Matrix Dragon Presents....

        A NERV Production (This fic causes mental instability in the
writer :)....

        Ocarina's Love
        Part Four: The Not-so-calm before the storm

        If this has made it to you safely, I haven't been sued by the
various groups who I am stealing stuff from. You all know who they
are.

        "This" is for when people say something.
        <This> is for when people think something.

***

        Link dodged under the swing of the club, then slammed the
kokiri sword into the ogre's stomach. He screamed in pain, and fell
to his knees, giving the youth time to stab him in the face. Link
stepped back from the body, his Deku shield coming up to block a
thrust from the last opponent. This one had seen him fight, and now
knew not to take a thirteen year old elf so lightly.

        He circled around his opponent, watching the way he moved. He
held a two-handed sword in his hands, and Link doubted his wooden
shield would withstand a full strength blow from it. He had to end
this fast.

        The sword slashed downwards, towards his head, and Link jumped
to the side. As the man passed by him, the kokiri sword lashed out,
the man fell to the ground, clutching at his throat. Blood poured
across the ground, lapping at Link's feet....

        "Yaargh!" Link sat up and ran his hands through his hair.
<It was just a dream,> he told himself. But it was also a bad memory.
That had been the first time he really killed someone. Twinrova
hadn't left her bodies behind, and Gannon came back, so he had told
himself that he hadn't really killed them. But that day had changed
that.

        He had been travelling to Minoc, to deliver a letter from Lord
British to the Mayor concerning something he didn't know about, when
he had been attacked by bandits. He had to kill them, or they would
kill him. Killing ogres wasn't hard, because they were nothing like
the people he knew. But the look in that man's eyes...

        Link shuddered. Jaana had found him a few days later. She was
the one who comforted him and pulled him out of the trance like state
he had been in. In the years since, he had killed time and time
again, but that didn't make it any less pleasant.

        "Why is that memory haunting me now?" he asked himself. "I
thought I dealt with that a long time ago."

        "Keep it down," Kaji muttered. "You're making more noise then a 
sleeping snorlax." Link sighed, and lay back down on his futon,
reviewing the days events.

        To start off with, he died. Again. It was his last chance this
time, he didn't have any more fairies besides Navi. Then, Ryouga had
trashed the school, injuring and killing people. Then, to finish it
off, Ranma had gone into the Neko-ken and killed Ryouga.

        The aftermath was pretty bad. Nodoka had said something to
Genma, and he had simply vanished. No one knew where he had gone to.
Soun had offered to let Kaji stay for a while, as a thank you for all
your help. Kaji insisted on paying for his stay, and said that it
would only be a few weeks. Ranma had cried himself to sleep, as for
the first time ever he remembered what had happened while in the
Neko-ken. Ukyou had been sticking to herself all night. Cologne had
left soon, for some reason she didn't feel like telling anyone.

        <It could be any of those things that triggered the nightmare,> he 
thought. <Or all of them.> Dying was always unpleasant, but innocent people 
and pokemon had died today. And then there was Ranma. Although he hadn't 
been in control of his body, he remembered killing Ryouga.

        Link knew that things were different now. The Ranma he had
known for such a short time seemed to be gone, possibly forever.

***

        Breakfast the next morning was very quiet. Ranma was eating
like a normal person, without saying a word. The pokemon chewed on
their food, which came from a box marked Pewter Pokesnacks. No-one
said a word until Nodoka spoke up. "Children, I have called Juban
High. Until your old school is rebuilt, you will be attending there."

        "Aw man," Link complained, "I figured there had to be something good 
to come out of all this, and you go and spoil it."

        "It is important to have a proper education Link."

        "Yeah, if you're gonna stay in one place long enough to use it. I'll 
be leaving this world sooner or later," the elf protested.

        "Come on Link, what's so bad about school?" Kaji teased.

        "You are also enrolled," Nodoka said.

        "What?!"

***

        "This sucks," Kaji said.

        "That's the tenth time you've said that," Akane replied.

        "I haven't been to school in years! Most of my schooling has
been by correspondence."

        "Volt, vol orb," Voltorb said as it rolled along the top of the 
fence.

    "No, you will not chew on any computer cables," Kaji said.

***

        "Ah, it is a glorious day! The heavens part and hide the traces of 
death from the eyes of the holy and his beloved." For some reason, Kuno was 
also going to the same school as them.

        Ranma raised an eyebrow. "Is it just me or is he making less
sense then usual?"

        "That's not poetry, that's rambling," Link replied. Ranma
wasn't listening, being too busy making a crater with Kuno's body.
Kaji stared.

