This is something I thought about while just lying around.  It is a dark 
fanfic set in the Ranma ½ universe, while none of the major characters 
are represented in it except in a small scene.  Sorry for the content of 
this fanfic my mind is a little strange.  This is not a lemon for I do 
not believe I am capable of writing one.
This is another revised version.  I'd like to thank those people out 
there who helped me out and gave back some C+C.   I'm taking all the cc 
I can get to get it right.  I don't do self-insertions.

This unversed in owned by Rumiko Takahashi and others about which I 
don't know. I am truly sorry for putting my dark mind into your 
beautiful world.  Again Sorry about this.

					The Circus of the Damned 
	by
	John Trombley

	scene: China; in a valley filled with many pools with bamboo 
poles in the center of them.  Jusenkyo.  The cursed valley where each 
pool destroys the life of any who baths there, more so for these poor 
souls.

	We see a little girl running to a shack where a pudgy man 
smoking a pipe wearing green communist uniform.  (We recognize this as 
the Jusenkyo guide) 
	"Father, Father, there are customers coming."  Little Plum 
stated in hurried Chinese, trying to catch her breath.
	"Ah, thank you little one."  The guide replied with love in his 
eyes for his daughter. "How many customers did you see?"
	"Very many Father, they are bringing closed off wagons with 
them."  Plum stated proudly, she loved helping her father with his work 
when she got the chance.  There was just so much that he could teach her 
a lot more than any school.  Already she knew Japanese and was learning 
English from him, so that she could help him on those times when she did 
not have to go to school.  She loved to help him at his work, anyway 
this would be her job when he retired so she might as well know all 
about it.
	The guide gave a slight look on his face, one of confusion and a 
hint of fear.  "Wagons you say?"  At Plums confirmation he asked, "what 
else did you see about these wagons little one?"
	"The wagons are all painted like those in a circus, with 
pictures of animals on them."  Her brow scrunched up in concentration 
wanting to give every detail to her father.  "Oh yes, there was also on 
the first wagon a name printed in big letters foreign letters.   
M-ma-dam Ser-ercy's Mys-steries."  Plum tried to pronounce the foreign 
words as well as she could.  "Father, who is Madam Sercy?"
	Unfortunately for little Plum that after hearing Sercy's name 
the Guide grabbed Plum by the arm and quickly pulled her into the shack 
that served as his home.  Quickly he drew away a rug that lied on the 
floor to reveal a trap door.  Pulling the latch open, he led her down 
inside to a where small cubicle existed.  Plum was shocked and scared, 
for all the times that she has visited her father she has never seen 
this before.  What could scare him so much that he would show it to her 
now.  Plum started to cry in fear.
	"Hush little one, when I leave, you are to lock the latch to the 
entrance and do not open it for anything until I call for you."  The 
guide said in what he hoped was soothing tone of voice.  "No matter what 
you hear outside do not open this door.  Do you understand?"
	"Y-yes Father."  She trembled out before laying down on the 
sleeping mat that was on the floor.
	"Good little one, very good."  The guide stated as he moved to 
leave. And in a small hushed voice. "I am truly sorry that you must 
learn this so soon little one."   And with that he left the cubicle, 
waiting at the top to make sure that Plum locked the door way as her 
told her.  When he heard the click of the latch being thrown, he then 
proceeded to cover the door back up with the rug.  He then moved the 
table over so that it was placed just above it.  Gathering his 
composure, he turned to leave the cottage.  To face the evil that is 
man.
	Little Plum stayed in the cubicle for two days all the while 
hearing screams of pure terror along side with cries of sorrow.  Some of 
the screams she could not understand for they were in a language that 
was unknown to her.  Some she could understand in her broken English, 
while others she understood completely to her dread.  Soon these screams 
were replaced with the cries of animals and then again into something 
that was a mixture of both sounds.  For the rest the time that she was 
down in the cubicle she placed her hands over her ears and started 
singing to herself to block out all the noise.  Tears of fear and sorrow 
for those poor souls littering down her face.   It was at the end of the 
second day that she heard the stamping of a foot on the door to the 
cubicle.  At first she feared that the strange customers had come for 
her as well, but was comforted to hear her father's voice.
	"Plum, Plum, you can come out now little one."  The grief could 
be heard in his voice. 
	As Plum existed the cubicle, she was swept off her feet into the 
arms of her father who then preceded to cry.  Tears of sorrow matting 
the hair of her head down.  That was how they stayed for sometime before 
they prepared for sleep.  
	Just before laying down to sleep Plum asked her father in a 
hushed voice, "Father, who were those people?"
	The Guide just stood still for a moment before answering in a 
low voice.  "They are evil daughter pure ancient human evil."
	"Why does not the government do some thing about them?" Plum 
asked.
	"Like I said daughter, they are human evil and there are those 
in power who fear that evil as well as those who respect it."  The Guide 
stated in shame and sorrow.  "Not even our Jusenkyo committee could not 
bring them to justice.  Those that tried were never seen again, or worse 
they were seen but not as they were known as before."  
	"Fortunately they only come this way in a great many years.  
Their leader Sercy is an old one, it is said that she has lived longer 
than even the oldest of the elders of the village.  Time has marked her 
not, it is said that she made a pact with a major demon to promote human 
misery and suffering in exchange for eternal youth.  She is a witch in 
every sense of the word, she even posses a demon familiar who keeps 
track of the stock for her."  A shiver of fear flows up and down her 
spine as he told her this.
	That night Plum did not sleep well for her dreams were plagued 
with nightmares of the worst kind.  So terrifying was her dream that her 
father let her lay in his bed with him.  So that Plum finally got some 
rest as she knew her father would never let anything happen to her.
	The Guide did not sleep so well that night for he knew that if 
they wanted to they could take his daughter from him and he could not do 
nothing about it 





