Ranma & Lina (Ranma 1/2 & Slayers)

[Pinklestia]

Ranma & Lina (Ranma 1/2 & Slayers)

Summary: Shampoo gets so desperate about not being able to kill "Girl Ranma" that she summons a Demon to get rid of her. That lands Ranma Saotome in a land of Might and Magic, one were certain redhead sorceress looks a lot like Ranma female form. And it just happens the fellow redhead is in need of a partner to watch her back...

Chapter 01: Redheads

AN1: If parts of this sound similar is because this is a reboot of an old fanfic of mine... well more like four old fanfics "Frankensteined" together.

"What is your request?" Asked the tall black dragon, Shampoo had to use all her skills as a Martial Artist to not to tremble in fear and pee herself. She had wanted to summon a small weak demon, not this. But she knew angering such a being was stupid, so Shampoo decided to go with her plan anyway.

"I want Ranma to..." Then Shampoo paused. While she had to kill the redhead due to the kiss of death, asking a demon to kill someone was really bad Karma, and her payment would have to be bigger, he may even demand her soul.

"I want Ranma Saotome banished from this world forever, what do you want in exchange?" It had not been hard to find the girl full name, even if for some reason her father keep calling her "boy" , maybe he was insane?

"Mmm." The Black dragon looked at her and licked his lips. "You smell like you haven't been tainted by a man yet, but I also smell that you are saving yourself. So how about this? I will take over your body for a year in exchange for banishing Ranma Saotome from this world forever, during that time no man shall taint you and I will not break the rules of your tribe, is that acceptable?"

Shampoo closed her fists so hard they bleed, but it was this or being banished from her village until she could kill girl Ranma. And she just could not kill the redhead no matter what she had tried. If she took too much longer her great Grandmother would probably come looking for her and offer training and that was basically torture! It was so bad that even losing control of her body for a year was a better deal.

"Yes." she said in clenched teeth.

"Deal." The black dragon said, and the clear skies of Nerima suddenly covered in black clouds. A bolt of red lighting felt from the sky and tried to hit a redhead martial artist, who miraculously dogged it.

"I see, looks like I will have to take care of this personally." The dragon flapped his wings, strong gusts of wind lifting the dragon up. almost blowing Shampoo away, and the creature, that was bigger than a house, went after Ranma.

Now, maybe in a few years Ranma would have been at least be able to keep evading the black Dragon, but since he came to Nerima the hardest fight he got was one Ryoga Hibiki. He had yet to face any supernatural opponent or even a Martial Arts Grandmaster. So while Ranma tried his best but the dragon demon ended hitting him with red lighting and vanished him from Earth.

Then the dragon picked Shampoo in his arms and went to look for a quiet place to complete the deal, he didn't want anyone else looking.

IIII

Hours later, Ranma woke up in a forest clearing, his head hurt, and he had no clue where he was, but that wasn't what was worrying the martial artist.

"What? I am naked?" Not only had he been unable to evade that big dragon thing but apparently he was now naked? Oh and still in his female form, just great.

Looking around, he did not have time to panic thinking about how things usually went bad when someone was both naked and a girl, as he heard some noise behind her.

"Oh, what we have here? A beautiful maiden missing their clothes!" said a rough male voice, Ranma turned around and saw what he guessed were a group of bandits. They where dressed in dirty looking clothes, some of the clothes even had a few holes in them. They were armed with rusty looking swords. Ranma stood up and looked at them defiantly, as if daring them to come closer.

Less than a minute later, the bandits were unconscious, thanks to the redhead having given them a good beating. He felt strangely satisfied, having caused them pain, even if it was justified because of what those guys planed to do to him. Noticing that he was still naked, Ranma robbed the bandits of their clothes, just leaving the underwear because he didn't dare to touch that. Didn't these guys know of something called hygiene? Probably not. He then noticed that the bandits had some small pouches with what she assumed were coins. He took those too. Then rummaged around the clothes finding what would fit him. Once he was dressed, he picked all coins and put them in a big sack the bandits had. Then tied the sack to his waist and just ran away a few miles inside the forest, even getting into a river he found to lose his trail. Once Ranma felt safe, he sat down next to a tree, and just sat down to rest and clear his head. Ranma wondered why he had also taken the money, but didn't actually feel bad about doing it.

'Probably the decade of training I expended around the old man, he did stuff like this after all.'

"They were bandits, and it is not like I killed them. Uh... maybe I should have gotten rid of those swords, but I was kind in a hurry." Now that the adrenaline rush was over, he felt tired, strangely tired, in fact Ranma was pretty sure that if he had not been naked and facing bandits that he would have felt tired when he appeared in this forest.

"I have no clue were the fuck I am but at least there doesn't seem to be any uncute tomboys or Kodachis here." Ranma then looked around, but as saying that didn't summon Akane Tendo or Kodachi Kuno, he relaxed. What should he do now? Remembering his days of wandering with the damn panda, he should look for a a path in the forest that looked like it was heavily traveled. No matter where he was, if there was money there was bound to be some place to expend it buying food, and maybe also a place where he could rest and take a bath.

