Thu, 2 Jul 1998 HALF A SORCERESS Chapter 5: Daze! The Future Isn't What Used to Be! 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, Ben Oliver and Josh Prismon. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The pain was the first thing Shampoo registered. Every part of her body throbbed like it was on fire. Moaning slightly, she opened her eyes. It was dark, probably night. "Good, you're awake." An old voice said in Chinese; a voice Shampoo knew well. "Great-grandmother?" She asked weakly. "Is that you?" Leaning over Shampoo, the ancient Amazon smiled grimly. "Yes, Shampoo, it is me. Can you remember what happened to you?" "I..." Shampoo tried to recall what had happened, but it was hazy. "I... I followed the outsider girl and attacked several times, but didn't manage to restore my honour." Cologne's face disappeared from Shampoo's field of vision. Turning her head, the young Amazon saw her elder sit down next to her. Behind Cologne, a campfire was blazing. "Can you remember what happened just before you lost consciousness, Shampoo?" Cologne asked. Shampoo furrowed her brown, trying to remember. "I... I think I found the outsider girl, again." She licked her lips. Slowly, it was becoming clearer. "I attacked, but didn't hit. Then..." Suddenly, Shampoo remembered everything. "Then she shouted... meega-something, and... flames came from her hand and... and... engulfed me." Cologne nodded. "It is just as I suspected..." She said, mainly to herself. Shampoo tried to sit up, but she was too weak and it hurt too much. She did get a look on herself, though. Her body was mostly covered in makeshift bandages. "What did she do, Great-grandmother? What was that technique?" Cologne closed her eyes and seemingly meditated for a minute. "It was no martial arts technique, Shampoo." The old Amazon finally said, opening her eyes and looking deep into Shampoo's. "It was magic." "Magic...?" Shampoo had seen Cologne performing her magic several times in the village. It had never been anything like this. "But... Great-grandmother..." "It's unlike any magic I or any other Amazon knows." Cologne cut in. "It was something that was once called sorcery, which is a part of the high magic. It was thought lost centuries ago with the rest of higher magical knowledge, but that girl obviously knows it." "Aiyah..." Shampoo said faintly. "How... How can I beat this 'sorcery', Great-grandmother?" Cologne sighed. "I don't know, great-granddaughter." "Don't know?" "That type of magic was never native to China. Most of its practitioners lived in the west, in a places now called Europe and Western Asia. And the knowledge of sorcery, as well as other high magic, was thought lost a long time ago The village has only one book left that describes this magic, and I can't understand half of what's said there." Cologne leaned to Shampoo and poked at her neck. "Now, sleep, great- granddaughter. We'll discuss this later, when you're feeling better." Shampoo tried to stay awake, but it was impossible to fight the pressure point Cologne had used. Maybe, if she had been in prime condition, she could have stayed awake, but now, she was so tired... For a while Cologne stared at the sleeping Shampoo. The girl had been in bad shape when she had found her. She was covered in soot and burns and her clothing had been ruined. It was obvious that Shampoo had been attacked with powerful fire magic. Cologne had been right; right about the outsider girl. She was an opponent Shampoo couldn't hope to match. Cologne knew, from the old lore, that a magician was an almost impossible foe for a warrior to defeat. And, from what she had heard in Cunzhuang, this particular magician was also a martial artist. Originally, Cologne had went after the outsider and Shampoo to try and get the outsider to join the Amazons. Now, she wasn't sure if that still was possible. And if it wasn't, she had no idea how to beat the outsider. It was obvious that Shampoo couldn't do it. She didn't have the skill nor the experience to defeat a foe of that magnitude. At least it was impossible under normal circumstances. Unless the outsider had some kind of weak spot, Colonge might have to step in and try to kill her herself. No matter how dishonourable that was. No matter how slim her chance of victory might be. She would have to ensure Shampoo's future, no matter what. Letting her great-granddaughter sleep for now, Cologne sat down to ponder the matters. For now, she had a dozen questions, but no answers. She was, for example, very curious to why the outsider hadn't used her magic when Shampoo ambushed her in that village... * * * Lina couldn't believe it. She simply couldn't believe it. Yes, Ranma had told her what it was like, but hearing about something like this was nothing compared to actually witnessing it. The sounds, the sights, the smells, the sheer _amount_ of people. She hadn't been prepared to any of them. Next to this, Zefilia had been nothing. Hell, even Atlas City had been nothing compared to Xining. Lina just couldn't believe how... BIG the city was. The only bad thing about big cities was that even more stuff cost money than before. Ranma asked. They, or more accurately Lina, had been running around Xining like a headless chicken. The young sorceress had tried to have a look at everything, experience everything, and most important of all, taste every possible food available. Now, however, she was walking towards the less-reputable part of the city. Lina looked around. They definitely weren't in the better part of the city. The houses around her were quite small, only one or a few floors high, run down and quite dirty. Even if there wasn't mud or animal droppings around, this was clearly a slum. Lina smiled. The young sorceress said, turning towards an alley. Ranma answered. Ranma would have blinked if he could have. Lina smiled widely and entered the alley. It was dark, foul-smelling, narrow, and apparently abandoned. She shrugged and moved on. Lina's smile fell a little and she shook her head, bemused. Lina blinked. She turned around the corner, almost colliding with a large Chinese boy wearing quite dirty clothes. <...don't have time for that now. You take over.> Lina closed her eyes and gave over her body to Ranma. * * * Ranma opened his eyes and looked around. There were five youths in front of him, all of them wearing same style of clothes. A quick peek from the corner if his eyes showed three more who had appeared behind him. None of them carried themselves like a martial artist, so he shouldn't have any problems trashing them. Under normal circumstances, Ranma would have enjoyed showing these scum what a martial artist could do. Now he was bothered by the way he had ended up in this situation and the motives, even if they were Lina's and not his, that had brought him here. Technically, beating up muggers was protecting the innocent and thus a honourable and good thing to do. Seeking out criminals to beat up and rob was, in Ranma's opinion, sinking down to their level. None of these thoughts reached Ranma's conscious mind, since he was quite busy keeping an eye on all the boys surrounding him. Despite the situation and his reluctance for being there, Ranma smirked. This should take about ten seconds. * * * The gang leader smirked. He had been prowling the alleys with his boys, hoping to find something to occupy their time when this foreign chick had appreared around the corner. This was something you didn't see every day. "Well, well, well. What brings you here, cutey?" He asked in his best slick guy voice. For