DYNASTY - CHAPTER THREE - PART A
By Sydney Kyle <jantzen77@hotmail.com>

Author's notes: THANKS TO ALL THE 300+ PEOPLE WHO GRACIOUSLY POINTED
OUT THAT EVERYONE EXCEPT KUNO, KODACHI, AND, OF COURSE, AKANE KNOW OF
RYOUGA'S CURSE!!! Well, here's the corrected version!! Hope y'all are
happy!!! No, seriously, thanx to those 300+ pedantic people... ;)

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                          * * * DYNASTY * * *          
                          A Ranma 1/2 Fanfic
                       =========================
                      
                              * * * * * *
      
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                             CHAPTER THREE:
                                 Part A		
                                 Rescue
                       =========================

   Mousse groaned, floundering somewhere between consciousness and 
unconsciousness.
  
   As his senses began to clear somewhat, he automatically commenced a 
mental check of his current condition.

   He felt sore all over, yet at the same time, curiously refreshed. A 
dull nagging pain pounded at the back of his skull, and he felt 
peculiarly tired, almost lethargic.

   On a whim, he attempted to move his left arm.

   He couldn't.

   After some contemplation, he tried to stir his right leg.

   He couldn't. There was no sensation at all.

   Panic flooded through him. Was he immobilized? Had he lost all 
control over all physical action? Or had his limbs all been amputated?

   The thought made him positively ill.

   Then he shivered as he felt something metal against his wrists and 
ankles. 

   He was strapped to some vertical surface, bound via shackles and
possibly chains. It felt very dungeon-like, like a scene out of some
primeval sort of torture chamber. 

   But instead of the damp, cold atmosphere that was reminiscent of a
dungeon, his surroundings felt rather warm, humid, and breezy. It 
was nighttime, no doubt.

   Was he outside?
   
   He tried to open his eyes to appraise his environment, but his 
eyelids refused to comply.

   His ears, however, could detect the faintest sound of night crickets 
chirping and grass and foliage rustling.

   His mind, meanwhile, embarked on its own find-and-locate mission,
trying to procure the necessary files from his memory banks. 

   Everything was hazy. Snatches of images danced through his mind. He 
recalled hearing a footstep sound behind him in that deserted alleyway. 
He remembered the apparitions that surrounded him, seemingly out of 
nowhere, with undoubtedly malicious intent. He remembered fighting back, 
then the splash of water that triggered his curse...

   And after that, his mind drew a blank.

   Mousse shook his head. He was in human form again, so they must have 
at least had the consideration to douse him with hot water after they'd 
taken advantage of his weakness in duck-form. But right now, he was too 
tired to think about that...

   And then he heard something.

   "Aiii-yah...Ranma?"

   His brain screamed out. <Shampoo? What's _she_ doing here?!>

   He tried to call out her name, but he all he could manage to do was 
a croak. 

   "Ranma, wake up. Ranma!" 

   Yes, it was definitely her.

   But Ranma?!

   Mousse felt rage well up inside his soul. So Ranma _was_ here. And
even now Shampoo was fussing over him, giving no thought whatsoever to
the danger in this situation she was in. 

   "Sh-Shampoo..." he rasped.

   "Mousse?" She sounded astonished. "Mousse, you awake now, yes?"

   "A-are you all right? Are you shackled as well?"

   "Shampoo fine, Mousse--just have big headache. Shampoo no move, 
either. But Ranma--Ranma no wake up..."

   <Well, well. Looks like he couldn't handle the attackers either,>
thought Mousse.

   "Wake up, son! DAMMIT, WAKE UP!!!"

   Mousse blinked. That sounded like Ranma's father. 

   "RAANMMAAA! WHAT'VE YOU GOTTEN US INTO NOW?!!"

   And _that_ sounded like Ryouga Hibiki.

   The gears in Mousse's brain began to turn. Ranma, his father, 
Ryouga, Shampoo, and him. What could have induced their attackers to 
tag them especially, instead of, say, a megapervert like Happosai or a
nutcase like Principal Kuno? 

   There had to be some connection between them. Then it hit him.

   <The curse. Jusenkyo's curse. We're all cursed...>

   Ranma turned female every time he got drenched with cold water. 
Shampoo became a cat when wet, and Mousse himself turned into a duck.
He suspected that Mr. Saotome was that giant panda that hung around 
the Tendo domicile all the time (he recognized those beady eyes), and
Ryouga turned into an adorable black piglet Akane Tendo had named
P-Chan.

   So, if the Jusenkyo factor played a major part in their kidnapping,
then how come? Was there something more ominous in the Jusenkyo curse
than they were aware of so far?
  
   It was a question to ponder later.

   Right now, Ranma was unconscious, Shampoo had been rendered immobile 
as well, Mr. Saotome didn't seem to know any way to get out, and Ryouga 
was too busy yelling at Ranma to even consider escaping.

