As always, all feedback is welcomed!



C&C and other feedback, public or private, is welcomed on this and all
previous parts. If you need the previous parts, E-mail me or see my web
page. Prereaders: A few minor things that I thought of have been added.



			     POOLS OF HORROR

			 A Ranma 1/2 fanfiction
			     by Gary Kleppe


			PART FOUR: DESPERATE MEASURES

"Here is legendary training ground. Cursed springs of Jusenkyo. This
place very dangerous. You very strange ones to come here."

The pudgy man in the seventies-style Chinese uniform stepped to the side
and pointed, without looking, into the clearing. In that place were
hundreds of small springs with long bamboo poles sticking out of them.
Each of the pools had its own horror. There was some terrifying creature
at the bottom of each one, ready to spring out onto any unsuspecting
victim. Akane could not see them, but she felt their presence. In her
mind she knew that they were there.

"Let's go, Ranma." Akane jumped up onto one of the poles, followed by
her fiance. She faced him, assuming a combat-ready stance. "I won't make
things easy for you."

"Hey, like you ever did?" he sniggered. "Just don't make me eat any of
your cooking!"

"JERK!!" Akane swung her mallet, knocking Ranma off of his pole and
sending him plummeting below.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!!" Ranma cried, as he fell, tumbling down to the
ground in slow motion. Akane strained to see him in the dim evening
light (hadn't it been daytime moments ago?) as she heard a splash from
below.

She jumped down from her pole to the ground below. "Ranma?" Bubbles rose
from the spring next to her. She turned...

... and a skeleton rose from the pool. A skeleton wearing Ranma's gi
bobbed up, empty eye sockets gleaming in the moonlight.

Loud, uncontrollable laughter was heard. Akane looked toward the source.
It was the Guide, his face obscured by the darkness. Akane said angrily,
"You never said anything about --"

He stepped into view. He now had the face of Principal Kuno.
"HAHAHAHA!!! 'Ey, wahine, we wen' made one o' dese springs fo' you too,
yeah!"

Suddenly, Akane found herself immersed in water, the laughing Principal
visible above the water surface. Akane, being unable to swim, splashed
around helplessly, slowly sinking to the bottom.

Desperately holding her breath, she reached the bottom. Her powerful leg
muscles pushed, propelling her upward. After long seconds she reached
the surface...

... and the surface was covered by some transparent barrier. Akane
struck the barrier, again and again, as hard as she could, but it did
not budge. She struggled desperately, as the last traces of air were
gone from her lungs, and the water would be denied entrance to them no
longer, and the man kept on laughing, and laughing, and laughing...

... and Akane woke. She was wet; at first she thought it was from the
pool, then she realized she was covered in her own sweat.

Then her door opened.

***

Shampoo woke. She checked her watch: Seven A.M., Japanese time. The "Red
Eye" flight she was on from Beijing to Tokyo would be landing soon. She
was sad about her great-grandmother, but there was nothing that could be
done for her now. She was sad to have had to leave her amazon sisters,
the friends she had known from childhood. But she had to come to Japan,
to see if she could help Ranma.

Meanwhile, back in Shampoo's village, her great-grandmother was
contentedly lapping up a saucer of milk.

***

It was seven A.M. in the Tendo living room. Happosai stood on the table,
petulantly pacing back and forth. The scene had been going on for hours.
They were at an impasse.

"Please, master," Soun pleaded. "You've got to help Ranma!"

"Or what?" Happosai snapped. "Or you'll all hate me forever? You
probably will anyway!"

"Or... or..." Soun turned to his middle daughter. "Tell him, Nabiki."
Nabiki would be able to persuade him, she had to be.

The old man jumped onto Nabiki's lap. "Okay, or what? Come on, tell me!"

Nabiki thought for a moment. "Nothing," she said weakly.

Soun gaped. "What??"

"I said nothing!! None of you can outfight him, can you? And you just
can't blackmail someone who doesn't give a damn about anything!"

"So," Happosai said with a smug air of superiority, "we finally have
that straight."

"Master Happosai," Kasumi said, "won't you help Ranma? He was your
friend. I'm sure you want to see him back as much as the rest of us do!"

"Yeah, that's what I don't get," Nabiki said. "Why don't you want to
help him? If nothing else, he was a playmate of yours; and Ashura might
come for you if he isn't around to get in her way."

