++++++++++++++++++++

	Ranma was getting rather disturbed by his demon. He had told her to
have fun, and she had taken it in a most interesting manner. The
excessive force and vicious animal like behavior she was displaying was
quite entertaining to watch. So far, they were halfway to the building
and had yet to encounter anything else. They lumbered towards them out
of alleyways and streets. Sometimes popping up from debris, or from
under the street through exposed manholes. None of the streets had any
sort of covers over the holes. Sometimes he could see the twisted
remains of gratings in the near distance from some of the larger
drainage tunnels. "This is a nasty place."

	"I wonder how long it's been this way? Nobody noticed?" muttered Faye
in wonder. "Look at this place. Do you know what it would take to do
something like this?"

	"Yes. Someone like me," replied Sesshoumaru calmly. "She is quite
interesting. Perhaps we should ask her just how much she is capable of.
I admit, her power level in her other form is miniscule. This form, is
quite impressive."

	"Still think you could do better?" Faye laughed as she said this.

	"Of course," replied the demon calmly. 

	"Did she just eat that dead thing's..." gasped Ranma in horror.

	"Turn away kid," said Gai as he forced them to look in another
direction. "Some things you just don't want to know about a woman."

	"That isn't a woman." Amelia seemed quite angry. "I can't believe you
two. You're going to do it again aren't you?"

	"Yeah. Later tonight."

	"Oh no you don't!  It's our turn!" said Faye. "We're going out after
this."

	"Fine, but you have to take Sai too," said Ranma. "We can't just leave
her around you know."

	"Ranma you putz, that will only make things easier." Amelia seemed
somewhat nervous again. "After last night, I guess there's no point in
waiting anyway."

	"Good goin kid," grumbled Gai. 

	"What?! Your turn?" Ranma went pale.

	"That's right. You wanna do that thing again? Well that means you've
got to give something up, or us girls will turn something fun off for
good. Don't think we can't either."

	"Leave me out of this!" snapped Amelia.

	"That ain't fair! This is my body!" he cried.

	"We talked about this already Ranma," said Faye irritably. "It's a
deal? Remember?"

	"I..." He glared at the ground. "I know. I just... This isn't fair."

	"No, it isn't." Faye seemed somewhat sympathetic and it showed in her
tone. "It's not fair for any of us."

	"I could care less," replied Sesshoumaru.

	"Yeah? Well I'm sure Gai cares, I know Amelia cares."

	"Not that much," she replied honestly. "I'm sure it will come up
though, if we're really stuck like this."

	Ranma nodded. "Um. Is there a way we can talk about this later? This
isn't the best of places, and I'd rather not talk about this kind of
stuff while I'm watching the demon I slept with last night eat rotten
human nads like oysters."

	"Oh god," muttered Gai. "Ranma. Don't ever tell her to have fun again.
Please."

	"You're tellin me? I'm glad I didn't tell her to have fun last night!
She coulda killed us!"

	"No. She cannot harm you." Fluffy was growing rather bored himself.
"Not much of interest. That surprises me. Surely he didn't think he
could remove us with just these pathetic creatures. I imagine we'll find
a rather nasty trap up ahead somewhere."

	"Maybe he wants to meet us?" asked Ranma with a small shrug.

	"Doubtful. We must kill this human he has in his hold. Then and only
then can we send him away from this world. Such contracts are dangerous,
I have a feeling there is something going on with the Yokai of this
world, that my kind have not faced. 

	"What's that?" asked Faye.

	"A war with the gods, on a level I have never before seen." He seemed
thoughtful and stared down at the dirt for a long time. "It puzzles me."

	"Wow. You're admitting you don't understand something?" Faye was
impressed.

	"Lack of knowledge can be corrected, stupidity obviously cannot." 

	"What was that?"

	"An old family saying," replied the demon calmly. 

	Faye growled. "Well let's hurry up and find this stupid trap. I want to
shoot something."

	"Sai! Take that out of your mouth damn it! Gross!" cried Ranma.

	The demon turned around and blinked as the offending objects fell to
the ground in a fatty splatter. "Yes Master?"

	"Sai. Stop eating them, it's driving me nuts."

	"Very well. If Sai has done something wrong..."

