The blindfold and ropes were quickly removed, and Lina was
showed into a small cell. The door was slammed shut with a
loud bang. Lina shot an icy glare at the door, but didn't say
anything.

<Great, what now?> Ranma asked. Lina's indecisiveness
had landed them in serious hot water this time. They had
been captured by the bandits, put into a cramped cell in the
middle of nowhere, and the walls looked pretty tough. He
could probably break them, if they weren't underground that
is, but didn't know where to go from there. In Ranma's
opinion this sucked big time.

Lina lay down on the moderately dry pile of hay that had
been placed to one corner of the cell. <Wait for the dark.>

<Oh, and then?> Ranma asked, more than a bit of sarcasm
in his voice.

<Blast 'em good. We're in their camp, where they'll be more
relaxed, we got surprise on our side, and I don't have to take
them all on at the same time. I figure I got much better
chances here.>

<Yeah, and what if there's fifty, or more of them here?>

<There isn't. There were twelve of them attacking the bus, so
there probably wasn't more than two or three left to guard the
camp.>

<How do you know?>

<They didn't call me bandit killer for nothing. I know how
bandits think. We'd better get some sleep now.>

			* * *

Sometime after midnight, Lina woke up.

<Ranma?> She asked quietly, even though nobody but
Ranma could hear her thoughts. There was no response.

<Ranma?> This time a little louder. Still nothing.

<RANMA!>

<Huh!? What?!>

<Good. You're awake.> Lina eyed the door speculatively.

<Wha... Oh, yeah, the bandits. We're going to escape now?>

<Yup. I figured it was better for you to be awake.>

<Right. Now, do you need me to kick that door in?> Ranma
asked.

<Nope.> Lina turned sideways to the door and placed her
hands like she was aiming a bow. "Source of all power, wind
which blows to the east!"

Suddenly, there was a flaming bow and arrow in her hands.

"FLARE ARROW!"

With a loud explosion the cell door was blown apart. Lina
quickly dashed out to the hallway, only to meet a confused
guard who was fumbling with his rifle. Lina slugged him in the
face with enough power to throw him against a wall. The man
slumped down, unconscious.

<Okay, where now?> Lina asked.

<To the right, I think,> Ranma answered.

<OK.> Lina ran to the corner and peeked around it. There
was another short hallway, this one apparently abandoned.
She moved on.

			* * *

Shao-to clapped his hands. For once it had paid to listen to
Fa-mei. Even if he wasn't sure about the girl, this panda had
definitely been worth of taking with them. It understood
speech. It could communicate via signs. After drinking some
alcohol it had even started doing acrobatics. Now, after
considerably more alcohol the acrobatics were getting a little
hard, but Shao-to didn't mind. Being more than slightly drunk
himself, a drunken panda flailing around seemed like the
funniest thing in the world to Shao-to.

Genma was thoroughly enjoying himself. These bandit's
couldn't be such a bad bunch after all. They had given him
food, drink and overall acted like good hosts. At the bandit's
urging he tried a backflip again. A few hours ago it had been
easy, but somehow his last four attempts had ended up in a
disaster. Well, fifth time's the charm and all that, Genma
thought.

Suddenly the party atmosphere was shattered by a loud
explosion.

"What was that!!??" Shao-to demanded.

"It sounded like it came from below!" One of the less-drunk
bandits shouted.

The cells. A horrible thought penetrated Genma's alcohol-
numbed brain. A sudden explosion. Lina. Lina was probably
coming. The panda quickly dove under the nearest table as
Shao-to tried to organise his confused men.

			* * *

After some confusion Shao-to had been able to more or less
organise most of his troops. Few had already passed out, but
the rest had quickly sobered up, at least a little. Nothing like
a good emergency to clear the head. After distributing the
weapons, Shao-to led his gang down the stairs that lead to
the underground floor that housed the supply rooms and the
cell. There was another explosion.

"What the hell was that!?" The angry bandit boss asked his
men.

There was a chorus of "dunno"s "Hell if I know"s and one
"Maybe it was that chick."

Shao-to stopped, causing his men to stumble over one
another, and grabbed A-do's collar. "Didn't you check the girl
before throwing her to the cell!?"

