Author's Notes
Yes, another chapter.
Thanks to everyone who's read and reviewed, and those who haven't. Thanks of course to my betas – Teturo, KitsuneOverlord, Kamen Rider Den-O, and Lance.
*****
Looking down at the broken onyx basin that had held some weird magical water, Ranma wondered just what had happened. Closing one eye as he screwed his face in thought, the cursed boy tried to recall the missing memories.
"I can't believe you broke it," the vampire repeated (for the fifth or sixth time), still in shock that his valuable artifact had been destroyed.
"Would you please stop saying that," Ranma snapped.
Having a propensity to destroy things randomly or unintentionally (and sometimes purposely) the pigtailed martial artist had expected the owner of the destroyed item to actually react. Had it been Akane, the uncute tomboy would have shoved him through the wall, or hit him with that mysterious mallet of hers, and called him a name. Shampoo and Kodachi would have started plotting some sort of revenge. Ryoga, Mouse and Kuno would have just added it to their laundry list of things against him and tried to beat him up. But the vampire's display of shock was, well, weird. For such a powerful and ancient being, simple shock was, well, pathetic.
Feeling a surge of killer intent Ranma couldn't help but wonder if he should have just let Szadeck continue to gripe about his broken artifact. "Um… never mind…"
Looking at the predatorily eyes of the vampire the cursed boy (wait, I'm 18, I'm a man now!) stood his ground. "Look, I'm sorry about breaking your, um, thingy," he apologized. "But I didn't mean to and I hope to kami that Eva didn't send me here just because she knew that this would happen."
"That water is from the Dead Sea," the vampire stated. "I collected it over six hundred years ago; the last time I was out in the old world. The chamber directly beneath this one houses my greenhouse. You just flooded it and killed all my rare magical plants. You know how many years I've been trying to grow some of those plants? Or how many potions are going to be ruined now that I don't have some of the key ingredients?"
Not wanting to back down despite knowing that he was sort of in the wrong, Ranma politely bowed, keeping his eyes on the vampire. "I said I was sorry."
"Pf… whatever," the vampire muttered, stomping off. Reaching the end of the corridor he spread his wings. "Are you coming or not?"
Blinking in surprise Ranma quickly chased after the eccentric vampire.
"That pool was supposed to cure you of your worst fear," Szadeck stated. Gliding down through the maze of corridors he led Ranma away from the pool. "Apparently you have more then just an irrational fear of cats."
Landing in a well lit corridor the vampire waited for the cursed young man. "I guess you don't work well with quick power ups. Still, I can't teach you anything about ki or martial arts. I only know magical arts - or the use of magic to make one stronger and a better fighter."
Catching up to the ancient, Ranma paused as he considered the implications. "You can do that with magic?"
"Of course you can," the vampire exclaimed. Looking at Ranma as though the young man were a complete idiot, he shook his head. "I forgot, you're ki based, not mana based. Mana and ki can both enhance and strengthen a fighter; it's just that the mechanics of each are different."
"Generally that's true," Ranma interjected, "but Kanka and other techniques do work just like ki techniques do."
Looking at the young man in a new light Szadeck smiled. "I guess you're not as dumb as you look."
"Hey, I'm not an idiot you know!" the martial artist shouted in his defense. "I'm not just a dumb jock!"
"And I'm slowly realizing that fact," the vampire replied.
Leading the youth down the corridor and past several doors the vampire finally stopped before a large wooden door. "Anyways, maybe you can learn something while you're here," he stated. "This is the section of my library dedicated to containing the Celestial Arts."
"Celestial Arts?" the pigtailed youth repeated.
"Divine fighting styles used by gods, or kami, and their servants - the nine choirs," Szadeck explained. "You're Nephalim, the descendent of an angel, the lowest ranking choir. Though they may have had their own specific skills, there is much more for you to learn."
Seeing the young man's look of overwhelming joy as Ranma considered all the other techniques he could learn, Szadeck sighed. "There is a catch - once you open a scroll you can't move onto the next one until you've mastered the skills and techniques in it."
Eying the sagely vampire Ranma cocked his head, considering the source of the advice. "What would you know of those scrolls?"
