Magic Amongst Honor
Prologue
---Mimir's Well----------
A small black cat looked at the invader in his realm, a beautiful
woman who was sitting next to a pool of water her back facing the black
cat. 'I just step out for a second and come back and there's another fool
messing with that damn pool, I should never have made that Bet.'
Walking up to the woman the black cat figures out just who she was.
'She already made a bet what's she doing back here?'
"Bast, just what are you doing?"
The so named goddess jumps a bit when she hears her name and
looks up from the laptop she had in her lap. "Oh, its just you Toltiir. I
was just going over something rather interesting in RS TL 3241-4606."
"Something interesting, in a Ranma Timeline and a protected one at
that?" Toltiir inquired, 'Things have been rather boring lately.'
"Yeah, someone got a hold of a cat statue imbued with a summoning
spell and gave it to Ranma."
"Yeah, so what has that to do with you?"
"They gave it to him along with the idea of using it while praying to
ME in a shrine that he hand built for a solution to the Cat Fist problem.
I'm trying to figure out what type of cat to send to him."
Waving his paw over the edge of the water Toltiir said, "This I just
have to see."
----Narima, Japan March 10, 1992------
A warm spring breeze blew through the streets of the Nerima
district shopping center. Today, like every other Saturday, it was
full of people looking for things to buy. Ranma Saotome was among the
crowd of shoppers, going to pick up some soy sauce for Kasumi. He
was approaching the grocer's shop when his attention suddenly was
diverted by a new small shop at the corner. It had Martial weapons on
display in the window along with scrolls, books, and some strange little
knickknacks.
Letting his curiosity get the better of him, Ranma approached the
strange store and grabbed the door handle hesitantly. Pushing on
the handle, he entered the store. The silvery bells hanging above the
door rang out, announcing a new customer. As he walked into the
store, he was immediately assailed by a strong odor of old books,
the metallic smell of well oiled blades mixed in with incense. His eyes
swept about the place, inspecting the rows of shelves and the displays
of various of items that crowded the store. Pictures of people from
all over the world, some ancient styled clothing and other relics
littered the floor and walls in no discernible order. Ranma stepped
over and around items and he wandered about the store, not sure if
he'd find anything to suit his fancy.
A vendor dressed in a light tan robe with a brown vest looked up from
his place behind the counter, and watched as Ranma disappeared behind
a rack of old clothes, heading towards the back of the store. Unseen
by Ranma, the vendor's eyes sparkled as his gaze fell on the young
martial artist. `Yes. This may be the one,' he thought to himself as
he walked around the counter to meet his customer at the back of the
store.
Ranma hadn't found anything of interest, and was beginning to
tire of the place. He turned around to leave when his hand bumped
against an old table with little statues and dusty books sitting on
top. Disinterestedly, he looked through the titles of the books,
noting the that he couldn't read any of them. He turned his attention to a
stack of martial arts manuals sitting on one corner of the table, and was
busy flipping through them when someone tapped him on the shoulder.
"Yahhh!" Ranma yelled, startled by the quiet approach of the
vendor. His startled jolt caused several of the manuals to spill to the
floor.
Undisturbed by his outburst, the vendor smiled, then bowed
slightly. "Anything I can help you with, kind sir?"
Ranma let his heart calm down before answering. He'd debated
asking the vendor how he could've snuck up behind him without him
knowing, but decided not to since the vendor appeared too spacy to be
an effective threat. He scratched his head, not really sure why he
was in the store to begin with, "Ummm... well, I was really just
looking ..."
"... for a gift, perhaps?" the vendor completed. "I wouldn't
recommend any of those except for a joke. We have plenty of less
dangerous martial arts stuff here," he said, gesturing to the
walls and aisles of books and weapons in the store.
Ranma looked down and blanched, he was holding a Cat Fist manual,
paling he droped the manula back onto the counter before shivering.
"I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy. To tell you the truth, I don't
even know why I came here," Ranma said distractedly, while trying to
stop his shivering.
Giving him a searching look, the vendor said, "You seem to know a
lot about that manual." Seeing the scared look on his face a fealing of
dread slowly filled the vendor, "You wouldn't have by any chance been
taught the Cat Fist?" seeing the boys face turn a pale white while
twitching he felt he had his answer.
