> Suikoden Sunset 1/2
>  by madhat886
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> The Meeting of Three Friends
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

!

Prologue – 

"Why  am I doing this?" a young man asked himself. Here he is traveling in a  carriage on a long dusty road to the Yaza Plains that will drop him off there. The driver of the carriage paid the young man no attention as he  led the horses pulling the cart. The young man in question is an indecisive, ordinary young man and the new master of an old castle called Budehuc.

He scowled bitterly as he thought of the reason  why he is going to the middle of nowhere. 'It's all thanks to HIM!' he  thought bitterly. He would not be here if HE had not assigned him  somewhere so far away.

The young man is dressed in a light brown coat on top of a white button up shirt and dark green pants. The pant's legs rode up a little to show gray colored socks. His hair is a very light color brown and his pale yellow eyes seem to speak of something hidden deep inside. Next to him is an old sword that looks like it has  not seen the light of day in years. The young man looks to be no older than sixteen years of age.

'Some father he is, sending me away as  soon as he meets me,' he thoughts to himself with a sigh. 'Why mother ever slept with him I'll never know. Probably got her drunk or something. He's not fit to be a father or husband, the bastard!' 

He looked out at the passing scenery with a  forlorn expression. 

'So why am I doing this then?' he asked himself  again for the umpteenth time. 'I guess I better just live with it. Maybe  something will happen there that will change my life.' He has no idea  how right he is.

!

Meanwhile, in another world -

Another young man is about to change his life forever, for once by his own decision instead of someone else's.

"This,  young sir, is the Mirror of Chaos," the old man said to the young man.  

The old man is the owner of the magic shop where Kuno bought the Phoenix Egg a while back. He held up a large mirror to the young customer in  front of him. The mirror is shaped like an eye with a dark metal rim. The glass gleamed as it reflected the image of the youth before it. 

"I don't really believe it, but the story says that whoever holds the  mirror can be sent to another world. However, it works only for those  who have earned it," the old man said. 

The young man touched the glass so gingerly that you would think he is afraid it would break if he put too much pressure on it. 

"So this has the power to give me a new life, right?" he softly asked the proprietor as he gazed at the mirror with a slight  light of hope in his eyes. 

He looks to be about eighteen years old and is dressed in a red silk shirt and dark, loose pants and Kung Fu shoes. His black hair is tied in a pigtail and his deep blue eyes spoke of a deep sadness just barely hidden. A large cut a little over an hour old  is on his left palm and is covered by some cloth wrappings to stop it from bleeding. In his other hand he grasped the hilt of a broken katana, the blade having been snapped off a little over halfway to the tip. It is a sword of exquisite quality and there are few things in the world that could have broken it, but break it had. The deep crimson of dried blood marred its silver sheen.

The old store owner is a little unsettled with the young man. Usually in his dealings with this young  man he is full of adventure. He has always been a happy go lucky guy. Sure the young man has hit him a couple of times, but those were  forgivable since he has caused a lot of problems for him. The proprietor looked at the cut hand first before staring into his eyes, just daring  him to lie. 

"You cut yourself with that sword, didn't you," the old man stated instead of asked.

The young man's eyes looked down at the blade, then to the old man's eyes. "Yes. I left my old life behind. I  had to leave behind my blood as well to do it." 

The grief his eyes conveyed is enough to melt even the most cold-hearted man.

The old man did not stand a chance. He is greedy, not heartless. 

"Well, here is  something to keep that sword from rusting." the old man said.

He looks around in the back and pulled out a green colored sheath from behind the counter. 

"This should do it," he said and hesitated for a second before adding. "Free of charge." 

It is the least he could do. Never in his whole life has he met a person so deeply distraught. Having traveled around the world before settling down he had met a lot of people. None of them carried the sadness the young man before him did. It looks like his very soul is dying. Only the stubbornness to keep on living is keeping his very spirit alive.

The young man is a bit surprised, but after a moment he takes it in stride.  

"Thank you very much sir," the young man said as he bowed deeply from  the waist. 

The old man became intrigued as the words and the action is foreign to the young man. In fact, from his previous encounters with the young man he was expecting him to have poor grammar and horrible manners, not the young man who speaks very well and shows respect to is elders. He watched as the young man first cleaned off the blood, then sheathed the broken sword and strapped it to his back. 

"So, how do I use  this mirror anyway sir?" the young man ask.

Weird as it sounds the young man seemed to be switching personalities, as if revealing a side of him the public doesn't know about. The old man brushed it off though and proceeded to tell the young man how to use the mirror.

"Hold it up to your face and ask the mirror to take you somewhere else. However, it only works  for the ones that it picks to work for. I do not know how it chooses or where it would send you," the old man said.

"That's good enough for me," the young man said. 

The young man held the mirror to his face for a long time, caressing the glass and  trying to steel himself for what he is about to do. There is no turning back if this does work. He closed his eyes and though about what he would be leaving behind. He thought about what has happened to him today, what he has gone through for so long. He though about the people he would be leaving behind. Finally, he spoke.

"I wish for a life where I can be the master of my own destiny. One where no one can choose  my path for me and where I can finally find... happiness," he spoke from the heart, and the mirror responded.

A bright light beamed out from the glass, hitting him and making his whole body glow brightly.  

"Thank you," he said as a lone tear made its way down his face.

That's the last thing the old man heard before the pigtailed man vanished in the light and the mirror dropped to the floor, miraculously not breaking. Picking up the mirror the old shopkeeper looked at it as if seeing something besides the mirror. 

"Well my boy, I hope your new life  will be better than this one," the old man said and went to put the mirror back in storage.

!

Another world -

A tall woman with long red hair, a unicorn horn on her forehead, horse ears, tail and light fur coat ran down a hallway. The woman looks like a model in both her body and her beauty. She wore a loose pair blue pants with a checkered light blue pattern, a tuck in purple shirt with green stripes, a red tie with white polka dots, a pair of black suspenders, and a pair of brown leather shoes. She carried two large shoulder bags filled with things she would need as she made her escape from the castle. Both bags are magical bags of holding that she taken from the magic vault.

All those promises that were told to her, were nothing but lies. She had done everything to be what SHE wanted her to be and it was still wasn't enough. She was suppose to be the one who become a princess, and instead SHE just gave the title to Cadance and made her apart of her family. While she was just toss aside because she wasn't good enough for her, never enough.

Behind her are the sounds of the guards chasing after her, she ran faster hearing the voice of her behind her. She ran into the room where her escape from the castle is kept. She ran straight for the mirror and leap through it. Leaving behind her world for a new one and a mentor who could only stare at her student who is more than that, gone. 

!

Another world -

"Hey driver! Slow down for a second! There's two people over there," the young man in the carriage shouted. 

On the right side of the road is a young man dressed in strange looking silken clothes. His hair is tied in a pigtail and strapped to his back is a sword in a shape the young man in the carriage has never seen before. Next to him is a young woman with long red hair with a yellow stripe on it. She's carrying two large shoulder bags and dress in strange clothes too. The pigtailed young man and red haired woman are walking down the road ahead of the carriage at a sedate pace. 

"If they're dangerous don't blame me," the driver said in response as he slowed down the carriage besides the silken-clothed man and red haired woman. It did not matter to him.  It is just a job anyway and one passenger or two does not matter.

The young man in the carriage poked his head out. "Do you two need a lift?" the young man asked the travelers.

The travelers looked a bit surprised at being offered a ride, but seemed grateful anyway. 

"Thank you. We really appreciate it," the man said.

"We been walking for hours," the woman said as she and the man climbed into the carriage and sat across the good-willed young man.

"So where are you two going?" the young man asked the traveler as the carriage started  up again. He noticed the signs of stress on the travelers and assumed wrongly that it is because of fatigue from walking so much.

The man shrugged and gave a small smile at the young man across from him. "No idea. I just got here and looking for a place to stay. So where are you headed?"

"The same for me, I met him as, I was traveling and we joined up, as it's safer to travel together than alone," the woman said. 

"Lucky we found the road and been following it since," the young man said. 

The other young man is surprised. Most people would at least have a destination in mind when traveling, especially in places  like they are currently headed towards. It seemed as if the travelers does not care at all.

"Well, we're almost to the Yaza Plains where we'll be dropped off. I have to make my way to an old castle called Budehuc. I'm…its new master," he hesitated calling himself a master. It  seemed so foreign to him that he is having a little trouble assimilating  it.

The man's eyes widened a bit. "Wait. You mean you're  going to go, by foot, to an old castle with those MONSTERS running around?" 

He remembered those rabbits holding axes and those fur-balls attacking him and his traveling companion. While they were weak he can see that the young man across  from him is no fighter. 

"Those monsters I ran into were weak, but I can tell your no fighter yourself," the man said as he eyed the way the young man moved and the sword by his side. From what he saw he would just barely be  considered about the equal of those monsters he had encountered. If he were attacked by a large number of them he would be in trouble.

"Unless you can use magic like me," the woman said which earned her a head shake. 

The young man shrugged, as if saying 'don't look at me'. "That's true, but I need to get there before nightfall. I have this sword to fight with at least." 

He pulled out his sword from his sheath to show the two the blade. The young man sitting in front of him took it and held it in front of him, looking it over. The young man noticed that one of the other man's hands is wrapped by a bloodstained cloth, but guessed he got it from fighting off the monsters and did not say anything about it.

"Nice blade. Good balance, strong, durable, and also lightweight. It does need some sharpening as the edges have dulled a bit, but it's still a good sword," the man said.

He may not know much about swords, but he knew enough about them since one of his rivals used to attack him sometimes with a real  sword. The young traveler handed back the sword. 

"You haven't really trained with that sword have you?" the young woman said having seen enough nobles who played warriors to see someone who never had to fight for their life before.

The young man looked a bit shamefaced.  

"Yeah, but I do know how to use it a little. This end goes into the  enemy, right?" he said as he pointed at the sharp end.

The 3 chuckled a  lttle at his joke. The young traveler seemed to brighten a bit, as if getting a good idea. 

"Hey, since you helped me how about I go with you to the castle to return the favor?" the pigtailed man suggested if  someone were to have look deeply into his eyes. They would have seen something being renew in them a light that was flickering out.

"I can join too, I need someplace to stay. Plus, I do have magic to help out," the woman said making a ball of magic appear in her hand. 

The young man thought about it for a moment before nodding his head. 

"Thanks. I'll take you two up on your offers. By the way, I never did get your name. Mine's Thomas," he said, holding out his hand.

"Ranma. No last name." Ranma took his hand and shook it. Thomas thought that last sentence was weird, but brushed it off as it looks like he just made a new friend.

"And, I'm Sunset Shimmer," the woman said as gave out her hand as well to Thomas. 

She needs to learn all about this new world she's in and while Ranma wasn't a fountain of knowledge from what she managed to get out of him as they walk together. This young man, Thomas seems to be a nobleman who just been put in charge of a castle. And if the castles are anything like the ones back home, it be a center of a community or at least a depot for travelers to stop by to rest. She'll be able to learn all about this world from there. (1)

!
> A New Stable for the Wild Horse
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

!

The  Grasslands are a region of vast plains and sparse woods, where gales blow strong and nature thrives. The Six Clans, who are spread across the  Grasslands, symbolize the wilderness that they reside in. To the east of the Grasslands lies the mighty Holy Kingdom of Harmonia, and to the south the Republic of Tinto. Situated to the west besides the sea is the Zexen Federation, a mercantile nation prospering remarkably from recent increases in continental trading. Military aggression by larger nations towards the Grasslands has been turned back narrowly time after time. Confrontations between the Six Clans and the Zexens have especially deep roots. The Grasslands continues to hang in a dangerous balance of war and peace.

Far away from the conflicts that plague the land there is a place that has not seen conflict in ages not since the end of the  'Flame Champion War' with Harmonia. It is just northwest of Iksay village and south of the Nameless lands. It is situated on a peninsula and is mostly surrounded by forest. It is called Budehuc Castle, also known as Lake Castle.

The remains of stone walls and the seven guard towers that surround the whole castle are in disrepair. Besides the main house there are three wooden buildings, which are left standing and unused. What was once a guardhouse is left in the main courtyard to rot away. A dried up fountain is in the middle of the yard and a bunch of trees have taken root by one of the old towers. There is a stall built right at the side of the guardhouse and a large tent to the right side of the stand. A cooking pot resting over a dead cooking fire stood in front of the tent. 

What remains of a training center when there were more people around is by the stairs to the lower left side of the castle out of the main courtyard wall. Training dummies and wooden weapons stood in the center of a rickety fence, all in need of repair.

To the right is an old stable, which has been empty for years, overlooking an empty fenced in field surrounded by trees of the forest around the castle. To the side of the stable stood an old well that hasn't been used in years.

To the left is an open space at the water's edge on  one side and the cliff side where the main house sat. The only things  that are there is a metal door on the cliff side and a stone stairway leading up to the main house.

What really made the castle strange is that there's a three-mast ship that is stuck on a huge rock pillar right behind the main house, well above the water line and connected by planks to the house. As if a giant wave had sent it falling onto the rock pillar. 

The main house is comprised of two old stone buildings on top of a cliff overlooking the lake. The one on the left is a bar and stage for people to be entertained in and also leads to the kitchen. The other is a two-story building that houses the people of the castle. Many of the rooms are unused and a fine coat of dust lined most of the furniture. The ground floor houses the meeting hall and two rooms that are also unused. The upper floor contains the sleeping quarters and a statue room that holds nothing in it. The library is also located nearby, which is filled with old books that people have left over from time to time. There are two underground levels. The first has the storage room and a small graveyard. At the end wall of the graveyard is a huge hole that opens up to the stranded ship's deck. Wooden planks connect the castle and the ship together. The last floor has the food storage area and some old jail cells and the metal door that leads to the lake shore.

!

At the entrance to Budehuc Castle -

"So is...this the place?" Ranma ask Thomas as he, Thomas and Sunset stood in front of the castle.

"Errr...yeah. This is the place," Thomas said. 

"This place has seen much better days," Sunset said seeing that the castle is like the castle in Everfree Forest, old and abandon. 

You can practically hear the two men sweat drop from her words.

Ranma whistled in slight disappointment at what he sees before him. He has not seen a place this badly run down in a long time. He decided not to say anything and turned to Thomas to ask him a question. "By the way. When a monster is defeated it leaves behind money and sometimes items right? Why is that?"

When he killed a gold-furred boar a while ago it contained gold coins in its belly. When it died the slash he had inflicted on its belly opened up and the coins spilled out. He was surprised to say the least. However, that did not stop him from gathering and cleaning them up. Gold coins are gold coins no matter where they came from. Those rabbits wielding axes had four small bottles with the label medicine D inside their bellies as well. Thomas had told him that those would heal you when you drink it. The bellies of monsters are very strange places to find items.

"Yes, you see the monsters pick up these things when they find them or when they steal it from those it has killed," Thomas sadly replied. (1) 

On the way they had fought a group of Axe Bunnies and a Gold Boar and he got some potch from them. Sunset had lifted up the bunnies up into the air and then just drop them, letting the fall kill them. Thomas had never seen or heard of magic rune spells like that before.

There is silence between the two of them for a few seconds, as if in remembrance of the  people the monsters had killed. Then Ranma asked another question. "Soooo, that means I can make money by killing off monsters right?" 

He figured this might be a good way for him to make money in this world.  With his skills and the monsters being so weak he will be so rich even Nabiki would wish she married him.

Thomas shook his head a bit since he had been thinking of something. 

"Huh? Oh yes. There are some people who all they do is hunt monsters to make a living. You should also know that the stronger the monsters are the more gold you will get. That gold boar is one of the strongest monsters around here and you  took it out with that broken sword of yours," Thomas replied in awe of his new friend. Even he with his whole sword he was not able to  accomplish that. Although Ranma seemed not too used to using a sword he  is a lot better than he is. 

Ranma scratched the back of his head in slight embarrassment. 

"Well, I've been trained to be the best  martial artist from where I come from. This sword is all what I have left from the life I left behind," he said, hoping Thomas would not ask where he came from. It is kind of hard to explain that you are from  another world without the listener thinking you are crazy.

"That's good to know. I would be able to train with my magic more," Sunset said as the magic of this world is strange. She can sense magic and while in Equestria because of magic being everywhere, only the strong magic could stand out. But here the magic here just feels different and she can sense more then she use to be able to without her focusing her mind on it anyways. 

"I never seen magic like yours before," Thomas said. 

"I studied magic, all my life," Sunset said as that's the only good thing SHE had done for her. 

They walked into what was once a small gatehouse with stairs leading up to  the castle. As they did a young girl wearing armor came into view from behind one of the walls that are on either side of the stairs. She is wearing a suit of armor, the top half anyhow since she is wearing an orange skirt that stopped at her knees and showed her long orange socks. The helmet she is wearing has a large red-feather like thing sticking  out from the top. The face guard is raised up, letting them see her face. She is armed with a large spear and a large shield that had a crest showing two stags facing each other on it. Both items are bigger than she is. Her blonde hair peeked out from underneath her helmet and her eyes are blue.

"Halt you three!" she cried, drilling her large spear firmly into the ground, giving off the appearance of someone who took her job seriously. Too bad that the image is offset by her height. "I am under orders not to let anyone pass until our new castle lord has arrived!"

She looked the three over and is surprised at what she saw. The young guy in the brown coat looked at least a year older than her. He has a gentle face and looked kind of cute. She could tell by his clothes that he is not around from here. On his belt is a sword that she could tell he did not really know how to use since he keeps fumbling with it.

His friend, on the other hand, is well built but not too bulky. His black hair is kept in a pigtail and has blue eyes like hers. The way he keeps his innocent look helped a lot in the adorable department too. However, she could not tell where he comes from. His clothes are a silk red shirt and black pants and slipper-like shoes, which she has never seen before. He looked older than his shorter friend by at least two years. He also has a sword strapped to his back, which is of a make she has never seen before. She could feel her cheeks redden as she stared at him.

'Maybe he's the new master?' she thought to herself. She blushed even harder when she thought she would not mind that he would be her master. 

She turned to the tall woman who is much taller than her two friends, standing at 6'7" with long red hair with a yellow stripe and green eyes. She wore a loose pair blue pants with a checkered light blue pattern, a tuck in purple shirt with green stripes, a red tie with white polka dots, a pair of black suspenders, and a pair of brown leather shoes. She carried two large shoulder bags on both shoulders. What really got her attention is the figure of the tall redhead woman, a well toned body and her huge chest, that's being only held in check by her purple shirt. Making her wonder what she looks like naked, causing her to turn red as her mind went hentai mode.

'Must not think like that! Must not think like that!' she repeated in her mind as if a mantra.

Thomas blinked at first, not too surprised that he is not immediately recognized as the new lord of the castle. He is only 16 years old after all. It is not surprising that he is not being recognized as a lord of a castle or as a man or anything just because he is so young. She most likely thinks Ranma is the lord of the castle seeing as he is older than he is. Or Sunset seeing how she's also older and taller then both of them. Also the way she carry's herself, reminds him of the upper class and nobles. 

However, this girl looks even younger than him. If anything she should understand the feeling of not being taken seriously  because of your age. Thus he is not insulted.

He put on his best brave smile, hoping to make her believe that he is as confident as his smile is. "That would be me."

Her head jerked mechanically towards his direction. Her jaw dropped, making  her look like a frog catching flies in its mouth. "Y-y-you?"

"Yes, I am. My name is Thomas and I was sent by the Zexen Council to be the new lord of this castle. This is my friend, Ranma and Sunset, who I met while coming here," he nodded, still smiling politely. 

Making the girl calm herself down. 

'Keep cool. Must not  get mad at the cute girl, must not get mad,' kept repeating in his head.

Ranma is a bit surprised at being called his friend, but took it in stride. Though there is now a big smile on his face. 'Wow, I got a new friend already. I hope he won't be like Akane.' 

He suppressed the emotions that came with that thought. 

"Nice to meet you," Ranma said, giving the blonde girl a friendly wave. 

"So, what's your name?" Sunset ask thinking that she might be a new guard or that it's been a long time since anyone has come to the castle.

The female guard successfully got her blushing under control. "Oh! I'm the captain of the guards of this castle. Cecile, at your service! Follow me! Sebastian has been waiting for you to get here!" 

She ran to the main house, totally forgetting to wait for the three.

"Hey Thomas. Mind if I come? I don't really have anywhere to go anyway. I'll leave once you got your business over with," Ranma said as he hoped his new friend would not get mad at him.

Thomas nodded. At least he will not be alone when he faces these new people. 

"Sure! Come on! And you too Sunset," Thomas said as he turns to Sunset.

"Thanks," Sunset said seeing how she also has no where else to go either. 

Thomas is amazed as Ranma outstripped him as they ran after Cecile. Leaving Sunset behind who just walk behind them. Looking around to as she takes in what's in store for her. 

!

Later -

Inside the main house's lobby a middle-aged overweight man is walking back and forth waiting for the new master to arrive. The lobby is extremely run down. A large gaping hole is on the left side of  the stairs, letting one see the ship that is behind the castle. There is another hole at the end of the hallway that leads to the bar. Five large painting frames hang empty on the walls. Their pictures had long  been sold off to help keep the castle running. Likewise are six stands that stood useless since there is nothing to put on them, the items that use to be on them also been sold off.

The man is wearing a suit that defined him as the only remaining butler of the castle. His dyed blonde hair is curled and set in a ponytail and his small mustache is kept trimmed. A small black notebook is in his hand. His name is Sebastian and he hopes that the new master would help to get  he castle up and running again. All the previous lords did not care about the castle and let it rot before taking off. A loud, repeating, clanging sound of metal that he knew well came running through the front door along with a young man.

"The new master is here Sebastian!" Cecile shouted as she stopped to catch her breath. While she is used to running with her armor that does not mean it weights any less.

"Great! Where is he?" Sebastian asked as he looked through the door to see who it is. He only saw the young man who entered with Cecile, but assumed he must be a servant of the new master.

"He's right here!" Cecile  said, pointing to the young man that came in with her. 

Sebastian did a double take. 

"He's Thomas, the new master!" she proclaimed proudly.

"This young man is the new master!" Sebastian said. Obviously he had expected to see someone much older. Why, he looks only a bit older than Cecile!

"Yes.  I guess I am," Thomas smiled while casting his eyes downward. So what if he's young! They didn't have to make a big deal about it!

Even though he felt disappointed he is better than nothing. 'Oh well. A new master is a new master,'  Sebastian thought. ''I am Sebastian, the only remaining butler of the castle. Welcome to Budehuc Castle, also known as Lake Castle."

Cecile then realized something. 

"Huh? Wait a minute. Where's Ranma?" she asked to no one in particular. He vanished while they were running here. Thomas looked clueless as well as the three of them looked around for anyone else.

"Right here!" yelled a voice behind Sebastian, making them all jump. They turned to see a  young man in a red shirt standing on the stairs with huge smile on his face saying that he enjoyed scaring them.

Thomas looked back and forth between his new friend and the door. 

"Wait! You didn't pass us when we went through the front! How did you do that?" Thomas ask. 'Just who is this  guy? He's really fast, a great fighter and now he can sneak around  people without them knowing?'

"Well, now that," he waited until they are leaning in to hear the rest of his sentence. "Is a secret!" (2)

This caused them to face fault and Ranma to smirk at the faces they made.

Cecile got off the floor and approached the pigtailed man. "Ranma?" 

She walked, more like stomped, up to him until they were face to face.  

"Don't do that!" she shouted right in his face. He may be good looking, but his mischievous nature is a turn off to her. He should be more like  nice and humble Master Thomas.

"Sorry Cecile. Couldn't help myself." Ranma chuckled and smiled at her, completely unaffected.

Sebastian just shook his head. "So, how do you know Master Thomas, Ranma?"

Ranma shrugged. "Thomas gave me and Sunset a lift to the Yaza Plains and to return the favor I went with him here to make sure he got here safely. I haven't known him for that long really."

"Sunset?" Sebastian ask. 

The front door open letting in a tall redhead woman came in carrying two large shoulders bags with her. Dressed in strange clothes, and a rather lust figure. 

"Sunset there you are," Thomas said. 

"I just walk," Sunset said walking up to the group and looks at Sebastian. "You're the head of the castle staff right?"

"Yes, I'm the head of the castle staff," Sebastian said. 

Thomas got Sebastian's attention  and gave him his first order as lord of the castle. "Umm, Sebastian? Can you get the castle staff all together so that I can meet them?" 

So he did not sound very confident. He's new at this kind of thing.

"Right! You should meet all the staff to introduce yourself," Sebastian said while wiping his head with a handkerchief. "Cecile, would you gather everyone to the meeting hall?"

"I'm on it!" Cecile said as she ran out the door while Ranma, Sunset and Thomas followed Sebastian.

!

Later -

The  meeting hall is a large room that, unlike the others, is kept in much  better shape and mostly dust free. There is a large wooden desk at the end of the room that looks like it has not been used in years. Behind it is a map of the Grasslands. Ranma, Sunset, Sebastian, and Thomas stood by the table waiting for Cecile to come back.

Cecile walked in with five other people. One is an elderly woman with a dark skin tone dressed in a purple and brown dress and a red bandana on her head. Her short gray hair spreads out from the back of her head to just above her shoulders. She has a bag slung over her shoulder. 

To Ranma she looks just as smart as the old ghoul and also a bit wiser. The old ghoul is smart, but has a tendency to do stupid things (drugging him, putting spells on him, etc.).

To Sunset she has the look of HER, making her wary of her. 

There is also an elderly man, also with a dark skin tone, holding a wooden staff that has a clear glass orb on the top. He is  wearing an orange shirt, purple pants, and a necklace made of small skulls that has a small skeleton on the center. He is also wearing a brown cap to cover his bald head and has a full white beard.

Sunset could feel a great amount of magic coming from him. And she could sense that he's more than he lets on, like HER.

There is also a... light brown furred dog-man that is wearing a long sleeved blue shirt with a red strip going through it and pale yellow overalls and a blue hat? He has a happy go lucky look to him and is drinking out of a jug. 

'Whoa! A dog man!' Ranma thought to himself.

If he had not encountered all the weird things in Nerima he would have panicked at seeing a real live dog-man. He does not even want to think of just HOW he came to be, as in who his parents are. Is it a dog and a human (shudder) or another dog-man and a dog-woman. He stopped thinking about  it since it made his head hurt.

