CHAPTER TEN

"Bucket of Ice"

A little bald head rose from underneath the thick stream of bubbles, "Hey, I'll forgive that friend of yours. If you help me out." He winked.

Yoh yelled in panic. He tried to scamper away from Happosai's floating head.

"What happened?" Morty asked.

"It's the old bald guy!" Yoh gasped.

Ranma quickly lifted the wet towel from his eyes, "Where!"

"I don't know… he was just here."

Trey waded over to them, "What's with all the yelling?"

Just then cold water rained over them. Trey could hear a piercing shriek. He quickly looked around just to find himself face to face with a red-headed girl. He gasped as all the blood drained from his head. His nose bled and he collapsed limply on the pool.

Ranma quickly jumped out of the pool and she quickly ran to get some hot water.

Yoh ran to Trey's floating body, quickly he yanked him up. Trey's face was bloody. His eyes were rolled back. "Trey!" Yoh shouted.

Ranma returned. "Happosai!" he bellowed. He looked around, the old pervert is here. He needs to get him… fast.

Trey snapped out of dazed state, he spat out some swallowed water, "I told you! There's a girl here!"

Happosai was swimming swiftly underneath the water. Looking for a possible way to get to the girls section of the bath. There used to be hole under the wall… but it was clogged up.

Len noticed a small shadow underneath the pool's surface. He reached in and grabbed the object. He gasped in surprise. It was the old pervert.

"I told your friend that I will be willing to forgive you… if you help me get to the other side of the wall…"

"My sister's on the other side of that wall…" Len growled.

"Well… ah… er…"

Before Happosai could answer he was hurled across the pool by Len. He skimmed across the water like a skipping stone.

"What a pervert…" Len grumbled.

XXX

Trey placed a wad of tissue up his nose to stop the bleeding, "I tell ya' there's a girl here."

Morty looked around, "Maybe it was Len… he does look different with that hair of his wet."

"Len doesn't have flaming red hair!" Trey shouted back. "Ask Ramen… he probably saw her too since she jumped on where he was."

"You mean Ranma?" Yoh corrected.

"Ramen… Ranma… Geez! What's the difference!"

"You know, Trey, if you want to see something that bad you usually do see it." Yoh said with a wide grin.

Trey clenched his jaw and he turned beet red. "I'm not a PERVERT!"

"Speaking of Ranma… where is the guy, anyway?" Morty noted. The trio looked around hoping to catch sight of their host.

Ranma walked to them, he looked tired. Quickly he sank into the water and resurfaced, "Did you see Happosai?" he gasped.

"Happo-who?" Trey asked.

"The ugly old bald perverted man."

"Nope… but did you see a red-headed girl here?"

"I told you already. NO."

"Why are you looking for that old guy anyway?" Morty questioned.

"Isn't it obvious…? That guy's a big pervert… what does a pervert do in a public bath house?"

Trey squinted his eyes as he looked at Ranma closely, "…play…with…himself…?"

"No…! He tries to get to their side." He pointed to the big wall. Just then a small water bucked floated idly by them. Quickly, Ranma split it into two with one blow.

"What issues do you have with buckets?" Yoh asked whimsically.

"He could hide under them… I need to catch that old fart before he could get there." Ranma said in a whisper. "Hey, isn't your sister on that side too?" he looked at Trey.

"P-pilika!" Trey screamed. "Where's that sicko hiding…" he growled.

"So… when did the buckets here grow feet?" Yoh pointed to a water bucket crawling past them.

Ranma dashed to it and lifted it from the ground. There was nothing underneath it, he looked at it from underneath. There was a sudden jet of warm water that sprayed into his. Ranma yelled in surprise and dropped the bucket. Happosai quickly scurried away.

"You're not getting to Pilika!" Trey screamed as he helplessly tried to catch Happosai. He slipped on a bar of soap that sent him skidding all over the floor. Yoh leaped over Trey who was sprawled on the floor. Happosai turned a sharp right, Yoh couldn't follow. He slipped and collided onto the wall.

