Well, here we go again with the C&C.  

Picking up where we left off...

Wheel of Anime: Book 1 - The Eye of God
Chapter Four: The Road to Whitebridge

By John Biles

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Ryouga and Ukyou came over and sat down on the porch swing, and
then the interrogation began.

Yin:  Ohh, interrogation... (Claps hands twice)  Slaveboy!  Bring me
my clamps, whips, chains and feathers!
Yang:  And a latte!

*******

"Are we there yet?" Kurz asked again.

Basara frowned. "No, although we should have reached the road by
now."

"I think we're going northeast instead of south to the road,"
Ranma said.

"Well, every time we try to go south, we run into Fanboys again,"
Nanami said. "We should hit the Manetherendaelle eventually; we can
follow that to Whitebridge, I think."

Yang:  Fanboys...  they're like cockroaches:  you can never get rid of them.

"FREE LUM! FREE LUM! FREE LUM!!!" came the chant from the south.

Yin:  Yes!  I want free Lum too!  And a free car!  And a free TV!  And free 
ice cream!
Yang:  And free Tibet, free cable, free dvds, etc, etc...

Basara sighed. "Here we go again."

They took off running, but the cries persisted in the distance.
After a while, they were all starting to tire, until finally, they came 

to.the banks of the swiftly

rushing Manetherendaelle. "Great, we're
trapped," Kurz grumbled. "Never fight with your back to a river, that's
what my father always says."

"It is?" Ranma asked. "I never heard him say that."

Yin:  (As Ranma)  My father always says, "Boy, the path of a true martial 
artist is fraught with danger", "Marry Akane and join the schools", and 
"Where's
the food?"

Kurz blinked. "That wasn't father..." He rubbed his forehead
nervously. "I guess we fight."

"How well do you all swim?" Basara asked.

"Pretty well," Kurz said.

"Passably," Nanami said.

"Dammit, I'll turn female again," Ranma said.

"Would you rather turn dead?" Kurz asked.

Yang:  (As Ranma)  Why?  Is Momma around?

"I could try vamping them," Nanami said dubiously.

"I think you'd come to regret that," Basara said. "Though many
fanboys will faint at the sight of beautiful breasts, since they see real
ones so rarely."

Yang:  This is sadly true...
Yin:  Very true...

Kurz snickered.

And then, around a bend in the river, a boat came into view.
Basara waved to the boat. "Over here! We need a ride!"

The boat came closer and lowered a small boat to pick them up.
They jumped into the water and swam out to it, even as the Fanboys came
into sight. Kurz looked back and felt his body shrivel. It was the
legendary Fanboy tribe of the Sailor Men.

Yang:  I swear, if Mamoru, Umino, or Helios shows up...

-Snip-

"We were on our way to Whitebridge when our party was separated by
Fanboy attack," Nanami said. "We were cut off on our own, and don't even
know what has happened to our elder sisters and our poor Mother and
uncle." Her voice spun a tale of woe and disaster, while her body
advertised her figure through the wet clothing. She exploited both to
full effect.

Yang:   And what an effect!
Yin:  No kidding... (Wipes drool away)

"How tragic," Tylor said. "We'd be happy to take you."

"We're VERY grateful," Nanami said, springing forward and hugging
him. She then let go, a hand trailing down his arm. "Very."

Tylor continued to smile his lazy smile. "Yamamoto, prepare
quarters for them."

Basara looked carefully at the pin which Tylor was wearing. "That
looks suspiciously like one of the seals on the Dark One's prison," he
said.

Yin:  Dark One?  Hmmm... Akio, maybe?
Yang:  Don't give Biles any ideas, dammit!

"Really? Hmm, must be valuable," Tylor said.

"..." Basara was beginning to get a bad feeling about this
apparent stroke of luck.

********

"So, the empire of Tenchi Hawkwing is gone, as if it had never
been?" Kaname asked sadly.

Yin:  Alas, poor Tenchi.  I knew him, Ryouga.  A man of infinite jest,
of infinite fancy...
Yang:  A man with absolutely no backbone...

"As far as I know," Ryouga said. "I'm sorry."

"Well, the Council will have to hear of this," Kaname said. "It
would seem the time for the Return has come."

"The Return?" Ukyou asked.

