Disclaimer: I own neither Slayers nor Ranma 1/2. If I did, I could cast spells and become a dog-girl.
Hello again, my readers. Here's the latest chapter. It would have been up sooner, but my teachers are have been piling on assignment after assignment. *Sigh* Only a few more weeks of this before school lets out. Until then, enjoy!
"..." normal text
'...' thoughts/sign
Spells/Attack names
Absolute darkness. Ranma could see nothing, and the rocks surrounding him threatened to crush his body. 'This is all that gaki's fault,' he thought angrily. 'If I get out of here, he better know how to remove a shoe from his ass.'
Said brat was behind what had happened at the hot spring. That weapon of his, the Kinjakan, tore up the area. The thing was fast, but he was easily taken care of. But just as they were about to leave, the kid offered to get them to Mount Phoenix by evening.
'Boy, were we duped.' He bitterly remembered how they arrived at the base of the mountain. Ranma had heard the kid grumbling about something, but he ignored it. One rumbling sound later and the staircase disappeared from underneath them. Mousse had grabbed onto the Kinjakan with one of his weapons and they pulled it down with them.
Ryoga, the idiot that he was, started using Bakusai Tenketsu to make tunnels, going further down into the mountain. The kid's lackeys followed, and a few misplaced attacks later Ryoga fell down a ditch, a cave-in falling down on the rest of us.
'Ugh, can't breath. Can't move.' His lack of air was getting to him, he could feel his consciousness begin to slip away. Exhaustion creeped up on him, and just as his eyes were closing, a light glowed into existence above him. He forced his head to look up, only to see what he believed to be a hallucination.
'Akane?' Puzzled, he struggled against the heavy weight. As he climbed, his mind flashed back to when they left Japan. She was the only one who wasn't there. Anger surged through his body, pushing him towards the light. 'Akane, you jerk! Why didn't you come to say goodbye?'
The closer he got, the more defined the image became. Blue eyes widened in realization as the light revealed what the image really was. 'It's the photo of Akane that Ryoga got off of Nabiki. And if I can see it, that means...' His thoughts trailed off as he grasped the photo. He pushed the rocks away, taking deep breaths to fill his lungs.
He winced, light hitting his eyes at full force. He ducked his head, diverting his gaze back to the picture that saved his hide. Unknown to Ranma, his eyes softened with compassion. 'Let's keep this in a safe place,' he thought, tucking it into his shirt.
"Honored guest, what are you putting into your shirt?" Jumping at the voice, Ranma looked around the cavern. Plum was behind him, and Pop was shining a flashlight at him. Mousse was off near a ledge, pounding a large piece of wood into the floor of the cave. "Don't mind me," he yelled. "I'm just doing all of the work here!"
He climbed out of the hole, dusted himself off, and his legs carried him to the edge. "What's this?"
"Ryoga fell into a dry well," he answered. "He's found our means of escape!" As Mousse spoke, the line leading to bottom of the well moved. Up came Ryoga saying, "We can thank Akane and Akari for our good fortune."
Ranma face-faulted, only to have Ryoga yell, "Oi, Ranma! Where's my picture of Akane?" He picked himself up and jumped at Ryoga.
"We've got more important things to deal with now!" he replied, landing on Ryoga's head. He made his way to the opening at the top. 'This well leads to the summit of Mount Phoenix! If that's true, then the Mt. Phoenix Jusenkyo water here has all dried up!'
A tick was forming on Lina's forehead, waiting for Gourry to figure out what had just happened. He was staring down at his body, a blank look in his eyes. His eyebrows furrowed in concentration.
'Finally, some movement!' she thought. 'And 3, 2, 1...'
"Nani? What the hell happened to me?" he, or rather she, shrieked. She quickly stood, eyes the size of saucers. As Gourry freaked out, Lina got a better look at her partner's new body. 'She's shorter. Ha ha,' she thought smugly.