	The Circus of the Damned pt. 2

	Somewhere in Hong Kong, a dark and evil deal is being forged.   
 We see two individuals, one a lady of great beauty with a cat of the 
blackest night in her arms, the other a man with a scar on his face 
where once there was an eye.  
	The lady speaks in soft musical voice, "Yes I will be needing, 
hmm, oh about two dozen or so.  Preferredly foreigners so that no one 
would worry over them missing and of mixed genders of course, although 
it matters not as long as you can get then for me."
	"And you will pay in gold as was promised?"  The man asked in a 
raspy voice he had been in this trade for a long time and was used to 
dealing with different types of people with different needs.
	"Of course, but I want you to make sure that they're young and 
healthy they will have to survive a long time you know, and I don't want 
them dying on me."  With that she left, knowing the man would not fail 
her for the greed of man is great, greater even than her if that was 
possible.
	
	Jacob laughed with his friends as they watch the two fighters go 
head to head in the ring.  It had been a week since they came to Hong 
Kong wanting to see what the world had to offer that could not be found 
the US.   Sure they've seen some weird things since they got here and a 
lot of beautiful things as well.  What a great way to spend summer 
vacation.  It was a good thing they had Molly's parents plastic or else 
they wouldn't have been able to afford it.  It was a great idea of 
Mike's to come here.  
	As the group was just leaving, exploits of the fight clear in 
their thoughts, this kid came up to Jacob Spoke to him in broken 
English.
	"Hey guys this kid said that there's another fight around here, 
do you want to go see it?" Jacob asked his voice betraying his desire to 
go see the show.
	While Susie and Molly were not that enthusiastic about it, 
however the other three broke out with. 
	"Ya!"
	"Alright!"
	"You bet!"
	They followed the kid down to the docks and into a warehouse 
where a crowd of people was forming, a few other Westerners were there 
as well.  While waiting for the fight to start noodle venders came by 
and sold their wears.  It was quite good and the group inhaled the 
noodles.  After finishing their noodles, they started asking who was 
fighting and of course Mike was asking the odds on the fight, he was 
always looking to make some extra cash. 	
	That was when all hell broke loose or would have if it wasn't 
for the noodles that they have eaten earlier.  So it was that the girls 
and Mike slumped to the group asleep while Jacob and Eric watched.  Not 
knowing what was going on and in true fashion as soon as someone grabbed 
him, Eric started hitting people.  Of course it was no use, but he had 
broken one guy's leg, another guy's arm, and knocked two unconscious 
before someone knock him over the head and he went to dream land.  Jacob 
didn't even last that long as a similar blow had already sent him there.
	The foreigners were then all carried away, all fifteen of them. 
 They were then brought to a separate building where a dozen more were 
housed, also unconscious.  Once their collars were placed around their 
necks and placed in rows for inspection.  
	Later that night again the beautiful lady and the scarred face 
man met.
	"As you wished two-dozen young foreigners, I also added a couple 
of locals that would not be missed.  Just think of it as a bonus, for 
using us in all you market needs."  The scarred man smiled at his humor. 
	"Very well just bring them to the agreed upon place and you will 
be paid the rest." With that the lady handed over a small bag that 
‘chinked' when placed in the man's hand.  The scarred man smile grew 
bigger at the weight of the bag as it felt in his hand.