After a few hours of walking Ranma looked somewhat incredulous at the small town in which he just arrived, because all of the buildings looked like something out of a western fairy tales book illustration. Or since Ranma had never seen anything like that, like something in that movie with King Arthur he had seen at the Tendo's TV once.

The people moving up and down the stone street were dressed in strange clothing, like out from some anime set in the European middle ages and carts drawn by both people and animals clattered by. The air was clean, too clean in fact. There wasn't any smoke coming from factories or cars. Something Ranma heard watching a movie on television once seemed fairy appropriate "Looks like we aren't in Kansai anymore, Toto." People barely paid any attention to her. Well, she could worry where the heck she was later, first things first, find a place to stay and buy clothes for herself.

IIII

"Run! Is Lina Inverse, the Bandit Slayer!"

"I'm Ranma Saotome, RANMA! Heck, I don't even wear red anymore, why do they keep confusing me with that other redhead?" It had been a week and this just keep happening to Ranma.

"Wait, you aren't Lina Inverse? This is gonna be easy then!"

Ranma cracked his knuckles and jumped at tbe bandits. A few minutes later they were all defeated, some even with bones broken. At first he had gone soft on criminals due to not knowing the local laws but apparently no one cared if he ended killing them.

In fact despite the fact he was in a more rustic place, it had been nice so far not having to deal with Genma and Soun trying to marry him to Akane quickly, or with that crazy Chinese amazon chick that wanted to kill him or with Kodachi, or with Nabiki blackmailing him or-

'Wow my life in Nerima sure had a lot of problems. Do I miss anything besides Kasumi cooking and having a roof over my head?'

Ranma just stood there thinking about it.

'Well Akane is nice sometimes, and Kodachi is pretty but she poisons me... but yeah I think that's all.'

Since it was depressing to keep thinking about it, Ranma quickly stripped the bandits from any valuables.

Meanwhile, not too far away a lone figure moved through the dark forest Ranma had left not long ago. She was a short girl about fourteen years old with long red hair that reached her shoulders. The girl wore a black and red cape and over-sized shoulder plates. Her tunic and pants were red and a strip of yellow cloth stretched across her chest and at her side swung a small sword. While she didn't look like much, all that was needed was her releasing a simple over sized fireball spell for people to get scared and run for their lives. Because the girl, who was shorter than Ranma's female form, was the infamous Lina Inverse. And she wasn't having a good day, it had only been a short while since she and the annoying sorceress called Naga the Serpent had parted ways, and she was already starting to regret it. Not because she was fond of Naga, or because of that stupid thing called friendship, but because being a lone traveler made her a target, and even Lina inverse had a limit on how many spells she could cast before fainting in exhaustion. She would have tried to stay in a town for a while, doing odd magic jobs, but no one wanted to hire her, and it was way easier just to steal from bandits anyway. Worse, her quest for an ultimate offensive spell had been a total failure, all what she had found so far were disappointments in one way or another.

Just a few days later...

"MY NAME IS RANMA SAOTOME, NOT LINA INVERSE! And I am pretty sure I ain't her big sister!" Unfortunately Ranma's words came after he had used his new magic sword to burn the bandits, and then beat the crap out of them, so there was no one awake to listen to him.

'Why does the magic stuff only work when I am a girl? And first time in a while I don't get hit by cold water too.'

Thinking about it, due to the lack to access to hot water he had expended a whole lot of time as a girl since he got to whatever the heck this place was. Maybe the past? He had no clue.

"Ehem." Said a voice behind Ranma. Ranma looked behind him and saw a girl that looked a lot like his female form, if with smaller breasts.

Did... did he just jump into someone else fight by accident?

Ranma turned to face at the fellow redhead. "Hi, so you are Lina Inverse? My name is Ranma Saotome, nice to meet ya."

"Yes, I am Lina Inverse and I didn't need your help!" Lina looked at the other redhead, she was wearing the clothes of a sorceress, in blue and green. Unlike others she had seen with that type of body. like Naga, this girl seemed to like to cover herself. She had as much clothing as Lina had, maybe even more. Then again her only magic had been the use of that sword. Although it was the type of magical item that only worked if one was able to use magic.

"Who says I was helping you? It was just revenge, these guys burned a town a few miles away..." Ranma looked at the shorter and somewhat flat chested redhead, he guessed this was the kind of person it would be bad to annoy, no matter how tempting it was. It was also weird how their voices sounded somewhat alike when he was a girl.

Thinking about it, it was no wonder people keep confusing them.

"So, you are some kind of heroine? Or it was your town?" Lina experiences with so called heroes had been bad ones, but she was very understanding when it came to get revenge.

"It wasn't my town and I ain't a hero. But the people there where nice to me." It was a shame they had burned that town down. The people there where always fighting each other, it was really fun.

"That's it? You go to defeat a horde of bandits on your own just because they burned a town of people that were nice to you?" Just great, yet another of those people who believed in helping those who helped you. Well at least it wasn't a hero. Not that Lina was against helping others, she just greatly preferred getting paid to do so.