For Sunset she didn't even raised an eyebrow. She came from a world with lots of different races all living together. So seeing a dogman isn't strange to her at all. It does cause her to wonder why she changed from how she was before. No more tail, or horn and her ears are now on the sides of her head. 

The next is a blonde haired man. The guy's clothes are a mix of blue and white. His pant legs are colored different from each other, one blue and the other white. 

Even if he is chewing on a something and has a sleepily look to him Ranma could tell he is a fighter lazy but still a fighter.

For Sunset, she just thinks he's lazy.

The last person is a ghostly figure of a black haired man that reminded Ranma a lot of Gosunkugi. He is wearing dull colored clothes and in his gloved hand he held a small black book. 

Ranma can feel that he is very, very weird. He cannot detect any ki or anything else coming from him! All living things have ki! He stopped thinking about it. There are too many weird things in this world that he will have to get used to. Not that he would go back to that  hellhole called Nerima anyway.

Sunset also felt nothing from him but she has met creepy people like that before. 

Sebastian pointed to the appropriate person as he made the introductions. "I would like to introduce, Martha the lottery ticket lady, Piccolo our fortuneteller, Muto the keeper of the storage room, Juan here runs the training center, and Eike is the castle librarian. Everyone, this is Thomas, the new lord of the castle."

Thomas looked through the door, expecting more people to come in. "Where are the other staff members? If there isn't enough room in here we could go outside."

"This is everyone," the man named Juan lazily replied.

"Wha... you mean this is all?" Thomas asked, his mouth hanging down. Just seven people are in this whole castle?

Sebastian looked a bit embarrassed as he explained. "Well, you see Zexen doesn't give us much and most of the others have left when we couldn't pay their salaries anymore."

"Oh. Well, I hope that we enjoy working together," Thomas smiled politely, even if it is a little forced.

"Let's hope so," Juan replied for everyone. He caught the other new guy with his eyes and he can feel that his fighting level is extremely high. From the way he moves he is extremely skilled. As for the woman, while she does have a sexy figure, he could tell she isn't one to take lightly "So, who's your friends?"

Ranma looked right back at him. "Name's Ranma. We met on the way here." 

Juan felt a shiver go up his spine when Ranma stared at him intently. He felt like the pigtailed martial artist was staring right at his soul, which Ranma is actually doing. Ranma's judging how much ki control Juan has, which is not much. It is more instinctive than conscious control. Meanwhile Juan can tell when he is in the presence of a master. He is a master himself, but this guy is WAY past his level.

"Hmmm, you aren't from around here, are you? Where are you from?" Martha asked while she looked him over. 'Well now, I haven't seen someone like him in years. If only I was 40 years younger.' 

Ranma felt a shiver go up his  spine, as if the old ghoul is around. But he knows that is impossible so he shrugged it off. He's probably just being paranoia. He turned  towards the old woman who asked him a question. He noticed the look on her face, he hates that look. 

"Yeah, well, you can say that I come from a far off place," Ranma said. Now he knows where the feeling came from. It is  exactly the same type of look Cologne used to give him. He never did figure out what it meant. Still, it's creepy.

Piccolo also studied the young man. While Thomas is the new lord of the castle his friend is the more intriguing one. 

'There's something odd about him. He has a  strange magical energy surrounding him. Too bad Master Crowley isn't here. He could tell me what it is in a heartbeat,' Piccolo thought to himself before he looks to Sunset. 'She on the other hand is powerful in magic. And it feels much different from the other kinds of magic, I have felt before.'

Sunset stares at Piccolo as she knows that look too well. The man is a master wizard, and she needs to learn about the magic of this world.

"There is a strange  aura of magic around you that I have never seen before. Do you have a curse or something on you?" Piccolo asked bluntly turning his attention back to Ranma.

Ranma laughed a bit nervously as put his hand behind his neck. "How did you know that? Yeah. I do have one." 

Everyone gave him an odd look while Piccolo just nodded.

"What kind of curse?" Muto asked as he walked forward. He tripped on... his feet? The jug he's drinking from went flying. As always the liquid went straight towards any Jusenkyo cursed victims nearby. Namely Ranma.

"This kind of curse," a now wet, young, short, and busty redhead said. 

"A sex changing curse that works by getting wet. That's a first for me," Sunset said as she has read about different curses and how they work. There are curses that work when something happens like a curse that only works at night or day. This is the first that works with water.

"I go by Ranko in my girl form. Sorry about this," she said while tugging on the end of his, now her, wet pigtail.

Everyone  else is gaping at the now very female Ranma. Some stared at her huge breast while others on her curves. Everything is stared at and noted as being female, not male. It should be known that Cecile is currently feeling VERY jealous as it was already bad enough with Sunset who is much taller and busty then her but now there's a girl who is her height and is busty.

!
> 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.

!
> Girl Trouble! Here We Go Again!
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

!

'This has to be the shopping area of the town,' Ranma thought to himself. 

All around him shop owners are trying to get the people walking by to stop and have a look at their wares. He looked around at what they are selling and found that it is not that different from what was usually sold in stores in his old world. The food is definitely different though. Some are foods that he remembers comes from Europe and America while there are a few vendors selling foods usually found in Japan. His mouth watered as he stared at the ramen one of the vendors is selling. He hasn't eaten yet and his stomach is protesting his treatment of it.

He noticed that some of the people looked like the two kids he saw earlier. There are even some ducks that act like humans walking around. Giant lizard men are walking around the area too! He has seen some weird people like the Musk People with their half human, half animal traits. This is the first time he has seen real animals or whatever they are acting like humans, or something like that.

As he is walking by and thinking about  what he should buy he heard a thud. Being an expert on impacts and how they sound through actual experience ('stupid tomboy') he recognized the  thud of a foot (wearing footwear of course) kicking something wooden and hollow. He followed where it came from and between the Supply Shop and the Defensive Gear Store is a young brunette around fourteen or sixteen years old. Her hair is styled in pigtails like his is except she has two of them where he only has one. She's dressed in a weird assortment of clothes. She has on blue shorts that puffed outwards and long stripe colored socks. She also has a white collared red dress with yellow sleeves. The collar around her neck has two small blue bells on it. She looks kind of like a clown without any makeup on. On her back is a long handled red hammer. She has large brown eyes and a cute face. He only had one thought as he watched her. 

'Why is she kicking a wooden barrel for? Is it for training?' Ranma thinks to himself. He decided to see if she needs any help as the barrel look a bit strange. From the frustration on her face it looks like it. He walked up to her side and tapped her on the shoulder. "Need any help?"

The girl's expression turned from frustrated to grateful as she turned to him. "Sure! Do you... know…?" 

Belle stopped talking, something that she rarely does once she starts. Lust took over and she just could not stop staring at the hunk of man meat standing right in front of her. She always likes to take things apart. Now if she could she would take away the thin shell of clothing covering his body and see what she had to work with. Dirty thoughts ran through her mind at that. Her face turned scarlet and she turned away from him and put her hands on her cheeks.

'No! Stop that! I'm too young to think like that!' she thought to herself. Unfortunately she is a late bloomer and she does not have much experience with hormones yet. In fact, this is one of the few times this has happened to her and never this intense before. It took her a while to get herself under control.

Ranma stared at her, wondering what he did to make her react to him like that. He looked himself over to see if he has any stains on his shirt or something that would make her have that kind of reaction. He did not see any and put the experience away as something that girls do that he will never understand.

The girl got herself under control just when Ranma finished looking himself over. She then told him of her problem. "Thanks for asking. You see this is Gadget Z. He's missing a screw and without it I can't make him work."

Remembering the screw he found earlier Ranma reached into his pocket and took it out and presented it to her. 

"Is this it?" Ranma ask.

The girl's eyes widened as she looked at what he had in his outstretched hand. 

"That's it!" she cries out and grabbed the screw out of his hand and went to work on the barrel. After a few moments she finished. "There! That should do it!"

The barrel rumbled as three wheels, one big one in front and two small ones in the back, popped out. The sides opened up to reveal two arms and it held a large metal hammer in one hand that was inside of it. The top lid popped up showing a robot's head. The robot's face is made up of two large eyes and a tube that it speaks through.  

“Gadget Z is up and running now!" the robot said.

Ranma's eyes widened as he saw what the 'barrel' really is. 

“Wow! A robot! I didn't know they have robots around here!" He figured since this world is pretty primitive they wouldn't have anything as advanced as a robot.

The clown girl nodded with a proud smile on her face. 

"Yup, pretty impressive isn't it. My mom built him to be a fighting machine. By the way, my name's Belle. What's yours?" she held out her hand to him.

"Mine's Ranma,” he said as he took her hand into his own and gave it a shake while directing a friendly smile at her.

Belle's temperature rose as soon as their skin made contact. 'Wow! Such a firm grip! Calloused, but it's so gentle at the same time. And that smile! From his build he's definitely a fighter. If only I'm just a few years older… Why is it so hot right now?' 

Belle felt like she's in a furnace. Since she had started noticing boys two years ago she's always been attracted to cute men who knew how to fight. Now she's face to face with one of the cutest guys she's ever seen and she can barely look him in the eye without blushing.

Ranma wondered why she's not letting go of his hand. He started worrying that she could be sick when he feels her temperature rise. 'What's wrong with her?'

Gadget started beeping and making a racket, breaking her out of her trance and making  her let go of his hand. 

'Dang it Gadget!' Belle thought. 

"High energy reading coming from the one named Ranma! Power level is over 1,000 danger level! Fighting level 97!"

Belle turned surprised eyes at her fellow pigtailed new friend. "Wow! That kind of power is huge! I've never seen or heard of someone with that kind of power before!"

He chuckled, feeling a little embarrassed at the praise. 

"Well, I guess the people I fought must have raised my fighting level up a bit," he said, remembering his fight with a godling. That fight and the daily brawls with the NWC had made him pretty strong, even better than Ryoga's monster strength. Of course he never let the NWC know that. He always held back in his fights, only making an exception with opponents like  Saffron and Herb.

Belle smiled at him. He looked so cute when  flustered like that! 

“So what can I do for you for fixing Gadget Z for me?" as she said this she looked down at the ground while pushing her index fingers together. She has seen other girls do that when faced with a cute boy. Now she knows why.

Gadget Z beeped to get the two teen's attention. "Belle, we can't just stand around here! We need to catch up with the others at Duck Village!"

Ranma looked questioningly at Belle. "Duck Village?"

She stopped pushing her index fingers together to answer his question.  

“It's the home of the Duck Clan and where my friends are waiting for me. It's a little bit to the east of here. When Gadget broke down they went ahead of me to fix up lodgings,” Belle pouted when a though came to her. 'I meet a stud and I need to catch up with my friends before they  go without me! Life stinks!'

He chuckled. "What a coincidence. I'm heading east to look around the Grasslands. I can come with you since all those monsters are running around out there. I could be your bodyguard for a while if you like." 

Belle's eyes lit up at the thought of her very own knight in shining armor. The metal shoulder guards he has on even made him look like it too!

"Yeah! You can protect me and I'll show you around the Grasslands!" Belle beamed, clasping her hands together.

On the sidelines Gadget Z slapped a hand on its forehead. 'Just great! Belle is just like her mother!'

"Come on Ranma! I'll show you how to get to Duck Village!" Belle said, attaching herself to his right arm as they walked to the east gate. 'Oh wow! What hard rock muscles!' 

She giggled and he arched an eyebrow at her antics.

'Girls in this world sure are weird.' Normally he would have panicked at a girl glomping onto his arm like that, but they are years apart and figured nothing's going to start between them. (1)

As Gadget Z followed the two to a store selling food he couldn't help but comment to himself, "This is a strangely like what happened with her mother after she joined Zero's Army." (2) 

He accessed the files that contained the memories of when he was still Gadget traveling around wit Meg before being rebuilt into Gadget Z. 

'If my memory banks are right  this is very similar to when Meg met Belle's father. Only that time he  gave her an ice cream. Oh, wait. Ranma just bought her strawberry pie,’ Gadget thinks to himself.

Ranma had seen Belle eyeing a piece of strawberry pie as they selected what food they would bring with them. He figured 'what the hell' and bought her the whole pie. 

'Must make good impression or else  she'll pound me with that mallet,’ Ranma thought to himself.

Belle eyed the delicious looking Strawberry Pie longingly as Ranma bought it from the vendor, but then became surprised when he handed it to her.

He smiled at her as she looked at him, shocked. "I noticed you eyeing it, so here you go." 

Belle jumped up and down in glee and gave the pigtailed martial artist a kiss on the cheek in thanks, making both teens blush.

Gadget Z watched Belle as she took out a piece and devoured it. 'Maybe I'm going to be traveling around with Belle and Ranma's daughter in the future.' 

He followed the two teens out of the castle. Belle molded herself to Ranma's side, making him feel a bit uncomfortable. However, he thinks she's just grateful for the pie and relaxes himself. Besides, what could go wrong?

!

Elsewhere -

In a room overlooking the east side of Brass Castle a young woman watched the two depart. Looking through binoculars Lady Chris fumed at the way the clown girl is attached to her Ranma.

"What does she think she's DOING? THAT HUSSY HAD BETTER LEAVE MY RANMA ALONE?" Chris growls. The binoculars in her  hands started to groan at the pressure of her grip. She didn't even notice when she started to think about him as 'HER Ranma'. Actually, she is using her spare binoculars. She broke her first one when she saw the 'perverted girl' give her Ranma a kiss on a cheek.

"What are you looking at?" 

Her tirade against the 'evil clown hussy' stopped when she turned to the door and saw Louis and Salome in the room with her.

Her cheeks went lava red and she turned away from the two before she spoke in a normal, albeit shaky, tone. 

"W-w-well, I just saw Ranma leaving with a girl and a rolling barrel or something. There's nothing to be worried about! Hahahaha!" she laughed nervously while scratching the back of her head.

After getting over the shivers at her weird behavior Salome walked up to her and looked her in the eyes. "You like him, don't you."

Chris’s eyes widened and she stepped back in surprise and embarrassment. "W-W-WHAT? I-I just… just… think that Ranma is someone we should keep an eye on, that's all!" 

The sun would've been jealous at the amount of heat her cheeks are producing.

Louis is hopping around her in circles. "You love Ranma! You love Ranma!" Chris blushed an even darker red if it's possible.

Chris looked flabbergasted as she glared at her squire. "Louis! I do NOT have feelings for him whatsoever!" 

She stomped out of the room, leaving  behind two people who had knowing smiles on their faces.

The young boy looked up at Salome who had a sly expression on his face. "So, should we set them up?"

He  looked thoughtful for a moment. 

"We will see. Besides, Ranma does have some fighting moves that could come in handy. He also made her giggle and smile. I think she just found her Mr. Perfect." The expression on Salome's face  would have made Xellos or Kitsune proud. 'I've never played  matchmaker before. This could be fun!'

!

Outside -

Out in the hallway Chris supported herself against a wall while trying to regain control of her blush. Living as a soldier required you to suppress certain... urges and desires. She has done pretty well pushing back those feelings until now. 

'How does he affect me so much?' She thinks to herself. Now that she thought about it she had never HAD the urges before now. Her cheeks finally regained their normal color and she started walking without really noticing where she is going. 'Why do I feel like this NOW? I have seen dozens of good-looking men before and they have never affected me so. Heck, I've had men who are better looking than him asking me out on dates. I've turned them all down of course. But… I have a feeling that if my Ranma were to ask me out I would say yes in a heartbeat.'

She walked right out into town, acting on autopilot as people greeted her on the street. Again she did not notice that she  referred to the pigtailed warrior as 'my Ranma'.

'I have to admit he is a good warrior. That "Breaking Point" move he used is simply amazing! But, that can't be the reason I'm attracted to him, is it?' she thinks to herself.

Leo  passed her by and greeted her, only to be given an absentminded wave and brushed off. He shrugged and moved on. 'She's probably thinking about new techniques or something.'

Chris continued her walk to an unknown destination. 

'Could it be that I've finally succumbed to my urges? What about other good looking men?' she thinks about every  good-looking man she has ever met and envisioning herself being together with them. She even thought of Borus, her blonde haired comrade who seems to have a crush on her. 'Ewww! Ugly! I feel sick! Ok, that means only Ranma affects me like that. That's good.'

By now she is walking on the bridge that leads out of the castle. Coincidently it is the very bridge that Ranma, Belle and Gadget crossed a few minutes ago on their way to Duck Village.

'What did my mother say to me once about finding the right man? In the diary she left me she put in a section meant just for me. Momma has never been wrong before. What did it say again?' she thought back to the words that are written in the diary that her mother left her. It is one of the few things that her mother, Anna Lightfellow, had told her that she actually remembers.

"...Chris..."

In the voice of her mother Chris heard in her head, "You will just 'know' that he is 'the one'. You'll 'feel' that he is the right one for you when you meet him. That is how I met your father, and I'm sure that is how you will meet your 'special one' as well."

'Maybe that's it. Maybe I've found the one I'm supposed to spend the rest of my life with. Wow, just like mother did with father. It must run in the family,’ Chris thinks to herself.

"...Lady Chris..."

'What else did mother say about knowing that he is the right man for me?' she thinks to herself.

"You will know that he is the one you are meant to spend the rest of yourlife with when your mind, and your heart, yearns to be with him. Trust me. When you do find him make sure to never let him go. The women of our family can tell whom they are meant to be with in a heartbeat. That is how I met your father, and my mother met my father, and so on and so forth. When it affects you do not let him go, or else you will never find another man ever again,” she talks to herself. 'I don't know about yearning, but I did feel very jealous when that PERVERTED CLOWN GIRL latched on to my Ranma!'

!

Elsewhere -

In another world a certain Amazon sneezed.

!

Back in the other world -

"...Lady Chris..."

Chris clenched her fist as she made a decision. 'That's it! I have to find out whether he is the one for me! He and I are going out on a date no matter what!' 

She feels her cheeks blush again as she begins to daydream about her date with Ranma. She giggled girlishly at the thought of them holding hands.

"LADY CHRIS!"

Suddenly she felt a hand on her shoulder. She gave off an "EEEEEEEKKKKKK!" and grabbed the hand and threw her attacker over her shoulder. She took out her sword and pointed it right at the assailant's throat. When she could think clearly again  she noticed that she has just thrown one of her own teammates.

Chris put away her sword and glared down at the blonde. "BORUS! What the HELL were you thinking sneaking up on me like that?"

Said knight looked up at her, dazed. "…you… walked… out… castle… called you... three times… didn't answer…"

Chris finally noticed that she had walked off pretty far from the castle. In fact, if she followed the trail she would eventually end up in Duck village. She gave a very weak "…oops…" and proceeded to give her subordinate a hand up while trying not to die from embarrassment.

!

Meanwhile -

Belle is talking about some of the adventures she had with Gadget when she felt Ranma suddenly tremble. She stopped their group as she watched him thinking about something with a shocked and slightly scared face.  

"Ranma? Is something wrong?" Belle ask.

The pigtailed warrior felt a chill go up his spine. 'From that type of chill that means someone has just decided that they are going out on a date with me. NO WAY! Akane, Ukyo, Shampoo and even Kodachi aren't here! There's no WAY I can feel that  across dimensions! Can I?' 

Belle disengaged herself from his side and gave his arm a tug to get his attention. When he focused on her he gave her a sheepish smile and put a hand behind his neck.

"Sorry. Don't worry about it. Just got a shiver from the wind or something,” Ranma said.

She did not look very convinced but dropped the subject anyway and hugged his arm to herself as they continued on towards Duck Village. He pushed the weird situation to the back of his mind, thinking he's being paranoid again.

The Amur Plains is a stretch of hills and fields that bridged the gap between the lands claimed by Zexen and the rest of the Grasslands. Skirmish after skirmish had been fought upon these valleys for the right for either side to expand their territory. In recent years the Amur Plains had developed into a sort of neutral ground. It is now considered free lands belonging to neither the Council nor any of the Clans.

He looked down at the girl who is still glomped onto his arm. "So how far is it to Duck Village?" 

He's getting a little uncomfortable with where his arm currently is. It is starting to fall asleep from the pressure she's hugging it with. Also he's starting to get REALLY uncomfortable with the way she's rubbing her cheek against his bicep. It was only a little pie. She did not have to act THIS grateful for him buying it for her. Then he remembered that he's in a new world and decided to try to relax. It's not a good idea to set off the girls in THIS world. For all he knows this is a custom in this world on how to thank a person.

"We should get there by nightfall if we don't run into anything,” Belle said.

"Emily and the others should still be there by the time we arrive," Gadget commented from behind them.

Ranma wondered what her friends are like. "So what kind of people are your friends? What are you guys doing in the Grasslands anyway?"

"Well, we all know each other through our parents who took part in either the Toran Liberation War, also known as the Gate Rune Wars, or the Zero Unification War that happened in lands to the east of here. Counting Gadget and me there are six of us traveling around and seeing the world."

He had never heard of any of the wars she's talking about. Of course since he's not from this world it made sense. Still, what  would they be doing traveling around the world? 

"Really? Why?" he ask.

Gadget spoke up. "Belle is looking for her mother Meg who ran off a couple of years ago, she’s still looking for her uncle Juppo who originally built me. Sharon wants to find a wild dragon egg to raise the pup by herself. Mamie is with us to find new kinds of foods to cook. Sanae Yamamoto, or Sanae Y, and Emily are trying to find people who are as  stronger than them to train with."

"Wait. Your mother ran off!" Ranma ask.

Belle looked sad. "Yeah. Mom does that all the time, she’s a trickster like me. She runs off and finds new machines to build and stuff like that. She's been doing that since she was a kid. As soon as I was old enough to take care of myself she left Gadget Z to take care of me and left." (3)

"A mother should be there for her children," Ranma said quietly, thinking about his own childhood and how his mother was never there for him. As he spoke his voice got sadder and lower. "My mother was never there when I was growing up. When I finally met her she wanted me to do what SHE wanted me to do with MY life so that her family name would have great honor. It didn't matter that it robbed me of my life or how I felt about the things she ordered me to do as long as I did it. For ten years I didn't see her because of my pops. When I finally met her she started ordering me around, saying that I had to bring great honor to the family name, or else." 

He subconsciously gripped his sword tightly and would have warped it if he hadn't noticed at the last second. Belle did not notice him almost warping his sword. She's too busy looking at his  sad face. 

"You mean that your own mother didn't care about what you wanted to do with your life?" Belle ask shocked. She couldn't believe that someone could be that cold to her own child. Her own mother is not exactly parent of the year, but at least when they meet up every now and then she greets her very warmly and gives her love without a price tag. For ten years his mother had not seen him and as soon as he comes home she starts dictating how her son is to live his life.

Ranma nodded sadly at her. 

"Yeah. There was no bond between us. All I was to her is her son who must do this and do that without thought of what I wanted. For ten years I didn't even know that she's alive. When I did meet her I was a gi…" Ranma shook his head before he got himself depressed and changed the subject. "So how about yours?"

She took his changing subjects well. 

“Mom raised me until I was old enough to take care of myself. We both have the same love for gadgets. But sometimes I wish she's with me more," she said with a sad tone in her voice.

Ranma winced at making her sad. He put his hand on her shoulder to get her attention. "Well, at least she cared enough for you to raise you until you're old enough and left you with Gadget to look after you."

Gadget beeped from behind them. "That's correct. Ms. Meg left Belle in my care. She did not want Belle to be in any danger  while she's away."

Ranma gave a little smile at the rolling barrel robot. He then turned back to the girl walking beside him.

"All I had was a fat man who cared only about himself and feeding that fat stomach of his while leaving me with nothing and living off of me. There's no situation he can't make worse. He would also leave ME to clean up whatever it is he got himself into. I was nothing but his little slave and meal ticket!" he snarled. If anyone had looked closely they would have seen him glowing faintly, though it went away when Belle spoke.

"Was he your real father?" Belle ask.

All she got was a nod. 

‘He never had a childhood  or any bond with any of his parents,' she thought to herself. 'Poor Ranma. If I get him as my husband I'll show him what a REAL family is all about!' 

Images of her in a wedding dress and Ranma in a tuxedo went through her mind. Ranma and Gadget wondered why Belle's face suddenly started to imitate a tomato and giggled a lot. When she noticed that her two companions are looking at her funny she coughed and changed the subject. She asked him to tell her about a few of the things he did for training. He did.

She swore to kill his father after the fifth 'training method'. Being chased around by a wolf while carrying his father on a couch!

!

Later -

Duck Village is the ancestral home of the Duck Clan. Although similar to normal ducks, members of the sapient Duck race are much larger and much more intelligent. The village is built right on the waters of a lake. The buildings are built on wooden piers in a circle with one bridge leading out of the village to the lakeshore. Some of the ducks live on houseboats than on the pier. The pier is for travelers that are not good swimmers.

Because of the Ducks relations with their neighbours, Duck Village is a more permanent dwelling and thus reflects a more mercantile status amongst the other races. The Duck Clan is led by a mayor rather than a chief. Despite their more scholarly nature, Ducks are no strangers to combat and are skilled combatants and use halberds as their primary weapons (an interesting note is that all Duck Clan halberds' blades are in the shape of a fish, hence implying it may be their favorite food).

At the back of the inn, in one of the small houses where the inn's guests sleep, are four young women between ages sixteen to eighteen. They are currently waiting for their two straggler friends to show up.

"So when do you think Belle and Gadget will get here?" asked a young sandy eyed and dark brown haired girl wearing a chef's outfit with blue pants instead of white. Around her neck is a yellow scarf and she wore a spice belt with a small pan hanging on it. She is careless in her speech, but meticulous about cooking. She is looking out through the back window, watching the sunset.

"Whatcha askin' me for? I don't know, Mamie," a shorthaired blue-eyed redhead replied. She is wearing a long orange shirt with the back longer than the front, purple shorts, black arm and leg bands and a black headband. Her body is muscular but lean at the same time. Like her mother, she is a Herculean fighter with a great amount of energy. She likes to cook but with her strong hands, she ended up crushing the ingredients.

"You could have just carried Gadget on your back, Emily," said a dark haired girl. She is wearing a short white robe with  green edges and red pants that are loose on her legs that ended right  above her brown boots. Tied around her waist is an orange-red sash tied into a bow on the front. She has a pair of round glasses and her long hair is made into a long ponytail that reaches to the middle of her back with a red hair clip above her left ear. A naginata rested at her side.

The redhead, Emily, glared at Sanae Y. 

"Well, I would have if someone didn't keep on piggy backing on me. Right, Sharon?" she said to the sleeping girl on one of the beds.

