him with an undisguised adoration that almost made him blush, he took the offered hand.

"Ryoga, it wasn't anything you had control over," he assured the other young man. "What happened wasn't, in any way, your fault." Glancing at Erin, a sheepish expression passed over his features. "I mean," he continued, "you didn't twist my arm and force me to come. If you need me to say that I forgive you, I do, but there's really nothing to forgive."

The bandanna-clad boy nodded, a feeling of relief washing over him. Trying to change the subject, he pointed at Mousse's chest. "Your wound is gone, isn't it?"

The Chinese boy looked down, and poked his finger through the hole in his robe. "You're right, now that you mention it. I guess I was just so happy to be alive, that I failed to stop and notice all the details."

Mousse put his fingers to his head, and then checked his leg. "Actually," he said in amazement, "all my injuries seem to have vanished."

He was about to make another comment, when a low groan sounded behind Ryoga. The Lost Boy jumped slightly, bumping into Jesse, who was standing behind him. She grabbed onto his shoulders to keep herself from falling over. Mousse looked rather startled.

Erin, for her part, put her forehead down on Mousse's shoulder, and laughed once. "I think we forgot about something," she muttered.

The two young men stared at each other for a second, before getting identical looks of annoyance on their faces. "Ranma," they said in unison.

Mousse wrinkled his nose. "Ugh."

Ryoga shook his head. "There are a few things I'd like to discuss with him."

Directly behind him, Jesse grumbled. "Too bad you're going to have the chance to…"

Ranma woke. His head was spinning, and he was feeling very groggy. He mumbled something to himself about shriveled old women on sticks, then opening his eyes, he found himself staring into four other pairs.

Ryoga, Mousse, Jesse, and Erin stood, slightly menacingly, over the pig-tailed martial artist as he sat up. He stared at the four teenagers clustered around him. Mousse looked angry, Erin looked more than angry, Jesse looked semi-furious, and Ryoga was starting to glow green.

Ranma laughed nervously. "Eh-hehe…Yo…Uh, fancy seein' you here…"

A slightly confused expression came over his face then, as he registered the presence of the two American girls, along with his two rivals. "Um, come to think of it," he said to the incensed cousins, "what are ya doin' here?"

The comment was followed immediately in his mind by the thought of, "What am I doing here? I was pretty sure I died in that other room." Of course, not wishing to appear uninformed, he kept that part to himself.

Jesse scowled at him. "We're cleaning up your mess," she snarled.

He looked a bit confused at her statement. "Huh?"

"What she means," Erin interjected, "is that after you jumped through that doorway the Mokatsu offered, it turned on Mousse, and Ryoga, later."

He began to protest. "But it said that—"

The brunette girl cut him off rather abruptly. "«Good grief,» Ranma Saotome," she said, putting her hands on her hips. "What did you think it was going to do after you left them there, huh? Say 'Thank you for participating. Now run along and have a nice day. Bye-bye,'?"

"I didn't really—" He didn't get a chance to finish, though, as this time, Jesse interrupted.

"That's right," she said angrily, "you didn't really." Ranma gave her a strange look as she continued. "What you 'didn't really' stop to think about were the consequences of your actions. You brought Ryoga and Mousse with you as allies, partners. But then, when it looked like you were going to get what you wanted, you just left. You make me sick!" She paused to take a breath. "Do you know what happened after you took off through the happy little gate?"

Ranma opened his mouth to say something, but Ryoga beat him to it. "I can tell you what happened," he said stiffly. "Mousse was left to face the master Mokatsu—that the two of you couldn't beat together—alone, while I fought the Heir."

Ranma stood up, wobbling slightly, as the other boy continued.

"When, Ranma," he asked, "was the last time you watched a friend get impaled by a giant monster, and have the life sucked out of him?"

The pig-tailed teenager backed towards the wall as Ryoga advanced on him, battle aura strengthening.

"Well…!" he asked again.

"Umm…"

Ryoga gave a curt nod, and growled, "That's what I thought."

Mousse stepped forward, arms tucked into his robe sleeves. "You left me to fight it by myself, Ranma, after I screamed that it was a liar."

"And you call yourself a man!" Jesse piped up from behind her boyfriend.

Erin raised an eyebrow at the comment, and Jesse shrugged. "What? Considering who we're talking to, it just seemed like it fit."

"Riiight," the other girl muttered.

Seeing a break in the list of accusations, Ranma spoke up. "So, if he's dead," he said, pointing to Mousse, who did not look very deceased, "how and why is he standin' there, givin' me a dirty look?"

Coming to the defense of her boyfriend, Erin interjected, "It wasn't a dirty look. Just…mildly soiled."

That got her strange looks from all four of the other teenagers. She shrugged, and Ranma voiced his objection again.