"Well, that, and it's always fun to take out bandits! I am kind of short in money, so lets split the treasure."

"Why should I share?"

"You may need a partner to watch your back. Besides, we both like to take on bandits." There was also the way that time of the month affected female magic users but Ranma was not stupid enough to mention stuff like that to a girl that supposedly could kill dragons. Not with how that dragon had completely defeated Ranma before.

"Uh... " Lina blushed, unsure what to say. To be honest being alone had been annoying and Ramma was not even half as annoying as Naga. Plus getting a new partner would make things easier. "Okay, eighty-twenty-"

"Thirty, seventy."

"Sixty-forty, you are just a beginner, and you probably don't even have a mage licence!"

"Fifty, fifty, equal partners means the chance of us betraying each other is lower. Plus I am a master of unarmed combat and pretty good with swords." Ranma was happy with his new sword, sure it could only do fire attacks when he was a girl, but carrying it around had reduced the times she was annoyed by perverted men.

"And I also am a lot stronger than I look." Ranma punched a big rock and shattered it to pieces just to make her point clear, that being that she could injure or kill Lina Inverse if she wanted. As long as she didn't hit him with a spell first, she had seen the crater leftover of one of her famous Dragon Slaves.

"Not bad, but I can do better with even a fireball..." Lina's look had a dangerous glint to it. "But, you are right, I could use the help. let's keep it to sixty-forty and I will teach you magic, okay?"

"Deal, partners then." Ranma offered her hand and Lina took it, both of them felt a electric tingle in their hands while doing the handshake.

"Magical contract? Damn, you may be a beginner, but I am impressed." Lina really was impressed, she had been so sure Ranma was a beginner that she had lowered her guard.

"Thanks?" Ranma had no idea just what had just happened was a magical contract but decided to play along. Unknown to Ranma and Lina, some hidden figure had been watching them from the shadows.

"HOHOHO! IT WAS ME NAGA WHO MADE THAT MAGICAL CONTRACT!"

Ranma looked behind her and noticed the most "developed" woman he had ever seen.

"Not that I am not thankful, but why?"

Naga then pointed to Lina's and Ranma's feet, under them there was a magical pentagram circle.

"BECAUSE ONLY ME, THE GREAT NAGA, COULD SNEAK A MAGICAL CONTRACT UNDER THE FEET OF THE INFAMOUS LINA INVERSE!"

"Mmm, this was not here before, so you did a magic circle with your Earth magic? So fast? But why did you do something that benefits Ranma, do you know her or something?" Lina tried to keep herself calm, but it was hard, Naga KNEW how much Lina hated that laugh and yet she keep doing it.

"Yeah, again, this helps me, but why did you do it?"

"Well I... I thought it would help my dear friend Lina-chan to not be betrayed, after all just because I the great Naga decided to gain fame on my own it does mean I am so cold hearted to not want my best friend to be happy, HOHOHO!" Naga was blushing and looking away when she said that.

"SMOKE BOMB!" Naga then threw a smoke bomb and ran away.

"Well... ex-girlfriend?" Ranma asked before he could stop himself.

"WHAT? NO, SHE IS JUST MY ANNOYING EX-PARTNER! I LIKE GUYS!"

"Good because... I got a curse, so I turn into a guy when hit with hot water."

"Oh please, that's not funny."

"Lets me heat some hot water and I will show you."

"Okay but if you are lying you are the one paying lunch."

"And if I am not lying?"

"Then we split the bill."

"Wow, you do really like money don't you?"

"Of course I do, I am saving for my retirement."

"Fine; let's get to the river to get some water to heat."

IIII

A quick demonstration later, Lina had ended blushing, Ranma was not sure why Lina ended pushing him into the river, but at least she acted less weird once he was back to being a girl.

Due to Lina being greedy and because neither partner really trusted the other since they had just meet, both redheads where sharing the same room in the Inn. Ranma decided to say something to Lina since she caught her eying her with a complicated look on her face.

"Are you okay sharing a room with me? What with my curse and all."

"Magical contract or not, I want to keep an eye on you." Lina said while licking her lips.

"That's fair... so... Should we get to exchange the loot now?"

"Yes that will be good, I am sure I can get a magic water heater for cheap!"

Ranma wisely decided to not point out Lina was drolling. Lina eventually noticed, cleaned herself and then stared at the fellow redhead with a serious face.

"Anyway let's make something clear before we leave to sell the loot. We may be partners, but in this relationship, I am your boss. I also promised to teach you magic, so that makes you my student. Don't disappoint me, or I will find a way to safety break the contract and get you really hurt!"

"Yes Lina-sensei-sama!"

"Uh, just call me Lina-san, we are about the same age."

IIII

"I... I can't believe it, you seduced that guy and made him drop the price even lower than I could! He even gave you free stuff! And you didn't even have to promise him a date!" Lina was honestly amazed, sure is not like Lina did never deal with girls had had a beautiful and sensual body before. But the two she mostly knew before Ranma weren't good at ripping off men like Ranma was. That was because one girl was too much of a nice girl to take advantage of the boys ogling at her ample breasts, and the other was a bit insane and acted too full of herself for the "Girly" act Ranma just did to work for her.

