Chapter 2: Festival Mayhem (Part 3).

9:16 P.M.

Tanabata day, Ranma and company went to the evening festival, to partake in the festivities.

The evening was A-Ok, however, things were about to take a different turn.

A bunch of spirits got loose in the middle of the event, they used to be sealed in a village located in China, but went missing for a long time, mysteriously winding up in Japan.

And now they were set free somehow.

Cologne noticed something strange so she left the stand in care of Shampoo and Mousse while she went to investigate.

There she found Ranma after he had a brief encounter with one of those beings, beings that could materialize at will.

After sealing it back into the urn in which it was imprisoned, a lot of questions were hanging in the air.

In a more private area, Cologne explained what was going on and told Ranma what she knew about it.

The two decided to go after the three remaining spirits, going after each and every single one of them, they couldn't count on the others or those mischievous and astute being would become aware.

At the same time Akane and her friends were checking the rest of the games, when a curious stand caught their attention, a stand Akane she hasn't seen before and thought was out of place.

The stand was run by a strange man of white skin and appeared as if he had no face, was playing against a random man.

But the game soon turned out to be sinister of nature when the man lost his soul as a result of defeat.

Things went south when he technically held the audience 'hostage' in plain sight, those attempting to escape lost their souls as well.

He locked eyes with Akane and chose her as hid next opponent. Akane was incensed but fearful deep inside.

Physical threats didn't work on him, and for them to face each other a proposal was done.

The two would engage in a battle of wits, and Akane's soul was the ante. Should she win, the man whose soul was taken would be returned, but if Akane were to lose the three attempts then her soul would belong to him.

The Tendo girl was sure she could pull it off, solving the first puzzle. He did the same thing with her puzzle.

Sadly from that point things went sour for her, as she couldn't solve the next two puzzles in a row.

Dread was taking ahold of her, the next attempt was her last. She had doubts about herself, realizing that she might no longer have a chance to emerge victorious.

Just at the moment when everything seemed to be lost, Nabiki appeared to intervene, calling out the impossibility of the puzzle that Akane was given.

Intrigued by the middle Tendo, the potentially dangerous individual asked Nabiki to elaborate her reasoning under her claim, which Nabiki did, proving she was right, and confirmed it when she flipped the cards on the table.

At the same time, Ranma and elder Cologne were on the hunt of those spiritual entities, the old woman was concentrating as they searched because they were spread and she couldn't pinpoint their exact location.

She proposed to take Akane's place after asking if her sister was ok with it. Her younger sister agreed and let Nabiki take control of the situation, if someone could do it under pressure, it was her, the queen of ice.

9:20 P.M.

*swish*

"Man, we're lookin' and lookin' and nothin' yet" Ranma said "Nothin' strange on sight yet"

"Don't lower your guard though" the old woman opened her eyes after concentrating. She sensed something not far from where they were, at the north east area of the field.

"I feel something coming from there"

"From there? Well, let's go" Ranma went ahead.

*hop* *hop*

Following the elder's sixth sense, the two arrived to the spot where Cologne felt the anomaly.

There they found people watching two adult men with short hair wearing sand colored yukatas fighting between themselves.

The two men were punching and kicking, and not far from there a woman was watching everything unfold with worry etched on her face. She had short straight pink hair, she was wearing casual clothes, a olive green calf length skirt with line pattern, a white shirt with a light brown puffy long sleeved jacket, green eyes.

"Here?" Ranma asked "Well, seeing people duke it out bout' somethin' isn't ok I guess but what does it have to do with these eh…anoma, uh, anoma-something?"

"Anomalies? Yes…something's going on…" Cologne said sternly "I just feel it…these men are under spiritual influence…this crowd is in potential danger"

"But whatever behind all this has to be nearby"

"I-is that so?" so, whatever thing that caused them to fight was not far from there. then did that mean it was spectating their quarrel?

"Ranma, remember what I told you" she said "they are a devious bunch, they feed through our uncertainty, fear and anger"

"Well, what do we do? No one's doin' somethin'…"

The elder was analyzing the situation, the two men were fighting and from what she could hear, it was about a woman they met.

'A woman they met…'

Ranma raised an eyebrow, what did the old woman have in mind?

