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   This is my first fanfic.  This is also my first post.  I have had it
on my own page for a short time.  I apologize if you downloaded this
monstrously large fic in error, or the formatting is incorrect.  I
usually write in Word 97, and although I stripped it down to text format
with hopefully reasonable line lengths, I'm not really sure what you'll
actually get.  Comments are welcome.  Please be constructive.

   Ranma � is the property and invention of Rumiko Takahashi. The
following story is not produced for any monetary or personal gain.

   Keep in mind the journey is almost always more interesting than the
destination.

Journey

Part One: Back to the Real World

Chapter 1

   Ranma gracefully somersaulted over his opponent, landed lightly on
the huge pack and waited.  The boy whose pack he was balancing on
immediately turned around to face the direction he had seen his hated
foe go in. Of course being who he was he actually only turned to face a
random direction. Not that this mattered considering where his enemy
actually was. "Ranma you coward!  How dare you run out on a fight like
that. Come back and face me like a man."

   "C'mon P-chan, not that I don't appreciate you entertaining me or
nothin but why're after me this time?" Ryouga, realizing he had been
made a fool of yet again, threw off his pack in a single smooth motion,
hoping to catch his foe by surprise. His pack flew in a straight line
for 30 feet before impacting and demolishing a brick wall.

   Looking intently at the devastation for any sign of movement, he at
first did not notice the person slightly behind him shaking his head and
tsking to himself. "Miss Kragowa is not going to be happy about that.
That's the third time this month she's had to fix her wall."

   "Ranma how dare you treat Akane that way. Don't you know how much
time she spent making that meal for you?" he screamed while swinging his
umbrella with one hand and throwing his bandanas in his other.

   "Hey I can't help it if I had to defend myself against that sludge
she tried to feed me! I mean after it ate the table it started to lunge
at me. A chi blast was all that saved my life!" Ranma loudly declaimed
while easily dodging the bandanas and umbrella while occasionally
guiding the closer blows away with a delicate tap.

   "Prepare to die!" Ryouga was unaware that during the combat he had
been carefully led. When Ranma stepped aside the umbrella continued
forward to demolish the public fountain he had been standing in front
of. The destroyed fountain began to spray everyone within five feet with
cold water.

   "Bwee...Bwee!!!" screamed an enraged Ryouga in his new piglet form.

   "Man, maybe that plan wasn't such a great idea," stated a disgusted
Ranma-chan from her position next to the piglet as it tried to gnaw on
her foot. "It would have been better to simply beat you silly, at least
then I'd be dry."

   "Ranma!! Are you picking on P-chan again? What did I tell you about
picking on my pet before, you pervert!" Ranma-chan shivered as he heard
the voice behind him. No, it couldn't be. She'd just raced across Nerima
to escape Akane and her cooking. It just wasn't natural. "If you leave
P-chan alone and try the new recipe I have for you I may not mallet you.
Yet." The last part was delivered in a whisper that Ranma didn't think
he was supposed to hear.

   "I am sooo out of here," she stated while giving 'P-chan' a kick that
sent him across the park.  She saw an enraged Akane start running
towards him, a huge mallet in her hand. Just as she was about to tear
off sprinting into the distance she was engulfed in a splash of light.

   To the others watching, it appeared that Ranma-chan was covered in a
descending cylinder of pure white light. The beam then dwindled to a
thin beam and disappeared.

   Akane was left staring in bewilderment at the place Ranma-chan last
was. "Ranma?" she said in a small voice.

   "What pervert girl do with Airen?" asked a well built blue haired
girl.

   "Shampoo? What happened? If this is one of your magic tricks....."
Akane's voice trailed off. Shampoo and her great great great (etc)
grandmother had been known to use magic to try to entrap Ranma but these
attempts had usually been limited to drugs and potions. She'd never done
anything as spectacular as what she'd just seen. This combined with the
fact that Shampoo appeared just as confused as she herself was made her
consider that Shampoo may be innocent. This time at least.

   "Talk to pervert girl later. Shampoo go to great Grandmother now."

   "Wait a minute! I am not letting you out of my sight if you might
know something about that...thing."

   Shampoo just shrugged her shoulders. If the violent pervert girl
wanted to follow her around she didn't care. She had more important
things to consider.  Her husband had just vanished in a flash of light
and it was her duty as an Amazon to find him and drag him back to her
village.  He simply didn't realize how lucky he was to have her as wife,
but he would learn.  As soon as great Grandmother found him.

   Forgotten, a small black piglet wandered dazedly from the park making
small 'bweeing' noises.  If anyone had been able to understand they
would have heard it muttering about training journeys and vengeance.

Chapter 2

   To Ranma-chan the world was lost in a glare of whiteness, then there
came a sensation of falling.  This was a very familiar feeling and she
flexed her chi in the way she had learned to do to minimize the damage
and pain she would feel on impact.  She had much experience at this.

   When the impact came she heard rocks shatter and a choking cloud of
dust arise around her. By the feel of the impact she estimated that she
had fallen about 250 feet.  Well within her tolerances.

   Ranma-chan lay in the center of the crater she had created, and let
her senses inform her of her surroundings.  She estimated about
twenty-one people surrounded her by the sound of breathing and the light
patter of leather shoes against cobblestone.  Ten more people had bows
that she could pinpoint from the creaking of the drawn bows. Hmm,
possibly hostile.  She made a note to pay attention the sound of high
velocity objects in the air and gently expanded her battle aura to help
minimize possible damage and aid the sensing of missiles.

   The sound of bows actually relieved her. If the people around her
used arrows, pellets, darts shuriken, bandanas, spatulas or other
sub-sonic missile systems she was very confident she could catch, parry
or avoid them.  If they used these types of weapons chances were they
wouldn't use guns or similar tools.  Ranma-chan theorized that the
Chestnut Fist combined with certain chi manipulated would allow her to
deal with higher technology but had yet figured a way to train that
didn't involve crippling injury at the first failure.

   Believing she had gotten a grasp of the current situation, as much as
she could without seeing it, she slowly sat up and looked around at the
room through the subsiding dust.  Around her was an open courtyard.
There were indeed twenty-one people surrounding her on the ground, most
wore something that looked like guardsmen's uniforms over some sort of
chainmail.  The uniform was a red overcoat with some sort of black
vicious looking lizard thing that appeared to be glaring at the watcher.
One wore ornate robes that looked like they may have been appropriate on
priests. The robes were red and gold, embroidered with bizarre looking
symbols. Looking up where her senses informed her the archers were, she
noted they too were dressed in the same type of uniforms the guards
wore.

   Still moving slowly, she stood up, being sure to subtly gather a few
shards of rock in her hands.

   The mage was confused.  He was expecting something much more
impressive.  Before him stood a young red-headed girl barely more than
four feet tall.  According to the spell description he was supposed to
have summoned the demon or godling, also known as the Lost One.  The
prophecies spoke that in order to guarantee victory in the upcoming war
such a demon was required to be bound and sacrificed.  The mage
carefully examined the summoning circle. Hmm, intact though the area
where the...girl...stood had somehow become badly damaged, he knew that
part was not important.  It was expected that the bound demon would
destroy the area it stood.  It was the rest of the circle that would
confine said demon.

   "Are you the infernal being known as the Lost One?"  The girl gave
him a confused look and answered in some foreign tongue.  This was not a
good start, demons all had the gift of tongues, if this one did not
understand then something was not right.  Giving it some thought the
mage regretfully came to a decision.  Rooting in the pouch he had at his
side he brought out the amulet he used while meeting with foreign
diplomats for the King.  Pulling the simple gold with the stylized ibis
head from the pouch he threw it into the circle at the girl.

   She gave him an odd look and bent down to pick it up.

   "Are you the infernal being known as the Lost One?" the mage repeated
his question.  This time the girl's head jerked around in surprise.

   Ranma-chan had picked up the amulet when the she heard the guy in the
robes speak.  This time she understood what he said.  "Nah, sorry.  I
think you must be looking for Ryouga.  I was just talking to him.  How
about you send me back and I'll tell him you want to see him?"
Ranma-chan asked in a hopeful voice.

   The man shook his head regretfully, "I'm sorry too, but if you are
not the Lost One we cannot allow you to go back to your home plane and
warn him."  With a sad look he turned, walking away, signaling with his
hand.  Ranma-chan sighed, so much for the easy way to get back home,
from the way the guy had talked it was doubtful she was on Earth.

   There were several twanging sounds as arrows appeared where the
red-headed girl once was.  A moment later and much louder twanging
sounds signaled the destruction of the bows courtesy of many carefully
aimed shards of rock.

   The guards surrounding the circle jerked their swords from their
scabbards as they finally realized that things were not going as they
had planned.  They frantically looked about trying to find the target
that was no longer safely contained in the circle.  The mage turned back
toward the circle to identify the source of the unexpected sounds.

   This was when the horrible noises began.  Guards started to scream
only to have their voices cut off mid-yell.  The mage could see little
of the proceeding but what he could made him begin muttering the
beginnings of the guardian trigger spell he had not ever expected to
use.  The sound of metal shattering could be heard from within the large
clump of guards, and people were being jettisoned up in the air twenty
feet to fall only to the ground unmoving.  Occasionally the red- haired
girl could be seen jumping from the head, shoulder, sometimes the actual
blades of the guardsmen before leaping back within the pack of
guardsmen.  Then the bodies would start flying again.  In less than a
minute all twenty-one guards were unconscious, the mage assumed they
were dead.  Truly he had vastly underestimated the power of this demon.

   Once the swordsmen were dealt with the red-haired girl slowed enough
that she could easily be seen again.  With deliberate slowness
Ranma-chan walked towards the still chanting mage.  "You will send me
home.  Now."

   His voice rising in triumph the mage completed his spell.  An eerie
blue fog enveloped the area around him, seeming to distort the distances
of the courtyard.  A shimmering square plane of energy sprang into being
on each side of the mage until he was enclosed in a cube of force.

   Ranma-chan had backed up, nonplussed at the unexpected events taking
place before her.  After a second, seeing that nothing else was
happening she approached to cube, gathered up several pebbles and
flicked them with surprising force at the shimmering wall.  Ranma- chan
was not very surprised when they bounced off to no effect.

   The mage was feeling much more confident. He had stymied the
demon-girl, and with his safety he would be able to initiate other
counter measures. "You may as well admit defeat gracefully and die with
dignity.  This area was built with demon containment in mind. This wall
around me is impenetrable."

   Ranma-chan walked up to the glittering wall.  With the test of the
pebbles she believed it was safe to touch, which she gingerly did. She
felt an incredibly smooth surface, no discernable temperature, and
totally unyielding.  Beginning with light punches she gradually built up
force to her most powerful.  Not seeing any effect she added significant
amount of chi to her blows.  Still no effect, except for stinging
knuckles.

   She was about to continue testing the barrier when her danger sense
noticed the robed man smile and look over her shoulder.  She then heard
a light whistling sound and felt an object broach her chi field. Cocking
her head to the side she felt an arrow fly through the space where it
had been.  Quickly reaching behind her, she plucked a second arrow from
the air.  Just as she grabbed the arrow, the first arrow hit the barrier
Ranma-chan had been standing in front of. Ranma-chan was caught totally
by surprise when the impacting arrow blew up in front of her, sending
her flying 40 feet across the courtyard.

   Ranma-chan's reflexes kicked in quickly enough to turn it into a
controlled somersault, but once she landed on her feet she staggered and
collapsed on her butt.

   The mage had been watching this with great delight.  When the
creature had showed it's determination to get through the barrier he had
some doubts.  Few magic defenses had no weaknesses, and although as far
as he knew his were perfect, it was a very powerful demon.  Demons
didn't cast magic in it's traditional form, so while a normal mage of
sufficient power may have been able to get through the walls of force
with some type of dispel or negate magic, demons shouldn't be capable of
this, but...it had looked very determined.

