"Ten minutes 'till sunrise. I hope you enjoy the view!"
"I've been in some tight spots before, but this has to take the cake..." Ranma thought wearily.
Indeed, Ranma Saotome was no stranger to nigh-hopeless situations. Mortal combat with Cologne, fighting Happosai while powerless, sealing evil Oni... Ranma had faced them all and triumphed despite the odds. Now, however, as he desperately struggled against Gosenkugi's supernatural constraints, the pigtailed lycanthrope had to wonder if his luck had finally run out.
Eventually realizing that fighting the voodoo spell was pointless, Ranma took a deep breath and tried a different approach. His eyes scoured the room, darting from object to object. "There has to be something here..." he thought, "something that can get us out of this mess. Not there... not that... not that, either..."
Ryoga glanced over at his longtime rival, trying to read his facial expression. "What's going on in that head of yours, Saotome? Mousse doesn't seem to have anything up his sleeves (for once), and I'm out of ideas. As for Kuno... if it comes down to that, then we really ARE doomed. I just hope you pull something brilliant out of your hat, and soon..."
Watching Ranma's silent search, Gosenkugi let out a cruel laugh. "So, Saotome... you still haven't given up, huh? I can respect the diehard attitude, but you might as well give that tiny brain of yours a rest. As long as those voodoo dolls are holding you down, you aren't going anywhere."
Although sorely tempted to reply, Ranma ignored his captor's gloating. Every second he spent trading insults would be precious time wasted. After scanning the floor and both walls with no luck, his eyes roamed toward the desk.
"The desk itself? Nah, useless. The magic contract? It would be great if I could trick HIM into signing it, but that ain't gonna happen. The voodoo dolls? Geez, those stupid things are the whole problem! I can't reach 'em, though, and I don't even want to THINK about what would happen if they got broken. That glass of water sitting on the corner? He must have been drinking it earlier; no use to me. Those pencils? No, I... WAIT A MINUTE! Hold the phone!"
Ranma looked thoughtfully at the glass of ice water, then at the voodoo dolls, and then at the water again. A small grin began to form on his face that quickly expanded into a full-blown, supremely confident smile.
Noticing his victim's stark change of expression, Gosenkugi involuntarily cringed. He knew that smile all too well...
"What is that jerk up to now?" he nervously wondered. "Is he trying to rattle me, or does he actually have some kind of plan? No; no way! I may have goofed up in the past, but this time I planned every tiny detail. It's a full-proof plan! Full-proof, I say!"
Looking up to find Ranma's expression unchanged, Gosenkugi was filled with unspeakable rage. "You flea-bitten moron! I don't know what you have planned, but whatever it is, it won't work! I have you right where I want you, and nothing you do is going to change that. You might as well accept your fate, because there's NO WAY OUT!"
Ranma's confident grin gave way to a look of serious determination. "Gosenkugi, my old man has fed me a lot of bullcrap in his day, but there is one thing he taught me that's always held true."
"This is it," Ranma thought to himself. "If this is going to work, I'm going to have to give it everything I've got..."
His face contorted with strain as he slid his arms along the ground until they were in front of him. Shaking from the effort, he began to raise his arms...
"There's always..." he choked.
"N-no! You can't raise your arms; that's impossible!" Gosenkugi protested, aghast.
"--a way..." Ranma gasped, his arms now held high.
"What in the world is Ranma up to?" Mousse wondered.
"--OUT!" Ranma shouted, slamming his fists onto the ground with incredible force.
Everything in the room was hit with a quick, sudden jolt from the impact. The window rattled, the pencils rolled around on the desk, and the glass of water fell off of the desk and shattered on the floor. Everyone waited anxiously for something else to happen, but the werewolf's outburst was followed only by silence. Ranma rested face-down on the floor, wheezing and panting from his massive exertion.
Kuno stared at his pigtailed nemesis in confused wonder. "I cannot comprehend why he went through so much to accomplish so little. Yet, I truly have a new respect for Ranma Saotome. He refused to give up, fighting to the bitter end! Oh, were that it were me who had made the last great effort against our hated foe!"
Moved to tears by these thoughts, Kuno hung his head in sorrow.
After holding his breath for what seemed like forever, Gosenkugi finally exhaled a sigh of relief. "Whew... you actually had me worried for a second there, Ranma," he sneered. "I was expecting something a little more clever that trying to break through the floor, though. How disappointing... Hahahahahahaha!"
