Ranma / Shadow World / Planescape / Dragon Fist] Ryuken -

By Ketheria ([email protected])

Ranma AU

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Khu Lon, Matriarch of the Nyuchezuu of Joketsozuko, smiled as she watched the gathered warriors warm up for the day's events. Today, a new champion of her great granddaughter's age group would be selected for this year. All young warriors, age fifteen to nineteen, would participate in today's events. The warrior who stood victorious at the end of the day would hold the title of the strongest of her age group until the following year. Along with the title, great honor and prestige went to the family that produced the champion. Xian Pu was sure to make it to the finals, as she had last year. She lost the year before to the oldest warrior eligible to enter the teen contest. Now, with the prior champion entered into the young adult contest, Xian Pu was the favorite to win this year's teen contest. With her victory, the Matriarch's family would once more be in ascendance.

A shadow passed overhead, distracting the aged woman from her contemplation of contests and politics. Glancing up, she shivered as if chilled. Although the skies overhead remained mostly cloudless, what clouds were evident were drifting into a spiral pattern over the cursed valley of Jusenkyo.

"The Dragon Ascendant," she murmured, "and the Storm at the Gate. An omen..."

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This is a work of fanfiction. Characters of Ranma 1/2 are not mine. In fact, the characters and specific settings in Ranma 1/2 belong to Rumiko Takahashi. I claim no ownership to it. Shadow World is an Iron Crown Enterprises (I.C.E.) product for use with the RoleMaster game system or any other system to which the Game Master wants to bend the setting. I chose to bend the setting to suit this fanfiction. It is not mine either. Planescape belongs to Wizards of the Coast now that they own TSR. It is another game setting for use with the AD&D line of games. I do not claim any ownership of it. I plan on using parts of it for this fanfiction. Dragon Fist is a downloadable pen and paper game and setting based strongly on 2E AD&D and drawing heavily on the influence of Hong Kong style martial arts films (www.dragonfist.net).

"..." Audible dialogue

'...' Internal monologue

" ... '...' ... " Audible dialogue with something stressed or quoted.

Chapter 1 [Draft 3 09-05-02]

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'Stupid old man!' Ranma thought, as he jogged behind the stocky figure of his sensei and father. 'It's bad enough not stoppin for the night, but we could'a at least stopped and eat.'

The sun had just crept over the eastern horizon as the pair began their trek up the game trail winding throughout the dense growth of bamboo. The warm red glow erased the deep star speckled indigo of night, replacing it with the bright cornflower blue of dawn and highlighting the thin clouds dancing rapidly across the sky. Neither martial artist paid the beauty of the morning any heed.

"Ranma," the old man called, as he leapt into the swaying bamboo, "keep up now. We are almost there!"

"Yeah, whatever," Ranma retorted, as he leapt to follow. 'Stupid Old Man!' he repeated in his thoughts, 'If he is in such a hurry, why is he jumping about in the bamboo like this? We could get there much faster on the ground.'

The two continued on their way, leaping gracefully from one swaying plant to the next.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Once more, the Jusenkyo Guide set out upon his daily trek about the perimeter of the small valley. It was his duty to maintain the warning signs posted at various points on the trails leading to the Pools of Sorrow. The day started much like any other. By dawn's first light, he awoke, fixed breakfast, and surveyed the springs for obvious signs of new customers visiting in the night. It did happen from time to time.

Afterwards, he began the trek to one of the main paths leading to the former training grounds. A different path was chosen each morning. Today, the red skies at dawn foretold a troubled day so this time he chose one of the nearer paths. Sure enough, barely an hour after sunrise, the pristine sky was rapidly filling with clouds as the Jusenkyo Guide set forth.

Ten minutes later, he was running back towards the springs, chasing a pair of potential customers. The pair had leapt over him at the edge of the bamboo forest. If they were lucky, he would get to them before either of them had their life altered by the magic saturated waters of Jusenkyo.

