Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ A Different Type of Visitor ❯ Chapter 04 ( Chapter 4 )
[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]
By: enlu_tarsonis 
Anime/Manga: Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Action / Adventure / Sci-fi | Type: Crossover | Uploaded On: 07.22.2005 | Pages: 4 | Words: 7.3K | Visits: 274 | Status: Completed
Anime/Manga: Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Action / Adventure / Sci-fi | Type: Crossover | Uploaded On: 07.22.2005 | Pages: 4 | Words: 7.3K | Visits: 274 | Status: Completed
A Different Type of Visitor
Well, I'm finally onto Chapter 04. Guess I'll make it to Chapter 5 as well. This one looks a bit longer than the prior ones. I hope that everyone enjoys it.
Standard disclaimer, don't own Ranma 1/2, or Rifts. Wish I had some stock or shares but I don't. I'm doing this for my enjoyment and for the enjoyment of any of my readers. May they continue reading my works after they read this.
Chapter 04
Ranma-chan stepped down from her attack stance and looked over at her four-armed companion. Now that the girl was awake Ranma-chan could tell that though her appearance was similar to hers, her musculature and mannerisms were different. Not to mention that she had a second set of arms directly underneath her normal arms. Currently all four arms were covering up the girls bust as she looked at Ranma-chan and Cologne.
Several moments passed like this until the four-armed girl lowered her two lower arms and gathered up the sheet and used it to cover herself up. She folded her lower arms over her breasts with the sheet tucked into them so as to allow her free reign with her upper arms. The girl then walked over to stand in front of Ranma-chan who was getting very nervous at the nearly naked girl’s close proximity.
Once the two were only an arms length away the four armed girl said something in a melodious but obscure language that seemed to flow off the tongue and away from memory as soon as the words were spoken. Cologne's eyes grew several sizes upon hearing the arcane language and waited for her guest to finish. The girl then waived her arm around waist level while moving her fingers around in a complex pattern that ended with a quick sweeping upward of her hand to touch two of her fingers to her lips as she finished the last sentence of her spell.
Ranma-chan was still stunned, as she had been able to feel the flow and weave of an unknown power coursing through the room. As soon as the girl in front of her stopped she returned to some sense of focused thought. The neo-girl was about to ask what had happened when her four armed companion spoke in flawless Japanese.
“Who are you, and why do you wear my face.”
Scene Break
Genma Saotome was being put on the ropes by his two opponents. At first he had sneered at the thought that these two might be able to take him on. But after the first hit from the larger of the two that was wearing the Tiger pelt he decided that it was time to stop underestimating his opponents. “That hit had hurt.” The portly martial artist thought to himself.
The Wolf pelt kid had disappeared early on and Genma was paying to much attention to the Tiger pelt right now to wonder where the other one was. That is until he got a pebble to the head. His distraction at the stinging sensation was enough to open his defenses to the larger youth to get a punch in. Tiger pelt hit Genma in the stomach a second time and said something in Chinese that Genma missed.
The Dark Horse of the Saotome clan nearly folded over the large fist sticking into his stomach, but he used his skill to fly backwards at the same time and rebound off of the wall to hit the unruly youth in the shoulder as he passed in the air. Genma was about to mentally praise himself when something heavy impacted in his back.
“OOF!” Genma gasped as the wind was driven from his lungs. The weight lightened from his back immediately as what ever it was rebounded off of him. Genma righted himself and got to his feet to look at the two youths. “They’re strong and fast. I won’t be able to beat them at this rate.” He thought to himself, then blanched as the wolf pelted kid pulled out a pair of throwing daggers and the tiger pelted larger youth pulled out a very large club.
“That’s it, I need something more powerful. Damn, I was hoping to keep those sealed away longer.” Genma thought to himself as he readied himself by releasing his mental locks on the Umisenken. “The Umisenken should be enough. I don’t want to kill them, just disable them.”
Tiger pelt and Wolf pelt were saying something in Chinese as the Portly intruder got into a strange stance on the balls of his feet with his back slumped and his head hunched over looking like a human impersonation of a vulture. The strange and bedraggled martial artist then pulled a small sheet from inside his pack and waived it in front of himself disappearing from view. “Wha…” the two youths said in unison in Chinese.
Scene Break
“Who are you, and why do you wear my face.” The four armed red haired girl wearing only a bed sheet asked.
The three people in the room just stood there after her question. Each for their own reasons. For Ranma-chan, she didn’t understand. Even though they looked the same, Cologne had assured her earlier that week that you turn into whatever you would have looked like if you were born with your cursed body. For the Amazon Elder, it was because she had actually missed that the two girls looked very similar, to the point of being nearly identical. She had been more interested and observant of the now awake four-armed girl’s additional arms, and her curious technology and equipment and hadn’t bothered looking in detail at her facial features.
For Shakeera? She was waiting for Ranma-chan's answer.
The tableau was broken when Shakeera started to tap her foot. Ranma-chan finally noticed this and put her hand up to the base of her ponytail and rubbed her head while looking down and away. “Um.. I’m Ranma Saotome. And uh, well…” She started lamely.
Cologne could have slapped her forehead at this but felt it would be improper for an Amazon Elder to do so. Instead she spoke up herself. “The reason she looks similar to you, is that you both fell into a cursed spring at Jusenkyo.”
Shakeera looks at the two of them dumbly. She was familiar with the different types of curse magic, and also familiar with metamorphs. And even though she was getting a better look at Ranma-chan, enough to see that the girl was slightly different in appearance (Especially since she only had two arms not four), Shakeera noted that the other girl had pointed ears and Emerald eyes. Just like herself. And the shade of red was a near ringer for her own shorter crimson locks.
“I mean, why does she look so much like me. Not about a curse. Curses don’t work that way.” She said in a matter of fact tone of voice.
Cologne just sighed. “Child, do you remember a valley filled with small springs of water with bamboo poles sticking out of them?”
Shakeera thought back to when she tried to rescue the human boy she had encountered. “Yes, and then I fell into one of them with a human I was trying to save from demonic possession.”
Ranma-chan blanched after that. She hadn’t seen her father in his human form after he had fallen into the spring, and although she now knew that she could be turned back into her birth form, she didn’t know if her father could. To make matters worse she knew that her cursed form was strong, very strong. And different, enough that without intense training she was liable to kill herself by dodging wrong and ending up with a broken neck or something related.
Cologne saw the neo-girl pale a bit and guessed what she was thinking. “No, those pools do not invoke possession. They curse. Or a blessing depending on how you look at it.” Shakeera just looked at her for a second before Cologne continued. “Ranma here was fighting his father at the pools and you had somehow fallen in the same spring as him. But somehow you don’t seem to be affected by the cursed waters.”
The four-armed girl took a little bit of an offense at that. “Not affected? Those blasted waters HURT!” She said getting a bit inflamed. She also put all four arms downward with her hands in fists in a classic pose of feminine outrage.
“Ack!” Ranma-chan said as she averted her eyes once she had been flashed by Shakeera when the four-armed girl’s sheet had fallen off.
That was enough to calm Shakeera down a bit as she retrieved the sheet. Then she looked at the girl who had her eyes covered and was apologizing for seeing her. “You’re not really a girl are you?” Shakeera asked, her question sounding more of a statement of fact than an inquiry.
“I’m a Guy.” Ranma bit out as she dropped her arms to her side.
“Not right now you are not young one.” Cologne said looking at the two of them and wondering if they did somehow merge at least some of their personalities.
Shakeera thought on that for a minute before she made the connection herself. “You’re the guy I was trying to save.”
Ranma-chan bristled suddenly as she jumped to the wrong conclusion. “You mean that YOU’RE the one who knocked me into the spring?!?” She yelled / asked.
The four-armed girl let go of the sheet again as she bristled as well. “Hey, I thought you were going to become some form of Ursine Demon if you fell into the water you were heading for!” She continued as she took a step forward. “I didn’t even get my flight spell complete when I jumped to rescue you.” Ranma-chan backed up slightly as Shakeera took another step forward. “And now I’ve been out for who knows how long after trying to save you.”
