I know the FFML died and probably a few chapters are missing. I have no idea
what they are... go to Tannim's page (addy below, a end of story) to catch up.
-- Attached file included as plaintext by Listar --
-- File: ranmazokuch7.txt
Ranmazoku Chapter 7 - No Ordinary Walk In The Woods
By PansutoTarou5925
** * * * * * * * * * * * * **
DISCLAIMER - I do not own the rights to Slayers nor do I
own the rights to Ranma �. Long live the rightful owners of
these two fine anime. This work is non-commercial and is done
only in imitation of Rumiko Takahashi and Hajime Kanzaka.
Imitation is the sincerest flattery, no? US rights owned by Viz
and Software Sculptors. If I mention the Senshi, Sailor Moon
belongs to Naoko Takeuchi(Sp, anyone?) and.. and.. I dunno
who has the US rights, but it's theirs not mine. (I'm drawing a
blank)
** * * * * * * * * * * * * **
Author's note - This story originated from an idea on
Nighthawk's page and is some guy named NesTea's fault. If
he's reading this, I'm curious to know what he thinks of all this.
Questioning me would be like questioning Xellos if you ask
when the next section comes out, because it's a secret.
ALTAVERSE WARNING - This is an ALTAVERSE. Events,
characters and the like may not resemble canon. People who are
rabid canon-thumpers beware! (and eat a Dragon Slave while
you're at it)
PREVIOUSLY - Ranma discovers he's not Genma's son, that
Xellos is his father, that he's not even human, studies black
magic under Phibrizzo, yadda yadda yadda, gets in a fight with
Ryouga and curses a decent sized crowd to act like Kuno. Then
he corrupts Hotaru into becoming a mazoku and put a world of
hurt on some poor Daimon and Eudial. Afterwards he spied on
the Inners, took Nabiki, and got Kasumi angry! Then they went
to the Slayers world and met Lina and Co under false identities.
Read the previous chapters, really, I'm not good at rehashing
stuff.
NOTE - [...] indicates telepathic communication between
Ranma and Hotaru in the Astral plane.
** * * * * * * * * * * * * **
The Desert of Destruction was an amzing place. Even the
Sahara on my home plane isn't as deadly, as forlorn, or as
unrelentingly inhospitable to life as this endless sea of stark
white sand. The blasted stones and parched, long dead trees
that crumbled at a touch provided the only relief to the eyes for
as far as his magically enhanced senses could reach. Not even
Hotaru and I were visible to break up the monotony. And this
was at night, when the overhead canopy of stars, an endless
dazzling shower of diamonds on a deep black sea known as the
night, provided something interesting to look at. During the
day, the monotony was such that it drives lesser people insane.
Imagine spending centuries here, with no one else to talk to, no
one else to see, nothing to do. Just sitting there, slowly going
mad in the still desert air. No wonder Phibrizzo went mad.
"I've never seen such beautiful stars." Hotaru said, from beside
me. Or, of course, you could take life's lemons and make
lemonade. An astronomer would likely kill to be able to put a
telescope up here. No clouds, no other people to put up
annoying lights and buildings... the only negative would be that
the place was only marginally less of a blast furnace at night
than it was during the day. I wonder why, really - most deserts
are cold at night. I should know. That idiot Genma dragged me
across a few.
"Yeah, it's something, isn't it?" I said noncommitally. I looked
around and noticed footsteps wandering west. "Looks like
Nabiki decided to move west in search of water. Don't know
what she's thinking. She couldn't find water at the ocean. She's
a city girl, not an adventurous type like me." I shrugged and
started following the tracks. "Let's take a little stroll through
the sand, Hotaru. Looks like dinner is on the move."
We found Nabiki on the western side of a sand dune. She had
tossed a tarp over a pit to rpvide some relief. We could hear her
panting, It was pretty easy to find her, really; she was absolutely
swamping the area in hatred and anger. Hotaru poked her still
invisible head through Nabiki's tent. She quickly grabbed me
and hauled me back over the dune.
