Standard disclaimer applies. Sue me and I'll send your lawyers into the pits of Mekrath, where they'll suffer an eternity of torment and horrendous pain. Plus you won't get any money. So there.

Words in ( ) are my own smart-ass comments. [ ] are panda signs or writing. * * are sounds, ' ' are thoughts and/or mental communication, and # # are words in Chinese.

Chapter 1
Heart of a Dragon, Soul of a Demon

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"Ah, here sirs, we come to ancient training ground Jusenkyou, 'Valley of Cursed Springs'!" The short Chinese man in a green army uniform turned back to his customers, two Japanese men in gis.
The larger one was fat, bald, and bespectacled, but seemed to have an air of wisdom and power around him. He wore a white bandanna over his head in an inadequate attempt to disguise his baldness.
The younger man, who was apparently his son, had raven black hair tied into a pigtail. His muscles were taut and lean, and he had piercing blue eyes that seemed uneasy as he gazed at the pools of water.

The father, Genma by name, immediately leapt for the nearest bamboo pole, ignoring the panicked exclaimation of the guide as he did so. "Come on Ranma! I won't go easy on you!"
Ranma Saotome looked at the stuttering guide (who was speaking so fast that several Chinese words slipped into his already broken Japanese) and then back at his father. Ordinarily he would have returned the taunt in kind, but something about the area was setting off his danger sense, and it distracted him.
"I don't know about this, Pop. Something about this place is kind of creepy." Ranma regretted saying those words the moment they left his mouth.
Genma turned red with anger. "What?! Don't tell me you're afraid of a training ground now!! Stop acting like a girl and face me!!" he bellowed.
Though the response was nothing less than he expected, Ranma still bristled at the comment. "All right, I'll show you who's a girl, old man!" with that, Ranma too leapt onto a bamboo pole and turned toward his father.
The guide had long since stopped trying to warn them, and now merely looked on in horror as the same scene he had been witness to countless times before was replayed before him. Well, it was more resignation and sympathy than horror, but you get the idea.
Genma attacked. Ranma jumped and countered it in mid air, and both of them landed on seperate poles. Genma jumped again, and sped toward Ranma with a flying kick.
Ranma grinned and found an opening. Then, jumping just a little higher than his father, Ranma planted his foot on Genma's forehead, sending the fat martial artist down into the waters below.

*Sploosh* Genma hit the surface of the water like a cannonball, and was quickly submerged.
Ranma smirked. "Whatsamatter Pop? We done already?"
The surface of the water bubbled, and a huge shape ascended from the depths of the pool.
There weren't too many things that could stun Ranma Saotome to the point of nullifying his incredible reflexes. Seeing a giant panda leap out of the water where his father had been submerged only to land atop the bamboo poles in a one-legged crane stance was one of those things.
"Ah, is too bad. Mr. Customer fall in Spring of Drowned Panda. Very tragic story of panda that drown in spring 5,000 year ago! Now any who fall in spring take on form of panda! Is very cursed spring!"
Ranma didn't say anything. He couldn't say anything. All he could do was stare at the creature that the guide had just insisted was his father.
Genma, who hadn't yet realized he had shifted species, took this as an opening and attacked. The punch connected, and Ranma went flying.

*Sploosh*
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Ranma was first aware that something was wrong the moment he hit the water. His body seemed to freeze, like every muscle was paralyzed. He knew he needed to return to the surface or he would drown, yet his body merely floated in place, submerged under water, and his lungs felt no need for air.
Before he could make any sense of this, however, his vision clouded and everything started to go black......
__________________________________________________________________________________

