Good morning (It is a great morning where I am),

I was a young lad when I began to write this story (I had 
only sixteen years to my name, I have nineteens years 
now), so I know the story is not as strong as it can be.

Please, if you have the patience to shift through the 
words and verses, send me your comments and critisms. I 
will gladly put every thought to use.

----------------------------------------

http://homepages.go.com/~silentnova/index.html
___________________________________________________
GO Network Mail                                    
Get Your Free, Private E-mail at http://mail.go.com



-- Attached file included as plaintext by Listar --
-- File: tfoe1.txt

The Fellowship of Evermore
By Silentnova

	The characters in this story, with 
exceptions, are creations of others. Ranma 1/2 and 
its characters are the property and creations of 
Rumiko Takahashi. No attempt has ever been and no 
attempt will ever be made to gain external profits 
from these properties and characters. Any growth by 
the author will be limited to improved writing 
skill and expanded ego, so please don't sue me.

---------------------------------------------------

This part was last updated on 8 May 2000

	Comments and criticisms are appreciated. 
Flames will be ignored.

---------------------------------------------------

Chapter One
An Encounter with Destiny

	The walk on the sun covered grassy trail was 
silent and Ranma hated it, since it only gave him 
time to think. He thought of his family, his 
friends and his life. Everything gone in one moment 
and it was not even one day ago that he was full of 
life and hope. Now his life had been taken away and 
his hope blown away into the distant horizon when 
the moxi-map, which would have cured him of his 
weakness, was torn asunder and carried off by the 
terrifying winds of the Hiryo Shoten Ha. "But," 
Ranma thought, "I suppose that losing my strength 
was better than losing...Akane, that idiot, why'd 
she have to go and risk herself like that?" Ranma 
didn't have an answer, although he wanted to 
believe that maybe she cared for him.
	He had decided when he saw Akane safely on 
the ground after the winds had picked her up and 
threatened to do her what they did to his cure that 
he would leave Nerima on a long training journey 
and possibly never return. "So what exactly are you 
planning to do?" Akane asked. She had decided to 
follow him, despite his complaints, protesting that 
he was too weak to carry his own luggage. Her 
argument hurt Ranma, yet secretly he was glad she 
came; she was a balance to him and he didn't know 
what he would do if he were to suffer a case of his 
Neko-ken and it were never to rain again. He knew 
he was being a little paranoid though.
	Ranma looked at Akane and growled, "I told ya 
already, I'm on a training journey," He quickly 
looked away from her and hoped that she wouldn't 
ask any more questions, since he didn't know any 
more answers.
	"Stupid, I already knew that! I mean, where 
are we going?" Akane watched her fianc� walk in 
front of her wondering why she had insisted on 
coming with him in the first place. "I had a bright 
future ahead of me and I threw it all away just to 
be with him!" She shook her head quickly. "No, I 
just want to make sure that the idiot doesn't get 
himself hurt! I mean he's so weak!"
	Ranma's heart dropped into his stomach. "What 
an uncute tomboy!" he thought. He knew he was 
beaten; yet he opened his mouth, though not a sound 
came out.
	"Aha! I knew it, then why are we going this 
way? If you even know that!" Ranma glanced at 
Akane; a triumphant look was on her face. He felt a 
little annoyed at her expression, but didn't want 
to let her know this.
	"I don't know, I just feel that we gotta go 
this way..." he answered. A gentle wind caressed 
his face; then he realised what he was looking for. 
"I'm gonna find more techniques like the Hiryo 
Shoten Ha, which don't rely on strength,"
	After that then two remained silent for a 
long while. They watched their surroundings with a 
keen interest. The trees, which were now beginning 
to surround the two, were very beautiful and very 
green. They began to wonder which forest they were 
in, but couldn't for their memory remember; they 
hadn't ever seen this forest on any map before. 
Every once in a while they would hear the chirping 
of a small bird and look to see where it might be 
coming from. And if they saw it they would realise 
that they'd never seen that species before.
	Soon darkness began to cover the land. "Maybe 
we should get ready for bed," Ranma offered. Akane 
acknowledged him and stopped to take the backpack 
off. She laid it gently onto the ground and opened 
it up to take out a pair of sleeping bags. She took 
one for herself and placed it onto the ground. 
Ranma took his and laid it away from a large tree, 
which would have blocked his view of the night sky. 
They made themselves a small dinner and laid 
themselves down for bed. By this time, it was very 
dark and the stars covered the entire sky.
	Rarely had Ranma ever seen so many stars in 
the past few months. He had been travelling for 
most of his conscious life and he had been able to 
see the stars almost every night, but when his pop 
had taken him to the Tendo dojo he wasn't able to 
see them over the lights of Tokyo. Only now did he 
realise that he missed them.
	"It's so pretty," Akane commented. "I've 
never seen so many stars before," She thought back 
to days past and realised that she was right. She 
had never really taken the time to watch the stars 
before.
	Ranma's mind went blank. He didn't know what 
to say, yet he spoke anyway, "When me and my pop 
were training, we saw these stars every night," 
Ranma wished he could hit himself now and save 
Akane the trouble.
	"Really?" Akane cursed herself; she really 
wasn't amazed at the fact that Ranma had seen stars 
before, it was just that she would rather hear his 
voice than complete silence. "I wish I were there," 
She couldn't believe her own ears. She didn't want 
to say anything, since she was too tired, yet she 
felt great to be this open with Ranma.
	On the other hand Ranma couldn't believe his 
mouth, because it had actually said something 
constructive. "Yeah and sometimes I'd make shapes 
in the stars," Ranma grit his teeth. Although Akane 
was lying down, he was sure that she knew how to 
hit him from there; she always found a way.
	"Can you show me them?" Akane blushed; she 
didn't know why she felt compelled to ask Ranma 
about them. Since after all, she had her own 
favourite constellations. But she felt her eyes 
getting heavy and she felt that she couldn't stay 
awake much longer; once she saw this constellation 
Ranma promised her she would shut her eyes for 
sleep. "Well, um," Ranma pointed to a section of 
sky. "There's the two lonely travellers," Ranma 
looked at the constellation, but now they didn't 
look so lonely. "When did I last see that? Was it 
when I was training with Pop?" He wondered about 
the constellation and began to remember his days 
with his father. 
	But a star caught his eye taking his mind off 
his thoughts; it was magnificent and possibly the 
brightest star he had ever seen, yet he thought had 
never seen it before. A fragment of memory ran 
through his mind, "I've been there before as well 
as seen it before," But he dismissed his thought as 
nonsense, since he was with his father almost his 
whole life. He rolled over to look at Akane and saw 
that she was asleep; he then realised that he had 
been thinking for a long while. "I suppose I should 
do the same now," he decided already drifting into 
sleep. Then he remembered nothing more.

	They woke up early and quickly had their 
supplies gathered up and ready to go. They decided 
to walk to a hill they thought to be a good spot 
for a view of the surrounding area. So with the 
rising of the sun they started on their journey 
again. Soon they reached the hill, but they noticed 
that it was densely populated with trees, yet they 
entered anyway. As they started to climb the hill 
they found that the trees and undergrowth seemed to 
not be inclined to let them through; more than once 
they scratched their arms and faces on low hanging 
branches and tart thorn bushes.
	Their trip went on with their faces 
developing more than a few bruises and for hours 
all they knew were trees and when they began to 
think that they'd never make it through the forest 
they happened upon a walking path. "I think that we 
should follow it, it would be a lot better than 
going through this forest," Akane suggested. "And 
I'm sick of all these trees!" So they began to 
follow the path. They found the path to be easy and 
that it led a fairly straight route. They picked up 
the pace to make up the time they lost ploughing 
through the forest.
	When they made it to a creek, they decided to 
rest. They cleaned their faces and hands and had a 
small meal. Ranma breathed a sigh of relief. "I 
almost thought that I wouldn't make it! I mean I'm 
so weak that I almost couldn't pull my legs out of 
those thorn bushes. I even wanted to turn back for 
a while" Ranma threw a stone into the creek. "Damn 
that old freak!"
	Silence settled onto the area and Akane grew 
afraid of the silence; it made her uncomfortable. 
Akane looked at Ranma. "How did you sleep?" she 
asked him. She was beginning to remember bits and 
pieces of her dreams and remembered that they were 
most horrifying. Only a break from silence would 
stop her remembering her dreams.
	Ranma replied slowly, "I dreamed I was flying 
through space and that all I knew was space. I 
remembered things and they were pretty depressing," 
Ranma shook his head. "I don't know Akane, maybe 
this training journey was a big mistake! I feel 
that something bad is gonna happen and that maybe 
we should had just stayed at home. I could've just 
asked Doctor Tofu to help me search for a cure."
	Akane didn't know what to say. "Maybe you're 
right Ranma, but we're here now and we can't go 
back. There's nothing back there for us now," Akane 
thought out loud, "I dreamed of a mountain. Then I 
dreamed of a city on this mountain, but the people 
who were there couldn't protect themselves from a 
terrible thing that attacked them," She looked 
straight at Ranma. "I think we're supposed to keep 
going. No matter what the cost to us is."
	Ranma laughed. "Dreams are funny things. 
Normally we don't talk half this much to each 
other, but we share dreams at the drop of a hat!" 
He stood up. "Well if we gotta keep going then 
let's go now!" They both stood up and readied 
themselves to leave the creek. But Ranma stood a 
second longer looking back towards where they came 
and then he turned to face the direction they 
intended to follow. "I wonder where this trail is 
gonna take us?" Ranma looked at Akane and she 
shrugged. Ranma sighed. "Let's go," So they began 
to walk on the trail.
	The walk was like any others they had, except 
that they were feeling a little more comfortable 
and the silence didn't bother them any longer. They 
began to enjoy the sun that was shining through the 
trees, but they noticed that it was near setting. 
So they began to pick up the pace. Soon they saw an 
opening of the forest ahead of them. As they 
entered the opening they found themselves in a 
field. "This is perfect!" Akane commented.
	"You're right," Ranma looked around the 
field. There was not much on it except grass and it 
also had a good view of the surrounding area; it 
being raised far above the valley they were in not 
so long ago. Suddenly Ranma jerked his head up. 
"Who's that?" Ranma asked of two men standing in 
the field with them. "They weren't there before!"
	"I don't know," Akane crept closer to Ranma, 
who took this moment to study the men. One was tall 
and confident. Ranma saw that this man was 
youthful; how he could tell he didn't know, since 
the man was wearing a cape and shall, which covered 
his head and created a shadow over the man's face. 
The other was a medium sized black-haired man with 
pointy ears and he had a magical air about him.
	The taller man looked at Ranma and Akane. 
"Don't be afraid young ones," He started walking 
towards the two teens. "I'm sorry that we startled 
you two, but we were just enjoying a meeting!" 
Ranma stepped in front of Akane protectively 
already forgetting that he'd lost his strength. The 
man spoke again. "Don't be afraid of me, I wish no 
harm to come of you!"
	"Who's afraid?" Ranma asked confidently. The 
man smiled and Ranma as he saw this smile relaxed, 
but he also saw that the man was older than he 
looked, much older. "Who the hell are you? And how 
did you get in front of us. You weren't there 
before!"
	"I'm called Kain, but I've had other names as 
well," He gestured to the other man. "And my 
friend's name is Legolas," Kain and Legolas bowed 
deeply. "And as for our appearing in front of you 
suddenly? That my son was a trick of the light and 
had nothing to do with us! For we have been here 
for a long while now!"
	"We were just discussing stories of the past 
and we are onto our last one," Legolas glanced at 
Ranma and Akane. "Would you two care to listen in?" 
The two teenagers listened to Legolas' voice and 
felt it to be enchanting. They nodded. "It is 
rather longer. And so I offer you both a seat," 
Legolas gestured to the ground.
	"Well let's begin," Kain said after Ranma and 
Akane sat down, "In the days of the elder there was 
a young prince named Robin who enjoyed singing and 
story telling. So he began to travel the lands 
entertaining and delighting his people, but only in 
disguise. On his last journey before he would 
return home he met the fair princess Olivia. She 
stole the young prince's heart. He cast off his 
disguise and asked for her hand in marriage. They 
were quickly wed and brought great joy to the 
hearts of the people of their united kingdoms."
	"Their meeting is a story in itself, but we 
won't tell you that today," Legolas added.
	Kain continued, "But their love was not to 
last. A malevolent force despised their great union 
and sought to destroy it. This force was so evil 
that people would look at it and instantly be 
driven mad. Only the strong of mind and soul could 
defend themselves from this despicable creature and 
his inventions of destruction. So it was that the 
creature, which today is called the Dark King, 
tried to murder the love of Robin and Olivia. It 
attacked their kingdom and threw Robin and Olivia 
down from their rightful thrown. Then the creature 
sealed Robin into a diamond and cast the jewel into 
the far reaches of space.
	"The creature never believed that Olivia 
would ever escape his grasp, but when she did she 
began to search for the diamond of Robin. She spent 
her life searching for Robin. Yet in the end, she 
never found the diamond and so was greatly grieved. 
The cosmos took pity on Olivia and turned her into 
a diamond herself promising that one-day she would 
be reunited with her soul mate and that their love 
would forever be remembered in the diamonds.
	"They produced an heir before their loves 
ending named Mirokos and after his mother's passing 
he promised that he would deliver vengeance onto 
the creature and so sought his parent's diamonds 
out; he then disappeared into the darkness of 
space. After many years of suffering Mirokos 
suddenly from out of nowhere assailed the Dark 
King's stronghold and with the power of the two 
jewels that he finally reunited cast the despicable 
creature down from his dark thrown. But the 
creature had one last treachery; he stabbed Mirokos 
in the back as he faded into nothingness.
	"Mirokos' last breath was spent asking the 
cosmos that his loyal subjects who had helped him 
defeat the Dark King be given peace to heal the 
terrible pains caused by the creature,"
	Legolas looked to the sky, which to Ranma's 
surprise was filled with stars. He said, "The 
subjects were given a ship that could sail away 
into the lands of the infinite; they haven't 
returned yet. They are still deeply wounded and 
will not heal even in my lifetime,"
	Akane spoke to Kain, "Thank you for your 
story!"
	"No, thank you for listening! It may seem odd 
that we are here telling stories right out of the 
blue, yet the people of this land do as we did all 
the time! And your listening was quite a surprise! 
I suppose there is much more to you two than your 
appearance," Kain then looked at the two teens for 
a long moment, almost as if he were studying them 
and then he spoke, "It seems that you two are on a 
journey yourselves!"
	Akane nodded. "Yeah, we just wanted to leave 
my father's home and find our own path in life, but 
we don't know where to go, or what to do,"
	"You two can say no to this, but would you 
like to accompany my friend and me to a local 
city?" Legolas suddenly asked, "It's not too far 
away and we'd enjoy the company! We'll probably 
stop in the forest to spend the night, but after 
that, it's straight to my home! Perhaps at my home 
you may find an answer to your immediate 
questions,"
	Ranma and Akane nodded. Then with no further 
delay, they left the field and began walking on a 
course through the trees, but this time the trees 
gave Ranma and Akane an easier time through their 
paths; it was almost like the trees were moving 
themselves out of the way for the company. Quickly 
the fianc�s found Kain and Legolas to be great 
company. They sang of ancient deeds and spoke of 
grave sorrows. They would often turn around and ask 
the two teens of their lives and much to the teen's 
surprise they freely gave up their stories. What 
the two older ones found most interesting though 
was Ranma's curse and asked much of it; Ranma would 
simply shrug though and avoid the subject.
	After a full day walking the group stopped. 
Kain turned to face Ranma and Akane. "This is where 
I take my leave of you, but before I go I want to 
speak with you two. Our meeting was not by chance. 
Actually I had hoped to find you two even earlier, 
but I was delayed and had to wait to see if you 
could make it here on your own,"
	"Here?" Ranma asked. "If we could make it 
here? What's so special about this place? It looks 
like any other forest I've been,"
	"This is the forgotten forest of Minerthal 
and it is an enchanted forest that is hidden from 
the eyes and hearts of the world for a purpose long 
forgotten. In its heart lies a city like no other 
and there you will find purpose, although you may 
not wish for it. If you two weren't the ones I was 
looking for, my search would have been in vain, but 
now I'm sure that you two are of hero's lines," 
Kain faced Legolas. "Tell your father that I am 
going to investigate that which delayed me and that 
I won't be long!" And with that Kain started off 
into the forest, but he turned around one more 
time. "Legolas, be sure that no harm comes of these 
two! I place you in charge of them!" Then he 
disappeared into the night.
	"I swear that they won't come to any harm!" 
Legolas watched for a few moments more then turned 
to look at his two new charges. "We have a rough 
walk ahead of us; we should get some rest!" And 
with that they set up camp and went to sleep.

