Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Fire Emblem Fan Fiction ❯ Fire Emblem ❯ The Devoted ( Chapter 1 )

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Prologue:
A Gathering of Storms

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In a dark room, three cloaked figures stood over a bed with another figure lying in it. They watched silently as the figure in the bed drew his last breaths.

“My son,” The figure in the bed rasped, holding a hand up to one of the cloaked men. The man he spoke to wrapped his own hands around the one offered.

“Father…”

“My son, I must apologize for my untimely departure from this world. You are ill-prepared to lead an empire…”

“This is not of your doing, father,” The younger man responded. “This… this treachery…”

“Do not let your anger cloud your mind,” the man rasped out. “Remember that there are still things that must be done. You must not let my end give you pause. If anything, let it hasten you.”

“Your father is right, my prince,” one of the other cloaked figures said. “There will be time to mourn once we are sure we will survive. For now…”

“I know!” The young prince snapped. “But… I… I!” After a moment of struggling to continue speaking, he knelt and hung his head down. “I'm sorry, father. I'm getting… sentimental in your presence.” The older man smiled weakly and slowly held up a hand to his son's face, drying the wetness that had appeared on his cheeks. The young prince looked up into his father's eyes.

“If you must cry, then do so quickly and move on,” The older man said. “This is neither the end for me or you. We will meet again after this day, my son. And when that happens, your mother will be there as well.” The young prince remained silent as he and the other two figures watched their leader's eyes glaze up and his smile widened. “Yes. It's time for me to meet up with your mother again… man was she hot.”

The tallest figure, who hadn't yet spoken snorted.

“Understatement of a lifetime, my friend.”

The emperor's smile only widened further, but he didn't say anything. After a long moment, the prince hung his head again.

The tall figure reached over and shut the dead man's eyelids.

“Your father was right, my prince. We cannot let this stop us. The search must continue.”

“I know, Sage,” The young prince said, standing. “Fetch my private attendants. I am leaving on a personal journey to find this Fire Emblem tomorrow.” The other cloaked figures froze at his words. “Our mistake has been trusting others to do this for us. Our own countrymen have low tolerance for human society, and humans would as soon as give us their precious relics as they would feed themselves to us,” The prince said. “This is something that I must do myself.” After a moment of hesitation, the shorter figure nodded.

“Yes, my prince. Mint and Lime will be ready to go by tomorrow morning.”

The prince turned away from his father's corpse and looked out the window.

“Good. We will leave at that time.”

 

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Chapter One:
The Devoted

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Gwyar grinned amongst the laughter and carousing in the musty, well-lit tavern. He was only one of many ruffians sitting at a table covered in golden coins and jewelry. Anyone who looked at him would see a big, hairy muscular man with red facial hair and a fair share of battle scars who wore only a dirty, torn yellow sleeveless tunic that showed off his bulging triceps and biceps, short dark brown trousers kept up with a belt, leather boots and finally a leather pauldron on each shoulder. Beside him was an axe forged entirely of steel, handle and all. All of the other men in the establishment were of similar build and attire, and they each had a variety of swords and axes of their own, most of them stained with blood and dirt. But there was one thing that couldn't be easily seen about Gwyar that set him apart from the rest.

He was their leader.

“All right, rogues!” Gwyar bellowed over all of the other drunken foolishness, easily calling all of the attention in the tavern to himself. “Tonight, we celebrate th' deaths o' them `Highland Bears' scumbags `et thought they could just move in on our territory and disrespect us!” Amidst the cheers of his men, he raised his mug into the air. “To victory! And may death come to all who oppose us!” The cheers rose to a deafening roar as all of the men in the tavern joined in toasting to the defeat of their enemies. Gwyar looked over at the bar and grinned. “Barkeep! Another round… for the Bloody Blades!”

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Outside, two young men stood at the door to the tavern. One of them, wore attire similar to Gwyar's, except that his tunic was a darker yellow, his trousers black and he wore only one pauldron as well as a spotted black and yellow bandana. He wore a single iron axe which hung from a leather shoulder strap and a small satchel that hung from his belt. The other young man bore his long black hair in a braided pigtail and had slightly more elaborate clothing; a red silk shirt that had intricate embroideries and designs, folded back cuffs and a high collar, while his loose cotton pants were the same color as his companion's. A sheathed sword hung from the belt on his waist, and on his right leg was another belt that held a holstered dagger.

