Ranma's Halloween Campfire Story
Sunset: Hey guys! So, the authors said that they wanted to get in a little sneak peek of season 2, and they thought this little scary story that Ranma tells us at Camp Everfree would be a good Halloween sneak peek. So sit back, relax, and get ready to be... TERRIFIED! MUWA HA HA HA HAAA! But first a musical intro in homage to one of our author's favorite cartoons. Pinkie, if you wll please:
Pinkie (Clears her throat and cracks her knuckles before playing the piano):
*The camera zooms in on Pinkie Pie playing several notes followed by one final press of a key. And then as soon as she starts singing, we cut to…*
🎶Lead through the mist🎶
*a shot of Fluttershy congregating with animals*
🎶by the milk light of moon🎶
*then a shot of Twilight carrying a bag of books home, then we cut to…*
🎶all that was lost is revealed🎶
*a shot of Sunset finding a treasure chest in one of her video games and then scene of Luna enjoying an opera as a few music notes play. Then we cut to…*
🎶our long by gone burdens🎶
*a scene of Rainbow Dash doing her yoga. Then we cut too…*
🎶mere echoes of the string🎶
*a shot of Rarity cutting the string after sewing a stitch into a patch onto a jacket. Then we cut to…*
🎶but where have we come🎶
*a shot of Applejack raking leaves. Then we cut to…*
🎶and where shall we end🎶
*a shot of Ranma training with Master Asia. Then we finally cut to…*
🎶if dreams can't come true, then why not pretend?🎶
*a shot of Principal Celestia working on some papers and then looks out the window with a sad look as she stares out the window into the distance and we cut to a frame of the whole town of Canterlot in autumn and then the title appears and pinkie resumes her song*
🎶oh how the gentle wind beckons through the leaves, as autumn colors fall🎶
*and as she plays the remaining notes Pinkie starts speaking*
"you know, somewhere lost in the clouded annals of history lies a place home to many magical occurrences. A mysterious place in Kansas called Canterlot, where long forgotten stories are revealed to those who travel… through the wood"
It was night time at Camp Everfree, all the campers were gathered around a fire as they took turns telling scary stories. At the moment, Rarity was telling her own...tail and it...well...left much to be desired.
"And that's when, she realized she was wearing...LAST YEAR'S REJECTS! AAAWWWW!"
She screamed, only to realize that no one else was. She looked around and saw that many of the campers were either dozing off to sleep or were trying to get a cell phone signal. She put her hands on her hips and huffed.
"Hmph! Well I never!" She said. Sunset, who was fighting to stay awake, stretched out as she looked towards her fashion forward friend.
"Rarity, let's face it..."
"You SUCK at telling scary stories." Ranma butted in as he was laying on a log with a book over his face. Twilight looked at Ranma and was surprised to see what book was on his face.
"Camp rules and regulations?" She asked.
"I just needed something for the effect, ok?" He said as he took the book off of his face and sat up to stretch. He looked to his left and saw that Pinkie, Spike and Tsukiro were snoring soundly.
"Pinkie? Spike? Tsuki? Wake up guys." He said as he nudged them awake. Pinkie and the two canines stretched as they started to wake up.
"Uuuggghhh, I thought the next season didn't start till next year?" Pinkie said as she stretched her muscles. Spike and Tsukiro yawned as they shook the sleepiness out of their systems.
"Ugh...Is Rarity done with her lame story yet?" Spike asked, only to come face to face with a very angry looking Rarity.
"Yipe!" He exclaimed in shock. "Um, what I meant to say was, did I miss Rarity's...ok I've got nothing."
"Hmph! Well I NEVER!" Rarity said as she walked back to her original seat.
"Rarity, let's be honest," Rainbow Dash started to say. "Even Fluttershy could tell a scarier story than that." Upon hearing those words, Ranma, Sunset and Twilight looked around for the aforementioned pink-haired girl.
"Hey, where is Fluttershy anyway?" Ranma asked. Applejack pointed behind them.
"Doing her usual Disney Princess thing and playing with the local wild life."
The three looked behind them and sure enough, there was Fluttershy, giggling and playing with a few animals. She looked up and saw the others looking at her and just waved at them with a smile.
