Akane slowly returned to consciousness, feeling oddly suspended rather than relaxed, and well aware of loud noises being made. They were nonsensical to her, so she focused her eyes and soon saw a bound Genma yelling at a weird albino man dressed in a gray cloak.
"The stone isn't here in Japan Argost you idiot! You think I'm so stupid I'd hide something like that in a place I always go to?" Genma shouted in English.
The albino chuckled. "Perhaps not, but I know you secret scientists have other ways of moving around. So if you do have the stone hidden elsewhere, I'm sure your son can still get to it and back here."
"You're assuming he knows where the stone is." Genma pointed out.
Argost shook his head. "I'm assuming nothing. I don't expect your boy to ever leave this building in fact."
"What's going on?" Akane naturally asked, in Japanese.
Argost looked to her then back to Genma. "Perhaps you should explain the situation to the little girl. You know this language better than I do Genma." He then left the room, as if to give them privacy.
"Akane, I'm sorry this is happening." Genma said to the youngest Tendo, having switched back to Japanese. "That man is V.V. Argost, and he's my family's mortal enemy."
"He looked... strangely familiar." Akane noted.
Genma nodded. "He should. He runs a tv show that talks about all the weird and supernatural things in the world, primarily cryptids. And his show is most popular here in Japan." He scoffed. "And yet he still doesn't know any Japanese."
"So what does he want with you?"
Genma looked like he wasn't certain he wanted to answer. "Before Ranma was born, my wife and I were on an expedition where we found hints to the greatest cryptids that had ever lived. Cryptids so great, the ancients compared them to gods on earth. There were eight of these cryptid gods, and the greatest of them all was Kur. The Sumerians and Babylonians described Kur as a sort of cryptid dragon, but the weird thing is, records of the other gods were from legends scattered across the world. It was like finding pictures of Japanese and Aztec gods in Egyptian pyramids, it just didn't make sense."
Akane listened on, saying nothing.
"There were a few relics in the site we uncovered. Ranma currently possesses one of them, the claw he has on that staff he carries with him. Argost wants the relic we call the Kur Stone, because we think if one were to decode the markings on it, a person could find and revive Kur and the other cryptid gods, and with them, control all the cryptids in the world."
Akane looked considerably surprised by that, but not too afraid. "Wait, control cryptids? Like what Ranma does?"
"Yes, but on a much much bigger scale."
"Then... has Ranma-?"
"Oh no, no he doesn't know about the Kur stone Akane or the cryptid gods. And even if he did, Ranma doesn't want to take command of all the cryptids of the world. He just wants to make sure humans don't threaten them and they don't threaten humans. Argost would tear civilization apart if he could."
"Then how can Ranma take control?" Akane asked.
"I still don't know how. But it has proven useful several times."
Akane went silent, unable to stop herself from envisioning a scenario where Argost unleashed a large collection of monsters upon the normal populous, who couldn't react in any way other than panic and fleeing. While she had only seen a few cryptids so far, she was well aware that if things like the nue or firerats or dobhar-chu attacked en masse with bigger badder things backing them up, pandemonium was the only outcome.
"But if Argost doesn't expect Ranma to go get the stone, then what does he want?" Genma asked himself.
In the halls, Ranma tried to be as stealthy as possible. Which would have been more useful if he knew where he was going. Right now he was just looking for some doors without being spotted.
'Okay, if Argost has dobhar-chu in here, he's got to have more cryptids and he's got to be keeping them somewhere. They at least can't be too big, otherwise he couldn't have gotten them inside here in the first place. Maybe if I can find them and set them loose, I can distract him enough that Mom and Pop can escape.'
Moving along the hall he chanced upon a map of the building along the wall. It seemed a little convenient, but Ranma had never been inside an office building so for all he knew this was normal. Looking over it, it did not take him long to see what he was looking for.
"Okay, the largest room is in the basement floors. If Argost is hiding cryptids here, that's the best place to put them. The loading docks are too risky for them to escape and I doubt he can get too many to the upper floors."
