I've given up hope that I can send Overload without
Yahoo scrambling it, so I'm sending in Chapter 6
of Desert Moon. If this screws up, also, I'm going to
sign up with my other e-mail addy. The prologue and
first chapters of this can be found on my page
at http://members.tripod.com/~Valandar/fanfic.html

As usual, honest C&C is appreciated, flames aren't.



Standard Disclaimer: All characters appearing in this 
fic are the property of their respective creators. 
Please don't sue me, I have no money.

                      Desert Moon
                A Ranma 1/2 Fanfiction
                 By Valandar the Red


                     Chapter Six
                     Double Life


     It was nearly noon when the amazons and their allies had 
reached Jusenkyo, and three hours had passed. The young 
warriors who had escorted Plum's husband, and the bodies of the 
two girls, back to the village, had returned. Nothing had been
heard about the Guide, Plum, or the old man who sought the
Spring of Drowned God. Several kettles were happily whistling
away on small fires, an ironic counterpoint to the general
mood at the springs.
     Shampoo sat close to her husband, letting him embrace her
in public. Open displays of affection by elders were normally 
frowned upon, but none could find fault with her. The threat
that faced the valley was more than a few troops, more than a
few tanks. It threatened the very world, itself. She stared
at Maoniichuan, which had affected her life for so long, but
was now a simple pool for her. She had overcome the curse.
But would the curse return if the demon god awoke?
     For his part, Mousse was considering their son. A quiet,
bookish boy, he was proficient at the male techniques of
Amazonian Wu-Shu, but just barely. He was not given the Bakusai
Tenketsu training, as he likely wouldn't survive it. The half-
blind martial artist thanked all the spirits he could think of
that the boy was in school in America, right now, far from
Jusenkyo.
     Ukyou had other thoughts. She had gotten over Ranma, long
ago, but wouldn't let herself get close to anyone else. She just
couldn't find anyone that met her expectations. Staring out at
the few male amazons that had joined the war party, she realized
the reason. Every single one, she was comparing to her Ranchan.
This one wasn't as handsome, that one wasn't as graceful, and
that one over there was too short. She sat on the ground, 
and wrapped her arms around her knees. She wasn't old, yet, not
really...but she felt it. Especially now.
     Thoughts of rage and sorrow filled the mind of the eternally
Lost Man. He wasn't at a dangerous level, thanks to his earlier
Shi Shi Houkudan, but it was enough to get him into the mindset
he needed to inflict the maximum amount of damage in the shortest
amount of time. As he went through one of the Hibiki family 
katas, every punch and kick was directed at the unknown enemy,
as visions of Plums daughters mocked him in silent agony.
     Ranma and Akane simply held each other. Every time they came
together to China, it was either for Ranma to rescue Akane, or -
well, it was for Ranma to rescue Akane, at least at one point or
another. They whispered promises to each other to return, maybe
with their children, during quiet times. Later. After this new
enemy was beaten.
     "This is not the best battleground we could have chosen,"
muttered Khu Lon, the High Matriarch of the amazons. Her gaze
swept across all the pools, seeing the phantom images of all 
those drowned therein. Over where Yingniichuan, Spring of Drowned
Falcon, should be, was a double image - one of the falcon, and 
one of Ying Lu, the child she had sent to Japan to find Xian Pu,
Mousse, Ryouga, and Akane. And over another...what? She saw a 
triple image. One was of Akane, the few wrinkles she had 
crinkling as she smiled, and a content look on her face. The 
second was that of one of the bird-women of Phoenix Mountain, the
one who had recently married the rejuvenated Saffron. And the
third...well, the third was of Akane, as she had ben twenty-six
years ago. It was a mystery that would have to wait for another
time.
     The ground behind the Guide's house exploded in a shower of
stone and clay. A soundless, spiritual roar screamed through the
minds of all those present, rendering most into quivering, 
terrified children. Only the bravest had the courage to turn, and
see Jalamdhara, the demon god, rise from his millenia of 
imprisonment. Four heads, he bore, one for each direction, and
six arms, two to face each of the trinity. His skin was deepest
red, and each head bore three horns, the central horn spiraling
twice as high as the length of the head. He stood twelve feet 
tall, and was built thicker than the largest bodybuilder in the
human race. Around his waist, he wore a breechclout of gold,
and rubies dangled from the belt that held it on. Each hand bore
a thick, broad bladed tulwar, the hook-backed scimitars that
could remove a man's head just by the weight of the blade,
and each head bore four eyes, blazing with green flame. He stood
aloft, fifty feet in the air, and simply laughed.
     All the rage boiling through Ryouga found release. Without
his usual kiai, or incantation, he fired off a powerful burst of 
chi. It splashed harmlessly off Jalamdhara. "Mortal buffoon, 
nothing you do can harm me. I shall not tarry long, here. Allow
my small...present...to entertain you for a while." One arm
stretched out, as his left-hand head muttered words forgotten
before the first words of Sanskrit had been uttered.
     The pools of Jusenkyo had long been home to his unholy 
magic. Now, his magic was uleashed in its full glory upon them.
The ghostly forms that only Khu Lon could percieve drifted 
upwards, gaining substance, and alighting on the patches of 
ground that formed the boundaries of their watery graves. Only
a few pools refused to give up their dead, among them the Spring
of Drowned Falcon, and Spring of Drowned Akane.
     "Aiyah! Ranma, look out, you standing near Maoniichuan!"