"Hello." She said. Ranma and the others just grinned at their friend and lover and just shook their heads.
"Fluttershy, are you sure Walt Disney himself didn't draw you and bring you to life somehow?" Ranma asked with a chuckle.
"I'm sure Ranma." Said the busty pinkette, but then she took up a contemplating look. "At least that's what my parents tell me."
"Oh COME ON!" Rainbow Dash moaned. "This is supposed to be for telling SCARY stories, and so far no one's been scared a bit!"
"Dashy's right." Applejack said. "Doesn't anybody have a good story to tell? At this point, it don't have to be a scary story. Just SOMETHING other than Rarity's fashion mumbo jumbo."
"HEY!" Rarity said in a huff. Suddenly, Flash got an idea and turned to Ranma.
"Say Ranma! Why don't you tell us a story?" He asked. Ranma looked at his blue haired best frined.
"Me?" He asked. Flah nodded.
"Sure! I mean, you've traveled around most of the world. You've got to have some stories to tell."
"Yeah! Come on Ranma! Tell us about some of the places you and Master Asia have been to!" Sunset said, her eyes suddenly alight with interest.
"YEAH! Come on sensei! Tell us something awesome!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed. Ranma took a moment to think.
"Come on Ranma-kun! Maybe something scary! Like if you and Master Asia fought some kind of monster of something!" Pinkie cried out. Ranma's eyes shot open as he snapped his fingers.
"I've got it! How about I tell you guys about the time me and Master Asia faced off against a Jiangshi!?" He said with enthusiasm. His enthusiasm started to fade when he saw the confused looks on the other campers faces.
"A what?" Flash asked. Twilight cleared her throat.
"Jiangshi. Chinese for 'Hoping Corpse', or in layman's terms: a Chinese Vampire." She explained, causing everyone to gasp.
"Wait wait! Hold on! Ranma, you're telling me that you and Master Asia met an actual VAMPIRE!?" Sunset asked. Ranma nodded.
"Yep. Met him. Fought him. Heck, I almost got bitten by that creep too."
"Was he handsome? Dashing? Ripped and had an aura of appeal about him?" Rarity asked as she imagined Edward from "Twilight".
Ranma sighed in disgust. "No Rarity", he said all annoyed. "He was pale as a corpse, skin drawn in, bulgy eyed, claws for finger nails, and fangs as long as my pinkie fingers."
He explained as Rarity's, and a few other girls, fantasy images were suddenly turned into the gruesome image of the monster that Ranma had just described. Sunset shook her head and leaned in close to whisper to Ranma.
"I think you just ruined vampires for them." She said with a smirk.
"Good. Cause believe me, that guy was a real monster! Heck, he turned a whole village into vampires that attacked me and Master Asia as we tried to kill him." Ranma said. He felt a shaking behind him and turned to see Fluttershy shaking like a leaf while grasping Tsukiro.
"Um, maybe that story's a little TOO scary?" She tried to say, only to get cut off be Pinkie and Rainbow.
"No way! I wanna hear!" Pinkie exclaimed.
"Yeah! Come on sensei-kun, tell us!" Rainbow Dash said, begging her boyfriend and mentor.
"Come on Ranma, you heard them, we want to hear this story. Right guys?" Sunset said. Sure enough, almost all of the gathered campers started to agree with her. Ranma smiled slightly and shook his head.
"Oh come on guys, you don't want to hear this, do ya?" He asked half heartedly. He wasn't surprised when the campers started chanting 'Story, story, story'. Ranma smiled and stood up, patting his hands in the air.
"Alright, alright, ya talked me into it." He said. Ranma stretched out as he collected his thoughts on the memory of that fateful encounter.
"Wait a minute!" Pinkie called out. "Come sit over here Ranma-kun." She said, motioning towards a vacant spot closer to the fire. Ranma looked puzzled.
"Why?" He asked.
"The best place by the fire is ALWAYS reserved for the storyteller, silly. Everyone knows that." She said with a smile. Ranma returned her smile and walked over to the vacant seat as Fluttershy cuddled close to Tsukiro and the others all gathered around the pigtailed martial artist.
"Okay. Well, it all started about two years ago. Back when I had first met Master Asia. It was about 3 weeks since I left my pop..."
