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Insert Standard Copyright Disclaimer.
< The characters used in this work of Fiction are not owned by
  me.

 Ranma 1/2 and all associated characters, trademarks and
 situations are owned by Rumiko Takahashi, Shogakukan, Kitty, Fuji
 and Viz - Used here without permission. >

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[Ranma 1/2]:     Mirror, Mirror.

Before leaving China, straight after getting his curse, Ranma
utilises an Amazon treasure "The Phoenix Mirror" - the mirror of
rebirth - to try to cure it. Of course, this being Ranma, nothing
goes to plan. One mishap later and Ranma winds up controlling two
bodies, his original one and a copy of his cursed body.
Unfortunately for him he can only control one body at once with any
fine control... Or can he?

(A concise summary of previous Mirror, Mirror chapters is available
from www.upnaway.com/~ricketts/Summary.txt

Well, summary of everything except chapter 6, 'cos I'm slack.)

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Chapter Seven: The Hunted: A pig's story.

Ryouga screamed as he raced forward, intent on doing some serious
damage to Ranma and the grounds just inside the gate of Furinkan
High. His umbrella crashed through the tree that Ranma had been
standing in front of, causing the tree, which had been happily
growing in the same place for well over forty years, to groan
under the strain and sag forward.
     Ranma dodged sideways again as Ryouga turned immediately
unerringly to where the pigtailed teen had jumped. He watched as
the tree fell forwards, snapping along a horizontal plane when
Ryouga removed what was supporting it; his umbrella. "Hey, what's
with the umbrella? You didn't have it when we were in China!"
     Ryouga only grunted angrily, not deigning to answer as he
thrust the umbrella forward once more; leading his attack.
     Ranma watched once more as the umbrella crashed through what
he'd been standing in front of; the school's outer wall. He decided
that whatever else it was, the umbrella was quite good as a combat
assist. "Hey, are you going to speak or what? It's pretty hard to
do anything if you're just going to grunt and run."
     The pigtailed boy paused for a second. If there was one thing
that Ryouga would answer, it was a good insult. Of course there was
also the possibility that it'd drive him even more nuts than he
already was. Still, if the guy wasn't going to talk, there was no
guarantee that he would even listen. The teenaged Saotome smirked,
at least answering would indicate that he could hear why the cure
wasn't going to work for him.
     Landing on the umbrella for a second, he leaned down briefly
and looked into the lost boy's eyes. "So, Piggy! Did your brain
turned to pork while you were wandering around?" Kicking out at the
head that was presented, he wasn't the least bit surprised that the
other boy blocked with his free hand. Mind you, that wasn't the
strike that he'd intended to hit with.
     "Shut up, Saotome!" The lost boy's fury intensified as the
comments soaked through. What the hell was he thinking! Yelling
that right where anyone could hear! The main reason that he'd been
looking for the cure! To stop that sort of thing ever happening
again!
     As the other boy smirked to himself, Ryouga's mind flicked
back to the Terrible Thing (tm) that had happened to him after he'd
left Jusenkyo.

Ryouga muttered to himself as he trekked away from the valley. How
could such a thing be possible? He'd been a pig! Then a man again!
It wasn't possible!
     He looked back the way that he'd just come. The dim lighting
and mists that were gathered at the bottom of the valley were, at
this distance, just beginning to obscure his vision of the pools
and bamboo poles that were gathered there. Had it really happened?
Had he been a pig?
     He glanced down at the still slightly red flesh on his
forearms. Had he nearly been cooked - by a panda of all things?
     Well, one thing was certain, he'd definitely had to fish his
clothes and backpack out of that pool of water. Maybe he'd just
gone swimming and had some sort of bad dream? He shuddered. If it
was a bad dream it had been awfully vivid. So bloody vivid that
he'd had to use a stick to fish his stuff out.
     And it was all Saotome's fault. If he'd only stayed and fought
like a man, damn it! The lost boy thrust his hand into the air,
screaming as he did so, "Ranma Saotome, this is all your fault! I
promise to hunt you to the ends of the earth for my vengeance!"
Thunder cracked dramatically in the background and lightning
flashed, illuminating his silhouette.
     Then it began to drizzle, light drops of rain that drifted
down to gather along the coarse folds in his clothes.
     "Brilliant," Ryouga muttered, "this is just what I need. I'm
gonna get soaked." Heading towards the side of the road he tried to
duck under one of the nearby trees. Gazing up he looked out at the
sky, noting the way that the grey clouds, already stretched over
one half of the horizon, were slowly taking over the other half as
well.
     He pulled his backpack off, intending to get his tent out and
wait the storm out. He'd just knelt down and opened one side of the
main compartment of his backpack when the rain started to really
fall. The much larger droplets that announced the arrival overhead
of nearly completely black clouds smashed aside the meagre
protection offered by the leaves that he was sheltering under. In
their frantic rush to obey the law of gravity these massive
droplets soaked everything between themselves and their earthly
objective, Ryouga included.
     His eyes widened and he stifled the instinctive curse at
getting drenched as a tingle rushed over his entire body, starting
from his exposed face and arms and spreading almost instantly all
the way through. His perspective changed, from a rainy, but
otherwise clear view of the cursed valley, to an extreme close up
of the inside cloth of his shirt.
     Ryouga squealed. Then blinked. What the hell was that? He
lifted his left hoof and pawed at the material ... Left hoof? His
eyes widened in horror. It had happened again. He was a pig. Again.
He slowly pushed his way out of his shirt. Why had he changed back
to this cursed form?
     He glanced up as another heavy splattering of rain forced it's
way through the foliage. Was it the water? Then what had changed
him back to human before?
     The hot pot! He'd been dropped into the hot water. He'd fallen
into a pool of water the first time this had happened. It was
raining now. Water. That seemed to be the common element. So, how
could he change back?
     The lost boy briefly entertained the idea of going back and
seeing if he could get the answer off the guide and the panda that
nearly ate him, then discarded it. No way was he going back to them
again if he could help it. He stepped - trotted - out into the
rain. Nothing happened.
     Well, the rain had certainly activated this curse and the hot
pot had deactivated it. Was it the difference in temperature? That
was ridiculous! Why would hot water be any different to cold water?
     Ryouga walked around, finding it weird using four feet
instead of two. Looking at the sky he wondered how long the rain
was going to keep up. Sighing to himself, and wincing as it came
out as some sort of a wheezing grunt, he moved back to his
backpack. Putting his nose - snout - against one side of it, he
pushed.
     The backpack trembled a little bit. He was so weak! Only
moments ago he'd been hefting the same bag like it weighed nothing.
Now he couldn't even tip the damn thing over.
     He moved backwards a little, aiming to get a run up. Lowering
his head, he charged forward, smashing against the backpack. The
backpack tipped over backwards and then fell to the ground. He let
loose a squeal of exultation, then looked semi disgusted as he
heard himself.
     Ryouga walked around to the top of the backpack and nudged his
way into the half open flap. He was about half way into the
backpack when he his porcine ears picked up something that didn't
sound like rain outside the backpack. Quickly he backed out and
moved behind a tree, counting it prudence to find out what was
making the noise before confronting it in this form.
     What was that noise? He strained a little to hear it. It was
coming from... the left! He peeked around the tree, looking down
the road to the left, back at where he'd come from. What the hell
was it? Squelching, splashing, almost like ... footsteps!
     A small figure appeared, quickly becoming visible through the
drizzling rain as it ran along the path. As the figure came closer,
it resolved into a small child with black hair, carrying a wooden
mace in one hand and running for all that he was worth.
     Ryouga ducked back around the tree. Now what? Wait for him to
pass. Yeah, that's the ticket. The lost boy waited, listening. He
heard the small footsteps slow as they came closer.
     "<Hello?>" The high pitched child's voice reached his ears.
Damn. He must have seen the backpack.
     Ryouga slowly edged one side of his face around the tree,
allowing one eye to see what was happening. The boy was wearing
clothes that were a few sizes too big. He was holding the mace in a
casually ready state and looked only about six years old.
     "<Hello? Who's there?>" The child looked around and as Ryouga
watched, kept the mace at the ready the whole time. The lost boy
realised that the child was at least versed with the use of
weapons. As the child moved cautiously towards the backpack Ryouga
realised something else. It was a girl!
     What the hell was a little girl doing all the way out here? No
parents or adult about, she should be at home. Did it mean that her
parents were nearby?
     He watched as she slid the mace into its holder on her back.
Still looking about, the girl scooped up his clothes and knelt by
his backpack. As the girl started to undo the straps Ryouga moved.
He squealed, jumping out in front of her, outraged that she would
just go through his backpack.
     "<Oh!>" She jumped backwards, dropping the clothes and
whipping the mace around to her front again. Her eyes widened as
she looked at what had challenged her. Ryouga jumped up onto the
backpack, baring his teeth in an effort to look fierce. He grunted,
trying to sound threatening.
     "<Guard Pig?>" The girl looked around quizzically. "<Where's
your master?>" She put her mace back in its place and crouched
forward, clicking her fingers softly as she did so. "<Here piggy,
piggy. I won't hurt you.>"
     Ryouga stared up at her. What the hell did she think she was
doing? Taming him? He'd bite the first finger that came his way.
Stealing his stuff!
     Moving slowly forward out of the rain the girl extended her
hand.
     Ryouga opened his mouth. Just let her try it!
     The girl's hand struck like lightning, going for the back of
his head as soon as he blinked.
     Ryouga gasped out a grunt as her small fingers began to
scratch softly little crevasses in his skin that he hadn't been
aware of before. Oh that felt lovely! He'd bite her in just a
second, right after she was finished.
     "<Good piggy!>" The girl's other hand came in from the side
and picked him up. Yipe! Ryouga felt suddenly ill as the world was
taken out from underneath him. He squealed in protest as he looked
over the edge of her arm. That drop looked huge!
     Bending slightly, the girl stopped scratching him for a second
to push the clothes into the backpack and then sling the backpack
over her shoulder. Quickly resuming the soft finger strokes, she
looked at him and said, "<You're such a good piggy, but I am not. I
have to get back to the village.>"
     She continued to look at Ryouga while she talked, "<You're
going to see something funny, little piggy. Really funny.>"
     The girl giggled to herself as she moved off down the road, in
the direction of the Joketsuzoku village.

