Disclaimer: I'm not Japanese. We'll leave it at that.

Chapter 16

Ryouga frowned as he looked around. He was in some kind of forest, which made him think he was somewhere far from civilization. A quick check with his newly controlled power, and he realized he was somewhere deep in a forest in northern Europe. He searched some more, and just as he had thought, there were very few signs of humans anywhere near. The nearest seemed to be a small town at the edge of the forest.

Ryouga suddenly realized he was in danger, but before he could react he was tackled to the ground by a boy near his age dressed only in what seemed to be the tattered remains of a pair of pants. Ryouga stared into almost-familiar blue eyes. The only difference he could see was that these eyes, set in a definitely familiar face, showed little except a kind of animal cunning. Without thinking, he spoke. "Ranma?"

The boy, who had once been known as Ranma, blinked, caught by surprise at the familiar sound. He cocked his head slightly, and studied the one beneath him. At first, the feline mind inside the boy had classified this one as danger, intruder and decided on kill, destroy, no more intruder.

Then this intruder seemed to recognize him, and the feline wondered if this was friend, ally, not intruder. After a long moment, the feline decided to give him a chance and backed off. The scent of this strange not-intruder was calm, surprised, not angry. If the not-intruder decided to attack, the feline would know. If not, well, not all humans were to be destroyed.

Ryouga watched, slightly stunned as this version of his friend decided to give him a chance. He slowly rose into a crouch and extended a hand, careful not to make any sudden moves. 'If this Ranma decides he doesn't like me, I may not have time to get away without injury, even with being able to control my traveling now. I've seen what Ranma can do with those claws when he wants.'

Ranma considered both the hand and the male holding it out for a long moment. Slowly, he moved forward enough to be able to sniff at the hand. After a long moment, he rubbed his head against it, deciding he liked this not-intruder.

Ryouga sighed in relief and gently scratched behind Ranma's ear. 'Good thing Ranma brushed me up on cat etiquette. So right now, this Ranma considers me a friend, and as long as I don't do something extremely stupid, I should be alright.'

Now that the introductions were done, Ranma turned and slinked away. When Ryouga didn't immediately follow, he looked over his shoulder questionably. Ryouga blinked, but decided that Ranma wanted him to follow. With a shrug, he did as requested. 'Not like I have anywhere else to go for the moment.'

Now that he didn't have to worry about Ranma shredding him, Ryouga got a good look at this version of his friend. Black hair was cut short, as if someone had done it for function, not form. 'Probably cuts it whenever it gets long enough to snag in things.'

What he had at first taken for the remains of a pair of pants turned out to be an extremely beat up pair of shorts that looked like they fit him reasonably well. 'Does that mean he's been in contact with humans lately? You'd think he'd just shred them, but considering how he reacted to me, I suppose it's not too far-fetched.'

By now, the two of them had reached what looked like a small cave dug between the roots of one of the more massive trees. Ryouga frowned as he looked around. Ranma simply went into his shelter without a backward glance.

Ryouga couldn't quite put a finger on it, but something about this place told him his earlier assumption of human contact could be true. 'It's not hard to assume he simply dug out the dirt a bit to make himself a kind of den, but there's something about the way things are here…' He looked at what seemed to be a pile of leaves, but before he could figure out what was strange, somebody interrupted his thoughts.

A female voice suddenly spoke up from behind Ryouga. "I see he brought another stray in." Ryouga whirled in surprise, unsure how the girl had managed to sneak up on him. "Strange, he usually only brings in the women and children. I think it has something to do with how he views male intruders."

Ryouga stared at her. The girl was about his age, with brown hair and eyes. She was dressed comfortably for the cool climate of the forest, and she seemed extremely at home there. That wasn't what made him stare, though. What made him stare was what looked like a massive spatula slung across her back, with a bandolier of smaller ones across her chest.

The girl moved past Ryouga, not bothered by his staring. "I'm Ukyou, by the way. What's your name?"

Ryouga blinked, but finally found his voice. "Ah, I'm Ryouga." He shook himself. "I hope you don't mind, but how…?" He trailed off, unsure how to phrase his question.

Ukyou smiled. "How did I get here?" Ryouga nodded. "Well, I followed a man named Genma, actually. He tried to abandon me by the side of a road, but he underestimated how persistent I would be. After a while, I think he finally got desperate and went deep into the woods.

"I wasn't able to follow at first, and by the time I could, Genma had decided to go through with something drastic." She motioned toward the cave where Ranma's form could just barely be seen. "By the time I caught up with them, Genma was long gone and Ranma was like that. I don't know what he did, but Ranma has acted like a feral cat ever since I found him."

Ukyou smiled slightly. "He'll occasionally bring strays in, but like I said they're usually female. If the circumstances were different, I'd probably be jealous, but this way there is no point in it."

Ryouga blinked as he considered her story. "What do you mean by 'strays'? You called me that, too."

Ukyou shrugged. "It's nothing personal. People sometimes decide to hike through the woods. Occasionally, someone will get lost and wander off. Like I said, a lot of the ones he brings in are children, though there are occasionally women who for whatever reason don't know their way around the forest. They stay here until I find some way to either get them to the nearest town, or the search parties come close enough to pick them up."

She smiled. "Whenever I go into town for supplies, I hear stories of a feline spirit of the forest, who helps those who need help, if only they are willing to accept it and not attack instead." She shook her head. "I think I'm usually considered one of those he rescued that decided to stay with him."

Ranma came out of his cave and bumped against her leg until she took the hint and sat down. Ranma instantly curled up beside her and allowed himself to be petted, watching Ryouga. Ryouga slowly lowered himself into a sitting position, not wanting to be considered a threat. "Are you?"