   The mage's deliberation was interrupted by said demon shaking itself
out of it's stunned daze, and after a look in his direction that spoke
of much future pain, it blurred and ran at incredible speed over to the
balcony, jumping up the thirty feet to where the arrows had come from
and disappearing inside.  A few screams later the figure reappeared
carrying a quiver of arrows, and a bow.  While running by the
unconscious swordsmen she grabbed up a sword with an odd bluish hue to
it.

   Ranma-chan was really beginning to worry.  This place was one
unpleasant surprise after another. Cubes of force, exploding arrows, and
who knew what was next.  It seemed less and less likely that he would be
able to compel the old man into sending her home, and she was becoming
less willing to trust him even if it was offered.

   She would try a few more attempted before she admitted that she had
to find another solution.  But first things first.  During the brief
combat with the swordsmen she had concentrated on destroying their
weapons, much as she usually tried to destroy Mousse's.  This works on
most of the guardsmen but a surprising few had swords that just would
not snap.  She actually took some minor cuts from these swords before
she adapted her style to this new danger.  However, it was time to see
how these weapons work on that cube thing.

   Ranma-chan walked toward the mage, stopping at the barrier. Noticing
that the man was mumbling something to himself, she picked up her pace.
This guy seemed to have almost as many tricks as the old goul.  Grasping
the sword and channeling chi through it as Kunou did, she combined it
with the Chestnut Fist, the sword becoming nothing more than an
invisible blur.  Ranma-chan growled in frustration, the sword had just
slid off the barrier with no other effect.  Ranma-chan tossed the sword
aside, tools were for the weak, a true martial artist needed nothing
more than his body, mind, and spirit.

   Ranma-chan jogged about forty feet away from the cube, turned and in
a smooth motion notched drew and fired an arrow at the cube.  Knowing
the lack of effect this would have from the time the other arrow hit the
side of the cube, she fired arrow after arrow at the cube to form one
long explosion.  Frustrated with her lack of speed she threw the bow
aside and used his Chestnut Fist to throw all the arrows that were left
in the quiver, forcing one huge explosion from the remaining arrows.

   The mage, although severely shaken from the continuous explosions,
persevered in his spell.  The Demon used tools.  He had never heard of a
demon that did that before.  He had been taught, and learned this from
past summoning experience, that demons just didn't do that.  He forced
himself to complete the spell despite his distraction.

   He had the tiger by the tail and to let go would mean a quick death.
As he completed the words of the spell, he looked up to see the
demon-girl smile as if she had had a brilliant idea.  She held her hands
together and a brilliant sphere of light formed between them.  The
sphere quickly grew larger and suddenly came barreling towards the cube
walls. No...not at the cube walls, the ground under the cube.  Panic
struck just before the light hit.  The cube only had five faces.

   Ranma-chan was very pleased with herself, she was a master at
analyzing a technique picking it apart and finding a counter.  She may
have overdone it a bit though.  She had put far too much energy in the
chi blast and there was a huge pit that the five faced cube was
presently hovering over.  There was also no sign of the robed guy.

   Shit, she didn't mean to kill him, even if he probably deserved it,
besides he may have been the only way home.  Shit.

   Ranma-chan was so wrapped up in her contemplation that she didn't
fell a slight quiver in the ground.  However, when the pillars
surrounding the courtyard crumbled, revealing the huge stone golemlike
creatures within, it did catch her attention.  They were slow lumbering
creatures, about 20 feet tall and they were moving towards her.
Ranma-chan had no doubts he could defeat them, but there was little
point.  It was obviously the old man's last spell, and he was already
dead. (Shit.)  She was tired, and hurt and this stupid battle was
against one silly spell after another.  No challenge of skill, just
brute force and stamina.

   If she knew Ryouga's Breaking Point she might relish a battle against
rock monsters.  Of course the same reason she hadn't bothered to learn
the Breaking Point was why she saw this whole battle as disappointing.
The Breaking Point was a crutch.  A neat trick whose whole purpose was
to allow Ryouga's fights to last long enough for some skill to be
displayed.  Of course she never expected to be attacked by a rock, which
made Ranma-chan rethink the value of learning it.

   She did after all know the training method.

   Anyway it was time to leave.  She had a whole world she had to
search to find a way home.  With those final thoughts she leaped over
the courtyard wall, over the rooftops of what appeared to be some sort
of large mansion, and into the streets of a large city. Of the courtyard
she left behind there wasn't much left.  The cube still hovered over the
over pit, most of the trees were either blown over by explosion, or cut
through by Ranma-chan's own version of the Kunou sword strike, which
while ineffective against the cube seemed to work well against
everything else.  The stone walls of the courtyard likewise bore long
deep troughs, further evidence of the effectiveness of Ranma-chan's
borrowed sword.

   Eight minutes after she left a shimmering formed in the empty space
inside the cube and the form of an old man seemingly dropped out of his
cloak which had suddenly appeared, jerked in the air for a second and
started to gently float down.  As he descended he looked around at the
devastation.  Then he noticed the stone golems were wandering aimlessly
around the courtyard occasionally eliciting a groan or scream, sometimes
only a death rattle, as the unconscious men on the ground were stepped
on by several tons of stone golem.

   "What am I going to tell the Emperor?" were his thoughts before he
started rounding up the stone golems.

   On another plane of existence a being of power looked in his scrying
pool, then up into the eyes of another being of great power and nigh
infinite knowledge.  "That is a human?  I always considered them so weak
before.  I am pleased that you informed me of her arrival. With a little
bit of training she has the potential to be a very effective tool."

   "They prefer being called Champions or something with favorable
shadings.  Considering the danger this being is going to put through on
our behalf, we can at least be polite."

   "Sure Thoth.  Whatever," he grunted.

   "Remember, Ammit is not always to be believed, he most likely has his
own agenda aside from the goals of his alliance."

   "I appreciate your concern, but this is hardly my first taste of
intrigue, Ammit asked for my aid and thanks to your counsel I have the
perfect... champion.  Of all of our pantheon you know I appreciate
martial skill."

   "Be wary not to alienate your champion, you are both honorable but
he... er she is also very compassionate.  You can be very strict in
following what you believe, give her some flexibility.  When she is done
with your favor I will need her in good health for a serious mission."

   "How serious can it be if you wish to send a human?"

   "I need a human for the same reasons as you, they are almost
impossible to detect by deities and intellegences.  It therefore means
we need as powerful a human as we can find.  This one is as powerful as
I've yet seen, I've come across weaker Godlings."

   "And her mission?"

   "Say nothing to the others but I believe I've detected the Old Ones
stirring."

   After a moment of silence, "Well I suppose you can't get more serious
than that."

Chapter 3

   Ranma stood by the doorway of the tavern, absently keeping an eye on
the patrons within.  The weeks since his arrival had not been happy
ones.  Growing up on the road with his father had been lonely. The only
friends he had as a child had been Uchan, and Ryouga (sorta).

   Both had been too short for an attention starved young boy.  The last
year he had stayed at the Tendos had been hectic, weird, dangerous,
weird, active, and weird but Ranma considered it almost Heaven.  He had
friends that stayed around for more than a few days, powerful martial
artists wandered in and taught him new styles and techniques (although
he doubted that's what they had in mind), many girls vied for his
attention (he didn't know what to do with them, but the attention was
very nice), and he'd been reunited with many old friends from the past
(who would have thunk Uchan was a girl?).  Then suddenly he had nothing.
Not even that honorless piece of filth he called his Pop.  It was almost
as bad as those times he'd been stuck in his girl form.

   Worse this city, maybe this whole world, sucked.  Oh sure they had
lots of guys throwing magic around...but little else.  He'd looked
around at some training centers, watched the elite guards practice their
art and had come to a conclusion.  They were pathetic. Even Akane or
Kunou would seem to be a fighting god to these people. They all used
weapons...poorly.  Oh sure they could give each other a challenge but
even the mediocre clods back home in the Kendo club were better than the
best he'd seen so far.

   He'd doubled his training regime, working harder than he ever had in
the past.  New katas, imagining new techniques for situations he'd
probably never be in.  Ranma Soatome would not get soft, or let his
advancement in the Art suffer just because he was stuck in a world that
had no concept of real martial arts.  No way.

   He had the time.  Working as a bouncer was easy work.  A pressure
point here, a glare there and instant peace.  During most of the evening
when he worked he was imaging different techniques he could practice
either later that night or in the morning.  The tavern was also a good
place to get information.  They apparently had no idea how good his
hearing was and he had already learned of an underground movement, as
well as a few other juicy tidbits of information.

   Apparently the city was the Capital of a country called the Western
Empire, the rather corrupt remains of an expansionist empire.  There
were rumors that the King had been considering taking up the conqueror's
mantle again, but was waiting for the right moment. Whatever.  Politics
didn't interest him.  Getting home did.  This led to his interest in
magic.  It got him here it should be able to get him home. Unfortunately
he had achieved a bit of notoriety in the mage circles, so directly
requesting help was out of the question.

   He had learned a bit about the different types of magic available in
the world he now lived in.  He had also learned of the places such magic
could be found.  Since the Western Empire seemed hostile to him, he
figured he might more easily gain aid elsewhere.

   Looking around he noted that his target had just seated himself at
his usual table, and decided to put into play the plan he had come up
with earlier.  He was no Nabiki but it seemed straightforward enough.

   Ranma walked casually over to the elderly gentleman who had just sat
down at a table in the corner.  The importance, or at least wealth, of
this individual was displayed by the hulking brute of a man that stood
alertly behind him in a guard position.  "Greetings.  May I have a
seat?"  Ranma paid close attention to politeness.  The last two people
he had approached had been so offended by his blunt approach they had
immediately left and not come back, this fellow was the last one he knew
who fit his needs.

   "I really don't have time for chitchat right now.  I'm getting my
caravan ready for travel in two days and I really need to hurry. Besides
it looks like you're needed for your job,"  he said with a slight hint
of amused condescension.  As he had been speaking the elderly man's
attention had been drawn to the scene of one of the tavern's drunker
patrons raising his mug over his head in preparation of smashing in the
back of the head of one of his fellow patrons.

   "Don't worry on my account.  I have plenty of time to talk to you."
As Ranma calmly stated this, he flicked his wrist, sending a spoon
flying across the room to imbed itself through both sides of the metal
tankard.  Incidentally soaking the hostile tavern drinker who still had
the drink raised above him.  Shocked at his sudden shower he took a look
at his tankard, the spoon through it, and the bouncer's back and wisely
decided to leave well enough alone.  He wasn't drunk enough to mess with
a magic user, even one hard up enough to be working as a bouncer.

   "Ah, perhaps I can make a little time for you," stated the gentleman
with considerably more respect in his voice.  His bodyguard, however,
was looking on with much more hostility and wariness than he had
demonstrated before.  Ranma didn't care, it wasn't his problem.

   "I have been thinking of leaving this town, but I don't know much
about the area.  You have a caravan ready to leave for...er...was it
Timiro or the Eastern Territory?"

   "Ha, it's Timiro my friend.  Still want to go?  The rates for
passengers are 100 gold.  Or do you have something else in mind."

   "Er, well," Ranma fumbled, his concentration slightly thrown by his
own verbal slip.  "Something else.  Heh, heh..er... I heard you have a
need for guards, for your caravan.  I'm interested in that position,
until we reach on of the larger cities of...er...Timiro."

   Ranma had his hand positioned nervously on the back of his neck and
was sweating bullets.  Give him the clarity and focus of battle. Talking
was for people like Nabika.  Heck even Pops negotiated okay...for a
lying honorless bastard.

   "If you can handle a sword anywhere near as well as you can a spoon
we'll be happy to have you on our journey.  I will of course need to
speak with the tavern keeper, but as long as he's been satisfied with
your services you will be a welcome addition.  The wages are 5 gold per
week, food and lodging, what little there is while on the road are
included.  Agreed?"

