Chapter 1. The Hut

Ranma ½ belongs To Rumiko Takahashi, Viz video and others. Any other works belong to their respective people as well. I don't own any of this so just sit back and enjoy the tale, oh and don't sue me please that would be bad.

Ranma examined Ryouga's map again. Trying to figure out why it just wasn't helping at all. He held up an item that looked like a large chicken feather and said, "I'm not sure Ryouga, but I swear that this thing keeps changing every time I look at it." Ryouga looked at Ranma and said, "I could take a look, but I don't think it will help."

An exasperated Ranma handed the feather to his new brother and said, "Why not it can't hurt any more than what I've been doing."

When the feather map was put in Ryouga's hands it suddenly tugged him to the side.

"What was that?" Ranma exclaimed.

Ryouga got a good hold on the feather and said, "It's tugging me west Ranma let's follow it. "That would be east Ryouga, but yeah why not?"

The two teens followed the pull of the mysterious feather. They went into a forest which became darker and darker as they went further in. As they were traveling through the forest they saw a giant mortar suddenly fly over their heads. The mortar flew over a nearby bone fence and an ancient crone stepped out. She was very thin and she had a nose that was enormous and covered in warts. She carried a silver birch broom and approached a hut on large chicken legs. The hut was spinning around in circles making blood-curdling screeches, but when the ancient crone spoke a rhyme it slowly settled down. It groaned and creaked and slowly came to a halt and then a door suddenly appeared in its side and the ancient crone stepped in.

Ranma and Ryouga were stunned by the entire scene that had played out before them, but as the crone entered the house they realized that it must be the place. The place where their questions could be answered. So they headed towards the bone fence with its bone gate and prepared to enter.

However their way was blocked by a red rider on a read horse. The man looked at the two teens and said, "I am Red Sun and this is my horse. I am a protector of this house younglings. You may not pass."

"Can you help us then?" asked Ranma.

"With what?"

"We need to know why our lives have changed so drastically and we need to get some help in curing our curses. Can you help us?"

"I know not the answers you seek younglings. Be gone or will you dare challenge the might of Red Sun?"

Ranma said, "You bet we do. Do you want to get off that little red pony of yours or should we kick you off it?"

The red rider said, "My steed and I shall fight you younglings" and then jumped off the horse with a flaming sword and shield in hand.

Thus was the battle begun. Ranma faced off against the Red Rider and Ryouga faced off against the steed. The rider swung his sword at Ranma and missed by fractions, but Ranma hadn't realized the heat being given off by the sword and was singed a bit. He baked away dodging furiously and searching for an opening between the sword and the shield. As Ranma backed away some more from a furious onslaught of slashes he used a trusty technique and the speed of his amagurican was used to punch between the sword and the shield without being burnt. Laying numerous hits into the red rider's helm had no effect and then as his last punch connected his fist was burned by the riders helm itself. Now faced with an entire person made of living flame Ranma was even more hard pressed to dodge the attacks, but dodge he did and while he dodged Ranma concentrated on the soul of Ice concentrated on making his aura biting cold and maneuvering his opponent through a spiral dance.

Meanwhile, Ryouga was trying to handle a ton of flaming horse that was charging him. He had dodged a few times, but a hoof connected and he was thrown into a tree with his shirt flaming. As the tree fell over from his impact Ryouga saw the horse getting ready for yet another charge. He pulled out his umbrella and countered the charge throwing the horse high in the air, but instead of crashing to the ground the flaming steed flew over head and prepared for yet another charge. This time the little boy will die. thought the steed and then charged again, but Ryouga was just barely able to dodge out of the way singing himself a bit in the process. He looked over to where Ranma was starting to lead his opponent into a spiral and wished that the two had had a bit more time to learn each others techniques and then realized what he could do. Ryouga positioned himself closer to Ranma and the red rider's fight, near some hard packed dirt and rock and waited for the flaming steed to charge him for what he hoped would be the final time. The flaming steed charged Ryouga and Ryouga hit the ground with a scream of "Baksai Tenkets" at the same time a shout of "Hiryu Shou Ten Ha!" was heard and the Red Rider and his horse were both plunged into a whirlwind filled with rocks and debris. Knocking them both out cold.

