Akane ran across the streets, holding P-Chan against 
her. She looked around as she ran, not caring where she 
was. Ranma was gone. It had been ten days since they last 
heard of him. Ranma had never left for so long before, not 
without telling them where he was going. He had to be 
around him somewhere, he just had to. Her mind tried to 
evaluate all the reasons why he could not be found...

	Maybe Shampoo had kidnapped him and went back to 
China... no, Shampoo and Cologne were still in Nerima, and 
they were searching with her. Maybe this was only to make 
her think that they hadn't kidnapped Ranma... no, I could 
not be the case.

	Maybe Ranma went back to China to find a cure. No, he 
wouldn't hide this from her. Maybe Nodoka had decide he was 
unmanly and killed him. Maybe an evil spirit had possessed 
him. Maybe. Maybe. Maybe. Maybe.

	A though flashed in her head ... what if ... he had 
run away. The last time she saw him she had hit him pretty 
hard. No, Ranma would never run away. It was not manly. But 
it wasn't manly to throw a fight, and he had did just that 
against Tarou before he vanished. What if he thought she 
hated him, and had ran away because of that. She cringed at 
the thought. Tears were welling in the back of her eyes, 
threatening to flow in seconds.

	"Ranma. Where are you ... ?" She ran towards the 
dojo, crying at every step of the way...

*******************************************

Sagas of Another World Part 1 : The New Frontier

By Thierry Chartrand-Chamblay (Snapdragon@videotron.ca )

*******************************************

Chapter Two : When Steel Cleaves Darkness

	Ranma assumed a fighting stance, and tried to gather 
her chi. She found that a large part was missing, replaced 
by this other power she guessed was mystic strength. She 
evaluated her opponent. Her senses told her that she was 
just a ordinary woman with a large sword, but inside her 
newfound power was screaming danger everywhere in her mind. 
She was rather confused by this dividing of her senses.

	Princess Lion moved. And fast with that. Indeed very 
fast. In boy form she would not have dodged the rapid 
thrust, but right now, in girl form, she distanced the blow 
by half a millimeter, and flipped backwards in the same 
motion. 

	"Not bad, not bad at all" the mystic said, rather 
surprised

	"I could say the same for you, Lady" Ranma replied , 
impressed by the other girl's speed. Ranma also made a 
mental note that she could trust this new power of hers, at 
least for this one battle.

	They continued trading blows like this, each dodging 
the blows the other threw by less than an inch, countering 
but never quite hitting the target.

	"I grow tired of this" the noble mystic cried, then 
yelled "Wheel Slash" and striking forward.

	Ranma dodged the slash, but was surprised when a 
whirlwind of wind cuts sliced through her skin. She was 
thrown back by the force of the blast, hit the wall and 
fell on the floor.

	"The training is finished" the swordwoman turned 
around.

	"I don't think so" Ranma rose from the ground. She 
didn't know what had hit her, but she wasn't gonna lose 
this easily.

	"So you want another one, eh. Wheel Slash" she 
yelled, throwing another tornado of slices towards Ranma.

	"I can do it. I can do it. I can do it..." Ranma 
repeated in her mind "If I think I can do it, I will do 
it." Energy surged from within her "Mouko-Takabisha" she 
yelled.

	A bullet of burning confidence shot forth from her 
hands, ripping through the princess' sword technique like 
it wasn't there. Caught surprised, Lion didn't have time to 
evade and took the full force of the impact and flew to the 
side of the room.

	"Now I'm mad. Thunderbolt !" she raised her sword. 
Ranma prepared another energy strike, expecting a more 
powerful Wheel Slash. Lightning then struck directly on 
her. That didn't kill her, it only hurt and dazed her, but 
disabled her ability to dodge the fast stab toward her 
chest. Princess Lion's sword pierced all the way through 
Ranma's left lung. She cried out in pain. "NOW the training 
is over" was all Ranma heard before she blacked out...

*******************************************

	Ranma slowly regained her senses. What had happened ? 
Oh yeah ! Lion had stabbed her through the chest with a 
sword. Those things didn't impress her anyone. She had 
gotten used to getting killed and coming out OK. It just 
was normal now. Not that she'd try to kill himself, but it 
had happened so much times that it only seemed normal that 
she would come out OK. She looked around. Her trainer was 
seated on a coffin, polishing her sword. Ranma gradually 
rose.

	"Was about time you woke up ! Training will continue 
tomorrow. Now go get some sleep !" She disappeared, 
indicating clearly that training was over.