a second the girl just stood there, her eyes closed. Then she opened them, took a very quick look around and crossed her arms over her chest. She also got this incredibly arrogant smirk on her face. It was like the chick wasn't afraid at all. The gang leader took out his switchblade and stepped closer. He opened his mouth, preparing to deliver another 'cool' line when the girl blurred into motion. First, she grabbed the thug's hand and twisted, making him drop the knife. Then, still maintaining her grip on his arm, she delivered a sharp kick to his stomach, followed by one to his head. As consciousness rapidly left him, the thug heard his boys shouting in both anger and pain as the girl went after them. * * * Little over ten seconds after grabbing the lead thug's arm, Ranma delivered a quick axe kick to the last thug's head and spun around, looking for other threats. There were none. Lina enthused. Ranma answered and turned to walk away. Lina whined in her best whining voice. She tried to put as much misery in her voice as she could. Ranma's resolve was quickly fading. He just couldn't hearth making a girl miserable. Not even Lina. Not even for such a stupid reason. He finally said. Lina asked. As soon as she was able, Lina took over the body once more, dashed back to the alley and quickly emptied the eight boys' pockets. She got herself enough for a few more rounds in the local restaurants. * * * Lina collapsed on her bed, giggling. Never in her life had she seen so many new things, experienced so many new tastes been in someplace so _different_ from what she was used to. She had ran around like a little girl in a fair, trying to look at everything, trying to take everything in, she just had to see it all. It had been amazing. The future... present, whatever, she hadn't believed it could be so different. And so much FUN. Even if the city smelled even worse than the cities of old, in Lina's mind that was a small price to pay. Everything was new and shiny and different! And she... was so tired. Exhausted by the day's events, Lina fell asleep. Ranma took over the body and sighed. He, too, was weary. Even if Ranma hadn't been in control of the body, he had been in there all the time, forced to answer Lina's countless questions. Trying to guide her away from the less reputable establishments and places he really didn't want to see (not that he had had much success...) and generally acting as the more level-headed of the pair hadn't been easy for him. Now, when he took over the body he got, on top of the considerable mental fatigue the day had caused, the physical fatigue of a body that'd been in a hyperactive mode for untold hours. Still, Ranma had trouble falling asleep. Today he had witnessed a side of Lina he had never before had to see. She had turned into a... naive little girl, for the lack of better term, the minute she got into the city. It was hard to reconcile the girl who had stared in wide-eyed wonder at everything around her to the tomboy who had blasted Shampoo earlier that day. It was like Lina had suddenly shifted mental gears and became a completely different person. It was scary. * * * Lina asked. Ranma sighed and stopped packing. Ranma resumed packing. * * * Lina rubbed her aching posterior and tried to ignore Ranma's sniggering. After they had left Xining a week ago, she had been trying to find out just how much stronger, faster and tougher she was. Unfortunately something seemed to be interfering with her efforts. Her magic worked all right, but every time she tried one of her old sword routines (with a magically molded branch or something similar since she didn't have her sword handy) something went wrong. Routines that had been instinctive were impossible. She knew what to do, but her body refused to respond, or, more accurately, responded in odd ways. When she wanted to do a simple slash, she ended up with some sort of weird half- thrusting motion that would have left any halfway-competent swordsman laughing. When she tried a thrust, she usually dropped her sword. Lina didn't even want to start thinking about her attempts at dodging. "What the hell is wrong with me!!" The young sorceress cried out. Near-by, Genma cringed and doubled his efforts at playing with a tire. Ranma snickered. "It's not funnyyy!!" Lina screamed, tears starting to pour from her eyes. Genma's play was turning a little frantic. Ranma's mood plunged down immediately. His lame attempts to calm the girl down didn't seem to have any effect. Lina immediately stopped crying. Lina nidded. Lina blinked. It made sense. It actually was constant with a few things she had read about switching bodies. Ranma winced, and then blinked. Lina nodded again. Lina's voice suddenly turned dangerous. * * * Shampoo tried to keep her face impassive as Cologne removed her bandages. It was hard, however, since she was dreading to see what would be revealed underneath. Her Great-grandmother had assured her that the burns would not leave scarring, and Shampoo wanted to believe her, but the burns had _hurt_. Finally, Cologne removed the last wrappings from Shampoo's left hand, poked the exposed limb a few times and leaned back. "You can open your eyes now, Great-granddaughter." Slowly Shampoo opened her eyes. The hand was a little sensitive and more pink than usual, but aside from that, there were no signs of burns. It had healed completely. Shampoo let out a huge sigh of relief. Chuckling, Cologne started removing the other bandages. "Really, Great-granddaughter, you should have a little more faith on my abilities." "I'm sorry, Great-grandmother. I just couldn't believe anything could heal me completely from that. The flames... It all..." Cologne chuckled again. "The burns were never very bad. I guess the spell the outsider used looked much more impressive than it really was. At least from your perspective." "If you say so Great-grandmother." Shampoo looked down to the ground. "Oh, don't worry, Great-granddaughter. We'll find them again. And we'll restore your honour. But, for now, you need regain your strength. I'll have to look at retraining you." "Training, Great-grandmother? You know how to defeat the outsider?" Cologne sighed. "I'll be frank with you, Shampoo. I don't, at least yet, know how to beat a sorceress. Before I know how powerful and skilled she is, I cannot say much. And as for training, you should know what to do after a major injury." Cologne removed the last bandages from Shampoo's chest. "Or have you forgotten the time you broke your leg?" Shampoo smiled sadly and sat up. "I haven't, Great- grandmother. What do you want me to do first?" * * * That night Shampoo lay down next to the campfire and watched Cologne cook up another feast from what they had found while training. It had been an exhausting day, but Shampoo was happy. She hadn't lost much of her edge, and was positive that she'd be back in top condition in no time. Then, when Great-grandmother had found a way to beat the outsider's sorcery, she would restore her honour and return to her rightful place in Jokentsuzoku. Shampoo sighed contentedly and stretched. Cologne looked up from her cooking. "Don't get too cocky, Shampoo. This won't be an easy quest." "I'm sure you'll find a way to defeat the outsider, Great- grandmother." "Oh, I will, _afte_r we've found her." Shampoo blinked. "What do you mean, Great-grandmother?" "Hasn't it crossed your mind that we the girl has over a week's lead on us? When I was young that wouldn't have meant that much, but nowadays she could have travelled across the globe in that