DRAGON'S DESTINY 5: Five Dragons, A Spatula, & Ryouga

a Ranma 1/2 Altered Destiny fanfic by Gregg Sharp
   i don't own these characters, that doesn't keep me
   from having fun with them.
note: this is planned as a six part, so i'm skipping
   ahead quite a bit. the whole thing will be rewritten
   if this is the winner in "The Bet" story arc.
--------------------------
   Kasumi offered a "Pocky" to her travelling companion.
Not the strawberry ones, the dark chocolate "for men"
variety. We all have our vices, and one of Kasumi's 
"secret" vices was that she was a chocoholic.

   "So you don't think he knows," Ukyou stared at the 
little pretzel stick. She'd never cared for them. 

   "Oh my. No. That was one of the impressions I'd 
gotten, though it took me a little while to remember
you." Kasumi nibbled on the end of her snack. "Ever
since that afternoon, I've been remembering people
and places and things I've never seen before."

   "Uh-huh."

   Kasumi smiled and stared off into space. "Oh my.
That explains a lot."

   "What does?"

   "I'm afraid Ranma was still fairly new at all this,
and the reason he's currently in a coma isn't that he's
only got a trickle of his former chi. He overdid it in
more than one manner. The chi transfer would have been
tricky with practice, but I'm afraid that with the 
clock ticking (as it were) he put a bit more than his
chi into the transfer."

   "I'm sorry, I saw someone land, apparently after 
falling out of a plane, and get up, but this is so..."
Ukyou broke off as Kasumi casually formed a chi sphere.
"Nice trick."

   "I've seen Ranma do it before," Kasumi smiled. "Kind
of neat isn't it? I may never need a flashlight again."

   "So," Ukyou couldn't seem to tear her eyes away from
the glowing ball hovering an inch off Kasumi's palm, 
"you were saying..."

   "It looks like Ranma accidently put a lot of himself,
quite literally, into the process."
--------------------
    Ucchan looked down at the comatose patient, then
around at the various girls gathered here. Nodoka, 
Ranma's mother, was stationed outside the door. The
two fathers were stationed outside the window. No one
was to intervene in this.

    The little revelation of Ukyou's engagement to 
Ranma had gone over about as well as one had expected.
Only that Genma had to be conscious and in fair condition
to guard against intruders was keeping him from a severe
beating.

    Ukyou looked down again at Ranma. So he had NOT
known of the engagement. All he'd known was that his
best friend had come to see him off. All the years of
craving revenge against him and his father, and it had
been such a waste.

    The others were kneeling around him and trying to
gather their enhanced chi. To put back into him what
he had given them. Kasumi and Nabiki had worked out the
details with Shampoo, and all were willing to give it
a try. Otherwise, the only cure would likely be to find
the Dragon's cave again. Shampoo had pointed out that
some of the Chinese script indicated that you could only
find the cave once, which meant that Genma would never
be able to use it again even if he dared.

    Ukyou looked at Ranma and knew that she COULD have
her revenge. One throwing spatula to his throat while
the others were occupied, and it would be all over. Of
course, she'd probably be dead a moment later herself.

    As if there had been some cue that Ukyou had missed,
the kneeling girls placed their hands on Ranma's chest.
Ukyou noticed none of them were paying attention to her.
They knew she wouldn't do it. Her fingers slipped from
the throwing spatula.

    Ukyou suppressed a gasp. His tattoo was changing,
gaining color and definition. She knelt down next to
Nabiki, watching as a healthy color began to flow 
through Ranma again.

------------------------------
    Ryouga stopped outside a building and read the 
kanji. "Ten-do Training hall. Hmmmph. Maybe they know
where I can find Ranma."

    There was the sound of an explosion somewhere on
the premises. Torn between wanting to see if anyone was
hurt and the certainty that he'd get blamed for it (the
way things were going), Ryouga proceeded to get lost
again.
------------------------------
    Ranma awoke, his mind a jumble. What had happened?
Why was he still alive? Why did he want to bake cookies?

    "Shampoo, at last I've found you!"

    <WHACK!> "Stupid, stupid, Mousse!"

    Ranma slowly opened his eyes, which felt as if
the weight of a mountain had somehow been transferred
onto them. Ah, they had been, there were two mountains,
right there in front of...

