Second Night: Reinforce Drei

(Nanoha/Ranma X-Over)

Disclaimer- Both Nanoha and Ranma series belong to their respective copyright holders. Not me. This piece of fiction is done solely for entertainment and no profit is made from it in any form.

Forming Question

"This is absolutely the last time I let that ferret talk me into doing field research for him!"

"Less talk, more fight!"

-Reinforce Drei, during Lost Legia archeological expedition to Un-Administered world 331.

As the sky turned dark the Guide wisely limited his regular patrols of the cursed land to the specially warded and more physically distant paths around the springs themselves, despite being somewhat protected from the magic of the springs that drew it's victims in because of his bloodline some previous Guides had been unfortunate enough to fall prey to the springs they warded, after seeing what it had cursed his grandfather with the Guide had no desire to risk such a fate.

This was a habit that a new pair of visitors took advantage of in order to quietly slip into the valley of springs itself while using the lingering haze of magic from the destruction of the Spring of Drowned Girl combined with the general interference from the springs themselves in order to mask their presence from the local tribes. Moving carefully to the edge of the destruction that Ranma had caused earlier, one of the women crouched down and softly touched the ground before her with a gloved hand.

"This is it huh?" The woman asked quietly, her body tense despite their stealthy entrance.

"Yes." The other woman stated dully as she hovered slightly off of the ground next to her ground bound companion, the full body cloak wrapped around her shifting in the breeze.

"I'll take your word for it partner, I'm no good with the subtle things when it comes to magic. Must have been quite a light show though, wish I could have seen it." The woman said in a offhand tone as she reached around behind her back and pulled a device out and waved it at her partner. "Do you want me to do this now?"

"Yes, it would not be advisable to remain here longer than necessary. Proceed to retrieve the sample." The cloaked member of the pair said once again in a dead voice.

Nodding in response the bodysuit clad woman tapped the device carefully and then held it flat in her palm, watching as it unfolded and hovered momentarily before taking off and headed into the center of the recent mystical surge in order to get the samples the duo wanted while they remained at a safe distance.

"Hopefully it's as fast as the doctor claims, I don't know about you partner but this place gives me the creeps" The ground bound intruder stated as she shivered momentarily and reached back to grip her weapon lightly.

"Yes." Was her partners response.

Looking away from their target to gaze at her magical partner the woman frowned.

"Yes it's as fast as the doctor claimed or yes this place freaks you out as well partner?" She asked.

"Both. It is dangerous to remain within an unknown magical nexus for extended periods of time therefore speed was factored in during planning." The cloaked mage stated flatly without turning to acknowledge the questioner.

"Right, I should have guessed that by now." The armed woman said wirily as she shifted her attention back to their surrounding, searching for any incoming threats.

The duo stood in silence for several minutes before the small drone rose up and zipped back towards them, landing nearly in the outstretched palm of the body suited woman. Smiling at the small drone briefly she then switched it back to storage mode and clipped it behind her back once more.

"All done." She stated confidently.

"We will withdraw to a safe distance and then signal for extraction. Initiating withdraw now." The cloaked woman stated softly as she moved towards her colleague and grabbed onto her now outstretched arms.

"Then let's get out of here, just look out for the trees on the way this time sugar." The new passenger said as the pair took off her brown hair streaming behind her before the two disappeared in a haze of magic.

As night had closed in the trio of monster hunters consisting of Prince Herb and the Saotomes, accompanied by a discrete escort of Musk warriors moving with them from the shadows of the valley, arrived at the citadel of the Musk. A grand fortification built along the slope of the mountains surrounding the cursed land itself, its ancient wall showing marks of the many battles that it had endured in the name of the people that ruled it over the ages despite the careful maintenance of its inhabitance.