Indeed she was. Her clothes were looser, armor sliding down. Gourry's features seemed softer, less prominent. She snickered as she watched Gourry panic, attempting to pull out her hair. She sighed, standing up. 'Better stop her while she still has hair.'
"WILL YOU KNOCK IT OFF, YOU JELLYFISH?" she yelled, pounding a fist on the blond's head. Face met the ground, stars in blue eyes. She grabbed her head in pain, waiting for her head to stop ringing.
"Now, feel better?" Lina questioned. Nod from Gourry. "Would you like me to explain what happened?" Another nod. "Alright. Zelgadis said these springs change the appearance of anything that falls into them. Are you still with me?" A moment of concentration passed before Gourry gave another nod. "So, seeing as how I'm fine and you're a girl, we can safely say that pool we fell in was the Spring of Drowned Girl. Got it?"
"I think so. But...does this mean I'll never be a guy again?" Fear flooded her eyes, tightly gripping her chest. Lina sighed, setting a hand on her friend's shoulder.
"I don't know, Gourry. This might be permanent, it might not. For now, let's look around for someone who knows about these springs. They might know a cure."
Gourry looked down forlornly. Lina gave a small grin, saying "Come on, it's not that bad, is it?"
She gave a weak grin, trying to lift her spirits. "I guess not."
"That's the spirit!" she yelled, slapping her shoulder goodheartedly. A motion caught her eye. Her gaze shifted down, creating a twitch in her eye. Gourry blinked, following her gaze. Not getting the problem, she asked "What?"
Lina growled, "Nothing. Let's go Gourry-CHAN."
'Insolent landling fools! How dare they attack Saffron-sama!' She surveyed the area, on the lookout for her birds. Instead of her birds, Kiima saw more intruders. 'More? I'll take care of them before the girl arrives.'
She angled her wings, swooping down to the ground, wind rushing past her body. The humans jumped, startled at her arrival. Two females, adorned in strange clothing. The redhead was the shorter of the two, with a chest so small Kiima almost thought she was a he. The blond was much bustier, though her clothes seemed to be falling off her body. Her movements were awkward, as if she was trying to adjust to her body. 'Possibly another Jusenkyo victim. No matter, they will be dealt with swiftly.'
"Oi, what do you want?" the short one asked.
Ignoring her tone, Kiima answered, "You should not be here. You are trespassing and I must remove you." She reared her wings, yelling out her attack. "Thousand Wings of the Seabird!"
The red-haired one cursed, muttered a strange incantation, and yelled, "Fireball!" The blond ducked out of the way, fearing her life. Kiima's attack reached the short girl, clipping her shoulder. Her footing slipped, sending her into one of the springs. The water engulfed her form. The blond gasped, yelling "Lina! Not again!"
Kiima dodged the ball of heat, wide-eyed. 'What sort of magic is this?' Movement in the sky entered her vision. Her birds. 'Kuso, the girl is here. I must finish this later.'
She flapped her wings, leaving the ground in an instant. Flying off in the direction of her birds, she spared not a second glance for the odd girls.
Gourry-chan made her way over to the spring, walking clumsily. She readied herself to dive, when fire-red hair broke the surface of the water. Sinking to the ground, she breathed a sigh of relief. Gourry-chan grabbed ahold of her waving arms, pulling her up out of the water. Lina gasped for breath, filling every inch of her lungs.
"Why I oughta..." she growled. "If she shows her face again, let's see how she likes a Dragon Slave to her face." She broke off, suddenly aware of a bulge in her lower back, pushing out against her wet clothes. "What the..." She turned to look at what was down there. A warm breath at her neck brought a blush to her cheeks. Her head swiveled around, red eyes locked with blues counterparts.
Her breath caught in her throat. Though the face was feminine, the eyes were still the same. Her trance was broken when Gourry-chan lifted her arm. She raised her arms in self-defense, ready to send him flying, but Gourry-chan found her target. A slight scratching on the top of her head made itself known. Her ruby eyes closed in pleasure, fully enjoying the action. She heard a deep rumbling noise, though not registering the sound in her state of comfort.