As Gosenkugi cackled maniacally, Ranma slowly and stealthily slid his outstreched arm toward the spot where the glass of water had broken. Ignoring the glass, he continued moving his hand until he felt the cold water flowing between his fingers. The wolfman smirked as he felt a familiar sensation course through his entire body.
"Heh, heh, heh... Who cares about the stupid floor?" Ranma remarked in a decidedly feminine voice.
Gosenkugi's jaw dropped as he watched Ranma's hair turn red and his body shrink. "Wh-what in the..." he stammered.
Grinning defiantly, girl-type Ranma rose to one knee, then both feet. She couldn't help but laugh when she saw the look of horrified bewilderment on Gosenkugi's face. "Mwahahahaha! Voodoo dolls don't do diddly-squat if they don't look like the person they're supposed to control!" she smugly informed her tormentor. "Now..."
Before Gosenkugi could move a muscle, Ranma dashed over to the table, removed the book, and grabbed the voodoo dolls. Turning them over, she found what she was looking for: there was a single strand of hair protruding from the back of each doll. After yanking the hairs out, she tossed the voodoo dolls into the fireplace.
Ryoga, Mousse, and Kuno looked extremely apprehensive when the dolls hit the fire, each hoping and praying that they wouldn't spontaneously combust. Luckily, with the removal of the hairs, the danger was over. Once they realized that they had nothing to fear, they began stirring and were up on their feet within moments.
"I-impossible..." Gosenkugi moaned, staring at the girl who just seconds before had been his most hated nemesis. "The instructions... they didn't say anything about... such weird side effects..."
"Ah, don't worry about how I look," Ranma said with a malicious tone. "You really oughta be worrying about how you're going to look when we get finished with you..."
As she spoke, her three companions lined up by her side.
"The antidote; NOW!" Ryoga thundered.
"Your life may depend on it..." Mousse glowered, swinging a spike-tipped chain.
Finally, Kuno lost patience with the frozen-with-fear Gosenkugi. "Cretin! If you will not hand it over, I shall wrest it from your cold, dead hands! YAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!"
The sight of the furious Frankenstein rushing toward him shocked Gosenkugi back to his senses. Quickly pulling a vial out of his front pocket, he shrieked, "Here! HERE! Take it; just don't hurt--"
POW!
"--MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" Gosenkugi screamed as he flew through the roof and out of sight. Meanwhile, Kuno's attack had sent the vial containing the antidote spinning straight up into the air.
"Kuno! Catch the vial!" Ranma, Ryoga, and Mousse exclaimed simultaneously.
Kuno looked at them in confusion, wondering what they were pointing at. "Eh?" he mumbled. Finally, he looked straight up...
...just in time for the vial to land face-down in his mouth. Ranma and the others could only watch in horror as every last drop flowed down Kuno's throat.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" they all screamed at the top of their lungs.
They rushed over as fast as their legs could carry them, hoping against hope that some of the antidote might yet be saved. Being fastest, Ranma arrived first and hurriedly plucked the vial from Kuno's mouth. Ignoring the swordsman's choking and sputtering, she held the small test tube up to the light.
"Well? WELL?" Ryoga anxiously demanded.
Ranma turned around, her eyes brimming with tears. "N-nothing..." she choked. "H-he drank every damn drop!"
"NOOOO!" Ryoga cried, dropping to his knees in anguish. "It can't end like this! I never even got to tell Akane how I feel about her, and now..."
"It... it isn't right; not after all that we went through..." Mousse muttered, covering his face with his hands.
"My (hack!) friends..." Kuno said, still coughing, "I am (koff!) truly (wheeze!) sorry!"
Even though Ranma felt like wringing his neck, it was obvious that it really had been an accident, and that he was truly contrite. Her face softening, she sighed, "It's okay, ya' big goof. We know you didn't mean to hog it all."
He smiled and replied, "T-thank you, pigtailed (hack! wheeze! hack! koff! koff!)--"
"Yo, Kuno! You okay?" Ranma asked, gently hitting him on the back.
As if in answer, his coughing intensified to the point where he could no longer stand. Dropping to his knees, Kuno's whole body was suddenly seized with convulsions. As the others watched in fascination, his skin began to regain its normal color, his bulging muscles underwent a downsize, and the bolts on the side of his neck dropped to the floor. Once he had finally transformed back into "regular old Kuno", the exhausted lad dropped to the floor in a dead faint.