*Flashback*
Ranma was in female form (Pinkie: RANKO-CHAN! Ranma: Pinkie! Don't interrupt my story! Pinkie: Sorry.) training on top of some wooden poles while balancing water buckets on her head and arms.
"Good form Ranma." Master Asia said from a distance. "But bend your knees more. And straighten your back."
"Hai...shishou..." She said, struggling to do as she was told. After another minute, Master Asia decided that Ranma had had enough.
"Alright. You can stop now."
No sooner as he said that, Ranma dropped the buckets of water and flipped down to the ground before plopping down in exhaustion. Ranma breathed heavily as she tried to sooth her aching muscles. She loved training with Master Asia, but these conditioning exercises were REALLY taking their toll on BOTH her male and female forms.
"Mas...ster...*huh, huh*….no more...I'm...wiped..." She said in between breathes. Master Asia smiled and chuckled, it had been far too long since he'd seen someone put up with his training and STILL wanted to stay at his side. But as much fun as it was to push his young charge to his/her limits, he wasn't heartless, and decided that Ranma had earned a rest. Especially since they were so close to the next town.
"Ok Ranma. Rest for a few hours. We'll be in town by tomorrow anyway." He said as he walked over to the kettle that was sitting on the fire.
"Can I please...PLEASE turn back to normal now!? You've had me train as a girl since this morning." She wined. Asia sighed.
"Fine, that's what half of this water is for anyway." He said as he poured a cup of hot water and set it aside for his young charge and went back to preparing some tea for them.
Ranma crawled over to the cup and splashed herself with the hot liquid, sighing in relief as he felt himself change back to his original male form. He struggled to get back to his feet and walked over to sit by his master, his legs screaming in pain from all the training he had been doing since 8 in the morning.
"Master, I get that you want to toughen me up, but do you HAVE to make it feel like torture!?" Ranma asked, although, to those listening to the story, his voice sounded...different. [Think his original English voice actor]
(Sunset: Wait! Hold on, ha haaa! What's up with your voice!? Pinkie: Yeah! Ha ha haaa! You sound like a female voice actress that's trying too hard to sound like a boy! Ha haaaa! Ranma: HEY! Cut me some slack! My voice hadn't gone through puberty yet!)
"Sorry Ranma, but I'm only trying to get you ready for the training I have in store for you down the road. Trust me, you'll thank me later on down the road. Now here, drink up, it'll help replenish your strength." He said, handing the young boy a cup of tea.
Ranma took it and took a few sips. He sighed in relief and satisfaction as he relaxed by the fire. He sat up and smiled as he and his master sipped their tea.
"Say master," Ranma started to ask. "Where exactly are we going anyway? You've been awfully quite about it."
Master Asia took another swallow of his tea and sighed.
"Well, Ranma," He began. "We're actually going to a Buddhist temple were a friend of mine stays. He reached out to me asking for a favor."
This caught Ranma's interest. Why was a Buddhist monk asking for Master Asia? He figured that it was something import, otherwise they wouldn't have been moving through the country so fast.
"Why? What does he need? Someone to teach his monks or something?" He asked. Master Asia chuckled and shook his head.
"No. I'll explain it to you once we get there. For now, let's finish our tea so we can get back on the road."
And with that, the two martial artists finished their tea in silence and started back on the road. Although, in Ranma's case, he was almost limping along after his master, his muscles still aching from the conditioning exercises that his master put him through. After a few hours of traveling, they set up camp to rest for the night.
The next morning, Ranma was happy to see that they FINALLY made it to the town Master Asia mentioned before. As they walked through the small village, Ranma was surprised to see how everyone seemed to treat Master Asia as they saw him. They all smiled and bowed to him like he was some kind of hero.
After having some breakfast at a small little restaurant, Ranma was curious about the royal treatment his master seemed to be getting. As they headed off for the temple that they were destined for, Ranma finally got the chance to ask his master about it.
"Say master? Why did those people act like you were some big shot hero or something?" He asked. Master Asia had a slight blush on his face as he smiled at Ranma's question.
"Well son, you see, a few decades ago, I helped these people deal with some pretty dangerous bandits as well as some rouge demons that had tried to cause mischief for the towns people."