        "What is that guy, half Machamp?"

        "Wark!" The group turned to see a large bird sitting on the
ground, looking at them. Or rather, it was looking at Kaji.

        "A Pidgeotto! I need one of them," Kaji said.

        "You've been a pokemon trainer for six years and you don't have a 
pidgey?" Akane asked.

        "He doesn't want to evolve," Kaji said as he pulled out a
pokeball. "Hitmonchan, I choose you!" The ball snapped open to reveal
the fighting pokemon, who placed himself in a battle stance. "Hitmonchan, 
mimic one of his attacks!" The pokemon closed his eyes
for a brief second, then called out.

        "Mon."

        "Fly?! Since when does a wild pokemon have that move? Oh
well, Hitmonchan, fly up and strike him from above!" The Hitmonchan
took to the air, as did the Pidgeotto. Hitmonchan was faster however,
and the bird pokemon was sent tumbling back to the ground.
"Hitmonchan, Ice Punch! Freeze him solid!"

        "CHAN!" Hitmonchan's left fist connected with Pidgeotto, and a
block of solid ice formed around the bird.

        "Pokeball, go!" The pokeball sucked the bird into it, flashed
for a few seconds, then was silent. "Yes!"

***

        School was hell. They were all late because Kaji was busy
catching the pokemon, so they had to stand in the hall. Then they had
History. Everyone did well there, except for Link who once again made
himself look like an idiot. Then Kuno charged in and attacked Link
for some reason, and they were in the hall again. And that was simply
the morning.

        Lunch was peaceful for a change. Shampoo, Ukyo and Kodachi
didn't show up, Kuno was still smoking from the blast Voltorb had
given him (The fight with Link never got started, as the electric
pokemon was out of his pokeball again, and Kuno stepped on him.
Insert standard pokemon reaction here.), Nabiki was off
blackmailing.... er, doing business with people, and the pokemon were
behaving themselves.

        "Hey, look at this," Kaji said, pointing to an ad in the paper. "A 
pokemon tournament's on in a few weeks. All trainers are eligible."

        "Great, just what we need to get our mind off all our problems
lately," Akane replied. Ranma simply chewed on his food.

***

        "So, you're a pokemon trainer are you, Mr Ryouji?" the teacher
asked.

        "Indeed I am sir."

        "Well, I was a trainer when I was younger. Let's see what they
teach you little trouble makers these days. What pokemon type is
effective against dragon pokemon?"

        "Ice or dragon pokemon, and their respective attacks."

        "Name of Cerulean City Gym leader and badge."

        "Misty and Cascade Badge."

        "Name the three beginner pokemon."

        "Bulbasaur, Charmander, Squirtle."

        "Inventor of the Pokeball."

        "Raymond Files."

        "Name all the element stones,"

        "Thunder, Leaf, Fire, Water and Moon."

        "That's just a myth," the teacher said.

        "It isn't. The Moon Stone was discovered six years ago.
Following a robbery attempt by Team Rocket, it was broken into
thousands of smaller pieces. Looks like you don't know everything."

        "Out in the hall."

        "What for?"

        "OUT!!"

***

        "Well," Link said as he walked along the fence, "that sucked."

        "Why are you up there?" Kaji asked.

        "Well, Ranma's too down in the dumps, so someone has to
fencewalk."

        "Shut up," Ranma growled.

        "Ranma, I want to have a word with you later."

        "What for?"

        "I'll tell you then."

        Kaji looked at the map in his Pokedex. "There's a Pokemon
Center not too far from here. I'll see if they could take a look at
Pidgeotto."

        "Mind if I come with you?" Link asked.

        "Of course not." The pair went down another street, followed by 
Navi, while the others continued towards the Tendo Dojo.

***

        "Hello Nurse Joy," Kaji said.

        "Have we met before?"

        "No, but I've been to a lot of Pokemon Centers over the years."

        "Oh, I see. So, how can I help you?"

        "Just a check up of my Pidgeotto. I caught him a few hours
ago." He handed her a pokeball. Then he wandered over to look at the
magazines. As expected, they were very old.

        Link looked at a cover, dated 1969. "Man walks on the moon? Is
this for real?"

        "Yeah, that happened thirty years ago. Old news in our world."

        "Everytime I think I'm making sense of all this.... Hey Kaji,
how come you're taking this so well?"

        "I'm a member of the Pokemon League. It's normal stuff for me.
The past few years have ranked pretty high on the 'Weird Shit-O-
Meter."

        "Are my eyes deceiving me?" a voice called out. Kaji's eyes
widened.

