HELLO! Well as you can see I'm trying to rewrite the war of the demon king, if you're asking "why would you do that?" Well I took some the reviews to heart and suddenly realized that they were right, the story was too bare and sounded too much like a rushed summery of the actual war, I figured this after reading the story through. So, in an effort to try and fix this I have begun to rewrite the story in the hopes that I can get it to the level of something really good. Sorry for the wait but winter is the easiest for me to write as the rest of the year is pretty hectic, not to mention I get lazy when I have to work harder in spring, summer and the beginning of fall.
So without further stalling I present the rewritten first chapter of the War of the Demon King.
As usual I own nothing of the Ranma series.
CHAPTER 1
Sun shone gently upon the ground and sparkled off of the 1000 pools of Jusenkyo while the birds chirped in the trees planted near the guide's house. The guide sat blowing smoke rings while watching the two martial artists bounce from pole to pole while fighting one another over the springs. The man was surprised that they had continued the fighting this long with no ill affects from Jusenkyo, this lent itself either to them being very strong in spirit, or being blessed in some way that Jusenkyo hadn't affected them with a curse yet. He would have continued in his efforts to warn them of the danger of their actions but the feelings he received from Jusenkyo itself told him not to.
Ranma sprang from one pole to another readying himself for another assault and wondering why the guide had seemed so insistent that they not train here before suddenly going quiet and not complaining anymore. The boy dodged another attack and launched a kick into Genma's gut that knocked the older martial artists onto a different pole from which he sprang into another assault. The two fighters jumped form pole to pole while trading blows and Ranma was starting to wonder when his father would leave an opening when the old man suddenly overextended himself allowing Ranma to grip the end of one pole with his right hand and slam both feet into Genma's gut tossing him into one of the springs nearby.
The water rippled slightly then sat still before bursting upwards in a rushing torrent that crashed down into the spring once again leaving a figure standing upon the pole that extended up from within the water. Ranma blinked, then blinked again, his surprise was plastered right across his face as he stared in shock at the massive panda standing on a simple bamboo pole with the sunlight glinting off of water droplets in its fur. Ranma wasn't stupid and it took him only a few seconds to link the guides frantic first shouting from days ago to the panda that was still wearing part of his fathers clothes as well as his glasses. Even with the quick linking of the springs with what had happened to his father he was almost to slow to avoid the first punch the panda threw at him.
It was only a swift retreat across the length of Jusenkyo that had so far saved Ranma from getting dunked as his now panda father continued his attack. Ranma blocked twelve punches and dodged back across several more poles until he reached the edge of the springs in his area and leapt to the ground giving thanks for solid footing with no water nearby. He looked up in time to see his father leaping from the last pole towards him "POPS! Look at ya! Yer a panda!" The shout seemed to have the desired effect of making Genma finally look at himself and saw the fur and different body, unfortunately for Genma he was still airborne when he looked. It was the first time, but probably wouldn't be the last, that Ranma got to see a panda plow head on into the ground.
"Young mister customer is lucky, whoever fall in spring take body of whatever last drowned there. Older mister customer unlucky, he fall in spring of drowned panda, very tragic tale of panda who drown in spring over 2000 year ago." The guide was happy he finally got to do what he was paid for, informing people of their own stupidity.
"You could have gotten me cursed you ass!" The chase that started afterwards was one that the guide would likely be telling his grandkids about years later.
Ryoga stood staring down into the valley below, his wandering had led him many places around the world that he had no intention of actually being but it had always led him closer to that dishonorable Saotome who had run out on their fight. The lost boy continued to star downwards wondering why he had such trouble reaching wherever he was trying to get to. Even though his parents were worse off than himself he had always felt like this bad sense of direction was somehow mocking him and only him, and worse still were the times he had had to ask Ranma to lead him home from school.
Sharp hearing picked up the crashes through bushes nearby and the martial artist spun around dropping his pack and bringing his umbrella to bear on the trees where the noise was coming from. Seconds later a large furry form erupted from the leaves of a bush and dashed across the rocky cliff in front of Ryoga leaving a large trail of broken twigs and fallen leaves behind him. While Ryoga had no idea why a panda would be acting so strange he didn't have much time to contemplate it as the bushes burst open again, this time to allow a pigtailed teenager in white that dashed directly towards the panda.
"Get back here and accept yer beating like a man pops!" The boy's voice and bad grammar were a dead giveaway to Ryoga, not to mention the pigtail.
"Saotome! You won't escape this time!" Ryoga leapt forward crossing the distance swiftly and launched a kick at the other boys head, a kick that swept through nothing but open air as the other boy ducked down then dodged back to look at Ryoga. "Do I know ya?"
