Chapter 3: The Awakening

   Cologne studied Kunou's chest with curiosity. Kunou, who by now 
was awake, frowned. "Honored old troll, might I ask what you find so 
interesting upon my person?"
   Cologne whacked him with her staff. "Quiet, boy. I'm trying to 
figure out what happened to you."
   "That is most obvious. The pigtailed goddess, in her anxious 
desire to date with me, tore the bounds of nature themselves to 
produce heavenly fire which she..."
   *THUNK*
   "That's more than enough out of you," Cologne muttered, as Kunou 
fell unconscious again. 
   Tofuu peeked into the room. "So, have you discovered anything yet?
"
   Cologne shook her head, and rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "It's 
definitely magic. I'd say whoever did this has at least medium-level 
skill with fire spells."
   Tofuu shook his head, incredulous. "I know all the myths and 
legends of black magic...attack spells and all that. But don't you 
find it inconceivable that someone would actually be able to use it 
in this day and age?"
   Cologne shrugged. "Anything's possible. At any rate, the question 
is moot. This was definitely a mid-level fire spell."
   Tofuu grimaced. 
   "Tell me, young healer. Who did this again?"
   "According to Nabiki, Ranma did it."
   Cologne shook her head. "Not possible." She pointed at the burns 
with her staff. A magenta aura sprung up around them. Tofuu blinked. 
"Surprised?" Cologne chuckled. "Relax, only healers such as you and I 
can see that. I'll teach you how to do it if you like. Anyway, back 
to what I was saying...see this aura?"
   Tofuu nodded. "What is that?"
   "That's the aura of the spellcaster. When a spell is cast, two 
forces are released: magic and ki. This aura reflects the ki of the 
spellcaster."
   "Ah, I see," Tofuu said. "So, casting a spell is like performing a 
ki technique but incorporating magic into it."
   "In a way, basically that sums it up," Cologne nodded. "This aura..
.is definitely not Ranma's."
   Tofuu frowned. "Well, there aren't too many girls with red hair 
and pigtails that could do something like this to Kunou."
   Suddenly, there was a call from the main room of the clinic. 
"Tofuu-sensei! Come here quick!"
   Tofuu ran out to the main room. "What is it?" 
   Daisuke and Hiroshi, two Fuurinkan students he recognized, carried 
a small stretcher in between them. On it lay a blackened Happousai. 
Tofuu blinked. "Happousai's injured? How did this happen?"
   Immediately Cologne was in the room. "Did you say Happi is injured?
" She took a look at the body the two youths had placed on an 
examination table, and gasped. "Who on earth could..." 
   As Tofuu watched, a red aura begin to shimmer around the burns on 
the withered pervert's torso. Cologne frowned. "Whoever got Kunou 
this morning, did this too." Turning to the two boys, she said, "Tell 
me, did you see who did this?"
   Hiroshi nodded. "Yes ma'am. It was Ranma."
   Cologne shook her head. "Are you absolutely sure?"
   Daisuke nodded. "Yeah. The old lech splashed Ranma and tried to 
glomp her. Then she stood up, and said a bunch of stuff that didn't 
make any sense, then blasted him."
   Tofuu and Cologne exchanged a glance. "I think we need to talk to 
Ranma," Tofuu said. Cologne nodded.

   At that particular moment, Akane, Ukyou, and Ryouga, now human, 
strode into the clinic. Ranma was wrapped in a blanket, and Ryouga 
was carrying her on his back. Cologne's eyes widened. Tofuu blinked.
   "Sorry about this, sensei." Ryouga placed Ranma on one of the two 
remaining tables. "Ranma fainted on us..."
   Cologne's eyes narrowed as she studied Ranma. "There's an 
unfamiliar aura about him...the same one on those burns..."
   At that moment, Ranma groaned, and awoke. Visible only to Cologne 
and Tofuu, a flickering magenta shadow which had been swirling around 
Ranma's bright yellow aura slowly faded away.
   Cologne pogoed over to the redhead. "Have you been studying black 
magic, son-in-law?" Cologne asked.
   "Huh? Old ghoul? What're you talkin' about?"
   "What do you mean 'black magic', granny?" Ryouga asked.
   Cologne sighed. "Kunou and Happi are both here. We know all about 
what happened to them, and we know Ranma did it."
   "Did...wha?" Ranma asked.
   "Apparently, you've been casting some fairly strong fire magic 
today, Ranma," Tofuu-sensei commented. Everyone except Cologne turned 
to stare at him.
   "Is that what happened?" Akane asked. "Both times...magic?'
   "You sure about that sensei?" Ukyou asked.
   Both Tofuu and Cologne nodded. 
   Ranma sighed. "Oh man, what next?"


