"That is a truly amazing tale." the King said the next night as the group finished the large feast provided. Luckily, Akane and Ukyou had managed to convince the others not to practice their food wars in such company, but the four hungry martial artists still polished off more than the others combined.

"Yeah, but it is getting a little old to some of us." Ranko muttered to herself.

"I'm just sorry mother wasn't here to hear it." Nina said, glancing at the empty seat.

"The queen wasn't feeling well." Tiris said, having been requested by the King to join them this night. This wasn't true, but it was better than saying she had refused to eat with such barbarian commoners.

"So you are heading to China? That's a long way to travel." the King commented, eyeing Ryoko critically as she went for her twefth, no thirteenth plateful.

"Yeah, but if Myria is after us, or if we're in any way responsible for the monsters appearing, we need answers. Khu Lon is the only person who might know anything." Ranma explained.

"Hmmm. I somehow don't think the monsters are appearing because of you. According to what you've told me, the monsters only started appearing in the Nerima area in the past few months. They've been around here for a year or so." Tiris said critically.

"Well, if you're determined to go to China, you'll need a pass to get across the bridge to the Rhapala region." Nina said, glancing at her father. He nodded minutely.

"A pass? Since when?" Ranma asked, confused. "When I came this way last year, we didn't need no pass."

"Yes, I know." the King said with a sigh. "The bandits have been a problem lately. I issued the pass to try to curtail their aggressions, but it hasn't been very effective I'm afraid."

"So you say you were cursed at these, Jusenkyou springs?" Nina asked, quickly changing the subject.

"Yeah. It was definately one of oyaji's stupider ideas." Ranma grumbled, not noticing the two suddenly hostile faces at the table.

"And yet, it wasn't that bad." Ryoga said thoughtfully. Ranko and Ryoko smiled, surreptitiously banishing their mallets before anyone noticed.

"You know, the people around town are not going to be too happy to learn we are housing Brood." Tiris commented.

"I disagree. Most of the town saw them fighting the monsters, and the Nue." Nina said.

"If there's any problems, I'll vouch for them." the King said firmly.

"About the Nue." Akane began nervously. "We were talking about the fight earlier, and I don't think we got rid of it." There was dead silence as the other three digested this.

"Why do you say that?" the King finally asked.

"Well," Ryoko said matter-of-factly, "When we hit it, we didn't really use enough power to kill it, even all combined like that."

"Yeah. We were just annoyed it interrupted our fight so abruptly." Ranko agreed. "We would have got it eventually, but it was too powerful to be taken out like that."

"So you just hit it because you were annoyed?" Tiris deadpanned.

"Well, yeah." Ryoga said with a shrug. "We do it to each other all the time."

"If you guys weren't so thick headed..." Ukyou grumbled.

"So we were planning on going after it tommarrow." Ranma finished.

"If its true the Nue is not dead, then we would greatly appriciate your help." the King said gravely.

"Yeah, no problem!" Ranko said laughing.

"A good workout to be sure." Ryoga agreed. Akane and Ukyou sighed in unison.

"Are they always this...enthusiastic about fighting?" Nina asked quietly.

"Yeah. The only other thing they're interested in is food." Akane muttered back.

"And even then they've turned that into training." Ukyou agreed.

"Well, I can see your determined to do this." the King said loudly. "I wish you the best of luck, but I must retire now. Goodnight." and he got up and left.

"I'm coming with you guys tommarrow." Nina said resolutely.

"Princess! I must object!" Tiris spluttered, sitting forward in surprise.

"Yeah. Besides, you'd just get in the way." Ranma-the-ever-tactful said carelessly, tipping his chair back onto two legs.

Akane, who was seating on his left, casually crossed her legs, incidentally knocking the chair backwards, sending Ranma sprawling.

"Baka." she said, rolling her eyes. "No offense intended, but we really could do better on our own." she explained to the shocked Nina.

"I...I...um, I guess." she said.

"Tomboy." Ranma said under his breath as he righted his chair.

"Pervert."

"Uncute."