"I did, and she wasn't packing any! It can't be her!"

"You better be right, A-do!" Shao-to shouted to his
subordinate and continued running. His men tried to untangle
themselves as quickly as they could and follow their boss.

Still mostly in one group, the bandit gang turned around the
next corner to the hallway that housed most of the supply
rooms. A second later the westerner girl came running
around the other end of the hallway.

"It's the westerner!" One of the bandits shouted, pointing at
the girl.

"Get her!" Shao-to commanded, raising his AK-47.

The girl stopped and pointed her palms towards the bandits.
"BLAST ASH!"

"AAAAAAAA!!" Most of the bandits reflexively covered their
faces as a wall of flame filled the corridor. Some didn't have
time to do even that.

Before blackness took him, Shao-to remembered just WHY
he had had that dream.

			* * *

"... 6, 7. If you count in the one guarding the cell, that's eight
bandits so far."  Lina jumped over the burnt forms of the
bandits just as three more came around the corner.

"FIREBALL!"

The bandits didn't stand a chance.

"Make that eleven." The young sorceress remarked, glancing
at the three newly-defeated foes. She dashed around the
corner and towards the stairs.

			* * *

Ranma was stunned by Lina's actions. The girl had calmly
blasted a bunch of people, counted the corpses and moved
on. A part of him understood that there weren't any choices,
since the bandits were carrying guns, but mostly he was
appalled. Killing wasn't something that fit well with him.

The art was not like that. Sure, it could hurt people, but it was
not honourable to kill, and certainly not those who could not
defend themselves. And these bandits didn't really seem
stand a chance against Lina...

			* * *

Fa-mei, who had been left with the duty ofguarding the upper
floor, and four other bandits looked at each other and
sweated, when they heard the screams and explosions. It
seemed there was something loose downstairs, something
powerful and dangerous.

"Uhh... okay..." Fa-mei began. "Turn over those tables and
take positions covering the stairs. When whatever it is
comes up, we'll shoot it to pieces. Understood?"

The other bandits nodded, and hastily turned over a few
tables, taking positions behind them. The panda quickly
dashed under another table, when its previous hiding place
became an improvised barricade.

Fa-mei dashed to close the door that led to the stairs. He
then quickly ran behind an overturned table.

For a minute all was quiet. Then, suddenly, a young girl's
voice shouted something in a foreign language, and the door
was blown apart.

"Fire! Fire! Fire!" The five remaining bandits peppered the
door with their AK-47s. The walls around the destroyed door
got their fair share of abuse, but a lot went through the
doorway too.

After the dust settled, and nothing more was heard, the
bandits slowly stood up.

"Did we get it?" one of them asked.

There was a moment of silence.

"I... I guess so." Fa-mei finally answered. A part of the door
that had so far remained on its hinge, suddenly fell down on
the floor, making the bandits jump.

"RELOAD! RELOAD!" Fa-mei commanded, suddenly
remembering what he was supposed to be doing.

			* * *

Lina was hugging the floor at the bottom of the stairs. A lot of
plaster and wood splinters had rained on her, but she was
unharmed. Slowly, trying to make the minimum noise
possible, she stood up. Only luck had let her escape that
ambush alive.

Hearing voices from the upper floor, Lina prepared another
spell. Hopefully this'd take the remaining bandits out.

"BURST RONDO!" A flurry of small fireballs shoot from Lina's
fingers, up the stairs, and turning in mid-air, into the room.
Lina was already running up the stairs and murmuring a new
spell as the Burst Rondo impacted on its targets, causing
multiple explosions.

"Source of all power, crimson fire burning bright...
FIREBALL!!"

As soon as she saw the ruined door, Lina let the fireball go. It
exploded in the middle of the room, blowing out all the
windows and forcing Lina to shield her face from the
shockwave.

Even before the last flames had died down, Lina was in the
room, looking around. A few burnt bodies, burnt tables,
shattered windows, soot-stained floor, walls and ceiling, and
one blackened panda. The room had definitely been hit
by a fireball.

