1.

Through the rain-soaked streets of Nerima two men walked, one young and one old. The older man wore a dirty white karate gi that strained bulged mightily around his prominent gut. His bald head was wrapped in a white bandana equally as dirty as his gi. The younger man wore his black hair in a loose ponytail. Unlike his companion, he wore more common, yet still exotic clothing in the form of black pants and a red silk shirt of Chinese make. The lack of sleeves revealed his arms to be powerfully built without being bulky. The multitude of scars that ran from midway up his forearms to disappear beneath his shirt drew a number of stares from other pedestrians.

"So where are we headed to now, Oyagi?" Ranma asked his father wryly. It was clear that Ranma held no respect for his father. The only reason he followed the man around was for amusement, anyway.

Genma ignored his son's tone and answered,"A very old friend of mine lives near here. We studied under the same master and since we're in the area I figured we'd drop by pay him a visit."

Ranma shrugged. Most likely the guy they were going to visit would call the police the minute he saw Oyagi. Ranma had noticed early on that his father's 'friends' tended to that pretty often.

"He has a dojo," Genma said idly as they walked."If I remember correctly he also has three daughters."

That peaked Ranma's interest considerably. In his and his father's travels he'd discovered that some of the more loose moralled of the young female martial artists they ran across could be very creative in the sack and some even had the stamina to keep up with him for a while.

"Don't go getting any ideas, Boy. I'm sure that Tendo has raised respectable young women," Genma chided his son. He knew from the instant the smile had appeared on Ranma's face what he'd been thinking.

Again Ranma shrugged. At least he'd have a chance to train in a decent dojo for a few days. Several minutes later, and only a block from the Tendo Dojo, it began to rain again, a light mist. Ranma smiled as his father began to grumble about the weather. The muttering soon became growls as a panda replaced him.

'What's so funny, Boy?' read the sign the panda produced from behind his back.

"Oh, nothing," he answered between chuckles. Only his father would be stupid enough to go to a place like Jusenkyou and intentionally curse himself. Too bad that he tripped and missed the spring of drowned trillionaire and ended up in the panda one. The amazons had warned them afterall. 

'We're here,' Genma-panda signed.

Ranma was impressed by the size of the house and the property it sat on once they entered the front gate. Even he knew that this much land must be worth a fortune in crowded Tokyo. 

The panda walked up to the front door and knocked loudly.

"Stupid Oyagi, you almost knocked the door down!" Only a moment passed after Ranma's scolding of his father before the door was opened by a weeping older man. He, along with a pretty short-haired girl in a formal kimono, ran back into the house screaming when they saw the panda."Good going, now you scared them spitless."

'Who me?' Genma signed innocently.

"Forget it," sighed Ranma. He peeked his head into the house and saw that no one was in sight. Hoping to stop the Tendos from calling Animal Control on his favorite source of entertainment, Ranma hurried into the house to call them down. Genma-panda followed after.

"Don't make me hurt you!" screamed a girl who in front of them.

Ranma waved his arms placatingly and said,"Hey calm down. He's harmless," he finished by pointing to his father."It's all a big misunderstanding."

"Yeah, well who are you?!" she demanded.

"Ranma Saotome." ****

Akane held herself rigidly, prepared for the slightest threat. Her father was crying all over that freakish fat man that somehow turned into a panda. Her sisters were taking turns staring admiringly at Ranma then at his father. Honestly, he wasn't 'that' impressive.

"Oh the horror, to lose your humanity!" wailed Soun.

"It's his own fault," Ranma told them.

"How can you be so heartless?" her father gasped.

"Because it really is his own fault. The amazons told him what the place did, but as soon as he found out about the spring of drowned billionaire his greed took control. Oyagi just tripped into the spring of drowned panda before he could find the one he was looking for."

"Show some respect, Boy!" Genma roared, but when his son ignored him he seemed to forget to be angry.

Soun coughed, drawing everyone's attention."Now that the situation has been cleared up Saotome, we should get on with it."

"Yes Tendo, you're absolutely right."

Akane exchanged concerned glances with her sisters. What crackpot scheme was their father involved in now?

"Well Ranma. This is Kasumi age 19, Nabiki age 17, and Akane age 16. Choose one and she'll be your wife."

Akane and her sisters gasped in shock. But their eyes were drawn to Ranma who was growling. ****

Ranma slowly turned towards his father. The man was grinning like an idiot. He didn't even know that he had less than a minute to live. Ranma grasped him by the throat and lifted him into the air."Oyagi," he snarled,"this better be a joke."

