Grave's New Life

Chapter Twelve

By Philip Weigel

Disclaimer: Who knows who owns the series within? The Shadow knows. BWAHAHAHAHAHA! Actually, the owners of Ranma 1/2 and Gold Digger are Rumiko Takahashi-Sama and the High Lord Fred Perry.

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Outside of Grave and Ranma's cell, a green, heavily muscled Ogre blinked as the pink haired villainess, whom his boss, Rook, was working with, walked up to the cell door of the two children that he was supposed to guard. "Uh, what's wrong?" He asked the version of Array that was dressed in a loose gray body suit and holding onto a magic wand with a star on the end.

Array waved her hand and shook her head. "Nothing for you to worry about. I'm just going to take care of the children is all." It was getting late and they would need the little Werecheetah's abilities if the Edge Guard showed up any time soon. 'Maybe I'm just getting paranoid. But I honestly think that something's going to happen soon.' Of course, if G'nolga had kept a low profile, none of the current problems that were heading their way would be bothering them until it was too late.

The Ogre shrugged. Like most Ogres, this one wasn't exactly that smart either. "Whatever." It didn't bother him, just as long as he didn't have to deal with the problem personally.

The magic using version of Array nodded at him. Opening the door, she looked in and smiled seeing both of the occupants sleeping inside. She didn't know how long they had been sleeping, but at least neither of them was going to cause too much trouble at that point. "Hey, Ogre, get the girl out of there and follow me."

The Ogre grumbled a bit, but did as asked, since his boss said to take orders from everyone that he was working with. Getting his large, muscled carcass through the door was no easy feat, but he did manage. Once inside, he walked over to the bed and, using one of his large hands, picked up the little Werecheetah around her body and lifted her up and out of the bed, before leaving the room again.

The magic user had to sweat-drop as the Ogre squeezed his way through the door. In a way, it looked like a clown trying to get out of a car that was three sizes to small to get out of. "What do I do with her?" The Ogre asked in a gruff voice.

Array shook her head. "Close the door and follow me." She said and turned around to walk down the hallway of the Armsmaster's Palace.

Nodding the Ogre did just that. He kicked the door so that it would shut and followed the magic user. She asked him to follow her and Rook wasn't going to expend any of his Ghost Knights that guarded the perimeter of the place to guard a human who didn't have any importance to his plans.

As they walked down the hallway, Array blinked as she saw G'nolga walking down the hallway towards her. She shrugged as the chestnut haired Dwarf, wearing a green one-piece warrior dress just passed right by her. Array was about to leave when G'nolga spoke up. "You know where your boyfriend is, girl?"

"In the main chambers. Why do you ask?" She asked G'nolga, curious as to why there was a touch of panic in her voice.

The Dwarf turned to her and had a thoughtful look on her face. "Is one of your other selves there?" She asked, remembering what Tirant had told her a few days ago.

Array nodded. "Yes, the main one of us is there. Want me to relay a message to him?"

G'nolga nodded. "Yes. Our plan has a serious problem to it." While Array was blinking, G'nolga explained. "A bit ago, Julia and her mother fought to determine which of the two would fight in the tournament." Normally, G'nolga wouldn't be so worried, expect for what happened at the end in the fight.

"Yeah, so? I take it something happened that you didn't expect?"

The Dwarf nodded seriously. "Yes. Julia won." She stated, sounding shocked that such a thing should have happened. At least against Julia's mother. The redhead had never been able to beat her mother in a fight before. In fact, from what G'nolga understood of Brunhildagard Brigand, her husband of nearly fifty years, the Ninja Weaponsmaster, Tsunami Brigand, was the last person to beat her in a straight-out fight.

The pink haired villianess from Earth blinked, not really understanding the situation at all. "Uhh... What?"

G'nolga rolled her eyes. She hated having to explain everything to the people she worked with. "Julia and her mother fought. Julia's never been able to best her mother in a fight before. Yet, today, she was able to come out on top in a fight."

Array nodded slowly. "That still doesn't explain why you sound so shocked. Sometimes things like that happen."

The Dwarf nodded. "I was getting to that. Hilda, Julia's mother, was tossing her daughter around like a piece of dirty laundry. In the end, Julia got desperate and used a powerful technique called the Master Blow."

"Master Blow?" Array asked, confused as she blinked a few times.

The Ogre grunted, he had heard of that move before. He had even seen it used before. "An almost forbidden move. You put all your strength and energy into a single strike. I've seen Dragons get knocked out by it." He said in a gruff voice.

The Dwarven Weaponsmaster, currently Armsmaster, since she hadn't won the Tournament of Arms yet, nodded, impressed that the Ogre had at least ten brain cells in an otherwise empty head. "That's about it. Julia used that move to knock her mother off her feet. For a moment, it looked like Julia had won."

"I sense a 'but' in there, G'nolga." Array said seriously. Hoo boy, if something bad had happened, her boyfriend would have to think up some way for them to come out on top. He was Tirant, a mastermind of a criminal, but if something unexpected happened, it would be bad.

The Dwarf nodded, a serious cast on her face. "Yes. Julia's mother was able to stand up after receiving the blow, but was badly hurt. As bad as she was, Julia was left so drained that she couldn't fight back."

Array blinked. If that was the case, then how did Julia win? It didn't make any sense. Unless Hilda had let Julia win. That would have made more sense to the villianess than somehow Julia pulling out a miracle victory out of nowhere.

"Anyway, even I thought the fight was over. But then Julia pulls a new move out and uses it. Somehow she was able to use it to heal herself up." It wouldn't have been so bad if it wasn’t for the fact that magic in the arenas was useless. That, and all Julia did was take some deep breaths of air. [1]

"But, but aren't the arenas blocked from magic use?" Array asked, surprised about that.

G'nolga nodded. "That's why I need to see your boyfriend, girl. Because if we don't find out how she did that, we're finished." G'nolga wasn't really concerned with the fact that Julia knew how to heal herself. What the Dwarf was really worried about was the fact that Julia could use it in their fight and she'd have no way of being able to beat the redhead. After all, there wasn't anyone in the tournament that could beat either her or Julia in a fight, so she wasn't too worried about whom her opponent was going to be.

"Really, G'nolga? I would have thought that you would know of a way to get out of this one on your own." Came a calm and distinguished voice from behind the Dwarf.

Raising an eyebrow and turning around, G'nolga looked at Tirant, dressed in a blue robe, next to him was the main body of Array, in her usual short black skirt, the former was smirking at her lightly. "You have an idea?" She asked, curiously.

Tirant nodded. "Indeed."

