Grave's New Life

Part Five

Disclaimer: Heck, I don't own these guys. I don't own anyone or anything. Save this story. Now, will you evil demon lawyers leave me alone?

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Grave, wearing her purple mage-suit, frowned, she hadn't seen Ranma in a about five minutes and she was a bit worried. Oh sure, she could handle herself and knew that Ranma could take care of himself, reasonably well. But, still she was worried about him. It had been a week since they had started traveling together and Grave could feel herself getting more and more attracted to Ranma. Grave shook her head, there was a good reason why she wasn't moving too fast with Ranma. One, she wanted to make sure that he didn't have a girlfriend or something similar back home and two, she didn't want to be like her sisters, going into a relationship with both guns blazing, so to speak.

Grave sighed and levitated upward to go and look for her friend. The last week had been pretty boring, for her at least. Mostly traveling, they kept heading north. Unknown to either of them, they were a couple of hours north of the capital city of Tessa. During the traveling, the two trained as best they could without instructors, well, Grave did, Ranma really didn't need instructors, since he had those scrolls on different martial arts, particularly Ki and Chi maneuvers.

A few minutes later Grave blinked as she came across Ranma, in female form, wearing those black pants that she had bought a week ago, as well as a red shirt and the boots; at a small stream looking rather down. Grave frowned and wondered what was bothering her friend now. In the past week Grave had seen Ranma get down over certain things when the pigtailed martial artist didn't think she was looking. First there was the fact that Ranma hadn't seen his mother for so long that he didn't know if she was alive. Grave could sympathize, she hadn't seen her mother, Julia Diggers ever, the only reason that she knew that her mother was still alive was because of the memories that she inherited from Britanny and Gina.

Then there was the fact that he always had to leave behind his friends. Grave could sympathize with that as well, as she didn't have any, save for Ranma.

Looking at him, Grave had to sigh to herself as she looked at him. The biggest thing he got down on was the fact that he said that he'd protect her, and the first time trouble came along, he didn't do such a good job.

'And then there was that Troll.' It didn't help matters when they were passing by a river when a Troll had attacked them. Ranma and Grave had both discovered how tough, strong and quick healing Trolls were.

Grave shook her head. That had not been a pretty fight. 'If Ranma hadn't distracted that Troll long enough, I wouldn't have been able to stop it.' Grave frowned as she remembered that fight, that Troll had moved faster than what they thought a Troll could and that creature took Ranma down with a punch to the ribs.

Grave grimaced, she still remembered the sound of all of Ranma's ribs cracking and breaking from that hit. [1] 'Stupid Trolls.' She shook her head, she didn't know exactly how, but Grave knew, when she saw how badly off Ranma was, healing spells to fix him right up.

Grave shook her head. It had taken two days to get Ranma to understand that neither of them had understood what a Troll could do and that he was lucky to be alive. Of course, that had made him want to become a better fighter all the more.

So, wondering just what was bugging her friend this time, Grave hovered over to him and hugged him from behind. Surpisingly, to Grave, Ranma, or rather Ranma-chan, didn't seem startled when she hugged her. "Ranma? What's wrong?"

Ranma-chan looked at the water with a forlorn expression. "Look at me. This isn't the body I was born with."

Grave blinked. "So? That's not too bad a problem is it?"

Ranma-chan shook her head. "All my life I was raised to be a man among men, not a woman." The cursed martial artist sighed. "I'm just a pathetic freak."

Grave frowned and hugged her friend. "First off, you're not pathetic. Nor are you a freak."

Ranma-chan shook her head. "I am! Look at me! I've been training for ten years to be the best, for what?" The boy-turned-girl threw her hands up. "To nearly get my ass handed to me by some stupid bandits? To nearly die because of some creature that attacked for no reason?"

Grave hugged her friend a bit tighter. "Ranma, you couldn't help it."

Ranma-chan shuddered. "I mean, I change genders with a splash of cold water. People aren't going to be able to accept that. Not one bit." The redhead sighed. "I'm surprised that you can even stand being around a freak like me."

Grave shook her head and turned Ranma-chan's head a bit so that she could look at her. "You got it all wrong. You are not a freak, trust me on that."

Ranma-chan turned her head, or tried to, as Grave gave her a quick kiss on the lips. "I would never kiss a freak.

Ranma-chan was stunned, she then blushed and turned away. "What do you see in me? What can you see in someone like me?"

