Here's a repost of the first chapter of that fic I begun so long ago.  I added a few lines during the transport scenes...  :)

  Chapter 2 will follow soon after this!

***********************

  Differing Powers

  A Ranma/Wheel Of Time Crossover

  By Louis-Philippe Giroux
  <Dragon@anime.sobhrach.com>

  Let me know what you think of this!
  C&C /MST welcome!!!

  The Wheel Of Time is a series created by Robert Jordan.  Read it at any cost!  Ranma 1/2 belongs to Rumiko Takahashi.  Suing me would be pointless, as I have no money whatsoever.  I do this for fun, not profit!

  The latest versions of the previous chapters are always the ones on my WWW page at http://www.anime.sobhrach.com/~dragon/lines/lines.html


  The Wheel Of Time - 8 books so far and still going! (Published by Tor Books)


1 - The Eye of the World
2 - The Great Hunt
3 - The Dragon Reborn
4 - The Shadow Rising
5 - The Fires Of Heaven
6 - The Lord Of Chaos
7 - A Crown Of Swords
8 - The Path Of Daggers
9 - [The Return Of The Horn - Unofficial title] Summer 2000


  Chapter 1

"The Wheel of Time turns and Ages come and go, leaving memories that become legend.  Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth returns again."


  As he approached the Tendo Dojo on his way back from school, Ranma snickered about the latest insanity that had plagued Nerima.  He could still recall how Akari Unryuu, a pig farmer, had been ecstatic when she'd found out that her "Ryouga-sama" had managed to best her giant pet sumo pig, Katsunishiki.  Maybe this would persuade Ryouga to stop sleeping with Akane as P-Chan.  Maybe.
  On his way to his room, he noticed that the door to Happosai's room was slightly open.  Ranma decided to look inside out of curiosity, since the old pervert usually never left his door open. The room was filled with neat piles of underwear, but Happosai didn't seem to be around.  *Probably on a panty raid,* Ranma thought.  As he scanned the room, though, he noticed something lying on the corner of Happosai's desk.  Walking over to it, Ranma recognized what the object was: a fragment of the Nanban Mirror.  This fragment of the Mirror was still attached to part of the metal frame.
 Ranma took the piece in his hands and examined it.  Had the Mirror still been whole, he could have wished himself to Jusenkyou and cured his curse right away.  He sighed and pocketed the piece; maybe he could get Cologne to make this little fragment work on its own. Looking over the room, he saw a stack of what appeared to be old scrolls beside a pile of panties.
  Carefully making sure not to touch the panties, he took the scrolls and opened them.  The first one was gibberish.  It was some kind of text, but Ranma couldn't even make out the characters.  He couldn't even tell if it was because it was written in a different language or because of poor penmanship.  He moved to the second, and sucked in his breath when he saw what was written on top of the scroll:  Nozomi e no Tobira - The Doorway To Wishes.
  He quickly scanned the text and saw they were directions to this doorway.  His eyes widened when he realized that this doorway was located just outside Tokyo.
  "I could go there tomorrow..." he whispered.  "I can get cured!"
  "What are you doing in my room?" said a voice behind him.
  Ranma spun around and saw Happosai standing in the doorway, a bag slung over his shoulder.  Impossibly fast, the old martial arts master jumped and snatched the scrolls from Ranma's grasp.  "Those are mine!" he snapped.  He quickly looked at which scrolls he was holding.  He then looked up at Ranma, who had taken a defensive stance.
  "Forget about these, Ranma.  They're not worth the price. Especially the Doorway To Wishes," Happosai said, unusually solemn.
  "Sure," Ranma shot back.  "You just don't want anyone else to have access to it.  You want the wishes for yourself!"
  Happosai shook his head.  Ranma was surprised to see something like... regret in Happosai's eyes?  "I already went there once, boy. Trust me.  You don't want to go.  They grant wishes all right, but the price they ask is always something you'll regret later.  I know I did."
  *Price?* Ranma wondered.  "So what did you wish for?" he asked out loud.  *Probably lots of panties,* Ranma thought.
  "Skill and power," the perverted master answered in a faraway voice.  "And they granted my wish.  They gave me the skill and power I had always wanted, but at a price.  A very high price."
  "What was the price?" Ranma asked, now curious.
  Suddenly, Happosai's demeanor changed completely.  He produced a bucket out of nowhere and splashed Ranma with it.
  "Enough boring talk!" cried Happosai happily.  "Put these on for me, my darling Ranma-chan!" he said, whipping out a set of very pink and very frilly underthings.
  Ranma stared in horror at the garments.  "No way, freak!  Not even Akane would wear something like that!"
  A loud sneeze was heard a few rooms away.
  Happosai jumped at Ranma, obviously going for a grope, but Ranma managed to punt him out the window, showering pieces of underwear all over the neighborhood in the process.  A fading cry of "Aaaaahhh!  My pantiiiiiiieeesss" could be heard above the neighborhood.
  Ranma cursed when she realized that Happosai still had the scrolls in his hands when she'd kicked him.  *Oh well,* she thought.  *I remember the directions to the cave anyway, so it doesn't really matter.*  As she was leaving Happosai's room, though, she started having second thoughts.  The old pervert's behavior had changed dramatically when he'd warned her about the Doorway.  He'd seemed unusually serious.  *Was he telling the truth?* she wondered silently.  *Is the Doorway too dangerous to use?*
  She shook her head.  Maybe she could try asking Happosai again when he returned?...  Nahhh.
  Kasumi's voice rang out.  "Everyone!  Dinner's ready!"
  Ranma quickly bounded downstairs, putting her worries to rest. Things weren't so bad right now.  She could always wait a few more days before deciding.

  The following afternoon, Ranma came back from school depressed. He could have sworn that somewhere, a kami, or maybe a dozen of them, were conspiring behind his back.
  The day's misadventures had all started in the morning, when his father had decided to wake him from those really weird dreams he'd been having with a pail of cold water.  That in itself wouldn't have been so bad, but he hadn't even managed to get his old man wet during their morning sparring session, which hadn't sat well at all with Ranma.  Then, at breakfast, Akane had insisted on cooking him breakfast, with predictable results.
  Of course, Akane was particularly angry at Ranma for faking food poisoning (which he hadn't been, at least not by much), so she punted him out of the house, straight into the Nekohanten.
  Shampoo had been overjoyed that her airen had literally dropped by, but sadly, the same couldn't be said for Mousse, who promptly tried to turn Ranma into shishkebab.  After knocking Mousse out and losing Shampoo (which had, of course, been more difficult than usual), Ranma had finally made it to school, arriving late and getting splashed in the process.
  Again, he wouldn't have minded too much if it hadn't been for Hinako-sensei trying to drain her for being late to class.
  At lunch, Kunou had spotted Ranma, who had not yet gotten the chance to change back.  Using a previously unknown degree of stealth (well, either that or Ranma had really not been paying attention), the kendoist had managed to glomp Ranma, which had ended up in Kunou earning a boot to the head.
  Ranma had then tried to apologize to Akane for the incident that morning, but was unable to do so during lunch because the Principal spent the entire time trying to shave her bald again.
  Ranma had spent the afternoon cursing herself for forgetting to ask Cologne about the Nanban Mirror fragment when she'd landed in the Nekohanten.

  Ranma, now male again, sighed as he neared the Tendo Dojo. Sometimes, he wished his life could be a bit more normal.  Looking back on his day it seemed the only thing that hadn't happened yet was Ryouga showing up to challenge him for some idiotic reason.
  As soon as he thought that, he tensed and looked around wearily. After a minute, he breathed a sigh of relief.  He'd half-expected Ryouga to suddenly show up out of nowhere.  He shook his head and trudged inside.
  "Tadaima," he said half-heartedly.
  "Ranma-kun!  Did you have a good day at school?" asked Kasumi, coming out of the kitchen.
  Ranma was half-tempted to tell Kasumi how his day had gone in excruciatingly painful detail, but thought better of it.  He shouldn't burden Kasumi with his problems.  That wasn't the way of a martial artist.
  Besides, the odds of Kasumi answering with something else than a sympathetic "Oh my!" were ridiculously low.
  "Everything was okay, Kasumi," he answered finally.  "Just... perfectly normal."
  As he walked up to his room, he decided to peek in Happosai's room again.  Everything was the same as the day before.  Happosai obviously hadn't come back yet.
  *Maybe...* he thought at last.  *Maybe I'll try the Doorway after all.  My life can't possibly get any worse than it is right now.*
  He went into his room and started making plans.  He couldn't tell any of his fiancees about this.  Kami-sama only knew what would happen if they all got a wish.

  The following morning, Ranma bounded downstairs early.  As he reached the kitchen, he found Kasumi preparing breakfast.  Kasumi turned around from the counter, her eyes widening slightly in surprise.
  "Ranma-kun?  What are you doing up so early today?  I thought you liked to sleep in on Sundays."
  Ranma grinned.  "I've got a very good day ahead of me, Kasumi."
  "Oh really?  What do you plan on doing?"
  "That's a surprise, Kasumi," replied Ranma.  "I may finally be rid of my curse by tonight."
  Kasumi beamed.  "Why, that's wonderful, Ranma-kun.  I'm sure Akane will be so happy!"
  "Err... well... uh..." said Ranma intelligently, a slightly panicked look on his face.  "Just... don't tell the family or my fiancees, okay Kasumi?  _Especially_ not Nabiki or Akane.  I wanna surprise them tonight."
  Kasumi nodded.  "I won't tell them."
  Ranma smiled.  "Thanks Kasumi!"

  When breakfast was finally served, Akane was slightly irritated.
  Although this was nothing new, Akane was angry because Ranma still hadn't apologized for being so mean the day before and now, he seemed to be ignoring her.  "He could've at least _tried_ to apologize," she muttered half to herself.
  "What did you say, Akane?" asked Ranma.
  "Nothing a baka like you would ever understand," she snapped back.
  To everyone's surprise, Ranma let the insult slide without as much as a caustic remark.  Kasumi just smiled, while Genma silently praised his son for shutting up for once.
  Finishing quickly (even for him), Ranma thanked Kasumi for the meal and went back to his room, where he took a small backpack and then left the Dojo at a fairly rapid pace.
  Akane, who had silently watched all of this became suspicious, as usual.  *He sure is in a hurry.  He must be up to something. Probably nothing good, I'll bet.  That's the only reason why he'd be so eager to get out of here.*  She decided to follow him.  "Kasumi, I'm leaving for a while, okay?" she called out to the kitchen.
  "All right.  Will you be back for lunch?"
  "I don't know."
  "Have a good time, Akane!"
  When she got outside, Ranma was already far ahead of her.  All she could make out is that he was going roughly towards Ucchan's.  She started running as fast as she could.

  Ukyou Kuonji was outside her restaurant, sweeping the sidewalk on this bright morning.  As usual, she was thinking about what life would be like when Ranma finally came to his senses and married her. So intent was she on her musings that she nearly missed Ranma hopping like mad a few roofs away.   She blinked.
  *Where's he going in such a hurry?* she wondered.  Looking back, she didn't spot another roof-hopper, so it wasn't likely he was being pursued.
  "Ukyou!" came a shout behind her.
  The okonomiyaki chef turned around and saw her sometimes friend, sometimes rival in love, Akane.  "What's wrong, Akane-chan?"
  Akane stopped and looked around.  "Ranma isn't here?" she asked.
  Ukyou frowned ever so slightly.  So what if Ranma _had_ decided to come here?  She was still his fiancee, last time she had checked.  "I just saw him hopping away a few seconds ago."  She paused.  "Did you two fight again?" she asked hopefully.
  Akane shook her head.  "No, and that's the strange part.  He's been acting weirder than usual this morning."
  "How so?"
  "He got up early, he smiled throughout breakfast and he refused to insult me, even when I baited him..." Akane trailed off when she saw Ukyou's bemused look.  "What?..." she asked, annoyed.
  "Nothing, said Ukyou, waving her hands.  *Only _she_ would consider that as being weird,* she thought silently.  She went back inside the restaurant and came out with her assortment of battle spatulas.
  "Come on, then" declared the okonomiyaki chef.  "We might as well go get him."
  "Do you think he might be going to the Nekohanten?" asked Akane, as they started running.
  "I don't think so," answered Ukyou.  "The Nekohanten's almost the opposite way he was going when I saw him."
  "Do you have any idea where he might be going?"
  "Nope."

  Ranma was roof-hopping, happy that the events this morning had gone on without a hitch.  The old lech hadn't shown his face since he'd punted him out two days ago.  *Probably better that way,* thought Ranma.  *He might have told the others about the Doorway if he'd come back.*
  Ranma hopped down from the house whose roof he was standing on and went to a bus stop.  He remembered that there was a bus line heading exactly where he needed to go.  Besides, taking the bus was a bit less conspicuous than roof-hopping, not to mention that he would run out of roofs long before he ever got to his destination.
  "Ranma!  What are you doing here?" asked an annoyed voice behind him.
  Ranma froze.  *What's _she_ doing here?*  he wondered.  He slowly turned around to see an out-of-breath Akane in the company of a slightly puffing Ukyou looking at him.  "A... Akane, Ucchan," he stuttered, "What are you two doing here?"
  Akane didn't miss the stuttering.  To her, it was a clear indication that Ranma was on his way to do something she wouldn't approve of.  "I followed you since you ran out of the dojo," she said, trying to control her anger.  "You were acting way too strangely this morning and I just knew you'd be up to something."
  "You didn't even stop to say hello when you passed by my shop," added Ukyou, sounding hurt.
  Ranma looked around for a solution and sighed when he realized there wasn't one in plain sight.  He was faced with the prospect of running off in an attempt to lose his two fiancees, which he doubted would help, since they would probably end up rounding every martial artist in a ten mile area (he didn't even want to _think_ about what would happen if every deviant in Nerima got a wish), or he could tell them the truth.
  Of course, it never occurred to him to try and make up a lie (not that it would have worked, given Ranma's notoriously poor talent for deception).
  As the bus got closer, he sighed and inclined his head towards the vehicle. "Come on then.  I'll explain on the way there."  Moments later all three martial artists were sitting in the bus.
  "If you must know, Akane, the reason I left this morning is that I may finally have found something to cure my curse."
  Akane started to calm down.  "What _is_ the cure you found?"
  "Something called 'The Doorway To Wishes'.  I saw it on one of Happosai's scrolls yesterday.  Apparently, they can grant any wish there.  That's why I took the bus.  I don't want everyone trying to follow me there; especially not people like Shampoo, Kuno or Kodachi. Not like that worked out," he finished under his breath.
  Akane's eyes widened.  "Any wish?" she said in wonder.  She didn't notice that Ukyou had echoed her perfectly.
  "Yeah," said Ranma.  "I'll be able to wish myself cured in no time.  I won't even need to go back to China!"
  Akane didn't seem to notice Ranma's reply.  *I could learn to cook perfectly, I could be as good as Ranma in martial arts, I could get him to treat me with respect...  I could wish that Mother had never died!*
  *Ranchan and I could finally be married,* thought Ukyou, a smile blooming on her features.  *I could get rid of the other fiancees... I could wish he'd never left me when I was young!*
  Ranma noticed that Akane and Ukyou seemed a little spaced out and couldn't help but feel nervous.  On the other hand, he reasoned, they were also quiet and weren't fighting, so he decided not to disturb them.  If only he could stop shivering, though....

