Chaos BenderRyoga took a few steps back to look at what had taken him the better part of the morning. On the ground before him, sigils and ancient script were woven together by his hands using large pieces of different colored chalk. The lone martial artist couldn't tell what they meant, but he could tell you they were important to him and his quest.

A Ranma ½ and Avatar: The Last Air Bender Crossover

Written by: Konsaki (Aka: Matt Nethken)

With a fanged grin, he remembered the instructions an old hermit shaman had given him, like he was standing in front of the old man right now. The first step was the easiest for the ever-lost boy; Find the place which was the catalyst for your curse...

For Ryoga, that meant the abandoned lot behind his family's house. Ryoga clenched a fist as he thought about how Ranma had ducked out of their duel all those years ago, causing Ryoga to follow him to China... where he fell into that cursed pool... Jusenkyo...

Shaking his head, the fanged boy focused once again, this time on the second task which he had just completed. The old shaman had given him two scrolls, one containing the words and sigils that lay before him on the ground with instructions on how to properly place them for his specific curse.

All that was left was to actually read the incantation written on the second scroll... Realizing where he stood in the quest to rid himself of his horrible curse, Ryoga had to stop for a second and take a deep breath. It was the point of no return once he started the incantation.

"Be warned, young wanderer! You only have one time to get this right! Fate favors are once in a lifetime..." he heard the old man's voice in his ears once again. A bead of sweat rolled down the side of the short haired fighter's face, reaching his jaw before he wiped it off with a sleave.

'I've spent over three weeks trying to get here... It's now or never!' he said in his mind, psyching himself up for the event. 'Akane! Once I'm rid of this curse, I'll confess my feelings to you!' he continued, closing his eyes and clenching his fist once more. After a moment, Ryoga opened his eyes and hopped into the center of the circle of runes.

From his perch on a building in a neighboring lot, Ranma watched Ryoga hop into what looked like a giant circle for magic. He stood there in rapture as he saw and heard his long time rival start up a low and rolling chant, probably reading it directly from the large scroll he held.

As the seconds passed, the multihued runes slowly began to glow, one by one. It only took Ranma a few moments to guess what Ryoga was doing... and it seemed to be actually working. That was all the pig tailed martial artist needed to know as he jump off the roof and towards the spell caster.

"Hey, Ryoga! What're you doing?", he called over the chanting.

A vein almost popped on Hibiki's forehead as he heard the voice behind him. He had been at a critical part in the chant, but he forgot everything and acted on pure reflex. He dropped the scroll from his hands, choosing instead to reach behind him to the umbrella strapped to his back. The fighter then turned with rage in his eyes as he yelled out at the top of his lungs, "RANMA SAOTOME!"

The next few moments went by in the blink of an eye to an outside observer, but for the two standing inside the brightly glowing circle it seemed like a lifetime.

Ryoga was quickly shocked from his rage as he saw how close his arch rival was in proximity. His eyes lowered to the ground to confirm his fear, as he saw Ranma standing atop the inscriptions he had so painstakingly written on the ground. He had just enough time to yell out, "Get lost!"

Ranma on the other hand took Ryoga's outburst in stride. It wasn't like it was the first time he had invoked this reaction in his friend and rival. What did make him sweat was the feeling of dread he had when he noticed the wells of power rising up from beneath his feet. He only had enough time to feel the blood drain from his face as he saw something form above Ryoga...

Then there was only darkness for them both.

Just outside the circle, a feint hissing sound could be heard as the space within slowly folded in on itself, akin to a black hole. After a point, there was a slight pop and whoosh as air filled the space where two martial artists once stood. Now... a perfect sphere was dug out of the dirt, with no other trace that anything unusual had happened.

--

"Ugh..." a pained groan called out to no one. Only the sounds of chirping birds and the swaying of tree branches replied to the young man lying on the ground. After a few seconds, his eyes snapped wide in recognition... There weren't supposed to be any trees for a few blocks!