time." Shampoo's good mood came crashing down. "Do you mean..." "No! We'll find her, Shampoo. It just might take a while, depending on how fast and how far she has gone. But no matter where she is, we'll find her." Cologne paused for a moment to stir the soup she was tending. "After all, it isn't hard to spot a girl travelling with a huge panda, is it?" "And if she parts ways with the panda?" "We'll find her still. I promise you that, Great-granddaughter." * * * Ranma was in a quite bad mood. Genma had taken all their money and run off to who knows where again, leaving Ranma alone, broke and hungry. As if that hadn't been enough, there had been a short, intense rain shower soon after he had left their camp in search for something to eat, leaving him wet, miserable and female. Well, maybe the locals would be more inclined to help a hungry, wet and miserable western girl than a hungry and miserable Japanese boy. "Stupid Pop, what does he think he's doing?" Ranma mumbled to himself. Ranma shook his head. Lina sighed. Ranma answered. Lina shut up. Ranma was a stubborn person and there were a few things he wouldn't bulge upon. It was better to save her energy for something else. Ranma trudged on. Hopefully, he'd soon come across some food. He wasn't nearly as big an eater as Lina, but he still got hungry. Unfortunately, Ranma didn't see anything he could eat, unless you count grass or the rice in the rice fields. Too bad neither was an option. Suddenly Ranma spotted commotion ahead. Two people, one of them carrying a large bowl of something and running away from the second, were coming towards him. The second guy was shouting something and shaking his fist and the first, who was occasionally glancing back over his shoulder at the second. If she could have, Lina would have shrugged her shoulders. For a minute, Ranma looked at the pair. Yup, the first guy was definitely running away from the second guy, who in turn was chasing the first guy. That's funny, they both appear to be bald. Hmm... The first guy had a bowl. What did people usually keep in bowls... As the first guy ran by him, the young martial artist tripped him and snatched the bowl, which was full of soup of some sort. Using the Saotome swift eating technique, Ranma dug in. Lina caught a wiff of the soup's scent. The aroma was fleetingly familiar, but she couldn't connect it to anything. Then again, most foods smelt familiar to her. The second guy, an old Chinese man with a bald head and lots of wrinkles, stopped when he saw this, and shouted something in Chinese. Gulping down the last of the soup, Ranma looked at him. After a moment he blushed and started laughing nervously. "I'm.. Uhh.. sorry. It was good soup, really," Ranma finally said in Japanese. The old guy stopped his ranting and looked at Ranma. He especially seemed to pay attention to the young boy-turned- girl's chest. Finally, he poked Ranma's breast. "You are a girl, yes?" he asked in shaky Japanese. Wincing from Lina's rant, Ranma answered distractedly. "Yeah, I am. Uhh, I mean..." The old man let out a huge sigh of relief. "Good. It very bad if a boy have eaten dragon's hair soup." Ranma sweated a little and grabbed the old man by the collar. "What do you mean!?" "Ahh... Umm... You eat dragon's hair soup. Cures baldness, but makes hair grow rapidly if has hair and eat. Not work on womans, you woman, you not affected." If she could have, Lina would have blinked. an angry and anxious Ranma asked. "So, did this guy tell the truth?" Ranma asked, slipping to speak out aloud. Ranma could feel Lina smirking. the young sorceress said. Ranma shook the old man, who by now was somewhat anxious, for emphasis. Ranma shook his head, trying to calm down. He asked, clenching his teeth, forcing himself to be calm. Lina sighed. Ranma shook the Chinese fellow around some more and sneered. "You got another dragon's hair, old man?" "I... Uhh... Yes, I have one." "Give it to me!" "Ahh... Umm.. Why? You girl, you no need..." Using his free hand, Ranma took the soup bowl and poured the little what remained of the broth over himself. Immediately his hair started growing at an enormous rate. "Give it to me!!" "Uhh.. Here!" The old man quickly dug small pouch out of his pocket. He fumbled around a little while opening it, but soon was able to produce a think hair. Ranma snatched the hair out of the old man's hands, and used it to tie his hair in place. The nearly two meter long braid looked _quite_ ridiculous. Ranma grabbed the old man again. "You got scissors?" The man nodded. * * * Late that night Genma finally found his way back to the Saotome's camp. He wore a quite self-satisfied smile on his face. He also carried a large bag full of groceries. "What's so funny, old man?" Ranma asked from where he had been practising his martial arts forms. His pigtail was now about as long as his ponytail had been. Genma looked at his son and blinked. "A new look?" "I don't wanna talk about it, okay?" "Right..." "Where did you get that food?" "Ah, son." Genma began, smiling once again. "The goddess of luck has truly smiled upon us today." Now he almost had tears in his eyes. "There was a grand rooster fight tournament in a near-by village, and I was fortunate enough to bet on the winning animal! We now have enough money to last for long!" "Oh, that's good. So, we're gonna eat now, right?" Genma nodded vigorously and Ranma returned to his practice. Unaware of each other, they both sighed in relief. * * * Nineteen out of the twenty fighting roosters that had survived the tournament died during the next forty-eight hours from poisoning. The owner of the last surviving rooster got the blame, was stripped of his title and banned from the International Rooster Battle League's competitions for life. The man, a professional fighting rooster breeder, swore revenge upon the panda he had spotted near the rooster pens before the competition began. Somehow he knew it just had to be the animal's fault. The sign reading, "Don't mind me, I'm just a panda," was a big tip-off... * * * A few days later, on a bus station in the city of Lanzhou, Genma was having some hard time. The attendant, an approximately hundred year old woman, didn't speak Japanese, seemed to have trouble with Chinese and was apparently deaf. "So, it number twenty goes to Xi'an?" Genma asked in shaky Chinese, quite loudly. "Whaat?" The old woman adjusted her hearing horn. "I SAID: NUMBER TWENTY GOES TO XI'AN!!?" Genma shouted. "It goes?" The old woman asked. "Oh dear, I didn't know they had changed that. Wait, I must check this with the manager." In defeat, Genma buried his head in his hands and sobbed. Two hours later, Genma walked out of the building, holding two tickets to bus number twenty two. It was raining outside, so he was instantly turned into a panda. Neither fact registered with the exhausted man. * * * Leaning against the window, Lina stared out of the bus. She tried to ignore the stares everybody was aiming at her. It was, however, nearly impossible as practically everybody in the bus was staring at her and her snoring... companion and talking amongst themselves. A young westerner girl travelling apparently on her own would have caused some attention in these parts of the People's Republic of China. A young girl travelling with an apparently intelligent panda who communicated via signs drew ridiculous amounts of attention anywhere she went. Lina would have been much happier if the old moron would have had the decency of turning back to his real form before boarding the bus. But noooo, he just had to be