The Wheel of Fire, #29: Crystal Spider 

  Written by Razorclaw X (spiceoflife@NYChotmail.com) 
  http://www.crosswinds.net/~slythe/ranma/ranff.html 
  Disclaimer: Ranma 1/2 and characters belong to Rumiko 
Takahashi. And all that other good stuff. Proper 
licenses belong to respective properties and 
characters. The manga has precedence over material in 
the anime. 
  This file can be freely distributed so long as it 
appears in its complete form and proper credit given. 
No part may be reproduced for monetary gain without 
permission from the author. 

  Fanart: 
    http://www.crosswinds.net/~slythe/fanart/index.html 

------------------------------------------------ 

"... You may be disappointed if you fail, but you are 
  doomed if you don't try." -- Beverly Sills 


  "Their time has come." 
  "Yes, I know." 
  "This is the part where everything is crucial," 
continued the first voice, a dignified, but deep tone. 
"And I believe it's time that I did something about 
it, don't you think?" 
  The second shadow said nothing. 
  "You're right, you know," said the first. "When it 
comes down to it, I guess everyone's lives are 
interconnected and related to one another. It's about 
time I did my part... again." 


Day 1 

  "Akane, where's Ranma?" 
  "Akane, where's that ungrateful son of mine?" 
  "Akane dear, where did Ranma run off to?" 
  "Akane, do you know where your HUSBAND went?" 
  "Oh, should I set one less plate for dinner?" 
  The pestering words of her family clouded Akane's 
mind even when she was lying in bed the same night 
Ranma suddenly left for China. Ranma was, after all, 
the life of the town, the heart and soul of everything 
that went wrong, and sometimes right, for people, the 
guy everybody loved or hated. As such, Ranma Saotome 
was definitely someone people missed, and yet only 
within a few hours of his departure to Shanghai. 
  Miranda Kusao, one such... rival of Ranma's, won two 
free tickets to China, and in exchange for the tickets 
she was promised a wish from the Wishbringer, once 
Akane retrieved it from the Kuno estate. The original 
plan had Miranda going to China with Ranma, as the 
crimson-eyed martial artist refused to yield-- until 
her sensei showed up and tried to kidnap Hokuto. 
Although Miranda had no idea what her sensei wanted 
with Hokuto Akane and Ranma knew the truth. 
  With plans changed Hokuto went to China with Ranma. 
The Shadow Weaver believed she could control Fate, as 
Ranma believed, and that was likely what Miranda's 
sensei was after, for whatever evil purpose he had in 
mind. Ranma admitted that he was no match for the 
clawed warrior, but a stroke of luck brought their 
one-sided conflict to an end quick. 
  Not to mention set the wheels in motion for what was 
a long time coming. 
  Mentally, she ran the checklist of things to do in 
her head: One, get the Wishbringer from the Kuno 
estate. Two, find Miranda. Three, get the letter in 
the mail. Four, avoid Dr. Taydome's three battle 
machines. Five, make sure that Sensei doesn't follow. 
Six, put the sword back where it belongs. 
  There, that sounds easy enough, she tried to comfort 
herself. No problems. 
  And yet, she couldn't help but wonder.... 

  For a moment, Ranma wished he had Kuno's money. 
  He waited impatiently as Hokuto haggled with the 
merchant, trying to get the best deal for two packs of 
supplies that would last them the journey to Jusenkyo, 
a place that just happened to be out of the population 
zone, away from public transportation. Well, not that 
Hokuto had enough money after the airport to hire a 
taxi to take them across China. They didn't even have 
enough to buy a decent bicycle for two. 
  That left only hiking, and hiking would take quite a 
few days. Ranma wished Hokuto didn't pay the bribe to 
the airport officials, but there was some sense in not 
getting the local authorities angry. 
  Miranda, who had won the tickets in the first place, 
also provided a stay that night in a five-star hotel, 
which was part of the package of her victory prize. 
Although most of it would go to waste, as he and Hokuto 
only planned to stay for one night, it would serve as a 
good start for a long journey. 
  He estimated two weeks at most, but half a week if 
they made it quick. It actually took a week for Ranma 
and Genma to make it across China, but that was due to 
external factors getting in the way, such as a certain 
Chinese Amazon chasing them all over the place, and 
dragon whiskers. Of course, since Hokuto looked as if 
she never did heavy travel before, half a week was 
probably being too optimistic. 
  When Hokuto came back with a couple heavy backpacks 
full of supplies, he said, "'Bout time." 
  "There's an art to haggling," she replied, throwing 
the packs at the martial artist with surprising 
strength. "Besides, I saved us some money for later." 
  Pulling himself from under the heavy packs, Ranma 
shook his head. "Packed a little heavy, huh?" 
  "It has to last us the entire trip," the apprentice 
priestess pointed out. "It'll get lighter as we go on." 
  "Whatever, let's just get back to the hotel." 
  Tensing suddenly, Hokuto, in a blurred motion, 
threw a dart from beneath her cloak. The small metal 
spatula speared into one corner of the shop wall, and 
the merchant was already complaining in Chinese. 
  "What did you do that for?" Ranma asked. 
  She ran to retrieve the dart. Hokuto returned and 
showed him the spatula, and the ink-black creature 
impaled by its edge. 
  The creature resembled a sort of small lizard, save 
for a single, large eye, gazing off into nothingness 
forevermore. 
  "It's a watcher," Hokuto explained. "I've never seen 
one myself before, but I've heard of them. They're 
supposed to be the eyes of black magic masters." 
  "Black magic?" Ranma echoed. "But we've only just got 
here! Who in the world wants to know we're here?" 
  "If it's truly us they're looking for," Hokuto 
pointed out, a slight edge in her voice. The watcher 
dissolved off the edge of the spatula, crumbling into 
fine black dust. "Only someone strong in black magic 
could make one of these." 
  "And whoever that is," Ranma said, seriously doubting 
it was Mousse, the only black sorcerer he knew, "he 
probably knows what we did to his lizard-eye." 
  "Then pray we don't cross paths with him," Hokuto 
warned. "We cannot afford to make another enemy, not 
one this powerful." 
  Yep, Ranma thought, half a week definitely WAS too 
optimistic. 

