Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma ½ or Sacrifice™ or any related characters, terms or concepts.
Author's Notes: I'm positive I've mentioned it before, but I've altered a lot of the Sacrifice stuff for this fic, like the appearance of certain monsters and expanding the list of spells. As for Mnemonaphagy, it isn't a Sacrifice thing, just something I thought would be suitable for Charnel's Necromancers. Basically, it's the ability to absorb memories, and thus gain all of a victim's knowledge and skill, by devouring their still-warm brain. In fact, the best way to get all of the info in the brain is to start eating while the victim is still alive.
Part Eleven: The Fall of Happosai! Part 2
Among the various reasons why Ranma had chosen Stratos as his patron when he'd first arrived in Otherworld so long ago was this: the Saotome School of Anything-Goes was primarily focused on aerial manoeuvres, so the ability to control the wind was thus a great aid in training and battle. In fact, if there was a better place to train for aerial combat than in the center of a whirlwind as it carried you through the air, Ranma hadn't found it yet. He was almost sorry when the whirlwind finally reached its destination and faded out of existence.
With the ease of long practise, he dropped effortlessly to the ground. Herb lowered himself slowly to the ground, suspending himself on a flume of pure ki. Ranma's respect for the prince of the Musk Dynasty crept upwards a notch; the technique wasn't exactly fuel-efficient, but it accomplished using only ki what his technique required ki and mana to do. The others weren't quite so 'adjusted' to riding a whirlwind, as evidenced by the way they staggered away from the places where they had landed and threw up. Ranma waited until they finished before clearing his throat and speaking up.
"All right, we've still got half a mile to cross before we reach Desecration, so everyone keep your eyes peeled and stay in the group. Otherworld in general is dangerous, but Stygia… demons come here for their vacations, that's all I'm saying."
It took about an hour to cover most of the ground; it wouldn't normally have taken so long, but neither Nodoka nor Akane were used to so much physical activity. Besides which, the group kept getting into nasty little "accidents" that really ate up their time. Like the time Ryoga-chan took a wrong turn and ended up stepping into quicksand. Or when Mousse walked into a Bloodvine, a vicious, blood-drinking, carnivorous plant that resembled a massive tangle of thorn-studded vines. Or the time they were ambushed by swamp-dwelling monstrosities that looked like their ancestors had been gators worthy of Louisiana folklore. The most traumatic encounters were yet to come.
"Aaaaagh!"
Akane's scream instantly seized the attention of her fellows, who rushed to her aid as fast as they could. They found Akane pressed up against a tree, her horrified gaze locked onto a decaying, mutilated body that was dangling from a tree in front of them. Garbed in decaying tatters of clothing, and with a crudely carved wooden placard with something inked upon it in what looked like blood dangling from its neck, it was no wonder it had scared her out of her wits. In fact, of them all, only Ranma seemed unaffected by its presence, walking close to it and looking it over while the others retched. Something that did not go unnoticed.
"How can you be so unaffected by something like this?
Asked Akane.
"Practise. Besides, it's simply an example of Stygian justice. We'll see more wretches like her as we get closer to Desecration."
"What do you mean by that?"
Asked Mousse.
"The placard states the crimes; that writing on it is Low Stygian for 'Bandit', 'Murderess' and 'Arsonist'. She was a criminal and punished as their laws decree."
Having said that, he walked past it, calling back over his shoulder.
"By the way- don't get to close to it. Some Necromancers like to cast spells on them that keep them alive after death. They're experts at playing dead until something tasty gets close enough to grab."
Ryoga-chan, who had been following Ranma, flinched back from the body and then snarled at Ranma's back when it failed to grab at her. If Ranma noticed, he made no sign of it.
Outskirts of DesecrationThe walls of Desecration were in sight when they had their final encounter. As they walked through the swampland towards the city, Ranma suddenly stopped. His body tensed, prompting a similar state of alertness in the other martial artists.
"Ranma, what is it?"