	"Yeah. Maybe I'll punish you later. Do you really have to eat them? I
mean, it's gross."

	"Sai does not get hungry master," replied the demon cheerfully. "Shall
Sai continue to kill?"

	"Sure, go ahead. Just...never mind. Just stop eating them all right? I
can't watch that anymore."

	"Very well." The demoness snapped her arm back and grabbed the one
lumbering up behind her by its neck. She popped the head off and punched
a large hole in his chest with her other arm. She shook it off onto the
dirt and smiled as she started gasping. 

	Ranma shook his head. He had never seen such a satisfied looking grin
on her face before. "Where the hell is this trap anyway? Do you know
Fluffy?"

	"My name is Sesshoumaru. No, I do not know where the trap is. If I did,
I would have told you already. It is better for me, if we are all ready.
I suggest you keep your eyes open."

	"All right. Jeez."

	"Hey. This must be it," said Gai as he glanced around. Sai was standing
just in front of them and several large yellow eyes peered at them from
the black shadows of the alleys. 

	Six lumbering beasts lurched forward. They had reptilian heads and
skin, but an apelike body. Each one was easily ten feet tall. They
hissed at the pair and began to spread out as they surrounded them from
both sides of the street. 

	"Wow!" cried Amelia fearfully. "This is bad!"

	"Not really," snorted Sesshoumaru. "Sai. Stand back for a moment. I
grow weary of watching a battle take place around me."

	The demoness vanished from sight and took to the air. The reptiles
hissed at this, but quickly focused their attention on the boy in front
of them.

	"What are we gonna do?"

	Ranma had already taken the pole off of his back and twirled it
skillfully around his left wrist as he spun around and pointed the blue
handgun at the lizard behind him. "We're gonna kick their asses, that's
what."

++++++++++++++++++++

	Shu ho frowned as she spun around skillfully brandishing her sword as
she hacked through the last remains of the zombie hoard that had
ambushed her. 

	The cloth in her free hand whipped about around her, hiding her
movements and keeping them back. She glared at the five remaining
monsters around her. They were circling in around her. She growled
angrily and began twirling around hacking and slashing at them with both
the sword and the cloth. Pieces of Zombie fell away squirming on the
ground from both weapons. 

	They were disgusting looking creatures that were all charred and
burned. They were clearly made from human remains. "What the hell is
this?" she cried angrily as the last one's head rolled across the street
in front of her as she stopped her attacks. The street was now littered
with about twenty of the fallen creatures. 

	"This is impossible!" She stared at the dark ominous building above
her. The glow from inside made it the most likely place to find the evil
causing the disturbance. "I'm not strong enough," she muttered as she
glared at it hatefully. She knew moving forward would probably destroy
her, but maybe she could find a way to take it with her. 

	Tears fell down her face as she pulled a white headband she'd had in
her pocket around her forehead. "I must move forward. I do not have a
choice."

	An angry sounding roar from something far bigger and more powerful
sounded from a few streets away. She turned her head towards the sound
and stepped back as it was joined by loud reptilian hissing from more
than one source.

	What she heard next got her legs pumping immediately, gunfire.

++++++++++++++++++++

	The dark tower loomed over them in the near distance, they were
standing in the tall shadow it created as the things slithered out from
the darkness around them. "What should we do with them?"

	"Got me kid," said Gai with a small shrug.

	"I'm in the mood for a workout, we'll use the staff," said Sesshoumaru
calmly.

	"Good call," agreed Ranma as he spun the weapon around his wrist.
Flames started to burn from his clothing as he shifted his leg back and
waited with the staff pointed at the ground. "Ready when you are," he
said to the beast in front of him.

	They converged on him, seven of the monsters charged from the shadows
leaping at him with claws bared. The boy merely chuckled as he began to
swat them out of the air, sending them crashing into the buildings, and
bringing large portions of the structures down on top of them. 

	The boy stood calmly in the center of the street untouched by the first
assault. "You're gonna have to do better than that."

	One of the things roared and crouched low to circle around them, the
others followed suit and prepared to lunge forward as one.

	"Again? Are they that stupid?" grumbled Ranma irritably. 

	"Well, I'm tired of this. I'm using the guns!" snapped Faye. 