Ryoga, Jesse, and Erin knew, of course. Mousse, however, had never gotten the chance to finish reading the page he had taken from the book, and as for Ranma, he was totally clueless.

"Girls…" Ryoga prompted. He did not want to have to try to explain it.

The cousins sighed, but did proceed to give them the highly condensed version of the conditions for reversing the Mokatsu's chi-draining ability, and then, what they had been able to do with this information.

Ranma, in turn, voiced objections similar to the ones Ryoga had, when Erin had first told him, and received much the same response the first boy had gotten. This time, in surround-sound…one girl on either side of him.

The martial artist still had one problem with their story, though. "If Mousse died right after I left," he began, "and Ryoga died before he could kill the Master, how come we're all fine?" He got a smug expression on his face, feeling as though he had found the one flaw in their story.

Ryoga was the one to deliver the thunderbolt. "They killed it."

Ranma's jaw dropped open, but no sound came out, and Mousse's eyebrows disappeared into his hairline.

The Chinese boy regained his composure first. "You killed it?" he asked, looking at the two cousins with surprise.

"Yup!" Jesse said.

"With the knife Ranma lost," Erin added.

"I am genuinely impressed," Mousse told them.

"So am I," Ryoga said.

"I'm confused…" Ranma whined.

Sidestepping Ryoga, the young man began walking towards the rows of statues, muttering under his breath about the dishonor and unfairness, and the ridiculousness, of it all, when suddenly, there was a crunching sound, as Ranma tripped over something and crashed to the floor. The others jumped in surprise, and walked over to see what had happened.

Ranma lay where he had fallen for at least a full minute. Then with his face still on the ground, he held up what he had tripped on. "Mousse," he mumbled into the flagstones, "I think these belong to you…" He was holding a pair of glasses.

"Oops," Mousse said, embarrassed. "So that's where they went. Eh-heh…" He reached out and took them from the prostrate martial artist. "Um, thanks."

Prying himself off the floor, Ranma grumbled, "No problem."

Mousse looked at his glasses. The frames were rather bent on one side, and one of the lenses had several cracks in it. "They seem a bit worse for the wear."

Erin looked over his shoulder at them. "That," she said, "is definitely the least of today's problems. We can get you a new pair in Nerima, don't you know."

He smiled at her, and tucked them into his robe.

Just as Erin was walking back toward the wall to get her and Jesse's backpacks, a low rumble like distant thunder echoed through the halls of the Mokatsu's fortress. She looked back at the others; their eyes were wide with apprehension.

Ryoga spoke softly. "I know that sound."

"What the—" Jesse began. Ryoga cut her off.

"It's time to leave," he said quickly.

The blond girl put her hands on her hips, and stared at him, unmoving. "Ryoga Hibiki, what was that noise?"

"That," Ranma filled in, "is a Mokatsu growl, which, according to your story, shouldn't be happenin'."

Erin grabbed the two packs from beside the wall, and jogged back to the other four teenagers. On her way, she bent in mid-stride, scooping something off the floor and putting it in her backpack, which she then slung over her shoulders. She stopped next to her cousin and handed Jesse her backpack.

"Well, we have two options," she informed them. "Since there are five of us, it technically won't accept us as challengers, but on the other hand, it's probably really ticked at us right now, so that might not stop it from coming down to play, anyway. So, we can either stick around here and wait for that thing to come for revenge, or, we can leave before it has the chance to make up its mind."

"Funny," Mousse said contemplatively, "I only heard one option."

The brunette girl nodded. "That's what I thought."

Jesse and Erin began to head for the black doors on the other end of the Battle Room. Mousse and Ryoga swerved to the outside of the room to find their previously discarded backpacks, along with Ranma's. The pig-tailed martial artist, however, did not appear to be going anywhere.

"Wait a second!" he called after the two girls. "I'm still cursed!"

Erin turned around, but continued moving towards the doors. "Ranma," she explained rapidly, "you don't understand. The Mokatsu can not grant wishes, or cure you—not that it would if it could—that's just part of the legend that developed in the thousand years since they were last here. The real creatures just crave the sport, the killing. Plus, the more people they kill, the more chi they absorb, and the stronger they become. I'm truly sorry! Trust me, it's all about them."

She turned back toward the doors as Mousse and Ryoga caught up with them. "Are you coming or not?" she called over her shoulder. "'Cause I'm not carrying you out of here!" Then mumbling under her breath, she said, "I've already carried you farther than I ever wanted to…"

Ranma stood for a moment in indecision. There was a loud noise behind him, probably from somewhere down one of the passageways. It seemed to be getting closer. He decided on a course of action.

"Mousse!" he yelled as he started running after them. "You've got my backpack!"

The Chinese boy flung the pack to Ranma in mid-stride, as the group of five approached the end of the Battle Room.

