Epilogue

Disclaimer: Ranma ½ and its characters and settings belong to Rumiko Takahashi, Shogakukan, Kitty, and Viz Video. Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon belongs to Takeuchi Naoko, Koudansha, TV Asahi, and Toei Douga, and DIC.

The world around me was a blur. I had no sense of reality other than that created by the site before me. Ami, my Ami, entombed within an enormous crystal; a crystal that could never be destroyed without my assistance. Kami-sama? He'd get one hell of smackdown if he messed with it. Then I would be destroyed, of course, but he'd still get his ass kicked.

Ami's pokémon surrounded the crystal, mewling softly, stroking the smooth surface worriedly. They'd emerged from their pokéballs without anyone's assistance, and after my little display, no one had the balls to mess with the creatures.

What could I do? Nothing. The shuriken that had struck Ami, shuriken that I should have protected her from, had been poisoned both conventionally and mystically. I could, and already had, eliminated the mundane poison from her body, but the magically created poison had bound itself to Ami's soul. To remove it would be to remove her soul. Oh, Kami, what am I going to do?

Shrieks of insane rage and hate momentarily intruded upon my grief. That would be the Elders. They would come to regret their younger bodies now, all strong and resilient. They would survive, for it was the Amazon way to take care of their own, but their lives would be of endless mental torment, anguish not of the body but of the soul.

Enough useless staring. I straightened, refilling reserves of energy spent on manipulating several levels of existence. Usagi may be able to help. Her White Magic is more effective than mine and her knowledge of it outstrips my own by leaps and bounds. The ground beneath my feet was a churned mess of blood, splintered bamboo, and a swirling miasma of dark energies (demonic shit). Cloven hooves and reptilian feet had torn the sod to shreds.

Those who had stayed to witness my grief, the few not too scared of me to hold their own, slowly backed away, never quite meeting my eye. They would spread the news. Before the end of the day, I would be, within the minds of the inhabitants of Jusendo, twenty feet tall with glowing pits of fire for eyes, dragging a harem of weeping virgins behind me.

The Senshi were in a little group, huddled together in fear and sadness, attempting to comfort one another. They didn't draw away from me, exactly, but there was a definite wariness in the red-rimmed eyes, a tautness to tear streaked faces. They were my friends, sort of, they would come to understand.

"Usagi," I begged, "please see if you can help her?" I don't know what I would do without Ami. She was my better half, literally. The only reason I even cared about this stupid war was so that she would be safe and comfortable in the years to come. "I can't do anything," I said, fighting down the urge to cry. I had to be strong.

The ditzy blonde's back straightened and she pulled away from her fellows. She nodded to me and as I led her over to Ami's prison, I felt her priming several healing spells of amazing power and complexity, far above anything I could produce. If she needed energy, I would provide her with enough to destroy this world, even at the cost of my own soul.

Usagi fought down a sob as she caught sight of her long time friend. I had healed the wounds of her body, yet blood still coated her leg and torso. The sorceress scanned my fiancée in much the same way as I had, if not a little more thoroughly. She reached the same conclusion that I had. Shaking her head, Usagi turned to me and whispered, "I'm so sorry, Ranma. There isn't anything I can do. We can't even allow her to die in order to be resurrected. The poison would destroy her soul."

There went hope. I stared at Ami, the world collapsing around me. I've only ever been truly happy for the few months Ami and I were together. She'd changed me. Without her…

…Without her, there was going to be a lot of dead people real soon.

Cologne had first felt the chi force induced vacuum explosion when she'd been preparing for bed, a young man under either arm. They couldn't possibly be THAT stupid, could they? She dropped her latest conquests and ran, glowing with chi, at the fastest speed a non-Talented human could manage without ripping their own tendons to shreds. Despite the effort, she was too late.

By the time she reached Ranma's hut, three Amazons, and she suspected they were Elders, were nothing more than clouds of bloody mist. Ami, one of the Senshi and the sorceress whom Ranma had soul-bonded, was down. Even from the distance Cologne had stopped, she could sense the workings of something dark and insidious within the girl. A poison she knew of quite well was at work. Poor Ranma, she was a lost cause. More important at the moment, though, were the poor Elders that were about to become fishbait.

Cologne knew better than to try to reason with Ranma. In his present state of mind that would just get her in on whatever horrible thing his grieving mind could come up with. She wasn't prepared for the enormous outflow of energy directed by Ranma. It nearly blinded her chi senses. Reeling from the shock, she caught sight of Ami, momentarily surrounded by a crystal of huge proportions, fading away.

Now that Ranma had preserved Ami, Cologne guessed, he would be truly making his displeasure known. She'd expected torture, not summoning the ranks of Hell to defile and torment her fellow Elders. Through more than three hundreds years of life, Cologne had seen and experienced very nearly everything imaginable that a person born on Earth could hope for. She wasn't prepared for the sight of the demons at work.

