Author's note: Thanks again for the reviews. A lot of you have been here
since day one or at least for the past couple of months as I struggle to
end this story. I really appreciate the support ^_^ and I'm planning
something.errrr. special for some of you.
Thanks again to Another Duck for the beta-read. Poor guy was trying to do it on no sleep. mhmmm. sleep, that was a nice thing I used to do several months ago.
And yes. ummm. the portal thing. You really need to play a multiplayer game to understand what that is about. Needless to say, there is a lot of Etiquette in the D2 world that you need to learn. Like take for example this one time where I cast a town portal (short keyed as a right click on the mouse) for someone who had just died, went off to battle and forgot to switch back to casting spell and not town portals and the poor SOB come through completely armorless/weaponless and was mauled in five seconds.
Etiquette people. very important in multiplayer RPGs.
Act 5, Quest 3 : Prison of Ice
"So things are back to normal?"
Akane nodded slightly. "As normal as they can be," she replied, looking at Kasumi. "Ranma is off trying to learn more techniques from the master Paladin. Ukyo is resting because of her wounds. Shampoo is trying to improve her bow skills right next to where Mousse is. And Ryoga."
"I'LL KILL HIM!!"
Akane stood up. "Ryoga is normal too. But I better go stop him before he kills someone."
"Oh my," Kasumi said softly, watching Akane run down the stairs.
Akane wasn't alone for too long. Shampoo and Ranma apparently had the same idea as she did. Ryoga was back to normal. but normal for him still verged on homicidal in some case.
"Ryoga, calm down," Ukyo said, grabbing him by the sleeve.
"Not a chance," he said, shaking her off. He stopped short, seeing the rest of the group appearing.
"Let's just talk about this," Ranma said, holding up his hands.
And much to their relief, Ryoga sighed and nodded. "Talk. let's talk indeed." He picked up his axe.
"Talk Ryoga," Akane repeated, watching the grip on his axe tightened.
"Akari." he started.
"The Chieftain's daughter?" Akane asked.
Ryoga nodded. "That bastard said she went away, but."
"Which bastard?" Shampoo said.
"Gosunkugi," Ranma said, realizing what was going on. "She didn't go away did she?"
Ryoga shook his head. "One of the barbarians we saved said that they saw him conversing with the demons. The pen was scheduled for extermination so that creep thought he could just strut around, 'payback for all those years of teasing' he said."
"But how do you know that he has something to do with Akari leaving?" Akane asked.
Ryoga looked over with a frown. "Because he told the demons that he'd have control over the Barbarians as soon. He just need to get rid of me, since he already took care of her." The grip on his weapon tightened even further. "If he hurt her."
"We'll find her," Ukyo said with a reassuring grip on his arm.
Ryoga nodded, twitching his nose slightly. "Sure. only we have no idea where to look."
"I think I might know," Genma said walking up towards the group.
"What?" Ranma said, looking at his father with apprehension.
"The demons keep Barbarians in the ice caves too," Genma continued. "You've already cleared out all the pens outside the mountain. If there's any place she'll be, it'll be in the ice caves."
"But you already cleaned out the mountain," Ryoga said, suddenly growing a bit pale.
"Just one cave. Nothing was alive in there boy," Genma replied. "If she was there, it was too late anyway. But if she were in another cave."
"We'll split up," Ranma said. "Three groups and search every last inch of the mountain. Shampoo and Ryoga, me and Akane and Pop'll take the last one alone."
"Oh no you don't," Ukyo said. "I'm coming too."
"But Ukyo." Ranma said.
"I'm fine. All that's left is scars and the burning desire to kill things. a lot of things," she said with a smile. "I know I'm ready."
Ranma smiled. "Okay, me and Akane, Ryoga and Ukyo, Pop and Shampoo. Okay?"
Ukyo sighed and looked over at Ryoga. "See, I told you they always stick us together."
* * *
The snow crunched under Akane's boot and she looked up with apprehension at the mountain. She let Warmth flow out of her with a frown. She was using up more mana on this part of the journey then she was used to.
"You okay?"
Akane turned and nodded back at Ranma. "Yeah, just got a bit cold," she said.
"Do you want to stop?"
Akane balked and looked at him. "Stop that."
"Stop what?"
"Being nice," she said. "It's freaking me out."
Ranma's eyebrow twitched. "What the hell does that mean?"
"Ever since we got back from freeing the barbarians you've had manners and acted civilized and."
"I thought we decided no fighting," he said, angrily.
"Yeah but. it's just not the same. I mean, I'm used to fighting with you. The Ranma you are right now, it's not the Ranma that I." Akane trailed off and bit her lip. She was not going to say that out loud.