Cologne gazed at the woman watching the two men fight. There was something odd in her, maybe it was a hunch but she picked up a faint signal of energy in her or maybe around the woman.

*punch*

"Ugh…" one man fell down after being hit on the jaw.

"We have to do something!" they looked to be hurting each other real bad, their bruises were showing and they were even bleeding now. And no one was doing a thing to stop them, the people around them seemed afraid to even near the two men.

"W-We have to call the police" Cologne heard the voice of a woman. Another one voiced her agreement and probably went to get to a phone booth.

"Someone do something" Odd, she thought, she heard no words coming from any of them men there.

"Hey…" Ranma was trying to get her attention.

The old amazon warrior was piecing together what she had seen and heard, and with that, she realized what was going on and what was behind it all.

Now the matter was what to do. An idea dawned in her mind, so she pulled Ranma closer to her.

"H-hey" before he could protest the sudden closeness, she began to speak closely in his ear.

"Oh…" he mouthed with a puzzled expression as he heard the elder speak.

Hi expression went from puzzled to afraid, then to disgusted, unsure and finally determined.

"Ya sure that'll work?" to that question the amazon nodded affirmatively.

It was worth a try, those men were in peril an she doubted the police could do something in that situation, supposing she was correct about the being behind the squabble in display.

But if she was right, and it worked, then whatever entity behind it would appear more closely and she would only have to recite her spell to force it to show itself.

*smack*

"Ow" Ramma was suddenly bonked on the head by Cologne who jumped in the air to him with her wooden staff.

With a tiny tear below his eye he yelled at her. "What was that for!?"

"What do you think you were touching young man!?" she yelled at him in return, threatening to hit him again.

The pigtailed boy recoiled in shock, still wincing from the bonk on his head "W-why would I touch you from behind old hag?" he had a grimace of evident displeasure on his face just thinking about it.

"I never said I was touched from behind!" she retorted with a wicked smile "So you admit you touched me?"

"I-I…I…" a wide eyed Ranma stuttered, sweating and swallowing hard.

Their argument was catching the attention of the people, including the woman near those two men attacking each other. They also, for some reason they stopped fighting.

The woman near them noticed that and took a step forward, more worried than before.

Ranma was still arguing with Cologne, he was feigning innocence while she kept accusing him of improper touch.

'If I'm right, it will be bound to use its powers…and I'll be able to tell where it is'

"Just admit it!" she bonked him again on the head "You're interested in me, aren't you sonny?"

Fighting the urge to vomit and the feeling of unease he snapped at the elder. "I'm not interested in old women!"

"Oh, if you weren't" she replied to him with subtle amusement in her voice. "Then why did you touch me there!?"

"I told ya, I didn't touch you!"

"Oh really, if you're telling the truth-"

The woman as she stepped forward, her outstretched hand was beginning to glow, a subtle pink and cloudy glow, imperceptible to anyone's eyes.

"Then why don't you-"

The glow also covered the body of both men. They were starting to feel the weight of their injuries. The effect of the adrenaline was starting to wear off.

"Then why don't you-" time seemed to slow down briefly.

A faint smile appeared on the women's lips, her mouth opened a bit showing small pointy fangs.

"Then why don't you show yourself!?"

That woman's smile suddenly disappeared, leaving behind an expression of open-mouthed surprise.

Cologne recited her chant and a ripple wave emanated from her, expanding around.

The wave passed through everything, however when it passed through the woman with pink hair, something unusual happened.

An electric like wave ran the length of her body, starting to change her appearance. Her hair's color didn't change but it extended going past her shoulders, her skin color took a semi pinkish, lilac hue. Her clothes changed as well, her outfit now resembled a gold colored sleeveless dress with an inner cleavage, it flowed down opening at mid-thigh, the dress came down to a little below the knees.

And to emphasize her supernatural condition, a pair of wings sprouted over her shoulders, with a pair of horns over her forehead.

'There it is!" Cologne pointed at the now non human looking being.

The being's eyes widened and tried to hightail away from the other side.

"You won't get away!" Ranma gave it chase, Cologne went behind Ranma. The crowd was baffled, and for some reason the men snapped out of what seemed to be a spell, some of them going to assist the two hurt men laying on the ground.

Things were real wacky, and serious too.

"So what's that?" Ranma asked rushing ahead.

