Subject: [fanfic][ranma][slayers]Half a Sorceress, chapter 1 [revised]
From: Jussi Nikander
Date: 12/27/1997, 12:41 PM
To: fanfic@fanfic.com

Hi, I'm back! 

Here's the first chapter of Half a Sorceress, revised. 

C&C appreciated etc., have fun reading it! ^_^


HALF A SORCERESS	

Chapter 1:Confused? Lina's unusual rebirth!

Written by: Jussi Nikander

Ranma 1/2 is a copyright by Rumiko Takahashi and her licencees
Slayers is copyright by Hajime Kanzaka, Rui Araizumi, TV Tokyo, SOFTX,
Egg Films
Not used under authorisation, but since I don't get any money from
this, don't sue me, okay?

SPOILER WARNING.
This story contains spoilers for Slayers the Perfect Movie, Slayers Special
1: The Terrifying Limera Project and Slayers TV-series, episodes 1-10.
Everything after episode 10 of the TV-series is ignored. Lina never met
Philionel or Amelia.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Valley of Jusenkyou...

Ranma stared at the panda which had been his father just a few
seconds ago.  The panda attacked him, but Ranma didn't even think
about defending himself before he was falling to a spring.
"Oh, no, Mr Customer.  You fall into the spring of the drowned girl!  A
very tragic story of a girl who drowned there 1000 years ago!" the
Chinese guide shouted.

As Ranma was plunged into the spring, he felt his body change.  Then
he hit his head on a rock, and didn't feel anything any more.  Ranma
lost his consciousness, and at the same time, something else stirred
inside him.  Something that had slept in that spring for a thousand
years was now coming around, as it had found a new host for itself.

Having given his son what he deserved, Genma jumped down and
prepared to gloat at Ranma for his sloppiness.  He was quite surprised
at the growls that left his mouth.  He was also quite surprised to see
his son floating face-down in a spring, his pigtail orange.

Slowly the something was awakening in Ranma's mind.  Bit by bit the
newly reawakened consciousness started taking in its surroundings.  It
was in water. Face down.  Therefore it couldn't breathe.  Something
should be done.

When Ranma sat up,  Genma moved to a stage beyond surprised.
Ranma's eyes were red, and he sprouted a pair of small breasts.  Genma
was a panda and his son was now a girl.  Maybe he should have listened
to the guide.

The consciousness which had taken over Ranma's body looked
around.  The valley was much as she remembered it to be.  Lots of
pools with bamboo poles sticking from them.  But the people she
expected to see weren't there.  Instead of Zel, Gourry, and the others,
she saw a panda and an old man.  What the hell had happened?
Where was everybody?...  And why there was some weird pressure
inside her skull, like somebody else was there too?  Lina Inverse was
thoroughly confused.

"Uhh...What happened? Who are you?"

The Guide was now worried.  He had never before heard of somebody
losing his memory when he was cursed.
"Aiyah! Mr. Customer fall into the spring of the drowned girl!  A very
tragic story of a girl who drowned  there 1000 years ago!"  Maybe
changing him back would restore his memory.  "Mr. Customers wait
here, I bring you cure that will change you back!"  The guide started
running back to his hut, to get some hot water.

_Mister_ Customer?  Mister?  Lina knew that she wasn't as well-
developed as, for example, Naga, but she definitely wasn't any man.
"Hey! Get back here! Who are you calling a mister!?  Can't you see
that I'm a girl!" she shouted after the Guide.

"Yes, yes, Mr. Customer wait.  I change Mr. customer back!  Just
wait!" The Guide shouted back as he disappeared behind some near-
by bushes.  Lina started after him, in order to give this obviously near-
sighted idiot a piece of her mind.  Unfortunately for her, she was lifted
off the ground by a big, hairy paw.

Genma grew more and more concerned as he listened to what his son
said to the Chinese man.  Since he was still himself inside, despite
having a panda's body, something worse must have happened to
Ranma, since he apparently thought he was a girl now.  As Ranma
started to follow the Guide, Genma grabbed him.  This was no time to
lose track of Ranma.  God knows what the boy...err.. girl would do in
his current state of mind.  He swung Ranma over his shoulder and
held him in place.

