Grave's New Life

Chapter Thirteen

Disclaimer: Ranma is owned by Rumiko Takahashi-sama. As are all the characters from the series Ranma 1/2. Grave Digger is owned by the High Lord Fred Perry. As are all the characters from Gold Digger. All other series are cameo appearances and references only and belong to their respective owners.

Okay, I’ve said the disclaimer, now, back, back you evil lawyers you! BACK I SAY! *Pulls out a can of Raid, sprays the lawyers, blinks as they start dropping dead.* Well, what do you know? They ARE cockroaches!

No, I’m not back totally yet. I’m just getting this out for all you fans who enjoy the series.

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Grave blinked as she saw a woman, who was about five-foot-five to five-foot-six with red hair that was done up in a short style, bright blue eyes, the woman was a little taller than her friend was in his male form and she was wearing a blue robe that hugged her body. 'Isn't that a kimono?' Grave thought to herself, while blinking.

The woman blinked at seeing such a young-looking girl with fur on her face, before noticing the boy next to her. "Oh dear, here, let me help you." She said as she rushed out of the large house she was in to lift up the bleeding boy off the ground on his right side.

Grave gasped, feeling stupid for forgetting her friend, even for a moment. "Oh, shoot!" She said and threw Ranma's left arm over her shoulder.

"G, Grave what..?" Ranma muttered, before groaning as he felt his right lung burn as though it was fire.

Said girl nearly started crying as Ranma coughed up some blood. "Shh, don't talk. Don't talk." The Werecheetah whimpered out as she walked with the woman into the house.

The woman raised an eyebrow. She had first assumed that the girl was the cause of the boy's condition, but seeing how she was acting at that moment, it tossed out her original ideas. "Excuse me for being blunt, but we should really get this young man into the house." The girl nodded as they walked into the house. "I didn't catch your name there..." She trailed off, hoping the girl would answer the unasked question.

"Grave. Grave Digger." The girl in the hooded robe said to her.

The woman raised an eyebrow at the name. That wasn't exactly a common name anywhere. "I see. Well, Grave Digger, my name is Nodoka."

Grave nodded as they went into the house.

(----)

A few minutes later in the guestroom...

Nodoka frowned as she lifted the boy's torso so she could wrap the bandage around him without stop. This would have been easier if she could sit him down, but hey, that happens when one's unconscious.

Grave sighed. She could have healed Ranma, now that she thought about it. But she had been so upset that she couldn't focus on her magical energies in the right way. Still it was nice that the nice lady was trying to help her friend out. The short Werecheetah-looking girl looked around the room. There wasn’t much in the room. It was mostly spacious, with a door to the hallway at one end, and a small window across the room from the door. The walls were a light blue color; the floor had a soft teal colored carpet that completely covered it.

“Well, this is about as much as I can do at this time.” Nodoka commented, before laying the boy down on the gray futon she had gotten ready for him in a short period of time.

“Thank you.” The girl in the hooded cloak said to her, obvious relief in the girl’s voice for the little bit that the older woman had done for the boy. Nodoka smiled at her and lay the boy down onto the futon, before laying a light blanket over him, no need to aggravate the wounds after all. What Nodoka found curious was how the girl didn’t seem to want to move. The girl just stared at the raven haired youth; her posture was slumped and relaxed. Even with the purple cloak on, Nodoka could easily see that she wasn’t going to be going anywhere for awhile.

“Are you okay, child?” The redheaded woman asked, several instincts rising up within her, she was a mother after all, and one that followed tradition and honor very closely. Even if she was lenient in some cases and had a slightly warped sense of honor, she followed her honor code as strictly as possible. Nodoka sighed as the girl wouldn’t answer. The fact was made worse by how all she would do was stare at the boy. Standing up, Nodoka felt that the girl probably wanted some privacy. “Well, when you want to speak, I’ll be in the living room.” She said, before leaving the room and closing the door slightly.

After the woman was gone, Grave looked out the corner of her eye to the door and let out a breath that she didn’t know she was holding. It was weird, to the smaller Lycanthropoid. She had almost expected the woman to lash out at her, blaming her for what had happened to Ranma. She blinked a couple of times, before yawning. “Tired.” She mumbled to herself. She hadn’t gotten any sleep in fifteen hours. Stretching her arms above her head, she looked around the room. She didn’t think that the nice woman would let her stay for too long, and she didn’t want to sleep outside. “So, there’s only one place for me to sleep.” She muttered to herself, not at all unpleased with the thought, before crawling over to Ranma’s left side, his undamaged side, before pulling her hooded cloak over her head and tossing it against the wall, before lying down next to Ranma, curling her body next to his as she started to drift off to sleep. At least things would hopefully get better. “Ranma, I’m sorry.” She whispered, as she drifted off to sleep. She just hoped she didn’t get any bad dreams.

A few moments after she fell asleep, she rolled slightly so that she was facing Ranma more fully, her left arm going across his upper chest, while her left leg moved on top of his legs. Unconsciously, Grave Digger moved her tail from behind her, to lightly cover Ranma’s waist.

****

Meanwhile, back on Jade...