"The Ranma you what?" he said looking at her. But she shook her head. "Come on! Tell me!" he said, bobbing around her to get her to talk.
"Leave me alone!!"
The weak fireball came out of her hands and Ranma ducked, knowing it couldn't really hurt him but not wanting to get singed. Of course, the fireball did have the unfortunate side effect of melting the snow above him.
"Ha!" he said triumphantly, only to have a wave of new melted snow (aka cold water) fall on him.
"Crap," Ranma-chan said, watching the armor suddenly grow around her. "Great move Akane!" the decisively female voice yelled.
"Sorry!" Akane replied. "I didn't mean to!!"
"Like bull you didn't!" she cried back. "How am I supposed to fight like this!! My armor doesn't even fit!!"
"Wait, I know," Akane said, pulling out an old cloak from her backpack. "You can just use it to stuff in the gaps," she said, shoving in between Ranma-chan's chest and the armor.
Now, Ranma could have stayed quiet. He could have realized the inherent danger in what he was about to say. But, even in girl form, Ranma's mouth to brain speed was a bit on the slow side. So.
"Feh, it figures you'd know how to do this," she said, watching Akane work. "What with armor being made for girls with bigger."
Ah. there is it. The sudden realization by his brain that he just said something very stupid that was likely to get him very hurt. And of course, it was.
"RANMA NO BAKA!!!"
Too late.
* * *
"Did Panda-man hear that?" Shampoo asked, looking up at the sky.
"No," Genma said, moving quickly, realizing that the infamous Saotome foot in mouth gene had probably just struck again.
"Sound like violent magic girl get angry," Shampoo said.
"Uh huh," Genma said, moving towards the door and into the ice cave.
"Shampoo ask Panda-man something," she said. "Need advice on thing."
Genma's mind began to swirl. Okay, he could just ignore her but images of various demons being pummeled by the Amazon flashed through his head. And after years of beatings, at least Genma knew to keep his mouth shut until his brain caught up.
"What do you need?" he asked.
"Panda-man is Druid," Shampoo said. "Know how elements work."
Genma paused and tried to translate the broken words. "You mean, Elements. like Fire and Lightning."
"Those," Shampoo said, stepping over a pile of icicles.
"What about them?" Genma said, already feeling a headache forming.
"Need to learn how to use them," Shampoo said firmly.
Genma stopped in his tracks. Oh there was no answer to this. Saying no would mean he'd have a very pissed off Amazon on his hands. Saying yes would mean he'd have a very pissed off Amazon on his hands since he had no idea how to teach her how to use Elemental magic. But he would never admit to not knowing how to do something.
"I can't teach you," he said, puffing up his chest. "Druid law prohibits teaching outsiders. Besides, you would need to reach the same level of camaraderie that I have with Nature to."
"Stupid Panda-man not know how to teach," Shampoo said, passing him by.
"What? I didn't say that," Genma protested, following her.
"Stupid Panda-man not have any connection to Nature," Shampoo said.
"Now wait a minute," Genma said, getting angry. "I am a Master level Druid. I couldn't have reached it."
"Panda-man must have lied," Shampoo sighed. "Tricked Druids into making master."
"WHAT?"
"Like trick everyone else," Shampoo said but there was a firm grip on her arm.
"Listen here," Genma said. "I may not be an honest man." Shampoo snorted. ".but the one thing I would never lie about is my abilities. You want to learn," he said, "then I'll teach you."
Shampoo smiled. She knew Genma probably had no idea of how to teach her. But Shampoo also knew that his pride was larger then the mountain. So he'd probably come up with something somewhat useful.
* * *
"So Akari was your friend growing up," Ukyo asked, taking Ryoga's arm as he pulled her up.
"Something like that," he said.
Ukyo paused. "She was your fiancée, wasn't she?" Ryoga nodded slowly. "What happened?"
"I got lost," Ryoga said, claming up.
"Wait a minute. did you really get lost?" Ukyo asked.
"Yeah, you know the whole no sense of."
"Bull!" Ukyo said suddenly. "You ran away, didn't you?" She paused. "Why?"
Ryoga shook his head. "It's not important anymore," he said.
"Ryo." she trailed off, as he brought his hand up. She frowned and looked at where he was pointing.
There were more bodies but this time. some of them were still moving. Ukyo fought down the urge to empty her stomach and turned to Ryoga.
"Should we."
"Akari," Ryoga said, suddenly catching sight of something in the distance. He stood up but Ukyo caught him.