That night, Ryouga learned why little girls do not make the best of
travelling partners for small animals. First of all there was the
travelling arrangements, which had him either being carried or
allowed to walk - while attached to a very short leash. Now, while
Ryouga freely admitted to himself that this had probably stopped
him from wandering away (and therefore getting lost) the rope that
he'd been leashed with was chafing the back of his neck.
     The next thing that he'd found slightly annoying was that the
girl insisted on sleeping with him. Now, while this probably
wouldn't have been a problem if said girl had been a little more
mature -- or if she'd been a lighter sleeper -- as it stood, Ryouga
had been rolled over at least ten times in the space of the first
four hours. All of his indignant squealing had elected no response
and the small bite that he'd gone so far as to give had resulted in
him being thrown sleepily at a tree.
     The final thing that irked him was the tone that she addressed
him in. He'd seen little girls in his neighbourhood playing with
dogs and cats, dressing them up and asking them how they liked it
in that exact same tone. The saccharine ladened tones held for him
a morbidity, as they more than indicated what would happen when she
got him home.
     All of which should suffice to show why by the next morning,
Ryouga was well ready to try leaping from any height if the girl
came into the sight of a house, regardless of the fact that he'd
probably lose his backpack.
     The sight of a whole village on the other hand, that caused
him to go berserk. No way was he going to submit to being dressed
and undressed by several hundred little girls! His benefactor,
however, had other plans.
     "<Piggy! Stop squirming!>" The girl seemed surprised as he
jumped wildly from her arms and bounced away, only to be stopped by
the rope that was attached to his neck. She was even more surprised
when, after he realised what was holding him back, he started
chewing the rope furiously while dodging her attempts to grab him.
     "<Right, that's it.>" Ryouga didn't have time to blink as her
hand came down on the back of his neck again. That wasn't going to
work this time! No matter what she scratched there was no way he
was going to come along quietly. However, instead of scratching,
the questing fingers quickly pushed a series of points on his neck.
Ryouga suddenly found himself unable to move. What the hell had she
just done? How could she do that?
     Unable to do anything else except breathe and blink, Ryouga
was an unwilling observer to all that followed.
     The girl moved up towards the sparsely spread houses, nodding
to various sentries and other women as she passed. She brought the
paralysed pig up to her face. "<Well, little piggy, want to see
what all the fuss is about?>" The girl pushed his snout in the
direction of a large gathering of women in the distance. Ryouga, if
he'd been able to, would have shaken his head. No way did he want
to go there.
     The girl shook him up and down, nodding for him. "<You do? Oh
goody!>" she giggled for a second, "<I think I know what it's all
about.>" She skipped up to the group, which had gathered around the
challenge log, and slowly pushed her way through.
     As she got to the front of the crowd, Ryouga had a good view
of what was happening on the log. Two women in form fitting clothes
were fighting, one using a long handled spiked mace, the other
using twin bonboris.
     "<Oh yeah! This is the final round! Shampoo!>" The girl
muttered to herself. "<I'll win this one day, piggy, see if I
don't.>"
     Ryouga, though he wasn't able to do anything about it, was
actually enjoying watching the match. The larger woman, by only
using only one, long handled weapon was able swing it with both
hands, giving her both the reach and the strength advantage. The
smaller woman, using her twin bonboris both to block and attack,
sometimes doing both at once, had the speed advantage and was far
more capable of turning defence into swift attack. They were
however, fairly well matched, for the smaller woman often had to
block the larger woman's more powerful blows with both of her
weapons.
     Ryouga saw a small opening in the larger woman's defence. She
was getting tired, swinging that long mace constantly back and
forth. Her defence was taking longer and longer to return after a
strike. The smaller one had apparently seen it as well, because she
took advantage of it. The next time the mace came her way, she
dodged to one side - staying on the log only by the skin of her
teeth - and swung one bonbori, knocking the mace even further
along, causing the large woman to strain to pull it back in. By the
time that she did retrieve her weapon into a defensive position, it
was too late.
     The other bonbori had come in from the side and smashed the
her flying off the log. A roar went up around the village as the
watching women acknowledged their new Champion. "<Shampoo!>" Ryouga
blinked. They were calling her Shampoo? What a strange name.
     The girl was jumping up and down, hugging her reluctant pet.
"<Piggy! Do you know what happens next? The Champion has her fill
of the first prize, which is over there...>" The girl turned
herself and then gasped. Sitting at the table where the first prize
was kept were two people and a panda. One of the people, the girl,
and the panda were actually eating the first prize!
     "<That's wrong! They're supposed to wait for the Champion to
have her fill first!>" The girl smiled to herself as she made her
way over to where the smaller woman - now the village champion -
was engulfed by a circle of well wishers. She took a deep breath
and then pushed her way slowly through the crowd. Upon reaching the
centre, she reached out and tugged a handy sleave. "<Champion?>"
     The champion turned and looked down at the girl, reaching out
one hand as she saw the pig and scratching his head. Ryouga thought
his heart would stop. Now this was a woman! As he looked, he
revised her age. It was the same as his! A beautiful girl was
scratching his head! He looked at her, taking note of her long,
lustrous purple hair and the swell of her lovely bre... Ryouga's
nose erupted.
     "<Champion! Those people aren't waiting for you!>" The girl
that was holding Ryouga continued, oblivious to what had happened
in her arms.
     Shampoo looked down at the blood trickling down the smaller
girl's sleave, wondered what had happened to the piglet, then
blinked, surprised. "<Sorry, Spice, what was that?>" Turning in the
direction that the child was pointing, she realised that a corridor
was being cleared as more people realised what was going on. She
stared at the prize that she had worked so hard at getting. The
prize that was now being eaten by outsiders.
     Shampoo cracked her knuckles. "<Thank you, Spice.>" She moved
straight down the opened path in the crowd to 'talk' to them.
     Spice giggled, watching Shampoo make her way away from their
current location. "<See Mr Pig? Now they're gonna get stomped!>" As
the crowd shifted its position, looking and moving towards the end
where Shampoo was headed, closing the path behind their new
champion, she glanced down at her passenger. "<OH yuck! How did you
do that?>" She quickly put him on the ground. "<Aiiiie! You got it
all over me too! Bad Piggy!>"
     She rubbed the blood on her clothes off on the backpack,
ignoring the protesting half squeaks that Ryouga was making. He
could hardly even do that! What the heck had she done to him?
Ryouga fumed as he watched her carefully wipe the blood off the
front of his snout, reminding him again of his predicament.
      A snout! Not a nose! Snout! It wasn't fair! A shudder ran
through him. Would he ever be able to change back? Was hot water
the cure? What if it wasn't? What if he was stuck this way for the
rest of his life? He pictured himself five years in the future, in
exactly the same situation, and despaired. This was hell. Hell.
     She lifted him up, looking into his eyes and apparently
missing completely the dark looks that he was tossing at her.
"<Hey, Mr Pig, want to see something funny?>" She turned him
towards the challenge log just as someone landed next to her.
     Ryouga, who could hear perfectly well, flinched as he heard
the landing and, as he was not being able to turn and look without
help of someone else's motor skills, was unable to see who or what
it was. Instead he tried to watch the fight that was happening in
front of him and hope that he could hear who was next to them.
     "<Spice,>" the gravelly old voice began, "<what were you doing
out near Jusenkyo?>" That there was no question of where it was
that she'd been didn't seem to phase the girl.
     She turned slightly, bowing as she did so, allowing Ryouga to
catch a glimpse out of one eye of the small thing beside him. It
seemed attached to the side of a cane and looked about a bajillion
years old.
     "<Elder Ti Fu, I was interested in the path and was simply
following it to the end.>" She paused before continuing, "<I
avoided all of the pools, and stayed out of the valley entirely.>"
     The Elder raised an eyebrow. "<You avoided the pools? A good
choice.>" Ti Fu looked her in the eye before continuing. "<However,
that was not the reason that you were there, was it?>"
     The girl was silent for a second, looking thoughtful, then
shook her head. "<No, Elder, I don't think that there was another
reason. Although I did pick up this neat little piggy!>" She showed
the pig to Ti Fu, who looked on in disgust.
     Ryouga returned the sentiment. What was in front of him was
quite possibly the oldest, ugliest human that he'd ever seen. In
fact it he wasn't even sure it was human. Given all that had
happened to him in the last few days, he wouldn't have put it past
her to be some sort of monster.
     "<A nice pig, child," the Elder scratched her chin, one side
of her mouth curling up into a sly smile, "<If you'd arrived
earlier, we could have added it to the victory feast.>"
     The girl looked faintly disgusted, "<No, elder! I wouldn't
want someone to cook my piggy!>" She clutched Ryouga to her chest,
causing him to suck desperately for air as she nearly smothered
him. She looked crestfallen for a second then bowed her head, "<I'm
really sorry, Elder, but I don't think I could do that. Even for
you.>"
     Turning away finally, sure that something was amiss, but
unsure as to what it was, the elder voiced one last thought,
"<Remember that you are here only by sufferance, girl. If it were
up to me, I would never have allowed you into the tribe. However,
adoption will only protect you so much.>" She walked off.
     "<Yes, Elder.>" Spice bowed again as she called out behind the
hopping troll's back. She swung back, facing the challenge log just
in time to see the village's new champion get knocked off it.
     Ryouga gasped. The champion had been defeated! Watching as the
new comer jumped down off the log, he groaned. How could that have
happened? She was so good! Was this new girl better? He watched as
the red head's hand was held above her head by the referee,
declaring her the new champion.
     The lost boy watched as Shampoo struggled to her feet. How had
she been defeated? He sighed. Well, just went to show, no matter
how good you were, there's always someone better.
     "<Now comes the kiss.>" Spice muttered to herself.
     Shampoo walked across to the red head, reaching out one hand
as she did so. Ryouga's nose gave a twitch as she planted a gentle
kiss on the other girl's cheek. What the hell... ?
     A shout of dismay came from a portly man on the sidelines.
Ryouga looked on in amazement as the man came forward and dragged
the girl off, shouting something about a kiss of death.
     "<Well,>" Spice looked down at her small passenger, "<that's
about all we can expect here. Want to come with me before the nasty
Elder comes back and tries to eat you?>" Ryouga's eyes blinked at
her, uncomprehending, so she nodded his head up and down for him.
Unfortunately, as she didn't have any control over his neck
muscles, she could only manage this by shaking his entire body.
     A very rattled Ryouga was puzzled a few minutes later as they
set out again, stopping only for a brief chat to one of the
sentries, who nodded to whatever it was that Spice asked. Probably
telling them where she was going, Ryouga guessed.

