al709382@campus.ccm.itesm.mx
	
		The Caller's Plight, by Jorge Pratt

			Part III, section A

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

"The peaceful are the strong."
	(Oliver Wendell Holmes, _A Voice of the Loyal North_)


				Third Test:
				Esper War



>From Humans to Espers

	"Can you hold it?!"
	"I... I think so... agh!"
	"Herb-chan!"
	"Come on, oniisan! We need your help!"
	"Let's go, son-in-law!"
	"Hey, Crystallus! Give us a hand here!"
	"I'm coming, Coldfire!"
	"Ryouga-kun, stop! I have to be with them right now!"
	"I'm sorry, Akane-san, but I have to get you someplace 
safe!" Ryouga said as he dashed out of the house. He carefully 
set her outside and ran back to the dojo. In the garden, Herb 
and the twins were doing an incredible job by mantaining the 
aura dome over the house, protecting it from the Light of 
Judgement. Herb was already being drained, Yuannyan had to leave 
the barrier-casting to her sister so she could heal both of 
them if needed. Outside the massive white dome, Coldfire (as a 
bird) and Crystallus were busy trying to weaken the rift while 
Cologne and Ranma ran a spiral around the site. 
	"Dammit, you liar!" Coldfire thought to himself, "Didn't waste 
another second, did you?!"
	"Esper Blitz No. 6, Coldfire!" Crystallus called. He nodded 
and both phoeni began emitting a tremendous aura, squashing the 
rift with it. The Light became more concentrated, pressing down 
on Herb and Ranko's shield with even more power. Fortunately, it 
also caused the Light to become hotter.
	"Hiryuu shoten-ha!" Ranma and Cologne punched upwards.
	"Shishi hokodan!" Ryouga shot out the pillar of light.
	"Stellar Crash!" "White Phoenix!" Coldfire and Crystallus 
used their respective techniques. Combined with the hurricane 
and Ryouga's blast, they managed to cancel out Kefka's attack 
and destroy the rift. Herb and Ranko fell to the ground in 
exhaustion. Yuannyan and Nodoka quickly held them.
	"Impressive," Cologne said, still staring at the now-clear 
sky. "I had never seen such power in my life."
	"Ranma!" "Ranchan!" Shampoo and Ukyou glomped onto him 
before glaring at each other. "You did it, Ranchan!" Ukyou said.
	"Are you alright, Shampoo?" Mousse asked Ryouga. He bonked 
him on the head.
	"You... you okay, oniisan?" Ranko asked weakly. He nodded, 
"Just a little tired. How 'bout you?" there was grave worry in 
his voice. She smiled and flashed a thumbs-up.
	"But where the heck IS Phaeron?!" Coldfire demanded when he 
floated down beside them. "And where's Nadir, for that matter? 
We could have used their help!"
	"I... Phaeron-kun..." Ranko looked downwards.
	"I think I can help with that..." a female voice said as a 
wide beam of light appeared next to them.
	"Seraphim-chan, you know where he is?"
	The female angel sighed sadly, putting a hand on the 
redhead's shoulder, "I'm afraid I do."

			*	*	*

	Phaeron woke up from the nightmare once more. He was 
sitting up, drenched in sweat. His pulse resembled a machine-
gun's. He wiped his face with his palm, still recalling the last 
part of the nightmare, just when he saw the dead body sink into 
the Jusenkyo spring. It had been Zhaodi's body.
	"Are you feeling okay, dear Phaeron?" Mireillia peeked into 
the tent. "I heard you yell something."
	"It's... it's okay..." he said, wiping the sweat from his face, 
"Just a nightmare. No pun intended."
	"Don't worry, Phaeron. I wasn't insulted," Mireillia stuck her 
tongue out at him and giggled. "Breakfast is ready, by the way. 
We'll set forth towards Valran as soon as we're done."
	"Alright," he got out of the sleeping bag, suddenly 
disturbed at the way Mireillia looked at him. Funny, he didn't 
mind the twins seeing him in shorts, but he could almost swear 
he could sense Mireillia's imagination going wild about seeing him 
like that. As fast as he could, he took out his traditional Esper 
clothes out of the backpack and dressed, ignoring Mireillia's 
giggles. As soon as he had put on the green cloth belt around 
his waist, he ran out of the tent and wore his leather boots, 
tucking the orange-red trousers in them. When he finished, he ws 
marveled by the sight before him, even though he had lived in 
Esper World for almost half a millenium: the camp was set at the 
top of a cliff, overlooking a lush, snow-covered forest. Far into 
the distance, the sun was just rising as the twin moons 
overhead began their descent. Behind them, the snow-capped 
mountain loomed over the camp like a mighty giant. It was Mt. 
Larsi, the Queen of Solitude, and it meant they were only a one-
day journey away from the coastal city of Valran.
	But as he looked upon the exquisite natural beauty of 
Esper World, he couldn't help but sigh in nostalgy for Earth. He 
would have liked his friends to see this, and under different 
circumstances. But actually, from a certain point of view it was 
good that he had that quarrel with Ranko, otherwise his friends 
would have been exposed to Kefka's evil. It was a miracle his 
magic hadn't yet changed all of Esper World into a smoldering 
wasteland.
	"So, this is just what you wanted, isn't it?" he thought, 
"Now that I'm here, you'll be able to protect yourself. And I 
won't be around to get in your way anymore, either, because I'll 
probably get killed here anyway." He shook his head sadly, 
recalling what he had done to the medallion.
	"You're awake," Nadir said, coming up behind him. "You missed 
this place, didn't you?"
	"Yes, I missed it. I'd love going back to my place, but 
that's not what we're here for." He steeled himself and turned 
back to the camp. Nadir blinked in confusion as Phaeron silently 
sat down before the fire, Mireillia happily serving him breakfast. 
Shrugging, Nadir took a last look at the forest below and joined 
them.
	"So, how is it?" Mireillia asked.
	"It's great. You've always been a great cook," Phaeron 
forced a smile, recalling all the times he had eaten Yuannyan or 
Ranko's cooking when they trained together and how delicious it 
was. In fact, Mireillia's cooking paled in comparison.
	"Okay, let's cut to the chase," Nadir said, "First of all we 
have to get to Valran. Once there, Maduin and the rest will be 
waiting for us. As I remember, Kefka has built his floating 
castle right over Phantom Forest, and has also transformed the 
mountain range around it into a massive barrier of solid rock 
which he calls the Dead Wall. So far this is all I know about his 
fortress. What we should worry about are his forces. He's got 
Wyverns, harpies and griffons, not to mention malignant Espers. 
But his most fearsome forces are the Red Shadows."
	"Red Shadows?" Mireillia repeated.
	"Yep. They're like ghosts, always wearing a scarlet-red, 
hooded robe. They were spawned from Kefka's own shadow when he 
stood in the morning sunlight. They're like demons, almost as 
powerful as Espers. But, unlike us, they have no restraints 
about using their full power. They could start a Ragnarok if 
they wanted." Nadir finished his food, "And for some reason, 
Kefka is amassing tremendous amounts of Red Stone in his 
fortress."
	"Red Stone?" Phaeron wondered, "Isn't that what Spekkio is 
always talking about?"
	"Yep, that Red Stone. We don't know why, though. Maybe he 
wants to build a machine like the one Spekkio described."
	"I assume everyone back at Valran know all of this," 
Phaeron asked.
	"And more, considering lots of things must have happened 
while we were on Earth," Nadir answered. "But one thing's for 
sure: we can't waste more time. So far, Phantom Forest has 
managed to contain Kefka's power, but the sacred trees won't 
hold him down much longer. We must hurry." With that, he stood up 
and began disassembling the tents.
	"Looks like we got our work cut out for us," Phaeron 
turned to Mireillia.
	"It will be all right, Phaeron," she took his hand, smiling 
warmly. He shivered slightly: when they were on Earth, she was 
fully determined on killing Ranko, but now that the human girl 
was out of sight and out of mind, Mireillia acted almost like 
Kasumi.
	"Let's go help Nadir," he said, standing up. Mireillia sighed 
and followed him. In a few minutes they had stored the tents in 
their backpacks and the fire had been extinguished. They were 
ready to depart.
	"Just leave the packs to me," Nadir said, morphing into the 
Kirin. "After all, we're going to be flying for a long time, I don't 
think birds or mares can endure carrying backpacks at the same 
time." Phaeron and Mireillia didn't challenge him, they readily 
placed the three loads on his back.
	"All set, then..." Phaeron sighed sadly.
	"It's okay, Phaeron, it's okay," Mireillia tried to comfort 
him, despite she knew he was sighing for his friends back on 
Earth.
	Phaeron shook his head, then spread his arms and morphed 
into the Phoenix. Even though it was daytime, Esper World's magic 
let Mireillia transform into the Nightmare as well. "Ready?" the 
Kirin asked.
	Mireillia nodded. Before replying, Phaeron thought, "I'd only 
wish I could hear her voice before going off in this suicide 
mission..." He opened his beak, "I'm--"
	"So this is Esper World..." came the sudden voice.
	The three Espers suffered a mild heart attack. Phaeron and 
Nadir slowly turned around and stared wide eyed at the rift 
that had opened behind them. Especially at the Asian people 
coming out of it.
	"Mind telling me what the heck you're doing here?" Ranko 
crossed her arms, glaring at Phaeron.

			*	*	*

	Darkness. It was all that the chamber was made of, utter 
and pure darkness. There was only one thing in that void: 
laughter. A terrifying sound, provoked by the lord of magic.
	"So, the little Espers have arrived, eh?" Kefka cackled.
	"Yes, master," Blue Shadow kneeled before him.
	"And you tell me they brought their human friends with 
them?"
	"Indeed, Lord Kefka," Green Shadow replied.
	"This is very amusing," Kefka grinned, "What do you say?" 
he turned to the three pieces of Magicite embedded in the wall.
	"Silence..." the Zeromus Magicite would have scowled if he 
had a face. The Chaos and Exdeath Magicites remained silent.
	"Why, are you still mad at me?" Kefka looked at them with 
mocking eyes. "Or is it because you were also defeated by 
nothing more than puny humans?"
	"There was nothing 'puny' about the Light Warriors..." Chaos 
shuddered.
	"...Nor about the Four Braves of Dawn..." Exdeath recalled.
	"...But there _was_ about the fighters who faced me," 
Zeromus sizzled in anger. How could he, the great Lunarian, 
ravager of planets, be defeated by just five _humans_?
	"You are even more foolish than I expected, Zeromus," Kefka 
juggled the enraged Magicite, "You should know better than 
anyone here NOT to underestimate humans."
	"Unhand me, you fiend!" Zeromus claimed, but Kefka simply 
gripped the Magicite tightly, nearly crushing it.
	"I will now teach you some battle strategy, Lunarian." He 
turned to his right and called, "Tiamat!" 
	A hissing female voice came from the darkness, "What is thy 
bidding, oh, Master Kefka?"
	"I need you to send a few Red Shadows to Mt. Larsi. After 
all, even demons need to have some fun. And ripping human 
corpses should do just the trick."
	"Perfect, Master... my love," in the darkness, five pairs of 
eyes glimmered in delight. Tiamat smirked devilishly and vanished 
again in the darkness.
	"That was easy," Kefka leaned back on his throne, casting 
the Zeromus Magicite over his head once more. "Now for the real 
job. Fenrir!"
	"What in the name of Hel dost thou want now?" an angry 
voice resounded in the chamber. Slowly, a creature appeared 
before Kefka. It was a massive gray wolf, nearly the size of a 
rhinoceros. Drool dripped freely from its snout, causing the 
saber-sharp fangs to glimmer despite the lack of lighting. A 
vicious snarl was on the wolf's face as it rolled its upper lip 
at the sight of Kefka. Its very eyes cast away small flames 
that seemed to come from hell itself.
	"I see you're still in a bad mood, Fenrir," Kefka cackled and 
mockingly petted the wolf's head. He snickered at Fenrir's 
useless attempts to bite off his arm.
	"Thou art not my master, Kefka," Fenrir challenged. "Order 
me if thou whish, but it has yet to be seen that Fenrir follows 
thine commands."
	"Oh, really? And if I told you a certain Laris Brillan will 
come to Esper World soon?"
	Fenrir's demeanor changed, he was surprised by this turn of 
events, "Then I might reconsider where I stand. Speak."
	"A few Espers and some humans arrived here just a few 
minutes ago. And guess what: Phoenix is with them."
	"Phoenix?!" Fenrir muttered through clenched teeth, "Then I 
assume the harlot Seraphim will surely follow that lowly insect."
	"Oh, didn't you know?" Kefka smirked, "Laris Brillan IS 
Seraphim."
	Fenrir growled ferociously, "So, the little witch has become 
an angel, has she? It matters not to me, the Wolf of Death."
	"Then go, Fenrir, and guard our  fortress. I doubt my Red 
Shadows will fail, but in case they do, those Espers will surely 
try to attack us."
	"For once, I shalt take thy words to heart and follow thy 
orders. Now I wilt depart to the Dead Wall and guard it, for 
none shalt survive the wrath of the HellHound... Not even 
Seraphim."
	Silently, Fenrir turned away from Kefka and vanished amid 
the darkness once more. All the Lord of Magic could see were 
the two flames that sprouted from Fenrir's eyes, but they slowly 
vanished too. Kefka had just signed the death warrant for not 
only Espers and humans, but for an angel as well. Fully confident 
on what he had done, Kefka sat back on his throne, smirking 
evilly. But not even the maniac could feel the demonic presence, 
as two red slits, eyes of a great evil, glimmered behind him.
	Cackling lightly, Kefka said to himself, "I wonder if the 
World of Ruin misses my Light of Judgement..."

			*	*	*

	"Esper World, eh?" Ranma looked upon the forest from high 
atop the cliff, setting his backpack next to him.
	"It's beautiful..." Akane whispered.
	"I told you it was," Crystallus beamed in pride.
	"Will you wake up already?" Ranko shook Phaeron once more. 
The Esper had passed out in shock right after seeing them 
coming through the rift. Putting their enmity aside, she and 
Mireillia were kneeling by his sides, as the Nightmare frowned at 
her own inability with healing spells. On the other hand, the 
green glow that detached from Ranko's hand was doing quick work 
on Phaeron. Nevertheless, Mireillia had become quite indifferent 
towards the wench. After all, her special gas attack, the Harintu 
technique, had made sure Ranko and Phaeron wouldn't be as 
friendly as they used to be. There was no point in wasting 
energy on the redheaded insect anymore.
	"Ugh..." he slowly opened his eyes, sitting up at the same 
time. "What the... Yaaah!" he yelped again at the sight of the 
redhead.
	"So, what're you doing here anyway?" she asked, standing 
up.
	"What am _I_ doing...? What are _you_ doing here?"
	Ranko frowned for an instant, "We had to talk about what 
happened back there, and you run away just like that?"
	"B-but then..." Nadir stammered, pointing at the other 
people.
	"We're here to help Ranko," Akane said.
	"Yeah, who knows what we'll find in this place, "Ranma said. 
"There had to be somebody reliable around here."
	It was quite obvious why the rest of the troop was also 
here: Ryouga, Ukyou, Shampoo and Mousse. There were new 
additions, though, in the shape of Herb and Yuannyan, their 
bodyguards, and Ranma's parents.
	"Last time people got hurt by going to another world," 
Nodoka said, "This time we came too so we could watch over you."
	"Looks like we can't keep the secret anymore, Phaeron," 
Crystallus said. Coldfire nodded in agreement, but suddenly 
morphed into a black phoenix involuntarily.
	"What secret?" Ranko asked.
	He looked around nervously, "Well, um..." his eyes and 
Nadir's widened when a terrible memory came to mind, just as 
they saw Coldfire had been turned into an Esper. There was just 
enough time, the rift was still open. "Quick! Get out of here--"
	"AAAGH!" every human yelped in pain and shock.
	"Too late," Phaeron and Nadir said in unison.
	Yuannyan and Ranko vanished, only their clothes dropped 
limply to the ground. Herb's ki overloaded and he disappeared in 
a flash of light. Lime and Shampoo fell to their knees and 
elbows, their ears becoming pointed and Shampoo's pupils became 
slits. Genma and Ryouga were suddenly covered in fur, their size 
enlarged considerably. Akane and Nodoka felt something growing 
out their backs. Mousse looked at his hands in desperation, but 
was shocked to find them covered with feathers. Mint, like his 
partner, fell to all fours and felt the wolf pelt over his head 
extending to cover his entire body. Ranma tried to yell but a 
neigh came out instead. Finally, Ukyou stared silently as her 
hair became white and lavish green robes surrounded her 
shrinking body.
	"My God," Phaeron stared agape at the transformation, 
"They're turning into Espers."