  Miranda Kusao stood at attention, alone in the 
cavernous, dark hall, illuminated by but a single 
candle held in her sensei's hand-- yet it was not a 
candle, really, but a small flame burning on the tip 
of his steel index finger. 
  The many scarred features of Sensei were hidden 
beneath many folds and layers of robes, cloaks, and 
mantles, leaving only his metallic arms exposed for 
all to see. The candle-like flame danced on his index 
finger, and he barely seemed to noticed. He focused his 
mechanical left eye on his student, forcing Miranda to 
squint to see Sensei. 
  "You disappoint me," he said finally, his mechanical 
voice mixing with labored breathing. 
  Miranda winced, unused to hearing Sensei's voice 
that bad before. After all, it was Ranma Saotome that 
shattered his breather earlier, but she couldn't help 
but feel that it was somehow her fault anyway. 
  "The Shadow Weaver has vanished," he continued. "And 
you have been fraternizing with her allies. What say 
you in your defense?" 
  Rehearsing her explanation hardly helped the martial 
artist, as the words slipped from her mind. "I... I was 
trying to help...." 
  "Your 'help' is noted," he snapped. 
  "But," Miranda continued, "I know what they're going 
to do. The girl, Akane, is going to take the 
Wishbringer back to its resting place to get more 
wishes." 
  "Wishes mean nothing," Sensei growled. "No wish is 
strong enough for what I want." 
  "Maybe," she conceded, "but we must think of the 
short-term gain of this, too. We could fix your 
breathing problem easily with a wish. Getting another 
air filter isn't easy, you know." 
  The cloaked master's mechanical eye blinked. 
  Satisfied she finally got her master's full 
attentions, Miranda added, "It's likely the Shadow 
Weaver is also traveling with her as well." 
  "I see," he said evenly. 
  Miranda crooked a smile, pleased that her master 
still refrained from looking into matters himself. 
  "I'm supposed to be traveling with them," she 
continued, "so when the time comes you'll know. It 
should be a simple matter to take the Wishbringer from 
them, AND get the Shadow Weaver." 
  Sensei seemed to consider this, waving his lighted 
finger back and forth in front of him. He closed his 
talons into a fist, squelching the flame with the sound 
of metal against metal, plunging the chamber into 
darkness. 
  Only his mechanical red eye illuminated the chamber 
now. 
  "I approve your forethought," he said. "But I will be 
watching closely. Take care, for I suspect others 
contesting for the sword will interfere as well; I will 
do what I can. Don't let the Shadow Weaver out of your 
sight; the sword is not important." 
  Miranda bowed respectfully, silently hoping Sensei 
would never find out the truth. Only the Wishbringer 
mattered now. 

  For the first time Ranma realized the room he and 
Hokuto shared had but a single bed. 
  "They said nothin' about this," he complained, 
throwing the packs into the corner. 
  Hokuto shut the door behind them, then glided to the 
single window and closed the curtains, plunging the 
room into darkness. Ranma flicked on a light switch, 
breaking the darkness. 
  It was then the martial artist realized his heart was 
beating-- fast. 
  The Shadow Weaver turned her head at an angle, eyeing 
Ranma carefully. "What's your problem?" 
  "Oh, n... nothin'," he lied, fighting the urge to 
look for a quick exit. "It's just... well, how far up 
are we?" 
  "Twelfth floor," Hokuto reminded him, slowly stepping 
closer. "And we'd better get some early shut-eye if we 
want to leave at dawn or so." 
  "Uh... about that," Ranma said, raising a point, 
"y... you do notice there's just... one bed, right?" 
  "Is that a problem?" the cloaked girl replied 
innocently, a slight hint of amusement in her voice. 
"We used to do this as kids, remember?" 
  "Not you, you know," he corrected. 
  "Whatever," she brushed off, a gleam in her eyes. 
  Just as Ranma was ready to take his chances with the 
window, Hokuto turned away suddenly. "What am I 
thinking?!" she yelled. 
  Ranma sighed in relief. "Well...." 
  She turned to face him. "Sleep on the floor." 
  "Eh?!" 
  "I don't like this as much as you do," Hokuto said, 
"but if we get in that bed TOGETHER, who knows what'll 
happen. BUT, if only ONE of us sleeps there it'll be no 
problem." 
  "I ain't sleepin' on the floor!" protested Ranma. 
  "Neither am I!" Hokuto folded her arms under her 
cloak. "And no way in hell am I going to sleep with a 
freak-job girl like you, either; you're still a guy on 
the inside." 
  "I...!" the martial artist caught himself. "HEY! 
What do you think I am?!" 
  "When a man and a woman are alone, far from anyone 
that could stop them, and best of all, in a bedroom," 
the Shadow Weaver said, "it's inevitable that something 
like this should happen! You should've brought Akane 
instead." 
  "Hah!" scoffed Ranma. "As if I'd get in the same bed 
as that macho chick!" 
  "You shouldn't call her names like that," she 
suggested. 
  "Uncute, unsexy...." he rambled, as if suddenly 
liberated. 
  Hokuto bashed his head in with one of the travel 
packs. 
  "What'd you do that for?!" he complained, rubbing his 
head. 
  "Seemed like a good thing to do at the time." 
  "So what're you now, Akane AND Ukyo rolled-up into 
one?" 
  She shrugged. "Nix that, sex maniac. You'd love that, 
wouldn't you? Dream come true," she added with a snort. 
  "Who're you calling a 'sex maniac?!'" 
  "The only man in the room, of course." 
  "Says you! What do you know about me, anyway?" 
  Hokuto snorted, assuming airs. "It's going to be a 
miracle to see if we can make it through this little 
excursion alive, given you. Womanizers... can't be 
satisfied even when married." 
  "Oh, I see!" Ranma shouted in realization. "You're 
going to make me sleep on the floor!" He turned and 
jumped on the bed, bouncing up and down on the springs 
of the mattress. "Well, I ain't buyin' it!" 
  The Shadow Weaver shook her head. "You're even dumber 
than I remember. Fine, I'll sleep on the floor." 
  Just as Ranma was about to declare victory, Hokuto 
threw her cloak over his head, blanketing him into 
darkness. "But the shower's mine, heh-heh!" 
  He threw off the cloak as the door to the bathroom 
slammed shut. Shaking his head, he muttered, "This is 
going to be a long two weeks...." 


