Differing Powers

Chapter 1

A Ranma/Wheel Of Time Crossover

By Louis-Philippe Giroux
Dragon@anime.sobhrach.com

   Let me know what you think of this! C&C /MST welcome!!!

   The Wheel Of Time is a series created by Robert Jordan.  Read it at
any cost!  Ranma 1/2 belongs to Rumiko Takahashi.  Suing me would be
pointless, as I have no money whatsoever.  I do this for fun, not
profit!

   The Wheel Of Time - 8 books so far and still going! (Published by Tor
Books)

  
1 - The Eye of the World
2 - The Great Hunt
3 - The Dragon Reborn
4 - The Shadow Rising
5 - The Fires Of Heaven
6 - The Lord Of Chaos
7 - A Crown Of Swords
8 - The Path Of Daggers
9 - [Winter's Heart] Fall 2000

*************************************************
  
"The Wheel of Time turns and Ages come and go, leaving memories that
become legend.  Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten
when the Age that gave it birth returns again."

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

   As he approached the Tendo Dojo on his way back from school, Ranma
snickered about the latest insanity that had plagued Nerima.  He could
still recall how Akari Unryuu, a pig farmer, had been ecstatic when
she'd found out that her "Ryouga-sama" had managed to best her giant
pet sumo pig, Katsunishiki.  Maybe this would persuade Ryouga to stop
sleeping with Akane as P-Chan.  Maybe.

   On his way to his room, he noticed that the door to Happosai's room
was slightly open.  Ranma decided to look inside out of curiosity,
since the old pervert usually never left his door open.  The room was
filled with neat piles of underwear, but Happosai didn't seem to be
around. *Probably on a panty raid,* Ranma thought.  As he scanned the
room, though, he noticed something lying on the corner of Happosai's
desk. Walking over to it, Ranma recognized what the object was: a
fragment of the Nanban Mirror.  This fragment of the Mirror was still
attached to part of the metal frame.

   Ranma took the piece in his hands and examined it.  Had the Mirror
still been whole, he could have wished himself to Jusenkyou and cured
his curse right away.  He sighed and pocketed the piece; maybe he
could get Cologne to make this little fragment work on its own.
Looking over the room, he saw a stack of what appeared to be old
scrolls beside a pile of panties.

   Carefully making sure not to touch the panties, he took the scrolls
and opened them.  The first one was gibberish.  It was some kind of
text, but Ranma couldn't even make out the characters.  He couldn't
even tell if it was because it was written in a different language or
because of poor penmanship.  He moved to the second, and sucked in his
breath when he saw what was written on top of the scroll:  Nozomi e no
Tobira - The Doorway To Wishes.

   He quickly scanned the text and saw they were directions to this
doorway.  His eyes widened when he realized that this doorway was
located just outside Tokyo.

   "I could go there tomorrow..." he whispered.  "I can get cured!"

   "What are you doing in my room?" said a voice behind him.

   Ranma spun around and saw Happosai standing in the doorway, a bag
slung over his shoulder.  Impossibly fast, the old martial arts master
jumped and snatched the scrolls from Ranma's grasp.  "Those are mine!"
he snapped.  He quickly looked at which scrolls he was holding.  He
then looked up at Ranma, who had taken a defensive stance.

   "Forget about these, Ranma.  They're not worth the price.  Especially
the Doorway To Wishes," Happosai said, unusually solemn.

   "Sure," Ranma shot back.  "You just don't want anyone else to have
access to it.  You want the wishes for yourself!"

   Happosai shook his head.  Ranma was surprised to see something like...
regret in Happosai's eyes?  "I already went there once, boy.  Trust
me. You don't want to go.  They grant wishes all right, but the price
they ask is always something you'll regret later.  I know I did."

   *Price?* Ranma wondered.  "So what did you wish for?" he asked out
loud. *Probably lots of panties,* Ranma thought.

   "Skill and power," the perverted master answered in a faraway voice.
"And they granted my wish.  They gave me the skill and power I had
always wanted, but at a price.  A very high price."

   "What was the price?" Ranma asked, now curious.

   Suddenly, Happosai's demeanor changed completely.  He produced a
bucket out of nowhere and splashed Ranma with it.

   "Enough boring talk!" cried Happosai happily.  "Put these on for me,
my darling Ranma-chan!" he said, whipping out a set of very pink and
very frilly underthings.

   Ranma stared in horror at the garments.  "No way, freak!  Not even
Akane would wear something like that!"

   A loud sneeze was heard a few rooms away.

   Happosai jumped at Ranma, obviously going for a grope, but Ranma
managed to punt him out the window, showering pieces of underwear all
over the neighborhood in the process.  A fading cry of "Aaaaahhh!  My
pantiiiiiiieeesss" could be heard above the neighborhood.

   Ranma cursed when she realized that Happosai still had the scrolls in
his hands when she'd kicked him.  *Oh well,* she thought.  *I remember
the directions to the cave anyway, so it doesn't really matter.*  As
she was leaving Happosai's room, though, she started having second
thoughts. The old pervert's behavior had changed dramatically when
he'd warned her about the Doorway.  He'd seemed unusually serious.
*Was he telling the truth?* she wondered silently.  *Is the Doorway
too dangerous to use?*

   She shook her head.  Maybe she could try asking Happosai again when he
returned?...  Nahhh.

   Kasumi's voice rang out.  "Everyone!  Dinner's ready!"

   Ranma quickly bounded downstairs, putting her worries to rest.  Things
weren't so bad right now.  She could always wait a few more days
before deciding.

* * *
  
   The following afternoon, Ranma came back from school depressed.  He
could have sworn that somewhere, a kami, or maybe a dozen of them,
were conspiring behind his back.

   The day's misadventures had all started in the morning, when his
father had decided to wake him from those really weird dreams he'd
been having with a pail of cold water.  That in itself wouldn't have
been so bad, but he hadn't even managed to get his old man wet during
their morning sparring session, which hadn't sat well at all with
Ranma.  Then, at breakfast, Akane had insisted on cooking him
breakfast, with predictable results.

   Of course, Akane was particularly angry at Ranma for faking food
poisoning (which he hadn't been, at least not by much), so she punted
him out of the house, straight into the Nekohanten.

   Shampoo had been overjoyed that her airen had literally dropped by,
but sadly, the same couldn't be said for Mousse, who promptly tried to
turn Ranma into shishkebab.  After knocking Mousse out and losing
Shampoo (which had, of course, been more difficult than usual), Ranma
had finally made it to school, arriving late and getting splashed in
the process.

   Again, he wouldn't have minded too much if it hadn't been for
Hinako-sensei trying to drain her for being late to class.

   At lunch, Kunou had spotted Ranma, who had not yet gotten the chance
to change back.  Using a previously unknown degree of stealth (well,
either that or Ranma had really not been paying attention), the
kendoist had managed to glomp Ranma, which had ended up in Kunou
earning a boot to the head.

   Ranma had then tried to apologize to Akane for the incident that
morning, but was unable to do so during lunch because the Principal
spent the entire time trying to shave her bald again.

   Ranma had spent the afternoon cursing herself for forgetting to ask
Cologne about the Nanban Mirror fragment when she'd landed in the
Nekohanten.

* * *
  
Ranma, now male again, sighed as he neared the Tendo Dojo.  Sometimes,
he wished his life could be a bit more normal.  Looking back on his
day it seemed the only thing that hadn't happened yet was Ryouga
showing up to challenge him for some idiotic reason.

   As soon as he thought that, he tensed and looked around wearily.
After a minute, he breathed a sigh of relief.  He'd half-expected
Ryouga to suddenly show up out of nowhere.  He shook his head and
trudged inside.

   "Tadaima," he said half-heartedly.

   "Ranma-kun!  Did you have a good day at school?" asked Kasumi, coming
out of the kitchen.

   Ranma was half-tempted to tell Kasumi how his day had gone in
excruciatingly painful detail, but thought better of it.  He shouldn't
burden Kasumi with his problems.  That wasn't the way of a martial
artist.

   Besides, the odds of Kasumi answering with something else than a
sympathetic "Oh my!" were ridiculously low.

   "Everything was okay, Kasumi," he answered finally.  "Just...
perfectly normal."

   As he walked up to his room, he decided to peek in Happosai's room
again.  Everything was the same as the day before.  Happosai obviously
hadn't come back yet.

   *Maybe...* he thought at last.  *Maybe I'll try the Doorway after all.
My life can't possibly get any worse than it is right now.*

   He went into his room and started making plans.  He couldn't tell any
of his fiancees about this.  Kami-sama only knew what would happen if
they all got a wish.

* * *

   The following morning, Ranma bounded downstairs early.  As he reached
the kitchen, he found Kasumi preparing breakfast.  Kasumi turned
around from the counter, her eyes widening slightly in surprise.

   "Ranma-kun?  What are you doing up so early today?  I thought you
liked to sleep in on Sundays."

   Ranma grinned.  "I've got a very good day ahead of me, Kasumi."

   "Oh really?  What do you plan on doing?"

   "That's a surprise, Kasumi," replied Ranma.  "I may finally be rid of
my curse by tonight."

   Kasumi beamed.  "Why, that's wonderful, Ranma-kun.  I'm sure Akane
will be so happy!"

   "Err... well... uh..." said Ranma intelligently, a slightly panicked
look on his face.  "Just... don't tell the family or my fiancees, okay
Kasumi?  _Especially_ not Nabiki or Akane.  I wanna surprise them
tonight."

   Kasumi nodded.  "I won't tell them."

   Ranma smiled.  "Thanks Kasumi!"

* * *
   
   When breakfast was finally served, Akane was slightly irritated.

   Although this was nothing new, Akane was angry because Ranma still
hadn't apologized for being so mean the day before and now, he seemed
to be ignoring her.  "He could've at least _tried_ to apologize," she
muttered half to herself.

   "What did you say, Akane?" asked Ranma.

   "Nothing a baka like you would ever understand," she snapped back.

   To everyone's surprise, Ranma let the insult slide without as much as
a caustic remark.  Kasumi just smiled, while Genma silently praised
his son for shutting up for once.

   Finishing quickly (even for him), Ranma thanked Kasumi for the meal
and went back to his room, where he took a small backpack and then
left the Dojo at a fairly rapid pace.

   Akane, who had silently watched all of this became suspicious, as
usual. *He sure is in a hurry.  He must be up to something.  Probably
nothing good, I'll bet.  That's the only reason why he'd be so eager
to get out of here.*  She decided to follow him.  "Kasumi, I'm leaving
for a while, okay?" she called out to the kitchen.

   "All right.  Will you be back for lunch?"

   "I don't know."

   "Have a good time, Akane!"

   When she got outside, Ranma was already far ahead of her.  All she
could make out is that he was going roughly towards Ucchan's.  She
started running as fast as she could.

* * *
  
Ukyou Kuonji was outside her restaurant, sweeping the sidewalk on this
bright morning.  As usual, she was thinking about what life would be
like when Ranma finally came to his senses and married her.  So intent
was she on her musings that she nearly missed Ranma hopping like mad a
few roofs away.   She blinked.

   *Where's he going in such a hurry?* she wondered.  Looking back, she
didn't spot another roof-hopper, so it wasn't likely he was being
pursued.

   "Ukyou!" came a shout behind her.

   The okonomiyaki chef turned around and saw her sometimes friend,
sometimes rival in love, Akane.  "What's wrong, Akane-chan?"

   Akane stopped and looked around.  "Ranma isn't here?" she asked.

   Ukyou frowned ever so slightly.  So what if Ranma _had_ decided to
come here?  She was still his fiancee, last time she had checked.  "I
just saw him hopping away a few seconds ago."  She paused.  "Did you
two fight again?" she asked hopefully.

   Akane shook her head.  "No, and that's the strange part.  He's been
acting weirder than usual this morning."

   "How so?"

   "He got up early, he smiled throughout breakfast and he refused to
insult me, even when I baited him..." Akane trailed off when she saw
Ukyou's bemused look.  "What?..." she asked, annoyed.

   "Nothing, said Ukyou, waving her hands.  *Only _she_ would consider
that as being weird,* she thought silently.  She went back inside the
restaurant and came out with her assortment of battle spatulas.

   "Come on, then" declared the okonomiyaki chef.  "We might as well go
get him."

   "Do you think he might be going to the Nekohanten?" asked Akane, as
they started running.

   "I don't think so," answered Ukyou.  "The Nekohanten's almost the
opposite way he was going when I saw him."

   "Do you have any idea where he might be going?"

   "Nope."

* * *
  
Ranma was roof-hopping, happy that the events this morning had gone on
without a hitch.  The old lech hadn't shown his face since he'd punted
him out two days ago.  *Probably better that way,* thought Ranma.  *He
might have told the others about the Doorway if he'd come back.*

   Ranma hopped down from the house whose roof he was standing on and
went to a bus stop.  He remembered that there was a bus line heading
exactly where he needed to go.  Besides, taking the bus was a bit less
conspicuous than roof-hopping, not to mention that he would run out of
roofs long before he ever got to his destination.

   "Ranma!  What are you doing here?" asked an annoyed voice behind him.

   Ranma froze.  *What's _she_ doing here?*  he wondered.  He slowly
turned around to see an out-of-breath Akane in the company of a
slightly puffing Ukyou looking at him.  "A... Akane, Ucchan," he
stuttered, "What are you two doing here?"

   Akane didn't miss the stuttering.  To her, it was a clear indication
that Ranma was on his way to do something she wouldn't approve of.  "I
followed you since you ran out of the dojo," she said, trying to
control her anger.  "You were acting way too strangely this morning
and I just knew you'd be up to something."

   "You didn't even stop to say hello when you passed by my shop," added
Ukyou, sounding hurt.

   Ranma looked around for a solution and sighed when he realized there
wasn't one in plain sight.  He was faced with the prospect of running
off in an attempt to lose his two fiancees, which he doubted would
help, since they would probably end up rounding every martial artist
in a ten mile area (he didn't even want to _think_ about what would
happen if every deviant in Nerima got a wish), or he could tell them
the truth.

   Of course, it never occurred to him to try and make up a lie (not that
it would have worked, given Ranma's notoriously poor talent for
deception).

   As the bus got closer, he sighed and inclined his head towards the
vehicle. "Come on then.  I'll explain on the way there."  Moments
later all three martial artists were sitting in the bus.

   "If you must know, Akane, the reason I left this morning is that I may
finally have found something to cure my curse."

   Akane started to calm down.  "What _is_ the cure you found?"

   "Something called 'The Doorway To Wishes'.  I saw it on one of
Happosai's scrolls yesterday.  Apparently, they can grant any wish
there.  That's why I took the bus.  I don't want everyone trying to
follow me there; especially not people like Shampoo, Kuno or Kodachi.
Not like that worked out," he finished under his breath.

   Akane's eyes widened.  "Any wish?" she said in wonder.  She didn't
notice that Ukyou had echoed her perfectly.

   "Yeah," said Ranma.  "I'll be able to wish myself cured in no time.  I
won't even need to go back to China!"

   Akane didn't seem to notice Ranma's reply.  *I could learn to cook
perfectly, I could be as good as Ranma in martial arts, I could get
him to treat me with respect...  I could wish that Mother had never
died!*

   *Ranchan and I could finally be married,* thought Ukyou, a smile
blooming on her features.  *I could get rid of the other fiancees...
I could wish he'd never left me when I was young!*

   Ranma noticed that Akane and Ukyou seemed a little spaced out and
couldn't help but feel nervous.  On the other hand, he reasoned, they
were also quiet and weren't fighting, so he decided not to disturb
them. If only he could stop shivering, though....

* * *
  
   When they reached the desired stop, Ranma, Akane and Ukyou got out of
the bus and started walking in silence towards their destination. An
hour later, they were standing in the outskirts of Tokyo, in front of
what appeared to be a solid rockface.

   Akane looked up at the small cliff.  "So where's this 'Doorway'
supposed to be anyway?" she asked.

   Ranma was busy examining the surface of the rock.  "I couldn't get too
good a look at the scroll, but it said something about the Doorway
being hidden in a secret cave at the bottom of this cliff," he said.
"I wish I could do the Bakusai Tenketsu.  I'd be able to easily blow
all the rock away and find the entrance."