"What the heck?" I blurted, forgetting to remain silent. Why
had Hotaru pulled me back from the pit? The closer we were,
the more energy we'd get.
"She's not decent." Hotaru said, blushing. I stopped for a
second. But only one - I had to retrieve my camera from
subspace. "Hey!" Hotaru yelled. "What do you think you're
doing?"
"Getting revenge." I said simply, and walked back over the
dune. "I'm going to get her back for all the times she's seen me
naked." I could see Hotaru getting steamed. This was kind of
funny, actually. What would Hotaru's blunt instrument of
choice be? "I'll take a few pictures of her sweaty, heaving,
luscious-" I dodged the sudden swipe of the Silence Glaive.
Mental note - do not tease Hotaru. "Ack! Hey, lay off!" Hotaru
ditched the Glaive and tackled me.
"Dammit! Don't be a pervert! What kind of evil demon are
you?" she growled as she tried to gouge my eyeballs out. She
worked her leg up and kneed me in the balls, forgetting that
wouldn't work on a maozku for the moment. Not that it would
work on me even if I were human for the moment, as I was still
in my "Ranko the Sorceress" disguise.
"A mazoku!" I said, struggling to keep her from hurting me.
While she couldn't do much harm with physical attacks, she
could rip up my disguise some. We both froze when we saw the
(naked) form of Nabiki crest the dune.
"Who the hell are you perverts?" we heard her say as we phased
out.
** * * * * * * * * * * * * **
"It's a good thing she can't see in the dark like we can." I said
in annoyance to Hotaru as we returned to walking north of the
town where we had met Lina earlier.
"What on earth is she doing anyhow? Why is she running
around naked like that?" Hotaru fumed. "What kind of a perv
did you pick up for your Priest, anyhow?"
"If I wanted a pervert for a lieutenant I'd have gotten
Happousai!" I thundered. "She probably stripped down because
it's hot enough to melt lead out there!"
"She was PROBABLY expecting you to drop by to check up
on her and was planning to seduce you!" Hotaru shot back.
Why did every girl I ever met seem to get this way? L-sama
must hate me.
Or, more likely, there was yet another curse attached to me that
was all Genma's fault. Some sort of "Attract Violent Girls To
Me" spell. Maybe I could shift it to Happousai or something
and put it to use.
"Get real, Hotaru. We don't feel those sort of emotions, so why
would she try?" At least, we shoudln't feel those emotions,
from what I've read, but Hotaru was acting like Ukyou right
now.
"*I* feel those emotions. Or are you insinuating that I'm not
really a mazoku? Are you?" she yelled, pulling out the Silence
Glaive again.
"Jeez, Hotaru, calm down. I'm not interested in Nabiki like that.
She's a snake, a viper. She's a backstabber nonpareil and a
master manipulator." I said, trying to defuse the situation.
"Yes." Hotaru agreed, then fixed a withering glare on me. "The
perfect wife for a mazoku!"
I sighed. Obviously, I couldn't win. "Look, Hotaru, I'm not
interested in Nabiki like - get down!" I said, tackling Hotaru
and rolling us both into a ditch. The spot where we had been
standing just a few minutes before was now a crater.
A woman was floating off the ground, a broad sword held in
one hand resting across her shoulder. "Well, well. If it isn't
Xellos's kid."
"Who the hell are you?" I said, brushing myself off.
"I'm Sherra. And you, my young friend, will never become one
of the Lords of the Mazoku." the woman said, materializing a
powerful aura of magic that seemed to suck the heat out of the
ground.
I gulped. This would be ugly.
** * * * * * * * * * * * * **
Ugly, but not unwinnable. Not if I fought smart, and I'm
nothing if not a smart fighter. I grinned, calling up the
confidence I didn't really feel. "Come on, you might be strong,
but do you really think you can take on two of us at once?" She
smirked and arched an eyebrow.
"I've killed more people than you've met in your whole life.
I've killed my fair share of mazoku, too. You two," she said,
indicating us with her sword. "aren't more than a warm up." I
nodded, smiling happily, and mentally signaled Hotaru to follow
my lead. We didn't have a chance unless we ambushed her. Of
course, as we were already confronting her, this would be a
little difficult.
