Note: This takes place after the failed wedding attempt and the battle with Saffron. This series borrows heavily from the Lovecraftian Mythos and the Titus Crow novels by Brian Lumley. If there are any questions concerning the situations or characters you can e-mail me at Kaiton@banet.net. Thank you. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "So through endless twilights I dreamed and waited, though I knew not what I waited for. Then in the shadowy solitude my longing for light grew so frantic that I could rest no more, and lifted entreating hands to the single black ruined tower that reached far above the forest into the unknown outer sky. And at last I resolved to scale that tower, fall though I might; since it were better to glimpse the sky and perish, than to live without ever beholding day." H.P. Lovecraft, "The Outsider" -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Destinies Lost, Destinies Found Chapter 1-The Outsider Kaiton vze2jcwc@verizon.net -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It had begun as just a simple tickle at the back on my head, a distinct buzzing that refused to leave like a violent squatter. The sensation was neither painful nor pleasant but was annoying like a bug bite on a humid day. I had been walking on the fence by the canal when it first started, Akane had caught me as I tumbled down from the new pressure. As I rose I thought I heard chanting of some kind but I dismissed it as a ghost sound from the fight this morning. Akane had a questioning look as if I had done it on purpose to take advantage of her. Later I would regret the venom I spat at her. "You pervert! I can't believe you would sink so low as to fake an injury to get out of class! I know we have that Math test today but you don't have to act like a baby!" Akane stood over me, with the sun behind her she looked all the more menacing. "Honestly! If you had just studied you wouldn't fail like this. But still, it's all your own fault!" And with that she stamped on my face with her shoe. The only consolation was that it was a _soft_ shoe. "You uncute tomboy why'd ya do that!?! Just because I take martial arts seriously and put it before dumb ol' school doesn't mean I have to let a crazy violent tomboy like you pound me!" I stood up and approached her. There was a distinct abnormality to her aura, a shifting from anger to jealousy to...I didn't know. Her blue anger aura flared up around her as I sidestepped her sloppy blow. "No one would ever love an uncute tomboy with hips the size of sumo wrestlers! In fact even I don't want to marry ya!" And I immediately regretted my words. For there was a look there, one which made all the oceans in the world seemed shallow, and the cosmos paper-thin; compared to the depths of sorrow that lay evident in her eyes. The prickle had grown somewhat and reminded me of a blender, twisting my vision around and making coherent thought impossible. "Akane...I'm...I'm sorry I don't know what came over me..." I looked down at the ground feeling low as dirt. "Ranma...Ranma, I don't...I..." and she turned to face me with tears brimming down her porcelain cheeks. In the distance there was a roll of thunder. She slapped me. Hard. Then she spun on her heal and ran back the way we had come, with no insults, no insinuating remarks, just...silence. I stood there for awhile letting the wound settle in, it was shocking how horrible I felt from just a senseless slip of the tongue and the fact that she had said nothing drove home to my heart how badly I had hurt her. The itch forgotten, I made my way back to the Tendo dojo as lightning lit up the sky. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- By Dr. Suekeichi Kaiton vze2jcwc@verizon.net -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This was just the beginning of my harrowing ordeal, later I would find out that that tingling had been the start of the trials and tribulations I was about to endure. It had been at the back of my head and vaguely I could pick out shapes that hadn't been visible before-the ants crawling in the grass, the termites in the trees, and the auras around people became far more pronounced. I stumbled after Akane in a mental daze as if seeing the world in a different light while inside I cursed myself for not addressing the subject at hand. Slowly, ever slowly the clouds unfurled their capes of gloom overhead punctuated by frequent tongues of lightning off in the distance; school forgotten, I entered the courtyard with both our schoolbags, Akane having left hers in the street. The familiar weight of the canvas cases were calming reminders of quiet times long past, for I knew that things would never be the same. Kasumi was not outside. Altogether not such an odd thing considering the storm coming and Akane's dash back inside, what I failed to notice was the overturned water bucket and ladle lying on the path. I entered into the house proper, slid off my shoes and it was at that moment I knew