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"Autumn and Spring"
by Angus MacSpon

Based on "Ranma 1/2" created by Rumiko Takahashi.

C&C Welcome!

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- 13 -

This time it was different.  This time, at last, there was no question
about who was winning.  Cologne fought silently and grimly, but against
multiple enemies she was at a serious disadvantage.  Ukyou was an
accomplished martial artist: far below the standard of the other two,
but still a presence that Cologne could not afford to ignore.  And
Ranma-chan left Cologne no chance to strike at Ukyou and remove the
problem.

[We're winning,] thought Ranma-chan.  [I don't believe it.  We're
actually winning!]

Still, she gritted her teeth and waited for the blow she knew must come.
Why was Cologne waiting so long?  When was she going to try her mental
tricks again?  Ranma-chan was not sure that she could defeat a third
such attack.

But the mental assault did not come.  It did not come.  They fought on
and on, and it did not come.  Steadily, they drove Cologne before them.
She was too canny, too experienced, far too skilled to let herself be
trapped in a corner; but they drove her back continuously.  And still
Ranma-chan waited for a new mental attack.

Then it dawned on her.  _Cologne could not._  She had limits after all.
And while all her attention was on fighting hand-to-hand, she could not
spare the effort to attack mentally as well.

"Ucchan!" she shouted.  "Don't stop, whatever happens!  As long as we
keep her too busy to use her illusions, we can win!"

She heard Cologne mutter something vile.  And she laughed as she fought
on.

She was winning.  _They_ were winning.  It was inevitable.  ["I'll find
a way.  I always do."  With a little help from my friends ...]

In other circumstances she would have said that Cologne fought
magnificently.  Even now, even here, she had to admit that the old ghoul
was superb.  But against two, and one of those two very nearly as good
as she was, she was simply outmatched.  She fought on -- how she fought!
-- but she was taking damage steadily.  She was inflicting plenty too --
Ranma-chan had a number of new cuts and bruises, and one of Ukyou's arms
was bloody -- but the tide had turned against her, and this time it was
going out all the way.

So they drove her relentlessly, and she continued to withdraw, somehow
eluding every effort they made to trap her, but always having to pull
back.  Around and around the cave they pursued her --

Ranma-chan's eyes widened.  Around and around?

They weren't driving Cologne back; she was _manoeuvring_ them!

But ... the Hiryuu Shouten Ha?  In a cave?  Underground?  That was
suicidal!  Or ... could that be what she intended?  To make sure she
took Ukyou and Ranma-chan with her?

No, something was wrong.  The path she was leading them in was not a
spiral.  It was ... Ranma-chan frowned.  It was leading them to --

"Watch out!" she shouted to Ukyou.  "It's a trap --"

Too late.  She was just too late.  Cologne had been one step ahead of
her all along.  Even when she was on the run, the old ghoul always had a
backup plan ...

So it was with a sense of inevitability that she watched Cologne duck
under a barrage of spatulas from Ukyou, flip to her left, and land
directly beside the little hollow in the wall where Shampoo still lay.
She reached in, behind Shampoo's body, pulled something out and threw
it at Ranma-chan --

And Ranma-chan blocked it automatically; but at her touch it burst,
covering her with droplets of a clear liquid --

And
        suddenly
                  Ranma-chan
                           felt
                             dizzy
                            and   and
                  she couldn't     he couldn't
          seem to stand up             seem to stand up
       any more and                           any more and
  she fell over.                                   he fell over.

                **********

It was the most extraordinary        It was the most extraordinary
sensation.  She seemed to be seeing  sensation.  He seemed to be seeing
everything twice over, and from      everything twice over, and from
slightly different angles.  It made  slightly different angles.  It made
her feel nauseous for a few moments  him feel nauseous for a few moments
and she shook her head to clear it.  and he shook his head to clear it.
The effect was horrible: the whole   The effect was horrible: the whole
cavern dipped and swayed around her  cavern dipped and swayed around him
like a mad roller-coaster, and she   like a mad roller-coaster, and he
pitched to one side, retching; but   pitched to one side -- and there,
at the same time somehow she was     impossibly, he saw his female half,
seeing _herself_ from another angle  throwing up.  But somehow he seemed
-- as if there were a mirror behind  to feel the vomit coming out of his
her, a perfect mirror, clear as the  _own_ mouth, and he almost retched
air.                                 himself.

She groaned and tried to stand up,   He groaned and tried to stand up,
but her limbs would not seem to      but his limbs would not seem to
respond, and she found herself       respond, and he found himself
lying on the floor, thrashing about  lying on the floor, thrashing about
uncontrollably.  One elbow skidded   uncontrollably.  One elbow felt
in the pool of vomit.                mysteriously warm for a moment.

She closed her eyes.  It seemed to   He closed his eyes.  It seemed to
help slightly.  But before she       help slightly.  But before he
could try to move again, she heard   could try to move again, he heard
Cologne's voice.  The old ghoul      Cologne's voice.  The old ghoul
sounded very self-satisfied.         sounded very self-satisfied.