But not impossible.
I darted forward, screaming loudly as I brought my power up. I
pulled forth the magic that was my birthright, and directed into
my hands, preparing a powerful blow. Sherra settled back on
her feet and readied her sword, tendrils of magic wrapped
around it to block my attack. At the last minute, I shifted my
stance, and fired the blast into the ground.
"GO!" I screamed, teleporting away blindly. As I went I yanked
the also-teleporting Hotaru along with me, and came out in a
small clearing. "Again!" I yelled, this time physically dragging
her along. This time we were on top of a bar. Over and over
again we teleported, each time to a different place. Finally, I
stopped, feeling tired. "Good. She can track us. But she wont'
find us."
Hotaru looked at me funny, so I felt the need to explain, power
rushing back into me as we stood on top of the local jail. "She
can follow us. But I hit the same place several times, looping
around. She can't tell which way we went any more, following
our magic like that. Which means it'll be a bit before she finds
us. But before she does, we're putting some distance between
us."
"If we teleport, she's going to just keep tracking us." Hotaru
pointed out in a bored tone.
"We're not going to teleport. We're going to use a powerful
technique - the Saotome Secret technique." I said, smiling.
"And what would that be?"
"We steal those horses and don't use magic."
"Oh.."
** * * * * * * * * * * * * **
"You realize that that woman is going to catch up to us before
long. She won't stay fooled forever, and we can't avoid using
magic forever, too." Hotaru said as we rode, the sun rising to
the east. The horses, which had originally been tan, sleek
creatures, were now foaming and ragged. We had ridden
without regard to their health through the night, and both were
near death.
"No, but she won't have the advantage of suprise. We've been
reducing our magic signature and she's trying to track us. We'll
see her before she sees us, and we aren't out teleporting around
the world like we were. This time, its us who have the initiative.
And we're going to use the Glaive to cut her down to
something more our size."
"That's right, you told me half her power is in that sword."
"Right. When she comes, you're taking that damn thing out of
the fight. After that.... I don't think she's interested in a fight to
the death. At least not her death, anyhow. If we give her
enough of a kick, she'll go away. She wouldn't want to start a
war with the Metallium family, not if she got that banged up
trying to off me." I said, giving my horse a kick with the spurs.
It wanted to slow down, but I wasn't about to let it until I was
as far as I could get from Sherra. At least my confidence was no
longer feigned; I was pretty sure about my assessment of the
situation. We'd beat up Sherra, change Nabs into one of us, get
the sword, and return to Nerima. I figure Nabiki and Gos can
keep the wrecking crew occupied while Hotaru and I go after
the big prize: Jusendo.
Hotaru and I rode in silence for another hour or so, until her
horse tripped and broke its leg. That kind of ended our pleasant
little trip. I let my horse go in the valley, while we headed for
the river. If we were going for speed without magic, it looked
like I'd have to get wet again.
** * * * * * * * * * * * * **
"Have you ever used one of these things before?" Hotaru asked,
looking at the boat we had just lifted. I gave it a once over and
turned to her.
"Nope. How about you?"
"Me neither. Uhh... isn't this supposed to be extremely
dangerous and exciting?" she said, looking at the river. It was a
raging torrent of white, swirling water and big rocks.
"Yes, basically. That's why I figure it should come naturally to
us -"
"HEY!" a big burly guy yelled, cutting us off. It was the
woodsman whose boat we had just stolen, waving a big axe.
Hotaru raised her Glaive to blast him before I yanked it down.
"You wanna bring Sherra on top of us like a ton of bricks?" I
asked sarcastically. "Get in the boat." Hotaru suicidally dove
into the boat, which probably would have broken her arm if she
were human and tried that. I hopped more sanely into the boat.
The woodsman, apparently not noticing or not caring about the
swirling waters of death we were in, ran into the water. "Are
you out of your fucking mind?" I yelled at the guy, He
immediately lost control and was swept along by the current.
"What a moron. I thought only Kuno and Ryouga were dumb
enough to pull stuff like that - OW! What was that for?" I said,
rubbing my head.