Oh, wait. One blackened panda? Oops. Well, hopefully he
didn't get blasted too badly. The young sorceress thought.

Now, hmm... One, two... five bandits. That makes sixteen at
all. Most likely the whole bunch of 'em.

Letting out a long sigh, Lina sat down on the floor. That had
been quite taxing.

<Okay, Ranma, I think that's it. Sorry about your father, but I
couldn't know they were keeping him here.>

She was answered by silence.

<Ranma, you there? Ranma?>

<I... I... Are they dead?> Ranma finally said.

Lina blinked. <You mean the bandits?>

<Yeah.>

Lina took a look at the nearest body. It was quite thoroughly
burned. <This one seems to be. I doubt the rest of them
survived either. Those were pretty mean spells I threw
around.> She stood up again and walked to check on
Genma. <But your pop's alive, so don't worry. I'll just slap a
little healing magic on him, and he'll be as good as new.>

<You killed them?>

<Yeah! Once again I've aided the cause of justice!> Lina
smirked in a rather sarcastic way.

There was a long pause.

<I... I guess so...>

Lina nodded and closed her eyes, concentrating on the
healing spell. A white glow spread from her hands, and
Genma's wounds quickly healed.

The young sorceress stood up, smiling, and clapped her
hands together. <Right! Now when that's over let's see if we
can find some loot!>

That shook Ranma out of his stupor. <You just killed a bunch
of people, and now you're going to steal their things!?>

Lina blinked again, and put a finger to her pursed lips.
<Uhh... what should I do then?>

<I... Uhh... I dunno.>

Lina started smiling again, and nodded once. <In that case I'll
just start looting while you think what'll we do next. How's that
sound to you?>

<Hey!>

Lina sighed. <Ranma. They're dead. They tried to kill us.
They were outlaws. I'm not going to...>

There was a loud ka-clack from the stairway. Lina whirled
around to see a bandit, apparently the one who had been
guarding the door of her cell, raising his AK-47 to firing
position.

"ELMEKIA LANCE!"

The solid beam of yellow energy went through the bandit's
head and he toppled backwards. Lina sat heavily on the
floor.

<...make any big deal about it. The bad guys have no
rights.>  What was Ranma's problem, anyway? Bad guys
were bad guys, and it was the good guys' duty to take care
them, right? And if the bad guys happened to have some
money, it was just an additional bonus.

<I... see.>

After a few minutes Lina stood up to have a look around.
Hopefully there would be enough cash here to last them for a
long while.

			* * *

A little later Genma started regaining consciousness. He
was sure there was something _very_ wrong here. For some
reason , he thought that he should be hurt, but there was no
pain. Slowly Genma opened his eyes and looked around. He
was laying in a destroyed room. Around him there were burnt
furniture, destroyed tables, and scattered, burnt remains of
food. Suddenly Genma became aware of a rather repugnant
smell his panda nose registered. It was like... a bit like burnt
pork.

Genma stood up and took a good look around. There were
five bodies in the room. Five burnt bodies. Suddenly he
heard some loud curses, followed by a muffled explosion
from downstairs. Carefully, senses alert for possible dangers,
Genma started making his way there.

At the bottom of the stairs there was another body. This had
a hole apparently burnt through its head. Genma shuddered.
At the next corner he found three more corpses, and the next
corridor was full of them. All of them seemed to have been
killed by fire.

There was also two doors in the corridor, and through one
came rather happy and upbeat humming, every now and then
interrupted by an exclamation of surprise and joy. Genma
peeked in through the doorway. In the room was Lina, looting
through a small, blasted safe. Definitely not wishing to
interrupt the girl, Genma walked out and almost emptied his
stomach. He promptly wanted to forget what he had seen
inside.

			* * *

Lina smiled. The bandits hadn't been rich, but they had had a
bunch of stuff that would be useful. They'd definitely need the
money, but the few gems might be an ever greater treasure.
Now, if she could just construct a magical circle somehow,
she could enchant them.

Having deposited her findings into a convenient bag, Lina
stepped out of the house. She'd rather not hang around for
long. This place was depressing, and smelled awful.

She spotted Genma, still in panda form, sitting at the  small
yard of the bandit's hideout.