"Whoa! The antidote worked; he's back to normal!" Ryoga gasped.
"Yeah, good for him..." Mousse bitterly remarked. "Lot of good that does the rest of us..."
"No kidding," Ranma sighed, wearily looking at the clock on the wall. "By Gosenkugi's clock, we have less than five minutes before we're stuck this way forever."
Just then, Ranma's supersensitive ears picked up the sound of a girl's voice. Her ears perked up as the source of the sound grew closer.
Finally, he could make out the words: "Ranma honey! Where are you?"
"Ukyo?" Ranma gasped. "What's she doing here?"
"What are you talking about?" Mousse asked, confused. "Where is she?"
"I can hear her!" Ranma insisted. "Shhhh... Listen!"
After a few seconds of near-silence, the faint sound of someone calling reached their ears.
"Yeah, I can hear it, too!" Ryoga told them. Turning to Ranma, he said, "You've got the sharpest ears here, Ranma. Where is she?"
Ranma looked pensive for a few seconds, but finally answered, "She's coming this way. I think she's just behind that wall over there! Ryoga, you know what to do!"
Walking over to the wall with index finger raised, he muttered, "Gotcha..."
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
"Ranma! If you can hear me, please answer!" Ukyo shouted desperately.
"This is hopeless," Akane sighed with more than a hint of frustration. "This house is so huge, they could be anywhere!"
"I know, but we have to keep trying!" Ukyo said wearily. "After all, it isn't like they're just going to fall into our laps or anything."
"Yeah, you're right," Akane agreed. "We--"
BOOOOOOM!
Both girls screamed as the wall right in front of them exploded with a tremendous crash. Coughing from the dust thrown up by the explosion, Ukyo pulled out her battle spatula and Akane struck up a defensive stance.
"You (kaff!) want a piece of us, Gosenkugi?" Ukyo angrily shouted. "Bring it on, dweeb!"
She saw a figure advancing through the smoke and instinctively swung her spatula at the supposed attacker. Just as it was about to impact, a red, furry hand stopped it with little to no effort.
Ukyo gasped as the dust settled enough for her to make out the appearance of her opponent. In front of her stood a girl at once very familiar and very different. She was taken aback by the yellow eyes, red fur, and dog ears, but she instantly knew the face as the boy-girl she had come to love.
"Kinda jumpy, aint'cha, U-chan?" Ranma laughed softly.
"R-Ranma..." Ukyo gasped, her eyes now moist. "So I didn't imagine it... you really did... you really are a..."
"Oh my gosh!" Akane interrupted, finally able to see her fiance. "Ranma, is that you?"
"Yeah, it's me," she said, nodding sadly. "Sorry 'bout this, girls..."
The dust was now entirely settled, and the two girls noticed Mousse and Ryoga standing close behind Ranma.
Ryoga looked down in embarassment. "H-hi, Akane," he mumbled. "I guess we owe you an explanation..."
Smiling at her friend's shyness, Akane waved his apology off. "Don't worry about it, Ryoga. Dr. Tofu told us everything, and we're here to help you!"
The three boys looked a little annoyed that the doctor had betrayed their trust. Ukyo noticed this and uttered one word that said it all: "Kasumi."
"Ah..." they muttered, nodding and rolling their eyes.
"Look, I know you probably didn't tell us because you didn't want us in danger, but the fact is that we're here now," Akane said firmly. "There's not much time; let's find Gosenkugi and get you three cured!"
At this, Ranma, Ryoga, and Mousse suddenly looked very downcast. "What? D-did I say something wrong?" Akane asked, confused.
"Akane, we already beat Gosenkugi," Ryoga said. "But Kuno kind of..."
"...drank all of the antidote by mistake," Mousse finished.
"WHAT?" the girls gasped.
"Now we've got about two minutes 'till sunrise," Ranma sadly remarked. "Two minutes 'till we look like this forever."
"Oh, Ranma..." Akane whispered, tears in her eyes. "I'm so sorry..."
Ranma looked thoughtful for a moment, then said, "Akane, Ukyo, listen to me for a sec. I'm... releasing you two from any obligation to marry me. A werewolf ain't a fit husband for anybody."
"Don't say things like that!" Akane shouted, grabbing her by the shirt collar. "I don't care what you look like; the same goes for Ryoga and Mousse! I'll care about you three no matter what happens!"