"Stop babbling about the idiot and help me!" Hotaru yelled,
having smacked me with the Glaive again. She was using it to
pole off of rocks as we careened wildly down the raging river. I
grabbed an oar and pushed off of any rocks that came near.
Occasionally we'd get wedged against something, but hey, ten
years of martial arts trainging wasn't for nothing. Every time we
got stuck I managed to pry us loose.
"Give me a place to stand and I can move the world!" I crowed,
having moved not the boat but the whole damn boulder this last
time. As we lunged forward again, I looked over the waters.
"Wonder what happened to that guy. Probably dead by now."
Suddenly, the boat spun sickeningly and tilted, nearly dumping
us in the water. Bloodied and soaked, the bedraggled, psychotic
looking woodsman hauled himself out of the water, axe handle
clenched between giant, bucky-beaver like teeth. 'No way could
that guy survive that!' I thought, incredulously.
"Foolish thief! I, Mikhail of Garym, plan on sending you to a
watery grave." Hotaru and I sweatdropped, which was almost
disastrous as we slammed against another rock. Seeing as we
didn't get stuck again, we turned back, to see that Mikhail's
woundes were gone. Instead, he was frothing and snarling.
"Damn, he's crazier than the Kunos! Kick him overboard,
quick!" I yelled, fighting to make myself heard over the roaring
water. As I moved forward, though, a ham-sized fist lashed out
with an axe at inhuman speed. I ducked, missing a bad haircut
by inches. Another swing, again lightning fast, and I was nearly
pitched in the water as the boat lurched again. "Can't we talk
this out? If we fight here, you're going to die even if you win."
And with the boat lurching too much for me to keep balance
while dodging, not to mention me unable to use magic to heal
or else Sherra would come, that was a better bet than I would
have liked. "Perhaps.." I ducked again, the axe whizzing over
my head. With perfect timing Hotaru brought the Glaive down
and sliced through the haft of the axe, sending the head into the
river. Also with perfect timing, I pushed him just as he was
taken off balance by the missing weight of the axe. He fell
down, catching the ropes along the side just before he fell in
"Good move, now... ah..."
"You think that helps you? I haven't even begun to fight." He
spit at me. I can't tell if he hit; partially because there was a lot
more liquid than spittle in the air. But the distinct cracking
sound he made as he bloated up was the main factor. He
seemed to just gain weight, bones and skin sickeningly
rearranging itself, with the side of the boat splintering form the
strain. Fur burst out of his skin - he had been hairy before, but
now he was a monster - and his mouth filled with teeth much
too big for my peace of mind. In a guttural, snarling tone, he
spoke again: "I'd have rather hacked you up with my axe. But..
this'll do just fine." The bear Mikhail the woodsman had
become lunged forward sweeping its two paws forwards,
hoping to rip me in half with his claws. Deciding that I was
going to have to abandon my feet, I jumped straight up as the
boat lurched again. Heedless of my absence the bear continued,
bulling over Hotaru and slamming into her with such force that
she went sprawling.
"AHHHHHHH!!!" she screamed, grabbing ahold of the railing
as she stumbled over the side. She dug in with the Silence
Glaive, and pulled herself over the side. She came face to face
with the berserk bear, which lashed out at her with an oversize
paw. She screamed, having to choose between getting drowned
or having her face torn off. Granted, both would only be
temporary, but Sherra would come by to make it permanent if it
happened...
I fell on the back of the bear, kicking hard into its head and
turning a blow aimed at Hotaru's head into one aimed at the
deck. Which meant we were now taking on water, as the bear
ripped its arm free and a good chunk of the bottom of the boat
with it. It turned to face me, some of the fury spent. It roared,
and charged.
Dodging frantically as the water inexplicably calmed, I wound
my way around the bear, dodging its blows with more ease now
that I didn't have to worry as much about the bobbing boat. Of
course, if a bear and two people decide to have a rumble on a
boat, it's going to rock anyhow, but it wasn't as bad. The bear
roared even louder. Then I noticed it's mouth wasn't open.