   A new day dawned bright and clear over the bustling city. The buzz 
of laughter and conversation filled the air at the local high schools 
as students rushed to prepare for their morning classes.
   At one school, Juuban, two girls with somber expressions stood off 
to the side in one of the less crowded hallways, speaking quietly. 
One had waist-length sky blue hair and was quite beautiful. The other 
girl, whose simply cut light brown locks fell shoulder length, 
removed her glasses for a moment, wiping at her eyes. 
   "Have...have you talked to them?" the girl with blue hair asked.
   The sandy-haired girl nodded. "Hai, I spoke with Masaru-san 
yesterday." Replacing her glasses, she continued, "They're not doing 
well. The family...they've fallen apart. Masaru-san says he hasn't 
even seen either of his brothers in several months. And...and Hikari..
.the poor thing just isn't the same, he says."
   The blue-haired girl sighed sadly. "How horrible. I still...I 
still can't believe it..." Growling, she slammed a fist into her open 
palm. "And all for *nothing* too!"
   The brown-haired girl rested a hand on her friend's shoulder, and 
smiled sadly. "It's alright. It was something she believed in. It 
doesn't matter if things weren't what they seemed..."
   "Yes, it DOES matter! Dammit, Fuu..." Ryuuzaki Umi sighed, closing 
her eyes. 
   "Umi-chan..." Their discussion was interrupted by the approach of 
one of Fuu's friends, a pretty girl with short bluish hair. "Ohayou, 
Fuu-chan," the girl greeted.
   Fuu smiled slightly. "Ohayou, Ami-chan," she returned the greeting.
 
   Ami picked up on her mood immediately. "Anou...what's wrong? You 
both seem to be a little upset..."
   Before Umi could comment on just how upset she was, Fuu replied, 
"Ami-chan...today is a very sad day for us. Two years ago we..." Her 
voice caught in her throat, but she eventually continued, "...two 
years ago today, a friend of ours was taken from us."
   Ami's expression paled. "Oh, no...gomen nasai...I had no idea..."
   "It's not something we like to talk about," Umi noted. "Not 
something we like to talk about at all."
   Ami nodded. "I understand. I'll leave you to yourselves now. If 
you need to talk, I'll be here to listen."
   "Thank you, Ami-chan." Fuu smiled briefly at her, and then moved 
to stare out the window.

   Ranma had refused a request to stay home from school today. While 
he had no particular desire to go to school, he didn't want to be 
coddled like some sick little kid. He was disturbed by what had been 
happening to him lately, but he didn't think it was serious enough to 
let it disrupt his life--hell, his life was already disrupted enough 
as it was. 
   As he and Akane walked to school, Ranma noticed a post delivery 
truck moving at high speed toward the restaurant district. "Huh. 
Wonder what that was all about," Ranma mused. "They don't usually run 
this early and they ain't usually in that much of a hurry."
   Akane shrugged. "Probably somebody made some kind of rush 
overnight order or something."
   The incident was promptly forgotten about and the walk to 
Fuurinkan continued.

   Meanwhile, the same truck pulled up to the delivery entrance at 
Nekohanten, and a rather frazzled-looking delivery boy pounded on the 
door, holding a parcel beneath his arm. 
   A groggy Shampoo opened the door and irritably snapped, "Make 
delivery when note on door say make delivery. No wake up sleeping 
Amazon womans."
   The nervous delivery man bowed. "S--sorry...I had instructions 
that this package had to get here as quickly as possible, and to 
ignore all schedules, or I'd lose my job."
   Slighly less angry given the poor man was just doing what he'd 
been told, and curious about what could be so important, Shampoo said,
 "Alright, you make delivery now. This only time. Happen again, 
Shampoo make hood ornament out of man parts."
   The gulped nervously. "I'll...remember that. This package is for a.
..Cologne?"
   The elder Amazon pogoed up to the boy. "That would be me."
   The boy pulled out a clipboard. "Sign here, please." Cologne 
signed, and took the package. The young man left as quickly as he 
arrived.
   "Great-grandmother, who package is from?"
   Cologne examined the parcel carefully. Something didn't feel right 
about it. She read the return address, and frowned. "Well, whatever 
this is, it came from Jyusenkyou," she mused.
   "Aiyah! What they send?"
   Cologne opened the box, and gasped. "Goddess..."
   Shampoo rushed to her side, and peered into the box. "Is funny 
glove. What so important about funny glove?"
   Cologne carefully lifted the object from the box, and studied it. 
Meanwhile, Shampoo dug a letter out of the box and began reading it. 
:Eldest of the Niichieju, this object was found in the cliffs 
surrounding the valley of cursed springs. The eldest available 
Niichieju was baffled by the object, and requested I send it to you.: 

   Cologne nodded. "Yes, yes, I can see why. This gauntlet...its 
magic isn't the most powerful I've ever encountered, but it is very 
strong...very alien magic. I've never experienced any force quite 
like what's coming from this thing."
   Shampoo frowned. "So it not Amazon thing?"
   Cologne shook her head. "It's not anything from this world." <But 
its aura is very familiar,> Cologne added mentally.
   Suddenly, the jewel on the gauntlet began to pulse with scarlet 
light...

