Hey, everybody in FFML-land!

Here's the next chapter. After this, y posting is going to slow slightly, 
as I haven't actually finished Chapter 16 yet.

Ch 15 is done and under revision. I'll prol'y post it monday night. Ch 16 
is about 95% done, and awaiting being sent to my faithful army of pre-readers.

Again, I'd like to thank everyone who's written. While I've been getting 
response from people who *really* dislike the way the story is shaping up, 
I've received positive responses as well. Thanks everybody.

And now for everybody who's been waiting to see when the amazons would show 
up....


Ch 14 - Gathering of Forces

	"What have you learned, Grand-daughter," the aged matriarch
of the Joketsuzoku whispered, so as not to be overheard by Mousse.

	The youth, who was currently washing tables in the front of
the restaurant, was a moron in her opinion but his near blindness
had made his hearing a little too accurate for her comfort.

	Kneeling, Shampoo began to count off on her fingers. "It
true," she explained. "Airen have big big fight with pervert girl.
Bigger than most fight. He sleep with spatula girl all night."

	"Did anything happen?"

	"With Airen?" Shampoo hissed incredulously. "You joking? Why
Airen make baby with spatula girl when Shampoo just around corner?
No. Airen upset. Too upset for love. All friend say he only eat
half okonomiyaki at lunch. Airen too upset eat, too upset for
making baby."

	"That may be true, but I've warned you about your
overconfidence before." Cologne chided.

	Shampoo nodded, laying a finger to her chin. "If Airen get
koochie-koo, then Shampoo think Airen no grumpy. He even grump at
spatula girl. He no be with her. Something funny with Airen and
pervert girl's sister, though. They argue. Airen win argue. Greedy
girl run away home. Pervert girl sick or crying like little boy
for Airen at home, too. Shampoo think something wrong with greedy
girl and pervert girl. Maybe nice-nice older sister, too."

	There was a word in their village for when a woman captured
a soldier or some other undesirable man, and got sick after she
had had her way with him. The word referred to the diseases men of
the world sometimes carried. It also referred to the hopelessness
of ever ridding oneself of such a disease.

	"Shampoo think that girls become 'vultures'. Ranma angry
with pervert girl for trying make baby with vulture-man?"

	Cologne shook her head and chuckled out loud. Venereal
Disease? "I don't think you have to worry about that, Shampoo.
These Japanese women are such prudes. I doubt that Akane has it in
her to betray Mukou-dono like that. Something... there is
something serious here. If only I could figure out what,
though..."

	"Shampoo find out, one way or another."

* * *
	
	
	True to Ranma's mysterious friend's claims, the body of a
young student was found just outside St. Hebereke High. Soun and
Genma, who had been trading a police band radio back and forth
while they worked on the yard were the first to hear the report,
just after Nabiki's arrival.

	"Did they say who?" Nabiki demanded angrily as the Tendou
and Saotome families, plus Athia, Ryouga and Tofuu assembled in
the living room. Akane, however, was still asleep.

	Genma shook his head. "We can be certain that it's not
Ranma's gymnast friend. She's already gone on television to offer
a reward for the murderer's capture."

	"What's more important is how the girl died," Athia
countered. "Was she raped, or merely mutilated?"

	"They're not saying yet," Soun answered. "The news report
says that she died of multiple stab wounds. Whether we can believe
that or not is still up in the air."

	"Let's get to work, ladies," Nodoka commanded. "If the king
did summon another ravener, he'll almost certainly be in that same
area."

* * *

	After cutting out of afternoon class, Ranma had commanded
Ukyou to stay at Uc-chan's with the doors locked. She wasn't
happy, especially in the presence of Ranma's new companion, but
obeyed her fiancee.

	The burning anger in Ranma's eyes was far, far too intense
for her to ignore.

	To make matters worse, Kodachi had appeared live on Channel
2 just after Ranma left. She was offering a one million yen reward
for the capture of the murderer who had mutilated a St. Heberke
student at lunchtime.

	"Mistress," Konatsu asked in a worried tone of voice. "Do
you think Ranma knows the killer?"

	Ukyou shrugged anxiously. This was getting a little to deep
for her to deal with.

	"Are we going to go to help him?" the kunoichi asked
seriously. "If there are murderers about, then it is public duty
to try to stop them.

	Ukyou hesitated, hearing Ranma's commandment over and over
again in her head. Then she eyed her battle spatula, leaning
against the grill.