Whispered Ryoga-chan. Ranma said nothing, but bent to the side as a crackling jet-black bolt of lightning blasted through the space where Ranma's head had been barely a second before. Those in the rear ranks leapt aside as the bolt cut down a massive oak-like tree and automatically fell into a defensive stance as numerous lean, lanky humanoids burst from the undergrowth. Their fingers were two, maybe three times longer than a human's, and tipped with savage claws. Behind their cracked, leathery lips sprouted a cluster of jagged, filthy fangs, which the Nerimites got a good look at whenever the creatures burst out into their demented laughter. Jagged "spurs" of bone jutted randomly through their flesh, and their eyes gleamed with insane fervour.
There was a splashing sound as more figures suddenly erupted from the numerous fetid pools surrounding them. Except for Ranma, the Nerimites gagged as the stench of decay filled the air. These new figures lacked the claws, fangs and spurs of their predecessors, but were more thickly muscled, and surrounded by swarms of insectile vermin. A final figure emerged through the trees; at eight feet tall it towered above the others, a twisted pillar of sinew and bone, with its right arm replaced with machinery, engraven with all manner of evil-looking runes and sigils. Wisps of black energy still arced and crackled between the clawed fingers of the bionic limb; this was clearly the creature that had initiated the attack.
The Nerimites tensed, only for Ranma to do something that caused them great confusion: he slipped out of his battle-stance, threw back his head and laughed.
"Morgall you fungus-brain! Do we have to through this every time I come to Desecration?"
A crazed laugh, eerily reminiscent of Kodachi, drifted from out of the swamp. A figure resembling a twelve-year old boy promptly shouldered its way past the creatures. He walked straight up to Ranma, the two acting like old friends who'd just been reunited after a long time apart. The monsters surrounding them backed down, at which the Nerimites relaxed themselves.
Ranma spoke to Morgall in a tongue the others couldn't recognize, Morgall looked thoughtful for a few seconds, and then replied in the same tongue. Ranma nodded his thanks, at which Morgall grinned, baring stained, chipped fangs. Ranma and Morgall spoke for a few seconds more. When they were finished, Morgall smiled, shook his head, and then called to the monsters in a different tongue to the one they had been using, at which they retreated back into the woods, Morgall following them. Ranma waved, and then continued towards Desecration.
"Ranma? Who was that?"
"Morgall? He's a Necromancer of Charnel, a Rogue, he doesn't have an Altar or a domain; he just wanders where he wills. We're good friends. Don't let his looks fool you; he's a Necromagus and over one hundred and fifty years old. And let me tell you; to survive that long as a Rogue takes some serious skill."
"What do you mean?"
Akane asked, curious despite herself.
"Most 'settled' Mages consider Rogues a threat, upstarts who blow in on the wind and steal from their stocks of essence and mana. Which means they tend to react to their presence with deadly force. Mage or not, if you die without an Altar you're done for, so the Rogues who last a long time are especially cunning and powerful."
DesecrationA matter of minutes after they'd encountered Morgall, they were in Desecration. Even with Ranma's warnings about what to expect in Stygia, they were still unprepared for the scene before them. Corpses and body parts dangled from the spike-topped walls, crippled beggars littered the dark places of the streets, piles of mouldering garbage where strewn everywhere and through it all a throng of humanoids moved and seethed, apparently ignorant of the rats and other, weirder, vermin that scuttled over their feet and of the foul trash strewn upon the ground.
The scene sickened virtually everyone, even Herb looked discomforted, but Ranma took it with the same nonchalance as the natives. They eagerly followed him, trying to ignore what they were stepping through/over/around as they did. Akane squeaked when a rat ran over her foot, which prompted Ryoga-chan to place a comforting hand on her shoulder and apparently reminded Ranma of their presence, as he turned to them with a concerned look on his face.
"I forgot just how hard this place is to newcomers. Listen, how would you feel about waiting for me in a 'safer' part of town, or at least a more pleasant one?"
Nobody, not even Herb, was truly uncomfortable with the idea of not having to crawl through all this filth. Ranma looked around for a second, then let out a piercing whistle. At the sound, a stranger in a filthy, tattered robe scurried from out of the crowd. He and Ranma held a quick conversation in the same language he'd spoken to Morgall in, after which they shook hands.