"Yo, pops! I've cleared the place up! Took some food and
other stuff! Shouldn't we find a village or something to get a
bath, some food and a bed!?"

Silence.

"Pops!?"

Finally Genma stood up and nodded.

			* * *

<The sun has risen, Lina, it's my turn to be in charge!>
Ranma stated angrily.

<You said the local soldiers would want to talk with me once
they find me, right?>

<Yeah, the police probably want to have a word with you.
What's that gotta do with anything?>

<They want to talk to ME, not you. And I know how to handle
them so we'll be on our way swiftly. Just let me do this, and
I'll let you have the body after that. Okay?>

<But it's my turn!>

Lina rubbed her forehead. <How about I give you the body
for the next two days. You satisfied then?>

<Umm... Okay, I think.>

After a few minutes Lina and Genma arrived near the place
where the bus had been robbed. Peeking around a boulder
Lina saw that there were few of the local constabulary there,
apparently guarding the place.

<Ranma?> Lina asked.

<Yeah?>

<Please keep quiet now. I don't need any additional
distractions.>

<You gonna kill them too!?>

<NO! Do you think I'm stupid! They're the good guys! You
don't kill them!>

<So what are you going to do then?>

<This.>

Lina took a few deep breaths, and started rubbing her eyes.
Soon, tears were running down her face. Satisfied with that,
she slapped some mud and dust on her clothes, and ripped
them from a few places.

<Hey, whatcha doing to my clothes!?> Ranma shouted.

<Ripping them.>

<Why!?>

<So the... police will believe my story. Now shut up.>

Taking a few more deep breaths, Lina started running to the
policemen, shedding new tears and trying to look as
miserable, tired and frightened as possible. She was quite
convincing, and had no trouble collapsing to the nearest
policeman's chest, sobbing her eyes out. In no time she and
Genma were brought to the nearest police station.

			* * *

"So, what was your name again, Miss?" police inspector
Chen Ka-Yan asked. This was the first time anyone
kidnapped by the local bandits came back on their own. A
truly odd case. But, for a change, Chen was happy about it.
The victim was here, so there would be much less paperwork
than normal.

"Lina." The young westerner answered, sipping the tea they
had given her. "Lina Inverse." Even with the grime and tears
washed away, she wasn't a pretty sight.

"And could you tell me once more what happened after the
bandits kidnapped you from that bus?" Funny how the girl
seemed to prefer Japanese over English. Well, there were all
sorts of people in the world, Chen mused.

The westerner sighed, and took another sip of her tea before
telling her tale in a monotone.

"They blindfolded me and took me to their camp. There, they
threw me into a cell. Sometime in the night, I heard
explosions. One explosion destroyed the door of my cell.
Later, when there were no more explosions, I came out. The
bandits were all dead. I found my stuff and Mr. Panda
upstairs and left. That's all I know."

"Do you know who killed the bandits?"

"N...no." The girl winced.

"You don't have any idea? None at all?"

"That's right."

"Could you find the bandit's camp again?"

"I... I don't think so."

"Are you sure?"

"Y...Yes." The girl gulped down the last of her tea. "Look,
could I go please? I had promised to meet some friends in..."
There was a short pause. "Xi'an, so I should get going." Now
her voice started to get some colour back.

"Xi'an? But that's nowhere near here!"

"Uhh... It's not?"

Chen shook his head. "No, It's in a completely different
direction from Lanzhou."

"It is?" That's funny, the girl seemed to become quite angry
and muttered something to herself.

"What was that?" Chen asked.

"Errr.. Ehehehehehh... Nothing! I must have stepped into the
wrong bus or something!  Uhhh... Can I go?"

The inspector thought about it for a while. Kidnapping was a
serious crime, especially the kidnapping of a foreigner, but
this was no normal case. Usually the victim doesn't walk back
by herself, at least not before the ransom has been paid, and
normally she doesn't tell how something just came and killed
the kidnappers. Then there was that panda... Well, it wasn't
his problem really, since it seemed to be quite willing to
follow the girl. Funny that, he didn't know pandas were that
smart...