'It must've been the lady's will that brought you here.' He chuckled
slightly. "Do you believe in magic young man?"
The mention of magic had returned Ranma's attention to the
rambling vendor. He frowned at the guy's question. `No, of course I
don't like magic,' he stated to himself. After Jusenkyo, and all of the
magical potions, he'd had his fill of magic. But instead of ranting about
his life, he merely replied, "Oh yes, magic is real."
Giving the boy one more searching look he continued, "Well, I might
have something that will help you with that problem of yours with cats."
he said, gesturing for Ranma to follow him to the counter.
"Whattaya mean, *something?*" Ranma asked skeptically, his eyes
narrowing. Anything *magical* usually meant trouble for him.
"Well, the whole lot of items in this cabinet are supposed to be
magical," he said, waving his hands at the display. Unlocking it he
reached in and pulled out a cat statue. Setting it on the counter looked
back at Ranma as he scooted back a little. "This might be some help
you."
Ranma couldn't help but ask. He didn't want to believe the vendor's
claims, but something in his mind told him to listen. "Really? How?"
"This is a statue from ancient Egypt, it is for Basset the goddess of
cats, protector of pregnant women and children. It is supposed to allow a
mortal to beseech her for help in troubled times. If they have lived their
life in an honorable fashion and she finds them worthy she helps the
mortal. As long as you are not evil and are not asking for a evil or
greedy favor she won't punish you."
"How much is it?"
"You can have it free of charge, just when the time comes give it to
someone who needs it as much as you did." The vender put the statue in
a box before holding it out to Ranma.
Ranma took the box and held it to his chest, suddenly protective of
the item. "Thank you very much." He said before bowing and rushing
out of the store.
The vendor smiled at the closed door, watching Ranma walk down
the sidewalk. He sighed to himself once Ranma was out of sight.
"M'lady Basset, Help him as you helped me."
Reaching down he picked up a small tan colored cat. "Help him."
---Mimir's Well----------
"Well that was different."
"That's what I thought, any idea of what type of cat I should send
him?"
"How does sending a cat help him solve his problem?" Toltiir asked,
while looking at the screen on the laptop.
"I can bind the Cat Fist between the him and a cat so they can share
the fear between the two of them." Bast shakes her head at the next
picture. "I need a cat that is smart enough to help him, dangerous to
survive around him but not dangerous looking, one that can adapt to
various situations and would be loyal enough to go against his wishes to
help him."
"In other words one that is everything he is not?"
"Yeah, any suggestions?"
"Hmmm", reaching forward with a paw he pulls up a cat on the
screen. The cat in question was a good 60 centimeters in length and a
creamy color. With a long fluffy tale, it hand a distinct characteristic that
made it stand out from all of the others they had looked at. It had six
legs.
Smiling Bast punched a few keys.
"Yes that will do well."
----Nerima, March 17, 1992 five minutes earlier------
Ranma slowly walked up the stairs to the attic in the Tendo home. In
his hands he carried a box with the things he would need. It had taken
him a week to find out what he need to know to do the ceremony. He
had gone back to the shop three times in the last seven days to talk with
the vendor. The first time it was to ask how the statue worked and the
only answer he got was, "It works differently for each person. You have
to come up with a ritual by yourself for yourself. It must be personal."
The conversation then drifted to stories about his homeland, Egypt. He
pulled the door to the attic closed and paused a moment to push his fear
back as he glanced at the various cat motif stuff placed around him. In
front of him was an altar that had two candles and a small shrine sitting
on it. He walked forward slowly and kneeled down in front of it and
opened the box. Pausing yet again he had to suppress another wave of
terror running through him at the sight of what was in the box. With
shaking hands he pulled out the small cat statue and set it down in front
of the shrine. Next he pulled out three small bowls and a container of
water. Setting them down in a triangle in between him and the altar he
filed two with water. In the last he put a pinch of dirt, a small bone, and
a sliver of wood. Finally he took out a small cat claw and a tiny crystal.
He put the box off to the side along with the container and bowed
once.
"Colonge, this better work." He crushed the crystal in his left and
touched the wicks of the candles. With a surge of hot Ki from his right
hand and one of cold from his left both candles burst into flames, a hot
red one and one the burned a cold blue. Then he opened the shrine and
bowed. Quietly he spoke in horribly accented but recognizable Egyptian,
"Basset hear this prayer, I beseech thee for help."