"Wait, don't you remember the plan?" Ukyo asked. Ryoga paused, tensing and looking at the figure in the ice that was so close. "If it's her and she's in there. how are you going to get her out? Please Ryoga."
Ryoga nodded and they fell back, retracing their steps to the two blaring blue portals. A second later in town, they split with Ryoga heading towards the pair of portals belonging to Ranma and Akane while Ukyo head off to meet Genma and Shampoo.
A gentle snow started to fall in the center of town, passing through the six portals and landing softly on the ground. A second later, Ukyo and Shampoo came out of one portal while Genma came out of the other.
"So think it Akari?" Shampoo asked.
Ukyo nodded. "Yeah, at least Ryoga thought it was."
Shampoo nodded and looked over at the other two portals. "So where they are?"
Ukyo frowned. "I'll go get them." She walked across and walked into one of the portals just as Ryoga, Akane and Ranma came out.
"Ukyo go look for you," Shampoo said.
"Damn," Ranma-chan said, turning and walking back through a portal.
"No wait! Ranma!!" Akane called. The portal closed behind him and Akane cursed. "That stupid idiot never listens. How many times do I have to explain this?"
"Shampoo still no understand why need so many portals," Shampoo said.
"It's so they don't close each time we come back to town and then leave again," Akane said, trying not to lose her temper. "We won't waste scrolls this way."
Shampoo's eyebrow raised. "So why Akane no go through portal and tell Ranma to cast new one?"
"Because then my portal will close and I'll have to use another scroll! Don't you listen?"
"Listen," Shampoo replied, "but still no understand." Without another word, she walked into the portal and a second later, two new ones sprung up and Shampoo came out of one while Ranma-chan and Ukyo came out of the other.
"Why did you cast another portal?" Akane asked as soon as they were clear.
"Shampoo told me too!" Ranma-chan said.
"Then Shampoo cast portal so no close when come back," Shampoo said. Akane's eye twitched but Ryoga held up his hands.
"Enough," he cried. "I'm getting a headache listening to you. Besides, we need to figure out a way to get Akari free. It looked like she was trapped in a block of ice."
"I think I might know," Kasumi said, joining the group.
"Really?" Ryoga said, somewhat surprised at her entrance.
"Oh yes. I am a ice-based sorceress so I have a few ideas of how to melt ice."
"That's great onee-chan!" Akane said. "What do you need to do?"
"It's a special potion but. oh dear, I was going to make dinner. Akane, will you cook the soup instead?"
Akane's face lit up. "Sure!"
"Wonderful," Kasumi said. "It'll give us something to look forward to when we get back."
But the rest of the group's reaction didn't quite fit what Kasumi was saying.
* * *
"Kasumi.you could have stayed behind you know," Akane said, watching her sister move with the group.
"But I wanted to come," Kasumi said with a smile. Besides, she thought to herself, after Akane had almost Fireballed everyone when Ryoga and Ukyo accidentally closed their portals, she realized it was a really good idea to tag along.
"Now, everyone stay still," Kasumi said.
"What's wrong?" Ukyo said looking around.
"Well, Ryoga said that there were monsters around," Kasumi replied. "So I thought you might need this."
A wand appeared her hand and the air around Kasumi suddenly started to solidify into ice crystals. The rest of the group felt it too and suddenly a cloud of ice surrounded them.
"What's this?" Ryoga said.
"Chilling Armor," Kasumi smiled. "I thought it might be a good idea."
"Nice," Ranma said looking around himself. "Okay, me and Akane'll hit them in the front."
"Wait, wait," Ukyo said holding up her hands. "Let me guess. Ryoga and me take the left. Shampoo and Genma take the right."
"Yeah," Ranma said. "That's the gist of it."
"Thought so," Ukyo said, grabbing Ryoga. "Come on, pig boy it's you and me again."
"Hey!" Ryoga protested. Shampoo sighed as she followed Genma to the right.
"Kasumi," Ranma said, "I think you should just stay behind and wait until we've killed all the monsters. Then you can use the potion to free Akari."
"Okay," Kasumi said with a smile.
Ranma nodded at Akane and they took off, heading towards the front of the pack of monsters. He looked over at Akane and she nodded. He shot a small blast into the air and the three groups attacked simultaneously.
It should have been a normal battle but something was wrong. And it wasn't the fact that for some reason Shampoo was suddenly shooting off multiple arrows that hit their targets and exploded into a see of flame (when did she learn Immolating?). Or that Genma was Hurricaning most of the demons back into Hell. It wasn't the fact that Ukyo, her shadow and Ryoga were acting like a blender and chopping anything near them into mincemeat.