	She stood in front of a mirror and she placed 
onto her a head a helmet. "No one will recognise me 
like this," she thought. She looked at herself in 
the mirror again and sighed. "Father. I wish that I 
were your son..." Then she turned and left the 
room.
	Akane opened her eyes. 'What was that all 
about?" she wondered of the dream. But she thought 
nothing more of it and went back to sleep.

	When the three woke up, they quickly started 
on their way to Legolas' home. Legolas told Ranma 
and Akane of his home; he said the name of the city 
was Minerthal, which is the name of an ancient hero 
who had saved the universe long ago. Then Ranma 
realised something. "Legolas, what do you mean when 
you talk about stuff like Mirokos saving the 
universe and this Minerthal guy doing the same 
thing. Are you saying we aren't alone?"
	Legolas looked at Ranma and shrugged. "The 
world is so small and the universe so grand. 
There's bound to be more than we can comprehend. 
There are so many lives here on this planet that 
it's just not possible that there isn't, or haven't 
been any other planets like ours. I myself cannot 
answer your question, since I have only memories of 
this world, but I'm sure that there is more than 
this world in the universe,
	"Since before my existence, these tales of 
Mirokos and Minerthal have been taught and handed 
down to the next generation from the last. My 
father had told me of these stories when I was but 
a child; he told me that they were the truth and 
that they must never be forgotten. I believe him, 
as so should you, since my father remembers much,
	"To be honest with you, I am not human and 
nor is my father. We are both elf and on Earth, 
there are only a few others like us. They all live 
with us at Minerthal. We live long lives and see 
much, yet I am sure that not many of us can answer 
your question feeling confident that we are 
entirely right, since we know that we're only 
partially right,
	"In my city, there lives a man named Akira; 
he is a great seer and a great lord. He is also 
eldest on this planet. If you meet him, ask him 
your question and you will receive a truthful 
answer. I have myself never met him, as he is 
always travelling with a secret purpose. Many I 
know who have met him, say that he is carrying a 
burden of great importance and trusts only a few 
people with his wisdom,
	"But that is in the future and we cannot 
worry about then," Legolas stopped walking and 
turned around to face the young couple. "Well you 
two, I've told of you my home. Now see her with 
your own eyes and ask yourself whether you two 
believed me when I spoke of her magnificence 
earlier," He gestured to a spot above a cliff, 
which hung over a misty valley.
	Ranma and Akane stepped past their guardian 
and looked over the cliff and saw that it stood 
above a massive city. Akane stepped closer to 
Ranma. "It's huge!" she whispered, "When does it 
end?" Akane faced Legolas. "You live here?"
	Legolas nodded his head. "For many of your 
life times I have and every time I return home from 
a journey, I am always inspired when I see the city 
from here!" He walked past Ranma and Akane. "There 
is a poem that describes this city in a nutshell. 
Would you like me to recite it?" The two younger 
company members nodded. "Well then, relax and sit 
please for it is a little long,
"A jewel under the sun. Nothing is
Enchanting more than her breathing. Time
Stops to take in her beauty. Dancing in
The heat, yet never moving, her grace more
Than even the swallow.
Thousands call her home, yet none call her theirs.
Wild as the horse and strong as the bear; she
Watches everyone moving and protects
Them when they are in need. A guardian for
The mass, of who she is the lord. The mother.
The ones who wish to take her loves away
Are driven away from her and vanquished,
Never to see a single day more. Her
Love is end lasting and her care for time-
All."
A fragile soul weeping for her lost king.
Stands forever waiting for him; hoping
That he may return. Knowing that his love
Is not hers, she will only gently hold
Him and promise safety to his subjects.
Her heart mended, she will stand forever
And keep peace to the last.
	"That is but the translation of the poem; I 
cannot hope to even do the poet justice with my 
version," Legolas said. "It is ages old and is 
considered a window to the future. I think those 
who think so are partly right. They believe that 
Minerthal will one-day return, but I think that his 
descendent will appear before us instead,"
	"He has a descendent? If that's so, why isn't 
he or she in charge of the city?" Akane asked. "I 
mean, that's the way it goes isn't it? The 
descendent is the ruler for the next generation?"
	Legolas shook his head. "No one knows what 
happened to Minerthal, so the people at the time 
elected for my father's father to lead them until 
he returns. He hasn't though, so now we wait for 
his descendent," He gestured to the city. "Shall we 
go?"
	As the three were walking down a trail, which 
led from the trail to the city gate, Ranma felt 
something very wrong in the air. "There's something 
bad going to happen," But he just shook the feeling 
away and continued walking. Then he stopped right 
in mid-step noticing the gate that they were 
walking towards. "Akane, wait up a second. Doesn't 
that remind you of something?"
	Akane stopped and looked to where Ranma was 
pointing. "What? The gate?" She was about to tell 
Ranma to quit imagining things when a feeling of 
de-ja vu occurred. "Legolas. Did something ever 
happen here?"
	"Many things have happened here at the Gate 
of Eternity, since it was built long before the age 
of memory and so I can't tell you any one specific 
tale of this place, unless you have an idea of the 
tale that you are thinking of. Just be assured that 
here is where anything is possible and everything 
has happened. I am told that here will still be 
here years long into the future and will the sight 
of many events to come,"
	Ranma shook his head and started walking 
forward; Legolas' answers were beginning to annoy 
him, since the guy only answered with more 
questions. Then Ranma felt his world shake; he fell 
to the ground from the force of the blow and all 
that he could was a gentle bright light shining 
everywhere.
	He opened his and eyes and realised that he 
had never shut them. He looked around and saw where 
he wanted to go right in front of him, yet he knew 
that he could never return; he heart broke at the 
knowledge. The gate stood triumphantly where it 
always had. He wanted nothing more than to pass 
through its hallowed path and return to her, but 
his eyes were beginning to close and his spirit was 
ebbing away. He opened his mouth to utter her name 
one last time, "Avirosa," Although he couldn't see 
anything any longer, he knew that she was there 
with him now. "Live..."
	The gentle light filled his world again and 
Ranma remembered that everything was okay. Ranma 
shook his head. "What the hell just happened?" he 
wondered. He took a moment to remember where he was 
and saw that he was lying on the ground. "Akane?" 
He saw that she was sitting beside him holding his 
head in her lap and then he panicked. Quickly he 
was off the ground and as far away from Akane that 
he could get. A look of surprise was on her face 
and Ranma knew that that same look was on his. 
Silence covered the air, yet Ranma desperately 
wanted to break it, since it was so humiliating.
	Legolas' voice filled the void asking, "Is 
this place where Mirokos took his last breath?" Yet 
Legolas seemed to ask himself more than the two 
teens. He quickly turned his attention to Ranma and 
Akane. "It seems that you two have experienced a 
little piece of history!" Then he began to walk 
forward to the gate. "But let us not dwell there, 
since we are now running late!"
	Ranma wanted to ask what for, but Legolas was 
quickly making his way to the city and had already 
left Akane and him behind. He decided that it 
didn't matter and started running after their 
guardian. Akane though took a moment to watch Ranma 
run ahead. She felt that she had always known him, 
although she only met him recently. A feeling of 
uncertainty settled into her stomach; it seemed 
that their meeting was an omen of events to come. 
She started walking after the two feeling that time 
would settle her doubts.

	"Is that where we're going?" Ranma asked. He 
was becoming tired of walking, since it seemed like 
that was all they had been doing for the past few 
hours. His heart leapt when he realised that they 
had stopped in front of a gigantic building. "Are 
we going in there?"
	Legolas put his arm around Ranma. "Yes. That 
building is Karenya thimesus deteigo, which is 
better known as The House of Weighed Wisdom! 
Everything you need to know about the world should 
be in there. Although I hardly believe any of it, 
since I believe that you have to get out and 
experience it yourself!"
	"How long do you think we'll be in there?" 
Ranma didn't really care about what Legolas had to 
say, as long as they were where they needed to be. 
Everything else was just pointless.
	"I'd have to say that wisdom is not easily 
given or taken!" Legolas looked at the two teens 
and saw that they were utterly confused. "I am 
trying to say, 'Fatenda ya gosankes san kadosa', 
winds of change are approaching! Your arrival here 
at the forgotten city of Minerthal is a sign of 
things to come! This meeting is about what roles 
you two play in the days to come. We have to 
realise that Fatenda san dano, the winds are 
blowing and that we must meet them head on to see 
if we can come out victorious," Legolas looked at 
Ranma and Akane and saw that a hint of 
understanding was on their faces. "We must go in 
and find answers even though more than answers we 
will find more questions!"
	An elderly man approached Legolas, who in 
turn bowed down. "I wish to speak with those two 
that are in your care," Legolas nodded his head and 
steeped aside. The elder looked at Ranma and Akane. 
"My name is Akira. I'm sure Legolas has mentioned 
of me?" The two teens nodded. Akira gestured for 
the two teenagers to come with him. "I'm just going 
to walk through to the tower of this building and 
up to the floor where we can look out unto the 
city,"
	The two teenagers complied and they entered 
the building. Legolas followed them in, yet took 
another direction when they came to a fork of 
corridors. They then started a long silent walk to 
the tower. As they passed through the long 
hallways, Ranma and Akane marvelled at sights of 
ancient and pristine beauty. They saw a statue of a 
grand hero holding a sword as though declining to 
use it and another statue of someone playing a 
musical instrument they had never seen before. They 
saw a grand mosaic painting of creatures defending 
life from a malevolent death force, Ranma and Akane 
shivered as they looked upon the dark forces of the 
painting.
	Soon they passed through the halls and had 
made their way to a staircase. Ranma and Akane 
gasped; the staircase seemed to go up forever. 
Akane looked upon the walls and saw that they held 
a magnificent work of art. As they climbed further 
up the steps, she realised that the painting on the 
wall was telling a story, but she couldn't for the 
life of her make a picture in her mind about what 
the story told.
	They finally made their way to the top floor. 
Akira turned towards the two teenagers and waved 
his hand behind him. "This is Minerthal, my 
children," Ranma and Akane walked past the elder 
elf and looked. For a moment Ranma thought he was 
dreaming, he saw that the city was even larger than 
he thought. It was so large and so full of life 
that it would have easily eclipsed Tokyo in its 
entirety. Akira stepped beside Ranma and Akane. 
"Minerthal is the most ancient of cities on E-
Arth," Akira laughed as if remembering some secret 
joke. "But this my children is not the reason I 
brought you two here,"
	Ranma and Akane turned and looked at the 
elder elf. "I wanted to speak with you two in 
private and this tower was built for that purpose, 
to have a nice conversation without all the 
interruptions down below. I brought you two up here 
to speak with you about Kain's parting words with 
you two,"
	"You may think that Kain is strange, which he 
is, but that is because of circumstance and not 
choice," Akira laughed some more, but his voice 
sounded as though he were remembering an ancient 
sorrow from long ago. Akira lowered his head and 
stayed silent for a few moments and then slowly he 
brought his head up and looked on the two teens. "I 
am here to teach you Hathomol dasaki,"
	"What does that mean?' Ranma and Akane asked 
together.
"Hathomol dasaki is elf-tongue for Comet's Fury," 
Akira looked beyond Ranma and Akane unto the city. 
"A technique, which draws upon both the fighting 
spirit of a martial artist and the elements around 
the martial artist, as well as the hope of an 
entire universe,"
	"Elf-tongue?" Akane asked. She now remembered 
Legolas' strange dialect as they stood outside the 
building. "Are you saying that elves exist?" She 
wouldn't have believed so before Ranma moved into 
her home, but now she was prepared for anything.
	"I myself am an elf," Akira responded, "As 
well as Legolas and the majority of this city. We 
live long lives and have seen much. I am surprised 
that Legolas hadn't said so before!" Akira turned 
around and walked towards the stairs. "Let us go. 
Famanir is waiting," They quickly they made their 
way back down the stairs and found that Legolas was 
waiting for them at the very bottom.
	They started walking through the building to 
a destination far on the other side. The House of 
Weighed Wisdom, in Ranma's mind, was a building of 
great beauty. He felt the world had been changed 
many times because of a single conversation that 
may have taken place in the halls of this great 
palace. Legolas noticed Ranma's wandering gaze 
through the passageways. "This building is the 
oldest,"
	Akane turned her head towards Legolas. "You 
mean the oldest ever?"
	"Perhaps," Legolas pointed to an entranceway. 
"There is where we're going," The three entered the 
room that lay beyond. Ranma looked about the room; 
he saw many elves sitting around a large table.
	Famanir, Lord of the House of Weighed Wisdom, 
sat at the head of the table. He looked upon 
Legolas and his two charges. "Legolas, it is good 
to see you again,"
	"Yes father, as good in this day is anyway,"
Ranma looked at that elves gathered around the 
table. To her the elves looked both great lords, 
yet had seen many hardships in their lives. Quickly 
Legolas introduced the elves around the table, they 
were from both afar and near and Ranma and Akane 
had trouble catching the strange names. All of the 
elves looked upon Ranma and Akane with keen and 
curious eyes.
	Famanir looked at the two teens as if 
remembering a memory from long ago. "Akira has met 
with us. We know why you two are here," Famanir 
shook his head slowly and sadly. "The day has 
finally come when Hathamol dasaki, Comet's Fury, 
must be released,"
	Akira's voice broke through the hall, "Yes, 
it is most unfortunate that this is so. But the 
consequences of not releasing the power will be 
most dire indeed," Ranma was surprised; she hadn't 
even remembered the old elf following them.
	"What the heck is the Comet's Fury?" Ranma 
blurted out.
"Hathamol dasaki is the technique that Minerthal 
used to bring the dark prince to his knees," 
Famanir replied to Ranma. He smiled seeing the 
looks of confusion on Ranma and Akane's face. "I 
suppose we have been a little too patient in 
telling you of the situation that you have become 
entangled in. Very well than, I will tell you of 
the tale of Minerthal, but not the entire tale, for 
if I did, you'd be an old man when I finish!" As 
Famanir began to speak, the hall seemed to become 
less empty for Ranma, as if Famanir's words were 
coming to life before her very eyes. "Minerthal was 
a great King. People sang of his tales, which were 
both heroic and amazing.
	"Then one day, a creature who wanted power 
more than anything in the world, whose name must 
never be spoken here, challenged Minerthal to a 
duel. Minerthal won easily, but that was the 
cunning creature's plan all along. Minerthal was 
distracted by the duel as the creature ordered his 
faithful and fanatic followers to wipe out 
Minerthal's family. Minerthal was devastated; he 
never again wanted to show his face to the world, 
so he disappeared into the depths of nowhere.
	"The creature on the other hand, had made use 
of Minerthal's absence as a hero and managed to 
take Minerthal's family crown jewels, which held 
the power of the cosmos within. He then proclaimed 
himself the ruler of all.
	"Those were dark days for the people, they'd 
call for Minerthal to return, but he never did and 
they'd fight the dark prince and his followers, but 
they were losing. Then one day, the eve of doom for 
the resistance, Minerthal came from the depths of 
nowhere and he single handily brought the dark 
prince to his knees with Hathamol dasaki. But 
Minerthal refused to judge the dark prince, stating 
he'd only judge him with hate and took instead the 
crown. He disappeared once again.
	"The dark prince faded into nothing, for he 
used all his power in his battle with Minerthal, 
but his evil was not yet undone. He appointed one 
of his lieutenants his heir and ordered the 
lieutenant to plunge everything into darkness. But 
this was not known to any of the resistance and the 
lieutenant only resurfaced after all of the heroes 
from the Great War were gone.
	"I was there when the Lieutenant resurfaced, 
those days were the darkest I have ever seen and 
the Lieutenant was nearly as strong as the dark 
prince was, or so I was told. But powerful he was, 
it took a combined army and many lives and years to 
defeat the lieutenant's evil.
	"The lieutenant was learned in much lore and 
he tried to replicate the power of Minerthal's 
crown jewels and though the power, which was gained 
from his own jewels, was less, he was a formidable 
enemy indeed. We ourselves could not hope to defeat 
the lieutenant alone.
	"Then one day, from the depths of nowhere, a 
hero arose and answered the call to defeat the 
lieutenant. He was not Minerthal, but he was of 
Minerthal's lineage and he held in his hand hope 
for all creatures. He used Hathamol dasaki upon the 
lieutenant and was victorious in defeating him, 
though he lost his own life from a wicked device 
which lay in the lieutenants jewels.
	"The lieutenant was gone and with him the 
final evil of the dark prince, from the universe. 
Or so we hope,"
	Ranma watched Famanir, she almost wished he 
would go on speaking, but he looked around and 
noticed that day was no longer trickling through 
the windows which opened unto the hall. Then he 
realised that she was sleepy; he looked to Akane 
and saw that she was also having trouble keeping 
her eyes open. "Hey Akane. What the heck is going 
on? Are we being asked to save the universe or 
something?"
	"I truly hope not," Akira replied to Ranma's 
question, "Since I believe that you two are not 
ready to learn what I have to teach you," Akira 
turned to leave the room. "Soon an ancient menace 
will challenge you two and threaten to break apart 
bonds tied long ago. If you two can defeat this 
evil, then I will teach you," Then he left.
	Akane turned to Ranma. "I've got a bad 
feeling,"
	Ranma shook his head. "Mine hasn't left yet!"

