"Hey, A-kun, isn't it time for one of your half-baked halloween ideas?" ????? inquired.
    Grumbling, he sipped at his soda before answering, "For your information, I'm not doing one."
    "But what will people do if they can't read one of your triteful halloween tales?" ????? asked sarcastically.
    "Resort to electricity like you?" A-kun inquired.
    A few seconds later, A-kun was resetting his jaw, "Sohahhitsss!"
    "Anyway, I think you shouldn't give up.  Surely you've got a dark or nasty story you could send out." ????? noted.
    His jaw fixed due to the fact that no one wanted to try and make out his half-slurred mumble-hissing, A-kun snorted derisively, "Duh.  Of course, but a lot of these are too trite-filled for even ME to send out."
    "Here's one based on the Faculty... and... and... wha?" ????? asked.
    A-kun shook his head, "Don't ask.  Let's just say the aliens enter through a more universally ignored entrance and it takes them a lot longer to take over."
    "EEEEEEEEEWWWWW!" ????? cried, throwing the papers into a handy fire.
    "Hey, it made perfect logic, it was just too gross to continue.  Besides, at the end, the government makes a stringent increase on clean water policies and the aliens don't leak out of people's faces." A-kun answered.
    ????? shuddered, "Well, anything else?"
    "Here's a darkfic where Genma decides to teach Ranma the true meaning of Christmas..." A-kun began.
    "How's that a darkfic?" ????? asked.
    "...by nailing him to a cross for forty days and forty nights, then burying him in a cave and expecting him to rise the next time he goes to check on the boulder." A-kun answered.
    ".......???" ????? demanded.
    "Genma never reads anything completely." A-kun explained.
    ????? was still looking ill as A-kun pulled out another fanfic.
    "Here's a darkfic involving Sasami Hood of Sherwood Forest..." A-kun began.
    "I'm afraid to ask." ????? began.
    "Yeah, it ends with the double suicide of Sasami Hood and her one true love, the Harlock of Naughtyham." A-kun sighed.
    "Anything that doesn't involve suicide or religious references?" ????? begged.
    "Well, this one Utena fanfic... it's a bit moody, but I think it's free of religious references." A-kun said, holding up a sheef of pages. (That's one sheef-load of paper. - TharzZzy's Innate Punctualist)

---------------------------BEGIN SPOOKY SH*T HERE----------------------

    Miki Kaoru was doing what he did best these days.  Walk.  Ever since Touga had been defeated by Miss Tenjou, Miki had found himself walking all around Ohtori, looking for something.  He had no clue what he was looking for, but he kept walking and looking.

    Walk, walk, look.

    Walk, walk, look.

    Walk, walk, walk, walk, look.

    He wasn't sure how long he'd been doing this.  He'd long since destroyed his stopwatch.  He'd done so shortly after Touga was the victor of the duels.  The stopwatch only served to remind him that at Ohtori, everyone was subservient to the Victor of the Duels.  Even End of the World would be powerless were the Victor to use the full power of Dios.

    The thought that Touga would become the advent of Dios... was more than Miki's mind could allow.  It was a disgusting thought.

    But those thoughts weren't reaching Miki's forebrain.  He continued to walk and look.  What was it that he was looking for?  It was important.  He'd been secretly looking for it since he got here, but Ohtori seemed to cast a haze over those early memories of entering Ohtori.  There had been something prior to Ohtori.  A life?  A person?  A whole world?

    Miki clutched his head as a hazy image reached him.  It was like trying to see through thick fog at a blurred photograph.  Shaking his head, he tried to focus on the image, but it failed to reach him.  With a heavy sigh, Miki continued his walk.

    Walk, walk, look.

    Walk, walk, look.



    Juri Arisugawa was also in a bit of a mental stupor.  She was strong enough that she wasn't just walking around like Miki, but she too felt as though something was amiss.  She knew Miki from before.  Before Ohtori.  There was something else.  It involved swords.  Perhaps they met in a duel?

    No, something else.  Hazy memories began to reach her.  A duel.  A very important duel.  One that would decide her future.  It would decide whether or not she would got to the nationals again.  Then, a sharp pain, like a dagger of ice stabbed from just behind her right ear and stabbed into her right eye.  She growled at the pain.  There was... something.

    She sat down in a chair and tried to think as the pain ebbed.  The past.  Images of Shiori arose, but they didn't seem real.  They seemed like... like she had been shown a video.  She mentally pushed past Shiori and looked deeper.  There was something important she needed to remember.



    Utena burst awake, her eyes wide as sweat ran down her face.  Something... something important.  She'd lost it and she thought she'd reclaimed it, but there was something else.  She'd lost it long ago.  Ohtori.  Why was she at a place called Ohtori?  Her aunt had... aunt?  What aunt?  She'd been living with her family.

    Something was very wrong.  An illusion.  She'd faced one before, but this one was immense.  There was no telling where the illusion ended and reality began.

    Utena leapt out of bed and grabbed the bokuto she'd 'acquired' from the kendo club.



    Touga's eyes opened and he sighed.  Raising a hand, he flicked the recording off.  Nanami watched him carefully, but Touga didn't seem to move beyond that.

    "So, that's it." Touga murmurred.

    Nanami waited for a bit, to see if Touga might say something else, but when nothing else came, she sighed and headed to the kitchen.   Maybe today, he'd like some food.  She was much too far away to noticed him standing up from his chair.

    "Forgive me, little princess, but I fear I've been delayed far too much." Touga whispered after her.

    With that, he grabbed his katana from the wall and jumped out the nearest open window.  As he landed, he dashed away into the night, a location firmly in mind.



    Saiyonji Souichi nearly laughed at it now, the concept that he loved Anthy Himemiya.  No, not her.  He loved someone else.  But he was doomed to never find that love.  With a heavy sigh, he stood up from the bus station, where he'd been waiting for three days for any bus to come.  Not one had arrived.  Smiling grimly, he turned and headed back to Ohtori.

