Chapter 7: Obligations
"This is complete crap!" the first armored made an angry gesture in the air. "We had absolutely no warning that he was some sort of mutant wizard!" The other individual quickly gave a blow to the back of the first person's rear helmet in token rebuke.
"Don't whine, the client will be charged appropriately for the lack," shaking his own insect helmed head, he looked around the battle-scarred landscape. "We should have been better prepared."
"Well... we knew he had to be more than standard human simply to be walking unmolested in Atlantis. There was no way to know he was some sort of powered freak."
The other turned to face the younger man. "It's my responsibility. I should have set up surveillance, instead of simply choosing to strike at him directly."
"Hey! That was my idea!" the other objected, relieved not to be blamed, but not pleased to have his contribution ignored.
The older man simply grimaced under his mask at his companion's behavior. "It was my mission. Despite it being your bonehead idea it was my responsibility for accepting it."
"Well... I won't argue," the younger reluctantly submitted.
"By the way. Get rid of the damn dinosaur," he gestured at the huge reptile that was presently sniffing hungrily at the back of his armor.
Ranma wasn't far from these proceedings. He had ducked off into the alley, engaged the Dimensional Warp technique, and then employed a mixture of the Silent Thief chi masking and mere stealth. He had found that if he fully engaged the technique in plain sight, the supernatural entities all seemed to stare at him as if he was holding a beacon. By merely masking his energy and practicing due diligence through mundane stealth, he was able to practically be invisible without the annoying 'here I am' side effect caused by actual invisibility.
What he had found was educational. The second fellow he had knocked away with the Butterfly Kiss had indeed come back a few minutes later to find the first assassin searching the area, dinosaur in tow. The helmet that Ranma had smashed open had hastily been taped together. A poor bit of protection, but it was obvious to Ranma that the armor was more for anonymity than protection. After all, anyone that could put up a new force field as fast as he could take them down couldn't be using mere armor for anything but aesthetics.
The conversation he had been overhearing was not surprising. Drawing a correlation between the armored individuals and assassins had been anything but difficult. The question of course was who. He hadn't been in the city long enough to have any new enemies and his old ones had no knowledge of Atlantis that he was aware of. That of course was the purpose of his present hidden state, to learn who had hired these people and who exactly were these armored people.
Fortunately, the eye that had been following him had chosen the last few minutes to conceal itself. Ranma could feel its chi, but to all other means of perception, it was simply not there. It probably didn't want to spoil the entertainment.
Hopping up onto some neighboring roofs he simply waited until the two below stopped bickering and started to walk away. Ranma simply followed.
Nabiki absently tapped her chin with her finger in contemplation. Masayo did not know anything about Atlantis but she did know a few things about monsters. Of course, that simply led to Masayo's firm belief that Shampoo was either dead or fervently wishing she was dead. Nabiki herself had her own ideas. She was convinced that Shampoo was merely wishing she was dead.
She was grasping at straws but the attack through the portal had been far too overwhelming and organized to have been just a few demons on the street with ideas of random destruction. No, she firmly believed that the portal had caught the attention of the authorities in Atlantis and they had simply been mistaken for the typical dimensional raiders. This led to the belief that Shampoo was alive and probably being interrogated at the moment. Alive, but probably wishing she wasn't.
Even though it made her inwardly wince, Nabiki simply thanked Thoth that it wasn't Akane. It wasn't that she hated Shampoo, but Akane was her sister.
The man in the grotesque armor was presently more than happy to be wearing it. The armor and helmet easily covered his face and expression, leaving him to concentrate on keeping his voice calm and level. It was getting difficult recently. In front of him stood a huge serpentine figure. He would never mistake it for a mere serpent however, it was a dragon, an adult dragon filled with all the pride and power that goes with that position.
"So… why shouldn't I kill you again," the dragon asked with some less than concealed ire.
"You, of course, could but my companions would avenge me. They would hunt you down and…"
"Yes, yes I heard that part," the dragon stated dismissively. "It was the other reason that caught my attention." He had heard so many dying shouts of vengeance over the years that he mostly ignored them unless they were especially entertaining. Besides, did the little armored man really believe he'd let anyone know what happened to him? He was already using a minor spell to prevent transmissions and cries for help. Simple precautions.
"We are the private assassins of Lord Spynncryth. If anything happens to me you shall face his wrath," the man elaborated attempting to sound firm and confident. A difficult thing to accomplish when you're facing a dragon's head as large as your body. And for some odd reason, his electrical systems seemed to be malfunctioning.
"And why would Splynncryth's private assassins be following me around trying to drum up some side work," the great wyrm's head angled itself slightly to regard the assassin with one eye. "Is business down this season in the great dimensional market?"
"Lord Splynncryth allowed us to do side work as long as it doesn't interfere with his wishes." This, of course, was all an exaggeration. The Sunaj did work for Splynncryth, but it was a far looser alliance than most people believed. Naturally, allowing people to draw their own conclusions usually gave the Sunaj more freedom and influence than most except the direct minions of the Splugorth possessed. Most of the time.
"Of course. A sovereign lord lets his minions go off and assassinate whoever they like," hot breathe washed over the man as the dragon snorted his disbelief. He hadn't been alive this long to not recognize a line of bull when he was fed it. "Obviously that's the story you're going to stick to. Well, stop wasting my time and tell me why you've felt obliged to risk your life by bothering me."
