You put Mousse much too low.  He should be third best, just below Ranma and 
Ryouga.  The fact that he lets Shampoo slap him around doesn't mean anything 
more than the fact that Ranma lets Akane slap _him_ around.  In point of

fact, 

Mousse has made Ranma sweat more and pushed him harder than Shampoo ever did.

You're probably right about Mousse.  It's just that he acts so pathetically
in the anime, it's hard to take him seriously.

As for Genma, it's really hard to say.  The few times we've seen him get 
_serious_ he's actually done pretty well.  Remember when he managed to match 
Happosai's giant battle aura?  Sure he couldn't keep it up, but that was

still 

darn impressive.  I'd bet Genma actually has quite a few tricks up his

sleeve, 

he's just usually too lazy to use them.

He'd have to be good to train Ranma, too.  I guess it's just the amount of
effort he puts into it.  For all his prattle about the martial arts he sure
doesn't practice what he preaches very well. :)

I believe that Ukyou and Shampoo have fought to a draw on at least one 
occasion, so it's hard to say there.  I don't understand why you would put

one 

just above Patricia and one just below.

You could be right on that score.

The main reason Patricia is in the top five is that as a gargoyle, she's
stronger and faster than all those below her.  Now in terms of actual
fighting skill, she'd be closer to Akane's level, but she has the
speed/strength/endurance of probably just below Ryoga.  That and the

I dunno.  I don't have a real good picture of Patricia in my head, and

there's 

a large variety among Gargoyles with that sort of thing.  I'd say the 
"typical" gargoyle would probably be somewhat below Ranma in strength, above 
Ranma in endurance, and rather inferior in speed.  (I mean, Ryouga once 
shattered an entire frozen swimming pool.  And I could make a convincing 
argument that small-caliber bullets wouldn't cause more than minor injuries.)

You have to remember that Ranma isn't *really* strong, he's just stronger
than most normal people.  I'd say he's a somewhat distant second in
strength to Ryoga and Ryoga is a match for Goliath.  Using that assumption,
most regular gargoyles would be between Ranma and Ryoga in strength.

In endurance, again Ryoga would be at the top in endurance (gotta love that
Breaking Point training :).  Goliath would probably be a little below or
maybe equal to Ryoga in endurance.  Ranma would be a close second, putting
most gargoyles either equal or behind Ranma in endurance, and above the
next canidate, Ukyo and Shampoo.

Ukyou could probably match most any gargoyles in pure speed, though she'd be 
weaker in strength.

As for speed, Ranma definitly tops the speed charts, with either Ukyo or
Shampoo behind him.  I haven't seen either Ukyo or Shampoo do anything
spectacular in terms of speed, so I would agree that most gargoyles would
match or exceed(?) Ukyo and Shampoo in speed.

The question I have is, where did Patricia possibly get the training to

equal 

Akane in skill?  I didn't get the impression there were any eastern type 
martial artists on Avalon.  You have to realize that Akane is certainly a 
several degree black belt when it comes to pure skill.  How would Patrica

have 

time to get that level of training while studying magic at the same time?

I actually didn't use fighting skill in my ratings.  I admit that in terms
of fighting skill most of Ranma and Co. could kick gargoyle butt.  But with
the combined speed/strength/endurance benifits that gargoyles have, it
bumps up their combat rating.

Actually, I have a problem with Patricia's use of magic.  Magic simply isn't 
that easy for mortals like gargoyles and humans.  Sure Faerie can just sling 
energy bolts around, but it seems to takes something out of humans to use 
magic.  Look at Demona.  She's probably a much more skilled sorceress than 
Patricia, but how often do we see her cast spells?  Usually only when she

has 

the time to take care and do it right.  As a matter of fact, I wouldn't have 
expected Patrica to cast a single spell until the last fight with that magic 
enemy guy (forgot his name).

Well, I made a few assumptions that I haven't explained in the story thus far.

1. Because Patricia was hatched and raised in Avalon, they have a closer
tie to natural magical forces, so are able to access them more easily than
other creatures.  (This applied to all Avalon gargoyles, they just haven't
bothered to take up magic like Patricia has.)

