Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Destiny of the Magi ❯ Just follow the yellow brick road of doom! ( Chapter 12 )

"So let me get this straight," Zandia said seriously, "you four are suppose to wait for some sort of back up for two days to hunt down a sword that has been taken by a Counter Strike Maniac?"

"Corrupted Spirit mage Sensei." Ranma said wiry.

Zandia snorted, "You call them that, I call them Counter Strike Maniacs."

Kikori blinked, "Why?"

"The last one I met up with was playing Counter Strike." Zandia said with disgust in her voice, "Starts muttering something about sending a hell fire blast at some guy playing with him."

Shampoo and Mousse both starts to flip through the Japanese/Chinese dictionary, "Counter Strike? What is it?"

Ranma bursts out laughing seeing the two Amazons looking up the Dictionary.

"Ranma, don't be so rude." Kikori chided.

"What IS counter strike?" Shampoo asked extremely annoyed.

"It's a computer game Shampoo," Zandia said, "Don't you guys have computers back in your village?"

Mousse nodded, "We do. We use them for E-mailing people mostly though, not play games through them. Oh yeah... the elders were thinking of setting up a `web-site' for us too... whatever that is."

Ranma finally stops laughing as Shampoo shove one of her bon bori right in his face, "Stupid male."

"I told you not to be so rude." The priestess said calmly sipping her cup of tea, "Why does this tea taste funny?"

Ranma gulped, "C-c-coffee..."

The other mages except for Ranma and Kikori blinked.

"You drank Sensei's coffee." Ranma said with fear in his voice.

Kikori's face became blushed as she felt her body start to work over time to use up the excess energy, "I'msosorryzandiaireallyreallyshouldn'tbedrinkingyourcoffeeandallthapleasef orgivemepleasepleaseplease."

"Is that why Kikori drinks tea?" Zandia said as she leans back.

Ranma sighs, "Feh, and they say tea has a higher caffeine content than coffee. It's a conspiracy!"

The two amazons once again flip through their dictionary, "Why Ranma suddenly use words so complicated!"

Mousse shakes his head in frustration, "Don't ask me. All I know is I need a new prescription for my glasses!"

Shampoo gave Mousse a disdainful look, "Oh NOW you realize that!"

"What? You agree that my glass prescription is too powerful too!"

Shampoo only BARELY resists pulling her most powerful spell on her temporary partner, "Stupid male."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~

Act 1: Chapter 12

Just follow the yellow brick road of doom!

Kikori smiled politely at the two mages standing in front of the `Mystical Dimension', "Hello, I am Kikori Sekihara. Me and my partner has been expecting you."

A male mage wearing a pure white bandanna with a gray cloak smiles in return. On his right stands a silver colored wolf that stands up to his chest, "Greetings, Daishi Tanaka at your service, and this is my linked, Ryu."

Kikori frowned slightly, "A Channeler?"

"Yes, Ryu is an elemental wolf." Daishi said politely.

The second mage, wearing a blood red cloak with blond hair and hazel eyes steps forward, "I'm Hikari Funko."

"Hikari!"

Kikori jumps slightly as Ranma rushes out of the store, "It's REALLY you!"

"Ranma." Hikari said brightly, "It's been a while."

Ranma snorted, "A while? It's been 8 years! Still the queen of understatements!"

"I take it you two know each other?" Kikori said, cutting in.

"Yeah, I know Hikari." Ranma said, "Spirit mage of fire. Fortunately without the personality to match."

Hikari blushed and punches Ranma in the face, "Stop that!"

Kikori and Daishi both stares at Ranma, "With, or without?"

Ranma just grinned, "She hates it when I talk about her personality. Seems like she hasn't changed a bit since we last met."

"Let's not stand around, we have a CSM walking around in Japan and I want to catch him." Daishi said seriously, "Plus Ryu is getting annoyed with not getting any action for the last few months."

Ranma ignores the Channeler, "Whatever, lets go in."

*************************************************************** ********

"So let me get this straight," Hikari said with a pale face, "we need to hunt down the most powerful anti-magi weapon that exists in the world who is held by one of the oldest enemies of the mage tower?"

Ranma and Kikori nodded.

"And all we have is two spirit mages, a channeler, a priestess, a mind mage, and a half blind imbuer!"

The two nodded again.

"I LOVE YOU MAGE TOWER!"

Everyone in the room sweatdropped after a second of silence.

