Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Magic Knight Rayearth Fan Fiction ❯ Pillars of Strength ❯ Forest of Silence ( Chapter 4 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

Pillars of Strength
by Afroplex (jwessels@cse.unl.edu)
http://ranko.homelinux.net

Disclaimer - This crossover story is not for profit. All characters
within are property of their respective owners. Please don't sue
me, you won't get anything out of it since I'm but a poor college
student.

Thanks to RanmaRS for pointing out some things about Ferio's
knowledge of the other worlds and the knights.

CHAPTER 4 - Forest of Silence
==============================================================< br>
The first rays of light crept over the wall, striking across the
courtyard. As the beams worked their way down, they crept toward a
sleeping bundle on the ground. Striking Ranma's closed
eyes, his face crunched. Raising a hand to block the light, he
gained consciousness fully.

Sitting up, he stretched his arms and looked around at the courtyard,
"Shoot, it wasn't a dream. May as well get in a workout."

As he jumped into the air, he was oblivious to someone observing in
one of the stone windows. Presea was impressed as the young man
jumped suddenly fifteen feet into the air, and began to throw several
punches and kicks in rapid succession. He seemed to hang there,
before gravity reasserted its authority.

Roughly ten minutes later, he gave a short pause and walked toward his
makeshift bedding. Presea was curious to what he was digging for, and
gave a small smirk when Ranma picked up the yellow ornamented glove.
The armor swirled around him, and expanded to make up for the larger
size of his male body. Patting himself down, Ranma thought for a
second and brought out his weapons.

After another fifteen minutes of vigorous exercises, Presea stepped
out clapping. "That was great! Want to grab something to bite? The
girls are still sleeping, perhaps we can talk before Mokona wakes them
up."

Nodding, Ranma followed silently. Sitting down to the large variety of
the youth dug in at the same furious rate Presea witnessed the night
before. It still amazed her.

"You shouldn't do that... it's not healthy."

Ranma paused in midgulp, and looked up. "Muph." A bit of pear
came out, and seeing it go over Presea's face Ranma turned red and
rushed to wipe it off with a large towel. Presea struggled as
Ranma's speed and strength threw her off balance, toppling them
both over onto the floor.

Umi walked in through the door chasing after a retreating Mokona,
"Come back here-WHA!?"

Ranma stood up quickly and backed away, waving his hands, "Sorry,
its not what it looks like!"

Presea was quick to stop any further developments, "Umi, he was just
trying to help me and I lost my balance."

Glaring at Ranma, "OK, but you better watch yourself. I don't trust
you and who knows what you may be up to."

Stretching her arms wide and yawning, Hikaru walked in through the
doorway to the dining area. Fuu was following silently close behind.

"Morning Ranma. Sorry you had to sleep outside, at least there was
good weather," Hikaru cheered out. Walking around the long table,
she sat beside him and began to eat.

The rest of breakfast was spent in silence until Fuu asked, "When do
we leave for the Spring of Eterna? As soon as we can get escudo, we
can save Cephiro to return back to Tokyo."

With a final burst of speed, Ranma finished breakfast - for everyone.
"Well, time to go."

As he stood up, a splash of water from behind triggered the curse.
Turning around, Ranma glared at a mischievous looking Mokona, trying
to hide a dripping bucket of water behind him. "GET BACK HERE YOU!"
Chasing the bouncing creature through the hallways, and then back
through the dining room. Hikaru quickly joined in trying to stop
Ranma from hurting Mokona. Fuu and Umi followed with nothing else
more to do.

Mokona noticed all four following, and changed course for the exit.
Ten minutes later, they were all deep in the forest. Ranma made her
tenth jump at Mokona, who somehow had the uncanny ability to avoid
a master martial artist.

Ranma landed and glared at Mokona, "Aright, I'll let you go this time
but don't think you can do that again."

The white fuzz scrambled behind Hikaru, who had her sword out and in
a ready stance. "Um, I didn't mean to get that hostile. Um, guys...
er... girls... what's wrong?" The little light that filtered from
above was shadowed, and Ranma jumped out of the way just as a giant
spiked fist smashed into the ground.

"Thanks for the warning!"

Umi clipped off a retort, "HEY! We were scared!"

Hikaru wasn't up to try and deal with a monster AND one of the
Ranma-Umi squabbles that were making a regular occurrance. "Let's
deal with this monster first!"