"*hop* That spirit is a manipulative one *hop* although it only works on men"

"It catches naïve, self centered and lonely men"

"I admit I felt a little strange back there…" Ranma said, the entire time after arriving he had a strange sensation, a subtle one. "It was a lil' hard sticking to our lil' act!"

"The magic of your curse *hop*" the amazon woman gave him an explanation "makes you less vulnerable *hop* to her influence in your *hop*male form, not immune *hop* but her spell would be less effective *hop* on you, compared to others"

"So if I were to turn into a girl?"

"Then you'd be immune against her"

The spiritual being, who visually looked similar to a succubus was trying to get away from her pursuers, using her spell to put any men she could find nearby, trying to put them as obstacles to impede their advance and ensuring her escape at the same time.

One of them tried to catch Ranma with his hands, but he managed to dodge his grip and propel himself across the other's shoulders to launch himself into the air, and from there he dodged whoever in his way.

Their target ahead looked over her shoulder and to her chagrin, Ranma was not slowing down. She growled, making use of her wings to go faster, not caring for the onlookers, she was not far from leaving the field, the north plaza was close and there was not much people there. She could lay low in there and secure the escape.

She looked over her shoulder again and to her surprise, Ranma disappeared from her field of vision, not even the old woman following him was in sight as well. Did she lose them? Even so, she did not slow down, better safe than sorry she recalled that human saying.

She left the field and escaped to the bushes and the trees at the north plaza, below the lake.

"You aren't going to catch me!" when the lilac skinned beauty was sure no one was tailing her, just then she stopped to unwind, when materialized she was nor immune to exhaustion. She and the others were a peculiar bunch of spiritual beings.

Several minutes have happened, the place was quiet.

However, something was odd, although there was no one around she felt male presence not far from there, feeling attraction to it she went after its trail to where it originated.

Reaching the lake side, ahead of her she found a man who was facing the lake, he was alone in there so he looked like a perfect target to obtain what she wanted, his attention, energy and essence.

She walked along two trees at the side with bushes around their base. But when she was half way past the trees, the bushes began to rattle on her left and something jumped out of them.

Ranma came out of the bushes and with fist ready, his clothes were different because he was wearing a regular white gi, the pigtailed boy went close and personal with the materialized female spirit with horns, attempting to strike.

She managed to evade the incoming attack, but that was a ruse, because she saw someone intercepting her from behind.

How? She didn't sense them. They caught her by surprise.

Cologne rushed forward with a small piece of paper, the same she used on the entity they subdued earlier. The elder slapped the piece of paper on the succubus like thing, causing it to recoil in pain

A light engulfed her entire body, morphing it into an orb of light, which went straight into the stone urn.

"*huff* We got her!" Ranma saw at the stone urn standing in front of them. "Dang, that was *huff* somethin'…"

He went ahead, walking to where the man who was still standing in the same spot and still facing the lake.

With a little push, the man turned out to be a cardboard cutout placed there.

"Crazy plan huh?"

Minutes earlier, Ranma was pursuing his target when at one moment when she wasn't looking he took a sharp turn to his left and disappeared from sight, jumping above the stands and getting out of the field via jumping over the fence.

There, Cologne caught up with him and told him about the plan. But she gave him a spare change of clothes and a paper charm that made them imperceptible to their enemy. And she was no longer difficult to track down.

Ranma changed his clothes because it was more comfortable than running around with a yukata.

And finally, the distraction, Cologne put that cardboard cutout out in the open, but for it to be effective, it had to be permeated with male energy.

Having finished with their second enemy, Ranma and Cologne went back to the festival grounds. There were two left and one of them was at the left area.

And that was where Akane and Nabiki were.

Nabiki and her opponent had decided to engage in a chess match, the strategy game in in which the objective consisted in cornering the opponent's king piece so it had no route of escape.

The game was in course, to say everyone was invested in watching it was an understatement because there was so much in stake.

Nabiki was betting her soul, but it didn't seem to faze her in the slightest. Rather, the middle Tendo was determined to win. She issued a bet, a curiously worded bet.

He had to best her if he wanted her soul but she had to avoid defeat and he had to return all souls he took.

