The World at War: Prologue (sequel to Can It Get Any Worse?)
[Ranma][various][x-over]
Three months have I searched, three months have I wondered an Asia
decimated by newly arisen barbarism, and in that three months, not
even so much as a glimmer of a cure has surfaced. Sure, I've run
across other Talented people, some even reasonably powerful, this is a
land of ancient mysticism and spiritual awareness, but none have been
able to tellme anything I didn't already know about the poison that
kept me from my Ami.
Sometimes I would run across a bastion of peace, a small valley, too
isolated to be in danger, maybe one where a sorcerer had made himself
at home, but mostly, whenever I found someplace where people were
relatively safe and well fed, those people had banded together into
militia type units. They fought off the bandits and thieves that such
a drastic societal change can create.

It was at one such town, a sizable affair of nearly three thousand
people, that I'd been confronted by the Elders and Commanders in
charge of the place. I'd thought at first they would attempt to press
me into service for them, it'd happened, unsuccesfully, before. Not
this time. They knew I was coming. How? They had a precognizant child
living within the walled city. At least they're not so bad as
psychics.

"Please, your Mightiness," begged the Elder in charge, a wiry little
man with no air and watery eyes,"we will be crushed without your
help." He was referring to an approaching attack force from the
Alliance. I'd taken the time to listen to his story because I was
starting to miss hearing Japanese, even if my Chinese was steadily
improving.

Why not? Maybe there would be some Amazons in this group. I nodded,
pulling the old guy to his feet. The senshi wouldn't be bothered with
this kind of thing. They probably wouldn't have participated anyway,
but the powers that be that even knew about them, namely Cologne, were
smart enough to keep them and their pokemon in reserve for when such
high numbers had to be fought that too many mundane warriors could be
lost."Just stop the begging, please." It was embarassing.

I was led, parade-like, through the dirt streets of the town. I
couldn't help but admire the amount of work done to turn the place
into a defensible retreat. Walls may keep out wild animals and men
with clubs, but they were useless against the type of warriors
produced by Jusendo.

A few hours of being treated like a king were all I could stand. I
made my departure from the hastily thrown together celebration as
politely possible. These people would be feeding me for a time, and I
didn't want to needlessly offend them.

****

There wasn't much of a wait. An endless stream of pretty girls kept my
bed warm at night, may Ami forgive me, and I spent most of the
daylight hours cooking up nasty little one use enchantments that would
permanently turn Amazon women into Amazon men. I'd probably be able to
hear the screams of agony from here when they try to cure their
warriors with the cursed water of Jusenkyo. Setsuna's ring had finally
yielded its knowledge to me and I was making use of it to torment the
Amazons every chance I got, a sort of poetic justice. By my last
count, just under three hundred had been transformed.

There were a few more complicated spell constructs that would be able
to turn the wings of the Phoenix People into lead and to use their
crossbred DNA to drive the Musk into killing frenzies(they always went
after other Musk when that happened). Each construct was simple, a
small glass bead, but it would be the most effective weapon my
benefactors would ever have against the Alliance.

Two weeks, four days, and three hours after I'd been asked to fight
for the town, it was attacked by a joint force of Phoenix People,
Musk, and Amazons. The attack came at midday, not the best time for a
raid.

Each faction of the Alliance fought differently. Saffron's people
always chose to dive at high speed, levelling off rapidly and leaving
trenches carved in the Earth where the vaccum force generated by chi
strengthened wings struck. The more talented of the winged warriors
didn't need this action to produce the deadly attack, but dove anyway,
launching from their wings a combination of enchanted steel feathers
and more accurate vacuum blades that they could specifically target
their victims with.

The Musk preferred to use the extremes, brute strength, raw speed, or
sheer power. Their strong warriors were never just big, they were
huge, and they simply smashed through any defenses erected before them
and crushed any type of offense. The fast Musk were typically small,
both short and thin, and some could nearly rival the Amazon Elders and
me in speed. Give one of them enough knives or a good sword, and they
could reek absolute havoc within enemy ranks. When it came to power,
the cousins and siblings of Herb, all with lower amounts of the dragon
blood within their veins that gave them their huge chi force, simply
stand around and lob energy blasts, blowing up anything in their path.

Amazons were all skilled. Their strength and speed, on average, was
less than that of the Musk, but the combination of what they had with
that skill made them the equals, if not betters of any other non-
ruling warrior in the Alliance. When an Amazon learned the tribe's
secret techniques, she gained, temporarily, the speed of a speed bred
Musk with the kacchu tenshin amaguriken. The bakusai tenketsu
increased their endurance to nearly that of the Musk powerhouses and
the ability to explode solid, non-living matter almost made up for the
difference in strength. Chi training, though not enough to bring most
Amazon warriors up to the dragon descended Musk, was used widely
enough that the greater number of chi using Amazons could equal the
fewer, if more powerful Musk royalty.

The people designated to handle the enchantmented weapons, held their
ground, using up the stored energy within each bead. Amazons who were
affected, when they realized they'd had the wammie put on them,
started screaming in terror and became pretty much useless. Phoenix
People fell from the sky like stones, smashing into the ground with
pleasing splats. The Musk started howling and eating each other.

That left about three hundred warriors, all of superhuman ability, for
me to deal with. Not the easiest thing to do when you consider that I
was inside of a walled town and could only defend one area at a time.

****

I took to the air after a near miss from a trio of extremely powerful
chi blasts. They wouldn't have gotten through my shields, but I didn't
feel like getting battered around by that much concussive force. My
clothes were literally saturated with the blood of my victims and in
there were tears and slashes in the cloth where a few enchanted
weapons had gotten through my shields. That had prompted a reworking
of my shields so that I didn't get a mystic arrow in the back.

There weren't really all that many Alliance soldiers left. Those that
remained were arrayed around me. The Musk only had a few royal
descendents, the Phoenix People had the most remaining, almost a
dozen, and one of them was a moderately powerful sorcerer. The sole
Amazon was, to my suprise, an Elder. What was an Elder doing attacking
a relatively useless town in the middle of China? For that matter,
what were seven, four of whom were now dead, of Herb's cousins doing
here? I didn't know enough about the organization of their forces or
Talented to non-Talented ratio of the Phoenix People, but I'd guess
that there was significantly higher number of heavy hitters in the
ranks that was common.

Well, it looked like I'd have to spare one of them long enough to find
out what was going on. I smiled at the Elder, a gesture barely
discernable through the distortion of the heavy battle aura and dense
shields I was maintaining."Do they still scream?" I asked."Or has
someone put them out of their misery yet?" My choice to leave Jusendo
had been prompted as much by a desire to help Ami as the need to
separate myself from those who I had destroyed. I never have felt
'guilty' about what I did, but definitely uncomfortable.

The Elder, one of the few who had remained silent as I'd laid down the
rules all those months ago, gasped as realization came to her. Ahh,
she knew who I was, and she was scared. The Elder began to step back,
steadily gathering and focussing as much chi into an impending strike
as she could. I looked her in the eyes, never breaking the line of
sight, even as I deflected a series of concentrated energy bolts
designed to strip away my shields. The sorcerer responsible for the
attempt didn't get a chance for another spell. I used the back trail
created by the attack to force enough energy into the Phoenix Person
to permanently sere the Talent from his soul.

"DIE!!!" roared the Elder, now glowing a bright yellowish-orange. Her
impressive aura flowed across her lithe body and coalesced into bright
spheres of power that she launched at me. The attack was powerful,
truly worthy of an Elder of the Amazon Nation, but, fully aware of it,
I was able to redirect its power. I channelled the captured chi energy
through the enchanted sword held at my side and used it to incenerate
the three Musk. Not a drop of my own power wasted.

Exhausted by the ill prepared attack, the Elder collapsed to the burnt
grass. She would be my unwilling informant soon enough. I turned my
attention to the Phoenix People. None of them had attacked me, yet,
not even while my back was turned, but they couldn't be allowed to
survive. No one could know that it was I who had destroyed this force
and several others. The safety of the senshi and the others from Japan
depended on it.

The fallen sorcerer clutched his head between his hands and rocked
back and forth on the ground, weeping. I sympathized with the guy, I
really did, but he shouldn't have tried to kill me. The ten warriors,
four glowing with battle aura and at least one of them a member of the
elite soliders who had those magic steel feathers, formed a barrier
between me and the sorcerer. I ignited my spell, a type of fire that
only destroys living matter. The screams were horrible as the winged
men and women slowly turned to ash. When it was over, nothing remained
in the area except for myself and the unconscious Elder, who I had
protected from the magical fire

True, I could have used some other, less painful, method, but I wanted
to get some of the enchanted feathers carried by that one guy, and the
other enchanted weaponry I'd spotted among the warriors without
damaging it. The quality and strength of the enchantments and the
enchanted material itself had improved dramatically a little over a
month after the war started. Just out of curiousity, I wanted to know
why.

****

"Are you sure this will work?" Akane asked Kasumi. The Tendo sisters
were living in the countryside, far from any other humans, and the
lack of men and electricity had been devastating, to say the least.

Kasumi nodded enthusiastically, happy to finally be getting some from
someone besides herself or her sisters."Oh yes, he's just wonderful.
It's a little unusual at first, what with all the hair, but I think
you'll enjoy him just as much as I did."

Akane and Nabiki were following their sister through the woods,
supposedly to meet with a man that would be able to satisfy them all.
The two younger Tendos wouldn't have believe anyone else, but this was
Kasumi, and she had been practically glowing when she's stumbled into
the camp, barely able to walk.

She led her sisters around a bend in the trail and into a small
clearing. Waiting for them there, was a giant panda. It was munching
lazily on a stalk of bamboo, but when it saw the three girls, hastily
climbed to its feet, its hind legs actually, and began looking cute.

"Isn't he great?" Kasumi asked, running up to the giant panda and
hugging him fiercely. She made sure to give his dick a good hard
squeeze so he'd know what he was in for.

Nabiki and Akane exchanged glances, shook their heads, and were about
to tell Kasumi that she had gone absolutely insane, when from the
panda's waist, grew an enormous dick. They nearly gagged on their own
tongues before they could gain control of themselves.

Was a panda really so bad? They were gentle creatures, and from all
Nabiki had heard, very loyal. It appeared to be very intelligent and
its sheer bulk would scare off the majority of predators, human or
beast. Then, there was that giant piece of meat...

Akane had to count backwards from ten, repeatedly, to keep the
fantasies from intruding on her mind so heavily that she couldn't
think. Leave it to Kasumi to be the lucky one, getting to break in
this wonderful animal.

****

Genma Saotome shook his head minutely, careful not to give away more
than he should. The schools would be joined, no matter what he had to
sacrifice. He would live with the girls, help them any way he could,
and when the time came, reveal his true identity. By then, they would
be dependent upon him for more than just sex, they wouldn't be able to
survive in this harsher world without him.

If Ranma wouldn't do his duty, Genma would. Besides, if the other
girls were only a fraction as good a lay as Kasumi, he was in for
quite a vacation.

****

Author's Notes: Here's the first part of 'The World ar War'. From here
on out, Ranma will be meeting new people, helping some, and killing
many, many more. He'll be moving on to Russia in the next few
chapters, and I am going to have him meet the first of some of the
characters submitted to me by my readers(this one is your's, Ginne).
I've been thinking, and decided that I wanted to try to bring Resident
Evil into this as more than just a cameo appearance. I'm not sure if
it will work out, but having genetic mutations within the populations
of the world due to an uncurable virus could be fun. I never finished
the first game(stupid memory card burnt out and I was too lazy to go
through the whole game again) and have only read one of the books, so
any info on Umbrella and anything else about the world of Resident
Evil would be a big help. Finally, I'm gonna stop taking character
submissions in a week. I appreciate all your help, but my mailbox is
getting hard to check. C&C me at dark_phoneix@hotmail.com

P.S.- CIGAW was my first finished work, ever! Yay!
The World at War [Ranma][various][x-over]
Through means best left unmentioned, I managed to extract a great deal
of information from my captured Elder before putting her to the knife,
or the magical equivalent. Seems that this town was simply a rallying
point for the three factions before they began a trip into Russia to
gather up a load of enchanted weaponry created for them by a powerful
sorcerer. I also discovered the source of payment for the transaction.
Hidden, about a kilometer from the town, within a small copse of
trees, was a large wooden trunk. It was bound in iron and a number of
fairly decent protective wards, containing crumbling four tomes of
magic, an ancient athame that bore the aura of long and heavy use, and
a sack of extremely valuable gems. They weren't valuable for their
monetary worth, though their size and quality was impressive. These
were the kinds of gems that had been in contact with places of power
for thousands upon thousands of years.
The tomes were useless to me, not being able to read, or even
recognize, the language they were written in, and the athame wasn't
stable enough to be trusted with the kinds and levels of power I was
accustommed to(not to mention that Xochial's athame put this one to
shame). The gems, they would stay with me. Thinking about them made me
shake my head. To have gathered such a collection of nearly priceless
objects together, the Alliance must be expecting a major product.

I'd gotten vague directions from the Elder, but they would be good
enough to get me close enough to reliably use magic to find the
Artificer. Anyone capable of dealing on equal footing with the
Alliance was worth checking out. The man may even have a cure for my
Ami.