	Being totally drained, Ranma didn't argue and left 
the training area for her room. On her way she encountered 
Rastaban who was waiting for her on the bridge which lead 
to Lion's training area.

	"So how was your first training session, Lady Ranma 
?" he asked, a smile on his face.

	Ranma was disgusted. She hated when someone called 
her "Lady". "Tiring, I must say. Can I rest before you give 
me whatever lessons you're supposed to teach me ?" she 
replied, hoping that she could at least rest a while before 
doing something else.

	"Sure, we'll start tomorrow before your training 
session with Princess Lion. Good night Lady Ranma" he then 
turned and walked away.

	"Rest..." Ranma chanted as a mantra while heading 
toward her bedroom.

*******************************************

	Asellus encountered Ranma while she was walking to 
her room after training. Training under Ildon was tough, 
tougher that anything she had ever done before. She was 
drained to the bone like she had never been. Things swirled 
in mind. Questions without answers. Why did she take men's 
clothes ? And, while we're at it, why did she want hot 
water ? There were so many things about her that didn't add 
up. She was as tired as she'd ever be, but that did mean 
that she couldn't ask questions...

	"Hey Ranma ! I've got a few questions for you..." 
even if she didn't like the fact that Ranma was hiding 
things from her, she could help but treat her well. She was 
a friend through shared experiences, and was in the same 
boat as her. She was an ally, not a traitor behind a mask.

	"Later, maybe. I have a feeling that walls have ears 
around here..." Ranma replied, trying to shake the feeling 
that she was watched.

	The rest of the way to their beds was made in 
silence, Asellus respecting Ranma's wish for peace and the 
other unable to shake a weird sensation.

	"Yo" They both heard as they walked into their room.

	"You were the one following us, weren't you ?" Ranma 
replied to Zozma, standing at the side of Asellus' bed.

	"Good senses with that. Oh, sorry, I didn't introduce 
myself last time. My name is Zozma. You're Asellus and 
Ranma, right ?

	"I don't care what your name is. What are you doing 
in our room ?" Asellus answered. Whatever she had been 
doing, it had made her quite edgy.

	"Easy lady, unless you want another enemy. Mystics 
are very easily offended."

	"So what do you want with us. Spying maybe" Ranma 
said, not liking unexpected visitors one bit.

	"Don't put me in the same class as the others. I'm 
different from them. They say I don't act like a high-class 
mystic. They even told me to stay out of the castle."

	"Then why are you here ?" Ranma demanded.

	"I kinda like this castle. The only one who can stop 
me from breaking in is Orlouge himself. The others are no 
match for my power."

	"Oh, what pride." Ranma and Asellus chorused. If the 
visitor had chi, he could probably have done a pretty good 
Mouko-Takabisha.

	"It's the truth. This small talk is getting rather 
boring. See you around..." and he vanished.

	"What was he here for ?" Ranma asked, but got no 
answer.

	"Now that he's gone, I can ask you a few questions." 
Ranma realized that he wasn't getting out of this one until 
he would have answered her questions.

	"Ok, but I have a question first. What exactly are 
mystics ?" Ranma said, patting the back of his head.

	That blew Asellus' top. "What weirdo am I stuck with 
now ?" she thought out loud. She couldn't help but cry out 
"Where do you come from if you don't know what mystics are 
? And while were at it, Why the men's clothes ? And the hot 
water ?"

	Ranma was sure it was about that even before she 
started asking. She knew the other half-mystic was 
suspicious about her. Ranma had no choice but to explain. 
"I'll tell you, but you must promise to listen to 
everything, ok ?"

	"Sure, go ahead, shoot..."

	And so Ranma explained everything : Jusenkyo, his 
fiancées, his enemies, and the strange events that had lead 
her here. And Asellus didn't appear to believe a single 
word of it. Not that Ranma could blame her. She wouldn't 
probably have believed that before she was cursed. And it 
was Asellus who had demanded that she explained her 
origins. She didn't really want to (probably because she 
knew pretty well that she was not gonna believe any of it).

	"Now will you explain what mystics are ?"

	To say that Asellus was confused was like to imply 
that a mountain is a pebble. She didn't believe what Ranma 
had just explained, but she found it too elaborate to be a 
lie. You could not accept it nor deny it, so the only way 
left was ignoring it. She gathered her wits and answered 
Ranma's question "Frankly, I don't know much. Only legends 
and rumors. You should ask someone else. Maybe your 
guardian, Rastaban"

	Ranma was disappointed. She wanted to know at least 
what she had become. Now, she was half human and half of 
something she didn't know, and she didn't know how long she 
was about to stay that way. She might turn into a monster. 
She might have to suck blood to live. And she didn't want 
to think about the other possibilities.
	