New abilities, new lunacy

	The tiger's roar echoed throughout the valley below them. 
Wide beams of white light were still coming from the sky. 
Completely left speechless by their new bodies, the troop from 
Nerima could only stare at each other.
	"Was... was that _me_?" Lime was still not convinced he had 
released the roar, but one look at his powerful paws was all he 
needed to realize he had turned into a large, humanoid bengal 
tiger.
	"What has happened to us?" a small wolf, with a curved 
sword strapped to its back, looked around in amazement.
	"Rowlf?" Genma looked at himself, "Yaah! I'm a panda again!" 
he scribbled on a sign.
	"You think you're bad off?!" Ranma turned to him, "Look at 
ME!" he pointed downwards to his Centaur body. "Hello there," 
Mireillia fluttered her equine eyelids at him.
	Ranma suddenly gasped and looked around, trying to find 
"Akane!"
	Her voice came from one of the pillars of light, "I'm... I'm 
here, Ranma." There was a slight pause, "I think." Ranma was 
marveled when she stepped out of the light. Akane had been 
transformed into a stunning Queen Fairy, with large wings, like a 
butterfly's, flapping softly on her back. Small golden glimmers 
surrounded her.
	"You look beautiful, Akane-chan." It was almost obvious what 
Nodoka had turned into, as she was still admiring her pure-white 
kimono, the large feathery wings on her back and the golden halo 
around her head. Ranma gulped at the sight of both his fianc�e 
and his angelical mother.
	"A-A-A-k-kan-ne-s-san????" the large grizzly, with a 
yellow-black bandanna across its head, stared at her as a 
reverie commenced.
	"Ranchan, what's happened to us?" a delicate sylph, about 
three feet tall and with a massive spatula on her back, clung to 
one of Ranma's legs.
	"That's what I want to know," he glared at the real Espers.
	"I was about to warn you..." Phaeron lowered his eyes, 
transforming into the Phoenix out of solidarity with them. He 
suddenly recalled what had happened to the twins. "Ranko-chan! 
Yuannyan!" he called.
	"I'm all right, Phaeron-kun," a bright green glimmer darted 
out of Yuannyan's clothes, swirling around him and Nodoka and 
leaving a trail of diamond dust. When the glimmer stopped, hiding 
between Nodoka's feathers, they could see Yuannyan had 
transformed into a bright, 7 inch-tall fairy. Her entire body, 
hair and translucent wings shed a faint green glow, only her 
eyes retained their blue color.
	"That's cute," Akane smirked at her. Yuannyan looked at her 
up and down and giggled, saying, "I bow before you, queen." Both 
girls laughed.
	"Where's Ranko-chan?" Nodoka asked her, plucking one of her 
own large feathers so Yuannyan could cover herself with it.
	"Let me see. Zhaodi-chan! You in here?" she peeked inside 
Ranko's clothes.
	"I am NOT going out!" they heard the angry voice come from 
the clothing.
	Phaeron smirked, "C'mon, Ranko-cha-- huh?" he stared at the 
large, multicolored stork, "P-Palidor? Is that you?"
	"Eh?" Mousse bobbed his avian head towards the group, 
"Have you seen my darling Shampoo?" He looked around, "Shampoo! 
Where are you?" He was scared stiff by the enormous black 
panther that roared in his face, pouncing to the attack. Lime 
was immediately enchanted by her.
	"Stupid Mousse," Shampoo giggled, "Being panther better than 
being cat." Ranma didn't quite agree with that.
	Yuannyan giggled then turned back to her sister's clothing, 
"Come on, Zhaodi-chan. Everybody was turned into something weird. 
It's okay."
	"Uh-uh. I'm staying right here. There's no way I'll let 
anyone see me like this." The clothes shuffled and closed upon 
themselves.
	"Heh," Mireillia morphed into a human and crossed her arms, 
"She probably turned into the cockroach she is..." Everyone 
glared at her.
	"Ha, ha, Mireillia," Nadir scowled.
	"Shut up," they heard Ranko's voice. "At least I'm better 
off than if I had turned into a horrible beast like you!"
	"What?!" they had to restrain Mireillia so she wouldn't 
attack, "Let me step on that insolent wench! Let me step on 
her!"
	"Hm?" Shampoo sniffed the clothes, "Ranma sister in here?" 
she lifted the red silk shirt with her paw.
	"Yaah! A cat!" A golden glimmer shot out of the clothes and 
became hidden beneath Phoenix' wing. Yuannyan stared in surprise.
	"Ranko-chan?" Nodoka kneeled before Phaeron, hesitantly 
lifting his wing slightly.
	"Is it gone?" a tiny pigtailed head peeked out from 
Phaeron's covert feathers. Nodoka and Yuannyan giggled at her. 
"You're just like me, Zhaodi-chan!"
	"Huh?" Ranko looked at herself, then at Yuannyan, and 
realized she was right. She had become a 7 inch-tall fairy, but 
her glow was golden instead of green. Phaeron plucked one of his 
large tail feathers with his beak and handed it over to her. 
Wrapping the feather around herself, Ranko flew out of hiding 
and saw the effects that Esper World's magic had on the rest of 
the people (and stared in silent awe at her mother). There was 
somebody missing, though...
	"You look great, sis," Ranma smiled at her.
	"Just call me Tinkerbell," she fluttered around him, sitting 
on his shoulder.
	"So what do we do now?" Akane asked. "I'm not really sure I 
like this."
	"That's easy," Nadir smiled, "Since we were turned into 
Espers by the Three Goddesses, our condition is permanent, 
although we can change back and forth whenever we like. You, 
however, were transformed by this world's magic. You only have 
to eat a Green Cherry to morph back."
	"There are a few Green Cherry trees over there," 
Crystallus motioned with his wing. Yuannyan and Ranko flew up to 
the branches and began gathering the green fruits, handing them 
over to Nodoka.
	"Okay," Akane took a cherry, "Let's see if this wo--"
	She was cut off by a large blast of hot wind that came 
down from the mountain, knocking everyone off their feet or 
otherwise. When they turned back to the mountainside, they 
gasped at the sight of seven large figures, all of them cloaked 
beneath blazing red robes. Their faces were completely obscured, 
but glimmering pairs of devilish eyes and wicked smirks could be 
easily discerned.
	"Are... are those...?" Mireillia asked.
	"Red Shadows..." Nadir muttered, "Phaeron, get ready."
	"What the heck?" Ranma noticed the Espers' reaction and 
decided to assume a fighting stance. Still not used to this new 
body, he nearly fell off balance.
	"Something tells me we're in for a big fight," Ranko 
considered how vulnerable she was with this miniature body.
	Slowly they all took fighting positions, despite their lack 
of experience with their current state. Watching the silent 
enemies on the mountainside, Yuannyan felt a chill and started 
looking around, "Herb-chan! Herb-chan, where are you?"
	"You are the Phoenix?" the leader of the Shadows asked 
with an androgenous voice.
	"What do you want?" Phaeron narrowed his avian eyes.
	"Lord Kefka was right. Not only are there Espers here, but 
humans as well," its smirk became even more diabolical, "Even 
though the humans have turned into delightfully weak pests."
	"Who're you calling weak?" Ranma challenged.
	"We'll show you who's weak when we mop the ground with 
you," Ukyou nearly fell under the weight of her own spatula. 
"Uhh..."
	"You'll show us, indeed," the leader laughed, almost 
resembling Kefka. The other six Shadows joined him in a chorus. 
They continued laughing for a long time.
	"What's their problem?" Ranko asked.
	"Oh, great," Phaeron thought when he considered the results 
of loud sounds in snow-covered mountains.
	"Those idiots are gonna keep laughing," Ranma turned away, 
"Let's get out of here while they--"
	Without warning the entire mountain trembled under the 
pressure of tons of snow sliding down to them. The group gulped 
at the avalanche. Still laughing, the Red Shadows didn't even feel 
the snow pass harmlessly between them.
	"Uh-oh," Mint stared at the whiteness that was about to 
bury them. With the chasm behind them, only those who were able 
to fly would escape.
	"Akane, get out of here!" Ranma yelled, facing the incoming 
doom with a firm stance.
	"I won't leave you here!" she replied, trying to pull him up 
with her, but her wings weren't strong enough for both of them.
	"Then let's just stop this!" Ryouga reared back, "Shishi 
hokodan!" The troop marveled at the immense beam of light that 
was shot out of Ryouga's paws, it was even larger than the 
full-power Roaring Lion Bullet. The beam struck the mountain and 
blasted a deep crevice on its side, momentarilly halting the 
avalanche. The Shadows stopped laughing all at once.
	"Incredible!" Mousse stared at the dumbfound Ryouga, but 
then decided to witness his own magic abilities. He took off and 
flapped his wings at the shadows, releasing a hail of feathers. 
Every single projectile turned into a bladed weapon, ranging from 
shuriken to kotetsu to halberds. The Shadows simply slid away 
from the missiles.
	"My turn!" Ukyou finally got a firm grip on her spatula and 
swung it before her. Not only did her attack released a gale 
wind that pushed up the remains of the avalanche and nearly 
tore the Shadows to pieces, it also sent out dozens of piping-
hot okonomiyaki.
	"Hey, wait for us!" Lime and Mint called. Lime roared loudly, 
smashing the ground with his paws. All of a sudden dozens of 
small animals scurried to the Shadows, nipping at their robes and 
successfully tearing one of them apart. The Shadow cried in 
agony, as it vanished along with the robe.
	"They have no bodies?" Phaeron wondered. "They're only 
cloth?"
	"Enough!" the leader charged an energy blast and charred 
all of the small creatures with little effort. Its next blast was 
aimed at Lime.
	"Oh, no, you won't!" Mint howled at the twin moons overhead. 
The Shadows were visibly affected, they doubled over in pain 
even though they never touched the ground. Making use of the 
distraction, the group dashed in to attack.
	"Stop!" Nadir, Phaeron and Crystallus called.


Cursed again...?!

	The leader slid away from the main group as the fighters 
reached them. Without a word Ranma got up on his new hind legs 
and kicked away at one of the Shadows with his front hooves. 
Each of the 793 blows cast off powerful blasts of light, burning 
the Shadow to a crisp.
	"Shampoo like this!" she giggled as she pounced a Shadow, 
scaring the undead semblance of life out of it. She quickly 
turned around to see Ranma get blasted away by one of the 
remaining Shadows. "Ranma!" Akane flew over to him, casting away 
some of her golden glimmers and instantly healing her fianc�. 
Nodoka giggled as the panda suddenly dropped like a bomb on top 
of the Shadow, knocking the wind out of it (and since it was only 
made of wind...)
	"This is strange..." Nadir thought, amazed at how easily the 
Shadow was destroyed by his arrows. "Red Shadows are 
considerably tougher than this." Meanwhile, Lime and Mint were 
busy tearing at the last of them. Only the seventh Shadow, the 
leader, remained.
	"So, they weren't as powerful as they boasted," Mireillia 
said, "If the humans managed to defeat them..."
	"Don't be so sure," the leader spoke, smirking. Not 
impressed, the fighters began turning away. Fuming, the leader 
spread out his robe, revealing the solid darkness within. A hail 
of razor-sharp blades shot out from inside him. Not caught 
unawares, Nadir and Phaeron immediately brought up an aura 
shield and instantly blasted away towards the Shadow.
	"Heh," it cackled lightly as it absorbed the blasts and 
countered by pulling everything around it with a powerful force. 
Even the trees were uprooted and swallowed by the darkness in 
its robe. Struggling against the pull, the rest of the people 
turned back to gasp at the massive crimson spirit that was 
ensnaring Nadir and Phaeron with gas-like tendrils. "What the...?!" 
Ranma and Ranko stared at it.
	"Now witness the true strength of the Red Shadows..." it 
cackled, "For I am Vacuo, and I shall cast you into my void!" 
Again it opened its robe, whipping out several ropes which 
trapped nearly all of them, only the twins and Ukyou were small 
enough to avoid being captured. "Oniisan!" "Ranchan!" they tried 
to free him, but not even Ukyou's spatula was able to cleave 
the steel-hard ropes. "Herb-chan, where are you..." Yuannyan 
looked around anxiously, unable to help.
	"So, where is your confidence now?" Vacuo smirked, pulling 
them into his darkness.
	"Right here! MokoTakabishya!" Ranma blasted out towards him. 
The shot was absorbed by the void, but as it traveled onwards 
the troop managed to see the entire solar systems that had 
been engulfed by the Red Shadow. Aghast but not beaten, Nadir 
pulled his arms out of the bonds and aimed his bow at Vacuo's 
head, yet the enemy wasn't affected in the least. 
	Suddenly Ukyou had an idea. She swatted her spatula at the 
Green Cherry trees, bringing down a few of its fruits. "Ranchan, 
eat this!" she flung a cherry at him, succeeding in getting it in 
his mouth. As soon as he had swallowed it he morphed back into 
a human and, invoking the laws of anime logic, his clothes had 
morphed back with him. His smaller size let him wiggle out of the 
ropes easily, then he threw another cherry at his father and 
Ryouga, who were able to escape as well. However, the rest 
weren't able to escape once they changed back. And Vacuo was 
firing more ropes and chains towards those who were free. Fed 
up, Mireillia dashed towards Vacuo, the rope pulling her all the 
time. Just as she reached the base of the behemoth, she 
crouched and bounced up towards its head, running around its 
shoulders and winding the rope around its neck. Vacuo was 
strangled by its own pull. Feeling him weaken, Phaeron morphed 
back to human shape and drew out his arm-blades, slicing though 
the bonds and releasing Nadir. Mimicking his actions, Coldfire 
used his claws to shred the ropes of him and most of the 
people, except for...
	"Akane!" Ranma dashed towards her, but Vacuo was using its 
last strength to pull her into him. Seeing the phoeni trying to 
cut the rope, it lashed out a thick steel wire at them, nearly 
slicing them in half. Ranma tried to untie her, but the pull was 
too strong for him.
	"Ranma!" his mother threw the katana at him, but not even 
the sharp blade could free Akane.
	"Oniisan, wait!" Ranko flew over to him and held on to the 
guard of the sword. Slowly, her strange golden glow spread over 
to the sword, surrounding it with a powerful aura. With his 
miniature sister still holding on, Ranma slashed with the sword, 
cleaving the rope. However, the momentum of the pull caused the 
rope to be wrapped around Ranma's leg, pulling him off his feet 
and straight towards Vacuo. Using every bit of strength in her, 
Ranko pulled the sword upwards, bringing her brother along. He 
leapt forward, bounced on the ground, and slashed diagonally at 
Vacuo. The aura of the sword created a small arc of vacuum 
that sped towards the monster, tearing its robe apart as the 
conflicting voids pulled each other. Taking the advantage, 
Mireillia leapt away from Vacuo's shoulders, still holding on to 
the rope and breaking whatever neck it had.
	"I... shalll not... be slain... Even though I am the weakest 
Shadow..." Vacuo glared at Mireillia, suddenly blasting her away. 
It opened its mouth, sending forth a gush of fiery energy that 
hit into the ground. Vacuo disappeared in a strange violet blur, 
but then the earth beneath them started shaking. A large chunk 
of the cliff gave away and fell to the forest, three miles below.
	"Earthquake!" somebody yelled.
	"Everyone, quick!" Phaeron called as he morphed and spread 
his wings. Hop on-- AAK!" every single human was suddenly on top 
of him, "GET OFF GET OFF GET OFF GET OFF!!!" he collapsed in a 
heap.
	"What're we gonna do?" Yuannyan quickly slid into her 
clothes after turning back into human shape. They wouldn't all be 
able to ride the Espers out of there, and even those who had 
been turned into winged creatures would be incapable of flying 
away. The situation was made even worse when a pair of large 
beings sprouted out of the dirt, seemingly made of rock 
themselves and brought to life by Vacuo's dying breath. They had 
long arms, and began slashing towards the people, pushing them 
towards the precipice.
	"That's it," Ranko took the last Green Cherry and morphed 
back. "Looks like some of _us_ will have to stay here and fight."
	"Are you crazy?!" Phaeron stared at her with wide eyes. "I 
can't... I WON'T leave any of you here with those things!"
	"There's not much of a choice, Phaeron-kun," she said, 
shoving the rest of the people towards the Espers, only 
Mireillia didn't allow anyone to ride her. But they were too 
heavy... Even Espers would need help.
	"None of you shall live..." one of the golems spoke, "Master 
Kefka desires your deaths..." it flung a ball of mud at the 
nearest target's face. Ranko was immediately blinded, she tried 
to wipe off the mud as fast as she could.
	"Ranko-chan!" Phaeron gasped as the massive fist of the 
golem darted straight at her throat. No human was strong enough 
to withstand the bone-shattering punch of a golem.
	"Oh, no, you won't!" Coldfire darted at the creature and 
sent out a rain of feathers to annoy it, then used his avian 
state to sweep between Ranko's legs and carry her away on his 
back. But suddenly the golem gripped his legs tightly. They went 
numb in a flash.
	"C-Coldfire??" Ranko had finally wiped off the mud from her 
eyes and stared in disbelief at her former enemy.
	"Yeargh!" he roared at the pain, his legs were close to 
being crushed by the iron grip.
	"Coldfire! Ranko-chan!" Phaeron covered himself with fire and 
shot out towards them, but was punched away by the remaining 
golem.
	"Phaeron!" Mireillia changed into a human and sent out a 
hail of Piercing Arrows at the golem, but it simply ducked, then 
swatted her aside and into Ryouga, who had nearly bakusai 
tenketsu'ed its arm. Without wasting more time, the golem punched 
the ground, shattering it even more, and causing the remaining 
fighters to fall off their feet and over the edge of the cliff. 
Ranma quickly thrust the katana downwards into the ground. It 
held fast, then he grabbed Akane's hand... and Nodoka grabbed his 
leg, Genma his waist, and nearly everybody else was dangling 
from him. His eyes were beginning to bug out when Yuannyan cried 
to the top of her lungs:
	"HERB-CHAAAAAAAN!"