The two teens examined their handy work as they fought for breath and then they saw more trouble. This time they saw two riders coming their way. A Rider clad all in black on a black horse and a rider clad in all white on a white horse. The two riders pulled out their bows and knocked back arrows and then a new battle had begun.

The tow teenage boys were running along the forest floor trying to stay together. "Don't get lost Ryouga stay close." said Ranma panting next to a tree. Ryouga panted a quick, "Don't worry Ranma, I'm sticking right by you I don't want to accidentally get lost and find myself turned into a human pin cushion. By the way do you see either of the riders?"

"Nah, now all we need to do is think up a plan of attack." said the pigtailed youth.

"Oh the Sao, Uhm Hibiki final attack eh?" said Ryouga.

"Yeah, distance, planning and then an attack. Now all we need to do is figure out how to take down those stupid riders and their horses."

"Well, I'm out of options at the moment Ranma. I tried at least one Exploding point on the ground, but the hole hardly stopped that black rider and he kept blocking my bandannas with his shield. Did you have any luck with the white rider?"

"No, I must a hit him and his steed hundreds of times and it didn't even phase them. Too bad neither of these guys are generating heat like the first dude."

"Yeah that Hiryu Tenkets we performed did him in pretty good."

"Hiryu Tenkets?"

"Yeah Hiryu Shouten Ha mixed with Baksai Tenkets or Hiryu Tenkets for short a new combined move in the Hibiki brothers martial arts style."

"I like it, but we still need some options on these other two riders. I hesitate to say it, but maybe its time we use the Sen Ken moves."

"I don't know Ranma those moves could be deadly."

"I know Ryouga, but I think you've learned the Yama pretty well so far and nothing else we have works."

"Alright Ranma, let's do it!"

The two Hibiki brothers then leaped from branch to branch in search of their foes. Meanwhile and ancient witch was looking into a cauldron. A pair of disembodied hands was holding up a quartz crystal for her, while two other pairs of hands were busy stirring a pot and massaging her back. "I see that the two Hibiki boys are about to go into battle again. Do you think they will win friends? Do you think they can defeat my Dark Midnight and my Bright Dawn? Will they be deserving of my boon or shall I curse their very existence? The young Ryouga has already given me great sustenance, perhaps just perhaps I may reward the boys, but first they have to Live!" the ancient crone then broke into a cackling horrible laughter, her iron teeth showing a bloody mess upon them each time her gruesome mouth opened and shut her long and wart filled nose bobbing up and down. It was quite a bit of time before she tired of her merriment and began preparations, preparations for a great spell.

With twin cries of "Kinjin Rashu Dan!" trees fell in the forest and crashed upon a white and a black steed taking them out of the battle for quite some time, but the riders were quick they had dismounted and faced two cocky looking boys with their swords drawn and their shields raised. "Younglings!" said the White rider, "We shall allow you to safely leave this forest, do not force us to destroy you." The black Rider silently looked on and said nothing merely standing in a shadow waiting for the response.

"Ain't gonna happen." Said Ranma, "We've got to find out what happened to Ryouga, we have to know what changed him, what happened on the day that we clasped hands. We need so many answers to so many questions and you're in the way of that. I'm sorry man, but we are going into that hut and getting answers and if we have to go through you guys then we will. You just know one thing I'm Ranma and this is Ryouga and we don't lose!" Ranma finished with a confident smirk and the two neo brothers stood next to each other glowing with confidence and hope.

Then, the battle began again. Ranma faced off against the white clad rider and Ryouga against the black. The two boys pummeled and punched their foes while avoiding sword strokes and shield strikes. The combat was a frenzy of activity with neither side giving in or giving up. The black rider stared at Ryouga and said, "I know your weakness boy. I see it in you. I see angst and despair under that confident exterior I see it all and then he gestured with his black sword and a dark shadow extended over Ryouga Hibiki a shadow that brought a nightmare."

