Subject: [Ranma][Fanfic] Ryoga 1/2, Chapter 5 - To Walk in a Dream
From: Hunter Kid
Date: 10/4/1997, 7:13 PM
To: fanfic@fanfic.com

Ryoga ½
by George Masologites
guilds@mail.serve.com [Hunter Kid]
© 07/11/1997  All Rights Reserved
5
To Walk in a Dream

    Ranma tossed irritably on his bed and glanced over at his clock.  Three
minutes till midnight, he noted with a grumble, and I'm still not asleep.  
    He was thinking about the other curse victim he knew was around here
someplace.  I just need to talk to someone else who's been cursed with the
same curse as me, he realized.  That would have made him feel much
better...but, where was this person to be found?  
    In truth, Ranma had no idea.  He kept his curse a secret as best he
could, considering it a weakness - which it was - and he had no doubt that
whoever this other person was would probably do the same.  He thought back
to what Ukyou had said that day...
    "...you were wearing a bandanna, remember, and..."
    A bandanna.  It wasn't particulary unusual for someone to wear a
bandanna, but when she had mentioned the colors of the clothing, it clicked
in Ranma's head - Ryoga had fallen into another spring and gotten his curse
altered; either that, he had supposed, or he had two cursed forms - both a
pig and a girl.  That is, he had thought that until he had met and made
friends with Jeikar.
    Jeikar, being from China himself, knew a good deal about the cursed
springs of Jusenkyo.  He knew enough not fall in one, Ranma thought,
annoyed.  The Chinese boy had glibly spoken of the springs yesterday, after
Ranma had talked Ukyou into helping Jeikar out with his training, telling
Ranma basically everything he knew about the springs, which didn't really
amount to a whole lot.
    He knew, of course, all the common tales of the magical springs, and
their shapeshifting properties, and such, but he did know one thing that
had particulary caught Ranma's ear...
    "I asked the Guide there," Ranma recalled Jeikar saying, "and he told
me that you couldn't have multiple curses on you, unless you were cursed
before you reached about age five.  It had something to do with the curse
adapting to your body.  So as for your question, no..."
    ...the Spring of the Drowned Man wouldn't cure him.  Ranma sighed
bitterly, remembering all the arguments that he could, all of them pointing
towards the solution that it would cure him.  The fake-Spring of Drowned
Man water, which Shampoo had tricked him with.  It had been only a one-time
remedy, but for that one time, had worked.  Jeikar had responded that it
was probably a highly concentrated form of the spring, which had, in fact,
covered Ranma's first curse.  Even with that high of a concentration, he
had added, it still had to be only temporary, because of Jusenkyo's nature,
each time you were splashed with cold water, some of the concentration
would vanish, and soon, it wouldn't be enough to force over your original
curse.
    All of which, in addition to shattering Ranma's hopes of ever being
normal again, made Ranma certain that it wasn't Ryoga with the curse.  But
who else?  
    Anyone, his mind told him wryly, anyone at all.  Ranma sighed,
depressed, as he rolled over in his bed, waiting for sleep that was long in
coming.

    "No, no, no," Ryako said impatiently, "you're not doing it right at all."
    Ryoga had awoken with the dawn, and he had also awoken to Ryako's
irritated stare and an equally irritated question asking if he was going to
sleep the whole day away.  This was the second day of his training in the
magical arts, and that was now all he did - trained from daybreak until
nightfall, taking short breaks for meals which Ryako caught in her wolf form.
    They were deep in the mountains of Japan, now.  The girl, after hearing
Ryoga tell of his sense of direction, told him that she should lead.  And
she had led them straight into the mountains.  When Ryoga had questioned
her, she merely responded that here the air was fresh and the hunting was
good, and he wasn't one to argue.  No one in his right mind would argue
with her, he thought with a shudder.  
    To his surprise, Ryako didn't comment or speculate about his thoughts.
He absently wondered why, as he shifted back into a relaxed position, his
hands hanging loose at his sides.
    "For the last time," Ryako was saying, looking annoyed, "focus on fire.
 When flame courses through your body, then release it!"