	"The only important thing is finding our way out of 
here. And that can wait until tomorrow. So, if you don't 
have anything else to say, I'm going to sleep." with that, 
Asellus jumped into her bed and tried to fall asleep.

	"She's right. No use trying to escape today, we don't 
have a plan and we'll need one this time. All this can wait 
until the next day" he thought. He got into his own bed and 
started to sleep.

*******************************************

	"So they want to escape. Well that's perfect" Ciato 
whispered to himself, hiding his mystic power. He knew that 
Ranma had already been able to feel his presence, and 
didn't want to risk that now.

	He walked away silently, dreams of glory in his mind. 
If he could draw the power of Orlouge in these two, he 
could kill his lord and become the new ruler of 
Facinaturu....

	Little did he know he was not the only one who had 
plans for the actions of these girls.

*******************************************

	Ranma was in the darkness. He was in his male form. 
In front of him was a window. It showed him the view of a 
parcel of road. He knew this road. He walked on it usually 
to get to school. Rather, he walked on the fence next to 
this road. He remembered walking there with Akane every 
morning. He would have told anybody, but he already missed 
Akane. He missed her smile, her energy,  every little thing 
about her that no one but him noticed. He even missed her 
hammering him into the floor when he couldn't control his 
mouth. 

	Speak of the devil. Akane was walking on the road 
right now.

	"What !?" Ranma yelled.

	Akane was walking hand-in-hand with Ryoga. Their were 
both smiling like nothing could ever bother them.

	Ranma tried to break through the glass. No effect. 
His punches only bounced on the glass.

	Ryoga and Akane approached their heads and kissed. 
And not any kiss. A large and long kiss, full of passion 
and of energy. The one that Ranma usually dreamed of giving 
to Akane.

	Something caught Ranma's attention. A glint of metal. 
From Akane's hand. A ring. And Ryoga was wearing one too...

	"NNNNNOOOOOOOO !!!!!" Ranma yelled, and the world 
shattered around him...

*******************************************

	Ranma woke up sweating like an amphibian in a desert. 
She remembered every little detail of her dream, even if 
she wished he could have forgotten all of this.

	She realized it was morning. Asellus was already 
gone, probably to train or to learn about mystic history. 
Not that she didn't care, but now all of that seemed 
insignificant and far away.

	Who knew what had happened in his world while she was 
away. Maybe Akane had married Ryoga. Maybe she had 
forgotten everything about Ranma. Maybe she was dead. 
Maybe...

	"It's no use thinking about that" her mind told her 
"It's only gonna hurt more. You need to concentrate on 
getting out of here. Then maybe you'll be able to return to 
Akane"

	With that he walked away, toward his training with 
The Lion Princess...

*******************************************

	Days passed. The training continued, each day more 
difficult. The first challenge was using a sword. The 
Princess had insisted that she should learn to use a sword 
to defend herself (she said that a true mystic had to know 
how to handle a sword). Second, she was now summoning 
monsters instead of fighting herself. The beasts were easy 
when she started, but went increasingly difficult (and 
numerous) with each passing day. Ranma could also tell that 
Asellus' training wasn't becoming any easier. She looked 
more and more out of breath after each training session.

	Ranma was getting good with her blade (she still 
insisted on using her fists to fight, but to no avail), but 
they had not yet found a way to escape the castle. The 
residents were too fearful of the mystic's wrath to help, 
and the mystics were the ones who forced them to stay. 
Still they searched, until...

	"Ranma !" Asellus cried out, seemingly overjoyed with 
something.

	"What ?" Ranma wasn't overjoyed at all. The latest 
training the Lion Princess had forced her to endure had 
been pretty rough.

	"I found a way out of here" she replied.

	"What !!!" Ranma suddenly jolted awake. Her soreness 
and lack of energy seemed unimportant in opposition to a 
way out of this hell.

	"The only thing I need now is money to pay our bus 
fare" Asellus said, a little doubtful. She wasn't sure if 
she could get money anywhere.

	"Well don't count on me for that. I already asked 
Rastaban to be paid for what I do and he replied that I had 
all I would require" Ranma said disappointed. She would 
have done anything to run away from this eerie place.