After a moment of silence where the Sunaj reflected on the benefits of still breathing he started into the speech, he had begun before he was interrupted by an irritated dragon. "We have heard that you are hunting a martial artist. It so happens that we have become aware of the location of this person, for a certain price we can eliminate him for you..."
The words were interrupted as a huge clawed hand smashed the assassin back and pinned him firmly against the wall. "Where is he? I don't need your services, I'll kill him myself for the affront he gave me!"
The roar of the dragon's voice momentarily overwhelmed the armored man. With the audio buffering systems down along with the other systems, the sound traveled unimpeded to his ears, causing excruciating pain.
"We have agents tracking him, we can give you the location if you wish," the man gasped through the crushing grip on his chest and the more localized pain in his ears. He had to admit that he was hoping the dragon would volunteer to do his people's work for him. He just wished the process of convincing it wasn't so painful.
Ranma ducked behind another building. He was almost certain the armored people he was following couldn't see invisible but he didn't want to take any chances until he had a better grasp of what their abilities were. The force fields didn't worry him so much, he was confident that he could overload the damage capacity of the field with little effort. The summoned dinosaur did worry him. That was pure distilled magic and that meant it could be a wild card in combat until he found what its limitations were.
His prey walked purposefully into a three-story building of human proportions. Hopefully, this meant it was their destination. With his luck, they were all vampires and this was merely the storage for cattle. He grimaced and the thought. He wouldn't discount it but the Splugorth were notorious in their hatred of Vampire Intelligences and their humanoid minions. Not that he was an expert but his talks with his manager and his 'mistress' Deevil had brought to light some gross political structures.
Ranma maintained his Umi-sen technique as he hopped onto a building opposite the one he had just made the decision to stake out. A few of the creatures on the street stared at him obviously aware that there was a human in their midst attempting to hide. Ranma simply looked boldly into their eyes... or whatever they used and dared them to do something about it. In most cases, they simply went on about their business unconcerned. A few of them looked at him, looked up to where the eye was floating and cloaking its presence to the casual eye and hurried onward. A smaller number tried to play 'abuse the cowering human'. He made short work of these idiots, however, although he tried to be discrete he wasn't always successful. It was the main reason he thought the armored guys couldn't see the invisible. Or, of course, it could be an elaborate trap. It wasn't like he hadn't walked into dozens of them in his lifetime.
He had just made himself comfortable for a long sit when he heard a voice.
"Ranma? Are you there," a familiar voice echoed in his ear.
"Ah, damn," he muttered to himself. "Nabiki, this isn't the best time. I'm spying on some psychos and I'm being watched by someone else. I don't think they can, but it's possible they might trace you given enough time."
"Sorry Ranma but we have trouble, is this better," Nabiki asked as her voice suddenly seemed to bypass his ears and resonate in his head. The gods had given him some experience with this mode of communication before, he had just never expected it from someone else.
"Telepathy? Since when can you do telepathy," Ranma focused his voice internally as he had with the few deities who had used this mode of communication on him.
"Since I learned this darn spell. The option comes with the spell but it's not often used because it's so tiring," Nabiki's voice had more than a tinge of worry in it and a large amount of urgency. "It's about your fiancée brigade."
"Oh come on," Ranma exclaimed in exasperation. "I'm not even there! How much trouble can they possibly get into?"
"They can if they get it into their heads to follow you," Nabiki stated flatly.
"Follow me? Nabiki, I'm in another freaking dimension, not the dimestore down the street! How could they even think about it? You have the only key to the circles and they all go to very safe places... very far from me," he pondered skeptically.
"Well guess who made some of those circles for me? Guess who would do anything for the attention of a beautiful woman? Guess... " Nabiki was interrupted at this point.
"I'll kill him," Ranma got the point and was beyond furious. "He's a damn Summoner... he knows how dangerous this place is," pausing in his tirade he asked the next logical question. "Are they okay? You stopped them in time, right?"
"Well... I found out about it a little late," Nabiki tentatively started. She disliked having to justify her actions to anyone, but if she wanted Ranma's help she had to give a little. "Shampoo had 'Zar start the ritual at her place. I got there just in time for some things to start shooting through the portal."
"Are they okay?" Ranma asked worriedly.
"Um... most of them are," lacking a better way to say it she just told him, "They grabbed Shampoo, and then the portal was disrupted. The Neko Hanton and the block surrounding it were destroyed but everyone else was okay."
"They have Shampoo?" Ranma asked. "Who's 'they'? If they took her she's probably still alive."
"I'm not positive but I think they were what passes for authorities in those parts."
"Ugh. A mixed blessing. They'll probably want to interrogate her before they put her on the market or eat her," Ranma thought to himself.
"Eat her," Nabiki exclaimed obviously catching the last part of his thought.
"Eat? Did I say eat? I meant greet her, yeah. Greet... lots of friendly aliens over here," Ranma lamely tried to cover his slip. "The girls must have opened a portal to a sensitive spot or somehow made them think they were pirates. They don't usually respond so preemptively to dimensional travelers. That's where most of the buyers come from."
"So you can get her back," Nabiki inquired hopefully, ignoring his earlier pathetic babbling.
"Sure, no problem I'm sure it's just a misunderstanding," Ranma stated absently. Obviously, he'd have to work fast before something permanent happened to Shampoo. He was at a loss as to what to do but his manager seemed to know how to finesse the system. Surely they could work out a story that would get Shampoo out alive. If not, he'd have to try to break her out. He was confident he could do it, but that might damage his chances later on with his mission. Nabiki wouldn't like it, but he wouldn't like it if they started eating his fiancees. That wasn't the kind of attrition he was hoping for when he started his waiting game plan.