The Saotomes had little time to gawk at the sight as they were swiftly surrounded by heavily armed guards and escorted through the streets of the town towards the central castle, the throngs of people parting in front of them smoothly as the exotic array of Musk inhabitance paid their respects to the heir of the Musk Dynasty when he passed. Even when the battered and confused Saotomes, though grinning widely in the case of the elder of the pair, finally reached the castle itself the metaphorical whirlwind didn't end as the Dragon Prince disappeared and elaborately dressed servants politely but firmly usurer the now loudly protesting pair of martial artists into a small but sophisticated room.

Any further protests from the two warriors were temporarily stalled as more servant carrying trays of food entered the room from a side door and placed them down in front of the hungry Saotomes and while inviting them to eat. An offer of free food was something that the Anything Goes practitioners had never been ones to turn down and the two ate their way through a steadily stream of local delicacies over the following hour until the main doors opened once more admitting the Prince, this time dressed in court clothing having taken the time to change and give orders to some of his subordinates.

"I trust all is satisfactory, my cooks are the best in the Kingdom after all. Such a service as you have provided to the Musk does not go unrewarded." Herb greeted the eating pair as he crossed the room to sit opposite them, carefully keeping the balance of equality and power that he had been crafting between them instead of taking a more… appropriate position.

The Saotomes nodded and made abortive attempts to speak as they ate, causing their host to grimace internally and mentally remind himself of why he was putting up with the uncultured duo.

"It's great, haven't been this full in a while." Ranma answered honestly though he was referring less to the food itself then to the thick haze of energy that permutated the air of the castle and flowed into him, his body unconsciously drawing in the ambient mana of the area put off by the many wards and spells weaved into the fortresses walls.

"Excellent you're Highness, truly nothing less than the perfection that you expect to be served to royalty such as yourself." Genma fawned between bites.

"Excellent, I am glad that you feel that way. If you have had your fill for the moment perhaps I might turn your attention to other matters, such as what we discussed earlier." Herb said, deciding that a certain amount of directness was necessary with his present guests.

"Right, you said something about a cure in some place here? Where is it? I've got to start looking right now!" The younger Saotome sprung to his feet as he proclaimed this fact loudly.

"And you are an expert in reading the ancient tongues that the tomes which reside in the archives are written in?" The Musk Prince stated calmly only to be slightly shocked when the elder of the two nodded and his son shrugged as he sat down again.

"Depends want type of old scribbles it is, some things I can read, others I can't. It's a weird talent I picked up a couple of years ago. Shame some idiot didn't show me the pamphlet for Jusenkyo before we came here, stupid old man." Ranma said with confused pride before turning and scowling at his father.

"I'm your father boy. I've been training in the Art since before you were born and my great instincts for the Art lead us to this excellent training opportunity!" Genma sputtered with false indignation.

"So you admit that this is all your fault!" the pigtailed boy growled dangerously only for his father to wave it off airily.

"Any sacrifice is worth it in the name of the Art boy!" The larger martial artist replied as he glared back.

"Interesting. I also assume that you can find the relevant volumes among the thousands that are kept there, can deactivate the protective spells and of course are willing to cut out your own tongue in accordance with the oaths given by any archivist before they are allowed beyond the gates so they may never speak of the secrets that they learn?" Herb said smoothly as he interrupted the Saotomes squabbling and carefully memorized the extra knowledge about the youngers abilities. The Dynasty had a number of Tomes in lost languages amongst the archives and such ability could come in useful after his loyalty had been firmly established.

This caused the princes guests to go quiet and deflate as they realized the task that they would be setting themselves.

"Such can be left to the archivists, for the moment let us formalize our friendship." The smiling prince said as he raised his hands and sharply clapped twice.

From the side door a beautiful girl emerged, causing Genma to look at his son in alarm, carrying a tray with two crystals on it. Gracefully navigating her way across the room she placed in between the three before bowing deeply to Herb, smiling at Ranma and making her way out of the room once more as silently as she had entered. Reaching forward the prince gestured to the crystals.