"When we must return and reclaim Dar'ela to the ways of
righteousness, that it might be ready when Tarmon Gai'don comes and the
Gate of Revolution will finally be found and opened. When the Rose Bride
comes in truth and power and the Ronin is brought to kneel before the
Crystal Throne. The end of the age is upon us." Kaname rose. "We shall
have to take you two back to Ohtori, to tell the Council of this."

Yang:  (Standing up)  I knew it!  Damn those Ohtori bastards!  Must they 
torment me so?!  (Stomps off)
Yin:  (Watching Yang walk off)  Apparently so.  Even so, this part is very 
well 
done.  Weaves the various scources nicely, making for a seamless set-up.
Makes you anxious to see what happens when the prophecy is fufilled.

-Snip-

"Yeah," Ukyou said. "Can't be helped, I guess. The others are
going to think we're dead or something."

Ryouga sighed. "They'll blame me."

Yin:  (As Ryouga)  Not that it's my fault.  But they'll blame me anyway,
they always do.  Damn family curse.

*********

"How strange, he seems to have moved off to the west suddenly,"
Setsuna said.

Hinako sighed. "Maybe he wasn't lying about going to Tear."

"What?" Soun asked in confusion.

"He vanished for several days years ago, then claimed he had been
in Tear the whole time. We thought he must be lying, although we never
did figure out where he got the weird shoes."

"Weird shoes?" Soun asked.

Yin:  (As Hinako)  Yes.  They had a strange name... he called them
'Nai-kays'.  Very weird shoes...

"They had this sort of...grill on the bottom."

"Oh, mud-walkers," Soun said. "Hmm, so he's in Tear? But that's
southeast of here."

Setsuna frowned. "Perhaps there's a portal stone. He came back
in three days, you said?"

Hinako nodded. "Yes."

"Well, we found their physical trail. Let's follow that for now,
and see what we can find," Setsuna said.

"Found it thanks to ME," Hinako insisted.

"Yes," Soun said. "You're a very good tracker."

"Father hunted a lot and wanted a son," Hinako said. "I'm not bad
with a bow, either." She started down the trail. "So what is a Portal
Stone?"

"They are relics of a lost civilization. If you know what you're
doing, you can travel to other worlds woven by the Wheel. These worlds
are not quite so real as our world, but real enough. But most of the lore
is lost, so it's dangerous to experiment with them," Setsuna said.
"Yomiko and Nene Sedai probably know more about them than anyone else
does. And even they don't know much. I can recognize one, and I know a
tiny handful of destinations, but there are hundreds more I dare not
risk."

Yin:  No kidding.  Third Impact, anyone?

"Other worlds?" Hinako asked, in surprise.

"Some are much like our own world, but subtly different. Others
are so changed that we would become unrecognizable."

Yin:  (As Setsuna)  Yeah, like that one where I was a porn star... or that
one where I was having an affair with Venus... or..

Hinako glanced over at Soun, who was staring off into the forest
with a rigid look on his face. He's regretting something, she thought.
Thinking about what could have been. I ought to do something to cheer him
up. "Would you like some candy, Soun?" she asked. Candy always made her
feel better.

Yin:  Heh. Does that to me too.

-Snip-

"Weren't we going to go to Ohtori?" Ukyou asked as she brought her
spatula around, whacking a Fanboy in the head, sending him toppling off
the top of the bridge.

"So, what do you think 'glitter' really is in Tiny Snow..."
another Fanboy tried to ask Kaname as she snap-kicked him in the face,
then shoved him off the dam towards the river below.

Yin:  (Laughing)  Nice touch!!

"We're trying!" Kaname protested. "There shouldn't be fanboys
this far south!"

With his umbrella, Ryouga swept away two more, who fell the
shorter fall into the reservoir. "Now we're Reservoir Dogs! Cool!" one
of them shouted.

Yin:  Again with the 'real world' references.  I like this...

"Maybe this really was a trap," Kyoko said.

"IT'S A TRAP!" all of the Fanboys shouted in unison. One of them
put on a weird squid-like mask as he did so.

Yin:  (Blinks)  Ooookaaay.  This part makes you wonder if all
Fanboys are like this, and whether it's the result of natural mental 
instability
or excess drug use.

"Well, that settles THAT," Kaname said, advancing on Mr. Squid
Head with her sword out. "Anyone for sashimi?"