"Jerk."

"Clumsy."

"Here we go again." Ukyou said, rolling her eyes as the two became more and more involved.

"You're just a slow, crazy, macho chick!"

"You're just a thick-headed, stupid little boy!"

"Tea anyone?" Ranko asked pleasantly.

"Yes please." Ryoko said, ignoring the two sweatdropping Wyndians.

"Maybe I should get the popcorn?" Ryoga asked.

"Thighs are too thick!"

"Head like a brick!"

"This could take awhile." Ukyou agreed.

* * *

The next morning, the sun rose slowly over the windmills of Wyndia, alerting the residences that another day had begun. As the sunlight crept into one of the many rooms of Wyndia castle, a figure wrapped snugly in the blankets stirred restlessly. A blonde head emerged groggily and blinked in the bright light.

"Huh? M'rning arready?" Ryoko mumbled, unwinding herself from the comfortable bed. Yawning, she got up and shuffled past the other bed, absently sending a stream of cold water at the unresponsive lump.

"Pth! W'ja do tha' fur?" Ryoga asked sleepily.

"Ge' up, Niisan. We gotta go fight today." she replied, yawning again.

"Never shoulda shown you that spell." he mumbled as he rose, shaking the water out of his hair. He followed his sister out of the room, and found her standing in one of the door ways looking disgruntled.

"They're still asleep." she said accusing, pointing at the two visible pigtails.

"Hmmm. We can't have that. But cold water is too good for them." Ryoga said, smirking as an evil thought came to him. "But I have -just- the thing." Ryoko began smiling as he explained.

An hour later, a beaming Akane bounced happily into the room carrying two trays.

"Get up you two! I made you breakfast!" she said. Instant response.

"AHHHH!"

"MURDER!"

"POISON!"

"TOXIC WASTE!"

"HEEEEEEEEELLLLLPPPP!!!!!"

"Oh come now." Ryoga said, leaning against the doorway. "You missed breakfast, and Akane was happy to make you a nice meal." he said innocently, flashing a fanged grin at the two horrified martial artists.

"She put a -lot- of effort into it, too." Ryoko added, leaning around her brother to smile wickedly at the two. "Don't be such babies. I'm sure you'll be fine. Eventually."

"Oh be quiet you two!" Akane said, scowling. Laughing, the Hibiki twins left the two doomed martial artist, who were trying to crawl out the window. "Try the miso soup!" Akane said, holding out a bowl full of neon pink, crispy, oozing goup.

"Mommy!"

* * *

"Good luck!" Tiris called as he saw the Nerimians off. Having made a miraculous recovery after their, er, breakfast, Ranma and Ranko were jogging easily beside the others as they left Wyndia. A few people were awake, and some even greeted the travlers pleasantly as they passed by. Finally, they got to the outskirts of town, and began scouting about.

"We were right!" Ukyou called out, waving the others over to her. "Look, a trail of blood." she said, pointing to the stain that looked suspiciously like a paw print.

"Must of been hurt worse than we thought." Ranko said, looking off toward the nearby mountains.

"Do you think it lives there?" Ranma asked, also looking at the peaks.

"We won't find out just standing here." Ryoga said, shouldering his pack more securly as he began following the crimson trail.

A few hours, and about fifty monster attacks later, the group stopped for a brief rest.

"I don't get it." Ranko said, looking around the clearing with a frustrated glance.

"What?" Ranma asked lazily, sitting up from where he'd been lying in the grass.

"Well, when we travel, we can't go five minutes without running into monsters, right?" she asked. The others leaned in, also curious. "Why do they never attack when we're not moving? Why do we never see them until they attack? Where do they all come from in such great numbers?" she asked, rapid fire.

"Well," Ryoga began with a shrug, "If they dissapear when they die, why can't they just appear when they want to?"

"But why only when someone comes by?" Ranko insisted.

"Could be some sort of trigger." Ukyou suggested.

"Or maybe they need a referrence point to appear." Ranma added.

"I don't like it, though." Ranko muttered.

