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A Different Brand Of Mousse part 7

A Ranma 1/2 Fanfic by Mark Ferrer

Disclaimer: All rights are reserved to their respective owners. Only the
original characters are mine. Don't sue me, please. (Can't go to school
and go to court at the same time can I?)

Note: I honestly can't tell if I've taken some liberties with some/all
of the characters. Sorry, I couldn't help it.
Thoughts are in <>
Normal dialogue is in "quotes"
Text (panda sign/reading from written material) is in []
Chinese in {}

Author's Intro: Took me long enough, ne?

What's happened before: Mousse meets the three Goddesses and Keiichi.
Skuld made some interesting observations as to what's wrong with Mousse.
It also turns out that Urd does know Mousse in some way. Ranma talks
with Ukyo about the challenge and her thoughts on the other fiancees.

****************************************************************************

     The procession of Prince Malcolm slowly made it's way to the City
of Alusia. The horses were tired from the distance involved in getting
to the city and the men were engaged in small talk. The mood of the
group was light because the union of the two kingdoms had been thought
of for many decades and it was finally coming to pass. Being in a
beautiful forest in the fall also lightened the mood.

     Prince Malcolm rode beside his most trusted Royal guard, who
everybody called 'Falcon'. "Well, it seems that your worries were for
not. Our little band has repelled all attacks without a single casualty.
What do you have to say about that old friend?"

     Falcon smiled and said, "We still aren't there yet my Prince. A bit
of paranoia never hurt. It's kept you safe so far."

     Malcolm nodded and said, "True enough. Where would I be without
you."

     <Yes, where indeed.> Falcon thought. "What of the engagement? Are
you still going through with it?"

     "Of course I'm going through with it. The happiness of thousands is
of more importance than my own. Besides, if I didn't go through with it,
Princess Diandra will have to marry my brother." Malcolm said.

     "Well, Phillip is rather mature for a twelve year old." Falcon
joked.

     Malcolm laughed heartily and said, "I'd love to see Diandra's
reaction if that actually happened. Phillip probably wouldn't mind at
all."

     Falcon smiled a crocodile smile and thought, <Where the hell are
they!!>

     Suddenly, the guard in front of the two fell down dead. An arrow
lodged through his neck. At the sight of this, everybody drew out their
swords and prepared for the attack. The attackers ran screaming out of
the woods, wielding sword, battle axes and clubs. Arrows whizzed by,
most hitting their mark.

     Malcolm hacked down two on his right before withdrawing to take in
the fight. All his men were being swarmed by the attackers. They were
not going to win this fight.

     "Prince!" Falcon cried out a couple meters from him. "Let's make a
break for it!"

     Malcolm nodded and spurred his horse on towards Falcon. The two
rode on for two minutes before they slowed down.

     "That's strange. Why aren't they following us?" asked Malcolm,
looking back every now and then.

     Again, from out of the forest, people came out with weapons, this
time not attacking but surrounding the two in a big circle.

     Malcolm raised his sword to the attackers. He would fight to the
very end.

     Falcon dismounted and his horse trotted over to one of the
attackers. He turned to Malcolm and said, "My Prince, would you allow me
the honour of a duel to the death?"

     "Wh-what?! What's the meaning of this?!" asked Malcolm, turning his
horse so he was facing Falcon.

     "Sometimes you are very dense. This is a duel. I'm going to use
this sword and kill you." he said in a tone used on little children.

     Malcolm sized up his ex-friend for a moment then dismounted. "Who
are you really?" he asked.

     "Why I'm Falcon..." he said matter-of-factly. "...of the Black
Swords."

     He unsheathed a sword the prince had never seen him carry. The
blade was as black as night. Falcon also unsheathed his other sword and
held it up for everyone to see. The silver colour of the sword turned
black.

     <What sorcery is this?!> thought Malcolm. "Why are you doing all
this?" he asked, staring at Falcon as he touched the black swords to his
armor, also turning it black.

     "Rather simple really. You've got a very big price on your head.
Enough for everyone," he said pointing to the men surrounding them, "to
live well for at least till spring."

     Malcolm moved into a defensive position and said, "If I win, your
men will still kill me, correct?"

     Falcon looked towards his men and grinned. "Of course they will.
But fight me and your death will be quick, I assure you. They on the
other hand..." he trailed off, letting his words hang.

     Malcolm looked around him and without warning, charged towards
Falcon, swinging his sword wildly. Falcon side-stepped and allowed
Malcolm to pass by him, hitting the prince on the head with the flat
side of his right sword.

     "Perhaps, I should only use one sword against you." Falcon said
confidently, sticking one of his ebony black swords into the ground.