  When they reached the desired stop, Ranma, Akane and Ukyou got out of the bus and started walking in silence towards their destination.
 An hour later, they were standing in the outskirts of Tokyo, in front of what appeared to be a solid rockface.
  Akane looked up at the small cliff.  "So where's this 'Doorway' supposed to be anyway?" she asked.
  Ranma was busy examining the surface of the rock.  "I couldn't get too good a look at the scroll, but it said something about the Doorway being hidden in a secret cave at the bottom of this cliff," he said.  "I wish I could do the Bakusai Tenketsu.  I'd be able to easily blow all the rock away and find the entrance."
  Akane sighed.  "Well, I'm going to go take a look around.  Tell me if you find the entrance."  Ranma grunted an affirmative.
  "You go take a look around," Ukyou said.  "I'll stay here and keep Ranchan company."  Akane frowned momentarily at Ukyou and left, tracing back her steps on the beaten path they had taken to get there.  As she neared the dirt road nearby, she heard a familiar voice:
  "Can you direct me to the Tendo Dojo?"
  She turned around in surprise, looking for the voice.  She ran ahead a short way and saw Ryouga asking directions from a cyclist.
  "Ryouga-kun!  Over here!" she said out loud.
  Ryouga's head snapped around, recognizing the voice immediately. "Akane-san!" he cried, forgetting the cyclist.  He quickly ran up to her.  "I've been looking everywhere for you," he said.  He then blinked and looked around.  "This doesn't look like the Tendo Dojo, though."
  Akane laughed.  "This isn't the Dojo, Ryouga-kun.  We're in the outskirts of Tokyo."
  "What are you doing here alone?  Did that coward Ranma abandon you?" he asked, already enjoying the prospect of a fight with his lifelong rival.
  Akane shook her head.  "He didn't abandon me, in fact, he's back there," she said, pointing behind her.  *Alone with Ukyou!* a small part of her mind added.  She quickly stomped the offending thought. Suddenly, an idea bloomed in Akane's mind.  "Ryouga-kun!  Your timing couldn't have been better!" she said enthusiastically.
  "Really?" asked Ryouga, perking up.  *She's happy to see me!* he thought happily.  *But so is Akari,* his subconscious told him.  He stomped on the thought.  He knew the strange, pig-obsessed girl was attracted to him, but he wasn't sure if _he_ loved _her_.
  "Yes, Ranma could really use your help!"
  Ryouga tried to school his features as best as he could at the mention of his rival.  Ranma needed his help?  Never!  But looking at Akane, he could already feel his resolve crumbling.  He could never say no to Akane.  "What does he need my help for?" asked Ryouga at long last.
  "Ranma's trying to find the secret entrance to a doorway that grants wishes.  The problem is, the doorway's hidden in a rockface and Ranma can't easily find it.  He said that if he could do the Bakusai Tenketsu, he'd find it in no time.  You could go help him since you're such good friends!"  Akane was pleased to see Ryouga starting to smile.  *I'll show them how useful I can be!* thought Akane.
  She might not have been so happy had she known exactly what Ryouga was thinking.

  "Ranmaaaa!"
  Ranma jerked around, surprised at the voice he'd just heard.  He found himself face to face with Ryouga, who was glaring at him, as usual.  "Ryouga," he said, annoyed.  "What are you doing here, P-chan?  Lost again?"
  Ryouga would have attacked Ranma if Akane hadn't been holding his hand.  "How dare you insult me, Saotome!"
  "Stop it, both of you!" Akane snapped.  She turned to Ranma. "Look here, I just found him and I brought him here because you said you needed his technique to find the doorway!"
  Ranma felt like crawling into a hole and die.  *Of all the people Akane had to tell about the Doorway, she had to tell Ryouga!* he thought despairingly.  *Who knows what that jerk'll try to wish if he ever gets the chance!*
  Akane, seeing that Ranma wasn't saying anything, directed Ryouga to the rocky cliff.  "The entrance to the doorway is hidden somewhere around here.  You can just blast off the rocks until you find it."
  Ryouga nodded.  As he passed by Ranma to get to the cliff, he hissed in a low voice: "Just wait 'till I make my wish, Saotome!"
  Ranma glared at him and almost moved in to pound him, but relented when he saw Akane glaring balefully at him.
  "Don't even think about picking on poor Ryouga-kun!" she said ominously.
  "Whose side are you on?" snapped Ranma.
  Just as Akane was about to answer, a loud cry of "Bakusai Tenketsu!" broke their argument.  They turned around just in time to see Ryouga taking a huge chunk out of the cliff with his right index finger.  Their dispute was suddenly forgotten as they watched the Lost Boy methodically tear the rockface apart.
  Behind them, Ukyou could be seen, glaring at Ryouga and Akane. *Why did she have to being that jackass here _now_ of all times? He's going to ruin everything and I can't allow that...  Not when I'm so close at last!*
  When Ryouga used the Bakusai Tenketsu for the fifth time, the shrapnel flew _inside_ the cliff instead of outward.  Ranma, realizing that Ryouga had found the cave entrance, tried to make a dash for it, but was tripped by Ryouga before he could get to the entrance.
  "Forget it, Ranma.  _I'm_ going in first," said Ryouga, already moving towards the entrance.
  Ranma suddenly sprang up on one hand and spun around, kicking Ryouga in the face several times.  Ryouga countered with a leg sweep of his own, trying to knock Ranma down.  Neither of them heard Akane ordering them to stop.

  Akane was starting to get angry again.  Ryouga had just found the entrance, and Ranma had managed to pick a fight with him over who would get in first.  She was about to knock both of them out with her mallet when she saw Ukyou dashing towards the entrance.  Forgetting about the other two dueling martial artists, she ran after Ukyou inside the cave.
  Ranma and Ryouga, who had so far been busy trying to beat each other's brains out, noticed this.  They stopped in mid-punch and mid-kick respectively and looked towards the cave entrance.  They both blinked and ran for the entrance, their own fight forgotten.
  "Akane, Ucchan, wait!" shouted Ranma.
  "I won't let you get there before, me, Ranma!" snarled Ryouga.

  Ukyou was dashing down the tunnel, aware that Akane was pursuing her.  *It doesn't matter,* she thought to herself.  *I'll get my wish long before she gets hers.*  Suddenly, she realized a bit too late that the tunnel was turning and smacked into a wall.  *Ite...* she thought dizzily.  *The things I do for my Ranchan...  I do wish there was more light down here, though.*  She quickly looked around, trying to get her bearings, when she found what she was looking for.
  The Doorway To Wishes.
  At least, that's what Ukyou assumed it was.  There wasn't much light left at this depth, so she had some trouble seeing clearly.  It looked like a rectangular doorway, carved out of a dark, reddish stone.  There was something wrong about it, though.  Even with almost no light whatsoever at this depth, Ukyou found she couldn't quite follow the edges of the doorway.  They seemed... wrong to the eye. Leaning closer and cursing the lack of illumination, she thought she could see three lines of triangles running down each side.
  "Oh no you don't!!" came the sudden shout behind her.
  Ukyou swore.  She should've gone straight in, instead of gaping at it.  Now, Akane was standing in a ready stance just a few feet away. "Why do you want to stop me, Akane?  I only want to make sure Ranma and I are safely married!" said Ukyou, while unlimbering her battle spatula.
  "Ranma won't marry you!" snapped Akane, moving closer.
  "Oh, and why's that?" taunted Ukyou.  "You spend your days saying you don't want to be engaged to Ranchan.  Now's the perfect time to make that statement come true."
  Akane flinched.  She was saved from answering when Ranma and Ryouga finally made their way down.
  Ranma was a few feet away from the door when Ryouga managed to trip him, using a bandanna to snare his leg.  As Ranma fell flat on the floor, Ryouga jumped over Ranma.
  He was about to cross through the doorway, but something hit him on the side of the head and he was suddenly shoved sideways. Turning, he saw Ukyou, glowing blue and holding her spatula as if she had just swung it.
  "I won't let you ruin everything!" screamed Ukyou.
  "Step aside, Ukyou!" snarled Ryouga.  "I can finally have my revenge!"
  By that time, Ranma had recovered and he again made a dash for the Doorway.  He was stopped by Ryouga, who started struggling with him. Ukyou quickly joined the fray.
  Of course, this incensed Akane, who stomped towards them.  "Can't you idiots do anything without figh...  Waaahhh!" she finished awkwardly, as she tripped on the rocky floor.  She crashed in the trio of martial artists, her momentum enough to fling them all through the Doorway at the same time.

  It was then that something happened.  The Doorway To Wishes, a ter'angreal that was a few thousands of years old, had been designed with the thought in mind that only one person would pass through at any given time.  The shock of having four at a time was bound to have ill-effect.

  Ranma couldn't tell what was happening.  Last thing he knew, he and Ryouga were each trying to reach the Doorway To Wishes first. Then, a detached part of him had noticed Ukyou joining the fight and Akane shouting at them.  Next thing he knew, they were all falling towards the Doorway.
  Everything became blindingly white.  Or was everything going completely dark?  He couldn't tell.  He felt as if his body was being pulled in a thousand different directions at a time.  He tried to scream, but no sound came out, or maybe he could not hear them.  He felt thousands of alien words, each a white-hot needle, filling his mind, shaping it to accommodate some unknown language.  Sights blinded him.  Sounds deafened him.  It was madness...

  Two figures stood in shadows, looking at the four teens writhing in the blinding light and engulfing darkness that was Between.  The one on the left, a woman, with an arrow-filled quiver and a bow of gleaming white silver strapped across her back.  The other was a solid looking man, heavily muscled, the hilts of two swords sticking above his shoulders on his back .
  "So, even the Forgotten Master becomes involved.  Times must be dire indeed if the Pattern is willing to take him by force from another Age," the woman said, turning towards her companion.
  The man nodded.  "The Forgotten Master is always old by the time war breaks out, but this time he's young and the war looks to be starting soon. Well, I guess they've had it coming. They've all had it coming," he said, shaking his head.
  "We can't just leave them like this," the woman said.  "This kind of Travel worries me.  It should not have happened."
  The male shade grunted softly.  "If it was sentient, I would say that the Pattern is a great fool to bring him into the fray.  He is always far too impulsive for his own good and the three others he's with can't be much better if they associate with him."  The shade sighed.  "But you know the rules as well as I do, my love.  Foolish as they may all be, I'd like to help them more, but we're already breaking the precepts as it is with our little gift.  At least now they won't be vulnerable as newborns."
  The woman laughed softly.  "Good thing Resshin can't hear you say that.  He would challenge you for it.  Again."
  The man snorted softly.  "He always yearns for a fight.  It's in his blood." He reached out, encircled her shoulders with one arm and she lent into him.  "Come now.  We must be off," he said softly.
She nodded once though her face still showed concern.  "You're right. Besides," she mused softly with a smile, "It's not as if we won't meet again."  She made a final gesture with one hand, and then the shadowy couple, along with the Nerimians, were gone.

  Everything suddenly stopped for Ranma and he fell face first on the ground.  The pain in his head vanished.  He tried to get up, but most of his muscles wouldn't obey, so he settled for rolling on his back.  It was as if someone had run an electrical cable through him (at least, that's what he _assumed_ it would feel like).  Blinking, he tried to check his surroundings and noticed that something was _very_ wrong.  For one thing, he wasn't in the cave anymore.  He could easily tell because he was not lying on a stone floor (that much he could tell) and there was far too much light.
  The second thing he noticed was that _something_ was getting increasingly hot in his left pocket.  Scrambling wildly despite the stiffness, he managed to extract the offending item out of his pocket and threw it on the ground beside him.  He waited a few more seconds before rolling over and getting up on his knees.  He blinked again, trying to get rid of the dizziness, when he got a good look at what had been in the pocket.
  Lying on the ground, smoking as if it had been overheated, was the fragment of the Nanban Mirror he had taken from Happosai's room the previous day.
  Ranma looked at it, not understanding what had happened.  He turned around and stared at his surroundings.  He was indeed no longer at the Doorway.  He wasn't even inside the cave.  He was standing in the middle of a wild forest, and from what he could tell, since most of the trees he was surrounded with didn't grow near Tokyo, he had to assume he was nowhere near there.  The weather was also a lot cooler than he remembered it to be.
  He spun around, surprised, when he heard a moan coming from one of the nearby bushes.  He rushed over and saw Akane sprawled on the ground, clawing her way back to consciousness.  Ranma quickly kneeled by her.
  "Akane!  Are you all right?" he asked, frantic.
  "Augh...  yeah, I'm all right," she mumbled weakly.  "I think. What happened?"
  "I'm not sure yet...  But I don't think we're in Tokyo anymore, though."
  Akane looked around, blinking.  "Where _are_ we?"
  "I have no idea," replied Ranma, frowning.
  Movement from behind another tree caught their attention.  Turning around, they saw Ukyou and Ryouga getting to their feet, none too steadily.
  "Ucchan!  Are you all right?" asked Ranma, moving over towards her.  Behind him, Akane began to fume silently.
  "Where... where are we?" asked Ryouga, looking around him.
  "As if knowing would help you?" said Ranma sarcastically.  As the words left his mouth, he saw Ryouga's expression darken.
  "Why you..." growled Ryouga, taking out his umbrella.
  "Ryouga-kun, stop!  Please!" said Akane, from where she was sitting.  "Don't make fun of Ryouga-kun!" she snapped, turning towards Ranma.
  "Fine," the pig-tailed martial artist said, annoyed.  After making sure Ukyou was all right, he took one last look around.  "I'm gonna try to find out where the hell we are."
  With that, he started jumping up the surrounding trees to get a better view of where they were.
  "Whatever happened in there, it sure didn't _feel_ like a wish..." mumbled Ukyou, coming over to where Akane and Ryouga were now standing.  "Did you guys feel as if you brain was going to explode?"
  "Yeah, but I don't know why.  I don't think I _want_ to know why. That didn't feel good at all," said Akane, shivering slightly.
  "Don't worry, Akane-san.  Everything will be all right," said Ryouga, trying to show as much confidence as he could.
  Akane smiled at him.  "Thanks, Ryouga-kun" she said.
  Ryouga's heart nearly stopped.
  Ukyou looked up the tree Ranma was now standing on top of.  "Find anything, Ranchan?" she called out.
  The pig-tailed martial artist didn't answer right away.  He turned around a few times and then jumped down the tree.  He took a breath. "Well, we're definitely not in Tokyo anymore, that's for sure," he finally said.
  "Are you sure?" asked Ukyou.
  "Yeah," Ranma answered, passing a hand through his hair.  "I looked around and there's nothing but forest around, except for what looks like a small village that way," he pointed in a direction. "There's more," he added.  "Wherever we are, it's a lot colder than it should be at this time of year in Tokyo.  Look around," he said waving his hands.
  As they did so, Akane was the first to realize what Ranma meant. "The trees..." she said slowly.
  "Exactly," said Ranma.  "It's supposed to be almost summer, yet everything looks half-dead, like the end of winter or maybe autumn."
  Ukyou had an idea.  "Wait a minute.  I remember the geography teacher at school saying that seasons are reversed, depending on which hemisphere you live in.  Is it possible that the Doorway sent us elsewhere on the globe?"
  "I hope not," said Akane.  "Father might already be getting hysterical at my disappearance.  He'll never get over it if he learns I've ended up somewhere else on Earth."
  "Where _is_ the Doorway, anyway?" asked Ryouga.  "If it dumped us here, it should be around, right?  All we have to do is walk back through it again."
  "You... have a point," agreed Ranma, somewhat reluctantly.  "Let's look around," he said.  "Then again," he said, glancing at Ryouga, "Let's split up in pairs.  Less chance of getting lost that way."
  Ryouga snarled, but Ukyou was quicker to react.
  "I'll go with Ranchan!" she said brightly and with that, she dragged a stuttering Ranma away.
  Akane shot a daggered look at Ranma.  "Fine!" she huffed.  "Take the pervert.  I'll go with Ryouga-kun!"  With that, she took the Lost Boy's hand, whose expression turned almost instantly from anger to bliss.