A short, blonde haired girl is talking in her sleep. She's wearing a short (so it shows her mid-drift) long-sleeved shirt with a short chain mail on top. She's wearing a short yellow loincloth and long black leggings. On her head is a red headgear that made it look like she has fins on the sides of her head. A thrusting spear and a small buckle lay next to her bed. Letting out a  yawn, showing that she has fangs, she opened her eyelids to reveal red  eyes. 

"What? I like riding on you!" she exclaimed, looking at Emily with a confused look.

Once the innuendo sunk in Emily blushed redder than her hair. "Don't say it like that! It gives people ideas!"

Sharon tilted her head to the side. "What? How come you're blushing like that?"

Sanae Y blushed as well. "She's right Sharon. If people heard that they might get the idea that we're all lovers."

"Just because we're a party of girls people start thinking perverted stuff about us! Can't they think with the head on top of their shoulders and NOT the one in their pants?" huffed the expert chef Mamie.

A knock at their door broke their train of thought. 

“Come in!" they all shouted.

The door opened and a familiar girl in a clown outfit walked inside. 

“Hi girls! I finally got here!" Belle said.

Sanae Y looked behind Belle, expecting Gadget to be following her. "What took you so long? Where's Gadget?"

Belle shrugged and pointed her thumb towards the main office. "Gadget's with Ranma getting a room for themselves for tonight. I don't know why but Gadget's kind of following him around, for some reason you know."

"Ranma? Who's Ranma?" the four girls asked at the same time. Belle had never brought someone with her before. It's usually them trying to find boyfriends even while traveling around the world.

Ranma's newest admirer is about to tell the girls about her new pigtailed friend when a few facts entered her mind.

1. Ranma is a First-Class hunk.

2. Her friends are older and aren't as cute as her, but their bodies are better built.

3. They're a lot more boy hungry than she is, especially since they're not late bloomers like herself.

4. Ranma is a Stud with a capital S.

5. He's nice and has a kind heart. Plus he bought her that cake.

6. If they see Ranma they'll definitely be boy-hungry.

7. He's single.

8. I SAW HIM FIRST!

9. HE'S MINE!

10. For all other issues please refer to thoughts 8 and 9.

With the last thought she made up her mind. "Just a guy who walked with me  and Gadget here! Nobody special! Hehehe!" 

She laughed nervously and scratched the back of her head as she tried to back out of the room.

"A guy?" Mamie ask

"Is he cute?" Sharon ask.

"Is he single?" Emily ask.

"Now girls, I don't think we should do this," Sanae Y said in a patient manner. "Let's just wait and see for ourselves when he gets here. I'm  sure he's a nice young man."

"I..." Belle began, but stopped when a certain red-shirted guy walked in behind her.

Ranma put a hand on her shoulder and gave her a grin. "Hi Belle." 

He spotted the other girls, ignoring their gawking state. 

"So these are the friends you were talking about. Hi! I'm Ranma nice to meet you!" he greeted them with a wave and a smile. "I'm staying at the next house. Just come by if you need anything. See you tomorrow!" 

With that he along with Gadget walked to the next house. For some reason Gadget liked to hang around with the broken katana wielder, gathering information on him.

Of course he didn't know that the rolling computer is gathering data and seeing how good a match he is for Belle. So far he's calculated that they will have healthy, intelligent and strong children. The more he calculates the more prominent that shiver up Ranma's spine became.

Silence reigned as the girls processed the hunk that was at the door just a few  moments ago. 

"He's the one that walked you here?" Mamie asked, blushing at the most handsome guy she's ever seen. Uncontrollable teenage hormones surged through her.

"Is he a fighter?" Emily and Sanae Y both asked at the same time.

"How old is he?" Sharon also asked.

Before the barrage of questions could get any further Belle interrupted them. “Yes, he did walk me here, he's a VERY strong fighter, and he told me he's almost 19."

"How strong is he?" Again the question is asked in stereo.

At this Belle looked a little hesitant. "Well... his power level is... umm… err… that is…"

Emily and Sanae Y got impatient and walked up to her. "Come on! What is it?"

Belle tilted her head down. Even after knowing it for a while she can't believe what Gadget Z had told her. "...one thousand..."

Stunned silence met her answer until a loud "WHAT?" sounded in the room.

Mamie's next statement came out as a whisper at first until she is shouting her words out at the end. "But... how... when Gadget made a read out of our power levels you're at 67, Sanae Y is 91, Sharon is 102 and Emily is 137? How can his be THAT high!" (4)

Belle shrugged. She's given up figuring it out herself. "I have no idea how. He just told be that he's trained to be a fighter since he was a child."

Emily stomped her foot. She's proud of herself that she has the highest fighting level out of the four of them, and here's a guy who just walks in and totally beats her score! 

"But still! He's only eighteen! What kind of training did he did do to reach THAT kind of power level?" Emily said as she herself was trained by her mother to be the strongest fighter of her generation. Nobody but her mother can beat her, and her mother is a giant of a woman. And that her mom level is very high thanks to being apart of the war and kept it up by handling any monsters that wander around where they live. 

By now her friends have surrounded and effectively pinned her to a corner of the room, demanding answers. Seeing no way to escape Belle replied hesitantly, "H-he did say that he was put in a LOT of life and death situations by his trainers. That's why he's so good right now."

Again silence reigned. Not even Emily's mother put her in anything that could possibly kill her. She was always nearby to help Emily when they’re out hunting monsters.

"What do you mean he..." Sanae Y began, but couldn't think of anything to say. Even when her parents were training her they made sure that the chances of her being killed or severely hurt were very slim.

Sharon looked a little green. "Who...who did that to him?"

Belle sighed as she walked pass them and sat down heavily on a bed. 

"His parents wanted their family name to have great honor, no matter what the cost," she said, looking at her friends as their eyes widened with each word. "His mother wanted him to bring honor to their family name and his father wanted to live off of his son after he married a girl from the other school of the same fighting art he uses. It didn't matter if he's killed or how he felt about it as long as he brought great honor to the family name and kept the father fed while they themselves did  nothing." 

She then told them a few of the stories he had told her on the  way here. Everyone felt ready to throw up by the end.

"Y-you mean his parents just saw him as a tool?" Disbelief and a little anger are in Sharon's voice.

Belle nodded. "Yeah, but that's all I got out of him on the way here. All I know about his old life is that he left it all behind him, only taking  things that were given to him by people who cared for him and that broken sword of his. I think it's called a katana."

Mamie looked a little confused at the mention of the sword. "A katana? I don't think there are any sword users around here that uses one. In fact, katanas aren't even found in this country."

Emily nodded. "Yeah. They're usually where we come from."

Sanae Y remembered that she has seen that type of sword before. "The last time I saw one was the one that my dad used. He said he used it during the Zero War and that it came from a far off place. But he's not real sure where they're made from since he got it from a trader. Well there was that sword fighter Genshu who join the Zero Army. He would know where the katanas come from since he always had two of them at his side."

Silence met this statement until the chef asked a question. 

"So he's all alone right now, right?" she asked with a certain glint in her eyes.

Belle eyed her friend curiously. Something about her tone set her off. 

"Yeah. Why?" she replied cautiously.

Not looking at Belle or any other of her friends she started to walk to the door. "Well, since he's all alone and has no one to care for him maybe I should walk over there and give that poor boy someone to take comfort  with."

Each of her friends gave her a look that said "No way in HELL!" 

That started one hell of a shouting fight that lasted for hours as each of the young girls fought for the right to give comfort to  Ranma. The boy in question slept like a rock through the whole thing while Gadget listened to the fight that went through most of the night. If it could it would have sweat dropped.

!

The Next Morning -

"So, um, why are you girls coming with me to Lake Castle again?" Ranma's  feeling a bit nervous as the girls followed him back to Thomas' castle.  

The all-female group and the animated barrel had wanted to go with him after he had explored Duck Village. And also found out what kind of jar he got from the monsters he killed earlier. He tried to refuse saying that it's not his decision to make, but one 'puppy dog eyes attack' and the girls plus Gadget are following him back to Budehuc Castle.

Belle spoke up from behind him as she walked with the rest of the girls. "You said that there's only eight other people at that old castle that you're staying at. We all thought that we could come with you and help out there. We don't have a place to stay in and we were thrown out of the inn."

"That's because you girls woke everyone up with all that shouting last night," Gadget beeped from next to her.

Without looking back at them Ranma asked, "What were you shouting about anyway?" 

Since he's at the lead he didn't see the girl's faces turn crimson.

"Nothing important! You really don't need to hear about it! Hehehe," Mamie replied, red faced.

Sanae Y changed the subject, hoping to turn what they were talking about around. 

"Anyway, Emily and I are here to find strong fighters like us to train with us," she said and started to drool at another thought in her head. 'Maybe do some endurance training with too.'

Emily continued from where Sanae Y left off, getting what she's trying to build up to. "Yeah, and Belle said that Gadget said that your power level is over 1,000. You must be a hell of a fighter to have that much power."

Gadget accessed his records and said, "The last high power reading was Luca Blight with the power level of over 1400."

"Wow! No wonder our parents had such a hard time fighting him!" Belle said while Sanae Y nodded.

“It took 4 groups of 6 of the best fighters all attacking him one after another to wear him down enough just to be able to take him down,” Sanae Y said. 

Ranma agreed. Normally he would get a really big ego boost at that, but  suppressed it with a lot of effort. He doesn't feel like being beaten by  these girls for sounding like a pompous jackass. Got enough of that  from a certain uncute tomboy. Then he got an idea. "I know! I can train  you all in my fighting style! I'm sure it'll bring up your skills in no  time!"

The girl's faces lit up. "Really?"

"Sure! I never really trained anyone in my style before, but I can see that you girls can be good fighters,” Ranma said.

"So what's the name of your fighting school?" Emily ask.

"Most of it is from my family's fighting school. But I added a lot of new moves and modified everything else so it's more efficient and I can call them my own. My former father's style was good, but what he taught me tended to be flashy so I changed it so it's not as obvious what I would do next. I also took out any deficiencies that I saw. I never realized how bad it was until I figured out that doing a jump attack on a stationary opponent is a really dumb thing to do. Anyway, I kept what I  was doing to myself since my former pops would have had a fit if he knew. Since the moves are different I can claim the new school as my own. I renamed it the Wild Horse Style of Fighting. What do you think?" Ranma ask the girls.

"Wild Horse?" they all said. They all thought it's a stupid name for a martial arts school.

He turned around and faced the girls and the rolling barrel.

“Well, in my homeland the name Ranma means 'Wild Horse' so I figured it's a good name,” he explains. He wondered why all the girl's faces turned red. 'The name isn't  THAT bad, is it?' 

The girls for their part wondered just how much of a "wild horse" Ranma is. (5)

He shrugged, thinking that he'll never understand girls, and kept walking. The others quickly caught up to him.  

Up ahead in a lightly wooded part of the plains are a herd of horses standing around. In the center of the herd is a blue-eyed blonde wearing a western cowgirl outfit. She's wearing blue pants with leather stirrups, a tucked in white shirt, and a pink vest with matching cowboy hat. Ranma noticed that she's tomboyish, but she's beautiful and her short haircut suited her. She looks to be around his age and has an ample chest that he had to break his gaze away from. 

‘Whoa! She could give Shampoo a run for her money! Though my girl form is much better!' Ranma thought to himself. 

The girls saw him staring at the older girl and growled. He walked up to the girl, oblivious to the increasing tempers of the girls behind him. 

"Hi. Need any help?" he ask.

Kathy turned towards the voice with a smile on her face. 

“Sure! I could... use..." She stopped smiling, however, and just stared owlishly at the most handsome man she has ever seen. He's good looking and muscular, but without looking bulky. That pigtail is so cute on him too! 'He looks just... no, BETTER than my old boyfriend!'

In yet another dimension a sailor suited defender of love and justice sneezed.

She then noticed that he's not alone. Five girls that are younger than her and a… barrel… stood behind him. All of them, except for the animated barrel, are trying to burn through her with their glares. She ignored them for now and faced the only male with them. 

“The name's Kathy. My horses got caught up with a wild herd and now they won't stop moving so I can count them to see if any ran off with the wild ones,” she introduced herself.

"I can do it. How many you originally had?" Ranma ask.

"I had 16 horses, stranger,” Kathy said.

He laughed sheepishly at having forgotten to introduce himself and the girls. "Oh. Sorry about that. My name's Ranma, and my friends are Belle, Sharon, Sanae Y, Mamie, Emily and the rolling barrel is Gadget." 

As he  introduced them the girls gave Ranma and the blonde cute smiles and  waved at the cowgirl. But as soon as the pigtailed warrior's gaze left  them they returned to the murderous glares.

Kathy would've become very nervous at this, but she's too busy looking at the man that made her old boyfriend look like a troll. 

"Thanks for the..." she began, but stopped when he seemed to disappear, then reappeared a few seconds later right in front of her.

"There're 21 horses now. Seems that some of the wild ones joined your herd." Ranma said. He wondered why they're gapping at him. Did he count them wrong?

Even the girls and Gadget behind him are dumbstruck at what happened. 

"How did you... when did you count... huh!" ask Emily, being the best fighter out of the girls, only sa an afterimage of Ranma running away, and then reappearing right where he started a few seconds later.

Ranma shrugged. "Oh, that. Since I got this Gale Rune my speed has become faster than ever. I just ran around until I counted all of the horses, that's all." (6)

"But, but, that was really FAST!" Belle pointed out. Ranma sweat dropped. 

"Ehh? I wasn't that fast was I?" Ranma ask as he scratched the end of his pigtail, looking unbearably cute.

Everyone shrugged, forgetting about that bit of weirdness. It's easier to ignore it than thinking about it. 

“So you're a fighter huh," Kathy stated, sizing up how he moved. 'He's just like water, so smooth and graceful. YUMMY!'

Ranma's ego went up as he nodded with pride. "Yup! I'm the best of my generation!" 

Seeing at how she and the other girls are getting miffed at his attitude he gave them a sheepish look. He nervously tugged at his pigtail, without knowing that it made him look adorable, and gave a mumbled "Sorry". 

Trying to change the subject he eyed the horses and came up with an idea. "Hey, if you had a stable you would have an easier time looking after your horses you know."

Now it's Kathy's turn to look sheepish. "I tried to find one around here, but most of the farms have their own herds or don't use horses. And the Zexens farms charge too much for using their stables so, I'm kind of stuck."

“Well, at Lake Castle there's an old stable and field that hasn't been used for years. If you come with us I can probably talk Thomas into letting you use it if you like,” Ranma said.

When Kathy's face lit up he couldn't help but think that her smile is really cute.  

'Kawaii. Akane used to…' Ranma shook his head, not wanting to remember that. He would've gotten depressed if the cowgirl hadn't grabbed him in a hug, bordering on a glomp. The other girls just growled louder.

"Really! Thank you! You're the best!" Ranma blushed as he felt her large breasts through her shirt and his. Even if it's happened to him hundreds of times with Shampoo that didn't mean he's used to it. The feeling of her soft, fully developed breasts made him a little nervous since it'susually followed by a mallet to his head.

The other girls, who  have been silent up till now, couldn't take it any more and added in their piece. "Hey you! Get off of him!"

The shout made Kathy let go of Ranma. She scratched the back of her head in embarrassment and let out a small, nervous laugh. "Hehe. Sorry. Anyways, we can go a lot  faster if we ride on some of my horses."

Ranma agreed as he got control of his blush. "Yeah. I think if we keep it at a good speed we can reach the castle by dusk."

The girls looked like they wanted to beat the little man-stealing cowgirl senseless, but that would make Ranma think they're violent girls. Reluctantly they agreed to her plan. 

'But don't think you can steal him so easily! He's mine!' they all thought.

!

Back at Lake Castle -

"So when you do you think Ranma will get back?" Cecile asked Thomas. Everyone's at the bar eating a late snack. Sunset is coming soon and Ranma still hasn't returned.

Thomas thought about it for a second before replying. "I don't really know. He did say that he's going to look around the Grasslands so that could take a while. You also told him that he should visit Karaya Village so he might be over there now. It does take some days to travel by foot."

Martha looked up at them from the sink. "I haven't been to the village in years. I'm sure he's having lots of fun there. There're lots of singlegirls there I believe." 

She chuckled to herself. She's cutting up some boar meat that Ranma killed a day ago and adding lots of salt so that it would last longer in the food storage room.

"This is great!" Juan laughed. He and Muto found Ranma's manga collection in his room. He never said if they could or couldn't go through his stuff. They're very curious about him so they went through some of his things, to check in case he's a bad person. They're reading 'The Slayers' and 'Gold Digger' and laughing up a storm.

"I don't see why you two are reading that. It's not right to look through his things without his permission!" Sebastian scolded. He tried to stop them, but they wouldn't listen.

"Oh come on! It's funny," Muto replied, looking up from the Gold Digger manga he's reading.

"Yeah! I wonder if you could really do magic like the ones in these book," Juan asked himself while he held an issue of Slayers.

Piccolo's attention perked up hearing that. He’s been teaching Sunset magic of this world and she’s been teaching him her world’s magic. He felt the old drive he had in learning magic when he was younger. 

“Really? Let me have a look at that,” he said as he took the manga from his hands, ignoring the protest that came from the usually  bored looking man. He looked at the pictures with great interest at the magic that Lina Inverse is doing. "I have to look into this." 

Piccolo's mentor, Master Crowley, had told him to always be on the lookout for new ideas for magic.

"The land where Ranma comes from must have a lot of technology," Ernie said as she read one of the textbooks Ranma  brought with him. Unlike Juan and Muto she actually had his permission to look through his books. "They must not use much magic to have this level of technology."

Thomas looked up curiously at her. "Really?"

Ernie nodded. "According to this book tall buildings are connected by something called an elevator. It's a small room that can somehow move up and down. It can take people or things from the bottom level all the way to the top and back. You can stop at any level of course. Considering that the buildings in Ranma's homeland can be up be up to thirty stories tall that's very impressive." 

She held up the book that read 'Lifts and Pulleys for Dummies' and showed it to the others.

Everyone looked a little bug-eyed at being informed that there are building thirty stories high. After a moment Cecile remembered something. "We got one of those elevators in this house!"

“I remember but it stop working,” Martha said. 

Ernie looked thoughtful after being told of its location.

“Maybe if I read up some more I could  repair it." Her eyes gained a faraway look and she started mumbling to herself.

"That would be nice. In my age getting around is hard to do," Piccolo said as he went back to reading a spell called the Dragon Slave.

"But it would help if someone knew about machines to help me out," Ernie stated without really focusing on anybody.

“Have you ask Sunset?” Cecile ask.

“I haven’t really talk to her,” Ernie said remembering her meeting with the tall buxom redhead. “She’s rather intimidating.”

“She did grew up surrounded by nobles all of her life and was the personal student of her ruler,” Piccolo said. 

Sunset had told everyone about her origins as coming from a different world and being like Muto but a unicorn. But once she went through the mirror it made her human. She lost her horn but she could still use her magic and she also showed off her bags of holding showing them what she’s says is true. 

“I read of how summons from the Pale Gate Runes can summon things from other worlds and some monsters are also from other worlds. But I never heard of a sapient being before, only in stories,” Ernie said. 

“My old teacher told me of some beings he had met but he really doesn’t like talking about that kind of stuff,” Piccolo said.

“Where is she anyways?” Thomas ask.

“She didn’t want any of the meat I made and just took some bread, cheese and wine back to the tower,” Martha said. She had made some ham and pork chops for dinner but Sunset didn’t want any.

“She is a unicorn she must not eat meat,” Sebastian said.

Suddenly, Muto's ears perked up. "Hey, any of you hear that?"

After a few seconds everyone heard a repeating and rapidly getting louder pounding sound. 

"Sounds like horses,” Martha said.

Sebastian and the others ran to the front of the castle to see what's going on.

Outside the castle Ranma and the girls rode up to the market center of the castle with Gadget racing next to them. Thomas and the others came out to greet them as Ranma and Kathy got the rider-less horses to wait at the front of the castle.

"Welcome back!" Thomas greeted to his friend, and then noticed the girls on horseback. "Who are they, Ranma?"

"Hey, Thomas! I met them while I was in Duck Village and they said they wanted to come with me here,” Ranma said as he and the girls got off their horses. He then introduced the two groups to each other.

Looking at the girls and the way they're looking at the pigtailed man Martha had an idea on why they wanted to come here. She has three full grown daughters of her own and they all had that same look when they met her current son-in-laws. 

“So you went out to go exploring and came back with these young girls following you home," Martha said, giving the girls a knowing smile. While they blushed Ranma gave a confused look to the three-time mother.

After getting her blush under control the cowgirl of the group stepped up. "Yeah, name's Kathy and Ranma said that there's an old stable and field that I could use. In return I could help around this place." 

She hoped they would take her offer. She doesn't have a lot of  money and the place is a real fixer-upper.

"The same with us," Sanae Y said for her group. "Me and my friends need a place to stay and would gladly help around here in return."

Ernie stepped forward. "Do any of you know about fixing machines?"

"I do!" Belle almost yelled. "I fix Gadget all the time!"

Ernie studied Belle's partner. "An animated barrel?"

"Yes," the barrel replied, shocking Lake Castle's inhabitants. "She knows a lot about machines. However, she needs to be watched while doing it or else she'll mess up." 

For that Belle hit him at the back of the head.

"I can cook," Mamie volunteered. It doesn't look like they have a chef so maybe she can get a job here.

"We do need some help, but still...," Sebastian wiped the sweat off his forehead.

Juan turned to him with his usual lazy look. "We do need help around here. Sebastian. Besides, it's not like they're asking for much. They just want room and board and three meals a day. With Ranma doing the hunting it won't be too bad." 

Ranma mouthed thanks to him.

"It'd be nice to have some more girls around my age to talk to," Cecile added. She gave him the dreaded puppy dog eyes attack.

Before Thomas could answer Ranma dragged him over to the side. 

“Look, just  consider it a favor to me, will you. I don't know why, but I got a feeling something good will happen if they stay. Besides..." He dropped his voice to what he hoped only Thomas would hear. "...I want to taste some of Mamie's cooking! I hear it tastes great!" 

Unfortunately he didn't count on him and Thomas being upwind. The wind carried their conversation to the group of girls and they heard him complimenting the chef. Mamie beamed while the others vowed to learn how to cook. They were thinking of how they  would go about this when Thomas and Ranma returned.

Thomas nodded to them. 

"Then it's settled. Welcome to Budehuc Castle!" Loud cheers met  his proclamation. Thomas grinned as well. 'Wow, I CAN do something right once in a while!'

“Alright what’s with all the noise?” Sunset ask having heard the noise coming from the market square came to see what’s happening. 

The new girls could only stare at the tall buxom redhead that appeared on the top of the stairs leading to the castle. They all thought that Kathy was buxom but the new woman is even taller and more buxom than her. As for Kathy who is proud of her figure could only gasp at the sight of the redhead who is bigger than her. She has huge breasts, thin waist and wide hips, giving her a hourglass figure, which her clothes showed off. 

“Hi Sunset these are some girls, I met while traveling and they be staying here for while,” Ranma said.

“We’ll keep it down,” Sunset said as she walks back to the tower. 

“Who’s that Ranma?” Belle ask her eye twitching seeing the buxom redhead who knows Ranma. 

“She’s a traveling wizard I met and travel with,” Ranma explains causing the girls to moan seeing how out class they are compared to her. 

“Who is also a traveling unicorn from another world,” Martha said seeing how the girls are intimidated by Sunset’s looks.

“What?” Ranma ask.

“You didn’t know?” Martha ask.

“She only wanted to travel with me for safety in numbers and hardly paid attention to me till we met up with Thomas,” Ranma said. Causing the other girls moods to light up hearing that Sunset isn’t interest in him but still wondered about the unicorn part.

“Tell you all about over dinner,” Martha said.

!
> A New Rune Bearer or Tainted Silver!
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

!

Dear Journal,

It's been nearly been a week since Ranma had brought the girls to stay at the castle. Nothing much has happened around here since then. The only thing exciting thing that happened is that a boy who by the name is Thomas too from Iksay village. Got lost on Mt. Hei-Tou and was saved by Ranma from a boar. I don't know how he did it, but Ranma went from standing in one spot thirty paces from the boar, then he disappeared then reappeared right behind it re-sheathing his broken katana. We wer  wondering what happened when the boar just fell dead to the ground. The boy's young mother was really happy that Ranma save her son. She even gave him a kiss as a thank you. Ranma just blushed and the other girls seemed mad at her for some odd reason. As for the boar Ranma gave it to the boy's mother and carried it for her back to their village. 

After that event we've been having lots of visitors coming here, mostly young  girls and some guys from Iksay wanting to know how to fight like Ranma. The women have been bringing Ranma homemade food for him too, and when I ask Martha why all she told me is that I would learn why someday. She said that when Cecile starts giving me food I'll figure it out. Cecile just ran away blushing. Since then she's been by giving me cookies and stuff, but I still don't know why.

Each of the girls has been doing something around the castle to earn their keep here. Ernie and Belle along with Gadget Z have been building stuff around the castle. Using the books that Ranma had brought with him they managed to make a  water pump and pipes so that the castle has 'indoor plumbing' as Ranma calls it. Which Sunset helped using her magic to help in making the pipes and pump, she’s use to having indoor plumbing and would like having a flushing toilet again and a sink to wash her hands. 

I've got to say it really does beat going to the woods every time I need to go to the bathroom or going to the outhouse, but how does that 'toilet' work? Where does... the stuff go? 

I learn where the toilet empties out, into a cess pit that Sunset made under the castle which empties out into the lake. Underneath the forest north of the castle, so that the waste water that seeps into the ground is absorbed by the tree roots. 

The girls are almost done making a water generator using a water wheel they made to power the elevator as well. Sunset using her magic quickly set it up and made adjustments as they got the whole thing to work right. 

Kathy traded in four of her horses for some other farm animals. She got a cow, two sheep's, two pigs and half a dozen  chickens for them and the field and stable are back to working order now. 

Emily, Sanae Y, and Sharon have been helping Ranma, Cecile, Muto, and Juan repairing the castle. Even if Juan doesn't do much he's good for when we need something heavy to lift. We only wake him up when Ranma's busy though. That stopped yesterday when the girls got tried of him sleeping around while they work picked him up and threw him into the lake. He's REALLY motivated now. 