"Hey! Let me go you furball! What's do you think you're doing!"  Lina
wasn't amused by what the panda had done.  For a while she tried to
struggle out of the panda's grasp, but she wasn't strong enough to
escape.  Then she started thinking and immediately groaned at her
own stupidity.  After all, what's good does it do to be a magician if you
don't use your skills?  Since she was hanging on the panda's
shoulder, she had could see that panda's back, including its tail.  Lina
got a wicked smile on her face as she started concentrating on the
spell.

The magical energies gathered between Lina's hands and she blew at the
magical fire, causing a small flame to leap at the panda's tail, which
started smoking.  Lina frowned since the tail should have burst aflame.
She must be weaker than she thought.  Lina repeated the spell, and
flames started licking on the panda's backside.

Genma was patiently waiting for the guide to come back.  After all,
wasn't patience one of the greatest virtues of a martial artist?  Still, he
was getting a little hungry.  Maybe it had something to do  with that
smoke he smelled which reminded him of the cooking pits he had
seen in the last village.  Curious, Genma glanced around, trying to find
out where the smoke came from.  He then looked behind him, only to
see his tail aflame.  At the same moment the pain registered, and he
dropped Ranma and started to run around, frantically trying to
extinguish the flames.

Lina chuckled to herself when the panda dropped her to try to put out
the fire in its tail.  Maybe the animal would learn better than to mess with a
master sorceress.  When she looked around for any sign of the old
man, Lina briefly wondered if the panda was some kind of animal-man,
like that fish Zelgadis had used to torture her before he had switched
sides.

There was no sign of the Guide, but Lina thought she knew where he
had disappeared to.  She briefly considered casting a Ray Wing in
order to look around, but since she hadn't been able to pull of a
decent basic fire spell, it probably would have been just a waste of
energy. Lina ran to where she had seen the man disappear.  She would
just have to find him the old-fashioned way.

Genma was able to put off the fire on his tail just as Ranma
disappeared after the Guide had gone.  He briefly wondered how
his son had been able to set his tail on fire, but that would have to
wait. This was no time to lose Ranma.

				* * *

Lina was a good tracker so she had no difficulty in following the
Chinese man's trail.  After a few minutes of running she came to an
old hut, where generous amounts of smoke poured out of the chimney.
She ran to the door and opened it to see the Guide pouring hot water
into a tea kettle.  The man turned to look at her as she opened the
door.

"Ah, Mr. Customer.  I have hot water here, see?  I turn you back now,
yes." The Guide said.

"Now, just wait a minute pops.  Can't you see that I'm a girl?" Lina
shouted at the Guide as she walked towards him.  She maybe wasn't in
the best condition for spellcasting, but she would make the man pay.  It
was her pride that was in line here.

Lina stalked towards the guide, only to have generous amounts of hot
water poured on her.  Suddenly it seemed to her as if the Guide has
suddenly shrunk... or she had grown.  There was this odd feeling too,
like she had lost something on her chest, and gained something
between her legs.  She glanced down, and quickly confirmed that she was
indeed now a he.  Lina let out a surprisingly feminine shriek and fainted.

Sometime later, Ranma regained consciousness.  What had
happened?  He remembered that he had hit his father to a pond.
Then what? Something about a...  panda?  Ranma opened his eyes to
see his father and the Guide looking down at him.

"Uhh... What happened, pop?  Where am I?"

"Aiyah!  Mr. Customer!  You feel better now, yes?"  The Guide answered
him. "You no more think you are girl, yes?"  A girl?  What was that man
speaking about?

"A girl?"  Ranma asked, confused.

"You did some quite odd things after you had fallen into that spring,
son."

A spring?  What was old man speaking about?  Then, Ranma
remembered what had happened.  Genma had replaced by a panda
when he had fallen into a spring.  And then the panda had hit him, so
he had fallen into a spring too...

"No, pop, of course I'm no girl!  What are you talking about?"

"Never mind that, son.  We can discuss it later."  His father answered,
shrugging.

"What happened anyway?  You fell into a spring, and then there was
this panda..."

"Mr. Customer fall into Shonmaonichuan!  A very tragic story about a
panda who drowned there 1300 years ago!  Now anyone who falls into
that spring takes the body of a panda!"