  After searching around for more than 20 minutes (during which time Ranma retrieved both his pack and the Nanban Mirror fragment), the four martial artists had to come to grips with the fact that the Doorway, wherever it might be, was _not_ close by.
  Since it appeared that they would not have daylight for long, Ranma suggested that they should move towards the small village he had seen earlier so they would not to be caught without a shelter for the night.

  As they got nearer to the village, the Nerimians began hearing the sounds of a crowd milling.  Getting closer, delicious smells also began wafting in their direction.
  They had just gotten past the first few houses when Ranma stopped to take a deep breath.
  "Man!" he said, "I don't know what they're cookin' here, but it sure smells great."  Without thinking, he added "Smells a lot better than Akane's cooking, at any rate.  Probably safer to eat, too."
  Akane's eyes narrowed in anger.  "RANMA NO BAKA!"  Before anyone could blink, the youngest Tendo daughter kicked her fiancee through a wooden wall.  The thick logs of the wall smashed inwards, causing a thick dust cloud to form in the air, as years of accumulated dirt was shaken off by the force of the blow.  Ranma ended up on the floor of a fortunately empty storage room, a few splinters sticking out of his clothes at odd angles.

***

  In Emond's Field, Perrin Aybara and Matrim Cauthon were standing near one of the houses at the edge of the village, watching the retreating form of their friend Rand who had just left with his father towards their farm in the Westwood.
  "Well," said Mat, "I guess I'll head back to the house. Winternight or not, my da will probably want me to milk the cows before the sun sets."
  "I guess I'll head back to the forge as well," said Perrin. "Master Luhhan says people always need last-minute repairs on their things before Bel Tine."  He was about to leave when he heard a girl's angry voice cry out "RANMA NO BAKA!"
  Mat and Perrin automatically turned their heads towards the noise, just in time to witness an oddly-dressed short-haired girl kick a young man straight through the old Dowtry shed's walls.
  "What the!?..." they both exclaimed.  They had time to share a horrified look before Mat found his voice again.
  "She... she killed him?" he croaked.
  Perrin was watching the proceedings with a sick fascination.  He'd never thought a girl, of all people, could kick someone straight through a wall that thick.  The young blacksmith knew that the shed had walls made of logs that were several inches thick.  He thought about the strength necessary to _kick_ someone all the way through them...
  He gasped when he saw the legs move again.  "Light!  He's not dead, Mat!" he exclaimed.  They both started running towards the young man to help him.
  Mat and Perrin could only stare in mute fascination as they saw the young man groan and pull himself to his feet, looking none the worse for wear.  The first thing they noticed was how strangely he was dressed.  The young man was wearing a bright red, festive-looking long-sleeved shirt, tied with small wooden straps.  He had loose-fitting black breeches tied to his ankles.  Mat absently blinked when he noticed the young man was not wearing boots, but rather what looked like... black slippers?
  They were shaken from their stupor when the black-haired youth shook the dust out his clothes and started berating the girl who had put him through the shed's wall.
  "Geez, Akane!  Do you _have_ to snap at the smallest thing?"
  "You insulted me again, Ranma!  You deserved it!"
  "Kawaikunee!"
  "Baka!"
  Perrin and Mat looked at each other uneasily.  Not only had they no idea what the last words really meant, but neither of them really had any idea on how to handle this.  The young man, who looked younger than they were, was acting as if almost nothing had happened.
  *That's just not possible!* Perrin thought.  *No one can be kicked through a wall that thick and have no injury whatsoever!* Unfortunately, his eyes seemed so be saying otherwise.
  Coincidentally, the two Emond Fielders thought the same thing at the same time.  *At least they're not wearing black cloaks.*

  Ukyou had known Akane would lose it as soon as Ranma had begun commenting on the food.  *Ranchan,* she thought almost resignedly, *You may be one of the greatest martial artists alive, but you don't know when to keep your mouth shut.*  When the inevitable bashing occurred, she glared as best she could, but it was pointless, as Akane wasn't even looking at her.  She then turned around to see Ryouga looking at the hole in the wall with a satisfied smirk.  She frowned.  *I don't get it,* she thought, depressed.  *Why doesn't she just give him up?  I'd be happy, She'd be happy, Ranchan would be happy... heck, even Ryouga would be happy!*  Looking around, she saw that two tall village youths, older than themselves, were currently gaping at them.  They were both quite a bit taller than she was.  One was lanky while the other had curly hair and was heavily muscled, more so than any of them.
  "Don't mind them," she told the two young men.  "They're always like that."
  Speaking seemed to jar the lanky one back to reality.  "What... What do you mean?"
  "They're always arguing like that.  You'll get used to it."
  "But...  He was...  She kicked him through the wall!" the lanky one said in a strangled voice.
  Ukyou blinked.  She looked at the broken wall, and at the youth again.  "Ummm... Sorry about that," she said sheepishly.  "We'll repair the wall if that's what you want."
  The shaggy-haired youth blinked at her.  "The shed?  It was an old thing, but... The point is... Isn't he _hurt_?"
  "Ohhh...  that!"  Ukyou smiled.  "Don't worry, he gets hit a lot worse on normal days."  The look the two youths shared told her they didn't quite believe that, so she decided to change the subject. "Say, can you tell me what's the name of this village?  I think we got a little lost while traveling."
  "This is Emond's Field," a young woman's angry voice rang out in the air.  "And I'd like to know just what happened here!"
  The tone of the voice was enough to stop even Ranma and Akane's bickering.  The Nerimians all looked up to see a young woman with a long dark braid looking at them with narrowed eyes.  She carried a stick in one hand and she looked as if she was about to use it.
  "Wisdom!" the two youths exclaimed nervously.

  Nynaeve al'Meara, Wisdom of Emond's Field, was not in a good mood (not that she often was in the first place anyway, but that's not the point).  She had just finished dispersing the wool-headed crowd that had followed the peddler's arrival at the Winespring Inn.  *Why did that fool man tell everyone about that fool war in Ghealdan?* she thought angrily.  *Now, everyone will be gossiping about that war for weeks to come.*
  She was briskly walking back to her house when she heard a loud crack coming from a house at the edge of the village.  Her eyes narrowed when she heard the angry shouting that followed.  She fingered the switch in her left hand.  *Just what happened over there?* she wondered, frowning.  She set out towards the voices, already running through  mental list of people who could have produced such a racket.  *It better not be another of Matrim's pranks or I'll dose him with enough dogweed tea to make him weep for a year!*  As she got closer, though, she realized she couldn't recognize the voices that were arguing.  When she finally turned around the last house, she blinked.
  The first thing she noticed was the number of people present.  She quickly recognized Perrin and Matrim, but couldn't recognize the other four children.  Two of them were arguing rather loudly, a black-haired youth wearing strange black breeches and a bright red shirt and a young girl with a blue blouse and a bright yellow dress. Nynaeve blinked in confusion when she noticed that the young man was sporting a short braid.  *What is that boy doing with a braid!?* she wondered.
  Her eyes then fell on another boy was standing behind the girl, wearing a yellow shirt and dark green breeches.  He was shouldering a huge traveling pack.  The last one was a young girl who was talking with Matrim and Perrin.  Nynaeve frowned when she saw how the girl was dressed.  Instead of wearing a normal dress as all proper young women did, she was wearing _very_ tight black breeches that left nothing to the imagination, and her top garment wasn't exactly any better.  She had a small traveling pack in her hands and there was what _looked_ like a very large, flat shovel strapped on her back, although Nynaeve couldn't be sure.  Also strange was that one of the girls had rather short hair, though they both looked almost of age to put their hair in a braid.  *Who are they?  Are they from a nearby village?* she wondered.  It was then that she heard the girl's question.
  "This is Emond's Field," she said, her voice ringing out in the air.  "And I would like to know just what happened here!"  She had the satisfaction of seeing the two bickering ones stop.  She saw Perrin and Matrim blanch slightly.
  "Wisdom!" they chorused nervously.
  Nynaeve rounded on Matrim, whom she suspected of having started all of this, as usual.  "All right Matrim Cauthon, I want to know what's going on.  Now."  Her tone brooked no arguments.
  Mat put up his hands in defense.  "I didn't do anything!" he protested loudly.  "Perrin and I were just talking when we saw that girl," he said, pointing to Akane, "kick him," pointing now to Ranma, "through the Dowtrys' old shed!"
  Nynaeve raised an eyebrow incredulously and turned to Perrin for confirmation or denial.
  "It's true," Perrin said, nodding vigorously.
  Nynaeve was about to answer when she heard the girl with the dress mutter something along the lines of the baka deserving it.  She frowned at the girl.  "Who are you children and where are you from?"
  "Children?!" the red-shirted boy said, outraged.  "We ain't children, miss."
  No one noticed Perrin and Mat taking a step back.
  "You will address me as Wisdom!" Nynaeve snapped.  "Now what are your names and where are you from?!"
  The boy was obviously about to fire an angry retort when the girl with the tight breeches put a hand on his shoulder and spoke soothingly.
  "Don't, Ranchan.  She doesn't know who we are and we don't know who she is, so don't do something you'll regret later."
  *Well,* thought Nynaeve.  *She may not dress decently, but she seems to have more wits than the boy, not that this surprises me....*
  The girl turned to face her.  "I might as well start the introductions.  I'm Ukyou Kuonji."
  The boy with the braid spoke next, his tone filled with quiet arrogance.  "Ranma Saotome."
  "I'm Akane Tendo," said the girl in the yellow dress.  Nynaeve was a bit surprised when the girl bowed slightly while presenting herself.
  "I am Ryouga Hibiki," said the boy with the huge traveling pack.
  Nynaeve suppressed a small shiver when she heard the last boy speak.  The last boy's voice sounded strangely... bleak.
  "And as for where we're from," the now-identified Ukyou continued, "We all live in Tokyo."  She glanced at Ryouga.  "Well, most of the time, anyway."
  Nynaeve blinked in confusion.  *What strange names...*  She couldn't make anything out of what they had said.  "Where is this... Tokyo village?  Did you come to Emond's Field alone?  Where are your parents?"  She gestured towards the hole in the wall.  "And what _did_ happen to that wall?"
  Ranma put up his hands.  "Hey, one question at a time, okay?"
  Mat and Perrin winced at that.  Saying something like that to Nynaeve was akin to looking for a tongue-lashing.
  "I told you to address me as Wisdom!" Nynaeve said, the already thin rope on her anger fraying with every remark.
  "All right!  _Wisdom_!" he snapped, filling the word with contempt.  "You happy now?" Ranma shot back.
  Nynaeve gave her braid a mighty tug while her face became an interesting shade of red.  Mat began to back away.
  "Well, ah, Wisdom, you see...  My da wants to see me right away, cows to be milked and everything..."
  He almost got away, but Nynaeve rounded on him before he could leave.  "You stay right here, Matrim!" she said ominously.  "I'm not finished with you!"  Mat sighed in defeat and returned besides Perrin, who rolled his eyes.  They decided to watch the confrontation, instead.
  "Tokyo is not a village, it's the capital of Japan," said Ranma, a bit calmer than before.  Mat's escape attempt had given him the opportunity to collect himself.
  Nynaeve frowned.  "I've never heard of a city called Tokyo before."
  Ranma shrugged.  "I'll show you on a map if you have one."  He looked at the darkening sky for a second before continuing.  "As for the rest," he shrugged, "We were... investigating a certain doorway which was rumored to grant wishes when you stepped through it. Unfortunately, due to an... accident," he quickly glanced at Akane, "We all happened to go through at the same time.  Everything became dark and next thing we knew, we were standing in the middle of a forest not far from here.  _Anyway_, we'd really appreciate it if you had some way for us to contact our folks, like, say, a phone?"  Ranma had already noticed that the village didn't look like the kind that had access to electricity, but you could always hope.
  Ryouga looked at Ranma and  frowned slightly, mouthing a few words under his breath.  He glanced at Akane and Ukyou, but they didn't look as if they noticed anything was wrong.
  Meanwhile, Nynaeve was staring at Ranma.  So were Mat and Perrin for that matter.
  "Wishes?" said Mat, frowning slightly, "Is this like the story of Bili Under The Hill?"
  "Actually, the Doorway wasn't under a hill.  It was buried in a cave," supplied Ranma.
  Mat blinked.
  "Don't tell me made-up stories, boy!" Nynaeve said, seemingly coming back to her senses.
  "He's not lying!" piped up Akane, who was beginning to get a little angry herself.  "This village doesn't look like it's anywhere near where we live.  If the stupid doorway wasn't what sent us here, then what did?  How come our clothes look so different than yours? How about our looks?"
  Nynaeve was taken aback by the girl... no, Akane's outburst.  She had raised good points, though, about their clothes and looks.  They clearly indicated that they weren't from anywhere nearby.  Especially the Ukyou girl's clothing.  No Two Rivers woman would ever be caught wearing something as indecent as that.
  "I'd like to add something," said Ryouga, before Nynaeve could return to her tirade.  He turned to the other Nerimians.  "Haven't *any* of you noticed we aren't speaking Japanese right now?"
  There was a collective blink among the Nerimians.
  "Wait a second..." said Ukyou slowly.  "You're right!"  She stopped for a moment.  "The Doorway!" she exclaimed.  "Remember guys? While we were floating in the... that void, I felt as if my head had become a pincushion.  It must've been the whole language being crammed in my skull.  It was the same for you guys, yes?"  The others chimed their agreement.  She turned to Ryouga.  "You're a genius when you want to be, Ryouga!" she said, giving a quick hug to the Lost Boy, whose face reddened from the contact.  "How did you guess, anyway?  If you hadn't told me, I probably wouldn't have figured it out by myself."
  Ryouga shrugged.  "I'm not sure - I just noticed.  Maybe it's because I travel more than you; I have more exposure to foreign languages."
  Ranma frowned for a second and concentrated.  <Wait a minute.  Can you guys still understand me?> he slowly asked in Japanese.  Everyone nodded affirmatively.  <Good,> he said, relieved.  <At least, we still know Japanese.>
  The three Emond Fielders watched the last exchange completely puzzled.
  "Um... What did you just say?" asked Perrin, blinking.
  "Mmh?" Ranma turned around to face the apprentice.  "Sorry.  I was just making sure we hadn't forgotten how to speak Japanese."
  "Japanese?  What's that?  It sounded like goose gabble to me," observed Mat.
  "Be that as it may," said Nynaeve coolly, regaining her poise, "None of this explains what happened to that wall," she said, pointing to the old shed.
  "Oh, that?" Ranma waved a hand dismissively.  "I got kicked through it."
  Nynaeve's left eye twitched.  "You expect me to believe you were kicked _through_ the wall and you don't have a mark?"
  "But he did get kicked through it," protested Mat.  "Perrin saw it too!"
  Nynaeve turned on them with a scowl.  "None of these children look strong enough to do what you just said.  And besides, if the boy _had_ broken through the wall, I doubt he would be standing without a single scrape or cut on him."
  "That's because I'm a martial artist," interrupted Ranma.
  "That doesn't make sense," said Nynaeve impatiently, tugging her braid again.  "What kind of artist practices... war anyway?"
  Ranma paused to pick a few splinters of wood out of his hair. "Not war, not exactly anyway.  Martial artists practice fighting, or in my case, unarmed fighting.  My training allows me to stand more pain and take less damage than average people can."
  Nynaeve snorted.  "Fighting?  You don't look like a soldier and you're too young to be one at any rate.  You're younger than even _these_ two woolheads," she said, indicating Mat and Perrin, who frowned slightly. "How can you prove any of what you've just said?"
  Ranma shrugged.  "Well...  If you really want to."  He turned to the old shed and bent down when something occurred to him.  "Ehhh... Is it all right if I use what's left of the wall?"
  Nynaeve blinked at the request.  She looked uncertainly at Mat and Perrin.
  Perrin shrugged.  "I heard from Master Dowtry that he was planning to have it torn down within the next few days.  He says it's too small for his needs and he can't get rid of the smell inside."
  "Good enough," said Ranma.  Not waiting for Nynaeve's say so, he yanked one of the remaining logs out of the wall.  Ranma quickly examined the piece he held.  It was about four feet long and five inches wide.  Unaware of the stares he was getting from the Emond Fielders, he gave the log to Akane.  "Here, go ahead," he told her.
  Akane looked puzzled.  "You actually _want_ me to hit you with it?" she asked incredulously.  Ranma nodded.  Akane started sweating. She didn't mind hitting him when he insulted her, but out of the blue like that?...
  "Ranchan!" protested Ukyou.  "You don't have to prove it to her like that!"'
  Ryouga resolved the issue by snatching the log out of Akane's hands.  "Don't worry, Akane-san," he said.  "I'll pound him for you." This said, he proceeded to bash a surprised Ranma in the head with it.
  Once it made contact with its objective, the log splintered in two with a loud crack, sending wood chips flying everywhere.  Ranma staggered backwards from the force of the blow.
  Unshielding her eyes, Nynaeve couldn't help staring in mute fascination, while the other two were gaping disbelievingly at the look on the two martial artists' faces.
  Ranma was glaring at Ryouga, who had a smirk on his face.  "You didn't have to swing that hard, P-chan!" yelled the pig-tailed martial artist.
  Amazingly, Ryouga ignored the barb.  "What's the matter, Ranma?" he taunted.  "Whining like a girl again?  Maybe you should show them your better half!"
  "Not unless you want them to see yours as well, bacon-boy!" growled Ranma.
  "Enough!" snapped Nynaeve, startling everyone.  Before Ranma could react, the Wisdom flowed towards him and began examining his head for injuries.  She was flabbergasted when she found none.  Becoming irritated again, she shook Ranma by the shoulders.  "All right!  How did you do that!?" she hissed.
  "I told you, Wisdom," Ranma said, prying Nynaeve's hands off his shoulders, annoyed.  "I'm a martial artist!"
  Nynaeve closed her eyes and took a deep breath.  *This isn't happening,* she thought.  *I did _not_ see a scruffy boy hit another one with a blow that would fell grown men.*
  "Did you see that, Perrin?" she heard Mat whisper behind her. "Not even Master Luhhan would be able to take a hit like that without being hurt!"
  "But the kid with the headband doesn't even _look_ strong enough to break the log in half," replied Perrin in the same whisper.  "What in the Light are they?"
  "He said he fights unarmed," whispered Mat.  "Maybe he's an Aiel?"
  "I thought Aiel fought with spears?"
  "Well, maybe he lost them..."
  "What about his black veil, then?"
  Nynaeve had to resist the sudden urge to slap both youths.  She forced herself to school her features so she could at least _appear_ calm.  No one had made her lose control so badly in a long time. Well, maybe Matrim had, but still...  She tried to remembered what the foursome's original goal was by coming here.  Ah, yes.  They wanted to go home.  She could do that.  The sooner they were out of Emond's Field, the better.  "All right.  You four," she said, indicating the Nerimians "will come with me to the Winespring Inn. There are probably a map or two in there you can use to find your way home."  She turned to Mat and Perrin.  "You two great bullcalves are going to keep quiet about all this.  I _don't_ want the village in a uproar!  I also want you to find Master Dowtry and explain to him what just happened to his shed."
  "But..." Mat stuttered.  "How are we supposed to convince him when you didn't believe yourself when we told you?" he asked.  *Not that I really believe any of it myself,* thought Mat to himself.
  Nynaeve fixed him with a stare that would freeze flames solid.
  Mat gulped.  "Yes, Wisdom!" he said hastily.  He began to retreat, pulling Perrin by his shirt.  "Come on," he hissed to the muscled apprentice.  "I don't want to be in yelling distance of the inn when she gets there!"
  Nynaeve pretended she hadn't heard the last bit.
  More loudly, Mat turned towards the Nerimians and knuckled his forehead.  "The Light shine on you all," he said hurriedly, before turning and trotting away quickly in the other direction.
  Nynaeve looked at the two boys leave.  She didn't harbor much hope that they would keep quiet about all this, but sometimes, miracles happened.  Sometimes.  She turned to the Nerimians.  "All right.  You four come with me.  The sooner this is over, the better I'll feel about it all."
  "You and me both," muttered Ranma.
  Nynaeve yanked her braid yet again and glared at the pig-tailed boy, who returned the look smugly.  She thought about boxing his ears, but seeing as the boy seemed to have an abnormal tolerance for pain, it probably wouldn't have any effect, save for bruising her hands.