Ranma couldn't help but whistle. No wonder they treated this man like a hero. He WAS one. And in Ranma's eyes, he still was one. It wasn't long before they came upon the temple that Master Asia's friend called home. As they walked up to the temple, they were once again greeted with shows of praise aimed towards the older martial artist.
Ranma couldn't help but smile. Such shows of genuine kindness were a welcome change form how he had lived up till now with his bonehead of a father. Ranma then heard someone call to Master Asia in Chinese and looked to see an elderly monk run up to the older martial artist. They bowed and embraced each other as they laughed and chatted in Chinese.
"Ranma." Master Asia called out. "This is my old friend, Lam Ching-Kau. He's a priest specializing in Taoist magic."
"MAGIC!?" Ranma cried out in shock, only for his master to deflate his hopes.
"Sorry son, but his magic is specifically for exorcisms. No chance that it can cure you of your curse."
"Shoot." Ranma said as he kicked the ground. Master Asia chuckled at his students' antics.
"Anyway, my friend Ching-Kau, has asked that we help him transport a very important object to a larger temple to the north. All we have to do is tag along with the caravan and make sure nothing happens to it." Asia explained. Ranma tilted his head.
"That's it?" He asked. Master Asia and his friend nodded. Ranma shrugged.
"Ok, let's go."
Later that day, Ranma, Master Asia, Lam Ching-Kau, and a few bodyguards were on the road. Ranma looked behind him at the thing they were guarding, it seemed to him like a large stone coffin. Ranma couldn't understand why such a coffin needed so many people guarding it.
It didn't look like it belonged to some important royal of anything. He really wanted to ask Master Asia, but the old master was busy catching up with his old friend. Ranma decided that it was best not to interrupt. The day went on and Ranma was starting to get bored.
He hated to seem like a spoiled kid, but this whole thing just didn't seem like it really needed so many strong fighters, so why? He decided that as soon as his master was free of talking to his friend, Ranma would get some answers.
"I'm not really sure Ranma." Was the answer he got. Ranma blanked at that answer.
"WHAT!? You mean you accepted this job, and you didn't even bother to ask what the heck we were guarding?" Ranma asked. Master Asia sighed, he figured his 14-year-old charge would react like this.
"I'm sorry Ranma, even old masters like me make mistakes. Truth be told, I was so shocked to hear from an old friend that I just jumped at the chance to see and talk to him again. Don't you have any friends like that?" He asked. Ranma was about to answer, but then didn't. He looked down in shame, causing his master to look sympathetically at the young boy.
"Honestly master..." Ranma began. "No. I don't. I never really stayed long enough in one place to make any real friends. I only really had one friend while me and pop were on the road and I doubt I'll ever see him again."
Master Asia frowned. From what Ranma had told him, he figured that his father was controlling, but to deny a child the simple joy of making friends? He lost his train of thought as all of a sudden, a group of bandits attacked!
Ranma and Asia went back-to-back as they looked around themselves at the oncoming bandits. As the bandits charged at them, Ranma struck out with blinding speed, surprising the would-be attackers with his show of speed and power. Master Asia was like a purple blur of punches, kicks, and throws, sending bandits flying either to the ground or into each other.
Ranma leapt into the air and lashed out with various flying kicks that sent bandits into blissful unconsciousness. As Ranma landed, he turned to his left and dodged a wild swipe from another bandit. He then punched him hard and used a combination joint lock and throw that sent him flying into another.
Ranma spun and landed a spinning hook kick to another goon when he saw a few of the other creeps making off with the stone coffin.
"HEY! Hold it you creeps!" Ranma cried out as he charged after them.
The bandits ran as fast as they could into the nearby forest. As Ranma chased after them, Master Asia and Lam Ching-Kau looked to where the young man was running.
"Ranma!" Master Asia called out as he raced after his student.
"Asia!" Ching-Kau called out as he knocked away a few of the last bandits and chased after his friend. As they raced after the young boy and the bandits making off with the stone coffin, Kau looked up and gasped...the sun was going down and darkness was starting to take over the day.
"We have to hurry! They must NOT open that coffin!" Kau cried as he used his ki to increase his speed.
"Why? What's so special about that coffin?" Master Asia asked as they fought off the last of the bandits that got in their way.