As Tirant explained his plan, G'nolga's features darkened more and more with each word. As the bald crime leader finished speaking, he asked her what she thought of the plan. "Tirant, there is no honor in this plan." Why couldn't he find some honorable way out of it? Why did he have to resort to kidnapping Julia's youngest daughter and other forms of extortion to get what he wanted? What was so hard about doing things the correct and honorable way?

Tirant rolled his eyes. "G'nolga, just go along with it. This is business. Keep your personal vendettas out of it." He said seriously, narrowing his eyes at the Dwarf. Not that he'd be able to do much to her, since she was the most important part of his plan.

G'nolga snarled and turned to leave. "Fine! But only after Julia's first-round fight."

Tirant raised an eyebrow. "What is this? Respect? I thought you didn't give respect to anyone, G'nolga."

"Heh. I'm waiting for after her fight to get her at the Tavern." There would be lots of witnesses to see what was going to happen. Smirking darkly, G'nolga walked down the hallway and turned the corner.

Tirant nodded as the Dwarf walked off. "About time." He muttered. Finally, G'nolga was doing things the correct way, business-like, and leaving her own personal vendettas out of it. He blinked when he heard a low moan coming from the Ogre. "Hmm?" He blinked when the little Werecheetah in the left hand of the Ogre stirred and woke up. He looked at the version of Array that was right next to the Ogre. "What were you planning on doing with her?" He asked curiously.

That version of Array shrugged. "Just thought we might need her help tonight. Call it women's intuition."

Tirant raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything.

In the Ogre's hand, Grave blinked as a few things came to her mind. One, she wasn't in a bed anymore. Two, her friend wasn't anywhere near her, at least from what she could see. Three, there was that mean bastard of an electric user, Tirant in front of her. The small Werecheetah frowned as she realized that she was away from her friend and that bald jerk wanted to see her again.

She was about to say something, when she heard Array speak of some help that night. "What?"

The only man in the hallway smirked at her. "Array thinks something will happen tonight. Whether it does or not, remains to be seen. But I suppose that we could use your help with that."

Grave rolled her eyes. "Let me guess, I don't have a choice in the matter, do I?" Seeing Tirant nod, she sighed. "Alright, I'll do it." Besides, there was no telling what they would do to her friend if she didn't comply.

Tirant smiled and clapped his hands together once. "Put her down." He said to the Ogre, before turning to the version of his girlfriend next to the creature. "Have her roam the palace as a guard." The bald man cupped his chin. "Also, make sure she doesn't go near her friend." He added as an after-thought and left, the main body of Array following him.

After the Ogre placed her down, Grave grumbled as the bald man left. 'Stupid jerk!' She thought to herself. Why could he just let her and Ranma go? It wasn't like they were a big part of his plans. He said so himself. Well, okay, Tirant hadn't said that, but that's what she got from the attitudes that he and the others of the group had towards her. It was almost like they were using her for something.

How little she knew.

****

It was about middle of the afternoon as Hanza, the man-turned-woman in charge of security for Tirant, was standing at the front gate of the Armsmaster palace bored out of her mind and turning people down who wanted to enter and weren't invited. Dressed in an orange cloak that covered her entire body with a hood over her head, she sighed and grumbled a bit. 'Why do *I* have to be the head of security?' She thought to herself. Then again, it was better than listening to, the now insane, Rook, as he went on and on about some stupid things that he saw in that crystal ball of his.

(----)

"ACHOO!" Sniffing a bit, the blue armored Undead blinked. "I thought Ghost Knights don't get sick." He muttered to himself. He then shrugged and went back to his program. "Heh heh heh. This is pretty good." He said as he leaned back in his chair in the room he was in.

"We will return to the Network Television Premier of "Shrek" after these messages."

Under his mask, Rook frowned. "Why does there have to be so many freaking commercials?! Can't there be a program without any stupid commercials on it?! Why must I be tortured?!" The armored Undead cried out to any who cared to hear him. He grumbled and changed the channel. Oh look, one of those politicians from Earth was on.

The Undead rolled his eyes politics bored him. Changing the channel again, he leered at the screen. "Oh goodie! Babe Watch!" He chuckled maniacally as he watched the girls run on the beach in their skimpy bathing suits. "Ooh yeah, this is how things should be for the Macho Undead Rook Savage!" He said in his best macho voice he could muster.

(----)

Outside the Armsmaster palace, Hanza blinked as five people in different colored robes were walking up to her. 'Now what?' She thought. The first one walking up to her was a five foot seven inch bald black man in a blue hooded robe with a lute strapped to his back. 'What's with all the bald people?' She thought. First Tirant, now this guy.

The second one to catch her attention was a five foot five inch young man with red hair, green eyes, a white bandanna on his forehead, and was wearing a green hooded cloak.

The third one was a man that was six foot three inches, with orange-blonde hair that had black highlights, with light blue eyes and had looks that could make any woman practically beg for a night in the sack. He was wearing a red hooded robe and seemed to be slightly distracted by something.

The forth one was a female. Hoo boy, was she big! Standing at seven feet tall wearing a transparent shawl on her face, with red hair, green eyes, and, from what little Hanza could see as she was wearing a hooded purple cloak, legs and curves to drive most women green with envy.

The fifth and last one was a seven foot two inch man with light blonde hair. He had a harp in his hands and had light blonde hair on his head; he was wearing a white hooded cloak.

Hanza frowned; there was something wrong with this picture. She just hadn't figured it out yet. "Halt! State your business."

The first man stepped up to speak with her. "My companions and I are traveling minstrels. We are here to perform for honorable Weaponsmaster G'nolga." He finished with a bow.

The man in red smirked and turned to the woman in the group and whispered. "Heh, Thropan missed his true calling. He should have been an entertainer. Look at him go."

The woman frowned. "Shut up, Tirga. You'll blow his cover."

The man in green nodded. "You too, sis. Onoli, you think she'll buy it?" He asked the man in the white cloak.

"I'm not sure, Gar. I just hope she will." The Werelion in human form whispered to his friend.

Sheila, the woman in purple, frowned as she watched Thropan argue with the woman in the orange hooded cloak. Now, where did she see that woman before? "We're not dealing with those idiotic bandits this time. These people aren't going to be fooled so easily." She whispered.

After a bit of arguing between Hanza and Thropan. A new voice spoke up. "Let them in." Even though Hanza knew who it was by his voice, she turned her head and looked up at the blue armored Undead Knight, who was leaning against an upper balcony, looking down at them.

Hanza frowned at hearing what Rook said. "You're not in charge of security here, Rook. I am."

"Feh, so what? Do as I say before I drop the big elbow on that empty head of yours."

Hanza rolled her eyes and looked at the humans in front of her. "Ignore him, he's slightly crazy right now." She said as if it happened all the time with him.

"Let them in, Hanza." Rook said smugly. "We could sure use the... Entertainment."

