HALF A SORCERESS Chapter 1:Confused? Lina's unusual rebirth! Written by: Jussi Nikander Ranma 1/2 is a copyright by Rumiko Takahashi and her licencees Slayers is copyright by Hajime Kanzaka, Rui Araizumi, TV Tokyo, SOFTX, Egg Films Not used under authorisation, but since I don't get any money from this, don't sue me, okay? SPOILER WARNING. This story contains spoilers for Slayers the Perfect Movie, Slayers Special 1: The Terrifying Limera Project and Slayers TV-series, episodes 1-10. Everything after episode 10 of the TV-series is ignored. Lina never met Philionel or Amelia. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Valley of Jusenkyou... Ranma stared at the panda which had been his father just a few seconds ago. The panda attacked him, but Ranma didn't even think about defending himself before he was falling to a spring. "Oh, no, Mr Customer. You fall into the spring of the drowned girl! A very tragic story of a girl who drowned there 1000 years ago!" the Chinese guide shouted. As Ranma was plunged into the spring, he felt his body change. Then he hit his head on a rock, and didn't feel anything any more. Ranma lost his consciousness, and at the same time, something else stirred inside him. Something that had slept in that spring for a thousand years was now coming around, as it had found a new host for itself. Having given his son what he deserved, Genma jumped down and prepared to gloat at Ranma for his sloppiness. He was quite surprised at the growls that left his mouth. He was also quite surprised to see his son floating face-down in a spring, his ponytail orange. Slowly the something was awakening in Ranma's mind. Bit by bit the newly reawakened consciousness started taking in its surroundings. It was in water. Face down. Therefore it couldn't breathe. Something should be done. When Ranma sat up, Genma moved to a stage beyond surprised. Ranma's features and changed considerably. His face was softer and skin lighter, like a caucasian's. Also, his eyes were red, and he sprouted a pair of small breasts. In short, Ranma had turned into a gaijin girl. Maybe they should have listened to the guide. The consciousness which had taken over Ranma's body looked around. The valley was much as she remembered it to be. Lots of pools with bamboo poles sticking from them. But the people she expected to see weren't there. Instead of Zel, Gourry, and the others, she saw a panda and an old man. What the hell had happened? Where was everybody?... And why there was some weird pressure inside her skull, like somebody else was there too? Lina Inverse was thoroughly confused. "Uhh...What happened? Who are you?" The Guide was now worried. He had never before heard of somebody losing his memory when he was cursed. "Aiyah! Mr. Customer fall into the spring of the drowned girl! A very tragic story of a girl who drowned there 1000 years ago!" Maybe changing him back would restore his memory. "Mr. Customers wait here, I bring you cure that will change you back!" The guide started running back to his hut, to get some hot water. _Mister_ Customer? Mister? Lina knew that she wasn't as well- developed as, for example, Naga, but she definitely wasn't any man. "Hey! Get back here! Who are you calling a mister!? Can't you see that I'm a girl!" she shouted after the Guide. "Yes, yes, Mr. Customer wait. I change Mr. customer back! Just wait!" The Guide shouted back as he disappeared behind some near- by bushes. Lina started after him, in order to give this obviously near- sighted idiot a piece of her mind. Unfortunately for her, she was lifted off the ground by a big, hairy paw. Genma grew more and more concerned as he listened to what his son said to the Chinese man. Since he was still himself inside, despite having a panda's body, something worse must have happened to Ranma, since he apparently thought he was a girl now. As Ranma started to follow the Guide, Genma grabbed him. This was no time to lose track of Ranma. God knows what the boy...err.. girl would do in his current state of mind. He swung Ranma over his shoulder and held him in place. "Hey! Let me go you furball! What's do you think you're doing!" Lina wasn't amused by what the panda had done. For a while she tried to struggle out of the panda's grasp, but she wasn't strong enough to escape. Then she started thinking and immediately groaned at her own stupidity. After all, what's good does it do to be a magician if you don't use your skills? Since she was hanging on the panda's shoulder, she had could see that panda's back, including its tail. Lina got a wicked smile on her face as she started concentrating on the spell. The magical energies gathered between Lina's hands and she blew at the magical fire, causing a small flame to leap at the panda's tail, which started smoking. Lina frowned since the tail should have burst aflame. She must be weaker than