Suikoden Sunset 1/2

by madhat886

Hi! I'm Ranma! In Girl Form Call Me Ranko!

!

Piccolo eyed the redhead in front of him along with everyone else. Even with all the magic in this world this is the first time he and the others have ever encountered magic that makes you change your very SEX! The only one not that surprise is Sunset who thanks to dealing with that kinds of magic in her world, isn’t that surprise at the sex changing curse. After all she has played around with poison joke powder on the castle staff.

"So it's a water-based curse that with cold water you turn into a girl and with hot water back into a boy?" he ask.

Ranko nodded as she waited for the water in the kettle to heat up.

“Yup, I fell in a cursed spring that turns meinto a girl. This is how I would've looked like if I was born a girl. I'm almost a copy of my moth..." he trailed off at that particular memory. Everyone figured out what he was about to say, but did not comment on it.

The whole group had moved into the bar area of the castle where a stove is currently heating up some water for Ranma, 'Ranko' right now, to change back. The bar looks like it has not been used in years. Dust and spider webs covered the place. Cecile is STILL poking Ranko's breasts, but this happened often enough in the past that Ranko just ignored it. People often need to 'feel' the proof themselves, and for some reason at least girls who find out about his curse keep on poking and groping her breast to prove it.

Cecile's constant poking and grabbing is starting to annoy her, especially since it reminded him of the way Nabiki had treated her so long ago. She gave the blonde girl a scowl to indicate her displeasure. She backed off and the redhead continued her story.

"This curse is all thanks to my pop. He couldn't even read the Training Grounds Guide except for the words 'training ground' and 'dangerous'. He got a curse too, only he turns into a panda,” Ranko said.

"So you can't control the change?" asked Thomas. He has seen magic before, but sex-changing curses are new to him. Ranma's girl form is cute, but in his opinion Cecile is cuter.

"Nope. Water seems to find me wherever I go. You turn into a water magnet when you get cursed. It's the only explanation I have for the weird situations, I've gotten splashed in strange ways like Muto tripping like that. The water magnet part also works with both hot and cold water. It will always attract the opposite of whichever water temperature type you want,” Ranko said.

Martha has not stopped eyeing the girl since she had changed.

“So, are you a FULL girl now?" Martha ask and thought to herself. 'Fascinating! Absolutely fascinating!'

Ranko knew what she's asking. The old woman wants to know if she can have kids and all that. She's been asked that question a lot already, does not stop her from blushing though.

"Yup, pretty much,” Ranko said. Doc Tofu had told her often enough that the change goes all the way so that she can have kids and such if she...

She always hated that.

Juan eyed 'Ranko' a bit fearfully from far away. "So the curse won't change any of us right?"

Another generic question she has been asked before.

"No. Unless you fall into one of the cursed springs or some of its waters gets on you you're safe from the curse,” Ranko shrugged. "Besides, there are worst things you can turn into besides the opposite gender."

The others heaved a sigh of relief at that. But then they thought about what she said.

"Really? Like what?" the whole group asked.

"There's the 'Drowned Yeti Ridding Bull While Carrying a Crane and Eel Spring' for one." Ranko said. Mass incomprehension met her statement. "Trust me, you don't want to know."

The others just nodded, especially those who figured it out.

"So... umm... you have no way to cure your curse?" Cecile asked.

She could not help but feel jealous at Ranko's large... assets. She wished she could have the chest and hips of a normal 15 year old. She has not grown a bit and now someone who is not even a natural girl has bigger breasts and better curves than she does. Then she glance at Sunset who is taller and is just as big as Ranko, no bigger who has better curves. Making her remember there is already another woman around who is more gifted.

'I hope Master Thomas doesn't care about things like that.' Her eyes widened slightly at that thought and she banged her head repeatedly with her spear. 'Bad Cecile! Bad Cecile!'

Everyone turned to her for a moment then promptly decides to ignore what they do not know. Don't want to know either. Ranko then answered her question.

"Nope, I have looked for one, found about a hundred and one, none of them works. It's either only temporary, doesn't work, or locks you in your CURSED form," she replied, thinking about a few of the 'cures' that she has found. Even the waterproof soap only lasted for a short time, then instant girl wherever you are. She shuddered as she remembered Herb's locking ladle.

"There may be a way," Eike said, catching everyone's attention, especially Ranko. He does not talk much so this is a first for the long-time residents of the castle. Some have even started hyperventilating. "Maybe by having a Chimera Rune placed on you it would be enough to control your curse. It has the power to transfers all status abnormalities - whether they be positive or negative to something else if I remember right. I had one of those somewhere in the library."

A few plastered themselves against the wall. Eike said more than one sentence!

Ranko suddenly appeared just a few inches right in front of him. Other people would have jumped in surprise, but this is Eike and he did not even twitch slightly.

"Wow! Really! So what do want in return?" she ask as she knows there had to be a catch somewhere. Living with Nabiki teaches you that EVERYTHING has a catch.

Eike shook his head. "Nothing much. If you could would you bring some new books to the library? There hasn't been a new book brought in years."

"I have a book on me," Ranko said, reaching into her sub-space pocket where she keeps her backpack and other belongings and pulling out a book that Doc Tofu gave to him.

Eike looked over the book the young girl gave to him. Luckily this world and Ranma's world both have the Japanese language as its main way of communication.

“The Art of Pressure Points. I have never heard of this before,” he said. It's certainly something he's never seen or heard about it in his lifetime.

"Want a demonstration?" Ranko ask and everyone nodded.

The girl walked up to Muto and spoke over her shoulder to everyone else.

"There are points on the body that if pressed in the right way would do strange stuff to you. Here's one." Ranko's finger hits the side of Muto's neck and the dog-man's body froze in place.

"Hey! I can't move?" It feels like he is completely wrapped up in chains with no leverage. He cannot even move his head to look around the room! The only things he can move are his eyeballs and his mouth.

