Neriman Newbie
Chapter 10
Black Eyes
Warning: Crossovers detected
All comments and criticisms would be welcome. Send all praise and flames to: Macleodrichard@hotmail.com be warned that if you flame me I probably won't care.
Disclaimers, while often pointless, can be necessary. But I don't care really.
"Humans have always been very inventive, especially when it comes to finding out how to blow stuff up." - SiegeTank
Notes: [] Denotes the worldly english language.
** Denotes signs, if there are any.
At some point this will denote Chinese. Once someone who speaks Chinese comes into the story. Which has now happened. They just ain't here anymore.
{} Denotes thought and maybe even telepathy. All thought is conducted in the person's native language, so if someone read's my mind, they probably won't figure out shit.
() Denotes Author's comments. Putting an A/N infront of everything I like to mention isn't something I can catch a hold of. (MWAHAHAHA)
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"I have to say... this idea is rather... unique." Ranma commented to Jason as they both stood alone in the Tendo Dojo.
Jason nodded his head as he read through the book he'd borrowed from Dr. Tofu. "It does kinda make sense, but it's not something you'd think of." He said and snapped the book shut. "So you'll help me right?"
Ranma scratched the back of his head nervously. "I dunno... doesn't seem right to just beat on someone who won't fight back."
"Oh pfff." Jason waved his hand dismissively. "I was trained to take a beating, I just need you to give me a good one."
Ranma let out a breath and stood straight. "Alright then, you've asked for it."
A figure appeared in the door of the dojo, his body blocked most of the sunlight coming in through the door.
"What are you guys doing?"
"Training." Jason answered simply as he stripped his shirt off and removed any solid objects from his pockets and dumped everything into a pile on the floor.
The figure stepped inside, revealing that he was, infact, Youkai. "And that big block of steel over there?" He asked, indicating a 2 meter, by 2 meter, by 2 meter block of grey steel that had a human impression on one side sitting at the far side of the dojo.
"Is the training method." Jason stated walking up to the block. "I borrowed a book from Dr. Tofu that had a few rather radical training methods in it. This one I think I can do with my meager abilities using ki."
Youkai sat down in the middle of the floor. "So how's it work? This training that is."
Jason flipped the book open again to a bookmarked page. "Well, it's based mainly on a theory of how you get your second wind actually."
"Second wind? You're not talking about how Rocky got the shit beaten out of him by Mr. T and then came back and won a few months later, right?" Youkai replied.
"Of course not stupid."
Youkai put a hand on his chin and cocked his head slightly. "So I'm guessing that it's the second wind as in when you're getting the shit beaten out of you then suddenly you kick everyone's ass right?"
"Yeah, that's it." Ranma replied. "It goes that when the body is severly beaten it begins to drain serious amounts of energy from whatever it can and you find yourself able to fight again. Now, the part I'm not sure of is what the block here has to do with it."
Jason turned back to them and leaned against the block with his arms crossing his stomache. "Simple actually. This is where the second part of this training comes in. All ki has different properties. Hot water will have different ki than cold water. Metals have a type of ki all their own." He said then got into the depression in the cube. "I just have to reach my end point and try to stay standing. If I focus on my ki enough I'll be able to drain all the ki from this cube and... well, we'll see. Ready Ranma."
"I still don't like this." Ranma said and walked over to Jason.
"You just don't want me getting one up on you." Jason stated with a smirk.
Youkai watched mutely as the training began, occasionally glancing to the doorway to see if anyone else came in. He noted to himself, that despite the fact that Ranma didn't like what he was doing, he was doing it well. Finally Ranma backed away as Jason seemed to be ready to fall down. A few times Jason's head tipped down only for him to jerk it back up like he was sleepy, then he straightened his body and held himself upright.
"Are we supposed to see anything?" Ranma asked sitting down next to Youkai. Jason didn't reply though and merely held himself up in the hollow with his eyes closed in concentration.
Youkai tugged Ranma's sleeve and pointed at the back of the cube. "Hey, look at that!"
The pair on the floor watched as the block slowly disintegrated into a pile of dust behind Jason's back. Once he seemed to have caught onto this Jason settled to his knees and relaxed greatly.
"How ya feel?" Ranma asked not getting up.
"Like I need a nice soothing hot bath." Jason replied and stood up, replaced his shirt and all pocketed items, and walked out of the dojo.
Both Ranma and Youkai stood up and looked at each other. "Think it worked?" Youkai asked. Ranma merely shrugged before they both left the dojo, it was getting late out.
