Part 5:
The Pail's Tale

Lime smirked at Ryoga's motionless form, clutched by his neck. "So…'e's popped 'is clogs, then?" he commented. But as he looked down, he saw Ryoga's hand twitching…convulsing with tendrils of electricity running over it.

"Wot the—" Lime began, bewildered, as he saw Ryoga clenching his hands into fists. "How th' bloody 'ell is this 'appenin'?!"

"I…I can't die…" wheezed Ryoga, his strength slowly building. "...not…before I…tell Akane…how I feel…!"

"An' who the soggy 'ell is that?" queried Lime, raising a brow. But then, he noticed something different. "And why can't I move?!"

Ryoga gave a low chuckle, as he glared down at Lime, a gleam of yellow in his eyes. "Would you like to find out…?" he hissed, as his electric energy surged, sending out a massive shockwave.

And then, Ryoga screamed out the words that would fill Lime with fear:

"THUNDERCLAP HEADACHE!"

Suddenly, the both of them were engulfed in a tremendous bolt of lightning, which could be seen from miles away.

Kenma, who was nearby, could sense it. "...bro, can you feel that?" he asked, unnerved.

Ranko just stared ahead, unnerved by the immense power she was feeling. If that happens to be Ryoga…I'm almost SCARED to face him again. But I'd sooner cut off my pinky toe than admit it to ANYONE.

In her tent, Herb was suddenly awakened by the energy surge, and went outside to see the massive thundershock explosion.

I don't recall Mint or Lime learning any such techniques, she thought. So…could this be the power of these interlopers?

Back in the forest, Ryoga now stood in a newly-formed crater, surrounded by fallen trees, and Lime's barbecued body.

"How do you like that, fang-face?" he chuckled. "Not so big and bad now, are we?"

And in that moment, he spotted the object he'd been searching for. "...the pail!" he beamed, reaching for it and pulling it from the ground.

"I could tell Mousse, but we're not exactly working together like that one time…" he pondered. "Eh. Maybe I'll let him use it after I'm in my guy form forever!"

Meanwhile, Mousse overheard Ryoga talking about his plan while he was under the rubble. "You lousy piece of shit!" the bespectacled magician shouted as he crawled out of the debris. "You're not leaving with that pail, not on my watch!"

"Sorry Moussie, you snooze, you lose!" Ryoga cackled as he sprinted off.

In seconds, Mousse had squeezed out and tore ass after him. "Nobody calls me that!" he shouted. "Your ass is grass, porky!"

As they both ran, Ranko and Kenma made it over to the area.

"What're those guys thinking, stealing the pail of preservation?" groused Ranko.

"I think they're intending to lock themselves in their human forms," said Kenma. "...but that would never work."

"How come?" asked Ranko.

"Well, the pail and ladle only dish out cold water, right?" explained Kenma. "Therefore, it would only lock someone in their cursed form, like it did with you!"

"Oh, you're right!" his sister affirmed. "We should still go after them and make sure they don't waste all the water."

"...somehow, I think that's the least of our worries," Kenma responded, as they sprinted off through the woods.

When the duo arrived in a clearing, they found the Pail of Preservation, lying on its side…

"Oh boy!" Ranko sighed.

"You think that's something?" asked Kenma. "Check this out!"

And as he gestured, standing a few feet from the downed pail were a bespectacled duck and a pig, freshly drenched.

"...they splashed themselves, didn't they?" asked Ranko.

"Yup," nodded Kenma. "Poor dopes. So, whaddo we do now?"

"Well, I think it only makes sense to refill the pail with hot water and splash 'em again."

"I dunno if that'll do it," Kenma responded. "Besides, they're locked in those forms until we grab that kettle."

"Right! We still don't have the kettle." said Ranko, feeling a little silly.

Meanwhile, Herb, with Paprika in tow, had come across Lime and Mint's beaten bodies. Inspecting Lime's prone form, she noticed that he was covered in burn marks…as if he'd been struck by lightning.

"M-master Herb…" called Mint's weakened voice from nearby.

"I cannot believe that you two were so easily beaten by a hot-tempered dunce and someone who couldn't see the broad side of a barn!" the warrioress remarked, before she noticed something vital was missing. "And for that matter, where in the world is that pail?"

Back with Ranko and Kenma, the recently-transformed animals were still bawling their eyes out.
"Oh, quit the waterworks, you two." Ranko demanded. "All we gotta do is find the Kettle of Liberation and then we'll all be back to normal."

"At least, as normal as we're gonna get," said Kenma. "But just how are we gonna find that kettle, anyway?"

Suddenly, there came a spinning sound from nearby, which got both siblings' attention. As they turned to look, they saw the Ladle of Locking spinning around atop the handle of the Pail of Preservation.

Almost like…a divining rod!

"It…it's moving by itself…" Ranko remarked.

Suddenly, the spinning ceased, and the ladle was pointing up through the trees. Glancing upwards, Ranko and Kenma turned and saw the ladle was pointing to what looked like a gigantic tea kettle, nestled far overhead on a mountaintop.

"So that's why they went to all the trouble of lugging this pail around!" Kenma posited. "It was like some kinda geiger counter for the Kai-Su-Fu—the secret treasure!"

"Barely a hop, skip and a jump away!" Ranko beamed.