			*	*	*

	A soft, cool breeze brushed the forest of the Ryugenzawa 
region in Japan. Shinnosuke shivered slightly at the breeze 
before closing his jacket. He felt uneasy, but couldn't tell why. 
Not even his routine stroll through the forest could drive his 
weariness away. It was almost as if the Yamata no Orochi were 
to wake up again. Now, when was the last time that happened? He 
couldn't remember exactly, but he knew it had something to do 
with a girl named Akane.
	Just to be sure, Shinnosuke took out the whistle from 
beneath his jacket and blew into it. Nearly all of the giant 
animals turned to the relaxing tune made by the tiny instrument. 
Looking into the distance, he fidgeted with the whistle for an 
instant. He still felt weary. Casually knocking out the large 
platypus that was about to eat him, he began to head for his 
home. Maybe that old man knew what was going on --who was that 
guy anyway? Shinnosuke couldn't remember ever meeting him.
	"Excuse me..." he heard a soft, female voice behind him. When 
he turned around, he stared wide-eyed at the beautiful gaijin 
girl, dressed entirely in white, and donning a blond ponytail. 
	"Get out of here," he said, "This forest is very dangerous."
	"Thank you for your concern, but I need your help. Now, 
could you tell me where the Hydra is?" Seraphim asked, smiling.

			*	*	*

	A bolt of energy blasted the attacking golem into charred 
bits. Nadir gasped at the roar that followed, but then Coldfire 
felt his legs being released as the other stone creature was 
hit hard by what resembled a golden bolt of lightning. Below, in 
the human chain, Yuannyan vanished when this golden bolt passed 
next to them. When it finally stopped, in midair, even Phaeron 
and Coldfire stared agape at the huge Chinese Long dragon 
before them. Its scales were pure gold, as also its antlers. 
>From its snout to the furry end of its tail, it was easily over 
forty feet long. And riding its back, behind the lush white mane, 
Yuannyan waved happily at her friends.
	"Is... Is that _Herb_????" Ranko couldn't believe her eyes.
	"So, Saotome..." Herb-dragon smirked, "Shall I show you what 
a real 'Hiryuu' is like?" Ranma, Ranko and Phaeron sweated 
visibly.
	"Cut the puns will you?!" Ranma shouted, "We need help 
here!" Herb just shrugged and flew below the chain, then waited 
until everybody was on his back before darting away from the 
cliff.
	"Phaeron-kun, come on!" Ranko called as Coldfire was 
already following Herb. Phaeron nodded and took off just as the 
entire cliff gave away and crumbled to the chasm below. He 
turned back, and sighed as the majestic Mt. Larsi became nothing 
more than a pile of rubble. Kefka... He would pay dearly for 
bringing harm to Esper World.
	"I think we can transform now," Nadir said, then he and 
Mireillia turned to their respective Esper shapes and took off 
from Herb's back, galloping through the air.
	"What the hell were those things?" Ranma asked, obviously 
upset, "And what is going on here?"
	"I thought Esper World would be dangerous, but this is 
ridiculous," Ranko said, "We've only been here fifteen minutes and 
already we're being attacked by monsters!"
	"But it's not always like this, though," Nadir said, "Esper 
World is usually very peaceful, it's just that lately there has 
been a large increase in creatures of darkness," he narrowed his 
eyes at the mere thought of Kefka.
	"So, what do we do now?" Akane asked, still admiring the 
dark green sea of trees beneath them.
	"We were headed for a city called Valran," Nadir said, "But 
what _are_ you doing here?"
	"Ask her," Coldfire looked up at Ranko. She turned back to 
Phaeron and frowned. Jeeze, just one misunderstanding and he 
runs off. And right before their house was attacked, no less!
	"We've got a lot to talk about, you know," she said, glaring 
at Phaeron.
	He sighed, "I know. But first, we have to get someplace 
safe."

			*	*	*

	"They escaped, then."
	"Please accept my apologies, Master," Tiamat humbly kneeled 
before Kefka.
	He smirked, "Don't worry. After all, that Vacuo was just 
cannon fodder. And the six dopplegangers we sent disguised as 
Shadows were certain to fail."
	"What shall we do now, Master?" Tiamat asked.
	Kefka knit his brow in thought, "By now they'll probably be 
headed for Valran. That means they are going to be travelling 
for one and a half days, at least..." he scanned the chamber 
silently, looking for his servants, "Shadows, come here."
	"Yes, Master Kefka?" the Blue, Green, Brown and Crimson 
Shadows appeared out of thin air.
	"I have a little job for you..."

			*	*	*

	Night had already fallen in Esper World, as they had 
traveled most of the day in silence. The group from Earth was 
practically speechless by the astounding natural greatness of 
this strange planet. Deep forests, vast oceans, looming 
mountains... Although Esper World wasn't as large as Earth's moon, 
it had almost as much variety as their home planet. Not only 
that, but this was an immaculate beauty, as Espers knew very 
well how important it was to take care of nature.
	"It's so peaceful here," Akane said, looking up at the two 
silver moons.
	"You've seen nothing yet," Nadir smiled.
	"You sure you're not tired, Herb-chan?" Yuannyan asked, 
stroking the long white mane.
	Herb smirked "Not at all. I could go on flying like this 
forever." Yuannyan smiled back, she could easily see how excited 
he was about being turned into a dragon. Then again, there was 
something special about this world, something that filled them 
with great peace. Even the Espers seemed to be in their element, 
they had been flying all day and none of them showed signs of 
exhaustion. This place is incredible, she thought. No wonder 
Phaeron had come back here, it would be a great place for a 
vacation. And--
	She blinked, brought back to reality when Herb asked 
something. "What was that, Herb-chan?"
	"How about you?" he asked again, "Are you tired?" She 
shook her head, unable to supress a yawn. Phaeron noticed most 
of the people were becoming sleepy.
	"Maybe we should stop to rest," he said. "We're right over 
a sacred forest, we'll be safe there. What do you say?" Everyone 
agreed with him, already Nadir and Mireillia were beginning their 
descent. Slowly, they came down into the woods. Only Herb had to 
go a little farther to find a clearing in which to land. Finally, 
he settled next to a silvery lake.
	Ranko silently admired the woods, as they were nearly 
identical to the Gates. Everything was quiet, the long tree 
trunks resembled a dark, endless colonnade. The ground glowed as 
a faint blue mist rolled along it, reflecting the moonlight. In 
fact, the forest itself seemed to shed a cyan hue.
	"Where is everybody?" Nadir said, putting down the backpack 
and morphing back to a human.
	"Eh?" the redhead was awakened from the trance, "I think 
they landed a little farther. I'll go look for them."
	"Hey, be careful," Phaeron called, "You don't want to get 
lost in _this_ world." She turned back briefly and continued 
onwards, headed for the lake.
	"That reminds me... Mireillia said, thoughtful, when she took 
out a map of Esper World from her backpack. "Aren't these 
Sapphire Woods?"
	"Yeah, so?" Nadir shrugged. But he suddenly became very 
nervous, his horns had started glowing in premonition, "Uh-oh."
	"Well, I seem to recall Mirror-Soul Lake is in the middle of 
Sapphire Woods, then..."
	A frozen chill traveled down Phaeron's back. Crystallus 
gasped and immediately turned to him. Coldfire joined them as 
they swallowed hard, throwing aside their packs and dashing 
after Ranko.
	"Wait, Ranko-chan!"
	"Do NOT go near the lake!"
	"Hm?" she slowled down and turned to them. "What's going 
on?"
	"That... that lake..." Coldfire panted.
	"If you touch the water from Mirror-Soul Lake..." Crystallus 
explained the water's effect.
	"WHAT?!" Ranko gasped.

	"About time we landed," Ranma said.
	Akane looked at the water behind her and realized she had 
become quite thirsty. Walking over to Herb, she took out her 
canteen from the backpacks brought by the group.
	"Now what do I do?" Herb said, coiling around himself like a 
snake.
	"You need a cherry..." Yuannyan said, looking around for 
some Green Cherry trees.
	"There they are," Akane pointed to the lakeside, avfew 
yards away from them.
	"I'll get them for you, Akane-san," Ryouga took off... in the 
opposite direction she was pointing. She sweated visibly when he 
disappeared among the trees. "Hey, wait," Yuannyan called when 
she found there was another cherry tree next to her.
	"Well, I am glad we came here," Genma grinned at the sight 
of the crystalline water, which cast a bright silver light of its 
own. Without a second thought, he leapt into the lake, hoping to 
quench his thirst and wash off the exhaustion. Ryouga soon 
realized he had strayed off again and closed his eyes, letting 
the sound of somebody splashing in the water guide him back.
	"Shampoo thirsty too," the Amazon bent down and cupped her 
hands in the water. Just then, Mousse, (who had once again 
decided to take off his glasses) blindly bumped into her and they 
both fell into the lake.
	"Akane-san, where are--- ak!" Ryouga opened his eyes just 
in time to fall inside, as he came back from the opposite side of 
the lake.
	Ranma bent down to fill his canteen, "Okay, now I'll--" As 
Shampoo came out of the water, he found himself staring right in 
the face of a...

	"Oniisan, wait!" Ranko and Phaeron dashed towards the 
source of the yell. Phaeron failed to see the tree root that 
was hidden beneath the mist and tripped, but Ranko went on until 
she disappeared from view. Suddenly, another scream of terror 
came to Phaeron's ears, but this one was higher-pitched. He 
looked up in shock when he recognized the scream.
	"Ranko-chan!" he heaved up and ran after her. Without a 
warning he saw her coming back towards him, waving her arms 
wildly. He reared back and caught her, he was nearly trampled by 
the tremendous momentum of her race. "Easy, easy!" he looked 
down at her, "Eh?!" There was a look of sheer terror in her 
face, even her breathing was as hard as her heart-beats. "What 
the..." Phaeron looked around as he tried to calm her down. What 
could have possibly happened to scare her like th--
	"Yaaaah!" Ranma came running after his sister ."A CAT! 
CAAAT!"
	"Oh," a drop of sweat formed on Phaeron's head.
	After Ranma had crashed into a tree, Crystallus dragged 
him along as Phaeron carried the frightened girl back to where 
the others had landed. When they arrived, they stared silently 
at the people who were by the lake.
	"Ranma, you scaredy-cat," Akane frowned.
	"Zhaodi-chan, what's wrong?" Yuannyan and Nodoka were 
completely surprised by Ranko's behavior.
	"Um, what happened here?" Herb pointed at the lake. Phaeron 
and Crystallus shook their heads when they discovered what had 
happened.
	Shampoo-cat was shaking the water off her fur.
	Mousse-duck quacked as he paddled back and forth in the 
lake.
	Hiding from Akane's view, P-chan looked at himself 
miserably.
	"I somehow have the urge to sue somebody," the panda 
wrote on a sign.


A city by the sea

	It took another minute to get Ranma and Ranko back to 
their senses. After the other Espers arrived at the site, 
Phaeron used his ki to heat up some water and change Shampoo 
and Mousse back to normal. "Where's Ryouga-kun?" Akane asked. 
With no cats in sight, Ranko was able to look around and notice 
a small black pig tugging at her leg. Quietly, she bent down and 
picked it up, carrying a teapot in her hands as she became 
hidden in the forest.
	"What happened?" the panda wrote.
	Phaeron shook his head again, "You went into the lake, 
didn't you?"
	"This is Mirror-Soul Lake," Crystallus said. "Our own 
Jusenkyo, if you may."
	"Yes, this place is linked to the old training ground," 
Phaeron said, noticing Ranko and Ryouga had returned to the 
site. "In fact, this is actually the origin of Jusendo's magic."
	"Jusendo? What's that?" Ranko asked.
	"I remember," Yuannyan said, "It's Jusenkyo's source, right?"
	Phaeron nodded, "After we drowned and I first came to 
Esper World, I did a little research on Jusenkyo. As it turns 
out, the magic water from that place was originated here, in 
this lake."
	"And that's why they were turned to their cursed bodies 
again?" Akane asked.
	"Yes. But usually Mirror-Soul Lake only reflects your real 
spirit. However, since most of you have been cursed by Jusenkyo, 
whenever you touch this water the curse will become active once 
more. You can test that just by looking at your reflection in 
the water." Still not sure, Ranma looked dubiously into the 
water, and nearly yelped in shock at the sight of a short, 
redheaded girl.
	"Hey, she's very cute," Ranko giggled, but quickly moved 
away before Ranma got a glimpse of her reflection.
	"Phaeron right," Shampoo looked into the water and saw the 
image of a cat. Ranma and Ranko eeked away from her.
	"Dear..." Nodoka pulled her katana up his furry throat, "Why 
are my son and daughter afraid of cats?" she asked sternly. The 
panda became a mass of sweating fur.
	"How 'bout introducing me to her?" Yuannyan smiled at Herb 
when he saw his own female reflection, but then he noticed 
Yuannyan's reflection was that of a little girl. The rest of the 
people, though, was simply shown as the Esper bodies they had 
been given.
	"Then this means we'll change back and forth again?" Mousse 
asked. "'Fraid so," Phaeron said. "Swell," Ryouga thought, cursing 
silently.
	"Then let's get out of this place," Ranma said, "I don't want 
to get cursed--" his sister glared at him, "...err, I don't want to 
_change_ again."
	"Hmph," Shampoo looked away from the lake, miffled, as the 
group headed away from it. Still upset, Ryouga glared at the new 
source of his problems.
	"I was already normal..." he thought. From now on, he would 
have to be afraid again. Afraid of his secret being discovered 
by Akane. Afraid of Ranma using the curse to manipulate him once 
more. Afraid of people with a penchant for sweet-sour pork.
	"Shishi hokodan!" he blasted into the lake, causing a large 
water spout...
	"Hm?" Ranko turned back to see a drenched P-chan sitting 
on the lakeshore, with his front hooves aimed at the water and 
looking utterly miserable. "Baka," she smiled at him and took him 
in her arms. "You gotta be careful in this place," she said as 
she dried him with a cloth she took out of her backpack. P-chan 
looked at her, completely embarassed. But before she joined the 
group, she turned back to the water and peeked into it. P-chan's 
eyes widened greatly, but Ranko simply smiled at an image that 
was _not_ her reflection. Shifting the weight of the piglet in 
her arms, she ran off, following her friends.
	"Interesting..." hidden by the darkness of the forest, the 
swordsman stealthily followed her.