Before Shakeera could take another step or could say anything further Cologne spoke up. “You know Ranma, you could have landed in an animal curse spring. Since she knocked you into one of the pools rather than the one you were heading for you now turn into a girl rather than say a cat?” To which Ranma-chan shuddered.
“Sorry uh… What’s your name anyway?” Ranma-chan asked.
Shakeera looked at them and then giggled a bit which caused Ranma-chan to notice that the four-armed girl was naked again. As Ranma-chan was quickly averting her eyes once again, Shakeera answered. “I am Shakeera Sonee’ lately of the city of Dweomer, apprentice Temporal Wizard, and a Psi-Warrior studying the Arts of Offense. I am at your service.” She finished with a courtly bow while keeping the sheet held to herself.
Ranma-chan just stared but Cologne narrowed her eyes slightly. She had felt the power emanating off of both Shakeera and Ranma-chan, but she didn’t think it possible for this young girl to be either advanced enough or skilled enough to hold the two titles that she gave herself, apprentice not withstanding. “A Temporal Wizard? Is that a type of Chrono Mage young one?” Cologne asked Shakeera.
The nearly naked girl thought for a second then answered. “I guess you could call it that. But my old master would be slightly put off by your insinuation.”
“Really?” Ranma-chan asked trying to stay in the conversation.
“Yep, a Chrono Mage just throws time magic at people. A Temporal Wizard actually affects the boundaries of time and space.” Shakeera said as if by rote.
“So, you have the spell power to affect the Universe around you?” Cologne asked as she tried to pry more information out of Shakeera.
“Naw, only to a degree. You see, I’m only an apprentice. I have a couple of years yet to go to finish.”
“So how’re ya going to finish then?” Ranma-chan asked.
“Probably not going to be able to unless I get my ship fixed.” Shakeera said a little down heartened.
Ranma-chan heard her tone and started to feel something of a heel for being insensitive. Then looks at her, really looks at her and her body language. And notices that she has the posture and bearing of a very confident person, but seems like a fish out of water here.
Shakeera perks up after the brief moment of silence at the end of her last statement. "So, Ranma is it? What is your normal form?"
Cologne raises an eyebrow at this. "We haven't told you how the curses work. How did you determine that this is not Ranma's permanent form?"
"Simple, I believe that I've been recovering for a week, right?" Cologne nods after Shakeera's question. "Since Ranma's still saying she's a guy, then you haven't forced her to accept her new form as permanent. Therefore there's probably a way to change back." Shakeera sat down on the bed while still holding the sheet to herself. "Could I see it please? I'd like to see the face of the man I tried to save."
Ranma-chan looks over at Cologne with a questioning look. The Amazon Elder nods her head. "Go ahead student. It should be safe for you to turn back into your normal form. Xian Pu is not due back for a bit." Ranma-chan bounced into another room under the kind but stern gaze of Cologne.
Once Ranma-chan was out of earshot Shakeera muttered something in her arcane spell casting language and then spoke in the local Mandarin dialect that the Amazons used. "Elder, you know more of what is going on than you have told Ranma. Could you tell me at a later time as I wish to see if he may be a good traveling companion."
Cologne chuckled under her breath. "I was wondering why your spell seemed to be for Japanese." She cocked her head to the side as if listening to something. "Ranma is busy readying some hot water." She looked back at Shakeera with a serious expression. "Something happened at the Springs of Sorrow, you had tackled Ranma apparently. But you should have gained a human like form. I'm guessing now that since you had a partially completed spell about your person that it interacted with the chaotic magic of the Pools of Sorrow. And it tried to drain your life force and melded a bit of it into the waters that Ranma had been doused with."
Shakeera was about to ask her to continue when Ranma-chan entered the room carrying a metal teakettle that was steaming a bit. The four-armed girl chanted her arcane language under her breath switching her spell back to Japanese just in time to understand what Ranma-chan was saying.
"K, sorry I took so long. Had to change my pants."
Shakeera raised her eyebrow at hearing that; maybe she had gotten her spell slightly wrong.
Ranma-chan continued as she poured some water into an earthenware mug she brought in with her. "Last time I changed back while wearing Amazon pants I almost passed out."
Cologne was sitting on her staff chuckling recalling the second time Ranma had changed back into his normal form in the village. He had forgotten about the Chinese Pantsuit that she was wearing. And Silk is notorious for not having much give, especially when it was finely woven like the artisans of the village were wont to make.
For Shakeera, her mental question was answered when Ranma-chan poured the water over her head. The buxom red haired girl grew several inches in height, and though her breasts smoothed out, her chest broadened and her torso thickened. Her hair changed from crimson to jet-black. The first thing that Shakeera noticed though was that his ears stayed pointed, and his eyes stayed their brilliant emerald green. She figured that those shouldn't be that way but held her tongue. Unfortunately, though the hair and the basic build were the same, Shakeera couldn't tell if it was the same person she had saved. But she was more than willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.
Before any of them could return to their conversation the door to the hut opened. Ranma stood up and squared his shoulders unconsciously as he stepped in front of Shakeera as if to hide her nudity. Shakeera saw a human girl about Ranma's age enter the room, she had a slightly haughty air about her and lovely hair of a pastel violet. The four armed visitor couldn't make out what she was saying so she switched her spell back to the old woman’s dialect just in time to hear Ranma speak in badly accented Mandarin.
"This one bow no ones to Xian Pu." He said with some fire in his eye.
Cologne acted as if this was a normal occurrence and hopped backwards on her staff so as to give Ranma and Shampoo a little more room in case things went to blows.
Shampoo meanwhile didn't like the way that the male in front of her was acting, and decided that she needed to teach him once again his place in the village. "Then I will teach you your place disrespectful male." She stated coldly as she drew a Bonbori out from behind her.
Ranma got into a ready stance and prepared for her first barrage. He'd been having some pretty bad run ins with Colognes heir, especially seeing that the Elder had been spending more time with him in his cursed form than she had been with Shampoo since he had been cursed.
Shampoo lead in with a Bonbori thrust, Ranma evaded it smoothly but wasn't ready for her to step beside him and body check him back towards the door. He leapt backwards out into the street as he'd already had to help repair one building his fighting had damaged. Shampoo grinned in anticipation of the fight and sprung out after her quarry. Shakeera was about to follow and help Ranma out when Cologne stopped her with the staff that the Elder was always with. "This is not your fight youngling. Let Ranma and Xian Pu deal out their aggressions. It has been building for the last week."
Scene Break
Prince Herb of the Musk Dynasty snorted to himself as he looked down the old table at the slightly injured but overall well middle aged man. "What a disgusting individual. But still he was able to defeat my two vassals." The prince thought to himself. He had long since tuned out the pudgy martial artist’s story of woe about the kidnapping of his son by the wicked Amazons. "Well, I never really liked the Amazons anyway. It's too bad that the Musk didn't exactly prosper very well after the last war we had with them."
Herb thought back to when he was young. It was the end of the conflict between the Amazon Nations and the Musk Dynasty. They had been beaten badly, mostly due to the fact that the vast majority of the Musk warriors were unwilling to strike a woman that had bared herself to them. "A weakness that I must overcome if we are to ever regain our numbers." He looked over at the larger of his two vassals. "Ha, Vassals! Some Kingdome I rule over. My father gone to whom knows where. Our warriors beaten or fled. Our wives missing. All that’s left are a few of our lore masters and myself and these two incompetent idiots." The only reason that Herb hadn't gotten rid of Mint and Lime years ago was because they were good in a fight.
But this portly middle aged man that Herb would never had picked at being able to fight his way out of a farm house had made a mockery of his two best warriors. Granted Herb could make a mockery of them as well, but he needed at least a little back up. No matter how poor it was.
"Very Well Genma Saotome of Japan. I will aid you in your journey to reclaim your son from his imprisonment by those of the Amazon Nation." Herb said as soon as he realized that Genma had shut up and was watching him instead of telling his tale of sorrow.