Hearing that, Sheila frowned. "I REALLY don't like the way he said that." She muttered to herself.

The head guard rolled her eyes. "Very well, follow me." She said, turning and letting the Werecats in human guise follow her.

There was a flash of yellow smoke as Rook materialized in the hallway, carrying two swords. "Hold it, Hanza. I need some music to work out to." He grinned, though no one could see it. "I like listening to music to work out. Yeah, baby, yeah!"

Hanza looked at him with a raised eyebrow. Just what had he been watching in that crystal ball? "Fine, just get them to the guest wing afterwards."

Rook nodded. "Follow me, this won't take too long." He chuckled darkly, knowing that those foolish Werecats in human form would follow him right into a trap. Hmm... Perhaps he'd leave the female alive; after all, he had to show her his mojo. [2]

The tall redhead shuddered, a feeling of nausea and terror unlike any she had ever experienced before washing over her.

The Edge Guard, not wanting to give away their cover, followed the slightly insane Undead Knight down the hall and into a small room with white walls and a wooden floor. "Here's a small room to play your instruments in."

Sheila gulped and pulled out her instrument, an enchanted oboe. Something wasn't right about the situation. She knew it. But for the life of the redhead, she couldn't put her finger on it. "Um, thank you. What do you want us to play, sire?" She asked, playing the part of a minstrel to a key.

As he sat down, Onoli frowned. Something wasn't right about all this.

Rook walked to the center of the room and glanced at the Edge Guard, especially Sheila as she moved her cloak apart, showing her rather skimpy clothing that she was wearing; a small purple bikini bottom that barely covered her privates while showing her hips entirely, with a transparent cloth that was attached to the waistband of the bikini bottom. Rook would have put money on the thought that the redhead's backside was completely exposed, as the thing looked to be a thong. Her rather large breasts were being held back by two triangular flaps that barely covered anything and were connected at the center of her breasts, with a transparent piece of cloth that dangled down to her hips. [3]

"Oh, I don't know. Something upbeat, something fast-paced. I like to workout to situations." Rook grinned under his mask. "In my situation, I like to think of Rangers, Paladins, or even the Northern Edge Guard, as they try to sneak by the Macho's mental prowess using disguises such as peddlers, cooks, or even traveling minstrels." Rook smirked under his mask as the majority of the Edge Guard paled and started getting nervous. "Yet, they fail to realize that Macho's all ready for them, by leading them to a practice arena that's sealed from magic, just as the arena's of the tournament are. So any disguises they were using, such as a magic pot, or enchanted instruments, would no longer work. Oooh yeah!" He didn't have to mention that their magic weapons and shape-shifting abilities would be shut off as well, he was reasonably sure that they could figure that out on their own. "Now play! Play for the Macho Undead Rook Savage before I, SNAP INTO A SLIM JIM! Err... Stab my swords into the Edge Guard! Oooh yeah!" Rook exclaimed, his eyes glowing a bright red as he held up his katana rapier swords.

Sheila had a large bead of sweat on her face as she watched Rook act like that while blue in the face with terror. "If the situation wasn't so serious, I'd be laughing." Tirga and Gar nodded quickly as Rook made a fool of himself.

"Easy guys, I got this one." Thropan said, extremely calm as he pulled out his lute. "I thought up a new song on the way here. It's upbeat and the tempo is pretty fast. I doubt you'll be able to keep up with me." The bald Werepanther in human form said as he leaned against the wall and strummed his hands over the strings.

Sheila's eyes widened. 'Thropan... Can play?' She thought in amazement as her friend and teammate started playing an incredible tune. One that made everyone stop and stare in awe.

Onoli leaned back a little to whisper to Tirga. "You were right. Thropan missed his true calling. I just hope our host likes it."

Rook shuddered and turned to the door. "You may go. Excuse me a minute." He said his voice cracking as he quickly left the room.

As soon as the Undead Knight was out of the room, Tirga flopped to the floor on his back in relief. "Whew! I thought he'd never leave!"

Sheila, standing over him, frowned at him. "Oh come on, it wasn't that bad!" She said, ignoring the fact that she was just as scared as he was. Sheila blinked as a rather goofy grin came over Tirga's features. "Hey, what's up with you?" She asked, wondering why he looked like he was leering at her.

Tirga grinned and chuckled. "Heh, from this position, I can see all your talent and assets to the team, Sheila."

It took only two seconds to process what Tirga had just said to her. Blushing the same color as her hair, Sheila quickly wrapped her cloak around her body and walked away, muttering how perverted the Weretiger was.

Behind her, Thropan shook his head. Tirga was Tirga, and he wouldn't change, even with a cannon pointed right at him. The Werepanther did have to admit that Sheila did have a rather good looking rear-end. If Gar hadn't asked him not to make any moves on Sheila, he might have tried to get her for a girlfriend. He shrugged, no use crying over what might have been. [4]

(----)

Elsewhere, Grave sighed as she walked down the wooden and stone hallways. She looked at the clothes she was wearing in disgust. Oversized blue robes with red trim and a hood was not her cup of tea. Oh well, at least people looking for her wouldn't recognize her right away. Which was a plus in her book, she didn't need Brianna or someone of that girl's family trying to kill her right away. 'At least I got my mage suit on underneath this.' She did wonder if anyone ever wore any underwear under the mage suits. They were so tight that if someone did, it would more than likely stand out.

She frowned as another thought came to her. What was she going to do after this was all over? Most of the people on Jade wouldn't understand, they'd lock her up and throw away the key. 'Yeah, I just had to get into that fight back in Seer's Hamlet with Brianna, didn't I?' She thought bitterly to herself. [5]

"Stupid mages." The small Werecheetah muttered to herself, the end of her tail swaying back and forth behind her from underneath her cloak. Grumbling, she sighed and continued down the hallway. At least the Ogres and Trolls, as few as they were, weren't bothering her.

****

On Earth...

"What about this one?" Genma asked from his place on the floor among a pile of books and scrolls, as he held up one of the few remaining scrolls that he and Soun had not read at yet. They had been at this for days now, with no significant results.

His black haired friend looked at hit and frowned. "That's the scroll to make all women in a specific area spontaneously strip off their clothing." [6]

The portly bald man in his dingy white Gi blinked. "And you-know-who didn't use this?" He asked, not able to believe it.

Soun tapped his chin. "Well, from what I remember about that scroll, the women will strip naked, but then they gravitate towards the best looking male in the area." And as much as it pained both Soun and Genma to admit it, neither of them were the best-looking guys in any area. It was quite a miracle that they had found a woman that loved them.

Neither of them had to think much about their master, who looked older than dirt. They both just hoped that he was long gone by now.