Soun came to his gurgling friends rescue."No it is no joke. It is an honor pact between Genma and I to unite our schools by marrying you to one of my daughters. Isn't it great!" He began to cry in joy, ignoring his friend who was weakly attempting to escape his son's grasp while slowly turning blue.

Squeezing a bit more forcefully, Ranma said,"No." Then he threw his father across the room where he crashed into the wall gasping for breath and coughing loudly.

"Now see here!" roared Soun."The honor of the Saotome and Tendo families rest on this agreement! You must marry one of my daughters!!!" By now his crying had gone past what normal humans were capable of, producing a virtual torrent of tears.

Ranma laughed bitterly."Why don't you talk to Oyagi and see what he has to say about honor. I've never seen him do a single honorable thing in my entire life." To Ranma it looked like his father had finally gone past the point where his entertainment value was no longer worth the trouble.

Genma managed to climb to his feet, though he was still weezing and coughing. He advanced on his son as if about to attack, but when Ranma held his hand palm first toward him and a ball of crackling purple and blue energy formed, he meekly sat down. He was no match for his son, especially in his current condition.

Ranma allowed himself a brief look over of the girls. They were all staring intently at the chi sphere in his hand. A moment of regret, only a moment, falsehed in his mind when he saw them. They were all beautiful, especially the oldest, but marriage was a bit to limiting for him. Reabsorbing the chi, he bowed slightly to the girls and then to Soun."I'll be leaving now. You can keep Oyagi."

Soun looked as if he were about to rush Ranma and try to stop him, but a look at his old friend Genma, sitting on the floor sheepishly, made him think better of it. ****

Ranma spent the next two years traveling on his own. In Japan he sought out the greatest masters of the Art, learning what he could from them. Eventually he found an extremely old man named Happosai. After fighting him to a standstill in a battle that destroyed a mountain and the forest surrounding it, he agreed to teach Ranma. It turned out that Happosai was his father's old master and he was about as perverted as men get. Often his training involved panty raids and spying on women in the public baths. By the time Ranma and Happosai parted ways Ranma's physical ability in the Art had increased little, but his battle aura had become immense and his control over it was absolute.

When he returned to China he sought out the amazons that he and his father had encountered during their training journey. Eventually he reached an agreement with their leader to teach him all the advanced amazon fighting techniques and amazon battle magic in exchange for passing on the knowledge of his father's Umisenken and Yamasenken. During this time he entered into a tumultuous affair with a beautiful and spirited amazon by the name of Xian Pu. When the time came for him to leave Xian Pu refused to allow his departure. Her status as an amazon princess won out over his prowess. Ranma soon grew tired of the amazons and their prejudice towards men. The battle he fought for his freedom was truly magnificent and by the time he escaped Ranma was the unwitting husband of over three dozen young amazons. It took over six months to finally lose all the hunting parties sent to find him. Ranma hadn't gotten the short end of the deal though. Thanks to the training he recieved under Ku Lon his speed and endurance had increased beyond his wildest dreams and the chi manipulation techniques he learned allowed him to apply his massive chi to numerous tasks. Loath to use weapons, he had also taken to using a pair of ninja short swords thanks totally to the fact that most of the magic he was taught required an enchanted focus.

The Musk were far less accomadating than even the amazons and Ranma had to fight his way out of their territory, killing their prince in the process. At a place called Phoenix Mountain, Ranma found a people of ancient legend and a being of great power. Saffron, the Phoenix King, luckily had passed into maturity only weeks before Ranma's arrival. He was informed that the younf phoenix would most likely killed a human on sight otherwise. The wise ruler of the people of Phoenix Mountain claimed to see an almost limitless potential in Ranma and taught him many fire based chi attacks. There was also something he learned to create called Earthfire. Drawing power from the Earth itself, Earthfire was equivalent to a small scale nuclear blast without radiation. As a parting gesture, Saffron's Senechel, a beautiful woman named Kima, gave Ranma a tome of powerful magic spells she claimed had been passed down through her family for millenia, but was no longer of use to the Phoenix people because they had changed to greatly over the eons. 

Ranma's return to Japan was anything but happy. In the short time that he'd been gone a new government had sprung up, replacing one that had seen nearly all its members assasinated. The new ruler, an emperor actually, had somehow managed to convert the country into a feudal state in less than a year. Experienced martial artists were being recruited left and right as members of elite military units. Rumors were even floating around that some of these elite soldiers were not willingly serving, instead being forced toserve of have their families harmed. One day while teaching at a dojo in exchange for a meal, Ranma was approached by a number of armed men.

