Here you go, enjoy! 
Insertion 
Part 60 
Spice of life! 
++++++++++++ 
Yohiko Hibiki frowned as she lay in bed with her eyes wide open. It was ten 
o'clock at night and most of the group was sleeping soundly. All except two of 
them. 
Dan and Carrot were still awake. 
"Man. This sucks. I can't sleep," grumbled Carrot. 
"It was probably that nap we took while the others were teaching," said Dan with 
a small snort. 
"So...now what?" asked Carrot as he tossed the covers away from them and stood 
up. They walked around for a moment with frowns on their face. 
"We should do something, just hanging around here is boring," said Dan 
irritably. 
Carrot sighed. "I guess we could go out for a drink or something." Their clothes 
shifted to a pair of slacks and a white shirt as they changed into their male 
form once again. 
"Sounds good," agreed Dan with a small shrug. 
++++++++++ 
They walked along down the street, hands in their pockets and whistling a tune 
to themselves as they strolled lazily. There was a bar nearby, and they had 
shifted their age up a little. Ranma's face now sported a bit of stubble and his 
sleeves were rolled up. 
However, their plans were quickly spoiled as a woman rushed by them, screaming. 
She almost bumped into them, but shrieked and turned away, moving into an 
alleyway. 
Ranma blinked in confusion and raised his hand. "Hey...um...dang..." The woman 
was already out of earshot. 
A group of men rushed by, they were in their early twenties and rushed around 
them in pursuit of the woman. It was easy to see that the whole lot of them were 
punks, sporting an interesting assortment of blunt instruments as they gave 
chase, obviously fearless of any patrolling officer who might be in the area. 
"What should we do?" asked Dan calmly. 
"Damsel in distress? Group of thugs? Hmm...what indeed?" said Carrot playfully 
as he smirked at the direction they had run. 
"Well, come on then. Let's go beat the crap out of them," said Dan with a smirk 
of his own. 
"Hold on, I've got a better idea," said Carrot as he looked up at the rooftop. 
"These clothes of ours are neat, I wanna play." 
"I'm game," said Dan with a shrug. 
++++++++++ 
She was cornered, nothing but walls surrounded her. Her only escape blocked by 
the slowly approaching group of men. She fell to her knees in tears, desperately 
hoping that it would all just go away. 
She was a pretty woman in her late twenties, with long dark blue hair that 
flowed down her back and a nice figure that seemed well suited to the now dirty 
and mussed looking business suit. On her face a pair of glasses slightly 
magnified her terror filled green eyes. 
The lead man stepped forward, he was wearing a red leather jacket with the 
collar pulled up. He and all his friends sported spiky hairdos with his being 
the shortest cut. The man also had a bandage on his right cheek. He casually 
wiped his chin and spit on the ground. "All right bitch, you're gonna pay for 
what you did to me." The red mark on his face was obvious, several nail marks 
raked down the left side of his face from her first attempt to escape him and 
his goons. 

"No! Please!" said the woman as she sobbed. As he neared her, her pleas became 
screams of terror. 
"Yer gonna regret that, you little whore," snarled the man angrily. 
The men around him chuckled, each holding his weapon menacingly. 
"First, we're gonna have a little fun, right boys?" the man looked over his 
shoulder at his companions. 
"Right, all of us," said one of the group with an evil smile forming on his 
face. 
"Oh god no," pleaded the woman as her screams faltered. She backed further into 
the wall, pushing herself up against it as far as she could. 
The group started laughing again as they moved in, and she screamed in terror. 
She curled up into a ball waiting for the first of them to grab her. After a 
moment, nothing happened, but they were still laughing. She dared to look up as 
she realized that they weren't laughing at all. 
The men were looking around excitedly as a deep booming laughter filled the 
alleyway. 
"What the fuck?" cried the leader as he glanced around in the shadows. Confusion 
and anger were the only emotions on the gang's faces. 
"Who's there? Where are you? You'd better come out asshole! Disappear before we 
hurt you!" snarled one of the group in the back as he swung his bat around at 
the darkness that seemed to cover every corner of the alley. 