Ranko hit the same spot again. Muto wavered a second before regaining his balance. "By pressing the same spot or sometimes another pressure point you can undo it. It's all in the book."

Eike bowed slightly to her.

"Thank you. I will go find that rune now," he said as he left the room. Juan and Muto were sorely tempted to follow him and read up on that book.

Seeing the water ready Ranko lifted it above her head and poured some of the water over her. Her audience became amazed when they saw 'Ranko' get slightly bigger, taller, and loose the... things on her chest and her hair turn from red to black. In less than a second 'Ranko' disappeared and 'Ranma' took her place.

"Well, this has been an interesting day," Sebastian said wryly, which is pretty much an understatement. A new master arrives, said master looks only to be a year older than Cecile, with him comes a sex-changing young man who carries around a book Eike has never seen before, and said librarian even spoke with more than one sentence! "It's getting late. Let me show you to your room Master Thomas. Ranma, there is an empty room across the hall with a bed in it you can use."

"Hey, I don't want to be a bother! I don't have a way to pay you and I don't want to be a freeloader." 'Again,' he though sourly. "I'll just…"

"No, it's fine Ranma." Sebastian interrupted as he wiped his forehead with his handkerchief. "We'll find a job for you or something. Besides, you are a friend of Master Thomas, am I right Master Thomas?"

"Err, sure. Don't worry about it Ranma. You can stay for a little while,” Thomas said.

He is about to protest when he thought about it. It's not like he has anywhere to go and these people are being awfully nice to him. He bowed in thanks and walked out of the bar. "Thanks. See you guys tomorrow."

“What about me?” Sunset ask.

“Oh yes Sunset, you can stay as well,” Thomas said.

“The guard towers are all still good right?” Sunset ask.

“Yes but they haven’t been used for years,” Sebastian said.

“I’m moving into the guard tower in the courtyard. The one on the right,” Sunset said walking out of the bar and into the courtyard.

Everyone also went to their own rooms to ponder on the strange events of today. Thomas is not really the concern of everyone (except for a certain blue-eyed, blonde captain of the guards). It is his friend who is on their minds. They have a feeling that a lot of strange things are about to happen with his arrival.

!

In Ranma's room -

The room is practically empty except for a bed and a wooden chest. Oh, and lots and lots of dust. There is a window that gives a good view of the lake. Besides that it is not really that special. 'Oh, well. I had worse.'

He sat down on the bed after patting it down to get rid of the massive amount of dust on it. He had to open the window or else he would have choked on the dust cloud that rose up when he even touched the bed.

“So this is a new start of a new life,” he said to himself. He put down his sword on the side of the bed and then unloaded his things from his subspace pocket. 'Heh. This is the only good thing to ever come out of that duck.'

Besides the things in his backpack he has medical books that Doc Tofu gave to him, cookbooks from Kasumi, and educational books from Ms. Hinako. She said that if he is going to start a new life he might as well add an education to his list of 'things to do'. The books range from Architectural books all the way to Women's Behaviors books, which he finds out later on he just can't understand no matter how many times he reads them. Hinako's books alone are enough to fill a whole bookcase, two or three of them in fact. All together he has a small library. He's surprised that he can even fit all of them inside the room. All of the books are in huge stacks against the wall opposite the bed. Thankfully they had given him a pretty big room. Dusty, but has lots of space.

Doc Tofu, Kasumi and Ms. Hinako were the only ones who cared for him in his old life. It made him sad that he might never see them again, but he knows that they understand and sometimes you have to make a sacrifice to get something.

He also took out his mangas from his backpack and put them in the chest after patting it down to get rid of the dust. It is the only pile small enough to fit.

'Is EVERYTHING covered by dust in this castle?' Ranma thought to himself.

He figured he would clean up his room tomorrow. He hoped that they let him stay here. He can help repair and clean this place to pay for his room and board. It REALLY needs a lot of work.

He plopped down on the bed and prepared to go to sleep. As he started to drift off he thought of the people he just met. 'At least they're taking the curse better than some people I used to know.'

Exhaustion settled in after that thought and soon he is fast asleep.

!

Sunset’s Tower -

The guard tower as Sebastian had said hasn’t been used in years. The old wooden door open to a small room that leads to a staircase, where there’s a large room on the top with a hatch to the roof of the tower. The inside is a mess and rubble is everywhere with plants growing from the piles of dirt. Using her telekinesis, Sunset quickly cleaned up the mess and dumping the trash over the side and into the forest on the other side of the wall.

Once the room is clean, Sunset began unpacking her room. Thanks to the bags of holding, Sunset managed to pack much of her room before she fled into the mirror. Bags of holding, are rare and hard to make magic items, allowing the owner to store vast amounts of items within them but the weight of the bags also increases with more stuff is put inside. The objects inside the bags become tiny and their weight does also get lighter but the weight does built up. Sunset has been using her telekinesis to carry her bags because of how much each of them weighs.

And that bags of holding, will quickly become cluttered and unkempt, forcing one to look through the mess inside for what they’re looking for. Sunset had to look through the bag containing her room and pulled out her bed her furnitures and personal belongings, all of them growing back to their normal size once out of the bag. She put some window curtains on the windows of the room, rugs on the stone floor.

To her dismay she found that the tower does have a toilet, of the sorts where indoor plumbing isn’t a thing. Canterlot castle being so old still has latrines which protrude from the exterior walls, which she learned when she found one of them and asked what it is. As the toilet just emptied out over the side of the cliff face. Which the toilet in the tower also does, into the forest.

Besides that Sunset quickly made her new quarters more like home. She has much to learn about this new world, and this place looks like a good enough place to start. She stay at the castle and learn enough before she goes on her way. The run down castle is beneath her standards anyways.

!

The next day -

"Good morning Master Thomas!" Cecile greeted exuberantly to her new master. She is sitting at the bar having something to drink before heading out on patrol. That morning she woke up early and cleaned it up a bit seeing as the new master might want to use it.

