Well not you've gotten your self into a real pickle.  How could you
have known that a simple little fan fic would become an addiction.
And now, thanks to your week will, you've found yourself on the Anima
fan fic skid row.
	
	You only consolation, is that you do not appear to be alone, since
the street is littered with similar week minded fools, and out of
work immigrant "toons" from Japan.
	
	Including one that looks strikingly familiar.  A man, warring a
black cloak, and with shifty beady little yellow eyes, who is playing
an old beat up accordion.  Next to him is a sign that says "Will
steal fan fics for food."
	
	"I lost me Akane!"
	
	
	
	"I lost me Nabeki too."
	
	
	
	"Even good old Kasumi.."
	
	
	
	"told me were throw.  Now I got the Tendo, Tendo woman blues."
	
	
	
	"Now Shampoo wants to kill me."
	
	
	
	"And Ranma-chan dues too."
	
	
	
	"Even cute little Ukyou..."
	
	
	
	"Wants to turn me into BBQ, yay I got me the Ranma, Ranma 1/2 woman
blues."
	
	Just then, a passerby plops a coin into Code Name D's upturned spy
hat.  He puts down the accordion and inspects his prize.
	
	"A 5 yen coin!  There is not such thing as a 5 yen coin.  You cheep
basted!  Oh, sorry friend, I didn't see you there.  I see your down
on your luck as well.  Yay, since the market crash, not even I, Code
Name D, can seem to find work.  Oh well, but I still haven't
forgotten about you.  Yes sir, at grate personal risk, I managed to
sneak out the latest.
	
	"As I recall, Ryoga and Bob went off to take a closer look at
something vary unusual, and learned that every one was in danger.
Bob went to go get help, while Ryoga is going back to the ranch to
warn the others.  But he is already too late, because every one else
walked into an ambush.  And where is Ranma and Tarry?  That's what I
would like to know."
	
	Code Name begins to dig into his cloak, and pulls out yet another
manila envelope.
	
	It reads, Curse of the Ghost Dance, Act 6, Charging Into Oblivion.
	"Shhh, don't read it here.  Rumiko Takahashi will surely find out.
She owns Ranma 1/2."
	
	"Moshi, moshi."
	
	You suddenly look above you, and see a Japanese Copyright agents
standing over Code Name D with a Billy club in hand, and impatiently
tapping his foot, expecting something.
	
	Code Name looks up, then quickly attacks his sign with a magic
marker.  It now reads "Will  _READ_ fan fics for food." with the word
steal hastily crossed out.
	
	The copyright agent nods an approval, and then moves on.
	
	+----------------------------------------------+ 
	|           Code Name D presents:              |
	+----------------------------------------------+
	|                 Ranma 1/2                    |
	|       The Curse of the Ghost Dance           |
	+----------------------------------------------+
	|                  Act VI                      |
	|          Charging Into Oblivion              |
	+----------------------------------------------+
	|         Based on the characters and          |
	|   situations created by Rumiko Takahashi     |
	+----------------------------------------------+
	
	Far into the distance hills, deep within the old Indian reservation,
a small lonely camp had been erected.  There were few things here
that could be considered modern convince, for most every thing was
taken from the surrounding  woods.
	
	There was a large lean-to, big enough for a man to stand in at one
end.  A crude stone hearth was laid just outside the doorway.  Around
the camp, were set polls that held up meat to cure in the bright
mountain sunshine, and strung in all places, were various carvings
and beadwork of both ancient and modern art works that turned a
woodland hovel, into home for one particular animal.
	
	And at that moment, that particular animal had taken it upon him
self to relax, and to sing quietly to him self, using the voice and
words of many of his ancestors long since forgotten by both the world
of the white man and the world of his own kind.  Still, it was the
way of things.  Native Americans had always believed in the way of
nature, and to some extent, the arrival and domination of the
Europeans was part of that way.  Still a bitter truth, and his song
was sad and slow to reflect this.
	
	He gently rocked back and forth from his squatted position, a means
of keeping time to his tune.
	
	Before him, placed upon a small fire, was a plane gray tin coffee
pot in anticipation of his guest.
	
	Finally, he opened his eyes, and ended his tune, just as a green
furthered parrot flew in, and perched itself upon a poll where he had
hung some jerky to dry.
	
	"  Bob speak to Shaman.   Evil is a foot, evil
is a foot."
	
	The Shaman offered the bird a small, reassuring smile.
	
	"It is indeed.  The spirit of the grate sky, and the sprit of the
earth have become enraged.  It will not be long before the living are
made to feel their wrath."
	
	With that, he smoothly rose from his place before the fire, taking
the pot with him.  He approached the jerky pole, and pored the hot
water he had prepared over the parrot.
	
	"Whew.  Thanks... squawk!!"
	
	Suddenly, Bob was restored to his normal form, but his weight proved
to be too much for the thin poll, and he promptly fell to earth.
	
	The Shaman released a long sad sigh.
	
	"And I was so looking foreword to that beef jerky," he said, more
disappointed in himself, than with Bob.  "Now, Bob, sit by my fire.
I fear that time is short, and that our actions must be swift.  But
wisdom must come first.  Tell me all that you know, and I will tell
you all that I know."
	