	"Oh all right," muttered Ranma as he put the weapon back on his back
and pulled out his handguns. "Here they come."

	The creatures charged forward towards the boy, this time moving in
groups of two or three. "They're trying to wear us down. Pathetic
creatures." 

	Ranma shot one of them in the face. It thundered down beside them like
a gigantic boulder that forced them to shift aside. The remaining two
landed opposite him and turned, hoping to catch him against the side of
their fallen comrade. The boy kicked back up over the creature and
jumped off of its side just as both of them slammed into it. He fired a
few dozen rounds as he came down into both of them. Neither one moved
much after that, well, one of them twitched its finger. Another bullet
after they had landed put an end to that though. 

	He glanced around at the remaining beasts. "Seems like they want to try
again."

	"Dying here is better than going back to their master as failures,"
replied Sesshoumaru. 

	"So now what?" asked Amelia. She didn't sound particularly worried
anymore. 

	"We finish them off," said Sesshoumaru coldly. "Ready boy?"

	"No. I said I wanted a work out!" Ranma growled angrily and flipped off
the side of a burning car as one of the creatures lunged at him. He spun
over the creature's head and fired at the apex of his leap. It stumbled
into the vehicle in its death throes and landed half in the fire. 

	The other monsters started rushing towards them in mass again, this
time without coordination of any type. They simply moved mindlessly
towards them.

	"This is more like it," said Ranma with a smirk on his face.

	"Our way is easier," said Amelia. She didn't sound particularly
impressed. 

	"Being a hero is an art, you have to know when to make the fights look
cool!" said Gai. "That's pretty much all the time."

++++++++++++++++++++

	Shu ho simply stared with her jaw down. Dozens of monsters were rushing
around the boy, slashing, biting, and clawing. He danced around them
with two firearms in his hands, firearms that could hurt demons. His
body moved fluidly along walls, bouncing around the street like a
superball. "Wow." 

	He landed in front of the last remaining monster and actually shoved
his hand into the creature's jaws, blowing its brain out the back of its
skull before it could even think about biting down. He twirled the
weapons around his fingers and put them away. "That was easy."

	"That was nothing," corrected Sesshoumaru. "The fight that awaits us
will not be an easy one. What we have faced before now, pales in
comparison. This demon isn't even that strong, but his power is far
greater than ours. We must use our skill to destroy him."

	"That's what martial arts is for," said Ranma cheerfully.

	"If that is your answer, then we surely go to our doom boy," replied
the demon calmly. "You cannot fight an opponent like this, with
something so weak as a human body. Even one like ours. No boy, for this
we shall need our weapons, and all of our cunning."

	"You hunt demons then?"

	The boy turned to see the Chinese demon hunter standing about ten yards
away. "What? What the heck are you doin here?" He looked annoyed.

	"It is my duty to be here!" she snapped. "Listen you little punk�"

	"Get out of here, you'll just get in the way, and I'm not saving your
ass. I'll handle it."

	The woman seethed angrily at him. "Look you jerk. I'm not about to take
orders from you."

	"Sai! Come on!" he called over his shoulder.

	The demoness appeared out of the shadows and rushed up beside him.

	"What the fuck?" said the woman as she stared at the creature dumbly.

	"What is it master? Should Sai keep killing minions for you now?"

	"Yeah. Whatever," he muttered as he started walking.

	"What the hell is that?!" screamed Shu ho as she pointed at it.

	"It's my pet demon," he replied calmly. "Look. I'm sure there's a
haunted house or something that needs you somewhere. You should probably
head back and start looking for it."

	"You arrogant son of a bitch! What makes you think I can leave?"

	"Well just don't go in there." He pointed at the building. "Keep
yourself busy out here or something. I ain't draggin no stupid girl into
a place like that."

	The woman was gripping her sword as her eyes twitched. "You�you�You're
a demon!"

	"I am not," he replied as he looked up at the skyscraper. He was now
standing in front of the front doors and peering up at it. "Jeez. Look
at the size of this place. I thought that old guy said a temple?"

	"There is probably one located somewhere inside," replied Sesshoumaru. 

	"Stop ignoring me!" snapped Shu Ho as she walked up beside him. 

	"Get lost," he said without looking at her.