"But if it is triggered by people," Akane said, "Then why don't they appear near us when we don't travel?"

"They must only be able to appear in certain spots." Ryoko said logically. "When someone comes close enough to be sensed, they appear and get munched."

"Munched?" Ryoga said, raising an eyebrow at her.

"More like crunched." Ranma said.

"And burnt to a crisp!" Ranko added, giggling.

"Spare us your wit." Ukyou muttered. A sound encroached itself on the improptude camp, and the six startled teens leapt to their feet.

"Sounds like its heading our way." Ranma said, cocking his head.

"Definately a horse, one rider." Ryoga said.

"How do you know?" Akane asked, impressed.

"I've traveled a lot. You'd be surprised what you can pick up on the road." he replied with a shrug.

"I see 'em!" Ranko said pointing.

"Its Tiris!" Ryoko added, surprised.

"You got good eyes, honey." Ukyou said. "I can't even tell if its a rider or not."

"What's he doing here?" Akane asked.

"Guess we'll find out." Ranko said, as Tiris crested the next hill. As he got closer, they could see his face, which looked taught with anger and worry. He caught sight of them, and came to an abrupt halt in front of them.

"What brings you here?" Ranma asked curiously.

"Have you seen Nina?" Tiris asked, not even bothering to explain.

"Um, no." Ryoga said. "Why would you think we did?"

"She left a note in her room saying she was going after the Nue, to protect Wyndia." he said shortly. "I've got to find her before its too late." and he spurred his horse on down the trail.

The wind whistled through the silent clearing as the dust slowly settled.

"So." Ryoko said.

"So." Ukyou agreed.

"So...what?" Ranma asked.

"So what are we waiting for?" Akane asked.

"Yes." Ryoga said.

"Right." Ranko agreed. They silently gathered their packs and sprinted after the retreating form.

"She actually went ahead of us, to try and take on the Nue alone?" Ukyou asked, falling into step beside Tiris. For his part, Tiris looked surprised at the ease they kept up with him, but quickly regained his composure.

"Yes. I think she did. She always was a bit head strong." he said simply.

"More like thick-headed." Ranma said with a scowl.

"And stubborn." Ryoga agreed.

"Have a nice trip." Akane said with a scowl, and she and Ukyou stuck their feet out as the two boys looked at her curiously. The two boys obediantly fell over the extended limbs.

"See you next fall, you tactless jerks!" Ukyou called after the tumbling forms.

"UNCUTE TOMBOYS!"

"They'll be back." Ranko said to the only slightly worried Tiris.

"Now I see what you ment." he replied with a shrug.

"Yeah, but their heads are thick enough." Ryoko said from the other side of Ranko.

"Are not." Ranma said, appearing beside her.

"GAHH!" she said, jumping in surprise.

"Now sis, a true martial artist would have heard us coming long before we could sneak up on you." Ryoga said gravely, appearing right in front of her wearing a white bandana which covered his head, and large glasses. He was running backwards to keep pace, and trying hard to keep his expression solemn.

"...Too bad I can't turn you into a panda to get you to shut up." Ranko said, grinning.

"Biiiii!" he said, sticking his tongue out at her, Genma get-up gone as suddenly as it appeared.

"I swear. Just like little kids." Akane said conversationally to Ukyou as Ranko grabbed Ryoga's tongue.

"Super powerful kids, but yeah. The general feeling is the same." she agreed. Tiris sighed. The things he went through for his princess...

* * *

"It's gotta live around here." Ukyou said as the group stared up the dead looking path at the imposing cave.

"And Nina did go this way." Tiris said, pointing at a small foot print in the dust. He had left his horse loosly tied at a stream that came down from the mountain, next to the other horse already tethered there, further evidence of Nina's presence.

"So did the Nue, and not too long ago." Ryoko said grimly, looking at the still wet pawprint glisening on a rock.

"Well, into the mountain, then." Ranma said resignedly. "I did hope we could do this in the open."

"Aw, you just wanna bounce around like some crazy, human ball." Ranko said, teasing.