And it was impressive considering how the game was going. She was in a pinch. The queen of ice was playing with the white pieces, her opponent was playing with the black pieces. She had three pieces short compared to him, 7 vs 10 with most of her pieces put in the lower mid and lower right areas.

He on the other hand, covered an extended part of the chessboard in a diagonal cut section, in the upper, mid-mid left and lower left areas.

Nabiki took her queen piece and moved it to the upper left area next to a black pawn. He overtook her last bishop with a pawn in the fourth row.

They moved pieces back and forth as they reached the 30th movement. Nabiki was left with 4 pieces, while he still had four pieces more than her.

31th movement, it was Nabiki's turn. And she was still calm, which genuinely started to puzzle the faceless individual, even beginning to vex him. She moved her queen a square below to the sixth row. Her queen was surrounded by enemy pieces but in a spot out of their reach.

"Hehe, the game is slowly reaching its conclusion" he said with overconfidence. "Don't feel bad though, it was a valiant effort, coming in your sisters' aid"

Nabiki said nothing in response, opting to see her opponent do his next move. He moved his queen piece to the far upper right corner from the nearby square.

32th move. Nabiki moved her rook piece and moved it from three squares left from the lower left side upwards to the top in a straight line. He overtook her last pawn piece with the queen, leaving Nabiki with three pieces: rook, queen and king.

But Nabiki Tendo wasn't willing to lose or resign. She placed her king at the far lower right corner, forcing her opponent to move his queen piece to pursue the king piece for two turns.

She forced he to retire his queen by toppling his last rook with her own, not far from his king but it was guarded by two pawns nearby. Her rook was eliminated by his queen. With only two pieces she made efforts to move the queen close to the king.

The strange guy pushed his pawns down the mid left part one by one, and Nabiki inched the king closer and closer to the queen, like a couple in a dire situation.

41th move, three pawns in one side (and 4 more away) and a royal pain in the other (king and queen) at the lower section of the chessboard. The queen of ice moved her queen piece next to two pawns in the left side, but leaving one two squares above and one left to the king.

"Tsk tsk, little by little my victory is closer and closer" Nabiki's opponent was sure of himself. But what he didn't know is that Nabiki had a strategy of her own. Something that was cooking in low heat through the course of the game, and the pieces were falling in place, each and every single one she had done has been calculated.

The man with the white skin pushed his queen forward, behind the pawn, Nabiki's king was now below the pawn.

Smirking to himself, he thought that he almost had her. Nabiki has remained calm since the start of the game.

'Tch'

What he didn't take in account is that Nabiki moved the king one square below. That changed things, because with that he moved the queen to the side, placing both queens (his and hers) side to side.

In an unexpected gesture, Nabiki chuckled, with a hand over her mouth.

The guy sitting across her seat didn't understand why she was now chuckling but he then realized when he looked again at the chessboard.

Nabiki's queen had a open path towards his king but since his king was guarded with two pawns. Sure, he could topple her queen with his king, but after that the game would come to an impasse.

In other words, she couldn't lose and he couldn't win, so their game ended in a stalemate.

He found that impossible, and even without a face his showing shock was evident. This changed things because this was like a third answer in a question that originally had two answers.

Was it planned all along? Did she force him to reach that outcome without he realizing?.

No way, he thought, he was way smarter, in his previous life he boasted high intellect and although he ended becoming what he became, he considered himself above the rest.

He was so sure of himself, that his result came as a real surprise. He couldn't best her, did he have to return those souls he took? Those were her words, but he didn't want to, those were his and his alone.

"Going to run?"

He snapped out of his thoughts, and found Nabiki with her hands on the table, leaning in his direction with a look of superiority in front of him.

That left him stunned in his seat, stunned to the point he didn't notice the strap of paper flying like an arrow going in his direction, and it stuck in his back.

With widened eyes he gasped, his body morphed into an orb of light, which flew up above in the air, where Ranma was, falling down with the stone urn in his arms.

From the urn the souls this spirit has stolen returned to their respective bodies, with each and every one of them regaining consciousness including the man whose soul was taken first. His on was really relieved and overjoyed to see his father open his eyes again.

And the others were relieved and happy their lives were out of danger.

He landed soundly near the table.

