Chapter 1: Training Trip and They Who Would Unravel the Past

by Ryvaken Lucius Tadrya

It was a dark and stormy night. No, not really. It was actually summer, early afternoon, one of those unusually temperate days when the mornings are brisk and the evenings are warm. Rather pleasant, all things considered.

Unless you're a thrice-cursed martial artist named Ranma Saotome. Because on this particular day, well, things were going…badly. "What do you mean we're going on a trip?"

Genma smiled triumphantly. "Right here, Ranma!" He slammed a newspaper onto the table.

Ranma raised an eyebrow even as his stomach sank. Every time his father read something new and turned it into a training exercise, Ranma ended up cursed somehow. Or got an extra fiancée, which was usually worse. You'd think after nearly marrying Akane Genma would have given up the old scheme, but no the old panda kept selling Ranma's hand like it came from Midas himself. Then Akane would throw a fit, Ukyo wouldn't talk to him, and Shampoo would try to maim the new girl only to be thwarted by Kodachi trying to poison the lot of them. And then the suitors…and the rivals…and then he'd have a few days of normalcy before oyaji had a new idea.

Whatever the case, there was no way he could try to fight it if he didn't know what "it" was. Ranma looked at the article. "Uh…'Famous American explorer discovers ancient ruins in mountains.' Why exactly should we care?"

"Foolish boy!" Genma snapped. "We can't let some American girl steal ancient martial arts secrets!"

Because you want first crack at them, Ranma thought sourly. "And what makes you think there are martial arts secrets to find?"

"Ancient ruins always have martial arts secrets," Genma proclaimed.

Ranma thought that over for a moment and shrugged. Oyaji had a point. Anything older than a few years had some connection to the Art in his experience. And while Genma was probably thinking of scrolls and trophies that could be sold, Ranma had his own interest in learning new moves and adding them to his skills. "I guess this means we have a training trip," he sighed. "I'll go tell Akane." He headed to the dojo.

As anyone familiar with Nerima could testify, Ranma Saotome's love life was a nasty piece of work. Over the year of his life at the Tendo estate, his relationship with Akane Tendo had had more ups and downs than the most suicidal rollercoaster ever dredged from the lunacy of engineer kind. Not two weeks ago, however, the infamous failed wedding had broken a dam between the two. No one was exactly sure what would go on between the two now, but one thing was certain. Things would never be the same again.

The other fiancées were still reeling from the blow. Kodachi had shown up on the Tendo grounds no less than four times to rescue her Ranma-sama from the wicked Akane. Akane Airlines made a brisk business deporting her back to the delusions she came from. Shampoo was simply staying away. The only time they saw her was when she was out on a ramen delivery, and even Ranma wasn't so oblivious to miss the red eyes and tear-streaked makeup on her usually pretty face. As for Ukyo, she had come by a few days later with a family sized offering of okonomiyaki and the one thing that Ranma had never expected: a genuine apology. She wasn't giving up the fight, but she admitted that hurling exploding food at her friends was a mistake.

Kuno, Mousse, and the menagerie of other fools in the twisted game called love had taken no notice of recent events and carried on, situation normal.

The only one who had truly moved on was Ryoga, who still showed up as P-chan when he got lost but spent most of his romantic efforts courting Akari. And his unromantic efforts were the same as ever – the battle for Akane's heart may have been settled, but thanks to Ranma, Ryoga had still seen hell. At least, according to Ryoga. Ranma privately believed that the Lost Boy had taken a wrong turn and simply missed the big gates reading Abandon All Hope Ye Who Enter Here.

But for all the uncertainty in the air, one simple fact stood out as the most disturbing to those who sought the hand of either heir to Musabetsu Kakuto.

Ranma was training Akane.

Ranma walked into the dojo and smiled slightly. Akane was running a kata. "Good form, Akane, but you need to speed it up if you want to ever hit anything."

Akane took a few moments to respond, finishing her somewhat leisurely kata with a kick that Ranma was well aware could turn rocks into dust. "I can't hit hard enough if I go faster," she complained.

Ranma sighed and shook his head. Akane's conditioning was at least as good as anyone else in the martial madness of their lives, except for Ranma, Ryoga, and maybe Shampoo. Her skill in the Tendo School was equally impressive. However, Akane lacked three important things. Her basic forms were a mess, she had no idea how to evade or take a hit, and her confidence was all but nonexistent. It had taken Ranma a month to convince her that Kuno had never held back against her, and that was after dealing with that cheerleading mess. "You're using too much power, Akane," he said calmly. "Save those strikes for breaking down walls, not fighting."

Akane sighed. "I know," she mumbled. "Are we going to spar?"

Ranma smiled a bit more at the tone in his fiancée's voice. She wanted it, but she was scared of it too. "Ya know I don't like hittin' ya, Akane."

Akane rolled her eyes. "I'm a martial artist, Ranma," she scolded. "I throw away any right to be protected when I attack you." As Ranma taught Akane, so was Akane teaching Ranma. His idiot father had put some really weird ideas in his head about girls, and she had to get them out for both of their sakes.