			*	*	*

	Morning arrived peacefully, a few hours after they had 
arrived. Some of the people were already gathering wood for a 
fire, while others began disassembling the tents. But despite the 
hour, Sapphire Woods was still quite dark, the folliage allowed 
few shafts of light to reach the frost-covered ground.
	Akane sat up in her sleeping-bag, stretching her arms. Still 
groggy, she reached for her jacket. Boy, it was cold here. The 
weather almost made her wish she could stay in bed, but the 
crackling sound of a fire outside convinced her of getting up. 
	Outside, most of the people were already engaged in 
several activities. Nodoka and Ukyou were preparing breakfast; 
Genma and Ranma were sparring; Yuannyan was happily feeding 
Herb; Lime and Mint were quietly watching the girls, entranced; 
Mireillia and Nadir, as usual, were scowling at each other across 
the campfire. Only Phaeron and Ryouga seemed to be missing.
	"Hey, oneechan," Ranko greeted when she saw her come out 
of the tent. "Looks like we've got a stowaway," the redhead flung 
a black blur at her.
	"Ah, P-chan!" Akane held the piglet to her chest, "How in 
the world did _you_ get here?"
	"Good morning," Nadir looked up from the fire and turned to 
them, "How are my fianc�es doing today?" he asked with a big 
grin.
	"We are _not_ your fianc�es!" they glared at him.
	"Might as well accept it," Mireillia said, smirking, "because 
nobody can get _my_ Phaeron."
	Ranko fumed greatly, "And WHO said anything about that?"
	"Uh, hi," Phaeron came back to the campsite. Ranko turned 
away from him, annoyed.
	"So, what are we doing today?" Ranma asked, once the 
training was over.
	"Today we go to Valran," Coldfire said, coming back from his 
exploration of the forest. "It's only a few hours away from here, 
but we have to get moving if we want to get there at all. It's 
not safe to travel during the night."
	"Why're you so interested in going there, anyway?" Ranko 
asked. Nadir and Phaeron sweated visibly, for they still hadn't 
told them about Kefka. Coldfire just shook his head at them. 
Idiots.
	"We have many friends there," Crystallus replied, "And maybe 
you'll even get to meet Maduin."
	"You mean the guy who thought up those stupid 
engagements?" Ranko asked.
	"They're not stupid," Nadir and Mireillia said.
	"I'm gonna have a little talk with him when we arrive..." 
Phaeron muttered, "Where did he get the idea he could--"
	Suddenly a metallic blur cleaved the air in front of him, 
embedding deep into the ground next to the fire. They took a 
closer look at it once it had settled. It was a kotetsu --the 
short, katana-like blade that samurai used for defense-- and it 
had a small tube tied to its hilt. Ranma grabbed the tube and 
took out a small piece of paper from it.
	"It says, 'The four fiends are after you,' signed, Siegfried."
	"What the..." Phaeron took the message, incredulous.
	"The four fiends?" Akane asked.
	"Siegfried..." Phaeron and Nadir recalled the name of the 
master swordsman from the World of Ruin. Little was known about 
that man, but they could remember that not even Kefka dared 
challenge him. He was a mercenary, a righteous one at that, but 
whatever past he had was a mystery. But if Siegfried was trying 
to warn them, it meant they would be in serious trouble.
	"Nadir, who are the Four Fiends?" Phaeron asked. His voice 
sounded dead-serious.
	"I think I know," Mireillia said, "If you remember, I was once 
taught by Master Chaos. He once told me that the Four Fiends 
were the creatures spawned from the corrupt Elemental forces: 
Air, Water, Fire and Earth. The Fiends he created were quite 
weak, but when the other Destroyer, Zeromus, came forth, they 
became much more powerful. If Kefka managed to get his hands on 
them..."
	"And he did..." Coldfire thought.
	"Great, just what we needed," Phaeron turned to the 
humans, "Sorry, guys, but looks like we can't do any more 
sightseeing. We've got to reach Valran ASAP."
	"I knew we'd find trouble here," Ranma said, cracking his 
knuckles, "But we're not letting some stupid monster beat us, 
right sis?"
	"Don't underestimate the Four Fiends," Mireillia warned, "I 
said that the first ones were weaklings, but even the Light 
Warriors of yore had troubles dealing with them. The sooner we 
get to Valran, the better."
	"Then let us wait no further," Herb said, swallowing the 
Green Cherry, "But just let them try to defeat the Dragon's 
descendant," Herb-dragon coiled around himself, waiting for the 
people to pick up the camp so they could climb on his back. 
Hiding once more, Ranko took P-chan and a kettle out of the 
camp.
	"Very well," Nadir morphed into the Kirin, followed by 
Mireillia and the phoeni. "Let's go!"
	Five Espers and a golden Long shot out of Sapphire Woods 
and into the skies above. It didn't take too much time, a flock 
of harpies darted out of the clouds and descended upon them 
like a deadly rain. The people on Herb's back immediately took 
battle postures.
	"It's time," Nadir said, his horns glowing brightly.
	"This didn't take long..." Coldfire smirked.
	"Attack!" the leader of the harpies shrieked. The gruesome 
half-bird, half-woman creatures dove towards them with their 
talons outstretched. The Espers stopped in midair and bounced up 
to meet them. Herb turned back like a cobra and roared loudly in 
defiance.
	"Blazing Bullet!" Phoenix blasted through a few dozen 
Harpies. Coldfire floated in place and swept his wings madly, at 
the tune of "Havoc Wing!" A couple Moko Takabishyas knocked some 
of the monsters out of the sky, while Mousse easily wrapped 
others with miles of chains.
	"Kyaa!" Akane was nearly torn away by a Harpy before the 
panda knocked it away with a sign, "Buzz off!" Meanwhile, Herb 
simply opened his jaws to send out large gusts of blazing ki, 
burning several of the remaining beasts. Lime and Mint were by 
Yuannyan's sides, batting away those who tried to attack her, 
while Ryouga shielded Akane with his umbrella. Finally, the Kirin 
sent a breath of fire at the last two Harpies, forcing them to 
flee towards the Nightmare, who stomped them with her hooves.
	"That was easy," Ranko brushed her hair.
	"Yes, too easy," Crystallus looked around, wary.
	"Such progress!" a mocking male voice echoed in the 
distance. Immediately they looked around, prepared for another 
attack. But none came. Instead, a large devilish face appeared 
out of thin air, although only its eyes and smirk could be seen. 
"Truly, these puny humans learn even faster than the Returners!" 
the face released a shrill laughter, very different from Kefka's.
	"Who are you?" Ranma called angrily.
	The face stopped smirking, in fact it looked downcast, "I... 
You don't know who I am? Bwaaaaah!" it bawled over, its eyes 
became clouds of rain. Suddenly it stopped weeping, grinning even 
more. "Never mind. But allow me to introduce myself. I am Eoris, 
the Blue Shadow and Elemental Fiend of Air. And these..." a few 
clouds moved apart, revealing a massive airborn contingent, 
"...are some of my forces."
	"Eoris, eh?" Ranma was not impressed, "You don't look so 
powerful." Eoris wept again, flooding the region beneath him.
	"So, I don't overwhelm you?" he stopped crying and suddenly 
became HUGE, looming over the party. With a simple breath, he 
blew them with the force of a gale wind. Everybody clung to Herb 
tightly.
	"That wasn't imp--"
	"Ranma, SHUT UP!!" Akane bonked him on the head.
	"For now, I shall simply test your strength..." Eoris 
challenged. The air force next to him shot out towards them. 
"Have fun, and may we meet again!" he laughed, "So _I_ can 
destroy you..." the massive face faded in the celestial blue. 
Phaeron and Coldfire stared agape at the 126,943 fighter drones 
speeding their way.
	"Hey, how do you know how many enemies there are?"
	Literary license, I answered. Everyone glared at me before 
bashing me in a cloud of dust.
	"Okay, now that we've settled that..." the Kirin's nostrils 
flared as he exhaled steam, "LET'S GET OUT OF HERE!!"
	That went unchallenged. The party made airborn tracks as 
the small airships opened fire on it. But they weren't normal 
crafts. They appeared to be spherical capsules, with a pair of 
mechanical arms attached to their sides, just below the rotors 
that boosted the drones. There were also menacing blaster 
turrets on the underside of the capsules.
	"We can't go on like this!" Ryouga said, taking the 
opportunity to fire off a Roaring Lion Bullet at the capsules.
	"And I hate running away!" Ranma and Ranko yelled.
	Phaeron gritted his beak. They were right. This was the 
Imperial Airforce, which he had already met in the World of Ruin. 
Only Setzer's Falcon was fast enough to outfly them without 
having to resort to magic. And the Phoenix Flare was too 
dangerous to do here...
	"Alright, then!" Phaeron called, "Crystallus, show Herb how 
to get to Valran! We'll hold them off!"
	"We're not leaving you alone against those things!" Ranko 
yelled. Herb was already turning back to face the attackers.
	"These ships are called Sky Bases!" Phaeron said, "They're 
outfitted with weapons that can kill a human with just one hit! 
There's no way I'll let any of you fight them!"
	"And I'm not letting _you_ kill yourself again!" Ranko began 
summoning her aura-based floating abilities.
	Phaeron closed his eyes gravely, "I'm sorry, but you can't 
do this..." he suddenly darted straight at her and delivered a 
Sleep spell point-blank.
	"What the hell are you doing?!" Ranma shouted, carefully 
holding the unconscious Ranko.
	"Crystallus, go!"
	"Right!" the white phoenix created a large aura shield 
around Herb, pulling the dragon along as he shot off into the 
distance, towards the stone formations in front of them.
	"Here they come..." The four remaining Espers steeled 
themselves. But as the Airforce came towards them, Mireillia 
hissed. The effects of the Harintu gas must have worn off, 
Phaeron was protecting the insolent female again. The hunt would 
continue, then. And this time, the Nightmare would give no more 
chances.
	"For Master Kefka!" the kamikaze pilots shouted, opening 
fire.
	"Comet Flare!"
	"Havoc Wing!"
	"Astral Shock!"
	"Chaos Hooves!"