They filled up the holes around the castle with that cement stuff that one of Ranma's books showed how to make. It was cheap to make, but the stuff is really strong. They've made some windmills to power the water pumps that Belle and Ernie had made. Helped by Sunset who has some idea of how they work thanks to her education.

The main gate has also been rebuilt thanks to all the wood and stone Ranma got for us. He said that carrying all that weight is good training. To help pay for the repairs Ranma has been fighting all the strongest monsters he could find for large amount of potch they carry  with them. Sunset has also been hunting monsters to practice using her magic and strengthen her body to be better at withstanding using her magic. She also did the real heavy lifting as she moved all the stones and building materials where they’re needed. Leaving the light work to the others. 

Now the main gate walls are now repaired to the height of seven feet and four feet thick. They've also built two thick wooden doors that can be closed when there's any danger outside. That Sunset built herself, by cutting down trees and shaping them with her magic. Making the doors very solid as the wood are basically just solid tree logs bonded together with magic. Sunset says that the gate should be open in the daytime and close at night so that the monsters around here can't go in or out. Sebastian said that sometimes monsters do come into the castle now and then, but Juan or Cecile takes care of them. Not anymore.

Sunset has been selling the loot she and Ranma have been collecting from the monsters they have been hunting. Loading them onto a cart she gotten from one of the villages close to the castle and using Kathy’s horses to pull it. Trading the loot for supplies for the castle and for magic items. (1)

She also introduced the sandwich to the villages and it has spread around the villages. A simple and easy to make meal that can Ben made out of just about anything as long as it’s between two pieces of bread. I ask if it’s like a pork bun but Sunset made it clear that pork buns takes time to make while a sandwich just needs some cheese, mayonnaise, honey, and anything else you want in it to make. (2)

Sunset also made a bee hive and collected a wild swarm to have some honey. And created magic items to sell to the people around the castle. She created a lamp post that is powered by a fire rune to provide light in the market square after she worked on it for a couple of days. She’s planning on making more so that the castle doesn’t have to use torches and candles for light.

Belle and Sanae Y told her about a unicorn that joined the Zero army before they were born that their parents knew. Sigfried who after the Dunan Unification War return to the forest where he lives. Sunset is planning on going East to meet up with the unicorn and learn about the unicorns of this world.

Mamie has been busy in the kitchen and got Ranma and the others to build a small cafe at the lake shore to feed the people coming and going from here and make some money for the castle. Most of the meat she has been cooking came from the  animals Ranma brought in from his 'training'. 

Piccolo has been reading those mangas as Ranma calls them for new ideas for spells. He has been mostly been reading the ones titled 'Slayers' and came up with a blinding light attack that he called 'Light Flare'. It can blind anyone for quite a while.

Martha has been talking to the girls about something, but I have no idea what. However, Ranma told me that the girls all start giggling whenever he's around and it's creeping him out. Sebastian has been disappearing now and then as well and wouldn't tell us where he goes, but he did say that the castle is in better shape than before. Ranma has been training some of us in his art form, but I'm not  really a hand to hand fighter so he made a heavy stone sword that I should train with. He says it builds up my strength and when I use my real sword it will become easier. Eike has been...

!

Closing his journal Thomas just realizes that he hasn't seen Eike since he Cecile and Ranma went out to Brass Castle. Running out of his room down to the lakeside where everyone except Belle and Gadget Z was at eating lunch that Mamie made.

After getting everyone's attention he shouted. "Guys, I just remembered that I haven't seen Eike since me, Cecile and Ranma left for Brass Castle!"

The older residents of the castle eyes widen as they remember that they haven't seen him either.

"Who's Eike?" Sanae Y ask. 

"Isn't he the castle librarian you told me about?" Ernie ask. 

"Come to think about it I haven't seen him since that day,” Sunset said eating a cheese and egg sandwich. She has no problems eating eggs as bread is made with eggs.

Martha motioned for everyone to be quiet. “Ranma, didn't you say that you can feel the energy of the people around you?"

He nodded and closed his eyes for a few seconds. "Still nothing, there's just something about the guy that won't let me pick him up."

"So? We'll just do it the old fashion way. We'll split up and look around the castle!" Kathy shouted as she stood up.

They all nodded and took off looking in different parts of the castle. For some odd reason all the girls seem to go in the same general direction as Ranma.

!

Two Hours Later -

"We've turned this castle upside down and we still can't find him," Juan said. He and the others are in front of the main house seeing if anyone found anything. All but Sunset, Belle, and Gadget Z who were still working on the  elevator and Cecile who left to guard the new gate said they haven't found him.

"I sniffed around, but I can't find him at all." Muto muttered. "But, his scent is still here so that means he hasn't left the  castle. It's just too faint for me to track."

"He does from this time to time, but Eike always reappears when he's done with what ever he does,” Martha said.

"Well we search everywhere, but came up with nothing," Sharon sighed.

"Well Eike must show up at sometime," Piccolo said.

"Yes, he always does," Sebastian said.

"Hey who's that with Cecile?" Emily asks. They all look down into the main courtyard. A young woman was walking along with Cecile heading towards them. She's dressed as a maid. He outfit consists of a red dress with a white apron over it and a maid's hat. She has a gentle face and had a mole- like tear on her left cheek. She had purplish short cut hair and light purple eyes. (3)

Walking up to them she introduces herself. "Hello, I'm Shizu and I came here to see the elevator that was built here. I'm the elevator attendant and I was called to repair the elevator here."

"Oh yes, I remember sending out a letter asking for someone to repair it before Master Thomas came," Sebastian said wiping his forehead.

"Sorry for troubling you, but me, Sunset, Belle and Gadget Z are fixing the elevator," Ernie said.

Shizu looked shocked. "What! You know how an elevator works?"

"Yes, the books Ranma brought with him from his land explained a lot on how they work and how to repair one too. Belle should be done soon,” Ernie said. 

Shizu looked around at the assembled group before her. Her eyes lingered over  the pigtailed one for a moment before moving on. "Who's Ranma?"

Said pigtailed one raises his hand. "I am."

Looking  at the young man standing in front of her Shizu felt her heart skip a beat. 

'I've never seen someone so handsome before.' She felt her cheeks  blush.

Martha seeing this slowly shook her head. 

'How does that boy do that? Every young girl falls for him the first time they see him?' She takes a closer look hoping to figure out the mystery. 'Well, maybe it's not strange why they fall for him.'

Taking a hold of herself Shizu asked, "If I may can I see the elevator?"

"Sure," Thomas said as he led her into the main house. Cecile, Ranma, Ernie, and Piccolo followed them. The others went elsewhere.

!

Inside -

Inside the main house by the elevator on the main floor Belle and Gadget Z were doing the finishing touches on the elevator. Sunset has been using her telekinesis to keep the elevator up while Belle and Gadget setup the cables and weights. 

“Is it in place?” Sunset ask. 

"There! That should do it!" Belle said.

"Really?" Thomas asks behind her making her jump.

"Yup!  I'm such a genius! Hahahaha!" She laughs a little maniacally while everyone sweatdrops. She abruptly stops when she spots the girl standing WAY TOO CLOSE to 'her Ranma'. "Who's that girl?" 

Belle glared at the new girl, but she either didn't notice or ignored it. While Sunset saw that somehow Ranma once again got another girl crushing on him, again. 

"My name is Shizu. I was sent here to fix the elevator, but it seems that you done  it already." She then turned to Ranma. "Mr. Ranma, I would like to see the books that contain the information on elevators that you have if you don't mind. I would also like it if you would tell me about your land. Elevators are not very common and for your people to know about them is  fascinating."

Ranma smiles at her. "Sure, come by my room later. And all my friends call me Ranma ok." 

Shizu blushed a little at already being considered his friend while Belle and Ernie growled at her, while Sunset just let out a sigh.

"Well? You guys coming?" Ranma said as he pushed the elevator button opening the doors.

"You know how to operate this?" Shizu ask.

"Yeah, you find these things a lot where I come from. I'll tell you about it later when you come by Shizu,” Ranma said.

By now Shizu's entire body is red as she  considers that she'll be soon be in this cutie's room all by themselves. Belle and Ernie are NOT pleased and swear that they are going to be there. There's no WAY they are leaving Ranma alone with a cute girl in his room unless it was themselves that were going to be alone with him.

"So this can take you from one floor to the next without having to climb  the stairs. This will make it easier for me to get around now," Piccolo  said as he got into the elevator.

Ranma's about to press the  button for the second floor when something catches his attention. "Hey, according to this there's a third basement to this castle."

"HUH? What third basement?" Cecile said shocked.

"So that means there's an unknown underground level to this place then?” Sunset ask.

"Let's see what's there!" Belle said

"Is that a good idea?" Thomas ask.

"Well there's only one way to find out,” Ernie said.

"Let me do that for you," Shizu said taking the controls and pressing the last button. Sending her, Thomas, Cecile, Belle, Ernie and Sunset down below.

!

Deep underground-

When the elevator doors open they found themselves in a long dark tunnel. It appeared that there was a whole network of tunnels running beneath the castle. The walls were rough and uneven, chucks of limestone sticking out at odd angles, but the sheer amount of work that had gone into creating the underground path is mind boggling. Whoever made this was keeping something down here for a long time. The tunnel is much older than the castle that's for sure.

Making a glowing ball of energy to light up the tunnel Sunset stepped into the cave followed by Ranma. 

“I'll cheek this out you guys. Wait here,” Ranma said. 

"No, I feel a huge magical source coming somewhere in this cave," Piccolo said and he made his staff orb to glow adding to the light from Sunset.

“I know, I feel it too,” Sunset said. 

"I’ll will go and tell the others what's happening down here," Belle said as she stepped back into the elevator.

"I go with!" Ernie said as she rushed back into the elevator too.

Cecile started to drag Thomas into the tunnels. "Master Thomas, lets go with Piccolo, Sunset and Ranma!"

"Ok, ok, just hold on a second,” Thomas protested.

"After I drop these two off on the ground floor I'll come back down." Shizu went up to Ranma and whispered in his ear, "Please wait for me, I would like to see what is down here as well." 

Ranma raised an eyebrow at her whispering to him but nodded anyway. She stepped into the elevator and started the journey up.

Belle had seen the entire thing and  frowned suspiciously at the maid. "What did you whisper to him?" 

“Yes what is it?” ask Ernie as she looked up to hear her answer.

Shizu just looked innocently at the two. “Oh, I just wished him good luck at looking  around in the tunnels and told him that I would come back and wait for them."

"Oh, never mind then." Belle said to her, 'You've better not try anything funny or else my hammer's going to meet your face.'

"Well, here's your floor. I'll be going down to wait for them now,” Shizu said as she push the two smaller girls out.

The door closed on the two teens. If they had stayed in the elevator they would have seen the sly smile on the elevator attendant. 

‘Shizu one, bookworm and trickster, zero,' she thought to herself. Hey, she's an elevator attendant. You think she's going to spend all her time in there doing nothing? She's a  healthy young woman too.

Down below Piccolo, Cecile, Sunset, and Thomas were about to go down the tunnels when they notice Ranma hasn't moved.

“What are you waiting for?" Sunset ask.

"Shizu said she wanted to come with us so I'm waiting for her," Ranma said to them.

"Oh, okay," Thomas said.

Soon enough the elevator returns and Shizu joins their group. Walking along the tunnel they came to a fork. They decided to split up with Thomas, Ranma and Shizu taking the right while Piccolo and Cecile took the left. Going down deeper and taking many wrong turns and sidetracks they found along the way old barrels and boxes and other stuff sitting on the cave walls. Then after they walk past a deep pit they came to the end of the tunnel.

Ranma, Thomas and Shizu could see a glowing light from a fire on the side of the walls. When they walked into the light they  found Eike sitting down on an old chair reading a book by firelight. There were glass jars of food and water and a bookshelf on the side wall. A roaring fire is set in a circle of stones in the middle of the cavern. But what got their attention was the glowing rune behind him.

It was a yin-yang shaped rune. Half of it is blood red while the other side is a sky blue. Ranma and Sunset could feel the power coming off of it in powerful waves.

"Ah so you found my reading place," Eike said closing the book he was reading. “And who is this young lady?"

Ranma hasn't really snapped out of his trance yet. 

“Eike, this is Shizu and she's staying here for a while, right?" Shizu nodded. "Shizu, this is Eike the librarian. Um, Eike what's that?

"That is the Rune of Chaos," said Piccolo as he and Cecile stepped into the light. "When I was the Great Mage Crowley's  student he told me about the True Rune and this is one of them.”

Thomas looked shocked at the old man. "Huh! One of the true runes? Down here?”

“I found it here when I discovered this place where I could read in peace," Eike said and turned towards Ranma and Sunset. "And looks like it has choose. You two as it’s bearers.”

“Us?” both Ranma and Sunset said as the rune began glowing with power. 

The rune fired two beams of light from its two halves, one red the other blue. The red struck Sunset’s forehead and the the blue struck Ranma’s forehead. The blue part of the ying-yang symbol appeared on his forehead the part of the water drop that has the pointed end pointing up. On Sunset’s forehead the red half with the pointy top is pointing down.

Ranma became the holder of the blue half of creation.

Sunset became the holder of the red half of destruction.

“Such power,” Sunset said as her mind raced as she remembered the image the mirror had showed her when Celestria had showed it to her. 

“I know,” Ranma said feeling the power flowing through him.

Shizu put a hand up to get his attention. "I believe it is best if we go back to the elevator now. Everyone must be worried."

Piccolo nodded. "We better go back before people start charging in here thinking something bad has happened."

“Yes, I have much to do,” Sunset said her mind racing with so many possibilities.

As they walked back to the elevator Shizu moved next to Ranma. "If you want Ranma I can try to help you control what has happened to you. I don't know what to do, but I'll help in any way I can."

Ranma smiled at her again. "Thanks Shizu, that means a lot to me."

!

Up above-

Once they made it back up to the ground floor everyone in the castle was there waiting for them. They had to explain how Sunset and Ranma got the new rune to them and how they found Eike.

"So you knew there was a True Rune all this time?" Martha asks Eike.

"Yes I have, the rune just ask me not to tell anyone, Now if you don't mind I'm going back to the library now. I would like to see if all the books are where I left them while I was down in the basement,” Eike looked as if he's irritated at Ranma, but  Eike never shows emotions so everyone just put it off as a trick of the light.

"So Ranma, this rune of your gives you more power than  before?" Juan asks feeling the fighting power from Ranma shoot up higher than he ever thought possible. Everyone turned to Gadget Z when it  started to make a lot of beeping noises.

"Power level is now over 10,000! I repeat, Power level is now over 10,000!" Gadget said.

"What!" everyone asks.

Emily looked towards Ranma who's trying to inch his way out of the room. "Your power level is now double than it was before!"

"Yes, I think I need some training to help me control my new powers," Ranma said looking at his hands.

“Power level is now over 15,000,” Gadget said looking at Sunset. Surprising everyone at the power level which Sunset is. 

“What you’re more powerful?” Ranma ask.

“You’re a fighter, I’m a magic user. Of course I’m more powerful, I been studying and mentored under the best. Plus you just learn to use magic. Like that sword you use, you only started using it and only because of your fighting skills and speed you’re able to fight well with it. Against a true sword master you would be unskilled but strong against someone who is both strong and skilled. I trained my body so that I could withstand the strain of using my magic and cast high level spells. You were just trained to be a fighter,” Sunset explains.

“Yeah, I was,” Ranma said seeing her point as being a good fighter had really limited his future back in his world.

"By the way since the elevator is fixed what will you do Shizu?" Sebastian asks her.

"I'm not sure. You don't need me here and the new power source that you have made isn't the same as the other elevators use," Shizu said sighing. As it means the men she brought with her aren’t needed to pull the ropes anymore. (4)

"Wait, since I have books that can teach you how the elevators in my land works you can stay and learn how,” Ranma suggested. The other girls inwardly growled at the thought. "Besides, I still have to tell you about where I'm from right?" 

If it was possible steam would come out of the girl's  ears right now.

"If no one minds I would like to stay here,” She turned towards Thomas. "Um, you are the master of this castle are you not. If you don't mind I would like to stay here. I'm not sure what I can do but I will try my best not to be a burden."

"Sure, I see no problem with this,” Thomas said.

'GREAT! MORE COMPETITION!' the girls thought to themselves.

Ranma remembered that there's an empty room next to his. "Hey Thomas, there's a room right next to mine that's empty. If you and she don't mind she can use it. Besides she's going to be hanging out a lot around my room since that's where the book for the elevators is."

"Err, sure. I've got no problem with that,” Thomas gulped when he noticed the glares sent his way by the other girls.

"I too have no problem with this,” Shizu said.

"Come on Shizu, I'll show you to your room before I go and see what this rune  can do," Ranma said as he grabbed Shizu's hand and dragged her to where his and her rooms where located leaving behind a room full of fuming female teenagers.

"Ranma does mean wild horse where he comes from right?" Martha asks and saw the girls nod. "Well the name does suit him, he acts like an untamed horse. Any girl that's after him will have to tame him hard to get him under control. It looks like he's taking a liking to this Shizu. If you don't work harder you'll never find out just how much of a wild horse Ranma is." 

Martha smiled as she saw the young girls that are after Ranma blush a deep red at what she just said. (5)

!

Out in the grassland-

Ranma never felt so alive before as he ran with all his might. Jumping higher than he ever could and landing farther away with each bound he felt like he's at the top of the world. The monsters he met were too easy now. With his new speed he cut them down before they knew what hit them. He did get a cape from the wolf he had just killed which he put on. The Chaos Rune seemed to give the Gale Rune a major power charge. In other words when he used the Gale Rune everything slows down like a time freeze. He sees things as if someone has pressed the slow button for this world. The Chaos and Gale Runes must be letting his brain go much faster or else everything would just be a blur. But using it wears him out and he needs to take a break to recover. 

Then Ranma came across a monster he hadn't met yet, a Troll Dragon. It's a blue scaled dragon and has blue flame burning on its back. Its forearms are massive wings and its hind legs were like those of a bird of prey. It saw him and flew down spitting out blue fireballs at him.

"So you're hungry huh? Well I'm ready to see what this Chaos Rune can do!" Ranma shouted at the dragon as it tried to hit him with its fire breath.

A  fast sweep from Ranma gave the Troll Dragon a deep slash on its side making the dragon even madder then before. It flew up and lets out a huge breath of flames trying to burn him with spay fire.

"Getting way too hot down here! Time to ground this dragon," Ranma said before jumping high and slicing the dragon's left wing off. The dragon gave a roar in pain and fell down hard to the ground below. Ranma still hasn't landed yet so he thought it was time to use his true rune.

Dark purple energy surrounded him as he gathered energy to attack. The Rune of Chaos glowed bright as it gathered power for its first spell. 

"Chaos Blast!" Ranma shouted casting the spell sending a ball of chaos magic at the dragon.

The dragon looked up just in time to see a ball of energy hit it. The blast sent the dragon falling and hitting the ground head first killing it.

"Now that's a spell!" Ranma said looking at where the dragon lay dead. 

Ranma went to work cutting the dragon’s belly for the items it held within, a pile of potch and a belt of strength are what he found inside.

‘Wait, Cecile told me that Troll Dragons are usually found on the Plain of Amur. That means I ran all the way here. Boy, time flies by when you're having fun. The sun is already setting,’ Ranma thought as he put on the belt of  strength feeling it giving him a little power boast.

In the  distance Ranma spied a large dust cloud of a large number of horse riders. Taking a closer look he saw a glint of silver-white hair. 'So Chris and her knights are out and about. I better go and see where they're going." 

He wrapped the cape he got earlier and used the Umi-Sen-Ken so that the knights don't see him.

!

Elsewhere -

Borus, Roland, Salome and Louis were the only knights with her. Leo and Percival were back at Vinay-Del-Zexay. The peace treaty got turned into a blood bath as the Lizard and the Karaya clans sneak-attacked them. They had the knights surrounded on all sides and were slaughtering them. Only a small number of knights were with them, the rest were still trap  by the grasslanders.

"The plan is to set the Karaya Village on fire and then flee. The Karayas that are attacking the other knights will retreat when they see their village being burn," Salome shouted as they rode.

"I'll lead the attack you guys follow me afterwards!" Borus shouted as he and half the knights with them raced off.

"Borus! Remember, don't turn it into a blood bath! Just destroy the village only!" Chris shouted out to him.

Roland moved his horse to be right next to hers. "My lady, there was something running along us before taking off. I could sense it, but it disappeared before I could find it."

"Huh? I don't see anything," Louis shouted riding with Chris.

"I'm an elf. I have much better senses than you,” Roland said.

"It doesn't matter. We need to catch up with Borus' group!" Chris shouted as she got her horse to ride faster.

!

At the Karaya Village-

Borus's men are already attacking the village when Ranma got to there. The warriors that were left behind were falling to the enraged knights. The smell of burning wood and flesh hit Ranma hard. All around him villagers and knights fought and died, with the knights winning, thanks to most of the warriors out of the village. The battlefield resounded with the shrieks of the wounded and the trampled under the ever moving mass. The clash of weapons and armor could be heard everywhere. The knights were lighting the houses on fire and killing everyone they met.

"I have to save them," Ranma said to himself as he saw eight knights riding after fleeing villager's, mostly unarmed women and children.

Ranma rushed across the distance between himself and the knights in a heartbeat and cut the straps holding the saddles on the horses, making the knights fall off of their mounts. Taking off the cape Ranma reappeared in front of the fallen knights. He slowly took out his broken katana. 

“If you want to fight someone, fight me. You are cowards for attacking unarmed women and children,” Ranma said to them.

The first knight let out a yell as he rushed at Ranma hoping to slice him in two. Ranma sidestepped away from the downward blow and struck the knight with his sword between his armor plating of his torso. Even if it's broken the point is still sharp.

He pulled out his sword to block an incoming blow from another knight as the other one fell heavily wounded. Ranma hit the knight with the chestnut fist with his left hand while his right  held off his sword. The armor he wore became covered with huge dents, just hinting to what the insides now looks like.

The knight fell backwards showing three of the remaining 6 knights running towards him. Grabbing the fallen knight by his foot Ranma swung him around knocking the incoming knights into one of the burning houses. They screamed as they were burn in the inferno within. To finish things off Ranma threw the knight he was still holding into the incoming knight knocking  him back several feet away. One knight ran to him and Ranma spun around kick him in the head.

Looking at the last remaining knights he pointed his sword at them. "Run or die!"

The knights took one look at their fallen comrades and hesitated before deciding that his life is too important to him and ran.

Looking  around Ranma saw a larger group of knights riding after some more villagers. Knowing that he couldn't waste any more time he had to handle them fast. Channeling energy from the chaos rune for his energy attack his "Moko Takabisha!" it was much larger than usual. The blast threw the knights in all directions.

Borus looks up at the explosion and spots the familiar figure. "Ranma! What are you doing here?"

Ranma pointed his bloody sword at the blond knight. "Attacking unarmed villagers isn't very noble for a knight. Chris told you to just burn the  village, not turn it into a massacre."

"I must agree. This isn't a way for a knight to act," said a man walking up to them. The dark haired man is older than he looks from what Ranma could feel. He's missing his right eye and covered it with a black eye patch. He wore a black long coat with metal plates on it for armor. He had on a grey belt with a sheath hanging on it. He wore grey boots and his tan gauntlets  held a double blade sword.

"More like a coward and bully don't you think?" said a woman accompanied him. She looks to be in her late twenties and has black hair and yellow eyes. She's wearing a white shirt and a blue jacket, but shortened by her tying the bottom up. She also wore a white skirt and black leggings. In her gloved hand is a single blade straight sword.

Ranma felt Chris entering the village and knew he had to see her. 

“Hey you two, can you handle Borus. He's not even worth  my time," Ranma said to the two newcomers. "I have to find his leader."

"Sure, he's no trouble cutie," the woman said giving him a wink.

"You go and do what you need to do young one. We'll handle this," the man said to him

Borus is livid at being dismissed like that. "What! How DARE you just leave like this! Fight me like a man!"

"I'll fight you when you act like a man!" Ranma jumped over the burning houses towards Chris.

"Come back here!" Borus shouted and moved to follow him when the man and woman blocked his path.

"Hold it! Don't forget us!” the woman said.

"You have us to deal with first,” the man said.

The words Ranma said to him stayed in Borus' mind as he faces off with the two fighters. 'I'll fight you when you act like a man!'

!

At the other end of the village-

A  terrible feeling that something monumental was going to happen soon had settled over Chris. The very moment she had entered the Karaya Village and started making her way slowly along the burning houses the feeling made its presence known. Salome, Roland and the knights with them had departed, assaulting the village from separate sides to minimize the  chances of direct confrontation with the fleeing villagers. Only Louis stood by her now.

"Lady Chris, are you okay?"

"Yes Louis, I..." Chris stopped as she spotted something next to a burning house.

"My lady?" he inquired softly, catching the odd expression on her face. She looks like she just saw a ghost.

"That armor. That coat of arm is" she murmured under her breath. To Louis she was speaking more to herself than to him. "Can it be my fathers?"

Startled, Louis followed her stare to where a beaten, battered, rusty chest plate rested in the scorched grass and dirt. Although he was sadly unfamiliar with the meaning of the symbols etched into the aged metal the young  squire knew that all high-ranking knights beyond a certain rank were issued special, custom-made suits of armor. So if Lady Chris really  believed this could belong to Sir Wyatt, then...

"I'd know this battle gear anywhere," Chris murmured, confirming his suspicions. "It is my fathers!"

"That's your fathers..." Louis was cut off as Chris continued to speak to herself.

"Does that mean that he was killed by a Karayan... here on this land?" Chris asked to no one. "How can that be, if someone here dishonored him."

She closed her eyes, shaking her head slowly, while Louis looked on awkwardly at her. The young boy wished for some gift with words so that he might think of something to say to her. Then her eyes reopened, and  Louis felt his breath caught in his throat. Those cold lavender eyes somehow they didn't resemble the ones he recalled her having at all. They were far too frigid, too uncaring, too murderous.

"This village... we'll be better off with it gone," she muttered in an icy tone that matched her new demeanor.

Before Louis could fully understand this new change in Chris behavior he heard the familiar wail of something slicing through the air. His eyes widened as he spotted the cause and cried out. "My Lady watch out!"

Chris turned to see a young Karayan boy with red hair leaping at her, his hunting knife drawn for a killing blow. She raised her sword ready to  strike him down. Before she could kill the pest a red blur knocked the boy away and stopped her sword. When she saw what it is that is holding her sword at bay, her breath stopped. A broken katana is blocking the strike meant to kill one of these pests.