	"No. We've got things to talk about."

	"Yeah? Like what?" he replied as he glanced back at her.

	"Like getting me to help you get those Amazons off your back. I can do
that, but I need proof that you're a demon hunter."

	The boy pointed back at one of the lizard things body. "I'm pretty sure
that's heavy. I'm guessin you're gonna have to drag it pretty far
right?"

	"Look. I'm gonna need a bit more than that all right?" She looked like
she was trying very hard to control her temper. 

	"Like what?" the boy was starting to look even more irate. 

	"I'm going with you. I'll help you kill this demon and watch you. When
you're done, I'll go back, tell them about it, and you'll be free of
them, and me. I'm really looking forward to that."

	"Great. I guess I should just hope you survive then." He glanced back
at Sai. "Keep her out of my way. Don't hurt her either, that's not what
I'm talking about. Try and keep her alive all right?"

	Sai looked somewhat downcast at this and nodded glumly.

	"What?!" screamed the woman as she stared at Sai. "No! Absolutely not!"

	"You'll do it, or you're not coming. This thing is too strong for me to
get distracted by you."

	"Huh? What do you know about this?!" she snapped.

	"I don't even want you along. Keep quiet and stay out of my way. You
can watch if you want. It'll be pretty cool."

	The woman looked like she wanted to strangle him. She kept quiet and
glared at Sai angrily. "How am I supposed to trust a demon? How do I
know this isn't some trap?"

	"You're the one who said you wanted to come along," he replied as he
pushed open the front doors as if no magic had sealed them. Sesshoumaru
had found a way around it while the others were talking with Shu ho. "An
artful silence before the storm."

	The place was empty, devoid of life. A receptionist's desk sat on the
other side of a large open floor. A hazy purple light lit everything in
the building, giving just enough light to barely see by. 

	An elevator door opened in a hallway behind the desk. 

	"Looks like I've been expected," said the boy calmly.

	"We did kill many of his minions already," pointed out Sai.

	"So, you're just going to ride up and see him?" asked Shu ho dumbly.

	"Nah. I'm gonna walk. There's stairs." He pointed at the stairwell.

	The woman didn't look much happier, but seemed slightly relieved.
	
++++++++++++++++++++

	Ranma somehow knew this would get annoying. "You know. This is why I
didn't want you to come."

	Shu ho was gasping for breath as she stared down twenty flights of
stairs. "What kind of guy are you?"

	"This? This is nuthin." He glanced down at what she was staring at.
"We're being followed. "More of those stupid zombies."

	"Great," muttered the woman.

	"Should Sai kill them?" asked the demoness hopefully.

	"No. You make sure she lives through this," said the boy as he
continued climbing. They were nearing the top. 

	The boy stopped and sighed. "Of course."

	"Now what?" snapped the Chinese woman.

	"There's some of them above us too. A lot of them actually. They're
trying to sandwich us here. He pulled the weapons from his sides. 
	
	"What do we do now?" asked the woman a little fearfully.

	"What else?" he asked as he glanced at her. He looked like he couldn't
believe she'd even bothered asking. 

	"Great." She pulled her sword out and readied herself again. 

	Sai stepped in front of her. "Don't bother. None of them will get by
me."

	The first groan was ended by a gunshot as Ranma charged forward.
"Wait!" cried Shu ho as he sprinted upwards. He was knocking zombies off
the stairs and into the seemingly bottomless depths of the stairwell as
he charged through them above the Demon Hunter and her only real chance.
The demoness that was smiling darkly as she shifted her weight forward.
"Master said not to eat them in front of him. I'm sure he won't mind
now."

	"What?" said the woman as she felt sick suddenly.

	Sai snagged one of the falling monsters from the pit and ripped its
throat open with her teeth. She drank the blood greedily and tossed the
creature away in two pieces as she ripped it in half. "Sai is allowed to
have fun."

	"Oh shit," muttered the Hunter.

	"Don't worry, Sai will protect you," said the demon as it glanced over
its shoulder. The zombies were closing in and Shu Ho staggered back away
from them with her sword ready. 