Jerking up to a sitting position, the world swam around violently, causing the well built man to bring his hands to his head in a futile effort to stop it. Overwhelmed, he groaned in pain again before crawling to a kneeling position to let loose the contents of his stomach. He stayed there for a few minutes, eyes closed, as the feeling of nausea and the world spinning around slowly faded.

Opening his eyes again, this time with more care, he grimaced at the mess he had made below him and slowly crawled to a nearby tree to prop himself up in a sitting position. The martial artist felt vulnerable... more than he had ever known in a long while. Ranma wasn't used to this feeling.

Looking around the small opening, he noticed rocks scattered around, obviously freshly moved and not from this area. Squinting at one that caught his eye, Ranma blinked as he saw a small flash of red rune winking out of existence. With a grimace, he knew that that was probably the last spec of magic that brought him here... where ever 'here' was.

Bringing his gaze around, Ranma jumped to his feet, almost falling back over but quickly regaining his balance. With death in his eyes, he carefully placed one foot in front of the other, bringing the warrior one step closer at a time. Then he stopped completely, breathing deeply before letting it all out in one go...

"RYOGA! Wake! Up!"

The body as Ranma's feet jerked and rolled defensively into a crouch. Putting a hand up to his bandana, Ryoga snarled at his rival but had his eyes flash wide before he fell right over as if paralyzed. A second later a scream of pain and anguish permeated the grove, silencing what few fauna dared to stay around after Ranma's explosive wakeup call.

After a few moments to recoup from the mental strain his brain was suffering, a fanged sneer reappeared on the yellow shirted fighter. "Damn you, Ranma!" he snarled up at his nemesis as he pushed himself to his knees. "Do you know what you've done!" he continued, voice rising with his rage.

"That's what I want to know!" the pigtailed Ranma yelled as he reached forward and drug Ryoga to his feet by the collar of his shirt. "Where the hell did you take us?", he continued, sweeping his other arm to the forest scene behind him.

"What are yo..." Ryoga started before stopping halfway though his question, puzzlement clear across his face. He followed the sweep of Ranma's arm, finally noticing the severe lack of buildings and 

civilization, replaced with an overabundance of trees and shrubbery. "Where are we..." he absentmindedly asked, his eyes wide.

Giving the confused fighter a shake, Ranma replied in an annoyed tone, "That's what I just asked, idiot! Your spell did this, so where are we?" Ryoga's reaction caught him off guard...

Wrenching free of his opponents one hand grasp, a scowl appeared where once confusion was blinked away. "The spell?! Damn you, Ranma! You messed up my only chance to get rid of my curse!" Ryoga threw a finger in the chinese clothed figure's direction, "How much worse can you make my life? It's been living hell since I first met you!"

Seeing Ryoga's next move, Ranma threw up his hands in a placating gesture, trying to stop a fight before it started. "Whoa, Ryoga, just a second! This aint the time to be fighting. We don't even know where we are for starters..." Ranma called over to his rival as he watched him slowly stop and rise without the umbrella he was reaching for.

The silence that followed spurned Ranma to continue, "Look, I'm sorry I messed up your spell. I didn't know it'd do this. Let's just figure out where 'here' is first, before we go at each other's throats. Ok?"

Mulling it over, Ryoga slowly nodded a few moments later and reached down again to pick up his fallen parasol. "Ok, a truce... until we figure out where we are... then prepare yourself, Ranma." was the even reply to the proposal.

--

A few hours later, the duo found themselves walking along a small river. Nodding to one another when they found it, they were convinced that they would find something, whether a road, house or village somewhere along it. For now, they just silently plodded along, giving the bank of the river a good distance from themselves out of unconscious safety from the flowing water.

Though they paused repeatedly to pick hanging fruit from the trees as they passed, the pair made good distance throughout the day. Even so, by the time nightfall came about, they were still hadn't seen any sign of civilization.

"Are you sure you're heading the right way?" Ryoga ironically asked his travelling companion as he leaned against a nearby tree. The flickering light of a small campfire illuminated the subject of his question enough for him to see a look of slight annoyance wash over Ranma's face for a split second.