something was wrong. Everyone was huddled in the living room either crying or arguing. Mr. Tendo wept in his sleeves, Nabiki caught me with an icy glare, Mom was staring razors at Pops and Kasumi wore a mask of worry and doubt, while my pop was arguing with Happosai. Now just a word on Happosai, despite being the most perverted lecher in all of Japan he was also the foremost martial artist of his kind in the world. As much as I hate to admit it I learned more stuff from Happosai than from Pops (useful stuff that is) but still more from the old ghoul Cologne. Anyway getting back to the story, Happosai had drunk a cask of nannichuan at the wedding and slowly but surely he was becoming younger, about ten years per day I think. By this time he looked about forty, a far cry from one hundred and ten! "Genma! As my pupil you should've at least propositioned the young lass for your old master!" A strike on the head. "I mean good god Genma! Have I taught you nothing? I beautiful girl with big bosoms come waltzing in here and you don't even bat an eye? What kind of a disgraceful student are you? At least Soun blinked!" He grabbed my father by the collar and shook his head until Genma passed out. "Hmph! At least Ranma m'boy will come with his old master to track down the lass, won't you Ranma?" "Hey old man I'm not even here because of you! I just came back to talk with Akane!" I took a defensive stance. "Ah! Exactly my point!" Happosai grinning with his white teeth. "Akane was kidnapped by a comely young wench as she walked in the door, and now you can help me find the crazy lass!" The smiled widened with a few puffs from his pipe. "You see the motto for the Anything Goes School is 'kill two birds with one stone always,' which means if there isn't anything in it for you-don't do it!" Happosai then broke into uncontrollable laughter. I relaxed back and sat cross legged across from Mr. Tendo. Disgusted with the 'master' I turned to Mr. Tendo, "Do you remember what she looked like? Was she in a leotard? Black hair? Crazy laugh?" When anyone said 'crazy girl' a picture of Kodachi Kuno arose in my mind. The blood-chilling laughter and weird potions she used caused an involuntary shudder. "Well son yes on all accounts! My baby girl has been kidnapped by a crazy woman! Kami only knows what's happened to her!" Soun burst into a puddle of whimpering tears. I knew he wouldn't be of much help. "Kasumi?" "Yes Ranma-kun?" Kasumi looked up from her daze, sometimes I couldn't tell if she had anything in her head or not. The glazed look in her eyes looked a little...mindless. "Did the girl say anything?" Knowing Kodachi she would have said something, the girl was just too twisted for my tastes sometimes I think she should've been thrown in a mental hospital. "No, but she did leave this," Kasumi withdrew a gymnastics ribbon from her housecoat. It was a light turquoise, Kodachi's equipment color all right. Unfurling like a scroll, the ribbon said to meet at the clearing of the Hida mountains, a few miles outside Furinkan. I had a keen recollection of the clearing, it was where I first fought Ryoga's breaking point technique. "Oh ho Ranma! You're in luck! That's where Soun and Genma entombed and tried to bomb me!" Happosai glared back at Soun and Pops who immediately started the 'crouch of the wild tiger' technique. I was filled with disgust for both the fathers and Happosai, but agreed to let him come along. And so, in a few scant hours, Happosai and I set out for the Hida mountain range and Akane. Kodachi had snapped two nights before, I was told by Kuno. Apparently he had been practicing in the underground dojo when Kodachi came twirling in with a mad look in her eyes. After a quick discussion Kodachi told him that she was going to 'get the miserable Tendo girl out of the way of her love for Ranma,' and ran off into the night. As far as I was concerned, Kodachi had snapped years ago. But now Akane's life hung in the balance! The rain had stopped leaving a pleasant scent in the air, one that smelled of pine trees and the clean mountain air. Out of the corner of my eye I thought I saw a dark patch ripple in the canal, a spot of ooze, but I dismissed it as my imagination. How wrong I was. You remember I told you how things looked different after the tingling began? Well that was causing my hallucinations, or lack there of, I later found out what I was seeing was what was really there; and that the spells of invisibility cast around them didn't affect me. The floating thing in the canal was the first danger, but it certainly wasn't the last. --- "Oh ho ho ho ho ho ho ho! Ranma-sama finally came for me!" Kodachi perched on the highest bough of a tree, Akane was tied to a lower branch. Happosai leapt up to untie Akane when Kodachi threw a razor hoop. I stood just below Akane watching the steady rise and fall of her chest-she was alive! I shoved aside the buzzing in my head to focus on more important things. "You crazy lass! Don't you know pretty