“Are you sure this is okay, Saotome?”

“Relax! Kasumi won't mind the wait. We can afford ourselves a treat.”

The jovial atmosphere and lighting looked inviting enough to both of them since it was the night of the new moon and very dark outside, but one of them still had their doubts.

“I don't know, Saotome… It looks like some of the local thugs have set up shop in there…” The bandana sporting youth stuck his head in and looked around. “I don't think we'll be welcome.”

“Ah, we'll be fine. Come on, what's the worst that could happen?” The one called Saotome said, casually walking in.

“Famous last words,” his companion muttered, but reluctantly followed after him. The obnoxiously loud cheering only got louder as they walked inside, but neither of them paid it any heed. The two of them sat at the bar and the pigtailed youth raised a hand.

“Yo!” He called out, facing the bartender. The man turned and saw them almost immediately, despite all the loud racket. “You got some water?” The older man nodded and he continued. “We'll both have some water, then. You serve food here, right?” Again, the man nodded. “Okay, lessee. Five orders of beef steak, four drumsticks and a side of spinach. And for my friend here…”

“Six orders of pork chops, two beef steaks and two drumsticks. Oh, and I'd like some honey in my water, please.” All the while, the bartender nodded, a small grin growing on his face.

“And you have the money for all this?” He asked, sounding about ready to laugh at them.

“Oh yes, here,” The young man with the bandana pulled the satchel from his waist and opened it. He pulled out a handful of golden coins and set them on the counter. “This should cover it.” The bartender reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out his glasses, then grabbed and inspected one of the coins closely. A moment later, he nodded to himself and gathered the rest of them.

“It'll be ready in twenty minutes,” The man said as he walked to, opened and entered a door that presumably led to the kitchen.

“There. See, now was that so bad, Ryoga?”

“Hmph. I still think we should have looked for someplace else,” Ryoga snapped back. “This place is too crowded, bandits or no. They're so damn loud, too.”

“Ehh, ain't nothin' gonna happen to us. Stop worryin' about it already. Sheesh, you're almost as bad as Akane, and she's a woman.”

“What was that, Saotome?” The fanged youth stood and clenched his fists.

“Oh shut up. We'll get time to scrap later. Let's just relax and enjoy the atmosphere, okay?”

“Hmph… Whatever.” Ryoga sat back down and faced forward. “Say, Ranma…”

“Yeah?” The pigtailed teen looked over at his companion.

“Do you think Miss Akane… likes me?”

“Hah, no way.” Ranma snorted and pat his friend on the back. “That muscle-bound brute? She doesn't have the capacity to like men! Trust me, you're much better going after Kasumi or Nabiki. And Nabiki is too smart for you, and Kasumi has no interest in younger men.”

Ryoga frowned at Ranma's words.

“Are you calling me stupid?” He demanded, standing up again, knocking Ranma's hand away from his shoulder.

“No, man! Just saying that Nabiki is too smart in general! Everyone knows smart chicks are full of it,” Ranma said in a calming voice.

“Oh…” Ryoga sat back down yet again, then frowned. “Hey, since when are you qualified to give out romantic advice?”

“I've had my fair share of romantic encounters with the ladies,” Ranma stated in a suave tone. Ryoga rolled his eyes.

“You're the guy who freezes up whenever anything with breasts even touches you,” He snorted, crossing his arms.

“Yeah right… and you're one to talk. Your little soldier is always quick to stand at attention, isn't he?”

“Do you, or do you not want to fight?” Ryoga demanded.

“You're the one who keeps starting shit, damn,” Ranma said, folding his arms and hunching over the counter. “Hmph. I knew I should have left you at the base.”

“But they told both of us to get food,” Ryoga started.

“I could have left you to find your own way,” Ranma clarified. “Anyway, just shut up. Conversation with you is always dull.”

“…You…hmph. Idiot. Fine, whatever.” And so, the two sat there, unimposing and silent as could be as they waited for their meals.