"Right, right. Forgot about that." Genma said seriously. "Hmm... How about this one?" He asked, holding up a book. He hated reading if he didn't have to.

Soun frowned. Something about the book looked suspicious, why, it was older than most of the rest, but kept in good condition. Grabbing it from Genma's hand, he began to read aloud. "Today I took on two new students. One's a chubby idiot, but has good potential for the art. Why, he might be able to give me a run for my money some day. Heh, what am I thinking? The fool will never be able to give me a run for my money, at least as he is now. The thin one, he already has some basic training, but he likes to work about as much as his chubby friend. Hmm... I'll have to whip them into shape." Soun stopped and blinked. "Um, Genma?"

"Yeah?" Came the voice of his best friend from the pile of scrolls and books. "What?"

"I think this is you-know-who's diary." He said seriously.

Genma blinked as he sat up. "Hmm... Maybe our answer to the scroll I used will be in there?"

Soun blinked, surprised that his friend would have such a flash of insight like that. "True. I'll read the book, you check the scrolls, see if any of them are a return spell."

"Excellent idea, Tendo! Glad I thought of it!" Genma said, obviously proud of himself.

Soun sweat-dropped, but didn't correct his friend and started flipping through Happosai's diary, hopefully to find something that would get them the answers they needed.

(----)

Downstairs, Nabiki shook her head as Akane walked into the room from the attic. "Are daddy and his friend still looking for that scroll?" Personally, she didn't believe a word of what Genma had told them. Magic? It didn't exist, outside of illusions and minor tricks that the Voodoo kid used. Then again, the fact that Mr. Saotome could turn into a Panda was something different. If it wasn’t for that, she would have tried to talk her father out of going through those books and scrolls in the attic.

Akane shook her head. "Nope. Where's Kasumi?" She asked after a bit.

"Getting the mail." Nabiki gave a sly smirk.

Akane's eyes widened. "You mean?"

The middle Tendo sister nodded. "Yep, today's the day when she finds out."

Akane nodded, hoping that it was good news for her sister. Kasumi needed it after giving up a lot of happiness for their family. [7]

****

Back on Jade...

Inside his cell, Ranma jerked awake suddenly. “Grave?” He asked, looking at the bed. He got up off the floor from where he was sleeping and got over to the bed. He frowned as he saw Grave was gone. “Dang it!” When had he fallen asleep? And for that matter, who had come in to get Grave?

Looking at the door, he ran over to it and slammed into it, trying to open it. ‘Kuso!’ He mentally swore. The door was still locked and he hurt his shoulder, thankfully, it was just a dull pain that would go away after a bit. He frowned and nodded. He would get out, just not right then and there. Something was in the air he could feel it. ‘Better get prepared.’ He thought seriously as he started to bang and pound on the door, demanding to be let out.

****

Outside of the main tavern at the tournament village, Gina, wearing blue boots that went up to her knees, brown pants, a white t-shirt, a brown jacket, her large glasses, brown gloves on her hands, and her adventurer's hat in her left hand, was using a spy-glass, that could spy around corners, to watch as G'nolga walked purposefully out of the tavern. "So, that's G'nolga, huh?"

Behind her, dressed in long green leggings, a green body suit that had a green skirt that went half way down her thighs, with a pair of numb-chucks on her hips, Luan, a six foot tall girl with brown eyes and short brown hair, spoke up with a hint of nervousness and fear. "We shouldn't engage in a fight with her, she's too dangerous for us."

Behind them, Brianna, dressed in a skin-tight green body suit, shook her head. "Feh, we could get her if we all ganged up on her." After all, even though their dad had said that G'nolga was one of the few that could give her mom a good run for her money, and the Dwarf had kidnapped her a month previous, Brianna felt that as long as they had the numbers game, they could win.

Luan winced, knowing just how dangerous G'nolga really was. Still, it probably was worth it to follow G'nolga and see what was really going on. The only one who completely knew what was going on in the snakes’ lair was the snake, after all.

She was about to say something, when Gina found something in the grass sneaking around. "Say, what's that?" She then gasped as she got a good look at the object. "Brianna! It's Peebochu! She's following G'nolga through the tall grass!" Though Gina was still surprised that Brianna made a bit bomb that she simply adored and loved. After all, all it was supposed to do was explode.

In the grass, an object that was light blue in color, with red and yellow stripes just above its eyes that went down its side, in the shape of an American football, with egg-shaped balls for legs, two long eyebrows, light green eyes, a tail with a small ball at the end of it, was following G'nolga as quickly as it could. "Grr! Sneaky bad lady, go boom on you!"

Brianna cupped her chin and smirked. "Heh, Peebochu has the right idea. Let's go." There was a chance that her other self was actually working with G'nolga. There wasn’t much of one, but Brianna didn't put it past the little evil Werecheetah to do something like that. So, hopefully, wherever G'nolga went, Grave Digger would be there as well. Not that Brianna wanted to let Gina get close to the little maniac, since she'd probably try and kill her sister, but she had to know if Grave was actually there or not.

The other two nodded and followed Brianna as she followed G'nolga to wherever the Dwarf was heading to.

****

Later that night, Grave Digger blinked as she heard explosions coming from outside. Frowning and not really wanting to help Tirant out, but knowing that if she didn't at least go to check on the disturbance, she wouldn't like the consequences. She sighed. "Dammit!" She cussed as she ran towards the disturbance, hoping that it was just a stupid Troll or Ogre on a rampage and not what she thought it was.

As she raced down the hallways, Grave shuddered as she got closer and closer to the disturbance. What was bothering her? It was as if something in her was rebelling, telling her to stay as far away from the disturbance as she could be. 'I just hope it’s nerves and not something real.' She thought to herself frantically.

****

On Earth...

"Tendo! I think I found it!" Genma said as he held up a roll of paper that was tattered at the end.

Blinking, Soun looked at the book and at the page it was open to, then back at the scroll. "I don't know. You-know-who never wrote down how to reverse the spell."

Genma frowned. If he couldn't get his son back then... What would he tell his wife? His only hope lay with the scroll in his hands. "Well, let's find out." He said seriously as he opened the scroll. *"So you need to bring someone back that you used a gate-scroll on, but don't know how to."* Genma blinked. Those were the words on the scroll? *To recover those who were lost by a gate scroll, say these words. Remember to say the name of the person you want to come back."* Genma nodded, sounded simple enough.

Had he read down a bit further, he would have noticed a minor disclaimer. *"Warning, recover spell works best under the light of a full moon."* But, Genma, being Genma, didn't read that and just looked at the words of return. "Tendo! I have it!"

Soun looked up sharply. "Seriously? How did you find it so fast?" He asked, curiously.

