Well waddaya know I’m back after half a year. Heh. Who knew? We’ll I suppose the story will take a bit of a new angle from now on…or maybe not. Bah. Anyway I’m back so.

Disclaimer: I don’t own pokemon or ranma they are trademarks of whomever (or whatever. Heh heh heh) owns them… blah blah blah. ENJOY!!!!!!

"So where did you say we needed to go again?" asked Misty tilting her head to the side.

"Stonehenge. It’s just outside a city called Whales" explained Dylan as he rummaged through the gigantic mess that passed for his belongings in the bottom of a closet. "Dammit" he grumbled. "Usually I’m neater than this"

"But. What about all the digs and… digs. That occurred there? Why wouldn’t the passage to the castle have been found yet?" Asked Ranma looking over the map he was currently examining.

Dylan shrugged. "Didn’t dig deep enough? Magic tunnel? Beats me. Ah here it is". He pulled a bag out of the closet and rummaged in it for a while. "Yes, all here. Hey Ash?"

"Yes?" said Ash looking up from his suitcase.

"You still have that sabre you got in Egypt right?"

"Yes why?"

"Just asking. Something tells me you’ll need it. Well I’m off for now" with that Dylan swept the bag up and left.

"What’s he up to?" said Misty looking at the door Dylan had just left through.

"Do you really want to know?" asked Ranma.

"No. Not particularly no".

"Hey I’ve been wondering," said Ash. "Why did me, Dylan and Ranma all end up with the same curse…ish…thing?"

"I don’t know," said Ranma. "He doesn’t either. I asked and all I got was a grunt".

"A grunt"

"Well he was training at the time. But still. I don’t know. Coincidence?"

"A wise man once said that there is no coincidences in life"

"Really? You would think you’d scare him away Ash"

"Yes I gu…HEY!!!!!!"

"Oh come on you’re a blockhead and you know it" said Misty.

"Ok now you’re just adding pointless insult to injury" whined Ash.

"So?" it’s what makes it so funny"

"It does not"

"It does to"

"Does not"

"Does to"

"Does not"

"Does to"

"People" Shouted Brock walking into the room "I’m sure we can resolve this without a fight".

He got a death glare from both Misty and Ash.

Brock sweatdropped. "okay I’ll just go…YOU FIGHT LIKE YOUR MARRIED". With that Brock bolted along with two very pissed people on his heels.

"Geez. They act like it’s never going to be true" muttered Ranma who had miraculously escaped unscathed.

**************************************************************

"I wonder what was in that bag" muttered Ash as he took a few practice swings with his sabre. It had been awhile and he didn’t want to be rusty when he was possibly heading into danger. He shook his head a bit. "I wonder if all that bull Dylan said about cartoons is the truth or if he’s just out of his mind. The Bizarre way he knows things might be an indication. Than again the longer he spends here the less he seems to be able to accurately judge what is going on".

"It’s not good to talk to yourself you know Ash" came a voice from behind. Ash whirled around to find Brock standing there. "Sorry to startle you Ash. You still worried about how this is all going to end?"

"I suppose so," He said sheathing his sword and siting down on the grass.

"Ah. Don’t dwell on it to much. Besides you have other things to worry about right now".

"Like what?"

"Take a guess"

"Oh. Yes well that’s exactly why I’m worrying about this whole thing". Ash pulled his sunglasses off his head and stuffed them in his pocket. "Curses, other world’s, time travel, a daughter for gods sake! I mean I’ve met some pretty good friends but still this is just bizarre".

"Well bizarre or not to us our world would feel just as strange to them. Maybe not so much to someone like Dylan, but to Ranma and the other’s, definitely".

"I suppose so. But still. What if we can’t escape this time?"

"Uhh. Good point. But then again did you ever know for sure weather or not everything would be alright?"

"No".

"Well there you go Ash. You know it’s strange"

"What is?"

"I think this whole thing has changed all of us".

"No kidding".

"No I’m serious".

"Well. For the better you mean then".

Just then Brock heard Kasumi calling for him to help her cook. He cracked a smile. "I sure hope so".

"No more girl chasing for you huh? Seems like a good change".

Brock rubbed his chin in a mockery of deep thought. "I don’t know you sure it’s for the better?" This got a laugh out of both of them. "Well I’d better head inside. Talk to you later pal".

"See you later," said Ash. He picked himself up after Brock left and continued his practising for quite a while longer. He didn’t mutter to himself anymore though.

***************************************************************

"Hey guys" muttered Ash as he walked into the kitchen. "What’s for breakfast?"

"Food" said Brock.

"What kind of food?"

"The edible kind"

Ash growled and sat down at the table. "You could of just said pancakes you know" he huffed as he tossed a stack of said pancakes on his plate.

"I suppose so, but where’s the fun in that?"