"Look, we keep heading along this river and we're bound to find something. At least we can't get lost this way." Ranma replied, giving Ryoga a sideways glance. Actually, I'm kinda surprised he hasn't gotten himself lost already..., he silently added.

With a dismissing wave of his hand, Ryoga gave a slight snort. "Ok, ok. I guess we'll just continue in the morning." With that said, he threw another piece of wood onto the small fire. "I guess this is a good of place as any to rest for the night..."

With a nod, Ranma made himself as comfortable as he could be without the usual bedroll he and his father always took with them on their training trips. "Try not to kill me in my sleep, Ryoga." he said with a grin as he closed his eyes. He continued to grin as he heard his friend's reply...

"I make no promises, Ranma."

--

The martial artist threw his eyes open and flung his body into a roll as he dodged to the right. A split second later, his face and body was pelted with shards of wood from the direction he was diving from. Jerking his gaze in that direction, he used the near non-existent light from the near dead embers of the fire to make out a large hulking animal.

A loud roar resounded off the trees as the beast moved in quickly and swiped at the martial artist. Ryoga barely had enough time to bring his guard up as the giant paw struck home, the mass bashing the human out of the makeshift camp and into the darkness of the starlit night leaving only a surprised yelp in passing. The beast didn't know what hit it, when a yell counter called its own roar not seconds later.

"Moko Takabisha!"

A moment later a blue streak flew through the air, illuminating the beast just before it struck. Ranma blinked as the large animal was knocked sideways by the beam of Ki he shot at it. Did I just see what I think I saw? he asked himself incredulously before focusing in on the 'bear' that was turning in his direction now, eyes glowing.

Before either could move more than a few steps though, a yellow blur flew through the air towards the large beast in a great leap. Landing just in front of it, the person cried out a familiar phrase.

"Bakusai Tenketsu!"

The following explosion of rock and sand affected all three of the combatants, though in different ways. Both the 'bear' and Ryoga flew in opposite directions, with the martial artist hitting a tree at full force to lie in a heap at the bottom, while the bear picked itself up and turned tail.

As for Ranma, he saw and heard the beast run deeper into the woods, his gaze tracking it till he could see it no longer. Then, Ranma turned to look in the direction his battle partner flew in. Once he saw Ryoga though, Ranma's face turned white as a ghost...

--

A sigh left Ranma as he looked towards the eastern sky. He had been sitting there for a while, back against a tree, stargazing like he would on top of the Tendo Dojo most nights. He liked the way they consistently hung up there, eternally faithful to those who knew them... guiding lights for lost souls and adventurous people; both descriptions that he himself belonged to at one point or another in his life, sometimes both at the same time.

For as long as he could remember, Ranma lived his nights looking up at the black sky; be it in the middle of the chinese wild lands, the forests of northern Japan or even amongst the cities he sometimes traveled through. He became adept at reading them thanks to a couple of martial arts masters who thought star readings were a form of meditation, and to their credit it almost was to the pigtailed boy. He also learned a valuable lesson from those masters... as long as you could see them, the stars would always show you the way...

This last thought was what caused the martial artist to drop his head down in despair. Letting out a groan though the hands that held the weight of his hung head, Ranma let out a mental curse. 'Damn, none of this makes any sense! Where are we?!' he yelled out mentally.

He sat there, seething as the minutes went by. He tried to figure out answers to the multitude of questions that were flying around in his head, along with the ones his companion was sure to ask, but the frame of mind he was in quashed any attempts to make any sense of it all. The lack of success led to frustration in the young man, leading to even less success as more anger was fueled by the frustration, creating a vicious cycle. This went on until Ranma could handle it no more.

"Get a grip on yourself..." he chided himself in a harsh whisper as he lingered on the point just before having to let out a loud yell of frustration. He never reached that point as he took a glance at Ryoga, resting on the other side of a crackling renewed campfire. Not wanting to wake Ryoga up and deal with his companions antics at the moment, Ranma assumed the lotus position, settling down for a moment of self reflection to calm his psyche down.