    Ukyou's eyes widened. She was still shielding
Ranma's head from any of the debris from the "chicken
egg" bombs that Mousse had used to get into the house.
She'd felt Ranma go suddenly stiff and then abruptly
go limp again.

    Releasing him, she noted that his face had flushed,
his eyes were open, and there was a goofy grin still
plastered on his face.  Looking at the faint trickle of
blood from one of his nostrils, she looked down at
herself and realized that the chest bindings must 
have burst when she grabbed Ranma to shield him 
from the debris.

   "AAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAaaaaaaaa."

   One of Mousse's chain weapons had been 
grabbed by Akane, and the male amazon was 
being spun around faster and faster. 

 "Ready!" Shampoo stood a few feet from the
wall, summoning a blue glow around her.
     
 Akane launched Mousse towards Shampoo,
noting that when Mousse passed over the
koi pond the air pressure kicked up a water
trail.

  "WHAT PART OF 'NO' DOES MOUSSE
NOT UNDERSTAND!" It was not a martial
arts move that Shampoo used, it was something
she'd practiced in school just the other day.
Volleyball, they called it.

  Ukyou looked from the battle down at Ranma,
as he slept there in her arms.  
-----------------------------------
  "Hmmph, so we have to go to this 'Cave Of
The Dragon Fist' to bring Ranma back to full
power so he can take Ryouga on, eh?" Akane
cracked her knuckles. "Why don't _I_ take
him on, instead?"

  "Not sure that good idea." Shampoo shook
her head. "Certainly no do this one-on-one.
Ryouga very strong. Each of us have only
part of dragon's power. You see tattoos?
Tattoos never go full formed like airen's."

  "We all seem to have benefitted in different
ways from the chi and enchantments being
split among us," Nabiki counseled. "Though
all of us are stronger than we were, each of
us has manifested the dragon in a different
manner.

  "Kasumi was actually flying the other day,
until she realized what she was doing and 
crashed again. Shampoo here has found 
that she is a lot faster than she used to be.
Akane's strength has been raised to damn
near ridiculous levels. I seem to be able to
see things more clearly than before, perhaps
the Arabic legends about the eyes of the
dragon seeing the spirit world were based
on this sort of thing." Nabiki paused and
rubbed her eyes. 

  "So I've got this guidebook. Since 
Ranma has already been to the cave 
once, we won't even be able to find it
if he comes along. That means some
of us have to stay here behind to guard
him."

 "Hey, I don't need anyone to guard me."

 "Airen, please shut up."

 "Yeah, Ranma, you're still way too 
weak to face Ryouga. Heck, Hiroshi 
might be able to beat you right now.
No, you've got to be guarded. The 
decision is who to go and who to 
stay."

  "Shampoo and Akane stay. We best
fighters."

  Akane shot a grateful glance at Shampoo,
then realized what she was doing and 
looked away. 

  "Good enough. I really WANT to go,
but think I'd probably do better here
myself doing damage control." Nabiki
pursed her lips. She REALLY wanted
to go and run control on this.

 "I'm going," Ukyou announced. "I'm
a fighter and I haven't been touched by
this dragon-magic whatsisstuff. I'm not
about to let Ranchan pass on unless I'm
the one doing it."

   "Oh dear." Kasumi thought about it,
about having to leave her kitchen, her
home. She felt almost as if it were that
she'd have to leave a leg behind, the
house was so comfortable and so much
a part of her being.

  Nabiki looked into her older sister's 
eyes. "Sis, if you don't go, I'll have to."

 "This silly." Shampoo made an unlady
like sound. "Nabiki go, Kasumi go, 
Spatula girl go too. Shampoo quite 
capable of cooking for airen and 
family while here, even if airen mother
not help."

  Nabiki smiled. "Thank you Shampoo.
It's settled then, we go to China tonight."

 "But how, Nabiki, do you have plane
tickets?" Ukyou shifted her bandolier
back into place. Thing was a little heavy
in front.
-----------------------------------------
   "I had to ask...." Ukyou mumbled
as she held onto the rail literally and her
dinner in a figurative manner.

  "Ohhhh my!" Kasumi managed for
what was probably the twelfth time
since they'd gotten started.