"Whatever. Where’s everyone else anyway?"

"Um. They already ate and left. Misty and Akene said something about shopping. Shampoo is at that café she works at. Mostly just running errands and making last minute preparations for when we leave tomorrow".

"What about Dylan?"

"I don’t know. Nobody’s seen him since he dug that bag out of the closet a few days ago".

"You don’t think anything happened to him do you?"

"What happened to who now?" said Dylan walking into the kitchen and snatching up a pancake.

"Huh? Where have you been?" said Ash looking at Dylan.

"Minding my own business I suppose," he said shrugging.

"Are you up to something?" Asked ash raising an eyebrow.

Dylan blinked innocently. "Who me? When have I ever been up to something?"

"Um let’s see. All the time maybe?"

"Well in that case you will just have to wait and see. You been practising?"

"With what, My sword? Yes".

Dylan finished off his pancake and said, "Well let’s see how good you’ve gotten than".

"What? No way you would break my sword".

"You didn’t know?"

"Know what?"

"It’s enchanted to not break".

"How could you know that?"

"Yami told me".

"Oh. Well I wish I could have said thanks than. But hees dead by now so I wont get the chance will I?"

"I don’t know, you might"

"What?"

Dylan waved his hand divisively. "Nothing. Now get dressed and meet me outside".

****************************************************************

"Ok Ash lets see how good you are" said Dylan drawing his sword and Dropping it into a low guard position.

"K" said Ash drawing his own sword.

Ash came in high and on the right but at the last second Dylan twisted his blade up and parried the slash. Ash brought his blade around low and was again blocked.

Than Dylan brought his sword around in a sweeping ark on Ash’s left. Ash twisted his sabre to the side and blocked the blow. Dylan than twisted his sword up and than down again into an overhead slash which was blocked again.

Ash took advantage of the position and twisted Dylan’s Katana around in a circle throwing his blade out and to the side. Than he lunged forward but Dylan brought his sword around in a sweeping block sending Ash’s blade wide then twisted his sword and slammed the pommel into the side of Ash’s leg.

Ash staggered back as Dylan resumed the guard position. "Ok that was just round one" growled Ash. He charged in again swinging his sabre in an upward slash, which Dylan blocked with a downward sweep effectively pinning Ash’s blade to the ground. Than he kicked up over the blade and hit Ash squarely in the chest before backing off again. Ash rubbed his sore chest. "How am I supposed to beat you if you won’t go easy on me?"

"Number one, I am going a little easy on you. And number two. The point here is to gauge your abilities not to win. From what I can see you’re getting pretty good. Now let’s resume shall we?" With that Dylan charged in with a devastating series of sideways chops that Ash was just barely able to parry. Ash lashed out with his left foot and kicked Dylan in the leg causing him to stagger back so the blows let up. Then he brought his sabre in at an upward angle at Dylan’s left side. Dylan parried the blow then tapped Ash on the side of his head with the flat of his katana.

"I win," he said while standing up and sheathing his sword. Than he smiled and gave Ash a thumbs up. "Keep practising Ash. You’re getting pretty good". With that Dylan spun on his heel and went inside.

"Ah I’ll beat him next time" muttered Ash as he stood up and resumed practising.

***************************************************************

"Hey Akene what’s up?" Said Ranma walking into the living room. Akene was searching every corner of the house for something.

"Ranma. Where is he? I can’t find him. Oh I hope he’s ok. Oh please be ok". She continued frantically searching the room.

"Um. Who are you looking for?"

"I’m looking for p’chan. You haven’t seen him have you?"

"Come to think of it no" he said. //I have seen Ryoga more than usual though. I wonder why he hasn’t turned into the piglet lately//. "Don’t worry. He’ll show up soon enough. He has gone missing before. And he always shows up again. And in the strangest places to".

"Hey! Are you two coming or not? Where heading to the airport now" shouted someone from downstairs.

"Well it’s time to go, anyway," said Ranma. "And don’t worry I’m sure P’chan is fine".

" I guess," said Akene glancing back at the room as she left.

***************************************************************

(Ok I’m going to skip ahead in time a bit because nothing really happens while the characters are in London)

***************************************************************

"Well here we are" said Ash looking up at one of the columns that made up Stonehenge.

"But now that where here what are we supposed to do?" Asked Brock. Everyone looked at Dylan for the answer.

"Don’t look at me," he said. "I only know what we need to do once where inside. Not how to get there".

"Great. So the all seeing expert has no idea what to do? I thought you saw it all on TV in your world" said Ranma.

"Look, first of all I only ever watches about 5 episodes of the TV show you where in Ranma. And second everything has changed since I’ve arrived. Just because allot of the "Creative" people in my world seem to have subconscious connections to other worlds doesn’t mean I ever did".