He heard footsteps heading his way and using his martial arts skills jumped to the roof and braced himself in the corner where the walls meet the roof, holding himself up above normal human eye level. This was not comfortable, but it was worth it when three men in black suits ran past him, never thinking to look up.
Ranma jumped down, then he heard a bit of static coming from an intercom.
"So lad, you've decided not to leave the building and come looking for a way to free your family. How delightfully predictable of you." Argost gloated, amused. "Shall I make another prediction and say you're looking for a hidden stash of cryptids that you can turn against me?"
Ranma grimaced but couldn't say anything lest he give away his position. At the same time, he thought it was pretty arrogant of the television host to casually mention cryptids in the building when humans were still here too.
"I'll assume your answer is yes. So allow me some amusement here. My good friend Mr. Kaiba has the cryptids you're looking for on the second floor here. At any moment he could release them and let them run into the public, and I'm sure you don't want that to happen. Better get to them before Kaiba does."
The intercom went silent, but it might as well have been laughing.
"This is the most obvious trap ever... but why make it in the first place?" Ranma quietly asked himself. "What could he possibly gain from having me find cryptids?" Still getting no answer, he sighed and made his way to the stairs. "If nothing else, I need to confirm what he has here and make sure it won't be a threat."
He made his way to the second floor and it was no surprise that several men in black suits armed with guns were there waiting for him, since Argost had so generously given them a clue about where the pigtailed teen was going to go. With no other choice he held his arms up in surrender.
"You should have just given Kaiba-sama's associate what he wants boy." One of the guards stated, aiming his gun at the young Saotome.
"Do you have any idea what would have happened if I did?" Ranma asked back, well aware any answer wouldn't matter anyway.
"I'm not paid to care." The guard replied, then turned to one of the others. "Open the door." They nodded and unlocked it with a key card.
Now Ranma was officially confused. "Just what are you-?"
"Shut up!"
The door opened, but nothing could be seen on the other side. Breathing and shuffling around could be heard though.
"Get inside."
Nothing but sheer curiosity, confusion, and the rational fear of guns was felt by Ranma as he was pushed inside the room, which locked behind him. A tv screen turned on, showing Argost.
"My boy, you really should have just gone for the Kur Stone like I asked. But since you thought you could find some cryptids in here and turn them on me I thought I'd go ahead and show you why that was a bad idea."
Ranma smirked. "It was a bad idea to bring cryptids here Argost. You know they can't hurt me."
Argost chuckled. "Ranma, if that was true, why did I bring cryptids here in the first place? And why would I make sure you saw the dobhar-chu? From your perspective I have been giving you advantages. Do you sincerely believe there was not a reason for it?"
The lights in the room turned on, and Ranma gasped when he saw the assortment of cryptids in cages.
"I do hope you enjoy these particular specimens. If you can use them against me, feel free to. Or, you can agree to give me the stone for real. Have fun." Argost concluded before the screen went dead.
The cages opened and the captive cryptids came out. Ranma was honestly fascinated to watch these because to be frank, these were cryptids he had always wanted to see but Genma had never brought him to. These cryptids were the famous living dinosaurs native to the Congo region of Africa. Now they weren't identical to the original dinosaurs, having evolved over the years to smaller sizes and gaining the Shroud, but overall like the coelocanth they had remained unchanged. A living fossil if ever there were one. Cryptozoologists still had no idea how dinosaurs could still be alive, but a small lost world was well known in the heart of Africa, and was the most protected cryptid habitat on the planet. One could only imagine what people or poachers would do if they were aware of a real life Jurassic Park.
"Damn, I can finally see the Congoese cryptosaurs and I can't even enjoy it." Ranma muttered, watching the closest ones. He saw one that looked like a dimetrodon, muddy brown with vertical stripes on the sail for camouflage, and a styracosaurus, grey with black blotches on its back and eyespots on its frill. Feeling confident, Ranma's eyes glowed orange as he attempted to influence the animals.
To his surprise, the dimetrodon cryptid ran towards him and tried to bite his leg. Martial arts skills allowed Ranma to evade the unexpected attack.