"Inside that coffin is a vengeful Jiangshi vampire that we were trying to have sealed away!" Kau said.
"WHAT!?" Master Asia cried out. "Why didn't you say something earlier!?" He said as he let loose a blast of ki that cleared away the last of the bandits in their way and charged off at speeds that would put the Road Runner to shame.
Meanwhile, Ranma had just caught up to the bandits that were making off with the coffin just as the sun's last rays were starting their final fade. Ranma poured on the speed and leapt at the goons, tackling one of them to the ground and causing the others to drop the coffin.
"That's enough running you bastards." Ranma said, knowing full well that the creeps couldn't understand him since they didn't speak Japanese.
They said something that Ranma was sure was a string of curse words and prepared to finish this mess off. Ranma parried one attack and struck his assailant in the ribs with a punch and elbow attack and low spinning sweep kick. He cartwheeled into another foe and landed a double mule kick that sent him into a tree, bashing his head hard on the trunk.
Ranma turned and dodged the attacks of other goons and was too busy dealing with them to notice that the coffin they were fighting over was starting to move. Ranma grabbed the arms of two of his final opponents and did a corkscrew spin that tied up their arms with each other's and sent them to the ground. Ranma finished them off with a flipping axe kick to one and a left hook to the other's face.
Just as Ranma and the final bandit were starring each other down, a rumbling noise from behind them took their attention away from their fight and towards the coffin. The coffin started to rumble as the last light of the sun faded away and suddenly, the lid blew off the top of the coffin! Ranma and the bandit were shocked as from the confines of the coffin came a horrifying sight!
A man, or what at one point might have been a man, rose up, his body covered in black clothing. His skin pasty pale like that of a corps, his skin drawn in, showing what little muscle was left on the body after death. His eyes flew open, showing an eerie pair of red eyes glaring at the two men in front of the specter. He snarled at them, showing a mouth full of fangs!
"J-J-Jiangshi! Jiangshi!" The bandit said as he ran off. Ranma may not know mush Chinese, but he knew very well what a Jiangshi was. He gulped, this just got really, really, REALLY bad.
The Jiangshi snarled again and hurled itself at Ranma. Ranma snapped out of his musings and dive rolled away from the attacking vampire. Ranma rolled to his feet and turned to face the undead monster. As the Jiangshi turned to attack Ranma again, Ranma was already on him and let loose the strongest flurry of punches and kicks he ever through in his life...and they didn't even phase the vampire.
The vampire shrugged Ranma's attacks off and back handed him away. Ranma shook his head, and gasped as the vampire lunged at him again! Ranma managed to dodge but the Jiangshi attacked him the second he got back to his feet.
Ranma felt like every blocked attack was like a sledgehammer! He gave up on blocking and stuck to dodging and evading the attacks of the blood thirsty vampire. Ranma shot another couple of punches and kicks to his undead foe, but they had no effect at all! With a swipe of his hand, the Jiangshi knocked Ranma aside once again.
Ranma groaned as he tried to get back up, only for the Jiangshi to tackle him, pinning him to the ground. Ranma used all the strength he could muster to keep the fangs of the vampire from biting into his neck. As the monster's teeth came ever closer to Ranma's exposed neck, a blast of ki came from out of the blue and blasted the vampire away from the young man. Ranma breathed a sigh of both fresh air and relief as he looked over to where the blast came from and was happy to see his master.
"Master! Thanks for the save!" He called as he got to his feet. As Master Asia and Ching-Kau rushed up to the pigtailed youth and checked him for bite marks.
"Ranma! Are you ok?" Master Asia asked. He was happy to see that his young charge wasn't bitten by the monster. Ranma nodded to his mentor and new found father figure.
"Yeah. But boy, I never expected a dead guy to be so hard to fight." He said. Suddenly, the three were caught off guard by a man screaming. They all scrammed over to the source of the scream and saw the bandit that Ranma was facing before having his blood drained by the Jiangshi!
"NO!" Ching-Kau screamed as he charged at the blood sucker. The Chinese vampire stopped what it was doing, turned to see the priest and flew off. Ching-Kau did his best to treat the wound before the poor bandit could succumb to his wound and turn into a Jiangshi himself.
"Master, how do ya fight against someone who can't feel any pain?" Ranma asked his master as the priest did his best for the bandit.
