Summary: Ranma-chan gets malleted into another dimension and must survive all manner of alien threats in order to find her way home.

Disclaimer: Most characters and settings portrayed in this story are the intellectual property of Rumiko Takahashi, Akira Toriyama and affiliated entities. I do this purely for the fun and enjoyment of escapism – not for profit.

Chapter Nine: A Prelude To Showdown

Junior battle-caster Yewnoh, apprentice to High Sage Haywind, jolted back into consciousness to find himself buried under a pile of his fallen brethren. The smell was stifling and threatened to suffocate him if he didn't move. So, with what little strength he could muster, he pushed up on the deadweight and heaved a couple of bodies to the side before sitting up and gasping for air. Instead of fresh air, he was confronted with a strong miasma of death and the sight of a veritable sea of Solistian corpses littering the plains where their battle had taken place.

He'd thought himself dead before blacking out but the momentary relief at finding himself still clinging to the realm of the living was dashed by the realization that he was now marooned in what appeared to be little more than a mass grave. He batted the air in front of his face to scatter the local cluster of flies swarming the area and took in the aftermath of the carnage. Swaths of burned men were laying in and around the still steaming open trenches carved into the soil by enemy beams.

Despite the anti-Saiyan traps put in place to prevent their infamous false moon technique from coming into play, or, perhaps, because of the narrow focus naturally resulting from trying so hard to stop one thing, they'd failed to catch an enemy flanking maneuver in time to prevent the rear spell squad that had been tasked with canceling out ranged ki attacks from being assassinated.

With just the tiny lapse between that squad falling and their relief stepping in to take over, one of the Saiyans executed a successful false moon and, with a focused precision uncharacteristic of the supposedly wild Ozaru, tore through their anti-ki spell squads like a bull. In a matter of seconds, the battle had turned from melee based with the occasional fire from electro-plasma ballistic weapons to one consisting of a free-for-all light show of ki.

A wet sounding cough drew his attention downward and brought him out of his reverie. A survivor was pinned beneath one of the bodies he'd tossed aside!

Moving with purpose, Yewnoh hauled the corpse out of the way and uncovered an arm of said survivor grasping at air. He gripped the appendage with both hands, positioned his legs for leverage, and pulled.

"I've got you," he said, grunting his words through the strain.

He was shocked and relieved when he came face to glorious bearded face with the High Sage himself. That quickly gave way to dismay when he saw the gouge in his abdomen that was slick with fresh blood. Even someone as stubborn as Haywind couldn't walk off something like that. Shit.

"Yewnoh... it's good to see you, son," Haywind said. He broke into a fit of coughs resulting in flecks of blood landing on the hand he'd used to cover his mouth.

Yewnoh couldn't help but wince when he saw that and opened his mouth to say something, anything, to hopefully deflect from his superior's dire condition.

Haywind cut him off before he could form a coherent thought. "It's okay. I know I'm not long for this world."

Yewnoh floundered and found himself overcome with sadness.

"Hey!" Haywind snapped. "I'm not a stiff yet, so listen up."

The younger man went rigid and snapped to attention by reflex. "Sir!" he replied, automatically.

"There's a group of our own not far from here. Somewhere in the sacred forest of the South, if I recall correctly. They're supposed to be holed up in an old castle with Loyra."

"That Loyra?" Yewnoh asked, eyes going wide.

Haywind nodded before briefly succumbing to another fit of coughs. "Yeah, her. I need you to get there and tell her there's no one else coming."

"But, Sir, if she's got people gathered up, doesn't that mean Elarya succeeded? We should send word to the other battalions that we've got a ship big enough to evacuate all of us."

"Don't be a fool, kid. You know as well as I do that that ship will never make it out of the atmosphere without a significant distraction."

Yewnoh was startled as he came to the realization and felt a tremendous weight settle upon him. "All of those people..."

"They're soldiers who signed up to lay down their lives if necessary," Haywind said, his voice hard. "So long as you personally make sure that Loyra succeeds in getting that ship out of this system and delivers the people under her care to safety, none of this will have been in vain. Grab as many survivors as you can and get the hell out of here."

"What about you?"

"Don't make me laugh, son. I hardly qualify. I wouldn't survive the trip. Now get going."

"I... I understand, Sir."