   "Sword...yah, of course got a sword, I mean, am good with a sword,"
Ranma said chuckling nervously.  He hated lying, he'd have to get a
sword tonight.  Ranma quickly got up and backed away toward his position
at the door. "I'll see you in two days at first light by the Eastern
gate, ask for the merchant Grayson.  Goodnight."

   The brutish man scowled as Ranma left the table.  "I don't trust him.
He's too good to be true.  And that bumbling shy boy routine is also too
convenient.  I think it might just be a clever mask to put us off our
guard.  Someone might suspect who we really are and he could be their
response."

   "You might be correct in your suspicions.  We'll take precautions.
The first one being that barmaid draping herself over our reluctant
bouncer.  Call her over, she may have something useful."

   When the barmaid arrived the merchant ordered a drink and a light
meal.  While chatting and flirting in a light hearted manner, Grayson
politely mentioned that she had something on her shoulder and kindly
plucked a long black hair that had been laying there.  A moment later he
wrapped up the conversation and asked to talk to the tavernkeep.

   Later that night Grayson and the large man retired to their room.
Bringing out a shallow silver bowl, he filled it with water. Looking
into the bowl, he chanted a few phrases while burning the hair retrieved
earlier that night.  After some moments the surface of the water
shimmered and an image formed of a black clothed girl with several
strands of red hair poking from a black cowl and mask.  The two men
looked at each other in confusion.  Something was not right. Their look
of confusion was replaced with one of intense interest soon after.

    Ranma-chan hopped from rooftop to rooftop.  She kept a careful eye
towards the skies, several weeks earlier she had been surprised to see
one of the mages of a guard patrol take to the air and fly above his
earthbound cohorts.  It's the things you didn't know that usually got
you Ranma-chan had found.  She merely regarded it as a healthy learning
experience.  It didn't really worry her.  Herb flew...sortta, as did
Tarou and Saffron.  Mid-air combat was a Soatome specialty.  It just
wasn't usually quite that high.

   When she reached her target, she only hesitated long enough to
quickly scan the grounds for anything new.  She had been here in male
form earlier and knew the layout and probable guard location already.
She leaped up to an outside window twenty feet up and while holding onto
the bricks with her fingers and toes, used her other hand the remove the
inner window frame from the outer window frame.  The only sound heard
was a short sharp snapping sound.  Still holding the window she leaped
inside, replacing the window loosely behind her. Looking around she
noted with approval that she was in a well- furnished office.  She tsked
as she saw the large metal safe in the wall.

   There were a few squiggles engraved on the metal but the owner seemed
a little overconfident.  Well she wasn't here to rob the owner's safe,
she had other plans.

   She quickly opened the door. Coming down the corridor with a drawn
flaming sword was a guardsman.  Upon seeing a figure opening the door
the guard pointed his sword at it and barked out a word. Instantly a
large fireball shot forth, screaming down upon her. Her aura had had
just started to turn blue when the fireball hit her crossed arms.

   The guard was just congratulating himself on an easy victory when the
smoke cleared.  Standing with her legs braced, arms crossed, and a very
visible blue battle aura was a very pissed off redhead.  Her clothes
were scorched with holes burned through in several places, but except
for this and black smudges on the skin she looked overly healthy for his
tastes. The last thing the guard saw was her form blur toward him and an
icy coldness when the aura touched him.

   It's very hard to maintain the icy calm necessary for the Dragon
Ascending Defeat and still be angry, but Ranma-chan was. She wasn't
angry at the guard... much, mostly she was mad at herself. She kept
telling herself to be careful, expect the unexpected, and then casually
strolled into a completely unexpected situation.  She fingered the hilt
of her new sword and wondered if every bozo she'd meet in this world
would be casting fireballs at her. She might as well have stayed on
Mount Pheonix.

   Walking down the corridor she halted as she heard the patter of many
feet coming her way. She wouldn't be surprised this time. Indeed
Ranma-chan wasn't surprised when fifteen guardsmen came around the
corner.  She had knocked eight of them unconscious before most could
even ready their weapons.  When one the people in the rear held up a
necklace, pointed at her and she found herself firmly affixed to the
ground... that did surprise her. Before she readjusted her tactics to
suit her stationary position one guard scraped his sword on her forearm
giving her a nasty cut.  Unfortunately for him a moment later he joined
his fellows in sleep.

   Ranma-chan looked at her feet, looked at her one remaining opponent,
and thought quickly.  Pulling out the sword (which burst into flame upon
leaving the scabbard) she brought the blade down with great force on the
ground next to her right foot.  Her gasp of delight as she found her
foot free (albeit, with a chunk of the floor attached to her feet)
turned into a groan of dismay as she found the sword now firmly attached
to the ground.  Meanwhile the remaining had fearfully backed away and
was pointing a ring he wore on his hand.  Guessing what might be coming
her way she readied her aura and her arms blurred in a circular pattern
before her.  Sure enough out of the ring sprang a ball of fire bearing
straight at her.  Upon reaching her aura and moving hands the fireball
seemed to instantly be shredded and a huge horizontal wind tunnel formed
in front of her.

   Ranma-chan, although feeling a huge force upon her, still had one
foot stuck to the floor.  The difficult part wasn't bracing herself
against the wind, it was balancing on one foot to prevent it being
reattached to the ground.  When the wind died down she noted that her
adversary was no longer before her.  She also noted the wall and a good
portion of the ceiling was no longer before her as well.  Upon looking
around her she saw only the few that had been stuck to the floor or
blown into the magic effect were still with her. Grunting in
satisfaction she used a conveniently place body to keep her free foot
from touching the magically enhanced floor, while another borrowed sword
freed her other foot.  Jumping out of the area she continued down the
newly renovated corridor and through the hole in the wall.  Beyond the
wall lay a hole in the floor through which she lightly jumped.

   Finally got here, Ranma-chan muttered to herself as she looked
around.  Surrounding her were the most pathetic group of people she had
ever laid eyes on.  Dressed in rags, those that were dressed, about
fifty people stood in cages.

   "Please, help us," cried out one of the braver souls.

   Ranma-chan nodded began to shatter the locks of the cages with chi
enhanced blows as she walked down the aisle.  The people gathered behind
as she moved until she came to the end of the cages.

   Turning to face the released captives she drew in a breath and
gathered her courage for a speech she had already said several times in
the last few weeks.  "Who among you are familiar with the streets of
this city?"  Upon finding a volunteer, Ranma-chan pulled out a map with
directions written on it.  "This is a map to a location in the city
where you can find temporary hiding and shelter.  The people here should
also be able to smuggle you out of the city, or even the Country if you
feel it's necessary.  There should be several carriages in the next
room, set them up and ride to this location.  I suggest you use as few
as possible to avoid attention."

   "Thank you, but why are you helping us?" asked the same brave woman
who had first asked for help.

   "It's a martial artist's duty to help those weaker than himself.
Besides slavery is just plain evil."  The woman looked puzzled, as if
this didn't explain anything and seemed to be mouthing the words
'martial artist' or maybe 'artist of war' as if she had never heard of
such a thing.

   At that moment Ranma-chan felt the floor pieces come loose from her
feet, and she gratefully stepped off of them.  She did not consider high
heels very manly even if she was otherwise short in girl form.  The
crowd around her seemed more startled at her suddenly shrinking several
inches than her spectacular arrival.

   "Does she seem shorter to you?" a whisper was heard. "Hey!  Who're
calling short," Ranma-chan cried out indignantly.

   "Now don't bother the powerful sorceress.  It's obviously that time
of month," a second whisper was heard.

   "Hey!  Who're calling a girl?" only a confused silence met this
remark.

   Not being sure exactly what they were talking about, she used this
distraction to galvanize the crowd into moving.  This rescue was a lot
noisier than she had expected and she knew the night watchmen and city
guards would need to be distracted away from these people's rendezvous.

   Once the people were underway she headed back upstairs to pick up the
flaming sword from the rubble and continued on to the office she had
originally snuck into.  Upon reaching it she paused for a moment and
then said to herself, "Why not?  If you can't steal from slavers, who
can you steal from?" She gathered her chi and sent her fist smashing
into the safe.

   When she regained consciousness she found herself firmly imbedded in
the wall opposite the safe.  There wasn't much left of the room except
kindling.  Note to self: strange engraved squiggles on safe=pain. From
past experience with unconsciousness she estimated she had lost only a
few minutes. Prying herself out of the Ranma-chan shaped hole she
collapsed and dragged herself on hands and knees to the now open safe.
Damned if she had suffered through all that for nothing, she grabbed the
few pieces of jewelry, gems and coins and tucked them into subspace.

   This momentary breather was enough for Ranma-chan to get her breathe
back.  This was good, because after that explosion nothing short of
blowing up a guard post would be enough of a distraction.

   She'd have to keep moving in order to maintain the guards attention
yet avoid any unknown magical traps.

   It was going to be a very long night.

   The two men looked down at the bowl, then sideways at each other,
then down at the bowl again. Finally the huge man spoke, "Okay I'll
grant you it's pretty unlikely that was a Western Empire spy."

   "If that was our bouncer he seems to be marginally competent enough
to be one of our guards." After another moment of silence, the pair
broke into hearty laughter.

   An exhausted Ranma-chan dragged herself to the tavern the just before
dawn.  Just before she was about to enter she noticed a group of six
people standing before her and the door.  "Oh what now!" she sighed in a
tired voice.

   "We think you've been stealing.  You don't have permission from the
guild to steal.  You can either give us everything you took tonight and
forty percent of all future hauls or we'll take it anyway and place you
in a world of hurt," grumbled the apparent leader of the group.

   After a moment of silence Ranma-chan stated in a conversational tone
of voice, "You know the difference between Nabiki and you?"  At their
puzzled glances she continued, "I don't hit girls, and you ain't
anywhere near being my sister-in-law."

   The next morning a half dozen paralyzed thugs were found standing in
a fierce intimidating manner outside the tavern.

Chapter 4

   Later that day a still tired Ranma forced himself awake and trudged
through streets of the city.  When he had first tried to find this shop
he needed to ask for directions repeatedly.  He still didn't read the
language (the amulet wasn't that powerful) but he usually remembered how
to get to places when he'd been there before.  Eventually he stopped
before a small unobtrusive shop.  It had only a small picture of an open
eye on the sign overhanging the door.

   It had taken quite a bit of asking around to find this place.
Apparently even in a world disgustingly full of magic the city was chock
full of quacks and loons.  This was supposed to be one of the finest
shops where items of a magical nature could be found.  Soon after he had
arrived he had stopped by here to see what was available.

   In a way he was disappointed, no sign of anything that could get him
hom was apparent. On the other hand there were some really amazing
things that were available. Even if most were useless to him he still
examined the more common and dangerous items. You never know when these
things might be used on you by some misguided soul. He could just
imagine Cologne drooling over the things he had seen.

   When he went inside, the first thing that struck him (as it had on
his last visit) was the size of the room. The room seemed to stretch on
for about 80 feet yet still maintained a cozy feel to it.

   Considering how small the cottage-like building was on the outside,
this by itself was a testimony to the effectiveness of the owners
talents.  The next thing he noticed was the owner leaning on a staff
some ten feet away. He was looking directly at Ranma, and he had the
disconcerting sensation that regardless of when he arrived the owner
would always be in that same position ready to serve him or any other
customer. He somehow didn't feel real. "Greeting, my son. I am pleased
to see you once again," the old man spoke in a creaking voice.

   "Hi, Gramps. Do you have that thing I ordered?' Ranma asked cheerily.
He actually sorta liked the old man. He could be his normal irreverent
self and the old man only seemed amused. He hated being polite, it was
so... unnatural.