   A bucket of water had made its way onto Ranma's head once again. 
Akane watched the redhead worriedly. When Ranma had changed, she had 
dropped to the ground. she was clutching at her head, groaning 
painfully. "Ranma?" she questioned, kneeling beside the redhead.
   Ranma looked up, looked around, and blinked. "This...this is Tokyo.
.."
   Akane frowned. "Yeah, of course. Where else would it be."
   "It's...it's not Cephiro..."
   Akane blinked. "Huh?"
   "...not...not...China..."
   Akane was extremely confused. "Ranma...why would you think you're 
in China?"
   Ranma grasped Akane's shoulders. "How? How...did I get here?"
   "You walked, baka," Akane snapped, trying to extract herself from 
the girl's hold. Something was very wrong with Ranma's eyes...
   Suddenly, Ranma collapsed. Akane caught her before she could hit 
the ground. "Ranma!!"
   Ranma blinked several times, and focused on Akane. "Akane? What...
I don't feel so great..."
   "Ranma, we're going home. You need rest."
   Ranma nodded. "Yeah...rest..." Then she shook her head. "No."
   Akane frowned. "Baka, you can't go to school like this!"
   Ranma shook her head. "Not school. Nekohanten."
   Akane's eyes narrowed. "I see. This is all a game so you can see 
that Amazon bimbo..."
   Ranma groaned in frustration. "No, baka! I want to talk to the old 
ghoul. See if she knows what's happening to me."
   "Oh," Akane replied quietly, and the two made their way off campus 
and toward the restaurant district.

   "Ranma! You come to see Shampoo!" As usual, the lavender-haired 
Amazon teen bounced towards her currently female marriage prospect. 
However, for the first time anyone could remember, her progress was 
blocked by Cologne's staff.
   "We don't have time for that right now, child," Cologne barked. 
"Son-in-law, what seems to be the trouble?"
   Ranma sighed. "I'm not sure. I keep feeling weak, and blacking out.
.."
   "This morning after he got splashed near the school, he was asking 
where he was. He said something about China."
   Cologne raised an eyebrow. "And you remember none of this, son-in-
law?"
   Ranma shook her head. "Nuh-uh."
   "Hmmmm..." Cologne rubbed her chin. She examined Ranma's aura, and 
found, alarmingly, that the pure yellow was beginning to tint red 
over a large area. <I might as well find out what the connection with 
that glove is,> Cologne decided. "Son-in-law. An item was sent to me 
this morning which was found near Jyusenkyou. I want you to take a 
look at it. It might have something to do with your current condition.
"
   "You ain't tryin' to pull nothin' funny, are ya old ghoul?" Ranma 
looked skeptical.
   Cologne narrowed her eyes. "If you want my help, you'll look at 
this object. Otherwise, there's nothing I can do for you."
   Ranma sighed. "Okay, okay."
   Just then, Ukyou entered the restaurant, followed by Ryouga. "Hey, 
Ucchan, Ryouga...what're you guys doin' here?"
   "Well, I saw you two headed this way, and I wondered what was up," 
Ukyou said. "And this idiot--" she jerked her thumb at Ryouga--
"Somehow wound up *IN* *MY* *BATHROOM* this morning...so I brought 
him along." Ryouga had the good grace to look sheepish. 
   Cologne snorted. "In any case, I'll go get the object."

   Cologne returned a few moments later, carrying what appeared to be 
a white glove of some sort, with a crimson gem set into the handguard.
 She handed it to Ranma.
   Ranma looked at it for a moment. "Well? Anything?" Cologne asked.
   Ranma shook her head. Then suddenly, her eyes went blank. 
Examining the gauntlet with care and reverence, she slowly slid it 
onto her left hand.
   There was a bright pulse of crimson light. Everyone shielded their 
eyes. When the light receded, they all gaped at Ranma. Her normally 
sapphire eyes were now as red as rubies. Instead of her usual 
clothing, she wore something resembling a red school uniform, with 
knee-length white boots, some sort of white armor, white 
shoulderguards, a white bracer on her right wrist, and the gauntlet 
on her left hand. She looked around the restaurant in wonder, 
confusion, and a little bit of fright, then looked down at herself, 
at her hands, then at the faces of the people around her. she began 
to listen to them.
   "What in the--?"
   "What's going on here?" 
   "Aiyah..."
   "R...Ranma?"
   Cologne hopped in front of the girl, eyes narrowed. "You...you're 
not Ranma, are you?"
   The girl, confusion clear on her face, shook her head. "No," she 
said shakily.
   "Who are you?" Cologne asked softly.
   The girl swallowed once, very nervous as she looked at the 
expectant faces of the small crowd before her. "Atashi...atashi 
Shidou Hikaru," she said.


____
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"If it looks like a duck, and walks like a duck, and quacks like a 
duck...pour hot water on it."
Ryodachi Kouma
"The Eternal Lost Lurker"
squn29a@prodigy.com
http://pages.prodigy.com/EtLostLurker

no da.