He crested the rise overlooking Jusenkyo as the customers stopped a few meters from the pools. From this angle, the cursed springs looked innocuous enough. The calm waters of the pools dotting the valley mirrored the sky and surrounding mountains. In nearly every pool, at least one heavy bamboo pole thrust into the air. They were reminders of the purpose to which this valley was once used.

He smiled as he trotted the last few meters. Neither visitor had become a customer before he was able to catch up to them. He allowed himself the luxury of momentary hope that these two would not fall prey to the Pools of Sorrow.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*

"Aww man," the boy exclaimed, "this place ain't near as bad as you made out, pops." He looked around the small valley with a disappointed expression.

"Hmph! We'll see, boy," Genma replied. He shrugged his pack off, allowing it to drop to the ground, before glancing over at the pudgy man trotting up to them. The man wore a green uniform and hat with a red star stitched on the front. 'Must be a tour guide or something,' he thought.

The man stopped about a meter from the pair and said, "Welcome to Jusenkyo, Honored Sirs!" The visitors looked at each other with confused expressions at the Guide's courteous greeting.

"What?" Genma asked, as the boy shrugged in confusion. He didn't understand anything the man in green had said aside from the name Jusenkyo.

"Oh! You strange ones, yes?" The man spoke again, switching to broken Japanese. "Welcome, Sirs, to Legendary Training Ground of Jusenkyo. No one use anymore. Over one hundred springs here, each with its own tragedy happen-"

"Come, boy!" Genma yelled, interrupting the man once he had confirmed they were where he wanted to be. He leapt for the nearest sturdy bamboo pole. "Follow me!"

"Right behind you!" was the enthusiastic reply.

"I won't go easy on you, Ranma!" Genma declared as he perched atop the pole like a deformed white crane. His bulk was deceptive. Most would assume, incorrectly, that he was nothing but flab. He was a prime example of well-developed muscle. It had taken years of effort to get into such good shape.

"Just the way I like it, old man!" his son replied, as he settled atop another pole and faced him from across the pool. An arrogant smirk grew on the boy's face as he held his stance flawlessly.

Genma smiled. 'Such a good boy. With an eager student like him, surely it would be no time at all before I can return home, marry the boy off, and retire.' He studied his son a moment longer. The boy stood atop the bamboo balanced on his right foot; his toes gripped the smooth shaft without any sign of strain as he stood in the relaxed, one-legged stance. 'Excellent.'

"Wait, Sirs! You no let me finish tragic story!" the native guide called from below.

'Bah! Just ignore him.' Genma thought, 'Focus on the boy. He may be good, but he is getting a little too cocky. It was time to put him in his place once more.' Genma smirked at his son, 'He is not a master, yet.'

With a cry, the two leapt at each other. A furious series of blows flew between the two, as time seemed to slow to a crawl. They hung in mid-air as forearms blocked kicks, open palms blocked fists, and leg sweeps were avoided with the most minute of margins. Seconds later, they two settled atop a different set of bamboo poles. Both wore nearly identical cocky grins as they readied for more. With another grunt, the two leapt once more to their gravity defying aerial ballet. Feet and hands blurred as blow after blow was parried, blocked, dodged or diverted. Grunts of exertion underscored the snapping of cloth and the meaty smack of flesh upon flesh.

Genma fell back, as the boy pressed his attack, leading the battle in an erratic path across the well-tended valley. 'Damn, the boy is getting good! I have the reach and mass advantage over the boy, but this setting seemed to favor the lighter and faster opponent.'

Genma dodged another series of wickedly fast blows before his nimble son danced out of his reach. 'Although the boy is able to evade most of my blows, all it will take is one good hit to put him down.'

As he leapt back, aiming for another pole, Genma kept his gaze locked firmly upon his son. The clouds parted briefly at that very moment, allowing a broad ray of sunlight to shine down upon the valley. Normally, this would be a good thing. Unfortunately, with Genma in the air looking down upon his son, the smooth surface of the pool behind him became a mirror for the brilliant, blinding glare of the sun.

"An opening!" the boy yelled, from somewhere nearby.