   "Yes, and a very interesting request it was.  You seem to have an
interest in defective goods.  Two pairs of magical restraints,
indestructible and spelled so that even the most accomplished wizard
cannot spell himself free, or metamorph into another shape and free
himself in that manner.  Unfortunately the locking mechanism is
defective on both sets making them useless as shackles. Ha, ha such
irony. And all you wanted was the chains removed. I would have given
them to you for almost nothing if it weren't for that. Indestructible
chains are very hard to get rid of."

   "Yah, whatever, you got my watch, and that was supposed the cover the
manacles and gloves."

   "Heh, the other defective item.  I wish all my customers wanted my
failures.  Well the claws of the 'Gryphon Claws' may not work, but they
are indestructible, I guess I could have sold it to some Man-of-Arms as
gauntlets... but that 'watch' of yours was very interesting."

   "Yep and it's worth a cool 1000 yen too (about $10).  Anyway I
recently 'found' some stuff and I thought I might actually want to buy
that speed ring you showed me last time."

   "Ah, the 'Ring of Fleetness'.  Well that's a good 30000 gold. Are you
sure you have those kind of funds?"

   "I think so," he said nervously as he brought the jewelry, gold and
gems from subspace and handed it to the old man. He took the items
giving a low whistle. "I'm no pawnshop boy.  If these are stolen goods I
won't take them," he stated in a serious tone.

   "No really, the people I took them from were breaking the law," it
was only after he had said this that he recalled that slavery was legal
in the Western Empire.

   "Well... okay, but only because I can tell by your aura that you're
telling the truth.  I am an honest business man, and wish to remain so."
Ranma let out a sigh of relief, he never thought having a mouth that was
faster than his brain would be a good thing.  "What you have here it
easily worth 50000 gold.  If you think you can get more you can go to a
jeweler and I won't think any less of you."

   "No, I'm going on a journey tomorrow and I need what time I have to
wrap some things up, I accept your offer.  Hey, is that cloak new?"

   "Yes it just came in three days ago."

   "It's not something silly like that 'Pit Cloak' you showed me, is
it?"

   "Well some people have found 'Pit Cloaks' to be useful, but no, this
is a 'Cloak of Guises'.  The old man immediately went into salesman
mode.  "It can turn into several full sets of clothing  at will.

   Almost anything you can imagine.  If you were a woman you could have
any style of dress you wanted at anytime.  The perfect gift for a
girlfriend or spy.  I hear they're also illegal in certain countries.

   The only drawback these have is the garments are all the same basic
colors and material.  For instance, this particular cloak is silk and
has a blue exterior with a red inner lining.  This means it can
transform into any combination of clothing but it must always be some
shade of blue or red.  Oh, and it will always be silk."

   "Hey... yah it could work!  Um... how sturdy is it," Ranma started
excitedly.

   "Well it's not indestructible like those other things, but it's not
too shabby.  Unless specifically targeted it's very unlikely to be
destroyed.  Minor damage will regenerate over time."  He chuckled as he
thought of something.  "Ha, if you're so worried about it being
destroyed, the next time you're caught in a fireball, command it to
change into a kerchief and hide under your decorative manacles.  Ha, ha,
ha."  The old man was so caught up in his joke he started wheezing. He
abruptly stopped laughing when he noticed Ranma nodding silently to
himself.  "That was a joke son.  If you have a fireball coming after you
I think you got other things to worry about than your new clothes."

   "Yah... very funny," Ranma muttered with a distant look in his eyes.
"I'll take it.  How much?"

   "Well, for you I'll make it 20000 gold, after all you've taken some
useless trash off my hands.  What do you need this stuff for anyway."

   "Well the manacle are for a curse, the gloves are for a training
technique I want to eventually try, the ring is for emergencies, but I
don't expect to use it that often."  He would be a poor martial artist
if he came to depend on a stupid magic ring to win battles for him. Then
again considering how weird this world was a ring that doubled your
speed could come in handy if things got really hairy.  "The cloak is
just to avoid embarrassing situations."  Like being in a dress while in
male form, very bad.

   The old man sighed, "If you didn't want to tell me just say so."

   "Oh by the way, I got a sword the other night.  It bursts into flame
and throws fireballs an' stuff, but I... er... forgot the magic word."


   "I'm sure you did.  I recognize the sword type, it's fairly common.
Just point and say 'Acba' and instant fireball.  Just 'remember' it only
works three times a day," the old man winked at him.  "Oh that reminds
me 'Acba' is a fairly common magical trigger, be careful what you're
touch when you say it.  Hmm... it's also the trigger for your ring so
you may want to wear it around your neck or something if you plan on
throwing fireballs and don't want to go into overdrive.  Remember the
ring also only works three times a day."

Chapter 5

   Ranma met up the caravan the next day without mishap, meeting Grayson
just inside the East Gate.  Grayson greeted him warmly enough, though he
kept glancing with an odd expression at his sword.  He also learned that
the large man he assumed was the bodyguard was named Kahil.  Kahil wore
a look of wary respect and most of his previous hostility seemed to be
muted. Of course Ranma noticed none of and just roamed around the
milling horses until he was given his instructions. Once Grayson drew
him away from the noise of the caravan he was given his instructions.

   "We need a scout to travel ahead of the caravan and warn the main
group of possible dangers.  You seem a young man in excellent shape so I
doubt you'll have any problem running back and forth, from point back to
the main group.  At night I of course expect you to scout the perimeter,
and then you can get a nice nights rest while the others guards take
turns keeping watch."  Grayson spoke with his back turned towards Ranma,
braced for some expression of outrage.  He was not expecting what came
next.

   "Cool. Sounds reasonable. Is that it?" Ranma said in excited manner.

   Grayson began coughing into his sleeve and kept his back turned.
"Yes, that's it.  If there's nothing else you want to discuss, I need to
get these lazy camel herders moving."

   "There is one thing," Grayson winced expecting some form of protest.
"When do we eat?"

   Grayson began another fit of coughing. "Well there's some food
prepared over by the cart, you can snack on that this morning. The
normal schedule will be breakfast at dawn, a short stop for lunch and
dinner soon after the evening camp.  Enjoy."

   Soon after Ranma went to the food, Kahil wandered over. "Well?"

   "He didn't protest at all. I think I almost cracked a rib laughing.
By the way did you see the sword?"

   "Yes. It seemed he is the one that gave us such an adventure. Think
he's a metamorphed dragon?"

   "Could be, they're more common than people think among the more
advanced races of dragons.  I don't understand his easy display of
abilities though, a dragon would be more subtle, besides they're not
known for any martial skills in their human form.  I'd almost think he
was a warrior monk, but he's much better than any I've seen before. When
we get back to Timiro we can send some feelers out to a local Monastery
and maybe consult a Summoner or two, in case he's a demon."

   "That's doubtful. He showed a strong moral code. Though little common
sense."

   "True but on the off chance he's a demon or a slumming godling, a
Summoner could tell us.  He really can't be human. I checked his aura
again this morning, he's wearing enough magic to make a lordling green
with envy but he still appears a human male of high skill. I'd say
changeling for the sex change thing except they are supposed to be
extinct, and what lore I know says they have very weak constitutions.
The boy's as strong as an ox."

   "Hmm... that's not the only thing he shares with an ox.  Look at him
eat.  Better sent someone to get extra rations," Grayson stated staring
as the pig-tailed boys hand's blurred on the path from food to mouth.

   The caravan was delayed a few hours. Apparently the caravan master
had underestimated to supplied needed for his passengers. Several of the
wealthier passengers sniffed at this amateurish mistake.

   Ranma didn't care except some of the female passengers kept wandering
over wanting to talk to him. This combined with their 'accidental'
touching had him nervous enough to leap at shadows. He was very anxious
to leave by the time the horses started down the road.

   Not to mention that his clothes itched. The cloak that was presently
supplying his wardrobe itched something terrible.  It wasn't quite
physical, the silk was of fine quality and very smooth. No, it was a
tingling sensation whenever he flexed his chi in any way. Being the
martial artist he was, this meant he was in almost a constant state of
distress. The bracers he wore (defective manacles really, but they
looked enough like bracers to pass them off as such) also itched, but he
was able to ignore this as a lesser discomfort.

   It was several weeks into his new routine when he came to an abrupt
realization of what this might mean. He was several miles ahead of the
caravan running around as per his normal daily routine. The trail was a
wide rocky path that wound in a snaking pattern between two mountain
ranges. He took out the ring he carried in subspace to check his
theory. He wasn't having much luck with his test until he became
frustrated and commanded his cloak to become a bandana wrapped under one
of his bracers.  With the general distraction gone he was able to sense
a slight sensation coming from the interaction between his battle aura
and the ring.

   He smiled. If he could perfect this talent he would give Shampoo a
surprise the next time she tried to slip him a potion. As a side thought
it crossed his mind that it might also come in handy fighting magic
users. He did after all seem to be in a world that couldn't take a piss
without a spell to help out. Of course in order to do this he would need
to be able to tune out the magic he wore, it was really playing havoc on
his battle senses too.

   As if to underscore this thought, he heard a voice behind him. "I was
going to warn you of bandits, but it appears you've already encountered
them."

   Ranma looked behind him to see a rather well built female with short
black hair, wearing a plain brown robe, tied with a thick robe sash. She
pointed behind her with her spear. This also happened to be behind
Ranma.  At this point it suddenly penetrated his brain that he was
wearing only his boxer shorts and T-shirt.  Sweating bullets be
immediately started babbling.  "I can explain... honest...it's like... I
mean... well... "

   The woman interrupted him, "I'm sure you have excellent reasons for
being as you are, never the less there is a furious warlock and his pet
Elemental behind us.  I think we should probably leave. Now."

   Ranma immediately regained control of his tongue, beautiful women he
couldn't deal with, but fighting was his life.  It was like breathing.
"Well I guess I'll just wait here for it.  There's a caravan a few miles
back I'm guarding, so it's kinda my job.  Er... you bein' a girl and
all, perhaps you might wanna head over that way while I handle it."

   The woman's eyes went wide as she attempted to process the insult.
Did the warlock have something against women?  That might explain his
violent reaction to her when it was obvious she had nothing of value.
"Why that evil scum... I'll show him he can't treat a woman like that!"

   This only served to confuse Ranma, it was like they were having two
different conversations.  He was distracted from attempting to get the
woman to leave again by whistling sound.  Jumping over to the woman he
lifted her in his arms and jumped away just as a huge boulder smashed
down where they had been.  Looking back at where the boulder had come
from he momentarily froze in surprise.

   "Man I really, really need to learn that Breaking Point thing," he
whispered to himself.

   Seemingly pulling itself out of the earth was a rock creature.

   Not just any rock creature, a really large humanoid shaped one.
Ranma estimated that it would be about fifty feet once it stood up.
Shaking himself from his surprised stupor he bounded over to a large
ridge and deposited the woman there.  He then leapt of toward the rock
creature. He didn't usually pull out the big guns so early in the fight
but he believed that only his more powerful attacks would even dent this
creature.

   By now the creature had pulled itself out of the ground, the earth
seemingly sealing itself up after the monster's exit. Ranma began
shooting his Fierce Tiger Domineering at the creature while closing the
distance.  The projectiles were doing damage but even a 5 foot crater in
the things hide seemed insignificant. When he had closed most of the
distance it pointed it's arm toward him and a huge shower of large rock
shards flew towards him.  He was able to dodge most of them, and the few
he couldn't he gathered in his arms similar to how he fought Ryouga's
technique.  Fortunately the creature was fairly slow, he could dodge the
rocks and it looked far too clumsy to physical touch him.

   At this point he sensed a dangerous tingling from the ground beneath
him.  Remembering the adhesion spell he had encountered earlier he
leaped away as far as he could.  This turned out to be fortunate when
the whole area behind him became a seething mass of lava. "Shit, time
to get serious."

