Standard Disclaimer: All characters appearing in this 
fic are the property of their respective creators. 
Please don't sue me, I have no money.

                      Desert Moon
                A Ranma 1/2 Fanfiction
                 By Valandar the Red


                     Chapter Seven
                        Renegade

     "You thought your own, near-deity abilities could defeat a
demon god? Little bird, you are a fool." Jalamdhara shook the
limp form of the King of Phoenix Mountain. The king's 
regeneration was suppressed by the fiend's own malevolent power,
and he quickly found himself defeated by the true immortal. A
gesture, and a golden cage of pure power formed around the two.
The demon god dropped his captive, and stepped out of the magic
prison.
     Facing the assembled people of the mountain, he smiled with
all four heads. In unison, and in four different voices, he said,
"Garadu of this mountain! I have conquered you with the simple
act of defeating your king and guardian! You will follow my 
commands as if I was your god - because as of this moment, I am!"
     None but Kima would dare speak. "Get ye to Hell! We will
never follow your commands. Only Vishnu or Saffron can command
us, and you are neither!"
     The demon god's smile dimmed, replaced by a scowl. "Child,
Saffron cannot help you, and Vishnu, apparantly, will not. If
you do not follow my decree, you will be annihilated, and your
younglings with you. Then, I shall animate your corpses, and use
them for my purposes. Living or dead, it does not make much
difference to me."
     A hand reached out, and grabbed Kima's shoulder. "No, my
dear," said an aging citizen. "It is better to go alive, and
hope to be freed, than to get the entire populace destroyed."
     "Gather your weapons, and bring me the Gekkajen and Kinjakan. 
We attack Svargaloka in six hours. At that moment, the home of the 
gods will be mine!"

               ********************

     It had been twenty-six years since the last time Ranma stood
on the side of Phoenix Mountain. The landslides he had caused in 
his epic battle with Saffron had long since been cleared, and the 
entrances sealed. New entrances had been made, however, including 
the gaping hole Jalamdhara had bored in his desire to quickly 
conquer the inhabitants. He now stood behind a large boulder, with 
only his five friends, and the ancient amazon, Khu Lon. He still 
thought of her as Cologne, or the Old Ghoul, though.
     "Mousse, you're still hurt. I want you to stay here. I hate 
to say this, but your injury would slow the rest of us down. 
Ucchan, you stay with him in case he sends guards or somethin'"
     Ukyou started to protest, but reminded herself that she 
wasn't a teenager anymore, and that Ranma was right. She nodded,
and swatted Mousse on his uninjured shoulder when he started to
argue.
     "Now, Ranma, children," began Khu Lon.
     "We're not children, anymore. Most of us have kids of our 
own," objected Ryouga.
     "I'll grant you that. But the key to defeating him lies not
in facing the demon god in battle, but in splashing him with hot
water."
     "But how do we sneak up on someone with four heads?" asked
Akane.
     "I got it!" snapped Ryouga. "How does this sound..."

     Ten minutes later, Ukyou sat down next to Mousse, who was
muttering under his breath. "Sorry you didn't get to go in, sugar.
After all, I know how you feel."
     "Why didn't you argue? Why didn't you tell him to leave his
wife out here with me instead of you?" His eyes were glazed from
the pain, but a lifetime of training the mind and body allowed him
to still stay alert.
     "Because he loves her."
     "Huh? Something must be wrong. I'm blind, not deaf, and I
thought you said it was because he loves her."
     Ukyou took a deep breath, and blew it out, slowly. "Yup, 
that's what I said. If he had told her to stay behind, that would
not only show he didn't trust her, it'd also show he didn't trust
his own teaching ability. He'd never do that, not anymore."
     "Then...we wait?"
     "Sure thing, sugar. We wait. And, when it's time, we act."

