Chapter 1:
"Owww!"
Herb smirked at his "student," "You are getting better at flying."
Ranma growled at Herb, "I will get the hang of this in no time at all."
Herb chuckled, "You can barely stay on course using the Ryu Sei Hisho, much less without it."
Ranma growled, "My school of combat is an aerial school, I will learn this in no time at all."
Herb smirked, "Sure you will, it is amazing to me that this technique, the simplest of the high-level techniques of my school, is the one that you are unable to do with any level of proficiency."
Ranma pulled the sticks and shaking the mud from her soggy head, "How is it that I am always the one ending up in water?"
Herb chuckled, "Changing the subject, an old but time tested strategy that won't work on me."
Ranma grumbled, "There has got to be some trick to it."
Herb smirked, "There is, but I am leaving you to figure it out. After all you are the one who reverse engineered the Hiryu Shoten Ha in mid-combat."
Ranma growled, and then smirked, "Alright then, let me try something else on you."
Herb raised an eyebrow at her, "And what may I ask are you going to attempt to do?"
Ranma smirked, "This! Happōgojūensatsu!"
She held up a fifty-yen coin and Herb's eyes bulged as he felt his strength start to leave him as his ki flowed through the air towards the large piece of currency. Herb went down to a knee and yelled, "Are you a complete IDIOT?!"
Ranma blinked, "Huh?"
BOOOOOOOOOOM
Herb winced as he got to his feet, "Moron."
Ranma coughed up a bit of smoke from her position buried inside what was left of a giant tree and fell unconscious.
Ranma woke up sore all over, "Ow, I haven't felt this sore since…"
Herb pulled aside the tent flap and walked in, "Since you decided to hit yourself with all those boulders so you could learn the breaking point technique last week?"
Ranma shook her head, "No, since I was last hit by your dumb bodyguard when he thought I was attacking you that first time we sparred."
Herb sighed, "Can you tell me what exactly you were trying to accomplish?"
Ranma winced, "I figured out how my teacher, Miss Hinako, absorbs ki and I was trying to use it to surprise you."
Herb smacked Ranma over her head, "No one can do that, you idiot. Most of the time people's raw ki is completely incompatible with other's bodies. It is like blood types and compatibility between relatives in western medicine. If you were completely incompatible then you would be dead right now. The only way you should be able to do what you tried to do is if you were the ki equivalent of a universal receiver."
Ranma raised an eyebrow, "How do you know about western medicine?"
Herb looked off to the side, "My father thought that me learning about it would help me master some of my schools healing abilities. You would be surprised how much of it is based more is science then pseudo-science."
Ranma winced, "So Miss Hinako is a universal receiver?"
Herb nodded, "That or her biology was altered in some way to compensate for the additional non-compatible energy."
Ranma sighed, "Based on the stuff Happosai told me, I think the second option is the accurate one."
Herb shrugged, "I wouldn't know, but it seems that there actually was some level of compatibility between us considering the facts that you are still alive and well…"
Ranma sat up, "Well wha…"
She stopped at the white lock the floated down in front of her face, and she knew, it was hers. She grabbed her pigtail and looked at it. It was as white as new fallen snow. She surged to her feet and rushed outside, finding a pool of water situated nearby. Her reflection wasn't as odd as she thought it would be. Everything was still the same, except her eyes reminded her of a reptiles like Herb's when he was angry. The roots of her hair were a light blue while the rest of it was white.
Herb sighed as he stepped out of the tent, "You should go back to normal in a day or two. I checked some stuff while you were out of it, and apparently there is a reason you aren't dead yet."
Ranma sat down on a rock that she belatedly realized was around a garden-like pool with a pair of koi fish within, "Like what?"
Herb sighed, "You have demon and dragon blood flowing through your veins. There is barely anything there, probably due to the fact that you seem to be around 20 or more generations removed from your nearest full-blooded relative on both sides. It was enough to save your life though, and what you see in the pool is a result of both parts of your ancestry working overtime to keep you from dying."
Ranma blinked, "I am part demon and part dragon?"
Herb nodded, "All demons to some degree or other are able to consume life-force and you are descended from the same ki-dragon I am. Your bloodline was just strong enough to absorb and utilize my ki, but if it had been any weaker than you would have died."
Ranma winced, "Then why do I feel so dang weak?"
Herb sighed, "Your body is still adjusting. When it has fully adjusted to the power you absorbed from me and gotten rid of the excess then you will go back to looking like normal. You will also probably be stronger and faster and better able to utilize your ki then you were before though."
Ranma smiled and looked around, "That is a relief, so where are we?"
Herb smirked, "We are at our destination."
Lime popped up from beside Herb, "We got here last night."
Mint popped up on his other side, "Lord Herb figured you would probably want to be awake when we met the demon lady."
Herb frowned, "Don't you two have jobs around the campsite you need to be doing?"
Mint smiled, "We finished them."
Herb growled, "Undo them and redo them again."
Lime's jaw popped open, "But…"
Herb glared at them, his eyes glowing with power, "Are you questioning me?"