   Working his way behind the creature with quick leaps he made a final
large jump onto the things back. Satisfied the creature couldn't reach
him he let loose with a powerful chi charged Chestnut Fist.  Having
created a crater in the things back as wide and deep as he could reach
he was feeling pleased with himself when he felt his chest and legs
enveloped in unyielding rock.  Looking up he realized in horror that
what was once the creature's back was now it's front.  This was very
bad, the thing was stronger that Ryougo and with his arms trapped at his
sides he had no leverage.  He might be able to summon a chi blast, but
enveloped as he was it would hurt him more than the monster.

   Fortunately the thing decided against squeezing him into a paste. It
gestured with its other arm creating a large chasm in front of it.

   Raising its hand it seemed about to throw Ranma down into it when it
was distracted from behind.  Ranma heard a small tink and a scrape, from
his scenic view fifty feet in the air he saw the woman strike the
creature's calf with her spear.  To his eyes it didn't seem to do must
damage, but she had a visible battle aura and from the way the thing
reacted it must have hurt.  It continued it's attempt to throw Ranma but
with it's timing off, he missed the crevasse and hit the ground. It was
a stunning impact but Ranma was used to similar falls.

   With a small wince he staggered to his feet and prepared his next
attack.  Shouting to the woman to leave, he began a spiral around the
stationary beast.  It had no battle aura but it tingled in the field of
his battle aura and he hoped that the magic or whatever made up the
beast would prove an adequate substitute.  He was fortunate that the
next few attacked were clear misses.  Once the creature gestured over
him, but whatever the purpose of this it seemed to be ineffective.  When
he reached the center and completed the move he was fearful it would
have no effect.  A moment later he was gratified to see the whirlwind of
the Heavenly Dragon Ascension form.  It seemed to actually have much
more energy than usual seemingly to glow an sparkle as large shreds were
ripped from the creature.

   Usually Ranma left his foes flying helplessly in the air until they
landed, but considering the large scale of the thing that seemed unwise.
Firing repeated chi blasts at the rock creature he waited for it to come
down.  When the whirlwind abated so the weight of the thing could no
longer be supported it fell several hundred feet to land with a crushing
impact.  When it finally stirred and stood up he was dismayed to see to
creature seemed mostly unhurt.  The craters that had covered it were
smoothed over and the only sign it had been in combat was that it was
about half it's former size.

   Ranma was exhausted.  He had given this thing all he had and it was
still coming on.  He didn't have enough energy for a chi blast or
Heavenly Dragon Ascension.  Well he was still faster than the monster,
he could only try.  Besides what better way for a martial artist to go
than protecting the helpless. Just as he was about to close with the
creature he felt a hand on his shoulder.  He was about to tell the woman
to find shelter when he realized it was't her.

   Standing behind him was Grayson, Ranma looked around for the others
but he appeared to be alone.  "Allow me.  I have a certain rapport with
elementals."  He paused before speaking loud, "Peace my Brother, we do
not wish to harm you."  He paused for a moment as if listening to
something.  Ranma heard nothing but the sound of rocks grinding
together.  "Hmm...  I see.  If you continue this conflict not only will
you have to deal with this human which has hurt you so much but I will
have to intervene and oppose you as well. I do not wish this." Pausing
to listen he nodded. "So my fellow warlock keeps you bound long past the
terms of your agreement. This is not right, he must be punished for
treating his brethren in such a manner." Standing in silence he
considered things for a moment before continuing. "The commands the
traitor gave you do not include a time limit. Give us a day to deal with
the warlock. If we succeed you will feel your bonds to this plane cease.
If we do not you must of course continue with your instructions. Oh,
before you go, please restore that human to it's original state, we may
need it to free you."

   Ranma was puzzled by this last part until he examined the landscape
closer.  About fifty feet away was what appeared to be a statue of the
woman he had met earlier.  Mouth open in shock he was running toward her
when the granite surface of her skin began to glow and slowly took on a
pinkish cast.  When the glow disappeared she collapsed on the ground.
When he looked back towards the creature it's head was already sinking
into the ground.  He also noticed Grayson walking towards him.

   "Well you impressed that one. It called you quite the pest."

   "Is she going to be all right?"

   "She should be fine.  The stone transformation is only fatal if the
body is smashed while in that state.  It's actually very difficult to
manage.  From what our friend had to say, he tried that on you a couple
times, but gave up once he found your resistance to direct magic to be
significant."

   "Eh? Direct magic?"

   "You know sleep spells, paralysis, transformation, spells that affect
you directly as opposed to indirect effects such as Fireballs,
Lightning, River of Lava, or Chasm," he said nodding toward the slowly
cooling magma and chasm.

   Ranma congratulated himself again on getting the bracers and made a
note to find out what kind of offensive spells people and rock thingies
had available. "So why were you so buddy buddy with that thing?"

   "I am a warlock, we are linked to the four elements, and more
relevant in this case, to elementals.  We consider them kin to us, and
they treat us in a similar fashion.  That poor fellow has been bound by
a rogue warlock who has used his bond to coerce the elemental into
servitude."

   "You mean it wasn't evil."

   "Evil is irrelevant, an Elemental's thought processes are not those
of a human.  They consider human, and most other beings insignificant.
They won't actively try to kill you, but it may happen anyway if you
don't get out of their way.  The only exception is warlocks. Fortunately
they are content on their own plane and only leave it when summoned."

   "So the bad guy is this warlock, right?"

   "Yes, he is the 'bad' guy.  I told the Elemental we would deal with
him.  Of course until we do our caravan isn't going anywhere."

   "Don't worry, you take the girl back to the others and I'll get the
warlock guy."  He was about to head off into the mountains when he felt
Grayson's hand on his shoulder.

   "Do you have any idea where he is?"

   "Er... no?"

   "Well fortunately the Elemental mentioned his whereabouts. By the way
what happened to your clothes?"

   Following Grayson's directions Ranma came upon a rather imposing
structure entirely composed of crystal jutting out from high up on a
cliff-face.  Sighing in resignation Ranma began his climb.  An hour
later he reached the odd fortress and leaped from the cliff to one of
the structures openings.  Looking around he noted he was in a large open
room with a huge bed next to the wall.  The cleanliness of the room made
it unclear if this was where the warlock slept.  He was still examining
the room when a brushing noise caught his attention.  In the adjacent
room a brush was scrubbing the floor around a recessed tub as if wielded
by a disembodied hand.

   Seeing the cleaning utensil was not hostile Ranma carefully backed
out of the room.  Hmm...  I bet Kasumi could use one of those.

   Pushing his musings to the back of his mind he carefully
concentrated, hoping to sense the warlock aura.  After several minutes
of this he was able to discern the sensation of what he believed was the
warlock. Opening his eyes and getting his bearings he proceeded through
the corridors always bearing towards the aura he had sensed earlier.

   The whole building seemed full of animated cleaning utensils merrily
brushing, scrubbing or polishing.  Every few feet had some new cleaning
tool doing its work.  Obviously the guy had a real cleanliness fixation.
Ranma was able to ignore this, he had seen weirder things.  He couldn't
think of them offhand but he was sure this was true.  What really
distracted him was the interference that magic apparently caused with
his battle aura.  The whole place stank of it.

   He expected it of the brushes and stuff, but the walls themselves
distracted him.  The only way he was able to keep his 'lock' on the
person's position was reducing the interference to a minimum.

   Ranma finally came to the room where the aura was located.

   With only a second's hesitation he burst through the door.  About
thirty feet away a robed middle-aged man looked up from the mortar and
pestle he'd been using to mix some ingredients with a shocked expression
etched on his face.  The shock was almost instantly replaced by
indignation and the strangest battle Ranma had yet fought began.

   The man yelled something in a garble tongue, pointing at Ranma.
Seeing this Ranma leaped towards the warlock before he could cast
something unpleasant.  He was only halfway there when he was struck in
the face with a feather duster.  As he fell to the ground from his leap
it was joined by several brushed and some kind of buffing rag.  Hacking
and choking he noted that the warlock was casting some sort of spell.
Panicking he grabbed a brush from the mob around him and threw it with
significant force towards the chanting mage, eliciting a yowl of pain
and a curse.  Several seconds later the chanting began again.

   This continued for some time.  Ranma using his Chestnut Fist to keep
the mob of cleaning tools at bay while occasionally throwing one to keep
the magic user from completing his spells.  He could only move slowly
towards the mage while the mage in turn backed away to keep a constant
distance from him.  Once he tried to leap through the whirling of
brushes but was immediately forcibly knocked to the ground.  Seeing how
this stalemate could probably continue indefinitely (or until he got
tired enough that the mage got a spell off) he shot off a weak Fierce
Tiger Domineering which was enough to push its way through the mob of
brushes and knock the mage back into the wall.  Unfortunately while
shouting the name of the attack one of the brushes shoved itself
forcibly into his mouth and almost down his throat.  Choking and gagging
he ignored the brushes still flying around, beating him to concentrate
on removing the foreign object from his orifice.  After almost turning
blue from the effort, he was successful and staggered as quickly as he
could over to the warlock's body.

   Grabbing him in a fireman carry he limped over to the closest window,
and while still being beaten by the cleaning crew, jumped out of it.

   Ranma knew he could survive a fall from this height without permanent
injury but doubted the same was true with the warlock (besides which,
the brushes followed him out of the window).

   Drawing his sword, which immediately burst into flame, he spun it
beneath him while adjusting his aura appropriately.  The resulting wind
funnel was just enough to reduce his fall to merely tooth-rattling.  It
also had the added benefit of blowing away the irritating cleaning
products.

   *Okay I changed my mind, there is no way I'm getting Kasumi a set of
those things,* a disgruntled Ranma thought.

   After a few pressure points to insure his guest didn't regain
consciousness at an inconvenient time, Ranma headed back towards the
caravan.

   "You brought him back with you?" Grayson asked in a puzzled tone.

   "Of course, you didn't think I'd kill him, did you?"

   "No, of course not, it's just that now we have to convince him to let
loose those he has bound.  If he had of course 'accidentally' died all
the entities he had placed in servitude would have naturally been freed.
Warlocks are notoriously stubborn you know," he said, apparently
oblivious to any irony, while Kahil chuckled quietly to himself.

   "Don't worry. I think I know a way to convince him."

   "Say did you just take a bath, something smells lemony fresh?"

   "Don't he ridiculous, you obviously don't the guts to kill me. Why
should I get rid of any chance to free myself.  You must believe me a
fool," stated the warlock known as Stabula, his voice dripping with
contempt.

   "I think you'll agree," said Ranma having just come inside the tent
carrying a bucket.

   "Yes of course I will.  When unicorns fly, boy.  You were just
fortunate, when you burst into my study dressed in your underwear,
surprise was the only thing preventing me from crushing you."

   Grayson and Kahil, looked sideways at Ranma, whose face was red, and
sweating bullets.  "I can explain it all!  I swear!  It was all part of
my master plan to... to take him by surprise and get a tactical
advantage... yah that's it!  Really!"  Grayson and Kahil gave a
noncommittal grunt.  Stabula's was outright skeptical.

   "Anyway... do as we say or I splatter you with... this,"  Ranma said
while pulling out a glob of mud from the bucket.

   "C'mon lad.  Do you really expect a pathetic threat like that to...
to" Grayson's statement of disbelief trailed off as he recognized the
look of horror on Stabula's face.

   "Now I've seen everything.  An Earth Warlock with a terror of mud.
How did you find out, my boy?"

   "My martial arts training makes me incredibly observant," Ranma just
stated with a wise, inscrutable look on his face.  The effect was ruined
by a floating mop slamming into the back of his head.

   Ranma's hands were a blur as he grabbed the mop and stuffed it into
subspace, while cautiously looking around.

   "What was that," asked a confused Grayson.

   "What was what?  Oh... that!  Probably just someone's idea of a
practical joke.  Heh, heh," Ranma chuckled nervously.

Chapter 6

   Ranma was, as usual, a few miles ahead of the caravan. It was several
days since they had resolved the warlock issue.  The warlock in question
was under guard with the caravan's main body.