Time passed, with the only sounds heard being the cracking fire that flicked rays of light around the small clearing and two people breathing very lightly, one in rest and the other in relaxed concentration... or concentrating on being relaxed as it was. Ranma, wary due to the night's incident, didn't let himself collapse fully into meditation, instead only letting it flicker on the edge of his mind like the dancing fire's light. This allowed him to stay aware, letting his sixth sense flow into the air around...

A moan floated through the calm air. Pupils contracted within his blue irises, as Ranma snapped his eyes open then squinted as the fire's light shown directly into them. Moment later, he had them open once again, taking in the surrounding area in a quick scan. The martial artist found it devoid of anything unnatural; barring the nearly destroyed tree, crater in the ground and scuffle marks marring the relatively flat dirt. He also took note of the growing light from the horizon, though it was at least an hour before daybreak if he guessed right.

He pushed that aside, though, as he turned his gaze across the flames that had died down as the time passed. Ryoga had captured his attention by moving, placing a hand against a head that swam in confusion. Seeing this happening, Ranma could only take a deep breath and let it escape in a long sigh, not knowing what was yet to come.

--

'What hit me?' groaned though his thoughts as Ryoga reached up with a hand to rub a sore spot on the back of his neck. Touching it with his fingers and slightly prodding, he could feel the dull ache of where he 

was hit... with what, he didn't know but it was at just the right spot to knock him out cold. With that thought, his eyes snapped open as Ryoga jerked his body into a sitting position.

The lost boy had reacted on instinct, knowing the last thing in his head was him fighting a very large bear that seemed to have it out for him. He winced at the quick movements, as a wave of pain passed through his head, but remained focused enough to look around for any signs of the beast. What grabbed his attention was the same that Ranma saw, the damage to the area around the pair and the sometime's rival across the fire from him.

From the look on Ranma's face, Ryoga could see emotions running across faster than his rival's fists during a 'Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken' burst. 'Fear, worry, confusion...' Ryoga quickly fired off recognition in his mind of the major emotions he could sense coming from Ranma. Furrowing his brow, Ryoga ran what he could remember of the fight through his mind.

He didn't get very far before he slowly started moving his hand from the back of his neck and brought it around in front of his face. Looking at it with large eyes, Ryoga started shaking a bit as thoughts tried to escape his mouth, but only slight whispered stutters came though. After a second, those faded into nothingness.

--

Ranma let out another sigh as he heard Ryoga stutter off into silence, seeing the shocked look on his friend's face. 'Ok, two things are going to happen. He'll charge at me over the fire or he'll faint... Please, Kami-sama, have him faint...' the pigtailed boy silently prayed as he didn't feel like fighting an all out two person war at the moment.

The minutes passed as Ranma watched Ryoga's mind process the information, his rival's face slowly changing from shock into a more confused state. 'Ok, Ranma, get ready! Here it comes...' the martial artist psyched himself up, almost imperceptivity preparing himself for the attack to come. His eyes squinted slightly as he saw Ryoga's mouth move but even with heavy concentration, Ranma couldn't make out what was whispered.

"What was that?" Ranma asked... or would have, but only got to "Wha..." before being cut off.

The next second, there was a flurry of motion as Ranma and Ryoga both jumped to a standing position. Ranma quickly pulled his guard up into a heavily defensive stance as he saw Ryoga move his arm up. What Ranma heard next caused Ranma to act on pure instinct.

"I'm HUMAN!" Ryoga's voice, full of obvious joy, could be heard rebounding off of the landscape around the pair. His fist pumped into the air at full extension, eyes closed with a wide grin across his face. He blinked his eyes back open when he heard something nearby, only to see Ranma lying face down on the ground.

Ryoga blinked again in mild uncertainty as Ranma made his way back up to sit with his eyes on Ryoga. 'This defiantly wasn't what I was expecting...' ran though the chinese dressed male as he eyed the human being across from him. Letting out a cough, Ranma frowned a bit as he spoke up, "Are you... ok, Ryoga?"

"Ok? OK!? I'm great, you idiot! I'm still human!" an enormous smile plastered on his face. "Check it out," he almost shouted as he thrust his hand out in a thumbs-up sign, "I've got thumbs!"