  Minutes later, the Nerimians, led by Nynaeve, finally arrived at the inn.  Before Nynaeve could open the door, though, Ryouga voiced a question that had been bugging him since they had begun following the Wisdom around.
  "Excuse me, Wisdom, but why does everyone in this village keep looking strangely at us ?"
  Nynaeve stopped turned towards him.  "Because you are outlanders," she said matter-of-factly.  "We don't get many strangers in Emond's Field and very few of them are as young as you."  With that, she opened the door to the Winespring Inn, leaving Ryouga with even more questions.
  Once inside, a stout, graying man wearing an apron walked up to them.  "Wisdom?" he said inquisitively.  "Is there something wrong?"
  *Yes!* Nynaeve wanted to shout.  "I'm not quite sure," she said, "But I hope not."
  The man blinked in confusion, then took a peek at the troop behind Nynaeve.  "And who are these young folks?"
 The Nerimians introduced themselves again, as they had when Nynaeve had asked the same question.
  "... I see..." said the man, after hearing the introductions. "I'm Bran al'Vere, the Mayor of Emond's Field."  He looked at the Nerimians, unsure of what to do.  "So what's the problem?" he asked Nynaeve.
  Nynaeve decided to skip their arrival.  It was bad enough Mat and Perrin would likely spread stories, she didn't want the Village Council to meddle as well.  She wanted these children out of Emond's Field as fast as possible.  "Apparently," she said, "They're lost and they need to find their way back home, but I've never heard of villages called either Nerima or Tokyo.  Perhaps they can find it on one of your maps?" she said shortly.
  Bran looked at the four Nerimians again.  He frowned curiously and pointed over Ukyou's shoulder.  "Child, is that a shovel on your back?"
  Ukyou blinked and turned around.  It took a few seconds to realize he was talking about her battle spatula.  "Oh, that?" she said, fingering the giant cooking utensil.  "It's my combat spatula."
  Bran shared an incredulous look with Nynaeve.  He shook his head and frowned slightly.  "Going back to what we were saying, I only have one map Wisdom, and it's old," he said.  He looked at the Nerimians.  "How long has it been since you left this... Nerima?"
  Ranma looked at the others with a 'what-do-we-tell-him?' look. Ukyou and Akane shrugged faintly while Ryouga was busy looking at the rest of the inn and frowning (as usual).
  "Well," Ranma started, "You see, there was this doorway we found..."  He stopped when he heard the door behind them open.
  The Nerimians all turned as one and saw a woman and a man come in. The woman was dressed in a dark blue velvet dress and a sky-blue cloak.  She had dark hair and moved with fluid grace.  She radiated command and confidence, her steps sure and swift.  The man, on the other hand, had the look and air of a hardened warrior.  He wore armor and a sword, the latter looking like as if it was a part of the man.  He wore an odd cloak; its color seemed to shift when they looked at it, as if it was trying to blend with its surroundings.
  Looking at the two newcomers, Ryouga couldn't help but frown internally.  The village, the way these people dressed, the way they behaved...  everything seemed wrong somehow.  There was something very odd about where the Doorway To Wishes had left them.
  "Mistress Moiraine!" said Master al'Vere, temporarily forgetting all about the Nerimians.  "What can I do for you?"
  Moiraine acknowledged the man's greeting with a nod of the head. "Master al'Vere," she began, "I was wondering if you knew where I could find..." she trailed off as she finally took in the Nerimians. She frowned for an almost imperceptible moment, then looked curiously at the group.  "I'm sorry, I do not think I have met you four before," she said pleasantly.  "And if I am not mistaken, your looks say that you are not from this village, are you not?"
  Ranma was frowning warily at the man behind Moiraine  when he heard the question.  *That guy is dangerous...* he thought absently. He turned to Moiraine and gave a slight bow.  "No, we're not from this village.  As a matter of fact, we're trying to find our way back home."
  "What village are you from?" asked Moiraine, curious.
  Ranma shook his head.  "Not a village.  We're from Tokyo, in Japan."
  Ryouga's suspicions began confirming themselves when he carefully observed the woman's reaction.  She didn't have the slightest idea where Tokyo was, or even what Japan was, if he read her appropriately.
  "I'm afraid I do not recognize any of those names," Moiraine said, confirming Ryouga's suspicions.
  "I thought as much," said Nynaeve, cutting off Moiraine.  She turned to Master al'Vere.  "Could you go get that map of yours, please?"
  Master al'Vere blinked.  "Yes, yes...  I'll go get it," he said, shuffling towards the back of the inn, glancing occasionally at the Nerimians.
  Once he was gone, Moiraine spoke again.  "I am Moiraine.  I am a collector of stories.  Who might you be?"
  The Nerimians introduced themselves, although it only seemed to puzzle Moiraine further.  Before she could begin asking the same questions as Nynaeve had, Master al'Vere came back with a tattered piece of paper.
  "Here it is," he said. "But I wouldn't wager on its accuracy.  I bought it from a peddler a long time ago."
  The Nerimians all crowded over the map.  There was a silence for a while, then Ukyou spoke up.  "Um, guys?  I don't recognize _anything_ on that map," she said.  "It's surprising enough that I can read it in the first place..." she muttered.
  Akane was next.  "I don't recognize anything either.  I've never heard of any places called Andor, Cairhien, Tear or Illian."
  Ranma and Ryouga were silent.  Finally, Ranma turned to Master al'Vere.  He pointed at something on the map.  "Excuse me, but where are we right now on this map?"
  Master al'Vere pointed at a spot on the map.  "About here," he said.
  "And these are countries?" Ranma asked, poking the map.
  Master al'Vere glanced at what Ranma was pointing and nodded. "Yes they are."
  Ranma shook his head.  "I've never heard of _any_ of these countries," he said.  "Do you have a bigger map?"
  Master al'Vere shook his head.  "No, it's the only one I have. You say you don't recognize anything?"
  Ranma shook his head.  He looked at Ryouga.  It was a long shot, but...  "Ryouga?  Recognize anything?" he asked hopefully.  The bandannaed martial artist, who was frowning at the map, didn't answer.  Ranma frowned slightly.  "Hey, Ryouga!"  Ryouga grunted non-committally, which Ranma decided meant that he didn't know.  He threw his hands up in the air.  "Great!  We're stuck in the middle of nowhere and we don't know how to go back.  What else could go wrong?" he asked wearily.  "Stupid Doorway," he muttered in a sotto voice. "Should've known not to trust anything I found in Happosai's room..."
  To say that Moiraine's interest was piqued by that time would have been a _very_ gross understatement.
  "Excuse me," she said.  When she saw that she had their attention, she continued.  "How exactly _did_ you arrive in this village?"
  Nynaeve yanked her braid and made a strangled noise, but no one noticed her.
  Ranma sighed and looked at Akane and Ukyou.  "Any of you wanna tell her?  I don't feel like having another person think that what we did was impossible."  The pig-tailed martial artist was lucky that he hadn't been looking in Nynaeve's direction at that moment, or he might have been careful about what he had been about to say.
  Then again, maybe not.
  "I've seen and heard many things, I assure you," Moiraine said smoothly.  "I am quite open-minded."
  Ranma looked once more at Akane and Ukyou.  "You were there from the beginning, Ranchan.  Personally, I think this whole thing is really weird."  She paused for a moment.  "Well, weirder than what we usually go through, anyway."
  Akane shrugged helplessly.  "Go ahead and tell her.  Maybe she has an idea on how we can get back."
  Ranma shrugged.  "Fine, then."  He turned to Moiraine.  "But if the Wisdom didn't believe us, you won't either."
  Nynaeve sniffed loudly from where she was standing.  Unfortubately for her, no one noticed.
  "Two days ago, I came across a scroll that described the location of a certain doorway which was rumored to grant wishes when you stepped through it..."  he was interrupted by the other three Nerimians.
  "Two days ago?!" chorused Akane, Ukyou and Ryouga.
  "You mean you've had that scroll for two days and you didn't tell me?" asked Akane angrily.
  Ranma backed a step or two.  "It wasn't on purpose, Akane!  I found the scroll in Happosai's room by accident!  I wanted to go the same day, but that old lech gave me some obscure warning about the Doorway.  He said something about 'the price they asked always being too high' or something like that.  I wasn't sure whether he was telling the truth or not and... and maybe I wouldn't have gone if yesterday hadn't been such a lousy day," he finished with a sigh.
  "But why didn't you tell us, Ranchan?" Ukyou asked.
  "Yeah," Ryouga added darkly.  "You were going to use the wishes for yourself, weren't you?"
  A pained expression crossed Ranma's face for a brief moment. "Well...  _maybe_ all I wanted to do in the beginning was to get my curse lifted, but I probably would have tried to get _all_ the curses lifted once I got there."
  "Curses?" interrupted Moiraine, intrigued.
  "Don't ask," came the flat, dual reply from Ranma and Ryouga.
  The bandanna-wearing martial artist turned toward his rival.  "And I'm supposed to believe you?  Ah!" said Ryouga sarcastically.  He began popping his knuckles loudly and advanced towards Ranma, who subconsciously adopted a defensive stance.  Before the really fun stuff could begin, however...
  "No fighting in the inn!" a voice barked, breaking their concentration.
  The two martial artists blinked and and looked at Master al'Vere, who had a stern expression.
  "You heard me," the innkeeper said.  "I'll no have fighting in my inn.  If you children want to fight, do it outside."
  Ryouga kept glaring at Ranma.  "We'll settle this later, Saotome," growled the Lost Boy.
  "Anyway," continued Ranma, ignoring the slightly disbelieving expression on Moiraine's face, "When I finally decided to go there, these two,"  he said, pointing to Akane and Ukyou, "decided to follow me because they were suspicious and we picked up Lost Boy over here along the way," he said, now pointing at  Ryouga who growled softly. Ranma then took a deep breath.  "Then, well...  we got to the Doorway all right, but we all started fighting and...  well...  we all fell through the Doorway at the same time," he said.  "It was as if we were falling in darkness for a while and then we woke up not far from here in the forest, but we couldn't find the damn Doorway anymore, no matter how much we looked around, so we came here, hoping we could figure out where we were... which we obviously can't," he finished sarcastically, looking at the map on the table.  He turned once more to Moiraine and added, with a wide smile plastered on his face: "So, wanna help?"
  There was a very deep silence in the room for a long moment. Ranma looked around and blinked when he noticed there were quite a few more people in the room now.  Five more, as a matter of fact. Three men, one of whom had a colorful cloak seemingly made up of many colored patches.  He had white hair and an equally white bushy mustache.  The second man was tall and lean, and bore a bewildered expression. The third man was huge.  He was even even more heavily muscled than Perrin, Ranma noticed, and he looked just as puzzled as the second man.  The last two people were two women, each wearing a braid.  If looks were any indication, the younger one was probably the older one's daughter.  The way the older woman was dressed suggested she had been working in a kitchen.
  "Do you seriously expect us to believe that?" finally said Nynaeve, tugging at her braid angrily.
  Ranma snorted.  "I don't really care whether you believe it or not because I know that's what happened."
  "It sounds even stranger than what Matrim told me," said the tall man.
  Nynaeve almost eeked when she heard the voice behind her.  She whirled around angrily when she noticed, much to her dismay, that Egwene, Mistress al'Vere, the gleeman, Haral Luhhan and Abell Cauthon had all been standing behind her.  She almost wanted to shout when she saw how much damage control she would have to do, but she settled for chewing Abell out instead.
  "What do you mean, Matrim told you?" she asked, tugging her braid again.  "I specifically told him to talk about this to no one!"  She settled her glare on Haral before Abell could form a response.  "And I suppose Perrin told you?" she said acidly.
  The blacksmith shrugged, his massive frame making the gesture even more imposing than it was meant to be.  "Perrin was troubled when he came back to the forge.  The lad nearly burned himself twice on the coals.  When I asked him what was going on to make him lose his wits like that, he started muttering about young, invincible outlanders in Emond's Field.  I wanted to know what was going on, but he wouldn't talk, so I came here."  He looked over to the Nerimians.  "Their story is... unusual to say the least."
  Nynaeve stared at Haral.  "You're not actually believing them, are you?"  She sniffed disdainfully.  "I thought you had more sense than that."
 "Matrim told me they destroyed the Dowtrys' old shed with their bare hands," put in Abell quietly.  "I did not believe the lad, but I saw the truth of what he said when I looked at what's left of it.  He kept muttering about Aiel, too."
  Nynaeve scowled again.  She threw an angry stare at the Nerimians, who pointedly ignored it, since they were all looking at Moiraine. In the meantime, the three members of the al'Vere family were discussing animatedly in their little corner, while the gleeman was staring at the Nerimians as though they were some kind of puzzle.
  "So, can you help us?" repeated Ranma.  He ignored all the comments that were beginning to buzz around the room.
  Moiraine seemed to come out of a slight trance at that moment. "Can you describe this... Doorway?" she asked.
  Ranma couldn't tell if she thought he had made the story up or not.  "I didn't get a really good look at it.  It was in a cave and I was kind of busy fighting with Ryouga."
  "I saw it," interjected Ukyou.  "It was made out of a dark, reddish stone.  It looked like a doorway, except that the edges were all wrong, almost twisted.  I couldn't follow them quite right."  She paused.  "It was also standing against a wall, so I was very surprised when we actually fell _through_ it."
  Moiraine seemed to consider what to say next.  She looked at each of the Nerimians, taking a little more time when she reached Ukyou. She tilted her head slightly, smiling faintly.  When her gaze reached the last member of the group, Akane, a slightly puzzled look seemed to cross her features at that point, but it was gone almost too fast for anyone to notice it.  She shook her head slightly.  "I am not sure I have ever seen, or heard anything that sounds like this... Doorway To Wishes, but I know of a place where you might get your answers."
  Ranma sighed.  "I guess a lead is better than nothing.  So what's that place you're talking about?"
  Moiraine smiled just a bit more.  "Tar Valon," was all she said.
  The Nerimians, of course, didn't display the slightest hint of recognition at the name, but some of the Emond Fielders were a bit more vocal.
  "Tar Valon!" hooted Abell at the same time Haral snorted. "Mistress Moiraine!  Do you mean to send these children to look for answers at the very heart of Aes Sedai power?  What can you be thinking?  Aes Sedai would not even listen to their tale anyway!"
  "Would they not?" asked Moiraine, her smile never wavering.  "I have heard that the White Tower holds many secrets.  Perhaps they could find what they seek there."
  Everyone was about to add in their grain of salt to the discussion when Akane asked a perfectly innocent question: "Excuse me, Mistress Moiraine, but what are Aes Sedai?"
  Everyone blinked. Twice.
  "Please tell me that was a joke, child," finally said the man with the white hair.
  Akane blinked and looked at her fellow Nerimians in turn.  Each of them shook their head.  She turned to the man.  "I'm sorry?..." she trailed off, fishing for a name.
  The old man suddenly grinned.  "I'm sorry young lady, I must be forgetting my manners!  My name is Thom Merrilin," he said, giving his patch-colored cloak a flourish, "And I am a gleeman."  His voice boomed, sounding as if he had announced himself in a hall.
  Akane found herself smiling at the old man's antics.  "It's nice to meet you, Master Merrilin," said Akane, bowing slightly.  "But I _was_ speaking the truth when I asked my question."
  The gleeman's eyebrows twitched.  "How can you not know about Aes Sedai, child?  Everyone knows about them.  How else do you call channelers in your land?"
  Akane gave him a puzzled look.  "Channelers?" she said, clearly not understanding.  "What's a channeler?"
  This time, even Moiraine was beginning to look nervous.  The gleeman looked at Akane as if trying to decide whether she was laughing at him or not.
  Akane blinked and turned to Ranma.  "Do you know what he's talking about?" she whispered quietly.
  Ranma, equally confused, shrugged.  "I don't have the slightest idea," he whispered back.
  Ryouga suddenly spoke up.  "Look, all we really need to know anyway is the road to Tar Valon and we'll be on our way with apologies for bothering you."
  Moiraine raised an eyebrow at him.  "And how do you plan to go there?  You do not have horses and you seem to have little in the way of supplies," she said.  "Add to all this that wandering the roads alone at your age is not safe at all..."  Moiraine trailed off when the four Nerimians started snickering.
  "Us...  In danger?..." gasped Ranma.  "Now that's a real joke..."
  Moiraine gave him an icy look.  "What is so amusing about what I just said?"
  "We're martial artists," answered Ryouga.  "If someone attacks us, we'll just beat them up."
  "You've no more wits than sheep!" snapped Nynaeve, tugging her braid yet again.  "Beat people up?  Have you no common sense?"
  Ryouga was about to retort when the main door opened.  A woman came inside, bearing a tray filled with what looked like small yellow cakes.  "Marin," said the woman, "I brought you some some honeycaaaakes!..."  The last word was almost shouted as the woman tripped on one of the straps of Ryouga's pack, which had been carelessly left lying near the door.
  The cakes, of course, went flying towards Ranma, who, for a fraction of a second, was reminded of his training at the Nekohanten, when Cologne used to fling several bowls of ramen at a time towards Ranma.  Reflexes took over and he dove to catch all the cakes and the plate, although, to prevent dropping any of the cakes, he was forced to adopt a pose that did not look comfortable at all.
  Ranma was now lying backwards, being held up only by his left leg and his head.  His arms and right foot were in twisted positions, with cakes lying all over them.  The plate was sitting precariously on top of the right knee and one cake, in particular, was sitting right over his nose.
  "Wow, that's great, Ranchan!" exclaimed Ukyou.  All the Emond Fielders were gaping at Ranma, amazed at the display of speed and dexterity.  Even Moiraine and Lan looked impressed.
  The cake on top of Ranma's nose began to tickle him and the martial artist began to emit pre-sneezing sounds.
  "Maybe I spoke too soon..." muttered Ukyou.
  Ranma sneezed loudly and everything became a blur.  The physical seizure from the sneeze was enough to fling all the cakes back up in the air, and Ranma sprang into action.  Seizing the plate from the air, Ranma then managed to use it to catch all the cakes without touching them with his hands, except the cake that had been standing on his nose, which he caught in his mouth.
  Everybody was staring at Ranma.
  "Show-off," Ryouga muttered.
  Ranma glanced at Ryouga  "Hey, she tripped on _your_ pack, so don't go blaming me."  The pig-tailed martial artist turned towards the newcomer and handed her the plate.  "Here you go," he said. "Sorry about the last cake, though," he added as he finished chewing, "But I don't think anyone would have eaten it once I sneezed on it." Seeing as the lady still wasn't saying anything, he swallowed the cake and looked at the plate.  "Those are really good, by the way. Do you mind if I have another one?"
  That seemed to shake the woman out of trance.  "Ah... No...  Go right ahead young man," she said, blinking and looking  repeatedly from Ranma to the cake plate.
  "Thanks!" said Ranma enthusiastically.
  "That was... very impressive, boy," said Thom slowly.  He tilted his head and crinkled his eyes ever so slightly.  "Have you ever considered becoming an acrobat, lad?  I could use someone like you in my act."
  "I'll say," added Abell.  "I've never seen anyone bend like that or move so fast."
  Ranma shrugged.  "I've been doing stuff like that all my life," he said.  The Emond Fielders began murmuring among themselves.
  "They could stay in Emond's Field for tonight," piped in Egwene. "After all, it's Bel Tine and I'm sure lots of other people would like to hear their stories or even see them do more feats like that. "
  Nynaeve shot Egwene a dismayed look.  "Egwene, not you too?"
  Egwene's cheeks reddened and she began toying with her newly-braided hair nervously.
  Ranma was about to speak when Ryouga put a hand on his arm.  The bandanna-sporting martial artist whispered a few words in Ranma's ear, who then looked at Ryouga with a considering expression.  He then nodded.  He turned towards Egwene.  "Sure," he said.  "I guess it won't hurt if we wait until tomorrow to leave."
  A smile suddenly bloomed on Moiraine's face, although the Nerimians would have shivered had they noticed it.  It was the kind of smile a cat gave a mouse that had nowhere left to run.
  "Ranchan?" said Ukyou questioningly.  Akane was also looking oddly at Ranma.
  "Come on," he said. " Maybe a bit of fresh air will do us good." With that, Ranma turned towards the rest of the room.  "If you'll excuse us?"  Without waiting for an answer, he and Ryouga took Akane and Ukyou and gently, but firmly, led them outside the inn, leaving many confused people standing inside.
  "What was that all about?" demanded Akane, once they were far enough from the building.  Everywhere around them, people were talking and laughing, but people didn't seem to be noticing them for the moment.
  Ranma shrugged.  "Ryouga came up with a good idea, surprisingly enough."
  Ryouga glowered briefly, but cleared his throat when he noticed Akane and Ukyou's gazes upon him.  "Well, they were offering us food and shelter for the night.  We might as well make the most of it if we're going to travel all the way to this Tar Valon city.  Maybe they might even pay us if we do a few chores for them."
  "Ryouga, you sound as if you've done that before," observed Ukyou.
  The Lost Boy nodded.  "That's one of the ways I keep going when I travel.  Sometimes, I work for someone for a day and they either give me a meal or some money for the day's work."
  "We don't have to worry about money, Ryouga-kun," said Akane reassuringly.  "I've got enough yen to get by for a while."
  Ryouga shook his head.  "We're not speaking Japanese right now, remember?  I'd say that there's a pretty good chance that it means that we're not in Japan anymore.  They may not accept yen as payment."
  "So we find a bank?" said Ukyou more hopefully than she really felt.
  Ryouga was silent for a few seconds and sighed.  "I just think we may be in bigger trouble than we thought."
  "What do you mean, Ryouga-kun?" asked Akane, becoming a bit worried.
  Ryouga looked at them.  "Have any of you considered the possibility that this... well... might not be our world?"
  There was sudden silence.
  "What are you talking about, Ryouga?" asked Ukyou, frowning.
  Ryouga shook his head.  "I'm not sure, but...  Ever since we woke up in that forest, something's been bugging me.  The weather and the language were only the first hint.  Look at this village: the way the houses are built, the way people are dressed... Remember that Moiraine woman's bodyguard?  Why would a woman need a bodyguard in a village like this?  And if she did, why only one?  The guy even carries a sword!  How many bodyguards do you know dress in old-fashioned armor and carry swords around these days, especially since guns are easier to hide?  That armor wouldn't stop a serious criminal, even if the guy's a martial artist."
  "Kuno carries his bokken everywhere," countered Ukyou.  "And so do people like the Musk and the weirdoes on Toma's floating island."
  Ryouga relented slightly.  "Okay, maybe the sword isn't so much out of place, but what about the guy's armor and the people's clothes, then?  It just feels wrong..."
  "It still doesn't mean anything," said Akane nervously.  "We could just be in an isolated corner of some country, that's all!"
  "Akane, I've traveled all around the world and I've never seen anything quite like this.  I really don't think we're on Earth anymore."  Ryouga sighed and turned to Ranma, who hadn't moved an inch since Ryouga had begun speaking.  "What about you, Ranma?  You haven't said a word so far."  Ryouga stood there, waiting for the smart-ass remark his rival would undoubtedly say.
  Ranma took a deep breath and exhaled slowly.  "That, as surprising as this sounds, is because I pretty much agree with what you just said, Ryouga."
  Ryouga blinked.  Ranma had agreed with him.  Ranma never agreed with him...  What was going on?  Was he trying to confuse him again?
  While the directionally-confused martial artist was trying to figure out Ranma's latest ploy, Ranma turned to the two girls.  "I think he's right about us not being on our world.  Look at all of the strange stuff: we learn to speak and read a whole language just like that," he snapped his fingers, "That ain't normal.  We should've at least noticed we were speaking a different language right away, but we didn't."  He waved his hands.  "No one here knows what or where Japan is, we can't recognize a single place on that map..." he passed a hand through his hair.  "What the Moiraine woman said about us going to Tar Valon on _horses_?"  He shook his head and sighed. "Ryouga's right.  Something very strange is going on here."  He shrugged.  "As for staying here for the night, Ryouga had a good idea.  I've traveled long enough with Pop to know when not to refuse hospitality when someone offers it."  He showed his pack to Akane and Ukyou.  "There's also the fact that we really don't have much in the way of supplies and besides, if we're going to be stuck here for a while, we might as well learn as much as we can about this place before we go on the road.  We might learn some useful stuff."
  Akane and Ukyou looked at each other worriedly.  Ranma and Ryouga seemed convinced of what they were talking about.  Were they really in another world?

