[FFML] [Crossover: R1/2 & Slayers]The Slayers: Wild Chapter Two

Merry Christmas, and Happy Holidays, everyone. Here's a present, a year in Hiatus (you know, the second star on the left, not right?), Chapter Two, 'The Slayers: Wild'.

Troy Thomas

***

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The Slayers: Wild
By Troy Thomas

Ranma 1/2 and its characters are the creations and property
of Rumiko Takahashi. Slayers and its characters are the
creations and properties of Hajime Kanzaka and Rui Araizumi.
Excepting flames, if you have any comments or criticisms,
feel free to send them my way.

***

I can be found at the following addresses:
URL: ca.geocities.com/therealsilentnova/fanfiction/index.html
E-mail: Silentnova@go.com

***

Chapter Two

"Where to, now?" Ranma asked Akane.

Akane looked at Ranma, with an expression silently saying,
"Why are you asking me?" However, out loud she instead said,
"That Lina girl said to find someone who knows something
about magic."

"Right, but where do we start?" Ranma looked out over the
crowded, he was certain it was a, marketplace. "I mean, this
must be a specific thing that brought us here, right? Magic?"

"Somebody who knows a lot about magic!" Akane brightened.
"But Zelgadis said there was many kinds of magic...So you're
right, it's got to be specific." She brought her hands
together, and began staring at the ground. "She, Lina, said
we were summoned here." She emphasised the word summoned. "So
somebody who knows a lot about summon magic." She looked at
Ranma for conformation.

"Sounds good to me." Ranma said. He grabbed somebody, who was
walking past him, on the arm. "You know anything about summon
magic?"

"No." the man replied.

"Do you know anybody who does?" Akane asked.

"Uh, try the sorcerers at the academy just down that way."
the man responded. "They probably know something. It's that
big crooked building. You can't miss it."

"Thanks!" Ranma said. He turned to Akane, and then said, "You
hear that Akane. We're in luck."

***

"He wasn't lying when he said it was crooked." Ranma stated,
crossing his arms, regarding the Sorcerer's Academy.

"Why do I get the feeling this only the tip of the iceberg?"
Akane asked. "And what's with this bad feeling I'm suddenly
getting?"

"I don't know, but that feeling's never stopped me before."
Ranma headed towards the entrance. "After all, I get it all
the time."

"Ranma! Wait up!" Akane said, running after him.

***

A wary man suspiciously watched two dubious teens run into
his building. "Fraum, who are those two kids entering the
lobby?" he asked.

The man named Fraum answered, "I've never seen them before,
Sir. Would you like me to set up a watch? Do you suspect
them, Sir?"

"I suspect everyone, Fraum." the wary man answered.

Fraum stepped away from the building's master. After
swallowing his fear, he quickly ventured, "Even me, Sir?"

"Especially you, Fraum." the wary man sneered.

***

Running out of his boss's office, Fraum quickly loosened his
collar, and leaned against the office door in an alert
relief.

A subordinate walking by had the misfortune of being the
first person Fraum saw.

"You there!"

"Fraum, Sir?"

"I need a watch set up on the two teens who just entered the
building, and I need it now!"

"Sir?" the subordinate asked.

"I need it now!" Fraum shouted, obeying the age-old law: when
the misery's taken out from the cupboard, spread it about.

Seeing the subordinate scatter down the hallway, Fraum re-
tightened his collar, and looked about to let everyone know,
nothing is happening.

***

Looking up at the tall man behind the lobby reception, Ranma
said, "Hi."

"What do you want, Kid?" the tall man asked.

"We're looking for someone who knows Summon Magic, or
something like that." Ranma responded.

"Humph. Damn tourists." A man approached the receptionist.
"One moment." the tall man said to Ranma and Akane, before
turning towards the stranger.

"He seems very friendly." Ranma quietly said to Akane.

"Ranma!" Akane admonished.

"Hey, Kiddies! Follow this guy. He'll show you where you need
to go." the tall man said.

"Thanks, Gigantor." Ranma said, before following the
stranger.

"Punk!"

***

"Where are we?" Ranma silently asked, leaning towards Akane.

