Ranma ½ is the property and invention of Rumiko Takahashi. The following story is not produced for any monetary or personal gain.
Tracking the clues Thoth has given him to find the madmen who wish to awaken the Old Ones has taken Ranma to an alternate version of Japan. There were places where magic reigned supreme and others where futuristic technology dominated. After being chased across the land and many heroic rescues, he has finally found a group with ties to Atlantis and hopefully the ones he is hunting. Following this lead through a portal takes him to a very dark place.
The Journey
Part Three: Tea With Splynncryth
Chapter 1: Insanity
Ranma could attest to the fact that the transition was much smoother than his previous jaunts using circles and spells. It was almost like stepping into another room. Actually it was more like falling. Exhaustion fell around him like a shroud. Dimming his thoughts and even making it difficult to move his muscles. All he could really appreciate was how good it felt to force air into his lungs one breath at a time. Off to his right, he heard a sibilant voice.
"Hey! What happened to the gate? Move the human trash off to the side. I need to check the interface." A moment later something like tentacles wrapped themselves around Ranma's leg and he found himself unceremoniously thrown against a wall.
Through his mental haze, thoughts of chi techniques gone wrong drifted through his mind. As he had told Komar earlier, the risk with experimenting with new techniques was the danger of reducing your life force to below critical levels. He vaguely realized that he was closer to death than he had been since his father's attempt to teach him the neko-ken. A sense of disconnection followed. He was Ranma Saotome, how had that happened to him? He had known the dangers but had always had such a firm grasp on his chi that it had seemed merely a distant possibility.
Gradually, as he lay on the floor contemplating this, another thought occurred to him. What the hell had he done? Objectively, he knew that he had seen an opportunity to cripple the Shogunate's plans with its allies. Looking back upon his actions he couldn't understand how he had unleashed such a completely uncontrolled lethal maneuver. He had been thinking of variations of the Breaking Point for quite some time. After all, combined with the Heavenly Dragon it was one of the most versatile techniques he knew. However, this particular move he had promised himself to restrict to less inhabited areas. Which was one of the reasons he hadn't tested it out in a more controlled situation.
While he was deliberating over his actions a small part of his mind gloated with satisfaction. It imagined the likely consequences and death toll with satisfaction. This was how power was to be exercised. After all, if you didn't flaunt it people might never know how great you were. He couldn't understand why he was upset at unleashing the vacuum blades at those ninja losers that had been attacking the Emperor. They pretty much deserved death for getting in his way. He had been avoiding thinking about those deaths when in reality there was nothing wrong with ridding himself of a few obstacles. His father had been an idiot to hide such efficient techniques. Especially considering it was the most useful thing the moron had ever come up with.
"What the heck happened? The whole interface is just gone! It's like the other circle just isn't there." The sound of dry rasping scales on stone was heard as something large moved itself. "Is the human awake yet? Maybe it knows what's going on."
Another set of tentacles wrapped themselves around the drained martial artist, lifting him into the air and shaking him like an oversized rag doll. "No. It is unresponsive. I suppose we could heal it, but considering it is due for augmentation anyway, it may be best that it's unconscious. Most of the losses occur when the subject resists the process."
"Yeah, I know. But I kinda like how humans sound when they scream. It's very restful, you know."
"Never mind. Send him to the artist. We'll contact the mage through mechanical means. No one else is due through for a while." The tentacled thing dragged the inert form of Ranma out of the room.
Ranma was lost in a world of horror as conflicting emotions and viewpoints poured through his mind. His first reaction was that he had somehow turned into an amoral, honorless monster. Logic quickly came to fore despite his blurred thoughts and he drew a conclusion. Hashimoto.
Somehow the transferred memories had affected his fundamental beliefs and attitudes. He may not have absorbed the ninja's personality but the reflexes Hashimoto had developed, involving taking advantage of every opportunity and damn the moral consequences had somehow infected him. Groaning in dismay Ranma held on the promise the priest had made, hoping that the situation would go away within two days. The vague thought crossed his mind that he now in all likelihood had more blood on his hands. More actions that he couldn't let himself think about.
He was beginning to loathe this new world he was in. While it was true that he had learned more than he had ever dreamed of, he also had more responsibility than he had ever expected or wanted. Back before his dimensional romps he had only fought his opponents with a fraction of his skill. If that proved insufficient he would gradually increase the ability he brought to bear. Meanwhile, he took advantage of the drawn-out conflict to analyze his enemy, examining every move they made so that he could make their techniques his own. This occasionally resulted in a few embarrassing losses when he miscalculated the skill level of his sparring partner, but was usually quickly corrected. Ranma Saotome never lost twice in a row. On the second round he usually either used their own attack against them or simply negated the specific maneuver they relied upon and brought the combat to a quick end.
Since he'd come to this new world all that had changed. He'd constantly been challenged by demons, gods, and ridiculously huge Robot Vehicles. Each one forcing him to fight at his highest level or face defeat. Losing even one battle in this world would mean more than simply his life. It would mean the end of countless worlds. Assuming Thoth spoke the truth, a newly hatched sinister thought echoed in his mind. Exhausted he let go of consciousness. He couldn't bear the idea that Thoth had lied. If the deity had deceived him then the lives he had taken could never be redeemed. Hopefully, when he awoke again the small alien portion of his mind that didn't give a damn would be gone.
"Damn this human's hide is tough! I'm going to have to use the equipment meant for our real clients. Pity to waste it on human trash..." a sibilant voice spoke out from where a Highlord sat hunched over the human in question. The skull-like visage was drawn tight with concentration, accentuating the interlocking teeth that give his race such a deadly grin. The web-like mottling that covered the top of the skull furrowed in dismay.
"Hey! If he's already enhanced why do they want the normal stuff?" a small bipedal creature spoke out from the door's archway.
"Well... I suppose we'll use the second set. The Eye is experimental but... the first set does seem redundant if it's already modified. Must have been Bio-Wizardry type augmentation. I don't see any other tattoos."
"He might be a human mutant! I've seen them in the Arena! Some of them take a lot to kill!" the little one squealed in merriment, clapping taloned hands together.
"Well, I suppose the master must have allied with the scum for some reason. Never mind. Bring me the inks. I'll set up the equipment," he stated, running sharp claws over the unconscious figure's exposed skin. Damn frustrating how thick the skin was. Difficult to cause real pain without almost killing the subject. Of course, the augmentation process was said to be the most excruciation experience possible. "With any luck, the human will wake up and we'll get some entertainment from his pain. Either way, I suppose I'll be wasting the next few days with this one."
"Yes sir," the robed figure scurried away on his errand.
Ryouga sat in the destroyed waiting room watching the retreating backs of the technicians. For the past hour, he had patiently waited while engineers and other knowledgeable men walked in and out carrying sonic cutters, fusion torches, and other gadgets. Nothing had worked. Of course. The thing didn't have a breaking point so it was only logical for it to be indestructible. These science types just snorted in disgust when he told them that, but he knew. The martial arts weren't just about smashing things indiscriminately. That was just a lucky coincidence. No, the Breaking Point had refined his chi senses so that he perceived a layer of reality only the most advanced beings knew about. Even humans and other biological structures had Breaking Points. The technique only worked on substances with a rigid, crystalline form, but everything had weak points. Except the thing holding on to his ankle.
Deep in thought, Ryouga absently tapped his umbrella against the back of the creature's head. Although the monster was unaffected, each blow drove the thing's face into the ground by a few millimeters. This had disturbed the people who came to try to remove the thing on his leg. Not that Ryouga noticed. When he concentrated on something specific the rest of the world faded from existence. This careless habit contributed to his involuntary spatial dislocations to keep him unsure where he was at any given time. Of course, it also allowed him to learn at a rate that could rival his nemesis.
"Damn you Ranma!" he shouted, a dim glow visible around his body. Each tap on the motionless being before him coming more forcefully. He didn't know how, but this whole farce centered around the pig-tailed martial artist. Somehow he had to be involved in this humiliating situation.
"Excuse me, I think I hear the PA calling for me. B... be right back," the last man in the room stuttered, turning off his torch and backing away from the seated figure. He really didn't want to be in the room if the floor collapsed. He had heard in history class about the abilities of the ancient martial artists. At the time he had scoffed at the thought of an unmodified human coming close to equaling the power of even a non-military cyborg. He still wasn't completely convinced, but one thing he was sure of. Magic and martial arts were baffling and scary. He'd come back later when the dour-faced young man stopped making the entire room shudder. The martial artist didn't even acknowledge his retreat.
The thing seemed impervious to physical force. Ryouga had met few entities stronger than himself, and Ryouga doubted that even that freak from the Musk Dynasty would be any more successful than himself. Ryouga's thoughts grew darker as he was slowly forced to face a very unpleasant truth. There really was only one way to get this thing off him.
"Get me a glass of cold water and a cup of tea... " he demanded in a commanding voice. The tone immediately faded away as he noticed that he was the only one remaining in the room. "Hey, where'd everyone go? Come on! A little bit of hospitality would be nice!" Ryouga shouted indignation edging into his voice.
A sudden flash of light and an odd sensation from the new sense Anhur had awoken within him told him that something had come into existence behind him. Spinning around, he ignored the destructive sounds caused by the prone statue smashing through various objects as it was swung in an arc around the lost boy.
"Ah! I have finally found you. Do you realize how difficult it is to follow that devious device? I think it may have shuffled a few dimensions to try to throw me off course. At least, I'm fairly sure leading me through Hades was a trick." The figure's voice continued to trail off muttering to himself.
Ryouga was caught slightly off guard by the dark-haired, six-foot figure dressed in a humble combination of gray cloth and leather. His senses told him that despite his appearances he was more than human, a fact that was countered by the rather ordinary facial features that seemed an odd mix of Asian and Indian. If his senses hadn't told him differently he would have said that he looked like an ordinary peasant farmer. An extremely healthy, and well-built farmer, but none the less...
"Excuse me... er... who are you?" Ryouga asked in a slightly uncertain voice. He had expected to be attacked. Lacking the normal flow of violence to follow, he was momentarily caught off balance.
"Eh? Oh! Well, I'm your Grandfather. Well... not really your Grandfather, more like your Great... dang, how many generations would that be?" The man shook himself out of the musing and began again. "Never mind. I'm your ancestor. I'm not sure if you're up on your genealogy but I think you're descended from Mariko Hibiki."
"You? You're the god that Anhur mentioned? Because of you, my whole family is lost! I haven't seen my parents in over five years! Because of you I've seen Hell!" The outraged martial artist started shouting, building up a head of steam.
"Eh? You too? It's actually kind of nice this time of year. Though the neighbors are kinda rowdy. The first time I was there they asked to leave just a few months after I got there," the deity frowned and shook his head sadly. "Can you believe they didn't like orange groves? Now I ask you, what kind of sicko doesn't like a few thousand acres of oranges. It took a lot of work to get them to grow in the magma too. Damn ungrateful demons."
"Er... yeah. That wasn't very nice... " a slightly dazed Ryouga stated, eyes slightly unfocused as he tried to process the new information. He'd never been taken literally before and it had completely distracted him from his anger.
"Now I'm no fan of humans... messy things, always paving over a perfectly good forest... but most of them appreciate a bit of green if they can get their attention away from all that metal and ceramic they seem to like so much," he sighed, "Mariko was like that. That woman was a mortal after my own heart... "
"Um... that's... nice. Why are you here," Ryouga asked, attempting to steer the conversation in some sort of direction so he could get a handle on it.
"Oh. Right. Sorry. I really don't get to talk that often with humans... or anyone, now that I think of it," pausing to collect his thoughts he continued. "This old servitor attacked me, thinking that I was you. I wanted to meet any kids Mariko might have had, so I explained that I wasn't you and followed it."
"Well, as you can see I took care of the thing. It won't be bothering anyone very soon," Ryouga stated with some satisfaction.
The deity looked at the thing attached to his descendant's leg and shook his head. "I don't think you understand. These things are sort of weak by themselves. Which makes sense, since most of the original models were basically servants of the Old Ones and their successors. Glorified butlers. But they are indestructible without large amounts of time and resources. One of their main drawbacks was the time limit."
"Time limit?" Ryouga prodded his newfound ancestor uneasily. He had the feeling he wasn't going to like what he was about to hear.
"It varied slightly, depending on who constructed them, but they could usually only work for a maximum of three hours before they ran out of power and had to wait for a day to finish what they had to do."
"You mean... "
"Yep. That thing is going to activate any minute and probably either try to kill you or teleport you wherever it came from," the god clucked to himself at the foolish mortals who had sent the construct herring across the dimension.
"Hey! You said it took a day to reactivate," Ryouga snarled in anger and began to pound the immobile form in frustration.
"Well, there are several models. One version was 'on' for three hours, 'off' a day. Another creator made his 'on' one hour, 'off' one hour, one hour 'on', etc., for a total of three hours 'on' and then 'off' for a day. I think it had to do with spreading the required activity over a wider period."
"Shit!" Ryouga exclaimed, upset at the unexpected turn of events. He quickly dragged the construct over to the entrance to the chamber and poked his head out the door. "Hey! I need some hot and cold water! Now! Where the hell is everyone? Get in here!" Ryouga bellowed.
"Now calm down," the nature god said in a low soothing tone. "These things usually aren't that powerful. The only reason this one can teleport and do all its other tricks are the little gems affixed to the surface. Those were added by mortals to make this thing a bit more flexible..."
"Oh! Of course! Without those, I can just grapple it... " Looking down at the indestructible, immobile thing attached to his ankle he reconsidered. "I mean toss it out the window or bury it."
"Yes! See? No problem... what are you doing? Stop that! Don't you know anything about magic?" The god said worry beginning to tinge his voice, as he raised his voice over the loud cracking noises.
Ryouga had begun to apply the Breaking Point to the jewels and stones affixed to the body of the creature. Each blow only took a second, shattering the talisman and releasing flashes of light and energy. Several times his hand went numb, but he persevered, systematically removing the magical devices. Naturally, he was so intent on his goal that he failed to pay attention to the mouthings of his ancestor. He knew what he had to do and he could talk to the odd fellow who said he was his ancestor after he was done.
"Stop that! The more powerful the talisman the more unpredictable the effects when the energy is released! No! That's the stone used for telep... " A sudden bright release of magic and a loud implosion of air and both martial artist and construct was gone.
The deity just stared at the space where his great-grandson had disappeared. "What a stubborn, single-minded human! Just like Mariko... " A fleeting smile passed over his face before being replaced with a frown. "That trait was much more attractive in a woman."
Without further words, the god teleported away. Tracking people was not his strong point. He was a god of nature and agriculture, not hunting. Maybe he'd stop by Hell again. It always seemed to be on the way to where he was going. It was such a pain how the dimensions always reshuffled themselves.
The room was very quiet within occupants. Only holes in the floors, ceiling, and walls gave evidence that it had once held several being of immense destructive potential.
A few minutes later a nervous young girl cautiously, peeked in through the doorway holding a tray with a glass of ice water, an empty cup, and a teapot.
"Sir? Sir? Excuse me, sir, I have your water," the girl's voice quivered in fear as she looked around the empty room.
Chapter 2: Out of the Frying Pan
Ranma found himself writhing in pain. Around him were sinister crimson skinned demons slowly circling him and poking him with sharp oversized forks. At random intervals, they would reach out and pierce his flesh with their weapons causing a continuation of the agony. Try as he might he couldn't reach out to stop them or gather any energy for attack or defense. All he could do is lay on the ground glaring at the surrounding mob and growling his defiance. Not that it made any difference to the fiends rotating in and out of his sight.
As an indeterminate amount of time passed, he sensed some sort of force insinuating itself within him. Despite attempts to gather his tattered chi around him, the energy began to weave around and into him. Binding itself in some unfathomable way to his life and energies. Somehow the sharp prongs of the devil's weapons directed the structure that seemed to be starting to become one with his very soul.
An eternity of torture came and went and then without warning the creatures and their odd weapons were gone, leaving him still with shock as the all-pervading pain slowly subsided. Ranma lay exhausted and dazed as slowly it dawned on him that whatever the energies were that had been coiling around him were still there. It even seemed to be settling itself closer.
"No, get off, get off, damn you," shouted Ranma, noticing with horror that no sound was coming from his voice.
"... Off!" screamed Ranma sitting up and staring wildly around the room he was in. "Whoa. That was one freaky dream! I'm not even Christian, why would I dream about Hell?" Ranma shook his head in puzzlement, trying to rid himself of the haze that still hovered over his mind and weighed down his limbs. "I'll ask Kasumi about it when I get back. She wears that cross. She might know something."
Putting the odd experience out of his mind he began to examine the room he was in. It was a small chamber. If he extended his arms to either side he would be able to touch the sickly pale walls. A thin thread of sunlight was the only illumination in the room, coming from a narrow window in the upper part of the wall. The entrance was an odd-looking door that seemed to be made from stone, rather than the wood he had expected to see. Once he had noticed this oddity he realized the whole room was stone, with the exception of the thin pallet he lay on.
Shrugging he stood up, staggered slightly, and walked over to the door. He supposed he was feeling pretty good for a man lucky to be alive. Most people didn't walk away from such a massively uncontrolled use of chi. He winced as he thought of the likely consequences of the technique. Suppressing a shudder he pushed the memory to the back of his mind where he had already stored feelings concerning a fatal encounter with the Emperor's would-be assassins and his encounter with Saffron. Some things were too uncomfortable to view without a good amount of time to cushion the memory.