"Have you thought of joining the Emperor's Guard?" the leader asked curtly. His hand hovered threateningly above his holstered beretta.

"No, not really," replied Ranma dryly. He looked the half dozen men up and down, making no effort to hide his appraisal. They were all fighters, but hardly matches for the young teenagers he had been teaching a few minutes earlier.

"There are several advantages to service, you know?"

"Yeah? And what would they be?"

"Well Saotome-san, your mother's safety would be ensured. These are troubled times we live in and crime had been on the rise." A threat seemed to hang in the air.

Ranma's eyes locked with the speakers' and he emitted such menace and potential for violence that the man swallowed and nervously took a step back. Faster than the eye could follow Ranma's hand whipped out and an invisible blade of vacuum space passed easily through the barrel of the man's gun, causing it to fall uselessly to the floor."If anything, and I mean anything, happens to her, you will all die agonizing deaths. Leave. Now!"

The men couldn't get out the door fast enough. Two even stumbled over their own feet. None of them even considered drawing a weapon.

Not wishing to cause trouble for the kindly old man who ran the dojo, Ranma left less than an hour later. It was over a week before the next confrontation. This one much more public and with many more soldiers. The armed helicopters were a nice touch. Ranma found himself on the edge of Juuban park, surrounded by hundreds of heavily armed men who were backed up by even more heavily armed urban assault vehicles. Ranma knew that he would come out victorious in the fight, even outnumbered as he was, but to win it he would be required to be quite indiscriminate with his chi and magic attacks. So instead of fighting, Ranma pulled his two swords and while incanting a powerful spell, made four slashes in the air. The space that Ranma had cut peeled away in a flash of brilliant silver light, forming a rough square in the air. Through the hole in space Ranma could see a thick forest full of almost totally leafless trees. He leaped through without hesitation and narrowly avoided a barrage of gunfire by throwing himself to the ground. An instant later the whole slowly closed as if it were a rapidly healing wound in reality.

Ranma swore to himself while picking himself up off the ground. That spell should have only taken him a few miles fromt the park, but wherever he was it certainly was Japan. From what his senses were telling him, this place wasn't even on Earth. Then all hell broke loose. ****

Egwene, accompanied Siuan, was heading toward her tent when they all sensed saidar being used in huge quanities. Moments later trees began to explode near the edge of the camp. Along with every sister and warder, they rushed to the scene, linking with other Aes Sedai along the way. By the time they arrived Egwene had access to twelve other sisters' saidar and was ready for nearly anything. She expected an attack by the Forsaken or Rand's Light Blasted Asha'man. Ready for nearly anything has to be emphasized. Egwene was completely shocked though, to see a young man hardly older than she herself was lazily batting aside balls of fire and bolts of lightning. Whatever it was, it couldn't be human, normal methods of attacking were uselss against it. Egwene had, however, been a prisoner of the Seanchan for a time and during that time she was taught to be a weapon. Therfore she knew more ways to kill with the power than any other Aes Sedai in the camp. While the shadowspawn dodged arrows from soldiers and attacks from almost a hundred linked sister or simply knocked them aside, Egwene wove saidar into every remaining tree around the creature and into the ground beneath its feet, timing the explosion perfectly. Within moments every tree exploded in a shower of splinters that would have killed every living soul within a hundred yards had Egwene not thrown up a shield of air and the ground erupted in a torrent of earth and fire. 

The other Aes Sedai halted their assault and the soldiers ceased firing their bows. No one even moved as they watched the cloud of dust that was slowly settling. ****

Ranma was not happy. For no reason that he could understand he had been attacked by a whole bunch of pissed off looking witches and bow wielding men. Their attacks proved ineffective as long as he kept his battle aura in place. The unknown form of magic they used, he wasn't that well learned in the field, bounded harmlessly off of it. The arrows wouldn't even have pierced his skin, but they would sting so he avoided or destroyed them. He had been preparing a nasty suprise when the world became a conflagaration of wood, dirt, and fire. That 'had' hurt. It felt like he'd been tossed onto a giant pincushion while grenades rained down on him. Still, except for a few small scratches and a gash over his left eye, he was unijured.

With a wordless roar he blasted the dust cloud high into the air, once again revealing himself to his attackers. They all appearred stunned by his survival. Good. With a thought he brought the full power of his battle aura to the fore, allowing it to expand. A few seconds later he floated in the center of a giant representation of himself. They still weren't attacking. Some of the women and most of the men looked ready to vomit.