    Ryoga looked at her, barely holding back a glower.  She thought this
was so damn easy!  All she had to do was leap into a spring.  He was having
to train thirteen hours a day, and he hadn't even felt a spark of the fire
element that she kept babbling about.  All he did feel was a lot of chi
energy, and an occasional odd sensation, which felt strangely like cool
water was coursing through his body.  A rather pleasant feeling, actually,
and he supposed that either the girl was fiddling around with him again
using magic, or it was the beginning of learning to use fire.  Chi, though,
was what he had used his whole life, why should he waste his time with this
nonsense?  His mind wandered back to the huge wall of flame she had so
effortlessly tossed at him, then had explained later was just a tiny
example of the fire element mixed with a great deal of chi, and he focused
his mind back to the task at hand, determined.  
    She still hadn't reacted to his thoughts, he noticed, more surprised
than before.
    "What?"  Ryako asked, raising an eyebrow.  "You look curious about
something."
    Ryoga nodded reluctantly.  "Err...well, I was just surprised you
weren't responding to my thoughts, like you usually do..."  If she hadn't
read his mind, he wasn't about to tell her what he had been thinking.
    The girl looked at him flatly.  "That's because you aren't thinking.
At least you've cleared your mind."  Suddenly she blinked, surprised, and
looked at him closely.  "Hold on...you haven't cleared your mind.  You're
holding a spirit barrier.  Why are you doing that?"
    Ryoga could only stare at her blankly.  A spirit barrier?
    She looked on with satisfaction, and a slight bit of annoyance, but the
latter appeared directed at herself.  "Perhaps I was wrong about you," she
admitted.  "You may have a natural talent for spirit after all.  Tell
me..." she paused, "are you feeling anything like cold water flowing
through your veins?"
    Spirit?  He didn't want to learn spirit.  What good would that do in a
fight?  He wanted to learn a mastery of fire.  The cold feeling came again,
washing away his negative feelings.  Noticing that Ryako was waiting for
him to speak, he coughed lightly.  "Well..."  he tried to remember what she
had said.  "Cold water?  Yeah, kind of."
    She relaxed, and grinned at him.  "Feels nice, doesn't it?  You're
beginning to feel what's known as the drawing.  It's different with each of
the elements, but all are pleasurable."  She hesitated thoughtfully.  "You
have a talent for spirit, then, but not fire.  It's not what I expected at
all, but you haven't learned to do anything with fire yet.  Not that I
expected you to, of course," she added.  "People can't usually channel any
of the elements at all until they've had at least a half year of hard
training, and then only the smallest bit.  You're apparently very skilled
with spirit."
    "Sp-spirit?"  He spat out, glaring.  "I don't want to learn spirit.
Why would I be good with spirit, anyway?  My chi techniques are based on
fire and stone, like you said."
    "Oh, you're good with fire and stone," she assured him.  "In fact, your
talent with them would allow you to begin channel either of them earlier
than most...say, roughly four months of training like we've done in the
past two days.  The fact that you've learned spirit in two days implies
that you have enough natural talent with the element to become a master
with it."
    "But what can you do with spirit?"  He demanded, frustrated.  Of all
the elements she had listed, he had decided that spirit was the weakest.
Even water could create powerful attacks, he supposed, but spirit?  Reading
thoughts?  What use was that in a battle?
    Ryako chuckled wryly.  "Would you like a demonstration?"  Before he
could respond, he felt a horrible pain that coursed through his whole body,
causing him to scream out in agony.  The pain faded as quickly as it had
come, however, and he looked down at himself.  No scratches, broken bones,
or anything.
    "That was spirit," Ryako stated blandly.  "I targetted one of the pain
centers in your brain, and pushed spirit into it.  That was what you felt.
Spirit, as I said before, is very powerful; lethally powerful.  But it's
equally hard to control.  One slip with what I just did, and the conduit of
power I channeled out would return to me and affect me, instead."  She
smiled prettily at him.  "Want to learn it now?"
    With power like that, Ranma will be no match for me, Ryoga realized,
grinning inwardly.  I'll have him at my mercy...he noted with a start that
the cold water feeling that he had been experiencing faded away.
    "Good," Ryako approved.  "You put down the barrier."  Looking at
Ryoga's face, she added, "Though apparently not on purpose."
    "Then how do you make a spirit barrier start up and fade away at will?"