"I know that they're keyed to the user's ki, like all Celestial Scrolls are," the ancient replied. "One of my first lovers was a Nephalim, and she only managed to open two scrolls in her lifetime. She's the one who built this library. She lived to be two hundred."
*****
Looking at the assembled girls Konoka smiled. Due to the hectic nature of their reunion and settling in at the Urborg, they had all had a long day. Despite that fact, or because of it, Konoka knew that this meeting was necessary. While not all of them were members of Ala Alba, the young girl knew that they all shared a mutual interest.
"Sorry to keep you all up, I'm sure that each of us wants to get some much deserved rest, but there is a matter that we all need to discuss," Konoka explained.
Glancing at the other girls Takane knew that she was in the minority. As the only one of the group attending high school, and the only one not in Negi's class, the shadow mage wasn't exactly sure why Konoka and Kaede had invited her to the meeting. If it had anything to do with getting back to the old world and Japan, then all of the girls deserved to be there. "What do we all have in common that the other girls don't?" she finally asked.
Eying the older girl incredulously, Konoka shook her head. "Ranma," she replied, "we've all kissed Ranma. That's why we're all here."
Seeing several girl blushing, some openly, others demurely, Konoka knew she had everyone's attention. "I think we need to set some ground rules when we're with Ranma."
"Ground rules?" the mousy librarian repeated, not sure what to make of the situation. Having not been invited to join in on the 'secret' meeting she had reluctantly been convinced by her classmates that 'secrets' between the large group would be detrimental to the group as a whole.
"They're talking about Ranma?" Natsumi echoed.
"He kissed all of them?" Ako added.
Mei's disposition clearly soured at the news. The younger girl had clearly expected her seniors to set a better example; they were supposed to be… setting a better example, not kissing wanna be Casanovas or Don Juan's. "I can't believe he gets around so much!"
"'I know we each like Ranma,'" Chisame read aloud, sharing the thoughts of the ninja as the tall girl spoke up during the clandestine meeting. Oh my god! If only I could update my site from here. Think of all the dirt I could get on the rest of the class! My faithful followers would love this! I'm definitely getting Nodoka to help me get more dirt on the girls when we get back! "'That's why I agree with Konoka that we should set some ground rules.' That's Kaede."
"'We don't know that he really likes us,'" Makie, reading Setsuna's thoughts, read trying her best but failing at impersonating the normally stoic swordswoman.
"'Why else would he have kissed us?'" Nodoka answered in Konoka's behalf.
"'I don't know about you girls,'" Yuna said, reading from Kazumi's book, "'but I kissed him.' Oh my, I can't believe she's so aggressive."
"'He was possessed!'" Mei shouted, reading from her senior's book. "'He's being controlled by demonic influences!'"
"'While I agree that he wasn't completely in control of himself,'" Nodoka said, slowly articulating the calm girl's thoughts, "'but if he hadn't maintained at least some control do you think he, under the influence of five succubae, would have stopped at just kissing us?'"
"'I wouldn't mind if he didn't hold back with me.' I can't believe what she's thinking," Yuna exclaimed, showing everyone the graphic images that appeared on the pages of the book.
"What are you doing?" Misora cried out, covering Kokone's innocent young eyes with Takane's book.
"Sorry," the over excited girl replied.
"Asuna's wondering if Ranma's actually attracted to her," Natsumi said as she peered at the book Misora was holding.
"Well he did kiss her," Makie stated. "Well, he kissed all of them."
"We shouldn't be doing this," the normally mousy Nodoka pleaded despite the fact that she was continuing to read Konoka's thoughts.
"But it's so good!" Yuna squealed as she turned her attention back to Kazumi's book.
"'We shouldn't force the issue with him,'" Ako read aloud, sharing Akira's thoughts with the other girls. "'I know that he's had a crazy life with all those insane girls chasing him back in Nerima, so I won't do anything that might hurt him.'"
"Aww, she really likes him," Natsumi squealed.
"'Do you hear something?'" Nodoka added. "Oh, I think they're onto us."
"You're right," Yuna whispered. "Kaede's coming to check things out."
Dispelling her artifact the mousy librarian yelped as Misora knocked the small girl over in the mishmash of activity. Scrambling for their clothes and beds the girls threw things around as they tried to look normal.