	"You bet your ass, we're going." Ukyou hissed. "There's no
way I'm gonna let Ran-chan fight this guy alone!"

* * *

	"In further news, Police have released the name, and
apparent cause of death of the victim."

	Cologne stared in grim interest at the television set,
mostly ignoring the boiling pot behind her.

	"Kayuma Masahita, aged 17," the reporter droned, reading
from a dog-eared sheet of paper. "Died of blood loss due to
multiple puncture wounds to the neck and lower abdomen, just above
her hips. Police believe that the killer is indeed a Copycat
'Tokyo--"

	"Hibaa-chan!!" Shampoo shouted, bursting into the
restaurant. "Girl die at crazy-girl school. Airen mother, greedy
girl, and nice-nice girl go. White-hair lady go, too."

	Cologne's eyes narrowed in suspicion.

	"You must go as well, Shampoo!" she commanded. "Watch them."

	The young amazon nodded and turned to leave, but the elder
caught her by the sleeve of her blouse.

	"What ever you do, Shampoo, you *must* stay upwind!"

	A look of confusion crossed her face, but Shampoo nodded in
obedience and ran out the door.

* * *

	"So, you're sticking around this time?" Ranma asked, hanging
from the tree branch by his knees..

	The girl, sitting daintily on the branch with her legs
crossed, looked at him oddly, the confusion clear on her face.

	"I mean, you're not gonna take off just as soon as we see
the monster, are ya?"

	"Why would I do such a thing?" she responded in irritation.

	Ranma swung a little, gauging his response.

	"Well, it's like ya dissapear every time I go to pound one
of the creeps."

	"Well... I do wait to see that you've finished the fight..."
she admitted. "I'm always right there, fighting along next to
you."

	"Uhhhh...."

	He decided not to pursue the inconsistency in the girl's
statement.

	"So..." Ranma forwarded. "You a vampire?" he asked, trying
to keep the question as casual as possible. He was fairly certain
that she was, and just as certain that he wanted as little to do
with her as possible if she was. He had to make sure, though.

	The nameless girl looked at him quizzically again. "What is
a vampire?" she asked.

	"Well. I mean... Uh... It's a person who drinks--"

	Her irritated expression cut him off.

	"Is a vampire a creature who merely drinks blood? Is it a
creature with fantastic powers? What about the raveners... do they
not glory in blood?"

	"But they don't *drink* it," Ranma answered bitterly. "Bad
as they are, they're not parasites!"

	"Again, what is a para-- Who is that?"

	Ranma jerked his head back to the front to see a trail of
brown and black pass forty or fifty feet below them.

	"Shit!"

	"What?"

	Ranma shook his head angrily as he righted himself. "Uc-
chan... and Konatsu, I think. I told her to stay put, damnit!"

	The nameless girl looked questioningly at Ranma, who bit his
lip in a second of indecision.

	"C'mon," he commanded. "And don't take off until I'm done
talkin' to you."

	

* * *

	"The stink of ravener is all around here," Athia hissed,
running through the trees with the rest of the women.

	"Akuji, too," Nabiki noted, lifting her nose gingerly into
the air. "Like rotten meat with deodorant."

	Kasumi, who was in the lead by merit of her even more
sensitive nose, looked back at the European woman. "What should we
do if we encounter the ravener king?"

	"Do our best to contain him," Athia answered. The tone of
her voice gave away her uncertainty, and the rest of the women
felt it as well.

	"Can you tell if Ranma is anywhere near, Kasumi?" Nodoka
asked.

	Kasumi merely shook her head.

	"Is there still someone following us?" Nodoka whispered.

	Kasumi nodded.

	Some distance behind, and slightly to the right of the
group, Shampoo froze in the trees again as she saw Airen's mother
and the blonde woman look around nervously. Damn those Japanese
women! She was using every trick in the book to mask her presence.
They shouldn't even be able to tell that she was anywhere on the
same island!

	"Do you know who it is, yet?" Athia asked.

	Kasumi nodded. "It's human and not a ravener. I can hear her
heart beating. I believe that it's Shampoo."

	"Lovely," Nabiki carped. "The Chinese Army has arrived to
confuse the situation.

	"All the more reason to take out the ravener as soon as
possible," Athia noted. "If this girl is a virgin, she may lead
the ravener here."

* * *

	Some distance away, a ravener began to lurch away from a
star shaped burn on the ground. As with most of its kin, it had
only one thought in its tiny mind.

	There were the scents of many here...