********

Ukyou ran up the slope of a mountain that seemed to stretch
endlessly before her. She wasn't sure how she had gotten there. A
horrible storm was raging over the mountain, which had a huge curving gash
carved into it. A flash of lightning illuminated the goal of her running.
Five people had Ranma, each of them tugging him in a different direction.
Setsuna was pulling on Ranma's right arm. Hinako was pulling his left
arm. A girl with long blonde hair, done up in two long pony-tails with a
knob at the top of each, wearing a long yellow dress with a tiara was
pulling on Ranma's left leg, while a purple-hairdo
girl in weird clothing was tugging his right leg. Finally, she recognized
Nanami trying to sell Ranma a boxed lunch. Behind them all, out of their
sight, a sixth figure lurked in the shadows, watching them all
disdainfully. None of the others seemed to notice her.

Yin:  Good god, and I thought he had women problems before...

She spoke, but only Ukyou could hear her. "I will have you,
Godai. You were denied me once, but never again. You will be mine."

Ukyou shouted, "LET GO OF RANMA! You can't have him! None of you
can have him!"

Ranma shouted, "Ucchan, help me! They're trying to tear me
apart!"

Yin:  Nah, they're trying to rip your clothes off and have their way with you.
It only seems like they're trying to kill you.  The Amazons do it this way 
all 
the time.

She tried to run to him, but it was like trying to run through a
rushing river. The very air resisted her movement.

Setsuna said, "You cannot defy the will of the wheel. It will
weave you away from his life."

Hinako said, "You all have to come back to Nerima's field and have
a normal life!"

Yin:  Oh, like it was normal before?

The purple haired girl said, "Ranma must come join the Masons, and
the Kiwanis, and the Elks, and..."

Yin:  This is a funny twist of the 'Ranma must join the Amazons' bit.  Makes 
you
wonder: what would happen if all those organizations met on the same night?

"Together, we will rule over the nations," the girl with the crown
said. "You will be mine, as you were before. We will save the world
together."

Yin:  This makes me think of Ranma in Endymion's tux from Crystal Tokyo.

"C'mon, Ranma, you know I always give you a special deal. And the
dessert will knock your socks off. And maybe a few other items of
clothing. I guarantee it." Nanami winked at Ranma.

Ukyou felt herself getting angrier. She began advancing faster.
"HE IS MINE!"

Yin:  Just goes to show, no matter what universe he's in, Ranma is still
irrestable to the ladies.  Nodoka must be proud.

The woman in the shadows laughed. "You always think that, but you
always lose him in the end. You did last time, and you will this time as
well. He turns to you only because he cannot have the one he wants!"

It began to rain, and Ranma turned female. She howled. The women
and the boy didn't seem to care. 

Yin:  Hold on.  What boy?  The opening paragraph in this scene never 
mentioned any boy, other than Ranma.  

They continued to tug him in different
directions. Her rage peaked, and the resistance shattered in a burst of
light. She leapt forward and grabbed Ranma to pull him away from them,
but even at the height of her strength, all she could do was pull the
whole mob around.

"If you try to fight the will of the Wheel, it will only grind you
beneath it," Setsuna said.

"I don't care what the Wheel wants!"

"It feels the same of you," Setsuna said. "If you cannot learn to
flow with the Power instead of fighting it, it will destroy you, just like
the Wheel does to those who fight it."

Ukyou howled and felt Power erupt out of her. Everyone went
flying, and the dream shattered.

Yin:  This makes me think of Dragonball Z, and I now have the image of 
Ukyou going Super-Saijin, floating in the air.

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

Ukyou and Ryouga awoke in a crater, surrounded by knocked down
trees. There was not a sign of the High Duellist Kaname and her
companion, not even a body. Ukyou rubbed her eyes. "What happened?"

Yin:  'Knocked down' sounds a little funny.  Maybe 'fallen trees', instead?

"I don't know, but something like a huge clap of thunder woke me
up," Ryouga said. "And we're back in the Pine Forest."

"Well, we still have our blankets." Ukyou frowned. "They seemed
like nice people. I hope they didn't get hurt."

"Yeah, me too."

*********

"We didn't go to sleep up tangled up in a mat of collapsed trees,
did we?" Kyoko asked.

