Mousse didn't have much trouble deciding what to do
with the tapes. He went directly to the Tendo dojo.
Mousse reached there about the same time the occupants
were realizing the existence of a second Ukyou.
"Mousse?" Akane said in surprise as she answered
the knock on the door. "What are you doing here?" Then
she and Ranma narrowed their eyes.
"Or is this part of your and Kodachi's plan?"
"Not now, Saotome," Mousse said in annoyance.
"Whoa, this must be serious," Ranma declared. "He
actually recognized me."
"Kasumi," Mousse ignored Ranma. "I was looking for
your sister Nabiki."
"I am Nabiki, Kasumi is shopping," the middle Tendo
said irritably. "We already have problems at the
moment Mousse, what do you need?"
"I need you to see these tapes," Mousse said,
producing the tapes he had pilfered from Kuno's room.
Nabiki irritably took one and wondered into the living
room.
"What are those?" Akane asked, Mousse handed one
each to Ranma and Akane. "Kodachi's training tapes?"
Nabiki popped one into the VCR and it instantly
started playing.
"I can't do it!!" it was a much younger Kodachi on
the film cradling her hands and cowering on the floor
while her brother stood over her.
"You are allowing yourself to be distracted!" the
voice was Kuno's. "Do it again!!! Now!!"
"But the bar is too hot!! It hurts!" Kodachi
pleaded. The Kuno on the picture kicked his foot into
his dear sister's face.
"Kamisama," Akane whispered. "What was there father
doing during all of this?"
"Hawaii," Nabiki noted grimly.
"I said do it again!!" Kuno shouted. "Get up now
and do it again." The young Kodachi struggled to her
feet and walked to the end of a mat. She glanced at
her brother and then at the red hot set of uneven bars
she was about to run for.
"Kuno must read the same books as my old man,"
Ranma noted bitterly. They continued watching the
tape, it was like passing an accident. You couldn't
help but watch in morbid fascination, all the while
thanking the heavens that it wasn't you.
"Master Kuno," Sasuke's voice came from off camera.
"Perhaps you should find another way to train her."
"Silence, my good Sasuke," the samurai ordered, his
tone was much more civil to the ninja than it had been
to his sister. "This is the only way. Now!! Do it
again!! And don't let go this time!"
Kodachi hesitated only a moment in anticipation of
pain before launching herself at the uneven bars. She
leaped up and grabbed the bars with a sharp cry of
pain, making it through four changeovers before she
released the bars and fell ungracefully to the ground.
"No!! It has to be perfect!!" Kuno shouted, kicking
the already pained girl as she huddled against
herself. "Under all circumstances, perf-" Nabiki
stopped the tape and ejected it with a look of
disgust.
"But we saw her use Kuno as a weapon against
Ranma!" Akane protested.
"I'll bet she regained some confidence about the
same time she started using paralyzation drugs,"
Nabiki noted.
"She didn't like getting rid of them," Mousse
agreed. Then he gasped and stood up suddenly. "I uh,
forgot, I'm supposed to be meeting.....someone."
"Really," Nabiki said, managing a little sarcasm
despite her attitude. "I wonder who."
"Wait a minute, Kuno, that's what's going on!"
Ranma shouted. Akane and Nabiki looked at him and then
realized what he was talking about. Nabiki was mildly
annoyed that he had thought of it first.
"The second Ukyou," both Tendos and Ranma said in
unison.
"Somebody is going to drop Ukyou's charges against
Kuno!"
"So you see officer it was all just a big
misunderstanding," Faux-Ukyou told the cop. "We were
just sparring and some of my friends overreacted."
"And it took you a week to report this," the cop
said, suspicious.
"I wasn't aware that he had been arrested until
yesterday," Faux-Ukyou smiled. "I've been visiting
family."
"Miss Kuonji," the cop said, resigned. "If you're
afraid that he won't be convicted. This isn't the
United States."
"Kuno is generally regarded as the weakest warrior
in Nerima," Faux-Ukyou said sarcastically. "He's a
jerk, but virtually all of us can beat him into a pulp
when we want to."
"I see," the cop said. "Well I don't see where we
have any choice then. Tatewaki Kuno is free to go."
"Good I wouldn't want him in there because of some
over-concerned friends," the chef said. "Catch you
later." The fake turned around and started to leave,
an evil smile formed on the female lips.
It wasn't much later that a limping and still
heavily bandaged Kuno shambled out of the police
station. The swordsman wore an arrogant and triumphant
smile as he took in the fresh air. He was a mile down
the road when he saw what at first looked like Ukyou
leaning against a wall down an Alley.
