Chaos Bender
A Ranma ½ and Avatar: The Last Air Bender Crossover
Written by: Konsaki
The night's rain left the morning cool and crisp, a cool breeze bringing the clean smell into the room as the window was thrown open. The female at the window turned at the sound of complaint moaning out from under the covers behind her. The lump of cloth was balled up and mumbling something about crazy fiancées and stupid pandas who wanted to die.
"Hey, Ranma, get up", came the command, as the female walked from the window to bed. The only response was a disgruntled martial artist saying something almost inaudible except for a few choice words. Instead of getting angry, though, they only brought a malicious grin to the females face as she took a deep breath in.
"Ranma Saotome, prepare to die!"
Within the second, the bed was empty and a loose haired girl was in a defensive stance on the other side of the room, her black pants and white undershirt loose and moving in the slight breeze. Her look of concentration faded into ire, though, as she heard snickering from her 'opponent' across the room. In a swift move, she picked up a nearby pillow and threw it, yelling, "Damn it, Ryoga! What the hell?"
Just as the green haired girl caught the pillow easily, a smile that said 'I win' on her face, another voice broke into the room. "Ah, Ryoga… thank you for waking her, but did you have to try and wake the whole neighborhood?"
The redhead glanced over to see the brown haired healer, this time in a loose braid, at the door. A smile graced her face, but it was one of slight disbelief that went well with the shaking of her head. "Anyways, since you're both up now, get dressed and come down for breakfast.", she said before turning around and headed back downstairs. An amused giggle could be heard as she went.
Ranma looked from the door to the still smiling fighter. Crossing her arms, she frowned before saying, "You're an ass…"
Her grinning target just shrugged and headed out the door. Before exiting the room though, she looked over her shoulder and let out a snarky comment, "Hurry or I'll get your share…"
Ranma grumbled as she moved back over to the bed she had woken up from, the same one Hikaru had splashed her down in yesterday. Reaching up to the wall hook, she took down her blue top and tied it on while headed towards the door. By the time the teenager was down the stairs, she was finish and smelling the food that Hikaru was also finishing.
"Morning, Ranma-chan. How are you feeling?", came the greeting and question, even though the waterbender hadn't turned her back to the stove. She wore the same blue robes she wore the day before, the martial artist noticed after turning the corner and directing her attention towards the question.
Then, Ranma took stock of her own body, quickly inspecting her chi over. "I think I'm mostly healed", she started out before frowning slightly. 'but my chi is only at around half strength…', she silently finished to herself. She noticed Ryoga nod out of the corner of her eye, but brushed it off as she sat down opposite of her rival.
"That's good to hear, though I want to check just to make sure after we finish eating", she replied as she brought over what looked to be three bowls of oatmeal like substance. Ranma noticed there were bits of fruit mixed in as Hikaru continued, "Oh, have you thought about what you two are going to do today? I have a few house calls to make, so I wont be here for most of the day." Explaining that, her mouth twisted into a wry grin as she finished, "That means no getting yourself nearly killed, ok?"
Her response was two mumbles of understanding as the pair of martial artists were already eating. The brunette just shook her head as she started herself, wondering if she and her sister were ever this bad. The next minute or so was quiet, safe for the sounds of hunger being abated.
"Hey, Saotome", came as the silence was broke, "I thought about it after you crashed yesterday. We're gonna need some gear if we plan on traveling again. I feel sorta naked without my backpack."
Swallowing, the redhead replied, "Yeah, I felt that too. Me and Pop always had our gear when we headed out on training trips. Probably want to get some spare cloths too."
Putting her spoon back on the table, Hikaru nodded her head as she smiled, "Sounds like you girls are headed to the market then. Wish I could join you, but like I said, I have house calls to make."
Seeing Ranma was finished with the bowl in front of her, and not expecting her to want second, Hikaru stood up and moved around the table. "Ranma, let's get this exam done so I can head out on those house calls. Ryoga, could you clean up for me, please?"
--
One waterbender health check later, Ranma was tying her top back on while Hikaru yelled that she was leaving from the front door. The exam proved what Ranma thought already, so it was no big surprise to the martial artist. She just shrugged it off, since Tofu was the same way.
The kitchen was cleaned when the redhead finally made her way down into it for the second time that day. She noticed the stove still going, a pot on it, while Ryoga was sitting back down at the table, chin in hand. Pulling up the chair across from the girl, Ranma asked, "What's up?"
"Nothing, just figuring out what we'll need for a light load of gear. I figure well want a small tent, spare set of cloths and some canteens. We'll also want a pot or something to cook in, since I haven't seen instant ramen or anything like it yet", she marked off in her head with a nod on each item.
"You've been to the market already, right?" Ranma's question was answered with just a nod, "You think we'll be able to find that stuff?"
Ryoga nodded again, "Yeah, I think I've seen them already, so it shouldn't be a problem finding them again." Ryoga paused at Ranma's smirk, "Hey, I'm not that bad now…"
"Okay, okay. So what are we waiting for?", Ranma replied while standing up from the table.
"Just this", came Ryoga's cryptic reply as the tan clad martial artist moved around the table towards the stove. She dipped a ladle into the pot and quickly upturned it over her, making her a him. "Figure you'd be itching to turn back, but if you're that in touch with your feminine side…" Ranma let out an annoyed, "Hey!", as Ryoga lifted the pot by the handle and motioned to pour it down the drain basin.