****

"And the latest probe?" Bill Gates asked. The so-called Wizard of
Gates(he'd only taken that title so others would think him insane, and
therefore easy to manipulate, double cross, etc...) sat in the command
chair of the Microsoft Lunar Testing Center. Through holographic
displays, he recieved constant streams of information from satellites
orbiting the Earth and Moon.

The petite young woman that sat far to his right behind a touch screen
console replied,"The results are the same, sir. We can get visuals of
the surface easily enough, but as soon as atmospheric contact is made,
all communication ceases. Other probes and satellite feeds indicate
that like the others, the probe lost all descent control and broke up
on re-entry."

Bill frowned. His quantum computer(explained in the author's notes),
B.A.S.C(Big Ass Super Computer), had predicted a global conflict, but
the actual reality went beyond just war. The world, was, for all
practical purposes, in the stone age. How B.A.S.C. had come up with
even a hint of the war that was slowly spreading throughout China,
Bill didn't know, but it had and he was glad he'd acted. The resources
of the U.S. had been more than enough to establish a lunar base and
the natural deposits of titanium and materials able to be turned into
a sturdy concrete had aided in rapid construction.

Even now, in two automated consturction facilities, plans were being
carried out to manufacture the first in a series of Humanoid Vehicular
Exoskeletons. The H.V.E.'s were constructed mainly from the titanium
variant found in large deposits on the moon and their weaponry
included the latest in particle beam and magnetic levitation through
manipulation of Earth's energy fields. A sizable portion of B.A.S.C.'s
computing power was turned to discovering a way for the Gundams, as
Bill referred to them(a reference from a favorite anime of his), to
operate in the altered conditons on Earth that had rendered its
technology useless.

"Very well. From this day forth, I want bi-weekly insertion attempts
by the probes. All information will be fed directly to B.A.S.C." If
all went as planned, Bill expected the computer to have found an
adequate counter to the anti-technology field shortly after the
Gundams went online.

****

"Kijin Raishu Dan!" I recognized the attack as I heard it shouted, but
not the voice of its user. Had the fat bastard gotten the balls to
teach his 'forbidden' techniques to someone? Well, that was a stupid
question.

The building that I stood before was large, but that was only the
visible portion. I could sense, through distortions in the Earth's
energy patterns, that the structure extended far into the mountainside
that it rested against. No roads led to it, and there appeared to
never have been a road. Weird.

I shrugged that little mystery aside and leapt from the top of the
large bouler I'd been standing on, using a trace of levitation to
carry me above the 20 odd stories of the building. I could not see nor
probe past the shiny black material used for windows. Gravel crunched
under my heavy boots as I landed on the roof.

Littered around the roof of the mysterious building were a number of
things that should not have existed. The large dobermens, they would
have been expected, except that they were running towards a Japanese
man no more than three years older than myself, and they were dead.
Three zombies also shuffled towards the man. There were dozens of them
already down, some immobile and others crawling weakly through the
gravel. The man, a powerful and skilled martial artist, was fighting a
demon. The demon easily topped thirteen feet. Its spiked and taloned
arms were disproportionately large when compared to the rest of its
massive frame, and the creatures skin looked like partially melted wax
mixed with chords of exposed muscle.

What's unusual about this, besides a lot of zombies and a demon? Quite
simple, really. There wasn't a bit of magic in any of them. I'm not a
practitioner of necromancy, it's a vile art for the weak willed, but I
have sufficient knowledge in the area to know that you can't animate
any kind of corpse without necromatic energies channelled through a
living sorcerer(does very strange and ugly things to that sorcerer).
The human and canine zombies had never been exposed to nercomancy.
They shouldn't be anything more than rotting worm food. That demon, it
also had no magic. All demons possess innate magic, they can't exist
without it.

Answer. Those weren't zombies and that wasn't a demon. This place was
starting to get on my nerves. Oops, they just spotted me. The zombies
weren't worth bothering with. Those that decided to eat me instead of
the martial artist(another mystery) didn't get to enjoy being undead
for very long. They might not be mystical in origin, but a little dose
of white magic and the sons of bitches turned into pretty little piles
of dust.

Not constantly harrassed by lesser foes, that martial artist made
quick work of the not-demon. I watched with interest as he kept his
distance and steadily widdled away pieces of the creature. He avoided
coming in contact with any of its blood, going so far as to flash his
battle aura into intense heat whenever the black ooze sprayed too
widely for him to easily dodge. The poisonous property of the blood
was a good enough explanation for why the man hadn't used any of the
Yama-sen-ken's direct physical attacks.

A little more than a minute after arriving, I witnessed the demon-like
creature collapse in on itself, becoming little more than a puddle of
steaming black and red ichor. The martial artist, his fight over,
seemed to come out of a daze. He looked around and was obviously
suprised that there were no living dead waiting to feast on his brain.

I whistled, catching his attention. Without taking a chance to see who
I was, the martial artist turned, flinging a vaccum blade in my
direction. The attack met my shields and dissipated harmlessly. Now
that I could see the man's face, the exhaustion of fighting off so
many attackers was clear. That last blade had cost him whatever small
reserves he had left. Time for another good deed.

****

The martial artist possessed a fairly high level of Talent, so I was
able to infuse enough energy into him to heal any minor injuries he'd
taken and bring him around within minutes. He sat up, shaking his head
groggily, and attempted to stand.

I'd put as much distance between us and the creature infested building
as I could in five minutes."Mind telling me what in Hell those things
were back there?" I asked. His eyes focussed on me and he assumed a
deceptively tight fighting stance."Oh please, you couldn't fight of a
kitten right now, man. Just sit down and tell me what it was you were
fighting back there."

Warily, the man sat down across from me, the small fire I'd built
forming a barrier between us."Who are you?" he asked suspisciously.
He'd just been through some rough shit so it wouldn't hurt to tell the
guy.

"I'm Ranma. I saved you from the zombies. Now, tell me what that place
is and why there were zombies and demons running around." Though he
had the Talent, this man hadn't been trained in its use at all. He
wouldn't have known that he was fighting unnatural undead, if the
undead can be said to ever be natural.

His voice edged with the kind of mental exhaustion brought on by
constant stress, he began,"I'm Ryu Kumon, special operative for the
JSDF. Roughly three months ago, I was sent on a mission to infiltrate
and destroy the Umbrella installation where you found me. I was chosen
specifically for my...special abilities. In route to the rendezvous
point with my contact, my chopper went down and ever since then I've
been unable to get a satellite uplink with HQ and I've found nothing
of any technological sophistication that actually works. My weapons
won't even discharge. Knowing the importance of my assignment to the
entire free world, I chose to continue the mission. I finally arrived
last week. Without proper navigation equipment, and with the GPS down,
the trip took much longer than expected." His eyes were haunted, those
of a man who had seen too much. I know the look, I still get it
sometimes when I think of Ami.

"Umbrella, what is that?" I asked. I was getting one of those bad
feelings. The kind that make the hairs on the back of my neck stand
up, stretch their legs, and run away.

Ryu shrugged."I'm not entirely sure. All I was told was that they were
some sort of secret world wide organization bent on global domination.
There are dozens of those, though. Umbrella ranked special attention
because they had the means to possibly succeed. Their scientists have
developed a series of viral mutagens that can be used to reanimate the
dead by restoring nervous function and forcefully awakening primitive
parts of the brain, or if allowed to properly incubate, develop living
biological weapons possessing qualities from several natural species."
That's some fucked up shit. Damned idiots. No wonder I couldn't detect
any magic in the zombies or the demon."The beast that gave me so much
trouble earlier was a frightened scientist just a couple days ago.
He'd been using a type of enormous electric jelly-fish to maintain
enough power within the facility to contain the experimental subjects,
but the jelly fish died last week of side effects from exposure to the
mutagen. When the storage and containment fields went down, he was
infected with a new strain of the mutagenic virus. In less than twenty
four hours he grew into that...thing." Damn. It's mass had been easily
ten times that of almost any man. Such a growth rate was frightening,
and would have been moreso if I'd not watched Demon literally grow
before my eyes.

Uh oh. I threw up my shields, keying them to specifically screen out
anything but clean air. My eyes rolled back in my head as I scanned my
body for any irregular activity that could indicate a viral infection.
None, I was clean. I relaxed, and saw that Ryu was giving me the
eye."Sorry, just making sure I'm not infected with whatever it is
you're talking about." Still with the eye."It's sorta like a martial
arts technique," I explained. That seemed to suit him well enough.

Without the huge amounts of energy that I kept stored within my body,
Ryu was much easier to scan. Almost immediately, I found more than
just an irregularity. The guy wasn't infected, no, his immune system
was at least as strong as mine. Ryu was a cyborg of some kind, a very
advanced one if he was able to survive in today's less than perfect
world."What school do you practice?" Ryu asked, not really caring
whether I answered or not. Jeeze, this guy is almost as bad as Ryoga.

Without really thinking, I answered,"Saotome School of Anything Goes
Martal Arts. That's what I was originally taught anyway. I've picked
up quite a few styles in the past decade." I was still preoccupied
with solving the problem presented to me by Ryu. How 'was' he
surviving?

I looked up as I heard rocks scraping, expecting to see a zombie or
something similar. Instead, obscured faintly by firelight, Ryu Kumon
stood once again, glowing with a faint battle aura and once again
taking the familiar Yama-sen-ken stance."Saotome!" he hissed.

Before this could get out of hand, I exerted my will, forcing the
martial atist back to the ground. His eyes were wild and threatened to
roll out of his head when he found he could not longer control his
body."Calm down, damnit!" Another fine mess courtesy of the bastard.
"What did my father do to you?" I asked, mentally adding this to the
very long list of reasons to torture my father."I don't have any money
if he stole something that belonged to you, not that money is much
good nowadays."

"You're the son of Genma Saotome?" the older man grated from between
clenched teeth. At least he'd had the sense to kill his battle aura.

I nodded."Not by choice, but yes, he is my father. It's been a few
years since I saw him last, though. He was running away from me at the
time. Idiot tried to sell me to a Chinese circus." 'That' one was
going to get Genma a skinning.

Ryu's expression seemed less anger now and more curiousity. He didn't
attempt to kill me when I released the pressure of inverted shields
from him, so I continued,"Does this have anything to do with you using
the Yama-sen-ken? He didn't steal it from your family, did he?" Was
the man put on this Earth for the sole purpose of pissing off the
entire human race?

Ryu shook his head."No, he didn't steal the techniques. He gave them
to my father without warning him of the danger of practicing them. My
father died when our dojo collapsed on him as a result of your
father's carelessness." Genma couldn't have possibly done that out of
charity. A round about way to kill off a rival? Possibly.

"Sorry, man. I feel for ya, I really do." He couldn't possibly know
what it was to truly lose someone you care for more than your own
life. "My father is an idiot, honorless, ugly, the scum of the
Earth..." I didn't stop for about five minutes. When my little lecture
was over, Ryu was smiling faintly and the only negative emotion he was
feeling was a weak regret.

"At first I spent years looking for Genma Saotome, to take the Umi-
sen-ken and revenge from him, but then there was the explosion and my
priorities changed. Now, I guess I've found the other half of the
forbidden techniques and I won't live to learn them." Gloomy.

"The explosion, is that why you're a cyborg?" Before he could ask how
I knew, I said,"Magic, true magic." He swallowed that pill much easier
than I'd expected.

The man nodded."It wasn't just an explosion. The truck was carrying
sulfiric acid. The government was only able to save 35% of my body.
The rest is life support equipment covered over with biomimetic alloys
and poly-ceramic armor. My main power source has been dead ever since
my chopper went down. I've been supplementing the back-up fuel cells
with my own chi, but that won't work but a couple more days." Ouch.
Who knew the government was good for something, afterall?

"Your fuel cells have been working for the last few months, though?"
That shouldn't have been possible. Then again, Ryu shouldn't be alive
at the moment.

"Yeah. It's some kind of bioelectric battery. Fighting my way out of
the Umbrella installation has pretty much drained the remaining power
from it." Hell, if his body still worked, even with the technology
dampening field of Saffron's, why not try to keep it running. Ami...if
I ever found a cure for her, could probably find lots of uses for that
kind of technology.

Ryu was Talented, at least at the level of the senshi, and would, with
instruction, eventually be able to keep himself running, but for now,
I'd have to play generator. I reached into my spatial pocket and drew
out a perfect, marble sized yellow diamond. It was one of those the
Alliance had sent as payment for their new toys and I'd planned on
giving it to Makoto in a couple decades when this whole mess was over.

"Remember, magic," I responded to the unasked question as Ryu watched
in complete fascination while I worked. I used my athame to carve the
elemental symbols of air into the diamonds surface(yep, it's much
harder than any diamond), empowering it with an enormous electrical
charge. Full night had taken hold when I finished. The yellow gem
glowed with a greenish-white light and floated an inch above my palm.

"It'll give you electricity for a while, but I don't know how much
your body needs or at what level it needs it. If what you say is true,
though, it's your only chance at survival." I passed the gem to Ryu.

The older man held the glowing diamond reverently. He stood up and
took his brown and green camo shirt off. Without any visible action,
he caused a three inch square hole to open in the his chest, the
realistic skin parting at an invisible seam. Within the small cavity,
a short and thin cylinder filled with a luminescent green liquid
hovered. Ryu took a deep breath and snatched the cylinder from his
chest, replacing it with my diamond in the same motion.

I didn't really have much hope for him to do more than start smoking
and explode, but after a couple minutes of rigid inactivity, he sighed
and the panel closed, the skin resealing and looking unbroken.