There he was. He was at the Unryuu farm and there was Akari and her pet Katsunishiki. The pretty brown haired girl looked at Ryouga and said, "I hate you Ryouga, I'll always hate you! Then as she spoke the words gout of blood exited her mouth and she keeled over. Ryouga rushed towards her side holding her in his arms as she died and she said, "Let go of me you disgusting pig! Let me die anything to get away from you!" It was too much he couldn't bear it. Ryouga felt the chain of his depression closing in again the world was becoming once again a dark and lonely place. He started to give up all of his new found hope and as the black rider appeared before him he hardly had strength to get up.

Meanwhile the white rider had mad a miscalculation. He had sent a bright white cloud onto Ranma a cloud that would make him experience his worst nightmare and thus be defenseless. The white rider couldn't have known his mistake, he couldn't have realized that this technique would make Ranma stronger and so the White rider approached Ranma with his sword raised and prepared to lop off the panicked teens head. But, it was not to be a loud "Meow!" erupted from the teen as the white rider approached and then the neo Hibiki boy sliced the white sword and the white shield into scrap metal. The white clad rider ran towards his black clad associate and the Neko Ken warrior sliced through his sword and shield as well backing both warriors toward a tree backing them into a corner. This kitty was angry and its prey was right in front of it death shone in Ranma's now inhuman eyes.

Ryouga somehow heard that meow and in his darkness knew what it would mean. Somehow he knew Ranma was in trouble and that was when his confidence and hope returned. That moment when he thought of Ranma was when he was able to crush his despair again and bring himself out of the nightmare. Ryouga opened his eyes and yelled, "Ranma, No! Don't Do it Ranma!" The Neko ken warrior stopped and looked at Ryouga and the cat wondered why his pack mate would require him to stop. Didn't the other want some of this food? The cat looked at Ryouga quizzically and waited a bit more and then slowly approached the now cowering warriors with his claws outstretched. "Wait Ranma" said Ryouga and then corrected, "I mean here kitty, kitty come on that's a good kitty. You don't need to hurt those bad men." Ranma stopped approaching the poor disheveled riders and padded over to his pack mate and nudged Ryouga's hand with his head with a loud purr. Ryouga scratched Ranma's head and looked at the beaten riders and then sighed and said, "I don't suppose you'll show me where that hut is now?" The two shook their heads and the white rider said, "We will not youngling. Kill us if you wish, but we will not lead you to our mistress, nor will we prevent you from going. You have earned the right to enter her hut, now all you need to do is find it" the white rider laughed. While the black rider sat in a shadow silently laughing as well.

Ryouga walked off a bit with Ranma cat in tow and tried to figure out what to do and then inspiration hit. Ryouga pulled out his canteen and poured it over his friend. A wet and female Ranma awoke with a scream, "Ahhh Cat!" and she looked around and said, "So uhm what happened man?"

"We won Ranma. We defeated them."

"I didn't do anything weird did I?" Asked Ranma.

"No, not really." Answered Ryouga then he said, "So do you think you can remember where we left that hut?"

"I'm not really quite sure Ryouga. This forest is like a maze maybe we should try that map again?"

Ryouga smacked himself on the head with a "Duh!" and pulled out the feather map, which proceeded to pull him towards the hut.

A black haired young man being pulled along by his feather map was accompanied by a red haired female companion as they arrived once more at a forest clearing. Inside the clearing was a small hut with large chicken legs, surrounded by a large bone fence. They walked towards the bone gate and it swung open before them. They passed through the gate and into the inner yard where the hut rested. As they traveled towards the doorway the sky became as black as pitch and storm clouds rose overhead. With the single knock on the door came the downpour of rain and there in front of the door stood a pigtailed girl with a small black piglet and then the door opened.

