Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma ½™ or Sacrifice™ or any related characters, terms or concepts.
Author's Notes: Sorry this took so long to post; I almost had it finished, but a &$!$ power surge erased it on me! Then my computer had to go to the shop for another week, so I was really delayed. Now, some of you did request that I break up the "Ranma & Ryoga in the Slayers World" story arc but, as some others pointed out, there's not much happening in Nerima bar Herb's courtship of Kasumi and Mint & Kodachi's upcoming wedding. I can save that for a later chapter. I'm not entirely sure as of now, but I might have Ranma and Ryoga bring the Slayers along to Nerima for a chapter or two (Zelgadis does need to get to Jusenkyo after all). In an unusual turn of events, I actually have the next few chapters planned out, so I may be able to get them up sooner. Although if they take as long as this one did, that might not be a possibility.
One final note: I haven't actually seen much of the Slayers, so I apologise if they're Out of Character and/or if I get something(s) wrong.
Part 16: The Loss of Ranma's Memories
"Please?"
"No."
"Pretty please?"
"No."
"I'll give you 30 gold coins?"
"No."
"100 gold coins?"
"No!"
"Dammit, 1000 gold coins!"
"NO! I will not teach you the Hiryu Shoten Ha! So stop asking!"
The Slayers sighed as Lina kept trying to haggle Ranma into teaching her the Hiryu Shoten Ha, though Ranma simply ignored her efforts. Ryoga, who'd woken back up after about ten minutes of being carried and was now walking on his own at the back of the party, leaned over to Gourry.
"Is she always like this?"
"Yeah, sometimes she's a lot worse."
Ryoga looked at Lina and shuddered; fortunately for him Lina didn't notice. The group walked through the town until they reached the castle of Delasoa, where Amelia had to go to complete her mission. Amelia turned to Ranma and Ryoga.
"Thank you for bringing me here; you can go back with Miss Lina and the others and wait for me."
"Sorry, but no can do; as your bodyguards it is our duty to accompany you."
"Yeah, and besides which we're coming with you."
"What!"
Amelia looked horrified at that proclamation of Lina's. Lina looked smug, Zelgadis shared Amelia's horrified look, Ranma and Ryoga looked confused and Gourry… was his usual clueless self. This wouldn't be the first time Lina "invited" herself on one of Amelia's diplomatic missions, and every other time she had the mission turned out to be a disaster. Swallowing her complaints, rebuttals and persuasions, which she knew would be futile anyway, Amelia walked through the castle's main doors.
Tried to at any rate. The guards on duty crossed their halberds before she got to the doors, blocking her off. Amelia looked up in confusion.
"Do you have an appointment?"
"An appointment? No, but I am expected; I am Amelia Wil Tesla Saillune, princess of Saillune."
"Sorry, but if you don't have an appointment then you can't come in."
"But!"
"No appointment, no entry, no argument."
"Where can I get an appointment then?"
"Inside the castle."
"So can I go in?"
"Not without an appointment."
A princess and a Warrior of Justice does not lose her temper, a princess and a Warrior of Justice does not lose her temper, princess and a Warrior of Justice does not lose her temper…
Amelia gritted her teeth as she repeated that mantra ad infinitum within her head to prevent herself from causing a diplomatic incident. She kept her eyes tightly focused on the ground to help herself retain control. Thus, when she heard a grunt of exertion and a strange cracking noise coming from behind her, followed by the guards dropping their halberds in shock, she was confused.
"Okay, okay! You can go in! We're out of here!"
Amelia blinked in confusion as the guards promptly dropped their halberds and ran off. She turned back to the others and promptly found her answer. Like many castles, the castle of Delasoa had a massive piece of marble sculpture located outside its gates; in this case an ornate pillar-like statue. The column itself was at least three times taller than Gourry, and four times as broad. Coupled with the massive pedestal it rested on, it had to weigh over a ton. And Ranma was now holding it over his head, without showing the slightest sign of exertion, and looking like he was about to hurl it at the castle gates. He shrugged at her questioning gaze (which is rather hard to do when you're holding your arms over your head).
"What? They let us in didn't they? It's not like I really would have hit them with it."