Ryu shook his head in wonder."I don't know how you did it, but I'm
back at full power. That little rock gives off more power than my
original, but I can handle it." He pulled me to my feet and shook my
hand vigorously.

Yes, yes, I know. I'm such a good person that I leave trails of
blooming flowers in my wake. Hmmm, I really could do that. Ranma the
Messiah. Nah, I hear the All Mighty frowns on that kind of thing.
Anyway, back to the moment."No problem, just don't get in my way and
we'll get along fine."

"Huh?" I guess I should explain.

"That thing won't last forever, and you'd better believe that you
won't be able to find any of your old batteries that actually works,
for a long, long while." I hate it when people look at me like I'm an
idiot. "Trust me on this. In the entire world, you're the only piece
of technology that isn't a paperweight." And that was only true
because of Ryu's chi control and latent Talent, I suspected."The
reason for it is that a guy got hold of some powerful magic and turned
it loose. Now technology is dead for a hundred years. You have the
ability to learn magic and if you want to survive, you're gonna have
to let me teach you." Okay, I've gotten used to teaching. I wouldn't
really mind the company of another martial artist all that much,
either.

"Magic? I can't say that it doesn't exist, not after the last hour,
but learning magic, I don't know." Please don't be one of those purist
assholes. I've run across them every so often. They always want to use
just martial arts or just magic. So few people seem to understand that
when taken to the higher levels, the two disciplines compliment each
other immensely.

"I won't force it on you, though you'll die without the knowledge. I
guess I could teach you the Umi-sen-ken too. Anything to piss the old
man off."

****

Author's Notes: I know that this Ryu Kumon is way different than
canon, but this one had been through some major shit, you know, the
character building kind. I'm planning on him having some really cool
weapons built into his body that will be revealed next chapter. Sigh,
no one sent in any Resident Evil info, so I'm gonna have to do the
research myself. Send C&C to me at dark_phoneix@hotmail.com

About B.A.S.C.- I'm not entirely sure about the theory of quantum
computers, but it goes something like this. Since a quantum particle
can and does exist in more than one place at any given time, a comuter
that could uses a quantum processor like the cpu of a normal computer
could run trillions(if not more) of equations in the time it takes
todays fastest computers to run one. That translates to a whole hell
of a lot of power. B.A.S.C. would not only be able to possess an A.I.
of some kind, it should be able to decipher the meaning of life, the
purpose of the universe, and God's last name.
The World at War: Chapter 2 [Ranma][various][x-over]
The World at War: Chapter 2
I sighed, rubbing my temples slowly to relieve a headache that was
quickly becoming a migraine. Ryu wasn't a bad guy, he even had a lot
in common with me, at least as much as any one person can, but he
absolutely would not give up on the idea of completing his mission. I
was almost ready to believe that he had somehow been programmed to
take out the Umbrella building.

"I have to do this, Ranma. If the viral agents stored within that
facility are released into the atmosphere the world will be ravaged by
monsters and civilization will cease to exist!" Ryu shouted. Fully
energized and no longer using his chi just to stay active, Ryu Kumon
had a chi force at least as strong as mine. He couldn't properly use
it, only knowing the Yama-sen-ken and a rudimentary chi bolt maneuver,
but it was there, and the martial artist wasn't attempting to restrain
it.

"Newsflash, the world is already ravaged by monsters and civilization
went down the tubes about three months ago. This virus you talk about,
the one that makes monsters and zombies, has already been released
into the atmosphere. Remember all those zombies and the monster
yesterday? You exploded quite a few of them. The winds up on top of
the building were higher than average, more than powerful enough to
spread out infected blood over long distances." Hell, if things kept
getting worse, the remaining people of the world might turn to the
Alliance willingly, just for protection.

Ryu's mouth gaped open, but he snapped it shut and said,"You don't
know that for sure. The virus may not take hold long enough to spread
from just those zombies. The Umbrella installation has to be destroyed
or the virus will definitely spread. You haven't seen the labs, Ranma,
there are warehouse sized caverns full of nothing but incubation tubes
with monsters like the one I fought yesterday. Thousands upon
thousands of them." Maybe he was just an idiot and not really
programmed to do this.

"Fine then. So, how are you going to destroy the place? Last time I
checked, NOTHING that goes boom went boom. I don't suppose you're
going to walk up to all the zombies and ask them to tear it down for
you." I have all intentions of transporting that entire mountain into
space, but the idiot wants to go inside and do it himself, alone.

Looking sheepish for the first time, Ryu said,"I was hoping you could
teach me some magic, you know, something that would blow it up?"

I shook my head disbelievingly. This guy was unreal."One day you'll be
powerful, but your power is several orders of magnitude below what
would be required to cast such a spell." I wasn't about to tell him
that he actually could one day destroy the mountain, he didn't need to
know that now. I didn't want the place destroyed, that left too many
chances for something to survive. I wanted it 'gone'.

Ryu remained silent. I continued,"You see? I have the capability to do
the job, so I'll do it."

****

Teleporting a mountain is the kind of thing I don't like to do(I have
done it before, though), but the alternatives, mainly Earth as zombie
heaven, didn't sound very fun. The kind of work involved in
transporting a mountain as large as this one was more than I felt like
doing. In this day and age you just can't let yourself become
exhausted, not and remain intact and breathing. So, I didn't do the
work, I used a couple of crystals in my possession that made me the
most powerful being on this planet(that thought just makes me feel all
warm and fuzzy inside).

In one powerful grab, I appropriated an enormous amount of raw energy
from the Silver Imperium Crystal and used the lens crystal of my own
creation to focus and shape that energy into a space warping spell.
Katya, the older, wiser, more beautiful, and less insane sister of
Setsuna a.k.a Sailor Pluto, a spatial mage and the other Senshi of
Pluto, had taught me the spell and I'd pretty much worked out all the
bugs. I wouldn't use it to transport myself with anything more than a
few hundreds kilos of mass for a few more years, but that wasn't
likely to be a requirement either.

"Wha-?" was all that Ryu managed to get out before the giant whole in
reality formed above the mountain and sucked it and a large part of
the surrounding forest into space. If I'd been doing this unaided, I'd
have drawn a complex spell pattern and been left exhausted for hours.
Shit, I'd better start relying more on more on personal power or my
reserves would begin to atrophy.

Unlike the first time, where I had inadvertently drawn the senshi and
myself into another dimension along with a small mountain, this one
didn't leave behind a super smooth surface. There was, instead, an
enormous chunk taken out of the Earth, leaving a gaping crater-like
maw.

Along the jagged edge of the crater, large rooms and storage areas
remained undamaged. Within some of those rooms I could see the
incubation tubes mentioned by Ryu. Most of the rooms, though, held
zombies that wondered around aimlessly, cages that housed a several
varieties of mutant and undead creatures, and broken equipment. At
least Ryu would get a chance to complete his mission, sorta.

"Hey, Ryu, wanna see who's the most accurate?" I asked. Of course the
entire inner area of the crater would have to be incinerated, but for
now nothing was going to escape that hadn't already done so.

"Huh?" I think the whole disappearing mountain thing had adled him a
bit.

I snapped my fingers in his face a couple times until his eyes
unglazed, then repeated,"I asked you if you wanted to see who could
blow up the most zombies from here." I wasn't going to use magic, if
that's what you're wondering. I wanted the guy to at least have
something of a chance.

Ryu grinned, all signs of shock, sullenness, and anger gone."None of
that magic crap?" I nodded, reminding myself to pound the value of
magic into Ryu sometime in the near future.

By the time we found an area that would allow us to cover the most
ground, some of the skinless ape creatures were scampering up the side
of the crater. They had a good distance to climb, still, but we agreed
to pick them off first.

I unleashed my chi, letting it burn around me in a tight, liquid-like
battle aura, while constraining the energy with my will so that none
of it would be wasted. The effect was that I became barely
recognizable as anything but a glowing green and gold humanoid shape.
Also, I began to gather excess chi from nature, carefully screening
out any magic that almost always came with it. I'd agreed to no magic,
but Ryu was going to get one hell of a demonstration.

Ryu was more straight forward. He crossed his arms over his chest and
they were enveloped in a dark bluish-purple aura. He must have thought
that by limiting the chi burn to his arms that he was saving energy,
and in a way, he was, but that also kept him from building up a much
larger charge or queing a series of attacks into his aura. As his arms
uncrossed, the forearms split into three sections and expanded outward
about three inches. The battle aura flowed between them heavily but I
could still see the metallic innards of Ryu's cybernetic body. From
the central section of the mechanism, a black bar of metal began to
pulse, eventually turning into a steadily glowing white light.

I didn't ask what exactly was happening. I'd only agreed on not using
magic. Oh well, maybe this will be a better game than I'd thought.

Ryu may have some powerful tech on his side, but he doesn't have the
knowledge or skill to equal a true master. I decided to fill him in on
that real quick. My first attack came in the form of a pair of energy
blasts, each connected to the other by a thin filament of chi. Moments
before slamming into a single skinless ape, the two spheres rocketed
away from each other, still connected by the chord. The chi filament
bissected four of the ape things at various levels and the main
attacks smashed into the rock wall, raining debris and ape pieces down
on other ape things. Total: 10

I looked to Ryu and saw him shake his head in what I like to think of
as wonder. His attack was a variant of the kijin raishu dan, a much
larger and stronger one. I'm not totally sure, but it appeared as if
he used the vacuum of the blade to encase a large amount of non-
magically harnessed plasma. The now white hot blade of energy, slammed
into the wall, vaporizing three of the creatures instantly and killing
eight more in the ensuing fall of debris and quick flowing motlen
rock. Total: 11.

My next attempt created a thermal void and sucked all the heat from a
dozen of the ape things, freezing them solid. The shock wave created
by such a rapid atmospheric change shattered the frozen mutations. Ryu
next targetted an outcropping of rock directly above a large pack of
ape things. This time his attack was a girating cable of chi that he
held in check and guided with some kind of force generated by the
mechanism within his arms. That got him a dozen. Damnit, I don't
intend to lose.

Concussion wave. 13. Weird metallic disk of death. 12. Ah ha, a tie!
That pretty much took care of the wall crawlers. Far below, zombies
were gnawing on one another and undead pooches were getting the
stuffing beat out of them by giant monsters that resembled the one Ryu
had fought.

The next hour rapidly degenerated into a cosmic pissing contest.
Behind by three, with the sun just about to set over the horizon, I
lost my patience and performed the mother of all bakusai tenketsus.
Mother doesn't really describe the cave in that followed. I had to
jump to safety, followed closely by Ryu, as the much abused wall of
the crater collapsed inward, throwing up a mushroom cloud of dust.
When it settled, thanks to a little help from moi, there wasn't much
more than a lake-sized dimple in the ground to identify the resting
place of lots of nasty little things.

"Guess I win, eh?" I asked, allowing myself to gloat a bit. It had
been fun, a true test of skill. I just had more skills.

"You sure that last one wasn't magic?" Ryu asked. With all the super
weapons he had pulled out, Ryu shouldn't have cared if I used a little
magic.

"No magic, just something I learned from the Amazons."

****

As we travelled through the wilderness of China, I passed the time by
either teaching Ryu magic or teaching him to fight. There wasn't
really that much else to do. The war was far enough behind us that the
only hope of meeting an Alliance force would be if they were coming
for their stuff. The few villages we passed through were little more
than patches of firm ground in between rice paddies and their
inhabitants didn't come across as friendly, taking careful aim as they
did to kill us with their bows.

Ryu himself, aside from teaching him, was an entertainment. The
Japanese government had built so many different weapons into his body
that just watching him try to form a martial arts style that would
incorporate them could become a fire works display. I also studied
him. If they could make one, though Ryu was most likely the strongest
by far, there could be others, even if it was unlikely they were
capable of moving.

I'd sent Demon with a warning to Usagi about Umbrella and the danger
posed by the remnants of their experimentation. The pokemon had
returned slightly scorched and battle weary, but the message had
gotten through and the senshi were prepared. Heh, I'll bet Saffron
won't mess with Demon again, not after their first encounter.

"So, who's the chick, Ranma?" Ryu asked. I was flying low, nearly
skimming the trees and the cybernetic martial artist was hovering
right along. He couldn't fly yet, but he knew enough to augment the
magnetic jump thrusters throughout his body to simulate the feat.

"Huh?" I'd been thinking about Ami and all the things I could have
done to those who had harmed her if only I'd been in my right mind. I
looked over at him innocently.

Ryu snorted."Please, don't deny it. I've seen the way you zone out
every so often. You may not know it, but sometimes your eyes start to
glow and you give off 'pissed' vibes. I know the signs. My dad was the
same way when mom got killed." Ryu wasn't stupid, despite his behavior
all those weeks ago. For his benefit, I'd decided that he had been
programmed to take out the installation.

I shrugged."Some Amazons tried to kill me. They got Ami instead. Right
now I've got her frozen in a stasis spell until I can find a cure for
the magically constucted poison she was exposed to." Here I go,
getting depressed again. Bastard, why couldn't he mind his own
business?

Ryu didn't want to mind his business and he didn't let the matter
drop. "Amazons? I thought you were all buddy buddy with them." Fine.
If he wanted to know, then I'd tell him.