     Another five minutes later, and Ryouga, Akane, Shampoo, and
Khu Lon stood in a small cubbyhole, overseeing Jalamdhara's
preparations for his attack. Ranma had vanished a few minutes 
earlier, to get what they needed. At the sight of the King of
Phoenix Mountain in a cage, Akane grew very afraid. If he could
be beaten so quickly that not much was damaged, then this new
enemy was incredibly powerful. She hoped their plan worked.
     "P-chan," she whispered, "what's taking Ranma so long?" There
was no answer. "P-chan?" She looked to where he should have been
hiding, and saw nothing. She glanced back over at the old 
matriarch, and started with, "Cologne, something's. . . happened?"
She stared off, for the matriarch was gone, as well. She looked 
around, and saw she was alone. "Oh, great, what do I...Ranma?"
     In the hall below, she saw a bound form, struggling and 
spitting curses. Thr ever-present pigtail lashed back and forth, as 
he struggled to free himself. She flattened herself in the cubby-
hole, and wondered where the other three had gone. 
     One of the bird-men who carried Ranma spoke. "G-great Lord, 
this one was trying to steal the Kinjakan. What s-should we do with
him?"
     Jalamdhara cast an amused eye at the entangled martial artist.
"Amusing. Didn't you know that if you had touched the staff, you
would have been instantly...wait...yes, I see it! Oh, you have 
taken the Phoenix Pill! Very intelligent of you, you could have
indeed handled it safely.Did you enjoy your little playmates back
at the Springs?"
     Ranma stopped struggling, and glared at the demon god. "Yeah,
we did. I thought it was pretty good that all you could send 
against us was just a buncha shadows."
     "Shadows, and ghosts, and the shambling dead. Among which, you
will soon number. Bring in the other captives, so that he may know
the futility of his quest!"
     Akane quailed when she saw Khu Lon, Shampoo, and Ryouga half
dragged before the throne. They were sluggish, and seemed to be
drugged. The Lost Man was fighting off the effects better than the 
other two, but was still barely conscious. With them was...her?
Ranma's face seemed to crack at the sight of this second Akane, but
he apparantly steeled himself with the Heart of Ice training.
     "The five of you have failed in whateve you were attempting to
do. I will sacrifice your souls to myself as we begin our great
crusade, and the power of your souls will aid me against the gods.
Take them away, while I meditate."
     Akane shuddered in her hiding place. How were the others 
taken? Why was there a second Akane down there with them? And, most 
importantly, how was she going to rescue them?

               ********************

     Ranma appeared defiant on the outside, but on the inside, his mind was whirling a mile a minute. At this moment, only Ukyou and
the injured Mousse were free. He couldn't signal them, and 
wouldn't, so they had to ge out on their own. The Moko Takabisha 
would be too dangerous in these caverns, as it could cause a cave-
in. His Hiryuu Shoten Ha, and Ryouga's Shi Shi Hokudan and Bakusai
Tenketsu were out for the same reason. He still didn't know much
about Khu Lon's abilities, but he knew she could not do the shark-
fist in here, and the Splitting Cat Hairs technique would not get
them free. Maybe...maybe...
     "Well, at least your Akane is still free," said Akane.
     "Yeah, at least you're still...huh?" Ryouga just stared.
     Khu Lon looked at her great-granddaughter, and the two young
men. "Do you mean that you have not yet realized who this really
is?'
     Ranma's eyes widened, then narrowed. "Kiima. The woman who
tried to drown Akane to make the Akaneniichuan."
     "Please, do not hate me even now. That was many years ago. I
saw them coming for you, and used a technique to freeze your...
wife? Then I took her place as you three were being gassed, and hid
her. She's still out there, somewhere."
     Shampoo looked at Kiima. In Chinese, she said, "Incredible.
Even though you've led totally different lives, your Akane form is
absolutely identical."
     Kima blushed. "Yes. It's the Spring of Drowned Akane, not the
Spring of Drowned Young Akane. As she ages, so will my cursed form.
If she ever dies, my cursed form will become the young Akane, until
the day I die."
     Khu Lon sat down into a Lotus position. "Son-in-law, your old
friend has told me about the unusual technique you developed, to 
fuse things together. Pray, tell me, how did you devise it?"
     With a questioning glance at Ryouga, the pig-tailed martial
artist began. "Well, I had been readin' legends about how the Shao-
Lin monks were said to be able to walk through walls. My first 
attempts messed up pretty badly. Akane started teasin' me about 
walkin' into the walls. A few days later, I bought a set of pads. I 
put them on, and synchronized my chi to them. I walked up to a 
wall, and synchronized my chi and that of the pads with the chi of 
the wall. 
     "When I started to walk through the wall, Akane gasped. I was
actually doin' it! Sparks were flyin', and I could hear a hissing 
sound. I wasn't, though. I bumped into the wall with my nose, an'
lost my concentration. I tried to step away from the wall, an' I
couldn't. The chest piece had fused to the wall. Akane loosened the 
ties on it, an' I squirmed loose. There was the chest pad, partway 
through the wall. I thought about what happened, and tried it 
again, this time with a piece of plywood, after I had knocked a 
hole in the wall where the pad was stuck. An', that's how."
     Khu Lon looked pensive. "Too bad. If you had rediscovered the
Ghost Walk technique, we could be out of here, soon. I shall now
meditate on this. Keep an eye out for the real Akane." Her eyes
closed, and here hands rested where here knees should be, under
the long, green robe.

