This one was my attempt at a Ranma/Slayers crossover. It was going remarcably well... up until the point when I realized that almost ALL of my future plot point ideas were cannibalized from other fics I'd written, or intended to write. Since two of these are plot points that are to be used in my main story, Contrast Match, and the rest are integral to their own otherfics, I shelved it.

As with any fic in 'the vault,' you are welcome to take portions or all of this fanfic and use it. Please tell me, though, so I can take it down and so I can read your fic.

ANYHOW, without further ranting, here's the fic. It's got all of it's original notes and everything. Fun, ne?

Slain Ranma.

Disclaimer: I don’t own ‘em, now go away!

Okay, just to tel you, this is a rewrite of an idea I tried a year or so ago. It failed. I hope it doesn’t again, since my muse woke me up at 4:30 A.M. to write this thing. Note that I have only seen Slayers, Slayers NEXT and Slayers TRI, plus one or two OAVs. That was a long time ago, too. I’m currently in the process of re-acquiring the episodes, (Never mind how,) but I really don’t care if any of this goes against the books or Manga. If it goes against the Anime, though, please give me a kick to the head and a correction, K?

Misato(Sitting in a corner and grinning widely.): You bet!

Weebee(Gulping): Anyhow, on with the show!

Prologue, Abduction! Ranma crosses the line!

The springs of sorrow were quiet that morning, as the young guide made her rounds, checking to make sure that no one had fallen into any of the more inconvenient springs. Even though the transformations were one time events and easily reversible, finding oneself turned into a rabbit or, much worse, a small bug wasn’t a pleasant experience for someone.

Unknown to the guide, several hundred meters away, the air began to ripple ominously. Within seconds, the ripple had intensified into a roiling and crackling storm of energy, and still seconds later it disgorged a single, badly wounded form. This form looked like a young man in a set of armor, though the wisps of dark energy where one arm had been and the evil looking red eyes would make one think twice about that assessment.

“Shabranigdo burn them.” The being said, staggering slightly as the energies finally fully released him, and falling flat on his face. Hauling himself to his knees, he looked around. He’d been trying to escape a dragon’s Ra Tilt attack by moving to the astral plain, but the attack had connected first and super-charged his transport spell.

Seeing the hundreds of tiny bamboo poles, the being, a low level Mazoku under the command of Xellos, groaned. This did not look much like anywhere he’d ever seen, and he didn’t have the energy to perform a teleport.

Come to think of it, with the way his energy was bleeding out through both his physical and spiritual wounds, he wasn’t going to survive much longer. Opening up his demonic senses, the Mazoku scanned the area for any sources of negative energy. The only life force present was that of a rather too cheerful young woman, walking along the edge of the valley full of springs where he found himself. She would be in range to see him within a few minutes, but even then, she was far too happy for him to feed off of.

There was another source of energy, though. Groaning, the armored man dragged himself up further, and began to stagger towards one of the springs. It took him several painful seconds to reach the water’s edge, but as he looked down, he felt an immense amount of despair and death energy. “Yes… This will do.” He muttered, letting his fatigue and wounds take over, and falling into the water.

Distantly, he heard the woman crying out in warning, but ignored her as he sank into the blissful energy filled coolness. Opening himself to take it all in, the Mazoku was brutally shocked to find out what happened next. Instead of relinquishing its own energy to him, the spring latched onto his and started pulling. As he sank into the deep spring, his mouth opened in a silent scream and his body rippled with a black aura.

‘No, no… I will not be destroyed… that bastard dragon won’t win…’ He thought, desperately marshaling the last of his energy to pull out of the water. Unfortunately, it was too little too late, and the Mazoku died just after this action, sending the mass of dark power he’d gathered shooting out over the Jusenkyo Springs and fundamentally altering their function forever.

HR.

Standing next to the pool of water that she’d just seen the foolish new customer fall into, the pretty young woman that was currently the Jusenkyo guide frowned. ‘The springs shall always take their victims.’ She thought, sadly, pulling a small wooden sign and a bucket of paint out from nowhere, and writing ‘Spring of drowned mysterious armored man” in neat Chinese script.

HR.

The Tendo Dojo was filled with smoke, explosions, and confusion as the farce that, at one time, had been called a wedding drew to a close. Ranma raised his fist, sending what had once been the family’s shrine spiraling off in another direction with a silent apology to the late Mrs. Tendo. Behind him, Akane lay, having been knocked silly by a concussion bomb several minutes before.

This had gotten so far past out of hand that it wasn’t funny, but he had very little idea what to do about it. The barrel of drowned man water was still flying around the room, and the battle for it was occasionally sending VERY dangerous projectiles towards innocents, or at least those few that couldn’t, or were too stupid to, evacuate the room.

Cursing, the pigtailed martial artist noticed another projectile heading on a long, lazy arc towards his mother, who seemed to be standing there in a state of shock. His annoyance turned into blind panic when he realized precisely what the projectile was. Leaping forward instantly, he closed in on the flying barrel of water as quickly as he could.

To tell the truth, he had almost completely forgotten about it when the crap had hit the fan, but he didn’t want to think about what his mother would do if she got a curse, and this WAS a chance for a cure to his own. Lashing out with a knife hand, the pigtailed martial artist shattered the wooden barrel, causing a torrent of water to slosh over his body. All of it fell short of his mother, fortunately.

For a moment, nothing happened. The fighting stopped, the room fell silent, and Ranma stood there, dripping and male. This was when everyone in the room expected Ranma to start celebrating… so to see him start screaming in agony was a shock. Sinking to the floor, the pigtailed boy’s body exploded in a flash of black and green energy, as its form twisted and melted in ways that would make anyone there nauseous if they could see them.

One moment, it was male. The next, it was female. Finally, it took a form that was neither, but some mass of dark power, and began the cycle again. It screamed in wordless pain as the incredibly quick transformations ripped through it, and everyone in the room covered their ears at the unearthly sound, before… it disappeared.

“What… happened?” Ryoga, the first one who was capable of speaking, asked as he looked at the spot where Ranma had been. Instead of the pigtailed boy, all that was there was a burnt patch of floor and several wisps of smoke.

“Ah, so the foul sorcerer has fled the mighty blade of Kuno Tatewaki, the blue thunder of Furinkan high! Finally, my battle is complete!” Kuno orated, smiling proudly. “And now, ‘tis time to claim my prize.” With that, the kendoist walked towards the unconscious Akane, still in her slightly burnt bridal gown.

Mousse was busily being beaten up by Shampoo, so Ryoga walked up behind the Kendoist and knocked him on the head with his umbrella. “Stay away from her!” He snarled, then looked down at the prone girl in sadness. “She’s not going to be very happy when she wakes up.” He sighed, heading into the house to get Kasumi, and actually managing to go the right way for once.

In one corner of the room, Nodoka Saotome took the time to process precisely what had happened, blinked several times, and walked slowly into the house, clutching her wrapped Katana tightly.

HR.

Kami-sama looked over his hands at the small god that was standing in front of him, looking distinctly nervous. He was Ichiro, Kami of Dish Towels, fourth class, Category 1, Unlimited, and he was looking distinctly nervous. He had just screwed up, and he knew it.

“Let me see if I have this right.” The MUCH older god said, sighing. “You detected a signal that was similar to the one that manifested in Jusenkyo a thousand years ago, the one that infused the springs with all that black magic.” The god nodded. “So, without consulting any of your superiors, you shunted this being off to the original’s home universe, then closed the portal permanently behind it?”

The younger god nodded again, nervously. “I… I had heard how much chaos that modification to Jusenkyo had caused, so I… I thought.” He stammered.

Kami-sama sighed. “You do know that was one of earth’s champions you banished, correct?” He said, slowly. At a noticeable paling from the younger god’s face, he continued. “Fortunately, his job on earth had been completed, so you didn’t cause too much damage. Unfortunately, banishing a man who defeated a phoenix who was going to subjugate half of china to another dimension is hardly the kind of reward I would normally offer!”

The young Kami flinched back so violently that his wire frame glasses fell several inches down his nose, and Kami-sama continued. “You are reduced to limited status for the next CENTURY, unless that human is somehow returned to this world.” He said, with finality.

The younger Kami sighed in relief, staggering out of the all-mighty’s office with slightly more confidence than he had come in with. True, Kami-sama wasn’t usually a wrathful god, but there were stories.. He shuddered.

Back inside of the office, at his desk, Kami-sama sighed. Saotome hadn’t been the best and most righteous mortal out there, but he still wished the boy well, wherever he’d ended up. He had a sneaking suspicion that he knew, but talking to L-sama was… a rather annoying experience, to say the least, and quite frankly, she outranked him.

HR.

The Lord of Nightmares gazed down upon the four staffs, smiling as she saw her favorite mortal going about her business. This mortal had provided her years of entertainment, and now was no exception, but there was something coming that would tax her favorite mortal and her party to their limits, and it all had to do with one of the five Mazoku lords.

At the moment, L-sama wasn’t too pleased with said lord, since he wanted to blow up one of the four staffs, and it had taken her a good thousand years to craft it correctly, but she wasn’t sure that the mortals on the staff could defeat him. She may even have to go down their and sort out the problem herself, which was something she hadn’t had to do in centuries.

For a moment, she contemplated the idea of just vaporizing Fibrizo where he stood, but she didn’t like such direct interference. Besides, it wouldn’t be nearly as much fun. Frowning, she concentrated on the problem, absently watching as Lina’s group, now including the ‘priest,’ Xellos, finished up their current adventure.

As she did, she felt a ripple strike the sea of chaos. This was odd, as said sea was VERY hard to get to from any of the four staffs or the outside multiverse, and therefore it interested her. Turning her attention to it, she found a single, solitary Mazoku floating on the waves. Given how its magical aura was fluctuating, it had either gone insane or something catastrophic had happened to it. Interested, L-sama reached out and touched the lone Mazoku. If she’d had eyes in her current form, they would have widened. Yes, this one was interesting… and it just may be what she needed to help her chosen one and her party stop Fibrizo.

With no further hesitation, she began working, reshaping the mass of conflicting magics and life force into a whole again, putting her own unique, twisted sense of humor to work as she molded its form and abilities.

HR.

When Ranma woke, all he could see was blackness. Flailing his arms around, he came into contact with nothing. No ground, not even air to breath. Gasping, he realized that he wasn’t suffocating, and in fact, didn’t breath at all unless he consciously willed it. “Where… where am I?” He asked, only unsurprised at the presence of sound in empty space because he hadn’t paid attention in science class.

“Good, you’re awake.” Came a soft, female voice from everywhere around the pigtailed martial artist. Ranma looked for its source, but couldn’t find it. Frowning he reached out with his Chi senses, and almost had a heart attack at the tremendous aura he felt.