Thomas smiled at her. "Morning Cecile. Just call me Thomas, okay? Anyway, have you seen Ranma? I went to his room and he wasn't there."

"I was out hunting,” Ranma voiced called out. The pigtailed martial artist came through the open bar door carrying two dead wild boars over each shoulder. Behind him Martha who held the door open for him walked in with a pleased expression.

"You did very well young man. You're pretty strong for someone your age,” Martha said. She had been with him when he went hunting. She wanted to see how good the young man is and is totally impressed at what she saw. It is not everyday someone kills two wild boars by beating it to death using only their fists and feet.

"Wow! You killed two wild boars!" Cecile exclaimed in admiration of the pigtailed man. "Those things are pretty hard to beat!"

"They also had these on them," Ranma said as he showed them a pair of brown boots and metal shoulder guards. The two boars had puked them out before dying. He cleaned them up using some water he had in a canteen before putting them the items in a bag he had with him. He held up the boars over the sink and cut open the boar's bellies and is rewarded with two bags.

"Cool! You were right Thomas! The harder it is to beat the monster the more gold I get!" Ranma said. He showed off the two bags of gold that he got from the boar's belly, cleaned them up a little and put them away.

He took off his falling apart slippers and put on the luckily right size boots. He also put on the shoulder guard as well. The Shoulder Guards has a metal chest plate that covers the heart area. It seemed to suit Ranma well. It gave him a look like he is meant to wear armor all along.

'Not bad,' thought both Cecile and Martha.

'Not as good as Master Thomas thought,' thought Cecile before she could control herself. She turned away before everyone else noticed her blushing.

Martha helped him put down the carcasses of the boars on a table where it would be cut up and cooked later.

"At least you have good foot wear now. Those slippers wouldn't have lasted long with the way you fight. By the way, Thomas, Sebastian has been looking for you. Ranma, I'll handle these. You go with him and see if you can help out,” Martha said.

"Okay," they chorused as they walked into the lobby with Cecile following them.

Sebastian spotted them coming from the direction of the bar. He quickly walked up to the three teens. "Thomas! There you are! I have forgot to send a letter to Brass Castle saying that the new master has arrived here and has started his duties. We would send a letter carrier, but with things as they are well..."

"Don't worry. I'll take the letter there,” Thomas said.

"Wonderful! Would you mind going with him Cecile?" Sebastian ask.

"Don't worry. I'll go with him," Cecile said and thinks to herself. 'It'll let me get to know him better,' she thought without realizing it.

Ranma also volunteered. "I'll go too. I should see more of the Grasslands anyhow."

He can kill more of those monsters on the way too. Cecile felt some disappointment at not being alone with Thomas, but did not show any outward signs of it.

Eike walked down the stairs before the three teens could leave. "I finally found the rune, Ranma. You need a rune master to put it on you. There is one in Brass Castle where you are going. Oh, and thank you for the book."

"Don't mention it," he said.

Ranma had memorized the whole thing anyway and it is going to be in the library. Taking the small glass ball with the rune inside from the creepy librarian he looked inside and found the image of a lion, a goat and a snake's faces all on top of each other. (1)

It is a little creepy, but this could be an actual cure! He found out from Martha that this world is filled with magical things called runes so there's a chance that this thing could cure him. He barely prevented himself from doing a little dance right in front of everyone.

He mentally danced around though. 'Never going to be a girl again! Never going to be a girl again!'

"I'll get the letter. You three should get ready to go," Sebastian said as he walked into the meeting room.

As he left for his room Ranma felt a slight shiver go through him. 'I get the feeling something will happen soon.'

“Hey where is Sunset?” Thomas ask.

“She’s with Piccolo, learning magic,” Cecile said.

“Doesn’t she know magic already?” Thomas ask remembering how she had taken care of those monsters yesterday.

“Piccolo is a student of the great mage Crowley. She must want to learn more magic,” Cecile said.

!

Another part of the castle -

“Some of the clothing have magical enchantments on them that can give the wearer a boost in power or give them protection that it shouldn’t be able to otherwise,” Sunset ask Piccolo as they talk in front of what use to be a restaurant before it closed down when the last cook left.

She held a casque she had gotten from the big bird called a Horohoro. Piccolo identified it as a Guardian Casque which gives her Defense +20 and Lightning Resist to the wearer.

“Yes but how it’s made is a protected secret that the armor guild closely guards. But you really never heard of this before?” Piccolo ask.

“My homeland is very peaceful so besides some odd items here and there, there really isn’t anything like this,” Sunset said.

“I have heard of other worlds from my old master but besides summons, I have never met someone from another world before. A world with no runes but still has magic,” Piccolo said. Sunset had tod him about her being a unicorn from another world and showed him her magic bag of holding to prove it.

“The magic mirror I used changed me human. I’m still getting use to this new body and using the magic of this world. The magic laylines fuel my magic but it is strange that no one use magic without runes. I guess it was just easier to use runes to cast magic instead of taking years to learn how to cast magic without it. There are plenty of lost arts in my world that were just abandon after something better came along or it wasn’t needed anymore,” Sunset said.

“We can learn much from each other,” Piccolo said.

“Yes, we do have much to learn from each other,” Sunset agrees. She would learn about the magic of this world and when the portal reopens again she will have her revenge.

!

Meanwhile, elsewhere -

Seven people riding on armored horses are making their way through the Yaza Plains. All but one is wearing a full suit of armor and the color of their clothes is orange dominated. (2)

The first person behind the leader of the group is a huge man with a big double bladed Battle Axe hanging on his saddle. His brown hair is shaved to a strip on top of his head, ending with a ponytail. He has a mustache and his armor is different from the rest by the spikes on the shoulders, giving him an intimidating look.

A shorthaired blonde man with light blue eyes is riding next to him, and a one handed sword is on his belt. He looked around the area and is very frustrated about something. Also he's mumbling about something angry.