  Back inside the inn, Moiraine looked at Lan.
  "What do you think, Lan?" asked Moiraine.
  The Warder frowned ever so slightly, making his hard face even more dangerous.  "I don't know that I trust their story, but they all know how to fight.  I could tell that much by looking at them.  The boys in particular look like they've fought before, and frequently. They move far too efficiently for common village boys." He paused for a moment.  "When the two boys threatened each other, the Saotome boy used an unarmed fighting stance, though it's different than the ones I know.  He also... weighed me when I came in."  He paused again for a few moments.  "They called themselves martial artists.  It might have something to do with that, although I've never heard anyone being referred to as an 'artist of war', or whatever it means."  His eyes became puzzled for a fraction of a second.  "I'm not sure what is the thing on the Kuonji girl's back, though."  His eyes swung to Moiraine.  "What did _you_ find out?"
  Moiraine smiled secretively.  "They intrigue me very much.  I was not expecting to meet outlander children like them here."  The smile faded slightly.  "It is how they arrived here that worries me, Lan. I can only think of two things that even remotely resemble what the girl described."
  Lan didn't move a muscle, but Moiraine still felt the question.
  "The first possibility is a ter'angreal I heard about, once, but it's not anywhere near here.  It is hidden away in the Stone of Tear, and it does _not_ do what the boy says it did."  She took a deep breath.  "The other possibility is much more serious, though I strongly doubt it.  They _might_ have been able to use a Waygate."
  Lan looked at Moiraine sharply.  "A Waygate?  I thought only Ogier could use Waygates...."
  Moiraine made a vexed sound.  "They might have found a way to enter accidentally, Lan.  But as I said, I find it unlikely, since Waygates do not look like the doorway they describe."  She paused. "But I cannot let this affect my reason for being here.  I already found the ones I was looking for and there is no chance that these children might be them.  They are too young."  She looked at the ground absently.  "Maybe it's another ter'angreal I do not know about."  She shook her head and looked at the inn's door.  "Most curious is also the fact that they did not seem to know anything about channelers or Aes Sedai.  They did not show any reaction at all when I mentioned Tar Valon either.  Very strange."  She moved towards the door, Lan following smoothly behind her.  "Very strange indeed," she murmured.