'RANMA? WHAT IS HE DOING HERE?' So many thoughts race through her mind.

A duck, a griffon and another Karayan youth raced to them. 

"Lulu!" the young boy shouted.

"He's just out cold! He'll be okay, just get out of here now before more knights come," Ranma shouted to them as he continued to hold Chris's sword off. "I hold her off while you make a run for it!"

The duck man nodded as he placed the redhead on the griffon's back. "Hugo, we need to go!"

"But!" the boy named Hugo said wanting to stay and fight.

"No! That guy is risking his life for ours and saved Lulu from a deathblow! We can't throw it away now," the duck man shouted as he and the griffon took off with the boy in tow.

"I'll remember this knight!" Hugo shouted as he followed his friends.

"Ranma why?" Chris began not knowing what else to ask.

"Your knights are killing unarmed villagers and you have the nerve to ask why!" Ranma said twisting his sword so that both swords would be released from the deadlock. He jumped back and leveled his sword at a ready position towards the knight.

"But I... they... my duty to avenge..." Chris began not knowing what to say to him.

"Don't bother. I've seen so many of your kind using honor to hide behind your actions so don't bother trying to make an excuse,” Ranma said coldly.

He saw a young Karayan woman moaning behind Chris. She's dressed in a low cut brown shirt and a white jacket that only covered her back and white pants. She has shoulder length very light brown hair and a beautiful face. She's lying down on her back with a gash was above her left eye.  He looked around and saw that all the villagers who weren't dead have fled the area. He knew he had to get her out of here quick.

"We met as friends, but when we meet again we will be mortal enemies. I'm no friends with a hypocrite saying their honorable while doing something like this at the same time," Ranma said before running past her and grabbing the young girl and leaping away from the village.

But Chris didn't even notice his departure or him grabbing the young girl. She's too lost in thought to notice much. 

'I'm a hypocrite? Someone who  just use honor as something to hide behind?' Chris thought before breaking down crying on her horse. The first man she has fallen for is now her enemy because she lost control of herself in a crucial moment.

!
> Broken Heart or Darkness Comes!
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

!

Opening song of Ranma OAV



(All dressed up to go out on a Sunday Sky is blue, sun is bright... it's a  date day Not gonna say it, can't make me say it No way gonna let you have your way.)

Ranma is seen walking along the edge of the lake shore. The sky is bright blue and white clouds pass over by.

(Even though I don't want you to hate me When you say, "it's okay" and look at me The love don't phase, it's the word that's crazy It's something  I've gotta work on.)

Anne is sitting down at the lake shore edge on a hill watching the lake while holding a flower in her lap.

(You know, here's how it goes You and me we meet on the street And then I'd say, "Outta my way!" I don't know how you can confuse me so)

Ranma walks up to her and they both smile at each other as their eyes met each others.

(But hey, maybe today, with the waves so blue I can be true with you. Who knows maybe I'll say the word "love"...?)

A gust of wind blows the flower into the lake as Anne stands up to see where it was blown to.

(Gonna kiss you now, hold you now, this is love we've found Even if it's just in my dreams)

Ranma stands right next to her offers her a flower he held in his hand.

(C'mon hold me now, real tight now let me show you how fine I say, have your way... I love you!)

Anne takes the flower smiling, her eyes glowing brightly. Ranma smiles back, but then turns his head looking up the hill.

(C'mon kiss me now, no words now it's just us for now. Even if I don't know why... I want you!)

Standing side by side are Belle holding her mallet in both hands, Sharon with her fists clenched to her sides armed with her shield, Kathy holding a bull whip, Mamie holding a frying pan, Sanae Y with her arms crossed over her chest, Shizu held a basket of apples, Emily with a closed fist in front of her face, and Ernie holding a big book in one arm while tilting her glasses so that you could see the sunlight shining on them. Sunset stands nearby smirking. 

(Gonna hold you now, all mine now, it don't matter how Don't you see, it's just me... I need you!)

Ranma backs away, his hands in front of him with a fearful expression on his face as each of the girls threw stuff at him. Ranma ducks a mallet, a spinning shield, a bull whip, a frying pan, a spear thrown butt first, apples thrown from a basket, and a large rock, but gets hit by a book to his face and sending him into the water.

(C'mon hold me now, real tight now let me show you how fine I say, have your way... I love you!)

Anne and Sunset laughs as a short busty redhead has now taken the place of Ranma and the scene ends with the flower Anne was holding before floating on the  water.

!

In the plains of the Grasslands –

It is night fall as a red blur ran through the grass plains. Taking a closer look it was a young man wearing a red shirt and metal shoulder pads and in his arms in a young woman a bit older than him. He wasn't running as fast as he could run because the woman's body wouldn't be able to withstand the G-force of his full speed.

Ranma couldn't believe that Chris and her knights would just attack unarmed villagers like that. At least he was able to save some of the villagers and the kid that was about to be killed by the female knight. Thinking back he saw those two boys and that duck before at Brass castle. He had also just killed at least a dozen people and mimed a couple if they're still… alive. He forced down the bile trying to come out of his mouth before he throws up all other his patient. Thinking of that big energy blast he threw at that large group of knights is a lot safer.

Seeing a place to rest Ranma stopped at the base of a lone oak tree. He laid the  young woman against the tree and checked over her injuries, which aren't too bad unless left untreated. Taking out two bottles of Medicine A from his sub-space pocket he splashed the stuff over her gash on her head. The medicine healed the wound without leaving a scar. He got her to drink the other one for any internal injuries and minor bruises and scrapes.

Sitting back on the tree Ranma got lost in his thoughts.  

‘Why did I kill those knights?' Ranma asked himself. 

He wondered what made him do it as he looked down at his hands, closing and opening them as he stared. Sure, the knights were killing people, but still he never killed before, at least he didn't relish it. When he fought against Saffron the Phoenix God and he nearly killed him, but he held back most of his power and he was reborn anyway. Against those knights he went all out and didn't feel even a little remorse at having taken a life. He did felt a strange energy field around the village when he got there, but paid it little mind at the time. Ranma was lost in his thoughts trying to find reason why until darkness took him.

!

Meanwhile -

Four people are talking to each other. Each of their faces is covered in shadow.

"A new player has come into the picture. This person's name is Ranma," a man said to the rest of them. Even in the shadows it was clear that he wore a mask.

"He's an unknown element that even I couldn't have known about. He just appeared out of thin air," one of the men said.

"I can feel great power coming from him," the only woman of the group said.

"He bears a True Rune," a man dressed in a black outfit said to them. His eyes were hidden by the black hat he wore. "I can feel it on him."

"What another True Rune? I thought only the Elemental True Runes are here!" the woman said shocked. "Are you sure?"

"My Eight-Fold Rune can feel any other True Runes close by. There's no doubt about it, he bears a True Rune but which one I heave no idea,” the man in black said.

"Then we can play with this Ranma. We will make him do what we want him to do," the man said thinking of ways to do so.

"No, you cannot get this Ranma to do what you want, nor can you even guess what he will do," the man in black said coldly.

"Why is that?" the man ask.

"For I can feel the power of chaos is surrounding him making it impossible to even second guess him,” the man in black said.

"If it is so then the plans we have made will have to be change,” the woman said.

"Yes indeed,” the mask man said.

!

At the plains-

When Ranma finally woke up the sun was already high in the sky. The young woman he saved last night was still sleeping. After adjusting her so that she would be more comfortable he got up and stretched out his stiff back.

"Must have use more energy then I thought I did last night," Ranma said out loud. Then he notice that the woman he had saved was waking up.

Stirring from her slumber Anne didn't feel all that well. She vision is blurry and she couldn't remember what she was doing  before she went and blank out. Then last night hit her. Her pub had opened and then the iron heads attacked and burned down the village. A passing knight on horseback had hit her with the flat part of his sword, and then all was dark. When she could she clearly she saw the most handsome man she had ever seen standing over her. Those eyes, that face, those hard rock muscles, she must have died and heaven has given her a hunk of an angel to watch over her.

'Oh well, I might had died, but I where ever I am at least I got a hunk of an angel to watch over me!' she thinks to herself. All kinds of thoughts, mostly things that little children really, REALLY shouldn't know about, went through her head. Ranma felt a shiver go up his spine, but forced himself to ignore it.

"Are you okay?" Ranma asked when he noticed that her face was flush. "I treated your wounds last night after I got you out of the village. Are you hurt anywhere?"

"You mean I'm not dead?" a large sweatdrop slide down her head. When she realized that she wasn't looking at an angel.

"...No, what made you think that?" Ranma said wondering where she got an idea like that from.

"Don't worry about that!" Anne said laughing nervously as more sweatdrops appeared on her head. 

“Ok?” Ranma ask. 

'I can't let him know I thought I had died at seeing how handsome he is,’ Anne thought shaking her head and focused herself. 'On the other hand that means I was saved by a handsome stud! Maybe I should show him how grateful I am.'

Another shiver went up Ranma's spine. He looked around and saw the look in the mysterious woman's eyes. 'Huh? Why is she looking at me like that? If I didn't know better it sort of looks like the same type of look Ucchan and Shampoo used to give me.'

"Are you sure you're ok? Your faced is all red?" Ranma ask her seeing her face becoming even redder then before. He put his hand on her forehead and felt her temperature go up even higher. "Maybe you're coming down with a fever or something?" 

He's STILL oblivious to the ways women work.

'Must not loose focus, must not loose focus,’ Anne thinks as she sees the concern in his eyes. ‘What was I thinking again?' 

Anne caught her breath.

"I'm fine, thank you," Anne said breathlessly. Ranma helped her to her feet and steadied her until she regained her balance and she snapped out of her daydreams. "So what now?"

"Well, I need to get back to Lake Castle and since you have nowhere else to go do you want to come with me?"

"Love to, and the names Anne handsome," Anne told him making him blush a bit.

"Name's, Ranma now if you don't mind," Ranma said taking her into his arms again much to Anne's delight. "You need to hold on tight. This is going to be one hell of a ride."

"WhaaaaAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" Anne screams in his arms. Having someone race across the plains at speeds you thought were impossible tends to make you scream.

!

Meanwhile, back at Lake Castle -

"Are you sure about this?" Cecile asks along with Martha and Thomas. They’re looking at the rebuilt and upgraded gate doors. 

"Sure! We have followed the guide lines in the book perfectly," Ernie said looking into one of the books Ranma brought with him from his old life. She and the others that been working on the gate. They have been on it  since they had found the book that helped them building the new gate.

"Along with my knowledge about pulley systems" Shizu added.

"With all those gears and other stuff we found in the tunnels we were able to fully gear up the gate." Belle clapped her hands to remove any dirt after she put in the last touches to the gate gears. She couldn't believe the vast amount of knowledge that the books that Ranma brought with him. She had already been working on several other inventions as the books gave her the guide lines to follow.

“And I turn a couple of days work into an hour,” Sunset said having used her telekinesis to move the heavy gears around and put them all in the right places while the others did the work to connect them and ale it all work.

“Yeah with you around, I can really do some big work that I always wanted to do but never had the help to do the heavy lifting,” Belle said.

The gateway had now been mechanized. Connected to the gate were metal gears and chains protected from the rain by the newly made roof at the back of the gate. Gears that when turned could open or close the two gate doors without having someone to pull the heavy doors open or push it to close it. On a metal box on the right side of the gate are the controls to opening and closing it. A small iron plate sat on the top of a six-sided hole that needed a crank to turn it.

"This way you would be able to close or open the gate faster than by doing it by hand," Belle said showing Cecile, Thomas and Martha the hexagon crank she had made.

"Also since the crank can be removed there's no way to open the gate without destroying it," Ernie said looking up from her book.

"Making sure that the gate won't be open by anyone else," Shizu said.

“There is me by using my magic to move it without the crank,” Sunset adds. 

"All  you need to close it is in an emergency is to pull on the lever to slam it shut," Belle inputted pointing to the wooden box the held the lever inside it so it wouldn't rust. It is placed on the wall by the steps where Cecile usually stands when she is guarding the gateway.

"Really now, there's no need for this," Thomas said looking at the new gate. Why had they went and built this gate he had no idea why.

"Well you girls certainly are doing your best to earn your keep," Martha said.

"Well, we got all these books that Ranma got from where he comes from and we  just want to show him how good we are," Ernie said blushing.

"Really now! Ranma will just HAVE to thank you three for all your hard work wouldn't he. I bet you girls have a couple of ideas on just HOW he's going to thank you don't you,” Martha said making all three girls blush crimson red, with Sunset rolling her eyes as she has no interest in Ranma at all.

"Hey! I helped too you know!" Emily shouted from the top of the gate wall waving her arms at them down below. "I had to put up these gears and chains together! I get to be thanked by Ranma too!" 

She blushed when her  words caught up to her and Martha laughed.

“No you place them while I held them in the air,” Sunset pointed out.

"You did a great job at putting the gears together!" Shizu shouted up to her.

Then something caught Emily's eye in the front of the castle. Someone was running towards the castle while holding someone else in his or her arms. As she couldn't make out if it was a guy or a girl from that distends. As the figure got closer she saw its Ranma holding a beautiful young woman in his arms! 

‘Why that hussy, who does she think she is!' Emily thought to herself.

“You see something?” Sunset ask.

"Open the gates. Ranma's coming with someone!" Emily shouted down to the others after getting her emotions under control. 'OoOohh he better have a  good excuse for carrying her like that!'

"Great time to see if the gate works!" Belle shouted as she inserted the crank and started to turn it.

A low grinding of metal sounded through the air as the gears turned on each other. The gate doors creaked as they opened up giving them a view of Ranma running towards them holding a young Karayan woman in his arms. Ernie, Shizu and Belle are NOT pleased!

Ranma stopped in front of  them as he passed through the gates and Emily jumped down from the gate wall, which Sunset caught her with her telekinesis and place her on the ground. The shaken Karayan woman got off of him, still shaken by Ranma's running speed.

"Don't do that again!" she yelled at Ranma.

"Anne? Is that you!" Someone asked behind her. She turned around and spotted a familiar person.

"Aunt Martha!" Anne forgot about berating her pigtailed savior as she ran over and gave Martha a hug. (1)

"It's been years," Martha said hugging her back.

"Little Anne?" Piccolo asked as he got out of his tent.

"Martha is your aunt?" Ranma asked Anne as she tried to engulf the smaller woman in a hug.

"Yes, she's my sister’s grandchild," Martha answered not at all minding the bone-crushing force being applied to her body.

"Auntie, the village has been burned to the ground," Anne said softly as tears made its way down her cheek.

"What?" Martha ask shocked.

"Yes. If it wasn't for Ranma I wouldn't have gotten out of there alive," Anne said looking down. "The Zexen Knights attacked us without warning and killed many of the villagers."

"What? Lady Chris' knights are supposed to protect, not..." Thomas began.

"How could they," Cecile whispered as the image of her hero broke apart.

"I was there. I saw it first hand. I managed to save most of the villagers by stopping some of the knights attacking them. I'm sorry that I arrived  there too late thought. If I got there sooner no one would have..." Ranma said looking down. Not only has he killed he could have prevented the whole thing if he arrived sooner.

"Ranma," Martha said walking  up to him. She wrapped her arms around him. "Thank you. For saving  Anne's life, for saving the other villager's, thank you."

"Welcome," Ranma said breaking from Martha. He's still not that comfortable with feelings and stuff. "Something wasn't right about the village though. I had never killed before last night, I held back, but I still killed. There was some kind of strange energy was surrounding the village when I fought there."

"Let me see," Piccolo said walking up to Ranma and Anne, "If magic was involved there should be some left around you two."

Piccolo closed his eyes and held his staff up in front of them. After a small light show he opened his eyes and gave a deep frown. "This is the work of magic. Someone put a Rage spell over the Karayan Village when the attack happened."

"The Rage spell? What's that?" Sunset ask.

"The Rage Spell is something that my Master Crowley showed me once. Its purpose is to turn anyone's hatred to untold levels, making the people it’s used on to do things they wouldn't normally do. It’s mostly used as a berserker spell," Piccolo said remembering what Crowley told him of that spell.

"That means," Martha said, "That someone wanted the villagers to be killed then."

"It also explains why I didn't care if the knights I fought lived or not." Ranma said shocked.

"Yes indeed, but all we can do now is to wait,” Sunset said.

"Master Thomas, is it okay for my niece stays here?"

"Sure, it's fine with me. Let's go in now," Thomas said to everyone.

"Ranma, can you stay with me for a while longer?" Anne gave him the "puppy- dog" look, something that Ranma can never refuse.

"Ok," Ranma said taking a hold of her hand, leaving behind Belle, Shizu, Emily, and Ernie boiling in anger and jealousy.

"Look at the way she got him wrapped around her finger like that! She's after Ranma! That Hussy!" Belle not quite yelled. The other girls just nodded while glaring at the retreating backs of Ranma and Anne.

"She needs comfort now," Cecile inputted, not really caring who gets Ranma. ‘She BETTER NOT try anything like that with Master Thomas!'

"She's all wrong for him!" Shizu frowned.

"She's just his type," Cecile inputted.

"She's too old for him!" Emily growled.

"She's just right." Cecile tried to calm the other girls down with no success.

"Her breasts are just as big as Kathy's," Ernie moaned.

"Please don't go there," Cecile moaned too as she and the other girls looked down to their chest and knew that the new girl and Kathy out chested  them. (2)

“Besides both of them aren’t bigger then me,” Sunset said making the girls stare at her huge breasts. “I’m a H cup by the way.”

‘She wins,’ the five girls all thought.

!

Dear journal,

Two days had passed since Anne came to the castle. She told me that her pub she just opened the day the village burned to the ground and asked if she can use the one here at the castle. I gave her permission and she cleaned it up and is now serving the visiting people who come to the castle now and then. She still moans the lost of the people of the village and finds comfort in her Aunt Martha. Ranma has been meditating in the tunnels under castle saying he needs to control the darkness that's in his heart now. He stills trains me in that sword art form he knows and I must say that I'm getting the hang of it.

The other girls have taken Anne's arrival in an odd way. They feel for her lost, but at the same time they seem mad at her every time she's with Ranma. Yesterday Muto told the girls about Ranma's curse. Boy that was something to see. The girls all went to Ranma and asked him if it was true. Ranma told them he used to change with hot and cold water. Sharon and Emily wanted to see the change. Sharon used the cold water and Emily with hot.  All they got was a wet Ranma. After laughing at their dumbfounded faces Ranma told them of the Chimera rune he has that nullified the curse. Sharon and Emily laughed and said they were sorry about what they did. Mamie did say something odd to Kathy and Anne that made them eep about.

When I asked Martha what Mamie was talking about she gave me an odd look and told me it was girl talk. Some good news is that Sebastian, who has been missing for a few days, finally reappeared a day ago. It turns out he has been balancing the books for the castle all of this time. Even with the money Sunset, Ranma, Mamie and Anne are bringing in there still isn't enough for the castle to be out of the red. He said at the rate the castle is spending there wouldn't be enough to buy food with in less than a month. Then Sharon got the idea to open more shops around here to make money. 

The bad news is that Sebastian said that just to open up a new shop here you would have to bribe the old men in change of Zexen, like my father, just to open one new store. I suggested that we could just have people come here and open up shops,  but the old men wouldn't let that happen either. Then Martha said that Lake Castle is a free-trade area since it's nether in Zexen or the  Grasslands. After searching through the castle records we finally found the document that proves that this place is a free-trade area. All we have to do now is to find shopkeepers willing to move here. We're already building the framework for some new buildings and we made the old guard house into an inn with Sebastian over seeing it.

Oh yeah Kathyss father Billy showed up yesterday too.

!

Flashback -

A  tall man dressed in a cowboy outfit like Kathy was in the lobby of the castle. He had a heavy muscular built and a lasso was hanging on his belt. He had dirty blonde hair and pale blue eyes. He was looking at the Owl Painting and the Rose Jar Ranma found inside two of the monsters he killed. Muto thought they would look nice in the lobby and set them on the table and the empty painting frame by the stairs.

"Now these are antiques," Billy said looking at them.

"Who are you?" Thomas asked walking down the stairs.

"I'm  a treasure hunter and I must say that these antiques you have are quite  rare. Mind if I play you a card game for them?" Billy showed him a pack  of cards.

"Dad? Is that you?" Kathy shouted walking through the front door along with Ranma. (3)

"Kathy?" Billy said with a shocked look on his face.

"He's your dad?" Ranma ask Kathy as she got over her shock.

"Yup. My treasure hunting dad that left home when I was eight to find  treasure, leaving me to fend for myself," Kathy pouted. 

Ranma felt a cold rage settle in the pit of his stomach. The slight battle aura he was emitting was the only outward sign he gave of his displeasure with the man. 'He's almost like my old man.'

"Well, I did send you money every time I had some to send home," Billy said trying not to be too intimidated by the glowing teenager next to his daughter.

"Yeah, that was until I was about fourteen. Then I had to make money by myself."

"Well, he's much better than my father," Thomas said looking down.

"He beats out mine, but by only a small margin," Ranma growled.

"You two have worse fathers than mine?" Kathy asked shocked.

"Yeah, we do Kathy. We'll leave you two to talk. I think you have lots to  catch up with," Thomas said leaving with Ranma. Ranma shot Kathy's  father a smoldering glare before leaving the reunited father and  daughter behind for a long talk.

!

Billy  in the end decided to stay here to help out and make up the lost time with Kathy. He's been helping to build the new buildings and helping out with the stable. Kathy seems to be much happier than before. However, Billy seems to be really uncomfortable whenever he's around Ranma. I don't blame him, getting on Ranma's bad side is one quick way of getting  yourself killed.

Today we decided to split up and spread the word that Lake Castle is now a free-trade zone. Since Ranma can't show his  face in Zexen me, Emily and Sanae Y will go to Brass Castle and Vinay Del Zexay using three of the horses. Sunset is already visiting the villages she made connections with from her selling the loot from monsters to the merchants there, to spread the word and see if there isn’t anyone interested. Also it looks like Kathy has a little half brother in Vinay Del Zexay. His name is Melville and Billy wants us to pick him up while we're there. 

!

Hearing something was happening at the gatehouse Thomas closed his journal and  rushed out of his room to check what's going on outside.

"Halt bandits! You won't get away!" Cecile shouted out trying to draw everyone's attention in case she needed backup. She ran up the steps to the lever box, opened it and pulled the lever down making the gate doors  slam shut before the bandits could get through.

There were six of  the so-called bandits, four men and two women. One of the men carried a huge crossbow on his back. He wore a long blue and white coat, black slacks, and wore a white headband on his head keeping his tall blonde hair out of his eyes. 

A middle-aged man had his black-grey hair ponytailed and a long strand of hair is sticking out in front of his face. He wore a purple coat and pants and some necklaces around his neck. 

One of the women had dark hair and is dressed in a white shirt and a blue jacket, but it was shorten by her tying the bottom up. She also wore a white skirt and black leggings. With a sword on her belt.

A shaggy black haired man stood in front of the group. He wore a black long coat with metal plates on it for armor. He has a sword hanging on his belt.

A grey haired man was dressed in tan and dark colored leather jacket and combat pants. He also had a tan chest plate over his heart and a red scarf tied on his left arm. He stood by the group leader. He had two sais hanging on his belt. 

The last was a dark skinned young Karayan girl dressed in an orange and brown shirt and black pants. A bow and quiver  hanged on her back.

"Great! Now were all trapped and she thinks were bandits," Ace said to his friends.

"Now, now Ace, we just have to get this gate open," Queen said keeping a calm face.

"This gate needs a crank to open it and if not we have to climb over the  wall," Jacques told them looking over the gears for the gate.

"Who would have thought that a rundown castle like this would have such a good gate," Joker said sighing.

"We're not bandits," Aila said to Cecile.

"That's what they all say!" Cecile shouted out.

"You do know it's six to one," Ace pointed out.

"Oh really?" Looking up they saw Emily, Sharon and Sanae Y standing on top of the gate wall.

"Gadget, it's battle time!" Belle shouted as she rode on top of Gadget Z waving her hammer in what she hoped is a threatening way.

"You just had to say it didn't you," Queen said giving Ace 'the eye.' Ace does this to them every so often.

"Let's just talk then," Geddoe said to Cecile.

"Cecile! What's going on here?" Thomas shouted as he Martha, Anne and Ranma came up running to them.

"I trap these bandits,” Cecile said.

"Aila? You're still alive!" Anne cried out running to Aila and giving her a hug.

"Anne! I thought you died!" Aila said hugging her back.

"Aila,  it's been years since I last saw you. Just look how much you've grown,"  Martha said as she walked up to her fellow Karayan.

"Martha? You're here too?" Aila gawked at her.

"Well this is turning out to be a strange day," Queen said to nobody.

"It's you two!" Ranma shouted pointing to Queen and Geddoe, "You're the ones who helped me out at the village!"

"Well this will take a while to explain," Thomas said.

!

Awhile later -

"So somebody used a Rage Spell over the village," Geddoe said calmly.

"Yes, that's what Piccolo said anyways," Ranma said. They were standing in front of the main house.

"That would explain a few things," Queen said. She saw first hand what happened in the village.

“Heard of that spell being used to drive soldiers into a fury,” Joker said.

"So it was you who saved Anne from the village?" Aila asked Ranma.

"Yeah, it's no big deal,” Ranma said.

"So you guys didn't come here to open a shop then?" Thomas asked the 'bandits.'

"Sorry kid, just passing through,” Ace replied.

"Tell me young one, where did you learn to fight?" Joker asked Ranma. He could clearly see that Ranma wasn't your normal everyday fighter. He could feel great amount of energy coming from him.

"I was trained to fight ever since I could remember," Ranma said softly. He didn't like being reminded of his past and the others saw it on his face. Geddoe and his group promptly decided not to ask anymore questions that might  set him off.

"Well, if we run into anyone who wants to open a shop we'll tell them to go here," Ace said to them.

"Thank you. That's sure help out a lot," Thomas thanked them. "Cecile, would you open up the gates for them."

"Yes Master Thomas, and sorry about before,” Cecile said.

"So you're going with them Alia?" Anne asked the young Karayan warrior.

"Yeah, but I will see you again," Alia said as she and her group left with Cecile.

"Hey! You guys forgot something!" Emily shouted to them as Jacques ran after his friends, "I found him standing around on the ship out back."