A dark haired handsome man looking very calm is riding behind him. He too has a sword on his belt. He calmly looked around the area and barely held in a chuckle as he looked at the blonde man in front of him.

Another blonde man wearing very little armor is riding a little ahead and to the left of him. He is wearing a purple shirt with a red scarf around his neck. A mace is hanging from his saddle.

An elf took the end of the party. He has light purple hair along with pointed ears and nose. His expression is hard to read like most elves' are. A bow and quiver is on his saddle.

The rider in the lead is a silver haired young woman. Her long hair is braided into two braids and set at the back of her head so it does not get in her way. Her skin is pale and she has beautiful lavender eyes. A sword rested at her side as well. She is irritated but hiding it very well.

A small brown haired boy about ten years old or so wearing a chest plate is riding on the back of her horse, holding onto her waist.

They are the Six Knights of Zexen. They are the Six Knights of Zexen... who are lost in the Yaza Plains.

"Are we there yet Salome?" the small boy asked.

The man in purple turned to the young boy riding behind his leader.

"No Louis. We would have been there by now if only 'someone' didn't talk us into trying a shortcut to Brass Castle. We would have gotten there already, right, Borus?" he said, looking at the other blonde haired man.

"Hey! It's Leo who said to take a left!" he yelled in his defense, looking at the knight with the spikes on his armor.

"Don't even think about blaming me!" the large man yelled back. He pointed to the calm looking one. "Percival said that we should have gone left! Not me!"

"I was just talking to myself. It is not my fault you thought I was speaking to you," the dark haired man replied calmly, as if talking about the weather.

"Are we going to do this the whole way?" The elf asked to no one in particular. While his expression is still unreadable there is a hint of exasperation in it now.

The woman up front turned to look at the elf at the end of their group.

"Well, Roland, knowing these guys they will do this all the way." she said and looked behind her to the small lad riding with her. "Louis, when you grow up please make sure that you don't grow up to be like them."

Louis nodded enthusiastically. "Okay Lady Chris!"

"Hey!" the older males of the shouted except for the elf. However, if one were to look closely he looks to be holding back a laugh. But unless you look REALLY hard you would never see it.

Their banter is cut off when a loud rumble is heard from behind the upcoming hill and the sounds of people fighting off a bunch of monsters.

"Come on! We need to help! Those people could be in trouble!" Chris yelled, making her horse go faster as the others followed behind her.

Once they reached the top they saw a massive Stone Golem along with two Blade Bunnies and a half a dozen Furrflys attacking three travelers. Two of the travelers are young men and the last one is a girl. The girl is dressed in what looks like an older model of the armor that the castle guards used to wear. She wielded a large spear in one hand and a shield in the other and is fighting the Blade Bunnies. One of the men is wearing a brown coat and using a sword that looks like he doesn't really know how to use as he held off the Furrflys.

The last man is wearing a red silk shirt and metal shoulder guards as he fought the golem. He is using a broken katana, which is a rare thing to see in the Grasslands. It is snapped almost halfway from the tip. They could tell, even from the hill, that from the way that he moves he is a fighter, a really good fighter, even though it looks it he is just learning how to use his sword. However, as they watched they could see him getting better and better at using his broken sword. He does not make the same mistakes twice and constantly changes the way he fights. Sometimes he uses his own fists and feet to fight the golem off, which made Chris and her group wince. He must be hurting himself that way. From the way he is still using his fists and feet though that does not seem to be the case.

!

"Oi! Thomas, Cecile! How you guys holding up!" Ranma shouted while ducking under a swing from the massive right arm of the golem he is fighting. He swiped at the golem's feet, creating sparks from the clash of stone and steel. Most of the damage he inflicts is by using his own body instead of the sword, but having the golem as his 'sparring partner' helps him learn how to use his sword without fear of hurting someone, besides the monster of course.

"I can handle these two!" Cecile yelled, blocking the axe blade from one bunny while striking the other on its chest with her spear's blade and killing it.

"I'm okay!" Thomas shouted, swinging at the Furrflys that flew too close to him. "I could use a hand here though!"

Looking towards his friends he saw that Thomas and Cecile are flanking the monsters, effectively pinning the monsters between the two of them.

“Well, this was fun, but its time to put a stop to this,” Ranma said to the golem ready to end it.

He blocked a right hook from the golem with his blade as the golem put all its weight to its oversize arm. He jumped back, which unbalanced the golem and made it fall flat on its face.

'Got to aim this just right.' Ranma thought to himself as he focused his sight on the golem and yelled out, "Bakusai Tenketsu!"

He hit the golem with one finger and caused it to explode to pieces. Said pieces flew straight at the monsters Thomas and Cecile are fighting. The razor sharp shards are enough to kill all the monsters.

‘Keh, I've seen Ryoga use it so many times I've picked it up without going through the training,’ Ranma thought to himself.

"Wow! That was amazing!" Cecile exclaimed, shocked to see such a strange attack.

"Where did you learn that?" Thomas asked in awe of his friend. Ranma continuously keeps on impressing him ever since he met him yesterday.

Ranma waved his hand dismissively.

"I learned it from someone I... used to call a friend,” Ranma said and started to glow from the depression. However, before he could think about the past he saw a flash of movement. "CECILE, GET DOWN!"

Cecile turned to see the Blade Bunny she thought she had killed leaping at her. Before it could cut her in half it is knocked aside by an arrow and died for real this time. Turning towards where the arrow came from she and her group saw six riders wearing knight armor riding towards them.

Ranma and his group walked towards them and met them halfway. He looked up towards the woman in the lead and assumed right that she's the leader. He fought down the instinctive urge to think that women are weak that was ingrained in him by his father and greeted her.

"Thanks for the help." He also thanked the elf with the bow and arrow as well, getting a nod in reply. He noticed that she is staring intently at him. 'She looks like a warrior so she's probably sizing me up.'