 

The wait was long and boring, despite all of the excitement that went on around them. When it finally arrived, they ate quickly and noisily, but their disgusting display went ignored by all. When they finished, they both stood up and started for the exit.

“Ey! Hold it!” One of the thugs in the tavern called out. The two continued walking, neither thinking that they were the ones being spoken to. “Ey! You scrawny little punks!” When again, they simply kept walking, the thug growled and stood up, quickly walking over to the two teens about to walk out of the door. With massive meaty hands, he grabbed both of them by their shirts.

“And just where do ye think yer goin, usin' our tavern without pay'n any tribute?”

Ranma and Ryoga looked over their shoulders at the imposing figure who held them in place.

“Tribute?” Ranma asked.

“Tha's right,” The man said, grinning. “This whole town belongs to the Bloody Blades, y'see. Anythin' that happens here, `n you gotta go through us.”

“I'm sure the constable would disagree.” Ryoga snorted. The big man narrowed his eyes at them and lifted them up into the air and turned around, tossing them back inside the tavern. They both landed on one of the tables, face down. Gold and ale spilled off of the table as they slid across it, before finally falling down on the other side.

“Ow…What the hell…” Ranma looked up and noticed that some of the many brutes in the tavern was glaring down at him. “Um, hi?”

“Damn it.” Beside him, Ryoga was looking around the entire tavern, which was starting to quiet rather quickly. “I knew something was going to happen.”

“So you two boys think you can hold off on payin' tribute, eh?” They stood up as quickly as they could manage as the big, dangerous looking man who'd grabbed them lumbered over towards them. With each of the giant of a man's steps, the tavern seemed to shake, and Ranma and Ryoga quickly gave him their full attention.

“Err, don't you think you could just get our tribute from the guy who runs the place?” Ranma asked, pointing at the bartender who'd served them. Ranma and Ryoga both looked over in his direction… only to see that the man was no longer there. “Uhhh….”

“Oh, we'll be gettin' a bit from him too, don't worry,” The big man said with a nasty smile that showed off missing teeth. “Everyone's gotta pay up some time or another.”

“Oh, this is great.” Ryoga looked at Ranma. “See? This is exactly what I was talking about! Now we're gonna have to fight our way out of here!” To this, many of the thugs had a good laugh.

“Shut up, you idiot.” Ranma looked around the tavern, quickly cataloguing every possible escape point and counting the number of possible hostiles. After only a few seconds, he nodded and then turned to face the one who'd thrown them. “Listen, we're not looking for trouble, mister.”

“Well that's a damn shame, `cause trouble shore `nuff done found you, boys.” One of the men said, picking up a nearby axe. “All right, lads! Let's show these fools what happens when you mess with the Bloody Blades!” The men all roared in agreement and Ranma sighed.

“Well, let's do this,” He said, unsheathing his sword. Ryoga unstrapped his axe and sighed even more dramatically.

“This is all your fault, Saotome!”

Without a word, the nearest bandit leapt at Ryoga and swung his axe. The fanged teen blocked the attack with his own and kicked the man in the gut, knocking him off his feet. After that, all of the bandits started attacking.

Ranma ducked under another axe swing and with a quick flash of his own blade, the bandit who'd attacked him had a huge bleeding gash in his chest. As the man cried out in pain and surprise, another one leapt at him, this time with a sword held high above his head, which Ranma parried and countered by quickly stabbing the man in his sword arm, lodging his blade in between the two bones in the left forearm. As the sword user cried out, Ranma pulled his blade free and kicked him in the face, knocking him off of his feet. Another axe-user charged him with a scowl on his face, and Ranma leapt up over his opponent as he swung his axe sideways with all the grace of an ox.

The pig-tailed teen landed on the thug's back, held his sword up and stabbed down, straight into one of the man's lungs. Before his opponent could even react, he leapt off and straight towards two more bandits who were running towards him with his sword held back. Ranma flew between them both, swung his sword in a wide arc that cut right through their intestines, and landed behind them.

Ryoga snarled as he blocked yet another axe-wielding bandit with his own axe, and with his free hand, punched the man in straight in the face, breaking his nose.

