Fri, 1 May 1998



HALF A SORCERESS



Chapter 4:Dash! The Hair-rising Race Across China!



Written by: Jussi Nikander



Ranma 1/2 is a copyright by Rumiko Takahashi and

Shogakukan inc.

Slayers is copyright by Hajime Kanzaka, Rui Araizumi, TV

Tokyo, SOFTX and Egg Films

Not used under authorisation, but since I don't get any

money from this, don't sue me, okay?



Previous chapters can be found at



http://www.users.fl.net.au/~bcadwgan/Anime.htm



Many thanks to my prereaders, Barry Cadwgan and Joshua

Prismon.

And a special thanks to Eternal Lost Lurker for his help. ^_^



Also many thanks to all those wonderful people on the FFML

who answered my questions. You know who you are.



-------------------------------------------------------------------------------



The Jusenkyou Guide sat by the campfire, worried. Even

after he had explained the situation, Mr and Miss Customer,

as well as Mr Customer who was currently inside Miss

Customer, hadn't showed any concern about what had

happened in the Amazon Village.



The Guide knew well that both his customers were

overconfident, but until now he hadn't realised just how

overconfident they were. It was impossible to escape an

Amazon. She would follow you to the ends of Earth to keep

her honour. Unfortunately for the Guide, as well as elder Mr

Customer, enraged Amazons often practised 'guilt by

association', so all three - or four, depending on your point of

view - of them were in danger, not only Miss Customer. Even

if the Amazon girl needed to kill only Miss Customer, there

was no guarantee that others would survive the

confrontation.



The Guide filled his pipe and lit it. Thank heavens his

contract with Mr Customer would end in the next village.



                        * * *



Lina sat on her sleeping bag, staring out of the tent's open

door flap. Even if she hadn't let it show, the Guide's story had

disturbed her. A tribal law that required you to kill somebody

just because you were defeated? Ridiculous.



And to make things worse, she wasn't the only one affected.

If it had been just her, Lina was sure she had nothing to fear

from the Amazon girl, Shampoo. But, as things were, she

wasn't alone in her body. How would Ranma fare?



<Hey, Ranma,> Lina said.



<Yeah, what?>



<Have you thought of what the Guide told us?> Lina tucked

her knees in and rested her chin on them.



Ranma's mental voice sounded arrogant. <Yeah. It's no big

deal, really. If that girl shows up, I can handle her all right.>



<You sure?> Lina asked. <'Cause if you can't I'm going to die

too, and that's an experience I don't want to repeat.>



<No prob. I can beat her.>



<Good. Anyway, I'm going go to sleep. Good night,

Ranma.>



<'Night.>



                        * * *



Lina woke up early, next morning. For a while she lay there,

but it seemed that Ranma was still sleeping. Thus, she could

have the body for a while longer. Crawling out of her sleeping

bag and looking out, the redhead was greeted by a beautiful

morning. The sun was bathing the Saotomes' camp in a

warm glow, and all seemed peaceful. They had made their

camp next to a small river, to which Lina now headed.



Lina scooped up a few handfuls of water to ease her thirst

and then splashed some to her face. Wiping away the last

remnants of sleep, she lay back to enjoy the morning. Ranma

would wake soon, and the she would have to give up the

body. Might as well enjoy the morning sun while she still

could. "Mmm.... So warm..." Lina murmured.



A few minutes later a sleepy Genma crawled out of his tent.

Lina sat up and eyed the elder Saotome while he made his

way to the riverside. Genma, too, drank a little before

splashing some water to his face. Unfortunately, the water

was enough to activate his curse, and Genma suddenly

found himself turned into a panda.



Lina snickered. "Looks like you forgot your curse, pops."



The panda shot an angry glance at Lina's way and pulled out

a sign reading: "show respect to your elders, boy!"



Lina snickered louder. The panda growled something and

trudged back to the campfire to heat some water.



Vaguely, Ranma heard something intruding to his sleep. It

sounded like a girl's laughter. Or was it his own? _Her_ own?

Suddenly, Ranma snapped awake. The first thing he saw

was his father in panda form, trying to light a fire. Ranma

realised that Lina was still in control of the body. Wasn't it

supposed to be his day today?



<Hey, Lina!> Ranma shouted.



Lina's laughter quickly subsided. <Oh, morning, Ranma.>



<Morning. Wasn't this supposed to be a day when I'm in

control of the body?>



<Yep, but I woke up before you did and didn't want to just lay

down.> Lina assumed a lotus position on the riverbank.

<Now, do you remember what you have to do?>



<Yeah. I have to concentrate on controlling the body, right?>



<Right.> Lina closed her eyes and tried to shut down all

outside stimuli. Half a minute later, there was a quick feeling

of vertigo, and she found herself a passenger once more.



Ranma flexed his hands to assure himself that the body was

once again his. <Lina, you there?>



<Yup. You okay?>



Ranma stood up, everything seemed to be still working. He

turned back towards the camp just as Genma poured the

warm water over himself, once again assuming his human

form. Unfortunately for Ranma, his father used all the water.



"Hey pop! You could have left some for me!"



Adjusting his glasses, Genma turned to face the young girl.

"Son? Is that you?"



"Yeah, it's me," Ranma answered. "It's my day, remember?"



Genma nodded once. "Good." It was as good a time for

another training session as any, the elder Saotome thought.

He took a few deep breaths to prepare himself mentally.

None of them were visible enough to alert his son of course,

but they served to prepare him enough. It was time to see if

Ranma had kept up in his training regime, despite this

unfortunate... accident. Genma jumped high into the air and

came down at Ranma, shouting "Defend yourself!"



Almost taken by surprise, Ranma barely dodged the attack.

"Hey! What's the big deal?"



Taking a ready position, Genma prepared for his next

charge. "You should be always on your guard, son.

Especially now when you've acquired a new enemy."