"You think it's that easy, eh?" Happosai sounded a little offended.
"Think that the only reason Happosai won't help is that he's an evil,
cruel man? Apparently you have no idea what you're asking.

"Yes, I did receive a delivery from Cologne-chan. A special variety of
'raw' Jusenkyo water. When a curse victim is doused with this water, it
causes a sort of ionization, a temporary separation of the curse spirit
and the host body. A special technique, with which I am familiar, can
then be used to mentally reach in and pull out the curse spirit, thus
bringing the host completely back to normal."

"But Master, then why..."

"Don't get it, do you? The curse spirit must have a host! If I reach in
with my mind and yank it out, it attaches itself on to me. To free Ranma
from his possession, I would have to get possessed myself! Totally and
permanently! Now... is there anyone here who'll call me an evil, cruel
man for not being willing to make that sacrifice?"

No one spoke up. No one could think of anything to say.

Lili quietly slipped out of the room and up the stairs. She had heard
enough. If it would help, if it were possible, she would gladly agree to
let her spirit be moved to the old man's body, or even be sent off to
oblivion. But it made her feel so bad to be treated as a parasite, some
unwanted person who brings nothing but misery and must be gotten rid of.

Passing Akane's room, she heard a cry of agony from within. Perhaps she
could help, she thought. She opened the door.

Akane was obviously startled. "Couldn't you have knocked?! This is my
private room! Don't you understand that?"

"I'm afraid I don't," Lili said meekly. "I guess I wasn't raised with
the concept. I heard you call out and thought I could help. I'm sorry to
intrude on you, I'll go."

"No, wait. Please stay," Akane said. She had done it again. Though Ranma
was gone, maybe forever, she was still chasing him away when he was
trying to be nice. "I was just having a nightmare. How did I get up
here, anyway? Last I remember we were downstairs with Happosai. What
happened? What's the situation?"

"Your friend Ukyo went to sleep in your sister Kasumi's room. The
others, the ones named Kuno, went home to rest. You fell asleep in the
living room around three o'clock, and your father and sister carried you
up here. The rest of us have been up all night trying to convince
Happosai to help, but so far he won't. I'm sorry. If there were anything
I can do, I would. I never wanted any of this to happen."

"I know. I'm the one who should be sorry. Sorry for yelling at you just
now, and yesterday too. I just didn't understand... I didn't know, I
thought you were Ranma... oh God he's really gone.... We never even said
goodbye! The day before, I was just yelling at him, over some petty
little annoyance, and he just kept on saying 'I'm sorry'. That must have
been the last time I talked to him. Wherever his spirit is now, he's
going to remember me as the girl who hated him. The one who could only
scream at him when he needed help.

"Why is it so much clearer now that he's gone? Oh, Ranma, if there's any
of you left in there that can hear me, I don't hate you. I love you!"

Lili held Akane in her arms, not knowing what else to do. "He knows,
Akane. I'm sure he knows."

***

Kasumi changed her clothes and headed back downstairs to get started on
the day's breakfast. She heard Akane from outside her door, talking to
Lili. She thought about going in to try to help, but decided against it.
What could she do? Reassure her sister that everything would be all
right? It seemed very much that everything would not be all right.

She thought about Akane and Ranma. The pain of losing a loved one was
enormous; Kasumi knew that all too well from the time when her mother
had passed away. How much more painful it must be to lose a loved one
before having expressed your true feelings to one another.

She thought about the upcoming battle. Any or all of the combatants
might not survive it.

Then she went to the phone. She hoped that Doctor Tofu would be awake
already.

***

Soun was the last one left with Happosai in the living room, Nabiki
having gone to catch some sleep. He didn't know what he could or should
say to his master, but he felt obligated to stay and try to think of
something.

"Let me talk to him, Dad," Akane said upon entering the room. She was
freshly dressed after a morning shower. "I think I can get him to help
us."

"Akane? You weren't here to hear. To help us, the master would have to
--"

"Lili explained everything to me. Trust me. I need to talk to Happosai
alone."

"If you think it will do any good, all right. I could use a little sleep
myself right now."

"Thanks, Dad," she said, as Soun sleepily wandered up the stairs.