she thought. Lina repeated the spell, and flames started licking on the panda's backside. Genma was patiently waiting for the guide to come back. After all, wasn't patience one of the greatest virtues of a martial artist? Still, he was getting a little hungry. Maybe it had something to do with that smoke he smelled which reminded him of the cooking pits he had seen in the last village. Curious, Genma glanced around, trying to find out where the smoke came from. He then looked behind him, only to see his tail aflame. At the same moment the pain registered, and he dropped Ranma and started to run around, frantically trying to extinguish the flames. Lina chuckled to herself when the panda dropped her to try to put out the fire in its tail. Maybe the animal would learn better than to mess with a master sorceress. When she looked around for any sign of the old man, Lina briefly wondered if the panda was some kind of animal-man, like that fish Zelgadis had used to torture her before he had switched sides. There was no sign of the Guide, but Lina thought she knew where he had disappeared to. She briefly considered casting a Ray Wing in order to look around, but since she hadn't been able to pull of a decent basic fire spell, it probably would have been just a waste of energy. Lina ran to where she had seen the man disappear. She would just have to find him the old-fashioned way. Genma was able to put off the fire on his tail just as Ranma disappeared after the Guide had gone. He briefly wondered how his son had been able to set his tail on fire, but that would have to wait. This was no time to lose Ranma. * * * Lina was a good tracker so she had no difficulty in following the Chinese man's trail. After a few minutes of running she came to an old hut, where generous amounts of smoke poured out of the chimney. She ran to the door and opened it to see the Guide pouring hot water into a tea kettle. The man turned to look at her as she opened the door. "Ah, Mr. Customer. I have hot water here, see? I turn you back now, yes." The Guide said. "Now, just wait a minute pops. Can't you see that I'm a girl?" Lina shouted at the Guide as she walked towards him. She maybe wasn't in the best condition for spellcasting, but she would make the man pay. It was her pride that was in line here. Lina stalked towards the guide, only to have generous amounts of hot water poured on her. Suddenly it seemed to her as if the Guide has suddenly shrunk... or she had grown. There was this odd feeling too, like she had lost something on her chest, and gained something between her legs. She glanced down, and quickly confirmed that she was indeed now a he. Lina let out a surprisingly feminine shriek and fainted. Sometime later, Ranma regained consciousness. What had happened? He remembered that he had hit his father to a pond. Then what? Something about a... panda? Ranma opened his eyes to see his father and the Guide looking down at him. "Uhh... What happened, pop? Where am I?" "Aiyah! Mr. Customer! You feel better now, yes?" The Guide answered him. "You no more think you are girl, yes?" A girl? What was that man speaking about? "A girl?" Ranma asked, confused. "You did some quite odd things after you had fallen into that spring, son." A spring? What was old man speaking about? Then, Ranma remembered what had happened. Genma had replaced by a panda when he had fallen into a spring. And then the panda had hit him, so he had fallen into a spring too... "No, pop, of course I'm no girl! What are you talking about?" "Never mind that, son. We can discuss it later." His father answered, shrugging. "What happened anyway? You fell into a spring, and then there was this panda..." "Mr. Customer fall into Shonmaonichuan! A very tragic story about a panda who drowned there 2000 years ago! Now anyone who falls into that spring takes the body of a panda!" Ranma looked at his father. "That's ridiculous! Pop's no panda!" "Aiyah, but he was Mr Customer! When somebody falls into a spring of Jusenkyou, he turns into whatever drowned in that spring. Then, when you pour hot water on him, he turns back! And cold water turns the curse back on. I show Mr Customer!" the Guide took a glass of water and poured it over Genma, who immediately turned into a panda. Ranma just stared at his father, wide eyed, while Genma took out a sign reading "That was unnecessary." "And me... Did I fall into a spring." "Oh yes, Mr. Customer did!" The guide nodded enthusiastically. "Mr Customer fall into the spring of the drowned girl! A very tragic story of a girl who drowned there 1000 years ago, yes!" "Drowned... girl...?" Ranma couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Yes! I demonstrate!" Before Ranma could do anything, the Guide had taken another glass of water and poured it over his head. Now it was Ranma's turn to let out a feminine shriek. The water