"In recognition of your friendship I grant you these crystals, prick yourselves so that you bleed on them and it will key you into the wards of the castle, identifying you as a friend of the Musk and welcome here. Once active they will also act as a means of communication, merely focus your energy into it and picture the person you wish to speak with and it will be so. It will allow me to keep you updated on the latest information about the search for your cure as it is given to me as long as you carry in on your person." The dragon descendant explained as the pair each picked up a crystal and carefully pricked themselves, turning the crystals themselves from white to red in response to its activation.

Clapping sharply three times a small group of servants entered the room and began to clear away the empty dishes and leftovers from the meal, what little there was after the two Saotome vacuums had gotten through with it.

"You must be tired after the events of today, I have arranged for rooms to be put assigned to you tonight. Please treat them as your own, tomorrow I will have a servant show you around the grounds." The prince stated.

"Ahhh, forgive me your Highness but I'm afraid that tomorrow we must leave. There is an important matter of honor that we have to attend to. I beg your forgiveness your Highness." Genma groveled, going into the dreaded crouch of the wild tiger and dragging a protesting Ranma down with him.

"That is a shame, still honor should be maintained. I must insist that you spend the night as my guests though as is tradition among my people. If you must leave in the morning then I will hold you no longer." Herb said with a regretful smile as he gestured to the servants to lead the Saotomes to their rooms.

"Thank you, your Highness. My apologies, your Highness." Genma shuffled backwards out of the room while bowing and forcing his son to do the same.

As the door shut behind the pair, Herbs smile turned from regretful to calculating as he continued to look at the door while seeing something completely different.

"Are you sure letting them leave is wise my Prince? If you have gone through such pains to get them here would it not be more prudent to keep them close at hand so that we may work at securing their service?" One of the remaining servants said carefully.

"And have my father getting a claw into the boy? No, that's not something I am willing to risk. I see now that the boy doesn't truly know his own power, we have time on our side in this as long as we move carefully. I will bind him to me as his power grows, the bonds will be stronger this way and he will be far more useful to me free of the snares that will be set for him here." The Musk heir stated coldly as he continued to contemplate.

"Then I shall make the arrangements that are required to search the archives with your servants among the archivists. I assume you wish their leave-taking to me a silent one my Prince." The same servant said diffidently.

"See to it, as long as we have something to feed them regularly it matters not if they succeed. They may even stumble onto something interesting in the search. Go, I will be retiring for the night now." Herb said as he rose and headed for the door while the servants around him bowed.

Pulling a deep red crystal from his robes the prince smiled with satisfaction. The crystals he had given the required concentrated magic to work, something that the elder didn't seem to have thereby sparing him the man's pathetic groveling. Unknown to the Saotomes they also acted as homing beacons, allowing him to find his future warrior when he wanted him. Placing the crystal back into his pocket the powerful prince made his way towards his room.

Across the valley from the fortress of the beast people of the Musk later that night a ring of old women sat in a circle around a large campfire. Just out of hearing distance the elite of the Amazons warriors circled the small clearing keeping any potential intruders away from the impromptu meeting while the Elders of the tribe listened to the report of a kneeling young woman describe the battle she had seen earlier.

"You are certain of what you saw young one. The Musk has many tricks in their arsenal with which to bend the truth at their whim." One of the Elders asked the scout as the council considered what they had just been told.

"Yes Elder. The heir of the Musk and a foreign boy battled and defeated a rock beast, of this I swear I have not been fooled." The green haired scout stated while looking at the ground.

A general rustle of cloth followed this announcement as the assembled leaders of the Amazon nation considered this information. As the seated group collected their thoughts, the Elder sitting closest to the scout turned to address the rest of her peers.

"I was witness to this battle through the Blood Sight, I attest to my villagers' truthfulness in this matter. If she has been fooled by the trickery of the beastmen then I must share the shame." The Elder said in support of the scout.

"The battle itself is not in question here. You may leave now warrior." One of the Elders furthest from the scouts position stated gaining a respectful nod from the younger Amazon before she disappeared into the night.

