Disclaimer: I repeat I do not own anything but this storyline

Chapter 2: A kidnap attempt, a walk through the evil forest.

A thirty-one year old Ranma had just entered Alexandria. He is now 6" tall, he looked the same as he did when he was in Nerima but looking a little bit older. He still wore the clothes from sixteen years ago. 'Sai' strapped to his side, pack in subspace. Ranma is currently walking until he bumped into something. He also has a new arm guard on his right arm. This arm guard is a limiter so that he can't access his full power. The arm guard has the picture of fire on it with a jewel at the center of the flame.

That something looked like a boy wearing a blue jacket (1), boots, and a triangle shaped hot, the tip bending to a side. The boy's face was black, except for the eyes which are piercing yellow.

Ranma noticed the boy had dropped something. He picked it up and gave it to the boy. "Here you go kid." Ranma said smiling. The boy fixed his hat and took the ticket with a look of thanks. "Um…Thank you." He said before rushing off somewhere. 'Strange Kid' Ranma mused as he continued his way to Alexandria castle.

When he neared the boat though, "Halt! I'm Sorry but your not allowed to enter." One guard said as she stood her position on the left side of the boat. 'Hoo boy. I knew should have come back earlier, now the guards don't recognize me' Ranma thought.

He was spared though when someone came to his rescue. "Allow him to enter!" someone ordered. It was Beatrix, she was taller now but shorter than him by a few centimeters. She now wore Aya's clothes after she succeeded her. Aya's Save the Queen sword is strapped on Beatrix's side. Proof of her succession. She still wore the pendant he had given her all those years ago.

"General Beatrix Ma'am!" the guards saluted their general and allowed Ranma to step on the boat with Beatrix. "Thanks for the save Bea-Chan" Ranma thanked. Beatrix smiled (this unnerved the guards a bit(2) "Your welcome Ran-Chan" she said

Ranma didn't wince at the nickname anymore. He had grown up and carried on, he didn't really think it really important to get back to Nerima or the people there. "So how are things going here?" Ranma asked.

Beatrix's mood darkened for a moment. "Not good. Something is wrong with Queen Brahne since her husband's death. Princess Garnet and I are starting to worry." She said. Ranma looked thoughtful for a moment. "I heard in Lindblum that Regent Cid is sending Tantalus here. The famous theater/bandit crew to try and kidnap Garnet." He said. Beatrix also looked thoughtful for a second "Ranma, can you do a favor for me?" the general asked. "Sure, what do you want?" the martial artist asked.

"I want you to aid the kidnapping. Princess Garnet and I believe that the Queen is no longer…" Beatrix stopped for a moment but finished "Sane."

Ranma looked at Beatrix as he helped out of the boat and making sure they were out of ear shot by the other guards. "Alright Bea-Chan. I'll do it for you. Besides I don't want to see her getting hurt." He said with a smile.

Ranma had seen Princess Garnet before his sixteen year trip. He played with her for a while and even though he had rarely visited Alexandria, he would visit Garnet and play with her while visiting Beatrix.

"Thank you Ran-Chan" Beatrix said as she lightly kissed Ranma on the cheek. Making him flush in embarrassment. The guards who saw this were about to have a heart attack.

THE General Beatrix, rumored to be cold and merciless had just kissed someone.

VVVVVVVVVRRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOM

Everyone looked up to see the Prima Vista. The theatre ship of the Tantalus crew. "Why don't you visit Princess Garnet. I have to be with Queen Brahne now." Beatrix said as she quickly planted another kiss on Ranma's cheek before going to see the queen.

Ranma kept on gazing on Beatrix until she was out of sight. "Kawaii" he said softly as he turned to look for the Princess' room. He found his way to her room, only to be stopped by someone who Ranma thought was like Kuno.

"Halt! This is Princes Garnet's room! No one is allowed." The knight said in his rusty armor. Ranma groaned inwardly 'This guy is almost like Kuno'

The said man is Captain Albert Steiner of the Knights of Pluto. Before Steiner could say anything else a messenger came. "Captain Steiner! The Queen has ordered you to bring the Princess to the balcony. The play is about to start." The messenger said before leaving.

Steiner turned to the door and knocked on it "Princess, the play is about to start now" he said in a tone which was very different from what he used on Ranma. 'Looks like this guy is very loyal to Garnet.' Ranma thought as the princess came out of her room.

She wore a beautiful white gown, white satin gloves, and her crown on her head. Her long flowing black hair was free and not in it's standard ponytail form. Ranma bowed immediately before leaving, but Garnet didn't put too much attention to it. This earned her a raised eyebrow form Ranma before walking away.

Ranma wandered around the castle until he found himself in a secluded balcony near the Prima Vista's stage. He watched the play which was funny, he did looked curiously at the teen who wore almost the same type of clothing's he wore except it was different in color and the teen wielded daggers and has a monkey tail!

The play was going well after two actors left the scene until he noticed the man with the tail reappear with someone else. The other person wore a cloak covering her features. Ranma had already noted that it was a woman underneath. After a much improvised death scene, a familiar popped out and the kid he met earlier in the day were on stage.

The cloaked person was no other than Garnet, Ranma remembered Beatrix's words. He jumped from the balcony and onto the stage.

Zidane, Blank, Garnet and Vivi were currently fighting with the Captain of the Knight's of Pluto. The said knight was excruciatingly persistent. Everyone was shaken when someone landed in between them and Steiner.

He wore the same clothes as Zidane, he has a very odd sword strapped to his side. His hair in a pigtail. He looked about thirty one and has deep blue eyes.