Suddenly, but not unexpectedly, a double palm strike flew past Genma's weakened defenses and slammed into his gut. Had his son not chosen that moment to strike, he would have landed on the his intended pole. Instead, air exploded from him in a grunt as he was knocked off course. Tumbling out of control, he slammed into a small, nondescript spring lacking even a bamboo pole to mark its location.

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Gazing across the valley, the Jusenkyo guide watched as the martial artists battled their way across the valley. Their skill impressed the jaded man. He did consider it a good thing that none of the warrior women of the Nyuchezuu were near to witness this. Were that to happen, the younger customer would find himself married whether he wanted to be or not. But, this could not last long. The rules of the springs were not completely known, but after twenty three hundred years of recorded lore a calculated guess could be made. These two would not leave here unchanged. The guide grunted as he witnessed the young sir knock Mr. Customer out of the air and straight into a small spring.

"They never listen." he muttered to himself. Patiently he waited for Mr. Customer to pull himself from the cursed pool. Usually, it was possible to determine what the curse would be by the pool in which the customer lands. However, once in a great while, a curse other than what was believed to be in the pool would take effect. No records indicated why or how this was possible. It made predicting what a customer would be difficult. Even the Musk had to be wary about their favorite spring. Occasionally, instead of a bride, they received something altogether different. The Guide chuckled as he remembered the one time he had witnessed such an event. He was seven years old at the time...

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Dark clouds were gathered overhead as a thunderstorm drew ever closer to the springs. Three men gathered near the Nyaniichuan in the gloom holding a smaller struggling figure. The squeals of the frightened young sow drew the attention of the Guide and her son.

"Momma? What are those men doing with that pig? Shouldn't you warn them about the springs?" the future Guide asked.

"No," she replied, shaking her head, "they are Musk, seeking another bride. If you or I go out now, we would probably be taken as well."

"What's a bride?" the young boy asked, his wide eyes full of innocent curiosity.

"Just watch, and learn, my son," she answered. Both turned to watch the event occurring in the growing gloom.

The Musk warrior holding the pig yelped in pain before clubbing it in the back of the head with one spiked gauntlet. The sow's angry squeals died abruptly to a pained whimper. This was drowned out by the yells of the other two warriors as they began to berate the first for abusing their future bride. Angry words escalated first to shoving, then from there to the point that all three were exchanging blows.

"Momma?" the youngster asked, trying to gain her attention.

"Hush. Watch the spring. They have forgotten the pig in their struggle." she responded.

Suddenly, large green hands flew from the pool, snagged the Musk with the spiked gauntlets, and drug him below the surface. The other two jumped away and stared at the pool. A stocky grayish green skinned form rose from the waters of the pool. While the figure was only a little taller than the largest of the warriors, it was more than twice as broad and all of its mass appeared to be muscle.

Coal black hair hung in thick ropes from a large head. A short, thick neck led to broad, heavily muscled shoulders. Massive arms easily as thick as the legs of the Musk ended in large hands tipped with black claw-like nails. The form's stocky, hair covered torso stood supported by thick muscled legs and broad feet. A pair of massive breasts, glistening from the water of the pool, suggested this monstrosity was female. Her small, beady red eyes glared at the Musk over her large, pig-like snout and sharp tusks.

The two remaining warriors stared at the female monster, chanting the word, "Titties" as they slowly moved toward her. With an inarticulate roar, she charged the distracted warriors. In moments, the creature had beaten the two warriors senseless, stripped them, and dumped them into the Nyaniichuan along with the first warrior. It then wasted no time gathering the clothing and running off into the steadily increasing fury of the storm.

"Momma? Was that a bride?" the future guide asked, tugging once more on the sleeve of his mother's tunic as she stared blankly off into the night.