<Gee, Ranma,> Lina said. <Your father sure initiates training

sessions at odd times.>



<Yeah. Sometimes I think he does it just to spite me.>



Taking a step forward, Genma jumped up in the air, intent on

hitting his son from above. Having anticipated this, Ranma

jumped too and met him in the air where the two exchanged a

blur of punches and kicks. Genma had been easily able to

block everything Ranma threw at him. Ranma, on the other

hand, had taken several hits.



"What is it with you today, son!" Genma bellowed. "You're

fighting like a ten-year-old!"



"I'll show you 'ten-year-old', pop," Ranma muttered, rubbing

his aching side. How was the old man able to get that many

hits in?



The sparring session didn't take much longer. In less than a

minute, Genma sent his son flying to the river. "You're way

too sloppy today, son!" he bellowed. "I expect much a better

performance in the future!"



Spluttering, Ranma trudged out of the water. <How could the

old man wipe the floor with me? It ain't like he's that much

better than I am!>



Lina had followed the sparring session quietly, not wanting to

disturb Ranma. She had, however, realised what Ranma's

problem was early to the fight.



<Ranma?>



<Yeah!?> The young martial artist answered, preparing to

spring at his father.



<I think I know what's wrong with you.>



That stopped Ranma. <Oh. What?>



<You're in my body.>



Ranma blinked a few times. <What's that gotta do with

anything.>



<I'm much smaller than you. My reach is shorter.>



Ranma froze for a second. It had been so obvious that he

hadn't even considered it. Lina's body was way different from

his own. It was smaller, the mass was distributed differently,

and he probably was weaker than in his male body. Curious,

Ranma began a kata. What better way is there to see just

how different Lina's body is, he though.



                        * * *



Ranma stopped doing katas in about half a hour. During that

time Genma had made breakfast, and even heated some

water for his son. Gratefully, Ranma poured the water over

himself, turning back to his own form.



<You know, Lina, your body wasn't that different from mine.>



<Oh, how so?>



<Well, you have a shorter reach and the mass is distributed

a little differently, but the changes aren't that big. Or maybe

it's just me adjusting to the body or something.>



<Hmm... I'm not sure about that adjusting to a body part

myself. But then again, I haven't switched bodies before so I

have no personal experience..>



<Switched bodies?> Ranma asked, curious.



<Yes. There's a shamanistic spell called Kiyor Switch, which

swaps the caster's mind with the mind of the subject. It's not

a very hard spell, I've heard, but only known by a few.>



<Oh.> For a while Ranma sat there, waiting for his food and

thinking back, analysing just where and how Lina's body had

reacted differently from his own.



<By the way Lina, it's a good thing you're so flat-chested,>

Ranma remarked after a while.



<Oh?> Lina said in dangerous voice. To think that somebody

thought her greatest embarrassment was a good thing...



Oblivious as always to the not-so-subtle change in Lina's

voice, Ranma continued <Yeah. Since your breasts are so

small, the center of your body's mass ain't that far from

mine...>



                        * * *



The Guide had been so worried about the Amazon situation

that hadn't fallen asleep until near four o'clock, so he didn't

wake up until he heard Ranma's scream. Fearing the worst,

the Chinese man scrambled out of his tent. He wasn't,

however, greeted with a sight of Mr Customer being killed by

the Amazon. Instead, the young boy was doubled over next

to the campfire, clutching his head. The Guide blinked,

confused. Why was Mr Customer acting like that?



                        * * *



< ...and don't you ever again make fun of it you tactless

JERK!!!!> Had she been able to, Lina would have taken

Ranma into a headlock and pounded him for good. But, as

things were, she couldn't and had to settle for screaming at

him. Fortunately mental screaming didn't give her a sore

throat.



Rubbing his temples, Ranma sat up. What was it with Lina,

anyway? It wasn't like he could have know it was a sore spot

for her! Sheesh! Women...



"You all right, son?" Genma asked.



Ranma glanced at his father. "Yeah. Lina's just a little peeved

since she's so flatOW!" Ranma winced in pain. Lina knew

how to shout, that was for sure. Just his luck to be stuck with

a short-temper chick like her.



Genma turned to tend the food. It wasn't like he didn't want to

help his son, but this was way out of his league. So, he

decided to use a very old method of dealing with this kind of

situation: ignore it and maybe it'll go away.



Ranma, meanwhile, was still in considerable pain. It was

good that Lina couldn't do anything physical to him. He

wouldn't want to be in the receiving end of that Dillwhatever-

thingie she had used on his father. Still, Ranma wasn't in a

mood to fight, anymore. Maybe it had something to do with

that headache.



"Food's ready," Genma announced and all thoughts of

fighting disappeared from Ranma's head. He was starved

and Pop had already started gobbling down the food.



                        * * *



The day might have started sunny, bit that didn't last. After

they had been moving for about an hour, the sky was filled

with dark clouds. Minutes later it started raining, much to

Ranma and Genma's annoyance.



Damn the weather, Ranma though while trying to adjust his

backpack for his now-smaller frame and keep on walking at

the same time. After some struggling, the pack fit comfortably

against his back. It was just his luck to be caught in rain.

And, since the Guide insisted they keep on moving, saying

that there was a village just a short walk ahead, they weren't

stopping to heat some water. So Ranma was stuck as a girl,

and in his opinion that sucked.



<I don't think it's so bad,> Lina said. She and Ranma had

been making small talk for most of the journey. The worst

thing, in Lina's opinion, in being stuck in the back of Ranma's

head, was the boredom. Thus, she had quickly forgiven

Ranma and kept on pestering him about information of the

modern world. Somehow, the discussion had moved on to

Jusenkyou and their shared curse.



<Easy for you to say. Hot water's much easier to avoid than

cold.>



<True.> Had she been able to, Lina would have nodded.