young women shouldn't play with knives?" Happosai grabbed the hoop in a ki strengthened hand and threw it back at her. The hoop spiraled out of control before hitting the branch Kodachi was crouched on. The hoop sliced the limb and thrust her forward, right into Happosai's waiting hands. "Sweeto! Come here and let me feel the warm softness of your bosom!" "You impetuous little common lech! How dare you think to molest the clan of Kuno's own black rose! Am I not the foremost rhythmic gymnastics champion?" She threw out her hand and a ribbon grappled a nearby branch, it all happened so fast I didn't see her with the vial of poison. "I will have Ranma all to myself," She flung the tube at Akane. It burst into a fine mist of powder, "once Akane Tendo has been dealt with! Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!" With terrifyingly perfect clarity I saw Akane inhale deeply and patches of mist around her disappeared into her lungs. Her eyes opened in terror, and for one brief instant I believe she saw us, saw everything; but slowly her eyes lost their focus and the sparkle that had always existed at the back of her eyes was extinguished...forever. She hung loosely by her bonds on the tree, a slow twirling motion showed that she was lifeless-no breathing, no heart rate, no movement. Akane was dead, dead by the hands of a crazy delusional whore! "NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!" I screamed from the bottom of my soul as her eyes hung limply, gazing into nothingness. Happosai landed on the ground and lowered his head in silent respect. I think it was at that point I realized that no matter how perverted he was he still had feelings and knew the respectful thing to do, he also knew when to leave and he beat a hasty retreat into the thick undergrowth of the surrounding forest. Kodachi, however, looked at me with the most quizzical expression as if she didn't know what had just happened. Her head cocked to the side and she approached me as I cradled Akane's broken body in my crushing embrace. "Why do you scream my dearest Ranma? I saved you from the clutches of that wicked girl Tendo! Now we can marry!" She really didn't know what she had done was wrong! I couldn't believe it! At least Kuno wouldn't be that dumb to kill someone and not even have second thoughts. At that time, at that place, it was the wrong thing to say. I felt the tingling turn into a burning within my skull, as if my whole head became a living mass of writhing flame. My vision blurred, my senses became super sensitive, and I thought I saw my hands flare like fire before me. "Ranma-sama! Your hands! What happen-!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" I was in motion, a complicated kata that left my hands folded in front of my face. Kodachi I don't believe ever even knew what hit her. With a gratifying scream the world exploded into a mass of blinding white light. At the center, drowning out all impurities, all sins I stood watching the chaos before me. I don't even know what happened to Kodachi's body during that time, but whatever it was must have hurt for a chilling scream came bubbling from her throat as if from the darkest pit of Eblis! And I screamed too, I screamed for the loss, for the murder and finally for myself... --- I awoke in a few hours. Happosai was kneeling over me with smelling salts. The world flared into impossible focus for me, I saw every detail on every tree, could count the wrinkles on Happosai's face, could even feel every muscle in my body rip as I moved. My vision had little spots, but I managed to view the area. It was a different part of the woods from what I could see, charred from forest fires and drought. There were no animals, no sounds it was like an open tomb letting loose the spirits of the past. A ruined tree marked the center of the dead area. "Ranma! M'boy your alright! I thought that maybe you'd died." Happosai's face lit up in a way that I had only seen once. He had stolen a pair of Yuka's panties and then flipped up her skirt...in the courtyard...in front of the entire student body. He really did care about the school, or at least his pupils. "That explosion was amazing! I don't even think the Happo-Daikarin could have elicited more damage. That Kuno girl sure was packing a lot of explosive." His face became serious. "I'm sorry about Akane Ranma, she...she was a pretty girl with fantastic taste in panties... I...I.." He broke down in tears and I didn't really know what to do-pound him for slander or thank him for the sentiment. Off to the side I saw Akane's body lying on the earth, her body somehow emitting a curious glow. I dragged myself over to her and propped my head up on my arms and it was at that moment that I realized where I was. I was still in the clearing! The tree was burned almost to ashes and the surrounding forest was burned away in a 1 kilometer radius around me! Only Akane was unscathed by the flame, her body resting on a soft patch of earth