"Akane, this is no time to be difficult!" Ranma spat. "I--huh? U-chan, what's wrong?"
Ranma's "cute fiancee" had silently made her way across the room to the desk where Gosenkugi had been sitting earlier. She was rummaging around in the backpack he had left behind, and finally pulled a small packet of white powder out of it.
"Is that... the 'wicka-wacka-froo-hoo' powder?" Mousse quietly murmured.
"Ukyo, put that stuff down; it's dangerous!" Ranma shouted anxiously.
She looked up at him with a smile, despite the tears running down her face. "Ran-chan, I won't let you suffer alone. If you have to be an outcast, then... I'll be one, too."
The others in the room gasped in disbelief, and Ranma frantically waved her arms and yelled, "Whoa! Whoa! U-chan, that ain't necessary! Don't throw your life away!"
"Don't try to stop me!" she angrily replied as she began to tear the package open. "My mind is made up!"
Ranma was just about to make a last-ditch attempt to stop his "cute fiancee" from opening the package when a loud, horrified shout from Mousse stopped them both in their tracks.
"Oh, no! The sun!" he shouted, pointing to the open window.
Time itself seemed to move in slow motion as all eyes turned toward the eastern horizon. As was its everyday ritual, the bright, crimson globe we call the sun was beginning to peek above the horizon, bathing everything in a rosy glow. As that pink light flooded the room Ranma and the others were standing in, each person became lost in their own thoughts.
Mousse thought of the beatiful Amazon he had pursued for years, who had turned him down time and time again. Now, just when he seemed to be making progress with her, cruel fate had dashed his hopes to pieces with nothing more than a pinch of magical powder. It seemed so unfair...
Ryoga thought about the blue-haired girl who had come to help him, despite the personal risk involved. This selfless act was just one in a million reasons he loved her and always would. Sadly, he had never summoned up enough courage to tell Akane how he really felt about her, and it now appeared that he never would get that chance. It seemed so unfair...
Akane thought about the three boys bravely staring at the rising sun, the very symbol of their own defeat. Mousse, the young man from China whose heart of gold showed through all of his actions. Ryoga, the guy who always made Akane feel like she was worthwhile, even when the rest of the world seemed to be against her. Ranma, her reluctant, rude, and... amazing fiance, who (despite his faults) had always been there for her, no matter how dire the situation. They had all risked their necks for her sake time and time again, but when they had needed her help, she had been too late to save them. This fact was truly tearing her up on the inside. It seemed so unfair...
Ukyo thought about the pigtailed she-wolf standing across the room from her, for whose sake she was willing to give up life as she knew it. She could remember when this was not the case. Shortly after her childhood confession to her father that she would like to marry Ranma, he had taken off without a word, taking her honor, self-esteem, and father's okonomyaki cart with him. Filled with bitterness and hatred, she abandoned her womanhood and took up the martial arts in hopes of wreaking her revenge on him. Years later, it turned out that Genma, not Ranma, was responsible for the event that ruined her life. With just a few words, the pigtailed boy gave Ukyo her self-esteem, happiness, and life back, and she quickly remembered why she had fallen in love with him in the first place. Now, with Ranma about to become a permanent outcast, she realized that she would rather live a hard life with him than an easy one without him. No matter what effect the cursed powder would have on her, Ukyo was willing to make that sacrifice. Still, for his sake as well as hers, it seemed so unfair...
Ranma thought about many things, but the one thing that stood out the most in his mind was the devastating feeling of complete and utter failure. He had failed his friends. Because of his superior fighting ability, he had been the unofficial leader of this little "quest for a cure". Although there was little he could have done to stop it, he still felt partly responsible for the debacle. He had failed his fiancees. Ranma had always had a hard time making up his mind, and "who to marry?" was a tougher question than most. The truth of the matter was that he cared deeply for all three of his fiancees; now, with a lifetime of lycanthropy ahead of him, he knew that he couldn't be there for any of them. The pain Ranma felt most acutely, however, was the despair of knowing that he had failed himself. There is no shame in losing when you have done your best; he knew that. Still, to give it everything you have, to defeat your opponent, but to lose in the only area that really mattered...
It just seemed so, so unfair...
The sound of a ripping package snapped everyone out of their personal musings. Ranma turned around in horror to see Ukyo about to dump the contents of Gosenkugi's voodoo packet onto her head.