"Well, we have a full day's hard work ahead of us so let's all go to bed," Thomas said to the group.

!

The next day-

"So you guys are going to the Great Hollow?" Thomas asks from atop of one of Kathy's horses.

"Yes, we need to inform the Lizard and the Karayan clans that someone wanted  the knights and the grassland clans to fight with each other," Martha  said.

"I knew the late chief of the Lizard clan well. That might get us a friendly reception when we get there," Piccolo inputted.

"I'll be acting as bodyguard for everyone on the way there," Ranma said. "Besides, from what I heard the Lizard Clan are strong fighters and I want to see for myself."

“And I want to see what I can get for these things I gotten from the monsters I been killing,” Sunset said on her cart being pulled by two horses. The cart is loaded with loot she has been collecting from the monsters and items that she needs have an appraiser to look at the artifacts, ornaments, pots, and paintings she found to know their value. 

"Well take care," Sanae Y said to Ranma.

"See you later!" Emily shouted as she rode off with Thomas and Sanae Y.

"Let's do this thing," Ranma said as he ran aside the horses that Piccolo and Martha rode off. With Sunset following them on her cart loaded with goods.

!
> A Duel for Battle or A Clash of Pride!
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

!

Chris, along with her fellow Zexen Knights and a few low-level knights, had just marched from Brass Castle to the entrance to the Great Hollow. This is the home of Lizard Clan and where the Karayan survivors of the burned down village are staying in. The Zexen counsel had ordered the knights to destroy the Great Hollow and everyone it in. All the knights except one have prepared mentally and physically for the  battle.

'We met as friends, but when we meet again we will be mortal enemies. I'm no friends with a hypocrite saying their honorable while doing something like this at the same time.'

Those words still haunted Lady Chris. It was a good thing she had managed to stop herself from crying by the time Roland and Salome came to get her and Louis. She was sure that Louis told Salome what happened in the village massacre, but Salome didn't bring up the subject yet.

"Chris, we are almost there now," Salome said breaking her train of thought.

The path to the entrance to the Great Hollow is surrounded on both sides with solid rock formations. There is a side path that leads to the entrance to the underground highway that the lizard clan uses to get to Duck Village faster. Because of the narrow pathway to the entrance of the Great Hollow made it easily defended. The knights could only enter a few at a time, destroying their numbers advantage.

The Lizard and the Karayan warriors were standing in front of the entrance  waiting for them. A green scaled lizard man wearing a feather headpiece is the new chief Dupa. He held a large spear that has three blades, with two of them pointed downwards. Standing next to him is Lucia, the chief of the Karayan clan. She was still a beauty for her age and still has a fine figure even after motherhood. She held a whip and her fire rune glowed brightly, ready for battle.

Before the two sides could begin to battle each other a large energy ball slammed in between them. Huge dust clouds blew over the area, blinding both sides. When the dust clouds finally cleared away they saw what cause it, a young man standing  between the two armies. He wore metal shoulder-pads and a chest plate over a red shirt with the sleeves cut off. Dark-blue pants molded his legs, showing that his limbs were well built with muscles. He wore a metal armband on his right arm and a white bandanna tied around his forehead. He also wore a steel gauntlet on his left arm. His black hair is made into a pigtail. His weapon is a broken katana, an odd thing to see in the grasslands as they weren't used often or made around here.

The female warriors of both sides could clearly see how handsome he is (Even if they are usually surrounded by finely muscled men almost 24/7 the pigtailed warrior gave the appearance of a battle hardened warrior. However, what made him different is that he has a cheerful innocence about him, which none of their fellow teammates had).

"Wow what a hunk!" more than one female fighter of both sides said out loud. Making the guys around them facefault.

"Ranma!" the six Zexen Knight gasped in shock. 

They had no idea that Ranma had  that kind of power. Sure, they seen that he had that "Breaking Point" move he used against the Stone Golem, but that energy ball he just used was HUGE!

"It's him! He's the one I saw in Karayan village. He was the one that killed seven knights I was with then used a blast of magic  to kill about a dozen more!" This statement came from the knight that Ranma let go back awhile back.

"You're the one?" Salome heard the report that somebody fought aside with the villagers and killed over a dozen of the knights and mimed a good half a dozen as well. He fought them like they were nothing at all.

"They were weak, and if they thought they could kill unarmed villagers without any recursions in return they were wrong," Ranma said with an emotionless voice.

Every knight heard about what happened at the village and knew that Ranma was right.

"Ranma! What are you doing here?" Louis shouted out to him.

"I'm not about to let you guys make a bad situation worse than it already is," Ranma declared a he got in a ready stance. "The only way you guys are going to fight the grasslanders is to go through me."

"Gladly!" Leo shouted as he jumped off his horse and ran straight for Ranma. His ax was raised above his head, ready to split Ranma in half.

Leo brought his ax down with all his might, but was stop when Ranma caught his ax blade with just the fingers of his right hand. The ax blade almost reached his palm of his hand, but he held it without showing any strain. Leo, was using all of his strength, but couldn't break his axe free from Ranma's powerful grip. This shocked everyone. Leo is the strongest out of all of the Zexen knights and was stopped by a young man with only one hand.

"Is that all you got?" Ranma asked him. 

He's used to dealing with super strong fighters all the time. Ryoga's at least four times stronger than this guy is. Using his free left hand Ranma backhanded Leo onto his chest, sending him flying through the air and landing right in front of Chris. The front of his armor now had a big dent in the shape of Ranma's hand. It's clear to everyone that Leo wouldn't be getting up anytime soon. Not with that kind of damage done  to him.

"He just beat Sir Leo like he was nothing," whispered one of the knights, his voice heavy with fear.

"Chris, take your knights and leave now." Ranma said coldly.

"Ranma, does this means that you have sided with the grasslanders?" Chris shouted out to him.

"No I haven't. Both sides have too much hate between them to side with yet," Ranma said to her.

"What do you mean?" This time it was Lucia who spoke out.

But Ranma remained silent.

Percival couldn't wait anymore and shouted out to Ranma. "You're not going to let us fight. Is that right Ranma?"

"There is a two ways. You can either try to kill me or if Chris can beat me in  a dual one-on-one then, I will let you pass." Ranma declare, "Or, if  you insist I can, "persuade" you to leave." Ranma raised his right arm  and made a glowing ball of energy the size of a beach ball appeared in  his hand. Then it got ten times bigger than it was before. Every knight  could sense that if he threw that ball at them they would lose more than  half of troops, and that is if they were lucky.

Chris could not  believe what Ranma was forcing this on her. The first man she had ever  taken an interest in and he opposes her now. Her life mostly consisted  of only two things: training and fighting. She never really considered  going out with anyone before. Sure she felt lonely sometimes, but her  duty will not let her loneness control her.

A cold mask took over  Chris face as duty came to mind again. "Fine, I shall fight you!" Chris  called out to Ranma, getting off of her horse to face him. Ranma let go  of his energy ball and it disappeared in midair.

"Wait Ranma! Let's finish the fight we started in the village!" Borus called out.

"I said I'll fight you when you act like a man. Until then you will just have to watch," Ranma said coldly.

Borus is just about to charge him and chop his head off when Chris brought her arm up to stop him. "Borus, leave this up to me."

She walked right up to Ranma until they were 6 feet apart. "Draw your sword!"

"No,” Ranma said.

"What?" Chris said shock as with everyone else there.

"I will not draw my blade to you because you haven't earned the right to fight me like an equals," Ranma said to her coldly.

"Fine then, it's your head!" Chris said.

Chris charged at Ranma, aiming her sword so she could take him down without killing him. Ranma just sidestepped out of her swing and grabbed her by her sword hand and threw her through the air. Chris managed to land on her feet. 

'At least she's better skilled than Kuno is. A little slow with all that armor on, but the skill is there,’ Ranma thought to himself.

The people here unlike back in his world, the sword skills aren’t meant to show off or for torments. They either have the skills to use their weapons to kill or they die. From both the monsters and people who won’t think twice in killing them in return.

"You're going to  have to do better if you even want a small chance to beat me," Ranma  stated to her. Chris attacked with sword slash after sword slashes  trying to hit Ranma legs to slow him down. But he was moving way too fast for her to even to get close to hitting him.

"Whoever this Ranma is he's no normal fighter, that's for sure," Dupa said to Lucia.

"Yes,  and he's quite a looker too," Lucia said, 'Too bad he isn't just a bit older.' 

She shook her head to get that thought quickly out of her head. He's almost as old as her own son for crying out loud!

"Take this!" Chris yelled using her Phoenix Rune. She sent out lighting fast jabs at Ranma. But Ranma just slapped her sword away from him with his  gauntlet-covered hand on the flat part of the sword blade. 

‘This move is  just like Kuno's multi-strike technique, but she can't hold it for as  long and it tires her out too fast,’ Ranma thought to himself.

"How (GASP) can you (GASP) do  that!?" Chris gasped as she tried to catch her breath. Using the Phoenix Rune always left her breathless afterwards and took her awhile to recover fully. 'How in the world can Ranma move so fast like that?'

"Ranma isn't even trying to fight Chris. He's just playing around with her," Salome said to himself his skillful mind already looking for a way for Chris to beat Ranma. There has to be a way to slow Ranma down. But how is he able to move that fast? Then he remembered that when they first met Ranma he found a Gale Rune on a monster he killed. "Lady Chris Ranma is using his Gale Rune to move at that speed!"

"So you're using a speed rune to fight with are you?" She had regained her breath and is  standing at the ready for Ranmas next move.

"Nope, if I had this fight would have been finished long ago," Ranma said shaking his head.

"How  fast are you then?" Roland called out to him. He's already moving at  the same speed as that blue haired elf with the long nose he saw running  around the Elf Village the last time he had visited there.

Ranma  seemed to just disappear and reappear in less than a second. In his  right hand he held the scarf that Salome was wearing around his neck.

"How  did you..." Salome began fingering where his red scarf used to be. 'If  that's the speed he has when he uses that rune then... what kind of man  IS he!?'

"I'm not even trying and you still haven't even hit me yet," Ranma taunted Chris facing her again.

Chris swung her sword at him faster than before, but again like before she couldn't even get close to even hitting him.

"This is getting old. Just give up now," Ranma said not even trying to look like he was even interest in the fight anymore.

"You'll pay for that!" Chris shouted taking a head swing at him. But using  Salome's scarf like a whip he wrapped it around her sword. He snapped  the 'whip' and the sword came loose from her hand. It spun around in the  air then Ranma caught it on its way down and leveled her own sword  right at her own throat.

"You lose," Ranma said. Then he threw her sword into the ground in front of her. "Take your knights and leave this place."

Picking up her sword she walked back to her knights. "Salome, we're going back to Brass Castle."

"Chris?" Roland began.

"No, Roland, we can't even risk it. If we fight now Ranma will fighting with the Grasslanders and I know he's more than enough to take out more than  half of the troops," Chris said, her fist closed tightly as she got  back on her horse.

"The council will not like this," Salome said to her.

"I know that, but I'm not about to let our troops to fight a battle that we have no chance of winning," Chris said looking at Ranma, wanting to know why things are the way they are. 'Why must we be enemies now? If I had known you would be in that village I would have stopped everything.'  

Chris turned her horse back the way they came and left with a heavy heart.

"Ranma are you done?" a female voice called out causing Chris to look back.

Everyone turned to the tall woman who floated down to Ranma's side from the top of the cliff he was standing at. She stands at 6'7" with long red hair with a yellow stripe and green eyes. She wore a loose pair blue pants with a checkered light blue pattern, a tuck in purple shirt with green stripes, a red tie with white polka dots, a pair of black suspenders, and a pair of brown leather shoes. What really got her attention is the figure of the tall redhead woman, a well toned body and her huge chest, that's being only held in check by her purple shirt. 

The human males are all stun at the young woman’s beauty and figure. The women on the other hand all felt their self-esteem taking a nose drive at the sight of her, her beautiful features and her incredible figure. And the ones who are near their boyfriends steamed at how their men are drooling all over her, not caring that they did the same when they first saw Ranma.

Lucia and the older women took the sight of the young beauty better. Reminding themselves that she’s younger and isn’t a mother for those who are mothers. 

“Yes it’s over,” Ranma said.

“Good we have business to attend to,” the woman said walking with him to the entrance. 

And Chris eye suddenly twitch seeing that stunning beauty so close to Ranma.

!

Up the side path leading to the underground highway before the fighting started - 

Seven figures had just gotten out from the Underground Highway. A griffon, two Karayan youths, a duck man and three people dressed like musketeers. 

Two of them were men dressed alike except for the color of their pants, one tan colored the other red. Both of them wore a brown-red vest over a white shirt and brown gloves. One is a dark skinned man with light brown hair and the other is light skin and blonde haired. 

The last one was a young girl with long brownish red hair. She was dressed in a purple-blue coat with a white collar and dark brown gloves and a musketeer hat with a large red feather. She wore white almost skintight pants and boots the same color as her jacket. All three had belts over their shoulders with rapiers hanging on them.

"Who was that guy?" Lulu asked remembering the fight they had with a man dressed in a black priest outfit. He used two blades that he had hidden up his sleeves. He took them all on and won, easily. They were only alive because that woman in  the blue dress saved them. They picked themselves up after the strangers left and proceeded to the Great Hollow.

"The Zexen Knights! They're getting ready to attack the Great Hollow!" Sgt. Joe shouted out drawing all of their attention.

"First the village now this!" Hugo shouted drawing his blade. Fubar let out a loud shriek.

"Wait look!" Reed shouted making Hugo stop.

A large blast had stuck between the two groups. When the dust cleared they saw it was.

"It's that guy who saved you Lulu!" Hugo shouted out.

"What a HUNK!" Lilly shouted, her hands clasped under her chin with a dreamily smile and hearts in her eyes. Fortunately only her group heard this.

"Not this again," Samus said slapping his forehead. This has got to be the twentieth time she did this.

"Well here we go again," Reed moaned.

"Let's wait here and see what will happen. I get the feeling that whoever this guy is he can handle it," Sgt. Joe said to them.

They watched as Ranma took out Leo, the strongest of all the knights with a  single blow. Then they watch as Ranma and Chris had their duel, more like a one-sided battle. It was more of a game with Ranma dancing around Chris's attacks like she was just a beginner. Then after Ranma beat Chris she and the knights left to go back to Brass Castle.

And a beautiful woman floated down and talk with Ranma showing that she knows him.

“Gaaaag,” Lilly gasps at the sight of the older, stunning beauty who has a figure she would love to have when she’s older. 

“She’s pretty,” Lulu said. 

"Come on, let's get down there now," Hugo said running down the hill with the others right behind him.

!

At the entrants of the Great Hollow -

"You are no ordinary fighter as I first thought are you?" Martha asks coming through the pass after the knights were far enough away.

"Martha, it's been a long time," Lucia called out to her.

"Yes, it has been awhile," Piccolo said as he followed Martha.

"Mom over here!" Hugo called out to her, the rest of his party close behind.

"Hugo you're alive!" Lucia called out with great relief in her voice. She ran up to her child and gave him a hug.

"So we meet again," Ranma said walking with Martha and Piccolo up to the parent and child.

"You're quite the fighter," Dupa said, "Too bad you didn't kill off some of the iron heads."

"So Dupa you're the new chief then," Piccolo said, "I heard about Zepon."

"Yes, the iron heads killed him," Dupa growled.

"That's what we're here to talk about," Ranma said to the two chiefs.

“When Ranma got back he had the lingering effects of a spell cast on him,” Sunset said.

!

Inside the Great Hollow in the chief's room-

"So somebody cast a Rage Spell over the village, making the knights and Ranma go out of control," Lucia asks Piccolo.

"How would you know about some kind of spell that none of us ever heard about?" Dupa asks him not believing that there was that kind of spell.

"Because, young one, I learned it from my teacher. I am the third pupil of the Great Mage Crowley," Piccolo huffed out in pride.

"You mean the wizard that fought in the, 'Gate Rune Wars'?" Lucia asks wide- eyed. She knew full well that the closest person in the world who has the power that even comes close to the power of a True Rune would be Crowley, and that is because he had A LOT of runes affixed to himself over a hundred last she heard. She herself had faced the one with the  power of the True Shield Rune and loss badly. 'I wonder where he is now.'

"I heard about him, he fought against one of his pupils. That battle destroyed mountains and made a desert out of a lush forest," Dupa said who heard about Crowley as well.

"Yes, Mazus was always been a stubborn one. Always wanting to be the best no matter who was in his way." Piccolo said to the group.

"Our point is that someone wants the Six Clans and the Zexens to battle with each other for some reason," said Martha with a solemn voice.

“Probably wants you and the knights fighting so that no one be in any shape to fight or as a distraction. Easier to do something big if there’s a war to keep everyone’s attention on that instead,” Sunset said.

"But the silver maiden was here when our chief was killed!" Dupa growled.

"Yes, but there are spells that can cast illusions that aren't really there  or mask someone else's appearance so it would look like it was someone else," Piccolo inputted, "And, I am not one to make something like this up, I knew and fought with Zepon before you were even born Dupa."

“And it’s not that hard of a spell to use once you know how,” Sunset said casting a illusion spell that made her look just like Lucia to show it can be done before changing back. 

“And you are?” Dupa ask.

“Sunset Shimmer, traveling mage,” Sunset introduces herself. 

"In other words might, it might not have been Chris or her knights at all." Ranma spoke for the first time since coming in here.

Lucia was silent for a few moments, and then nodded hesitantly. "However, the Zexen's still they must still pay for what they did to my village. But you might be right about a third party that's hiding in the shadows while we fight each other. We'll not let them fool us a second time."

"Now that that is settled my group will head back to our castle," Martha said taking her leave with Piccolo and Ranma.

"Ranma, if you would please wait a moment," Dupa called out to him. Ranma signaled for, Sunset, Martha and Piccolo to wait for him outside as he faced the  chief of the Lizard Clan and the chief of the Karayas.

Lucia also approached the True Rune Bearer. "Your fighting skills would be a big help to us. As chief of the Karaya Clan, I ask that you join our group."

"Sorry, but it is still too early to pick a side just now. I just help out  whenever I can. For now my friends have my loyalty." Ranma said leaving  the room.

"If we have to fight against him I fear that we would lose half of our troops," Dupa said to Lucia.

Lucia nodded as she watched the back of one of the most powerful warriors she has ever met. "Hopefully that never comes to pass."

The Great Hollow is a massive curved out cavern. It has two levels that are connected by two stone ramps on each side of the cave. Sunlight shined through a hole at the top of the ceiling. Two small waterfalls flowed down on a wall of the ground floor that is under the chief's room. And into a small fountain that was uses for drinking.

Once outside  Ranma found himself in front of a heavy-set middle-age woman in a brown-orange dress. Next to her is the redheaded boy he saved from Chris. She is talking to Martha who looked like they haven't seen each other in ages. She turned in his direction when he approached and grabbed him in a bear hug.

"Thank you thank you thank you for saving my little Lulu!" She smiled teary eyed all awhile hugging Ranma in a rib-breaking hug.

"Ranma, this is Luce, an old friend of mine and this is her son, Lulu, who you saved during the attack on the village." Martha explains to Ranma who was just trying to catch his breath. "Luce please let go of him, I don't think killing the one who saved your son is a good idea."

Luce finally noted his blue face and that his eyes are starting to glaze over. She "eeped'" and let  go of him. "I'm sorry Ranma, but I'm just so grateful to have my son  still alive." She said blushing a bit.

"Yeah well I just did what I had to," Ranma said happy to breathe again.

"I saw you fight the iron heads. You were unbelievable!" Lulu said. 'He's even better than Hugo!'

"Yes, I have never seen a fighter like you." A middle age looking man dressed in Karayan garb and sported a beard and a scar over his left eye commented as he walked to them. With him are Hugo, the duck man and a redheaded girl dress like a musketeer.

"Ranma, this is Beecham. He's Lucia's lieutenant." Lulu was about to introduce the others, but Hugo beat him to it with a question.

"So where did you learn to fight?" the young lad named Hugo asked him walking up to him. He himself is pretty fast, but this Ranma character makes him look like a snail.

Before Ranma could even answer the redhead girl pushed Hugo and Lulu out of  the way and practically teleported to be face to face with him. "I'm Lilly! Nice to meet you! So where're you from? What do you like to do? Do you have a girlfriend?" 

She's looking at Ranma like a cat that just found a baby bird. Her look just reminded him of Shampoo whenever she wanted to do something... improper with her "Airen."

"Hi," Ranma said taken aback by Lilly's introduction. Luckily for him the duck man pulled the enthusiastic girl back away from him before she could embarrass him more. She was not happy at the treatment, but otherwise went and back down.

"I'm Sgt. Joe. Sorry about her." Lilly glared at his back, but he seemed unaffected.

"As I was saying where did you learn to fight like that?" Hugo asked him again after picking himself off the ground.

"I learned to fight to live," Ranma said his eyes look like they were seeing something else that only Ranma can see.

"So can I learn to fight like you?" Lulu asks.

"Why do you want to?" Ranma ask him looking him over.

"I want to be stronger than, I am now. Then I can go and kick some iron head butt!" Lulu said looking up to Ranma.

"What you want to fight?" Luce asks her son.

"So, I don't have to have others to fight for me anymore," Lulu said remembering the fight in the Highway Tunnel with that man dress all in black. He was the first one to be knocked down and the others had to fight the man off to protect him. "I want to be a fighter like just like you Ranma. Is there something you live by to be as strong as you are now?"

Looking into the young boy's eyes Ranma could see a little  bit of himself in the young boy. As he used to be before coming to this new world, "If you want to be like me follow these words: Throw everything away that binds you to the control of others."

"What do you mean?" Beecham asks.

He  remembered an anime show he saw before he left his world and decided to  use some of the words that the characters used. 

“If you meet god, kill god. If you meet your father, kill your father. Free from everything you  are bound by nothing. Live the life that's been given to you." Ranma  saw everyone was staring at him now, "I was once controlled by those I used to call friends or family. They wanted me to live my life as howthey wanted me to live it. I was never allowed to grow, so I just broke  and threw away everything that bound me to them and now I live the life  that's been given to me." (1)

"I can see that you didn't have a childhood or any say in what you wanted to do with your life," Piccolo said to him.

Ranma nodded. "From the day I was born my life was already chosen for me, so I threw everything away and left before they drove me insane."

"That's not very honorable Ranma," Beecham said with a slight frown. Ranm turned his sharp gaze on the scarred man and gave him a look that would  have made a normal man wet his pants.

"That's because honor is just something that the weak use to control the strong. If you have to give up your life for someone else's measure of honor then forget it.  The real test of honor is how you live, not what you follow." As he spoke his voice grew colder by the end even Sgt. Joe was starting to get a little creeped out.

"You mean I would have to throw everything away to be like you?" Lulu couldn't believe how cold his new hero could be. He could tell he doesn't like to be controlled, and considering the  story he just told that someone must have been controlling him for  years.

Ranma nodded. "To be like me you have to, but if you just want to learn just to fight then I can help you. But you're still young, you just have to keep an open mind and pick the life you want. I don't really want someone else to grow up like me."

“Ranma was basically raised to be what his parents wanted him to be with him having no choice at all,” Sunset spoke up having been looking around at the shops. 

The sight of Sunset up close caused people to stare at her, both for her beauty and figure. Which many human women wish they have or glare at their boyfriends or husbands who also stared at her. The lizards and ducks on the other hand aren’t affected at all, by Sunset. 

“You’re with Ranma?” Lilly ask seeing how much of a woman Sunset is compared to her.

“With the way you carry yourself you’re a noble and yes I am but not as his lover. Unlike other women, I just don’t find him attractive at all,” Sunset said.

“Really?” Martha ask looking over Ranma. 

“I guess he’s good looking but I grew up in high society and surrounded by handsome young men all trying to get close to me so they get their foot in the door with the woman who raised me,” Sunset said. (2)

“You’re a noble?” Lilly ask. 

“Which is why I can tell you’re one yourself. And Ranma already has plenty of girls after him already, who are all after him. And it’s sad and pathetic in how he’s clueless with them,” Sunset explains.

“Really?” Beecham ask looking to Martha and Piccolo who both nodded in agreement.

“Story of my life,” Ranma said. 

"We have to go now. We'll see you later then," Martha said as she, Sunset, Piccolo, and Ranma left the Great Hollow and leaving the group to digest Ranma's words.

!

Lake Castle-

When they got back to the castle Thomas and his party were already there. With them were some new people who have come to live at the castle and setup shop. There is a small black haired boy dressed like a junior detective. That reminded Ranma of an anime of a boy detective back home. 

A blonde longhaired man dressed like a musketeer with a rapier on his belt, but something seems off about him.  

There is an older man with white hair and darkly tanned skin. He's dressed in a red shirt, tan color pants with a leather apron, and he wore glasses. 

There's also a nurse and a doctor. The nurse remained Ranma of Kasumi with her short tan hair and her gentle face. The doctor is dressed in Chinese clothes and reminded him of Doctor Tofu. 

A young man dressed in farming clothes stood near them. He had long brown hair hidden under a black bandanna, and he held a hoe in his left hand. 

There is a dark haired man dressed like a gentleman. 

A little apart from the  group is a young girl dressed in a blue and white dress and a red bow on  top of her short brown hair. The odd thing is that she had a black and white dog or a wolf hand puppet on her right arm and is talking to it.

A  short brown haired young boy is writing down stuff in a notebook that reminded him of a reporter. He's dressed in white and blue clothes and wore large round glasses. 

The guy he saw at Brass Castle that had a green parrot and big red hat is also with the group. 

There are also two small boys who are talking to Kathy and Billy. One is a stout short blonde haired kid. He wore a yellow shirt and brown shorts held up with green suspenders. He wore glasses and a red bandanna around his neck. The other one is dressed in a light blue shirt and a dark blue vest with brown shorts. He had brown hair and a red bandanna tied around his neck and had a small  sword on his back.

"So you're my little brother," Kathy said kneeling down to face him, "Names Kathy, what yours?"

"I'm Melville and my friend's name is Elliot," her little brother said a  little nervously. He's not used to the idea of having a big sister.

"So you had more than one kid?" Thomas asks Billy.

"Yeah well, their mothers left me to raise them by myself when they were both young. I haven't seen either of them since then," Billy said to him.

"Hi guys. We're back," Ranma said from behind Billy. He jumped a little and turned around to face the one person who scares the living daylights off of him.