"The question is why the Prince needed the help of this outsider with a mere weak rock beast, help from a stranger so close to the time of that mystical upsurge at the cursed springs?" An Elder to the right stated confidently.

"It could be connected… Such would be troubling. We know little about what caused the damage to the springs, if it could be this boy and he has sided with the Musk then the future has grown more perilous once more. We should force the Guide to tell us the identity of the strangers." An Elder on the left replied causing a explosion of protest as the group began arguing intently.

"Silence." The head of the council said quietly while tapping her staff on the ground and releasing a faint wave of Ki through the ground.

At once the voices in the clearing became silent and all eyes turned towards the speaker as she began to address the assembled leaders of their people.

"We cannot question the Guide in such a manor, to do so would break the treaties our ancestors signed with the other powers and dishonor us all. While it is true that if this stranger has sided with the Musk we will have gained a powerful new enemy such a transformation cannot be done in a single day. He is a stranger, we do not know what drives him or his past." Cologne said calmly.

"Then what do you propose that we do? Spy on them? The Musk are certain to notice one of our tracker teams missing from the field should we send them after this new mystery." The Elder sitting next to Cologne stated.

"It was Herb that fought with the stranger and not his father King Cold, it is un-likely that the young prince will risk allowing such a potential to be snatched away from him and so I do not believe the outsiders will remain in the valley for long. No, he will send them away some where he can still contact them but out of reach of the forces here in the valley, the Prince is powerful yet he still has too much to learn before he cannot be predicted." The head of the council said with complete conviction.

"That does little to change the situation, in or out of the valley the same thing will happen." The same Elder that replied earlier spoke up once again.

"A team would be missed, yes. A single warrior however would not be so easily tracked, particularly one that would be leaving the valley at this time anyway. My grand-daughter has finished the second stage training in both the Soul and the Blood, she has chosen to venture out into the world beyond Jusenkyos protection, choosing the Way of the Path instead of the Way of the Blood or of the Soul as her warrior coming of age trial. If her wandering in the outside world parallels that of the outsiders then it will draw far less attention." Cologne said with pride at her descendants' choice and accomplishments clear in her voice.

After this statement the fire lit clearing drew quiet once again as the assembled ki and magic masters dropped into meditation, aligning themselves with the world around them without the confusion of the buzz created in their villages by its people, searching for the best path forward from this point. After a time the group slowly came out of their trances one by one.

"Very well, we shall give your descendant this mission as part of her trail. If she fails in this task then punishment will fall on you both." The Elder seated to Colognes right stated, feeling the pulses of confirmation coming from her fellow council members.

"Very well. As head of the council I now call this meeting to a close. We should get back to our villages before the youngsters do anything that we cannot undo." Cologne stated with humor causing a ripple of chuckles.

A moment later the clear was empty except for a slowly dying fire.

When the light of the morning sun reached the land of magical springs the wandering pair of martial artists were already far from their previous comfortable location, resting in the lap of luxury within the best rooms that royalty could provide along with all of the accompanying extravagances of such a lifestyle. They had been woken up by servants several hours earlier and hustled out of the fortress bearing packs full of travel supplies and, in Genmas case, several small gems in order to retrieve his full co-operation in leaving the home of the Dynasty quietly.

Since then they had been walking in a general easterly direction at the command of the older Saotome, retracing their steps as they made their way out of the hidden land and back towards Japan. Their trek had so far been characterized be Genmas lamenting over his sons' lack of respect and Ranmas complaints about having to leave before breakfast was served, a complaint Genma would have been agreeing with if he hadn't already quietly broken into their supplies and helped himself to a snack while his pupil was distracted.

As Ranmas stomach grumbled once again the smell of cooking wafted into his nose just as they two Saotomes caught sight of a small tent by the side of the path up ahead. Quickening their pace because of the lure of food Ranma passed his father and called out to the campsite.