Standing up, he starting leaping from building to building heading towards his manager's office. If he had bothered to look back he might have noticed a large black dragon writhing through the air towards the entrance of the building he had been watching moments before.
Ryouga was extremely unhappy. He didn't remember much after that long chase through the streets involving the giant cat. Apparently, wherever he had followed Ranma had dangerous creatures roaming the street. He also was beginning to have the sneaking suspicion that the people on the street weren't wearing costumes.
He had woken up a small stone cell, it had a small cot in the corner and a small basin that was perpetually filled with water. Although spartan it wasn't unclean or unpleasant. The door to the chamber was locked however, so he couldn't help but think that somebody thought he was their prisoner.
Of course, stone walls don't a prison make, especially for a master of the Breaking Point, however, someone thought he was kept here. The question of course was who. Rather than perhaps create an incident he had made the decision to wait and see. He still was feeling a bit battered, though the bruises were quickly fading.
A scraping sound at the door was heard and it swung open a moment later. What it revealed was a huge humanoid with a bulky musculature and two large fangs protruding from the mouth of what almost looked like a neanderthal. A low toned voice issued from the crude face.
"Well if the little godling isn't awake," the creature taunted. "You should more careful where you get drunk and pass out, god boy. If our patrol hadn't picked you up you might have ended up in something's stomach. Things that look human should be careful in our fine city, they just might get eaten."
"Right... " Ryouga looked at the creature and thought over its words. Okay, maybe he'd been a little naive about the Halloween thing. The people would have all had to have been as rich as Kuno to afford costumes that good. "So, now that I'm awake and we're all sober, how about letting me out?"
"Not so fast, god boy. There's fines and baggage fee for housing you for the night..." The thing continued on for several minutes listing a number of ridiculous services.
"Wait! You pressed my clothes while I was unconscious and you want a tip," Ryouga interrupted at one point, unable to stay silent any longer. "I don't even have any local money!"
"That's okay, god boy, here in Atlantis we can exchange almost any currency in existence... for a fee," the jailer offered magnanimously.
"Er... I'm not sure at the going rated from yen to the credits I hear you use here, but isn't a half a million credits a bit high," Ryouga offered hesitantly.
"You high and mighty godlings disgust me," the humanoid snorted, gesturing as if to ward away dirt. "You get wealth thrown at you by your parents but won't even pay for services fairly given."
"Now wait a minute! I never had anything just handed to me," Ryouga protested hotly. "Everything I have I earned by my own hands!"
"So you'll make good on your debts," the creature inquired dubiously.
"Of course I will," Ryouga indignantly stated. Then he froze as he realized what he had just promised. He hadn't been blindsided this badly since he had made a deal with Nabiki.
"Great so hand over the money and I'll get it exchanged for you... at cost, even," it generously offered.
"Everything I have is in my backpack. You probably have it somewhere," Ryouga muttered dejectedly.
"Hmm... yes we do. A shame nothing you have covered the amount you owe," the creature sadly shook its head. "I suppose this means you'll have to default on your promise. And here I thought you were honorable. For shame."
"Hey! I made a promise and I'll keep it," the young martial artist stated stubbornly. How this had become a matter of honor he didn't even want to think about.
"You're new to Splynn? You know I happen to have a few connections," the creature stated thoughtfully. "You look like you're a fairly powerful scrapper. I bet you're not a bad fighter with the blood of a deity running in those veins of yours."
"Yes," the martial artist answered cautiously.
"I have a relative who manages a few fighters in the arena. If you agree to sign with him for a couple of fights I think I could write it off."
"So, it's like a street fight," he had fought his share of those to feed himself over the years. It was usually pathetically easy for a fighter of his caliber, but if he had to do it then so be it.
"Yeah... just like a 'street fight', just a bit more of a crowd," the creature offered politely. Ryouga wasn't sure when he'd gone from 'god boy' to this thing's pal but really thought it didn't bode well.
The creature shuffled into a dimly lit office. In the darkened corner of the room, a small tentacled creature tapped on the screen of a monitor, entering some arcane figures.
"Well," it asked in a bubbling voice.
"He was easy," the larger creature boasted. "Doesn't know a thing about Atlantis. He actually thought we were the authorities."
"Really? I didn't think he'd be that easy," the other bubbled.
"It was simple. Once I found out that he had that honor weakness I knew it was over," the creature chuckled and continued. "It also helped that he's a moron."
"It doesn't matter how stupid he is as long as he can fight. He's a demi-god, maybe even a godling. They're all fairly tough, even given the competition in the Arena."
"Just be careful. I've seen a few jokes who called themselves godlings." The creature positioned itself differently in the seat, causing some unsavory wet noises to be heard. "I think this one is different. He might be one of the more powerful ones."
"I think so," a large toothy grin followed this statement.
"Keep going with the obligation track. Also, try to make it seem like it is his own idea. We don't know how close he is to his parents or ancestors... or whatever spawned it," a wave of a tentacle enunciated this view. "If something happens to it, let it seem that it got into the trouble by itself."
"We might come close to winning. It's been a while since we collared a good one. The last few died before they could get close to getting us a profit."
"If he comes in first place we could afford a leisure pool in the office," wet sucking noises showed the creature's pleasure.