After spending another night in the clutches of the small girl,
Ryouga swore an oath never to sleep with another girl as long as he
lived. A few hours after they left their camp site and after a few
moments of contemplating Shampoo, he appended 'while a pig' to the
end of it.
     This, of course, sent him into a spiralling depression as he
remembered that he might not ever get back to being human again.
     It was nearing noon when the small girl stopped moving. For
most of the morning, and a good deal of the night before that
they'd been following what looked to be a game trail. Very small
and fairly well hidden, it looked to be the sort of path that only
existed for a few months at the most before being reclaimed by the
surrounding foliage.
     Now it seemed that they'd come out of the back lands and were
approaching a fairly major path. It looked like it was well
travelled, while it wasn't paved, it was thick with cart tracks.
     A little way off on the opposite side of the road a stream
burbled along to itself. It was obvious why the path followed the
stream, just looking at it was enough to give the reason away. As
far up and down as the eye could see there were sidetracks to the
stream, where people who wandered the path had watered either their
animals or themselves. Convenience was probably the main reason
this path was travelled.
     Ryouga moved himself in her arms, trying to work out some of
the kinks in his muscles. It was amazing; whatever she'd done to
him yesterday was still effecting him now!
     The girl looked down, "<You want to leave me now?>" She looked
up and down the path, "<Actually, that's probably a good idea.
Someone should be coming along this path soon. They should be able
to look after you.>"
     Moving to one side of the road, she lowered his backpack to
the ground and then set him on top of it. "<Well piggy, I had fun.
But I don't want you getting eaten on me.>" She smiled a little
whimsically. "<I'm pretty sure Ti Fu would find a way to cook you
at the very least...>" She twiddled her thumbs for a few seconds
before adding, "<... she doesn't like me much.>"
     The girl moved slowly back to the side trail that they'd
emerged from, then turned and looked back at him. Ryouga perched
atop his backpack, wondering what the hell he was supposed to do
now. How was he going to get hot water?
     He blinked in surprise as he realised that the girl was coming
back. Straight for him. What did she want now? She rushed the last
few steps, causing him to shift back nervously on his bag. "<Mr
Pig! You look so alone! And it's so cold at night this time of
year!>"
     Ryouga struggled a little as snatched him up and crushed him
against her chest, he managed to let loose one pathetic little
squee before she emptied his lungs of air.
     "<Here let me at least make you warm.>" She knelt down and
opened the backpack, causing another squeal, this one largely
indignant, to issue from the pig. She took a blanket from the pack
and spread it over him. Ryouga struggled out from underneath it,
wondering what she was up to.
     "<You don't like the blanket?>" Spice scratched her head for a
moment. "<Well, I guess I could try lighting a fire. I'm not
usually that good it it.>"
     Making a beeline for the side of the road, she quickly
gathered up what wood she could, returning after a few minutes to
place a relatively small pile of wood down next to the backpack and
Ryouga. She removed a pouch from a pocket in her pants and from
that pouch removed a small flint.
     Hesitantly she stuck the flint a few times, producing sparks
that went nowhere near the dry grass that she was aiming for.
"<Damn!>" She tried again, moving her hands closer this time.
     After a few minutes of trying, a few small sparks landed
correctly. Spice smiled depreciatively, before muttering "<Now, if
only I get them there more often.>"
     She kept at it, and after a few minutes of getting a few
sparks in one place, the grass started smoking more than the few
wisps that occurred after the sparks struck. "<Yes!>" She smiled as
she lent down and blew gently on the grass, coaxing the flame to
life.
     Ryouga glared at the flame suspiciously. Was she going to cook
him? He edged across to the side of his backpack and hopped to the
ground, putting a little distance between himself and the girl. If
she tried to get him now he'd be off into the bush in a flash.
     Spice added some twigs to the flames. "<Ha! Now I've got it.>"
     Ryouga watched as she slowly built the wispy smoke up
into a fairly respectable fire. He slowly pulled his backpack back
a bit, afraid that it might catch fire.
     After the last piece of wood had been added, the small girl
turned to the pig. "<Well, Mr Pig. That's the best I can do. It
should last you awhile.>" She smiled whimsically. "<I guess I won't
see you again.>" She waved at Ryouga and then abruptly stood up and
left.
     Ryouga stared. What the hell? She builds a fire and just
leaves? He snorted, wondering about the girl. Was she sane?
     Shaking his head he realised that it didn't matter. What was
important now was getting back to human. He went to the top of his
backpack, nudging his way inside it once more. Slowly he made his
way down the side, past his clothes, past his tent, to the few
cooking utensils that he had.
     Grasping the first thing that he found that could hold water -
a pot - with his teeth, he pulled it backwards with him as he made
his way out. His back feet had just touched the ground when the pot
decided that getting stuck was the way to go. Grunting what would
have been an obscenity if he'd been human, Ryouga planted his back
feet and pulled. It was a pot, damn it! The thing was completely
round; there was nothing for it to get caught on!
     It slipped free, causing him to go tumbling over backwards.
Grunting another obscenity he righted himself and looked over at
the pot. It was lying on its side half a meter away from the
backpack. He trotted over to it and pushed it with his snout up the
right way.
     He looked at the fire, blazing away merrily. He looked at
where the stream came closest to him, about four meters away. He
nudged the pot. If he dragged the pot all the way over to the
stream and filled it up with water there was no way he'd be getting
it back.
     So he had to bring the water to the pot.
     How? He had no hands. He couldn't even open his damn backpack
right with only his mouth... Ryouga's eyes widened. It'd be
disgusting, but it would probably work.
     He pushed the pot over to the fire, pushing it up as much as
he could against the burning wood. Staring at the height of the
pot's side, he sighed and then pushed his backpack closer to the
fire, so that he could hop up on to it to see into the pot.
     Turning, and hoping that the material of the backpack wouldn't
scorch too much before he could pull it away again, he dashed to
the stream and lowered his mouth to the water. Sucking as much
water into his little piggy cheeks as he could hold, he dashed back
to the fire, hopped up on his backpack, ran to the front of it,
leant over and spat the water into the pot.
     The pathetic amount of water that hit the bottom of the pot
barely covered it. Ryouga sighed. This was going to take awhile.

On the plus side, filling a pot that was already against the side
of the fire by such a small amount of water each time meant that he
didn't have to wait long for the water to get hot.
     So, by the time that Ryouga had enough water in the pot to
cover his entire piggy body, it was already simmering, on the verge
of boiling. Staring at the hot water, Ryouga prayed that this was
the cure. After all if it wasn't, there was no way for him to get
out of the pot after he jumped in. He frowned. Slowly boiled to
death. That was not a good way to go.
     Ryouga gritted his teeth. Better to die than live as a pig for
the rest of his life. He sprang off the backpack into the pot. His
first thought was that the water wasn't as hot as he'd first
thought, the second was feeling a tingle run through his entire
body. He and the water exploded out of the pot that was suddenly
too small for them.
     "YEEEESSSS!" The lost boy, now actually a boy again, screamed
in exultation. He was human again! He was human! He had two hands
and two arms! Not hooves and front legs any more! No more snout! A
nose instead! ... Ryouga blinked. What was that? Something was
trying to get his attention? He looked down. He had two feet. Yes!
Two feet, one of which was right in the middle of a merrily burning
fire.
     "ARRRGGGHHHH!" Luckily, there was a solution handy. He
sprinted to the river and jumped straight into the cold water. The
burning sensation was immediately replaced with a tingle. As Ryouga
crawled out of the water, pig once more, he grunted in disgust as
he realised that he'd have to do it all again.

Ryouga's little legs pumped as he jumped back up onto the backpack
again. This was taking far too long. About three quarters of an
hour had passed since the girl had left. He'd wanted to be out of
here as soon as possible.
     Spitting the water into the pot he stared. It was nearly
enough. Dropping to the ground, he walked back to the river.
Slurping the water up into his cheeks he walked back to his pack,
jumped up on it and spat it into the pot.
     He sighed, a weird half grunt, this was so boring. He dropped
to the ground, and was just starting to walk over to the stream
when he heard a sound.
     Ryouga stopped, straining. What the hell was that? He ran
across to the stream, slurped water and ran back. He deposited the
water and then listened again. Voices! He looked down at the water
in the pot. It'd have to do. He jumped in.
     This time there was no yell of pleasure as he transformed. He
stepped away from the fire and quickly grabbed his backpack. He
winced as he saw the smoke curling from the side that had been
closest to the fire. Quickly opening it fully, scorching his
fingers on a hot buckle, he took his clothes out.
     He pulled his shirt and pants on, and quickly did them up. By
now he could make out the words. He stopped. He knew that voice.
     "So you're saying that Amazon chick will be hunting my cursed
form?" Ryouga's eyes widened. Ranma! Finally! After all this time!
He quickly grabbed his slip on shoes and a pair of socks.
     "That is so, Mr Customer." Ryouga paused. Who was that? That
didn't sound like Ranma's father. He did up his shirt and pulled
his belt around his waist. He's just done it up when two people
walked into view.
     Ryouga stared. There was a panda. Standing on it's hind legs.
He blinked as he recognised the Jusenkyo guide and then realised
where he'd seen the panda before. It was the same one that had
brought him to the Guide's hut that day. His gaze switched again to
the other person. It was Ranma, exactly the same as he'd been a few
months ago. "Ranma?"
     The pigtailed boy turned, looking in the lost boy's direction.
"Oh, hey!" He nodded at him. Then frowned, obviously in thought.
"Uh, sorry, man. I've, uh, forgotten your name." Ryouga frowned. It
hadn't been that long.
     Ryouga took a ready stance, anger rising. All this time spent
looking for him. All this pain, all the time being a pig, and Ranma
didn't even remember him? A low growl settled into Ryouga's throat.
     "You don't remember me, Ranma?" Ryouga's fist
clenched.
     "Uh, hang on a second! I'll remember!" The pigtailed boy waved
one hand, forestalling a combat engagement.
     "You don't remember me? After running out on our duel? I've
just been inducted to hell, it's all your fault, and you CAN'T
REMEMBER ME?!?!" Ryouga ground his teeth.
     "Oh yeah! I know! Ryouga Hibiki! How're things going with
you?" The panda took one cautious step away from his son. He'd seen
this sort of anger before. However, it had usually been aimed at
his master. The guide, upon seeing this, also took a step backward.
     Ryouga facefaulted. How were things going with him?
How were things going? He stood again and screamed angrily, "RANMA!
Prepare to die."