“What… what are you?” He gasped, actually frightened. Not much other than cats could frighten Ranma, but a being with an aura about a million times bigger than Saffron’s, that he was sure he hadn’t felt one tenth of, did it quite nicely.

“Who I am is unimportant.” The female voice said, again from all around Ranma. “All you need know is that I saved you from being torn apart by the… what did your memories call it, Jusenkyo Water.”

Ranma frowned, remembering the events of the failed wedding. “Didn’t think it'd do that.” He shuddered. “Well, erm, thanks.” He continued, tentatively, at a loss for what to say.

The female voice actually giggled for a moment, before becoming serious again. “Now, I will send you into the world.”

“Huh? So… you fix me up and just send me off?” Ranma asked, his brain desperately trying to catch up to his mouth as he spoke. “Ya don’t want anythin in return?”

“The world I send you to is not your own.” The woman explained, and continued before Ranma could open his mouth. “I do not know what world you come from, and searching for it would take far more of my time than I am willing to spend. Still, where I send you, you may be able to find a way home.”

Ranma nodded in the darkness. Normally, he would have objected to someone saying that they could help him but just didn’t feel like it, but the waves of power he could still feel emanating from the void around him stopped that. “Yeah, thanks a lot.” He said, just before a soft glow began to permeate the darkness. As he was being enveloped in the glow, the being laughed musically, causing a shiver to go down Ranma’s spine.

HR.

In the middle of a forest clearing just outside of a small town, Martina Zoana Mel Navratilova stood in the middle of a magic circle, her formerly immaculate white and brown outfit covered in smudges and bits of refuse. On her face, quite noticeable against her pale skin, were several parallel scratches that had been given to her by a rather angry alleycat when she’d tried to steal its fish.

Looking over the squiggly lines that ran all around her, she smiled. “There, that should finish it!” She said, happily. And now, I’ll get my revenge on that monster, Inverse, for destroying my kingdom, and my golem, and my dresses, and all of my money, and…” She started crying for a moment, before forcibly bringing herself back to the hear and now. Clearing her throat, she continued. “Now, I shall cast the summoning spell!” After this, she let off a maniacal laugh that would make Naga or Kodachi proud.

Stopping in her laughter after a few moments, the ‘sorceress of Zoamel Gustav’ began to speak her incantation. She’d spent days cobbling it together, and was sure it would work. The fact that she was trying to summon a Mazoku that she’d just made up was completely irrelevant to her, of course. “Oh, great and powerful Zoamel Gustav, I, your greatest servant, call upon you! Smite all that stand in the way of the power that you possess! Bring our enemies to their knees! Klatuu, Verada, NECKLACE!!!”

Martina lowered her arms from the wide open posture she’d thrown them into during the chant, frowning. She was pretty sure she’d gotten the last bit wrong, but it didn’t matter. For a moment,, she stood and waited. Several birds nearby chirped happily. She waited some more, and a small deer ran out of the woods, across the clearing and to the other side.

Sighing, she stepped out of the middle of the magic circle, and turned her face to the heavens. “Oh, Zoamel Gustav, why haven’t you come!” She cried, anguished. As if in answer, a column of red light lanced from the sky, hitting the center of her summoning circle, where she’d just been. “Is… is it working?” She gasped, surprised in spite of herself, as she backed up slightly from the beam. Unfortunately, she didn’t back up quickly enough, as the base of the beam erupted into a ball of destructive energy, destroying the scratched runes on the ground and knocking the white and grey clad sorceress back several feet.

“I’m okay…” She mumbled, hauling herself back to her feet. She was about to start brushing the layer of soot that now covered her clothing off, but stopped at what she saw. Sure enough, there was a Mazoku standing in the middle of the crater that had been her summoning circle.

It didn’t look much like the Zoamel Gustav she had imagined, but it was there. Its most noticeable features were its eyes, which were glowing slightly red and vertically slitted, and its ears, which tapered to a noticeable point. It looked mostly like a young human male, wearing some form of red, tie secured shirt and loose black pants. On his back was a small pack. “Zoamel Gustav?” She asked, hopefully, causing him to turn his head and look at her. Smiling happily, the battered and burnt woman abruptly fainted.

END.

Okay, how was that? Good? Bad? Ugly? Drop me a review and tell me! Oh, and this hasn’t been preread yet, so… sorry for any errors that snuck past me.

Wow, this got so much of a response that I had to continue it, and with the help of my newly acquired Slayers OST, I did! Woot for OSTs! This chapter’s kinda slow, but everything’s still getting set up, so… yeah. Anyhow.

Misato:Shut up and start the fic, already!

Weebee: Yeah, that. Bye!

Chapter 1, Beginning! On the road again.

Ranma blinked rapidly as the light grew to an extremely intense level, and then turned red. He turned slightly in the beam, wondering what was happening, Before he felt the solidity of ground beneath his feet once again, rather than the nothingness of the place he had been before. Looking down, he saw a star shaped symbol on the ground beneath him, surrounded by the red light. Briefly, he wondered what to do next. that was, until the light exploded out in a circle around him, revealing, all at once, a forest clearing with a large crater in its center. “I guess I’m here…” He muttered, quietly.

“Zoamel Gustav?” Came a breathless, female voice from nearby. This voice wasn’t the same as the one he’d heard in the void, so he quickly turned his head to its source.

Standing several feet away, her legs visibly shaking to keep her up, was a very light teal haired woman. She wore an outfit that resembled nothing he’d ever seen, but that looked distressingly like a Bikini with a cape and shoulder guards.

His observation of the girl and her clothing was halted, however, when she abruptly keeled forward. Moving quickly, he grabbed her in his arms to prevent her from hitting the ground. Looking down at her, he saw that her body was covered in cuts, bruises and burns, and her clothes had been ripped in several places. “Guess I’m gunna have ta help her before anythin else.” He muttered, reluctantly.

No, he didn’t really mind helping someone who was apparently badly injured, but given that this was a scantily clad female, he figured that pain was going to be visited upon him at some point in the near future. Sighing, he lowered her to the ground in a soft looking place, and took his backpack off of his back.

Blinking, he looked at the pack. During the failed wedding, he’d been wearing a tux, and his pack had been upstairs in his room, where he normally kept it. Setting down the pack, he looked down at himself, seeing the red Chinese shirt and black pants he was wearing. “Uh, thanks… whoever you are.” He muttered, directing his comment to the person who had helped him and, apparently, given him a set of his clothing and some supplies.

As he reached to the side of the pack where he normally kept his medical supplies, he noticed that there was something in a leather sheath strapped to the side. Setting it aside, he opened the compartment… and found that the first aid supplies had almost all been removed, with the exception of his wrapping gauze, and replaced with tiny bottles. frowning, he took out the wrappings and got to work.

HR.

Several minutes later, Ranma cleared a few branches out of his face, as he looked around. He’d bandaged most of the girl’s wounds and burns, but he needed to clean some of them first and hadn’t been able to find any water in his pack. He’d heard a stream nearby, so was currently trying to find it. “You’d think I’d be good at findin water when I need it…” He muttered, just as his next step landed on a muddy bank. “Aw, crap!” He yelped, slipping into the river, which had been hidden by heavy overgrowth.

As Jusenkyo did its thing, the red haired martial artist felt a little different. The change seemed to take longer, and she could actually feel things… shifting… this time. It didn’t hurt, but it definitely felt strange. ‘Is this part of what that woman did ta stop the curse from killin me?” She thought. “Figures she couldn’t have cured it.”

Sighing, she looked down to the pot in her hands to see that it was full of cool and clean river water, before climbing out and heading back to where she’d left the girl.

HR.

Martina smiled, standing with one foot on Lina Inverse’s head, and holding the idle of Zoamel Gustav high. “I have done it! Now, the world is for the taking of Zoamel Gustav!” She cackled.

Beneath her foot, inverse cried pathetically, but she didn’t let up her pressure. Yes, she had won, and… ow! She flinched, as something stung her in the arm. It did it several more times, and the vision of her glorious victory over Lina began to fade. “Aw, nooooo!” She whined, and then suddenly, she opened her eyes.

“Are you all right?” Asked a female voice, which was unpleasantly familiar. Letting her vision clear slightly, all she could see was a blurred mop of red hair, and two glowing red eyes looking down at her. “INVERSE!” She shrieked, jolting upright and sending the redhead back a few steps.

“Huh?” The other girl asked, though not quickly enough. Martina had pulled a dagger from somewhere, and thrown it at her. “Hey, what’s with you?” The other girl demanded, snatching the flying projectile from the air.

Martina blinked. She was reasonably sure that Lina inverse couldn’t do that. Sure, she could have deflected the dagger, but she would have used magic to do it. This blink had also cleared out her eyes of their sleep fog, and she started seeing the differences between her target and Lina. For one, she was much more developed in the chest, and her hair was a slightly darker color.

“Wow, usually people take some time between me helpin them and them tryin to stab me.” The redhead grumbled, looking over the silver hilted dagger in interest. “Nice blade, though.”

“You… helped me?” Martina asked, before looking down and seeing that several of her burns and cuts had been expertly bandaged. “Oh, I’m sorry.” She said, switching from angry and confused to slightly too sweet in an instant. “Did my knife cause any damage? …and… who are you?” Her thoughts were rather muddled at the moment, but she was pretty sure that she was forgetting something important.

“I’m Ranma.” The redhead responded, dropping the knife and checking her hand. “I don’t think you…” She started, before blinking. “Weird, I didn’t feel it.” She muttered.

“Didn’t feel what?” Martina asked, leaning forward curiously.

“Ranma shrugged, holding up her right hand to show a deep gash along one finger. Strangely, it wasn’t bleeding. It was just… there, a break in the skin that had obviously been caused by the knife, but which was actually closing before her eyes. “That’s almost like Mazoku healing…” The former princess said, before something clicked in her rather slow running brain. She’d summoned a Mazoku, her beloved Zoamel Gustav, and he’d actually APPEARED! Now, where was he? Whipping her head around in all directions, she searched the clearing quickly.

There was no one there except for her and the girl named Ranma, along with a backpack and a fire with a pot held over it. “Where is he?” She demanded, quickly and excitedly. “Where is the dread Mazoku Zoamel Gustav?!”

Ranma gave her an odd look. She’d heard the strange girl call out that name earlier, but she had no idea who it was. “The who?” She asked.

Martina growled impatiently. “Well, he had black pants, like yours, and a red shirt, like yours, and red, cat slitted eyes, like yours, and…” She trailed off. “You must have chased him away!” She decided, snapping her fingers in discovery. “Why would you do that?”

Ranma looked at the other girl as if she’d lost her mind. “I don’t suppose you mean a black haired guy with a pigtail, do ya?” She asked, tentatively.

Martina nodded. “Now where did you take him? Before I have to… put a curse on you or something!” She said, having somehow retrieved the dagger, and waving it around menacingly.