The bigger man shrugged. "Does it matter?" They had been looking for a few days by now. "We have the scroll, we shall use it soon!" He exclaimed, pointing his right hand straight up and holding the scroll in said hand. "Our dreams shall come true!"

The thinner, black haired man nodded. "Yes! The schools will finally be joined!"

The two grinned at the thought of their life-long dream finally being realized.

****

Back on Jade...

Frowning as she walked towards the source of the explosions, G'nolga had to wonder what type of security Rook had in this place. It seemed rather lax if the explosions were any indication. She rolled her eyes, it didn't matter too much, she'd take care of the problem and that was that.

Though, she was finally glad that she told Tirant off. Now all she had to do was beat Julia one-on-one in the final round, and her conscious would feel better. She still couldn't believe how pathetic Tirant was, having to kidnap someone to make others do your bidding. Only cowards and fools did that sort of stuff. 'So where does that leave me?' She thought to herself as she walked down the hallway some more.

She never noticed the little machine following her on the ceiling. And even if she had felt something, she wouldn't have seen anything at all.

(----)

"Let me out!" Came an angry and muffled male voice from behind the door.

There was no response.

"Dammit! Let me out!" Came the same voice, followed by a loud banging sound against the Dwarven steel doors.

Inside the cell, Ranma growled as he yelled to be let out. Something was happening he just knew it. He couldn't explain it to anyone who asked, but it was as if the air itself was charged with energy, as if a battle was about to break out and he was going to miss out. 'Is anyone even there?' He thought to himself. There had to be some way out of this. He looked at his right fist. Well, there was one way to find out. Clenching his right fist, he smiled as his forearm started to glow with Ki. 'I just hope I'm right.' He thought. "Star Light Explosion." He whispered, before punching fast and hard straight forward, hitting the middle of the door solidly. His eyes widened tremendously. "Okay, so maybe this wasn't a good idea." He mumbled to himself as a ball of Ki gathered right between his fist and the door, before exploding and sending him flying across the small room and into the wall. The pigtailed martial artist groaned as he slid down from his place of impact.

Ranma shook his head and looked at the door. He goggled at the damage. 'Just a small hole?' He thought in amazement. That punch should have been able to knock the door down with ease, not just put a small hole in it. 'Why didn't it work?' He thought to himself, trying to figure out what was wrong with the move.

Had he known that the door was made out of a metal known as Dwarven Steel, one of the most durable metals on Jade, he wouldn't have been so surprised. [8]

Ranma growled. 'What was it that pops said that one day?'

(Flashback...)

A slightly younger Genma stood over his ten-year-old son and shook his head. "Son, you must remember, that when you get desperate enough, you can overcome any situation. Just remember to find any angle, any ability and you can overcome any opponent." [9]

(End Flashback...)

Ranma nodded. His father may not have been too bright when it came to things outside of fighting, at least he never passed them on, but he knew what he was talking about when it came to the fight. Growling, Ranma crouched down, the tips of his fingers touching the floor, his knees, inches above the ground as his body became outlined in a reddish aura. Though the book had said that he had to be around cats for the full cure to work, Ranma had hoped that his work with the Neko-Ken would bear fruit now.

Ranma never got the chance to see if the partial Neko-Ken would be able to break him out of his cell, as the door swung outward and his current guard, a short, green skinned, bald Ogre, with a paunch belly, good sized arms, wearing leather armor and carrying a club walked in. "Hey! What's all the noise about? You woke up me from my... Arrgh!" He screamed out in pain and surprise as the human boy lunged forward suddenly, slamming both of his closed fists into the Ogre's throat and blasting him out of the cell and into the wall where he fell unconscious from the shock and pain of the brutal attack. He'd heal, being an Ogre and all, but Ranma, in his partial cat mind, didn't care about that as he ran down the hallway. Something was happening; something big, and he had to find out. [10]

(----)

A few minutes before... [11]

Grave, in her cloak, skidded to a stop as she saw the true cause of the disturbance. 'B, Brianna?!' She thought in amazement, and a little bit of fear as she saw the taller blonde in a green body suit that had a visor on her face, shoulder guards, and hip armor on the sides of her body, two large cannons that looked to be attached to the hip armor components and a smaller laser in her hands as she stepped through a large hole in the wall. Behind her stepped another familiar face. 'Gina?!' What the hell was the oldest sister doing here? The small Werecheetah could feel a lingering resentment towards the blonde scientist for having a real life and friends, but nothing more. Behind her was a brown haired girl in green clothes that she had never seen before carrying a Werecat, wearing blue leggings and a blue body suit that Grave could have mistaken for a swimsuit if it wasn't built so durable, that she had seen before. 'And Sheila? What's going on?' She thought, a bit worried. She was quite thankful that they weren't looking at her; otherwise she might have been in trouble.

"I'm picking up four, no, make it five bio-signatures nearby. They're Werecats, just like Sheila. And I've located that bit-bomb for you, Brianna." Gina said as she looked into a device in her hands.

Under her cloak, Grave snarled and started gathering energy for a quick and fast strike. If they thought they were going to take her down, they had another thing coming.

*Target detected.* Came the information from Brianna's targeting computer.

The taller blonde with the eye stripe on her left eye grinned. "Hot diggity! More targets!" [12]

Growling and holding a ball of blue energy concentrated between her hands, Grave was prepared to let loose her collected torrent of energy at the tall Lycanthropoid, when out of nowhere, Rook appeared behind Brianna, slashing down with his swords, smashing her armor, separating her cannons from her body and knocking her to the floor where she smacked her head onto the ground and fell unconscious.

"Brianna!" Gina cried out in shock and horror as her sister was downed with ease. Brianna may have been a gun nut and a mad bomber, but she wasn't as over-confident in her abilities as Britanny was. Not to mention how fast she was brought down. Didn't she have a shield generator on? She didn't get much time to think about it as Luan shoved Sheila to her, pulled off her numb-chucks and started fighting Rook, yelling at her to get out of there.

From her spot in the shadows, the short Werecheetah in the blue cloak sighed as Rook fought the brown haired girl. Try as she might, she couldn't muster up enough anger and fear to kill them when they weren't looking or weren't a threat to her. Then again, that's how she felt about most people. If they didn't threaten her, she wouldn't hurt them.

Settling down a bit, Grave leaned against the wall and watched as the fight progressed. From her perspective, Rook didn't even look like he was half-trying while the brown haired girl seemed to be fighting fairly hard.

Luan snarled at the Undead Knight and leapt forward. "Gina, get out of here, now!" She screamed as she caught Rook's chin with the chain of her weapon and flipped over him, trying to bring him down.

"Heh, nice move." Rook admitted as the female he was fighting was forcing him to bend backwards. "Too bad I can do THIS!" He said and disappeared in a cloud of smoke, only to reappear next to her with his swords raised up. "Ooh yeah! Now then, little girl..."