Mint grabbed Lime's arm, "Nope not all."
Ranma giggled at them disappearing in a dust cloud. Then she realized what she was doing and stopped, glaring at Herb who was looking at her in amusement, "Not one word."
Herb chuckled, "You aren't the only one that has happened to."
Ranma pouted at him, "Let's just get this over with, then it won't have to happen ever again."
Herb sighed, "You should know before we do this, I am also doing this out of a sense of self-preservation."
Ranma raised an eyebrow, "How so?"
Herb winced, "My father told me that if I couldn't find a cure then he would force me to marry you for your strength."
Ranma gave him a blank stare, "What?"
Herb nodded, "I had a feeling that would be your reaction. My father isn't exactly the most sensitive sort. He values strength above all else, and in his mind if you are strong enough to beat me then you are strong enough to marry me. That is how I am going to repay my life-debt to you, by keeping you out of my father's clutches."
Ranma sighed, "With everyone it is either marry me or kill me, when am I ever going to get a break?"
Herb winced, "It is much worse than that. Because we share a curse my father got the idea into his head that if we married whenever one of us wasn't pregnant the other would be, that way we could replenish the dragon race even just a little bit."
Ranma's eye twitched, "Your father has issues."
Herb nodded, "Indeed. This way, if our curses are cured then we don't have to worry about that."
Ranma nodded, "One more thing to look forward to then. Anyways… Why aren't you bringing Lime and Mint along?"
Herb's eye twitched, "They would only tick her off again like they did last time."
Ranma smirked, "Do I want to know?"
Herb growled, "You can probably guess, but I doubt it."
Ranma held up her hands, "Say no more."
Herb nodded, "I won't. Now let's get in the building."
Ranma stood up and turned to go the direction Herb was pointed in, just to see a massive building done in ancient Chinese style. It was both massive and impressive, "What did you say this place was called again?"
Herb smirked, "I didn't, this is the Precious Jade Workshop, home to all manner of crazy things that can make your head spin, some of them quite literally."
Ranma sighed, "Please tell me that that this won't backfire."
Herb shrugged, "There is a good chance it might."
Ranma sighed again, "I am guessing you don't know any hocus pocus in case this goes wrong?"
Herb nodded, "My studies didn't really include magic."
Ranma hung her head and started walking towards the giant red double doors, "Whoopee…"
Herb shook his head and walked after her, amused at her lack of reaction upon opening the door to the dimly lit storage room beyond. They walked inside, and Herb saw the owner and her two minions sitting at the desk. He became wary though once he saw the look of intrigue that flashed across the demon's face.
She stood up, her clothing barely remaining on like always, "Well, well, well, my good Prince. I thought from your descriptions that my newest costumer was going to be both male and human. What we have here is a female demon dragon hybrid of rather potent lineage unless I miss my guess. Though those of her demonic lineage usually deal with that demon sword maker, Totosai, instead of little ole me."
Herb sighed, "He is human and suffers from the same curse I do. His current appearance is the result of the curse and a martial arts technique gone wrong."
Ranma blinked, "You know what demon I am a descendent of?"
She nodded, "Indeed, my little hybrid human. You seem to me to be a descendent of that old stick in the mud Inu no Taisho. When he was in his younger days that fuddy duddy killed off some of my customers because they had the ghastly habit…"
Her head swapped around, revealing her fox face to Ranma, "Of feeding on humans."
Ranma glared, "You don't scare me."
The fox-woman grinned toothily and swapped her head back around, "I like this one… So, you are here to have your curses cured eh?"
Ranma nodded, "Yes, I am. Name the price."
The fox-woman tapped her pipe against her face for a couple moments, then she grinned and tapped the box next to her open, "Two things, the first is that you will no longer be human, and the second is that you must travel to a new world."
Ranma raised an eyebrow, "Would I be able to get back?"
The fox-woman nodded, "Where there is a will, there is a way. You will have to make your own way back, but it is entirely possible."
Ranma nodded, "Good, I am not leaving my younger sibling in the hands of my parents if I can help it."
The woman blinked, surprised, "Oh?"
Herb twitched and said something to summarize the situation, "They are abusive."
Ranma whirled on Herb, "Herb!"
Herb growled, "I won't be having this discussion with you again, Ranma."
Ranma growled and blue corona of power manifested itself around her, before fading away as she sighed. The fox-woman raised an eyebrow at that, and got off her desk and motioned for the two dragon descendants to follow her. They walked in between rows of stacked boxes into the center of a room with weird designs on the ground, and all around. Ranma raised an eyebrow when without much fanfare the woman stomped on the floor and caused it to flip into a pool of water. Ranma new there was something odd going on considering Herb hadn't changed, and she was rewarded for her lack of freaking out by her head breaking the "surface" of the underground pool completely dry.
Ranma watched as the woman waved and multiple boxes disengaged from the wall, they formed into a train in the air and weaved their way down to the small gathering of people. She felt something at the edge of her senses that set her on edge, but she chalked it up to being in the presence of multiple demons. She watched as the woman pulled a beautiful Jade hairpin from a box and caused it to float above her hand.