Having no comeback to that, Amelia simply turned and walked through the gates, Ryoga and the Slayers following behind as Ranma dropped the statue with a sonorous boom before joining them. Inside, Amelia began to feel uneasy; it was too quiet. Where were the other guards? The bustling servants? The court officials and their seemingly endless complaints?
"HELLO! Is anyone there?"
Amelia stifled a yelp as Ryoga suddenly shouted at the top of his lungs behind her. On an instinct she whirled around and bopped him over the head with her clenched fist, resulting in a sprained wrist for her and an apologetic look from Ryoga. Ranma heaved an exasperated sigh.
"I take it that this sort of silence is not normal?"
"Why would it be?"
"Different cultures, different customs. Very well, I suppose I can scout ahead for you, just wait here until I return."
"You? A scout? Pull the other one!"
Lina scoffed. Ranma turned to her and fixed her with an icy stare.
"A student of Anything-Goes Martial Arts learns much of the arts of deception and infiltration, and as the new Grandmaster I have access to the Ultimate Technique of Anything-Goes; the Extradimensional Warp. Behold. Now you see me… and now you don't."
Before their stunned eyes, Ranma pulled a fighting pose and literally disappeared, just there one second, gone the next. As they blinked in astonishment, Ranma's faint laugh suddenly echoed from all around them.
"By allowing the user to physically, spiritually and mentally merge with his surrounding environment, the Extradimensional Warp renders them impossible to attack. It is the ultimate technique for observation, evasion and retreat."
"What about attack?"
That question came from Gourry, of all people. Even Ranma, who had no idea of Gourry rather dumb nature, was stunned for a few seconds.
"It is impossible to attack while using the Extradimensional Warp, and the creator never intended to use it as an offensive technique."
At that reply Gourry blinked in confusion.
"Why go to all the trouble of designing a technique like that if you can't even fight with it?"
"The creator of the Extradimensional Warp, who was also the founder of Anything-Goes Martial Arts and the previous Grandmaster, was a pervert of such lechery you couldn't begin to comprehend the depths of it. He was literally addicted to groping woman, ogling them and stealing their underwear, actually growing weak if he was unable to do so. He designed the Extradimensional Warp to be able to spy on them while they were bathing."
The Slayers didn't speak, but Ranma could evidentially see the looks on their faces. His next words carried a heavy undertone of menace, spite, bitterness and hatred.
"You needn't worry; I am nothing like him, and he's gone now anyway."
"I'll say he is."
Muttered Ryoga, his mind flashing back to the confrontation between Ranma and Happosai for the position of Grandmaster of Anything-Goes. The Slayers, who didn't know what he was talking about, simply looked confused. They waited for Ranma to reply, but there was nothing but silence. As Ranma had evidentially gone off to scout, they simply waited. Ranma finally showed up after about ten minutes, reappearing in the same manner as he had disappeared, shaking his head and muttering to himself.
"Not good, not good, this is not good."
"What isn't good? What did you find?"
"Blood and debris; it looks like there was some kind of battle fought here, though I couldn't find any bodies. I went through every room; nothing. The only room I couldn't get into was the throne room-"
"How do you know it's the throne room?"
"Because none of the other rooms contained a throne, that's how. Anyway, there's some sort of magical barrier sealing the entrance; I'm not familiar with the magic of this land so I figured it would be best to get an expert on the subject."
Ranma looked straight as Lina as he said this; if he was aiming to flatter her than he succeeded. Lina grinned smugly and puffed out her chest with pride, an action that prompted Gourry to comment on how Amelia's bust was still larger than Lina's no matter what she did. Once he regained consciousness, Ranma led them to the throne room. The "barrier" Ranma had mentioned turned out to be a coruscating veil of purplish energy coated over the door. More out of reflex than any belief it would work, Lina cast the Unlock spell on the door. To her great surprise, the barrier suddenly froze solid and shattered into pieces, the doors suddenly swinging inwards.
As one, the Slayers, Ranma and Ryoga prepared for battle, drawing weapons, preparing spells and instinctively slipping into fighting stances. Again as one, they charged into the room only to, as one, skid to halt. The former occupants of the castle, some several dozen souls, were now grouped inside the throne room, each bearing hideous, though bloodless, wounds and each with a mindlessly hungry gaze in their eyes. One of the figures, who wore what looked like a battered crown, turned towards them, raised its arms (which seemed to have had chunks bitten out of them) and voiced a hungry moan, attracting the attention of the other figures.
