<bows to the FFML at large> Sumimasen...this seemed neccessary. 


------------------------------------

He rose from the calm waters of the Bay; seaweed, a film of plankton,
and various other aquatic life clung to him and trailed behind him as
he stalked up onto the land, to find himself in a large city. He
remembered the last time he'd been in a large city--it hadn't been
pleasant.

Was this the same city? Would he meet the same fate here?

He began walking towards what appeared to be a loading dock. Two men
were pushing a crate down a plank leading from a ship. A few crowbars
and assorted tools were scattered around. His gaze lingered on the
tools for a moment. 

One of the men spotted him, and shouted something at him. 

"Oi! Kore wa seigen-tochi desu! Shinnyu arimasen!" 

What was this strange man saying? He didn't understand. He stood
there for a moment, trying to figure it out, then continued onward. 

"Oi! Mimi ga kikoenai? Shinnyu ja nai!" The crate loader was
obviously agitated. 

He didn't care. He continued walking forward. 

"Yarou teme..." the dockworker growled, grabbing a crowbar and
charging towards him.

He didn't move. 

The crowbar struck him in the head. He didn't even flinch. He reached
up with one wet, gloved hand, and grabbed the steel rod.

The dockworker's eyes widened. "N-nani? Omae wa..."

He was tired of listening to this strange man babbling. He lifted the
crowbar high above his head, and brought it down on the dockworker's
skull. There was a sickening crack, and the man's life ended.

The other dockworkers looked on in horror as he approached. Some of
them were armed with crowbars and other tools, but looked uncertain. 

As he neared the dock, he spotted a fireax in a glass case. He slowly
walked over, shattered the glass with the crowbar, dropped the metal
bar, and reached for the ax...

The dockworkers that didn't have the sense to flee, were dead ten
minutes later. The ones that did, well...they couldn't get far. Even
if they did, he'd find them eventually. And if he didn't, it didn't
matter.

This was a large city. There would be more than enough people here.

*****

/We interrupt your regularly scheduled program for a special news
bulletin. Tokyo police have reported another ten murders in the last
hour. Since early this morning, citizens and police have discovered
over 30 brutally murdered bodies on a line from Tokyo Bay through the
warehouse district, heading for Nerima. Citizens are advised to be on
their guard, and to avoid going outdoors if at all possible, until
the individual or individuals responsible for the chain of killings
are apprehended. We now take you live to the scene of the most recent
murder.../

"Ara..." Kasumi said worriedly. "What's going on, Father?"

Soun rubbed his chin. "I wish I knew, Kasumi. I've never heard of
anything like it, have you Saotome?"

Genma shook his head. "No, Tendou, I haven't. But with the way this
world is today, I'm not in the least surprised."

Kasumi's eyes widened. "Oh dear...Akane and Ranma are in town running
errands for me...I hope they'll be alright...!"

"Relax, Kasumi. Ranma can take care of himself, and of Akane," Soun
said.

"I hope so..." 

*****

He remembered the landslide that undid him last time. It had been
sudden and unexpected...he was approaching a boy who appeared to be
looking at a map, he prepared to strike...then the ground exploded.
He was carried down the side of the hill, into the river. He couldn't
escape the rushing water in time, and dashed across the rocks dotting
the whitewater. Then there was a long drop, and he blacked out.

He felt better now, although this new city confused him. He couldn't
make sense out of anything here. Had he taken that hard of a blow to
the head in that river? 

He continued onward, distancing himself from the last victim, when in
the distance he saw...

The boy.

The one who he'd been stalking that day on the riverbank. 

It hadn't been his day the last time, he realized. That was the only
explanation. As he watched the yellow-and-green clad boy with the
bandana wander aimlessly down the street, he steeled himself, and
began following.

He knew, in his blood, that today *was* his day. That boy would not
elude Jason Voorhees this time.

*****

"Stupid...you always have to start something, don't you Ranma?"

"Me?" Ranma shot back. "I didn't do nothin, Akane! How was I s'posed
to know Shampoo would be at the meat market today?"

"Oh, she was at the *meat* market alright, Ranma. So were you." Akane
stormed down the sidewalk.

"Hey, it ain't my fault Shampoo was grabbin' onto me like that!"

Any further conversation was forestalled by the familiar cry: "Ranma,
how dare you fawn on Shampoo and mistreat Akane! I won't allow it!" 

"Well if it isn't P-chan," Ranma said in a bored tone. 

Akane sighed as the usual fight erupted between the two boys. She was
about to chew Ranma out for fighting with Ryouga, when she noticed
something very unusual on the street, beyond the two martial artists.


"Uhh, guys?"

"What is it, Akane?" Ranma asked, still trading blows with Ryouga.

Akane pointed down the street. "I think you better take a look at
that..."

Ranma and Ryouga blinked, freezing in mid-punch, and turned to look
in the direction Akane pointed.

A six-foot-plus-tall...person?...was walking slowly toward them. One
hand had a loose, easy grip on a fireax. He was dressed in filthy
clothes that had seen better days, and wore a stained, battered,
cracked hockey mask. 