that still held a healthy green coat of grass. Had I done this? Was it possible? I found out all to well my own propensity for murder when I looked at what remained of Kodachi. It was unnamable the horrid thing! A phantasmal amalgamation of scorched flesh, spilled blood and broken limbs. It would horrify readers to know what disgusting things I had done to her as I killed her. I may have been unconscious of my actions at the time but that made no excuse for that blasphemy I created, that mockery I made of beautiful life cruelly stamped out by my anger. The _carcass_ was riddled with cauterized entry holes, spears of white hot light had pierced her eyes, her mouth, her heart and her stomach leaving a smoking fleshy sack lying on a charred earth. A hoary transgression to the land of the dead. I vomited near the corpse as the sight was too much to bear. The sound of my actions must have broken Happosai of his revelry for he came to me and placed a comforting hand on my shoulder. "There was nothing you could have done Ranma. She killed Akane in cold blood and deserved everything that happened after. You can't blame yourself for her death, you weren't responsible. I think Akane smiles upon you because you took her killer to task m'boy." He smiled wistfully at the idea. The words were little comfort, the reality of her death finally chose that moment to sink in. It was at that moment that seventeen years of martial arts training left me and I blubbered like a baby for the death of innocence, for my own fall from grace, but more importantly for the families-for I was to blame. Happosai looked respectfully forward, and helped me prepare for the walk back. I carried Akane back in my arms, one beneath her knees, one supporting her shoulders; and the dead weight seemed much heavier. "Ranma?" "Yeah Happosai?" I really didn't want to talk. "Don't let this experience turn you off love m'boy! There are plenty more girls in the world believe you me!" I frowned and almost lost my temper if not for the next thing he said, "I once lost a love, swore I'd never love again out of respect. But then I met Cologne and well...time heals all wounds." Could I really believe that? It was too much to ask for. *Rustle!* I whipped around to the sound of leaves. There was a curious air about the place, dead, foreboding. The wind blew gently and I could feel it on every cell on my arms. I breathed in, and a rank, fetid stench overpowered me. I sank to the ground clutching my chest in a vain attempt to ward the offensive odor away. Happosai came running up and handed me a bottle of water. After gulping the flask I slowly breathed normally again, the effort needed to take such slight intakes of oxygen already too much strain on my compromised respiratory functions. *Crack!* It returned. I peered out with tear clouded eyes _past_ the forest and _through_ the trees to find myself face to face with a gibbering thing of oozing flesh that squatted in the darkest reaches of the night. I pulled back to the clearing just in time, for I think that perhaps it might have seen me as well! "M'boy I don't think its too wise to start back yet. I'll make camp and we'll start back out at first light, alright?" "Sure," I coughed out. --- I awoke late in the night to find a strange cacophony of sounds emanating from the forest. Afraid to go out for fear of the grotesque thing with I had so briefly glimpsed before, I hid nestled in my tent and listened to the chant. "Yigniahhh! Yigniahhh! Eeeeeeyyyayayayayh! Ithaqua fhtagn! Ia~! Ia~!" An incomprehensible jumble of vocal sounds made naught by this earth. A terrible symphony of pain and suffering wrought by the backwoods peasants of the less favorable type, inbreeding and madness ran rampant in those small bands of humanity. Some told of dark rituals which were performed others told of bloated gods of old that stalked the dark forests and fens of man's domain. Until now I hadn't believed but after gazing as the corrupted corpulence of the _thing_ that stalked these woods I was forced to. After fifteen minutes the chorus ebbed off and I was able to sleep. My dreams that night were filled with dark landscapes with towering structures that dazzled the mind. The architecture twisted inside of itself like a moebius strip hurting the eyes to gaze at it. Amid the destruction and depression of the dark pantheon I saw the vague suggestion of enormous shadows lurking just past my field of vision. --- "Ranma! Your back!" Kasumi dropped the water bucket and ladle and ran through the gates to embrace me. I felt a bit embarrassed by the show of affection but I knew it wouldn't last. "Where's Akane?" I swallowed, I knew this was coming but to actually go through with it, to actually be the bearer of bad news tore my heart to shreds. I must have been crying because Kasumi wiped my face with her handkerchief. I took her hand in mine and brushed it roughly against my face, I believe that Kasumi instinctively knew what had happened because