It was the fact that everything around Akane and Ranma were dying before they even got close. Was the armor casting Ice Bolt every time they got close? Well, yeah but that didn't explain the multiple shots that were coming from behind them.
"Onee-chan!" Akane cried as Kasumi approached them. "I thought we said to stay back!"
"I'm sorry Akane," Kasumi said firmly, "but it was just too dangerous to let my little sister stay out here by herself."
"Kasumi." Ranma said, looking at her, with a bit of confusion. "What is that over your head?"
Kasumi looked up at the little circle above her head. "Oh that. that's my pulsating orb of frozen death," she said with a smile. "Isn't it so nice?"
Ranma and Akane looked at each other with apprehension in their eyes. After a while, Akane could only shrug. That was Kasumi after all.
"Everyone okay?" Ranma called out, realizing all the demons were dead. There were a few calls of agreement before everyone emerged and walked towards the center of the room.
Ryoga had been right. There, incased in ice, was a young woman. Her garb was that of a barbarian woman and her long dark hair was wrapped around her body like a shawl. He took a step forward but pulled back.
"It's really cold," he said.
Akane frowned and tried to approach the figure. She got a few steps before she realized she was constantly recasting Warmth to stave off the cold. "I can't do it," she said, backing off.
"The Ice Cage is creating a shield around it," Kasumi said with a small nod. "We can't walk up to it to use the potion."
"Give potion to Shampoo," the Amazon said. Kasumi handed over the vial to Shampoo. She tied it to an arrow and pulled back the bowstring, letting the arrow fly towards the ice.
The arrow began to slow, as if fighting against the icy shield around the body. But the arrow started to burn and eventually sailed over the head of the woman, smashing the vial against the top of the icicle. The liquid simmered and boiled, slowly eating away at the ice.
"That's some potion," Ranma said.
"Oh it's not the potion," Kasumi said with a smile. The group looked at her with confusion. "It's Akane's soup. When we were younger, it was the only thing I could find to help 'fix' some of my mis-castings."
"What?" Akane cried.
But before anymore could answer, the Ice Cage cracked and Akari fell forward. Ryoga rushed up and caught her before she hit the ground and pulled her away. She mumbled a bit incoherently as her eyes tried to register what was happening.
"It's okay, Akari," Ryoga said. "You'll be fine."
"Ry. Ryoga," she said softly. "I knew you'd come."
The Barbarian turned two shades of red before pulling out a town portal scroll and bringing them back town.
* * *
"Oi, Ukyo!"
Ukyo looked up from the fire as Ranma and Akane approached. "Hey," the assassin said with a smile. "How's Akari?"
"Good," Akane said. "Tofu was looking after her only. Ranma, did you notice how he kind of gets stupid around Kasumi?"
Ranma looked at Akane as if she just asked a real dumb question. He held up his right hand, which had been bandaged and written all over. Ukyo's eyebrows furrowed. She didn't remember Ran-chan getting hurt during. oh.
"Should you have left Akari alone with him?" Ukyo asked.
Akane nodded. "It'll be fine. Ryoga took Kasumi away and Tofu went into full doctor mode again. She should be fine."
Ukyo nodded. "How's Ryoga doing?"
Akane and Ranma exchanged a look. "He's fine," Akane asked. "Why do you."
"I think," Ukyo said suddenly, "I think Ryoga didn't get lost at all. I think he ran away. And I think Akari was part of the reason."
"Why do."
Ranma trailed off as his eyes shot open. He looked at Akane and Ukyo and they nodded. They had felt it too. The ground shook again and a couple of wood blocks fell from the fire, sending sparks into the snows. A few seconds later, the bells began to ring and the town burst into a hive of activity. The trio ran towards the main wall, seeing Shampoo already up at top, conversing with the troops there.
"Shampoo!" Ranma called up.
Shampoo looked down, worry etched on her face. "See lots of figures on horizon."
Akane's heart clenched. The demon army? Were they staging a last attack on Harrogarth?
The trio ran up the ladder and onto the ramparts. They followed Shampoo's gaze and frowned along with her. She was right, on the horizon through the haze of snow and smoke, they could make out figures. A lot of them. Suddenly, Shampoo pulled out her bow and knocked an arrow, followed quickly by a few of the troops.
"What's wrong?" Ukyo said, watching Akane tense up and pull out her wand.
"Something's coming," Ranma said, pointing to two quick moving forms.
A few seconds later, the figures became clear. Two men on horses charged the fortress, each with flags streaming off the back of their mounts. They were shouting something but the symbols on their flags told the people of Harrogarth what they needed to know.