lazy and stay a panda. Jerk. Moron. Ranma suddenly said. Lina blinked and jerked upright. She hadn't realised she was thinking out aloud. Lina grit her teeth and counted to ten. When that didn't help she continued to twenty. She wouldn't get mad. It would just lead into another pointless argument. She wouldn't get mad. It would just... Ranma did the mental equivalent of a blink when Lina's reply was suddenly cut short. Had something happened to her? Lina let out a long sigh. She turned back to the window. The idiot hadn't probably even realised what he had almost caused. Lina didn't want to totally lose her temper again. What had happened back the day they arrived in Xining had been quite enough. * * * Glancing back at the oddest occupants of his bus, driver Woo Haifeng wondered if the westerner was some sort of circus performer. And if she was, why was she going to a village in the middle of nowhere? And what were those logs doing in the middle of the road!!!!?? Woo Haifeng stamped hard on the brakes, praying for the old machine to work just once more. * * * The occupants of the bus were thrown into chaos, as the vehicle suddenly screeched into halt. Lina hit her head rather hard to the back of the seat in front of her while Genma crashed the seat in front of him. He caused the seat's occupant, who luckily wasn't a child, mother or elderly, quite a lot of pain but no permanent injuries. Rubbing her head, Lina surged to her feet. "What the heck was that!?" Lina shot back, and climbed over the still-dazed panda. "We don't have time to argue now!" Lina shouted out aloud. Lucky for her, nobody took any notice of it, since practically everybody was crying out, either in pain, fear or anger. Well, they probably wouldn't have understood with her using Japanese and all... A quick look around the van showed that almost everybody had been thrown off their seats, and most people were injured, disoriented or both. The driver was slumped over the wheel. Woo Haifeng was busy trying to regain his breath. He hated when this happened. Even if he didn't have anything valuable to steal, it was still annoying when all the passengers would blame this on him. Lina made her way to the front of the bus to see what had caused the sudden stop. Lina mused with a smile. Lina cracked her knuckles. * * * The Dragon's Fangs bandit gang weren't the first, and were far from the biggest, most dangerous or famous group of thieves to use that name. Still Shao-to, leader of the Dragon's Fangs, hadn't hesitated when choosing that name. It had a nice ring to it, and was somehow familiar. Shao-to was a bit short, maybe a hundred and fifty five centimetres or so tall. He was, however, a burly man and bit on the fat size, which added a lot to his presence. Combined with his leather vest, broad face and unruly beard he looked more like a classic bandit out of a fairy tale than a modern thug. But, even if he looked like a bandit of the old age, he could use an AK-47 just as well as anyone. Shao-to looked at his men, all twelve of them, and smiled. They were all good men, experienced bandits whoknew to keep their guard up. There wasn't much pickings on these backwater roads that led to small villages. But, by choosing targets carefully, a small group of bandits could live fairly well without having to fear retribution from either the main PRC government or the more-or-less autonomous warlords and weird villages full of powerful fighters that ruled large parts of the far reaches of China. "OK, lets go." Shao-to stood up from his hiding place behind a conveniently placed boulder and led his men towards the bus. * * * There were a dozen men coming towards the bus. It was time to have a little fun. Lina opened the door of the bus and confidently stepped outside. Suddenly there was a sound, like a sharp thunder or a miniature fireball, and several somethings struck the ground in front of her. Lina stumbled back and fell down. Ranma said, alarmed. Lina started sweating. Lead was a metal. A fairly heavy metal. This could be bad. Lina looked out. The bandits weren't coming in one group, but had spread out quite a lot. There was no way she could take out more than two them with one spell in the condition she was in, and if any of them would get a chance to use those 'guns'... Ranma answered. Lina asked. Lina started sweating hard.. She was outnumbered, weak and a prefect target where she sat. And those guns sounded a bit scary. Back in where he was sitting, Genma was sweating. Martial arts was one thing, and a master martial artist could take out dozens of opponents, but going against gunmen was always risky. An unarmed fighter had to be lucky all the time, while a gun-wielding opponent needed only to be lucky once. Hopefully these bandits wouldn't be interested in a panda. * * * Shao-to had been quite surprised by what he had found. In addition to the normal travellers there had been a redhead westerner girl and a panda that apparently belonged to the girl in the bus. In his twelve years as a bandit, Shao-to had never seen anything even remotely like this. He motioned for A-do, the only one of his men who spoke the westerners' tongue, to come. "Ask her about the panda," Shao-to ordered. Nodding, A-do went to question the girl, and Shao-to continued to watch how his men stripped the locals of their valuables. It seemed like they would get a good amount of loot this time... "Uhh... boss?" Shao-to turned to face whoever had interrupted his thoughts. "Yes, what is it Fa-mei?" "What are we going to do with the panda?" Shao-to blinked. "What about the panda?" "Well," Fa-mei faltered, shuffling his feet just a little, "pandas are kinda endangered species." "So...?" "So... So..." Now Fa-mei was visibly shuffling his feet. "So I think we kinda should do something about it. You know, I figure we can't just let the girl just have it or something..." Shao-to raised an eyebrow. "Are you suggesting we take the panda as loot?" "Uhh... nonononono," Fa-mei answered. "I just kinda figured we'd have a... moral obligation of making sure the panda gets back to where pandas live or something. You know, to make sure they don't go extinct." There was a long pause. "Please, boss, don't look at me that way. Just because I'm a hardened bandit doesn't mean I can't be concerned about endangered species!" "Boss?" Shao-to turned to face A-do. "Yes?" "If I understood the girl right, the panda is hers, just like the other passengers said." Shao-to looked at the westerner girl. She was by far the most composed of the bus' occupants. Excluding the driver that is, but this was at least the third time Shao-to had robbed a bus driven by that particular fellow. "So what do we do, boss?" Fa-mei asked. For a long while Shao-to was silent. There was something about redheads that both frightened and angered him. Sometimes he'd wake up from a nightmare and the only things he'd remember were red hair and intense heat. He disliked those dreams a lot. He also disliked red hair a lot. Oh, well. "We'll take the panda. And the girl. Tie her up and blindfold her and somebody find a leash for the animal." * * * Ranma asked. The situation they were in... concerned him a little. He wasn't afraid, of course, but still a little anxious. Ranma disliked guns, even if he didn't know a lot about them, and people who used guns. There was a long silence. Another silence. Finally... Just then Lina noticed that two bandits, the one who had questioned her in really odd English and one other were coming her way. The other bandit was taking out some rope. Lina started