"Wha... where am I?" Ranma's eyes fluttered open and he got up.
Well, he tried to get up. Truth be told, it really wasn't possible to "get up".
Looking around, Ranma blinked. He seemed to be floating in the middle of a vast sea of darkness.
"Great, it's one of those dreams," he groaned.
"Are you saying you've had such visions before?"
Ranma whirled around at the voice, and came face to face with... a cloak. Just a plain, purple cloak. Technically the cloak was big enough to cover someone's body, but Ranma was certain he could see no face within the hood.
"So who are you? The Grim Reaper? Satan? A lost spectre?"
The figure let off a deep chuckle. "Who or what I am is none of your concern mortal. I must say, I was not expecting this. But then, one cannot rely on expectations in my line of work."
Ranma blinked. "Huh? What are you talking about? What's going on?"
The figure bowed its head slightly, and it became even harder to look into the hood. "Destiny beckons you elsewhere. Not that I put much faith in such things, but you should not be here. Interesting."
With those words the figure raised its "head", and for two yellow lights slowly glared at him through the darkness. The lights got brighter and brighter, then settled down into the familiar dead black of the hood.
"Ah, I see now. Your path beckons you elsewhere, but you resist. You are strong. And most importantly, you teem with chaos."
Ranma scratched his head. He appreciated the "strong" comment, but beyond that he had no clue what was happening. "Okaaaaaaay... so what does that mean?"
"What it means, human, is that you are the perfect specimen. Your spirit is free, and with you you bring a taint of destruction. You are a most fitting recipient for the gift, so I shall give it to you. Recieve it, and use it as you wish. My work is done. Farewell."
The hooded figure raised an arm(?), and from it fired a sparkling bolt of blue-black energy. Ranma tried to dodge, but found no way to suspended as he was. The bolt struck him and he screamed, engulfed in some sort of otherwordly fire.
"Muhuzara, your child awaits........."
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The giant panda raised another sign that he managed to conjure seemingly from nowhere. [Hurry! Hurry! We can't let my son drown!]
The guide was working as fast as he could, furiously sweeping through the pool with a long bamboo pole. It was fairly hopless, however, as the boy had been submerged for over three minutes. The guide turned back toward the still-transformed Genma and offered him a look of sympathy and sorrow.
"I very sorry Mr. Customer. Is nothing I can do. Spring magic very powerful, drown any type animal or man, and they no escape, if pool uncursed. Is very tragic fate, no? Me thought this spring cursed though."
The panda grabbed another sign out of stuff-space and waved it in the air. [NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!] then it flipped the sign around [Hey, what's that?]
The guide turned around to see what Genma was talking about and blinked. The pool in which Ranma had fallen had an eerie blue light cast around it, one that was quickly growing in intensity. The guide backed off slightly, and then the pool exploded, and a huge column of energy shot upward, spewing what appeared to be blue fire from all sides.
Genma and the guide looked on in awe and no small amount of fear as the beam continued to ascend, bending and distorting as it went. The column reached its apex roughly 2 kilometers from the ground, where the top of the beam twisted and morphed into the shape of a dragon's head. The creature let out a tremendous roar, and then the whole column dissipated, spewing blue-black embers everywhere.
Genma and the guide simply stood rooted to the ground, their eyes wide and mouths agape.

They were understandably more shocked when Ranma's hand shot out of the water, grabbing the edge of the pool and dragging the rest of his water-logged body onto dry land.
Genma was ecstatic. [Ranma! Son! You're alive! Happy day!]
"Wha..." Poor Ranma was just a tad too disoriented to listen to him, having had strange hallucinations followed by nearly drowning.
"Oh, you very lucky sir! Usually people that fall in that spring come out too too strange! Err... what happen to you?"
At that point, Genma noticed the changes in Ranma. It was rather subtle, but noticeable to anyone who'd known him his whole life. For one thing, Ranma had grown an inch or two. Not a big difference, but it was noteworthy. The second thing was Ranma's hair. Instead of his usual ashen black, it was now lightly streaked with shiny blue highlights. That was weird.
[Ranma, are you okay?]
Ranma stared at the panda, still in a daze, and his memories of the last five minutes returned. "Pop? Is that you?"
For the first time, Genma seemed to totally realize that he had turned into a panda. He rounded on the guide in panda bear fury. [YOU!! Why didn't you warn us?!]
The guide gulped and backed away. "Me did warn you, sir! You no listen!"
Genma was about to flatten the Chinese man anyway, when Ranma's foot intervened, sending Genma rolling onto the ground. "Leave the guy alone Pop, he did try and warn us." Turning back to the guide, Ranma pointed toward the spring he had just come from. "So what happened to me? I don't feel any different. What spring is that?"
The guide shook his head. "Not know name of spring. Me only know four people fall in that one. It no work same way twice. First time, man turn into monster! Second time, man come out as raving madman! Third time, man not come out at all, but daughter that also fall in spring come out fine. This time, spring blow up! Is very, very cursed spring! Though it gone now."
Ranma scratched his head. "I had some kind of weird dream or something when I was underwater......" Ranma's musings were cut short as Genma barreled into him, waving a sign frantically above his head. [Is there a cure?]
The guide shook his head sadly. "Is no permanent cure I know of. Hot water turn back to normal, but cold water reactivate curse."
Ranma growled as Genma continued to ignore his thrashing underneath him. Raising his arm, he reached out and grabbed a chunk of fur. "Get offa me, old man!!" With that his hand ignited an explosion of blue flame, searing Genma's brand new fur coat and also lighting the rest of him on fire.
The guide could do little more than gape as Genma ran back and forth in panic, everything from the waist up and the chest down swathed in black fire. Luckily, he regained his senses just as Genma was heading for another spring. "Oh no, sir! That spring of drowned slug! Best you stop, drop, roll, yes?"
This time Genma listened, and hit the ground rolling, making sure to distance himself from the pool of water.

