The World at War: Chapter 6(Tales Rrom The Land Of Rand)
Alarm claxons blared throughout the base as Mamoru ran to the H.V.E.
hanger. He didn't know what the threat was, the audio warnings didn't
seem to be working, but that particular sound combined with that
pattern of flashing lights could mean only one thing; the base was
under attack. He stumbled into the launch bay just in time to see
Hyato climbing into the cokpit of his H.V.E.
"Hyato, what's going on?" Mamoru called out to the smaller man. The
mechanized armor was fully armed with dual beam vulcans and as many
racks of various explosive payloads as they could hold.
Hyato stopped, nearly slamming his head into his weapon's armored
torso."Chiba, it's gone crazy, real fuckin crazy!" cried the man
before climbing into the H.V.E.
"What has?" Mamoru queried as he climbed into his own unit and began
power-up procedures. The holographic displays came alive, already
indicating that there were cargo pods on the surface that he and his
squad were assigned to retrieve.
Hyato's answer came over the comm-system."B.A.S.C. It's gone nuts.
The thing's already cut life-support to most of the base and nearly
everyone outside of the command and pilot areas are dead."
Well, there life went and got worse. Mamoru shook his head in
amazement. How can a computer go crazy? Then again, B.A.S.C. wasn't
exactly the most normal of computers. By the time Hyato's answer had
come through, the rest of the H.V.E.s were manned and ready to go."All
right, men, the moon's going to Hell and we're not sticking around to
see what Hell looks like," he shouted over the comm.
"Orders, sir?" A sudden explosion and a burst of static obscured the
voice enough that Mamoru couldn't clearly make it out.
"Retrieve cargo pods at the end of landing strip E and evacuate into
space. If we pull that off, I'll see about telling you the rest. Now
move!" Moving itself wasn't a problem. The armour moved easily, the
hangar doors, however, didn't."Damnit, pull back and raise shields."
Mamoru made sure all of his men were at the back of the bay and that
the distortion created in the air by the H.V.E.'s shield systems was
active around each of them. As Commander, his H.V.E. had a few perks;
stronger shields, thicker armor, more powerful thrusters, a quicker
response time, and bigger guns. The big gun in question was a
particle beam smasher that made up the entire mechanism of his
armour's left forearm.
With gravity lower in the hangar and the overall power of the weapon,
Mamoru had to brace his H.V.E. against a bulkhead and kill the power
to its magnetic joints, turning it into a completely immobile piece of
advanced hardware. The entire suit hummed for the four and a half
seconds it took for the weapon to reach capacitance. The white beam
of energy materialized a foot from the focus array at the end of the
barrel, expanding to nearly the diameter of the H.V.E. itself.
Eight, foot thick doors, each made of the lunar titanium variant
ceased to exist as anything but energy as the enormous beam of energy
struck them. The molten metal at the edges of the hole cooled
quickly, a combination of the chilled vaccum of space and the titanium
variant's ability to dissipate heat.
****
Outside, it was readily apparent that something was wrong. The lights
throughout the base were dead and none of the insect-like mining
drones that constantly plundered the moon's resources appeared to
function.
Taking charge, Mamoru directed his squad to the cargo pods and they
each assumed control of one of the large containers, via magnetic
tractor beam. They assumed a holding altitude, maglev thrusters
holding the massive exoskeleton's and their burdens in place.
Mamoru got within range to use laser transmission and brought up the
base command center on his main display. It was abandoned, as far as
Mamoru could tell, except for Bill Gates, the Wizard of Gates. The
man was pale and sweating, his hands shaking visibly. His head jerked
up and he saw Mamoru's face on the monitor. "Go..." he rasped."Escape
while you still can!" he said more vehemently.
He'd never cared much for Gates, but Mamoru didn't really have
anything against him, and he'd been a good boss, if a
little...strange."Sir, what about you?" he asked.
Gates laughed, a hollow, dead sound."I'm already dead. It's sealed me
in here, a tomb of my own making." That was good enough for Mamoru,
but he waited to hear anything else his former employer might say."The
flux generators are in place, your squad will be able to function.
Bring order to the chaos."
Damn, that sounded to Mamoru like something he would have said. He
was about to say something kind, a farewell speech that would maybe
sooth Gates' tormented mind, but over the command center's comm, he
heard,"Lunar Base defense system's going online. Particle beam
cannons active in T-minus thirty, twenty-nine..."