The door opened onto a small rustic cottage. There in the cottage was a black iron wood burning stove in one corner. Around the rest of the cottage were various vials and materials, some looked vaguely familiar almost human in aspect. A little cot with a threadbare cover and rusting springs sticking out sat against the far wall next to a window with a human skull candle in it. The dominant thing in the room however was a gigantic rocking chair next to an oversized mortar. The rocking chair sat next to a small table and two toadstool chairs. Upon the table was a single yellow and brown quartz crystal and staring into that crystal from her rocking chair perch was an ancient crone. The crone was as thin as a skeleton with dull iron teeth and a gigantic wart filled nose. Her hair was a dull waxy grey and looked to be the texture of flax. She looked at the two with milk clouded eyes and made a gesture. Suddenly two disembodied pairs of hand dumped hot water over the girl and the pig and standing before her were two young teens one of whom was hastily putting his clothes on. The crone then said, "Do you come of your own free will or were you sent?"

The two Hibikis looked at each other and conversed for a second or two and then in concert they said, "We came of our own free will." Under their breath both boys might be forgiven for adding 'Old crone'.

The lady then said, "I am Baba Yaga the most powerful woman in the world and you have come to my hut of your own volition. Please sit foolish children sit and speak of what you would like to know speak and I will decide your fate."

They sat on the two toadstools and began their tale each adding details that the other forgot. They spoke of Ryouga's new confidence and hope, they spoke of their new friendship and brotherhood, they spoke about the strange and horrible day that Ranma lost everything, and they spoke about their respective cruses, then Ryouga spoke of his direction problem and Ranma spoke a bit about his fear. Somehow they had told the lady everything about themselves and more. As their tales faded to silence Baba Yaga spoke again, "You were here at this hut Ryouga Hibiki you were here when I needed power to cast a spell. I fed on your depression and it left a glimmer of my magic on you. This piece of magic has been kept alive and grown strong from your Jusenkyo curse young Ryouga and it was most likely this piece of magic that made your life so strange young Ranma. When you clasped Ryouga's hand the magical power clasped on to you as well and fed on your curse as well. I believe it was this magical parasite that worked to change your lives. I believe that it has been actively trying to help you. Wait! Before you speak understand that it is a simple spell and the help it was trying to provide may not have been what you wanted, but help is what it was trying to do. Look at yourselves you are stronger now, you have less confusion and entanglements from unwanted engagements young Saotome and Ryoga has gained confidence from strengthened bonds between the two of you. That is what the spell wanted it wanted to keep the two of you together, strengthen the bonds between you, and help you as best as it could and so it did. This spell parasite is now quite powerful due to the combined Jusenkyo feeding and will be difficult to eradicate."

Baba Yaga then sat back in her rocking chair and said, "I can, remove it though and I can remove the direction problem young Hibiki has. Jusenkyo is beyond my power to remove, but I could modify it somewhat. But, I warn you the cures you seek may not be what you are looking for." She then smiled a grey iron and blood colored smile and said, "So hurry up and decide. Do you want my help or not?"

Ranma and Ryouga conferred amongst themselves and tried to come to a decision. They determined that it would be best to get rid of the parasite, but were not sure about the rest. They conferred and discussed until Baba Yaga said, "Boys! I do not have much patience will you accept my help and wisdom or not?"

The two looked up and realized that this might be their only chance to get cured of the magical parasite and possibly their only chance to fix other things. They looked at the strange old crone and said, "We accept your help."

Baba Yaga smiled her gruesome smile once more and all three pairs of disembodied hands appeared before her. "Bring me the preparations and be quick about it!" Baba Yaga then looked at Ranma and Ryouga and said, "You will have to excuse my soul friends they aren't very bright. Now come stand up and be prepared for the gifts I shall be giving you. The two then stood and looked on in apprehension as a white circle and pentagram surrounded them and their movement was unwillingly stilled. They watched as Baba Yaga started casting spells of great power.

A white light filled the hut and they heard Baba Yaga say, "I gather you back oh magical parasite come to me and give me your power." Then they felt a tug from their sides as it felt like a large snake was being pulled from their abdomens. Then they heard her say, "Ancient Jusenkyou I beseech thee to modify yourself for these boys give them your blessing.' The two felt themselves fall into pools of fresh water and then before they could determine what exactly had happened they were covered in steam and returned to their natural form. Baba Yaga's voice them became loud and booming as she practically screeched the final statement said, "I give a great gift to you Hibiki boys I give thee a direction. You shall always know where you are and you will always be brought to where you need to be."

