Subject: [fanfic] [Ranma] Sword and Sorcery, Chapter 3 (3/?)
From: phongb9@idt.net (D.Fire)
Date: 9/29/1997, 3:19 PM
To: fanfic@fanfic.com

Sword and Sorcery (tentative)
Chapter 3

by D.Fire
phongb9@idt.net

	Sifting through the remains of the house was not the most
pleasant task Ranma had ever done.  After she had carried old Master
Hariule's body into a cleared area, she steeled herself to the
horrific task ahead.  It did not help that everywhere she turned, an
object would show up, evoking memories of happier times.

	'None of this stuff is really salvageable,' she thought with
regret.  'It's probably best to let the dead rest with the dead.'
Once more into the fray, she scrambled through piles of debris to pick
out whatever momentos she could.  'Master Hariule never gave me much
in the way of worldly possessions.  All my clothes are well hidden in
a dimensional pocket.  The only other thing he gave me was his
knowledge, which I will always have.'

	Sighing, she wondered, 'Who did this to you?'

	Fortunately, Master Hariule kept his important works and tomes
down in the basement lab, so that when the rest of the house was
trashed, his legacy along with herself were kept safe by magical wards
and protection spells.

	Walking over to entrance of the basement, Ranma called down,
"Azure!  I need to close up the basement for a little bit.  Don't
worry about it."

	An answering yowl of acknowlegement came back from below.

	Stepping back from the entrance, Ranma intoned, "UBINA
SAPHAERUS" and made a sweeping gesture against the remains of the
doorway.  Apparently nothing happened.  Continuing, she spoke the
words, "LAIRUN SIRUS".  The effect this time was very apparent as a
great wind rushed down from the heavens forming into a miniature
tornado.  The tornado sucked the doorway and the surrounding debris
into the upper part of its funnel, leaving bare ground around a
rectangular hole.

	Gently gesturing, she directed the funnel away, and after
determining a spot as a final dumping ground, she released the spell
gently, lowering the debris to the ground.

	Stepping over to the hole, she summoned a paintbrush to her
right hand and a can of red paint to her left.  Using the paintbrush,
she dabbed paint  completely around the hole, and stepping back, she
began her spell.

	"Door of magic,
	Door of light,
	Dimensions across ether beyond.
	Appear to seal,
	MARUS VIENE"

	The hole began glowing in an unnatural light as the
surrounding light rushed inward.  In a glow too bright to look at, a
door formed over the hole.  After the light died away, the door
revealed had a metal sheen, and a key stuck out of the lock by the
handle.

	'Now to test it,' Ranma thought.  She bent over the closed
door and twisted the key, locking the door.  Removing the key, she
waited.  At first nothing happened, but then the door and the hole it
covered faded away, leaving bare, non-descript ground.

	'Yup, still got it!' she gleefully thought, but then she
sobered.  'Now to deal with the rest of the mess.'

	She walked sedately away from the house environs, and when she
was far enough away, she began her final spell.

	"Restore from the heavens,
	Restore from nature's life,
	Let all be as before man,
	HIRUS VIENE IOLI NAR"

	She stood there rock-still with eyes closed as she waited.  No
light accompanied her spell this time, but shortly a gentle breeze
blew throughout the area.  Gradually, all traces of the house and the
battle that took place faded away, to be replaced with grass, trees,
and flowers.  The crater that was once a lake refilled itself with
water.  Soon after, all that remained of the house site was a densely
overgrown wood.  In the silence of the woods, she could hear no birds
and no animals, but that was expected.  In was within her power to
restore the land, but not to restore the animal life lost.  But soon
enough, she knew, life would come back this place.

	Ranma then fell to her knees.  'Oops, overextended myself.
What would Poppa think?'  This brought home the fact that Poppa was no
longer around and would never be again.  With tears brimming, she
willed herself, 'No!  I will not cry anymore.  Guys don't cry!'
Clasping her knees to her chest, she gave in to her sorrow as she
rocked back and forth, weeping silently.

	Eventually, she could cry no more.

	***

	Azure crouched within the magic circle of chalk as the door to
above finally creaked open.  Perking up his ears, he heard the
measured steps of Raeni as she came down the stairwell.  But something
was different about her.  She walked unlike before.  The rhythm was
the same, but he found it hard to actually her her footsteps.  Where
before, she had the light tread of a graceful young girl, she now had
the grace of, well, a cat.  Something had changed.