Screw that. He had to get back to Usagi. Mamoru wasn't about to risk
his life for the maniac. He used every ounce of power his thrusters
could give him in escaping to his commrades."We're going home," he
told the men."B.A.S.C. has control and it doesn't want us around."
Without further comment, they all headed for the orbital re-entry
lander once meant to bring the first wave of conquering mobile suits,
but now only served as a getaway ride.
****
"Wil, you've gotta promise me, if I turn into one of those things,
you'll take me out," Buffy demanded, her voice pleading. The bite to
her arm hadn't healed like it should have. Normally she didn't stay
injured for more than a few days, but the viscious wound had only
worsened, forming a slowly growing area of reddened, scaly flesh. Not
to mention that it hurt like hell.
Willow shivered. She could stand to hear her lover(Mwahahaha) talk
like that."Buffy, don't be silly, that little old thing will go away
in a few days, you'll see." She didn't sound like she even believed
herself.
"Maybe we can find you a doctor," Ryoga volunteered. Buffy was a
formidable fighter and he'd been hoping to train her. That wound on
her arm, though, was bad, worse than any he'd seen with the exception
of the one on his chest that he'd recieved from one of Ranma's pet
demons. He'd had proper medical care and time to recuperate, though.
Buffy didn't have either, not even any antibiotics. Ryoga doubted
that there were any antibiotics for something that turns people into
zombies, but they couldn't have hurt.
"Yeah, sure, a doctor," Buffy sighed. She knew she was bad off. Her
slayer powers were being slowly beat back by the infection, otherwise
she would have been among the undead days earlier.
"Hey, what's that?!" Ryoga shouted, pointing into the darkening sky.
It appeared to be a meteorite, but, as they watched, the falling
object changed it's angle of descent and braked, filling the air with
the roar of powerful engines. As the fire of rocket engines lit the
sky, the trio saw what appeared to be an oversized space shuttle
making a vertical landing not too ahead.
"Wow, do you think that astronauts have been in space the whole time
Earth has been powerless?" Ryoga, again.
"Come on, Buffy, they may have medical supplies!" Willow exclaimed,
tugging on her friend's uninjured arm excitedly. If only her magic
was more powerful, or had she had time to learn more powerful healing
spells. Willow couldn't help her love, but maybe someone else could.
****
"I know we've not gone out of our way to not kill them, but if you
ever run across the Alliance, especially the Musk, try to get friendly
with them," I explained."You can't be everywhere at once, and the
Alliance is powerful. They may know of Umbrella(I hope Usagi got the
message through to the Elders, at least) already and be willing to
help. You know what to do if they threaten you, though." We were
standing on the outskirts of a burned out village. I could feel the
residual traces of magic and chi that indicated a powerful Alliance
force.
"Yes, mother," quipped the cyborg. Ryu rolled his eyes and
continued,"And I won't mess with the senshi. I know what to do." I've
sorta started feeling responsible for those I take under my wing. I
can't help it.
I shrugged."Well, later then. Have fun and don't let the world go to
Hell while I'm gone." Ryu nodded and we shook hands. I kicked in a
flight spell and rapidly ascended. The first alternate universe,
dimension, realm, plane, whatever you wanted to call it, that I'd
chosen to travel to didn't have a very complex set of spell
coordinates, but to use them I had to be travelling fast. Just under
Mach one.
It's not much of an effort to go half that, but once you start to
accelerate further, the energy burn begins to grow exponentially. I
could have just used my new sword to do the work, but one of the main
reasons I'd made the monstrosity was to keep myself from relying on
that form of power. With full reserves, I'd be down to a little more
than half strength when I crossed the barrier. That's not really bad,
but I don't like to drop below two thirds, just encase I run into
nasty trouble.
Not really a big problem, I'll just replenish myself in the next
dimension. This one wasn't like that fucked up future Earth I'd
visited where magic was locked away in a floating Chicago. As I built
speed, I formed shields, shaping them to decrease the drag created by
my body and to protect myself from the wind and friction encountered
at such speeds.
The energy pattern for the jump was firmly engrained within my shield
when I reached the required speed, and magic was visibly radiating
from my body. Ah...right about...now! The sensation wasn't unlike
that created by my teleportation spell, except for the subtle
variation in the feel of the flowing energies that spoke of more
profound travel than just that of inter-dimensional movement.
Oddly enough, when external awareness returned, I was stationary,
floating at approximately the same altitude as before. Good, now I
didn't have to worry about running into a mountain before I could kill
my forward momentum.