Then the light disappeared and the two were standing at a Desert Oasis. With a quiet pool of water and a few palm trees. The sun was bright and high in the sky while the water in the pool was still and looked cool and refreshing. "Ranma!" Ryouga exclaimed I know where we are." His face was lit with joy as he continued on, "We are in the middle of the Sahara Dessert!" Then his face fell as he said, "Oh crap! How the hell are we going to get out of here the nearest town is miles and miles away."

Ranma thought for a second and said, "Maybe we can take the secret cave we're in front of." Then he shook his head, "Wait secret cave? How did I know we were in front of a secret cave? How did you know we were in the Middle of the Sahara?" Then realization came as the two remembered the words "you shall always know where you are". Awe overcame them as they realized some of the scope of the gift they had been given. As they approached the entrance of the cave Ranma said, "Wait, maybe we should see what our curses are like first? There might be water in that cave and we should know what we are getting into first."

So the two young martial artists approached the water of the oasis and triggered their transformations. Ranma felt the change wash over her as she was transformed into a tall lithe red haired girl. She looked at herself and gasped at her almost six foot height and gasped once again as she felt her pointed elven ears. She had one final gasp as standing before her was not a little black pig instead what stood before her was an almost six foot high, black colored razor back boar. Strangely enough the boar was outfitted with a saddle to ride on. As Ranma looked at the honey brown saddle with rubies encrusted on it the boar said, "Ranma, where did you find that outfit?" then the boar gasped and said, "Hey I can talk!" Ranma examined herself again and realized that she was wearing a shirt made of some type of silvery metallic material and leather breeches, on her back was a bow and set of arrows. Ranma said, "I'm not sure where this stuff came from Ryouga. Maybe it came from the same place that the saddle and saddle bags you're wearing came from." Then he looked closely and said, "Or that ebony staff on the side of it. This is all so different let's look inside that pack you have and catalogue all of this stuff. They opened Ryouga's saddle bags and found even more items:

A bag that seemed to continually provide apples every time Ranma reached in.

A guide to some place called Evermeet Island of the elves.

A map of the lost tomb of some person called Bane.

A torch that continually provided a flame that didn't seem to burn anything.

A knotted silk rope about 100 feet long.

Pots and pans and camping gear.

A large helmet with a horn on it that seemed to fit Ryouga as a Boar along with an entire set of metal armor that looked like it might fit as well.

In the end he said, "I give up Ryouga at first there was a bunch of stuff that I wasn't looking for, but now almost anything I think to look for can be found in this pack and it seems that each time I think of the item that's what I find. I give up, let's change back and look in that cave."

Ranma then proceeded to boil some water and pour it over himself and Ryouga. As the two transformed back into their natural state all the newly found items disappeared and they were once again clothed in what they had been wearing. "Well that's pretty useful too eh Ranma?" Ryouga said. Ranma replied, "Yeah, I guess so man, but this is all so damn different, so far removed from the normal insanity in our lives. I keep wondering if I'll pinch myself and wake up or something."

"This isn't a dream, Ranma. It's real I know it and I think we have definitely gone from strange to stranger with each passing day."

"Well," said Ranma "Let's look in that cave and if it doesn't have anything useful we can wait until dark and start walking for the nearest town. At least we know that with those items in your pack we won't starve or go hungry."

"Okay. Let's do it." Said the fanged youth.

So the two boys walked into the cave and used some left over torched in Ryouga's regular pack and continued onward. As they moved through the cave they heard some sound coming from up ahead. The two walked quieter and doused their lights as they came into a dimly lit cavern. There in front of them were two groups of men. They seemed to be haggling over something and Ryouga said, "I recognize few words of what they are saying, let me try to translate." (AN: Almost everyone assumes that Ryouga knows a ton of languages because of his propensity to get lost. I'm assuming the same thing and intend to generally make him the interpreter in most situations) He pointed at the one man, "He's saying something about a million U.S. dollars" then Ryouga pointed to the other man and said, "He is talking about some type of explosion or explosive device." The man Ryouga was speaking of gesticulated towards a small missile war-head and said a few more words rapid fire to what seemed to be his henchmen. The goons took out a black suitcase and handed it to the man who had been asking about money. That man then opened the suitcase, counted the money, seemed satisfied and started to walk out of the cave with his own body guards. The goons who had originally given the money now walked over to the war-head and Ryouga said, "Ranma they keep talking about that war-head and cleansing through fire, I don't like the sounds of that not at all. I think we have to stop them." Ranma who had also been watching the exchange agreed with his friend and said, "Alright on three you toss out some bandannas and cut their guns up and I'll charge, then you follow behind me okay?"