"Hold it, Rook. She's mine." Came a female voice from the opposite hallway that Grave was at. "Her style, the way she moves. Yes, she's definitely Julia's student." Everyone turned to see a short woman in green leggings that went up past her knees, a white dress that was green around her middle section, white across her chest, and green around at the top. She was holding a long staff with a chain connecting to a shorter piece of wood on her shoulder, her long, curly brown hair dangled behind her as she walked in.

Luan gasped. "G, G'nolga." She said in a bit of fear. There was no way that she could beat the Dwarf by herself. She'd feel better if Carla was there. At least then she'd have a small chance. 'A very small chance.' She thought to herself.

Grinning, the Dwarf moved her weapon from her shoulders to her hands. "Of course, I'll be generous and let you go IF you manage to defeat me. So, come on girl, show me what teacher's taught you."

"HOLD!" Came a male voice from behind G'nolga. The Dwarf turned her head and raised an eyebrow upon seeing a rather tall male Werecat, with brown fur, a white underside and facial fur, and brown rings on his arms, neck, legs and tail, wearing brown boots, blue pants and a sleeveless shirt with brown lining at the shoulders. On his right hand was a blue fingerless fighting glove, and in said hand was a spear crackling with electricity, he wore a red bandanna around his forehead.

Grave's eyes widened. "G, Gar?" She whispered in shock and fear. Okay, things were really getting out of hand. That Jagwere, like several others by now, had tried to kill her. Heck, he was the one who pulled out a lethal weapon on her back in Seer's Hamlet and he convinced Sheila to do the same, just because she didn't want to have Genn kill her by bringing Brianna back out, since at the time, they shared one body. [13]

Grave blinked as G'nolga connected the ends of her staff together and then closed her eyes. 'What the hell?!' The Werecheetah Lycanthropoid thought, amazed. She couldn't believe that G'nolga would fight two people with her eyes closed like that. As insane as the thought was, what happened next blew her mind away as G'nolga was basically ripping into the two fighters, without opening her eyes once. 'How the heck is she doing that?'

(----)

Groaning and clutching his head as he made his way down the hallway, Ranma was trying to get a hold of his mind, yet not lose the abilities that he had at that moment. "D, Damn... It... All." He managed to groan out in gasps of breath. He had to get control, at least enough to be able to fight with his mind, yet he couldn't lose what he had at that moment. He needed his current abilities to get himself out of this place. Anywhere but here.

As he walked down the hallway, he blinked as he heard a fight going on. "Okay, that's, uh, something." He muttered to himself. If it weren’t for that crazy Amazon and that stupid short woman, he wouldn't be in his current predicament.

Growling in an animalistic way, Ranma rushed towards the sound, hoping he wasn't too late. For what, he didn't know.

(----)

Watching the fight, Grave Digger's eyes widened when Gar swung his spear forward, launching from it a powerful wave of electrical energy. And just as amazingly, G'nolga managed to deflect the shot by separating the parts of her staff into a three part numb-chuck and swinging upwards. 'How did she do that?!' She thought in amazement.

Not too far in front of her, Gar's younger sister, Sheila was also amazed that G'nolga managed to deflect the shot. 'Even Onoli's never been able to do that.' She thought in amazement. What had they gotten themselves into this time? All they had to do was blow the lid on G'nolga's scheme and that was that. But instead they ended up fighting the Dwarf as well, not an easy thing to do, considering how dangerous she was.

The fight continued on, but it was a losing effort for both the Jagwere and the brown haired human girl, as G'nolga parried and blocked all their shots with her weapon. The fact that they were losing was made even worse by the fact that their attacks were losing strength and precision as the fight dragged out, yet G'nolga's blocks and attacks were as precise and strong as when the fight had started.

Under his helmet, Rook smirked and looked at the two Diggers' sisters. "It looks like your friends will soon be finished, then you're next. I hope that you've prayed to any Gods and Goddesses that you know for salvation, because I ain't showing you any! You dig it?!"

Brianna sweat-dropped as Rook carried on. 'Shee! It's like he's a wrestler or something.' She thought to herself.

Gina didn't say anything as she watched the fight progress. Obviously, something had to give to get out of this alive. Either G'nolga had to make a mistake, something that didn't seem likely to happen, or Luan and/or Gar would have to get desperate enough to land a powerful blow. "Psst, Brianna, we have to do something." She whispered to her youngest sibling desperately.

"I know. Dang it, where's Peebochu?" She whispered, worried for her "pet".

Gina frowned, wondering why Brianna was acting like that, when she glanced upwards and blinked. "Brianna! I found it." She whispered to her sister urgently.

Brianna's ears perked at that. "You did?" She whispered, surprised.

The shorter blonde nodded, then realized that Brianna probably couldn't see the bit-bomb without being able to see into the Ultra-violet spectrum. "Here." She whispered and let Brianna look out her glasses.

Brianna gasped, her eyes widening as she saw her beloved "pet" rolling around on the ceiling. "PEEBOChu!" She nearly yelled out, if Gina hadn't put her hand over her sister's mouth.

"SHH! You wanna give Peebochu's position away?!" She hissed at her sister. Honestly, Brianna could be really mature at times, but really impulsive at others.

Brianna had the decency to look sheepish.

(----)

Grave found being this close to a high-level fight exhilarating and scary at the same time. Watching the fight as the brown haired girl and Gar kept getting back up every time G'nolga put them down, Grave nodded to herself. They seemed to be a bit tougher than her friend. 'Then again, G'nolga's not trying to put them down very hard.' Besides, Grave had seen G'nolga move faster against her friend than what she was doing with those two. It was almost as if she was playing with her opponents.

Her eyes widened as Gar finally managed to land a blow on G'nolga, granted, the Dwarf blocked it, but that was still the best shot that anyone had landed on her all day.

(----)

G'nolga grimaced as the blocked punch actually knocked her back into the wall. It wasn't the cracked bone or the wall that bothered her too much, it was the fact that the Jagwere had managed to hit the same arm that the human boy had managed to injure in their short scrap a few days previous. She opened her eye and rolled along the wall as that girl with the numb-chucks came swinging her weapon down onto the ground as fast and hard as she could.

"#$%&! We had her!" Luan swore as G'nolga crawled along the wall in a defensive position. That was their chance to get out of the situation alive and not to badly hurt, had she connected with her attack.

Chuckling as she crawled against the wall and stood up, G'nolga smirked at them. "You... Dirty pair of fakers. Those loose and weak stances, the look of fear in your eyes, the sloppy attacks. They were all just an act to get me to lower my skill and abilities and not think of you as a serious threat."