   Akane sighed.  "Well, I'm going to go take a look around.  Tell me if
you find the entrance."  Ranma grunted an affirmative.

   "You go take a look around," Ukyou said.  "I'll stay here and keep
Ranchan company."  Akane frowned momentarily at Ukyou and left,
tracing back her steps on the beaten path they had taken to get there.
As she neared the dirt road nearby, she heard a familiar voice:

   "Can you direct me to the Tendo Dojo?"

   She turned around in surprise, looking for the voice.  She ran ahead a
short way and saw Ryouga asking directions from a cyclist.

   "Ryouga-kun!  Over here!" she said out loud.

   Ryouga's head snapped around, recognizing the voice immediately.
"Akane-san!" he cried, forgetting the cyclist.  He quickly ran up to
her.  "I've been looking everywhere for you," he said.  He then
blinked and looked around.  "This doesn't look like the Tendo Dojo,
though."

   Akane laughed.  "This isn't the Dojo, Ryouga-kun.  We're in the
outskirts of Tokyo."

   "What are you doing here alone?  Did that coward Ranma abandon you?"
he asked, already enjoying the prospect of a fight with his lifelong
rival.

   Akane shook her head.  "He didn't abandon me, in fact, he's back
there," she said, pointing behind her.  *Alone with Ukyou!* a small
part of her mind added.  She quickly stomped the offending thought.
Suddenly, an idea bloomed in Akane's mind.  "Ryouga-kun!  Your timing
couldn't have been better!" she said enthusiastically.

   "Really?" asked Ryouga, perking up.  *She's happy to see me!* he
thought happily.  *But so is Akari,* his subconscious told him.  He
stomped on the thought.  He knew the strange, pig-obsessed girl was
attracted to him, but he wasn't sure if _he_ loved _her_.

   "Yes, Ranma could really use your help!"

   Ryouga tried to school his features as best as he could at the mention
of his rival.  Ranma needed his help?  Never!  But looking at Akane,
he could already feel his resolve crumbling.  He could never say no to
Akane.  "What does he need my help for?" asked Ryouga at long last.

   "Ranma's trying to find the secret entrance to a doorway that grants
wishes.  The problem is, the doorway's hidden in a rockface and Ranma
can't easily find it.  He said that if he could do the Bakusai
Tenketsu, he'd find it in no time.  You could go help him since you're
such good friends!"  Akane was pleased to see Ryouga starting to
smile.  *I'll show them how useful I can be!* thought Akane.

   She might not have been so happy had she known exactly what Ryouga was
thinking.

* * *
  
"Ranmaaaa!"

   Ranma jerked around, surprised at the voice he'd just heard.  He found
himself face to face with Ryouga, who was glaring at him, as usual.
"Ryouga," he said, annoyed.  "What are you doing here, P-chan?  Lost
again?"

   Ryouga would have attacked Ranma if Akane hadn't been holding his
hand. "How dare you insult me, Saotome!"

   "Stop it, both of you!" Akane snapped.  She turned to Ranma.  "Look
here, I just found him and I brought him here because you said you
needed his technique to find the doorway!"

   Ranma felt like crawling into a hole and die.  *Of all the people
Akane had to tell about the Doorway, she had to tell Ryouga!* he
thought despairingly.  *Who knows what that jerk'll try to wish if he
ever gets the chance!*

   Akane, seeing that Ranma wasn't saying anything, directed Ryouga to
the rocky cliff.  "The entrance to the doorway is hidden somewhere
around here.  You can just blast off the rocks until you find it."

   Ryouga nodded.  As he passed by Ranma to get to the cliff, he hissed
in a low voice: "Just wait 'till I make my wish, Saotome!"

   Ranma glared at him and almost moved in to pound him, but relented
when he saw Akane glaring balefully at him.

   "Don't even think about picking on poor Ryouga-kun!" she said
ominously.

   "Whose side are you on?" snapped Ranma.

   Just as Akane was about to answer, a loud cry of "Bakusai Tenketsu!"
broke their argument.  They turned around just in time to see Ryouga
taking a huge chunk out of the cliff with his right index finger.
Their dispute was suddenly forgotten as they watched the Lost Boy
methodically tear the rockface apart.

   Behind them, Ukyou could be seen, glaring at Ryouga and Akane.  *Why
did she have to being that jackass here _now_ of all times?  He's
going to ruin everything and I can't allow that...  Not when I'm so
close at last!*

   When Ryouga used the Bakusai Tenketsu for the fifth time, the shrapnel
flew _inside_ the cliff instead of outward.  Ranma, realizing that
Ryouga had found the cave entrance, tried to make a dash for it, but
was tripped by Ryouga before he could get to the entrance.

   "Forget it, Ranma.  _I'm_ going in first," said Ryouga, already moving
towards the entrance.

   Ranma suddenly sprang up on one hand and spun around, kicking Ryouga
in the face several times.  Ryouga countered with a leg sweep of his
own, trying to knock Ranma down.  Neither of them heard Akane ordering
them to stop.

* * *
  
Akane was starting to get angry again.  Ryouga had just found the
entrance, and Ranma had managed to pick a fight with him over who
would get in first.  She was about to knock both of them out with her
mallet when she saw Ukyou dashing towards the entrance.  Forgetting
about the other two dueling martial artists, she ran after Ukyou
inside the cave.

   Ranma and Ryouga, who had so far been busy trying to beat each other's
brains out, noticed this.  They stopped in mid-punch and mid-kick
respectively and looked towards the cave entrance.  They both blinked
and ran for the entrance, their own fight forgotten.

   "Akane, Ucchan, wait!" shouted Ranma.

   "I won't let you get there before, me, Ranma!" snarled Ryouga.

* * *
  
Ukyou was dashing down the tunnel, aware that Akane was pursuing her.
*It doesn't matter,* she thought to herself.  *I'll get my wish long
before she gets hers.*  Suddenly, she realized a bit too late that the
tunnel was turning and smacked into a wall.  *Ite...* she thought
dizzily.  *The things I do for my Ranchan...  I do wish there was more
light down here, though.*  She quickly looked around, trying to get
her bearings, when she found what she was looking for.

   The Doorway To Wishes.

   At least, that's what Ukyou assumed it was.  There wasn't much light
left at this depth, so she had some trouble seeing clearly.  It looked
like a rectangular doorway, carved out of a dark, reddish stone.
There was something wrong about it, though.  Even with almost no light
whatsoever at this depth, Ukyou found she couldn't quite follow the
edges of the doorway.  They seemed... wrong to the eye.  Leaning
closer and cursing the lack of illumination, she thought she could see
three lines of triangles running down each side.

   "Oh no you don't!!" came the sudden shout behind her.

   Ukyou swore.  She should've gone straight in, instead of gaping at it.
Now, Akane was standing in a ready stance just a few feet away.  "Why
do you want to stop me, Akane?  I only want to make sure Ranma and I
are safely married!" said Ukyou, while unlimbering her battle spatula.

   "Ranma won't marry you!" snapped Akane, moving closer.

   "Oh, and why's that?" taunted Ukyou.  "You spend your days saying you
don't want to be engaged to Ranchan.  Now's the perfect time to make
that statement come true."

   Akane flinched.  She was saved from answering when Ranma and Ryouga
finally made their way down.

   Ranma was a few feet away from the door when Ryouga managed to trip
him, using a bandanna to snare his leg.  As Ranma fell flat on the
floor, Ryouga jumped over Ranma.

   He was about to cross through the doorway, but something hit him on
the side of the head and he was suddenly shoved sideways.  Turning, he
saw Ukyou, glowing blue and holding her spatula as if she had just
swung it.

   "I won't let you ruin everything!" screamed Ukyou.

   "Step aside, Ukyou!" snarled Ryouga.  "I can finally have my revenge!"

   By that time, Ranma had recovered and he again made a dash for the
Doorway.  He was stopped by Ryouga, who started struggling with him.
Ukyou quickly joined the fray.

   Of course, this incensed Akane, who stomped towards them.  "Can't you
idiots do anything without figh...  Waaahhh!" she finished awkwardly,
as she tripped on the rocky floor.  She crashed in the trio of martial
artists, her momentum enough to fling them all through the Doorway at
the same time.

* * * 

   It was then that something happened.  The Doorway To Wishes, a
ter'angreal that was a few thousands of years old, had been designed
with the thought in mind that only one person would pass through at
any given time.  The shock of having four at a time was bound to have
ill-effect.

* * *
  
Ranma couldn't tell what was happening.  Last thing he knew, he and
Ryouga were each trying to reach the Doorway To Wishes first.  Then, a
detached part of him had noticed Ukyou joining the fight and Akane
shouting at them.  Next thing he knew, they were all falling towards
the Doorway.

   Everything became blindingly white.  Or was everything going
completely dark?  He couldn't tell.  He felt as if his body was being
pulled in a thousand different directions at a time.  He tried to
scream, but no sound came out, or maybe he could not hear them.  He
felt thousands of alien words, each a white-hot needle, filling his
mind, shaping it to accommodate some unknown language.  Sights blinded
him.  Sounds deafened him.  It was madness...

* * *
  
Two figures stood in shadows, looking at the four teens writhing in
the blinding light and engulfing darkness that was Between.  The one
on the left, a woman, with an arrow-filled quiver and a bow of
gleaming white silver strapped across her back.  The other was a solid
looking man, heavily muscled, the hilts of two swords sticking above
his shoulders on his back .

   "So, even the Forgotten Master becomes involved.  Times must be dire
indeed if the Pattern is willing to take him by force from another
Age," the woman said, turning towards her companion.

   The man nodded.  "The Forgotten Master is always old by the time war
breaks out, but this time he's young and the war looks to be starting
soon. Well, I guess they've had it coming. They've all had it coming,"
he said, shaking his head.

   "We can't just leave them like this," the woman said.  "This kind of
Travel worries me.  It should not have happened."

   The male shade grunted softly.  "If it was sentient, I would say that
the Pattern is a great fool to bring him into the fray.  He is always
far too impulsive for his own good and the three others he's with
can't be much better if they associate with him."  The shade sighed.
"But you know the rules as well as I do, my love.  Foolish as they may
all be, I'd like to help them more, but we're already breaking the
precepts as it is with our little gift.  At least now they won't be
vulnerable as newborns."

   The woman laughed softly.  "Good thing Resshin can't hear you say
that. He would challenge you for it.  Again."

   The man snorted softly.  "He always yearns for a fight.  It's in his
blood." He reached out, encircled her shoulders with one arm and she
lent into him.  "Come now.  We must be off," he said softly. She
nodded once though her face still showed concern.  "You're right.
Besides," she mused softly with a smile, "It's not as if we won't meet
again." She made a final gesture with one hand, and then the shadowy
couple, along with the Nerimians, were gone.

* * *

   Everything suddenly stopped for Ranma and he fell face first on the
ground.  The pain in his head vanished.  He tried to get up, but most
of his muscles wouldn't obey, so he settled for rolling on his back.
It was as if someone had run an electrical cable through him (at
least, that's what he _assumed_ it would feel like).  Blinking, he
tried to check his surroundings and noticed that something was _very_
wrong.  For one thing, he wasn't in the cave anymore.  He could easily
tell because he was not lying on a stone floor (that much he could
tell) and there was far too much light.

   The second thing he noticed was that _something_ was getting
increasingly hot in his left pocket.  Scrambling wildly despite the
stiffness, he managed to extract the offending item out of his pocket
and threw it on the ground beside him.  He waited a few more seconds
before rolling over and getting up on his knees.  He blinked again,
trying to get rid of the dizziness, when he got a good look at what
had been in the pocket.

   Lying on the ground, smoking as if it had been overheated, was the
fragment of the Nanban Mirror he had taken from Happosai's room the
previous day.

   Ranma looked at it, not understanding what had happened.  He turned
around and stared at his surroundings.  He was indeed no longer at the
Doorway.  He wasn't even inside the cave.  He was standing in the
middle of a wild forest, and from what he could tell, since most of
the trees he was surrounded with didn't grow near Tokyo, he had to
assume he was nowhere near there.  The weather was also a lot cooler
than he remembered it to be.

   He spun around, surprised, when he heard a moan coming from one of the
nearby bushes.  He rushed over and saw Akane sprawled on the ground,
clawing her way back to consciousness.  Ranma quickly kneeled by her.

   "Akane!  Are you all right?" he asked, frantic.

   "Augh...  yeah, I'm all right," she mumbled weakly.  "I think.  What
happened?"

   "I'm not sure yet...  But I don't think we're in Tokyo anymore,
though."

   Akane looked around, blinking.  "Where _are_ we?"

   "I have no idea," replied Ranma, frowning.

   Movement from behind another tree caught their attention.  Turning
around, they saw Ukyou and Ryouga getting to their feet, none too
steadily.

   "Ucchan!  Are you all right?" asked Ranma, moving over towards her.
Behind him, Akane began to fume silently.

   "Where... where are we?" asked Ryouga, looking around him.

   "As if knowing would help you?" said Ranma sarcastically.  As the
words left his mouth, he saw Ryouga's expression darken.

   "Why you..." growled Ryouga, taking out his umbrella.

   "Ryouga-kun, stop!  Please!" said Akane, from where she was sitting.
"Don't make fun of Ryouga-kun!" she snapped, turning towards Ranma.

   "Fine," the pig-tailed martial artist said, annoyed.  After making
sure Ukyou was all right, he took one last look around.  "I'm gonna
try to find out where the hell we are."

   With that, he started jumping up the surrounding trees to get a better
view of where they were.

   "Whatever happened in there, it sure didn't _feel_ like a wish..."
mumbled Ukyou, coming over to where Akane and Ryouga were now
standing. "Did you guys feel as if you brain was going to explode?"

   "Yeah, but I don't know why.  I don't think I _want_ to know why.
That didn't feel good at all," said Akane, shivering slightly.

   "Don't worry, Akane-san.  Everything will be all right," said Ryouga,
trying to show as much confidence as he could.

   Akane smiled at him.  "Thanks, Ryouga-kun" she said.

   Ryouga's heart nearly stopped.

   Ukyou looked up the tree Ranma was now standing on top of.  "Find
anything, Ranchan?" she called out.

   The pig-tailed martial artist didn't answer right away.  He turned
around a few times and then jumped down the tree.  He took a breath.
"Well, we're definitely not in Tokyo anymore, that's for sure," he
finally said.

   "Are you sure?" asked Ukyou.

   "Yeah," Ranma answered, passing a hand through his hair.  "I looked
around and there's nothing but forest around, except for what looks
like a small village that way," he pointed in a direction.  "There's
more," he added.  "Wherever we are, it's a lot colder than it should
be at this time of year in Tokyo.  Look around," he said waving his
hands.

   As they did so, Akane was the first to realize what Ranma meant.  "The
trees..." she said slowly.

   "Exactly," said Ranma.  "It's supposed to be almost summer, yet
everything looks half-dead, like the end of winter or maybe autumn."

   Ukyou had an idea.  "Wait a minute.  I remember the geography teacher
at school saying that seasons are reversed, depending on which
hemisphere you live in.  Is it possible that the Doorway sent us
elsewhere on the globe?"

   "I hope not," said Akane.  "Father might already be getting hysterical
at my disappearance.  He'll never get over it if he learns I've ended
up somewhere else on Earth."

   "Where _is_ the Doorway, anyway?" asked Ryouga.  "If it dumped us
here, it should be around, right?  All we have to do is walk back
through it again."

   "You... have a point," agreed Ranma, somewhat reluctantly.  "Let's
look around," he said.  "Then again," he said, glancing at Ryouga,
"Let's split up in pairs.  Less chance of getting lost that way."

   Ryouga snarled, but Ukyou was quicker to react.

   "I'll go with Ranchan!" she said brightly and with that, she dragged a
stuttering Ranma away.

   Akane shot a daggered look at Ranma.  "Fine!" she huffed.  "Take the
pervert.  I'll go with Ryouga-kun!"  With that, she took the Lost
Boy's hand, whose expression turned almost instantly from anger to
bliss.