  Outside the inn, more and more people were talking with the Nerimians. Since their exit of the crowd, many people had taken notice of them, and while most of the adults only looked at them strangely, a small group of children of all ages had gathered around the strange visitors, some surprised to see outlanders of their own age, something which did not happen very often, if ever.  Some of the younger children were fascinated by the Nerimians' looks and clothes (Ramna's red silk shirt and Ukyou's okonomiyaki seller drew several comments), while others wanted to know tales about their homeland. In short, they were being kept busy by the crowd, especially Ukyou who attracted attention not only because of her mode of dress, but also because of her accessories.
  A girl, slightly younger than Ukyou, approached the chef.  "Why do you dress like that?" she asked timidly.
  Ukyou blinked.  "What do you mean, 'like that'?"
  The girl reddened slightly.  "Your breeches.  Why don't you wear a dress?  It's not proper for girls to wear breeches."
  "Says who?" countered Ukyou.  "I wear these clothes because they're comfortable and they're practical to fight in."
  The other girl gaped at her.  "You fight?"
  "Sure," Ukyou nodded.  "Where we live, fights break out almost every day.  You have to learn how to defend yourself or you get clobbered.  A dress really isn't all that good to fight in."  She gave Akane a quick glance.  "Akane's probably better at fighting in a dress than I am, actually."
  While the other girl was trying to process that, Ukyou heard a whispered conversation behind her.
  "Would you look at the one with the tight shirt and breeches?  I wouldn't mind dancing with her tonight."
  Ukyou swiftly unlimbered her combat spatula and lightly rapped the boy on the head.
  "Hey!  That hurt!" yelped the boy, putting a hand on his head.
  "Oh, stop whining, you big baby!" said Ukyou.  "I didn't even hit hard."
  The boy stared at her, embarrassed by her reply.  "What did I do, anyway?" he muttered crossly.
  "There's only one person I would ever dance with," Ukyou said happily, "And that's my Ranchan!" she finished, glomping Ranma to illustrate her point.
  Akane's reaction was immediate.  "Ukyou!  Not now!"  She began tugging Ranma in the opposite direction.
  Murmurs began circulating through the crowd.
  Ryouga's expression darkened.  He slowly took his umbrella out of his pack and pointed it at Ranma.  "Have you no shame, Ranma?  How dare you flirt with Ukyou and ignore poor Akane's feelings!"
  Ranma started to sweat.  Not only did he feel like a wishbone with Ukyou and Akane pulling him in different directions, but Ryouga was about to try and tear him apart again.  This could get messy, so he tried reasoning with the Lost Boy.  "Lay off, P-Chan!  I didn't ask for this!"
  Ryouga snarled.
  *That didn't come out quite right,* a detached part of Ranma's mind commented.
  "DON'T... CALL ME... P-CHAN!!!" howled Ryouga.  "You... you... HALF-MAN!"
  By now, most of the crowd had pulled back, fully expecting a fistfight.
  They didn't get one.
  "I wouldn't use that particular insult, boy.  It could get you in a _lot_ of trouble elsewhere," a voice cut out around them.  They turned around to see Thom Merrilin standing just a few steps away from them.
  Awed whispers of "Master Gleeman" floated through the evening air.
  Strangely enough, the gleeman's remark had been enough to momentarily stop Ryouga's advance.
 "Stay out of this, old man," Ryouga told him contemptuously.  "This has nothing to do with you."
 The gleeman shrugged.  "You can beat on each other as much as you want, as I think it would be quite a show, and for a gleeman, that's saying a lot, but as I said, I wouldn't use the word 'halfman', even as an insult if I were you."
  Ryouga frowned.  "Why not?"
  "'Halfman' is another name for Myrddraals in the Borderlands. They call them Fades here, I think."
  "Everyone knows that Fades don't exist!  They're just tales," piped up a village youth.
  "Are they?" the gleeman said mysteriously, toying with his mustache.
  Ryouga snorted.  "I don't know what a Myrddraal is and I don't really care."  He turned to Ranma, who was still being pulled by Akane and Ukyou.  "What I _do_ know is that this... _lecher_ is going to get the beating of his life!"
  "I'm not a lecher!" protested Ranma.
  "Excuse me?" interrupted a familiar voice.  Ranma, Ryouga and Thom turned to see Moiraine and Lan looking at them.  Oblivious to the forthcoming carnage, the undercover Aes Sedai continued: "If it were not a bother, I would like to speak with young Ranma for a moment."
  Ukyou and Akane suddenly became aware of her presence.  "What about?" they both asked ominously, neither releasing her hold on Ranma.  Beautiful women and Ranma together almost always spelled trouble.
  Moiraine's serenity was unruffled by the two girls' expressions. "I would like to question him about the trip he is planning to undertake, among other things."
  Ranma sighed in relief.  An opening!  "Ah, sure, Moiraine!  I'd be... huh... glad to talk with you," Ranma said a bit nervously, as he untangled himself from Akane and Ukyou, who had lessened their grips to glare at Moiraine.
  "Ranma!"  "Ranchan!" came the twin protests.
  "It'll only be a moment!" Ranma tried to explain.
  "On the other hand," Moiraine interrupted again, "perhaps she should come as well," she said, pointing at Akane.  Perhaps she could find out what exactly was the feeling she had had when had had examined the girl earlier.
  Akane blinked and looked at Ukyou in confusion, but walked to rejoin Ranma besides Moiraine.
  Ryouga and Akane watched them leave suspiciously.
  "That woman's up to something," Ukyou muttered.
  Ryouga nodded absently, still in the mood for hitting something.

  "So what do you want to talk about exactly?" asked Ranma as they walked away from the crowd.
  "I have questions for both of you."  Moiraine paused, choosing her words.  Lan stood quietly, a few paces behind her, eyeing both Nerimians while checking the surroundings.  Moiraine turned to Akane. "You said you did not know what a channeler was.  Did you speak the truth?" she said, the last words coming out like sharp ice.
  "Yes I did!" said Akane forcefully.  "I don't know what you mean by that word.  Channelers.  What do they channel anyway?"
  "The One Power, of course," answered Moiraine, carefully watching their reactions.
  Akane looked again towards Ranma, who gave a helpless shrug.  She turned back towards Moiraine.  "I'm sorry, but that really doesn't mean anything to us."
  Moiraine looked at Akane, as though trying to figure out a puzzle.
  Ranma's expression suddenly brightened.  "Hey!  Is this One Power anything like Ki?" he asked.
  Moiraine's expression became curious.  "Ki?" she said, tasting the unfamiliar word.
  "Yeah," Ranma nodded.  "You know, like..." he trailed off and frowned, looking around him.
  "Ranma?" Akane questioned.  "What's wrong?"
  "Not sure," he said, still frowning.  "I get the feeling someone's about to attack me."  He began taking a defensive stance.
  By that time, the Warder had already half-way drawn his sword. Suddenly, cold blue eyes widened.  "Moiraine!  There are Trollocs heading this way!" he growled.
  Moiraine's eyes widened in complete surprise.  "What?!  Here?"
 "What's wrong?" Akane asked.  "What are Trollocs?"
  The ground started to shake slightly and sounds of a stampede began to make themselves heard.
  "They're creatures of the Dark One," growled Lan.  "They live only to kill people."  He took a few steps towards the forest, a odd gleam in his eyes.
  Moiraine's stern voice stopped him cold.  "No, Lan!  We have to warn the villagers first!"
  Ranma had half-expected the grizzled man to ignore the orders, so it came as a bit of a surprise to him when he nodded without question and dashed back to the village, barely a step behind the woman.  He looked at Akane.  "C'mon, Let's follow them!  Something tells me we're going to have a fight on our hands."
  For once, Akane didn't feel inclined to argue.
  When they got back to the village, they found Lan and Moiraine trying to warn people that Trollocs were coming, although it didn't seem to have much effect.  Those who weren't simply too drunk to notice thought the two were making a joke.
  Ranma and Akane suddenly saw Ukyou and Ryouga running towards them.
  "What's going on?" asked Ukyou, nodding at Lan and Moiraine. "What's their problem?"
  "Yeah," said Ryouga.  "What's a 'Trolloc', anyway?"
  Ryouga got his answer when wild animal cries were heard.  The Nerimians' heads all turned towards the noise and were faced with huge figures running into the village.
 Automatically shifting to defensive stances despite their shock, the Nerimians watched the huge animalistic creatures, which averaged between seven and ten feet in height.  They wore armor and helmets of some kind, often protruding with spikes and most were waving curved, scythe-like swords while shouting wild battle cries.
  Chaos suddenly seized the village.  Villagers, who moments ago, had been laughing off Lan and Moiraine's warnings, were now running away in fear.  Women were screaming their children's names and some men were desperately trying to find weapons of some kind.
  Ranma was about to engage one of them when several fireballs suddenly hit the Trollocs in front of him.  He watched, shocked, as the huge shape burst into flame and howled in agony.  Letting his gaze wander back towards the source of the blasts, he saw Moiraine almost systematically incinerate every Trolloc that came close to her.  He stared  in sick fascination as the man, Lan, flowed smoothly to run Trollocs through with his sword, one after another, never slowing down, a dancer of death.
  "They... they kill them?" he said softly, incredulously.  He had never seen someone so casual or expedient about killing before and it was very disturbing.  He shared a quick glance with the other Nerimians only to see the same expression on their faces.
  It was only when a Trolloc slashed at a villager, nearly splitting him in half, that Ranma reacted out of his dazed state.  He rushed at the Trolloc and kicked it solidly in its midsection.  The Trolloc bent in half and Ranma hammered it with a few solid punches to the face and chest, finishing with a spin kick which laid the Trolloc out cold.  He looked at his fallen foe, seeing a wolf's muzzle pointing from under the helmet.
    He quickly turned to the other Nerimians.  "Protect the villagers!" he yelled to them.  "Take those damn things down!"  He noted that Ryouga was already fighting the Trollocs by himself, wielding his trusted umbrella.

  Akane and Ukyou looked at each other and nodded nervously.  Behind them, a woman screamed and the two girls turned around to see a mother and her child backed against a wall, a eight-foot tall, eagle-faced Trolloc slowly advancing on them.  Akane quickly rushed and kicked the Trolloc behind the knee.  It gave a surprised shriek and stared falling backwards when Ukyou jumped from above and slammed it on the face with her combat spatula with all her strength.  The Trolloc slumped, out cold.
  Akane looked at Ukyou and gave her a slight smile.  "Looks like we make a good team."
  Ukyou shared the smile.  "C'mon!  Can't let Ranchan and Ryouga have _all_ the fun, now can we?"  She paused to look at her spatula, which was sporting a faint impression of the Trolloc's beak.  "I hope my spatula can handle it.  Those things are tougher than they look!"
  Akane turned to the huddling woman.  "You'd better get to safety. We'll handle this."
  The woman stared at Akane.  "You're just a child!" she managed to say.
  "Akane!" yelled Ukyou.  "Heads up!"
  Akane's head swung back just in time to duck in order to avoid decapitation by Trolloc blade.  "Gyaaahh!"  She jumped backwards, only to realize that two Trollocs had sneaked up on them and Ukyou was now battling one by herself.  The second one was taking an unhealthy interest in Akane herself.  She took a ready stance and lashed out with a rising kick, which struck the Trolloc on the chin. It staggered a step back, but quickly recovered and slashed at Akane, who dodged and punched the Trolloc several times in the gut.  She cursed as she realized she was mostly hitting metal.  The thing was wearing chain mail!  Recovering quickly, the Trolloc tried to split Akane in half with a clumsy overhead strike, which Akane evaded easily.  As soon as the blade passed clear of her, the youngest Tendo daughter jumped and performed a spinning kick that took the goat-snouted beast completely by surprise.  Akane stood over the fallen Trolloc for a few moments, panting slightly.  *Kuso!* she thought.  *They're a whole lot bigger and stronger than normal people.  And they wear armor, too!*  Suddenly she whirled around, remembering Ukyou.

  The okonomiyaki chef had almost been taken by surprise.  She barely had time to yell a quick warning to Akane when a wolf-snouted Trolloc swiped at her with its sword.  She blocked the strike with the haft of her combat spatula, but was stuck in a deadlock, as she couldn't move the spatula without getting cut in half.  Suddenly, an idea came to her.  Her spatula pointing to the upper left, Ukyou decided to kick the flat end with a reverse kick.  This caused the Trolloc's sword to begin sliding down to the right, and Ukyou smoothly spun around, continuing the movement, thus letting the Trolloc slice at nothing and finished by slamming her spatula in the beast's back.  The Trolloc staggered forward and Ukyou rendered it unconscious it by hitting it in the back of its head.
  She turned around just in time to see Akane finish off her opponent.  When she turned around towards her, Ukyou gave her a slight wink.
  "See?" the okonomiyaki chef said.  "Nothing to it!"
  Akane raised an eyebrow and smiled.  "Absolutely!" she said solemnly.
  They then turned at the same time to face even more Trollocs.

  Ryouga was plowing with abandon through the Trollocs, swinging his umbrella left and right.  No enemy lasted long against his superior strength and skill.  Glancing towards one of the houses that wasn't burning yet, he saw a group of people trying to get inside, oblivious to the fact that a few Trollocs were stalking up to them.
  Suddenly, the door opened and the villagers rushed inside, closing the door behind them.  Seconds later, the Trollocs were trying to ram the door down.  Ryouga quickly rushed towards them.
  "Leave them alone!" he yelled, hoping to divert the Trollocs' attention somewhere else, namely on him.  It worked.  As the beasts turned, Ryouga dove to the ground, his index finger extended, yelling: "Bakusai Tenketsu!"
  The ground exploded around him and he heard cries of pain coming from the Trollocs.  He shut them out.  He had seen the Moiraine woman and Lan kill the Trollocs without the slightest apparent regret.  He had seen beasts trying to kill without any justification.  He could not, however, quite bring himself to kill the Trollocs, although it would be easy for him.  He would not kill if he could avoid it.  *I'm not a killer,* he told himself.  *Oh really?* asked his conscience. *Then what about all your threats to kill Ranma once and for all? Wouldn't you be doing exactly that?*  Ryouga desperately shut out the voice.  *It's not like that anymore!!!* he protested to himself. *Isn't it?*
  His awareness returned to the fight at hand.  He needed to finish this while they were disoriented by the pain.  He used a spin kick to take out the first Trolloc and his umbrella to smash the snout of the second one.  He took out a bandanna and snaked it around another Trolloc's ram horns, bringing its head down and smashing it against his knee.  He took the last Trolloc by the scruff of the neck and rammed it through the house's wall.
  He grimaced when he heard screaming from inside the house.  *Maybe I should've watched where I was throwing it, first,* he thought.  He pulled the Trolloc out of the wall and peered inside.  He saw a dozen figures, mostly children and women, huddled against the far wall. The younger children were wailing in fear.
  "Sorry about that," he called out.  "Don't worry about the Trolloc, it's out cold."
  A young boy suddenly pointed behind him.  "Look out!  Behind you!"
  Ryouga whirled around only to be tackled through the hole in the wall by two Trollocs, their vast bulk tearing an even bigger hole through the wall.  He fell on his back, the two huge, deformed shapes clawing at him.  Using his strength to keep the wolf-muzzled Trollocs from biting him, he was about to backflip his enemies into the rear wall, but he quickly realized he would be throwing the Trollocs right into the knot of people behind him.
  "Everyone, get out of here," he yelled.  Unfortunately, the villagers were entranced by the sight before them.  One of the older boys, maybe thirteen, rushed to the dinner table and took a wooden chair in his hands.  Running back towards one of the two Trollocs, he brought down the chair as hard as he could on top of its head.
  "Leave him alone!" the boy yelled.
  The boy had been trying to knock one of the Trollocs out, but all he managed was to make one of them mad.  It ceased its struggle with the bandanna-wearing martial artist and started moving towards the boy.  Ryouga quickly used both of his arms to hold the remaining Trolloc's head while he headbutted it, rendering it unconscious. Turning his head around, he saw the other Trolloc raising his sword at the boy.  Ryouga's hand flashed.  Taking out his belt, he used it like a whip, the cloth coiling around the Trolloc's left ankle.  He yanked it back with all his strength, which caused the Trolloc to lose its footing and fall flat on its chin, mere centimeters from its intended victim.  Ryouga then lifted the Trolloc by its chain mail and swung a right cross across its face.  The Trolloc slumped, its face bloodied.
  Ryouga quickly went to retrieved his umbrella, tossing both Trollocs out of the house at the same time.  He then turned towards the boy who had used the chair, who was looking at him with an expression of wonder.
  "You're stronger than..." the boy started, but Ryouga interrupted him.
  "That was stupid," he told the boy harshly.  "I'm strong enough to hold them both at bay.  I've been training all my life.  You nearly got yourself killed distracting it.  Next time, when I say leave, you _leave_, understand?!"
  The boy shied away from him with a hurt expression.  Ryouga winced for a moment, realizing how harsh he had just sounded.  "Look, thanks for the assist, but just... just leave fighting to those who know it, okay?"  He looked up to the women, some of whom nodded slightly. Ryouga felt just a bit better.  It looks like they, at least, understood why he had berated the boy.  Interference without training could cost you your life.
 He walked out of the hole, surveying the surroundings.  There were still Trollocs about, but a lot less than a few minutes ago.  His gaze was drawn to two figures huddling near the ground.  His eyes widened when he realized they were Akane and Ukyou.  They were on their knees, looking at something on the ground.  They also weren't taking notice of the ten-foot tall Trolloc stalking up to them.
  "AKANE-SAN!!!" he yelled desperately.
  He immediately began gathering Ki for the Shishi Houkou Dan, a sphere of dark green energy coalescing in his hands, an aura of the same color appearing around him.