"But first we need to make a stop at Jusenkyo."
Scene Break
Shakeera was chuckling to herself at Ranma-chan's bad mood. It was a couple of days after Shampoo and Ranma-kun had fought. And the four armed girl thought back to the bewildered expression on Ranma-kun's face as she stood over his prone form. He had been beaten by Shampoo, only barely but still a loss was a loss. Afterwards Cologne had come up and splashed him with cold water and asked them to talk.
“Ranma, Shakeera. I believe that you two were not doused in the spring of drowned girl. In fact I believe that it was another spring entirely, but that your magic.” She had looked at Shakeera at this point. “Melded with Jusenkyo and altered the cursed water somehow. You weren’t exactly cursed, and Ranma’s curse is different than it should have been.”
At the present time Shakeera was wearing her armor minus the helmet and had her power pack and its linked gun on her hip. She was not wearing her survival pack but was using one of Colognes instead. Her flame red hair was held back by a headband as it was still to short to pull into a ponytail or to braid. Ranma-chan was grumpily walking next to her going over past events in her mind. Cologne was ahead of them bouncing along on her staff. And unfortunately for all of them, and the reason for Ranma-chan's grumpiness, Shampoo was also with the group.
Ever since the Amazon warrior had defeated Ranma in his male form she had been near insufferable. Shampoo had been bragging about no man ever being good enough to beat her, even though she still didn’t know that she had defeated the other red haired girl in their group. What made it truly annoying for Ranma-chan was the fact that Cologne had taken it upon herself to tell the neo-girl about their laws concerning marriage. And that although Ranma-chan was protected from the kiss of death as she was right now under the hospices of Cologne, she was not protected from the kiss of marriage. As such Ranma-chan felt that she would never to recover her tarnished record (only tarnished in her own mind of course) was to defeat the arrogant violet haired girl. Otherwise she might find herself wed to the little spitfire.
Shakeera was pulled from her introspection as she felt Cologne falls back a little to come even with her. “I was wondering youngling. What nation builds your equipment.” She asked looking pointedly at the large bored side arm that was almost as big as her thigh.
Shakeera pulled it out of its holster and held it up for Cologne to inspect. “This is a Northern Gun heavy plasma ejector. It’s made by Northern Gun Arms, they’re located somewhere north of the Coalition States.”
“I did already gather that the Chinese did not make it. But what type of gun is it? The bore looks much to large for a girl of your frame to withstand the shock of a solid shell recoil.” Indeed, the bore in the gun's barrel was a good two centimeters in diameter.
“Oh, it doesn’t shoot solid slugs. It shoots super heated plasma. Like what is found in a star's ionosphere. Very potent and destructive.” Shakeera answered with a sense of pride that she had managed to accrue such a weapon.
“I would be interested in seeing a quick demonstration.” Cologne said as she wondered what type of power such a weapon could achieve. Cologne was starting to over come some of her tribe’s reluctance to pursue and utilize modern technology. And she was also aware that one day a sufficiently armed force could wipe them out of existence. As such the Amazon Elder was driven to learn more about this shortcoming of her tribes.
Shakeera looked around for a few moments and then spotted a large boulder a couple of hundred feet away in the path they were taking. “See that boulder?” She said as she pointed with her lower right arm. At Colognes nod Shakeera pulled the weapon up to a firing position and sighted in on the center of the boulder to make sure that she didn’t accidentally start a fire with the destructive energies of her weapon.
“Not any more.” She said as she pulled the trigger on the Plasma Ejector. A super heated ball of nearly blinding light shot out of the bore of the side arm and shot forth at a rate a little slower than a bullet but with the apparent momentum of a freight train. When the ball of plasma hit the boulder instead of exploding, which was what Cologne expected, it melted the boulder and caused anything near the impact point to flash fire for but a second.
Cologne looked at the devastation as the once large boulder was reduced to a pile of slowly cooling molten rock.
“Warn someone before you decide to melt the landscape.” Ranma-chan yelled from her position in a tree where she had jumped to the second that Shakeera had fired off her shot.
Shakeera looked over at the inverted neo-girl. “Sorry.” She said as she re-holstered the weapon.
Cologne merely looked on, her mind more than made up by this demonstration that her tribe needed to learn much more of the outside world if they were creating hand held weapons of this nature. Then Cologne thought of something else that had been bothering her. “I’ve carried some of your weaponry. It is rather heavy, not as heavy as I would have though. But how hard is it to lug around a 10 kilogram (A/N 22 pounds) gun into battle?”
Shakeera just smirked. Though she had been awake for a couple of days now, she had spent a great portion of that time in meditation to regain her stamina and internal strength. As such no one had really guessed how strong she really was. So to answer Colognes question she walked over to a nearby larger rock that was about the size of her head and picked up with one hand. Shakeera held it up so that Cologne could see and squeezed it until the rock shattered into dust.
The Elder watched as the rock dust fell through the fingers of the four armed girl in front of her and whistled as she saw that it was a nearly effortless display of strength on Shakeera’s part.
The two of them were about to continue their conversation when Ranma-chan, who had climbed down from the tree, spoke up. “Hey you guys, are we stopping for the day?” The red head asked while bouncing on the balls of her feet.
Scene Break
“So what are we doing with the monkey again Herb?” The brutish youth asked as he held a larger monkey that they had captured earlier that day. Even with his ponderous strength Lime (Mint?) was having trouble restraining the simian.
“I told you before. It’s to be able to deal with the Amazons.” Herb said, the tone of his voice stating for everyone in the area how many times he had told his underling.
“So how will a monkey help us with the Amazons.” Asked underling number two.
Genma watched them argue for a bit before shaking his head and tuning them out once again. After all he didn’t know how a monkey, a ladle and Jusenkyo would help them battle the Amazons keeping his son hidden from him. But if Herb said that he needed it, then who was Genma to argue. Especially since the Prince of the Musk put on such a fine spread of food the night earlier.
Scene Break
They had finished their trek from the village, and would be turning the bend any moment to see the springs of Jusenkyo. Ranma-chan’s mood was a bit lighter now as in the last day Shampoo had lightened up a bit. Also Shakeera had been talking to her a bit about the way that Magic works. The neo-girl thought that if either her or Shakeera could master the right spell that somehow she could get rid of the curse. Unfortunately for her though, Shakeera didn’t seem to have any inclination towards helping her regain her male form permanently.
Presently Shakeera and Ranma-chan were talking about the curses while Cologne and Shampoo were doing some sort of speed training by bounding through the tree tops at top speed in a circle around the two on the ground.
“Well, I still think it was a cheep shot that allowed her to win.” Ranma-chan pouted as she talked about her loss to Shampoo a couple of days ago.
Shakeera looked at her companion. “I don’t think so.”
“Why do ya say that Shakeera?” Ranma-chan asked.
“Have you taken a good look at your male form lately Ranma?” Shakeera answered her companion’s question with another question.
“Not really. Ever since we got ta the village, I’ve spent most’a my time in this form.” Ranma-chan said with a waive towards her body. “And any time I’ve changed back I’ve been attacked by one of their warriors.”
“Well, I’ve already noticed that your ears are still pointed in your male form.”
Ranma-chan looked at her then reached up and felt her ears. She stopped as she got to the part on top that should continue to round, but found that it kept rising a bit beyond normal and ended in a point. Then feeling downward she found that she didn’t have the hanging lobe on the bottom that she was familiar with.
“Don’t tell me that you’ve not even noticed that.”
Ranma-chan just shrugged her shoulders. “Well, it’s not like I check out every detail of my body every day ya know.” She answered.
“You know, you’re really dense. Next thing I’ll find out is that you’ve been seeing in infravision or low light vision and not told anyone about it.”
“You mean that weird glowing coming from people when it’s too dark to see normally? Ranma-chan asked.
Shakeera looked at him in disbelief. “Let me guess, you thought that it was normal for girls.” Ranma-chan nodded her head. “You’re dense you know that Ranma.”