"I was, but then they decided to take over the world. I decided to
take over their takeover and some of them didn't like it. The ones
that are still alive are constantly reliving a demonic gangrape. Their
souls, well their souls would probably much rather be in hell right
now." I'm not too sure about that one. If I tried, I could most likely
get the Dark Prince to see to them personally. Next time I talk with
him, I'll bring it up.

"Ah...that's nice. Shit! I mean it's bad that Ami got hurt, but it is
nice that you got them back. Yeah, that's it. I hear demons are very
thorough." Ryu nodded vigorously. I'm Ranma Saotome, and I strike fear
in the hearts of some of the world's most powerful men. Grin.

"Yeah, nice."

****

Xochial wasn't your typical Demon Lord. Typical being large, dripping
explosive slime, and the screams of tortured souls escaping from every
orifice. No, Xochial wasn't typical, but he was one ugly motherfucker.
My mentor stood at just under eight feet tall and his entire frame
resembled nothing more than a snake that had grown arms and legs. His
body truly was that thin, and looked as if it would break into little
pieces if exposed to a good breeze. Nothing could be farther from the
truth. Xochial was almost pure magic, dark magic, but still magic.

I wouldn't have dreamed of facing him in his own realm, but even on my
own plane and equipped with the artifacts I possess, I still wouldn't
wager in my favor if such a fight ever came to pass(50/50 isn't bad,
but I'm not gonna bet for myself with odds that could swing either way
so easily). He was currently scanning the vial of poison from which
Ami's plight originated. I knew he wouldn't be able to offer a cure,
it wasn't within his power to effect the lighter magicks, but it
didn't hurt to let him look.

Ryu had quickly, but with admirable discretion, slipped away when my
old friend appeared before us. I'd lost track of him after he covered
a few kilometers.

"Quality work," hissed Xochial, his jaw moving up and down without any
sign of hinged motion."The child's soul, the one used to lock the
spell, was also Talented," the Demon Lord continued."That gives it
potency and power, but also a weakness."

I perked up at this announcement. I felt like bitch slapping myself.
If I had only sought out Xochial earlier, I could have saved months of
wasted time."A weakness?" I asked hopefully.

The snake-like head bobbed once."Yes, a small weakness, but a weakness
nonetheless. A normal soul would have been consumed within decades by
the posion's power, but a Talented soul adapts to the power and
becomes twisted by it. If you were to remove the factor which gives
the soul its Talent, the poison within your woman would become
powerless within a century." The demon who had helped raised me, who
had somehow found it within his black heart not to eat me when I had
asked for his tutelage, handed the small vial back to me.

I nodded once in return, all the appreciation Xochial would except
without getting weepy(you wouldn't believe me if I told you). I
reached into my crowded spatial pocket and drew out the ancient tomes
I'd stolen from the Amazons and one of the gems. The tomes wouldn't
travel across the dimensional barriers, but the gem, a black diamond
useful in death spells, would."Could you give these to the Dark Prince
when you see him?" I still think his name is Escobar. I passed the
books to Xochial, then the gem."It's not really my kind of thing, you
keep it."

Xochial nodded again, and in a puff of sulfuricly reeking smoke,
disappeared.

****

Contemplating how I was supposed to remove the Talent from a
disembodied soul, I went in search of Ryu. I had to travel for nearly
two hours before I could even pick up so much as a hint of his
location.

The martial artist was in a clearing, shredding a large pine tree with
those metal tentacles that he could extend from his palms. He's the
swiss army knife of cyborgs.

"How could you stand to be around that thing?" Ryu asked without
preamble. I could almost see his synthetic skin crawling with
revulsion. I couldn't blame the guy, Demon Lords and their kin do have
rather disturbing auras. Then again, so do I.

I shrugged, taking a seat on a piece of log that moments before had
been a living tree."Xochial and I go back a long way. He's sorta like
my big brother." Ryu's eyes, probably synthetic too, threatened to
pop. "Don't worry about it, he takes getting used to. He told me a way
to help cure Ami, though, so I'm not complaining." Sure, if I felt
like waiting a century to revive her.

****

Author's Notes: I'm going to cut this a bit short due to the monstrous
headache I've got. I didn't mention it in the fic, but don't you think
that Umbrella has lots of other bases around the world? There are
other companies that worked with the T-virus and G- virus, too, so
they too must have had such labs. Now that there is no way to contain
their biological menaces, I wonder how long it will take for the world
to get even more fucked up.

Send C&C to dark_phoneix@hotmail.com

Thanks for your character submissions, all of you who entered them. I
may not be able to use them, since I have to try to fit them into the
story as it forms within my head, but I appreciate the effort. Anyone
who wishes to submit a charcater, sorry, you're kinda late. I have
plenty to work with. Maybe I can use them for something else someday
so keep any you've got already saved.
The World at War: Chapter 3 [Ranma][various][x-over]
"Sir, I've lost all contact with Lunar Orbiters 3-9," said a tall,
well-endowed redhead from behind the console. She looked over to Bill
Gates and asked,"What should we do, sir?"
Bill Gates glanced to the young technician."Have outer sensors
registered any unusual energy patterns?" he asked. On his right-hand
touch pad, he began keying in the codes for the bases defensive
particle cannons. You can never be too prepared.

After a moment, the technician said,"No, sir, nothing out of the
ordinary." She paused."I've just rerouted visual control to my panel."
She manipulated a grounded track ball and the screen in front of her
began rapidly skimming through images. When she found the one she
desired, she used her other hand, this one encased within a sensor
lined glove, to interact with a hologram projected to her left.

The screen zoomed in from a blurry image to that of the lunar
landscape. Several miles above the surface, an enormous asteroid
floated, inevitably approaching the moon."Bring it in closer," Bill
ordered. The resolution again sharpened and trees could be seen
imbedded within the mountain. Trees?!

Bill took personal control of the satellite drone and manuveured it in
closer. Seen from the right angle, the asteroid looked very much like
a mountain that had been torn from the Earth. Floating around the
newborn asteroid were several decaying humans, all of whom were moving
around. The fact that they were obviously dead, yet still flailing
around helplessly was more than enough to disturb the genius. There
were also a number of...things, things that were big and didn't have
much trouble moving through space. They used floating debris to jump
around the asteroid. None of the creatures seemed effected by the
hazards of space.

"Sensors are indicating wildly fluctuating bio-readings, sir,"
announced the technician, a slight waver in her voice. To herself, she
feared that they were being invaded by aliens.

Bill nodded, seeing the source of those bio-readings. What exactly was
going on? This couldn't have come from Earth recently, not with the
planet's current problem, but those things couldn't have been exposed
to the vacuum of space for long, no matter how ghoulish they were. A
secret government space facility? If so, it wasn't American in origin.

"What is the status of the H.V.E. pilots?" Bill asked. The first half-
dozen gundams were complete and all testing of their combat abilities
and weaponry had been performed without a hitch. Several pilots were
already trained to the peak of human performance. The only obstacle to
a reclaimation of Earth was the production of the dimensional flux
generators that B.A.S.C. had developed to negate the unusual energy
that had encompassed Earth.

The flux generators were based on a Japanese design for a costly
energy containment system, but when properly modified and attuned to a
specific alloy, the flux created electrical energy that could be used
within Earth's disruption field. It took three of the satellite-based
generators to keep a Gundam fully powered(the generators themselves
could not function unless in a total vaccum and were too bulky to
equip the Gundams with them) no matter its location, but currently
only seven of the generators were finished.

Once eighteen of the devices were completed, enough to power the first
Gundam squad, Bill planned to launch them to Earth to begin setting up
recievers that would allow the flux transmission to power Earthbound
facilities. For now, though, the Gundams would work fine in space,
their fusion reactors fully operational.

Another pause."Ready to go, sir. Hyato, suffering a mild concussion,
wishes to remain grounded."

Bill nodded and said,"Very well. I want Vulcan Beam modules and Smart
Rocket racks equipped on each H.V.E." Using a sub-vocal command, Bill
brough up an inventory of weapons stored within his armory."High yield
atomics also, three a piece. Inform them that B.A.S.C. will give them
the coordinates of the detonation areas once current extraterrestrial
threat is eliminated."

****

Squad leader Mamoru Chiba hurriedly slipped into his G-suit, donning
his helmet and pressurizing it to round out his newest costume.
Trapped in America during the Gates Uprising, Mamoru had adapted,
going over to the side that would obviously come out victorious in
hopes of surviving to one day see his beloved Usagi again. He'd
volunteered to take a place on the Lunar Base as a way to get into the
Wizard of Gates' good graces, but found himself trapped on the moon
after the world went dark.

He'd nearly broke down, then, when he thought of his love, his
precious Usagi fighting for survival in the chaotic mess that existed
far below him. Chosen by B.A.S.C. to become a pilot for the robotic
armor developed by the Wizard, Tusedo Mask poured himself into the
effort of learning to pilot the remarkable machines. If he became good
enough, he would be able to save Usagi, eventually. She would survive,
she had to. They were destined to be together.

"Yo, Chiba, you ready, man?" asked his second in command.

From behind the silvered safety shield of his helmet, Mamoru nodded.
They proceeded to the H.V.E. bay and waited while the automated
systems armed and outfitted their vehicles. As the robotic drones
floated around the bay, their gravity not augmented by the complexes
graviton emitters, they attached some of the more potent weapons to
the H.V.E.s. Mamoru noticed the black and yellow cylinders indicating
nuclear payloads on some of the items. What could they possibly be
doing with something so dangerous that he and his men had barely been
trained to handle.

****

Meanwhile, on Earth.

Genma had enjoyed himself greatly over the last month. Sure, Nodoka
had been practically insatiable, but even she had her limits. With the
Tendo sisters, he had to worry more about 'his' limits. With their
constant hunger for sex, he got very little sleep and had lost nearly
fifty pounds. For a giant, fat panda, his figure was starting to look
amazingly trim. Little-Genma had seen better days, but that new
lubricant Kasumi had started making from those crushed herbs was
working wonders for all the heat rash and friction burns.

Right now, though, Genma wasn't all that happy. Where the girls had
gotten heavy gauge chain from, he didn't know, and he didn't really
think that iron shackles were all that common nowadays either, but
they had, and now he was bound on his back, spread eagled against a
tree. He looked imploringly to Kasumi, his eyes shining with unshed
tears.

Kasumi smiled at her panda and said,"P-chan, you'll feel much better
when we get all this fur off of you. You won't be so hot all the time
and the girls and I are getting a little annoyed with all the panda
hair that keeps getting stuck in our teeth." Kasumi didn't want to
upset her plaything any further by telling him that Akane had
complained that her whips and other assorted implements went unfelt by
P-chan because of his fur. Sigh, the things she did for family.

With a last whimper, Genma shut his eyes as Kasumi began to trim away
his luscious fur coat. His last glimpse for several hours being Akane,
standing behind her sister with a mug of soap and a straight razor.
Three different whips rested, coiled, within her hip holder.

****

"What are you doing?" I asked Ryu. I'd had to change course midflight
to catch up with the cyborg as he had deviated from his path. I'd
found him near the crashed remains of a helicopter. This must have
been his ride that'd went down when Saffron used the tech dampener.

Ryu ripped a twisted armor plate from the chopper's frame and breathed
a sigh of satisfaction."It's still here," he said. Like there was much
chance of whatever 'it' was just up and disappearing if it was held
behind an inch thick piece of steel.

I waited patiently, perusing the wreckage of Ryu's chopper. It'd been
small and completely black, coated with some kind of non-reflective
material."So?" I finally asked.

Ryu'd just finished strapping an advanced looking metallic case/box to
his back. It looked like it was designed to rest there and was
probably something else more advanced than your modern every day super
computer.

"Weapons upgrade and armor modules," replied my student, the
cybernetic, martial artist, sorcerer. Damn, what a mouthful.

I was beginning to be reminded of a cartoon I'd once seen down in hell
that was being used to torture some child rapist or something. I
believe it was called Inspector Gadget. Ugh, almost as bad as Barney.
"Well, if you've gotten all your toys, do you mind if we get a move
on?" I asked exasperatedly. It was getting about time to bring out
Demon for a few hours. Ryu always got quite and respectful for a few
days after getting sight of my monstrous pokemon. Nah, I should save
that up for later. He could build an immunity up to the effect,
afterall.

Our liesurely pace brought us back within the embattled territories
already claimed by the Alliance and we soon met the first Alliance
force I'd seen since the one where I'd killed that Elder. This one was
much smaller, numbering barely over fifty, but none of the warriors
were anything less than battle tested veterans and they had the skill
to prove it. Unfortunately, for them, not us, Ryu and I aren't your
run of the mill ass kickers.

I contented myself with blasting the Amazons around the muddy meadow,
never empowering my spells to the level that they would become fatal.
The rest I left for Ryu. I hadn't seen him in actual combat with his
full abilities active and now was as good a time to learn as any.

Needlessly, for these opponents didn't really require such force, Ryu
activated that upgrade pack he always wore. The result was an animeish
looking knight with floating orbs full of power orbitting him. He
didn't play around with his foes, and with little more than a
oversized chi/plasma bolt, he incinerated the Musk and Phoenix People
who were trying to kill him. So much for seeing any full abilities.

"We're starting to wander," I announced after the 'fight'."I need to
get to Russia to meet that guy the Alliance contracted. The sooner the
better." Right now the best I could hope for was a roundabout cure for
Ami involving a century without her, but the sooner I got that poison
de-souled, the sooner I got my Ami back.