    "Spirit," she answered, "is one of the 'cold' elements, along with
water and air.  You must be reasonably calm to use the latter two, and
completely serene to draw spirit power.  That's odd, because you don't look
particulary serene, and you haven't since I've met you."  She smirked.  "I
think I know why the barrier faded, though.  You were probably thinking
thoughts of battle or some such, right?"
    "What I was going to do to Ranma," Ryoga replied grimly.  It suddenly
struck him why the spirit barrier had been there.  He was usually
perpetually angry and depressed, but ever since Ryako had offered to train
him, he had felt...at peace.  Once he mastered this, he would no longer
have to worry about Ranma.  His pig curse had gone away, no longer making
him care whether he got wet or not; being a girl didn't really matter to
him, other than a minor annoyance.  He focused slightly, closing his eyes,
and was thrilled to feel what seemed to be cold water flowing easily around
his bloodstream.
    Ryako nodded, grinning at him.  "There.  You've drawn the spirit power
out, now channel it into a barrier."
    Ryoga forced himself to remain utterly calm as he tried to force the
spirit flows into a barrier in front of him, with no success.  He gritted
his teeth grimly at tried harder.
    To his irritation, the rather short girl standing in front of him
laughed.  "No, you're doing that completely wrong.  You're trying to force
spirit to become a physical shield, and that won't work at all.  Spirit's
immaterial - remember that.  You can't use it to do physical things.  Now
try again, and this time focus on blocking all interference from your mind."
    Block all interference.  He shut his eyes and concentrated.  Shield the
mind.  Barrier in front of the mind.  No disturbance from...he opened his
eyes and beamed.  It worked!  He could feel a barrier in front of his
thoughts, preventing any outside sources from entering.
    "Very good," Ryako approved, surprised.  "I thought it would take you
more time than that to reproduce that effect than it did.  Now, release the
barrier.  Unfocus your mind, and let the spirit flow.  Think of a gentle
gust of wind flowing through your mind, and do nothing to hinder it."
    Let the spirit flow...wind gently flowing...he grinned inwardly as he
felt the barrier fade back into coldness that drifted back into his body,
and released his hold on the power altogether, letting it flow out of the
soles of his feet, channeling it harmlessly into the rocky soil.

    A slight gust of wind tumbled down out of the mountains, slowly
changing from a frigid blast to a gentle, cool wind that flew across the
small valley, then finally blowing itself out, and came to rest, seemingly,
on a small rock.  The valley itself was beautiful in a mystic sort of way.
With a backdrop of steep, mist-covered mountains on every side and only one
or two small mountain trails that led out, the valley was completely
isolated from the outside world.
    Almost completely isolated, anyway.  In the distance, a lone traveler
dressed in a beat up old gi came down from a hidden path, obscured by the
mist which hung over even the lowest hills in this place.  The traveler
looked up from her thoughts to the place in which she now found herself.
    "I-it's beautiful," she murmured reverently, gazing with unheeded
wonder upon the small valley.  She knew where she was, in some deep part of
her mind, but it was a subconscious thought, and she disregarded it,
staring at the mist-covered valley, and saw the that the grass covered
valley floor ended in a crystal blue pool.  She glanced around, trying in
vain to count all the pools.  Multitudes of serene pools - none too large,
none to small - dotted the gently rolling terrain, far too many to count.
    Something in the back of her mind asked her how she had come to be
here, but she paid it no attention, as she walked lightly towards the
pools.  The mist lifted, and she saw tall, thick bamboo poles jutting out
from the centers of the pools.  
    ...she knew if -she- turned into a boy, it wouldn't affect her so much...
    "Jusenkyo."
    She expected the thought of being at the accursed springs where so many
of her friends had had their shapes transformed.  It was a horrible
thought, too horrible to think about...turning into a pig?
    ...she knew if -she- turned into a boy, it wouldn't affect her so much...
    The faint thought echoed through her head faintly, like dust on the
wind.  When had she thought those thoughts?  It seemed an eternity
ago...she turned her gaze back to the springs.
    How could something so beautiful be so horrible?  It was impossible.
This isn't Jusenkyo, she told herself.  This is another valley.  It has to
be.  Morning mists rose silently from the serene crystal pools, and the
light of daybreak reflected off their surface, turning the mists into a
wondrous glowing shower of rising water droplets.  Cold water droplets.