“Saotome, you show-off!” He snapped, turning and swinging his axe behind him without even looking. An enemy who approached from behind had his stomach cut open and fell over screaming. Ryoga turned his attention back to the bandit whose nose he'd broken and slammed the side of his axe into the man's temple, knocking him over the bar. He picked up the man's dropped hand-axe and with great force, slung it towards another bandit who was standing there, watching him in surprise. The spinning axe cleanly sliced his head off, and Ryoga winced. “Oh well, he should have picked a better way to live.”

The biggest, ugliest looking thug frowned as he watched the scene unravel before him. Two little boys were taking his men down left and right? What the hell was going on here?

“Ugh! I can't take this no more!” Everyone stopped when he shouted. Ranma blinked and kicked the latest bandit he'd skewered off of his blade, then stood looked at the man. “If ye want sumfink done, ye gotta do it yerself! Useless, the lot o' ye!”

“That's not exactly fair to your boys, you know,” Ranma said, grinning. “You're kind of totally out-classed, here.”

“Shut up, Ranma,” Ryoga sighed. He turned to face the man who was the apparent leader. “Listen, we're sorry for maiming and,” he gestured the now headless bandit, “Killing your friends, but you left us no choice. If you let us leave right now, no one else will get hurt. All right?”

The bandit's face reddened with anger.

“Oh, someone's gonna git hurt alright! Nobody crosses Gwyar and gets away wit it!” The big man picked up his axe and charged Ryoga with a scowl on his face. The fanged youth shook his head and sighed. He brought up his axe in time to block a swing from the other man, and the force behind his opponent's attack gave him pause. Gwyar noticed the slightly surprised look on his face and grinned. “Yeah, tha's right, boy. Ye don messed wit the wrong people! Gyah!” The man pushed Ryoga back, and swung his axe towards the boy once more. Ryoga dodged by ducking back and kicked the man in the knee.

Gwyar barely seemed to notice his attack and continued swinging his axe towards the younger man, driving him further and further back.

“Die!” Ranma stopped watching the fight unfolding between his companion and enemy boss in time to turn around and block the sword strike of another opponent with his own.

“Your type never seems to learn,” The pig-tailed youth started, “Always seeing their friends get beaten with one hit, but thinking, `I can do better than that! Watch me!'” He shook his head and blocked a number of swings from the man, barely moving his sword at all each time. Ranma grabbed a nearby mug of ale from a table with one free hand, drank what was left, and tossed the mug into the man's face. His opponent surprised, he took the opportunity to stab the man in the bladder. He pulled his sword free of the now screaming man's gut and knocked him off his feet by slamming the flat of his blade into the side of his head. Ranma stepped over him and looked around at the remaining bandits.

“You guys still wanna go? I can do this all night.” For added effect, he yawned.

“Grr! You're not so great! You've just been getting lucky!” One of them shouted out angrily before running out of the tavern. Ranma blinked.

“Hum. Strange that you run away after saying something like that.” He narrowed his eyes. `Unless…'

Ryoga frowned and blocked yet another of the beserk bandit gang leader's strikes.

`If I can just get him once...' After dodging under a particularly wild swing, Ryoga swung his axe up and cut a straight line up the man's chest, leaving a deep wound that freely bled and oozed other liquids. Ryoga grinned as he looked up at Gwyar's face, but when he saw the grin on the other man's face, his own slipped. “What?”

“It'll take more than a scratch to take Gwyar the Nasty down, you clown!” The man guffawed and held up his axe above his head as if to cut Ryoga in half. Before he could, though, there was a meaty thump from something hitting flesh and the man screamed out in pain, dropping his axe and grabbing his left shoulder with his right hand. Ryoga blinked and looked up; from his vantage point he could see a familiar dagger lodged in the man's back to the hilt.

“Damn it, Ranma! I didn't ask for your help!” The fanged teen snorted as he stood up and glared at the pigtailed teen.

“Sorry about this, but we've gotta go,” Ranma said. To Gwyar or him, Ryoga wasn't sure, but it didn't matter.

“What happened?”

“They've gone to get reinforcements, and even though I said I could do this all night, I don't feel like it,” Ranma said as he roughly and messily pulled his dagger from the bandit leader's back. All manner of curses flew out of the big man's mouth and both teens started running. Ryoga stopped for a moment as something shiny caught his eye, and he stopped noticing all the golden coins, rubies, emeralds and all manner of jewels littering the tables and ground. The young man grinned and stashed as many coins and jewels as he could into his satchel before following Ranma out.