     Malcolm turned to face his enemy again. He faked to the left and
swung to the right, where his sword made contact with Falcon's. They
locked for a moment before Falcon withdrew and slashed horizontally. The
prince dodged and thrust for Falcon's heart. Falcon dodged again and
slashed Malcolm in the side. Malcolm fell to the ground, clutching his
side, trying to stop the bleeding.

     Falcon looked at the blood on his sword and said, "Perhaps if you
weren't always sneaking off with that mysterious woman of yours, you
would have learned to fight like a man."

     Malcolm staggered to his feet, using his sword to stand up. His
vision was starting to darken. He charged for Falcon again, slower than
the previous times to try and see where his opponent's sword would be
coming from. He saw a flash from the corner of his eye and blocked the
incoming sword.

     "Not bad." Falcon commented as they locked swords again. "But it's
almost time for supper." with that, he drew out a small dagger from his
belt and pierced the prince's heart.

     The prince staggered back, staring at the dagger lodged in his
chest. Pain was registering but it was being blocked by a different
emotion. Shock. It wasn't everyday you see a piece of metal stuck in
your body. He walked back a couple more steps before falling on his
back.

     Falcon gave a small bow to his fallen enemy and smiled, "All too
easy." He turned to two of his men and said, "Get him ready to see King
Eric."

     The men went up to the body and started moving him to one of the
horses. One holding him by the arms, the other by the feet. Suddenly, a
few meters from them, a bolt of lightning stuck, sending the two men
sprawling and startling the others. Falcon looked at the blast site and
saw nothing but blackened ground. He looked over to the body of the
prince and saw a white haired girl crying over the body. His men were
all too shaken up by being so close to the bolt so he decided to check
out the situation for himself.

     "I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry." the girl cried over Malcolm's body,
"I couldn't make it in time." Tears flowed freely and she sobbed, not
caring about anything else but her dead lover.

     Falcon stared curiously at the girl crying over the body of his
latest kill. He couldn't understand a word she said but he still asked,
"Who are you?"

     The girl started a turned to the voice. Her look of sadness turned
to quiet rage and she in his language, "You killed him for money?"

     "Yeah, so?" said Falcon disinterestedly. <This girl isn't a
threat.> he thought to himself.

     The girl's voice turned low and dangerous. "You deserve to die...
but that is too kind for someone like you..." Suddenly, a column of pure
light surrounded the girl. It stretched from the ground to the sky and
the once still wind now blew hard, coming from the girl. Falcon's men
scattered like leaves but he stayed in pure awe.

     The girl chanted in an unknown language and before Falcon knew it,
a glowing ball formed in her hands and was coming straight towards him.
He reflexively dodged but somehow, it came back like a boomerang,
hitting him in the back. The force of the impact was enough to knock him
flat on his face.

     Falcon did a mental check to see if anything seemed wrong. Sensing
nothing, he got up and said, "What was that? Some kind of joke?"

     The girl didn't answer him. She was kneeling over Malcolm's body
again. "I'm sorry my love but that's the best the Goddess of Love can
do. Until I see you in heaven." with that, she gave him a kiss on the
lips and disappeared in a flash of light.

     Falcon smirked and said, "Well, that's that."

****************************************************************************

     Mousse looked up at the starry sky above him. He was looking out
the window of a hut modeled to look like his older version's. He was
wondering the significance of the dream he just had. All his life, that
was the only dream that came to him. The events played back the same
everytime.

     <What could it mean?> Mousse thought. During his stay in Japan, he
had done research in the libraries during his breaks. One of the
intersting facts that he found out was that there was a real Prince
Malcolm and Phillip. Searching for the man named Falcon was practically
pointless because he obviously belonged to a clan or guild of some sort.
Secrecy would have prevented him from finding anything.

      <Who was that girl?> he thought. He formed an image in his mind of
the scenes that unfolded in his dream. He focused on the girl. She
seemed so familiar for some reason. And what was with that beam of
light? He was a magician by hobby and all he knew were tricks and
illusions. What happened in the dream could not have been an illusion.
Coming down in a bolt of lightning pretty much proved that. The blast
she threw at the man named 'Falcon'. What could it have been? His mind
was absolutely sure that it wasn't a ki blast. He didn't know how he
knew but he just did. His thoughts flashed back to what the girl said to
the dead prince. He focused, trying to discern what she was saying to
him. The words were too faint but he still tried.

