On a cold wasteland, Xanth's group stood watching her,
shivering. She on the other hand was fine, clothed in a yellow
and black flannel, and thick boots.
     "Xanth, don't you think its a bit... bit cold?" Ranma asked,
his teeth chattering. His short sleeved chinese shirt and
slippers didn't seem quite adequate for the weather.
     Next to him, Akane glared at him, though her skirt and
blouse were just as bad. "Just shut up and hear what she has to
say!"
     Beky was studiously silent. When no one else voiced any
objections, she smiled. "I am Universal Salidihm Xanth as you
know. However, I prefer to be called Beky. Welcome to Jupiter."
     Makoto and Shinozaki suddenly looked around with more
interest. His dark green suit jacket was draped over her fuku. "I
don't remember anything." She looked at Shinozaki who shook his
head. "Is this really Jupiter?"
     Beky shrugged. "It's A Jupiter. Specifically, it is the land
ruled by J(U/P)-ITer. It's in the Xanth universe. Some friends
are coming to meet us here."
     Duncan tilted his head. "Who?"
     Twenty huge men with pointed ears in green tunics strode up.
The one in front extended a sword towards Beky. She drew her own
and extended it. They touched hilts, blades at each others
throats, then sheathed them and shook hands companionably.
     Beky turned to the others. "Meet my good friend Bahzell
Bahnakson. He's brought a group of his friends for us to warm up
on."
     Marco smiled broadly. "Good. Warming up would be very good."
Rachel hit him, but was smiling. He glared at her. "Thanks Xena."
     Beky's left eyebrow rose. "I wonder what she would think of
that particular comment. She IS a counterpart of mine, you know."
Marco blanched. She laughed. "Don't worry, I won't tell her this
once."
     Bahzell smiled broadly and his pointed ears twitched.
"Brandark should be here in a few minutes with a wagon. We didn't
think it would be terribly fair to fight your friends when they
have insufficient clothing."
     Beky's group's faces lifted immediately. They brightened
even more when they saw the white/green reversible cloaks and
boots the smaller man brought.
     Beky took charge. "Spectrum, take a cloak so you don't waste
your power in heating yourself. Ami, Makoto, I have full robes
for you. Alright, everyone, go to it!"
     In fifteen minutes, the entire group was suitably attired.
The hradani, as the giants were called, dickered rules with Beky.
She nodded, allowed them to go hide.
     "Guys, see those two boulders? Those are the boundaries. The
object is to defeat each person on the other team. If you are
defeated, you must put your cloak inside out to symbolize being
on the other team. Play continues till one team has completely
absorbed the other, or until I call a break for food.
Understand?"
     Everyone nodded. "I'm the impartial referee, so I'll be
going now. Good luck!"
                              *
     The group huddled together. Willow, slyly looked at Rachel
and Marco. "To absorb our members, they have to know who they are
right?"
     Ami nodded. "And if the only costume rules is that you have
to where a white cloak..."
     Rachel and Marco suddenly caught on. They chuckled. Then
they stripped off their overclothes, leaving only bathing suits.
Everyone stared. Then they began to hideously contort. Daniel
choked and looked away. Ami and Makoto began to look a bit green.
When the transformation was done, in the teens place stood two
adult polar bears. Now everyone laughed.
     Wolverine grunted. "We otta hide the brainy types."
     Duncan nodded. "Caspian and myself are skilled in sword
play." 
     Imhotep smiled. "As am I."
     Shinozaki, as Jupiter Knight, shifted from formal wear to
armor. He drew his sword. "The Thunder Sword of Jupiter."
     Makoto blew lightning from her finger into a nearby tree,
scorching it. "I'm not defenseless either." Ami stood next to her
silently and started distractedly freezing blades of grass, as
the lightning elemental, Achoo, said, "Pika... Pika CHU!" A
nearby boulder exploded. Articuno, not to be out done froze
Achoo's feet to the ground.