Then he continued in Japanese, "I beg you to help me with a terror I
can not fight, help us with the Cat Fist."
With the cat claw he pricked his right hand and put a drop of blood in
the bowl with the dirt and the right hand bowl of water.
"Born male I was, as a man I ask, help us with this problem."
A second prick on his left hand after he put his hand in the left bowl and
shifted to his female form, "By Jusenkyo's magic a Woman I am, as a
woman I ask, help us with this problem."
A drop of blood in the first bowl and another in the water on the left.
Placing both hands in their corresponding bowls of water he heated the
right one.
"By the soil of the pit, the wood of the lid and the bone of the dead.
By the pain of the living, the pain of a man," A burst of cold Ki and he
became a she, "the pain of a woman, and the pain of a cat, I ask you to
heal us and put the spirits of the dead to rest. My all of those that came
unjustly to harm because of the Cat Fist find peace, I beseech you help
us."
In his mind he/she heard a single melodic voice,
I find you worthy.
----During this, In the Tendo Home, down stairs------
Akane sat happily at the table in the dinning room with her sisters,
father, Genma, "I cat believe Ranma is finally getting cured of that damn
Cat Fist!"
Nabiki nodded, "It is a good thing considering the trouble he caused
two weeks ago when he got trapped by those ally cats."
Kasumi just sipped her tea happily, "I'm so happy for him finding a
cure. I hope he finishes up in the attic soon, I need to dust up there."
Two pairs of ears pricked heard Kasumi's words. On pair belonged to
a small black pig, which immediately turned to find some hot water. It
ran of bweeing angrily, 'Ranma you will not get a cure before I do!'
The other pair belonged to a gnome of a man. Who yelled, "NO, I
will not lose my RANMA-CHAN!!!"
Akane jumped up and blocked the pervert before he could race past
them and smashed him outside with her fist. The ensuing fight would
have been extremely short if it wasn't for Ryouga climbing out the
bathroom window.
"I won't let you hurt Akane!" was his battle cry as he rushed in. The
ensuing melee would have been fine except for the fact that both of them
knew of the event transpiring upstairs. So when happosi threw one of his
bomb at the attic window Ryouga didn't stop it.
---Copperwall Mountains, Sphinx----------
Branch Leaper paused midway down the long picket wood limb, and
his ears went up in surprise as he tasted the first hint of the aproaching
mind glow.
Mind glows, he corrected himself as he realized a person and their
human made their way along the forest floor towards him. There was
something familiar of one of the mind glows, one felt familiar as it got a
little closer he bleeked in amusement, it was Laughs Brightly and his
human Dances on Clouds.
He scurried down to one of the lowest branches and waited for them
to reach him. The elders had been expecting him to bring Dances on
Clouds for a while now, they had wanted to feel the bond that had been
building between Laughs Brightly and his human, with their own minds.
He looked behind him as he felt another glow coming from the other
direction.
In a flash of cream colored fur and the skitter of claws Brightsong
landed on the branch nest to him.
Brightsong twitched her whiskers in embarrassment
Both cats looked down as the two travelers entered the clrearing
below them, to suddenly have the attention drawn to a swirl of light that
suddenly grew to a five foot circle that showed a young boy with a
pigtail kneeling in front of a statue of a cat on the ground behind him
was a small ball with a string coming out of it, the end of which was
sparkling as it burned lower. Three of the minds watching the scene
froze in statement, the other to held no thought except for each other.
Brightsong threw herself of the branch as she raced towards the
portal, the pigtailed boy was stranding up when the fuse burned out and
the bomb explored sending him through the portal and strait into the
leaping Brightsong. The treecat and human collided in midair and
rendered her unconsciousness.
----The Attic----
The attic window smashed behind him at the same moment and a
small ball of wrapped paper rolled up behind him unnoticed.
"Yes, I will."
A flicker of light in front of him grew until it was a disc five feet
wide. Then it rippled and showed a forest. Ranma slowly stood up as a
cat came into sight and behind him there was an explosion. Suddenly he
found himself flying forward smacking into her. 'Six Legs?' was his last
though before he hit the tree and everything went black.
---Mimir's Well----------
"Oops."