"Well?" Happosai asked as the two were alone. "What now? You have
something to say that's supposed to convince me to help?"

"Maybe."

"Feh. Don't waste your breath," Happosai said with contempt. "You never
liked me. Isn't that so?"

"Right." There was no point in trying to deny the obvious.

"You know, I've seen you around your school. You're attractive, popular.
The kind of girl who could end up with any guy she wanted."

"Maybe."

"Ranma, too. He's the kind of boy who has girls crawling all over him."

Akane looked somewhat annoyed. "Your point being?"

"I've always had what you might call a fetish. Pretty women, and some of
the things they wore, have always been the most wonderful, the most
magical things for me. All I wanted was for one of them to be my friend,
to let me touch her, and I would have been content.

"But," Happosai continued, "and you may not believe this, I was always a
short, unattractive kind of fellow." Akane wondered why anyone wouldn't
believe that. "I wasn't rich either, and I didn't have any kind of
important social standing. Beautiful women like Cologne-chan never
wanted anything to do with me. For a long time I hated women because
they denied me what I wanted the most; maybe I still do.

"I became a martial arts master so I could take what I wanted. No, I
never raped anyone; I stole a lot of undies and other things, I copped a
few feels, but that was it.

"Now you want me to give up my life for Ranma, someone who's had a whole
life of women trying to force on him the things I never had? Well,
forget it. I'm not that kind of person. I'm not a hero. That's not what
life's made of me. What have you got to say to me now, hm?"

"One thing...."

***

It was seven forty-five. Kasumi came down into the kitchen. "Good
morning!" she said cheerfully to Ukyo, who was there cooking okonomiyaki
in one of Kasumi's frying pans.

"Morning. I just came down to do what I do best. Wanna try some when
it's ready?"

"Why yes! Thank you!"

"I gotta admit, I was pretty skeptical at first. I wondered if this
whole business with Ran-chan wasn't just an act."

"Goodness! What changed your mind?"

"A lot of things. Taro. Rouge. Genma. And talking to that girl, Lili. I
know a little bit about the history of certain kinds of foods. She knows
things about fifth-century cooking that Ran-chan couldn't have known."

Ukyo sighed. "I guess I always thought in the back of my mind that
Ran-chan and I would end up together. I mean, nothing against Akane, but
she always seemed so... violent. But now it's not going to happen. It
just makes me so MAD! I want to find the person responsible and...
and..."

"And do violence to him? Oh my! But I'm afraid it's too late for that.
Mr. Saotome is the one who knocked Ranma into that spring, and he's
already suffered the same fate as his son."

"Ranchan told me there was a guide at Jusenkyo. I'm betting that he
knows something about who created that place, and who allows it to stay
there. Maybe it's him. If I survive against Ashura, I'm gonna close my
shop and go hunt down whoever is responsible for those cursed pools."

"Oh, dear. Ukyo, please be careful. You could end up in one of those
springs and coming back in someone else's body in the year 3500."

There was a knock on the kitchen door. "Come in!" Kasumi said brightly.
Lili entered.

"Ranch- er, Lili! Want some breakfast?"

There was a look of pleading in Lili's eyes. "Please, both of you, I
need your help. I need to know everything you can tell me about this
person Ranma Saotome."

***

Ten thirty. Nabiki entered the kitchen and found the three girls
talking. "Kasumi," she asked, "what happened to Happosai?"

"Goodness, I don't know. Isn't he still out in the living room with
father?"

"No, Dad is in his room sleeping."

"Happosai probably went with Akane," Lili said. "She said that she was
going to get him to help get Ranma back, and that she would have to take
him off somewhere private."

"WHAT?!?"

"Calm down, Nabiki!" Kasumi said.

"The hell I will! Don't you realize what's happening? At this very
moment our sweet, naive, stupid little sister is being... de-flowered!
By that... that old..."

"Nabiki, you don't know for sure that that's what she meant," Kasumi
said evenly. "We have to trust Akane to look after herself."

"Yeah!" Ukyo added. "And besides, if it helps Ranchan, isn't it worth
it? I mean, if I had to to get him back, I'd screw a --"

"Happosai doesn't have a shred of honor. You should know that. After
he's had his little fun, he'll just go on his merry way. DAMN! I ought
to --"

"Oh dear. Have you any idea where they might be?" Kasumi asked
matter-of-factly.