Nabiki stood upright again and chuckled. "I don't know what you did Ranma but I'm glad you did it"

"Hehe, I bet you twisted him up real good with your smarts!" Somehow he had the feeling Nabiki did her best against it.

"Sis!" Akane was visibly relieved nothing bad happened to them or the others around. Her friends were behind.

"It's a long story" Ranma said. Cologne came to the scene as well, the problem there was solved and whatever thing causing it was sealed in the urn. "But we're not safe yet"

"That's right, we've been on their hunt…with this one it makes three out of four"

"You mean there is one still roaming on this place?" Nabiki asked, to which Cologne answered with a nod.

"We're gonna catch it!"

Akane didn't know what was going on but if there was something she could do then she would do it. She chimed in asking to be allowed to help.

Sure, why not?. Ranma was ok with it, Cologne saw no problems with that either, without conflicting spiritual essences in the air, it was easier for her to search. There was one of then left but its presence was more notorious than the rest combined now making her think that it was all over the place.

Therefore they had to split, Akane went with her sister and Ranma stayed with Cologne again, the two duos went in their respective directions.

Hopefully they could avoid more chaos unfolding.

Along the way they both noticed that there was less people than before, something that surprised and worried some of the stallholders, they also noticed how some people looked in their direction and began to murmur among themselves or with someone nearby. Figures, Ranma thought ignoring their glances, after all they were seen not long ago.

Not far from there, some of the stand owners began to notice how it was starting to get a little warmer around there.

"*huff* What's going on? I feel like it got hot suddenly" one stand owner said, trying to cool himself down with a fan.

He wasn't the only, the people passing around there and the ones in the nearby booths were feeling it too.

The temperature was raising in an unknown radius.

Ranma and Cologne were looking around for any indication of a phenomenon or oddity of spiritual nature. Cologne felt they were getting closer, the spiritual energy irradiating was more notorious.

'Say…don't you feel it's getting hot?" Ranma commented on how he was feeling warmer suddenly.

'I feel it too, it's not normal…stay alert" Cologne advised Ranma to be cautious, it appeared as if they were not far from what they were looking for.

"What?" the pigtailed looked around again "You mean…it's close by?"

"But where? I can't see it" people passed around him and beyond that he did not notice anything else that could be extracorporeal.

A subtle smile appeared on the lips of the old woman. "Don't you know by now, that I have my ways?"

She closed her eyes and just like earlier she chanted something in low voice. The same incantation she used on the female spirit.

An invisible ripple coursed through the air, originating around Cologne and expanding around.

The ripple clashed with something ahead of the two, which made it react like a short lived lightning interacting with a cloud of different hues of pink, purple and white.

Something materialized in the air, it looked like an animal with bluish skin, short feline like legs, black eyes, two upright tails, the same with its ears on its head and a small tuft of fur above its eyes.

It landed on the ground, to the gaze of all around.

"There it is!"

Feeling exposed and watched, the creature bolted away from the people.

"We gotta catch it!" Ranma went straight ahead, in pursuit of the strange animal like being. Cologne followed behind.

The people stopped in their tracks seeing an unknown being run.

Ranma and Cologne were on its pursuit, they saw it run among the people who was weirded of what was going on.

The being kept running away, made a jump in the air, turning around to face its pursuers meters away and opened its mouth showing small fangs.

In the middle of its mouth a pulsating orb of light formed.

"Watch out, it's going to attack!" Cologne warned, for both Ranma and the people who was there.

The animalistic entity shot a beam of energy out of its mouth, aimed at Ranma. The pigtailed boy avoided it and the energy shot went past him. He sharply turned around to see Cologne push a man out of the way. The beam crashed down on the ground, causing a small tremor and a hole on the ground.

The multitude shrieked in panic and started to move away.

Ranma turned his attention back on the weird animal who was landing away on the ground. He gritted his teeth and went after it.

The being kept running, it opened its mouth and spewed a cold polar breeze taking people by surprise. It did it again but spewing fire on the other side of the lane, some of the streamers caught on fire.

"Crap, it's causing damage!" Ranma pushed himself to go faster. He and Cologne passed by the damages that creature was causing, and people was fleeing. There were people trying to put the fire spikes and other with frost covering part of them.

Meanwhile, at the food stalls area.

Shampoo and Mousse were still attending in their post, but something was not right, there were less people around there compared to how it was like half an hour before. The same thing near Ukyo's stand.