	"Maybe White Rose has some" Asellus informed. She 
trusted her caretaker to no end, even if she was one of 
Orlouge's arch-princesses. It was true the lady looked kind 
enough, but Ranma didn't trust any mystic one bit. "Wait 
for me at the gate. I'm going to talk to her." With that 
she ran away, toward the tower where White Rose slept.

	Ranma walked toward Château Aiguille's gates, a 
strange feeling arcing through her back. She dismissed it, 
concentrating on her way out of this place.

*******************************************

	After a few minutes a waiting, Asellus finally showed 
up. Unfortunately, White Rose was with her. On the white-
haired mystic's face was a look of fear mixed with duty. 
She didn't know what to do, let Asellus and Ranma leave 
alone over betraying her Lord.

	Ranma spoke up right as she saw them "So, Lady Rose 
has decided to join us ?"

	"It is my duty to follow lady Asellus wherever she 
goes. My lord has given me this mission. Isn't Rastaban 
coming ?" White Rose replied, a certain uncertainty in her 
voice.

	"Not if I can help it. So where are we going now ?" 
Ranma turned toward Asellus, and awaited an answer.

	"Follow me !" she said. Everyone did.

	"Goodbye, castle of my nightmares. Hope I never get 
to see you again." Ranma whispered as she made her way 
through the gates and toward freedom...

*******************************************
 
	They ended up in a small house on the side of 
Rootville. Asellus had gotten the key to the usually locked 
door. Inside was a small slime (tamed, probably) who was 
apparently waiting for us.

	"Do you have the money" it said, anxious.

	"Yes" Asellus replied

	The slime pushed a bookcase out of the way, Behind it 
was a tunnel, one which Ranma thought led outside of the 
region.

	"Who gave you this information ?" Asellus' guardian 
asked, wondering who might want them to escape.

	"Ciato did"

	"I have a really bad feeling about this" White Rose 
replied.

	"Lady, you're not the only one." Ranma pointed out, 
the strange feeling from earlier still there to bother her.

	"Are you gonna let this chance get away ? This might 
be our only chance !" Asellus said, not giving up for one 
instant.

	"No way" If this could lead them outside, she was 
gonna take the risk.

	So the trio walked into the cavern, uncaring that 
they were going right where someone wanted them to be...

*******************************************

	The cave was full of monsters. Ranma and Asellus 
fought through easily, their recent training allowing them 
to defeat easily such puny critters. Ranma was impressed by 
Asellus' performance. She had gotten only a few weeks or so 
of training and was fighting pretty well for someone who 
used to be normal person...

	They continued through the rocky halls, fighting the 
beasts as they went. They didn't know where it would lead 
them, but they didn't care. Freedom was more important than 
anything at this instant.

	They finally ended  on a ledge, with no apparent way 
to go but back to Rootville. Ranma and Asellus were raging. 
They had done all this work for nothing...

	"He's not here ! It was a trap !" Asellus cried out.

	"Ildon and Princess Lion are coming after us. Let me 
talk to them." White Rose said, still with her calm voice.

	"No. I'll fight." Asellus replied. The last thing she 
wanted now was to get back to the castle.

	Ranma was unable to say anything. She was still stuck 
here, in this land where she could not change back to her 
male self. And even more, she was forced to learn about 
mystic things that she did not even want to know about 
(Like how Orlouge became lord or other useless things like 
that). She could also feel Princess Lion coming. She was 
surprised not to feel Rastaban with them, but didn't put 
much thought on that. True enough, a few seconds later, 
Ildon and Princess Lion emerged from the tunnels.

	"No more childish pranks." Ildon said, unaffected by 
the failed escape. "Let's go back to the castle."

	"You too, Lady Ranma." Princess Lion added. "We 
cannot let you get away. Our Lord forbids it."

	"I am responsible. Let the Lord punish me, Ildon." 
White Rose replied, intending to take the blame on herself.

	"That's up to Lord Orlouge." Ildon answered. Four 
female guards appeared from behind him and blocked the 
door.

	"I'd rather die than go back there !" Asellus said, 
preparing for battle.

	Ranma got into his fighting stance. This was a battle 
they could not win, she could feel it. Ildon was probably 
better than Asellus, and Ranma could not yet beat her 
trainer. And that's not speaking about the four female 
guards with them. At least they would go down fighting. 
That's what Ranma thought until something grabbed her 
attention. A sound. Coming from the fissure behind them. A 
motor. Probably a boat or a plane. An idea flashed in Ranma 
mind.