"Herb, you come with me. The rest of you, follow Fergus; he's been instructed to escort you to the Creaking Gibbet inn- I'll meet you there."
He and Herb walked off into the crowd, while the little man introduced himself.
"Me am being Fergus, please to be coming with me quick-quick?"
Blinking at his horrible Japanese and his bizarre accent, the group followed him.
Black Market
Herb fought the urge to wrinkle his nose and sneeze at the thick aroma within the shop, a mixture of various spices and the bitter-sweetness of pustulant rot. He tapped his fingers on the warped wood of the counter as Ranma haggled with the diseased-looking proprietor of "Pablo's Plague Pit". This was just the latest in a series of shops specialising in various forms of poisons that Ranma had come to. He'd promised Herb that this would be the last stop before they went to the Creaking Gibbet to get the others and head back to Nerima.
Once Ranma had finished his bargaining, and tucked his purchases into his pockets, he and Herb walked out of the store and set off towards where Ranma said the Creaking Gibbet Tree was located. Herb couldn't help but notice that, while the Stygians pretty much ignored him, they treated Ranma with a great deal more respect, almost reverence. Any thinking on the subject he may have been tempted to do was stopped when Ranma started talking to him casually.
"So, Herb, let's talk."
"Talk? About what?"
"Oh, how about you and a certain Tendo daughter?"
"You mean Kasumi?"
Herb did not like where this was going; he was confident in his skills, but he was not sure he wanted to tangle with Ranma just yet. And not just because he wanted his help in recovering the Locking Ladle from Happosai either.
"Yes her. You love her, don't you?"
"Yes…"
"Well, if you want to set about wooing her, I can give you some advice."
"You?"
"I've lived with her family for a year now, plus I don't have the cultural disadvantage you have."
"What do you mean 'cultural disadvantage'?"
"Man, you come from the Musk Dynasty. Once you've been weaned, you don't see another woman until its time to make yourself a bride. Not win yourself a bride, MAKE yourself a bride; you catch a wild animal, turn it into a woman, and then mate with it. To you, a wife is little more than a source of pleasure and a machine for making babies. And I'm telling you this for nothing; if you think that's the sort of relationship you and Kasumi should have, then you don't deserve her."
Herb contrived to look affronted, insulted and embarrassed all at once.
"So, you have two choices. You can rush in blindly, treating her the way you'd treat one of your beast-women and get rejected for it. Or you can listen to me, and maybe, just maybe, you might stand a chance."
Herb nodded, then paid close attention as Ranma drew upon all of the experience he had acquired, first painfully from his own fiancées, then from his stay in Castle de'Cuckoo.
The Creaking GibbetThe Creaking Gibbet was a decent inn, by Stygian standards anyway. It had only two rules: don't cause trouble and always pay your debts. This, coupled with the fact it was well known for being a drinking spot for Mages with reputations for being "weird" (read: insane, powerful and extremely dangerous to anger), meant that it was considered practically safe.
Of course, the Nerimites had no way of knowing any of this. To them, it was simply a place to wait for Ranma to join them so they could return to Nerima. The barman, Igor, had offered them all a drink while they waited, but one look at the selection available had quickly put them off the idea. It was something of a relief for them when Ranma and Herb finally put in an appearance.
"There you are. Did you get what you were after?"
Called Ukyo.
"I think so, he went to enough shops."
Complained Herb. Ranma didn't even glance at him; he simply walked over to Igor.
"The usual thanks Igor."
"We're out of Eyeball Juice."
Igor replied in his slurred, slime-burbling voice.
"I'll take it straight then. You know what I like. By the way, I want to talk to you later about arranging another… 'training session'."
Igor nodded, his ragged lips curving into a grin as, without looking, he reached his unnaturally long arms backwards to the shelves and grabbed several bottles, popping their corks with his thumbs before tipping them into a mug, which Ranma grabbed and eagerly drank. He turned around to meet the rather disgusted looks of the Nerimites.
"Why are you all staring at me like that?"
"How can you drink that stuff? Have you even looked at those titles? Skullbubbler? Eyepus? What's that stuff in the corkscrew bottle?"
"Gin."