The slight distraction was all the panda needed to attack and it leapt forward swinging a wooden sign that materialized in its hand from seeming nowhere and bore the words Respect your father! Unfortunately for Ryoga he had charged forward, angry that Ranma was claiming not to know him. The swung sign slammed into Ryoga's face as Ranma leapt up to dodge Ryoga's charge and the lost boy was sent tumbling over the edge of the cliff saved only by the fact that a bandanna he had been holding snagged a rock. Not for the first time Ryoga wondered what he had done to deserve things like this happening to him, first there was that angry old lady in some city called Houston, and then the weird guy in a place called London.
The lost boy struggled to find a handhold as his bandanna began to tear from the weight of himself plus his umbrella. With a last loud rip the bandanna tore and Ryoga began to fall only to have his descent stopped by Ranma diving forward and snagging his wrist before he could fall too far. The lost boy struggled to pull himself up with Ranma's help only to have the cliff give way from underneath both of them and send them tumbling towards the pools below.
The Guide had seen the two falling from the top of the cliff and winced slightly at each rock hit on the way down. It was obvious that the young martial artist who had seen his father change was trying to use the cliff to kick off from and steady his descent into something that wouldn't land him in a pool. Unfortunately for both of the boys Jusenkyo had something equaling a primitive mind of its own and both ended up splashing down in pools that hadn't ever been used.
Ranma struggled to pull himself free of the water desperately wishing that nothing had happened but realizing that the weird tingle that he had felt when sinking into the water had most likely been the pools magic activating. Fingers dug into yielding mud as he slipped deeper into the pool having trouble swimming higher he finally gave up and simply planted his feet into the mud at the bottom of the pool, crouched, and pushed off with his full strength. The now cursed boy burst free of the clinging water and mud to land on the bamboo pole sticking up from the mud allowing him his first look at himself, or in this case herself.
Strands of wet gray hair tumbled into her eyes as her hand rose to her head sliding through hair and finding pointed ears before sliding back and finding out that the pigtail was now undone. The first thing Ranma found out was that while he was now a she, a bad thing according to Genma's teachings, there wasn't any feeling of weakness or any other such thing. In fact the cursed martial artists' eyesight was quite a bit sharper than it had been before the unfortunate dunk in the spring. Not that any advancement made Ranma feel better about what had just happened though it allowed her to sense the approaching guide as well as keep a watch on the large fur covered form that burst from the pool the other boy had fallen in.
With a sigh the Guide looked at the two new customers to the springs and shook his head turning to the large werewolf first "Unfortunate new young mister customer fall in spring of drowned werewolf, very happy tale of vicious werewolf that was drowned in spring by wolf demoness over 7000 year ago." The Guide turned to look at Ranma where she was still perched atop the bamboo pole "That one spring of drowned wolf demoness, very happy tale of wolf demoness who was drowned by Musk warriors after she drown werewolf over 7000 year ago."
Ranma before her dunk would have taken a good ten minutes at best to figure out who the other boy was, as it was, her demon mind was much sharper than her human one and it made the link almost immediately. And since it had been Ryoga that she was trying to save when she fell she immediately blamed her old onetime friend. The large new werewolf was still trying to figure out what the hell was going on when he sensed a very large danger coming from his right causing him to turn and look. Ryoga at first didn't understand why the beautiful grey haired girl was looking at him like she wanted to kill him until he put together the fact that Ranma had been falling near him and that that spring was pretty much were the other boy would have fallen.
"Ryoga Hibiki you…!" The new demoness couldn't think of anything to say so simply leapt off the bamboo pole with a shout and tried kick Ryoga who ducked under the attack and took off running. The guide sighed as he watched the two fighters disappear swiftly into the cliffs in a chase rivaling the first.
"As can see, curse is reversible with hot water." The guide was finally getting to explain the situation to the three travelers after they had all stumbled in four hours later looking somewhat exhausted and torn up from their run trough the trees and rocks. "Cursed form will return with cold water, is no cure known to any who have come here."
"This is all your fault Ranma." Ryoga's jump to attack was cut short by Ranma catching his punch and slamming him into the floor of the guides hut "My fault! Why the heck is it my fault?!"
"You knocked me into that stupid pool, if you hadn't forced me to follow you I wouldn't have gotten cursed!" The lost boy pushed himself up throwing Ranma off and launching a kick towards the other boy's gut that ended up with Ranma dropping to the floor to dodge it.