"You? Hurt me?" said the voice in a sort of disgusted amusement. 
"Where are you?" snarled the leader as he pulled a switchblade out of his 
jacket. 
"I'm all around you, in the darkness, around every corner, watching you," said 
the voice ominously. 
"This isn't fuckin funny man!" screamed the lead punk as he and his companions 
jerked around excitedly. 
The woman was absolutely frozen in terror. 
"Who knows the evil that lurks in the hearts of men?" asked the voice from the 
darkness. 
The head punk turned as one of his friends ran away screaming. 
"What?" he muttered in confusion. 
The coward turned the corner, and suddenly there was silence. It didn't last 
more than a second, as a terrified scream echoed through the alley followed by 
the sound of a beating. 
"What the fuck? He's there!" cried the lead punk as he pointed with his knife at 
where their friend had run. 
"Are you sure? I could be, behind you!" said the voice as a pair of hands 
reached out from the shadows and grabbed one of the men from the edge of the 
group. He was pulled into the shadows and a short scuffle started that ended 
before anyone could reach him. 
By the time his friends arrived to help, he was slumped over a garbage bag out 
cold. 
"Oh shit," muttered the lead punk as he and his three remaining friends backed 
into one another. 
"We gotta get outa here!" cried one of them. 
"Shit man! What the fuck!" screamed another one. 
The woman was watching, still unable to move from her fear. She had stopped 
crying and was simply staring at them with wide eyes. 
The punks started to move back towards the exit to the alley. However, one of 
them ran right into a broad chest that had melted out of nothing. He looked up 
slowly at the intimidating figure that stood over him and started to cry. 
Looking down at him was a man with a wide brimmed hat and a scarf covering the 
lower part of his face. His eyes were a silver color, and all of his clothes 
were black. A gloved hand reached up and grabbed him, holding him up in the air 
before throwing him against the wall. He was knocked out from the impact. 
The two remaining grunts charged, only to be swatted aside by a few casual 
backhands that put them down for the count. 
"You're going to turn yourself into the police," said the intimidating figure as 
it strolled towards the young punk who had lead the charge. "You and all your 
friends." 
"What? I can't do that man...I..." stammered the man fearfully as he found 
himself staggering back. 
"You will, because if you don't, I'll be there. I'll always be watching you, 
waiting for you to screw up. In every corner, in your house, at your hangouts. 
I'll be hidden away, waiting for you." 
The man began to blubber pathetically. 
"If you try and get brave after I'm gone, thinking I won't know where you're at, 
I want you to remember something." 
"Wh...what's that?" sputtered the man through his tears. 
"The Shadow knows," said the dark monster. He reared his head back and laughed 
again, it echoed through the walls. The punk fell on his rear and continued to 
cry. "The Shadow always knows." said the thing malevolently. 
He screamed and rushed away, tearing around the corner as if his hair was on 
fire. 
The shadowy figure turned towards the woman and noticed her sitting there 
staring at him in awe. She had somehow managed to keep her purse and fumbled 
through it desperately. 
"Probably looking for mace or something," said Carrot as he watched her. 
Dan was really enjoying this. "You know, sometimes you're not bad." 
"I didn't know you could do that with our voice," said Carrot cheerfully. 
"Well, I didn't know you could sing," retorted Dan. 
"I had to take voice lessons as a trade off for the martial arts training when I 
was little," said Carrot sheepishly. "The fact that we sound like Megumi 
Hashibara doesn't hurt either." 
Their conversation ended abruptly as the woman finally found what she was 
looking for. She stood up and pointed a camera at them. 
"Shit!" cried Carrot as he dove for the nearest shadow. They caught a flash of 
light from the corner of their eyes. 
The woman gasped in shock as she backed herself against the wall again. What she 
had just witnessed him do just then wasn't some trick of Ninjitsu that she had 
thought he'd been using. The shadows actually reached out to him and swallowed 
him up. He had vanished completely. "Oh god! What was that thing?" she muttered 
in horror. She almost dropped her camera as she put it into her bag. She rushed 
away as well, moving quickly while glancing over her shoulder. 