The Army of Light had arrived. And soon, so would the final battle.
Thanks again to Another Duck for the beta-read. Poor guy was trying to do it on no sleep. mhmmm. sleep, that was a nice thing I used to do several months ago.
And yes. ummm. the portal thing. You really need to play a multiplayer game to understand what that is about. Needless to say, there is a lot of Etiquette in the D2 world that you need to learn. Like take for example this one time where I cast a town portal (short keyed as a right click on the mouse) for someone who had just died, went off to battle and forgot to switch back to casting spell and not town portals and the poor SOB come through completely armorless/weaponless and was mauled in five seconds.
Etiquette people. very important in multiplayer RPGs.
Act 5, Quest 3 : Prison of Ice
"So things are back to normal?"
Akane nodded slightly. "As normal as they can be," she replied, looking at Kasumi. "Ranma is off trying to learn more techniques from the master Paladin. Ukyo is resting because of her wounds. Shampoo is trying to improve her bow skills right next to where Mousse is. And Ryoga."
"I'LL KILL HIM!!"
Akane stood up. "Ryoga is normal too. But I better go stop him before he kills someone."
"Oh my," Kasumi said softly, watching Akane run down the stairs.
Akane wasn't alone for too long. Shampoo and Ranma apparently had the same idea as she did. Ryoga was back to normal. but normal for him still verged on homicidal in some case.
"Ryoga, calm down," Ukyo said, grabbing him by the sleeve.
"Not a chance," he said, shaking her off. He stopped short, seeing the rest of the group appearing.
"Let's just talk about this," Ranma said, holding up his hands.
And much to their relief, Ryoga sighed and nodded. "Talk. let's talk indeed." He picked up his axe.
"Talk Ryoga," Akane repeated, watching the grip on his axe tightened.
"Akari." he started.
"The Chieftain's daughter?" Akane asked.
Ryoga nodded. "That bastard said she went away, but."
"Which bastard?" Shampoo said.
"Gosunkugi," Ranma said, realizing what was going on. "She didn't go away did she?"
Ryoga shook his head. "One of the barbarians we saved said that they saw him conversing with the demons. The pen was scheduled for extermination so that creep thought he could just strut around, 'payback for all those years of teasing' he said."
"But how do you know that he has something to do with Akari leaving?" Akane asked.
Ryoga looked over with a frown. "Because he told the demons that he'd have control over the Barbarians as soon. He just need to get rid of me, since he already took care of her." The grip on his weapon tightened even further. "If he hurt her."
"We'll find her," Ukyo said with a reassuring grip on his arm.
Ryoga nodded, twitching his nose slightly. "Sure. only we have no idea where to look."
"I think I might know," Genma said walking up towards the group.
"What?" Ranma said, looking at his father with apprehension.
"The demons keep Barbarians in the ice caves too," Genma continued. "You've already cleared out all the pens outside the mountain. If there's any place she'll be, it'll be in the ice caves."
"But you already cleaned out the mountain," Ryoga said, suddenly growing a bit pale.
"Just one cave. Nothing was alive in there boy," Genma replied. "If she was there, it was too late anyway. But if she were in another cave."
"We'll split up," Ranma said. "Three groups and search every last inch of the mountain. Shampoo and Ryoga, me and Akane and Pop'll take the last one alone."
"Oh no you don't," Ukyo said. "I'm coming too."
"But Ukyo." Ranma said.
"I'm fine. All that's left is scars and the burning desire to kill things. a lot of things," she said with a smile. "I know I'm ready."
Ranma smiled. "Okay, me and Akane, Ryoga and Ukyo, Pop and Shampoo. Okay?"
Ukyo sighed and looked over at Ryoga. "See, I told you they always stick us together."
* * *
The snow crunched under Akane's boot and she looked up with apprehension at the mountain. She let Warmth flow out of her with a frown. She was using up more mana on this part of the journey then she was used to.
"You okay?"
Akane turned and nodded back at Ranma. "Yeah, just got a bit cold," she said.
"Do you want to stop?"
Akane balked and looked at him. "Stop that."
"Stop what?"
"Being nice," she said. "It's freaking me out."
Ranma's eyebrow twitched. "What the hell does that mean?"
"Ever since we got back from freeing the barbarians you've had manners and acted civilized and."
"I thought we decided no fighting," he said, angrily.
"Yeah but. it's just not the same. I mean, I'm used to fighting with you. The Ranma you are right now, it's not the Ranma that I." Akane trailed off and bit her lip. She was not going to say that out loud.