"Well son," The old master began. "At the moment, our best bet would be to charge our attacks with ki in order to deal damage to him like I did before. But if we're to seal him back up..."
"We'll need this." Said the priest as he walked back over to the two martial artists and held up a Taoist hand mirror.
"A mirror?" Ranma asked.
"Unlike western vampires, Jiangshi are frightened by the sight of their own reflection. And this particular mirror has been charged with special magic so that it can be used to seal away spirits of the undead by releasing energy it absorbs from the sun. With this we can stop that Jiangshi before it causes even more trouble."
But before the priest could get moving, Master Asia stopped his old friend.
"Hold on there, Ching-Kau." He said. "Why didn't you tell me that a Jiangshi was in that coffin? And more importantly, why is it that you're taking this particular Jiangshi to a temple in the north?" Master Asia asked. Lam Ching-Kau sighed as he prepared to tell the story that he should have told at the beginning.
"You see old friend, some years ago I faced a very powerful sorcerer who was using his dark magic to cause havoc throughout the countryside. I managed to defeat him, but with his dying breath he cast a spell on himself. It was a spell of immortality."
"IMMORTALITY!?" Both martial artists cried out in shock. Lam Ching-Kau nodded.
"Yes. But I struck him down before he could finish it, so the spell was incomplete. Instead of granting him eternal life, it cursed him to become a Jiangshi upon his final breath. I managed to keep his corpse sealed away but because of the spell he cast on himself I have been unable to destroy his body, I finally decided to take his sealed corpse to a nearby temple in hopes that they could help me finally destroy him. But now he's free and searching for both blood and chi to feed on. If we don't hurry and reseal him, if he drains enough of both, he may regain his sanity and his full power."
Ranma and Master Asia looked at each other in shock and horror. As much as Master Asia was disappointed in his friend for not telling him the whole story beforehand, he could see that it would have to wait until this problem was solved.
"So, where do you think he went?" He asked. All three took up thinking poses as they tried to ponder on where the hopping corpse could have flown off to.
"Well," Lam Ching-Kau began. "He would most likely look for the closest source of nourishment." Then he and the others paled.
"THE VILLAGE!" They all screamed as they took off at high speed towards the village.
When they made it back to the village, they all were surprised to see that there was no one walking around the village. The weird part was that it wasn't even that late yet and people usually walked around at night to enjoy the night air.
"That's strange. It's too quiet for this time of night." Lam Ching-Kau said. Master Asia was on guard.
"You're right. It's too quiet. And why are their no lights in any of the homes?" He asked. Ranma gulped hard.
"I've got a bad feeling about this..." He said as he and the other two formed up in a triangle formation and walked around the empty looking village. They all felt a cold shiver go down their spines as they came to the center of the village. Suddenly, they saw a shadow rush past them.
"What was that!?" Ranma said as he got ready for a fight.
Another shadow blurred past them out of the corner of their eyes. And then another. The danger senses they all had honed over the years of their respective trainings flared up as they looked around themselves.
"Look!" Ching-Kau called out as he pointed towards a house who's door opened up and out came...TWO JIANGSHI!
"YIPES!" Ranma screamed as he jumped back into a fighting stance. Then he smelled the stench of death and turned his head to see more Jiangshi. But what frightened him more was that they looked like some of the kids he was playing with earlier that same day!
"No..." He muttered as it all dawned on them all. "No..."
The Jiangshi had been busy feeding on all of these good people, turning them into Jiangshi. Ranma's heart felt like lead in his chest. So many innocent people, lives lost to an undead monster that he was too weak to defeat.
"It's ok." Lam Ching-Kau said. "They're only recently turned. If we can reseal the original Jiangshi, we can turn them all back to normal."
Just then, the very Jiangshi they were looking for flew down form the roof of one of the buildings. But it looked a little different than it did just an hour ago. It's skin looked more filled out, its body moved less stiffly than it did before, and it's face seemed more expressive.
"The Jiangshi! It's absorbed enough energy to start regaining it's power! We have to stop him now!" Lam Ching-Kau said as he tried to charge at the undead abomination.
