'Position open; Software Spellchecker'
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Ranma/ Panzer Dragoon Saga
Chapter 1
'Becoming aquiantances'



Azel snapped back to the attention of the young man speaking in a language she wasn't familiar with. She was impressed with the fact that he dealt with seven trained former imperial soldiers in but a matter of scant seconds. What weaponry had he used? She looked at him intently, which caused him to step back with a nervous expression on his face. She ignored how he frantically waved his hands as if to repell her, taking in his strange garb. He wore a red cloth that was finer than any she had seen, held together at the front by peculiar fasteners that seemed as smooth as the shell of a guardian, but looked much lighter. He had his sleeves rolled up from the intense heat, despite showing now discomfort from it, and she could see them lined with another thin fabric of a different texture. His bare arms showed a wirey tone that marveled her in it's fitness. How could such a young man have such a physique? He obviously worked hard to keep his form, maybe he had training in the military close combat?

His trousers were also of a similar material as the outside of his shirt, exept a bit thicker and sturdier, not to mention a black that caught the light from the unforgiving in a midnight blue shimmer. From her observation, she found him with no weapon. It may have been a case of simply dropping it once he had taken care of her attackers. She came to a theory that he was royalty; possibly from an empire across the vast oceans as the current inhabitants' ancesters did long ago. It could have been that the kingdom he was a part of fell, and he fleed for safety.

His skin was also pale, even moreso than hers. That did not make sense if he had been making a trek through the desert, or if he had been here for any extensive amount of time. Sure he may have been sheltered with an easy, luxurious life, but even then once he felt the sun, his skin would darken as the peoples of this land did.

Azel finished her scruteny, and noticed the nervousness on the young man's face. He didn't seem much older than Edge, in fact possibly the same age.

"Thank you," the young woman stated plainly. This seemed to diffuse his initial nervousness, only to have it replaced with confusion. He spoke again, in his weird tongue, and Azel gestured that she did not understand him. The young man threw his hands up in fustration and turned around, speaking quickly in what sounded like gibberish to her. She then noticed his footprints had been leading away from the town; he didn't have any supplies with him, so he should not last long in the desert. She had to wonder how far he had traveled, and why he was still alive at all. It was a mystery, like he had just appeared suddenly in the desert out of thin air.

Azel looked him in the eyes, and raised her hand to point him in the direction of town; hopefully there he could find someone who spoke his native language and could assist him better than her, when her eyes caught one of the soldiers who managed to recover himself, charging after him with the butt of his gun foward.

Before she could shout a warning, the boy lazily leaned to the side, letting the gun base pass harmlessly by, and then leaned foward, catching his rising heel into his attacker's gut. Azel was once again suprised, as the boy stood on one foot, with his other one raised in the air in the forward splits. The man that had charged him was flying over them in the air, and landed roughly a good distance away, unconcious.

Never could she say had she seen a feat, as the young man slowly brought his leg down and his torso up with magnificent control. His hands rested comfortably in the holes in the side of his pants, grinning easily and precariously. Azel decided she wanted to find out more about this young man.

She walked over to her beast of burden, and hopped on. The young man looked at her with a bit of concern, until she turned around to him, and gestured for him to get on along behind her. His face grew relieved, and with a single bound, he leapt over to her, and onto the creature she rode.

"NO! DON'T..." She started, and then blinked when she felt her creature did not jolt from the impact of his landing. Azel focused on him, and noted how he fought for balance to keep from sliding off the back. She felt a peculiar sensation she had never known that made her face feel lighter and warmer, as she grabbed onto his arm, and pulled it around her so that he could steady himself. The young man stiffened when he felt his arm go around her waist, and quickly jerked back frantically.

Azel was shaken a bit, but once she saw the shocked look on the young man's face, she did something she never had before.

She laughed.

The young man had an indignant look on his face that made her laugh harder, but once she noticed that his face seemed to sour even more, she fought for control, and once again gestured for him to get back on. After a moment's hesitation, he did so once again.

This time, Azel leaned foward, reached back, and grabbed both his arms. She then wrapped them around her waist, and held tightly while turning back to look at him with a stern face. Her composure almost melted again at his wild eyed look, but felt his embrace around her hold secure. Her face grew suddenly warmer than before, and looked up to see the sun at it's highest point. Choosing that it was best to get out of the heat, she turned her animal back around towards town.
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Ranma gulped at the fact that he was holding a girl, one that was looking at him funny. She didn't quite give him the same look that Shampoo, Ukyo, Kodachi, or even Akane gave him, but it was an unnerving one nonetheless.