"Yeah, but you ain't attacking and I ain't here to spar. Oyaji found out about some kind of ruins in the mountain. And if I'm going on a training trip, you are too."

"What?" Akane yelped, her form going slack all at once. Ranma made a quick note to remind her to keep her guard up. "But…but when? I have to get packed, tell my friends, sort out school…"

"Ranma!"Genma bellowed from somewhere inside the house. "Where are you? Stop wasting time!"

Ranma rolled his eyes. "I'd say you've got an hour to get cleaned up and ready to go before he tries to drag us out anyway. I'll try and buy you another hour, but I wouldn't count on having a third."

Akane watched Ranma head out to "distract" his father. "Maybe this isn't such a good idea," she muttered.

As it turned out, Akane had a good four hours to get herself ready. Ranma's ability to occupy Genma's head with his fist was part of the delay, but more credit belonged to Akane. She had expertly manipulated the Tendo home in such a way as to enrapture Genma for hours on end.

Namely, she set up the shogi board and placed a (small, cheap) bottle of sake on it.

"You might have gotten a full day out of that if Mr. Tendo was better at cheating," Ranma mused as they left the house.

"Maybe," Akane agreed. "Say, Ranma?"

"Un?"

"Why is my pack so light?" Ranma had packed their supplies himself. Genma, for once, had the heaviest pack. Ranma carried everything that had enough value that it would be worth pawning. That left Akane with little other than her personal survival gear.

Ranma grinned. "Well, oyaji and I talked that over. Carrying a heavy pack is good training, but you don't really need that kind of training."

Akane had a sinking feeling that this was going to go badly. "So, I don't do any training at all as we walk?"

"That's right," Genma agreed. "Because we're not walking."

"Jogging?" Akane asked.

Ranma pointed to the rooftops. "Today, you start your roofhopping sessions."

Akane whimpered slightly.

Her name was Gina. Dr. Gina Babette Diggers, to be precise. She had uncovered the greatest secrets of the ancient world. Other-reality phantoms, sentient dinosaurs, cities of gold, libraries from beyond the veil of time, stars from before the birth of the cosmos. Her discoveries became her theories, her theories became her inventions, her inventions became her tools, her tools opened new discoveries. But today, on this expedition, she was after a more…personal treasure.

"Dammit, Gina, how much longer is this going to take?"

Gina sighed. "I told you I had this covered, Brit."

Britanny Elin 'Gia (nee Diggers) glared down at her sister. "And I told you, if I didn't get out of that house for a bit I would go mad. You said this was a short expedition!"

Gina rolled her eyes. "A week, tops," she said. "That's very short for an expedition like this."

Britanny ground her teeth. Last month she had given birth to her firstborn daughter, Tiffany. Motherhood suited her, however Brit' had found herself to be far too much an adrenaline junkie to stay at home all the time. So, while Stryyp watched their child, she went out to have a taste of adventure with her sister. "You didn't tell me it was some abandoned mountain in Japan."

"Brit, you're beginning to sound like Brianna," Gina warned.

"Don't even joke," Britanny muttered.

"Besides, if you were ever going to get off that unreasonably large ass of yours," Gina started.

Brit casually reached for Gina to enact appropriate retribution and was promptly foiled by Gina's anti-wedgie force field.

"Then this really is the best expedition to do it on," Gina finished with a smug tone.

Brit rubbed her hand. "That stings," she growled. "So what makes this trip so special?"

"Well, you remember Tiffany's delivery?"

Brit rolled her eyes. "I was kinda there, Gina."

"Okay, that was a dumb question. Anyway, it made me realize that while I'm learning about the ancient civilizations, I haven't really uncovered anything about the Age of Magic in human civilization."

Brit nodded slightly. "That sounds interesting and all but…"

"And I found this site thanks to some legends Jetta gave me copies of," Gina said.

"What?" Britanny asked, finally making a connection that was relevant to her, personally.

Gina nodded. "Brit, we're studying the origins of lycanthropy!"

The mountain ruins were not much to look at. Time had weathered them to the foundations, possibly with help from any of a dozen conflicts in the area's history and who knows how many before that. Gina easily mapped out a simple stone wall and the dimensions of three buildings. Unfortunately, these ruins had obviously played host to modern visitors. Graffiti and litter alike spoke to squatters in the past year or two alone, and some uncaring soul had used some kind of pneumatic hammer to write "Akane" in finger-sized holes in one wall.

"Doesn't look like a lot was left," Brit said.

Gina nodded glumly. "I didn't expect much would be here, but even so this place has been trashed."

"Wait, you didn't expect to find anything?"

"I didn't say that," Gina corrected. "Anything with a reasonable chance of surviving the years we'll find underground. Help me set up the GPR."

After an hour's efforts, Gina shouted in triumph and slapped her hand on a screen filled with squiggly lines. "Got it!"

Brit looked at the readout. "I see a horse eating a carrot with a baboon."

"Oh hush," Gina said. "Reading radar scans is an art. These deviations here tell me that there is a decently sized hollow in this part of the mountain."

"So there's a cave?" Brit guessed.