"The Ranma you what?" he said looking at her. But she shook her head. "Come on! Tell me!" he said, bobbing around her to get her to talk.
"Leave me alone!!"
The weak fireball came out of her hands and Ranma ducked, knowing it couldn't really hurt him but not wanting to get singed. Of course, the fireball did have the unfortunate side effect of melting the snow above him.
"Ha!" he said triumphantly, only to have a wave of new melted snow (aka cold water) fall on him.
"Crap," Ranma-chan said, watching the armor suddenly grow around her. "Great move Akane!" the decisively female voice yelled.
"Sorry!" Akane replied. "I didn't mean to!!"
"Like bull you didn't!" she cried back. "How am I supposed to fight like this!! My armor doesn't even fit!!"
"Wait, I know," Akane said, pulling out an old cloak from her backpack. "You can just use it to stuff in the gaps," she said, shoving in between Ranma-chan's chest and the armor.
Now, Ranma could have stayed quiet. He could have realized the inherent danger in what he was about to say. But, even in girl form, Ranma's mouth to brain speed was a bit on the slow side. So.
"Feh, it figures you'd know how to do this," she said, watching Akane work. "What with armor being made for girls with bigger."
Ah. there is it. The sudden realization by his brain that he just said something very stupid that was likely to get him very hurt. And of course, it was.
"RANMA NO BAKA!!!"
Too late.
* * *
"Did Panda-man hear that?" Shampoo asked, looking up at the sky.
"No," Genma said, moving quickly, realizing that the infamous Saotome foot in mouth gene had probably just struck again.
"Sound like violent magic girl get angry," Shampoo said.
"Uh huh," Genma said, moving towards the door and into the ice cave.
"Shampoo ask Panda-man something," she said. "Need advice on thing."
Genma's mind began to swirl. Okay, he could just ignore her but images of various demons being pummeled by the Amazon flashed through his head. And after years of beatings, at least Genma knew to keep his mouth shut until his brain caught up.
"What do you need?" he asked.
"Panda-man is Druid," Shampoo said. "Know how elements work."
Genma paused and tried to translate the broken words. "You mean, Elements. like Fire and Lightning."
"Those," Shampoo said, stepping over a pile of icicles.
"What about them?" Genma said, already feeling a headache forming.
"Need to learn how to use them," Shampoo said firmly.
Genma stopped in his tracks. Oh there was no answer to this. Saying no would mean he'd have a very pissed off Amazon on his hands. Saying yes would mean he'd have a very pissed off Amazon on his hands since he had no idea how to teach her how to use Elemental magic. But he would never admit to not knowing how to do something.
"I can't teach you," he said, puffing up his chest. "Druid law prohibits teaching outsiders. Besides, you would need to reach the same level of camaraderie that I have with Nature to."
"Stupid Panda-man not know how to teach," Shampoo said, passing him by.
"What? I didn't say that," Genma protested, following her.
"Stupid Panda-man not have any connection to Nature," Shampoo said.
"Now wait a minute," Genma said, getting angry. "I am a Master level Druid. I couldn't have reached it."
"Panda-man must have lied," Shampoo sighed. "Tricked Druids into making master."
"WHAT?"
"Like trick everyone else," Shampoo said but there was a firm grip on her arm.
"Listen here," Genma said. "I may not be an honest man." Shampoo snorted. ".but the one thing I would never lie about is my abilities. You want to learn," he said, "then I'll teach you."
Shampoo smiled. She knew Genma probably had no idea of how to teach her. But Shampoo also knew that his pride was larger then the mountain. So he'd probably come up with something somewhat useful.
* * *
"So Akari was your friend growing up," Ukyo asked, taking Ryoga's arm as he pulled her up.
"Something like that," he said.
Ukyo paused. "She was your fiancée, wasn't she?" Ryoga nodded slowly. "What happened?"
"I got lost," Ryoga said, claming up.
"Wait a minute. did you really get lost?" Ukyo asked.
"Yeah, you know the whole no sense of."
"Bull!" Ukyo said suddenly. "You ran away, didn't you?" She paused. "Why?"
Ryoga shook his head. "It's not important anymore," he said.
"Ryo." she trailed off, as he brought his hand up. She frowned and looked at where he was pointing.
There were more bodies but this time. some of them were still moving. Ukyo fought down the urge to empty her stomach and turned to Ryoga.
"Should we."
"Akari," Ryoga said, suddenly catching sight of something in the distance. He stood up but Ukyo caught him.
"Wait, don't you remember the plan?" Ukyo asked. Ryoga paused, tensing and looking at the figure in the ice that was so close. "If it's her and she's in there. how are you going to get her out? Please Ryoga."