  Ranma felt the heat of battle through his veins.  He often fought people in Nerima, far more often than he sometimes wished, but this was different.  Instead of fighting for his own life or simply beating up on people, he was fighting to protect others.
 *This is what I should be doing,* he thought.  *Much better to use the Art this way.*
  A Trolloc came towards him and he slipped by its defenses, hammering it with dozens of punches, his arms easily passing through the beast's defenses.  The Trolloc fell, alive but broken.  *I may not kill, but I sure as hell don't have anything against _hurting_ those things.*
  Doing his best to ignore the lightning strikes that were coming down from a clear sky, Ranma made his way to the center of the village.  *Who is that Moiraine woman?* he wondered.  *She some sort of sorceress?*  Looking towards Moiraine, he saw that the Trollocs were obviously trying to overwhelm her, but Lan was systematically slaughtering every Trolloc that came too close.  He moved in to help, easily evading the clumsy strikes directed his way, all the while cheerfully saying "Missed me!"
  One of the creatures made the mistake of turning its back on him. He smiled coldly and moved his index fingers at each side of his mouth.  "Roga Shuhai Tai!" he yelled, making deep gashes in the Trolloc's back with his fingers, easily tearing through the chain mail.  Said Trolloc turned around, howling and ready to do murder, only to find Ranma smirking at him.  "Ignore me will you?" said Ranma, who then executed a handstand and axe-kicked the Trolloc, who fell bonelessly to the ground.  He flipped back on his feet to see Moiraine staring at him.  "Feh!" he he told her contemptuously. "Those things are worthless.  Give me a good fight with Ryouga any day."
  "How did you do that?" she asked, wide-eyed, looking at the gashes on the Trolloc.
  Ranma shrugged.  "Martial arts, of course," he replied.  He spotted another Trolloc coming his way.  "S'cuse me," he said, rushing the hawk-faced creature.  Once he was within arm's reach, his hands caught the Trolloc's outstretched arms and he quickly kneed the Trolloc in the chin.  Its head snapped pack and it staggered backwards.
  "Aww... Does the poor baby have a headache?" taunted Ranma. "Here, why don't you sleep it off?" he completed, casually spin-kicking the Trolloc into unconsciousness.
  Moiraine rushed towards him.  Giving him a quick glance, she realized that he wasn't hurt in the slightest.  *How...?" she wondered.  She suddenly narrowed her eyes.  "Child, does the word 'Aiel' mean anything to you?" she asked briskly.  Behind her, Lan came up, his sword slick with blood.  He kneeled down to the Trolloc, frowning.
  Meanwhile, Ranma blinked, not expecting Moiraine's question. "Aiel?" he said, puzzled.  "What's that?"
  Moiraine frowned, obviously not liking the answer.  She pointed to the Trolloc.  "Where did you learn to fight like this?" she demanded.
  Ranma raised an eyebrow.  "My father trained me."  He frowned, curious.  "From your reaction, I take it people here don't exactly fight barehanded, do they?"
  Before Moiraine could answer, Lan got up.  "Very impressive," he said.  "Those kicks nearly broke it head."  He frowned and took out his sword, plunging it in the Trolloc's throat, killing it.  "It was also still very much alive, boy!" Lan growled, turning to Ranma. "Don't even think about telling me you weren't strong enough to kill it.  I know enough about unarmed fighting to know you weren't even giving your all."
  The pig-tailed martial artist took an involuntary step back when Lan dispatched the Trolloc.  "I don't kill," he replied quietly.  "I never have before, and I don't see the reason to now."
  The Warder's face became angry thunderclouds.  "What do you mean, you don't see a reason to?  What kind of reason could you possibly have for leaving Trollocs alive?"  His deep voice rumbled like thunder.  "Tell me!"
  Looking at the Warder's expression, Ranma felt he had the final proof that they were no longer back home.  He could not see this situation happening anywhere on Earth.  "Trollocs don't exist where we come from," Ranma snapped.  "We have no reason to go around killing people!"
 Lan looked about ready to bite Ranma's head off when Moiraine put a hand on his arm.  Moiraine looked at the pig-tailed boy oddly again and shook her head.  "We will speak of this later."  She turned to her Warder.  "There are still some Trollocs loose and we must take care of them."  Her eyes slid towards Ranma for a moment.  "You would do well to kill those creatures, boy," she said, her voice like steel.  "They will not hesitate to kill you."
  Ranma almost backed away before he caught himself.  He snorted. "Those things can't even touch me.  They're no threat to me."  He looked at her.  "You wanna kill so badly?" he said to Moiraine quietly.  "Do your own killing then."
  He then proceeded to vault over the pair, rushing to meet other Trollocs.
  Moiraine and Lan gawked for a moment before they picked themselves up.  They glanced at each other and resumed killing Trollocs, all the while keeping an eye on Ranma and  making sure to kill every Trolloc he had knocked out.
  Moving near the inn, Ranma angrily took a Trolloc down, thinking about Lan and Moiraine's words.  *Should I kill them?* he thought. They had done nothing to him, but they had hurt villagers.  Was not physical harm enough?  Most of the Trollocs he had taken down tonight were alive, but would likely never be able to fight again.  He suddenly heard a cry behind him and turned around to see Master al'Vere fall to the ground, clutching the side of his head.  Behind him, the girl Ranma thought was his daughter was backed against the stone wall.  A Trolloc was raising its sword, obviously going for the finishing blow.
  Ranma blurred.  He ran as fast as he could, and jumped in the air a dozen feet away from the Trolloc.  "Kacchu Tenshin Amaguriken Revised!" he shouted, bearing down on the Trolloc.  "RYUUSEIU GERI!!!"
  Ranma's right foot blurred almost into invisibility, striking the Trolloc everywhere.  The head, the neck, the arms, the torso, the legs...  Nothing was spared.  Only when Ranma realized what he was doing did he stop the attack.  The Trolloc was thrown into the ground, nearly all of its bones broken by the awesome force of Ranma's blows.  Ranma stared in horror at the broken form.  *Did I...?*  He saw the Trolloc's chest rise weakly.  *I didn't...* he thought, oddly relieved.  He had managed to hold back from making the move lethal.  His temper had nearly gotten the best of him.  He had never killed.  He had come close during his battle with Herb, but he had not.  If he began killing, where would it stop?  He shook his head to stop the thoughts.
  He turned around to take a look at the Mayor and the girl.  Master al'Vere was watching him, wide-eyed, leaning slightly on the girl's arms.  The girl was also staring at him, but she had an odd expression on her face.  One Ranma couldn't place.  If anything, it looked like a cross between excitement, fear and gratitude.  A very odd expression.
  "Are you okay, Master al'Vere?" asked Ranma.
  "How...?" said the girl weakly.  She seemed to be struggling to know what to say.
  The stout, graying man waved his hands.  "I'm... all right, lad," he said between shaking breaths.  "It's only a small blow to the head.  I'll survive."  He looked at the fallen Trolloc, then at Ranma again. He blinked, as if to clear his thoughts and turned to the girl.  "Egwene, go inside and stay with your mother.  It's safer that way."
  "But father..." the girl protested weakly.
  Master al'Vere's voice grew hard.  "Now, Egwene!"
  The girl squeaked.  "Yes father," she said, heading back inside the inn, leaving her father alone with Ranma.  She looked one last time at Ranma before closing the door, a look of apprehension on her face.  The door closed.
  The Mayor finally spoke.  "I don't know how you did that, lad, and I'm not sure I _want_ to know, but you saved my life and I'm grateful for that, at least."
  Ranma frowned.  "Why does everyone around here act like this anyway?  Haven't you ever seen people fight without swords?" he asked.
  Master al'Vere looked at him oddly, tilting his head slightly and wincing when the pain from the wound on his head flared up because of the movement.  "Lad, I don't know how to say it, but..."
  "AKANE-SAN!!!" they heard Ryouga scream.  Ranma snapped around, horrified, fearing the worst.  He saw Akane and Ukyou, kneeling on the ground, looking at something.  They didn't seem to be aware of the monstrously tall Trolloc coming up behind them.  How could he have left them alone?!
  Ranma then saw Ryouga in position for the Shishi Houkou Dan. Looking at the giant Trolloc, Ranma quickly gathered his ki for the Mouko Takabisha as well, a blue sphere of energy appearing almost instantly in his hands and a strong blue aura covering him.  He didn't notice the innkeeper backing away, a panicked expression on his face.

  Moiraine and Lan watched in sick fascination as Ranma executed the Meteor Shower Kick.
  "A channeler?" asked Lan, almost worriedly.  Almost.
  Moiraine's thoughts were racing.  *A channeler?  Here...?  No, he cannot be the one!  He is too young!*  She looked up to Lan.  "Come quickly!" was all she said.  They began running towards Ranma, a dozen scenarios running through the Aes Sedai's head at the same time.
  Their attention was momentarily distracted by three Trollocs who had chosen that moment to try and dogpile them.  Lan, like a wind of death, twisted his sword in an arc and swiftly ran two of them through, while Moiraine incinerated the last one.
  The Aes Sedai almost cursed.  She had lost track of Ranma during their little fight.  "Lan," she began, "I..." she began, then stopped abruptly when she sensed something she had not expected.  It felt somewhat like saidar, but much fainter, like a weak echo of the buzz she usually felt when someone channeled nearby.  It was also coming from two different directions.  Before she could raise her head to look for either source of that feeling, she heard two shouts.
  "MOUKO TAKABISHA!!!"
  "SHISHI HOUKOU DAN!!!"
  Moiraine's eyes widened when she realized that this mysterious power was headed towards her.  She instinctively stepped back and formed a shield of Air as a sphere of brilliant blue energy blasted its way several feet in front of her.  Instinctively following the sphere with her eyes, she spotted another one, dark green this time, headed in the same direction as the first.  They quickly converged on a Trolloc at the far end of the village, which was immediately blasted away.  She noticed that the Trolloc had been about to strike the two outlander girls.
  Momentarily forgetting all about Ranma, Moiraine began looking for the source of the blasts when she noticed that something else emitting the strange feeling was headed her way.  She only had time to blink when a blue, glowing blur passed in front of her a high speed.  She blinked and gasped when she realized it was Ranma.
  *Was that saidar?* she wondered in shock.  *Was that boy embracing _saidar_?*  Hundreds of thoughts were running through her, none of them pleasant.  She then absently noticed that Lan hadn't moved in quite a while.
  "Moiraine, I saw the glow," said Lan, shocked.
  Moiraine's head snapped around almost instantly.  "What?"
  The Warder pointed to where Ranma was now standing.  "He was glowing blue when he passed in front of us," he said, uncertainty making its way into the rough voice..
  *He saw the aura?  Then it cannot be saidar or Lan would not have seen it and it cannot be saidin either or I would not have felt anything...  Then what was that power?  What _is_ he?* she wondered. She became even more worried when she remembered that there had been _two_ blasts.
  Moiraine Damodred, Aes Sedai of the Blue Ajah, became fairly scared and _very_ much confused.  This was _not_ what she had been expecting.