Ranma-chan had just started to pout at her comment when she heard a scream of outrage coming from the valley on the other side of the pass they were heading through.
Cologne dropped from one of the nearby trees and landed in front of them. “Come on students. It sounds like Jusenkyo has claimed another victim. Let’s go see if we can help them.” The Elder put actions to her words and bounded off at a running pace. Ranma-chan started to jog, as did Shakeera. They were joined moments later by Shampoo who leaped from a different tree and landed running at their pace.
They were almost to the valley when a monkey squawking at the tops of its lungs came bounding around the corner carrying a serving ladle made of what looked like bronze. The four of them stopped and watched as the monkey bounded through their group and continued on with its run.
The four of them turned to continue on into Jusenkyo, as the monkey wasn’t acting like a person cursed to turn into a monkey. Before they could start running again though, a pink and purple haired girl wearing ill fitting armor and a cape that was much to long literally flew up the path screaming bloody murder and various curses in the local dialect that Ranma-chan and Shakeera missed. Ranma-chan because she was still learning Chinese and Shakeera because her spell was right now only translating Japanese.
Shortly on the flying girls tail were two youths. A large one wearing a tiger pelts with a giant club strapped to his back. And a short lithe one wearing a wolf pelt and had a brace of throwing daggers across his chest. The two of them were also yelling something in Chinese.
Cologne though saw the girl and didn’t bother running anymore. After seeing the dynamic duo chasing then she just stopped. In fact she just sat there on her staff and started chuckling until she falls off her staff and then rolls on the ground laughing in near hysterics.
Ranma-chan, Shakeera, and Shampoo just sit there watching the ancient Elder wear herself out laughing. Once Cologne calms down enough to breathe she looks up from the ground at the curious youths. Through eyes teary with laughter she watches them.
“So, what was all that about?” Shakeera asked the mirth ridden Elder.
Cologne answered in a very shaky voice. “That girl… Ha! That was Prince. . he he . . Herb of the Musk.” She broke out in a fresh peal of laughter. Everyone waited for a minute for her to calm down again. “I guess I should call her princess from now on.” She continued.
Ranma-chan just looks at her with a dead pan expression.
“Well, its incredibly funny.” Cologne says in a put upon tone. Then she switches to Chinese and tells what she had told Ranma-chan and Shakeera.
Shampoo then starts to laugh and says to her two other companions. “She right. Is too too funny about princess.”
The group then continues on their way to Jusenkyo, the entire time Cologne was muttering about chauvinistic idiotic people getting their just deserts.
Scene Break
A little while earlier Herb was standing on the edge of a certain pool at Jusenkyo. Behind him are Lime and Mint, as well as Genma. Lime was carrying the agitated monkey still, and was still having trouble with it.
“Give me the Monkey.” Herb said as he held one of his hands backward towards his henchmen.
“You sure you don’t want to use both hands Prince Herb?” Lime asked as he had trouble with the monkey.
Herb just kept looking at the water. “Yes, now give me the monkey you numbskull.” He said in agitation.
Genma just watched on, as he didn’t understand the Chinese that they were speaking. He knew that they all knew Japanese, but sometimes they didn’t speak in his native language and just used theirs.
Lime held the monkey in reach of Herb and waited for his prince to grab the annoying creature. Herb did and held the creature by the scruff. Just as he was leading up for a throw the monkey latched onto his belt with its feet and proceeded to try to take everything off of him. Herb finally looked down at the obnoxious creature and with an air of disdain used both hands to physically remove the monkey from his person and hurled it over the water.
He thought that everything would go good, until he noticed that the monkey had a hold of the ladle that was tied to his belt. Then they all watched as the monkey grabbed onto the pole in the middle of the spring. The creature chittered at them and then screamed a monkey scream as it used the ladle to splash water at the group.
Herb being the closest of course got a full dousing of the liquid and just stared down at herself as she could feel the differences in her body. Lime and Mint managed to jump backwards before the water hit them. And Genma was standing to far away to be hit anyway.
Genma looked at the spring that they were at, then looked further in to where his son had been dunked. “I didn’t know they had several springs of drowned girl.” He said to himself under his breath.
That of course was the only thing necessary for the terrible duo to be sparked into action as they ran up and started to pester and bug their once prince and now princess.
“STOP!!” Herb-chan yelled after she came back to herself. She looked at the two imbeciles then looked back at the monkey, only to discover that it had disappeared from the pole it was on. She looked around frantically until Genma pointed up the path leading into Jusenkyo.
Herb-chan took to the air at tremendous speed flying after the monkey. Lime and Mint saw her go and ran after their leader.
Genma meanwhile slunk into the forest at the edge of Jusenkyo intent on following from a distance. After all, with Herb pissed of like this, she’s liable to do anything. So with great courage, and might of soul Genma Saotome followed while hiding in the Umisenken so as not to arouse the angered dragon princess.
Scene Break
The Jusenkyo guide looked over at his guests that sat in his freshly repaired hut. He recognized the two red haired girls instantly, but did not recognize the two amazons that traveled with them. As he knew that the two red haired girls spoke Japanese and not mandarin he kept the conversation in Japanese for them.
“No honored customer. You no fall in spring of drowned girl. If you wait for just few minutes then I look up spring you fall in.” The guide then leaned back and took a sip of his tea.
Shampoo was still unable to follow the conversation, as she was not very fluent in Japanese yet. Her Great Grandmother was trying to remedy that situation, but the Amazon girl was proving resistant to her attempts, as she felt no need to know such a barbarian language.
Shakeera though on this and decided to wait. Besides the green tea blend that the guide had made for them was really good. Ranma-chan, meanwhile, was a bit more interested in what the guide had to say, and she was nervous around the hot water, as she didn’t want to have to deal with Shampoo more than she had to.
At last the guide and Cologne finished their tea and the guide got up and went over to a scroll filing case on one of the walls. “Let’s see… Jusenkyo maps, where you at Jusenkyo map.” He muttered to himself as he read off the writing labeling each of the rolled up scrolls in their niches in the shelf. “Ah here you are.” He exclaimed as he came upon the map he wanted.
The guide unrolled the map on a table near where they were sipping the tea. Ranma-chan looked over it and saw a birds eye view drawing of the springs that looked similar to what she thought they’d look like.
“My family made these maps over many year of watching the cursed springs. Every time someone touched by Jusenkyo we record it and update our scrolls.” He pulled out a book and opened it up to one of the last pages and read some of the entries to himself.
“That no right.”
“What’s not right ol’ man.” Ranma-chan said with a little bit of disrespect in her voice. Shakeera slapped her on the back of the head. “Sorry.” Ranma-chan said. “I mean. What is not right honored guide.”
“That’s much better student.” Cologne said to Ranma-chan.
The guide merely chuckled at their antics. “I say that no right, because that can no be right. According to book and map, you fall into spring of drowned dragon.” Ranma-chan looked down at herself worriedly at this proclamation. “It say that it the spring that Musk Dynasty create to start their blood line. They drowned giant dragon in spring and then curse greatest king to become dragon. Then they take the offspring and dunk in spring of drowned girl to turn into girl.” Then the guide looked at Ranma-chan again. “You human girl, you no Dragon girl. So what happen?” The guide asked the neo-girl.
Shakeera spoke up at that time. “I think that my magical nature interfered with the pools magic.” She said.
“But you no turn into dragon either.” The guide said. “How you not normal girl, how you magical if you not dragon.”
Shakeera just held up all four arms and looked at him with a slight amount of exasperation. “You thought that the spring did this to me?” She asked as she looked at her lower set of arms. Then she lowered them, as she didn’t want to be to intimidating to the room.
“So why would you not board up such a dangerous spring.” Cologne asked even though she suspected she knew the answer.
“Because since Musk use spring to start Royal line, no one since fall in spring. And if person going to fall in that spring, person must get through entire group of Jusenkyo springs. Many many likely hood of being cursed before they get near spring. So why board up? If person meant to get curse of dragon. Then person would get curse of dragon, and no wood planks be able to stop.” The guide said as he explained the reasons why his family wouldn’t cover up the more dangerous springs.