	< + + + >
	
	The Saotome School of Anything Goes Marital Arts, and the Clearwater
School of Anything goes Indian Fighting erupted with a pummeling
counter assault.  Dozens of Indian and Spanish Warriors were felled
within a signal breath of battle as each Artist dispatched the enemy
of their own special and unique stile.
	
	But the ambush was well planed, escape would be difficult.  Already,
a second wave replaced the first with fresh combatants.  Both schools
again collapsed into a defensive circle about the two defenseless
Darenger brothers.  Waiting for the enemy's next move.
	
	Then they made it.  The warriors and solders that were felled, began
to rise to their feet.
	
	"Grate Gallup'en Glue Pots!  Their getting back up!", Kelley
needlessly stated.
	
	"T-t-their like zombies!", Cindy cried out, "We can't beat them this
way."
	
	"Ma-ma-monsters!", Soun whimpered.
	
	"Curs!!", Kuno growled, "Indeed, such tactics demands inspiration!
Genma! Soun! Kelley! Cindy!  Flee with the brothers!  Whilst the
remaining few cover your retreat!"
	
	Had the situation been less dire, some might have taken objection to
Kuno's self proclamation of leadership.  But at this moment, Kuno's
decisiveness was just enough to snap the others into action.
Instantly, Soun and Cindy snatched up Dusty and Cash, and leaped to
the top of the main house, while Genma and Kelley ran point.
	
	Then there were only six of them left.
	Suddenly, solders and warriors leaped up after them.  Ukyou and The
Cajun perused them, and tossed them back into the fray.
	
	"Back off, ya big lug!", Ukyou shouted.  Her threat was reinforced
with a bold laughter from The Cajun.  Then with loud battle cries,
the two leaped back into the fray, spoiling two more solders who
hoped to peruse the brothers.
	
	The clashing of steel against steel and bone against bone continued,
and then saw Kuno back against Marry Ann for protection.
	
	"We can't go on like this cutie pie," Marry and stated, "This is
like pull'en kudzu with a pare of pliers."
	
	"Thou surmises wisely!  Alas, Kuno Tatewaki shall never concede a
direness too grave as to demand a retreat.  Especially when fair
Akane lay with the grasp of this fowl act.  However!"
	
	Suddenly, Kuno stood up tall, and razed his bokken for all to see.
Lighting crashed overhead.
	
	"I order all to... charge in that direction!", Kuno shouted, lowing
his bokken into the direction of least resistance.
	
	The six of them finally plowed throw or leaped over their attackers.
Once on the other side, each turned, and ran as fast as each could
manage.
	
	"This way!  The concealment of foliage shall serve well in our...
charge!", Kuno ordered.  Every one did as they were told, and leaped
over the lonely and rickety barbed wire fence, and into the thin
woods that skirted around the ranch.
	
	The Indian Warriors and Spanish Solders were close on their heals,
and sprinted into the woods after them.  The rear was brought up, and
a warrior and solder scanned around them for signs of their quarry,
and then perused after their companions.
	
	A moment passed, when Kuno erupted to his feet from a pilling of
leaves, and shook his fist at the retreating fighters.
	
	"Curse you.  Forcing the Great Blue Thunder of Furenken High to
retreat is an infraction to which I swear vengeance upon."
	
	"Shut up stick boy.  You want men come back?", Shampoo snapped,
dropping from a tree and confronting Kuno eye to eye, while she
remained suspended upside down from her perch.
	
	"I hate to brake up this touching conversation," Ukyou said, peeking
out from behind a tree stump, "but where's Akane and Redd?"
	
	Kuno's face grew long, then he suddenly slammed his palm into his
brow.
	
	"Curse the fates!  I demand a retreat from the opposite direction
from which Akane and Redd had fled!"
	
	"What of sinor Ranma, and sinroeta Tarry?", Area said, leaning out
from behind a tree, "Not say they herd both in trouble?"
	
	"Hiya, is true!  Ranma in trouble," Shampoo repeated.
	
	"Surly, Ranma-honey can take care of himself," Ukyou said, "What I'd
like to know is where is Bob and Ryoga?"
	
	"The enemies strategy seems clear," Kuno said, "To divide, and
conquer.  Our strength what numbered a mighty sixteen, now dwindles
to our remaining number."
	
	"Jow sou fer suchie sow?", the Cajun babbled as he poked his head
out from a bush.  All eye's suddenly hell to him in complete
confusion. 
	
	"What Bar-B-Q man say?", Shampoo said, still upside down.
	
	"I'm thinking that he wants to know who we are going to be look'en
fore?", Marry Ann said, "Are we to split up and look for them all?"
	
	Then, all eye's returned towards Kuno, who's only response was to
shift his eye's to each side.
	
	"We look for Akane and Redd," Ukyou said, "If they really heard
Ranma and Tarry cry out, then where we find Akane and Redd, we find
their fiancée's."
	
	"Hiya, then where we go?  No can no stay out for ever," Shampoo said.
	
	"Tut tut," Kuno said, "We shall contend with that crises, once it is
upon us.  We shall retreat to the house.  Surly it will offer
fortification, all be it meager.  Perhaps, Mr. Saotome and Miss.
Clearwater have already decided to shore it defenses.  And I can only
pray that the pig-tailed one had found refuge in their presence.
Come, we shall do as the Spatula Girl as advises.  We search for
Akane Tendo and Redd Darenger!"
	