The two fighters went silent. Their jig was up and they both knew it. They paled as G'nolga smirked and charged at them, her weapon at the side. "A, a master technique!" Luan spoke fearfully, knowing that those moves were nearly unstoppable.

"Crap! Block!" Gar didn't have a counter to the move G'nolga was using, despite being Julia's student the longest. Though, in retrospect, it probably would have been better to try and dodge the move, rather than block it as G'nolga came in and made quick work of the two by slamming their bodies with her staff.

(----)

From her position behind everyone, Grave wondered why those two didn't even try to dodge the attack. It was easier to dodge attacks than block them; at least, that's what Ranma had told her.

Her eyes widened as Gar started to taunt G'nolga from his position on the floor. What the hell was he doing? Trying to get himself killed? G'nolga had won, if he was lucky, she wouldn't try to kill him while he was down.

(----)

Groaning as he ran down the hallway, Ranma could feel her close. "Grave." He whispered to himself. He knew something was wrong; he had to get to her.

(----)

G'nolga trembled with anger at what the Jagwere had just told her. Julia was much better than her? They wouldn't have been able to land a blow on Julia like they did with her? She didn't have the heart to finish them off? Why that stupid Werecat, she'd kill him. "GRAAAAHHH!" She yelled and lifted her weapon up high to split the Jagwere's skull in half.

"CHU!!" Came a cutesy mechanical voice as a rush of air flew down from the ceiling at G'nolga's neck. The Dwarf stopped her attack as she realized that she had been had, again. She grimaced, preparing herself for the worst, when she heard a sword slice through something. She ducked and turned her head to see Rook, his sword extended through some sort of object at the end of it.

Rook chuckled. "That's twice that they've almost had you, G'nolga. Perhaps your skill is slipping after all." He said, before tossing the object to the side. "Useless."

"PEEBOCHU!!" Came a distraught voice from behind him. Rook glanced behind him and smirked as Brianna came rushing at him fairly fast. "YOU, OOOH! YOUR @$$ IS MINE!" The Lycanthropoid threatened the Undead Knight. As soon as Brianna got into range and swung at him with a straight punch, he disappeared in a flash, and ended up behind her, the sharp edge of the sword in his left hand at her neck. "Girl, you made a mistake coming after the Macho Undead like that. Perhaps I'll drop a big elbow onto your head and split it wide open? Or maybe I'll crush your windpipe with a stiff clothesline? Or maybe..." He trailed off as his sword split into several pieces. "Or maybe I'll watch as my weapon is broken by a short and annoying Werecheetah?" He said and turned to a darkened hallway, previously unnoticed by most everyone. "I'm surprised that you'd help her?"

"Believe me, you aren't the only one." Came a female voice as the person walked into view and dropped her hood, letting everyone see her face. "She's the last person I expected to save, yet I did."

G'nolga frowned. She wondered what took that girl so long to get out here.

Brianna's eyes widened, her anger over losing her beloved "pet" forgotten for the moment as Grave Digger stepped out of the shadows. So she had been right all along, Grave Digger was working for the bad guys.

Gina paled. Brianna had explained to her that the curse was now alive and had taken a short hybrid body for itself. She remembered exactly what happened last time Grave Digger was around, before her father cured Brianna of her homicidal tendencies.

Sheila, who had been sneaking up on Rook to try and freeze him before he hurt Brianna, stopped in her tracks and stared. Grave was actually helping someone? Didn't she want to kill Brianna, Britanny and Gina? At least, that's what Genn told her before she disappeared a month or so ago.

Gar groaned. 'Great, Grave Digger.' He thought to himself. Just what they needed, a crazy Werecheetah with magical powers out there when several of them were hurt.

Luan blinked, not really knowing what was going on, but figuring it was a bad thing. Why else would everyone act like they were acting as the short Werecat came out into their midst.

Rook narrowed his eyes and teleported right in front of Grave with his remaining sword raised. "Your usefulness is over. If you're lucky, I'll bring you back as an Undead with flesh, baby." He grinned.

Grave growled and charged up an aura beam. She knew that he'd probably do some damage to her, but hopefully she could take him out with her.

She never had to find out.

Just as Rook was about to swing his sword down, a fist impacted him in the face, sending him flying back.

G'nolga blinked. How did that pup get out of his cell?

The others looked on in amazement as a human male smashed his fist into Rook, sending the Ghost Knight back a ways, before he teleported and appeared on his feet. Who was this guy?

Grave's eyes widened. "R, Ranma?" She asked in amazement. How'd he get out? She shook her head. That didn't matter. All that mattered was the fact that he was there right now and wasn't locked up.

Rook frowned as he assessed his, soon to be dead, opponent. That blow had surprised him, if he had his instant teleport ability in his armor like he used to have, the blow would have never connected. "Brave, but foolish, boy." He said, teleporting behind Ranma and swinging down with his sword.

The hairs on Ranma's neck stood straight up as that sword swung down. Quickly rolling to the side, he smirked as the sword clanged against the stone floor. He then bent backwards as Rook slashed horizontally with his sword. The Undead Knight was in no way unskilled, but there was a small problem with his teleporting power, he got too reliant on it, and found that the human was moving around his blows reminiscent to another human that he encountered over 200 years ago. "So, I was right, he did take on other students. Even if it only took him 200 years to do so." Rook muttered to no one in particular as the human lashed out with a kick. Here was his chance to get the rather nimble and quick human. Though, he never moved this way when he fought G'nolga a few days previous. Rook idly wondered what changed as he teleported behind Ranma.

Rook wasn't the only one. G'nolga narrowed her eyes, it was almost as if the boy had increased his abilities seemingly over-night. Or he had a hidden level of power that was just waiting to be woken up, and their little scrap a few days before had forced him to do so.

Grave's eyes widened as she saw Ranma move. 'Ju, just like when we met.' She thought to herself, remembering what he had done to those bandits that had attacked him.

Growling as his punch missed, Ranma had to flatten himself to the ground to avoid a sword poke from behind him.

G'nolga frowned. Things were getting out of hand fast. If something wasn't done soon, all their hard work would be meaningless.

****

On Earth... [14]

Soun looked at Genma. "Are you sure that this will work?" He asked seriously.

Genma nodded. "Yes. When I say these words, we'll get my son back." Actually, the bald martial artist wasn't totally sure that it would work, but it was always better to sound like you knew what was going on.

Soun nodded. "Go ahead." Though, he stepped a few feet back, just in case. Thankfully, his daughters weren't home at the moment.