A half hour later Jason came out of the bathroom looking, possibly, worse than when he'd walked in. He was bent over, his feet were dragging behind himself, when he did lift his foot it would thump against the floor, his eyes were barely open and his arms hung limply at his sides.
"Something wrong Jason?" Soun asked. He and Genma were sitting at the table as Kasumi began to set it for dinner.
Jason sat down with a heavy thud. "I'm just feeling rather tired."
"Perhaps you should rest." Genma suggested.
"You just want my share of dinner." Jason stated.
Genma began to laugh and rub his neck. "Oh come on Jason. Every Martial Artist should know when they've taken themselves too far." Genma replied.
"I still think you're saying that to get my dinner." Jason repeated and Genma stopped laughing.
Kasumi called dinner and everyone began rushing to the table and sat down. As usual Ranma and Genma began fighting each other over their food, Jason was on the other side of the table so he wasn't trying to participate, Akane glared at the two for being so digusting, Nabiki, Kasumi, and Soun just ate as they normally would.
Suddenly Ranma and Genma came to a deadlock with Ranma's chopsticks holding Genma's. "You ain't getting the pickle old man!" Ranma declared and pushed Genma's chopsticks away. Genma's hand hit a knife left on the table for cutting fish and it flew up into the air. Everyone watched as it flew up into the air and hit Jason in the shoulder, bouncing off harmlessly with a 'CHING'.
Slowly Jason reached down, picked up the knife, and handed it to Kasumi, then started on his food again.
"I guess it did work." Youkai said walking down to the table. His wings were in full view despite the large short sleeved shirt he wore. If one stood behind him and looked closely enough, you could see a faint black glow coming from the base of the wings where they met the shirt. He sat down where there was space and put some food on his plate.
"What did?" Soun asked mildly interested.
"Some training he and Ranma just finished a while ago. Oh, and Kasumi, I don't know if it's your job or not but we might need you to clean up the mess in the dojo." Youkai said before beginning to eat his meal.
"Oh my, the floor isn't all bloody again isn't it?" Kasumi asked worried, those blood stains could be so hard to get out if they set in.
"Oh no, it's just a large pile of... steel sugar... yah, not healthy to leave lying around. Probably should throw it out." Youkai fibbed.
"What was this training?" Genma asked leaning forwards and looking at Jason.
"It involves... a steel cube, a recipient, and someone to pummel him." Jason said slowly, once he'd finished talking he took the time to work his jaw, something about it just didn't feel right.
"And Ranma took this training right?"
"No, I did. The price for a cubic two meter cube is through the roof."
"I thought you were broke."
"I am now." Jason said and put down his clean plate. "I'm gonna go ta bed now."
Everyone went back to eating and once they finished each went about doing something or other. Kasumi cleaned the dishes, fed Neko-san, cleaned the mess in the dojo. Nabiki went to her room and started reading a manga. Genma and Soun began another game of shogi. Ranma and Akane went into the dojo after Kasumi had cleaned up and Akane watched Ranma go through a kata. Akane wished she could look as good doing a kata as Ranma did,(I don't mean appearance wise) he was so fluid, so graceful, if only she wasn't a klutz.
"So what was this training Jason went through? He looked awfully tired." Akane asked.
Ranma continued through the kata. "He wanted me to beat him up to try something that he wasn't even sure would work." he answered.
Akane stared at Ranma wide eyed. "You just... beat him up?"
"He's a tough guy, he can take it. He may not be that strong, but I've noticed that he almost takes hits as good as me. Not quite as good as me though, I'm the best after all." Ranma gloated and the kata finished.
The next day... Jason woke up late feeling tired still. He got up, dressed himself, and walked around the house for some time. His body felt like lead, his legs shouted that they weren't prepared for the kinda weight he was putting on them, his biceps had to use all their will just to struggle to lift his forearms.
Something was wrong. He was either more tired than he normally was when he woke up because of the training, or something totally unforseen had happened.
Ah, he needed to see Dr. Tofu anyways, those new healing techniques he was learning would come in handy on the fly. Today was a weekend so he could possibly stay there all day long and learn stuff inbetween patients.
Kasumi came out of the kitchen and spotted Jason walking through the hallways towards the front door. "Good morning Jason. Are you feeling alright? You look tired."
"Morning Kasumi, I'm not feeling too great so I'm gonna head down to Dr. Tofu's. I might be there all day. Seeya tonight." Jason said as he walked out the door.