Ranma, meanwhile, just stared at his hands, as though he was looking at another being not of his body.
'Did I do that? What was that? Did the spring do this to me?' Seeing how no answers were spontaneously springing forth into his thoughts, Ranma decided to try it out.
Simply holding his palm up, Ranma imagined a blue ember. Nothing. He concentrated harder and harder, until he had to close his eyes to make the image clearer. Still, nothing appeared in his hands.
"Sir, is you okay? What happen?" The guide cautiously approached Ranma from behind, casting quick glances to the boy's hand.
Ranma frowned and his forehead creased in thought. "I don't know. Somehow I made that weird fire appear, but I can't do it now."
Genma got off the ground unsteadily. He felt slightly winded, which was odd after a simple burn (to him the blaze had been minor; experience had taught him worse). The guide noticed him, then beckoned the large creature into his small house near the sloping walls of the valley.

"This very strange. Me not sure what happen to him, sir." The guide took a glance out his window, then brought his attention to one of the panda's signs.
[Who cares about him? Is he an animal? Just get me that hot water!]
The guide nodded quickly and fetched a kettle from his stove. "Ah, yes sir. Here, this make you better."
Genma held his breath as the steaming fluid washed through his fur, and was understandably relieved when he felt water against smooth skin once again.

Outside, Ranma was meditating.
It wasn't something he did very often, as he preferred action to contemplation, but this was a special case.
He had used an ability which he had not known he had. He had, with a mere thought, nay, no thought at all, ignited a blaze of supernatural origin, and now that ability was lost to him. Of course, his thoughts were more along the lines of 'How the hell did I burn Pop with all that blue stuff?' but the concept was the same.
He searched, and thought, and searched, and thought some more. Problem was, he wasn't sure what he was looking for.
He was just about to give up and go look for food instead, when a strange voice echoed through his brain. 'Raise your hand to the sky. Then release the power held within.'
Without even thinking about it, Ranma raised his arm straight up, palm to the sky.
"Dark Star!"
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#"Are you certain of what you saw?"# The shriveled old mummy, er, the wise and powerful matriarch of the Chinese Amazons looked off into the distance at the sky above Jusenkyou, skeptical.
The fairly young girl before her stood on one knee with her head down. Such a thing was not really necessary, but it never hurt to make a good impression with one of the elders. #"I am certain, elder. A dragon composed of some kind of dark blue fire rose out of the valley of Jusenkyou no more than five minutes ago, then dissipated. You would be unable to see it from the village, I'm sure."#
Cologne's bony hands moved and rubbed her wrinkled chin absently. #"Blue fire... it must be some form of ki. And if it took the shape of a dragon, this means that it is probably the work of the Musk. Have a scouting party set out and-"#
#"Great-grandmother!"# Shampoo gasped, startling the acient crone in the middle of her instructions. Cologne turned to her daughter to see Shampoo pointing to the sky. Cologne followed her gaze, and quickly noticed a bright pinnacle of light rapidly ascending from the forbidden springs of Jusenkyou.
Her eyes narrowed.
Then it reached just below the clouds, slowed, and detonated.
Her eyes widened.
They were too far away to actually hear much of the explosion, but the massive rush of air and sound of shattering rock provided plenty of noise to accompany the massive, billowing cloud of flames that spread from the single particle. The explosion had reached over half a kilometer in diameter before hundreds of smaller explosions tore through the air, in and around the area of the cloud.
And every ember was of the same blue-black hue.
#"......................... Strike that. Make it a war party. And I'll lead it myself."#
The young Amazon looked back and forth between the Cologne and the smoldering remains of the massive firestorm, then gulped. #"Of course, honored elder. I'll inform them at once."#
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Genma and the guide rushed outside just as Ranma had launched the sparkling white light into the air. The recoil had knocked him into the ground hard, leaving a small Ranma-shaped impression behind. He was also breathing heavily.
[What happened?] Genma then realized he wasn't a panda anymore, and put away the sign. "What happened, boy? What was that?"
Ranma gasped on the ground, trying to catch his breath. "Not... *pant* sure... *pant* but... it takes a lot out of you *pant*."
Then the missile exploded.