"Yeah, and in that cramped little cave, how'm I suppose to keep from hitting my head if I want any -real- height?" Ranma complained. Tiris eyed the roof of the cave as they entered, a good twenty feet high.

"I take it you get used to them after a while." he asked Akane, who was closest to him.

"If you let everything they say get to you, you'd be pretty miserable." Akane agreed. "Egotistical jerks."

"..." That hadn't been exactly what he ment...

A group of zombies charged out of the gloom at them before they had even gotten out of the light of the mouth of the cave, and the group reacted almost without thinking.

"How are we supposed to see when we get further in, anyways?" Ranko asked as she sliced down two zombies while kicking a third into the wall.

"...Good point." Ranma said.

"Battle auras." Ryoga said simply.

"What'cha mean?" Ranma asked.

"Read it in a training book once." he replied. "Said it was a physical manifestation of your Ki, or inner power. If you hadn't noticed lately, we do glow a bit when we fight."

"I was wondering what that was." Ryoko said, nodding, cutting down the last zombie.

"...Isn't that supposed to be an advanced martial arts technique?" Akane asked softly.

"Ummm, I think so. Why?" Ryoga asked, resheathing his sword. They'd also ditched their packs with the horse, so they weren't carrying around the extra weight, however good for training it was.

"...Why can we do it, then? Without thinking about it no less!" Ukyou exclaimed.

"Errr, good question." Ranko said a little nervously.

"We'd better work on controlling it, then." Ranma said, smiling.

"Here we go." Ryoga said, concentrating on the feeling he'd been getting lately in battle. A weak blue flame appeared around him. Frowning he concentrated harder. He could do this, he -could!- He was surprised when his aura brightened significantly at that.

"Yeah! You did it Niisan!" Ryoko said, clapping her hands.

"How'dya do it?" Ranma asked, eyes sparkling.

"I...uh...kinda focused my...confidence?" Ryoga said, unsure.

"What do you mean?" Ukyou asked, circling him curiously.

"Well, getting an aura isn't hard, but to make it brighter, I kinda convinced myself I could do it, and it got brighter." he explained.

"Simple." Ranko said, smirking as the others turned to find her glowing softly as well.

"Heh." Ranma said, and soon all six were glowing softly blue.

"You don't know how unnerving it is to see you guys glowing." Tiris said from his position against the wall where he'd been leaning, waiting for them to finish.

"Aheh." Ranma said, sweatdropping.

"Onward!" Ryoko cried, marching off dramatically.

"Been taking lessons from Kuno?" Ryoga muttered. Instant mallet.

"I kindly resent that." Ryoko said, releasing her mallet.

"Um, you're red." Ranko said sweatdropping.

"Huh?" Ryoko asked, then noticed her aura.

"Anger?" Akane suggested with a grin.

"Hmph." Ryoko said, and flounced back down the cave.

"Definately uncute." Ryoga said, standing up and dusting himself off. He looked up in time to see the mallet impact his face from where Ryoko had thrown it.

"Stop fooling around." Ranma said, grabbing him by his bandana and dragging him along, mallet still lodged in his face.

"Mmph."

They transversed the caves with relative ease, following the trail of blood down the many corridors and caves. Finally, they heard the sound of rushing water, and came into an underground river. And they found they were not alone...

* * *

For a minute, no one said anything. The tourch dropped from nerveless fingers, as Nina put her hand to her mouth in surprise.

"Oh my!"

"Princess!" Tiris said, relieved. He hurried over to her, and she shook herself abruptly.

"Um, hi." she said, laughing nervously. "Um...why are you glowing?"

"Training." the four Brood teens chorused.

"Bakas." Akane and Ukyou said in unison, rolling their eyes.

"...Yeah. Right. Anyways, how did you get here so soon?" Nina asked.

"We -could- have gotten here soo--ooff!" Ryoga began, but cut off at Akane's elbow in his gut.

"We got here as fast as we could! Really! Didn't want to see you get hurt!" she said quickly, then gingerly rubbed her elbow.