<But isn't it better to turn into a girl than, for example, to a

panda or a piglet? At least you can still talk and people still

consider you a person.>



<Umm. Yeah, I guess you're right.>



<Yup! So cheer up, okay? Life isn't bad, we're on the road,

the food's good and the day isn't too hot.>



<Well, you ain't the one who's currently drenched...>

Suddenly Ranma had a flash of genius. At least for him.

<Say, Lina, would you be able to cast that umbrella spell-

thingie you used yesterday?>



<Why's that?>



<Well, while I've already turned into a girl, it could at least

keep me from being totally drenched.>



<Hmm... I can try.> Lina closed her eyes, or at least ignored

what she saw through Ranma's eyes, and concentrated on

the spell. The energy came to her, was easily bent to her will

and released. Unfortunately, the spell immediately bounced

back at her, accomplishing absolutely nothing. Lina did the

mental equivalent of a blink. She tried again, but with the

same result. Curious, the young sorceress tried a few other

minor spells, but all bounced back at her. For a few minutes

Lina pondered how something seemed to be blocking all her

spells.



Suddenly, it all came clear to her.



<Sorry, Ranma, I can't.>



<Why?> There was a slight accusation in Ranma's voice.



<Since I'm not in control of the body. It seems that I can't use

any spells while I'm just hitching a ride. It's like I'm in some

kind of circle of binding that prevents me from doing

anything.>



<Huh?>



Lina sighed. This reminds me of Gourry, she thought. <In

essence, while you're in control of the body,  it works as a

pentagram that binds me inside it. I can observe what's

happening outside, but unable to affect it. Most likely same

holds true for you while I'm in control. It is probably a side-

effect of the curse. Understood?>



Ranma shook his head. <Uhh, no. Couldn't you...>



<I can't do a thing while not controlling the body you moron!>

Lina cut in.



<Hey! There's no need to shout! I ain't any mage so I don't

know that mystical stuff!>



<Every five-year-old knows that a demon can be kept inside

a properly drawn pentagram! It shouldn't be that hard to

make the...awhell!> Lina suddenly remembered that she

wasn't in her time anymore. There weren't monsters roaming

around the countryside anymore. The Mazoku were gone.

There was very little knowledge of magic left. No wonder

Ranma didn't know this stuff.



<Look, Ranma. I can't help you in this, okay?> She said,

forcing her voice to be calm. <As long as you're in control,

I'm just a voice in the back of your head.>



<So... Umm... If I give you control for a moment, could you

cast the spell?>



<Sure, but I'd probably have to stay in control to maintain it.>



<Oh. So you can't.>



<Nope.>



<Damn.>



                        * * *



A few hours later the three reached a small village. "This is

village of Cunzhuang, Mr Customer, Miss Customer..."



"I ain't no girl!" Ranma retorted, angry.



"Aiyah! I sorry, Mr Customer. Much apologising. Now, Mr

Customer..." The Guide turned to Genma and gave him a

piece of paper. A rather long piece of paper. "Here's my bill.

Pay in cash, please."



"You're leaving?" Ranma asked.



"I was hired to guide you this far. From here you can easily

find your way to the city of Xining."



Ranma glanced at his father, who produced a sign reading

"He's right."



"Good, now please pay."



Genma looked at the total sum and boggled. Sweating hard,

he read the bill through a few times, before looking at the

impassive Guide. "It's... it's an OUTRAGEOUS SUM!!!"

read the sign he held up.



The Guide shook his head a little. "It is what we agreed, Mr

Customer. You should not be surprised."



Genma quickly switched the sign for a bigger one. "But...

But... But it is way too big! I would be reduced to penury!!"



"That is unfortunate, Mr Customer, but it is business."



Genma flipped the sign over. "I would have to sell my only

child to slavery to survive! I would starve!" flip. "How can you

be so cruel!" The last sign was accompanied by one of the

most pitiful, fake puppy dog eye expressions in the recorded

history. It was indeed lucky for Genma that Ranma was

standing behind him, and thus didn't see what read in the

signs.



The Guide sighed. "Mr Customer. I know you are not so poor.

I know you have money to pay the bill. Please, I'd like to be

on my way home soon."



Genma sweated a little, glanced at the Guide, at the village

ahead, and the road behind him, but finally reached for his

wallet after Ranma had whapped him. He paid the Guide,

who thanked them and departed.



"Come on, Pop," Ranma said, shouldering his pack. "I don't

know about you, but I'd like to eat something besides your

cooking for a change."



<Is your father always like this?> Lina asked. <I mean a

cheating swindler?>



<Pretty much, I'm afraid,> Ranma sighed.



                        * * *



When Shampoo had left Jokentsuzoku, she had been hours

behind her quarry, but the tracks she now saw were recent.

The outsider girl had been here only a few minutes ago. She

wouldn't escape this time. Shampoo had lost the girl's trail

when she had reached her camping place. It seemed like

instead of two people and a panda, three people had left the

camp. That had been merely a diversion, since she had

found the girl and panda's track soon afterwards. Now, she

was about to reach the outsider. Shampoo ran after the girl.



She reached the village of Cunzhuang just in time to see the

girl and the panda enter a local restaurant. It seemed that the

Guide, who had been with them, had left. Wise man,

Shampoo noted as she took out her bonbori.



Shampoo smirked as she saw how fast the street cleared

at her appearance. The people seemed to know that when

there was an angry Amazon in town, it was time to make

yourself scarce.



Walking to the restaurant the girl had entered, Shampoo

peered in through a window. The girl and her panda had

already sat down to eat. It was clear they weren't expecting

her. Good, it was time to kill.



Then, the Chinese girl snuck around the corner, preparing to

ambush the outsider through the flimsy wall.  Letting out a

loud kiai, she created another entrance in her own, unique

way.



                        * * *



Ranma was halfway through his portion when the wall next to

him exploded and the Amazon girl charged in, murder in her

eyes. He was barely able to dodge the Chinese girl's first

swings and jump back.