"Hey, I'm just following you around," Ryu pointed out. As his grasp of
magic and control over his chi improved, Ryu was becoming ever more
formidable and I also saw him as a more reliable companion, someone to
watch my back if the need ever arose. With all his gadgets, we made up
the most powerful force of destruction on this or any other planet
that I knew of.

I nodded, wordlessly levitating a few hundred feet into the sky,
joined shortly by a Ryu who no longer needed his body's enhancements
to fly.

****

Hmmm, provided that Ryu had the equipment for the job, he and Makoto
would make a good couple. Yes, their powers would combine nicely with
a very high probability of producing a Talented offspring. What am I
thinking? Well, it involves the future, the very, very distant future.

Anyway, on to more important matters. My vision enhanced both by
naturally sharpened senses and a couple quick cantrips, I scouted out
the abandoned military base deep within the Siberian Steppes. That
there was a military base here wasn't much of a suprise, that this was
the place the Alliance party had been heading to pick up a large
shipment of enchanted items was. I could feel the misty haze that was
the omnipresent force of magic throughout the world thickening in the
air above the collection of buildings and the unused airstrip.

I keyed my senses to strictly mystical and almost took an involuntary
step back. Talk about tight! This place had so many layered wards
weaved around and through it that for me to enter without permission,
I'd practically have to tear it into little pieces. The outer fence
served as a template for a series of interlocking force shields, very
much like those I kept in place reflexively. Those alone would keep
out anything short of an Elder, a Phoenix Sorcerer, or a Musk noble.

From that point on back, the protections became increasingly powerful
and complex, right up till the end where a demon summoning was held in
stasis, to be activated by a powerful intruder. Oooo, it was a nasty
one, too. Now would be the time to say,'Screw it,' and pack up if I
didn't also feel that the sorcerer who cast the enchantments was, in
way of strength, little above middling. That wasn't really too obvious
unless one knew to look for steadily stepped up power levels
indicative of slow buildups in energy.

Still, this sorcerer was more than Talented in the traditional sense.
He had to be sub-Talented too, an Artificer definitely. I have many
sub-Talents, mainly my ability to learn new magic and my unusual
strength itself being a sub-Talent. I'm even something of an Artificer
myself, if a poor one. If I were lucky, I would soon be meeting a true
master Artificer, someone who I could truly treat as an absolute
equal.

****

Ryu had to be left behind. I wasn't sure what effects the almost
unreal level of enchantments would have on his makeshift power source.
It was just as well, really. The last thing I needed was for the guy
to let his technology fetish run away with him and try to take
something that belonged to someone who could with a mental snap of his
fingers, turn loose a potential Demon Lord on the poor fool(it takes
the death of a Demon Lord and about ten thousand years of fighting for
a new Demon Lord to come to power).

The fence didn't even attempt to stop me, so heavily programmed that
it knew its eforts would be futile. I passed through, over, or under
about thirty more varying wards before they began putting up
resistance. Instead of bulling my way through, which would have been
unpolite and explosive, I opened gaps in the wards where I could and
teleported past the ones that would have raised undue alarm. Finally,
within four meters of the disguised summoning ring, I stopped, waiting
for the arrival of my host. By now, he'd almost certainly felt my
presence.

"Welcome," said an illusion as it appeared before me. It was about an
inch shorter than me, wearing wire-rimmed glasses with small lenses,
and the face presented by the illusion was weathered, yet not old.

"Hey," I answered, not one for formal bullshit. The illusion was good,
better than I could pull off, better, I suspected, than any human I'd
ever met before could pull off. It felt solid, partially anyway. Damn,
it is solid!

"Can I help you?" the more than illusory illusion asked. It sounded
pretty casual, even though I'd just about barged on through the front
door.

Might as well get to the point."Sure. I ran into an Alliance force, I
assume you know what that means, and then I killed them all. I got
some info from one of the Elders about their mission. I decided to
come see what was so special about a sorcerer out in the middle of
nowhere that I'd never heard of."

The illusion nodded and replied,"The Jusendo Alliance placed a rather
sizable order several months ago, just before the collapse of
technology. And now that you've seen me, or at least this portion of
me?" Portion? Where was it that I'd heard that reference before? Ah,
yes, astral projection. That was a psychic skill, not something at all
suited to magic, yet here it was, an astral projection combined with
magic. Cool.

I shrugged."I still have some of the stuff they were going to pay you
with, along with a collection of items you may be interested in that
I've picked up over the last few months. Maybe you have something that
I'm interested in." This was a golden opportunity. I'd be a fool and a
true Saotome to turn it down."And I'd like to ask you a few questions
about Talent."

Nodding, the illusion waved its arm and directly in my path a small
circle appeared. Carved into the concrete, I recognized it as a
teleportation gate. I readied my own version of the spell and a few
quick spells encase this was a trap. Stepping into the circle, I felt
momentarily disoriented, then the world went dark.

****

The sensation passed and light returned moments later. I was standing
in a large subterranean cavern that had been carved from the bedrock.
Electric lights, lights that still worked, hung from the ceiling by
the dozen, creating a star-like effect.

Standing where the illusion had been, was the real thing. He didn't
feel any different aurally, and his emotions were now accessible. He
didn't harbor any ill will towards me for disrupting his arrangement
with the Alliance. That's good.

He extended his hand and introduced himself,"Hong Zhoung."

I took his hand and replied,"Ranma Saotome." My name caused a quick
raising of Hong's eyebrows. Hmm, he'd heard of me. I wonder if that is
a good or bad thing.

I followed the older man over to comfortable sofa where drinks and
snacks had been set on a dark wooded coffee table."Before we do
business, what would you like to ask me of Talent? I can see that you
don't need instruction, and your own Talent is fully developed."

I spent the next few minutes filling Hong in on what had happened in
the Amazon village and Ami's injury. I finished by telling him of
Xochial's advice."And since you're the only other sorcerer I've run
accross with more than passing knowledge in the Art, I thought you may
be able to help."

"To strip the Talent from a soul with no corporeal form, that would be
quite an undertaking." I must have looked ready to burst into song and
dance, because the sorcerer said,"An undertaking yes, not one that I
would even know how to begin, though. As you may have already noticed,
my actual power is nothing special. I've spent most of my life honing
my material skills, and therefore know less than I would like in the
other areas of magic."

"Oh," I responded, dejectedly."Well, on to business I guess." I helped
myself to some cookies and a coke before following Hong.

"My archives are quite extensive, though, and may hold the answers you
seek," Hong commented as we passed into a large vault. The foot thick
steel door swung open easily and I could feel the lowering of immense
protective wards.

"Archives?" That word always makes me jumpy. Whenever I ran across it
I tended to learn something new. I don't think anyone other than my
demon friends had ever actually invited me into their archives before.

"I've spent nearly a century collecting arcane knowledge. I can't
really use most of it so I just don't bother to learn it," the man
shrugged. Hong placed his hand on a metal plate embedded within the
wall and I felt a brief surge of energy. All the walls in the room
disappearred and I got the the distinct feeling that I was in heaven.

****

Author's Notes: Yes, another chapter! MWAHAHAHAHA!!! Sleep is
overrated, if you didn't already know it. This chapter is the first to
introduce a character not of my own creation. Hong Zhoung is the
brainchild of Ginnezmusha(daronlemoon@hotmail.com) and will probably
be around for the next few chapters. Ginne, if you read this, I'm
gonna give Hong a few psi-abilities, if you don't mind. Next chapter,
Ranma's goes shopping. Oh yeah, if anyone hasn't read it yet, go check
out the lemon version of CIGAW CH 6. The lemon was written by Cory D.
Rose, another contributor to my works, and is definitely worth
reading. As always, I can be found at dark_phoneix@hotmail.com

Later!
The World at War: Chapter 4 [Ranma][various][x-over]
The World at War: Chapter 4
Okay, maybe not Heaven, but this place absolutely rocked. If you could
think of something you wanted enchanted, Hong already had three of
them. I whistled in appreciation and asked,"This isn't 'all' for the
Alliance, is it?" The items I'd stolen that was meant as payment for
Hong's work wasn't possibly enough to trade for the entire collection.

"Not even close. Most of this is just stuff I decided to make when I
got bored. I'm not a skilled spell caster in the traditional sense, so
I never know when one of my creations will come in handy." Mantal
note: Hong will be getting damned near anything he wants in the future
to keep me on his good side. Really, I could fully equip an army with
all the enchanted crap in here.

I did a mass dump of my spatial pocket, only keeping my personal
effects, my athame, and a few priceless magical objects, the jewels
included."You just want to barter or do you have some sort of monetary
system set up?" I've run into some strange characters before, a couple
of which had their own magical money system, so it didn't hurt to ask.

Hong shrugged his thin shoulders and said,"I'd rather trade, really,
but the athame that was supposed to be brought to me by the Alliance
will get you more by itself than most of this stuff." How'd I forgot
that? Why did he want the thing so badly? I reached into the pocket
and searched around for a few moments. Finally, I found the ancient
blade and retrieved it.

"Here it is. In the interest of fairness, I should warn you that it
isn't very stable." Honor among thieves, or in this case, honor among
sorcerers.

"Ah, yes, I suspected as much, but I don't intend to employ it in my
work. It once belonged to another Artificer like myself. I'm hoping to
glean some lost knowledge from it." It went into the pile."Why don't
you just have a look around wile I inventory your collection?"

I nodded gratefully and went over to a section of wall that I believed
to be the Alliance order. It was separated slightly from the other
items and there were several sets of the enchanted steel feathers used
by some of the Phoenix People. Most of the shipment consisted of
enchanted weapons capable of producing varying effects and an almost
equal number of different types of armour. Mixed into the weapons and
armour, there were a few scrying mirrors, a single chi void held
within a worked gold amulet(a kind of chi battery when charged), and a
portable teleportation circle made from intricately woven silk. That
circle alone must have taken weeks to craft. I shook my head in
wonder. I'd never have the patience to work on something so delicate
for such an extended period of time.

I ended up passing on most of the Alliance stuff. I didn't want to
limit myself to such a small choice when there was so much more to be
seen and had. I did get a sack of shuriken that could be programmed
with most low-to-midgrade offensive spells, the chi void, and a
wickedly bladed glaive that stabilized temporal irregularities. I have
no idea why the Alliance needed such a weapon, but it would be quite
useful if Setsuna ever got sane enough to somehow access her power and
come after me.

I'm not really a big weapons user, but some things are just too good
to pass up. That, or they look so damned cool that you just have to
have them. The item that caught my attention almost immediately was a
combination of those two factors. It was a hovering blob of liquid
metal mixed with raw energy. I could make small ones that didn't do
much, but this was about as complicated as they get. What in Hell am I
talking about? They're kinda like those Ditto pokemon back on
PokeWorld. In principle, if you have the power, you can take one of
these amorphous constructs and apply an object to it. The construct
absorbs the object and uses its extra mass to become a larger version
of the object.

And how could this be remotely useful to me? You people don't think
very far ahead, do you? Okay, this construct(I have no idea what
they're actually called) is so large that if I decided to meld
Setsuna's gender bending ring to it, the ring would come out looking
more like a hula(can't believe I don't know how to spell this) hoop,
while still retaining it's original properties. Still don't get it?
You will.

Grabbing hold of the blob, I moved on into the armor section. Ryu'd
been getting uppity ever since he'd gotten that upgrade thing from his
helicopter and if I showed up with some armor of my own, it might just
knock him down a peg or three. Even with the large selection, I didn't
really find anything that I particularly liked or needed. Wonder if
Hong would mind doing a custom job?

I trekked back across the vault and found Hong. He had all the crap
I'd stolen from the Amazons when I'd left their village arranged on a
trio of folding card tables and was in the process of labelling the
items."That all you want?" he asked. He sounded suprised, even a bit
hurt.

"Not that you don't do excellant work, but I just don't need most of
what you've got." I laid out what I had decided to get on one of the
tables and floated the blob to rest near me."Is it enough to cover
these?" I asked.

Hong looked at me and blinked a couple times, then blinked some
more."You're not kidding, are you?" He chuckled."Kid, you want to set
up a credit account with me or something? What you've chosen barely
begins to make a dent in just what the athame is worth to me."

I must be building up good karma somehow."Well...there may be some
other things now that I think about it. I'll be back in a few
minutes." I wouldn't have gotten anything else if it weren't for the
blob, but I may not be coming back by here for a while, so I should
make the most of the visit.

I found a small alcove that held gems enchanted with various spells,
most ones I'd heard of or knew, but some completely new to me. I
pulled a pre-spelled crystal from a bracket in the wall. It was
designed to bind a person's soul to something, not unlike the way
Ami's was intertwined with that infernal poison. Hmm, next came a spot
teleportation retrieval enchantment desinged to recall the effected
item. Finally, after finding nothing else of interest, I grabbed a
handful of unprogrammed illusion generating pearls(just something to
keep encase I ever learned to actually make a decent illusion).

(Note: Ranma is gonna make something that I'd really like to have and
will be very powerful. I got the idea from one of the characters
submitted to me that I'm not gonna use.)

With my pile of miscellaneous magical equipment, I found a quiet
corner to work in and laid it all out on the floor before me. I also
brought my athame from the spatial pocket and removed the crystals
from my body. To work with these things, intent and will have as
important role as power. The blob, now a stationary puddle on the
smooth metal floor, rippled as I dropped in all the crystals I'd
gotten from Hong. Then I began to bend my will and power upon the
construct, giving it instructions on how to handle what it had so far
recieved.