--
A while later, the sound of content was heard from a black haired male as he stretched out his back. His fanged companion grinned, walking at his side, as he felt the same way. "Damn, it feels good to be a guy again", Ranma exclaimed, thankful for the chance to get away from Hikaru to change without causing her to freak or have to explain it.
"Yeah, but I'll take this curse any day. I don't really have too much problem with it", Ryoga replied with a shrug as they both walked down the road towards the market.
"Yeah, you never had three fiancées, either", Ranma snapped back, with a snort. "Then there's those idiot Kuno's who want to kill and woo me… both sides, both idiots…", he continued, shaking his head and growling. "Want me to go on? I got enough shit to keep talking till the sun goes down!"
"Alright, Alright! Quit your whining, Saotome", the bandana wearing male replied. "Sorry I brought it up."
"Yeah, whatever… Let's just get the gear we need", the blue eyed fighter said, finishing off the conversation.
--
The next half hour of walking was silent between the two, as the pair made their way deeper into the city. They passed many people, each going about their own business and not minding the pair any attention. Passing buildings and side streets as they went, Ranma and Ryoga marked off the similarities and differences, lopsided for the latter, between Gyon and Nerima.
Ranma, for the most part, found the lack of crazy people attacking him out of nowhere kind of relaxing, for a change. But it also unnerved him, as he looked around wondering if they were just laying in wait for him to really drop his guard. In Nerima, he would look relaxed most of the time, but that's because he unconsciously resigned himself to the fact that it was normal.
Ryoga on the other hand, kept flicking his gaze to his side every once in a while, making sure he hadn't lost Ranma… or himself. It had been three days since Hikaru started asking him to buy things from the market or deliver things, but he still wasn't over the fact that he could find his way without someone guiding him. What really unnerved him that he was that he was guiding Ranma at this point.
They both just shook their heads at their own internal musings. Finally, though, the ice was broken again by speech between the two.
"After you crashed yesterday", Ryoga started, getting Ranma's attention, "I asked Hikaru-sensei about her healing. Seems she does it with waterbending…"
Ranma turned his head slightly towards him and edged him on, "Yeah, and? I saw that this morning."
"Well, when I asked her about it, she gave the same talk about us not being able to do it, due to waterbending and all that." Ranma just nodded for him to continue, "Ok, even though we can't waterbend I got her to explain it somewhat."
"Don't tell me you got it figured out…", Ranma responded, raising an eyebrow at his companion.
"No, I didn't, but it seems that she's using the waterbending as a… tool, to manipulate the chi in the body to heal. I wondered about it when I watched her work on you once while you were unconscious."
Ranma snorted and grinned as he quickly slid in, "Oh, so you got a free show, huh? Get a bloody nose too?"
"Shut up, Saotome", the target of the jab replied dryly, as his eyebrow twitched. "I was interested in the healing, not you, jerk."
"Okay, okay. So, I'm guessing you saw her manipulating my chi, sort of how we do it to enhance our speed and such."
Ryoga nodded, "Yeah, that's about it. Hikaru-sensei explained that much too, but she pointed out a few of the areas that she said had the most effect. I think, after some practice, we might be able to work out some sort of… 'first aid' to use if we run into a situation like those bandits, again."
Ranma looked up in thought, more than a few quiet seconds passed. Then the edge of his mouth twitched downward, "The problem is that, since we're already near full strength, we wouldn't know if it works or not until we're beat up." Then, he let out a snide laugh, "Sounds great! Let's get almost killed and hope it works…"
"Yeah, I thought that too", Ryoga admitted with a shrug. "On the other hand, you could always just let me beat the shit out of you and then try it out while we're still here…", he offered with a grin.
"Sure, Ryoga, sure, and then you'll be asking me to try Akane's cooking to see if you can heal that too."
"Hey! Don't insult Akane-san like that!" Ryoga reiterated his demand with a jabbing finger into Ranma's shoulder.
"Ryoga…", Ranma started, his ire growing from the stress they both felt from the situation. In a split second decision though, he knocked Ryoga's offending finger away and just said, "Whatever… I'll drop it."
The tan clad youth knew that was as close to an apology he was going to get from Ranma at this point, so just let it go. It was a good decision, since they were passing a guard station, filled with green uniformed personnel. The pair were now entering the market district of Gyon.
--
"So why the change? You used to wear that red shirt all the time back in Nerima. Hell, I don't think you wore anything else unless you had to", Ryoga asked as they walked out of the tailor's.
"More of a tactical thing, I guess. Remember when we entered Quonju. That guard singled me out before you. I think it was the red shirt for some reason. Same with the looks from the other people", the blue clad Ranma replied. He then shrugged, "It was my favorite shirt, but with it gone… New area, new look."
Then, he adopted a mocking voice, mimicking his female side, throwing a wide mocking smile, "Besides, it matches my eyes!"
The brown eyed male just stared at the startling change in character. For a second, he did nothing but stand there, but then his lips twitched as a snort was let out, which grew to chuckling and then full blown laughter. Ranma just joined on in.
