This is something I thought about while just lying around.  It is a dark 
fanfic set in the Ranma ½ universe, while none of the major characters 
are represented in it except in a small scene.  Sorry for the content of 
this fanfic my mind is a little strange.  This is not a lemon for I do 
not believe I am capable of writing one.
This is the revised version.  I'd like to thank those people out there 
who helped me out and gave back some C+C.  

This unversed in owned by Rumiko Takahashi and others that I don't know 
about. I am truly sorry for putting my dark mind into your beautiful 
world.  Again Sorry about this.

					The Circus of the Damned 
	by
	John Trombley

	scene: China; in a valley filled with many pools with bamboo 
poles in the center of them.  Jusenkyo.  The cursed valley where each 
and every pool destroys the life of any who bath there, more so for 
these poor souls.

	We see a little girl running to a shack where a pudgy man 
smoking a pipe wearing green communist uniform.  (We recognize this as 
the Jusenkyo guide) 
	"Father, Father, there are customers coming."  Little Plum 
stated in hurried Chinese, trying to catch her breath.
	"Ah, thank you little one."  The guide stated with love in his 
eyes for his daughter. "How many customers did you see?"
	"Very many Father, they are bringing closed off wagons with 
them."  Plum stated proudly, she loved helping her father with his work 
when she got the chance.  There was just so much that he could teach her 
a lot more than any school.  Already she knew Japanese and was learning 
English from him, so that she could help him on those times when she did 
not have to go to school.  She loved to help him at his work, anyway 
this would be her job when he retired so she might as well know all 
about it.
	The guide gave a slight look on his face, one of confusion and a 
hint of fear.  "Wagons you say?"  And at Plums confirmation he asked, 
"what else did you see about these wagons little one?"
	"The wagons are all painted like those in a circus, with 
pictures of animals on them."  Her brow scrunched up in concentration 
wanting to give every detail to her father.  "Oh yes, there was also on 
the first wagon a name printed in big letters foreign letters.   
M-ma-dam Ser-ercy's Mys-steries."  Plum tried to pronounce the foreign 
words as well as she could.  "Father who is Madam Sercy ?"
	Unfortunately for little Plum that after hearing Sercy's name 
the Guide grabbed Plum by the arm and quickly pulled her into the shack 
that served as his home.  Quickly he drew away a rug that lied on the 
floor to reveal a trap door.  Pulling the latch open, he led her down 
inside to a where small cubicle existed.  Plum was shocked and scared, 
for all the times that she has visited her father she has never seen 
this before.  What could scare him so much that he would show it to her 
now.  Plum started to cry in fear.
	"Hush little one, when I leave, you are to lock the latch to the 
entrance and do not open it for anything until I call for you."  The 
guide said in what he hoped was soothing tone of voice.  "No matter what 
you hear outside do not open this door.  Do you understand?"
	"Y-yes Father."  She trembled out before laying down on the 
sleeping mat that was on the floor.
	"Good little one, very good."  The guide stated as he moved to 
leave. And in a small hushed voice. "I am truly sorry that you must 
learn this so soon little one."   And with that he left the cubicle, 
waiting at the top to make sure that Plum locked the door way as her 
told her.  When he heard the click of the latch being thrown, he then 
proceed to cover the door back up with the rug.  He then moved the table 
over so that it was placed just above it.  Gathering his composure he 
turned to leave the cottage.  To face the evil that is man.
	Little Plum stayed in the cubicle for two days all the while 
hearing screams of pure terror along side with cries of sorrow.  Some of 
the screams she could not understand for they were in a language that 
was unknown to her.  Some were she could understand in broken English, 
while others she understood completely to her dread.  Soon these screams 
were replaced with the cries of animals and then again into something 
that was a mixture of both sounds.  For the rest the time that she was 
down in the cubicle she placed her hands over her ears and started 
singing to herself to block out all the noise, tears of fear and sorrow 
for those poor souls littering down her face.   It was at the end of the 
second day that she heard the stamping of a foot on the door to the 
cubicle.  At first she feared that the strange customers had come for 
her as well, but was comforted to hear her father's voice.
	"Plum, Plum, you can come out now little one."  The grief could 
be heard in his voice. 
	As Plum existed the cubicle she was swept off her feet into the 
arms of her father who then preceded to cry.  Tears of sorrow matting 
the hair of her head down.  That was how they stayed for sometime before 
they prepared for sleep.  
	Just before laying down to sleep Plum asked her father in a 
hushed voice, "Father, who were those people?"
	The Guide just stood still for a moment before answering in a 
low voice.  "They are evil daughter pure ancient human evil."
	"Why do not the government do some thing about them?" Plum 
asked.
	"Like I said daughter, they are human evil and there are those 
in power who fear that evil as well as those who respect it."  The Guide 
stated in shame and sorrow.  "Not even our Jusenkyo committee could not 
bring them to justice.  Those that tried were never seen again, or worse 
they were seen but not as they were known as before."  
	"Fortunately they only come this way in a great many years.  
Their leader Sercy is an old one, it is said that she has lived longer 
than even the oldest of the elders of the village.  Time has marked her 
not, it is said that she made a packed with a major demon to promote 
human misery and suffering in exchange for eternal youth.  She is a 
witch in every sense of the word, she even posses a demon familiar who 
keeps track of the stock for her."  A shiver of fear flows up and down 
her spine as he told her this.
	That night Plum did not sleep well for her dreams were plagued 
with nightmares of the worst kind.  So terrifying were her dreams that 
her father let her lay in his bed with him.  So that Plum finally got 
some rest as she knew he father would never let anything happen to her.
	The Guide did not sleep so well that night for he knew that if 
they wanted to they could take his daughter from him and he could not do 
nothing about it 