"Umm, Hikari," Ranma stared at his old friend, "Are ya suicidal?"

The fire mage blinked, "No."

"Oh good." Ranma said with relieve, "I was about to contemplate asking for a better health insurance plan from the tower."

"You are very crazy Ranma." Shampoo said shaking her head, "No WAY is the mage tower going to give us a better health insurance, it's like asking if there is a god of TV. Equal ridiculous."

Kikori covered her mouth and let out a small snicker.

"So where IS this CSM?" Daishi asked petting his wolf.

"From what the tower gathered, our target has his tower in Hokkaido." Kikori said pulling out a map from under the coffee table. The mage shows a blown up version of Japan with the northern island completely filled up by black dots.

"What's with the dots?" Mousse asked.

"Those show the points where dark energies are." Kikori answered, "Which gives us a VERY large search area."

Ranma shook his head, "It's a cover, the dark energy ain't from our target."

Hikari nodded in agreement, "Those energy are more like minions of our target. I think."

Kikori blinked, "So where is that CSM?"

Ranma chuckled, "Kikori, I expected more from ya. Here of course."

The priestess blinked and looked at where Ranma pointed, "Sapporo?"

"Yep." Ranma said with a smirk, "The dots avoid that city. There are two reasons, one, they are afraid of somethin' there, or two, there is somethin' holy there, which there ain't."

"So we head for Sapporo?" Daishi asked.

"Then we head Sapporo." Kikori answered, "We'll take the tower planes there tomorrow morning, we can rest up in one of the hotels before scanning the area for the CSM. Then we'll figure out what to do."

Ranma stared at the Amazons, who haven't spoken much yet, "What do ya guys think?"

Shampoo blinked, "Oh this isn't our territory. If it's in China, me and Mousse might help in this stage, but is not."

Mousse nodded in agreement, "Just point and we'll fight."

Ranma chuckled, "All fight no play makes Amazons blood thirsty."

"Yes and all joke and no serious makes Spirit mages go to hospital." Shampoo replied once again wielding her bon bori."

*************************************************************** ********

Ranma sighed as he and his partner once again set foot on an airplane once again, "I hate planes."

"So you rather waste few months to hike and SWIM to Sapporo?" Kikori asked incredulously.

Ranma laughed and let Kikori take the window seat, "Here, I know you love window seats."

Kikori smiled, "You never take it. I think you should this time."

Ranma shook his head, "If I am going to see the sky, I rather use my own magic to fly up here, not through a plastic window."

RING RING

The two mages stared at the built in phone in front of them, "Did it just ring?"

Kikori nodded.

RING RING.

"Probably Landal." Ranma muttered before picking up the phone, "Hello, Ranma here."

Ranma nodded once in a while for a minute before hanging up.

"So who is it?" Kikori asked curiously.

"Oh its Landal." Ranma said calmly and relaxed on the seat, "Wake me up when we're there."

"You can get some sleep when we get to Sapporo," Kikori said shaking her partner, "Wake up! What am I suppose to do for 4 hours!"

*************************************************************** ********

Hikari shook her head as she watched Kikori trying to wake up Ranma, who is pretending to sleep.

"So what's up with that other spirit mage?" Daishi asked Hikari, trying to strike up a conversation.

"Ranma?" Daishi nodded, "What do you mean?"

"He ignores me a lot." Daishi said, "Not that I mind or anything, but the way he does it. Seems VERY intentional. SO intentional I think he WANTS me to know he's ignoring me."

Hikari nodded, "I know what you mean. Ranma usually doesn't ignore people like that. Make fun of, sure, anger, always, but never ignore. Well there IS this one time when some mage asked for some help with our magic theory test."

"He was in your class?" Daishi asked, "But he's at LEAST 3 years younger than us, so is his partner."

Hikari laughed, "Oh those two are the pride of the Kyoto Tower. Ranma, the youngest spirit mage to ever reach 3rd circle."

"HE is third circle!" The channeler gaped.

The spirit mage nodded, "And of course, Kikori, the youngest priestess to ever able to hold on to a resurrection spell* for more than five seconds."

Daishi shook his head in wonder, "Amazing."

"Yeah, you should watch Ranma in action." Hikari said, "THAT is amazing. Of course, watching Kikori casting a high-level priestess spell and holding on for more than half an hour is also amazing. Given that she fainted after that, but that was expected."