Ryouga blinked, trying to pick Ranma out of the surrounding
students. He'd bounced away again. A small flick of movement that
he saw out of the corner of his eye caused him to turn just in time
to block an incoming kick with his umbrella.
     Ranma paused in front of Furinkan's gates. Resting on the
balls of his feet for a second he asked again, "Hey Ryouga, where'd
you get the umbrella? You weren't using that in China." It was
giving the lost boy a little more of an advantage in the reach
category. He frowned, running down the list of things that could
potentially disadvantage a weapon user. The pig tailed boy's frown
deepened as he realised that the number one thing : removing the
weapon, wasn't going to help. He knew from their last fight that
Ryouga was almost as skilled at hand to hand as himself. A lot
slower, true, but stronger and with slightly more endurance.
     The lost boy struck forward again, breaking Ranma's
concentration and snarling as he did so, "There's a lot you don't
know about me Saotome! A lot has changed since we fought before!
Tell me how to cure myself or I will kill you!"
     Ryouga reversed the direction of his stab, turning it into a
slash and aiming to catch Ranma midair. The pigtailed boy, seeing
this out of the corner of his eye, twisted around and placed his
hands against it as it approached, using his elbows to cushion the
blow and gain a boost he needed to flip out of the way.
     "Hey, that was pretty close!" Ranma rubbed his right palm.
"Uh, about the cure Ryouga... It's really not worth it." He blinked
as he realised that his opponent didn't have any intention of
slowing down to listen. Then bounced away again before the umbrella
could come close.
     The lost boy snarled. It was happening again. He couldn't get
close enough for his attacks to be effective. Ranma was just too
fast. Even with his new umbrella. Ranma had improved to the point
where it wasn't the advantage that he'd thought it would be. Well
there were other aspects to be tried. "Ranma! Try this!" Snapping
open his umbrella as Ranma looked on, probably wondering what was
about to happen, he threw it forward causing it to spin like a
crazy top away from him towards his enemy.
     Ranma sidestepped. No tellin' what that thing was going to do.
He watched it for a second as it spun past him. Interesting. A
ranged attack. His eyes widened as he saw several other students
that had gathered to watch jump to the side, dodging out of the way
as well. "Hey!" he yelled as he turned to face the other boy,
"Watch where you're throwing that..."
     The pigtailed boy grunted as the fist struck him in the gut.
     Ryouga had used the distraction to rush forward. The lost boy
smiled as Ranma was forced into a heavy defensive routine. As
menacingly as possible, he ground out, "I will beat the cure out of
you if I have to." He paused a second, allowing Ranma to flip out
of the way as he caught his umbrella on the return.
     Ranma opened his mouth to protest once more but was
forestalled as Ryouga yelled at him, "I don't care what side
effects it brings with it! All I know is that you don't change with
water!" He ground his teeth. Why was Ranma being so stubborn about
this? It was Ryouga's choice to take the cure, and he wanted to do
it. Anything to stop the constant swapping between pig and human.
     Ranma flipped over another umbrella strike, flipping directly
overhead of his opponent. At the zenith of his flip he punched out,
striking Ryouga's collar bone on the way over. "Look, you idiot!
There's something ya need to see before you take the cure! The
major drawback!" He dodged another umbrella throw as he landed,
once again watching as other people were forced to dodge out of the
way. "And would ya stop throwing that damn thing around? You're not
going to hit me; you're going to hit someone else!"
     Ryouga paused. Maybe Ranma had a point. What if there was a
huge drawback? He caught his umbrella as it returned. "What do you
want to show me?"
     Ranma sighed. Thank god. He was finally listening to reason.
"I want to show you this..." The pigtailed boy started to turn
towards where Ranko and Akane were sitting when he heard his
opponent call out.
     Ryouga sneered as he saw the drawback. How pathetic. If Ranma
thought that glowing yellow was enough of a worry to stop him from
using the cure, did he have another think coming. He screamed his
opinion, "That's pathetic, Ranma. I'm sure the glowing thing is
very inconvenient when you're playing hide and seek at night, but
if you think it's enough to stop me, you're wrong. So wrong."
     His fist clenched about his umbrella. Why had he thought that
Ranma might have had a good reason? It was apparent that he was
doing it just to be an asshole. Bringing his hand back, he threw
his umbrella forward once more.
     Ranma blinked. Glowing? Oh no! He spun to face the lost boy
again, kicking out at the closing umbrella as he dodged around it
he knocked it into a wobble. This in turn caused its flight path to
degenerate and sent it to crashing to the ground.
     "Ryouga! This is serious! Am I glowing?" Swinging his
attention to where Ranko was sitting, he stared at Akane. She
nodded. He flung an arm out to block an attack that he knew Ryouga
was just about to make and then twisted hastily back as he realised
that whatever had struck his arm, it wasn't an attack.
     The lost boy smirked. This was it. No way was Ranma getting
away now. He'd wrapped one of his bandannas around Ranma's arm. He
kicked out, frustrated as Ranma dodged again. Snarling to himself
he finally answered, "Yes, you're all lit up like a Christmas tree.
Who cares? I just want to know how the cure works!" Another kick
grazed past Ranma's face as the pigtailed boy's eyes widened a
little.
     "Ryouga? I know this is the worst possible time to ask ya
this, but do ya get the feeling we've done this before?" Ranma
blinked. He'd never even been to Furinkan before three days ago,
but right now, it felt like he'd fought Ryouga millions of times,
right here. On this spot. Using these moves. What the heck was
going on? Akane. Ryouga. Kunou. Hiroshi. Daisuke.
     "No. We haven't done this before. Otherwise I'd be cured and
you'd be dead."
     Ranma frowned, puzzled. Another wave of familiarity had washed
over him at Ryouga's answer. So familiar. It was on the tip of his
tongue. Why?

Akane stared at the scene in front of her. Ranma was fighting
someone who just attacked out of nowhere, screaming about a cure.
She shook her head. That meant that he was probably cursed as well.
     She wondered for a second what he was cursed to become,
then shrugged; it wouldn't matter. Looking at the red headed girl
next to her, she noted with some worry that the yellow glow was
definitely deepening.
     "What is it with this stuff?" Akane asked herself quietly, "Is
it whenever Ranma's in danger?"
     The whole glowing thing, to her, was more worrying than the
battle that was captivating everyone else's attention. What would
happen if it turned golden again? Already the link between the two
siblings could be clearly seen, a shining yellow line, slightly
brighter than natural sunlight.
     She paused. Come to think of it, had the link between the two
turned golden earlier? She thought back on it, watching as Ryouga
kept trying to kick or punch Ranma.
     Annoyed at herself when she couldn't remember, she admitted
that she probably just hadn't looked the link in all the rush.
     Akane smirked to herself. Well, she had been a little busy at
the time.

"I'll get you this time Saotome!" Ranma dodged to one side as
Ryouga struck forward with an open handed blow. He felt the nail on
Ryouga's thumb graze his cheek on the way past. He blinked in
surprise as he reached his free hand up, wiping the small droplet
of blood off his cheek.
     Glancing at the back of his hand to confirm that he was
bleeding, Ranma snarled, "Ya know Ryouga, if you're not going to
let me finish what I'm saying, I guess I'll just have to beat it
into ya!"
     Ryouga smiled to himself. Finally, a touch that actually made
him worried! "Yeah, right, Ranma. You're finished now!" He punched
out again, intending to catch the pigtailed boy while he was
glancing a second time at the blood on the back of his hand.
     Ranma was expecting it.
     Ducking under the punch, he kicked out at the lost boy's legs,
sweeping them off the ground. Rolling over on top of his opponent,
Ranma sat on his chest while looking down at him. "Look, I'll try
this one more time. The 'cure' is much, much worse than the curse.
If I could go back, I would, believe me."
     "Then you're a fool, Saotome." Acting on an adrenalin rush at
such dismissive and belittling treatment, Ryouga pushed the other
boy away from his chest, practically throwing him as he let go of
the bandanna.
     Ranma flipped, landing on his feet next to his other self and
Akane. "This guy just won't listen to reason!" He glanced at his
supposed fiance. "How's the colour? Golden yet?"
     Akane shook her head. "You're still in yellow. Just. Careful,
I don't think the nurse would like another case this close to the
other."
     Ranma nodded briefly before turning back. He didn't want
another repeat of what happened earlier. Over his shoulder he
muttered to Akane, "You think I want that to happen?"
     Ryouga stood and grabbed his umbrella from the ground. He
rushed forward in another frontal attack, thrusting his umbrella
out at Ranma. Who, in turn, simply sidestepped the incoming brolly
and delivered a powerful snap kick to the chin. "You're an idiot
Ryouga. All of your attacks are slow and predictable. Can't ya just
be reasonable and listen to me?"
     Ryouga wiped blood from his mouth as he staggered backwards.
"Hah! You can't dodge forever Ranma! Try this!" He reached up with
his free hand and removed a good portion of his bandannas. Flicking
his wrist, he threw them like frisbees.
     "Ryouga you absolute idiot! I'm not the only one here! Akane,
run!" Ranma ran forward, slapping the bandannas out of the air.
     Ryouga, still dizzy from the kick to the chin, didn't quite
catch what Ranma was saying. "You're a fool Ranma! You're
completely open!" He snapped his umbrella open and threw it forward
straight at the pigtailed boy. A few moments later his eyes were
wider than most saucers.
     It had all happened at once.
     Ranma, forced to kick down the incoming umbrella, missed a
more than a few bandannas. Akane, who had been getting up to tell
Ranma that she could take care of herself, saw that there was no
way she was going to be able to avoid the bandannas that were now
flying towards her. She let loose a small 'Eep' that, although
quiet, was heard by all present. Ryouga lost his balance and
stumbled forward out of his attack stance. He suddenly saw a girl,
who had been partially obstructed by Ranma, was about to be hit by
his bandannas.
     "NO!" The scream burst in perfect stereo from two mouths.
     Ryouga started as the glow around Ranma intensified past
yellow to bright gold. The pigtailed boy spun, intent getting to
Akane in time, but it was painfully apparent to him that no matter
how fast he was at the moment, he was going to be too slow. In the
end it didn't matter, because he was beaten to the punch.
     Ranko, who had been sitting a way away from Akane, was
suddenly next to her, scooping her up and jumping.
     The lost boy stared dumbfounded as the golden streak jumped -
practically flew - up and away, out of the line of the bandannas.
He blinked as it landed on the rooftop of the school - a good
hundred meters away and five floors up. A few moments passed, in
which the only sound was the muttering of some of the onlookers,
before Ryouga approached Ranma.
     The pigtailed boy was, Ryouga was somewhat discomforted to
notice, still glowing gold. "Uh, Ranma? What was that?" He stared
at the golden cord that was stretched out towards the rooftop.
     "Ranma?" Ryouga paused before continuing, "Was this what you
meant?"