Ranma sighed. Yeah, this was going to be one of those days. “Okay,” She started, slowly. “I’ll tell you about him… but you wanna tell me who you are, first?”

“Hmm, that sounds like a fair exchange.” Martina said. “All right! I am Martina Zoana Mel Navratilova, former princess of the Zoana kingdom and high priestess of the mighty Zoamel Gustav!” She yelled, jumping up and striking a pose. Unfortunately, she forgot her injuries, and quickly fell to the ground with a sweat drop on her head and tears welling in her eyes.

“…Right…” Ranma said, a sweat drop of her own dominating the back of her head. “Well, to answer your question about the guy with the pigtail, it’s me.” Martina blinked several times, before Ranma continued. “I’ve got a water triggered curse, and I got splashed when I was getting the water to clean out your wounds.”

Martina narrowed her eyes. “Can you prove this?” She demanded.

Ranma nodded, getting up and walking over to the fire she’d started, and checking the water temperature. Although it was steaming, it felt only slightly warm when she put a finger into it. Shrugging, she poured it over her head. Strangely, not only did it feel good to turn back into a guy, but the water itself felt nice as it sloshed against his skin.

“You… you…” Martina stuttered. “What?” She finally squeaked, totally confused.

Ranma frowned, deciding that he’d better explain.

HR.

In the shadows of a group of trees, a purple haired man looked on at the human girl who was interacting with the Mazoku. Xellos had felt the return of one of his subordinates that he’d thought dead during the war of the monster’s fall, and decided to see what exactly was going on before going back to observe Lina. After all, she’d just blown up half of Atlas City, so he doubted that she could get into any more trouble… for a few hours.

This Mazoku he was seeing was not the one he’d expected. For one, he seemed more powerful than the one he remembered, and his appearance was radically different. For another, he had just helped heal a human, and was talking to her. Granted, some oddballs, like Xellos himself, liked to help the occasional human just to see what they’d do, but this was different.

This would take some observation before he rushed in and actually talked to this new Mazoku. After all, Information was Xellos’ favorite commodity.

HR.

“So… you’re not the dread Mazoku Zoamel Gustav?” Martina asked, her lip quivering slightly.

Ranma shook his head. “Sorry.” He muttered, wondering why someone would WANT him to be an evil demon of some kind.

“But… I laid out the summoning circle perfectly, and you are a Mazoku, and…” Martina trailed off, thinking.

“I’m a what?” Ranma asked, confused.

“You’re a Mazoku. You have the evil red eyes, and pointed ears, and your wounds don’t bleed, I’m guessing unless someone uses a weapon that effects the astral plain, anyways, and you have at least some magic.”

“Wait, pointed ears? Red eyes?” Ranma asked, reaching a hand up to feel his ears. Sure enough, they tapered to a point at the ends, and were slightly longer and wider than they had once been. He contemplated how to look at his eyes, before Martina pulled a mirror out of nowhere and handed it to him.

Holding it up to his face, he saw that she had been telling the truth about his eyes. They were also slitted like a cat’s, but for some reason that didn’t bother him as much as he was sure it should. ‘What the hell happened to me?’ He thought, as Martina kept rambling on about Mazoku, and he paid attention with half an ear. After a moment, he interrupted her. “How do you know so much about these Mazoku, anyhow?”

She sniffed. “Well, as Zoamel Gustav’s most loyal follower, I must know all I can learn of his kind.” She said, proudly.

Ranma just groaned. Laying on the ground, he began to think. He’d been fundamentally changed somehow, when he’d been transported here. Martina had a point that how his knife wound had acted just wasn’t normal, and he had certainly never seen those eyes or ears before. consentrating, he looked inside of himself for his Chi reserve. He shot bolt upright when he found that there was nothing there. No, that wasn’t entirely accurate. There was something there, but it wasn’t Chi. It felt like raw, undiluted darkness, and he felt as though he should be terrified of it… but he wasn’t. Reaching into his new well of power, he tried to condense a ball of power out of it for a Moko-Takabisha, but couldn’t get a grip on it.

Flopping back onto the ground, he cursed. “Great, so my body’s different, my Chi is gone, and I’m in a strange world with a girl who reminds me a little of Kodachi. This is a perfect day.” He muttered.

Just as Ranma said that, Martina yelled. “I’ve got it!”

“What do you got?” Ranma asked, rolling over to face her.

“Zoamel Gustav must have sent you, one of his lesser minions, to assist me! He’s far too important to bother visiting himself, even for me! You will help me defeat Inverse!” Martina said, smiling happily.

“I… will?” Ranma asked, looking confused.

“Yes, together we shall defeat that evil sorceress Lina Inverse, and avenge my destroyed Kingdom! That is what the great Zoamel Gustav wishes!”

“This is gunna be a LONG day.” Ranma muttered, but considered. Martina, despite her eccentricities, seemed to know a lot more about this world than he did. After all, better a Kuno reject than no help, right? Besides, if this Lina Inverse had really destroyed an entire kingdom for no reason, it sounded like she needed to be stopped… though he’d be sure to get her side of the story before attacking, given that he thought Martina may be a little unreliable. “Fine, I’ll help you.” He said, resigned.

“YAY!” Martina said, producing victory fans from nowhere and waving them around in the air, happily. “Now, since Lina was hired by the King of Saillune to destroy my kingdom, that’s where we should head first, then we’ll…” Martina started, giddily.

Ranma left her to make her own plans, and went over to see what else was in his pack, besides the mysterious bottles. He figured she may be done ranting by the time he got back.

First, he checked the sheath that he’d set next to the pack. Inside it was a European style short sword. He looked at it quizzically. He normally didn’t use weapons, but it would at least be handy for cutting away forest brush, and if he needed money he could sell it. Noting that it had a belt to wrap around his waist and rest at his side, he smirked.

Putting the sword aside, he dug through his pack. Most of what was in it was pretty standard, a tent, some dried and salted food supplies, and cooking supplies. Near the bottom, however, he found two things of interest. There was a sack of coins, what looked like four or five hundred little gold ones, on one side. He wasn’t sure about the money system in this world, but was pretty sure that was a hefty chunk of change.

The other item was a large, yellow book. On the spine was written “Read this or else!” in bright, red Kanji. Shrugging, he brought the glossy yellow tome out from the inside of the bag. On the front was a black sign being held up by a white hand. The sign read “Black Magic for Dummies, by Lorda Nigtmar.”

Ranma’s eyebrow twitched, but he slid the book back into his pack rather than throwing it a few hundred feet. If that strange woman had given him the book and told him to read it, he’d better do it, especially since all of his Chi seemed to be gone, and anything to replace it would be good. Black Magic didn’t sound terribly reassuring, but he shrugged this off for the moment. He’d have to think about all of this later, when he had a better grasp on the more immediate situation.

“So, Are you ready to go?” Martina asked, popping up from behind him suddenly.

Ranma only resisted the urge to jump out of his skin through force of will. “Yeah, I’m ready.” He said, picking up the pack and slinging it over his shoulder, and then picking up the sheathed sword. “So, where’s this Saillune place, anyhow?”

“It’s that way.” Martina said, then frowned. “…I think…”

Ranma growled, but started walking in the direction that Martina had indicated. If worst came to worst, he could always navigate to the closest town and get directions or a map.

HR.

As the two traveling companions, one highly reluctant, walked away from the clearing, Xellos faded completely into sight from his hiding place. Yes, this could get interesting.

HR.

On her way out of Atlas City, Lina inverse abruptly sneezed.

“Are you getting a cold, Miss Lina?” Amelia asked, concerned.

“Nah, it was probably nothing.” The sorceress dismissed, casually.

END.

What, there’s a “For Dummies” book for everything ELSE, why not black magic?

Note on spellings: I’m using a resource for spellings and other info that’s not easy to find in-series. It’s called Inverse dot org. all spellings of slayers related words come from their.

Also, I’d sort of appreciate it if, in future, people don’t respond to each-other’s reviews. The review page isn’t a message board, and I DO have a forum. Sorry if I sounded harsh, I really don’t mind much but it is sorta distracting and fudges the review numbers. (EG:Someone reviewed twice, once anon and once logged in.) Shutting up now.

Please R&R.

Hello Folks. This time, everyone’s favorite trickster makes an annoying appearance, and a fight scene, as ineptly described as my usual. (Weebee sighs.) Anyhow, on with the show! Hope you don’t hate it. :)

Chapter 2, Control! Darkness rising.

“What do ya mean we’ve been goin the wrong way?” Ranma asked, his eye twitching spasmodically.

The man, a shop keeper in a small town that Ranma and Martina had just entered, laughed nervously at the sight of the red-eyed man glaring in annoyance. “Well, if you keep going the way you were, you’d hit Lyzeille in a couple of days.” He said, pointing down the town’s main street in the same direction the two had been walking.

“Lyzeille?” Martina asked, shocked. “That IS the completely wrong direction!”

Ranma groaned. “You got a map we can borrow?” He asked, turning back to the shop keeper.

“Well, I do sell them for 7 silver pieces each.” He offered, pulling a large box full of scrolls from under the counter.

Ranma grumbled, but fished out one of the gold pieces he’d transferred from his pack to his pocket before heading out. “Is this enough?” He asked, laying it down on the counter.

The store clerk’s eyes bugged out. “Y… yes, that’s enough.” He stammered, quickly scooping up the gold colored object. Ranma figured that he was probably being swindled, but was too annoyed to care.

“Can I have the map, now?” He asked, holding out one hand. The shop keeper nodded quickly, handing it over and returning to examining the gold coin. Turning away from the shop stall, the pigtailed martial artist looked at his companion. “I thought you knew where you were going?” He drawled.

“Well, I did… I must have been turned around during the confusion while summoning you, that’s all.” Martina said, sniffing.

“Okay.” Ranma sighed, unfolding the map and looking it over. “According to this thing, we go that way to head to Saillune.”

“But can’t we stop for a while at an Inn?” Martina asked. “We’ve been walking for hours, and the sun’s almost down. You know that it’s more possible to encounter bandits at night.”

Ranma looked up to see that the sun was still a good bit above the horizon, but sighed. Even if he wasn’t feeling tired at all, he didn’t feel like retracing about five miles of road right now. “All right, we’ll go to an inn and get something to eat.” He said. “But you’re gunna have ta tell me the exchange rate ‘round here before we get there.”

“Yay!” Martina yelled, happily.

Ranma blinked. Despite the greenish haired girl’s claims, he was finding it increasingly hard to believe that she was the high priest of anything, let alone an incredibly powerful demon. “Let’s go.” He said, walking off. He was pretty sure he’d seen a restaurant with some rooms for rent around here somewhere.

HR.