Shampoo glanced back and forth from Ranma, to the weird priest
who stood before her. She dodged his first, clumsy attack, then 
knocked him back into his pool. He gurgled and screamed, then
slowly dissolved.
     "Ah, that's okay, Shampoo. I've had twelve years o' therapy
to get me over the fear!" He simply reached down, and grabbed the
cat clawing at his leg, and tossed it in.
     Akane faced off against two large men. "I don't know what 
pool you came from, but you're going back!" Her fists blurred
out, impacting with the first, as the second swung and missed.
     "Bweee!!!" A tiny black piglet rammed itself over and over
again into Ryouga's shin. The Lost man chuckled, then raised his
umbrella.
     "Little guy, I've been wanting to do this for a long time!"
Down came the umbrella, sweeping close to the ground, before
turning upwards and impacting with the piglet. One last squeal,
and it plopped down in the pool it was spawned from.
     Mousse fired off a set of spikes, riddling the duck that
was flapping around his face, and smirked. "This doesn't seem so
tough!" He was interrupted by a roar behind him, so he turned, 
and froze. There was a huge, minotaur-like creature, with an 
eel's head at the end of its tail, and relatively tiny wings. 
"T-Taro? But y-you're dead!"
     A roar silenced him, as a single paw swipe sent him across
the cursed training grounds. By sheer luck, he landed between 
two pools, and had time to regain his feet.
     "Don't worry, buddy, I'm coming!" shouted Ranma. He hopped
over three weird creatures, likely composite drownings like the
minotaur-beast, then sprinted towards Taro's old cursed form.
     "No, you're not," came a whisper from his left. Fire burned
along his ribcage as a foot struck him with tremendous force. He 
rolled with the impact, coming up on his feet, and froze. Before
him stood a short redhead, barely sixteen, with a fantastic 
figure, and fiery eyes. "You?"
     "Yes." She said nothing more, but lashed out with the speed
of an amaguriken. His own speed was diminished with age, and his
male form had never been faster than his female one. However, 
speed was not the only measure of a martial artist. 
     With precision and skill he could have only dreamed of, he
proceeded to simply destroy the redhead. The blows that landed
on him were barely deflected to land on non-vital spots, while
his every strike was delivered to the exact spot he desired. The
phantom reacted by redoubling her efforts, and would occasionally
land a solid hit, but the conclusion was foregone. Soon, she was
flying back to her pool, and gone once more. With the distraction
gone, he leapt to defend his stunned friend.
     Shampoo had arrived first, closely followed by Ryouga. The
three were having difficulty with the beast, whose power seemed 
to have only grown without the presence of Taro's spirit. Mousse
was down, bleeding badly from a huge gash in his lower torso,
while the Lost Man was slowly being pushed to the ground by the
minotaur. Shampoo was repeatedly striking it across the back
with her bonbori, but seemed to have no effect.
     As Ranma joined them, it casually tossed Ryouga aside. He 
landed on the far side of the pools, flat on his back. Only the
training he had recieved prevented him from breaking his back.
The pigtaile martial artist leapt between his Chinese friend and
the monster, yelling, "Shampoo, get away! He's mine!"
     "You crazy, Ranma! Beast defeating three of us, you think
you beat it alone?" She didn't have much time to say more, as one
hand the size of her entire torso grabbed her, and tossed her to
join Ryouga. The bandanna wearing man recovered just in time to
catch her, and set her down.
     "Akane!" yelled Ranma. "Remember what we did to Taro?"
     His wife had just finished knocking her two foes into their
respective springs. Seeing the Taro beast, she nodded, and hopped
to a position right behind the beast. 
     Ranma shouted an incoherent battle cry, and leapt directly
for the face of the monster. It reached up to grab him, right as
Akane struck it in the back of his double-jointed legs. The lower
right knee crumbled, and the beast went down. As it fell, Ranma
twisted, rolling onto the back of the thing. As his feet touched 
ground, he exerted just enough pressure to put the beast into a 
spin, ending up face-down on the ground. He quickly grabbed an 
arm, and bent it backwards, and so high on the head that its 
knuckles touched its horns.
     Roaring like a dragon of old, the beast struggled against
Ranma's grip. But, every time it fought against the arm bar, he
would simply pull up on the arm, subjecting it to agony. 
"Sorry, freak, but you can't fight your own joints. Hey, guys,
I've got it under control, for now. Time to toast it. And hurry
up, I can't hold him for long!"
     By now, the rest of the amazons had managed to defeat the
rest of the Jusenkyo phantasms, and one came over with a bowl she
had taken from the Guide's house and carefully filled with water
from the beast's own spring. She poured it on the monster's head,
and it boiled away, flowing mist-like back to its pool.
     Shampoo ran to help her husband, while Ranma looked at Khu
Lon. "Well, old Ghoul, where do you think he's gone?"
     "To get an army, of course. One he can use in his bid to
destroy the gods. And the nearest one he can use..."
     "Is the invaders, back at the village!" blurted Ryouga.
     "No, boy. He would not use so base a force. He needs the
ancient beings he knew as Garadu." She pointed to a nearby 
mountain peak. "He needs the inhabitants of Phoenix Mountain."



Notes:
   The Garadu in Hindu lore were a race of bird-men, who would
 ferry the gods who could not fly from Heaven to Earth. Yes,
 Jalamdhara can fly, as was mentioned earlier, but he needs
 troops that can go to the place he seeks to conquer. 
   And I always wanted a scene where Ryouga gets a chance to
 clobber that stupid little piglet who drowned, and was the origin
 of his curse!
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