"I may not be good at haggling like you, but I do have my ways." Ranma said with a smirk.

"You... you make it look so easy..." Lina looked nervously at Ranma, before they arrived at the market she had been taking advantage at both being Ranma boss and teacher to order her around all day. So she didn't know how Ranma would react at her request. "Think... I could do it too? I mean..."

Ranma looked at Lina, a grin forming in her face "Yes, but in your case it would involve some dress up and acting younger than you really are. Do you think is worth to invest the time and money?"

Lina's face changed to her business-like expression, seeming to ponder about it for a moment. "If it allows me soo much in discounts... and if I get at least half that you do and we tag team the next shop owners... plus the fact the dress will get used more than once... yes, it would be a good investment."

"Are you really sure you want to do this? I won't go easy on you, ya know? Also if you suddenly blast anyone with magic people won't give you any discount."

"Oh come on, I am not so bad!"

"Lina I have know you for less that a day and you blew up three people with magic already, none of them were bandits, just rude."

"Mmm, I hate to admit it but yes I will lose money if I ruin things by dropping the act too soon. In fact it might be too late to try in this town."

That calculating look, it was a bit scary, it was like Lina Inverse was a mix of Nabiki's smarts and Akane's temper, plus the power to kill dragons, no wonder they called her the Dragon Spooker and the Bandit Slayer.

"Still if I master this... " Lina didn't say it, but she was tired of her fame as the Bandit Slayer and Dragon Spooker. Even when she had meet guys who found her attractive, just hearing her name had made them go up running at the hills. If... if she mastered this, then at least while pretending to be someone else, she could feel attractive "I will have an advantage, I won't give up, no matter how hard the training!"

IIII

"Okay Lina, the first lesson is, never lose sight of your objective. Try to think of it as acting, focusing on it like if you were casing a long and complicated spell, okay?" Ranma had not got any lessons on magic yet but knew enough about magic to at least say that.

Lina thought about it for a moment, Ranma's explanation actually made sense to her, if she focused on acting as much as she did on magic, she would get good at it. "I understand, what else?"

"The second lesson is... complicated. Try to treat it like game."

"As a game? But doesn't that contradict the first lesson?"

"Not at all, games have rules, don't they? If you try to have fun pretending to be someone else, even when you don't like the role you are playing, then it does get easier."

"So I see, if I take acting with dedication, but also try to enjoy it as a game, my acting will improve, anything else?"

"Uh... well, it also helps to remember that you are using people, not them using you. Focus on the reward, and even if you think it's not worth it, don't blow your cover. A girl beating up a rude person is not that weird but if you start to use magic that will give you away."

"But I am not as good fighting without any weapons!" Lina protested "Come on! How bad it could be if I just used a fireball to roast a rude pig of a man?"

"If you do that, you lose the game, blow your cover and we end up having to run away out of town. Besides, anything can be used as a weapon, if you really feel you must, furniture like a chair or a table works. That way they will think you are dangerous, but not think that you are THAT dangerous. And think how much money and time you will lose if we are in such a hurry that we may lose something of value because we had to run away."

"Are you saying that my bad temper makes me lose money?" Lina left eye twiched and she closed her fists. Ranma slowly backed away.

"I am sorry okay? I told you it was gonna be rough, and we haven't even started the real training yet!"

"You... You may be right. Is just... do I really have to keep the act all the time?"

"Before and during getting discounts. Afterwards? Well it doesn't matter that much if you don't plan to return to the same town."

"Okay... fine, what else?"

"Your looks are best to pull the cute look."

"WHAT?" Lina said in anger. " I don't want to be cute or be treated like a little girl, I want to be beautiful, have breasts as big as yours and maybe be taller!" Lina raised her hands about to cast a spell, then remembered that she had asked for this and lowered them. After all cute was... not an insult.

"Lina, cute is good. A sexy girl can get anything she wants from most men, but a cute girl can get what she wants from almost everyone. If you project the image of being cute, small and sad, you lower people defenses a lot. And unlike being sexy, you won't have half of the women in town angry with you." Ramma said while also being ready to try to evade any magical attack Lina might decide to throw at him.

"I... I never saw it that way." Lina then imagined herself dressed and acting like a little girl, and getting anything she wanted from everyone, she even imagined boy Ranma giving her a piggy back ride. Wait... where did that last thought come from?

"So, are you willing to do this then?"

"I never give up when it comes to money!"

AN2: Oh my, Lina will learn better ways to scam people, run!

AN3: This really needs a beta reader.

 

[Galidor_Cash]

I love this and want more, I need to look up more Slayers crossover fics.

 

[Pinklestia]

I love this and want more, I need to look up more Slayers crossover fics.

Click to shrink...

This literally took over a decade of work, because I keep getting stuck, but now I think I have both Ranma & Lina more or less in character and at the power level they should be. Sure there is a few AU elements but overall I think that they are not far away from their canon Anime counterparts.