  Nabiki was really beginning to have
second thoughts about this. Skimming
low over the ocean, Kasumi holding a
rope looped to the prow of a rowboat,
had at first been a leisurely little romp.

  Until Kasumi had suddenly decided this
was FUN and, well...

 A metaphorical bird in the gilded cage
had gotten loose. Said bird had obviously
done a transformation job worthy of 
Juusenkyo because the happy little 
bluebird was now singing its little heart
out and was another species of bird
altogether.

  Nabiki wasn't sure if it was a loon,
a swift, or a hummingbird. Her dear,
dear, sister was enjoying her newfound
freedom. If Nabiki could be sure that
Ms Kuonji and herself would survive
this, she'd be quite happy for Kasumi.

  The one time Kasumi had an idle thought
wondering how high UP she could fly,
both Nabiki and Ukyou had been clutching
to the rowboat like it was the only thing
keeping them from a swift and sudden 
death. In Ukyou's case it certainly had 
been. 
  
  Nabiki glanced over at Ukyou who was
STILL looking like her hands would have
to be pried off. Nabiki was just glad that
Ms Kuonji's hearing hadn't been damaged
what with all the blood from the sudden
change in altitude.

 Nabiki had found it kind of exhilarating
actually. You normally had to be a jet
fighter pilot to pull those kind of g forces.
Either that or be a passenger on the
space shuttle.

 Still this was better, Kasumi MAINLY
restraining herself to speeds barely in
excess of 200mph. There was the occasional
slip, and the little rowboat wouldn't be 
anywhere near the water and the little
"tail" they kicked up at those times
was certainly quite impressive.

  Nabiki just prayed her sister wouldn't
do another barrel roll. Mind you, this
WOULD make a rollercoaster sort of
ride that some people would pay a 
small fortune for.

 Nah, the insurance premiums would be
a nightmare.

 China was beginning to loom ahead.
Nabiki started calculating how fast her
sister must have been going during 
those "bursts" and paled. "Oh my..."
--------------------------------
   Ranma went into a defensive
stance. Ryouga snarled, showing his
fangs in the process.

  "Lost boy no hurt airen," Shampoo 
took up a stance to Ranma's right.

  "I still want to pay you back
for nearly killing me," said Akane as
she settled into a stance to Ranma's 
left.

  "You two girls should go home, 
before you get hurt." Ryouga
dismissed the threat of the two girls,
after all, with his increased strength
he could crush them all easily.

  "How dare you threaten the lovely
Akane Tendo? I, the Blue Thunder 
of Furinkan High, shall punish thee 
for such vile manners!"

  Without even glancing in Kuno's 
direction, Ryouga caught the bokken
as it swung at him.

  "How dare you show such inattention
in battle, I shall smite thee!" Kuno tried
to free his bokken, but it was held fast
by Ryouga.

  "You should know, I've been practicing
for our little match, Ranma." Ryouga
smirked. "Watch this. LIGHTNING BREAK!"

  The image of the dragon on Ryouga's chest
moved, the blue head moving up to the top
position. Lightning flared around Ryouga's
body, repeatedly striking both Kuno and the
bokken. Both crumpled.

  The tattoo of the five headed dragon 
continued to move. Now a reddish head
rose to the top, snarling to reveal a mouth
filled with jagged teeth.

 "INFERNO!" Ryouga brought his hands
forward, bringing a spray of flames towards
his three opponents. 

 Ranma, Shampoo, and Akane twisted and
dodged. The inferno attack seemed to be
a cone of flames, and he could obviously
keep it going for more than an instant as 
he was attempting to keep Ranma centered
in the blast.
---------------------------------------
	Amy looked into her scanner.
"I'm still getting that high dark energy 
reading, I don't think it's the Negaverse,
but it could be related."

	Usagi looked over from where
she was trying to snag a manga away 
from Rei. "...but..."

	"We have to investigate,
it's our duty!" Makoto stood, fist clenched
in front of her as she made a stance. 

	Usagi wailed. Minako
dragged her along anyway.
-------------------------------------
NEXT: Chapter 6/6, a wish, a hope, a
 prayer, and Kasumi is still flying like
a hummingbird on PCP. we'll see you
there!