Cologne just sat there for a moment. “I need to meditate on this for a moment.”
Shakeera sat there with her two other companions before looking at the tea making supplies. “So anyone for some more tea?” She asked.
End Chapter
Authors Notes.
Well, I'm finally onto Chapter 04. Guess I'll make it to Chapter 5 as well. This one looks a bit longer than the prior ones. I hope that everyone enjoys it.
Standard disclaimer, don't own Ranma 1/2, or Rifts. Wish I had some stock or shares but I don't. I'm doing this for my enjoyment and for the enjoyment of any of my readers. May they continue reading my works after they read this.
Chapter 04
Ranma-chan stepped down from her attack stance and looked over at her four-armed companion. Now that the girl was awake Ranma-chan could tell that though her appearance was similar to hers, her musculature and mannerisms were different. Not to mention that she had a second set of arms directly underneath her normal arms. Currently all four arms were covering up the girls bust as she looked at Ranma-chan and Cologne.
Several moments passed like this until the four-armed girl lowered her two lower arms and gathered up the sheet and used it to cover herself up. She folded her lower arms over her breasts with the sheet tucked into them so as to allow her free reign with her upper arms. The girl then walked over to stand in front of Ranma-chan who was getting very nervous at the nearly naked girl’s close proximity.
Once the two were only an arms length away the four armed girl said something in a melodious but obscure language that seemed to flow off the tongue and away from memory as soon as the words were spoken. Cologne's eyes grew several sizes upon hearing the arcane language and waited for her guest to finish. The girl then waived her arm around waist level while moving her fingers around in a complex pattern that ended with a quick sweeping upward of her hand to touch two of her fingers to her lips as she finished the last sentence of her spell.
Ranma-chan was still stunned, as she had been able to feel the flow and weave of an unknown power coursing through the room. As soon as the girl in front of her stopped she returned to some sense of focused thought. The neo-girl was about to ask what had happened when her four armed companion spoke in flawless Japanese.
“Who are you, and why do you wear my face.”
Scene Break
Genma Saotome was being put on the ropes by his two opponents. At first he had sneered at the thought that these two might be able to take him on. But after the first hit from the larger of the two that was wearing the Tiger pelt he decided that it was time to stop underestimating his opponents. “That hit had hurt.” The portly martial artist thought to himself.
The Wolf pelt kid had disappeared early on and Genma was paying to much attention to the Tiger pelt right now to wonder where the other one was. That is until he got a pebble to the head. His distraction at the stinging sensation was enough to open his defenses to the larger youth to get a punch in. Tiger pelt hit Genma in the stomach a second time and said something in Chinese that Genma missed.
The Dark Horse of the Saotome clan nearly folded over the large fist sticking into his stomach, but he used his skill to fly backwards at the same time and rebound off of the wall to hit the unruly youth in the shoulder as he passed in the air. Genma was about to mentally praise himself when something heavy impacted in his back.
“OOF!” Genma gasped as the wind was driven from his lungs. The weight lightened from his back immediately as what ever it was rebounded off of him. Genma righted himself and got to his feet to look at the two youths. “They’re strong and fast. I won’t be able to beat them at this rate.” He thought to himself, then blanched as the wolf pelted kid pulled out a pair of throwing daggers and the tiger pelted larger youth pulled out a very large club.
“That’s it, I need something more powerful. Damn, I was hoping to keep those sealed away longer.” Genma thought to himself as he readied himself by releasing his mental locks on the Umisenken. “The Umisenken should be enough. I don’t want to kill them, just disable them.”
Tiger pelt and Wolf pelt were saying something in Chinese as the Portly intruder got into a strange stance on the balls of his feet with his back slumped and his head hunched over looking like a human impersonation of a vulture. The strange and bedraggled martial artist then pulled a small sheet from inside his pack and waived it in front of himself disappearing from view. “Wha…” the two youths said in unison in Chinese.
Scene Break
“Who are you, and why do you wear my face.” The four armed red haired girl wearing only a bed sheet asked.
The three people in the room just stood there after her question. Each for their own reasons. For Ranma-chan, she didn’t understand. Even though they looked the same, Cologne had assured her earlier that week that you turn into whatever you would have looked like if you were born with your cursed body. For the Amazon Elder, it was because she had actually missed that the two girls looked very similar, to the point of being nearly identical. She had been more interested and observant of the now awake four-armed girl’s additional arms, and her curious technology and equipment and hadn’t bothered looking in detail at her facial features.
For Shakeera? She was waiting for Ranma-chan's answer.
The tableau was broken when Shakeera started to tap her foot. Ranma-chan finally noticed this and put her hand up to the base of her ponytail and rubbed her head while looking down and away. “Um.. I’m Ranma Saotome. And uh, well…” She started lamely.
Cologne could have slapped her forehead at this but felt it would be improper for an Amazon Elder to do so. Instead she spoke up herself. “The reason she looks similar to you, is that you both fell into a cursed spring at Jusenkyo.”
Shakeera looks at the two of them dumbly. She was familiar with the different types of curse magic, and also familiar with metamorphs. And even though she was getting a better look at Ranma-chan, enough to see that the girl was slightly different in appearance (Especially since she only had two arms not four), Shakeera noted that the other girl had pointed ears and Emerald eyes. Just like herself. And the shade of red was a near ringer for her own shorter crimson locks.
“I mean, why does she look so much like me. Not about a curse. Curses don’t work that way.” She said in a matter of fact tone of voice.
Cologne just sighed. “Child, do you remember a valley filled with small springs of water with bamboo poles sticking out of them?”
Shakeera thought back to when she tried to rescue the human boy she had encountered. “Yes, and then I fell into one of them with a human I was trying to save from demonic possession.”
Ranma-chan blanched after that. She hadn’t seen her father in his human form after he had fallen into the spring, and although she now knew that she could be turned back into her birth form, she didn’t know if her father could. To make matters worse she knew that her cursed form was strong, very strong. And different, enough that without intense training she was liable to kill herself by dodging wrong and ending up with a broken neck or something related.
Cologne saw the neo-girl pale a bit and guessed what she was thinking. “No, those pools do not invoke possession. They curse. Or a blessing depending on how you look at it.” Shakeera just looked at her for a second before Cologne continued. “Ranma here was fighting his father at the pools and you had somehow fallen in the same spring as him. But somehow you don’t seem to be affected by the cursed waters.”
The four-armed girl took a little bit of an offense at that. “Not affected? Those blasted waters HURT!” She said getting a bit inflamed. She also put all four arms downward with her hands in fists in a classic pose of feminine outrage.
“Ack!” Ranma-chan said as she averted her eyes once she had been flashed by Shakeera when the four-armed girl’s sheet had fallen off.
That was enough to calm Shakeera down a bit as she retrieved the sheet. Then she looked at the girl who had her eyes covered and was apologizing for seeing her. “You’re not really a girl are you?” Shakeera asked, her question sounding more of a statement of fact than an inquiry.
“I’m a Guy.” Ranma bit out as she dropped her arms to her side.
“Not right now you are not young one.” Cologne said looking at the two of them and wondering if they did somehow merge at least some of their personalities.
Shakeera thought on that for a minute before she made the connection herself. “You’re the guy I was trying to save.”
Ranma-chan bristled suddenly as she jumped to the wrong conclusion. “You mean that YOU’RE the one who knocked me into the spring?!?” She yelled / asked.
The four-armed girl let go of the sheet again as she bristled as well. “Hey, I thought you were going to become some form of Ursine Demon if you fell into the water you were heading for!” She continued as she took a step forward. “I didn’t even get my flight spell complete when I jumped to rescue you.” Ranma-chan backed up slightly as Shakeera took another step forward. “And now I’ve been out for who knows how long after trying to save you.”
Before Shakeera could take another step or could say anything further Cologne spoke up. “You know Ranma, you could have landed in an animal curse spring. Since she knocked you into one of the pools rather than the one you were heading for you now turn into a girl rather than say a cat?” To which Ranma-chan shuddered.