	Two days after that transaction our group began to awaken.  They 
did not know where they were but it was dark and they were moving.   
Moans of confusion broke out among the other "passengers"   It was a 
long night as people cried out in fear after finding out about their 
situation.  Not fear of knowing what has happened, but fear of not 
knowing what was happening or going to happen in the future.  Outside a 
beautiful lady and her cat of blackest night laughed softly at their 
pain and fear.
	It was all Eric could do to keep Susie and Molly from drowning 
too deeply into their despair.  It was more for his own effort than 
theirs that he did this.  He did not know if he could stand being in 
this closed off cage with all these people around him.  It seemed that 
for every hour spent in the cage that the walls were closing in on him. 
 Only the light from the outside, his own seething anger, and worrying 
over the girls kept him from panicking and going into a state of shock 
as well.  
	Mike seemed to just withdraw in himself.  For the first two days 
of the "trip" he kept muttering over and over to himself.  "They can't 
do this, this is kidnaping wait until my parents find out I let myself 
get kidnaped, their going to kill me."   After that he kept on saying 
either to himself or to his friends, "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry!" no one 
knew for sure.  It was all the others could do to make him eat his share 
of the food that was given to them, and to stop others from taking it.  
His friends knew that he was never really close to his family.  No 
matter what he did it to try and make them proud of him, it only  seemed 
like he was always an inconvenience to them.  Junior captain  of the 
soccer team, it would have been senior captain next year.  He was also 
self-sufficient always trying to find new ways to earn some extra money 
without having to ask for it from them.  He took this captivity very 
hard and believed that it was his fault for suggesting that they come 
here. 	
	Jacob and Angie just held each other.  When the guard came with 
food they both shrank back into each other, the fear etched onto their 
faces.  They had given up hope and were expecting the worst.  The worst 
was what they got.
	It took about a week before they got where they were going.  
They never saw anyone except for the guard who brought them food and 
water.  There was plenty of room in the cages for the people to move 
around in and even do some small exercises.  They only tried to escape 
twice, once when they rushed the guy with the food only to find that 
they couldn't leave the cages without pain coursing through their 
bodies, they were not fed for two days after that.  The next escape 
attempt was when they tried to brake the collars off from their necks, 
well Eric did at least.  He did not like the idea of wearing a collar.  
When it seemed that the collar was about to brake pain started flowing 
through everyone's collar and then they quickly stopped anyone else from 
trying for they did not want to feel any more pain.

Scene: we see a valley coming up with many pools with bamboo rods in 
them.  We see a young girl running to a shack where a man sits smoking a 
pipe.  We then see the man and child go into the shack and only the man 
comes out.  It is clearly seen that he is quite nervous.  He then goes 
to the springs and waits for the wagons to come to him.
	"Aaah, welcome good sirs to home of cursed springs Jusenkyo.  
Here-" but his speech is cut short as the beautiful woman Sercy steps 
down from her perch on the wagon.
	With a cruel twisted smile and a laugh, "Ha, ha, ha of course I 
know all about Jusenkyo, so I guess I don't really need it explained to 
me do I?"  With that she directed her crew to set up camp a few yards 
from the spring.  The guide just sat in his chair in front of his shack 
to watch the evil that was to commence. 