        "Chronos! Is that you?"

        "Indeed it is, my young friend." The voice came from a figure
standing nearby. Link noted with surprise that the figure was not
human. Then he remembered seeing one on the news the night before the
battle with Ryouga. A Machoke.

        <Quite interesting to look at in person,> Link thought to
himself, taking note of the size of the pokemon, and how he still
displayed a sense of grace.

        "Link, this is Chronos, an old friend of mine. Chronos, this is 
Link."

        "A pleasure to meet you," Chronos said as he shook Link's hand. The 
elf managed not to wince at the pressure on his hand. "I would have thought 
you would be in China by now Kaji."

        Kaji shook his head sadly. "What good would I be? Surge and
Bruno are already there. I wouldn't be much use."

        "Perhaps." the pair continued to talk for a while, until Joy
came up with Pidgeotto. Then they all went their separate ways,
Chonos with a plane to catch, Kaji back to the dojo, and Link and
Navi were looking around, gawking like tourists (They are tourists
when you think about it)

***

        An hour later, Link scraped away at the rubble, pulling the
sword out. It seemed that he had been wrong, and his sword had
survived the blast. He took one look at the blade, and revised that
idea once again. The hilt was fine, but the blade had been warped and
weakened by the blast that destroyed the school. "Useless," he
muttered to himself. Still, the sword meant a lot to him. He sheathed
it, then looked at a small group of people standing nearby. One of
them was the school principal. Remembering what the others had told
him about the man, Link thought it wise to check what he was up
to. He wandered up to them. The principal was holding the plans for
the new school.

        Link took one look at the design; palm trees, pools everywhere, a 
statue or ten of Hawaii gods, and said simply one thing; "No way, pineapple 
head."

        "You bad student!" Link planted the Megaton Hammer into the old 
man's head, then picked up the plans and walked off, ripping them to shreds. 
Navi floated back, gave the obsessed man the finger, then
kicked in a bit of speed to catch up.

        As he walked down the street, Link looked at the area around
him. He'd gotten used to strange things, so it didn't really surprise
him to be in a place like this. But still, the sight of cars, just
moving along on their own, the skill with which these buildings were
constructed, and the way people just accepted it....

        ...He didn't get a chance to mention it to Navi before a rocky
hand shot out of the wall next to him, grabbed him, and pulled him
through the wall. He was then greeted with a fist to the face,
sending him back through the wall and into the side of a parked car.
At the same time, Navi acted on instinct, floating above the hole,
waiting for something to come out.

        She got what she wanted. A humanoid creature, around two and a
half meters tall and made completely of rock, stepped through the
hole and picked up the elf. "Link Hylia?"

        "Yeah.... that's me," Link muttered weakly.

        "I have been summoned to destroy you." The creature slammed his left 
fist into Link's ribs and stomach several times, then tossed him away. As 
Link slid to a halt, awareness of Navi lit up in his brain. He could sense 
her, and her target.

        It was a demon of some sort, not the same one that tried to
kill him a week earlier. An underling perhaps? His insides were
flesh, but his skin was solid rock, almost as hard as titanium. Link
also knew that his lightsword, which he had started to carry on his
belt once again, was lying almost ten meters away. On the other side
of the demon. Even Biggeron's sword, damaged as it was, was no longer
in his possession. "Isn't this kinda pointless?" he asked, keeping
his hand hidden as he pulled his gun out of nowhere.

        "What does that mean?" the demon replied.

        "Well, if we keep this up, one of us is going to die. So it
makes sense if we stop-" He spun around, and with the aid of the link
to Navi, fired a perfect shot that hit the demon square in the chest.
"-That's the sensible answer to this, isn't it?"

        "Aaaarrrggghhhh!!!" The demon charged Link, who leapt to the
side, firing another blast that hit his foe in the small of his back.
The gun disappeared, replaced by his bow. Link let a Light Arrow
fly, hitting the demon in the back of the head. As he did this, he
picked up the lightsword. With the familiar snap-hiss, it's golden
blade emerged. His bow disappeared, replaced by his Hylian shield.
When the demon moved, he was ready. He slashed the demon across the
chest, leaving a black mark, but nothing more.

        "A skilful attack, but as you can see, I can not be harmed."

        "So it would seem," Link replied, stepping away from his foe
and closer to Biggeron's Sword. He dropped his shield and lightsword,
and pulled the normal sword from its sheath. Crouching down, he
assumed the first position of the Spin Attack. His sword began to
glow, as flames of blue ki ran along it's surface. The demon growled,
but remained as still as a statue. Then it moved, charging towards
Link.