“Sorry uh… What’s your name anyway?” Ranma-chan asked.
Shakeera looked at them and then giggled a bit which caused Ranma-chan to notice that the four-armed girl was naked again. As Ranma-chan was quickly averting her eyes once again, Shakeera answered. “I am Shakeera Sonee’ lately of the city of Dweomer, apprentice Temporal Wizard, and a Psi-Warrior studying the Arts of Offense. I am at your service.” She finished with a courtly bow while keeping the sheet held to herself.
Ranma-chan just stared but Cologne narrowed her eyes slightly. She had felt the power emanating off of both Shakeera and Ranma-chan, but she didn’t think it possible for this young girl to be either advanced enough or skilled enough to hold the two titles that she gave herself, apprentice not withstanding. “A Temporal Wizard? Is that a type of Chrono Mage young one?” Cologne asked Shakeera.
The nearly naked girl thought for a second then answered. “I guess you could call it that. But my old master would be slightly put off by your insinuation.”
“Really?” Ranma-chan asked trying to stay in the conversation.
“Yep, a Chrono Mage just throws time magic at people. A Temporal Wizard actually affects the boundaries of time and space.” Shakeera said as if by rote.
“So, you have the spell power to affect the Universe around you?” Cologne asked as she tried to pry more information out of Shakeera.
“Naw, only to a degree. You see, I’m only an apprentice. I have a couple of years yet to go to finish.”
“So how’re ya going to finish then?” Ranma-chan asked.
“Probably not going to be able to unless I get my ship fixed.” Shakeera said a little down heartened.
Ranma-chan heard her tone and started to feel something of a heel for being insensitive. Then looks at her, really looks at her and her body language. And notices that she has the posture and bearing of a very confident person, but seems like a fish out of water here.
Shakeera perks up after the brief moment of silence at the end of her last statement. "So, Ranma is it? What is your normal form?"
Cologne raises an eyebrow at this. "We haven't told you how the curses work. How did you determine that this is not Ranma's permanent form?"
"Simple, I believe that I've been recovering for a week, right?" Cologne nods after Shakeera's question. "Since Ranma's still saying she's a guy, then you haven't forced her to accept her new form as permanent. Therefore there's probably a way to change back." Shakeera sat down on the bed while still holding the sheet to herself. "Could I see it please? I'd like to see the face of the man I tried to save."
Ranma-chan looks over at Cologne with a questioning look. The Amazon Elder nods her head. "Go ahead student. It should be safe for you to turn back into your normal form. Xian Pu is not due back for a bit." Ranma-chan bounced into another room under the kind but stern gaze of Cologne.
Once Ranma-chan was out of earshot Shakeera muttered something in her arcane spell casting language and then spoke in the local Mandarin dialect that the Amazons used. "Elder, you know more of what is going on than you have told Ranma. Could you tell me at a later time as I wish to see if he may be a good traveling companion."
Cologne chuckled under her breath. "I was wondering why your spell seemed to be for Japanese." She cocked her head to the side as if listening to something. "Ranma is busy readying some hot water." She looked back at Shakeera with a serious expression. "Something happened at the Springs of Sorrow, you had tackled Ranma apparently. But you should have gained a human like form. I'm guessing now that since you had a partially completed spell about your person that it interacted with the chaotic magic of the Pools of Sorrow. And it tried to drain your life force and melded a bit of it into the waters that Ranma had been doused with."
Shakeera was about to ask her to continue when Ranma-chan entered the room carrying a metal teakettle that was steaming a bit. The four-armed girl chanted her arcane language under her breath switching her spell back to Japanese just in time to understand what Ranma-chan was saying.
"K, sorry I took so long. Had to change my pants."
Shakeera raised her eyebrow at hearing that; maybe she had gotten her spell slightly wrong.
Ranma-chan continued as she poured some water into an earthenware mug she brought in with her. "Last time I changed back while wearing Amazon pants I almost passed out."
Cologne was sitting on her staff chuckling recalling the second time Ranma had changed back into his normal form in the village. He had forgotten about the Chinese Pantsuit that she was wearing. And Silk is notorious for not having much give, especially when it was finely woven like the artisans of the village were wont to make.
For Shakeera, her mental question was answered when Ranma-chan poured the water over her head. The buxom red haired girl grew several inches in height, and though her breasts smoothed out, her chest broadened and her torso thickened. Her hair changed from crimson to jet-black. The first thing that Shakeera noticed though was that his ears stayed pointed, and his eyes stayed their brilliant emerald green. She figured that those shouldn't be that way but held her tongue. Unfortunately, though the hair and the basic build were the same, Shakeera couldn't tell if it was the same person she had saved. But she was more than willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.
Before any of them could return to their conversation the door to the hut opened. Ranma stood up and squared his shoulders unconsciously as he stepped in front of Shakeera as if to hide her nudity. Shakeera saw a human girl about Ranma's age enter the room, she had a slightly haughty air about her and lovely hair of a pastel violet. The four armed visitor couldn't make out what she was saying so she switched her spell back to the old woman’s dialect just in time to hear Ranma speak in badly accented Mandarin.
"This one bow no ones to Xian Pu." He said with some fire in his eye.
Cologne acted as if this was a normal occurrence and hopped backwards on her staff so as to give Ranma and Shampoo a little more room in case things went to blows.
Shampoo meanwhile didn't like the way that the male in front of her was acting, and decided that she needed to teach him once again his place in the village. "Then I will teach you your place disrespectful male." She stated coldly as she drew a Bonbori out from behind her.
Ranma got into a ready stance and prepared for her first barrage. He'd been having some pretty bad run ins with Colognes heir, especially seeing that the Elder had been spending more time with him in his cursed form than she had been with Shampoo since he had been cursed.
Shampoo lead in with a Bonbori thrust, Ranma evaded it smoothly but wasn't ready for her to step beside him and body check him back towards the door. He leapt backwards out into the street as he'd already had to help repair one building his fighting had damaged. Shampoo grinned in anticipation of the fight and sprung out after her quarry. Shakeera was about to follow and help Ranma out when Cologne stopped her with the staff that the Elder was always with. "This is not your fight youngling. Let Ranma and Xian Pu deal out their aggressions. It has been building for the last week."
Scene Break
Prince Herb of the Musk Dynasty snorted to himself as he looked down the old table at the slightly injured but overall well middle aged man. "What a disgusting individual. But still he was able to defeat my two vassals." The prince thought to himself. He had long since tuned out the pudgy martial artist’s story of woe about the kidnapping of his son by the wicked Amazons. "Well, I never really liked the Amazons anyway. It's too bad that the Musk didn't exactly prosper very well after the last war we had with them."
Herb thought back to when he was young. It was the end of the conflict between the Amazon Nations and the Musk Dynasty. They had been beaten badly, mostly due to the fact that the vast majority of the Musk warriors were unwilling to strike a woman that had bared herself to them. "A weakness that I must overcome if we are to ever regain our numbers." He looked over at the larger of his two vassals. "Ha, Vassals! Some Kingdome I rule over. My father gone to whom knows where. Our warriors beaten or fled. Our wives missing. All that’s left are a few of our lore masters and myself and these two incompetent idiots." The only reason that Herb hadn't gotten rid of Mint and Lime years ago was because they were good in a fight.
But this portly middle aged man that Herb would never had picked at being able to fight his way out of a farm house had made a mockery of his two best warriors. Granted Herb could make a mockery of them as well, but he needed at least a little back up. No matter how poor it was.
"Very Well Genma Saotome of Japan. I will aid you in your journey to reclaim your son from his imprisonment by those of the Amazon Nation." Herb said as soon as he realized that Genma had shut up and was watching him instead of telling his tale of sorrow.
"But first we need to make a stop at Jusenkyo."
Scene Break
Shakeera was chuckling to herself at Ranma-chan's bad mood. It was a couple of days after Shampoo and Ranma-kun had fought. And the four armed girl thought back to the bewildered expression on Ranma-kun's face as she stood over his prone form. He had been beaten by Shampoo, only barely but still a loss was a loss. Afterwards Cologne had come up and splashed him with cold water and asked them to talk.