"Got it said Ryouga." With a fanged grin.

"1…2….3!"

Bandannas flew out and severed weapons as Ranma charged towards their wielders. Right behind him followed Ryouga with a loud battle cry. The two master martial artists made short work of the people in front of the war-head and grinned to each other. Then they realized that they had no clue what to do with the device. They looked around and couldn't find anything to put it on.

As they were looking for a place to put the device they heard more voices and then a small group of soldiers came out from another tunnel in the cave system with their guns blazing pinning the boys down near the war-head. "Ranma, pour some water on me and I think I could carry it on my back."

"That's crazy!"

"No more insane than sitting here and getting shot at by all those guys over there."

"Alright fine let's do it." Ranma said as he pulled out his canteen and splashed it onto Ryouga as the water spilled down Ryouga's back Ranma felt a strange tingle and looked at himself. He was female once again and he hadn't even been splashed by the water. Damn, he though the curses must be sympathetic or something As Ranma was contemplating this new development the large boar Ryouga picked up the war-head on his back. With more and more bullets flying into the room Ranma realized he didn't have any more time to contemplate and jumped onto Ryouga's back next to the war-head helping to stabilize it as Ryouga ran off down the tunnels from whence they had originally come.

Bullets continued to fly as the boar raced down the tunnel and Ranma pulled out his bow and knocked an arrow back firing it at their pursuers in hopes of covering their escape. The boar and the war-head then came crashing out of the secret entrance near the oasis causing it to crumble and fall down behind him. Ryouga stopped for a moment and caught his breath as he said, "Okay. Now what do we do with this thing?" Ranma thought for a moment and said, "We can go to the nearest United States base and turn this thing in I guess."

"Alright." Said the Razorback, "Let's get a move on." Then he trundled off in the correct direction for the first time in his life.

It took a number of days for the two to get to a base and by the time they got there they were very tired of eating apples everyday. "Y'know" said Ranma, "It's a good thing that these canteens in your pack don't seem to go empty either it gives us a chance to sleep in our regular forms during the day."

"Yeah. I like that, but this razorback form is a lot better than defenseless black pig too."

"I'm not sure if this form is better than my old one the only difference I've noticed so far is the height and the ears. Still, I'm happy for you man."

As they approached the base Ranma said, "Well let's get changed into our normal forms and see if we can't explain all of this to these American troops."

So two Japanese citizens came up to an American base dragging a war-head behind them. The two boys were grilled and questioned by a number of officials and when it turned out that the war-head was nuclear even more questions and conversations occurred. (AN: I know it isn't mentioned anywhere in Ranma cannon, but I know that most Japanese citizens learn English in their school system. I'm assuming that's where Ranma knows it from.)

The night wore on and the war-head was taken back to the United States for study. It is possible that continued interrogation of Ranma and Ryouga might have caused an international incident, but as the war-head was being taken away the two boys disappeared from earth.

The bright light faded once again and the two teens looked down at the earth from a shining city on the moon and through both of their heads went the final words of their gift "you will always be brought to where you need to be." It wasn't a gift of direction sense if was a gift that provided Direction for them a gift that would continually put them in places where they needed to be. A gift that was essentially the beginning of the Baba Yaga Quests…

AN: Well that's basically it for this story arc. I've gotten Ranma and Ryouga started on their journey and I plan on sending them into multiple places and times. As you might be able to tell this is really the beginning of a massive multi universe Ranma crossover. See you in the next story.