"U-chan! NOOOOO!" Ranma screamed. Determined to stop her fiancee from making the mistake of her life, Ranma lunged toward the desk, only to freeze in mid-run. Shocked by this unexpected move, Ukyo also froze.
"R-Ranma honey?" she stammered, lowering her arms somewhat. "Are you okay?"
Her fiance didn't look so hot. The color had drained from the she-wolf's face, and she was breaking out in a cold sweat. From her facial expression, it was obvious that she was in a lot of pain. Finally, Ranma dropped down to her knees, clutching her stomach in agony.
"AAAAGGGGHHHH! W-what the heck is h-happening to me?" Ranma panted, gasping for air.
"Ran-chan, hang in there!" Ukyo gasped, dropping the bag on the desk and rushing over to her fiance's side.
"Ukyo, something's wrong with Ryoga and Mousse, too!" Akane shouted.
Sure enough, the other two cursed martial artists had also doubled over, groaning in severe pain. Not knowing who to minister to first (or what she could do), Akane watched helplessly as the strange scene unfolded.
"This pain... it's unbearable!" Ryoga thought through a red haze. Just then, a very familiar sensation shot through his body. His eyes went wide as he realized what was happening to him. Taking a look down at his hands, now cloven hooves, confirmed his worst suspicions.
"B-but this doesn't make any sense!" he thought, panicked. "I haven't even been near any cold water... I don't have time to think about it right now! Today has been bad enough without Akane finding out my OTHER secret!"
To Akane's great confusion, Ryoga rose unsteadily to his feet and hurriedly staggered out the door. "R-Ryoga, what's wrong?" she called after him. "Please, come back! Let me help you!"
She had just dashed out the door after him when the sound of Ukyo's voice called her back.
"Akane! Come quick; something weird is happening to Ranma and Mousse!"
Immediately upon running back inside, Akane could see that something strange was indeed happening to the two of them: namely, they were "molting"! As she drew closer, she could see that Ranma was shedding like nobody's business, and scales were dropping off of Mousse in droves. Staring in fascination, she realized that Mousse was undergoing an additional change: he was morphing into his duck form! As the last few scales fell off of Mousse the duck and hairs (where unusual) off of Ranma, the two fighters' breathing steadied. Before the two girls lay a busty redhead and a duck wearing glasses; covered in loose hair and scales and barely conscious, but entirely normal!
Barely able to believe the wonderful sight before her, Akane looked at Ukyo through tear-filled eyes and asked, "Ukyo... a-are they?"
Overcome with emotion, Ukyo could only nod emphatically through her tears. Finally, she choked out, "Akane... it's some kinda miracle... THEY'RE BACK!"
The sound of a soft moan made the two of them look down at the face of the girl cradled in Ukyo's lap. "Uuuuuuuuugh..." Ranma mumbled. "Wha... what... happened?"
"You're back to normal, you big silly!" Akane laughed as she wiped her eyes on her sleeve. "Take a look!"
Ranma gasped as she touched her hand. At first, it seemed to still be covered in fur, but she let out a squeak of joy when it a slight movement made the hair fall right off. Whooping with delight, she scrambled to her feet and began dusting herself off.
A surprised quacking sound from behind them made the three girls turn around to see a shocked, bespectacled duck standing up and pointing a wing in disbelief at Ranma.
Understanding the quacks to mean "Ranma! How did you get cured?", Ranma let out a cheerful, boisterous laugh, amused at her friend's confusion. She replied, "I dunno, Mousse, but whatever it was seems to have worked for you, too!"
The myopic fowl's beak dropped in surprise as he suddenly noticed the condition of his own wing. There were quite a few loose scales sitting on top of it, but it was plain to see (even to Mousse) that he was 100 percent back to normal. He immediately began running around in a circle, happily squawking for all he was worth and making the others giggle at his antics.
"But Ranma..." Ukyo asked, suddenly looking thoughtful, "what could have happened? I mean, you said that Kuno drank all of the antidote, right?"
Ranma looked equally perplexed. "Yeah, he did. Honestly, I'm just as confused as you are. Also, why did Mousse turn into his cursed form? For that matter, where did Ryoga go?"
Akane gasped as her hands flew to her mouth. "I almost forgot! He ran out of the room right after you all started to get sick! Guys, you stay here; I'm going to go find him."