"What the hell are you talking about? Pops is the one that knocked you off I tried to save your sorry ass!" Ryoga started to look thoughtful "If its anyone fault we got cursed it's his!"
(Now boys, lets not be hasty.) The still transformed man held up a sign producing it from somewhere with the writing already written on it, somehow. Both boys glowered angrily at the panda and a second later the guide sighed as his door was torn from its hinges for the 78th time in the last ten years. After waiting for a few minutes the guide went to retrieve his tools to fix the door noticing that the two young customers had grabbed their packs before taking off after the older man. With a shrug the portly man went back to work figuring that they would come back if they felt they needed to.
"we're lost" Ranma stated the obvious as she looked around trying to find their current position by examining the sun while trying to figure out if the river pops had gotten them wet in had been something they had passed before.
2 HOURS LATER
"It was a good thing I found those hot springs for us wasn't it boys." Genma puffed out his chest at his own achievement.
"Yeah real great job pops. Though come to think of it we wouldn't even have needed them if you hadn't gotten us CURSED!!" He shouted the last word in his fathers right ear before stalking back towards were he had put his pack.
"Where do you think the guides place is?" Again Ranma tried to find a direction that might take them back to Jusenkyo and the guide.
"Who cares boy, it just means we don't have to pay him anything. Now let's get going, I have this map that should help us get out of here without running into danger."
2 HOURS LATER
"NOT RUNNING INTO DANGER HUH!!" Ranma screamed as he dodged another strike from a snake the size of a semi truck and struggled to duck under a swipe from a bear the size of a house while making sure Ryoga didn't get lost.
2 HOURS LATER
"I'LL KILL YOU POPS!!!" The cursed martial artist was currently trying to disengage himself from a plant that was doing its best to eat him while Ryoga used his belt to cut away at the vines.
2 HOURS LATER
Ranma rolled around on the ground laughing as a Genma-panda tried to fight off a female panda that seemed to find him good looking.
SEVERAL DAYS LATER
Ranma muttered curses as she stalked through the forest shooting glares at her father for splashing her and Ryoga earlier in a bout of 'if you can't dodge the water you're slacking off.'
Bare feet kicked up dust as they continued to plod along the path that Ryoga and Ranma had unanimously declared a hunting trail that had been stumbled across by Ryoga in one of his more lost moments. Keeping an eye on Ryoga had actually gotten somewhat easier as his curse seemed to make him get lost less often than he had before he had gotten it, not that his getting lost was any less frustrating as it normally meant that Ranma had to go find him. The boring walk had been going on for days and Ranma was starting to get really annoyed with Genma's constant badgering and trying to blame the curses on Ranma instead of on his own stupidity.
The curses, now there was a bit of magic that she could have done without for the rest of her life with no problem. Overall she had found that her cursed form seemed better at everything than her birth form, her cursed form was stronger, faster, more durable, had much better eyesight and sense of smell. But she had also noticed that she was getting a more volatile temper and it wasn't something she had really noticed until she turned back to her birth form and suddenly realized that things that had brought anger or severe annoyance while a girl didn't really cause any problems while male. Ryoga had changed some as well, most notably his ability to move around without getting as lost at every turn but he as well had seemed to have a more hair trigger temper when in cursed form.
Both boys wished they could get rid of the curses completely but the guide had said that Jusenkyo had no cure. He said that everyone he had ever conversed with who had the power to study the place said that its power was immense and unable to be countered by any means they knew of.
The last of the trees thinned out and the three found themselves standing within a large cleared area that led up to the outskirts of a village. See boys, I told you I knew where we were going. The panda happened to actually look at the cursed boys and froze as he noticed the anger shown there from both of them. The gray haired girl looked to be glowing with a dark power and was producing a surprisingly realistic sounding wolfs growl and the werewolf was looking none to happy as well. The currently panda formed martial artist took the better part of valor and bolted into the buildings with both fighters close on his heels.
Ranma moved silently down the dirt street heading towards the faint cheers and other sounds coming from what she assumed was the center of the village, more like a small town than a village from what she could see. The two cursed boys had caught up to Genma fairly quickly and pounded him for awhile before moving on into the village trying to find any people they could talk to due to being lost fairly badly. The cheering was getting louder and louder as they approached the center of the village and they could finally see why as well.