Day 2 

  Class simply dragged on for Akane, as very little in 
the way of excitement happened. Other than every 
student in the school noting that Ranma was ditching 
class, of course, which did little at all for his 
teachers, and the principal made another empty threat 
to shave the truant kid's head when he came back. 
  When lunch period started she broke off from her 
usual group of friends (who were giving her strange 
looks anyway, for what reason Akane did not know), and 
looked around the school yard for Kodachi Kuno. 
  Akane hardly had to look far. Kodachi was seated on 
a lawn chair, sitting back with an umbrella shading her 
from the light of the noon sun. Off to her right were 
her groupies-- a menagerie of girls from all classes 
that wanted to get a piece of the good graces; one of 
them was holding up the umbrella. Sitting at the end of 
the lawn chair, beyond Kodachi's feet, was her 'Right 
Hand,' the whiney Chika, reading what appeared to be a 
thick technical manual of some sort. 
  "Don't you think you're overdoing it?" Akane blurted 
out. 
  Kodachi sat up in the lawn chair and looked at the 
newcomer, then laughed. "Ah, could it be the love of 
Ranma Saotome that speaks thusly to Kodachi Kuno?" 
  "Yes," Chika said plainly, not bothering to look up 
from her book. 
  "No matter," Kodachi replied. "What business have you 
with me?" 
  "I need the Wishbringer," Akane said, driving 
straight to the point. 
  The eyes and ears of the groupies perked up at the 
name of the sword Kuno pulled from a stone. 
  Kodachi raised an eyebrow. "Really?" 
  "I'm not in the mood for the run-around," Akane 
warned, "so what'll it be?" 
  "Ho-ho!" the other girl laughed. "You simply do not 
make demands to your superior. With proper respect I 
may find your request feasible." 
  "Or just ask nicely," Chika offered to Akane. "And 
the sword's not her's, either." 
  "But Brother-dear has departed," Kodachi reminded 
her. 
  "Well, it's still not yours to give out." 
  "Kuno would let me borrow it," insisted Akane. "I 
just need to see it, and I need you to let me get it." 
  "And just how familiar ARE you to him?" demanded 
Kodachi. "Your feeble appeal to his feelings are for 
naught!" 
  "I wasn't appealing to his feelings!" she argued. 
  "Just let her have the stupid thing," Chika 
suggested. 
  Kodachi eyed Chika, startling her. "And why would 
there be interest in a 'useless' weapon such as a 
Wishbringer long after its power spent?" 
  "Well, geez," the media specialist said with a shrug. 
"How about sentimental value? Art museums? Esthetics?" 
  "Yeah, whatever," Akane scoffed. "Last time I was 
there the sword asked me to put it back." 
  "Back where?" Kodachi asked, curiosity perked. 
  "To where Kuno got it, of course." 
  "What benefit would that yield onto you?" 
  "Beats me!" 
  "Maybe you could make a wish with it," suggested 
Chika. "Or the sword's got a big ego." 
  "A WISH?!" Kodachi exclaimed, the groupings echoing 
after her lead. Black rose petals fell from the sky. 
She grabbed the umbrella, shielding herself from the 
sudden black petal blizzard raining from above. "With 
such a wish... ALL MY DREAMS CAN COME TRUE!!" 
  When the storm dissipated, Kodachi was gone. 
  From under the large pile of petals Chika shook her 
head. "How'm I getting all this out of my clothes in 
time for class?" 
  Akane brushed the rose petals from her head. "Oh 
brother," she muttered, guessing what Kodachi was 
going to do next. 
  "You seem lost," someone said. 
  She turned her attention to the speaker. "Miranda," 
Akane said, eyes on the martial artist. 
  Miranda leaned against a nearby tree, arms folded, 
one rubber boot propped against the trunk, obviously 
appearing ready to fight despite the calm demeanor. 
"You just couldn't steal it, could you?" 
  "Where've you been?" Akane demanded, leaving Chika 
and the other girls to pull themselves out of the 
black petals. "You just up and disappeared!" 
  "I've had business to deal with," she replied. "Are 
you ready to go?" 
  "Go?!" Akane exclaimed. "I'm in the middle of 
school now." She narrowed her eyes. "And aren't you 
supposed to be at your school?" 
  Miranda shrugged. "Throw your weight around, get your 
way. Works for Kodachi, and it works for me. Doesn't 
matter, really; summer vacation's starting this 
weekend anyway." 
  The martial artist stood up and approached Akane 
waving an index finger. "And now she's going to put the 
sword back herself. What say you?" 
  Akane snorted. "So what?" 
  "All of us have wishes and dreams; that's no secret," 
Miranda explained. "She's got the sword, she knows 
where it came from, and has the means to get there. We 
don't have the means to get there, unless you want to 
walk." 
  "You have any better ideas?" she asked. The only 
thing going right so far was the letter was already on 
its way. 
  Miranda chuckled. "You'll see." 

  Ranma felt no feelings of guilt about Hokuto sleeping 
on the floor the moment he stepped out of the shower. 
  He was not used to taking quick showers as he did 
that morning, but it was a necessity, seeing how the 
Shadow Weaver managed to use up all the hot water in 
one go of her own. She took her time in the shower, 
only starting when Ranma got up, and finishing maybe 
twenty minutes later, after he scrounged up some free 
breakfast from the hotel staff. 
  When Hokuto waved and smiled at him with a larger 
breakfast than his own, Ranma wanted to throttle her. 
  She sat on the floor, a bun in hand, chewing away. 
"That was quick," she said, swallowing. 
  "And I've you to thank for it," Ranma muttered. 
  "So much for an early start, eh?" 
  For a moment the martial artist wondered if Hokuto 
was deliberately trying to keep him off-balance. "We 
still got time." 
  "Well, then," she said, "then you wouldn't mind that 
I got us a trip up the river." The Shadow Weaver fanned 
a couple boat tickets in her free hand. "This should 
take us quite a ways, don't you think?" 
  "Where'd you get those?" Ranma asked suspiciously. 
  "The tickets?" Hokuto asked, feigning surprise. 
  "What else?" 
  "Got 'em last night," she answered, dropping the 
charade. "Won them, actually. A good thing, too, 
otherwise I don't think you would've liked sleeping 
with them." 
  "You bet my body for tickets?!" the martial artist 
screamed angrily. 
  "It WORKED!" Hokuto emphasized. 
  "You ain't bettin' me off to anyone!" Ranma 
declared, laying down the law. "Not you, or anyone else 
has any claim over me but myself!" 
  "And then some," the Shadow Weaver muttered under her 
breath. "But I understand; I won't do it again." 
  "Yeah, right," Ranma said, unable to curb his anger. 
He walked to where his backpack rest against the wall, 
then turned to look at the Shadow Weaver. "C'mon, we'd 
better go before you do something else wrong." 
  As he slung the pack over his shoulder, Hokuto 
whispered to herself, "Oh, we'll see about that, 
Ranma." 

  "Damn," cursed Shion as he brushed his brow with the 
back of his hand. "Lots of things going on today." 
  The hacker stared at the monitor of his computer for 
several moments, leaning back in his chair, as if 
seeing what he was reading from afar would make things 
look simpler. Shion was used to doing odd jobs, but the 
task that girl laid out for him this time, plus any 
other job on the side, gave him little time to goof-off 
or have fun. He didn't like what she told him, but she 
did have a point-- once he was in the circle, he 
couldn't get out of it. Not without being dead, at 
least-- and he had only himself to blame for that. 
  Shion wondered just how Shizuka knew what nobody else 
should be able to figure out. IF she figured it out, 
that is, but the priestess gave a strong indication in 
that direction, one too close for comfort. 
  He barely noticed the door opening, and spared a 
glance to note Chika entering, her school uniform 
stained here and there, with a few black petals stuck 
in every other place. 
  "Where'd you go?" he asked. 
  "Did you know the Wishbringer was here, in town?" 
Chika asked, driving straight to the point. 
  Shion nodded. "Last I heard the wishes are spent." 
  "Well, looks like people want to put it back to get 
more wishes," she continued. "They think they can get 
more... what morons." 
  For a moment the hacker scratched his chin. "Who'd 
you say was going?" 
  "That girl, Akane," Chika replied, brushing off a 
petal stuck to her sleeve. "Kodachi, too. Oh, and the 
red-eyed girl, too." 
  Shion raised an eyebrow. "Really?" 
  "Really." 
  Smirking to himself, he turned his attentions back to 
his computer. "Then I guess it's about time to get some 
work done, eh?" 
  "What work?" 
  "Nothing!" he shouted. "I've got stuff to take care 
of now." 
  Chika rolled her eyes. "Don't tell me you're going to 
try for the stupid sword, too?" 
  "What makes you think I'm so petty? I already MAKE 
wishes come true!" 
  The girl nodded, a new idea dawning. "Oh, I see...." 
  "That's right," Shion replied quickly, "now leave! 
Unless you really WANT to stay in this profession?" 
  Throwing up her arms, Chika turned to leave. 
  Adjusting his glasses, cracking his knuckles, Shion 
started typing away. 
  Looks like things are going to heat up, he thought, 
and quite literally, at that. 