Cologne bounced along the road.
     It was basically the only thing that she remembered having
done this entire trip. Bouncing along roads. She'd gotten off the
ship and then started to bounce. Sure, she'd talked to some of the
people that she passed - more to check if her Japanese was up to
scratch than anything else - but she hadn't really stopped bouncing
to do that.
     Sure, she slept, but it was never for more than a few hours at
a time; just enough to enable her to start bouncing again without
falling off the damn stick again. Glancing down she realised that
she'd probably need another one at the end of this.
     She almost laughed, thinking that at least she could give this
worn one to Po Xion, and get her off her back for a while.
     She looked down at the passing ground. She'd walk, except that
this way was a lot faster. Her small steps couldn't even begin to
compare to a pogo with the stick. She sighed to herself, it also
seemed a lot easier. It wasn't; she knew that she was actually
expending more energy to move this way than walking, but it seemed
that way when she was making good time.
     She was almost past a sign displaying the distance remaining
to Tokyo - one hundred and fifty kilometres - when something caught
her eye. A short distance from the sign were a set of tracks that
lead around in a circle; chasing something. She wouldn't have paid
it any attention except that the tread on the footprints was very
distinctive.
     The soles of whoever's shoes had made the marks had carried a
'Hello Kitty' emblem on it. This wasn't, in itself, what made the
tread distinctive.
     What did make them distinctive was the actual writing. 'Hello
Kitty' had been written twice on the bottom of the shoe. Once in
Japanese, the other in the slightly archaic Cantonese that passed
as the form of written language of the Joketsuzoku.
     Now, while Cologne wasn't going to say for sure that every
person that used that variant of Cantonese was still in China, she
was, however, willing to bet that most of those that were out and
about wouldn't personalise the 'Hello Kitty' tread marks on their
shoes.
     There was, however, one person that she knew that would almost
definitely wear those shoes and who would know the language to
carve that into the bottom of the shoes. Po Xion.
     Sighing at the girl's sheer idiocy, she nonetheless steered
herself towards the tracks. As she looked over them, she found that
the girl had been chasing a cat. Looking to one side, she found
where someone else, probably Shampoo, had watched on.
     Clucking her tongue in slight annoyance that her grand
daughter had allowed this farcical chase to go on, she looked
closer at the tracks.
     The rain shower that had forced her to take shelter last night
had apparently only just reached here, not forceful enough to wipe
out the prominent features of the tracks, but enough to leave a
curved, smoothed edge to them.
     She smiled. They were not much older than two days. Hopefully
that meant that they were still on the road, although they should
have been able to cover that distance in that much time. It would
be close.
     Hopefully she'd be able to catch up to them before they
decided to go up against it. After all, that's why she was here.
Besides, she had no other grand daughters; it wouldn't do to lose
Shampoo.

At that moment, her grand daughter was not looking for any of the
people that had her great grandmother so worried. She'd been
convinced by her travelling companion to take a slight detour.
Actually, looking back on it, she hadn't had much say in the
matter. Her Japanese, while improving, was nowhere near good enough
to get her where she'd have to go.
     The grounds of the house were, well, big. Shampoo could admit
that. She could also admit that being inside the sprawling
metropolis that liked to call itself Tokyo it would also seem to
indicate that the people who owned it were rich. Well off,
certainly.
     She could accept that by some strange random coincidence that
her pink haired companion might be actually related to the people
that owned the house. That would mean that poor, little Po Xion
probably came from one of the richest families in the village.
Material needs were, of course, completely irrelevant to a staunch
warrior such as herself, but it would be nice to get a new dress.
     Actually, looking at the colour of the house as they moved up
the driveway, she was forced to admit that they very probably were
related to the girl by her side. The way that the forty plus shades
of pink went together clashed with even her warrior's fashion sense.

     Of course, Po Xion wouldn't see it her way.
     "<That's such a cuuuute house, isn't it Shammy?>" The other
girl piped up in her saccharine tones the exact phrase that Shampoo
was dreading. The word cute could only be used so many times before
it lost some of the impact that it carried. If, for example, it was
used as every other descriptive word, it basically lost all
meaning.
     The purple haired amazon was so far into the process that she
was actually replacing the word cute with the word or words that
her travelling companion had obviously meant to say. In this case
'completely repulsive' seemed the best choice.
     Shampoo nodded. Yes it was definitely that. She couldn't see
how anyone with any sort of vision - at all - could stand to live
in that house. After a few months it would have driven her
absolutely insa...
     "<Uh, Po Xion, how long have your ancestors lived in this
house?>" The amazon asked the question, already fairly sure of the
answer.
     "<Ever since we were granted it. Back in the 1500's. We've
patched it up every now and then, like after those nasty
earthquakes. No-one else wanted it for some reason, we've even kept
the traditional colours from that time period.>"
     Bingo. She'd known that there had to be a reason. Now she knew
for sure. Her ancestors must have been irradiated by all the pink,
causing a mutation that had been passed on down to their children.
Such a tragedy.
     <"How long is this going to take Po Xion?"> Shampoo scratched
her head, if this was going to go on forever, maybe she should go
and look for the red head and the panda by herself.
     <"Oh I don't know, it should be short though."> Po Xion
flicked her hand with a dismissive wave. That house was just so
cute. Maybe they'd let her take it home with her.
     <"You don't know? Well how long does it usually take?">
     <"This is the first time I've visited them."> Po Xion reached
forward and knocked on the door, smiling back at her companion.
     Shampoo blinked. The first time? She was visiting her
relatives for the first time with a complete stranger? Now that was
strange. <"Uh, are you sure I should be here? I mean you probably
want to catch up by yourself.">
     Po Xion shook her head, <"No, Grandmother wanted someone else
from the tribe here when I met them.">
     The purple haired amazon paused for a second before continuing
her thoughts. One of the Matriarchs wanted someone else here when
her grand daughter met their family for the first time? That was
unheard of. Why would she _want_ someone else there. Unless... she
wanted witnesses?
     "Hello?" A girl who looked a lot like Po Xion, both in the
obvious family resemblance and dress sense opened the door. She was
wearing a pink dress with pink socks and two pink hair bows. The
pink dress was offset with three rows of sewn on bows, also pink,
but in slightly darker shade. Her nail polish was, of course, the
right shade of pink to set off her pink eye shadow.
     Shampoo took one look at the girl and nearly threw up. Po Xion
took one look at the girl and suddenly decided that her hair bows
were really too cute. Actually, her whole dress was cute. And they
were cousins! She could borrow them! She stared again at the bows.
They were just the right shade to set her own hair colour off.
     Asuza looked out at the two people on her doorstep. One, she
decided, had no fashion sense at all. There wasn't a bow on her!
The other, with that nice pink hair dye, was almost the same,
dressed in that tight dress, but she at least had the sense to wear
bows! She looked them over again, noting with some apprehension
that they were both carrying weapons. She stared as her gaze fell
on the dagger of the front one. It was so cute!
     Shampoo stared in horrified fascination as both teens suddenly
reached towards each other, one, the Amazon, reaching for the hair
bows and yelling "<Antonette! Claudette!>" The other, reaching for
the dagger, yelling "Jean-Claude! Jean-Claude!"
     Po Xion pulled back as she realised what her cousin was trying
to do, "<Hey! Leave Jean-Peirre alone!>" Didn't she know that
Jean-Peirre was hers? He was her favourite possession! She'd even
tied a small bow around his cute little hilt!
     "No, Martina! Charlotte! Evil girl! Leave them alone!" Asuza
ducked her head, pulling it back. What was this girl thinking,
trying to take her bows away!
     Shampoo giggled, a short, hysterical chuckle that escaped
through her lips as she watched the two regroup, still eyeing the
other's possessions off. Sure enough, after a few seconds they both
reached forward again, calling out as they did so. "Antonette!
Jean-Claude! Claudette!"
     Shampoo stumbled forwards, clutching her head. Every single
annoyance that she'd suffered over the past few weeks came flooding
back. The need for the panda prints, the stolen items, the annoying
attitude and the incessant use of the word 'cute'. Only this time
in full stereo. "There's two of them. Two of them. I don't believe
it! It has to be an evil dream! A nightmare!"
     She pinched herself. When neither Shiratori vanished, she
placed her head against the wall and banged it gently, muttering as
she did so, "Begone evil dream, begone." Two Po Xions. That just
wasn't possible, was it?

Ranma stared out of Ranko's eyes. It was quite a disconcerting
experience, looking out of a set of eyes without being the person
that controlled them. He kept wanting to change their location and
their focus, neither of which he could do. He was effectively
locked out of the control room of one of his own bodies.
     He could feel Akane's body through Ranko's arms, he was
watching through his 'sister's' eyes as Ranko clutched the youngest
Tendou daughter tighter. He felt her legs tense as the rooftop came
rushing up to meet them - how the hell had they managed to jump
this far, anyway?
     What was this guy doing? His eyes remained focused on Akane,
even after they'd landed. What was a little disconcerting was the
way that they sometimes flicked down to the front of her dress.
Sure, Ranma had glanced there from time to time, but who knew what
this guy intended to do.
     Then Ranko looked up, glancing around at the students that
were staring at her with shocked gazes. Ranma became slightly
apprehensive as he felt the red head's eyebrows come down into a
frown, her cheeks pulling upwards into a snarl. Run! Ranma tried to
yell to the people gathered around the two of them, only to find
that he was as completely locked out of the vocal cord controls as
he was everything else.
     He felt her mouth open and could tell that she was about to
speak, but he found had no idea what she was going to say. "Get
away from us. Now."
     He could feel that her eyebrows were pulled down into a frown,
but she was also doing something else. He'd never felt someone
manipulate a battle aura like this before! He could almost feel it
moving; concentrating itself at her eyes. Whatever she hoped to
accomplish, it wouldn't work. These people weren't warriors; they
wouldn't be able to see whatever it was that... Ranma watched,
stunned, as every single student on the rooftop obeyed without
question, most scared out of his or her wits. He wondered if it was
an easy thing to do, he might have to try it sometime.
     Meanwhile, Akane again played the last few moments back in her
mind. She'd gotten up to tell Ranma that she could take care of
herself and then seen the bandannas. Seen the bandannas. There
hadn't been that many of them, maybe four in all, but they were all
coming towards her. She would have been able to block two, maybe
three, but that would have left at least one. One that would have
gotten through; would have injured her.
     That hadn't happened though, because someone had pulled her
out of danger. Someone that she hadn't let go of yet. She could
feel what were obviously breasts beneath the silky white shirt that
she was clinging to.
     White shirt? Well that was fairly standard school uniform for
the girls around here, however, there was something amiss. It
suddenly clicked. She was still hugging the girl, whoever she was,
and Ranko also wore white shirts! She scooted backwards, away from
her benefactor, unable to look up in embarrassment. Her gaze didn't
lift above waist level as she glanced at the black pants that were
the being worn by the girl. That confirmed it: Ranko had rescued
her. No other girl wore that style of pants.
     How humiliating, now it looked like she really couldn't take
care of herself. Her cheeks coloured, turning a slightly darker
shade of pink. Worse, she'd just been hugging the red head like
there'd be no tomorrow. But, Akane was forced to admit, her
intervention had been timely. Some sort of thanks was necessary,
"Uh... thankyou, Ranko." She almost whispered. She was still
avoiding the other girl's face when her mind informed her of
another interesting fact: Ranko was glowing a shade of yellow so
deep that you couldn't really call it yellow any more.
     Akane's eyes flicked up as she registered the golden aura that
was surrounding the other girl. "What the...?" Her eyes flicked up
to the teenaged Saotome's face. Golden pools regarded her
curiously, wonderingly.
     Ranma watched as his reluctant fiancee's eyes widened in shock.