she embraced me tighter and let me cry on her shoulder, her motherly nature seeing the sorrow and malignance of my thoughts. We stayed that way for a long time until Kasumi helped me into the house. Happosai followed slowly behind, a shortened pallbearer for Akane who we had carried back with us, Kodachi's carcass had been left in the clearing for dogs to rip apart and birds to peck out her eyes (or what was left of them). Nabiki saw the look on our faces and went to fetch pop and mom. Soun was reading the paper when I strode in and sat at the kotatsu. He took one look at my face and burst into tears, Kasumi brought me a cup of tea and the ordeal began. "Boy? What happened to Akane?" Pop was standing in the garden wearing his usual gi and handkerchief around his head. He became enraged when I didn't answer him. "Listen here Ranma! If you don't tell me what happened I'll...I'll..." He paused. I thought he had seen my eyes but instead he fell to the floor, crumpling like a doll. "Quiet down now Genma. Show some respect..." Happosai shuffled in and sat next to Soun. "Don't worry Soun I only hit a few of his pressure points, he can still listen." He glared at Mr. Tendo. "And if you don't hear the boy out too, I'll do the same to you." Soun shuddered. "Ranma? Did you rescue Akane?" Mother came in and sat next to pop who lay sprawled on the floor. "Why is everyone so sad?" "Mom...I...She..." I stuttered, but then who could blame me. "Akane's...dead." The words echoed off the walls and came back to my ears. There was silence, then... "YOU! HOW DARE YOU! MY DAUGHTER IS DEAD BECAUSE OF YOUR MISTAKE! I WANT YOU OUT OF MY HOUSE NOW!" Soun looked sternly at Ranma, then Genma, then Nodoka. "You will leave this house and never return. Genma, the engagement is off. Now get out." His voice barely a whisper. "Calm down now Soun old boy," Happosai let him fall to the floor, "I told you to hear the boy out." He looked towards me again. "Well, Ranma?" "Alright..." For the next two hours I was scrutinized and questioned as to the exact manner of Akane's death. Nabiki kept asking me to repeat how she died over and over, I think she did it just to see me suffer. Waves of revulsion for my action bashed against the walls of my brain until finally I broke down and dried. Happosai did as well. I felt totally alone in the world cast down and shackled in the darkest pit of Tartarus along with the other damned, but I felt my mother and Kasumi embrace me tightly. The feeling of the love between them and me caused me to break into another fit of blubbering. "Where is Akane's body now?" Mother sat up straight again. "I placed her coffin in the dojo." Happosai wiped the tears from his eyes. "Coffin? I don't recall having a coffin," Nabiki spoke up. "We built it to carry her in when we were in the forest," he paused to wipe a tear from his eye, "it was the least we could do..." --- The next morning found me refreshed. I bathed and got dressed before Kasumi was awake and left a note on the kitchen table before I departed. I walked out of the house and saw the slightest sliver of sun rising from the ground. A warm glowing heat suffused the night as I walked into town. My mind firmly set I entered the Nekohanten. "Hello?" My head peered through the doorway into the living area at the back of the store. A flaring tingle awoke at the back of my head and I _saw_ the old ghoul rushing towards me from around the corner, her battle aura raging around her like a formless bag. In her mind I saw her tactics and prepared a defensive stance. "HIYA!" Cologne dashed towards him with her staff raised ready to kill the intruder. I sidestepped and grabbed the staff from her hands. The shock of the maneuver was only an extension of the powers I had gained since the battle with Saffron. Since the battle the tingling had begun, Akane had been killed and I had killed. Cologne looked with an incredulous gaze at the staff which twirled in my hand. "Son-in-law! If you wanted to sneak in you could've just come in through Shampoo's window.." She said with a smirk. "But aside from that how did you disarm me? I hid all signs of my presence! Not even other matriarchs of my tribe can sense me!" She tore the staff from my grip and balanced herself back on it. "That's why I'm here. Some weird things are happening and I thought you'd have some answers." I followed her into a study filled with ancient Chinese tomes of literature and prophecy. "Indeed I do Ranma, indeed I do." I spent a good portion of the day up there with Cologne, she had fascinating things to tell me. I could scarcely believe the tale she spun for me. She brought down many old musty books and was about to translate them when I read aloud the chicken scratches. "Son-in-law! I didn't know you could read Chinese!" "I...uh...actually can't." "Then how were you able to decipher my notes? It is written in archaic Han Chinese!" She fixed me with a scrutinizing gaze. "Shampoo!" She appeared at the door. She looked at