Ranma, Ryoga and the Slayers instinctively slipped into fighting positions, ready for the anticipated assault. They were distracted from the threat of imminent death by a sudden shrill, maniacal laugh, spilling from the throat of a figure slouching in the throne, whose presence they had failed to detect. As the figure stopped laughing, the group uncovered their ears and blinked- with the exception of Ranma, who seemed curiously unaffected. Lina shook her head as though pained.
"L-Sama! I hoped I'd never have to hear anything like that again! Sounds just like my old partner!"
"I had a sister who laughed just like that."
"Sounds like one of Ranma's ex-fiancées."
This prompted confused looks from the rest of the group, until the disgruntled figure on the throne coughed loudly to draw their attention back to him. Once their eyes were back upon him, he swept out his cloak and put his hands on his hips in one of the traditional "Evil Overlord" stances. In appearance, he looked pretty much human, except his ears were long and pointed, sticking out from the sides of his head. In addition, his skin was jet-black and his hair stark white, whilst his eyes were a vivid green in colour. All of the group were instantly alert once more, Ranma especially. He didn't know exactly what this creature was, but he knew it wasn't human. Lina seemed to know what it was though, given her reaction.
"What are you doing here, Mazoku?"
The figure laughed his horrible laugh once more, causing gritted teeth amongst the group before answering in a mocking tone.
"I am Valmont, and you must be none other than the infamous Lina Inverse. I must say, I never expected that I would face you here. But, it matters not. I will not be prevented from achieving my goal! At them my beasts! Feast upon their living flesh whilst I complete my task!"
He voiced another horrible laugh as he leapt behind the throne. Only Ranma was capable of noticing that he activated some sort of switch behind the throne and disappeared as the former occupants of the castle descended upon them like a ravening horde. The enclosed environment preventing her from unleashing a Dragon Slave, Lina instead went with her second-favourite choice of spells.
"Fireball!"
The crackling globe of magical flames erupted from her hands to engulf about a dozen flesh-eaters, filling the air with the stench of burning meat. She grinned and pulled a victory sign, only to stare as the creatures she had blasted kept coming, despite the flames greedily consuming their flesh. She snapped out of her stupor and resumed blasting.
Zelgadis wasn't fairing much better; none of the Spirit Shamanism spells that he knew seemed to have any effect on these creatures, and they kept pressing in on him irregardless of the way his Astral Vine-empowered sword rent their flesh and bones. One of them actually managed to grab his arm, biting down on his stony flesh with fanatic eagerness, despite the audible cracks as its teeth shattered. It couldn't hurt Zelgadis, but it was distracting, so he punched it loose, literally smashing its face as he did so. Gourry on the other hand was in a much more serious jam; he didn't have Zelgadis' protective skin, so he was forced to go on the defensive to keep from being bitten.
Amelia was really in trouble; with her limited array of offensive spells, coupled with her refusal to use a sword, she was almost entirely dependant upon her Visfarank spell to fight off the creatures. Unfortunately, the blows of her magic-enhanced fists seemed to have little effect on the creatures other than to knock them reeling for a few seconds. Despite all of her combat experience, she couldn't help but voice a scream when one of the creatures managed to grapple her, immobilising her arms and opening its jaws in preparation to bite her. And that was when Ryoga suddenly made an appearance, using his umbrella like a sword to smash through the creature's forearms.
It raised the stumps of its arms to its eyes and stared at them stupidly, before simply moaning and trying to bite Ryoga, who promptly crushed its skull like a rotten egg with his umbrella. Suddenly a whole group of the creatures tried to swamp Ryoga, who retaliated viciously with punches, kicks and his umbrella before one of them managed to get the drop on him and seize him from behind by his upper arms, rendering him unable to reach the wretched creature. It moaned and gnashed its teeth as Ryoga struggled wildly, clinging to him like a leech as he tried to shake it off and crush it.