Ranma put on a more serious face but didn't summon her weapons, and
jumped at the monster. Dodging another punch, Ranma got inside the
defenses and tripped out a leg, which Hikaru finished up with a swipe.
The monster let off a howl and flashed out of existence.

"Now where are we?!" Umi asked.

Hikaru bent down to Mokona that was hiding behind her legs. Ranma
simply glared for a bit and lightly poked Mokona, and softly
threatened, "Better not be leading us to more water, I might have
to break out a hair dryer on you next time I find one then you will
be nothing but a ball fuzz."

Umi had another reason to be annoyed with Mokona, "What were you
thinking leading us to a monster!"

Mokona simply smiled, and clomped down on Ranma's finger - or
tried too when Ranma's reflexes kicked in not a moment too soon.

"Do you know where we are Mokona?" Hikaru politely asked after
giving Ranma a little shooing to leave her furry friend alone. The
said bundle in return was emitting a series of 'puu's. "You know how
to get to the Spring of Eterna?" Mokona nodded.

Fuu leaned over behind Hikaru, "You can understand Mokona?"

"Yes! It was weird at first, but after a bit it just sort of
happens!" Picking up Mokona, Hikaru held him in her arms.
"Mokona knows the way." A short pause, "Where to?"

The red jewel on Mokona's head flared and shot a beam of light
through a small gap in the trees. A repeat of several monsters
continued to plague the group. Hikaru took the back, with Ranma
at the front. Brute force wasn't able to kill the monsters, so
the martial artist was forced to summon her weapons. Fuu and
Umi had their weapons out, and made the occasional kill when
the other two were hard pressed.

After killing another wave, Ranma leaned against a tree mmurmuring
to herself, "This is getting old. I wanted training, but
these things don't know how to fight. What is also weird they
don't seem to flare my danger sense of sorts..."

A whoosh of air from above, but also more surprising to Ranma,
is she sensed it coming and was safely out of range. The metal
gleamed off the ninja claws as she put them in a defensive
stance. Where she was standing a second ago, a large metal
sword was embedded and held by a large man. His face turned
to face the group to reveal a red glow staring at the girls.

Fuu broke the silence, "Um, sorry if we bothered you sir, we
are just passing through. What is your name?"

The red eyes flared as he spoke, "Lafarga. You are to die."

"Stay back, he's out of your league. Let me handle him, you run
with Mokona to the spring. I'll catch up later." Ranma's muscles
twitched in anticipation.

"Ranma! We are in this together. I'm not going to let something
happen to you." Hikaru joined his side.

Lafarga charged forward, and swept his sword forward at the ground. A
shockwave tore through the ground in front of the two, and blew Hikaru
backward into the other two knights. Ranma, with more experience in
expecting special attacks had jumped high into the air. "Hikaru!"
Turning to face the attacker, "Aright, that does it."

Angling her trajectory in ways only the Saotome school could
perform, she bounced off a branch to land just in front of
Lafarga. Metal clashed, and Lafarga's sword was in deadlock with
Ranma's ninja claw. All her strength as being poured into staying
up, and she was still being forced to her knees. Also to her
dismay, the superior metal of Lafarga's sword was cleaving
slowly through.

Umi charged from the side with her rapier extended. Lafarga leaned
back, and it passed just in front of his face. Ranma, now free of
the struggle attempted to sweep Lafarga's feet out from under
but met nothing but air.

A combined front was not something Lafarga could easily take on.
His berserker state induced by the controlling curse left his
tactical mind in place, and he retreated into the darkness.

"Whew, that was close." Umi breathed out. "I wonder who that was?"

"Probably one of High Priest Zagato's minions." Fuu mentioned.
"At least were able to scare him off."

Ranma crossed her arms, smirking, "Yea guess I proved too much
for him."

On the other side of the clearing, Lafarga burst out again -
this time catching the group totally unprepared just as they
had put away their weapons. The butt of his sword handle
impacted with Hikaru's head, knocking her out and drawing
some blood.

"Hikar-oh!" Fuu barely missed being decapitated - even though
she didn't make a move. In front of her was a green haired
youth that had deflected Lafarga's sword away. This was the last
straw, and Lafarga retreated into the woods to find a more
opportunistic time to defeat them. Patience was also weapon
in the arsenal of a warrior.

Ranma wanted to chase after the attacker, but thought the girls
would be defenseless without him. The new arrival hadn't proved
her trust yet either.