"Why are you attacking me?!" he demanded in a voice that made the ground shake. ****

"Why are you attacking me?!" it roared in anger.

Egwene felt herself trembling violently and couldn't stop it. She wished Rand were there. He knew things. He could channel stuff out of existance with balefire. If only she knew how it was woven. Nothing else offered much hope. She along with every other sister had tried to shield it. There was nothing to shield. The shadowspawn was not a channeller. How was it possible? Egwene gasped when she saw a sister step from the group and walk toward the shadowspawn. It was Varilin! One of the Gray Ajah. She couldn't possibly hope to negotiate with it!

Varilin wove fire and air to make her voice heard. She said,"We mean you no harm." ****

"Then why did you attack me?" Ranma snapped.

"We simply overreacted. Your arrival greatly resembled Traveling and we feared you as our enemy."

Wryly Ranma said,"No wonder you have enemies of you go around treating people like that."

The woman stiffened momentarily, but relaxed and said,"You are injured. We can heal you. I promise that no harm will come to you as long as you do not act hostily."

"Why should I believe you?"

The woman looked puzzled, extremely puzzled."Aes Sedai can not lie. It is impossible for us."

Ranma arched an eyebrow at her, but finally agreed."No tricks." Reabsorbing what he could of the chi he had used, Ranma fell to the ground, landing gracefully, only slightly winded from the effort of controlling so much chi to such a precise degree.

"I am Varilin Sedai of the Gray Ajah," greeted Varilin

"Ranma Saotome." ****

Egwene was going to have Varilin skinned. Slowly. Making overtures of peace to a shadowspawn...or whatever it was. Was the fool woman insane? Egwene prepared fire and air to call down lighting on this Ranma if he so much as blinked wrong, not that it would do much good. Varilin walked at his side smiling triumphantly. Fool woman! Up close, she realized, Ranma was unusual looking. He had Domani skin, Saldean eyes, and his nose was Cairhien. Varilin was speaking...

"Aes Sedai wield saidar, the female half of the One Power," she was telling him.

"Is that like magic?" Ranma asked.

"Magic? You mean slight of hand?" Ranma nodded."Hardly."

Egwene looked at the other Aes Sedai, several hundred now, gathered. Most likely everyone of them in the camp was present, along with their warders. Thousands of armed soldiers were arrayed behind them. Light! What was going on. Varilin was heading straight for her with Ranma. Warders had there swords unsheathed now and the glow of saidar suffused every Aes Sedai. They were all either trying to shield him with weaves of spirit or hold him in place with bonds of air. Apparently the shock had addled them all enough not to even act as a group.

Varilin stopped a yard away from Egwene with Ranma."Mother, this is Ranma Saotome. He was just explaining to me how he accomplished those feats of his without channelling." 

Aes Sedai were already crowding around them. Romanda and Lelaine at her flanks. ****

Ranma's head was still spinning. He'd gone from being treated like a rabid dog to a misbehaving boy. He was in a cabin now, under the supervision of almost twenty of the 'chanelling' women. No one had ever told him about that kind of magic.

"Now that we are in private," a slightly plump woman in a yellow dress said,"why don't you tell us just who you are young man."

Ranma ignored the woman. If she wanted 

2.

Frantically, Ranma steered his motorcycle down the street, avoiding the translocation shells being fired by the Chinese drones. Wherever they landed huge chunks of matter ceased to exist, only to be transported back to labs or holding cells. Whatever happened, he couldn't allow the invaders to capture his working suit of bio-armor. His cycle, being composed of the same material and a prototype trans-shift model to boot, made his mission that much more important. Behind him the three automated choppers' guns' momentarily went silent, a sign that they had reached storage capacity or that a new charge was being built in the cannon's reactor. Ranma took the opportunity to spin around and lay down a withering hail of small, super-sonic chi bullets. His gambit paid off as his pursuers were torn to shreds. Too late though as he sensed incoming projectiles from both flanks. It had been a trap! With no time to avoid them, Ranma desperately poured chi into his suit's emp emitters hoping to short circuit their guidance systems.

Once again luck was on Ranma's side. Both missles' flightpath became eratic, causing one to detonate in front of Ranma and the other behind him.

He felt the familar ripping tug of translocation and realized that these were no ordinary missles. Instead of relocating him to folded subspace, though, the separate fields from the missles caused a dimensional instability, as indicated by Ranma's HUD. With a deafening 'pop' the world went white. ****

Slowly Ranma regained consciousness. Without opening his eyes, he began to expand his chi to encompass the entire room. There were three women with strong but undeveloped chi all of whom were unharmed. That was definately unusual for interrogators. Farther back, against the wall were two men, both armed with...swords? A conversation was taking place.