"Kinda makes you wonder who that lady is, doesn't it?" said Carrot as he watched 
her leave. 
Dan nodded in agreement. "We should follow her then." 
"Right," agreed Carrot with a dark look in his eyes. "Wouldn't do if that punk 
got all brave again, would it?" 
"Not at all," agreed Carrot. 
They reappeared out of the shadows, the camouflage their clothing had been 
giving them disappeared in an instant. 
"This invisibility thing is neat," said Carrot. 
"Could be useful," agreed Dan. 
+++++++++++++ 
The punk stood up from where he was sitting on a park bench and frowned as a 
familiar woman rushed by him. She didn't notice him and he looked over his 
shoulder for a moment. With a scowl on his face, he started to follow her. 
"Bitch. Lucky bitch, she won't be so lucky this time." 
She turned again, moving into a crowd that was much too large for him to try 
anything just yet. 
The Shadow was standing on a nearby rooftop, watching them both casually. In his 
lap, was a small computer. He was typing merrily and humming to himself. 
"Let's see. His name is...Jiro Yamada! How nice, quite the police record too..." 
His eyes watched the tracking monitor that was keeping tabs on where they were. 
"Useful thing this Mercury Computer. I bet we loaded it with all sorts of great 
information for us to play with while we're down here too." 
Dan snorted. "So it seems. Carrot, that woman is a reporter," said Dan with a 
frustrated sigh. 
"Well shit," was the grumbled reply. 
"So now what?" asked Dan. 
"Looks like we found ourselves a hobby," said Carrot with a shrug. 
"Great," snorted Dan. "Look, I don't feel like..." 
"You know, the Shadow uses guns," said Carrot almost as an afterthought. "I 
suppose we'll have to get ourselves a nice set." 
"New hobby it is!" said Dan as he nodded in agreement. 
++++++++++++ 
Jiro smiled as the woman walked across a deserted park towards the center of 
town. She hadn't been able to hail a taxi and seemed to decide to take the 
subway. 
"Dumb bitch," he said to himself as he pulled out his switchblade and walked up 
behind her. 
They both froze as the dark figure appeared in front of them again. He had his 
arms crossed in front of his chest and stood on top of a park bench glaring down 
at them both. "Jiro Yamada, I told you to do something, and you ignored me." 
The woman whirled around to see the punk standing behind her with his jaw 
hanging down. 
"Are you more afraid of Mr. Kojiro than you are me?" said the man as he chuckled 
at the terrified pair. "You shouldn't be, he doesn't know you like I do. He 
doesn't know where you like to hide, he doesn't know that your family doesn't 
know what you do for him, and he doesn't know..." 
The man fell back on his rear again putting his arms up over his face. 
"Yes, he doesn't know that you stole twenty-thousand yen from him last week. At 
least, not yet. What do you think he'll do when he finds out?" 
The man finally snapped and wet himself in terror. "No! Please! I'll do 
anything! Anything!" 
"Go to the police, confess to your crimes, rat out your friends. Maybe then, I 
won't haunt your dreams for the rest of your life, Jiro," said the thing as it 
glared down at the man more intensely. 
Jiro stood up and ran away screaming again, desperately searching for a police 
officer this time. 
"He works for Kojiro?" said the woman quietly. "Damn. I should have known..." 
"Yes. That story you're about to take to your editor will damage his reputation 
quite a bit Miss Yin." 
The woman whirled around at him and gasped. 
"Oh. I know about you as well," said the dark figure with a small chuckle. "The 
Shadow knows...everything," said the thing coldly. 
"Jeez! You're worse than my mother!" snapped the woman a little less fearfully. 
"What do you want?" 
"I want you to remember what I did for you tonight," said the thing as he jumped 
down of the bench and started to fade into the darkness. "That's all. If I ever 
need you..." 
"Do you want my card?" asked the woman hopefully. This was a story she just 
couldn't pass up. 