"Akane is gonna kill me," the pigtailed boy repeated in his mind in mantra, while covertly looking around for a flying mallet, spatcula, gymnastics club, or ribbon. His nervousness only quadrupled once reaching their destination, as everyone stared back at him with intense curiosity, and at his companion with slight disdain.

She trotted her animal through town, until they came to one of the larger single buildings. She motioned for the pigtailed boy to get off, and followed him down shortly. Once both were on the ground, she ushered for him to follow her into the building.

Ranma looked around to see a lot of interesting things around him, yet as interesting as they appeared, they looked no better than junk for the most part. Some of it seemed like a bone or hard plastic, maybe fiberglass in material, and with curves found on parts of classic vintage automobiles that he knew. A few reminded him of that car Nabiki adored so much, the Rose Royce.

The pigtailed boy couldn't even begin to comprehend the conversation between the young woman and the man that was sitting behind some sort of shelf, so he continued to look around at the curious artifacts.

"&$+#DAS!" the man behind the counter shouted towards Ranma, but it came too late. The pigtailed boy's hand came in contact with a box, and jerked it away in concern when it started to hum, and then have its sides fold away to reveal an object hidden inside.

"I DIDN'T DO NUTT'N!" Ranma shouted adimantly, and growing more and more nervous as both the woman and the man stared at him with surprised curiousity. The woman murmured something quietly to herself that sounded to Ranma like...
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"Atolm," Azel whispered to herself in shock.

Her dragon, Atolm, gave the same sort of energy off to access a relic. Instead of a beam, the boy pulsed it like it was an unseen aura about him when he touched the relic.

"I had never been able to open that, in fact all who tried usually suffered severe consequences," The shop keeper said in quiet awe, "Who is this young man, you say?"

"I do not know, that is why I hoped to find someone who may be able to translate his language."

"Hmm, perhaps then you should visit the hall of the Scholars in the center of town. They may be able to decipher what he is saying."

"Thank you for your kindness," Azel returned, nodding her head.

"Bah, you have helped me more than I could say, with your supply of lycros fluids and him opening that box. It looks to have something valuable inside, too." The shop keeper walked over to it, and frowned in dissappointment. The young man looked between the box and teh man nervously, and started backing up as if he were ready for trouble. The shop keeper turned a reassuring smile towards the young man, disarming his agitation, and picked up the medalion that had lay within.

"Nothing more than worthless junk, and I had paid a great deal for this box too. Ah well, those are the risks of this proffession." That is when he noticed the young man seemed attracted to the object.
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Ranma's eyes followed the medalion that had a very stylistic bird or dragon carved on it. He felt drawn to it for some unimaginable reason, and had to fight the urge to reach out for it.

The man holding it looked curiously down on the pigtailed boy, and then turned back to speak to the young lady. She replied, and the man smiled. The turned back to Ranma, and handed him the medalion.
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They arrived at the the largest building of what seemed like the center of the community. Ranma whistled in a bit of awe at the simplistic, yet stylistic design of the clay formed building, and met with someone who hadn't completely ignored them or looked at them with near complete disgust. An old man who looked at Ranma's attire with a curious expression, and reached over to feel it.

"Hey!" Ranma shouted without much emphesis, he was beginning to understand that his clothing was unusual to the people of this town. The man snapped back at Ranma's outburst, and then started to talk to him. The woman who came with him interrupted, and said something to the old man, earning her an enlightened look from the elderly man in earthen brown robes.

He motioned them into a library of sorts, and sat them down at a table. He turned his attentions back to Ranma's companion, seeming to ask questions, for which she replied.


"&#**@^@^$*# #&$@&no !@*#@megu@*," the old man enquired with a slight anxiousness in his voice.

"#*&@^ima#&* #$@$%# re@&*^," the woman replied back. Try as he might, Ranma could not comprehend the language.

The old man turned directly to him, and gestured to himself and spoke, "#*$&ca#$ 'Greentz' #%$@." Then he gestered to the woman, "&@$&ca#$ 'Azel'."

Ranma picked up on the signifigance of the gestures, and emphesis on certain words. The pigtailed boy smirked, and stood up, "I'm Saotome Ranma of the Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts!."
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Both Azel and Grience blinked at the boy's proclimation.

"Hmm, 'Sowtomae Rana ov the Sowtomae skool ov Anedin goz Marsial Artz'?" The scholar repeated best he could, "Well, that would fit your suspicions of him being royalty. That is most certainly a granduer and exorbant name."

"Indeed," Azel replied, still trying to wrap her mind around the name. Hopefully he didn't take too much offence with just being called 'Sowtomae'.