"Be you the true Ukyou or are you yet another vile
minion of the sorcerer Hibiki?"
"I'm the guy that was hired to get you out of
there," the fake Ukyou passed a large black
handkerchief past herself and suddenly a skinny boy in
a white t-shirt and pants with suspenders was standing
there.
"Copycat Ken," Kuno said in arrogant recognition.
"Who hired you?"
"Your ninja, obviously," Ken answered. "I just
wanted to make sure you knew what the price was before
we have a problem."
"And what was the price?" Kuno asked. "Surely you
know that all my money has been taken away."
"Oh that's all right sammie," Ken smirked. "The
price was another shot Ranma Saotome."
"You think that a pale imitation such as you can
handle the sorcerer Saotome?" Kuno laughed. "Go ahead
and try, he shall still be here for me to smite."
"That is all I wanted to hear," Ken smiled. "Later
sammie-boy."
"Why is it you keep calling me sammie?" Kuno asked.
"Well, oh great samurai, figure it out for
yourself, the boy started to leap upwards.
"Halt!!" Kuno commanded. "Perhaps you can help in
another matter as well."
"This isn't working Ryouga," Ukyou said
despondently. "I just can't train while I'm stuck in
this thing." She thumped the wheelchair angrily.
"Try to calm down Ukyou," Ryouga said, trying to be
soothing.
"In a couple of weeks I'll be able to learn a few
more tricks. Right now I just want to go home." She
said it without yelling this time.
"Yeah me too," Ryouga agreed. "But it's not that
easy to get back."
"Can you stop at the next phone we find?" Ukyou
asked.
"Huh, sure," Ryouga said. He scanned about and saw
a pay phone near one of the park's restrooms. "Why?"
"How much money do we have left?" Ukyou asked as
Ryouga wheeled her over to the phone. The lost-boy set
down the various bags and slipped off his backpack.
For once Ukyou watched as he dug through looking for
some American currency. After the camping equipment
was out the way Ryouga started producing small bundles
of colored paper.
"I can't find any dollars in here," Ryouga muttered
as he dropped an inch thick bundle of small plastic
cards. Ukyou's eyes widened and she blinked as Ryouga
continued to search. "I've never had to spend this
much before."
"Uhm Ryouga, where do you get all this money?"
Ukyou asked.
"One of my ancestors was in Italy and saved some
guy's life, Megaci, Medachi,"
"Medici?" Ukyou asked dumbfounded.
"Yeah that was it," Ryouga said. "Any way that guy
gave my ancestor some money."
"That doesn't explain why you have so much money."
"Well, apparently we haven't used it all yet,"
Ryouga told her as he continued to look through his
backpack.
"How long ago was this?" Ukyou blinked as Ryouga
examined a large ring of silvery metal with what
looked like Caesar's head on it.
"What country is this?" Ryouga asked himself, then
he turned to answer Ukyou's question. As he did so he
tossed the coin over to his shoulder eliciting a near
heart attack from Ukyou. "Oh it was about eleven
hundred years ago."
"And you haven't used it up yet!"
"I remember hearing something like 'most Hibiki
lifetime expenditures being less than half quarterly
accumulated interest' or something like that." Ryouga
shrugged and continued his search
"Uh," Ukyou nodded blankly.
"I'm sorry, I don't have any more American
currency," Ryouga told her. "Well, except this old
coin." Ryouga held up a small piece of metal with a
picture of a buffalo on it. He tossed it in the same
direction as the other coin.
"Never mind Ryouga, I think we can cover it."
"Cover what?"
"We're going to call a taxi, sugar." Ryouga
blinked.
"Never thought of that," he said.
"Oh, and Ryouga," Ukyou said sweetly.
"What?" Ryouga asked suspiciously.
"Go back and pick up those coins you threw away,"
Ukyou blinked cutely. "Please..."
"Where Mousse go two hour!!" Shampoo snapped as
Mousse entered the Cat Cafe.
"I was delayed," Mousse protested angrily.
"Something important came up."
"We had a rush while you were out boy," Cologne
told him. "What was so important that you had to leave
us in the lurch?"
"Uh, did Kodachi come by?" he asked looking about
the cafe.
"Crazy-girl here then gone," Shampoo answered as
she carried an order to a customer.
"She was here, then?" Mousse asked. He thought
something much different, "She's going to kill me."
"The girl left fairly upset," Cologne told him.
"Perhaps you should bring her the items she purchased
at the convention. She seemed quite eager to have
them." Mousse nodded nervously and started to turn
back out the door.