Nabiki grudgingly admitted, "No."

***

Eleven thirty.

The demon Ashura fought with various units of the Japanese and American
military above the suburbs of Tokyo. Shells and gunfire were unable to
penetrate the globe of fire that the demon surrounded itself with.
Missiles and other long-range weaponry were simply unable to hit the
swiftly moving creature. When the military men had exhausted their
ammunition, they were decimated by flaming energy blasts.

A pair of heat-seeking missiles were launched. Ashura gestured with two
of her arms, and a troop-carrying vehicle became white-hot, causing the
missiles to home in on it instead of her. The demon laughed wildly as
the vehicle exploded.

By eleven fifty-five, the battle was already over. Unequivocally,
undeniably, indisputably, the military had lost.

Ashura flew, surveying the landscape to see if anyone else would be
challenging her. One lone figure caught her attention. As she flew down
closer, she saw that it was a teenage boy. He wore what her host body
knew to be old-style Chinese clothes, with his hair tied into a pigtail.

"Do you wish to fight Ashura, little one?"

"All right, you big JERK!" the boy said, his tone trying to hide the
fear that was obvious in his aspect. "I, Ranma Saotome of the Saotome
School of Anything Goes Martial Arts, challenge you!!"

"Then DIE!" Ashura lobbed a fire blast toward the boy.

***

Lili leaped. Her legs, the legs of the magnificently-toned body that she
was an involuntary guest in, propelled her away with incredible velocity
toward the next building, as the demon's blast struck the place where
she had just been.

It was a desperate plan. If Ranma was the only one capable of defeating
this demon, and he could not be brought back, then Lili would have to be
him. She was in his body, hot water having transformed it back to his
gender. She had listened to his friends tell of him, so that she had
some idea of how to act like him, if only she could manage it.

Ashura moved and threw another fiery bolt. Lili leapt again, her legs
moving before she was even consciously aware of it. She was operating on
instinct. However much of Ranma Saotome had been lost, there was still
some underlying subconscious part of him left. It was what allowed Lili
to speak Japanese. It was also a basic instinct that would, if not help
her fight, at least hopefully allow her to survive long enough to do
what she had to do.

"You are swift, frightened one," the demon said in its eerily
synchronized triple voice. "Perhaps you will be what they call 'fast
food' for Ashura?" Lili was frozen with fear for a moment, gripped by
the icy fingers of the demon's words. Ashura was right; she *was*
frightened. It was so foolish of her to think she could be Ranma just
because she wore his form.

Lili bolted away, not waiting for Ashura to fire again, desperately
leaping and running to get away as fast as she could.

***

On the waterfront, not far away, Nabiki could see boy and demon heading
rapidly towards her location. She looked at the assembled group. Oddly
enough, Tofu wasn't freaking out in Kasumi's presence; rather, he just
gave a slight smile everytime he looked at her. Maybe it was the
seriousness of the situation, Nabiki thought.

"Okay, gang. Time for the pre-fight pep talk. Ashura's going to be here
any minute. Remember that we've chosen this battleground for a reason.
Anyone who gets set on fire will be able to jump in the water to put it
out. What's more, if we can dunk Ashura in the water, her aura will heat
it up and she'll transform back into human form. No way she'll be able
to boil away a whole section of ocean. If that happens, get her out of
the water right away before it cools and changes her back.

"Lili's leading Ashura here to us right now. When she gets here, hit
hard and fast. Hopefully that won't give Ashura time to utilize her
chief advantage, which is range. Range and power. Her two chief
advantages are range and power. And mobility. And stamina, and
resilience, and --"

Kasumi interrupted. "That's enough pep talk, Nabiki."

"Very well, then," Tatewaki said. "The Blue Thunder shall be the first
to strike!" With a spirited yell, the young kendoist leapt into the air
to intercept the flying demon. His bokken struck the shell of solidified
flame that surrounded Ashura. The shell wobbled a bit, but the blow
seemed to cause no appreciable effect other than to get the demon's
attention. She laughed as she turned toward Tatewaki. Her flame aura
became a cone that blasted outward, striking him, knocking him down the
shoreline stunned.

Lili leapt off of a building, only to find that there was no adjoining
structure to land on. She traveled uncontrollably through the air,
screaming helplessly, until she was caught safely by Ukyo.