   He could already hear something humming, and he still couldn't open
his eyes. 

   From a distance, he could hear the strands of a lowered conversation. 
For any other man, the sound would have gone unnoticed. But for Mousse's 
Chinese Amazon-trained ears, it was audible.

   The conversation was in a strange tongue. Then without warning, it 
lapsed into Japanese.

   "Are the upperworlders ready?"

   "Indubitably. Are the preparations in order?"

   "Indeed." There was a third voice. "They will be taken care of once
the Emperor gives the command."

   Whoever these people were, Mousse thought, they were nuts.
   
   "And their Tama-Tebako?" a fourth voice demanded.

   "I have them right here," said a fifth voice.

   "Then the ceremony will proceed." The final voice was unnerving. 

   And whoever these people were, Mousse realized, they also meant
business.

* * * * * *
    
   "Will this one do?" Akari asked. "Got it this morning. It's the most 
accurate one the manager could produce."

   Ukyou took the proffered map and spread it flat on the floor. 
"This'll do just fine, sugar."

   Akane peered over her shoulder. "All right, so what's the plan?"

   Cologne studied the map from her perch on Ukyou's shoulder. "Well, I 
suggest we start by pinpointing the spots where son-in-law, Shampoo, 
and the others were attacked. We will see where we go from there."

   "O-kaay." Ukyou examined the map of Nerima, noting rather absently 
that in the key box along with the necessary stats was a comparison of 
the town's property values and a comprehensive list of the Places In 
Nerima To Avoid Like Hell. She deliberately skipped it.

   "I don't understand what all this has to do with finding my Ranma 
darling," Kodachi sniffed haughtily.

   "Big surprise," Akane muttered under her breath.

   "Akane Tendo! Come into my arms, my love!" yelled Kuno.

   Akane distractedly punched him into the wall. "Can we hurry this 
up, please?" she complained, jerking her finger back at Kuno's prone
form. "He's getting more restless by the minute!"

   They all leaned over hurriedly to inspect the map.

   "Over there!" Soun reached over and poked at a certain point on the
paper with his index finger. "That street over there near the market--
that's where Saotome disappeared."

   "And that's the place where I found the cloth," said Cologne. She
pointed to a vicinity about seven blocks away from the Nekohantan, not 
far away from the place Soun had singled out. "That's where Shampoo 
vanished. And here--" She backtracked a few blocks back. "--is where I
presume Mousse was taken."

   "And Ryouga's ki-blast came from this part," volunteered Ukyou, 
pointing at a site near the bridge. "I was just a couple of blocks 
behind when I saw the explosion."

   "And here is where son-in-law was abducted." Cologne jabbed at the
map with the tip of her staff. "We were right on the school grounds
of Furinkan High."

   "There has to be a pattern here," said Akane.

   "Is there a body of water nearby?" Cologne spoke up.

   Several heads oscillated to face her.

   "Water?" repeated Kasumi.

   Cologne closed her eyes. "Trust me."

   "Well, yes." Akane studied the map more closely, her brow furrowing. 
"In fact, there're several. There's that river at the back of the hill 
near Furinkan High, the lake near the park..."

   "Anyone got a pen?" Nabiki asked.

   Akari produced one immediately. Nabiki accepted the writing 
implement and uncapped it. "Mind if I mark the map?" she queried 
casually.

   "Oh, not at all," replied Akari.

   Nabiki leaned over and, to the spectators' surprise, circled the 
locations of the kidnappings with thick red ink.

   "Now," she declared, recapping the pen, "can you see anything?"

   The marked places formed a huge circle--a little uneven, but 
nonetheless a circle. 

   "Oh my," Kasumi breathed. "And look in the middle..."

   "That's it!" Akane exclaimed in excitement. "The canal near the 
bridge! Nabiki, you're a genius!"
  
   Nabiki smirked. "So I've been told. No charge this time, though."

   "Not bad at all," Cologne remarked, impressed.

   Soun, as was his habit, burst promptly into tears. "I'm so proud of 
my little girl!"

   "I'm sure you mean that, Daddy."

   Akane jumped up, shifting once more into unstoppable Akane Tendo-
mode. "All right, we know where they are," she announced confidently. 
"Mr. Saotome, Mousse, Shampoo, Ryouga, and Ranma--it's up to us to 
rescue them from those Dragon jerks." She grinned wickedly, rolling up 
the sleeves of her dress, an indication of much violence to come. "Feel 
like kicking some butt tonight?"

   The answer was a resounding yes, with even Katsunishiki snorting his 
agreement.

   And with that, a series of silhouettes filed out of the dojo, one by 
one: a girl wearing a dress uniform, a two-foot tall crone utilizing a 
stick as a means of transportation, a man charging forward with a single 
fist, a girl wielding a monolithic spatula, a girl thrashing a 
ribbon-whip amidst bubbles of insane chortling, a boy recklessly 
swinging a bokken, a girl relentlessly counting yen, and a girl riding 
atop a pig of ungodly proportions.