Prologue
---Mimir's Well----------
A small black cat looked at the invader in his realm, a beautiful
woman who was sitting next to a pool of water her back facing the black
cat. 'I just step out for a second and come back and there's another fool
messing with that damn pool, I should never have made that Bet.'
Walking up to the woman the black cat figures out just who she was.
'She already made a bet what's she doing back here?'
"Bast, just what are you doing?"
The so named goddess jumps a bit when she hears her name and
looks up from the laptop she had in her lap. "Oh, its just you Toltiir. I
was just going over something rather interesting in RS TL 3241-4606."
"Something interesting, in a Ranma Timeline and a protected one at
that?" Toltiir inquired, 'Things have been rather boring lately.'
"Yeah, someone got a hold of a cat statue imbued with a summoning
spell and gave it to Ranma."
"Yeah, so what has that to do with you?"
"They gave it to him along with the idea of using it while praying to
ME in a shrine that he hand built for a solution to the Cat Fist problem.
I'm trying to figure out what type of cat to send to him."
Waving his paw over the edge of the water Toltiir said, "This I just
have to see."
----Narima, Japan March 10, 1992------
A warm spring breeze blew through the streets of the Nerima
district shopping center. Today, like every other Saturday, it was
full of people looking for things to buy. Ranma Saotome was among the
crowd of shoppers, going to pick up some soy sauce for Kasumi. He
was approaching the grocer's shop when his attention suddenly was
diverted by a new small shop at the corner. It had Martial weapons on
display in the window along with scrolls, books, and some strange little
knickknacks.
Letting his curiosity get the better of him, Ranma approached the
strange store and grabbed the door handle hesitantly. Pushing on
the handle, he entered the store. The silvery bells hanging above the
door rang out, announcing a new customer. As he walked into the
store, he was immediately assailed by a strong odor of old books,
the metallic smell of well oiled blades mixed in with incense. His eyes
swept about the place, inspecting the rows of shelves and the displays
of various of items that crowded the store. Pictures of people from
all over the world, some ancient styled clothing and other relics
littered the floor and walls in no discernible order. Ranma stepped
over and around items and he wandered about the store, not sure if
he'd find anything to suit his fancy.
A vendor dressed in a light tan robe with a brown vest looked up from
his place behind the counter, and watched as Ranma disappeared behind
a rack of old clothes, heading towards the back of the store. Unseen
by Ranma, the vendor's eyes sparkled as his gaze fell on the young
martial artist. `Yes. This may be the one,' he thought to himself as
he walked around the counter to meet his customer at the back of the
store.
Ranma hadn't found anything of interest, and was beginning to
tire of the place. He turned around to leave when his hand bumped
against an old table with little statues and dusty books sitting on
top. Disinterestedly, he looked through the titles of the books,
noting the that he couldn't read any of them. He turned his attention to a
stack of martial arts manuals sitting on one corner of the table, and was
busy flipping through them when someone tapped him on the shoulder.
"Yahhh!" Ranma yelled, startled by the quiet approach of the
vendor. His startled jolt caused several of the manuals to spill to the
floor.
Undisturbed by his outburst, the vendor smiled, then bowed
slightly. "Anything I can help you with, kind sir?"
Ranma let his heart calm down before answering. He'd debated
asking the vendor how he could've snuck up behind him without him
knowing, but decided not to since the vendor appeared too spacy to be
an effective threat. He scratched his head, not really sure why he
was in the store to begin with, "Ummm... well, I was really just
looking ..."
"... for a gift, perhaps?" the vendor completed. "I wouldn't
recommend any of those except for a joke. We have plenty of less
dangerous martial arts stuff here," he said, gesturing to the
walls and aisles of books and weapons in the store.
Ranma looked down and blanched, he was holding a Cat Fist manual,
paling he droped the manula back onto the counter before shivering.
"I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy. To tell you the truth, I don't
even know why I came here," Ranma said distractedly, while trying to
stop his shivering.
Giving him a searching look, the vendor said, "You seem to know a
lot about that manual." Seeing the scared look on his face a fealing of
dread slowly filled the vendor, "You wouldn't have by any chance been
taught the Cat Fist?" seeing the boys face turn a pale white while
twitching he felt he had his answer.