Cecile jumped up and down in glee, creating a racket with the metal of her armor creaking and clanking together. “IT'S... IT'S... IT'S LADY CHRIS! Thomas, it's Lady Chris!"

"You mean she's the female knight I heard about while in Vinay Del Zexay?" Thomas asked, not believing that he is looking at the near legendary knight in front of him.

Ranma looked back and forth between his friends and the female knight on top of her horse. "Not to be stupid or anything, but who's she?"

Salome looked at the sheathed sword on Ranma's belt. He had sheathed it onto his back. He just remembered that katanas are made to hang from your waist, not your back. "By you katana, something that people don't use around here, I guess that you are not from around here are you?"

Roland also noted the weird broken sword. "The last time I have seen a katana is when I was visiting the new elf village in the Toran Republic a while ago. That village is very far away from here."

Ranma nodded at Salome's question. "Nope. Not from around here. Name's Ranma by the way. I know who the lady is (a barely covered squeal is emitted by Cecile, but he ignores it.). Who are the rest of you guys?"

The man who guessed that Ranma isn't from around here moved his horse forward and introduced everyone else. "I'm Salome, the elf is Roland and these are, in order, Leo, Borus, Percival and the one riding with Lady Chris is Louis. We are the Six Zexen Knights."

Cecile grabbed Ranma by the collar and dragged him down to her level so she can talk into his ear while pointing at Chris.

"Lady Chris is the captain of the knights Ranma! She's the first woman to ever be appointed to that position!" Cecile said with great enthusiasm.

Ranma nodded at her, impressed. "Oh really? Why are they here then?"

He looked around their current location. They had gone far off the path as Ranma had seen the golem and wanted to fight it. He dragged the two younger teens with him, saying that it is good practice to fight monsters. He turned back towards the knights, guessing what they are doing so far away from the path.

"You're... lost aren't you?" Ranma ask.

Louis nodded vigorously.

"Yup! Mind telling us where Brass Castle is from here?" he asked, making the adults sweat drop. Here they are, the great Knights of Zexen, getting lost. How embarrassing! "Right Lady Chris! ...Umm, Lady Chris?"

Louis looked up to his mentor and noticed that her eyes are glazed over.

Chris hasn't stopped staring at the pigtailed martial artist since she first laid eyes on him as he battled the golem. 'Who is this Ranma? He's so handsome! Those muscles are so well formed, yet so lean at the same time. I've seen others with the same build, but there's just... something about him that just... wow! His confidence, the way he moves, and those eyes! I've never seen such beautiful blue eyes! Got to love that pigtail too! Did I mention the way he moves? So fluid, he's almost like water. I've never seen someone move like that before. He's so manly!' (A shiver runs up a certain dimensional traveler's spine, but he thinks it's the cold wind that just passed by and ignores it) His fighting style is also superb. While he's not very good at fighting with a sword if he used his fist and feet I can tell he's a grandmaster. None of the other knights comes close to this young man. Truly a man among men! (Again Ranma felt the shiver)

Then she noticed that she is staring at Ranma and caught herself before she started blushing.

"We would be grateful for your help," Chris said and thinks to herself of the thoughts she had before. 'What was THAT about?'

Thomas shrugged. "Sure. We're going there ourselves anyway. We need to deliver this letter there so that I can be registered as the new master of Budehuc Castle."

Borus raised an eyebrow and spoke for the first time. "Budehuc Castle? Never heard of it."

Cecile and Thomas both scratched the back of their heads in embarrassment.

“Well, we don't really have that many people there right now," the two chorused.

Pervical nodded, still smooth as ever. "Yes. I remember Lake Castle. It's a small castle just northwest of my home village. I used to go there when I was little. Is Commander Brown still guarding the place?"

Cecile shook her head, looking a little sad. "No. My father died a few years back. I'm the new Captain of the Guards there."

Salome looked down at her from atop his horse. "The rank of a Captain isn't passed down from father to child."

Cecile looked horrified. Her position is about to be taken from her!

"But I'll go and see what I can do,” Salome said as he knows that few soldiers would want to go to the castle to be captain there. Maybe some of the old soldiers as a place for a retirement but it be very few.

She exhaled the breath she didn't know she was holding.

"Thank you very much!" she said with great relief at the blonde Zexen Knight. "Ranma, Master Thomas, come on, let's go!"

"We will Cecile, but we need to see what we got from the monsters first," Thomas said as he approached the dead monsters.

Ranma is already looking through the remains of the monsters.

"Let's see. About 2,236 potch, mostly from the golem, two bottles of Medicine D, a strange crystal with a rune in it, a jar, a painting, and a... screw?" he said, listing what he gathered from the monster's remains and cleaned using some water, very careful not to get any of the cool water on him. “What would a bunny rabbit do with a screw?"

He pocketed it anyway just in case.

"That painting is a Sky Owl painting," Salome said as he eyed the painting Ranma is rolling up and putting in a pocket. "Also that rune is a Gale Rune. It makes its wearer become faster by about 1.5x."

"I didn't know you could appraise things," Leo said to his fellow knight.

Salome shrugged. "You pick up skills from here and there, and Sir Franklin has a Sky Owl painting in his home. For the jar you have to go to a real appraiser to see what kind it is."

Chris cleared her throat to get everyone's attention. "We're burning daylight. Let's go to Brass Castle before night falls. Thomas, if you would lead the way?"

It should be noted that she keeps stealing glances at the pigtailed martial artist, making him fidget a little, though from what he does not know.

!

Later -

"This is Brass Castle? It sure is bigger than ours," Ranma said, gazing at the castle they just arrived at.

Standing at the midpoint of the open Grasslands to the forested area of Zexen is the white stone castle called Brass. Two stone bridges are connected to the castle on either side. One of the two is the one they just crossed; the other is on the other side leading to Vinay del Zexay. High walls protected the castle from attacks with guard towers doting along the wall. The heavy iron gates along with the huge wooden drawbridge that could be pulled up meant it would be hard to get inside the castle. Brass Castle had a somewhat unusual layout in that the village within its walls is essentially split into two sections. The fort that comprised the bulk of the compound separated the two sections. It is impossible to get from one side of the town to the other without walking through the heavily fortified center. The center is where all of the knights are housed as a shelter in times of war.