	As Raeni entered the room with a tray laden with food, she
said with false cheer, "Here ya go, Azure.  Here's the little snack I
promised you."

	Ignoring the slight discrepancy over the more immediate need
of hunger, Azure leapt to his feet and ravenously attacked the meal
before him.  <Thanks.  Mmrf.  I was starving,> he replied.  As he
wolfed down the fish before him, Raeni came over to his side.

	"You are beautiful, Azure," she softly said, as she stroked
his fur.  "You were just cute before, but now you're beautiful.
Ironic though.  I could never before appreciate feline grace.  It's
ironic that my familiar would be one big cat."

	She paused in silence broken only sounds of Azure feasting.

	Then she continued, "Let me tell you a story, Azure.  I'm sure
you'll appreciate the irony."

	"There once lived a boy in a world very much different ours.
He was born to a horrible father.  His father of course loved him, but
he didn't have a single clue how to raise a child.  This father was a
strong fighter, and when the boy was five years old, his father took
him on a ten year long training trip.

	"On this trip, the boy learned many fighting techniques.  One
of the earliest he learned had to do with cats.  The father foolishly
trained his son with some lame instructions found in an old
manuscript.  The directions told the father to wrap his son in meat
sausages and fish and throw him into a pit of hungry cats.

	"Not knowing any better, or knowing but not caring, the father
did as the instructions bid.  He threw his son, laden with sausages,
into the pit over a dozen times.  Each time, the boy would come out
the pit crying, scratched, and bleeding, and each time the father
wrapped the child again and threw him back in.

	"Is it any surprise that the child eventually grew up with an
extreme fear of cats?  Then the boy eventually came to this world,
where he met an old man.

	"The old man had a cat for a friend, and for a time, the
little boy was afraid without reason, because he could not remember
his old world.  Without past memory, he and the cat could become
friends, although it took much time and patience.  Then one day, the
old man died.

	Raeni paused in her telling as her throat threatened to
tighten up.

	"But... but... the old man's cat still had life.  The cat now
became the boy's pet, even though the boy now remembered his past
fears.  It turns out that he had a cat's soul after all.  For all this
time, he had been afraid of himself.

	For a while, the two sat there in silence, master and
familiar, but then Azure asked, <That little boy was you, wasn't it,
Raeni?>

	"Not quite, Azure.  That little boy was named Ranma."  She
paused as she struggled to impart emotion in her next words.  "Ranma
is a part of me.  Raeni is a part of me as well.  But Ranma is not
Raeni."

	"It's been hard, dealing with all these old memories.  Half of
me is disgusted with what I've become.  Half of me is disgusted at
what I was.  Poppa was so different from what Pops was."

	Raeni got to her feet, as she brushed the cat hair from her
dress.  "Are you done yet, Azure?  We have business upstairs.  Come."

	Turning away, she headed towards the stairs.  Then she turned
back, saying in her cutest voice, "Or does widdle baby want mommy to
carry you?"

	Azure mock-growled in reply and chased Raeni up the stairs.

	***

	The body of old Master Hariule lay on top of a bier of wood in
a small clearing in the woods.  A white sheet covered most of his
body, leaving only his face uncovered.  Although a soft breeze
whistled through the forest, not a hair on head moved, and the sheet
did not rustle.

	Before the body, Raeni and Azure stood with bowed heads in
silent prayer.  They remained this way for a while until Raeni broke
the silence.

	"Are you ready, Azure?"

	At an almost imperceptible nod of his head, Raeni brought
forth her hand with palm faced toward the funeral pyre.  "Know this,
beloved Master.  Your soul shall rest in peace.  I will seek out thy
murderer and bring justice to the deserving."  Pausing, she
concentrated and ...

	<Wait, Raeni!> came Azure's voice in her head.

	Broken out of her concentration, Raeni scowled at Azure, "What
is it?  Why did you stop me?"

	<I smell something on his body!  I smell his murderer.>

	"Of course you do.  Whatever killed Master Hariule did a
number close in."

	<But I think I smell a piece of the murderer.>  Leaving
Raeni's side, Azure stalked up to the body and closely sniffed around
it.  Zooming in on the right hand, he said, <There!  Check the right
hand.>

	Raeni walked over to Master Hariule and picked up his left
hand.

	<No the other right hand!>

	"Oops."  Correcting her mistake, she brought up the old
sorceror's right hand and inspected it closely.