'It must've been the lady's will that brought you here.' He chuckled
slightly. "Do you believe in magic young man?"
The mention of magic had returned Ranma's attention to the
rambling vendor. He frowned at the guy's question. `No, of course I
don't like magic,' he stated to himself. After Jusenkyo, and all of the
magical potions, he'd had his fill of magic. But instead of ranting about
his life, he merely replied, "Oh yes, magic is real."
Giving the boy one more searching look he continued, "Well, I might
have something that will help you with that problem of yours with cats."
he said, gesturing for Ranma to follow him to the counter.
"Whattaya mean, *something?*" Ranma asked skeptically, his eyes
narrowing. Anything *magical* usually meant trouble for him.
"Well, the whole lot of items in this cabinet are supposed to be
magical," he said, waving his hands at the display. Unlocking it he
reached in and pulled out a cat statue. Setting it on the counter looked
back at Ranma as he scooted back a little. "This might be some help
you."
Ranma couldn't help but ask. He didn't want to believe the vendor's
claims, but something in his mind told him to listen. "Really? How?"
"This is a statue from ancient Egypt, it is for Basset the goddess of
cats, protector of pregnant women and children. It is supposed to allow a
mortal to beseech her for help in troubled times. If they have lived their
life in an honorable fashion and she finds them worthy she helps the
mortal. As long as you are not evil and are not asking for a evil or
greedy favor she won't punish you."
"How much is it?"
"You can have it free of charge, just when the time comes give it to
someone who needs it as much as you did." The vender put the statue in
a box before holding it out to Ranma.
Ranma took the box and held it to his chest, suddenly protective of
the item. "Thank you very much." He said before bowing and rushing
out of the store.
The vendor smiled at the closed door, watching Ranma walk down
the sidewalk. He sighed to himself once Ranma was out of sight.
"M'lady Basset, Help him as you helped me."
Reaching down he picked up a small tan colored cat. "Help him."
---Mimir's Well----------
"Well that was different."
"That's what I thought, any idea of what type of cat I should send
him?"
"How does sending a cat help him solve his problem?" Toltiir asked,
while looking at the screen on the laptop.
"I can bind the Cat Fist between the him and a cat so they can share
the fear between the two of them." Bast shakes her head at the next
picture. "I need a cat that is smart enough to help him, dangerous to
survive around him but not dangerous looking, one that can adapt to
various situations and would be loyal enough to go against his wishes to
help him."
"In other words one that is everything he is not?"
"Yeah, any suggestions?"
"Hmmm", reaching forward with a paw he pulls up a cat on the
screen. The cat in question was a good 60 centimeters in length and a
creamy color. With a long fluffy tale, it hand a distinct characteristic that
made it stand out from all of the others they had looked at. It had six
legs.
Smiling Bast punched a few keys.
"Yes that will do well."
----Nerima, March 17, 1992 five minutes earlier------
Ranma slowly walked up the stairs to the attic in the Tendo home. In
his hands he carried a box with the things he would need. It had taken
him a week to find out what he need to know to do the ceremony. He
had gone back to the shop three times in the last seven days to talk with
the vendor. The first time it was to ask how the statue worked and the
only answer he got was, "It works differently for each person. You have
to come up with a ritual by yourself for yourself. It must be personal."
The conversation then drifted to stories about his homeland, Egypt. He
pulled the door to the attic closed and paused a moment to push his fear
back as he glanced at the various cat motif stuff placed around him. In
front of him was an altar that had two candles and a small shrine sitting
on it. He walked forward slowly and kneeled down in front of it and
opened the box. Pausing yet again he had to suppress another wave of
terror running through him at the sight of what was in the box. With
shaking hands he pulled out the small cat statue and set it down in front
of the shrine. Next he pulled out three small bowls and a container of
water. Setting them down in a triangle in between him and the altar he
filed two with water. In the last he put a pinch of dirt, a small bone, and
a sliver of wood. Finally he took out a small cat claw and a tiny crystal.
He put the box off to the side along with the container and bowed
once.
"Colonge, this better work." He crushed the crystal in his left and
touched the wicks of the candles. With a surge of hot Ki from his right
hand and one of cold from his left both candles burst into flames, a hot
red one and one the burned a cold blue. Then he opened the shrine and
bowed. Quietly he spoke in horribly accented but recognizable Egyptian,
"Basset hear this prayer, I beseech thee for help."