* * *

	"Stupid Spatula girl get in way, too," Shampoo whispered to
herself as she saw the chef and the cross dressing ninja pass
beneath her. This simply wouldn't do. If she were allowed too
close to Airen's mother then there was no tel--

	Shampoo's world dissolved into a white haze.

* * *

	"Ran-chan?!" Ukyou yelled, trying to locate her fiancee.

	"Ranma-san?!" Konatsu seconded, doing his best to help.
There was something not quite right about the situation. Something
evil was here, he knew. And where was that awful smell coming
from?

	"Still no sign of--"

	Ukyou turned around in shock. Ranma's mother, Kasumi, Nabiki
and a blonde woman she had never seen before bursted out of the
trees. Ranma's mother had just spoken, and was looking at her in
shock.

	"Kasumi?" Nodoka asked.

	"I can't smell anything, Auntie," Kasumi defended.

	The blonde woman glared around her in anxiety and anger.
"Something's confusing the environment badly," she noted. "The
ravener king could be any--

	There was a slight rustle as Shampoo dropped limply out of
the leafy canopy above. Yelling, Ukyou caught her before she hit
the ground.

	"What's going on here?!?!" Konatsu demanded.

	Sadly, no one had time to answer him, as the ravener leapt
out into the clearing. They group scattered as the monster lunged.
	
	Ranma glanced down from his hiding spot with little
surprise.

	"Yeah, that's about what I thought."

	"Will we help them?" the nameless girl asked, her voice full
of apprehension.

	Ranma nodded. "Yeah... let's hold on just a second."

	Ukyou sent a spray of spatulas at the creature. She had no
clue as to what it was, but only knew that it smelled horrible.
Konatsu, following his love's lead, let lose with a handful of
shuriken.

	Three spatulas and four shuriken hit the monster in various
places. What was really terrifying was that it didn't slow the
thing down an inch.

	"Ukyou--" Nabiki's voice breathed from behind her.

	Konatsu was thrown back as he attacked the beast. Ukyou
never saw the blow.

	"You're a virgin, right?" Nabiki asked as Ukyou readied her
battle spatula.

	Ukyou nodded, taking a few practice swings in the monster's
direction. Out of the corner of her eye she could see that Nodoka
had bared her katana and the blonde woman was standing over
Shampoo's limp body with a drawn broadsword. A low chanting seemed
to fill the clearing.

	"So?" she asked, tensing to lunge in at the monster.

	"That thing eats girls like you for breakfast," Nabiki
informed her. For the first time, Ukyou realized that she could
not actually see the girl. Anxious, but undaunted, she pressed her
attack.

	The creature was quite naked, but Ukyou had no illusions
that it was in anyway human. Its hands and feet were distended
into claws and what organs would grace a normal man were grossly
swollen and horn-like.

	It was some kind of demon, Ukyou thought, as she took her
first swing. The monster dodged under the swing with apparently no
effort and--

	"GET AWAY FROM IT, UKYOU!!!" Kasumi yelled in terror.

	The monster tore the spatula out of her hands and grabbed
her around the throat in one motion. With a second swipe, it dug
its claws into the jacket of her school uniform, and ripped it
away from her. Ukyou screamed in pain as the fabric tore around
her arms. The monster tightened its grip on her throat and dug its
claws into her chest bindings. She could feel them dig into her
skin slightly.

	*THUMP*

	And Ukyou was lying on the ground, dazed. Her hands went to
cover her bare chest, but as she turned, she could see Ranma
standing over her.

	The beast was pinned to the ground. Ranma had driven a
branch through its chest.

	Still, the monster was scrabbling at the branch.

	"Does it feel no pain?" She wondered hazily, her head
beginning to spin.

	"Damnitt, Ukyou! I told you to stay put!"	Ranma scolded as
he picked up another branch and drove it through the monster at
waist level.

	Ukyou flinched as the impact splattered her with fine
droplets of the same black goo she had scrubbed off of Ranma the
previous night.

	A third went through its shoulder, sending more of the
creature's black blood spurting into the air. Ranma seemed to be
doing his best to fasten the monster to the ground rather than
actually kill it, however.

	The monster screamed out in inhuman rage rather than agony.

	Dazed, terrified and feeling mortal for the first time,
Ukyou scrambled away from the monster. She gagged as the
horrific smell from the black blood began to permeate her senses.

	"Do what you gotta," Ranma addressed his mother.