didn't just turn Ranma into a female, it also awakened Lina. As Ranma was shrieking her lungs out the ancient (16-year-old) sorceress awoke from her forced slumber. She had had some horrible nightmare about turning into a boy. And there again was that pressure inside her skull, now just much stronger. Slowly, she tried to sit up, only realise that she was already sitting. She also noticed that she wasn't in control of her own body, and that she was shrieking. What the hell was going on? Had she been possessed? Lina tried to calm herself. All right, I don't know where I am, I'm not in charge of my own body and I have some weird head-ache. Panicking won't help at all. I should be calm and try to solve this problem reasonably. At the same time whoever was shrieking with her mouth calmed down a little, which helped her some. She tried to get hold of her body again, but with no success. Somebody else was controlling her actions and no matter what she did, she didn't seem to be able to regain control. Having found out that she couldn't use her body, she then tried to find out who was using it. After a minute Ranma started to calm down. While he had been shrieking his lungs out Genma had turned back into human. That meant that there at least was a way to turn back. Oh, yeah, the Guide had mentioned hot water, Ranma thought. "What was that about, boy! Have I brought you up so poorly that you start panicking from such a little thing!" "Little thing!?" Ranma shouted. What was Genma saying? He had turned into a _girl_. "Yes! A little thing! A true martial artist wouldn't let a mere sex change bother him!" "I'm a goddamn girl, pop! You're saying that's something minor!?" "At least you stay a human, boy! I turn into a panda! And look at how well I've taken it!" "Oh yeah!? Well I got to admit that you look good as a panda! You've always been so lazy that it suits you well!" Lina's head-ache grew worse as whoever was using her body started arguing with an bald man who was wearing some kind of white clothes. As she couldn't control her body, Lina had started poking around in the mind, hoping that she could somehow get into contact with, and preferably rid of whoever was controlling her body. After a few false starts she had felt something, like a light touch. Blocking out the ongoing argument, she tried to grasp it again, and suddenly alien thoughts entered her mind. Contact. Lina shouted mentally: "...and I can't see how you couldn..." Ranma suddenly stopped in mid- sentence when somebody yelled inside his head. Loud. So loud, that his ears started ringing. Ranma bent down and covered his ears. "Wh-who?" he asked out aloud. Genma looked at his son (or daughter, depending on your point of view) surprise written over his face. Lina smiled. It seemed that she had got the guy's attention. She said mentally. Ranma was confused. Somebody had spoken to him, but he hadn't actually head anything. "W-what? Who? What do you mean taken over?" He asked. His father and the Jusenkyou guide stared at him. Who was Ranma speaking to? The other mind seemed confused, which, in turn, confused Lina. You needed an iron will and strong determination to invade the body of a master sorceress and to take it over, but it looked like this other mind was even more confused than she was. It probably was some cover it used, trying to make me lower my guard, Lina finally decided. Ranma was more and more confused by the minute. Somebody was speaking to him inside his head, claiming that he had somehow taken over her (yes, whoever it was, it was definitely female) body. "Acting? What do you mean nuts? Or by taking over again?" Genma was rapidly beginning to believe that Ranma had gone crazy. Prehaps he shouldn't have been so hard on him. Well, changing him back to himself would probably help, he thought and poured hot water over Ranma's head. To say that Lina was amazed when her body turned into a male was an understatement. She clearly felt the magic surging through her as her body transformed into something else. Gods, it hadn't been a nightmare, she thought. There seemed to be something more than a simple possession going on. She screamed at Ranma. Ranma winced, both at the boiling hot water, and at the sound that made his head ring. "Uhh...It's that curse" he said aloud. "The one that Guide spoke about!" "Just who are you speaking to, boy?" Genma asked his son. Ranma lifted his face to look at him, confusion clearly visible on his features. "I dunno, pop. There' s some crazy girl speaking inside my head..." Lina was getting angrier by the minute. She hoped that she would have had Zel teach her some shamanistic magic. Mind control spells would have been really handy right now. "What do you mean there's some girl speaking inside your head, boy?" Genma asked. It really looked like his son had gone crazy. What would Nodoka do once she found