"Why did you come here anyways, princess?" Tiris asked. "You sent your mother into hysterics."

"Well, she wasn't letting me do anything to help!" Nina said indignantly. "She just wanted me to 'stay out of the way'!"

"But it was for your own good." Tiris replied, though he didn't sound like he really ment it.

"But I'm not helpless! I'm good at magic, and I wanted to use it to help!" Nina shot back.

"Personally, I agree. But you know your mother worries about you."

"But she's so stifling! I can't do anything but sit and look pretty if I listened to her. I'm not a little kid anymore."

"Um. As much as I hate to do it, I must interrupt. We do have a monster to find. If you two would like to pick this up later, elsewhere, or on the way, we could continue." Ukyou said politely.

"Sorry." Nina said, blushing.

"So what happens now?" Ranko asked, glancing at the dead end where the blood trail stopped.

"Guess we just have to keep looking." Ryoko said, shrugging, and turned back the way they came to pick another path to follow.

"Strange." Ryoga said, eyeing the rock wall once more.

"Coming?" Ranma asked, and the rest followed him out. A few wrong turns later, they came out on another ledge further up stream.

"Okay, I really have it." Nina said, excitedly, pushing past the others to glance downstream. "The Nue must of jumped from that ledge back there, to that cave."

"What cave?" Akane asked, annoyed at the wasted time.

"The one that was behind the waterfall. It was pretty obvious if you had looked in the water." Nina said sharply.

"So we go back?" Ryoga asked.

"No!" Nina said, animated once again. "We can jump in here, see? Then we can float downstream to the cave!" she finished, smiling broadly. Akane began looking nervous.

"...What, I dare ask, happens if we miss the cave." Tiris asked, sweatdropping. The four Brood teens had begun muttering under their breaths.

"Uh...I don't know. We'll just have to not miss the cave!" Nina said, laughing nervously. Finally the four's complaints became audible.

"...stupid Jusenkyouu. And the stupid water." Ranma muttered.

"No matter if we're not cursed, we're still water magnets." Ranko grumbled.

"As if getting half drowned for a year wasn't bad enough..." Ryoko said scowling.

"Now we have to go swimming to get this stupid Nue..." Ryoga said. Taking a deep breath, all four threw back their heads.

"WHY DOES IT ALWAYS HAVE TO BE WATER?!?!?!?"

"You know, any element of surprise was just destroyed." Ukyou said as the echoes reverberated around the room.

"Well, I'm certainly not going first." Akane said.

"Allow me." Ukyou said, unslinging her spatula. "Batter up! One! Two! Three! Four!" she said, punctuating each number with a swing at the four.

*Splash!**Splash!**Splash!**Splash!*

"What'ja do -that- for?!" they chorused, but were quickly sweapt downstream by the swift current.

"After you." Ukyou said politely to Akane.

"Uh, no, I think I'll wait here." Akane said, backing up nervously.

"You don't know how to swim?" Ukyou asked, correctly interpreting Akane's fear.

"Well, no." Akane admitted, hanging her head.

"Aw, its okay honey. I'll keep you afloat, okay?" Ukyou said, smiling as she reslung her spatula. Akane thought for a minute, then nodded in determination. She and Ukyou leapt in together, following the Brood teens in their downstream journey.

"...Do we follow, princess?" Tiris asked, sweatdropping. There was still some light left, as somewhere there was sunlight reflecting off the water.

"...Yep." Nina said, resolutely. They leapt off the ledge, landing with a splash, and were sweapt away in seconds.

* * *

"Who's bright idea was this, anyways?" Ranma muttered as he squeezed out his pigtail.

"Nina's." Ranko grumbled, wringing out her shirt as best she could without actually taking it off.

"Well, it worked, didn't it?" Nina asked, smiling meekly from under her own soaking bangs.

"...If you ever get a Jusenkyou curse, you'll understand." Ryoga said, frowning at her.

"Well, onward." Ryoko said, taking the lead again.