"Good bye!" Kasumi called to him then went back to the kitchen to finish breakfast.
Jason walked the short distance to Dr. Tofu's and got there just as the doctor was opening his clinic. "Hey Dr. Tofu, got some time?" Jason managed to say cheerfully despite being hunched over.
"Why yes I... did you get in a bad fight?" Dr. Tofu asked studying Jason's posture. Jason always stood straight so that he would seem to loom down on people. Now he was almost staring Dr. Tofu in the eye.
"Actually I did some training yesterday and I woke up really tired. My whole body feels heavy." Jason explained.
Dr. Tofu let out a sigh and motioned Jason inside the clinic. "I warned you that some of those techniques might be too powerful for you. Which one was it?"
Jason gave it a second of thought as he walked in. "It actually wasn't named yet because it was only a theory the writer had expressed. It included a large block of strong stone and pressing the trainee up against it and had him pummeled until he was at his limit. If he could get back up and press himself against the stone he should be able to absorb the energy in the stone."
Dr. Tofu raised an eyebrow. "I remember that one. I thought it was rather rediculous. What kind of stone did you use? And what size was it?"
"It was a cubic two meter block of steel with a human impression on one side. When I finished the training the block disintegrated."
Both Dr. Tofu's eyebrows raised in surprise. "You mean it worked?"
Jason nodded his head. "After that I rested until I woke up this morning. But I've just felt tired ever since I'd finished the session."
"Session? You're going to do this more than once?"
"I was planning on it if it worked the first time and I'd noticed any specific changes." Jason explained.
Dr. Tofu stood up and paced around a little bit. He stopped abruptly and turned to Jason. "Do you mind stepping on that scale over there?" he asked pointing a large platform big enough to hold two people on it. Jason complied and stood on the scale. The flat surface depressed and the gears inside it spun wildly, the numbers Jason was staring down at whizzed by so fast he couldn't read them until they finally stopped.
Jason stared down at the number skeptically. "... I weigh half a ton?"
"Remember Jason, in Japan we use metric."
"I weigh more than... a ton.... This is a joke right?"
"No it's not. That scale is accurate to the gram."
"And you have an industrial strength weight scale why?" Jason asked getting off of the scale and turning back to Dr. Tofu, who merely shrugged in response.
"Some of my patients are really overweight."
"Uh huh." Jason replied unconvinced.
"Anyways, that would explain why you feel so tired. You actually don't feel tired, just heavy and you're mistaking it for tired. Would you mind having me examine you? I'd like to see the full effects of this training."
Jason sat down on one of the beds before realizing just how bad an idea that was. Surprisingly though, it didn't break. Dr. Tofu checked nearly everything he could think to check, and came down to a final conclusion.
"I think,... and this is the best guess I've got, that it was your muscles that absorbed the properties of the steel. So now all the muscles in your body are much heavier but as an added bonus they don't yield to force like they used to. I'd say you're now as immovable as a block of steel." Dr. Tofu stated. "As to how the added weight will affect you... there's nothing I can think to do except that you'll just have to get used to it. Work out a little, stretch your limits."
Jason nodded his head. "I guess so. I just don't feel like it really."
Dr. Tofu shrugged helplessly. "Anything else you wanted while you're here?"
"Yeah, you said you were gonna teach me how to control my ki more directly, and teach me some new healing techniques if you had the time." Jason stated.
Dr. Tofu chuckled to himself. "Alright then, I think you've caught me at a good time."
Jason had stayed with Dr. Tofu most of the day either learning how to control his ki better or helping Dr. Tofu with his patients. By the time Jason left the streets were mostly dead and it was already dark out. His walk was still sluggish and he wasn't still standing straight... but at least his posture had improved over the day. Of course though, for the next while there would be no way to be sure if he was feeling tired or not. He also figured that right now he should be running back home... but he'd probably just trip and crater the road.
"You!" a cold voice shouted into the night sky.
Jason looked around, no one was on the street. "Who's there?!" he called back.
"You should know Kagaku-kun." a whisper came from just next to Jason's ear. He spun but only found air.
"I don't know who you're talking about! Now show yourself damnit!"
"I've been here the whole time." Jason heard beside his ear again, but before he could spin to check something punched the back of his head and knocked him to the ground.