Kaname snapped the branches around herself and wrenched loose.
"Dammit, I should have been asking myself how they could have gotten all
the way here, but I was too eager to go running off to report fulfilled
prophecy to even really think about it. The woman must have been a
marath'matrimon."

Yin:  Try saying that three times fast.

Kyoko shivered. "Running loose? With that much power?"

"This is exactly the sort of reason why our ancestors created the
Duellists and turned them all into Brides," Kaname said. "They were
tearing Seanchan apart with their powers, Breaking the World a little more
each day. And that was the relatively sane female ones." She shuddered.
"Imagine if the male ones ran loose."

"Let's not," Kyoko said. "Though..."

"Though some Duellists abuse their Brides?" Kaname asked softly.

Yin:  Huh?  I thought Duellists and Brides were the same thing... now I'm 
confused.  Does this mean the Duellists pull their swords out of their chests,
or what?  Oiiiii...  Hopefully, this will get explained, but if not, no 
biggie.  It
may not be important.

Kyoko said, "I know a few bad apples can't mean the whole crop is
spoiled, but..."

Kaname frowned. "I know what you mean. People like Saionji or
Touga or Kozue...they take it too far. It just...but there's just not
another way. If we don't rein them in, they rampage and destroy and plot
endlessly and hurt the innocent. I just don't know what else we could
do."

Yin:  Try shooting them.  That usually works.

-Snip-

"Alright," Hinako said reluctantly. "Are you going to stay up all
night?"

"I will rest later," he said. "But for now, I will watch over you
both."

Hinako smiled. She liked having him watching over her; he made
her feel safe. "Alright. Back to sleep."

Yin:  This seems to plant the seeds for a possible Soun/Hinako romance.
I wonder...

********

Kurz looked around the room, trying to figure out how he'd gotten
off the Deus ex Machina and into a huge domed room with a large metal
contraption near one of the walls. For lack of something better to do, he
wandered over to the machine, which seemed to consist of many tubes and
metal spheres full of holes.

"Hello, traveller," a man's voice said.

Kurz started, then turned and saw a handsome man, dark skinned and
purple haired, clad in expensive white and purple clothing which screamed
'I am royalty'. "Umm, hello, sir," he said, taking off his hat. "Should
I bow?"

Yin:  (As Dios)  No, no, just falling to your knees and worshiping me
will do fine.

The man shook his head, walking over. "No need to bow. I do not
stand on formalities." He flicked a switch on the machine, and lights
began to play about the ceiling, showing the stars, while the rest of the
room went dark. The various globes began to slowly rotate and the stars
drifted across the ceiling. "Pardon an old man's eccentricities."

"Oh wow, this is amazing," Kurz said, staring up at the stars.
"Did you make this?"

"I have never been an artificer," the man said. "And this was
made thousands of years ago, before the Breaking of the World. Though I
had it made for me, as I have always loved to study the stars."

"Where am I?"

"I am Prince Dios, and this is my castle," he said. "And who are
you?"

Yang:  Hopefully not the castle on wheels from the movie..
Yin:  (Startled)  When did you get back?

"I am Kurz Cauthon. Nice to meet you. Umm, how did I get here?"

"This is but a dream. We are within the world of dreams, and you
have dreamed your way here," Prince Dios said. "I wait here, until the
Ronin is reborn, and he calls us all with the Horn of Valere to fight for
him."

"Oh wow, you are one of the Heroes of the Horn?" Kurz asked.

Dios nodded. "We seek the Ronin, that we might know who to serve
in this age."

"Well, I haven't met him," Kurz said.

"You might be him," Dios said casually.

"What?" Kurz asked in disbelief.

"We know he has been reborn, and we seek his dreams. But we have
not yet found him," Dios said.

"Isn't he supposed to Break the World again?" Kurz asked
nervously.

Yang:  Yes, just like End of Eva was supposed to break our minds.  
We're still here though.  So there's still hope.

"He will lead the Forces of the Light to glory and victory over
the Shadow," Dios replied. "Without him, all will perish. We must find
him, before the Shadow does, yet we cannot touch the Waking World
directly, for it is against the laws. I can only tell you this much
because your dreams led you to me."

"Well, I doubt any of us is the Ronin reborn. Although..." Kurz
frowned. "It would explain why all those Fanboys are after us. But why
all three of us?"