    "If you want me here, then you'd best be ready to deal with the consequences." Saiyonji growled.

    Saiyonji set down his bag, threw his coat aside and pulled his katana out of his bag.  He didn't need to worry about anyone stealing his 'things'.  With that in mind, he began walking to Ohtori.



    Akio Ohtori smiled to himself.  It was about time they figured it out.  Now, could they do it?  Could they do what was necessary?  Even at the cost of their own lives?



    It was like having a fog lifted and seeing what you were after had been in front of you the entire time, but you'd been stumbling back and forth all night.

    Utena blinked as she noticed Miki, Juri, Saiyonji and Touga following her up the stairs to the dueling forest.  She waited for them at the top.

    "What are you all doing here?" Utena asked.

    "I don't think your bokuto will do much in there, 'Utena'." Saiyonji told her, handing her a european-style long sword.

    Utena caught the sword and blinked.  It was as light as a feather.

    "Do you guys know what's going on?" Miki asked.

    "Yes, we're all in a little trap, set by her." Juri answered, motioning to Anthy Himemiya, who stood at the doorway of the arena.

    "Isn't that right, 'Anthy'?  Or should we call you... Lady Debonair?" Saiyonji demanded.

    "So, you figured it out.  How impressive.  Only Clef and Presea figured it out ahead of time, but I didn't think any of you were ready, so I had to trap them." Anthy responded.

    "Why all this?" Utena demanded.

    "Why, child, you should know that better than anyone.  Not just anyone can succeed something this powerful without tests.  And I'm afraid that Princess Emeraude has failed this time.  So, I must choose... a suitable replacement." Anthy answered.

    "So, you threw us into this alternate dimension, swapped our memories and for what?  Choosing someone for 'something' powerful?  Pretty damn pointless, if you ask me." Saiyonji demanded.

    "I thought you might say that if you weren't ill... Eagle." Anthy responded.

    Saiyonji blinked at the name, then a chill ran up his spine, "You mean..."

    "This is the Crown Chamber.  These other three had been considered, but you and 'Utena' were always the most important." Anthy responded.

    Anthy smiled, "Now, it is time to return those of you who have been disqualified to Cephiro."

    Akio appeared in front of Anthy and extended a hand, creating a gale of wind that shoved the five teens backwards as they began to return to their former selves.

    Juri felt her body melt back into that of a fourteen year old's. Her curly hair straightened, turned blue and grew long as she tried to get used to the sudden shift in size.  A black portal opened beneath her and sent her home.

    Miki felt his hair turn blonde, a pair of breasts grow on his chest, and the world blurred a bit before a pair of glasses appeared on the bridge of his nose.  Miki managed to cry out a yelp before sinking into a black portal beneath her feet.

    Touga's hair shortened and turned black, his student uniform suddenly replaced by black armor as his sword melted back into his magic blade.  He too vanished into a black portal.

    Saiyonji's hair turned blonde, then retracted to short buzzcut as his uniform and sword melted back into a skin-tight black leotard.  A portal appeared behind him as he was flung away.

    Utena felt her hair pull back and braid itself as it turned blood red.  Her uniform simply dissolved, leaving her butt naked.  Akio lowered his hand and vanished as well.  Anthy also melted, but reformed into a form that Utena Tenjou wouldn't recognize, but Hikaru Shindou did.

    "Princess?  What was...  I thought you were Lady Debonair!" Hikaru began.

    "As I said before, a test.  A very unique test, I shall agree, but a test nonetheless.  As I pointed out earlier, if it were not for the illness claiming Eagle's life, it was very unlikely that Eagle would be here at all. You, however, are a strong person.  Strong enough to do what is necessary when the time comes." Princess Emeraude answered, before smiling wearily.  For the ageless woman, it made her seemed less like the child-like princess she had seemed like before and more like a very tired grandmother.

    "What is necessary?" Hikaru asked.

    The next few minutes were stripped from Hikaru's conscious thoughts until the right moment.

=======================================================================

    "Very... unusual angle." ????? noted.
    "Yeah.  I got the inspiration from watching Magic Knights of Rayearth 2 and I wondered... what kind of test would be required to test someone who was going to get godhood?  One that tests the truest character of a person, that's what.  If you weren't in a different situation you were in, you'd have to do act as you truly would.  Eagle was free from that disease, Lantis from his obligations to Cephiro, Hikaru free of her friendship, Fuu free of her appearances, and Umi free of her desires." A-kun answered.
    "Hmmm.  What else ya got?" ????? asked.
    "Well, this one's new and it's more of a bash-the-shit-out-them sort of fic.  My avatar's in it." A-kun responded.
    "Thinly veiled?" ????? inquired.
    "Nope, ADT's A-kun." A-kun answered.
    ????? arched an eyebrow.

=======================================================================

    It was a fine spring day in the park.  The birds were chirping, the sun was shining, there was no school today, she was with all the other senshi on a picnic, there were no more monsters popping up and Mako-chan had packed an extra large lunch for everyone.  Yes, to Tsukino Usagi, this was indeed a perfect day.

    The universe was feeling a tad gothic today, so it decided that it hated perfect days.

    A ki blast in the center of the picnic sent the Senshi flying in all directions.  Turning in surprise, the Senshi faced the one who had interupted their fine spring day so rudely.

    A-kun floated about fifteen feet above them, wearing a red dougi and a stern look in his eyes.  A white and red sphere flew up from behind the Senshi to his hand.

    "Now that we've got HER out of the way, we can fight." A-kun declared.

    "A-kun!  You rat bastard!  What the hell do you think you're doing interupting me on a day like this?!" Usagi snarled.

    "Oh, I'm sorry, I'm here to get rid of you self-sacrificing martyrs for pissing me off countless times." A-kun snorted.

    "I thought we had a deal.  We back off, you back off." Usagi growled.