I reached out to grab the energy needed to restore my reserves and
while it wasn't difficult, it was an unusual experience. The energy,
normally just a kind of aetheric raw energy, kept wanting to separate
into five, more defined, but weaker energies. Once within my body,
though, the energy obeyed the sorcerous laws of my own dimension and
remained as it should.
It'd be interesting to see what the Talented people in this universe
were like. To have evolved their power and skills to work in such a
weird medium, they couldn't possibly practice the same brand of magic
as that of Earth.
Other than the energy, not much seemed different about this world than
Earth. The gravity felt the same and the air and sun smelled and
looked the same. Well, I'm here. Where should I begin? Answered
easily enough. This plane had to have its own version of Hell, all I
had to do was find someone, or something, that normally resided there,
and I could get some directions.
Unless I'm more lucky than should be possible, evil isn't widely
accepted(I'm not evil and you know it, the bad guys just like me,
that's all), anywhere. So, I can't just go around asking for the
nearest demonic stronghold.
Firing up the old location(this thing is a lot more complicated than
that, but I prefer one word despcriptions for my spells) spell, I
managed to pick out a few places where magic was concentrated and
regularly manipulated. As a side note, electricity seemed to be
limited to natural lighting and that created by sorcery.
****
I decided not to take any chances. With magic only regularly used in
a handful of places, I doubt that many people here are accustommed to
seeing someone fly. I hope that there are 'people' here. I've seen
some of the tv shows, there really could be a Smurf Land. How did the
poor bastards get by with just one female in the whole village,
anyway?
And now back to the subject. Instead of hoofing it, I just camped out
in the woods during the day, hunting as needed, and flew at night.
This went on for almost a week. There were a few villages reminiscent
of those in China, but less ramshackle. By the way, there were
people. They were a little short, but they were people.
I passed a few larger towns, probably considered big cities here, and
something that looked suspiscously like that arch thing over in
America, St. Louis, I think. Then, on the seventh night here, I
crested a low hill and caught sight of a real city. I snapped a few
quick mental pictures of the place from a distance(things like that
make great postcards) and made a mental note to bring Ami here when
she recovered.
The city was situated on an island in the middle of a river. The
city's lanterns and torched turned the sky a soft yellow and I could
just barely make out the detailed structures that comprised it.
Unlike the towns from earlier, I couldn't see any signs of squalor or
poor maintenance, and perhaps more importantly, I couldn't smell it
from miles off, even while upwind. This was close enough, I'd catch a
few hours sleep before dawn and pay a visit the impressive tower that
radiated power.
****
And, once again, things go to shit for me. I mean, is it so much to
ask for a lucky break or three? Sigh. I was surrounded by at least
a dozen men, all armed and giving off all kinds of body language that
just screamed 'I'm a trained killer'. Nine women, if I saw all of
them were included with the men but none of them were armed or
armored. They all wore red in varying styles that reminded me of
medieval Europe and were all Talented.
This world's version of Talent was more mutated than I'd previously
thought possible. Each of the women was Talented, of that I'm sure,
but the Talent didn't reside within them, it sorta floated around
their body and soul. I couldn't really see any advantages to this,
but several disadvantages were quite noticeable.
The Talent could be easily lost with such a tenuous link to the
owner's soul(it'd have been nice if those Amazons of old had gotten
their newborn soul from here). All I had to do was lash out with some
specifically shaped white magic and poof, burnt out Talent. If all
Talented folks here followed the same pattern, not a single one of
them could actually store energy within themselves. That made it oh
so easy to block them off from all power.
That's what they were trying with me now. A woven pattern of what
felt like the white/light factor that some of the magic was separated
into wrapped around me tightly, cutting off my access to ambient
magical energy. Right now they're probably thinking that I'm damned
near harmless. Heh.
I stood up, pulling my sleeping bag and pillow(roughing it doesn't
have to be too rough) into my spatial pocket. That act alone got a
few gasps and muttered curses. Those had been in English, and while
not sounding like any swear words I know of, they had the emotion and
sound to get the message across.
"Hey, nice morning, eh?" I asked, playing groggy while shielding and
priming a few unkind spells. My English is pretty good. Demons have
this really useful ability to speak any language(have no idea how they
got it), and for some reason, like to speak English, so I picked it up
in my childhood. The men tensed, readying to draw swords or slightly
raising those already drawn.
"Of all the nerve," spat one of the women. What's up with those
faces? They look kinda tight, like they're drawn back or something.
Another Talent mutation?