Laying in her bed at the Inn that Ranma had paid for, Martina smiled. Life had suddenly taken a major turn upwards for her in the last day. Ever since Lina Inverse had destroyed her entire kingdom, she’d been wandering the streets, trying to survive from day to day and figure out a way to get revenge. Now, though…

Now, she had a companion to travel with, sent by Zoamel Gustav himself, and the companion was pretty cute. She blushed, and shook her head. He was a Mazoku, which meant that he was strictly off limits for… that, but still, he had enough money to keep a roof over her head during the hunt, and he’d promised to help in the defeat of Lina. Not, of course, that she needed help with the might of Zoamel Gustav on her side.

Sighing happily, she let herself drift off to sleep, dreams of vanquishing Lina mingling with… other ones. She didn’t hear the thump on the roof.

HR.

Later, Ranma sat on the Inn’s roof, the yellow book that he’d found in his pack laying next to him. He’d had dinner and tried to go to bed about an hour before, but there was something wrong. For one, he wasn’t really hungry. Yes, the food was good, but it didn’t seem to fill him up at all.

After eating a portion so small that most of the Tendos would have thought the world was ending if they’d seen it, he’d gone upstairs and proceeded to stair at a roof for about forty minutes.

“What’s happening to me?” He asked, looking out over the town. The town itself was odd, having very few signs of modern technology, but he’d expected something similar when he’d found the gold coins and potions in his pack rather than paper money and disinfectants. No, the really worrying part was what had happened to his own form.

Picking up the book, he opened it and began to read, hoping that it would shed some light on what was going on.

It did, at least a little. The first chapter actually dealt with what he had become, and it was… disturbing reading. What it all boiled down to was that he was now a sentient collection of evil energy and magic. He didn’t need to eat or sleep, and he had access to some pretty strong powers once he learned to control them.

This, in itself, was extremely distressing. From the description, he sounded like a demon, something he and his father would have volunteered to banish back before he’d come here. Well, something his father would have volunteered to banish, then forced him to actually do the work.

The part that really got to him, though, was how he was to replace food and drink. These… Mazoku, as the book and Martina both called them, drew energy from human suffering. It wasn’t Chi vampirism like Miss Hinako had, but…

“Hmm, what are you reading?”

“Huh?” Ranma yelped, spinning around on the spot to see a shadowed figure standing at the peak of the Inn’s roof. “Who are you?” He demanded.

“Oh, just an old friend.” The figure said, stepping forward. Even in the dark, Ranma could make out the figures features when it got closer to him. He wasn’t sure how, but thought it may have had something to do with the way his eyes had been changed. The man had dark hair, which shone with a purplish glow where the small amount of moonlight hit it. It was also wearing some form of robes, and wielding a staff.

“What do you mean, an old friend?” Ranma asked, his eyes narrowing. “I don’t know anyone on this world other than Martina.”

“Hmm, on this world eh?” The figure asked. “Interesting.”

Ranma winced. He had a feeling that he’d just told this guy way more than he intended. “Look. You gunna tell me who you are, or are ya gunna leave?”

The man smiled. “Only those two options? Well then, I suppose I should tell you… that my name is a secret.”

Ranma’s eyebrow twitched, and he face faulted onto the roof. Getting up, he shot forward and grabbed the man by the front of his cloak. “Listen buddy, I’m not havin a good day, all right?”

The man’s smile got wider, and his already closed eyes seemed to squeeze closed more tightly, as if he was holding back laughter. “All right, I’ll tell you my name.” He said, right before fading from Ranma’s grasp. “It’s Xellos.” He finished, reappearing several feet away.

Ranma stumbled forwards, with the weight of Xellos no longer bracing him, but quickly regained balance. “So, what do ya want?” He demanded, now visibly annoyed.

“You’re not very polite, are you?” Xellos asked, causing Ranma’s eye to twitch. “But to answer your question, I felt your arrival here, and wanted to see what was happening. After all, it’s not often that a rather high level Mazoku just appears from nowhere.”

“So, you’re a Mazoku?” Ranma asked, now actually kind of curious.

“I never said THAT.” Xellos replied, sounding hurt.

“I can sense your aura.” Ranma replied. “You’re a Mazoku.”

The purple haired man clapped. “So I am! Good show!” He said, almost happily. “Now that you know that I’m ‘Xellos the Mazoku,’ and I know that you’re ‘The new guy from another world,’ aren’t we better friends?”

“My name’s Ranma Saotome.” The pigtailed Mazoku snapped, getting increasingly annoyed with his late night visitor. Distantly, he wondered if this guy had ever trained in anything goes insult tactics. If he did, he was better at it than Ranma.

“I’m glad to meet you, Ranma Saotome.” Xellos said. “Now, what was this you were reading?” Scooping up the book, the robed man read over a few pages. “Hmm, Black magic for dummies? Interesting title.” He mused. “Judging from this, I assume you haven’t been alive for long.”

“Huh?” Ranma asked, blinking in confusion.

“I mean you haven’t been a Mazoku long. You probably haven’t eaten, poor thing.” Xellos said, clicking his tongue the way a doting mother would.

“Well, I…” Ranma said, off-balance. He was stopped as Xellos grabbed him by the arm. “Wha?”” He asked.

“I know a really nice place to get some food.” His visitor explained, before Ranma felt a twisting, shifting sensation. This wasn’t like his curse. It was more like he’d been pulled backwards out of reality, then shoved back into it in a different spot.

“Urk…” The black haired martial artist said. His face would have turned green, if he’d still had a stomach to be sick to. “That didn’t feel too good.”

“You get used to it.” Xellos said, smiling innocently.

Ranma just grumbled, before looking around his new surroundings. Xellos had teleported them onto the edge of another rooftop, overlooking an empty space at the outskirts of the town. In the empty clearing, there were several tents set up. “Why’d you bring me here?” He asked, glaring back at the other man.

“Well, these are a group of bandits.” Xellos explained. “The lowest of humans.”

“Bandits?” Ranma asked, confused. Looking closer, he saw that there were several men with nasty looking swords sitting outside of the tents. All of them looked pretty disreputable, and at least one of the blades was wet with blood. “Did they just kill someone?”

“That’s generally what bandits do.” Xellos said, shrugging. “Not a very fun pastime, if you ask me…. Especially with all those mages and swordsmen running around.” For some reason, the purple haired man’s face broke into a wide grin at this.

Ranma growled. “Why did you bring me here? To stop them?” He asked.

“Well, you can do that if you’d like.” Xellos said, shrugging.

“That doesn’t seem all that demonic of you.” Ranma replied, trying to be bitingly sarcastic. It fell flat, since Xellos didn’t seem to notice.

He shrugged. “Being evil’s pretty boring, actually. Plus, you’re likely to get killed by someone eventually.”

Ranma nodded, glad to hear this comment. Xellos may have been tremendously annoying, but he didn’t seem to be a bad guy. “You coming?” He asked.

The other Mazoku shook his head. “I think I’ll watch.” He said, simply. Ranma frowned, but then nodded. He doubted a guy in priest’s robes could fight very well. Then again, he wasn’t sure that he could fight very well without his Chi, but he had read in the book that he would be able to heal any physical injury.

Letting his Chi sense expand over the group of bandits, he couldn’t feel anything strange. He’d felt the auras of a few white and shamanic mages that he’d passed on the road to this town, and he couldn’t feel any magic down there. He did, however, feel a large amount of something… dark. He wasn’t sure what it was, but it made some part of him, one that hadn’t existed until earlier this day, react.

Shuddering, he tried to ignore that feeling, and leapt. He would have to test his new fighting ability eventually, and stopping a group of bandits was as good a place to start as any.

As he landed, he brought one hand down on the top of one of the guards’ heads, sending him into deep unconsciousness. The other two guards looked over, seeing the new form in their midst. Ranma managed to silence one of them quickly with a punch to the jaw, but the third managed to let out an alert.

That, of course, was when all hell broke loose.

HR.

On the roof, Xellos watched in interest as Ranma tore into the bandit gang. The boy had a sword sheathed at his hip, but didn’t draw it. He seemed to prefer fighting hand to hand, and knocking his opponents unconscious. Normally, this would annoy Xellos, but given the boy’s status and possible origin, it was both understandable and amusing.

“I wonder how long your code will hold?” He mused, as the newly born Mazoku kicked a large bandit with a battle-axe in the chest, sending him flying back into the ground with a tremendous crash.

Reaching out, the Mazoku gathered in wisps of the bandits’ auras. He smiled as he saw that they were gradually turning from annoyance and anger into fear.

Down on the ground, Ranma was feeling this change as well, and instinctively gathering the energy that was being released. It felt like such a rush that he was getting light headed. He only snapped back to reality when someone’s sword buried itself in his side. Growling in annoyance, he reached down to his own sword’s sheath, bringing the blade up and slashing viciously with it.

He stopped in shock when he saw the bandit’s arm separate from his shoulder, dropping to the ground with a thump. “Gah!” The huge man screamed, falling to the earth and clutching at his shoulder. The other bandits stopped as well, before one of them walked up to Ranma.

“You… you chopped off Bartley’s arm!” He yelled, angrily.

“I…” Ranma said, unsure of what to do. The man who had spoken was large, both tall and broad, and he had a bandana with a symbol of a glairing demonic face on it.

“I, as the leader of the fighting demons bandit gang, will not forgive that!” He boomed, drawing an immense sword from over one shoulder.

Ranma’s mind was still running in circles. One part was saying that the taste of Bartley’s pain was so good, while the other was screaming that he wasn’t supposed to injure an opponent that badly, at least not if he didn’t have to. He was pulled out of this state of confusion when the gang leader’s sword swung at his legs. Jumping up, he landed on the blade easily and brought one foot down hard, breaking the man’s fingers.

The gang leader dropped his weapon, screaming and clutching his hand, before Ranma walked up to him and grabbed him by the hem of his tattered vest. Looking into his eyes, the young Mazoku felt fear, anger and pain washing over him from every direction. It was all he could do to resist inflicting torture on this man to increase the output.

“Go.” He said, softly. “Run, take your friend to a hospital, and turn yourselves in. Never commit another crime, steal another coin, or hurt another human being as long as you live. If you do, I’ll know.” He hissed, the amount of control he had to exert over his own impulses making his words clipped and harsh. “You got that?”

The leader nodded rapidly.

“Good.” Ranma said, pushing him back to land on the ground, laying on his back. Seeing that the man wasn’t moving, he growled. “GO!” He yelled, in as loud a voice as he could. All of the bandits quickly obliged, four coming back quickly to retrieve their petrified leader and heavily wounded comrade.

Looking down at the sword he’d used during the last bit of the fight, the young martial artist turned Mazoku glared at the blood that still covered part of the blade. Bringing his arm back, he threw the sword as hard as he could, burying it in the ground up to the hilt. Panting for breath that he didn’t need, he heard the sound of clapping hands. Turning, he saw that Xellos was still standing on the edge of the roof, clapping.