After the much needed laugh, Ryoga punched his friend's arm, though there wasn't any force in it. He didn't say anything with it, but they both knew what was said as they hefted their packs on their backs and walked farther into the market. They had gathered what they needed for traveling, but their curiosity, along with having nothing better to do at the moment, kept them wandering farther in.
After an hour of observing odd shops and people watching, they figured out the basic rules of where they were. The animals, which seemed to be interesting combinations to the pair of martial artists, were completely normal, as they passed butchers and sellers of live goods. From chicken/pigs to the large lizard mounts, they had to get over it and accept the oddities as normal… it wasn't easy and they didn't completely succeed.
Then, they noticed that, even though the pair never really used technology on a daily basis, it was obvious they sold nothing higher than standard martial weapons and absolutely nothing around had anything to do with electricity. When Ryoga thought about it, Hikaru's house was light by candle or lamp in the evening. Ranma just shrugged it off somewhat, remembering his training trips to places like this, though a city this big without technology was odd, even in his eye.
Finally, as Ranma found out next, there were, as always, thieves in every city.
Ranma was looking over at a food vender, on the other side of Ryoga, when someone slammed into him from the other side from where he was looking. Ryoga heard the impact and saw Ranma jar to the side with the impact, along with a quick, "Watch it!"
A few steps down the street, Ryoga cast a sideways glance at his rival, when he heard him grumbling under his breath. "What's up, Saotome?"
"Freaking punk, trying to steal from me! He can't even do it right, either", the martial artist hissed above a whisper.
"Your kidding… Why didn't you do anything?" Ryoga asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Who says I didn't?" Ranma asked back, showing a small back in his hand before sliding it up his sleeve to have it disappear. "Now you see it, now you don't", he continued, with a wave of his hands. "Might not be as good as Mousse, but it's useful for small things."
"You mean you stole his 'Dark Magic' technique?", the fanged male wondered, looking from the blue sleeve to the empty hand. "How he hides all those chains and crap everywhere on his body?"
"Yup", the grinning Saotome answered, "It's kinda really weak compared to his, so I can only use it to hide my money from Pop, Nabiki and thieves. Still, that's good enough." Seeing Ryoga's look of interest, he offered, "Ok, how's about a trade: 'Dark Magic' for the healing info from Hikaru."
Ryoga grinned and clasped hands with Ranma, exclaiming, "Deal!"
"Ok, now how about we get some grub? My treat!"
With that, the pair found a place that looked decent enough, walked in and sat down. A quick order later, where they just asked for whatever was recommended, and Ranma was instructing Ryoga on how to create a small pocketspace using his ki. Ryoga got the idea of it quickly, due to his own experiences with ki manipulation, and soon a toothpick was hidden there.
Ranma wanted him to start small, and Ryoga agreed once he felt the slight drain of having something hidden. He figured Mousse had probably perfected the art of creating and using the 'Dark Magic' pocketspace. It gave Ryoga a new level of respect for the blind Amazonian male.
With a look of surprise, Ranma watched his rival pull a small pouch out of his shirt and toss it over to Ranma's side of the table. "Hold onto that for me, since you're better at that skill for now." Ranma just nodded after he took a look at the small pouch, and then slipped it into his own shirt, making it disappear.
It wasn't long afterwards that the waitress brought out two dishes of what looked like chicken with stir-fry vegetables. It was pretty good, but definitely not on the level of Ucchan or the Amazon's cooking. Still, it filled the guts of the pair.
As they were eating though, they listened to the talking going on around them, not bothering with talking themselves due to the stuffing of their own faces. Most of it was useless info, personal business and the like. One piece caught their attention though.
"Seems the Fire Nation is pushing in…", a worried man in a grey shirt loudly whispered.
"Yeah…", a balding man agreed, "but something isn't right…"
"What do you mean, Hoago?" a third man asked in green robes.
"We all know the Fire Nation is crazy, all with this hundred year war and all", Hoago stated, "but I heard that they attacked Kyoshi Island."
"Kyoshi? But they've never bothered anyone… Why'd they do that?", the grey shirted man wondered.
"I don't know, Baan, but it seems odd…", Hoago replied, drifting off into silence.
A few seconds later, the green robed man of the trio piped up, "Speaking of odd, don't you think the prices of cabbages are odd?"
Hearing the two other men groan, Ranma and Ryoga tuned them out. With a look at one another, they got up from the table, with Ranma dropping a few coins to pay. Then, they hefted their bags and headed out, more actively searching for their next destination.
--
"Alright, here you two gentlemen are", an older learned male voice said, gaining the attention of the two martial artists. "One map of the world, only slightly detailed I'm sorry to say", he lamented, placing the scroll down on the rented table. The pair didn't even reach for it, seeing the other books on the small cart the elder man brought with him.
"It might not be exactly what you expected, but we have the very opinionated views of Peagon Hren in 'The Complete World'. I would take what he writes with a grain of salt, but the basic knowledge he writes about the four nations are accurate", he explained as he also placed the tomb on the table.
"Unfortunately, our library is fairly limited on the subject of the Avatar, as most information pertaining to that subject is privy to only rare individuals. Still, we have a lore book that might provide some insight to some of the questions you have. Just remember that lore is not pure truth, but there is almost always a glimmer of such in there", he warned, placing 'Avatar and Mythic Icons' on the table.