    "There was no 'deal'. It was a cease-fire to get you off my back for a while, but since ADT's been put on hold, I came to see how you've been training and I find you all... SLACKING OFF!" A-kun growled, powering up another ki blast and throwing it straight at Usagi.

    Aino Minako dove and shoved Usagi out of the way, only to catch the blast in the back.  Minako cried out as she was slammed into the ground roughly as the energy burned at her skin.  Usagi turned to rush to the aid of her friend when the beam cut off and a white and red sphere, similar to the one that had appeared in A-kun's hand at the start of the fight, touched Minako and absorbed her.  Usagi couldn't only watch helplessly as it floated up to A-kun's hand.

    "Looks like I'm got Setsuna and Minako.  Don't they make a cute and kinky couple?" A-kun asked, holding both orbs in one hand.

    "What the hell are those things?" Haruka demanded.

    "Pokeballs, like from the ones from that show, Pokemon.  Only I visited an alternate universe of that one, where women were in the place of the pokemon and they needed sex in order to keep their mental facilities." A-kun smirked.

    All eyes narrowed as A-kun's smile turned evil, "And these pokeballs can transform ANY woman into a 'pokegirl'."

    "YOU BASTARD!" Rei yelled.

    "Sticks and stones.  And don't think your little rock candy is going to heal them, 'Eternal Sailor Moon'.  These are magical transformations that set into the DNA of the victims.  And we all know the Guinzuishou is as accurate as a brick." A-kun retorted.

    In an almost unison cry, all of the remaining Senshi transformed into their most powerful stages.

    "Pathetic." A-kun told them evenly, before laughing manically.

    Makoto only felt the punch to her back before she collapsed.  Haruka saw the punch coming, but only the afterimage.  Rei let out a weak whuffing noise as she was kneed in the stomach.  Ami felt her legs being swept out from beneath her before catching an elbow drop to the sternum.  Michiru didn't see anything as she was clotheslined.  In a flare of pink light, the defeated Senshi disappeared into A-kun's pokeballs and returned to his right hand, which swiftly put them into a pokebelt that he had in his left hand.

    Saturn could only tremble in terror at the sight of her fellow senshi being defeated in the barest of moments.  Then, she felt someone strike her shiatsu sleep point and the world faded.  A-kun moved the sleeping senshi to the base of a tree and put the pokebelt in her lap.

    "Now, we're done with the warm up.  Time to get serious, 'Moon Mama', or else I'm going to have seven Senshi keeping my bed warm." A-kun warned.

    "What do you want, you monster?" Eternal Sailor Moon demanded.

    "I don't 'want' to hear any plea bargains.  It's simple, Eternal Sailor Moon.  Defeat me and you get your Senshi back.  Lose and you become one more in my collection." A-kun explained, then noticed her glance towards Saturn, "And don't worry about Saturn.  I'll wait until she's legal before I even consider making her a pokegirl."

    "Defeat you and I get my friends back?" Eternal Sailor Moon demanded.

    "And some extra lovers for those chilly nights.  That is, if you truly care about them.  They'll need taming weekly, after all." A-kun replied.

    "You aren't just a monster... you're a pervert too!" Eternal Sailor Moon growled, her Guinzuishou disappearing from her sword and appear in a simple crescent wand as her senshi uniform became her Princess dress.

    [Pfft.  You think Princess Serenity knows any more about fighting?  Okay, let's see.] A-kun thought to himself, before taunting aloud, "Hey, Princess Serenity, that dress makes you look like a pregnant cow!"

    *KABLAM*

    A-kun found himself rocketing through the city, via the buildings.

    "Oh, yeah, that's what I wanted to see!" A-kun laughed as he pulled himself out of a secretary's CPU and flew back to the park through the same hole he'd made.

    Princess Serenity wasn't ready for the punch across the face, or the knee to the stomach, or the double-handed axe blow to the back.  She staggered and returned to her Eternal Sailor Moon form, as her Serenity form wasn't resilient against physical attacks.

    "Your mom was a whore!  BOTH OF 'EM!" A-kun taunted.

    A-kun found himself entering the Sea of Japan before he returned to his wits.  Eternal Sailor Moon hovered overhead, waiting for him to surface.  A geyser in front of her distracted her from the fact that A-kun blasted out of the water behind her.  He caught her in a german suplex and slammed her headfirst into the volcanic caldera of Mount Fuji before she could even think to break free.

    "Hey, your daughter's a great lay in bed!" A-kun lied.

    By the time A-kun finally stopped, he was in a hot spring in Hokkaido.  The women's side, of course.  They didn't get the chance to hit him, but they did scream a lot.  Eternal Sailor Moon caught a haymaker that sent her to crash-landing in an Okinawan melon-vendor's cart.

    The two super-powered warriors, one a psychopath with berserker blood, the other a pissed-off soldier of Justice who had a combined 'Mother-Daughter-Female' fist of righteousness, traded blows back and forth, each paying the other back in kind for every hit.  Over and over and over and over again.

    He punched her in the gut, she kneed him in the diaphram.  He kicked her in the face, she smashed his face into concrete.  She broke his ribcage, he shattered her pelvis.  Both of them paused to regenerate the damaged bones and continued their war.  The sky was filled with explosions as they exchanged punches, kicks and blasts.  New techniques were developed and countered.

    Finally, the two floated over the Pacific Ocean, panting for air, glaring at each other.  Neither was willing to concede, but both wanted to just rest.

    "Why'dja do it?" Eternal Sailor Moon demanded.

    "'cause.... can't stand... spineless women..." A-kun puffed out.

    "Spineless?!" Eternal Sailor Moon growled in offense, but too weak to try and strike A-kun for it.

    "You... weenies... always... sacrifice... yourselves... never... think... to just... blow the living... fuck out of... your opponents...  Never... train... to... reach higher.... levels except when... big bad guys... come by and... kick the shit out of you....  'sa flaw all... hero teams got." A-kun panted out.

    "But wouldn't.... the bad guys just get stronger?" Eternal Sailor Moon asked.