"How did it happen, Myrelle?" the youngest of the women asked.

"I'm sorry Mother, but I do not know. The gateway simply collapsed on itself, leaving this boy and that strange contraption," replied the woman. Mother?! She must be one of those body snatchers he'd heard about in Australia.

"Can you tell what's wrong with him, Nynaeve?" the same young woman asked.

"There's nothing wrong with him as far as I can tell. I believe that he's just sleeping."

When Nynaeve, what kind of name is that, finshed Ranma decided to announce himself. He sat up on the cot they'd lain him on and asked,"Where am I?"

The women jumped in suprise and both men gripped the hilts of their swords.

"You're in no position to ask questions young man," said Myrelle."Now who are you and how did you come through the gateway?"

"Look lady, you could at least be sociable. And I'm not a young man. I'm twenty two." He threw the blanket that he'd been covered up with off and stood. Examining himself briefly he was thankful that his armor was still intact, although the emp emitters would take some time to fully repair themselves. An extra flow of chi would speed the repairs dramatically. Before he could stretch his cramped muscles Ranma found himself bound hand and foot by invisible bonds. What were these women? The last thing he needed were mages on his case. Without responding, he altered his chi aura to dissolve the force holding him, then took a combat stance."Hey, what's the big idea?"

The three women all took several steps back, fear evident on their faces. The men, however, drew their swords and with commendable speed, rushed towards him. Ranma activated his forearm beam sabre's and easily paried their atacks. He felt the same invisible force trying to grasp his arms, but this time with his chi already in place, it dissolved harmlessly. Tiring of the game, Ranma channelled a significantly higher amount of chi into his weapons and removed the blades from the hilts of his attackers swords'. ****

Egwene was geniunely terified. The man, had been unarmed and with a look of boyish innocence appeared harmless, so they had brought him to one of the cabins and kept only a small number of guards. Now the same man was going to be her undoing and who knew how many of her sisters. She watched helplessly as Nuhel and Avar's swords were destroyed. Weapon's forged with the One Power, they should have been indestructible. They watched in shock as the two warders were then easily subdued.

"Link with me," she whispered to Nynaeve and Myrelle. He may be as immune to the One Power as Mat was with his medallion but if the ground under him exploded... ****

Ranma found himself in a storm of rock and wood as he was violently thrown through the roof of the cabin and into the street. Around him were dozens of women and men. Nearly all the men had drawn their weapons and were closing in on him. He also felt a continuous assault by the same force from earlier that only his vast chi aura was protecting him from. A momentary pulse of heavy chi and the ground around him for ten meters was littered with the fallen bodies of men and women. Once again energizing his beam sabres, he waited for the attack. The ground beneath him once again erupted, this time with fire thrown in. When he landed he was facing the three women from earlier. They looked terrified.

"Will you people please quit trying to blow me up?" he asked, hoping that this could be one of the monumental mixunderstandings that composed his life. ****

Egwene clutched Nynaeve's hand tightly. Why couldn't Rand show up when he was really needed? Maybe use some of that vaunted power he was supposed to have. Her eyes widened in further shock when she saw the man land on his feet, unharmed. Her hand felt like it was about to pop under pressure. Nynaeve was stronger than she looked.

"Will you people quit trying to blow me up?" he asked, frustration evident in his voice.

"He's a channeller!" someone cried from within the audience that had gathered to watch the spectacle. Egwene knew that wasn't true. They had attempted to shield him as soon as he was brought in. The weaves of spirit had passed right through him. If he could channel saidin they would have cut him off from the true source. What could he possibly be using, though? Weapons from the age of legends?

Weaving Air and Fire, she made her voice heard throughout the crowd."Enough!!"

Almost instantly silence fell over the street.

"Thanks a lot. That was really impressive by the way." Ranma relaxed his stance and powered down his weapons.

"My name is Egwene and I'm the Amyrilin Seat of the Salidar Aes Sedai. I apologize for any misunderstanding that our actions may have caused." Several angry protests could be heard, but no one backed up their words.

"I'm Ranma Saotome, Master of the Saotome-Ryu and Commander of the Nerimian Dragon Guard. Apology accepted." 

Dragon? Could he have been sent by Rand?

By now a considerable force of warders were forming concentric circles around Ranma and Egwene could see the glow of saidar around every woman capable of channelling. Even the Novices and Accepted were taking part in forming circles with the full Sisters. Together this much power could have razed a city, but Egwene feared even that wouldn't be enough.