His chi reserves were low but a few hours of concentration would cure that. The Hadou Ken technique would also help him cull ambient chi from the area around him even if he hadn't fully mastered it as yet. Ranma was about to settle down on the floor for a relaxing session of meditation when he stopped himself.
What the heck am I thinking? I'm trapped in a stone closet and I'm taking a nap? Ranma snorted in disgust, he didn't know what had happened since he fell through the portal but sitting in a cell certainly wouldn't get him more information. He still ached all over from the strain of attempting to control the chi energy for the final technique he had used but obviously he wasn't thinking clearly either.
"First let's get out, and then make a plan," Ranma stated, confident he now knew what he needed to do. Walking over to the door he verified it was locked from the outside. Nodding to himself he briefly checked the walls and ceiling with a series of sharp taps. Since the borders of his prison proved to be as solid as the stone they appeared to be, he moved to the window noting the narrow dimension. Examining it closely he noted that the opening was more of a shaft than a window, extending forward more than ten feet before opening into the sunlight.
Ranma grunted to himself. The opening was very narrow, far too wide for his male form and it would be close in his female form as well. If he had enough energy he would have had the option of using Happossai's Dimensional Cloak. The breaking point was probably the least expensive technique he knew in terms of chi, but it was also extremely loud and showy. Not ideal for a quiet escape.
Well, first things first. Seeing no convenient cup of water in the room, Ranma reached into folded space to pull out a canteen of water. It seemed far more difficult than normal to pull off this simple maneuver. The first time he accidentally pulled a set of throwing stars out he shrugged and tried again. He was tired after all. The second time he grabbed out a dress he frowned in thought. He hadn't screwed up this often since he first learned the technique. There was no way he could possibly be that tired. Reaching out his spiritual senses he caught a sense of distortion at the edge of his range. He didn't think much of it until he realized the sheer amount of energy required to be detectable at that range.
Chi senses could certainly detect a large variety of energy signatures, but the fact remained that it was best used to sense the spiritual force and life energy used by other martial artists and priests. Everything else was there if you were good enough to see it, but it was much like seeing objects by the shadows they left. If there was a dimensional distortion that large in the area then it was no wonder that he was having a difficult time accessing his pockets. He was grateful he hadn't been able to use the cloaking technique, who knows how it would have been affected. The image of himself coming out of the Cloak in the middle of the stone wall before him sent shivers of horror down his spine. He would have to work on his control if this kind of interference was common in the area. Absently, he scratched a faint itch on his forehead, and then rubbed his temples to ease slight foreshadowing of a headache.
Despite a faint concern that he might lose a hand, he reached into folded space for a third time, bearing down with his available will power. He sighed with relief when he saw the steel canteen in his grasp. Quickly removing his bracers he splashed himself and crawled into the window shaft. Grunting with the effort, she pulled herself along by her fingers and pushed with her toes. About halfway through she became frustrated with the slow progress that the lack of purchase on the smooth stone was causing. Exerting her full strength Ranma-chan fully expected to see her fingers sink deeply into powdered grooves of her own making. In her own world, she could easily crush rocks in her grasp, and the ambient energy coursing through her body in this new world increased her strength to truly ridiculous levels. She was therefore shocked when all that came from her effort were thin scratches on the surface of the rock and a tingling in her hands.
"Oh, man! I can't believe I'm this wiped out. I mean I'm tired, but I thought it was just a simple lack of chi. I mean either that or this is magic stone," Ranma-chan snorted to herself at the idea of building a prison of glowing stone. Then she froze shock as she noticed a low-level tingling coming from her hands and feet and even more faintly from the length of her body pressed against the stony surface. "No way! A whole room with enchanted stone for walls? Damn, the walls alone must be at least ten feet thick. Are they paranoid or what?"
Shaking her head in disgust she sighed and continued her slow pace through the crawlway. After ten minutes of sweating effort, she was rewarded by being able to reach to the outer edge with her hands. "Okay... significantly more than ten feet," she muttered to herself unhappily. With this leverage, she was able to easily pull her body forward until her head poked outside. Looking around she smiled in relief. The smile quickly faded as it registered on her mind what she was seeing.
"Holy... Good Lord! I don't think I'm in Kansas anymore," looking around again she continued muttering to herself. "Or Japan, or even the freaking earth." Pausing another moment to try to comprehend what she was seeing. "Looks more like Hell if the property values were better."
It had taken a few days to heal the injuries and burns caused by the treachery of the human but it was time to take up the hunt once more. Flexing his scaly talon before his face he nodded to himself. The scales might take a few weeks to regain their luster but he was functional once more. He winced as he recalled the burned limb with the scales and flesh peeling away to expose the muscle beneath. He had not felt such pain for almost a millennium.
Not since an old rival of his had challenged him to mortal combat. It had been a close battle but he had finally won. He chuckled to himself as he called up the cherished memory. The pain he suffered was nothing compared to the agony he had inflicted on his foe. He had lasted for weeks before he had permitted his death. He frowned to himself. If he wanted to ensure the same level of pain on his new opponent he would have to brush up on the anatomy of humans. It wouldn't do to have the mortal worm die too soon. Not after the pain and the fire he had endured.
It was odd that the human had decided to flee here. This didn't seem to be the kind of place that would welcome the common mortal, he mused to himself as he walked down the streets. Even at his full size he only took up a fraction of the thoroughfare. The various races that made up the crowd surrounding him scurried out of his way, bowing and scraping as if their lives depended on it.
Yes, this was a good place. Who knew such an area existed? A whole continent where supernatural beasts ruled. Where the only humans and mortals in sight were dragged along behind their owners in chains. The next step brought an odd sensation under his rear leg, accompanied by a shrill cry of pain. He simply continued walking down the avenue, enjoying the sights and smells. Sure he could have flown; it was actually far easier to fly, letting the winds support the massive weight of his body. But it was far more entertaining to walk. Yes, here was a place that knew how to give a dragon the respect he deserved. There would be time to track down his enemy in the days to come.
Ranma-chan looked out of the opening in amazement. She found that she wasn't in a prison of stone. No, she was in some sort of Egyptian monument that seemed to tower several hundred feet in the air. The shaft itself emerged about halfway up the side of the edifice giving her an excellent view of exactly where she was. Easily enough to thoroughly wish to be almost anywhere else.
A closer inspection showed the monument to actually be a pyramid. The sides created a gradual slope that seemed to stretch out below her, craning her neck around she found that it likewise rose an equal distance above her. She was not in some dead city however, in fact, far below her the wide streets that began at the huge plaza surrounding the base of the structure stretched far into a sprawling city. Large buildings and weirdly shaped structures lined the avenue; only stopped by the barrier of a slightly narrower cross street.
The streets themselves teemed with life; though it was with a strong sense of trepidation that Ranma-chan realized that most of it was not human. Creatures of all descriptions slithered, thumped, waddled, and crawled through the thoroughfare. They ranged from tentacled creatures out of a hentai anime, to scaled and horned demons. In fact, once she grew accustomed to the teeming masses below her she was able to distinguish that some were indeed the demons she had studied in the bestiary tomes Anhur had given her.
"... Baalrog, Fenry, and... what is that? I know some of those things are racial enemies... why aren't they trying to kill each other?" Not all of the mob surrounding her were demons, some she recognized as those which humans considered the monster races. The vast majority of them were simply unknown. It was only after some minutes of staring somewhat blankly at the scene that it occurred to her, where were the humans? Even after a time of specifically looking for some signs of humans, she found nothing. Oh, many creatures were biped humanoids, but that was all they had in common.
She was wondering exactly how she was going to fit in when an unusual motion caught her eyes. Coming around the corner was what at first appeared to be a large troop of humans led by a heavily armored humanoid figure. The relief Ranma-chan felt quickly drained away as she abruptly noticed that they all had an odd gait to there walk.
"Chains... they're wearing chains. What kind of hellhole is this place," wondered a rather upset martial artist. The only free human seemed to be the armored one in the lead, and considering the various threatening gestures he was making with the metal shod staff he wielded, he seemed to be more of an enforcer than anything else.
Sighing, she summoned the Way of the Silent Thief to hide his presence. This place didn't seem to be an area that humans were appreciated. Pulling herself fully out of the shaft she stood, confident that she was undetected. She was leaping down the slope towards the plaza below, when she had an odd feeling that she was being watched. Pausing, she quickly glanced around.
Ranma-chan suddenly felt that she was on stage and no-one had told her the lines to speak. This was a familiar feeling, but not a comforting one. A good one-third of the inhuman crowd beneath her had paused and was staring directly at her. With growing trepidation she slowly looked behind her, vainly hoping there was a dancing clown or other spectacle that might explain the attention. The only thing she noticed was a caped, burly nine-foot tall creature with a set of upthrust tusks from its mouth, another pair to either side of its chin and an obviously mean disposition. It wore a breastplate and some sort of armor covering most of its arms and legs. A large sword was slung over its back but in its hand was held a large rifle of clearly high technology. The one part that grabbed her attention was a faintly glowing visor that seemed built into the oddly shaped helmet the being wore.
"You," it growled in a loud hostile tone. Having just glanced around Ranma-chan knew there was nothing but herself on this part of the sloping surface. "What's a human like you doing crawling around our Lord's home? Obviously, only a pathetically stupid human would cloak himself in Atlantis!" The creature let loose with a hacking sound that Ranma-chan assumed to be laughter. "You may have just as well shot off a load of fireworks to announce your presence."
Ranma-chan cursed herself, the anatomy texts she had read seemed to indicate that most supernatural entities could perceive the invisible; she just hadn't considered that her father's chi technique counted. Or even that attempting invisibility would be that obvious. Ranma-chan stopped berating herself when the armored being started insulting her. She immediately stopped hiding her chi and an ominous red glow shimmered around her.
"Pathetic? Why I... " growled an angry Ranma-chan while cracking her knuckles, completely ignoring the hundreds of witnesses some distance below her.
"Watch your attitude, you tattooed slave. You may be someone's valued property, but give me an excuse and your just another piece of meat."
Ranma-chan breathed rapidly through her nose trying to keep her anger contained. The odd references distracted her with their irrelevance, making slightly easier to ignore the slights without resorting to the Soul of Ice technique.
"I'm nobody's slave, creep. If you don't give me a little bit more respect... " Ranma-chan threat trailed off as she saw ten more creatures like the first rapidly marching towards her from the central steps of the pyramid. "... or I'll leave. Very quickly."
"Yeah... sure you will. You'll stay where you are, meat." Raising his weapon to point at the martial artist.
"Oh... sure... " Ranma paused in his speech to leap into an acrobatic flip that brought him within striking range of the thing. The rifle shot several bursts where Ranma-chan had just been. Ranma snapped a few punches in the monster's face, then a snap kick which spun it slightly in the air. Grabbing the wildly flapping cape of the creature she unloaded a final full strength kick while it was still rotating before her.
The ripping sound of the cape covered the grunt of pain from the pigtailed martial artist as she recovered from the one blow the thing had landed on her face before her final attack. "Damn thing's almost as strong as I am," she muttered to herself as spun around to face the approaching group, ignoring a trickle of blood running down her face.
Ranma-chan's chi senses stretched out to there most sensitive, attempting to gather as many clues from her attackers as possible. Her concentration was disrupted as a slight tingling was felt from her forehead. Then the world changed.
Her chi senses, combined with the Breaking Point training had always allowed her to see the world more clearly than most, but this abruptly changed. Everything suddenly came into an unreal focus, as if she could place everything's location to the fraction of a millimeter. As odd as this was, it was only the least of the changes. Everything she saw held a deeper meaning than she had ever realized. Before, she had merely sensed enchantment, perceiving a shadow of a shadow, now it was displayed before her in a glorious detail she had never expected. The whole pyramid she stood on radiated a strong magic that she intuitively knew was connected to the dimensional perturbations she had earlier detected. Inside she knew would be found gates to a hundred worlds. The very structure was constructed to tame and focus the ambient energy to its creator's will. Powerful lines of energy, rising hundreds of feet in the air swept down the wide avenues as far as the eyes could see, each line entering the stone pyramid to be added to the reservoirs inside.
The creatures below her were almost as fascinating, each glowed with there own aura, telling a tale of power, revealing a glimpse of the being true nature. The one with the horns over there had a weapon that generated a protective envelope. A lizard-like creature that was a shape changed dragon argued with a merchant over an enchanted lyre whose song had the power to...
She was shocked out of her daze by the searing pain that peppered her body. The clarity of vision and knowledge that had mesmerized her was shattered, replaced once more with the more mundane but reliable senses she had trained all her life to use,
Rolling on the ground to avoid the fire from the group, she took stock of the damage, gratified that although painful, the strikes she had withstood were not life-threatening. Putting the surreal experience behind her she focused on the combat at hand.
Leaping to her feet, she spread the cape in front of her, imbuing it with a portion of her chi. Her father's last technique had failed her; hopefully, this one would be more successful. Genma may be an idiot but he had crafted an amazing slue of chi attacks... and defenses. A monument that even greed could inspire moments of genius.
Ranma felt the shivering in the fabric as the energy spewing from the rifles struck the cape. Spinning around she folded the material to better receive the next barrage. After several seconds of futile efforts, the creatures seemed to realize the singular lack of effect the weapons were having and Ranma-chan's senses detected the weapons being dropped to hang by their slings, and the unmistakable sound of swords being drawn.
Removing the now bulging shielding cloak from before her she smiled sweetly at the ten monstrous creatures running swiftly towards her. "Well, since you're so anxious to meet me I think you should have a gift. Well, actually it's yours. I'm just returning it."
With this last taunt, she unfolded the cloak releasing a rain of energy that lasted for several seconds. Although most of the advancing troops were bowled over, few stayed down long, growling with fury and pain as they scrambled upright again.
Ranma-chan was just about to jump into the pack to follow up with a more physical attack when she saw a group of over fifty creatures of the same type bubbling out one of the entrances to the pyramid. The gesturing of the lagging few hinted that this was merely the front guard.
"Geez... " mumbled a slightly overwhelmed Ranma-chan, while rubbing the slight bruise caused by the first creature.
"Fool. You should have begged for mercy when I first approached. Now your death will be long and agonizing!" coughed the original creature, which was just then staggering to its feet from where it had been thrown twenty yards away.
Ranma-chan looked from the horde to the single monster. "If you want slow and agonizing I think you better mention it quick. I think they're going to try for quick and sure."
"Just die, you useless human!"
Ranma-chan was breaking into a sprint away from the onrushing horde when a large explosion behind her completely knocked her off her feet. Rolling several yards away she came to her feet, facing the enemy in a ready stance.
Expecting to see some energy wielding fiend of the Saffron ilk, she was completely shocked to see a huge burnt shadow behind her on the pyramid's stone surface and the creatures that had been following her either dead or unconscious. Shaking her head in bewilderment she heard another series of explosions behind her.
Spinning around yet again she saw the huge courtyard surrounding the pyramid in a frenzy of violent activity. Where before most of the creatures had been watching her confrontation, laughing and jeering at the stupid human, now most of them were running quickly out of the plaza. Apparently, trying to avoid a chain of explosions that seemed to be centered in a radius around the group of humans that had been led in fetters up to the base of the huge structure.
Most of the non-humans scrambled away, not wishing to get involved with the dangerous turn of events. Those that stayed, trying to find something to confront, were either shot with some sort of high-powered weapon coming from several sniper sources in the surrounding buildings or blown up by the steady stream of explosives. These explosive devices seemed to appear randomly about ten feet above the ground before dropping to the ground with light tinkling sounds then triggering in a fierce, though localized explosion.
When a wide clearing had formed around the terrified humans, a glittering portal formed in front of them. A young blond-haired man in garments more resembling a baseball player than a wizard's dress, a small lizard perched on his shoulder, stepped out arms spread wide, as if to keep the gate open. From behind him, a dark tressed, well-built woman walked, gesturing to the humans in front of them. Ranma-chan couldn't make out what she was saying but it was clear that it convinced the cringing mass of humanity. With a loud cry, they rushed forward pushing past the mage and the woman.
Ranma-chan noticed that she must have been significantly stronger than she looked, since the throng merely swayed her on her feet rather than bowling her over. Within moments the last human had stepped through, leaving the man and the woman limed in the glow from the portal. The woman's eyes swept the battlefield one last time before her eyes caught on the very confused pigtailed martial artist. Giving Ranma-chan a jaunty wave she turned to go through the portal. The mage also glanced in her direction before giving her a wink and slowly stepping backward through his own gate.
Ranma-chan came to her senses a few seconds later finding herself weakly waving goodbye. Grabbing her arm to stop the silly gesture, she shook her head. "What just happened?"
"That is what you are going to tell us, little human," a sibilant hiss came from behind her.
"Geez, not another one of you gorillas... " Ranma-chan started to say while turning around, readying herself for another fight. Unfortunately, behind her was not one of the "gorilla" creatures. There were about two hundred. The one that had spoken was different from the troops. It was a mere seven feet tall, spindly creature, that had a mouth ridiculously full of large interlocking sharp teeth with two small tusks jutting out from either side of the chin. There was no nose to speak of and the head was shaped more like a skull than anything else, topped with a web-like lattice of something resembling scar tissue. In one hand it held a staff that seemed to hold a jar full of liquid on one end. Ranma-chan blinked a moment when she realized that inside the jar peacefully floated what seemed to be an eye. It didn't really look very impressive all in all; however, it is remarkable what an army can do to bolster one's image.