     "You're not Ranma!" Akane jumped back this time, standing and
taking a ready stance. What she was going to do if whoever was in
control of Ranko's body attacked she wasn't sure, but at least she
wouldn't just allow it to happen.
     Ranma felt the body that he was riding along in tense and felt
her catch herself before looking down. "No." Ranko's tone, even
from where Ranma was listening, sounded bitter. "I guess I'm not.
Goodbye, Akane."
     Ranma felt a chill run through his bones for an instant,
causing him to shiver uncontrollably. He blinked as he realised
that the shiver had carried through to Ranko. He was back in
control, that had to be good.
     The youngest Tendou watched as the golden aura died around the
other girl, flickering out like a light. Ranko's eyelids blinked
once and suddenly returned to the brilliant blue that they usually
were.
     "Ranma?" Akane asked, not dropping her guard for a second.
After all, who knew what might have happened.
     The red head slowly nodded, "Yeah, it's me Akane." She thought
for a second. "That was weird, he was in control, but I was riding
along -- kinda like an observer or something." Her eyes started to
glaze over as Ryouga shook Ranma's shoulder down in the courtyard.
     "So it was the same guy?" Akane brushed herself down quickly,
she'd been hugging some body snatching pervert. What was worse, it
hadn't been Ranma! She paused as her mental processes realised what
she'd just thought and ran damage control on it. It still wouldn't
have been good if Ranma had been in control of Ranko, but at least
he seemed to have good intentions.
     Ranko considered for a second. "I'm not completely convinced
that it is a guy. Or that they can't see and hear what's happening
now." Her blue eyes widened in shock. "What if they are looking out
right now, just like I was? They'd know everything about me! And
everything that I saw and heard and did!" She shivered and her eyes
glazed slightly once more. Again she ignored the impulse to switch
back to her other self.
     Akane's eyes widened. She hadn't thought of that. What if that
pervert was watching poor Ranko as she took a bath? Unlike Ranma
she was sure it had to be some perverted boy. Also unlike Ranma,
she conveniently forgot that there was at least one boy who was
watching Ranko whenever she did anything - Ranma himself.
     "So what are you going to do?" Akane asked.
     Ranko shrugged, still looking a little concerned, "I'm not
sure there's anything I _can_ do about it. Live with it I guess."
Her eyes glazed slightly again. "Ryouga's been trying to get my
attention for awhile now, hang about and I'll get back to you."
     Closing her eyes, the female Saotome sat on the floor and was
instantly closed to the world.

Ryouga nudged the pigtailed boy's shoulder once more, looking every
now and then up and around at the surrounding students.
     What the hell was going on here? That freaky golden aura that
had been all over Saotome was gone and still he wasn't 'here'. What
the hell was going on?
     Ryouga was looking straight at his rival, directly into his
eyes as they filled once more with life. He stepped back, whatever
else had happened, that just about took the cake.
     Ryouga muttered to himself, "The eyes are a window to the
soul, the eyes are a window to the soul. So what the hell just
happened? His soul was somewhere else?"
     Ranma looked at the eternally lost boy, "What? I was kinda
busy ya know."
     "Uh," Ryouga groped, trying to find an adequate question,
settling for the obvious, he voiced, "What the hell was that? The
whole glowing thing? The girl?"
     Ranma stared at him for a second before growling out, "That,
you idiot, was what I've been trying to tell you about since the
start of this damn fight."
     Ryouga puzzled that through for a second, then asked, "So,
what exactly was it?"
     "My CURSE, you fool! Don't you get it? The 'cure' is almost
anything but!" He suddenly glanced at the now straining-to-hear
students gathered around him. "C'mon, I've gotta go pick up Akane
and Ranko and then we'll go home and discuss it..." His eyes
flicked around the crowd, "... in a place that doesn't have a few
hundred ears attached to it."
     Turning, the pigtailed boy pushed his way through the gathered
students, pulling a still slightly confused Ryouga behind him.

     Hiroshi moved over towards Sayuri, wondering at all that had
happened. He smiled a little, almost secretively, as she in turn
moved towards him. He nodded to her as he came within talking
distance. "Well, that was certainly interesting."
     Sayuri nodded thoughtfully, "Yeah, imagine, Ranma thinks of
Ranko as his curse! How dreadful!"
     Hiroshi sweatdropped. "Uh, actually I was talking about the
fight." He put his hand up defensively as she glared at him, "I
mean, yeah, that's pretty bad, but the whole fight seemed weird.
Ranma was dancing all over the other guy. It looked like he could
have won at any time, but he didn't... Why?"
     The girl shrugged, "Maybe he didn't want to hurt him?"
     The brown haired boy shook his head, "Nah, I don't think that
was it. Why would he want to prolong the fight, I mean, look what
almost happened to Akane! She could have been seriously hurt!"
     They walked in silence for a few seconds, taking care to keep
a 'decent' distance between themselves, before Hiroshi turned to
her again, flushing a little as he spoke, "So, are we still on for
tomorrow night?"
     Sayuri also blushed before answering, "Yeah, as long as you're
not thinking of cancelling it."
     Hiroshi smiled somewhat lopsidedly, "Nah, wouldn't dream of
it."

Daisuke cursed as he left the front doors of the school. Stupid
teacher, he would have to catch me watching the fight. He sighed,
looking at the now setting sun. There was no way Hiroshi was still
gonna be at the video arcade. No-one with any sort of brain waited
this long. Damn Mr Yamada, making me stack all the chairs and desks
in every room of the damn corridor, now I'm so late I'm not going
to be able to watch any of the chicks at the ...
     Daisuke's train of thought took a rapid left turn. Three girls
were poking around the school grounds. Three beautiful girls. He
just managed to stop before he started drooling. They seemed to be
looking for something. Maybe he could help them. Yeah, that was the
ticket. Help them.
     Changing direction, he strolled casually in their direction.
As he neared all three heads came up at once, looking in his
direction. One of them stepped forward, intent on intercepting him.
     "Hello, ladies. Is there anything I can help you with?"
Daisuke's attempt at smooth would have been completely ruined as
soon as anyone looked at his face - it was quite obvious what he
was thinking - had any of the three actually been thinking of
anything more than pumping him for information.
     Fork looked at the male in front of Soap, noting with some
disgust that he was practically drooling. She turned to Dish and
muttered, "<We're supposed to like that sort of crap? I can tell
from here that he can't even fight! What use would he be? Every
time I think about getting a husband, someone like that pops up and
I can quite happily remember why I'm still single. Are all men
stupid? There must be a reason why they keep trying.>"
     Dish nodded, before commenting neutrally, "<Well, there are
always bad apples.>" She smirked before adding "<And I bet his
hormones are getting the better of him. Anyway...>"
     She nodded at the ground around them, indicating the various
scuffs, indents and broken trees around the gates. "<What do you
make of those?>"
     Fork walked casually over to the fallen tree and pulled a
cloth from one of the branches before practically waving it in
front of the other Amazon's face. "<Gee, you think it was him?>"
The yellow and black checkmarks combined with how deeply into the
wood the bandanna had penetrated identified the thrower fairly well.

     Dish leaned backwards, against the inside of the wall, "<Oh, I
know it was him. All you have to do is look at the effect that
umbrella strike had on the tree.>" She pointed to where a fairly
large chunk of tree trunk lay, shaped almost exactly like the cross
section of an umbrella. "<I was asking about the battle itself.>"
She indicated to the left of the tree stump, where a few prints
were clearly visible.
     Through half closed eyes she watched closely as the more
impulsive warrior looked at the tracks. She smiled in appreciation
as the other's eyes widened suddenly. Nodding to herself she leaned
forward off the wall and strode over. "<Interesting, isn't it?>"
     Fork nodded, still trying to follow the footsteps of Ryouga's
opponent.
     Dish pointed to another set of prints nearer the edge of the
fight zone, "<Look at those, that was where it ended.>"
     Fork walked over, looking with interest at the various
trenches that would have resulted from thrown bandannas. "<Whoever
the pig was fighting was fast. Very fast. He dodged most of the
bandannas.>"
     Dish pointed to a slightly lighter set of prints. "<He
positioned himself in front of this person right here. He could
have dodged them all if he'd wanted too. If you look to the sides,
you can see where something has hit, hard.>" She drew Fork's
attention to some very slight depressions in the earth. "<I don't
think he was only dodging them; he was hitting them out of the air.
Protecting the person behind him.>"
     Fork winced and rubbed the palm of her left hand. She knew all
about trying to hit those things out of the air. Cloth was _not_
supposed to feel like that. One time had been enough to convince
her never to try it again. The amount of depressions indicated that
whoever had been fighting had done it at the very least eight
times. Whoever had been fighting was good. Very good.
     Daisuke was just warming up, "Hey, I love your accent, it's so
cute!" He knew girls liked to be flattered and this one was looking
like putty in his hands. She flushed, making herself look even
cuter than before. YES! He was in!
     "Thankyou. You're very kind." Soap had to stop herself from
laughing. This was way to easy. So far she'd established that this
guy had watched most of the fight and confirmed that it had indeed
been her husband that had been fighting. She was on a roll.
     Fork sniffed as she looked across at the two. "<That's so
demeaning. Why does she put up with it?>"
     Dish shook her head, amazed that her fellow warrior could be
so dense. "<It's quite simple really, Fork. You can catch a lot
more flies with honey than you can with vinegar.>" She smiled
before moving slightly into Soap's line of vision. As the other
Amazon glanced at her, she mouthed the words, "<Find out who.>"
     Soap nodded to Dish, yes that would be helpful.
     Daisuke felt a thrill run down his spine. This was it.
Finally. She was his. He was a little put out when she interrupted
his story. Ah well, she probably had a reason.
     "Sooo," Soap smiled at him, "I was just wondering who was
fighting here? All these poor trees felled. Who would be nasty
enough to do such a thing."
     Daisuke grinned. What a perfect way to put in a good word
about himself. "I would never hurt such wonderful trees. But the
people that were fighting were Ranma Saotome and that other kid."
He frowned in thought for a second, "As I told you before, I
haven't seen the other boy before today."
     Fork glanced down at the tracks once more, the two combatants
had walked away together. She looked up again, muttering to
herself, "<Find out where he lives you bimbo! Then we can finally
get the home wrecking pig!>"
     Dish raised an eyebrow, "<Calm down, Fork. You'll bust a gut.
Besides, Soap has it under control.>"
     The excitable amazon clenched her fist, "<My vengeance is long
overdue!>"
     Dish sighed, shaking her head almost sadly, "<Well, as long as
you remember that killing someone else's husband is bad form.>"
     Soap reached out and grasped Daisuke's hand, "So you'll take
us?" She smiled again as Daisuke nodded.
     They walked over to the other two girls, Soap calling out as
they approached, "<Ok, he's going to take us to the place that
Ranma is living. Unfortunately, I think I may have over done it.>"
She glanced at where Daisuke was silently wondering how to get all
three girls into his bedroom without his parents noticing. His
little fantasy was abruptly shattered as one of the three girls
reached over her left shoulder and drew a very nasty looking sword.
     Fork poked Daisuke in the chest with the tip of her
sword, "You take us straight there and I no geld you, ok?"
     Dish rolled her eyes as the boy abruptly fainted.