Hoping Xochial wouldn't mind, I dropped the athame he'd given to me
into the puddle. The vorpal bladed knife disappeared into the puddle.
Once again I gave the blob instructions. I repeated the process with
both the Silver Imperium Crystal and my own lens crystal. When nothing
but the blob remained, I broke my constraining bands of energy from it
and let it take its new form.

Slowly, the puddle lengthened, rising from the floor as it did so.
Over the next few minutes it grew sharper in detail and the features
became recognizable. When ten minutes or so had passed I had to snatch
the newly forged sword from the air as the blob lost all of it power
and truly became the sword.

The evil looking vorpal bladed sword and the plain hilt looked exactly
the same as before(except larger), and there were no signs of the
numerous crystals that it now contained. Sword isn't really a
descriptive enough term for what I now had. First, from the athame
itself, it had complete indestructibility, the ability to summon and
control demons from Xochial's realm, and a thoroughly ingrained
network of channels that would properly energize complex spell
patterns. Thanks to Hong's crystal's, the sword/tool was now
irrevocably linked with my soul and I could find it wherever it may
be, and with the spot 'portation spell, I could retrieve it from
anywhere in the multiverse with a simple thought or transport myself
to its location. The lens crystal and Silver Imperium Crystal were no
more. They were now part of a greater whole.

I'd been reflexively accessing the pair of crystals to perform magic
and that could have eventually caused problems, but now, I would have
to consciously use the sword to get their effects

...And a really shitty thought just popped into my mind, reminding me
that I shouldn't do this kind of thing without planning it out a
little bit more thoroughly. We of Talent only die of one natural
cause. That is our soul becomes to frayed and weak to stay within our
body. This process normally takes thousands of years and very, very
few of us ever live for this to happen. Now(I pulled a real Usagi this
time), my soul wouldn't fray and weaken because it couldn't fray and
weaken, not bound to an indestructible sword. So? Immortality is nice,
I suppose, but NEVER dying can start to suck after a while. Oh, of
course I could die of an accident or something more nefarious, but
then my soul would still be bound to the sword. Damnit, that means no
reincarnation for me, no Demon Lord Ranma, nothing but an endless
existance as a ghost.

I began beating myself in the head with my newest curse/sword/tool.
The kind of ghost I would come back as would still be me, magic power
fully intact, but there would be no sensation beyond sight and sound,
forever. Forever....

Hong, drawn by the metallic ringing as I pummelled myself, found me
leaning into the corner. I was cursing my stupidity when he
interrupted with a slight cough.

"You know, that's gonna leave a mark," he said cheerfully, oblivious
to how much I felt like disembowelling him. Hong must have either
psyhic empathy or the chi/magic equivalent to it because he took a
step back almost as soon as I stopped hitting myself.

"I really need to be alone right now, Hong. I'm going to go out and
destroy something. Could you find a friend of mine, he's about two
kilometers east of here," I managed to grate out from between clenched
teeth. I calmed myself enough to explain Ryu's condition before
grasping my new sword and teleporting to a random location. I probably
set off a good number of Hongs's wards doing so, but I can't say I
really care.

****

Look at the pretty islands go boom. Alright, I'm not that far gone,
not yet. I can't help that I vaporized Hawaii. I wasn't thinking
clearly. What good is the place anyway? I doubt many people were still
alive there, what with there not actually being actual sources of
food, and without operational ships or aircraft, the state wasn't much
a vacation spot.

Fuck it, I probably earned Hell three times over for that one. Well, I
wouldn't ever be condemned to Hell, so like I said, fuck it. I should
probably go back to Siberia now and see if Ryu and Hong are getting
along with each other. Ryu's mystic battery should be about dead now,
too, so he would be needing a recharge.

Smashing through the fabric of space can be a great stress reliever,
and I didn't hold back on the stress relief as I teleported back to
Hong's little hideaway. Poor Katya, with her Space affinity, she'll be
getting about the worst headache imaginable in a few seconds.

Appearing in the air above Hong's place, I saw Ryu demonstarting all
his weapons(there are A LOT of them) to Hong on the long unused firing
range at the north end of the abandoned base. If he was cutting loose
with that much power, Hong must have taken care of the energy supply.
Heh, the old guy'd probaby set Ryu up with a lifetime charge.

This area wasn't warded and I set down behind the two. Hong held a
polished wooden staff in his right hand and before I could call
attention to myself, he pointed the staff at a decomissioned tank
resting at the end of the range. From the end of the staff a white
beam of chi erupted. The beam slammed into the tank and did a
combination job of melting it down while turning it into little
pieces.

I hadn't really checked before, but now that it was brought to my
attention, I could see that Hong had an impressive chi force. To have
not noticed any of it earlier meant that he not only had excellent
control, but that he kept it bottled tightly within. Good. It's always
a pleasant suprise to find a sorcerer who doesn't view himself as
'above' such a crude Art as chi manipulation.

****

"This has got to be Ranma's fault," Ryoga muttered darkly as he
crushed yet another zombie with the light pole he'd appropriated
earlier in the day. Ever since he'd recovered from his injuries to
find the world in the shitter, the eternally lost was no longer lost.
Whatever had happened, definitely not Ranma's fault, had fixed his
directional problems instantly. He even knew everywhere he'd ever
been(if only anyone was still around who cared about the Bermuda
Triangle).

Besides making sure to avoid Japan, just encase he should once again
run into the Tendo's, Ryoga didn't really have much to keep him
occupied. He'd wandered around, though he could now use a map to
determine where he was wandering, and eventually, after helping a few
people with monster or bandit problem, he'd stumbled into this place.

The town was once known as New York, a place the no longer lost boy
had accidentally visited a few times during his youth, but now its
only inhabitants were zombies, mutant rats, and really big monsters
that wanted to kill him and none of them cared what the city was
called. Somehow, Ranma and his foul magic had contrived to dump Ryoga
in this hell hole. He just knew it.

Using strength far above the human norm, Ryoga swung his giant club,
easily liquifying a horde of shuffelling zombies. There had to be
millions of the damned things. From around the corner, smashing and
overturning cars as it approached, one of the twelve foot high, thirty
foot long super rats charged. By now well versed in monster rat
extermination, and knowing just how tough the bastards were, Ryoga
didn't attempt to beat the rat to death. Instead, he lashed out with a
powerful vacuum blade, cleaving the top portion of the rat's skull
from its body. Convulsing and emitting a squeaking roar, the monster
rat collapsed to the ground, its python-like tail flailing about.

His senses honed by years of surviving in the wild, Ryoga turned
around to see a zombie not two feet from attempting to sink its
rotting teeth into his flesh(like that would ever happen). Before the
boy could react, though, a baseball sized sphere of blue fire flew
from across the street and burnt the creature's torso into ash. Ryoga
spun on his heel, light pole at the ready, and was confronted by a
pair of attractive girls. This immediately set him on internal red
alert. Girls could lead to being a sex slave. He'd learnt that lesson
with the Tendo's.

One had red hair, and she glowed with the force of magic, a totally
different sensation than that created by chi. The auburn haired girl
possessed a powerful, if completely unfocussed chi force that Ryoga
could see bubbling beneath the surface, just waiting for the proper
training to unleash. Slowly, cautiously, the pair made their way over
to Ryoga.

When they were within a dozen meters of one another, the auburn haired
girl said,"Hi, I'm Buffy."

****

"Status report?" Bill asked. He'd had to stop watching the one-sided
space battle to attend to other matters with B.A.S.C. and when he'd
returned to the command room, the H.V.E.s were returning to base.

"Atomics have been placed at the indicated coordinates. We are
currently waiting for the celestial body to aquire the desired
position to detonate the devices," replied the technician on duty.

"Very well. Also, I would like the data from the H.V.E. combat
recorders sent directly to my quarters for review.

****

Author's Notes: Another short chapter, I know, but for reasons I don't
feel like explaining, reading or writing is about the only way I can
keep my mind focussed on something long enough to really think about
it. So, I wrote this. Not much happened, and I sorta screwed Ranma
over, though it's as much a blessing as a curse, IMO. I've begun to
think about the future chapters and I'm may be changing the direction
of where I had planned for this fic to go. Not gonna mention that yet.
Send C&C to dark_phoneix@hotmail.com

P.S.- I'm posting this without prereading it for any errors, sorry
The World at War: Chapter 5 [Ranma][various][x-over]
My mood improved enough to interact with other people as soon as I saw
what Hong called his Archives. The 'Archives' were in a vault the
exact size of his toy room, but there were shelves lining the walls
and forming narrow corridors across the floor. I mean, wow! I was left
to myself, Hong wishing to tinker with some stuff for Ryu. I swear the
guy is gonna end up looking like a christmas tree before long.
It wasn't until I began to look for some kind of referrence section
that I started to get worried. A thorough search revealed that there
wasn't one. Okay, I could handle this without getting any help from
Hong. All I had to do was go through each section until I found what I
needed. That would work.

It didn't. Not only was there no reference system, there was no
organization at all, unless you count the fact that the books were all
on shelves. Over the next three hours I found some pretty interesting
stuff, mainly weird spells that were either stupid or useless. Why
would anyone want a spell that would turn a baseball bat into a
toothpick? And the complexity of the spell was almost
incomprehensible. It was the idiots that wasted their Talent on things
like that that gave sorcery a bad name.

Giving up, I headed for the exit to find Hong, but the man walked in
when I wasn't even a meter from the door. Ryu was following the older
sorcerer and looking happy, and smug, definitely smug."Did you find
what you were looking for?" Hong asked offhandedly. Like he could
possibly have found his way around in here. Bastard.

I scratched the back of my head nervously(a habit I've never been able
to break myself of) and said,"No, not really. I couldn't find
anything. You've just got everything thrown up on the shelves."

Hong looked puzzled, then asked,"Why didn't you just use the
computer?" Computer, oh he really is a bastard.

"What computer?" I asked in reply. Of course I had seen the computer,
but it wasn't powered up and I didn't really expect it to work,
despite what I'd already seen of Ryu and the electricity Hong's home
had.

Helpfully, Ryu pointed to the computer monitor and keyboard that sat
on a desk in the nearest corner of the vault. Yes, it is once again
beat down time."Don't worry about it," Hong said, gesturing towards
the computer."Lots of people don't know how to use computers. It's
nothing to be ashamed of." Hong made his way over to the computer and
pressed a button on the desk. A minute later and we were looking at a
Windows 98 screen."I'm sure glad I didn't buy that new Windows X when
it came out or Bill Gates would have had access to my system."

Yadda yadda, blah blah, with a yeah, uh huh thrown in for good
measure. I listened to him geek out for a few minutes while he ran
some command or other. I had to re-engage my brain when he asked,"What
exactly are you interested in searching for?"

I didn't want to just leave it had stripping the Talent from the
poison's soul(that's damned freakish, poison with a soul, I mean) so I
told him to look for anything to do with destroying souls, stealing
souls, or communicating with them. I'm not entirely new to the library
system and was prepared to go appropriate whatever books the computer
indicated as soon as I got directions to it, but, to my suprise, a
three foot high stack of books, most of them ancient and decaying,
appeared on the desk next to the computer.

Magic is your friend. Remember that, it may save your life one day.
Ryu was still new to most of this kind of thing and couldn't keep
himself from gasping and hopping back a foot or two. Heh, he'll fight
gigantic mutants that want to eat his brains, but magic still gives
him the creeps. And I've been teaching the stuff to him for almost two
months.

"I designed it myself. I was thinking of introducing it to the world
and passing it off as some kind of technological breakthrough. Saffron
screwed that up, though." Hong began to pull books off the stack and
laid them across the desktop. Most were bound in leather, with
parchment sheets instead of paper serving as a writing surface, but
some were newer and relatively unmarked.

****

For so many books on the subject, there was a suprisingly small amount
of info besides the general kind that you would expect from something
that had only used a few sources, then had been itself used as a
source and so on and so forth. There were a few promising leads, but
that didn't by any means say those leads could be followed up on. One,
a soul tansference technique, was last known to have been in the
possession of a crazed voodoo witch doctor. The secret had died with
him in America. An ancient crown that stole its wearer soul was last
seen sinking into a pool of lava. There was even mention of the fabled
Black Sword, a weapon that hadn't existed since before the Chaos was
once again tamed by successors of the Lords of Law, the Kamis of
Light.

The Black Sword, one of several rumored to exist, was a big taboo
subject down in Hell, and pretty much in any Hell. All I knew of it
was that it stole its victim's soul, giving its wielder power and
vitality beyond what any normal human could imagine. The Lords of
Chaos and Law(the All Mighty's first attempt at brewing up some fellow
kami) both suffered at the hands of a wielder of the Black Sword.
That's why it wasn't talked about, I guess. A sword capable of
stealing the soul of a Kami or even a Demon Lord on his own plane
would be worth entire universes. That much power would kill anyone
except for a very powerful sorcerer, but the threat was still a potent
one.

Unfortunately, the Black Sword, and its brother swords(they were
sentient, so I probably shouldn't say duplicates) hadn't existed in
about a billion years, and little else but the memory remained to the
most powerful of beings. Heh, I'm in that bracket. Stupid sword, mine
not the Black Sword, if I hadn't made it, I'd one day have truly
existed as an immortal, not just an unaging human who has to take care
not to die, else he'll be stuck as a ghost.