"Who are you pal?" Ranma quiped out.

Putting his sword tip into the dirt, the young man gave a short
bow to Fuu and the other magic knights. "I'm Ferio, a hunter
in these parts. Saw that character attacking you so I thought
ta help you out. What you doing in the forest of silence
anyhow? Even with your weapons it's no place for a bunch of
ladies."

Ranma bristled at the 'ladies' comment, but let it slide. "Well, I
don't need your help, I could have handled that guy just fine." Ranma
then rushed over to Hikaru's body and held her up. The wound
wasn't too bad, just looked worse than it appeared from the
amount of blood. "Any of you have a bandage to help?"

Opening a small pouch on his belt, Ferio rummaged for a bandage.
It quickly disappeared from his hands as Ranma tenderly put it
in place.

"It looks like she may be OK. Well, now that I've introduced myself,
what your names?" Ferio gestured to encompass the girls.

Fuu pulled Umi over to the side while Ranma was holding Hikaru,
"I'm not sure we should trust him completely, but he did save us."

Umi added, "Do you think it would be OK for him to go with us?
Afterall, everything other than Precia, Mokona and Clef has
attacked us in this world. He might be planning to do the same."

Fuu's eyebrows lowered, "But we need help. Let's keep our
guard up and let him follow." The other two knights nodded their
agreement. "What do you think Ranma?"

Ranma, "Huh?"

Giving the redhead a hard rap on the head, Umi yelled out,
"You weren't even listening!"

"Hey! Sorry! I was just... Arg, I give up." Ranma sat crosslegged
on the ground. With the movement, Hikaru started to stir.

"Oh, my head. Where is everybody?"

Ranma leaned her head over Hikaru, "We're all here. Ferio over here
helped me take care of our attacker after the sword guy got ya."

Hikaru gingerly stood, leaning on Ranma's shoulder. "Thank you
so much Ferio. We are heading to the Spring of Eterna. I'm sure
we could use your help on the way there."

"Hey, no problem. With four lovely ladies around," Ferio blinked
once at Fuu who blushed and turned away slightly, "that would be
my pleasure. I'll the perfect gentleman." Inwardly he thought,
'That was easy, now I can get out of this rewretched forest.'

"Aright let's get going. We have a few hours till we have to turn
in for the night," Hikaru said.

Ranma looked over, "You sure? I mean, that was a good hit the blue
armored guy got in on you. He still might be around."

"I'll be OK." Hikaru put her hands on her hips, "Besides, like you
said, he might be around and we need to get moving. You can watch me
if that will make you happy."

Hikaru followed Mokona. Ranma nodded started following and kept a
close eye on Hikaru. Fuu, Umi and Ferio followed behind, watching the
shadows to the side. As the darkness of the woods started to grow, the
group drew closer together. They only spoke in whispers, feeling
hidden eyes follow them.

Umi was nervous and wanted to find someplace safe to sleep for
the night. "Um, I don't really want to go any farther today. We
should start looking for a place to sleep."

"Puu puu puu!"

Hikaru bent down and picked up Mokona. "You know a place? Where?"

Mokona shook his head, "Puu! Puupupuuuu."

Ferio didn't get the chance to examine the creature up close during
their three hours of traveling and poked his finger at the jewel.
"Hey, what is this thing? I've seen some weird things in my journeys
but nothing like this."

Ranma snickered, "I wouldn't do that if I were you."

"Do what?" Ferio looked up.

Mokona, annoyed, opened wide and clomped down on the offending finger.

"Yeow!" He was quickly shaken off by Ferio and bounced off between
some bushes.

"Told ya."

"Mokona, behave yourself," Hikaru walked in the direction Mokona
instructed, and entered a large clearing. The red jewel on Mokona's
head flared a large light to sweep the clearing. Ranma jumped
over the bushes just as a some sort of egg out of Mother Goose's
fair tales appeared - and she slammed into the side.

After sliding down the side, twitching, Ranma recovered when reaching
the ground. "Say, what is this thing anyhow?"

"Puu puupuu puu!" Mokona leaped out and into the door of the egg.

"Aright! You have everything Mokona!" Hikaru rushed into the egg
to check out the furnishings. Beds, bath, food - everything they
could ever want was there.

Ranma narrowed her eyes, "Hey... wait a sec. I thought magic
couldn't be used here."