     Pika and Ashe protested. "Pika!" he zapped the ground at his
fellow pikachu's feet. Achoo nodded his thanks.
     Wolverine seemed to ignore him, unsheathing his adamantium
claws and sharpening them needlessly on a nearby rock.
     Ranma turned to Akane. "Akane, you should probably stay..."
     He staggered as a mallet made a round impression on his
head. "I will not be left behind! I'm a martial artist too!"
     Ranma shrugged. "If that's the way you feel. Don't blame me
if you get hurt."
     She turned away in a huff. He shrugged again. "Count us in,
I guess."
     Brock pulled out a poke ball. "Geodude, c'mon! Onix, I
choose you! Graveler, go! Time to rumble, Vulpix." A foot tall
ball of stone with arms, large rock snake, large boulder, and
foot and a half long multitailed mammal appeared.
     Misty followed suit. "Staryu! Starmie! Psyduck! Horsea!" Two
large stars, one more complex then the other, a duck holding its
hands to its head, and a cute sea horse appeared."
     Ash called out proudly. "Butterfree! Primeape! Raticate!
Squirtle! Charmander!" A large purple butterfly, a monkey, a
large rodent, a blue turtle, and an orange fire lizard appeared.
     Willow shook her head. "I'd better stay behind."
     Daniel agreed. "I don't want to shoot them, so I suppose I
wll too."
     Beth considered. "I believe I'll roam the field. With my
teleportal talent, I could be a bit hard to catch."
     Lynka was also considering. "I will guard Willow and
Daniel."
     Wolverine put the last member of the team in a headlock.
"Coming, kid?"
     Spectrum grinned. "What do you think?"
     Wolverine smiled. "That's what I thought."
     Duncan nodded. "Let's move out."
                              *
     The first thing Spectrum did was render himself nearly
invisible. Then he sat in the middle of the field and decided to
enjoy some of the action.
     He was surprised therefore when he felt a hand on his
shoulder. "Methinks you are a bit overconfident, my friend."
     Spectrum whirled and faced him. "How did you find me?" He
had to seal up the whole in his technique, or his pranks would be
doomed.
     The hradani smiled. "Though you are reflecting the type of
light men see with, you smell terrible. Like some sort of
horrible soap."
     Spectrum was relieved. He was out of hot water. No one would
think to try THAT in his home world. "Do we fight now?"     
     The hradani looked thoughtful. "You were trying to hide,
right?" Spectrum nodded. "Then, in finding you, I have defeated
you."
     Spectrum considered that. He could find no flaw in that
argument. "You're quite right." He turned his cloak around to the
green side. "The name's Spectrum."
     The hradani shook his hand. "Trahak."
                                   *
     <This is SO much fun!> Marco told Rachel. He was fishing in
a stream.
     She tilted her head. <Really?> Then she joined him. She felt
the bear, trying to take over, and allowed it to fish. It quickly
caught a herring. <Let's run!>
     <Ok.> They proceeded to have a race, which of course Rachel
won. They were bother surprised at how fast such massive animals
could move.
     They wrestled in the snow, climbed trees, and otherwise
enjoyed themselves for quite a while, as if they weren't playing
a larger game.
     Marco was disappointed when the two hours were up. <Time to
morph back, now.>
     Rachel nodded. <Let's morph and head back.>
                                   *
     Akane faced off against her opponent, Brandark. He chuckled.
"I don't usually fight women. But I don't think you're going to
let me off that easily."
     Akane's face colored. "Chauvanist pig!" She pulled out her
mallet and rushed him.
     Brandark suddenly found himself evading rapid hammer blows.
He concentrated, then began to return them. 
                                   *
     Ranma observed the fight. He was surprised by Akane's skill.
She ain't too bad, he thought. She wasn't gaining ground, but she
wasn't losing any either. And she was giving as good as she got.
     Then he saw movement in the trees behind Brandark. The
leader, Bahzell, was preparing to interfere. He was jumping...