"I don't know." Akane quietly answered. "We've been walking
around these halls for a long time. I don't know about you,
but I don't think I'd be able to find my way back outside, if
we got left behind."

"Aren't we even going anywhere?" Ranma suddenly asked the man
ahead of him. He reached forward when the man, who was
dressed in a large ominous robe, didn't answer. "Hey! I
asked..." He stopped speaking when the man...dropped out his
robe, leaving it on the floor.

Ranma prodded at the robe, lying on the floor, with his toe.
"Hey, is everything alright?" He kicked it over. "Humph.
There isn't a hole here..." He cupped his hands over his
mouth. "Hey! Where'd you go, Guy? You forgot your clothes!"

"Ranma..." Akane began to ask, "Do you think we've been
tricked?"

"Why do you ask?" Ranma asked.

"It's just that...thing at the end of the hallway." Akane
pointed.

Ranma looked, and saw some big green...thing that looked like
a human, only stronger, taller, and uglier. Greener too, if
ever there had been a green human.

"Ugh!" Ranma turned about. "And behind you, Akane!"

There stood a fish, or was it a man? No, it was just a fish
with arms (with a complete set of digits on hands) and legs
(with toes).

"Yuck!" Akane said. She herself turned a little green.

"Hey, you kids." the fish said. "Just tell us what you did
with it, and we'll let you go without getting hurt." Its
voice sounded as though it were speaking underwater.

"Humph, you're right. If I do tell you anything, you won't
get hurt!" Ranma said, emphasising you and won't. Cracking
his knuckles, he got into a defensive stance. "But I don't
know what you're talking about, so I guess that means we got
to fight!"

"That's fine with me." said the fish. He shouted at the green
ugly thing behind Ranma. "Hey Dummy, let's get them!" The
fish waggled its tail fin, and then charged at Akane.

"Augh!" Akane screamed, before closing her eyes and wildly
swinging at the fish. "Get away!" She let loose a few high
kicks, which connected with the fish's face, sending the
creature flying backwards.

Ranma launched himself at the green thing, and kicked it in
the back of the head as he flew over top of it. "Ha!" he
said, as he turned around to gloat.

However, Ranma didn't expect to be kicked by the still
standing creature. Actually, he didn't expect the creature to
still be standing.

"Ha ha ha!" a watery voice said. "Don't you know about
trolls! They can be hurt, but they heal so quickly it doesn't
seem like it!"

"Akane, didn't you take him out yet?" Ranma asked, ignoring
the fish, trying stand up despite the pain in his side, where
he had been struck.

Ranma looked for Akane, and saw her determinedly facing the
fish. The goo all over her head attracted his attention.
"Ugh." he said, his face paling with mutual disgust, paling,
knowing there was only one place where a goo like on Akane
was to be found.

"You jerk!" Akane shouted, wildly flinging her fists at the
fish. She caught it under its head, and on the side of its
head with fierce and powerful punches. Finishing the fish off
with a terrifying knee to the head, which the fish seemed to
be completely made up of, Akane then turned towards the
troll.

Shifting from spectator to fighter, Ranma then jumped towards
the troll's head. Akane flanked his right, and together, they
booted the troll's head.

Landing, both began to run down the hall, to where ever it
led.

***

Fraum disgustedly looked down on the fish man. "Where are
they?"

"That...way..." the fish pointed.

Fraum began to walk down the hall.

***

"A door?" Ranma asked.

"There's doors everywhere!" Akane said.

"Not like that one." Ranma said, pointing at a unique door,
which was over eight feet tall.

Suddenly, the door vanished.

"What?" Akane and Ranma said.

"How do you find the Academy?" someone said.

Ranma and Akane wheeled about, each taking a defensive
stance.

"My name is Fraum, and I am the Assistant for the
Headmaster." a man, short and pudgy, said. "I hope you
haven't found my assistants too rude."

"What if we have?" Akane asked.

"Then I must apologise. We're all on edge here at the
Academy. Something important was stolen, and I guess we
prematurely placed blame on you two." Fraum smiled.

"Oh." Ranma shrugged. "Well, we just came here to see if
anyone would help us."

Fraum began to smirk. "What do you mean?"

"We were summoned from our world to this world, and we want
to go back." Akane said.