    "Tha's 'cause you let 'em!  If you kill 'em outright, they don't get away, they don't get stronger, they don't improve.  Take away your opponents ability to wage war and you have won." A-kun replied.

    "Sun Tzu, Art of War, right?  Never could bring myself to read that." Eternal Sailor Moon noted.

    "I never read it either, but I've heard plenty about what's in it and it's sounds like common sense.  But, it's a bit too large scale for me.  I'm more of a tactics person.  I could lead a small squad of maybe four to twenty or so, but I ain't for big military movements.  Anyway, the point I've been trying to punch into yer head is that there's a difference between being compassionate and being stupid.  In any case, since we're pretty much at a draw... unless you want to have a pyrric victory... I'll back off." A-kun responded.

    Eternal Sailor Moon arched an eyebrow.

    "What?  If you wanna use the Guinzuishou to try and blast my ass, go right ahead, but we both know using it's full might kills the user, so you'll just join me in the afterworld.  If you _DON'T_ want to kill yourself, I'll just go back to my shop and return when you least expect it..." A-kun began, before feeling her energy returning faster than his was, "UNLESS..."

    "Unless what?" Eternal Sailor Mon asked.

    "Unless you do a few requests.  I'd like to make some official Senshi for a little world that desperately needs them and I'd rather not have them linked to MY power." A-kun responded.

    "A world that desperately needs senshi.  You came here, beat the shit out of my friends, fought me all around the world six times, trashing several irreplaceable monuments on the way, scolded me on being spineless and you're demanding I make you Senshi just so you won't come back to annoy me?!" Eternal Sailor Moon demanded.

    "Yep." A-kun smiled proudly.

    She glared at him.

    "It's my way of asking politely." A-kun replied.

    "It's a deal." Eternal Sailor Moon told him.

    "Great.  Sorry about the insults and stuff, but I _was_ curious as to how powerful you could be if you were angry.  I'd say you would've made for a fine Super Human... if you weren't so damn bonded to that Guinzuishou.  Oh well.  See ya, 'Moon Mama'!  AHAHAHAHAHA!" A-kun laughed.

    "DON'T CALL ME THAT!  I HAVE NO IDEA WHO CAME UP WITH THAT LINE FOR THE DUBB SAILOR MOON R MOVIE, BUT IT'S STUPID!" Eternal Sailor Moon ranted as A-kun flew away.

=======================================================================

    "That wasn't scary at all." ????? huffed.
    "I told you, this ain't for Halloween." A-kun retorted.
    "So, what do you have that's scary?" ????? asked.
    "You know, I've spent the better part of these last three years trying to figure that out.  There's no way something can be scary to everyone, so why bother making it scary?" A-kun demanded.
    ????? shrugged.
    "I'd rather have fun at the expense of others, but I came up with this instead..." A-kun declared, holding up a sheet of papers.
    "What's that?" ????? inquired.
    "A rewrite of one of the most popular horror movies ever!" A-kun declared.
    "Nightmare on Elm Street?" ????? asked, wide-eyed.
    "Uh, no, Friday the 13th." A-kun replied.
    ????? rolled her eyes, "That's been done to death."
    "No, the mask-wearing High School student has been done to death.  The murderous revenant is still largely untapped." A-kun explained.
    ????? pulled Jason over and pulled a battery out of the revenant's back, "Yeeeah, it's over the one half mark.  It's still good."

=======================================================================

    Ranma huffed.  The whole idea was stupid.  Visiting a haunted camp out in the middle of nowhere.  But, of course, after airfare, it was pretty damn cheap, and since Nabiki was feeling 'nostalgic' this year, she had the deciding vote.

    Of course, Nodoka had told the teenagers to have a fun time as she, Soun and Genma were going to go to Las Vegas.  Meaning, there was literally no chance that they'd hear from their parents until it was time to go home, three weeks from now.

    That was why Ranma, Ryouga, Mousse, Tatewaki, Kodachi, Shampoo, Ukyou, Nabiki, Kasumi and Miss Hinako Ninomiya were all in this old abandoned campsite.  The place was well maintained for being abandoned, but there were plenty of stories that it was haunted by a vengeful spirit that was out for revenge against those who were bon vivant about their lives.

    Spirits were like that.

    Of course, Nabiki and Kasumi had done most of the grocery shopping, so it was a mixture of junk food that Nabiki liked, chips, marshmallows, hershey bars and graham crackers; and normal camping food, like hot dogs, various soups, flour, water bottles, eggs and lettuce.

    Ukyou had insisted on the last four items in case they ate a bit more than Kasumi had planned and Nabiki had eagerly agreed.  After all, the last thing Nabiki wanted to subject their 'meager funds' to was an 'expensive shopping trip in a foreign land'.

    Of course, the keg of beer was rationalized as a vital part of Kasumi's recipes.  At least, it was rationalized until Miss Hinako inquired to Kasumi.

    "Nabiki!  You shouldn't lie to a teacher!" Kasumi scolded.

    "Well, it's too late to complain now.  The keg's already here and I can't find the receipt." Nabiki lied.

    "Oooh!  Nabiki's in trouble, Nabiki's in trouble!" Akane teased her older sister.

    "Aiyah!  Mercenary girl make big mistake anger that one." Shampoo said, grinning widely.

    [If there is one, I hope the killer gets them first.] Nabiki thought to herself.

    Despite Miss Hinako's best efforts to stop it, everyone got some beer from the keg.  Actually, it had been a massively uncoordinated attempt on the part of Ranma's fiancees and rivals to get their chosen loved ones to confess their feelings.  As a result, everything but Miss Hinako's soup was 40% alcohol.

    Seeing as it was not her fault that the students were drinking, Miss Hinako decided the best option for her as the only 100% sober person present, would be to get the students' to sing along to the yukele that she had gotten from the principal.  Actually, she was drunk too, but she thought she was just off balance from looking at the fire too long.