Was this how it was going to end? After all his epic battles with Ranma, all his hard training and wanderings, was he to be eaten alive by a mindless husk? His musings on death and the cruel whims of fate were disrupted by a sudden wet crunching crack as the iron grip on his upper arms disappeared. He partially turned to see the creature sliding bonelessly to the ground, its head lolling at an obscene angle. He quickly returned his attention to the battle, striking out around him like a man possessed. Though he didn't seem to actually be killing any of the creatures, he was sure their ranks were thinning. But how? He turned as a series of ghastly crunching cracking noises seized his attention, only for his jaw to drop in disbelief.
Ranma was gliding through the ranks of the grasping creatures; literally flowing around their clumsy clutches and bites as he delivered swift and deceptively gentle-looking blows of his own. As Ryoga watched in disbelief, Ranma's hand lashed out, barely seeming to touch the throat of a creature confronting him, which promptly dropped, its neck shattered like a rotten twig. Ranma stopped when he saw Ryoga, grinned and laughed pleasantly, sending icy fingers skittering up and down Ryoga's spine.
"They're only Cannibal Zombies; all you have to do is destroy the head or the spinal column and they drop like flies!"
As Ranma said this two of the so-called "Cannibal Zombies" approached from Ranma's sides. Without so much as a flicker of change in his expression, Ranma's splay-fingered right hand shot out, smashing through the opening jaws of one zombie before erupting in a shower of gore and bone chips from the back of its head. At the same time his open-fingered left hand lashed out and burrowed into the chest of the other one, worming its way deep into the body cavity before twisting something within so that it snapped with an audible crunch. In a single swift movement Ranma ripped both hands free, causing the two bodies to drop to the ground whilst erupting twin showers of gore.
He laughed again, raising his arms, coated almost to the elbow in blood and clots of rotting flesh, in triumph before twirling away to continue his dance of destruction.
Ryoga stared after him for a second before tightening his grip on his umbrella and resuming his attack on the zombies, this time choosing his blows to crush their skulls like rotten fruit. Having overheard Ranma's declaration themselves, the Slayers quickly overcame their opponents. The last few zombies that had been subjected to Lina's Fireballs crumbled to ash and collapsed as Ranma wrenched the head of the very last zombie and absent-mindedly hurled it into the wall, where it splashed a great stain of crimson upon the stone.
"Is that all of them?"
Ranma actually sounded disappointed that no foes remained to fight. Ryoga and the Slayers simply stared at him.
"Isn't that enough? Where the heck did you learn to fight like that anyway?"
Asked Gourry.
"Cannibal Zombies are a fairly common breed of monster in the land we come from. There's actually a sport that revolves around them; Zombie Pit-Fighting. It's a simple enough game; you enter an arena and waves of zombies come after you. The goal is to kill as many as you can in as inventive a way as possible. I'm actually something of a celebrity in the Pit-Fighting circuit; people pay good money to see a fight I'm taking part in. Perhaps because they've never seen someone do so much damage with only their bare-hands before… Anyway, I find that it's good training for strength, striking speed and reflexes."
"How so?"
"It builds strength because you need to hit them hard to put them down, it builds striking speed because you have to put them down fast, as there are lots of them coming, and it builds reflexes because, well, you really don't want them to bite you. Take it from me, those things bite worse than rabid dogs, and getting them to let go is pure hell-on-an-icicle. Last time it happened, I had to prise the thing's jaws loose with a crowbar."
One could practically see a thought bubble containing that image forming above the heads of everyone present bar Ranma, who simply walked around to the back of the throne. Lina kept quiet for all of a few seconds before her curiosity got the better of her.
"What are you doing?"
"Looking for a switch or a lever or some kind of triggering mechanism; that Mazoku-thing disappeared after doing something here."
"How do you know he didn't just plant a bomb or something?"
Asked Gourry, prompting confused blinks from the other Slayers- two good questions in one day? Wasn't that some sort of new record for Gourry? Ranma replied from his position behind the throne.
"Because there's no sign of anything resembling a bomb- or anything abnormal, for that matter."
"One question; seeing as you're the kind of guy who, as a pastime, likes to sit stark-naked on a mountaintop in the middle of a blizzard and watch packs of 30ft-long octopi fly through the air, how the hell would you know what normal even is?"
Ryoga muttered to himself. A rather bad move as it would turn out.