	< + + + >
	
	"Put your backs into it!  What are you, a bunch of slugs!  Heck, I'm
surprise they hadn't just waltzed in here already," Kelley shouted.
She stood up tall and prude in the middle of the living room.  Behind
her, Soun and Cindy labored to move a sofa to Kelley's right.  Genma
was honchoed over with an easy chair placed over his back, and
struggling to move to Kelley's left.  The Darenger brothers appeared,
each on either side of the dinning room table, moving to the right.
	
	It was then that Genma poked his head up to confront Kelley.
	
	"You know, you could lend a hand," he said.
	
	"What?  Some one has to inspire you soft bellied wonders to victory.
I can't vary well do that with my hands dirty now can I."
	
	"Gerrrr!", Genma replied, but he left it at that, and retreated,
returning with an arm full of his panda signs, a hammer in the other,
and with a few nails stuck in his mouth.
	
	"Come on Cindy," Kelley shouted, "I know darn good an well that you
can lift up that king sized hina-bed by yourself!  You don't need to
be tie'n up Mr. Tendo's time!"
	
	"Sorry, wish I could help," Soun said.  He then crossed in front of
Kelley, with his hands empty.
	
	"Hay, where you think your going!  I want you to pull out that load
baring wall with your bear hands, and move it over by the window!"
	
	Soun then crossed back in front of Kelley, still empty handed, and
holding one up to get some one's attention.
	
	"Wait up a minuet Cindy, let me help you with that hina-bed," Soun
said.
	
	Kelley slapped her palm into her face.
	
	"The All-mighty must have been running a little low on the brains he
when brought this batch off the assembly line," she sighed.
	
	"Present company included," Genma said from off to the side.
	
	"I heard that!", Kelley shouted.
	
	< + + + >
	
	Ryoga had continued running for several minuets.  Then, he suddenly
realized that he neglected something.  Something that was important.
	
	Now, what was it.  Let's see, I can't recall ever turning the stove
off.  There is a reason for that I think, yes.  I don't have a stove.
Perhaps I should look where I am going?  Yes, that is it, I'm not
paying any attention as to where I am..
	
	Ryoga's progress is instantly halted when a large and solid looking
tree some how found its way into Ryoga's path.  The force of the
impact was so grate that Ryoga's face had become stuck to the bark,
but gravity then took hold and began to peel him off the tree,
pulling him backwards to the ground.
	
	The world still continued to spin about, but was beginning to
settle, and he finally began to take note of his surroundings.
	
	"A Tree?", he said, sitting up.  It was then that he recognized the
impression of his own face in the tree.  "I don't remember any trees
on the way to the shed."
	
	Finally, he stood up to take in his soundings.  He was now in the
middle of a wooded area.  Defiantly not the ranch.
	
	"Grrr!  Ryoga Hibiki, how dare you allow yourself to get lost when
so much is at stake," he said, shaking his fist at the sky.  "No!  I
must not give up.  A martial artist never gives up."  Then, his shame
began to gather, and his arms limply fell to his sides.  "But it will
take me years to find the ranch.  Oh Akane, please forgive me.  I've
failed you.  Only if, if only, I could hear your voice one last time."
	
	"RANMA ! !"
	
	"Huh?  Akane?!"
	
	Ryoga turned around, just in time to see Akane sprinting towards
him.  But her eye's that he could easily become lost in, seemed
devoid of their normal spark.  In fact, as Akane rapidly closed the
distance, Ryoga realized that they were devoted of any recognition of
his presence in her path.
	
	"Ahhh!"  
	
	Akane plowed through Ryoga like a freight train, and again, he was
bashed hardly against the tree.  This time, a new indentation that
was made by his back side, and the imprint of Akane's shoe now
planted across his face.
	
	"Hold on!  Ranma my love!  I am coming!", Akane shouted, now growing
more distant.
	
	"Ranma my love?", Ryoga repeated as his eyes still spun within their
sockets.  Then gravity again took hold, peeled him off the tree, and
pulled him face first into the ground.
	
	He groaned in agony as he tried to push himself back onto his feet.
	
	
	
	"Be brave Tarry, I'm coming to rescue you!!"
	
	Ryoga once again had his face shoved into the dirt, and Redd
Darenger stepped on the back of his head as he continued after Akane.
	
	"Grrrr!"
	
	Ryoga snapped to his feet, and crouched, ready to give pursuit.
	
	"What are they doing out here?  There suppose to be at the ranch,
fighting with each other.  But they don't look like themselves.
Perhaps I had better fallow them, to make sure their safe.
	
	With that, Ryoga leaped into a stride, and gave pursuit.
	
	< + + + >
	
	"At last, we made It," Ranma-chan said, leaning against a fence post
and wiping sweet from her brow. In the mean time, she worked to catch
her breath.
	
	Boy-type Tarry had half collapsed to his knees, also panting
heavily.  His gray pull over had been soaked throw from his arm pits,
and over the cleft of his chest, and "she" was defiantly wafting that
strong male odder.
	
	The two of them then looked up and surveyed the Darenger Ranch, as
they rested at the entrance of the driveway.
	
	From his corner of the rickety fence, the cow was still there,
quietly watching the two strange humans as if chewed its cud.  It
looked as if it hadn't moved a centimeter sense yesterday.
	