Once they were out of the tavern, they turned right and ran along a dirt path until they found some tall bushes. Both dived into the bushes and peered out at the tavern. A large group of thugs quickly ran into the tavern. After only a few seconds, they quickly ran back out and started looking around.

“Split up! Find those cowards and bring them back! We're gonna show them what happens when you try to fight the Bloody Blades!” One man shouted. There was a seemingly tangible bloodlust in the air emanating from the tavern and it surroundings.

“Let's go now, quickly,” Ranma said, stepping out of the bush. “While they don't see us.”

“Don't give me orders, Saotome,” Ryoga snapped. He reluctantly followed his partner out and Ranma grabbed his hand, then started running, dragging him behind. “Hey! Let go of my hand you arse!”

“Hmph, fine,” Ranma let go of the other teen's hand and kept running. “If you get lost in the dark, don't expect me to care! I'm not the one who gets lost in a room with one door and no windows!”

“I do not! Stop saying that!” Ryoga said, trying to follow his companion's voice.

“Yes you do!”

“No I don't!” The fanged youth blinked, a little uncertain despite his words; had Ranma actually sounded further that time?

“Damn it! Yes you do! Where are you going right now?” Ryoga frowned when the other teen suddenly grabbed him by the hand again and started running. “I'm just going to have to get you leash or something, damn it.” Ryoga growled but stayed silent as his friend led him towards their base.

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In a large forest clearing, a teenage girl with a short crop of hair sat atop one of the high rotting walls of an old, derelict fortress. She dressed oddly for her sex - pale yellow cotton pants and shirt, with two spiky iron pauldrons and a bronze hammer strapped to her back.

“Hmph, they're sure taking their time. All we did was ask them to go buy vegetables and meat,” The girl said with a frown. “Stupid Ranma! Always so unreliable…” She sighed and looked down at the ground. “But if Ryoga's there with him, I'm sure they'll be fine…” The sound of feet crunching on dirt and dead leaves met her ears and she looked down at the ground. “Oh! They're back!” The girl turned aroundand shouted out. “Hey, everyone! They're back!”

 

Ranma and Ryoga ran through the forest towards the fort with wild abandon, and stopped only when they reached archway. When the girl yelled out, Ranma sighed and looked up at her in annoyance.

“Stupid tomboy and her loud voice,” he said. “That hurts even from down here!”

“Hey!” Ranma looked up at the `tomboy' and blinked. “I heard that, you know!”

“I'm sure you did, you half-beast hybrid,” He muttered.

“I'm not part beast, pervert!” The girl snapped back. She turned around and leapt off of the wall and ran inside the fort.

“Oh great, here she comes,” Ranma sighed. “I don't know how many times I've had to put her in her place just this week.”

“Shut up, Ranma. You're the one who's always antagonizing her! Hell, you antagonize everyone!”

“No I don't,” Ranma snorted. “I mean, sure I uh, might… well, tease you guys sometimes, but it's all in good spirit!”

“Hmph. Whatever,” Ryoga walked inside just as the girl ran out and at Ranma, brandishing her hammer.

“Hi there, Akane,” Ranma dodged a swing from her hammer. “You look brutish, as always.”

“Damn it! Shut up! I do not look brutish!”

“Yes you do,” Ranma said, sidestepping another swing. “You're way too muscular! Geez, I think yours are bigger than mine!”

“Grrr! Shut up!”

 

Inside the castle, Ryoga sniffed the air and frowned. `Hmm. Something smells good…' He was walking down a hall when a feminine voice greeted him.

“Hello, Ryoga. I heard you two were back. Did you manage to get anything we asked for?” The voice had an amused lilt to it.

“Oh!” Ryoga turned and saw a young woman wearing a dark brown hooded cloak standing behind him. `How long was she there?' He shook his head and remembered her question. “Um, no. We uh, ran into some kind of trouble. Bandits swarmed the whole town out of nowhere! Ranma and I tried to leave without starting anything, but they weren't having any of that, and we ended up having to kill a few of them to escape.” He said, scratching his head. “Sorry.” The girl giggled into a hand after his report.