	Sai merely spread her wings and hissed. "Weaklings! Sai will feast on
your entrails!" She really meant it too.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++

	Ranma stood in front of two massive wooden doors that lead into some
sort of large chamber on the rooftop of the building. A few zombies were
still milling after him slowly. Hundreds of them littered the ground
behind them that weren't moving. They were little threat. "I think my
fingers are getting cramped."

	"This is what we are looking for," said Sesshoumaru. "Come." They
pushed the doors aside easily, a crackling energy arced across them as
the spell holding them sealed struggled to hold. He grunted and pushed
them forward forcefully as he strained to keep himself from being forced
back. Finally, he strolled onto a deep red carpet. A massive fireplace
stood before an altar of some sort in front of them. 

	"You are strong to have made it this far." The man sitting behind a
wooden desk in the center of the room watched them calmly as they
strolled in. He seemed unafraid and mostly uninterested in them. "Hong
Kong is mine. You cannot stop it." He was young, and had slicked back
black hair. 

	"I was expectin someone older," said the boy in front of him as he
stepped in front of the desk. "Guess you made out pretty good on that
deal you made huh?"

	"I will be the ruler of Hong Kong for thousands of years. You are
nothing�"

	"Pathetic human, flapping your lips as if you had any power of your
own." The boy had his two fingers pointed towards the ceiling over his
shoulder now. A string of light was wrapped around the man's neck that
lifted him up from his seat. The man struggled to free himself and
pushed his palms against the desk trying to force himself out of it. 

	"You�you can't do this!"

	"Who's going to stop me? You?" The boy frowned at him and jerked his
hand in a wide arc. The slim and attractive man was thrown against the
wall and came crashing through the top of a table. 

	Ranma merely pointed his clawed and glowing fingers towards him.
"Dokkasou." Power shot from his hand like a cloud of mist that enveloped
the man. His skin began to melt away along with the rest of him as he
screamed in pain. "Worm." 

	Ranma turned towards the altar. "Now, we need only to destroy this. The
demons power over this place will be broken."

	"What?" said Ranma. "Look, that guy was a dick and deserved to die. I
thought there was some demon here or somethin though."

	"I had thought he might try and protect his investment. I have seen
nothing of what has given him all this power. It seems that worm has
been abandoned. Once we destroy the demon's seal within this temple he
will lose his hold here. His power will fade, and if he does not acquire
another to take his place, vanish."

	"I've got a better way," said Amelia firmly. "We don't need to destroy
anything to do it either."

	"Huh?" asked Ranma dumbly.

	"What do you think will happen to you if you keep using his power like
this?" snapped the girl angrily. "You need to find other ways to do
things. That was why we got those weapons. We shouldn't rely on him.
He's not trustworthy."

	"What are you talking about though?" asked Gai.

	"I can purify this place. I can use that altar as a focal point. I'd
only need a few stones with some runes in them. She started ripping up
chunks of floor and set them on the desk. She smiled as she grabbed a
pen and then stopped. 

	"This is a pen right?" she asked.

	"It's a permanent marker," said Gai as they stared at it.

	"How�um. Is this it?" She twisted off the top and promptly drew a long
line down their wrist. "Oops."

	"Just draw the stupid runes!" snapped Ranma irritably. 

	"All right. I'm doing it," she grumbled as she started to scrawl.

	Sesshoumaru remained silent through this. "I am not familiar with this
magic."

	"Demons can't use it," she replied simply. "It's for purification. It
removes darkness from things. I had to make them pretty big because of
the size of this place." She lifted the chunks of floor into her arms
and carted them towards the altar. There were five of them; each one was
about a foot wide and long. They were only an inch or so deep though.
She set them up around the altar in a circle and stood behind it. "I'm
going to need your help Ranma."

	"Right," said the boy. They raised their hands over their heads and
closed their eyes. The runes began to glow with a white light. "This
might be a little tricky, try and stay with me."

	The boy kept up admirably as the girl started to recite some sort of
spell. "Spirits of darkness! Be gone from this place!"

	A bright white light shined. It grew into an ever-larger sphere of
power. It expanded around them and spread through the walls of the
building as it steadily grew brighter. 

	Finally engulfing a large portion of the streets and consuming the
building completely, beams shot out of it in every direction, giving one
final and super bright flash.