	Then Ranma-chan turned his attention to the sky.  The large white
cloud had grown to cover the entire ranch, and was beginning to look
rather menacing, growing darker in places.  Clearly a storm in the
brewing.  The sky was defiantly angry, and it didn't take that "land
of the rising sun" sense to notice it any more.
	
	"Come on, Tarry," Ranma said, "Let's go see if Akane and Redd are
all right."
	
	"Hah-ee", Tarry responded in English.
	
	Ranma-chan looked at him strangely.  She still understood what
Tarry-kun said, and knew the English word for "yes" as well as any
one.  But it bothered her just the same.
	
	Terry didn't apire to notice that she said any thing odd.  Instead,
he was looking over the ranch for sings of any thing being out of
place.  It looked normal.
	
	Tarry finally pushed himself to his feet, and started to stumble
wearily along the driveway.  Ranma-chan stumbled after him.
	
	The place was quiet.
	
	"Where is every body?"
	
	"I don't know.  It's too Shee-zoo-kah."
	
	"Huh?", Ranma-chan said.
	
	"It's too quiet?", Tarry replied, "Were having moo-Zoo-kah-see
communicating, aren't we.  Something must be interfering with the
pendants."
	
	"This is bad," Ranma-chan stated.
	
	Tarry clearly agreed, and he didn't need to state it ether.
	
	Slowly, the two of them approached the main house, when they
encountered the first worrisome sign.  In the middle of the road, lay
a rusted hulk of an automobile.  But there was something strangely
familiar about it.
	
	"Goldoil's Cadillac," Tarry said, her words were heavily accented,
meaning that the pendant failed to translate again. "He was here."
	
	"The house," Ranma-chan said.
	
	Needing no further Que.  Both Tarry-kun and Ranma-chan rushed to the
front porch of the main house.  Here too, they encountered something
dreadfully wrong.  The window's were all boarded up.
	
	Ranma tested the front door, and found it locked.
	
	"Hay!  Let us in!", she shouted with a pounding on the door.
	
	"Sorry, but their ain't no body here but us chickens!", he heard Mr.
Tendo say from inside.
	
	"Grrr!  Tarry, maybe there's another way in."
	
	Tarry only looked back at him strangely.
	
	"goh-Mehn-nah-soh-ee", he said.
	
	"Ho no.  The pendants have failed completely," Ranma-chan said.
	
	Tarry seem to come to the same conclusion on her own, and started
babbling loudly and pounded on the door.
	
	Suddenly, the door flew open, and a pare of hands reached out and
snatched them both inside, and spilling them out onto the floor.
Before ether of them could react, a wave of hot water washed over
both of them.
	
	Instantly, Genma and Soun and both Darenger brothers assaulted the
door, quickly reboarding it over with a flurry of activity and
hammering.
	
	Kelley approached Tarry, and then suddenly started groping down her
shirt.  Her hand returned from Tarry's cleavage with her pendent, and
then handed it to Ranma.
	
	"You understand what I am'a saying now!?", Kelley said.
	
	"What!  Huh, yay, I can understand you, sort of." Ranma said.
	
	"Something's interfering with the pendants," Genma said, "We found
that by dubbing them up, they work for a little while longer."
	
	"Hay!" Tarry shouted, "I know that I am suppose to be the dumb
blond, but  would some one care to EDUCATE ME ON WHAT IS GOING ON!!!"
	
	"Land sakes girl, you're acting as if it's my fault of something,"
Kelley said.
	
	"That thought had cross my mind, you old hag." Tarry grumbled.
	
	"There is an army of zombies out their boy," Genma said, "And they
got Akane and Redd."
	
	"Then what the heck are we doing in here!" Ranma shouted.
	
	"Right!  Come on Ranma, let's go kick some zombie but, Texas stile,"
Tarry said.
	
	"Right behind you Tarry," Ranma said.
	
	Suddenly, there was the sound of braking glass, coming from second
floor.
	
	"Grate cattle stamped!", Kelley shouted, "We didn't board up the
upstairs."
	
	"Akane!", Ranma shouted.
	
	Instantly, he leapt into action, charging strait up the stairs, and
rounding the corridor, then burst into the guest room.  There he was
shocked to find that a Spanish Soldier had anticipated his arrival,
and was pointing a riffle directly at him.
	
	"GET DOWN!!", Terry shouted.  With one motion, she tackled Ranma to
the floor, just as the gun was fired.
	
	There was an Indian war cry from above, and both Ranma and Tarry
barley managed to role out from under the path of a war hatchet.  But
a second later, they were on their feet, facing their appoints.
	
	The Spanish Soldier and Indian Warrior recovered as well, and
narrowed their gaze back at them.  Readying their weapons for a fight.
	
	Then Ranma saw it.  Tied to a belt around the Spanish soldier's
armor, was something that defiantly did not belong there.  It looked
to be a small, corn husk, female doll.
	
	"These must be the zombies your dad mentioned," Tarry said.
	
	"They don't look so tuff," Ranma said.
	
	"You take the Spaniard," Tarry said.
	
	"I'm on him!"
	
	Both warriors prepared for a fight, as the Spaniard razed his pike
and charged.  Ranma knocked the point away from him, and landed a
punch square in the chest, then against the face.
	
	The impact throws him against the wall, where he stumbled.
	
	Tarry was less pleasant with her appoint, garbing him by the arm,
and tumbled him onto his back against the hard wood floor with a loud
"crack!"
	