"Go bother crazy-girl," Shampoo told him irritably.
The leaving Mousse turned a moment to address he.
"Don't judge so quickly," he insisted before
leaving.
"Hello, dear sister." Kodachi's blood chilled at
the sound of that voice. She stopped and turned to
look down the hall at her brother, standing there with
his bokken. She had a single packet of paralyzation
powder.
"Why, brother-dear," she answered firmly and
coldly. "How, pray tell, did you get out of jail?" She
thought back to Sasuke and his "errands."
"The unjust-charges laid against me by my enemies
were dropped," he answered, smiling. "I was hoping
that you had something to do with that."
"We had our last agreement in my match against that
brazen redhead you are so fond of," Kodachi reminded
him, backing a step off. Kodachi was not really up to
Ukyou's level of skill, but she had much more
experience with her brother. Tatewaki was not going to
catch her by surprise.
"That is unfortunate," Kuno said, bringing his
bokken down from his shoulder. "Perhaps I should not
have let you end our training so quickly."
"You don't scare me anymore, brother-dear," Kodachi
asserted, knowing that it was a lie as she said it.
"We'll see about that," Kuno said grimly. He
charged forward into a cloud of powder, immediately
his muscles seized up and he toppled over, unable to
move. His muscles didn't even let up for gravity, he
merely lay on his side looking like a toppled statue.
"Well, brother-dear," Kodachi said smugly. She then
started kicking the motionless samurai. With each word
she kicked him again. "It. Seems. That. You. Have.
Not. Quite. Achieved. Per. Fec. Tion." The powder
didn't let the samurai make anything more than minimal
facial gestures, but it was obvious he was feeling the
kicks.
"OO-hahahahahahahahahahha," Kodachi asked, then she
set her foot back in preparation for a stronger kick.
"You didn't really think I'd let you fight me? Did
youuu...." something snared her foot as it left the
ground and pulled back. Kodachi fell face first to the
floor and had to shake her head clear.
"Ah ah ah," she heard Sasuke admonishing her. "You
should know your place better than that Mistress
Kodachi."
"ERRRAAHHH!!" Kodachi shrieked angrily. "Unhand me
you dwarf!!" She grabbed the string tied to her leg
and jerked it, swinging the little man over her head
and into a wall. Unfortunately, Sasuke had experienced
this tactic before, facing Ranma. The little ninja let
go of the rope and twisted about so that he could
bounce off the wall and land lightly on his feet next
to Kuno.
"Forgive me, Mistress Kodachi," Sasuke requested.
"But you know that I must serve my master first."
"It does not surprise me in the least," Kodachi
hissed, whipping the confiscated lasso out to snatch a
chair from a room down the hall. The cramped area made
it difficult to fully utilize the weapon as she was
used to, and Sasuke easily avoided the attack. As the
ninja rolled by the paralyzed Kuno a second powder
cloud formed. Kodachi had a nasty suspicion that it
was something to counteract her poison.
She saw Sasuke run into the wall and her brother
starting to stretch. Then she was bolting down the
hall toward her living area. Kodachi passed
cautiously, knowing where all the booby traps were.
Obviously this included her own additions as well. She
could hold off the two of them a long time from her
room and connecting gym.
She closed and locked her door behind her and
turned around to look at the room. She took a moment
to breathe a sigh of relief before the sound of
clapping hands came to her attention.
"Very good, sister," it was her brother's voice
again. "I didn't think you would make it here." The
second Kuno charged forward, stiffly, but with great
technical skill. Kodachi leaped over him easily and
ran into the gym, snatching a ribbon as she did. It
didn't take Kodachi but a moment to determine that her
opponent was not fighting to full strength. This was
really her brother.
"Come on then, brother-dear," Kodachi challenged,
trying to sound confident. "Let's see who trains who
this time."
"Well, that girl packs quite a punch," Kuno-Ken
said as he stretched out the final effects of the
paralyzation powder.
"Yes, she is much more skilled than you would first
think," Sasuke agreed. "Now we must hurry to help the
master in fighting her."
"And what are you two doing here?" somebody shouted
behind them. They turned to see an angry Mousse
looking at them from the doorway.
"This is private property," Sasuke told him. "I
would suggest you leave."
"Hmhmhmhmhmhmhmhmhm," Mouse laughed evilly. "I
don't know what you and Sanzenin are doing here,
Tsubasa, but I know that you have no authority to be
here."