"What the hell!?"



The girl stopped for a moment, giving Ranma a murderous

glare. "You," she said in very shaky Japanese. "KILL!!" The

girl sprang forward, swinging both of her maces. He was

barely able to get out of the  way of the metal death. The

girl tirelessly continued her assault, giving Ranma no time to

counterattack. Finally, he was forced to jump to the center of

the restaurant, trying to get some space in which to

maneuver. Since the staff and all other patrons had fled upon

the sight of Shampoo, there was plenty of room.



Screaming "Kill!!" again, Shampoo attacked. Feinting with

her maces, she was able to get a kick through. The outsider

was slammed against a wall and slumped down. It was time

to end this.



Ranma shook his head. That girl definitely packed a punch.

She was probably stronger than he was in his own form.



<Ranma!!! Don't just lay there!!!!> Lina screamed at him.



<Huh? What!?>



"KILL!!!"



Ranma was barely able to roll to the side, narrowly avoiding

the blow that shattered the wall he had been slammed to.

Still trying to get his bearings, the ponytailed martial artist fell

into a defensive stance.



Shampoo smiled grimly. This would end soon. She charged

with her maces held high. The outsider dodged down, and

Shampoo was able to sweep her legs.



Ranma fell back, but managed to use his hands to spring

back to standing positing. The Amazon followed the leg

sweep with several swings of her maces, but Ranma was

able to dodge back, and every swing missed.



<Why aren't you hitting back!!??> Lina screamed in fright.

The Amazon girl had found them, was trying to kill them, and

there was absolutely nothing Lina could do. If she tried to

interfere, she was most likely to get them both killed. For the

first time since the resurrection of Shabranigdo Lina Inverse

was truly terrified.



<I ain't got a chance! She comes on like a train!> In truth,

Ranma couldn't make himself to attack a girl, even in the girl

was currently trying to kill him. He was again forced to dance

back, as the Chinese girl attacked with a vicious combination

of bonbori swings and kicks.



Jumping back more, Ranma landed next to the hole where

Shampoo had charged in. Screaming, the Amazon chased

after him, preventing him from taking the fight outside.

Ranma ducked around his covering father and sprang again

for the middle of the restaurant.



Genma had tried to make himself inconspicuous the moment

Shampoo burst in. It was best to leave this to Ranma, after

all, it was him, or at least Lina, who the girl was after. But, as

the two combatants went past him, Genma decided to

interfere. A hard whack from one of his signs dazed the

Chinese girl long enough for Genma to throw Ranma's pack

to him and run out of the restaurant.



Ranma blinked at his pack once, then decided to use the

Saotome Secret Technique and follow his father. That

Amazon chick was scarier than he had thought.



It took Shampoo a few seconds to regain her senses.

Looking around, she saw that her quarry had escaped. After

smashing a third wall for good measure, Shampoo ran after

the duo.



                        * * *



<What the hell were you doing back there!? 'Don't worry. I

can handle her all right.' You almost got us killed you

moron!!>



<Shut up, Lina!> Ranma said, glancing around. They were

hiding on a roof, near the restaurant, hoping that the Amazon

wouldn't check the roofs.



<Shut up!? Why should I after what you did!? You didn't even

fight back!>



<Stick it already! I never thought she would try to kill me!>



<What the hell are you talking about!?> Lina screamed.

<That's just what the Guide said she would be doing!! Did

you expect a ramen delivery or what!??>



<I didn't really think they would follow such a moronic law,

you flatchested tomboy!!>



<Tomboy!? Just what are you saying!?>



<That you're a ill-tempered, flatchested tomboy!> At just that

moment, the Amazon girl jumped up to the roof, this time

wielding a huge sword.



"SHIT!" Ranma grabbed his backpack and ran. Shampoo

followed, screaming death threats in Chinese.



                        * * *



Several hours later, Ranma and Genma stopped near a small

stream. It seemed like they had finally got rid of the Amazon.

Of course, they had thought the same thing the last five times

they had stopped.



<Great work back there Ranma! I'm amazed we're still alive!

Now, finally give me control so I can trash that girl!>



<No! It's my day! And I know how to get that chick off our

tail.>



<Oh,> Lina said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. After being

chased by a homicidal Amazon for several hours, unable to

do anything, she was in an extremely bad mood. <Just how

you're going to accomplish that?>



<I'm gonna heat water and turn back into a guy. She's

chasing you, so I should be safe.>



<Heat water? Where are you going to heat it?>



"Hey, pop!" Ranma yelled to his father. "Try and gather some

wood. I'm gonna make a fire!"



<That's how,> he added mentally to Lina.



<Fire!?> Lina screamed. <You're nuts! She's gonna see the

smoke miles away!>



<Yeah, but she ain't gonna attack me if I'm male!>



<You won't have time to heat water! She's bound to be

somewhere around here! She'll get here before the water's

even lukewarm!>



Genma took several blank signs out of... somewhere, and

quickly built them into a campfire.  Then he straightened up

and took out one more sign. It read: "Would you please start

the fire, son? It's kind hard to do with paws."



Trying hard to ignore Lina's constant ranting, Ranma settled

down to light the fire.



                        * * *



Shampoo soon noticed a near-by thick wisp of smoke. She

was sure the redhead was somewhere around here. It was

worth investigating.



                        * * *



<She's going to come here any second now!>  Lina's ranting

had slowed down a little. Even she couldn't go on for long

without losing some of her fire.



<Shut up.>



<And if she kills us, it's going to be your fault!>



<Shut up. It's almost warm enough.>



<And I swear to you that if there's an afterlife, I'm going to

kick your ass from here to the realm of chaos and back!>



This time Ranma didn't answer, but lifted the kettle off the

fire, intent on pouring it over himself. Just then an arrow

struck the kettle with a dull metallic clang, knocking it out of

his hands. The contents poured to the ground.