"Is there anything ELSE I should know about our rag tag team and why your are SO confident with us?" Daishi asked wiry.

"Shampoo is the heir to Cologne, the Mind mage council representative. Mousse is a Master of a martial art discipline, the hidden weapons with his imbuing skills." Hikari said in an uncaring tone, "Oh yeah, Ranma's a Talent."

"You're pulling my leg." Daishi said with a chuckle, "That's a good one."

"Who said I was joking," Hikari said, giving the channeler an amused look, "If I was, then I'll be praying to the gods to help us right now."

"So THOSE two are the two that can probably bring down a first class mage?" Daishi said in awe, "Wow."

Hikari smiled and nodded, "They both have a drive that forces them to be the best. Kikori was raised by the tower itself, she wasn't an orphan like most of us, but born to the tower. Ranma's drive... I have no idea what drives him, but all I know is that you can trust him to come up on top."

*Author's note: Priestess spells are classified into four classes. Lesser, High, Miracle, and Godly. Lesser would be minor healing spells, and other weak blessings. High classed spells are major healing spells, defensive spells like enhanced healing, and warding spells. Miracle classes are just like the name implies, miracles. These `miracles' include things that defy laws of physics but not the laws of nature such as extreme recovery where the target heals their wounds too quickly for the cells to actually move in real life. Godly class is the spells that defy laws of nature. They practically let the priests or priestesses wield the powers of gods themselves. Resurrection is one of these spells, but if you can use the power of gods without going mad or completely destroying your own body, well good luck.

*************************************************************** ********

"Sham-"

"Shut up Mu Tzu."

*************************************************************** ********

"I don't get it, why don't the elders just go and get that CSM themselves." Mousse asked innocently, "I mean with them, that CSM probably doesn't even stand a chance."

"The elders need to protect the tower, so they send us to do this." Kikori answered, "There ARE more factions in this world that would be glad to bring down a defenseless tower."

"Point taken." Mousse chuckled nervously, "So where is this hotel we're staying at?"

Ranma sighed, "Landal set up a stay for us already, but the rooms are set so we have our own rooms."

Kikori groaned.

"What so bad about that?" Hikari said, "I mean we get our own rooms right?"

Shampoo nodded in agreement, "Unless you two WANT to sleep in the same room."

Daishi and Mousse laughed out loud as Ranma and Kikori blushed bright red.

"It's not that!" Ranma defended, "Landal probably PLACED us in the same room just to make us awkward."

"So you don't have to worry about anything." Shampoo said, "You get to do whatever you two do when you're alone with an excuse too."

The rest of the mages laughed relentlessly at the expense of a spirit mage and a priestess.

*************************************************************** ********

Ranma lets out a breath as he flopped down on his bed, "Wow, I have ta hand it to Landal. He knows his hotels!"

Silence greeted Ranma as he stared up at the ceiling, "And he didn't put me and Kikori in the same room too! That's a first."

< He's close, I can feel him. > The pig-tailed mage frowned, < Tomorrow, I'm going to get him tomorrow. >

"I need a soak." Ranma muttered and starts to strip, "That'll get me relaxed enough ta do some scouting work this afternoon."

*************************************************************** ********

Kikori felt like hugging Landal, "This room is beautiful." The priestess sat on the bed looking around the room. There is a single queen sized bed in the middle of the room with a side stand on either side. A TV is placed in the opposite side of the bed. A desk is place beside the TV with a lamp on it. A sliding door on the opposite side of the entrance of he room leads out to a porch where one can see the ocean.

"Well, time to see if the Furo is as good as the room itself." Kikori said happily as she grabs her bathing items.

*************************************************************** ********

Landal gasped for air and began to laugh again.

"Landal, I wish you would stop playing jokes on the two already."

Landal controls himself before answering, "Well those two need to lighten up anyway. They are so uptight about some things elder."

The old man chuckled but was stopped by a hacking cough, "Yes, they are. Pray tell what you did to them THIS time."

Landal grinned, "Well you know how Ranma and Kikori have this VERY weird talent of seeing each other naked?"

"Of course," The elder said shaking his head, "It's uncanny. Makes you think they do it on purpose."

"Well, the hotel I set them up with have them share the same bathroom." Landal said before bursting out laughing again.