sweating. The first bandit pointed his gun at her while the second, the one holding the rope, took hold of her hands. "Hey, what are you think you're doing!?" "Quiet, girl, we take you." The one guarding her said. "Hey, watch it with them ropes, you're.." "Quiet!" The guard said, showing his rifle a little closer. Lina sweated more. Ranma asked, alarmed. * * * Woo Haifeng scratched his head as he watched the bandits lead the girl and the panda away. He was damned if he knew what went around in that bandit boss's head. "So what do we do now?" one of he passengers asked from the world at large. "Clear the logs, I guess." Woo answered. "And the girl?" somebody said. "Isn't my problem. We tell the authorities and they can decide what to do to her." * * * The blindfold and ropes were quickly removed, and Lina was showed into a small cell. The door was slammed shut with a loud bang. Lina shot an icy glare at the door, but didn't say anything. Ranma asked. Lina's indecisiveness had landed them in serious hot water this time. They had been captured by the bandits, put into a cramped cell in the middle of nowhere, and the walls looked pretty tough. He could probably break them, if they weren't underground that is, but didn't know where to go from there. In Ranma's opinion this sucked big time. Lina lay down on the moderately dry pile of hay that had been placed to one corner of the cell. Ranma asked, more than a bit of sarcasm in his voice. * * * Sometime after midnight, Lina woke up. She asked quietly, even though nobody but Ranma could hear her thoughts. There was no response. This time a little louder. Still nothing. Lina eyed the door speculatively. Ranma asked. Lina turned sideways to the door and placed her hands like she was aiming a bow. "Source of all power, wind which blows to the east!" Suddenly, there was a flaming bow and arrow in her hands. "FLARE ARROW!" With a loud explosion the cell door was blown apart. Lina quickly dashed out to the hallway, only to meet a confused guard who was fumbling with his rifle. Lina slugged him in the face with enough power to throw him against a wall. The man slumped down, unconscious. Lina asked. Ranma answered. Lina ran to the corner and peeked around it. There was another short hallway, this one apparently abandoned. She moved on. * * * Shao-to clapped his hands. For once it had paid to listen to Fa-mei. Even if he wasn't sure about the girl, this panda had definitely been worth of taking with them. It understood speech. It could communicate via signs. After drinking some alcohol it had even started doing acrobatics. Now, after considerably more alcohol the acrobatics were getting a little hard, but Shao-to didn't mind. Being more than slightly drunk himself, a drunken panda flailing around seemed like the funniest thing in the world to Shao-to. Genma was thoroughly enjoying himself. These bandit's couldn't be such a bad bunch after all. They had given him food, drink and overall acted like good hosts. At the bandit's urging he tried a backflip again. A few hours ago it had been easy, but somehow his last four attempts had ended up in a disaster. Well, fifth time's the charm and all that, Genma thought. Suddenly the party atmosphere was shattered by a loud explosion. "What was that!!??" Shao-to demanded. "It sounded like it came from below!" One of the less-drunk bandits shouted. The cells. A horrible thought penetrated Genma's alcohol- numbed brain. A sudden explosion. Lina. Lina was probably coming. The panda quickly dove under the nearest table as Shao-to tried to organise his confused men. * * * After some confusion Shao-to had been able to more or less organise most of his troops. Few had already passed out, but the rest had quickly sobered up, at least a little. Nothing like a good emergency to clear the head. After distributing the weapons, Shao-to led his gang down the stairs that lead to the underground floor that housed the supply rooms and the cell. There was another explosion. "What the hell was that!?" The angry bandit boss asked his men. There was a chorus of "dunno"s "Hell if I know"s and one "Maybe it was that chick." Shao-to stopped, causing his men to stumble over one another, and grabbed A-do's collar. "Didn't you check the girl before throwing her to the cell!?" "I did, and she wasn't packing any! It can't be her!" "You better be right, A-do!" Shao-to shouted to his subordinate and continued running. His men tried to untangle themselves as quickly as they could and follow their boss. Still mostly in one group, the bandit gang turned around the next corner to the hallway that housed most of the supply rooms. A second later the westerner girl came running around the other end of the hallway. "It's the westerner!" One of the bandits shouted, pointing at the girl. "Get her!" Shao-to commanded, raising his AK-47. The girl stopped and pointed her palms towards the bandits. "BLAST ASH!" "AAAAAAAA!!" Most of the bandits reflexively covered their faces as a wall of flame filled the corridor. Some didn't have time to do even that. Before blackness took him, Shao-to remembered just WHY he had had that dream. * * * "... 6, 7. If you count in the one guarding the cell, that's eight bandits so far." Lina jumped over the burnt forms of the bandits just as three more came around the corner. "FIREBALL!" The bandits didn't stand a chance. "Make that eleven." The young sorceress remarked, glancing at the three newly-defeated foes. She dashed around the corner and towards the stairs. * * * Ranma was stunned by Lina's actions. The girl had calmly blasted a bunch of people, counted the corpses and moved on. A part of him understood that there weren't any choices, since the bandits were carrying guns, but mostly he was appalled. Killing wasn't something that fit well with him. The art was not like that. Sure, it could hurt people, but it was not honourable to kill, and certainly not those who could not defend themselves. And these bandits didn't really seem stand a chance against Lina... * * * Fa-mei, who had been left with the duty ofguarding the upper floor, and four other bandits looked at each other and sweated, when they heard the screams and explosions. It seemed there was something loose downstairs, something powerful and dangerous. "Uhh... okay..." Fa-mei began. "Turn over those tables and take positions covering the stairs. When whatever it is comes up, we'll shoot it to pieces. Understood?" The other bandits nodded, and hastily turned over a few tables, taking positions behind them. The panda quickly dashed under another table, when its previous hiding place became an improvised barricade. Fa-mei dashed to close the door that led to the stairs. He then quickly ran behind an overturned table. For a minute all was quiet. Then, suddenly, a young girl's voice shouted something in a foreign language, and the door was blown apart. "Fire! Fire! Fire!" The five remaining bandits peppered the door with their AK-47s. The walls around the destroyed door got their fair share of abuse, but a lot went through the doorway too. After the dust settled, and nothing more was heard, the bandits slowly stood up. "Did we get it?" one of them asked. There was a moment of silence. "I... I guess so." Fa-mei finally answered. A part of the door that had so far remained on its hinge, suddenly fell down on the floor, making the bandits jump. "RELOAD! RELOAD!" Fa-mei commanded, suddenly remembering what he was supposed to be doing. * * * Lina was hugging the floor at the bottom of the stairs. A lot of plaster and wood splinters had