Grave blinked. Either Ranma was giving some serious thought into having a relationship, or she was curious as to what the Lycanthropoid thought of her, either way, what she said here could very well determine if Ranma would recover from that last fight at all.

Grave sighed. 'This is not going to be easy, not at all.' Moving over to sit down by her friend, Grave looked Ranma in the eyes. "You want to know what I see when I look at you?" Ranma-chan nodded and Grave smiled a bit at her, Grave then took Ranma-chan's hand and held it with her own. "Well, I see someone who's my best friend. Someone who, regardless of gender, tries his, or her, hardest to do everything correctly, even when he or she can't do it." Grave then sighed. "I see someone who's going under an unusual trial and having to cope with it, but not knowing how to, and doing a rather remarkable job at that. I see my friend, my first friend that I made on my own, who was able to calm me down when I was partly crazy. To make me see that I didn't have to kill others to be my own person. Finally, I see someone who I could spend the rest of my life with."

Ranma-chan blinked. "Huh?"

Grave sighed. "Never mind. I guess it was too much to hope for." With that she got up, intending to walk away, when Ranma grabbed her on the arm.

"Wait! Tell me. What's wrong?" Ranma-chan didn't know what was upsetting her friend, but she wanted to help out as best she could.

Grave grimaced, though Ranma couldn't see that, her breathing started to accelerate a bit as she tried to tell Ranma just how she felt. She wasn't Britanny, Brianna nor Gina, her looks weren't much, at least in her eyes, and she didn't feel as if she could catch anyone's attention with her looks.

"Grave?"

Grave turned around and saw that Ranma had stood up, she grabbed her in a hug and kissed the redhead on the lips with a passion born out of desperation, there was a alterior reason why Grave was kissing Ranma-chan, she wanted, no needed, to know that she was her own person.

Ranma-chan, for her part, was shocked stupid. She honestly didn't know what to do, she had never been in such a situation before, and Genma had never taught her what to do in a situation.

Grave broke the kiss after feeling that there was no reaction from Ranma-chan. "I, I'm sorry." She mentally kicked her own ass, how could she act like that? The guy probably had a girlfriend back home or something. Her eyes teared up as she turned to run, or rather tried to turn as Ranma-chan grabbed her shoulders.

"Grave, please, I, I'm not so good with people. I've only had to deal with pops in my life. So, why? What's wrong?"

Grave just shook her head, her mind was yelling at her to just tell him how she felt dammit! "Ranma, I, I," Dammit, why was this so #$%&ing hard? "I really care for you." 'Tell him! Tell him! Tell him! You coward!'

Ranma-chan nodded. "Okay."

Grave looked into Ranma-chan's eyes, she took a deep breath, and looked down and away a bit. "R, Ranma, I, I love you!" Grave took a deep breath to calm her nerves. She looked at Ranma. "I said it. I love you. I can't help it, you're so kind to me, you've been there for me, you help me out when you can." [2]

Ranma-chan for her part was stunned, sure, she knew Grave was cute, but she wasn't sure how she felt for the Lycanthropoid. She let go of Grave's shoulders and turned to walk away. "R, Ranma?" Ranma-chan winced as she heard how weak, vunerable and soft Grave's voice became. "Please, tell me, do you love me?"

Ranma-chan took a breath. "I, I'm not too sure Grave. I need ta think this out." With that the redhead walked back to their camp.

Grave fell to her knees, both her hands hitting the ground, as she closed her eyes and tears fell out. 'Dammit! I blew it.' She drew in a stuttery breath. 'I knew it, he has to have someone else, that's why he didn't react at all.'

After a few minutes of crying to herself, Grave got up and went back to camp slowly, sadly, and all depressed.

********

Meanwhile in another part of Jade, at a temple, a meeting of the minds was taking place, considering that one of the people there had over one hundred minds in her head, this was a literal fact.

The shortest person there, around four-foot-eight, was a Dwarf with long curly brown hair that went down to the middle of her back. She was wearing a gray, one piece war dress that went over her left shoulder. Her name was G'Nolga, the disputed Armsmaster of Jade.