Ryoga nodded and they fell back, retracing their steps to the two blaring blue portals. A second later in town, they split with Ryoga heading towards the pair of portals belonging to Ranma and Akane while Ukyo head off to meet Genma and Shampoo.
A gentle snow started to fall in the center of town, passing through the six portals and landing softly on the ground. A second later, Ukyo and Shampoo came out of one portal while Genma came out of the other.
"So think it Akari?" Shampoo asked.
Ukyo nodded. "Yeah, at least Ryoga thought it was."
Shampoo nodded and looked over at the other two portals. "So where they are?"
Ukyo frowned. "I'll go get them." She walked across and walked into one of the portals just as Ryoga, Akane and Ranma came out.
"Ukyo go look for you," Shampoo said.
"Damn," Ranma-chan said, turning and walking back through a portal.
"No wait! Ranma!!" Akane called. The portal closed behind him and Akane cursed. "That stupid idiot never listens. How many times do I have to explain this?"
"Shampoo still no understand why need so many portals," Shampoo said.
"It's so they don't close each time we come back to town and then leave again," Akane said, trying not to lose her temper. "We won't waste scrolls this way."
Shampoo's eyebrow raised. "So why Akane no go through portal and tell Ranma to cast new one?"
"Because then my portal will close and I'll have to use another scroll! Don't you listen?"
"Listen," Shampoo replied, "but still no understand." Without another word, she walked into the portal and a second later, two new ones sprung up and Shampoo came out of one while Ranma-chan and Ukyo came out of the other.
"Why did you cast another portal?" Akane asked as soon as they were clear.
"Shampoo told me too!" Ranma-chan said.
"Then Shampoo cast portal so no close when come back," Shampoo said. Akane's eye twitched but Ryoga held up his hands.
"Enough," he cried. "I'm getting a headache listening to you. Besides, we need to figure out a way to get Akari free. It looked like she was trapped in a block of ice."
"I think I might know," Kasumi said, joining the group.
"Really?" Ryoga said, somewhat surprised at her entrance.
"Oh yes. I am a ice-based sorceress so I have a few ideas of how to melt ice."
"That's great onee-chan!" Akane said. "What do you need to do?"
"It's a special potion but. oh dear, I was going to make dinner. Akane, will you cook the soup instead?"
Akane's face lit up. "Sure!"
"Wonderful," Kasumi said. "It'll give us something to look forward to when we get back."
But the rest of the group's reaction didn't quite fit what Kasumi was saying.
* * *
"Kasumi.you could have stayed behind you know," Akane said, watching her sister move with the group.
"But I wanted to come," Kasumi said with a smile. Besides, she thought to herself, after Akane had almost Fireballed everyone when Ryoga and Ukyo accidentally closed their portals, she realized it was a really good idea to tag along.
"Now, everyone stay still," Kasumi said.
"What's wrong?" Ukyo said looking around.
"Well, Ryoga said that there were monsters around," Kasumi replied. "So I thought you might need this."
A wand appeared her hand and the air around Kasumi suddenly started to solidify into ice crystals. The rest of the group felt it too and suddenly a cloud of ice surrounded them.
"What's this?" Ryoga said.
"Chilling Armor," Kasumi smiled. "I thought it might be a good idea."
"Nice," Ranma said looking around himself. "Okay, me and Akane'll hit them in the front."
"Wait, wait," Ukyo said holding up her hands. "Let me guess. Ryoga and me take the left. Shampoo and Genma take the right."
"Yeah," Ranma said. "That's the gist of it."
"Thought so," Ukyo said, grabbing Ryoga. "Come on, pig boy it's you and me again."
"Hey!" Ryoga protested. Shampoo sighed as she followed Genma to the right.
"Kasumi," Ranma said, "I think you should just stay behind and wait until we've killed all the monsters. Then you can use the potion to free Akari."
"Okay," Kasumi said with a smile.
Ranma nodded at Akane and they took off, heading towards the front of the pack of monsters. He looked over at Akane and she nodded. He shot a small blast into the air and the three groups attacked simultaneously.
It should have been a normal battle but something was wrong. And it wasn't the fact that for some reason Shampoo was suddenly shooting off multiple arrows that hit their targets and exploded into a see of flame (when did she learn Immolating?). Or that Genma was Hurricaning most of the demons back into Hell. It wasn't the fact that Ukyo, her shadow and Ryoga were acting like a blender and chopping anything near them into mincemeat.