'GEEZ! How does he do that!?' Billy thought to himself.

"Oh hi guys. We found a lot of people who want to open up shops here," Thomas said.

"So who are they?" Ranma asks.

"Well, the two boys with Kathy is Melville, Billy's son, and his friend Elliot. The one dressed like a detective is Kidd. The reporter over there is Arthur. The one with the hoe is Barts he's a farmer. The old man is Dominic and with him is Gordon. They want to open a weapon and supply shop respectively. The girl with the puppet is Mel and her doll Branky. Over there is Doctor Tuta and his nurse Mio. Scott is the guy with the parrot and wants to open a trading post. Augustine's a swordsman and would make a pretty good guard. Last is... hey, where'd she go?" Thomas said looking around.

"Who..." Ranma stopped when he felt two slender arms wrap around him and a big, large pair of... a woman's front pressing on his back.

"We meet again Ranma," a voice said with a sultry purr.

He went rigid from the familiar feeling on his back. 'Sultry voice, check. Big... assets, now that's a really big check. Black sleeves which means whoever it was is wearing a black dress, check. Only one person I know  in this world who wears a black dress.'

"J-J-Jeane!? What are you doing here!?" Ranma asked trying to keep his mind off of the fact that, Jeane was currently rubbing herself on his back. 'Must not nosebleed, must not nosebleed, must not nosebleed!' 

He noticed two parts of a woman's assets stiffen and his brain turned to mush.

"Thomas here needed a Rune Sage for the castle. At first I was a little hesitant, but then he happened to mention that maybe someone named Ranma could find some other Rune Sage and, I just HAD to come here," Jeane said in a VERY sexy voice. She proceeded to rub her hands over his chest while continuing to rub herself on his back. None of her words, however, got  through to his brain. Jeane is WAY sexier than Shampoo ever was and is totally unprepared for the assault.

"HEY! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?"  Kathy, Belle, Emily, and all of the girls that were already at the castle before this new group arrived screamed at the Rune Sage. The new group just looked confused.

"This is turning out to be one of  those days," Martha sighed looking at the angry gazes being directed  from the young girls at the much too forward Rune Sage.

“She’s interesting,” Sunset said staring at Jeane and seeing something else that others couldn’t see. 

!

Later -

Dear journal,

It's been quite a week here. The new tenets have made themselves at home. Doctor Tuta and his nurse Mio have been going through the books that Ranma had with him about healing. They've set themselves up in the room that is down the hall from the meeting room. Ranma has been getting along with them well and have shown them certain herbs that could be used for healing and more of those pressure points like those he used on Muto. Doctor Tuta is simply astounded with the amount of knowledge Ranma had (especially since he told me he himself has never even heard of pressure points), while Mio on the other hand seemed to always drop things whenever Ranma is around. Ranma seems to get a strange look on his face whenever the nurse acts all funny around him, as if he was remembering something both good and missing it terribly.

Sunset also gave Doctor Tuta some notes from her books she copied. For some healing potions from her homeland he might be able to use. All of her books are written in her homeland’s alphabet and she’s the only one who can read it, so she just translate it to notes. 

Mel likes to talk a lot to Ranma, asking him about things like where he's been and his attacks while Branky has been getting on people's nerves. Does she really think that Branky is really alive? Sunset said that she seen that kind of thing before, rare but it happens when magic is involved. 

Barts has been busy maintaining a garden to the left of Juan's training center. And he's been asking for any seeds for him to plant. Sunset gave him some herb seeds from her homeland that she eats for snacks but they can be used for medicine and potions. 

Scott has built his trading shop at the lake edge and next to the stone staircase. The trading he has been doing has brought in a lot of money in. Also his pet parrot's name is Waurenhyte. Who likes to fly up to Sunset’s tower for some reason. Sunset and Scott have been working together looking for things that Sunset wants, with Scott using his connections he has made with other traders for the items that Sunset is looking for. Sunset is also giving Scott items from her homeland she gotten to help pay for all of his work. Which are selling for high prices from what I have heard. 

Melville and Katy have been bonding with each other. Also Melville and his friend Elliot have been helping out with the stables.

Dominic's armor shop is on the second floor of a building next to the training center. He has been making some new armor  that he's been selling to anybody that stubble onto the castle. He is known as a fine craftsman, but he occasionally will sell his customers crap. Really, his contemptness for his customers knows few bounds. He will overcharge his customers if given the opportunity to, and will beat them with his gear if they try and steal it.

Gordon has opened his shop in the castle center, but the women don't really like him very much for some odd reason. He has been hitting on them whenever they go to his shop. He used to be a highly acclaimed actor, but quit for unknown reasons. Ever since his wife divorced him and took custody of their daughter, he relentlessly chases after women that he comes across. 

Arthur and Kidd have been following Ranma around ever since they found out about his curse. Ranma usually just jumps far away from them.

That reminds me. When Doctor Tuta and Mio found out about Ranma's curse they've been asking him if they could study him for some reason. I don't get it. What would a doctor care about a magic based curse? Sunset has been trying to figure out the magic curse as well, saying that there is always a way to get rid of a curse, just needs some outside of the box thinking to do it. 

Augustine thought that Ranma should start acting more like a man, so he tried to get Ranma to dress like him. And he also wanted to teach him to act just like him to be a gentleman as he calls it. But the girls quickly put a stop to that plan for some  reason. I still wince whenever I look at him, walking all bowlegged with a pained expression on his face. I never knew Shizu had such strong legs.

Oh yeah, Jeane opened her shop right next to Gordons. Strangely a lot more guys are visiting the castle than before she open her shop. The girls of the castle all seem to hate her being around here. Piccolo seems to know her. He did say he knew her for a long time, years ago. She has been hanging around Ranma a lot and the girls are beginning to sound like rabid animals with all their growling. I don't know who their more mad at, Jeane for 'hanging' around Ranma or Ranma for freezing up  everything she 'hangs' on him. She is also been up in Sunset’s tower saying that she’s teaching Sunset some of her magic skills. 

Also Ranma has found more tenets for the castle. He found Kenji running around in the plains and invited him to stay. He likes doing gymnastics and is helping out in the training center. He's also been learning some new moves from Ranma who  said he learned how to do gymnastics for a fight awhile back. His wife and son also moved to the castle with him.

Then there's Goro a young energetic craftsman that Ranma found wondering around in the nearby forest around here. He made a bath house in the old ship out back. When Ranma and Arthur who was with him at the time had found in him wondering around. He was in the forest looking for trees to make his bath house. It's been doing some great business. Ranma seems to especially like it there. Ranma said something about missing the 'furo' he used to soak in at his old home.

Sunset is also helping to make the castle into a rest stop for travelers, to rest up get supplies and spend money. Sunset has put up road signs for travelers to know which road to take to get to which place they’re heading to and where they could stop to get some rest. That is working as travelers and wagon trains have been stoping by the castle which has caused people from the surrounding villages to also open shop as well. 

Also Ranma met three traveling buskers: Toppo, Nei and Shabon. They've been looking for a new place to perform at to get more business so they came here. Each of them dressed up like clowns, each with different colors. Toppo has blonde hair and a long nose. He plays the fiddle and is good at juggling, but he doesn't talk much. His outfit has red, blue and white and he wears a hat. He believes that actors should not talk, and many people think he is odd as he doesn't talk to anyone but bis collegues, and only even whispers to them. 

Nei is an elf with long green hair that she put in two braids. She plays the bouzouki and she's good at hand to hand fighting. And her colors are green and white. She’s a veteran traveling bouzouki player, she tries to help her partners, as she's more experienced in the business than they are. She was raised by humans and is therefore kinder to other races than many of her elven kin can say.

Shabon is a brown haired child who plays the bodhran. She keeps her hair in two buns covered by white cloth. It's surprising to note that she's skilled in kung fu. And her outfit is yellow she also has two yellow ribbons tied around her wrist. She is considering either traveling performance or martial arts when she grows up.

She also likes spending time with Ranma, always playing  around with him. He's been playing around with all the kids here a lot  whenever he's not practicing or hunting monsters. He told me that he never had a real childhood, so if he ever has kids of his own he will give them the childhood he never had. Arthur, who was listening in on us, wrote it all down and put it in his paper. After that fact came out  the girls around the castle have been trying to be extra nice to Ranma than they were before. When I asked Martha about it she told me that some women want someone who would be a good father for their kids. Someone that will take care of their children after they're born and not just let them take care of them.

Ranma also found five dogs running around all over the place and they followed him home. We have named them Kogoro, Koichi, Koroku, Kosanji and Connie. Each of them had set up their own area around the castle. They also serve as watch dogs  for the castle since each of them have loud barks and that they're not really any good at being attack dogs. Since they're more the playful types and they like to sleep most of the day off.

It seems that some other people had heard about us. A lizard man named Peggi set up a blacksmith shop in the floor below Dominics armor shop. He use to be a fighter till an injury force him to give that up. He came after Sunset helped him replacing his worn out tools. He said he could fix Ranma's sword good as new, but he said he didn't want his sword to be fixed. A sentimental reason is the only reason he told us. A mysterious man named Mike set up a card game in the room to the right of the elevator. Ranma says he feels a rat in him.

Then there was a  strange thing that happened to Ranma while he was walking through the forest. Two girls appeared right out of midair above him and then fell right on top of him. They're both dressed alike, white robe like dresses and both have long black hair and blue eyes. The two are magic users one is an adult who carried a staff while the other is a little girl who  uses a wand. Both of them are named Viki. We call the child Little Viki to tell them apart. They both have Blinking runes affixed onto their foreheads. Viki seems to teleport herself all over the place. She's a ditz and when she sneezes she always teleports things around her. If she starts to act funny, you'd better run away. Little Viki acts more like an adult than the older Viki does. She gave us a mirror that when used will teleport anyone back to the castle. Jeane knows them for some reason, but Little Viki and Jeane won't say a thing about it. Viki the older one just remained clueless. Funny thing is that Ranma says that no way is she an airhead. He said he once knew someone who acted like one and she turned out to be a genius and totally aware of her surroundings.

As for Sunset besides helping out here and there she mostly remains in her tower or goes out to hunt monsters. Taking care of bandits and monsters, with her magic, and taking the loot from them. Making a name for herself as she travels around from villages and towns buying and selling things. She’s been searching for magic and been gathering all the rune orbs and knowledge that she’s able to get her hands on. The reason why is that she’s planning on becoming even more powerful, then she already is to show the woman who raised her that she is better than she will ever be. 

I asks if she means her mother, but Sunset just replied that she was never a mother. She just raised her but was never a mother. 

Oh yes, tomorrow a member of the council will arrive to see what I have done with the castle. I hope he likes what we have done with the place. Well, that's all for now.

Thomas

!
> So long Lake Castle or Ranma meets his match!
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

!

Darkness surrounded him. He could feel the darkness engulfing him. He  has been here for two days trying to come to terms with himself. The  darkness in his heart has grown stronger. It's been inside of him ever  since the day he was taken to train, the seed of hate planted inside  him. The hate he felt for his parents who took his childhood, the  friends who used him for their own game, and the girls that wanted him  to marry them without caring what he felt. So much darkness, and so  little light. The seed of hate and darkness has grown strong inside of  him.

And now he has taken lives with his own hands. Now the seed  has finally bloomed. He remembered when he first looked at the Chaos Rune. A thought entered his mind as the significance of the rune was  told to him. With this rune he could take his revenge on the people he  hated. If he could find a way to go back he could make them go through  everything that he went through and more. 'Is that the real reason I  took the rune?'

'No! I won't be like them! I will not be like them!' Ranma shouted in his mind.

'Why? For honor? You don't believe in honor anymore, so why don't you?' a voice in his head asks.

'I don't believe in other people's idea of honor. I follow my own now.'

'So you've taken lives. Nothing binds you anymore!'

'If I have to I would kill again, but still I don't want to be just a killer. I'm a martial artist, we don't kill.'

"Then don't be one."

"If I can't be one then what will I be?"

'Become a warrior, to be someone who kills to protect others. Martial artist are people who follow rules that don't work in real life. It only works  when the person you fight follows the same.'

The Chaos Rune glowed with color as Ranma came to terms with himself and a new power of the rune is unlocked.

!

Ranma just got out from the tunnels under the castle when he heard something going on in the front of the castle. Everyone is there talking about  something. He approached the group and waited until they focused on him.

"What happened?" Ranma ask.

"It's terrible! The counsel member that was here yesterday wants all the  shops and the tenets out of here!" Cecile said in a fast voice that he  couldn't really understand.

"I may not have been here for long, but I see no reason to make a big deal out of this," Goro said.

"Yeah, I've grown to like this place," Scott said.

"Yes, but what can we do?" Thomas asks.

“This is just a prefect time for Sunset to be out adventuring,” Belle said. 

Sunset had left the castle yesterday wanting to go on an adventure and collect some loot. She does that a lot and returning days later usually has a wagon full of loot. Which is the reason why the castle has improved so much, thanks to Sunset supplying the castle with the loot and spreading word about the castle. 

"Excuse me, but I think you guys should see this," turning around they saw a  dark skinned man. Ranma knew him from the Great Hollow.

"Reed? What are you doing here?" Ranma ask.

"Well me and a couple of others came to this castle to find out about a  rumor. We stayed a night and when we tried to leave some knights are  blocking the path to the castle,” Reed explains.

"I'll see about trying to get you out of here," Thomas said leaving them.

They watched Thomas talk to the knights standing in front of the gate,  talking quite a while. Lilly and the others that made up Reed's group as Ranma remembered were standing to the side. When they finished talking Thomas approached Lilly's group with a troubled face.

"The knights won't let anyone pass the gate. They say that Hugo here is a wanted  grasslander and they're going to attack the castle to flush him out  tomorrow," Thomas said.

"What! They're going to attack us?" Sebastian asks.

"Yes,  and when I tried to turn myself in they wouldn't. They're just going to  attack anyways." Hugo looked to the knights and scowled.

"Yes.  What better way to stamp out any kind of rebellion than to show an  example of what happens to those who step out of line," a middle age  woman said walking up to them. She wore a blue dress with a coat and  glasses. Her amber hair was braided in the back. She had a knowing look  to her. Walking with her was a young man that looks like a slacker. He had spiky red hair that was all over the place. He was smiling and his  clothes were two sizes too big, but Ranma could see he had a sharp mind  like Nabiki.

"Who are you guys?" Juan asks.

"Apple, it's been awhile," Jeane greeted her.

"Hi Apple!" Viki waved at her.

"Jeane, Viki you two are here?" Apple said surprise to see that they were there.

"Wait, didn't they took part in both the Toran Liberation War and the Zero Unification War," the young man that's with her asks.

"If that's right then why haven't they aged then?" Sharon asks.

"You don't want to know," Little Viki said coldly

"Huh?  Viki, you have a daughter now?" Apple asks looking between the two.  Since Little Viki is the prefect mirror image of Viki if she was a young  girl.

"As, I said you don't want to know,” Little Viki gave everyone a gaze that clearly said to drop the discussion.

"So  you're here to help?" Katty asks hopefully. The knights have been  pestering her to give them her horses. Some of them even gave her a few  glances that sent chills up her spine. She hugged Ranma's arm for  comfort. The situation is so serious the other girls do not mind. The  knights have been eyeing them too. Ranma for his part fought down the  reaction to bolt, barely succeeding.

"Yes, me and Caesar slipped pass the knights here," Apple said to them.

"So you heard about the rumor about that someone here has a True Rune too," Lulu asks. Ranma tensed when he heard this.

"Yes, but that's not important now," Apple said. The True Rune bearer relaxed just a little bit.

"Yeah  we got a plan to get you guys out of here," Caesar said pointing at  Hugo's group. "And we'll make sure that the knights won't attack this castle too."

"You do?" Belle asks.

"Yes, all we need is somebody to run to Brass Castle and fast for the plan to work," Apple explained to them.

Everyone looked at Ranma, knowing that he was the fastest one to do it. "Hey, don't look at me! I can't show myself at Brass Castle now remember.  Chris probably wants my head on a silver platter for beating her at the  Great Hollow." 

Kathy and the other girls breathed sighs of relief. They didn't have to worry about Chris wanting Ranma now. There are a few fighters here including themselves, but there's no way they could beat  those knights. It would be different if Sunset was here but she isn’t.

"Oh yeah. You did make Chris look like a beginner," Sgt. Joe said remembering the duel.

"I do have two people I know who can do it." He turned to the main house and yelled. "Watari, Ayame can you two come out now!"

Jumping  down from the main house roof are two ninjas, one male the other  female. Both appeared in front of Ranma and gave him a small nod. The  female is dress in black tights and a purple kimono. Her long black hair  is tied in a low ponytail and a red headband kept her hair off of her  face. On her right arm is a three bladed claw guard. The male ninja wore  black tights and a blue shirt. He has black spiky hair with some white  on it and a sword is strapped to his back. Both wore a veil to hide  their lower faces.

"Guys meet Watari and Ayame, ninjas that I met awhile ago," Ranma said introducing them to the others.

"Wait a sec, when did you get ninjas?" Billy asks.

"It all started about four days ago,” Ranma said.

!

Flashback -

Ranma  was exploring the forest north of Vinay Del Zexay when he came upon  what looks like an old mine. He remembered that Melville and his friends  Elliot and Alanis (who arrived at the castle two days after Melville  and the others did) told him that they went into a cave with other  people to see a ship that ran aground next to a castle. They also told  him about how they fought off some bandits that were stealing from  people and their leader who was named Guillaume. The equipment that was  left in the cave was all covered with dust and rust. Ranma could see  that this mine hasn't been used in years. Something caught his eye on  the ground. Taking a closer look at the floor he could see that people  have been using the cave for something. The tracks were mostly weeks old  and he almost discarded it, but his curiosity got the better of him.

Following  the path Ranma came upon two open-air mining shafts. The first shaft  had an old campfire that looks to weeks old. Jumping on to one level to  the next to reach the tunnel on the top level Ranma came to another open  air mining shaft. Jumping down to the bottom Ranma followed the last  tunnel to the back of the cave. Ranma heard two people talking to other.  Pulling out a cape he wrapped it around himself and using the  Umi-Sen-Ken he walked inside.

Watari and Ayame were facing off  each other, neither moving, waiting for the other to make the first  move. The tunnel had opened up to a wide cave. A hole at the end showed a  ledge with a view of the lake.

"The Highland Kingdom was destroyed. There's no need to do this," Ayame said.

"No. I made a promise and I will follow it," Watari said to her.

"Does it really matter if the one you work for is name is different?"

"I always keep my word."

"The Black Wind will not let you leave the clan. You will be hunted down."

"Fine then, let me be hunted then."

"Then  for the honor of the clan I shall!" Ayame charged him with the intent  of cutting off his head. Watari also tensed for a counterattack. Before  either ninja could reach each other a voice echoed throughout the cave.

"Honor  is nothing more than a way for the weak to control the strong." Watari  and Ayame looked around the cave, but because of the high walls it made  it impossible to pinpoint where the voice came from.

"Sorry, I  couldn't help myself." The voice sounded sheepish for a second, but then  returned to normal. "He's right you know. Clan honor is nothing more  than someone else's point of view of honor, but giving your word is  something else entirely. It's his own honor, not somebody else's honor  at stake."

"Show yourself!" Ayame shouted out.

"Why a ninja  like yourself should be able to find someone like me." The next sentence  dripped with sarcasm. "But since you did ask me so nicely I will show  myself."

Flicking the cape away Ranma reappear standing right in  front of Ayame. She jumped back in surprise. 'What! How could somebody  be able to do that? Sneaking up on a Black Wind Clan member is  impossible?' Ayame thought in her mind, racing to find the answered. She  looked over to Watari thinking he might know about this newcomer but he  was just as surprised as she was.

"Who are you?"

"Names  Ranma. Sorry about butting in on this but, I can't just let people go  around killing each other because of a clan's honor." He seemed to take a  neutral stance, but was tensed for action and both ninjas saw it.

"What  would you know about clan honor!" Ayame shouted at him, but inside she  was scared. She could feel his battle aura around him and it was the  strongest she has ever felt. 'There's no way that I can beat someone  like him. He's just as powerful as someone with a True Rune.'

'His battle aura is even greater than Prince Luca was!' Watari thought to himself feeling Ranma's power.

Ranma's  face turned hard as he faced off with the kunoichi. His voice turned  colder than the artic. "I know more than enough to know that clan honor  depends on who's the head member of the clan and one person's view of  honor. Isn't that the same as somebody else's view of honor."

Ayame  felt the compulsion to wet herself, but stopped the feeling if barely.  "That's true, but I still need to bring Watari in." She braced herself.  She wanted to get Watari, but she'd rather bolt now than face off this  unknown.

"Fine, but only if you can beat me," Ranma said taking  the very same stance that he used with Akane long ago, which means none  at all.

Ayame's body tightened, her mind racing to find a way to  take Ranma down. He just stood there, his body totally open to any kind  of attack. Ayame threw three stars then dash forward, her claws aiming  for his neck. Ranma caught all the stars knowing it was just to distract  him. He shot forward his fingers hitting three points on Ayame's chest,  which meant that he grabbed her right breast.

Ayame's eyes  widened as she felt Ranma grab onto her right breast. 'How dare him!'  Ayame screamed in her mind. She never had anyone do that to her. She  will make him pay for that! She was about to cut off his hand with her  claws when she felt her body lock up.

Ranma laughed a little  nervously and scratched behind his head. "Sorry about that, but the  easiest pressure points on the female body to lock the body up is  there." Behind him Watari is doing his very best not to laugh out loud.  Ninjas do not laugh.

"You may have won, but I WILL hunt him again after this wears off! Afterwards I'll get my revenge on you, you bastard!"

"Hey! I said I'm sorry didn't I."

"Pervert!"

"Look  I'm really sorry alright! Geez, you're so uncute!" 'I did NOT just say  that!' Ranma thought to himself as he has a familiar feeling as this was  all too familiar too him.

"UNCUTE? WHY YOU LITTLE..." The kunoichi went on to say a few more choice words that would have made a sailor jealous.

Ranma  just shook his head. 'Jeeze, she's more inventive than I am,’ Ranma thought to himself.

He addressed the other ninja when she ran out of words to say. 

"Watari,  you're a wandering ninja right?" Watari nodded. "Then how about working  for me then?"

"That will cost you 100,000 potch."

"Deal, I'll give you the money when we get back to my place. As for you," Ranma  said looking down at Ayame. "You're working for me until you can beat  me or when Watari leaves my service."

"Why should I?" Ayame ask.

"If  you two work for me I will show you two some of my tricks." He used a  vacuum blade to slice a boulder to the left of Ayame to demonstrate his  point.

"Deal!" Both of them said.

"But don't even think about feeling me up again, pervert!" Ayame yelled while glaring at her new master.

!

End of Flashback -

"And  that's how I got them to work for me. They really didn't want to be  known yet so they just hid around this place," Ranma said finishing his  tale. The kunoichi blushed when she heard how he caused her to lock up,  but the veil hid her embarrassment.

The other girls looked at  Ranma with murderous glares and Kathy grabbed his collar and brought  them face to face. He had to explain that it's true that the pressure  points really are there and gave a demonstration (although very  reluctantly, only doing so because the cowgirl threatened to kick him  between the legs if he didn't) with Kathy as the victim. The explanation  calmed the girls until he grabbed Kathy's breast to get to the pressure  points. They all emitted battle auras, all bloody red. Watari finally  saved his about to be dead master by saying that it was the only way to  stop Ayame, which caused their aura's to tone down a bit. They still  gave Ranma glares that promised pain later on.

'Oh MAN! I KNEW  using those points were a bad idea,' Ranma thought to himself. Kathy for  her part had a silly grin on her face. When he released her (he did it  really fast so no one could see him do it since the points are on  ANOTHER body part that would have made the girls beat him senseless) she  immediately went back to her original spot, namely with Ranma's arm  hugged to her body. Billy kept to himself, not knowing whether to be mad  at Ranma or to be proud of his daughter for an ingenious plan. Shabon,  Melville and the other children of the group just laughed at the whole  scene.

"I was wondering who they were," Eike spoke up surprising everyone. Nobody knew he was even there until he spoke up.

"Wait, you knew about them then? Why didn't you say something?" Martha asks him.

“The only one who knows about them is Sunset,” Ranma said as he didn’t had enough money at hand but Sunset did and paid the bill for him. 

"No one ever asks." Mass face fault took place. (1)

Watari and Ayame both looked at Ranma for an explanation. "Don't ask. He has his ways."

"Okay  back to the game plan," Caesar said getting everyone back to the point.  "You two get this letter over to Brass Castle." 

The two ninjas accepted the letter and went off to do their job. 

"Now we need to get as many  dummies made up to look like guards and set them up around the front  gate. Then...,” Caesar said as he and Apple told them all the steps of their plan.

!

The next day -

"Okay,  while the knights are in disarray Hugo and his group will make a run  for it with Caesar and Apple while we keep the knights busy," Thomas  laid out the plan to the tenets that were going to fight. They were  split into four groups of fours. Belle, Sharon, Sanae Y, and Gadget are  in group 1. Thomas, Cecile, Augustine and Emily are in group 2. They are  to be in the front lines. Mel, Piccolo, Juan and Kenji in group 3. And  Toppo, Nei, Shabon and Jeane in group 4 would give them magic support if  needed. The rest would protect the gate.

"Wouldn't it just be easier to have Ranma go and fight off the knights on his own?" Samus  asks already knowing Ranma's fighting ability.

"Yes I have heard  about Ranma taking on Lady Chris and beating her like she was a child,  but we need to make sure that Ranma isn't seen or they would just get  reinforcements. He will be the last line of defense." Apple said.

"I know! What about Ranko?" Shabon asks knowing about Ranma's sex change trick.

"Well  we just have to wait and see," Ranma said waving off the odd looks he  was getting from the people who didn't know he could change into a girl.

"Let's show them what we're made off," Emily said cracking her knuckles.

!

Outside the castle-

The knights under the commander of the counsel member were preparing to attack.

"Begin the attack on my word."

"Sir," a knight shouted running up to them, "Four fighting groups have appeared outside the castle walls."

"What!" the commander of the knights shouted.

"Sir," another knight said, "More troops have appeared on the castle walls!"

"How can a small castle like that have that many troops?" the counsel member shouted.

"Hold back! Don't engage the enemy," the commander shouted.