     "Watch out Akane!" Ranma jumped down from the trees and
intercepted Bahzell. The hradani struck at him quickly, but Ranma
was faster. "Hey, Akane, that wasn't too bad."
     She colored. "You really think so?" Then she looked up just
in time to block Brandark's blow. Her fight wasn't over yet.
     Ranma shook his head while fighting Bahzell. "C'mon, pay
attention to the fight. We can jaw later."
     "You're one to talk!"
     Then both fights were in earnest. Bahzell was attacking
Ranma with all the bare handed tricks in his arsenal, but his
opponent was too good. He evaded each one, sometimes going as far
as to jump over him. But he wasn't doing so bad either. He was
defending himself. It seemed this fight could last quite a long
time.
     The situation between Brandark and Akane was similar.
Neither could get anywhere, and they were both tiring. Akane
called out, "Break!" The other three looked at her in surprise.
     Ranma was puzzled. "Huh?"
     She shook her head. "We're not getting anywhere this way."
Brandark and Bahzell nodded. "Could we call it a draw?"
     Ranma nodded hesitantly. "I guess so, if you guys agree."
     Brandark shrugged. "You're probably right. I guess we
weren't making progress. Do you enjoy music?"
     Bahzell punched him. "Brandark! Don't subject them to your
voice, please."
     Brandark smiled mischeviously. "I could sing the Ballad of
Bahzell Bloody Hand."
     Bahzell shook his head. "That would be a very unfair way to
defeat you."
     Ranma muttered, "His singing can't possibly be worse than
Akane's cooking."
     Akane, uncharacteristically, didn't hit him. Instead, she
thought about that. "You could be right. Let's have a contest.
I'll cook and he can sing, and whoever keels over first loses."
     Ranma was shocked speechless, and the hradani nodded. They
all headed to make a camp fire.
                    (Two hours later)
     Brandark lay on the ground, choking. Ranma smirked. "Well,
that was one way to get him to stop that terrible noisemaking."
     Bahzell applauded. "Thank you, Akane. I've never managed to
shut him up before."
     She bowed dramatically. Then she seemed puzzled. "I wonder
what happened to the food. I wasn't trying to KILL him."
     Ranma chuckled. "What did you put in it?"
     Akane checked her ingredients off on her fingers. "Pine seed
extract, flour, water...."
     Bahzell was confused. "Where did you get this... pine seed
extract... from?"
     Akane thought. "From pine trees, silly. It's just as good as
the stuff from the store."
     Ranma blanched. "What part of pine trees?"
     Akane looked at him as if her were stupid. "From the
needles, duh."
     Ranma and Bahzell laughed uproariously. Bahzell took pity on
her befuddlement. "The seeds are in the cones."
     "Oh... that's it!" 
                                   *
     Lynka peered out of the bush she, Daniel, and Willow were
hiding in. Suddenly, a green cloak entered her vision. Daniel
gasped, and the cloak turned to them. He grabbed Lynka and easily
lifted her out of the bushes.
     She used her only defense. "Wind!" A powerful gust came from
her ring, knocking the hradani over. She smiled and prepared to
attack again. 
     He jumped up and grabbed her holding her high in the air and
her ring hand away from him. Her wind blasts were useless. She
hung in the air, helpless.
     Soon, she, Willow, and Daniel were wearing green cloaks.
                                   *
     PHEET! PHEET! "Recall for lunch!" Beky smiled and waited to
see the reactions of her team to the game results.
                                   *
     Marco and Rachel strolled into the original glade to find an
equal number of white cloaks and green cloaks. There were many
people who had switched sides. Spectrum was blushing, and Ashe
looked mad. Lynka looked thoughtful.
     Beky stepped in and smiled. "Nice job all around. Good
creativity, too. It's time for lunch." She chuckled when
Brandark, in a white cloak, muttered, "Just as long as Akane's
not cooking."
     Akane, hearing the comment. "Just as long as you're not the
entertainment."
     Beky shook her head. "After lunch, and a nap, we'll head out
to do some REAL work. Eat up!"