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The Guide chuckled once more at the memory. It had taken several years to convince him that brides were not huge, green, hideous pig-women. Later, his grandfather had told him the creature was from the Spring of Drowned Pig-Demon. The strange part was, the spring had been covered by a rockslide more than a century before. There should have been no way for anyone to acquire that curse. The three Musk warriors were indeed cursed with the Nyaniichuan. So, somehow, the victim of the spring crept across the valley, without being detected, and beat up three Musk warriors just to get some clothing that wouldn't even fit her massive frame. More unsettling was the fact that the earth covering the spring had not been disturbed.

The Guide turned his attention once more to the far side of the valley as Mr. Customer pulled himself from the spring.

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'Damn that boy! This water is COLD.' Genma thought, as he struggled with the sodden cotton of his gi. The water was so cold his entire body tingled in shock. Gazing up through the strangely clear waters, he could see his son alight atop a nearby pole and barely made out the boy shout something about being done.

'I will show you "done," you cocky punk! It ain't over 'till it's over,' Genma thought. 'But first, I need some AIR!'

He managed to disentangle himself from the pants to his gi and pull himself from the pool. Somehow, the drenched fabric had slipped down from his hips and threatened to keep him underwater. He glared at the boy as he shook off some of the water and gasped for breath. 'Hmm. The boy is up to something,' Genma mused. 'The whitening of his face, the widening of his eyes, the trembling and stammering - Yep! The boy is trying to use the Saotome Anything Goes Distraction technique.'

"HA!" he growled out, low and menacing. "I won't be distracted that easily!"

Suddenly, the boy bolted away, screaming like a girl.

"Humph!" Genma grumbled, his gaze followed the erratic path taken by his son, "Now I have two things to punish that insolent whelp for! Crying like a girl, and using the Saotome Final Technique too soon."

"Get back here, Ranma," the elder Saotome roared, as he leapt to the chase, "Face your punishment like a MAN!"

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The guide nodded to himself as he jotted the information into his notebook. "Now Mr. Customer is the first victim of the new spring of Drowned Siberian Tiger. A tragic story of a rare white tiger chased to Jusenkyo by poachers last year. Now, whomever falls into the spring takes the form of a prized tiger. Hmmm. Now, whenever wet, Mr. Customer will be hunted for trinkets, charms and magic cures. Very sad."

He turned his attention back to the customers in time to see the young sir flee from the growling tiger. This sudden action seemed to confuse the older, tiger-cursed customer for a moment. But, it was only a moment. With a loud roar, the cursed man shot after the wildly jumping younger customer.

"Oh, Sir," the guide protested in a strained whisper as he watched the pair dash once more in his direction. "Be careful. Do not fall into another spring!"

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Once again, the pair rapidly crossed the valley. Genma gained on his fleeing son with each leap.

'That pool had certainly given me my second wind!' he though, relishing the burst of adrenaline. 'Nothing refreshes a body like a dip in icy water.'

As with their first trip, the pair dashed about the training ground. Their erratic path covered nearly every possible route. The interspersed boulders allowed the boy to momentarily regain some of the distance he was otherwise steadily loosing to Genma.

"Ranma, this is intolerable!" Genma raged, "I will not have MY son screaming like a GIRL!" Putting on a burst of speed, Genma conserved his breath for the chase. 'This had best end soon," he thought. 'I'm getting hungry, and this prey is leaping about like a frightened deer.'

Unfortunately for Ranma, the added speed was enough to close the distance long before the boy could make it to the line of bamboo. Genma caught up to his prey in mid leap near the outermost pools. His claws sank deep into tender flesh as his jaws darted down, instinctively going for the killing bite to the back of the neck.

'Claws?' Genma thought. 'BITE?' Stunned by what he found himself doing, Genma froze with his mouth mere inches from the soft neck of his prey as it screamed in agony. Locked together, the pair plunged into another spring.

For the second time that afternoon, the icy chill of the water burned throughout Genma's body. After a short struggle against the billowing white cloud of his gi, he managed to wade to the shallow end of the pool. Fearfully, he examined his hands in search of the claws he had seen, and felt, savage the skin of his pr- his son.

For a moment, relief flooded through him as he gazed upon the apparently normal hands he held before his face. His relief just as quickly turned to shock as he began to note certain differences.