"What the hell?" He asked, having never seen a cryptid refuse him. The dimetrodon's attack apparently encouraged the styracosaurus to do the same, as if he were a threat, and Ranma had to flip over the styracosaurus's horns to avoid the attack. "Why aren't you listening to me?"
Behind him he heard something fast coming his way, and rather than look behind him he just jumped onto one of the cages. That proved to be a lifesaving idea, because what was coming his way was a cryptid that resembled the pachycelphalosaurus, slamming its domed head into the cage and shaking him off it, but otherwise missing him entirely.
"Argost has to be behind this. But how could he make them immune to my power?" He asked himself, getting back atop another cage quickly. 'Think Ranma think, if I can't control them, what can I do? I don't think Argost can control them either, otherwise he wouldn't have needed me to come to this room in the first place. If I can get them out of here, he's going to have to round them up again and that will give me time to save...'
His thoughts trailed off when he imagined Argost simply letting the cryptosaurs running out into the streets of Tokyo causing havoc. The Shroud would have protected people from seeing what the true cause was, but the damage would still be felt, and the Shroud wasn't a perfect disguise, hence why cryptids kept getting their pictures taken. Someone was going to see these things and it would be little different if Godzilla himself appeared, except with less property damage.
'I can't turn them against Argost and I can't let him take them outside. My only chance here is to get rid of Argost himself. After that, we can take care of the cryptosaurs.' He thought, looking around. 'But first I gotta get out of here.'
One idea came to him, and frankly it was better than nothing. He maneuvered himself to be by the door to the room, keeping his eyes on the pachycelphalosaurus. It charged at ramming speed and he dodged again, tricking it into slamming against the door to the room. Naturally most doors in places like this were designed to take a hit, but not one on par with a car crash. The buckled and dented upon impact, but mostly stayed in place.
'One more ought to do it.' Ranma thought, seeing the styracosaurus come his way too but at a slower pace. The pachycelphalosaur was annoyed that another was encroaching on it's target, but didn't take on the multi-horned cryptosaur directly. The styracosaurus came and compared to the pachycelphalosaur was much easier to dodge, though to do so Ranma had to climb over it's face by the horns. It impacted the door, much slower than the other cryptosaur, but with more force, and so the door came loose.
Ranma was now free, but he was stuck holding the horns of a dinosaur that was getting very angry about it's unwanted passenger and trying to throw him off. Even as it came into the hall, followed by the other cryptosaurs.
'I'm riding a dinosaur!' Ranma thought happily despite the high risk involved. 'And somewhere out there a random kid is so jealous of me!'
The hallway ended rather quickly so Ranma had to steer it down another one. But cryptosaurs are a lot harder to steer than horses so it went the other way. A few people happened to be walking that way and immediately turned around and ran as fast as they could, like anyone would when seeing a dinosaur running down a hallway. Even the guards who were supposed to stop intruders knew to let the guy atop a dinosaur go where he wanted to go.
"He's destroying my building!"
Argost nodded, looking at the security monitors. "Yes, exactly as I expected he would do."
"This is not funny Argost!"
"I beg to differ Mr. Gozaboro. But the important thing is the boy is proving he is predictable, which is exactly what we want."
"This is not what I want!" The Japanese businessman told the masked celebrity.
"Collateral damage, inevitable but minor in compared to finding where the Secret Scientists have hidden the Kur Stone."
"This stone had better be worth it."
Argost chuckled. "My good man, once the stone is in my hands, if you're by my side you'll become the most powerful man in all of Japan. More powerful than the emperor himself or that Mendo family I've heard of."
"And how do I know you won't try and eliminate me from the picture when you get your precious rock?" Gozaboro asked.
"Because you're of no threat to me. You won't do anything to arrest or kill me if you fear it will come back at you legally, and you can't use the stone if you take it from me. You can help me but it's not in your best interest to backstab me. So I have nothing to fear from you. But if you ever get the idea to test that, then all deals are off, Mr. Gozaboro."
The Japanese businessman fumed but kept his eyes on the monitors, seeing more and more property damage.
"So are we getting out of here or are we going to wait until our arms break off?!" Akane asked, annoyed by the fact they were still hanging as hostages. The numbness around her wrists and pain in her shoulders wasn't doing her mood any favors either.