Chen shrugged. The bandits had probably been killed by one
of the weird warlords that lived in the mountains. Better not
inquire to it any further, as main PRC government was much
farther away than the castle of the closest warlord. "All right,
young lady. I need you to fill in a couple of forms, and then I
can let you go."

The girl's face blanched a little. Then again, who liked
paperwork? "Uhh... Okay," she finally said.

			* * *

"Umm... Geee, thanks so much, Mr policeman!" Lina put on
her cutest smile.

The officer escorting her smiled and saluted. He knew a little
Japanese and understood the thanks, but thought it best not
to try answering. He'd probably mangle the language
horribly. He watched as the girl and the Panda stepped
inside the bus that soon drove away, heading to Lanzhou.

Soon the busdisappeared around a corner and the officer
turned away. This one crisis had been dealt with, but a
policeman's work was never done.

			* * *

Inside the bus Lina sighed in relief and leaned back. Sure,
she had had to put up improvised performances before, but
usually for just a short while. Trying to play the victim of evil
kidnappers for several hours wasn't something she was used
to.

Well, no need to dwell on that. The locals had bought her act
and hadn't even asked if she found anything valuable in the
bandit camp. Now she probably should keep a promise.

<Ranma?> Lina asked.

<Uhh, yeah?> Ranma answered distractedly.

<You can take over the body now.>

<Oh... Sure.> The boy's voice sounded rather bleak.
Shocked. He did take control of their body, however.

For a while the two were silent.

<Ranma?>

<Yeah.>

<You OK?>

There was a long silence. Finally Ranma started ranting. It
was like a damn had burst. <Am I OK? I've just witnessed
somebody killing a bunch of people, stealing their things and
then fooling the local police. No, I'm _not_ OK! How could
you do that, Lina? Sure, the bandits were dangerous and
they had guns, but you butchered them ALL, and then stole
their things! And you didn't even give the money back so it
could have been given to the rightful owners, but took it to
yourself! How the hell could you do something like that!?>

<They were bandits! Bad guys! Killing them was a favour to
the locals! Now they don't have to fear them anymore!>

<Sure, I know bandits are bad guys, but did you have to kill
them!!?>

<YES! I'm not going pull my punches WHEN OUR LIVES
ARE ON THE LINE!>

<And what about the money!?>

<Do you really think giving it to those guards would have
helped any!? The victims would've never seen their money
again anyway!>

<So it's better to keep it to yourself!?>

<YES! We NEEDED it! And don't give me that hypocritical
babble about honour! You're no better yourself!>

<How so!?>

<Have you forgotten the dragon's hair soup!?>

<It was just _soup_ and I was starving!>

<It's the same thing!>

<It's NOT!>

			* * *

Eventually the fight had escalated to a point where Ranma
had started glowing with a blue aura. Realising what was
about to happen the two had, if not calmed down, at least
stopped arguing.

Ranma sighed as helooked at the Chinese countryside that
was rolling by. Introspection wasn't high on his list of things
to do, but the recent events had definitely made it a priority
matter. Ever since the bandits had shown up, his world had
come crashing down. The kidnapping hadn't been anything;
after all, a martial artist's world was filled with danger. But
Lina's handling of the kidnappers had shocked him to the
core. She had killed them, apparently without a second
thought. Sure, he understood that the two of them could very
well be dead now if she hadn't done it, but still... Ranma
hadn't seen anyone die before. Now, he had, in rapid
succession, witnessed the deaths of over a dozen people.
They hadn't been good people, but it didn't lessen the shock
any.

Then there had been the way Lina had handled the dead
bandit's things. It made Ranma queasy how indifferent she
had been about it, calmly taking the money from their dead
fingers, so to say. It made him think like she had killed the
bandits for their cash. He knew it wasn't the case, but
couldn't help but regard Lina as a mercenary, selling her
deadly arts to the highest bidder.

Ranma wondered if he should continue teaching Lina
Anything Goes. If she would use it to kill as lightly as she
used her magic... Ranma shook his head. He'd have to teach
her, at least until her mind and body could work together.
The girl still had problems at working together with his
reflexes. Until that had been fixed he'd have to teach her, or
risk them both dying. Still, if he was going to teach Lina the
art, he sure as hell was going to teach her the Code that
accompanied it too.