    Of course, Ryouga played the yukele the best.  The Lost Boy had a talent for playing weird instruments.  One would have thought Tatewaki or Kodachi would know how, but neither wanted to be near any instrument that their father loved.

    "Aiyah!  Lost boy almost as good as Ranma!  Almost handsome like Ranma too." Shampoo giggled drunkenly.

    Once everyone's vision began to blur and the laughing stopped, they all headed into the cabin for a good night's rest.



    Ryouga awoke with a very urgent call from Nature.  He reached up and found the little toy Ranma had tied to a tree outside and to a post near his bed so he could go to the bathroom and still return before dawn.  Ryouga didn't want to admit it, but with his sense of direction, it was a very nice thing to have.  Getting up, Ryouga followed the string outside, not noticing that there was someone already out there.

    Mousse waited patiently with a golden double-bladed axe.  He sighed to himself.  If it hadn't been for Shampoo's remark, he might have never needed to do this, but were he to simply kill Ranma, Shampoo might fall for Ryouga. And that was one option Mousse didn't want to deal with.

    [Forgive me, Ryouga, but to ensure my darling's love, I must kill you.  Once you and Saotome are gone, I'll be Shampoo's knight in shining armor.] Mousse apologized mentally, hoping that it would somehow ease Ryouga's spirit once it was sent to the afterworld.



    Akane woke up and looked at Ryouga's bed.  She had just had a weird dream where Ryouga had turned into her beloved pet P-chan, then P-chan grew a twelve inch penis and had sex with her and she wanted to talk to him about it.

    The part about turning into P-chan, not the penis bit.  Although, she blushed, she wouldn't exactly mind knowing about the penis bit.

    But Ryouga's bed was empty and the little guide toy Ranma had set up was missing, meaning Ryouga had gone out to use nature's bathroom.  Akane grew worried.  Even with a guide, Ryouga might get lost.  Determined, she hopped out of bed and exited the cabin.

    No sooner had she left than she saw something out of the corner of her right eye.  Sighing in relief, she headed towards it, "Ryouga, I was so worried.  You should know better than to wander off without someone to guide you."

    Akane began to wonder why Ryouga had gone to as she reached the point where he should have been when she was introduced to the sensation of a knife piercing her back and chest from behind.   She jerked and would have cried out if it weren't for a hand clamping her mouth shut.  All she managed to get out were weak whimpers, which were silenced as she was stabbed twice more.

    Akane's eyes glazed over and she collapsed.  Her killer turned it's eyes towards another victim and hurried through the forest.



    Ryouga yawned as he finished drawing his name in kanji.  He got past the 'O' in his name for romanji, but he ran out of pee.  Giggling slightly as he would be 'Ryo' until he could finish his name, Ryouga turned and began back to the cabin, wondering if he might still be drunk.

    Ryouga staggered back to the cabin, unaware of the trap that would spell his demise.



    Mousse raised the axe.  For his on again-off again companion against Ranma Saotome, Mousse wanted to give Ryouga a clean death.  So, severing his head from behind seemed to be the best choice.

    However, just as Mousse was ready to strike, he found that he was pinned to the tree he was hiding behind and there was a sharp stabbing pain his in his stomach.  Looking down, he noticed a somewhat rusty kitchen knife sticking out of his belly.  The wielder had to be very powerful as that was the section where Mousse kept most of his chains.

    The knife was removed and Mousse found himself falling to the ground.  A few more sharp pains and Mousse's world was lost in a void of darkness.



    "Well?" came the weak inquiry.

    Shampoo shook her head, "Long time."

    The reaction to the declaration was very somber.  Ryouga was devastated, Ranma felt weak, Tatewaki was on his knees, and even Ukyou and Shampoo were unsure how to proceed.

    Kodachi stooped to investigate Akane's body with a clinical aire, "A triangular cut, mostly puncturing.  No tearing of the flesh in the other direction, so I'd estimate that who ever did this had a one-sided weapon, perhaps a knife or dagger."

    "All right, who did it?" Nabiki demanded, a dangerous look in her eyes as she glared at Shampoo, Ukyou and Kodachi.

    "Well, from the angle of entry, unless the blind boy killed Akane, which _IS_ probable, no one _here_ has a weapon capable of doing this." Kodachi answered.

    "Oh, and why would you know?" Nabiki growled.

    Kodachi rolled her eyes, "Please, as much as I want my dear Ranma-sama, I'd rather best that pig-tailed tramp.  And I would prefer to have Ranma witness her defeat.  And do you think I would defend these hussies if I had a choice?  No one still in this camp did this."

    "Okay, who was up last night?" Ranma asked.

    Ryouga weakly raised his hand, "I was up to go to the bathroom, but I didn't hear anything.  I went and came back using the line."

    "Yeah and you don't kill." Ranma noted.

    "Where is Mousse?" Kasumi inquired.

    "Sensei, do you have some way of finding out?" Ukyou asked Miss Hinako.

    "Well, I do know a technique for finding delinquents.  It should work here." Miss Hinako answered.

    Closing her eyes, Miss Hinako drew a coin and focused on finding Mousse's aura.  She gasped a few seconds later, then looked somber, "Well, we don't have to worry about Mousse being the killer."

    Hinako lead the group to Mousse's corpse.

    "Okay, someone who had a grudge against Mousse _and_ Akane?  That sounds like you, Shampoo." Nabiki accused.

    "Again, you're missing the obvious, Nabiki Tendo." Kodachi interupted, "Whoever did this was NOT the chinese bimbo.  First of all, we all know that Shampoo only has her bonbori with.  Secondly, there's rust on these clothes."

    "Rust?" came the inquiry from Tatewaki.

    "Yes, rust.  Then, there's this." Kodachi said, pulling out a pair of tweezers to pluck something from around Mousse's mouth.

    "What is that?" Nabiki asked.

    "Decayed flesh.  Unless one of us has a long-decayed corpse handy, I believe we've found our killer.  And he's already long dead." Kodachi answered.