"What's taking your great grand-mother so long Shampoo?" Mousse asked.

"I don't know" she answered, leaning against the counter. "But it weird that less people is around here"

Ukyo noticed it too, that was when she heard the shrieks and the commotion not far from them. All three saw people trying to get away.

"What's going on?" Ukyo asked with sudden concern.

"Why people running?" Shampoo asked as well.

Mousse stood silent watching with a serious expression behind those round glasses.

Returning to the action, the pigtailed boy and the small elder were still in pursuit of their target, following the trail of damage that this strange being left behind in its attempt to flee.

Dodging the occasional attack, he was still on its heels, trying to close the distance to catch him and prevent him from continuing to wreak havoc.

The small but strong creature took a left, going in a northerly direction, looking for a way to lose sight of its pursuers, heading towards the north plaza and eventually the lake behind it.

There was no longer people in sight, the stands were left empty due to the commotion and damage caused by the growing fire. Who knew what it would cause if it managed to escape via the lake. If they lost it there would be hardly another chance.

Feeling the obligation to capture it as soon as possible, Ranma Saotome urged himself to go faster, progressively closing the distance between him and at the same time the strange being just became aware of the growing closeness.

When he thought he had it in his grasp he rushed towards it to grab it with his hands, however it let out a high-pitched screech and briefly became invisible, and reappeared a couple of meters ahead.

The boy with the ponytail rolled on the ground due to the haste with which he was running, scratching himself a little, barely managing to pull himself together and see his little enemy a little further away from his reach.

He shook his head, feeling just a bit wobbly before resuming to the chase. His ally managed to catch up with him, asking him if he was all right so that the two of them could move on, they didn't have long to go before they reached the lake side.

As they continued at a fast pace, he told her that the thing disappeared when he tried to grab it and reappeared far away from him, she deduced that the creature could teleport at short distances, making its capture somewhat difficult.

To catch him you had to be one step ahead of him and intercept him or act before he transported from point to point.

And for that it was important to not lose sight of it.

That creature jumped over the fence, Ranma and Cologne followed suit jumping over the metal fence just a little further from the open entrance.

In another part of the field, Akane and Nabiki were doing their own search.

They haven't found anything strange yet but an influx of people from behind told them the problems weren't far. They caught sight of the embers of fire in the air.

"Ranma!" with growing concern, the young blue-haired girl ran in the opposite direction of the people fleeing the site.

Her sister ran behind her, not as fast as the martial artist practitioner.

At the north plaza, there was no one around just like the previous times they were in there. Up in the air the image was different from what it was a couple of hours ago.

Instead of being a sea of lights, it was starting to become a sea of fire, the fire, the smoke and the sparks of fire were raiding in the air, yellow, orange and red tones peeking out of there.

You could only hear the crunching of the grass in the square from the running of the only three around there. Ranma tried again catching his target, only for it to disappear and reappear out of his reach.

"I can't catch it, it does that dang trick!" Ranma quickly got up from the grass, with his gi somewhat dirty.

"We'll have to anticipate its movements" that was the new plan Cologne came up with. "If it goes one step ahead, we'll go two steps ahead of it"

He knew that was easier said than done, but that thing could escape if they didn't seal it fast.

The pigtailed teen picked a stone from the grass and hurled it in direction of his fleeing target. Sensing the projectile going its direction, it disappeared and reappeared on its side. The rock went to crash against a tree trunk.

It landed on the grass, watching Ranma. He took the chance to shorten the distance. The lakeside was just ahead, but the creature with feline features circled around not taking away its sight on Ranma.

With a sharp cry, Ramma saw it lunge forward in his direction. It stopped fleeing and started attacking. That was his chance to make time and read its movements. It was fast so it had to be immobilized for Cologne to seal it.

The martial artist dodged the tackle and with his hand he attempted to snag it by its foot, but he wasn't quick enough before it disappeared, reappearing at his right, opening its mouth and charging its beam attack.

Ranma reacted, shielding his torso and face, to resist the brunt of the attack. The beam of light hit right on his arms, part of it leaking out his sides, disappearing into the distance.