End Chapter One

---------------------------------------------------

The Fellowship of Evermore
Silentnova

	The characters in this story, with 
exceptions, are creations of others. Ranma 1/2 and 
its characters are the property and creations of 
Rumiko Takahashi. No attempt has ever been and no 
attempt will ever be made to gain external profits 
from these properties and characters. Any growth by 
the author will be limited to improved writing 
skill and expanded ego, so please don't sue me.

---------------------------------------------------

This part was last updated on 8 May 2000

	Comments and criticisms are appreciated. 
Flames will be ignored.

---------------------------------------------------

Chapter Two
Plum's Claim

	Ukyou stepped outside of her restaurant to 
throw the trash out. She began to feel a little 
puzzled; no fights had broken out all day. The 
puzzling feeling that she had began when Ranma left 
the school ground after he defeated Happosai 
earlier in the day.
	When Ranma discovered that he could never 
again be strong. "Ranma..." His name flowed out of 
Ukyou's mouth like music. His appearance in her 
life ten years ago had affected her deeply in ways 
she never could have imagined and she was forever 
glad that she had met him.
	It was true though he had hurt her terribly 
as well; watching Ranma and his father steal her 
families okonomiyaki cart had been a torturous 
dream for many years after he decided he wanted 
okonomiyaki instead of Ukyou. She had promised then 
to kill Ranma then for staining her family's 
honour, yet in the end she couldn't do so. He had 
called her cute when he discovered that she was a 
girl; he had always believed she was a boy.
	It was then that she decided to pursue his 
hand, since he was unhappy with his current 
engagement to Akane Tendo. Yet every time that she 
made a move to ensnare him into her family, it only 
pushed him a little closer to Akane. It still 
seemed he wanted okonomiyaki more than Ukyou.
	"Now that I think of it, I haven't seen Ranma 
or Akane since the fight!" Ukyou stood still. A 
million thoughts suddenly attacked her at once and 
one truly terrified her. "Perhaps Ranma and Akane 
have left," She shook her head, since there was no 
way that Ranma would ever go anywhere with the 
uncute fianc�e. "Yet he is so close to her. He's 
not that close to anyone else!" She felt the world 
spinning around and she began to feel out of 
control again. Like she did ten years ago.
	She couldn't stand this. She had to find out 
for herself. "And if Ranma and Akane are gone?" she 
thought. "Then I'll look for them!" she replied. 
She started running down the street towards the 
Tendo residence when she suddenly stopped in her 
tracks. A strange sight had caught her eyes; Ryouga 
Hibiki was lying on the street bawling his eyes 
out. Not a strange sight in itself since it 
happened often enough to simply overlook it; it was 
just that he never sobbed this deep before. Ukyou 
cursed her own self. Here she was wasting time 
feeling concerned for a jackass when she had her 
own problems to worry about. "But," she thought, 
"he may know something already," She knew that what 
she felt wasn't entirely true, but she just 
couldn't leave him here; it wouldn't be her.
	Ukyou took a tentative step towards Ryouga. 
She had never had concerned herself with him, since 
she felt he was just a stubborn jerk who refused to 
face reality. "I could be describing myself!" she 
thought. She shook away her thoughts, since now she 
was too close to Ryouga to be concerned about her 
own self. She opened her mouth, "Ryouga honey, 
what's the matter?"
	Ryouga lifted his head up. "Akane? Is that 
you?" The tears and sobs had stopped momentarily at 
the mention of her name, yet they started again 
when he received no answer.
	"What's wrong sugar?" she asked Ryouga again. 
She looked down onto Ryouga and saw herself ten 
years ago; she was small and defenceless then. She 
sat down. "They're gone aren't they?" She chastised 
herself; she knew that she didn't have to ask. She 
looked at Ryouga again, yet this time he didn't 
look so little. "Maybe it's because I'm just like 
him," she decided thoughtfully.
	Ryouga noticed someone sitting beside him, 
but he didn't bother to care who it was. His world 
was upside down and nothing made sense anymore. 
Ranma had all the breaks even though he didn't 
care. Ranma had Akane and he also had another group 
of girls following him around too. "The guy is 
nothing more than an insensitive jerk, yet he has 
the entire world rooting for him!" Ryouga felt 
like breaking something apart, yet he also felt 
like he was breaking apart. "The jerk even has the 
gall to consider himself worse off than me!"
	"Shishi Hokoudan!" Ryouga felt all his 
depression leave in an instance as his impressive 
chi blast erupted from his body. When he felt 
himself calming down he looked up to see what was 
missing in front of him and saw that where once was 
an abandoned building was now a vacant lot.
	"Feeling better now?" said Ukyou. She was 
feeling a little impatient now that Ryouga had 
ignored her for the past few minutes. "Are you 
finished crying now, or should I alert flood 
control?" She stood back up.
	Ryouga looked up at the girl standing beside 
him. "Ukyou?" He didn't have time to ask her where 
she came from, because he suddenly turned around at 
the sound of a young girl's scream. What he saw was 
the oddest sight he had seen ever since he had been 
cursed. A young girl was running down the street 
away from attacking crows.
	Ukyou was already running towards the girl 
intent on helping her, yet Ryouga stood in place 
dumbfounded. Then he was suddenly brought back to 
earth when bird-people from out of nowhere started 
attacking Ukyou who had put her self between the 
crows and the girl. He quickly started making his 
way to the fight.
	Ukyou on the other hand was in big trouble. 
She had quickly used up her entire supply of mini-
spatulas and her arms were already tired from 
having to defend from the air-born bird-people with 
her giant spatula. She was not feeling overly 
lucky. Then one of the bird-people hit the ground 
with a resounding thud; the sound of Ryouga's 
umbrella flying through the air was all that could 
be heard.
	Then the water came. Ukyou watched in 
fascination as the bird-people transformed into 
humans. One of the formally bird-people shouted 
something and they all began to run away. "What was 
that?" Ukyou wondered. She walked to the water and 
felt it; it was cold. "They transformed at cold 
water?"
	Ukyou turned around and saw the girl she had 
helped holding a water bucket. The girl put down 
the bucket and began to speak, "Thank you. You save 
Plum's life," The girl bounced over to Ryouga who 
was now putting away his umbrella, which was 
wet from when he used it to protect himself from 
the water. "You cursed from waters of Jusenkyou?"
	Ryouga looked blankly at the girl. "How do 
you know of Jusenkyou?" Ryouga silently sighed, 
since he had managed to conceal his humiliating 
curse from another person. Too many people already 
knew of it.
	"Are you from there?"
	The girl looked at Ryouga. "Plum is the 
daughter of the guide,"
	Ukyou butted in, "Daughter? Then that means 
that the guide is married!" Ukyou wanted to fall 
over. She had never entertained a thought so 
horrible as the guide of Jusenkyou ever being loved 
and this news was even worse since the guide was 
married.
	"You are a rude person!" Plum said to Ukyou. 
She quickly turned back towards Ryouga. "Jusenkyou 
is in danger! You must help!" She grabbed Ryouga's 
sleeve. "We must go to save father!"
	Ukyou looked at Plum. "What's wrong with your 
father? Is he danger from those people that we just 
beat?" Plum nodded her head. Ukyou suddenly felt 
sick inside; she was feeling torn inside. She could 
either go look for Ranma and save him from the 
wrath of Akane, or she could help this little girl 
and her father. Ukyou shook her head. "Not could 
but should, I should go help this girl's father," 
It was the right thing to do and besides she could 
always find Ranma. Also if she saved his cure to 
his curse than maybe he would take her hand over 
Akane's. "I'll help you Plum," she said. A feeling 
crept over her body like she was making a huge 
decision. "I suppose that nothing will ever be the 
same now," she decided.
	Ryouga though could barely contain his anger. 
"How dare they try and destroy the one thing that 
will allow me to become a man!" Ryouga turned 
around. "Of course I'll come!" What he saw though 
was an empty street. "Where'd they go?" Ryouga 
looked about and started walking to find the two 
girls.
	"Ryouga, we're behind you," said Ukyou from 
behind him. "And don't think we're going to let you 
lead the way to China either," Ryouga turned around 
and Ukyou saw that his face was completely red. 
"Ryouga, you're hopeless!" She turned back to Plum. 
"Do you have any idea how to get there? I mean, 
aeroplanes and ships don't grow on trees don't'cha 
know!"
	"Plum has boat that we can use to get to 
China!" the girl pointed towards the ocean. "The 
boat is that way, but we should plan instead. The 
people who take my father are very sneaky and 
probably are watching my boat," Plum stepped closer 
to Ukyou and Ryouga. "We must leave here. The birds 
are listening. The birds are the friends of the 
winged-people and have already tricked Plum once!"
	Ukyou and Ryouga nodded. "We can go to my 
Ucchan's. It's close to here," Ukyou offered. So 
they started walking to the restaurant, but every 
step they took they felt a little less comfortable. 
They quickly made it to Ucchan's, but as Ukyou was 
about to open the entrance door a terrible feeling 
of fear crawled over her body. She turned the knob 
and looked inside. Cologne stood atop her grill.
	A warrior is how Ukyou would describe the old 
woman, although she only stood knee high. As Ukyou 
stared at the old woman, a feeling of distrust 
stirred in her heart. "What do you want?" she 
asked. Ukyou watched the old woman's reaction; 
Cologne smiled. Ukyou shifted her stance ever so 
slightly, even though she didn't know whether she 
would be able to beat the old Amazon in a fight, 
even with Ryouga there to help.
	"I just want to have a talk with you young 
ones!" The old woman looked past Ukyou at Ryouga. 
"Shut the door! This matter we are about to discuss 
is too important to let fickle ears and loose lips 
to discover!" The young man did as he was ordered. 
Cologne looked at Plum. "You are from Jusenkyou are 
you not?" The girl nodded. Cologne hopped forward 
towards the girl. "You must show me the map!"
	Ukyou looked at Plum. "Map?" Ukyou was 
feeling very distrustful of the old woman. Ukyou 
glanced at Ryouga and he had no idea of what was 
going on either. "How does she even know that we 
were coming here? How does she even know of Plum?" 
she wondered. Ukyou caught herself; it was a known 
fact that one must never take their attention off 
of Cologne and her attention was roaming the world 
like Ryouga does whenever he got lost.
	Plum took out a piece of paper. "Father gave 
this map to Plum and said to come here. He said 
that the people here would know what to do,"
	Cologne took the map and looked it over. 
"Your father was wise in never revealing its 
existence young one, but his folly was in keeping 
it intact," She folded the map and took it for 
herself. "Come young ones. I have known that this 
day would come and I have been preparing myself for 
a long time. Come, we have little time to waste!" 
The three followed her even though they had no 
reason to do so. They hurried over to the Neko-ken 
and met up with Shampoo and Mousse who looked like 
they were ready to leave.
	Soon the group was heading towards Plum's 
boat with Cologne in the lead. Ukyou though slowed 
down and she urged Ryouga to do the same. She 
quietly whispered to him, "Hey Ryouga, what the 
hell are we doing? We're being led around like 
little kids!"
	Ryouga shrugged. "I don't know! Why are you 
asking me?" Ryouga shook his head. "I don't like 
this. It's as if she knows everything. She seems to 
know about Plum and the people who are attacking 
her and she knows about a map that Plum didn't want 
anyone else to know about," He slowed down even 
more. "And we for some strange reason are listening 
to granny,"
	The two realised that they were being left 
behind and started to catch up and soon they saw 
Plum's boat. They quickly boarded it and set sail. 
Ukyou found herself turned around watching the land 
where she was born grow smaller and smaller. 
"Funny," she decided, "Thought I could only ever 
like Ranma," A slight blush touched her cheeks. 
Then she realised something. "Ryouga, you know we 
can't do as much without Ran-chan,"
	Ryouga turned to Ukyou. "That doesn't mean to 
say that we can't do nothing at all," Ryouga looked 
down at the water. "Ever since then I've wanted to 
beat him. I blame him for all that's gone wrong in 
my life, yet every time that I try to defeat him I 
lose. Everything good in the world happens to him,"
	Ukyou looked at Ryouga. "You know that you're 
just lying to yourself don't'cha?" She shook her 
head. "Nothing good happens to him, expect for 
meeting people that don't want to kill him 
sometimes," Ukyou looked away from Ryouga back to 
the seashore of the ever-shrinking country. "Even I 
wanted to kill him at one time, but at the last 
moment I realised that his father was a liar. If 
you want to hate anyone hate Genma!" Ukyou smiled 
at her last comment, since it was so right. "Why do 
you hate Ran-chan anyway?" she asked Ryouga 
suddenly realising that she had never paid 
attention to his wild accusations before.
	Ryouga grimaced; he never liked Ranma and he 
never would, but the jerk was always involved in 
making his life a living hell. "I challenged him to 
a duel, but the coward never showed up!" He 
clenched his fist tightly and remembered every bad 
thing that Ranma had done to him. "I showed up at 
the place where we were going to fight, but he even 
wasn't there!"
	Ukyou smiled, since there was no doubt in her 
mind what had happened. "Let me guess. Being the 
jackass that you are, you got lost looking for the 
place where you two where going to fight right?" 
She watched Ryouga to see if he would reply and was 
rewarded when his face turned a deep red. Only one 
thing would make this moment better. "Where were 
you two going to fight?"
	Ryouga looked down at the water splashing 
against the boat. "In the empty lot behind my 
house," Ukyou forced down a laugh. She was almost 
ready to walk away so that Ryouga wouldn't see her 
burst out in a fit of hysterics, but he did 
something unpredictable; he started to laugh. "You 
know, now that I think about it, it's sorta funny!" 
He shook his head solemnly. "Maybe if I had a 
better sense of direction I'd also know what to do. 
All my life I've just wanted to beat Ranma at 
something, anything, but every time I challenge him 
I lose and that just makes me want to beat him even 
more,"
	Ukyou stared at Ryouga. She always believed 
him to be just a hotheaded idiot, but never in her 
wildest dreams did she ever expect him to say 
something like that. Ukyou turned her sight from 
Ryouga towards Cologne; Ryouga could wait, but they 
had a problem and the old woman was not going to go 
away. "You know, I don't exactly trust the old 
woman. She's up to something,"
	"I know. Since when has she ever felt like 
helping someone else unless it fit her needs?" 
Ryouga asked. He remembered all the times she had 
supposedly helped him, but he also remembered every 
time she did that she helped herself more so than 
him. "So what do you plan on doing?" he asked Ukyou 
quietly.
	"Well I don't plan on fighting her, unless it 
came down to a fight, but I'd rather check her 
out," Ukyou turned back towards the ocean. "Maybe 
tonight when everyone is asleep."
	"What are you talking about?" Ryouga asked. 
His heart began to beat faster. "You're not 
planning on spying on her you?" Ryouga already knew 
the answer though and if he could help her in any 
way he would. "What about them?" he asked referring 
to Shampoo and Mousse who were on the far end of 
the boat. They had begun to get on his nerves, 
since they hadn't said anything since the group 
left Japan. They had avoided everyone including 
Cologne and had begun to arouse suspicions from 
him.
	Ukyou shrugged. "They just better not get in 
my way," She shifted her arms onto the railing and 
stared towards the island until it was nothing more 
than a speck in the distance. "I think I want to 
ask Plum about this map that Cologne was talking 
about," Ukyou stood up straight and walked towards 
the cabin. Ryouga followed a relatively safe 
distance behind her so that he wouldn't become 
lost.
	As Ukyou entered the cabin Plum looked up in 
surprise. "Aiya! Plum think everyone forget about 
her!"
	Ukyou smiled. "Sorry! We were just talking 
and realised that we never asked you what the map 
was," She walked over beside Plum. "What was the 
map that Cologne took from you for?"
	"The secret of Jusenkyou and if secret fall 
into their hands, Jusenkyou will dry up!" Ryouga 
opened his mouth to say something, but was so 
shocked that no words came out. "Plum told by 
father to hide it in a safe place away from the 
Phoenix people and Plum remember that in Japan was 
Cologne and that she would be a good guest to give 
map to," Plum shook her head sadly. "But no good 
for father, so Plum ask for help from you two as 
well,"
	Ukyou looked at Plum. "I don't think you know 
Cologne as well as you should and giving her the 
map wasn't such a good idea," She shook her head. 
"But it's too late to complain now. All we can do 
now is wait and see what she does next,"
	Ryouga looked at Plum. "Do you know anything 
about the people who took your father?" He knew 
that Cologne was dangerous, but he also knew that 
the original reason they came here was to help 
Plum's father. "Who are these Phoenix people?"
"I can tell you that sonny!" said Cologne in her 
raspy old voice. Everyone turned around and saw 
that she was standing at the cabin entrance. She 
hopped over towards the young trio on her cane. 
"The Phoenix people come from Mt. Houou, which is 
close to Mt. Kensei. On this Mt. Houou lies one 
more Jusenkyou spring,"
	"In this spring a bird drowned, but the 
people of Mt. Houou have always used the spring as 
drinking water and so have started being born with 
wings,"
	Ryouga regained his senses. "Hey granny, why 
would these phoenix people want to drain 
Jusenkyou?" For possibly the first time in his 
young life Ryouga was scared. "I mean they're not 
just doing it for fun are they?" His fear started 
turning into anger.
	Plum shook her head. "Plum no know, have no 
time to find out," Ryouga shook his head; when he 
made it to this Mt. Houou he was gong to punish 
them so badly for them threatening his final chance 
at happiness.
	Cologne smirked. "But everything will be 
alright when we make it to China," Cologne turned 
to exit the cabin. "Now we should get a good nights 
rest. We have a lot of work ahead of us,"
	Ryouga looked outside and saw that the sky 
was full of stars. He walked outside and began to 
watch them; Ukyou followed him and took a place 
beside him at the railing. Ryouga blushed a little, 
but tried to pay no attention to her by keeping his 
eyes fixed on the sky.
	Ukyou looked at the sky and let her mind 
drift. "I wonder if Ran-chan is watching these 
stars too?" she asked quietly. She felt Ryouga stir 
beside her and she looked at him. His face was 
completely red.
	Ryouga tried to keep watching the sky, but 
was too embarrassed with how close Ukyou was to him 
that any move he made he was awkward and alerted 
her to his presence. Finally Ryouga moved away from 
Ukyou. "I think I'm gonna go to bed," he said and 
walked into the cabin. Ukyou looked back at the 
sky, but she was now beginning to feel cold and 
uncomfortable. She began to wonder why she felt so 
cold when it was such a nice night out with little 
wind, but stopped when a thought ran through her 
mind. She shook her head, since she could only ever 
feel like that for Ranma. She looked towards the 
cabin and finally decided to go to sleep her self; 
they had a long night ahead of them.
 