As he charged at the lead vampire, he made a gesture and several more of his turned henchmen charged at the priest. He did his best to fend them off as Ranma and Master Asia charged in to assist their ally. They jumped at the two Jiangshi that were attacking the priest with flying side kicks, knocking them away.
The three warriors were once more back-to-back as they were surrounded by the villagers turned vampires. Ranma and Master Asia struck out with their best attacks, but they had to remember to hold back, as there was still a chance to return these people to normal. Lam Ching-Kau concentrated his ki into his hands and then into the his sun energized mirror. He fired blasts of sun impowered energy at the vampire hordes, each blast seeming to return them to normal. But unfortunately, they once more returned to their vampire states before attacking again.
"It's no use! Unless we can stop the lead Jiangshi, I won't be able to turn these people back to normal!" Ching-Kau said as he fought back the oncoming Jiangshi. Ranma growled.
"Man! How are we supposed to stop this guy if we can't get past these vampireified villagers!?" Ranma asked. Thankfully, Master Asia had a plan.
"I have an idea! Hold them off!" He said as he leapt into the air. He hrust his hand out and fired a blast of ki at the lead Jiangshi on the rooftop.
The Jiangshi leapt out of the way of the blast and shot right towards Master Asia! However, this is what he wanted, as the vampire crashed into him, the two engaged in an aerial battle. Asia managed to kick the creature off of him and flipped onto the ground and prepared to strike out at the Jiangshi.
The vampire in question turned to the aged martial artist and attacked with a ferocity that it hadn't shown during its confrontation with Ranma. It swiped left and right in an apparent imitation of the Tiger Style, and managed to shoot off a few kicks too. But Master Asia was faster and was able to parry the strikes of his undead foe.
He struck out with his own roundhouse kick to side kick combo before doing a shuffling side kick that sent the creature back. As the Jiangshi regained it's footing, Master Asia came at it again with fast ki infused punches that ended with a double palm heel strike that blasted the creature to the ground. Master Asia charged at him again and did a front flip kick that the vampire rolled out of the way of and did a sweep kick that was unfortunately dodged.
The Jiangshi leapt back at Master Asia, only to meet air as the martial arts master rolled to the side. Ranma was busy knocking away more Jiangshi with varied kicks and saw his master fighting the lead vampire. Ranma was about to jump in to help his mentor, but was blocked off by more vampires.
"I'm getting tired of all this!" He said as he leapt over the vamps. He landed and did a crouching sweep kick that knocked down one of the last vamps in his way and charged at his mentor. He arrived just in time to land a jump-spinning crescent kick to the head of a vampire that was sneaking up on his mentor.
"I've got your back master!" Ranma said as he punched and kicked more vampire villagers away. Master Asia was about to say something but was stopped short as both he and his young student had to dodge roll away from the lead Jiangshi's next attack.
Master Asia kicked, punched and parried as he and the vampire engaged in a fierce exchange of blows. Ranma was about to join the fight but he was grabbed by two other vampire villagers.
"Hey! Let me go!" He cried as he tried to break free. The two vamps were about to take a bite out of the young warriors' neck but he was saved by the timely arrival of Lam Ching-Kau knocking the two vampires to the ground.
"We have to end this now before sunrise, otherwise it'll be too late to save these people."
The two charged off to aid Master Asia as he fired off a Hadoken that sent the Jiangshi flying into the side of the nearest house.
"Asia, you and your student hold that Jiangshi down and I'll use this mirror to seal him back up." Ching-Kau said. Master Asia agreed and he and Ranma rushed over to the downed Jiangshi.
The two martial artists fought hard to hold down the struggling Jiangshi as the priest started to chant a Chinese sutra. As the Jiangshi kept fighting to get free, more of his undead minions came charging to his rescue. However, Master Asia saw them coming and had an idea.
"Ranma! Lam! Close your eyes!" He said. The two did as they were told as Master Asia channeled ki for a technique that was more for escapes instead of battle, but the nature of this technique was just what the doctor ordered.
"SOLAR FLARE!" He cried out as a blast of blinding light flashed from his body, scaring off the oncoming vampires and burned the Jiangshi they were holding down. Seeing the weakened state of their foe, Master Asia called out to his old friend.
"Now Lam! Finish him off!" He cried out. Lam nodded and held his sun and ki powered mirror at the Jiangshi! Master Asia and Ranma dived to the side as the beam of solar energy hit the Jiangshi dead on!