It was the fact that everything around Akane and Ranma were dying before they even got close. Was the armor casting Ice Bolt every time they got close? Well, yeah but that didn't explain the multiple shots that were coming from behind them.
"Onee-chan!" Akane cried as Kasumi approached them. "I thought we said to stay back!"
"I'm sorry Akane," Kasumi said firmly, "but it was just too dangerous to let my little sister stay out here by herself."
"Kasumi." Ranma said, looking at her, with a bit of confusion. "What is that over your head?"
Kasumi looked up at the little circle above her head. "Oh that. that's my pulsating orb of frozen death," she said with a smile. "Isn't it so nice?"
Ranma and Akane looked at each other with apprehension in their eyes. After a while, Akane could only shrug. That was Kasumi after all.
"Everyone okay?" Ranma called out, realizing all the demons were dead. There were a few calls of agreement before everyone emerged and walked towards the center of the room.
Ryoga had been right. There, incased in ice, was a young woman. Her garb was that of a barbarian woman and her long dark hair was wrapped around her body like a shawl. He took a step forward but pulled back.
"It's really cold," he said.
Akane frowned and tried to approach the figure. She got a few steps before she realized she was constantly recasting Warmth to stave off the cold. "I can't do it," she said, backing off.
"The Ice Cage is creating a shield around it," Kasumi said with a small nod. "We can't walk up to it to use the potion."
"Give potion to Shampoo," the Amazon said. Kasumi handed over the vial to Shampoo. She tied it to an arrow and pulled back the bowstring, letting the arrow fly towards the ice.
The arrow began to slow, as if fighting against the icy shield around the body. But the arrow started to burn and eventually sailed over the head of the woman, smashing the vial against the top of the icicle. The liquid simmered and boiled, slowly eating away at the ice.
"That's some potion," Ranma said.
"Oh it's not the potion," Kasumi said with a smile. The group looked at her with confusion. "It's Akane's soup. When we were younger, it was the only thing I could find to help 'fix' some of my mis-castings."
"What?" Akane cried.
But before anymore could answer, the Ice Cage cracked and Akari fell forward. Ryoga rushed up and caught her before she hit the ground and pulled her away. She mumbled a bit incoherently as her eyes tried to register what was happening.
"It's okay, Akari," Ryoga said. "You'll be fine."
"Ry. Ryoga," she said softly. "I knew you'd come."
The Barbarian turned two shades of red before pulling out a town portal scroll and bringing them back town.
* * *
"Oi, Ukyo!"
Ukyo looked up from the fire as Ranma and Akane approached. "Hey," the assassin said with a smile. "How's Akari?"
"Good," Akane said. "Tofu was looking after her only. Ranma, did you notice how he kind of gets stupid around Kasumi?"
Ranma looked at Akane as if she just asked a real dumb question. He held up his right hand, which had been bandaged and written all over. Ukyo's eyebrows furrowed. She didn't remember Ran-chan getting hurt during. oh.
"Should you have left Akari alone with him?" Ukyo asked.
Akane nodded. "It'll be fine. Ryoga took Kasumi away and Tofu went into full doctor mode again. She should be fine."
Ukyo nodded. "How's Ryoga doing?"
Akane and Ranma exchanged a look. "He's fine," Akane asked. "Why do you."
"I think," Ukyo said suddenly, "I think Ryoga didn't get lost at all. I think he ran away. And I think Akari was part of the reason."
"Why do."
Ranma trailed off as his eyes shot open. He looked at Akane and Ukyo and they nodded. They had felt it too. The ground shook again and a couple of wood blocks fell from the fire, sending sparks into the snows. A few seconds later, the bells began to ring and the town burst into a hive of activity. The trio ran towards the main wall, seeing Shampoo already up at top, conversing with the troops there.
"Shampoo!" Ranma called up.
Shampoo looked down, worry etched on her face. "See lots of figures on horizon."
Akane's heart clenched. The demon army? Were they staging a last attack on Harrogarth?
The trio ran up the ladder and onto the ramparts. They followed Shampoo's gaze and frowned along with her. She was right, on the horizon through the haze of snow and smoke, they could make out figures. A lot of them. Suddenly, Shampoo pulled out her bow and knocked an arrow, followed quickly by a few of the troops.
"What's wrong?" Ukyo said, watching Akane tense up and pull out her wand.
"Something's coming," Ranma said, pointing to two quick moving forms.
A few seconds later, the figures became clear. Two men on horses charged the fortress, each with flags streaming off the back of their mounts. They were shouting something but the symbols on their flags told the people of Harrogarth what they needed to know.
The Army of Light had arrived. And soon, so would the final battle.