"I think we can kill her and have one of the necromancers question her," offered the leader's companion. This stalwart fellow was of the same race as the original attackers he had encountered. Unfortunately, that's where the resemblance ended. The thing towered over the martial artist at ten feet and must have been twice the mass of anyone in of the first group, all of it muscle. He also sported an extra pair of arms and bore a huge club-like mace that resembled the skeletal creature's staff in that it too bore a glass jar. Instead of an eye, a large worm-like creature could be seen floating in the liquid. An energy blade of some sort protruded from the end of the club, transforming the overall appearance of the weapon into that of a monstrous flamberge.
"I don't suppose I can convince you that I have no clue as to what just happened," Ranma-chan asked hopefully.
"No," the smaller one confirmed the pigtailed girl's fears.
"Darn. Hey... is that a five yen coin behind you?" the redhead craned her neck and pointed.
Chapter 3: Meat Market
Ranma-chan leaned against the wall of the alley, panting from the last few hours of exertion. "I can't believe how persistent those guys were," she gasped. "This is worse than anything the fiancée squad ever put me through."
"Who's persistent, Ranma?" a familiar voice whispered in her ear.
"Nabiki?" a startled martial artist squeaked while turning around. She was further surprised to see a transparent image of the Tendo sister sitting cross-legged in the air in front of her.
"Hey, I can see you! Did you just learn that," questioned the pig-tailed girl, moderately impressed. It sure beat the telephone.
"Yes. It's very draining... but I haven't been able to contact you over a week," Nabiki said with a blank expression. Perhaps a little too blank.
"A week? Darn! I hope I never have to do that again." Pausing she assessed the reaction of her audience. Nothing. Nabiki was rarely without a sardonic grin. "Were you worried about me?"
An almost imperceptible wince flickered across the ghostly visage. "Of course not. But... I've found out how... dangerous Atlantis could be." A grimace of distaste hovered over her features. "It's hard to believe such a place exists."
Ranma-chan paused in thought, a mocking snicker poised on her lips, before the humor of the situation grew stale. "Yeah. Probably whatever you scried in your magic mirror thingy is just the tip of the iceberg." Images of a line of desolate humans being led into the square before the pyramid flashed before her mind's eye.
"Well? What happened and... What's that on your forehead?" Nabiki asked, returning to her original line of questioning.
Ranma-chan frowned and rubbed her sleeve across her face. "What do you expect? Geez, I just woke up in a cell a few hours ago... you expect me to be clean and well-groomed. I'm lucky to be alive!"
A smirk had finally made its way onto Nabiki's face, once she had verified that Ranma was in good health. "Surely the great Ranma hasn't run into something he can't handle? Besides, I wasn't talking about a smudge of dirt. You should take a look in the mirror when you find the time. Meanwhile, report!" barked the floating image.
"Hmph. Whatever," grumbled a disconcerted martial artist, as she felt around her face with one of her hands. "I had some trouble leaving Japan," seeing a questioning look in Nabiki's eyes she just shook her head, "I don't want to talk about it. It has to do with really nasty side effects of some psychic thing a priest pulled. But it caused me to overextend my chi reserves."
Nabiki's eyes widened in surprise. She was no martial artist, but except for maybe Herb, Ranma had the best control over her chi she had ever heard of.
"I know! I know! There were... circumstances. Anyhow, when I arrived I think I was unconscious till a few hours ago. When I escaped I had a whole bunch of guards after me." Ranma-chan paused in thought, "Did you know most things in this city can see the invisible? Funny, my most useful stealth technique is like a big banner saying 'Here is the guy hiding from you!' It really sucks."
Nabiki opened her mouth as if to say something but was overridden by a venting pig-tailed girl.
"Well, at least that's what happens when I'm in line of sight. The chi suppression part still works... as long as they don't see me they can't track me. Let me tell you... " Ranma-chan continued to ramble before Nabiki finally interrupted him.
"Ranma! Shut-up!" A strange look had come into Nabiki's eyes and although her face was calm, a tense quiver had crept into her voice. "Let me get this straight. You were in the clutches of our villain and you miraculously broke loose. Right?"
"Yep," Ranma-chan boasted, buffing her nails on her shirt. "They couldn't keep me. Oh, they had a few surprises, but the never had a chance... " Her strutting was once more overridden by the controlled voice of Nabiki.
"My, it's sure is lucky you escaped," Ranma-chan nodded happily to herself. "After all if you had stayed you might have actually found out who was behind all this," Nabiki's voice had risen to an unpleasant volume as her frustration finally became plainly visible. Ranma-chan had frozen in mid-buff a look of bewilderment on her face.
"Heaven forbid you actually go along with the freaking plan and play along. No, the great Saotome has to be the big man and prove no one can keep him..." By this time Ranma-chan had unfrozen and was making shushing gestures and frantically glancing around. Her activity was completely ignored by an enraged Nabiki, who continued even more loudly on her tirade, going on about the stupidity of martial artists in general and Ranma in specific. She also went into some detail regarding the sheer money she had lost while allowing these dimwits to represent her. She was still cursing as her image began to fade and thundering footsteps could be heard approaching the alley's entrance.
Moments later a group of ten hulking brutes obstructed the opening as they peered cautiously into the alley, plasma rifles in one hand, the other resting alertly on the hilts of their blades.
"I could have sworn the human was here. It sounded like a human," the largest grunted in annoyance.
"I still say the human is long gone. She'd be stupid to stay around and if she's a part of the underground she's long gone by now," opinioned the second in the group
"I don't know, we found some humans. She could still be here."
"The first one you shot was a male slave. The second one was a female pedestrian. One of the few free humans in the city."
"Eh. Well, humans kinda look the same. No real loss. Free or slave, no one cares."
"Well, the free one was no loss, but the slave has an owner that needs to be reimbursed," contradicted the second.
"Bah, we were on official business. If that demon complains about his property our captain will back us. If he tries to go higher up he knows he could be told he's unwelcome in Atlantis," scoffed the first.
"Well... alright. No harm done. No one important was inconvenienced." The voices and general grunts of agreement from the other guards faded into the distance as they walked past.
Seconds after they left a pigtailed martial artist faded into view. A light sheen of sweat covered her face and a disgruntled redhead could barely be heard muttering to herself.
"Yeah, well this is one human you're going to recognize one day when I feed you your liver. If there weren't a thousand of you goons right behind you it could have been today." Shoulders slumped she stared at the ground. "I can't believe I forgot the plan. Of course, I was unconscious for a week, but still..." Leaning against the wall again she slowly slid to the ground, ignoring the unidentified residues clinging to the wall.
"Still not too late to find out who owned that place. I'll just have to find another way into the... well whoever owns the place... good graces."
Ranma growled in frustration as he walked down one of the lesser roads that ran through the heart of Splynn. Although smaller than the main thoroughfare it was none the less seventy feet wide. This seemed large at first, until Ranma found himself needing to move quickly in order to get out of the way of some of the huge land barges that moved implacably to and from the center of trade. The vehicles he shrugged off. They were large, but he'd seen huge transports at home, even stowed away on many when his father was feeling too lazy to justify walking as training.
The air barges were slightly more disconcerting. Most of these were too high up to really make a visual impact. It was when they slowly descended to the top of nearby buildings and the humming of whatever otherworldly engines they used filled the air, making the bones of your skull vibrate in sympathy that the scale of the city truly became apparent. The other disconcerting fact was the huge slugs, lizards, and snail-like creatures that also made their way through the streets. It would be amusing except that forty foot long snails no longer seemed humorous when they towered over you. Then, of course, there were those obnoxious aliens.
"Hey! Scum! Out of way of Gornex the Devourer," a deep growling voice bellowed from in front of the martial artist, quickly followed by a paw the size of a serving plate. Ranma absently ducked the few inches required for the somewhat sloppy roundhouse to fly over his head. In his male form, the authorities weren't actively chasing him but humans seemed to be fair game for everyone and his brother to torment. The slaves he saw on the street were relatively safe since destroying someone's property carried a heavy fine; however, a free human needed to prove himself frequently if he chose to brave the streets.
"I'll give you one warning to get out of my way," Ranma stated hiding his impatience. This was the fifth time this afternoon he had to defend his rights and it had changed from exciting to monotonous very quickly. Initially, he had tried to avoid attention by giving ground, but that not only chafed his pride but proved ineffective as it seemed to encourage the annoying pedestrians.
"Looks like human needs to learn place!" The eleven-foot shaggy creature loomed over him in a threatening manner.
"Looks like teddy bear needs to learn grammar," Ranma mocked in a deliberately broken manner while bringing the Serpent staff he had started to carry around with him to bear. It never ceased to amaze him how stupid many of these creatures sounded even when the translation effect assured him they were speaking their own tongue.
Roaring in outrage, the quivering mound of fur and muscles lunged at the smaller human, only to search around in a bewildered fashion when the human disappeared from view.
"Where human go?" The confused creature grumbled to itself as it peered through the slowly milling crowds, many of whom had stopped to view the altercation. Never a shortage of entities wanting to see a human dead or mangled in this city.
"Human here behind you, dimwit," Ranma sneered. Infusing the staff with chi he tapped the creature on the arm, spinning it around as if struck by some huge force. Once he was facing Ranma another deceptive tap from the staff to the chin caused the creature to shoot like a rocket into the sky. The pigtailed martial artist shaded his eyes while looking up into the sky, chortling softly to himself.
"Geez, I never get tired of that trick. Now I know why Happosai kept doing that. Takes the pest out of your hair... and is so darn fun to watch!" Looking around he found himself the center of some obviously unfavorable attention. Lazily spinning the staff he gave a fake growl and glared at the crowd. "Anybody else has a problem with the little human?"
As most started to drift off he nodded to himself. Most of these weren't the powerhouses of the city. The creatures with the power and spine to deal with someone like Ranma had better things to do than waste time with an uppity human. The city enforcers didn't care unless they witnessed him breaking the law. It also helped that any non-human that complained about being harassed by a human would lose any respect he could possibly have. In a way, it almost made up for being the target for anything with a bug up its ass.
"Verry entertaining," a high pitched hum broke into his thoughts. A creature that looked like a refugee from The Fly was next to him buzzing... or rather communicating to him.
"I have my moments," Ranma stated tersely, on guard for the snub that seemed inherent in every conversation he had yet to have since he woke up in the city.
"You have impressive powers for a tattoo warrior. Have you given thought to the Arena? You could make some very impressive money."
"Well no... I have other things to do in the city. I hadn't planned on any... Arena... activity." Ranma cautiously stated. Ever since he had weathered Nabiki's tirade he had been walking the streets in his less wanted male form. He had really screwed things up when he had initiated his 'escape'. Sure, he hadn't been in his right mind at the time, but he'd really fouled up any plans he might have made. It would take some heavy improvising to get back on the proper trail.
"Tattoo warrior? Nah... I just have some martial arts tricks," Ranma brushed off the bug's assumption. Probably the only humans that had any power around here were the ones that wore tattoos like the Shogunates ninja's. Tattoos...
"Hey... do you know much about tattoos? The magical kind, not the artsy stuff," the martial artist inquired hopefully. The creature he was talking to was the only thing that seemed willing to do more than spit in his direction since he'd arrived. It seemed a shame to waste its apparent generosity.
"Ah... you wish to have more. Understandable, but difficult. Humans only get tattoos if they are the personal servants of the Highlords. From your demeanor, I must assume you are no one's servant and cannot, therefore, receive any more such gifts of power. Only Splynncryth's personal Highlords have the authority to authorize this for a free human."
"Shoot. Oh well, I'll find another... " Ranma paused as the meaning of the being's words struck him. "Only Spynncryth's personal Highlord's you say? How many of them are they?"
"Only a handful. Five, I think, though I am not an expert on such things. They never give out new tattoos to any human that does not belong to them."
"Never? I could use new... tattoos. Yeah, the er... stuff I have now is getting old. Same thing over and over. Sure would be good to get some new," Ranma's brow wrinkled in concentration as he thought of words to say to show he was into the tattoo scene, "... ink done."
"Too bad. The only exception would be a personal favor. If one was your patron they may make an exception but... that's hard to imagine. You just don't seem the servant type. Although... " the creature grew silent, lost in thought. "I suppose if you won in the Arena and dedicated your win to one of the Highlord's... well even they appreciate that kind of flattery and recognition. Though relying on a Highlord's goodwill is somewhat of an oxymoron." A slight chittering seemed to mark an alien laugh.
"Do you know the names of these Highlord's?" Ranma requested hopefully.
"Hmm. Yes. They are... " The insectile creature then broke into a fit of chittering, coughing, and grunts. The martial artist looked on wide-eyed afraid that the only source of information he had found in the city was about to expire in front of him.
"Are you okay? Should I get you a doctor?" he shouted, poised to run in any direction if necessary.
"Eh? Of course, I am. Why do you ask," the creature asked, fully recovered from the fit.
"The coughing and choking. I thought... " Ranma's voice faded away in puzzlement.
"Ah... that. That was simply the names of the Highlord's. I suppose they wouldn't make sense to most humans. Most probably can't even pronounce them. Well. Let's see. How about I write up the names and titles of the Highlords in question. I have a magic around here somewhere that should give me literacy in your tongue around here... if I can find it." After a slight ruffling of robes and a small flash of magic the creature handed Ranma a list that seemed to phonetically spell out the name of the persons in question.
"I, well, thanks. You've been really helpful. If you need anything just... " Ranma rambled on somewhat bewildered by an act of kindness in what was otherwise a city of nightmares.
"Well, I'm not just doing this for you. I can see you are on a course which may lead me to many profits. If it does turn out that you decide to go to the Arena contact me and I will be overjoyed to act as your agent. Simply ask for Syushra of the Bloody Grubs Plaza. Here, I'll write the address down for you."
"Thanks... I guess."
"Good luck on your mission. Remember me if you change your mind. I think you could be very popular." With those words, the creature skittered away on multi-jointed legs.
Meanwhile, Ranma was once more lost in thought. He now had a starting place. Apparently, only five of these Highlords had permission to give out these tattoo things. All he had to do was find out which of them owned that prison he had escaped from and... well there was more to it than that, but it would be a good start.
A dark-haired attractive woman stood in a large room. Spread out in a semi-circle around her were twenty people armed and armored in various styles, from the medieval to armor that appeared to be straight out of the twenty-fifth century. Almost half were glowing in various shades and colors. The woman herself wore the strangest clothing in the group seemingly nothing more than several green leaves wrapped around her along with several weapon harnesses consisting of a sword and two oversized guns.
"Alright people, make sure your protective enchantments and force fields are up. This raid is close enough to the last one that we hope they won't be expecting it." The woman's strong voice easily cut through the soft murmurs that the crowd had been exchanging, bringing the group's attention to center around the raven-haired warrior.
"Skippy, open the gate," she quietly requested of the young blond teen that stood near her, leaning nonchalantly against the wall feeding dried tidbits to an odd lizard that perched on his shoulder. Occasionally the small dinosaur would take a small playful nip at the baseball cap the boy wore. "Remember, on the other side you're just the backup and the escape portal. I don't want your usual silly heroics. Your place is getting us out again and getting anything that gets past our defenses."
"Have no fear, our brave White Raven. Your flock is as good as there. My batteries are juiced up and I'm ready to kick some Splugorthian Minion butt." The young man gave a confident grin to his audience, some of whom gave an appreciative snicker, most of which simply waited patiently for him to finish his posturing. Shrugging he waved his hands in a complex gesture and began chanting. As a shimmering circle of light formed on the wall he was next to, he paused to address the group behind him.
"The doorway to adventure awaits… also death, violence, and other stuff, but…"
"Enough Skippy! Joke later, we have a job to do. Move out!" The woman fingered her weapons, checking one last time that the harness didn't snag any of her weapons. It was a dangerous world out there and a woman needed the proper tools for the job of changing it.
Ranma was shaking in a mixture of horror and rage. Never had he been as angry and horrified as he presently was. If he had the power he would have happily allowed the ocean to reclaim this cursed place. It had started innocently enough; he had asked one of the creatures on the road for directions for a place to eat. While the question had seemed harmless, the shambling thing he had asked had coughed out a laugh and directed him to an open-air tent several blocks away.
When he had arrived he had only noted a huge giant standing in front of an enormous scarred wooden block, butcher knife in hand and in a good-natured conversation with one of the more obscure demons Ranma had studied. Nodding in final agreement the giant had reached behind him and swung some sort of wriggling figure from some sort of scaffolding or rack and brought the butcher knife to bear.
"A good selection of meat. As tender a piece as you'll ever find. I've been saving it for my own meal but... the price is right and this bit is yours," with these words a muffled shrieking had begun. The shrieking had risen in pitch and volume as the knife sliced efficiently upward, eviscerating the bound figure. The giant paused a moment, blood covering his hands, "I could tell you that they don't feel anything... but we both know that the screaming is half the reason you're here, eh?" With a toothy grin, the knife flashed in an elaborate pattern and the screaming, which had reached a high point was abruptly cut off. "Damn. That was too quick. I'll give you a discount on the next one."
Ranma had stared blankly at the tableau, finally realizing just what he had seen. The figure on the table which had moments ago been a captive human female was now nothing more than bloody pieces of flesh. The flashing knife signaled the continuing butchering of the hapless victim.
For a moment absolute emptiness filled Ranma, quickly followed by a boiling rage that seemed to hold no limit. It filled his mind, reducing his thoughts to a single focus. Something was going to die. It might eventually be him but before he had drawn another breath the monster holding that knife was going to die. Thoroughly.