rained on her, but she was unharmed. Slowly, trying to make the minimum noise possible, she stood up. Only luck had let her escape that ambush alive. Hearing voices from the upper floor, Lina prepared another spell. Hopefully this'd take the remaining bandits out. "BURST RONDO!" A flurry of small fireballs shoot from Lina's fingers, up the stairs, and turning in mid-air, into the room. Lina was already running up the stairs and murmuring a new spell as the Burst Rondo impacted on its targets, causing multiple explosions. "Source of all power, crimson fire burning bright... FIREBALL!!" As soon as she saw the ruined door, Lina let the fireball go. It exploded in the middle of the room, blowing out all the windows and forcing Lina to shield her face from the shockwave. Even before the last flames had died down, Lina was in the room, looking around. A few burnt bodies, burnt tables, shattered windows, soot-stained floor, walls and ceiling, and one blackened panda. The room had definitely been hit by a fireball. Oh, wait. One blackened panda? Oops. Well, hopefully he didn't get blasted too badly. The young sorceress thought. Now, hmm... One, two... five bandits. That makes sixteen at all. Most likely the whole bunch of 'em. Letting out a long sigh, Lina sat down on the floor. That had been quite taxing.  She was answered by silence. Ranma finally said. Lina blinked. Lina took a look at the nearest body. It was quite thoroughly burned. She stood up again and walked to check on Genma. Lina smirked in a rather sarcastic way. There was a long pause. Lina nodded and closed her eyes, concentrating on the healing spell. A white glow spread from her hands, and Genma's wounds quickly healed. The young sorceress stood up, smiling, and clapped her hands together. That shook Ranma out of his stupor. Lina blinked again, and put a finger to her pursed lips. Lina started smiling again, and nodded once. Lina sighed. There was a loud ka-clack from the stairway. Lina whirled around to see a bandit, apparently the one who had been guarding the door of her cell, raising his AK-47 to firing position. "ELMEKIA LANCE!" The solid beam of yellow energy went through the bandit's head and he toppled backwards. Lina sat heavily on the floor. <...make any big deal about it. The bad guys have no rights.> What was Ranma's problem, anyway? Bad guys were bad guys, and it was the good guys' duty to take care them, right? And if the bad guys happened to have some money, it was just an additional bonus. After a few minutes Lina stood up to have a look around. Hopefully there would be enough cash here to last them for a long while. * * * A little later Genma started regaining consciousness. He was sure there was something _very_ wrong here. For some reason , he thought that he should be hurt, but there was no pain. Slowly Genma opened his eyes and looked around. He was laying in a destroyed room. Around him there were burnt furniture, destroyed tables, and scattered, burnt remains of food. Suddenly Genma became aware of a rather repugnant smell his panda nose registered. It was like... a bit like burnt pork. Genma stood up and took a good look around. There were five bodies in the room. Five burnt bodies. Suddenly he heard some loud curses, followed by a muffled explosion from downstairs. Carefully, senses alert for possible dangers, Genma started making his way there. At the bottom of the stairs there was another body. This had a hole apparently burnt through its head. Genma shuddered. At the next corner he found three more corpses, and the next corridor was full of them. All of them seemed to have been killed by fire. There was also two doors in the corridor, and through one came rather happy and upbeat humming, every now and then interrupted by an exclamation of surprise and joy. Genma peeked in through the doorway. In the room was Lina, looting through a small, blasted safe. Definitely not wishing to interrupt the girl, Genma walked out and almost emptied his stomach. He promptly wanted to forget what he had seen inside. * * * Lina smiled. The bandits hadn't been rich, but they had had a bunch of stuff that would be useful. They'd definitely need the money, but the few gems might be an ever greater treasure. Now, if she could just construct a magical circle somehow, she could enchant them. Having deposited her findings into a convenient bag, Lina stepped out of the house. She'd rather not hang around for long. This place was depressing, and smelled awful. She spotted Genma, still in panda form, sitting at the small yard of the bandit's hideout. "Yo, pops! I've cleared the place up! Took some food and other stuff! Shouldn't we find a village or something to get a bath, some food and a bed!?" Silence. "Pops!?" Finally Genma stood up and nodded. * * * Ranma stated angrily. Lina rubbed her forehead. After a few minutes Lina and Genma arrived near the place where the bus had been robbed. Peeking around a boulder Lina saw that there were few of the local constabulary there, apparently guarding the place. Lina asked. Lina took a few deep breaths, and started rubbing her eyes. Soon, tears were running down her face. Satisfied with that, she slapped some mud and dust on her clothes, and ripped them from a few places. Ranma shouted. Taking a few more deep breaths, Lina started running to the policemen, shedding new tears and trying to look as miserable, tired and frightened as possible. She was quite convincing, and had no trouble collapsing to the nearest policeman's chest, sobbing her eyes out. In no time she and Genma were brought to the nearest police station. * * * "So, what was your name again, Miss?" police inspector Chen Ka-Yan asked. This was the first time anyone kidnapped by the local bandits came back on their own. A truly odd case. But, for a change, Chen was happy about it. The victim was here, so there would be much less paperwork than normal. "Lina." The young westerner answered, sipping the tea they had given her. "Lina Inverse." Even with the grime and tears washed away, she wasn't a pretty sight. "And could you tell me once more what happened after the bandits kidnapped you from that bus?" Funny how the girl seemed to prefer Japanese over English. Well, there were all sorts of people in the world, Chen mused. The westerner sighed, and took another sip of her tea before telling her tale in a monotone. "They blindfolded me and took me to their camp. There, they threw me into a cell. Sometime in the night, I heard explosions. One explosion destroyed the door of my cell. Later, when there were no more explosions, I came out. The bandits were all dead. I found my stuff and Mr. Panda upstairs and left. That's all I know." "Do you know who killed the bandits?" "N...no." The girl winced. "You don't have any idea? None at all?" "That's right." "Could you find the bandit's camp again?" "I... I don't think so." "Are you sure?" "Y...Yes." The girl gulped down the last of her tea. "Look, could I go please? I had promised to meet some friends in..." There was a short pause. "Xi'an, so I should get going." Now her voice started to get some colour back. "Xi'an? But that's nowhere near here!" "Uhh... It's not?" Chen shook his head. "No, It's in a completely different direction from Lanzhou." "It is?" That's funny, the girl seemed to become quite angry and muttered something to herself. "What was that?" Chen asked. "Errr.. Ehehehehehh... Nothing! I must have stepped into the wrong bus or something! Uhhh... Can I go?" The inspector thought about it for a while. Kidnapping was a serious crime, especially