"Maybe I can help," said a voice from behind them. Everyone spun around to find the wizards floating ball at the centre of the structure. "The doorway is magical. But once your inside I wont be able to help you. I’ll hold the portal open for when you escape but other than that you’re on your own". With that a portal opened between two of the stone columns.

"Well everyone, let’s go," said Dylan as the seven of them stepped into the portal.

*****************************************************************

They emerged from the portal into a huge entrance hall. Huge marble pillars stretched up to a high vaulted ceiling dominated by elegant arches. Huge banners and tapestries stretched from one end of the hall to the other and the floor was covered in a rich red carpet.

"Wow. How could a place like this have been built underground," said Misty marvelling at the hall.

"And it’s so well preserved" Said Dylan. "It’s hard to believe it’s been down here for hundreds of years".

The group started across the room and into an equally extravagant corridor. The castle was beautiful. But this raised one good question. Where would the Orb be? They continued to explore for hours but turned up nothing.

Akene plopped down in a chair with an exasperated sigh. "We’ve been all over this castle," she said. "Where could this thing be?"

"Maybe there secret passage?" said Shampoo.

"Yes but where" said Brock. "This place is massive and it would take days to push every stone and pull every torch bracket".

Ash leaned on the wall to think but instead of the tapestry there simply flopping back against the stone it went right through the wall sending Ash down a flight of stairs. Everyone jumped when Ash fell and rushed down. "Well that answers that question," said Ranma staring down at the tangle of cloth and rope that was currently Ash.

As Ash was untangling himself everyone took a look around. This place was not like the castle. Instead of bright and cheerful it was dank and musty. The roughly cut stones where covered in a layer of translucent grime that glowed with a sickly black and purple coloured light.

"Well this is encouraging" grumbled Ash as he picked himself up.

The group continued down the corridor passing through huge caverns full of stalactites and stalagmites that, combined with the phosphorescent slime, made them look like the maws of large beasts. They continued exploring until Dylan brought them to a halt at an intersection. "Ash. You come with me," he said. "The rest of you stay here".

The two crept along the corridor until they came up on a cavern full of creatures. They hand low hanging arms and where hunchbacked. They had massive tusks protruding from their jaws, large stubby snouts and four beady little eyes. They where all wearing what appeared to be rotting cow hides that hadn’t been preserved.

"What are those things?" asked Ash making a disgusted face.

Dylan shook his head. "I don’t know but their really ugly". He leaned foreword to get a better look and accidentally dislodged a rock. It clattered down the small slope leading into the cave and hit one of the things right on the top of the head.

The thing turned and stared stupidly at the two before catching on and bellowing a warning to the rest of the creatures. They all turned and began to run up the slope.

"Ah SHIT!" yelled both Dylan and Ash as they drew their swords and began to back down the tunnel not wanting to turn their backs of the host of monsters charging at them. "Get out of here!" shouted Ash to the rest of the group as they came in sight. The first monster sung a club across the hall. Both Boys ducked the swing and ran the thing through with their blades. It fell back but two more came up, one wielding another club and the other a spear, and charged the group. Dylan blocked a clumsy thrust from the spear-wielding monster than bisected the thing with a downward sweep of his katana. Ash jumped over the swing from another one and beheaded it.

Then they heard a bellow from in the crown of monsters and an extremely large one shambled forward. It was dragging a massive warhammer along behind it. From behind Ash and Dylan they heard Misty scream. "I thought I told you to leave" Shouted Ash.

"We can’t just leave you here," shouted Brock.

The large monster swung the hammer clipping the ceiling in the process. Ash jumped aside just as the hammer hit the ground sending a crack along the floor and up the wall. Dylan took this chance to jump on the beast’s hammer and get a good slash at the things eyes before jumping back. The thing recoiled and began to flail wildly trying to hit its target and instead hit the walls. The force of the blow sent chunks of debris flying everywhere.

"Let’s get out of here," yelled Dylan. He and Ash sheathed their swords and turned to run but they didn’t get two steps before a massive tremor shook them to the ground.

"What’s going on?" Shouted Misty as she tried to keep her balance.

The rumbling increased and the floor crumbled out from under the beast, sending it plunging into a pit. The cracks spread and rock kept falling. "Come on get out of there," shouted Akene. But just as Dylan was helping Ash up the floor gave way and they too plunged into the pit.

Dum dum dum duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuum cliff-hanger! Well what do you think? I know I haven’t updated in a while but expect them to happen more often. As for my other fic it is on hold for the time being. Comment and constructive criticism welcomed. No flames though or I will block you from ever e-mailing me again. Well don’t forget to visit my website at http://www.geocities.com/hedric_wolfmane/reddrakelair.html . A fanart section is soon in coming so if you are interested stop by. Well cya!