   Apparently there was some kind of guild for warlock where his crimes
would be reviewed. Grayson seemed unconcerned with his banditry, however
he found his abuse of Elementals intolerable. Ranma could relate to
that, sorta, but it was hard to get emotional over a pile of rocks that
had been well on it's way to flattening him. As far as he could learn
from Grayson the only regrets the Elemental had in regards to its past
actions was that it had failed to finish off 'that pest'. Ranma wasn't
positive but it just might have been referring to him.

   He had almost trained himself to ignore the interference caused by
the cloak.  He wasn't sure he trusted his newly focused concentration in
combat, but thought he would soon. The reason he was out a little
further than normal was he had found his patience failing with rock
creatures lately. There were far too many in this world for his
comfort. It may have been ideal for Ryouga, him be'in rock headed an
all, but Ranma found it disconcerting being so woefully unprepared.

   He also was frustrated at the lack of perceptible progress in his
personal training. Without other skilled opponents to test out the
effectiveness of the techniques he had invented he had no idea how
effective they were. Sure they weren't the incredible destructive
maneuvers he had learned from Cologne, but he was fairly proud of the
throws, attacks, and defensive moves he had come up with on his own. It
looked like he might never find out if they were as good as he thought
they were. He really wished Ryouga were here to spar with.

   Sure he always beat the Lost Boy but it was always a good workout.

   What was the point in being the best martial artist in the world if
he was also the only one.  He also missed the okinomiyaki Uchan always
made, and the friendly conversation, Akane and her hammer, the verbal
sparring, heck he even missed Nabiki... well not much, just a little. He
shook himself, if he kept obsessing about home he would get as depressed
as Ryouga, it was time to concentrate on the training he could do.

   To aid his initial concentration with the perception he was
attempting to achieve he had banished all distractions, even his bracers
and had been banished to subspace.  The only distraction left was the
odd faint fluttering sensation he had come to associate with having
animated cleaning utensils using his subspace storage.  It had been very
disconcerting at first but he had to put the damn things somewhere.

   The warlock hadn't been able to call them off, apparently after
freeing his 'brothers' he couldn't change the last command he'd issued.
So every once in a while a new brush or something would attack him. He
got no sympathy from Grayson or the other's, all they did was laugh as
he was chased around the camp, until he managed to force the tool away.

   He was standing next to a large boulder meditating, and trying to
feel how it was connected to him, when he heard footsteps behind him.
Knowing who it was before he turned around, he desperately rooted around
in subspace for his cloak.  Spinning around, he mentally commanded his
cloak to form his normal clothing.  He was taken by surprise when the
thing in his hand started to whip around and repeatedly smack him about
the head and shoulders.

   A giggling sound confirmed his fears.  "Sensei, is this another of
your new training methods?"  Sighing at yet another humiliation Ranma
calmed his mind and put the brush he'd grabbed for back into subspace.

   "No.  I was just brushing some of the dust off.  What do you want."
Ever since the battle the girl he'd met before had been following him
around like a lost puppy.  He was sort of flattered but it did lead to
awkward situations.  She didn't seem to mind but it usually embarrassed
the heck out of him.  She was apparently a member of some kind of
Warrior Monk order.  Her martial arts weren't anywhere near up to his
standards but they were the best he'd seen so far.

   "I've been practicing those forms you showed me, and I think I'm
ready for something new."

   "Hmm... show me.  And remember I want to see some real Battle Aura
control this time," he grunted.

   He nodded in appreciation as he watched her gently glowing form.  She
was the first person with any chi control he had seen since he gotten
to... wherever he was.  It was crude and relatively weak but it was
there.  She said she was one of the best in her order but it was obvious
she'd been overwhelmed when she'd seen him in combat.

   That was to be expected.  He was Ranma Soatome after all.  When she
had recovered she had begged him to teach her.  Usually he hated
fighting, or even teaching girls but she was so far behind in the
martial arts that it would be some time before they would be up to
sparring.

   For now it was chi control, physical exercise, and katas.  Eventually
she would be able to be able to channel chi while doing exercises and
katas, she would find her speed and strength increasing rapidly
therafter as the chi flows optimized the body's development. He was
actually rather proud of her progress so far. Not that he expected
anything else. With him teaching there really was no chance of anything
but success.

   After she finished her form he nodded in approval and demonstrated
her next exercise.  He ignored the fact he was in his boxers.  He hoped
she thought it was some weird teacher thing.  When he was done they
chatted for a while and she asked what he had been doing.  Giving up the
inscrutable teacher act he excitedly began explaining about the Breaking
Point and his plans to master it.  He admitted that he didn't have the
traditional setup, but if he could learn the Chestnut Fist using water
and fish he figured he could learning the Breaking Point without a large
boulder repeatedly smashing into him.

   "Are you sure sensei?" she asked in a doubt filled voice.

   "Of course I am. No problem, I think I'm close too. I almost could
see something the last time I tried. Er... before you came by."

   "Could I stay and watch?'

   "I suppose so, just stand back. When the technique works the rocks
should explode."

   "That sounds very dangerous. Are you sure about this?"

   "Sure I'm sure, what could go wrong.  I mean the whole technique's
point is to toughen the body. Sortta like a stone skin technique. I mean
really how often do you get attacked by stone monsters... " Ranma
trailed off as he mentally tallied the numerous rock creatures he'd met
so far. "Anyway the technique only works on rock, metals, and other
really solid stuff."

   "If you say so."

   After making sure Jess had moved to a safe distance, Ranma began his
concentration again.  Reaching out he was able to sense his surrounding
much clearer than previously, but nothing that looked like a Breaking
Point.  Still after some time had passed he noticed on the periphery of
his senses a faint network of lines. As he focused on this new
phenomenon he saw with sudden clarity how there was a lattice of
something, maybe energy, maybe chi connecting everything he sensed.

   It was pretty but he wasn't sure what good it did.  In a sudden
moment of inspiration he noted that there were nodes where lines
connected.

   Maybe that's it, no one ever said what the points look like, maybe
that's it.

   With this thought he brought his finger forward towards the rock to
touch one of the radiating areas. Nothing.  Hmm, probably needs to focus
chi into the point as well. Ryouga sure made it look easy. Reaching out
again he focused his energy through his finger into the nexus. He sensed
the start of some sort of reaction and inwardly began to cheer. Yes! I
did...

   For Jess it had the feelings some car wreck victims experienced.  A
huge disaster you could see clearly as it unfolded before you, but were
helpless to alter.  Ranma began to glow as he reached towards the
boulder and then he was engulfed in a huge explosion.  Even from fifty
feet away she was pelted with stinging shards.  Ignoring this she ran
toward the epicenter, where the dust was rapidly dissipating while
crying out Ranma's name.

   She found him laying unconscious in the bloody, tattered remains of
his clothes.  Small shards and slivers of stone were imbedded in his
skin.  She frantically checked his vial signs, and breathed a small sigh
when she saw he was breathing and no body parts were missing.  Not being
a stranger to wounds and healing she began to pluck the shards from her
teachers skin.  Knowing this would cause additional bleeding she planned
to remove the projectiles from a small area at a time, clean it, then
stop the bleeding and bind the wounds.

   She had cloth in her pouch and the caravan would come by within the
hour.

   Her heart almost stopped when Ranma's body shrunk and grew breasts
when she first poured water on the first patch of wounds.

   Stifling a yelp of surprise she continued to clean and bind the
wounds. Ranma would explain later, even if she had todrag it out of
him/her kicking and screaming. By the time she had finished Ranma was
just regaining consciousness.

   "Agh... what happened.  I feel like I was blown up by the old
pervert," Ranma-chan muttered groggily.

   "Shh. Lay still. Your technique was just a little too effective," she
softly said, trying to keep Ranma-chan still. Looking down at herself,
she moaned. "Damn it's going to take days to heal this."

   "Your not upset?" asked a very surprised Jess.

   "Nah, just a training accident. I guess that's why you're supposed
to get pummeled by boulders for a while before you actually use the
technique. Shit."

   "Doesn't this hurt though?" Jess asked. She was skeptical, those
wounds had looked fairly serious.

   "Oh you bet it does.  But 'the path of a true martial artist is
difficult. Only real men can succeed against such trials.' Besides I
know some chi healing techniques," Ranma-chan stated, quoting her
father.

   "About that 'real man' thing... " she stated pointing at Ranma-
chan's breasts.

   "Shit.  How'd that happen?  Ah, never mind, can you get be some hot
water before the caravan gets here?"

   "Hot water?"

   "Yeah, I want to change back before anyone else finds out. I don't
like to advertise about the curse. I'll explain while you heat the
water."

   Groaning in pain she sat up, ignoring Jess's protests, and started
poking herself at pressure points meant to ease the pain.

   "There's actually not much to it.  There's a valley where there are
over a hundred springs... or there was at least. Each spring had an
animal or person drown in it.  Anytime after that, if someone falls into
the spring they take the shape of what drowned in it before. I fell
into spring of drowned young girl. Very tragic story," Ranma-chan spat.

   "Now when splashed with cold water I changes into a girl. Hot water
reverses the curse until next time."

   "But you get splashed all the time. The others in the caravan joke
about it all the time.  Why haven't we noticed this before?"

   "Well, before we set out I bought these."  Ranma-chan pulled out the
bracers from subspace. She also made sure to grab her cloak.

   "They lock my form in whatever I happen to be in. They're really
cool.  Is that water hot yet?"

   "Sure.  Here."  She watched in fascination as Ranma-chan poured the
hot water from the small pot and transformed into a man again. Looking
nervously around he quickly put the bracers on again.

   It was fortunate he did so for at that moment a light rain began.

   "I'm not sure, but I think the curse also includes me being a cold
water magnet," Ranma stated grumpily.

   Several hours later he still looked pretty awful, but no longer in
danger of falling over and dying. Ranma lay back down. It looked like he
would have to put off completing the Breaking Point Training until he
found a nice quiet spot to pummel himself with rocks. He doubted be
would have survived at all if he hadn't been toughening himself all
along by letting Akane hit him. Of course if he could survive her
cooking he doubted anything less than divine intervention could kill
him.

   There had been a priest among the passengers who had been pleased to
offer his healing ability for a fine guardsman unfortunate enough to get
caught in a rockslide. He had a lousy bedside manner though.

   "It's a good thing you didn't die, isn't it?" the priest chatted
merrily.

   Ranma gave him a disgusted look. "Yah, it sure is. Would have ruined
my whole day," he said sarcastically.

   "Well I could always have asked my patron for HIS Intervention. Or if
that had failed I'm sure Master Grayson would have been happy to hire a
priest or mage to raise you," he stated nonchalantly.

   Ranma sent the tea he'd been drinking spewing across the tent staring
incredulously at the mad man in front of him.  The priest
misinterpreting his look continued, "Of course he would have. It's
frightfully expensive of course but this has been the most uneventful
caravan trip I've ever been on. Don't think we haven't noticed the
unconscious Ogres and Kobolds we've seen by the trailside. I doubt they
just decided to take a nap on their own. Now I don't know why such a
nice powerful mage like you decided he wanted to protect a caravan, but
we all appreciate the thought. In fact if you tell me what mage guild
you belong to I'll be happy to write a letter of recommendation to them.
I'm sure Grayson would do the same," the priest added helpfully.

   The last the priest heard from Ranma as he left his freshly healed
patient was some muttering, "Great now I DO have to worry about divine
intervention."

   "Ranma, what are your plans when we get back to civilization?  Do you
have a place to stay?" Grayson asked one evening after dinner. Ranma was
off to the side of the camp with Jess. She was doing katas, while he
watched and corrected her occasionally. It was several weeks into the
journey and they had already passed a few of the smaller towns near the
border of Timiro.