                        * * *



Perched in a near-by tree, Shampoo cursed and started

sending arrows at the outsider as fast as she could.



                        * * *



For a moment, Ranma stared at the kettle, not believing what

he saw. Then a rain of arrows started coming his way, and

he scrambled towards some kind of cover.



<Shit!!! She's here!> Lina screamed. <Quick! Give me

control and I'll waste her!>



<I don't have time right now!> Ranma retorted as he

grabbed his pack. A quick glance around showed that

Genma was already running as fast as he could away from

the source of the arrows. Ranma followed him, with Shampoo

hot on his heels.



                        * * *



That evening, at dusk, a diminutive old woman entered

Cunzhuang. Even if her physical stature was by no means

impressive, the villagers knew this woman and knew well the

power she commanded. Elder Cologne of Joketsuzoku was

seldom a wanted guest, but she was always given the most

courteous of greetings.



He Chia-liang, leader of the village of Cunzhuang came

running as he heard of the Amazon elder's arrival. "Honoured

Cologne," He bowed low. "What brings you to our village."



Cologne nodded in return. "Greetings, He Chia-liang. I am

looking for a warrior maiden of my village. Has an Amazon

visited this place recently?" the old Amazon asked, pointedly

looking at a broken wall of the more popular of the village's

two restaurants.



He Chia-liang, following Cologne's gaze, let out an

embarrassed chuckle. "Indeed, a maiden of Jokentsuzoku

did pass through here recently. In fact, it was today,

sometime after noon. She fought a western girl in the

restaurant and then, when the girl was able to escape, the

Amazon maiden left too, in pursuit."



Cologne nodded. "Thank you, He Chia-liang. Now, may I

request a place of lodging for the night? I doubt that it would

do me any good to continue my journey today."



He Chia-liang bowed once more. "Of course, honoured elder.

If you'll follow me."



Cologne nodded and the two started walking towards the

village's guest house.



"If I may ask, honoured elder," the village leader said. "Why

are you following this maiden? Is there something special

about this particular Kiss of Death?"



Cologne glanced at He Chia-liang sideways. "It is an internal

Amazon matter and no concern of yours."



"I see."



                        * * *



With a sigh, Ranma collapsed on his sleeping bag. The

Amazon and had chased after him and Pop for most of the

day. That chick was worse than anything he'd ever met.

Fortunately it seemed that they had been able to lose her

when the night settled. It made Ranma a little grumpy that he

had to go to sleep as a girl. There hadn't been time to heat

water during the day, and a fire would be seen miles away

when it was dark. So, the Saotomes had eaten a cold meal

and had went to sleep in their cursed forms.



Sleepily, Ranma climbed into his bag. The Amazon hadn't

shown up yet, so she probably hadn't found their camping

place. He was too tired to care, anyway.



<G'night Lina,> Ranma murmured. He was asleep before

Lina could answer.



Grumbling to herself, Lina took over the body. Her opinion on

Ranma had gone down several notches during the day. The

boy had insisted that he could handle Shampoo, despite the

fact that the Chinese girl had been able to ambush them,

time after time. If that idiot hadn't insisted on staying in

control, the problem would have been dealt with already.

Lina was sure that with her magic she could have either

shaken the Amazon off their trail or killed her.



Whatever would happen, she was going to be in control

tomorrow. If Shampoo was foolish enough to show her face,

she'd get burned. Literally. But that was tomorrow. Now it

was best to get some sleep.



                        * * *



Lina woke up with a gasp. She had had a horrible nightmare

about being gagged and tied into a chair, while something

prowled in the darkness, hunting for her. It was easy to guess

where that particular bad dream had come from.



Lina crawled to the tent's door flap and peered outside. It

was still dark. Yawning, she went back to sleep.



                        * * *



Next morning, Lina and Ranma were woken up quite rudely.

This particular wake-up call involved a loud growl and a

splash of cold water.



Since they woke up at the same moment,  both tried

instinctively take control of the body and ended up hitting

their metaphysical heads together. This caused quite a

headache and left nobody in control.



<Hey! What's the big deal!> Ranma shouted.



<You asking me? It was my turn to be in control!> Lina

retorted.



<Yeah, I know! But what the hell just happened!>



<I don't know! Now, would you please let me take control so

we might find out?> Lina said in a tight voice.



<Yeah, sure,> Ranma grumbled, relaxing and drawing back

from Lina's way.



Reaching out, Lina felt the body. This time it was different,

maybe because there was nobody in control. She 'heard' a

snap and suddenly her perceptions shifted. She was in

control. Lina sat up to see Genma standing there, holding up

a sign saying: "Was about time, son."



"You know, pops," Lina said, creating a ball of energy in her

hand. "You have a really lousy memory."



Genma immediately started sweating. Frantically he flipped

the sign over and knelt down, bowing. "I'm sorry Lina-san.

Please don't kill me," said the other side of the sign.



Lina smiled cheerily and let the energy dissipate. "Okay,

what's the big deal?" <Your father's a total wimp,> she

remarked to Ranma.



Inwardly, Ranma grimaced. He had always known his father

wasn't the most courageous of persons, but it still bothered

him how easily Lina had scared him into what seemed to be

total submission. Sure, Lina seemed to be powerful, but she

wasn't _that_ scary!



Genma took out another sign. "We need to get moving." He

flipped it over. "The Amazon might be near."



Lina crawled out of her wet sleeping bag. "Always eager to

run away, eh?" She asked.



Genma nodded his head, unthinking.



"Thought so," Lina said and started packing her things.



                        * * *



"Where to now?" Lina asked Genma.



Genma pointed to the general direction of Southeast and

took out a sign. "Xining should be a three days' journey to

that direction."



Lina nodded. "And what makes you think we can survive that

far?" she asked.



Genma sweated more.



