Ryoga sighed as he once more found himself in the middle of nowhere, wondering how he could have possibly wound up there. He was pretty certain he was still in Japan, as he didn't remember crossing any oceans and he wasn't in his cursed form. Then again, he might have hitchhiked and fallen asleep again. One time doing that he'd wound up in Paris somehow, and walked the full length of Eurasia to get back to Japan while trying to find his way to the Eiffel Tower just to say he'd been. He really needed a travelling companion with a functional direction sense if he was going to track down Ranma for the next rematch before he turned 20...if not 30.

"Damn that Ranma…" he growled under his breath as he decided to stop by a deep lake that seemed untouched by man. "This is all his fault!" Truthfully, he couldn't actually pinpoint exactly why this particular situation was Ranma's fault, but he rarely let that get in the way of pinning the blame on the young Saotome. It was always Ranma's fault.

He paused as he reached into his bag for food and found something unfamiliar. This wasn't anything new to him, as he frequently found he'd grabbed souvenirs from places he didn't remember being, only for the souvenir in question to bring back the memories. He carefully pulled it out. In his hand was a hexagonal black box covered by crimson runic designs he didn't recognize.

"...I didn't manage to snag something cursed, did I?" he groaned worriedly as he looked at the box. "I really don't need another curse on top of the one I've already got." He started to throw the box away, but paused. "Then again, it might not be cursed...and if it's jewelry, maybe I could give it to Akane? Then she might like me as more than a friend!" He eagerly opened the box, only to sigh in disappointment. Inside was a black ring with a green cat paw design on the front, sitting on a red cushion. "No, I can't give her this, it's a man's ring, not one for a lady-"

A sphere of green and white light erupted slowly out of the ring.

"IT IS CURSED!" Ryoga screamed in terror as he flung the box from him and into the lake. The sphere of light, however, floated out of the box towards him before blazing brighter...and then solidifying into a tiny black cat-like fairy that opened bright green eyes to stare at him. "Don't eat me!" Ryoga screamed out in terror as he backed away rapidly.

The fairy blinked at him for a time. "Okay...that's a new one," he grumbled, his voice quite masculine despite the tiny size. He stretched out and gave a loud yawn before smacking his lips. "I'm not going to eat you," he said flatly. "I'm nowhere near big enough. I mean, given size if anyone should be worried about getting eaten it's me, but I'm not-"

"You're the blatantly magical creature that came out of the cursed ring!" Ryoga gasped out. "For all I know, you're going to expand into a giant panther, hunt me down, and turn me into pork chops!"

The cat fairy blinked at him repeatedly. "...great, I got the crazy again," he grumbled to himself. He then shuddered and crossed his tiny arms and glanced away, a bad memory briefly returning. "So, got anything to eat?" he asked curiously. "Not you, but maybe some cheese? Probably a bit much to ask for Camembert in the middle of the forest-"

"Third row of pockets on the pack from the top, left side, second pouch, in the sealed bag under the Belgian chocolates and next to the tiny stuffed bunny," Ryoga responded immediately. "It's all I got though."

Curious, the cat-fairy flowed into the pouch described, pushing aside the other items to pull out the container. "Wow!" he declared happily. "You've got two whole pounds here! I think you and I are going to get along just fine!" He began attempting to tear at the package.

Ryoga sighed in relief. "Well, that's something at-"

"I was talking to the cheese," the cat-fairy interrupted. "But if you get this open for me, I guess you're cool."

Ryoga quickly got the package open, breaking off a piece of cheese about the size of the cat-fairy before sealing it back up.

"You even know my portion size!" the cat-fairy purred happily as he zoomed up like liquid shadow and wrapped his tiny limbs around the cheese. "Oh...come to Plagg, my sweet, succulent, sensual delight…" He began to now on the rather stinky cheese, looking almost as though he were having an orgasmic experience.

"So you're...Plagg?" Ryoga clarified. "I'm...Ryoga Hibiki. Why were you in the cursed ring?"

"The Black Cat Miraculous isn't cursed," Plagg corrected irritably. "It's part of a set of magical items called the Miraculous which contain immense magical power, meant to protect the world from evil, chaos, and overall bad stuff. Ones chosen by the Miraculous are supposed to use the power - with the help of Kwamis like yours truly - to protect the world and be heroes. All that good stuff, like Camembert."

"Oh…" Ryoga frowned thoughtfully. "So...I shouldn't have tossed it into the lake, then?"

Plagg choked on a bite of his cheese. "You what?" he yowled out in fury. "Why would you do that?"

"I opened the box and it blazed with light and energy!" Ryoga shouted back defensively. "I thought it was going to explode on me!"