FZZRAK!
Thump.
"I heard that Ryoga. And I think I found what I was looking for…"
There was a 'click' and the throne slid forward, revealing a set of stone stairs leading down into the darkness below. Ranma turned to Lina and made a gesture towards the steps.
"Will you lead or shall I?"
Lina looked at the steps for a moment, then back at Ranma's blank expression. Then, her pride rising within her, she cast the Lighting spell and strode down into the darkness, the others following behind her. After walking down what felt like way too many steps, they finally emerged in a massive underground cavern.
"Wow, I didn't even know there was a cave under the castle of Delasoa."
Amelia said to herself. She cringed as Valmont's hideous laughter suddenly echoed through the room, the Mazoku himself appearing from the darkness beyond Lina's Lighting spell. He grinned and pulled a victory sign before laughing again.
"So, you managed to survive my minions. Very impressive. But you're too late! I have what I was sent here for, and now you will fall to me, Dragon Nester!"
The Slayers cringed away in fear as the Mazoku used the one nickname that you should never, ever use in Lina's hearing. Ranma and Ryoga were confused, staring back and forth between the furious Lina, the terrified Slayers and the grinning Valmont. Finally, Ranma spoke up.
"Dragon Nester?"
"Oh yes. You see, Ms. Inverse has many nicknames, none of them particularly flattering. That one comes with a poem; it goes something like … 'little girl with small breasts, scares dragons from their nests.' Pretty clever, don't you think?"
Ryoga almost laughed. Almost. The brilliant Rage Aura that suddenly flared into life around Lina made him still his tongue, though he was still outmatched by Ranma, who had kept an icy expression all along. Lina was too furious to notice Ryoga's slip; all of her rage was focussed on the smirking Mazoku in front of her. Concerns that she might crush herself under tons of rock evaporated; all that mattered to her was putting an end to that Mazoku!
"Dragon Slave!"
The massive bolt of incandescent crimson energy surged from her hands to impact upon the Mazoku's chest. However, rather than exploding and annihilating her victim the energy just simply… fizzled out. The Slayers, to put it lightly, were surprised.
"WHAT? How the hell!"
Lina started to prepare another spell when Ranma suddenly put his hand on her shoulder.
"Wait. Let me try; I have a theory. Frost Maiden!"
He held out his right arm to the side and, with the deep creaking sounds of water vapour being frozen, a thick cluster of jagged ice spears formed, floating in mid-air beside him. He swept his arm toward Valmont and the spears shot forward, though they too failed to impact. Instead, they suddenly began spiralling around him before disappearing. Ranma smirked.
"Thought so. Now how the heck did something like you get your hands on a Nullstone?"
"Nullstone?"
Everyone else asked, Valmont with something that almost sounded like fear, Ryoga and the Slayers with curiosity. Ranma didn't bother to turn, instead keeping his gaze focussed on Valmont as he spoke.
"Nullstones are amongst the rarest and most valuable of all magical minerals. Resembling black diamonds, Nullstones have the power to absorb magical energy, thus rendering whoever holds one impervious to spells, though they cannot cast spells themselves. That means that the only way to fight him is with weapons, and Nullstones also render magical weapons nonmagical whilst they are within their presence."
"Yes. And that means that none of you can harm me. Whilst I… am not so limited."
Valmont grinned, then suddenly began to twitch and grimace as though throwing some kind of fit. Grotesque cracking, squelching sounds filled the air and the humans watched in disgust as Valmont face suddenly split in half down the middle, revealing a vile maw filled with jagged fangs. Valmont's fingers grew into long, cruel talons whilst four foul lumps bulged from his back, spewing geysers of ichor and pus as they burst to reveal four long, bladed limbs. Finally, Valmont's torso separated from his waist and rose into the air, the two sections connected by something that resembled the body of a massive centipede.
"Behold! My true form! Prepare yourselves to die!"
Ryoga and the Slayers tensed, whilst Ranma slowly and deliberately popped his neck and knuckles. His expression was completely blank as he spoke.