	Ranma grabbed Asellus and White Rose, and jumped down 
the precipice. She was right, there was a plane at the 
bottom. With a few jumps, she made it down on the wings. 
"Sorry I'm late" the man in the cockpit said. That was 
probably the bus that Asellus had made a deal with. "Hurry, 
get on !" he cried out, and opened a door leading inside 
the plane. The trio jumped in, and the plane took off.

	"You brought a filthy machine to Facinaturu." Ildon 
cried out, but the group was already too far...

*******************************************

	The plane flew away from Facinaturu, granting his 
passengers a limited freedom from the Charm Lord's rules.

	"What's wrong ?" Asellus asked White Rose, who was 
fearful about something. "Is this your first time on a 
plane ?"

	"My Lord will be upset..." she replied, her hand 
shacking.

	"Everything will be fine..." Asellus answered.

	"Yeah, your lord can't get when were outside his 
domain" Ranma said, a large smile on her face. She couldn't 
have been more wrong.

*******************************************

	Shortly after their departure, Gina found out That 
Lady Asellus and Lady Ranma had left Facinaturu. Words 
couldn't express how she felt then... She feared she might 
never see them again.

	The members of Château Aiguille had also found out 
about their escape.

	"Asellus, Ranma, and Princess White Rose escaped from 
the region." Ciato informed his Lord about the situation at 
hand.

	"Most intriguing" he replied "I'm curious about what 
is passing through the minds of these half-mystics. 
Although, I'm not very pleased that they took White Rose 
with them."

	"What shall we do about Ildon and Princess Lion ?" 
the mystic servant inquired.

	"Leave them" Orlouge ordered.

	"But ..." He couldn't finish his sentence. Orlouge 
used his powers and Ciato was thrown around the room by the 
sheer force of his Lord's will.

	"Don't ever question me again." The lord said, then 
vanished from the throne room.

	"Yes, Lord..." Ciato answered, but his Lord had 
already left.

*******************************************

	The female trio was still on the plane. All were in 
silence after the events of the day.

	The pilot broke this silence. "Any of you want some 
coffee ?"

	"No, thanks." Ranma answered. Then something clicked. 
Coffee. Coffee was hot water. Hot water meant she could 
change back into a guy. And that she could get out of this 
stupid dress. Ranma eyed the bag of clothes in his hands. 
"Finally" she whispered to herself "I can finally turn back 
into a boy". Ranma had been in her female form too much for 
his liking...

	"I think I'm going to take up that offer for 
coffee." The pilot handed him a mug.

	"Careful it's hot" he said. He then went back to his 
piloting.

	"Is there a back room or something in this plane ?" 
Ranma asked, hoping for a positive answer. Changing in 
public was not what she wanted.

	"Why ?" the pilot shot back, curious.

	"I need to change" he simply said.

	The pilot pointed a door in the back of the plane. 
"Thanks." Ranma answered, and when in the other room with 
his bag and the coffee.

	For nearly a minute White Rose and Asellus exchanges 
questioning glances on Ranma's weird behavior. Their 
questions were answered when a boy came out of the room. He 
was a little taller than Lady Ranma was, and his hair was 
black. He was wearing an outfit that looked like Ciato's 
uniform only this one was green instead of Ciato's black.

	"Who are you ?" the two girls demanded in perfect 
coordination...

*******************************************

Author's Notes : Finally chapter 2 finished. It took me 3 
times more time to finish this chapter (Not to mention that 
he's smaller than the first one). I'll be trying to release 
3 chapters per month. For those of you that want to send 
comments, I'll be glad to receive them at the same address 
as always (feels free to play the critic I really need it). 
In this chapter, I'd like to thank my mother for helping me 
with the English of this story, my family, for the cool 
birthday gifts, sofaspud's couch, for putting my fanfic on 
their site and all of my readers because they gave me a 
chance. Thanks, all of you.

Next time: Ranma (as a guy, this time), Asellus and White 
try to help a water mystic imprisoned against her will. 
Meet the half mystics in the next chapter, Love Serenade of 
the Water Mystic. See you there !

Copyrights: Ranma 1/2 and all the characters from this 
series belong to Rumiko Takahashi and all places, people 
and objects from the Saga Frontier realm were created and 
belong to Squaresoft. Don't sue me, you surely have more 
important stuff to do.

Written by Thierry Chartrand-Chamblay (A.k.a. Snapdragon) - 
April 2000
First Correction - May 2000
Second correction - September 2000
Third Correction - January 2002