"One thing is for sure," Spar murmured to himself as he reached Windia. "Living in this world is never boring..."
The people of Windia threw him a few astonished looks, for it was very rare for a member of the plant tribe to leave the forest. But Spar didn't himself be bothered by that. The only thing important was now that he reached the castle, so he could inform Nina.
"Spar, is that you?"
Surprised, Spar turned around and recognized a familiar person that was approaching him.
"Bow?" he asked. "Why are you here?"
"I'm on the hunt," the antropomorphic dog explained. "Our hunter's guild has received several hints that the Joker Gang might be active again in the surrounding woods of HomeTown, Coursair and Windia. Our elder gave me the order to find out more, so we could send a bigger group of hunters to deal with them."
"Well, I just had the honor of running into a few of them..." Spar said with a frown. "Their leader was called Baba... and they kidnapped Katt!"
"WHAT?" Bow said with a sudden snarl. "Damn those... quick, did they say where they were coming from?"
"Not really," Spar shook his head. "They only said they wanted to take her to their new leader..."
"Ah, then they must have taken their to their hideout, I already know where that is. Thank you, buddy! But I have to hurry... if they ever did anything to harm her..." Again, the young hunter showed off his sharp fangs.
"Wait a minute, Bow!" Spar stopped him. "I just wanted to inform Nina... she has a few guests, friends of Katt... maybe we should go together!"
"Sorry, but I have no time to wait for Nina now!" Bow yelled back as he started running. "But she already knows where the Jokers' hideout is... come after me as soon as you can!"
"Well, all right!"
"Katt, I'm coming!" the dog-man shouted as he ran out of town.
Spar shook his head. Now it made sense to him... the way Katt and Bow had looked at each other during the final part of their adventure...
He knew they would have to tell this to Katt's old friends sooner or later... but for now, they had more urgent problems.
He went to the castle and approached the guards. "Excuse me, but I am a friend of Princess Nina, and I have an urgent message for her..."
"What?" Akane shouted. "Ranma was being kidnapped?"
"Impossible!" Ukyo said with determination. "Ranma would have never let a bunch of thieves capture him like that!"
"Will you ever learn it, you two?" Patty groaned. "HER name is KATT!"
"All right already..." Ukyo said grumpily. "But still, that Ran... Katt would get knocked out so easily..."
"They didn't knock her out, they shot her with a poisoned needle... most likely with a sleeping drug," Spar explained. "I'm sorry I couldn't protect her..." He looked down.
"It's not your fault, Spar!" Nina assured him. "But we have to go now, who knows what the bandits will do to her?"
"Maybe it's revenge," Ryoga assumed. "You told me that you, Katt and this Ryu guy defeated their leader some time ago, right?"
The winged princess nodded. "Yes, and if they're still using the same hideout, we might just have a chance of saving her."
"IF she needs some help..." Akane muttered. "Back in our world, Ranma had always been able to free himself from such situations."
"Well, this world is kinda different," Patty pointed out. "More magic, more monsters... although Katt had two years to adapt..."
"I'll go to the royal armory and see if we can use some of the new armor our blacksmiths crafted last week," Nina said. "Wait for me in the entrance hall, I'll be back soon."
With those words, she left. Patty shrugged and walked through the door as well. "You coming?" she asked Spar and the Nerimians.
"I think this is a waste of time..." Ryoga muttered. "She is strong enough to handle things by herself."
"Shut up, Ryoga!" Akane said. "I don't want to risk anything... this is my fiance we are talking about!"
"Um, about that..." Patty spoke up.
"Excuse me, but we really don't have the time for this," Spar sighed. "If we don't hurry, both Bow and Katt will be in trouble."
"Why Bow?" Patty asked in confusion.
"Well, I met him in town, and when I told him that Katt was being kidnapped, he went to save her all by himself... there's nothing I could have done to stop him. But he asked me to hurry and come after him as soon as Nina is informed."
"Well, then Her Highness better hurries..." Ukyo muttered as they arrived in the castle's entrance hall. "How long does it take to get to that damn armory anyway?"
"What would we need armor or weapons for anyway?" Ryoga grumbled. "My fists are all what I need."
"Well excuuuse me, mister, but there are a few among us that aren't trained in unarmed combat," Patty pointed out.
While the prattling went on, Spar couldn't help but notice the silent beauty that was standing aloof.
He approached her. "Excuse me..."
She was startled, so he believed she might have been in thoughts. He gave her a reassuring smile. "Sorry if I surprised you. Are you all right? You are another of Katt's old friends, are you?"
Shampoo nodded. She opened her mouth, but nothing came out.
"I see..." Spar nodded. "So you can't talk, I presume?"
Shampoo nodded with a sigh. She then took out a tiny notepad and a pen and wrote something on it.
Spar was glad that he had learned how to read and write ever since he met his friends for the first time. "You are Shampoo?" He smiled. "Nice to meet you, Shampoo!"
She smiled back. He was glad that his unusual appearance didn't seem to faze her. She then wrote something else.
'Ranma?'
Spar looked up from the note. "This is what Katt was called back in your world, right?" he asked. Shampoo nodded.
Spar looked at her closely. "You are worried about her. You must have been close friends."
Shampoo buried her face in her hands. Spar wondered whatever caused her to react like this. "I'm sorry if... Was it something I said?"
The lavender-haired girl sniffled a bit and then wrote a new sentence.
'Is my fault Ranma is here. So is my fault he is captured by bandits.'
The main language of the Dragon World didn't seem to be her native language, as Spar could see from her writing.
"I don't know how all of this might be your fault... from what I heard, this was an accident. But don't worry... Katt is hardly a person that holds a grudge. You are a fighter, aren't you? Well, if you help us save her, I think she will be glad."