 

[Blackenedthorn]

I love this and want more, I need to look up more Slayers crossover fics.

Click to shrink...

I highly recommend that one fanfic over on FFN where Lina is Nanoha's mother, it was a very long fic which has gone unfinished for a few years now but it's still a great read and re-read.

 

[Pinklestia]

I highly recommend that one fanfic over on FFN where Lina is Nanoha's mother, it was a very long fic which has gone unfinished for a few years now but it's still a great read and re-read.

Click to shrink...

It says "Updated: Mar 5, 2021".

The one that has not been updated in years is the One Piece one.

By the way Naga The Serpent will have a few more appearances on this.

 

[Aleh]

It says "Updated: Mar 5, 2021".

Click to shrink...

That update is a discontinuation notice.

 

[Pinklestia]

That update is a discontinuation notice.

Click to shrink...

A shame but still the thing is quite long anyway.

 

[caspian1a]

Will Ranma try to teach Lina about martial arts and Ki as well?

 

[Pinklestia]

Will Ranma try to teach Lina about martial arts and Ki as well?

Click to shrink...

This is early anime Ranma, he doesn't know Ki attacks, or any of the Chinese Amazons techniques, heck the only fiances he has are Akane and Kodachi since Shampoo still wanted to kill "Girl Ranma". And the toughest opponent he had so far is Ryoga, not counting Genma that still can beat him in spars.

Lina knows how to fight, has magic, a sword and is strong, also she isn't a martial artist.

Ranma has no motivation or reason to teach her, is not like anything non magical he knows is as powerful as the fireball spell, much less the Dragon Slave.

In fact Ranma is learning magic because he thinks is cool and because he is a world full of monsters so he thinks he needs it.

Remember that is hard to have a big pride as a martial artist when your dad can still beat you at it. And while yes Ranma has an ego, all he beat so far is his father, sometimes, Ryoga, Kodachi, Shampoo who he can take down on a single move, Kuno and that Ice skating couple.

Compared to killing dragons, when a dragon (demon dragon) completely outclassed him?

No, Ranma doesn't think Lina needs martial arts lessons.

Part of the reason Lina and Ranma get along better that early Anime Ranma and Akane is because the two have different roles and skills.

Also their parents are not forcing them to marry.

And Ranma is perfectly aware Lina could kill him.

Sure he could kill Lina too, but only if she is unaware and can't cast magic.

Edit: Ranma has basically gone native really fast because fighting is most of what he knows.

Edit2: He also tends to expend more time as a girl for practical reasons as being in medieval like fantasy setting means hot water is not as easy to get. He will try to stay as a guy longer once he has the required magic to quickly heat water, but he is a bit scared of the reaction Lina last had when she saw him as a guy.

 

[Pinklestia]

Chapter 02: Red Moon Part I

A few days before Ranma meet Lina...

The Red Moon, an event that could only happen in very specific circumstances.

The Moon would dye on blood and all the humans looking at it would die, oh wouldn't that be just wonderful?

Not only that, the sacrifice would give him power, oh sure the power boost wouldn't be permanent, but it would be enough for what he had planned.

To rise in power, and to kill that betrayer, by eating him.

And then the betrayer power would be his own and with that...
well he still wouldn't be able to defeat HIM; and he would get a lot of unwanted attention... but what is life without enough risks?

"This sword is so cool! Fire Come forth!" A redheaded woman said and launched fire magic right into him!

And so Sadrock the low ranking frog mazoku was burned, but he was able to jump into the river and escape; even in his disguise as a regular frog, a mere fireball wouldn't kill him.

Even so he commited the redhead face to memory, he would make her pay!

IIII

Two weeks after Lina and Ranma became patners...

Lina felt frustrated, oh sure she had saved a lot of money but she had also been unable to teach a bunch of idiots to not mess with her! After hours of this, she felt like destroying the whole town. So to avoid doing that (and after securing their possessions), she dragged Ranma as a tag along as she went hunting, monsters, bandits, even a dragon that was just passing by not hurting anyone, they all felt Lina's wrath!

In the end Lina had cast so much magic she could barely move, but she was happy... and cuddly.

"Mmm... you are so soft and nice Ranma-chan..." Lina said while Ranma carried her back to town, in a princess carry. "You understand me, don't you? You like to beat up bandits for loot too! And you even turn in a handsome man with hot water!"

"Lina, you are acting like a drunk." Ranma said a bit uncomfortable with how grabby Lina was being.

"Mmm... Probably. I saved so much money... got to beat up bandits, monsters and a dragon... did you bury the new loot for later?"

"Yes, it literally was too much to carry, are you okay? Your hair didn't turn white for wasting all your magic, like they warned me at that magic shop, but-"

"I don't know... I just... I feel so happy... only thing that would make it better is... Zzzz." Lina finally felt asleep and Ranma felt relieved.

Why did he keep running into weird girls? Akane with her bad temper, Kodachi who was just insane and keep poisoning him and that Shampoo girl who outright wanted to kill him.

Well... at least he didn't think he would see Shampoo or Kodachi again, not until he got back to Nerima.