The elder shook his head in amusement. < If Landal knew what was in store for Ranma, he wouldn't have done this. But still, this is most amusing >

*************************************************************** ********

Kikori blushed uncontrollably as she clutched her towel as close to her body as humanly possible. < Not again! Stupid Landal. >

"I think it's my turn to take the bath first." Kikori stammered, wanting to turn around but doing so will show more skin to her partner than she is showing now.

"Yeah tell me when ya done." Ranma said still nervously wrapping his towel around his waist.

"Well?"

"Sorry."

*************************************************************** ********

Hikari yawned as she and the others waited for Kikori and Ranma to come down to the lobby to meet them, "What is TAKING them so long."

Shampoo giggled, "Maybe they really do naughty things when no one knows."

"I can most certainly say that we don't Shampoo."

The Amazon jumped, "Hello Kikori."

Hikari raised her eyebrows as she looked over the two mages that just came down, < Hmm, damp hair, and bright blush... >

"You SURE you two wasn't doing something... naughty as Shampoo put it?"

Ranma growled, "Lets just go, we have a mission to finish, Mousse you're with me, Kikori go with Hikari, Shampoo you go with Daishi."

The priestess loses the blush immediately and nods, "We are to scout the area for clues as to where our target is. We gather here again at seven PM then I guess we'll see what we can do then."

The others nodded and split up into their groups.

*************************************************************** ********

7:30 PM: Hotel Lobby

"Sorry we late." Shampoo said smiling sheepishly, "we follow lead and forgot the time."

Kikori nodded, "It's ok, my side didn't come up with anything."

Mousse shrugged, "Me and Ranma didn't find a single lead."

Daishi grinned, "Me and Shampoo found a captain of a boat that says that he saw a tower in the middle of the sea he fishes at but only once. We told him to bring us to that place."

"So he has a tower in the middle of the sea?" Hikari said, "Wow, no where to run, for us AND for him."

Shampoo nodded, "He is very smart, has a illusion spell hiding his tower and with the sea always moving, you can't put a marker to mark where he is unless you anchor it, but you can do away with anchors pretty easily."

"So we set out to the tower tomorrow?" Ranma asked, "Can that captain take us to the tower?"

Daishi nodded, "We asked for his assistance, he said as long as we don't interrupt his schedule."

"When do we head out?" Mousse asked.

"Very early." Daishi said with a sigh, "5 AM early."

All the mage winced except for Shampoo and Ranma who cursed.

"Now how am I suppose to practice!"

"How can I practice martial arts!"

*************************************************************** ********

"They found our tower." All three of Kalda's head said in unison creating his gurgled voice.

"I know, and they brought help too." The man grinned in anticipation, "I just hope they can survive the tower long enough so I can go up against Ranma's power."

"You can get him IF he beats me." Kalda said with a growl, "The young puppy has a score to settle with me Sakado."

Sakado sighed, "Oh well, looks like I'll have to settle with that other spirit mage."

*************************************************************** ********

"There should be a law that says that girls shouldn't be so chirpy THIS early in the morning." Daishi mumbled as he rubbed his eyes and taking a sip of his coffee, "How can you STAND that."

Mousse shrugged as he finished off his cup, "Being brought up in an Amazon village does that to you."

Kikori shrugged, "I'm used to it."

Hikari groaned, "I wish I can be THAT awake this early in the morning."

Ranma grinned as he did a Kata on the deck of the ship, "So what is this Kata again?"

Shampoo is doing the same Kata only at a faster rate, "This is `Dance of petals'*, a sword Kata, but it's been modified by my great grand mother for unarmed use."

Hikari groaned again, "HOW can they do THAT this early in the morning!"

A hearty chuckled made the four spectators turn, "It's good to see SOME youngsters nowadays still wake up early like we used to."

Kikori bowed politely, "Mr.Ibuki, I thank you for letting us use your vessel."

The captain of the ship waved his hand, "Don't worry about it, as long as it doesn't mess with my schedule, it's all fine with me. But tell me, how are you going to get off the tower?"

Kikori blinked, "Umm..."

The man laughed clutching his belly, "Ah don't worry about it. Just call this number and I'll bring my ship to pick your group up."

Kikori blushed, "Thank you for you kindness."

"Don't mention it." The man said grinning, "We should be getting to that tower in half an hour, you should try to wake yourself up before we get there."

Daishi yawned, "Yeah, you have enough coffee for a refill?"

*Author's note: No that is not a real Kata. I made it up. If it's real hurray for me ^^ I actually guessed something right =p.