She turned to head out the door, only to find her search over before it began. Standing in the doorway was Ryoga Hibiki, looking very exhausted and carrying a kettle of hot water.
"H... hi, Akane," he said with a tired but elated smile.
"Oh, Ryoga!" Akane exclaimed, her eyes teary again. She rushed over to Ryoga and warmly embraced him, sending him into a near-nosebleed. "Why did you run? I was so worried..."
For a moment, Ryoga was far too caught up in the ectasy of being hugged by Akane to answer, but he quickly came to his senses.
"I... er... can't remember," he nervously lied. "I guess that the pain was affecting my judgement. Don't worry, though. I'm here now, and good as new!"
Akane continued to hold him until she realized that the others were all staring at her. She sheepishly released him, saying, "I'm glad, Ryoga... really glad."
As she turned away from him, she blushed slightly. "Why... why did I do that? Ryoga's just my friend! Now he probably thinks I'm flaky or something..."
"I'm sure we're all happy to see that Ryoga is still alive," Ranma sarcastically quipped, "but that still doesn't answer the question of how we escaped the freak show. I don't suppose any of you have any bright ideas?"
"I might..." a voice from behind Ryoga answered.
They all jumped in surprise, but their apprehension gave way to relief when Dr. Tofu stepped into the room.
"Hey, glad you could make it, Doc!" Ranma grinned mischeviously. "What took ya' so long?"
"Heh, heh..." he chuckled as his face turned red. "Let's just say I was under involuntary hypnosis."
"So, tell us, Doctor," Mousse said, who had used Ryoga's kettle to return to human form. "Why didn't Gosenkugi's curse work?"
Doctor Tofu pushed his glasses up slightly. "Actually, Mousse, the 'wicka-wacka-froo-hoo' spell worked exactly as it should have. It turned you into monsters, and it would indeed have been permanent at sunrise if not for one thing: your pre-existing Jusenkyo curses."
Explaining further, he said, "You see, the human body can only hold so much magical energy at once. When Gosenkugi introduced this new curse, the 'froo-hoo' spell must have begun battling it out with the Jusenkyo curse for dominance. Luckily for you, it seems that the Jusenkyo curse was made of sterner stuff!"
"Hey, that makes sense!" Ukyo exclaimed. "That would explain why Mousse turned into a duck when he changed back to normal. As for Ranma-honey, he was already a girl when it happened."
"But... wait a sec," Akane interrupted. "That doesn't explain why Ryoga is back to normal. After all, it's not like he has a Jusenkyo curse or anything!"
At these words, Ryoga's heart literally stopped beating in his chest. Akane turned to face the terrified lad, an inquiring look on her face.
"So, how did you turn back to normal, Ryoga?" she asked quietly.
The slightly-fanged warrior tried to reply, but found that he could only make choking noises. "This is it!" he thought, mentally bewailing his fate. "This is where she finds out my deepest, darkest secret!"
A few feet away, Ranma was trying very hard to stifle a laugh.
"You know, I normally enjoy seeing Ryoga squirm, but I think he's had a tough enough day already," she thought with a slight giggle."Guess I'd better help the poor goon out! He owes me for this one, though..."
Placing the vial Kuno had guzzled on the ground, Ranma used her foot to silently slide it across the ground over to where Ryoga was standing. Clearing her throat, Ranma said, "Hey, Ryoga... what's that by your foot?"
Snapped out of his senseless ramblings by the question, Ryoga glanced downward.
"Eh?" he muttered.
He leaned down and picked up the empty vial. Scrutinizing it closely, he asked, "Isn't this the vial Kuno drank?"
"Geez, how dense can he be?" Ranma thought, annoyed.
"No, of course not!" she assured him. "I threw that one on the ground and broke it when we found out it was empty. Remember?"
Noticing the barrage of "nudge, nudge, hint, hint" motions Ranma was throwing his way, Ryoga finally got with the program. His eyes widened and a goofy smile came across his face as he exclaimed, "Ah, of course you did! But... if this isn't that vial, then what could it have been?"
"Another antidote; duh!" Ranma replied. "You must have found it when you were wandering around sick and drank it!"
"I... guess that would explain it," Akane admitted. She did think it odd that there would be another antidote just "lying around" nearby, especially when they had all seemed so certain earlier that there was only one vial. Nonetheless, the important thing was that Ryoga was okay; she decided to let the matter drop.