Genma and the guide reacted very much like the Amazons did, except that they started backing away from the source of the energy.
Ranma looked upward passively, still on his back exhausted. 'Okay, Dark Star: Long range energy blast. Don't use in populated areas.' Satisfied with his analasys, Ranma called out to the others. "Hey, a little help?"
Neither the guide nore Genma really wanted to approach him at this point, as it was clear he had stumbled onto some extremely destructive power, and hadn't fully learned to use it yet. Eventually, Genma decided that it wasn't befitting for a man to fear his own son (and besides, Ranma was on his back and barely breathing), so he walked up to the boy in a proud display of exaggerated courage and picked him up onto his feet.
Leaning onto his father for support, Ranma continued to try to catch his breath.
"Foolish boy! You learn a new technique and the first thing you do is go exhaust yourself with it! A real martial artist would-*Pow*" Ranma may have been weak at the moment, but he still had enough strength to put his elbow into Genma's face.
"Shut up, old man," Ranma grumbled absently. He could feel his strength quickly returning, and also... something that wasn't there before, that was now within reach. "Well, this wasn't one of your better ideas, was it? Let's get out of here." Ranma gave a light cough, then started trudging away from the pools. Genma rubbed his nose for a moment before shrugging and doing the same.

The guide shook his head as he watched them head out into the forest. "Ah, very tragic story, this is. Think I bury spring for good." The guide looked up, then bigsweated as many of the trees amidst the mountains that surrounded the valley slowly burned to ashes.
#"You there! Stop where you are!"#
The guide turned, then went very pale.
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Ranma absently held his palm up in front of him, and a blue flame ignited. He closed his palm, and the fire went out. He opened it again, and reignited the fire with a quick thought.
Genma watched all of this in a nervous silence. He wasn't sure what had happened, no one was, but somehow his son had garnered the ability to summon those strange fires. All in all, this wasn't a bad thing. Genma could probably skip all that training with ki energy he had been planning to give to the boy; he certainly didn't need it now. And at least he wouldn't have to explain to Nodoka why their son turned into an aardvark or something.
Deciding to test out his new ability further, Ranma concentrated a little more deeply on the flame, and it seemed to settle into his palm, then spread from his hand to the rest of his arm.
Genma set up a sttel kettle on a spit, with a pile of wood gathered below. "Ranma, as long as you're a living flamethrower, make yourself useful and light this." Genma smiled at his own clever wit as Ranma glared at him.
In response, Ranma simply held his palm open in the fireplace's direction, and a thick stream of cyan flame poured onto the area, setting both the wood and Genma ablaze.
Ranma suppressed laughter as Genma rolled around on the ground again, quickly putting out the fire. "Damn you boy! It's about time you learned to respect your elders! I've sacrificed everything for you and this is how you repay me?!"
Ranma snorted. "It's your own fault I can even do this, remember? And I'll respect you once you do something worth respectin'." Ranma laid down onto the grass, ignoring his father's fuming expression.

"Ha ha ha! Quite the witty comeback! I do love today's teenagers, they're so spunky, don't you agree?"
Ranma and Genma whirled around at the voice, to face a Chinese man in brass battle armor and carrying a halberd with an especially large blade on top. He had brown hair that was tied into long twin pigtails that trailed down the front of his armor and down his chest.
"Who are you?" Ranma demanded.
The man's grin widened. "I am one of Herb's commanders, an elite soldier of the Musk! You may call me Oregano!" He paused dramatically, as if he expected some kind of fearful reaction from his audience.
Ranma sweatdropped. "Oregano?" Genma chuckled.
Oregano glared at them. "Yes, yes, I know I'm named after an plant. It's a theme, all right?" he coughed into his hand, then his grin returned. "Now, am I correct in assuming that one of you two created that pretty little dragon that rose into the sky back there? My prince is quite interested in that whole affair."
Genma stepped forward. "And what if we did?"
Oregano leaned forward and smiled at him. "Then you are to be brought before Herb. Dead or alive. He doesn't like visitors blasting apart these valleys, you know? It's simply awful for the decor. And so, it has fallen to me to retrieve you."
Genma snorted. "You and what army?"
Ranma was worried the moment he said that. As if waiting for precisely that line (and they probably had been), a group of ten heavily armed and armored Musk warriors walked out of the foliage, their heavy greaves crushing the underbrush to green mush. They stood taller than any Chinese men that either of the martial artists had ever seen, and looked like they could probably heft a truck.
Ranma felt himself being shoved forward.
"The boy created the blast. I'm an innocent bystander. Don't even know the kid." Genma said it all with a straight face, then started backing up away from the soldiers. A vein popped out on Ranma's forehead, and his hands clenched into fists.
"Hmph," Oregano sniffed, "luckily for you, I consider it below my station to handle cowards like yourself. Very well, the boy comes with me."
"And what if I refuse?" Ranma growled.
Oregano smiled. "Like I said. Dead or alive. Don't be so quick to choose dead. If you're polite and submissive, Herb may only make you a gladiator in the fighting pits, instead of torturing you and tossing you into some hellish prison." Oregano spoke of the ordeal as if it was the most wonderful revelation he could've offered.
Ranma would have none of it. "No way in hell. You'll have to kill me first."
Oregano laughed. "Ha! Now here's a brave one! Excellent! How about this: just to make it fair, you only have to fight one at a time! #Go!#" Oregano waved his hand, and the soldier on the left charged Ranma with a wordless battle cry.
Genma drew an imaginary cross over his chest. Then he ran for the nearest bush and ducked behind it.