He was about to proceed on a path of destruction that would have ensured the death of most creatures in the area, most likely eventually culminating in his own end, when a brilliant light enveloped the area. Pausing to evaluate this new threat he witnessed a glowing blue oval wink into existence behind the butcher block in front of the scaffolding and tent. A moment later humans, limned in glowing auras, poured out of the light shooting a variety of weapons at the non-humans in the plaza.
Instant mayhem ensued as the butcher attempted to bring his knife around to defend himself from the unexpected onslaught. He stood for seconds before the massed fire overcame what durability the creature might have possessed and limbs began to char and burn under the massed fire.
"Anyone who wishes to survive the day should step back and don't be a hero. The Liberation Front is here to free the slaves. Don't get in the way and you won't die." The voice of a familiar black-haired woman easily reached the edges of the plaza as the woman herself stepped to the front of the crowd. A quick look at the huge wooden block assured her that she had been too late to free one of her targets. Her expression of regret was quickly replaced by determination. "Fan out. Remember the plan, group 'A' inside the tent, Group 'B' get the people on the rack, C and B set up the defenses."
The crowd of non-humans appeared as if they might contest the woman's claim, shuffling and fingering the various lethal instruments most carried on their persons. This hostility was quickly redirected as the ten soldiers behind the woman pointed their own oversized rifles and shoulder launchers at the crowd in unison. After several seconds of complete silence, the shapes in the crowd slowly backed away. The evil glares sent their way before they exited the plaza left no doubt that they would remember this humiliation the next time they met a human that possessed less firepower
"Since you don't seem to be using that one, would you mind if I brought that one home? It seems a shame to let a perfectly good bit of meat go to waste," the demon that had originally conversed with the butcher genially inquired.
White Raven stood in shock for a moment before answering with anger clearly evident in her voice. "You are either an incredibly overconfident fool or… never mind. I have no time to waste on you. Back away immediately or I'll have my people cut you down."
"You humans are such a prickly lot. If you didn't make such delicious meals and adequate slaves, Lord Splynncryth would have expunged you from the continent long ago," the demon hissed while slowly backing away from the counter.
"Hmm. I changed my mind. Team 'B' fire on my order…" her command trailed off as she saw the demon turn tail and lumber off around a nearby building. Her satisfaction was short-lived as a low humming was heard in the distance.
"Damn. I thought for sure we'd have more time," the woman muttered to herself a frown of concentration marring her youthful features. "Team 'C' and 'D' prepare to receive at least three assault carriers... or the D-Squad if the gods are in one of their moods. The authorities are more on the ball than we expected today." She paused briefly in thought, making decisions. "Break out the big guns. It looks like we'll need them to get out of here. Skippy, shield them while they set up. Then prepare our exit."
Ranma was resisting the urge to cheer. It was a huge relief to find that even in this morass of pain and suffering there were humans… and not so human creatures that were fighting to make this hell hole a better place. It was difficult not to go over and help. Only the thought of what Nabiki would do to him if he compromised his only other identity a few hours after screwing up his female identity kept him silent. The butcher was dead and with its life had gone the unreasoning rage that had gripped him. They didn't seem to need his help anyway.
The dark-haired girl had given him a brief questioning look when she had first arrived, but he'd simply returned it with a cautious nod. Since then she had apparently dismissed him as relatively harmless and was presently directing the activity in and around the scaffolding and tent. He could feel that he had not been forgotten and any movement on his part would bring her full attention back to him. Turning his senses onto the group hurrying around him on prearranged tasks, he attempted to get a feel for what kind of people formed the resistance in this city of evil.
The dark-haired woman was a trained fighter, not up to a real martial artist's standards, but from the way she moved and the limited control of her chi, he sensed that in a straight fight she might be on par with Akane. The tingling that he felt when his senses examined her told him that there was far more to her than a mere human's aura. What it was he didn't know enough about magic to identify. Her general aura was far stronger than a human's should be, but unfocused enough to show that she not only wasn't what he would consider a dedicated martial artist but probably not a mage, despite the magic energy he sensed as part of her.
The young man was so obviously a mage that it elicited an involuntary growl from Ranma. So far all the mages he had met had been insane or evil. He wasn't sure what category Nabiki would fit in when her training was done but considering her present morals he feared it would be irritating to find out. The male's aura had the strong tingle of enchantment like the girl, but the focused aura demonstrated him to be a magician. Of course, the fact that he had waved his hands and formed a large shimmering blue dome surrounding the tent and adjacent area also helped make clear exactly what he was.
The others in the group seemed to be mostly humans with a smattering of magic, but the majority seemed to rely on the armor and weapons they bore. Ranma frowned at this. Most of the technology he had been witness to had not filled him with much respect for advanced science. Sure the giant robots had him on the ropes for a short time in the Imperial Palace, but he didn't see anything among the freedom fighters more substantial than body armor and rifles.
Ranma quickly corrected this observation as the woman gave a command and several large containers the group had carried in unfolded to reveal some sort of rack with multiple tubes jutting at a forty-five-degree angle into the air.
Another flash of light showed that the wizard with the silly baseball cap had opened up another portal while the group that had gone into the tent was leading an impressive line of humans of all ages, as well as a few non-humans of varying races out and towards the light of freedom. Up in the scaffolding, the people were using a mixture of skill, brute force, and specialized climbing tools to make their way through the metal maze and extract the people that had been crudely tied to the framework.
Ranma just shook his head. He couldn't believe he had been so wrapped up in his own concerns that he had been completely oblivious to the monument to human suffering towering behind the wooden block. A pang of regret shot through him as he thought about the poor woman. If he had been paying more attention he might have realized what was happening in front of him. From that moment on he resolved to try to treat every moment in this city as a combat situation.
Of course even as he thought this a voice in the back of his head told him it was impossible to be that alert. His danger sense was finely honed, but it would only alert him to hazards that affected him directly. He had often been surprised by non-lethal attacks, whether from an over-enthusiastic Amazon or inconvenient banana skin. Attempting to focus on his surrounding to the exclusion of everything else might keep him on his toes but it would also quickly mentally fatigue him, prevent him from thinking of strategies, and most likely eventually blunt his reactions in battle. At best he might succeed in a compromise. It was certainly true that he had been doing some monumentally stupid things since he had taken the place of the ninja candidate.
A high pitched humming sound drew his attention away from the activity in the plaza. Looking around he noted the sound was coming from the air. Stretching his senses he found that there were hundreds of independent, powerful entities approaching from the air. Turning back towards the woman he was about to shout a warning, but noticed she was already giving orders to those left under the dome.
Less than a minute later the first creature flew into view over the surrounding buildings. It was almost identical to the creatures Ranma had seen on the pyramid. Since he had the luxury of wandering the city for the last day, he now was aware they were known as Powerlords, a pretentious title for the more common members of Atlantis' army. This one rode a machine similar in function to the sky cycle he had used in Japan with a more segmented shell that was obviously armor of some sort. Metal appendages pointed outward, giving it a shape akin to a star. On one of the jutting points, aligned to one side asymmetrically was a huge eye that glowed as it powered the device.
As it approached the field that enclosed the freedom fighters, two forward-pointing prongs emitted bursts of energy which seemed to splash against the dome's surface to no effect. Undeterred by this, it began circling several hundred feet above the ground laying down a constant barrage of light across the shield. Within moments of the first shot, dozens more flyers on similar vehicles flew into the clearing and joined the assault.
The attackers swarmed in evasive patterns while bombarding the dome. Soon, it began to pulse and flicker at various places. Ranma's senses informed him the energy within the barrier was weakening. Frowning in concern he noted that all of the freed slaves had moved through the portal as well as the two groups designated as their escorts. The two remaining groups were tense as they waited, stationed around the individual missile launchers.
Ranma slowly backed away to the cover of a nearby building. He felt somewhat torn, wanting to help when the barrier finally inevitably failed, but not wanting to sacrifice his male identity or engage in another tiring, pointless chase through the city unless absolutely necessary. These newcomers looked far more prepared than those he had battled at the pyramid. There also seemed to be a large number of them. Over a hundred now swarmed in the air and more were arriving every minute.
Suddenly, the glowing barrier dissipated apparently leaving the defenders helpless. Before the monstrous air force could fire at the ground-based fighters, the missile racks simultaneously launched a huge volley at the targets flying above them. Despite the evasion patterns they had been flying in, the sheer numbers of the attackers kept them from avoiding the initial salvo. Some of the Powerlords were overly enthusiastic in their attempts to get out of the way and ended up crashing into their comrades. These incidents did no more than knock the flyers into an uncontrolled spin for several hundred feet; however, it did sow considerable confusion. The missiles themselves each exploded into huge masses of plasma that usually engulfed three or more flyers in their blast radius continued this trend, sending the majority careening out of control.
Few, except the truly unfortunate, were destroyed, but for a moment the sky was almost completely clear. The defenders took advantage of this to make a break towards the gate at a prearranged signal from the raven-haired woman. She herself stayed slightly behind the others, firing at the few remaining who were remained a threat. A loud roar of approaching jets caused her brow to crease in concern as she hurried towards the portal to follow her troops to safety.
White Raven's run towards the gateway was temporarily halted by fire from above. This forced her to dive out of the way as some of the flyers that had recovered laid down a steady stream of fire. Although she escaped the assault, the sound of thrusters followed by a thump in the direction of the portal told her things had just gotten much worse.
Ranma cursed under his breath as he saw from his perspective the woman hurl herself out of the way of the strafing attacks. His cursing became much louder as he saw eight huge metal gargoyles streak down from the sky, turning at the last second to halt their descend with a powerful burst of some kind of jet that projected from their back. Ranma almost mistook them for Balrogs in armor. The bat-like wings and hulking figure certainly looked familiar, however, his senses told him it was merely more Splugorth minions. Admittedly, they were minions in impressive power armor, but nothing demonic.
This was somewhat less than reassuring, as he saw that the eight armored figures were gathered around the woman and the fleet which had been scattered a moment ago was now starting to re-gather itself in the air above once more. The one fortunate part of the situation was that they weren't firing anymore, seemingly content to let the armored fellows on the ground deal with the one remaining invader.
The woman herself seemed startled by the turn of events but did not hesitate in the slightest. Dropping her rifle to the ground she drew the two swords crossed at her back and leaped to attack the armored suit closest to her. The attack was swift and well-executed, easily overwhelming the relatively slow defenses of the larger foe to deliver a strike that completely removed the head of the armor.
This was gratifying to see until Ranma realized that the mechanism was still moving. The lack of blood or weakening in the creature aura told him that the controller was safe inside the main body of the armor. Suddenly slower and less sure of itself it still moved to bring its wings into play, sweeping them through the space that had been occupied by the woman and leaving a trough a foot deep in the ground.
Although she had gotten in the first blow, White Raven found it nearly impossible to land a second. Despite the size, the powered armor moved swiftly and with eight foes she had all she could do to avoid the wings, the plasma sword and axe that seemed to be standard issue for each mechanism.
From where he stood Ranma nodded to himself. He couldn't stand and do nothing yet he couldn't rush in himself. Cologne had a trick that he had been working to modify to other situations. Like many of the matriarch's techniques, it looked much more impressive than it was. Still, all he needed to do was give the woman time to make it to the portal before whoever was on the other side decided it was too dangerous to leave it open with an army on the other side. Entering a light meditative state, he focused his chi on the earth and rocks under the plaza.
White Raven was getting desperate. The constant evasion left no time to counterattack and the group continued to maneuver between her and the portal. The gateway itself should have already been closed. Skippy had specific orders to close the gate if a member of the team was trapped on the other side. If she lived through this she'd give him a kiss and then kick his sorry ass for endangering the entire underground.
The odd thing that stuck in her mind during those hectic moments of dodging and parrying for her life was the black-haired human who stood partially obscured behind the buildings over a hundred feet away. She had noticed him and the rage that was evident on his face when she had entered the plaza during the initial strike. As the operation progressed she saw that the rage had left and she had the distinct feeling that he approved of what was happening.
This was not surprising, although obviously not a slave, he lacked the hard-bitten look that most minions possessed. Considering the tattoos he wore he might have even been a freed slave or a hired bodyguard. Unless you worked for the Atlantean system a human couldn't help but approve of an attack on it. Now the youth looked on with a slightly detached expression and she couldn't help but feel that there was an energy gathering in the area around him. It wasn't magic, but it caused sympathetic tingles to tease her skin. She hoped he wouldn't get himself killed doing something stupid. With several hundred minions of Splynncryth buzzing around the air like an angry swarm, any overt action would be an act of suicide.
Despite her awareness of an odd energy, she was still completely surprised when the ground behind one of the armored figures deformed like a bubbling cauldron, and a huge stone hand reached up from the disturbance and grasped the closest fighter. Once the hand closed on its victim it instantly shot up into the air forming a pillar as its base, fifty feet high. There was a moment of silence as the comrades of the trapped creature gaped at the column that now held a trapped and struggling metal gargoyle. Then the frozen tableau moved as the flying Powerlords began to fire at the stone prison, blasting large chunks of now immobile stone from the prison.
The woman was as surprised as her foes but was able to overcome her shock soon enough to run halfway to the portal before she once more had to avoid the renewed attacks of the armor-clad minions. When another stone fist emerged from the ground to sweep two of her tormentors away like a battering ram or an angry child with a toy, she was prepared to leap over the two remaining minions that stood between her and the portal.
Unfortunately, this left her open to the other four behind her who took advantage of this reckless move to attack her from behind with their various weapons in an almost coordinated strike. Thrown through the air, she landed within ten feet of the glowing portal but found herself too stunned to do more than inch her way to freedom.
Groaning in frustration White Raven struggled to her feet hearing the heavy steps of the armored minion closing in around her. Through the thick light of the gate, she saw a worried Skippy, arms held out to brace the gateway, mouthing silent encouragement.
Ranma looked on in frustration. The modified Shark Fist had proved to be a useful tool for distraction. Although it did little real damage, the Stone Fist looked large and terrifying if you didn't know it lacked mobility for more than sweeps and lunges. However, despite the woman being within feet of the gate, it was obvious she was too stunned to do more than stagger to her feet. The last series of blows the enemy had delivered to her back had looked devastating. The leaf armor that she wore had been almost instantly shredded leaving the warrior to absorb the blows of the swords and axes on her own merits. Ranma was frankly amazed she was still in one piece. Obviously, she was more than human, as he had surmised when he had examined her aura. In fact, she would probably be almost unhurt ... if she survived the next few seconds.
Her very durability gave him an idea. A normal human wouldn't survive, but she appeared almost as tough as himself. Without further thought, he reached forth his chi once more into the ground.
White Raven looked around drunkenly, trying to force herself to either defend herself or dash towards the portal that was so close. The minions appeared to be rushing at her, their intent obviously to knock her away from the only escape within reach. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the human male was staring at her with a grimace of concentration and a light layer of perspiration shown on his brow. Abruptly, an odd roiling sensation at her feet drew her attention to the ground under her. Looking down she felt a huge force erupt beneath her as if the very earth had rushed up to meet her.
Observing the scene from around the building Ranma looked on with a mixture of satisfaction and worry as a stone fist formed beneath the woman and catapulted her through the gate. He had tried to be gentle, but there is a limit to how softly you can manipulate several tons of stone.
The gateway dissolved into a sparkle of random energy as he pondered the situation. Glancing at the plaza that was deserted except for several hundred flying Powerlords, seven milling armored minions, and three scattered columns of stone that varied in length from ten feet to fifty feet in length, he shook his head. Nerima may have been hectic but he was beginning to appreciate its rustic charm.
Wrapping himself in the Dimensional Cloak he glided away from the scene of the battle back towards the pyramid. With any luck, the remnants of the dimensional energies from the gate would prevent the detection of his use of the technique and he could get on with his mission. He was getting more eager to get back home all the time. He never thought he would look forward to the madness of home or long for the peace of the fiancée brigade but... it was time to get on with things.
Chapter 4: Contract Killer
Leviathan lounged in her apartment on the huge cushioned couch that she preferred to rest on. Absently she reached over to an ornate golden-hued bowl and grabbed a dozen peeled oranges. Mulling over her plans and letting her rage simmer in the back of her mind she ate the fruits as lesser mortals might eat berries or grapes.
Now that she was in Atlantis she could continue her plans. It was a bitter irony that she was so limited in her own realm. Since her captive had escaped she had been the butt of the jokes among the other deevil lords. Oh, not to her face, but their insincere condolences at her humiliation combined with the restrictions of no overt retaliations only thinly veiled the enjoyment they hid at her fall.
Mephisto should have shared her shame but the ancient deevil lord seemed not to care. So engrossed was he in his own plots to grab on to the reins of power in their dimension that after an initial temper tantrum he had subsided into a pouting silence. To tell the truth, she was almost glad that the deevil lord had decided to stay out of the plans she was making for her retribution. Mephisto had once been lauded as the most subtle and dangerous of the Lords, but over the last several centuries something had changed within the deevil lord.
Almost all deevil lords were power-crazed megalomaniacs, but they were successful power-crazed megalomaniacs. This meant that they worked together against outsiders and kept their backstabbing to quick efficient moves that succeeded or failed before their enemies noticed. Above all, they kept up the façade that they were one large happily dysfunctional family. Lately, Mephisto hid his plans less and less. He would even engage in ranting against the Lord of their plane where others might hear. She had the sneaking suspicion that his ambitions and most of his plans were known and mocked at by the other lords. In other words, Mephisto was no longer the master of deception he once was and it might be time to disassociate herself from him. He was so wrapped up in his own little world, he might not even notice.