"Oh no." Fraum replied. "We'll need to speak with the
headmaster. This sounds very complicated." He snapped his
fingers, and the floor began to glow.

Looking down, Akane and Ranma saw a large symbol on the
floor, but before either could think about it, they were...

***

Taken from the hallway, and then deposited in a large office.

"Hello, Children." an elderly man said.

Ranma and Akane looked at him, at his beard, which dragged
along the floor.

"Hi." they answered, with a bow.

"My, my. You two certainly are polite." the elderly gentleman
said. "I already know your names, Ranma, Akane."

"Actually, I'm Ranma." said Ranma.

"Fraum, are you trying to make an embarrassment of the
university and me?" the elderly man asked.

"No Sir, no!" Fraum denied.

Akane stepped forward. "Let me guess. You're the Headmaster?"

"I am. You're Akane, I presume?" The Headmaster glanced at
Fraum. "This time, I hope?"

"I'll always be Akane, yes."

"Good, good." The Headmaster quickly changed topics, "As you
can tell, we have been robbed of a valuable item. But this
doesn't anything to do with you..." He slowly asked, "Now,
you two have a terrible problem?"

"We were summoned to this world by an accident. The guy who
did it was killed by the monster, or mozoku, he was trying to
summon." Akane replied. "Now we're stuck here, and we just
want to go home."

"My goodness!" the Headmaster said. "This is a terrible
problem. Fraum, please explain the situation." He walked to
his desk, and sat down.

"Yes Sir." Fraum walked to where the Headmaster had just been
standing, and began to speak, "The item stolen from us had a
unique gift. It could aid the magician in tracking what
curse, spell, or summoning had just befallen a person, if
that person had no idea what had just happened. It would be a
great aid in finding out what has happened to you."

"You say it would only aid you..." Akane said. "But you don't
need it?"

Fraum nodded his head. "True, but...it could take years to
untangle a complicated spell. I don't think for one moment a
spell intended to summon a mozoku would be a simple one.
After all, if one was, then mozoku would running around
everywhere."

Ranma heard the Headmaster quietly mutter, "Damn nutcases,
anyway. Playing with things they have not an idea about how
to control."

"Anyway Akane, this unique item will more than double the
time it takes to unravel a spell. Sometimes, it will unravel
a spell almost instantaneously." Fraum's smile grew. "If we
had it, we could send you home in a moment's notice."

"You're saying, the spell only needs to be...unravelled?"
Akane asked.

"Yes, but your spell is terribly unique." Fraum replied. "A
mozoku summoning spell takes years of research. A single
mistake could disrupt everything. Everything must be exact."
He emphasised the word exact.

"True, true." The Headmaster said. "If we made one mistake,
be it a missed letter or a smudged symbol, instead of sending
you home, we might alone only send your fingers...or your
head. It's all a matter of placement."

"I'm sorry, but I don't understand anything you're saying."
Akane said. "But I do have one question, if it was a mistake
that brought us here, how difficult would it be to unravel
the spell?"

"Impossible." Fraum said.

A silence descended on the room.

"What if we had that thing that was stolen?" Ranma asked.

Fraum smiled. "It would increase the chance of sending you
two home."

"I for one would like to see the place where you two
arrived." the Headmaster said.

"It fell." Akane said. Receiving a blank stare from both
Fraum and the Headmaster, she elaborated, "The place where we
were summoned is gone. It's destroyed."

"Oh no. Then your problem is doubly worse. We could've pieced
together the spell if we had it, but..." The Headmaster said,
"We need our item back. It is your only hope."

A silence descended.

"When you were back there in the hallway..." Fraum said. "I
watched you take down my two fully competent bodyguards. It
was very impressive."

The Headmaster brightened. "My, my. If this is the case, then
perhaps you two can help your own cause." He placed his hands
together and leaned forward. "We are in need of help looking
for our item. If you two can take down two powerful warriors
like Fraum's guards, then you two must have special talents."

"What are you getting at?" Ranma asked.

"Help us. Help us find our item." the Headmaster pleaded.

***

Standing outside of the academy, Ranma who looked at Akane,
who looked at him with a perplexed expression he was certain
he wore on his own face.