  
After searching around for more than 20 minutes (during which time
Ranma retrieved both his pack and the Nanban Mirror fragment), the
four martial artists had to come to grips with the fact that the
Doorway, wherever it might be, was _not_ close by.

   Since it appeared that they would not have daylight for long, Ranma
suggested that they should move towards the small village he had seen
earlier so they would not to be caught without a shelter for the
night.

  
As they got nearer to the village, the Nerimians began hearing the
sounds of a crowd milling.  Getting closer, delicious smells also
began wafting in their direction.

   They had just gotten past the first few houses when Ranma stopped to
take a deep breath.

   "Man!" he said, "I don't know what they're cookin' here, but it sure
smells great."  Without thinking, he added "Smells a lot better than
Akane's cooking, at any rate.  Probably safer to eat, too."

   Akane's eyes narrowed in anger.  "RANMA NO BAKA!"  Before anyone could
blink, the youngest Tendo daughter kicked her fiancee through a wooden
wall.  The thick logs of the wall smashed inwards, causing a thick
dust cloud to form in the air, as years of accumulated dirt was shaken
off by the force of the blow.  Ranma ended up on the floor of a
fortunately empty storage room, a few splinters sticking out of his
clothes at odd angles.

   ***

  
In Emond's Field, Perrin Aybara and Matrim Cauthon were standing near
one of the houses at the edge of the village, watching the retreating
form of their friend Rand who had just left with his father towards
their farm in the Westwood.

   "Well," said Mat, "I guess I'll head back to the house.  Winternight
or not, my da will probably want me to milk the cows before the sun
sets."

   "I guess I'll head back to the forge as well," said Perrin.  "Master
Luhhan says people always need last-minute repairs on their things
before Bel Tine."  He was about to leave when he heard a girl's angry
voice cry out "RANMA NO BAKA!"

   Mat and Perrin automatically turned their heads towards the noise,
just in time to witness an oddly-dressed short-haired girl kick a
young man straight through the old Dowtry shed's walls.

   "What the!?..." they both exclaimed.  They had time to share a
horrified look before Mat found his voice again.

   "She... she killed him?" he croaked.

   Perrin was watching the proceedings with a sick fascination.  He'd
never thought a girl, of all people, could kick someone straight
through a wall that thick.  The young blacksmith knew that the shed
had walls made of logs that were several inches thick.  He thought
about the strength necessary to _kick_ someone all the way through
them...

   He gasped when he saw the legs move again.  "Light!  He's not dead,
Mat!" he exclaimed.  They both started running towards the young man
to help him.

   Mat and Perrin could only stare in mute fascination as they saw the
young man groan and pull himself to his feet, looking none the worse
for wear.  The first thing they noticed was how strangely he was
dressed. The young man was wearing a bright red, festive-looking
long-sleeved shirt, tied with small wooden straps.  He had
loose-fitting black breeches tied to his ankles.  Mat absently blinked
when he noticed the young man was not wearing boots, but rather what
looked like... black slippers?

   They were shaken from their stupor when the black-haired youth shook
the dust out his clothes and started berating the girl who had put him
through the shed's wall.

   "Geez, Akane!  Do you _have_ to snap at the smallest thing?"

   "You insulted me again, Ranma!  You deserved it!"

   "Kawaikunee!"

   "Baka!"

   Perrin and Mat looked at each other uneasily.  Not only had they no
idea what the last words really meant, but neither of them really had
any idea on how to handle this.  The young man, who looked younger
than they were, was acting as if almost nothing had happened.

   *That's just not possible!* Perrin thought.  *No one can be kicked
through a wall that thick and have no injury whatsoever!*
Unfortunately, his eyes seemed so be saying otherwise.

   Coincidentally, the two Emond Fielders thought the same thing at the
same time.  *At least they're not wearing black cloaks.*

* * *
  
Ukyou had known Akane would lose it as soon as Ranma had begun
commenting on the food.  *Ranchan,* she thought almost resignedly,
*You may be one of the greatest martial artists alive, but you don't
know when to keep your mouth shut.*  When the inevitable bashing
occurred, she glared as best she could, but it was pointless, as Akane
wasn't even looking at her.  She then turned around to see Ryouga
looking at the hole in the wall with a satisfied smirk.  She frowned.
*I don't get it,* she thought, depressed.  *Why doesn't she just give
him up?  I'd be happy, she'd be happy, Ranchan would be happy... heck,
even Ryouga would be happy!*  Looking around, she saw that two tall
village youths, older than themselves, were currently gaping at them.
They were both quite a bit taller than she was.  One was lanky while
the other had curly hair and was heavily muscled, more so than any of
them.

   "Don't mind them," she told the two young men.  "They're always like
that."

   Speaking seemed to jar the lanky one back to reality.  "What...  What
do you mean?"

   "They're always arguing like that.  You'll get used to it."

   "But...  He was...  She kicked him through the wall!" the lanky one
said in a strangled voice.

   Ukyou blinked.  She looked at the broken wall, and at the youth again.
"Ummm... Sorry about that," she said sheepishly.  "We'll repair the
wall if that's what you want."

   The shaggy-haired youth blinked at her.  "The shed?  It was an old
thing, but... The point is... Isn't he _hurt_?"

   "Ohhh...  that!"  Ukyou smiled.  "Don't worry, he gets hit a lot worse
on normal days."  The look the two youths shared told her they didn't
quite believe that, so she decided to change the subject.  "Say, can
you tell me what's the name of this village?  I think we got a little
lost while traveling."

   "This is Emond's Field," a young woman's angry voice rang out in the
air.  "And I'd like to know just what happened here!"

   The tone of the voice was enough to stop even Ranma and Akane's
bickering.  The Nerimians all looked up to see a young woman with a
long dark braid looking at them with narrowed eyes.  She carried a
stick in one hand and she looked as if she was about to use it.

   "Wisdom!" the two youths exclaimed nervously.

* * *
  
Nynaeve al'Meara, Wisdom of Emond's Field, was not in a good mood (not
that she often was in the first place anyway, but that's not the
point). She had just finished dispersing the wool-headed crowd that
had followed the peddler's arrival at the Winespring Inn.  *Why did
that fool man tell everyone about that fool war in Ghealdan?* she
thought angrily.  *Now, everyone will be gossiping about that war for
weeks to come.*

   She was briskly walking back to her house when she heard a loud crack
coming from a house at the edge of the village.  Her eyes narrowed
when she heard the angry shouting that followed.  She fingered the
switch in her left hand.  *Just what happened over there?* she
wondered, frowning. She set out towards the voices, already running
through  mental list of people who could have produced such a racket.
*It better not be another of Matrim's pranks or I'll dose him with
enough dogweed tea to make him weep for a year!*  As she got closer,
though, she realized she couldn't recognize the voices that were
arguing.  When she finally turned around the last house, she blinked.

   The first thing she noticed was the number of people present.  She
quickly recognized Perrin and Matrim, but couldn't recognize the other
four children.  Two of them were arguing rather loudly, a black-haired
youth wearing strange black breeches and a bright red shirt and a
young girl with a blue blouse and a bright yellow dress.  Nynaeve
blinked in confusion when she noticed that the young man was sporting
a short braid.  *What is that boy doing with a braid!?* she wondered.

   Her eyes then fell on another boy was standing behind the girl,
wearing a yellow shirt and dark green breeches.  He was shouldering a
huge traveling pack.  The last one was a young girl who was talking
with Matrim and Perrin.  Nynaeve frowned when she saw how the girl was
dressed.  Instead of wearing a normal dress as all proper young women
did, she was wearing _very_ tight black breeches that left nothing to
the imagination, and her top garment wasn't exactly any better.  She
had a small traveling pack in her hands and there was what _looked_
like a very large, flat shovel strapped on her back, although Nynaeve
couldn't be sure.  Also strange was that one of the girls had rather
short hair, though they both looked almost of age to put their hair in
a braid. *Who are they?  Are they from a nearby village?* she
wondered.  It was then that she heard the girl's question.

   "This is Emond's Field," she said, her voice ringing out in the air.
"And I would like to know just what happened here!"  She had the
satisfaction of seeing the two bickering ones stop.  She saw Perrin
and Matrim blanch slightly.

   "Wisdom!" they chorused nervously.

   Nynaeve rounded on Matrim, whom she suspected of having started all of
this, as usual.  "All right Matrim Cauthon, I want to know what's
going on.  Now."  Her tone brooked no arguments.

   Mat put up his hands in defense.  "I didn't do anything!" he protested
loudly.  "Perrin and I were just talking when we saw that girl," he
said, pointing to Akane, "kick him," pointing now to Ranma, "through
the Dowtrys' old shed!"

   Nynaeve raised an eyebrow incredulously and turned to Perrin for
confirmation or denial.

   "It's true," Perrin said, nodding vigorously.

   Nynaeve was about to answer when she heard the girl with the dress
mutter something along the lines of the baka deserving it.  She
frowned at the girl.  "Who are you children and where are you from?"

   "Children?!" the red-shirted boy said, outraged.  "We ain't children,
miss."

   No one noticed Perrin and Mat taking a step back.

   "You will address me as Wisdom!" Nynaeve snapped.  "Now what are your
names and where are you from?!"

   The boy was obviously about to fire an angry retort when the girl with
the tight breeches put a hand on his shoulder and spoke soothingly.

   "Don't, Ranchan.  She doesn't know who we are and we don't know who
she is, so don't do something you'll regret later."

   *Well,* thought Nynaeve.  *She may not dress decently, but she seems
to have more wits than the boy, not that this surprises me....*

   The girl turned to face her.  "I might as well start the
introductions. I'm Ukyou Kuonji."

   The boy with the braid spoke next, his tone filled with quiet
arrogance. "Ranma Saotome."

   "I'm Akane Tendo," said the girl in the yellow dress.  Nynaeve was a
bit surprised when the girl bowed slightly while presenting herself.

   "I am Ryouga Hibiki," said the boy with the huge traveling pack.

   Nynaeve suppressed a small shiver when she heard the last boy speak.
The last boy's voice sounded strangely... bleak.

   "And as for where we're from," the now-identified Ukyou continued, "We
all live in Tokyo."  She glanced at Ryouga.  "Well, most of the time,
anyway."

   Nynaeve blinked in confusion.  *What strange names...*  She couldn't
make anything out of what they had said.  "Where is this... Tokyo
village?  Did you come to Emond's Field alone?  Where are your
parents?" She gestured towards the hole in the wall.  "And what _did_
happen to that wall?"

   Ranma put up his hands.  "Hey, one question at a time, okay?"

   Mat and Perrin winced at that.  Saying something like that to Nynaeve
was akin to looking for a tongue-lashing.

   "I told you to address me as Wisdom!" Nynaeve said, the already thin
rope on her anger fraying with every remark.

   "All right!  _Wisdom_!" he snapped, filling the word with contempt.
"You happy now?" Ranma shot back.

   Nynaeve gave her braid a mighty tug while her face became an
interesting shade of red.  Mat began to back away.

   "Well, ah, Wisdom, you see...  My da wants to see me right away, cows
to be milked and everything..."

   He almost got away, but Nynaeve rounded on him before he could leave.
"You stay right here, Matrim!" she said ominously.  "I'm not finished
with you!"  Mat sighed in defeat and returned besides Perrin, who
rolled his eyes.  They decided to watch the confrontation, instead.

   "Tokyo is not a village, it's the capital of Japan," said Ranma, a bit
calmer than before.  Mat's escape attempt had given him the
opportunity to collect himself.

   Nynaeve frowned.  "I've never heard of a city called Tokyo before."

   Ranma shrugged.  "I'll show you on a map if you have one."  He looked
at the darkening sky for a second before continuing.  "As for the
rest," he shrugged, "We were... investigating a certain doorway which
was rumored to grant wishes when you stepped through it.
Unfortunately, due to an... accident," he quickly glanced at Akane,
"We all happened to go through at the same time.  Everything became
dark and next thing we knew, we were standing in the middle of a
forest not far from here. _Anyway_, we'd really appreciate it if you
had some way for us to contact our folks, like, say, a phone?"  Ranma
had already noticed that the village didn't look like the kind that
had access to electricity, but you could always hope.

   Ryouga looked at Ranma and  frowned slightly, mouthing a few words
under his breath.  He glanced at Akane and Ukyou, but they didn't look
as if they noticed anything was wrong.

   Meanwhile, Nynaeve was staring at Ranma.  So were Mat and Perrin for
that matter.

   "Wishes?" said Mat, frowning slightly, "Is this like the story of Bili
Under The Hill?"

   "Actually, the Doorway wasn't under a hill.  It was buried in a cave,"
supplied Ranma.

   Mat blinked.

   "Don't tell me made-up stories, boy!" Nynaeve said, seemingly coming
back to her senses.

   "He's not lying!" piped up Akane, who was beginning to get a little
angry herself.  "This village doesn't look like it's anywhere near
where we live.  If the stupid doorway wasn't what sent us here, then
what did? How come our clothes look so different than yours?  How
about our looks?"

   Nynaeve was taken aback by the girl... no, Akane's outburst.  She had
raised good points, though, about their clothes and looks.  They
clearly indicated that they weren't from anywhere nearby.  Especially
the Ukyou girl's clothing.  No Two Rivers woman would ever be caught
wearing something as indecent as that.

   "I'd like to add something," said Ryouga, before Nynaeve could return
to her tirade.  He turned to the other Nerimians.  "Haven't *any* of
you noticed we aren't speaking Japanese right now?"

   There was a collective blink among the Nerimians.

   "Wait a second..." said Ukyou slowly.  "You're right!"  She stopped
for a moment.  "The Doorway!" she exclaimed.  "Remember guys?  While
we were floating in the... that void, I felt as if my head had become
a pincushion.  It must've been the whole language being crammed in my
skull.  It was the same for you guys, yes?"  The others chimed their
agreement.  She turned to Ryouga.  "You're a genius when you want to
be, Ryouga!" she said, giving a quick hug to the Lost Boy, whose face
reddened from the contact.  "How did you guess, anyway?  If you hadn't
told me, I probably wouldn't have figured it out by myself."

   Ryouga shrugged.  "I'm not sure - I just noticed.  Maybe it's because
I travel more than you; I have more exposure to foreign languages."

   Ranma frowned for a second and concentrated.  <Wait a minute.  Can you
guys still understand me?> he slowly asked in Japanese.  Everyone
nodded affirmatively.  <Good,> he said, relieved.  <At least, we still
know Japanese.>

   The three Emond Fielders watched the last exchange completely puzzled.

   "Um... What did you just say?" asked Perrin, blinking.

   "Mmh?" Ranma turned around to face the apprentice.  "Sorry.  I was
just making sure we hadn't forgotten how to speak Japanese."

   "Japanese?  What's that?  It sounded like goose gabble to me,"
observed Mat.

   "Be that as it may," said Nynaeve coolly, regaining her poise, "None
of this explains what happened to that wall," she said, pointing to
the old shed.

   "Oh, that?" Ranma waved a hand dismissively.  "I got kicked through
it."

   Nynaeve's left eye twitched.  "You expect me to believe you were
kicked _through_ the wall and you don't have a mark?"

   "But he did get kicked through it," protested Mat.  "Perrin saw it
too!"

   Nynaeve turned on them with a scowl.  "None of these children look
strong enough to do what you just said.  And besides, if the boy _had_
broken through the wall, I doubt he would be standing without a single
scrape or cut on him."

   "That's because I'm a martial artist," interrupted Ranma.

   "That doesn't make sense," said Nynaeve impatiently, tugging her braid
again.  "What kind of artist practices... war anyway?"

   Ranma paused to pick a few splinters of wood out of his hair.  "Not
war, not exactly anyway.  Martial artists practice fighting, or in my
case, unarmed fighting.  My training allows me to stand more pain and
take less damage than average people can."

   Nynaeve snorted.  "Fighting?  You don't look like a soldier and you're
too young to be one at any rate.  You're younger than even _these_ two
woolheads," she said, indicating Mat and Perrin, who frowned slightly.
"How can you prove any of what you've just said?"

   Ranma shrugged.  "Well...  If you really want to."  He turned to the
old shed and bent down when something occurred to him.  "Ehhh...  Is
it all right if I use what's left of the wall?"