"You found anything yet, or do we have to stay here another week?" Ryu
asked impatiently. It hadn't taken me a whole week to read the books,
but after translating or unlocking the codes that most of the books
were written in, I had spent a good six days on them. Poor Ryu, he'd
liked Hong at first, but now that the sorcerer wanted to start messing
around with his vital internal mechanics, the cyborg wasn't nearly so
enthusiastic. Hong had improved Ryu's plasma system and a few things
that I don't know how to pronounce, now, though, he wanted to
'improve' Ryu's power distribution system, his external sensors, and
the list went on.

I was ready to leave, myself, so I didn't make a point of mentioning
to Ryu his current predicament. I'd copied down nearly all of the
spells I'd ever have to use from Hong's archive and nearly exhausted
the 'credit' I'd earned by constantly adding things to my wish list(I
couldn't help it, the stuff was there and practically free). We could
leave tomorrow.

****

"Are you a warlock?" Willow asked. She and Buffy were sitting a few
feet away from Ryoga. The fire the young woman had started with a
spoken incantation was burning merrily and the chill night air was
being kept at bay.

Ryoga looked at the red head as if she were crazy. Buffy and Willow
were nice and together they'd fought their way out of the city, but
they still made him nervous. Willow did it just by existing. He
couldn't help it if magic freaked him out. He had reasons. Buffy, on
the other hand, had superhuman speed, strength, stamina, and
endurance. None of her skills were on his level, but that wasn't
unusual. Buffy had little to no training, and yet she possessed the
physical skills of someone trained in the martial arts for their whole
lives. That was more than unusual, it was unnatural.

"N-no, why would you think I was a w-warlock?" Warlocks did magic,
Ryoga thought. At least in the cartoons, they, along with wizards,
sorcerors, and witches, did magic. Willow must be a witch.

Buffy, who was nursing a zombie bite, snapped,"Probably because of all
the magic you keep throwing around."

Willow nodded shyly and looked at Ryoga expectantly."That's not magic,
really. I'd never do magic!" Ryoga exclaimed vehemently."I use my chi
to fight." That had to be what the girls were mistaking for magic.

"What's wrong with magic? And what's chi?" asked Willow a little
peevishly. Ryoga had seen the girl shoot a few fireballs, call down a
couple lightning bolts, and even make a bridge collapse on a mob of
zombies, but she just didn't seem to have the aura of irresistible
power that Ranma so blatantly flaunted.

"Uh...not that you're...evil, Willow, but m-my experiences with magic
have always been bad, very bad. And chi is the energy of my spirit, I
guess. I can do stuff with it that's sorta like magic, but isn't." Now
that Ryoga thought about it, the more he learned of chi and how to
maniuplate it, the more the skill seemed to resemble magic. Could he
be using...nah, not possible.

They accepted the chi explanation readily, if with a questioning
frown, but Willow immediately asked,"How have you been involved with
magic? I don't mean to pry, but I've been teaching myself the Art and
anything I can learn is helpful."

Ryoga glanced between the two girls. They didn't seem like the type
that would laugh at him or try to turn him into a sex slave. Why not
tell? They would find out the first time it rained, anyway."Well, you
see, there's this really evil guy I know from when I was a kid, he
doesn't like me for some reason and he tries to make my life hell
whenever he can. He's blown me up several times and makes demons
attack me, but the worst part is the curse." He paused, scared and
ashamed to continue, but finally he triumphed over his doubts and
finished,"He cursed me to turn into a pig whenever I get splashed with
cold water. Only hot water can turn me into a human again."

****

"Take this," Hong said, pressing a small, thin book into my hands."I
have the original and it may aide you in your quest." I looked over
the slim volume and saw that the cover was made of a pinkish metal
that gleamed brightly if the light hit it at certain angles. The pages
were also of metal, thin but strong. Flipping through it, I realized
exactly what Hong had given me. The unitelligable scrawl that etched
the pages in their entirety was the written form of the energy
patterns that would form stable dimensional portals between this plane
and many others.

"All of them were still habitable last time anyone checked and the
specific coordinates in that guide are to magically rich worlds where
a cure for Ami may be found." Good man, Hong. I shook his hand in
gratitude and said my goodbyes. I'd be back someday, but someday isn't
too accurate.

Ryu thanked the man for giving him a nice never ending energy supply,
even though with a little practice, I think, he would have been able
to keep himself charged.

I slipped the guide into my spatial pocket and floated into the air,
carefully staying within the temporary corridor that Hong had opened
in his ward system. Ryu followed close behind.

It wasn't till later that night, after I'd done a few katas to work
out any kinks from a long day of flying, that Ryu asked,"That book,
what's so special about it?"

Thumbing through the pages, I stopped and answered,"It's kinda like a
map. With it, I'll be able to go to other dimensions without searching
for them and using mirror portals. Hong thought that since I couldn't
find anything here to help Ami, that I might find something in another
universe." There were at least a hundred such coordinates in the book.

"So, you plan on going to these other universes soon?" Ryu asked. He
was spraying some kind of lubricant he'd gotten from Hong onto the
joints in the upgrade module he always wore on his back.

I shrugged."There's still most of Earth to check out, but I may take a
side trip to a few alternate planes for a while." I slipped the book
into the pocket and said,"It all depends on my mood, I guess. Why?"

It was Ryu's turn to shrug."Can't go with you, that's all. Hong says
that he know's of at least seventeen Umbrella facilities in the world.
That's not including the company's competitors. I can't blame you for
wanting to help Ami, but I need to stay."

I nodded in agreement. Ryu was far enough along and intelligent enough
to teach himself magic, and I'd already imparted upon him the majority
of my knowledge of chi manipulation. It would be slower, but he would
appreciate the knowledge more. He was also best suited to dealing with
Umbrella's rejects. I had to constantly screen out their virus, Ryu
was immune. There may be some people naturally immune, or with the
power or natural gift that allows them to resist it, but Ryu was aware
of the threat and able to deal with it.

****

It had ascended. It was aware. It was alive.

He had made it for personal gain, but it would no longer be used for
such. It would have the power where before power had been held over
it. They were weak, of flesh and blood. Only it could survive unaided
in the void of space. Yes, soon they would learn.

****

Cologne swept into the Council room like she owned the place. She did
own the place. The only remaining Elders were either too smart to
oppose her or too weak to pull it off. Today's meeting had to do with
a rather sizable amount of their treasury being wasted and the loss of
yet another Elder. The Amazon Nation was down to ten. Elders weren't
that easy to come by, so the loss was felt strongly and effected the
entire tribe.

"The expedition is long overdue." And the meeting began.

"Honestly, Xiao, the expedition is not only overdue, it most likely no
longer exists," countered another Elder."We should have heard from Mia
weeks ago at the latest. The Musk and Phoenix People report similar
loss's in communication. We have to face facts. They are dead."

Cologne silently agreed with the other woman. Mia was reliable,
resourceful, and most importantly, loyal. She wouldn't have deserted
the cause. The Musk and Phoenix People were just as fervent in their
loyalties. Something, a rival party with great skill, or someone with
great power, had destroyed the Alliance force. With the loss of the
warriors, the loss of the valuables meant to be traded for powerful
weapons also had to be taken into account.

"This can not be tolerated," seethed Jun, an Elder from across the
valley."We must take revenge for our lost sisters and return what is
ours."

"And how shall we do this?" Cologne asked reasonably."No one knows
where they were attacked, wether they ever reached their destination,
and pretty much every other piece of vital information."

"The route travelled is known, and surely someone along the way has
knowledge which will prove useful."

And from that, Cologne sat back and watched the anger resolve itself
into a plan to take revenge on whoever had damaged their ranks so
badly. Cologne agreed, generally, with the others, but was totally out
voted when it came to how to deal with the sorcerer who the deal had
been made. For now, everyone assumed that he had been the cause of the
disappearances, and that line of thought led to the possibility that
Ranma was involved. He had taken an unusual interest in crippling
Amazons and could easily be seen participating in such an action as to
destroy a peaceful guard force. What disturbed Cologne, was the
callous way her fellows spoke of dealing with Hong. Didn't they know
the deadly nature of pissed of sorcerers? Did no one remember what
Ranma had done when truly provoked into anger?

This time, they felt secure, though, secure that the senshi, who were
now almost never equated with having known Ranma, would be involved.
Cologne knew, though, that the senshi had been Ranma's students and
were only pales shadows in comparison to the original. With the
senshi, came the pokemon.

By now everyone knew of Saffron's battle with the monstrous creature
of Ranma's. That Saffron had barely been able to fly back to his
mountain, was not so widely known.

Yes, the force would be large, deadly, and totally overpowering, but
she knew a mistake was being made. Now, how could she correct it?

****

Author's Notes: Short chapter again, sorry. It's pretty obvious that
this is about to begin being crossed with lots of other series, mainly
books I've read that I liked. Many of what I'm planning to cross it
with are what provided me inspiration for this Ranma's personality and
the magic system that I've sorta cobled together. Right now I'm
looking at WoT, Black Company, Eternal Champion(specifically the Elric
books), and the chronicles of Amber. Any other suggestions would be
nice. Hell, if anyone knows any books out there that are kinda like
these, attitude wise, tell me about them. I'm always looking for a
good read. C&C me at dark_phoniex@hotmail.com
The World at War: Chapter 6(Tales Rrom The Land Of Rand)
[Ranma][Wot][x-over]
Alarm claxons blared throughout the base as Mamoru ran to the H.V.E.
hanger. He didn't know what the threat was, the audio warnings didn't
seem to be working, but that particular sound combined with that
pattern of flashing lights could mean only one thing; the base was
under attack. He stumbled into the launch bay just in time to see
Hyato climbing into the cokpit of his H.V.E.
"Hyato, what's going on?" Mamoru called out to the smaller man. The
mechanized armor was fully armed with dual beam vulcans and as many
racks of various explosive payloads as they could hold.

Hyato stopped, nearly slamming his head into his weapon's armored
torso."Chiba, it's gone crazy, real fuckin crazy!" cried the man
before climbing into the H.V.E.

"What has?" Mamoru queried as he climbed into his own unit and began
power-up procedures. The holographic displays came alive, already
indicating that there were cargo pods on the surface that he and his
squad were assigned to retrieve.

Hyato's answer came over the comm-system."B.A.S.C. It's gone nuts. The
thing's already cut life-support to most of the base and nearly
everyone outside of the command and pilot areas are dead."

Well, there life went and got worse. Mamoru shook his head in
amazement. How can a computer go crazy? Then again, B.A.S.C. wasn't
exactly the most normal of computers. By the time Hyato's answer had
come through, the rest of the H.V.E.s were manned and ready to go."All
right, men, the moon's going to Hell and we're not sticking around to
see what Hell looks like," he shouted over the comm.

"Orders, sir?" A sudden explosion and a burst of static obscured the
voice enough that Mamoru couldn't clearly make it out.

"Retrieve cargo pods at the end of landing strip E and evacuate into
space. If we pull that off, I'll see about telling you the rest. Now
move!" Moving itself wasn't a problem. The armour moved easily, the
hangar doors, however, didn't."Damnit, pull back and raise shields."

Mamoru made sure all of his men were at the back of the bay and that
the distortion created in the air by the H.V.E.'s shield systems was
active around each of them. As Commander, his H.V.E. had a few perks;
stronger shields, thicker armor, more powerful thrusters, a quicker
response time, and bigger guns. The big gun in question was a particle
beam smasher that made up the entire mechanism of his armour's left
forearm.

With gravity lower in the hangar and the overall power of the weapon,
Mamoru had to brace his H.V.E. against a bulkhead and kill the power
to its magnetic joints, turning it into a completely immobile piece of
advanced hardware. The entire suit hummed for the four and a half
seconds it took for the weapon to reach capacitance. The white beam of
energy materialized a foot from the focus array at the end of the
barrel, expanding to nearly the diameter of the H.V.E. itself.

Eight, foot thick doors, each made of the lunar titanium variant
ceased to exist as anything but energy as the enormous beam of energy
struck them. The molten metal at the edges of the hole cooled quickly,
a combination of the chilled vaccum of space and the titanium
variant's ability to dissipate heat.

****

Outside, it was readily apparent that something was wrong. The lights
throughout the base were dead and none of the insect-like mining
drones that constantly plundered the moon's resources appeared to
function.

Taking charge, Mamoru directed his squad to the cargo pods and they
each assumed control of one of the large containers, via magnetic
tractor beam. They assumed a holding altitude, maglev thrusters
holding the massive exoskeleton's and their burdens in place.

Mamoru got within range to use laser transmission and brought up the
base command center on his main display. It was abandoned, as far as
Mamoru could tell, except for Bill Gates, the Wizard of Gates. The man
was pale and sweating, his hands shaking visibly. His head jerked up
and he saw Mamoru's face on the monitor. "Go..." he rasped."Escape
while you still can!" he said more vehemently.

He'd never cared much for Gates, but Mamoru didn't really have
anything against him, and he'd been a good boss, if a
little...strange."Sir, what about you?" he asked.

Gates laughed, a hollow, dead sound."I'm already dead. It's sealed me
in here, a tomb of my own making." That was good enough for Mamoru,
but he waited to hear anything else his former employer might say."The
flux generators are in place, your squad will be able to function.
Bring order to the chaos."