			*	*	*

	Crystallus wove a zig-zag trajectory between the high 
rocky spires, careful enough to pull Herb safely through the 
path. Most of the people riding the dragon were fuming greatly 
at what the Espers had done, even though they knew it had been 
for their sake. And now that they saw the blinding blasts of 
light in the distance, they realized they wouldn't have stood a 
chance against those forces.
	"I think we're safe now," Crystallus slowed down and 
released Herb. Disappointed, the dragon prince followed 
Crystallus between the rock formations, some of which were so 
close they made a very narrow tunnel through which Herb could 
barely pass. Powerful wind currents swept from below, even 
though the mist at the base of the spires was so dense they 
couldn't see the ground.
	"Wha..." Ranko's eyes opened slightly. "What happened?"
	"You alright, sis?" Ranma asked. She unsteadily detached 
from him and looked around, noticing they had run away after all. 
She fumed at recalling what Phaeron had done, but couldn't 
become angry at him. He had probably saved her life _yet again_, 
anyway.
	"I hope they're all right," Akane said, worried.
	"Maybe they are, maybe they're not," they heard a voice 
again, but it wasn't Eoris this time. They looked up to see a 
trio of Red Shadows, each standing on the top of a spire. 
Unimpressed, Herb shot out a blast of ki towards them, 
disintegrating the three spikes and knocking the Shadows away.
	"Why, thank you," they said once they were airborn. Without 
another word, they stopped in midair. The middle Shadow folded 
upon itself, the robe bloating like a balloon. The other two 
rolled up horizontally, resembling long shafts. These last two 
became wider and wider, attaching themselves to the middle 
Shadow. Suddenly, they dropped their red robes and became 
metallic.
	"It's the IAF mother ship.." Crystallus gasped, for this 
vessel was even more dangerous than the Sky Bases. It 
resembled a bulky, cartoonish airplane, with tiny wings and a fat 
body. Attached to it were a laser cannon and a large missile 
bay, these two were what the pair of Red Shadows had morphed 
into. All three sections --the ship, cannon and missile bay-- had 
wicked, shark-like smirks and eyes, resembling WWII fighter 
planes. The humans couldn't contain their laughter at the sight 
of such a ridiculous-looking enemy. Crystallus looked at them 
nervously.
	"Okay, laugh," the mothership challenged, "But we'll see if 
you keep laughing after this!" Suddenly its afterburners flared 
and it darted in pursuit, flying alongside Herb. "Launcher!" the 
missile bay released a flurry of small projectiles, hitting each 
and every one of the humans. They all collapsed on top of Herb.
	"Why you.." Ranma got to his knees, and was shocked to 
discover Akane and his family had been hit as well. "You 
bastard!" he shouted, running along Herb's back, then he leapt 
towards the ship, charging up a Moko Takabishya. He was 
mercilessly blasted away by the cannon's Tek Laser.
	"O-oniisan!" Ranko coughed before leaping to catch her 
brother. He was still alive, but there was a large burn on his 
left shoulder. How dare this thing hurt her brother... her 
_mother_...! The gigantic Moko Takabishya crashed into the ship's 
side, tilting it. But that was all the damage caused, as it 
countered with another Tek Laser that burned her right calf. As 
the ship charged up for the finish, the rest of the fighters saw 
an opening to attack.
	"Roga Ryuusei Dan!" the fourteen knives embedded into the 
middle section's eyes, blinding it. Lime leapt up from his master's 
back and punched a rock spike, budging it loose, then he grabbed 
it and flung it at the missile bay. It barely countered with a 
projectile, but then Mousse wrapped a chain around it and pulled. 
When the missile bay tried to open fire again, all of its shots 
hit the belly of the mothership. Angered, it flew up into the air, 
pulling Mousse along, then tried to whip him into a rock spike, 
just before the chain was severed by Ryouga's bandannas. Mousse 
used his momentum to bounce off the spike and land on the wing 
of the mothership. It didn't even feel the massive hits of the 
spiked ball he was slamming on its cockpit. Instead, it aimed the 
laser at Yuannyan. "Wave Cannon!" it yelled, and a large field of 
energy suddenly shot out of the tiny nozzle. Nodoka immediately 
tried to shield her with her own body. "Mom! Yuan-chan!" Ranko 
dashed for them and aimed her hands at the blast, grimacing as 
she used the Gray Touch to absorb it, then she pushed forwards 
and fired away a 6 meter-wide shot in return. Not impressed, the 
ship released a Speck --a tiny metallic sphere, about half a 
foot wide-- which sucked in the entire blast. It also absorbed 
Ryouga's Roaring Lion Bullet and most of Herb's shots. All ki-
based attacks became useless with the Speck protecting the 
mothership, which is why Shampoo and Ukyou leapt up to destroy 
the metal ball.
	"No, wait, don't!" Crystallus flew in just in time to shield 
them from the massive bolt that the Speck shot out in return. 
Knocked out, the crystal phoenix plummetted limply to the ground.
	"Crystallus!" Ranko saw him drop but couldn't reach him. 
Angered, she pushed forward again and used the White Touch to 
shove the mothership into a rock spike. Mousse leapt down to 
Herb's back and threw a spiked ball to bolster the strength of 
the push. The missile bay detached at the impact and exploded 
when a few instants later. The ship tilted to the side once 
more. Seeing it was dazed, Ukyou fired off dozens of small 
spatulas at it, which became embedded all along its belly. 
Shampoo flung one of her bonbori at the laser cannon, but the 
Speck blasted the round weapon into charred fragments, then the 
cannon shot out another Tek Laser at Ranma, who had nearly 
blasted out a ki sphere, and knocked him off Herb's back. "Ranma!" 
Akane called desperately. Ranko became even more upset and 
leapt at the laser cannon with a powerful kick, but she was shot 
down by the mothership's Atom Ray.
	"My children!" Nodoka desperately looked down, but both 
Ranma and Ranko had fallen into the misty valley below. With 
flames in her eyes, she unsheathed the katana and flung it with 
speed and accuracy straight into the cannon's mouth, making it 
explode in a large explosion. Somehow, the blade returned to her 
hands, just before the Speck charged up to deliver an 
annihilating blast at her. A counter appeared on its side: "T 
minus three..."
	Completely unnoticed, Ryouga was still looking down to 
where Ranko had fallen. That mechanical beast had attacked 
Akane...
	"T minus two..."
	It had probably killed Ranko...
	"T minus one..."
	"Ultimate Shishi Hoko Dan!!"
	"Yaaah!" Herb writhed in pain as Ryouga's energy column 
rose from his back. The Speck was completely caught off guard. 
It suddenly rerouted from charging-up to absorb the 20m-wide 
shot, but it overloaded and began releasing a LOT of smoke.
	"Uh-oh..." Herb barely managed to put up an aura shield as 
the Speck exploded in a blinding flash. They all stared aghast at 
the mothership, which remained unhurt. Slowly the shark smirk on 
the ship's nose changed to a demonic scowl.
	"Gamma Rays!" it opened its bay doors to reveal another 
cannon that shot out a blast that engulfed all of the fighters, 
even Herb. Small, two-digit counters appeared over their heads. 
"Bwa ha ha!" it cackled, "When those counters reach zero, there 
will be nothing that can keep you from dying!"
	Herb and Ryouga sizzled in anger, "Then we're taking you 
with us!" Ryouga leapt onto the ship and punched it savagely, 
already denting its surface with the first hit. Herb opened his 
jaws to fire away a gush of fiery energy that charred the 
cannon. Mousse threw miles of chain into the ship's afterburners, 
causing it to fly erratically. For the second time in her life, 
Yuannyan became intensely angry and leapt at the ship with a 
massive ki-charged kick. Mint kept throwing knives at the 
contraption while Lime was running out of rock spikes to swing 
at it. Seeing the other fighters needed a closer range, Herb 
flew close to the ship. Ukyou and Shampoo bashed the ship's side 
with their weapons, while Akane's kicks and punches did as good a 
job as Ryouga's. The panda and Nodoka also jumped into the 
fray... just before the counters reached 01.
	"Oh, God..." Akane looked up.
	"Akane-san..." Ryouga reared up to deliver his last punch.
	"For Shampoo!" Mousse leapt straight at the ship.
	"Good-bye, Herb-chan," Yuannyan clung to the dragon's mane.
	The counters reached 00. One by one, they  began to fall 
limply, some collapsing on the ship while others fell on top of 
Herb. The dragon tried to fight it off, but gradually he lost 
consiousness as well.
	"Ranma..." Akane was the last to close her eyes... and she 
suddenly opened them again at the sound of a shriek.
	"What the...?!" the mothership was suddenly hit hard by a 
hail of black feathers. A very battered Phoenix shrieked again, 
"REBIRTH!" Large golden flames sprouted from his body, covering 
all of the humans. The worn-out Kirin still made an effort to 
help Phoenix with his own Lifeguard technique, while the 
Nightmare was nudging the unconscious dragon with her snout. 
Slowly, he regained his strength and flew back up.
	"Phaeron!" Akane called, relieved, seeing all of her friends 
had been brought back by the Phoenix. But she gasped at the 
sight of the Espers: Phaeron and Coldfire looked severely 
wounded, even their feathers were frazzled and they could barely 
stay in the air. Nadir had a large burn on his neck, and he had 
a large cut running across his right side. Even Mireillia was 
limping --in midair-- and in fact it seemed she had broken her 
right foreleg and a a few ribs.
	"Where... Where is she?" Phaeron asked, panting. Akane, 
Nodoka and Yuannyan gasped and they turned to each other 
before looking down. Phaeron and Nadir suddenly regained their 
strength and became very, VERY mad. Coldfire and Mireillia 
swallowed hard when they saw the aura of a golden Phoenix rise 
behind Phaeron, while Nadir's horns glowed with a blinding light. 
The mothership didn't waste time analizing them and headed 
straight towards them, shaking off Ryouga and Mousse, who fell 
on top of Herb.
	"If you dared hurt her..." Phoenix's voice echoed throughout 
the valley. "I didn't want to use the Phoenix Flare, but you left 
me no choice!"
	"Infernal beast!" Nadir rammed the mothership. Phoenix 
suddenly started glowing tremendously.
	"Incredible..." Akane stared at him. But just before he used 
the Phoenix Flare, she felt incredibly relieved at hearing the 
two familiar shouts...
	"HIRYUU SHOTEN-HA!"
	"Wha..." Nadir looked downwards. Phaeron stopped glowing and 
a large smile appeared on his beak as two large tornadoes rose 
from the ground, tearing the mist apart. A bright sphere of 
energy was on the top of each.
	"HIRYUU KOURIN-DAN!" the two spheres came out of the 
whirlwinds and dropped on top of the mothership with the 
strength of a crashing meteor. The monster flew into several 
rock spikes, smashing them, before the one of the two figures 
took the other in its arms and leapt off the ship, landing on 
Herb's back.
	"Ranma!" Akane, Ukyou and Shampoo sighed in relief at the 
sight of him. He was carrying a very-tired Ranko in his arms, 
and he seemed to be covered by the Crystal Armor, which smirked 
in confidence. Phaeron relaxed at the sight of the redhead, 
finding her barely-conscious was infinitely better than finding 
her dead. (Although Mireillia didn't share his point of view.)
	"Good job," Crystallus morphed back to bird shape. Despite 
being relieved, Nodoka still watched the mothership very 
carefully. It seemed to be calling for reinforcements.
	"Okay, now to finish this," Ryouga said, smirking, "Shishi 
hoko... dan?" he didn't shoot out more than a small cloud of gas. 
Apparently he wasn't too depressed right now.
	"Not again!" Coldfire glanced at the squadrons of Sky Bases 
that had appeared behind them.
	"Wait," Mireillia said calmly. "Now, on my mark fly in that 
direction as fast as you possibly can."
	"Why?" Ranma asked.
	Mireillia smirked, "Because we're almost to Valran. Nadir, 
you know what to do." His horns started glowing and he smirked. 
Help was on the way.
	"Very well... NOW!"
	The mothership and Sky Bases shot out in pursuit of the 
lighting-fast Espers and dragon. In less than a second they had 
come out of the spire valley and were greeted by the ocean. 
Confident, the Espers stopped in midair, facing the attackers.
	"You can help now," Phaeron didn't have to say it twice, 
Herb was already roaring towards the mothership. In one swift 
move Ranma leapt off him and used the forward momentum to 
shoot towards the ship.
	"Ryuusei Kyaku!" he shouted, as his aura flared in a flash 
of light and he hit the ship's nose. He quickly bounced away 
towards Herb as the nose exploded and the ship plummetted fast 
to the ground in a trail of smoke. The human fighters cheered 
when the Imperial Airforce Mother Ship exploded, miles below.
	"We're not out of the woods yet!" Coldfire reminded them, 
still waiting for the Sky Bases to reach them. The humans stared 
at the Espers, who weren't even preparing to fight.
	"For Master Kefka!" the battle cry came once more...
	Without warning, the blue skies turned dark purple. 
Lightning crashed from above, some of the drones being shot 
down. On the seashore, a bright glimmer appeared.
	"Chaos Wing!"
	The Espers smirked at the sound of Maduin's voice. The 
glimmer came up towards them and suddenly many beams of purple 
energy sprouted from it. Four thin shafts of light also extended 
from the glimmer, moving like tendrils and knocking almost every 
single Sky Base off the air. Taking the advantage, the Espers 
and humans easily brought down the few remaining drones. When 
the sky cleared up gain, Maduin was gone, but so were the 
enemies.
	With their path cleared, the troop headed for the seashore. 
When they arrived, they couldn't help but gasp at the sight of 
the city of Valran.
	It was more of a castle than a city, as it was quite small. 
It was settled on top of a cliff, overlooking the ocean a few 
hundred feet below. Valran was limited by a tall, unblemished 
wall, which protected the side of the castle that was opposite 
to the cliff's egde. This half-circle barrier was outfitted every 
now and then with a turret or a window, reinforcing the 
impression of a castle. Rising from the center was a tall tower, 
which shed a bright, beckoning light from its top. Every single 
structure, at least from outside, seemed to have been made with 
crystal of every kind: the wall was made with white crystal, 
while the tower itself was trasluscent. And in the afternoon 
light, Valran seemed to cast off light of its own --but only 
when seen from the outside.
	"We're home," Mireillia sighed.
	"I can't believe it..." Akane stared at the city in wonder.
	"Let's go inside," Phaeron smirked. Slowly, they came to a 
lower altitude, skimming the ground. The wide gates of the castle 
opened in reply, and the humans marveled at the sight of two 
magic creatures, a Pegasus and an Unicorn, that came outside to 
meet them.
	"Welcome back," they said, galloping in midair despite their 
flying abilities. Andellia was a beautiful female Pegasus, her 
pure white hair contrasted with the multicolored mane and tail, 
as well as her bluish-pink wings. Terion, her fianc�, was a 
powerful Unicorn, with golden mane, tail and hooves.
	"Are you Espers too?" Ranko asked. They nodded. Andellia 
looked at her, then at Phaeron, and smirked. Terion galloped 
alongside Mireillia, smiling at her.
	"I can't wait..." Phaeron smirked, "C'mon!" he called, speeding 
up towards the castle gates. Andellia and Terion suddenly looked 
at each other and gulped. "Phaeron, don't!" But it was too late, 
the five Espers and even Herb were already heading excitedly 
towards Valran's gates. "Guess you'll find out, then..." Andellia 
thought gravely, as she and Terion went after them.
	Upon landing just outside the gates, the Espers --except 
Crystallus, of course-- morphed back to human form while Herb 
swallowed another Green Cherry. With broad smiles on their 
faces, they went inside... and gasped in shock.


Espers Galore!

	"What in the world?" Ranma was surprised by the state of 
the castle. Everything was dark and unkept, most of the ground 
was covered in grime and dust. The place was practically 
deserted (add a few tumbleweeds for the dramatic effect,) the 
wind currents wailed as they swept the castle's stone floor. 
What had happened to Valran? Had it been ravaged?
	"This can't be right," Phaeron finally said, "Valran is the 
jewel in Esper World's crown..."
	"That's what we wanted to warn you about," Andellia and 
Terion landed behind them, remaining in their Esper shapes. 
"Things are very different from what you remember, guys," Terion 
said. "For now, we'll let Maduin explain to you," Andellia added. 
Nodding silently, the Espers looked at the tower gravely.

	"So, if it isn't little Phoenix!" the hall rumbled at the 
sound of Maduin's voice. It was a large room, with an oval table 
in its middle. Several strange glimmers on the walls illuminated 
the chamber, but they were neither torches nor electrical 
devices. And at the far end of the room, on the throne, Maduin 
sat at the table.
	He was, as expected, an Esper. He was a stocky, heavyset 
humanoid with gleaming copper skin. He displayed a wild, dark blue 
mane that reached down to his waist, and two ram-like horns 
sprouted from above his ears. The humans felt tiny when he 
stood up, for his height easily reached nine feet. But now that 
he was standing, they could notice he was only half-man. His 
legs and hindquarters were those of a goat, he even showed a 
furry tail. But he wasn't a devil. Maduin, the leader of Espers, 
was a powerful Satyr. His face displayed experience and nobility, 
a strong and gentle demeanor that did little to hide his kindness 
and concern for his friends. It was the face of a king.
	"Yes, it's me," Phaeron shook hands with his old friend, 
smiling. "We have to talk."
	Maduin's smirk disappeared, "Yes, I believe we do." He looked 
over Phaeron to see the humans behind him, "But where are my 
manners? Please, do not be afraid, little ones. Come forward. I 
am Maduin, welcome to the fair city of Valran."
	"Uh, pleased to meet you," Ranma nervously shook the 
gigantic hand. One by one, they were all introduced to the Esper, 
who smiled amusedly at the look on their faces. "Hm, you have 
been to Sapphire Woods, eh?" he said when he met the panda. 
"Very funny," he answered with a sign.
	"Hold on a sec," Akane said, "Let me get this straight: 
we're from different planets, you're not human, and you still 
speak a perfect Japanese?"
	"That shouldn't surprise you," Maduin took out a book from 
hyperspace, paging through it. "Let's see.. Here it is, item 9, 
article 6 of the Animated Characters Union Code: 'When a new 
character is introduced to a series, he, she or it will speak the 
same language as the main character with the ease of a native 
speaker, regardless of the difficulty of said language.'"
	"Is that so? Hmm. Shampoo need have little talk with 
producers..." she bounced her bonbori on her hand.
	"And what have you been up to?" he suddenly lifted 
Mireillia and sat her on his shoulder. Seeing the people 
confused, Phaeron explained about Mireillia being Maduin's niece. 
Ranko rolled her eyes.
	"That reminds me..." Phaeron took out several crystal 
feathers, "We definitely have to talk about those engagements," 
he calmly pulled the feathers up Maduin's throat.
	"Didn't we already..." Maduin noticed there was another 
person in the room: Coldfire. "Wait a minute, child. I have to 
deal with something first," he put Mireillia down and stomped his 
way towards the dark phoenix. "Tell me, are you the one called 
Coldfire?" he loomed over him.
	"Yes, so?" Coldfire wasn't impressed.
	Maduin braced himself, trying to keep control of his temper, 
"And you are also the same Esper that Gestahl used to create 
Kefka?"
	"Hey, Maduin, it's okay," Phaeron called. "Coldfire's on our 
side. He even helped us against Eoris' forces."
	Maduin turned to Phaeron, then looked at Coldfire sternly, 
"If that is true, then maybe you can still be of help. But bear 
in mind that I will keep constant vigil over you. If you turn out 
to be a traitor, your 'rebirth' skills won't do much for you, 
understood?" Coldfire just dismissed with his hand.
	"Yo, Uncle, already spoiling for a fight?" Terion's voice 
came from the door. Walking hand in hand, he and Andellia came 
inside, they had already changed to human form. Terion was a 
young man, apparently in his twenties, wearing a white body 
armor over a silver-gray tunic. His hair was glistening blond, 
although it was quite normal for an anime character. By looking 
carefully, one could see he resembled his sister, Mireillia.
	"What?" Ranma and Ranko turned to me, "You mean he's _her_ 
brother?"
	"Yep," he replied, but he didn't seem too happy about that.
	Beside him, holding his hand, was somebody who resembled 
Seraphim in more than one way. Andellia was a tall, brown-haired 
woman, with large, multicolored wings on her back. Her hair was 
shoulder-length, but a pair of thin, white-haired pigtails came 
down from her temples and reached down to her elbows. There was 
also a silver tuft of hair on her forehead. She wore an emerald 
gown beneath her white dress, tied at her waist by a gold belt.
	"Are you an angel?" Ranko asked, for she couldn't remember 
seeing her at the Gates.
	Andellia smiled, "No, I'm not an angel like miss Brillan. I 
was simply born from a race that has bird-like wings, that's all."
	"She's too modest," Terion said, "But in _my_ opinion she as 
good an angel as Seraphim." She turned to him, blushing slightly.
	"So, now that we're all together..." Ranma started.
	"Would someone please explain what's going on?!" Ranko 
asked. Phaeron swallowed hard.
	"What, you don't know about Kefka?" Maduin asked, surprised. 
Phaeron melted in sweat...
	"Kefka, eh?" Ranko crossed her arms, glaring at him, "Care 
to fill us in... or should we guess?