"Well, well, if it isn't duck-boy," Kuno-Ken said,
smiling and laughing a full Kuno laugh. "Come on then
you pitiful stage magician, see if your silly tricks
can match with the swiftness of the mighty Kuno's
blade."
"Kuno!!" Mousse said surprised. "But you're in
jail."
"That mistake has been corrected," Kuno-Ken
declared. "Those fools knew that they could not
rightfully hold the noble and righteous Kuno."
"It doesn't really matter," Mousse decided. "I can
handle you myself this way."
"We shall see," Kuno-Ken launched forward with a
series of da-da-da's which were interrupted by the
sudden appearance of an entangling chain. Mousse
pulled forward launching Kuno into a short flight.
Surprisingly the swordsman used the momentum to his
own advantage letting carry him into a spinning
roundhouse that slammed Mousse into the wall.
Sliding the sword out of the now loose chain,
Kuno-Ken slashed forward at the stunned Chinese
fighter. Mousse barely rose a chain length to block
the attack in time. Then he rolled out of the way of
another spinning strike using the momentum of the
reflected first strike. Sasuke tried to find someway
to get into the fight, but couldn't get past Kuno-Ken
in the narrow hallway.
Mousse produced a pair of bladed gloves from
somewhere under his robes and slashed in from either
side. Kuno-Ken blocked with his bokken catching
between the claws. Mousse lifted up and threw the
samurai through the wall. Then, suddenly, they were in
the Kuno courtyard. Sasuke gleefully followed behind
them and started manning the various levers hidden
about the estate.
"Now we're in my element," Mousse declared brashly.
He rose a chicken above his head and collected the
eggs that it laid seemingly at his mental command. He
leaped into the air and threw the eggs at Kuno. The
swordsman was obscured in a cloud of fire and smoke.
When it cleared Ryouga was standing there behind his
umbrella.
"Well, I forgot to mention something," Ryouga-Ken
said. "Everywhere is my element!" he shouted as he
tossed bandanas in a swarm at the descending Mousse
who responded with equally large swarm of knives. Then
both were dodging a third swarm of booby trap
propelled javelins.
The ribbon wrapped around the bokken Kuno had
raised before it. Kodachi whipped back, attempting to
take the weapon out of her brother's hand. Of course
Kuno didn't relinquish his grip on the weapon, and so
he let himself be pulled forward along with the
bokken. Kodachi didn't care, Tatewaki was her original
target anyway. If he wanted to negate his block it was
fine with her. A flip of her wrist and the ribbon
released its hold on her brother's weapon.
"AAAAHHH!!!!" Kuno shouted as he flew through the
air in an uncontrolled arc. He stood up deliberately
soon after crashing into the wall. "You still think
that you are a martial artist?" He laughed.
"You haven't gotten near me yet, brother-dear,"
Kodachi noted. "And you won't." She was not nearly as
confident as she sounded, she knew about Ukyou. She
also knew, despite anything she said, that Ukyou was
better than she was.
Kodachi's martial training had been worked into her
gymnastics training underneath her brother's nose.
That combined with her chemical experimentations had
finally allowed her to force some breathing room away
from him.
As Kuno charged in again, Kodachi flipped and
tumbled away. This time she snapped a razor hoop off
one of the racks and tossed it towards her brother. As
the first flew towards its target she tossed a second
and then was moving again. She whipped her ribbon up
and caught one of the upper beams and swung herself up
off the ground.
"Where's your powder, dear-sister?" Kuno asked as
he dodged under the first hoop and slipped his blade
into the center of the second. Whipping the bokken
against the blunt inner edge of the hoop, he
redirected the hoop's path through the extended
ribbon. "Did you perchance waste it on that villain
Saotome?" Kodachi landed relatively gracefully
considering the severed ribbon, but still had to take
a few extra steps to regain her balance.
Sasuke slumped unconscious against a tree, while
Mousse and Ken exchanged fire. Both the martial
artists had gotten tired of dodging javelins, giant
marbles, and other assorted booby trap weapons. This
had produced a brief alliance involving each of them
taking a shot at the unsuspecting ninja.
At the moment Ken was wearing Ranma's form and
infuriating Mousse with a number of Ranmaesque
insults. The mimic did not like the way that the
battle was going. He was going to win, but it would be
a long difficult match. He wanted to be fresh for
Saotome, and already that would require a deal of
rest. Suddenly he whipped the kerchief across his form
and then Shampoo was standing in the fight.
"Mousse no hurt Shampoo?" Shampoo-Ken asked as she
hurled a bonbori at the nearsighted martial artist.