Standing up again Jason rubbed the back of his head. {That really hurt damnit, I thought... oh right, there's no muscles in the brain.}
"Fight me like a man!" Jason shouted as he tried to straighten his back fully. Just lifting his arms was a pain in the ass, his pectoral muscles could actually weigh enough to break his spine if he wasn't lucky. That training would 'have' to go further once he figured out how to direct the energy into his body. Wait, that's not important right now is it?
Out of a shadow cast by a street lamp a woman walked into Jason's view. What kind of woman though, Jason was not sure, she obviously wasn't human. Not with that white tail and the triangular ears on her head.
"It's been awhile Kagaku-kun."
"Who? My name is Jason."
She only seemed mildly surprised at that. "Oh? Ah, now I think I know why you seem like him." She said with a gentle smile. "Die scum!" the smile turned to an enraged snarl and Jason could now see a pair of fangs mixed in with her teeth. She pulled a hand back and a black ball formed in the hand.
"Wh-wha? What the hell did I do to you?!" Jason shouted just before she thrust the ball at him. The globe flew through the air. If Jason had been a normal person it would have probably hit him. But Jason wasn't a normal person. He was an immobile one, and therefore took the hit full in the face. The hit didn't throw him off his feet, but instead toppled him to the ground.
"Somethings wrong." Youkai said standing from the table as the Tendo and Saotome families ate.
Ranma looked up at Youkai confused. "What's up?"
"Jason." was all Youkai said before he'd bolted from the house.
"I- I can't see! What did you do to me damn you?! I can't see!"
Whoever that woman was, she seemed to find this hilarious as she began laughing evilly. "You won't have to worry about that for too long. Now make it easy and I'll kill you quick!"
"[F**K YOU!]" Jason shouted as he flipped onto is stomache and tried to get up to run away, only to be knocked back down as the woman slammed her fists into his back. He tried to get away once again but she planted a foot on his back and held him down. {She's too strong.}
"If you want it the slow way I can do that for you. Tsume no Tetsu!"
Jason felt sharp fingers rake his spine from neck to base. He waited a second for the pain... but it didn't come. This came rather of a surprise to him. "Did you say Claws of Iron?" He asked then began laughing. "My body is made of steel! Your sissy 'Claws of Iron' can't even hurt me! Now get off! I've got stuff to do."
The woman 'Hmph'ed but kept her weight on Jason's back. "I may not be cutting deep, but if I cut away enough of your back you 'will' die of blood loss."
"My back's cut? I don't feel a thing."
"Nice jest, but it won't fool me."
"I wasn't trying to. I was trying to stall you."
"And that will get you?"
"A save maybe?"
"Not likely."
The weight on Jason's back was lifted and he heard a heavy 'CRASH' nearby. "['Not likely' my colon. C'mon Jason, can you walk?]" Youkai asked as he tried to help Jason up.
"Barely. How'd you find me?" Jason asked as he stumbled along with Youkai holding him up.
"I can fly, remember? My night visions pretty good even with the glasses on."
"Wearing them at night eh? Couldn't tell. Let's hurry home."
"Couldn't.... Jason, let me see your eyes." Youkai asked. Slowly Jason twisted his head so that Youkai could see. "Devil." He cursed almost right away. "Faster! Faster man! We've gotta hurry home!" he declared and tried to pull Jason along at a faster pace.
"Why?!"
"Because it's 'permanent'!"
"... So I'll never be able to see for the rest of my life?" Jason asked meekly sitting down crosslegged in the Tendo guestroom.
"I'm afraid so. I have no idea how to counter this, medically or through various healing techniques. The best person to ask is Youkai here." Dr. Tofu replied kneeling down infront of Jason examining his eyes.
"I have no idea what she even did. I'd have to see her do it myself." Youkai replied standing next to the doctor.
From behind them Ranma sighed. "So he's gonna have to be taught to fight without seeing then isn't he?"
"I'm afraid so. There are multiple ways to see that bypass the eyes or might peirce this power.... But each will take time to learn as he'll never be able to use them for some mundane tasks like reading." the good doctor explained.
"All I've got is time. Hopefully these techniques can be used in a combat sense too right?" Jason replied.
Dr. Tofu chuckled as Youkai piped up. "Something that you 'should' do beforehand though is go see a miko. If you get one spiritual enough they might be able to do something."
Dr. Tofu smacked his open hand with a fist. "Of course, why didn't I think of that? I miko would be best right now. And I happen to know a couple that might be able to help."
Jason perked up at that, "That'd be GREAT! Just teach me those seeing techniques first will ya? I need to be able to walk around without hitting something."