Set in the center of a large area that was obviously set up for just such things there were four large logs buried in the ground with thick ropes leading from each one to another log suspended from the ground by the ropes. Said log was currently swaying as the two combatants on it fought a brutal fight for supremacy. Ranma had to admit that the violet haired girl was holding her own pretty good against the other combatant, a person that at first Ranma hadn't even though was female until she heard the woman shout something in Chinese and attack. Both the young martial artists watched the fight closely wondering how long the larger woman was going to hold out to the younger girl's superior skill. Ranma smirked as she watched the larger woman tossed skyward by a quick strike and then turned to take in the congratulations of the crowd. That smirk vanished as the girl tossed one of her maces at the table that the panda had started eating from, followed by shouted Chinese which was completely incomprehensible to Ranma, Ryoga or Genma.
"Stupid panda!" Ranma turned to the girl and tried to think of a way out of what was likely to be a bad situation. "I'm sorry we don't speak Chinese."
"She demands to know why your pet is eating her prize." The old woman pogoed across the ground to stop in front of them "That food is the prize for the winner of the tournament and the panda has now eaten it, she has already demanded you hand over the pet."
(AH! She's like the master, run for it boys!) The panda made it three feet before he was smashed to the ground by a strike form the old woman's staff.
"Well then, if I fight her and win then the prize would be mine right." The cursed martial artist didn't even wait for an answer and jumped to the challenge log followed swiftly by the violet haired girl. The two faced off neither moving for several moments while trying to size up the other and figure out how to end the fight swiftly. Ranma was sure she could take the girl out swiftly due partially to the girl being tired from fighting as well as not being as well trained as Ranma herself, at least from what Ranma had seen. What was making her wary though was the strange sensation that something really really bad was about to happen.
UKNOWN PLANE
Shadowed light shone down through light grey clouds onto a city that stretched from horizon to horizon its edges far beyond the sight of even the demons that currently inhabited the shattered buildings. Giant towers made from golden stone rose upwards into the sky so far that once upon the top of one even the larger buildings of the city looked to be tiny and it was upon one of these towers a being stood dressed in grey plate armor with demons gathered behind him watching the sky expectantly. The grey armored demon threw small stones from one hand skyward and watched as they took the form of a circle and began to spin faster and faster until a circle of blue and red lights sprang to life and the very air inside the circle was torn asunder.
The demon in grey stared upwards through the hole in the fabric of reality that was now linking his prison to the world at large and with a triumphant shout he pointed at the hole he had created and watched his demons begin to leap through. The demon watched as more and more of his forces poured out before heading back to the magical lift that had brought them up and began to go down to return to his palace. The problem was that he himself couldn't travel through the rift and it was taking a large portion of his power to hold open gate in the first place. The best estimates he had been able to figure was that it would take a full year before he had the power to both hold the portal open and allow himself to go through, unless his forces could find an alternate route for him to leave through. "Either way" The demon spoke its voice echoing off the halls "My imprisonment is OVER!"
Descriptions.
Spring of drowned werewolf: A very happy, tragic if you were the wolf, spring created when a very vicious werewolf went on a rampage throughout the lands of the three tribes until he came across the sleeping form of a very beautiful wolf demon. Believing he could ravage the beauty he approached only to have the wolf demon spring awake and attack. The battle raged for over twenty hours before the almost evenly matched opponents reached Jusenkyo and the demoness drowned the werewolf in a spring. Unlike normal werewolves the person drowned in this spring has no problem being in wolf form without a full moon and does not have to worry about the feral state that other werewolves suffer from and are even capable of speech.
Spring of drowned female wolf demon: The spring, created when the musk royals attacked the weakened wolf demoness, has never been accessed by anyone but Ranma and it is somewhat a good thing. Ranma in demon form is more prone to violence and rash judgment though she has a sharp tactical mind she is willing to almost throw her life away before really starting to think of a plan of action. The remnants of the demons mind give Ranma a somewhat jaded view of the world and he begins to act somewhat different after receiving the curse itself. Though Ranma is still reluctant to take a life unless it is demonic or undead, his somewhat darker view of the world makes him more dangerous than he would be normally but he also is very loyal to those he considers allies. There is also a dark side to Ranma's curse that he knows nothing about and only manages to feel every now and then.
Author notes:
Alright, in the original version I had Ranma looking as he would if he had been born a female wolf demon but in my rewrite I had a strike of what I hope is brilliance and have changed things somewhat. Yes I still hold to the belief that most springs will make the victim as they would have been if born that way, but that sort of limits me when I want to do something. So, in this telling there are certain springs that give a curse that makes the person like the one who drowned there. This isn't a total change, Ranma doesn't look exactly like the wolf demon that drowned in the spring and that will be gotten into in one of the other chapters. I still love the springs mix idea so as before there will be no cure in Jusenkyo for the cursed individuals.