	Sercy liked to think of herself as an artist and finding things 
that people would like to see is an art.  So to her Jusenkyo was just 
the tool for her art to manifest itself.  Her crew got the camp site up 
easily for they were not human but lesser demons who served her in 
exchange for the taste of human fear and misery that always manifested 
itself when she practiced her art.  The trip here was quite satisfactory 
and the next six months as well would be extremely tasty.  That was 
until this group was no longer useful, well then Sercy would sell them 
until the next time her pets had to be fed and then she would start all 
over again, in the end still making a large profit from the venture.   
	I'm sure that turning  humans into animals would cause quite a 
lot of grief and suffering.  Unfortunately, Sercy has found out a little 
something about the springs that she has used to create even more 
suffering.  So it was that the first person was brought out of the cages 
and while the rest watched was brought to the edge of the pools.
	After taking off his collar, Sercy went to him and said. "Here's 
your chance you can escape.  All you have to do is run to the other side 
of the valley and you'll be free to leave."
	After a few nervous looks at the guards the man started running 
through the springs until he tripped over his own feet and went flying 
into one of the springs.  What went in was a man what came out was a 
deer with large antlers on his head.  
	Sercy let out a small laugh. "Oh the poor dear it looks like he 
didn't make it."  And then to her demon guards, "boys go get him before 
he falls in another one." And with that they promptly went and got him 
and brought him back to the edge and placed another collar on him and 
then put him in other separate cage.
	To the rest of the group in the cage she smiled, "Welcome to 
Jusenkyo, the valley of cursed springs, were one who falls into the 
springs takes the form of those that drowned in the spring when it was 
created."  With that many of the group started shouting out in fear 
stating that they couldn't do this to them and all that garbage.
	For the first six or so she just let them run through the course 
and watching them fall in.  The fear that they generated was great until 
they put out Eric to run through it. 
	"Well boy, what are you waiting for, run." Sercy told him
	"No." Was all he replied.
	"No? No? And why not?"
 	"Because even if I do, I'll get cursed so why should I bother?"
	"Hmm, a good point," with that she turned to her guards and 
simply stated, "throw him in."
	With big grins on their faces they both grabbed an arm and with 
a mighty heave threw him toward the end of the springs.  Just as it 
looked like he was going to plunge into a spring like the rest, he did 
something totally unexpected.  As he was nearing the water he reached 
out and grabbed hold of one of the bamboo poles that stuck out of the 
pools to stop himself.  After he got his balance he simply started for 
the edge of the pools since he was almost there anyway and easily got to 
the edge.  Turning around to look triumphantly at his ex-captors and 
with a loud, "HA! , Looks like I win!" he turned to leave.  
Unfortunately for him he was to close to one of the springs so that when 
he got ready to flee, the ground gave way underneath him and he fell in 
and out came a tiger.  Who looked at himself in disgust.  While the 
peals of laughter could be heard on the opposite shore, not only where 
the demons and Sercy laughing at him but also were the other prisoners. 
 All he could do but growl as the demons came and fetched him was, 
*thanks a lot guys*.  Do to the fact that this form was so new to him 
and that his captors were demons, any attempts to attack them was 
ignored as any wound he inflicted was instantly healed.  So again he had 
to submit to the handling of his captors, much to his disgust.
	From that time on the rest of the group were just tossed into 
various springs.  So that at the end of the night the cages were filled 
with various of animals of various sizes, from little birds to large 
horses who had to be placed outside, with many other different kinds 
in-between; from fish(how a fish could drown is beyond me) to lions and 
one baby dragon in the cages.  Various sounds floated through the night 
as each animal cried tears of hopelessness and sorrow.  The demons feed 
well that night.  This was joined by the silent sobbing of  The Jusenkyo 
Guide, who knew what was going to happen them next. 
	The next morning was one of confusion as they were raised from 
their slumber, for those that did sleep that night.  Sercy came to them 
with a big smile on her face that changed to one of mock confusion as 
she asked herself aloud,  "While trained animals would bring in quite a 
bit of money it's not really enough to justify the effort, what else 
could we do to jump up the profits?"  After a few seconds hesitation and 
with a beaming smile, "ah I know, well boys let take it from the top."
	With that the guards went into the cages and brought the deer 
from earlier to a spring and with a sharp push sent him into a spring 
and then they pulled out a nude human female with hooves and  doe like 
eyes.  It looked like a cross between a human female and a doe.  She was 
shivering in fear as the demons dragged her back to the first cages and 
placed her in it.  All the while Sercy smiled nastily as she turned to 
the other animals.  "As you can see the effects of the springs are 
cumulative and people will pay more to see freaks of nature than to just 
trained animals."
	In all actuality it was quite interesting to the effects of the 
spring of drowned girl and the other springs when those guys who were 
turned into fish became what looked like mermaids.  Those females who 
were turned into fish, were then dropped into the spring of drowned 
horse so that what came out being literally Sea horses, the front half 
is a horse while from the mid section on back was a fish's tail. Sercy 
knew that if she dropped someone into the sex of what they were 
originally it would just reverse the curse, besides people would pay 
more to see beautiful nude female freaks than male ones.  Sercy knew she 
could use these springs if she came up with something she didn't like, 
so that she could start all over again.  And so another long day came 
about, no one but they knew who they were originally.  Not all of the 
animals were dropped into the spring of drowned man or girl to some she 
dropped into other springs creating creatures of legend.  Combining the 
spring of drowned horse and drowned goat she got what looked like 
unicorns of these she produced two for she knew of someone to sell them 
to after she tired of them.  By combining the spring of drowned lion and 
drowned eagle she got what looked like a pair of gryphons from Greek 
mythology.  An so the day continued until at the end it looked like 
someone opened a book of mythology and dumped out the creatures within. 
 