"What happened here?" Kaede asked as she scanned the carnage.
Looking at each other the girls giggled. "Nothing," Misora grinned, "just getting ready for bed."
*****
Hearing the door close behind him Ranma quickly channeled ki into his hands. Reaching up he grabbed the closest scroll. Suddenly the room faded, replaced with a bright white room.
"What are you fighting for?" an ominous voice asked.
"Wha?"
"What are you fighting for?" the voice asked again.
"To be the best," Ranma replied. Steeling himself the young martial artist took a deep breath. "I fight to prove that I'm the best."
Slowly several figures began to take shape, dulling the bright lights of the room. Watching Ranma slowly made out a building, then field, and a crowd. Spotting two figures moving around the field the cursed martial artist knew he was watching one of his fights even before he could clearly make out his own image.
"Man, I was so sloppy," he said, critiquing himself. "Look, I should have put Kuno down here, but I let him nearly land a hit on me instead."
"Is that all?" the voice questioned. "Why were you fighting?"
"Kuno challenged me," the young man replied.
"So you fought."
"Yeah."
"Even though you knew you could beat him?"
"Yeah."
"So why did you fight? You already knew you could beat him."
"Because he challenged me," Ranma snapped back. "It's a matter of honor. I have to be a man amongst men; I can't lose."
"Because then you wouldn't be a man?"
"Yeah!"
"But you're still not a man," the voice replied. "What does a man gain from fighting an opponent he knows he can beat? Nothing."
Ranma blinked, trying to follow the voice's logic. It didn't make sense, but it did too.
"So why do you fight?"
Watching another fight, this one between him and Mouse, Ranma wondered why he was watching his old fights. "Why am I watching these? I lived through them. I already know that I win this fight, even though I was supposed to throw it."
Again the scene shifted, this time to a random fight against Happosai following one of the old pervert's disrupted panty raids.
"Why do you fight?"
Watching the fight Ranma knew that he could have avoided the fight, if only he had not interfered with the old man's lechery. But he couldn't let the old man have his way; someone had to stand up to him.
"Does fighting prove that you are a man?"
Once again the scene changed. Unlike the other scenes of fighting this one was much more subdued and peaceful. Watching as the Ala Alba walked through the dark streets of the peaceful hamlet village, the young martial artist clearly made out his own form as he pulled the emotional Haruna to him, supporting the distraught girl.
"Winning a fight does not prove that you are a man."
Slowly the scene faded out only to be replaced with the chaos of the fight in the gateport Ranma cringed as the fake Haruna was turned to stone. Contemplating the destructive fight the martial artist felt a lump in his throat as his image charged up a Shishi Hokodan.
"Why do you fight?" the voice asked again.
"I'm afraid," the pigtailed youth answered honestly.
"What are you afraid of?"
Looking deep inside of himself the cursed youth dreaded admitting the truth. Even though he was alone in the void, the pigtailed martial artist didn't want to concede the fact that even he had a weakness.
"I'm afraid of being alone," he proclaimed defiantly. If not for his art Ranma knew that he'd be alone. It had forged his friendly rivalry with the lost boy, even prompting the lost boy to follow him to China and then to Nerima. It was the reason why Shampoo and even Mouse followed him and subsequently stayed in Japan. Despite all their conflicts and fights, Ranma knew that if push came to shove he could rely on them to help out, just like they had against Herb and Saffron.
"Has fighting brought you happiness?"
Opening his mouth Ranma nearly answered the question.
Watching as he stood beside Akane as Ryoga attacked him the cursed martial artist realized that he hadn't been happy. No, he had been happy, but only recently. "Yes, it has," he acknowledged. "I may not have been happy in Nerima; but my art brought me to Mahora. It gave me a chance to make a difference, to meet people who see me as more then just a martial artist, who honestly like me despite my flaws."
Silence. Simple sweet silence as the scene faded.
"So why do you fight?"
"Because I want to protect my happiness," Ranma roared definitely. "To protect the people who are important to me because I don't want to be alone anymore. Because I'm nothing more then a martial artist without them."
Gradually the white mist solidified, revealing a raven haired man with midnight black feathered wings. "Now we can begin."