"Only one way." Akane agreed, eyeing the cave straight ahead. A familiar growl stopped them short as two glowing eyes appeared in the darkness ahead.

"Alright!" Ranko said, bouncing up and down as she drew her swords.

"You guys want to take care of it?" Ukyou asked, smiling.

"Yeah, we could use the punching bag!" Ryoga said, grinning and cracking his knuckles ominously.

The Nue slowly came into the eerie blue light of the martial artists's auras. It didn't look too injured, only a cut on one of its hind legs showing where the trail they had followed had come from. Actually, it looked quite angry.

Then it attacked.

It leapt at Ranko, too quickly for her to react, and knocked her down quite painfully.

"Hey!" Ranma said, punting it back across the room. "You okay?" he asked, concerned as Ranko coughed a bit.

"Just...knocked the wind outta...*cough*...me." Ranko said, sitting up.

Ranma began to turn to where he'd kicked the Nue, but was knocked over as it tackled him.

"It's a lot faster." Ryoko said, surprised. "Frost!" she cried, trying to get it off of Ranma. The Nue was encased in ice for an instant, but only shook itself a bit as it returned its attention to the pigtailed boy.

"I don't think so. I think its just really angry." Ryoga replied, then charged. He swung his massive sword at the Nue's injured leg, but the Nue leapt over the stroke, kicking back at him at the same time. Ryoga went flying unerringly into Ryoko, sending them both smashing into the wall.

"Uh...I think we're needed." Ukyou said quickly as the Nue landed back on Ranma with a disturbing crack, unslinging her battle spatula. Without wasting anytime, she launched several mini spatulas at the Nue. It leapt away from the badly smashed Ranma, and charged her.

She swung her spatula and knocked backwards a few feet. It charged her again, and this time she managed to knock it onto its back. Rolling to its feet, it leapt high into the air, trying to land on her.

"Stay down you jackass!" she screamed as she swung at it again. She knocked it sideways in the air, but its momentum was too great and it crashed into her, sending her tumbling to land upside down against the wall. All she could see in her rapidly dimming world was the Nue stalking toward her.

"Flare!" Nina cried, sending her attack at it. The Nue was engulfed by flame, and roared in rage, distracted from Ukyou. From nowhere, a lightning bolt struck Nina, knocking her off her feet and into a corner. She lay there, unmoving.

"Bad move." Ranma growled, getting to his feet and wiping some blood from the side of his mouth. It hurt to even breathe, and he suspected at least one of his ribs might have been broken by the Nue's stomp.

"Prepare to die." Ryoga said, getting up as well. Ranma noticed Ryoko's aura was gone, and sucked in a painful breath. Both boy's auras turned from brilliantly blue, to a deep red. Tiris ran to his princess, knowing he would be no help in the fight.

Ranko came flying at the Nue, and ducked under its massive paw as it tried to knock her away. She swung one of her swords, and had the satisfaction of feeling it sink deeply into the Nue's side. The Nue didn't miss her the second time, however.

"Damn..." Ranko said, seeing stars from her position embedded in the far wall.

"Forgetting someone?" Akane said as she brought her axe down from above, focusing some magic into it at the same time. "Frost strike!" The Nue howled in paid as her axe sank deep into its shoulder, the magic freezing the entire arm. Akane clung with her knees to the Nue's back, raising her axe for another stirke, but the Nue had had enough.

Ryoga barrelled into the Nue's side as Akane was shaken off, his speed being great enough to knock the beast off it's feet.

"You're going to pay for what you did to my sister." he growled, punctuating each word with a concrete-shattering punch. The Nue howled as some of its ribs broke, and swatted Ryoga back against the wall Ryoko was still slumped against.

"That thing can hit." Akane wheezed as she sat up from where she landed. The Nue didn't wait for an attack this time, but initiated one of its own in the form of another tackling leap directed at Akane. "SHHIIITT!" she cried as she was bowled over by the massive form. Her head struck the rock floor hard, and the room dimmed a bit more as her aura went out.

