New in Town
-Chiba Hiro
(Disclaimer: A Ranma ½ and Urusei Yatsura crossover. I do not own anything of Rumiko Takahashi's and not for promotion or copy right.)
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Chapter 7: Saving a Life
"How much time does he have until the poison spreads completely?" Ryuunosuke asked Mousse.
"By my calculations, the poison was injected into him at around three o'clock this afternoon, and right now, it's five-thirty. The full spread of the poison shouldn't reach his vitals until eight o'clock tonight, only if he remains immobile." Mousse explained. "We just need to get Ranma out of here."
"How do we move Ranma from here without the poison spreading faster? I mean, if we move him, chances are that the poison will spread with our kinetic energy implied, right?" Akane inquired.
"There's an easy and a hard way to do this, and the easy way is to carry him without any of his limbs flailing around." Mousse said.
"I'll do it." Ryuunosuke volunteered, but she received only blank stares. "Look, I'll show you!" she exclaimed and picked Ranma up slowly in a piggyback position.
"Alright, where do we go, Mousse?" Ryuunosuke asked.
"I need the seven of you to follow me." He said, gesturing to Akane, Ryuunosuke with Ranma on her back, Ukyo, Shampoo, Ryoga and, unfortunately, Kuno.
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Mousse and the gang were walking down Nerima, toward the Nekohanten. "Is this where you did it?" Akane asked.
"No!" Mousse snapped. "I'd have been in trouble if I were here, and Cologne would never let me do a poison experiment here, no, we're going behind the shop."
They were being led through the Nekohanten, and into the back. Mousse crouched down, and began fumbling around with the grass, and started pounding every square inch of the grass area, checking for something. "It's gotta be here somewhere." He mumbled, and Ukyo, Shampoo, and Akane peered down his back to see what he was fussing about.
Mousse went over to an overturned patch of grass, and struck it hard with his fist, and a trap door opened underneath it. "I got it!" Mousse shouted out, and gestured for the rest to follow him down the passageway. "Watch your steps, 'cause it's gonna get a little bit dark down here." He cautioned as they ventured even farther.
Once they got far enough underground everything became shrouded in darkness. "How do you know where we're going, Mousse? It's too dark to see down here." Akane complained.
"I told you it was gonna get dark!" Mousse snapped, and reached out in front of him.
Akane, who was in front of the group bumped into Mousse. "Hey, why'd you stop moving?" Akane asked.
"Hold on." Mousse said, and a light flicked on.
The light was blinding for a moment, and everyone in the newly lit room had to shield their eyes. Once their visions cleared, they saw that Mousse let go of the switch that apparently turned the light on.
"Well, this is the place." Mousse said, and they marveled at the underground room.
"Woah!" they exclaimed in unison.
The room had all kinds of books, papers, beakers, graduated cylinders, and mixing pots littered the tables and chairs, and the walls were covered in Ranma's pictures with darts, and throwing knives pinned to them.
"Sorry that it's such a mess, and there are not enough chairs for everyone." Mousse apologized. "Please don't touch anything. These are all experiments for future projects."
"I didn't know you were a scientist. What is all this stuff?" Akane asked, gesturing to the table with incomplete experiments on it.
"Anyway, back to the subject of why we're here. This is the place where I conduct experiments, and it's always been a hobby of mine to come up with experiments. I almost forgot to tell you that I began to come up with an antidote for the poison." Mousse said.
"What? You mean you had an antidote already, but you didn't tell us?" Ryoga spoke up for the first time since they arrived.
"I didn't say that it was completed yet, I still need a few more ingredients for it." Mousse said.
"Well, whatever it is, tell us what they are so we can get them already." Ryuunosuke said, and laid Ranma down near the wall, since there was no bed, or couch.
"It's not that simple, Ryuunosuke." Mousse said.
"What kinda poison did you make anyway?" Ryuunosuke asked.
"I made the poison out of poison oak and ivy blend. In order to do that, I made sure to filter out the poison itself and rid it from the poison in order to make the antidote, but the thing is, I don't have any poison oak and ivy blend." Mousse explained.
"Can you tell us where to find these leaves?" Ukyo asked.
"Yes, I have a list of places to go to find them. Apparently, the forests around here are filled with 'em." Mousse said, and gave Ryuunosuke a list of places in Nerima.
"But, I don't know the town that well, yet." Ryuunosuke said.
"Well, that won't be a problem since Ukyo and Akane can accompany you." Mousse said.
"What will Shampoo do?" Shampoo asked.
"You can help me with the rest of the potion ingredients." Mousse said. "I just need a bunch of leaves in branches, and you'll need safety protection." Mousse said, and handed Ryuunosuke, Ukyo, and Akane some gloves and a sweater.
"The poison reacts to skin, and so long as you have these on, your skin should be protected." Mousse said. "As for me and Shampoo, we'll extract the poison we have and filter them out."
"What about us?" Ryoga and Kuno asked in unison.
"You guys can help them too." Mousse said, and they happily joined the girls in their search.
"We'll all meet back here at seven o'clock, and just have as many leaves as possible by then, okay?"
"Right!" they shouted, and they left to do their tasks.
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"Alright, where should we start?" Ryuunosuke asked.
"How about we try the forest in the back of Furinkan?" Ukyo suggested.
"That's a good start." Ryuunosuke said, and looked at the picture of the poison ivy to see what it looked like.
"Hey, isn't that one of those leaves." Ryoga pointed out, and to the right of them was a bush with poison ivy leaves.