“Ranma, Shakeera. I believe that you two were not doused in the spring of drowned girl. In fact I believe that it was another spring entirely, but that your magic.” She had looked at Shakeera at this point. “Melded with Jusenkyo and altered the cursed water somehow. You weren’t exactly cursed, and Ranma’s curse is different than it should have been.”
At the present time Shakeera was wearing her armor minus the helmet and had her power pack and its linked gun on her hip. She was not wearing her survival pack but was using one of Colognes instead. Her flame red hair was held back by a headband as it was still to short to pull into a ponytail or to braid. Ranma-chan was grumpily walking next to her going over past events in her mind. Cologne was ahead of them bouncing along on her staff. And unfortunately for all of them, and the reason for Ranma-chan's grumpiness, Shampoo was also with the group.
Ever since the Amazon warrior had defeated Ranma in his male form she had been near insufferable. Shampoo had been bragging about no man ever being good enough to beat her, even though she still didn’t know that she had defeated the other red haired girl in their group. What made it truly annoying for Ranma-chan was the fact that Cologne had taken it upon herself to tell the neo-girl about their laws concerning marriage. And that although Ranma-chan was protected from the kiss of death as she was right now under the hospices of Cologne, she was not protected from the kiss of marriage. As such Ranma-chan felt that she would never to recover her tarnished record (only tarnished in her own mind of course) was to defeat the arrogant violet haired girl. Otherwise she might find herself wed to the little spitfire.
Shakeera was pulled from her introspection as she felt Cologne falls back a little to come even with her. “I was wondering youngling. What nation builds your equipment.” She asked looking pointedly at the large bored side arm that was almost as big as her thigh.
Shakeera pulled it out of its holster and held it up for Cologne to inspect. “This is a Northern Gun heavy plasma ejector. It’s made by Northern Gun Arms, they’re located somewhere north of the Coalition States.”
“I did already gather that the Chinese did not make it. But what type of gun is it? The bore looks much to large for a girl of your frame to withstand the shock of a solid shell recoil.” Indeed, the bore in the gun's barrel was a good two centimeters in diameter.
“Oh, it doesn’t shoot solid slugs. It shoots super heated plasma. Like what is found in a star's ionosphere. Very potent and destructive.” Shakeera answered with a sense of pride that she had managed to accrue such a weapon.
“I would be interested in seeing a quick demonstration.” Cologne said as she wondered what type of power such a weapon could achieve. Cologne was starting to over come some of her tribe’s reluctance to pursue and utilize modern technology. And she was also aware that one day a sufficiently armed force could wipe them out of existence. As such the Amazon Elder was driven to learn more about this shortcoming of her tribes.
Shakeera looked around for a few moments and then spotted a large boulder a couple of hundred feet away in the path they were taking. “See that boulder?” She said as she pointed with her lower right arm. At Colognes nod Shakeera pulled the weapon up to a firing position and sighted in on the center of the boulder to make sure that she didn’t accidentally start a fire with the destructive energies of her weapon.
“Not any more.” She said as she pulled the trigger on the Plasma Ejector. A super heated ball of nearly blinding light shot out of the bore of the side arm and shot forth at a rate a little slower than a bullet but with the apparent momentum of a freight train. When the ball of plasma hit the boulder instead of exploding, which was what Cologne expected, it melted the boulder and caused anything near the impact point to flash fire for but a second.
Cologne looked at the devastation as the once large boulder was reduced to a pile of slowly cooling molten rock.
“Warn someone before you decide to melt the landscape.” Ranma-chan yelled from her position in a tree where she had jumped to the second that Shakeera had fired off her shot.
Shakeera looked over at the inverted neo-girl. “Sorry.” She said as she re-holstered the weapon.
Cologne merely looked on, her mind more than made up by this demonstration that her tribe needed to learn much more of the outside world if they were creating hand held weapons of this nature. Then Cologne thought of something else that had been bothering her. “I’ve carried some of your weaponry. It is rather heavy, not as heavy as I would have though. But how hard is it to lug around a 10 kilogram (A/N 22 pounds) gun into battle?”
Shakeera just smirked. Though she had been awake for a couple of days now, she had spent a great portion of that time in meditation to regain her stamina and internal strength. As such no one had really guessed how strong she really was. So to answer Colognes question she walked over to a nearby larger rock that was about the size of her head and picked up with one hand. Shakeera held it up so that Cologne could see and squeezed it until the rock shattered into dust.
The Elder watched as the rock dust fell through the fingers of the four armed girl in front of her and whistled as she saw that it was a nearly effortless display of strength on Shakeera’s part.
The two of them were about to continue their conversation when Ranma-chan, who had climbed down from the tree, spoke up. “Hey you guys, are we stopping for the day?” The red head asked while bouncing on the balls of her feet.
Scene Break
“So what are we doing with the monkey again Herb?” The brutish youth asked as he held a larger monkey that they had captured earlier that day. Even with his ponderous strength Lime (Mint?) was having trouble restraining the simian.
“I told you before. It’s to be able to deal with the Amazons.” Herb said, the tone of his voice stating for everyone in the area how many times he had told his underling.
“So how will a monkey help us with the Amazons.” Asked underling number two.
Genma watched them argue for a bit before shaking his head and tuning them out once again. After all he didn’t know how a monkey, a ladle and Jusenkyo would help them battle the Amazons keeping his son hidden from him. But if Herb said that he needed it, then who was Genma to argue. Especially since the Prince of the Musk put on such a fine spread of food the night earlier.
Scene Break
They had finished their trek from the village, and would be turning the bend any moment to see the springs of Jusenkyo. Ranma-chan’s mood was a bit lighter now as in the last day Shampoo had lightened up a bit. Also Shakeera had been talking to her a bit about the way that Magic works. The neo-girl thought that if either her or Shakeera could master the right spell that somehow she could get rid of the curse. Unfortunately for her though, Shakeera didn’t seem to have any inclination towards helping her regain her male form permanently.
Presently Shakeera and Ranma-chan were talking about the curses while Cologne and Shampoo were doing some sort of speed training by bounding through the tree tops at top speed in a circle around the two on the ground.
“Well, I still think it was a cheep shot that allowed her to win.” Ranma-chan pouted as she talked about her loss to Shampoo a couple of days ago.
Shakeera looked at her companion. “I don’t think so.”
“Why do ya say that Shakeera?” Ranma-chan asked.
“Have you taken a good look at your male form lately Ranma?” Shakeera answered her companion’s question with another question.
“Not really. Ever since we got ta the village, I’ve spent most’a my time in this form.” Ranma-chan said with a waive towards her body. “And any time I’ve changed back I’ve been attacked by one of their warriors.”
“Well, I’ve already noticed that your ears are still pointed in your male form.”
Ranma-chan looked at her then reached up and felt her ears. She stopped as she got to the part on top that should continue to round, but found that it kept rising a bit beyond normal and ended in a point. Then feeling downward she found that she didn’t have the hanging lobe on the bottom that she was familiar with.
“Don’t tell me that you’ve not even noticed that.”
Ranma-chan just shrugged her shoulders. “Well, it’s not like I check out every detail of my body every day ya know.” She answered.
“You know, you’re really dense. Next thing I’ll find out is that you’ve been seeing in infravision or low light vision and not told anyone about it.”
“You mean that weird glowing coming from people when it’s too dark to see normally? Ranma-chan asked.
Shakeera looked at him in disbelief. “Let me guess, you thought that it was normal for girls.” Ranma-chan nodded her head. “You’re dense you know that Ranma.”
Ranma-chan had just started to pout at her comment when she heard a scream of outrage coming from the valley on the other side of the pass they were heading through.
Cologne dropped from one of the nearby trees and landed in front of them. “Come on students. It sounds like Jusenkyo has claimed another victim. Let’s go see if we can help them.” The Elder put actions to her words and bounded off at a running pace. Ranma-chan started to jog, as did Shakeera. They were joined moments later by Shampoo who leaped from a different tree and landed running at their pace.