IIII

After he dropped Lina in their room, so she could sleep, Ranma went back for the loot, then waited until Lina was awake so it could be sold and traded for valuable things that were smaller and easier to carry. Sadly even with his 40% cut he still didn't have nowhere enough for a better magical sword.

'Wait a minute... Lina has not taught me any magic yet!'

So he went right to confront her partner and teacher.

"Okay Lina-san, you had your fun, but it has been two weeks and you haven't taught me even single spell."

Lina sweat-dropped, the hand she had used to seal the magical contract itched.

Had it really been so long? Well she had got a bit... distracted.

"Fine, Lighting is the most basic of basic of spells, is a spell that anyone who even has a drop of magic can cast and here-" Lina said pulling out a heavy anotated notebook from one of her pockets and leaving it over the table in their rented room, "Is all what you need to know to cast it."

Ranma stared at the notebook, while not big it was as large as one of Kasumu romance novels. "Is that notebook all for one spell?"

"Yes! What? Did you think magic was easy? Lighting is the easiest spell that exists, even small children can cast it! If you can't even do this much then I am sorry but it won't be possible for me to teach you magic."

"Okay." Ranma picked the notebook and started to read it, for something that was written by hand, it was quite detailed and even had a few illustrations. Ranma had seen several Martial Arts techniques manuals that were way worse done that this.

Before he knew it, Ranma had read it over ten times and it was time for dinner.

After a heavy meal, Ranma tried to cast the spell.

'Okay, I just extend an open hand in front of me, then focus on the same tingly feeling I get when I use my magical sword fire and say the words...'

"Oh Light which burns beyond crimson flame, let your power gather in my hand! LIGHTING!"

Ranma went blind as light literally exploded from his hand.

"Ouch!"

"Well you can do the most basic spell in existence, congratulations my cute student!"

"You think I am cute?" Ranma asked in a teasing tone, his eyesight still recovering.

"Ehem, anyway I taught you some magic, and you taught me how to better haggle people using cuteness but there is still things we can do better elsewhere. So let leave to a big city tomorrow. You are not going to get a decent magical sword in small town like this and I need to get things only avaliable in big cities."

'Oh good thing I didn't buy another magical sword yet then.'

IIII

Lina had asked for some time to herself to do some things on her own, so Ranma had decided to go for a bounty out of boredom and this was the result.

And because he still didn't have enough for a better sword, the prices just were ridiculous!

"Kekeke! one of my parents was a troll, just that won't kill me!" Yelled the annoying Bearman after Ranma had burned him with his sword and then the beast man healed in front of Ranma eyes.

"Oh really?" Ranma said smiling and cracking his knuckles. "That means I can keep beating you up and you will just get better? THAT'S AWESOME!"

Ranma then proceeded to use the Bearman bandit as a training dummy and a testing bed for several martial art moves he had not perfected yet.

Turns out that while the Bearman had super fast healing, he still had a sense of pain, the bear was asking for mercy after only half a hour, much to Ranma's disappointment.

So he dislocated all the bones he could on him (the Bearman healing didn't put his bones back in place, Ranma had checked) and then picked him up like a sack of potatoes and carried the bear man back to the city for the reward.

Even with reward, he still didn't have enough. Maybe in the long term Ranma was better getting a Sorcerer blade, but that would only really work for him once he knew more that just a single spell that even small kids can use.

IIII

After doing yet another useless search for an ultimate offensive spell, Lina sat down on a public bench in a park.

Someone sat next to her.

Lina looked to see who it was and groaned.

"Naga are you following me?"

"I take offense on that, if anyone is following the other is you Lina Inverse!" Said Naga the Serpent.

Lina covered her face with her two hands. "I just know that I will regret asking, but what do you want Naga?"

"Are you okay Lina, is your new partner treating you well?" Naga asked with a concerned tone that was unlike her.

"She is okay, even if people thinking we are sisters is getting a bit annoying." Their voices even sounded similar, it was weird!

"OHOHOHO! Has Lina Inverse awakened feelings of love for another girl?"

Instead of using magic Lina just slapped her.

"Oh shut up! Why can't you eve act like a normal person for more that a few minutes? And worse, why do you keep doing that laugh?" Somehow while Lina was frustrated she just didn't feel like getting into an actual fight with Naga, at least not until Naga got really annoying. It couldn't be helped, she recently had so much fun it was hard to get annoyed at the moment.

Naga was shocked at the slap and looked at her former partner. "You slapped me... Instead of attacking me with magic?"

"That's because you at least tried to ask me if I was doing well." And Ranma's training had somehow helped to control her temper slightly better. More importantly was the fact that losing her temper with attacking spells, in a town on city at least, cost her a lot of money, so that helped to hold back. So did the young kids playing in the park, she didn't want to hurt them.

"Oh my, my little Lina-chan has grow up so fast!"

"Did you just sat next to me just to annoy me?" Lina left eye twitched.

"No! I... I need advice." Naga said in a lower tone.

"Oh... About what?"

"About my family."