Ranma looked at his father. "That's ridiculous!  Pop's no panda!"

"Aiyah, but he was Mr Customer!  When somebody falls into a spring of
Jusenkyou, he turns into whatever drowned in that spring.  Then,
when you pour hot water on him, he turns back!  And cold water turns
the curse back on.  I show Mr Customer!" the Guide took a glass of
water and poured it over Genma, who immediately turned into a
panda.  Ranma just stared at his father, wide eyed, while Genma took
out a sign reading "That was unnecessary."

"And me... Did I fall into a spring."

"Oh yes, Mr. Customer did!" The guide nodded enthusiastically. "Mr
Customer fall into the spring of the drowned girl!  A very tragic story of
a girl who drowned there 1000 years ago, yes!"

"Drowned... girl...?" Ranma couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"Yes! I demonstrate!" Before Ranma could do anything, the Guide had
taken another glass of water and poured it over his head.  Now it was
Ranma's turn to let out a feminine shriek.

The water didn't just turn Ranma into a female, it also awakened Lina.
As Ranma was shrieking her lungs out the ancient (16-year-old)
sorceress awoke from her forced slumber.  She had had some horrible
nightmare about turning into a boy.  And there again was that pressure
inside her skull, now just much stronger.  Slowly, she tried to sit up,
only realise that she was already sitting.  She also noticed that she
wasn't in control of her own body, and that she was shrieking.  What
the hell was going on? Had she been possessed?

Lina tried to calm herself.  All right, I don't know where I am, I'm not in
charge of my own body and I have some weird head-ache.  Panicking
won't help at all.  I should be calm and try to solve this problem
reasonably.  At the same time whoever was shrieking with her mouth
calmed down a little, which helped her some.  She tried to get hold of
her body again, but with no success.  Somebody else was controlling
her actions and no matter what she did, she didn't seem to be able to
regain control.  Having found out that she couldn't use her body, she
then tried to find out who was using it.

After a minute Ranma started to calm down.  While he had been
shrieking his lungs out Genma had turned back into human.  That
meant that there at least was a way to turn back.  Oh, yeah, the Guide
had mentioned hot water, Ranma thought.

"What was that about, boy!  Have I brought you up so poorly that you
start panicking from such a little thing!"

"Little thing!?" Ranma shouted. What was Genma saying?  He had turned
into a _girl_.

"Yes! A little thing!  A true martial artist wouldn't let a mere sex change
bother him!"

"I'm a goddamn girl, pop!  You're saying that's something minor!?"

"At least you stay a human, boy!  I turn into a panda! And look at how
well I've taken it!"

"Oh yeah!?  Well I got to admit that you look good as a panda!  You've
always been so lazy that it suits you well!"

Lina's head-ache grew worse as whoever was using her body started
arguing with an bald man who was wearing some kind of white
clothes.  As she couldn't control her body, Lina had started poking
around in the mind, hoping that she could somehow get into contact
with, and preferably rid of whoever was controlling her body.  After a
few false starts she had felt something, like a light touch.  Blocking out the
ongoing argument, she tried to grasp it again, and suddenly alien
thoughts entered her mind.  Contact. Lina shouted mentally:<HEY
YOU!!!!!!!>

"...and I can't see how you couldn..." Ranma suddenly stopped in mid-
sentence when somebody yelled inside his head.  Loud.  So loud, that
his ears started ringing.  Ranma bent down and covered his ears.
"Wh-who?" he asked out aloud.  Genma looked at his son (or daughter,
depending on your point of view) surprise written over his face.

Lina smiled.  It seemed that she had got the guy's attention.
<Me. The girl whose body you've taken over.> She said mentally.

Ranma was confused.  Somebody had spoken to him, but he hadn't
actually head anything. "W-what?  Who?  What do you mean taken
over?" He asked. His father and the Jusenkyou guide stared at him.  Who
was Ranma speaking to?