Next in the room was a pinkish haired woman, who was wearing glasses as she held a rather large book. She also wore white gloves over her hands, long black sleeves that went from her wrists to the middle of her upper arms, a black mini-skirt that was so short that it barely covered her hips, in fact, one could see her panties without even trying. She also wore long, black boots that went from her feet to the middle of her thighs. Her name was Array, a supervillianess from Earth with the ability to make as many different bodies as she wanted, however, when she was done with the body and dematerialized it, the personality remained in her head.

The next person in the room was a woman who, a week prior had been a man, unfortunately, she ran afoul with a potion that was only meant to work on females, which changed her gender, but, unlike Ranma's Jusenkyo curse, this was permanent. She had brown-orange hair that was rather short, she was around six-foot-two, increadibly buxom, wearing a brown dress that concealed what was neccessary, but still showed off all of her lines and curves. Across her back was a HUGE sword that most people could never master in their life-times. Her name was Hanza, a wanted mercenary and thief.

The next person in the room was a six-foot-ten decently built bald man. He was wearing green robes with brown colored strips on the side, he was a bald and very calm person. He had the ability to conduct electricty. His name was Tirant, a Super-Villian from Earth, who, at one time, had tried to take over New York City, and more, before he was stopped by Britanny, Brianna, Genn, Danielle Carter, who was also known as the Pink Avenger, and Barbara Duncan, also known as Crush.

The final person in this group was a seven-foot-one Undead Ghost Knight, he was usually seen carrying two rapier-style Katanas. He was dressed in blue armor from head to toe, he wore a helmet and facemask. His name was Rook, a high ranking Undead creature that existed on Jade. His armor had a magical enchantment on it to allow him to teleport behind anyone who attacked him. However, it had it's flaws, it couldn't teleport instantly after reappearing.

This group was mulling around a bit after reviewing what they just had heard. Hanza shook her head. "It doesn't matter if the Northern Edge Guard is coming after us. There's no way that we have to worry about them as soon as our plans go off."

Tirant nodded, but answered calmly. "I agree Hanza, but still, we should not underestimate them, they are worthy advasaries after all, they did manage to defeat both you and G'Nolga in the past."

G'Nolga scowled. "You know that was because that Jagwere went into that Lunar Rave [3] of his. Not to mention that he used the same move that Julia had used on me ten years previous."

Tirant nodded. "Of course G'Nolga. I am merely pointing out the fact that we shouldn't take them lightly."

Rook chuckled. "They have their own problems to deal with, and not just us."

G'Nolga looked at him. "You mean the rumors of a small Werecheetah?"

Rook nodded. "Indeed G'Nolga. I'm not sure if they're real or not, but..."

"They are."

Everyone turned to look at Array. "I am the Sheriff of Seer's Hamlet, a week or so ago, this small Werecheetah that was using magic went up against Brianna Diggers in a fight." She then looked at G'Nolga and Hanza. "I did not risk everything back then just to have you two kidnap the Armsmaser's daughter. Though it did help our plans out, you didn't need to threaten to kill her G'Nolga."

G'Nolga shook her head. "I didn't have a real reason to kill her. The brat didn't put up much of a fight and Julia did cooperate, so, I had no reason to kill her." Of course, G'Nolga wasn't mentioning that she had kidnapped Brianna when the Lycanthropoid was asleep, nor did she mention that it was entirely Tirant's idea, since the bald crime lord had asked her not to tell anyone about it.

Array shook her head. "Anyway, if we could get that Werecheetah to fight for us, it would be much easier to deal with the Northern Edge Guard."

Hanza rolled her eyes. "What does this Werecheetah have that the rest of us don't?"

"Magic abilities, healing abilities. I don't know, maybe a dislike for the Northern Edge Guard? Not to mention that she may feel cornered and is trying to stay away from them for now."

Hanza groaned and looked at Tirant. "Your girlfriend has to be so accurate doesn't she?"

Tirant smiled, barely. "Of course. But the question is, where is this Werecheetah?"

Array shook her head. "Last I heard she was in Temul, before the start of their Harvest Festival. Since then, no one's seen her. Fortunately, for us, the Edge Guard seem to be reluctant to go and look for her."

G'Nolga blinked. "Hey wait a second! That Werecheetah was the one that was fighting just before I killed that Werecat mage, correct?"

Array nodded. "Yes, and I suppose seeing you kill the mage made her fearful, causing her to leave the area."

"Whatever, anyway, I figure that if we can find her, we can get her to work for us easily, just that we say we can give her protection against the Edge Guard when they come for her."