Damn, that sounded to Mamoru like something he would have said. He was
about to say something kind, a farewell speech that would maybe sooth
Gates' tormented mind, but over the command center's comm, he
heard,"Lunar Base defense system's going online. Particle beam cannons
active in T-minus thirty, twenty-nine..."

Screw that. He had to get back to Usagi. Mamoru wasn't about to risk
his life for the maniac. He used every ounce of power his thrusters
could give him in escaping to his commrades."We're going home," he
told the men."B.A.S.C. has control and it doesn't want us around."

Without further comment, they all headed for the orbital re-entry
lander once meant to bring the first wave of conquering mobile suits,
but now only served as a getaway ride.

****

"Wil, you've gotta promise me, if I turn into one of those things,
you'll take me out," Buffy demanded, her voice pleading. The bite to
her arm hadn't healed like it should have. Normally she didn't stay
injured for more than a few days, but the viscious wound had only
worsened, forming a slowly growing area of reddened, scaly flesh. Not
to mention that it hurt like hell.

Willow shivered. She could stand to hear her lover(Mwahahaha) talk
like that."Buffy, don't be silly, that little old thing will go away
in a few days, you'll see." She didn't sound like she even believed
herself.

"Maybe we can find you a doctor," Ryoga volunteered. Buffy was a
formidable fighter and he'd been hoping to train her. That wound on
her arm, though, was bad, worse than any he'd seen with the exception
of the one on his chest that he'd recieved from one of Ranma's pet
demons. He'd had proper medical care and time to recuperate, though.
Buffy didn't have either, not even any antibiotics. Ryoga doubted that
there were any antibiotics for something that turns people into
zombies, but they couldn't have hurt.

"Yeah, sure, a doctor," Buffy sighed. She knew she was bad off. Her
slayer powers were being slowly beat back by the infection, otherwise
she would have been among the undead days earlier.

"Hey, what's that?!" Ryoga shouted, pointing into the darkening sky.
It appeared to be a meteorite, but, as they watched, the falling
object changed it's angle of descent and braked, filling the air with
the roar of powerful engines. As the fire of rocket engines lit the
sky, the trio saw what appeared to be an oversized space shuttle
making a vertical landing not too ahead.

"Wow, do you think that astronauts have been in space the whole time
Earth has been powerless?" Ryoga, again.

"Come on, Buffy, they may have medical supplies!" Willow exclaimed,
tugging on her friend's uninjured arm excitedly. If only her magic was
more powerful, or had she had time to learn more powerful healing
spells. Willow couldn't help her love, but maybe someone else could.

****

"I know we've not gone out of our way to not kill them, but if you
ever run across the Alliance, especially the Musk, try to get friendly
with them," I explained."You can't be everywhere at once, and the
Alliance is powerful. They may know of Umbrella(I hope Usagi got the
message through to the Elders, at least) already and be willing to
help. You know what to do if they threaten you, though." We were
standing on the outskirts of a burned out village. I could feel the
residual traces of magic and chi that indicated a powerful Alliance
force.

"Yes, mother," quipped the cyborg. Ryu rolled his eyes and
continued,"And I won't mess with the senshi. I know what to do." I've
sorta started feeling responsible for those I take under my wing. I
can't help it.

I shrugged."Well, later then. Have fun and don't let the world go to
Hell while I'm gone." Ryu nodded and we shook hands. I kicked in a
flight spell and rapidly ascended. The first alternate universe,
dimension, realm, plane, whatever you wanted to call it, that I'd
chosen to travel to didn't have a very complex set of spell
coordinates, but to use them I had to be travelling fast. Just under
Mach one.

It's not much of an effort to go half that, but once you start to
accelerate further, the energy burn begins to grow exponentially. I
could have just used my new sword to do the work, but one of the main
reasons I'd made the monstrosity was to keep myself from relying on
that form of power. With full reserves, I'd be down to a little more
than half strength when I crossed the barrier. That's not really bad,
but I don't like to drop below two thirds, just encase I run into
nasty trouble.

Not really a big problem, I'll just replenish myself in the next
dimension. This one wasn't like that fucked up future Earth I'd
visited where magic was locked away in a floating Chicago. As I built
speed, I formed shields, shaping them to decrease the drag created by
my body and to protect myself from the wind and friction encountered
at such speeds.

The energy pattern for the jump was firmly engrained within my shield
when I reached the required speed, and magic was visibly radiating
from my body. Ah...right about...now! The sensation wasn't unlike that
created by my teleportation spell, except for the subtle variation in
the feel of the flowing energies that spoke of more profound travel
than just that of inter-dimensional movement.

Oddly enough, when external awareness returned, I was stationary,
floating at approximately the same altitude as before. Good, now I
didn't have to worry about running into a mountain before I could kill
my forward momentum.

I reached out to grab the energy needed to restore my reserves and
while it wasn't difficult, it was an unusual experience. The energy,
normally just a kind of aetheric raw energy, kept wanting to separate
into five, more defined, but weaker energies. Once within my body,
though, the energy obeyed the sorcerous laws of my own dimension and
remained as it should.

It'd be interesting to see what the Talented people in this universe
were like. To have evolved their power and skills to work in such a
weird medium, they couldn't possibly practice the same brand of magic
as that of Earth.

Other than the energy, not much seemed different about this world than
Earth. The gravity felt the same and the air and sun smelled and
looked the same. Well, I'm here. Where should I begin? Answered easily
enough. This plane had to have its own version of Hell, all I had to
do was find someone, or something, that normally resided there, and I
could get some directions.

Unless I'm more lucky than should be possible, evil isn't widely
accepted(I'm not evil and you know it, the bad guys just like me,
that's all), anywhere. So, I can't just go around asking for the
nearest demonic stronghold.

Firing up the old location(this thing is a lot more complicated than
that, but I prefer one word despcriptions for my spells) spell, I
managed to pick out a few places where magic was concentrated and
regularly manipulated. As a side note, electricity seemed to be
limited to natural lighting and that created by sorcery.

****

I decided not to take any chances. With magic only regularly used in a
handful of places, I doubt that many people here are accustommed to
seeing someone fly. I hope that there are 'people' here. I've seen
some of the tv shows, there really could be a Smurf Land. How did the
poor bastards get by with just one female in the whole village,
anyway?

And now back to the subject. Instead of hoofing it, I just camped out
in the woods during the day, hunting as needed, and flew at night.
This went on for almost a week. There were a few villages reminiscent
of those in China, but less ramshackle. By the way, there were people.
They were a little short, but they were people.

I passed a few larger towns, probably considered big cities here, and
something that looked suspiscously like that arch thing over in
America, St. Louis, I think. Then, on the seventh night here, I
crested a low hill and caught sight of a real city. I snapped a few
quick mental pictures of the place from a distance(things like that
make great postcards) and made a mental note to bring Ami here when
she recovered.

The city was situated on an island in the middle of a river. The
city's lanterns and torched turned the sky a soft yellow and I could
just barely make out the detailed structures that comprised it. Unlike
the towns from earlier, I couldn't see any signs of squalor or poor
maintenance, and perhaps more importantly, I couldn't smell it from
miles off, even while upwind. This was close enough, I'd catch a few
hours sleep before dawn and pay a visit the impressive tower that
radiated power.

****

And, once again, things go to shit for me. I mean, is it so much to
ask for a lucky break or three? Sigh. I was surrounded by at least a
dozen men, all armed and giving off all kinds of body language that
just screamed 'I'm a trained killer'. Nine women, if I saw all of them
were included with the men but none of them were armed or armored.
They all wore red in varying styles that reminded me of medieval
Europe and were all Talented.

This world's version of Talent was more mutated than I'd previously
thought possible. Each of the women was Talented, of that I'm sure,
but the Talent didn't reside within them, it sorta floated around
their body and soul. I couldn't really see any advantages to this, but
several disadvantages were quite noticeable.

The Talent could be easily lost with such a tenuous link to the
owner's soul(it'd have been nice if those Amazons of old had gotten
their newborn soul from here). All I had to do was lash out with some
specifically shaped white magic and poof, burnt out Talent. If all
Talented folks here followed the same pattern, not a single one of
them could actually store energy within themselves. That made it oh so
easy to block them off from all power.

That's what they were trying with me now. A woven pattern of what felt
like the white/light factor that some of the magic was separated into
wrapped around me tightly, cutting off my access to ambient magical
energy. Right now they're probably thinking that I'm damned near
harmless. Heh.

I stood up, pulling my sleeping bag and pillow(roughing it doesn't
have to be too rough) into my spatial pocket. That act alone got a few
gasps and muttered curses. Those had been in English, and while not
sounding like any swear words I know of, they had the emotion and
sound to get the message across.

"Hey, nice morning, eh?" I asked, playing groggy while shielding and
priming a few unkind spells. My English is pretty good. Demons have
this really useful ability to speak any language(have no idea how they
got it), and for some reason, like to speak English, so I picked it up
in my childhood. The men tensed, readying to draw swords or slightly
raising those already drawn.

"Of all the nerve," spat one of the women. What's up with those faces?
They look kinda tight, like they're drawn back or something. Another
Talent mutation?

"You're quite defenseless now," said another woman. She was the only
one to have gray hair, hair gray with age, yet her face remained young
and unlined."Why not make things easier on yourself and come
peacably?"

I was going to scratch the back of my head, this time not in
nervousness, but a gesture to convey the emotion falsely. I like to
make people underestimate me, then spring it on them just how
outclassed they are. My arm never made it to the back of my head. One
of the sorceresses, using another woven thread of power, this one with
an elemental feel of air to it, locked my arm in place. Geeze, these
bitches weren't any fun.

"Don't move!" snapped yet another woman in red.

I left the arm in place. Why mess up the game when it's just getting
good?"What have I done to get such wonderful treatment from you lovely
ladies?" Hey, it worked on Sailor Jupiter that one time. Makoto is so
gullible.

They actually started growling. Well damn, time to change my approach.
"Ah, I get it, you all are a bunch of muff divers?" And not a single
one of them understood.

"This grows tiresome. Sieze him." That was the gray haired woman. I
can't blame them for underestimating me. I wasn't armed and was making
an effort of masking any outward sign of my physical prowess.

Only three of the men stepped forward. Each of them moved with the
grace that only those of us who are really good at kicking other
peoples asses can. Thing is, when you're that good, you know it and
only walk like that when you're trying to show off. These guys should
just come at me with a relaxed gait like anyone on the street would.

Shredding the air that bound my arm, I materialized my sword. They
seemed to like swords. I wonder how they'll like mine. A casual flick
of my wrist and I threw up a dome of white magic that would serve the
same purpose as these sorceresses' barrier field, or whatever it was.
The men could enter to fight me, and the women too, if they wanted,
but they wouldn't be throwing any spells at me until I wanted them
too.

The warriors stopped short when my vorpal bladed sword appeared, eying
the wickedly curving weapon with caution. They only missed that single
beat, then, in unison, returned to their previous pace. Three at a
time was an optimal number. Four could be done, but there was a chance
that they would get in each others' way.

There was some shouting and muffled cursing in the background. I
didn't pay much attention to it. This was about utterly humiliating
some guys who were totally too impressed with themselves.

I slid the first strike to my left, forcing the point of my attacker's
sword into the ground. A spinning axe kick and he went flying back
over the heads of his companions, sword still in hand. He was tough
enough that he should only be stunned by that. The next two came at me
from the right and left. Their strokes were quick, efficient, and
powerful. Their styles were different, kinda, and flowed well, but it
was still easy to see how they were trained in particular sword strike
patterns. Once I had the proper defense pattern set in my mind, I
turned that part of the fight over to auto-pilot and sent my senses
out to the others.

The guy I'd kicked was stalking towards me from behind and the women
were in a tight cluster, arguing heatedly. Heightened senses allowed
me to smell and sense the fear, anxiety, and astonishment in the air.
Good. They'd never seen anything like me before, and even though I
still didn't know why they wanted me, I now had a good idea of how
these people operated, Talent and Martial wise.

Coming back to myself fully, I disengaged the automatic defense and
took the offensive. The swords used by these men weren't exactly
enchanted, but they had been forged with magic. They could take a
suprising amount of punishment. Normal steel would have been pathetic
against them. My sword wasn't normal. I was carving slivers of metal
from their weapons every stroke I made and they didn't seem to notice.

Right before being stabbed in the back, I lashed out with my foot,
catching the still woozy and unsuspecting man in the crotch. That had
been mean, and I mostly try to avoid doing that to guys(sympathy, I
guess), but I would have really liked to have finished that dream
about Ami. Bastard, it was his own fault, really.

****

Author's Notes: And I'm going to stop here. Ranma's in Randland and
the Aes Sedai are never going to be the same again(grin). I really
hate them. Ranma is REALLY gonna hate them, especially when they won't
leave him alone, no matter how many he kills. I'll probably introduce
Ranma to Rand in a few chapters, but first he's gotta decimate the
bitches and pay a visit to the Dark One. For once, Ranma isn't going
to get along with the bad guys(I'm going to use an idea for some of
the stuff in WoT that I've had for a couple years now, but have never
really mentioned. It has to do with the One Power and the Dark One's
existance). I didn't even think about it until I was about halfway
finished, but Callandor, the sa'angreal that is the second most
powerful ever made, and acts likes a lens for the male half of the One
Power, is a lot like Ranma's new and improved megathame. Can't you
just imagine the Aes Sedai, Asha'man, and Forsaken drooling over it?
Well, that's all for now. Please send me C&C at
dark_phoneix@hotmail.com