"No Miss Yin, I already know how to contact you if I need you," said the thing 
as it finally vanished. 
She staggered back and gasped again as it disappeared. 
+++++++++++ 
"Wow, that was cool," said Yohiko as she slumped down on the easy chair in her 
home a short time later. 
"Yeah," agreed Dan. "Hey. What gives?" He looked down at the screen and saw an 
error message. 
"Oh, that," grumbled Carrot. 
"You know what this is?" 
"I'm just guessing here, but this thing'll tell us what we need to know, when we 
need it," said Carrot calmly. 
"Oh...so we can't..." 
"Right, can't look into the future," confirmed Carrot. "Present and Past should 
be unrestricted to us though." 
"That's good," said Dan with a small shrug. "We can't even trust ourselves huh?" 
"I know I wouldn't," said Carrot as he closed the screen. "Come on, let's get 
some shut eye. We don't want to sleep all day tomorrow." 
"Yeah. I can do without that class again, Ranma's enjoying that too much," 
snorted Dan. 
"Man, you said it," agreed Carrot. 
They lumbered away into the bedroom and closed the door behind them. 
++++++++++++ 
The next day... 
"Shampoo, why don't you go ask the Groom out or something today. I'm closing up 
shop," said Cologne as she looked at her great Granddaughter and smiled. 
"What for Great Grandmother?" asked the girl as she bounced up and down with joy 
at the thought of visiting her Airen. 
"We have some visitors coming today, it isn't a good place for young girls to 
be," said the old woman with a small frown on her face. 
++++++++++ 
A figure wearing a cloak that hid all his features walked through the Streets of 
Nerima with two figures at his sides. One clothed in a wolf skin, and the other 
in a tiger skin. 
"Can we..." started the wolf skin boy. 
"No, this isn't a trip to pick up women. We have important business," said the 
cloaked figure angrily. 
"But, what if we happen to run into some women? Could we then?" asked the tiger 
skinned boy. 
The figure in the cloak sighed and turned to face them. "Very well, I'll allow 
you to look around a bit. Meet me at the restaurant in a little while." 
"Thank you Lord Herb!" cried the pair in unison. 
++++++++++ 
Yohiko Hibiki walked calmly towards her home with Mitaka at her side. She paused 
by a newspaper dispenser and smiled at the photo on the front page. 
"Mysterious Crime-fighter in Tokyo! Who is 'The Shadow'?" read the headline. 
"Weird," said Mitaka as he looked at it for a moment. 
"I think it's kind of neat," said Yohiko cheerfully. 
"I suppose, but there sure are some crazy people out there. I mean, look at the 
way this guy dresses!" said the man as he pointed at the black and white photo 
of the figure. It was difficult to make anything out other than the hat and the 
dark cloak, a tiny bit of his face could be seen if you looked hard enough. 
Yohiko growled under her breath for a moment and smiled at him. "I'm sure it 
looks better in reality." 
"I suppose so," replied the man with a small shrug. "How far is your place from 
here?" 
"Not very. It's only about a mile and a half from the school," she said with a 
shrug. 
They had entered the business district and were now passing by the Ucchan. A 
short way down the street, the Cat Cafe could be seen. 
++++++++++ 
"What do we know about this?" snapped Xianfu irritably. "This is just to weird 
to not have anything to do with us!" 
"I don't remember doin any of this stuff!" cried Ranma. 
"That really is a terrible picture," said Pissant. 
"It's not our fault you guys slept through all that," snorted Carrot. "You guys 
could sleep through anything." 
"Yeah! We were just going out for a drink, we ran into a little trouble, and one 
thing lead to another..." said Dan calmly. 
"You idiots did this?" cried Xianfu. 
"So? We've done worse," said Carrot. "It's just a little superhero deal." 
"Idiots!" cried the woman angrily. 
"Whatever. We aren't keeping you up or anything," snorted Carrot. "It isn't like 
you're losing any sleep over this." 
"That's not the point!" she snapped. 
"What is the point then?" asked Carrot. 
"Yeah?" agreed Ranma in confusion. 