*************************************************************** ********

"This is it!" Ranma said cheerfully, "So what's the plan?"

"I say we charge in and kick butt!" Hikari said with the same flare as Ranma, "LET'S GO!"

Shampoo sweatdropped, "Should we have more of a plan than charge in and kick butt?"

Kikori shook her head, "Actually, unless we know the lay out of that tower, that's the only sound plan that we can have."

"Let's go already!" The two spirit mages grinned maniacally before charging towards the tower.

Daishi stared at the two spirit mages and gave a small prayer, "Let's hope that this isn't the last mission I'll be on. Let's go Ryu."

*************************************************************** ********

Sakado grinned as he watched from the top of the tower, "So it begins, the end of the tower."

"Or it's eternal survival." Kalda said, "So you DO know we are only the beginning."

"Yes, but I intend to survive to see the end." Sakado replied, "I'm sure I can."

*************************************************************** ********

"I call upon the power from the fiery depths of hell!"

"I call upon the power from the never ending storm!"

The two spirit mages stood side by side as the others watched from behind, a hoard of `zombies' quickly made their way towards the small group of mages.

"Burst of thy flame shall be your might!"

"Burst of thy winds shall show us thy power!"

"Show mine enemy to fear thy strength!"

Hikari shot her hand towards the middle of the hoard of zombies, releasing a ball of flame.

"Show no mercy towards the undeserving!"

Ranma mimicked Hikari's gesture but instead activating a spell circle surrounding the whole hoard. The ball of flame hits the middle of the circle and explodes. Wind immediately picks up, spreading the fire from the explosion out through the hoard creating a tornado of flame.

"We KICK ASS!" Ranma yelled, "Ya see that! We're gonna kick your ass!"

Hikari grinned, "You watch your step CSM! `Cause we're on FIRE!"

Mousse and Shampoo blinked, "Is Ranma always like this?"

Kikori nodded sadly, "Yes... he is."

Daishi shrugged, "I'll blow up the door. Tell the two when they finish taunting."

The channeler closed his eyes and concentrate as his wolf starts to glow a cloudy white color. The aura that the wolf emits starts to move towards Daishi and surrounds him. Slowly the power gathers into a flat vertical disk in front of him and starts to glow brighter.

"I think this should be enough to blow the door." Daishi muttered before relaxing and punching at the disc. A large beam of magic bursts out of the disc and slams into the door breaking it open easily.

Mousse gave a whistle of appreciation, "Nice."

Shampoo and Kikori just nodded.

"So the door is down?" Hikari said with a grin, "Lets go make some havoc!"

Ranma snorted, "Havoc? We're gonna blow this place DOWN!"

*************************************************************** ********

"There goes our door." Kalda said watching the door fall and killing the hoard of mix and match skeletons waiting behind it, "And a large amount of skeletons you made from the remains of fish."

Sakado grimaced, "Knew I shouldn't place them there."

The three-headed monster snorted, "More fun for us."

The corrupted mage nodded, "Yes, more fun for us."

*************************************************************** ********

The group of mage walked along the spiral stairs that slowly goes up to the top. The stairs is built along the side of the tower so that you can see up from the center of the circle to the top easily. "So how far do we have to walk till we reach the top?" Mousse asked, "This is VERY tiring."

"I think that's the point of making a tower," Hikari said, "Tire the intruders out THEN face them."

Shampoo blanched, "A cowards tactic."

"An effective one too." Daishi commented and his wolf huffed in agreement.

"I say we are only half way Mousse." Ranma said after peering upwards, "And who's to say if we have MORE stairs to climb once we reach the top."

Mousse grumbled and throws a knife at a bat hitting it, "This is less exciting than I thought."

Kikori blinked as she saw the knife hit the bat. The bat bursts into blue flame and falls to the bottom, "Hey Mousse, are those normal knifes or are they imbued?"

"Normal, why?"

"Guys, I think we have MORE undead to deal with." Kikori said nervously and takes out her pendent, "That bat you hit burst into flames before falling."

"Don't tell me we need to play vamp hunter!" Ranma groaned, "Hikari, can you cast a spell towards the top of the tower?"

"Gladly." Hikari smiled and points her fist towards the top, "Demons blood, devil's anger. Guide thy power to my fist, let burn!"

Fire engulfed her fist and she sends it flying towards the top.

Shampoo frowned, "Not too big of a fireball. You sure it can kill?"