the kidnapping of a foreigner, but this was no normal case. Usually the victim doesn't walk back by herself, at least not before the ransom has been paid, and normally she doesn't tell how something just came and killed the kidnappers. Then there was that panda... Well, it wasn't his problem really, since it seemed to be quite willing to follow the girl. Funny that, he didn't know pandas were that smart... Chen shrugged. The bandits had probably been killed by one of the weird warlords that lived in the mountains. Better not inquire to it any further, as main PRC government was much farther away than the castle of the closest warlord. "All right, young lady. I need you to fill in a couple of forms, and then I can let you go." The girl's face blanched a little. Then again, who liked paperwork? "Uhh... Okay," she finally said. * * * "Umm... Geee, thanks so much, Mr policeman!" Lina put on her cutest smile. The officer escorting her smiled and saluted. He knew a little Japanese and understood the thanks, but thought it best not to try answering. He'd probably mangle the language horribly. He watched as the girl and the Panda stepped inside the bus that soon drove away, heading to Lanzhou. Soon the busdisappeared around a corner and the officer turned away. This one crisis had been dealt with, but a policeman's work was never done. * * * Inside the bus Lina sighed in relief and leaned back. Sure, she had had to put up improvised performances before, but usually for just a short while. Trying to play the victim of evil kidnappers for several hours wasn't something she was used to. Well, no need to dwell on that. The locals had bought her act and hadn't even asked if she found anything valuable in the bandit camp. Now she probably should keep a promise. Lina asked. Ranma answered distractedly. The boy's voice sounded rather bleak. Shocked. He did take control of their body, however. For a while the two were silent. There was a long silence. Finally Ranma started ranting. It was like a damn had burst. * * * Eventually the fight had escalated to a point where Ranma had started glowing with a blue aura. Realising what was about to happen the two had, if not calmed down, at least stopped arguing. Ranma sighed as helooked at the Chinese countryside that was rolling by. Introspection wasn't high on his list of things to do, but the recent events had definitely made it a priority matter. Ever since the bandits had shown up, his world had come crashing down. The kidnapping hadn't been anything; after all, a martial artist's world was filled with danger. But Lina's handling of the kidnappers had shocked him to the core. She had killed them, apparently without a second thought. Sure, he understood that the two of them could very well be dead now if she hadn't done it, but still... Ranma hadn't seen anyone die before. Now, he had, in rapid succession, witnessed the deaths of over a dozen people. They hadn't been good people, but it didn't lessen the shock any. Then there had been the way Lina had handled the dead bandit's things. It made Ranma queasy how indifferent she had been about it, calmly taking the money from their dead fingers, so to say. It made him think like she had killed the bandits for their cash. He knew it wasn't the case, but couldn't help but regard Lina as a mercenary, selling her deadly arts to the highest bidder. Ranma wondered if he should continue teaching Lina Anything Goes. If she would use it to kill as lightly as she used her magic... Ranma shook his head. He'd have to teach her, at least until her mind and body could work together. The girl still had problems at working together with his reflexes. Until that had been fixed he'd have to teach her, or risk them both dying. Still, if he was going to teach Lina the art, he sure as hell was going to teach her the Code that accompanied it too. Lina's mental voice interrupted the young boy's thoughts. She sounded hesitant. Ranma blinked. Lina had apologised? What had she apologised about, anyway? The sorceress asked hopefully. There was another long silence and Ranma was once again immersed in his thoughts. The deaths, the money, the way Lina had acted with the police. He had a lot to work through. And a lot to ask Lina about. Ranma finally asked. Ranma took a deep breath. It wasn't easy, acting this seriously. Suddenly Lina's voice turned from hesitant to angry. There was no answer. Again, there was a pause. Lina eventually answered. The rest of the trip was spent in silence. * * * "Inspector Chen?" One of the younger attendants stopped the old man that evening. "What is it, Meh-funh?" "Wasn't that girl, the one who was kidnapped, an American?" "I... I think she was." Actually he had forgotten to ask her. Probably starting to get a little old. "Why has she filled the forms out in Japanese, then?" Chen shrugged. "There are all sorts of people in the world, you know." "Whatever you say, sir." "Was there anything else?" "Actually... yes. Officer Li says that he accidentally spilled some tea on the panda and it turned into a man. Should I recommend a few days of rest for him?" "Do that. The stress of the work is obviously getting at him." * * * Several days later inspector Chen got unexpected visitors, as an old lady and a young beautiful girl, hailing from the village of Jokentsuzoku, came into the town. Since his family owned several favours to the Chinese amazons, he agreed to see them immediately. "Kidnapped, you say?" the elder of the duo, Cologne, asked. "Yes, Mrs. Cologne. She said that somebody, or something, killed all the bandits. She didn't know what it was, though." "Ah." "Some more tea?" "No, thank you. Did the girl mention where she was going?" Chen pondered that for a second. "Xi'an, I believe. She said she was supposed to meet some friends there." "Oh." Pause. "You have her name, I hope?" "Yes, of course." Chen browsed through some papers, trying to find the right folder. "Lina Inverse." Cologne raised an eyebrow. "A familiar name?" Chen asked. "I'm... Not sure. Perhaps. Now could you tell me anything more about her?" "Hmmm... Well, for some reason, she seemed to prefer speaking Japanese." "Interesting. Anything else?" "Hmmm... Well, there was this one thing..." "Do continue." "Uhh... Well, it was nothing really..." "Please, Mr Chen. I doubt your mother would approve, keeping information from us..." Silence. "Officer Li claimed that the panda turned into a human once." Chen finally said. Cologne's eyes widened. "Did he say how?" "Uhh... It might have had something to do with tea..." The elder amazon leaned back. "Could I talk with this officer Li?" Chen shook his head. "I'm afraid he's on a vacation. I figured his nerves cracked or something, seeing things like that." Cologne stood up and smiled. "Perhaps, Mr Chen, perhaps not. I suggest you let this officer Li return to duty. If my guess is right, there's nothing wrong with his nerves." Chen blinked. "What then..." "Good day Mr Chen." The two amazons left, leaving Chen to ponder this newest mystery. * * * Inside, Shampoo had stayed quiet, as ordered. But the moment they set out of the station's door, she could do it no longer. "Great-grandmother, what was that? Panda turning into a human?" Cologne looked sharply at her Great-granddaughter. "You mean you don't know?" "I... Uhh..." "I've told you again and again that you should read more. Martial arts isn't everything in life." Cologne got a faraway look at her eyes. "The panda probably is really a human, somebody who has fallen to the cursed spring of Shaomaonichuan at