Ferio shrugged beside her, "Beats me, but if we get a place to
stay the night with food, I'm not going to complain."

Umi's face barged in between them, "What do you mean you are
sleeping in there with us? You two are staying out here, who
knows what sort of thoughts are going through your heads," Umi's
eyes narrowed at Ranma specifically. "Besides, we girls need
our beauty sleep."

Ferio, confused, scratched his head. "Um, why is Ranma out here
then?"

Umi went into the egg, "Ask Ranma, I'm tired. Fuu? You coming?"

"Um, yes, in a moment," Fuu responded. Thinking for a moment,
"Would you like something to eat? I'm sure we have something
in the shelter for you two."

"Oh, thank you! Fuu was it?" Ferio smiled.

Turning so Ferio didn't see her blush, Fuu rushed in to get some
food. However, Ranma did see her reaction, the slight tint to their
auras, and looked between the two. A smile formed as the gears
turned in her head.

Settling down, Ranma put her hands behind her head against a tree.
"So, aren't you going to ask me something Ferio?"

Shocked out of his stupor, Ferio leaned on the opposite side of
the tree truck, "Yea, why didn't blue let you into the shelter
with them anyhow?"

"I'm cursed."

Ferio was quiet, so Ranma continued. "A year or so ago my pop
and I visited this training ground in China. There I fell in
a pool and was cursed to become a girl when splashed with cold
water, and back to a guy when splashed with hot. Kind of
annoying."

Ferio shrugged, not that anyone saw it though, "Heh, tough luck.
What with all that's gone on in Cephiro lately, I'm surprised
more stuff like that hasn't cropped up."

Fuu walked up at this time, carrying two baskets of fruit.
"Here you go."

"Thanks Fuu, I'll see you tomorrow." Ferio said. Fuu gave a
short bow, and scurried off to the shelter to join the other
two girls and Mokona for the night.

Reaching over for a pear, Ferio bit into it. After swallowing, he
asked, "Say, where's China anyhow? I've been to a lot of places
on Cephiro and might want to avoid it."

Ranma, pausing between rapid grab 'n swallows, muffled "Oh,
it's not in Cephiro, it's on Earth."

"Earth? Where's that?"

Ranma rolled her eyes, patience with explaining things wasn't her
strong point. "From what I gathered, Cephiro is one world and
Earth is another. Some Clef magic guy pulled us here from there.
The other three are supposed to be magic knights or somethin.
I just got pulled alone for the ride."

"Master Mage Clef?! Of the princess's court?" Ferio
nearly choked.

"Yup."

Ferio's mind was reeling. Here were the magic knights from the
story tales to save the land. It was all supposed to be a story,
right? Or was the legend true now that the princess was in trouble,
especially if that mage was involved. Was he here to help them fulfill
that destiny? This was something he as going to have to mull over
the night.

"Say Ranma, mind taking first watch? That guy might be coming back.
You can wake me later when you get tired."

"Sure, I can do that."

Ferio made sure his sword was in easy reach, and closed his eyes to
think - or sleep if it ever decided to claim him.

Ranma kept absolutely still, and appeared to be sleeping. Staying at
the Tendo's and on the road with so many enemies - or ffiances- you
had to stay on alert. At the worst times when she did let her guard
down, the worst would happen. Ranma was determined to not let that
happen tonight. Other than staying up and keeping watch, Ranma's
other half of the mind was playing Martial Arts Match Maker, but
failing miserably as to what to do. Hip contest? Na... Dinner? No,
out in the middle of nowhere. Amazon laws? Nope, they're not Amazons.

Three hours later, and still no ambush from their previous attacker,
or luck in any ideas. So, Ranma decided to turn in and let Ferio take
his turn at watch. Pushing on his shoulder, Ferio was surprisingly
easy to wake up - and Ranma had to jump back to avoid a swipe of his
sword.

"HEY! Watch it!" Ranma fumed.

A shoe hit him in the head from the shelter, "Keep it down out there!"

Grumbling, Ranma rubbed the impact spot, "Jeez..." Ranma then
remembered Ferio, "Um, it's your turn."

"Right." Ferio then stood and leaned against the tree, arms crossed.
He hadn't gotten a wink, but was just starting to doze off right
before Ranma woke him. Needing some way to wake up, a quick walk
around the campsite was decided.

On the other side of the shelter, Lafarga entered. Drawing his sword,
he walked toward the shelter.