"Great to be back home again," Louis said as they all stopped near the gateway to the rest of the castle.

Leo looked down at their guides. "You three didn't really have to come with us you know. You could have just given us the letter and pointed us in the right direction."

Cecile shrugged. "That's okay. I've never been to Brass Castle before so, I wanted to look around."

Thomas nodded as he too looked forward to exploring the castle.

"I did want to see what a fully staffed castle looks like. No offense of course Cecile," he added when she looked a little down. She merely nodded.

Ranma noted the very stately look of everything. It reminded him of the castles of England that he had seen in one of his textbooks.

"Yeah. This place is nice, but Lake Castle does have a more homely feel to it. No offense of course,” Ranma directed the last sentence to the knights, who just waved it off.

"I guess this is where we part ways. Maybe we'll meet again," Salome said as he took the letter from Thomas.

"Ranma, the next time we meet I hope you'll show me how to do that 'Breaking Point' move of yours," Chris said, staring and smiling at Ranma. He did not even notice or care that she has been staring or stealing glances of him the whole way. He got stared at so much by people from his old world that he's practically immune to it. He did get a small warning in his head that warned him that he's about to get in trouble with a girl especially with the way she's smiling at him. But he's in a new world and no one knows who he is so he thought he's just being paranoid.

"Well, that move I did..." He stopped until he had all of the knight's attention. "...is a SECRET!"

All the knights face faulted, but since they are on horseback they didn't fall to the ground. Only Percival, the eternally smooth one, and Roland, Mr. No Emotions, did not react.

‘Man, Xellos is so cool!' Ranma thought to himself.

Thomas and Cecile both rolled their eyes at him.

"I really wish you wouldn't do that,” both of them said and had sweat drops sliding down their heads.

"Yeah, but it's so funny! You saw their faces!" Ranma laughed as the knights recovered. Everyone who had face faulted growled a little at him. However, his laugh is infectious and soon they too are chuckling (or in Chris' case giggling, getting her stares from her subordinates. Chris NEVER giggled before! Ranma thought she has a pretty cute giggle and looks very pretty when she doesn't have such a serious face on.).

"Well, see you later," Percival said as he and the rest of the knights rode into the castle. Chris did not even notice the others staring at her. Now they are staring at her very pronounced smile. She never smiled from ear to ear before. That smile she directed at the pigtailed martial artist before they left is also one never seen before on her face. Even Percival and Roland are pretty shaken up by her weird behavior.

Ranma turned to his two friends as they lost sight of the knights. "So you want to look around before heading home?"

"Might as well since we're here!" Cecile began to walk into the castle with the two young men right behind her.

While passing through the gate Ranma saw a young man with a bright red hat standing to the left side of the bridge. What's odd is that he's holding a green parrot on his left hand. Seeing that his friends are leaving him behind he put it to the back of his mind and went to catch up with them.

Inside the castle wooden houses lined the street as villagers and knights went on with their business. Ranma guessed that this part of the castle is the residential part of the town since it's mostly empty. There are two shops there that he could tell by the signs hanging in the front of the two buildings. The first one has an orb on it and the other one has an open book.

'Must be the library or bookstore. I wonder what the one with the orb is,’ Ranma thought to himself.

As if reading his mind Cecile answered his question for him. "Ranma, that's the RuneShop. You can get your runes affixed to you there."

"So this is a Rune Shop. I've never been in one before," Thomas said, then turned to Cecile. "Does getting a rune affixed to you hurt?"

"No, it doesn't. I have a rune on me too, a 'War Horse' Rune. It lets me do a strong attack when I use it. A passing rune sage that is an old friend of Piccolo's gave it to me,” Cecile said.

Ranma walked, more like skipped, to the door as he spoke. "I'll just be in there a while. Why don't you two have a look in that bookstore and see if you can find a nice book for Eike."

"Sure! Come on Master Thomas!" As the two younger teens entered the library Ranma walked/skipped into the Rune Shop.

!

Inside -

The inside of the rune shop is pretty dark, letting in very little light. It reminded him a little of those fortuneteller shops where they let in very little light to increase the 'mysticism' of the place. Stepping up to the counter Ranma called for the owner.

A VERY stunning woman stepped through the curtains behind the counter. She is an ageless beauty. Her skin is pale, but healthy and blemish free. Actually, it's free of ANY imperfections. Her hair is completely white, which doesn't make her look old. It actually made her look more stunning. It is put up in a high ponytail behind her head. She has the same body build as Ms. Hinako when she's in her adult form, meaning she's VERY curvy, no even more so. She is wearing a black dress and long black gloves that clung to her like a second skin. The dress left very little to imagination as it showed off all of her curves that most women would kill to have. If Ranma hadn't been exposed to more female flesh than Happosai could possibly dream of he would have fainted. Ryoga would have died from severe blood loss. She gave Ranma a once over and liked very much what she saw.

"Greetings," she said in a very husky and sexy voice.

Ranma froze hearing her voice and knew that Ryoga would have been panting like a dog if he heard her voice.

“I'm the Rune Sage Jeane. What..." She paused to turn slightly so that her chin rested on her shoulder, giving her an even sexier look. The new angle also let Ranma see her large... assets from a side look. "...can I do for you?"

Knowing that look ('Oh man! I HATE that look! She's like Nabiki and Ms. Hinako combined!')

Ranma knew he better do his business before he gets into trouble. He gulped nosily and presented his two runes to her.

"I'm Ranma and I'm here to get these two runes affixed on me." he said and felt proud of himself. His voice did not shake, much.

"That will cost you 100 potch." Jeane said and placed her elbows on the counter, her arms upright, resting her chin on her hands.