"Are we just going to stand here all day? Maybe someone can tell me where in the hell I am." Ranma was worried. He'd been unable to establish any satellite uplinks and his equipment was in perfect working order and there were no jamming signals, so that could only meen that the satellites were no longer there, but that was impossible!

The way he used 'hell', whatever it meant, sounded like a curse. Egwene made a note to herself to mention it to Elayne. She always was trying to learn new ones."We are in Salidar."

"What country?"

"Altara."

Oh god, something was really really wrong!"What continent?" These people were all dressed like the actors in those crappy English movies that Akane used to make him watch.

"Continent? I am not familiar with the word." Egwene briefly feared that Ranma was Seanchan, but his accent sounded Domani, certainly not the slow drawl of Seanchan.

Ranma buried his face in his hands and groaned."Is this Earth?" he asked after looking back up.

"Of course this is Earth. Where else would you be?"

Ranma slumped in defeat. He'd heard about the accidents back in the early translocation experiments. People being shifted partially out of phase, being rendered immaterial and eventually starving to death because they couldn't ingest food. There were even stories of people ceasing to exist entirely.

Egwene saw how upset their...guest was and decided to take a chance. She walked over to him and spoke where only he could hear, that is unless some one decided to eavesdrop with the Power."Ranma, people are very frightened of you. If you would follow me to the Little Tower, I'm sure that the Sitters and I could ease their fears after we know a little more about you." ****

So Ranma found himself escorted to a stone building much like all the others in the town. The parade of onlookers didn't really bother him. He'd grown used to being the object of attention. Most of the women in the room were quite attractive, but their faces were strange, like they should be older than they looked. Wierd. They were all scared of him too. He hated when people feared him for no reason but ignorance.

Egwene glanced over at Ranma who was sitting in a chair on the far side of the room, waiting patiently for the Sitters to finally decide what they should do about him. The door opened and Mat walked in and took a seat nest to Ranma. Of all the people she least wanted to see at the moment, it was him.

"So you're the one who's got them all in such a fuss?" Ranma nodded."Well anybody who can get this many Aes Sedai worked up just by being around is okay in my book." Mat adjusted the black scarf around his neck then leaned his spear against the wall.

"Aes Sedai? Egwene called herself that. What is it?" Maybe now he could get some useful information.

Mat nearly fell out of his chair. How could the guy not know what an Aes Sedai was?"Are you serious?" He didn't look like a fool, even if the thick black and silver bodysuit was a little unusual.

"Of course I'm serious," Ranma snapped."Sorry, Mat."

"Think nothing of it. These women have that effect on people."

"So what are they again?"

"Oh, Aes Sedai? They wield the one power. That's what they used to throw you into the air. I still can't figure out wh they didn't just grab onto you like they try to do with me."

"You meen with something like invisible ropes?"

"Yeah. They like to do stuff like that. Light, I'm glad I don't have to worry about them using it on me anymore." Mat reached into his shirt and pulled out the fox medallion."As long as I wear this the One Power can't touch me."

Ranma chose not to tell Mat that he too had a way to counter this One Power."What else can they do with it?"

"Mostly all I ever see is them making balls of fire and lightning bolts, but they can heal people too."

Ranma's head jerked towards Mat."They can heal? How bad an illness can they heal?" he asked hurriedly.

Mat was startled by the outburst, but eventually answered,"I'm not really sure. The Yellow Ajah specializes in healing. I'd imagine that they could heal nearly anything."

Ranma was already up out of the chair and through the door by the time anyone noticed him gone, including Mat. ****

Ranma found the unique energy signature that the living components of his bike gave off, easily. It was not far from the Little Tower. It was also surrounded by seven Aes Sedai who were furiously taking notes. They sniff indignently as he pushed them aside roughly, but when they saw who he was, backed off without further protest.

"Computer, release folded item twenty one into portable transport device," commanded Ranma. He wasn't worried about the women gaining access to his equipment. The bike only responded to his brain wave pattern. A moment later a slight tearing sound was followed by a small black sphere appearing above Ranma's upturned palm. He caught it and turned back to the Little Tower.

"You must let us examine that," ordered on of the Aes Sedai. She planted herself firmly in Ranma's path. She was joined by the others, forming a short human wall in front of him.

Ranma didn't bother to reply or argue, he just jumped over them and continued on. ****

By the time he returned, the Aes Sedai were leaving out through the door to go in search of him. One of the women planted her hands on her hips and said,"You shouldn't go running off like that young man. And you should show more respect to your elders."