"Can't we just have a normal life for once?" snapped Xianfu. 
"No. That would be really boring!" said Carrot. 
"I wouldn't mind," whimpered Pissant. 
"Since when have we cared about your opinion?" replied Dan. 
"That's mean!" said the voice in retort. 
"Hey. I don't want to sit around and be some chick's mom!" snapped Ranma. 
"Yeah. I don't think I can take that all the time!" retorted Carrot. "Talk about 
stuff starting to suck after a while." 
"You guys are Assholes!" replied Xianfu hotly. 
"Well, you should be used to it by now," replied Carrot. 
"Hello, what have we here?" asked Dan as something caught his attention. 
A figure in a cloak and hood was walking up to them. He paused and stared for a 
moment, his jaw hanging slightly open as he glared at them all for a short time 
in silence. 
Carrot smirked, "This should be interesting." 
++++++++++++ 
Herb frowned. It was a woman, a real one. 
"What's the matter kid, you look like you've never seen a girl before," said the 
woman as she leaned over in front of him. 
"I...um...haven't," he said as he turned his head away from her. 
"Could have fooled me kid," replied Yohiko playfully. 
"Who's this?" asked Mitaka. 
"I'd say he smells like Musk to me," said Yohiko as she grinned at her 
companion. 
"That isn't a very nice thing to say," said the man with a small frown at her. 
"How did you know that?" said Herb as he suddenly became defensive and looked at 
the woman in shock. 
"My name is Yohiko, and I know a lot of things," said the woman as she winked at 
him. "You reek of Jusenkyo's magic for one." 
The boy's face turned into a heavy blush and he stepped back for a moment. "You 
see much that is hidden, Miss Yohiko." 
She nodded at him. "Quite." 
"What the heck is going on here?" asked Mitaka as he looked at the pair for a 
moment. 
"It's nothing," said the woman. "I'm afraid I've got some business to tend to 
now. I'm sorry to do this too you twice in a row, but..." 
"It's got something to do with this kid?" asked Mitaka as he peered down at the 
figures concealing robes. 
"Yes, in fact it does," said Yohiko cheerfully. 
"What business do you have with me?" said Herb sharply. he glared up at her and 
frowned. 
"You're obviously going to Colognes place right? You wouldn't go see her for 
nothing." 
Herb nodded at this. "So, you are an Amazon?" 
"No, not exactly. I can't think of anywhere else a person of the Musk tribe 
would be going." 
Mitaka frowned at the boy. "I'll catch you tomorrow then?" 
"Yes. Sorry, but I don't think you'll find this very interesting. Just visiting 
an old friend from China is all," said Yohiko. 
"How do you know the Amazon Elder?" asked Herb. 
"Well, I'm afraid that's difficult to explain," said Yohiko with smirk on her 
face. "In any case, I imagine you're here to find something." 
"You know too much," said Herb sharply as he turned his eyes on her again. 
"That I do," replied the woman as she returned his gaze coolly. "I'm not going 
with you because I want to be friendly. I know how you Musk react to women. I'm 
going along to make sure you behave yourselves." 
"What?" said Herb dumbly. 
"I imagine you wouldn't be quite as bad as the other two I sense nearby, for 
obvious reasons," said Yohiko calmly. 
"And what would you do?" said Herb with a disgusted snort as he continued 
walking. 
"Don't underestimate me boy," said Yohiko as she grinned at him. "I'm stronger 
than you realize." 
"I have the blood of the dragons in me, how can you hope too..." 
"Someone had to beat that dragon to get it into the spring boy, you're not 
invincible by any stretch," replied the woman as she flicked her pigtail over 
her shoulder. "Your not familiar with a woman's body either, and you're power is 
weakened by that as well." 
Herb gasped and glared at her. "How dare you..." 
"Calm down," said Yohiko. "I'm here to protect my home, not argue with you about 
who's being insolent." 
"Is it really that obvious?" asked the dragon prince as he closed his cloak a 
little tighter. 
"No, but I'm more observant than most," replied the woman as she smirked at him 
again. 