"Now, considering the specific nature of the last request, and the active nature of the subject, I found the most appropriate book for you on the subject of the Fire Nation War. It lacks a name, as the author chose to not to give it one, but it covers the war up until five years ago", he finished, placing a third book on the table.
"Is there anything else I can help you two gentlemen with?"
"Thank you, Lee-san, but I think we'll have our hands full with these for a while", Ranma said to the older man, with a slight bow of his head. The elder man bent into his own bow with a smile before walking away from the table towards another farther down, the occupant of that one done and needing it cleaned off.
"Alright, then… Let's take a look at this map", Ryoga chose, reaching forward to the scroll that lay between the pair, each on opposite sides of the table.
With care, he felt the old paper's texture under his fingers as he gripped it tenderly. Then, he just as carefully untied the leather band that held it rolled up. Then, setting it on the table, he unrolled it in the center of the table. Silence reigned as they stopped breathing, looking at the map with eyes so wide they looked like they would never go back to normal.
Finally, Ranma figured out he was standing, only because he felt himself collapse in the chair behind him. "No way…", was all he could whisper out.
Across from him, Ryoga was jerking his eyes all over the map, trying to find anything, any simple name that stood out to him. The sweat gathered on his forehead as his hands started to shake. He continued for minutes, never giving up in his search, even though he passed his eyes over the same names three or four times, hoping to see something different or something he missed.
Finally, Ranma ran a clammy hand across his face as the adaptable mentality, required for his family's style, finally processed the information it had been gathering over the past conscious week. It took a giant leap of faith, but his psyche shot back that his entire life was a giant series of leaps of faith. So it boiled down to one simple question he had to ask himself, 'Do you accept it, or do you break?'
"Ryoga… stop…", came the dead voice. Ryoga never even heard it as he continued to run through the map in a panic, face whiter than the purest snow ever fallen. The grunts of his mental efforts kept pounding into Ranma's brain as if Akane had been let loose on the inside with her mallet. "Ryoga, stop…"
There was no change.
"God damn it! GIVE IT UP!"
The sound of the yell resounded off the closed walls of the library, bouncing off the stone bookcases and scroll mounts. This was quickly followed by the sound of fist smashing into flesh and the echo of body smashing into a chair before both falling to the floor. It was quickly followed by the sound of another body falling into a chair, though the next was one of the loudest, most emotionally charged, sigh that Lee had ever heard as he made his way back to the table.
"Is there a problem?"
Ranma didn't even look up at the stiff halting voice of the librarian sage, whose tone made it perfectly clear that there, in fact, was a problem. His fingers never left his face as the martial artist responded in a low tired voice, "No, Lee-san. We're fine. There won't be a problem, either."
"Is your friend alright, sir?" The look on his face showed he knew exactly what had happened, but was showing professionalism, just short of legendary, to keep his client's dignity.
Finally, the sound of the stunned Ryoga struggling to get his body working under his own mental commands, along with struggling to regain his mental faculties, filled the air. Almost painfully slow, the legs of the chair he once sat upon dragged themselves back into a standing position and groan under the weight of Ryoga sitting upon it once again. "Yeah… I'm fine…"
"That is good to hear, sir, but I might ask you to seek a healer if you fall again", Lee stated, making it perfectly clear to the two that there wouldn't be another incident or they would be asked to leave.
"Thank you, Lee-san. I'm fine now", Ryoga stated, showing higher brain functions were firing again. He didn't even put a hand up to the glowing red fist mark on his face, which Lee ignored professionally.
"I am happy to hear that. Please call me if you need any further assistance", the old librarian stated, still in a warning tone, as he made his way towards the last task he was working on before the interruption. He didn't miss the glare the fallen patron gave to the one in the blue top as he made his exit, but again, ignored it.
The two teenagers were silent for the longest while, until Ranma finally lowered a tired hand from his grim face and simply stated, "We aren't on Earth anymore."
Ryoga, forced to hear the statement, one which held completely no doubt in Ranma's voice, just hung his head in defeat. Still, for the sake of trying, he weakly stated, "That's impossible…"
There was no belief in his voice. It was hollow and only stated to check a box on his mental list. Still, for the sake of his friend's mental state, Ranma stated two words to set him right, "Wake up..."
--
Hours had past after Ryoga had been snapped into the current reality by Ranma's simple statement. Spurred by that revelation both teens dove into the books lent to them, which surprised Librarian Lee. He had kept an eye on the two, but after a while, he saw a pair of teenagers thirsting for knowledge he had only seen in the rarest of scholars.
After pouring through the tombs, they had sat digesting the information they had gleamed in their short time. They had only skimmed, reading passages that spoke to them, but it seemed they found the ones that mattered as they finally started throwing the data off of each other.
It all boiled down to easy concepts for the two males, which they listed off mentally to each other. One, they were not on Earth. Two, there was a global war going on, using martial arts and elements as the primary weapons. Three, there is a single person who has superhuman power to control all the elements and supposedly spirits; the Avatar. Four, the last Avatar was to be an Airbender almost a century ago, but disappeared. There has been no Waterbender Avatar, so the Airbender is still alive.