	Ukyou felt her self being gently rocked awake 
and then she heard someone calling her name. 
"Ukyou. You say you want to be woke up in middle of 
the night?" Plum whispered with a bit of confusion 
in her voice. Ukyou sat up and looked at the 
younger girl.
	"Is the old woman asleep?" she asked 
sleepily. She wanted to lie back down to fall back 
into the land of slumber, but she had a job to do. 
Hearing a barely audible yes Ukyou steeled her 
resolve to finish what she had been planning to do 
for the past day; to search through Cologne's 
belongings. "Is the jackass awake?" she asked of 
Ryouga.
	"Yes. He is outside waiting for you." Plum 
hesitated for a second. "Honoured guest. Are you 
sure that you want to do this?"
	Ukyou stood up. "Yes. I really have no 
choice. Anything the old woman takes an interest in 
has gotta be no good for the rest of us," She 
walked outside and looked around for Ryouga. She 
heard her name being whispered towards the end of 
the boat. Walking to where she heard her name she 
discovered a confused Ryouga.
	"Where'd they go?" he asked. "I've been 
looking for them for the past ten minutes!"
	"You idiot! They're on the other side of the 
boat!" Ukyou suppressed a smirk and pointed to 
where she was talking about. "Forget it," She 
grabbed Ryouga by the collar and began to drag him 
around the cabin. When she turned the final corner 
to the Amazon's camp she noticed it was no longer 
there. She dropped Ryouga in alarm.
	"Young one. You had been acting very 
suspicious and I took the liberty of watching your 
every movement," Cologne's raspy voice broke the 
night silence. "I guessed right that you were 
planning to search my belongings." A smile crept 
over Cologne's face. "Well I suppose it won't do 
any harm to show you, so let me calm any fears that 
I have been plotting something,"
	Ukyou turned around slowly and looked at the 
old woman. A piece of paper appeared in her hand. 
Ukyou took a closer look and saw that she 
recognised it immediately; it had what Ranma had 
been fighting for before he left Nerima. It was the 
moxi-map. "You were right to mistrust me child, 
because I was planning to take you for a puppet!" 
Cologne shot at Ukyou like a rocket and after that 
Ukyou remembered nothing more.
	Ryouga watched everything unfold before him. 
Anger began to build up within when he saw Ukyou 
hit the deck unconscious. He picked himself up and 
looked at the old woman. "No one deserves to be 
weak, not even Ranma!" He clenched his fist into a 
ball and threw himself with all his might at the 
minute woman. He saw her sneer and then he saw 
nothing more.
 
	Ryouga opened his eyes and saw Mousse in 
front of him. He tried to lunge forward, but found 
he couldn't move a muscle. Mousse shook his head. 
"Granny went and pressed some of your pressure 
points. So now you're helpless as a new-born," 
Ryouga wanted to scream at Mousse but he found he 
couldn't open his mouth. "Actually she went and 
basically made you a vegetable until we reach the 
mountain,"
	"There she plans to release you so that you 
have no choice but to help us," Mousse hung his 
head, "and then I'll lose Shampoo forever to that 
cur Saotome," Mousse raised his head and a hint of 
a smile appeared. "But I have different plans in 
mind, even if it means that I lose her forever!" He 
stood up and walked into the cabin door. He then 
took a second to open the door. "I am not your 
enemy Hibiki, although right now it seems that we 
are hardly allies," He then walked out of the 
cabin.
	Plum slipped into the cabin behind Mousse and 
walked towards Ryouga. She turned him around and 
faced him towards Ukyou who seemed to be in the 
same predicament as him. She whispered quietly to 
the two of them, "Plum so sorry honoured guests. 
Cologne has tricked Plum and is now planning to use 
you two,"
	"But Plum can help honoured guests still, 
even if only a little," She looked at Ryouga's face 
and gently pressed a finger onto it. "You can speak 
now," She quickly moved over to Ukyou and did the 
same thing. "So sorry, but that is all I know. If 
Plum knew more, you would be free,"
	"Plum, what are they doing now?" Ukyou asked. 
She wasn't feeling terribly happy about being 
caught by Cologne, but she knew that things could 
be worse; Ryouga and she could have been set 
adrift. "Are we near where we're going?"
	Plum shook her head. "We are still a day 
away, but when we get over there, Plum will tell 
you," Plum sat down. "They are planning to use you 
two to fight the Phoenix people when we get to the 
mountain. I don't now what they are going to do 
though,"
	A thought occurred to Ukyou. "Maybe Cologne's 
expecting Ran-chan to show up! Maybe she's 
preparing to have to fight Ranma," Then she 
remembered the events from one day ago. "But Ranma 
honey won't stand a chance!" A silence settled in 
the cabin. Suddenly Ukyou spoke up again, "Maybe 
she's expecting Akane to fight, but I don't know 
why she'd prepare to fight Akane. Unless Ranma's 
training Akane, and even if he is, Akane still 
wouldn't stand a chance,"
	"Then what the hell is Cologne up to?" Ryouga 
suddenly asked angrily. He began to feel helpless; 
Cologne seemed omniscient and all she had to do was 
sit back and watch everything fall in place. "What 
is she trying to do? Drain the damn pools herself?"
	Ukyou looked at Ryouga. "Oh my god, I think 
you're right! She must want to drain the pools 
herself, because that'd be the only way for her to 
lure Ranma there," She closed her eyes. "What 
happens when the pools are drained?" she asked 
herself quietly. She remembered that Cologne let 
Plum answer the same question yesterday. "She must 
know what happens when the pools are drained. And 
whatever happens won't be good for the rest of us!"
	Ryouga watched Ukyou silently talk to her 
self. "She reminds me of someone. She reminds me of 
me," Ryouga began to think of something to ask 
Ukyou; they had nothing better to do so they may as 
well get to know each other he decided. "Ukyou," 
His mind went blank; he completely froze when her 
name came out of his mouth.
	Ukyou opened her eyes. "Yes?" she asked 
looking directly at Ryouga. He didn't say anything. 
"Well if you're gonna say something, spit it out!"
	"Uh, what..." Ryouga struggled for something 
to say, "should we do?" Ryouga cursed himself; he 
felt he chickened out at the last second. "About 
Cologne? What do you think we should do when we get 
to that mountain?"
	Ukyou kept silent. She thought Ryouga was 
going to ask something totally off topic, but the 
feeling past when she growled at him. "Well, 
whatever he was gonna say, it's probably long gone 
by now," she decided. Moments past in the cabin 
when an idea suddenly occurred to her. "Do you 
remember what Mousse said to you Ryouga? He said 
something about having his own plans! I bet'cha 
that he's planning to go against Cologne!"
	"Mousse? He'd never go against Cologne, he'd 
be risking losing Shampoo forever," Ryouga replied. 
"And if he was, he'd probably wouldn't see where he 
was going anyway!" Everything felt hopeless; 
Cologne seemed to be two steps ahead of Ukyou and 
he and there was no way that they'd ever catch up 
to her. "And there's no way Shampoo would ever help 
us, she's so caught with Ranma becoming her husband 
that that is all she can see,"
	Suddenly the cabin opened and in walked 
Shampoo. "Stupid spatula girl, why you talking? 
Grandmother say she make you no speak with the 
moxi-map!" She looked around the room and saw Plum 
sleeping beside Ukyou. She had become bored with 
Ukyou and Ryouga's plans and decided to take a nap. 
Shampoo stalked over to Plum's sleeping form. "Wake 
up!" she commanded. "You spying on great-
grandmother's moxi-map?"
	Cologne slipped into the cabin. "It is okay 
Shampoo, whether they can speak or not has no 
consequence to our plans. Let the young girl sleep, 
she deserves her rest after having been able to do 
something even a trained martial artist couldn't!" 
Cologne glanced at Ukyou. "Leave them here, we have 
to prepare for tomorrow," Cologne waited for 
Shampoo to leave the cabin, and turned and looked 
at Ukyou. "If you don't make any trouble for me, 
you two can go home safely. But, if you try and 
beat me, you will find yourselves in deeper trouble 
than you can ever imagine!" She left the cabin.
	Plum stirred beside Ukyou and she sat up. 
"Father,"
	"What happened to your father sugar?" Ukyou 
asked the younger girl. "Did you have a bad dream 
about him?"
	"The night we attacked by Phoenix people we 
have no time to escape, father ask me to run and go 
to Japan. Find the people who cursed from the 
sacred waters. They would help, they have no choice 
but to help," Plum stood up and walked to the door. 
"It dark out now, it is a good idea to sleep," Plum 
opened the door and walked out.
	Ukyou looked around and saw Plum was right; 
she never noticed the light dying away until the 
younger girl mentioned it. The cabin's surroundings 
were barely visible any longer, and so Ukyou 
decided to take Plum's advice. She closed her 
eyes and fell asleep.
 