	  In the cage that night one tiger-girl looked for her friends. 
 Going only on what they were first changed to help in identifying them 
from, she called out their names.  "Susie? Is that you?"  When she 
received no response, she would go on to the next prisoner.  The next 
was a bird-girl "Mike?" she asked hesitantly as she came up to him.  
"Huh?" the bird-girl replied blinking the sleep from her eyes, you can 
see the trail of tears left on her face. Knowing that she cried herself 
to sleep, the tiger-girl just bends down next to her looking on in 
worry. Mike shivered in the night air not having the light coat of fur 
that the tiger-girl had covering her body.  All of their clothes where 
lying at the bottom of the cursed pools.  Seeing this, the tiger-girl 
moved next to her and pulled her into an embrace to share her body heat, 
all modesty was thrown out the window for her friend needed her.
	 "E-Eric?", Mike asked shivering in the cool night breeze.  
"H-heh, some trip huh?" she continued.  "Sorry about this it's all my 
fault!"  With that she started crying again into Eric's shoulder.  
	"Shhh. Don't worry I don't plan on being a circus freak for the 
rest of my life.   Hey look at it this way, at least you got wings now 
and a great pair of breasts. Look at me, I could star in a Batman 
movie."  Eric said to his friend as he tried to comfort him.  "Well the 
first thing we need to do is find everybody else, then first chance we 
get, were out of here." He tried to sound hopeful to Mike.  
	The thing was Eric never expected to live life as a cat-woman 
and was greatly distressed by it but as was said earlier, his friends 
needed him-er, her.  Friends were more important to him than anything, 
for he only had a few and was not going to lose the ones he had to some 
Wicked Witch of the East.  
	"Well I think the horses with the horns, Unicorns I think 
they're called.  Well Jacob and Angie were horses on their first dunk.  
So I think that's them, because the other horse types were created later 
on." Eric was talking just to keep herself thinking strait and to 
comfort Mike for she didn't want her pull completely away in depression. 
 