   Nynaeve blinked at the request.  She looked uncertainly at Mat and
Perrin.

   Perrin shrugged.  "I heard from Master Dowtry that he was planning to
have it torn down within the next few days.  He says it's too small
for his needs and he can't get rid of the smell inside."

   "Good enough," said Ranma.  Not waiting for Nynaeve's say so, he
yanked one of the remaining logs out of the wall.  Ranma quickly
examined the piece he held.  It was about four feet long and five
inches wide. Unaware of the stares he was getting from the Emond
Fielders, he gave the log to Akane.  "Here, go ahead," he told her.

   Akane looked puzzled.  "You actually _want_ me to hit you with it?"
she asked incredulously.  Ranma nodded.  Akane started sweating.  She
didn't mind hitting him when he insulted her, but out of the blue like
that?...

   "Ranchan!" protested Ukyou.  "You don't have to prove it to her like
that!"'

   Ryouga resolved the issue by snatching the log out of Akane's hands.
"Don't worry, Akane-san," he said.  "I'll pound him for you."  This
said, he proceeded to bash a surprised Ranma in the head with it.

   Once it made contact with its objective, the log splintered in two
with a loud crack, sending wood chips flying everywhere.  Ranma
staggered backwards from the force of the blow.

   Unshielding her eyes, Nynaeve couldn't help staring in mute
fascination, while the other two were gaping disbelievingly at the
look on the two martial artists' faces.

   Ranma was glaring at Ryouga, who had a smirk on his face.  "You didn't
have to swing that hard, P-chan!" yelled the pig-tailed martial
artist.

   Amazingly, Ryouga ignored the barb.  "What's the matter, Ranma?" he
taunted.  "Whining like a girl again?  Maybe you should show them your
better half!"

   "Not unless you want them to see yours as well, bacon-boy!" growled
Ranma.

   "Enough!" snapped Nynaeve, startling everyone.  Before Ranma could
react, the Wisdom flowed towards him and began examining his head for
injuries.  She was flabbergasted when she found none.  Becoming
irritated again, she shook Ranma by the shoulders.  "All right!  How
did you do that!?" she hissed.

   "I told you, Wisdom," Ranma said, prying Nynaeve's hands off his
shoulders, annoyed.  "I'm a martial artist!"

   Nynaeve closed her eyes and took a deep breath.  *This isn't
happening,* she thought.  *I did _not_ see a scruffy boy hit another
one with a blow that would fell grown men.*

   "Did you see that, Perrin?" she heard Mat whisper behind her.  "Not
even Master Luhhan would be able to take a hit like that without being
hurt!"

   "But the kid with the headband doesn't even _look_ strong enough to
break the log in half," replied Perrin in the same whisper.  "What in
the Light are they?"

   "He said he fights unarmed," whispered Mat.  "Maybe he's an Aiel?"

   "I thought Aiel fought with spears?"

   "Well, maybe he lost them..."

   "What about his black veil, then?"

   Nynaeve had to resist the sudden urge to slap both youths.  She forced
herself to school her features so she could at least _appear_ calm.
No one had made her lose control so badly in a long time.  Well, maybe
Matrim had, but still...  She tried to remembered what the foursome's
original goal was by coming here.  Ah, yes.  They wanted to go home.
She could do that.  The sooner they were out of Emond's Field, the
better.  "All right.  You four," she said, indicating the Nerimians
"will come with me to the Winespring Inn.  There are probably a map or
two in there you can use to find your way home."  She turned to Mat
and Perrin.  "You two great bullcalves are going to keep quiet about
all this.  I _don't_ want the village in a uproar!  I also want you to
find Master Dowtry and explain to him what just happened to his shed."

   "But..." Mat stuttered.  "How are we supposed to convince him when you
didn't believe yourself when we told you?" he asked.  *Not that I
really believe any of it myself,* thought Mat to himself.

   Nynaeve fixed him with a stare that would freeze flames solid.

   Mat gulped.  "Yes, Wisdom!" he said hastily.  He began to retreat,
pulling Perrin by his shirt.  "Come on," he hissed to the muscled
apprentice.  "I don't want to be in yelling distance of the inn when
she gets there!"

   Nynaeve pretended she hadn't heard the last bit.

   More loudly, Mat turned towards the Nerimians and knuckled his
forehead. "The Light shine on you all," he said hurriedly, before
turning and trotting away quickly in the other direction.

   Nynaeve looked at the two boys leave.  She didn't harbor much hope
that they would keep quiet about all this, but sometimes, miracles
happened. Sometimes.  She turned to the Nerimians.  "All right.  You
four come with me.  The sooner this is over, the better I'll feel
about it all."

   "You and me both," muttered Ranma.

   Nynaeve yanked her braid yet again and glared at the pig-tailed boy,
who returned the look smugly.  She thought about boxing his ears, but
seeing as the boy seemed to have an abnormal tolerance for pain, it
probably wouldn't have any effect, save for bruising her hands.

  
Minutes later, the Nerimians, led by Nynaeve, finally arrived at the
inn.  Before Nynaeve could open the door, though, Ryouga voiced a
question that had been bugging him since they had begun following the
Wisdom around.

   "Excuse me, Wisdom, but why does everyone in this village keep looking
strangely at us ?"

   Nynaeve stopped turned towards him.  "Because you are outlanders," she
said matter-of-factly.  "We don't get many strangers in Emond's Field
and very few of them are as young as you."  With that, she opened the
door to the Winespring Inn, leaving Ryouga with even more questions.

   Once inside, a stout, graying man wearing an apron walked up to them.
"Wisdom?" he said inquisitively.  "Is there something wrong?"

   *Yes!* Nynaeve wanted to shout.  "I'm not quite sure," she said, "But
I hope not."

   The man blinked in confusion, then took a peek at the troop behind
Nynaeve.  "And who are these young folks?" The Nerimians introduced
themselves again, as they had when Nynaeve had asked the same
question.

   "... I see..." said the man, after hearing the introductions.  "I'm
Bran al'Vere, the Mayor of Emond's Field."  He looked at the
Nerimians, unsure of what to do.  "So what's the problem?" he asked
Nynaeve.

   Nynaeve decided to skip their arrival.  It was bad enough Mat and
Perrin would likely spread stories, she didn't want the Village
Council to meddle as well.  She wanted these children out of Emond's
Field as fast as possible.  "Apparently," she said, "They're lost and
they need to find their way back home, but I've never heard of
villages called either Nerima or Tokyo.  Perhaps they can find it on
one of your maps?" she said shortly.

   Bran looked at the four Nerimians again.  He frowned curiously and
pointed over Ukyou's shoulder.  "Child, is that a shovel on your
back?"

   Ukyou blinked and turned around.  It took a few seconds to realize he
was talking about her battle spatula.  "Oh, that?" she said, fingering
the giant cooking utensil.  "It's my combat spatula."

   Bran shared an incredulous look with Nynaeve.  He shook his head and
frowned slightly.  "Going back to what we were saying, I only have one
map Wisdom, and it's old," he said.  He looked at the Nerimians.  "How
long has it been since you left this... Nerima?"

   Ranma looked at the others with a 'what-do-we-tell-him?' look.  Ukyou
and Akane shrugged faintly while Ryouga was busy looking at the rest
of the inn and frowning (as usual).

   "Well," Ranma started, "You see, there was this doorway we found..."
He stopped when he heard the door behind them open.

   The Nerimians all turned as one and saw a woman and a man come in.
The woman was dressed in a dark blue velvet dress and a sky-blue
cloak.  She had dark hair and moved with fluid grace.  She radiated
command and confidence, her steps sure and swift.  The man, on the
other hand, had the look and air of a hardened warrior.  He wore armor
and a sword, the latter looking like as if it was a part of the man.
He wore an odd cloak; its color seemed to shift when they looked at
it, as if it was trying to blend with its surroundings.

   Looking at the two newcomers, Ryouga couldn't help but frown
internally. The village, the way these people dressed, the way they
behaved... everything seemed wrong somehow.  There was something very
odd about where the Doorway To Wishes had left them.

   "Mistress Moiraine!" said Master al'Vere, temporarily forgetting all
about the Nerimians.  "What can I do for you?"

   Moiraine acknowledged the man's greeting with a nod of the head.
"Master al'Vere," she began, "I was wondering if you knew where I
could find..." she trailed off as she finally took in the Nerimians.
She frowned for an almost imperceptible moment, then looked curiously
at the group.  "I'm sorry, I do not think I have met you four before,"
she said pleasantly.  "And if I am not mistaken, your looks say that
you are not from this village, are you not?"

   Ranma was frowning warily at the man behind Moiraine  when he heard
the question.  *That guy is dangerous...* he thought absently.  He
turned to Moiraine and gave a slight bow.  "No, we're not from this
village.  As a matter of fact, we're trying to find our way back
home."

   "What village are you from?" asked Moiraine, curious.

   Ranma shook his head.  "Not a village.  We're from Tokyo, in Japan."

   Ryouga's suspicions began confirming themselves when he carefully
observed the woman's reaction.  She didn't have the slightest idea
where Tokyo was, or even what Japan was, if he read her appropriately.

   "I'm afraid I do not recognize any of those names," Moiraine said,
confirming Ryouga's suspicions.

   "I thought as much," said Nynaeve, cutting off Moiraine.  She turned
to Master al'Vere.  "Could you go get that map of yours, please?"

   Master al'Vere blinked.  "Yes, yes...  I'll go get it," he said,
shuffling towards the back of the inn, glancing occasionally at the
Nerimians.

   Once he was gone, Moiraine spoke again.  "I am Moiraine.  I am a
collector of stories.  Who might you be?"

   The Nerimians introduced themselves, although it only seemed to puzzle
Moiraine further.  Before she could begin asking the same questions as
Nynaeve had, Master al'Vere came back with a tattered piece of paper.

   "Here it is," he said. "But I wouldn't wager on its accuracy.  I
bought it from a peddler a long time ago."

   The Nerimians all crowded over the map.  There was a silence for a
while, then Ukyou spoke up.  "Um, guys?  I don't recognize _anything_
on that map," she said.  "It's surprising enough that I can read it in
the first place..." she muttered.

   Akane was next.  "I don't recognize anything either.  I've never heard
of any places called Andor, Cairhien, Tear or Illian."

   Ranma and Ryouga were silent.  Finally, Ranma turned to Master
al'Vere. He pointed at something on the map.  "Excuse me, but where
are we right now on this map?"

   Master al'Vere pointed at a spot on the map.  "About here," he said.

   "And these are countries?" Ranma asked, poking the map.

   Master al'Vere glanced at what Ranma was pointing and nodded.  "Yes
they are."

   Ranma shook his head.  "I've never heard of _any_ of these countries,"
he said.  "Do you have a bigger map?"

   Master al'Vere shook his head.  "No, it's the only one I have.  You
say you don't recognize anything?"

   Ranma shook his head.  He looked at Ryouga.  It was a long shot,
but... "Ryouga?  Recognize anything?" he asked hopefully.  The
bandannaed martial artist, who was frowning at the map, didn't answer.
Ranma frowned slightly.  "Hey, Ryouga!"  Ryouga grunted
non-committally, which Ranma decided meant that he didn't know.  He
threw his hands up in the air.  "Great!  We're stuck in the middle of
nowhere and we don't know how to go back.  What else could go wrong?"
he asked wearily.  "Stupid Doorway," he muttered in a sotto voice.
"Should've known not to trust anything I found in Happosai's room..."

   To say that Moiraine's interest was piqued by that time would have
been a _very_ gross understatement.

   "Excuse me," she said.  When she saw that she had their attention, she
continued.  "How exactly _did_ you arrive in this village?"

   Nynaeve yanked her braid and made a strangled noise, but no one
noticed her.

   Ranma sighed and looked at Akane and Ukyou.  "Any of you wanna tell
her? I don't feel like having another person think that what we did
was impossible."  The pig-tailed martial artist was lucky that he
hadn't been looking in Nynaeve's direction at that moment, or he might
have been careful about what he had been about to say.

   Then again, maybe not.

   "I've seen and heard many things, I assure you," Moiraine said
smoothly. "I am quite open-minded."

   Ranma looked once more at Akane and Ukyou.  "You were there from the
beginning, Ranchan.  Personally, I think this whole thing is really
weird."  She paused for a moment.  "Well, weirder than what we usually
go through, anyway."

   Akane shrugged helplessly.  "Go ahead and tell her.  Maybe she has an
idea on how we can get back."

   Ranma shrugged.  "Fine, then."  He turned to Moiraine.  "But if the
Wisdom didn't believe us, you won't either."

   Nynaeve sniffed loudly from where she was standing.  Unfortubately for
her, no one noticed.

   "Two days ago, I came across a scroll that described the location of a
certain doorway which was rumored to grant wishes when you stepped
through it..."  he was interrupted by the other three Nerimians.

   "Two days ago?!" chorused Akane, Ukyou and Ryouga.

   "You mean you've had that scroll for two days and you didn't tell me?"
asked Akane angrily.

   Ranma backed a step or two.  "It wasn't on purpose, Akane!  I found
the scroll in Happosai's room by accident!  I wanted to go the same
day, but that old lech gave me some obscure warning about the Doorway.
He said something about 'the price they asked always being too high'
or something like that.  I wasn't sure whether he was telling the
truth or not and... and maybe I wouldn't have gone if yesterday hadn't
been such a lousy day," he finished with a sigh.

   "But why didn't you tell us, Ranchan?" Ukyou asked.

   "Yeah," Ryouga added darkly.  "You were going to use the wishes for
yourself, weren't you?"

   A pained expression crossed Ranma's face for a brief moment.  "Well...
_maybe_ all I wanted to do in the beginning was to get my curse
lifted, but I probably would have tried to get _all_ the curses lifted
once I got there."

   "Curses?" interrupted Moiraine, intrigued.

   "Don't ask," came the flat, dual reply from Ranma and Ryouga.

   The bandanna-wearing martial artist turned toward his rival.  "And I'm
supposed to believe you?  Ah!" said Ryouga sarcastically.  He began
popping his knuckles loudly and advanced towards Ranma, who
subconsciously adopted a defensive stance.  Before the really fun
stuff could begin, however...

   "No fighting in the inn!" a voice barked, breaking their
concentration.

   The two martial artists blinked and and looked at Master al'Vere, who
had a stern expression.

   "You heard me," the innkeeper said.  "I'll no have fighting in my inn.
If you children want to fight, do it outside."

   Ryouga kept glaring at Ranma.  "We'll settle this later, Saotome,"
growled the Lost Boy.

   "Anyway," continued Ranma, ignoring the slightly disbelieving
expression on Moiraine's face, "When I finally decided to go there,
these two,"  he said, pointing to Akane and Ukyou, "decided to follow
me because they were suspicious and we picked up Lost Boy over here
along the way," he said, now pointing at  Ryouga who growled softly.
Ranma then took a deep breath.  "Then, well...  we got to the Doorway
all right, but we all started fighting and...  well...  we all fell
through the Doorway at the same time," he said.  "It was as if we were
falling in darkness for a while and then we woke up not far from here
in the forest, but we couldn't find the damn Doorway anymore, no
matter how much we looked around, so we came here, hoping we could
figure out where we were... which we obviously can't," he finished
sarcastically, looking at the map on the table.  He turned once more
to Moiraine and added, with a wide smile plastered on his face: "So,
wanna help?"

   There was a very deep silence in the room for a long moment.  Ranma
looked around and blinked when he noticed there were quite a few more
people in the room now.  Five more, as a matter of fact.  Three men,
one of whom had a colorful cloak seemingly made up of many colored
patches. He had white hair and an equally white bushy mustache.  The
second man was tall and lean, and bore a bewildered expression. The
third man was huge.  He was even even more heavily muscled than
Perrin, Ranma noticed, and he looked just as puzzled as the second
man.  The last two people were two women, each wearing a braid.  If
looks were any indication, the younger one was probably the older
one's daughter.  The way the older woman was dressed suggested she had
been working in a kitchen.

   "Do you seriously expect us to believe that?" finally said Nynaeve,
tugging at her braid angrily.

   Ranma snorted.  "I don't really care whether you believe it or not
because I know that's what happened."

   "It sounds even stranger than what Matrim told me," said the tall man.