	The Circus of the Damned pt 2

	Some where in Hong Kong, a dark and evil deal is being forged.  
  We see two individuals, one a lady of great beauty with a cat of the 
blackest night in her arms, the other a man with a scar on his face 
where once there was an eye.  
	The lady speaks in soft musical voice, "Yes I will be needing, 
hmm, oh about two dozen or so.  Preferredly foreigners so that no one 
would worry over them missing and of mixed genders of course, although 
it matters not as long as you can get then for me."
	"And you will pay in gold as was promised?"  The man asked in a 
raspy voice he had been in this trade for a long time and was used to 
dealing with different types of people with different needs.
	"Of course, but I want you to make sure that there young and 
healthy they will have to survive a long time you know, and I don't want 
them dying on me."  With that she left, knowing the man would not fail 
her for the greed of man is great, greater even than her if that was 
possible.
	
	Jacob laughed with his friends as they watch the two fighters go 
head to head in the ring.  It had been a week since they came to Hong 
Kong wanting to see what the world had to offer that could not be found 
the US.   Sure they've seen some weird things since they got here and a 
lot of beautiful things as well.  What a great way to spend summer 
vacation.  It was a good thing they had Molly's parents plastic or else 
they wouldn't have been able to afford it.  It was a great idea of 
Mike's to come here.

Flashback: Jacob and Mike were just finished with soccer practice and 
were waiting for Molly and Angie to get done with cheerleading practice. 
 It was near summer vacation time when they would leave the life of 
Juniors and come back as Seniors.  Life was great.  Good friends, great 
girls and their whole lives ahead of them.  As they were waiting for the 
girls they started talking about what they would do this summer.  
	"Well we could always go down to Florida again this year" Jacob 
stated a little nonchalant.
	"Na, last year was dull, we need to go some place far away and 
exotic."  Mike replied with a smile on his face, dreaming of seeing the 
world.
	"O.K. how about Europe?" 
	"Nay been there done that."
	 "Australia?"
	 "Maybe."
	 "Well defiantly not Africa, who would want to ruff it during 
summer vacation?"
	 "John would."
	"Ya well John's a nut anyway, his idea of a good time is to 
climb a mountain or something."
	"True, still if were going to get him to come with us it's going 
to have to be some place interesting or else none of us will have any 
fun.  You know what happens to John when he gets bored."
	Jacob shuddered at the memory of the last time John was bored on 
a trip.  "We defiantly don't want him to get bored."
	Just then the girls got done with practice and were going over 
to join them.  Big gins on their faces from a great practice.
	Both girls were on the healthy side, Molly with short blonde 
hair and Angie with long brown hair tied back in a pony-tail.  The gleam 
of sweat of a hard work-out made them look even more beautiful.
	"Come on guys we don't want to keep John and Susie waiting do 
you?"  Angie berated them.
	"Ya we were just waiting for you two."  Jacob stated in a mock 
scowl that broke into a smile as he went over to kiss her.  Mike and 
Molly imitated their response.