   "Well, I talked to Jess and she says the Monastery in the area would
be happy to put me up. She's going to vouch for me. I ain't gonna be
dead weight either. I can teach some of the more advanced maneuvers and
katas to them. Maybe the basics of chi manipulation. I mean they got
the one trick with focusing their aura through their spear but if they
can do that I don't see any reason they can't learn... "

   "Ahem!  That's very nice Ranma. I had a little more in mind. Like
long term goals."

   "Well... I guess I can tell you. I've known you for a while and you
seem to be an okay kinda guy an' all." Ranma paused to gather his
thoughts.

   "I think I'm from another world or something. I was sparin' with a
friend of mine when I suddenly appeared inside this circle. The guy went
on about  if I was the 'Lost One'. He's the guy I was I was sparin'
with... I think."

   "You think you were sparing with the 'Lost One'?"

   "Yeah, he must have been talking about Ryouga, he has a really bad
sense of direction.  Anyway I says I'm not but if he'll send me back
I'll tell Ryouga that he want to talk with him. He says he can't let me
warn him and tells everybody to attack me."

   "Everybody?"

   "Yah there were some guards. Anyway I take care of everyone of course
but I accidentally toast the old guy who summoned me so I leave."

   "How many were there?"

    "Um... twenty one plus the archers."

   "Mercenaries?"

   "I don't think so, they were wearin' red uniforms with lizards on
them.  I figured they might be town guards but the guys patrolling the
streets wore different uniforms. The guys on the street were still
lookin' for me so I decided to go someplace that had a good reputation
for magic know-how but not hunting me."

   "Hmm... sounds like a wise decision. Those uniforms sound like those
worn by the emperor's elite guard."

   "Ha, no wonder!"

   "What?"

   "One of my teacher's was always saying how some Chinese Emperor was
always in terror of her martial arts techniques.  I figure if that
Emperor had guards that pathetic it would explain why he was always
cowering in terror."

   "Um, makes sense, I suppose," Grayson looked as if wasn't following
the logic.

   "Anyway, the reason I'm telling you this is I was wondering where I
can find someone who could get me back home."

   "Well it sounds like you were grabbed by a Summoner, so finding a
Summoner would make sense if you wanted to get back."

   "What's a Summoner?"

   "A mage that specializes in ritual magic like circles and to a lesser
degree wards.  They are best known for summoning and controlling Demons
through certain circles.  Thus their name."

   "Hey!  I'm not sure I want to talk to some guys that summons demons
for a living!"

   "Oh, don't worry they are perfectly sane... well most of them. You
can also contact the mage guild.  They're always happy to learn about
new dimensions.  The Mind Mage Guild... well I don't see how they could
help you... unless you live on the Astral Plane.  Ha, Ha," Ranma was not
enamored by Grayson's sense of humor and was rapidly losing patience.

   "Alright already!  Which one has the best chance?" Ranma asked in an
exasperated voice.

   "Why, I told you, the Summoner's."

   "But I don't wanna go to Hell!"

   "But they specialize crossing to other planes.  I'm sure they know
how to go to other places besides Hell.  I'll tell you what, I have some
connections with the palace Alchemist.  I'll ask him about it. Even if
he doesn't know he'll probably know who does.  Okay?"

   "Uh, thanks. What's an alchemist?"

   Grayson sighed, "Didn't they have any magic where you came from?"

   "Of course we did," Ranma answered indignantly.  "It was just mostly
curse magic, a few magic swords, mirrors, but mostly potions. Lots of
potions," Ranma theorized he'd had a good portion of these tried on him.

   "Alchemists are very adept magic users, usually masters of at least
three different schools of magic.  They also specialize in creating
magic items and constructs.  Like the ones you wear."

   "Hey!  How'd you know what I'm wearing?"

   "To anyone who can sense magic you radiate like a bonfire on a cold
winter's night.  You had significant amounts the first time I met you.
Since then it just became more noticeable with the things you wear.
Maybe it that chi aura you keep mentioning."

   Hmm, I could try masking my aura, Ranma thought.  But if I do that
I'm almost blind to danger. Well at least I know there's a problem now.
"What about warlocks?"

   "Not very useful unless you wish to visit the Elemental plane of
Fire, Earth, Air, or Water.  Sorry."

   "Hey, the priest said he can raise the dead.  Does he know any other
useful magic?"

   "He can channel many magics from his patron God, or Pantheon.
Unfortunately you need the location of your home plane. For that
knowledge you would need to communicate with the God directly."

   "You can do that?"

   "No.  If a God wants to talk with you he will appear before you or
summon you.  It's very uncommon.  Usually very unpleasant too."

   "Not nice guys, eh?"

   "Gods deal with very large issues.  If they want to talk to you
you've either done something very bad, or they want you to do something
of planetary or Cosmic importance.  Being a Cosmic errand boy usually
pays poorly and has a lousy benefits package.  Everything I've heard
says that if you think you've come out ahead, you didn't read the fine
print."

   Wow, Nabiki would make a really good deity, Ranma thought with a
shiver.

   "Of course the Gods of Darkness are worse, but even Gods of Light can
be pretty callous."

   "I guess I'll leave the priests to themselves if I can help it."  Or
maybe it would be like dealing with Happossai.  Nah I can't imagine
anything that bad, unless there's a pervert God.  Ugh.  "Anyway, the
Monastery is close to the city so after I'm done teaching I'll pop over
there and look around.  It might even be fun without the guards after
me."

   "Well thanks for the advice.  I gotta go teach Jess some more katas.
She needs to know more if she's going to help teach."

Chapter 7

   A rather well dressed man waited in a large, dimly lit room. The room
was dominated by a large table in the center.  Above the table a softly
glowing sphere hung without support. This light was enough to illuminate
the table but the corners of the room remained shadowed.  At the table
he sat at was arranged several piles of document he seemed to be
perusing.  Despite this an observer would easily note he seemed to be
waiting for something else, only giving cursory attention to what lay
before him.

   A flash of light came from the corner, briefly seeming to trace out a
circle before dimming.  The man knew he was no longer alone. "Greetings,
my King.  It's been too long."

   "It has. Good to see you again.  What are you going by these days
and who is your guest?"

   "People know me by 'Grayson'. Really don't you read the reports I
send?  Why do I bother?"  Grayson sighed obviously teasing.

   "Ah, here it is! I know I should have read it before you arrived,"
returned the man in good humor, after playfully shuffling the documents.
"Seriously, who is our guest?"

   "I have the pleasure to introduce the Master of our local Monastary,
Master Reteife. Master Reteife, this is my liege and friend, King
Monfrey."

   "I am honored to meet you my liege," Master Reteife quietly said.

   "I am pleased to meet you.  I hear you have been 'blessed' with a
most unusual guest yourself."

   "Yes, I discover more things than I ever knew of the world before.
Some though, I suppose I could have lived without."

   "So tell us a bit about him.  I hear he stirred up quite a nest of
bees over in the Western Empire."

   "He is... powerful.  Our order focuses our spirit or as our guest
says 'chi'.  By this we enhance our blows in some small manner.  Our
guest, Ranma, focuses an immense amount of 'chi' to accomplish things I
believe many a magic user would be hard pressed to duplicate."

   "So his powers are merely skills?  I heard he was human, but if he
isn't using magic... "

   "Oh he's quite human, and while mere may not describe his abilities,
yes they are learnable skills.  Chi is not magic.  Magic as you know is
the excess energy from living creatures.  Mages can collect, store and
use this for various spells.  Think of chi as magic energy that has been
processed and turned into spiritual energy.  Already my brothers and I
have learned the simpler channeling, our sister Jenn is even further
along."

   "What makes him so formidable?  From what I hear nothing he does
can't be done by some type of magician or another."

   "It not actually what he does, but how quickly he does it. Never have
I seen such speed.  Even mages using that speed spell..."

   "Fleet Feet," supplied Grayson.

   "Yes, that one.  Even they can't come near his speed.  A mage may
toss off a fireball once about every 8 seconds.  Ranma can do 10 chi
blasts in that time, while avoiding attacks.  I don't even think I've
seen him put his full energy in one yet."

   "Still a mage can, in fact usually does, use talismans to store
spells for quicker casting, and he usually has defensive spells as
well."

   "I mentioned his dodging before. He's... very hard to hit. Also very
durable, not only does the 'battle aura' he emit reduce damage, but
through a lifetime of channeling and exercises he has shaped his body
into a very durable weapon.  Heh, heh... in fact right now he's probably
training by being slammed by a few 5 ton boulders he had a few brothers
set up in some kind of swing.  It looks very painful, but the mere fact
that he survives such training is a testament to his present
durability."

   Monfrey was silent a moment, "If he's truly that dangerous... " The
monk quickly interjected, "I wouldn't be afraid.  He's powerful, but
certainly not invincible.  If he got out of hand a carefully coordinated
attack, using large amounts of magic of course, could stop him.  Besides
he has a good heart.  Considering his incredible arrogance and freely
moving tongue, it's probably all that's kept someone from killing him
already," the monk finished with a dry chuckle.

   "Irritating?" the King asked with the beginning of amusement.

   "Oh very, very irritating.  But he means well.  During every lesson
he'll go over what he considers the duty of a martial artist."

   "What sort of duties are these?" Grayson asked curiously.

   "It's odd some of it seems to come straight from those Paladins you
people rave about.  Helping those weaker than yourself, don't bully
those who can't defend themselves, risking their lives at the drop of
the copper.  It's actually very appealing.  You'd be quite the hero if
you followed it."

   "Did you read the report I sent on his activities in the Western
Empire?" Grayson asked the King.

   "Yes. It seemed that he does indeed have a strict moral code. A good
thing I suppose."

   "If he was only one of the many martial artists in his world then it
would need a strong code to survive."

   "From what he's said there were quite a few people of skill where he
lived.  Of course he always mentions that he was the best," the monk
said with a smile.

   "Have you been able to help with his desire to go home?"

   "No we have no lore of that type.  He would do better consulting a
Summoner."

   "I told him that too," mentioned Grayson. "I don't see why he's so
reluctant.  I mean most of them are sane."

   "Hmm. Thank you for your support in this matter Master Reteife.  You
may go back to Monastery. Just step through that circle there. No, the
other one," with a flash the monk was gone.

   "Well, Grayson, do you agree with the good monk? It our friend
harmless?"

   "I think harmless is an overstatement, but I generally agree. So does
Kahil, and if you can't trust a Mind Mage in judging someone's character
who can you trust?"

   "Well... Kahil is one of the best."

   "With his code of honor he would be a very impressive ally to his
friends. I think we should encourage good relations with him. If I
could get access to the Royal Summoner it would help him, and make a
favorable impression"

   "The Royal Summoner?  You mean Old 'Zar. Ye gods man! I thought you
wanted his friendship. The man's a certified loon. He's only Royal
Summoner because he's too dangerous to let out in public," the King
exclaimed in a shocked tone.

   "Well he's none too stable I'll give you. He is the best in the
kingdom, if he can't help in a question dealing with other planes, I
don't think anyone can."

   "All right.  I give you permission to ask for his aid. Convincing him
is your problem.  Talking to him gives me headaches, and if it isn't an
emergency he ignores me anyway," the King stated in disgust.

   "You're just mad because he made a pass at your daughter," Grayson
said smugly.

   "He's not allowed anywhere near my daughter. He's a pervert and a
dirty old man," shouted the King.

   "Yes, but he's a very useful pervert. And mostly harmless," pointed
out Grayson.

   Ranma was just limping back to the bathing area. He was grateful that
the Monastery he was staying at wasn't so dedicated to poverty that it
didn't have hot water. Of course this world didn't have much in the way
of technology but with all the magic flying around he wasn't overly
surprised when he saw how common hot water was.

   Some of the larger cities even had running water and a working sewer
system.

   The structure only had one hot water tub so Ranma shouldn't have been
surprised when he walked in on a woman who was quite naked.  Stuttering
apologies, with his eyes closed, he quickly backed away and closed the
door behind him.  Once outside, he breathed a sigh and leaned against
the door for support.