“I see. Well, that's okay. Mousse was able to find some wild pigs in the area, and Nabiki discovered a patch of wild vegetables. We'll be fine.” Ryoga blinked.

“What?” He frowned. “You mean, we did all that fighting for nothing?”

“I'm afraid so,” She said.

“Oh…” The fanged teen's eyes glazed over. “I see…” The older girl giggled again and turned away.

“Dinner is almost ready. Are you two still hungry?” She asked.

“Hm? Oh, yeah, sure, I'll have some,” He said.

“Good. Are those two playing outside again?”

“Uhh… I wouldn't call it playing,” Ryoga said, scratching his head. “You want me to go get them?”

“When dinner is ready.” She started walking away from him and he turned away. Ryoga turned around again to go back to the entrance and tell the two quarrelling outside about dinner, but he was stopped by another voice.

“There you are, Hibiki.” He turned and saw another girl, though this one wore a red mantle over her blue shirt and pants instead of a full cloak. “Where's Saotome? Fighting with sis again?”

“Yeah,” Ryoga nodded. “Those two can't stand each other.” The girl with the mantle snickered at that.

“Are you so sure?” The fighter gave her a look at asked if she was serious. “Just saying.”

“Of course. For years, all they've ever done is fight, fight, fight,” He snorted. “That's all Saotome is good at, anyway.”

“Heh. Well, whatever you say.” She turned away. “I'll go see him then.”

“Right. Later, Nabiki,” Ryoga waved and walked away.

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Much later that night, Akane sat atop the dirty, crumbling walls yet again. The girl looked her arms over and frowned.

“My arms aren't too muscular. What a jerk, making a girl worry over her image…” She looked down at her chest and the frown deepened. “But… but… he's right about these…” She sniffed. “Come on… why won't you grow? Like Nabiki's or Kasumi's? Is it because I'm too active? Am I still too young?” The teen sighed and wilted. “I'm already seventeen! They should be bigger than this!” When she looked up, some orange light in the distance caught her eye. The girl blinked and squinted, instantly recognizing the light of torches in the distance.

“Huh?” It was a large group of men, though she couldn't see them well enough from where she was to identify them. They were quickly covering the distance between them and the fort, though, which filled her with mild alarm. As they got closer, she could see that they were running, and all of them, though wearing only simple clothes, were armed with swords, axes, clubs, and various other instruments of destruction. Her eyes widened and she immediately put her fingers to her mouth and blew a long, drawn out whistle.

-

Inside the castle, Ranma's eyes shot open immediately at the sound of the whistle. He tossed his woolen blanket away, grabbed a nearby cup and emptied its near freezing contents on his face, which thoroughly awoke him. He shook his head, flinging the cold water everywhere at once, quickly grabbed his sword and dagger from the side of the hay he'd been sleeping on, strapped them on, and ran out into the hall.

He was quickly greeted by Ryoga, Akane, and another male youth with long hair and flowing white robes.

“Mousse, Ryoga, Akane,” Ranma nodded. “Nabiki and Kasumi?” The youth with white robes nodded behind Ranma, who turned around.

“Hey there, Saotome,” Nabiki waved. Beside her, Kasumi stood there with a serene smile on her face despite the late hour and hurried wake up call.

“Right, there you are,” Ranma nodded and looked at Akane. “It was your watch, right? How many of them are there?”

“I couldn't get a head count, but it looked like maybe thirty or forty. There were a lot.” Ranma nodded.

“Okay. We can handle that many easy.” He looked at Ryoga. “You're with me and Akane. We're gonna sit at the front entrance and slaughter anyone who tries to sneak in. Mousse, Nabiki, Kasumi, I want you guys on top, handling everyone from a safe range,”

“Of course,” Nabiki said with a roll of her eyes and a grin. “Do you think us stupid, Saotome?” Ranma blinked.

“That depends. Is your name Ryoga or Akane?”

“Ranma…” Two voices growled out in unison.

“You would do well to remember who will be watching your back, Saotome,” The man in flowing white robes pointed out with a smirk.