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Puffing and gasping, the Jusenkyo Guide ran up to within a few meters of the pool of sorrow the two customers had fallen into. These two certainly could cover some ground when they wanted to. One of the customers struggled out of the deep end of the pool, panic etched on his - her face, as she examined her hands closely.

"Oh, 'Sir!'" he gasped, in his best Japanese, "You lucky, yes? You fall in Nyaniichuan. Spring of Drowned Girl. Very few human spring in Jusenkyo. Most are animal. Had you..."

"Wha... w-what the h-h-hell h-happened to m-me?" stammered the silver haired customer, interrupting him. Her eyes widened at the sound of her own voice as the hands she had been staring at rose to clutch her throat.

"You fall in Spring of Drowned Girl." the Guide repeated. "Very tragic story of young girl who drown in spring over one thousand five hundred year ago. Now, whoever fall in spring take body of girl."

"I-I'm a g-g-girl?" the girl cursed customer gasped, as the hands at her throat began moving slowly down towards the top of her gi.

"Yes, 'Mr. Customer'," the Guide confirmed, "but now, you get out of spring, yes? Longer you in, longer you girl."

"Huh?" The girl-cursed customer exclaimed, her hands froze before they could reach anything of interest. He appeared to have attracted her attention at least.

Waving his hands frantically, the guide tried again to urge the customer out of the pool of sorrow. "Get out of spring or you girl forever!"

That got a reaction. With a shriek the girl jumped from the spring. She landed, well away from the springs, in a graceless tumble of limbs and hair. Following her progress, the guide approached her to look the cursed individual over as she stood once more on unsteady legs.

Typical with victims of the Spring of Drowned Girl, this customer appeared to be in her early or mid teens. She was much smaller than she had been as a man, if the ragged tatters of the gi top were any indication. It hung about her like a tent. Its hemline fell below the level of her knees, and the neckline hung off one of her shoulders, exposing most of one of her large breasts, and plunged well below her navel.

'From the size of the gi, this must be the older customer,' the guide surmised. 'The pools of sorrow have been kind, after a fashion.'

Once a stocky, homely, middle-aged man, the cursed person was now gifted with the form of a beautiful young girl. Her finely muscled legs led up to the wide flare of her hips. Her narrow waist exaggerated the size of her bust and hips. Slender, well-toned arms dangled from the narrow shoulders as the girl-cursed former man stood gasping for air. Her long neck supported a cute round face dominated by large dark-green eyes. Her small, full lipped mouth, when open, revealed slightly enlarged canines. Long silvery-white hair hung in a thick mane to the middle of her back with four irregular weaves of darker gray shot throughout. The end result was a striking resemblance to the appearance of the tiger she had been only moments prior.

"Ah yes." the Guide muttered, jotting more notes into his pad, "This is a sign of her first curse." Shaking his head in wonder, he considered the former man to be very lucky. "At least she can be human again," he muttered. "Had she fallen into another animal spring, she would forevermore be cursed to be an animal."

"But, then again," he debated with himself, "perhaps I should have let her stay in the pool. That way she would not have to worry about becoming a tiger again." After a moment he shrugged and said, "Oh, well. No changing it now."

At the guide's muttered words, her head snapped up from her own chest as she met his gaze. Horror was etched clearly in the young face before those dark green eyes rolled up into her head and she collapsed. The Guide was unable to catch her before she hit the ground, but he did arrange her gi top to preserve his own blood pressure.

The guide stopped and looked around. "Where other customer?" he muttered. He couldn't see the young customer anywhere. 'Didn't she jump out as well?' he wondered.

A gust of wind whipped across the meadow, rustling the trees and the grass, as the birds and insects fell silent. Finally, he glanced back at the Nyaniichuan. Color drained from his face at what he saw. Turning back to the insensate form of the older customer, he grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her roughly.

"Mr. Customer," he yelled, "you wake up! Must get 'young sir' out of spring, NOW!"