The Jiangshi screamed in pain as the solar energy burned him as if he were on fire! As he writhed in pain, his vampire minions also screamed in pain, slowly starting to morph back into their origianl human forms. The Jiangshi screamed as he started to shrink and wither away back into a corpse. As the Jiangshi turned back into a lifeless corpse, a stone tomb formed around him, sealing him away once more!
As the stone coffin solidified, the villagers started to feint and fall to the ground, cured of their vampire infection by the Taoist magic of the priest Lam Ching-Kau. Ranma sighed and wiped his forehead in relief as things started to calm down.
"Man, talk about a close call. You ok shishou?" He asked his mentor. Master Asia sighed and dusted himself off as he got back to his feet. He looked to his student and smiled.
"I'm ok son. Are you?" Ranma smiled and nodded to his mentor.
"I'm okay, a bit ruffed up, but I'll be ok." He said. The two martial artists looked to the stone coffin and saw Lam Ching-Kau attaching his mirror to the coffin.
"This'll make sure that the Jiangshi won't get out again anytime soon." He said.
"Good." Master Asia said. "Let's rest tonight. We can make a fresh start for the temple tomorrow at first light."
"I'm all for that!" Said Ranma as he collapsed to the floor.
The next morning, the three were off once again to the temple, and this time they had no trouble from bandits. As they traded off the coffin at the temple, Ranma went to look around the temple as Master Asia and Lam Ching-Kau talked things over with the abbot of the temple. After the coffin was safely stashed away at the lower chambers of the temple, and saying goodbye to the monks and Lam Ching-Kau, Ranma and Master Asia headed off for wherever their path would lead them next.
"Say master," Ranma asked. "Do you think they'll be able to keep that Jiangshi locked up this time?"
"I hope so Ranma." Master Asia answered. "And with any luck, we'll never have to worry about that fiend ever again.
*End Flashback*
As Ranma finished his tale he looked around to see the looks on the faces of all the campers. Sunset, Flash, Rainbow, Applejack and some of the others were all staring wide eyed, totally in groused in the epic tale that he had laid before them. While others, like Fluttershy, Pinky, Rarity and a few of the more squeamish campers were all huddling together, shaking like leaves in the wind.
"Um...that was..." Fluttershy, how was holding onto Tsukiro for dear life began.
"AWESOME!" Rainbow Dash cut in.
"Yeah!" Pinky said, jumping into Ranma's arms. "I can't believe you guys fought REAL vampires! Weren't you scared!?"
"Yeah, kind of." Ranma said as he set Pinky down and scratched the back of his head.
"Man. Just when I thought you and your master couldn't get any more amazing, you prove me wrong." Flash said. Ranma was starting to blush from the praise.
"So, have you heard anything from mister Lam Ching-Kau since then?" Twilight asked as she held Spike close to her like Fluttershy was doing with Tsukiro.
"Not really. I think shishou gets some letters from him every once in a while, but nothing serious like that Jiangshi getting out again." Ranma answered.
"So, do you think that thing might stay locked up?" Sunset asked. Ranma smiled at her.
"As long as that mirror stays attached to it and no one opens that coffin and lets blood drip onto the corpse, I doubt it. I mean, what moron would be dumb or stupid enough to do that?" He said with a laugh.
Unbeknownst to our young hero, the very night after the sealing of the coffin at the temple, a mysterious shadowy figure was roaming through the lower chambers of the temple. When the figure came into the light of the moon, it was revealed to be known other than Genma Saotome himself, ransacking the temple of anything he could sell to get some money for food.
"If only these monks had more artifacts that I could sell without them being easily tranced." He said as he filled up his sack with anything he thought wouldn't be missed.
As he was preparing to leave, he turned and saw a coffin not to far away. He noticed something shimmering in the moonlight on the coffin, and upon closer inspection, he saw that it was a very ornate looking, old fashioned Chinese hand mirror.
"Wander why they'd burry a guy with this? Baw! Oh well, he's not gonna miss it." He said as he removed the mirror and made his way out of the temple. As he did, an ominous dark blue aura surrounded the coffin before fading away, as a low hiss could be heard coming from within.