Cold water...never touch cold water...cursed springs...got to leave.
    ...she knew if -she- turned into a boy, it wouldn't affect her so much...
    She turned to leave, but as she turned, she faced the same springs.  It
was now afternoon, the overhead sun glaring off the water, nearly blinding
her with the fiery glow, as she stepped backwards.
    "Akane!"  
    It was Ranma's voice, filled with terror.  "No!"  He bellowed, racing
forward to catch her.  She coldly stepped back one more time, a false step,
she realized, her expression changing to shock, then horror, as she
realized she was falling...falling into the spring.  
    "Akane!"
    It was the last thing she heard before she plunged underwater,
gurgling.  Ranma cared...he was trying to save her...but it was too late
now.  I can't swim, she thought, hanging her haed in defeat as she sunk to
her fate.  Ranma cared...
    ...she knew if -she- turned into a boy, it wouldn't affect her so much...
    And suddenly the spring was forcing her back upward, breaking the calm
surface of the water, as she gasped and sputtered for air, taking it in in
great gulps.  Ranma cared...he really did.  And she was alive.  That was
the only important thing to her, as she grasped on to the edge of the
spring, starting to pull herself up with her limber arms.  Arms that were
too limber for a female.  The muscles bunched up.  A male's arm.
    ...she knew if -she- turned into a boy, it wouldn't affect her so much...
    She looked pleadingly up at Ranma, only to find him recoiling in
horror.  "Y-you're a...boy!"  Ranma gasped.  "I cannot love a half-man..."
    "But you're half-woman, too, Ranma!"  She said, grasping his hand.
    He snatched his hand away, hanging his head.  "I...no," he said coldly.
 "You ridiculed my curse; I shall ridicule yours.  You scorned me, so shall
I scorn you.  An eye for an eye."  
    With that, he strode away, vanishing into the fading evening light.
    "Akane!"

    "I'm sorry, Ranma...so sorry...I never meant to ridicule you..."
    "Akane!"
    The voice startled her awake, and she sat up quickly in her bed, drying
her wet eyes.  "M-mister Saotome," she gave him a weak smile, "Good morning."
    Genma stood by her bedside, looking down at her in concern.  "Ridicule
Ranma, eh?"  He looked thoughtful.  "Perhaps you and him need to talk
heart-to-heart, hm?" 
    It was a strange thing for the big man to say.  He always seemed
so...rough.  The expression on his face was fatherly and kind, though, and
he looked sincerely worried.  Akane smiled at him reassuringly, wondering
if the smile was really to reassure Genma or herself.  It was to reassure
Genma, she told herself firmly.  What happened was a dream, nothing more.
    ...she knew if -she- turned into a boy, it wouldn't affect her so much...
    She was beginning to wish she'd never thought of that.
    "I just came to tell you that your father wants you downstairs," Genma
told her, clearing his throat.  "And meanwhile, I have a morning practice
session with my son."  He smiled at her and disappeared through the
doorway, striding confidently.
    ...she knew if -she- turned into a boy, it wouldn't affect her so much...
    "It was just a dream," she said, gritting her teeth.  "Just a dream.  I
would never go to Jusenkyo, anyway."
    She stood up and wished she had Genma's confidence as she walked out
the door of her room, the same phrase falling through her head one last time.
 
    Akane bowed to her older sister Nabiki, who bowed formally back.  
    It was the day after the Jusenkyo dream that the younger Tendo had
experienced.  Sunday morning; today Ukyou - another one of Ranma's fiances,
she remembered with a certain amount of disgust - was going to be coming,
and they would all get to see just how good Jeikar really was with his
quarterstaff, because without one, he wasn't much of a challenge.  The
fight he had given on the first day she met him was the best she had done
with him yet.  Sparring with him yesterday, his kicks and arm-thrusts were
off-balance and uncoordinated, making it an easy win for her.  
    Nabiki, however, had improved a surprising amount in the last few days.