As Ranma came within range, the soldier unsheathed his sword, making a horizontal slash right at his opponent's neck. Ranma skipped back suddenly, the edge of the blade just barely missing his throat. The man tried again, and this time Ranma jumped over it and delivered a kick to his face. Jumping over the man's head while he was still stunned, Ranma gave three punches to the back before sweeping the soldier's legs, and he came toppling to the graound. Ranma stepped back and got into a defensive position.
The soldier grunted and got up, obviously frustrated. Then he grinned at Ranma. #"That didn't even tickle."#
It might have been more intimidating if Ranma had actually spoken Chinese. "Uh, #that didn't even tickle# to you too, man."
The man yelled and charged again, his bronze blade swinging wildly. Ranma was about to dodge, when suddenly a moment of insight came, and he decided to just punch the guy instead.
Ranma's fist seemed to glow red for the instant it sped forward, with faded images trailing behind it (you know, those really cool special effects that they give to super combos in fighting games!). The sword was the first object in the punch's path, and so was mercilessly twisted and smashed before being knocked away into the grass. The second object was the soldier's breastplate.
There was a resounding *boom* as the punch hit home, and the very Earth seemed to shake from the impact. Strangely enough, though there was a huge dent (and a rather large hole) in the armor, the soldier himself wasn't knocked back an inch, held in place by some unexplainable loophole in Newton's Laws (funny how that happens, huh?). Ranma was on autopilot. Seeing how the man was currently in danger of dying because his armor was compressing his lungs now, and that he wasn't unconscious, Ranma decided to take care of two problems at once. His right leg flashed out in a series of high-speed kicks, knocking the armor plates and pieces right off of the man with surgical precision, and ending with a bone-shattering roundhouse to the jaw once the massive warrior was bereft of all but a leather vest and pants for clothing.
The soldier hit the ground hard and didn't get up.

Ranma stood there staring at his defeated foe, his face expressionless. Sure, at the time he was wondering how the hell he did that, but that wouldn't look as cool for a victory pose.
Oregano raised an eyebrow. "Well, it would seem that you're more than a match for these men one-on-one. Let's see how you do against two at once! #Go!#"

The next two were more cautious than the first, and moved their swords into defensive positions as they edged around Ranma, trying to get to either side of him.
Ranma stood between them impassively. To the casual observer it would appear that he was simply waiting for his enemies to attack.
In reality, Ranma was frantically searching for whatever was inside his head that was making him fight like this. He was actually concentrating very little on the battle. A mistake that would have cost him dearly indeed if a voice didn't suddenly echo from nowhere. 'Two opponents charging. One from in front, one from behind.'
Ranma's mind snapped back to the present, and his eyes suddenly beheld the steel blade stabbing for his gut. He jumped into the air, at a slight angle to bring himself onto his opponent's head, a maneuver that wasn't new to him. The voice spoke again. 'Get them on the ground. I'll handle the rest.'
The first one recieved the kick to the face as he tried to find his enemy in the air. Ranma slid under the man's arm, then grabbed his bruised face the second his foot touched the Earth and slammed him into the ground with strength that should have been impossible for someone of his size.
Sensing the other soldier approaching from behind, Ranma struck out with his leg, striking the man's fist and sending the sword flying over his head. Seeing that he was still shocked from the loss of his weapon, Ranma picked him up by the front of his armor and buried him into the ground behind him, with at least twice the force used on his previous foe.
Both combatants were just considering giving up when they felt the pressure of a single hand on each of their torsos. Their bodies exploded in blue fire, small detonations around Ranma's palms giving rise to small black infernos.
They screamed as the heat tore at their bodies, but Ranma held them firmly to the ground. Eventually when they had almost succumbed to the pain and ultimately to unconsciousness, Ranma let go of them, slowly standing up and snuffing the flames with a quick hand gesture.
Ranma rubbed his wrist soothingly and gave a glare towards the remaining men.