"We have to find the Avatar…"
It was a simple statement, but both Ryoga and Ranma knew the futility of what it said just as much. In reality, it meant searching the entire world, whatever one they were on, for a single person who hadn't been seen in over three times their combined lifetimes. All in all, it was a great blow to their state of mind, but neither one knew the meaning of 'give up'. They both considered it just a matter of time before they succeeded.
Even more so, neither even gave a thought to the fact that the Avatar might not be able to send them back. The Avatar had that power and would help them. Any other answer was unacceptable to the martial artists. With that in mind, they left the hall of books and scrolls, determination on their faces.
--
It was this determination that Hikaru saw on the girl's faces as they sat at her table for dinner. Even though her two patients were emotionally charged, they were silent since they entered. Slightly confused and also slightly disturbed, she asked, "Girls? Did anything happen today?"
The pair shared one of their looks, which was becoming normal to the healer now, before at some barely visible signal, one of them spoke up. This time, it was Ryoga. "We went to the market and bought some traveling gear for when we head out."
"That sounds… nice", the waterbender replied, knowing there was more. "Was there anything else?"
There was another look between the two, but this time Ranma spoke up. The tone she spoke out with though, was nervous as she asked, "Promise you wont freak out?"
Hearing that, it set alarms off all throughout Hikaru's mind, even though there were already some going off from the start. Now it was worse. Looking over the two girls with slightly narrowed eyes, she withheld her answer as she considered the pleading looks on their faces. She just let out a sigh before saying, "I… I don't know, but it must be important…"
"Well…", the redhead started, unsure of how to say what's on her mind. Finally, she just let out a sigh and chose brute force of words, "Me and Ryoga decided to find the Avatar."
For a second, Hikaru looked at each of the girls, then she broke into a laugh at the absurdity of the statement. In her mind, it was a joke, that's all it could have been. The Avatar had been missing for almost a century and that's not for lack of searching for him. People had searched for him and never were seen again.
It was a joke… but as she looked at her young friend's faces, she noticed they weren't laughing. There wasn't even a sign of humor in their dead serious faces. Hikaru's laugher died out until the room was silent as a graveyard. "You… you two are serious… aren't you?", she nervously asked.
They didn't say any words, they just solemnly nodded in almost unison. The brunette just sat back in her chair letting out a very weak, "Oh my…"
Silence reigned once again, until Hikaru asked, "Can I ask why?"
"We think… know that he can help us. We need his help", was Ryoga's response, deadly serious in her tone.
Looking at the two girls, the woman could only ask, "Why do you need the Avatar's help?"
"We…", Ryoga started out, before coming up at a loss. Her companion picked it up quickly though, "We can't tell you that… yet." Seeing the pang of hurt on the older woman's face, the redhead sighed and added, "Tomorrow… We'll tell you tomorrow, at dinner."
The silent nod was all the two girls needed as they gave their own version of a weak smile. Hikaru then watched as they excused themselves and went up to bed. The woman sat there alone for a long time, trying to guess why they would need the Avatar. Even as she, herself, climbed into her own bed, she couldn't figure out a reason why that would keep the both of them from telling her.
She only hoped they trusted her enough, but in the back of her mind, Hikaru didn't know if she really wanted to find out…
--
Her blue eyes snapped open that morning to the sounds of fighting. It wasn't a loud vocal fight, though, but an eerie fight of just grunts and impacts. Hearing this, she quickly donned her blue attire and rushed outside, intent on identifying and stopping it.
When she finally swung open the front door, she danced back, quickly retreating the couple of steps she had taken outside. Had she not, a tan figure would have knocked them both over in her backward slide. Hikaru saw the green haired girl quickly lower her defensively held arms and pull them towards another fighting stance just as a blue and red blur few after her.
The waterbender stood there in the doorway, unconsciously choosing the safe spot till her mind finally started flowing. During that time though, Ryoga had intercepted the kick-punch combination that the other female had thrown at her. Intent on grabbing the initiative, she shifted her weight and threw the lighter female.
Before Ranma had even registered she was being thrown, she started righting herself. She slid a bit on the dusty brick street, but quickly found her center as the sounds of running came from behind her. Spinning her head around, the redhead quickly spun the rest if her body, throwing her right leg up into a crescent kick that knocked the offered punch wide and following through with a spear hand that missed Ryoga's head by inches thanks to her own last moment dodge and block.
Finally, Hikaru caught her senses and her cry broke out, "What, in the name of the moon spirit, are you two doing?!"
Quickly, the two separated with a hop back from each other. Ranma, who was facing the healer, answered first, stating as if it was obvious, "We're just sparring."
As Ryoga finished turning, she heard the brown haired woman exclaim, "You two looked like you were trying to kill each other! You call that sparring?!"
"Actually, we were just playing around", Ryoga said with a shrug. "We agreed on only defensive chi and no ki attacks, plus no secret techniques. Plus, we were going slow enough to make sure we didn't seriously injure ourselves."
"Yeah, but it still hurts… thanks pulling that punch", the redhead added wryly as she rubbed her left shoulder.
"Anytime!", Ryoga replied with a grin, while holding her arm to her side.