A chart of 'ability to access magical forces' might look something like this.

1. Children of Oberon (duh! :)
2. Avalon gargoyles
3. Humans
4. Gargoyles

2. Patricia's spells often go awry.  She's cast about 5 different spells so
far and not all of them have worked.  Here's a list:

Ch 1:
	Fire Elemental - Went beserk, killing three people.
	Lightning Spell - Very simple, one of the few spells that actually worked

Ch 2:
	No spells cast

Ch 3: 
	Water Elemental - This spell worked. (or maybe it was destroyed by Apollo
before anything could go wrong :)
	Lightning Spell
	Reversal Spell - A spell that tried to reverse Apollo's spell, but she
botched it.
	Trajectory changing spell - This one worked as well.

Ch 4:
	Water/Air Elemental - She loses control of this spell with nearly fatal
results.

So as you can see out of 6 spells cast, only 4 worked.

My belief is that there are two kinds of magic in use (in the gargoyle
universe.  I'm not counting the Ranmaverse).

One is ritual magic.  This includes most human sorcery.  It is very rigid
and regimented.  It is powerful and safe to use, but inflexible.

The second is spontaneous magic (ie. on the spot spells used by the
Children of Oberon).  This type is wild and uncontrolled and takes a large
amount of energy to use, but is more readily adaptable. (eg. the Magus died
after casting only 4 or 5 spells and he was an accomplished wizard).  These
spells are more apt to go out of control than human spells.

There are a few circumstances which alter these facts.  

Children of Oberon *are* magic, so suffer no restriction as to what they
can do, only how and how much power they can channel.

Having a focus for magical power (ie a spell book) makes casting *much*
easier.

Circumstances in bloodline/birthplace may alter ability (which was already
covered earlier).

As to the question, how often to we see Demona cast spells, how often to we
see Demona's 
life minute by minute?  We don't know how many spells Demona casts in a
regular day.  My fic is a detailed account of Patricia's life after leaving
Avalon.  She's a practicing sorceress (and, boy does she need practice! :)
so it'd be assumed that she'd cast some spells.  Besides, she needs an edge
over some of the more powerful characters in the Ranmaverse, otherwise it'd
be suicide for her to stay there. ^_^

And Demona doesn't live in Nerima. :)

universe, and even in the Ranma one.  The rule is not to use magic if you

can 

find another way.

Who made up that rule and when?

Well, this was a fantastic message, thank you for sending it, Matthew.
It's made me think a lot about where Patricia fits in and how magic works
and a couple of other miscellaneous things.  To finish this post, I'll
include a (hopefully :) more accurate breakdown of power levels in Nerima.
(This does not include Cologne or Happy, we all know they're at the top :)

1. Ranked by strength

a) Ryoga
b) Patricia
c) Ranma
d) Shampoo
e) Ukyo   
f) Genma
g) Mousse
h) Kuno
i) Akane
j) Kodachi

2. Ranked by speed

a) Ranma
b) Patricia
c) Ryoga
d) Ukyo
e) Shampoo
f) Mousse
g) Genma
h) Kuno
i) Kodachi
j) Akane

3. Ranked by endurance/ability to take damage:

a) Ryoga
b) Ranma
c) Patricia
d) Shampoo
e) Ukyo
f) Mousse
g) Genma
h) Kuno
i) Kodachi
j) Akane

4. Ranked by fighting skill.  

Note: I have not included Patricia's ability to use magic in the chart.

a) Ranma
b) Ryoga
c) Mousse
d) Shampoo
e) Ukyo
f) Genma
g) Kuno
h) Kodachi
i) Akane
j) Patricia

If I included her ability to use magic, Patricia might be at (h) or maybe
even (g).  Magic, used properly, can be a *big* edge. :)

Thank you very much for all the input.  I hope you enjoy this post and hope
it gives people some good ideas for fics.


Adam Brown aka Nighthawke

Fanfics available at

http://members.tripod.com/~Sharron_Apple/