Ryouga bowed to the two fathers on the other side of the room. Mr
Saotome he knew, even if he was a panda at the moment, the other he
assumed was the Tendou patriarch.
     So far, his day wasn't improving.
     After they'd left the battle ground they'd gone upstairs to
pick up this Akane girl and Ranko. Now that had been a shock, she'd
been sitting there, looking like she was meditating, when Ranma
walked over to her and taken her hand. He'd watched as she stood up
and turned to him. He looked back at the male Saotome teen and then
noted that they were both staring at him.
     Still, nothing compared to when they'd spoken. "See? I told
you it was worse." The dual voice grated on his ear. It was just
... freaky. He'd still been reeling from hearing them when he'd
nearly been decapitated by Akane's book bag. He'd dodged just in
time. Still he supposed that he did deserve something, after all,
he'd nearly injured her.
     He sighed, the walk to their home had been anything other than
calming. When they'd started he could feel the Tendou girl's eyes
on him. It didn't help that the Saotomes had made him walk in front
of them 'so that he wouldn't get lost'.
     At least he could hear them talking. It was a little weird
though, Ranma and Ranko had spent the greater part of the journey
trying to convince Akane to cut her hair, something that the other
girl was reluctant to do. He smirked. Sometimes Ranma was just
weird.
     Still, he was grateful that the other boy had distracted her
from the back of his head, it would have made a perfect target. At
least it hadn't taken too long to get back to the Tendou's place.
     Ryouga blinked, two new girls had arrived, one was serving
tea, the other was staring at him.
     Ranma indicated the one serving tea, "Ryouga, these are
Akane's sisters. Kasumi." The pigtailed martial artist threw a
smile at the older girl, nodding his thanks as she passed him a cup.

     Ryouga did the same as she passed him another of the cups.
"Thanks." She smiled back at him.
     Ranma indicated the other new girl, "Nabiki."
     Nabiki accepted her cup from Kasumi and thanked her without
letting her eyes leave Ryouga for a moment.
     Ryouga nodded politely in her direction before turning to
Ranma. "So, how is it possible that both you and ... Ranko are
here? What's it all about I guess is what I mean." He'd been
waiting for this. The Explanation. Maybe this could be avoided?
Maybe the cure could work right for him?
     Ranma and Ranko sighed, both looking at him, they began in
stereo, "This is what the 'cure' does. It splits you up from your
curse, making both forms permanent. That way you don't change when
water hits you. Unfortunately you feel and control both forms -
which is harder than it looks. Also, I found out a few days ago
that major injuries carry across between forms." They motioned at
their feet. "Ranko cut her ankle. On my ankle a similar bruise
appeared, not as bad, true, but still painful enough to make me
limp as well."
     They sighed, "Also, it seems that there's some wacko cruising
around that can take over either of my bodies at will. I don't know
where they came from, but as I never had any problems before the
'cure', and you haven't either?" They raised an eyebrow, asking if
he'd experienced any weird possessions lately.
     Ryouga shook his head. Nothing like that had ever happened to
him.
     "And neither have you or pop, I'm going to assume that it's
not something that's just conferred upon Jusenkyo victims." They
sighed in tandem. "Who ever it is doesn't seem to be a bad person,
but they have injured at least one person that I know of." The
Saotome teens muttered to one side, "And he deserved it."
     "It seems that others can tell when 'he' is about to take over
because of that glow that you saw earlier. I can't see it. As far
as I know neither can he." They glanced at themselves, examining
both left arms for a second.
     "A positive side effect seems to be that I can heal instantly
when he's around. I also seem to get an increase in both speed and
strength." The twins paused for a second, then added, "Who ever it
is might also be able to 'watch' - as in see out of my eyes and
hear out of my ears - while I'm in charge. They certainly knew
about Kunou anyway."
     They sighed in stereo, "Well anyway, the major drawback is
obviously that you have both of the bodies. Something which I'm
sure you," Ranma and Ranko stared at Ryouga, "want nothing to do
with, especially as injury to one carries through."
     Ryouga twiddled his thumbs for a second, looking out at the
koi pond and wondering about this 'cure'. Eventually he shook his
head. "No, I don't want that. Not at all. You were right. It would
be much worse than my actual curse." He sighed, staring out at the
sunset. He'd been this close.
     "So, Ryouga, what do you turn into?" Nabiki piped up from
where she was quietly watching him.
     Ryouga flushed, turning and looking at the girl in question.
He mumbled something incoherent and looked down at his knees.
     "Sorry? I didn't hear you." Nabiki enquired again. After all,
it's not good to have a shape shifter around the house without
knowing what he looks like.
     Ryouga raised his head, looking at her, with his cheeks still
an interesting shade of red. "I'd really rather not tell you, it's
embarrassing." He looked down again. There was no way that he was
going to tell a girl, of all people, that he turned into a piglet.
That was way too embarrassing.
     Nabiki smiled, "Ok, don't worry about it." She then started to
wonder how to splash him and make it look like an accident. A vase,
accidentally knocked on him would probably be the best. One of the
cheaper ones would be the go, it wasn't worth one of the expensive
ones.
     Ranma and Ranko wondered if they should tell anyone. It wasn't
an honourable thing to reveal a weakness, but they had a sudden
feeling that they should tell someone. Akane, maybe. To take their
mind off what was fast becoming a sticky matter for them they
turned and asked a question that they'd been thinking about for a
while. "Hey, Ryouga, how'd you manage to find me anyway? You just
luck out?"
     Ryouga turned back to the teen Saotomes and said, "You told
me, of course."
     Ranko and Ranma blinked. That wasn't what they were expecting.
"What? Did you say I told you?"
     Ryouga nodded, "Yeah, remember? You told me you'd be at
Furinkan High, Nerima."
     "Ryouga, I didn't even know that I was going to be in Nerima,
let alone Furinkan High until about four days ago. There is no way
I could have told you." They both scratched their heads. They
couldn't remember even seeing Ryouga after the Amazon village, so
how had they told him anything? "When did I tell you?" Maybe that
would give a hint.
     Ryouga stared at them. "The same night we raided the Amazon
village." He paused for a second, "Well actually I guess it would
have been the morning afterwards. Remember? After the huge battle
thing that you were in?"
     Ranma and Ranko's eyes both went wide, "You mean you saw my
battle with the Amazons? Me kicking their asses?" I can finally
know what's going on!
     The lost boy shook his head, "Nah, I didn't see it, I arrived
after it finished." He looked at them, studying their mirrored
expressions of mild disbelief, "You mean you can't remember it at
all? Damn it! Here, see if this refreshes your memory." He thought
back a few weeks, dredging the memories up out of storage.