  "There's a little trick to this," Miranda explained 
to Akane as the two stood at the bus stop. "You see, if 
you want to get to the middle of nowhere and you don't 
have a car, plus the fact that the trains don't go 
there at all... you take the bus." 
  The two girls stood alone with their luggage at the 
bus station. The backpacks were filled to the brim 
with travel supplies that Miranda prepared the night 
before in anticipation of this move, to Akane's 
surprise. The moment Akane announced to her family 
that she was leaving on a training trip (which wasn't 
far from the truth), the crimson-eyed martial artist 
got her out of the house, it seemed. 
  The less people knew about the Wishbringer and its 
possible reusability, the better. 
  Akane shook her head, groaning inwardly. "Aren't we 
being a little preemptive about this?" she asked. "I 
mean, Kodachi couldn't have left already." 
  The crimson-eyed martial artist shrugged, seeming 
unconcerned. "Just so long as we're there when she gets 
there, you know." 
  "Don't you ever do anything the simple way?" 
  "The simple way is often easier," she conceded, "but 
that's where you're likely to make mistakes." 
  Miranda sat down on the heavy backpack standing on 
the sidewalk next to Akane's pack, propping her right 
leg over her left. She gathered her flowing hair with 
both hands, cupping them together and throwing them 
over her shoulders. "At any rate, this sure beats 
walking." 
  "IF you can stand the waiting," Akane said 
impatiently, glancing at her watch. "That bus hasn't 
come by in fifteen minutes already." 
  "It'll come," Miranda assured her, turning to watch 
the afternoon sun descend from the sky. "Hunters need 
to learn patience when stalking prey." 
  "All of this is just a big game for you, isn't it?" 
  "Up to a point." 
  "And when would that be?" 
  "Likely when my life is in danger." 
  At that moment the two girls looked down the street, 
watching the bus drive up toward them. Miranda stood 
up, scooping up her backpack easily with one arm while 
Akane struggled with the heavy pack of her own. 
  "Well, there," Miranda said, "patience paid off." 
  For a moment Akane wondered which role in the game 
Miranda played. 

  As the two girls stepped into the bus, a being of 
dark cloaks darted quickly under the bus, sliding on 
his back with the sound of metal against pavement. 
  Miranda's sensei ground to a halt near the lower 
luggage compartment, sensing the bus was ready to take 
off at any moment. He whipped out his steel clawed 
hand from the folds of his dark cloak, and bit into the 
luggage compartment with each nail easily. With his 
other claw he ripped a hole into the compartment, just 
as the vehicle switched gears. 
  The heavy bus picked up speed, dragging Sensei 
along its underside on his back. Tossing away the 
shards he ripped from the compartment's housing, he 
managed to lift himself up off the pavement and into 
the compartment, tearing and smashing suitcases and 
bags to make room for himself. 
  Settling himself into a comfortable position in the 
dark compartment, the only sources of illumination 
being the slight cracks of the compartment's door and 
his own mechanical eye, Sensei forced himself to relax 
into a meditative trance. Mentally, he set a clock 
that would alert him when the bus arrived at the 
destination point. He stared out the hole he made in 
the compartment, giving him full view of one of the 
rear tires. 
  Stretching out his clawed metal foot, Sensei guessed 
he could make the bus stop, if necessary. He doubted 
it would come to that, but it never hurt to have extra 
plans, in case something went wrong. 
  In any case, something always did go wrong around 
me, he thought, remembering the destruction of his 
breather. He reached behind his back, feeling for the 
hose attached to the oxygen tanks strapped to him, and 
settled it in his steel jaw. It wouldn't do to 
suffocate during the trip. 
  His mechanical eye dimmed as he retracted his foot, 
and soon, the noise of the outside world left him, 
leaving Sensei alone in silence. 
  Once again, the nightmarish claws tore at him from 
the darkness, but he knew all too well that screaming 
never helped. 

  Philip Taydome rubbed his unshaven chin thoughtfully 
as he stared at the computer monitor on his desk 
through his thin-framed glasses. Three separate spec 
sheets, side-by-side on-screen for comparison, 
revealed the current operating specifications for his 
three marauding creations. While all three were 
operating far better than expected in the test runs, 
none of them flagged any signal as to the whereabouts 
of one Ranma Saotome. 
  Spinning in his seat away from the monitor, Taydome 
faced the darkness of the closet-like dark room that 
served as his office. He narrowly avoided a carefully- 
piled stack of papers on the floor, brushing the stack 
with his shoe slightly. The office was cluttered 
enough without fallen stacks to deal with, especially 
not stacks that were organized. 
  At least, organized in such a way that only Taydome 
himself could find something in them. 
  The three machines, GAIA, CRONOS, and URANOS, were 
not only directed to find and retrieve Ranma, the 
engineer remembered. At the advice of the director 
their directives were appended to search for anyone 
close to Ranma that would likely be in his company, 
most particularly his wife, Akane. By the time the 
directive was appended, however, Akane managed to pull 
a disappearing act of her own, as she, too, disappeared 
from her residence earlier in the day. 
  Everything was moving too fast, he thought in 
frustration. 
  A low-level tone from the computer indicated another 
message arrived from the director. Turning back to 
face the monitor Taydome brought up the message link, 
then quickly keyed in two layers of passwords. A small 
message window was awarded him, and the message was 
indeed from the director. 
  And quite brief at that: "Results expected. Maintain 
low profile until extraction procedures commence with 
minimum risk." 
  The American snarled, pounding his fist on the desk. 
"Why do you keep pestering me with this?!" 
  Killing the message program, Taydome's eyes lit up as 
one of the flags tied to URANOS burst to light. 
  "Ah, my creation!" he exclaimed, rubbing his palms 
together. "I see you've found a match!" 
  Cracking his knuckles, Taydome punched in the 
commands that would send URANOS, the drill machine, 
after its quarry. 

  Not far from Taydome's office, another figure 
bathed in the darkness of shadow sat back and watched 
a monitor with interest. The engineer appeared quite 
happy in his work, even if the hidden camera's 
position didn't exactly give the best of angles. At 
least it still got a decent view of what was on his 
own monitors. 
  "That's right, my friend," the shadow said, "send 
your toy after them. We'll see just how interesting 
this little game can be." 