"Anyway," Lina said "I know something that might help us. If

I'm strong enough to do it. Hold my hand."



For a few seconds Genma looked at the offered hand like it

was a dead fish. Then he remembered what Lina had done to

him the day before yesterday, and grasped it with his paw.

It was better to do what she said, he thought.



Lina closed her eyes, started murmuring a spell under her

breath. Around her winds started forming from nothing. Soon,

with a shout of  "RAYWING!" the young sorceress shot up to

the air. Genma quickly grasped Lina's hand with his other

paw too.



For a while Lina flew on towards Xining. Then she frowned.

She had felt completely OK when she had cast the spell, but

her reserves were draining fast. It was like the magic took

more energy to maintain than it had before.



Deciding that she had flown far enough, Lina landed on a

crossroads. One road was the dirt road they had been

following from Cunzhuang, but the other was covered in

some kind of black substance.



Kneeling down, Lina poked at the black road. It was hard as

rock.



<Hey, Ranma,> She asked. <What is this stuff?>



Ranma did the mental equivalent of a blink before

he realised that Lina probably hadn't seen anything like a this

before.. <That's asphalt. They cover roads with it so they're

easier to travel, or something.>



<Oh. What's it made of?>



<I, uh...> Ranma faltered. <I dunno.>



<Right.> Lina turned to look at Genma. "You can release my

hand now, we're no longer in the air."



Hesitantly Genma let go and looked around, as if to make

sure he really was on the ground again. Then, he studied the

sign standing on the roadside for a while, looked around

again, looked at the sign, peered at both roads and finally

pointed at the dirt road and took out a sign. "This way."



Lina shrugged. Any direction was as good as any for her.

"Okay, lets go then." The two continued to follow the dirt

road.



                        * * *



Looking around the outsider's camping place, Shampoo

frowned. It was clear that they had spent the night here, but

there were no tracks leading away from the place. It was like

the outsider girl had disappeared into thin air...



Shampoo started circling the abandoned camp in a widening

circle. Hopefully they hadn't bothered to cover their tracks for

long.



                        * * *



It was almost dusk when Shampoo reached the crossroads.

For hours she had tried to find the outsider's tracks,

unsuccessfully. Then, she had sat down , convinced that the

outsider had used this diversion to change direction, and

tried to figure out where she was heading now. She had

raced around the countryside, checking all the directions the

outsider could have gone. Finally, Shampoo had ran to this

intersection on the off- chance that her prey had continued to

the same direction than before.  Indeed, it seemed that the

outsider was indeed heading to Xining.



Cursing how she had been caught up in her own cleverness,

Shampoo raced onwards.



                        * * *



Lina finished polishing off the remains of the third helping of

the dinner and sighed. They had built camp in the middle of

nowhere, next to a small spring. They hadn't come across

any villages, large streams, rivers or other places where one

could get food, so Lina was feeling a little grumpy.



Well, there wasn't much she could do to correct their meal

situation now, nor was there much she could do to ease her

frustrations. Whining to Genma was no fun since he just

cringedand started begging for mercy. Complaining to

Ranma was equally unproductive, since it always escalated

into an argument, and Ranma being a voice inside her head

(or vice versa), she couldn't physically pound him which

made it much less satisfying.



Lina picked up a stick and started doodling on the ground,

bored. A fine mess she had found herself in this time. She

was in the future, in a world a thousand years away from her

own time. A world filled with Amazon tribes with totally

ridiculous customs, strange martial arts, and all that strange

'technology' she had witnessed and heard of.



A world where the Mazoku were no more,  where her magic

was weak, and where she had only one person she could call

a friend: Ranma. And Ranma was a loudmouthed,

overconfident jellyfish brain who had a total idiot for a father

and because of whom she had to keep half of her time doing

nothing. It was also because of Ranma that she was alive at

all.



A fine mess indeed.



                        * * *



Ranma wrung water out of his ponytail and cursed. Again,

the day had started out just fine, and he had been able to

change back to his proper form. But, somewhere in the

afternoon, dark clouds had started to gather over them. Soon

after that the two travellers had been making their way in the

middle of a fierce rainstorm.



The storm hadn't lasted that long - only ten minutes or so -

but it had been quite enough to totally drench Ranma.

<Damn I hate this weather,> the he said to Lina. <You sure

you can't do anything to help me?>



<You mean to keep the water away?>



<Yeah.>



<Well...> Actually there were several things Lina could have

done to help Ranma. Unfortunately all of them required her to

either being in a separate body or in charge of this one, so

she hadn't bothered mentioning them. There was one thing

she might ask, even if she was sure Ranma didn't have what

she needed. <I don't supposed we have any diamonds or

jewellery lying around?>



Ranma blinked. <Of course not. Pop would have sold them

long ago if we ever had any. Why do you ask?>



<Because if you had had a preferably largeish diamond or

some other precious stone I could have tried to enchant it.>



<Enchant?>



<Basically, if several conditions, such as a correct alignment

of the gem and a magical circle drawn in the right way are

set, I can infuse a diamond, or in some cases some other

kind of precious stone, with magic and cast a spell, usually a

protection spell or a travelling spell, to the said stone. Now, if

done right, the spell will attach itself to the structure of the

stone permanently, so that it will be always on, or, in case of

such spells as Raywing, can be activated without needing to

draw on your own mana reserves. Basically, when done right,

you get a magical amulet. How powerful the amulet is and

what it can do depend, of course, on the skill and power of

the casted and on what spell was cast on the stone. The

most common magical amulets are different kinds of amulets

of protection, such as protection from fire or cold. There are

also amulets that protect from different kind of creatures,

such as vampires or...>



<Whoa, whoa, whoa! What the hell are you trying to say,

Lina?>



There was a silence for a second. <You didn't understand a

thing, did you?>



<Uhh... No. What were you trying to say?>



<Knew it,> Lina muttered. <If you had had an diamond, I

could have enchanted it to keep the rain away.>



<Oh. Couldn't you use some normal rock to do that?>



With an effort, Lina kept herself from launching into a long

and angry rant. It wouldn't be worth the effort since Ranma

wouldn't understand anything.