	The Indian didn't move to get back up, instead, he, or it, began to
rot away.  The flesh oozed, and then crumbled from its bones, and
then blowing away on an unseen wind throw the open window.
	
	Tarry recoiled in horror, putting her fingers before her in a make
shift cross to ward away what ever evil thing that it was disagreeing
into nothing.
	
	It was at that moment, that Genma and Kelley arrived in the doorway.
Just in time to see the skeleton crumble and disappear.
	
	"Well I'll be branded with a kitchen fork," Kelley said, "He went
just like Goldoil did."
	
	"That means you're next," Ranma said as he looked back at the
Spaniard who was still trapped against the wall like a cornered
animal.  His face was bleeding and he was defiantly stumbling in pain
and confusion.  It was then that the Spaniard just happened to look
to his left.
	
	Standing on the desk, was a male corn husk doll, with black eyes.
One that was vary similar to the doll already strapped to his belt.
Before any one could act, the Spaniard snatched the doll, and plunged
throw the window.
	
	Ranma and Tarry rushed to the window, but saw that Spaniard had
already gotten back onto his feet, and was sprinting away at top
speed.
	
	"Cowered," Tarry shouted from the window.
	
	"I don't think so." Ranma said, "I got a bad feeling that who ever
is behind this, needs those dolls that he took."
	
	"Dolls?" Kelly repeated, "That sucker would be made out of corn
husk, would it?"
	
	"Akane's weird behavior from this morning," Genma said.
	
	"Then we need to stop him!", Tarry announced.
	
	Ranma didn't wait for a reply before he slipped throw the shattered
window and onto the eave.  Just in time to see the Spaniard reach the
edge of the ranch.
	
	"Not so fast you tin can!", Ranma shouted as he landed onto the
ground.  He then kicked up a rock, and threw it with his foot.  As
usual, his aim was dead on, smacking the retreating solder in the
back of the helmet, and knocking him for a full loop.  Buying them
some time to catch up.
	
	"All right!", Ranma said as he leapt to the ground, and began to
closed the distance.
	
	Suddenly, there was a whooping war cry.  Ranma jumped back just in
time to dodge the hatchet of a second Indian Warrior.  Three Spanish
Solders and a third Indian Warrior stepped out from behind the corner
of the house, and cut Ranma off from his pursuit, even as the first
Spaniard leaped back to his feet, and started running again.
	
	"Ranma!  Get Clear!", Tarry shouted, "Fist of the John Henry
Express!!"
	
	Ranma turned around in time to see Tarry let loose with a ki attack.
A glowing giant red fireball that resembled the front end of a steam
powered locomotive.  Ranma recollected his footing, and managed to
leap clear at the last possible instant, just as the attack plowed
throw the full ranks of soldiers.
	
	But Ranma hadn't even landed yet when the warriors began to get back
up from an attack that was clearly no less than fatal.
	
	"What the heck?" Ranma said.
	
	"Ranma!", Tarry shouted.  She was running towards him, but the ki
attack clearly took a lot out of her, "Don't let him get away.  I'll
be right behind you, covering your backside"
	
	Ranma turned, just in time to see the Spaniard sprinting off into
the woods.
	
	"Hay you, come back here!", Ranma shouted as he perused.
	
	< + + + >
	
	Ryoga continued hard on Redd's heals, who was little more than a few
meters behind Akane.  It was strange, because It seemed that Akane
was leading the way, even though she couldn't possibly know where she
was going.	Then, he encountered a new danger.  The fog was beginning
to thicken around him.  An enemy could be standing several feet away,
and he would never know.  But it could work to his advantage, if he
could stay stealthy.  But he decided to rely on the foliage to
conceal his moments any way, incase the fog suddenly thinned.
	
	Suddenly, Akane and Redd came to a stop at the foot of a small hill.
Ryoga quickly crouched down behind a tree.  Where ever it was, Akane
Redd had arrived at their designation.
	
	The fog was just barely thin enough so that he could watch what
transpired, but it was surly getting thicker by the moment.  Soon,
Ryoga was forced to move to a closer tree, so he could keep an eye on
Akane.
	
	Again, he could feel that every thing was wrong here.  He could
almost taste the evil in the air, like the flavor of a dry hot ash.
	
	He peered from around his tree.  Then the fog began to swirl around
the hill, taking up hypnotic forms that almost seemed....
	
	No!
	
	Ryoga tightly shut his eye's, and returned behind the tree.
	
	It's a trick of some kind.  A hallucination.  Some one is working
the fog like a swinging watch, to hypnotize any one who may be
watching.  I've got to concentrate.
	
	"Akane Tendo," a voice said.
	
	"I'm here Ranma," Akane said.
	
	"Ranma?", Ryoga repeated.   But that wasn't Ranma's voice that he
heard.
	
	He opened his eye's and looked about from behind the tree.  The fog
still swilled around, like a slow and graceful sea, growing denser,
and darker.
	
	No!  Must focus.  I have to focus.  Focus... on Akane!
	
	Ryoga tightly shut his eye's, and reached out for her with his
heart.  Trying to feel her place with his love for her.  When he
thought he had achieved this, he opened his eye's, and discovered
that the fog was gone.  Or more likely, that it never really was
there in the first place.  He was there, in the forest, just as
before, only in the open.  It was a good thing that he didn't rely on
the fog to conceal him.
	