"That ain't all you've got..." Ranma smirked back at Ryoga. A second later his smirk died to be replaced by his palm hitting his forehead. He knew he had invoked the 'Saotome Foot-in-Mouth' technique. Seeing Ryoga's perplexed look, Ranma lowered his blue eyes and saw Ryoga follow suit.

"I've... I've got..." Ryoga stammered out going into shock.

Thinking quickly, Ranma spoke up, "It's not that bad."

Jerking his head up to glare at Ranma, Ryoga cried out while pointing, "Not that bad?! I've got BREASTS!"

Once he yelled it out, though, the gears in his mind finally clicked over and all the blood rushed out of his head as his face blanched. Ranma quickly saw Ryoga turn around to face away and let out a weak sound of disbelief. Slowly turning back around, Ryoga just stammered in shock, "I'm a... a..." though he couldn't push himself to finish the statement.

Ranma just massaged a temple with some fingers as he let out a sigh. "Yeah... I know... Sorry..."

On one side of the fire stood a form both of them knew, a black haired pigtailed martial artist who spouted smart-alecky comments that usually got him into trouble.

The figure on the other side of the flames still wore the yellow heavy duty shirt and black pants like he always did... Instead of Ryoga, though, Ranma saw a girl around his own height in Ryoga's cloths. Other than the fact that he was now a she, the only major difference was Ryoga's hair and eyes were a bright shade of green. Well, that and the obvious physical changes…

Ranma turned his appraising gaze aside a second later after taking stock of Ryoga's new figure. A quick view was all he needed to guess that the green haired girl's new 'assets' were on par with Kasumi's. Considering that Ranma always thought Kasumi to be attractive, he currently felt a little ill knowing that the girl in front of him was still Ryoga, his arch-rival.

The pops and crackles of the dying fire punctuated the scene as the pair stood within their own thoughts. Ranma took quick glances at the girl who was obviously mulling all this new information over. Her face twitching every now and then as mental tracks were completed or abandoned.

Finally, there was an exasperated sigh as Ryoga raised her fingers to her forehead. "So I'm a girl now instead of P-chan... at least it's an improvement." Her eyes flashed open a second later, glaring at the male observing her, "Don't think you're off the hook, Saotome! Somehow, this has to be your fault."

Ranma just grimaced as he scratched at the back of his neck. "Ah, um... You might be right, Ryoga." Hearing this, she just blinked in surprise as the boy continued on, "You told me that spell was supposed to get rid of your P-chan curse, right?"

There was a bounce of green hair as Ryoga nodded while Ranma picked back up, "Well, err, since I interrupted it..."

"...I got your curse." Ryoga finished, with Ranma giving his own return nod.

"Yeah, so technically, it worked..." Ranma added on with a weak grin.

"Then it whisked us away to wherever the hell we are now!" the female cried out, waving a hand to indicate the landscape that was brightening as the sun grew closer to the horizon. "And screw you, Saotome! Technically, my ass! I'm still cursed, just something I can deal with this time!" she finished, her green eyes glaring into Ranma's blue.

Taking a deep breath, Ryoga crossed her arms in front of her and sneered, showing the Hibiki line's fangs. "Plus, as some cruel joke of the gods, you probably got cured totally." Throughout this, Ranma just let the rage play out as he watched his friend and rival fume.

'He's got a right to be pissed.' Ranma told himself. Ryoga saw him lower his gaze before she heard him reply, "Actually, I doubt it, knowing my luck. I don't know though."

Hearing him chuckle a bit nervously, the girl raised an eyebrow, "What do you mean?"

"After seeing you after the fight, I thought it over. I'm either cured, stuck with the same curse or..." he faded off, not wanting to finish the sentence. Ryoga was interested now, lowering her voice as she urged him on, "Or what?"

Ranma let out a sigh, "or I traded with you..." Letting it out, he lowered his gaze to the fire.

"And you don't know which?" came the question. Ranma just shook his head, "I'm... a little afraid to find out which is right."