   Nynaeve almost eeked when she heard the voice behind her.  She whirled
around angrily when she noticed, much to her dismay, that Egwene,
Mistress al'Vere, the gleeman, Haral Luhhan and Abell Cauthon had all
been standing behind her.  She almost wanted to shout when she saw how
much damage control she would have to do, but she settled for chewing
Abell out instead.

   "What do you mean, Matrim told you?" she asked, tugging her braid
again. "I specifically told him to talk about this to no one!"  She
settled her glare on Haral before Abell could form a response.  "And I
suppose Perrin told you?" she said acidly.

   The blacksmith shrugged, his massive frame making the gesture even
more imposing than it was meant to be.  "Perrin was troubled when he
came back to the forge.  The lad nearly burned himself twice on the
coals. When I asked him what was going on to make him lose his wits
like that, he started muttering about young, invincible outlanders in
Emond's Field.  I wanted to know what was going on, but he wouldn't
talk, so I came here."  He looked over to the Nerimians.  "Their story
is... unusual to say the least."

   Nynaeve stared at Haral.  "You're not actually believing them, are
you?" She sniffed disdainfully.  "I thought you had more sense than
that." "Matrim told me they destroyed the Dowtrys' old shed with their
bare hands," put in Abell quietly.  "I did not believe the lad, but I
saw the truth of what he said when I looked at what's left of it.  He
kept muttering about Aiel, too."

   Nynaeve scowled again.  She threw an angry stare at the Nerimians, who
pointedly ignored it, since they were all looking at Moiraine.  In the
meantime, the three members of the al'Vere family were discussing
animatedly in their little corner, while the gleeman was staring at
the Nerimians as though they were some kind of puzzle.

   "So, can you help us?" repeated Ranma.  He ignored all the comments
that were beginning to buzz around the room.

   Moiraine seemed to come out of a slight trance at that moment.  "Can
you describe this... Doorway?" she asked.

   Ranma couldn't tell if she thought he had made the story up or not.
"I didn't get a really good look at it.  It was in a cave and I was
kind of busy fighting with Ryouga."

   "I saw it," interjected Ukyou.  "It was made out of a dark, reddish
stone.  It looked like a doorway, except that the edges were all
wrong, almost twisted.  I couldn't follow them quite right."  She
paused.  "It was also standing against a wall, so I was very surprised
when we actually fell _through_ it."

   Moiraine seemed to consider what to say next.  She looked at each of
the Nerimians, taking a little more time when she reached Ukyou.  She
tilted her head slightly, smiling faintly.  When her gaze reached the
last member of the group, Akane, a slightly puzzled look seemed to
cross her features at that point, but it was gone almost too fast for
anyone to notice it.  She shook her head slightly.  "I am not sure I
have ever seen, or heard anything that sounds like this... Doorway To
Wishes, but I know of a place where you might get your answers."

   Ranma sighed.  "I guess a lead is better than nothing.  So what's that
place you're talking about?"

   Moiraine smiled just a bit more.  "Tar Valon," was all she said.

   The Nerimians, of course, didn't display the slightest hint of
recognition at the name, but some of the Emond Fielders were a bit
more vocal.

   "Tar Valon!" hooted Abell at the same time Haral snorted.  "Mistress
Moiraine!  Do you mean to send these children to look for answers at
the very heart of Aes Sedai power?  What can you be thinking?  Aes
Sedai would not even listen to their tale anyway!"

   "Would they not?" asked Moiraine, her smile never wavering.  "I have
heard that the White Tower holds many secrets.  Perhaps they could
find what they seek there."

   Everyone was about to add in their grain of salt to the discussion
when Akane asked a perfectly innocent question: "Excuse me, Mistress
Moiraine, but what are Aes Sedai?"

   Everyone blinked. Twice.

   "Please tell me that was a joke, child," finally said the man with the
white hair.

   Akane blinked and looked at her fellow Nerimians in turn.  Each of
them shook their head.  She turned to the man.  "I'm sorry?..." she
trailed off, fishing for a name.

   The old man suddenly grinned.  "I'm sorry young lady, I must be
forgetting my manners!  My name is Thom Merrilin," he said, giving his
patch-colored cloak a flourish, "And I am a gleeman."  His voice
boomed, sounding as if he had announced himself in a hall.

   Akane found herself smiling at the old man's antics.  "It's nice to
meet you, Master Merrilin," said Akane, bowing slightly.  "But I _was_
speaking the truth when I asked my question."

   The gleeman's eyebrows twitched.  "How can you not know about Aes
Sedai, child?  Everyone knows about them.  How else do you call
channelers in your land?"

   Akane gave him a puzzled look.  "Channelers?" she said, clearly not
understanding.  "What's a channeler?"

   This time, even Moiraine was beginning to look nervous.  The gleeman
looked at Akane as if trying to decide whether she was laughing at him
or not.

   Akane blinked and turned to Ranma.  "Do you know what he's talking
about?" she whispered quietly.

   Ranma, equally confused, shrugged.  "I don't have the slightest idea,"
he whispered back.

   Ryouga suddenly spoke up.  "Look, all we really need to know anyway is
the road to Tar Valon and we'll be on our way with apologies for
bothering you."

   Moiraine raised an eyebrow at him.  "And how do you plan to go there?
You do not have horses and you seem to have little in the way of
supplies," she said.  "Add to all this that wandering the roads alone
at your age is not safe at all..."  Moiraine trailed off when the four
Nerimians started snickering.

   "Us...  In danger?..." gasped Ranma.  "Now that's a real joke..."

   Moiraine gave him an icy look.  "What is so amusing about what I just
said?"

   "We're martial artists," answered Ryouga.  "If someone attacks us,
we'll just beat them up."

   "You've no more wits than sheep!" snapped Nynaeve, tugging her braid
yet again.  "Beat people up?  Have you no common sense?"

   Ryouga was about to retort when the main door opened.  A woman came
inside, bearing a tray filled with what looked like small yellow
cakes. "Marin," said the woman, "I brought you some some
honeycaaaakes!..." The last word was almost shouted as the woman
tripped on one of the straps of Ryouga's pack, which had been
carelessly left lying near the door.

   The cakes, of course, went flying towards Ranma, who, for a fraction
of a second, was reminded of his training at the Nekohanten, when
Cologne used to fling several bowls of ramen at a time towards Ranma.
Reflexes took over and he dove to catch all the cakes and the plate,
although, to prevent dropping any of the cakes, he was forced to adopt
a pose that did not look comfortable at all.

   Ranma was now lying backwards, being held up only by his left leg and
his head.  His arms and right foot were in twisted positions, with
cakes lying all over them.  The plate was sitting precariously on top
of the right knee and one cake, in particular, was sitting right over
his nose.

   "Wow, that's great, Ranchan!" exclaimed Ukyou.  All the Emond Fielders
were gaping at Ranma, amazed at the display of speed and dexterity.
Even Moiraine and Lan looked impressed.

   The cake on top of Ranma's nose began to tickle him and the martial
artist began to emit pre-sneezing sounds.

   "Maybe I spoke too soon..." muttered Ukyou.

   Ranma sneezed loudly and everything became a blur.  The physical
seizure from the sneeze was enough to fling all the cakes back up in
the air, and Ranma sprang into action.  Seizing the plate from the
air, Ranma then managed to use it to catch all the cakes without
touching them with his hands, except the cake that had been standing
on his nose, which he caught in his mouth.

   Everybody was staring at Ranma.

   "Show-off," Ryouga muttered.

   Ranma glanced at Ryouga  "Hey, she tripped on _your_ pack, so don't go
blaming me."  The pig-tailed martial artist turned towards the
newcomer and handed her the plate.  "Here you go," he said.  "Sorry
about the last cake, though," he added as he finished chewing, "But I
don't think anyone would have eaten it once I sneezed on it."  Seeing
as the lady still wasn't saying anything, he swallowed the cake and
looked at the plate.  "Those are really good, by the way.  Do you mind
if I have another one?"

   That seemed to shake the woman out of trance.  "Ah... No...  Go right
ahead young man," she said, blinking and looking  repeatedly from
Ranma to the cake plate.

   "Thanks!" said Ranma enthusiastically.

   "That was... very impressive, boy," said Thom slowly.  He tilted his
head and crinkled his eyes ever so slightly.  "Have you ever
considered becoming an acrobat, lad?  I could use someone like you in
my act."

   "I'll say," added Abell.  "I've never seen anyone bend like that or
move so fast."

   Ranma shrugged.  "I've been doing stuff like that all my life," he
said. The Emond Fielders began murmuring among themselves.

   "They could stay in Emond's Field for tonight," piped in Egwene.
"After all, it's Bel Tine and I'm sure lots of other people would like
to hear their stories or even see them do more feats like that. "

   Nynaeve shot Egwene a dismayed look.  "Egwene, not you too?"

   Egwene's cheeks reddened and she began toying with her newly-braided
hair nervously.

   Ranma was about to speak when Ryouga put a hand on his arm.  The
bandanna-sporting martial artist whispered a few words in Ranma's ear,
who then looked at Ryouga with a considering expression.  He then
nodded.  He turned towards Egwene.  "Sure," he said.  "I guess it
won't hurt if we wait until tomorrow to leave."

   A smile suddenly bloomed on Moiraine's face, although the Nerimians
would have shivered had they noticed it.  It was the kind of smile a
cat gave a mouse that had nowhere left to run.

   "Ranchan?" said Ukyou questioningly.  Akane was also looking oddly at
Ranma.

   "Come on," he said. " Maybe a bit of fresh air will do us good."  With
that, Ranma turned towards the rest of the room.  "If you'll excuse
us?" Without waiting for an answer, he and Ryouga took Akane and Ukyou
and gently, but firmly, led them outside the inn, leaving many
confused people standing inside.

   "What was that all about?" demanded Akane, once they were far enough
from the building.  Everywhere around them, people were talking and
laughing, but people didn't seem to be noticing them for the moment.

   Ranma shrugged.  "Ryouga came up with a good idea, surprisingly
enough."

   Ryouga glowered briefly, but cleared his throat when he noticed Akane
and Ukyou's gazes upon him.  "Well, they were offering us food and
shelter for the night.  We might as well make the most of it if we're
going to travel all the way to this Tar Valon city.  Maybe they might
even pay us if we do a few chores for them."

   "Ryouga, you sound as if you've done that before," observed Ukyou.

   The Lost Boy nodded.  "That's one of the ways I keep going when I
travel.  Sometimes, I work for someone for a day and they either give
me a meal or some money for the day's work."

   "We don't have to worry about money, Ryouga-kun," said Akane
reassuringly.  "I've got enough yen to get by for a while."

   Ryouga shook his head.  "We're not speaking Japanese right now,
remember?  I'd say that there's a pretty good chance that it means
that we're not in Japan anymore.  They may not accept yen as payment."

   "So we find a bank?" said Ukyou more hopefully than she really felt.

   Ryouga was silent for a few seconds and sighed.  "I just think we may
be in bigger trouble than we thought."

   "What do you mean, Ryouga-kun?" asked Akane, becoming a bit worried.

   Ryouga looked at them.  "Have any of you considered the possibility
that this... well... might not be our world?"

   There was sudden silence.

   "What are you talking about, Ryouga?" asked Ukyou, frowning.

   Ryouga shook his head.  "I'm not sure, but...  Ever since we woke up
in that forest, something's been bugging me.  The weather and the
language were only the first hint.  Look at this village: the way the
houses are built, the way people are dressed... Remember that Moiraine
woman's bodyguard?  Why would a woman need a bodyguard in a village
like this? And if she did, why only one?  The guy even carries a
sword!  How many bodyguards do you know dress in old-fashioned armor
and carry swords around these days, especially since guns are easier
to hide?  That armor wouldn't stop a serious criminal, even if the
guy's a martial artist."

   "Kuno carries his bokken everywhere," countered Ukyou.  "And so do
people like the Musk and the weirdoes on Toma's floating island."

   Ryouga relented slightly.  "Okay, maybe the sword isn't so much out of
place, but what about the guy's armor and the people's clothes, then?
It just feels wrong..."

   "It still doesn't mean anything," said Akane nervously.  "We could
just be in an isolated corner of some country, that's all!"

   "Akane, I've traveled all around the world and I've never seen
anything quite like this.  I really don't think we're on Earth
anymore."  Ryouga sighed and turned to Ranma, who hadn't moved an inch
since Ryouga had begun speaking.  "What about you, Ranma?  You haven't
said a word so far."  Ryouga stood there, waiting for the smart-ass
remark his rival would undoubtedly say.

   Ranma took a deep breath and exhaled slowly.  "That, as surprising as
this sounds, is because I pretty much agree with what you just said,
Ryouga."

   Ryouga blinked.  Ranma had agreed with him.  Ranma never agreed with
him...  What was going on?  Was he trying to confuse him again?

   While the directionally-confused martial artist was trying to figure
out Ranma's latest ploy, Ranma turned to the two girls.  "I think he's
right about us not being on our world.  Look at all of the strange
stuff: we learn to speak and read a whole language just like that," he
snapped his fingers, "That ain't normal.  We should've at least
noticed we were speaking a different language right away, but we
didn't."  He waved his hands.  "No one here knows what or where Japan
is, we can't recognize a single place on that map..." he passed a hand
through his hair.  "What the Moiraine woman said about us going to Tar
Valon on _horses_?"  He shook his head and sighed.  "Ryouga's right.
Something very strange is going on here."  He shrugged.  "As for
staying here for the night, Ryouga had a good idea.  I've traveled
long enough with Pop to know when not to refuse hospitality when
someone offers it."  He showed his pack to Akane and Ukyou.  "There's
also the fact that we really don't have much in the way of supplies
and besides, if we're going to be stuck here for a while, we might as
well learn as much as we can about this place before we go on the
road.  We might learn some useful stuff."

   Akane and Ukyou looked at each other worriedly.  Ranma and Ryouga
seemed convinced of what they were talking about.  Were they really in
another world?

* * *

   Back inside the inn, Moiraine looked at Lan.

   "What do you think, Lan?" asked Moiraine.

   The Warder frowned ever so slightly, making his hard face even more
dangerous.  "I don't know that I trust their story, but they all know
how to fight.  I could tell that much by looking at them.  The boys in
particular look like they've fought before, and frequently.  They move
far too efficiently for common village boys." He paused for a moment.
"When the two boys threatened each other, the Saotome boy used an
unarmed fighting stance, though it's different than the ones I know.
He also... weighed me when I came in."  He paused again for a few
moments. "They called themselves martial artists.  It might have
something to do with that, although I've never heard anyone being
referred to as an 'artist of war', or whatever it means."  His eyes
became puzzled for a fraction of a second.  "I'm not sure what is the
thing on the Kuonji girl's back, though."  His eyes swung to Moiraine.
"What did _you_ find out?"

   Moiraine smiled secretively.  "They intrigue me very much.  I was not
expecting to meet outlander children like them here."  The smile faded
slightly.  "It is how they arrived here that worries me, Lan.  I can
only think of two things that even remotely resemble what the girl
described."

   Lan didn't move a muscle, but Moiraine still felt the question.

   "The first possibility is a ter'angreal I heard about, once, but it's
not anywhere near here.  It is hidden away in the Stone of Tear, and
it does _not_ do what the boy says it did."  She took a deep breath.
"The other possibility is much more serious, though I strongly doubt
it. They _might_ have been able to use a Waygate."

   Lan looked at Moiraine sharply.  "A Waygate?  I thought only Ogier
could use Waygates...."

   Moiraine made a vexed sound.  "They might have found a way to enter
accidentally, Lan.  But as I said, I find it unlikely, since Waygates
do not look like the doorway they describe."  She paused.  "But I
cannot let this affect my reason for being here.  I already found the
ones I was looking for and there is no chance that these children
might be them.  They are too young."  She looked at the ground
absently.  "Maybe it's another ter'angreal I do not know about."  She
shook her head and looked at the inn's door.  "Most curious is also
the fact that they did not seem to know anything about channelers or
Aes Sedai.  They did not show any reaction at all when I mentioned Tar
Valon either.  Very strange."  She moved towards the door, Lan
following smoothly behind her.  "Very strange indeed," she murmured.