Then he continued in Japanese, "I beg you to help me with a terror I
can not fight, help us with the Cat Fist."
With the cat claw he pricked his right hand and put a drop of blood in
the bowl with the dirt and the right hand bowl of water.
"Born male I was, as a man I ask, help us with this problem."
A second prick on his left hand after he put his hand in the left bowl and
shifted to his female form, "By Jusenkyo's magic a Woman I am, as a
woman I ask, help us with this problem."
A drop of blood in the first bowl and another in the water on the left.
Placing both hands in their corresponding bowls of water he heated the
right one.
"By the soil of the pit, the wood of the lid and the bone of the dead.
By the pain of the living, the pain of a man," A burst of cold Ki and he
became a she, "the pain of a woman, and the pain of a cat, I ask you to
heal us and put the spirits of the dead to rest. My all of those that came
unjustly to harm because of the Cat Fist find peace, I beseech you help
us."
In his mind he/she heard a single melodic voice,
I find you worthy.
----During this, In the Tendo Home, down stairs------
Akane sat happily at the table in the dinning room with her sisters,
father, Genma, "I cat believe Ranma is finally getting cured of that damn
Cat Fist!"
Nabiki nodded, "It is a good thing considering the trouble he caused
two weeks ago when he got trapped by those ally cats."
Kasumi just sipped her tea happily, "I'm so happy for him finding a
cure. I hope he finishes up in the attic soon, I need to dust up there."
Two pairs of ears pricked heard Kasumi's words. On pair belonged to
a small black pig, which immediately turned to find some hot water. It
ran of bweeing angrily, 'Ranma you will not get a cure before I do!'
The other pair belonged to a gnome of a man. Who yelled, "NO, I
will not lose my RANMA-CHAN!!!"
Akane jumped up and blocked the pervert before he could race past
them and smashed him outside with her fist. The ensuing fight would
have been extremely short if it wasn't for Ryouga climbing out the
bathroom window.
"I won't let you hurt Akane!" was his battle cry as he rushed in. The
ensuing melee would have been fine except for the fact that both of them
knew of the event transpiring upstairs. So when happosi threw one of his
bomb at the attic window Ryouga didn't stop it.
---Copperwall Mountains, Sphinx----------
Branch Leaper paused midway down the long picket wood limb, and
his ears went up in surprise as he tasted the first hint of the aproaching
mind glow.
Mind glows, he corrected himself as he realized a person and their
human made their way along the forest floor towards him. There was
something familiar of one of the mind glows, one felt familiar as it got a
little closer he bleeked in amusement, it was Laughs Brightly and his
human Dances on Clouds.
He scurried down to one of the lowest branches and waited for them
to reach him. The elders had been expecting him to bring Dances on
Clouds for a while now, they had wanted to feel the bond that had been
building between Laughs Brightly and his human, with their own minds.
He looked behind him as he felt another glow coming from the other
direction.
In a flash of cream colored fur and the skitter of claws Brightsong
landed on the branch nest to him.
Brightsong twitched her whiskers in embarrassment
Both cats looked down as the two travelers entered the clrearing
below them, to suddenly have the attention drawn to a swirl of light that
suddenly grew to a five foot circle that showed a young boy with a
pigtail kneeling in front of a statue of a cat on the ground behind him
was a small ball with a string coming out of it, the end of which was
sparkling as it burned lower. Three of the minds watching the scene
froze in statement, the other to held no thought except for each other.
Brightsong threw herself of the branch as she raced towards the
portal, the pigtailed boy was stranding up when the fuse burned out and
the bomb explored sending him through the portal and strait into the
leaping Brightsong. The treecat and human collided in midair and
rendered her unconsciousness.
----The Attic----
The attic window smashed behind him at the same moment and a
small ball of wrapped paper rolled up behind him unnoticed.
"Yes, I will."
A flicker of light in front of him grew until it was a disc five feet
wide. Then it rippled and showed a forest. Ranma slowly stood up as a
cat came into sight and behind him there was an explosion. Suddenly he
found himself flying forward smacking into her. 'Six Legs?' was his last
though before he hit the tree and everything went black.
---Mimir's Well----------
"Oops."