"If it's gin then why the hell is the cork trying to unscrew itself? And since when do you drink anyway?"
"I first came here, I think it was during my first month here in Otherworld. I'm not an alcoholic; I just enjoy a glass every now and then, it helps me relax. Speaking of which, Igor, toss me a bottle of Khrul for the road please."
Igor tossed the bottle casually to Ranma, but Ryoga-chan snatched it out of the air first. Ranma sighed and tossed some coins to the bartender as Ryoga-chan speculatively eyed the contents of the bottle.
"You can take a sip if you want, but I wouldn't advise it."
Ryoga-chan, defiant as always, stuck her tongue out at Ranma and then took a swig. Smirking triumphantly, she slammed the bottle onto the table. Then she froze, and fell over backwards. And without any of that usual sissy stuff people do when they faint either; no rocking backwards and forwards, no sagging of the knees, she simply fell straight backwards. Despite the change in position from vertical to horizontal, she didn't move a muscle. Ranma sighed, walked over and retrieved the bottle, idly prodding Ryoga-chan's side as he did so.
"What is that stuff?"
Asked Mousse.
"Khrul? It's a Pyroborean alcohol; an equal parts mixture of cactus sap and scorpion venom, mixed together in a rusty metal tub and then left in the sun for several weeks to ferment. Has quite a nice kick to it."
"I noticed."
Mousse drawled. Ranma ignored him and simply grasped Ryoga-chan's arms, Akane grabbing her feet as the two of them lifted the unconscious martial artist off the floor.
The Tendo DojoOnce they had exited Desecration, Ranma had called up another whirlwind and carried them all back to Sliverspine. He'd sent them back through the portal, but he himself had remained behind to "see to things". Precisely what, they had no idea. After a few hours of watching Soun, Genma and the Yeti play Shogi, and with Mousse, Shampoo and Ukyo doing some "light-hearted" sparring with the Storm Giant, Ranma had finally come home.
Accompanied by about two-dozen virtually naked girls. Ryoga-chan, who'd only just woken up, took one look at all of that quasi-nude female flesh and promptly passed out again. A faint trickle of blood had oozed from Mousse's right nostril. Soun and Genma gaped (giving the Yeti ample time to switch the pieces around). Shampoo, Ukyo and (especially) Akanestared in disbelief. Lime had a nosebleed. Herb suddenly got very nervous. Nabiki forgot all about the biscuit she was eating, allowing it to fall from her mouth into her lap. Nodoka gave a strange smile and Kasumi… did what she normally did: smile and continue working as though nothing had happened.
It took a few seconds for everyone to notice, but eventually they realised that the arms of the strange girls were piled with platters of food, plates, cutlery and barrels of what were obviously alcohols. As Ranma spoke rapidly to them in a language none of the Nerimites could understand, the girls moved quickly into the dining room, setting up a feast. When they were finished, Ranma smiled and sent them back through the portal before kneeling down at the food.
"Well, what are you waiting for? Dig in."
Genma and Soun needed no further encouragement; they practically dove into the food, greedily gulping down the food and swilling cups of alcohol. Somewhat confused, the others quickly joined, soon matching their enthusiasm, if with better manners. In fact, they were enjoying the taste of these strange new dishes so much they didn't even notice their numbers being joined, until Ranma said:
"Hello Grandfather Happosai."
That prompted a series of shocked coughing because, not only had Happosai joined them at the table without them noticing, Ranma was actually being respectful to the old lech. Happosai actually boggled for a second or two before reverting to smugness.
"So, I see you finally wised up and decide to give your elders the respect they deserve. I'm pleased."
"Yes grandfather, I simply must apologize for how often I have provoked you in the past, as well as for trying to stop you. I know now that I simply cannot hope to match you. Please, forgive me."
At this statement Ranma's fiancées were staring at him like he'd grown a second head, Genma and Soun had fainted and Mousse and Ryoga-chan were dumbstruck. Nodoka, Nabiki and even Herb, Lime and Kasumi had lost their appetite. Happosai simply puffed out his scrawny chest and seemed to inflate with pride as he sucked in each word.