* * *

   Outside the inn, more and more people were talking with the Nerimians.
Since their exit of the crowd, many people had taken notice of them,
and while most of the adults only looked at them strangely, a small
group of children of all ages had gathered around the strange
visitors, some surprised to see outlanders of their own age, something
which did not happen very often, if ever.  Some of the younger
children were fascinated by the Nerimians' looks and clothes (Ramna's
red silk shirt and Ukyou's okonomiyaki seller drew several comments),
while others wanted to know tales about their homeland.  In short,
they were being kept busy by the crowd, especially Ukyou who attracted
attention not only because of her mode of dress, but also because of
her accessories.

   A girl, slightly younger than Ukyou, approached the chef.  "Why do you
dress like that?" she asked timidly.

   Ukyou blinked.  "What do you mean, 'like that'?"

   The girl reddened slightly.  "Your breeches.  Why don't you wear a
dress?  It's not proper for girls to wear breeches."

   "Says who?" countered Ukyou.  "I wear these clothes because they're
comfortable and they're practical to fight in."

   The other girl gaped at her.  "You fight?"

   "Sure," Ukyou nodded.  "Where we live, fights break out almost every
day.  You have to learn how to defend yourself or you get clobbered.
A dress really isn't all that good to fight in."  She gave Akane a
quick glance.  "Akane's probably better at fighting in a dress than I
am, actually."

   While the other girl was trying to process that, Ukyou heard a
whispered conversation behind her.

   "Would you look at the one with the tight shirt and breeches?  I
wouldn't mind dancing with her tonight."

   Ukyou swiftly unlimbered her combat spatula and lightly rapped the boy
on the head.

   "Hey!  That hurt!" yelped the boy, putting a hand on his head.

   "Oh, stop whining, you big baby!" said Ukyou.  "I didn't even hit
hard."

   The boy stared at her, embarrassed by her reply.  "What did I do,
anyway?" he muttered crossly.

   "There's only one person I would ever dance with," Ukyou said happily,
"And that's my Ranchan!" she finished, glomping Ranma to illustrate
her point.

   Akane's reaction was immediate.  "Ukyou!  Not now!"  She began tugging
Ranma in the opposite direction.

   Murmurs began circulating through the crowd.

   Ryouga's expression darkened.  He slowly took his umbrella out of his
pack and pointed it at Ranma.  "Have you no shame, Ranma?  How dare
you flirt with Ukyou and ignore poor Akane's feelings!"

   Ranma started to sweat.  Not only did he feel like a wishbone with
Ukyou and Akane pulling him in different directions, but Ryouga was
about to try and tear him apart again.  This could get messy, so he
tried reasoning with the Lost Boy.  "Lay off, P-Chan!  I didn't ask
for this!"

   Ryouga snarled.

   *That didn't come out quite right,* a detached part of Ranma's mind
commented.

   "DON'T... CALL ME... P-CHAN!!!" howled Ryouga.  "You... you...
HALF-MAN!"

   By now, most of the crowd had pulled back, fully expecting a
fistfight.

   They didn't get one.

   "I wouldn't use that particular insult, boy.  It could get you in a
_lot_ of trouble elsewhere," a voice cut out around them.  They turned
around to see Thom Merrilin standing just a few steps away from them.

   Awed whispers of "Master Gleeman" floated through the evening air.

   Strangely enough, the gleeman's remark had been enough to momentarily
stop Ryouga's advance. "Stay out of this, old man," Ryouga told him
contemptuously.  "This has nothing to do with you." The gleeman
shrugged.  "You can beat on each other as much as you want, as I think
it would be quite a show, and for a gleeman, that's saying a lot, but
as I said, I wouldn't use the word 'halfman', even as an insult if I
were you."

   Ryouga frowned.  "Why not?"

   "'Halfman' is another name for Myrddraals in the Borderlands.  They
call them Fades here, I think."

   "Everyone knows that Fades don't exist!  They're just tales," piped up
a village youth.

   "Are they?" the gleeman said mysteriously, toying with his mustache.

   Ryouga snorted.  "I don't know what a Myrddraal is and I don't really
care."  He turned to Ranma, who was still being pulled by Akane and
Ukyou.  "What I _do_ know is that this... _lecher_ is going to get the
beating of his life!"

   "I'm not a lecher!" protested Ranma.

   "Excuse me?" interrupted a familiar voice.  Ranma, Ryouga and Thom
turned to see Moiraine and Lan looking at them.  Oblivious to the
forthcoming carnage, the undercover Aes Sedai continued: "If it were
not a bother, I would like to speak with young Ranma for a moment."

   Ukyou and Akane suddenly became aware of her presence.  "What about?"
they both asked ominously, neither releasing her hold on Ranma.
Beautiful women and Ranma together almost always spelled trouble.

   Moiraine's serenity was unruffled by the two girls' expressions.  "I
would like to question him about the trip he is planning to undertake,
among other things."

   Ranma sighed in relief.  An opening!  "Ah, sure, Moiraine!  I'd be...
huh... glad to talk with you," Ranma said a bit nervously, as he
untangled himself from Akane and Ukyou, who had lessened their grips
to glare at Moiraine.

   "Ranma!"  "Ranchan!" came the twin protests.

   "It'll only be a moment!" Ranma tried to explain.

   "On the other hand," Moiraine interrupted again, "perhaps she should
come as well," she said, pointing at Akane.  Perhaps she could find
out what exactly was the feeling she had had when had had examined the
girl earlier.

   Akane blinked and looked at Ukyou in confusion, but walked to rejoin
Ranma besides Moiraine.

   Ryouga and Akane watched them leave suspiciously.

   "That woman's up to something," Ukyou muttered.

   Ryouga nodded absently, still in the mood for hitting something.

   * * *

   "So what do you want to talk about exactly?" asked Ranma as they
walked away from the crowd.

   "I have questions for both of you."  Moiraine paused, choosing her
words.  Lan stood quietly, a few paces behind her, eyeing both
Nerimians while checking the surroundings.  Moiraine turned to Akane.
"You said you did not know what a channeler was.  Did you speak the
truth?" she said, the last words coming out like sharp ice.

   "Yes I did!" said Akane forcefully.  "I don't know what you mean by
that word.  Channelers.  What do they channel anyway?"

   "The One Power, of course," answered Moiraine, carefully watching
their reactions.

   Akane looked again towards Ranma, who gave a helpless shrug.  She
turned back towards Moiraine.  "I'm sorry, but that really doesn't
mean anything to us."

   Moiraine looked at Akane, as though trying to figure out a puzzle.

   Ranma's expression suddenly brightened.  "Hey!  Is this One Power
anything like Ki?" he asked.

   Moiraine's expression became curious.  "Ki?" she said, tasting the
unfamiliar word.

   "Yeah," Ranma nodded.  "You know, like..." he trailed off and frowned,
looking around him.

   "Ranma?" Akane questioned.  "What's wrong?"

   "Not sure," he said, still frowning.  "I get the feeling someone's
about to attack me."  He began taking a defensive stance.

   By that time, the Warder had already half-way drawn his sword.
Suddenly, cold blue eyes widened.  "Moiraine!  There are Trollocs
heading this way!" he growled.

   Moiraine's eyes widened in complete surprise.  "What?!  Here?" "What's
wrong?" Akane asked.  "What are Trollocs?"

   The ground started to shake slightly and sounds of a stampede began to
make themselves heard.

   "They're creatures of the Dark One," growled Lan.  "They live only to
kill people."  He took a few steps towards the forest, a odd gleam in
his eyes.

   Moiraine's stern voice stopped him cold.  "No, Lan!  We have to warn
the villagers first!"

   Ranma had half-expected the grizzled man to ignore the orders, so it
came as a bit of a surprise to him when he nodded without question and
dashed back to the village, barely a step behind the woman.  He looked
at Akane.  "C'mon, Let's follow them!  Something tells me we're going
to have a fight on our hands."

   For once, Akane didn't feel inclined to argue.

   When they got back to the village, they found Lan and Moiraine trying
to warn people that Trollocs were coming, although it didn't seem to
have much effect.  Those who weren't simply too drunk to notice
thought the two were joking.

   Ranma and Akane suddenly saw Ukyou and Ryouga running towards them.

   "What's going on?" asked Ukyou, nodding at Lan and Moiraine.  "What's
their problem?"

   "Yeah," said Ryouga.  "What's a 'Trolloc', anyway?"

   Ryouga got his answer when wild animal cries were heard.  The
Nerimians' heads all turned towards the noise and were faced with huge
figures running into the village. Automatically shifting to defensive
stances despite their shock, the Nerimians watched the huge
animalistic creatures, which averaged between seven and ten feet in
height.  They wore armor and helmets of some kind, often protruding
with spikes and most were waving curved, scythe-like swords while
shouting wild battle cries.

   Chaos suddenly seized the village.  Villagers, who moments ago, had
been laughing off Lan and Moiraine's warnings, were now running away
in fear. Women were screaming their children's names and some men were
desperately trying to find weapons of some kind.

   Ranma was about to engage one of them when several fireballs suddenly
hit the Trollocs in front of him.  He watched, shocked, as the huge
shape burst into flame and howled in agony.  Letting his gaze wander
back towards the source of the blasts, he saw Moiraine almost
systematically incinerate every Trolloc that came close to her.  He
stared  in sick fascination as the man, Lan, flowed smoothly to run
Trollocs through with his sword, one after another, never slowing
down, a dancer of death.

   "They... they kill them?" he said softly, incredulously.  He had never
seen someone so casual or expedient about killing before and it was
very disturbing.  He shared a quick glance with the other Nerimians
only to see the same expression on their faces.

   It was only when a Trolloc slashed at a villager, nearly splitting him
in half, that Ranma reacted out of his dazed state.  He rushed at the
Trolloc and kicked it solidly in its midsection.  The Trolloc bent in
half and Ranma hammered it with a few solid punches to the face and
chest, finishing with a spin kick which laid the Trolloc out cold.  He
looked at his fallen foe, seeing a wolf's muzzle pointing from under
the helmet.

   He quickly turned to the other Nerimians.  "Protect the villagers!" he
yelled to them.  "Take those damn things down!"  He noted that Ryouga
was already fighting the Trollocs by himself, wielding his trusted
umbrella.

   * * *

   Akane and Ukyou looked at each other and nodded nervously.  Behind
them, a woman screamed and the two girls turned around to see a mother
and her child backed against a wall, a eight-foot tall, eagle-faced
Trolloc slowly advancing on them.  Akane quickly rushed and kicked the
Trolloc behind the knee.  It gave a surprised shriek and stared
falling backwards when Ukyou jumped from above and slammed it on the
face with her combat spatula with all her strength.  The Trolloc
slumped, out cold.

   Akane looked at Ukyou and gave her a slight smile.  "Looks like we
make a good team."

   Ukyou shared the smile.  "C'mon!  Can't let Ranchan and Ryouga have
_all_ the fun, now can we?"  She paused to look at her spatula, which
was sporting a faint impression of the Trolloc's beak.  "I hope my
spatula can handle it.  Those things are tougher than they look!"

   Akane turned to the huddling woman.  "You'd better get to safety.
We'll handle this."

   The woman stared at Akane.  "You're just a child!" she managed to say.

   "Akane!" yelled Ukyou.  "Heads up!"

   Akane's head swung back just in time to duck in order to avoid
decapitation by Trolloc blade.  "Gyaaahh!"  She jumped backwards, only
to realize that two Trollocs had sneaked up on them and Ukyou was now
battling one by herself.  The second one was taking an unhealthy
interest in Akane herself.  She took a ready stance and lashed out
with a rising kick, which struck the Trolloc on the chin.  It
staggered a step back, but quickly recovered and slashed at Akane, who
dodged and punched the Trolloc several times in the gut.  She cursed
as she realized she was mostly hitting metal.  The thing was wearing
chain mail!  Recovering quickly, the Trolloc tried to split Akane in
half with a clumsy overhead strike, which Akane evaded easily.  As
soon as the blade passed clear of her, the youngest Tendo daughter
jumped and performed a spinning kick that took the goat-snouted beast
completely by surprise.  Akane stood over the fallen Trolloc for a few
moments, panting slightly.  *Kuso!* she thought.  *They're a whole lot
bigger and stronger than normal people.  And they wear armor, too!*
Suddenly she whirled around, remembering Ukyou.

   * * *

   The okonomiyaki chef had almost been taken by surprise.  She barely
had time to yell a quick warning to Akane when a wolf-snouted Trolloc
swiped at her with its sword.  She blocked the strike with the haft of
her combat spatula, but was stuck in a deadlock, as she couldn't move
the spatula without getting cut in half.  Suddenly, an idea came to
her. Her spatula pointing to the upper left, Ukyou decided to kick the
flat end with a reverse kick.  This caused the Trolloc's sword to
begin sliding down to the right, and Ukyou smoothly spun around,
continuing the movement, thus letting the Trolloc slice at nothing and
finished by slamming her spatula in the beast's back.  The Trolloc
staggered forward and Ukyou rendered it unconscious it by hitting ititting itin the back of its head.

   She turned around just in time to see Akane finish off her opponent.
When she turned around towards her, Ukyou gave her a slight wink.

   "See?" the okonomiyaki chef said.  "Nothing to it!"

   Akane raised an eyebrow and smiled.  "Absolutely!" she said solemnly.

   They then turned at the same time to face even more Trollocs.

   * * *

   Ryouga was plowing with abandon through the Trollocs, swinging his
umbrella left and right.  No enemy lasted long against his superior
strength and skill.  Glancing towards one of the houses that wasn't
burning yet, he saw a group of people trying to get inside, oblivious
to the fact that a few Trollocs were stalking up to them.

   Suddenly, the door opened and the villagers rushed inside, closing the
door behind them.  Seconds later, the Trollocs were trying to ram the
door down.  Ryouga quickly rushed towards them.

   "Leave them alone!" he yelled, hoping to divert the Trollocs'
attention somewhere else, namely on him.  It worked.  As the beasts
turned, Ryouga dove to the ground, his index finger extended, yelling:
"Bakusai Tenketsu!"

   The ground exploded around him and he heard cries of pain coming from
the Trollocs.  He shut them out.  He had seen the Moiraine woman and
Lan kill the Trollocs without the slightest apparent regret.  He had
seen beasts trying to kill without any justification.  He could not,
however, quite bring himself to kill the Trollocs, although it would
be easy for him.  He would not kill if he could avoid it.  *I'm not a
killer,* he told himself.  *Oh really?* asked his conscience.  *Then
what about all your threats to kill Ranma once and for all?  Wouldn't
you be doing exactly that?*  Ryouga desperately shut out the voice.
*It's not like that anymore!!!* he protested to himself.  *Isn't it?*

   His awareness returned to the fight at hand.  He needed to finish this
while they were disoriented by the pain.  He used a spin kick to take
out the first Trolloc and his umbrella to smash the snout of the
second one.  He took out a bandanna and snaked it around another
Trolloc's ram horns, bringing its head down and smashing it against
his knee.  He took the last Trolloc by the scruff of the neck and
rammed it through the house's wall.

   He grimaced when he heard screaming from inside the house.  *Maybe I
should've watched where I was throwing it, first,* he thought.  He
pulled the Trolloc out of the wall and peered inside.  He saw a dozen
figures, mostly children and women, huddled against the far wall.  The
younger children were wailing in fear.

   "Sorry about that," he called out.  "Don't worry about the Trolloc,
it's out cold."

   A young boy suddenly pointed behind him.  "Look out!  Behind you!"

   Ryouga whirled around only to be tackled through the hole in the wall
by two Trollocs, their vast bulk tearing an even bigger hole through
the wall.  He fell on his back, the two huge, deformed shapes clawing
at him.  Using his strength to keep the wolf-muzzled Trollocs from
biting him, he was about to backflip his enemies into the rear wall,
but he quickly realized he would be throwing the Trollocs right into
the knot of people behind him.

   "Everyone, get out of here," he yelled.  Unfortunately, the villagers
were entranced by the sight before them.  One of the older boys, maybe
thirteen, rushed to the dinner table and took a wooden chair in his
hands.  Running back towards one of the two Trollocs, he brought down
the chair as hard as he could on top of its head.