It became clear to him very quickly that the older customer would be of no use. As quick as he could, the Guide rushed back to the cursed spring.

"Young sir," he yelled, nearing the edge of the pool. "You wake up now, yes? Get out of spring, yes?"

He watched the motionless form that must have been the young sir. He could see the customer breathing, but only just. The girl-cursed boy was unconscious, but thankfully floating face up. A crimson cloud of blood spread about her, defiling the crystal clear waters of the Nyaniichuan.

Overhead, the clouds were darkening with unnatural speed. The air seemed to be alive as ever-stronger gusts of wind began whipping the surface of every pool he could see. The guide could feel every hair on his body standing on end.

"This is bad... this is very, very bad," the Chinese man moaned, before turning and running off to his hut as fast as he could. "The spirits of Jusenkyo are stirring!"

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In a timeless ethereal place, separate from what most being would call the 'real world' and yet also a part of it, dozens of wraithlike figures gathered. Wordless communication, a combination of concepts and emotions for the most part, flowed between them. Although some could articulate clear thoughts, most communicated in the simpler method. These spirits were tied to the few square kilometers surrounding the lands known as Jusenkyo. Because of this, they rarely had anything to discuss. Only when new visitors arrived and tempted their fate to the capricious will of the wraiths did the Spirits interact much with each other. They could freely observe what went on around them, yet they had very limited opportunities to interact with those events. When the visitors entered the eassance charged waters of Jusenkyo, even if only for a brief time, they formed a bridge between the 'real world' and this border plane. In that case, the wraiths' ability to interact with the 'real world' expanded exponentially.

"What of the child" one wraith queried.

"Hurr! Indifference. Not prey," a second wraith 'spoke,' before separating itself from the group to move near a shadowy figure lying on the ground.

The middle wraith, upon which the attention of most of the others was focused, pondered the question. A heartbeat passed before the reply was made. "His upbringing is poor. He has an overbearing pride. He is supremely confident in his own abilities, far beyond the point of arrogance. Yet, his soul remains pure."

"His wounds are fatal," the first figure pointed out.

"Yes. However, they need not be," the middle wraith responded, emotions and concepts flowed forth showing what could be done.

A feeling of shock and uncertainty breezed through the gathered wraiths as the first one considered the answer, "That would require..."

"Yes," the middle wraith responded gently, "I know."

A clamor of 'voices' and emotions arose from the gathered wraiths. The furor rippled across the region with enough force to part the mists slightly. The energy of the outburst spread over into the nearby realm with predictable results. Storm clouds gathered with unnatural speed, reflecting the overall feelings of the group.

The first turned its attention once more to the focus of the outburst. "I - I am still not ready for such a step, Eladrin."

"It is not necessary for you to assume the burden, child." The wraith identified as Eladrin responded. "I would not have suggested it if I was not prepared to do it myself."

"B-but... you are the Eldest? Who will lead in your place?"

"Another shall step up, as I did so long ago. There will always be guidance, Ming."

"Yes, but..."

"Since the departure of the Scro, I am the last of the originals, child. There are no others not of this world. My spring and I do not belong here." Eladrin stated. "Do you contest that?"

"I... No, Eladrin, of course I do not. But-" the first wraith responded before being interrupted.

"The child is dying in your waters. Soon my chance and your choice will be taken from us. He will take your place in the springs, and you will take over for his life. Do you wish that?"

"...No."

"Then... Decide. Do what must be done, or allow me to do so. As he is in your waters, I cannot do this if you will not allow it as you have allowed others in the past. If I do this, he will always have the choice of how to live his life. If he dies, then none of us will have a choice. You can see, as can I, what the result has been in this child's life as a result of not being able to make his own choices. It is unfortunate, but once more the child will not be allowed to make his own choice. The rules that govern this place are irrefutable, I detest that but it remains a fact. Will you allow an innocent to replace you and thus regain your life at the expense of this child's? Will you give up this existence to give him back his life? Will you allow me the honor? You must choose the path to take, Ming."