"I'll go wherever I want, whenever I want, and I've never had a reason to respect my elders; I find them to be a bit slow witted," snapped Ranma sharply.

The women's eyes bulged and her cheeks reddened in fury,"Now you listen here young-"

"Now now Romanda, just because you're to old doesn't meen you have to spoil it for every one." She smiled at Ranma and batted her eye lashes.

"Now is hardly the time for your Green Ajah nonsense Malind. This boy is very dangerous. Did you know that he was ta'veren?"

Malind didn't miss a beat."I heard Nicola's discovery. And what do you intend to do about it?"

Noticing that the two women seemed to have forgotten about him and wondering what a ta'veren was, Ranma slipped away. When he reached the door to the Little Tower it had just been closed, but when he tried to open it, someone else pulled it open from the inside.

Nynaeve sqeaked and tightly gripped the braid that hung over her shoulder."W-what do you want?" She couldn't believe that he was making her act like a little girl, but for all they knew he could be one of the Forsaken in disguise.

Ranma scratched the back of his head nervously."Um, I was looking for someone called the Yellow Ajah. Mat said she could heal almost any injury."

Nynaeve couldn't help herself. She laughed out loud at the stranger until there were tears in her eyes."I'm sorry. You're confused. The Yellow Ajah isn't a person, it's a group of Aes Sedai."

"Well, could you take me to one of them?" he pleaded.

She could tell by the tone of his voice that the boy was serious."Follow me," she answered and led him back into the same room that he had left less than five minutes earlier."I'm from the Yellow Ajah, Salita is too." she led him to a woman sitting by herself, aparently waiting for the other women to return."What's wrong that you would need us to heal? You look perfectly healthy."

"Nothing's wrong with me. It's a friend of mine. She's hurt really badly."

Salita jumped to her feet."Take us to her, hurry!"

"This is hard to explain since I'm not a scientist and don't really understand how most of my stuff works. You see this," he held of the black ball," it's a kind of storage device. It bends space so that it can hold more stuff inside itself than it should be able to. My friend, actually my finace, is inside of it." He expected disbelief, most people in Japan still didn't believe in fold technology, but they suprised him.

"That must be a wonderful ter'angreal," Salita commented.

"What's a ter'angreal?" asked Ranma.

"An object that uses the One Power. Obviously that thing is a ter'angreal if it does what you say." Nynaeve didn't appreciate woolheads. Ranma sure seemed like one to her.

"Whatever, it doesn't matter. Can you heal her if I bring her out?"

Behind Ranma, most of the Sisters had returned and were paying careful attention to the exchange between him and their fellows.

"How badly is she hurt?" Nynaeve asked.

"It's really bad. She took a lot of shrapnel in the chest. It collapsed both her lungs and damaged her heart. She'll only have a few seconds to live once I bring her out."

"I can't make any promises, but I'm the most talented Healer among the Yellows and I'll try my best," admitted Nynaeve with only a small amount of arrogance. She heard Romanda snort somewhere in the crowd of Sitters. She was the best, whether they liked it or not.

"Nabiki won't be able to survive the trauma of stasis again. She only gets once chance," he told them.

"Okay." He sure like to put on the pressure."Where is she going to come out at?"

Ranma looked around and spotted a nearby table that would fit Nabiki well enough."There," he pointed it out." When Nynaeve was standing hext to the table Ranma pressed a button on the ball that hadn't previously been there. An slightly transparent image of a young woman with blood covering her entire torso was projected as a hologram allowing Ranma to line her up with the table. Once he was satisfied, Ranma released the button and the image of Nabiki became solid.

Nynaeve wasted no time in attempting to diagnose what was wrong with the girl. Putting her hands on Nabiki's temples, she channelled flows of earth, fire, wind, water, and spirit. The results were immediate. The wounds on Nabiki's bare chest were completely closed and the shrapnel that inflicted the damage had been removed and was lying in various places around her. 


3.

Ranma had just slung his pack over his shoulder when the disconnected feeling hit him again. It had only been a few minutes since the last one. That meant that the jump was only seconds away. He was right, as usual. All around him the world became blurry and distorted. Slowly everything faded away, then came the familar tearing sound that signalled his arrival in a mew dimension.

"'Bout damned time," Ranma grumbled. He'd been caught up in a civil war in the previous dimension, and besides nearly three years of hard combat experience, he had only managed to collect some high tech armor and a few new chi techniques.