Lina blinked "You are asking me? You do remember I ran away from home, right?" Granted it had been because of her big sister Luna but she still loved her parents. And even then she didn't think she was the best person around to talk about family problems.

"You are still the best option I got." Naga didn't have to sound so resigned about it, that hurt a bit of Lina's pride.

"Fine, then tell me.'

IIII

"And the worst thing is that... she she... she dares to have a sob backstory that makes my own problems look like a joke and makes me feel bad for how much we fought each other!" Lina said between eating her food while Ranma both ate his own food and listened.

"Sounds rough, I had people try to kill me before," Even if only Shampoo so far had been really insistent. "But most of her family wanting her dead just... for a noble title? That's horrible."

Genma Saotome had done many bad things to Ramma, but at least he had not tried to get him killed... on purpose.

Now it must be clarified that while Naga the Serpent did explain things to Lina, she didn't admit to being actual royalty, but downplayed things and changed names, saying it was a barony.

"There are many benefits of being nobility but if you ask me is not worth the headache." Lina said. Now actual royalty? That's different, what sane young girl didn't want to marry a handsome prince? But of course Lina Inverse was not going to point that out to her partner. "So how was your day?"

"Got bored and hunted down a troll bear guy, is amazing how much of a bounty he had just for eating without paying, even if he did so many times."

"Oh Ramma... Remember our deal? 60% of that bounty is mine!" Lina said in a sing song voice and a cat like smile.

Ranma smirked "Really? Does this mean I get a 40% cut of whatever money you made on your own today?"

Lina's smile disappeared.

"Yes... in my defence I didn't expect our deal to be magically enforced." And now that she knew Naga was a runaway noble, who was trained at magic since a young age, she was even more wary to try to tamper with the magically enforced contract.

"Anyway have you tried using the Lighting spell as a guy?" Lina asked and Ranma blinked.

"Why? The sword doesn't work when I am a guy so what's the point?"

"Can I give a look to your sword?" The shorter redhead asked.

"Fine but please don't break it." Ranma grumbled but handled Lina the sword.

Lina examined it carefully. .

"Oh, this sword actually not bad, decent materials too; but all it does is the equivalent of a fireball spell and it drains the user magic to do so. How many times a day can you use the sword magic?"

"All the time? But never have done more that five times a day." Ranma asked confused.

"And it doesn't work when you are a guy? Uh, that must mean that not only the curse turns you into a man, when you are a guy it lowers your Bucket capacity so much you don't even have enough for a single fireball spell."

"Bucket capacity? What's that?"

"It represents the amount of magical energy a caster can gather at once. Someone bucket capacity determines what powerful spells they can cast, as most spells have a minimal energy requirement: If the caster fails to supply enough magic then the spell won't work. Supplying more magic than necessary on the other hand increases the spell's power. Oh since we are at it, here is more reading material to study magic." Lina said and drooped a dozen books in front of Ranma.

"Okay?" Ranma picked them up and put them in the many pockets that he had added to his clothes at Lina's insistence.

"There will be a written and practical test in two weeks, if you don't get at least a 98% score then you won't like what I will do to you in the name of training!"

"What? I can't learn this much in just two weeks!"

"Oh what's this Ranma, do you want to cancel our contract?" Lina said with a cat-like smile.

"No, Ranma Saotome doesn't give up that easily!"

"Your funeral." Lina said in a sing song voice.

"Wow, no wonder you have no friends."

"What's that Ranma? You want me to add even more studying material for your test?"

"I... I will stay quiet now."

***

If Lina had thought things better then she would have realized that Ranma would dedicate the two weeks to study, meaning she didn't get Ranma help on jobs, much to her grumbling.

"Okay, I would take notes but these books are already annotated and with better calligraphy that mine anyway." So memorization and practice it was.

'Pool capacity represents the sum of magical energy a caster can channel through himself before wearing himself out. Unlike Bucket capacity, which is usually fixed at birth, pool capacity can be expanded as it mainly depends on the caster's stamina. This also makes completely expending it quite dangerous, as the caster may be so weakened that they may fall unconscious and sustain a serious injury. Side-effects of magic overuse usually show as hair turning white for a while and internal injuries.'

"Stamina? Well at least I am not lacking in that due to years of martial arts training."

'The Sorcerer's Guild protects its favored position in magical education and knowledge by forbidding sorcerers to teach arcane fundamentals or spells to a third party without permission, although this restriction is hard to enforce and is usually not uphelded by all.'

"Uh, so Lina teaching me could get her in trouble? I wonder why she accepted then?"

'The guild holds possession of a considerable portion of the magic lore available, although more exotic texts seem to be missing from their libraries. Aside of being the primary source of arcane knowledge, the guild is also responsible for the education of would-be sorcerers. Students at the Sorcerer's Guild are acquainted with the fundamentals of magic theory and spellcasting, but when it comes to spells, only simple and usually non-destructive incantations are made available to them, mostly from the white and shamanistic category, and not even all of those. The guild even holds back simple spells that can be used for criminal acts.