OoooooO

Loyra was flat out pissed when we delivered her the news that more Saiyans were coming. Despite Gine and I explaining that they were defecting to our side, she insisted that inviting them to the camp was going to exacerbate the already high tensions. Apparently, there were a lot of people who were uncomfortable with just our presence and I wasn't even a Saiyan. Yeurio's abrasiveness toward us was, according to her, a reflection of that. The only thing that sold her on it was that Bardock and Turles would add some serious muscle to their group which, given that it was comprised entirely of children and the elderly, they were lacking.

To say that our alliance with these people was tenuous was the understatement of my lifetime. One wrong step could blow this whole thing up. Gine, specifically, had been keeping Raditz on a short leash ever since Loyra had found him being ganged up on by a group of resentful Solistian kids wandering the camp. Raditz had nearly gotten into a brawl, which would have been bad for all of us had it not been interrupted.

Despite Loyra's seal of approval, there just weren't enough of her kin that trusted us so we were given separate quarters inside of the castle to keep us out of sight when we weren't stationed on guard duty atop the walls. Yeurio, by order from Loyra, was tasked with babysitting us so we didn't mingle with the other Solistians too much and risk anymore incidents occurring. Needless to say, he spent a fair amount of effort using his summoning skills to transport food directly to us. Two hungry Saiyans and one cursed human with a comparable appetite had definitely put him through his paces.

When Turles, Bardock and their group arrived, night had already fallen. Because of the need to be stealthy, their movement had been slowed considerably. By that time, our shift patrolling the wall perimeter had already started so we were lucky enough to be among the first to greet them. We had been assigned the graveyard shift to limit our exposure to the camp residents; which made sense in my book – even if it sucked having to catch up on sleep during daylight hours. If we hadn't been there, I doubt their arrival would have gone so smoothly.

Smooth was relative, of course.

Turles had almost attacked me on site and had to be held back by Bardock and another Saiyan who's name I later learned was Chardo. His reaction, while somewhat extreme, hadn't been totally unexpected.

It was the reaction from the other crew members that hurt the most.

Doulie and Marou still wouldn't even make eye contact with me. Apparently, they'd been the ones to witness me gut Amond. Nessa and Chist... they both looked like they'd been through a landslide. They each had dozens of fresh looking cuts, some of which were deep enough that they'd been wrapped in bandages, and were sporting yellow bruising across their exposed skin. According to Zell, they'd been the first to respond to my assault on Amond and had taken the brunt of damage before Turles stepped in and ran me off.

Zell, despite being brave enough to approach me and get me up to speed, was still somewhat reserved. I couldn't blame her. It must have been scary to see me go off like that.

Gine, to my surprise, didn't have it much easier. The other Saiyan woman, Celipa, that had accompanied the new arrivals apparently had a history with Bardock that made things incredibly tense and awkward. I could sense how fragile the civility between them was and it made me want to steer clear.

As we sat around the battered wooden table in our now extra cramped chamber, trying to get dinner in while the Solistians ate breakfast and started their day, it was under a blanket of silence. Everyone looked as exhausted as I felt. It would be evening again by the time we woke up from our power naps and I could only hope that the next leg of our journey had more ups than downs.

OoooooO

"Yeurio," Oleera whispered, kneeling, as she grasped his shoulder and shook him awake.

The designated attaché to the Saiyan defectors and their followers slowly opened his eyes and woke up to find himself curled into a fetal position with his back against the wall just beside the door to their chamber. Apparently, he'd fallen asleep while on guard duty.

"If you tell anyone about this, I'll make sure everyone finds out that you were a bed wetter up until last summer," he said, fixing the slightly older girl with a mock glare that clearly expressed how not serious he was.

"I'll cut out your tongue before that happens," she replied in kind. "Jerk."

"What do you want, anyway?" Yeurio asked, rubbing the grogginess from his eyes as he sat up.

"Your brother is here," she replied, suddenly turning serious. "Just showed up out of nowhere looking all grim and stuff. Also had a handful of wounded soldiers with him. Whatever it is he's discussing with Loyra, it isn't good."

An expression of hope flashed across Yeurio's face before her words sunk in but it was so brief it might as well have been a trick of the torch light flickering off of the walls in a dance with the shadows.

"Can you cover for me?" he asked, indicating the door he was supposed to be guarding with a nod of his head.