Jusenkyou." "Spring of the drowned... What are you talking about Great- grandmother?" "Jusenkyou is a valley near the village of Jokentsuzoku. In time, there have been many legends about the place..." * * * That night Cologne sat long in her hotel room, reading the Oulun Bible. She was sure she had seen the name Lina Inverse there. Patiently the old woman read through the the chapters on 'White magic', 'Black Magic' and 'Shamanism' and found nothing, but something about the name reminded her of something. Finally, long after midnight she found it in the very last part of the book, the part describing 'uncategorisable and otherwise unique spells'. "The Giga Slave. Probably the most powerful offensive spell ever created. A variant of the already- destructive Dragon Slave, The Giga Slave calls not upon Ruby Eye Shabranigdo, but upon the power of Lord of Nightmares, the creator of everything, herself. To our knowledge, the secret of casting the Giga Slave was known to only one person, Lina Inverse, who used it to defeat a resurrected fragment of Shabranigdo approximately a year before the second Mazoku-Kamizoku war began. Unfortunately, the knowledge of this spell died with Ms. Inverse upon her untimely death. This is a great shame, because the Giga Slave might well have altered the outcome of the war." There it was, Lina Inverse. Mentioned as the only person to know the most destructive spell ever. But how could it be? According to this, the woman was a thousand years dead! Was the name just a coincidence, or had the ancient sorceress somehow returned to life? The mere possibility sent shivers down Cologne's back. A sorceress, said to possess the most destructive form of magic ever know. How could Shampoo hope to defeat such a foe? How could _she_ ever hope to defeat such a foe? Cologne shook her head. It was still too early to say anything. Yes, the girl was a sorceress, but nothing even hinted at her being able to cast magics like this 'Giga Slave.' Until she knew more, Cologne would keep from drawing any conclusions. But still... If she was that Lina Inverse, how could she look like a young girl? After all, Lina Inverse had lived a millennium ago. Perhaps it was an illusion, something she had created with her magic? Who knew what sort of power a sorceress wielded. Perhaps... Perhaps the 'girl' was actually much older than she looked. Perhaps, she had never died in the first place, but went into hiding, faking her demise. Or perhaps she was just a young girl who had somehow learned some sorcery and happened to have the same name. Or maybe she chose the name, once she learned about it. After all, why had she ran away from Shampoo in Cunzhuang? And what part had a Jusenkyou-curse male have in this? If he was Jusenkyou-cursed and not a panda. A curse would explain what that chicken breeder had seen, though... Was he her protector? Companion? Teacher? Cologne rubbed her temples. Each answer seemed to raise a dozen new questions. It was better to think of this later, after a good night's sleep. Tomorrow she would hunt down this officer Li, and then go to Xi'an. * * * That same night, a burly shape sneaked out of its room in the best hotel of Xi'an. Since it was one of the customers, and not a burglar, the staff inconspicuously gave it room. Thus, the shape didn't encounter anyone on the dimly-light hallways. Finally arriving to the first floor by stairs (He'd seen the movies. Something always happened to the elevators in this kind of situation) the figure took a quick look around before dashing to the front desk. "Yes, what can I do for you?" The attendant asked. Silently, the figure gave him a postcard and dashed away. The attendant raised an eyebrow, but placed the postcard to the outgoing mail stack. * * * A week later a two Japanese, an elder man wearing a white gi, glasses and a scarf wrapped around his head, and a young pigtailed boy wearing used PRC army clothes, stepped out of a bus in Shanghai. Lina commented. * * * "Two tickets for the next plane to Tokyo, please," Ranma asked. "Right, sir. Could I have your ID, please?" There was a lot of digging, but finally Ranma was able to fish out his battered passport. Genma's took a lot more searching. * * * At the same time, a cargo ship carrying a certain postcard left for Japan. end chapter 5. Author's ramblings. It's done, finally. When I began this story, it was my intention to get the characters out of China in three, maybe four approximately 30k chapters. Now, after five chapters and over 200k of story, they've finally left. When I started writing the story, I really didn't have any idea where to go with it. Now, I know how it will end, and I know some of the stuff that will happen in-between. There will be some goofy moments (at least I hope...) but in general this is turning out to be a bit more serious than either Ranma 1/2 or Slayers usually is. Still, I hope you'll enjoy reading it. Unfortunately this will probably be the last chapter of Half a Sorceress for quite some time. Military service is obligatory here in Finland, and I'm entering service very soon. I don't know if I have energy to write during the service, but if I have, you might expect one or two chapters coming out during my time there. I'll get out either in January or July, 1999. Anyway, if you have something to say about this story, I can be reached at Jussi.Nikander@alien.nixu.fi (even while I'm in the army. Just don't expect a quick answer) Notes Flare Arrow: A basic fire spell that manifests as an arrow of flame that can be either thrown, or, as Lina likes to do it, shot from a bow made of fire. Blast Ash: A quite powerful fire spell. (or black spell, according to Xelloss' Slayers Site) It seems to be a jet of flame, powerful enough to incinerate a lesser demon. Fireball: self-explanatory. Take a look at the notes of chapter 3 for details. Burst Rondo: Burst Rondo sends dozens of small fireballs at the target. It is not the most powerful of spells. Elmekia Lance: The Elmekia Lance is a 'lance' of yellow energy and looks kinda like a laser beam. It's very similar to Sailor Venus' Cresent Beam in appearance, but is usually launched from open palm, not the tip of a finger. Shampoo's speaking Chinese. That's why she doesn't have a funny accent. I'm not going to use funny ascii characters to show what language the characters are speaking. In most cases it doesn't matter and in the ones it does, you should be able to figure it out yourself. Again, all the Chinese names are from '250 names for Feng Shui!'-webpage. I won't be held responsible if they aren't proper chinese names. ^_^ I haven't seen the dragon's hair storyline, so that scene is probably completely different from the one in manga. Deal with it. ^_^ Ranma knows very little about guns and Lina knows nothing. They have, for example, absolutely no idea how accurate guns are. And yes, both Lina and Ranma would probably have been able to beat the bandits when they closed on the bus, but they panicked. Like I said, neither has much experience about guns. About the 'bandits weren't rich' remark of Lina's. No matter how much paper money they had, it's nothing compared to what she got in, for example, episode 1 of the TV-series. So, in her opinion the bandits really weren't that rich. And again, the previous chapters can be found at http://www.users.fl.net.au/~bcadwgan/Anime.htm Please don't ask me for them unless absolutely necessery. I'm extremely busy with RL right now. Thank you. Oh, and did you pick up the Babylon 5 reference? ^_^ ---------- Jussi Nikander Jussi.Nikander@alien.nixu.fi