The fox-woman waved Herb backwards and stepped up to Ranma, "Fusing this hairpin into and with your body will cure you of your curses young one, I will ask again. Is this truly what you want to do?"
Ranma blinked, "Wait, I just realize you have been saying curses. Do I have more then one?"
The woman nodded in amuzement, "I am surprised the prince didn't pick up on that. You both share more than one curse in common."
Ranma growled, "I am guessing pops probably has something to do with my other curses. Anyways, how will that hairpin help me?"
The woman smirked, "It will convert your curses into pure magical power and fully awaken your non-human heritage so you will become a demonic dragon or a draconic demon. Depends on which side of your heritage is stronger."
Ranma's eyes narrowed, "Will I still be able to use my martial arts?"
The woman nodded, "Demons and Dragons are shapeshifters, so I doubt you will have a problem there as long as you can figure out how to shapeshift."
Ranma looked in her eyes searching for any deception, "How long will that take?"
The demon shrugged, "Depends entirely on you."
Ranma smirked, "Then I will figure it out in no time."
The demon smiled, "I assume that is a yes."
Ranma nodded, "So long as I can keep my sibling from suffering my parent's idiocy."
The demon tapped her finger to her chin, "How about if you aren't back shortly after he or she is born then she gets sent to you in the world you are going to?"
Ranma raised her eyebrow, "And the price of that?"
The demon smirked, "She grows up with you as a parental figure instead of your parents."
Herb smirked with his arms crossed off to the side, "I don't know which the more terrifying thought is."
Ranma growled at the half-dragon prince, and the she turned to the demon-lady, "Do it."
The lady smirked and started mumbling something unintelligible to Ranma or Herb, and the hairpin did a nice impression of a throwing knife and embedded itself in the center of Ranma's chest. Energy started pooling off Ranma's body and combining with the energy shimmering around the hairpin as it sunk into her body. The first sign to both Ranma and Herb that something had gone wrong by their estimation was when Ranma's legs shifted into a brilliant white snake's tail and her eyebrows turned into white scales, giving her the appearance of a Lamia. The second sign was the fact that she was increasing in size. The third was that her arms were not growing with her. Her howl of pain came out more as a hissing screech, and her features were getting more and more reptilian.
The fox woman nodded slightly, "I had a feeling that is the direction your transformation would take, given your unique heritage and who the former owners of that pin were."
Ranma howled in pain and fired a Moko Takabisha at the woman from what little remained of her arm, and Herb ran around to the woman, "What have you done?"
The woman's head swapped around, "What was asked of me."
A brilliant light shined as Ranma screeched, her bulk was getting to be too massive for the room they were in to contain it. When the light died down she was no longer there.
Herb wheeled around with fury in his eyes, "You didn't say she would become a serpent."
The woman's head swapped back around, "I said she would no longer be human and that to perform her martial arts she would have to learn how to transform, and the reason she could not stay in this world is because it is no longer used to having giant demon dragons running around."
Herb growled, "When you cure me, send me after hi… Wait, did you say she?"
The woman smirked, "I did say you two shared more than one curse in common though she had more than you by far. You both seemed to have been cursed by your respective fathers before you were born so that you would be born male. That just means that not only is her dragon heritage through her father's side, but he has the same anti-woman penchant as your father. Honestly the lives you half-mortals lead is quite intriguing to me."
Herb's eyes widened at the implications of that, "Send me after her."
The woman nodded, "Due to your clan's magic your blood is as awakened as it is going to be. So for you something you hold dear must also be sacrificed."
Herb glared at her warily, "Like what? Based on what you said after my curse is cured I am going to be female anyways."
The woman smiled as she held up a pendant she had seemed to be holding behind her back, "Your age, maturity, and memories. These are what is going to be sacrificed. You shall be returned to an age before your earliest memory. She will have baggage in that new world, and you will be getting a fresh start. Your memories will only exist in the realm of nightmares and vague impressions. Do you still wish to go?"
Herb didn't even hesitate, "I owe her a life-debt that must now be paid tenfold for this betrayal of her. It isn't a matter of wanting to go. I must go."
The woman nodded, "So be it."
She tapped the pendent to Herb's chest, and in another flash of light the Dragon Prince was no more. She sighed and turned to address someone clothed in a white robe stepping out of the shadows of the room, "I have done as you requested of me. Now it is time you pay the price."
A delicate hand pushed thick glasses up on a narrow nose, "So long as Saotome is gone, I don't care what the price is."
The woman smiled nastily, "Your humanity is stripped from you. The blood of the phoenix is awakened. Your wings shall be darkened like your heart and you shall be banished from this world never to return again. So says the owner of the Precious Jade Workshop."
The pendant was flung at him by the demon woman faster than he could react and giant black duck wings pierced through the clothing on his back. His hands grew rough and his feet became like an eagle's talons. His glasses fell off as he screamed in agony revealing his eyes had become like a bird of prey's and his canines had elongated into fangs. In yet another brilliant flash of light, he was gone.
The woman picked up the still glowing pendant, "Foolish mortals."