Her assets got even more pronounced and the new position would have let Ranma look down her cleavage. He fought the signals his hormones are screaming at him with sheer amount of will.

“Or we can step back to my room and see what you can give me in return," she said VERY seductively, practically purring.

Ranma stepped back from Jeane, giving her a nervous smile while sweating a lot. He gulped again before speaking. "N-no need for t-that. I-I got… plenty…… of potch to pay w-with."

Gone is his confident voice and it looked like he's ready to bolt. But, thankfully, he's resisting his old reflexes to so many too forward women he has met before, if just barely.

Jeane looked disappointed as she straightened up, which made Ranma relax a little.

"Oh well. I'll just have to get you later then cutie." she said. Her calling him 'cutie' made him blush bright red. She smiled at his reaction before getting serious. "Now give me your runes and place your hands on the counter."

Placing his hands down flat on the counter Jeane placed the two runes on top of his hands. She began to chant something that he couldn't hear and the two runes melted into his hands. When it's over the Chimera Rune is on his right hand and the Gale Rune that looks like a green colored blade of air is in his left hand.

"Thanks," he said, giving her what he owed to her. "Can I have some cold water? I want to test something."

She tilted her head a bit at the strange request. She pulled out a jug of water from under the counter anyway and handed it to him. "Here you go."

"Thanks,” Ranma said taking the jug from her.

Pouring some over his head Ranma found that he didn't change into a girl. The rune worked by transferring all status abnormalities to someone else, which if he was poisoned, then Jeane the closes one to him would be pisoned instead. But since it’s a magic curse that change someone to a girl, the curse couldn’t be transferred to someone else who didn’t fell into a curse pool, so Ranma just remained the same.

"Yes! The Chimera Rune works! I don't change into a girl anymore! Yay! Woohoo!" he said as he did his 'Never gonna be a girl again' dance and hopped up and down in pure joy, forgetting that he is not alone. Jeane gave him a confused look.

"A girl?" she ask.

Ranma got all the joy at no longer having to turn into a girl out of his system before turning to the very beautiful shop owner. "I have a curse that I change into a girl with cold water and back to a guy with hot. I'll miss it, NOT!'

Jeane looked him over again, this time with more scrutiny. "I did feel an odd magic from you when you came in. Canyou control your curse now?"

He shrugged. "Eh... I don't know. Let's see."

He didn't know how or why, but he imagined himself as a girl and felt the familiar tingle that comes with changing genders. As he just allowed the rune not to work and the curse activated. 'Cool! Seems like directions come with the package!'

"So this is what you look like as a girl," Jeane said, giving her the same look when she was a guy and licking her lips.

Causing Ranma to freeze seeing that Jeane like both sexes.

"A stud as a guy and a cutie as a girl, a win-win situation. Are you SURE you wouldn't rather go to the back with me. That way you can get your money back," she said as she batted her eyelashes at him.

Ranma felt the familiar nervousness as Jeane leaned over a little more. Before he could stop himself he looked down. 'Baka baka baka! What are you, a pervert! Oh kami-sama it's so… Stop thinking it!'

Jeane smirks seeing how flustered he is.

"T-thanks for your help. I h-have to go now! Bye!" he said in a rush. He changed back to a guy as he made his way to the door before Jeane gets any ideas.

"Think nothing of it. If you ever need to buy a rune or to affix one on to someone you know and don't have the potch for it my... offer still stands," Jeane said and winked at him.

"Thanks. I think?" He almost ran through the door in his haste to get away. She reminded him of Shampoo way too much.

When the door closed behind him he leaned against it and slid down to the ground. He tried to get his heart to stop beating so hard and fast while he took deep breaths. A passerby saw him.

“Don't worry kid. She does that to all the guys that go in her shop, though you're the worse case I've ever seen,” the man said.

"Err, thanks. I think,” Ranma said.

The passerby chuckled before leaving him alone.

!

Later -

After getting his heart back to normal Ranma made his way to the Education Center to get Thomas and Cecile. Passing the counter into the books area he found his friends talking to a bookish looking young girl. She looks to be around Cecile's age and is wearing an outfit that reminded him of someone finishing high school from pictures he had seen.

Her clothes are a loose fitting dark gray dress and a square hat with that little thing that hung from the top of it. A red sash is tied around her waist and tied in a bow on the back. She has light brown curly hair and her face had a shy expression on it. She is wearing round glasses and carried a large notebook with her. A green gem necklace is around her neck.

"Hi guys. Who's your new friend?" he asked as he walked up to them.

Cecile stopped talking to the girl and turned to him. "Hi Ranma. This is Ernie. She's a tutor traveling around looking up new as well as old stuff around here."

Ernie turned to him and hides her face behind her book. Only her eyes could be seen from the top of the book. "You must be Ranma. Your friends said that you're a fighter that has a strange attack called the 'Breaking Point' that you used to kill a Stone Golem."

He put his hand behind his neck. It's just one little technique he copied off of Ryoga. What's the big deal with that?

"Yeah. No big deal," Ranma said.

Ernie looked him up and down like a cat that just cornered a mouse.

'Wow! He's so handsome! And those muscles! Maybe I should study him closely,' Ernie thought to herself as naughty thoughts ran through her head that made her blush and drool a bit. 'Too bad he is just a jock. No one is perfect I guess.'

Ranma started to be weirded out by Ernie's staring at him.

"They also said that you had a book on something called 'Pressure Points'. I've never heard of those before," Ernie said.

"Eike, the librarian of our castle, has it. If you go there I'm sure he'll let you read it. I also have a bunch of books I brought with me in my room," Ranma said, not seeing the smile Ernie had on her face. It is very similar to a certain genius with red hair styled like a crab.

Still hiding behind the book she turned towards the master of Budehuc Castle.

"I do not really have a place to stay in. Can I stay at your castle for a while?" she asked, giving Thomas a pleading look.