*****
Holding onto the delicate scroll Negi could feel the power radiating from the flimsy parchment. "This is Master's secret forbidden technique?" he asked, not sure if he wanted to access such a clearly dark technique.
"Yes," Jack replied with a smirk. "If you use it it'll give you a chance to beat Team Korwin in the Ostia Tournament. As you are now you couldn't beat that shadow mage, much less Fate."
"So this is as far as you can take us?" Kotaro asked. Considering the rapid growth and development of their powers in the past few days the dog hanyo could feel the difference between the way the two pre-teens had been and where they were now after subjecting themselves to the legendary fighter's training.
"Like any good training regiment you've reached the full potential of the first stage," the scarred man explained. "If you were to simply push yourself using the same tried but true methods you'd simply plateau, though there is a chance that you regress or worse, injure yourself once you pushed yourself too far. To reach the next level you need to push yourself in a different way."
Scratching his chin Negi considered his father's rival's advice. "So if we open this scroll we not only learn Master's technique, but we can reach that next level?"
Jack smirked, seeing that the boys had clearly not listened to him.
"You idiot!" Kotaro shouted, smacking his friend's head. "The scroll is for you."
"But…."
"I've got a few other tricks for the dog," Jack replied with a wicked grin. "Besides, someone has to watch over you while you're in the scroll."
Wide eyed and in clear disbelief, Negi looked at the scroll in his hands. "Astral projection? I'm going to train in the Astral plane?"
*****
Standing over another stone basin the ancient vampire stared at the clear water. Spotting a blonde head bobbing as its owner walked by, Szadeck focused his attention on the water.
"Stupid runt!" he shouted, catching the girl's attention.
"What'd you call me you stupid serpent?!" the girl returned as she rushed her scrying pool.
"I called you stupid," Szadeck replied coolly, "which you are. How could did you miss the fact that the young man you sent to see me was a Nephalim?"
Evangeline blinked. How indeed had she missed that? "I never tasted his blood you decrepit old fool!"
"Obviously, but didn't you at least test his blood?"
"Of course I did… oh; I never bothered to check the blood of his female form…" Realizing her oversight the blond vampire shook her head. "It's no wonder he's a curse magnet-"
"Since most magical curses are attracted to those with high ki levels," Szadeck finished.
"Not to mention that he old man's pissed off several low level kami," Eva added. "Since he's pure human and has a son, their curses against him would be passed down to the boy."
"Baldness is not a curse," the ancient stated defensively, "it's genetic."
Shaking her head the younger vampire wondered how even she managed to follow the crazy ancient's thoughts and ideas.
"Anyways, your stupid boy broke the Pool of Meditation."
"Well, he did level a mountain," the blond muttered, trying to recall some of Ranma's exploits.
"Not physically," the ancient explained. "It was purely psychological. He's got some incurable irrational fear of cats."
"Oh," Eva's eyes bulged as she realized the implications, "OH! The stupid Neko Ken of his… Stupid did stay that his old man threw him into a pit of cats as a runt."
"So?"
"He was covered in fish products."
Suddenly the ancient's image vanished from the scrying pool. His hissing laughter clear evidence of his knees buckling as he rolled around the ground. Taking several moments to compose himself, the ancient straightened his clothes before reappearing on the surface of the water.
"Anyways, it wasn't a means of torture, just an insane way for the runt to learn the legendary Cat Fist," Eva explained. "He somehow managed to survive it, but if he's around cats too much he goes berserk."
Crossing off the idea of torturing his few enemies with the Neko Ken training, the ancient vampire shook his head. "You should have let me know ahead of time. I wouldn't have bothered trying to cure a berserker of his fears. I could have moved the Pool of Meditation so that the chamber wasn't directly above my greenhouse at least."
"So what'd you do with him?" the tiny vampire asked. "You can't drink his blood because it's poisonous to vampires."
"True," the ancient admitted. "Now that he's reached the Nephalim majority in his cursed form, some of the cursed form's abilities are bleeding through to his original form. But since he's such a curse magnet, I think there are a few that we have around here that might be useful to him."
Realization dawned on the younger vampire. "You sent him into Razia's library." Seeing the satisfied look on the ancient's face Eva froze. "I need him to watch after my student!"