Hikari just smiled sweetly, "Wait for it."

The amazon blinked and continues to watch the small fireball head for the top. Once it DID reach the top, it explodes and covers the top of the tower with flame.

"Told you to wait."

Ranma gave her a thumbs up when he saw bats fall to the bottom of the tower, "Lets continue on."

*************************************************************** ********

"The hell, the tower is giving them more of a challenge than those things I conjured up." Sakado growled, "Good thing I didn't set them up just yesterday or else I'd be at half strength only."

Kalda chuckled, "Why get others to do your job when you can do it yourself?"

"We get others to do it `cause we're too lazy." Sakado replied and continue to watch the group ascend, "Oh well, at least the last part of the tower would go according to plan no matter WHAT they do."

"You sure?"

"YES!"

*************************************************************** ********

"Oh man... this is SO lame." Ranma commented.

"No offense to our target but, that IS bad." Kikori shook her head.

"How much imagination does it take to think THAT up?" Hikari said with disgust.

"Not much I imagine." Daishi answered.

"Wow, even the ten year olds in our village can think of something better!" Shampoo said, "I am REALLY insulted by this."

"I know what you mean," Mousse sighed, "ten year olds in our village can REALLY think of something better, I can attest to that."

The group of mages stared at the fork road in front of them.

"Take your pick group." Ranma rolled his eyes.

*************************************************************** ********

"THAT is your fool proof plan?" Kalda said groaning. "I expected more from you."

"That's my line, just remember your place." Sakado growled, "Don't worry this plan IS fool proof."

*************************************************************** ********

"Center route it is." Ranma said and walked towards the center route.

< Hmm, something is wrong. >

CLANG!

Ranma turned around to see a plate of pure titanium blocking the path trapping him and Daishi, "Shit."

"Well looks like it's just you and me." Daishi said.

"Yeah yeah, just watch my back." Ranma growled and walks forward.

*************************************************************** ********

"It seems he is forcing us to separate." Kikori said, "Well I guess I'll group with Shampoo and take the left route. Mousse you go with Hikari and take the right one."

"Ok."

*************************************************************** ********

"See fool proof!" Sakado said, "and this time, nothing can stop them from fighting my army of skeletons."

"They're fish bones." Kalda said, "How much damage can they take?"

"Why don't you be a nice dog and go dig up some bones then." Sakado growled.

"Point taken."

"Oh and before I forget," Sakado said with a evil smirk, "Why don't you go to that room and meet up with Ranma. I'd like to take care of the rest of them myself."

*************************************************************** ********

Ranma frowned, "Skeletons."

"Let me take care of them." Daishi said and starts to gather energy.

"STOP!" Ranma grabs the channeler's hand and stops him, "You trying to bring the whole tunnel on top of us?"

"Oh Spirits of wind, heed my call! Gather your magic, pierce through the wall of the unbreakable, banish the evil within!"

Ranma pointed a finger at the hoard of skeletons, the thin beam of light pierce through everything in front of it. Every skeleton it touched fell to pieces immediately, "If you can't cast something without doing mass destruction, don't do it in this tunnel, you'll kill us instead."

Daishi growled and pushed Ranma to the side allowing him to take the lead. He looked at his wolf in its eyes commanding it to do something. The wolf nodded and begins to glow. The channeler held out his hands with all his fingers separate and pointing in front of them,

"I'll show you control." Daishi muttered. Beams of white light shot out

from his fingers crossing each other occasionally. The magic aura emitting from him continues to grow making cracks in the walls beside him.

< Got to draw some energy into me or else I'll bring to tunnel down anyway. >

Ranma stood behind the channeler as he continues to strain to keep the magic the wolf gave him from going uncontrolled. "If ya can't take the strain, dun do it. Ya kill us all anyways."

Daishi snorted as he cut of the magic, "What is with you anyways! You have a stick up your ass or something?"

"You want to know what's with me?" Ranma snapped back, "I'm just disgusted with you bunch."

"You're a mage yourself too." Daishi snarled.

"When I say ya bunch, I mean channelers." Ranma replied sharply, "All ya channelers are a bunch of cowards. Fightin' when it's easy, takin' the easy way to everythin'. But when it gets tough, all ya do is run home like a bunch of wusses."

Daishi growled, "YOU take that back!"

"Prove me wrong, `cause I know I can prove you wrong." Ranma growled.