"You're quite defenseless now," said another woman. She was the only
one to have gray hair, hair gray with age, yet her face remained young
and unlined."Why not make things easier on yourself and come
peacably?"
I was going to scratch the back of my head, this time not in
nervousness, but a gesture to convey the emotion falsely. I like to
make people underestimate me, then spring it on them just how
outclassed they are. My arm never made it to the back of my head.
One of the sorceresses, using another woven thread of power, this one
with an elemental feel of air to it, locked my arm in place. Geeze,
these bitches weren't any fun.
"Don't move!" snapped yet another woman in red.
I left the arm in place. Why mess up the game when it's just getting
good?"What have I done to get such wonderful treatment from you lovely
ladies?" Hey, it worked on Sailor Jupiter that one time. Makoto is so
gullible.
They actually started growling. Well damn, time to change my
approach. "Ah, I get it, you all are a bunch of muff divers?" And not
a single one of them understood.
"This grows tiresome. Sieze him." That was the gray haired woman. I
can't blame them for underestimating me. I wasn't armed and was
making an effort of masking any outward sign of my physical prowess.
Only three of the men stepped forward. Each of them moved with the
grace that only those of us who are really good at kicking other
peoples asses can. Thing is, when you're that good, you know it and
only walk like that when you're trying to show off. These guys should
just come at me with a relaxed gait like anyone on the street would.
Shredding the air that bound my arm, I materialized my sword. They
seemed to like swords. I wonder how they'll like mine. A casual
flick of my wrist and I threw up a dome of white magic that would
serve the same purpose as these sorceresses' barrier field, or
whatever it was. The men could enter to fight me, and the women too,
if they wanted, but they wouldn't be throwing any spells at me until I
wanted them too.
The warriors stopped short when my vorpal bladed sword appeared, eying
the wickedly curving weapon with caution. They only missed that
single beat, then, in unison, returned to their previous pace. Three
at a time was an optimal number. Four could be done, but there was a
chance that they would get in each others' way.
There was some shouting and muffled cursing in the background. I
didn't pay much attention to it. This was about utterly humiliating
some guys who were totally too impressed with themselves.
I slid the first strike to my left, forcing the point of my attacker's
sword into the ground. A spinning axe kick and he went flying back
over the heads of his companions, sword still in hand. He was tough
enough that he should only be stunned by that. The next two came at
me from the right and left. Their strokes were quick, efficient, and
powerful. Their styles were different, kinda, and flowed well, but it
was still easy to see how they were trained in particular sword strike
patterns. Once I had the proper defense pattern set in my mind, I
turned that part of the fight over to auto-pilot and sent my senses
out to the others.
The guy I'd kicked was stalking towards me from behind and the women
were in a tight cluster, arguing heatedly. Heightened senses allowed
me to smell and sense the fear, anxiety, and astonishment in the air.
Good. They'd never seen anything like me before, and even though I
still didn't know why they wanted me, I now had a good idea of how
these people operated, Talent and Martial wise.
Coming back to myself fully, I disengaged the automatic defense and
took the offensive. The swords used by these men weren't exactly
enchanted, but they had been forged with magic. They could take a
suprising amount of punishment. Normal steel would have been pathetic
against them. My sword wasn't normal. I was carving slivers of metal
from their weapons every stroke I made and they didn't seem to notice.
Right before being stabbed in the back, I lashed out with my foot,
catching the still woozy and unsuspecting man in the crotch. That had
been mean, and I mostly try to avoid doing that to guys(sympathy, I
guess), but I would have really liked to have finished that dream
about Ami. Bastard, it was his own fault, really.
****
Author's Notes: And I'm going to stop here. Ranma's in Randland and
the Aes Sedai are never going to be the same again(grin). I really
hate them. Ranma is REALLY gonna hate them, especially when they
won't leave him alone, no matter how many he kills. I'll probably
introduce Ranma to Rand in a few chapters, but first he's gotta
decimate the bitches and pay a visit to the Dark One. For once, Ranma
isn't going to get along with the bad guys(I'm going to use an idea
for some of the stuff in WoT that I've had for a couple years now, but
have never really mentioned. It has to do with the One Power and the
Dark One's existance). I didn't even think about it until I was about
halfway finished, but Callandor, the sa'angreal that is the second
most powerful ever made, and acts likes a lens for the male half of
the One Power, is a lot like Ranma's new and improved megathame.