			*	*	*

	"So that's it," Ranma leaned back on the chair.
	"Yes, that's why we're here," Nadir said, "to stop Kefka 
from destroying everything."
	"You could have told us, you jerk," Ranko scowled at 
Phaeron, who was completely silent, abashed.
	"And he killed many of you?" Ryouga asked, leaning on the 
table.
	Maduin sighed in mourning, "Indeed. Kefka is a truly evil 
man, he resorted to deceit to lure us into his trap. Just take a 
look outside: this was the finest city in Esper World, but his 
magic has already reached us. It won't take long for him to seize 
control of this place... and that's when we'll all cease to exist."
	"But what happened to everybody?" Mireillia asked, "This 
place is deserted."
	"Killed, or trapped in Magicite," her brother said. "There 
are about a dozen or so Espers in this city, including the three 
of us. But only me and Andellia can fight, the others are just 
imps or other harmless beings. That's another reason why we 
have to hurry: Kefka turned almost every Esper to Magicite, but 
in time he will go on killing them as well. We have to save our 
friends from him."
	"Then let's waste no more time," Herb said, "I don't speak 
for the rest of us, but I, prince of the Musk Dynasty, will 
gladly help you in your quest."
	"Count me in too," Ranma said. "From what we saw back 
there, you guys will need all the help you can get."
	"Are you sure, Ranma?" Akane asked.
	"This place can be very dangerous for humans," Andellia 
said. Maduin was impressed to see this young human was still 
confident about facing Kefka.
	"That's exactly what we need," he said, "If we had the 
confidence and bravery of this little fellow, we would have 
defeated Kefka already. Very well, son. We welcome you into our 
ranks. If any of your friends wants to join us, he or she will 
also be gladly accepted."
	"Then I'll go too," Ryouga said, "Anything Ranma can do, I'll 
do better."
	"Shampoo help Ranma!" the Amazon sang out happily.
	"If Shampoo goes, I'll go," Mousse replied.
	"I'll help you, Ranchan," Ukyou said.
	"We'll stand by our Master!" Lime and Mint said sternly.
	"Really?" Yuannyan looked at them, "That's great, because I 
was thinking of helping Herb-chan too..." she smiled cutely at 
them, making them grin widely.
	"And I shall..." the panda stood proudly, holding a sign, 
"...take a nap. Wake me up in a week." Nodoka shook her head at 
her husband's behavior.
	"I guess you know what I'll say," Ranko turned to Phaeron.
	He nodded gravely, "Yes, I do. But I can still try to talk 
you out of it, can't I?" She shook her head, "No."
	"I have to say, this moves me to tears," Maduin said, 
smiling, "I have never seen such courage in humans since we 
fought alongside my daughter and the Returners in our first 
battle against Kefka." He couldn't control himself any further, 
and decided to flood the chamber with tears of joy and 
admiration.
	"Pretty emotional, isn't he?" Ranma asked Mireillia and 
Terion. For some reason, Akane saw her father's image reflected 
in Maduin.
	"Alright, then the first thing to do is a plan," Nadir said. 
Maduin stopped bawling and lifted his right hand. Over the table, 
a sphere of light appeared, gradually becoming a tridimensional 
map of Esper World.
	"Guess you're pretty glad, eh?" Nadir asked Mireillia, who 
had designed the holographic projector for that map.
	"Before we begin, we need to call our advisor," Maduin said. 
"Phantom, show yourself."
	"As you wish..." the low voice appeared at the same time as 
the being. It was a specter, made only of a trasluscent hooded 
robe. It hovered next to Maduin, its breath was like Darth 
Vader's.
	"Now, we are here..." Maduin took out a pointer and aimed it 
at a dot on the coast of a large sea. "And Kefka's in Phantom 
Forest, in the middle of Cat's Eye Valley." He waited for the 
globe to spin so he could point the location.
	"Great. Cat's Eye," Ranma and Ranko shuddered slightly. When 
the globe was in place, they could see a strange valley, 
surrounded by a mountain range in the shape of an elipsis. With 
only a little imagination, this range would resemble the eyelids, 
the dark forest would be the iris, while a thin slit would be the 
pupil. "That's Adder's Mouth," Maduin pointed at the slit, "It's the 
deep pit in which the Adder fell. Kefka's floating castle is 
exactly over it."
	"Kefka has used his magic on Cat's Eye..." Phantom said. 
"These mountains have now become walls that reach up to the 
heavens... And Phantom Forest has become a very dangerous 
place... I have seen many frightful apparitions there... And 
Adder's Mouth has become the breeding ground of evil..."
	"Wait," Phaeron said, "Just out of curiosity, what happened 
to Silvermoon Lake?"
	Maduin smirked, "Don't worry. It's perfectly safe. In fact, 
that would be our back-up plan. That lake's magic is all that has 
kept the Western Continent safe from Kefka. But now, let's 
return to the topic." The globe spun again, East to West, as the 
image returned from Cat's Eye to Valran. Maduin pointed out each 
of the dangerous regions that would have to be travelled. 
"Departing from Valran, you would have to cross Salar Ocean..." 
he pointed at the large body of water that separated the 
Western and Eastern continents, "after that, you would have to 
travel South, to take the back-door route to Kefka's fortress. 
You'd reach Kassir canyon, which goes back up towards Cat's Eye. 
A few miles before you arrive, though, you'd leave the canyon 
and go around the Dead Wall --coming below what would be the 
lower eyelid of Cat's Eye-- and then you'd enter the valley at 
that point.  You'd be able to see Kefka's castle from there, but 
unfortunately he has protected his fortress with a magic 
barrier. Its only vulnerable spot is precisely underneath the 
castle. In order to reach it, you'd have to cross Phantom 
Forest, then take off from Adder's Mouth and attack from below."
	"Okay, you've shown us what we'll have to go through," 
Ranma said, "But what about this guy Kefka? What do you know 
about him?" Maduin turned to Phantom.
	"Kefka is a very, if not infinitely, powerful magic user... 
The Light of Judgement you have all witnessed was one of his 
lesser abilities... If not for Phantom Forest and SilverMoon Lake, 
he would have already driven Esper World out of its orbit... And 
worst of all, he has somehow acquired the Dark Orb..."
	"You... You're joking, right?" Mireillia asked nervously. 
	"What's the Dark Orb?" Ryouga asked.
	"It's a source of endless power," Maduin said, they noticed 
his voice was becoming grave, "Mireillia, did you tell them about 
the Four Fiends?" she nodded, "Well, the Dark Orb is the artifact 
that was used to create the Elemental Fiends."
	"But that is not all..." Phantom said.
	Maduin sighed, "Mireillia, I have to tell you something..." he 
turned to her, a serious expression on his face, "Kefka has 
captured my brother, your Master, Chaos."
	"No!" she suddenly rose, slamming her fists on the table, 
"You're lying! Master Chaos would never allow himself to be 
captured by Kefka!"
	"I'm sorry, Mireillia," Maduin said."I know that Chaos took 
care of you as a father when your real parents passed away. 
But I'm afraid it's true." She looked downwards, staring blankly 
as she shuddered in disbelief. Garland... Master Chaos... He 
couldn't have been enslaved by Kefka... If it were true then... 
Then she would cut Kefka's head with her own two hands!
	"Not only did he capture Chaos..." Phantom added, "After 
Chaos, Kefka enslaved the other Destroyers... Exdeath... Zeromus... 
Rumor has it even Fenrir is under his command..."
	"Fenrir?!" Phaeron couldn't believe his ears. After Coldfire, 
the Wolf of Ragnarok had been his greatest enemy, both as an 
Esper and a human.
	"And who are those guys?" Ranko asked.
	"Exdeath is a fearful creature from another world," 
Crystallus said, "At first, he only wanted to rule the world, and 
fused two planets into one to do so. But as his power 
increased, he only wanted to annihilate everything, even if that 
included himself. He has complete mastery over a power called 
'Mu', which is capable of absorbing the entire Universe into 
itself."
	"And Zeromus is equally dangerous," Coldfire said, "He was a 
simple 'man from the moon', a Lunarian, before he discovered the 
Four Elemental Crystals and became corrupted by their power. He 
has the power of the Cosmos, and is made of pure hatred."
	"And Kefka has control over them?" Herb asked. Maduin and 
Phantom nodded silently.
	"Looks like we're in for a war," Ranma said. "So, who else is 
fighting against him? Phaeron, Nadir, Mireillia, Coldfire, 
Crystallus... Anyone else?"
	"We're going too," Terion and Andellia said in unison.
	"I'm afraid I cannot go," Maduin said. "My day has passed. 
The only thing I can do now is protect what's left of Valran, and 
help you from afar. But I am confident you will be victorious."
	"Nevertheless..." the voice of an elder man came to them, 
"We must hurry. Rivendale will not last long against the forces 
of Sauron unless we destroy the Ring..."
	"Hey," Ranma called, "Who are you?" It was an old, bearded 
man, wearing gray robes and with his head covered by a hat of 
the same color.
	"Hm?" the man looked up, his eyes opened widely. "I am 
Gandalf the Gray. This _is_  J.R.R. Tolkien's _The Lord of the 
Rings_, isn't it?"
	"Nope. This is _The Caller's Plight_."
	"Err, excuse me..." Gandalf quietly left the room.
	"Anyway..." Phaeron said, "Whoever that guy was, he reminded 
me of something. Maduin, guess what. Siegfried's here."
	"Siegfried?" the Esper was surprised, "How do you know?"
	"He was the one who warned us about the Four Fiends," 
Nadir said. 
	Maduin smiled, "Those are very good news. If only we could 
get him to join our group, we would be unstoppable."
	"I shall try to locate him..." Phantom said, "However, we 
must first develop a strategy for our attack..."
	"That's right," Terion said. "Kefka's definitely more powerful 
than any of the Espers, we have to face him with a plan."
	"We can't fight him _here_..." Crystallus said, "Even if we 
weren't forced to engage in Ragnarok, there wouldn't be much left 
of Esper World when we finished."
	"I have an idea," Mireillia said, "Remember when the people 
of the Blue Planet fought Zeromus in the Outer Plane?"
	"Good idea," Phaeron said, "If all of us Espers used the X 
spell to banish him to the Outer Plane, not only would we avoid 
destroying our homes, we'd also be fighting Kefka on equal 
footing."
	"But what would _we_ do?" Ranma asked. "You guys already 
have everything figured out."
	Maduin smirked, "I like that spirit. Still, don't be so rash. I 
am certain you will all have your hands full with Kefka."
	"So, when do we leave?" Ranko asked.
	"The sooner the better," Andellia said, "Actually, we were 
just waiting for our friends to arrive so we could strike, so I'd 
say the day after tomorrow would be the best time. After all 
even if we were to fly at top speed, Cat's Eye is at at least 
one day away from here. But I would say the entire trip will 
take us four Earth-days at most, which means one Esper World-
week. We have to save our strengh for the battle, because it 
will be very hard."
	"You have that right..." hidden in the shadows, Siegfried 
thought.


A magically-charged departure

	It was early in the morning, and Phaeron paced restlessly 
through the corridors of the castle. Fortunately, the interior 
wasn't as stricken as the courtyard, The immaculate white walls 
of the corridors reminded him of shoji screens, despite being 
built of stone and wood. The stone floor was also clean and 
well-kept, a potted plant breaking the monotony every now and 
then. The rooms were similar, with traditional Victorian furniture 
and oil lamps and chandeliers. The ceiling was covered with ebony 
wood-boards, contrasting with the white of the walls. All in all, 
the castle was a strange mix of styles.
	As Phaeron continued his pacing, he couldn't help but worry 
about the upcoming war. He wasn't worried about himself, but for 
his human friends. Ranko hadn't given him a chance to explain 
after the meeting with Maduin, and right now he was sure she 
hated him.
	Eventually, he reached the room where Ranko and Akane 
were staying. He lifted a hand to knock on the door, but sighed 
as he stopped himself. He shook his head, sighing, "I've lost all 
right to explain, anyway. I should've told her from the very 
beginning." Walking away from the room, he decided to go outside. 
Maybe a few minutes of watching the sunrise by the ocean would 
cheer him up a little, or perhaps even give him the strength to 
face her and try to apologize...
	He came out through the back gates of the castle and 
absent-mindedly looked around. A soft, salty breeze blew from 
the sea, and the peaceful sound of waves crashing into the base 
of the cliff added to the feeling of harmony. But when he looked 
forward, he froze in mid-stride.
	She was standing on the edge of the cliff, silently looking 
out to the ocean. The morning air was still cool, and since she 
was wearing a short-sleeved Chinese shirt, Ranko had to cross 
her arms to keep from feeling cold. Her hair nearly glowed gold 
as she stood in front the rising sun. Phaeron just stood there 
for a while, not knowing whether to go back inside or talk to 
her.
	"You gonna stand there all day?" she asked, without even 
turning to see him. Phaeron noticed there was no emotion in her 
voice, except perhaps a bit of annoyance. He gulped and turned 
slightly red, then built up the courage and walked towards her.
	"Good morning," he said, standing next to her but looking 
out to the sea. She just nodded in reply. There was a long 
pause before he spoke again, sighing, "I'm sorry."
	"For what?" she said, frowning.
	"You know, for keeping you in the dark. I should have told 
you from the start. But nooo, being the idiot I am, I kept to 
myself."
	"If only you could have told us from the beginning," she 
replied, turning to him briefly. They both noticed the tone of 
her voice, it seemed she _wanted_ to forgive him.
	"Yes, now I understand," he continued, "I know it's too late 
for this, but I'll say it anyway. Ranko-chan, I'm sorry for not 
telling you about Coldfire. I'm sorry for not telling you about 
Mireillia. And most of all, I'm sorry for not telling you about 
_this_. It's my fault you and the others got dragged into this 
war. I wouldn't blame you if you hate me, and now I see that's 
probably the reason why you hate it when I use my aura shields 
to protect you. You're not a baby, I know that. But I don't want 
to lose your friendship. If you don't want me to use the shields, 
I'll understand. heck, if you don't want to talk to me ever again, 
I'll try to understand. Still, I want you to know that your 
friendship means a lot to me, and I'll do anything to keep it."
	Ranko was left speechless. She turned to him, noticing the 
sad expression on his face. She surprised herself by finding her 
hand was fidgeting with the small gold and ruby medallion in her 
pocket. It was a medallion she had found on the street, just 
before leaving for Esper World. Something in the back of her 
head was yelling out loud for her to give the medallion to him, 
but she couldn't tell what it was.
	"Also, I've been thinking about what happened the other 
day," he continued, "I must have been out of my mind to tell you 
something like that. I like Cordis, and I certainly don't mind 
having her as a Guardian. I really don't know what came over me, 
but I still want to apologize for that."
	"Phaeron-kun.." Ranko turned towards him fully. "It's... It's 
nice to hear you say that, but... But I should apologize too."
	"Hm?" he turned to face her, but she was looking downwards, 
avoiding his glance.
	"It's not that I hate your shields, it's just that I want to 
make sure I can take care of myself. I never wanted to get so 
angry at you. So... I'm... I'm sorry." He noticed how hard it was 
for her to say that, and put a hand on her shoulder. "And about 
Coldfire, well..." she continued, "I still say you should have told 
me, but that's only because you wouldn't have had to kill 
yourself. If we had worked as a team, from the start, we would 
have beaten him. But I'm sorry I got mad at you back then. I 
mean, I didn't even give you a chance to explain..."
	He shook his head, smiling warmly at her, "It's okay, Ranko-
chan. I deserved it."
	She looked up at him. How could he say that? He didn't 
deserve dying, and he didn't deserve what was going to happen to 
him in a month --if they ever got out of this alive. She felt 
miserable at the memory. Phaeron had humbly apologized for all 
those things, and she hadn't even hinted about the four-month 
lifespan Seraphim had given. But now she understood, if she told 
him now he would probably feel betrayed by her. After all, he 
had been brought back three months ago, his time was nearly 
over. She wanted to tell him, to warn him, but didn't want to 
betray his trust. So, she talked about something else. "About 
coming here, I understand why you didn't tell me," she smirked 
briefly, "You're always like this. You didn't tell me  because you 
knew that I'd get worried and insist on helping you if you did."
	He snorted, "Yeah, look the good it made us. You came here 
anyway."
	She couldn't suppress a smile, "You're right about that. But 
anyway, thanks for worrying about me."
	He smiled, "So, friends?"
	She hesitated for a moment, as if she were expecting 
something else, "S-sure, friends." She shook his hand. "Just 
remember not to keep to yourself things like that."
	"Don't worry, 'pigtails'," he said, messing up her hair before 
walking back to the castle. Feeling the cold breeze again, he 
suddenly turned back and took off his jacket, putting it on 
Ranko's shoulders instead. He turned away and silently headed 
for the castle.
	"Phaeron-kun?" she looked at him, puzzled.
	"That reminds me..." he thought, fiddling with something in 
his pocket. He walked over to her again. "Give me your hand."
	"Huh?"
	"Give me your hand," he insisted. She hesitantly stretched 
her left hand. Without a word, Phaeron took out a ring from his 
pocket and carefully placed it on Ranko's finger. It was a gold 
ring, with a tiny, clear diamond on its top. She turned bright red 
and looked up at him, but he was already walking away.
	He stopped, but didn't turn back, "That's a Wall Ring. It's an 
old Esper relic that I've had for a long time. It can protect you 
from magic and most ki-based attacks, so remember: as long as 
we're here, never take it off. It has saved my life a few times, 
and may do the same for you." He paused for an instant, still 
not looking at her, "I know you don't want me to protect you all 
the time, but please, at least keep that ring. And take good 
care of it." Ranko continued watching him as he walked away and 
went around the castle. The red hue was still in her face, even 
though he was no longer in sight.
	"Thank you, Phaeron-kun," a smile appeared on her face as 
she looked at the glistening ring. Shrugging off the cold, Ranko 
shook her head, smirking, and covered herself with Phaeron's 
jacket.