"What have we done to you." Daishi asked calmly but still with anger in his voice, "What makes you think we're all cowards."

Ranma blinked, "Look, it might not be your fault, but you're not doing anything to prove me wrong."

"I'm not doing anything to prove you right either."

The pigtailed mage frowned, "You want to know why I think all you channelers are cowards? I had I twin sister, she died fighting Kalda when we were seven years old. She fought it as those god damned channelers ran from him! THEY LET A SEVEN YEAR OLD GIRL fight a GOD DAMNED MONSTER!"

Daishi deflated, "I'll prove you wrong then."

Ranma gave a sideways glance at his companion, "Hope you hold on to your word." The pig-tailed mage said as they reached the end of their tunnel, " `Cause I'm sure you'll regret making that statement if it's not true once we open to door."

Daishi smirked, "I'm a man of my word Ranma Saotome, I'll prove myself."

Ranma nodded and pushed open the door.

*************************************************************** ********

"So we meet for the third time Saotome."

Ranma glared at the monster in front of him in the large open area that the two mages ended up in after the long tunnel, "Kalda."

Daishi pointed his palm in front of him already glowing with power.

"Daishi, he's mine." Ranma said quietly.

"But-"

"If you want to prove yourself, go find our target and protect my partner, Kikori. Prove to me you can protect." Ranma said looking at the channeler, "I'm trusting you with her life."

Daishi nodded and dashed for the door on the opposite side.

ROAR!

Ranma's eyes widened as the ground in front of him exploded throwing him against the wall of the room.

"Never take your eyes off your opponent young pup." Kalda said grimly, "I take that as an insult."

Ranma growled, "Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why did you kill her?" Ranma asked as he readied a spell.

"I'll tell you when you defeat me." Kalda's right head replied, as it's other two heads roared throwing two fireballs at Ranma.

"RELEASE!" Ranma's palm shot forward letting lose a ball of magic.

< I'll kill him this time. >

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~

Well, what can I say? I'm leaving you people with a cliffhanger. Like the last cliffhanger I gave, I don't have a reason for it except maybe I'm too lazy to finish it. Or maybe I planned it...

Anywho, about the comment about how Kalda's appearance looks like FF8's Cerberus GF? Well it's not intentional. To tell the truth, I haven't even USE Cerberus in the game. I got him, but never did use him as a summon. So I have NO idea what it looks like =p Maybe I should play it again to see... NAW.

For those of you who are wondering about the full story of how Ranma's twin sis died, it'll be revealed next chapter, probably, if not, I'd give a side story for it. Of course Saiko's death is only a part of Ranma's past although he tends to dwell on it ever since he got the Jusenkyo curse.

On this chapter, I tried to mix in MORE humor with the normally semi-serious Ranma adventure. Of course the incompetent enemy traps are kinda an old joke (I think) but I did it anyways cuz it works... kinda. Comments about that are appreciated and I'd like to thank people ahead of time for commenting on that. (That is IF any of you DO comment on that.)

And if your STILL reading this after all that boring stuff I just said... Well bravo... even I won't read through my babble like that.

Oh yeah, here's an Omake for you.

OMAKE! Amazonian website! OMAKE!

Mousse nodded, "We do. We use them for E-mailing people mostly though, not play games through them. Oh yeah... the elders were thinking of setting up a `web-site' for us too... whatever that is."

"You are SO out-dated Mousse." Shampoo shook her head, "We already have the website up! Just log on to www.SMQUEENS.com and you'll find it!"

"CUT!"

"What it's true! Just ask my mother!" Shampoo protested.

"Hey guys look! You can buy whips from the online shop from that site!" Saiko said pointing at the computer screen.

Ranma sweatdropped, "Umm, sis, I don't think mom would like you looking at that site."

Kikori sweatdropped as Akane and Hikari both rushed towards the computer.

"We still have a scene to film guys!"

"SHUT UP!" The girls by the computer yelled and threw mallets at the cameraman.

Ranma sighed and shook his head, "I'm just glad at least Kikori isn't like those girls over there."

Mousse tapped Ranma on his shoulders, "Careful what you say."

Ranma blinked at turn to see Kikori practicing with a whip, "Ok, maybe we should pray."

OMAKE! End OMAKE!

Ok, that is a BIT too weird... I need to stop eating so much gummy bears.

Anyway, Happy New Year people. Wish ya all a good year!