"Perhaps they are not sure which of you is the Ronin, either.
Have your fathers ever been to Tar Valon?"

"Tar Valon?"

"The Roninmount, where the Ronin is to be reborn, is near there.
Thus, if any of you were the Ronin, you would have to have been born
outside your homeland and brought there after your birth."

"We're all native, as far as I know," Kurz said. "Although Father
has been to Baerlon once for a really big horse trading deal. He never
told me how BIG it was, though."

Yang:  (as Kurz's father)  Oh, it was about five feet tall, with a beautiful 
coat and a luxurios mane...

Prince Dios looked thoughtful. "Well, you are welcome to visit me
any time you like. Should you hear anything, I would be most grateful if
you did."

"Well, I would if I could, but I don't know how I got here."

Prince Dios reached into his pocket and pulled out a signet ring
with a white rose insignia. "Wear this. It will draw you back here
whenever you wish to visit."

Kurz took it and put it on, noticing Dios wore such a ring
himself. "Very nice," he said.

Yin:  You know, this makes me wonder if the color of the rose seal 
signifys something.
Yang:  Yeah.

Dios smiled, and looked up at the stars. "Take a look at this."

Kurz looked up, studying the stars. They began to move, the night
sky shifting and changing, until finally, the night sky seemed almost
unrecognizable. "What's going on?"

"That is the night sky as it appeared exactly halfway along one
rotation of the Wheel of Time from us." He pushed another button and the
sky shifted again, gradually reassuming its familiar shape, until it was
once again as he knew it. "And that is it, exactly one rotation ago, when
this age last came."

"History turns to legend. Legend turns to myth. And in the end,
even legend is forgotten," Kurz said. "That's what Basara told us in one
of his stories. But you...you remember these things, don't you."

Yang:  Ah, philosphy.
Yin:  This rings true.  "If you forget the mistakes of the past..."

"Yes," Dios said, a little sadly. "Whenever I am reborn, I
remember nothing, but as I am here, I remember it all. It is somewhat
different each time, but the same."

"Huh?"

"I cannot explain it clearly," Dios said. "I am not supposed to
tell you how it happened last time. It creates disruptions in the
Pattern. So, my library contains the stories of all that was, but I can't
share them with anyone who doesn't already know. There are rules, which
even we must obey."

Yin:  Dios seems to have taken some lessons from Pluto.
Yang:  Really.  'I can't tell you anything but halftruths and riddles.'

-Snip-

'EAT MORE BEEF' the sign proclaimed. Ryouga stared at it. "Who
tacked this up in the middle of the woods?"

Yang:  Oh, look.  A McDonalds.

-Snip-

"A very good question," Ryouga said. "Maybe it's Saldeans. Don't
they use War Boars?"

"You can't really believe they ride giant pigs into battle, can
you?" Ukyou asked.

Yin:  And in later chapters, we learn that the Saldeans are led by a vicious 
bitch-queen, Akari of the Boar God clan.
Yang:  (Laughs)  I can see her, too, dressed up like Red Sonja.

-Snip-

Nanami came over to her and said, "Well, you could be a real
knockout if you wanted to be, like this." She slid a hand along
Ranma-chan's right arm. "Men go crazy for a body like this; makes it
really easy to get things from them."

Yin:  She would know.

"I just wanna be a guy again," Ranma said.

"I'm just saying that if you have an edge, you've got to work it
for all it's worth," Nanami said.

Yang:  If it's one thing Ranma is good at, it's working an advantage...
Yin:  Yup.  Except when he works the poor advantage to death.

"Yep," Kurz said. "Hey, Yamamoto, when do we get to Whitebridge?"

Yamamoto looked across the deck at him. "Three days."

"That calls for a celebration!" Tylor said. "I'll get out some
wine."

Yamamoto sighed. "You think everything calls for a celebration."

"And this is a problem?" Tylor asked cheerfully.

Yang:  There doesn't seem much differnce between this Tylor and his 
anime counterpart.  But that could change.

Yamamoto said, "You can't party all the time."

"That's true. Sometimes you have to clean things back up or sleep
or eat."

Yin:  How true.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

This story intriges me more and more as I read it.
And really, don't the best stories do that?

Thats it for now.

Dave Fox




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