"At last… a real challenge…"
As the other humans blinked at that, Ranma suddenly shot forward, easily matching the speed of the Mazoku hurtling towards him. They struck at the same time with equal speed and force, blocking each other's attack. Ryoga and the Slayers could only watch as the two traded blows with inhuman speed, Ranma somehow managing to match his opponent despite the fact Valmont had three times the arms Ranma did. It was Valmont who drew first blood, one his blade-limbs inflicting a long but shallow cut on Ranma's face, beginning from right next to his nose and ending under an ear. Ranma gave no sign that he even felt the cut, instead delivering a powerful punch to Valmont's throat.
Though not as effective as it would have been against a human opponent, such an attack still distracted Valmont long enough for Ranma to leap out of the range of those slicing limbs so he could formulate a strategy. The two main advantages Valmont had over Ranma was that he could deploy two more limbs than Ranma in combat and also that connecting spine-thing allowed him to move his upper torso more freely, helping him to evade Ranma's attacks. The evidence collated, Ranma's mind instantly processed a set of tactics for him; sever the spine and Valmont would be much easier to handle.
With that knowledge writhing inside his brain, Ranma leapt back into the attack, delivering a volley of solid blows to Valmont's centipede-like spine. Valmont hissed, a sound that conveyed more rage than pain, and retaliated, though Ranma's dodging meant that all Valmont achieved was to slice gashes in Ranma's shirt. The two traded blows with seemingly greater ferocity than before until, finally, Valmont managed to breach Ranma's defences.
One of his lower limbs arced upwards, impaling Ranma through the gut, prompting outcries from the spectators and a hiss of triumph from Valmont. To his horror however, Ranma didn't even seem to feel the pain, instead using the opening provided to deliver a powerful spin-kick that smashed through Valmont's spine. His legs toppled to the ground, spewing a yellowish ichor, as Valmont himself tried to grapple Ranma. Ranma instinctively punched Valmont in the face with his right hand, only to have the Mazoku bite his hand off with its vertical jaws before Ranma delivered a left-handed Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken that sent Valmont flying across the cavern.
Instinctively, the others started forward, only for Ranma to ward them off with the gushing stump of his wrist.
"No! This is my battle."
"Don't be stupid, you can't fight in that sort of condition!"
Said Ryoga. Ranma said nothing, but tendrils of bluish-green energy suddenly surged into life across his body, winding around his wounds and enveloping him in a brilliant glow. When the light faded, Ranma's wounds were all healed, even the hole in his stomach, and his missing hand had been replaced. The spectators stared as Ranma coolly spoke only two words before returning his attention to the fight.
"What condition?"
Across the floor, Valmont righted himself, using his arms and lower limbs as makeshift legs, and hissed at Ranma, a long black tongue slithering out from between his vertical jaws. He waited for Ranma to get closer, then launched himself straight for the martial artist's throat. Forced to use his rear limbs to support himself now he and Ranma were more evenly matched. Soon the battle began to turn in Ranma's favour; he landed more and more of his own attacks and received fewer in return. Valmont's own attacks became fewer and feebler as Ranma's onslaught continued, the Mazoku hissing its hate and rage as it began trying to evade Ranma's relentless and merciless attentions.
The physical form of a Mazoku is created by an expenditure of their own life-energies, thus damaging the body causes the Mazoku to automatically and involuntarily drain energy from its true "Astral" form to repair the damage. Killing a Mazoku involves destroying this Astral form, and devoid of spells that attack the Astral form the only way to do this is to inflict such massive damage upon its physical form that it literally bleeds itself dry trying to repair the damage. Ranma's goal in this battle, quite simply, was to achieve this by literally tearing Valmont's physical form to pieces.
It was a goal he was well on the way to achieving. Glutinous ichor, a physical manifestation of the energy draining from the Mazoku's Astral form, steadily flowed from the ragged stump of Valmont's spine, the spindly legs growing from its length clicking spasmodically on the floor. Valmont's cries and struggles were growing weaker as Ranma rained a hail of blows down upon him, crushing the segments of his spine, smashing fangs loose and pulping flesh into a squamous mass. Ranma pinned one of Valmont's arms under his foot, then snapped it in a single vicious wrench. Valmont weakly lashed out with one of his limbs to try and impale or eviscerate the martial artist, but Ranma dodged the blow, seized the limb and tore it from its socket.