His companion stayed silent. He wasn't as fond as his partner about dark moist places. He would spend his money on some serious drinking and female company of the cheap kind.
Chapter 8: The Azlum Asylum
Ranma crept warily through the rather dimly lit corridors. The smooth stone walls had no seams giving an almost painted look to the surface. Beside him strode two huge Overlords who occasionally deigned to give him a glare of disapproval. Every hundred feet a massive stone door would adorn the wall. Small, dark vents were cut out near the bottom, and whimpers or cries of misery or madness would waft through them. Honestly, he'd rather be elsewhere.
He silently sent a prayer of thanks in the general direction of his manager. He had no idea where to even start looking for Shampoo. The arcane bureaucracy of Splynn eluded his grasp and mastering even the basics of where to ask would have taken more time than he believed he had. When he had come to his manager for advice he had simply laid a sectioned arm on his shoulder and told him that he'd take care of it. Ten minutes and one call later and he had the location of the purple-haired Amazon.
Admittedly, he had been all for breaking in and simply destroying anything that got in his way. This must have been more obvious than he had thought since his manager had gently restrained him on the way to the door. Only his gratitude had kept him from brushing past and continuing with his brute force idea.
He really hadn't been thinking straight. Ranma wasn't perfect. He may not admit that to anyone else, but he wasn't stupid. He may never lose when he was serious but he had... been inconvenienced... by his challengers on many occasions before he put them in their place. He had his flaws, buttons that people could push. Most of his buttons turned his playful battles into deadly confrontations his foes rarely walked away from without artificial aids. But they did make him react in certain ways.
One of the most frequently used buttons was 'the kidnapping of Ranma's fiancées'. It was a sure-fire way to get Ranma's attention and keep it focused for the duration. It also pissed him off. Really pissed him off. Sure, he'd been through the Soul of Ice training but it was never enough to do more than concentrate his outrage to a honed edge. He had so few friends over the years that the thought of someone taking them away could not be tolerated.
Never the less, Ranma stopped long enough for his manager to offer his help and so here he was. Only part of it was connections. True, the insectoid knew many powerful people, not the least of which were the Demon Lords Ranma himself was staying with. The real issue was experience. It dealt with fighters. Many of these fighters were not the powdered, civilized fisticuffs of the advanced civilizations. It worked with the most effective fighters it could find.
Once in awhile Syushra could find one with restraint, self-control, and acumen to accompany the power and skill it required. However, most of the time the people he worked with were dull brutes. Now, if you have powerful idiots working for you, chances are they don't like authority. In Splynn if you like fighting and hate authority you might pick fights with the military. If you survive this, you will end up in prison.
This had happened so many times over the years that it simply took one call to locate a newly acquired 'prisoner'. One more call arranged her freedom. For a price.
"I assume this friend of yours wasn't really a dimensional raider," the chittering inquiry caught Ranma off guard after the second communication ended.
"Is that what they thought? I was wondering why they grabbed her," Ranma said thoughtfully. "I mean they have tons of people gating in here. That's how they make their money, right?"
"Hmm... yes. However, your friend seems to have made her entryway directly into a rather sensitive installation. They were going to use her for some quite unpleasant experiments before I spoke with them..." his voice trailed away hesitantly.
"What," Ranma prompted cautiously.
"He didn't come out and say it but I think they may have already done something to her," he chittered anxiously.
"What!" Ranma exclaimed again with far more force and outrage.
"Calm down! We're getting her back and we'll see what damage was done soon enough," he paused to give Ranma time to collect himself. "There is also the promise I had to make to get her out."
"Promise?" Ranma asked with a certain amount of trepidation.
"Er... yes," the creature paused for a moment. "In a way, my influence is one dimensional. As you may know, the greater beings that have influence in Splynn suffer from ennui, boredom and are very jaded. They give great latitude for beings that have a chance to relieve them... "
"Can you get to the point," Ranma interrupted, tired of the rambling explanation.
"Fine. In order to free her, I had to say she was one of my fighters who had strayed," the manager tapped a chitinous foot rapidly on the floor. "Most of the entities I sponsor really aren't the sharpest tools in the shed, so I've actually had to bail them out of worse situations."
"Well, that's fine," Ranma said reasonably. "Once she's free we'll just say she sprained her foot and that's that."
"Er... no."
"After all... huh? What do you mean, no?" Ranma stopped himself as the statement penetrated.
"The government actually keeps track of these things. The person I contacted may even place bets on the person I free. After all, if I go through the trouble and expense to expedite the entity's freedom they must be worth the trouble. If their fight is canceled they'll come looking for her."
"What if she's gone?" Ranma asked worried he wasn't going to like the answer.
"Well, since she's going to need to be picked up I manufactured an excuse for you to go in and get her. She's your partner."
"My what? I don't need her as a partner! She hasn't practiced seriously since she followed me to Japan," Ranma cried indignantly. "What's she's going to do? Dose the opponents with love potions?"
"Excellent! She knows magic!"
"Huh? Did you just hear what I said?"
"Yes. It doesn't matter. If she runs off they're going to come for you. So unless you both plan to run off you're stuck. I would try to think about your new partner's assets rather than her drawbacks."
"But... but," Ranma babbled, internally torn. He really hated getting the girls involved in his fights but if he screwed this chance to grab the Highlord's attention Nabiki would nail his hide to the wall. Thoth would probably be upset too. Oh, and the universe ending thing was also a bad thing.