The martial artist looked up at the older Mazoku. “You knew this was gunna happen, didn’t you?” He asked, angrily.

“Well, I thought you were going to kill them all rather than letting them go.” Xellos said, shrugging. “They have killed, injured or ruined hundreds, after all.”

Ranma stopped, tempted to let that justify what he’d done, but shook it off. “I lost control.” He muttered.

Xellos just shrugged. “so you did.” He said, simply. Ranma was about to ask what he meant by that, when the other Mazoku smirked, stepped backwards, and disappeared.

Blinking, Ranma looked around the darkened area. “Wait…” He said, his dark thoughts lifting for a moment. “Where the hell am I, anyhow?” Grumbling, he left the former bandit camp, in search of the Inn where Martina and all of his stuff were.

END.

Next chapter coming soon, I hope… if I didn’t screw up this one too bad.

Chapter 3! Enjoy, and please leave a review. That's about all I can say.

Chapter 3, DAMN! That’s gotta hurt!

Ranma looked up at the Inn, just as the sun was cresting the horizon. He’d spent most of the night wandering the streets, trying to get a handle on what had happened during the fight. He still hadn’t managed it, though.

Locating the room he’d rented, he began climbing. Unfortunately, without his Chi, he couldn’t leap incredibly high anymore, and he hadn’t figured out how to fly yet. As he hauled himself over the window ledge and into the room, he saw a very startled Martina looking back at him, still in the process of slipping on the top of her outfit. “Erm…” He said, unsure.

Scrambling to his feet, he looked around to verify that this, in fact, wasn’t his bedroom. After doing so, he braced for the impact. After a few moments, it hadn’t come. Cracking open the eyes that he’d closed instinctively, he saw the green haired girl blushing deeply, still holding the shoulder pad and attached strap that she hadn’t finished slipping on yet.

“Oh, Ranma…” She finally said. “I didn’t know that Mazoku were into this sort of thing. Of course, if you want it, I suppose I won’t say no.” After that, she began to lower the pad.

Ranma’s eyes popped wide. “Huh?” He asked, backing up. “No, that’s not what I.. Urk!” He yelped, catching his knees on the ledge of the window. Flailing rapidly for a moment, gravity won and sent him tilting backwards. ‘Aw, crap.’ He thought, just before he fell out, landing on his head one floor below.

“Ow…” He muttered, falling forward. Truthfully, it didn’t hurt, but it was the principle of the thing. Pulling himself to his feet again, he dusted his clothes off. “Yeah, she’s way too much like Kodachi… or Shampoo.”

HR.

About twenty minutes later, Ranma had managed to climb up into the right room, and looked around to see that his backpack was, indeed, sitting in one corner. As he caught a glimpse of it, he saw the yellow book of black magic laying on top of it, a note attached. On the note, in a neat, elegant hand, was written “I was going to steal it, but it turns out I couldn’t read past the first page. Xellos.”

Ranma growled, opening the pack to put the book back and knocking something else to the floor with a soft thump. Looking over, he saw the sword he had thrown into the ground during the fight. On its handle was another note. “Oh, and you dropped this.” Yeah, Xellos was annoying, all right. Sighing, he studied the sword. It had been cleaned of blood, and shone enough to reflect his own red eyes in its blade. Still, he knew that he’d used it to cut a man’s arm off the night before. Unfortunately, throwing the weapon away was meaningless. HE had decided to inflict the damage, not the tool he’d used to do it.

Grumbling at this unpleasant truth, he slid the weapon back into its sheath, throwing his pack over his shoulders. It was going to be a long day, mostly full of walking. He’d have plenty of opportunity to think about what had happened, especially since the trip to Saillune was probably going to take almost a week.

Walking out of the room, he bumped into Martina coming out of her own, now fully dressed. “Oh, hello Ranma.” She said, smiling.

“Erm, hi.” He said, looking away from her. “You wanna go downstairs and get some breakfast?”

Martina pondered, then nodded. Following the rather relieved young Mazoku down the stares, she noticed something. “Ranma, how did your shirt get slashed like that?” She asked.

“Huh?” Ranma asked, looking at her in confusion.

Martina didn’t say anything, just pointing at the long tear in the side of his silken red shirt, running straight across his left side. “Oh, that.” He said, frowning. “Well, there were these bandits last night, and…” He shrugged, not really wanting to talk about it.

“You fought an entire group of bandits?” Martina asked, gasping. She’d known that the champion Zoamel Gustav had sent her would be powerful, but Ranma had just proven it.

“Well, yeah.” Ranma said, shrugging and still trying to avoid the subject.

“That’s amazing! Most of those gangs are twenty or thirty men strong, and you came back with just a cut to your shirt! Well, you are a…” Martina started, but was stopped with a quick hand from Ranma over her mouth.

“I get the feelin that Mazoku ain’t too popular. Ya mind not blurting that out in a crowded Inn?” He hissed, annoyed.

“Oh, right.” She said, sheepishly. Unfortunately, since Ranma’s hand was covering her mouth, it came out as “Mphmph.” Getting the general idea, the pigtailed martial artist released his hold, and the two sat at one of the tables in the Inn’s main room, waiting for breakfast. Ranma ordered a small amount for appearances, and Martina ordered a full sausage and egg breakfast.

“Well, if your shirt’s ripped, why don’t you change into another one?” The girl asked, after finishing her first scrambled egg.

“I, erm, don’t have any other clothes in my pack.” Ranma said, sheepishly. He knew that Mazoku were supposed to be able to change their clothing at will, and even manifest weapons, but that was yet another skill that he hadn’t figured out yet.

“Well then, we should go pick some items up for you!” Martina said, cheerfully. As she said this, Ranma suddenly got a major sinking feeling at the gleeful look in her eyes.

HR.

“You’ve got to be kidding.” Ranma mumbled, standing and looking at himself in a mirror. The full suit of black and grey armor didn’t look all that bad, but he found it very hard to move quickly, and it increased his weight by a good fifty pounds.

“You don’t like it?” Martina asked. “I thought a knight in shining armor needed some armor.” She said, pouting.

Ranma’s eye twitched. “A what?” He asked, before sighing. “Never mind, I’m gunna go get this thing off.”

“But what’s wrong with it?” The worshiper of Zoamel Gustav asked, annoyed.

“Can’t move, and what happens when it rains?” Ranma asked. At that, he was overtaken with a mental image of his girl side, hanging by the shoulders from the armor, which had all fallen together into one solid mass.

“Oh…” Martina said. Well, then how about this?” She asked, pulling out a long, black mage’s robe.

“Nope.” Ranma said, shaking his head.

Behind the two, the store clerk was looking at them strangely. Some of the comments he’d heard were… odd, to say the least, and who was Zoamel Gustav, anyhow?

“Are you nearly done yet?” He asked, after clearing his throat.

Ranma glared over at the portly man. He wanted to snap “I wish,” but didn’t particularly want to hurt Martina’s feelings. Though she was a little odd, she hadn’t tried to poison him like Kodachi, and she’d even let him off for accidentally barging in on her while she was changing, though the offer she’d made still embarrassed him. Seeing something behind the store owner, he moved in the suit of heavy armor. “Hmm…” He said. “Just a sec, Martina.”

HR.

“How’s this?” Ranma asked, about five minutes later. He’d just exited the dressing room, wearing a set of light grey pants, and a dark red tunic that secured on the left. He’d traded his slippers, which had gotten pretty worn over the trip to town, for a pair of soft leather boots, and wore his bracers over his arms.

Martina put a finger to her lips, studying him carefully. “Hmm, well you look very handsome in that, Ranma.” She said. “Just a few additions.”

Ranma blinked, as she dragged him deeper into the store. “Wait, huh?” He demanded. “What’s goin on?”

His question was quickly answered, as she came upon a black cloak, and handed it to him. “Put this on.” She directed.

HR.

After another five minutes of argument and pleading from Martina, (Who knew she could do the puppy dog eyes technique?) Ranma found himself buying several sets of the clothes he had picked out, as well as the boots, a cloak to keep out the rain and a set of light leather armor to wear over his shirt. The armor was, of course, black, and left only the collar and arms of the red shirt visible, but since it was light he found that it would accommodate the change pretty well.

“There, are we done?” He asked, looking over at the light green haired woman in annoyance.

“Mmhmm.” She said, smiling and laughing happily. “We can get going now.”

“All right.” Ranma grumbled. The Inn plus the clothes he had bought had cost him about thirty gold pieces, and he was starting to regret not going through the bandit camp for loot the night before. Unfortunately, by now the authorities had probably descended upon the place and taken everything. “Let’s head for Saillune and find this ‘evil sorceress’ of yours.” He said, walking down the main street.

Now, with Ranma decked out in full ‘warrior’ gear, and with Martina in her usual outfit, they actually looked like a real traveling party, and drew quite a lot of looks as they proceeded through the streets. They didn’t really notice, though.

As they passed through the outer fringes of the city, they saw a rather odd sight. Near the small headquarters of the town guard, there was a line of about twenty-five scruffy looking people, all standing patiently. The lead guardsman was talking to their leader, who was bowing and nodding frantically.

“What’s happening over there?” Martina asked, gesturing.

Ranma looked, and saw the group’s leader flinch visibly when he noticed him. “Nothing.” He said, returning the bandit leader’s look with one of his own as the two walked past. The man redoubled his efforts to convince the guardsman to lock him up for a very long time, preferably somewhere far away.

HR.

Over the next few days, not much happened. The two companions continued in their travel to Saillune, and Ranma read more of the book that Lorda, or whoever she was, had given him. He hadn’t seen that other Mazoku, Xellos, in that time, and was grateful for it.

Actually, though he wanted to find a way back home, hopefully soon, he was finding life on the road again kind of enjoyable… though Martina didn’t seem to agree. They had had to camp out rather than sleeping at an Inn a couple of times, and the fuss she’d raised about sleeping in a tent was… irritating.

This morning was one of those on which the two had been forced to camp out, and Ranma sat in female form, still reading her book in the shadow of the tent where Martina slept.

Not being able to sleep was an inconvenience, but it also let her train and hunt for food without impacting their travel time during the days. As for training, she hadn’t gotten too far. So far, the first three chapters had all been explaining theory on what she was, and how her ability to absorb and read emotions worked.

Yes, it was useful information, and she understood the idea of learning the basics before moving on to offensive abilities, but she wanted to somehow be able to keep up with that smug bastard, Xellos. Even so, the notes on her energy absorbing powers were useful, and had even given her an alternative way of feeding than pissing someone off or scaring them half to death.

It wasn’t pleasant, but she could absorb normal life energy, and sift out the darker elements. It was sort of like drinking river water from just downstream from a toxic waist dump, as she’d tried it using Martina as a source the day before, but it would work in an emergency. As she turned the first page of chapter 4, she heard the sound of Martina stirring in the tent and closed the book.