"Gheh-heh-heh! Finally, you admit it! I'm your master, and you will do as I say now!"
"But of course grandfather. Please, allow me."
Still in the same servile manner, he gently fed Happosai the tastiest portions of the delicacies upon the table, and then let him wash it all down with great gulps of the finest wines and ales. The others, even Kasumi, looked like the very foundations of reality were crumbling. Happosai smiled wickedly.
"So then Ranma, now will you undo that silly spell and let me turn you back into girl?"
"Of course… not!"
Happosai's eyes bulged out as the Nerimites (those who were still conscious anyway) let out a sigh of relief- it looked like Ranma was back to normal. Ranma sneered and pointed at Happosai.
"Happosai! I, Ranma Saotome, challenge you for the title of Grandmaster of Anything-Goes Martial Arts!"
"Wait a sec, what? I thought you were going to get that stupid Locking Ladle back so I could get turned back into a guy!"
Shouted Ryoga-chan, Herb, Lime and even Happosai nodding in agreement. Ranma sighed in exasperation.
"As the new Grandmaster of Anything-Goes, all of the secret scrolls and other trinkets and treasures he's collected over the centuries will belong to me by default. Besides which, I'm sick of him besmirching the name of our school!"
"And supposing I refuse to accept your challenge, hmm? What will you do then Ranma?"
"What? Simply wait. I can always inherit them after you're dead after all."
"Hah! That's years away!"
"Try about ten minutes."
"What!"
"Why do you think I pulled off that 'loyal disciple' junk? I spiced every drop of alcohol and scrap of food you ate with enough poison to wipe out a small town. Can't you feel it burning inside you?"
"Pah! You're bluff- AAARHG!"
Happosai clutched his midriff and fell to the floor, writhing in torment. His skin began to turn all sorts of unpleasant colours as he screamed in pain. Not that this had any real effect on Ranma, who actually grinned at his enemy's distress.
"So what's it to be old freak? Accept my challenge, and I'll give you the antidote. Deny me, and perish. What's it to be?"
"All right, all right! I accept your terms, I ACCEPT- AAAH!"
"Fine."
Quick as a wink, Ranma lunged forward and grabbed Happosai, prying his mouth open and pouring a vial of syrupy sludge down his throat. Happosai choked, swallowed, made a gurgling, bubbling sound and collapsed onto the floor, his breathing easing and clearly no longer in pain.
"If you break your word, it will be then end for you as a sensei; no one will ever want to study under you again. I'll meet you at the vacant lot three days from now."
Ranma grabbed the unprotesting pervert by the back of the shirt as he said this, and then hurled him out through the window and out of sight. He then sat down, only to pause as he felt the eyes of the others upon him.
"What? I gave him the antidote, so why are you staring at me? I simply threw him outside because I didn't think you'd really want to have to clean up after a simultaneous bout of projectile vomiting and explosive diarrhoea."
Kasumi's smile actually turned a little glassy at that image, while the others simply shivered. Akane turned to Ranma and asked nervously.
"You can win, can't you Ranma?"
"Do severed heads roll? I'll whip that decrepit troglodyte so bad he'll be begging to give up the title of Grandmaster of Anything-Goes! Don't you worry about a thing."
Having said his piece, Ranma resumed eating, as did the others, although they all kept a cautious eye on him.
All right, next chapter sees Ranma versus Happosai in an Anything-Goes fight to the finish! I'm sorry I couldn't post it in this chapter, but I just ran out of space. I'm sorry this took so long, but I contracted a bad case of writers block, as the quality of this chapter should indicate. I just have a single question to ask: the next chapter is Ranma vs. Happosai, but I was thinking that, for the sole purposes of the chapter subsequent to that, I'd do a one shot crossover between this fic and Slayers. Basically, Ranma takes Ryoga on a training journey, but he makes a mistake with the teleportation spell and accidentally sends them both to the world of Slayers. Nonchalant about this accident, they decide to train there, only to have a run-in with a certain fiery-haired sorcery genius and her screwball friends. So, what do you think? Should I go with that idea, or not?
I thought about going with Hinako's appearance, but two fights one after the other just didn't sit right with me for some reason.