Day 3 

  The hike from the last bus stop proved rigorous in of 
itself as Akane and Miranda, carrying their own heavy 
packs, took a break on the mountainside overlooking 
the highway below. The bus that had carried them to 
such a remote area had long since left, and there was 
no one else in sight, as the people who usually visited 
the Wishbringer's home had long since stopped coming. 
  The two girls sat alone at the winding stone steps 
that lead to the shrine above hardly looked inviting, 
as they were only about a third of the way up the 
slope. 
  "I don't think Kodachi's here," Akane said between 
breaths. 
  "Really," the crimson-eyed martial artist replied. 
"You don't say." 
  "So what're we going to do in the meantime?" 
  "We prepare, and wait, of course," Miranda answered. 
  "Wait until what?" complained Akane. "Wait until the 
ground explodes beneath us?" 
  Before Miranda could reply, the two felt something 
rumble beneath their feet. 
  Slowly, it died. "Did you feel that?" she asked. 
  Akane nodded, just as the rumbling started again. 
This time, however, it was only getting stronger. 
  Pointing to the ground below them, Akane mouthed, 
"It's right below us!" just as they scrambled out of 
the way. Rocks and stones burst from the ground where 
the two girls once sat, their travel packs part of the 
debris. A thick cloud of dust spurt from the explosion, 
or rather, from the new hole in the ground. 
  Two red eyes belonging to a death's head-like face 
stared at Akane as the drill-armed URANOS surfaced, the 
large drill on its back spinning and showering her with 
pebbles and dirt. 
  "TARGET IDENTIFIED," URANOS droned. 
  From behind the machine, Miranda brushed off the dirt 
on her clothes. "Ugh, not that thing again." 
  Akane's eyes passed from the death's head to the 
arm-mounted drills on each arm, then back to the head. 
"NOW what do you want?!" 
  "Dammit," the machine said with Taydome's voice, "I 
don't see Ranma anywhere...." 
  "Well, DUH, dumbass!" Miranda yelled. "He's not here 
you freak!" 
  The machine's torso spun about to get a good glimpse 
at the crimson-eyed girl. "Strange," Taydome muttered, 
"your aura's just like his!" 
  Kicking URANOS with her boot, she replied, "Tell me 
something I don't know." 
  "No wonder my instruments picked you up," the 
engineer said to himself aloud. URANOS turned back to 
face Akane. "Well, in any case, you're coming with me! 
Where you are, Ranma won't be far behind!" 
  Breaking off into a sprint, Akane yelled over her 
shoulder, "Leave me out of this, you loser!" 
  Ignoring Miranda completely, URANOS wheeled off on 
its treads after Akane. 
  "Hey, you tin can!" Miranda yelled, "don't you 
ignore ME!" 

  Standing at the entrance of the shrine gates above, 
surveying the action down the mountain, a single 
figure watched with great interest as Akane, URANOS, 
and Miranda put on a show of a three-man chase. 
  "Well," she said to herself, "this should be 
interesting." 

  "Don't make this hard on me or yourself!" Taydome 
yelled through URANOS's speakers as the machine ripped 
through the bushes and trees dotting the mountainside 
as if they were never there. 
  Akane's mind raced for ideas, knowing full well that 
she could never outrun one of Taydome's war machines. 
The problem was that anything she could do to try and 
shake off the pursuer would likely fail due to the 
supposed tracking devices built into it. Attacking it 
was totally out of the question; it took a lot of 
people in teamwork to take down the first one a year 
ago. 
  So why is Taydome after Ranma again, anyway? 
  She came to a full stop and turned around to face 
URANOS. 
  Putting on the brakes fast, URANOS ground to a halt, 
kicking up much dirt in a cloud behind it. The death's 
head's eyes seemed to blink quizzically at Akane. 
  "What are you up to?" asked the engineer. 
  "Look," Akane said, "this is pointless; whatever it 
is that Ranma did couldn't be worth kidnapping me over 
it and hoping he'll come!" 
  "It was an idea," admitted Taydome. 
  From behind, Miranda appeared, stepping over the 
trampled bushes and trees. "Then what ARE you going to 
do?" 
  "It's nice of you to stop for me, though," he 
finished, URANOS's chest opening up to reveal a 
mancatcher. 
  But before the machine could deploy the capture 
mechanism, its torso spun suddenly in the direction 
downward the hill, its red eyes glowing with alarm. 
  "What the...?!" 
  Akane braced herself as something heavy launched at 
the hulking titan, smashing into the ground and 
blasting more dirt into the air. When the dust cleared 
a creature, cloaked in black, slashed at URANOS with 
steel claws on its arms and legs mercilessly. 
  "Sensei!" Miranda cried. 
  "Cinder!" Taydome squealed. 
  Bewildered eyes passed from URANOS to Miranda, and 
back to Sensei-- Cinder. Akane said, "W... what's 
going on here?!" 
  As Cinder and URANOS struggled on the ground 
Miranda's gloved hand grasped Akane's arm tightly. 
"Never mind! Let's beat it while it's still good!" 
  Before Akane could protest the martial artist broke 
into a sprint, heading up the mountain and leaving 
her sensei and the titan behind. She heard metal 
against metal behind her, someone howling in 
unearthly pain, and shattered glass. 
  Pushing the thoughts of Cinder and URANOS in their 
deathlock out of her mind, Akane willed her legs to 
keep up with Miranda's, focusing on getting to safety. 

  Rage was foremost in Cinder's thoughts as he smashed 
his nails through URANOS's red eyes, snarling like a 
wild beast, teeth clenching against a steel jaw. 
  When he finally realized that the machine had stopped 
moving Cinder regained his senses and composure, 
standing upright and brushing off the dust on his 
cloak. His mechanical eye focused on the voice box, 
and although he knew the operator couldn't see him, he 
could hear him. 
  "I trust you're through," Taydome's voice said from 
the center of the wrecked URANOS. 
  "I don't recognize you," Cinder said slowly, allowing 
his anger to cool, "but I do recognize the stench of 
your organization." 
  "As do we to you," the engineer replied, obviously 
unimpressed. "Your power signature gave it away." 
  "Undoubtedly from all the built-in recognition flags 
from the depths of your Section files," the clawed 
master realized. "What is your business with that 
girl?" 
  "I should ask you the same." 
  "That's unimportant; I hold the advantage, whoever 
you are," Cinder snarled, running a toe nail over the 
voice box. "I suspect this will hardly be the last of 
our little communications." 
  "In that you'd be correct," Taydome admitted. "My 
other children are already on their way to your 
position, and I seriously doubt you could defeat more 
than one by yourself!" 
  "Hardly likely!" Cinder spat, his voice grating. 
"You could track me to the ends of the Earth if you 
wish, but nothing stands in the way of my iron will!" 
  He closed his heavy metal foot around the voice box, 
nails digging into and crushing it in a shower of 
sparks. Quickly, Cinder bent down, discarding the box 
and digging into the armor with his claws. He ripped 
out the processor unit, cables still sparking, and 
crushed it in his hands. 
  That information will never be useful for the 
other robots, he thought with satisfaction. 
  Cinder's mechanical eye focused toward the shrine 
atop the mountain. Narrowing his one good eye in 
suspicion, he wondered if Miranda betrayed him after 
all. 