	"That wasn't so bad," said Ranma. He looked around and shrugged as he
headed for the doors. The evil Triad boss was nothing but a puddle of
sticky and smoking goo on the floor. "Guess that means those Triad guys
will leave us alone. Bet that chick doesn't bother us either."

+++++++++++++++++++++++++

	Sai chewed on a slimy looking piece of intestine as Shu Ho simply
stared at her. She wasn't sure what to think, but she'd never been able
to simply watch one before. 

	Once the white light enveloped them, the monsters simply fell over.
Nothing had moved in the hallway, and it was now littered with all sorts
of messy fluids and body parts. All of it was below her though, as
promised, she hadn't inflicted a single blow against them. None of them
ever got close enough. 

	Sai glanced back at her and grumbled irritably. It was clear the
demoness didn't really like her watch duty. "I guess I can't blame her.
I kill things like her."

	A few footsteps behind her alerted her to the presence of the boy as he
casually strolled downward. 

	He glanced at Sai. The creature spit what she had in her mouth out
immediately. 

	"That's just gross you know that?" he said to her as he shook his head.
"Come on. We're done here."

	Shu Ho didn't like his attitude, she didn't like his arrogance, and she
had to go back and tell the Amazons they had to leave him alone. She
thought about it for a moment. "You know. I didn't see you actually do
anything. I still don't have any proof. You were supposed to take me
with you."

	The boy glared at her. "I only said you could come inside with me. I
held up my part of the bargain, you keep yours."

	The woman seemed conflicted for a moment. "All right. I'll try and stop
them, but without seeing anything for myself, they'll be skeptical at
least. They aren't very trusting." 

	The boy frowned at her and kept going. "So what? It's not like they can
hurt me anyway."

+++++++++++++++++++++++

	The trio stepped out into the street. The stars could clearly be seen
in the sky above. The streets were quiet, but still destroyed. Flames
still burned from the buildings, but they seemed to be dying down
slowly. 

	Sai's skin was now bright pink, but she wasn't complaining. She would
slap herself on the leg from time to time and wince painfully. Ranma
decided to ignore this, as she seemed to keep herself busy with finding
ways to use it to cause herself pain. 

	"Well. I guess this is where you leave." Ranma looked back at the woman
and she nodded. 

	"I guess so." She shrugged and started walking down a different street. 

	Both of them froze and turned to look at each other.

	"Master. Sai thinks it is a very good idea for us to leave very
quickly." The demoness didn't seem too interested in the ground rumbling
under them. She was occupied by sticking her hand into one of the fires
in the street. She turned and hopped into it letting it burn around her
body. Quite painful with her skin as sensitive as it was at the moment. 

	"What was that?" asked Ranma.

	"I suspect the demon is not pleased with our interference." They turned
their head up to look calmly at what tore up through the concrete in a
pillar of flame and magma. All of the fires around them flared to life
again as they became ten times larger. 

	A massive centipede like creature loomed over them. It towered hundreds
of feet into the air with most of its body still underground. The
exoskeleton of the monster appeared to be made of pulsating and boiling
magma. Its jaws billowed smoke and a sulfur stink filled the air as it
roared. The air in front of its face shimmered with heat as it did this.
Insect like appendages crashed lined its sides as its head turned down
towards them.

	"Oh shit!" said Gai.

	"We must focus," said Sesshoumaru. 

	The creature roared as it dove for them ,forcing them to jump over it
as it ripped into the ground and vanished beneath the street. Ranma spun
around to face the hole with his handguns held ready. 

	The ground under them exploded as the monster came up from below them
in the street. The asphalt below them melted away as they pushed off and
dove back down while firing into it with both weapons. The jaws
shattered the heated remains of the pavement just as their feet left it. 

	They hit the ground on their shoulder and rolled to the side firing
into it with little result. The beast crashed its face into the street
again and crawled beneath the concrete ignoring the gunfire.

	"Shit! We need a bigger gun!" cried Gai.

	"What about those bullets?" asked Faye. 

	"I would not waste one against its hide," replied Sesshoumaru. "We must
find a weakness first."

	"Weakness?!" cried Ranma angrily. "On that thing?!" The ground under
them began to roll and crack as it shook violently and began to form
waves. Three of the creatures legs shot up from the concrete and slammed
into them. 