"You're a common fool," said the irritated Herb as he glanced at the woman 
again. 
"I'm anything but common," she responded flatly. 
Herb let her move ahead a little and lowered her head. "I can see that," she 
muttered under her breath. 
"And I'm also too old for you, don't start getting any weird ideas," she said as 
if she'd heard him. 
Herb snorted in frustration and embarrassment. "Wench." 
"I hope your two friends are behaving themselves for their sake," said Yohiko as 
she waved her arm at the entrance to the Cat Cafe. 
"Those two idiots?" snorted Herb as she walked past the woman and into the 
restaurant. "Not likely." 
"Hmm. That's too bad," said Yohiko as she strolled after him. 
++++++++++ 
Cologne looked up as the pair entered her restaurant and frowned. One she 
recognized, the other she did not. 
"Hello," she said calmly. 
Herb gave her a short nod and sat down at one of the tables. Cologne moved up 
next to him and frowned as the woman took a place beside the young prince. 
"This one I know, who are you young lady?" asked the old crone cautiously. 
"Young? How nice!" said Yohiko as she smiled at her warmly. "I am Yohiko Hibiki, 
and I am quite interested in anything that would attract the Musk to Japan. 
Their reputation precedes them. As does that of the Joketzuko. Most unusual to 
find the two of them together." 
Herb frowned at her. "You said you knew her." 
"I do know her, but she does not know me," replied the woman with a short nod. 
"What business do you have here?" asked the old woman sharply. 
"I'm looking out for the best interest of my country," replied the woman as she 
narrowed her eyes at the old crone. 
"Oh? What interest might that be?" 
"Still as curious as ever I see," said the woman as her form melted away into 
that of a familiar young boy. 
Cologne narrowed her eyes at the transformation. "Who might you be? This other 
Ranma my Great Granddaughter told me about?" 
"I am, I knew you, another you anyway. You appear to be all you were before," 
replied the Ranma clone with a smirk on his face. 
Herb merely stared at him for a moment. 
"I can assume that Herb is after the counter to his locked form, the...Open 
Water Kettle? I believe that is what it's called." 
Herb frowned at her a little more. "You're starting to wear my patience thin 
woman." 
"Well, I think you'll find you've bitten off more than you can chew if you cross 
me whelp," replied the boy coldly. 
"Of all the insolent..." growled Herb as she stood up. 
"I was strong enough to defeat Jusenkyo's magic, were you?" replied Ranma as he 
frowned at the cursed dragon-boy for a moment. 
Herb snorted at this. "Perhaps I can do something about that." 
"You'll regret it if you try to use that ladle on me, I promise you that," he 
said calmly as he narrowed his eyes at the boy. 
"Enough!" snapped Cologne. "You should leave now." 
"Not just yet, you see...I'm expecting someone any moment now," said Ranma 
calmly. "Ah, here they are now." 
"Lord Herb! We've returned! I actually got to talk to a girl!" said the wolf 
skin clad boy as he strolled in with Shampoo. 
The tiger skin clad boy walked in with Akane Tendo over his shoulder. "I'd like 
to try having tea with a girl now!" 
"Lime! Mint!" snapped Herb. "We don't have time for such foolishness!" He 
grabbed the struggling Akane from Lime and tossed her away. Throwing her out the 
door and into the street. 
Ranma Saotome walked in and frowned at her. "You shouldn't have done that." 
"Oh?" said Herb confidently as she turned and looked at the boy. She gasped and 
turned to look at the one she had come with. "Another one?" 
The first Ranma merely smiled and nodded. "Interesting ain't it?" 
Cologne was strangely silent, she merely sat back and watched. 
"Carrot?" said Ranma as he noticed his duplicate standing along side Cologne. 
The boy smiled at him, and kicked Herbs lackeys to the ground. He grabbed the 
ladle and bucket from Mint's robes and jumped back. "Well, how about a little 
test Saotome!?" 
"What are you doing?" snapped Herb in shock. 