	As the group of for went to meet the rest of their party at the 
mall, they started going on about the summer vacation coming up.  They 
girls stating places, like Paris, Vince, or Rome.  The guys quickly 
discouraged those ideas with statements on how if it was just them they 
would go, but could you imagine John in those places.  Both girls got a 
far away look before shuddering and quickly stating that those places 
were not a good idea.  Both Jacob and Mike smile slightly at that, 
sometimes it was good to have a nut for a friend now they wouldn't have 
to go those places.

	When they got to the mall they found Susie waiting for them at 
the entrance.  They didn't have to ask where John was.  So with a few 
grins and pleasantries they preceded to the arcade to find John playing 
at his favorite game X-men vs Street Fighter.  No matter how many times 
he beat this game he always has to play it at least once every time he 
comes in.  John always stated that he needed to try different ways of 
beating it, he usually used Ryu and Ken but sometimes he mixed it up.  
As they were coming up to him they did not say anything to him nor touch 
him in anyway.  They knew what would happen if someone interfered with 
his game, heck he didn't even know he would do it.  One time a kid came 
up to him when playing a game, watching him and then reached out and 
touched one of the buttons.  If Susie wasn't there to pull the kid away 
he would have had a broken hand, for John's fist slammed down where the 
kid's hand use to be.  There were many the time when John would be 
banded from the arcade for some such thing at least for awhile.  He 
always said that's were he relieves all his stress.  While the rest of 
the group wondered what stress?  For outside of that, he seemed like the 
most relaxed person they knew.
	With a satisfied grin for defeating the game John turned to join 
the rest of the group.  While not very tall, only 5" 7' he had large 
shoulders with black shoulder length hair that for a reason none of them 
could figure out stood right up on the top.  As far a they knew he 
didn't use any moose or something it was just natural.  He was wearing 
his usual clothes that is shorts shirt and sandles he said that he liked 
to let his feet breathe a little.  He was almost scruffy looking if not 
for his calm face and built of some one who likes to be active and try 
knew things.   In the contrast Susie always appears as if she spent 
hours on her self even if she didn't.  I guess they were made for each 
other.  Each tolerated the others mannerisms and still enjoyed being 
with each other.
	Heading over to the food court they grabbed some drinks and 
started wandering the mall, doing a little window shopping.  Eventually 
the topic of summer vacation came up again when they passed a travel 
agency.  They quickly put down John's idea of hiking the Adirondack 
mountains with a lite smack to his head.  It was then that Mike came up 
with the idea of Hong Kong, with the excitement of the far east along 
with the convenience of modern society.  After a few minutes of haggling 
they decided on it.   It did not take long to convince their parents to 
let them go.  The idea of a group of bored teenagers at home all summer 
did not appeal to them.  The making of the plans were left to Mike since 
no one else wanted to do it, and he was the only one that they trusted 
completely not to mess up on it.
  
Back to the present: The group were leaving and talking about the fight 
when this kid came up to Jacob spoke to him in broken English.
	"Hey guys this kid said that there's another fight around here 
do you want to go see it?" Jacob asked his voice betraying his desire to 
go see the show.
	While Susie and Molly were not that enthusiastic about it the 
other three broke out with. 
	"Ya!"
	"Alright!"
	"You bet!"
	They followed the kid down to the docks and into a warehouse 
where a crowd of people were forming, a few other Westerners were there 
as well.  While waiting for the fight to start noodle venders came by 
and sold their wears.  It was quite good and the group inhaled the 
noodles.  After finishing their noodles, they started asking who was 
fighting and of course Mike was asking the odds on The fight, he was 
always looking to make some extra cash. 	
	That was when all hell broke loose or would have if it wasn't 
for the noodles that they have eaten earlier.  So it was that the girls 
and Mike slumped to the group asleep while Jacob and John watched.  Not 
knowing what was going on and in true fashion as soon as someone grabbed 
him, John started hitting people.  Of course it was no use, but he had 
broken one guy's leg another guy's arm and knocked two unconscious 
before someone knock him over the head and he went to dream land.  Jacob 
didn't even last that long as a similar blow had already sent him there.
	The foreigners were then all carried away, all fifteen of them. 
 They were then brought to a separate building were a dozen more were 
housed, also unconscious.  Once there collars were placed around there 
necks and placed in rows for inspection.  
	Later that night again the beautiful lady and the scarred face 
man met.
	"As you wished two-dozen young foreigners, I also added a couple 
of locals that would not be missed.  Just think of a bonus for you for 
using us in all you market needs."  The scarred man smiled at his humor. 
	"Very well just bring them to the agreed upon place and you will 
be paid the rest." with that the lady handed over a small bag that 
‘chinked' when placed in the man's hand.  The scarred man smile grew 
bigger at the weigh of the bag as it felt in his hand.