Sitting in her lounge room, with her thumbs rubbing the temples of her forehead, the redheaded former Armsmaster looked at the people that sat in front of her. Her daughters, Gina and Brianna looks nervous, not that she could blame them, her one-time student, Gar wasn’t there, but rather at the healer’s clinic. It was to be expected, considering how much damage he had taken from G’nolga. Even though he was a Jagwere, G’nolga’s weapon had Dwarven Steel on the tips of it, which messed up magic, including a Werecreature’s ability to heal. Luan, her blond haired, soon-to-be student wasn’t there either. She had to go with Gar to the healer’s clinic. From what she heard those two do, she had to admit, she was slightly proud of them, being able to get G’nolga’s guard down far enough to nearly defeat her. She looked at her husband, the only other person in the room with her, to see what his thoughts were on the current matter. “So...” She began, trying to make sense of everything that she had heard. “While you two,” she said, nodding to Gina and Brianna, “were with Luan and heading to the tavern to see me, you managed to see G’nolga as she came walking out. And when you did that, you decided to see what was going on and followed her. And then, when you got to the Armsmaster palace, you saw Sheila fighting against Rook’s mercenary that used to be called Hanzo and some Undead Knights. Am I right so far?” She asked with a sigh.

Gina nodded. Thankfully, Brianna was both upset because of what had happened to her little “pet” and the fact that the little homicidal and evil version of her showed up and actually saved her life. “Yeah, then Sheila got distracted by Brianna and got knocked out. We went into the palace to get all the information we could that would hopefully get G’nolga ousted as Armsmaster, but instead we ran into Rook, and then G’nolga showed up, and everything went to hell in a hand basket.”

Julia frowned lightly at the language used. “Shortly after G’nolga showed up, Gar did and he and Luan both took on G’nolga, seemingly putting up an even fight, even if they were getting tossed around like rag dolls. After G’nolga decided to get serious and beat Gar and Luan to a pulp, Brianna’s invention tried to blow her up, but Rook stopped it, causing Brianna to try and beat him up, only to have him teleport and try to slice her head off.” She said, sighing. That was exactly what she was afraid of too. Dang it, why did Brianna and Gina skip her self-defense courses? Julia got up off her chair and started pacing the room. “And just before anything else happened, Brianna’s evil side decided to show herself and break Rook’s sword, thereby saving your life. Rook took exception to this and teleported over to her, preparing to strike her down. Am I right?”

Again, Gina nodded. “Yeah mom. After that, some guy that I’ve never seen before came rushing out of nowhere and smashed Rook in the helmet, knocking him back. The two fought for awhile, until Rook managed to get behind him, stabbing him in the lung with his sword.”

Theo, Julia’s husband with gray hair and a goatee, then spoke up. “And Sheila mentioned to me that shortly there-after, the two of them managed to teleport away somewhere.” Where that was, no one was certain. And he highly doubted that G’nolga would let him in to see if he could scan the spell and find out where they left.

Brianna spoke up, her voice soft, hinting at the state her mind was in at that moment. “I, I’ve never seen her look so worried for someone before.” She said, mostly to herself. “She looked like Britanny did when she was worrying about Stryyp after he went to Aebra.” Who was that guy? He looked a little younger than most of the guys she was interested in. It was ironic for her to think of someone as too young, considering that she was barely three years old chronologically. From what she knew of Grave Digger, that evil Werecat didn’t care about anyone but herself. But something had changed, what it was, Brianna wasn’t sure.

The Arch Mage sighed, looking down at the ground for a moment while he collected his thoughts. He lifted his head up after a few minutes and looked at his family. “Any suggestions on what we should do about this? I could have the Mage Council look in on this, or even the Elders of the Retreat to see if she’s there or not.” For some odd reason, Theo didn’t think that they’d find Grave Digger in either of those places.

“Wouldn’t she stick out like a sore thumb?” Gina asked. From what she had learned from Gar, nearly everyone knew that the Werecheetahs were a nearly dead race.

Theo nodded, obviously thinking the same thing. “I’ll ask the Mage Council and the Elders of the Retreat to have their people keep an eye out for a short Werecheetah.” Britanny didn’t come to Jade very often, or the Retreat, so they didn’t have to worry about people getting the two mixed up.

“What if she’s on Earth?” Julia asked. That would have been the worst-case scenario. A powerful Werecat mage, especially one who wasn’t disciplined and had little restraint, was a very dangerous thing in the best of situations. She didn’t want to think about it if some religious nut or a witch hunter came across the girl.

No one said anything. If Grave really was on Earth, the chances of them finding her were slim at best.

To be continued...

Preview of next chapter: “Hey, it’s me, Grave Digger! Well, now you know what happened to me and Ranma. We’re going to have to deal with some repercussions soon. And no, they aren’t bad. So, see you next time, on Grave’s New Life.”

Notes: Heh, yeah, I’m back, somewhat. This was short, I know, but I had to get it out to get this out. It’s more of a filler chapter and a quick recap of everything that just happened.

It’s revealed in the color series of Gold Digger that Dwarven Steel DOES in fact mess with Lycanthrope healing.

Comments? Questions? Suggestions? Let me know.