Ryouga ran, bashing his way through what little undergrowth there
was. He could hear them, back there, back behind him. How many of
them there were he wasn't sure, but he was sure it was more than he
could handle.
     "Damn it! I'm leaving tracks clear enough to be seen by a
novice!" He glanced around, how could he screw them up? A stream, a
swamp, a lake, anything that would hide his tracks! He almost
stumbled as he remembered what happened when he encountered water
now. Maybe those weren't the best choices. Still a nice thick
swathe of trees or a large run of rock would be good.
     He could jump from tree to tree, throwing them off for a
while. Actually, jumping would lessen the tracks that he was
leaving now. He thought about it. If he started jumping about willy
nilly now, he'd get lost. It was a given. If he didn't start
jumping about willy nilly now he might get caught.
     Caught. Why was he in the middle of China being chased by
dozens of Amazonian warriors? He snarled, "Damn you Ranma! This is
all your fault! You ran off and left me to deal with these women!"
     Turning his head slightly to the side, he caught the sounds of
the warriors behind him. He couldn't make out the words, but from
the tones that he could hear it seemed pretty clear that they
weren't chasing him for his good looks.
     Jump and get lost, or run, get caught and probably killed. No
choice at all really.
     Curling his legs, he sprung into the air, forcing himself to
jump forward as far as possible. As he landed, he immediately
jumped forward again. Or at least it was the direction that he
thought was forward at any rate.
     At the peak of his third jump he heard the tones of anger turn
to surprise. They'd hit the first spot. Of course, once they found
the deeper footprints left by his take off they'd be on his tail,
but at least this way they'd have to find the place where he landed
to make sure that they were still on the right trail.
     Turning slightly to the right, Ryouga jumped again. Still
angling away from where he had heard the voices. Jumping again and
again he tried to find somewhere to hide.
     He blinked as he landed on an outcropping of rock in the
middle of a large swathe of trees. Ryouga smiled to himself.
Sometimes life was good. He turned, trying to hear sounds of his
pursuit.
     Nothing. Why couldn't he hear anything from them? It wasn't
like they'd been quiet up to now. He shivered. Were they still
there? Tracking him now in silence? Suddenly nervous he sprung off
the rock and bounced from tree to tree further into the forest.
     Suddenly noise came to him. He grabbed a branch of the tree
that he was in and hung there, listening.
     Battle! Fairly close up ahead. He paused, weighing his
options. Should he go on? He glanced at the sky, noting the lighter
colours of dawn slowly coming up over the horizon. Had he been at
this all night? Damn.
     A sudden flash of light lit up the entire sky, flicking his
eyes forward he caught sight of a massive column of golden light
rising into the early morning sky. What the hell was that? Some
sort of Amazon secret weapon? He stared it as it returned back into
the ground that it came from.
     The trees around him rustled slightly, and then exploded into
a flurry of leaves as a massive wind reached them, whipping them
every which way. Ryouga stared, did he really want to find out what
was up ahead? Better to avoid it all together actually. Dropping to
the ground, he walked off in the opposite direction of the blast.
     Five minutes later he stumbled out onto the battlefield
itself. It seemed to be some sort of clearing in the trees, or at
least an opening. There was debris scattered everywhere and a
massive crater in the centre of it about twenty metres in diameter;
it looked like some sort of bomb had gone off.
     Cursing his lack of direction, he looked around, searching for
any Amazons. When no one immediately jumped out and challenged him
he relaxed slightly. He continued to look around as he considered
his options. He should probably leave, that column of light must
have been seen for miles around.
     Nodding to himself, he was about to leave when he noticed
something. Some of the debris looked to be about the same size and
shape as a human body. His eyes widened and he rushed forward. It
was a human body!
     As he reached the body he quickly flipped it over, revealing a
woman dressed almost entirely in black. He wondered for a second
why that was before placing his fingers against her neck. He sighed
in relief as he found her pulse, well she wasn't dead, that was
good.
     He looked he up and down, trying to see if there were any
other injuries. She was generously built and quite pretty. Just as
he felt his nose start to ache, he noticed the sword. Her fingers
were still curled around the hilt of an overly huge sword. That was
interesting; that she hadn't let go after getting a beating that
had sent her into unconsciousness.
     He smiled. What a little battler.
     Then he noticed something else. The entire length of the sword
was covered in some sort of fluid, some sort of blackish fluid. He
hesitated for a second before putting his fingers on it. What was
it? Rubbing his fingers on some of it he looked at it. Moist, warm
and more than a little sticky.
     Raising them to his nose he sniffed at them, no strong odour.
Manoeuvring his fingers into one of the brighter patches of dawn
light that was now just coming through the trees he stared at the
colour again, it wasn't black really at all, just a very dull red.
     He sprang backwards as he realised just what he had on his
fingers. Blood. The entire length of her blade was covered in
blood. That wasn't good. That seemed to indicate that it had
entered someone, otherwise the blood would just be on the edge,
wouldn't it? The girl in front of him had just killed someone!
     Ryouga resisted the urge to throw up, settling for shaking
uncontrollably instead. She'd killed someone. Who else was around?
He looked.
     The slightly brighter light helped him see that there were six
other bodies in all lying about the clearing. So that was seven
bodies in all and one big crater. Four of the bodies, including the
one that he'd just looked at were clustered around the central
crater. What did that mean? That they'd blown someone up? He edged
slowly forward, drawn by morbid fascination towards it.
     Would there be bits of body scattered around in it? He came
closer, dropping to his knees as he crawled forward. The edge would
probably give way if he stood on it. Inching his way forward he
stuck his head over the rim.
     Nothing immediately came into focus. Letting his eyes adjust
to the lower light in the crater he waited. There was _something_
down there. He could just see it. He waited a few moments before
confirming that it was a body. Curled into a foetal position, but
still a body, whole and unblemished.
     He paused. There was some sort of sound coming from it. Good
that meant that it was definitely alive. He strained, trying to
make it out. He moved a little closer, causing a little of the side
to give way.
     Instantly the person unrolled themselves and sprang into a
ready position, battle aura flaring up.
     Ryouga blinked as he saw their features for the first time. He
knew that person. "Ranma?"
     The person at the bottom stared up at him, battle aura dying
down, before replying, "Hey... Ryouga? Well, isn't this a pretty
sight?" He gestured at the crater around himself. Ryouga was sure
he was grinning. Of course he was grinning, that was Ranma after
all.
     Ryouga slowly raised himself up, backing away from the hole in
the ground and looking once more around him. "What... what happened
here?" He blinked as Ranma landed next to him, having jumped out of
the depression in the ground.
     The pig tailed boy swayed slightly for an instant. "Oooh. I do
_not_ feel good." He paused for a second, before continuing. "What
happened?" He looked around at the bodies lying on the ground. "I
got careless." A short, bitter laugh burst from his lips. "How
could I have gotten careless again?"
     Ryouga knelt at the rim of the crater. Looking at it again,
then up at Ranma, "What did this? Some sort of bomb? And how did
you survive it where you were?"
     Ranma looked off into the distance for a second, then back
down at the lost boy. "Never mind that now, I've got something to
show you. The thing that we came here to find."
     Ryouga snapped his attention back to the other boy. "You have
it? You have the cure? Ranma! Thank the gods!" The lost boy
followed him across to the nearside of the clearing, looking around
for anything that looked like a cure. As he spied what they were
walking towards, he asked, "Is that it? Is that the cure?"
     Ranma paused as he picked up a mirror, "I'm not sure. It might
be the cure that we were looking for, it might not. I can't tell
you yet, because I haven't been splashed yet." He smiled suddenly,
"Here, you hold it for me. I'll catch up with you again at...
Furinkan High, Nerima."
     Ryouga accepted the mirror, looking at the weird birds traced
around the rim. "You do realise that I have Amazons chasing me,
don't you?" He asked after a moment. "I might not make it back to
you with this thing intact."
     The other boy was in the process of walking away. "Well,
you'll have to be careful then, won't you? Trust me, there's more
chance of you getting it there than me. Now, if you'll excuse me, I
have to go catch up with my father." He sprang off as Ryouga was
putting the mirror into his backpack.

"And that's about it really. I checked the other bodies before I
left and none of them had any wounds like what that sword would
have done." He paused for a second, "Actually, there was one
missing from before, but I figured that anyone that could get up
and walk away on their own wasn't badly injured."
     "After that I just travelled around until I got here." Ryouga
stopped his recital and looked around. Ranma and Ranko seemed to be
even further into shock than before. Ryouga growled, "You still
don't believe me?"
     The Saotome teens opened and shut their mouths quickly. Then
tried again. "You mean all this time you've been carrying the
Phoenix Mirror around?"
     Ryouga looked thoughtful for a second. "So that's what those
birds are." He nodded. "Yeah, so what?"
     They both screamed at him. "So what?! You idiot! That's a
major tribal treasure! There's no way that they'll just leave it
alone! They'll follow you every..."
     Ranma was interrupted by the sound of a wall collapsing.
Actually, he realised as he looked left and right, it was the sound
of two walls collapsing. He glanced again to either side. On one
side were two Amazons. On the other were three. They had them
surrounded. This was just great. The perfect end to the day.
     Four of the Amazons spoke at once.
     "Ranma! You I kill!"
     "Pig! Prepare to die!"
     "<Jean-Luc!>"
     "Husband, I want words with you."
     Shampoo was pointing to the red head with one of her bonbori.
Ranma suddenly remembered where he'd seen her before. She'd been
the champion that he'd defeated.
     The green haired Fork had her sword pointed at Ryouga. Ranma
wondered what her beef was. He'd never seen her before. Maybe she
was following the lost boy for the mirror?
     Po Xion had just discarded a massive backpack, which appeared
to have been made of parts of at least another two backpacks.
Something about her tickled his memory. At least she wasn't
pointing Ranma's way, he glanced at where her eye were looking. His
eyes widened as he saw his father's panda form scurry away. What
the hell was that about?
     Soap was currently rushing forward, open armed. Ranma blinked.
What the hell was she doing. A possible answer floated up. She'd
been defeated by Ryouga and now considered herself married? What
sort of a whacked out answer was that? A sarcastic answer bounced
up. Almost as weird as one girl chasin' another because she was
defeated by her in combat, eh? He promised himself that he'd never
eat anything after midnight ever again.
     Dish looked on from the side, glancing at the other group of
Amazons her eyes widened. What was Shampoo doing here? And why, in
all that was holy, was Po Xion with her? She looked back at the
group in the centre, where the guy she'd been following for the
last few weeks had just risen and fallen into a defensive stance.
She watched as two of the others, a male and a female, started
glowing together, a deep yellow, as they rose as well. Two other
women were in the central group, one of whom appeared to have at
least some training, the other who looked to be trying to hide.
     She clutched her forehead with one hand, trying to remember
why she'd agreed to allow Fork to try a frontal assault. They were
now dealing with multiple hostiles, some of whom appeared to be
caught up in another Amazon problem, and they had no idea of the
capabilities of any of them.
     She sighed, dropping into a defensive stance before muttering,
"<What did I do to deserve this?>"

*************************************
[Author's Rant]

Yes, I know, it's been aaaaaages this time... What can I say? Too
much to write, too little free time to write it. *shrugs* You know
how it goes... :)

Where will this go next? Probably into the Amazon trio / Shamps &
Po Xion side of the story. After that Cologne arrives and
everything hits the fan.

As always, I'd love to hear comments and critique on my stuff, so
please, feel free to hit reply and type whatever comes to mind...

I'd like to thank my prereaders:

Cherry Tiger,
Chris Rowley,
H-Packrat,
Nathan Baxter,
The Eternal Lost Lurker.

They might have stuck with me over this 5 month break, some of them
certainly did... :)

Later,
    Mike.

--

Visit my website : http://www.upnaway.com/~ricketts

Ya know, I really hate it when I can't think of
anything to put in this space. Oh well. :)

.-----------------------..------------------------.
|  .-==-. <\-/> .-==-.  || In time, even those who|
| /_.-=-.\|^ ^|/.-=-._\ || appeared to lead fell  |
|  /_.--.\(o_o)/.--._\  || to the side, corrupted |
|   /_.--\/   \/--._\   || by their own power.    |
|     \/ {/.-.\} \/     ||                        |
|       /"(   )"\,--.   || You have risen in their|
|     __\ /'-'\ /__     || place, how long will   |
|   ///---'   '---\\\   || you walk undefiled?    |
'-----------------------''------------------------'
Blah blah Dragon blah blah fixed font blah blah.



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