Can't you just imagine the Aes Sedai, Asha'man, and Forsaken drooling
over it? Well, that's all for now. Please send me C&C at
dark_phoneix@hotmail.com
Alarm claxons blared throughout the base as Mamoru ran to the H.V.E.
hanger. He didn't know what the threat was, the audio warnings didn't
seem to be working, but that particular sound combined with that
pattern of flashing lights could mean only one thing; the base was
under attack. He stumbled into the launch bay just in time to see
Hyato climbing into the cokpit of his H.V.E.
"Hyato, what's going on?" Mamoru called out to the smaller man. The
mechanized armor was fully armed with dual beam vulcans and as many
racks of various explosive payloads as they could hold.
Hyato stopped, nearly slamming his head into his weapon's armored
torso."Chiba, it's gone crazy, real fuckin crazy!" cried the man
before climbing into the H.V.E.
"What has?" Mamoru queried as he climbed into his own unit and began
power-up procedures. The holographic displays came alive, already
indicating that there were cargo pods on the surface that he and his
squad were assigned to retrieve.
Hyato's answer came over the comm-system."B.A.S.C. It's gone nuts.
The thing's already cut life-support to most of the base and nearly
everyone outside of the command and pilot areas are dead."
Well, there life went and got worse. Mamoru shook his head in
amazement. How can a computer go crazy? Then again, B.A.S.C. wasn't
exactly the most normal of computers. By the time Hyato's answer had
come through, the rest of the H.V.E.s were manned and ready to go."All
right, men, the moon's going to Hell and we're not sticking around to
see what Hell looks like," he shouted over the comm.
"Orders, sir?" A sudden explosion and a burst of static obscured the
voice enough that Mamoru couldn't clearly make it out.
"Retrieve cargo pods at the end of landing strip E and evacuate into
space. If we pull that off, I'll see about telling you the rest. Now
move!" Moving itself wasn't a problem. The armour moved easily, the
hangar doors, however, didn't."Damnit, pull back and raise shields."
Mamoru made sure all of his men were at the back of the bay and that
the distortion created in the air by the H.V.E.'s shield systems was
active around each of them. As Commander, his H.V.E. had a few perks;
stronger shields, thicker armor, more powerful thrusters, a quicker
response time, and bigger guns. The big gun in question was a
particle beam smasher that made up the entire mechanism of his
armour's left forearm.
With gravity lower in the hangar and the overall power of the weapon,
Mamoru had to brace his H.V.E. against a bulkhead and kill the power
to its magnetic joints, turning it into a completely immobile piece of
advanced hardware. The entire suit hummed for the four and a half
seconds it took for the weapon to reach capacitance. The white beam
of energy materialized a foot from the focus array at the end of the
barrel, expanding to nearly the diameter of the H.V.E. itself.
Eight, foot thick doors, each made of the lunar titanium variant
ceased to exist as anything but energy as the enormous beam of energy
struck them. The molten metal at the edges of the hole cooled
quickly, a combination of the chilled vaccum of space and the titanium
variant's ability to dissipate heat.
****
Outside, it was readily apparent that something was wrong. The lights
throughout the base were dead and none of the insect-like mining
drones that constantly plundered the moon's resources appeared to
function.
Taking charge, Mamoru directed his squad to the cargo pods and they
each assumed control of one of the large containers, via magnetic
tractor beam. They assumed a holding altitude, maglev thrusters
holding the massive exoskeleton's and their burdens in place.
Mamoru got within range to use laser transmission and brought up the
base command center on his main display. It was abandoned, as far as
Mamoru could tell, except for Bill Gates, the Wizard of Gates. The
man was pale and sweating, his hands shaking visibly. His head jerked
up and he saw Mamoru's face on the monitor. "Go..." he rasped."Escape
while you still can!" he said more vehemently.
He'd never cared much for Gates, but Mamoru didn't really have
anything against him, and he'd been a good boss, if a
little...strange."Sir, what about you?" he asked.
Gates laughed, a hollow, dead sound."I'm already dead. It's sealed me
in here, a tomb of my own making." That was good enough for Mamoru,
but he waited to hear anything else his former employer might say."The
flux generators are in place, your squad will be able to function.
Bring order to the chaos."
Damn, that sounded to Mamoru like something he would have said. He
was about to say something kind, a farewell speech that would maybe
sooth Gates' tormented mind, but over the command center's comm, he
heard,"Lunar Base defense system's going online. Particle beam
cannons active in T-minus thirty, twenty-nine..."