If the pupil wants to know more powerful magic, they usually need to invent the spell themselves or use the guild library, something that cannot be considered cheap by any means.'

"Uh, no wonder Lina cares so much about money if her guild is like this.'

'Unlock and Sleeping are simple spells that the guild doesn't teach their students without them paying a hefty fee to learn them from the guild library, this is because their notorious abuse by criminals. In practice however criminals usually learn them from other criminals.'

Ranma stared at two of the dozen books, one had the knowledge to learn the spell Unlock and the other for Sleeping, it was the only two spells Ranma had to learn, the rest was all useful information, theory and history.

"I honesty don't know what to think of Lina..." If nothing else she was a good teacher, but most likely didn't want to be one for life due to her temper and because she most likely would get bored.

"Mmm, I wonder if Lina will get angry if I ask her questions, teaching is more that just giving someone books to read after all."

Lina then stormed their room in the inn, a cheap one since Lina and Ranma could easily deal with any thieves and neither of the two was willing to expend too much money. Ranma because of saving to get a better magical sword and Lina because of being greedy... and maybe needing the money for something expensive.

Looking at the angry expression on his teacher's face Ranma almost didn't ask but couldn't resist anyway.

"Do you want to tell me why do you look so angry?"

"I got a bunch of people try to kill me."

"And? How is that different from the usual people trying to kill you?"

"Someone put a bounty on my head!" Lina said and slammed a wanted poster on the room desk, making it tremble.

Ranma picked the poster and gave it a look, wow the drawing on it was really bad. "Lina Inverse, the Butcher of Cornel? Did you kill a guy with that name or that? Wait... I was in that town before we meet! You weren't the one that destroyed it, it was bandits! And one million gold coins reward? No one in that town had that amount of money! not even everyone in the town together could get that much! Plus no one died, the town just was trashed? What the hell?"

"Ranma was there anyone important living in Cornel?" Lina asked with a serious tone in her face.

"No? It was a town far away of others full of crazy fighting maniacs, it reminded me of home actually." Nerima and the Tendo's place was the closest to a home Ranma had in a long time, but being away of that place craziness and being some kind of mercenary wandering Hero was nice too.

"Do I want to ask about your home?"

"Eh... you wouldn't believe me most of it."

"Really? What exactly I wouldn't believe?"

"Martial Arts Tea Ceremony."

"Seriously?" Lina asked raising an eyebrow.

"There is also a guy whose swordsmanship is so good that can cut rocks using a mere wooden sword... without magic."

As crazy as Kuno was, Ranma had to admit he was better at using a sword that he was. Sure Ranma might be stronger and faster but if Kuno ever used a real sword he could kill Ranma.

"Okay fine, is a bit hard to believe, are you sure Cornel had no one who could pay a bounty like this?"

"Yes, at least not while I was there. Sure there was an old ruined mansion but that thing was already destroyed before the bandits got to the town."

"THEN SOME IDIOT WANTS BOTH TO FRAME ME FOR MURDER AND GET ME KILLED AND WE DON'T KNOW WHO OR WHY! THIS IS SO FRUSTRATING!"

"Here, I bought cookies." Ranma said offering a whole bag of chocolate cookies to Lina.

"I am not-" crunch "some dog" crunch crunch "you can just bribe with food!" crunch crunch crunch.

"Wow these are really good!"

No Lina was more like... those small furry beasts of the pit, only scarier. After all none of those deceptive cute creatures could kill dragons.

"Yeah, they are. So now that you feel better, what are you going to do about this?"

"What? You won't help?"

"Got to study for the exam, remember?"

"Forget the stupid exam! This is more important! A million gold coins is enough money that someone actually dangerous will end coming after me! And you do look enough like me to get targeted too!"

Shit, Ranma had forgot about that small detail.

"So... we find however put the bounty and beat them up until they cancel it?" Ranma suggested.

"That's what I would do but the bounty has no details of who is offering or were to claim it."

That was fishy as hell then again that must be why no one actually dangerous had gone after Lina's bounty yet.

"That's weird, maybe I could change into my male form and ask around?" Asking as a girl would just get him confused with Lina.

Why was he expending so much time as a girl anyway? Ah right! Lack of easy access to hot water.

Sure he could maybe heat water with his sword but he didn't want to run out of magic in a fight.

Wait... did he still have male clothes?

His last set of male clothes had been ruined, thanks to a bandit sorcerer Fireball spell, before he meet Lina Inverse. And after Lina's reaction to his male form he had not bothered to buy more male clothes.

Oh dammit! He would have to buy new male clothes, at this rate he was never going to save enough get a better sword!

AN: You know when Ranma momofocuses on something he wants and then doesn't get when he is doing anything wrong because he is so focused on the what he wants to get? That's another reason why he has not minded being a girl most of the time so far.

Spoiler

The other is fear. Remember, this is early Lina and she tended to fall hard for a handsome guy until something went wrong. Heck she starts the anime looking for Prince to marry. Granted one could argue it was mostly for the money but she complete loses interest when the prince turns to not be handsome and almost double her age; even if he is a widower so she technically could still marry him.