"Akane!" Ranma cried, gathering his strength for a last attack. He charged the Nue as it whirled to face him, and struck out at the Nue's chest. "Flame strike!" he said, infusing the blade with fire, but the Nue's claws dug into his back, knocking the blow off target. Instead of its heart, as he'd intended, Ranma hit the injured shoulder. Howling again, the Nue threw Ranma tumbling across the cave and out of sight. He did not return.

The Nue didn't look too good at this point, but almost all the attackers were down. Almost. Ryoga slowly got to his feet, concentrating.

"I can do this." he growled as he focused his magic. It became a bright ball in his hands, just like he and Ranma had done back in the town. "I need more." he whispered as he tried to focus the inadequate amount of raw magic into the spell he imagined. The Nue began to turn to him.

Suddenly, the ball of magic in Ryoga's hands increased, and he glanced around to see Ranko focusing shakily on him, arms out stretched as if she was pushing something at him. She was, he realized, and quickly aimed the combined magic at the leaping Nue.

"SIROCCO!!!"

And the cave was engulfed in fire.

* * *

Tiris looked up in the sudden silence as the explosions of fire and wind stopped. There was no more of the light from the martial artists, but something was moving around clumsily.

"Ow!" Tiris heard Ryoga's voice say out of the darkness as something heavy landed next to him.

"Ryoga?" he asked warily.

"Yeah, wha--OW! Watch it!" Ryoga replied as Ranko came tripping into him. "Damn dark in here. Do you gotta torch?"

"Torch? Why don't you do that aura thing?" Tiris asked, surprised.

"Because I'm completely tapped out of energy." Ryoga said angrily. "Stupid Nue..."

Tiris didn't say anything as he searched the ground for the extinguished torch he'd dropped earlier.

"How's Nina?" Ranko asked as he looked.

"She'll live, but she got a nasty shock." he replied shortly. "Aha!" he said as his hand closed on the torch. "But I didn't bring anything to light it with. Nina probably used a spell to light it."

"Give it here." a new voice said, sounding grumpy. "I've got a bit of magic left."

"Hey Ukyou. Thought you were out of it." Ranko said.

"Naah. I would have been up in another minute. It just knocked me silly for a while." Ukyou replied as the torch flared.

"Headache..." some one said groggily. Ukyou lifted the torch to see Ryoko sitting up, holding her head. "Some one get the licence of that semi?" she asked plaintively.

"Yeah, it was a Nue propelled Ryoga." Ranko said, giggling.

"Lose some weight, Niisan." Ryoko grumbled.

"Hey!" he said indignantly.

"Here, lets go find the other two." Ranko said, standing up unsteadily. Ukyou followed her with the torch, and they found Akane lying in a growing pool of blood.

"Oh shit." Ukyou said. "Come on, honey, you gotta wake up." Ranko proped Akane against her, and checked her head. There was a nasty cut, but it wasn't too serious. Hopefully. They'd know when they could get her to wake up. When she didn't wake up despite Ranko's best efforts, they began getting worried.

"Ranma's calling you uncute again." Ranko tried half heartedly.

"Kill the Baka." Akane muttered, stirring slightly as Ranko looked down at her in surprise.

"Well, that worked." Ukyou said, giggling.

"Owie. What happened?" Akane asked, opening her eyes.

"You suffered a nasty head injury, that's what." Ranko said, letting Akane take her own weight. "You okay? Seeing double? Anything feel broken?"

"Just dizzy." Akane replied. They helped her back over to the other who'd already been joined by the groggy Ryoko. She had managed to get a weak aura back up, but it was flickering dangerously, indicating they all needed rest.

"I think Ranma got it the worst this time." Ranko said as they went further up the cave. They found him sprawled a good fifty feet from the battle area.

"Was that Ryoga?" he asked as they approached.

"Yeah, cast a Sirocco, with my help of course!" Ranko said proudly. "Can you sit up?"

"Could, but I really really don't want to. Stupid Nue broke a rib." he groaned.

"Ow." Ukyou said, wincing in sympathy. "Well, all the medical stuff is back with the packs, so you gotta get there first."