                    ***************************

     Akane raced around the tunnels, heart beating a mile a minute.
She had no idea where the others were, or who that other Akane was.
Every so often, she would duck around a corner, as a successive 
series of patrolls passed the corridor she was in for the moment. 
Finally, she saw what she needed to. A single cave, with steel
bars blocking it off, and a large grated door set into the bars. A
bird-man soldier was asleep to the left of the cell, a key on the
cord around his neck. She snuck up to him, then struck him on the 
corner of his jaw, a painful knockout blow he could not have 
avoided, even if he was awake. She yanked the key from around the 
guard's neck, and stepped up to the door.
     "Akane, she's here!"stage whispered Ryouga to Ranma. The 
latter was bumping over and over again into the side wall of the 
cave, a look of concentration on his face alongside the slightly
bloody nose. He stopped it, immediately. 
     Ranma glanced at the fake Akane, then at the real one. "Well,
let us out."
     "Hold your horses, I'm getting it." She fumbled with the key 
for a second, then opened it with a faint click. The five crept
out, with Kiima in the rear. "And just who in the world are you?"
     The bird woman held her head low. "This unworthy one is the
wretch who created the Akaneniichuan. Please look with mercy upon
me, for I had to wear your face to keep you free, that you might
free the others."
     Akane stared at her. "Well, why didn't you just do it 
yourself?"
     "..."
     "I thought so. You are always thinking in circles, and plots,
and deception, that you can't think of the simple answer."
     Ranma spoke up. "Where are the staves? I need to get my hands
on the Kinjakan, if we're gonna beat him."
     "But how wil that help>" asked Kiima.
     "Because it's not really Jalamwhassisface. It's some crazy
industrialist who dipped himself in the Spring of Drowned God."
     Her eyes grew wide. "I understand. Come, the demon god said
he would be in meditation right now, so we can sneak there and get
it."
     "No," stated Khu Lon.
     "Huh?" asked Ryouga, who was still a little confused at the
two Akanes. He could only tell them apart by their clothing, as the
spring's curse even duplicated their mannerisms.
     "Only Ranma and Kiima may go. Kiima, heat some water, and
return to your normal form. Ranma will follow behind, and get the
staff when you provide him with the opportunity. We shall return to
outside the mountain, and await you there."
     "Why outside mountain?" asked Shampoo.
     "Because, there will be the best place for you to fight him.
Now, go!"



Notes: Yeah, that's why Kiima still has her curse. She was supposed
  to learn how to find the simplest route, like Akane, but hasn't,
  and thus still has her curse.
     And, for those who wondered how Ranma did that fusing thing, 
  the explaination earlier, and the story here, should tell you.