   Jess was right, the woman inside thought while stifling a giggle, he
is cute when he's like that. Ranma was about to head back to his room,
when he noticed Grayson approaching him.

   "I'm glad I found you.  Have you had any luck finding a way home?"

   "Well, no.  I went to the mage's guild but they just laughed at me. I
don't think they believed me.  I challenged one of the obnoxious jerks
to fight, but they just kept laughing.  I was tempted to chi blast them,
but it wouldn't have been right picking on weakling like that," Ranma
stated with more than a hint of resentment.

   "Just as well, in their own guild they have very adequate defenses.
Most mages are in their middle or late twenties before they're even out
of apprenticeship.  They probably believed you were too young to be
taken seriously.  I have some contacts inside that guild, we'll see if
we can get a private interview with one of the more open minded
members."

   "Hey thanks!  That would be great!"

   "No guarantees but we'll see.  Anyway since you're temporarily at a
dead end perhaps you would be interested in a lead I've managed to
uncover?"

   "Sure!  I mean, it's nice and all here, but it's kind of weird too.
The guys hang on every word, and there's this one guy who follows me
around with a big book, writing down everything I say. It's creepin' me
out bigtime. I mean I can't really blame them. After all I am the best
they'll ever see, but all this talkin is not really my thing."

   "Didn't you mention that you eventually wanted to become a teacher of
your arts?"

   "Yah but not for years. And they really pay attention to what I say.
I guess I'm just used to bein' ignored when I explain stuff."

   "From what I hear, you're doing amazing things, advancing their
skills. It's only to be expected."

   "Yah, whatever," Ranma replied morosely.

   "Anyway I've managed to get permission from the king to talk to the
Royal Summoner.  He's the most knowledgeable person in the Kingdom,
maybe the continent, when it comes to other planes. Well among humans
anyway."

   "Are there a lot of non-humans around?" Ranma asked curiosity
aroused.

   "Yes quite a few.  You probably haven't seen too many yet since we
just came from the Western Empire.  They tend to be very humancentric.
Unless you're one of their allied Cyclops you better stay out of there
unless you want to end up part of their Arena bloodsports. We're not
perfect here, but non-humans are tolerated and have the normal legal
rights."

   "On they way here I saw lots of big Neanderthal type guys. Strong but
lousy fighters."

   "Those were most likely Ogres.  They are very violent when in the
wild.  We have had serious problems at the borders involving them. Still
they are not a real problem as long as they stay disorganized."

   "I also saw a really short, stocky guy in the marketplace the other
day."

   "Probably a dwarf.  One of the ancient races, along with elves and
dragons.  The route we used from the Western Empire to here passed
through the Old Kingdom.  It's not much today but used to be a very
powerful dwarven kingdom, before the Elf-Dwarf War.  Now it just has
some minor dwarven kingdoms, a few kobold tribes, and of course the
Ogres.  It acts as a buffer zone between Timiro and the Western Empire,"
Grayson lectured.

   "Hey can I fight some dragons?" Ranma ignored most of the speech,
focusing in on the interesting parts.

   "That would be a bad idea.  The young hatchlings are mostly harmless,
the older ones might be a bit more than even you could comfortably
swallow.  Besides, as long as they obey the laws of the kingdom they are
protected like any other citizen."

   "So...  there aren't any ravaging monsters to beat up?" Ranma asked
hopefully.

   "If I hear about any you'll be the first to know," Grayson said while
repeating a calming mantra in his mind.  "Getting back to the point.  I
made an appointment with the Royal Summoner for tomorrow. Are you
interested?"

   "He's not one of the insane ones you were talking about before, is
he?" Ranma asked warily.

   Grayson started to walk away at a rapid pace seeming to not hear him.

   "Hey, wait a minute, I'm not sure I want to talk to him if he's some
sorta freak," Ranma exclaimed, getting ready to follow the retreating
form.  Unfortunately, at that moment the door he had been leaning
against opened unexpectedly, removing his sole support.

   Ranma fell backwards, grabbing hold of anything that might stop his
fall.  A sense of dread filled him when he noticed his were full of a
towel... and something yielding.

   He instantly dropped the towel, falling the rest of the way to the
ground.  A second later the towel fluttered down on top of him.

   With his eyes closed he blindly grabbed the towel and held it up to
where the girl last was while babbling apologies.

   With a shrug the woman took the towel and walked down the hall toward
her cell.  "He is soo cute when he does that," she muttered to herself.

   It was several minutes before Ranma noticed that the girl was gone.
Sighing he shook his head, and stumbled into the bathing chamber.  He
just had to remember that this world wasn't filled with Violent Tomboys.
He wasn't sure if this was a good thing or not.

   Walking through the city to meet Grayson the next day, Ranma was lost
in thoughts of home.  He was starting to really miss it.  He wasn't used
to extended trips any more, and was thinking of Nerima more and more.

   He was respected here but didn't have any friends except maybe Jenn.

   He was totally lost in thought when he heard a familiar cry.

   "Where in the world am I now!"

   Ranma stopped, not even breathing, before tearing off in the
direction of the voice.  He always joked about Ryouga's ability to get
lost, but if he was actually here it meant 'pig boy' was weirder than he
thought.  He leaped to nearest rooftops, glancing warily around.  The
last time he was up here he was given a stern warning by a some flying
mage wearing a guard's uniform about respecting other people's roofs.

   Seeing the way was clear he leaped from rooftop to rooftop toward the
voice.

   Finally reaching the source of the voice he looked down to see a
familiar bandana clad boy, looking around the streets in a bewildered
fashion.  Leaping down he came up behind and gave him a big hug.

   "Howya doin' Ryouga.  Am I glad to see you.  It's been months.  Is
everyone OK.  How's Mom?  Is Akane alright, that Tomboy didn't do
anything stupid did she?" Ranma babbled on, oblivious to a large aura
developing around the other boy!

   "Ranma, how dare you hug me!  Bad enough you trick me while you're a
girl, but now when we're both guys?  Prepare to die!" Letting loose with
a huge chi blast he threw Ranma off him.  Ranma's finely tuned danger
sense had belatedly kicked in, allowing him to avoid the chi blast.
While flipping out of the way Ranma noted in horror that it had blown by
him and demolished a large portion of a strangely familiar looking
mansion.

   "Hey watch where you're throwing those things!  You might hurt
someone!" Ranma shouted with the beginnings of anger. Here he was lost
in another dimension for months and all pig boy could think about was
fighting.  Besides he didn't want to be thrown out of the city or
nothin'.

   Ryouga was lost in a fit of rage, he would dispense justice on his
rival and then Akane..er Akiri would be his.  So absorbed was he that he
didn't notice that Ranma was standing in front of an attractive, well
dressed girl, who was surrounded by hard eyed men in armor who could be
mistaken for nothing else but bodyguards.  Ranma noticed though, and he
noticed with something verging on panic that if he dodged, there would
be little chance of the people behind him surviving.  Calling on his
reserves he pumped up his battle aura and started a return chi blast. He
would be too late to counter Ryouga's chi blast, but should be able to
end this fight before anyone was injured.

   Ranma's pumped up aura was able to lessen the damage enough that
Ranma was still standing afterwards.  Long skid marks on the
cobblestones spoke of the force he had absorbed while being pushed back.
Still Ranma hurt, really hurt.  Smoke rose from his clothes, and black
smudges covered his face where bruises didn't.

   Ranma idly thought, still in analytical mode, Ryouga must have been
doing some very intensive training, that was much larger than his usual,
almost as large as his 'Perfect' Depression Blast.  Despite his training
in the Breaking Point Ranma had a difficult time keeping focused.

   Through a monumental effort of will he was able to keep the chi he
had been gathering from dissipating and loosed it towards Ryouga.  Or
rather the trough of water next to Ryouga. The bursting trough
splattered water on everyone in the area including the two cursed boys.
Instant P-chan.

   Ranma looked behind him to find he had been pushed directly in front
of the girl by the blast.  She was wet and more bedraggled than when he
last saw her and had a wild, confused look in her eyes.  "Are you
alright?" he asked hurriedly.  At her hesitant nod he ran forward picked
up P-chan and leaped to a nearby rooftop.  Time to leave before guards
arrived.  This wasn't Nerima and he didn't want to explain what was
happening.  Heck he didn't know what was happening.

   Jumping down to a narrow alleyway he collapsed against the wall and
started berating Ryouga. "What were you thinking!  Didn't you see that
girl behind me.  She might have been killed.  You could have become a
murderer today P-Chan.  This is serious this time," Ryouga was subdued,
Ranma for once had a point.

   "Here I am lost in another dimension and the first thing you do is
attack me.  I have a half a mind to give you to the guards."

   Ryouga shook his head frantically.  "Well then you're going to sit
there quietly and listen, and do as I say.  This time you screwed up big
time pig boy, and one way or another you're going to pay," Ryouga nodded
sadly.

   Ranma recapped the last couple of months, ending with how he had been
on the way to talk to a powerful mage when he had run into Ryouga.
"Here's the deal.  I have a cure for your curse," Ryouga's attention was
instantly riveted on Ranma.  "I'll give it to you under the following
conditions.  First no more sneaking into Akane's bed, it's just wrong. I
know you got a sense of honor in there somewhere, and once I give you
this cure you won't have any excuse.  If you accept this deal I'll
consider my promise not to tell Akane void, and inform her of the truth
of P-chan the first time I see you try it.  I don't mind," well I do
mind, but no one needs to know that, "If you shout your love to the
world and try to woo Akane an stuff, but no sneaky stuff, OK pig boy,"
said Ranma watching for Ryouga's answering nod.

    "Alright then, second no more random fights.  I mean I really enjoy
our fights, but it's just too dangerous.  At our power level innocent
people can too easily get hurt or killed.  If you ever want to fight me,
pick a time and a place and I'll even lead you to it so you don't miss
it.  OK?" he again waited for an answering nod.

   "Finally I don't know how you got here but if you did, you're
eventually going back.  And if I have anything to say about it, I'm
going with you.  I'm going to stick to you like glue until we're both
home," Ryouga seemed to think about his for a moment and then nod.

   "Okay then let's go find some hot water, since you made a spectacle
of yourself I gotta hide you.  So I'll put you in subspace for a few
minutes." Say this he stuffed the pig into subspace, commanded his robe
into more presentable, less blackened shape and walked out of the alley
to find hot water.  He had the odd feeling he was forgetting about
something.

   Stepping out of the alley he went to a small cafe a few minutes away.
Asking for a mug of tea he paid for both the mug and tea and went to
find a nearby alley.  Slipping inside he quickly grabbed a twitching
P-chan and poured the liquid onto him. In the place of a piglet stood a
dazed looking Ryouga, his hair in disarray and smelling lemony fresh.

   "Ranma what kind of perverted Hell did you put me in?" shouted the
lost boy.

   Oblivious to Ryouga's distress Ranma shushed him.  "Quiet, you got
people looking for you.  Put your clothes on and these Bracers. They're
what locks the curse.  While you're wearing them you can't be changed,"
after a moment Ranma added, "By any means."

   Ryouga shrugged, he was more interested in the cure for his curse
than deciphering what Ranma was saying.  He was also trying to think of
anything except the strange and humiliating last few minutes. Once he
was dressed, he walked off, assuming Ranma was following.

   After a moment he turned around to give Ranma a piece of his mind
when he noticed something. He appeared to be in some dessert, around
him were high sweeping dunes. There were no building or people in
sight. There was also no Ranma.

   "Where in the world am I now?" a despairing Ryouga Hibiki shouted.
"Ranma this is all your fault!" followed a moment later.

   Ranma saw Ryouga disappear around the corner and gave chase. When he
reached the area he had last seen Ryouga he looked frantically around.
After an hour of furious effort he finally admitted defeat. Despite his
best effort Ryouga had gotten lost without bringing Ranma along for the
ride.  What a loser.