<Ranma?> Lina's mental voice interrupted the young boy's
thoughts. She sounded hesitant.

<Uhhh, Yeah?>

<About what happened... I...>

<Yeah?>

<I.. I'm... sorry, okay? For my part anyway.>

Ranma blinked. <I... Uhhh... > Lina had apologised? <Uhh...
yeah, I guess... I guess I'm kinda, uhhh, sorry too...> What
had she apologised about, anyway?

<So we're friends again?> The sorceress asked hopefully.

<I... I... I guess so.>

There was another long silence and Ranma was once again
immersed in his thoughts. The deaths, the money, the way
Lina had acted with the police. He had a lot to work through.
And a lot to ask Lina about.

<Lina?> Ranma finally asked.

<Umm... Yes?>

Ranma took a deep breath. It wasn't easy, acting this
seriously.

<Why did you kill them? The bandits, I mean?>

<Huh?> Suddenly Lina's voice turned from hesitant to angry.
<I've told you: I didn't have a choice!! And they were outlaws
so what's the...>

<Nonono, wait! I didn't mean... Uhh, listen OK?>

There was no answer.

<I... I mean, did you kill them because they had kidnapped
us, or did you kill them so you could take their money?>

<I... I guess I killed them to get out.>

<But you've killed bandits before for their money?>

Again, there was a pause.

<Yes.> Lina eventually answered.

The rest of the trip was spent in silence.

			* * *

"Inspector Chen?" One of the younger attendants stopped
the old man that evening.

"What is it, Meh-funh?"

"Wasn't that girl, the one who was kidnapped, an American?"

"I... I think she was." Actually he had forgotten to ask her.
Probably starting to get a little old.

"Why has she filled the forms out in Japanese, then?"

Chen shrugged. "There are all sorts of people in the world,
you know."

"Whatever you say, sir."

"Was there anything else?"

"Actually... yes. Officer Li says that he accidentally spilled
some tea on the panda and it turned into a man. Should I
recommend a few days of rest for him?"

"Do that. The stress of the work is obviously getting at him."

			* * *

Several days later inspector Chen got unexpected visitors, as
an old lady and a young beautiful girl, hailing from the village
of Jokentsuzoku, came into the town. Since his family owned
several favours to the Chinese amazons, he agreed to see
them immediately.

"Kidnapped, you say?" the elder of the duo, Cologne, asked.

"Yes, Mrs. Cologne. She said that somebody, or something,
killed all the bandits. She didn't know what it was, though."

"Ah."

"Some more tea?"

"No, thank you. Did the girl mention where she was going?"

Chen pondered that for a second. "Xi'an, I believe. She said
she was supposed to meet some friends there."

"Oh." Pause. "You have her name, I hope?"

"Yes, of course." Chen browsed through some papers, trying
to find the right folder. "Lina Inverse."

Cologne raised an eyebrow.

"A familiar name?" Chen asked.

"I'm... Not sure. Perhaps. Now could you tell me anything
more about her?"

"Hmmm... Well, for some reason, she seemed to prefer
speaking Japanese."

"Interesting. Anything else?"

"Hmmm... Well, there was this one thing..."

"Do continue."

"Uhh... Well, it was nothing really..."

"Please, Mr Chen. I doubt your mother would approve,
keeping information from us..."

Silence.

"Officer Li claimed that the panda turned into a human once."
Chen finally said.

Cologne's eyes widened. "Did he say how?"

"Uhh... It might have had something to do with tea..."

The elder amazon leaned back. "Could I talk with this officer
Li?"

Chen shook his head. "I'm afraid he's on a vacation. I figured
his nerves cracked or something, seeing things like that."

Cologne stood up and smiled. "Perhaps, Mr Chen, perhaps
not. I suggest you let this officer Li return to duty. If my guess
is right, there's nothing wrong with his nerves."

Chen blinked. "What then..."

"Good day Mr Chen." The two amazons left, leaving Chen to
ponder this newest mystery.