   A girl waved cheerfully from the shoji. "Good luck!"

   It was an odd procession of figures that charged out into the warm
Nerima night.
 
* * * * * *

   "FALL ALREADY, DAMN YOU!"

   Ryouga heaved yet another concrete boulder at the energy wall.

   *CRASH*

   The boulder was promptly smashed into little pieces, and the wall 
remained there, impassive and unyielding and shimmery as ever.

   Ryouga dropped to his knees, breathing hard from the exertion. He 
had flung about ten or eleven chunks of rock against the barrier in an 
attempt to somehow disable it, but to no avail. And right now, he was 
just beginning to realize that maybe he was just wasting his time 
trying to find a way beyond this kind of prison. Besides, his supply of 
concrete--the dam-like structure behind him--was running out.

   "TENSHIN AMAGURIKEN!"

   Ryouga looked to his left and watched as Ranma unleashed his 
infamous Chestnut Punch technique on the bars that lined his prison. 

   "DAMMIT!" 
 
   Ranma kicked savagely at the bars, much to Ryouga's amusement.

   "Your Chestnut Punch thing not working, Ranma?"
 
   Ranma scowled at him. "I really don't need this right now, Ryouga, 
all right? I've gotta get outta here somehow. 'Sides, it ain't like 
_you're_ makin' any more progress than me."

   Ryouga glowered back at his rival. "Oh, yeah? Well, at least you 
aren't stuck in--in some kind of energy bubble! Now if _I_ were in 
there, I'd just punch a hole through the wall and get it over with!"

   "And if _I_ were stuck in some kind of energy bubble, I bet I could
find some way out by actually usin' my BRAIN 'steada brute strength!"

   "Will you PLEASE save your petty squabbles for later?" snapped 
Mousse, who was definitely wide-awake now. He tugged at his shackles,
rattling the chains. "We are not going to go anywhere if you two keep
on ARGUING instead of THINKING!"

   "Mousse, you leave Ranma alone!" Shampoo ordered tartly.

   "Buh-buh-but Shampoo, w-we are going to be sacrificed..."

   "Hold it--sacrifice?" Genma demanded. "What are you talking about?!"

   "I overheard our captors talking," said Mousse sullenly. "It seems
we are to participate in some sort of ceremony. And if there's a 
ceremony associated with a weird cult like that, then it's inevitable
that there should be some form of sacrifice..."

   Ranma peered through his cell bars. "Oh, I dunno," he remarked 
casually. "Maybe they're just firing up the grill for some special 
entrees--like, say, Duck L'Mousse and Ryouga pork-kebabs."

   "That's NOT funny, Ranma!" Ryouga snarled.

   Genma was thinking, an action that was surprising, to say the 
least. "Wait a minute--when they attacked all of you, did they first
use water to revert you to your cursed forms?"

   Mousse and Shampoo nodded, followed by Ranma.

   Ryouga cracked his knuckles. "They pulled that trick on me, too.
Those cowards couldn't handle me in my normal form so they used water
to turn me into--"

   "P-CHAN!!!" Ranma announced, grinning like a madman in spite of
the direness of their straits.

   Ryouga froze, then his body began to tremble and radiate an 
alarming amount of ki.

   "RANMAAA, PREPARE TO DIE--"

   His speech of doom was interrupted by the intercession of a rather 
deep, echoing voice.
  
   "I presume you all are prepared, yes?"

   They all looked at the speaker. He was tall and gaunt, with high
cheekbones, a fiery red beard, and oddly luminous eyes. His robes 
were festooned with gold and red designs and symbols, and in his hand
was a magnificent gold staff with a mounted dragon's head.

   Ranma narrowed his eyes. There again. That dragon motif. The people 
responsible for their abductions were probably some sort of fanatical
cult. But still, the warriors who attacked him wearing that same dragon 
mantle were definitely not a bunch of zealots looking for kicks. Ranma 
had no way of proving it, but he couldn't shake off the feeling that 
there was something far more to this "cult" than what he saw.

   A disturbing smile tugged at the corners of the man's lips. It 
looked more like a grimace. "It is a pity that you five must die. For
more years that you can possibly fathom, we have hunted your kind down, 
whittling away at our only source of opposition, until there would be a 
day when you no longer existed..." He gestured at the five of them with 
a sweep of his staff. "You are the last of the line, and after tonight's 
ceremony, there will be nothing to stop the Dynasty."

   Shampoo strained against her manacles. "Shampoo no care about stupid 
Dynasty! Shampoo only want that you no harm Ranma!"

   "Oh, do not worry about that," said the man with mock courteousness. 
"In fact, there is only one thing we must have from all of you." 

   "And what's that?" Ranma prompted warily.

   He smiled again, and the eyes of the dragon staff began to glow 
blood-red. 

   "Your souls."

To Be Continued in Part B   


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