The other mind seemed confused, which, in turn, confused Lina.  You
needed an iron will and strong determination to invade the body of a
master sorceress and to take it over, but it looked like this other mind
was even more confused than she was.  It probably was some cover it
used, trying to make me lower my guard, Lina finally decided.
<Oh, please, no need for acting.  And please don't speak out aloud,  I
don't want to them think I'm nuts once I take over again.>

Ranma was more and more confused by the minute.  Somebody was
speaking to him inside his head, claiming that he had somehow taken
over her (yes, whoever it was, it was definitely female) body.
"Acting?  What do you mean nuts?  Or by taking over again?"

Genma was rapidly beginning to believe that Ranma had gone crazy.
Prehaps he shouldn't have been so hard on him.  Well, changing him
back to himself would probably help, he thought and poured hot water
over Ranma's head.

To say that Lina was amazed when her body turned into a male was
an understatement.  She clearly felt the magic surging through her
as her body transformed into something else.  Gods, it hadn't been a
nightmare, she thought.  There seemed to be something more than a
simple possession going on. <WHAT THE HELL HAVE YOU DONE
TO MY BODY!!!!??> She screamed at Ranma.

Ranma winced, both at the boiling hot water, and at the sound that
made his head ring. "Uhh...It's that curse" he said aloud. "The one that
Guide spoke about!"

"Just who are you speaking to, boy?" Genma asked his son.  Ranma
lifted his face to look at him, confusion clearly visible on his features.

"I dunno, pop.  There' s some crazy girl speaking inside my head..."

<Just who is crazy!!> Lina was getting angrier by the minute.  She
hoped that she would have had Zel teach her some shamanistic
magic.  Mind control spells would have been really handy right now.

"What do you mean there's some girl speaking inside your head,
boy?" Genma asked.  It really looked like his son had gone crazy.
What would Nodoka do once she found out?  Huge drops of sweat
appeared on the back of Genma's head.

"Gahh!!" Ranma winced at yet another shout. "Couldn't you calm down
you crazy chick!  I haven't taken over anybody's body.  It's gotta be
that Jusenkyou curse thingie!"

<Crazy chick!?  Now listen you little...>Wait.  Jusenkyou.  That's where
she had been when she fell into that pool.  There had been some really
odd legends about the place... <Jusenkyou?>  She inquired mentally.

Ranma rubbed his temples.  He had a pounding head-ache from all
the shouting that had been going on.  The Guide looked at Ranma
from the sidelines, worried.  As far as he knew, nothing like this had
happened before.  Sure, people had gone a little mad from being
cursed, but nobody had claimed that there were voices speaking
inside their head before.

"Yeah, Jusenkyou.  He says" Ranma pointed at the Guide "that I fell
into this pool, and now I have this weird curse that turns me into a girl
when I'm splashed with cold water."

Could the boy be telling the truth, Lina wondered.  Turning into
whatever had drowned into the pool when splashed with cold water
was the curse the pools of Jusenkyou caused.  But that would mean
that... that... that she... had... drowned there?

<Okay.  Calm down, girl.  Think.  Think!  You fell into the pool, then
what?> She 'said' out aloud.  It was like it had happened just a few
minutes ago.  <I fell into the pool and then... I drowned there?  I'm
dead!??>

Ranma blinked. "She... she said that she had drowned in that pool..."

"Who?"

"That girl..." The Jusenkyou Guide's eyes grew big.  There were some
legends about things like this happening.  The soul of whatever had
drowned in the pool had entered the body, sometimes even taking
over.

"Aiyah! Mr. Customer!  It be the soul of the girl that drowned in the
spring!  There legends of animal soul entering the body of  cursed, but I
never hear that human soul do this."

Slowly, Ranma began to understand the situation. "You mean... I have the
soul of whoever drowned that spring inside me?"

"That is what I said, yes?"

A silence descended into the room as Ranma and Genma tried to
absorb this information.  For a while Ranma was in shock.  Damn it, he
thought, what the hell do I do now?  Why did you hafta drag me here,
pop?  Now wait a minute, hold that thought...  It had been Genma who
had insisted on visiting all these training grounds.  It had been, in fact,
Genma who had got the bright idea of going to train in China.

Ranma grabbed the collar of his father's gi. "So pop... Why did  you drag
me here?" He asked.