	Two days after that transaction our group began to awaken.  They 
did not know where they were but it was dark and they were moving.   
Moans of confusion broke out among the other "passengers"   It was a 
long night as people cried out in fear after finding out about there 
situation.  Not fear of knowing what was happening but fear of not 
knowing what was happening or going to happen in the future.  Outside a 
beautiful lady and her cat of blackest night laughed softly at there 
pain and fear.
	It was all John could do to keep Susie and Molly from drowning 
too deeply into their despair.  It was more for his own effort than 
theirs that he did this.  He did not know if he could stand being in 
this closed off cage with all these people around him.  It seemed that 
for every hour spent in the cage that the walls were closing in on him. 
 Only the light from the outside, his own seething anger, and worrying 
over the girls kept him from panicking and going into a state of shock 
as well.  
	Mike seemed to just withdraw in himself.  For the first two days 
of the "trip" he kept muttering over and over to himself.  "They can't 
do this, this is kidnaping wait until my parents find out I let myself 
get kidnaped, their going to kill me."   After that he kept on saying 
either to himself or to his friends, "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry!" no one 
knew for sure.  It was all the others could do to make him eat his share 
of the food that was given to them, and to stop others from taking it.  
His friends knew that he was never really close to his family.  No 
matter what he did it to try and make them proud of him, it only  seemed 
like he was always a inconvenience to them.  Junior captain  of the 
soccer team, it would have been senior caption next year.  He also self 
sufficient always trying to find new ways to earn some extra money with 
out having to ask for it from them.  He took this captivity very hard 
and believed that it was his fault for suggesting that they come here. 	
	Jacob and Angie just held each other.  When the guard came with 
food they both shrank back into each other, the fear etched onto their 
faces.  They had given up hope and were expecting the worst.  The worst 
was what they got.
	It took about a week before they got were they were going.  They 
never saw anyone excepted for the guard who brought them food and water. 
 There was plenty of room in the cages for the people to move around in 
and even do some small exercises.  They only tried to escape twice, once 
when they rushed the guy with the food only to find that they couldn't 
leave the cages with out pain coursing through there bodies, they were 
not fed for two days after that.  The next escape attempt was when they 
tried to brake the collars off from their necks, well John did at least. 
 He did not like the idea of wearing a collar.  When it seemed that the 
collar was about to brake pain started flowing through everyone's collar 
and then they quickly stopped any one else from trying for they did not 
want to feel any more pain.

Scene: we see a valley coming up with many pools with bamboo rods in 
them.  We see a young girl running to a shack where a man sits smoking a 
pipe.  We then see the man and child go into the shack and only the man 
comes out.  It is clearly seen that he is quite nervous.  He then goes 
to the springs and waits for the wagons to come to him.
	"Aaah welcome good sirs to home of cursed springs Jusenkyo.  
Here-" but his speech is cut short as the beautiful woman Sercy steps 
down from her perch on the wagon.
	With a cruel twisted smile and a laugh, "Ha, ha, ha of course I 
know all about Jusenkyo, so I guess I don't really need it explained to 
me do I?"  With that she directed her crew to set up camp a few yards 
from the spring.  The guide just went his chair in front of his shack to 
watch the evil that was to commence. 

	Sercy liked to think of herself as an artist and finding things 
that people would like to see is an art.  So to her Jusenkyo was just 
the tool for her art to manifest itself.  Her crew got the camp site up 
easily for they were not human but lesser demons who served her in 
exchange for the taste of human fear and misery that always manifested 
itself when she practiced her art.  The trip here was quite satisfactory 
and the next six months as well would be extremely tasty.  That was 
until the this group was no longer useful, well then Sercy would sell 
them until the next time her pets had to be fed and then she would start 
all over again, in the end still making a large profit from the venture. 
  