 Her dodging skills, now that she was given a chance to sharpen her already
excellent reflexes, had improved immensely and Akane was having trouble
landing any good hits now.  At least I can go all out now, Akane thought
with an inward grin.  She could even attack with full force; she never got
anything but a glancing shot in against her older sister.  She doubted she
would have hit Nabiki at all if her sister could block with her arms.
    The older Tendo sister had no trouble getting in position to block, and
in light-contact sparring matches Akane couldn't hit her at all, except for
a lucky shot here and there.  But in full force sparring fights, like the
one they were about to begin now, Nabiki couldn't block anything with her
slender forearms, and they both knew it.  
    Akane tightened the black belt of her worn yellow-dyed gi, grinned at
her sister, and fell into a defensive posture.  There was no need, really,
and they both knew that, as well; Nabiki had rather pathetic offensive
skills.  Her movements, though fast and well-coordinated, were unpracticed
and the timing was awkward.  On top of that, Nabiki had trouble placing
attacks together to form combinations, so her younger sibling had an easy
time blocking her single kicks and punches, added to by the fact that
although Nabiki was adding as much force as she could without falling
competely off balance into the attacks, the punches and kicks had almost no
strength behind them.
    Her face set determinedly, Akane made the first offensive move.  A hard
roundhouse aimed straight for her older sister's head sailed harmlessly
through the air as Nabiki leaned to one side with plenty of room to spare.
Akane quickly followed up with a low sweep, which Nabiki predictably leaped
over, and a fast punch for the ribs.  The older Tendo bent backwards,
watching the fist sail over her.  She quickly righted herself and gave
Akane a quick kick aimed carelessly for the stomach, which the younger
sister deflected off halfheartedly with her left forearm.  
    An opening, Akane noted, swinging in and going into a powerful spinning
kick, aimed for the off-balanced Nabiki, who suddenly regained her footing
and ducked casually, jumping straight at Akane and punching at her
unguarded side, forcing her to leap backwards or be hit.
    Once again, the two sisters faced each other, circling slowly.
Nabiki's dodging was as good as ever, Akane acknowledged with a grunt,
bounding in with a quick high feint, followed through with a vicious
roundhouse, both of which her sister sidestepped without the slightest
problem.  Nabiki leaped to the attack, an ill-aimed kick that Akane smashed
aside with her wrist and punched her staggering older sister hard in the
side, doubling Nabiki over as she crumpled to the ground, clutching her side.
    "Y-you okay?"  Akane asked, dropping her guard and examining Nabiki in
concern.
    The older Tendo's eyes glinted as she leaped to her feet and delivered
a surprisingly well-placed side kick that smacked Akane solidly in the
ribs.  "Gotcha," Nabiki stated with a grin and a quick wink.
    Yes, Akane thought to herself grimly, Nabiki was becoming good
competition.

    "Hiya, boss," Jeikar stated cheerfully, grinning at Ukyou.  "It's awful
nice of you to help me train."
    Ukyou glared at him.  "Consider it a perk of working for me," she said
blandly, drawing out her sharp steel spatula from its holder on her back.  
    Soun nodded approvingly.  "I'm also glad you could come, Ukyou."  His
tone made it clear that he wasn't fond of Ukyou at all, and Ukyou knew full
well why.  He didn't like anyone that was interested in Ranma except for
his daughter Akane.  "Now," he intoned, "you both know the rules of the
dojo?  Basically, there are none.  It's an Anything-Goes School, after all.
 But if you damage the dojo, you pay for it.  Ready, you two?"  They both
nodded assent.  "Begin!"
    Jeikar hefted his bo staff in his right hand, twirling it with a fond
grin.  Fool thinks he's going to win, Ukyou realized, frowning as she
gripped her own weapon.
    The Chinese boy made the first move.  
    He charged straight at Ukyou and delivered a powerful thrust with his
staff, which Ukyou easily knocked aside with her steel spatula, closing in
on her assistant.  Jeikar swung his staff again, aiming for Ukyou's head
and a quick win.  Ukyou jumped nimbly to one side and smashed Jeikar hard
in the ribs with the flat of her weapon, knocking him backwards, staggering
as he attempted to regain his footing.