"By the spirits, I just healed you both and then you beat yourselves up", Hikaru said to them both with a shake of her head, putting a hand up to the side of it. "Are you two crazy?"
Ranma just grinned at that and shook her head, "If you only knew…" Hearing that cryptic open-ended response, Hikaru didn't know how to reply.
Finally, giving her head another quick shake, she said, "Whatever… I need to check you over one last time, Ranma."
"Actually, that's part of the reason we were sparring, Hikaru-sensei", the redhead replied, while walking towards the healer. Ryoga followed behind while Ranma continued, "I'm almost at full power while she is." She indicated Ryoga with a jerk of her head.
"That might be, but I prefer my own method of examining my patients, thank you. Now upstairs… both of you", the waterbender commanded, in a motherly tone. The two teenagers just shrugged and followed along.
The exam showed just what the fighters had stated. Other than the new superficial injuries, they were completely healed.
--
After a quick breakfast and a cool bath, the two girls set out towards the market again. This time, they were searching for anything that they might have missed the prior day. Other than finding a good quality bo-staff, which Ranma spent almost nothing on, the pair found nothing that spoke out to them.
The day passed quickly though, and soon their stomachs were requiring release from the emptiness they both felt. Ignoring the chuckles from the store owner, who's wares they were eyeing, they made their way to the nearest smell of food.
"What can I get you, young ladies?"
Ranma smiled at the generic greeting by the waiter, "Well, what do you recommend today?"
"We just got a batch of good quality steak from the market this morning, so I'd recommend that. It's pretty much our cook's specialty", the short haired male replied to the redhead.
"I'll take an order of that", she replied, grinning at the thought of a good heavy meal to fill her stomach.
"Make that two, please", came an add in from the green haired girl on the other side of the table.
"Alright. It'll be out as soon as possible."
Ryoga waited for the waiter to head into the back, where he was probably help cooking as well, before she spoke up to her rival. "So… Why'd you smile at him", jerking her head towards the back, "but you almost bit Gau's head off?
A raised eyebrow and a lowered grin came before the words, "First, I'm not one to piss off the person handling my food. Learned that the hard way back home… even though shit still happened anyways. And second, I didn't trust Gau… still don't know about him for some reason."
Then, a sly grin crossed her face as Ranma continued, "Then, there's always the chance of getting free food. Might not like the curse all the time, but I'd be an idiot not to try and bend it to my advantage when I can."
Hearing that, Ryoga only chuckled a little, nervously, wisely thinking and not saying, 'Damn… wonder if that's your Pop or Nabiki's influence… or both…'
"…Omashu", a voice said as more patrons walked into the restaurant. "That's what my buddy, Kuon, said."
A light snort followed as a female came through then, "Kuon? Your brother's full of himself! Why would the Avatar, after almost a century, show up in Omashu?"
Both martial artists almost reacted like someone had just talked about a cure for Jusenkyo. They stared hard at each other quickly, before trying to hide themselves behind normal actions, as the teenagers listened in. When the male replied back, they made sure they weren't hearing things, "Well, he says he heard it from someone who's brother has a friend in the royal guard. The Avatar was there to see the king for some reason."
"Yeah, right… and my mother was a Unagi…", the woman continued, rolling her green eyes.
This brought a laugh to the man, who replied, "Remember, dear, I met your mother. I'd be inclined to agree." He shrunk down though as she gave him a glare, "Okay, okay. Sorry, dear. Anyways, I trust what Kyon said, if just for hope, cause apparently the Avatar is an Aairbender."
"I still think Kuon's been drinking too much…", the man's wife complained, crossing her arms.
The man just scratched his bald head, "Yeah… That he does, but…" He just left it off at that, seeing the look on his wife's face. From there, the teenagers lost interest in the couple, as they eventually started on trivial matters.
"Guess we know where we're headed next, huh", the girl in tan started in a low voice.
The redhead nodded in return, "Yeah, now we just have to plan on how to get there…"
Other than that, they both sat silently contemplating what they might need for a journey that neither knew how long would take. Neither did either know what routes were available to the pair. Eventually, they gave up and just ate the food when it came out, paid and left, intent on learning about their coming trip.
--
"Okay, so we have a map and we know the only way there is by land", Ryoga pointed on the map, while running the finger across the known road from Gyon to Omashu. "By foot, from what we were told, it should take two and a half to three weeks, if we follow the road. We could rent some… rides or join a caravan but even that will only lower it to just under twelve days."
Finally able to take advantage of her knowledge of wilderness travel, she then ran a finger through an area between the cities, almost a straight shot. "If this map's correct, we can make a shortcut through here on foot and get there in one week. What do you think?"
Ranma was studying the map as Ryoga was talking, knowing she was correct in her statements. "Yeah, I'd take this route", indicating the last one mentioned. "We can follow this river right here for around four days before heading due west. We just need to make sure to get enough canteens for three days."
They both knew that the route they had chosen should have taken an average person two weeks to traverse. Ranma and Ryoga also knew they weren't normal, and they weren't going to be walking the route like a normal human. They planned on jogging the entire way, reducing the travel time by half, barring any unknown events. With that, they got up from the small tea stand and finished buying the gear they needed for their trip.
--
"Ok, girls, I thought about it and I want to know. Why do you need to find the Avatar?"