        Too late. The flames turned an orange color, and Link moved,
bringing his sword up and around. The ki-flames streaked behind the
sword, clawing away at the stone that made up the demons chest. Then
Link spun around for a second swing, this time tearing apart the
demons ribs, stomachs and other things usually considered important
for life. The demon collapsed in shock, then simply died, a shocked
look on it's face.

        Link looked at his sword. That last blow had been too much for
it, and it had simply fallen to pieces. "I'm getting too old for
this," he muttered.

        "Yeah, but now you can blame it all on the triforce," Navi
replied.

***

        Link staggered into the Tendo home, asked Kasumi for some
ginseng and garlic, pulled a spell book out of nowhere, and got to
work casting a great heal spell. Kaji and Wartortle watched, coming
to the conclusion that they had never seen anything like this before.

        "Where's Ranma?" The elf asked.

        "He's up on the roof," Kasumi said.

        "I need to talk to him. Wait here Navi, I need to talk to Ranma 
alone." With that he left the room.

        Kaji tapped at the videophone. "I _know_ that wasn't there
before I went to school."

        "Nabiki ordered it a few weeks back," Kasumi said.

        "Nice. Haven't seen many of these since I left Pokemon Island.
Can I make a long-distance call?"

        "If you pay for it when the bill comes," Nabiki called from in
front of the tv.

        "Thanks." He entered in a long number, and soon the image of
Professer Oak appeared on the screen.

        "Kaji! It's good to see you." Oak was making tofu again.

        "Cook on holidays again?"

        "That's right. I have good news."

        "What is it?"

        A sixteen-year-old boy walked onto the screen. "Hi Kaji!" Next
to him, a pikachu waved.

        "ASH!! You're alive!"

        "Yep, we ran into Surge and Bruno a few hours ago."

        "How'd you get back to Indigo Plateau so fast?"

        "Bill finally got his teleporter working properly . Something
to do with a fragment of the moon stone."

        "Took him over six years, but he finally pulled it off."

        "War!" Kaji's Wartortle called out.

        "Pika pi!" Pikachu replied.

        "Kaji, I got a strange message from your pokedex yesterday,"
Oak said.

        "It was Haunter. He's dead."

        "Oh. I'm sorry."

        "When are you coming back?" Ash asked, changing the subject.

        "I'm staying here in Nerima for a few more weeks, then I'll
probably be on my way back to the Pokemon Islands." <Ain't no way I'm
missing out on a tournament.> So, what happened to you?"

        "We ended up in some weird place called Jusenkyo..."

        Kaji's brain was reduced to single word sentences. <Jusenkyo.
Curses. Shit.> "What spring did you fall in?"

        "You know about that place?"

        "What spring?" Ash picked up a glass of water and tipped it
over himself. Kaji looked at Ash-chan. Then he burst out laughing.

***

        "They suspect something," the first voice said.

        "Impossible," another voice replied.

        "The league believes that it was nothing more then Team Rocket
and Giovanni's vendetta against the Champion," a third voice said.

        "A Moltres?" the first voice asked. "A creature of that power,
controlled by that fool? It is sure to make them suspicious."

        "You worry too much."

        "And you too little."

        "It is no matter," a new voice said. The others fell silent.
"The league has no place in the scenario. Soon they will be removed.
What is more worrying is Saotome."

        "That boy will have the power to ruin everything, but he must
live."

        "It seems that he remembers the Neko-ken this time. Something
that has never before happened, with Saotome or any other." This
voice has a tone of worry.

        "The Unknown is a problem. It has been confirmed. He is an elf. And 
he has the Triforce of Courage."

        "After so long, that begins now?" Fear was evident.

        "It would seem so."

        "Can he be destroyed?"

        "You fool! You know that killing the holder of the Triforce
would draw the attention of the Three to us!"

        "It is too dangerous to leave him alive," yet another voice
protested.

        "Will you be quiet!" Everyone else shut up. "The league can be
dealt with. The elf is a walker of worlds, and will soon leave.
Saotome... As long as he does not do anything drastic, he is
harmless."

***

        "Ranma? You up here?"

        "Yeah." Ranma just sat there, looking at the night sky. "What
is it?"

        "We need to talk."

        "What about?"

        "Yesterday." Link sat down next to Ranma.

        "There's nothing to talk about." Ranma began to get up, but
Link grabbed his arm.

        "Don't give we that shit Ranma. People died yesterday, one of
them by your cat side. You've been quiet all day. Now start talking,
or I use a few spells on you that you won't like." Ranma sat down.