"Whoa," Ranma said. "That one's weird even for this place."

"Hey, I've seen that guy before!" Ryouga said, scowling. "Who are
you?" he yelled at the masked man.

No response. He just kept coming closer. 

"Should we take him down, or wait to see who he is and what he
wants?" Ranma asked.

Ryouga shrugged. "I dunno. He tried to kill me the last time I saw
him...I think. He had a machete then, though." 

"He didn't tell you why?"

Ryouga shook his head. "He didn't get the chance. I blasted him into
the river."

"Hmmm...grudge? Duel? Jyusenkyou, maybe?" Ranma asked.

The masked person was standing right in front of them now, and raised
his axe. He swung it down at Ryouga.

Ryouga caught the axe by the handle, its blade just centimeters from
his head. "HEY! Watch it, jerk!" he said. He wrenched the axe out of
the attacker's hand, and struck it against the ground hard, breaking
the blade off. 

The man with the mask took a step back.

There were shouts from further up the street. "THERE HE IS! HEY, YOU
WITH THE MASK!! FREEZE!!"

"Huh?" Ranma said in confusion. Everyone, including the masked man,
turned to see several police officers crouched in an alleyway, taking
aim at the axe-wielder with service revolvers and tranquilizer
rifles. 

"YOU THREE, BACK AWAY FROM HIM! THIS MAN'S A SERIAL KILLER!"

"That would explain the axe," Ryouga said wryly. 

The masked man reached down, and picked up the blade of the axe.
Holding it like a frisbee, he flung it into the group of officers.
Too surprised to react, one of them received it, edge-first, in the
throat. He gurgled up blood as he collapsed to the ground.

The rest of the officers opened fire. Ranma, Ryouga, and Akane
scrambled for cover.

The bullets and tranq darts riddled the killer, driving him back a
few steps, but he didn't fall. 

"What the--? What *is* this guy?" Ranma wondered.

The masked killer began approaching the officers again, heedless of
the flying projectiles. The policemen began to grow nervous, and beat
a hasty retreat. 

"Ranma, we gotta do something about this guy," Ryouga said.

Ranma nodded. "You're right, he's gotta be stopped. Let's nail him." 

"Ranma...Ryouga...be careful..." Akane said in a quiet, worried tone.

"Don't sweat it Akane," Ranma said, as he and Ryouga began charging.
"KYAA!!!"

*****

Letting the boy go for a moment, he began to pursue the ones that
were firing at him. 

There was a shout from behind him. He began to turn...and suddenly
found himself flat on his face.

He heard another shout, and felt the sidewalk explode beneath him.
Two hard pressures on his back. 

He pushed himself shakily to his feet, and turned. The two boys were
standing there. He began walking forward, intending to kill them with
his bare hands. 

*****

"Damn...he's still movin'," Ranma said. "I think we're gonna hafta go
all out."

Ryouga nodded, cupping his hands. "I'm ready."

Ranma cupped his hands, and a yellow glow formed between them. A
matching greenish-blue glow formed in Ryouga's hands. 

"On three...one...two...NOW! MOUKOU TAKABISHA!"

"SHISHI HOUKOUDAN!"

The street exploded with blinding light.

*****

What was this light? He didn't understand. He'd never seen anything
like it before.

He felt pain. It was like being on fire, only worse. He was flat on
his back, looking up into the face of the boy he'd been stalking.

What had gone wrong? This was supposed to be his day.

*****

"Okay, tough guy, let's see what's behind that mask," Ryouga said. He
reached down and grabbed the hockey mask, tearing it off the killer's
face. 

Akane screamed.

Ranma grimaced. "Ugh."

The face behind the mask...it could only barely be described as a
face. It was hideous. Ryouga felt sure he'd be having nightmares
about that face for years to come.

"What kind of monster *are* you?" Ryouga yelled down at the freak.

"KILL IT!!" Akane screamed. 

"I think we hafta, Ryouga," Ranma said. "This thing ain't even
human."

Ryouga nodded, charging up for another blast. Ranma got on the other
side of the monster, and gathered his ki as well.

As their hands began glowing, Jason's eyes...what passed for
them...tried to widen, in a face not made for that kind of movement. 

*****

AFTERMATH

/And the Tokyo Police would like to extend thanks to two martial
artists from the Nerima ward, Saotome Ranma and Hibiki Ryouga, whose
efforts were instrumental in bringing down the creature responsible
for the killing spree in Tokyo. This concludes our evening news
broadcast for Friday, February 13, 1998.//



Author's note: I apologize for the roughness of the Japanese speech
used at the beginning of the story. I had to piece it together on the
fly. It doesn't actually matter, anyway, so just ignore it. I'm not
even going to translate it; it's not relevant to the story. 

Actually, I apologize for this entire piece of garbage. I just
couldn't resist.

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The odor that clears your sinuses is always the 
one that makes you wish they were still
clogged up.

---
The Eternal Lost Lurker
EternalLostLurker@worldnet.att.net
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Garden/9502

Damn it man, we can't write everything.
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