“Better start getting the fire ready.” She muttered, stowing the book in her pack and getting up. Picking up the firewood she’d set aside after the rain storm the night before, she placed it in the pit she’d dug, and concentrated on it.

Digging into the dark energy that made her up, she drew a tiny amount of it forward and held it at the end of her finger, directing it outward. Obligingly, a tiny flame popped into existence on the end of her finger, and she touched it to the wood.

“Good morning, Ranma.” Martina said, from the entrance of the tent.

“Morning.” Ranma replied, not turning around. It took the green haired girl several moments to wake up in the morning, and the little redhead knew that if she turned around, she’d see her traveling companion half-naked. While that wasn’t a clobbering offence with Martina, and even if it was she wouldn’t feel the pain, she didn’t want to deal with the problems it would cause.

Several minutes later, when Ranma had a crackling fire and a pot of rice cooking merrily on top of it, Martina immerged in her usual outfit, slumping on a log on the other side of the fire. “It’s mornings like this that I wonder if my quest to destroy Inverse is really worth it.” She complained, staring with blurry eyes at her red haired traveling companion.

Ranma just shrugged, looking up at the cloudy sky. “Well, we should be in Saillune tonight.” She said, trying to be reassuring.

“Why do you have to be in that form this morning?” Martina asked, frowning. “I preferred your other one.”

Ranma snorted. “So do I.” She said, knowing that Martina was just looking for things to complain about since she’d been sleeping in a sleeping bag rather than a bed the night before. “But it’s gunna rain later, so I may as well not waste the water.”

Martina nodded, then turned her gaze to the pot of rice. “Is it done yet?” She asked.

Ranma just sighed.

HR.

Later that morning, Martina was in much better spirits, and the two were making decent time towards Saillune. That was, of course, until Ranma saw a couple of strangely clad people fiddling with something at the side of the road. “Hey, what are they doing?” The pigtailed Mazoku asked, pointing at the two hooded figures, who seemed to be pulling a wire across the path.

Martina studied them. “They could be bandits, waiting to ambush someone.” She said, unsure. “There aren’t very many of them, though.”

“Well, I guess we should stop them.” Ranma said, diverting her course to intercept the two cloaked individuals. “Hey, you!” She called, loudly.

One of them looked up, saw the pigtailed martial artist coming and cursed gutturally. It looked to the other, whispered something, and the two stood. Ranma braced for a fight, but much to her surprise, the two glowed brightly, and then vanished.

“That was damned weird.” She said, studying what they were doing. The two had a trip wire almost completely set up, and on the other end were several large barrels of gun powder.

“What is it?” Martina asked, looking over Ranma’s shoulder as the redhead carefully unhooked the trip wire from the flint and steel assembly that would have set off the powder. “Got me.” She mumbled, unsure. “But this is a lot of explosives.”

“EXPLOSIVES?!” Martina yelled, jumping back into the middle of the road in one leap, and causing Ranma’s eyebrow to lift. She didn’t know she was capable of that.

“Don’t worry, they’ve been disarmed.” She said, reassuringly. Martina sighed in relief… right before she was run down by a man on a white horse.

“Huh?” Ranma asked, as the horseman pulled to a quick stop and leapt off of his steed.

“Are you all right, miss?” He asked, in a gravely voice, reaching down with one meaty hand to offer Martina assistance up.

She just groaned.

“Erm, she’s been run over by a horse, I don’t think she’s getting up for a while.” Ranma drawled.

“Oh, well I’m very sorry about that!” The man said, truly seeming to mean that. “I had to leave Saillune quickly, and wasn’t paying attention to the road ahead of me.”

“What, you a criminal or something, running from the guards?” Ranma asked, raising an eyebrow. She doubted that very much, given that the guy had stopped to help Martina, but it was about all She could think of.

“No! I would never do that!” The man said, horrified. “I’m prince Philionel, king of Saillune!”

“P… prince Philionel?” Martina gasped, from her prone position on the ground.

“Why yes, I’m glad you’re awake. Are you all right?” Phil asked again, returning his attention to the lighter haired girl.

“I’ll kill you!” Martina screamed, withdrawing her dagger and hopping to her feet.

Ranma sweat dropped. “Maybe I was wrong about that not getting up thing.” She mused, shocked.

END.

And for all of you who wanted to know where in the timeline it is, I hope this answers your question.

If not, then Slayers NEXT, a few days before Episode 8.

Sorry this chapter’s so short, but I was running the risk of burning out when I finished it. If you’ve never experienced brain lock as a result of pushing yourself to write, you’ve never written an exam, for one thing, and you’re an extremely lucky individual… AND, with that out of the way, I hope this one doesn’t suck, even though it’s mostly setup.

Don’t forget to R+R!

Chapter 4, Enemies! Someone wants prince Phil dead?!

Ranma blinked in confusion as Martina leapt forward, gleaming knife blade in hand. The larger, though not taller man raised one hand, catching her blade in it and disarming her expertly. “Now, Miss. I know that running over you with my horse wasn’t the most polite thing to do, but do you really think you have to kill me for it?” He asked,

“That’s not what I want to kill you for, you… you… Inverse employer!” Martina screamed.

‘Inverse employer?’ Ranma thought, confused. That had to be the least potent insult she had ever heard. “Hey, Martina. You wanna calm down and explain, or what?” She asked, pretty sure that the request would be futile.

Oddly, Martina did immediately seem to calm down, turning to her pigtailed traveling companion. “Well, Ranma. Lina Inverse was summoned to my kingdom by the representative of Saillune. HE is the king of Saillune! He must have been the one who sent her!”

“He’s… the king?” Ranma asked, looking doubtfully at the heavy-set man in the white clothes and cloak.

“Yes, I am. Prince Philionel, King of Saillune.” He said, nodding. “Though I don’t know anything about sending Lina after you. May I ask your name, miss?”

Ranma winced, waiting for Martina’s usual long introduction, though the girl looked distinctly nervous. “Something wrong, Martina?” She asked, causing the girl to jump slightly.

“Martina?” Philionel asked. You wouldn’t be Martina Zoana Mel Navratilova, the daughter of the king of Zoana, would you?” He asked.

Martina nodded, shooting a nervous glance between Ranma and the mustached man. “Um, yes.”

Ranma narrowed her eyes. There was something strange going on here, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on it. “Well, that’s great!” She heard the man named prince Philionel say, happily. “You can tell me how my little Amelia’s doing! I know that she met up with her friends after visiting your kingdom, so I’m sure you would know!”

“Well, I…” Martina said, before getting angry. “Her FRIENDS blew up my entire kingdom! They even destroyed the army’s supply yards, and our golem!”

“They did?” The prince said, looking distinctly dismayed. “Well, I would offer you reparation for that, but I’ve got a little problem of my own at the moment and can’t return to Saillune.”

‘Reparations?’ Martina thought, before her face broke into a smile. More resources to help defeat Lina would be a bonus, and she didn’t really have a problem with the king of Saillune ever since her, erm, her father’s original plan for world domination had been ruined. “Well, maybe my companion and I can help you with that little problem of yours.” She said, narrowing her eyes.

“Hey!” Ranma objected. She wasn’t really adverse to helping this guy out if he had a problem, but she really didn’t like being volunteered like this.

“Well,” Philionel interrupted, not seeming to realize that he’d cut Ranma off. “If you are willing to help me with my problem, restoring piece and justice to Saillune, I certainly won’t say no, but are you sure that you want to get involved in the danger?”

“Danger?” Martina asked, suddenly sounding worried.

“Yes. You see, there has been a rumor going around the kingdom that someone is looking to assassinate me. I was fleeing the city to keep any innocents from being involved if the assassins decide to strike.” Philionel explained.

“Assassins, huh?” Ranma asked, casually. “So they’d be the guys who stacked a buncha barrels of gun powder next to the road and rigged ‘em to explode?”

“Oh, and who are you, young lady?” Philionel asked, turning to Ranma as she gestured to the barrels of explosives nearby.

The redhead’s eye twitched, but she quickly pushed down her annoyance. He didn’t know about the curse, after all. “My name’s Ranma.” She said, simply.

“Well, perhaps we can talk somewhere else.” Martina said, gesturing around the road. “All of that stuff there makes me a little nervous.”

“Yeah, sure. We passed a little town with an Inn about an hour ago.” Ranma said, pointing down the road.

Philionel nodded in agreement, and the three started walking away. As they were about to leave eyesight of where they had been, the prince’s eyes widened and he quickly turned around.

“What are you doing?” Ranma asked, confused.

He ignored her, concentrating incredibly hard and starting to chant. “Oh, source of all power, light which burns beyond crimson, let thy power gather in my hand! Fireball!”

Ranma was about to ask what he was doing, when a wavering, weak seeming tongue of flame leapt from the larger man’s cupped hands, streaking down the path that they had come down and striking the barrels of gun powder. They exploded with a tremendous crash, and he smiled.

“What the heck’d you do that for?” Ranma asked, rubbing at her ears, which she thought should be ringing from the blast. Judging from Martina’s appearance, she had the same question on her mind.

“Oh, I just thought of a plan!” The older man exclaimed, happily. “And I can’t believe that spell worked!”

Ranma sweat dropped as the guy struck a pose, yelling something about justice. ‘Is it just me, or is all royalty ‘round here cracked?’ She thought, but had the good sense not to say it aloud.

HR.

Several minutes later, after Philionel had regained his composure and the group continued down the trail, Ranma looked at the older man strangely. “So… let me get this straight.” She said, slowly. “You wanna pretend that blast killed you and hide out somewhere, while me ‘n Martina investigate your kingdom to see who is tryin ta kill you?”

“Yes.” Philionel said, nodding. “I know it’s a lot to ask, especially after my horse struck Miss Martina, but I cannot, in good conscience, return to the city while there is risk of someone endangering the population while trying to harm me. Could you imagine what those explosives would have done if they had gone off in a populated area?”

“I… guess.” Ranma said, unsure.

Martina, on the other hand, was much more sure of herself. “We’ll do it!” She said, confidently. Ranma threw her a questioning glance, but decided that the two would talk about it later.

“Well, I guess this means we ain’t gunna go to that Inn, at least not if you want no one to see you.” Ranma said, looking at the prince.

“That’s fine.” The man said. “I have been out on the road, training in my special type of martial pacifism, many times and I was sure to bring supplies.” Reaching up to the horse he was leading by the bridal, he tapped a small bag that was clipped to its side.

“If you’re sure…” Ranma said, skeptically. She would have questionedthe concept of martial pacifism, but when she considered that she knew martial arts flower arrangement, she really couldn’t talk. “If you’ve got a place in mind ta camp, me ’n Martina can escort you there before we go back to Saillune.”