"You're never going to catch me!" Happosai squealed. He stopped immediately and jumped back as Len's kwan-dao swung downwards. "Are you thinking about my offer, boy?" Happosai asked devilishly.

"After you embarrassed me! Are you out of your mind!" Len shouted as he prepared another attack. He thrust his weapon towards Happosai. The old man simply jumped… then he disappeared.

A pillar of ice crashed onto Len. Len flew backwards and landed on his back. Trey stood opposite of him, holding his snowboard and scratching his head, "Oops…?"

Len growled. "What do you mean, 'oops'!" He sat up and rubbed his sore back. "I had him!"

"Well… so did I!"

Yoh walked up to them. "Where is he then?"

They heard a splash. They turned and saw Ranma in the water swimming towards Happosai, who was trying to fit himself in a little hole in the wall. Ranma yanked him out and held the perverted fool by his feet. "Got you now!" Ranma grinned victoriously. Happosai simply smiled. Then he blew water straight at Ranma's face. Ranma dropped Happosai (again) in the water and wiped the water from his eyes.

Yoh quickly dove into the water after Happosai. Then he resurfaced just a few moments earlier, "I lost him."

"Did you check the hole?" Trey shouted over to him.

"Yeah…" then he scratched his head, "I don't think he could fit through that mouse hole." Yoh noticed a bucket suspiciously crawling towards the men's locker room. "Uhm…" he pointed to the crawling bucket behind them.

Len quickly turned and swung his kwan-dao straight down at the bucket. It split into two.

Trey screamed, "Dude! You killed the man!"

Ranma knelt with one knee and examined the each halve of the pail. "He's not dead. He's not even here."

Yoh got out of the water. "He's fast." Out of the blue thy heard a shriek coming from the other side of the wall.

"Pilika!" Trey yelled as he darted off. Ranma, Yoh and Len were in pursuit.

The receptionist was busy reading a novel, until he heard people scampering around the locker room. "Not again…" he mumbled as he continued reading. Just then four guys barged out of the room and ran to the women's bath. "Wait! You're not allowed in there!" he yelled.

"Happosai!" Ranma yelled as they jumped on the old man. They tugged on Happosai's rubbery face in blazing fury.

"Ahem…"

The foursome looked up. Akane looked down at them. She wore a bathing-suit and so did the others.

"A-akane…" Ranma stuttered.

"I thought you knew that we'd wear these."

"W-well… I guess I forgot."

Yoh let go of Happosai's face, "Who screamed?" he looked around, seeing if Anna was alright.

"Happosai."

Yoh looked at Happosai who was crying on the ground.

XXX

They walked back to the Tend household. Pilika noticed Len's hair. It was already dried and looked like the soft downy feathers of a chick. His usual spike wasn't there. "You know, Len. You look a lot better without you're spike."

Len didn't answer, but he appreciated the comment.

Trey placed his hands at the back of his head, "You know… what I still don't get… is how that red-headed girl got in the guy's bath."

"Oh, that's just Ranma." Kasumi answered.

"Ranma!" Trey looked at Ranma. "But he's a guy… I must be hallucinatin'"

"Did Ranma not tell you?"

"Tell me about what?"

"His curse."

"Curse…" Trey's voice droned away.

"If he gets dowsed by cold water he turns to a girl. When it's hot water he turns back to a guy." Kasumi explained.

"No way!"

Ranma bit his lip. He hates it when someone just finds out about this curse of his.

Jun looked up at the stars, "What happened to that old man?"

XXX

"Get me outta here!" Happosai screamed. He couldn't move from his ice prison. That blue-haired freak jammed him in a bucketful of water and froze it up. He blew air into the ice hoping that it would melt faster. He stopped momentarily… those children are not to be messed with. He didn't sense it earlier in the commotion… but their chi was immense that he could still feel its power until now.

XXX

"It's late, Reiji." Rakgi whispered to his master. His cold icy breath disturbed the faint candlelight.

Reiji sat on his dusty old bed holding a candle. He scanned the pages of his father's logbook. He traced his finger over one particular phrase: Anything Goes Martial Arts.