"Fine."
Again, he blessed the foresight of his manager. This place reeked of both magic and advanced technology. He still believed he could have broken in. Finding Shampoo would have been... unlikely, in the limited time that he would have had. Shampoo's chi could be sensed but unless he went through this magically enhanced rock, he certainly couldn't have gotten to her.
The trio finally stopped in front of what appeared to be an anomaly. Instead of a thick stone door, it appeared to be organic, perhaps wood. It pulsed with a dark, sickly energy that set Ranma's primitive magical senses and far more advanced chi senses aflame.
"Why is her cell different from the others," the martial artist asked already guessing the answer.
The Overlord gave a deep laugh, "Seems your minx has an affinity to stone doors. We had some problems at the start. She wasn't particularly powerful, to begin with, but it seems she has a talent for going through rocks as if they were nothing."
Ranma glanced once more at the entry and nodded. This was organic material impervious to the traditional Breaking Point and seemed soaked in negative chi. Shampoo wasn't advanced enough to work through negative chi and lacked the creativity that Ryouga and Ranma possessed that allowed them to adapt to situations the original techniques seemed unsuited for.
"Well, let's get my partner," he prodded his escorts before continuing. "What do you mean she wasn't?"
"Never mind, you'll see. You'll even thank us. Azlum aims to please," the one on the left said, giving a toothy grin while opening the door. Giving his escorts an evil glare he quickly walked forward to catch sight of his fiancée.
Sitting in the corner, hair falling around her like a waterfall, arms wrapped around her legs was the Amazon. She only had a few scraps of clothing left and was covered in dirt and bruises. He could tell she was barely conscious and from her chi level knew she was lucky to be aware at all.
Crossing the room he ignored the spongy feeling of the floor to kneel beside the girl.
"Shampoo," he softly questioned, to draw the girl's attention to him. Seeing no reaction he reached over to infuse her with a small amount of his chi and tap a few pressure points he knew would open up her energy channels and help center her. Behind him, he could hear the guards chuckling to one another.
Abruptly, Shampoos head jerked up, her eyes locked onto his and a massive physical force threw him across the room.
Shampoo herself obviously was quite invigorated by Ranma's attentions. She quickly stood and walked towards the man now pinned to the wall.
Ranma was shocked as hell. He wasn't at all hurt, but that had taken even his honed danger sense by surprise. An invisible force hung him from the organic wall like a Christmas decoration from a tree. It wasn't like he hadn't been in this position before, Ammet had placed him in a similar situation in his first meeting with the deity. Ammet had even bombarded him with excruciating attacks while he was there.
He could respond with brute force, he himself had limited flight ability, perhaps enough to counteract the not insignificant force being exerted on him. He was certainly easily strong enough to push himself away from the wall, but then he'd just be thrown against another. He could wait her out, this had to be using energy and it wasn't really painful. He was interrupted from his contemplation by the sight of the purple-haired Amazon slowly approaching him with a grim smile and a long glowing sword.
"Okay... change in plan," he muttered to himself. His fiancée was walking towards him looking like she was about to use an advanced chi sword technique on him. Well... he didn't sense chi, so maybe it was that psi stuff Ammet used. He hated that stuff. Magic he could sense, he hadn't encountered psionics enough to sense that garbage let alone resist or counter it.
"I don't suppose we can talk about this?" Ranma asked hopefully?
Ryouga was really getting tired of the trainers they kept sending him. They were all slackers. How did they ever intend for him to get ready for the tournament with the pathetic wimps they threw at him.
"Don't you have any decent equipment around here," he asked the ogre-like alien he was presently complaining to. "How am I going to get any tougher if all you can give me to spar with are these lightweight pansies," he gestured at the array of unconscious foes scattered at his feet.
The ogre shivered, this guy was nuts. He'd laughed at the idiot at first. Then he'd seen him in action. The guy may not be operating on all pistons but he had pressure to spare. He'd rounded up some impressive brute squads to train the kid, but godboy simply mowed them down. He kept asking for rocks and weights and so far it hadn't even slowed him down.
"Maybe I should train on my own for a while," Ryouga sighed. "I'm sure you mean well but you're all so weak."
This of course infuriated the ogre. He had trained some of the best. Even some winners in the Splynn Arena tournaments. Sure it had been a few years but still...
"Alright, you're a little more advanced than I thought you were. No problem. I have a little trinket from Phase World that will make you sweat more than you want." He pondered the wisdom of using the items, they'd killed the last trainee, but this guy was really irritating him, regardless of what his boss said. He really hated these over-privileged supernatural freaks.
"Phase who?" Ryouga asked in a puzzled tone. He was pretty well-traveled but he'd never heard of it. Maybe it was in Australia.
"Grr... never mind. Let's just say they have really advanced technology. The best in the Three Galaxies."
"Is that a mall?" the martial artist wondered aloud.
"Argh!" giving a cry of frustration he reached into a bag at his feet and threw a pair of oversized gauntlets and boots at his student. Ryouga of course lazily caught the slow-moving objects and looked at them.
"Er... boxing gloves and ski boots? Is that a new event in the tournament?"
The ogre sighed in disgust. "Put them on and press the big green button once."
Ryouga quickly sat down and put the equipment on. Standing up once more he clicked the button. "Is it supposed to do anything?"
Glancing at the readout that displayed on the oversized boots he grimaced. It read five. "Click the green button a few more times. If it starts killing you, hit the red button."