"Hey there!" Ranma shouted before Genma smacked him around the head.

From the site the occupant turned his blond head away from the small cooker he was using and looked in the direction of the shout, raising his hand in welcome as a reply. When the Saotomes reached the camp they exchanged greeting and upon receiving permission from the occupant of the impromptu home, proceeded to dump themselves on the ground nearby as they decided to take a short rest before continuing on.

"Here, it looks like you might need this" The blond man dressed in hiking gear said kindly as he came over to the Saotomes with a pair of glasses filled with water.

"Thanks" Ranma said as he took his glass without incident.

Genma wasn't so lucky as the man stumbled on the uneven ground, sending the contents onto the sitting Anything Goes Master. The blond man froze in astonishment as both of the Saotome groaned, Genmas coming out as a low growl in his animal form. Ranma opened his mouth in order to explain the strange situation they had found themselves in when the man grabbed the grizzly-fied Genmas paw and started talking quickly.

"What an amazing transformation, I didn't hear a mantra or see a circle. How long did it take you to internalize the magical sequences?" The man asked as Genma pulled out a sign from stuff space bearing a couple of question marks.

"Huh? You aren't surprised? It's not like a fat old man turns into a fat old bear every day?" Ranma asked in confusion as the man mutter what appeared to the pigtailed boy to be nonsense while staring at his cursed father.

"Well you could say I'm used to things like this. I'm Yuuno Scrya, mage and magical archeologist, it's a pleasure to meet you" The blond said with a smile as he addresses Ranma causing the two cursed fighters to perk up.

'Mage?' Genma-bears sign read.

"That's right. I'm not the strongest but I get by. I'd be interested to know how you performed such a smooth transformation, I didn't feel even the slightest flux of magic when it happened." Yuno relied as he pulled out a small book and began writing notes in it.

"It's a curse! Stupid exploding springs." Ranma protested, drawing Yuunos attention once again.

"Curse? How did he get it?" The mage said.

"Yeah, well it's like this…" The younger Saotome began to lay out a slightly edited version of the last few days, leaving out his own curse and the encounter with the monster. A death glare at his father convinced the other martial artist to agree to the pigtailed fighters revised series of events.

"So the spring [i]exploded [/i] when you hit it?" The defensive mage said in alarm.

"Yeah, that was really freaky. The Guide said that it would fix itself after a while but the locals sure were ticked off, we decided to get the hell out of there quick, don't think they'll be too welcoming to strangers anytime soon." Ranma lied nervously hoping to prevent the man from heading into the valley and discovering about his own curse.

"I was hoping to study this place but if it's been damaged as you say then it might be too dangerous at the moment. These curses sound fascinating." Yuuno said as he frantically wrote in his notebook.

'Not if you have to live with it' Genma-bear held up a sign behind the mage as he clumsily tried to use the cooker in order to heat up some water in order to change back.

"If I could study it, maybe a reference …" the mage muttered to himself.

These words caught the two cursed people attention as they locked eyes and conveyed a single word to each other. As Genma dumped the hot water over himself.

'Cure!'

"Well why didn't you say so! I have a curse right here that you can study and I'll even through in a guided tour of the country, you don't look like the travelling type so let an old pro like me help you out! No need to thank me! Boy, pack this up and let's get moving!" Genma boasted loudly as he slapped the slender man on the back repeatedly, causing him to stumble forward.

"On it pop!"

"Wait, I'm not… I mean I don't…" The startled mage tried to protest weakly as the Saotomes ignored him.

"We're burning daylight. Boy! Finish up and let's move out! To the east!" Genma proclaimed as he forced his victim to turn to the east and gestured grandly.

"My breakfast…" Yuuno whimpered as he was dragged off by Genma, the other Saotome trailing behind them as the new trio continued towards the east and out of Jusenkyo.

Authors Note:

Another one bites the dust :) . Leaving Jusenkyo, on the road we go.