It was Ryoga's turn to attack. Without a sound, he jumped up to where
Ashura hovered. She restored her defense just in time. Ryoga landed on
top of her flaming bubble and struck with pulverizing force.

Kodachi watched from the sidelines, studying to discern her opponent's
techniques and limitations, using her stealth training to try to erase
any sense of her presence. She knew that raw rage would not win the day
for her side. Watching her brother's defeat had given her vital
understanding of the demon, which she intended to put to use.

She marveled at the disguise that made the pig-tailed girl look exactly
like Ranma. She would ask the girl to teach her to conceal her own
identity in such a manner if they were to both survive the battle.
Surely it would be an immensely useful skill. Yet for all of the girl's
skill at disguise, she lacked ability as an actress; it was obvious by
her movements, her body language, that she was not truly Ranma.

Kodachi readied one of her razor hoops. She just had to wait for the
right moment.

Ryoga slammed his fist into Ashura's globe of solid fire a second time.
He could feel it begin to weaken. Ashura merely laughed, and continued
laughing as the sphere of energy around her focussed into a ball between
her and Ryoga. She prepared to blow the boy away...

... when Kodachi flung her razor hoop. The hoop cut through one of
Ashura's necks, neatly severing it and sending the no longer attached
head tumbling lifelessly down to the ground below. The trio of laughing
voices became a duet of screams. The unthinkable had happened. Someone
had hurt her.

Kodachi laughed, imitating the sound of the demon from mere moments ago.
An enormous burst of energy from the creature struck her, slamming her
into the shore, head first. The hapless Ryoga was flung in the opposite
direction by the recoil, hitting the water and seemingly vanishing.
Kodachi felt the pain of a serious head injury. But she had drawn first
blood. She had succeeded where the others had failed. As her world went
black, she laughed, and laughed, and laughed...

The now two-headed Ashura flew to the now unconscious gymnast. Regrowing
a head would require a great expenditure of time and energy. For
damaging her, this girl would have to pay.

"Oh no you don't!" Ukyo's combat spatula slammed into Ashura, knocking
her off balance before she could blast Kodachi. Ukyo had missed the
beginning of the fight, having gone over to save Lili. Now it was up to
her. She struck with her spatula again, hitting the demon's flaming
aura. Ashura was unprepared for the speed and strength of the attack,
and was flung towards the water.

Ashura dipped deep into the power of her chi, using it to turn her
momentum by ninety degrees. She flew up and stopped, hovering, and let
off a wide-angle fire blast that engulfed Ukyo.

Meanwhile Doctor Tofu was examining Kodachi with Kasumi's assistance.
The plan was for Tofu's combat abilities to be kept in reserve. His
shiatsu techniques were only useful at close range, and might not be
effective at all against a demonic creature like Ashura. He was more
useful as a healer for the moment. "It's serious, but it could be worse.
She's out of the battle, but if we get her to a hospital before too long
she'll be all right. Anyway, she'll live."

"No," Ashura said. "She will die." Lili watched as the laughing demon's
aura began coalescing into a massive ball of fire. It would fry her
three friends!

Time froze as realization struck the young girl in the young man's body.
The aura! Ashura needed to take down her flaming shield in order to
attack! She could be hit now! But there was no one left standing to hit
her. No one except... no! Lili had never hit anyone! Not EVER! She
COULDN'T!

The flaming ball was glowing with a blinding brightness. "Now, little
ones, time for you to feel Ashura's wrath!"

Lili slammed her fist into Ashura. It was a sloppy, half-hearted blow,
but backed by the strength of Ranma. The attack of the frightened girl
took Ashura by surprise. Her concentration interrupted, the fireball
exploded in her hands. Ashura and Lili took the force of the blast,
recoiling in opposite directions.

Lili was thrown out into the ocean and landed in the water, instantly
changing back into her normal body. She splashed about wildly,
desperately, crying for help. This had been how it all started. This
would be how it would all end.

For Lili had little experience at swimming...

TO BE CONCLUDED! (Anyone want to guess what's going to happen?)


Gary Kleppe
kleppe@execpc.com, Home page http://www.execpc.com/~kleppe
My fanfics and the FFML map are on my comics/manga page,
       http://www.execpc.com/~kleppe/comics