Ryouga immediately started mashing the green button before the words caught up with him, "Kill... ?"
This was as far as his question got before he was pulled towards the ground on his hands and feet. "This... this... "
"Is that good enough, godboy," the ogre sneered at the kneeling youth. "Those gauntlets control your personal gravity. Right now at 25 times gravity, you weigh about two and a half tons. Bah, I expected better of you."
"... is great," the martial artist finished his stuttering triumphantly, trying and failing to pull himself to his feet. "I can finally get rid of this bulky backpack! It only holds two tons anyway," the ogre's eyes widened at this. If the backpack was actually that heavy, hard to believe considering its size, then the boy was sitting with fifty tons on his back. It didn't look like he was going anywhere but it still boggled the mind.
Ryouga had finally given up on standing and was struggling to pull off his backpack. When he was free he hopped around a few times to get the feel of his new state.
"This is very cool, the weight is much better distributed," the martial artist muttered to himself. "This exercises all of my body, not just the lifting muscles." With this he clicked the green button a few more times before taking a deep breath. "Now I can start the real training."
The trainer dumbly shook his head. The readout showed one hundred gravities, which meant that godboy weighed about 10 tons. He was either going to win this tournament with godboy or retire. Maybe both.
The black tressed woman pulled up her hood and sat in the shade of the restaurant's public seating. She was pretending to sip a drink she had ordered to better blend in and was frankly regretting it. It tasted and looked truly vile. It was green and lumpy. She didn't want to think about the little grasshopper creatures she saw swimming in it. Perhaps this trip wasn't as good an idea as she had first imagined.
The area of Splynn she was in was actually far more tolerant to humans and mortal dimensional beings, but it was also tailored for the insectoid races. Many of these races were fairly pleasant, but they tended to give humans the creeps. And their drinks had the unfortunate woman on the edge of purging her stomach as long as she held the damn stuff.
However, this was the location that her informants told her that pigtailed man was staying. She had been the one to make the decision and now it was time to try to contact him. He seemed to have some very valuable abilities and it was time to see if it was merely a whim that had him help her cause earlier or he was inclined to more serious aid.
The information they had gathered so far seemed... odd. He seemed to have Sunaj after him, as good a character reference as could be asked for. The Demon Lords he was found to be speaking with concerned her. The group she had gathered around her for the rebellion held some odd sorts, even some that could normally be categorized as evil, but she still preferred to work with like-minded individuals who fought for freedom. Still, he didn't seem to be pure evil, and if he had contacts so much the better. It just meant she had to be cautious. That was fine, when she wasn't blatantly risking her life on a mission she could do cautious.
Now it was just a matter of waiting for the fellow to come back from wherever he was.
The purple-haired woman slunk towards the martial artist hanging against the wall. "Shampoo wait long time for Airen."
"Gah! Shampoo, please speak Chinese! Your Japanese sucks and it isn't getting any better from the translation effect," Ranma complained.
"Now you're teasing me, beloved. I'll have to punish you for that," Shampoo held up her sword in a threatening manner. The two guards at the door chuckled and elbowed each other. Obviously they had expected violence. "I think I'll cut off your clothes and ravish you," Shampoo finished with a purr.
The guard's mouth hung agape at the last statement. Obviously, their own encounters had ended in a different, less pleasant threat.
Ranma's mind was in a whirl. This was not a Shampoo he was used to. Oh sure, she was using force tactics but instead of throwing herself on him immediately, she seemed to be relishing the chase.
"I had some time to think," she continued, finally coming next to Ranma. "I think I must have been insane to think that throwing myself on you like a little girl with a crush would ever work. It's time to grow up and stalk my man like a real woman should." During this speech, she had placed one hand on Ranma's chest and the other was poised over his shirt to carry out her promise.
The martial artist's hand shot out to grasp the sword hand of the Amazon. "Shampoo, what happened, this isn't like you." He was concerned about the sudden change.
"I've never felt better, beloved," Shampoo enunciated each word by tracing tickling designs over Ranma's chest. "You could say I've seen the light, but to be honest I really don't remember much of the last few days." Letting her hairbrush lightly against Ranma's shoulder she sighed. "Now that I'm thinking clearly I'll show you how a real woman seduces her husband." A quick, wicked smile flitted across her face as whispered the last in his ear.
Now Ranma had always found Shampoo attractive, but she had suddenly crossed a line between cute and irritating to sexy and distracting as hell. Despite this, or even perhaps because of this, he had been carefully examining the chi flows of his fiancée. He was intimately familiar with all of his fiancées' aura and health. Akane may get kidnapped the most frequently but he cared about them all. He had therefore been able to find several very large differences in the chi flow of the woman before him. Betting that these differences were responsible for her new powers his free hand gently tapped her in the temple.
The grip on his body immediately faded, leaving him propped up against the wall under his own power. The sword flickered and then dissipated completely, leaving Shampoo looking bemusedly at her empty hand.
"I should have known better than to think I could hold you down long," the Amazon whispered in his ear. "I'll have to do this the long way."
"Shampoo, we have to leave," Ranma stated firmly, taking hold of Shampoo's shoulders to keep her a little further away and look her in the eyes. "We have a tournament to get ready for."
"But I want to talk about us... what tourna..." Her question was interrupted as Ranma swept her up in a tight embrace that literally took her breath away. While Shampoo was extremely pleased by this, she was more than slightly puzzled. She had expected a long and pleasant chase before getting Ranma to this point. It only took a moment of thought to realize the real reason she was encased in the hug.