Ferio and Lafarga both turned the corner at the same time. Ferio
was more surprised and hesitated a moment. It was just long
enough for Lafarga to charge forward. A clang of metal met inches
from Ferio's throat Lafarga won the test of strength with his
greater height advantage and brute strength, forcing Ferio to fall
back.

"Ranma! Hel-" Ferio got off before being kneed in the gut, and then
slammed back into the ground as an elbow rammed the back of his head.

Stepping over the unconscious body, Lafarga went to the doorway of the
shelter and tried to open the door. The first few tries revealed it
to be locked. Finally, he simply put all his strength into one big
pull and ripped the door off with a screech of broken metal and wood.
The girls inside woke. Fuu gasped on the realization of who their
attacker was, seeing that they could be dead in moments before any of
their armor could be summoned.

Without warning, the red tint in Lafarga's eyes disappeared, and he
fell over on to his face. Said person was then stood on by Ranma, who
crossed her arms in triumph. "Heh, get the sneak on me will ya?
Sasuke was better at sneaking around than some brute like you and I
still caught the ninja. Sides' I had to pay you back for what you did
to Hikaru."

Hikaru's bandage was off, and all that was left of the wound was a
dark red scab where the skin was broken. She jumped up, still in her
gown and hugged Ranma, "Oh, I was so scared, thank you Ranma!"

Ranma was caught off guard, and tried her best to stay upright by
bracing against the doorway. "Uh, no prob."

Fuu spoke, "Don't you think we should tie Mr. Attacker up?"

Hikaru and Ranma looked down at the figure they were standing,
walking, and jumping on. "Oh, yea. Mokona, you have a chain or
somethin?"

Making sure the chains were tight, they leaned the rouge swordsman
against a tree. Ferio woke shortly after, with a slight ringing in
the ears. He took over watch again, especially after being hounded
for allowing the attacker through in the first place.

A few hours later, the morning was greeted by tired and grumbling
Ranma and Ferio. Fuu, Umi and Hikaru were active and ready to get on
the way to the Spring of Eterna. Mokona was just plain hyperactive -
no matter the time.

The shelter was safely 'absorbed' by Mokona, and the decision of what
to do with their prisoner was left.

"I say we just leave him. If we leave his legs undone he might be able
to get back to where he came from," Ferio suggested.

"Ferio! How can you say such a thing!" Hikaru gasped. "He may be an
enemy, but we can't be heartless. The monsters here will probably get
him."

Fuu pushed her glasses up, "She's right, but he might slow us down or
even escape to attack us again."

"I'll just carry him, ok? If I was in my guy form it would be no
problem." The other four looked at Ranma as if she grew a second head,
"Hey? What I say?"

Umi crossed her arms, "There's no way you could carry him by yourself.
He's got to be at least two hundred pounds, not counting his armor,
and those ultra heavy chains!"

"Na, try carrying boulders while being chased by hungry wolves. That's
tough. This will be a piece of cake. Mokona, you have some warm
water?" Ranma looked down.

"Puuuuuuuuu" above Ranma's head where the red light from Mokona's
jewel ended, a ball of water appeared, ssplashingover Ranma - and
Lafarga who was next to him.

The attacker opened his eyes and started growling and flexing, but the
chains held for the time being. Ferio leaned down in front of him,
"Now that you are awake, just who are you anyway? Did Zagato send
you?"

The red tint in Lafarga's eyes only intensified at the face to face
confrontation, and the only struggled more and growled - till he was
knocked out with a touch from Ranma.

"Hey! How'd you do that?" Ferio asked.

"Shiatsu point. One of the few I know, took me a while to find it.
Kinda like touching touching certain nerves and making the body
react," Ranma leaned down and loosened just enough of the chains to
get a grip, and easily hefted the luggage, leaving only Lafarga's feet
barely touching the ground. "Jeez this guy is tall."

"Wow! Awesome Ranma!" Hikaru said with wide eyes.

Umi shook her head, whispering under her breath, "Sure, give him a
little more ego."

During the day, they had no problem getting through the monsters. Fuu
and Umi felt more confident in their abilities as time grew on, and
Ferio's master swordsmanship dealt with most. Ferio was even giving
a few pointers to Umi and Hikaru. Umi was already skilled, she just
needed a little confidence boost. Ranma, even with his baggage, was
able to knock around the monsters enough to let the others kill them.