    "Yeah right, a dead man came up and killed these two." Nabiki stated sarcastically.

    "Oh, and that's any more ridiculous than a child-like teacher who can drain battle auras and enlarge her body without any harmful side effects or a haunted cave that breaks up couples or a phoenix that can age just by swallowing some pills?" Kodachi responded.

    Blinking in unison, the group realized that, by comparison, an undead camp killer was probably a lot more realistic than some of the situations that they'd experienced.

    "Yer right, Kodachi.  It makes more sense than half the crap I've seen." Ranma nodded.

    "We can't leave until we get back at Akane's killer!" Ryouga growled.

    "The beauteous Akane Tendo will be avenged!" Tatewaki agreed.

    "Shampoo stay too.  Only like Mousse like neighbor, but even stupid neighbor deserve honorable death." Shampoo added.

    "Akane and Mousse may have been jackasses, but I ain't gonna let them die for nothing." Ukyou joined in.

    "Nabiki, you and Kasumi know the least about fighting, so I'd suggest you two stay indoors." Ranma suggested.

    "Actually, we'd probably be better off at a hotel." Nabiki sighed.

    Kasumi remained silent.

    "Let's at least call the police." Nabiki suggested.

    "What will they do?  If it's an undead, they'll probably write it up as a camping accident and tell us to be more careful." Kodachi answered haughtily.

    "Regardless, it needs to be done.  We need an official coroner's report or else we'll be in court battles trying to get them home for proper burial." Nabiki responded.

    Kodachi sighed, then nodded.



    "Another camping accident, eh?  Well, be more careful in the future, 'kay, kids?" the officer asked, a look of nervousness in his eyes.

    Nodding, the six remaining martial artists watched at the police and ambulance drive away from the campsite.  The day began to turn to night, but it didn't come fast enough for anyone's tastes.  The group was eager to show the undead killer the error of it's ways after a vigorous beatdown.

    The time prior to nightfall was spent in anticipation.  Tatewaki meditated at the lake's edge while Ukyou mirrored him by meditating at the campfire's edge, Kodachi tested her acrobatic skill with the tree branches, Ranma stretched, Ryouga punched trees.  Shampoo and Hinako remained somber and listless.  Hinako mentally ran over the types of undead that they might be facing while Shampoo alternated between cleaning her amazonian scimitar, trying to talk to someone and just staring off into space.

    Shampoo was currently sitting near Ukyou at the fire when Ukyou spoke up, "It's weird, isn't it?  Both of us wanted Akane out of the way, but now that she's gone... I feel like I've lost a good friend."

    "Shampoo think it maybe because we no hate Akane, she just get in way.  That annoy.  So we try no like Akane because we annoyed." Shampoo responded.

    Ukyou nodded, "The other thing is that... the thought of dying used to be so trivial before, but now.... now I'm scared.  I've never been so scared in my life, but I'm not running either."

    "Amazon have saying, 'If you no afraid, you no be really alive.  Find fear, find life'." Shampoo stated.

    "So, if you don't feel any fear, then you haven't lived your life?" Ukyou inquired rhetorically, before smiling a bit, "Guess it's true."

    Shampoo added, "Of course, only weakling and coward fear too much.  It tricky.  Life tricky too.  Maybe someone do this get us to see what we miss?"

    "Yeah.  I mean, I knew I'd sort miss Akane if she left, 'cause I never really hated her, but I didn't think it would be this much." Ukyou sighed.

    "Shampoo miss Mousse bad too.  But, Shampoo know heart and mind different.  Think you no miss, but feel you do miss." Shampoo answered.

    "Yeah.  No one does 'think' something will be awful until they see it.  Then it _IS_ awful and we wonder why we ever thought it wouldn't be." Ukyou agreed.

    Grabbing another stick and tossing it on to the fire, Ukyou looked up, "Looks like it's getting pretty dark.  I'd better get some more firewood before that killer comes around."

    "Ukyou be careful, yes?" Shampoo inquired.

    Ukyou nodded before heading out into the forest.




    Nabiki looked through the stack of papers.  Nothing in them said anything about the killer.  Groaning in disgust, she knew the trip to the library was a wasted effort.

    "Why doesn't anyone know about this killer in the forest?" Nabiki growled aloud.

    "You mean Jason?" came the voice of the middle-aged man who served as the librarian.

    "You know him?" Nabiki demanded.

    "Well, not personal like.  Everyone who's lived in this town for the last thirty years knows about him.  We call him Jason because it makes us feel a bit better having a name to attach to him.  Kind of like the Boogie Man, only he ain't fake." the man answered.

    "Can you tell me something about him?" Nabiki asked.

    "Sure.  Jason's been around here for thirty years.  We know some things about him, but nuthin' too spectacular or revealin'.  I was about sixteen or so when he first showed up and killed everyone in the camp.  The manhunt for him was huge, but it turned up nuthin'.  The butcher's knife he still uses is stolen, so is the hockey mask he wears.  Occassionally, clothing hung outside around town'll go missin' and it's blamed on him, but he stays in the forest when he kills." the librarian began.

    The librarian gestured to a seat.  Nabiki followed him and sat down.

    "The next time he showed up, my buddies had drug me out there to camp.  I didn't want a damn thin' to do with him and I left after the first night.  My buddies didn't make it out.  Two years later, some more kids went out there to investigate.  Only two died that time, even though they stayed for three whole weeks.  They came back, telling us something about Jason wearin' the hockey mask and using butcher's knife, but they said they'd done killed him once and for all.  After that, the town tried openin' the camp again.  Another massacre, but eight people made it out.  Then, the town called in a bunch of ghost busters and such.  They didn't find a damn thin', but they told us that the place _was_ haunted.  They just couldn't tell where." the librarian continued.

    With a heavy sigh, the librarian finished his tale, "The only things that we'd ever done figured out in these thirty years is that he hides good, kills quick, and he hates both phonies and pranksters.  He also don't take kindly to people who don't care much about others, but outside o' that, we know 'bout as much as anyone else."