Finally, the Mazoku ceased moving altogether. Ranma gave it a few more punches for good measure, then plunged his hand into the near-protoplasmic mass. Finally finding the Nullstone, a massive specimen about the size of a human heart, he stood up from the mess and turned towards the others, a weary grin on his filth-stained features.
"First real martial arts challenge I've had in a while. Still, it was worth it; who knows what could happen if this fell into the wrong hands?"
"What about the right ones?"
The unfamiliar sepulchral voice echoed from behind Ranma; he spun around only to receive a massive backhand that sent him flying into a cavern wall with bone-breaking force, the back of his skull cracking audibly. The figure that had backhanded him had also managed to seize the Nullstone, which glinted at the edge of Lina's Lighting spell. Instinctively, Lina hurled a Fireball at the culprit, the sphere of flames illuminating that there was not one culprit but three, all of them Mazoku, judging by the abnormality of their forms. In the after-flash as the Fireball was absorbed, the trio disappeared as Gourry and Ryoga charged towards them.
"Forget it. They're long gone by now. Let's get Ranma out of here; that sounded like a pretty nasty blow."
Nodding his agreement, Ryoga walked over and hoisted the unconscious Ranma over his shoulder, following Lina as she led the group out of the cavern.
"Some Grandmaster."
He grumbled, prompting Gourry, who was walking behind him, to whack Ryoga on the head with the hilt of his sword.
"Show some respect; the guy took on a Mazoku with his bare-hands and won. I've never even heard of anyone trying to do something like that."
Several hours later, in a room rented in a nearby inn, Ranma was still to come round. Ryoga paced uneasily back and forth as Lina, Gourry and Amelia ate a light snack. By their standards anyway.
"How can you eat like that? Even Ranma has better manners than that, and his father used to make him fight for every mouthful of food he got!"
Any (muffled) replies Ryoga might have received never happened, for it was at that moment Ranma choose to groan and slowly raise himself into a sitting position.
"Ohh… My head. Where am I?"
"You're in the Dancing Dog Inn, in Delasoa. We brought you here after those Mazoku got the jump on you."
Ranma turned to Ryoga with a puzzled look.
"Do I… know you?"
Ryoga laughed lightly.
"Oh come on Ranma, it's me, Ryoga."
"Ranma? Is that my name? Is that who I am?"
Ryoga's laughter trailed off suddenly as he slowly looked into the blank, faintly puzzled eyes of Ranma.
Xellos had, on a whim, decided to stop and grab a cup of tea from a café in Delasoa. He was just paying the waitress when he heard what sounded like someone shouting.
"Shi-shi Hokodan!"
And that was when the massive beam of sickly green energy blazed into the sky, practically destroying the building it was originating from. Xellos tracked the beam with one eye actually half-opened; if he had been a lesser Mazoku, he would have started to drool. Pure unadulterated despair, refined and focused to such a degree, and in such quantities! To a Mazoku, it was like seeing a massive geyser of the finest gourmet chocolate suddenly spouting in their backyard. He instantly teleported to where the beam had come from; it looked like he'd finally found those he was looking for.
In the now wrecked hotel room, Ranma looked at Ryoga, now faintly shimmering with green flames, with a politely curious and slightly puzzled look whilst the Slayers extracted themselves from the wreckage. Ryoga ignored them all.
"No! I can't be stuck here forever, I simply can't be! I have a life! I have a family! I never even got the chance to tell Akane how I feel about her!"
"What is he going on about?"
Ranma asked Lina, who shrugged her confusion. Amelia spoke up.
"He has an absolutely lousy sense of direction; he can't even find his way around his own house without getting lost. But why do you say you'll be stuck here forever? Can't you give someone else a map and have them take you?"
Ryoga froze at Amelia's questions; Ranma had given him a very detailed description of precisely what would happen if Ryoga revealed that he and Ranma were from a different dimension. He quickly thought up a lie to save himself from a fate involving ice cubes, Akane's mallet and assorted puckered body cavities (don't ask and don't go there- you really don't want to know).
"I can't because… because… the lands we come from are shrouded by ancient and extremely powerful magical barriers. You can't even find the lands unless you know the counterspells, and Ranma is the only one of us who knows how to use magic. If he doesn't regain his memories, we'll be stuck here forever!"