<No,> the young sorceress said in a tight voice.



                        * * *



Tired, Ranma sat down on his bed. After that initial shower, it

had rained for most of the day, making turning back to a boy

a futile effort. And now, when Ranma was finally in a dry

place there was not much he could do to change. The

facilities in this little inn were minimal, and he didn't have

the energy to go to the kitchen and try to ask for hot water.



Ranma had picked up a little Chinese on this trip, but his

vocabulary was very limited, and he wasn't sure of the

meanings of several words, so he'd probably end up getting

something completely different.



                        * * *



Lina muttered a few choice oaths under her breath. She

hated being broke. And she hated the modern money system

even more. Earlier that morning, before had Ranma

awakened up, Lina had tried to get something to eat with

Genma's paper money she had 'borrowed', only to find out

that it was of wrong type. She had tried to make Ranma

explain it to her, but the boy didn't seem to understand the

stuff very well himself, and to Lina it sounded ridiculous.

What was the point of having different money in different

countries anyway? Back in the old days it had been much

simpler. Gold was a common currency, fairly valuable,

accepted everywhere and by everyone, and easy enough to

get from one bandit gang or another. Now, you had to

change your money from one type of paper to another if you

went from one country to another. Ridiculous.



Later, when she had gone back and tried to bully Genma into

buying her a decent meal, she had found out that they were

almost out of the local money, yuan, and didn't have much

money left overall. So she had to settle for a light breakfast

before moving on.



<It's too hot and I'm hungry and tired of travelling and I

haven't had a decent meal since that amazon village and

even there it was interrupted and I'm...> Lina took a deep

breath. "... Sick and tired of this!!"



Genma, who had turned back to human that morning, jumped

almost two meters into the air and started sweating

purposefully. Nervous, he turned to look at Lina. "Uhh...

What was that Lina-san?"



"It's too hot here and I'm hungry and I don't have any decent

clothes and I'm hungry and I'm tired of just walking on to

who-knows-where that's on the other side of this continent

and it's boring and I'm HUNGRY!!"



Genma just cringed back and started stammering. Ranma,

however, was more vocal.



<Seesh, don't you have any endurance, Lina? We're not

even running away anymore.>



Lina scowled, making Genma even more nervous. <I'm not

any stupid martial artist! I'm a sorceress and I should be out

there beating bandits and having good time. Instead I'm stuck

inside your head half of the time and have to follow your idiot

father back to some stupid island that's probably halfway

across the world from Zefilia in a time where all my friends

and relatives have been dead for a millennium. And I'm

getting sick and tired of this all, and I especially want to have

a DECENT MEAL!>



<You ain't the only one who's stuck inside somebody's head

half of the time, and now I hafta suffer from your whining too!

There's nothing you can do to change that stuff now, so why

don't you just be a man and take it you tomboy?>



<I'm NOT a tomboy, and I most definitely am not a MAN YOU

STUPID TACTLESS JERK!>



<You sure ain't a girl either, not with that chest size!>



<Why, you... MORON!!!>



<TOMBOY!!!>



<IDIOT!!!>



<CRAZY CHICK!!!>



Genma decided that it would be best to take several steps

back, considering the quite intense aura that was building up

around Lina.



                        * * *



Shampoo sped down the road, her hair trailing behind her in

the breeze. It had indeed been a lucky break that she had

found this bicycle. It had been easy enough to persuade the

previous owner to give it to her. After all, a mere postman

didn't need it nearly as much as an amazon warrior hunting

for her prey.



Suddenly, there was a giant explosion in the horizon,

throwing huge gouts of flame thirty meters into the air.

Though the explosion was kilometers away, it was clearly

visible to the ridgetop Shampoo currently was on.



Shampoo screeched to a stop, staring at the explosion. She

hoped that the outsider hadn't died in whatever had just

happened. She wanted to kill the redhead herself.



                        * * *



In the middle of a quite large crater, Lina fell down to her

knees, gasping for air. Never before had she lost control so

completely. Almost all of her reserves had been spent in that

explosion of uncontrolled magical energy. She hadn't felt this

spent since the battle against Shabranigdo. <Damn you

Ranma, look at what you made me do!> she weakly

complained.



<Hey, it was you who started it!> And equally spent Ranma

answered. Somehow, the violent outburst of energy had

affected him too.



<I... Oh, damn it all!.> Lina was too weak to argue right now.

Grabbing her backpack that had somehow survived the

explosion, she clambered out of the crater, grumbling at

herself, at Ranma and at the world in general.



"One way or another, I'll get something to eat." The young

sorceress muttered.



                        * * *



 Half an hour later Lina was fishing at a small river, a

sizeable pile of fish resting next to her.



<Don'tcha think that's enough?> Ranma asked in a bored

voice.



<No! That's barely enough for an appetiser!>



<Oh. How much are you going to eat then?>



<LOTS!> Lina said, smiling. She had forgotten her anger. At

the moment she had more important matters in her mind,

mainly the fish and how to cook it, and if she should give any

to Genma. After a very brief internal struggle she decided

that since she had caught the fish, they were hers. If

Ranma's lazy idiot father wanted something, he'd better catch

it himself.



Finally, another half an hour later, Lina decided that she had

enough food. The pile was half again as high as she was.

Grinning widely, the young sorceress rubbed her hands

together. <And now for some firewood!>



<You're gonna eat that all?> Ranma asked, disbelieving.



<Yup! I know it might be a little much, but I'm hungry!>



Ranma didn't say anything.