me. She looked hurt and vaguely suspicious. Cologne turned back to the book. Shampoo called down to Mousse for the refreshments then sat next to me at the table. I stopped speaking when I saw the looks Cologne and Shampoo gave me. "No you're not Ranma! Is this another strange thing that has happened to you?" Cologne closed Shampoo's mouth. "This is just the tip of the iceberg old ghoul." I rolled my eyes. "After I came back from the fight with Saffron, I got a buzzing in the back of my head. I see things I didn't before and when I killed Kodachi I could swear my hands were on fire." I saw the look Cologne was giving me, "Yeah...I...I _killed_ her! She had killed Akane!" "Well...I...Shampoo?" "Yes great-grandmother?" "Fetch me that book at the top shelf." "This one here?" Shampoo took down a heavy journal. "Yes." The ghoul flipped through the pages and skimmed with a finger. Finally she spoke. "Son-in-law I think that you're the one." "One what?" I gave her a quizzical look. "Sit down Ranma and listen well." I sat. "Thousands of years ago this prophecy was written, but even today it has foretold the disasters that have plagued this world since it's inking. So heed its words Ranma." She closed the book with a resounding slam. "I thought it might be you, I thought so. After Saffron's defeat I paid close attention to you boy but now..." She grimaced, "now I'm sure of it. Listen to this prophecy: "He who is born from Heaven and Earth, who holds the powers of the darkest one deep within, will be reborn from the waters of death and return unscathed from the fires of light; by this we shall know him. "He will prevail over the Crimson King and reduce him to a child, gaining power from the god, he will burst with pride and fortitude; by this we shall know him. "He will awaken under tragedy and reveal in his love's blood; by this we shall know him. "He will travel beyond the veil and overcome fears great and small; by this we shall know him. "He will be joined in matrimony with one of the sky and one of the moment; by this we shall know him. "He, the guardian of the most high will raise the fires of the cosmos and bury the dark beneath his feet; by this he shall be recognized and blessed for all eternity." Cologne stopped and closed her eyes but I could still feel her eyes boring into my head. Her ancient wizened face betrayed some inner fear of me, a latent abhorrence for what I had become. Shampoo had disappeared as well it seemed as though I had finally scared her off. "What does all this mean Old Ghoul?" "It means Ranma...it means that you are the one, you defeated the Crimson King, awakened your power in death and Akane died. You're fulfilling the prophecy already." She turned away. "I've told you all I can. Leave." --- I don't think I've ever felt as alone as I did then. I stalked home in depression, I didn't even eat dinner. Instead I sat on the roof of the dojo and pondered for the first time in my life on what Cologne had said. Hell, even I couldn't deny that those events happened but to believe that I was destined for cosmic things? Ha! She was probably playing a mind game, or so I thought. I stayed there late into the night a frantic grasping for the normal routine of my life, but still Akane's body lay in the dojo below and there would never be any chance to turn back. Kasumi had called me down for tea and cookies but I really wasn't in the mood. A roll of thunder in the distance lit the sky. A flash of lightning and it began to rain. Pour actually. I ran back into the house (using the kitchen door) and heated a kettle of water. On the table were cookies and an empty tea pot. Kasumi had scrawled a message in ink. ^Ranma, I hope these make you feel better. I've left the tea inside so just add the hot water.-Kasumi^ I shook my head thanking Kami-sama that Kasumi was such a kind, caring person. Outside the rain came down in a raging torrent that filled the capacious gutters. *Click.* The door swung open as I poured the hot water onto myself. I spun and went into an advanced defensive crouch. And stopped. The lightning split the blackness of the sky at that moment, and thunder followed soon after an enormous rumbling that shook the foundations of the house. A ferocious wind whipped at my clothes as I stood frozen at the sight before me. For there, standing in the doorway, was Akane! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Author's Notes: Well this is just the start of a trilogy of series' that will be written by me in the coming months. Each series will have at least six chapters and will be epic in scope. Frankly I find the mind and situations of H.P. Lovecraft to be fascinating so I thought I'd try a hand at mixing Ranma with Lovecraft. I read "She's Got The Look" and "Eidolons" and found a mix of these two works rather well. Brian Lumley also wrote Lovecraftian fiction staring Titus Crow who will be making an appearance later on. Anyway I hope you enjoyed the story! Have a happy New Year! 12/26/1999