        "Have you ever killed anyone?"

        "I've killed a lot of people over the years. It's never nice.
But Nabiki said you've killed before though. Why'd you become like
this?"

        "Last time..." Ranma took a deep breath, bringing forth
memories he'd rather forget. "Last time I knew what I was doing. I
made the decision to kill Saffron. But this time, I wasn't in control
of my body. I couldn't stop myself."

        "Maybe so, but here's some advice a friend once gave me.
Remember why you killed him, and what good came from killing him. By
killing Ryouga, you saved all of us." He stood up and jumped off the
roof, leaving Ranma with his thoughts.

***

        The being known as Lucifer floated almost a meter off the
ground, looking over the information collected by both heaven and
hell on the 'Hibiki incident' and its aftermath. "Do we know who
summoned the rock demon today?"

        "No," Farore replied. "Our first guess was Happosai, but he's 
dissappeared. Maybe Kuno or Mousse."

        "The problem," Lucifer said, "is that we have no idea why
Ryouga went out of control, and until we do, we're in the dark. It
may be connected to the demonic entity that possessed Tatewaki Kuno
recently." He scowled. "And just to make it perfect, we have no idea
who or what this entity is. All I can say is that he's evil, but he's
never been in my domain."

        "So we know nothing about this."

        "No. I'll let you know if my people find anything."

        "Same here." The Goddess and Devil vanished, leaving only the
snow of the South Pole.

***

        Morning came, and Link awoke to the sounds of fighting.
Sticking his head out the window, he saw the sight of Ranma and
Hitmonchan sparring. Pulling some clothes on, he wandered downstairs,
looking for food.

        Kasumi placed some eggs in front of him. "This is different,"
he said.

        "I felt like a change," Kasumi replied. Link shrugged, and
began to eat. Then he blinked. One of his eggs had disappeared. He
glared at Wartortle.

        "I'd expect that from the fuzzball, not you." Wartortle grinned and 
reached for something off Akane's plate. Akane grabbed him and tossed him 
into a wall. Wartortle stood up, and moved towards the
table. Akane glared at him. He screamed, and fled back into his
pokeball.

        Ranma walked in, and began to eat as he usually does.

        <Looks like he's back to normal,> Link thought. <Or is he? What if 
he's only putting up a brave face? Holding all that in is never good.>

        Kaji staggered down, half asleep, and looked at the clock.
"Crap! We're late!" He ran upstairs, came down fully dressed, and was
out the door. In less then ten seconds.

        "Are you sure he's not from Nerima?" Nabiki asked.

        "I think someone should tell him there isn't any school today," 
Kasumi said. Ranma and Akane headed out the door, hoping to stop him before 
he got too far.

        "Link Hylia! Today I shall free Akane and Ranma from your dark
magic, and avenge myself for your insults!"

        Link grinned. "So now he thinks I'm controlling Ranma and
Akane? If I did, I'd be playing matchmaker." He pulled a book out of
nowhere. "But he is right about me using magic." Nabiki raised an
eyebrow. "Not dark magic," he added, "But still magic. ORT GRAV!!" A
bolt of lightning hit the blue thunder, who quickly became black
charcoal.

        The rest of the day was quiet, nothing of note happening.

***

        Ranma-chan splashed the cold water over her face, not really
caring what gender she was at the moment. She looked behind her to
see Link standing there. "Hi."

        "Bad dreams?"

        "How'd you guess?"

        "Same thing happens to me all the time." Link patted Ranma-chan on 
the shoulder. "If you let it get to you, it'll tear you apart. Don't forget 
what happened, but try and move on."

        "Do the dreams ever go away?" Ranma-chan asked.

        "No. But over time, you don't have them as much. Tell me about
the dreams."

        "Why?"

        "Jaana made me tell her about the nightmares I was having, and
it helped me. Maybe the same will apply for you."

        Ranma sighed. "It starts off during the fight. Ryouga knocked
me away, and I guess he thought I was out cold. But I was only
stunned. Then I looked next to me, and there was Shampoo, in her
cursed form. Then all I can see are images of when...." Ranma-chan
shuddered. "...I was in the pit, and the cats were everywhere, and
they were scratching me and daddy was just standing there and the
cats were hurting me and they wouldn't stop..." Ranma-chan continued
to babble, not noticing as Link pulled his spell book out of nowhere.

        "In zu," he whispered. Ranma instantly fell asleep. He splashed a 
bit of hot water on her/him, and put him back on his futon.
"Pleasant non-dreams Ranma," he said quietly.

***

        End Part 4a

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