			* * *

Inside, Shampoo had stayed quiet, as ordered. But the
moment they set out of the station's door, she could do it no
longer. "Great-grandmother, what was that? Panda turning
into a human?"

Cologne looked sharply at her Great-granddaughter. "You
mean you don't know?"

"I... Uhh..."

"I've told you again and again that you should read more.
Martial arts isn't everything in life."

Cologne got a faraway look at her eyes. "The panda probably
is really a human, somebody who has fallen to the cursed
spring of Shaomaonichuan at Jusenkyou."

"Spring of the drowned... What are you talking about Great-
grandmother?"

"Jusenkyou is a valley near the village of Jokentsuzoku. In
time, there have been many legends about the place..."

			* * *

That night Cologne sat long in her hotel room, reading the
Oulun Bible. She was sure she had seen the name Lina
Inverse there. Patiently the old woman read through the the
chapters on 'White magic', 'Black Magic' and 'Shamanism'
and found nothing, but something about the name reminded
her of something. Finally, long after midnight she found it in
the very last part of the book, the part describing
'uncategorisable and otherwise unique spells'.

"The Giga Slave.
Probably the most powerful  offensive  spell
ever created.  A  variant  of  the  already-
destructive  Dragon  Slave, The   Giga Slave
calls not  upon  Ruby  Eye  Shabranigdo, but
upon the power of Lord  of  Nightmares,  the
creator  of  everything,  herself.  To   our
knowledge, the secret of  casting  the  Giga
Slave was known to only  one   person,  Lina
Inverse, who used it to defeat a resurrected
fragment of Shabranigdo approximately a year
before the second Mazoku-Kamizoku war began.
Unfortunately, the knowledge of  this  spell
died with  Ms.  Inverse  upon  her  untimely
death. This is a great  shame,  because  the
Giga  Slave  might  well  have  altered  the
outcome of the war."

There it was, Lina Inverse. Mentioned as the only  person to
know the most destructive spell ever. But how could it be?
According to this, the woman was a thousand years dead!
Was the name just a coincidence, or had the ancient
sorceress somehow returned to life?

The mere possibility sent shivers down Cologne's back. A
sorceress, said to possess the most destructive form of
magic ever know. How could Shampoo hope to defeat such a
foe? How could _she_ ever hope to defeat such a foe?

Cologne shook her head. It was still too early to say
anything. Yes, the girl was a sorceress, but nothing even
hinted at her being able to cast magics like this 'Giga Slave.'
Until she knew more, Cologne would keep from drawing
any conclusions.

But still... If she was that Lina Inverse, how could she look
like a young girl? After all, Lina Inverse had lived a
millennium ago.

Perhaps it was an illusion, something she had created
with her magic? Who knew what sort of power a sorceress
wielded. Perhaps... Perhaps the 'girl' was actually much older
than she looked.

Perhaps, she had never died in the first place, but went into
hiding, faking her demise.

Or perhaps she was just a young girl who had somehow
learned some sorcery and happened to have the same name.
Or maybe she chose the name, once she learned about it.
After all, why had she ran away from Shampoo in
Cunzhuang? And what part had a Jusenkyou-curse male
have in this? If he was Jusenkyou-cursed and not a panda. A
curse would explain what that chicken breeder had seen,
though... Was he her protector? Companion?

Teacher?

Cologne rubbed her temples. Each answer seemed to raise a
dozen new questions. It was better to think of this later, after
a good night's sleep.

Tomorrow she would hunt down this officer Li, and then go to
Xi'an.

			* * *

That same night, a burly shape sneaked out of its room in the
best hotel of Xi'an. Since it was one of the customers, and
not a burglar, the staff inconspicuously gave it room. Thus,
the shape didn't encounter anyone on the dimly-light
hallways. Finally arriving to the first floor by stairs (He'd seen
the movies. Something always happened to the elevators in
this kind of situation) the figure took a quick look around
before dashing to the front desk.

"Yes, what can I do for you?" The attendant asked.

Silently, the figure gave him a postcard and dashed away.

The attendant raised an eyebrow, but placed the postcard to
the outgoing mail stack.