Genma glared at his son and grabbed Ranma's collar in turn.
"For martial arts of course, son!  When I found this booklet" Genma
took a booklet out of his gi "I just knew we had to visit these ancient
places to further your training."

Ranma swept the booklet away and it landed next to the guide who picked
it up. "And of course there was no warnings about this place in it, huh?!"

"The legendary training ground of Jusenkyou.  For hundred of years
the most foolish of martial artists come to test their skills at Jusenkyou.
Jusenkyou is a training ground to not to go.  There are many cursed
springs there.  It is very bad if you get cursed since if you are then
splashed with cold water, you turn into what drowned in the pool you
fall."

Ranma and Genma stared at the guide who lifted his gaze from the
booklet and shook his head. "I try to warn Mr. Customers, but Mr.
Customers no listen to poor old Guide."

Ranma pointed at the booklet. "Did they warn about the springs in the
booklet?" He asked, disbelieving.

"That what I said, yes?"

"Pop..." Ranma turned to look at his father, furious. "If you knew those
springs were cursed why the hell did you come here!!" He shouted
"Now I got some crazy chick inside my head..."

Lina had followed Ranma and Genma's fight, and had become quite
bored. What kind of moron was this guy anyway, or his father for that
matter? Then Ranma let out that 'crazy chick' remark. <HEY!! JUST
WHO'S A CRAZY CHICK!!!> She 'shouted' as hard as she could.

Lina's shout made Ranma's head ring, and his father, seeing that his
son was distracted, used the opportunity to free himself and trip
Ranma.  He then stood over the fallen Ranma in what he thought was
a dramatic pose, tears coming from his eyes. "Son, your false accusations
hurt me to the core." he began "for I did not know about the dangers of
Jusenkyou, since..."

"Mr. Customer no can read Chinese, yes?" The Guide interrupted him.
He had turned the booklet so it was clearly visible that it had been
written in Chinese.

"So..." Ranma said, while he was picking himself off the floor, his right
eyebrow twitching ominously "you found some Chinese booklet you
couldn't understand and dragged me here, without finding out anything
about these places." Ranma surged to his feet and buried his fathers
head to the floor, shouting "OAJI NO BAKAAAAA!!!!"
He then walked out of the hut, leaving an unconscious Genma and a
bewildered Guide behind.

				* * *

As Ranma vented his excess rage Lina was laughing by herself.  This
guy seemed to be a bit of a jerk but he sure packed a nice punch.  A
little like Gourry, she mused.  Well, she was stuck with him for now,
so she'd better find out just who he was and try to get along. Who knows
how long this would continue? <Hey you!  Wouldn't it be time for some
introductions or something?> Lina then shouted.

"Huh?" Ranma had been thinking about father's stupidity and how short
sighted he was when Lina interrupted him.

"Whadda you mean?" He said and stopped walking.

<Well, I'd like to know your name, for example.  It'd be nice to know
just who I'm stuck with.>

"Uhh... Umm... I'm Ranma Saotome."

<Hello Ranma, I'm Lina Inverse.>

"Inverse?" Ranma said as he resumed his wanderings.

<Something wrong with my name?>

"Nothing, nothing. It just sounded... odd.  You aren't Chinese, are
you?"

<No.  I come from a country called Zefielia...  It's probably gone now, if it
really has been a thousand years since I died...>

"Yeah... I'm... ummm... Sorry."

<Ranma?>

"Yeah?"

<Could you stop speaking out aloud?  You are making a fool out of
yourself.>

"Huh?  What?  Fool?" Had the chick insulted him again?  And just as
he had began to thought that she probably wasn't such a terrible person.
Then what Lina had said sunk in.  She was right, he did look ridiculous,
talking to himself.

"Uhh... How can I do it?"

<Just think what you are trying to say.> Lina had done things like this
before.  It had to be done every time when somebody was experiencing
telepathy for the first time.

"Err..."<Like this?> Ranma asked mentally.

<Yes!> This Ranma seemed to be a quick learner. <That's it.  Now just
remember not to speak out aloud when talking to me.>

<Okay, I'll try to remember.  Now, if you aren't Chinese how did you
end up here anyway?>

Ranma had come to a ledge overlooking the valley and sat down on a
boulder.