   "Leave him alone!" the boy yelled.

   The boy had been trying to knock one of the Trollocs out, but all he
managed was to make one of them mad.  It ceased its struggle with the
bandanna-wearing martial artist and started moving towards the boy.
Ryouga quickly used both of his arms to hold the remaining Trolloc's
head while he headbutted it, rendering it unconscious.  Turning his
head around, he saw the other Trolloc raising his sword at the boy.
Ryouga's hand flashed.  Taking out his belt, he used it like a whip,
the cloth coiling around the Trolloc's left ankle.  He yanked it back
with all his strength, which caused the Trolloc to lose its footing
and fall flat on its chin, mere centimeters from its intended victim.
Ryouga then lifted the Trolloc by its chain mail and swung a right
cross across its face. The Trolloc slumped, its face bloodied.

   Ryouga quickly went to retrieved his umbrella, tossing both Trollocs
out of the house at the same time.  He then turned towards the boy who
had used the chair, who was looking at him with an expression of
wonder.

   "You're stronger than..." the boy started, but Ryouga interrupted him.

   "That was stupid," he told the boy harshly.  "I'm strong enough to
hold them both at bay.  I've been training all my life.  You nearly
got yourself killed distracting it.  Next time, when I say leave, you
_leave_, understand?!"

   The boy shied away from him with a hurt expression.  Ryouga winced for
a moment, realizing how harsh he had just sounded.  "Look, thanks for
the assist, but just... just leave fighting to those who know it,
okay?"  He looked up to the women, some of whom nodded slightly.
Ryouga felt just a bit better.  It looks like they, at least,
understood why he had berated the boy.  Interference without training
could cost you your life. He walked out of the hole, surveying the
surroundings.  There were still Trollocs about, but a lot less than a
few minutes ago.  His gaze was drawn to two figures huddling near the
ground.  His eyes widened when he realized they were Akane and Ukyou.
They were on their knees, looking at something on the ground.  They
also weren't taking notice of the ten-foot tall Trolloc stalking up to
them.

   "AKANE-SAN!!!" he yelled desperately.

   He immediately began gathering Ki for the Shishi Houkou Dan, a sphere
of dark green energy coalescing in his hands, the air around him
shimmering with power.

   * * *

   Ranma felt the heat of battle through his veins.  He often fought
people in Nerima, far more often than he sometimes wished, but this
was different.  Instead of fighting for his own life or simply beating
up on people, he was fighting to protect others. *This is what I
should be doing,* he thought.  *Much better to use the Art this way.*

   A Trolloc came towards him and he slipped by its defenses, hammering
it with dozens of punches, his arms easily passing through the beast's
defenses.  The Trolloc fell, alive but broken.  *I may not kill, but I
sure as hell don't have anything against _hurting_ those things.*

   Doing his best to ignore the lightning strikes that were coming down
from a clear sky, Ranma made his way to the center of the village.
*Who is that Moiraine woman?* he wondered.  *She some sort of
sorceress?* Looking towards Moiraine, he saw that the Trollocs were
obviously trying to overwhelm her, but Lan was systematically
slaughtering every Trolloc that came too close.  The martial artist
moved in to help, easily evading the clumsy strikes directed his way,
all the while cheerfully saying "Missed me!"

   One of the creatures made the mistake of turning its back on him.  He
smiled coldly and moved his index fingers at each side of his mouth.
"Roga Shuhai Tai!" he yelled, making deep gashes in the Trolloc's back
with his fingers, easily tearing through the chain mail.  Said Trolloc
turned around, howling and ready to do murder, only to find Ranma
smirking at him.  "Ignore me will you?" said Ranma, who then executed
a handstand and axe-kicked the Trolloc, who fell bonelessly to the
ground. He flipped back on his feet to see Moiraine staring at him.
"Feh!" he he told her contemptuously.  "Those things are worthless.
Give me a good fight with Ryouga any day."

   "How did you do that?" she asked, wide-eyed, looking at the gashes on
the Trolloc.

   Ranma shrugged.  "Martial arts, of course," he replied.  He spotted
another Trolloc coming his way.  "S'cuse me," he said, rushing the
hawk-faced creature.  Once he was within arm's reach, his hands caught
the Trolloc's outstretched arms and he quickly kneed the Trolloc in
the chin.  Its head snapped pack and it staggered backwards.

   "Aww... Does the poor baby have a headache?" taunted Ranma.  "Here,
why don't you sleep it off?" he completed, casually spin-kicking the
Trolloc into unconsciousness.

   Moiraine rushed towards him.  Giving him a quick glance, she realized
that he wasn't hurt in the slightest.  *How...?" she wondered.  She
suddenly narrowed her eyes.  "Child, does the word 'Aiel' mean
anything to you?" she asked briskly.  Behind her, Lan came up, his
sword slick with blood.  He kneeled down to the Trolloc, frowning.

   Meanwhile, Ranma blinked, not expecting Moiraine's question.  "Aiel?"
he said, puzzled.  "What's that?"

   Moiraine frowned, obviously not liking the answer.  She pointed to the
Trolloc.  "Where did you learn to fight like this?" she demanded.

   Ranma raised an eyebrow.  "My father trained me."  He frowned,
curious. "From your reaction, I take it people here don't exactly
fight barehanded, do they?"

   Before Moiraine could answer, Lan got up.  "Very impressive," he said.
"Those kicks nearly broke it head."  He frowned and took out his
sword, plunging it in the Trolloc's throat, killing it.  "It was also
still very much alive, boy!" Lan growled, turning to Ranma.  "Don't
even think about telling me you weren't strong enough to kill it.  I
know enough about unarmed fighting to know you weren't even giving
your all."

   The pig-tailed martial artist took an involuntary step back when Lan
dispatched the Trolloc.  "I don't kill," he replied quietly.  "I never
have before, and I don't see the reason to now."

   The Warder's face became angry thunderclouds.  "What do you mean, you
don't see a reason to?  What kind of reason could you possibly have
for leaving Trollocs alive?"  His deep voice rumbled like angry
thunder.  "Tell me!"

   Looking at the Warder's expression, Ranma felt he had the final proof
that they were no longer back home.  He could not see this situation
happening anywhere on Earth.  "Trollocs don't exist where we come
from," Ranma snapped.  "We have no reason to go around killing
people!" Lan looked about ready to bite Ranma's head off when Moiraine
put a hand on his arm.  Moiraine looked at the pig-tailed boy oddly
again and shook her head.  "We will speak of this later."  She turned
to her Warder. "There are still some Trollocs loose and we must take
care of them." Her eyes slid towards Ranma for a moment.  "You would
do well to kill those creatures, boy," she said, her voice like steel.
"They will not hesitate to kill you."

   Ranma almost backed away before he caught himself.  He snorted.
"Those things can't even touch me.  They're no threat to me."  He
looked at her.  "You wanna kill so badly?" he said to Moiraine
quietly.  "Do your own killing then."

   He then proceeded to vault over the pair, rushing to meet other
Trollocs.

   Moiraine and Lan gawked for a moment before they picked themselves up.
They glanced at each other and resumed killing Trollocs, all the while
keeping an eye on Ranma and  making sure to kill every Trolloc he had
knocked out.

   Moving near the inn, Ranma angrily took a Trolloc down, thinking about
Lan and Moiraine's words.  *Should I kill them?* he thought.  They had
done nothing to him, but they had hurt villagers.  Was not physical
harm enough?  Most of the Trollocs he had taken down tonight were
alive, but would likely never be able to fight again.  He suddenly
heard a cry behind him and turned around to see Master al'Vere fall to
the ground, clutching the side of his head.  Behind him, the girl
Ranma thought was his daughter was backed against the stone wall.  A
Trolloc was raising its sword, obviously going for the finishing blow.

   Ranma blurred.  He ran as fast as he could, and jumped in the air a
dozen feet away from the Trolloc.  "Kacchu Tenshin Amaguriken
Revised!" he shouted, bearing down on the Trolloc.  "RYUUSEIU GERI!!!"

   Ranma's right foot blurred almost into invisibility, striking the
Trolloc everywhere.  The head, the neck, the arms, the torso, the
legs...  Nothing was spared.  Only when Ranma realized what he was
doing did he stop the attack.  The Trolloc was thrown into the ground,
nearly all of its bones broken by the awesome force of Ranma's blows.
Ranma stared in horror at the broken form.  *Did I...?*  He saw the
Trolloc's chest rise weakly.  *I didn't...* he thought, oddly
relieved.  He had managed to hold back from making the move lethal.
His temper had nearly gotten the best of him.  He had never killed.
He had come close during his battle with Herb, but he had not.  If he
began killing, where would it stop?  He shook his head to stop the
thoughts.

   He turned around to take a look at the Mayor and the girl.  Master
al'Vere was watching him, wide-eyed, leaning slightly on the girl's
arms.  The girl was also staring at him, but she had an odd expression
on her face.  One Ranma couldn't place.  If anything, it looked like a
cross between excitement, fear and gratitude.  A very odd expression.

   "Are you okay, Master al'Vere?" asked Ranma.

   "How...?" said the girl weakly.  She seemed to be struggling to know
what to say.

   The stout, graying man waved his hands.  "I'm... all right, lad," he
said between shaking breaths.  "It's only a small blow to the head.
I'll survive."  He looked at the fallen Trolloc, then at Ranma again.
He blinked, as if to clear his thoughts and turned to the girl.
"Egwene, go inside and stay with your mother.  It's safer that way."

   "But father..." the girl protested weakly.

   Master al'Vere's voice grew hard.  "Now, Egwene!"

   "Yes father," the girl squeaked, heading back inside the inn, leaving
her father alone with Ranma.  She looked one last time at Ranma before
closing the door, a look of apprehension on her face.  The door
closed.

   The Mayor finally spoke.  "I don't know how you did that, lad, and I'm
not sure I _want_ to know, but you saved my life and I'm grateful for
that, at least."

   Ranma frowned.  "Why does everyone around here act like this anyway?
Haven't you ever seen people fight without swords?" he asked.

   Master al'Vere looked at him oddly, tilting his head slightly and
wincing when the pain from the wound on his head flared up because of
the movement.  "Lad, I don't know how to say it, but..."

   "AKANE-SAN!!!" they heard Ryouga scream.  Ranma snapped around,
horrified, fearing the worst.  He saw Akane and Ukyou, kneeling on the
ground, looking at something.  They didn't seem to be aware of the
monstrously tall Trolloc coming up behind them.  How could he have
left them alone?!

   Ranma then saw Ryouga in position for the Shishi Houkou Dan.  Looking
at the giant Trolloc, Ranma quickly gathered his ki for the Mouko
Takabisha as well, a blue sphere of energy appearing almost instantly
in his hands.  The dust on the ground around him suddenly gusted away
because of his aura's strength.  He didn't notice the innkeeper
backing away, a worried expression on his face.

   * * *

   Moiraine and Lan watched in sick fascination as Ranma executed the
Meteor Shower Kick.

   "A channeler?" asked Lan, almost worriedly.  Almost.

   Moiraine's thoughts were racing.  *A channeler?  Here...?  No, he
cannot be the one!  He is too young!*  She looked up to Lan.  "Come
quickly!" was all she said.  They began running towards Ranma, a dozen
scenarios running through the Aes Sedai's head at the same time.

   Their attention was momentarily distracted by three Trollocs who had
chosen that moment to try and dogpile them.  Lan, like a wind of
death, twisted his sword in an arc and swiftly ran two of them
through, while Moiraine incinerated the last one.

   The Aes Sedai almost cursed.  She had lost track of Ranma during their
little fight.  "Lan," she began, "I..." she began, then stopped
abruptly when she sensed something she had not expected.  It felt
somewhat like saidar, but much fainter, like a weak echo of the buzz
she usually felt when someone channeled nearby.  It was also coming
from two different directions.  Before she could raise her head to
look for either source of that feeling, she heard two shouts.

   "MOUKO TAKABISHA!!!"

   "SHISHI HOUKOU DAN!!!"

   Moiraine's eyes widened when she realized that this mysterious power
was headed towards her.  She instinctively stepped back and formed a
shield of Air as a sphere of brilliant blue energy blasted its way
several feet in front of her.  Instinctively following the sphere with
her eyes, she spotted another one, dark green this time, headed in the
same direction as the first.  They quickly converged on a Trolloc at
the far end of the village, which was immediately blasted away.  She
noticed that the Trolloc had been about to strike the two outlander
girls.

   Momentarily forgetting all about Ranma, Moiraine began looking for the
source of the blasts when she noticed that something else emitting the
strange feeling was headed her way.  She only had time to blink when
_something_ passed in front of her a high speed, causing her to
flinch.  She blinked and gasped when she realized it was Ranma.  There
had been something wrong, though.  There was a sense of... power
around the boy.  Something that hadn't been there before.

   *Was that saidar?* she wondered in shock.  *Was that boy embracing
_saidar_?*  Hundreds of thoughts were running through her, none of
them pleasant.  She then absently noticed that Lan hadn't moved in
quite a while.

   "Moiraine, I... _felt_ that," whispered Lan, shocked.

   Moiraine's head snapped around almost instantly.  "What?"

   The Warder pointed to where Ranma was now standing.  "When he passed
us, I felt it.  There was like a sense of... power around the boy.  I
can't explain it any better ," he said slowly, uncertainty making its
way into the rough voice..

   *He sensed it?  Then... it cannot be saidar or Lan would not have felt
that and it cannot be saidin either or _I_ would not have felt
anything...  Then what was that power?  What _is_ he?* she wondered.
She became even more worried when she remembered that there had been
_two_ blasts.

   Moiraine Damodred, Aes Sedai of the Blue Ajah, became fairly scared
and very much confused.  This was _not_ what she had been expecting.

   * * *

   Akane and Ukyou had been having more trouble than either Ranma or
Ryouga.  Not being as fast or as strong as the them, they had to spend
more energy knocking down the Trollocs.  It was also a bitter
realization that it would simply be much easier to kill Trollocs than
send them into La-La land.  After all, why spend so much energy on
punches, kicks and swings when you could just simply break your
opponent's neck with a precise punch or kick?

   The problem was that the two girls shared the same feelings as their
male counterparts, as in they didn't want to kill.

   That decision would haunt them for some time to come.

   The two female martial artists had found themselves protecting a house
full of children against the onslaught of Trollocs.  Both had been
faring rather well when tragedy struck.

   Akane and Ukyou were fighting another Trolloc together when one of the
beasts that had been knocked out earlier began to stir again.
Staggering to its knees, it considered attacking Akane and Ukyou, but
Trollocs being what they were, that one decided to try and find an
easy way out.  Unfortunately, a young girl chose this moment to peek
from behind the door.

   Ukyou slammed her combat spatula on top of the Trolloc's head at the
same time Akane gave it a fierce kick to its midsection.  And yet
another Trolloc slumped, defeated.  They whirled around when they
heard a shrill scream coming from the house.  Their breaths caught in
their throats when they saw that one of the Trollocs they had knocked
out was now standing and holding a little girl by her dress.

   It also had a sword.

   Everything went into slow motion.  Akane and Ukyou came flying at the
Trolloc, hoping to snatch the little girl away.

   They didn't succeed.

   The Trolloc's curved sword flashed, and there was blood.

   It was the last thing the Trolloc would ever see or do.  Akane's punch
broke its spine in half while one of Ukyou's spatula shuriken lodged
itself in its neck.

   "No!" Akane breathed.  She knelt down to the little girl, not
believing what had happened.  She was joined by Ukyou, who looked
horror at the wound in the girl's chest.  Akane quickly tore off a
length of her dress to use as a bandages to staunch the flow of blood.
The blood soaked through immediately.

   "No... no... no..." repeated Akane mindlessly, cradling the young
girl's shaking body.  "No one was supposed to die, especially not a
little one like you."

   Ukyou just felt numb.  The worst thing is that it was their fault.
Had they killed the beast instead of knocking it down, it never would
have gotten up...  It was their fault.

   So absorbed in their grief were they that they never saw the massive
Trolloc lumbering up behind them.

   "MOUKO TAKABISHA!!!"