	He turned around the tree, and for the first time, saw the full
picture.
	
	"Redd Darenger," the voice said again.
	
	"Tarry, I'm here to rescue.  Be brave," Redd said, his voice echoing
with false courage, and effect of the elusions that they were under.
Again, it was not Tarry's voice that he heard, but that of a stranger.
	
	As Ryoga continued to watch, he saw a dark shadow step from the
depths of the fog.  At first, he thought that it was just a shadow,
but no, it moved and even walked like a man.  It was a dark vestige,
unlike any he had ever seen.  It seemed to be a splotch of night,
given the form of a man in the fog.  Ryoga couldn't be sure, but he
could have sworn that pieces of this shadow ebbed in and out with the
flow of the fog.  Was he real, or simply a patch of fog so dense that
it took the shape of a man.
	
	But one thing was certain.  Who, or what ever it was, had Akane and
Redd in its grip.
	
	"Akane," the shadow said.  It then moved over to Akane, and the fog
touched her check.  Ryoga could hear his teeth cracking as he gnashed
his jaw together, taking all his might to stay in check.
	
	"Yes Ranma?", Akane said.
	
	"You are so beautiful.  How is it that I have never noticed before.
How is it, that I was so blind not to treat you as the precious and
delicate flower that you are.  Akane, can you ever forgive my
blindness?"
	
	"Ho yes, yes I can, Ranma. Ranma!"
	
	The shadow then moved to Redd, small streams of fog seemed to melt
away, making him smaller.  Girl sized.  The shadow then slipped
itself into Redd's arms, and pulled him around it.
	
	"Redd, I was so afraid, so alone.  But now that you are here.  I am
no longer afraid," it said with a deep, dark and evil voice.
	
	"Be still my Tarry.  I will protect you.  With my life!  I swear."
	
	Ho man, if this keeps up, I'm going to retch.
	
	The dark shadow then withdrew itself from Redd's arms.  Redd seemed
not to notice, almost as if he was still under the impression that he
still held Tarry, and Akane, still being caressed by Ranma.
	
	"That's it.  I've seen enough," Ryoga said.  He then stepped out
from behind the tree, and approached the foot of the hill.  The dark
vestige immediately noticed him.
	
	"Release Akane!", Ryoga ordered, "Or face the wrath of Ryoga Hibiki."
	
	Suddenly, a  pare of glowing red eye's open from within the dark
mass of fog, and considered him, then a dark laugh seemed to echo
from the fog itself, from all around him.
	
	"They are mine now.  Even if you should find some way to defeat me,
my power will still hold them.  But be warned, marshal artist, Ryoga
Hibiki, my power is far beyond your pathetic skills or mastery over
your own ki.  Should you chouse to retreat now, you may live a little
longer."
	
	"We will see...," Ryoga said defiantly.  But his voice trailed
nervously.  The swirling clouds returned, and for a moment, it seemed
that he could feel the earth spin away from under his feet.
	
	He closed his eye's and refocused.  But the swirling clouds were
still present when he reopened his eye's.  Meanwhile, his opponent
was unaffected by the swirling fog.  It probably made him even
stronger.
	
	The fog became like a current of rushing water, making his movements
labored and slow, as he fought to retain his footing as well as his
balance into the force.
	
	That was when Ryoga looked back at Akane.  At first, it was to steal
what may well be his final vision of her.  But then he saw that she
was unaffected by the flowing fog.  Her arms were still at rest by
her side, and her hair was still and unmoving.
	
	More of his elusions.	Come on Ryoga, concentrate on Akane.  She is
real, all else is elution.  Use her as your marker.  Focus on her!
	
	The swirling fog increased in ferocity.  For a moment, he thought he
could feel the strength of their "current" as the fog began to sweep
past him.  But he continued to focus on Akane, trying to latch on to
her as his anchor, his reference marker agents the elusions.
	
	He was running out of time.  The blotch of fog was less than five
meters away, and slowly closing in on him.  Perspiration appeared on
his brow, as his battle meditation took its toll on his stamina.
	
	Then, the fog was blown away by reality, as if it was never really
there.  He did it.  And not a moment too soon, since the blotch was
now less than two meters away.
	
	But he also latched onto something else.  His foe could not tell his
elusions were working on him or not, so Ryoga employed the tactic of
deception, bating him in, and fueling his overconfidence.  Meanwhile,
he focused on the task at hand.
	
	His Bukusai Braking Point.  But the question was, could he make it
work on a patch of fog.
	
	Yes.  It would.  The fog was ether another elusion, or it was some
form of self projection.  If it was an elusion, than the braking
point would push right throw it, like a fist throw fog.  If he was
projecting himself some how, then the attack would follow the
projection to its source.
	
	Ryoga closed his eye's, continued to bate him in by pretending to be
still fighting the elusions.  Preferring now to rely his aim and
timing on his other senses.
	
	Then it stopped, just less than a meter away.
	
	"Come, Ryoga Hibiki," the fog said around him, "embrace me in
battle."
	
	Ryoga's eye's flared open, and then he charged forward, instantly
closing the distance with his index finger extended.
	
	"Bukusai BRAKING POINT ! !"
	
	The fog shadow stumbled backwards, and the glowing red eye's shifted
from annoyance, to pure surprise.
	