"My, my, what an interesting tale."
"Gah!"
Ryoga jumped as Xellos suddenly teleported into the room, prompting angry gazes from Lina and Zelgadis (Amelia was too nice, Ranma didn't know Xellos even when he had his memories, and Gourry was… well, Gourry). He ignored them to instead walk over to Ranma, who simply looked at him curiously.
"Hi, do I know you?"
"No, I shouldn't think so. I am Xellos, the Mysterious Priest."
"Xellos the Fruitcake is more like it."
Muttered Zelgadis. Xellos and Ranma ignored him.
"I'm told my name is Ranma. How did you teleport like that?"
"I'm afraid that is a secret. But tell me something-"
Xellos' question was cut off as Lina grabbed him in a headlock.
"Oh no you don't! Every time you show up, we get dragged off on another quest. So what is it this time you Mazoku pain in the ass? Speaking of Mazoku, care to explain what the hell that lot were doing here earlier?"
"Please Lina, I honestly don't know what you're talking about. What Mazoku?"
"Don't play dumb with me! You know the ones, those four who invaded the castle here and butchered everyone inside looking for that Nullstone thing!"
"I can honestly assure you I know nothing about that! My mission- well, my mission is a secret, but I knew nothing about any Mazoku assigned to this area. And I've never even heard of something called a Nullstone."
"And why should I believe you?"
"Please Lina, I am the Trickster Priest, but I don't lie. I misdirect and leave things out of the story, true, but I never tell lies."
Grudgingly conceding, at least to herself, that that was the truth, Lina released him. Xellos made a show of smoothing down his rumpled suit before continuing.
"However, I have heard that a number of 'rogue' Mazoku have been literally appearing out of nowhere in the past couple of months. The ones who stole that Nullstone thing must have been part of their number."
"And I suppose you know absolutely nothing about where they went or what they're planning to do with that Nullstone?"
"As much as it shames me to admit it, yes. However, seeing as how I have no pressing prior engagements, I will be quite happy to accompany you on this quest."
"What quest? I don't remember saying anything about a quest!"
"Didn't you yourself say that nobody knows what they plan to do? Surely they must be stopped, if only to avenge your defeat."
Seeing Lina's eyes fill with anger and suspicion, Xellos quickly, though calmly, gestured towards Ranma.
"Surely they must have won, giving how you yourself said that they stole the Nullstone and logic dictates they must have been the ones who stole this boy's memories."
Lina was silent for a few moments as she mentally weighed everything Xellos had said and everything she knew in her mind. Then, slowly, she nodded her head.
"I'm probably going to regret this but… you're right. We have to go after them."
"That's right Ms. Lina! Justice demands that those monsters be found and punished for their crimes!"
"Yeah, that too. But I'm thinking that that Nullstone thing would probably fetch a kingdom's ransom if we sold it!"
Ignoring the stunned look on Amelia's face, Xellos clapped his hands once and smiled (well, smiled more than usual).
"It's settled then. Let's be off."
"Hold it! We're not going anywhere until we get a decent night's sleep!"
"Yeah. But we'll have to find a new inn; there's no roof here."
Everyone in the group stared at Gourry for that logical, if stupid, statement before they began to gather up their things to find a new room for the night.
Squeaks, digs himself a grave and buries himself
Don't kill me for this! I'd like to explain this, really I would, but the honest truth is that I have no idea where this came from! Please don't flame me too hard, okay?
Before anyone asks; Ranma knows the Extradimensional Warp because, well, he beat Happosai for the rights to all of his gear, including the Secret Technique Scrolls, and he did have 3 weeks in Dalara Peaks to study them, so he's bound to have picked up a few tricks.
The "Ranma the Zombie Pit-Fighter" thing is from an unwritten side-story, dating from the time when Ranma was stuck in Otherworld. I first meant to mention it in –I think it was Chapter 12?- but I couldn't think of how to do it, so it got posted here.
The fight with Valmont, well, one reviewer complained that Ranma wasn't really much of a martial artist anymore. The "no pain" thing was because it's kind of the way I'd imagine Elementalists fight; no emotions of any sort whatsoever.
Well, I've made my excuses and dug my grave. I'm ready for your replies.