Thomas nodded. "There are only nine of us there. I'm sure we'll find a room for you."

Cecile jumped up and hugged Ernie, much to her embarrassment. "Yay! Having a new person would be great! We do need some helping hands in Lake Castle and there's another girl around my age finally!"

As Cecile continued to embarrass Ernie, Ranma pointed towards the east and asked, "What's east of here?"

Thomas indicated that he did not know. After getting away from the overjoyed blonde Ernie lowered her book all the way and looked at the pigtailed man.

"That area is the open Grasslands where the six clans live," Ernie said.

Cecile nodded. "Yeah. Martha and Piccolo are from the Karaya Clan. If you visit the Karaya Village west of here I'm sure that you can find people who know them. Just mention that you're friends with Martha and Piccolo and they'll treat you nicely."

Ranma nodded as he made his decision known. "I'm gonna explore the Grasslands a bit more. You three go back to Lake Castle without me."

"Are you sure?" Thomas asked.

"Sure. You guys can handle yourselves without me," Ranma said and handed Thomas a bag of coins and the painting to Cecile. "Take the painting and half of the potch we got from those monsters we fought. I don't really need paintings anyway. I'll keep the jar with me until I can get it appraised."

Cecile nodded. "Thanks. There are empty frames that need a painting like this in them. If you find any more bring them back with you okay."

"Sure! No problem. I'll see you guys later. Who knows, maybe I'll find more cute girls like Ernie to stay at the castle!" Ranma said as he walked out the door. Behind him Ernie is badly blushing while Cecile and Thomas are snickering at her.

!

East Side of the Castle -

The main center fort of the castle is actually more of a tunnel with doors on the sides than an actual fortress. There is an inn inside with a staircase going up to the upper part of the fort where all the higher ups sleep. Walking under the iron gates of Brass Castle Ranma spotted Chris and her friends riding up ahead. Louis had bumped into a kid a bit older than him by accident. There are three people that made up the group in front of Chris' group.

There are two young boys, darkly tanned, wearing earth based colors and a style that reminded him of Native Americans that he had seen in books. Large hunting knives are sheathed on their backs behind their waist. The one that Louis had bumped into has reddish brown hair that turns into red and has purple eyes. The other one is taller than his friend and has blue eyes. His hair started out as blonde but turns to black at the tips. The other one is a... duck-man wearing a green jacket and a green helmet with a red strip down the middle.

'First its dog-men, now ducks?' Ranma thought to himself.

The duck man carried around a spear with a fish-shaped axe on top and from his movements Ranma can tell he's a soldier. The blonde kid tried to tell Chris something, but Roland interrupted him and sent the three on their way. Frowning, Ranma made his way to him. He passed the three strangers and gave them an apologetic glance before moving on.

Chris turned to the elf with a questioning look. "Roland, why did you interrupt that boy when he was speaking to me?"

Roland's expression did not change at all as he replied, "There is no need for some Grasslander barbarian keeping you waiting my lady."

"Really now. You remind me of people back in my old life that acts just like you, thinking themselves all high and mighty," Ranma said appearing behind them. His usually friendly face is now practically emotionless. Roland's attitude reminds him too much of a certain samurai wannabe from his old life.

Chris turned towards the voice and a small smile appeared on her face. The other knights still are not used to her peculiar actions and so are a bit unnerved.

"Ranma? What do you mean by that?" she asked him almost sweetly.

Ranma turned towards the elf and frowned. "That 'barbarian' as Roland called him could have had something important to tell you or something to give to you. But since Roland thinks he's better than him he didn't let him speak to you."

"What is the worse that could happen if some Karayan child did not speak to Lady Chris?" Roland said with slight anger in his voice.

Ranma leaned against a wall and crossed his arms, never breaking his gaze. "It's the smallest of things that can lead to the biggest of tragedies. I'm no elf, but even I know that."

"Explain," Salome said, wanting to know more. For one so young to have such wisdom in his words intrigued him.

Ranma's expression turned neutral as he now gazed at all of them instead of just Roland. A few knights and other people had noticed the Zexen Knights speaking to the unknown man and came nearby to listen in to the pigtailed martial artist's story.

"A long time ago there were two warring houses fighting for the control of a faraway land called England. One is the House of Tudor, symbolized by a red rose, and a white rose symbolizes the other house. The man who told me the story couldn't remember their name, just the point of the story. Anyway, when the Tudor house prepared to invade the King of England's main city and the King needed to lead his army out to defend it he needed to send his horse out to be shoed. The blacksmith they took it to had run out of nails for the horseshoes on the horse's last hoof, but because they were out of time the men sent by the king didn't wait for him to make more and just brought the horse back."

"When the king went to battle his horse only had three nails holding his horse's shoe down instead of four. Midway through the battle the horseshoe came off and the king's horse stumbled, fell down and broke its neck. Then as the battle continued the invaders started to win and the king needed to rally his people, but without his horse he couldn't get their attention. So the king lost his horse, then the battle, then his kingdom, and finally his life... all because of a missing horseshoe nail. The point of the story is that it's the smallest of things that can lead to the greatest of falls." (3)

The people who had listened in to the story agreed with the lesson found in the story. Even one tiny thing can have a major effect on the largest of events.

Louis had been listening intently to the story. "So that means that boy could have had something that could have saved us a lot of trouble later on?"

Ranma nodded at the boy. He seems to be the one who caught on to the lesson the fastest. "That's it in a nutshell. Always make time to listen to people. You never know when they may know something that could save your life later on. I learned that lesson the hard way."

He stood away from the wall and walked away, leaving the Six Knights to think about his words.

!

Author's Note:

1. Think of the Slicers logo from Batman Beyond.

2. I'm doing things out of order that happen in the game. Just bear it with me. If you REALLY need a reason just think of it as Chaos Incarnate (Ranma) coming to their world and messing up the timetables.

3. Got that from 'A Ghost of Tomorrow' by Proteus.