	I'm sure that turning  humans into animals would cause quite a 
lot of grief and suffering.  Sercy has found out a little something 
about the springs that she has used to create even more suffering.  So 
it was that the first person was brought out of the cages and while the 
rest watched was brought to the edge of the pools.
	After taking off his collar Sercy went to him and said. "Here's 
you chance you can escape.  All you have to do is run to the other side 
of the valley and you'll be free to leave."
	After a few nervous looks at the guards the man started running 
through the springs until he tripped over his own feet and went flying 
into one of the springs.  What went in was a man what came out was a 
deer with large antlers on his head.  
	Sercy let out a small laugh. "Oh the poor dear it looks like he 
didn't make it."  And then to her demon guards, "boys go get him before 
he falls in another one." and with that they promptly went and got him 
and brought him back to the edge and placed another collar on him and 
then put him in other separate cage.
	To the rest of the group in the cage she smiled, "Welcome to 
Jusenkyo, the valley of cursed springs, were one who falls into the 
springs takes the form of those that drowned in the spring when it was 
created."  With that many of the group started shouting out in fear 
stating that they couldn't do this to them and all that garbage.
	For the first six or so she just let them run through the course 
and watching them fall in.  The fear that they generated was great until 
they put out John to run through it. 
	"Well boy, what are you waiting for, run." Sercy told him
	"No." was all he replied.
	"No? No? And why not?"
 	"Because even if I do I'll get cursed so why should I bother?"
	"Hmm, good point," with that she turned to her guards and simply 
stated, "throw him in."
	With big grins on their faces they both grabbed an arm and with 
a mighty heave threw him towards the end of the springs.  Just as it 
looked like he was going to plunge into a spring like the rest, he did 
something totally unexpected.  As he was nearing the water he reached 
out and grabbed hold of one of the bamboo poles that stuck out of the 
pools to stop himself.  After he got his balance he simply started for 
the edge of the pools since he was almost there anyway and easily got to 
the edge.  Turning around to look triumphantly at his ex-captors and 
with a loud, "HA!, looks like I win!" he turned to leave.  Unfortunately 
for him he was too close to one of the springs so that when he got ready 
to flee, the ground gave way underneath him and he fell in and out came 
a tiger.  Who looked at himself in disgust.  While the peals of laughter 
could be heard on the opposite shore, not only where the demons and 
Sercy laughing at him but also were the other prisoners.  All he could 
do but growl as the demons came and fetched him was, *thanks a lot 
guys*.  Do to the fact that this form was so new to him and that his 
captors were demons any attempts to attack them was ignored as any wound 
he inflicted was instantly healed.  So again he had to submit to the 
handling of his captors, much to his disgust.
	From that time on the rest of the group were just tossed into 
various springs.  So that at the end of the night the cages were filled 
with various of animals of various sizes, from little birds to large 
horses who had to be placed outside, with many other different kinds 
in-between; from fish(how a fish could drown is beyond me) to lions and 
one baby dragon in the cages.  Various sounds floated through the night 
as each animal cried tears of hopelessness and sorrow.  The demons feed 
well that night.  This was joined by the silent sobbing of  The Jusenkyo 
Guide, who knew what was going to happen them next. 
	The next morning was one of confusion as they were raised from 
their slumber, for those that did sleep that night.  Sercy came to them 
with a big smile on her face that changed to one of mock confusion as 
she asked herself aloud,  "While trained animals would bring in quite a 
bit of money its not really enough to justify the effort, what else 
could we do to jump up the profits?"  After a few seconds hesitation and 
with a beaming smile, "ah I know, well boys lets take it from the top."
	With that the guards went in to the cages and brought the deer 
from earlier to a spring and with a sharp push sent him into a spring 
and then they pulled out a nude human female with hooves and  doe like 
eyes.  It looked like a cross between a human female and a doe.  She was 
shivering in fear as the demons dragged her back to the first cages and 
placed her in it.  All the while Sercy smiled nastily as she turned to 
the other animals.  "As you can see the effects of the springs are 
cumulative and people will pay more to see freaks of nature than to just 
trained animals."
	In all actuality it was quite interesting to the effects of the 