"As much as I enjoy this, let's talk about this tournament," Shampoo found her guess confirmed as she was once more engulfed in a very satisfactory lip-lock with her husband. When Ranma stepped away she gave a happy sigh. "I suppose we can talk about it later."
"Come on you disgusting humans! This is a jail, not a breeding pen," grunted one of the guards who had gotten over the shock. Stepping back he grumpily gestured for the humans walk ahead of him.
After Ranma had explained the tournament problem away from the guards Shampoo nodded in agreement. "I am an Amazon, husband. We were born to fight. While I could have trained more since I met you, I think these new abilities will help quite a bit."
"Don't get too cocky, I was able to disrupt those fancy psionics of yours for a few moments once I had a chance to study your aura," Ranma warned.
"Very true," the Amazon said while holding his hand. "It is why you're my husband after all. I don't think we have to worry about our opponents being able to match your abilities."
"Yeah, you're right," Ranma confirmed merrily as he knocked a belligerent minor demon into an adjacent wall. Every time he came up with an excuse to drop Shampoo's hand she just picked it up again. But at least she wasn't hanging on him. While having his fiancée around again was slightly tense he had to admit it was nice to have a friend around again.
"I understand why you kissed me, but I hadn't realized my jailors spoke Chinese," Shampoo stated curiously. She really didn't remember too much but the creatures had never spoken in a language she could understand for as long as she was there. She hadn't gotten the amulet that allowed her to understand all languages until after she was free.
Ranma froze. Since Anhur had gifted him with languages he had never really thought about it. He had just assumed the creatures understood what was said. "Yeah... magic is pretty common in this land. For better or worse. It's good to be careful. Yeah... just careful.
Shampoo winked at him from his side. Her new tactics would finally convince her husband to act like one. Side by side the two approached the area they would be training in.
Ranma had been consciously paying close attention to his surrounding since he found out that the Sunaj assassins were hunting him. It was as he was almost across from his manager's office that he noticed something familiar. There was a person whose chi he had met before. Though they had met only briefly, the black-haired woman who had freed the slaves from the meat market had made a lasting impression.
As he noticed her start to get up from the table while looking in his direction Ranma pushed his senses outward to verify that the Eye of Eyelor was still floating peacefully above them. Grimacing at the lousy position he had just been placed in, he whispered to Shampoo. "Go inside and wait for me, I'll be right in."
Standing still, he concentrated intently and very gently used his rock fist technique to enclose the foot of the raven-haired lady. Then he leaped to the roof and started to lead the Eye in a merry chase. Losing it ten minutes later by the simple expedient of ducking for cover and after removing his bracers for a moment, switching gender.
Taking a less circular route back to the plaza she leaped down from the roof and over to the black-haired woman. She still sat there, however, there was a pile of stone dust scattered at her feet.
Walking up to the woman she bowed slightly. "Sorry about that but I'm being followed by a spying eye and I saw you were about to walk over to me. Not so good for either one of us."
The black-haired woman narrowed her eyed at Ranma-chan, "Sorry miss but I have no idea what you're talking about."
"But... oh shoot. Wrong gender," Ranma-chan grimaced. "If you'll trust me for a moment, we can get out of direct line of sight and I'll show you what I meant."
"And why would I follow a complete stranger into an alley," the woman drawled a question.
"Just out of line of sight, I can sense you're a strong fighter. Not as good as me, of course, but... who is," Ranma-chan said good-naturedly. She had found that if people thought she was joking they bristled less when she told them the truth.
"Fine," the woman said tersely, obviously suspecting foul play. Just as obvious was her confidence that she could take it. Ranma-chan could appreciate that.
Just around the corner Ranma-chan stopped, checked for spies in the area. Once satisfied she turned around to face the other woman. Reaching into her folded space the pig-tailed girl pulled out a thermos. Then she looked on nonplussed as the other woman drew her sword and sliced the bottom of the container off.
Looking at the water steaming on the ground she sighed, "If you're going to destroy all my hot water this could take longer than I thought."
The black-haired woman looked slightly embarrassed at ruining what appeared to be hot water but covered fairly well. "Move slower."
Taking a deep breath Ranma-chan slowly opened his folded space. The technique actually wasn't meant to be held open. Sweating slightly as she poured her chi reserves into the opening and pulled out another thermos. Used in this fashion, Hidden Weapons more resembled Happosai's Dimensional Cloak. A definite chi hog.
The woman's eyes did widen upon seeing the red-headed girl's hand disappear into a glowing disk and then pull out another thermos. Ranma-chan slowly unscrewed the lid and poured in onto herself.
The sword did waver a bit upon seeing the change but quickly steadied. "So you are the girl. A shapeshifter. Well, I've seen stranger."
Ranma's eye twitched, "It's a curse. Water triggered," regaining his composure he continued. "So what's a big hero like you doing here?"
"This 'big hero' is looking for other heroes who might risk their lives for the good of others," she said with a slight smile.
"You found me. That's actually pretty impressive since you've only seen me once. Your network must be pretty good."
"It is, but I really didn't want to talk to you about it. I wanted to talk to you about your intentions."
"Well, I certainly like what your group is doing. Being human, who wouldn't? I wouldn't have helped you guys if I didn't approve."
