Third spamfic in the series, following on from Shock! and
Quest!

Change! The Mirror of Legend?
By Kagami

The Temple of the Water Dragon Lord in Sairaag was hardly an
impressive sight. Instead, it was a mouldering pile of rock;
a massive eyesore that the locals had learned to ignore and
avoid.

Still, it wasn't all that bad considering that the
worshipped being in question had perished in the Demon Wars
over a thousand years ago. Worshippers fell away and the
temple itself fell into disuse and disrepair, with the folk
from nearby Gann town preferring their isolation.

However, if one of those fine townsfolk had been wandering
near those ruins on this rather sunny day, they would have
heard strange yells mingled with muffled explosions that
seemed to issue from the depths of the ancient temple.

Yells that sounded disturbingly like so.

"Bram Blazer!"

"Moko Takabisha!"

Ranma Saotome was having a good time. The attacking golems
were rather weak, each capable of being defeated by a
combination of physical attacks and his confidence blast.
Of course, it helped to have Zel along. The array of
Shamanistic magic was truly awe-inspiring; something he
would definitely have to learn before heading home. The
chimaera wasn't a bad hand at close combat either.

"Well, they're obviously guarding something here," he said
before ducking a ham-handed attempt to pulverise him. A
return kick converted the stone creature into rubble.
"Though they're pretty pathetic."

"True, but don't get carried away. They're being guided by
something," Zelgadis replied, while casually polishing off
an attacking golem. "Keep your guard up until we get to
the main chamber."

"Okay, okay," Ranma said dismissively. A brief pause in the
conversation ensured while two more golems were disposed of,
then another abrupt sally came from Ranma.

"Say, I wonder if Akane got my note?" he asked.

---

"Ranma, you idiot!" swore Akane as she crumpled up the
hapless parchment missive that she'd re-read for the
umpteenth time. Just when she'd thought they had been
making progress too.

Somehow, 'Off with Zel to look for a cure. Be back in a
couple of weeks. Have a good time with Lina, Gourry and
Amelia until then. Seeya.' scrawled in a barely legible
hand didn't really cut it with her.

She wondered if they sold hammers in Sairaag.

After ducking out in the middle of the night, Ranma and
Zelgadis had a lead of over half a day on the rest of them.
Still, they were slowly catching up. A cry from Amelia
and a shout from Gourry broke her out of her reflection.

Akane looked up to see a dozen bandits attacking ... no,
wait, they were groaning rather piteously and most were
staggering along covered by a massive numbers of bandages.
Others were being carried by the walking wounded. The
miniscule threat became rather less when the bandits
recognized just who was standing in front of them.

"Aaahhh! Ceiphied save us!"

"The Bandit-Slayer!"

"It's that bit... uh, I mean, Lina Inverse."

"Help! Mama!"

If Lina Inverse hated the terror and hatred her name and
reputation inspired in bandits (those still alive that was),
it certainly wasn't possible to tell from her behaviour.
Rather, she acted more than pleased at the interruption,
leaving Akane to watch the ensuring events with much
bemusement.

"So," Lina growled pleasantly at the quaking bandits, "who
did this to you?"

A walking mass of bandages replied. "It was that stone guy
and the red-headed bitch with him."

"Yeah," piped in another, "we thought she was you for a
moment, but she was stacked, man, really stacked! Not like
yo..."

"Fireball!"

The charred idiot hit the ground rather hard.

"Anyone else have an issue about it?" Lina menaced, all
traces of amusement gone from her voice. But, the sweetness
and light returned with her next few words. "You can help
us though. And I might just let it go at that. How long ago
did you attack them?"

"A few hours back! It was raining hard. Yeah, that's
right. They were on the road to Gann town." The bandit
spokesman somehow conveyed his nervousness despite the
covering bandages. "Uh, can we go now?"

"I guess ..." Lina sounded reluctant.

"Come on, Lina-san," Amelia cut in just as Akane was about
to speak. "We have to find Zelgadis-san quickly. Uh, and
Ranma-san for Akane-san."

Lina sighed theatrically. "It's your lucky day, boys. Make
the most of it."

Comments trailed behind them as they moved past the
bandits. Sometimes, people just don't know when to shut up.

"Luck, she says. It'll take me a week to recover ..."

"Ziras, you have any spare bandages? I think I crapped my
pants ..."

"Wow, I met the Bandit-Slayer and lived! My rep'll
sky-rocket."

"Just one fireball?" Lina whispered sotto voce.

"Come on, Lina-san," Amelia repeated firmly.

---

*Boom!*

The stone portals collapsed majestically as Zelgadis
strode forward to confront the malovolent entity that
controlled the attacking golems.

"Uh, hello?" piped the said entity.

"Guardian Golem!" Zelgadis hissed as he noticed the
animated face on the stone wall facing him and Ranma. A
large, facetted gem was embedded in the forehead,
providing a dazzling contrast to the smooth contours.

"That's right. The name's Joe," replied the rocky face.
"My job's to guard the talisman of the Great Shazaard
Lugandi; an item so powerful and unbalancing that it
could disrupt the world as we know it."

"Say, should he be telling us all of this?" enquired
Ranma of Zelgadis.

"Well, it's been five thousand years and I'm bored. I
could tell you the history behind its creation?" Joe
asked hopefully, eager for an audience. "And it's purpose?"

Ranma looked impatient. "Yeah, yeah. The Mirror of Changes,
right? Well, we need to use it, so why don't we just get
on with it?"

"Mirror of Changes? I guess you could call it that ... But
if you insist on fighting, I'll have to oblige you."

"Ranma, wait ..." Zelgadis said.

"Moko Takabisha!"

The chi-blast impacted on the rocky face, chipping a few
fragments, while Ranma charged forward. However, Joe only
smiled in return and Ranma was unprepared for the stone
arm that rose from the floor and punched him.

"Damn!" Zelgadis dodged aside as a hail of stone shards
peppered the spot where he was standing. He started
casting spells, incinerating stone tentacles, spikes,
darts and fists that erupted from the walls, giving Ranma
time to recover.

Ranma rolled to avoid the few further attacks that came
his way. The Guardian had focused his attention on
Zelgadis, judging him to be the greater threat and
giving Ranma a narrow window of opportunity with which to
act.

"Ranma, the gem! Break it!" shouted Zelgadis as he fended
off hordes of stone tendrils.

Ranma sprung from a low crouch and ricochetted off the
roof, aiming for the forehead. Stone hands erupted from
the ceiling, just missing his feet. Shards of stone flew
at him but Ranma had anticipated that, and adriotly used
his spinning momentum gained from twisting off the ceiling
to avoid or deflect them.

"Waaahhh!" Joe cried as Ranma's kick landed, crushing the
sparkling ornament. "I'm doomed. Five thousand years of
existence wiped out just like ..." The face shattered into
a thousand pieces, and Ranma landed amid a literal hail of
dust and debris.

His eyes though, were focused on the alcove revealed by
Joe's destruction. The inset mirror was a full body-length
and covered with enough jewels to buy a comfortable
retirement.

The Mirror of Changes.

---

Well. Part 3 since I have some spare time. Anyway, I'm
not too happy with the Lina/Amelia conversation since I
can't remember when Amelia ever over-rules Lina on
anything. Instead, she often just goes along (kicking
and screaming) with the insanity.

Still, that's how the scene turned out. Let me know what
you think and what can be done to improve it.

Phil.