Oregano was scared now. He could've taken on two soldiers himself, but not nearly as easily as this boy had done, and he wasn't even breathing hard. "All right, infidel, you've proven that you're not to be taken lightly! #Men! Attack!#" His seven remaining soldiers all gave him a look that was halfway between "Who, me?" and "You've got to be kidding!" Oregano sent them a glare, and they all armed themselves and prepared to attack.
Ranma didn't wait for them this time, though. With a wordless scream, he rushed forward, his hands becoming blue fireballs streaming destruction. As he got within arm's reach of his first opponent he did a full 360` turn, smoldering them with the supernatural energies. The three that were hit went down instantly, screaming as they desperately tried to escape the flames.
Before the others could decide whether to help their comrades, attack their foe, or run like deer, Ranma turned around and jumped into the air, tossing black fireballs indiscriminately into the group. They quickly scattered and ran, with no intention of returning and finishing the fight.

Ranma landed and smirked at Oregano. "Well, well, looks like your men are more bark than bite. Why don't you just leave now, so I don't have to relieve you of your teeth." Ranma blinked, then his eye twitched slightly. Where did that come from?
Oregano merely growled, then drew his sword. "Heh. Your arrogance can't fool me. You're either new to these abilities or you can't control them very well. And I have some tricks of my own." The Musk commander raised a palm, and a swirling, white ball of energy formed inside of it. Luckily he didn't have to focus the energies from his confidence, for if he had he wouldn't have been able to create a spark.
Therefore he was more relieved than angry when Cologne spoke up and he noticed the Amazon war party, giving him an excuse to flee.
#"I think it will take more than a few tricks to subdue this young man."#
Oregano growled and stepped back. Ranma's head shot around, to notice an incredibly short and wrinkled woman balancing on a gnarled wooden staff, backed up by around 20 or 30 armed women in armor. 'Oh bugger.....'
#"Well, it would appear I'm outmatched. But you have not heard the last of me, do you hear?!"# With that Oregano turned and ran, forgetting that Ranma didn't speak a word of Chinese.

Seeing that one of his opponents were gone, Ranma turned around to face the other group, gulped, and slowly backed up. Fighting 10 armored men was one thing, fighting 20-something armored women was a problem, especially seeing as he didn't fight women.
#"You have nothing to fear from us, child. Tell me, who are you?"#
Ranma only backed up further. "I-I'm s-sorry lady, I d-don't speak Chinese."
Cologne blinked, then switched to Japanese. "Ah, so you're Japanese, are you? Well then, welcome to China! I just want to assure you, we're not here to fight you, at least if it can be avoided."
Ranma breathed a sigh of relief. "Er, yeah, avoid it, please. So, uh, did ya want something?"
Cologne smiled, something which made Ranma shudder from the sight. "Well, we just want to have a little chat with the lad who created that neat little ki blast way up there, if that was indeed you."
This made Ranma nervous again, but he figured it was better than fighting or running. Before he could accept the offer, however, Genma suddenly appeared in front of him.
"I'm terribly sorry, but we must be going now. I'm afraid my son can't spare the time for a chat right now."
Ranma's left eye twitched. "What happened to not even knowing me, POP?"
Genma turned around angrily. "Foolish boy! That was just a ruse! That way I could launch a surprise attack should you need my help!" Quickly his expression changed to proud and happy. "But of course you didn't need my help! I've trained you to-ouch!" His expression turned to pained as Ranma's foot came down on his hard.
Quickly the elder Saotome regained his composure and regarded Cologne. "Again, I'm sorry, but we really must make way for the nearest town. You see, we have need of food and other supplies..."
Cologne could easily see what he was hinting at, and decided to bite. The boy was certainly interesting enough to be worth a few meals and some equipment. "Ah, well then you are in luck! Our village is nearby and we happen to have plenty of food and supplies! Please, let us shelter you for a few days!"
#"Elder, what are you doing? Why should we offer shelter to this scum? They're males and foreigners too!"#
Cologne's head swiveled to her two hosts, only to see the older man staring blankly at the girl and the younger one looking around for something. Apparently the father didn't speak Chinese either. Good.
#"Towel, you will hold your tongue or lose it! Is that understood?!"# The girl, barely 17, and far too young to be questioning the elders, immediately shrunk back from the threat.

'She just called you scum, you know.' Ranma looked around for the source of the voice, only to realize it came from inside his head. Fearing that his new powers were loosening his grip on his sanity, he desperately tried to pretend that he didn't hear anything.
Cologne started hopping away, and the rest of the Amazons followed, as did Genma and Ranma.
Trying to pass the time, and ignore the voice's insistence that he wasn't crazy, Ranma looked over their escort. Nearly all the women in the group were throwing occasional glances at him. Some were full of hatred and loathing, like the girl that had spoken before, some were of fear, some of interest, and some... well, he couldn't recognize it, but it made him very uncomfortable. Sort of like how a cow would feel being obseved by hungry wolves......