	Ukyou found herself surrounded by warmth, yet 
she wished that it weren't there. She could feel 
the loss of security and the loss of confidence all 
around her. Then she felt hostility; she turned 
around and saw a silhouette of someone with wings. 
She opened her to say it wasn't her fault, yet she 
could feel the other's anger; they wanted someone 
to blame.
	She could feel her friends around her prepare 
for battle; they were prepared to place the blame 
on their shoulders, yet Ukyou knew who was truly at 
fault. She began to scream the aggressor's name 
out, "Cologne!"
	She came out of nowhere. Ukyou looked at the 
woman and saw she had changed. She was younger and 
stronger, yet she still carried the feeling of 
being ancient.
 
	Ukyou opened her eyes. Mousse was directly 
above her and if she could have used her reflexes 
to kick him out of such a humiliating position she 
would have. Instead all she could do was listen and 
watch. "Stupid granny. Boss me around will she? 
Well I'll show her!"
	Mousse picked Ukyou's form up like a baby and 
carried it out of the cabin. He noticed her open 
eyes. "So you're awake now?" he asked in a genuine 
tone of concern. Ukyou noticed he carried her like 
he would a fragile glass cup. "We made it to shore. 
We're leaving for the mountain soon,"
	He carried her onto the dock from the ship 
and began making for the shoreline. "Mousse, stop!" 
Ukyou commanded noticing something.
	Mousse stopped dead in his tracks. "What?" he 
growled. He began walking forward again. "We can't 
afford to be late. I still have Ryouga to carry 
out!" Mousse lifted his head up indignantly. "That 
old piece of mackerel won't let me hear the end of 
it if I'm late!"
	"Mousse you idiot! Stop! If you keep walking 
we're gonna fall into the water!" Mousse stopped 
suddenly almost dropping Ukyou. He put a hesitant 
foot out and tested for the dock. There was none 
there. He noticed that somehow he'd turned a little 
and began walking towards the water. Turning a 
little to be square with the dock he resumed 
walking to the shore.
	Ukyou made it to the shore without becoming 
wet and there she waited for Mousse to carry Ryouga 
to her side. Once they made it to her Ukyou waited 
for Mousse to leave and Plum to make her way over 
to them. "How long will it take to get to the 
mountain?" she asked.
	"One day if Cologne lets you walk, but two 
days if she wants you no escaping and keeps you 
under moxi-pressure points!" Plum hung her head. 
"Plum think she no want you escaping,"
	Ukyou sighed. "We have no choice, we have to 
try, or else Ran-chan's gonna get hurt!" She looked 
at Ryouga. "Even if that means we get hurt 
ourselves!"
	Ryouga closed his eyes. He hated Ranma with 
all his heart, but he hated it when weak people 
were picked on even more. He had no choice. He had 
to go along with Ukyou's plan until the very end 
whether for good or bad. "Life is never going to be 
the same," he said quietly.

End Chapter Two

---------------------------------------------------

The Fellowship of Evermore
By Silentnova

	The characters in this story, with 
exceptions, are creations of others. Ranma 1/2 and 
its characters are the property and creations of 
Rumiko Takahashi. No attempt has ever been and no 
attempt will ever be made to gain external profits 
from these properties and characters. Any growth by 
the author will be limited to improved writing 
skill and expanded ego, so please don't sue me.

---------------------------------------------------

This part was last updated on 8 May 2000

	Comments and criticisms are appreciated. 
Flames will be ignored.

---------------------------------------------------

Chapter Three
Minerthal's Mirror

	Ranma looked through the window. "Weak," he 
muttered. "I can't do anything, I'm weak," He 
looked through the window, yet he felt there was 
nothing to see outside. When they left Nerima Ranma 
had only the destination on his mind, but now that 
he had made it somewhere Ranma was finding it 
harder to ignore the reason why he had left in the 
first place. "Happosai!" Ranma screamed throwing a 
punch at the wall. He didn't worry about breaking 
it, since Happosai's moxi-bustion technique had 
insured he would never be strong again.
	Akane watched her fianc� from across the 
room. He had steadily grown worse in his depression 
since they had arrived at the city of Minerthal. 
She wanted to say something, but no words would 
come to her mind. A hand gently found itself 
on her shoulder. "The mind can not fathom the 
heart's judgements sometimes, when you find 
yourself at a loss for words, speak with your 
spirit!"
	Akane turned around and saw Akira standing 
beside her watching Ranma. "His weakness is a 
strength in disguise wouldn't you think?" He turned 
around and began to leave. " I have asked Legolas 
to show you two around the city, I'm sure you will 
find a few surprises!"
	Akane turned from Akira and focused back onto 
Ranma. "Speak with your spirit," she thought 
turning the words over in her mind. She slowly made 
her way over to Ranma. "Do you want to go for a 
walk?" she asked gently. She hoped he would say 
yes. She couldn't bear to see him depressed.
	Ranma turned to look at Akane. He was about 
to tell her to leave him alone except he saw her 
eyes; they were filled with sadness. He turned back 
to the window and thought about a reason not to go. 
Finally he gave up, since no reason would come to 
him. "I guess so," he said.
	 They left the room in search of Legolas. 
They found him waiting for them outside of the 
building they were staying in. He looked at the 
two. "Well, I haven't seen two faces so sad in a 
long time! Because of you two I'm now reminded how 
depressing they are," He looked at them both with a 
grin. "Well, I suppose it's too much of a chore to 
smile when you're feeling so low,"
	He twirled around and gestured to the city. 
"Well, I'll handle that job as well as being your 
tour guide," He started walking away from the two 
teens. "Hurry up or you'll miss the wind that we 
are catching! There's no time for the past here 
in the big city, it's too busy catching up to the 
present!"
	They all started walking towards the House of 
Weighed Wisdom. Ranma looked at Legolas. "What we 
doing back here?" he asked. He suddenly realised 
the troubles in his heart were lifting. He looked 
at Akane and saw her face was releasing the worry 
it was showing earlier.
	"I'm going to share with you two what the 
picture in the Tower of Memories is telling," the 
elf answered casually. "I saw you two looking at it 
and having no clue as to what it meant. That always 
seems to happen to people when they first see it. 
Unfortunately, out of respect I was not allowed to 
come with you two up into the tower and tell you 
two the story that accompanies the painting, since 
Akira forbids all except those he chooses to be in 
his presence,"
	Soon they were at the staircase. The three 
stared at it in wonder. It seemed to go on forever. 
After what seemed forever Legolas began to murmur 
softly, yet loudly enough so the two teens could 
hear him, "This painting is called the Natens 
Fallen Star, named for the tragedy of Robin 
and Olivia,
	"The story begins long ago with the prince 
Robin passing through a city named Weten. He began 
to hear tales of the princess there having beauty 
unequalled in the universe. He dismissed it as 
foolish ignorance at first believing the people 
of Weten having never seen true beauty,
	"The people who were accompanying the prince 
convinced him to see the princess though and forced 
him to confess that he was interested in seeing if 
the princess was as beautiful as her people said 
she was,
	"The day they decided to see who the princess 
was the day the princess' father had proclaimed an 
engagement of his daughter to a prince of a nearby 
nation that was threatening war. It was to be a 
festival of magnificent proportions when the 
King announced his daughter's engagement,
	"As the princess came out to present herself 
to the people of her nation, she had caught the eye 
of Robin. He was smitten. Then the princess' fianc� 
came out, Robin had heard stories of the man who 
was marrying Olivia and realised the man was 
intending to start war no matter what the King 
decided,
	"He could barely control his anger, he raced 
to the princess' side and took her away from the 
palace. He became a fugitive. People from 
everywhere wanted a piece of his hide and a bounty 
was placed on his head so large every bounty hunter 
in the universe was looking for him,
	"As they began to make their getaway, Robin 
began an argument with Olivia, or maybe it was the 
other way around. Anyway, they were so caught up in 
their debate they never noticed the prince of the 
other nation was watching them. A jealous rage 
burned in his heart, he wanted to believe Olivia 
had only eyes for him and he couldn't stand the 
fact she would choose someone else over him,
	"He sought out a terrible demon and made a 
pact with it. He would lose his soul in return for 
revenge on Robin and Olivia. Then suddenly his body 
disappeared and it was never seen again by anyone. 
The Natens believed the prince had ceased to exist 
and so called for the marriage of Robin and Olivia 
believing the other nation would never harm them,
	"Years of peace passed when suddenly from out 
of nowhere, an entity filled with hate and 
suffering attacked the palace that the royal family 
lived in. They fought bravely and managed to send 
the creature far away from the palace, but it 
was in vain, the King had been seriously wounded 
and wouldn't live more than a week,
	"He ordered the retreat of Robin and Olivia 
and their people while his personal guard would 
fight on against the creature. The creature cut 
down every one of the guards quickly and gave chase 
after the fleeing people, but they barely managed 
to escape it,
	"With his last breaths the King had saved the 
people. He seriously wounded the creature with an 
arrow of pure light from a bow strung from the hair 
of Lin, the protector of the universe. The people 
followed Robin and Olivia to world far from their 
home and began to hide,
	"In that time Mirokos was born and had grown 
to be a man. They waited patiently for the creature 
that they now believed to be the prince who had 
given his soul to the demon. When it came they felt 
themselves to be ready to face death, yet instead 
it gave them something worse,
	"It struck down Robin and cursed him with 
their own invention. It was a machine meant to 
entrap the creature and turn it hard as a diamond 
so that it would never bother another living soul. 
Except it knew of it and it sought to steal it. 
When it finally did, it used it on Robin, and took 
the thrown for itself,
	"Olivia was thrown deep into the dungeons of 
the creature's fortress and was meant to rot to 
death, but she instead managed to escape. No one 
but the cosmos knows how she did, many just called 
it a miracle. Anyway she ran as far as she could 
and when she arrived to safety she began to search 
for the diamond of Robin,"
	Legolas turned from the painting and looked 
at the two teens. "You've already heard the rest of 
the story and we're running late,"
	Ranma and Akane sat up. "Late for what?" 
Ranma asked. He was becoming interested in the 
story and was interested in hearing more of it.
	"We're meeting the Seer, the one who sees 
what is unfolding and the one who cursed herself to 
do nothing about it," Legolas began walking down 
the stairs. The two teens then began to follow 
Legolas when they saw he was leaving them behind.
	They quickly found themselves outside. 
Legolas pointed to the buildings surrounding them. 
"The District of Council. It has been here for a 
long time and will stand tall in times of great 
crises," He began walking towards the building they 
were staying in. "We have to board a transport if 
we want to meet the seer on time,"
	Ranma and Akane didn't know whether to follow 
him so they decided to wait outside. A long time 
passed before Legolas returned outside. "We have a 
ride there! It should be here in a few moments," 
The three waited a short while until a strange 
looking car without wheels approached them. Legolas 
stepped towards it and somehow a door opened up. He 
motioned for the two teens to get in.
	After they settled in Legolas looked out the 
window. "I have an awful feeling in the bottom of 
my stomach, it began nearly four days ago," He ran 
his finger across the glass. "Never in my entire 
life has a feeling of despair so unsettled my 
thoughts. The Darkness has come here. Has come here 
to E-Arth, you two can't remember it but it 
almost..."
	A dark feeling settled into the transport. 
The two teens watched the figure of Legolas as he 
looked out the window. Then suddenly the feeling 
disappeared. "We're here!" the elf announced, 
"We're at the Temple of the Seer. We can ask her 
for some advice,"
	The three quickly piled out of the transport 
and walked into the building. A large statue 
confronted them as they entered. Akane saw it was 
of a woman holding a crystal ball in her hands. A 
lady shrouded in robes approached them. Her name 
was Sarintha and she was the Seer. "Welcome back 
Legolas, it has been long since I saw you last my 
son," she said.
	"Mother, I apologise for my absence. Kain and 
I have been wandering the lands in search of the 
cure of that which ails our souls," Legolas stepped 
towards his mother and embraced her. "You are right 
though mother, it has been a very long time,"
	"Ranma and Akane. A destiny of tragedy awaits 
you if you keep following my son here," she said 
immediately turning from Legolas to them. "I can 
not stop you, but I can warn you to never 
underestimate your enemies. You two will have 
longer lives though if you leave now,"
	Legolas looked at his mother in shock. "I 
came here to ask for advice. Not for you to scare 
away my guests," He motioned for Ranma and Akane to 
come closer to him. When they made it to his side 
he placed his hands on their shoulders. "These two 
are our cure mother, a strange light surrounds 
them, it draws many to them, it is the light of 
compassion,"
	Sarintha put her hand on Legolas' face. "My 
son, so much like your father you are! I raised you 
in the hope you would develop more than the foolish 
ideals of your father. I raised you to follow in 
the footsteps of the Seer, the ones who have 
protected the city of Minerthal for countless 
generations," She gestured for everyone to follow 
her towards the back of the entrance hall.
	"But I can not deny your follies, for if I 
were to do that I would fail in my duties as your 
parent. My son, I will show your Hope the path of 
now, for it is they, not I, who will decide the 
course of history," The group found itself in a 
small room, which had on its walls symbols and 
pictures that looked ages old. In the centre of the 
room there was a small pool that was clear as the 
sky. The group moved towards it.
	Sarintha began to chant softly. Then suddenly 
a brilliant light engulfed the pool. Images began 
to swirl in its reflection and it seemed like it 
would never end its constant change. Finally the 
images began to meld together and form a coherent 
picture. "This is the mirror Minerthal brought with 
him when he came to E-Arth so long ago. We, the 
Seer, have been trained in deciphering its 
messages,"
	"That's Nerima!" Akane blurted out.
	"This is Nerima four days ago," Sarintha 
murmured. "When the Darkness came," She waved her 
hand towards the pool. The image suddenly changed 
to the Neko Hanten. A shadow passed over the 
restaurant. The sight of the shadow caused the 
entire room to drop in temperature. "Oh no!" There 
was a fear evident in Sarintha's voice. "This can't 
be! Not the Wraith!"
	She waved her hand towards the pool. The 
image was of Cologne sitting alone in the 
restaurant pondering over a ripped piece of 
paper when a suddenly another part of the paper 
flew in. She grabbed for it and her eyes widened in 
surprise when she found it was the missing piece. 
She looked towards the open doorway and saw 
Happosai standing alone. He wandered in intent on 
obtaining a free meal.
	Then suddenly two grotesque hands caught them 
and they looked like they were in extreme pain. The 
shadow entered into them and the image changed 
again. It was of a small group travelling through 
the wilderness towards a mountain. The image 
settled onto Cologne. She suddenly looked up. "She 
can't see us, can she?" Sarintha asked herself 
quietly. Then the image went dead.
	"This is horrible!" Sarintha muttered, "The 
Wraith here," She turned towards Legolas. "The 
Wraith my son, do you know what this means?" She 
didn't bother waiting for an answer. "The Wraith, 
the loyal servant of the darkness, powerful and 
malicious, it will not let any live that stand in 
its way. It is infectious. It is like a disease. 
Terror is its only companion,"
	Ranma stepped towards the pool ignoring the 
Seer. "Akane, was that paper the moxi-map?" He 
turned and looked at the Seer. "What happened to 
the old ghoul?" he asked. He knew he was right and 
the old woman had his cure the whole time. 
Something had happened to her though and he knew 
she was in big trouble.
	"She has been possessed by the Wraith, an 
opponent far beyond her level as she was beyond 
yours. I know your thoughts Ranma Saotome, I advise 
you not to face her, for she is not what she was 
and the lure of what she has can be your downfall, 
" Sarintha sighed. She knew her words had no effect 
on the choice Ranma had already made.
	"Legolas, already Kain has made you the 
caretaker of Ranma and Akane. I choose you to make 
sure no harms comes to them as well," Sarintha 
turned towards the pool and waved her hand. Images 
again began to twist and turn in its depth when 
suddenly it settled onto a group of figures facing 
each other on a rocking boat. "This is the past," 
Sarintha said quietly.
	Ranma and Akane watch as the faces of the 
people came into focus. "That's Ryouga and Ukyou!" 
Akane said suddenly.
	 "They have been deceived by the Wraith as 
the others have been," The mirror then showed 
Shampoo and Mousse standing alone watching the sea. 
"I have never encountered it before, but the tales 
that involve it always involves tragedy," Sarintha 
bowed her head in silence. "Tread carefully, Hope 
of Legolas," She sauntered slowly out of the room.
	The three quickly exited the temple. Legolas 
turned towards the two teens. He saw confusion in 
their eyes. "I'm sorry you two, but I can not 
advise you to face this menace," He shook his head 
sadly. "A tale from long ago tells of two friends 
who wanted to become adventurers,
	"They travelled to the Edge and there they 
faced themselves against the Wraith feeling 
confident they could beat it. It utterly defeated 
them, but it left them alive as an insult to their 
weakness. The one friend who was most injured felt 
they were too rash and had learned a lesson,
	"The other friend only wished for vengeance. 
She began to train and became a great warrior. She 
dreamed of the day when she would stand over the 
Wraith and disintegrate it. Then the Wraith 
attacked her friend and killed him. She was 
heart broken.
	"She began to follow the Wraith's movements 
wherever it went finally cornering it at the place 
her friend and she had first faced it. It laughed 
at her, saying that she had wasted her entire life 
fixated upon it and that her energies would have 
been better spent running away,
	"She attacked it furiously bringing it down 
to her feet, but as she looked down onto its 
grinning fa�ade she realised she had indeed wasted 
her life and that of her friend's. The hate in her 
soul towards the wraith had only fed it. She then 
knew why the Wraith killed her friend. It killed 
him so her hate would grow even more and it even 
stronger,
	"She despaired to Lin asking that she may 
become a beacon to others so they would learn her 
lesson. Her body disappeared in a tower of light 
that ascended to the heavens and lay itself for all 
to see,"
	Ranma stared at Legolas confidently. "I won't 
lose," he said.
	"No matter how you approach the situation you 
lose, the Wraith in tales is a terrible creature. 
Born of hate and bred of destruction, it was for 
time the Lieutenant's personal bodyguard. It had 
slain many of my father's friends and tore apart 
countries. I advise to think this situation through 
carefully,"
	Ranma looked at Akane. "I won't lose. I can't 
lose. She has my cure and she's gonna hurt Ucchan 
and Ryouga," He turned towards Legolas. "I'm gonna 
go, no matter what happens,"
	"Ranma you idiot! Think for once in your 
life! You've lost your strength and you can't do 
anything!" Akane's voice was full of anger, but at 
the same time it was full of concern. Her heart 
beat nervously as she waited for Ranma's reply.
Ranma looked at Akane and smirked. "Akane. They're 
my friends, even Ryouga, that thickheaded moron, 
and I can't stand around here being depressed about 
being weak while they're with the ghoul who's 
possessed by some Wraith! I gotta go," Ranma looked 
towards Legolas. "You better not try and stop me!"
	Legolas' face wore a tired and weary look. 
After a moment of silence he spoke, "I don't intend 
to stop you, I just want you to understand how 
difficult a task is ahead of you. By the order of 
Kain and the Seer, I will accompany you to face 
the beast,"
	Akane felt cold. She looked around and saw 
the sun had set and the stars had come out. She 
heard Legolas' voice began to speak again, "The 
girl's name was Kelrumi. Legend says her soul was 
transformed into a constellation and it holds the 
secret to the defeat of the Wraith,"
	Ranma and Akane looked at Legolas. "Didn't 
you say that she beat the Wraith?" Ranma asked.
	"Yes, but she never destroyed it because it 
would have taken her soul and that of her friend's 
and simply regenerated. It would have become even 
stronger then. We must return to the Tower of 
Memories. There we can see the stars above the 
lights of the city," So they started on their way 
to the tower.