			*	*	*

	A few hours had passed, and Ranma and Genma were sparring 
in the courtyard, while Ranko and Ukyou trained a few yards 
away from them. Meanwhile, Maduin was last seen in the treasure 
chambers of Valran, presumably searching for weapons, armor and 
other relics that the humans could use. The Espers were amused 
by his behavior, ever since he met the troop from Nerima he 
started acting like a big honorary father for all of them, even 
for Genma and Nodoka.
	Not the types to break the monotony, Nadir and Mireillia 
came out of the castle tower blasting each other. The humans 
casually dodged them and continued their training. Without 
warning Mireillia put her hands in front of Nadir and blasted him 
away into the distance. Coming out to the courtyard, Terion 
shook his head at his little sister.
	He called, "Hey, Wild Mare, come over here!"
	"How did you call me?" Ranko fumed slightly. "Eyes forward, 
Ranchan," Ukyou barely missed her with her spatula.
	"He was talking to me, foolish human," Mireillia said, 
annoyed.
	"Wait, wait. You're called 'Wild Mare'?" Ranma asked.
	"Right, that's her name. Apeiron Mireillia Nix, 'Apeiron' and 
'Nix' being Greek, 'Mireillia' being Esper language: the Limitless 
Wild Mare of the Night," Terion said. The humans stared at her.
	"You picked that name yourself, didn't you?" Ranko glared.
	"No, I didn't," Mireillia smirked, "even though it suits me. I 
still don't understand why my brother didn't change his name, 
though."
	"'Terion' means 'Red Epee'," Andellia said, coming up to them. 
"'Ter' is 'vermillion' and 'irion' is epee. But it's fitting for him, 
considering he can handle any kind of bladed weapon. My own 
name, 'Andellia', means 'winged white mare', from 'anes', wings, 'des' 
or white, and 'llia' means mare."
	"And what does 'Phaeron' mean?" they asked.
	Terion and Andellia smirked, "You won't believe this. 
Actually, it started out as a nickname when we first met him. It 
means--"
	"So, here you are," Maduin interrupted, stepping out of a 
large building by the tower. "There is somebody you should meet 
if you are to help us. Your friends are already waiting for you. 
Come." The four humans shrugged and followed him back into the 
building. The remaining three Espers laughed quietly before 
joining them.
	It was pitch-black inside the chamber, even the sunlight 
coming from the open door didn't let them see anything except 
the rest of the humans in the room. Maduin whispered to Nodoka 
and Genma, and they stepped away from the main group. Andellia, 
Mireillia and Terion also stepped back quietly in admiration. 
Gulping slightly, Ranma turned forward just as his parents 
stepped out the door, before Maduin closed it. Without the 
source of light, the room was immersed in a total darkness.
	"Ranma?" he felt Akane's hand looking for him, and heard a 
sigh of relief when he held it. Ukyou and Shampoo also took the 
chance to glomp onto him. Ranko only heard sounds of a big 
mallet hitting somebody several times before the lights came on. 
They were in a large chamber, with stone walls and floor. There 
didn't seem to be any torches or the like, but there was a broad 
circle of light illuminated in the middle of the room.
	"Welcome," they shook slightly at the thundering voice. "No, 
don't worry. I won't hurt you. Despite my nickname, I do not take 
pleasure in hurting others, especially humans."
	"Who's there?" Ryouga asked. Soon he regretted the 
question, for a massive creature appeared in the lit circle. It 
resembled a big blue oni, with a muscular, fat body like a 
balloon, and tiny legs and feet dancing beneath it. There were 
two twisted horns on the sides of its bald head, and its face 
resembled a stereotype yakuza: overall fat, with bloated lips and 
small eyes. There was also a silver ring around his left arm.
	"Whoa, wait," the oni said, seeing the troop was getting 
ready to attack. "I'm here to help you. My name is Spekkio, and 
I'M the Master of War."
	"The Master of War?" Ranma cocked one eye at Spekkio.
	"Hmmmm," Spekkio crossed his arms and eyed the group. "Yes, 
you DO look like them, even though your group is at least twice 
as large as that punk's. Maduin sent you, right? Okay then, let's 
get started!"
	"What? What're you going to do?" Ranma asked.
	"Now I see," Andellia said, "No wonder Maduin brought them 
here."
	"What do you mean?" Akane asked.
	Terion said, "This is Spekkio, Master of War... and Master of 
Magic. Nobody knows how old he is, or where he came from. We 
only know that he's not an Esper, but he can give or take magic 
power like one of the Goddesses. If you are to help us against 
Kefka, who is Lord of Magic, you definitely need Spekkio's help."
	"Exactly," Spekkio said, "Now, let's see... Which Elemental 
Force do you command?"
	"Huh?"
	"There are eight elemental forces," Andellia said when she 
noticed the confused look on their faces. "The four Elementals: 
Fire, Water, Wind and Earth; plus four Agents: Lightning, Shadow, 
Silver and Light. We Espers, being magic creatures, already have 
such powers, but we couldn't focus them until we met Spekkio. 
Now we have mastered at least two of those forces, if not 
more."
	"And this is your turn," Spekkio raised his large arms. "For 
now, maybe you better start with only one Force, then you can 
build from there. Let us begin."
	"You're not going to put them through that 'Walk clockwise 
around my room 3 thousand times' thing, are you?" Mireillia 
glared at him. The humans were already slumping in exhaustion at 
what she had said they would do.
	"Nope," Spekkio smirked. "I can see these little guys like 
fighting, so I'll test them through a battle." He turned to the 
group, "Come on, attack me. I'll go easy on you, though, after all 
you're just humans..."
	"'Just humans'?!" the Saotome siblings were the first to 
rush in. Spekkio put his palms on the floor and a wide ring of 
fiery energy blasted them away without burning them. Ryouga 
leapt over the fire and jumpkicked him, but Spekkio didn't even 
feel the physical attack, nor Ukyou's spatula slamming on his 
head. He just joined his palms and aimed at her and Shampoo, 
knocking them down with a gust of wind. Enraged at how his 
beloved had been attacked, Mousse shot out a barrage of sais. 
Spekkio frowned, he despised weapons. That's why he simply 
absorbed them inside a portal that appeared out of nowhere. 
Herb quickly made use of the distraction and flew behind Spekkio, 
releasing a large blast of ki on his back.
	"Impressive," Spekkio said, smirking, He joined his palms 
again and aimed upwards, immediately two large icebergs dropped 
from thin air. Lime could barely smash them to ice shards. By 
now, Ranma had recovered and was on his feet, running around 
Spekkio. The creature called a rain of shards which Ranma 
destroyed with lightning-fast punches. Repeating the attack from 
before, Spekkio blasted away a ring of fire, but Ranma leapt 
over it and ran alongside it, summoning its heat and then 
punching upwards, "Hiryuu Shoten-ha!"
	"Esplendid!" Spekkio simply blocked the hurricane, dissipating 
it. "Wonderful use of air currents and heat!" He lifted one hand, 
aiming the other at Ranma, "Very well, you can be Fire _and_ 
Wind! Next!"
	"Ranma!" Akane yelled when her fianc� was transported out 
of the chamber by a large black tornado. Almost immediately 
Spekkio turned back to Herb, repeating the procedure, "And you 
seem to handle energy with ease, so you might have what it 
takes to be Lightning!" He teleported him out of the room as 
well, "Next!"
	"Why you...!" Ukyou and Shampoo had also recovered and were 
jumping forward to attack.
	"You must learn to use your inner power rather than 
weapons if you want me to grant you magic," Spekkio said, easily 
dodging them despite his monstruous body. He placed his palms on 
the ground and a large blast of black energy filled the room. 
Ukyou defended with her spatula as a large white dome appeared 
behind her, protecting everyone else. "Oh, that's better," Spekkio 
said when he saw Ukyou was unhurt, "So, even if I do hate 
weaponry, maybe we can find something for the four of you..." he 
gazed upon Ukyou, Shampoo, Mousse and Mint, "OK! You can be 
Water!" he vanished Ukyou, "Silver!" there went Shampoo, "Wind!" 
now only Mint remained, "Shadow!" the wolf-boy was whisked away 
also.
	"Phew..." Spekkio exhaled, "Hope those guys know how to use 
my magic... Eh?"
	"Err..." two redheads and another girl were looking uneasily 
at him. Ryouga was trying to shield them from the being and Lime 
was clenching his fists.
	"Oh, sorry. Guess I forgot you were here. So, what do you 
want to be?"
	"Shishi hokodan!" Ryouga blasted out. Spekkio stared wide-
eyed as he faced a very bright and solid ball of air.
	"I wouln't exactly call it a ball of air..." Spekkio corrected, 
brushing the blast away as if it were a mere breeze, "But it will 
do nicely. Okay, you can be--"
	"Bakusai Tenketsu!" Ryouga's index hit the floor right 
beneath Spekkio. The blue behemoth nearly fell through the hole 
left by the blast. His tiny feet wiggled helplessly as he clung 
to the edge.
	"Urg... I got it, I got it. You'll be Earth. You have the 
potential to be Fire too, you know. Next!" The tornado took away 
Ryouga and boosted Spekkio back to the floor. Taking the 
advantage Lime pulled off a large slab from the broken edge of 
the floor and hurled it at Spekkio, who just summoned a lightning 
bolt to destroy it. Unimpressed, Lime crashed his fist into 
Spekkio's gut, but bounced away harmlessly.
	"Wow!" Spekkio _did_ stagger slightly at the blow, "Why, if 
we don't have an Earth here I don't know what we have! Next!" 
Lime was blown out of the room. Spekkio turned to the three 
girls, "Oh, how cute," the childish, mocking look didn't fit his 
face, which is why he laughed to himself afterwards. "Well now, 
what do we have here. Twins and a very cute girl. You remind me 
of... What were their names? Ah, yes, Marle and Lucca. So, you 
want to be Water and Fire like those girls? Or do you want to 
pick your own?" several blasts of energy dropped from above 
just as he finished talking. Not waiting another second, the 
twins dashed towards him, joining hands and then pushing towards 
Spekkio with the White Touch. Caught off guard, he was smashed 
against the wall. Yuannyan imediately dropped and grabbed hold of 
Spekkio's legs with the Gray Touch while Ranko blasted his face 
with a Moko Takabishya.
	"Very good!" Spekkio said as an invisible force blasted them 
back. Smirking, he aimed his hand at the twins and fired off a 
massive forcefield shaped like a spinning triangle. Ranko tried to 
put up a shield, but suddenly a bright blue glimmer spread from 
the Wall Ring, reflecting the attack back at Spekkio. "This is 
strange..." he thought, brushing the triangle aside. He lifted his 
hands again and several lightning bolts crashed into the floor.
	"White Mountain Protection-Dome!" Ranko's shield could 
barely resist the charges. Just as her energy drained, Spekkio 
ceased the attack and smirked, "Who _are_ these humans, anyway? 
Do you all have power? Alright, that astounding use of Light 
magic will render you with not only Light, but Lightning as well. 
Enjoy!" the tornado carefully carried the unconscious redhead 
out. Yuannyan's foot hit Spekkio's face just as the whirlwind 
disappeared.
	"Ouch!" Spekkio held his nose. "Dab hubt!" he swung his right 
arm and a blast of hot wind knocked her aside, but she just 
absorbed the rest of the attack with the Gray Touch. As soon 
as Spekkio had finished, she returned the collected energy with 
a massive White Touch blast that lit up the entire room. 
Spekkio's jaw dropped a foot before he smiled at her, "Just like 
your twin, I guess. Okay, Light and Silver, coming up!"
	"Eh..." Akane stared as Yuannyan got carried away. Spekkio 
looked even more overwhelming all of a sudden. He took a step 
forward, smirking as he aimed at her. She could swear her heart 
had stopped beating. But Spekkio was only doing this to make her 
attack, there was no way he would hurt her. Apparently it 
worked, he was surprised when she grabbed him and tossed him 
into a wall. "Oops," he said as he slid down the wall and fell on 
his head. "Nice throw."
	"Kyaaa!" her mallet sped towards his head. His eyes widened 
and he moved out of the way just as the mallet hit the stone 
and embedded deep into it. She immediately grabbed the mallet 
tightly and used its hold to handstand and deliver a powerful 
two-footed kick to Spekkio's chin, making him see stars.
	"Whoa... Star Magic... I thought nobody knew how to do that 
anymore..."
	"What are you talking about?!" she flipped back to her feet, 
pulling out her mallet and binging all its weight on Spekkio's 
head, now making him see birds.
	"What...? Oh, the Chocobo Dance Magic!"
	"Yah!" Akane stuck her mallet back in her personal wormhole 
and threw a punch and his gut, bringing him back to reality.
	"Now THAT was some show!" Spekkio said, using Cure magic on 
himself, "Maybe you haven't mastered your inner power yet, but 
in the meantime this will do. Now, receive..." he aimed his hands 
at her, "For your strength, Earth! Determination, Fire! Skill, 
Silver! And overall, beacause I like you, Light and Shadow!" Akane 
shut her eyes as the tornado surrounded her. Even as she 
screamed involuntarily, she could hear Spekkio's voice, "Come 
back anytime, and bring friends! Remember, I'M the Master of War!"
	
	"Yo, Akane, are you okay?" she heard Ranma's voice as 
someone gently slapped her. She slowly opened her eyes and 
realized she was back outside, with the rest of the people. She 
quickly sat up, noticing a faint white glow around her.
	"Now you have all been endowed with magic," Andellia said, 
"It's too bad you won't be able to use it when you return to 
your planet, but it will do you wonders in Esper World. Care to 
try it?"
	"I think we should wait until later," Ranma said, trying to 
hide the large charred hole he had blasted in the floor.
	"This is starting to get too weird," Ranko said, trying to 
think about things other than lightning so she wouldn't burn 
another crater in the ground.
	Andellia smirked, "Don't worry, you'll learn to use them in 
time. Why, it took me a long time to master my Silver and Light 
magic, and it was also hard for Terion to learn his Lightning and 
Silver, and Mireillia her Shadow and Fire. It'll be alright. But 
now, let's have breakfast, shall we--"
	She was interrupted by a loud crashing sound from within 
Spekkio's room. They all turned to the door to hear the 
thundering voice. "Why, if it isn't Mr. Know-it-all. Care for some 
practice?"
	"What the... Who's in there?" Ranma turned to Andellia.
	"So, Spekkio, what magic did you give them?" they heard 
Phaeron's voice also.
	"Oh."
	"Can we watch?" Ranko asked.
	"I'd advise against it," Terion said, just as the chamber 
shook under the powerful force of the full magic of Spekkio 
versus the Phoenix's own magic. "Just out of curiosity," Terion 
asked, "Have you ever seen the Red Sun Descent spell?" they 
shook their heads, "Then you haven't yet seen Esper magic at its 
peak."

			*	*	*

	"So, Phaeron said you wanted to talk to me?" Maduin asked.
	"Yes, and it's very urgent," Spekkio replied.
	"What is it that troubles you...?" Phantom appeared.
	"You'll hear..." Phaeron said grimly. "You remember all of 
Spekkio's stories about those guys who traveled back and forth 
in time?"
	Maduin rolled his eyes, "Hardly. He only tells us about them 
578 times a day."
	"Very funny," Spekkio said, "But you do remember what that 
punk kid was trying to do, don't you?"
	"Yes, he and his friends were trying to save their planet's 
future from a powerful creature from outer space."
	"Guess what," Phaeron said, "That wasn't the only member of 
the species."
	"Indeed," Spekkio said, "the Lavos are very abundant in this 
region of space. And now our little friend Kefka is trying to 
bring one here."
	"What?!" Maduin and Phantom were shocked. 
	The Lavos... A creature as powerful, if not more than a 
Destroyer. It was mostly a parasite, arriving at a living planet 
and absorbing its life force. Some of the most advanced 
mutations of the Lavos had been known to cause as much 
devastation as Kefka and Exdeath. It only lived to satisfy its 
hunger, no matter the cost for the creatures of the planet. Not 
only that, but it possessed unmeasured might that granted it 
mastery over the time-stream. If Kefka were willing to bring a 
Lavos to Esper World, then the war would surely turn into 
another cataclysm.
	"And how do you know this?" Maduin asked.
	"Remember that I'm linked to all kinds of fire," Phaeron 
said, "When I started feeling a strange field of such magic 
coming from outer space, I came to see Spekkio for advice. Looks 
like old 'Mr. Big Fire' is headed this way."
	Spekkio crossed his arms, "At its current speed, I'd say 
the Lavos will reach our atmosphere in one week, that is, if 
Kefka doesn't _pull_ it here. But it's not this beast that I'm 
worried about. I don't know how, since it's still travelling trough 
space, but it appears our new guest is spawning another Lavos."
	"And according to his calculations, that new Lavos would 
set forth towards Earth," Phaeron said.
	"Wonderful, just wonderful," Maduin shook his head, "So, 
even if we vanquish Kefka and stop the Lavos from killing our 
planet, Earth still becomes a wasteland."
	"There _is_ one chance," Spekkio said. "If Kefka has also 
acquired the Black Orb, then we could use its power against the 
Lavos and stop it from releasing the spawn towards Earth."
	Maduin glared at him. "Very funny," he said, "You know we 
can't even touch the Black Orb or else it would evaporate us."
	"Then we'll have to find some other way," Spekkio said 
gravely, "but we don't have much time. That Lavos is very fast, 
it will reach the Andromeda Nebula in two days, and it will 
arrive on Cat's Eye shortly thereafter. And only the power of 
the Black Orb can stop it." He paused briefly.
	"But there is another way..." Spekkio smirked, describing 
their other option.
	"You _cannot_ be serious," Phaeron, Maduin and Phantom 
gasped.
	