A loud screeching wail arose from the entrance, bringing a small smile the giantess's face. It wasn't quite the souls in torment that regularly chimed the time away in her own domain, but it was a small taste of home. A discrete flapping of wings told her that her servitor dire harpies had answered the summons and a moment later she landed by the deevil lord's side.
"The Sunaj you summoned is at the door mistress. Shall I lead him in?" the harpy screeched in a disharmonious rattle only another harpy could admire.
"Yes. No... wait. He and his ilk have kept me waiting over a week. I need his services so I can't kill him... make him wait outside for a half-hour. And bring me some peeled melons to go with these oranges. Some lemons too."
Leviathan whiled away the time savoring the contrasting fruits and thinking of various plans of carnage. When a subdued screech announced the presence of company, she was in a fine mood to do business in.
"Hail Lady Leviathan. I am honored that you wish to retain the services of my clan," a male voice, sounding partly synthesized came from the figure kneeling before her. The male was clad in armor whose helmet was formed to resemble that of an insect. Specifically, a cockroach.
"You have kept me waiting for some time. Do you treat all your prospective clients this way?" the deevil lady asked in a dangerously quiet voice.
"Of course not, some of our clients must wait for months. Our services are frequently in demand. Lord Splynncryth is our favored patron, and since we are in his country his wishes take precedence over all others," Leviathan's brow wrinkled in dismay at the blatant reminder of who their main employer was. Of course, she might have slain the mortal worm out of hand if he hadn't brought it to the forefront of her mind, so perhaps he was wise in ways of dealing with her kind. It was just as well really, it would have delayed her plans further if she had to look for helpers elsewhere.
"Yes. Convenient. Since you are finally here I'll get to the point. I need an assassin. Probably even a legion of assassins," she paused in thought before continuing. "I don't suppose you would take on Rhada as a target?"
The kneeling man broke into a spontaneous fit of coughing, before speaking in a strained voice. "I'm afraid that would not be... possible. Entities of her stature... and yours as well, enjoy a certain position of power in the Universe. It would be folly to try to eliminate one such as you... your fellow lords would simply reincarnate your essence into a new body and your whole ... pantheon... would hunt down the perpetrator."
"Rhada no longer enjoys the protection of our pantheon. She has betrayed us. There is a strong possibility that she would stay dead. She also does not have access to her normal resources and forces." Leviathan's voice trailed away into silence as she waited for a response.
"I am somewhat aware of the politics behind this situation." The man slowly stated, carefully choosing his words. "Rhada is under the protection of Abdul-Ra. He has the resources Rhada presently lacks and seems willing to exercise them. Vigorously." A slow, measured breath followed, "There is also the issue that both Abdul-Ra and Rhada presently enjoy a certain protected status, as declared by Lord Splynncryth. Our clan cannot act against our patron's favored guest. He would be very displeased."
"Well... " Leviathan sighed, "I suppose it was a bit much to hope for. Probably would have been too obvious anyway," she muttered absently to herself.
"Is there anything we can do to serve you?" the armored man asked anxiously, Leviathan would be unwise to vent her frustration on his person, but entities of her type weren't known for possessing many of the virtues lesser being developed as survival traits.
"Hmmm. Yes. I think there is. A mortal human has grievously offended me. I would like him eliminated, preferably with as painful and messy a process as possible."
"Mortals are much simpler to deal with. Consider our clan at your service for this purpose." The man smiled under his mask. This was much safer territory. Humans were easy prey. He would be able to expand the influence of his clan with the Deevil Lords for almost no effort.
Ryouga wandered around in a thorough state of depression. He was unsure where he was and fortunately hadn't seen the rune statue since his accidental release of the magical energies had flung him through a portal. Despite his emotions, the peripheral of his consciousness registered odd-looking creatures and monsters walking down the wide road next to him. Most of them glared warily at the human with a dark green corona oscillating around, the others simply ignored him.
As the strange parade slowly trickled into his consciousness he sighed sadly to himself. It was Halloween already and he was still searching for Ranma. Would he ever satisfy this inner longing and rage and make his way back to his one true love. Akane... no not her... Akari. He had given up on Akane, hadn't he? How long would he wander this city? With his luck, it would probably be New York. That would explain the powerful auras he sensed surrounding him.
There was so much to think about. The man who had claimed to be his great grandfather, the rune statue, and of course how to defeat and humiliate Ranma. Still lost in his thoughts he absentmindedly batted one of the trick or treaters out of his way with his umbrella. He had heard that New Yorkers were rude but these people were almost hostile. More importantly, they were slow to move out of the way.
A humming sound accompanied with a slight stinging sensation on the back of his head and a flash brought his thoughts to an abrupt halt. Looking around he found the last idiot he had booted out of the way had drawn a gun. A grimace of distaste crossed Ryouga's features as he faced the wielder. Martial artists, in general, held firearms in very poor esteem. For the less skilled they could be deadly, for those on the level of Ryouga and his rival they were crutches for the incompetent. Toys that should be easily taken away. He growled at the thought that if he hadn't undergone training from the old goul that he would probably be dead by now. These New Yorkers were beyond rude, they were barbarians. With his standard battlecry he leaped towards his attacker.
"Die Ranma!" Ryouga paused as his instinctive shout registered. "I mean... I will punish you in the name of... of... the Hibiki Clan!"
Frowning at his faux pas Ryouga shattered the weapon and battered the costumed freak around the head and shoulders. His blows gradually increasing in strength as he established the endurance of his foe. As his final strike propelled the costumed alien over the buildings he began muttering to himself.
"Well the people in this town may be cowards and freaks, but they all seem to be pretty durable." Shaking his head at the thought of a whole town that had undergone endurance training, be continued walking. "I really need to get a new battle cry. It is so embarrassing to call out the name of another rival during battle. Unprofessional. What I need is something generic. Spoon? No. Sounds cool but it just doesn't make sense."
Ryouga continued down the wide avenue, never noticing the way the path seemed to clear ahead of him.
"In the name of the Moon? Now that's just plain silly... "
Ranma stood in the huge plaza before the pyramid. The carnage that had been wrought a few hours before was still evident. Several large holes decorated the surface of the stones around the base, although only small chips were missing from the great monument itself. Ranma snorted, the battles in Nerima devastated whole blocks, obviously, this didn't count as more than a skirmish. Looking around the promenade, he spotted a likely temporary stall and walked over.
The vendor was some sort of furred humanoid, he couldn't quite tell what race it was since most of the upper part was hidden in the large wardrobe it was rummaging through. Ranma gave a small cough to draw attention to the fact that he wasn't alone. Several moments later he coughed again since the merchant's attention hadn't wavered a moment from the contents he was searching.
"Ahem... "
"Listen you human smuck, if you get phlegm over my merchandise I'll get reimbursed from your hide," a low-pitched growl emanated from the cabinet.
Ranma shook his head. This town seemed only to be impressed with flash and raw power. That was okay, all of his weaker techniques were ridiculously showy. It was his more powerful abilities that had more content than display. With a moment's concentration, Ranma lit up like a bonfire. The small amount of litter and dust scattered at his feet began to slowly lift up as if released from the constraints of gravity. Chairs strategically laid out in front of the stall began to scrape back along the floor as if pushed by an unseen force.
The merchant spun around with alacrity upon feeling the energies mounting at his back. "Ah... I apologize. I mistook you for a human ape. I sometimes rely too much on my sense of smell. The disguise is really very good. I especially like the tattoos, it adds a real dash of authenticity... "
"C... Cat!" shouted a startled Ranma, jumping back a dozen feet before stopping and desperately starting to chant.
"Cat? Where?" The cat man looked around at his feet, then back and the chanting martial artist. "Hey! No need to cast spells! I apologized already. If you don't want to be mistaken for a human you should change your disguise. Although, why you'd want to do that I don't know," he rambled.
"Y... you're a Raksasha," Ranma stated with only a slight quiver in his voice, fixedly staring off to the side, as if carefully examining a work of art.
"Correct. Now that we've given over with the spell casting, what can I do for you?"
"Could you change into a different form? I find that one very... er... distracting," Ranma tried to ask nonchalantly, his eyes slightly too wide to pull it off.
"Sure, no problem. How's this?" he stated with a chuckle, he transformed in a quiet glow into a fifteen feet tall, scaly monstrosity with eight tentacles.
"Ah, much better," the martial artist visibly relaxed. Monsters good. Cats bad.
"Yes... well," the demon hesitantly started, obviously not used to people being calmer in the face of a monstrosity. "What can I do for you?"
"You set up camp around here on a regular basis, right?"
"For the last few decades. I pride myself as the best-enchanted garment maker this side of Splynn." The mound of scales and tentacles took an almost heroic pose.
"Great! See that window over there, in the side of the pyramid? I need to know the owner."
The mass of scales slumped from its pose. Its single eyes seemed to bore into Ranma. "So you're not here for the clothes."
"No. I'm sure they're nice an all but... "
"Go away."
"Hey, it's just a question! No need to be rude."
"I am not a spy, I am an artist of cloth!" the mound gyrated energetically. "If you can't appreciate this, then I have no wish to deal with the likes of you. Even if you're not a mortal."
"I never said you were a spy," Ranma gestured frantically to appease the irate demon. As an afterthought, he rambled on, "Though it sure would make sense. I mean the center of government is right over there," the martial artist pointed at the huge structure overshadowing the city. "Why, I bet you can see the coming and goings of every important event or person that happens around here." He chuckled to himself, "Now that I think about it, it would be stupid not to be a spy. I bet everyone in the plaza is a spy of some sort, eh?" Letting out a final guffaw, Ranma turned his attention back to the demon, intent on convincing him to talk using every subtle tactic in the Saotome book.
"Why is everyone staring at me?" Ranma asked conversationally as he noticed that all the vendors and storeowners in a large radius about him were glaring evilly at him. "I was just kidding! I'm sure you're all just perfectly ordinary demons and monsters who are interested in making an honest dollar." Ranma paused for a moment. That last bit had sounded stupid even for his normal foot in the mouth banter. "Geez! You guys are spies! Wouldn't want to be in your shoes when the big guy finds out. Sure would be ugly."
"I suggest you leave before you find you have a mob to deal with. The various races here are incredibly difficult to get acting towards a common goal, but you may be the first being to be unanimously lynched here in centuries."
Ranma shuddered as visions of less than pleasant memories cropped up from his days in Nerima. "Hey, you're a Raksasha, right?"
"Yes. You know you're a suicidal idiot, right?" The scaly blob stated while glaring down at the smaller figure.
"Did know Abdul-Ra and I are good friends?" attempting a different track.
The scaly mass of tentacles stood quivering in rage at the insult, "How dare you even speak the great Lord's name... " The demon froze as it saw the ring on the martial artist's finger. "Is that his ring?"
"Er... yeah, he gave it to me the last time we met. Best buddies. Almost the brother I never had," Ranma was getting into his role and was about to expound on this when the demon continued.
"Then invoke it. Only the original owner may invoke its power. If you cannot do so I shall take great pleasure in taking your shredded body to him where he resides in the city and laying it at his feet." A previously unknown orifice gaped open revealing a set of five-inch long teeth.
Ranma may not have been comfortable with guile, but threats he knew. Flaring his aura he stared imperiously up at the demon, purposely ignoring the ring of enraged demonic vendors slowly encircling him. "Invoke it? Of course I can invoke it," he didn't remember Abdul-Ra giving any instructions with the ring, or for that matter even saying it was more than just a ring. "Um... just on the off chance it's been a long time since I spoke with him and my memory ain't so great... exactly how do I invoke it?"
"Hah! Fool, you have overstepped yourself! Everyone knows you simply will the ring to activate... " The demon grew silent as whiskers grew on the martial artist's face and his skin slowly took on a velvety texture.
"Strrange... arre you surre that's how it worrks? I don't feel anything happening," Ranma said with his hands on his hips and a distracted air of concentration.
"Well, it's so good to meet a friend of my master," the demon whispered as the fang-filled mouth reformed in an odd parody of a smile. "I'll be happy to answer any questions you may have." The ring of evil vendors and salesmen was rapidly closing, leaving the Raksasha to wonder how he was going to explain a dead personal acquaintance to his master. Maybe if he said that he fell into a pit of ravenous sharks. It certainly had the benefit of being almost true.
"Hey, this is odd. My back hurts" Ranma tried to massage his back only to find he couldn't bend his arm in that fashion. Looking down he noticed that his clothed were retreating to form a collar around his neck and his exposed skin had a thick layer of fur on it. His first thought was that his Jusenkyo curse had gone mad and he really should have put his curse locking bracers back on when he had last changed from his girl form. His second thought was that 'oh cool the ring allows me to change shape. Boy, that Abdul-Ra is a nicer guy than I thought.' His third thought was 'gee, what would a ring from the lord of demonic cats allow a user to shapeshift to'. A flash of inspiration was immediately followed by a raging panic. The roar the cat form of the martial artist let loose was the last straw for Ranma's already strained psyche. In a moment there was no Ranma, there was only an irritated cat that was rapidly getting crowded by unruly prey.
The cat form of Ranma was truly impressive. Ten feet at the shoulder, he resembled a smilodon more than a modern cat. The glowing aura he had in his human form was replaced by a red, vaguely cat-shaped, aura that crackled in the air about the creature. It turned on the crowd and let out a roar to show that this pussycat was not a happy camper.
This was enough to send most of the smaller vendors running for cover, however about one fifth remained, bravely standing their ground. These were the more impressive physical specimens most over ten feet themselves. A glowing cat wasn't going to scare them, regardless of how large it was.
When the first lazy swipe of its paw created a ravine ten feet deep and thirty feet long in the mystically hardened stone of the plaza even the dimmest got the idea that maybe something strange was happening. Perhaps the obnoxious human was really an obnoxious greater entity. Greater entities are allowed to be obnoxious. It's in their charter. They wrote and signed the damn thing and who's going to argue?
When the remaining salesmen and spies had broken ranks and run, Ranma-neko gave a low snarl of disappointment. The crowd was gone but so were his toys.
With an easy leap over the trench he began a pleasant game of cat and mouse.
The scaly blob shimmered and in its place stood the Raksasha in its humanoid form. Looking around at the plaza, with its crisscrossed scarring, plowed stone, and the remnants of his own small shop he sighed. It wasn't much but it had been pleasant to play the merchant. It was especially nice to sit down with all the other spies during lunch and scheme. He'd probably be reassigned now. Another merchant, or more likely another spy would take his place on the promenade. Whatever the outcome, he had better go to his lord and report.
Looking up into the sky at the huge eye that was monitoring the area, and had in fact been there since the earlier attack by the rebels, he wondered. The Atlantian forces were remarkable in their absence, yet not only were the within spitting distance of Splynncryth's citadel of power, but everyone knew that what the eyes of Eylor saw, Splynncryth saw. Shrugging, he dipped his mind into the fabric of space and teleported himself away.
"My Lord, I still don't understand why we stood by and did nothing. Within minutes I could have flooded the area with a thousand guards. As it is, it will take days for our Stone Masters to smooth the plaza back to its original state." The pale spindly figure was obviously agitated. Its interlocking teeth clenched and the wormlike wrinkles and veins pulsed rhythmically.
Within the huge pool of slime, an enormous eye surrounded by spikes and tentacles stirred in the ooze. "You have no sense of theatrics. And obviously you can't keep track of the cast. That human was the 'pet' Rhada wanted. Not the run of the mill mortal." The mental voice of his master made the Highlord shiver.
The thick liquid churned and the bulk of the Intelligence changed position. "Hundreds of our troops would have died attempting to take the human down. They would have eventually won, however, the very fact that a human could do that well against me would have made them wonder... exactly how strong can I be if a mere human could come so close... "
"But they would be foolish to think that. Anyone who knows your might... "
"Oh yes. That is the trick of it. They hear of my might, of my billions of minions and half dozen of inhabited worlds... but what do they see?" Bubbles burbled up out of the ooze as the creature paused in thought. "This planet is filled with beings of immense power. If I brought my full force to bear, so would they, and we would tear this planet apart. And more importantly, it might carry over to my other enterprises. So we must consider what the people see.
"What they saw today was that the merchants we thought were so loyal, were revealed as spies for the various interests around us. They were immediately and viciously destroyed by my agent while I watched from above. The doubt is turned into respect."
"But the next group of merchants will be spies as well," pointed out the servitor.
"So what? I never cared if they spy for their petty interests. What I want kept secret, will be hidden from their eyes. My competitors think they have an edge and I simply feed them what they should know. My 'discovery' is simply an excuse not to destroy Rhada's toy. There is a deeper game here. A human doesn't get that powerful by accident. As much as I respect Abdul-Ra, I doubt he did more than supply a simple enchanted ring. No, what we saw is a greater mystery than it first appears."
"Ah, so we are simply looking out for possible threats."
"Of course not. I love mysteries. I can't wait for the next act. Did you see the looks on the merchants' faces? I might have let Rhada's pet get away with its mayhem on that alone," the entity gurgled in its contentment.
Chapter 5: Cat and Mouse
The sight of monstrous creatures roaming the streets of Atlantis was a common one. The factor that drew the attention of the local denizens was that usually, the wandering things were a little more civilized. Oh sure, the demons could be crude to those they considered their inferiors, but rarely were they rude enough to sniff the pedestrians as the walked along, minding their own business. Or prowl behind some of the more impressive demons slowly pacing them, body low to the ground... and utterly failing to be stealthy. The creature being stalked would eventually have his nerves shattered and make a break for freedom and then the huge cat creature would leap onto the poor innocent demon and... simply sit on it until its futile struggles stopped and only whimpering could be heard. Then it would stand up and bound away looking for the next playmate. There were many traumatized minor supernatural entities littering the street on that dark day.