	Nodoka nodded, and pulled a wicked looking butcher knife out
of her kimono. She laid it next to the monster, and began
chanting.

	Ukyou's vision was hazy, and she was trying to keep from
gagging and passing out at the same time, but she could swear that
she saw Nabiki *appear* next to her and take up the same chant.
Behind her, she could hear Kasumi's voice begin to chant as well,
at a slightly different tempo. The blonde woman began chanting in
a strange language.

	Surprisingly, Nodoka and Nabiki made no move to back away as
the monster picked up the knife. Instead, they intensified their
chanting.

	Just before she passed out, she saw another figure drop from
the trees. Ukyou couldn't make out her features, as the blackness
began to creep in around the corners of her vision. She could hear
the girl begin chanting as well. The voice was so familiar... It
was almost as if she could understand what was being said if only
she could concentrate hard enough.

	The last thing she saw was the monster driving the knife
down... down into its own belly.

* * *

	Ukyou came to in a rush. A police blanket was wrapped around
her. Sirens wailed miserably in the distance, and she was
surrounded in flashing light and the static of a dozen walkie-
talkies working at once. Overlaying everything was the rotten-egg-
sewage smell that seemed to cling to her.

	She sat up on her palette, seeing Konatsu, injured,
unconcious, but apparently alive, lying next to her. In front of
her Shampoo was arguing with a Chinese speaking police officer.

	Some distance away, Nodoka and Nabiki were talking with
another police officer, just in front of the main doors of St.
Hebereke High.

	"What happened?" she wondered aloud.

	"Are you awake, Miss?" a voice asked from behind her.

	Ukyou whipped around to see a uniformed police woman
standing behind her.

	"What happened?" Ukyou demanded. "Where's Ran-chan?"

	"My Ranma-sama?" A voice asked from the other direction. Her
head pounding, Ukyou twisted to see Kodachi, the Black Rose,
standing over a sheet covered lump several yards away.

	Ukyou knew in a second that Kodachi was standing over the
remains of the monster.

	"My Ranma-sama is a hero!" Kodachi proclaimed. "Why, after
this mindless beast was faced with my love's skill and dangerous
power, he took his own life rather than face defeat at the hands
of such an incredible man."

	Ukyou nodded in agreement. From what she had seen, there was
very little she could say to counter Kodachi's story.

	But... The chanting. And where was Ranma?

	"We've got a positive match on the hair samples," another
voice called out. It turned out to be another policeman, holding
an open manila folder.

	"Some match Kuonji-san and others match Masahita-san," the
policeman announced. "There's no question about the killing."

	Ukyou's hand went to her hair in shock. The monster... it
had torn her clothes off. She was still naked from the waist up,
and sore around the sides and shoulders where it had literally
torn her jacket off. Suddenly, Ukyou realized what would have
happened to her had Ranma not intervened. She began to shake
uncontrollably.

	"Kuonji-san," the police woman informed her. "You should lie
down! You've taken a nasty blow to the head. You may still be in
shock."

	Ukyou nodded, and curled up despondently in the blanket,
more alone and more utterly terrified than she could remember.
Where was Ran-chan?

	"Ranma-sama!" Kodachi announced into a television camera.
"What a wonderful man you are for defeating the Tokyo Slasher! You
may claim your reward tonight in my private quarters in the Kunou
Mansion. Many other rewards shall be waiting for you there as
well! Come, take your rewards from me, Ranma-sama!! OHHH-
HOHOHOHOHOHO!!!!"

	Ukyou began to weep. Where was Ran-chan?

- To be continued...


~Da da dummmmmm....~

Too gory? Too violent? Too icky?

My main concern here is that I don't want the story to turn into an 
absolute gore fest. Should I tone down the amount of ravener gook that 
Ukyou gets in the face?

Yeah, it's supposed to be serious, but not *that* serious.

Next time:

	Akuji watches television.
	Shampoo and Cologne chat.
	The Tendous try to decide what to have for dinner.
	
	Oh... and Kodachi 'rewards' Ranma.

(Hint: It's not what you're thinking, ecchi! ^_^ That's not for a couple 
chapters yet!)

Until next time,

Chris
* * *
Chris Jones - guilty@arn.net
The Ranma 1/2 Gallery - http://cyberwheel.simplenet.com/ranma

It's 1999. Do you know what your children are?

"The impeachment scandal tarnished everyone who caused it. On
the Democratic side, that would be: President Clinton. On the
Republican side that would be: The United States House of
Representatives."       - Jack Hitt