    Ukyou never gave him the chance.  She slashed horizontally at him,
which he grunted and knocked aside quickly, instinctively spinning the bo
staff downward, smacking away her follow-up kick that was aimed for his
abdomen.  She fell back in surprise as Jeikar charged again, with the same
thrust for her middle, Ukyou noted in disgust.  Before she knew what was
happening, though, the thrust had hit home against her left arm, causing a
painful bruise.  
    The thrust was a feint.  I should have seen that coming miles away, she
thought.  Okay, now it's my turn.
    She spun around, kicking him hard in the face before he could parry the
unexpected attack with his staff, and brought the spatula down with a
resounding clang as Jeikar blocked it with his quarterstaff, knocking it
aside.  He swept towards her unguarded form, a well-placed attack that
nearly knocked Ukyou to the ground.  She fell back again, faked to the left
with her steel weapon, and belted her assistant in the upper right side
with a powerful roundhouse that he couldn't block in time.
    That's his weakness, Ukyou realized.  He can't parry quick multiple
strikes because he fought animals in the wild as training, and they
probably struck quickly, but only one blow at a time.  And now that I know
that...
    Ukyou laughed inwardly as she spun to one side, dodging an ill-placed
swing of Jeikar's staff and swinging her spatula for his unprotected side.
It wasn't unprotected for long.  Before she could hit him, he swung his
arm, moving the bo staff so fast that it hummed, smashing her steel spatula
out of the way and throwing her off balance, spinning slightly to the
right.  She continued her spin, swinging into a powerful side kick that
Jeikar also parried easily.
    Now then, she thought with a slight smirk.
    Jeikar bounded at her, lashing out powerfully with his staff.  She
blocked it with her spatula, feinting a punch to the right that he easily
knocked aside, then swiftly kicking him in the ribs with a well-placed side
kick, doubling him over painfully.  He leapt backwards and fell into a
defensive stance.
    "No way you're going to hit me any more," he growled between clenched
teeth, gripping his quarterstaff with white knuckles.
    Ukyou smiled and faked high with her spatula, then swung it low, which
Jeikar parried easily, then spun with a kick that was aimed for his middle.
 The staff was suddenly there, too, smashing her leg aside painfully.  
    That's odd, she noted, surprised.  That was quick enough.  He shouldn't
have been able to block that last kick.  She eyed him warily, and realized
that he instinctively twirled his staff after every attack that he blocked
to knock aside any other incoming blows.  I just have to stall the bo
staff, she thought grimly.  Then I'll have him.
    Her side kick was knocked aside easily as she expected, and so was her
follow up spinning kick, and he twirled the staff which kicked her quick
punch to one side.  Now!  She shouted inwardly, delivering a forceful
roundhouse that hit home, hitting solidly against his cheekbone as he
stumbled backwards.  She followed through quickly with a spinning kick that
painfully smashed against his ribcage, and finished the combination with a
strike from the flat of her spatula that knocked Jeikar unconscious,
sending him reeling into the far wall, and he slumped to the ground,
twitching slightly.
    "Victory," Ukyou stated simply, resheathing her weapon in it's leather
baldric.
    
    "Ranma," Ryoga growled, hefting his steel-reinforced bamboo umbrella
towards his pigtailed opponent, who smirked insolently a mere ten yards
from him.  "Today...today I repay you for what you've done to my life!"  
    Ranma shook his head, the smirk still on his fool face.  "Ryoga, I
don't know what to say...haven't you realized yet that you're never going
to beat me?"  He grinned in a superior fashion towards the angry traveler.
    "Today, Ranma, there will be no help for you.  P-Chan will not come to
your rescue!"  He glowered darkly, pulling out his depressed feelings and
beginning to form a chi sphere in his right palm.  "This day will mark your
doom!"  He bellowed, angrily hurling a chi bolt at Ranma, who nimbly leapt
aside, laughing. 
    "You never could beat me, pig-boy..."  Ranma closed his eyes in
concentration, then shouted, "Mouko takabisha!"  A large bolt of blue flame
raced from his outstretched hands towards Ryoga, who forced out a shishi
houkoudan blast to match Ranma's attack, watching in satisfaction as the
two bolts canceled each other out, disappiating harmlessly.
