She had been slightly surprised the red head that had freed her was really a man, the group having stopped a few miles from Durpan to give the woman time to change clothes and genders. Ranma had only asked for one favor for saving her, and that was for her to keep his gender bending magic a secret.
The more she traveled with this pair the more she realized she had met them some where before, it was only a matter of time until she remembered the rather bloody fight she and the rest of the guard had been involved with nearly a year ago in the Seer's Desert. It had proven nearly impossible for her to forget the sight of Ranma erupting from the belly of the Sand worm that had swallowed him in some kind of maniacal bezerker state. Nope, she wouldn't forget the sheer power that guy had when he went nuts.
She hadn't really met either of them, since the boy had gone nuts before he could introduce himself, and the other member of their small group had gotten his ass handed too him before he could do much of anything. She knew it was Simon, Alvin or something like that. Or she thought, anyway, since she was told his real name was Theodore.
The two of them seemed to almost hate each other, often times going at each other in bitching matches before laughing about something she didn't understand. What was so funny about the Rainbow hair incident with Gneiss? In the end she guessed it didn't matter. They had freed her from a possible fate worse then death, and she could finally go home! She dreamed of it, many many times while she had been held in captivity.
***
Later that night, in the Rusty Beard Tavern.
"Well?" Ranma replied with a smug looking grin.
Theo sighed. This was going to hurt his pride fiercely. "You were right." he deadpanned, taking a long swig of his drink, enjoying the fierce burning sensation as the liquid traveled down his throat. There, that helped cushion the blow to his pride. "So.."
Ranma sighed, eyeing the establishment with a bored gaze. He was getting bored already, and the two of em had only been back in town six hours! "So? Something on your mind, Theo?"
"Well.. how much cash do we got now?"
Ranma shrugged, "Eh, bout 18,000 gold pieces for bringing in those creeps, and whatever I managed to snag from their place. Haven't had time to check it." he was never good with numbers, anyway.
"Think that’s enough to hire a tutor?" Theo asked hopefully.
"Pfeh. Man, give it a break. You'll learn more traveling and gettin inta scraps like the one back there." Ranma snorted, "It's the way I always use to learn before I met you guys."
"Well.." Theo was sort of uncomfortable with the thought of abandoning his studies in the magical arts like that. Not abandoning, but leaving the rest of his tutelage up to real world experience. ".. I guess we can travel around for a bit."
"Good." Ranma said simply before finishing off his drink and ordering another.
***
"Gaja!" Pantha screamed as the leader of the Northern Edge Guard appeared in a flash of dimensional magic. Hugging him tightly, she began jabbering about how happy she was to see the man.
"Pantha! Thank goodness your safe!" he returned the hug tentatively, surprised by the amount of joy being displayed by the woman. "Whoa, calm down." he chuckled, pushing her away some, "We were so worried about you. We discovered what happened to Tora, but we didn't know what had become of you."
Pantha nodded with a sigh, "I was sold as a slave to the Tumbling Brothers."
"Well thank goodness you managed to escape." Gaja said seriously.
"Yeah." She allowed, "Hey Gaja, do you remember a year ago when we fought those domesticated Sandworms and the bandits who owned them?"
Gaja blinked for a moment, before nodding, "Yeah.. did that have something to do with the Tumbling Brothers?" He wouldn't put it past anyone to form a kind of Mob like business in this world, and was honestly surprised no one had expertise on such a thing in the past.
"Well.. you're never going to believe who rescued me.." Pantha went on to explain just who had rescued her.
***
Gaja hummed to himself as he walked the streets of Durpan, admiring the numerous cultures the city had merged into itself. Trolls mixed with Dragons mixed with Dwarfs mixed with Were's mixed with goblins, all moving about as if nothing was wrong in the world. It really was a good sight too see, gave him hope that a true peace could come to this world.
After Pantha had told him everything about her escape at the hands of Gneiss's apprentices, he had been genuinely curious about the two young boys. It was common knowledge to most mages on the Conclave, or affiliated with them that Gneiss had expelled his two apprentices for destroying his tower. He and Gaja got along well enough, but they weren't really the best of friends. More like friendly rivals, which is another reason to be interested in the duo. If they were good enough to destroy Gneiss's tower then they must be very resourceful.. or spiteful, heh.
Looking up at a sign that said "The Rusty Beard Tavern" Gaja chuckled before entering. He knew the two he sought would be here
***
"Hey Theo?" Ranma grunted, feeling slightly tipsy, "What do you think of that Pantha chick, she was cute, right?" the young boy grinned stupidly at his friend.
Theo wasn't much of a drinker, but he was tipsy as well. "Eh, yeah I guess. So?"
"Well, I was just sayin." Ranma slurred slightly, "She seemed cute, and she kept lookin at you all weird like. I think she may have had somethin growin for ya."
Theodore frowned. It was true, the woman had stared at him a lot more then Ranma.. at least until he turned back into a man, then she would stare at both of them oddly from time to time. "Yeah, maybe. Doesn't matter though. She'll be making a trip back to the east continent, and we are still here."
"Heh, who's ta say we can't go and visit yer little girl friend?" Ranma chuckled, scratching his neck.
"She isn't my girlfriend Ranma!" Theo snarled. Oh this bastard was starting to piss him off.
"Excuse me." Ranma stopped before he could respond to Theo's outburst, blearily glancing at the tall man who stepped up to the table. "Eh? Somethin we can do you for buddy?"
Gaja coughed, pulling a seat out, "Mind if I take a sit Mr. Saotome, Diggers? Theres something I wanted to talk to you about."
***
"So.. because you think Gneiss got mad and didn't think it through when he expelled us, yah wanna take us on as your students because you see potential or some crap like that?" Ranma stated, not believing this all that much. While he knew of Gaja, since he was perhaps one of the most powerful Aura mages on the planet, it just seemed too surreal.
"Sort of." Gaja allowed, before explaining further, "I want you two too travel around, doing good for the people and the like. Every few months I'd like you to come back for some tutelage, and to let me know how you are progressing and the like."
"We'll do it!" Theo immediately shouted. Ranma may have gotten him kicked out of Gneiss's place, but he'll be damned to let this opportunity to pass him by.
"Now wait uh OW!" Ranma winced as Theo kicked him from under the table. Geesh, he didn't have to be that way.
Gaja nodded, amused by their antics. "Good. If neither of you object, I'd like to send one of my officers with you, to watch and report any strange findings you may discover. Would that be fine?"
"Sure!"
"I guess.."
"Excellent. I believe you already know Pantha, she'll be informed tomorrow." Gaja said as he stood up from his seat. "Anything else to ask before I get going? Busy day tomorrow and all that."
"Nope."
"Heh, Pantha huh.." Ranma gave Theo a curious glance, before nodding, "Sounds good to me."
"Excellent."
Lets Look Towards:
See other episodes by Matdeception
(Posted Sat, 24 Jan 2004 02:53)
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