  Akane and Ukyou had been having more trouble than either Ranma or Ryouga.  Not being as fast or as strong as the them, they had to spend more energy knocking down the Trollocs.  It was also a bitter realization that it would simply be much easier to kill Trollocs than send them into La-La land.  After all, why spend so much energy on punches, kicks and swings when you could just simply break your opponent's neck with a precise punch or kick?
  The problem was that the two girls shared the same feelings as their male counterparts, as in they didn't want to kill.
  That decision would haunt them for some time to come.
  The two female martial artists had found themselves protecting a house full of children against the onslaught of Trollocs.  Both had been faring rather well when tragedy struck.
  Akane and Ukyou were fighting another Trolloc together when one of the beasts that had been knocked out earlier began to stir again. Staggering to its knees, it considered attacking Akane and Ukyou, but Trollocs being what they were, that one decided to try and find an easy way out.  Unfortunately, a young girl chose this moment to peek from behind the door.
  Ukyou slammed her combat spatula on top of the Trolloc's head at the same time Akane gave it a fierce kick to its midsection.  And yet another Trolloc slumped, defeated.  They whirled around when they heard a shrill scream coming from the house.  Their breaths caught in their throats when they saw that one of the Trollocs they had knocked out was now standing and holding a little girl by her dress.
  It also had a sword.
  Everything went into slow motion.  Akane and Ukyou came flying at the Trolloc, hoping to snatch the little girl away.
  They didn't succeed.
  The Trolloc's curved sword flashed, and there was blood.
  It was the last thing the Trolloc would ever see or do.  Akane's punch broke its spine in half while one of Ukyou's spatula shuriken lodged itself in its neck.
  "No!" Akane breathed.  She knelt down to the little girl, not believing what had happened.  She was joined by Ukyou, who looked horror at the wound in the girl's chest.  Akane quickly tore off a length of her dress to use as a bandages to staunch the flow of blood.  The blood soaked through immediately.
  "No... no... no..." repeated Akane mindlessly, cradling the young girl's shaking body.  "No one was supposed to die, especially not a little one like you."
  Ukyou just felt numb.  The worst thing is that it was their fault. Had they killed the beast instead of knocking it down, it never would have gotten up...  It was their fault.
  So absorbed in their grief were they that they never saw the massive Trolloc lumbering up behind them.
  "MOUKO TAKABISHA!!!"
  "SHISHI HOUKOUDAN!!!"
  The two battle cries, however, were enough to cause the two girls to look behind them.  They saw the Trolloc, a massive beast with armored spikes covering its body.  The two girls stood there, frozen by the sight when two Ki-blasts slammed into the Trolloc, a green one and a blue one, both coming from different directions behind the Trolloc.  The force of the strikes flung it more than a dozen feet away, screaming in pain before it fell face first to the ground.
  Mere seconds later, Ranma and Ryouga had rejoined the two girls, ignoring the villagers who were now running away from _them_.
  "Akane-san!  Are you all right?!" asked Ryouga as soon as he was in shouting range.
  "Akane!  Ucchan!  What's going... on...?" trailed Ranma, as soon as he saw the little girl's body.  "Oh no..." he whispered.  He knelt behind Akane, looking at the girl's chest wound.  "What happened?" he asked, a cold lump forming in his stomach.
  "A Trolloc..." answered Akane mechanically.
  "It was our fault," said Ukyou, trembling.
  Ranma and Ryouga stared at her.
  "What?..." croaked Ranma.
  Ukyou nodded absently.  "It was...  We only knocked it out, instead of killing it... It woke up and...  Ranchan, that girl is dying because of us..." she trailed off.
  The Warder's words came back to Ranma.  -They live only to kill people...  What kind of reason could you possibly have for leaving Trollocs alive?-
  He looked at the dying child, and then at the inhumanly tall Trolloc he and Ryouga had shot down.
  -They live only to kill people...-
  -What kind of reason could you possibly have for leaving Trollocs alive?-
  What reason indeed?
  If they did not kill the Trollocs, how many times would the girl's fate be repeated?
  If Trollocs only lived to kill people, then were not people justified in killing the beasts in order to save themselves?  It's not as if the creatures were human, no?
  None of the Nerimians noticed that the door was opening up once more.  Another girl peeked out the door.  "Lia?" the girl asked "Lia? Where are you?"  She saw the body cradled by Akane and screamed, closing back the door.
  The scream seemed to wake up Ranma and Ryouga at least.  The looked at each other, a silent understanding on their faces.  Ranma guessed his fellow martial artist had come to the same decision as he:  No Trolloc would leave the village alive.
  They looked up to see Lan and Moiraine running up to them. Moiraine alternated between staring at the boys and looking at the girls.  She was definitely spending more time looking at Ranma, though.
  The Warder didn't speak, but his expression was such that he might as well have screamed.  -Do you understand now?-
  The pig-tailed martial artist's expression tightened, sending the uneasy answer.  -... Yes... -
  And they leapt away.
  Moiraine was about to use saidar to stop them when Lan put a hand on her shoulder.
  "Don't," he said quietly.  "They've seen the result of their unwillingness to kill and now they'll make amends for their behavior."  He looked at the two martial artists.  "I could _almost_ pity the Trollocs that will cross their paths," he said softly.  "I could... but I won't."
  Moiraine looked at Lan, frowning.  She didn't like letting Ranma off like that.  Who knew what that boy was capable of.  She tsked and turned to the two girls who were still huddling around the girl. "Let me see the child," she ordered.
  Blank faces looked up at her.
  Moiraine's patience was wearing very thin by now.  "I may be able to heal her if the damage is not too severe."
  "You could?..." Ukyou stuttered.  "But how?"
  "I am Aes Sedai," she said.  "Watch and learn, children, and I will show you just what can be done with the One Power."
  Akane and Ukyou looked at each other questioningly for a moment and handed the young girl to Moiraine.  The Aes Sedai put her hand over the wound and concentrated.  Flows of Water, Air and Spirit coursed through the girl's body, straining to mend broken tissue.
  The two martial artists looked on as the young girl gasped, eyes going wide.  The saw the wound gradually shrink, until it was only a nasty cut.  The girl slumped, her breathing weak, but steady.
  Akane blinked.  "Why don't you heal her completely?"
  "Because, child," said Moiraine, getting up, "If I try to heal her completely now, she will die from the Healing."  She looked at the young girl.  "The child is not completely safe, but she is no longer in direct danger of losing her life.  She will need food and rest, for several days, at least."
  Akane and Ukyou blinked several times.  How could anyone die from being healed, anyway?
  "She'll live?" finally asked Akane, looking at the Aes Sedai.
  "Perhaps," said Moiraine.  "Providing someone bandages and washes the wound soon."  She turned around.  "Now, I have to take care of an impossibility.  It is bad enough I was unable to kill the Myrddraal that led those Trollocs, but this...  Come, Lan!"
  The Aes Sedai swept away, the Warder following behind her, not making a single sound.  They left behind two very confused, but also very grateful young women.

  Ranma and Ryouga were grimly moving through piles of downed Trollocs, snapping necks whenever they found a live one.  As far as they were concerned, the Trollocs has forfeited any chances they might have had for survival by killing that young girl.
  Ryouga was getting up from killing another one when he happened to see a Trolloc getting away from the village.  "Oh no you don't!" he growled.  He turned to grab hold of the nearest object.
  The Spring Pole.
  It was a bit blackened and sooty, yes, but it also made a beautiful, if blunt, javelin.  Ryouga hefted the Pole and threw it at the Trolloc.  The ten-foot tall fir trunk arced somewhat gracefully, ending its flight in the middle of the Trolloc's chest, pinning it to the ground.
  "Nice throw," remarked Ranma from behind Ryouga.
  "Nel!  Daysa!" came an anguished voice.
  The two martial artists whipped around, looking for the source of the shout.  They saw a man and a woman just outside a burning house. Flames were licking the walls and there was thick, billowing smoke coming from the windows.  Running over to them, they realized that the man was trying to get inside the house.
  "What's going on?" asked Ranma.
  The woman turned to him, panic written all over her features.  "My children are in there!" she wailed almost incoherently.
  Ranma looked at Ryouga.
  "You go," said the bandanna-wearing martial artist.  "I might get lost inside."
  Ranma hid his surprise at Ryouga's admission.  The Lost Boy usually hated acknowledging his directional curse.  But that was for later.  He shook the man, who was still trying to get inside, by the shoulders.  The man turned around, in shock.
  "How many and where are they inside?" he shouted in the man's face to get his attention.
  "T-Two... a boy and a girl...  They're probably in their rooms, on the upper floor," he replied, dazed.  "But everything's burning! Bili went to get some water, but..."
  Ranma stopped listening and rushed in the inferno despite shouted protests from the couple.  Once inside, he was immediately assaulted by the thick smoke and the incredible heat.
  *Kuso!* he thought.  *At this rate, those kids might already be dead!*  He looked around, and managed to spot the stairs at the far end of the room.  He moved closer only to realize that it was on fire.  He glanced at the ceiling.  It still looked okay, though it probably wouldn't stay that way for long.  Giving a small inward sigh he shielded his head with his arms and lept straight up, using himself as a living battering ram as he crashed through the boards to the floor above.
  *This is taking too much time!* he thought frantically.  Ranma looked around, noticing that one of the doors was closed.  He quickly kicked it down and saw two small shapes on the ground, near a bed. He took them in his arms and was rushing out of the room when he heard a deep, crackling sound.
  Timbers were breaking.  The house was collapsing.
  He searched for a quick exit, but found none.  Everything around him was burning  *Time to make my own, then!* he thought.  Securing the children in his arms, he ran towards a burning wall and jumped.

  Outside, Ryouga was looking nervously at the burning house.  Ranma was taking too much time.  He thought about following him inside, but dismissed the idea.  He had told Ranma the truth.  He would probably only get lost.
  He noticed that the man was still trying to go inside.  He casually reached out and pulled the man back to a safer position.
  "Let me go!" the man yelled.  "I have to save my children!"
  Ryouga squeezed the man's arm to get his attention.  "You can't even get inside because of the heat," he told him.  "If your kids are in there, Ranma will find them."  He paused.  "If he doesn't, I'll personally pound his brains out," he added, growling slightly.
  A loud, cracking sound made everyone's heads turn towards the house.  They saw the base of the house collapsing.
  "NOOOO!!" screamed the man and the woman together.
  At the same time, Ranma came flying through the wall above where they were standing, right leg extended and carrying two figures in his arms.  Ryouga quickly opened his umbrella to shield the villagers from the flaming wooden shards headed their way.
  *He did it!* thought Ryouga, relieved.

  Upon landing, the first thing Ranma did was check the state of the two children he had carried out.  Neither was breathing.
  "Ryouga!" he barked.  "Over here!  Quick!"
  The Lost Boy quickly came over.  "What?"
  "You know CPR?" asked Ranma in a rush.
  "Yeah?..."
  Ranma pointed at the young boy.  "Do it.  They've both stopped breathing."  Ryouga nodded and they both immediately began the resuscitation technique on their respective charges.
  The farmer's wife ran over to Ranma.  "Daysa!" she said raggedly. "What are you doing to her?" she demanded.
  "I'm trying to get her breathing again," he answered curtly, not looking at the woman.
  A few tense moments passed.  Ranma heard several coughs behind him.  A child crying.  A man's joyous shout.  "Nel!  You're alive!"
  *Good, Ryouga got him breathing again.*  As soon as he finished the thought, the young girl started coughing.  She opened her eyes and immediately began crying for her mother.  Ranma stepped back, letting the woman take the child in her arms.
  "Daysa!  Oh I'm so glad you're alive!" said the woman, cradling the child.  She was weeping uncontrollably.  She turned to Ranma.  "I can't thank you enough.  We owe you more than you will ever know," she said profusely.
  The farmer, holding his boy in his arms, was giving similar thanks to Ryouga.  He looked at both martial artists.  "My name is Teven al'Dai.  You have my deepest thanks.  Without you both, our children would be dead."  He tilted his head slightly.  "I don't know if many outlanders would have done the same.  What are your names?"
  "Ranma Saotome."
  "Ryouga Hibiki."
  "We will remember your names," said Master al'Dai's wife.  "Thank you for saving our children's lives."
  Ranma tried to dust himself off when he realized he was only spreading soot all over himself.  He tried to shrug nonchalantly. "We did what we could," he said simply.  His expression wilted slightly.  "But sometimes it's not enough," he said in a soft voice, thinking of the dead girl.
  "And sometimes it is," said a voice behind them.
  The two martial artists, recognizing the voice, turned around simultaneously, only to see Moiraine was watching them, a puzzled look on her face.  At her side, Lan was watching them warily with his sword drawn, as if trying to decide whether they were friend or foe.
  "Coming to gloat, Moiraine?" said Ranma icily.
  Moiraine raised an eyebrow.  "Gloat?"
 "About the girl."
  She shrugged slightly, almost a dismissive gesture.  "She is still alive.  She will heal."
  Ranma shared an incredulous look with Ryouga.
  "No little girl can heal from a stab wound like that one," said Ryouga irritably.  "Not without medical help."
  Moiraine frowned at the unfamiliar word, but her considering expression soon came back.  "I healed her."
  "How?..." came the incredulous reply in stereo.
  "I am Aes Sedai."
  They heard Master al'Dai and his wife gasp behind them.  "Aes Sedai?"
  Ranma didn't hear the exclamation.  He was staring at Moiraine, and so was Ryouga for that matter.  It wasn't however, because she had revealed her true identity. "You're not lying?  You... you healed her?  She didn't die?"
  Moiraine gave him a frosty look.  "I most certainly did not lie. Aes Sedai cannot lie."
  Ranma and Ryouga stood there, blinking.
  The Aes Sedai saw her opportunity.  There was no way in the Light she could let those two out of her sight.  She had guessed by now that the other user of the mysterious power was none other than Ryouga.  The coincidences were too perfect.  They could be, in some way she did not understand, every bit as important as the one she had come here looking for and she had to find out more about the power they used.  A power that was not the Power it seemed.  Once those two set foot in the White Tower, they would not step out anytime soon. "As soon as I am finished here, we will be leaving for Tar Valon. Since you were initially headed in the same direction, will you ride with us?"
  "Maybe..." Ranma said slowly.  He didn't like the tone she used. She'd asked a question, but in a way that said that she didn't expect them to say otherwise.
  Moiraine turned around.  "Now come, both of you.  We must dispose of the Trollocs.  I also have a great many questions for you both." She swept away, fully expecting them to follow.
  The two martial artists stood there for a moment.
  "Bossy, ain't she?" commented Ryouga.
  "Yeah," agreed Ranma.  "But if she _did_ save that little girl though, _maybe_ we can let it pass this time."
  Ryouga nodded soberly.
 They began walking to catch up to the Aes Sedai and Lan when Master al'Dai grabbed one of Ranma's sleeves.  "I heard rumors about you young outlanders.  Is it true you do not know what an Aes Sedai is?"
  Ranma and Ryouga shook their heads regretfully.
  "The word means nothing to us," said Ryouga.
  Master al'Dai frowned thoughtfully.  "I don't know whether that's good or bad," he told them, "but be careful around her if she is indeed Aes Sedai.  I can only tell you what I know about them which be just be enough.  The stories say that Aes Sedai broke the world 3000 years ago, and they've manipulated it ever since.  The stories also say that Aes Sedai cannot lie, but the truth they tell you isn't always the one you think it is."  He paused for a moment.  "And don't ever forget that an Aes Sedai's gift always has a hook it it."
  Ranma and Ryouga looked at each other, eyebrows raised.
  "We'll remember that," promised Ranma.  "Thanks for telling us."
  "It's the very least I can do," said Master al'Dai, shaking his head slightly in wonder.  "You saved our children."
  Ranma and Ryouga both bowed slightly, at Master al'Dai's surprise, before heading in Moiraine's direction.  Before they did anything, they had to check on Akane and Ukyou.


[End Chapter 1]


Next chapter:  Rand meets the Nerimians, and the journey to Baerlon!


  Author's notes :

  Japanese words:

Tadaima: I'm home
-sensei: teacher (usually)
Baka: fool, idiot...
Hentai: pervert
Ite... : Ouch...
Kawaikunee: "uncute"

- I have to thank/blame John Walter Biles for writing "Parallel Lives," as that's what gave me the idea for it.  Also thanks/blame to John (again) and Jeremy Blackman for writing Ta'varen 1/12.

- Big thanks also go to Sachs and Chris Rijk for helping me weigh the pros and cons of about three dozen different scenarios for the beginning of the story and also for helping me lots of little details.  They've both been a really big help!

- The quote at the beginning is from "The World of Robert Jordan's The Wheel Of Time," by Robert Jordan and Teresa Patterson.  An excellent book if you're a fanatic of the series!

- I know the Randlanders don't speak Japanese (actually, we don't know what language they *do* speak), but the first draft of this story had the group dealing with the language barrier, which in turn gave me no *end* of troubles.  I know the language acquisition scene during transport may seem weak, but I needed to do this.  I still kept some elements of the language (insults, attacks, etc.) to show that there are still some partially unresolved linguistic differences.

- All questions regarding the differences between Ki and the One Power will be discussed in chapter 2.  All you need to know is that Ki is *not* the One Power.  And yes, during the battle, the Ki-blasts should have been near-instantaneous, but I needed some leeway this time.

- For those who want or need to know, the Akari storyline only occurred in the manga (Vol. 30), whereas the Nanban Mirror storyline was anime-only...

- "Wasn't the Fox Doorway destroyed in Cairhien at the end of TFoH," you ask?  Yes, but I chose to theorize that the Age Of Legends wasn't the only Age that could have produced ter'angreals.  Especially one that connects "Randland" to the world of the Snakes and Foxes.  Who knows?  Maybe the 'Finn somehow incited people from other Ages and places to build gateways to their world.  There's also no telling how long the "Nerima Version" of the Doorway might have existed in the Age where R1/2 occurs.

- What's a ter'angreal?  Well if you don't know, you really should go read the WoT series...  Trust me, you'll like it!

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Now if you'll excuse me, I have to find out who this
Cubone guy is.  Any cute cartoon animal who wears the
skull of one of his defeated enemies as headwear is
my kinda cute cartoon animal.
                     -Kurt Busiek on Pokemon