     Frustrated, he got dressed in his usual robes and went out into the
real world. He squinted from the mid-morning sun. The notebook his older
self gave him had nothing about how to make the time in your void the
same as the outside world. He looked around at his surroundings. It
wasn't hard to tell that he was back in Nerima. The infamous panty thief
was running away from a group of angry girls. They were running out the
gate of Furinkan High on a straight course towards Mousse.

     <Even on weekends...> Mousse thought, getting out of the way of the
incoming mob. The mob usually consisted of girl during the weekdays but
since it was the weekend, even more girls were chasing around Happosai.

     "What a haul! What a haul" the perverted master yelled
triumphantly.

     "Get back here you old lecher!" came the battle cry of the running
girls.

     The group passed by Mousse who smiled inwardly. <Ah hell, might as
well help them out.> Mousse instinctvely closed his eyes and focused on
Happosai.

     The girls in leading the pack barely had time to move out of the
way as Happosai sped to a halt a few feet from them. The others behind
them almost fell on Happosai but managed to stop in time.

     "Wha-what's going on?" on of the girls asked.

     A closer examination showed that Happosai was levitating off the
ground. Mousse had stopped Happosai in between strides.

     "Get back! It might be some sort of trick." another girl said.

     "What did you girls do to me?!" Happosai asked. "I can't move.
What's going on?"

     One of the braver girls took a practice swing at Happosai with a
broomstick. The old pervert didn't move and inch but shouted, "OW!! Hey,
this is unfair! Why can't I move? Someone help me!"

     "Hey! Just like baseball!" the girl said.

     "Let's get our stuff first." one of the girls said.

     The girls retrieved their undergarments and then proceeded to smack
the two foot senior to their hearts content.

     <I can't believe that actually worked.> Mousse thought. <I wonder
what other things telekinesis can do?>

****************************************************************************

     The smell of okonomiyaki and ramen was still heavy in the air as
all the campers gathered at a clearing in the forest. Genma and Cologne
took turns teaching Ranma while the girls watched.

     "Hey Akane." Ukyo said out of the blue. "What do you think of
Ranma's chances against Mousse?"

     "I haven't seen how Mousse fights but seeing how worried Ranma
looks, I think that this will be are really close fight." Akane said.

     "You didn't answer my question. Who do you think will win?" Ukyo
asked.

     "Ranma win of course." Shampoo said confidently.

     Ukyo looked at Shampoo and asked, "What about the rumours?"

     Akane looked concerned and said, "What rumours?"

     "You know about the fight Mousse and Ranma had before we all left
for this trip right?" Ukyo asked Akane, who nodded slowly.

     "Well, after that fight, some of the witnesses came to the
restaurant and told me what happened. Everyone said that Mousse could
have beaten Ranma easily but just quit after a little talk with Shampoo.
My customers couldn't remember what was said at that point." Ukyo turned
to the Chinese girl and said, "So Shampoo, you mind telling us what
happened during that fight?"

     Shampoo looked at the two girls and said, "Shampoo tell Mousse she
no love him. He leave."

     "Then why would he still want to fight Ranma?" asked Akane, showing
obvious signs of concern for her fiancee.

     "Maybe trying to keep airen from marrying Shampoo by killing him."
Shampoo said coldly.

     "He would really do that would he?" said a panicking Akane.

     "Well, those weapons he's always throwing around don't look
harmless Akane. That's got to be it." Ukyo reasoned. "Besides, why else
would the old ghoul teach Ranma such advanced techniques if she didn't
fear for his life."

     "I don't know why but I still can't completely believe Mousse would
actually kill for something like that." Akane said disbelievingly.

     "Akane forget time Mousse try turn Akane into duck?" Shampoo said
questioningly. "Hidden Weapons martial art is for killers."

****************************************************************************

Last night in the Amazon's tent...

     {Great-grandmother, do you think that Ranma can beat Mousse?}
Shampoo asked.

     Cologne looked into her grand-daughter's eyes and saw the small
fire of hope that burned within her eyes. {If son-in-law masters these
techniques, I'm sure he will.} Cologne lied, the words 'hope must never
be extinguished' running through her mind.

     {Good night Great-grandmother.} she said softly, remembering the
nightly ritual.

     Cologne answered with, {Good night great-granddaughter.} Cologne
stared up at the ceiling, unable to find sleep quickly due to her
troubled mind. <I wonder how this will all turn out.> she thought.

****************************************************************************

     "...and then I blasted that guy and returned to heaven." Urd
finished her story.

     "Then why are you trying to find that guy from last night?" Skuld
interrupted.

     Urd sighed and took chuged some sake. "I was just getting to that!
The spell I put on that mortal is the most powerful spell the Goddess of
Love can ever put on a person. It's the Spell of Unrequited Love. It
makes the person only like one individual but that individual would
forever spurn the other. It also prevents people of the opposite sex
from falling in love with the person with the curse."