“Thank you.” Philionel said, bowing slightly. “You two are truly a credit to the justice and light that this area holds most dear.”

“…right.” Ranma said, slowly.

HR.

“Well, how did it go?” A shadowy figure asked, standing in the middle of a darkened room. In front of him, the two cloaked beings stood. They were the same two who Ranma had recently scared off from their little road side trap, and judging from their statures, they looked annoyed.

“We were interrupted.” One grumbled, in a female voice. “Some meddling swordswoman.”

“We have managed to set the trap, however, and with luck it will catch our prize.” The other, a male, said.

“With LUCK?” The figure demanded, angrily. “What do you mean with luck? You told me that you could kill him neatly and with no problems! What kind of useless…” He was stopped as one of the cloaked figures stepped forward, growling.

“I think that you should recall that we are partners, not servants.” The figure, the male, snapped angrily. “We will dispose of your problem, and in fact may have already.”

“I… Yes.” The shadowed figure said, calming down. “I apologize. Still, could you also do something about the swordswoman who interrupted you? I do not want any connection with me suspected.”

“Yes, of course.” The male robed figure said, calmly, before teleporting away.

HR.

Almost an hour later, the pigtailed Mazoku and the priestess of Zoamel Gustav were walking back down the road to Saillune. Once they got out of earshot of the camp where Phil, as the man had asked them to call him after too many ‘prince Philionels’ had come out of Martina’s mouth, was staying, the redhead turned a quizzical look to the green haired girl.

“All right.” She said. “So why’d ya volunteer to help this guy out so quick? I mean, we are on a quest to do somethin completely different.”

Martina shrugged. “Well, if we help the prince find the person who’s trying to kill him, he’ll owe us a lot! Then, we can get him to help us capture Inverse, and then…” She didn’t finish her sentence, only starting to giggle maniacally.

Ranma just groaned. She hated it when Martina got like this. Noticing that they were coming up on the crater that marked where the gun powder had exploded, she grabbed Martina’s hand. “I’d stop laughing right about now.” She hissed, seeing several men on horse back and others in robes gathered around the area. “Just don’t act suspicious.”

“Right.” Martina said, nodding, and pinning the most fake looking smile Ranma had ever seen on her face. The redhead groaned to herself, but couldn’t do anything about it, as the two were about to actually walk down into the crater.

“You two! The Swordswoman and the Sorceress, halt!” One of the armored men boomed, as they had made it half way across the crater.

The two stopped, and looked over at the Saillune guardsman who had yelled. Next to him stood a taller, dark skinned and mustached man with a cloth headdress on his head, secured by a gold band with a blue jewel in the center.

Marching up to the two travelers, the dark skinned man looked them over. “Excuse me, but did you see a man riding a white horse pass you on the road?” He asked, sounding distinctly hopeful.

“Erm, no.” Ranma started, willing her nervousness down into herself as far as it would go. Strangely, unlike when she was human, she found the act of controlling her nervousness while lying much easier. “Martina and I have been the only travelers on this road that I saw, sir.” She said.

“I see.” The man said, frowning. “If you see this man,” He continued, withdrawing a small picture of Phil set into a plate of silver from his clothes, “Please inform the authorities immediately.”

“Oh, that’s prince Philionel, isn’t it?” Martina asked, making Ranma want to shoot a warning look at her. “Why are you looking for him?”

“Don’t worry about that.” The man said, quickly. “Continue on into the city.”

“Thank you.” Ranma said, bowing and trying to be polite. As the two climbed out of the crater on the other side, she sighed in relief. “We made it past.” She muttered. “Still, something struck me as weird about that situation. I mean, how’d they get down here so fast?”

“Do you think those are the people who are trying to kill the prince?” Martina asked, excitedly. The more quickly she finished this assignment, the better for her plans.

“I don’t know.” Ranma mumbled, then mentally kicked herself. She should have used her new abilities to read that man’s emotional state, but unfortunately she’d completely forgotten about it, and turning back now would draw suspicion. “Let’s just keep going.” She muttered, not wanting to reveal how badly she’d screwed up.

HR.

Within about forty minutes, Ranma and Martina caught sight of the edge of Saillune as they crested a hill outside of it. “Wow…” Ranma said, stopping in shock as she saw the expanse of almost completely white city that lay in front of her. The streets were all set up in some sort of geometrical shape, though she couldn’t quite make it out on an angle. “This place is huge!” Truthfully, the city wasn’t a lot larger than the Furinkan district of the Nerima ward where she’d lived for the past two years, but it was bigger than any of the towns or villages she’d seen in this place so far.

“This is the capital of white magic for the entire region.” Martina said.

“Wait, capital of white magic?” Ranma asked, starting to get nervous. She’d read in the book that white magic was generally opposed to dark magic, like that which made up most of her body now. “Going in there probably ain’t that good an idea.”

“Why not?” Martina asked, confused. “We have to in order to find the people we’re looking for, after all.”

“I don’t…” Ranma said, before Martina grabbed her by the arm and started pulling. Even without her Chi enhanced strength, she could have stopped her from doing this, but the redhead was caught so completely off guard that Martina managed to get a run going, with the aid of the hill.

Now, in order to stop, she’d have to throw Martina’s balance off and start her rolling down the hill. “Hey, stop!” The Pigtailed Mazoku continued, but was being totally ignored as the other girl ran towards the edge of the city, laughing manically.

Frowning in annoyance, Ranma started running alongside, vowing revenge if anything bad happened because of this.

As the two ran through one of the city’s main gates, Ranma jolted for a moment, as if a charge of electricity had run through her. Feeling the jerk and stiffening from where she’d grabbed the redhead’s hand, Martina looked back at her. “What’s wrong, Ranma?” She asked, simply.

“Oh, it’s… nothing.” Ranma said, shaking her head. She’d felt something when she’d entered the city, but couldn’t put her finger on what. Looking into herself now, she saw nothing wrong. “Let’s go.” She continued, shaking it off.

Suddenly, Martina stopped in her tracks, her eyes going wide. “Ooh, iced cream!” She smiled, seeing a large sign in front of a small shop that read “Saillune, best soft serve in the region!”

Ranma face faulted, the thought of the strange feeling seeming to vanish from her head as she picked herself up and chased the hyper-active green haired girl. “What did I do to deserve this?” She grumbled, under her breath.

HR.

In one of Saillune castle’s highest towers, a man with green hair and oddly colored skin stood, looking down at the streets of the city. Catching sight of Ranma and Martina moving towards one of the areas of the city where places to stay could be found, he smiled. He didn’t like things getting thrown in the way of his plans, and destroying that little human, and maybe even her sorceress companion, would be fun.

The man briefly let his eyes turn a deep shade of red before turning around and walking for the door that would take him down into the castle proper.

END.

Hmm, well that’s one hell of a rival to have, I suppose. Ugh, my head hurts. Bye.

Okay, here we go. SRY, I had to take a couple days of break.

In those days, I played a lot of Starfleet Command II. Sadly, the USS Mousse was lost with all hands on Friday, and the Nodoka severely damaged. Took me most of today to make the money to repair the Nodoka and put the USS Kuonji into service.

Also, sorry, but this chapter’s mostly dominated by a fight scene. knowing how I SUCK at fight scenes, it may suck too.

Anyhow, enough ranting. On with the fic.

Chapter 5, Fight! Anything goes, right?

“Aw, C’mon Zel, how long are you going to stay mad, anyways?” Lina Inverse asked, looking back at a rather angry looking Chimera, who appeared to be covered from head to toe in seaweed and other muck.

Zelgadiss didn’t answer for a moment, only trudging along, his feet making a rhythmic squishing noise as he did so. Finally, he gave the orange-red haired sorceress a baleful look. “You used me as dragon bait.” He said, deadpan.

“Aw, it wasn’t that bad, was it?” The sorceress asked, laughing the other’s anger off, as per usual.

“Hey, Lina!” Gourry called, from where he was walking with Amelia, a little ways ahead of the other two. “Amelia says the next town’s coming up soon!”

“Great!” Lina said, happily. “I was getting hungry, anyways.”

“But… it’s only a few more hours travel to Saillune!” Zelgadiss objected. “I was hoping to get there tonight.”

“Ah, it’s only one more day, Zel! Besides, aren’t you hungry?” Lina asked, skipping forward to meet up with their other two traveling companions.

Zelgadiss merely sighed. ‘I really should be used to this by now.’ He thought, before squishing after the others.

HR.

Ranma sat on the roof of the Inn, once more cursing his inability to sleep as he stared out over the expanse of city that was Saillune. He and Martina had been wandering the city, playing tourist and listening for any rumors about the prince’s assassination. Well, he had. Martina had seemed to actually BE a tourist, judging from the several outfits she’d bought during the trip.

Leaning back against the roof top, the pigtailed martial artist’s mind stopped for a second on the thought of his traveling companion. He’d agreed to travel with her as much because he didn’t know anything about this world as to help her defeat this Inverse person she was after, and now he wasn’t sure what was going to happen with her.

It was odd. He’d entered a whole new world, and already he had met a new girl that he was caught up with. Maybe it was another curse? Chuckling softly, he sat back up. Martina wasn’t all that bad, and now that they had reached a major city, perhaps they would part ways.

That was rather likely, actually, since he thought that the capital for white magic would likely have a lot of information that may help him get home, and the person she was looking for wasn’t here. “Hope she ain’t gunna be too pissed.” He muttered, before deciding to put the night to use.

He would go back to reading the book of magic that he’d been given, but he wanted to gather a little more power before trying any of the abilities that were talked about in the next chapter.

Leaping off the roof and landing easily on the street below with only a little more impact than he was used to, he began to walk down the street, letting his senses unfold, searching for a deposit of negative energy.

HR.

Behind the shadowed figure with the pigtail and armor, the Mazoku, Mazenda, quickly dampened her dark aura as much as she could. She felt the tendrils of another being seeking out dark energy, and couldn’t afford to be caught. Still, the person she had been sent after was becoming more and more interesting.

She had tracked the red haired swordswoman to a local Inn, and then made note of her room before leaving, planning on trying to kill her in the night. Coming back later, she was very surprised to see the girl’s room empty, and a figure with a recognizable pigtail on the roof.

Unfortunately, it was a new moon and she couldn’t make out many of the figure’s features, but she was reasonably sure that there weren’t any other pigtailed, armor wearing people around here.

Within moments, she saw the figure’s head perk up as if it felt something. She would have checked with her own senses to see what it felt, but that would have alerted her quarry to her position.

Merely observing with physical senses, she followed it slowly, watching as it wound its way through into the darker, dingier parts that every city, even one like Saillune, possessed. It stopped near a small group of vagrants, huddled around a fire, and stood for a moment, seeming to shift uncomfortably.