  "Slow down!" demanded Akane, on the verge of being 
dragged in the dirt behind the fleeing Miranda, her 
hand still clamped tightly to her arm. 
  The crimson-eyed martial artist paid her no heed as 
she maintained her pace up the slope, barely 
registering the sudden slowdown as Akane fell and 
dragged behind her. Only one thought was foremost in 
Miranda's thoughts, and it was flight. 
  Dammit! she shouted inwardly to herself again. Now 
Sensei knows I've tricked him! 
  Her boot got caught on something on the ground, 
sending Miranda falling to the dirt slope, added with 
the impact of Akane landing on top of her. Despite the 
pain the martial artist was laboring to breathe, and 
desperately looking for avenues of escape. 
  "Nowhere... to run!" she cursed, clenching dirt with 
her gloved fists. 
  "Miranda!" Akane shouted, getting up to her feet. 
"Just where do you think you were going, anyway?!" 
  Turning quickly, kicking up dirt everywhere, 
Miranda grabbed Akane by the shirt. "Don't you see 
danger when you know it?!" 
  Despite the garbled message, Akane understood the 
meaning perfectly. "Why are you running from your 
sensei? He might need your help!" she pointed out. 
  Yelling in panic, Miranda replied, "THAT'S WHY we 
need to escape! He KNOWS what I've done, that I've 
betrayed him! Now he's going to come after me!!" 
  Releasing her grip on Akane, Miranda forced herself 
to take several deep breaths, attempting to achieve a 
sense of calmness. The girl was definitely not going to 
understand, she knew. 
  She remembered what Master Cinder told her when he 
taught her this lesson: "Hate can be a powerful weapon 
in battle, and passion a drive for success, but panic 
and fear tools of ineffectiveness." Ironically, he was 
right even now; losing control of her emotions wouldn't 
get Miranda's point across to the clueless sod of 
Ranma's. 
  Casting a glance down the mountain to where she 
thought her sensei was, Miranda started, "Master Cinder 
possesses a skill level that far outstretches that of 
myself, or your precious Ranma." 
  Akane's eyes stared down the mountain as well, where, 
when there were lush, green trees before, a column of 
flame erupted, consuming all the greenery. "I can see 
why he's Cinder," she remarked dryly. 
  "I doubt 'Cinder' is his true name," Miranda 
admitted, "although the name certainly does fit with 
his mastery over the fire element." 
  "Fire elemental master?" Akane repeated, wondering 
why those three words would have any meaning to her. 
  "Using his rebuilt arms to jet flames, Master Cinder 
seems to have control over the fire-- to shape, form, 
do anything he pleases! He's even thrown a flame dart 
around a corner before to chase after some guy." 
  "And that's why we have to run!" Miranda concluded, 
reaching out to grab Akane's arm again, but Akane 
pulled herself away at the last moment. 
  "If Cinder is as powerful as you say he is," Akane 
said, "then no matter what you're still going to have 
to face him. Running isn't the answer." 
  "I promised him your friend and the Wishbringer; 
what makes you think he won't roast me?!" demanded 
the crimson-eyed girl. 
  "I couldn't imagine what he'd want with Hokuto," she 
lied, "but the Wishbringer can't be his; it's not even 
here." 
  "HE doesn't know that!" Miranda insisted, panic 
settling in once more. 
  Akane sighed. "You're really afraid of him, aren't 
you?" 
  "So should you!" 
  "Even through all the respect and esteem you hold 
Cinder in, you're still afraid." 
  "You would, too, if you saw him when I first met 
him," the martial artist replied, her voice evening 
out. "I saw him fight-- and I mean really fight. He 
fought so well that none of the seven jerks that ganged 
up on him laid a hand on him! And I bore witness to all 
this!" 
  "When he was through," she continued, pacing in a 
circle around Akane, her eyes never leaving her for one 
moment, "I was the only one left standing; I BEGGED him 
to teach me! For what I saw that day, that moment, I 
knew I could beat Kodachi Kuno with his aid!" 
  "For some unexplainable, unfathomable reason, 
Master Cinder accepted, taking me as his student in his 
self-devised fighting style, based on the cutting and 
slashing motions. While he possessed actual claws for 
such feats, I learned to do it with my hands alone." 
  "And yet," Miranda finished, "I never could beat him. 
Not once have I laid a finger on him, even when I 
learned." Eyeing Akane carefully, halting in her 
circle, she said bluntly, "I seriously doubt you could 
be of any assistance to a master." 
  "Not even Ranma is that good," Akane muttered to 
herself. To the crimson-eyed girl she said, "We'd 
better head for the temple and wait for Kodachi to 
arrive." 
  "And if she doesn't?" 
  "Then I don't know what to do," she admitted. 

  "That's all very interesting," the woman in the dark 
cloak said, tapping her long-poled scythe on the 
concrete grounds of the temple. She turned her 
attention back to the temple warden, who stood next to 
her as the two stared down from the wall to where the 
column of flame burst to life. 
  For a moment she wondered if she was way over her 
head this time. 
  "It's a harbinger of doom!" the warden cried 
fearfully. "Nothing good can come of it!" 
  "Perhaps," the reaper-person conceded. She focused 
her attention away from the dazzling flame column to 
where she thought the two girls fled. From all 
appearances, however, it hardly appeared that either of 
them had the Wishbringer sword in their possession. "Or 
perhaps it's just the beginning." 
  And when it's all over, everything will be going my 
way, she thought with satisfaction. 