Some victims retained the presence of mind to find a patrol of Overlords, the number of which seemed amazingly numerous for the past several days. The huge armored beings would simply look at the large floating eye hanging several hundred feet above the cat and tell them to go away; their Lord was aware of the issue and would deal with the problem when he got around to it.
It was in this fashion that a wandering lost boy began to have the odd sensation that he was being followed. A familiar, yet oddly different chi signature was following him. He would whirl around to catch sight of this... yet find nothing. He was beginning to get slightly spooked. The obnoxious Trick or Treaters he could handle but this was almost... supernatural.
The cat for his part was thoroughly enjoying himself. The other playthings all acted boring and predictable. Obviously, they had no concept of proper play. His new toy was different. He really knew how to how to tease. He would pause, turn to look around but never quite in his direction and then head off in a random direction away from him. The cat would hunker down to a low profile in the middle of the street and his heart would fill with pride at his evident stealth skills.
Ryouga was starting to become irritated, whatever was following him was a master of the ninja skills. No matter where he looked he could see no clues as to the strange chi he sensed around him. He had to admire their skills, but none got the better of a Hibiki for long. He would root out the coward that was tracking him and show him the error of tormenting a true master of the martial arts.
The playmate had paused in the middle of the street. Thinking the boy would initiate another one of those entertaining sudden changes in direction the cat hunkered done and thought of sneaky feline things. He was surprised when his toy broke into maniacal laughter and raised his umbrella in one hand as if in victory.
"Hah, ha! A true martial artist will never give up! Spoon," Ryouga shouted his battle cry in challenge. Okay, it would be his temporary battle cry until he thought of something more relevant.
Upon finishing his challenge, he immediately walked over to one of the scaled pedestrians that had been giving him wide birth. Seeing the approaching martial artist, with his huge entourage of one, the humanoid quickly began to walk in the opposite direction.
"Hey! Hold on! I want to ask you something," the bandana clad boy yelled in exasperation. After ten minutes of futile chasing various costume-clad idiots only to have them turn away screaming about cats, he was in a foul mood and quite ready to hit the next thing he saw with his umbrella to help him relieve some tension. It was at this point the Hibiki sense of direction finally gave in to sheer random chance and Ryouga found himself face to face with the largest cat he had ever seen since the damned ghost cat showed up in Furinken.
Looking back on his actions later he admitted to himself that whacking the cat across his nose with his umbrella was perhaps one of his less brilliants ideas. He should have wound up for a full swing or simply chi blasted the damn thing.
The cat sat on his haunches in shock. This wasn't part of the game. That had actually stung. The cat, in turn, had its own instinctive reaction very similar to Ryouga's. He batted his plaything away. As he watched the figure fly into the air to disappear over a building silhouetted in the sun, he had second thoughts. He had just gotten rid of his best toy of the day. Huffing in dejection the cat sadly wandered down the street.
The black metal figure stood in the alleyway hidden in the shadows of the building. This town had turned out to be remarkably dangerous for one of his kind. Oh, certainly he was in no physical danger but interference would reduce his chances to capture the lost one significantly. There were also things worse than death when you were an indestructible ex-servitor of the Old Ones.
"Well, Zeek? Did he come this way?" a grunting voice broke the silence just outside the alley.
"I think so. I still don't believe it." Another low, rough voice answered. "What are the chances?"
"Well, the chances don't matter, cause we just plumb hit the jackpot," chuckled Zeek. "Those rune statues are worth a damn fortune. I saw a collector buy one from this high-class merchant for four billion credits. I almost pissed myself when I saw one walking around without a guard."
"Can't figure out why it was wearing jewelry though. Who knows why the rich do things though."
"Maybe it was on the way to a party," the one creature guffawed, slapping the other on the back in humor.
"Hold on. I think I see it!" the sound of breathing became apparent as the voices approached. "Yeah, get it!"
Cursing its luck the metal form broke from cover, lumbering into the street attempting to find somewhere to hide before it became inactive in a half hour. Behind it came two gorilla-like creatures with huge balding heads, intent on making their fortune.
"Er... Zeek?" one gasped as it struggled to catch up the untiring servitor.
"Yeah?"
"Why is there a huge cat following us?"
"Shut up and run, idiot," grunted the other, fully intent on outpacing his companion. He didn't have to be faster than the cat, just faster than his ex-friend. There would be more to go around when he finally sold the artifact anyway.
The raven-haired woman sat at the head of the table. Posture straight and hands flat on the surface before her, she radiated confidence and power. Before her sat a slightly guilty appearing youth and seven other humanoid figures sitting somewhat defiantly in front of her. The chamber was not spacious but the one-way window on one wall gave the room natural light and helped alleviate the cramped feeling.
"What you did was reckless! If the gate had been open much longer Splynncryth's temporal investigators might have arrived and been able to track us down." She pointed an accusing finger at the baseball cap-wearing youth the woman once again stated her argument.
"Awe... come on! It didn't happen. Everything worked out so what's the problem?" the youth whined.
"The problem is that more than one woman's life was at stake. In fact..." The woman's tirade was interrupted by another male sitting at the table.
"Raven, just end it already! You out of all of us should know that I am the least likely to champion that irresponsible idiot... but he did the right thing this time," the man's deep voice cut across hers.
"But Max.."
"He's right," another woman spoke up, "Without you, our movement would rudderless and our chances would be... less," she ended the sentence on a low note, obviously not wanting to dwell on how low their chances of long term success were in the first place.
"But there's..." Raven began.
"Yes, I would have taken over again," Max overrode her sentence. "But I admit I don't have your charisma... or luck."
"Well. I never thought I'd hear you factor in luck to our plans," Raven stated. "Alright, I'm not going to win this one," pausing to gather her thoughts she continued. "The next thing I wanted to talk about was the aid we... I, received during the last debacle."
"Debacle? Some thanks... " the boy started.
"Drop it, lizard boy. It ended well, but you still disobeyed orders. Don't expect thanks too," the man growled, tired of the boy's whining demeanor. The mage subsided with a sullen look.
"Anyway, as I'm sure you all saw from the other side of the portal, we had help. I didn't sense magic, but I think we had a warlock of some sort helping us."
"The stone fists? Yes, we saw. Crude but effective," the youth stated in interest, suddenly over his previous fit of pique.
"They bruised my ribs, but I have to say that they saved my life. I think I saw who did it."
"That would be convenient. Assuming it wasn't a setup, another magic-user would be a valuable addition," the man rumbled in interest.
"Unlikely. I saw him there when we arrived. Long before any of Splynncryth's forces knew we were there. He seemed very angry. I'd be willing to bet that he just arrived in Atlantis."
"He was a human you say?"
"I didn't say that, but he did appear to be," she stated forcibly.
"He must be fairly powerful to wander the city openly. We can send out feelers and find out more. How many powerful humans could possibly have arrived in the last few days?"
"Sounds acceptable, let's move carefully on this one. If he's powerful he may have already drawn attention to himself," as she paused to continue she noticed that the young mage was staring intently out the window. "Skippy? Hello? I would appreciate your attention at these meetings. It might be important later." Thinking of the irresponsible youth she didn't notice the other members seated on his side of the table looking at the window with a slightly glazed look in their eyes.
"Yes ma'am," Skippy whispered quietly. He still wasn't really listening. He and the others on his end of the table were busy watching a black metal statue being chased by two of the ape-like Kittani, closely followed by a huge cat monster who was, in turn, being chased by a young man wearing a backpack as large as he was, waiving a large bamboo umbrella over his head followed by a giant floating eye.
The room was soundproofed, so they were spared the accompanying shouts, screams, roars, and curses.
Rhada sat at a huge oak table, a thoughtful expression on her forehead. Her life had certainly changed since she had fallen in love with Abdul-Ra. Oh sure, the initial three centuries of captivity were extremely unpleasant, but the last few weeks she had spent with her paramour had been very satisfying. Atlantis was also a very metropolitan city with so many more experiences available than her own infernal domain. The shopping alone almost made up for the wasted years.
There was one small nagging lack that she felt regarding her current situation. Abdul-Ra was her one true love and she would never regret her decision, but she did feel the need for a pet. Abdul-Ra kept the little psychotic human to amuse him, for a short time she had felt a similar thrill as the pig-tailed martial artist had filled her spare time with his amusing antics. Alas, she owed her freedom to the human youth and it would have been poor repayment to keep him against his will, but... it had been tempting.
She had spent much time at the slave auctions in Splynn, but none of them had the same fire. It probably couldn't be helped, most demonic entities and Intelligences fed off human misery and suffering. Those mortals that were enslaved and rebelled were usually eaten or tortured to death or until their spirit had been broken. She didn't begrudge other entities their innocent pleasures but it did mean that the type of slave she was looking for was in very short supply.
At that moment, still tracing the intricate designs in the surface of the table, her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of rending wood. A moment afterward was heard a chorus of yowling cats. Frowning in puzzlement Rhada concentrated on the screams of pain. She thought she recognized one as the doorman and the guards. The other growls were unfamiliar. Abdul-Ra might be upset if he had to replace his minions. She had no idea why he felt such bonds of loyalty and honor towards his treacherous people but she had to admit it was one of the things she loved about him. How he did it, she couldn't comprehend, it wasn't as if they were worthy of respect, unlike her own people, the Fenry.
She was just standing, with the intention to head towards the front entrance when a raksasha franticly fled through the doorway. The demon got about two steps into the room before a gigantic paw reached through the doorway to slam the poor doorman to the ground. Slumping unconscious, the unfortunate demon didn't notice as an incredibly large feline walked over him, pausing only momentarily to lazily stretch and flex his claws into the back of his sleeping playmate.
Rhada took one look at the huge cat creature that came up to her shoulder and let out a huge smile. "Ranma-chan! How nice of you to visit. I see you finally made use of darling's gift. I was worried you might have problems with it. I'm so pleased that I was worried over nothing," she burbled while walking over to the feline.
"Oh, what a good kitty! You brought me a gift!" Scratching the cat behind his ears she continued to croon. "What a sweet thing you are." With a thump the feline dropped the limb he had been holding in his mouth and stood proudly over his present. "Now why don't you sit over there while Mommy takes care of this wonderful... thing... you brought me."
Gingerly reaching down she picked up the inert form of a metal figure. Only then did she notice that it seemed to be holding onto an unconscious human boy in a viselike grip. Grimacing in distaste she lifted the whole saliva covered mess with two fingers and holding it straight out from her body as far away from her as possible, she walked to the rear entrance and threw both humanoid figures into the rear alleyway.
As she was about to go back into her residence she paused, then looked up into the sky. "While I appreciate the return of my pet, I would appreciate removing your eye a little further away from our home." With another nod at the floating eye, she closed the door.
Abdul-Ra came home to a strange scene. Rhada sat in the sprawling sofa with a large cat draped over her lap, contentedly petting the purring creature with one hand, an oversized tome floating at eye level. The sight would not have been odd if it wasn't the scale. Rhada was a healthy, well-proportioned female of fourteen feet when standing. Sitting in a couch with a feline ten feet at the shoulder and about twenty feet head to tail on her lap. The cat was still huge even considering her own height.
"Did you consider simply growing larger? That boy is enormous in cat form," the demon asked his mate.
"It crossed my mind, but the couch wouldn't fit. Besides he's very comforting. Well? Can I keep him?" the Deevil Lady teased.
"You know we owe him too much... oh. That was a joke," the tiger headed demon shook his head. "Sometimes I think I spend too much time with my people. Well, should I change him now or do you want to spend some quality time with him," he teased, utterly confident in her answer.
"Now that you're back from your conferences I'd much rather spend quality time with you," she replied with a wink. "One thing I don't miss about ruling a realm is the endless meetings and haggling. Not that I've had to deal with that for centuries anyway... but I hated it when I did."
"Hmm... it's just as well. An outright war would be bad for both our dimensions. Although, we would win."
"And how can you be so sure. Deevils aren't pushovers," Rhada replied, pride placing a slight edge into her voice.
Abdul-Ra simply gave a confident smile, "Simple my dear. We have you." Rhada immediately relaxed a smile growing on her face. "With you and your minions, as well as that insane Deevil Lord they have running loose we'd eventually win. Besides our Lord Modeus has been preparing for this war for ages, while the Dyval Lords bicker among themselves."
"It's good to be gone. Mephisto is merely one symptom. The Deevil nation has become self-destructive of late," she said with an introspective tone.
"Hmmph. Let's not get too maudlin. The Demon and Deevil nations are not, nor have ever been one large happy family. If the other Lords didn't plot to stab each other in the back they wouldn't be the supernatural menaces we have grown to know and love," he said while emitting a low growling laugh.
Padding over to his seated mistress he reached out to touch the paw of the feline reclining over most of the sofa. The feline playfully batted his hand away the first few times, but eventually, the Lord's own catlike reflexes enabled him to touch the paw adorned by the ring. This touch initiated a cascading change that finally resulted in a young human lying in the lap of the Deevil Lady.
"Oh geez. That was nasty," the pigtailed youth firmly emoted.
"I trust you are in good health," the raksasha lord inquired.
"Sure. Dandy. That was weird. I think I remember some of it. Do you think..." He was about to continue when he noticed his host was in his half feline form and immediately turned away again, trying to pretend to himself that he hadn't seen it. "... It's due to the desensitizing stuff?"
"I am not aware of any desensitizing 'stuff' you are going through. I've only heard legends of the Neko-ken. You are the first practitioner of the art I have ever met. I see you found out about the special properties of my gift. It combines remarkably well with the Neko-ken."
"Er... right," Ranma mumbled, kicking himself for confusing Anhur with Abdul-Ra. He was sure his patron wouldn't appreciate that kind of slip of the tongue regardless of how confused Ranma felt, fresh from his altered state. As the comment about the ring gradually settled into his consciousness he momentarily considered tearing the ring from his hand. Sanity reasserted itself as he reached for the band and Ranma's hand slipped into folded space to pluck out his bracer. It had been beyond foolish to not replace it on his wrist. Especially with most of the city searching for his female half.
"Did I dream that part about chasing some statue around the city?" Ranma asked still trying to get a grip on his vague memories.
"No. I hope you don't mind that I threw it out. It doesn't fit the décor," Rhada answered.
"That's fine. This city is really messing with my sense of reality," Ranma sentence trailed off.
Ranma sighed and had to resist the urge to purr. Puzzled at this, he belatedly realized that Rhada had been gently petting his head throughout his conversation. This was odd enough that it took him another moment to register that he was still in the woman's lap. Immediately after this he almost reinvented teleportation as he leaped down to the floor, hands in his pockets, and tunelessly whistling as he nonchalantly examined the ceiling. A side-glance at his hosts showed him that there were no furious men or women wanting his head for being in an intimate position with their mates.
"I understand you wanted some information regarding certain High Lords in Splynncryth's service?" Abdul-Ra asked, amusement from antics of his mate's pet barely evident in his voice.
"Wow, how'd you know," Ranma asked, glad to be distracted from his embarrassment, still looking off to the side to avoid staring directly at his feline host.
"One of my minions came to me with an interesting story," the Demon Lord continued with a huffing sound of amusement. "I suppose I should be angry at having to have his position replaced. However you did amuse Splynncryth, so no real harm... to me at least."
"How was I to know they were all spies?" Ranma cried in indignation. "It's ridiculous! Er... what did you mean no harm to you?"
"I would guess that only half of those in the plaza were spies, the others were merely offended by your insinuation. Probably fearful that such accusation might be taken seriously." Ranma mouthed 'half' in silent wonder. "Fortunately, Splynncryth was watching and found your antics amusing." Shaking his head in disdain he continued, "I hope you can live with your good fortune."
"Okay, so how bad could it possibly be," the martial artist asked.
"Not so bad if you don't mind being followed by his minions and being recorded by a giant floating eye. You can take comfort in the fact that your triumphs, failures, and mishaps will be recorded and stored for some supernatural creature's amusement."
"That stinks!" Ranma groused. "How do I get out of it?"
"You don't. I wouldn't go back to your loved ones unless you wish to get them involved in the inner workings of Atlantis," Abdul-Ra's low voice picked up at he continued. "On the other hand as long as that Eye of Eylor is following you no guards will bother you without Splynncryth's direct orders."
"I've just become a supernatural slug's favorite television show?" Ranma asked in distaste.
"Congratulations," Abdul-Ra offered wryly.
"If you ever get tired of fame you can always come back to us," Rhada slyly stated. "You're always welcome. You're already almost part of the family."
Yeah... Fido, Ranma thought bitterly. "So he's not watching me now?"
"No, of course not. I am a Lord of Hades. As long as you are on my land... or in my home your privacy is inviolate," or at least violated with more circumspection, Abdul-Ra continued his train of thought privately.
"Great. So this is show business. Seems a lot like my normal life," the youth sighed in disgust. "You said something about having the answers I wanted?"
"Yes. The High Lord you expressed interest in is called Nagrath Rak. Or at least what he is known as by most humanoids. His actual name is difficult to pronounce."
"He owns the chamber I pointed to? And he is one of the few that are allowed to tattoo outsiders?" Ranma eagerly questioned.