Before noon, they came across -it-. A large field, with monsters, and
a floating rock. Ranma was so engrossed in the scene, he didn't feel
Lafarga start to cometo on his back. Putting the prisoner down, Ranma
asked, "What is the world is that?!"

Ferio came up beside him, sword over his shoulder. "I hear that's the
reason the forest is here."

Hikaru, behind the two guys, asked, "Did Zagato put it here?"

Looking over his shoulder, Ferio answered, "Na, that thing has been
here as long as I can remember. It blocks magic, so even Zagato
doesn't set foot in this place. Our attacker over there doesn't use
magic, so there's a good bet he was sent by Zagato to get you - being
the magic knights and all I'm sure he's not happy one bit you are
here." Ferio then turned back to the scene before them.

Mokona hopped out into the open, Umi nearly passed out in fright.
"Mokona!" Rushing out, she snagged Mokona before the monsters could
sight the group. "What were you thinking rushing out like that? You
don't expect us to go through them!?"

Mokona let out a simple 'puu'.

Ranma cracked his knuckles, "If I can get close enough, one pass with
the chestnut fist would pulverize the thing. I'd need you guys to
distract the monsters though."

Hikaru stepped up beside him, "I'm going with you. You won't make it
by yourself out there without someone to watch your back."

As the group squabled over who would do what, Lafarga gained
consciouness fully. The curse he was under was magnified from the
influence of the stone in the clearing, amplifying his strength - but
pushing him into a mindless berserker state. In one yell, the chains
shattered spraying out and getting the attention of the others. It
also gained the attention of the monsters in the clearing.

Ferio noticed, "Run! Ranma and Hikaru, take care of the rock. I'll
take blondie. Fuu, Umi distract the monsters as much as you can." The
others made some delayed steps, "NOW!" They broke into a dead sprint
fo their destinations. Both hands on his sword, Ferio faced Lafarga,
"Time for round two, and I don't go down twice!"

Fuu ran beside Umi toward the right side, launching arrows to lure the
pack in their direction. As the pack closed in, Umi swept in large
arces to take out the tightly packed monsters. Still, the numbers
were massive, and the two magic knights were forced to pull back else
they would be surrounded.

Ranma had summoned his weapons, and being much faster than Hikaru was
in sweeping around the monsters as if they weren't even there.
Several disappeared from fatal wounds he inflicted in his passing.
Hikaru played cleanup with the stragglers.

Meanwhile, back at the starting point, the trees in the area were a
wreck. Ferio was breathing heavily from dodging Lafarga who lunged
and demolished the landscape. Ferio was trying to avoid killing the
beserker, but his options were running out. Various cuts and blows
with the flat of his blade had no effect.

As Ranma appoached the rock, he jumped into the air for the shattering
move against the rock. Suddenly, within ten feet of the rock he hit a
barriar and nearly mind numbing pain. In his yells that barely
registered on his consciousness, he remembered Hikaru. "Stay back!
It's too dangerous!"

Hikaru skidded to a stop at the pain filled yell. Fear gripped her
heart at seeing Ranma wreathing in pain in mindair. "What do I do!?
Ranma? RANMA!"

Ranma felt another pain building in his arms, viens were bulging, and
sweat poring. Through another wave of pain, he forced his head down
to look, and vision fading through the pain, he could see bone begin
to poke through his joints. At this point, he wasn't even aware he
was screaming.

Tears were streaming down Hikaru's face. "What can I do? Ranma needs
me!" She couldn't get near, else she would be trapped. The
energy from the rock was wrapping itself around Ranma, and she
shuddered from when Ranma's body convulsed again. Gripping her sword
as a spear, she charged forward, yelling and knowing she had to
succeed or their trip to Cephiro - and Ranma's life - would end....

Hikaru woke to see Umi's smiling face, "You're awake."

Hikaru sat up, and looked around. She felt tired, but not injured.
Remembering the rock, she frantically searched for Ranma, "Where's
Ranma? What happened to the rock and the monsters?"

Behind her, a calm voice spoke, "You saved them, and Ranma is safe."

Turning, Hikaru gasped when she saw the person that greeted them at
the beach. Master Mage Clef.

"Master Mage Clef!"