Screw that. He had to get back to Usagi. Mamoru wasn't about to risk
his life for the maniac. He used every ounce of power his thrusters
could give him in escaping to his commrades."We're going home," he
told the men."B.A.S.C. has control and it doesn't want us around."
Without further comment, they all headed for the orbital re-entry
lander once meant to bring the first wave of conquering mobile suits,
but now only served as a getaway ride.
****
"Wil, you've gotta promise me, if I turn into one of those things,
you'll take me out," Buffy demanded, her voice pleading. The bite to
her arm hadn't healed like it should have. Normally she didn't stay
injured for more than a few days, but the viscious wound had only
worsened, forming a slowly growing area of reddened, scaly flesh. Not
to mention that it hurt like hell.
Willow shivered. She could stand to hear her lover(Mwahahaha) talk
like that."Buffy, don't be silly, that little old thing will go away
in a few days, you'll see." She didn't sound like she even believed
herself.
"Maybe we can find you a doctor," Ryoga volunteered. Buffy was a
formidable fighter and he'd been hoping to train her. That wound on
her arm, though, was bad, worse than any he'd seen with the exception
of the one on his chest that he'd recieved from one of Ranma's pet
demons. He'd had proper medical care and time to recuperate, though.
Buffy didn't have either, not even any antibiotics. Ryoga doubted
that there were any antibiotics for something that turns people into
zombies, but they couldn't have hurt.
"Yeah, sure, a doctor," Buffy sighed. She knew she was bad off. Her
slayer powers were being slowly beat back by the infection, otherwise
she would have been among the undead days earlier.
"Hey, what's that?!" Ryoga shouted, pointing into the darkening sky.
It appeared to be a meteorite, but, as they watched, the falling
object changed it's angle of descent and braked, filling the air with
the roar of powerful engines. As the fire of rocket engines lit the
sky, the trio saw what appeared to be an oversized space shuttle
making a vertical landing not too ahead.
"Wow, do you think that astronauts have been in space the whole time
Earth has been powerless?" Ryoga, again.
"Come on, Buffy, they may have medical supplies!" Willow exclaimed,
tugging on her friend's uninjured arm excitedly. If only her magic
was more powerful, or had she had time to learn more powerful healing
spells. Willow couldn't help her love, but maybe someone else could.
****
"I know we've not gone out of our way to not kill them, but if you
ever run across the Alliance, especially the Musk, try to get friendly
with them," I explained."You can't be everywhere at once, and the
Alliance is powerful. They may know of Umbrella(I hope Usagi got the
message through to the Elders, at least) already and be willing to
help. You know what to do if they threaten you, though." We were
standing on the outskirts of a burned out village. I could feel the
residual traces of magic and chi that indicated a powerful Alliance
force.
"Yes, mother," quipped the cyborg. Ryu rolled his eyes and
continued,"And I won't mess with the senshi. I know what to do." I've
sorta started feeling responsible for those I take under my wing. I
can't help it.
I shrugged."Well, later then. Have fun and don't let the world go to
Hell while I'm gone." Ryu nodded and we shook hands. I kicked in a
flight spell and rapidly ascended. The first alternate universe,
dimension, realm, plane, whatever you wanted to call it, that I'd
chosen to travel to didn't have a very complex set of spell
coordinates, but to use them I had to be travelling fast. Just under
Mach one.
It's not much of an effort to go half that, but once you start to
accelerate further, the energy burn begins to grow exponentially. I
could have just used my new sword to do the work, but one of the main
reasons I'd made the monstrosity was to keep myself from relying on
that form of power. With full reserves, I'd be down to a little more
than half strength when I crossed the barrier. That's not really bad,
but I don't like to drop below two thirds, just encase I run into
nasty trouble.
Not really a big problem, I'll just replenish myself in the next
dimension. This one wasn't like that fucked up future Earth I'd
visited where magic was locked away in a floating Chicago. As I built
speed, I formed shields, shaping them to decrease the drag created by
my body and to protect myself from the wind and friction encountered
at such speeds.
The energy pattern for the jump was firmly engrained within my shield
when I reached the required speed, and magic was visibly radiating
from my body. Ah...right about...now! The sensation wasn't unlike
that created by my teleportation spell, except for the subtle
variation in the feel of the flowing energies that spoke of more
profound travel than just that of inter-dimensional movement.
Oddly enough, when external awareness returned, I was stationary,
floating at approximately the same altitude as before. Good, now I
didn't have to worry about running into a mountain before I could kill
my forward momentum.