'Shampoo lousy fighter...' she wrote hastily. 'Has always used tricks to gain Airen...' She paused and scribbled over that last word. Spar wondered what it meant.
'...to gain Ranma's love. But Ranma never loved Shampoo back. Then Shampoo's mistake caused Ranma to disappear... now she won't even be her friend...'
Spar could see that this girl was very troubled by what happened. And even if she did a few mistakes, he realized that she was genuinely sorry.
"I'll tell you what," he said and put his arm over her shoulder in a reassuring manner. "We both do our best to save our friend, and when we have the chance to talk to her, I'll ask her if she is still angry at you. This way you'll be sure if she still wants to be your friend or not."
Shampoo hesitated, but then gave Spar a massive hug, even though it was not a fierce as one of her infamous Amazon Glomps...
With teary eyes, she released the surprised grass man and scribbled another note:
'Thank you!'
Katt looked around. She was inside a bleak cave that was illuminated by torches. She could see one tunnel on the other side of the cave, but no other exit.
She took a closer look at her cell. It was really nothing more but a squarish, metal frame lying on the ground, surrounding her, but rising up from that frame was a shimmering field of pinkish energy. This energy field formed a big cube, in which she was imprisoned.
Katt carefully rose a finger and moved it towards the shimmering barrier. She winced, already suspecting what would happen.
She only felt a slight tickle that made the fur on her backside stand up.
She frowned. "Well, this barrier sure doesn't seem too solid for me... I think I'll just smash my way through!"
She noticed that someone had taken away her battle stick, but there were still other ways...
She drew back her fist, took a deep breath and smacked it forcefully against the barrier.
A sudden burst of energy threw her backwards. She landed on the hard floor with a groan.
"Okay..." she murmured. "It won't work that way... Damn, I hate magic!"
In her adventure with Ryu and her other new friends, she had tried to use magic, but she had never been able to develop enough skill to cast a spell. Oh, she knew how to perform the necessary gestures... but there was just not enough magic running through her body, as Nina had once explained to her.
"Well, time for plan B," she muttered. She stood up and shouted: "Hello? Anybody there?"
For a while, nothing happened, but then she heard footsteps coming through the tunnel. Finally, a small, but obese man entered the cave and grinned at her. He was bald and wore bandit's clothes.
"Ah, you're awake!" he said. "Fine, fine... then let's discuss what we're going to do with you next, shall we?"
"How about letting me out of here so I can kick your ass?" the Woren snarled. "What's the meaning of this anyway?"
"Patience, little cat!" the man smirked. "But I can see how eager you are to learn the truth... Very well, let me introduce myself: I am Jack... Joker's younger brother!"
"And you have taken over his Joker Gang, I assume," Katt spoke up.
"Precisely!" Jack nodded. Time really has been rough for us since the defeat of our great leader... Back then, I was just one of many subordinates, under my big brother's command. But I never complained: Joker lead us to many successful raids and burglaries, and we were able to live in luxury with the booties we claimed."
He sighed. "But one day, Joker got this strange idea: We should take a magician or sorcerer into the gang, so we could be even more powerful and gather even more goods. He became infatuated with that Nina from the Wizard School in HomeTown, so he sent a few of our men to kidnap her little sister."
Jack shook his head. "All went well until you and your blue-haired warrior friend intervened. Not only did you beat up our best bandits and sneaked into our hideout, no, you even killed my beloved brother!"
He darkly glared at the imprisoned Woren. "Ever since that day, I have sworn to avenge my brother. I took over the leadership of the Joker Gang and made my men search for the three murderers of my brother! After we found out that Nina was back in her parents' kingdom, we decided that we wouldn't be able to reach her. Also, we could never find a trace of your blue-haired friend."
'Of course not!' Katt thought. 'Because he transformed into a Great Dragon and is right now guarding the gates to Infinity.'
Jack then sneered at her gleefully. "But at least I got you! And I will make you pay for what you did!"
"Listen, Jack..." Katt sighed. "We never wanted to kill your brother, we just wanted to help Nina save her sister. In the end, Nina threw a fireball that caused some rubble to rain down from the ceiling, so Joker wouldn't be able to come after us. But just when we were going to flee... he turned into a demon!"
"You lie!" Jack shouted in rage.
"It's true," Katt insisted. "He attacked us savagely after we wanted to take Nina away from that place. We had to kill him, Jack! Or else he would have killed us."
"I don't believe you!" the new leader of the Joker Gang shot back. "My big brother... he would have never allowed something like that to happen to him. We might be a band of criminals... but we have never been in league with demons!"
"You can deny it as much as you want, I was there," Katt replied. "I have seen the beast that your brother has turned into. His obsession with Nina caused him to be possessed by the demon. You told me yourself that he was infatuated with her, right?"
"Shut up!" Jack growled. "I don't believe a word you say!" He raised his finger and pointed at her. "Heed my words, you will die tonight! I came up with a very special way to execute you. As if we can't take your other two friends to join you, your death will have to be even more painful and slow. Enjoy your next few hours, Woren... because they will be your last!"
With an evil laugh, the obese man left the cave, leaving Katt by herself.
"Well, crap!" she grumbled. "That means I have to find a way out of this magic cage before nightfall, or else I'm screwed... just great!"
Meanwhile, a dark shape was scurrying through the woods near the Jokers' hideout at Mt. Rocko. When he saw two bandits guarding the entrance, he carefully snuck up on them, then knocked one of them out with a wooden club.
The other guard turned around in surprise. "Hey, what...?"
WHACK!
With a groan, the hoodlum slumped down to the ground.
Bow dropped the wooden club to the floor and took his crossbow from his back. He squinted his eyes as he looked into the black hole that was the entrance to Mt. Rocko.
"I'm coming, Katt!" he said with determination.