The hit did sting. "Ow ow ow!" Ranma was flailing his arms around. But this enemy wasn't letting him any space, going for another strike, this time from up close. Firing the attack from s short distance, the teen had no way to shield himself.

But at that moment Cologne jumped in the way, a shield was surrounding her body. The enemy's beam of light crashed against the protective shield, deflecting it away.

The elder gazed back at Ranma but he nodded, letting her know he was ok. He jumped up in the air, taking another approach.

9:59:59.

10:00 P.M.

Akane was running across the almost empty field, among the empty stands, there was still people getting away, but she was going in the opposite direction, she was going to where she thought Ranma would be.

The fire was closing several of the steps, the site was getting hot.

She was in the middle of the field, there was still path ahead, but a line of streamers fell down closing the only path left ahead.

Akane stopped abruptly. "No!" she had to keep moving but the air fueled the fire creating a wall of flames forbidding the Tendo girl from going ahead.

From behind Nabiki managed to catch up with her, and they were also joined by Ukyo, Shampoo and Mousse.

"Wh-what are you guys doing here?" Akane asked, surprised to see them there.

"There was people still trapped around here" Ukyo said "We've been getting them out"

"Fire too strong, wind feeding it" Shampoo looked at the blazes in front of the group "wonder how great grand-mother is doing"

"Where's Saotome?" the almost blind boy asked Akane.

"I was trying to get where he is, but this blasted fire is closing all paths"

"Akane, we have to get outta here" Nabiki told her sister. The fire was spreading, sirens could be heard away in the distance. Firefighters were on their way to control the flames.

"But sis, I-" the younger Tendo wanted to protest but her older sister put her hand on her shoulder. Both sisters saw each others' faces and Akane saw a stern expression on her older sister's eyes. Realizing she was right, and although she was reluctant, Akane had to get out of there, the place was burning and she was sweating just like the others.

"Let's get out of here, Shampoo doesn't want to end like steamed bun'

The small group turned around and left, there was little or nothing they could do, and if they stayed there they would run more risk. The youngest Tendo looked back one last time before being led away from the fire.

Even though she couldn't go to where he was, her thoughts went out to him, hoping he would come out of this safely.

Ranma was leaning against a tree trunk, not far from it there were smoke trails on the grass, blacked grass patches and frozen pieces of grass, were the signs of the battle. And on top of that it kept moving away of his reach every time he had it in arms' reach.

His garments were a bit burned, especially on the hindquarters (insert image of him jumping up and down and screaming when a fireball caught him off guard down there), they were also stained with dirt and had a thin layer of ice dust on his shoulders and hair. He held something behind his back.

Cologne was faring a little better but the old woman was starting to pant with exhaustion, they've been on the hunt of those spiritual varmints for like one hour and half, the combined effort was taking its toll on both.

She was behind a tree as well, across his position. Their enemy was out in the open, vigilante and looking around the clearing.

They had to do something, so they exchanged glances, and he furtively pointed his eyes towards the clearing where his enemy was. She looked at him seriously and for a brief moment, as if in synchrony, he understood what she intended.

So he came out of his hiding spot, his animalistic adversary spotted him right away and launched another fiery blast in his direction. He was ready this time, making use of what he was hiding behind his back: a leafy branch full of leaves that he used as a shield and a battering ram to launch himself at the small but strong opponent.

The fireball hit the rudimentary wooden-leafy shield, burning it head-on. Ranma used that moment to throw the burning makeshift shield to the fire spewing creature, which it evaded by moving to a nearby spot in the blink of an eye.

That was when Cologne entered in action

*smack*

From somewhere not far from there something was thrown with force. It moved fast, fast enough to become a blur.

And it was aimed at what Ranma was battling with. Sensing something quickly approaching it once again disappeared (almost not making it by mere millimeters). The very fast projectile sailed past its target.

Ranma knew it was his chance, he has been battling it enough and he now had a faint idea of where it could reappear to. Time appeared to slow down. Something crashed with a nearby tree, bending itself around its form, deforming what used to be cardboard cutout.

The martial artist had a hunch of where it would reappear, four steps to the right and at shoulders' height.

And like he thought, that thing did reappear where he thought it would. Wasting no further time, he threw himself as a living projectile towards his target.

The bluish varmint noticed Ranma who was in collision course with it, but this time it couldn't do its disappearing/reappearing act so it was vulnerable against Ranma's incoming attack.