"Have patience, my son is on his way then we will be freed." Genma told her.
"And what makes you so sure?!"
The answer came in the form of the door to the room being battered down with some of the surrounding wall coming down with it, and a triceratops barging through with Ranma atop, shielding himself from the debris with his arms.
"That's why." Genma stated, amused by Akane's gobsmacked expression.
"Is that a-?"
"Yes, it is."
Ranma got off the cryptosaur and commanded it to leave the room, continuing its rampage elsewhere but not leaving the building. "So how exactly am I supposed to get you guys down?"
Akane blinked and even Genma looked bothered. "You don't know?!"
"How could I? I don't even know how you got up there in the first place."
"Unlock the shackles boy!" Genma ordered, starting to thrash a little in his chains.
"How? Where are the keys?" Ranma asked.
"Boys stop arguing!" Nodoka jumped in. "Ranma check behind that door over there."
The pigtailed teen looked around, his eyes seeing a small staircase built into the wall that led to a door that was next to a large glass pane. Judging from the placement, if someone were to go inside they'd have a clear view of whatever was supposed to be hanging from the suspension unit in this room.
"How did I miss that?" Genma asked while Ranma headed up the stairs.
"You kept looking down dear. For a scientist you don't really notice as much as you should."
Genma gruffed. "I'm a field agent, I do my best work in the wild not a lab."
Ranma opened the door, finding it unlocked, and went inside. There was a control panel with several buttons and levers on it, making him groan. 'Damn tech people, they just love their big machines with the bells and...' He trained off when he noticed all the levers were up while one was down. 'Worth a shot.' He went to it and pushed it up too.
There was the sound of gears creaking to life. Looking out the window, he saw the suspending cables lower all the captives to the floor.
"Wow, that was... too easy." Ranma thought out loud, though that didn't stop him from getting back to them and untying their binds.
"About time, my wrists are killing me." Akane groaned when she was freed, rubbing her wrists. "This better not affect me at school."
"This is all too easy, what does Argost really want?" Ranma asked his parents.
"He said he never expected you to go get the Kur Stone." Genma claimed.
"I don't even know what that is." He replied, then glanced to his mother.
"Now's not the best time for that son. Why is there a ngoubou here?"
"Argost brought them here, how else would a cryptosaur be here?"
Nodoka and Genma looked to each other. "We can't let these things get out of the building. We have to get them back to the Congo."
"You want to take dinosaurs to Africa without anyone knowing?" Akane asked.
"Can you use the teleporter from here?" Nodoka asked her husband.
"Yeah but only once. We weren't expecting this to be anything but a get-in-get-out."
"So if we do go to the Congo, we're on our own for getting back." Ranma summarized.
Akane sweatdropped. "You can't be serious!"
"You want living dinosaurs getting out into the streets of Tokyo?" Ranma challenged.
"No but I don't want to go to Africa either!"
"It's either one or the other!"
"Kids stop fighting. Ranma, you and the others go gather the cryptids. All of them. Your father and I will stay here in case Argost comes back." Nodoka commanded.
"This time we'll be ready for him." Genma proudly claimed.
Ranma looked less certain, but he went back out followed by Fisk, Dragoon, and Fu, leaving Akane alone with the older Saotomes.
"So, are you the fiancee I've heard about?" Nodoka asked.
Akane's face went red. "What? No!"
"That would be her sister." Genma corrected.
"Oh, well that's probably for the best. You don't look like someone who'd share my son's passion at all."
'Neither does Nabiki sadly.' Both Genma and Akane thought.
"Is this part of your brilliant plan too?" Gozaboro asked as he could see the youngest Saotome gathering all the cryptosaurs and cryptids in the building.
"Yes, yes it is." Argost answered.
"Are you one of those idiots who claim everything is going to plan when in reality you're just making it up as you go?" Gozaboro added.
"No, no I'm not. This will lead to me acquiring the Kur Stone in due time Mr. Gozaboro, and you removing any and all influence your adopted son might have over your company."
"It had better."
Argost then stood up. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to make a little trip of my own."