Eva never realized just how sinister the reptilian's face could be as he grinned, flashing his normally wicked teeth along with the long vampiric fangs. It was like staring at a dragon as it was about to take a bite out of you just to see how much its prey could take.
"Razia may have slaughtered her own kin, but she was far from being insane."
*****
Opening his eyes Ranma saw the sparkling ceiling. Sitting up the young man shook his head, reorienting himself to the library after his brief stint in the scroll. Scanning the library he found a chair. Not wanting to fall to the floor again, the cursed youth decided to at least cushion his fall by sitting down first. Replacing the scroll he had initially grabbed he grabbed another scroll. Sitting down, he took a deep breath, preparing himself for the venture into the scroll.
Feeling the rumbling in his empty stomach the cursed boy decided to against plunging into the scroll. Finding a tray of sweet meats, cheeses, bread and wine the martial artist sniffed the food. Finding nothing wrong with the food the youth quickly consumed the food. Not sure about the wine, but needing something to quench his parched throat, Ranma uncorked the bottle. Chugging the sweet but pungent liquid, he blinked as the alcohol hit him. Coughing, he shook his head, trying to clear his throat. Setting the bottle down Ranma eyed the blackish liquid. Definitely not something to chug.
Returning to the scroll the young man sat down. Charging ki into his hands he grasped the scroll. Expecting another out of body experience he was slightly disappointed when the scroll opened up before him, revealing angelic writing. Channeling more ki into his hands he felt the knowledge pouring into his mind. Angelic seals and ki equations; definitely not his strong point. Sighing, he settled in for a long training session.
Despite the fact that he had spent much of his time in school sleeping, Ranma knew he wasn't stupid. Sure, he failed several tests, but normally he did just enough to pass. While he would never be an accomplished scholar, it wasn't due to a lack of intelligence, merely a lack of drive and motivation. Deciphering scrolls, analyzing, breaking down, and reconstructing techniques was not the work of an idiot as only those who were motivated and understood the mechanics could fully master a technique as quickly as he did from just seeing it written down or after fighting an opponent a few times.
"Oh," he exclaimed. After countless hours he had finally realized the purpose and use of this particular equation. "Wow!"
Pushing his mind further the pigtailed youth found himself completely focused on mastering the equation. Pulling a feather out of stuff space, he sharpened the tip. Stabbing his arm with the feather Ranma used the blood to write out the seals and ki equation on his left arm. Once finished he channeled ki into the seals. Feeling the energy quickly being absorbed by the seals, he watched as his flesh absorbed his blood, leaving no trace of the seal.
Turning his attention back to the scroll he watched as it rolled itself up and flew back into the hole that he had pulled it out of.
Feeling the pangs of hunger gripping his stomach Ranma knew that he'd have to eat something more solid then the small tray of food he's snacked on before. Standing up he stretched his underused muscles. Breathing deeply, he let out a long yawn as he blinked back the edge of exhaustion that hinted at how long he'd been studying the scroll.
Opening the door out to the corridor Ranma found a map posted on the wall opposite the door. Moving down the hallway and passing two doors he found a note on the third door.
Feel free to take anything from the pantry. Hopefully it's stocked with enough food for you, but since I don't really eat solid food I haven't had to use that room in a while. Don't close the door once you go in. The door triggers a stasis spell that would lock you in time and space. Great for preserving food but horrible for the poor fool that forgets to keep the door propped open while you're in there. Across from it you'll find a small dining room. Just remember to close the door to the pantry once you're done. I'm pretty sure no one's used the room in decades, but just in case you find someone frozen in time, ring bell. - Szadeck
Examining the dining room Ranma found small fireplace, several chairs, and a solid stone table. Leaving the door open the cursed young man decided to grab one of the chairs to prop open the door to the pantry. Pulling open the door to the storage room he set the chair against the door. Testing it to make sure that the door wouldn't suddenly close on him, Ranma decided to play it very safe. Pulling a feather out of stuff space he created a feather clone. Sending the handsome creation into the room he waited for his duplicate to emerge.