     "How could you possibly cast a spell like that?" Skuld asked.
"You're a limited Goddess, that kind of spell must take enormous amounts
of power to keep it together."

     Urd threw the sake lid at Skuld. "Stop interrupting! Anyway, when I
cast that spell, I kinda screwed it up."

     <Figures.> Skuld thought, casually stretching to get the lid that
missed her and readying it to throw at Urd.

     "I used too much power and the spell didn't vanish when the person
died. Instead, it reincarnated the soul of the person and passed on the
spell. It also gave that person a different personality from the
previous person. Since then, I've been trying to find the latest
incarnation of the guy I cast the spell on. It's hard because of the
fact that the person is different each time. It's so hard that by the
time I've found them they're already dead."

     "What do you mean?" Keiichi asked.

     "Well, humans don't survive too well without love in their lives.
Usually, when I catch up to the person, they'd committed suicide or
murder. There are still places in the world with the death penalty you
know. Funny thing is that everytime I get to the body, Death is always a
couple seconds behind me. One time he asked if I was trying to beat him
to the punch or something." Urd said with a slight smile, remembering
that incident.

     Urd took another swig from the bottle before saying, "Lately,
Father has been getting suspicious as to why there's so much drain on
the Yggdrassil so I had to find an excuse to go to Earth. I need find
that guy and lift the spell before Father finds out."

     Keiichi looked thoughtfully for a moment and said, "Last night,
Skuld said something about that guy having a dirty looking aura. What
could that mean?"

     "That means that all the personalities are still within that
person. They haven't been able to reach Heaven." Bellandy answered.
"Theoretically, you could call on one of those souls and be able to talk
to them."

     The group grew silent for a moment when Urd asked, "So Belldandy,
can you finally tell me where that guy is?"

     "Well, Mousse says that he lives in a place called Nerima. It's not
very far from here. In fact, we're racing a local university there. Why
don't we all go together?" Belldandy said.

     Urd looked like she was about to protest but said, "Might as well.
I feel too tired to do much today. He probably drained me accidentally
by being so close." With that, Urd finished off the bottle and headed
off to the kitchen for more.

     "Well, when Urd screws up, she does it big time." Skuld said when
Urd was out of earshot.

     "Skuld, that's not very nice." Belldandy chided.

     "So what do we do now?" Keiichi asked the remaining Goddesses.

     "Well, if I were you, I'd probably try to find Mousse right now and
begin setting things up. I mean, it's not like you'll have time to do
everything you need to lift the spell during the races." Skuld said
matter-of-factly. "And if you try to do everything after the races,
it'll be around the middle of the night when you're ready to lift the
spell. Let's face it, the only way to get this done quickly is to send
someone to tell him all about it and start getting everything ready..."
Skuld trailed off when she saw the look on Keiichi and Belldandy's
faces.

     "Skuld, you will help Urd out and go meet up with Mousse won't
you?" Belldandy asked sweetly.

     Skuld sighed and said, "Okay older sister."

****************************************************************************

End Part 7

Author's Notes: I finally got this out! The reason is that I'm very
lazy. School has nothing to do with it either. Anyway, for a short
while, I'm going to stop writing new chapters. The old chapters
desperately need revisions because they still aren't completely what I
wanted. The revisions will be kinda like what George Lucas did with Star
Wars. New scenes, reworked scenes, computer generated animals and
spaceships, new song... just kidding.

Other news: I kinda have a new Mousse fic idea that opens up a lot of
crossovers. All I have is a prologue but I might just tie it in with
'Brand of Mousse.' My Tenchi fic might also be tied into 'Brand of
Mousse.'


Waste of space: A couple weeks ago, someone on the FFML sent couple
compatibility ratings for anime characters. They got the results from
the site www.lovecalculator.com. You simply put the first names and the
last names of the couple or couple to be. I've tried it out using Mu Tsu
and here's what I got:

Mu Tsu + Xian Pu = 1%
Mu Tsu + Akane Tendo = 58%
Mu Tsu + Nabiki Tendo =  45%
Mu Tsu + Kasumi Tendo = 46%
Mu Tsu + Ukyo Kuonji = 63%

Does this have any influence on 'Brand of Mousse'? You'll just have to
read and find out. Also, does anyone know the Goddesses last names?

This match up has nothing to do with anything with the fic but I just
have to share it with the rest of the world:

Mikado Sanzenin + Kasumi Tendo = 91% (Nabiki got 2 points less.)