	"I think Molly was the big lizard," Mike piped in trying to be 
use full.  "She was only dunked once."
	"O.K. and what about Susie?"
	"I'm pretty sure that she was one of the fish in the first dunk, 
so I guess that she's one of those sea horses."  Mike was really 
concentrating this, not wanting to fail his friends again.
	"Damn," Eric muttered under his breath. *that means we won't be 
able to take her with us. * looking down at Mike clutching her for 
support she came to the conclusion. *No! Nobody is going to be left 
behind. *   They just laid there, holding each other and slept for the 
rest of the night.
	The next morning as the stock was loaded onto the wagons again 
each of the prisoners were placed in a spot where they could survive, 
i.e., those who needed it into a water tank and so on.  Then they went 
on to leave the valley, the aura around the caravan one of despair and 
sorrow.  Watching them until they had completely left, the Jusenkyo 
Guide then went to his shack to get his daughter and to shed tears for 
those unfortunate souls and the living hell that they would live.
	For if you thought that just changing them into those creatures 
were cruel enough, the wagons then made a stop at a village of men.  
There Sercy held a conference with their leader while the rest of its 
citizens stared at her freaks of nature.  That night she came upon each 
of them with a bucket of cold water and using a ladle, a very special 
ladle preceded to douse each and every one of them. 
	Even then their nightmares have just begun.  For the lucky ones 
were those that held the shape of animals or the crossbreeds that they 
were.  Those that were once an animal and now a mix between animal and 
human they were not so lucky.  For the six months that they traveled 
there were those who were willing to pay extra for a little time alone 
with the mermaids, the tiger-girl, the roe (humanoid deer or faun), 
fox-girl, bird-girl (or angle), or other animal people.  They had the 
worst of it, for they had to be stared and laughed at during the day and 
fondled and raped at night, always with the collars around their necks 
that prevented them from protecting themselves and could only take the 
pain which the demons drank upon.  
	Molly who became a baby dragon and Jacob and Angie that were now 
unicorns were bleed almost every night.  For their blood was magical and 
many sorcerers were willing to pay top money for the blood of creatures 
that was thought of as dead long ago.  They were living a wasting life, 
enough that they seemed to be in good health but with the knowledge that 
as soon as someone payed Sercy enough she would give them to the person 
to be done with as they willed, at least they wouldn't have to suffer 
any more.
	There were those who were driven insane by all this and insanity 
is the rarest of dishes for demons to partake, and they feed well.  One 
of those who had lost their minds was Susie.  For when the time finally 
came when they could escape they came for her only to find a creature 
whose eyes no longer held any hint of intelligence in them at all.  
	For six long months Eric never gave up the idea of escaping.  No 
matter what they did to her they could not break her will.  Mike had 
long given up hope of ever being free again and would just lay there as 
she was taken each night and then crying into Eric's arms for Eric 
always came to her after they were left for the evening so that they 
could share each other's grief.  
	It was in the last few weeks that Eric finally came up with a 
plan to escape, it came in the form of a young apprentice sorcerer who 
became smitten with her.  Many were the time that he came for her in the 
night to lovingly caress her body.  How it sickened her but she bore it 
for she knew what would happen if she refused him and word got to Sercy. 
Not for her sake, because she didn't care wether or not she lived or 
died but for the others.  She knew what would be done to them in her 
disobedience.  Soon he started talking to her of love and how he was 
going to buy her from Sercy so she could be with him forever.  Many were 
the time when he would come in to promise that, but truth be told Eric 
knew he could not afford it for there were many who paid for her 
services.  Soon she came up with a plan.  Since he was a worker of 
magic, he could free her from her collar then she would run away with 
him.  So it was that the young sorcerer studied the collar and concluded 
that he could only turn off the pain for a short while.  That was not a 
problem for Eric for she could easily rip the collar from her neck if 
not for the pain.  Also all the collars are linked so that when one was 
turned off all would be.  Eric had figured that out already, in fact it 
was part of her plan.  She beseeched him to free so that they could run 
away together.  
	Two nights later during a normal visit he told her he was ready. 
 She had been ready as soon as her plan had first came to mind.  She was 
 always finding out where the others of her party were at all times so 
that when it was time to escape, she would have to be quick and sudden 
if she wanted to escape Sercy and her demons.   
	"Come my love, let me remove the spell of binding that imprisons 
you."  The young sorcerer stated in what he hoped was a gallant voice.
	"Oh yes, please free me of this foul witch", she replied, the 
very image of a damsel in distress.
	He quickly completed the spell and stood to watch for the demon 
guards.
	"Uhh" Eric grunted as she ripped the collar from her neck, joy 
filling her heart.
	"Quickly my love before the guards re-urk!"  His voice was 
suddenly cut off as he realized that he could no longer breathe.  
Clutching at his throat his hand came away covered in blood.  Shocked he 
looked for his beloved to help him.  Only to see her clawed hand covered 
in blood and a sad smile on her face.  That was the last thing he saw 
before the darkness over took him.
	Before leaving Eric bent down and kissed him on his check as a 
single tear flowed down her face.  "Thank you, I'm sorry it had to be 
this way."  And with that she took his cloak and sped to where she knew 
Mike would be.
	Stopping just in front of the door, she listened for sounds 
within.  That was one of the advantages of her new form, heightened 
senses along with the natural weapons and increased strength.  Hearing 
the grunts of a man trying to get his rocks off on a totally 
unresponsive girl.  Eric quickly made her move for there was not much 
time left.   With a quick tw