"Yes. We are still inside the forest of silence, but when I felt the
powers of magic return to the forest, I came as quickly as I could.
When you destroyed the rock with your sword, Ranma and the rest of the
monsters were returned to normal. The energy wave that the rock
released when you throughly destroyed the rock knocked both you and
Ranma out." Sitting on the root of the tree Hikaru was lieing beside,
Clef pointed to the other members of the group. "Ferio over here was
fighting one of the minions of Zagato, and losing. When you destroyed
the rock, whoever he was fighting departed into the forest. I have
been unable to locate him." Changing his gaze to Fuu and Umi, "Fuu
and Umi rushed to your side after they saw you collapse, and helped
carry you here. This is where I met you all. I must say though, I
was quite surprised to learn about Ranma's curse. Sadly, I can't do
anything about it, since when I gave him magic, it meshed with it and
made it permanent."

Ranma, came around the tree, "And I should pound you for it! Because
of your mistake of pulling me here, I got to life with this curse for
the rest of my life!"

"Yes, but then you wouldn't be able to go back either."

"Ranma!" Hikaru jumped up, and hugged Ranma. "You're ok!"

Ranma smirked, forgetting his anger with Clef, "Of course! I AM the
best."

Clef coughed, getting everyone's attention. "Well, now that you all
are awake, I can teach you something very important."

"What's that?" Ranma asked, obviously forgotten what they were about
to do on the beach before they were ambushed.

"Magic."

Hikaru got stars in her eyes, "Magic, this is great."

Umi was skeptical to the claim, while Fuu remained quite. Ferio
leaned back to watch the show.

Ranma was all for learning something new, "Great, when do we start?"

Clef walked to Fuu, "Fuu, it is your turn. Lean down please."

Placing his forefingers on Fuu's forehead, Clef spoke telepathically
to Fuu. *Fuu, look into your heart. What do you feel?*

**I am looking deep, ah! I feel it. A power. It is growing within me,
saying something.**

*That is your magic, can you feel it trying to come out?*

**Yes! I understand!**

Opening her eyes, Fuu stood and extended her outstretched hand toward
Hikaru and Ferio. "Winds of healing!"

A cool, soothing feeling spread across their bodies. Ferio nearly
fell over in surprise. He felt his arm fully healed, but no pain
occured during the process. Also, he felt content and safe inside.
Hikaru was energized, and stood straighter as strength returned to her
muscles fully.

Clef nodded, and left Fuu. Fuu smiled widely at the results and
watched who would get magic next - Umi.

Umi straightened her skirt and armor as Clef stepped up to her. "Umi,
it's your turn."

Getting on one knee, Umi lefted her head to face Clef's. Again, he
put his fingers on her head, *Umi, can you hear me?*

**Yes, I can hear you inside me.**

*Look deeper. In your mind, deeper into your heart where only you can
go. What do you feel?**

**Oh! I can feel it! It feels wonderful. This is magic?**

*Grasp it, there are words with this power.*

**Thank you, I can feel the magic, waiting to come forth.**

The two opened their eyes. Umi stood, speechless as to what she had
experienced. She knew it now not to be a hoax, and looked over with
pride toward the next recepiant - Hikaru.

Clef motioned for Hikaru to step forward, "Hikaru, you are the last
magic knight to receive magic, but you are all equally important."

Closing her eyes, Hikaru felt Clef's fingertips on her head. A voice
then was heard, but not through the ears. **Look deep within yourself.
In your heart, there is a power.**

*Yes, I can feel it. There are words. This feeling, I can't describe
it. It has a warmth I've never felt before.*

**Good, this is your magic within you.**

Clef stepped back, and turned to Ranma. "Now it is your turn. Although
you aren't a magic knight, you none the less here and have enormous
amounts of skill to help them in their quest. Which makes it also
your quest. Come here."

Ranma bent over instead of getting on his knees. Clef annoyed reached
straight ahead to touch Ranma's forehead, and gasped. 'What
confidence!'

**Ranma, can you hear me?**

*Yup. Whoa, this feeling thing was here the whole time and I never did
find it. So this is magic right?*

Clef was surprised further, **Um, yes. It is. There are words that
flow with this feeling, can you feel them?**

*Yes. Got it. This is easier than I thought. I feel kinda guilty
though getting this without training though. Mind if I try it out?*

Clef stepped back, "Go ahead Ranma, just try to do it away from the
others ok?"

Ranma reared his fist back, and opened his mouth to yell out the
words......

------------- TO BE CONTINUED ------------------
************************************************
************** End Chapter 4 *******************

Muahahahaha - I am evil.