The world around him snapped into focus in a heartbeat and instead of finding himself in another barren wasteland like the one he had left, Ranma was now surrounded by knee deep snow and a biting wind that would have killed lesser men in hours. Slipping into the emotional void necessary for the soul of ice, he began emitting an aura of negative, or cold chi, that neutralized the effects of the outside cold. Behind him he heard the sound of approaching horses.

"What is it with horses?" he asked himself, unable to think past the fact that he hadn't seen a car in over twenty jumps, even the futuristic world he had just departed used robotic horses. Turning around, he started walking towards the approaching riders. The snow proved to be no impediment and in less than a minute the horses and the men riding them were visble through the trees.

"Who goes there?" demanded one of the men. He wore a combination of plate armor and chain mail and spoke english.

Ranma briefly glanced at the his right arm and the gauntlet of black and silver scales that it bore. With a non-verbal, thought based, command Ranma activated the translation device imbedded in it and answered,"Ranma Saotome." Nanotech at its best.

"Why are you so far from civilization, 'Ranma'?" the same man asked, having trouble saying Ranma's name correctly. He and the other men eyed Ranma menacingly, noting his strange armor and clothing.

Ranma smiled to himself when he saw the looks being directed at him."I'm lost."

The man frowned and started toying with the hilt of his sword."I'm afraid you'll have to come with us."

Ranma shrugged. They were harmless. It wouldn't hurt to know the situation he had stumbled into either."Lead the way."

And lead the way they did, setting an arduous pace that had their horses in a lather by the time they reached a huge camp of armed men. Ranma finally drew the conclusion that he was in a much more primitive environment than he was accustommed to. And best of all, there was no magic chunking psychos to deal with.

"Keep watch on him," ordered the only man Ranma had heard speak, as they finally enterd the camp. Then he heeled his horse and set off in search of a superior officer, hopefully.

Ranma, in the meantime, was led to a large tent being guarded by a dozen heavily armed and armored soldiers. He nearly groaned in dismay, noticing that everyone who saw him looked at him just like the men who found him had. There was only one reason for so many people to be untrusting of strangers. He had gone and found another freakin' war. Oh well, they could probably use a good super soldier. He was just readjusting the folding chair that kept trying to fold with him in it for the tenth time in half an hour when an older man, stocky and with nearly a full head of grey hair, entered. He was followed by his 'captor' and an unusual appearing women who's young face didn't match her eyes.

"Ranma Saotome," Ranma introduced himself. Standing up, he offered the man obviously in charge, his hand.

"Gareth Bryne," returned the man."You've caused quite a stir around here, Ranma." He motioned Ranma back to his seat and took one of his own.

"How have I managed to do that?" Ranma asked in suprise.

Gareth looked him over questioningly then answered,"You come to us dressed in armor that could only be purchased by a lord even if it is unusual, but as Tylus here tells me, you easily kept up with his men and their horses while running through the snow for over ten miles. An amazing enough feet itself, but you weren't even winded."

"Why did your man set such a fast pace if he didn't expect me to be able to match it?" Ranma asked. He looked at the now nervously fidgeting man standing behing Gareth.

Gareth frowned."Apparently he was attempting to exhaust you so that you would not put up a fight later. Not a tactic I approve of I assure you."

"Don't worry about it, I'm fine. But could you tell me wear exactly I am?"

Gareth glanced back at the woman standing behind him. At her nod, he said,"We're currently in Murandy near the border of Andor."

Ranma was about to thank the man when he felt something pass through him. He stood so quickly that the chair he was sitting in was thrown back against the wall of the tent."Who did that?" he demanded to know.

Both Gareth and Tylus drew their swords. The woman confidently strode towards Ranma."He is shielded," she said after stopping a foot from him.

"What do you meen I'm shielded? What does that meen?" As an answer Ranma felt bands of force wrapping around his arms and legs.

"You are a channeller?" Gareth seemed as much disgusted by the term as disturbed.

"What is a channeller? And what are you doing?" he asked the woman.

"Don't play games with me young man. You're cut off from the Source now so you'd better cooperate." She stepped back to her original position.

"Okay, I tried to be nice, but you people have me confused with somebody else." Ranma flexed his chi, manifesting his battle aura for a moment, destroying whatever bonds had held him."And don't call me young man, little girl." Ranma made a show of stretching his muscles then told the other three,"I don't know what the Source is or what channellers are and I'm not sticking around to find out."

Author's Notes: IMO none of them are that good, but tell me which one ya like the best. I'm just curios.

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