"Well, I guess that wraps things up," Mousse remarked with a tired smirk. "The day is saved, the villain is defeated, and the heroes are back in their own skins again. What could go wrong now?"
"OH HO HO HO HO! OH HO HO HO HO!"
As the hideous laugh reverberated throughout the room, the hair on everyone's neck stood up. Ranma, in particular, was suffering from shivers and a cold sweat.
"Mousse, did you HAVE to ask?" she asked through gritted teeth.
Ignoring the instinct to jump out the third-story window, Ranma turned around to see Kodachi Kuno blocking the door. Still wearing her dominatrix suit, she was impatiently tapping the butt of the whip in her hands.
"OH HO HO HO HO! Well, if it isn't that little red-haired hussy that dares steal my beloved's name!" the Black Rose exclaimed. "I know you're hiding him somewhere nearby, so you'd better tell me where he is before I beat the information out of you!"
"He's nearer than you think..." Ranma muttered under her breath as a sweatdrop rolled down her face.
"PIGTAILED GIRL!" a voice behind Ranma boomed.
Ranma screamed in surprise as Kuno glomped her from behind, grabbing her rather ample chest.
"Kuno... you... IDIOT!" she thundered, tossing him over her head with a judo throw and slamming him onto the hardwood floor.
Panting slightly, she growled, "How stupid can you be, moron? You had to have seen me transform earlier; you were lying right next to me! What do I have to do to make you figure out that I'm Ranma Saotome?"
Kuno struggled to his feet, his back popping painfully in the process. "I'm already aware of your true name, my love," he groaned, straightening himself. "As for this 'transformation', I have no idea what you're talking about. If you mean when you entered the room, I'm afraid that I was overcome with emotion at the time. But, enough of such matters; join me in the outdoor baths for a victory soak!"
As both Kunos began to advance, Ranma hastily retreated to the back wall. "Uh, can't we talk about this?" she stammered.
"I'd be more than happy to... after you show me where my darling Ranma is!" Kodachi replied with an evil smirk.
"Time enough for words after our bath, my sweet!" Kuno said with a suave air.
Ranma was about to resort to her earlier "escape out the nearest window" plan, when a high-pitched sound reached her ears. At first, she thought an airplane might be flying at a low altitude nearby, but quickly dismissed that possibility as the sound grew closer. Finally, she realized what the sound had to be.
"Uh... you two might want to move..." she said, pointing above the Kunos' heads at the hole Gosenkugi made when he had been pummeled into the atmosphere.
"Hmmm?" they both murmured. They turned their eyes upward, and a look of panic spread across both of their faces. Before the two could escape, however...
BOOOOOM!
Even to the eyes of trained martial artists like Ranma and Mousse, the object that collided with the Kunos appeared only as a blue blur. Upon impact, the floor underneath them collapsed in a thunderous explosion of splinters and dust, sending the wicked siblings and the mysterious meteorite falling down to the second floor.
As soon as the dust cleared, the people remaining on the third floor formed a circle around the hole and peered down below. The arms and legs of Tatewaki and Kodachi Kuno were visible peeking here and there out of the rubble, and on top of them lay the considerably-battered and unconscious form of Hikaru Gosenkugi.
For a few moment, no one spoke. Finally, a smile began to play across Ranma's lips. "Heh, heh..." she chuckled. "Looks like someone up there loves me after all."
Without a word, she got up and walked over to the large eastern window. As she watched the sun, still rosy from daybreak, continue its rise into the sky, Ranma let out a quiet, contented sigh. Ukyo quietly joined her fiancee, standing by his side at the window, joined shortly thereafter by Akane, Ryoga, Mousse, and Dr. Tofu.
"Guys..." Ranma whispered. "It looks like the beginning of a beautiful day."
THE END
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And that, as they say, is that. I may have taken my sweet time writing this story, but after nearly six months of working on it off and on, I have to say that I'm very satisfied with the final product. My eternal thanks go out to Dana-san, Innortal, Hitode, Snap-Drag 21, Psuriko, and all of the others whose constructive reviews encouraged me to see this through to the end.
Now that this story is finally finished, I'm going to take a short hiatus from this site. However, (cue evil villain voice) you have not seen the last of the Baron Hausenpheffer! MWAHAHAHA!
I'll be back as soon as I have another story written, but until then... au revoir!