    Nabiki nodded, "Thank you."

    At least she had a reason as to why her sister had been chosen.



    Ukyou picked up another stick and sighed.  She'd been alternating between choking back bile at the memory of Akane's dead body and sighing because she wished she'd taken the time to know Akane better.  All she could do now was get the killer for Akane's sake.

    Ukyou raised her head as she heard something break to her right.  The firewood dropped from her arms and she reached for her spatula, but she was far too slow.

    For a dead man, Jason moved very quickly.



    "Ukyou late.  No come back after dark.   Shampoo worry, Ranma." Shampoo said, fidgeting nervously.  Ukyou was very close to being her equal in combat.  If even Ukyou was done for, that left Ranma or Ryouga as the only people who could deal with the monster.

    Ranma, too, was nervous.  He'd lost Akane, the first girl he'd ever cared about, and now he might have lost one of two people he could actually call a close friend.

    Hinako's startled cry alerted everyone to Ukyou's fallen form, which laid near the lake, where Tatewaki was going toe-to-toe with the killer.

    Hurrying to Ukyou's side, Ranma felt for a pulse as he looked her over.  The okonomiyaki chef had numerous bruises and her left arm was broken, but she was still alive.  Whether her life was by chance or intent was unknown, but Ranma's eyes locked onto the hockey mask-wearing murderer and began flaring with power.

    Tatewaki's sword was not the usual bokken he swung around.  It was, instead, a traditional japanese katana.  But despite having the advantage in reach, Tatewaki was still trading blows as if the masked murderer was also using a katana.  Lunging, they passed each other, Tatewaki losing a few strands of hair while Jason lost his left arm.

    [The feel of that strike!  It as if he were skilled at kendo as well, but that cannot be!] Tatewaki thought to himself.

    Then, everyone watched in horror as the severed arm crawled back to it's owner and reattached itself as if nothing had happened.

    "Oh.... shit..." Miss Hinako swore under her breath as a chill danced along her back.

    "What is it, Sensei?" Kodachi asked, hearing the curse.

    "What wrong?" Shampoo inquired.

    "I just realized... we're in a hell of a lot of trouble.  Tatewaki!  We've got to get out of this forest!" Hinako cried.

    "WHAT?!" Ranma and Ryouga demanded.

    "That thing isn't something we can kill!  It's a revenant!  No matter what we do, it'll just keep reassembling itself until it's done what it set out to do!" Hinako cried.

    "What it set out to do?!" Ranma asked.

    "It didn't attack us until we came here, so I think it's just protecting this area for some reason!  It's likely guarding a grave or something!" Hinako answered.

    Tatewaki heard the warning, but chose to ignore it.  There was no possible way _anything_ existed that could not be defeated.  Flaring with power, Tatewaki prepared for his final technique.

    "Tatewaki!" Hinako yelled.

    "Brother!" Kodachi gasped.

    His blue aura transformed into a blood red crimson and engulfed his blade.  Roaring as he charged, he slashed downward from it's right shoulder to it's left hip, cleaving the revenant almost in half.  His crimson aura burned it's decayed flesh as the blade progressed through it's body.

    Tatewaki drew his sword from the revenant's body and backed away, trying to evaluate how devastating that attack had been to the revenant.  There was no way it had gone completely undamaged from a technique like the Hono Tenshi Kogeki.

    The revenant's injury disappeared as if being erased with a pencil's eraser.  Flaring with a dark crimson aura itself, it raised it's knife high and cleaved Kuno in the exact same fashion.  Tatewaki's eyes glazed over as he fell limply to the ground, smoke rising from the injury as the aura had burnt his still living flesh as the knife had progressed through his body.

    "No way!  It used Kuno's technique right back at him!" Ryouga gasped.

    "Ryouga!  Let's tag-team it!" Ranma cried, charging forward.

    Ryouga followed Ranma's lead, summoning his battle aura as he and Ranma prepared for a combined ki blast.

    "SHISHI HOUKODAN!" Ryouga roared.

    "MOUKO TAKABISHA!" Ranma added.

    The two ki blasts combined into an awe-inspiring beam of pure energy that would've startled even a god.

    The revenant raised a hand as a shadowy aura form around it.  From it's hand came a blast equal in size to Ranma and Ryouga's combined beam.

    "WHAT?!" Ranma demanded.

    "NO WAY!" Ryouga cried in dismay.

    The shadowy aura swept over the two teenage martial artists, overwhelming their attack completely and catapulting them all the way back to the cabin, where they slammed into the wall and collapsed in the cratered wood.

    As Ranma slipped into unconsciousness, he heard Shampoo and Kodachi trying to fight it off.  The last thing he heard was a cut-off cry from Shampoo and Kodachi gurgling.



    Ranma woke up from his dirt nap and coughed.  His back was killing him and his confidence was all but gone.  Forcing himself to his hands and knees, he looked around him.  Paramedics were loading Ukyou and Shampoo onto stretchers and wheeling them to the ambulance.

    Ryouga and Miss Hinako sat on nearby logs.  Ryouga had an ice pack on his left shoulder while Miss Hinako had one over her left eye.  Kodachi was dead.  That much he could tell as he saw two body bags near the lake shore.

    The thing that surprised him was Nabiki, who offered him an ice pack.  He had been expecting her back to be waiting at a hotel, not back at the camp.  The look in her eyes wasn't one he liked to see, but he was in no condition to complain.

    "Don't feel so bad, Saotome.  I heard from the town residents that better fighters than you have gone up against Jason and lost." Nabiki offered.

    "Like that makes me feel better." Ranma sighed as he took the ice pack.

    Nabiki didn't reply right away.  Instead, she stood up and sighed, "You know, roughly six hundred people have died because of Jason.  Spiritualists can't find him, martial artists can't beat him, guns do nothing.  I'd say you're lucky to be alive."