Mousse dodged aside, but didn't hesitate in moving
forward with those claw gloves he seemed to have an
endless supply of. Surprised by the reaction, Ken was
unprepared.
"Nice try, Ken," Mousse commented slashing
downward, and then sweeping the false Shampoo-Ken's
feet out from under her. The mimic kippuped back to
her feet and then leaped back from Mousse. The
kerchief came out again and he was then fighting
Happosai.
"Well, sonny boy, this is taking more effort than I
thought it would." the troll-Ken said. "You can keep
fighting me, or you can go back and stop Kuno from
giving his sister a lesson in loyalty." Mousse
hesitated, narrowed his eyes and turned toward the
house.
"I'll see you again, Ken," he promised as he ran
into the house.
"How I love the male insistence on saving the
damsel in distress," Ken laughed. "Well cheerio folks,
I have a Ranma to destroy." The troll-Ken bounced away
cackling gleefully.
A mini-club bounced off of Kuno's head, distracting
him for a moment and opening the way for the last
three clubs. The first clubs of Kodachi's volley had
all been deflected or sliced before getting within
three feet of the swordsman. Kodachi performed a
double back flip away from her brother and grimly
clutched her full-sized trick clubs.
"If you are going to fight, dear sister," Kuno said
as he recovered from the hits. "You should perform up
to the standards of the Kuno name. This has barely
tested my abilities at all." He calmly strode forward
slowly, standing straight.
"You haven't touched me yet," Kodachi insisted,
taking a step back.
"Even Ukyou's copy managed to split my
consciousness from my body for breath or two," Kuno
swung in with his blade and connected with a
spike-covered club. "All you have managed is a few
lucky shots." He twisted his blade and the club was
pulled from Kodachi's grip and embedded into the wall.
"I'm not scared of you," Kodachi hissed, attacking
with her club. The bokken swished across lazily and
disarmed Kodachi's last weapon. She punched outward
and contacted with Kuno's face, but the untrained blow
barely registered to the samurai-wannabe.
"You should be," he said, grabbing her by the
throat and slammed her into the wall. She hung a foot
of the ground, unable to breathe. "It is my right to
be feared." Kodachi gagged as Kuno slowly crushed her
throat, she tugged at his hand with her own and
flailed ineffectually at the air below her.
Then Kodachi fell to the ground and sweet air
rushed into her lungs, the sensation of breathing
drowned at the sound of a piece of wood clattering to
the ground as well. She looked up, expecting to see
Kuno gloating over her. Instead she saw him unarmed
and wrapped in chains, struggling to break free.
"That is not how one treats a lady," Mousse
lectured sarcastically. "Much less a sister." He
whipped the samurai backwards off his feet. Kuno flew
towards the waiting Mousse he let the chains fall
loosely to the ground as he whipped a large, porcelain
duck into Kuno's face. The training potty struck with
enough force to shatter the duck.
Mousse spun back into a roundhouse that met Kuno in
mid flight after being hit by the duck. The Chinese
martial artist let his foot push Kuno's head in a
reverse arc until the samurai met the ground again and
was sandwiched between hardwood and a human foot.
Before Mousse could follow up with anything else,
the gym was enveloped in a cloud of choking smoke.
When it cleared Kuno was gone without a trace. Mousse
scanned the room briefly before rushing to the weight
table.
"Kodachi are you all right?"
"You saved my life,"" Kodachi said in disbelief.
Mousse looked up from the weight table and turned
towards where the voice had emanated from. He moved,
more cautiously towards where he was pretty certain
that Kodachi was sitting. The master of dark magic was
starting to worry that the gymnast would now start to
obsess over him as well.
"Well, I couldn't ju-*" Mousse was interrupted when
Kodachi reached out kissed him lightly on the cheek.
"Thank you," she said simply, without flowery
additions. For some reason this shy and reserved
action sent Mousse's heart racing.
"I was glad to help," Mousse said and then looked
at the still shaky Kodachi. "Not that I'd want you to
get in trouble again."
"I don't want to stay here tonight," Kodachi said
quietly. Mousse helped Kodachi to her feet and,
deciding that she was still too shaky, picked her up
and started carrying her. Kodachi leaned her head
against his shoulder as they walked along, she felt
safe.
=====
"Caffeinated Kender? What's that, a berserk spell?" -
Tribble, Kender Warrior of the Celestial Kingdom
Signed
He of Too Many Names (Thrythlind/Thryth/Luke/Hyperbole/Pika/Pooka)
http://members.aol.com/thrythlind/snake.html
__________________________________________________
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