  Cologne:  That went even better than I expected.  I think this little
     charade is over at last.
  Ukyou:  What have you done, you old witch?  There ... there's two of
     him ...
  Cologne:  Something I prepared a long time ago, when Shampoo and I
     returned here.  I actually intended it for use against Ryouga, if
     he ever found his way here ... his Shishi Houkoudan could have been
     dangerous to me.  But it's just as effective against Ranma.
  Ukyou:  _What have you done to him?_  ...  To _them_?
  Cologne:  It's a rare distillation from the waters of Jyusendo, the
     source of Jyusenkyo.  Simply enough, it splits a cursed form apart.
     In his case, the male and female are now separate.
  Ukyou:  You ... you've _cured_ him?
  Cologne:  Don't be foolish, child.  See for yourself!  Ranma now has
     two bodies ... but only one mind.  He can't cope.  He has no idea
     how to control two bodies at once.  No human being could.  It would
     be a miracle if he even managed to stand up.  He certainly can't
     fight.

Was that it?  It sounded horribly    Was that it?  It sounded horribly
possible.  Ranma-chan tried to sit   possible.  Ranma-kun tried to sit
up, but failed again.  She moaned.   up, but failed again.  He moaned.
It was difficult to think straight.  It was difficult to think straight.
Everything was _doubled_ in this     Everything was _doubled_ in this
weird way.  Sounds came from more    weird way.  Sounds came from more
than one direction.  Even her        than one direction.  Even his
thoughts seemed to echo somehow.     thoughts seemed to echo somehow.

She felt a cool hand touch her       He felt a cool hand touch his
forehead, and blinked.  There was    forehead, and blinked.  Ukyou knelt
nobody there.  But as before, she    at his side, looking down at him,
found herself seeing from another    her eyes bright.  "Oh, Ran-chan,"
angle at the same time: the face of  she whispered softly.  It was odd,
Ukyou, starting down in concern.     really: the first sound he'd heard
Whispering to her softly.            that _wasn't_ doubled.

  Cologne:  And now, I think it's time to put an end to the nuisance.
     I'm afraid I'm going to have to kill him after all.  He seems to be
     able to fight off my mental control, now that he's aware of it.
  Ukyou:  He's not the only one, you --
  Cologne:  Oh, hush.  You know better than that.  You only broke free
     before because I was occupied with him and Shampoo as well.  Once
     he's gone, you'll fall to pieces again the way you always do.  And
     I'll have a new mount ... and a perpetually-young one at that.
     Two of them, actually, if I douse Shampoo as well --

She heard the shrill sound of        He heard the shrill sound of
Cologne's laughter, and gritted her  Cologne's laughter, and gritted his
teeth.  Through shared vision, she   teeth.  And then, above him, he
saw Ukyou's eyes widen suddenly.     saw Ukyou's eyes widen suddenly.
And then harden in resolve.          And then harden in resolve.

Ukyou's voice was a whisper, barely  Ukyou's voice was a whisper, barely
audible.  "Ran-chan, I'm sorry,"     audible.  "Ran-chan, I'm sorry,"
she murmured.  "It's the only way."  she murmured.  "It's the only way."

And then Ranma-chan heard Cologne    And then Ranma-kun heard Cologne
cry out in surprise, and she closed  cry out in surprise, and he closed
her eyes, and heard Ukyou begin to   his eyes, and heard Ukyou begin to
move, and felt the sudden impact.    move, and felt the sudden impact
Pain flared for an instant, then
cut off, leaving an oddly dead
feeling behind it; and then the
cave seemed to swim around her, and
blur, and for an instant nothing
made sense --

And then Ranma rolled to her feet, smoothly and easily, flexed her arms
and legs experimentally, and looked around the cavern.  Cologne was
staring off to one side, eyes wide, mouth open, at where Ukyou knelt by
the side of

[Don't look]

a body, its head clasped in her arms, weeping silently.  Ukyou's hands
were bloody.  Ranma took a deep breath.  Just one body again, and she
could worry about her male side later; she had only a moment to act --

She shouted and leaped, striking with all the speed she could muster. It
was just barely enough.  Cologne was starting to recover, to dodge, even
as the blow connected; but she was a millisecond late.  She flew through
the air, spinning end-over-end like a baton, and struck the cavern wall
with a sickening crunch.  As she stirred and opened her eyes, Ranma
landed by her side, grabbed her by the hair, pulled her head back, and
held one of Ukyou's sharpened mini-spatulas to her throat.

"It's over," Ranma said softly.

Cologne's eyes blazed, and for an instant Ranma felt the force of her
will, the strength of that inhuman mind, beating against her.  But she
knew that force now, knew what to expect.  Resisting it was effortless.

"It's over," she said again.

"It's never over," said Cologne.

Ranma heard Ukyou give a startled cry, and risked a quick glance over
her shoulder.

Akane was standing there.

- End of Part 13 -

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Angus MacSpon                                                Allen Gainsford
http://shell.ihug.co.nz/~macspon/          http://shell.ihug.co.nz/~macspon/