They were almost to the valley when a monkey squawking at the tops of its lungs came bounding around the corner carrying a serving ladle made of what looked like bronze. The four of them stopped and watched as the monkey bounded through their group and continued on with its run.
The four of them turned to continue on into Jusenkyo, as the monkey wasn’t acting like a person cursed to turn into a monkey. Before they could start running again though, a pink and purple haired girl wearing ill fitting armor and a cape that was much to long literally flew up the path screaming bloody murder and various curses in the local dialect that Ranma-chan and Shakeera missed. Ranma-chan because she was still learning Chinese and Shakeera because her spell was right now only translating Japanese.
Shortly on the flying girls tail were two youths. A large one wearing a tiger pelts with a giant club strapped to his back. And a short lithe one wearing a wolf pelt and had a brace of throwing daggers across his chest. The two of them were also yelling something in Chinese.
Cologne though saw the girl and didn’t bother running anymore. After seeing the dynamic duo chasing then she just stopped. In fact she just sat there on her staff and started chuckling until she falls off her staff and then rolls on the ground laughing in near hysterics.
Ranma-chan, Shakeera, and Shampoo just sit there watching the ancient Elder wear herself out laughing. Once Cologne calms down enough to breathe she looks up from the ground at the curious youths. Through eyes teary with laughter she watches them.
“So, what was all that about?” Shakeera asked the mirth ridden Elder.
Cologne answered in a very shaky voice. “That girl… Ha! That was Prince. . he he . . Herb of the Musk.” She broke out in a fresh peal of laughter. Everyone waited for a minute for her to calm down again. “I guess I should call her princess from now on.” She continued.
Ranma-chan just looks at her with a dead pan expression.
“Well, its incredibly funny.” Cologne says in a put upon tone. Then she switches to Chinese and tells what she had told Ranma-chan and Shakeera.
Shampoo then starts to laugh and says to her two other companions. “She right. Is too too funny about princess.”
The group then continues on their way to Jusenkyo, the entire time Cologne was muttering about chauvinistic idiotic people getting their just deserts.
Scene Break
A little while earlier Herb was standing on the edge of a certain pool at Jusenkyo. Behind him are Lime and Mint, as well as Genma. Lime was carrying the agitated monkey still, and was still having trouble with it.
“Give me the Monkey.” Herb said as he held one of his hands backward towards his henchmen.
“You sure you don’t want to use both hands Prince Herb?” Lime asked as he had trouble with the monkey.
Herb just kept looking at the water. “Yes, now give me the monkey you numbskull.” He said in agitation.
Genma just watched on, as he didn’t understand the Chinese that they were speaking. He knew that they all knew Japanese, but sometimes they didn’t speak in his native language and just used theirs.
Lime held the monkey in reach of Herb and waited for his prince to grab the annoying creature. Herb did and held the creature by the scruff. Just as he was leading up for a throw the monkey latched onto his belt with its feet and proceeded to try to take everything off of him. Herb finally looked down at the obnoxious creature and with an air of disdain used both hands to physically remove the monkey from his person and hurled it over the water.
He thought that everything would go good, until he noticed that the monkey had a hold of the ladle that was tied to his belt. Then they all watched as the monkey grabbed onto the pole in the middle of the spring. The creature chittered at them and then screamed a monkey scream as it used the ladle to splash water at the group.
Herb being the closest of course got a full dousing of the liquid and just stared down at herself as she could feel the differences in her body. Lime and Mint managed to jump backwards before the water hit them. And Genma was standing to far away to be hit anyway.
Genma looked at the spring that they were at, then looked further in to where his son had been dunked. “I didn’t know they had several springs of drowned girl.” He said to himself under his breath.
That of course was the only thing necessary for the terrible duo to be sparked into action as they ran up and started to pester and bug their once prince and now princess.
“STOP!!” Herb-chan yelled after she came back to herself. She looked at the two imbeciles then looked back at the monkey, only to discover that it had disappeared from the pole it was on. She looked around frantically until Genma pointed up the path leading into Jusenkyo.
Herb-chan took to the air at tremendous speed flying after the monkey. Lime and Mint saw her go and ran after their leader.
Genma meanwhile slunk into the forest at the edge of Jusenkyo intent on following from a distance. After all, with Herb pissed of like this, she’s liable to do anything. So with great courage, and might of soul Genma Saotome followed while hiding in the Umisenken so as not to arouse the angered dragon princess.
Scene Break
The Jusenkyo guide looked over at his guests that sat in his freshly repaired hut. He recognized the two red haired girls instantly, but did not recognize the two amazons that traveled with them. As he knew that the two red haired girls spoke Japanese and not mandarin he kept the conversation in Japanese for them.
“No honored customer. You no fall in spring of drowned girl. If you wait for just few minutes then I look up spring you fall in.” The guide then leaned back and took a sip of his tea.
Shampoo was still unable to follow the conversation, as she was not very fluent in Japanese yet. Her Great Grandmother was trying to remedy that situation, but the Amazon girl was proving resistant to her attempts, as she felt no need to know such a barbarian language.
Shakeera though on this and decided to wait. Besides the green tea blend that the guide had made for them was really good. Ranma-chan, meanwhile, was a bit more interested in what the guide had to say, and she was nervous around the hot water, as she didn’t want to have to deal with Shampoo more than she had to.
At last the guide and Cologne finished their tea and the guide got up and went over to a scroll filing case on one of the walls. “Let’s see… Jusenkyo maps, where you at Jusenkyo map.” He muttered to himself as he read off the writing labeling each of the rolled up scrolls in their niches in the shelf. “Ah here you are.” He exclaimed as he came upon the map he wanted.
The guide unrolled the map on a table near where they were sipping the tea. Ranma-chan looked over it and saw a birds eye view drawing of the springs that looked similar to what she thought they’d look like.
“My family made these maps over many year of watching the cursed springs. Every time someone touched by Jusenkyo we record it and update our scrolls.” He pulled out a book and opened it up to one of the last pages and read some of the entries to himself.
“That no right.”
“What’s not right ol’ man.” Ranma-chan said with a little bit of disrespect in her voice. Shakeera slapped her on the back of the head. “Sorry.” Ranma-chan said. “I mean. What is not right honored guide.”
“That’s much better student.” Cologne said to Ranma-chan.
The guide merely chuckled at their antics. “I say that no right, because that can no be right. According to book and map, you fall into spring of drowned dragon.” Ranma-chan looked down at herself worriedly at this proclamation. “It say that it the spring that Musk Dynasty create to start their blood line. They drowned giant dragon in spring and then curse greatest king to become dragon. Then they take the offspring and dunk in spring of drowned girl to turn into girl.” Then the guide looked at Ranma-chan again. “You human girl, you no Dragon girl. So what happen?” The guide asked the neo-girl.
Shakeera spoke up at that time. “I think that my magical nature interfered with the pools magic.” She said.
“But you no turn into dragon either.” The guide said. “How you not normal girl, how you magical if you not dragon.”
Shakeera just held up all four arms and looked at him with a slight amount of exasperation. “You thought that the spring did this to me?” She asked as she looked at her lower set of arms. Then she lowered them, as she didn’t want to be to intimidating to the room.
“So why would you not board up such a dangerous spring.” Cologne asked even though she suspected she knew the answer.
“Because since Musk use spring to start Royal line, no one since fall in spring. And if person going to fall in that spring, person must get through entire group of Jusenkyo springs. Many many likely hood of being cursed before they get near spring. So why board up? If person meant to get curse of dragon. Then person would get curse of dragon, and no wood planks be able to stop.” The guide said as he explained the reasons why his family wouldn’t cover up the more dangerous springs.
Cologne just sat there for a moment. “I need to meditate on this for a moment.”
Shakeera sat there with her two other companions before looking at the tea making supplies. “So anyone for some more tea?” She asked.
End Chapter
Authors Notes.