"What was that thing called?" Ranma asked.

"The Staff of Doyle." Akane replied.

"Where do we start?" Ranma asked.

"I wouldn't even know." Akane answered.

Ranma put his hands behind his head, and leaned backwards to
look at the sky. "Great. We're supposed to look for
something, and we don't even know where to start..."

Akane sighed. "I guess in our case, starting anywhere is as
good as any place." She began to walk in a general direction,
with Ranma following.

***

"It seems pretty busy." Akane offered.

"It sounds pretty loud." Ranma offered.

Both stared at a building, which wasn't large nor pretty.
Neither was it small nor ugly.

"It smells." Akane said.

Ranma looked at Akane. "The whole city smells."

"I know, but this place smells worse." Akane said.

Ranma thought about what Akane said. Her words made sense.

The city's smell was like standing in a bathroom, which
somebody had just used to get rid of something big. However,
the building's smell was like being in the bathroom as
somebody was using it.

"Should we go in?" Ranma asked.

Akane answered Ranma's question by entering.

Stepping into the room, obviously a place where drinks of a
dangerous nature were served quickly and handsomely, Akane
first noticed a lack of light. She surmised it, the light,
was probably off in the corner, sleeping (a kinder word than
what she actually thought). She also rethought her first
impression of the word handsome, exchanging it for the
phrase, in large quantities.

Walking to the counter, Akane quickly asked the man behind
the counter, hoping to be ignored by the multitude of
sleeping heads resting on the counter, "Excuse me, but I'm
wondering if you could help us."

"You and him?" the barkeep answered, nodding towards Ranma,
who was standing behind Akane.

"Yes. We're looking for something..." Akane said.

"Look Little Girl, this doesn't have nothing to do with that
thing all them mages have been looking for, right?" the
barkeep asked, polishing a glass. "Because, if it is..."

"How would you know?" Akane asked.

"We've been getting people like you coming in here all the
time. Some nut's been giving directions to this place for
that thing, when in fact, all I run here is an honest
drinking establishment." The barkeep sneered. "Little
sorcerer kids have been trickling in and out here for two
damn days!"

"Really?" Akane asked.

"Humph. It's not here." the barkeep began to vigorously
polish the counter top. "Now get out of here!"

A voice from the room's back suddenly spoke up, "You two
children are looking for an item, correct?"

The barkeep looked towards the corner, paled, and with more
vigour than before, polished his counter top to a shine,
which
hadn't been seen the bar room's sunlight was last sober.

Akane and Ranma looked to the corner. They saw a man, his
long hair a flaming red and tied in a long ponytail, his eyes
scarlet.

"You may wondering who I am." the man said. "I am a bounty
hunter, momentarily working for the academy." He motioned to
Akane and Ranma to sit down. "Apparently, the academy had
forgot to warn children out of my way."

"We were asked to look for it, just today." Akane said.

The man looked at her, into her eyes. "Hmm. Perhaps there is
more to you two than I can see." The man looked at the table.
"The Headmaster is a strange man."

"What is your name?" Ranma asked. "Mine's Ranma Saotome, just
in case you ask."

"Akane Tendo." Akane said.

"I'm without a name. Call me what you like."

"You're a bounty hunter. I'll just call you Hunter." Ranma
said. "Is something wrong?"

"I was thinking you'd have called me Red, or Amarant, or even
Scarlet!" Hunter replied.

"And?" Ranma asked.

"Forget it." Hunter responded. He leaned forward. "That guy's
lying. That item you're looking for, the Staff of Doyle, it's
in here!"

"What? What do you mean?" Akane and Ranma asked.

"This place is a really just a fence. Things are stolen, and
then are sold to people looking for hard to find stuff. Or
else, someone wants to hide a really valuable item here, and
stores it for safekeeping." Hunter snorted. "The stupid
barkeep didn't know what he was getting into, and stored that
item here."

"He seems really edgy." Akane said.

"He's keeping something that the Headmaster of the academy
wants back. In such circumstances, I don't think there are
many who would feel calm." Hunter said.

"Why didn't you just go up there, and take it from him then?"
Ranma asked.