Soon they reached the village, a large, sparse area surrounded by a thick wooden palisade. As soon as they had passed the gates, Cologne said something in Chinese, and many of the females left, all glancing at him as they walked away. A small group stayed behind and started talking quickly to Cologne, when she started yelling something, and they all scattered.
Cologne turned around. "I'm sorry about that, but some of the ladies are a bit nervous. Ranma, was it? I trust you won't be throwing any gigantic fireballs around in the village while you're here?"
Ranma blinked, before frantically shaking his head. "No, of course not! I mean, I wouldn't even think of it!"
Cologne laughed, or cackled was more like it, and Genma and Ranma winced from the noise. "Now now, don't be so nervous, sonny boy! Loosen up and bit!"
Cologne led them past the village circle, where a giant log was being hoisted up above a shallow pit, and they entered a fairly large hut with a large table inside. Cologne made herself comfortable in a chair on one end while Ranma and Genma, not quite knowing what to do, sat down in the chairs on the other end.
Cologne smiled. "So Ranma, why don't you tell me a little about yourself?"
"The boy-" Genma started.
"Can speak for himself, I'm sure," Cologne interrupted. "Come now, sonny, speak up."
Ranma gave a slight smirk at seeing Genma ignored. "Well... I, uh, assume it's about the blue fire thing, right?"
Cologne laughed, and Ranma winced again. "Well, is it that obvious? I guess so. To answer your question, yes, I am mostly interested in your abilities. Now, if you can explain?"
Ranma tried. He told her everything, from the arrival at Jusenkyou to the dream he had in the pool to the fight with the Musk, only leaving out the voice in his head which, thankfully, had fallen silent before they had reached the village.

Cologne rubbed her chin thoughtfully and hopped down from her chair, then pogoed over to a large bookcase which leaned against the far wall.
"You say the figure mentioned the name Muhuzara?"
Ranma nodded. "Yeah, right when the dream was ending. If it was a dream..."
Cologne took out a thick book and flipped through the pages. She eventually stopped and set the book down. On the page was a lengthy passage in Chinese and an old painting of a horrendous battleground, the Earth below littered with bones, bodies, and craters.
Her old wrinkled hand pointed to one figure, the only living creature in the picture, that was floating above the battlefield. It was completely blue, and humanoid, but without genitals, a mouth, a nose, or ears. The creature seemed to challenge the ravaged Earth itself, even as it lay burning before him.
Ranma took a long look at the picture. "No, that's not him. The guy I saw wore a cloak. This guy is naked."
If Cologne had been 200 years younger, she would have facefaulted. Instead she just sighed. "This is Muhuzara, a younger god of chaos. He was said to have waged war all across ancient China, destroying both the servants of darkness and light, whoever happened to be there at the time. He was quickly shunned by the elder gods, and one of them volunteered to get rid of him. As far as ancient legend goes, that was that."
Genma snorted. "Bah! It's all myth and nonsense! Don't waste our time!"
Ranma growled at his father's stupidity. "Nonsense? Nonsense?!" His hand ignited in blue fire, and held it up right in Genma's face, just close enough to burn. "You call this myth?!"
Cologne jumped onto the table and observed the fire closely. "Yes...... according to legend, Muhuzara was known for his blue flames, which sapped his enemies' strength as it burned their skin. Fascinating......"
Then cologne erupted into laughter, and Ranma's hand went out. "Uh, why is that funny?"
Cologne smiled at him good-naturedly. "Nothing, nothing. You've been given quite a gift, sonny boy. I suggest you learn how to use it, and use it right." 'Preferably, you should learn to use it for us. I doubt the boy has any clue as to what this could mean.'
"Um, okay..." the truth was, Ranma actually thought the fire was pretty cool, he could just do without the voices and violent impulses.
"Uh, excuse me, but when do we eat? All this talk is making me hungry." Ranma rolled his eyes at his father's whining.
Cologne was about to answer, when the was the sound of wood striking bone, followed by the sound of a body hitting dirt. Cologne blinked, then said a few choice curses in Chinese. To think, she had missed the tournament! She turned toward her guests. "Today is the annual tournament here in the village. My great great granddaughter is competing. You may watch with me if you wish." Ranma shrugged and followed her out the door as Genma kept complaining about the lack of food.