Lina drew a mental breath.  She hadn't thought about it earlier, but
now she realised that she had lost all that she had knew.  Her home,
her friends, her whole world had been gone for centuries.  Lina started
weeping. She didn't make a sound and since she wasn't in control of the
body, there were no tears.  Still, Ranma was somehow able to sense her
misery.

"Wha-wha-what are you doin'?  Did I say something?" He asked
frantically, not wanting the girl to blow up again.

<No... It's not you.  I just realised that I have been dead for a thousand
years.  All I've know is gone...>

"Oh, yeah. Heheheheh" Ranma laughed nervously.

<It's not funny!>

"Sorry, sorry" Ranma apologised. "It's just that... I'm sorry." He didn't
know what to say.  Ranma had never been good with people,
especially girls, and how do you cheer up a person who had been
dead for a thousand years?

<It's all right.> Lina finally said. <And remember not to speak out
aloud, okay?>

<Uhh... Okay.>

<Now, you said that you wanted to know how I got here, right?> Lina
asked.

<Umm... Yeah. It's kinda weird that somebody from someplace called Zie-
what'sit...>

<Zefielia!>

Ranma winced a little at Lina's tone. <Cut it down, willya! It's just a stupid
name!>

<Stupid!?> Lina asked hotly. <It's the name of my birth country, and you
could...> Lina suddenly realised what she was doing. Starting an
argument when somebody didn't remember the name of her birth country.
No wonder people said she had a short temper. Lina sighed. <I'm sorry,
Ranma. I shouldn't have blew up on you. It's just... just...> The young
sorceress almost broke down again. It was just too much. Everything was
gone, and there was no way of getting it back. This wasn't another trip
through time, but she had actually died and been trapped into a curse
spring for a thousand years.

"I... Uhh... Errr..." Ranma said out aloud. He didn't have a clue what to do.
The girl, Lina, was miserable again, without any reason he could fathom.
What should he do? What _could_ he do? <Lina?> Ranma asked
mentally. <Uhh... Please don't cry, okay? It ain't nice, and stuff, and I don't
know what I should do and... Uhh...> Ranma realised that he was
babbling.

Lina slowly gathered herself. If she hadn't been so depressed, she
actually might have laughed at Ranma's feeble attempt to cheer her up.
Well, she probably would have buried her head to her hands and
despaired for him. Still, Ranma's talk made her feel a little better. <It's
okay, I'm all right. Or, well, actually I'm not, but it's still OK.>

Lina took the mental equivalent of a deep breath. <Now, how did I get
here?  Well, I should probably first tell you that I'm a sorceress.>

<A sorceress?> Ranma asked.

<Yes.> Lina said. <A magic user. Somebody who can cast spells, you
know.>

<Spells, magic?> Ranma asked, incredulous. <There's no such thing as
magic!>

<Oh? And what about Jusenkyou?>

<I... Uh... Right.> Ranma turned beet red.

<Okay, so I used to wander around, beating bandits and liberating their
treasures for living.>

<Huh? Liberating?>

<Well...> Lina said, a little embarrassed. <Taking, actually. I had to have
money to live, you know.>

<Ain't that stealing?>

<Hey! They had already stolen it so it was okay!>

"Right." Ranma snorted.

Somehow Lina got the feeling he didn't believe her.<Now, anyway, for a
while I wandered around with this other sorceress, Naga. She wasn't the
best possible company, but was half-way competent, so I at least had
somebody to watch my back. We had a few adventures together, like
defeating Joylock, a major Mazoku...>

<Mazoku?> Ranma asked.

<A demon of sorts. You haven't heard of them? Shabranigdo? Gaav?
Lord of Nightmares?>

<Nope.>

<Hmmm... That's strange. Almost everybody had heard something about
the Mazoku back while I was around. Maybe they were beaten for good,
or something...> Lina was a little worried about Ranma knowing nothing of
Mazoku. It might mean that there were no Mazoku anymore, or that they
were hiding. The first option wasn't any good, since Lina didn't know if she
could use the Dragon Slave if Shabranigdo was dead, and the second
was no better, because then the Mazoku might be waiting for their
chance to strike. Or maybe they were simply know by some other name
now; she could investigate that further some other time.