"Yeah," Oleera said in a subdued tone, placing a hand on his shoulder again. "Don't worry about it."

OoooooO

I awoke to chaos.

My body jerked involuntarily as the vibration from the explosion rattled up through my feet as soon as they touched the stone floor. I was showered by a sheet of gravelly dust falling from the cracks in the ceiling almost simultaneously. Like me, the others responded to the situation by rigidly jumping to their feet and looking around in confusion.

"Sound off!" Bardock shouted over the commotion.

Everyone responded with some form of verbal affirmation that they were okay which was quickly followed up by Turles kicking the chamber door off of its hinges.

"I guess this means they found us, huh," Gine said, a hint of fear creeping into her voice as she held Raditz close to her body.

The little boy shrugged his mother's hands off before cracking his knuckles and stomping toward the door confidently. "Let me at 'em."

"Cool your jets, runt," Turles replied, pulling Raditz back by the scruff before he could make it into the hallway. "I'm taking point. Your old man can bring up the rear."

"Oh? I never thought I'd live to see the day where Turles volunteered to die first," Celipa said, showing her humor with a tight grin. "What a man," she added with a sensual, and embellished, purr.

"Are we witnessing the beginning of the fabled Saiyan mating ritual?" Nessa interjected, elbowing Doulie.

"Nah, there ain't nearly enough alcohol in this situation to qualify for that," Chardo said, laughing, as he pulled on his gloves.

"You know I'm only half Saiyan, right?" Doulie replied, elbowing Nessa right back.

"Also, he is a virgin," Marou said, slapping the helmsman on the back.

"Not helping..." Doulie said through gritted teeth while glaring daggers at his crewmate.

"Okay, children, fun time is over," Zell said, clapping her hands. "Now are we gonna sit back and let this whole building collapse onto the magical portal our gracious host is making to warp us all out of here or are we gonna take the long way?"

I kept my mouth shut, not wanting to ruin the budding morale by reminding my old crew of my existence anymore than was necessary. Instead, I walked through the open door and into the corridor while doing my best to pretend that I hadn't just passed within arms reach of Turles. Rather than wait for any potentially negative response, I focused my senses on the various flares of ki and magic that I could sense outside the walls and let my feet take me toward the action.

Within a minute, I was in the main castle atrium where the chalk pattern for the gate was drawn onto the floor. The massive wooden doors were already pushed open, letting in what looked like afternoon sunlight, and a small group of Loyra's underlings were trying hard to usher campers into the building while also maintaining some semblance of order.

I took to the air to avoid scuffing the summoning array below me and propelled myself out into the daylight.

I found Yeurio and his two companions from our first meeting standing atop the perimeter wall while conversing in a huddle.

"Where's Loyra?" I asked as I alighted onto the masonry beside them. "Shouldn't she be in there helping to put the finishing touches on the gate?"

"Ranma, I'm glad you're okay," Yeurio said, looking up at me with apparently genuine relief.

I quirked an eyebrow, feeling puzzled. "You got a screw loose or something? Aren't you supposed to hate me? Everyone else does."

"We're under attack and, instead of running away, you're here standing beside us. Aside from your gross lack of personal hygiene and gluttonous appetite, I can't say there's much I have left to hold against you."

I lifted an arm and gave the pit a sniff. Wow, he was right. "Look, it's been a long couple of days..."

"Ranma!" Gine called out just before landing beside me. "Don't run off on me like that, okay?" Her face was a mix of concern and frustration. She was obviously still worried about my state of mind.

"I don't need to be on suicide watch anymore, Gine, so you can relax. I'm just trying to be proactive."

Her face contorted into something that was equal parts glare and pout. It was also one hundred percent cute and it made my heart flutter for a second.

Holy hell, that was the last thing I needed! I averted my eyes while doing my best to ignore the heat rising to my own face. "Now go back to your family and leave me alone already!" I snapped off, a bit more harshly than I'd intended. "I-I can get by just fine on my own..." I added in a considerably softer tone, letting the instant guilt get the best of me.

I didn't dare look her in the eye for fear of what I might see and held my gaze steadily aimed at the stone pavement of the perimeter wall until she lifted off and flew away. When I did lift my head again, the three younger teenagers were looking at me with pity that made me want to cringe.