"No proof. Only a gut instinct." Hunter said. "Besides, I'm
not really after the staff. I'm just after the crook who
stole the staff." He turned away from Ranma and Akane. "How'd
you two end up here, anyway?"

"We got lucky, I guess." Akane said. "This was really the
first place we decided to check."

"Ha! Luck. That's damn near my job." Hunter said. "Would you
two like to know why I'm sitting here, waiting?"

"Why?"

"Look at what just came through the door." Hunter said.

A masked man walked into the bar room. He looked at the bar
keep, who began to sweat under the gaze.

"What's with that mask?" Ranma quietly asked.

"Humph...That's a mystery." Hunter turned away from the
stranger, and looked at the two teens. "Please refrain from
gawking, you two. You might scare my quarry away." He looked
out the window. "I want to catch him in the act." To himself,
he silently said, "Or maybe he's a she. Can't tell with those
clothes and that mask..."

Moments passed, and then suddenly, yet quietly, Hunter stood
up. "You two cover the doors. Do it discreetly. One in the
front. The backdoor too. I'll go after the culprit."

"I'll go to the back, Akane." Ranma said, controlling a
desire to sprint into the shadows, where he was certain the
backdoor was.

Walking to the backdoor, Ranma could see, out of the corner
of his eye, Hunter approaching not the masked suspect, but
the counter instead. He watched and felt Akane cover the
front door, as though she only wanted fresh air, which she
probably did want, considering the room's smell.

Akane breathed deeply the fresh air, or as fresh as the air
could be, considering the city's air quality, or lack of. She
turned around and looked at Ranma, who was watching Hunter.

Both Ranma and Akane watched Hunter lean back against the
counter with his elbows, and almost stretch out. He seemed to
ask the masked person something.

The action began when the masked culprit waved an a hand
towards the counter.

Hunter rolled forward, avoiding a huge blast, which propelled
his roll into a tumble.

The masked character turned towards the front door, but saw
Akane preparing for action. Turning towards the back, the
masked person saw Ranma prepared for trouble. Finally, the
mask turned towards the shocked barkeep and said quietly
something.

The words were apparently threatening, since Ranma and Akane
watched the barkeep nod, then duck and disappear behind the
counter.

The mask jumped behind the counter and disappeared after the
barkeep.

Hunter shouted, "Come on you two, if you want that staff!"

***

"What was that?" Ranma asked, stopping the other two ahead of
him, who were running down a long dark hallway. "An
explosion?"

"I think the barkeep just learned the hard way you never mess
with mages." Hunter said. "We can't stop now."

***

Approaching a light, which was at the hallways end, Hunter
unsheathed a sword. It, the sword, seemed to hum with life.
"I'm up against a mage, damn it! Either of you know magic?"
he asked the teens.

Both shook their heads.

"Great, this is going to be a challenge." Hunter rushed
forward. "When we get to the big room that I think is at the
end of this hallway, we break up. Don't want to be caught in
whatever trap that mage has set up for us."

They burst out into the lighted hall at the hallway's end,
and then broke apart, each avoiding a giant blast, which
collapsed the hallway's entrance.

It seemed the mage began to target Hunter only, sending a
volley of fireballs towards the criminal tracker.

Ranma kicked off from the wall, which was four metres away
from the mask, and sent a kick into the culprit's stomach,
doubling the masked character over.

However, Ranma was sent flying into the wall by a powerful
and sudden gust of wind emanating from the mask.

The winds circled the masked character, and sent flying into
the hall's walls both Hunter and Akane.

Again, the mask doubled over, pained from the first kick.

It looked at Ranma. "You!" It raised its hand towards Ranma,
a fireball steadily growing from out of...nowhere in the
palm, it seemed.

Ranma couldn't help but react. With maximum effort, he
quickly rolled against the wall, and narrowly avoided a fiery
blast.

The mask seemed to hiss, and turned away. It looked at
Hunter.

Hunter was standing against the wind, his sword held towards
the masked character. "You should give up. You're worth more
alive than dead. Actually, you're worth nothing dead."

The mask increased the wind's strength, which forced Hunter
back against the wall, and then ran out of the room, into a
backdoor.

"Great. More running." Hunter shot after the culprit.

Ranma and Akane followed.