I reached out to grab the energy needed to restore my reserves and
while it wasn't difficult, it was an unusual experience. The energy,
normally just a kind of aetheric raw energy, kept wanting to separate
into five, more defined, but weaker energies. Once within my body,
though, the energy obeyed the sorcerous laws of my own dimension and
remained as it should.
It'd be interesting to see what the Talented people in this universe
were like. To have evolved their power and skills to work in such a
weird medium, they couldn't possibly practice the same brand of magic
as that of Earth.
Other than the energy, not much seemed different about this world than
Earth. The gravity felt the same and the air and sun smelled and
looked the same. Well, I'm here. Where should I begin? Answered
easily enough. This plane had to have its own version of Hell, all I
had to do was find someone, or something, that normally resided there,
and I could get some directions.
Unless I'm more lucky than should be possible, evil isn't widely
accepted(I'm not evil and you know it, the bad guys just like me,
that's all), anywhere. So, I can't just go around asking for the
nearest demonic stronghold.
Firing up the old location(this thing is a lot more complicated than
that, but I prefer one word despcriptions for my spells) spell, I
managed to pick out a few places where magic was concentrated and
regularly manipulated. As a side note, electricity seemed to be
limited to natural lighting and that created by sorcery.
****
I decided not to take any chances. With magic only regularly used in
a handful of places, I doubt that many people here are accustommed to
seeing someone fly. I hope that there are 'people' here. I've seen
some of the tv shows, there really could be a Smurf Land. How did the
poor bastards get by with just one female in the whole village,
anyway?
And now back to the subject. Instead of hoofing it, I just camped out
in the woods during the day, hunting as needed, and flew at night.
This went on for almost a week. There were a few villages reminiscent
of those in China, but less ramshackle. By the way, there were
people. They were a little short, but they were people.
I passed a few larger towns, probably considered big cities here, and
something that looked suspiscously like that arch thing over in
America, St. Louis, I think. Then, on the seventh night here, I
crested a low hill and caught sight of a real city. I snapped a few
quick mental pictures of the place from a distance(things like that
make great postcards) and made a mental note to bring Ami here when
she recovered.
The city was situated on an island in the middle of a river. The
city's lanterns and torched turned the sky a soft yellow and I could
just barely make out the detailed structures that comprised it.
Unlike the towns from earlier, I couldn't see any signs of squalor or
poor maintenance, and perhaps more importantly, I couldn't smell it
from miles off, even while upwind. This was close enough, I'd catch a
few hours sleep before dawn and pay a visit the impressive tower that
radiated power.
****
And, once again, things go to shit for me. I mean, is it so much to
ask for a lucky break or three? Sigh. I was surrounded by at least
a dozen men, all armed and giving off all kinds of body language that
just screamed 'I'm a trained killer'. Nine women, if I saw all of
them were included with the men but none of them were armed or
armored. They all wore red in varying styles that reminded me of
medieval Europe and were all Talented.
This world's version of Talent was more mutated than I'd previously
thought possible. Each of the women was Talented, of that I'm sure,
but the Talent didn't reside within them, it sorta floated around
their body and soul. I couldn't really see any advantages to this,
but several disadvantages were quite noticeable.
The Talent could be easily lost with such a tenuous link to the
owner's soul(it'd have been nice if those Amazons of old had gotten
their newborn soul from here). All I had to do was lash out with some
specifically shaped white magic and poof, burnt out Talent. If all
Talented folks here followed the same pattern, not a single one of
them could actually store energy within themselves. That made it oh
so easy to block them off from all power.
That's what they were trying with me now. A woven pattern of what
felt like the white/light factor that some of the magic was separated
into wrapped around me tightly, cutting off my access to ambient
magical energy. Right now they're probably thinking that I'm damned
near harmless. Heh.
I stood up, pulling my sleeping bag and pillow(roughing it doesn't
have to be too rough) into my spatial pocket. That act alone got a
few gasps and muttered curses. Those had been in English, and while
not sounding like any swear words I know of, they had the emotion and
sound to get the message across.
"Hey, nice morning, eh?" I asked, playing groggy while shielding and
priming a few unkind spells. My English is pretty good. Demons have
this really useful ability to speak any language(have no idea how they
got it), and for some reason, like to speak English, so I picked it up
in my childhood. The men tensed, readying to draw swords or slightly
raising those already drawn.
"Of all the nerve," spat one of the women. What's up with those
faces? They look kinda tight, like they're drawn back or something.
Another Talent mutation?