While  the knights were in disarray at the sudden number of troops that  appeared Hugo and his group made a run for it. The main force was too  busy with Thomas and his party to see them running across the grass  plains.

"It's working! They're getting away," Cecile said to Thomas.

"Yes,  now the second part of the plan needs to be sprung," Thomas said  hopping that the lessons that Ranma gave him would help him if push  comes to shove.

A knight riding on horseback rode up to the commander. "Sir, a letter from Brass Castle."

"What! Read it out loud!" the commander demanded.

"The attack on Lake Castle is part of the grasslands and need the approval  of the Zexen counsel before any attack is made on the grasslands."

"Withdraw everyone! Withdraw now!" the commander ordered. 

"This isn't over!" the counsel member shouted leaving with the knights.

"Yes we won!" Kidd shouted from atop of the wall.

"Looks like you guys didn't even need me for this," Ranma said.

!

Two days later-

"What?  You guys want me to leave," Thomas asks to Percival and Leo. They were standing in front of the main house. Martha is standing next to Thomas  and not looking very happy.

Percival nodded. "Your father has disowned you and therefore you no longer have the title of master of the castle."

"We came under orders to escort you out of here then onto a ship back to the north lands," Leo said.

"So  my father just wants to get rid of me then. But the castle won't fall  back into the counsel's hands!" Thomas said. His eyes had a fire in them  that weren't there before. He pulled out a rolled up paper in his coat  and handed it to Martha. "Martha, my last act of master is to give you  the deed to the castle. Do what you want with it?"

"Thank you Thomas," Martha said taking the deed.

"Let's go then," Thomas said to the knight and walked behind them towards the exit.

Behind  them Martha walked over to the side of the building. There in the  shadows were the two castle ninjas. "Watari, Ayame would you two mind  doing something for me?"

!

In the courtyard Leo and Percival found themselves stopped by the head guard of the castle.

"I  won't let you take Master Thomas away!" Cecile shouted, one arm holding  her shield, the other holding onto the lever that is used to close the  gates.

"Cecile please don't do this," Thomas said, "My father already disowned me. I no longer have any ties to Zexen now."

"Yes,  but you're the one that ties us all together," Billy said walking up to  them. "Without you I would never be reunited with my kids. I might not  have been there for them all the time, but your father was never there  for you."

"Billy's right. He may not be much of a father, but he's  still better than the one you have. You don't need to follow his  orders. He's not a father to begin with," Emily said walking up to them.

"Thomas,  your father was never there or ever cared for you. Why are you even  listening to him now?" Ranma asks walking up to Thomas from behind.

"Ranma!  You're here?" Leo said backing away from him. He remembers how Ranma  beat him and heard how he beat Chris afterward. The sight of a boy half  his size holding onto his axe with ease is still ingrained into his  head.

"So this is where you live. I guess that you're not going to let us take Thomas with us?" Percival asks Ranma remaining calm.

"You two should just leave now,” Sunset said who return from her hunting trip and learned what happened while she was away.

Sunset is now wearing choice pieces of equipment that she had picked up from all of her hunting and trading from the traders and merchants. Which surprised the two knights at the amount of equipment she’s wearing. She’s still wearing her outfit that she wore when they first saw her but is now more equipped.

Flame Casque: Defense +36, Strength +15, Accuracy +1, Flame Resist

True Thunderbolt Leather: Defense +92, Lightning Resist Level 2, Accuracy +10%

And wearing over the leather a Gray Coat, Defense +68, Magic +10, Magic Defense +5

On the Gray Coat are a Dawn Badge, Status Resist 25% 

A Sun Badge, Heals +5 

A White Rose Brooch, Speed +10

And a SilverWhite Emblem, Magic Defense +10

On her left arm is a Water Amulet, Defense +5, Water Resist

On her right arm is a Wind Amulet, Defense +5, Wind Resist

Winged Boots: Defense +12, +10 Speed

Sunset is also wearing 10 rings on all of her fingers.

Earth Magic Ring, Defense +4, Earth Magic +1

Fire Magic Ring, Defense +4, Fire Magic +1

Lightning Magic Ring, Defense +4, Lightning Magic +1

Water Magic Ring, Defense +4, Water Magic +1

Wind Magic Ring, Defense +4, Wind Magic +1

Guard Ring, Defense +7, Magic Defense +10

Magic Ring, Defense +7, Magic +15

Skill Ring, Defense +9, Technique +20

Luck Ring, Defense +3, Luck +15

Power Ring, Defense +3, Strength +15

Belt of Strength, Defense +6, Strength +5

Star Earrings, Defense + 8, Heals +5

Yellow Scarf, Defense +10, Status Protect

Blue Ribbon, Defense +5, chances of avoiding physical attacks greater

The amount of special equipment Sunset is wearing is all but unheard of, with how rare they are and how expensive. Status boosting equipment usually only has the helmet, armor and two accessories. And that it’s just a tradition, not to wear more than that. (2)

Sunset is also armed with a large bladed lance, with a large metal ball at the bottom that acts as a counterweight and a mace. The weapon can be split into the blade and mace parts by locking mechanism in the middle. The lance has a Cyclone Rune, embedded on it allowing Sunset having a chance of repelling magic attacks against her. The mace part has a Magic Draining Rune, that allows her to drain magic from those she attacks.

Sunset is also has runes on her hands now, to go along with the Chaos Rune of Destruction on her forehead. A Resurrection Rune that contains light magic, works well against undead monsters, specializes in both healing and offensive magic. And a Sunbeam Rune, that restores constantly the health of the person attached with it, on her right hand. (3)

The reason why she wears so many items and has a rune that constantly heals her, is for her to be able to cast magic. With how magic is different from her world, she is able to use her magic but it drains her stamina in using it. And the spells of the Chaos Rune takes a toll on her body using the spells. The constant healing magic used on her negates the effects of using so much magic and using one of the True Runes. 

Both Piccolo and Jeane had explained to her that the magic runes while limited to what they can do, does allow anyone to use magic without having to study and learn the hard way to use magic. The runes are like magic items back in her world, where like a wand allows the user to use magic at a level and have a control over it that they otherwise wouldn’t have, compared to a trained magic user. Which Sunset has worked hard in unlocking the higher level spells in her half of the Chaos Rune on her forehead. She has been helping Ranma to unlock his spells but so far he’s only has the Chaos Blast spell to use, while thanks to her already high level magic skills, she has unlocked all of her spells already. (4)

"Might  as well, there's no way we two would be able to stop you," Percival  said walking with Leo out of the castle. "Fair warning, the counsel  member is going to attack the castle tomorrow and he's prepared this  time. We'll be with him, but we'll just watch." 

The two knights got on  their horses and rode off.

"Thank you Ranma. Your right, I  shouldn't listen to him. He never cared so I will follow my own path  from now on." He gave a smile to the one who has been like a big brother  to him.

A large explosion erupted into the air.

"That came from the stables! Kathy!" Billy shouted running for the stables with the others close behind him.

!

When  they got there the stable is a mess. It looked like a fight broke out.  Kathy lay against a part of the now broken fence. Juan is laying flat on  his back. Kenji is under rubble that used to be part of the stable wood wall. Toppo and Nei were the only ones left standing. They were kneeling  down, both badly beaten. Standing in front of them is the one they  fought against and lost to. It is a young woman about Ranma's age.

Her  body is lean and firm with muscle, but not bulky like a female  weightlifter's. Her entire figure is graceful and she moves like a cat. A  long jade braided ponytail flowed out from underneath a violet top hat.  The ponytail is weighted down at the end by a large studded steel ball  that reached well past her knee. The spikes on the ball were studded  down so that they wouldn't cut into her as she moves around. She wore a  skin-tight blue body suit for maximum movement. What she wore over that  is a golden-yellow leather vest and shorts that were held up by a pair  of green suspenders. She had on fingerless red fighting gloves with  metal knuckles and combat boots. Her face is lovely, but her eyes say  that she is a cold fighter. Tucked under her left arm is Shabon. She's  hanging limply and had been knock out.

"You must be Ranma," the woman said looking at the pigtailed warrior. "My trade name is Fight Hat. I'm here to kill you."

Ranma  could feel her battle aura. It's just as strong as his. 'I thought that  people around here didn't get to my fighting level.'

"You hurt my little girl!" Billy shouted, running to Fight Hat ready to knock her out with his left hook.

Billy's  left hook is stopped by the girl's free hand. She twisted her arm,  making Billy kneel down then letting his arm go. She spun around and  slammed her right foot into his face, throwing him ten feet through the  air. He crashed down with all the grace of a rage doll. His eyes were  wide open, but they were completely white as he was knocked out from the  blow.

"I always find that when someone is fighting to save  someone else their fighting level rises to the very top. If that is all  you have your daughter is as good as dead,” Fight Hat said as she looked pointedly at  Kathy but Billy was still out. A monster appeared behind her, a TargetGirl a monster that looks like a human woman with a blue tail.

"Why are you doing this!" Ranma shouted at her. Next to him Sunset was readying a spell but she couldn’t use it without hitting Shabon.

"I have nothing against you, but I got a job to do. Meet me at Mt. Hei-Tou  at dawn tomorrow if you want to see the child again," Fight Hat said before the TargetGirl teleported both of them away. 

"Ranma you must..." Nei began but stopped when Ranma spoke up.

"I know, I won't let Shabon remained in her hands," Ranma coldly.

He rushed to Kathy's side and checked her over before moving onto the others.

!

Awhile later-

Doctor Tuta and Mio are taking care of the injured from the attack on the stables. The rest of the castle residents are standing in the front of  the main house, the sun is already setting.

"What! Ranma has to leave the castle tomorrow! But we got a battle tomorrow," Mamie said frantically.

"Couldn't someone else fight this Fight Hat instead?" Scott asks.

"No,  I'm the only one who can fight her. I felt her aura and she's just as  strong as me,” Ranma said. 

Ever since he has picked up Kathy and the others and  delivered them to the good doctor his voice has been extremely cold  whenever he talks about the female fighter. Everyone could swear that  they could see his breath as if it was winter whenever he's talking  about her.

"Then we be on our own then..." Elliot began.

"...against all those knights," Muto finished.

“You’re forgetting that I’m here this time,” Sunset said ready to show everyone how powerful of a magic user she is. 

"As you guys have faith in me I have faith in you guys to protect this castle," Ranma said.

"Ranma's right we can't always just depend on him. We need to stand up for ourselves," Anne said.

"Before Apple left she gave me plans to defend the castle if it was ever to be  attack," Piccolo said giving, Thomas a letter that Apple gave him for safekeeping.

"I'm going to Mt. Hei-Tou now before the knights can block the road," Ranma said before taking off.

Before  Ranma left the castle he stopped in front of Martha's stand and spotted  a few familiar faces. "Geddoe, are you and your group are here to  help?"

Stepping out a bit Geddoe nodded to Ranma. "Yes, Salome  says that the counsel members and the Holy Harmonia Kingdom have planned  on splitting the Grassland between them. The Harmonia army is already  on the move to invade the grasslands. But if the top members of the  counsel can't even stop a rebellion at a small castle..."

"...then the ones who are trying to stop this rebellion will lose all their support,” Ranma said. 

"We over heard about what happened earlier," Ace said.

"You guys take care of them for me will you," Ranma said before taking off again.

!

The next day-

Dawn came to Lake Castle. A large number of knights are marching towards the  castle to attack it, but the residents of the castle aren't going to  give up without a fight.

The castle had been fortified. Besides  the main gate door the stairs to the main house is now heavily  barricaded. Barrels, boxes and cut timber made a crude, but strong  defense for the defenders. There is another barricade built just in  front of Scott's trading store. These were their fallback positions if  the main gate doors fall.

"We go out and meet the knights at the  front of the castle, and when they start to overwhelm us we fall back  here," Thomas said laying out the plan that Apple left.

"All the fighters are ready to fight Lord Thomas," Cecile reported.

"Good is everyone accounted for?" Sunset ask who is planning on taking the knight’s by herself.

"No, Martha is missing and so is Ayame,” Cecile said. 

"What about Watari?" Thomas ask. 

"He's still here, but he won't say where they went,” Cecile said. 

"Find the..." Thomas began but was cut short by Gadget.

"The knights are here!" Gadget Z beeped. Everyone that's going to fight rush out to face them.

!

At Mt. Hei-Tou -

"So  you came," Fight Hat said facing off Ranma. They were on flat grassland  that is on the edge of the forest that covered the mountain. Ranma felt  a strong energy from the edge of the forest and found Fight Hat waiting  for him.

"Why are you doing this?" Ranma ask. 

"It's my job to see how strong you are,” Fight Hat said.

"Where's Shabon!" Ranma ask. 

"She's right over there," Fight Hat pointed to her far left. Inside a steel cage is Shabon.

"Let me out of here!" Shabon cried out.

"But  if you want her you have to get by me first!" Fight Hat said ready for a fight.

She jerked her head  forward, sending her ponytail like a chain ball at Ranma. Her hair  seemed to stretch as the mace on her ponytail crashed where Ranma used  to be before he jumped out of the way. But she did manage to knock his  sword off his back, sending it flying into the air landing near Shabon.  She then jerked her head back and her ponytail return back to her in its  original length.

"Neat trick,” Ranma said impressed.

"Thanks, now let's dance!" Fight Hat shouted leaping at Ranma.

!

Lake Castle -

The battle of Lake Castle wasn't doing too well. When they met the knights  in the field they were too outnumbered, but some of the knights did fall  into some of the trap holes that they dug last night. Sunset with her magic took care of half of the knights by using her lower level spells as she was told not to kill the knights but just knock them out, before she was hit by Silent Spells that cause her unable to use magic, making her having to fall back. Piccolo and Jeane were casting spells to slow down the knights as Sunset and the others ran back to the castle.

Belle used Gadget Z's special ability, transforming him into Mega Gadget Z. It shot up into the sky and joined  to bigger gadgets to form a giant robot. It shot a huge beam of energy  at the knights, blasting them back. But when Gadget Z drop back down he  was badly damage due to the arrows and spell they launched at the airborne robot.

They  slammed the gates shut and prepared to repel the invaders. The knights  were prepared for the gates. They had brought a battling-ram and ladders  to scale the walls. Thomas and the others threw rocks, logs and anything else they could grab at the knights as they ran up to the wall. 

Billy lifted a large log and braces it against the gate to help brace it up. The heavy gate doors shook as the knights used the ram against it. Knights carrying large axes began to hack away at the gate as it was  being rammed. Ladders were being pushed down as fast as they were being  push up against the wall. Sharon, Emily, Muto, Toppo, and Nei were along  on the wall. Toppo was throwing the balls and rings that he used in his  act to knock the attacking knights down. The others were knocking down  the ladders and dropping things down below as the others on the bottom  lifted things up to them to throw.

Watari appeared to Thomas as he helped to brace the gate with anything they could find. 

“Thomas, knights have appeared in the field by the stables. I did what I can to halt them," Watari said before taking off for the stables.

"Guys!  We need to defend the stables! The knights have gotten through the woods," Thomas shouted out to them. "Those who can come with me, the  rest stay here and protect the gate!"

“Go, I got this,” Sunset said having been cured of the Silent Spell and recovered her stamina. 

Thomas, Cecile, Billy, Kathy, Sanae Y and Kenji ran to the stables while the rest did what they could to defend the gate.

The  stables were a battle ground. Watari is taking down the knights as he  faced them with Peggi and Dominic alongside him. Peggi is swinging two  large hammers, bringing down any knight who dared to fight him. Dominic  is armed with a bo staff swinging it around his head. They joined the  fray and began to push the knights back.

!

At Mt. Hei-Tou -

Ranma had his hands full fighting off Fight Hat. Every time he saw an opening  another attack was coming. The fact that each one of her blows is strong enough to kill a normal person really didn't help matters. Her moves flowed like water as one attack followed another. Also that  ponytail chain ball trick is adding a new twist. He never had to fight  someone who had short and long ranged attacks all rolled into one. Every  time he tried to back away from her she used that chain ball move to  hit him.

Fight Hat leapt back as Ranma slashed down at her with an  ax kick then she crouched down to sweep out with a leg. Ranma was  knocked off balance as his legs were kicked out from underneath him and  went down. Fight Hat then hit home with several punches to her foe's  chest, but Ranma bit down the pain and put himself into a reverse  somersault, then lashing out with some punches.

Using one hand she  blocked one of his punches, then caught another one with her other  hand. She lifted his arm up in the air and punched him in the gut,  making kneel over. Then she grabbed onto Ranma's left arm and threw him  over her shoulder into the side of a large rock.

Ranma got up in  time to see Fight Hat leg slice through the air creating a vacuumed  blade. He jumps aside as the blade cut into the rock in a slanted cut.  The top part of the rock slide downwards crashing into the ground.

‘Damn! She can actually use high air pressure to attack me from a distance!’ Ranma thought to himself as Fight Hat attack again.

Ranma duck under a head kick then follow it with an upper cut. She back  flipped from him before it could connect. Then using her arms like a  spring she sprang forward, both her legs were pointing right at Ranma.  She hit him right into his guts knocking him flat on his back.

Looking  up Ranma just barely manage to roll out of the way of a head punch.  Getting back on his feet Ranma tried to get his breath back. 'Man she's  good. She could take on the old ghoul and the pervert all at once  without breaking out a sweat.'

Seeing Fight Hat leaping through  the air for a flying kick Ranma dug his feet into the ground. He caught  her leg and using her own momentum used it to slam her into the ground.

"Nice  move, but I'm not down let!" Fight Hat shouted jumping back up. "Bee Hive Swarm!" 

She yelled sending hundreds of punches in seconds. Ranma body was riddled with her punches. Then while he was still staggering  from the attack she twisted herself around hitting him with her chain  ball sending him flying onto his back.

"Nice, now here is MINE!"  Ranma yelled getting back up and jump at her. "Chestnut Fist!" 

Ranma sent as many punches at her as she did on him. Then to finish things off  Ranma went and uppercut her right into her jaw sending her flying back.

"So you have an attack that's just like mine," Fight Hat said whipping the  blood from her mouth. "This is what I have been waiting for!"

"What you mean?" Ranma asks wondering what she was talking about as she was getting back up.

"Simple,  I haven't met a fighter that's was at my own level besides my own  family. What's the use of being strong and skilled when there's no one  to fight against you at your own level? Now you're here I can fight  someone and not knowing the outcome before the fight," Fight Hat smiled,  not a smirk but a true smile. 

Smiling at her Ranma could feel she's just like him. A true fighter that's not  fighting for anything or anyone else but for themselves and to reach her  limits then going beyond them. 

'Too bad we couldn't have met in another  way. We could have been the best of friends,’ Ranma thought to himself. "Well you get what you ask for!" 

Ranma and Fight Hat charge at each other to renew their fight.

!

Lake Castle -

The  gate doors were near the breaking point as the knights on the other  side continue to ram and hack away at it. The knights trying to scale  the wall were getting a foothold as the defenders continue to knock them  back. Sunset had used all of her useful spells and the only ones left are the ones that would kill and get her friends caught in the blast zone. The knights unlike back home, aren’t cowards and know how to fight against a powerful magic user like herself, which she promise herself she will never make that mistake again. She’s just too use to how powerful she was compared to everyone else but the princess and how they’re all cowards when something pops up that’s dangerous. (5)

"Guys get off the wall! They're almost through the gate!" Belle shouted up to them as she knocks one of the knights down with her hammer.

She was beating back the knights trying to get through the  holes in the gate. Augustine's fighting off two knights that got  through the gate hole. Mamie threw a pot of boiling water through one of  the holes into the face of one of the knights. Sunset using, her telekinesis is pushing the knights off the walls and knocking down ladders.

"They're almost  through the gate! Everyone get to the barricade!" Scott shouted out,  knocking out a knight with the club he held.

The ones on the wall  jumped down just as the gate doors finally broke down. The knights  charged right through the ruined doors, their swords gleaming in the  midday sun. Mel jumped in front of them, a stream of fire flew out of Branky mouth stopping the first wave and making the ones who weren't hit  jump back at the fierce heat of the flame. Giving the others some time  before the knights regroup to make a run for it.

"Fall back!" Piccolo shouted at them from the barricade. He and Jeane were casting attack spells to give them cover fire. Several knights' charge at them,  but they all fell to the ground frozen. Eike had appeared and he was  making good use of the book Ranma gave him on 'Pressure Points'.

Down at the stables Thomas heard the shouting to fall back. Disarming the  knight he was fighting with a move that Ranma showed him he followed it  with a spinning kick sending the knight to the ground. 

"Everyone back to  the fall back positions! They're through the gates!" Thomas shouted.

Getting a  rope over one knight Billy began to swing him around knocking other  knights down. He let go of the ropes so that the knight slammed into a  group of them. The others seeing that they had the chance took off  running for the lower barricade. The knights seeing this run after them.

A  blast of lighting, fire, wind, and earth blasted into the incoming  knights. 

“Who did that?" Kathy said looking back as she ran.

"There's no time to ask how just run!" Kenji shouted to her.

They  made it to their last stand and waited for the knights to begin  attacking again. Then a wave of knights attacked breaking through the  barricade. Thomas and the others were overwhelmed by the knights. All  was frenzy, chaos, and pain.

!

At Mt. Hei-Tou -

Blocking  a leg kick with his own, then gave Fight Hat a punch to her face and got a  knee into his gut in return. Ranma was never so hard press in his life.  He was facing someone who was fighting him fairly without using any  tricks or cheats, fighting him with nothing but skill.

Ranma  dodged a deadly knife-hand thrust to his chest, but was a fraction of a  second too slow, as Fight Hat then sent several jabs into his midsection, followed by a right cross to his chin. Ranma was sent  reeling back from her punch. Fight Hat then grabbed the front of his  shirt, pulled him back, and then delivered a roundhouse kick to the left  side of his head. Ranma managed to bring up an arm to deflect the kick,  but the force of the impact sent him leaning back from the blow.

"Moko  Takabisha!" Ranma shot out a huge ball of energy at Fight Hat to  counter her last attack. She saw it coming and slapped it away from her. The ball landed far away from them, blowing up and creating a massive  hole in the ground.

Fight Hat just barely raised her arms to block  Ranma's charging attack. The force of his attack sent them into a pile  of rocks. Ranma was sucker punch in his face sending him flying back.  Then she jumped into the air then drive bomb kick at Ranma. He step-side  her attack and punch her in her face. As she fell over she let out a  kick hitting Ranma in his side.

Shabon was watching the fight all  this time. She had never seen anybody fight at such levels before. They  were giving out such powerful auras that even she could see them. They  were moving so fast that she only saw them whenever they connected with  each other with an attack.

Fight Hat spin kicked Ranma in his face  making him twist in the air. But he let out a kick of his own slamming  it into her side. They both stagger from each other, trying to see an  opening that they could use, but neither gave each other an inch of  ground.

"Twin Air Blades Strike!" Fight Hat shouted throwing twin upper cuts into the air. Creating two blades made of compress air came cutting through the ground heading for Ranma.

"Moko Takabisha!" Ranma shouted releasing a huge energy blast. The two attacks hit and  caused a huge explosion between the two throwing them back.

Picking themselves up they charge at each other again. They began to pummel  each other with powerful blows after another neither was giving ground  or letting up their attack. Then both made a spin kick into each other  faces sending them both down.

Ranma knew he had to get back to the castle fast before it was too late, but Fight Hat was just as skilled  as he was. Then an idea hit him. He had unlocked a new spell with his  rune and it was a good time to see what it does.

His right arm  began to glow purple as he power up his new attack. 

“Hand of Chaos!" a huge purple beam of power shot forward straight towards Fight Hat.

Getting back up Fight Hat saw the attack coming straight at her. All she had time to do was screamed as she was consumed in the beam of energy. Then everything turned black.

Fight Hat landed after being hit by the  powerful beam a few feet from Shabon, still in the cage. Her clothes  were ripped and burned from the attack. Her top hat that she had on for  the whole fight fell from her head. Then to Ranma and  Shabon's shock she got back up and put back on her hat. 

“You took me by surprise with that. Till we meet again,” Fight Hat said as the TargetGirl appeared next to her again and both of them teleported away. 

"Ranma you did it!" Shabon yelled.

Taking a Mega Medicine A and drinking it Ranma felt renewed. Grabbing his sword that was nearby Ranma broke the lock of the cage. And he gave Shabon a Mega medicine A to drink as well.

"Shabon, we need to get back to the castle," Ranma said to her as he took her into his arms.Then he took off with to Lake Castle hoping it  wasn't too late.

!

At Lake Castle-

Thomas couldn't believe it. They won. They had won the battle for the castle.  When the knights broke through he thought it was over, but then Martha  showed up with Ayame. The reason why she was gone was that she and Ayame had gone to the Great Hollow to find Lucia. Martha had sold the castle  to Lucia for 200 potchs to be paid one potch per year, making the castle  part of the grasslands for 200 years.

When Leo and Percival  appeared they told the knights that were under the counsel member's orders that to attack land owned by grasslanders you needed orders from  the top. They needed to get out of there fast before the grass clans  counter attack for this.

"That's a fine idea to follow," Ranma said returning to the castle with Shabon.

"It's the one that took Leo and Captain Chris out!" one of the knights said backing in fear.

"If  you heard of me then know this. This castle is my home and these people  here are my friends. Now get out of here before I get rid of you the  easy way." Ranma said giving the knights an icy glaze and letting out  his battle aura.

The knights all quickly gathered their fallen and fled from the castle.

"Oh  yes, I got news for you counsel member," Percival said looking at the  counsel member. "News got out that counsel members are planning to split  the grasslands with Harmonia. The people in an uproar. You better get  back before the other members use you as a scrape goat."

"What I wou- I got to get back!" the counsel member said before taking off.

“So much like home,” Sunset said recovering from the fighting and being reminded of the nobles back home.

"Nice to see that some of you knights do have honor," Ranma said to them.

"Thanks, I think?" Leo said.

"Shabon you're all right!" Nei yelled out running to Shabon taking her into her arms. Toppo stood by smiling.

“What happen to that woman?” Sunset ask Ranma.

“She got away using that monster to teleport her away,” Ranma said.

“That’s odd, monsters normally don’t follow commands of others. It takes a powerful magic user to do that,” Jeane said.

“She did say that she will see me again,” Ranma said.

“Well it could be worst. She could be wanting to marry you,” Sunset said.

“Don’t remind me,” Ranma said who is glad that Sunset isn’t attracted to him, like so many other girls in his life.

!