She watched, along with a few Amazons and visitors, throughout the night, vomiting at least a dozen times. What had the foolish— may their souls one day know peace— women hoped to accomplish? At least the entire ruling body of Amazons wasn't insane.

Cologne finally decided to make herself known to Ranma. She'd just watched him beg Usagi, another sorceress, one apparently even more powerful than he in the White magic, to heal Ami. What a fine Amazon he would have made with such devotion and power. It was after Usagi failed to do anything that Cologne hopped across the small clearing created by rampaging demons.

"What?" My voice was flat, my eyes cold. Cologne, backbone of the Amazon Nation, stepped back and swallowed. If she had any sense she would be running for her damned life.

Cologne reached out and pressed a small glass vial containing a dark reddish liquid into my hands. Either the liquid or the vial itself were somehow enchanted, not that I could divine either's purpose. "It's a poison. The Matriarch and Elders of the tribe, over two thousand years ago, developed it from dragon's blood, one of Saffron's feathers, and the heart of a newborn babe. I know of no cure." She would live. Cologne isn't stupid; she knows well enough how I think. By giving me this vial of poison, she gives me the means to search for an antidote. She must think that that act alone will save her tribe. Nope, she's wrong on that account. Very, very luckily, I don't think I can kill all the Amazons without alienating the Senshi, and very likely Ami when she is revived. And I can't alienate the Senshi— really just Usagi— because I will most likely need her help to deal with this toxin. Less vital, but still important, the Senshi have to stay here, in Jusendo, to continue the war.

I turned my back on Cologne and walked back over to the Senshi. Haruka stood slightly apart from the group of mourning girls, her arms crossed and a scowl on her petulant face. I glared at her. She ran.

"Usagi, take a look at this. It's the poison used on Ami." Damn, I'm starting to sound like one of those emotional burnouts that uses too much negative chi. Well, fuck it, I have a reason. I extended the vial to her, but as soon as the girl's eyes alighted on the tiny container, she threw herself backwards, shrieking just a little louder than a banshee.

I shunted the vial into pocket space and brought the girl to her feet before the stunned Senshi could even react. "R-Ranma, t-that's s-s-so horrible!" Usagi wailed. Now that I think about it, that poison practically reeks of ritualized magics, dark magics. Mostly Death, but the was some Blood and diluted Demonic magic in the pattern. I can see where something like that would be unpleasant for a sorceress of Usagi's persuasion and caliber.

So much for any help. "Sorry," I muttered. "I'll be leaving now." Yeah, I'm getting out of town. I don't know how much longer I can control myself, not around all these Amazons. I have to get away, far, far away.

The Senshi didn't try to stop me, or even call out any denunciations. Hell, why should I worry about alienating them? They were already looking at me like I was a whole different person.

Three pokémon, a few changes of clothing, some food, and every single magical artifact the Amazons had possessed (at least the ones that weren't stupid or too weak to be of use) were all that I carried out of the village with me. Ami was at the Gates of Time and Space. Katya was responsible; she'd take care of my fiancée. Not that there was much upkeep involved in dealing with someone in complete stasis.

A few days later, while I was killing time incinerating a tree, limb-by-limb, I felt the massive magical discharge I'd been expecting. The wave of power that swept the globe was relatively weak, but the fact that it covered the entire planet was impressive, to say the least. Afterward, I couldn't detect any noticeable difference in the Earth's energy field. Ami'd said that it wouldn't be detectable. Ami…

…Shit, I gotta stop moping and find something to help her. I'm good at magic, maybe the best, Kami knows I'm the strongest on this planet; but I'm not arrogant or stupid enough to even begin to believe that I know all the spells that have been developed over thousands upon thousands of years.

The world was going to hell now. Food would run out, water would stop flowing, and medical care would soon be sliding back into the stone age, meaning that people are going to die. With no electricity or technology of any kind, people are not just gonna die, they're going to become paranoid, savage, jealous animals. People like myself, the martial artists with true chi force and magic talents who previously remained hidden or withdrawn, we would survive. We would even prosper.

Someone had to know something that could counteract the poison. If only the stuff wasn't so evil, I could have had the Dark Prince or Xochial check it out. To them, though, the poison would be nothing more than a shot of liquor. Damn it, I need to find an angel or something along those lines.

The End of "Can It Get Any Worse?"

Author's Notes: I just had the idea to make this the end of CIGAW. Don't start calling for my blood or planning my death. Part two, 'The World at War' will be coming along in a couple of days, along with the side stories involving Ranma's past. Ranma is going to be traveling around the world, meeting people and looking for a cure to the poison. C&C me at dark_phoneix@hotmail.com

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Last revision: May 21, 2007