Genma cleared his throat. "Meringoth, gorentei, mostegoth merante. Bring Ranma back to me! Gennesorth, merante, gesevor!" He called out in the strange language that was on the scroll. Hoping beyond hope that it would work. [15]

For a moment, there was nothing. Then the scroll began to glow an emerald green, before a beam of light shot up into the air a short ways, stopping just above the house, green waves of energy rippling outwards, turning the sky into a pond for a moment before everything went back to normal.

Soun blinked. "Saotome? Was that supposed to happen?" He sweat-dropped as Genma shrugged. The Tendo patriarch sighed. "Well, I guess we lost him then." Damn, and there went the union of the schools too.

Genma frowned. He picked up the scroll and was about to say something, when the piece of paper in his hands turned to dust. Genma's eyes widened. "Oh no." He couldn't remember the spell's name even if he tried. And besides, the scroll had the magic in it, not him. Now what was he going to do?

****

Back on Jade...

"RANMA!" Grave cried out as she saw that bastard Undead stab his sword into Ranma's right lung. The fight seemed to be going in Ranma's favor, until that bastard had pulled a sneaky move and teleported to the same place as he was attacked.

Rook smirked. "You put up a good fight, but I know your style, punk! All I had to do was trick you into thinking I only teleported behind you to get you in the front, oooh yeah!" He crowed and twisted the sword in the human's lung, forcing him to his knees.

Ranma growled the pain was intense. Still, he had to get out of this situation, or he'd be dead. Glancing upwards, he punched at the armored fool, causing him and the sword to disappear. "Heh, glad I was right." He muttered to himself and fell onto his face. The red ichor of his blood spilling out onto the floor.

Smirking as he stood above the fallen human, Rook had his sword upraised. The fight had lasted for a bit, at least fifteen minutes, but in the end, the human ultimately failed. "So l, long... What the?" He asked, his armor frosting over and being encased in ice. "I, I can't move."

Sheila had a nasty smirk on her face as she held her sword up against Rook's back. "I'm glad he had you distracted long enough for me to generate a freeze-field and freeze you." Grinning, Sheila grabbed Rook by his shoulder and slammed him against the ground, shattering his body. After doing so, the Jagwere slumped against the ground, glad that the creep was finished. Now all they had to worry about was G'nolga.

"NO!!" The head of the Undead cried out, as his body broke apart.

Watching this, Luan nodded, glad that her parents' murderer was finished, even if she didn't land the final blow.

Gar coughed from his position on the floor as he tried to move to a sitting position. That kid had put up a good fight, even if it was mostly dodging. It just wasn't enough against Rook though.

G'nolga snarled. "THAT'S IT! IT'S OVER!" She yelled.

"I COULDN'T POSSIBLY AGREE MORE!" Came the smug voice of Gina Diggers as she held a small control panel in her hands, with a floating plasma cannon right next to her. "I should warn you. This cannon is programmed to fire at any movement over thirty-five m.p.h."

G'nolga took a step to the right, only to see the cannon follow her movement precisely. She then took a step to the left, only to have the cannon follow her again. Then it dawned on her. "That's technology isn't it? Dwarven steel has no effect on it like it would against magic."

Gina grinned and nodded. "You are so right."

G'nolga rolled her eyes and turned away. "This fight is over. Continuing now would be pointless. Now, get off of my property!" She commanded as she walked away, sparing a glance at the kid who impressed her, who was now being held by that small Werecheetah.

Brianna sighed in relief. Now they could relax a little. Well, she could completely relax once she took care of Grave Digger. Turning to face her other half, she blinked as the kid, Ranma she thought, started glowing an emerald green, as well as Grave Digger, since the short Werecheetah was holding onto him. "What the?" She asked no one in particular as the two suddenly disappeared.

Sheila blinked a few times as she stared at the place where the two were a moment ago. "A teleport spell?" But... Where would they go? The human was hurt, and Grave was wanted for some questions.

****

Grave blinked as the surroundings around her became clearer. "What the? Where are we?"

"Oh, hello, who are you?" Came a voice from behind Grave.

Grave turned her head and saw... [16]

Preview of the next chapter: "Hey, this is Grave Digger. Well, I hope you all enjoyed that last part. Anyway, in the next chapter, you'll find out who came across Ranma and me. Hopefully my problems on Jade are over. But we'll all find out soon enough, next time, on Grave's New Life."

________________________________________________________________________

[1] G'nolga's talking about the Renewing Breath technique that Julia used to regain her health to fight against her mother. Since Julia was back to 100% health, or close to it, and Brunhildagard Brigand was banged up and tired from the fight, Julia's mom gave up.

[2] Gag in revulsion here people. If you couldn't figure it out, Rook's been watching Austin Powers.

[3] Rook's a pervert, what do you think he's going to notice?

[4] Sheila's good looking in either form, in my opinion. (Human or hybrid) If she didn't have her birth defect, I bet she would have to beat every male Werecat off with a stick, or in her case, her sword.

[5] Check the prologue, the info's right there. The end result of Grave and Brianna's fight was severe damage and destruction in Seer's Hamlet.

[6] I apologize to female readers, but I could see Happosai having something like that.

[7] This alludes to one of the earlier chapters. Unfortunately, I can't remember which one, since my computer crashed, I lost all of my writings and I have limited Internet access now. Gotta love public libraries. (Yeah right.)

[8] Don't complain about continuation errors here, I've gone back and fixed the earlier chapters.

[9] Hey, Genma's not a TOTAL idiot. Don't let what you read in other people's fanfiction make up your mind about how certain characters act.

[10] Thought I forgot about Ranma's partially controlled Neko-Ken, huh? I got Ranma's current control of the Neko-Ken from watching a recent episode of InuYasha that was on a few weeks ago, when InuYasha took on the Elder Dragon that ended up killing his father and how he had partial control over his full-Demon form.

[11] Too much is happening at once. That's why I had to have a small bit of a flashback.

[12] Reference to an earlier chapter. Brianna has her pure blonde hair here, but she still has her eye stripe over her left eye. Not like it was in the comics. What can I say? I like Brianna with her eye stripe.

[13] Check the prologue if you aren't sure what she's talking about.

[14] I'm a stinker, aren't I?

[15] If you can't tell, I made the spell up.

[16] I'm a REAL stinker for leaving you hanging.

This is the longest piece of fiction that I've written anywhere, I think. I hope that this was detailed enough for all of you. You greedy readers you. By the way, that's not a bad thing, being a greedy reader.

Tell me what you think of this. Flames, praises, comments, critiques, criticisms, all welcome.

As for Kasumi, and why I did what I did with her in this story. I always felt that she got the short end of the stick in the series, especially after she dropped to a background character. So, pardon me for not making her into a fanon character that's an airhead and says "Oh my!" all the time. *Shrug*

Anyway, who should Grave and Ranma drop in on? Let me know. I have some ideas, but let me know what you people think.