                        * * *



Shampoo was sure her prey was near-by. The trail she was

following was very fresh, most likely less than a hour old. The

outsider girl was near, very near. Shampoo wasn't sure why

she and her panda had left the road, but it didn't matter. All

that was important was the kill. Hearing commotion on the

trail ahead, the Amazon maiden jumped into the trees, and

continued her way there.



A few minutes later, Shampoo smiled. The outsider girl was

below her, gathering firewood, seemingly completely

oblivious to Shampoo's presence. It was time to end this.

Screaming her battlecry, Shampoo dropped down, her sword

drawn.



Lina glanced up just in time to see death coming at her in the

form of an angry Chinese girl holding a sword bigger than

Gourry's. Lina almost fell down when her body suddenly

seemed to decide on its own that it would be a good thing to

drop the firewood and step away from the sword's way.



Unruffled by the fact that her first strike had missed,

Shampoo started swinging her sword in tight pattern. The

outsider girl backpedalled frantically, barely able to dodge

Shampoo's slashes. It was clear that the redhead was in

panic and would soon fall victim to Shampoo's sword. If

she hadn't been so intent on killing the outsider girl,

Shampoo would probably have noticed that the outsider was

moving very oddly.



Lina was in panic. Her control over her movements was

shaky. It was like her mind was telling one thing, and the

body was trying to do something completely different. This

really wasn't a good thing, considering that she had a

bloodthirsty enemy in front of her, currently trying to do her

best to kill her.



Finally, Lina tripped on a treeroot and fell down. Shouting in

triumph, Shampoo thrust her sword down. Lina, however,

rolled to the side and pointed her hand to her opponent.



Somehow, the shock of falling down had cleared most of

Lina's confusion and caused her body to once again

cooperate with her mind. Rolling to avoid the sword, she

reached inside herself for the little power that was left there.



"MEGABRUNTO!" The spell coursed through Lina, drawing

the last remnants of her magical strength to her outstretched

hand. Lina's hair suddenly turned white as the spell was

released.



Shampoo barely had time to scream as she was engulfed in

flames. Her world turned red, and then black.



Lina laid down on the ground, panting, and looked as the

magical flames swallowed Shampoo, fried her crisp and then

died down. The Chinese Girl's burned and blackened body

fell down with a thump.



<What the hell were you doing!?> Ranma, who had been

quiet during the fight, mostly because of shock of not being

able to do anything, shouted. <You scream at me for not

hitting her when you got us near fucking killed!!>



<It wasn't my fault! For some stupid reason this body was

acting like it had a will of its own, trying to do some of your

fancy martial arts or something! Even if I'm not a great fighter

like you, I'm not incompetent!>



<You sure looked like a total klutz to me!>



<Oh, do shut up you moron! Unlike you ,who couldn't even

lift a finger to attack,  I got her!!>



<I... Uhh...> Ranma stammered, unable to come up with a

good retort. <Ummm... What did you do to Shampoo,

anyway?>



Lina blinked, confused at the sudden change of topic, looked

down at Shampoo and then smirked. <What does it look like?

I nailed her!>



Ranma studied the blackened corpse before Lina. He was no

expert, but Shampoo didn't really look that good. <Uhh... Is

she all right?>



<Huh?> Lina retorted. <All right? Of course she isn't all right!

That's the whole idea! When somebody is after your blood,

you're supposed to blast 'em, not worry about their health!>



<What the hell are you at again!? We can't just let her die

here!>



Lina took a deep breath, more out of reflex than actual need,

since mental ranting wasn't really that exhausting. <And what

kind of stupid attitude is that? 'We can't just let her die here'?

Huh? Her health isn't our problem, but hers. If Shampoo's

tough enough to survive, which I think she is, all's good and

well for her as long as she's far away from me, but I sure ain't

gonna start worrying about her.> At this point Lina knelt down

to check if the Amazon was breathing. She was. <Now, you

don't need to be so concerned about her since she's

obviously breathing, and those burns are mostly just

cosmetical. Even if she's a maniac, I'm not as cruel as to

completely obliterate her, even if she surely deserved it, but

her survival isn't my concern either!> Ranma was quite tired

at this point and didn't bother to answer the rant. It would

have just led to another fight, and he really didn't feel like it

right now.



<Yeah, whatever,> he said. <What happened to your hair

anyway?>



Lina blinked and for the first time realised what had

happened.  The young sorceress fingered her ponytail a little

nervously as she turned to return to the camp. <It's like this.

When I use all my magical reserves...>



end of chapter 4



Spells:



Ray Wing: A flight spell.



Kiyor Switch: Orginal spell. Name invented by Joshua

Prismon. Since Lina doesn't know how to cast it, we probably

won't be seeing it in this story.



Megabrunto: A moderately powerful and quick firespell. Lina

once blasted a couple of 'peeping toms' with it while bathing.

(see Slayers episode 11 for details.)



other stuff.



1 kilometer = 0.621 miles

two meters = 6 and a half feet.

thirty meters = approx. 100 feet.



Cunzhuang means literally 'a village'. If Takahashi-sama can

make puns, I'll be damned if I don't...

Thanks to Gary Kleppe for suggesting this... ^_^



The Village Leader's name was taken from '250 names for

Feng Shui!' webpage. I don't have a clue if it makes any

sense. My apologies to all those, who can speak Chinese.

^_^



How come Ranma realises that if he turns into male,

Shampoo won't chase him, since he didn't think so in the

manga?

Well, since Ranma's female form is Lina in this story, he

thinks his two forms are kinda like separate people. (in the

body) There's the male Ranma Saotome -body and female

Lina Inverse -body. Shampoo is after Lina, so Ranma thinks

if he turns into his male body, he's safe. And, for once, he's

right. Too bad he doesn't have time to pour that hot water on

him.



And for those who don't know: Lina's definition of a good

meal includes at least the entire menu. In many cases

several times the entire menu.

----------

Jussi Nikander

Jussi.Nikander@alien.nixu.fi