spring of drowned girl and the other springs when those guys who were 
turned into fish became what looked like mermaids.  Those females who 
were turned into fish were then dropped into the spring of drowned horse 
so that what came were literally Sea-horses (the front half is a horse 
while from the mid section on back was a fishes tail). Sercy knew that 
if she dropped someone in to the sex of what they were originally it 
would just reverse the curse, besides people would pay more to see 
beautiful nude female freaks than male ones.  Sercy knew she could use 
these springs if she came up with something she didn't like, so that she 
could start all over again.  And so another long day came about no one 
but themselves knew who they were originally.  Not all of the animals 
were dropped into the spring of drowned man or girl to some she dropped 
into other springs creating creatures of legend.  Combining the spring 
of drowned horse and drowned goat she got what looked like unicorns of 
these she produced two for she knew of someone to sell them to after she 
tired of them.  By combining the spring of drowned lion and drowned 
eagle she got what looked like a pair of gryphons from Greek mythology. 
 An so the day proceeded until at the end it looked like some one opened 
a book of mythology and dumped out the creatures within.  
	  In the cage that night one tiger-girl looked for her friends. 
 Going only on what they were first changed to help in identifying them 
from, she called out their names.  "Susie? Is that you?"  When she 
received no response she would go on to the next prisoner.  The next was 
a bird-girl "Mike?" she asked hesitantly as she came up to him.  "Huh?" 
the bird-girl replied blinking the sleep from her eyes, you can see the 
trail of tears left on her face. Knowing that she cried herself to 
sleep, the tiger-girl just bent down next to her looking on in worry. 
Mike shivered in the night air not having the light coat of fur that the 
tiger-girl had covering her body.  All of their clothes where lying at 
the bottom of the cursed pools.  Seeing this the tiger-girl moved next 
to her and pulled her into an embrace to share her body heat, all 
modesty was thrown out the window for her friend needed her.
	 "J-john?", Mike asked shivering in the cool night breeze.  
"H-heh, some trip huh?" she continued.  "Sorry about this it's all my 
fault!"  With that she started crying again into John's shoulder.  
	"Shhh.. Don't worry I don't plan on being a circus freak for the 
rest of my life.   Hey look at it this way, at least you got wings now 
and a great pair of breasts. Look at me, I could star in a Batman 
movie."  John said to his friend as he tried to comfort him.  "Well the 
first thing we need to do is find everybody else, then first chance we 
get were out of here." he tried to sound hopeful to Mike.  
	The thing was John never expected to live life as a cat-woman 
and was greatly distressed by it but as was said earlier, his friends 
needed him-er, her.  Friends were more important to him than anything 
for he only had a few and was not going to loose the ones he had to some 
Wicked Witch of the East.  
	"Well I think the horses with the horns, Unicorns I think their 
called.  Well Jacob and Angie were horses on their first dunk.  So I 
think that's them, because the other horse types were created later on." 
John was talking just to keep herself thinking strait and to comfort 
Mike for she didn't want her pull completely away in depression.  
	"I think Molly was the big lizard," Mike piped in trying to be 
use full.  "She was only dunked once."
	"O.K. and what about Susie?"
	"I'm pretty sure that she was one of the fish in the first dunk, 
so I guess that she's one of those sea-horses."  Mike was really 
concentrating this, not wanting to fail his friends again.
	"Damn," John muttered under his breathe. *that means we won't be 
able to take her with us.* looking down at Mike clutching her for 
support she came to the conclusion. *No! Nobody is going to be left 
behind.*   They just laid there, holding each other and slept for the 
rest of the night.
	The next morning as the stock was loaded on to the wagons again 
each of the prisoners were placed in a spot where they could survive 
i.e. those who needed it into a water tank and so on.  Then they 
proceeded to leave the valley, the aura around the caravan one of 
despair and sorrow.  Watching them until they had completely left, the 
Jusenkyo Guide then went to his shack to get his daughter and to shed 
tears for those unfortunate souls and the living hell that they would 
live.
	For if you thought that just changing them into those creatures 
were cruel enough, the wagons then made a stop at a village of men there 
Sercy held a conference with their leader while the rest of its citizens 
stared at her freaks of nature.  That night she came upon each of