	Akane was the last to reach to reach the top 
and when she caught her breath she looked towards 
Ranma and Legolas. They were looking up to the 
ceiling. Akane herself looked up and saw the 
ceiling had disappeared. As far as her eyes could 
see were stars. There were millions and they were 
clearer than she had ever seen them before.
	Legolas walked towards her. "I will show you 
Kelrumi," He pointed to the sky.
	Akane followed his finger to a section of 
sky. The stars there almost began to move in front 
of her eyes. She moved closer to Ranma and felt he 
was watching the same thing. Suddenly a light 
protruded from the stars and began to head 
towards them.
	Ranma watched in fascination as the light 
came closer to Akane and him. Somehow he knew 
Legolas wasn't experiencing the same thing 
though. A stray thought passed through his mind 
wondering why it wasn't possible for Legolas to see 
what was happening, but he dismissed it as the 
light neared them. Suddenly it engulfed them.
	Akane and Ranma stood in an empty land. They 
looked around for Legolas, but they couldn't see 
him. They knew they were alone. A warm presence 
approached them. They turned to see what it was. It 
was a lady who was enshrouded in light. She 
gestured for them to come closer and they did 
without hesitation.
	She spoke without using her mouth and her 
words filled their minds with a pleasant feeling, 
"So much like me you are, but I should have 
expected so since you are me," She seemed to speak 
of Akane and she seemed to not care whether Ranma 
could hear. She turned towards Ranma. "You are 
exactly like him, that silly boy, I wish I had 
listened to him that day,"
	She began to move towards Akane. They felt a 
pang of sadness come from her. "I wish I had 
listened to you Selellso, we never had the chance 
to have what we always wanted," The two teens felt 
panicked as she neared Akane. She seemed to speak 
to them again, "Do not worry for me, I will be with 
you two always, let us go free Selellso now,"
	Light engulfed them once again. They found 
themselves in a room. Ranma stepped towards Akane. 
"What the hell's going on here?" Suddenly a door 
opened and a lady who looked like Akane stepped 
inside. A man who looked like Ranma followed the 
lady in. They seemed to be arguing about something.
	Ranma and Akane began to creep closer to hear 
what the two were saying. The woman spoke, 
"Selellso, you know I can not stay here and do 
nothing for the rest of my life! I do not want to 
be a simple housemaid like my mother. I want an 
adventure, I want excitement, but I do not want 
this life,"
	Selellso looked at Kelrumi. The two teens 
knew the lady was she. Selellso spoke, "The reason 
no one wants you to leave is you are too clumsy! We 
all know you are a tomboy, but the reasons you want 
to leave are reckless. The Wraith is no ordinary 
spirit. It craves the energies you will give it. I 
say you should stay here and not worry about it,"
	"Selellso, I know I can beat it. I know how 
to beat the Wraith. The answer came to me in a 
dream and it came to me for a purpose!" She turned 
around and walked towards a window. She looked 
outside. "The stars are bright tonight, brighter 
than I have ever seen them. Do you think I will 
win?"
	"Kelrumi, I do not, but I will come with you. 
I do not want you to face the Wraith alone. The 
darkness created it as an afterthought, yet it 
infused it with the power of the Edge. With me 
there you may have a chance to beat it, without 
me you could not even beat a mouse,"
	The scene began to fade away from the teens' 
eyes and they found themselves in the tower once 
more. Legolas stood before them watching the night 
sky. It almost seemed they had never left the 
tower, but a feeling remained in their hearts 
they had seen something spectacular. After a long 
moment of silence Legolas spoke, "The tale of 
Selellso and Kelrumi occurred over ten thousand 
years ago, but it never has been forgotten. The 
Secret of the Wraith is said to be their final gift 
to all. We must prepare, the battle ahead is going 
to be dangerous," The three left the tower.
 
	Akane stood between the worlds of light and 
dark. A figure approached her from the world of the 
dark. It was Kelrumi. The older lady spoke, "The 
Past returns and transforms into the Future, that 
is way of the universe. Tragedy repeats and hope is 
reborn. Memories are all that is important,
	"My life was spent pursuing the darkness and 
unfortunately I ask you to pursue it as well. It is 
fate we should meet, you and I, for we are the 
same, although we are different. My life was 
nothing to me and I wasted it in pursuit of the 
beast. I ask, may you destroy it for me?
	"I ask of you Akane Tendo, what is your life 
to you? Told you have I what mine was to me and I 
must understand what yours is to you. Tell me the 
Truth. In the end that is what will make the 
difference and the Wraith can not withstand the 
Truth, since when faced with the Truth, it will 
fade away into nothing,"
	Akane stood still. The words of Kelrumi 
echoed through her mind. Finally words formed on 
her lips, "My life means everything to me,"
	Kelrumi smiled. "Wiser than I are you, and to 
you I entrust this gift, the Secret of the Wraith, 
or the Truth. Teach it to your friend Ranma, and 
together you shall defeat it and prevent further 
sorrow," The figure of Kelrumi erupted into a 
dazzling glow of light and it passed into Akane. 
"The Wraith is but the sorrow of the universe. 
Anger, fear, and despair feed it. Your spirit is 
the key to victory, listen to its whispers and you 
shall be victorious,"
	The silence surrounded her. Akane knew this 
is all Kelrumi had heard for the past ten thousand 
years and the soundless land started to evoke the 
memories of the lady. The memories of her family, 
her friends, and Selellso all stirred in Akane's 
mind. "How could you bear to hear nothing for so 
long?" Akane asked herself. No answer came.
	She knew Kelrumi had passed on. She knew the 
answer to her question. "You knew that I was 
coming, you knew you could live again through me. I 
am you," The world began to fade away before her 
eyes and then she found herself in the land of 
dreams. She remembered nothing more.

	The three started very early in the morning 
on their quest to face the Wraith. They knew the 
task was going to be difficult and they felt they 
might not all return. Ranma noticed a subtle change 
in Akane. "Hey, tomboy! What's with you? You seem 
to be..." The word Ranma was searching for wouldn't 
come to mind.
	A flash of anger passed through Akane's body, 
but she quickly calmed down. "A little what?" she 
asked suspiciously.
	"I don't know, maybe a little more patient," 
Ranma couldn't describe what he was feeling from 
Akane. Usually he felt she was always a second away 
from exploding when he said something, yet now he 
felt she understood things a little more clearly. 
"Don't get the wrong idea, it's not like I'm 
watching you or nothing, it's just you seem less 
like a macho chick,"
	"Maybe I have an answer for you two," Legolas 
said butting in. They waited for his exclamation 
and after what seemed a horrendous long time he 
said, "Long ago, people were split in half by the 
great and benevolent creator and now they 
constantly look for their other half,"
	"Legolas, shut up," Ranma said. He knew the 
elf was trying to tease them, since he heard this 
story before when he had a private moment with Soun 
once. The story ended with the fact the other half 
of a person was the opposite sex and Soun was only 
trying to trick Ranma into marrying Akane.
	He couldn't blame Legolas though. They were 
heading to face a creature that had managed to take 
the mind of Cologne over and the feeling in the 
transport they were currently in was less than 
ecstatic. He wished again that everything would 
go back to normal. Like everything was before 
Happosai's little trick.
	Ranma thought about his life and he knew he 
led less than an ordinary one. He thought though, 
"I guess since it's my life, it's normal for me," 
He had travelled his entire life, but for the past 
few months he had been living with the Tendo 
family. They had become his family and now he was 
back on the road travelling.
	His life had been marshal arts and Happosai 
had taken it away. A chance for a cure was in his 
grasp, but it was taken when a creature took 
control of Cologne. Now he had to chase Cologne who 
for some strange reason was in China heading 
towards Jusenkyou.
	A place he knew too well. The land where he 
lost a little of the life he had built up for 
himself. The land of the transforming curses. "Why 
would Cologne go to Jusenkyou?" Ranma asked 
realising Cologne had no business there. "Why 
didn't she just stay in Nerima?"
	"The Wraith has access to her memories and 
knowledge. I'm sure it knows something about that 
place that will give it a great advantage if 
everything comes down to a battle," Legolas looked 
at Ranma. "It knows we're coming. Our lives are in 
grave danger. Unfortunately we have no choice 
whether we want to pursue it, the lives of your 
friends are in danger,"
	Ranma studied Legolas. Fear was evident on 
the elf's face, yet there was also courage hidden 
deep within his eyes. Something inside of Ranma 
told him Legolas would give his life up for Akane 
and him. He didn't want to think of life afterwards 
if Legolas wasn't there. He had become a friend and 
friends should never die.
	Ranma looked out of the transport. He saw 
there was no land anywhere in sight and the ocean 
was covered by a blanket of darkness. The sun had 
set hours ago. A yawn escaped his body and he 
suddenly became tired. He saw the yawn pass on to 
everyone else in the transport. He closed his eyes.

	Stars passed by with barely a whisper. He had 
been in space for years and the silence bothered 
him little. Vengeance burned in his heart. The 
prince would pay for his crimes dearly. His mother 
and father deserved more than the fate they 
received. They deserved to take their place among 
the stars along with their ancestors.
	Now their souls were hanging near his heart. 
"They beat almost like heart themselves," he 
thought. He grasped the crystal in his hand. "Every 
misdeed will be undone by my hand, every injustice 
will be judged by my soul, no longer shall my 
people become victims," The stars became blurred 
as the star-ship picked up speed.
 