	There, imbedded in the palm.  Something small and white
protruded from the skin.  Taking out a silk hankerchief, she gently
pried out the offending item.  "You're right, there was something
there."  It was small and triangular in shape.  "It looks like a ...
tooth?  Eww, gross.  Something was eating Master Hariule?!  Well,
hopefully, this will enough.  Smell anything else?"

	Going once more around Master Hariule, Azure came back to
Raeni.  He shook his head saying, <No, the alien smell is gone.  That
was it.>

	Gently petting Azure's head, Raeni said, "Now let's send poor
Master Hariule to his rest."

	The two went back to their previous positions.  Raeni closed
her eyes and concentrated, speaking the word, "ORU".

	Nothing happened.

	Raeni's eyes popped open as she looked incredulously at her
hand.  Aiming once more at the funeral pyre, she once again said,
"ORU".

	Still nothing happened.

	<What's wrong, Raeni?> Azure worriedly asked.

	"I ... I don't know."  Raeni fell to her knees in shock.
Shaking her head, she went into a trance.  A moment later, her eyes
opened with a dead quality to them.  "I'm out," she said hoarsely.
"I'm all tapped out.  This is so unfair!  I can't even send Master
Hariule off to his eternal rest!"

	<It's all right, Raeni.  This happens to all mages,
eventually.  This is just an inopportune time,> Azure said soothingly.

	"But what am I going to do?" she cried, throwing her arms
around Azure's neck.  "I need a magical fire to start the fire."

	Azure contemplated for a moment, and then he said, <You can
ask them.>

	Raeni opened her eyes to see what he was talking about.  Tiny
lights of many different colors surrounded the two of them.  "Ah,
elementals.  Thank you for calling them, Azure."

	She stood up, not hearing his return thought, <But I didn't
...>

	"Please," she begged of the glowing lights, "start a little
fire so that I may send my master to his afterlife.  I can't give you
anything now, but I promise to make it up to you."

	The lights continued to swirl as if in comtemplation.
Suddenly, a group of them broke away from the rest and sped over to
the funeral pyre.  A moment later, smoke rose from the logs, and soon
after, a magnificent bonfire raged.

	"Thank you, my friends."

	The lights continued to dance around the two of them and in
and around the funeral flame, as night slowly fell.

OMAKE

A chibi-Raeni-chan chases a chibi-Ranma-kun on the stage with mallet
in hand.  We can tell it's chibi-Raeni-chan because she is female,
wears a dress, and has loose flowing hair.

Chibi-Ranma-kun is seen to have many lumps on his head as he tries to
fend off the mallet.

CHIBI-RAENI-CHAN:  Puff.  Puff.  Stay still you.

CHIBI-RANMA-KUN:  No way!  Do you think I like getting hit?  Besides
we BOTH have to do this omake.

CHIBI-RAENI-CHAN:  Oh, very well.  [Put's down mallet.]

CHIBI-RANMA-KUN:  Today, we saw than Raeni here does have a limit to
her power.

CHIBI-RAENI-CHAN:  [Pick's up mallet and whacks Ranma.]  Ahem, that's
not what this omake is about.  What we really saw is a new form of
magic, namely that of elementals.  As you recall, I had to promise
them something for them to work for me.

CHIBI-RANMA-KUN:  [sotto voice] Yeah, right.  I saw you begging them
to work.

CHIBI-RAENI-CHAN:  [Whacks Ranma again.]  Anyway, this system of magic
is called Barter Magic.  In essence, an equal exchange of services.

CHIBI-RANMA-KUN:  And what are you going to do for them anyway.  Kill
them and set them aflame.

CHIBI-RAENI-CHAN:  Shut! UP!  [Once again whacks Ranma.]

CHIBI-RANMA-KUN:  Will you cut that out?  [Grabs mallet out of Raeni's
hands and whacks Raeni.]

CHIBI-RAENI-CHAN:  HEY!  I thought you didn't hit girls [Grabs back
mallet and whams Ranma].

CHIBI-RANMA-KUN:  Ha, technical loophole.  You're me, so you're really
a guy! [Grabs mallet again and whacks Raeni].

CHIBI-RAENI-CHAN:  Why, you!! [Wham]

CHIBI-RANMA-KUN:  You hit like a girl [Boom]

CHIBI-RAENI-CHAN:  Sukebe Hentai! [Crash]

CHIBI-RANMA-KUN:  Kawaikunee! [Crack]

Scene pans out as sound effects continue.

Words appear on the screen.  "OMAKE CALLED ON ACCOUNT OF TECHNICAL
DIFFICULTIES."