"Yes. I assume that would explain your new fashion statement?" the tiger headed being asked.
"Huh?" a confused pigtailed elucidated. "I don't get it."
Rhada gave the Demon Lord an amused sideward smile, "Allow me to show you." She immediately gestured with her hand and a large hand mirror appeared in it. Raising it up before the youth she waited.
"Yep, that's me alright. Damn, I look good," Ranma preened slightly at his image before he noticed something dark on his forehead. Reaching up he vigorously rubbed the mark away with his sleeve. "Shoot, I think I need a bath. You should have said so sooner."
"Take a closer look, my little warrior," Rhada urged.
"Hey! Who's the wise guy who doodled on my face?" shouted an irate Ranma.
"I am guessing that would be Nagrath Rak," Abdul-Ra said, not bothering to hide his own amusement.
"Why that... and Nabiki knew!" I must have been running all over this damn town with this weird eye on my forehead! No wonder people were staring at me."
"They were probably staring because you were a loose human. Tattoos and the power associated with them are a well-known phenomenon here in Atlantis."
"Geez, how do I get the things off? I heard they use lasers or something."
"These are somewhat magical tattoos. They bond to your soul, I understand they simply reappear unless you remove the limb they are attached to."
"That's idiotic! It's on my head, I'd have to... " Ranma trailed off, turning slightly green at the thought. "All right. It doesn't look so... bad. Much better than Ryouga's old God mark. Almost dashing... yeah," Ranma continued, seeming more to try to convince himself than any others in the room.
"You look adorable. Trust me," Rhada shared, ignoring Ranma's return glare.
"So, what does it do? It is magical, right," the pigtailed youth asked.
"I'm not a Tattoo Master, but it is a stylized eye. Probably allowed some type of vision. See auras, magic, maybe read, speak and write all languages," The Demon Lord theorized.
Ranma remembered the moment of clarity he experienced in the pyramid. When all the world came into focus and everything he saw seemed obvious in its function and history. He had been extremely busy since then and so hadn't thought of the incident since, but it certainly made sense now.
"I'm just surprised the High Lord only gave you one. I had heard that you could receive two at once," the cat demon pondered.
"Why two?"
"Well if you get three it puts a strain on the spirit or soul. People tend to just drop dead at that point. After about a half a year you can get more."
"I don't want more! I don't even want this one," Ranma exclaimed. A sudden thought occurred to him and he frantically pulled up his sleeves and examined his arms. Not finding anything he continued to pull away the front of his shirt.
A muffled cough interrupted him for a moment, "Perhaps you'd like to continue your self-exploration in your own chambers," the demon suggested in amusement.
Only a groan met his joking offer. Ranma had found a second mark on his chest. A heart encircled with chains with an outline of a skull surrounding the heart.
"Ah darn. You were right. There are two of them," Ranma said dejectedly. "What is this one for?" a mental command and part of his shirt opened just enough to reveal the mark to the others.
"Protection. I think a force field. There's another element too. That is a very talented patron you found. I think he's mixed the effects of several tattoos. That might be physical and mental protection. He must have really liked you to go to so much trouble for you."
Ranma gave his companions a sickly grin, "You know me. The old Saotome charm." The demon gave a noncommittal grunt in reply. Thinking a bit on his problem the martial artist came to the conclusion that he needed help. Better to give information to people that believed they were obligated to him in some way than a stranger. "So... say I, you know, wanted to get into this fellow's favor. Maybe hang out with him for a while," Ranma awkwardly stumbled his way into his request. "Do you know a way to get to him?"
Abdul-Ra leveled a measuring look at the youth before him. "That is an odd thing to ask considering that he has already invested considerable time applying those marks to you. Doesn't he already know you?"
"Well... it's odd that you ask that. I was kinda... unconscious during our time together. I woke up and... wandered away before I actually met him," Ranma sweated nervously, trying to think of the best way to describe the events without really describing them. "I guess it's probably best, he might connect me to things, well things that might have... er, happened to an ally of his."
"So you want to be near him, but not as the human that he spent a week working his enchantments on. That... is difficult," Abdul-Ra pondered. "It's not as if he merely met you in passing. He must have spent much time and resources on you to give you two such complex tattoos."
"Perhaps not as difficult as you think," Rhada volunteered. "Most of Splynncryth's High Lords don't pay any attention to human appearances. To them, they all look alike. The tattoos are the real issue. He's bound to recognize his own work."
"You have a point. If you change your aura slightly," the demon Lord paused and looked questioning at Ranma. The martial artist didn't really notice, since he was making an effort not to look at the tiger headed demon. "Ahem! Would you mind paying a little more attention when we're talking to you?" the demon asked in acidic tones.
"Could you... you know. Get rid of the cat head, please," a hesitant Ranma finally blurted out in a rush.
"Oh. Certainly. Forgot about your problem," the now placated human continued, "Well, can you?"
"I usually just increase or decrease it. I think I can. It might take a few hours of practice though," the youth mumbled still somewhat embarrassed having his phobia shoved in his face.
"Good, if you do that you can just walk straight up to him."
"Whereupon the High Lord will order his minions to slay the impudent human," Rhada finished. "I think we need to work on the details."
"Hmm. Good point," Abdul-Ra admitted to his mate.
"You know I met someone earlier who suggested that if I win in the arena and dedicate my win to the High Lord, he might accept me in his household," Ranma offered.
The two infernal entities stared at the martial artist in surprise. After a moment Rhada said, "Then why did you ask us?"
"Um... I was hoping you had a better... I mean faster way to do it," Ranma said, not wanting to admit that it had actually completely slipped his mind.
"I suppose that makes sense. Well, whoever told you that was probably correct. A human going up to him out of the blue would be killed. If you prove your competency and stroke his ego as well, I think that might work."
"Do you have any connections in the arena? Some guy called Syushra of the Bloody Grubs Plaza said to contact him if I wanted to compete. But if you have something better..." Ranma left the sentence hanging.
"I haven't been here in years. You know, of course, Rhada hasn't either." The Demon Lord quietly paced the boundaries of the room. "I'll have my people look into this Syushra's credentials. If they are adequate they will contact him on your behalf." Coming to a stop he turned towards Ranma, "You're not an agent of Ammit, are you," he stated.
"W... why do you say that? I love crocodile monsters. Why some of my best friends are crocodiles," Ranma nervously answered.
"I should have seen it immediately. Ammit hates humans. He'd never have one as a minion, regardless of its talents. He also has no patience or talent for stealth. You're not very skilled either, but you're making an attempt."
"I was with Ammit when he went in to rescue Rhada," Ranma frantically reminded the demon. The last thing he wanted was to be trapped in a room with two deity class entities out for his hide.
"Yes. Very strange. But never the less, meaningless. I would have seen it if I hadn't been distracted by Rhada's return. Ammit's allies can be counted on one hand, he usually only deals with those of his pantheon. Should I continue or do you feel like volunteering anything yet?"
"Anhur," Ranma mumbled. "I really need you not to mention this to anyone," Ranma admitted dejectedly. "It's very important."
"Anhur? That is... unexpected. Still, I'm not at odds with him," Abdul-Ra muttered to himself. "I suppose if Ammit asked for his help... "
"I have no issues with Anhur," Rhada added. "If he helped in my rescue, he has my gratitude. Ammit however... do you realize he still has several thousand of my Fenry in his service?"
"Really? I hadn't realized," Abdul-Ra said in surprise. "Well, I'm sure he'll give them back. Actually, I'm not positive, but with some prodding..." Thinking out loud, he continued, "You know, I haven't heard from him since your rescue."
"Anyway. I have no problem with you being a servant of Anhur," Rhada declared. "I'm sure we'll get along famously once we meet. He has a reputation of being a fine war god and an entity of his word. Even if he is also the god of assassins," she ended in a mutter.
"He's the god of what?" Ranma screeched in surprise.
"Well, what did you expect? He is part of the pantheon of Taut," Abdul-Ra offered.
"Which means... what?"
"Well ... he doesn't suffer the ridiculous morals and mindless rules that govern Taut's brother pantheon, the pantheon of Light."
Ranma remained silent. He had known his patron wasn't a fount of goodness but knowing he was the god of assassins was disturbing. Maybe Nabiki had been right in her warnings. He had been assured by Anhur himself that his missions wouldn't go against his own moral code. Whether it was possible to do the right thing under the direction of an evil entity, even an evil entity with his own moral code, was a question he would have to carefully consider. Later.
"Getting back to the original subject," Abdul-Ra prompted when it became apparent the human was lost in thought. "If you win the games you will be in an excellent position. You won't be able to use your new tattoos while the High Lord watches, but other than that I don't see any problems."
"So what about the big eyeball you said is floating behind me all the time now," Ranma asked.
"Well, that will be a little awkward, but shouldn't really impact things. It will stay invisible or hidden most of the time."
"So the Highlord won't mind a spy camera from his boss looking over his shoulder all the time?" he prompted.
"Well, a Highlord should never be doing anything Splynncryth would find objectionable. They are linked to their Lord and treason would mean instant death. Splynncryth will probably honor their privacy as he does ours. Which means he won't enter the homes unless invited."
"Okay, I just don't want to go through all this only to find out the Highlord don't want a pet eye following him around."
"I don't think it will be a problem. If you make a good enough showing he'll have to explain to Splynncryth the reason he doesn't want you."
"This seems to be working out pretty well," Ranma said, confidence in their plan beginning to take hold. "Thanks for your help."
"There are some minor issues I'd like to bring up at the moment. I would like to add some stipulations to the aid we will be providing," the Demon Lord smiled slightly while addressing the martial artist.
"Stipulations? You mean conditions," Ranma warily inquired. He didn't want to lose his only allies, but official deals with demons were risky propositions from all that he'd heard.
"I don't think you'll find these too restrictive," Abdul-Ra purred, eliciting a flinch from Ranma. "The first is common courtesy. I don't want any assassination attempts to be linked back to me."
"Hey! I'm no assassin! My fights are all face to face. Besides from what you said, Splynncryth will want Nagrath Rak's head more than I ever will," Ranma said without really thinking. He immediately worried that he'd said too much, but shrugged it off. His allies must already know that he was there to spy on the Highlord. His actions pretty much spoke for themselves.
"Good. That makes our involvement much less politically awkward," the demon nodded. "Our next condition involves payment," he watched the martial artist squirm uncomfortably and smiled. "Oh, nothing too onerous. We do owe you quite a bit. However, Rhada seems to have taken a liking to you. We've tried to find her a replacement, but all of them seem to lack your spirit," the Deevil Lady in question took this opportunity to run a large, though delicately proportioned, hand through Ranma's hair, which in turn made the martial artist jerk in surprise.
"Yeah... I'm one of a kind," Ranma faintly said. He wasn't very grateful for his charisma at the moment.
"I was thinking maybe twice a year, a month each visit for the next twenty years," the demon lord casually stated.
"Twenty years?" Ranma exclaimed. That was a long time, immortal or not.
"Now, calm down, little dear," Rhada soothed. "Think of it as a vacation. You've been to Abdul-Ra's realm already. It's a very nice place by any mortal standard. Your every whim will be catered to."
"But... but it's full of cats!" Ranma cried out desperately.
"They are all shapeshifters," Abdul-Ra offered. "I'll command them to take human form in your presence."
"Two months is a long time. How am I going to explain this to the others," Ranma mumbled to himself. Anhur's missions were already promised by his contract with the deity. Additional time away would have to be explained. He was sure that telling his friends that he was offered an official position as a Deevil Lady's pet would not really go over very well. "Wait a minute. Do you trade?" the pigtailed youth asked.
"Well, yes. I am technically a sovereign of a nation, though it's actually a sub realm of Hades," Abdul-Ra explained.
"If I could open up trade agreements between you and Nabiki I could explain my presence here as the negotiator," Ranma nodded to himself eagerly as the beginning of a plan started to come together. "That way Nabiki would explain to the others why I was gone. She always had much better at people management skills than me anyway."
"Do you think that she'd mind dealing with demons?" the raksasha asked.
Ranma thought for a moment, "Nah, she'll deal with anyone as long as their words good. I don't think she'll mind if I'm the only contact though. I somehow doubt that Hades is on her vacation list."
"I think my realm is one of the few that has regions that aren't inimical to human life. She doesn't need to know that it doesn't just contain deserts, lava flows, and orchards."
"For her own peace of mind then. Alright, I'll do it," Ranma gave a triumphant grin. Guaranteed vacation for twenty years was an acceptable price. He might have been less sure of himself if he had seen the Deevil Lady's possessive smile as she again started to pet the martial artist's hair. The pigtailed youth grimaced, uncomfortable with the touch but understanding that the feelings behind it were very different than when his fiancées touched him. He even vaguely recalled enjoying the sensation while in cat form.
Chapter 6: Ambush
Nabiki sat on the floor of her room. Fine lines of concentration marred her forehead as she stared into a porcelain basin before her. Although the liquid it held was merely water, it simmered and bubbled, emitting a heatless silvery energy.
Waving her hand over her make-shift scrying pool she finally relaxed, leaning against her bed. It had been hard work following up on that fool Ryouga. He had somehow gotten lost when he was supposed to be speaking with the city council regarding a trade agreement. It was only through sheer luck she had found this out with her enchantments and had spent the last several days in an exhausting attempt to continue negotiations with her newly mastered image communication. Concern about Ranma fouling up what little plans they had come with only compounded her worried state.
Never the less, she had succeeded. She had forged contracts with two of the major forces in existence in that other alternate Japan Ranma had traveled to. She frowned at the terms. How both Ranma and Ryouga had managed to get such poor terms still amazed and frustrated her. If the act of exploration hadn't called for their durability she would have insisted on going herself. Martial artists all seemed to have the negotiation skills of six-year-olds. It's not that she wasn't rich through the terms she had... but it could have been so much more.
A knocking sounded out from her door, along with a muffled voice calling her name. Nabiki sighed, of course as with all things connected to Ranma there were complications. "Come in Masayo!"
The Demon Queller opened the door and peeked in. Personally, Nabiki thought she was a sweet girl, though she naturally seemed a bit obsessed about Ranma. It had been a slight shock to find that she felt this way even though she believed Ranma was a girl. Nabiki didn't mind, it wasn't as though she was interested in her.
"So what brings you here today? Did the Emperor send you with the shipment again," the Tendo girl asked casually from her seated position.
"Well... kind of." The demon spooker mumbled from the doorway. "The war has sort of been won."
"I assume your side 'sorta' won," Nabiki asked slyly.
"Er... well, I suppose you could say that." The Demon Queller looked at her feet. "With both the Republic of Japan and the New Empire cooperating in a coordinated attack, the Oni front line collapsed. Completely routed in mere days. We actually spent more time traveling to them than fighting them."
"And your other problem?" Nabiki prompted.
"As we thought, the Shogunate attacked as soon as we were occupied with the Oni. If we hadn't allied with the Republic we would have easily been taken over. As it was, our allies ambushed the attackers and drove them into a retreat."
"That's it? No details?" the Tendo asked. Usually, these fighter types boasted for whole minutes about their victories.
"Well... I was with the group fighting the Oni, but I hear we drove them all the way back to their cities. At that point, the resistance fell apart." Masayo shrugged in puzzlement. "They theorize that the leaders retreated through a portal with the majority of their forces. They just left the cities alone."
"I suppose the New Empire magnanimously offered their protection in return for accepting their leadership."
"Hey! It wasn't like that at all!" Masayo yelled indignantly. "You don't know what's it's like over there! If you don't have some sort of protection then your nothing more than fodder for Oni, monsters and possessing entities," her voice trailed off as a haunted look entered her eyes. "You just don't know what it's like," she whispered.
Nabiki shrugged guiltily, she wasn't used to dealing with fragile personalities. "Sorry. So what happened then?"
"Well, with the Shogunate cities defenseless, many of the leaders of both the allies were in favor of just leaving the traitors as Oni fodder. Fortunately, the Emperor had mercy and convinced the Republic to accept them under their own wing."
"Wait, the Emperor didn't take them himself? That makes no sense! They're adjacent to the New Empire and nowhere near the Republic," Nabiki exclaimed confused.
Masayo looked at Nabiki in pity, an attitude guaranteed to aggravate the Tendo daughter. "It is against the precepts of the Empire to use technology in any way. The only way we could accept them would be if they razed their cities and began anew. The Republic believes technology is the true path of the future, but they are more accepting of the use of magic." She paused for a moment. "It's not a politically sound decision since we are now bordered on two sides by the Republic, but it was the only decision our Emperor could make in good conscience."
"Yeah, a real humanitarian," hiding her sarcasm as best she could. She strongly doubted that the two powers could peacefully coexist indefinitely. Humans didn't seem to be made to get along together. She'd be happy if she was wrong, after all, they did have the Oni as a common foe, but just in case one did consume the other she was just thankful to have contracts with both of them.
"So crisis averted, the bad guys retreated to their backer in Atlantis and we all live happily ever after," until the Old Ones get us, Nabiki thought to herself. "So what brings you here?"
"Atlantis? Where's Atlantis?" Masayo asked in some concern.
Nabiki cursed her slip of the tongue, chalking it up to an exhausting few days. "Atlantis? Heh heh, that just a euphemism for limbo, or a generic hole in the ground. Get with the times girlfriend," Nabiki casually stated with a practiced smile. "So?"
"Well, I did well in battle, making up for much of my dishonor," she humbly stated. "As a reward, the Emperor offered me a position as liaison here." Obviously straining for herself control she continued, "So is Ranma back from her errand?"