    Ranma fumed.

    "Ranma, last night's little fight proved that even if we tried, we can't beat him.  It's like the Phoenix incident.  You can't face it head on, you can only wait for it to go away." Ryouga groaned.

    "And I told you, he's a revenant.  He's got a self-willed desire to protect this area and he saw Akane, Mousse, Kodachi and Tatewaki as desecrators.  Blast him, slash him, burn him until he's dust, he'll just reform and come back." Hinako scolded.

    "So, he's invincible?" Ryouga asked.

    Hinako shook her head, "No, it's just that most revenants have a duty to accomplish.  Until either the object or person that compels him to return is gone from this world, he'll just keep popping up.  Revenants, by the text that I've read, are usually people who were killed in cold-blood and either compelled themselves to rise and strangle their killer to death _or_ they are brought back by the power of a diety or a more powerful spirit with a duty."

    Hinako continued her explanation, "But hearing what Nabiki had to say makes me believe that I was wrong when I said he's likely protecting a grave site. This might be sacred land and he might be a guardian chosen to keep any perceived 'blasphemers' from staying."

    "Blasphemers?" Ranma asked.

    "Every religion has a pantheon, even the native American ones.  And in many pantheons, a spirit or diety is chosen to represent truth.  Maybe this was sacred land for a diety of truth or a spirit that hated deceivers or something." Hinako answered.

    "Who cares?  Figuring it out isn't going to bring anyone back." Ranma sighed, adding in a voice dipped in melancholy, "I wanna go home."

    "Anyone want a ride back into town." a police officer offered.

    Groaning in pain, Ranma, Ryouga and Hinako got to their feet and headed for the patrol car.

=======================================================================

    "That's it?" ????? asked.
    "Excuse me if I didn't feel like trying to write anymore." A-kun huffed.
    "So, did you plan to kill off Akane?" ????? inquired.
    "Not really.  The first part that I wrote up to was the first night.  After that, I chose victims out of a hat." A-kun responded.
    "So, why didn't you just have Jason kill everyone?" ????? asked.
    "I've never thought an undead as powerful as Jason just 'kills'.  He's got a motivation every time, even if it doesn't seem that great a deal.  The original movie Jason probably just wanted to get back at the type of kids that had awoken him in the first place.  Besides, if he were the 'vengence' type, he wouldn't have lasted that long." A-kun answered.
    "Well, I guess that last story counts as a Halloween Story." ????? said.
    "I guess." A-kun shrugged.
    "Gonna do again next year?" ????? asked.
    A-kun blinked, then realized he had just done a Halloween story inspite of what he had said.
    "D'OH!!!!" A-kun cried.

=======================================================================

    A-kun and ?????, signing off.

    reply at akun15@hotmail.com

    "BAD PSYCHOPATH!  NO BISCUIT!"

    A-kun's 'Spot the Lemon Opportunity' Segment, where he points out plot devices that are used or reused less than a Mega Man plot:
    Happosai's Magnetic Pills
    Basic premise: Master swallows one, Student swallows the other.  They can't part until the students defeats the master.
    Plot possibility: Ranma saves one of his fiancees by punting Happosai into orbit.  Happosai 'drops' them and Ranma notices the 'gum balls'.  Eating one, he offers the other to the fiancee he saved and she eats it.  They are now stuck together until a solution can be found.  And since neither remembers what color they ate...

    Screw Up, Dim Sum More
    Basic premise: Cologne teaches Shampoo how to make the hypnotic mushroom buns.
    Plot Possibility: After hearing Hiroshi and Daisuke talk about sex, using the many veiled lines, Ranma goes outside.  Shampoo feeds him a bun and then tells him to 'love girl big time'.  Enter esoteric noise.  Ranma now has sex with any woman once he hears that noise.  Shampoo semi-enjoys this (she's getting SOME of the action), but has to chase Ranma around town to get more. Remember, though, that sex increases blood flow, so the mushroom'll probably be out after about an hour or two.

    Kodachi's Love Potion #159353-A
    Basic premise: Kodachi, through a minor accident involving Sasuke, finds a unique chemical.  Testing shows that if injected into mice of either gender, it causes other female mice to lust after the test subject, but male mice to ignore the subjects as if nothing was different.
    Plot Possibility: Kodachi decides to lure Akane Tendo, the Pig-tailed girl, that cross-dressing chef and the Amazon bimbo to a movie theater.  Plugging her own noses with special filters, she injects it into one of the girls, then leaves to find her 'darling Ranma'.

    Neko-Ranma
    Basic Premise: Ranma, cats, nekoken.
    Plot Possibility: This could go either way.  Remember that Ranma's mindset would like be _MALE_, so the likelyhood of Ranma-chan screwing Ryouga, Tatewaki or Mousse is VERY LOW unless you really screw around with Ranma's brain.  Remember, his cat side wouldn't have found memories and he's been mostly male every other time it's activated, so he's probably going to view them as rivals.

    Underwater Cave
    Basic Premise: Beach, swim, strong current, underwater cave with opening to fresh air.
    Plot Possibility: Unfortunately, this one excludes Mousse, Shampoo and Ryouga from engaging in the sexual activities, unless it's an alternate world _or_ they've taken to using the waterproof soap.
    The problem is that unless you've got Akane as the one being dragged away by the strong current, you've got to either catch them while they're underwater (and less able to resist the water's pull) or give them a cramp, which might put a damper on the sex scene.

    The Double Dates, Take Two
    Basic Premise: Shortly after Ukyou arrives, she sets Ryouga and Akane on a date.  Instead of keeping them at her resturaunt, she sends them to the park for a picnic lunch.
    Plot Possibility  Ranma, unable to find them, goes out with Ukyou.  Ukyou takes him to a movie theater.  Meanwhile, Ryouga gets lost with Akane and they wind up in Shinjuku's Red Light District at evening.  Unable to find a decent hotel, they visit a 'love hotel'.


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