  Before Akane could step through the gate at the 
entrance to the complex, Miranda yanked her back 
quickly. 
  "Hey!" she squawked. 
  "It's trapped," Miranda said simply, pointing her 
finger to the ground. 
  Akane's eyes followed the finger to a thick trip 
wire hanging taught near the ground, extending from 
one end of the gate to the other, through gears, and 
up the side of the gate. Her eyes stopped when she saw 
what looked like a net hanging from the underside of 
the gate, with several weights attached to the ends. 
  "How'd he do this so fast?!" 
  The crimson-eyed girl shook her head. "Sensei didn't 
do this; it's not his style. 
  Carefully, Miranda stepped one leg over the trip 
wire, freezing to a halt as she got her first clear 
view of the courtyard. 
  "Now what?" demanded Akane. 
  Risking a glance back, Miranda answered tensely, 
"The entire place is trapped!" 
  Peeking over Miranda, Akane could not get a full 
view of the courtyard. In the midst of it rest a 
single stone slab and several signs around it, likely 
the original resting place of the Wishbringer. But, 
focusing her view back and away from the stone she 
realized why the martial artist was so concerned. 
  Surrounding the stone in what appeared to be in a 
perfect circular pattern was a moat made up of 
caltrops and other anti-foot spikes to the stone's 
castle. Near each and every tree there was a rope loop 
tied innocently enough next to it, obviously leading 
to a foot trap if one stepped in the loop. If one could 
strain their eyes enough they could see that there were 
much thinner lines of trip wire running across the 
courtyard, leading to traps unknown. 
  Akane whistled. "Someone's put their time into this, 
didn't they?" 
  "I wouldn't be surprised if all the traps were linked 
together," Miranda snorted, carefully bringing her 
other foot over the first trip wire. "Someone knew we 
were coming, and they were pretty quick about it." 
  She helped Akane over the wire. "The thing is, nobody 
should've known we were coming, and on short notice! 
Who could have the resources to get here before us?" 
  "Other than Kodachi," Akane thought aloud, "the only 
other people who'd know about it would be her groupies 
and whoever they talked to." She cast a glance back up 
at the net she passed under. "Maybe it's time to find 
out." 
  Miranda flinched, realizing what Akane was going to 
do, but before either of the girls could act the ground 
was swept from beneath them. Crying out in surprise, 
the two were slung up fast by a heavy cargo net, 
hanging by the entrance of the gate stupidly staring 
down at the ground that formerly concealed the trap. 
  "That SUCKS!" complained the martial artist. 
  "In a roundabout way, I suppose it worked," Akane 
noted dryly. 
  "The best way to hide a trap is to hide it behind 
another one," a new voice said. 
  Both of the hanging girls look to the source of the 
voice, a figure dressed in all-black robes holding a 
long-poled scythe in one hand, head down low as if in a 
massive visage to the Grim Reaper. As this Reaper 
appeared seemingly out of nowhere, his or her identity 
may not be so far from the truth. The scythe's head 
seemed made of different material than the steel blade 
or the wood pole, looking as if it possessed some kind 
of gear mechanism in it. 
  "Who're you?" demanded Akane. 
  "The Wishbringer," the robed girl demanded, ignoring 
Akane's question. "Where is it?!" 
  "Ha!" Miranda laughed. "You wasted your traps for 
nothing; we don't have it." 
  "Really," the Reaper replied coolly. 
  All three girls heard something snap shut above them. 
  "I believe it's right there." 
  Akane and Miranda turned their eyes up toward the 
wall near the gate, where a metal cage folded itself 
together around a fourth girl, holding a long, wrapped 
bundle in her hands. 
  "I see you fell for it, too," Miranda snorted. 
  Kodachi Kuno beat at the cage with her boots, but to 
no avail. "Perhaps it was too easy to be true." 
  The reaper quickly snatched the cage down from the 
wall, setting it down carefully on the ground before 
her. "Give me the sword." 
  "Why, pray tell, should I comply with your demands?!" 
demanded Kodachi. 
  "Suit yourself!" the Reaper said, slightly angered. 
  She ran the blunt end of her scythe into the cage, 
harshly jabbing at Kodachi in the cage. From Akane's 
perspective she couldn't see just what was happening to 
the caged girl, but the results were apparent enough 
when the Reaper produced the bundled Wishbringer from 
the cage. 
  "It's mine!" she exclaimed proudly, throwing off her 
black hood. Her dark eyes seemed worn to Akane, peering 
calculatingly at everything she saw. The Reaper wore 
her midnight hair tied up in a ponytail that seemed to 
disappear into her dark robe. 
  "Who're you?" Akane repeated. 
  Ignoring Akane once again the Reaper slid her scythe 
on the ground, pulling up another trip wire. In several 
quick seconds all the traps sprung at once, and the 
caltrops surrounding the stone seemed to part for her. 
  For the first time Akane seemed to notice that 
Miranda was trying to cut the cargo net with her bare 
hands. "What're you doing?" 
  "What's it look like?!" she bit back, annoyed. "I'm 
getting us out of this mess!" 
  Akane looked back down at the metal cage where 
Kodachi lay, noting that there hadn't been any movement 
from the cage at all. 
  She turned her attention back to the stone, where the 
Reaper was already thrusting the Wishbringer back into 
the stone. Bracing herself for anything, Akane was 
disappointed, and thought the Reaper was too, when 
nothing happened. 
  "What the...?" the Reaper yelled angrily. "Why isn't 
it coming out?!" 
  The warden popped up next to her. "Oh, did I forget 
to mention? The Wishbringer gets its power from one 
million hopes and dreams from those who attempt to pull 
it out. Congratulations, you're number one!" 
  Fuming with anger, the Reaper threw the warden into 
orbit. "YOU SHOULD'VE TOLD ME SOONER YOU OLD FART!!" 
  "Looks like it didn't work," Akane said, just as 
Miranda finished cutting the cargo net. Both girls 
fell to the ground, with Miranda bearing the brunt of 
the fall as Akane landed on top of her. 
  "Dammit," cursed the crimson-eyed girl, "Sensei is 
going to be REALLY pissed now." 
  "What evidence would point in that direction, my 
student?" 
  Glancing up in shock, Miranda looked into the red 
mechanical eye of Cinder, and immediately threw Akane 
aside and kowtowed quickly. "Forgive me!" she repeated 
frantically. 
  "You have MUCH to answer for!" the master said, his 
voice grating more than usual. He raised a claw to 
strike. 
  "HEY!" cried the Reaper, running back to the gate. 
"Get away from them!" 
  His attention diverted, Cinder raised his eyes to 
quickly analyze the newcomer. "This is none of your 
business!" 
  "They're MINE!!" she cried, throwing off her black 
robe. She dressed in a lavender, oversized dress that 
fell to her knees, and tied off with a matching sash at 
her waist. Hanging around her neck was a bronze- 
chained necklace set with a particularly large piece of 
amethyst, with what appeared to be a crystallized 
spider of some sort inlaid within it. Her white 
stockings reached only half-way up her calves and ended 
in a matching pair of white imported basketball shoes, 
something that looked completely clashing with the rest 
of her costume. 
  She spun her scythe about and around her with one 
hand, and the purpose of the mechanism on the head was 
revealed when the blade came to a rest in a position 
along the length of the pole, transforming a scythe 
into a spear-like naginata in the blink of an eye. 
  "Kanna Rajura!" she announced proudly, "of the 
Rajura Whirling Spear School of fighting! You, as all 
my foes, can address me as the 'Crystal Spider!'" 
  "Cinder," the fire master replied plainly, "the 
style is unimportant." His claws glowed in hellflames. 
"But now, 'Crystal Spider,' you've met your match!" 
  Crawling from between the two combatants Miranda 
watched as Kanna and Cinder matched blade to flaming 
claw with deft speed, in awe that there could be 
someone that was fast enough to keep up with her 
sensei's attacks. 
  She jumped when Akane tugged at her arm. "Hey!" 
  Akane, holding a limp Kodachi over her shoulder, 
said, "We'd better get out of here before something 
else decides to get us." 
  Nodding quickly, Miranda quickly spared a glance 
back at her master. "While there's still time...." 