"Well it didn't do that, now did it?" Plagg snapped back. "We need to get it back, quick! Losing a Miraculous is a very bad thing! The world could come to an end if it falls into the wrong hands...or worse!"

"Right!" Ryoga responded eagerly. Turning he raced off away from the lake.

Plagg flew up and seized Ryoga's ear, hauling back on it to make him stop. "Where are you going?" he demanded.

"To get the ring!" Ryoga explained. "I threw it in the lake!"

"You mean the lake back the other way?" Plagg informed waspishly. "Either you've got the world's worst sense of direction, or you mean some other lake-"

"The former," Ryoga allowed sadly.

"...right," Plagg groaned as he flew into Ryoga's hair. Seizing two handfuls, he yanked on one until Ryoga turned and was facing the lake. "Now forward!"

"I can't go into the water!" Ryoga complained as he moved forward at Plagg's physical urging. "It's cold! I can't swim well as a pig!"

"How you view women has nothing to do with your swimming ability!" Plagg groused as he flew out of Ryoga's hair and slammed into the small of his back. "Get that ring!"

Ryoga let out a startled yelp. "That's not what I-" he started to scream, only to be cut off by a massive splash as he fell into the lake.

"Then what did you-" Plagg started to scream.

"Bweeee!"

Plagg stared at the tiny black piglet struggling to stay afloat on the water's surface, Ryoga's bandana around its neck. Groaning, he flew down and lifted Ryoga out of the water by the bandana. "You should have told me you had a Jusenkyo curse," he groused. Opening the pack, he dropped Ryoga into it. "Stay put!" he ordered before diving into the lake.

Ryoga stayed where he was in the pack, not wanting to anger the cat-fairy that could carry so much...especially not if he knew something about Jusenkyo and could maybe help him cure his curse! Then he could finally get his revenge against Ranma!

After a time, Plagg came up out of the lake carrying the box. "You are damn lucky," he grumbled angrily as he dropped the box, it flipping open to reveal the ring. "It's still in the box. If it had fallen out, I might have never found it, and it could have been lost forever. Sheesh…" He lifted Ryoga back out of the pack and dropped him before phasing through him.

"Bweee-EAHGH!" Ryoga screamed out as he seemed to spark before turning back into a human...though naked. "That is not a pleasant-how'd you do that?" He stared at himself, marveling at how he had changed back without application of hot water.

"The Black Cat Miraculous is the power of Destruction," Plagg explained as he went back to his cheese. "Break a few water molecules, it releases a bunch of heat into the rest, and cold water turns hot with a little extra gas. Easy peasy. Heck, you might even learn to do it."

Ryoga swiftly pulled a spare change of clothes out of his pack and began to get dressed. "Destruction?" he asked in surprise. "How does that work?"

"Well, with the Miraculous it's the power of Cataclysm," Plagg explained. "Black energy that makes any material you touch break down and crumble as the molecular bonds are attacked by magical energy. Useful, but dangerous."

"Sounds a bit like the Bakusai Tenketsu," Ryoga observed as he pulled his new shirt on, which was identical to the old one save it wasn't slowly sinking to the bottom of a lake. "But that only works on rock."

"Same technique, but using magic to amplify and control the destruction," Plagg confirmed. "If you know the ki technique, you might even be able to do more with it."

"So it works on more than just rock?" Ryoga asked eagerly. "Like metal? And wood? Does it work on fle-"

SMACK!

Ryoga stared in shock, his hand going to his cheek where Plagg had slapped him without warning, hard enough to leave three claw grooves in his cheek and make his entire face redden. Plagg's eyes were narrowed to dangerous slits, unholy fury within them.

"Word of advice…" he hissed out in fury. "Don't even think about that last one...ever! Keep that in mind, we'll get along just fine. Got it?"

Ryoga nodded quickly, once more terrified.

Plagg sighed as he seemed to deflate from the rage. "Just...just put the ring on," he grumbled as he floated away. "I'm...I'm gonna take a nap. Wake me if you encounter a monster or something."

"Only if I can't handle it myself," Ryoga promised as he slipped the ring on, desperate to get back on Plagg's good side.

Plagg sighed. "Look, just…" He shook his head. "The answer to your last question is yes, but there's a reason it's a sore spot with me...and it isn't your fault. Just…" He stared off into space, curling up around himself. "...we'll talk later." With that, he swept himself into Ryoga's pack, curling up to nap.

Ryoga sighed as he stared down at the ring. "What have I gotten myself into?" he moaned as he hefted the pack to his shoulders, deciding he needed to find somewhere else to set up camp for the night. Ranma, I know somehow this is all your fault! he thought firmly as he turned decisively to walk away from the lake and-

Splash!

"Bweee!"

"Oh, COME ON!"