out? Huge drops of sweat appeared on the back of Genma's head. "Gahh!!" Ranma winced at yet another shout. "Couldn't you calm down you crazy chick! I haven't taken over anybody's body. It's gotta be that Jusenkyou curse thingie!" Wait. Jusenkyou. That's where she had been when she fell into that pool. There had been some really odd legends about the place... She inquired mentally. Ranma rubbed his temples. He had a pounding head-ache from all the shouting that had been going on. The Guide looked at Ranma from the sidelines, worried. As far as he knew, nothing like this had happened before. Sure, people had gone a little mad from being cursed, but nobody had claimed that there were voices speaking inside their head before. "Yeah, Jusenkyou. He says" Ranma pointed at the Guide "that I fell into this pool, and now I have this weird curse that turns me into a girl when I'm splashed with cold water." Could the boy be telling the truth, Lina wondered. Turning into whatever had drowned into the pool when splashed with cold water was the curse the pools of Jusenkyou caused. But that would mean that... that... that she... had... drowned there? She 'said' out aloud. It was like it had happened just a few minutes ago. Ranma blinked. "She... she said that she had drowned in that pool..." "Who?" "That girl..." The Jusenkyou Guide's eyes grew big. There were some legends about things like this happening. The soul of whatever had drowned in the pool had entered the body, sometimes even taking over. "Aiyah! Mr. Customer! It be the soul of the girl that drowned in the spring! There legends of animal soul entering the body of cursed, but I never hear that human soul do this." Slowly, Ranma began to understand the situation. "You mean... I have the soul of whoever drowned that spring inside me?" "That is what I said, yes?" A silence descended into the room as Ranma and Genma tried to absorb this information. For a while Ranma was in shock. Damn it, he thought, what the hell do I do now? Why did you hafta drag me here, pop? Now wait a minute, hold that thought... It had been Genma who had insisted on visiting all these training grounds. It had been, in fact, Genma who had got the bright idea of going to train in China. Ranma grabbed the collar of his father's gi. "So pop... Why did you drag me here?" He asked. Genma glared at his son and grabbed Ranma's collar in turn. "For martial arts of course, son! When I found this booklet" Genma took a booklet out of his gi "I just knew we had to visit these ancient places to further your training." Ranma swept the booklet away and it landed next to the guide who picked it up. "And of course there was no warnings about this place in it, huh?!" "The legendary training ground of Jusenkyou. For hundred of years the most foolish of martial artists come to test their skills at Jusenkyou. Jusenkyou is a training ground to not to go. There are many cursed springs there. It is very bad if you get cursed since if you are then splashed with cold water, you turn into what drowned in the pool you fall." Ranma and Genma stared at the guide who lifted his gaze from the booklet and shook his head. "I try to warn Mr. Customers, but Mr. Customers no listen to poor old Guide." Ranma pointed at the booklet. "Did they warn about the springs in the booklet?" He asked, disbelieving. "That what I said, yes?" "Pop..." Ranma turned to look at his father, furious. "If you knew those springs were cursed why the hell did you come here!!" He shouted "Now I got some crazy chick inside my head..." Lina had followed Ranma and Genma's fight, and had become quite bored. What kind of moron was this guy anyway, or his father for that matter? Then Ranma let out that 'crazy chick' remark. She 'shouted' as hard as she could. Lina's shout made Ranma's head ring, and his father, seeing that his son was distracted, used the opportunity to free himself and trip Ranma. He then stood over the fallen Ranma in what he thought was a dramatic pose, tears coming from his eyes. "Son, your false accusations hurt me to the core." he began "for I did not know about the dangers of Jusenkyou, since..." "Mr. Customer no can read Chinese, yes?" The Guide interrupted him. He had turned the booklet so it was clearly visible that it had been written in Chinese. "So..." Ranma said, while he was picking himself off the floor, his right eyebrow twitching ominously "you found some Chinese booklet you couldn't understand and dragged me here, without finding out anything about these places." Ranma surged to his feet and buried his fathers head to the floor, shouting "OAJI NO BAKAAAAA!!!!" He then walked out of the hut, leaving an unconscious Genma and a bewildered Guide behind. * * * As Ranma vented his excess rage Lina was laughing by herself. This guy seemed to be a bit of a jerk but he sure packed a nice punch. A little like Gourry, she