  Kanna's mind barely registered the fact that her 
quarry were fleeing the premises, but her attentions 
were full on trying to keep up with Cinder's relentless 
attacks, coming at higher speeds than she was used to. 
Although she was the star pupil of the Rajura school, 
no one before had matched the speed level of this one, 
not even the kid. 
  "You're good," she muttered, hoping to lull the 
fire master into a false sense of superiority. In the 
midst of battle focus was everything; it could easily 
be put off-balance by either making them overconfident 
or angry. Judging from the demeanor Cinder carried 
himself, it was better to appeal to his confidence. 
  She dodged to the side as he threw a fireball her 
way, only then realizing that Cinder, up until now, was 
only playing with her; this tactic was not going to 
work, she realized. Kanna quickly analyzed the 
surroundings into her mind, understanding that there 
were a few traps still left to be tripped, ones that 
were not chained together. 
  Risking leaving herself open, the Crystal Spider 
broke off her attack and ran to the center of the 
circle of caltrops, to the stone where the Wishbringer 
stood. 
  Pressing his advantage, Cinder gave chase, not 
bothering to leap over the caltrops as they flew 
about and scattered by his steel feet. Kanna hardly 
expected her opponent to be so protected against the 
caltrops, but it was the furthest thing from her mind 
when she committed herself to this action. 
  Vaulting straight up into the air using her naginata 
as a pole, Kanna wheeled herself about quickly and 
aimed her weapon downward-- not at Cinder, who stared 
upward in amazement, but at the ground at the foot of 
the stone. 
  "Nice trick," was all that Cinder managed to utter 
before Kanna made her move. 
  "New Rajura Style: Eight Gate Array!" Kanna 
cried, driving her weapon into the ground. 
  Ki energy spiked in eight places in the same circular 
pattern as the caltrops formed around the stone, 
enclosing Kanna and Cinder within. The mechanical eye 
of the fire master dimmed for a blink as Kanna 
vaulted herself out of the circle and into safety. 
  Cinder turned to retreat back the way whence he 
came, but the ki force from the seven other ki spikes 
blasted him and forced him to the center of the array. 
  "Unfortunately for you," the girl said, "I've 
studied the ancient books of war. It'll take a good 
while to figure yourself out of that Chinese finger 
trap!" 
  The robed fire master eyed Kanna angrily, but said 
no word. He tried to rush back to the same spike, only 
to get blasted once more. 
  Laughing to herself, the Crystal Spider shouldered 
her naginata. Turning to the gate, her victory was cut 
short as she remembered that her enemy had gotten 
loose again. 
  Then again, they were never the real goal in the 
first place, she remembered. Glancing over her shoulder 
to Cinder, Kanna dropped her jaw in surprise when she 
saw the clawed warrior standing behind her, well away 
from the array. 
  "I, too, know of Zhuge Liang's Eight Arrays," Cinder 
said in a low tone, citing the source by name as proof. 
"The gate whence you enter determines which gate you 
must exit in order to survive." 
  Kanna nodded as she turned around to face him. "I 
admire your knowledge of the arts of war." 
  "Your distraction was merely that; your nose is 
in my way!" the fire master railed, seizing Kanna's 
arms quickly. 
  Without her naginata in her hands, Kanna could do 
little to resist other than flailing kicks, proving 
quite useless overall. She cursed. "You're tougher than 
I thought...." 
  "And thus ends your first lesson!" Cinder announced. 
"Now, good-bye!" 
  Kanna felt herself being lifted higher, and it was 
too soon that she could see over Cinder's head, and 
much too soon that she could see everything in the 
courtyard and beyond. 

  Wiping his clawed hands as a force of habit, Cinder 
was glad the troublesome Spider was out of the way. 
  "Interesting," he said to himself, "that one such as 
you would be after the same objective as I. Or am I 
seeing things? I doubt you would be after what I am, 
but you are competition nonetheless." 
  He made his way to the gate, where the empty metal 
cage and cargo net were left empty and discarded by the 
three other girls. Grasping the cargo net in one claw 
the mechanical eye focused on where it was broken with 
a saw-like motion. 
  "Once again, my student, you've proven yourself 
quite resourceful," the master praised. "Let's see how 
well it'll work for you when the real hunt begins." 

   Ranma had no idea what was worse: traveling on a 
cargo boat up the longest river in southern China, or 
being sick while traveling on a cargo boat up the 
longest river in southern China. 
  He regretted having lunch for the umpteenth time, 
trying his best not to think of food or the 
consequences of doing so. The martial artist turned 
his attentions away from the rail at the end of the 
boat and toward Hokuto, who sat back on a makeshift 
lounge chair made up of a small chair and one of the 
fishing tackles belonging to a crewman. She sat back, 
wrapped in the blanketing folds of her own traveling 
cloak with her eyes closed, oblivious to the world and 
to his own suffering. For the latter Ranma was jealous. 
  Why wasn't that little two-way link thing kicking in?
he wondered. 
  He risked sudden movement, quickly making his 
seemingly-long trip from the protectiveness of the 
rail to the sea of uncertainty that was the lounge 
chair. Having released his grip on the rail Ranma felt 
the urge to go back and hold it again, but his 
instincts told him to keep going. This was a battle he 
certainly didn't want to lose, not in front of that 
crazy Hokuto. 
  The Shadow Weaver in fact did notice his troubles, 
sitting up in her chair and looking in Ranma's 
direction. Perhaps she did feel the pain as well. 
  "Is something the matter?" she asked innocently. 
  Ranma face-faulted, realizing that she really 
didn't have any idea what he was going through. "You 
look awfully well." 
  "Boats don't bother me," Hokuto said. "After we get 
to the last port, though, we'll have to walk the rest 
of the way. It should be a couple days at least, 
provided there aren't any problems." 
  The sooner we get off this boat, the better, Ranma 
thought. "The way things work, give it four days." 
  He shut Hokuto out of his mind, trying to concentrate 
on somehow getting back to the room Hokuto rented for 
the two. While it wasn't common practice to get 
transportation on a shipping vessel (Ranma initially 
believed it to be a tourist boat) it worked, if it was 
a bit dull and dirty. 
  After all that, however, he wished he knew Chinese. 
  "Akane," Ranma muttered to himself as he stumbled 
through the deck, "whatever it is you're doing right 
now, it can't be as bad as what this is." 

  Gazing out into the star-lit sky, Akane distanced 
herself from Miranda and Kodachi, sitting around the 
fire pit to keep warm in the night. While the fire 
could conceivably attract any one of their enemies, the 
alternative was freezing, a prospect that didn't sit 
well especially after Taydome destroyed their packs, 
and Kodachi had still yet to collect herself after the 
merciless attack by the new enemy, Kanna Rajura. Cinder 
just needed to exist to wreak havoc, especially in 
Miranda's confidence. 
  "Ranma," she whispered to the stars, "whatever it is 
you're doing, I hope you're having better luck than I 
am...." 

  Unseen in the bushes beyond the camp set by the three 
girls, a specter cloaked in the blackness of the night 
watched Akane thoughtfully, then retreated as quickly 
and as quietly as it came. 
  "You're not alone," the specter muttered quietly. 
"The world is not so cruel that you should suffer your 
torments alone. Never alone." 



			*  *  *  *  * 

Ayame (VO): 

  "Unlikely allies, unlikely foes, unlikely goals, 
unlikely relations! Geez crap already; when's it all 
going to make sense? Just how is Akane going to keep 
one step ahead of Taydome, Cinder, and Kanna? And how's 
Ranma gonna resist Hokuto for another week?! It's 
impossible, I say!" 
  "Next time: Flame of the Red Lotus. Don't miss it!" 



------------------------------------------------ 
Author's Notes 

  Kanna and Cinder originally appeared in non-Ranma 
fics of mine, but both were written as cunning and 
dangerous opponents worthy of this story. They bear no 
relation to their previous incarnations in anything but 
name and personality. 
  The Eight Arrays is based off a tactic from the 
Chinese novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms, devised by 
one of the main characters, Zhuge Liang. While the 
technique Kanna utilized bears little resemblance to 
the original, the method by which Cinder escaped was 
similar. Instead it was a sort of spirit trap; Zhuge 
Liang was reputed for his magic and super-genius. 


Razorclaw X (spiceoflife@NOREPLYhotmail.com) 
http://www.crosswinds.net/~slythe/ranma/ranff.html 

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