			* * *

A week later a two Japanese, an elder man wearing a
white gi, glasses and a scarf wrapped around his head, and a
young pigtailed boy wearing used PRC army clothes,
stepped out of a bus in Shanghai.

<It looks like even bigger than the last one.> Lina
commented.

<I dunno. This's supposed to be one of their bigger ports, I've
heard.>

<And from here we can get to that home island you yours,
Japan?>

<Yeah. When we came here, we had to swim across the
Korean Strait, but now we have money to go back by a ship.
Or maybe even a plane.>

<Plane?>

<Those things that fly in the sky, remember?>

<Oh, right. Do we have money for that?>

<Uhh... I guess...>

<Okay. We'll go by plane, then!>

			* * *

"Two tickets for the next plane to Tokyo, please," Ranma
asked.

"Right, sir. Could I have your ID, please?"

There was a lot of digging, but finally Ranma was able to fish
out his battered passport. Genma's took a lot more
searching.

			* * *

At the same time, a cargo ship carrying a certain postcard left
for Japan.

end chapter 5.

Author's ramblings.

	It's done, finally. When I began this story, it was my
intention to get the characters out of China in three, maybe
four approximately 30k chapters. Now, after five chapters and
over 200k of story, they've finally left.
	When I started writing the story, I really didn't have
any idea where to go with it. Now, I know how it will end, and
I know some of the stuff that will happen in-between. There
will be some goofy moments (at least I hope...) but in general
this is turning out to be a bit more serious than either Ranma
1/2 or Slayers usually is. Still, I hope you'll enjoy reading it.
	Unfortunately this will probably be the last chapter of
Half a Sorceress for quite some time. Military service is
obligatory here in Finland, and I'm entering service very
soon. I don't know if I have energy to write during the service,
but if I have, you might expect one or two chapters coming
out during my time there. I'll get out either in January or July,
1999.

Anyway, if you have something to say about this story, I can
be reached at Jussi.Nikander@alien.nixu.fi (even while I'm in
the army. Just don't expect a quick answer)

Notes

Flare Arrow: A basic fire spell that manifests as an arrow of
flame that can be either thrown, or, as Lina likes to do it, shot
from a bow made of fire.

Blast Ash: A quite powerful fire spell. (or black spell,
according to Xelloss' Slayers Site) It seems to be a jet of
flame, powerful enough to incinerate a lesser demon.

Fireball: self-explanatory. Take a look at the notes of chapter
3 for details.

Burst Rondo: Burst Rondo sends dozens of small fireballs at
the target. It is not the most powerful of spells.

Elmekia Lance: The Elmekia Lance is a 'lance' of yellow
energy and looks kinda like a laser beam. It's very similar to
Sailor Venus' Cresent Beam in appearance, but is usually
launched from open palm, not the tip of a finger.

Shampoo's speaking Chinese. That's why she doesn't have a
funny accent. I'm not going to use funny ascii characters to
show what language the characters are speaking. In most
cases it doesn't matter and in the ones it does, you should be
able to figure it out yourself.

Again, all the Chinese names are from '250 names for Feng
Shui!'-webpage. I won't be held responsible if they aren't
proper chinese names. ^_^

I haven't seen the dragon's hair storyline, so that scene is
probably completely different from the one in manga. Deal
with it. ^_^

Ranma knows very little about guns and Lina knows nothing.
They have, for example, absolutely no idea how accurate
guns are. And yes, both Lina and Ranma would probably
have been able to beat the bandits when they closed on the
bus, but they panicked. Like I said, neither has much
experience about guns.

About the 'bandits weren't rich' remark of Lina's. No matter
how much paper money they had, it's nothing compared to
what she got in, for example, episode 1 of the TV-series. So,
in her opinion the bandits really weren't that rich.

And again, the previous chapters can be found at

http://www.users.fl.net.au/~bcadwgan/Anime.htm

Please don't ask me for them unless absolutely necessery.
I'm extremely busy with RL right now. Thank you.

Oh, and did you pick up the Babylon 5 reference? ^_^
----------
Jussi Nikander
Jussi.Nikander@alien.nixu.fi