    Ranma started to gather his energy again, and Ryoga charged him,
lashing out wildly with his heavy umbrella.  His foe dodged it easily and
smashed his stomach hard with his fist as Ryoga staggered backwards.  W-why
did that hurt?  Ryoga gaped inwardly.  He shouldn't have even felt one
punch, and that attack definitely wasn't the chestnut fist.  He looked up,
anger and fear in his dark eyes as Ranma smiled condencendingly at him and
released his energy.
    "Hiryuu..."
    No!  He was going to use the dragon whirlwind technique!  Ryoga
grimaced desperately, trying to control his negative chi that Ranma was
using to fuel his technique.
    "...shouten..."
    Ryoga shouted something incomprehensible as he dove, frustrated, at the
pigtailed boy who just smirked at him in return.
    "...ha!"
    The bandanna wearing traveler tried impotently to stay on the ground
even as the whirlwind swept him up into the air, ripping his clothing to
shreds and slashing his skin, making horrible gouges into it.  Ryoga
screamed in pain as blood flowed freely through his wounded flesh and the
tornado vanished.  The he was falling...falling...he smashed into the
ground, crushing half the bones in his body.
    Before darkness consumed him, his last sight was Ranma's laughing face,
and the horrible laughter.  Let it end quickly, Ryoga prayed in his
half-conscious mind.  Let it end...

    ...and he stood up.  He looked down at himself in amazement.  No blood.
 No wounds.  How could that be?  He looked around with a searching eye, and
found himself at the base of a narrow trail, which vanished off into the
mountain mists a mere five feet away.  
    "N-no," he managed, sputtering, "it...can't be.  How did I get here?"
    The beautiful mist-covered valley was all too familar to the young
traveler.  "Jusenkyo," he whispered, his voice filled with pain.  This is
what had ruined his life.  P-Chan stemmed from these springs; his female
form came from these springs.  Who knew what awaited him if he lingered
here too long?
    "I...cannot."  He closed his eyes to the valley, starting to go up the
narrow mountain path, where he had arrived.  And it was gone, replaced by a
sheer, unclimbable cliff of solid stone.  "Where...where did the path go?"
He asked, mumbling to himself.
    The Guide!  Of course.  He would just go and ask for the Guide to help
him leave...but where was the Guide's hut?  In the valley, all was as he
remembered it, but where the hut should have stood nothing remained except
soft green grass that swayed softly in the slight breeze.  He took a step
forward hesitantly...
    ...and landed with a splash in a large spring of cold water that wasn't
there a moment ago.  He recalled the shape of the spring all too well,
however he had tried to block it out of his mind, he would always remember
it - the horrible pool and the terror of his first transformation.
    He suddenly broke the surface of the water, struggling to stay afloat.
He didn't have to look at himself to realize that his worst nightmare had
occured.  His curse had reverted back into it's original form, changing him
into P-Chan once again.
    Ryoga tried to shout, but all that came out was a squeal of rage.  I'm
not...

    "...a pig!"  Ryoga bellowed furiously.
    He blinked and peered around.  He was correct; he wasn't a pig.  "A-a
dream," he stammered.  "It was a dream."  He lay back down, shuddering, his
eyes wide open.  It wasn't dawn yet, and by the scent of the cool night
air, wouldn't be for a few more hours.  That meant it was too early to get
up, so he rolled over and closed his eyes...and opened them again.
    "No," he growled to himself, frustrated.  "If I have nightmares like
those again, I'm going to go crazy."  His voice was shaken, but firm.  
    Ryoga crawled out of the small tent and stretched.  Practice...yes,
that's what he needed to do.  Drawing the spirit magic always flushed his
negative feelings away.
    He closed his eyes and concentrated, remaining perfectly calm.  The
cold feeling coursed through him, cleansing him of his sleep and his
nightmares.  Shield the mind, he thought, focusing carefully.  The barrier
faded softly into place around his mind like a whispering wind as he nodded
in satisfaction, releasing the spirit barrier, and starting to create a new
one.
    Clear the mind...
---------------------------------
And thus ends another chapter.  Akane's dream sequence was supposed to be
sort of...wierd, so if that's what you got out of it, you're reading
correctly. ;)  I suppose you're wondering why I'm having Nabiki go into
training like she is...well, you'll see.  Stick around...chapter six is on
it's way.  As usual, all C&C goes to guilds@mail.serve.com.  

Zai jian!