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Puffing from the run, the Jusenkyo Guide hurried back towards the Nyaniichuan while carrying a long pole and net. 'I hope I'm not too late,' he thought. 'It is very bad for wounded people to enter the springs. The open wounds could allow the spirits to enter the body instead of just affecting the flesh. It hasn't happened in recent history, but there had been that incident ninety years ago with the spring of the ancient hentai master. That had angered the Nyuchezuu greatly.'

He was still over ten meters from the Spring, when it began to glow. Slowing to a stop, he groaned and dropped the gear as he observed the events so he could accurately record them.

Lightning lanced between the pool of sorrow and the dark clouds boiling over the valley. In the midst of the blinding display of power, the limp form of the young customer rose from the spring. Streamers of red flashed up from the pool and disappeared through the torn back of her gi.

After a few seemingly eternal seconds the lightning abruptly ceased. The resulting thunderclap echoed explosively through the valley as the concussion of the blast flattened the guide, blew a few tiles off his hut, and sent ripples through all of the pools. It was several minutes before the guide recovered enough to stand and begin to look for the young customer again. She was easy to spot. She stood unmoving not two meters from him.

The Guide hesitated for a moment and looked over the figure standing before him. The girl still wore her mostly intact gi, which, though too large for her frame, was still a better fit than the other customer's clothing. Her hair was a dark copper, nearly black aside from the fiery highlights drawn out by the sunlight shining through a couple of breaks in the clouds formed at the apex of the lightning. Her skin tone was extremely pale, and her facial features only vaguely Asian. Although a rather petite individual, she was very well endowed, as most customers cursed in the Nyaniichuan were.

Gathering his courage, he began to move towards the new customer once more. If the old legends were true, then this unusual event could only mean that the spirit of the spring had indeed entered the body of the young sir. He needed to find out for certain. At the sound of his footsteps, her eyes snapped open. He paused once more as the girl-cursed boy stared into the distance with her exotic golden eyes.

"Young Sir!" the Guide called out, he knew his command of Japanese was anything but good, but he had to try. "You okay? Come away from Springs now, yes?" he added, urging her away from the pools of sorrow. "You no want another curse."

The girl blinked, focused on him for a moment and then looked about slowly. Her expression remained neutral even as her gaze settled upon the collapsed form of the older customer. She stared at the older customer for a moment before moving on. Still moving slowly, the girl's gaze dropped to herself and lingered. As if waking from a dream, she looked up at the Guide with confusion slowly growing on her face.

"What - what has happened to me?" The girl-cursed boy asked quietly in flawless, if archaic, court Mandarin.

The guide studied her face for a long moment. The young customer had not given any indication that he was capable of speaking any Chinese when he first arrived. She had just spoken to him in a dialect once used in the Imperial courts, without even a trace of accent. His eyes narrowed slightly as he answered.

"The young sir was injured and knocked into a cursed spring by the cursed form of the older customer." he gestured over to the 'resting' form of the older customer. As her gaze moved to her 'father', he continued his explanation. "You were knocked into the Spring of Drowned Girl. According to our recorded history, a teenaged girl drowned in the spring over fifteen hundred years ago. Now, whoever falls into the spring is cursed with the transformation magic of Jusenkyo. While this was fortunate for Mr. Customer, in that he could have gained another animal curse, for you it means you now suffer the curse of the Nyaniichuan. Whenever splashed with cold water, you will take the physical characteristics whatever drowned in that spring."

"A... girl?" she quietly asked. Her fists clenched tightly as she stared at him and started trembling.

"Yes." The guide took a step back as the trembling increased and a scowl appeared on her face, even as what color she had paled even more.

"I..." she began, before her eyes lost focus once more. As the guide watched, unsure of what to do, she swayed on her feet, then collapsed to her knees. "I... don't feel... well," she managed to murmur before falling over, unconscious.

Relaxing, the guide looked back and forth between the two unconscious customers with a bemused expression, and asked, "Well now, what do I do with you two, hmmm?"

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