	Finally, his finger reached the edges of the fog.  As he half
expected, there was no body within.  But his attack still surged back
to its source.
	
	A blinding ball of energy began to swell and seethe within the
figure, and he recoiled, in utter and total agony pain.  A deafening
wind like howl bellowed from all about him.
	
	The figure staggered backwards, crippled in pain, as he grasped his
own head.  His own powers waned, and the spell that held his body
elsewhere failed.  The fog flow from him with a blast that pushed
bast Ryoga and threatened to brush him from his feet.  Within, the
true form of his enemy was revealed.
	
	He was a Native American priest of some kind, garbed in black dyed
cloth, ornaments and feathers dripped around the figure.  His face
was old and shriveled, with the look of a thousand years, his mouth
was hollow, as if it open into a vast void beyond.
	
	Moment's past, and the priests agony grew grater by the second, but
still, he stood.
	
	The seething sphere of energy within the human form began to
compact, then splintered into millions of rays of energy, flowing out
and away from the form, and then recollecting just before it's open
palms.
	
	Its glowing red eye's then narrowed at him.
	
	Ryoga knew what was going to happen next.  He fell back by two
steps, and razed his hands defensively.  But it was not a physical
attack he was concerned with.  With every fiber of his being, he
collected himself.  He could survive this, if he focused, if he
readied himself...
	
	"Bukusai braking point," it said coolly.
	
	Then, the gathering ball of energy before its palms, flew towards
Ryoga.  He braced himself, for the grate pain that was inescapable.
	
	"A A A H H H H H H ! ! ! ! !"	
	
	Agony sired throw Ryoga, his being, shattered throw great and
terrible trauma, his fire of life, fluttered in a grate wind.  His
spirit sank into cold, his nerves were shredded an burned.
	
	The awesome energy of his own attack rippled through him, as he
employed the technique's only defense.  A defense that he had only
prepared himself in theory.  A defense that he though that he would
never have to employ.
	
	Like a stone throw his vary being, the seething energy descended,
scattering his aura like ripples on a pond.
	
	Then, the energy passed throw him.  With a blinding flash, it
emerged from the small of his back, and flew onward, as if it had
encountered nothing.  It's trajectory brought it to a tree, where the
base of the tree promptly shattered into a million splinters.  The
base no longer intact, the tree began to tilt, and then to fall over
him.
	
	Ryoga had survived his own assault, but the agony still haunted him.
He saw the tree descend, but he was to wounded to move.  If he had a
moment, a few seconds, he could recover, but not in time.
	
	"Ryoga!"
	
	Some one landed just next to him, then in a blur of motion, he was
scooped of over his shoulder, and then leapt to safety, and the tree
crashed onto the place where he had been only an instant before.
	
	When his savor landed, Ryoga collapsed into a heap.  But his
recovery was closing.  His ki began to return to normal, still
intact, his pain, was being banished from his mind.  With a grunt, he
finally looked up to see his rescuer standing defensively over him
	
	It was Bob.  His extra large wrench in hand, glared at the black
garbed priest.
	
	But the priest was not impressed.  In fact, he seemed to find the
whole ordeal to be vary funny, and bellowed with a laugh than seemed
to ebb from the vary fog around him.
	
	"Vary good, Ryoga Hibiki.  Surviving your own assault was a feet not
mastered by many.  I must admit, I had under estimated you.  But as
you can clearly see, so you as well, have fatally under estimated me."
	
	"Ryoga!  Are you Okay?", Bob said.
	
	"I will be in a moment," Ryoga said, his voice wavering as he forced
himself to recovered.
	
	"You do not have a moment!  Warrior!", the black figure said.
	
	"I say he has a life time!", Bob shouted.  His wrench then spun
several times, until he held the giant boxed end outward, it's
opening pointed towards the black priest.
	
	He spun the wrench around in his grip, adjusting its hold on it so
that is looked like he was going to torque down an invisible nut with
the boxed end of the wrench.  He then launched his attack.
	
	"ALTAMATE MICANICAL ADVANTAGE ! ! !"
	
	The a pricing ray of energy leapt from the center of the boxed end,
and punched throw the figure fog enshrouded figure.  Then as Bob
pulled the wrench downward,  it seemed as if he was torque the vary
fabric of space and time around the figure.
	
	Bob then counter rotated his wrench, sending it into a controlled
spin, whirling it around the invisible nut with amazing coordination
and precession.  As if a nut was really guiding the wrench along.
	
	The fabric of space and time snapped back into place, the piercing
beam brightened, and suddenly, the black robed priest was wrenched
away from his fog like armor.
	
	Bob then slipped his battle wrench off its invisible nut, and spun
it about in his grip once again, this time, arranging his wrench flat
with the ground, with the open end slipping over the end of the beam.
Bob then pulls the other end for all he was worth.  The beam snapped
to the side, taking the priest with it, and slamming him against a
tree.  Bob continued to apply force, pulling with all his might, but
it was obevues to Ryoga that the priest was fighting back, and could
brake free at any moment.
	
	"NOW!  RYOGA!  DO IT NOW!!"
	
	Ryoga snapped into action, leapt onto his feet, and  charged
directly at the pinned priest.
	
	"BUTSEYE BRAKING POINT ! !"
	
	Ryoga's finger touched the priest, and it screamed.  But unlike
before, his body was instantly blasted apart.
	