			*	*	*

	They were waiting for breakfast in one of the large dining 
rooms. But they could barely notice they were on another planet, 
for the tables were low and the room was Japanese in its decor. 
Even their eating utensils, such as bowls and chopsticks, had 
been prepared to make them feel right at home.
	"Maduin must really like you," Coldfire said, "Doing all this 
for you..."
	"Maybe it's because they remind him of Terra," Terion said, 
struggling to place the chopsticks properly in his hand.
	"Where is he anyway?"
	"I think he and Phaeron are still talking to Spekkio. 
Something about a 'Red Star'."
	"That reminds me," Ranma said, "If that guy is master of all 
magic, why can't he help us?" Unnoticed, Coldfire shuddered 
slightly.
	"Because he has almost no power against Kefka," Terion 
said, "Spekkio is immensely powerful, but only within the confines 
of his own chamber. Outside of it, Esper World magic would 
overwhelm his own , making it weaker, and he'd have to rely 
mainly on physical strength and minor spells. Now, tell him to 
visit Earth and you'd be in for some fireworks."
	"Everyone ready?" Nodoka said as she and Akane came back 
from the kitchen, bringing the dishes. As soon as they had they 
placed the food on the table, Ranma and Genma lunged for it, 
making a very good impression of industrial-strength vacuum 
cleaners.
	"Um," Ranko hesitated a second, realizing Akane had come 
along with her mother, "Oneechan, did you make this?" Akane 
nodded happily. Suddenly Ranma's eyes bulged out and he 
collapsed on the floor. Genma just turned white.
	"Now, now, control yourselves," Nodoka said, "Akane-chan 
made a very delicious breakfast for you."
	"Then why am I twitching on the floor?" Ranma groaned. 
Akane pulled him up by the collar, "You jerk! You haven't even 
tried it!"
	"I have, I have!" he said painfully.
	"Then why were you eating it before you heard I cooked 
it?!"
	"Because it hadn't affected me yet!"
	"Hmm," Ranko dubiously took a bite, "Actually, it's pretty 
edible..." she took another, her eyes widened in disbelief, 
"Oneechan, this is great!"
	"Hm?" Akane turned back to the table to see the redhead 
was actually _eating_ her food without being poisoned, in fact 
she seemed to like it. "You mean it?" she asked. Ranko mumbled 
something through a mouthful, nodding. Akane showed a smile when, 
one by one, the others hesitantly followed the redhead's example, 
suddenly their faces being filled with incredulity.
	"Oh, man, this is worse than I thought," Ranma gasped, "Your 
food drove them insane!"
	"Quit making jokes and eat!" Akane shoved a spoonful down 
into his mouth. He reflexively tried to splurt it out, but slowly 
he cocked his head and calmed down, until his eyes popped wide 
open and he stared agape at the food. "This...! This is...!"
	"Looks like Esper World magic has had other effects on you 
other than turning you into semi-Espers," Coldfire said.
	"Nonsense," Nodoka smiled at Akane, "If there is magic at 
work in this food, it's Akane-chan's." Giggling, Akane sat down 
between Ranko and the incredulous Ranma.
	"Then I'll have seconds of that magic," Ranko took her bowl 
in her left hand and reached forward with it.
	"Hm?" Akane looked at Ranko's hand while Nodoka filled her 
daughter's bowl. "Wow, that's beautiful," she said, her eyes 
following the diamond ring as Ranko put the bowl down, "Where did 
you get this?" she took Ranko's hand and stared at the ring.
	"What?" Ranma and Nodoka also noticed it. Yuannyan leaned 
over the table to have a closer look.
	"Um, er..." the region in charge for speech in Ranko's brain 
was blocked out, but the region in charge for turning her face 
red was working full-force.
	Terion looked at the ring just out of curiosity, "That's a... 
That's a..." he stammered at the sight of it.
	"The Wall Ring?" Andellia was also incredulous. "How did you 
come across it?"
	"The what?" Ranma asked.
	"The Wall Ring is one of the most powerful relics held by 
us Espers," Terion said, "It can reflect many kinds of magic 
attacks, and even a few ki-based techniques. But where did you 
find this ring?" Ranko still didn't answer. "This is a great 
discovery," Andellia said, "Nearly all of our Wall Rings had been 
destroyed during our first war with Kefka, in fact only _one_ 
survived..." she took a closer look at the ring, "Yes, this the 
one," she turned to Ranko, "You have in your hand one of the 
greatest Esper treasures of all time."
	"So...?" Akane insisted, "Who gave this to you?"
	"Well, uh..." Ranko started, "In the morning, I was outside, 
on that cliff, and--"
	"You found it on that cliff?" Terion and Andellia asked, 
surprised that such a treasure would be left carelessly like a 
piece of trash. Ranko hesitated for a second before nodding 
forcefully.
	"I'll have a little talk with Phaeron about this..." Terion 
said, out of the humans' earshot.
	"Yes, he shouldn't leave his relics out in the field just 
like..." her voice drifted away as realization hit. Terion and 
Andellia quickly turned to each other. "Oh," they smirked, and 
turned back to see how most of the humans were looking at the 
ring in the hand of a nervous Ranko.
	"Well, it's a good thing you came upon a Wall Ring," Coldfire 
said, "Even with Spekkio's magic, you will need all the help you 
can get in this place. In fact, I think Maduin was looking for 
other relics suitable for you."
	"By the way," Akane said, "that guy told me I still haven't 
'mastered my inner strength.' Do you think there is something 
like this ring that can help me do that? After all, if I'm going 
with you then--"
	"You are NOT coming with us," Ranma cut her short.
	"What?"
	He glared at her, "We are going to face some master of 
magic and you want to come? Are you crazy?"
	She fumed greatly, "Ranma, you..." suddenly she calmed down 
and stared wide-eyed at him, "Ranma, you're worried?"
	"Yes, I'm worried that you can still get the chance to 
poison us with your cooking if we take you along. Besides, you-- 
ugh!"
	"I am going," she removed the table from his face.
	Ranma staggered to his feet, "You're NOT!"
	Ranko tried to convince her as well, "Oneechan--"
	"I am!"
	"You're not coming and that's FINAL!"

			*	*	*

	Ranma was grumbling to himself as he prepared his gear the 
following morning, while Akane fastened the straps of her 
backpack (you all saw this one coming ^_^) It was very early in 
the morning, it was still dark outside and the twin moons gleamed 
in the black skies. Coupled with the chill of the early-morning 
breeze, they couldn't help but feel weary as they stood in the 
courtyard, waiting for the other people and Espers to come out.
	"Ah, that's more like it," they heard Phaeron's voice as he 
came out of the tower, having changed to more formal Esper 
armor and garb. Over the solid black cloth that covered him, he 
donned a glistening ruby body armor which resembled Crystallus, 
but didn't have wings and showed a strange triangular crest on 
the torso. There were two objects clinging to the armor's belt: a 
sword sheath by his left and a glimmering rosary to his right, 
the beads of which were tucked into the belt while the gold 
crucifix dangled on the outside, making a slight tinkling sound 
against the armor when Phaeron walked. They blinked in surprise 
at this, but didn't want to ask him about it.
	"Ready?" he asked, leading them out to the cliff which 
overlooked the ocean. Ranma just mumbled, annoyed. Akane shook 
her head at her fianc�. Crystallus was already waiting for them.
	"So, this is it, then," Ranma finally said, looking out to 
the dark sea. "Why so early, anyway?"
	"We have to make the most out of the limited time we 
have," he said. "Besides, this way we'll get the greatest head-
start we can have on Kefka's forces, since they won't risk 
coming out during the day to face an Esper batallion. This way, 
we can rest at night and travel during the day. And that reminds 
me..." he spread his arms and morphed into the phoenix, "You see 
that saddle over there?" he motioned to a leather saddle leaning 
against the wall, "Can you put that on me?" they blinked in 
surprise, but then realized that the Espers themselves would be 
vehicles for the humans and they placed the saddle on his back. 
They followed by fastening the harnesses on his chest, and 
placing the stirrups beneath and in front of his wings, and then 
placed the reins and bridle on his beak.
	"Look at that," Nadir came out, laughing at him, "Wanna play 
horse?" he asked mockingly, turning into the Kirin.
	"No, I won't play horse. You will," he smirked when Andellia 
appeared out of nowhere and put a saddle on Kirin's back before 
he even noticed. She also turned into the Pegasus and Terion 
fastened the saddle on her, and Mireillia did the same for her 
brother.
	"What's wrong, little mare?" Coldfire asked, tossing her a 
saddle, "Don't tell me you won't help these humans?"
	"Nobody will ride the Nightmare," she scowled at him, 
throwing aside the saddle, "Why don't _you_ volunteer for it?"
	"No thanks. I don't want to mess up my feathers. Right, 
Crystallus?" Coldfire smirked and changed into the Black Phoenix.
	"So, you are already out here" Maduin came to them, 
followed by the rest of the people. "Looks like they have 
already gotten used to the powers of the relics I just gave 
them," he smirked.
	"Wa ha ha! Look at this, Akane-san!" Ryouga laughed madly 
as he easily lifted the side of the castle with one arm. There 
was a bronze armlet on his right arm and a red belt around his 
waist. Apparently the Atlas Armlet and Muscle Belt had given him 
even greater strength.
	"Hmph. Amateur," Lime grumbled at him. He seemed to be 
slightly annoyed at being given a pair of Sprint Shoes to 
enhance his low speed.
	"Hah! Just let any two-bit monster near!" Ukyou proudly 
smashed a few rocks to tiny bits with massive blows from each 
of the combat spatulas she held in either hand. Now that she 
had become ambidextrous, with the help of the Genji Gloves on 
her hands, she could hold a weapon in each hand with ease.
	"Aiya!" Shampoo suddenly dropped from the sky and in front 
of Ranma, "Dragoon Boots really work! Now Shampoo jump very 
high!" She leapt up slightly but the boots carried her far, far 
away...
	"You okay?" Akane asked Ranma, who was still clutching his 
chest at the shock.
	"Looks like she also learned that the Gale Hairpin gives 
her the chance for suprise attacks," Maduin looked up, waiting 
for Shampoo to come down.
	"Shampoo, where are you?" Mousse looked up with his new, 
enhanced glasses. She dropped behind him, "Booo!" she giggled 
when he fell to the ground, "Silly Mousse. Even with Sniper Sight 
that Maduin give him he still no see Shampoo."
	Mint came out of the castle at near-light speed, swinging 
his curved sword in all directions with a speed greater than the 
Chestnut Fist's. Herb and Yuannyan smiled amusedly at him, 
"Guess his Running Shoes and the HyperWristband worked, right 
Herb-chan?" she said, fidgeting with the Charm Bangle on her 
wrist.
	"That's right, fairy," he mocked.
	"Hey, just because I have a Fairy Ring doesn't mean that I 
turn into... Uh, never mind." She recalled he still didn't have any 
Esper relics.
	"But it's not as if I needed them," Herb boasted proudly.
	"Yes, you do," Maduin came to them, "Take care of this," he 
gave Herb his own Zephyr Cape, which made him invisible each 
time Herb closed it. "By the way," Maduin continued, "I heard that 
you like flying, so here," he handed Herb a tiny gold feather. 
The dragon prince rose from the ground as soon as he touched 
it. "It's a Cherub Down, and it casts a floating spell on you 
when you bear it," Maduin explained.
	"No wonder I'm like this..." Ranko came out, floating a foot 
over the ground, "I just found this thing and it made me fly all 
of a sudden." She tried to control the Cherub Down with her own 
white aura, but instead of being drained, like all the other 
times she had used it to float, she easily remained in midair 
without becoming tired. For some reason the Gold Hairpin she had 
also found had something to do with it, or maybe it was just 
that the Hairpin cut in half the ki she needed to stay like that.
	"I'm starting to feel out of place here..." Ranma said.
	"Ah, but we have relics for you as well," Maduin came to 
them, opening a small treasure box. "Since you're both martial 
artists, you might enjoy these--"
	"What's this?" Akane took out what resembled a boy-scout's 
patch. She felt considerably stronger just by holding it.
	"Good choice," Maduin said, "the Merit Award lets you use 
heavy equipment. You might want to take a look in our armory 
before you leave. But this can help you too," he took a blue 
Ribbon from the chest and handed it to her. "You'll find many 
creatures that can poison you or even turn you to stone. This 
will keep that from happening. And..." he began to take another 
relic, a Black Belt, but decided against it, "Nah, you're ALL 
black-belts anyway."
	"What's this thing?" Ranma took out a small ball bearing.
	"Oh, take care of that," Maduin said, "The Safety Bit 
protects you from deadly magic." Unnoticed, Ranma put the Safety 
Bit in Akane's clothes. Then Maduin gave him two others, a small 
puppet of a knight and a plain gold ring. Ranma casually put the 
True Knight in his pocket while he wondered what the Hero Ring 
was capable of. "It simply makes you stronger, both physically 
and in ki," Maduin explained. "You'll find out what the True Knight 
does soon enough."
	"Okay, now that you're all set, let's go," Phaeron said.
	"Just a minute," Yuannyan said, "Herb-chan and I will stay 
behind for a while, you go on without us." The rest shrugged and 
began to get ready to leave.
	"Wait!" Nodoka came out to see them off, "Are you sure 
you'll be okay?" she asked her children.
	"Don't worry, mom," Ranma said.
	"We'll come back soon," Ranko added.
	"Um, okay, but just to make sure..." she handed them the 
katana.
	"Mom, I don't think we'll have to use this," Ranko said, 
strapping the scabbard on her back.
	"I know, but I'd feel better if you took it," Nodoka 
replied... before crushing them in a hug. "Be careful!"
	"M-mom... don't... squish us.... before we leave..."
	"Alright, let's go!" Ryouga lifted his pack as if it were a 
feather. Hesitant at first, the Espers kneeled to let the humans 
ride them.
	"Hm, guess I hadn't planned on this," Phaeron said to 
himself. He realized he was about four feet long from the neck 
to the base of his tail feathers, but he would be able to carry 
only one person. "Eh?" he looked up to see he already had a 
passenger.
	"What's up?" Ranko grabbed the reins and put her feet in 
the stirrups as if she were riding a horse. Mireillia scowled 
fiercely at her.
	"Come aboard," Andellia offered, lowering her wings. Ranma 
helped Akane climb up as he mounted the Pegasus.
	"Blast it," Nadir cursed when he saw neither of his 
"fianc�es" had chosen him. Instead, Shampoo got on his back, then 
she cursed as well when Mousse decided to ride along.
	"Shampoo ignore Mousse.... Shampoo ignore Mousse... Shampoo 
ignore Mousse..." she kept thinking.
	"Guess I'm the only one left," Terion said. Shrugging, Ryouga 
and Ukyou climbed on his back.
	"So, you'll catch up later, okay?" Akane turned back to 
Yuannyan and the Musk warriors.
	"Just one more thing before you go," Maduin said, "I assume 
you have all been given Esper-like bodies. Keep in mind that you 
can use those bodies and their abilities whenever you like, but 
if you remain in those shapes too long you might become stuck 
like that permanently. But don't worry, by 'too long' I mean 
entire days. You will also see that your new magic powers 
become enhaced when you use those bodies."
	"Also..." Phantom appeared, "Never trust entirely what you 
see... This world, being filled with magic... can sometimes deceive 
you... in ways you could never imagine..." Coldfire just cocked his 
head back and forth, mocking Phantom.
	"Oh, yes..." Mireillia turned to Ranko, "For the time being, 
little harlot, I shall put aside my business with you since Kefka 
is our enemy. But listen well, for I will say this only once: as 
soon as Kefka _is no longer a threat_, the enmity will resurface 
again. And you _will_ remember what I have said."
	"I'll try to keep that in mind," Ranko ignored her, as the 
Espers reared back. 
	"Just make sure _you_ remember not to do anything before 
that happens, you backstabber," Nadir scowled at the Nightmare, 
who just looked away in annoyance.
	The other Espers rolled their eyes. The very first ray of 
sunlight was coming from the horizon up ahead. Then, with a 
strong dash, the seven Espers took off from the cliff and out 
to the Salar ocean.
	"Be careful!" Nodoka called, still feeling weary.


End of Section 3A