"Enough to contribute? I'm not sure if you're a warlock or wizard but you seem to have a significant amount of power. We could use your help."
"I'd love to help but I'm occupied on my own crusade at the moment," he paused to look her in the eye. "I should be finished in a few months and free to take on other obligations." If he survived his bout as a catspaw he should have plenty of time for other undertakings even after the time promised to Rhada. What he'd seen so far in Atlantis had left an impression he'd be overjoyed to erase.
"Can it possibly be more important than saving lives here in Splynn," the woman urged once more.
"Lady, I can't say much, but if what I'm doing doesn't work out we'll all be wishing we were as lucky as those dead slaves," he shrugged his moment of seriousness off with a smile. "But don't worry, haven't lost when it counted yet and I'll just get better," he bent to whisper in her ear as if conspiring with her. "Doesn't seem possible, does it?"
"You're a funny man Ranma. I hope you're as good as you think," she paused in contemplation. "You'll need it."
"That's true... but it sounds like you have something specific to say," Ranma prompted.
"The Sunaj have been hired to kill you... "
"Knew that."
"You seem to have a lot of enemies. Leviathan hired the Sunaj and the Sunaj have convinced a dragon to join the fray."
"Dragon? What the heck is he doing here," Ranma muttered to himself while cracking his knuckles. He'd been practicing. Maybe he still wasn't in Ammet's league but a dragon... that might be in his reach. "I hadn't expected him to be so persistent, but I suppose it is par for the course."
"They say you can know a man by the quality of his enemies," the woman said with a smile.
"What do they say amount sheer quantity," Ranma joked. "Thanks. I had tracked the Sunaj back to their headquarters, now I don't have to waste time watching them. Though I need to find out more about what their tattoo thingies do. That dinosaur was an unpleasant surprise."
"You're trying for a place in the Arena, I'm sure the veterans will help you. Consider that thanks for helping us during our last rescue," she started to turn, then paused and said over her shoulder, "If you need help or wish to join us, use this," a small cubed flew through the air and Ranma quickly caught it.
"By the way, what's your name," Ranma mumbled, concentration split between the departing woman and the featureless cube.
"White Raven," she said as she turned the corner.
Ranma stood looking at the cube. It was a really nice cube. He sure wished he know what to do with it. With a shrug, he put it into the folded space he had specially made to hold all the very nice things he never used. It would go nicely with the snake staff, the rings, and the other mementos of his journey.
"Well, what happened to Shampoo? She's completely different... well not completely different, but she hasn't tried a potion on me," Ranma looked around his manager's office uncomfortably. "Although that empathic transmission thing is really embarrassing."
"From what you say, her personality has done a complete turnaround. That combined with her lack of memory and new psionic gifts is a bit ominous," the insectoid chattered from the oddly shaped chair it straddled.
"Ominous? It can't be that bad, can it? She's less irritating, I mean she's as aggressive as she was before but less... annoying."
Ranma had a hard time deciphering his manager's expressions but he was pretty sure it was glaring at him. "I didn't mean ominous for you. I meant bad for your girlfriend."
"She seems healthy, she got superpowers and realized the errors of her ways," he paused. "Er, some of her ways. I don't get it," Ranma said defensively.
"I have heard rumors that there was a research base that... tapped into something," the insectoid was still for a moment before it continued. "Those subjects who were exposed to this thing were said to have the same symptoms. Sudden unexplained psionic abilities, memory loss... personality shift."
"I just don't see it. Sure she's a little different but not that much. She once got her hands on the reversal gem... that was drastic. Love to hate, hate to love. She just seems more mature. She's really far more focused than she was and has much more discipline," Ranma hesitated before continuing. "Don't get me wrong, I liked her, but she was a flake."
"I could be wrong," the insect admitted. "The 'secret' is more a rumor than a known fact. Even if I was right, I'm not sure we could do anything about it. It would take a mind mage of the highest caliber to shift through her mind to find out what happened. They're exceedingly rare in this dimension."
Ranma's mind immediately went back to his adventures on the Palladium world. One of the fellows he had worked with, in the caravan, had been a Mind Mage. He'd had no idea what one was at the time, but they seemed pretty common there. Of course, since the Timiro Kingdom's princess had decided to shack up at the Tendos until he came back, he doubted he'd find much there for him except an arrest warrant.
"I'll look into it. It'll have to be later though." After the princess had gone home and he wasn't wanted dead or alive on the civilized continents of Palladium. "Until then, I can see from her aura that Shampoo is healthy and not insane... well, not more than any of us from Nerima," Ranma voices faded into contemplation. "Until I find out otherwise I'll just assume her stay in prison matured her."
"I suppose so... the stories of Azlum are just so disturbing. No proof, but so many cases of people with the same... characteristic changes your friend displayed coming out to slay or hide from them."
"It can't be that. I said I checked her aura. It must be something else," Ranma chuckled to himself. "I mean Shampoo never really tried to kill Akane and if she was the opposite then she would have had to have been an undercover psycho," Ranma broke into a full-fledged laugh. "She was a flake, not a homicidal maniac."
"Didn't you tell me that she tried to kill you the first time you met?"
Ranma sat stock still. "Er... that was just some silly law." He shook himself to clear his mind of the nerve-wracking images. "She really is a nice girl... really... "
Maybe finding a mind mage should be a higher priority. He personally thought his manager was wrong. The thought that Shampoo had been a psychopath and wasn't anymore wasn't much better than her not being one before and now being one.