Have you ever wondered how Hibiki Ryouga, the lost boy of Nerima, can
spend all of his time wandering the world, mislaid and unemployed, and
still manage to scrape together the funds to buy Akane all those nice
gifts that he brings when he returns? Here's one possibility.....







Hibiki Ryouga, Wandering(read: Lost) Martial Artist, Adventurer, Delver into 
the Unknown (tm), and Archeologist PhD. (it's amazing what you can learn 
through correspondence courses) surveyed his current situation. 

He was standing in a roughly oblong shaped room with cut-stone walls, 
somewhere within an ancient temple that was, presumably, somewhere in 
South America. In the middle of the room, a set of stone steps slanted steeply 
skyward. To either side of the stairway were deep, water filled basins. The 
basins were constantly being fed by twin cascades of fresh water that seemed to 
be originating from either side of the dais that waited at the top of the staircase 
before him.

*Well, I'm relatively certain that I've already been the other way,* he thought, 
looking back through the large, circular, tunnel-like hallway behind him, *so I 
suppose the only way to go is up...*

Stepping carefully, both to avoid any traps that might be on the steps and to 
keep well away from the edges of the staircase and the cold, damp fate that 
awaited him there, Ryouga proceeded to follow thought with deed. He reached 
the dais without incident, and stood for a moment on the last step. 

In the middle of the dais was a stone pedestal. Set into the wall behind the 
pedestal was a huge stone wheel, it's diameter just less than the distance 
between the dias and the ceiling, about fifteen feet above. Curiously, the stone 
wheel's diameter was almost exactly the same as the diameter of all the passage-
ways in the temple. 

"I'm willing to bet that some museum would pay top dollar for that little 
trinket." he mused, addressing not ominous stone wheel, which he presumed 
to be some type of ancient memorex; but instead the small golden idol that 
glinted sinisterly atop the rough-hewn and almost certainly booby-trapped 
stone pedestal. "Then I could get Akane some nice souvenirs."

Ryouga briefly slipped into an elated sort of trance state, mentally savoring the 
image of Akane's smiling face. He snapped out of it quickly though, as Akane 
wasn't here right now and he had yet to deal with the business at hand.

He pushed his fedora back on his head and began to scrutinize the pedestal 
_very_ carefully. He wasn't really used to wearing a hat, but he hadn't really had 
much choice in the matter. The only clothes that had been readily available the 
last time he changed back from a pig were the ones that he was wearing now. 

Self-consciously dusting off the worn and faded leather jacket and re-securing 
the bull whip at his side, Ryouga thought back to how he had acquired these 
clothes. The previous owner had apparently been exploring this very same 
temple quite some time ago, but had unfortunately run into a bit of bad luck 
earlier on in the maze of tunnels that led to this room, and hadn't really had any 
need of them since. 

Fingering a small hole in the jacket just above his heart, Ryouga decided that a 
more delicate approach would be advisable. *If they have poison spike traps on 
the way to the bathroom, who knows what they've got rigged up here...*

Taking out a leather pouch full of sand, which the donor of his clothes had 
been so kind as to provide, Ryouga appraised the small gold idol. Licking his 
lips, he reached into the bag and took out some of the sand, pouring it on the 
ground at the foot of the pedestal. Then, weighing the bag of sand in his right 
palm and peering at the idol, he promptly sneezed, dropping the entire bag at 
the foot of the pedestal. "Oops..."

Ryouga looked sheepishly at the pile of sand at his feet, which was quickly 
seeping into the cracks between the stones of the dais. *No way there's enough 
now. Hmm...* 

Ryouga peered carefully over the left edge of the dais to see that the water 
filling the left basin was pouring out of the mouth of a stone panther's head 
that was mounted about a foot below the top of the column that supported the 
platform. *That might work.*

Ryouga removed the nearly empty canteen that was hanging around his neck 
and lay down on his stomach near the edge of the platform. Then, being 
careful not to let any water touch him, he filled the canteen from the fountain 
and closed the top. 

Standing up again, Ryouga weighed the full canteen in his hand. Looking at the 
idol, he decided that it was probably about right. He leaned over the pedestal, 
his right hand holding the canteen just above the surface of the pedestal and 
his left hand curling around, but not touching, the idol. *On the count of three. 
One... Two...*

"Three!" with speed that belied his usual approach to things, Ryouga 
exchanged the canteen for the idol. Then, not quite sure what to do next, he 
stared at the pedestal waiting for something to happen. Fate normally doesn't 
oblige people in this manner, preferring to just spring things on them, which is 
why nothing happened for the entire 157.5 seconds that Ryouga stood staring 
at the pedestal, patiently waiting for some horrid death trap to rear it's spiteful 
head. It wasn't until Ryouga turned around and began to wipe his brow in relief 
that the middle of the pedestal began to descend and the stone wheel started 
moving into the wall. Alerted by the grinding noise of stone moving on stone, 
Ryouga turned back around just in time to see the entire pedestal drop down 
until it was flush with the floor of the dais. At the same time the stone wheel, 
which had by now receded about a foot into the wall, split vertically down the 
center, the two halves sliding smoothly apart with a faint <whoosh>ing noise. 

A gigantic round boulder rolled out of the tunnel that had opened up where 
the wheel had been, mere moments from smashing Ryouga as flat a pancake. 
Ryouga, who was still contemplating how the people who had built this temple 
had gotten a hold of Star Trek sound effects, barely noticed the twelve ton 
marble barreling towards him. He simply stuck his arm out, his index finger 
pointing towards the offending monolith, and shouted "BAKUSAI-TENKETSU!"

The boulder exploded in an impressive shower of dust and rubble, which was 
completely lost on Ryouga as he bent down to pick up his canteen. "Feh. Some 
'death trap'..."

It is sometimes said that Ryouga is unperceptive. This isn't entirely true. There 
are some things that Ryouga notices immediately. Among them, water is one of 
the most well noted. And right now Ryouga was noticing that the water had 
stopped flowing from the fountains on the sides of the column. This could 
mean many things. Many of them were good things, but Ryouga didn't trust his 
luck that much.

His attention was then drawn to a rather disturbing grinding noise that was 
coming from the vicinity of the pedestal, which had risen about halfway out of 
the floor again and then had stopped. "Wait. What if that sand got into the 
gears or something, keeping it from resetting." He paced back and forth on the 
dais, the grinding noise intensifying. "Now then, if this trap were powered by 
the flow of the water, and now it's stuck because the sand is gumming up the 
gears, then that would explain why the water isn't flowing anymore." Ryouga 
smiled to himself, impressed by his reasoning abilities. Then, an unpleasant 
train of thought entered his head. *Wait a minute. If the trap mechanism is 
blocking the flow of the water, then what's happening to all the water pressure 
building up behind the mechanism?* Suddenly, the temple began to rumble 
and shake; mildly at first, but increasing rapidly. "Oh hell..."




*******




Da Da Daa Daaa

Da Da Daaa

Da Da Daa Daaa

Da Da Daaa Daaa Daaa... (you know the tune)



               ---HIBIKI RYOUGA AND THE SEARCH FOR TOUGENKYOU---



(Probably) Not coming to a FFML near you!