Carrot grinned and splashed Ranma with the ladle, jumping over his head easily. 
The now female Ranma blinked in surprise and looked at his doppelganger for a 
moment dumbly. "What the?" 
Herb frowned and looked at the pigtailed girl for a moment. "Wha?" 
Carrot chuckled as Cologne gasped. "What have you done boy?" 
"I simply locked Ranma in his cursed form," replied the male Ranma. "To make 
things interesting, and to test him." 
"Locked?" muttered the pigtailed girl. "Why the heck did ya splash me ya jerk?" 
"I did more than splash you Ranma," said the male Ranma coldly. 
Herb and his lackeys stood beside Ranma and growled. "He's locked you in that 
form! You can't change back." 
"What? That's crazy!" cried the redhead in shock. 
"Indeed it is," agreed Carrot. He jumped out of the restaurant with the ladle in 
his hand. "Let's see if you're good enough to do anything about it!?" 
The group of angry Musk and Ranma charged outside. 
+++++++++++ 
The fight started without words or formalities. Herb jumped into the air and 
flew towards Carrot. 
"You'll have to do better than that young lady!" snarled Carrot as he dodged and 
lashed out with a kick that knocked the dragon prince out of the air. 
"Lord Herb!" cried Lime and Mint in shock. They attacked in unison, forcing 
Carrot on the defensive as Ranma tried to find an opportunity to jump in. 
Shampoo and Cologne watched the battle from just outside the door. "What is 
going on?" 
"What do?" muttered Shampoo in confusion. 
"Something is going on here child, that thing has done something terrible to the 
Son-in-law! I do not think he realizes it!" 
Lime and Mint both fell back and crumpled to the ground as Carrot managed to get 
a few strikes in despite their combined attacks. He landed lightly, in the 
middle of the street and cracked his knuckles. 
"Care to try again Princess?" 
"Why are you doing this?" snarled Herb. 
"If you beat me, I'll tell you!" cried Carrot as he noticed the dragon-girl 
building power. 
"I'll destroy you!" cried Herb as she shot a blast of power at the annoying boy. 
Carrot snorted and backed away from it before it could strike him. Herb gasped 
at this. "Impossible! No one is that fast!" 
The pigtailed boy rushed up as the blast dissipated and punched Herb in his gut 
hard. The girl fell forward clutching her belly painfully. 
Ranma rushed in and Carrot smirked at her. "Come on!" 
"You bastard!" roared Ranma as she found herself on the defensive. 
Cologne narrowed her eyes at this. The pigtailed boy had been fairly defensive 
up until this point, using counters to fight. Now he was on the assault, and 
moving just slow enough that Ranma could dodge, but not attack? Something was 
up. "The groom should be cautious, this one is a cunning adversary." 
Shampoo nodded and continued to watch in fascination. Her beloved was already 
walking the spiral for his most devastating attack. 
"No!" cried Cologne as she realized what he was going to do. 
Carrot smirked as they reached the center of the spiral. "Hiryuu shouten ha! 
Reversal strike!" 
Ranma's eyes went wide as her opponent punched upwards with his fist and twisted 
the strike. "No!" 
The whirlwind consumed them both, but only the male Ranma remained on the 
ground. 
Carrot stood chuckling to himself as he crossed his arms over his chest and 
surveyed his fallen opponents. "Pathetic. You're all outclassed. Try harder." 
Ranma landed roughly on the ground and slowly staggered to her feet. "Damn you." 
She wavered and put up her fists. 
Carrot snorted and tossed the ladle to the ground at her feet. "For a fighting 
spirit." 
Ranma looked down at it and collapsed to her knees. 
"Don't think it's over just yet boy," said Carrot as he jumped up and away from 
the scene. 
Herb grit his teeth and glared at the boy as he jumped away across the rooftops. 
"Damn!" 
"What the heck is this thing anyway?" muttered Ranma as she picked up the ladle. 
Herb frowned at her and adjusted her cloak. It had remained on throughout the 
fight. "You're locked in your cursed form." 
"Huh? Whatcha mean locked?" said the redhead angrily. 