	Bob's beam instantly dissolved, leaving only himself and Bob alone
in the fog.
	
	Ryoga turned towards Bob, who was clear fatigued with the strength
of the ki attack he used.
	
	"Say, that's not bad," Ryoga said, "I don't suppose that you could
teach me that trick, could you?"
	
	"Know any thing about auto-mechanics?" Bob said as he approached
Ryoga.
	
	"Um, no.  What dues that have to do with it?"
	
	"It may be hard for you to see, but I am not really a marshal
artiest.  I am just a vary skilled mechanic.  One that knows how to
apply to physical laws of the universe to every thing around him.
Such as torque and leverage that I just used.  Understand."
	
	Ryoga reached for the back of his head.
	
	"Ah... no.  Wait a minuet, Akane!"
	
	Ryoga turned back towards the hill, and saw that Akane and Redd were
still standing in their trance like state, and were far enough that
it was hard to see them in the fog.
	
	FOG!  Oh no!  He tricked me again with his elusions!
	
	"Akane!" Ryoga yelled as he ran towards here.
	
	Suddenly, the fog seemed to merge into a dense not, preventing Ryoga
from reaching Akane.
	
	Then, the evil laughter returned.
	
	The blotch of fog quickly became as dense not that was as black as
night itself, and the black garbed Indian Priest stepped forth once
more.
	
	Ryoga skidded to a halt, and readied his umbrella.
	
	Bob came up next to him and held his wrench at the ready.
	
	"Brave warriors, with great skill, and mighty soles.  But you are
doomed none the less.  Prepare yourself, for my assault," it said.
It then razed his arms to either side of him.
	
	Suddenly, there were two distinct shrieks.  But they weren't coming
from the fog like the priests laughter was, but from something from
within the fog.  Two great bald edgeless flew throw the smoke, and
landed upon each arm.  Their talons griping his flesh.
	
	The fog then began to swirled about him once more, coalescing into
to thin knots at ether side of him,  solidifying into two perches.
Both Eagles stepped forward, off of his arms, and onto the perches.
Their beady eye's eyeing them hungrily.
	
	The black priest took yet another step back.  The sky split open,
and a lighting bolt struck the ground at his feet, and a weight high
fire erupted from the ground.
	
	"The two of you shall survive, but live no longer.  Enter, the web
of life, as a form fitting your altar selves."
	
	Ryoga and Bob braced themselves, and dug in their heals, and coiled
their mussels.  Their minds raced, and grasped every detail and
twitch that the priest made.  No assault, would catch them by
surprise.
	
	The priest glared at them hauntingly.  Then, with a loud growl, he
razed his arms.  The sky crackled with lightning above him, thunder
pounded the air.  With glowing eye's, released his assault.
	
	He began to dance.
	
	Bob and Ryoga face vaulted.
	
	"Huh?", Ryoga said, almost dropping his guard.
	
	"What the?", Bob said, blinking in disbelief.
	
	"Hi-yaa hay-ya, Hi-yaa hay-yaa.... ", it changed, dancing around his
lighting fire.  He crackled around both Eagles, then started his
second lap.
	
	"I don't get it?", Ryoga said.
	
	"Maybe were suppose to ask him to a barn dance or something," Bob
said.
	
	The black priest now started his forth lap around his fire, still
chanting.
	
	"Hi-yaa hay-ya, Hi-yaa hay-yaa.... "
	
	Suddenly, the sky above them cracked with lighting.  A dark, black
cloud quickly formed above their heads.  Thunder rolled within it.
	
	There was another crack of lighting, the boom of its thunder and
then if began to rain.  A cold rain.
	
	"It's a rain dance!", Bob said, but is was already too late.	
	
	Ryoga swallowed, but already, the transformation had occur.
	
	 Ryoga said.
	
	 Bob said.
	
	As quickly as the rain started, it has stopped, and the priest
towered over them.
	
	Ryoga's pig form still stood defensively on all fours.  Bob was
balanced on two claws, one wing held uselessly before him.
	
	Then Ryoga looked up, back into the eye's of the eagles, and the
hunger that he saw there, took on a new meaning.  It was now the
glare of certain death.
	
	The laughter of the black priest echoed once again around them.
	
	To be Continued...
	
	_________Closing Credits________________________________________
	-->Insert the them song for Get Smart here.<--------------------
	----------------------------------------------------------------
	Story by : Douglas E. Kulp
	Editing by : Jimmu aka Chris Martin [insert e-mail address here]
	Maga-thanks Jimmu C8^)x[
	Based on stuff by : Rumiko Takahashi
	Transportation and lodging by : Code Name D.
	Shampoo, Spanish Fly dose not work that way.
	
	 ________________  +------------------------------------------+
	[   Code Name D  ] |Comments and critiques are welcome.       |
	[   ___/\/\___   ] |Flames and gripes are also welcome.       |
	[    _(_@ @)_    ] |Just use your pre-installed Download      |
	[   _\__\/__/_   ] |Editorial Listing of Elements To be       |
	[   \   () * /   ] |Enhanced.  Also known by it's acronym     |
	Beware  of the spy |as the DELETE key, to send it on it's way.|
	dougkulp@feist.com +------------------------------------------+
	or code_name_d@my-deja.com            The rest is at:
	http://www.tass.org/fanfic/ranma.curse-of-the-ghost-dance

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