	Ranma was thrown into the air and twisted as the monster's head tried
to snap him up in mid air. He spun around and the magma plate that
protected its head tossed him into the side of a building and through a
wall.

	He stood shakily and turned to look through the hole. The thing was
watching him from just outside. "Oh shit." He turned and ran towards a
window on the opposite side of the building. The demon charged into the
building headfirst. Rather than chase him, it began twisting itself into
the structure and actually ground it up in its coils. 

	It wrapped itself around the boy, pummeling him with debris from the
building as it ground itself around him.

	The boy clutched the surface of the monster as it wrapped around him.
He could feel the heat as his hands became submerged in the magma
surface. The monster glared down at him with its jaws dripping with
flames. It opened its jaws and roared at him.

	"Now what?" asked Faye. They were in quite a pinch.

	"Too late!" cried Gai fearfully as the monster swooped down to bite
them in half. 

	Ranma grunted as he tossed the black staff into the creature's open
jaws. He dropped the red handgun and it plummeted to the ground below.
He felt the coils loosen as the surprised monster put it's mouth down
over them, but found itself unable to bite down.

	The boy was squirming desperately as he managed to free his hips. He
could see the staff bending slowly as sweat poured off his body. The
heat within the creature's jaws was intense. He growled as he loaded the
magazine into the weapon and cocked it. "You wanna eat something, I got
somethin for ya!" He fired the shot into the creature's throat as it
squeezed tighter and started to crush his legs. 

	The beast roared angrily as the force of the shot threw its head back.
Ranma watched as the power seemed to eat away at parts of the creature's
head. 

	"What kind of bullet was that?" asked Amelia.

	"Um, water I think," replied the boy.

	"You idiot!" screamed the princess.

	"Looks like it worked pretty good to me," commented Gai.

	That was when the noticed the swelling that was starting all over the
creature's body. 

"Aw, man," muttered the boy as he stared at it.

	The beast exploded in a violent cloud of steam and fire.

	A huge cloud rose high into the air above them as they plummeted down
after the explosion. The pavement rushed up to meet them, and then there
was only darkness. 

++++++++++++++++++++

	"So. You are finally awake?" 

	Ranma opened his eyes and glanced around. "Where?" He was in a bed and
his wounds were dressed neatly in clean bandages. 

	Sai was sitting above his bed staring down at him. "Hello master."

	Shu ho was sitting across from him with a book in her lap. "That was
quite a battle. The amazon tribe will no longer attempt to kill you. You
are free of them. One of the elders is waiting to speak with you."

	The boy blinked in confusion as he glanced around. "So. Where am I
anyway?"

	"A safe place for those like us. There is someone else who wants to
meet you here as well. I do hope you're polite to her." The woman
narrowed her eyes at him and frowned for a moment. "I suppose I should
thank you. What you have done�"

	"I ain't through yet," he growled at her irritably. 

	"We have nothing to discuss. I've fulfilled my part of this deal. Now,
I shall walk out of your life." She smiled at him and stood up. "You are
a guest here. Please try and be polite to your host."

	"That was weird," said Ranma as he scratched his head. 

	"That was close," muttered Faye.
	
	"I told you it would be difficult," said Sesshoumaru. 

	"We did it though," offered Amelia. "That's something."

	"Now what?" asked Gai. "I mean, we can't just lie here can we?"

	"Now, we go find something for us girls. No more jobs until we find a
man." Faye cheerfully hopped out of the bed and walked towards the door.
They had to grab their shirt from a nearby chair, and roll their pant
legs down. "I'm surprised this stuff survived that." Ranma looked down
at his clothes in surprise. 

"I hope these people don't keep us too long. I want to get this over
with," grumbled Gai. 

"Come on Sai. We're gonna go see what these people want us for and
leave," said Ranma as he glanced at his demon.

	"Yes Master. Will Sai be punished when we return?"

	"Maybe tomorrow night," said the boy a little wearily. 

	"Definitely not until she's had a decent bath!" snapped Faye. 

	"I can't believe you're still going to do that!" cried Amelia.

	They walked up to the door and found their weapons sitting on a dresser
top right next to it. They collected them and strolled out into the
home. 


++++++++++++++++++++

	TBC...

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