"Son-in-law. The Closed Water Ladle was created to seal Jusenkyo's magic. It 
freezes you in your current form. No amount of hot water will change you back 
now," explained Cologne. 
Ranma went white as a sheet. "What? Yer jokin right?" 
Herb sighed. "No. I'm afraid not." 
Akane stepped out of the restaurant. She was holding her head and looking at 
them in confusion. "What happened?" 
"You mean I'm stuck like this!?" cried Ranma in horror. "It ain't true! It can't 
be true!" 
"It is," said Herb as she opened her cloak and showed the redhead own her body. 
"I was once a man too." Lime and Mint were still out cold, and she frowned at 
them. "You will not speak of this to these two." 
Ranma slowly nodded at this. 
"There is a cure, another sacred treasure of the Musk people. I was on my way to 
retrieve it." 
"You mean, I don't have to stay like this?" asked Ranma with hope forming in her 
eyes. 
"Ranma is stuck as a girl?" gasped Akane in horror. 
"Since I am partially responsible for this, I will allow you to accompany me on 
my quest," said Herb with a large scowl on her face. 
Ranma's face suddenly became firm as well. "All right then." 
++++++++++ 
Carrot chuckled as he watched the scene from a short distance away. "Everything 
is going according to plan." 
"What plan?" asked Dan. 
"Hell if I know," replied Xianfu. 
"Are you sure about this, Carrot?" asked Ranma. He was very uncomfortable with 
what they had just done. 
"No," replied Carrot with a small shrug. 
"No?" asked Pissant in horror. 
"Whadda ya mean 'no'?" said Ranma angrily. 
"That all depends on our friend Ranma over there," replied Carrot. "I don't see 
how this could get screwed up too badly." 
"Famous last words," grumbled Dan. 
"Yeah, well...I'm sure those two will have their hands full," said Carrot with a 
shrug. 
"Ouch! Don't do that!" snapped Dan. 
"That tiger guy sure does hit hard," said Ranma irritably as he tried to rotate 
their shoulder a little. 
"I think we burned our arm too," said Pissant. 
"Not to mention all those damn throwing knives," added Xianfu. 
"All right, all right! Maybe fighting all of them at once wasn't such a good 
idea!" snapped Carrot. 
"No shit," said Dan. 
"I coulda told ya that," said Ranma. 
"Idiot," snorted Xianfu. 
"I sure am glad Cologne didn't decide to beat us up too," muttered Pissant. 
"I get the damn point!" said Carrot. 
"Come on, we should get home. Usagi is probably worried about us," said Xianfu. 
"Yeah. We need to tell her we'll be gone tomorrow," agreed Carrot. 
"Gone?" muttered Xianfu in confusion. 
"Yup. We gotta go make sure they don't find that thing to easily," said Carrot. 
"This is an important battle for him, he's got to fight it." 
"You mean we gotta do this again?" grumbled Pissant. 
"Hopefully we'll be able to get those two lackeys of his out of the way first 
this time," said Carrot. "We need to find Ryoga and Mousse, and leak a little 
information to them." 
"Where the heck are they anyway?" asked Dan. 
Probably where they got left after they fought Lime and Mint still. 
++++++++++++ 
"Damn it!" growled Ryoga as he pulled on another one of the knives that had 
Mousse stuck in the wall. 
"You should wash your hair more often Ryoga," said Mousse with a frown on his 
face. 
"It's concrete! Not dandruff for the last time!" snapped Ryoga. "How the heck 
can you see that anyway? You can't even tell me how many fingers I'm holding up 
right now!" 
"I can certainly tell which finger it is!" snarled Mousse angrily. 
"I'll just leave you here then," snorted Ryoga. 
"Just you wait until I get free Hibiki!" 
"Yeah, just hang there for a while then. I've got to go save Akane. I'm sure 
Ranma screwed it up! That irresponsible bastard!" cried Ryoga as he dashed off 
in the wrong direction. 
++++++++++++++ 
TBC... 
Next Time: The Open Water Kettle!