	Ranma awoke with the sun in his eyes. He 
looked to see if the others were awake as well. He 
saw only Legolas was up. "Mirokos, only time and 
tale remember who he was," the elf said. "I suppose 
in the end, Mirokos was only a normal person who 
was confronted by extraordinary circumstances,"
	"Legolas, how the hell do you know about my 
dreams?" Ranma asked slightly annoyed. "You always 
seem to say the weirdest things, stuff about what I 
was dreaming about, and they always seem to make 
sense,"
	Legolas turned and smiled at Ranma. 
"Intuition I suppose, it's no great deal. After 
years of living you develop a sixth sense for 
guessing what weighs heavily on a person's heart. 
An elf lives for a very long time compared to a 
human and has more time to develop such a skill, 
but let us not ponder the spirit's secrets now,"
	Legolas gently rocked Akane. "Awake little 
one, we are approaching your friends. They seem to 
be abandoned and heading this way. Lucky dogs 
anyway. I suppose we should pick them up and see 
what is on their hearts,"
	Ranma felt a feeling of excitement as the 
transport neared the ground. Ucchan was safe and 
Ryouga lived to have his head thumped once more. 
The day was starting off fine, but he knew before 
the day was over they were going to have their 
hands full.

End Chapter Three

---------------------------------------------------

The Fellowship of Evermore
By Silentnova

	The characters in this story, with 
exceptions, are creations of others. Ranma 1/2 and 
its characters are the property and creations of 
Rumiko Takahashi. No attempt has ever been and no 
attempt will ever be made to gain external profits 
from these properties and characters. Any growth by 
the author will be limited to improved writing 
skill and expanded ego, so please don't sue me.

---------------------------------------------------

This part was last updated on 9 May 2000

	Comments and criticisms are appreciated. 
Flames will be ignored.

---------------------------------------------------

Chapter Four
Driven

	Mousse felt like crawling into a hole and 
dying. "At least then I'd finally have some pride," 
he thought bitterly. The old woman put him in 
charge of bringing Ryouga and Ukyou to Jusenkyou, 
which was a task of monumental proportions. "Why 
doesn't she just let them walk?" he wondered.
	"Why did she do this to them in the first 
place at all?" he thought out loud. He never knew 
Cologne to be so cruel before, except to him. Even 
when she was being cruel there never was any 
intention to hurt him, but now she felt almost 
evil. He looked around at his surroundings and he 
realised his head hadn't felt so clear for days.
	He noticed the old woman seemed to grow even 
more powerful the day Ranma left, but she seemed to 
have changed as well. She seemed to have gained an 
ability to guess what people were going to do 
before they even acted. She also never seemed 
to sleep.
	"That's funny, why am I just noticing this 
now?" he asked himself quietly, since he had been 
around the old woman for almost four straight days. 
Sure he was almost blind, but anything Cologne did 
out of the ordinary he would have been sure to 
notice. After all he had lived around her for his 
entire life.
	His actions though seemed even stranger, 
since he usually avoided her when he could and left 
her quickly when he had to be around her. The four 
days they had been travelling he had been around 
her without question though and anything she did he 
couldn't remember clearly. It was almost like he 
became completely blind to her actions.
	He looked down at his passengers. He had 
obtained a wheelbarrow and had put the two martial 
artists in it so the journey would be easier. 
Unfortunately it was an extremely small wheelbarrow 
and he had to work for nearly an hour to put them 
in so they wouldn't fall out. They complained for 
hours about close they were to each other. He 
finally had to put tape over their mouths so he 
could travel in peace. He saw they were asleep. A 
wave of relief passed through his body, since he 
didn't feel like dealing with their cruel banter.
	"Excuse me honoured guest, do you mind if 
Plum walks with you?" came the voice of the young 
girl. She walked quickly so she could stand beside 
Mousse. She waited patiently for his reply, since 
she knew he had a little more patience when he was 
dealing with her than anyone else in the party.
	Mousse looked around for her. "Sure," he 
replied finally spotting her beside him. "Is there 
anything you want?" He knew people only ever spoke 
to him when they needed something. The young girl 
was no exception to the rule. Even though it made 
him feel isolated he had resolved himself to his 
fate long ago.
	"I came to say, you are different from the 
other two, you are nice and don't yell at me," 
Mousse raised his eyebrow. Someone had come up to 
him with a real problem. Maybe there was justice in 
the universe and maybe he had a chance with 
Shampoo. He felt if he wanted his chance though he 
had to listen to the girl's problem, since destiny 
was so strict when it came down to the heart of 
matters.
	He noticed she spoke with less difficulty 
than she had before and he realised how intelligent 
she must be to improve her speaking skills in only 
a few days. "What do you mean?" Usually the other 
two were even more patient with children than he. 
It was strange they were yelling at such an 
innocent child. He could see Cologne screaming at 
Plum, since she had changed. He couldn't see 
Shampoo yelling at the girl though. It was too out 
of character for her.
	"That Shampoo, she is always blaming me for 
things going wrong and that Cologne, she is always 
believing Shampoo. I do nothing, but Shampoo is 
always blaming me," She tried to keep talking, but 
a lump of anguish trapped the words in her throat.
	He thought about Plum's words, "Shampoo would 
have been the first person to notice if Cologne had 
changed or not, I wonder what she's doing?" He then 
realised something. "If Shampoo's not being herself 
than Cologne would have recognised a change like 
that!" he blurted out loud. "Cologne isn't ologne!" 
	Suddenly he was dropped onto the ground. His 
head felt like it had been hit really hard.
	"How long it take for stupid Mousse to figure 
that out?" Shampoo's voice came. She walked over 
his fallen body and grabbed Ukyou from out of the 
wheelbarrow. "Wake up stupid spatula girl! You no 
having beauty sleep now, we have a talk yes!" She 
callously grabbed Ryouga out as well and dumped him 
on the ground. Her hands moved quickly over the two 
prisoners.
	"Shampoo?" Mousse couldn't believe his eyes. 
"What's going on?"
	"We have to leave now, grandmother will find 
us soon and she won't be happy!" Shampoo grinned. 
She pulled out of her clothes a piece of paper. 
"Grandmother will be mad, Shampoo take her moxi-
map!" She placed Ukyou down and glared at her. "Get 
up, you can walk now, Shampoo help you,"
	Mousse couldn't believe his eyes. "Shampoo, 
what about Cologne?"
	"She forget why we were in Japan, Shampoo no 
want to be here, want to be looking for Ranma," A 
look of sadness passed over her body. "Shampoo 
doesn't have the time to be here, but no can get 
away from grandmother until now, she almost know 
what Shampoo thinking,"
	"Wrong child, I know exactly what you were 
thinking," the voice Mousse didn't want to hear 
spoke. He shuddered. Tones of disgust ruled the old 
woman's voice. "Did you really believe I didn't 
know what you were thinking? I enjoyed playing 
with you young ones, but the power I was using to 
cloud your minds is too urgent now to use on so 
feeble a species,"
	"They're almost here," The old woman looked 
towards the sky. "I can't wait to meet them again, 
I have some back pay to recover," Mousse looked to 
sky and he saw a strange aircraft approaching. 
"Maybe it's better to say payback!" He tried 
to say something, but his mouth wouldn't move. He 
realised then his whole body wouldn't move, since 
it was frozen with fear. The old woman seemed to be 
controlling his emotions.
	Mousse looked at Cologne. She was floating in 
the air. Words began to come from her, but her 
mouth wasn't moving, "Eternal twilight, crimson 
your colour such as blood," An aura appeared around 
her. "I command you to flow through my finger 
tips!" a voice screamed. He didn't recognise the 
voice to be Cologne's and it sent shivers down his 
spine.
	She was enveloped by a deep colour of red 
light that shot away from her at almost the same 
time it covered her. It moved towards the aircraft 
at an incredible speed. Seconds later it impacted a 
small explosion rocked the craft violently. The 
craft almost began to scream.
	The craft started on a downward spiral and 
began to move closer to the party. Mousse winced. 
It seemed to be almost too close. Suddenly three 
figures jumped from it. Cologne began to run 
towards where the figures would land. Whatever 
sway she held over him moments later seemed to 
disappear with her as she moved closer to the 
landing party. He picked himself up off the ground. 
"Everyone, come on!" he shouted. Whatever was 
controlling Cologne was not going to do any more 
harm and especially not if he had a chance to 
show the old hag up.
	They began to give chase after the old woman. 
The figures began to take shape the closer they got 
to them. Everyone saw it was Ranma and Akane and a 
stranger. Soon the trio of evacuees touched the 
ground and the two parties met. They all 
immediately faced Cologne. The craft crashed into 
the ground in the distance, which caused an even 
louder explosion than before.
	The old woman spoke, "So elf, we meet again, 
you managed to scare me that first night with your 
soul of light. You will not defeat me this time. 
The souls of the heirs of Light and Spirit are mine 
and I will destroy them as my master commanded me," 
As she spoke her aides and captives alike slowly 
made their way to Ranma's and Akane's side. No 
matter their history with her she was alone now.
	Mousse looked at the stranger who began 
speaking to Cologne, "Foul beast, twice you have 
come dangerously close to your goal, but I assure 
you, you will be the one who is destroyed. Even if 
I perish in the act, the lives of these two will 
continue and prosper. Your future is that of 
eternal darkness, your past is catching up and you 
will soon see your crimes will come full circle to 
destroy you,"
	"I shall grant your wish to perish elf," 
Cologne pointed her staff at the stranger. 
Immediately it flew towards him like a flash of 
lightening. It impacted him with a crack of thunder 
and disappeared on sight. The elf fell onto 
the ground. A moan escaped his lips. "Foolish 
mortal, my power is beyond yours as the size of the 
sun is beyond that of this planet," Her cane 
returned to her hand. Everyone shuddered as it 
moved, since it seemed to have its own mind. "I am 
meant to exist forever. I have no need to fear the 
future,"
	"Wraith, you despicable creature! The life 
Lin gave you is perverted and evil when it was 
meant to be pure and gentle," The elf stood up 
slowly. "Lin is no fool, he had long ago decided 
your crimes are to judged and your actions to 
decide your fate," Ranma and Akane ran to his side, 
but he pushed them aside. "Be gone at once, the 
light of eternity is upon you!"
	Mousse saw a look of shock on Cologne's face. 
"How is this possible?" she screamed, "You should 
be dead, dead, dead!" She began to chant softly. He 
knew she was planning to use the powerful attack 
she had used before and again his body was frozen. 
Suddenly a flash of light came from the elf 
knocking Cologne out of her concentration.
	The elf began to chant, "Sky, your soft 
blanket covers the Earth and protects her from the 
darkness of nothing. I ask of you, take this fallen 
body and shatter my foe!" Akane and Ranma looked at 
the elf in shock. Mousse watched in fascination as 
a power he never saw before began to emanate from 
the elf's body.
	"Ranma, Akane, I will not fail in my duty to 
protect you. No matter where you are from now on, I 
will stay with you two in your hearts," His body 
then disappeared. His voice trailed off into the 
future, "The Wraith will live, but it will be 
mortally wounded, destroy it once for yourself and 
twice for everyone else!" The two aforementioned 
teens smiled at some secret understanding.
	The earth began to shake and the group could 
barely keep its balance. Light suddenly shot forth 
from the sky towards Cologne. It began to grow 
larger when it hit her. Soon the land around all 
the teens was covered in light. It was a gentle and 
caressing light. They felt comfort and warmth, but 
it suddenly disappeared.
	They saw Cologne was nowhere to be found when 
they could see again. A dark feeling of fear 
pressed on their hearts that she wasn't dead and 
she had survived the deadly assault by escaping 
when she had been hit. No one could speak. A gentle 
breeze passed the group. They were safe for the 
moment though wherever the evil creature had gone.
	"Legolas," Ranma and Akane said quietly 
together. Mousse watched the two teens. There were 
questions to be answered, but they had to wait. 
Whoever the strange man was he was important to 
them. Mousse would wait, since he knew some things 
were best left alone for a little while.
 
	"So what you're saying is she's possessed by 
a ancient creature called the Wraith? You're also 
saying nobody knows how to beat her?" Ryouga almost 
couldn't believe his ears, but his curse had 
changed a lot of things in his life. "Why? Why the 
hell is she so strong?"
	Ranma didn't know what to say. Everything in 
his life had gone upside down and nothing in the 
world would turn it right side up. "Legolas said 
it's a creature of pure hate and feelings that 
aren't pure will feed it. He also said it's 
thousands of years old,"
	"Who's this Legolas? I never met him," Ukyou 
said. Either she had lost all contact with the 
world when she was in the old woman's grasp or it 
simply went crazy. "Oh wait! I'm so sorry, I didn't 
mean to..." She realised her mistake too late. A 
moment of inspiration brought a realisation that 
the man who was killed earlier was the man of her 
question. A cold breeze passed the group and the 
only noise in the world was the crackling of the 
campfire. "No, it's okay, I suppose we didn't tell 
you anything. Legolas was an elf. He was one of 
many who live in a city called Minerthal. He and 
someone else met us in a forest saying they were 
meant to meet us there,"
	Akane tried to remember everything that had 
happened to Ranma and her, but strangely she felt 
she had to leave out everything about the dreams 
and visions. "He brought us to his home and he 
showed us something called Minerthal's Mirror, 
which we saw you guys in, that's why we were coming 
this way,"
	Shampoo and Mousse suddenly stood up. Mousse 
spoke, "I'm sorry, but we have to leave, our people 
have to know this. Since Cologne is very important 
to the well being of the Amazons we have to tell 
them she has been possessed, since if don't do so 
she may use them to her advantage,"
	Then they were gone. The five remaining 
people sat in silence contemplating the situation. 
Finally Ranma said, "We have a choice, we can stay 
here and wait for her, or we can chase after her. 
No matter what we do is dangerous to our health. I 
say we chase after her, I can beat her by myself if 
I have to,"
	Then he smiled. "At least that's what I would 
have said last week, before I learned what she is 
and what she can do. Can you guys help me? This is 
the first time I've really asked for help before 
and I don't want to have to beat you guys up to 
make you guys say yes,"
	"Obviously we have no choice in the matter," 
Ukyou muttered.
	"Of course you have a choice, do you want to 
be hurt by me, or are you just going to decide to 
come anyway?" Ranma grinned. "Ever since Shampoo 
gave me back my strength I've felt a million times 
better and I bet I can take on the whole world 
now!" Then he saw Akane. A look of pain and fear 
enveloped her body. "What's the matter?"
	A weight of fear pressed on Akane's 
shoulders. "I don't know Ranma, I don't know if we 
can beat her, even if we have you guys there to 
help. First she is Cologne and she's taught you 
guys a lot, how can we beat someone who knows what 
you guys do? Second she's been possessed by an evil 
creature who managed to take the body of Cologne 
over,"
	Her words had a profound effect on everyone. 
The spirit of the group had been crushed. Plum 
spoke, "I know you have forgotten already the 
threat of my home and I know you have forgotten 
already my father's danger. I beg you now, please 
come with me to Jusenkyou, you all are my hope now 
and I don't want my father to die!"
	Ranma looked at the girl. "I guess we have no 
choice now, I'll help you," He looked at Ryouga and 
Ukyou. "You guys gonna help?"
	"We already said we'll help her," Ryouga 
replied.
	Akane watched everything transpire. Doubts 
pressed on her mind that no amount of laughter 
could hope to chase away. She closed her eyes 
hoping some thread of inspiration would occur. She 
knew though she had a lot to think about over the 
next few hours. "I've already made my decision, I 
just don't have the courage to say so,"