mused. Well, she was stuck with him for now, so she'd better find out just who he was and try to get along. Who knows how long this would continue? Lina then shouted. "Huh?" Ranma had been thinking about father's stupidity and how short sighted he was when Lina interrupted him. "Whadda you mean?" He said and stopped walking. "Uhh... Umm... I'm Ranma Saotome." "Inverse?" Ranma said as he resumed his wanderings. "Nothing, nothing. It just sounded... odd. You aren't Chinese, are you?" "Yeah... I'm... ummm... Sorry." "Yeah?" "Huh? What? Fool?" Had the chick insulted him again? And just as he had began to thought that she probably wasn't such a terrible person. Then what Lina had said sunk in. She was right, he did look ridiculous, talking to himself. "Uhh... How can I do it?" Lina had done things like this before. It had to be done every time when somebody was experiencing telepathy for the first time. "Err..." Ranma asked mentally. This Ranma seemed to be a quick learner. Ranma had come to a ledge overlooking the valley and sat down on a boulder. Lina drew a mental breath. She hadn't thought about it earlier, but now she realised that she had lost all that she had knew. Her home, her friends, her whole world had been gone for centuries. Lina started weeping. She didn't make a sound and since she wasn't in control of the body, there were no tears. Still, Ranma was somehow able to sense her misery. "Wha-wha-what are you doin'? Did I say something?" He asked frantically, not wanting the girl to blow up again. "Oh, yeah. Heheheheh" Ranma laughed nervously. "Sorry, sorry" Ranma apologised. "It's just that... I'm sorry." He didn't know what to say. Ranma had never been good with people, especially girls, and how do you cheer up a person who had been dead for a thousand years? Lina finally said. Lina asked. Ranma winced a little at Lina's tone. Lina asked hotly. Lina suddenly realised what she was doing. Starting an argument when somebody didn't remember the name of her birth country. No wonder people said she had a short temper. Lina sighed. The young sorceress almost broke down again. It was just too much. Everything was gone, and there was no way of getting it back. This wasn't another trip through time, but she had actually died and been trapped into a curse spring for a thousand years. "I... Uhh... Errr..." Ranma said out aloud. He didn't have a clue what to do. The girl, Lina, was miserable again, without any reason he could fathom. What should he do? What _could_ he do? Ranma asked mentally. Ranma realised that he was babbling. Lina slowly gathered herself. If she hadn't been so depressed, she actually might have laughed at Ranma's feeble attempt to cheer her up. Well, she probably would have buried her head to her hands and despaired for him. Still, Ranma's talk made her feel a little better. Lina took the mental equivalent of a deep breath. Ranma asked. Lina said. Ranma asked, incredulous. Ranma turned beet red. Lina said, a little embarrassed. "Right." Ranma snorted. Somehow Lina got the feeling he didn't believe her. Ranma asked. Lina was a little worried about Ranma knowing nothing of Mazoku. It might mean that there were no Mazoku anymore, or that they were hiding. The first option wasn't any good, since Lina didn't know if she could use the Dragon Slave if Shabranigdo was dead, and the second was no better, because then the Mazoku might be waiting for their chance to strike. Or maybe they were simply know by some other name now; she could investigate that further some other time. Ranma asked, interrupting Lina once again. Chemists? Al-chemists? Lina thought. I wonder who he's talking about. Still, she had a story to tell. "Ten copies!!??" Ranma shouted out aloud, not believing what he heard. Lina would have gritted her teeth, if she could have. Lina sighed. Lina stopped her narration for a while. The battle against Shabranigdo had been the most difficult fight she had ever had. It was even worse than the one against Joylock and his minions. Sighing, Lina continued her story. Ranma asked. Lina began, this time not too annoyed by the interruption. Lina stopped for a moment. It wasn't easy to talk about one's own death. Ranma said and stretched a little. He had been sitting there for some time now. Pop was probably somewhere out there looking for him. Not that it mattered. Ranma's story was interrupted by a cry of rage that came behind him. "Ranma Saotome! I have found you at last! Prepare to die!!" Ranma turned around to see a muscular boy of his age, wearing a yellow-and-black bandanna, black sleeveless shirt, and rugged pants, and wielding a red umbrella, staring down at him with murder in his eyes. Ranma's confusion was mirrored by Lina as the simultaneously said "Who are you?" end of chapter 1 ----------- The Martian. Jussi.Nikander@alien.nixu.fi ----------- "Curses! Foiled again!" -Skuld