Meanwhile, Mint sniffed around the area until he picked up a scent. "They went this way, Master—"

Herb held up a hand to silence him. "Your sniffing will no longer be necessary," she informed him as she pointed to the teakettle atop the mountain. "For that, surely, is the Light of Awakening, emitted by all secret treasures of the Musk Dynasty."

Instantly, she broke into a run. "Lime, Mint, Paprika, let us go!" she declared. "We must have the Kai-Su-Fu in our hands as quickly as possible!"

"Right!" Lime and Mint declared as they took off.

While Ranko and Kenma were heading off in the direction of the mountain, Herb bounced off Ranko's head to get a jumpstart.

"Thanks ever so much for the help!" she laughed. "The pail doesn't react until it's within 1 kilometer of the treasure! And you saved me the trouble of searching, too—how generous of you!"

Ranko angrily groused as she watched the trio making tracks ahead of them. "Dammit!" she remarked. "They're leaving us in the dust!"

"Don't worry, I got it covered," said Kenma. "KINTO-UN!"

As if on cue, the flying cloud zipped over to Kenma, catching him underneath and hoisting him up. When it did, he grabbed Ranko and pulled her up.

"To that big teakettle, and fast!" Kenma exclaimed. The cloud reared back, and shot forward like a bullet.

While the Nimbus continued on its way, a tremendous boulder came sailing down towards them, courtesy of Paprika's machinations.

"Together?" Ranko asked.

"Aye!" Kenma nodded.

The both of them wound up, and swung at the boulder, smashing it into fragments!

BA-GOOM!

With the boulder smashed, both siblings looked up and saw Herb sprinting to the top of the mountain.

"Now, be good little kids, and stay out of our way!" she called. "I've got a date with a teakettle~!"

Soon, the trio had reached the top of the mountain, right underneath the giant stone kettle.

"So that's where th' treasure is…" commented Lime. Raising her right hand, Herb fired a ki blast at the spout of the stone kettle, blowing a hole in it…and revealing an actual kettle nestled inside!

Suddenly, there came a rumbling noise. Within seconds, a stream of hot water shot forth from the spout and cascaded in a waterfall.

"Blimey! The water's spewin' out like some kinda geyser!" remarked the taller of Herb's subordinates.

"No doubt the underground springs held trapped by the boulder boiled over because of the kai-sui-fu," Herb replied.

To put it simply, this waterfall has what it needs to nullify the effects of the Pail of Preservation…

"This is exactly what I need to resume my original form," she declared as she stepped into the water and moved towards the waterfall.

Mint, Lime and Paprika watched in silence, as the water engulfed their master.

[Cue track: Dragon Ball—Piccolo in his Prime; Piccolo Knows No Bounds]

Herb's arms gained some major length, her chest became more toned, and his roundish eyes became sharper, more hardened…and stuff that wasn't there before had regrown, replacing what WAS there already.

Emerging from within the waterfall was a new Herb. One who was now in a more masculine form. In spite of his gender it did nothing to dull the menace he carried.

"M-m-master Herb?!" Lime and Mint exclaimed.

Paprika let out a squawk of joy and flew over to Herb, landing atop his outstretched arm. The leader of the Musk Dynasty remnants reached out and tickled his condor under his beak.

At that moment, Ranko, Kenma, Mousse and Wilbur had spotted the waterfall spewing forth.

"So that's where the treasure is, then?" asked Kenma. "Awright! Just need to get you all doused!"

"So what about Herb?" Ranko asked.

"What about him?" Kenma replied. "Th' jerk's probably takin' a nice, long soak! And with all this hot water, like anyone would blame him!"

"Well, if you say so," his sister responded, before they narrowly dodged a massive energy blast, which missed them by about several inches.

Kenma looked a little sheepish. "...so I was wrong," he replied. "It happens to the best of us!"

"I hope you liked that little demonstration," said Herb as he emerged from the dust cloud. "Because if you want to bathe in the waterfall, you'll need to defeat me first!"

"Hey, that's Herb!" Kenma exclaimed. "And it looks like she turned into a he!"

"I'm glad you noticed, Fleabag," Herb smirked. "Because now I have a chance to demonstrate just how vast my power truly is~!"

"Y'know, I kinda figured you were a guy," retorted Ranko. "Somehow, y'never did act much like a real girl."

"Very astute; you're not quite the bruiser I thought you to be," grinned Herb as he let Paprika fly off, and got into a fighting stance. "Now, then!...shall we begin?"
"Yeah! Let's do this!" Ranko exclaimed as she sprang from the cloud and landed on the ground.

Next time: The Spice of Herb

That's right, folks—we're finally back with a new chapter. And Herb's regained his male form. We could really be in for one serious slobberknocker. You can run if you want to...but if you're brave, stay tuned for our next chapter.

It's been a while since we posted one—I needed a new charger for my laptop, so that was a whole ordeal—and we'd really appreciate it if you guys could leave some reviews after reading. But none of those shitty spam reviews asking us to commission you for AI artwork. I hate when people do that, and it's been happening all over the damn place lately.

...and please, be sure to check out our other Ranma stories and leave reviews for them, too. [But stay tuned, we may just be making some changes to previous Ranma stories, so keep an eye out.]