***

"Stop!" Hunter shouted, holding out his arms. "The bar
keep..." He pointed to a breathing and burned mass crawling
into the shadows.

"That mask..." the barkeep said. "It's so...so...It's
alive..."

"Great. A clue." Hunter said, muttering to himself. "I just
love them so much." He turned to Ranma and Akane. "Couldn't
people ever decided just to say what is it is they want to
say? Why do they got to be so damn cryptic when they're near
death?"

"Death?" Ranma asked, a little shaken by the idea. "You mean
he's dying?" He looked at the barkeep. "Hey! You okay?"

The barkeep didn't answer.

"Hey!" Ranma said, dread butterflies collecting in his chest.
He resisted saying, "Wake up!"

"Ranma..." Akane said, gently grabbing Ranma's hand.

"What? You kids part of the peerage or something? Sheltered
lives? Never seen anyone die?" Hunter asked.

"That mage guy died..." Ranma said. "But..."

"It was just so fast. We didn't even think about it." Akane
said, finishing Ranma's thought.

"Humph. None of my business, I suppose." Hunter turned away
from the barkeep. "Stick behind me then, if you're that
shocked about the cycle of life here in the darkness, because
when we meet up with that stranger in the mask, that's
what'll it'll be about. Our lives, or that weirdo's."

Hunter started running forward. "Let's go!"

***

Life.

Death.

Ranma steeled against the idea life should be taken by
another. 'It's unfair.' he thought. 'It's horrible.'

Life ending with death.

Akane gulped. 'Isn't there more?' she wondered. 'Shouldn't
people be more than this...' She looked at the darkness of
the hallway.

What direction do we run, other than to death?

The three entered into a lit hall.

***

"Stop!" Hunter shouted. He unsheathed his sword. "Criminal.
You will not go any further! This chase ends here."

The masked...Hunter was certain the criminal was a woman.

The woman turned, and looked at the hunter. Her stare...no,
the mask stared at him.

Hunter suppressed a shiver. However, he said despite his
misgivings, "You won't escape. You don't want to die, so
don't fight me." He raised his sword, seeing the woman wasn't
listening.

The mask, on the other hand, seemed to scowl.

She, the mask's puppet, raised her hand.

Hunter charged forward.

***

Ranma watched, and saw only a quick cut.

The woman fell backwards.

***

The three looked down at the woman, her brown hair spilling
over the floor, a diagonal cut running along her face from
under her eyebrow to the side of her mouth.

Beside her, lay a mask, spit in two.

The blood from the cut on her face seemed to hide in her
hair, as it trickled down to the floor.

Hunter, without taking his sight off of the woman, said,
"Watch closely. I don't want to find out two seconds too late
that my hunch was wrong."

"What do you mean?" Ranma asked.

"The woman is a puppet, Ranma. It was the mask causing all
this trouble." Hunter replied.

The woman's eyes opened. She looked at the three as though
she was considering an illusion too real to believe. "Who..."

"The name is Hunter, Miss." Hunter replied, re-sheathing his
sword. "You've been a lot of trouble for us. But the trouble
has all...subsided."

Akane looked at the woman. "Can you walk?"

"Hunter, what about the barkeep?" Ranma asked.

"We'll alert those who need to know. Others can worry about
him. Our job is ended."

"What do we do? What about that staff?"

Hunter turned to Ranma. "By now, it's probably gone. We'll
just have to start over from square one."

Akane picked the woman up, and began to piggyback the
stranger. "We'll be out of here, soon enough."

"The question is though, where is the game board?" Hunter
asked.

"You'll help us?" Ranma asked.

"I have no choice. I didn't catch the real criminal."

Akane began to leave the hall, walking towards the hallway,
which seemed lighter.

"Wait up, Akane." Ranma began to run after his fianc�e.

Hunter looked down at the mask. A moment of consideration
passed, and then he said, "Damn these mysteries."

End Chapter Two

***

Author Notes:
I like Hunter. He reminds me of Captain Vimes.

People, no worries. The Slayers cast will be introduced back
into the story, but only when the time and price is right.

I hope you readers are enjoying this strange soup of trouble
Ranma and Akane have found themselves stewing. It's only
bound to become tastier with the next chapter.