Ukyou laughed. "You're more direct than most people. But yes, I think I could be considered one of those he rescued." She smiled fondly down at Ranma. "If I hadn't followed him, I think I would have been stuck on a quest for vengeance with no way out. As it is, I have perfected my Art out here, and found peace at the same time. I can do some good, but I don't have to feel pressured to fit into a mold that someone else has created. So yes, I am one of the ones that Ranma rescued."

Ryouga sighed. "Well, at least I know that this Ranma is happy."

Ukyou frowned, suddenly cautious. "What do you mean 'this' Ranma? How did you get here, anyway? You don't seem lost."

Ryouga almost laughed at her choice of wording. "If you had met me even a few hours ago, you wouldn't be saying something like that. And how I got here is something of a long story. I'm not sure how much you'll believe."

Ukyou cautiously rose, freeing her large combat-spatula as she did. "Try me. I might believe more than you think."

Ryouga slowly raised his hands, knowing better than to underestimate the girl's skill with her chosen weapon. "First of all, I am not here to harm anyone or anything. All I want is to find a lost friend and bring him back home. It's partially my fault he's lost, and since I'm the only one who can find him it's my responsibility to do it."

Ukyou studied him for a long moment before lowering her weapon, but not putting it away just yet. "All right, I believe you. But I'm still watching you."

Ryouga sighed softly in relief and settled in. "In a way, my story is similar to yours, in that a boy named Ranma rescued me. One of the differences is that I wasn't following him, I just randomly ran across him a lot of the time. You see, I used to have a family curse. I could get lost anywhere in the world, and I'm pretty sure I've everywhere in the world at least once."

Ukyou frowned but didn't say anything as she, too, settled a short distance from Ryouga and set her spatula beside her in easy reach. "What does this have to do with how you got here?"

Ryouga smiled and shook his head. "I'm getting there. You see, the Ranma I knew was also trained in the Neko-ken, like this Ranma, but he had partial control. After a few years, he ran afoul of another example of idiocy from Genma. The good thing about this one was that Ranma not only gained control of the Neko-ken, he also had enough and ditched his father.

"Nearly a year after that, I ran into Ranma again. We had first met in school and formed a kind of instant rivalry." He winced. "More precisely, I was an extremely angry kid and challenged him repeatedly, and he was a guy with very little social experience and thought it was all a game. He also beat me every time we fought, so that didn't help my anger any."

Ryouga shook his head. "Anyway, a few hours ago Ranma figured out the cause of my curse was an…'unanchored traveling spell', I think he called it. Anyway, he fixed it but the backlash sent him to who-knows-what alternate reality, and I'm trying to find him."

Ukyou blinked. Then she blinked again. As crazy as this guy's story sounded, something told her it was true. "All right, so your Ranma fixed this curse of yours, but got sent out of his reality in the process."

Ryouga quickly interjected. "He's not 'mine'. He's a friend, and besides that just as feline as this Ranma."

Ukyou smiled slightly at that. "Fair enough. So anyway, you're looking for that specific Ranma? Then how did you end up here?"

Ryouga shrugged. "I have no way of knowing where exactly Ranma was sent, so I have to check kind of randomly. All I could think of was to focus on 'Ranma' and see where I'm taken. In this case, I was taken to this Ranma. I think the farther I go along, the more I can refine my focus. The only other thing I can hope for is to eventually stumble across his trail."

Ukyou frowned. "So you're going to try and find either the Ranma you know, or stumble across where he's been? How will that help?"

Ryouga shrugged. "I figure if I can find where he was sent first, I can figure out where he's gone next. I'd probably end up having to go through each of the worlds Ranma's gone through, but at least it'd be easier than having to travel completely randomly."

Ukyou considered that for a long moment. "Huh. Makes sense to me. So when are you going to make your next attempt?"

Ryouga shrugged. "I should probably go now. I don't see any point in staying any longer than I have to. I was just kind of curious what the situation was on this world."

Ukyou climbed to her feet smiled slightly. "Well, thanks for sticking around as long as you have and satisfying my curiosity. Hopefully you'll have more luck on your next try."

Ryouga shrugged as he, too, climbed to his feet. "It's okay. Like I said, I can narrow my search down a little, and it was nice meeting you." Without another word, he was gone.

Ukyou smiled and glanced down at Ranma, who hadn't bothered to move. "Well, that was strange. Hope he finds the one he's looking for."

> > > > > > >

In another world, Ryouga landed in a park. A quick check told him he was in Tokyo, Japan. 'Huh. Why am I here? I was trying to remember to focus on the thought that Ranma went to Jusenkyo as well as the fact that he's feline. So why here?'

A confused meowing sound in front of him made Ryouga look up. There was a small black cat with intelligent blue eyes looking back at him. Ryouga stared for a long moment. "Ranma?" A positive-sounding meow was his only response. Ryouga hung his head slightly. 'This could take a while.'

> > > > > > > >

AN: Well, Once more I have been abandoned by Ranma, and the Phantom plot bunnies have been invading in force. In other words, I've been getting all kinds of Danny Phantom ideas, but not really any Ranma ones. Finally, I ended up almost kicking myself at a very simple solution. Ranma is feline, and enjoys being contrary. Ryouga, however, is much more cooperative and I needed to give some idea of how is search will be going. Voila, we have a Ryouga chapter.

And for those who I just know will ask, no, Ukyou was not implying that Ranma and Ryouga were going out. She just meant the Ranma from his reality. And since Ryouga has been informed of feline etiquette to some extent, he knows just how independant Ranma is. He wouldn't take kindly to anyone saying he belonged to someone.