Suddenly, his sight was filled with the sight of green and yellow. It only lasted a fleeting moment, as by the time the sound of the quick movement filled his ears, Ranma found himself flying through the air. A second later, the sight of the river's flowing blue filled his vision as a yell filled his ears, "Let's find out!"

'Oh shit!', flew through Ranma's mind just before a great splash filled the air. Then nothing but the babbling of the river and the soft footsteps of Ryoga approaching could be heard. As the seconds past, the amber clad fighter's grin started to fade as she thought about the implications of Ranma gaining her old curse. A frown formed as she wouldn't wish that fate on her worst enemy, who she just through into the river.

She didn't have to ponder long on that as a great gasp for air came from the redhead bursting through the water. "What'd you do that for, you jerk!?" she practically screamed at Ryoga who was gaining her grin back.

"I figured you should look like a girl if you were going to act like one, Saotome!" came the jabbing remark.

Blinking, Ranma held a hand in front of his face, much like Ryoga did earlier. The feral grin that grew on her face, though, caused the opposing female to blanch as the sight and words reached her ears, "Great! Now stand still so I can beat the snot out of you!"

Seeing Ranma's visible fighting spirit and feeling the killing intent the girl was letting loose, Ryoga's 'fight or flight' instincts kicked in. A split second later, 'flight' won her over as she bolted away along the riverbank. "Hey! Get back here!" filled Ryoga's ears along with another splash when the redhead jumped out of the river to pursue the fleeing Hibiki.

--

As the sun reached its apex for the day, both girls found themselves gasping for air on a stone bridge that spanned the river. They sat, leaning on the small walls, both on other sides looking at each other through each breath.

Gaining a grin slowly, the redhead panted out, "Well, that -gasp- was a good -pant- jog..."

A groan could be heard from the amber clothed female on the other side, but before long a chuckle broke through. It wasn't long after, that laughs from two friends could be heard by anyone nearby. It died down though, as Ryoga pushed herself to her feet and walked around the edge of the bridge to the riverbank.

Smiling from the release from the frustration due to the exercise along with the needed laughter, Ryoga reached down into the clear water where a small eddy had formed with both hands. Drawing it up to her face to drink, she stalled as she saw flashes of her own reflection in the water. Shaking the slight blush from her face, she finished bringing the water up to her and drank deeply, repeating the process trying to quench her thirst.

Somewhere in that, Ranma had joined her in her own desire to rehydrate. She had only gone a couple of handfuls when she was interrupted by someone shaking her shoulder. "What is it, Ryoga?" she inquired, annoyed.

"Look at this! We might be near Jusenkyo!" an excited voice cried out, directing the redhead's gaze out into the water. Ranma had to blink and rub her eyes as she looked out at the sight. There in front 

of the pair of girls swam a small line of at first looked like ducks, up until you noticed the turtle shells on their backs.

"What... the... hell?!" Ranma could only respond incredulously, not believing her eyes still.

"See! Like I said, Jusenkyo might be close by! It's the only explanation!" Ryoga continued down that train of thought, grinning like an idiot.

"I don't think so..." the redhead replied with apprehension tinting her voice. Putting a hand to the side of her head before giving it a quick shake, she continued, "While you were out cold, I was looking at the stars."

"Yeah, and?" Ryoga retorted derisively.

"Ryoga, I don't know where we are, but we ain't in China... or Japan... Hell, I couldn't find a single star set to get any directions off of!" she responded in exasperation.

"Wait... what? Then how..." came the confused question as Ryoga cocked her head to the side.

Ranma just shook her head again, "I don't know. I say we still need to find a city or something." Standing up and looking at the road that ran relatively east to west, she asked her companion, "Which way should we go?"

Running a hand through green hair, Ryoga also looked around letting out a low "Hmm." A few seconds later, the fighter pointed towards the west across the bridge saying, "I'd go that way."

"Ok, then. Looks like we're headed east..." Ranma stated as she headed in the opposite direction the female had pointed. Ryoga growled and let out an indignant, "Hey!" but followed along, fully knowing the reasoning behind Ranma's decision. Knowing it didn't make it any less annoying though.

--

End of Chapter 1