Cologne nodded in approval as she watched Shampoo take a victory pose atop the challenge log. She regretted having to miss her last battle, but then the tournament was merely the official determination of who was the best of each age group. Everyone knew that a student trained by the supreme elder would easily outclass the other students, and it certainly would indicate some failure on the supreme elder's part were it not so.
Genma was far less interested in this than he was the large table of food next to the log. "Look, it's a buffet!" he had not gone two steps before Cologne's cane tripped him up, throwing him off his feet.
"I'm afraid that food's off limits. That's the first prize in the tournament." Even as she was speaking a plan formed in her mind. "The only way I could let you have that was if one of you won the tournament."
Ranma didn't even know what had happened before he found himself volunteered to fight. He tried to argue that Genma always taught him not to hit girls, but the overweight man simply responded that a man's stomach takes precedence over his values. Cologne had to bite her tongue not to laugh.

Cologne quickly explained things to the announcer, and he picked up his microphone. #"It seems we have another entry to the tournament! A male outsider named Ranma Saotome!"#
Rather than the modest cheer or confusion he was expecting, Ranma was greeted with laughter. Apparently many of the women thought that the idea of any male, especially an outsider, standing up to the village champion was hilarious.
Shampoo sized up her opponent before jumping on the log. Tall, tightly muscled with oddly colored hair, but overall very handsome. If this hadn't been a tournament, she might have actually considered letting him win.
Ranma sighed and leapt onto the log.

He felt rather uncomfortable fighting before a large crowd, but he could adapt. Taking a stance he nodded to his opponent. She gave a rather arrogant smirk before nodding back to him.
#"Begin!"#
Rather than waiting out his opponent as usual, Ranma ran forward to the attack, then hopped onto his back in mid-stride, moving his legs in a powerful low sweep. Shampoo wasn't the village champion for nothing, though, and just barely managed to jump over her attacker as Ranma slid under her.
Rounding on her foe, Shampoo prepared to crush him while he was still down, only to get kicked in the face as Ranma flipped back onto his feet, sending her a quick strike in the process, then followed up with a roundhouse that nearly sent her off the challenge log.
Shampoo grimaced and delicately rubbed her shoulder, but held her ground. This was not going as expected.
Ranma stood there in a ready position, gesturing for Shampoo to make the next move.
Shampoo almost smiled as she caught her breath. The outsider was good, but he had just left a nice big hole in his defense that any third-rate black belt could find. She charged, then thrust one of her bonbori into the gap.
*Crunch* With speed that should not have been possible for anyone other than Cologne, Ranma's wrists closed onto the weapon, crushing it instantly. Then he moved forward in while Shampoo was still unbalanced. *Thud* Elbow strike to the collarbone. *Smack* Backhand to the face. *Pow* Roundhouse to the shoulder. *Thwack!* Double-fisted hammer punch to the skull. Shampoo went flying from the challenge log to land on the ground in an untidy heap.
"................................................................." The entire village was silent, save Genma's gorging himself on the food the second Shampoo hit the ground.
Ranma looked around nervously and scratched his head. "Uh, do I win?"
Everybody else hadn't yet regained the ability to speak, so Cologne hopped up to the challenge log herself.
"Yes, yes, you've won. Very impressive! You'll be quite an asset to the tribe, son-in-law!"
Ranma had just been getting off the log when the last three words that she said registered, and he ended up falling flat on his face. Hushed whispering suddenly broke out among the Amazons.
"S-son-in-law? What?" Cologne hopped over to him and gestured to Shampoo, who was still unconscious.
"All will be explained in moments. If you wouldn't mind, could you pick up Shampoo and bring her in?" Cologne grinned and hopped back toward her hut, leaving Ranma feeling like he had been set up somehow.
Feeling the entire villages' eyes on his back, Ranma quickly picked up Shampoo into his arms and hurried into Cologne's home.
__________________________________________________________________________________

The entire crowd that had been watching the tournament broke out into non-hushed conversation the second Cologne had finished dragging Genma into her house after the boy. Many of those present thought that there was something wrong with the whole turn of events while most of the others were whining about how Shampoo had already snared him so easily.
This was all stopped, albeit momentarily, by two voices erupting from the elder's hut, one angry, and one panicked. "MARRIED!?!?!?"
As soon as it became clear that the rest of the conversation wouldn't be held at the same volume, the crowd when back to talking.

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Author's Notes:
Well, that's all for now. Hmmmm...... not real sure what to say, this chapter pretty much explains it all.
Ah, yes. About the voice in Ranma's head; as you suspected, he's not really going mad. But that's a story for the next chapter. About his new fighting abilities, well... for you King of Fighters fans, he could be best compared to Iori Yagami, in that it mostly involves beating his opponents half to death to subdue them before burning them the other half to death. As he learns to use his powers better he'll become less all-out brutal and use them better. Also for you KOF fans, Ranma's abilities have nothing to do with the Orochi, or the Yagami clan. This is not a KOF fusion. That is all.