“Aww, shut up, Mousse. Did I ask you?” Ranma grumbled under his breath and looked at Akane and Ryoga. “Right, you two, let's go. We'll try negotiating with them first, which will, of course fail, and lead to us killing them all.” The two nodded and followed him down the hall, while the other three started walking up a set of old, worn and pot-marked stone stairs. As they neared the exit, Ranma and Ryoga noticed Akane muttering something under her breath.

“Hate bandits, hate bandits, hate bandits!”

“Akane, shut up,” Ranma said, half annoyed and half amused. The girl growled at him in response.

By the time they made it to the archway, the correctly assumed bandit party was already upon them.

“There they are! Get `em, lads!” Ranma and Ryoga frowned at the familiar voice as a line of angry thugs rushed to meet them.

“We don't even get to negotiate this time? But that's the fun part!” Ranma insisted as he quickly unsheathed his sword in time to block the swing of a club. He had to use both hands to brace the sword, so forceful was the other man's swing. Ryoga snorted and dodged a downwards vertical swing from one of the bandits, tripped him and slashed his side open.

“This is the fun part, for me,” He said, grinning at the next man that tried to kill him.

“Isn't it?” Akane agreed, slamming her hammer into a man's skull with all of her strength. The man's head caved in and he crumpled over. “But it's kind of gross.”

Ranma shook his head.

“What the hell is you guys' problem with us, anyway?” He demanded, kicking his current opponent in the crotch. The man folded over easily, but Ranma didn't stop there, instead slashing his throat out. With so many of them trying to blitz him at once, he knew he couldn't afford them any second chances. Ranma leapt straight up in the air and three of them crashed where he'd been standing before. He landed on their heads and looked up at the fortress wall. “What are you guys waitin' on? Start shooting already!” He leapt straight up from the three men's heads, flipped in the air and dove towards one of them and stabbed his sword straight down the man's head.

Up above, Mousse snorted as he watched the unfolding carnage below. In his hands were a bow two quivers full of arrows with iron heads.

“Hmph, impatient as always, Saotome.”

“Has to have someone hold his hand through it all,” Nabiki snorted in agreement. The young brown haired woman pulled a musty dark-red tome from her mantle and flipped it open. “Let's see, there's three over there, two trying to sneak up on Hibiki, and one climbing a tree… Hmm, he's actually got a bow.” She nodded and made her decision.

After a short chant, she folded all but her index and middle finger. The two fingers began glowing with a pale blue light, and she quickly got to work drawing a large system of runes in the air, going as far as to take a step back in order to use up more of the air around her. In two seconds, it was over, and the pale blue runes glowed brightly for a moment before turning into a small orb of flame that shot at the man in the tree, who was nocking an arrow in his bow.

He saw the bright orange light out of the corner of his eyes, but before he could even see it for what it was and scream, it collided with his chest and exploded, blasting him from the tree. The already dead man landed on his head and fell over.

“Damn!” Nabiki noticed the voice from earlier speak up again. “They got magic users up top! Fire away, men!” She narrowed her eyes as a few of the men carrying bows and arrows immediately looked up and noticed them. A streak of black energy shot into one of them before he could act, and he fell over, foaming at the mouth.

“Hmm, nice shot,” Nabiki said, glancing at her elder sister. The other woman merely smiled and held up her hands in preparation for another spell. Unlike Arcane magic, which one required a number of runes and chants to cast, Dark Magic required the use of sporadic waving hand gestures. Both of them could be sped up drastically if one possessed magical tomes, such as Fire or Kasumi's Flux, which gave shape to the spell, but the incanting methods were different and the silly hand waving was not her style. Both sisters readied their spells again and fired them down at more bandits who were gathering their weapons while Mousse rained arrows on them.

“There, that's all of the bow users,” Mousse said from beside Nabiki. She blinked and looked down at the progressing fight below. Indeed, all of those who had came equipped with bows and had not been just very badly roasted or had had their soul ripped out, had arrows lodged in critical parts of their bodies. Nabiki winced at one who'd caught an arrow through the eye.

“Wow, that had to have hurt a lot, for about a second or two.” She grinned and looked around at the remaining bandits. “Now let's take out the garbage,”

 

Down below, Ranma grinned as enemies fell left and right. Soon, the number of bandits reduced to just half of what it had been originally. Ranma pulled his sword from the chest of the thug he'd just stabbed in the heart, and knocked the quickly dying man over with a light push. Instinctively, he turned and held up his sword to block a powerful strike.