Rook looked at the Dwarf. "You sure? The reports that I received told me that she was half crazy."

G'Nolga shrugged. "If we can use her, we will, if not, we kill her."

Tirant shook his head. "No, there are other ways to get her to work for us. And even if she doesn't work for us directly, we can manipulate her into working for us indirectly. Like, making sure that she is near the Edge Guard and having them fight her."

G'Nolga humphed. "You just have to be logical don't you Tirant?"

"Of course. I believe in getting people to work for you, even if you must "persuade" them to do so." The bald man smirked. "If, say, she had someone she was interested in, we could kidnap that person and then have her work for us."

Hanza shook her head. "Of course, we have to find her."

Rook chuckled. "Leave that to me. I'll find her the instant I get back to my castle. My scrying glass will be perfect for finding her."

Tirant nodded. "You do that. G'Nolga still has to attend the Tournament of Arms for the month, and we have to do what we can to make sure that Julia Diggers can't enter."

G'Nolga smirked. "No problem there. I should be able to handle it."

Tirant nodded. "Good."

********

Sheila looked at her brother as they sat down at a booth at the Dragon's Jaw Tavern. "So, there's nothing that can be done?"

Gar shook his head. "Nope. The last time anyone saw the girl, Grave Digger, was in the city of Temul, there was a human with her, but most people assumed that they were just going the same way and that he hadn't been able to find out what she had done just yet."

Sheila sighed, closed her eyes and leaned back against the booth she was sitting at. "You have got to be kidding me. No one's seen her since?!"

Gar sighed and shook his head. His sister still blamed herself for the whole mess that had occured, not that anyone else did, it was just simply bad luck. "People have seen, on occasion, a small blonde haired girl and a black haired boy in the forests, but since no one could prove that it was Grave Digger, then we have nothing to go on."

Sheila sighed. "Couple this with the problems that popped up at the Tournament the other day..." Sheila didn't elaborate, she just shook her head, her brother knew what she was talking about.

Gar sighed. "I know. This just doesn't get any easier. Especially when we had to take care of those two vampires, Riassat and Ryper."

Sheila shook her head at that one, those two had been causing some serious problems in the Dim Crag mountains and the Northern Edge Guard had barely been able to beat them. Fortunately, it wasn't as bad as it could've been. [4]

"So now what bro?"

"There isn't much we can do right now. Come on, Onoli wants to talk to us about something concerning the Tournament."

Sheila sighed and went with her brother to go and meet their leader.

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[1] By the way, Trolls hit very, very hard. Even to someone such as Ranma, getting hit by a Troll would definitely bust his ribs. Oh don't worry, he'll be getting better as a fighter as time goes on. I should mention that Trolls are known to be rather nasty, picking fights for no real reason outside of fighting, Brod, a Troll-Giant, is an exception.

[2] For a Ranma 1/2 romance this was fast, but for a Gold Digger romance, as in, how fast it takes someone to go from meeting someone else to falling in love with them, a week is rather slow. I'm not kidding. In the Miniseries Britanny went from fighting with Strype to falling for him in under twenty minutes, and less than two hours later, she was making out with him, practically jumping into his pants.

Gina met Ryan once and was paralyzed by her hormones, same with Seance. Hell, the combined time that she had known Ryan from their first two meetings was less than an hour and she was willing to be his girlfriend. Brianna was born with love for Strype and lusted after Genn's male form, considering that she had never really met Strype and had known Genn for less than a day, it was rather fast. Don't forget Julia and Theo. In the span of an hour or so, Julia went from being angry at Theo to be willing to spend the rest of her life with him.

However, from falling in love to wanting to get married, well, that takes some time, at least a couple of years.

[3] The Lunar Rave is an ability that only one in a million Werecreatures have. It occurs during the Solar Eclipse increasing a Were's abilities thirty-fold.

[4] This is a reference to the Edge Guard Miniseries. In that series, to make a long story short, the Edge Guard caught and punished a Vampire named Ryper. But, they didn't know that he had a lover by the name of Riassat. Anyway, Riassat took control of the Eastern Edge Gaurd to gain their powers to get revenge. The Eastern Edge Guard is made up of Kitsune, not Werecats. Riassat managed to take control of the entire Eastern Edge Guard, save a Kitsune named Terio, and in the process killed off Mitsuko, a Dark Kisune.