Minutes felt like hours to Lina, concentrating only on the soft scratching. She returned to reality soon after the source of delight stopped. Her eyes blinked, Gourry-chan's smiling face blurring into existence.
"What were you doing, nya?" she asked sleepily.
"Well, think about what you just said, then feel your head," Gourry-chan replied. She was trying to hold back her laughter, and failing miserably.
Lina glared at her. 'What were you doing nya? What's so strange about that?' she thought. Mulling over the words, it hit her. Numbly, she raised her hands and patted her head.
A finger brushed against a soft, furry object, twitching under her touch. She swerved around, leaning towards the reflective surface. The image was nearly identical, save for two additions. Verging on panic, she switched he attention back to the bulge under her clothes. Gently tugging at the foreign object, she freed it from the confines of her clothes.
A tail. From base to tip, it was covered in short fur whose color matched the hair on her head. It twitched back and forth through the air. She gaped at the growth, unable to form words. She turned back to her reflection. Red, feline eyes stared back.
She finally manged to push words past her lips. "I...I'm a...cat, nya?"
Gourry-chan just smiled, cheerfully saying, "No you're not. You're half-cat."
She grabbed her head, eyes wide in disbelief. "Nya? Oh shit, nya!"
Not too long ago...
Ranma groaned, pain in every muscle. His body was resilient, yes, but being dropped from the top of a skyscraper-like mountain would cause anyone pain. Even so, he still got the map back. He pushed himself up, checking his surroundings. Ryoga was leaning up against the Kinjakan, Mousse was ranting about how Ranma shouldn't have let go of Shampoo, and Plum and Pop, in Panda form, were setting up a fire.
"Everyone okay?" he questioned. Each gave a nod. He laid the map flat on the ground, searching for the source of Jusenkyo. Mousse made his way over, while Pop called out to Ryoga. They pored over the map, muttering, "If we have to go to the source of Jusenkyo,..." Their eyes widened, thinking the same thought. 'Then we'll be passing by the cursed training grounds! And that means-'
"We can get at that Nannichuan and be whole men again!" Ranma yelled excitedly. He looked around, expecting Ryoga to be as thrilled as he was. He was nowhere in sight, as well as the Kinjakan. "Hey where's Bacon Breath?"
"Now that you mention it,..."
Pop held up a sign. 'Oh, he took' *flip* 'the Kinjakan' *flip* 'to get some food.'
Ignoring the fact that his sign defied physics, Ranma and Mousse said, with a deadpan expression, "Ryoga...took off...with the Kinjakan...and you just let him go?"
Wind whipped past his body, as Ryoga rode atop the Kinjakan. Scenery changed swiftly, moving from one area to another. He took no notice of this, as he was thinking of the girls he loved.
'This is my chance! I can finally get rid of my curse! As soon as I get back, I'll tell Akane my feelings and she'll leave Ranma. No longer will he ruin my life! But...what'll I do about Akari? I can't just leave her. What to do, what to do...'
His thoughts trailed off as he came to a stop. There were no trees, buildings, anything. Only a tall post, a road, and a thick fog. 'This doesn't look like China.' He squinted, trying to see through the fog, just barely making out a tall figure.
He made his way over to the figure, intent on asking directions. As he moved forward, details revealed themselves. It seemed to be a man, with a mask covering his mouth and nose, and a sort of metal on cloth over one eye. He had silver hair, upright but slanted off to one side. He wore sandals, dark blue pants and long sleeved shirt, and a green vest. He held a small, orange book.
"Hey!" Ryoga shouted. "Do you know where I am?"
The man looked up calmly. His eye closed, forming an upside down U. "Why, you're on the Road of Life," he said, pointing to the pole. Sure enough, there was writing on the post, spelling "Life Road."
Ryoga stared at it blankly, before grabbing his head in frustration. "I don't have time for this! I have to get back to China!"