A familiar nasty face was scowling at him. It was the same bandit leader from the tavern.

“Hello there. Gwyar, wasn't it?” Ranma asked. “I'm gonna have to take your head now, Gwyar. No hard feelings, okay?”

“My axe screams for your blood, little man!”

“Oh. So you're crazy, too?” Ranma continued with his casual tone of voice. The big man gave an unintelligible roar and pushed down on his axe hard enough to bring Ranma to his knees. “Damn, I guess they don't make you the leader for nothing, huh?” He grinned. “Should be fun!” Ranma gripped the sword with both hands and pushed back with a sudden burst of energy, knocking his foe away. He quickly drew the dagger from the holster in his leg and grinned. “Now I'm ready.”

“Ye talk too much,” Gwyar growled, charging at him again.

Ranma blocked the axe strike with the dagger, much to his foe's surprise, and slashed out with his sword, but the bigger man ducked sideways and he completely missed despite his speed. “You're kinda fast for a big guy, eh?” Ranma asked with a grin. His foe growled and tried to knee him in the gut, but Ranma jumped back and held his sword and dagger up for another attack. Gwyar charged him yet again, swinging his axe in a very wide arc with his right arm completely outstretched. Ranma ducked under the swing easily, but the left hook caught him by surprise and he was lifted off his feet and into the air. The giant roared and charged him again with his axe held above his head.

He swung it down with both arms and Ranma rolled to the side in time to dodge it. He sprung up to his feet and leapt up into the air with his sword out, leaving a shallow cut in his opponent's arm that was more due the fact that the big man had seen him moving and was able to get out of the way of a much more fatal wound. Ranma landed on his feet with his sword and dagger held out and Gwyar glared at him. The two circled around for a moment before leaping into action again. Ranma blocked the steel axe with both his sword and dagger, but the bigger man grinned and started pushing him back through the dirt.

“Why are you smiling?” Ranma asked as he suddenly drew his dagger from between the sword and axe and stabbed the man in the stomach. His foe shouted out in pain and jumped back, leaving Ranma to stand there with a smirk of his own. “That was a stupid move. What, did you think you'd push me up against the wall or something?” Ranma glanced back at the castle behind him.

Gwyar scowled at him and ripped a strange looking horn from the rope holding his pants up and blew on it. The sound echoed throughout the forest around them and Ranma frowned.

“Calling more of your friends?”

“We'll see the lot of ye dead yet!” The big man spat.

“No you won't,” Akane said as she slammed her hammer into the side of his head from behind. The huge man flew sideways, cartwheeling completely twice from the force of her attack. Ranma frowned at her.

“I was playing with that one. Why'd you butt in?”

“The rest are dead or incapacitated,” Ryoga said from behind Ranma. Ranma looked over his shoulder at the other teen. “We should leave now, before the rest get here. There's no point in risking our lives further, we knew we'd have to give up the base the moment Miss Akane woke us up.” Ranma looked over the carnage and the bodies of their foes.

“We're ready,” Nabiki called out. The three warriors turned to face the archway, where Nabiki, Kasumi, and Mousse were standing with sacks full of their meager belongings. Akane strapped her hammer to her back and hurriedly ran over to take two of the bags from her elder sisters. Ryoga and Ranma took their own from Mousse, who carried his own stuff where no one else could see. When everyone was comfortable, they looked at Ranma.

“All right,” He started. “Lewellyn is south-east, but these louts are coming from that direction, right?” He asked, looking at Akane. “We'll have to go around them then, try to get out of the forest before we head for town.” He quickly pulled a rolled up piece of parchment from inside his shirt, unrolled it and looked it over. “If we head north-east until we hit the edge of the forest, we can travel east until we hit a road. From there, follow the road south, then south-west around the forest, and we'll arrive in Lewellyn. Further south is where one of our contacts should be waiting for us with a few opportunities,” He said, rolling the map up again and stuffing it back in his shirt. “Let's go.”

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Credit goes to JSB, for his many helpful ideas, and inverted helix, who spotted an error for me. Thanks guys!