Duce, the feather clone, couldn't help but feel a bit uneasy. If the original Ranma felt the need to be this cautious about entering a room, Duce, the expendable clone, couldn't help but feel very edgy. Still, he was a clone of Ranma, the nearly fearless master of several different schools of martial arts and now the very powerful embodiment of… well, chaos. Wait, the original had always attracted chaos. Now he was just, well, more powerful.
Shaking his head to clear it of the tangent thoughts, Duce scanned the room. Finding lots of meat, and not many vegetables or fruits, he shook his head. Vampires just didn't eat very healthy did they… wait, vampires didn't eat. Blinking, Duce again shook his head. Finding several large cuts of meat he quickly grabbed enough to satisfy the original's needs. So long as it wasn't Akane's cooking, Duce was sure that the original wouldn't care.
*****
After two full days at the Urborg, Chisame could honestly say that she was enjoying herself for the first time since coming to the magical world. While she had promised not to publish the groups adventures in the magical world on her website, the online idol knew that the situation with Ranma and his harem of girls was fair play, so long as she omitted any mention of the magical world and magic in general (which did not include the magical tingly feeling one got from their first kiss). Grinning evilly she knew that if things worked out she could even get a juicy contract to write a book about Ranma's misadventures. For now though, the internet idol needed to figure out if and how the cursed boy's gender switching ability factored into his relationships with the seven girls.
Looking over the smaller girl's shoulders Chachamaru frowned, not even noticing the emotion playing at the edge of her awareness. Seeing the notes and diagram connecting Ranma to each of them and then each of the girls to each other, the artificial being knew that her companion was technically not doing anything wrong.
"You forgot that Akira and Kazumi both have formed provisional contracts with Ranma," the gynoid noted.
"Oh, you're right," the internet idol replied, adding the omission to her diagram. I think I need to give each of them a code name," Chisame announced as she looked up from her notes. "I mean, they're all pretty good fighters, I'd hate to think that they might accidentally stumble upon my notes and take offense. But what's a good cover? There are seven of them, and the only groups that have that many people are Snow White's seven dwarfs and the Seven Samurai."
"I would recommend naming them after the Seven Samurai," the gynoid suggested. "Each of them is in her own right a skilled fighter, with only Akira starting to learn martial arts now."
"That's a good idea," Chisame agreed. "Ranma and the Seven Samurai. It has a nice ring to it too! And Akira would be great as Katsushiro Okamoto - the un-blooded young warrior of the group, and Takane as Kikuchiyo - the outsider who really isn't from our class."
Enjoying the possibilities of her new code names for Ranma's harem, the internet idol grinned wickedly.
*****
A/N
First – in regards to the cursed springs, how many people (prior to Ranma and the NWC) fell into the springs? I'm assuming that not too many have, and those who have probably didn't have the emotional and mental, and physical fortitude to deal with their water triggered curse. Ryoga barely survives being cooked; just think if a real panda or something else that didn't care to cook its dinner had found the poor little piglet (Think Between Night and Day, where we see poor Ryoga being eaten by Demona). Looking at the Wrecking Crew, I doubt that they're the type to be emotionally unstable enough to consider suicide. How many springs are there and now many victims? I don't think that there are that many people who were subjected to that particular Spring of Drowned Girl; and those animals that were might explain how powerful some of the Musk clan got to be. Still, I doubt that they would stay around too long, not to mention that the captured animals were probably already adults, thus not triggering the change as they already were adults.
Second - Sorry about that, but I forgot to change the poll settings before the last chapter. There is a new poll on my profile, please vote.
The whole bit about the clones having names/distinctions is actually an idea I borrowed from reading A Saotome in Konoha by Perfect Lionheart.
Thanks to everyone who voted on my first poll. Setsuna (18) barely squeaked by Kaede (15), but the two girls blew by the rest of the field. Asuna (7) just managed to pass Akira (5) and Haruna (3), with Takane and Kazumi each earning only one vote each.
I really must say that anytime I expect to take more time to write up and post a new chapter I somehow manage to get it done sooner and faster then I expect. I really do have to get to doing my taxes and not slacking off, but somehow I tend to do just that, slack off. Guess that's why I consider myself a professional slacker. The more I say I'm going to work, the more I slack off.
Anyways, please read and review, and vote too!
Dreamingfox