<Anyway, after nearly a year, I parted company with Naga. There had
been this nutty alchemist-mage, who...>

<Alchemist?> Ranma asked, interrupting Lina once again.

<Mixes potions and that stuff. Try to turn lead into gold.>

<Oh yeah, those guys. Kinda like chemists and stuff.>

Chemists? Al-chemists? Lina thought. I wonder who he's talking about.
Still, she had a story to tell. <Anyway, we parted company since this
alchemist had been able to make ten copies out of Naga...>

"Ten copies!!??" Ranma shouted out aloud, not believing what he heard.

<Yes. There is this magical procedure by which you can copy a living
thing if you get a sample of its body. Even a hair or nail will do. Then, you
can use the sample and some magic and chemicals to make a copy,
called copy homonculus. The copy looks exactly like the orginal and acts
much in the same way, but doesn't have the orginal's skills or memories..
This alchemist, Diol, made ten copies out of Naga, and I thought that it'd
be best if I let her alone with herself. Soon after that I met this mercenary,
Gourry, and we got involved in some really major trouble. I had raided a
bandit camp just before I met him and got myself some loot. Unfortunately,
among that loot there was this orichalcon statue...>

<Orichalcon?>

Lina would have gritted her teeth, if she could have. <A type of metal.
Now, could you please stop interrupting me every minute?>

<Ehehehe...Sorry.>

<Right.> Lina sighed.  <Anyway, quite some people were after that statue,
and that meant they were after us. At first we thought that this guy named
Zelgadis was the leader of the bad guys, but later on he turned out to be a
good guy, and another man named Rezo, who we thought was a good
guy, was actually the bad guy. In the end Rezo got the statue and used it
to resurrect Ruby Eye Shabranigdo, a _major_ Mazoku. Then,
Shabranigdo threatened to destroy the whole world, and it was up to me,
Gourry and Zelgadis to beat him. There was a _really_ major battle, and
in the end, I was able to beat Shabranigdo with a really major magical
spell, for which I had to borrow power from here and there.>

Lina stopped her narration for a while. The battle against Shabranigdo
had been the most difficult fight she had ever had. It was even worse than
the one against Joylock and his minions. Sighing, Lina continued her
story. <Anyway, after that Zel went his separate way from me and Gourry
for a while. After a two weeks or so he came back to us, though, and
asked if we wanted to accompany him on a trip to a far-away land. He had
heard a legend about this place, where there were lots of magical pools.
He hoped that he could once more become a human there.>

<Err.. Become a human?> Ranma asked.

<You see,> Lina began, this time not too annoyed by the interruption.
<when Zelgadis had been young, Rezo had turned him into a chimeira,
which is a cross between a human, a golem and a demon. Zel wanted to
regain his humanity, and I think he was a little desperate at that moment,
so he went to search for this legendary place. Gourry and I agreed to
accompany him, and after a few adventures, we finally arrived here, at
Jusenkyou. Then, when we were exploring the pools, I slipped and fell
into one. That's the last thing I remember, so I guess... I guess I died
pretty quickly.>Lina stopped for a moment. It wasn't easy to talk about
one's own death. <Now, how did you come to Jusenkyou? Are you from
around here?>

<No.> Ranma said and stretched a little.  He had been sitting there for
some time now.  Pop was probably somewhere out there looking for him.
Not that it mattered. <I'm the only son of Genma Saotome and the heir to
the Saotome school of Anything-goes Martial Arts.  Me and pop, we've
been travelling around, practising martial arts ever since...>

Ranma's story was interrupted by a cry of rage that came behind him.
"Ranma Saotome!  I have found you at last!  Prepare to die!!"

Ranma turned around to see a muscular boy of his age, wearing a
yellow-and-black bandanna, black sleeveless shirt, and rugged pants,
and wielding a red umbrella, staring down at him with murder in his
eyes.

Ranma's confusion was mirrored by Lina as the simultaneously said
"Who are you?"

<Who is this guy?>

end of chapter 1
-----------
The Martian.
Jussi.Nikander@alien.nixu.fi
-----------
Compared to this ice cream the human lifespan is just
the blink of an eye.
	-Jean in episode 19 of Nadia