The two teenagers stopped dead in their tracks as they entered the healer's house. There, sitting at the table was the blue clad brunette, who's voice matched the statement. Ranma's eyes still narrowed, as Ryoga just sighed, at the sight of the goateed male sitting next to her. "Fine, but what about him?"
Hikaru just let out a sigh, and looked at the redhead with pleading eyes, "I… I asked him here. If you can tell me, you can tell him… please?"
Ranma let out a disgruntled groan before letting out a sigh of her own. 'Damn it! Why does she look so much like Kasumi…' Ranma never could tell the eldest Tendo sister no, and the healer before her was giving her a similar look, removing almost all of her feeling of betrayal, "Fine, but I expect him to agree to the same promise!"
"Don't worry; I've seen a lot of things. I doubt whatever you say can cause me to lose my cool", Gau replied, a slight grin on his face, though it still showed seriousness.
Ryoga just snorted and chuckled, "Famous last words…"
"Yeah, tell me about it…", Ranma agreed before asking again, "Again, can you both keep your minds open enough not to go crazy?"
Both adults shared a gaze and, after a few seconds, nodded at the teenagers. "Alright then", the redhead continued as the green haired teenager put some water on the stove to the side, "We told you last night about how we're going to find the Avatar."
Gau raised an eyebrow, "Think you can stop the war by finding him?"
"That's only a means to an end, if we have to", the girl at the stove cut in. "We just want to go home."
That caused both Hikaru and the lieutenant to look at her in question. "If that's it, then we could try and find a way for…"
"It's not that easy!" Ranma had cut Gau off with. "I have another important question for you both… Do you believe in magic?"
The looks she got made her feel like she had grown a second head and six extra arms. "Magic?", Hikaru asked, with disbelief, thinking she misheard it.
"Yeah, Magic. Do you believe in it?"
"Not really, but I have a feeling you're going to show us something and tell us it's magic…", Gau answered with narrowed eyes while stroking his haired chin. He had been shown 'magic' before, but it was all street tricks or just plain lies.
The redhead looked over at Ryoga, who picked up the talk and the adults' gaze, "Well, that'll be in a few minutes. For now, you'll have to take our word for it when we tell you, this isn't our world."
"What?"
"We ain't from this world, whatever it's called. We're from another planet", Ranma picked up quickly and continued while she had the initiative. "And before you ask; yeah, it was magic that brought us here. More exactly, a miscast spell."
She just let out a sigh and shook her head as she heard the snort and laughter come from the officer. "Ok, I admit I've heard a lot of things, being in the army and leading the gate patrols, but this is damn sure a first. You can't expect me to really believe that, can you?"
"Ryoga?"
"It's almost ready", came the knowing response from the stove. The tan clad fighter was watching Hikaru through the talk, since the healer hadn't said much. It was easy to see the doubt in her face, but Ryoga took it as a good sign that she hadn't laughed with Gau. "Let me explain what I'm doing, before Ranma goes any farther."
Pointing to the lightly steaming pot on the stove, she started up, "In the pot is plain water. It's just heating up right now." Moving her hand to a pair of glasses, she pointed at the clear liquid in them, "Cool water, here."
"Why are you setting those up", Hikaru finally asked. Gau, next to her, just shook his head, "They're probably going to use this to 'prove' their form another world somehow…" There was clear sarcasm in his voice.
"Good, so now that we have that explained", Ranma picked up, a knowing grin on her face. "Yeah, hopefully your mind doesn't break after we show you."
"Ok, it's ready", came Ryoga's call, as she used the ladle to pull two bowls of water. Walking it over to the adults, she held them out for them to see. "Clear water, but hot", she stated, getting a nod from both, but also a curious eye as she walked them over to Ranma, who took one.
"Ok, now for the kicker. Back on our world, Ranma and I got cursed by ancient magic. I found a spell to cure myself, but… it miscast", she explained, pausing while trying to control a pang of anger, "changing my curse to one like Ranma's, along with sending us here."
"We figure you don't have the curses here like in our world, cause of what happened to us before we got to Gyon", Ranma continued.
This got Gau's attention, as he had heard something had happened in Quonju recently. Something about demons or spirits disrupting a festival. "Don't tell me that you…"
"Yeah… About that… they overreacted", Ranma said, scratching the back of her neck. "I'm about to show you the reverse of what caused them to go nuts."
Without further talking, Ranma upended the bowl of hot water on herself, grimacing at the temperature. An instant later, an annoyed male voice groaned out, "Hey, think you could have made it hotter?"
"Wh-What…"
Ranma let out a relieved smile as he heard Hikaru's voice stammer out the question. 'Better than I expected… She can still talk.' Turning his gaze from his rival, he ran a hand through his still loose hair, glancing at the woman and the man next to her. He has to hold back a snort of laughter after seeing the look on the guards face.
The sound of water splashing to his right told of Ryoga's transformation. "Well, how do we look? This is the real us, while the girls you've seen are the effect of the curse", Ranma asked with a blatant mark of humor in his voice.
Gau was looking like a beached fish, opening his mouth only to close it as words wouldn't or couldn't form. Hikaru was switching her eyes from teenager to teen, noting the major change in hair color and form. "How can this be?"