Smiling to herself, Nabiki just shook her head, "Looks like it might be a while. I can set up a place close by for you to stay in." If envoys are going to be dropping by I should probably buy a few neighboring houses and hire a maid service, she thought to herself. Sure the expenses were unfortunate but in all professional businesses, you had to treat your clients well if you wanted to continue doing business. This wasn't the small-time anymore, she smiled at the thought.
Nabiki's warm fuzzy feeling were dispelled as she felt a disturbance in the dimensional layers somewhere in the city. Not her portals and not a true gate... yet. A frown crossed her countenance as she stretched her senses, adding a minor spell to allow her to perceive more. In a moment she knew, something was happening at the Neko Hanton.
Groaning to herself she sighed, she should have known. The fiancée brigade was gone, as was Balthazar. The sheer peace and quiet should have informed her something was happening.
Ranma walked down the street. He'd been in the city for several days and had almost gotten to the point that he could ignore the hostile glares and casually bat the minor nuisances he met away. For the moment he was deep in thought as he contemplated his new career as an arena fighter.
He had avoided participating in the public fights in the past, satisfied to test his abilities against those who challenged him. That was not to say he never went to them. He often would walk into the various pit fights and public exhibitions, watch, then usually walk off again. Although these fights could be brutal they often resembled two pit bulls tearing at each other. They lacked skill, grace, and for all the bloodshed they also lacked power. Not ferocity, but at ten years of age his casual slap could send a normal man a dozen feet. There was simply no point joining in. Even his father, whom no one had ever called an honorable man, never stooped that low. Selling his son for a bowl of rice and two pickles was one thing, but sully the Art? Never.
He vaguely hoped this would be different, but doubted it. There would be blood and pain... and probably a lot of clumsy flailing around. It was distasteful but Ranma thought he could keep his goal in mind long enough to finish the competition. If not he was sure that Nabiki would be happy to remind him what the stakes were. He wondered what the gang was up to. Were they still inflicting gratuitous property damage without him? Probably. It never took much to spark their tempers. It was part of why they were fun to be around. It was also why he needed vacations. Lots of vacations.
He had just come from his new agent, Syushra, to sign and finalize his contract. The contract seemed standard and one of Abdul-Ra's more legally minded minions had examined it and given his okay concerning it. The games started next week and would run a month. If he won every battle he would fight once a week for a total of four engagements. It all seemed very straightforward if a bit tawdry.
Syushra himself seemed an honest... entity. At least Abdul-Ra's research hadn't shown any dirty dealing in an industry that wasn't known to breed honesty. It was just taking him a bit of time to adjust to dealing with something that appeared so odd. Of course his agent's address, the 'Bloody Grub Plaza' had really creeped him out. There were no tortured humans or sentients, but there were a lot of bugs. Apparently the area specialized in exotic cuisine. Grubs, slugs, and other less savory appetizers abounded. He had almost jumped to a neighboring building the first time he had seen someone's breakfast skitter away before the patron was fast enough to consume it.
Syushra had been polite and came across as very forthright. They had chatted for several hours about various fights they had each been in or witnessed. The alien had a story to suit every occasion. Each one very witty and humorous. He listened attentively to Ranma's own stories giving his own version of a chuckle in the appropriate places. He was, in short, the perfect host.
This in itself made Ranma feel awkward. He had never really met someone who was so easy to get along with. It would have been a very pleasant time if he could just get over the fact that Syushra looked like the guest star from a horror film. Probably his only lapse had been the time he asked Ranma if he was hungry and offered to treat him to a very nice local restaurant. The alien must have been an astute study of the human features since he had immediately realized that his guest looked quite ill and swiftly retracted his offer.
Still, Ranma had come away with a lot to think about. The stories his host had shared regarding the Arena had been a mixed bag. Blood and gore intermixed with honorable battle. In a way in was comforting. He had been given the impression that Syushra was extremely knowledgeable and would be willing to share his wisdom in order to efficiently defeat his opponents.
It would be fair to say that Ranma was on autopilot while walking down the thoroughfare. It would not be accurate to say that that he was ignoring his surroundings. His experience in Nerima as well as various subsequence events had honed his battle senses to a fine hair trigger. So while his conscious mind paid no attention to the two humans wearing the body armor shaped into insectoid forms, his back brain noted their location as well as the position of the other entities and their chi presence he sensed in a wide area around him.
When the two casually walked up behind him, simultaneously formed a sword in each hand, and then aimed them at him, his reflexes took over. It wasn't as if Mousse hadn't tried the same thing before. Throwing himself forward onto his hands he kicked back with both feet while allowing the blades to tangle with the others where his torso would have been.
His feet meanwhile met the stomach of the two behind him. The impact threw both opponents twenty feet backward and forced one of them to drop his sword at the ground by Ranma. The martial artist casually continued his roll forward to face his assailants.
"Hmm... you certainly don't look like fiancées," Ranma mocked at the two figures hastily getting to their feet. "Martial arts rivals? Nah, usually they yell out a challenge. At least the first time they attack me. You're also a bit clumsier than my usual fare." Saying this he casually kicked the sword lying at his feet. The weapon was sent through the air hilt first at the forehead of the face mask, knocking the single sworded figure back on its butt. "Oh, you dropped this."
The pair silently moved forward to flank the pig-tailed youth. Ranma grinned to himself. He couldn't help it, random attacks made him homesick. As the duo began their next assault he in turn began his commentary. "Not bad... for a twin set of losers," darting from side to side to avoid the flurry of strikes he continued. "I enjoy this more than a salvo of missiles. We'll have to do this again sometime. When you get out of the hospital."
Positioning himself he tapped two of the dancing blades on the side, which in turn altered their trajectory to tangle them in the other set. A loud series of clangs alerted the martial artist that his simple tactic had succeeded and the area was temporarily free of weapons.
Darting quickly into the space in front of each attacker in turn, he deftly grabbed hold of the ridge that held the helmets in place. "I'd love to chat more, but I have places to go, people to see... oh and your friend here to interrogate," holding the fellow in his left at full extension he initiated the Butterfly Kiss, the transferred kinetic energy sending the first assassin sailing almost a half-mile away. He easily deflected the remaining attacker's sword by the simple expedient of shaking him like a rag doll.
"Kind of tough to aim all those little swords of yours when your worlds moving like that," Ranma offered sympathetically while continuing to toss the hapless figure around in seemingly random directions, constantly avoiding the flailing blades. "I really feel for you. The first time Ryouga used this on me... well, as you might notice, it's really not a very dignified move. Effective until you know the counter." At this point Ranma began pounding the armored individual rhythmically into the ground, first in one direction, then the other.
"It's great against people in armor too. That heavy layer of protection doesn't seem very useful against internal impacts. Of course, I'm using more force than normal in your case. I can tell by your aura that you're tougher than a normal human," smiling warmly, he continued. "That's okay, it's still a good move for keeping you off balance until I can do this."
At that point Ranma paused and threw two carefully aimed miniature vacuum blades, one at either side of the armor's neck. He followed this up with a palm strike to the faceplate, shattering the insect visage.
"Well, so that's what you look like," Ranma muttered to himself, "I don't remember you." He did notice the tattoos at the neck and face but other than that it was just some unknown young human.
While the shaken human was recovering Ranma took advantage of his stunned condition to remove his swords. It didn't look like his hand to hand skills were a particular threat to him. Taking a better grip on his hapless victim's throat, he started his interrogation.
"So... who sent you? Either it was an idiot or someone vastly misinformed about me," Ranma helpfully gave another shake to loosen the tongue. The young man silently glared into the face of his captor and gritted his teeth. A moment later a luminescent blue glow formed around him. Ranma's grip was slightly displaced by the immaterial substance and the assassin took advantage of this to twist free and take a ready stance some feet away.
"Let me guess. A force field, right?" Ranma taunted, attempting to get some sort of reaction from his opponent. At least the idiot was disarmed, Ranma thought to himself.
Behind the martial artist the swords laying on the ground shimmered, then disappeared. Ranma, feeling the tingling sensation that presaged enchantment stepped back and to the side, allowing him to view the area behind him without losing sight of his opponent. He was slightly surprised to find the swords had vanished. A moment later he was even more dismayed to see them reappear in the young assassin's hands.
Ranma frowned to himself, mentally calculating how soon it would be before the other fellow could get back. Chances were he wouldn't be stunned long and the attack itself was mostly to gain distance, doing very little damage. Nodding, he came to the conclusion that he had a few minutes to test his opponent's abilities. It would be valuable to know his enemies' capabilities.
With this decision, he leaped over his opponent and then began a methodical pounding before the swords could be brought to bear. The hardest part with dealing with swords was getting in close. Fortunately, only Kuno had ever been good enough to keep him at a distance for any amount of time. And that was only when using that silly watermelon training regime.
After about fifteen seconds of the Chestnut Fist, the blue glow disappeared allowing free access to flesh. The martial artist was about to renew his verbal assault when his danger sense told him of a threat from behind. He leaped away expecting that either reinforcements had arrived or the assassin's partner had made his journey sooner than expected. He was therefore taken by complete surprise when a 5-meter long head filled with dagger-like teeth closed around one of his legs.
The shock was soon followed by surprise, then pain. Oh, sure he was far more durable in this environment than at home, but rows of saber sharp teeth still hurt like hell even if his leg was in no danger of being removed. Most worrying, it lowered his mobility by several magnitudes. No... now that he thought about it, the fetid aroma and slime that was on his leg was the worst.
Ever since the Orroci he had lost any desire to see a big lizard up close, his encounters with Ammit and the Dragon had just driven the feeling home.
Not one to dwell on his misfortunes he grabbed a nostril of his attacker in one hand and with that leverage began quickly knocking out the teeth around his leg several at a time. The huge creature didn't even register the pain for several seconds leaving Ranma essentially free to leap away when the thing roared in agony and violently shook its head.
Gracefully landing many meters away the pigtailed youth leisurely massaged his leg while appraising the situation. His assassin now had another force field up and both his swords out. He was seemingly in control of a large T-Rex. Admittedly, the dinosaur wasn't very fast and it didn't 'feel' as threatening as most magical or supernatural entities did. Most likely it was just a big animal as opposed to a monster that used ambient supernatural energies to fuel its durability. All right, one more foray.
The lizard was closing in on him, so he simply leaped between its legs, under its body and tail, and into a swift jump kick at the unmasked youth. Ranma felt a tingle of magic and then a wall of air impacted him mid-flight. Tumbling end over end trying to regain his balance he was again struck in the side by a huge scaled tail. Once more tumbling in the air he managed to come to a semblance of a controlled landing about fifty feet away.
Working the kinks out of his muscled he looked back at his attackers. The youth was now floating in air, electricity dancing on the surface of the armor, and exposed skin. The T-Rex was rapidly approaching with earth-shaking steps.
It was obvious that he had drastically underestimated his opponents. They had begun their assault with an incredibly weak attack and he had assumed that even if they were holding some of their forces back, they weren't holding much back. The use of magic swords, spell effects without any obvious spellcasting and monster summoning proved him wrong. Of course, the very fact that they had attacked him with such a pathetic initial strike demonstrated that they knew practically nothing about him either. In this case, the war might go to the one who knew more about the other.
Ranma knew he could win, heck he was barely winded. That wasn't ever in question, however, it was obvious that this person wasn't working alone. Ranma also knew it would be best if they found out as little about his capabilities as possible. Until he decided to challenge them on his own ground. It was just a variation of the Saotome Final Attack.
With that thought, he engaged the dimensional cloak and ghosted towards nearby cover.
Nabiki hurried through the silent streets. They were presently deserted. The Nerima citizens, apparently sensing that such a quiet day was merely a prelude to a disaster of epic proportion, had mostly decided to either stay in or visit relatives in neighboring prefectures. Not having anything to do except waiting, Masayo had followed in her tracks. She easily jogged next to the panting Tendo girl, even finding the leisure to glance around at the scenery.
Nabiki was worried. If the disturbance had occurred elsewhere she may have simply shrugged and sent someone to find out what had happened. However, the Neko Hanten actually had people who knew something about magic. Usually only enough to be irritating, but there were many events taking place that should not be interfered with. Ranma wasn't here, so chances were there was nothing to be worried about, but still...
The anomaly she had sensed was slowly building. It had already been worrisome and it was getting to be more so. When the eatery finally came into sight the radiance pouring out of the windows and from under the door inspired a last-ditch panicked rush towards the front door from the Tendo sister.
Nabiki was not one of the martial powerhouses that frequented the area but she was not without some limited training. This combined with one of the most unpleasant adrenaline rushes she had ever experienced combined to allow her to destroy the flimsy lock on the door and rush inside. She immediately wished she had waited.
Inside were all the people that she had been concerned about. Shampoo huddled on the floor next to the Summoner, Balthazar, listening intently to his instructions. Ukyou and Akane stood across from them, quietly waiting for them to finish. The two girls from the Timiro Kingdom stood on either side of them. Such a scene of peace would not have been cause for concern, except for the circle on the floor which was radiating a huge amount of energy and light. It gathered in a wide pillar and almost coated the walls and ceiling in eerie luminescence.
Nabiki was far from a master of the mystic arts, most of her powers were granted through Thoth rather than from her own means. However, none had ever accused her of being slow on the uptake. The girls in front of her were breaking down the dimensional barriers and it wasn't just to chat about the weather.
"Stop," Nabiki shouted at the top of lungs. Her image as the unflappable business person could be restored later. Right now the universe as she knew it was endangered. Unfortunately, whatever effect Shampoo and the circle mage had been trying for was finished. The Amazon looked up from the circle and turned in puzzlement.
"What Mercenary Girl want," she asked from the sitting position. Behind her, the pillar flexed and bent. A final deformation sent waves of energy throughout the area as the excess energy dispersed, displaying a different scene on the other side of the newly created portal.
"Stay put," Nabiki commanded futilely, "Ranma is coming back in just a few weeks. You'll do nothing except risk his life if you go through that."
"Shampoo is going to help Airen," the blue-haired girl sniffed disdainfully. "Shampoo not abandon him like the others."
"Hey," a chorus came from the other girls as they glanced away from the mesmerizing gate to their rival.
"I know Ranma bit off more than even his ego can handle. Just because you think you're the only one who knows enough about magic to follow him doesn't mean we don't care," an irate Akane responded.
"Yeah and don't think we're going to let you alone with my Ran-chan," Ukyou inserted, earning a glare of her own from the other girls.
"Ranma isn't going to thank you if you jump through that portal. Let me contact him and you can see for yourself that everything is fine! He really doesn't need help," Nabiki stated quickly, trying to keep their wavering attention focused on her. "Look, it's really a simple mission. He's in no danger at all. Just wait for him," Nabiki urged as she lied through her teeth.
"Mercenary Girl lie... Airen needs us," that was as far as she got before a huge clawed hand reached through the portal and grabbed the girl's hair. In an instant, the Amazon had been pulled through the portal. After a moment of shocked silence, the others shouted in rage.
When projectile and laser fire began to spray wildly through the portal, the shouting was quickly muted as the girls dived to the floor. Nabiki cursed to herself from her own position hugging the ground. The circle mage was cowering in one corner and the other girls were now spread out throughout the room.
Nabiki heard groaning timbers sound throughout the restaurant and realized with a shock that the energy and projectiles that had completely missed the people had blown huge gaping holes in the walls and ceiling. Her eyes widened in panic as she was able to see through the openings and see that outside large portions of nearby houses and even several houses behind those houses were either gone or had huge areas simply missing from them.
Eyes slotted in determination she quietly apologized to Shampoo and summoned borrowed energy from Thoth and focused it through her hand. A small fiery sphere formed in the palm of her hand and in a smooth motion, she aimed and fired. Not at the portal, but at the circle under it.
The instant the energy impacted, the portal winked out taking the humming of lasers and whistling projectiles with them.
There was a moment of complete silence as each girl took count of what had just occurred. Nabiki, although feeling ill at the fate she might have condemned Shampoo to was glancing nervously around her. Most of the walls were gone and she could see the sky through the upper floors of the restaurant.
"Everyone out of the building, now," commanded Nabiki, barely able to keep her voice from breaking up."
"You... you just left Shampoo to that thing," Akane whispered in horror, just staring aghast at her sister.
"I had no choice, we... "
"What kind of monster are you," her younger sister began.
"Your sister is wise," a gruff voice broke in, "She has saved you from a fate which you most assuredly earned." Masayo stood from where she had lain. "If you continue to blindly open portals to my world you will find that there are many things that will attempt to destroy you. I believe Ranma may survive such things, but it's obvious that he is the exception in this world, not the rule." Frowning to herself she looked around. "You have paid a price, but if we don't leave we'll pay a heavier toll. It's a miracle this building is still standing. I for one will not tempt fate any longer in this fragile world." So stating, she promptly walked out through one of the open walls. Bits of ceiling starting to fall around her in earnest.
This action prodded the others to leave the condemned area themselves. Once outside they stood in silence taking in the ruined blocks surrounding the once popular eatery.
They were still staring out at the devastation in shock when the edifice behind them signaled its end with a long resounding crash.
Nabiki simply shook her head in wonder. Ranma was going to freak when he found out Shampoo was in Atlantis. Heck, even Thoth was going to be upset. Nabiki was supposed to be in control of the area. Any problems here were ultimately her responsibility.
Looking at the burning buildings surrounding her Nabiki tapped her foot on the ground in contemplation. This would take a bit of effort to put a positive spin on.