Steiner was the first to come out of the shock by attacking the unknown man.

"RARRRRGGGGH!" Steiner charged in with a battle cry.

The unknown man easily side stepped the charged and countered with a kick to Steiner's chest. He twisted out of the way of a giant harpoon shot by her royal majesty, Queen Brahne.

A Cannon was fired, but the cannonball didn't explode, something came out. Everyone recognized it. "Geez! It's a bomb" Zidane shouted. "Look behind you!" Vivi shouted

Steiner being the incompetent and persistent knight he is didn't listen. "I will not be fooled by such trickery." He said as he readied his sword.

The Bomb instantly quadrupled in size. "It's going to blow!" Blank cried out. "Please Steiner! Look behind you!" Garnet pleaded. When Steiner looked back, he saw the humongous bomb.

It exploded, the Prima Vista escaped but received major damage in the process. Landed hoped of the ship immediately after having seen Garnet and Vivi thrown off.

Ranma saw the Prima Vista crash, he prayed for everyone's safety, then started to look for Garnet and Vivi. He found fleeing from a weird plant-type monster. Vivi was soon joined by Zidane and Steiner. They defeated it but it fled, Ranma instantly took chase, he found it enter a cave.

Inside, Ranma saw the cage monster dissolve, leaving an unconscious Garnet. The giant plant brain was about to put its poisonous tentacle inside Garnet's mouth to plant its eggs. Ranma immediately leaped into action, he kicked the tentacle out of the way.

Ranma drew out a Kanji symbol in front of him. "NADARE!"

Flame came out of Ranma's arm and the fire dragon Nadare came out. "Searing Wind!" Ranma lobed a few fireballs at the plant brain. But the fireballs spread out into a wave of fire, instantly engulfing the plant brain in fire.

The cavalry came, it was Zidane, Blank, Vivi and Steiner. The four watched in awe as the plant brain burned into cinders. The four immediately gathered around Garnet, checking her for wounds.

"She's fine. I stopped the plant brain before it had a chance to insert its eggs into her." Ranma assured.

Garnet came too and she found herself being carried by Steiner. "Steiner?" she asked groggily. "Don't worry princess, your safe." Steiner said assuring her. Garnet fell asleep a few seconds afterwards. Ranma looked at the corpse of the plant brain. "We better get out of here." He said 'Too Late!' Ranma thought as several insectoids started coming out.

"Lets' go!" Blank yelled as everyone(except Garnet) started running. It seemed like the entire forest was after them. Near the end of the forest, Blank pushed Zidane out of the way of an insectoid. The insectoid grabbed Blank.

The Tantalus member threw a map to Zidane, who caught. Everything started to turn to stone as Zidane left the forest. Vines came out and blocked the entrance to the forest, the vines turned also to stone.

Zidane pounded on the concrete vines "Blank…you idiot." Ranma walked up to Zidane "Hey, don't worry, there's always a cure for petrifaction." Ranma assured.

Zidane sighed. "Well let's camp here for the night." Zidane said going back to his cheerful old self. "Are sane! Don't you know what kind of monsters spawn form the mist!" Steiner exclaimed.

Ranma sighed "Look Steiner, the princess is still to weak to go any further. She'll be an easy target." Ranma said logically. Steiner grumbled as everyone started to make camp. Vive and Zidane went to fetch some fire wood, Ranma caught some dinner while Steiner protected Garnet from any nearby monster. After a hearty meal, Garnet woke up.

"Princess! You should rest" Steiner said Garnet refused to listen and she sat up. "Thanks for saving me." She said. "Princess, that lowly bandit does not deserve your thanks!" Steiner exclaimed. "Hey! If it wasn't for my dagger and Vivi's magic you wouldn't be able to go anywhere near that cave. Besides it was him who save Garnet." Zidane said as he pointed to Ranma. Vivi looked at Ranma "Um…I'm sorry but we didn't get your name." the little black mage said. "Oh, I'm Ranma Saotome." Ranma said as he introduced himself

"Why does that name sound familiar?" Steiner wondered aloud. "That's because I was the one who played with Garnet when she was younger." Ranma said. Garnet blushed in embarrassment. "I'm also Beatrix's friend and sparring partner." Ranma turned to Garnet "In fact, she asked to help you get to Regent Cid. She told what was going on with Brahne." He continued

"WHAT!" (contributed by Zidane and Steiner)

"You mean you sparred with Beatrix on a regular basis!" Zidane asked. "Yup, we both go way back." Ranma said as he started to remember his first encounter with Beatrix and her master.

In fact, Ranma started to turn red when he remembered the kiss Beatrix gave him. Vivi looked at him and asked "Ranma, what kind of magic were you using? I never saw that type of Fire magic before"

"Well that…."

Everyone leaned closer to hear what he was about to say.

"Is a secret."

Everyone else face faulted. Zidane yawned "Well, let's get some sleep" he said Everyone nodded. "I'll keep watch." Steiner said. Zidane shrugged his shoulder and fell asleep where he lay, Vivi and Garnet both leaned on Ranma and fell asleep. Ranma was half-asleep already. He kept himself half-awake just incase Steiner might need some help.

1 I don't know what Vivi wears is called

2 Beatrix only shows any emotion to Garnet/Dagger and/or Ranma

Thanks for the Reviews guys.

Don't worry soul ice, Ranma will need al the power he can muster later chapters. hehehe but i'll take your advice.

Thanks Artistic and Reaper 2040 for the encouragement. )