Ranma was the last one to reach the large, ebony double doors guarding the entrance to and, at the moment, the exit from the Battle Room. The others were already clustered around the doors, apparently not doing anything. Ranma, always needing to be in on the action, yelled, "I'll get the doors!" and flung himself at them.

"Ranma!" Ryoga began.

"Don't do that!" Erin finished. "They're—"

SMACK!

"—locked…" She shook her head. "Oh, bother."

Ryoga looked at Ranma, who was lying on the ground twitching, and then at Erin. "Are you sure they don't just open in the other direction?"

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Not funny."

Mousse glanced back at the other end of the Battle Room. "Umm, don't you think we ought to be vacating the premises?"

Prying himself off the floor, with Erin's help, Ranma muttered, "What?"

"He means," Jesse translated, "that we should be departing as of previously."

The Japanese boy just looked more confused.

"Ryoga-kun…" Erin prompted.

«Heh, I gotcha covered,» The fanged boy quipped in English.

Jesse moaned. "Oh, dear…"

Turning to the wall next to the doors, Ryoga struck it with one finger and shouted, "Bakusai Tenketsu!" That portion of the wall crumbled to pieces, and the five teenagers quickly went through.

«The remodeling costs for this place are gonna be horrendous,» Jesse muttered in English, as they all headed for the outer set of doors.

Erin gave her a grim smile, with a touch of mischief in it. «Trust me, dear, before we're through, they're gonna get a whole lot higher…»

This time, for some unknown reason, the doors failed to operate on their own, as they had when both sets of challengers had arrived. As things were, it took Ranma, Mousse, and Ryoga to shove them open by force. The door they were pushing on creaked open a few inches and then stopped. The three boys pushed harder, and suddenly, the door swung open all the way, spilling them outside onto the ground. Jesse followed them out with a bit more grace.

Mousse, who was on the top of the pile, mumbled something in Chinese that more or less amounted to, «Fresh air!» while Ranma, on the bottom, grumbled, "Get offa me."

It took them a few more seconds to untangle their limbs and stand up. Mousse looked around; something was wrong. Realizing what it was, he rushed over to Jesse, grabbed her by the shoulders, and asked, "Where is Erin!"

The blond girl looked confused. "I don't know," she told him, extricating herself from his grasp. "She was right behind me on the way out of the Battle Room."

Ryoga walked over, and was about to ask what the problem was, but Mousse was already dashing back to the still partially open door.

"ERIN!" he yelled.

He got to the threshold, still running, when suddenly, something from inside came flying out. It was Erin, zipping her backpack as she ran. He yelped as she collided with him, sending him crashing backwards. He landed flat on his back, with the wind knocked out of him.

"Um, you called," Erin said, not quite angelically, from on top of his chest.

The young man coughed, and rolled over, spilling his girlfriend onto her bottom next to him.

"Sorry about that," she said.

"It's all right," he told her, as Ranma and Ryoga went to shut the door they had come through. "I was just worried when you didn't come out."

"I had a quick something to do first."

He was about to ask her what it was, when another crashing noise came from inside the castle, accompanied by a loud growl. Forgetting his question, Mousse turned to the others and asked, "Shouldn't we be getting away from this castle? I mean, what if the Mokatsu decides to come out after us?"

Jesse was in the process of telling him that if the Mokatsu decided to come out after them, just getting part of the way down the mountain probably would not do a great deal of good, when Ryoga started talking.

"It must be the Heir," he muttered to himself. "I had thought it would be gone after I chi-blasted it. I'm sorry."

Jesse nodded. "It's not your fault. The book did say that only those knives would kill them. It must have teleported right after it slammed into the wall, and…and Erin, what are you doing?"

Her cousin was already about fifty yards away, jogging towards the corner of the castle, staring around, and periodically stopping to examine the ground around the fortress. She looked for all the world like she was sight-seeing. Looking back when her name was called, she yelled, "just a minute," then disappeared around the corner.

Mousse's eyes got wider as he turned to Jesse, then pointed off in the direction Erin had gone, without saying anything. The girl shrugged.

"She probably knows what she's doing," she told him, not very reassuringly. Then, looking at her watch, she commented, "We have about one hour and twenty minutes left, before, according to Cologne, the fortress will again disappear."

The four remaining teenagers were still trying to decide what to do, when Erin came running from around the other corner of the building. She stopped, slightly out of breath, between Mousse and her cousin.

"That was pretty fast," Jesse commented.

Erin looked at her. "Actually, it's not that big around." She shook her head. "All those corridors we went through have absolutely no right being able fit in a structure that size!"

"So," Mousse began, "what were you doing?"

She smiled. "Seeing how far away from the castle the grass and shrubbery started. And, seeing that there's no wind tonight, and it'll only have about twenty minutes, it's all far enough away."