That was when I saw the waterfall.
"AHHHHHH!!!!"
"ShrriiiiiEEEEEEEK!
"GROAAAAAAAR!"
The three of us fell, free-falling down the side of this majestic
torrent of clear glacier water. Down below, a nice, sparkling
pool of water was waiting for us. Right now though...
I wrestled the Glaive away from the screaming Hotaru and
kicked off the boat, adjusting my fall in mid-flight. It was a
good thing Hotaru was so terrified that she forgot how to fly;
we'd be in real sorry shape if Sherra showed up now. Grimly I
set the Glaive under my arm, twisting to aim it at the heart of
the bear.
The bear slammed into the water, and I slammed into the bear,
ramming the Glaive through its chest. The woodsman-turned-
bear died instantly. Having your chest torn out does that to you.
Wrenching the Glaive loose from him, I turned and swam
underwater, looking for Hotaru. She had swallowed some
water, I could sense, and would need to find her.
I fished her out. She was out cold and not breathing, which was
normal for a mazoku, but the constant ebb and flow of magic in
ehr body was slowing. She'd die unless I used magic. Unless...
I had always figured I'd do this first as a guy. Though Mikado
stole that from me, I figured the first time I voluntarily kissed
someone I'd be a guy. But there was no question that, unless I
gave her some of my magic to get her jump started, we would
both die when she regenerated.
I took a deep breath and opened Hotaru's mouth. I tried not to
think of her lips; I thought of my own possible imminent death,
which worked wonders in clearing my mind. I wouldn't think
about how luscious the lips were, or how soft her face was.
Nope. Didn't cross my mind.
I breathed a little magic from my throat, just a tiny bit, enough
to get Hotaru's magic working again. That's when she grabbed
my head. Hotaru's eyes opened and locked on mine. I quickly
shook her loose.
"What were you thinking? Can't you swim!" I yelled.
"I was LOOKING for my GLAIVE. Which I see someone has
stolen!" ,she fired back, immediately getting lost in the fight.
"Stolen? What do you mean, stolen? I had to kill the damn
werebear, sionce you were more intent on screaming loud
enough to be heard in Seyruun!" We continued screaming as we
walked away from the river. The dangerous moment on the
shore was fast forgotten. I could rest easy, now.
** * * * * * * * * * * * * **
And I'm back form my long vacation. I'll keep writing this and
the other stories, don't worry! I am most assuredly not dead. I
did, however, have quite an eventful summer. Multiple
disasters, a new computer, a pile of new manga, and the normal
wandering around the nation occupied my time quite fully. And
now, within a day of ending that adventure, I write a chapter of
Ranmazoku. Let's hope that's an omen.
Heh, it gets more interesting, no? One of the chief antagonists
for the next arcs of Ranmazoku puts in her first appearance. If
you don't know who she is, Ranma will be explaining it to
Hotaru soon, so just sit tight. If you do know, hey, more power
to ya. Things will be heating up soon. Ranma's plan is coming
to a head, and people who can actually hurt Ranma and aren't
hotheads who just charge in blindly are moving against him
now.
Also, the whole river scene was basically ad libbed, but it's all
good, I think. Someone was annoying me on Delphi, and
somehow it inspired the fight. A bear on a boat in a river, where
Ranma can't dodge easily or use magic.... heh. Worked well, I
think. How about you?
If Hotaru's character is off here, remember she's just been
turned into a mazoku, is actually strong now and not easily
winded and sickly, is slightly older looking, and has had her
Silver Millenium memories returned. And no, she doesn't look
back with much fondness; Saturn was shunned then too.
I used to have feud with Tomas, but time has made it moot
anyhow, so I don't give a damn any more. I suppose I'll post it
to his page too. Feedback is always appreciated, so feel free to
talk. That means send messages, people!
and Crossover Corner
www.geocities.com/animecrossovers
and Tannim's
http://tannim.anifics.com/index.html
and also Phu's, which offhand I don't recall.
also
it's on Nighthawk's page
www.geocities.com/NighthawkTM/index.html
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