HR.

“Somethin’ you want, sonny?” A grizzled old man asked, as Ranma stood near the fire where he and several other people were, letting their anger and misery fill him.

The martial artist felt vaguely dirty for doing this, but he needed more power, and leaving the city to hunt down a bandit gang would take far too long. “No, there’s nothing.” He said, shortly

“Well, then why are you here?” The man snapped, annoyed.

Ranma shifted, the vague sense of shame and disgust he felt growing. Sighing, he reached into his pocket. He knew that he still had a decent sized stash of gold back at the Inn, so withdrawing about twenty gold coins and handing them to the man wasn’t an incredible loss… though his father and Nabiki both would have burst a blood vessel at the sight.

“Huh?” The old man asked, looking down at the cash.

“Share it with your friends.” Ranma mumbled, turning and walking away. Expending that much gold every time he needed a recharge was going to make him broke pretty damned fast, and in future he’d have to make sure to think of some other way that didn’t make him feel like a leach or a heartless bastard.

“Wait, what is this for?” The old man asked, chasing after Ranma as he walked.

“Can’t tell ya.” Ranma replied, before deciding to try one of the things he’d read about. He had a half-decent energy reserve, though definitely not full power, so it wouldn’t hurt. Visualizing the world fading into a grey mist for a moment, he vanished into a black smoke, which quickly cleared to nothing.

“Huh?” The old man asked, blinking at the empty cobbles where Ranma had stood, before shrugging it off. “Crazy sorcerers.” He muttered, heading back to the group he’d been with. He’d definitely share the gold, though. For all he knew, that sorcerer had put a spell on it so that if he didn’t, he’d be cursed or something. You really never knew, especially around here.

HR.

Martina frowned as she looked into Ranma’s room. “He’s gone?” She asked, confused. She had just gone to get a drink of water from the well, when she’d suddenly gotten the feeling that she should check up on Ranma. This was a very odd feeling, since she hadn’t really been worried about anyone before.

“I wonder where he went?” She mumbled. She knew that he never slept. It had something to do with how Mazoku were, but even so he’d been stationed next to her tent, or on the roof of the Inn she was sleeping in, for the last week. “Oh right, the roof!” She cried, happily.

Running into Ranma’s room, she climbed out the already open window, grabbing onto the edge of the roof and hoisting herself up. “He’s not up here either?” She wondered, now starting to get really worried. She’d have to start looking for him, but where?

Walking back to the edge of the roof, she looked down the two stories of the Inn’s height, then gulped. Falling back, her eyes widened. “Wait…. How am I going to get down from here?”

HR.

About half a block away from where he'd started, Ranma re-emerged into the world, and almost immediately fell over. His head was spinning, and it felt like he was going to be sick. The teleport hadn’t taken much energy, but the ‘astral plane’ he’d ended up in hadn’t been at all like how the for dummies book described it. For one, the book never mentioned the incredible force that pushed him away from the center of the city when he was on it, or the blinding white hexagram.

Shaking his head to clear it, the martial artist turned Mazoku picked himself up off of the ground, dusting his clothes off, and looked around. He wasn’t entirely sure where he was, but it would be easy enough to make his way back to the Inn.

As he started walking, he heard the sound of a pebble clattering across the street behind him. Turning, he saw a shape detach itself from the darkness, moving slowly towards him. “Who?” He asked, uncertainly.

The figure laughed as it came into close enough range for him to make out its features. It was a woman, wearing a white shirt and shorts in a similar style to Nabiki’s usual. “Huh?” He asked, confused.

“Well, I apparently lost the little warrior, but…” The woman started, before her eyes flashed red. “Why is there another Mazoku here?”

Ranma just looked blankly, not sure what she wanted for a response.

“Not very talkative, are you?” She asked. “I and an ally of mine are conducting an operation here at the moment. I would leave if I were you.” Her eyes narrowed on the last words, making it obvious that they were a threat.

Ranma bristled at this. “I got as much right ta be here as you do.” He snapped, quickly. “Besides, I ain’t gunna get in the way of your ‘operation,’ unless you’re goin after innocent victims.”

The woman actually laughed aloud at this. “You object to us harming humans?” She asked, skeptically. “You are an odd one. Well, if you won’t leave on your own, I suppose I have to make you.”

Ranma immediately got into a fighting stance, knowing where this was going. He was quickly proven right, as the woman gathered a ball of energy in one hand, flinging it at him. He dodged out of its way, but then frowned. He hated getting in fights with women, since he always felt like an ass if he hurt them while putting them down, but with how she’d referred to him as ‘another’ Mazoku, and her energy blast, she was probably stronger than your average girl.

Dancing out of the way of a second energy blast, Ranma closed in and grabbed her by the arm, flipping her over on her back and spinning about to face her prone form. To his surprise, she had regained her feet somehow half way through his turn, and a bolt of her energy slammed into his chest, lifting him slightly into the air and throwing him several feet back.

As he got to his feet, the pigtailed Mazoku felt a strange discomfort in his chest and stomach. It wasn’t pain, he hadn’t felt that since he’d become a Mazoku, but it was definitely unpleasant.

Looking down, he saw that her energy ball had burnt a pretty big hole through the front of his armor, and there was some sort of black smoke leaking out. “What…?” He asked, reaching up to feel the wound. Unlike a normal wound, especially one this severe, it wasn’t bleeding. There was simply blackness on the other side, as if part of him had simply ceased to exist.

Unfortunately, this seemed to be draining the energy that he’d just been replenishing. Concentrating, he regenerated the wound, though it seemed to take a lot longer than the healing he’d performed before, during the bandit attack.

Looking back up and around, Ranma tried to find his opponent. She had apparently disappeared, and he was almost inclined to think that she’d left. Still, that didn’t make sense. She’d been winning, and if she’d pressed the attack she could have done a lot more damage. No, there was something else going on here.

Slowly, he started to walk down the street, his Chi senses sweeping back and forth. He was searching for any disturbance, no matter how small. This was a very good thing, as if he hadn’t been looking so carefully, the huge blast of energy that came out of nowhere would probably have vaporized him, rather than missing and totaling a nearby house.

Seconds later, the woman emerged from the darkness, trying to capitalize on the destruction she’d hoped to inflict with her attack. Unfortunately, she found a fully ready Ranma there, rather than a horribly injured one.

Several seconds later, after having both shoulders dislocated and half of her ribs smashed, she learned that tangling with Ranma at close range was a very bad idea.

The pigtailed martial artist himself winced, hoping that he was right and this girl was a Mazoku. If she wasn’t, then he’d just done a fair bit of damage. Much to his mixed relief and dismay, she merely stood back up after the attacks, her shoulders popping back into place with sickening cracks.

“Now, you are getting annoying.” The woman said, before her form blurred. Ranma’s eyes narrowed, waiting for her next move as her body seemed to shift. Her clothing melded into the rest of her form, and her skin turned a dull grayish blue as her legs merged into what almost looked like a narrow evening dress with no feet at the bottom.

‘Is that her true form or something?’ Ranma thought, worriedly. She’d had to have changed for a reason, and if she was even stronger like this, things could get messy. Unfortunately, he was right, as she quickly proved when she blurred forward at a speed that approached his maximum with Chi enhancement. As it was, he barely got his arms up in time to block, and even then she hammered straight through his bracers and broke his left forearm.

Grunting in annoyance, Ranma was both thankful that he could no longer feel pain, and annoyed that he couldn’t enhance his body to take blows like that any more. Of course, he wasn’t sure he could have taken that attack even at full strength, but now was not the time to think about that.

As she charged again, he rolled to the side, lashing out with a foot and kicking her in the gut. This had absolutely no effect, and she proceeded to turn and unleash another energy ball at him.

This one propelled him into a wall, causing it to crumble partially on top of him. Clearing some of the brick rubble from his body, he saw that she was coming towards him again. Desperate, he wracked his brain for what to do. He’d tried his fighting arts, and they hadn’t done terribly much. He knew that Mazoku were immune to most physical attacks, but it hadn’t truly hit home until now. ‘Well, if I can’t hurt her physically,’ He thought, reaching down into his well of power. He had tried this before, and it had failed, but he’d also seen another Mazoku do it and felt her aura during the process.

Praying to whoever would listen, Ranma gathered dark force in his hand, hidden under the pile of rock, as the female Mazoku stepped towards him, raising one arm with a red glow gathering at its hand.

With one last effort of will, the ball of energy finished forming in Ranma’s hand, and he shot it up, releasing the projectile into the red haired Mazoku’s face. It worked rather well, as she ended up flying back several meters. There were many severe burns visible on her head and shoulders.

Ranma sighed in relief, dusting himself off and standing up. Carefully, he watched for movement from his crumpled opponent. His eyes widened in disbelief as he saw her moving. He’d put almost all of his gathered energy into that attack, and it still hadn’t stopped her? “Okay.” He said, trying to just sound annoyed. “You’ve forced me to resort to my ultimate technique!”

Seeing his opponent tensing up, Ranma grinned cockily, before fading out of existence. As he did so, she could hear him yell “Run Away!”

HR.

Mazenda’s eyebrow twitched violently as her prey vanished. She tried to track him through the astral plane, but the raw white magic that surrounded Saillune provided far too much interference. She considered pursuing him the old fashioned way, but the repulsion effect of the city’s magic circle design could have pushed him anywhere from a couple of blocks to a couple of miles away. Growling in annoyance, the red haired Mazoku decided that she would just have to report this incident to Kanziel and deal with it later.

HR.

Near the gates to the city, Ranma sighed in relief and slumped against a wall. He hated to use the final attack, especially since it was so humiliating, but he had truly been outclassed in that fight. When he’d scanned the other Mazoku, she actually hadn’t felt much stronger than he was, but she definitely knew how to use that strength a lot more. Grumbling, he started to head back to the Inn. Though he hadn’t been able to get any practice done, he had definitely learned a few things.

‘Next time.’ He thought, determined. “I ain’t gunna run again.”

HR.

From his post behind a wall a short distance away, Xellos grinned. He’d been afraid for a moment there that he would have to step in, but it appeared that Ranma had things in hand, or at least he did to some degree. For a moment, he contemplated teaching the boy in the ways of the Mazoku himself… Nah, it wouldn’t be nearly as much fun as watching him bumble into his powers, he decided.

HR.

Hanging from the roof of the Inn, Martina’s arms were shaking. She’d never known she was afraid of heights before this point. “Can someone please get me down from here?!” She yelled, plaintively.

END.

Hmm…. It appears Ranma’s got a long way to go before he can get back up to par, which isn’t a good thing. If you know where in NEXT we are, you know that he’s gunna need all the strength he can get in only a couple days… especially with Lina on her way!

Well, please R&R, and don’t kill me if this flubbed up, K?

Now, off to test the Kuonji!