"Far enough away for what?" Ranma asked, deciding to rejoin the proceedings.

Jesse was already catching on, however. "A bonfire."

Ranma gave her an incredulous look. "And what do ya plan to start it with? Flint, sticks?"

Mousse pulled a very large lighter from his robe sleeve. Ranma rolled his eyes.

"What do ya plan to use to keep it burnin'…hairspray? Most of this building is made outta rock, ya know."

Erin's smile broadened. "Ranma, Ranma, you think too small," she told him. "We have something better than hairspray." She reached into her backpack, and pulled out two plastic bottles. "We've got lighter fluid!"

"Oh, brother…" he grumbled.

Ten minutes later, after reopening the door slightly, the girls had soaked the front entrance way and the doors to the Battle Room with the two bottles of lighter fluid from Erin's pack, and had randomly sprayed most of the front hallway with another bottle from Jesse's pack. There had been much excited giggling and whispering during the process.

The guys watched from the doorway, careful to stay out of the line of fire (no pun intended). Mousse shook his head slowly.

"My girlfriend is a pyromaniac."

Ryoga nodded. "Mine, too."

When they were finished, Erin ran back to Mousse, as Jesse squeezed out the door beside her.

"You can light it, now," Erin said, grinning.

The three boys pushed the door most of the way closed, then, as soon as everyone had gotten clear, Mousse flicked the lighter on, kneeled down, and tossed it into darkness. Quickly, Ryoga and Ranma shoved the door the rest of the way closed, until they heard it latch. From inside, they could hear a rushing sound, as the main hall ignited.

"I hope this works," Ryoga said, "and doesn't just make that thing angrier at us."

"I think," Erin said, "that if the heir Mokatsu were actually coming for us, it would have already done it. So, the way I figure it is, in about fifteen minutes, the Mokatsu and it's fortress will vanish back to wherever they came from…a parallel dimension, Planet X, whatever. It probably won't notice our good-bye present until it's too late for it to do anything about it."

"What if it teleports to safety?" Ryoga asked.

Erin shrugged. "It'll still have to find a new house. Plus, even if it does, it can't come back for another thousand years, anyway."

The group had not heard any sounds from the Mokatsu in at least thirty minutes.

"Hopefully," Jesse said, "it's too busy absorbing the power from the other one, or something, to care about us anymore."

The others nodded. Mousse, who was standing behind Erin, wrapped his arms around her shoulders, as Ryoga put his arm around Jesse's waist. If Ranma felt a tad conspicuous standing by himself, no one noticed. They could now see a red glow coming from the crack between the doors, and there were crashing noises inside as pieces of ceiling and doors collapsed and burned.

Suddenly, just as the smell of burning was beginning to become noticeable in the night air, and tendrils of smoke curled from under the black doors, the Mokatsu's fortress began to waver, as if it were under water. Then, a soft glow encompassed it, and suddenly, the whole structure vanished. A rush of cool air flowed in to occupy the space it had vacated. The mountain was again untainted.

The five teenagers stood in silence on the mountain peak. There was a light breeze blowing, and the stars were shining brightly. Erin leaned back against Mousse, and stared up at the sky.

"I wonder where it went…" she said softly.

Hugging her tighter, Mousse responded, "I don't care, as long as it's far away, and doesn't plan on coming back."

"It won't," she told him. "At least, not for another millenium."

She reached up and put her hand on his cheek. "I'm so glad you're back with me."

He smiled, and kissed the side of her face. "Me, too."

"For a while there," Jesse whispered to Ryoga, "I was afraid I had lost you."

"I thought you had, too," he told her, playing with the bottom of her hair. "But, you helped save my life, and now, you won't be able to get rid of me."

She smiled, and laid her head on his shoulder. "What makes you so sure you could leave if you wanted to?"

He laughed, and gave her a soft kiss on the forehead.

The two couples stood under the night sky for a few more minutes. Ranma stood off to the side, his arms crossed, looking slightly dejected, as well he should. Finally, Erin broke the silence.

"Let's go home," she said, taking Mousse's hand.

He nodded, and the others agreed. Turning their backs on the space the fortress had occupied, they began walking toward the rough trail that led down the mountain. After they had been walking for a few minutes, there was a loud crashing noise. Everyone jumped, and at least one person let out a surprised yelp.

"What was that!" Ranma asked, paranoia momentarily getting the better of him.

"Thunder," Ryoga said, looking back up at the sky. A dark cloud drifted over the moon.

Suddenly, something wet hit Erin's face. She paused, and stared at the three martial artists.

Lightning split the sky, briefly bathing the mountainside in a yellow glow. A few drops fell, and the wind picked up. Then the storm broke, instantly drenching the five teenagers on the slope. Jesse and Erin stared at each other and sighed.

"Quack!"

"Bweee!"

"Aw, man!"