	Akane couldn't find Ranma. It was the middle 
of the night and the idiot had decided to wander 
off. The groups had earlier finished sharing their 
stories and decided to go to sleep. Akane couldn't 
sleep though. The few memories of Legolas were 
nagging at her feelings and troubling her mind.
	She knew only one place where Ranma could 
have wandered. A cliff that seemed to touch the sky 
watched over them. She saw Ranma watching the cliff 
as they shared their tales earlier by campfire. She 
knew it was only a short climb to the top and she 
would have little trouble climbing it.
	When she reached the top she saw Ranma 
tossing rocks into the distant sky. She crept over 
and sat down beside him. He spoke, "You know Akane, 
if our fathers could see us now..." Another rock 
found itself a new home in the sky. "I wonder what 
pop would say. Probably something stupid,"
	She smiled knowing full well what would 
happen. "I suppose we'd have to get married, my 
life would be over and yours too," A moment of 
silence passed. Akane looked into the starry sky 
and wished everything wrong in the world would heal 
itself. "Why are you here?"
	"Every time I look at the stars, I feel like 
something is bugging my memory, almost as if I'm 
supposed to remember something important," Ranma 
tossed one more rock at the stars and sat down 
gently. "I don't know what it is I'm forgetting, or 
I've forgotten,"
	He looked down at the land far below. "I want 
to remember what's bugging me, I want to know why 
the hell we're so important now. A week ago we had 
a world of problems on our shoulders, now we seem 
to have the world's problems on our shoulders,"
	Akane realised a mountain of trouble was in 
their way. Somehow in his wisdom Legolas had 
shielded the responsibility being placed on their 
shoulders by the council of the elves. Now he was 
gone and they now saw the future they were facing. 
It was one of darkness and uncertainty. "Ranma, 
what're supposed to do?" She felt helpless. The 
light leading them through the confusion had been 
extinguished.
	"I don't know Akane," He didn't want to say 
what was on his mind. It seemed too impossible a 
task to accomplish, but he knew what Legolas wished 
them to do. "I think we should beat the Wraith. 
That's our only choice," A dread feeling passed 
through his soul. "We have to be careful though," 
The feeling calmed down as the words left his 
mouth.
	"I know, but everything is so weird now, it's 
like we have choice in anything we do anymore. Not 
that we ever did," Akane smiled. Sometimes things 
never really changed even they seemed so at first. 
"Maybe Ranma, we should give it a shot, maybe we 
can do something about the future, maybe Kelrumi 
knows how to beat it,"
	As the words left her mouth the world 
transformed before her eyes. She looked around. 
"Ranma?" She heard footsteps approaching. "Ranma, 
is that you?" She looked around to pinpoint the 
location of the footsteps. "Ranma, answer me!" A 
tinge of anger began to burn in the back of her 
mind.
	"Jeez Akane, you don't have to yell!" Ranma 
said stepping beside her. "Where are we? For a 
moment I thought we fell off the cliff," He looked 
around and saw they were nowhere. Everything was 
nothing but an empty space and concrete ground. 
"Uh, Akane, I think we should at least try and find 
somewhere. And wasn't it just night? Why is day 
now? Where are we?"
	"Who are you two?" a commanding voice asked. 
"What are your names? Answer me now children!"
	Ranma and Akane turned to look at a strange 
man. He was one of enormous build and height. 
"Uh...Ranma and Akane?" Ranma answered. They felt 
he was no ordinary man and they didn't want to get 
on his bad side. How they knew this was his good 
side they didn't know. "Are we trespassing here?" 
Ranma swallowed down his foot. He knew he said 
something stupid. "If there' nothing to trespass 
on, how can one be trespassing?" he thought.
	"Son, that's the damn funniest thing I've 
ever heard, I bet you're a real riot back where you 
came from," He reached out his hand. "I bet you're 
thinking you don't want to be here at this 
particular moment, am I right?" He waited for an 
answer. "Well son, aren't you going to shake my 
hand? That's what I have it out for!"
	Ranma gingerly let his hand out. The man 
began briskly shaking hands with him. "Pleased to 
meet you, the name's..." He took his hand away from 
his mouth. "Now isn't that a real nuisance, I've 
forgotten my name," He raised his arms in 
exasperation. "Well, you two call me whatever you 
want, I'll even except Hey-You and You-There!" He 
let out a belting laugh. "I've always loved that 
one, it's just so funny!"
	He held his back out, but this time towards 
Akane who took it gently. "I haven't had visitors 
in such a long time, not since Kelrumi and 
Selellso," He quickly brought his hand to his chin 
and began stroking it. "Now that I think about it, 
you two remind me of them in some way,"
	He gestured for the two to stand beside him 
and as they did he put his arms around their 
shoulders. "Used to be a city in this very spot 
long ago, only Lin remembers its name, only Lin 
remembers its people. Came a long time before me 
that's for sure. Now it's just my neighbours and 
me,"
	"Neighbours?" Ranma asked.
	"Sure! My old buddy Kina lives that way," He 
pointed into the nothingness. "Just go a few years 
that way and you'll find his house, you can't miss 
it," He again put his hand to his chin. "Well on 
second thought, maybe you can. Lin knows I have! 
Only time and luck sorted that mess out,"
	"Must have lonely," Akane commented.
	"You bet your boots it was, but I'm not one 
to complain!" He gave the two teens a hearty 
squeeze, but stopped when he noticed they were 
running out of breath. "Oh, sorry you two, I always 
seem to forget how frail you creatures are!" He let 
them go so they could breathe again. As they 
regained their breath he spoke, "I think we should 
go inside,"
	"Go inside where?" Ranma asked. "There isn't 
a house for years, you said so yourself,"
	"House? Who said anything about a house? What 
I'm talking about is my hidden palace that is 
hidden beneath the concrete," He stomped the ground 
for effect sending a crushing sound of concrete 
mashing out into the world. He raised his hand into 
the air. "By the command of Lin's Guard, I order 
you to open up!" A bath of light surrounded the 
three. "You kids will love my palace, I assure 
you!"
	The three suddenly found themselves in a 
garden bathed in sunlight. Ranma glanced upward and 
saw what he didn't expect to see. "I thought you 
said we're under concrete! Why is there a sun up in 
the sky?" Ranma asked. He looked around. Although 
the man was wrong about the palace being under 
concrete he was right about the palace. He saw the 
garden went on forever and contained plants of 
every colour and species. Far off in the distance 
trees were in full view and he guessed they were 
part of the garden too.
	"I used to ask myself the same question son, 
but I learned not so long ago such thoughts always 
lead to headaches! My only answer if you must have 
one is we're under the concrete by nearly an entire 
galaxy!" He started walking towards an entrance to 
a giant tunnel leading away from the garden. "If 
you like this section, I'll bet you'll like my 
throne room, it's my favourite place to be in the 
whole universe! Except for maybe being by Lin's 
side battling the Eternal Darkness!"
	The three began walking on the path and what 
they saw was a scene from their dreams. As they 
stepped into the tunnel they saw many windows 
looking out onto the horizon. Looking out the 
windows they saw the ground was far beneath the 
floor of the tunnel. A general feeling of 
understanding between the teens was they did not 
want to fall from such a great height.
	The path led a curving way so they couldn't 
see what was ahead or behind them. They heard the 
sound of running water and the closer they walked 
to the sound their hearts began to beat faster. As 
they rounded the bend they gasped in amazement. A 
huge waterfall was seen through the windows and 
they saw it flowed from beneath the tunnel.
	"We're almost there and I believe you'll see 
the sight of your lives," A door was at the end of 
the tunnel. "Through this door I have left on many 
great adventures and whenever I return I always 
feel relieved," He turned and looked at Ranma. "No, 
I don't mean this is the greatest sight this castle 
has to offer! So don't bother saying anything!" The 
door opened even before they were close to it. 
"Well it's reliable anyway and that's all I ask of 
anything,"
	They walked through and a sight confronted 
Ranma and Akane so incredible they weren't sure if 
they were awake. A room larger than any other they 
ever entered overwhelmed them. At the far end of 
the room was a shining gold throne. The entire 
floor was covered by a red carpet with the design 
of many generations and the stitching of thousands 
of years.
	The man pointed to the ceiling. "I always 
find looking up there brings to mind my most 
fondest dreams," The teens looked up. A painting of 
unmistakable talent clung to the ceiling. It was of 
many colours and looked ages old. "I wish I knew 
the people who lived here, they must have been 
great artists to undertake such a gigantic task, 
but I doubt they'd want to meet a simple guard like 
myself,"
	He looked at the teens. "Now tell me, why are 
you here?" He listened to the two teens recount the 
events surrounding their lives at the moment. A 
look of horror was on his face by the end. "So 
you're saying the Wraith is still in existence?" He 
began to pace back and forth. "I taught those kids 
what I knew, but something must have happened, 
after all, why would they have to give you the key 
to the Truth?" He brought his hands together. "I 
know what I have to do!"
	"The Truth?" Ranma asked. He quickly learned 
trying to say more than a simple sentence to the 
Guard was futile, since the man would only cut 
anyone who attempted to say more than two words. 
The man had obviously been in the company of others 
rarely and learned to compensate by speaking as 
much as possible when he met someone.
	"I see you're a scholar! Well, the Truth is 
the only weapon capable of destroying the Wraith. 
Long ago, Lin wanted to create a beauty unmatched 
in the universe, it was his first attempt at life 
and he wanted to do it right, but something went 
wrong. The darkness got to it as it breathed for 
the first time and perverted it beyond all 
redemption,
	"Lin was in dire trouble, so he created a 
weapon to destroy it quickly. Unfortunately the 
Wraith ran at the sight of Lin and he could never 
leave his guard at the Edge to chase it down and 
destroy it. For if he did, the darkness would pour 
into the universe and cause more trouble and 
destruction than the Wraith ever could,
	"Lin tried to teach us how to use the weapon, 
but not one of us could stand up to the beast. 
Being a creation of Lin, it was too powerful for us 
and many of us died. So in a fit of desperation Lin 
created humans and elves, which would have the 
power to destroy his first creation,
	"Unfortunately the darkness again managed to 
approach his creations, but Lin was ready. A 
ferocious battle raged and Lin sent the darkness 
packing. The creations though were touched with 
evil and so can never fully have the power to 
destroy the Wraith,
	"So once again Lin tried for a beautiful 
creation, but this time in the safety of his 
spirit. Lin created two people with great power who 
could wield the Truth and finally destroy his 
mistake. An odd mixture to say the least, part 
human, part elf, and part of what the Wraith was 
meant to be,"
	The Guard looked at Ranma and Akane. "I 
remember now, I saw you two so long ago, you two 
are meant to learn this gift, the Truth. I am the 
only one left, who remembers the Secret of the 
Wraith around here, so I suppose I'll teach it to 
you," Suddenly the Guard looked up. "Wait a 
minute," He began to pace the room as if listening 
for an elusive sound.
	The room went silent. Ranma began to listen 
carefully to his surroundings. He thought he could 
hear something approaching, but the sound was so 
minute he thought he might be dreaming. The Guard 
signalled for Ranma and Akane to stand up. He 
walked slowly over to them and placed his palms 
onto their foreheads. "May all your dreams be 
sweet, may all your thoughts be beautiful, may your 
soul be true," he chanted softly.
	Somewhere in the back of his mind Ranma 
thought he could hear whatever was approaching 
speed up. "It doesn't want its prize destroyed, so 
it came here to destroy me. Fortunately Fate placed 
you in my hands now," The Guard raised his hands in 
the air and they began to glow. "I wish you two 
good luck, it was nice to meet you again,"
	The walls then broke apart and the Guard went 
into action. Ranma almost wished he could stay, but 
his heart told him to take Akane and run. He 
grabbed for her hand and bolted toward a door. "We 
gotta get out of here!" As they stepped through the 
door the cliff reappeared before their eyes. They 
had to stop suddenly so they wouldn't fall off.
	A feeling told Ranma to look back and he saw 
through the door a figure cloaked in black 
approaching. Fear literally exploded from the man. 
Pain was his weapon and terror was his ally. 
Ranma's eyes widened in terror. If the man managed 
to make it through the door the world was good as 
dead.
	A voice boomed from the unknown, "Lieutenant! 
Your battle is with me, I will not allow you to 
take the souls of the pure," The door began to 
crumble. "Go you two! The world you inhabit is in 
dire need of your powers, destroy the Wraith and 
don't look back!" Then the door was sealed and 
silence retook the world.
 
	Anger burned in Ryouga's heart. He watched as 
Ranma helped Akane up one more time from off the 
ground. He wasn't angry with Ranma though. He was 
angry with himself for not realising Ranma did have 
a heart. When the man called Legolas died Ryouga 
watched as Ranma turned from an arrogant son of a 
panda to a genuine caring person. The switch was so 
sudden. "Maybe he's always been like that," he 
thought.
	"Maybe I'm blind when it comes to the hearts 
of others, if that's so, I guess that's why I've 
chasing Akane all this time. I only hope now she 
doesn't find out my little secret now," He bowed 
his head. "How I am gonna tell her? I can't keep 
this from her forever, she deserves better than to 
be fooled by idiot like me,"
	Although he knew this to be true he still 
felt a great loss Akane and Ranma had made the same 
choice together. Where there once was hope in his 
heart was now an empty void filling with remorse 
and regret. One so large nothing could ever fill it 
again.
	He closed his eyes in thought, "Whatever 
happens, I suppose Fate is my only option,"
	Ukyou felt the same feelings inside her soul. 
She had spent so much time chasing after Ranma she 
had barely the time to catch her breath. Now she 
had stopped and a great pain in her chest 
threatened to rip her heart out. She had considered 
over the night simply leaving everyone behind, but 
a simple promise kept her from doing so. She 
decided if she could make even one person smile it 
would be Plum.
	"Everything I've done has been for Ranma, how 
could I be such an idiot? My whole life wasted in 
pursuit of him. I wish I could turn back time or 
even better, I wish I never met him," She choked 
down a downpour of tears. "No, I'm wrong, I wish I 
didn't blind myself to him, it would have much 
easier to see who he truly loved,"
	A young girl walked alone in the middle of 
the party. She could sense the doubt surrounding 
everyone and she couldn't help but feel the same 
feeling nagging her spirits. "Did I make the right 
choice? Is my father alright?" she wondered. "I 
hope everything is okay now," She watched the 
surroundings pass by. Trees and mountains seemed so 
little now.

End Chapter Four


-- 
                 .---Anime/Manga Fanfiction Mailing List---.
                 | Administrators - ffml-admins@fanfic.com |
                 | Unsubscribing - ffml-request@fanfic.com |
                 |     Put 'unsubscribe' in the subject    |
                 `---http://www.fanfic.com/FFML-FAQ.txt ---'