   "SHISHI HOUKOUDAN!!!"

   The two battle cries, however, were enough to cause the two girls to
look behind them.  They saw the Trolloc, a massive beast with armored
spikes covering its body.  The two girls stood there, frozen by the
sight when two Ki-blasts slammed into the Trolloc, a green one and a
blue one, both coming from different directions behind the Trolloc.
The force of the strikes flung it more than a dozen feet away,
screaming in pain before it fell face first to the ground.

   Mere seconds later, Ranma and Ryouga had rejoined the two girls,
ignoring the villagers who were now running away from _them_.

   "Akane-san!  Are you all right?!" asked Ryouga as soon as he was in
shouting range.

   "Akane!  Ucchan!  What's going... on...?" trailed Ranma, as soon as he
saw the little girl's body.  "Oh no..." he whispered.  He knelt behind
Akane, looking at the girl's chest wound.  "What happened?" he asked,
a cold lump forming in his stomach.

   "A Trolloc..." answered Akane mechanically.

   "It was our fault," said Ukyou, trembling.

   Ranma and Ryouga stared at her.

   "What?..." croaked Ranma.

   Ukyou nodded absently.  "It was...  We only knocked it out, instead of
killing it... It woke up and...  Ranchan, that girl is dying because
of us..." she trailed off.

   The Warder's words came back to Ranma.  -They live only to kill
people...  What kind of reason could you possibly have for leaving
Trollocs alive?-

   He looked at the dying child, and then at the inhumanly tall Trolloc
he and Ryouga had shot down.

   -They live only to kill people...-

   -What kind of reason could you possibly have for leaving Trollocs
alive?-

   What reason indeed?

   If they did not kill the Trollocs, how many times would the girl's
fate be repeated?

   If Trollocs only lived to kill people, then were not people justified
in killing the beasts in order to save themselves?  It's not as if the
creatures were human, no?

   None of the Nerimians noticed that the door was opening up once more.
Another girl peeked out the door.  "Lia?" the girl asked "Lia?  Where
are you?"  She saw the body cradled by Akane and screamed, closing
back the door.

   The scream seemed to wake up Ranma and Ryouga at least.  The looked at
each other, a silent understanding on their faces.  Ranma guessed his
fellow martial artist had come to the same decision as he:  No Trolloc
would leave the village alive.

   They looked up to see Lan and Moiraine running up to them.  Moiraine
alternated between staring at the boys and looking at the girls.  She
was definitely spending more time looking at Ranma, though.

   The Warder didn't speak, but his expression was such that he might as
well have screamed.  -Do you understand now?-

   The pig-tailed martial artist's expression tightened, sending the
uneasy answer.  -... Yes... -

   And they leapt away.

   Moiraine was about to use saidar to stop them when Lan put a hand on
her shoulder.

   "Don't," he said quietly.  "They've seen the result of their
unwillingness to kill and now they'll make amends for their behavior."
He looked at the two martial artists.  "I could _almost_ pity the
Trollocs that will cross their paths," he said softly.

   Moiraine looked at Lan, frowning.  She didn't like letting Ranma off
like that.  Who knew what that boy was capable of.  She tsked and
turned to the two girls who were still huddling around the girl.  "Let
me see the child," she ordered.

   Blank faces looked up at her.

   Moiraine's patience was wearing very thin by now.  "I may be able to
heal her if the damage is not too severe."

   "You could?..." Ukyou stuttered.  "But how?"

   "I am Aes Sedai," she said.  "Watch and learn, children, and I will
show you just what can be done with the One Power."

   Akane and Ukyou looked at each other questioningly for a moment and
handed the young girl to Moiraine.  The Aes Sedai put her hand over
the wound and concentrated.  Flows of Water, Air and Spirit coursed
through the girl's body, straining to mend broken tissue.

   The two martial artists looked on as the young girl gasped, eyes going
wide.  The saw the wound gradually shrink, until it was only a nasty
cut.  The girl slumped, her breathing weak, but steady.

   Akane blinked.  "Why don't you heal her completely?"

   "Because, child," said Moiraine, getting up, "If I try to heal her
completely now, she will die from the Healing."  She looked at the
young girl.  "The child is not completely safe, but she is no longer
in direct danger of losing her life.  She will need food and rest, for
several days, at least."

   Akane and Ukyou blinked several times.  How could anyone die from
being healed, anyway?

   "She'll live?" finally asked Akane, looking at the Aes Sedai.

   "Perhaps," said Moiraine.  "Providing someone bandages and washes the
wound soon."  She turned around.  "Now, I have to take care of an
impossibility.  It is bad enough I was unable to kill the Myrddraal
that led those Trollocs, but this...  Come, Lan!"

   The Aes Sedai swept away, the Warder following behind her, not making
a single sound.  They left behind two very confused, but also very
grateful young women.

   * * *

   Ranma and Ryouga were grimly moving through piles of downed Trollocs,
snapping necks whenever they found a live one.  As far as they were
concerned, the Trollocs has forfeited any chances they might have had
for survival by killing that young girl.

   Ryouga was getting up from killing another one when he happened to see
a Trolloc getting away from the village.  "Oh no you don't!" he
growled. He turned to grab hold of the nearest object.

   The Spring Pole.

   It was a bit blackened and sooty, yes, but it also made a beautiful,
if blunt, javelin.  Ryouga hefted the Pole and threw it at the
Trolloc. The ten-foot tall fir trunk arced somewhat gracefully, ending
its flight in the middle of the Trolloc's chest, pinning it to the
ground.

   "Nice throw," remarked Ranma from behind Ryouga.

   "Nel!  Daysa!" came an anguished voice.

   The two martial artists whipped around, looking for the source of the
shout.  They saw a man and a woman just outside a burning house.
Flames were licking the walls and there was thick, billowing smoke
coming from the windows.  Running over to them, they realized that the
man was trying to get inside the house.

   "What's going on?" asked Ranma.

   The woman turned to him, panic written all over her features.  "My
children are in there!" she wailed almost incoherently.

   Ranma looked at Ryouga.

   "You go," said the bandanna-wearing martial artist.  "I might get lost
inside."

   Ranma hid his surprise at Ryouga's admission.  The Lost Boy usually
hated acknowledging his directional curse.  But that was for later.
He shook the man, who was still trying to get inside, by the
shoulders. The man turned around, in shock.

   "How many and where are they inside?" he shouted in the man's face to
get his attention.

   "T-Two... a boy and a girl...  They're probably in their rooms, on the
upper floor," he replied, dazed.  "But everything's burning!  Bili
went to get some water, but..."

   Ranma stopped listening and rushed in the inferno despite shouted
protests from the couple.  Once inside, he was immediately assaulted
by the thick smoke and the incredible heat.

   *Kuso!* he thought.  *At this rate, those kids might already be dead!*
He looked around, and managed to spot the stairs at the far end of the
room.  He moved closer only to realize that it was on fire.  He
glanced at the ceiling.  It still looked okay, though it probably
wouldn't stay that way for long.  Giving a small inward sigh he
shielded his head with his arms and lept straight up, using himself as
a living battering ram as he crashed through the boards to the floor
above.

   *This is taking too much time!* he thought frantically.  Ranma looked
around, noticing that one of the doors was closed.  He quickly kicked
it down and saw two small shapes on the ground, near a bed.  He took
them in his arms and was rushing out of the room when he heard a deep,
crackling sound.

   Timbers were breaking.  The house was collapsing.

   He searched for a quick exit, but found none.  Everything around him
was burning  *Time to make my own, then!* he thought.  Securing the
children in his arms, he ran towards a burning wall and jumped.

   * * *

   Outside, Ryouga was looking nervously at the burning house.  Ranma was
taking too much time.  He thought about following him inside, but
dismissed the idea.  He had told Ranma the truth.  He would probably
only get lost.

   He noticed that the man was still trying to go inside.  He casually
reached out and pulled the man back to a safer position.

   "Let me go!" the man yelled.  "I have to save my children!"

   Ryouga squeezed the man's arm to get his attention.  "You can't even
get inside because of the heat," he told him.  "If your kids are in
there, Ranma will find them."  He paused.  "If he doesn't, I'll
personally pound his brains out," he added, growling slightly.

   A loud, cracking sound made everyone's heads turn towards the house.
They saw the base of the house collapsing.

   "NOOOO!!" screamed the man and the woman together.

   At the same time, Ranma came flying through the wall above where they
were standing, right leg extended and carrying two figures in his
arms. Ryouga quickly opened his umbrella to shield the villagers from
the flaming wooden shards headed their way.

   *He did it!* thought Ryouga, relieved.

   * * *

   Upon landing, the first thing Ranma did was check the state of the two
children he had carried out.  Neither was breathing.

   "Ryouga!" he barked.  "Over here!  Quick!"

   The Lost Boy quickly came over.  "What?"

   "You know CPR?" asked Ranma in a rush.

   "Yeah?..."

   Ranma pointed at the young boy.  "Do it.  They've both stopped
breathing."  Ryouga nodded and they both immediately began the
resuscitation technique on their respective charges.

   The farmer's wife ran over to Ranma.  "Daysa!" she said raggedly.
"What are you doing to her?" she demanded.

   "I'm trying to get her breathing again," he answered curtly, not
looking at the woman.

   A few tense moments passed.  Ranma heard several coughs behind him.  A
child crying.  A man's joyous shout.  "Nel!  You're alive!"

   *Good, Ryouga got him breathing again.*  As soon as he finished the
thought, the young girl started coughing.  She opened her eyes and
immediately began crying for her mother.  Ranma stepped back, letting
the woman take the child in her arms.

   "Daysa!  Oh I'm so glad you're alive!" said the woman, cradling the
child.  She was weeping uncontrollably.  She turned to Ranma.  "I
can't thank you enough.  We owe you more than you will ever know," she
said profusely.

   The farmer, holding his boy in his arms, was giving similar thanks to
Ryouga.  He looked at both martial artists.  "My name is Teven al'Dai.
You have my deepest thanks.  Without you both, our children would be
dead."  He tilted his head slightly.  "I don't know if many outlanders
would have done the same.  What are your names?"

   "Ranma Saotome."

   "Ryouga Hibiki."

   "We will remember your names," said Master al'Dai's wife.  "Thank you
for saving our children's lives."

   Ranma tried to dust himself off when he realized he was only spreading
soot all over himself.  He tried to shrug nonchalantly.  "We did what
we could," he said simply.  His expression wilted slightly.  "But
sometimes it's not enough," he said in a soft voice, thinking of the
dead girl.

   "And sometimes it is," said a voice behind them.

   The two martial artists, recognizing the voice, turned around
simultaneously, only to see Moiraine was watching them, a puzzled look
on her face.  At her side, Lan was watching them warily with his sword
drawn, as if trying to decide whether they were friend or foe.

   "Coming to gloat, Moiraine?" said Ranma icily.

   Moiraine raised an eyebrow.  "Gloat?" "About the girl."

   She shrugged slightly, almost a dismissive gesture.  "She is still
alive.  She will heal."

   Ranma shared an incredulous look with Ryouga.

   "No little girl can heal from a stab wound like that one," said Ryouga
irritably.  "Not without medical help."

   Moiraine frowned at the unfamiliar word, but her considering
expression soon came back.  "I healed her."

   "How?..." came the incredulous reply in stereo.

   "I am Aes Sedai."

   They heard Master al'Dai and his wife gasp behind them.  "Aes Sedai?"

   Ranma didn't hear the exclamation.  He was staring at Moiraine, and so
was Ryouga for that matter.  It wasn't however, because she had
revealed her true identity. "You're not lying?  You... you healed her?
She didn't die?"

   Moiraine gave him a frosty look.  "I most certainly did not lie.  Aes
Sedai cannot lie."

   Ranma and Ryouga stood there, blinking.

   The Aes Sedai saw her opportunity.  There was no way in the Light she
could let those two out of her sight.  She had guessed by now that the
other user of the mysterious power was none other than Ryouga.  The
coincidences were too perfect.  They could be, in some way she did not
understand, every bit as important as the one she had come here
looking for and she had to find out more about the power they used.  A
power that was not the Power it seemed.  Once those two set foot in
the White Tower, they would not step out anytime soon.  "As soon as I
am finished here, we will be leaving for Tar Valon.  Since you were
initially headed in the same direction, will you ride with us?"

   "Maybe..." Ranma said slowly.  He didn't like the tone she used.
She'd asked a question, but in a way that said that she didn't expect
them to say otherwise.

   Moiraine turned around.  "Now come, both of you.  We must dispose of
the Trollocs.  I also have a great many questions for you both."   She
swept away, fully expecting them to follow.

   The two martial artists stood there for a moment.

   "Bossy, ain't she?" commented Ryouga.

   "Yeah," agreed Ranma.  "But if she _did_ save that little girl though,
_maybe_ we can let it pass this time."

   Ryouga nodded soberly. They began walking to catch up to the Aes Sedai
and Lan when Master al'Dai grabbed one of Ranma's sleeves.  "I heard
rumors about you young outlanders.  Is it true you do not know what an
Aes Sedai is?"

   Ranma and Ryouga shook their heads regretfully.

   "The word means nothing to us," said Ryouga.

   Master al'Dai frowned thoughtfully.  "I don't know whether that's good
or bad," he told them, "but be careful around her if she is indeed Aes
Sedai.  I can only tell you what I know about them which be just be
enough.  The stories say that Aes Sedai broke the world 3000 years
ago, and they've manipulated it ever since.  The stories also say that
Aes Sedai cannot lie, but the truth they tell you isn't always the one
you think it is."  He paused for a moment.  "And don't ever forget
that an Aes Sedai's gift always has a hook it it."

   Ranma and Ryouga looked at each other, eyebrows raised.

   "We'll remember that," promised Ranma.  "Thanks for telling us."

   "It's the very least I can do," said Master al'Dai, shaking his head
slightly in wonder.  "You saved our children."

   Ranma and Ryouga both bowed slightly, at Master al'Dai's surprise,
before heading in Moiraine's direction.  Before they did anything,
they had to check on Akane and Ukyou.

  
[End Chapter 1]

   Author's notes :

  
Japanese words:

   Tadaima: I'm home -sensei: teacher (usually) Baka: fool, idiot...
Hentai: pervert Ite... : Ouch... Kawaikunee: "uncute"

   - I have to thank/blame John Walter Biles for writing "Parallel
Lives," as that's what gave me the idea for it.  Also thanks/blame to
John (again) and Jeremy Blackman for writing Ta'varen 1/12.

   - Big thanks also go to Sachs and Chris Rijk for helping me weigh the
pros and cons of about three dozen different scenarios for the
beginning of the story and also for helping me lots of little details.
They've both been a really big help!

   - The quote at the beginning is from "The World of Robert Jordan's The
Wheel Of Time," by Robert Jordan and Teresa Patterson.  An excellent
book if you're a fanatic of the series!

   - I know the Randlanders don't speak Japanese (actually, we don't know
what language they *do* speak), but the first draft of this story had
the group dealing with the language barrier, which in turn gave me no
*end* of troubles.  I know the language acquisition scene during
transport may seem weak, but I needed to do this.  I still kept some
elements of the language (insults, attacks, etc.) to show that there
are still some partially unresolved linguistic differences.

   - All questions regarding the differences between Ki and the One Power
will be discussed in chapter 2.  All you need to know is that Ki is
*not* the One Power.  And yes, during the battle, the Ki-blasts should
have been near-instantaneous, but I needed some leeway this time.

   - For those who want or need to know, the Akari storyline only
occurred in the manga (Vol. 30), whereas the Nanban Mirror storyline
was anime-only...

   - "Wasn't the Fox Doorway destroyed in Cairhien at the end of TFoH,"
you ask?  Yes, but I chose to theorize that the Age Of Legends wasn't
the only Age that could have produced ter'angreals.  Especially one
that connects "Randland" to the world of the Snakes and Foxes.  Who
knows? Maybe the 'Finn somehow incited people from other Ages and
places to build gateways to their world.  There's also no telling how
long the "Nerima Version" of the Doorway might have existed in the Age
where R1/2 occurs.

   - What's a ter'angreal?  Well if you don't know, you really should go
read the WoT series...  Trust me, you'll like it!