"You're quite defenseless now," said another woman. She was the only
one to have gray hair, hair gray with age, yet her face remained young
and unlined."Why not make things easier on yourself and come
peacably?"
I was going to scratch the back of my head, this time not in
nervousness, but a gesture to convey the emotion falsely. I like to
make people underestimate me, then spring it on them just how
outclassed they are. My arm never made it to the back of my head.
One of the sorceresses, using another woven thread of power, this one
with an elemental feel of air to it, locked my arm in place. Geeze,
these bitches weren't any fun.
"Don't move!" snapped yet another woman in red.
I left the arm in place. Why mess up the game when it's just getting
good?"What have I done to get such wonderful treatment from you lovely
ladies?" Hey, it worked on Sailor Jupiter that one time. Makoto is so
gullible.
They actually started growling. Well damn, time to change my
approach. "Ah, I get it, you all are a bunch of muff divers?" And not
a single one of them understood.
"This grows tiresome. Sieze him." That was the gray haired woman. I
can't blame them for underestimating me. I wasn't armed and was
making an effort of masking any outward sign of my physical prowess.
Only three of the men stepped forward. Each of them moved with the
grace that only those of us who are really good at kicking other
peoples asses can. Thing is, when you're that good, you know it and
only walk like that when you're trying to show off. These guys should
just come at me with a relaxed gait like anyone on the street would.
Shredding the air that bound my arm, I materialized my sword. They
seemed to like swords. I wonder how they'll like mine. A casual
flick of my wrist and I threw up a dome of white magic that would
serve the same purpose as these sorceresses' barrier field, or
whatever it was. The men could enter to fight me, and the women too,
if they wanted, but they wouldn't be throwing any spells at me until I
wanted them too.
The warriors stopped short when my vorpal bladed sword appeared, eying
the wickedly curving weapon with caution. They only missed that
single beat, then, in unison, returned to their previous pace. Three
at a time was an optimal number. Four could be done, but there was a
chance that they would get in each others' way.
There was some shouting and muffled cursing in the background. I
didn't pay much attention to it. This was about utterly humiliating
some guys who were totally too impressed with themselves.
I slid the first strike to my left, forcing the point of my attacker's
sword into the ground. A spinning axe kick and he went flying back
over the heads of his companions, sword still in hand. He was tough
enough that he should only be stunned by that. The next two came at
me from the right and left. Their strokes were quick, efficient, and
powerful. Their styles were different, kinda, and flowed well, but it
was still easy to see how they were trained in particular sword strike
patterns. Once I had the proper defense pattern set in my mind, I
turned that part of the fight over to auto-pilot and sent my senses
out to the others.
The guy I'd kicked was stalking towards me from behind and the women
were in a tight cluster, arguing heatedly. Heightened senses allowed
me to smell and sense the fear, anxiety, and astonishment in the air.
Good. They'd never seen anything like me before, and even though I
still didn't know why they wanted me, I now had a good idea of how
these people operated, Talent and Martial wise.
Coming back to myself fully, I disengaged the automatic defense and
took the offensive. The swords used by these men weren't exactly
enchanted, but they had been forged with magic. They could take a
suprising amount of punishment. Normal steel would have been pathetic
against them. My sword wasn't normal. I was carving slivers of metal
from their weapons every stroke I made and they didn't seem to notice.
Right before being stabbed in the back, I lashed out with my foot,
catching the still woozy and unsuspecting man in the crotch. That had
been mean, and I mostly try to avoid doing that to guys(sympathy, I
guess), but I would have really liked to have finished that dream
about Ami. Bastard, it was his own fault, really.
****
Author's Notes: And I'm going to stop here. Ranma's in Randland and
the Aes Sedai are never going to be the same again(grin). I really
hate them. Ranma is REALLY gonna hate them, especially when they
won't leave him alone, no matter how many he kills. I'll probably
introduce Ranma to Rand in a few chapters, but first he's gotta
decimate the bitches and pay a visit to the Dark One. For once, Ranma
isn't going to get along with the bad guys(I'm going to use an idea
for some of the stuff in WoT that I've had for a couple years now, but
have never really mentioned. It has to do with the One Power and the
Dark One's existance). I didn't even think about it until I was about
halfway finished, but Callandor, the sa'angreal that is the second
most powerful ever made, and acts likes a lens for the male half of
the One Power, is a lot like Ranma's new and improved megathame.
Can't you just imagine the Aes Sedai, Asha'man, and Forsaken drooling
over it? Well, that's all for now. Please send me C&C at
dark_phoneix@hotmail.com