"Like we explained, it's proof of magic, Hikaru-sensei", Ryoga said, even toned in his deep voice. "This is our proof that we're from another world and the only way to send us back is the Avatar. That's why we're going to find him, and if we have to, help him get to a point where he can help us."
There was silence in the kitchen after that, with the teenagers waiting on the adults to say something else. Finally, Hikaru excused herself in a low voice and was heard walking up the stairs slowly. Gau seemed to have finally gotten a hold of his mouth, keeping it closed as he stared off into space. 'He's either catatonic or thinking deeply', was Ryoga's guess.
He shocked both the teens when he asked in a serious voice, "So, are you going to fight the Fire Nation?"
After sharing a glance with his rival, Ranma just shrugged and replied, "Only if we have to. It's not our mission to take them down, but I'd be an idiot to think we won't at least fight 'em."
"Do you have any idea where you might find the Avatar?"
"We heard a rumor that he was seen in Omashu to see the King. We're going to start there and hope for some good luck", Ryoga answered and explained.
"And if you find the Avatar?"
"When we find the Avatar, we'll ask for his help. If he cant help us when we find him, we're going to work with him till he can", Ranma restated.
Gau started stroking his goatee at that, just sitting there, thinking. The teens heard the light footsteps of Hikaru turning the corner, and looked in her direction. "I truly hope you…boys, can find the Avatar. You don't know how long the world has needed him", she said with sorrowful eyes.
Then, she held out a hand to each of the young martial artists, saying, "I made these charms in the hope that you wouldn't get hurt the next time you went out of town. Now… I give these to you in the hopes that you succeed, both in finding the Avatar and in your quest to get home."
A second later, each teen held a small wooden charm in their hands. It looked like it was carved by hand, but was skillfully done with care. In the center was a symbol that looked like a circle with waves rolling in it which was colored blue.
"Please, take these and may they help you find the Avatar. If he is still alive, he is the last ray of hope for peace on this world", she said, tears shining in her eyes.
The sound of Gau clapping his hands brought three pairs of eyes to him. "If Hikaru-chan trusts you two, I'll do the same." Saying this, he reached into his jacket, pulling out a pouch and throwing it towards Ranma. When the blue eyed martial artist caught it, he felt and heard the coins held within. "That's payment for any damn Fire Nation scum you take down that get in your way. Plus, you'll need it for supplies on your quest."
"You know that we ain't going out of our way to attack the Fire Nation", Ranma said, looking at the bag of coins, "Why give us this?"
"Cause Fire Nation bastards killed my brother! I figure his spirit will be happy that I helped those who are looking for the Avatar, and might help him out", the lieutenant replied, standing up from the table. "Now, you'll have to excuse me. I'm needed back at the east gate… you both will need to use the south one to get to Omashu." Then, he performed a salute and bowed towards the pair. "Good luck", he finished, and walked out.
"I want to tell you how honored and thankful I am to have you trust me. You didn't have to tell me what you did", the blue eyed healer told the two with a bow.
Ranma just rubbed the back of his neck after putting the bag of coins and charm into his pocketspace. "Really, we should be thanking you for healing our wounds and not freaking out. Most of the time, people pass out on us."
"Well", she started up, folding her hands before her, "after you showed us that glowing ball you can make, I knew you were different. I just didn't know how much, but you're still human." With that, she let out a nervous laugh, "Really, you two grew on me, like sisters… I'm sad to see you go."
"We'll be leaving in the morning, if you don't mind us staying one last night here, Hikaru-sense", Ryoga explained and asked, in the same sentence.
"Oh, of course you can stay! They don't like people entering or leaving the city during the night", the waterbender explained, while waving her hand towards the table. "Now, please, sit down so I can get you some food."
The rest of the evening was filled with idle talk, along with a few stories that Ranma and Ryoga told of their own world. The pair tried to stray away from anything disturbing, but Hikaru's face drew shocked more than once. Still, she also told the two a couple of stories from when she grew up in the Northern Water tribe.
Then, the yawns became prevalent amongst the trio, signaling the need for sleep. With a hug to both the teenagers, all three went off to bed, except this time two males slept where two females were last night.
--
Breakfast was a somber thing this morning, as they silently said goodbye before the actual verbal farewell. Time passed quickly and the morning sun saw a woman hugging two teenagers in a farewell outside her house. They held her hope for the future, the future of the world, but their exit was silent as they finally stepped out the south gate.
Without a word, the Japanese males walked for a while, until at some unsaid point, they felt they were far enough from Gyon, they broke into a brisk run that practically continued until nightfall. This was repeated three more times, without event until the final night on the river before they would head due west into the forests.
They sat, silently watching the fish cook on the campfire. The fish easily gathered via a quick energy blast into the water. Now they just waited, with the crackling of the flames and the babbling of the water nearby. A pot cooled to the side of the fire, the males not needing it any more.
"We know you're out there", Ranma declared as Ryoga continued to poke at the fire with a stick. Neither looked surprised when the male with crew cut hair walked out of the darkness after a few moments. They gave him a precursory look, noting the scar over the left side of his face. Their eyes narrowed though when another person walked out with a grey beard and large belly... he wasn't expected.
--
End of Chapter 6