Like a boulder, Ranma manages to tackle the creature with his shoulder, hurling it away towards a tree. It crashed soundly against it, making it bounce back in the air, the force of the collision managed to stun it.

"Now!" the pigtailed boy shouted.

Cologne threw another one of those magic imbued pieces of paper at the airborne materialized spirit.

It slapped itself on its belly, soon dematerializing it into an orb of light which was transferred back into the stone urn.

"Uh oh-"

*crunch*

Ranma was distracted or more like focused on the objective that he did not notice that he was already close to the ground. And so he face planted hard on the grass and thanks to his driven thrust his face slid on the grass for a lineal meter.

Cologne winced, seeing him sprawled with his face on the dirt.

10:25 P.M.

Firefighters arrived, accompanied by ambulances to take the injured. What had started as a festival to commemorate a special day ended in an odyssey and a disaster, which fortunately left no casualties.

Akane and the others were standing out of the site, near the street where many, many others were as well, injured people were being treated and rescue services were making sure no one was left behind. Inside the firefighters were putting off the fire with both water and foam in the areas of electrical risk.

Away from the site, but on the side of the plaza, the fire was slowly being extinguished, and the cloud of smoke was less prominent in the sky, the fiery hues of the fire fading with the passing of time and the work of the firefighters.

And just like hours ago, Ranma and Cologne were near the lake. Both were tired but relieved they pulled it off, taking in account it was the first time they teamed up just like that, in a somewhat impromptu manner.

To make sure these spirits didn't escape again, they buried the stone urn somewhere it would be hard to locate, and it was their secret.

"Man, what a night…" Ranma threw himself on the grass, feeling the sudden breeze coming from the lake side caressing his skin.

Elder Cologne was perched on her staff, looking forward at the lake.

Maybe the festival didn't go as planned but they avoided a great calamity.

They could go meet the others once the fire has been extinguished.

Once the fire was put off, they met the others at the entrance. Akane was relieved to see Ranma all right, although she wondered how come he had different clothes. Kasumi was there, and something curious to note, she was in the festival although no one has seen her around.

And just at that moment, when everything already happened, their fathers came, both had been drinking a lot since they arrived, it was evident in their faces so they were kinda out of it.

"A shame it had to end like that" Akane said.

"But hey, soon we'll have summer break"

"True, but before that there are the final tests before that comes"

"*groan* Did you really have to mention that?"

Their parents were drunk, it turns out the two did go somewhere else.

The firefighters extinguished the fire in the end, it burned the center of the baseball field, part of the nearby areas as well.

The sounds of the sirens were still heard, as some of the ambulances drove away with injured people. There was people talking about the bizarre events in there.

There was nothing else to do, the festival came to an unexpected end.

And with nothing else, there was no reason to stick around.

Each one of them went back home, Ranma and Akane taking their drunk fathers back home.

The pigtailed boy was feeling so exhausted that he would just drop on the futon. Although tomorrow he would feel real sore because of all the hits he took.

Just like they came in, they left. Walking as a group down the street.

What a night.

Some time later.

23:59:59

Midnight.

The night was quiet, there was not a soul around there, the wind was blowing, rustling the leaves of the trees and the bushes as well.

In the quiet of the night, something unusual would happen again.

Behind a tree, close to the lake, there were barely perceptible signs that some of the soil had been removed and placed back there, as if something had been buried there, having just a small elevation there.

*rustle* *rustle*

Part of the soil begun to move away.

And from there a tiny ray of light emerged.

End of Chapter 2, part 3.

Author's notes: Greetings everyone, Ranko here with the author's notes, let's go.

First, well, what a chapter to write. The first idea for it was different, but it still kept the festival premise.

Second, first time I do a three parts chapter, maybe I could do it again next time. Chapter 2 is over.

Third, Chapter 4 is ready, but I'll put the upload in hold for now while I start writing Chapter 5. Could use that time to read it again and fix mistakes.

And that's all. I'm glad ya'll reached this point and I hope you stay with me. I intend to see this story run its course till its conclusion. Meanwhile, drop a review and thanks for reading, following and liking my story.

Without further ado, I hope you have a great time and stay safe!

Ranko out.