"Damn." he muttered. He began to sit up, but Ranko pushed him back down.

"Hang on, I wanna try something. I think if I can just remember how those tonics work..." she said, concentrating. "Hmmm, I don't know if I have enough magic, but here goes. Heal!" and a green light flashed from her hands over Ranma's torso.

There was a snapping sound as Ranma's rib realigned itself, and the pigtailed boy shouted in pain.

"OW! You could have warned me!" he snapped, sitting up, though not as painfully.

"You welcome I'm sure." Ranko said, actually swaying where she sat.

"Hmph." he said, getting to his feet. His ribs still felt bruised, but at least he could breathe easier now. "Well, then, thanks." He said, picking her up. She squaked in surprise as he began walking back down the corridor, however slowly, Ukyou following with a smile.

"You're an idiot." Ranko muttered, snuggling against his chest tiredly.

"And you're heavy. Lose some weight, will ya?" he asked, laughing when she thumped him on his chest.

"You shouldn't of healed him." Ukyou said as they rejoined the others. "That way he'd of been in too much pain to insult."

"Heal?" Ryoga asked, interested.

"Later." Ranko said as Ranma put her back down. A groan from Nina indicated her coming back into the land of the living.

"Now what?" Akane asked, holding a strip of cloth from her sleeve against the back of her head.

"We should go back to the castle." Tiris said. "None of you are in any shape to do much of anything, so I'll ride back and get help."

"Sounds fine to me." Ryoko muttered, her eyes still refusing to focus properly.

"I have just one question." Ryoga said, frowning. "How the heck are we supposed to get out of here?"

Dead silence.

"This cave dead ends, I saw that much when we found Ranma." Ukyou said finally, "So the only way in or out is through that waterfall."

"Great." Ranko said sarcastically. "More water."

"Are you sure you guys can swim if you're this tired?" Tiris asked skeptically.

"Who needs to swim? All we hafta do is float and let the current take us out. This is the same river that we left the horses by." Ryoko said.

"*Sigh* Lets go then." Ranma replied fatalistically.

One by one, the tired fighters leapt into the rushing river, and were quickly swept away.

* * *

"So you guys really have to leave?" Nina asked plaintively.

"Yeah, we've been here a week already." Ranko said as she stuffed supplied into her pack.

"We need to get to China." Ryoga added. He was lounging around on the couch, having been the first one packed. Of course, he had the most practice...

"Besides, some of us are getting too lazy." Ranma said, elbowing Ryoga on the top of the head as he walked by.

"And clumsy." Ryoko added, tripping Ranma as she passed him in the opposite direction.

"Oh stop it you guys." Akane said with a frown. "You sound like a broken record."

"Better than being uncute." Ranma said gaily, skipping out of range of her mallet swing.

"Ranma, you must remember one thing." Akane said, straightening gravely, mallet still in hand.

"What?" he asked with a smirk.

"Women travel in pairs." Ukyou said from right behind him. She swatted him at Akane who reared back, smashing into the floor.

"Ouch." Ryoga said, wincing as the entire floor shook.

"I for one will be glad when these ruffians leave!" a new voice said. They turned to see the Queen scowling in the doorway, two giggling maids peering around her.

"Mother!" Nina said indignantly.

"They are not the kind of people a princess should be associating with." the Queen said with a sniff. "Come Nina, your presence is required in the throne room." and the Queen turned huffily.

"No, I'm going to say good bye first. I'll come later." Nina said angrily, turning her back on the Queen.

"Nina!" the Queen said sharply. "You will do as you are told, as befits your rank! I will have no arguments." With those parting words, the Queen strode away.

"No I won't! I'll show her..." Nina said, fury barely contained. She ignored the staring teens as she stalked out of the room after her parent.

"...Yeah." Ranko said, turning back to her packing.

"Now -that- is an uncute chick." Ranma said conversationally to Ryoga, leaning over the back of the couch. The mallet was still embedded in his head.

"Couldn't agree with you more." Ryoga replied.