"Alright!" Ryoga shouted out, and ran toward it without thinking.
"Ryoga, wait! The poison!" Akane warned, but it was too late, Ryoga was dancing around them, trying to get the poison's effects off.
"Ah!" he shouted and started scratching his arms, because that was what he used to grab the poison ivy. "Curses!" he shouted, and put on the gloves, then grabbed at the leaves furiously.
Ryoga put them into a plastic bag, and soon, the entire bush was left with nothing. "Should we go look for more, or should we do as Mousse said and collect more until seven?" Ryoga asked, and held the bag up over his head.
"Maybe this should do well enough." Ryuunosuke said, and took the bag from Ryoga. "This seems to be enough, I don't think we should get anymore." He said, assuredly, but then a guy on a bike rode past them, and knocked the bag out of Ryuunosuke's hands, and carrying the bag away.
Shocked, Ryuunosuke curled her fist, and then sprinted after the person. "Hey! Get back here!" she shouted after, but the rider was already a yard away.
"Quick, we gotta go after that guy!" Ryuunosuke shouted, and ran toward the direction where the rider was going.
Sweat drops. "Why don't we just get some more leaves?" Ukyo asked no one in particular, and they shook their heads.
"Should we really leave her alone to get that bag?" Akane asked. "We should at least try to help!" Akane shouted.
"You are right!" Ryoga loudly agreed and trailed after Ryuunosuke.
"Wherever the fair Akane wants me to go, I, too, will go after!" Kuno proclaimed and followed suit.
"I say we go get some more ivy, those guys are just knuckleheads." Ukyo suggested, and Akane silently agreed.
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After an hour had gone by, they had practically searched the entire road, and there was no sign of the bag of ivy, or the rider.
"Damn, that guy got away, and I don't see that bag anywhere!" Ryuunosuke swore, and panted.
"Hey, we can't quit now, we should keep looking!" Ryoga encouraged, and rushed forward.
"Hey, do you even know where you're going?" Ryuunosuke shouted after, and followed after.
Ryuunosuke sped down the street, and immediately, the rider brushed past them, and Ryuunosuke turned and sprinted toward it. "Hey! You got something of mine!" Ryuunosuke shouted after, and the rider looked back to see that Ryuunosuke was gaining on him.
"Get away from me, you weirdo!" he shouted and cycled faster.
Ryuunosuke was not about to give up, and she grabbed a bike from a rack, and sped after the rider. "Get back here!" she shouted, and they began the game of cat chasing mouse.
Around the alley they went, and Ryuunosuke caught the rider in a dead end. "You're finished!" Ryuunosuke said, and ganged up on the defenseless rider.
"Hey, what do you want from me? I didn't do anything, I swear!" he pleaded, and the bag, she could see, was stuck on his bike.
"You got something that belongs to me!" Ryuunosuke stated.
"What? I didn't steal anything from you! I don't even know you!"
"That's funny! You don't even remember anymore!" Ryuunosuke taunted.
"Listen, I don't want any trouble, okay! So, if we fight, promise me that if I win, I get to go free, if not, then you can take all my lunch money!" he declared and put his hands in front of him, and went into a boxer's pose.
"I don't want your lunch money! I want the bag!" Ryuunosuke shouted and leaped into the air.
The rider jumped back, and Ryuunosuke socked him in the jaw.
The rider tumbled over his bike and landed hard on the ground. "Take whatever you want from me, jus don't hurt me anymore!" he shouted, and put his hands up over his head in a gesture to defend himself.
Ryuunosuke was satisfied, then she walked over to him, and attempted to grab the bag, but the rider caught her off guard and seized her wrist, then judo flipped her over into a grapple hold, and laid his legs on top of her forearm and neck.
"Psyche! I got cha', didn't I? Like I would let someone else take my things away from me! I'm not stupid, ya' know!" he taunted, and pressed his leg harder on her arm. "Say you give up, and go away and never come near me again, or else..." he trailed off.
"Or else, what?" Ryuunosuke taunted.
"You're in no position to make threats! As I was saying, or else I'll break your arm and neck, then we'll see who's robbing whom!" he shouted confidently.
*He's right! I can't hold out much longer, if I try to move, his leg will only press harder and my arm will break! I gotta think of what to do now!* Ryuunosuke thought, but just as his leg pressed down, a jerk was raised, and the rider was sent flying into the wall.
"Who gave you permission to hit her like you did?" the figure taunted, and the person who hit the rider was revealed to be none other than Ranma.
"Hi ya', are you hurt anywhere? Sorry I wasn't able to help you earlier." He said, and helped Ryuunosuke up.
"Are you okay?" he asked, and Ryuunosuke looked dreamily into his eyes.
"Yeah." she replied. "Are you okay? I mean, how are you still walking? I don't even have the ivy yet."
"Well, the others really pulled through for me, and they did what they did, so when I heard that you hadn't come back yet, I looked through town, but then Ryoga said you disappeared into an alleyway, and that's when I found you. So, yeah, I'm one-hundred percent again!" Ranma explained, and laughed at his own statement.
"Well, welcome back."
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A/N: Well, here's another edition to my story, and please rate, review, and comment on it. I just wanted to let you guys know that my eighth chapter will probably be my last one for this story, but I'm not sure yet, and I did say in one of my earlier chapters that my goal was to create at least eight chapters for this story, unless this was reviewed high enough, and people wanted to read more of it. Thanks again! Bye!