"Topography's all wrong for a cave this size," Gina said. "But see these sharp contrasts in density? There's something around the hollows, something much sturdier than the mountain."

"So…walls?" Brit guessed.

"That's right," Gina crowed. "The basement or cellar for whatever this place was. Now all we need to do is find an opening."

Gothwrain was an unhappy rat. Just over a month ago, he had been ready to enact the plan that would free his soul. He would be Iceron again. But no, that silly kryyn husband of the cat-whore had to be a good daddy and put family above duty. A minor miscalculation; Stryyp 'Gia was easily one of the less predictable pieces on Gothwrain's chess board. His trap was still in place, his attack ready, but if 'Gia didn't leave mother and daughter alone together for long enough for the Lich to play his part, Gothwrain was stuck. And much as he hated to admit it, some of the contingencies he had were not going to last. The mage council's tiny spy, for example, could not remain where he was for long.

Gothwrain's musings on the massive game his life had become were interrupted by one of his most ancient enchantments. "What?" he gasped. His head spun and he stared towards the distant island-nation of Japan, where an ancient security spell had just shouted its warning to Iceron.

Intruders at the stronghold.

Gothwrain growled. That lab was useless to him, his experiments all for naught. He had more important things to do than deal with some treasure hunters seeking thousand year old scraps. Besides, he knew better than anyone how unstable some of those experiments were. The intruders would be dead soon anyway, if they were lucky.

Gina's feet dangled through the hole in the ceiling for a moment before she grabbed the rope and climbed down to the floor. "…so that's why werewolves avoid Japan as a rule."

"And you think this place is the source of that boogeyman?" Brit asked. She jumped down easily, ignoring the rope.

The structure they were in was simple stone construction, built not to keep out intruders but to facilitate ease of navigation. The destroyed surface buildings had likely held the security portion of the complex. Gina and Brit had gained entry through a weakened part of the ceiling. (It was right under the Akane carving. It seemed that particular vandal had also carved an unusually twisted tunnel as his means of escape, like some kind of drunken mole.)

Gina nodded to Brit, staying carefully in the shaft of light from the hole above them. "I do. We know that werecreatures are magical beings, not natural creatures. And while I haven't figured out exactly what species werewolves were based on, the werecat species are all modern animals. Further, Dad was able to modify your enchantments. All of these facts suggest that werecreatures were created by human mages. That's not exactly a new supposition, but no one has ever really hunted for proof, let alone answers to all the other questions."

"Like why," Brit said softly.

"That would be a big one," Gina admitted. "'How' is another. And then there are those really vague things about werecreatures no one really understands. If we get all those answers, we might even be able to figure out what Brianna's full nature is."

"She does seem to develop the strangest talents," Brit agreed. "But then, I'm not making bullets out of nothing. Why do you think being part-werecheetah has anything to do with it?"

"Well I don't have any magic," Gina pointed out.

The universe sneezed.

"You have a point," Brit agreed, shaking off the feeling that she had missed some grand cosmological moment.

Ranma looked around. They were well outside civilization now, maybe half the way there. He heard a stream nearby and there was good shade here. "Okay, rest break," he called.

Genma turned. "Lazy boy! We break when gabuha!" He collapsed to the ground.

Ranma rolled his eyes and massaged his fist. "Well then, this is a 'gabuha' moment. How are you holding up, Akane?"

Akane didn't respond, as she was too busy lying face down on the ground, gasping for air. The moment Ranma had said "break" she decided that the ground looked awfully comfortable. She'd jogged further, and for longer, but keeping up with the Saotomes in wilderness was a lot more punishing than a simple jog along the streets.

Ranma considered his dying fiancée. "Ah," he said. He picked up her water canteen and found it empty. "Akane, if you run out, say something. Even oyaji isn't dumb enough to take this pace without water." He took his own bottle, still half-full, and pressed it into her hand. "Here. There's a stream nearby. Do you want to boil the water for the next leg of the trip?" Ranma knew that sooner or later, Akane would want to cook something. And her only reliable skill was boiling water.

Akane tried to leverage herself up and only managed to roll onto her side. Ranma put his hand on her shoulder to steady her. "Right. I'll get the water and set up the fire. You stay here, rest, and drink up."

True to his word, Ranma was back a few minutes later, now a she as the riverwater had been cold. She set up the fire calmly. By this time, Akane's breathing had settled to normal and she wasn't sweating as hard. "Thanks," she said weakly.

Ranma smiled. "Mountain training is rough," she said sympathetically. "There's a lot you have to do right. That's why I wanted to burn through your stamina early. Otherwise when you did collapse, you might actually be in trouble."

"Wait," Akane said. "You mean you were going that fast on purpose?"

"'Course," Ranma said easily. "You think I'm dumb enough to run you that hard by mistake?"

Akane thought that over. "Ranma no baka," she grumbled.

Ranma laughed lightly. "Well, the fire's going. Remember, get the water off as soon as it boils."

"Where are you going?"

Ranma held up her own bottle, now empty. "Someone drank all my water," she said in mock surprise.

Akane blushed.