"Kasumi's coming!" Akane cried from down stairs.
"[HIT THE DECK!!]"
"I have to... what?" Jason asked, holding a phone reciever to his ear. "But... I... I'm not lying about this! Hey! I gave a doctors note about this! Wha- Damnit! Yeah alright. I'll go do it. Where at? Down town Tokyo?! Bu-bu, but! Oh come on! That's retarded!! ... Fine. Yeah just let me write it down." Jason grabbed a notepad by the phone and a pencil and scribbled something on it. "Uh-huh. Yah I got it. Fine." he put the down the reciever gently and put the piece of paper in his pocket. "[Goddamn.] This is just great."
"What exactly? Or were you just swearing for fun?" Youkai asked drolly.
"I've gotta tutor a failing, once graduating, student who's been getting sick alot lately. All because the Vice Principal doesn't believe I'm blind." Jason stated annoyed. "Apparently entrance exams are being done around now so her teachers like to make sure she gets good grades."
"What's her sore point?"
"Math."
"Well that's GREAT!!" Youkai declared clapping Jason on the back. "You're a math genius! This can't be any problem!"
"Did you miss the part about 'Down Town Tokyo'? I've never been to 'Down Town Tokyo', and now that I'm blind how am I gonna find my way down there?" Jason asked.
Youkai 'hmm'ed for a few seconds, then snapped his fingers. "I'll set something up for ya." he replied. "Later though. You go get back to learning to see, and I'll be eating a snack."
"You're getting to be like Nabiki man. All mystery and snacking."
Youkai could only laugh.
A couple of days later Jason successfully made it to the Higurashi Shrine. For the most part in one piece. His sight was doing much better having learned an alternate way to see things that didn't need his eyes. It didn't work that great cause of various reasons. But it let Jason know where the ground was, and if anyone was near him. Well, it let him know where their feet were, and all in all he still wasn't sure just how Youkai had gotten him down town. It was all a mystery.
A pair of feet approached him from behind, he turned slowly to face the person. "Excuse me, do you know if this is the Higurashi Shrine?" He didn't trust the method of travel, so making sure was a good idea.
The person stopped infront of him on the sidewalk. "Yes it is, is there something you need here?"
Jason nodded his head. "I'm supposed to meet someone here."
"Well, I live here, can you tell me who you're looking for?" the person had a decidedly feminine voice.
"She's a junior high student who's about to be taking her entrance exams. I was asked to tutor her for the time being. Her name was... ah, Kagome I believe. Yes that was it." Jason said scrounging around his brain for a few seconds.
"Y-you're the tutor?" the girl replied sounding surprised.
"Y-eah."
"Right this way please." she offered and began walking up the steps to her house.
More than likely Jason was not giving off a good impression. What with him wearing his casual muscle shirt and baggy khakis, coupled with the sunglasses Youkai usually wore in public. There was also a possibility that he could occasionally let off his aura or even become deathly pale for uncertain amounts of time due the way he was finding things.
The quickest way to train Jason to at least gain some semblance of where things were was for him to charge the area directly around him with his ki and whenever anything entered it he would know. Like a spiders web, only more mobile. He got an impressive range of three meters out of the deal... but the trick could only go along the ground and not into the air like it was supposed to. Dr. Tofu surmised that it might be because Jason had little practice expanding his aura that way. If he had been elementally tied to air or wind he might have, but he wasn't. {How long will it take for me to get my sight back I wonder. As neat as it would be to see things by the air, and how useful it would be in combat... I want to 'see' again.}
"Hurry up will you?!" the girl called out.
"Then slow down! A big guy like me can't move that fast!" Jason called back, she'd escaped his 'sense' radius just after they'd gone up the steps to the shrine. Dr. Tofu had also helped Jason with something else incase any more demons crossed Jasons path. With a little bit of training on the side just the day before he'd left he taught Jason a way of organizing his ki to become more sensitive to the energies of others. Of course though, with only a days lesson, Jason couldn't get much from it unless if anything that came near him was powerful in some way. This girl gave him that impression.
"Mom, the tutor's here so we're going to my room to study alright?" the girl called out.
"You're Kagome?" Jason asked.
"Mm hm." she confirmed.
From somewhere else in the house Jason heard, "Alright dear, I'll bring up some snacks later if you want any."
"I'm gonna have to warn you now, I'm not gonna be as helpful as you might like." Jason stated.
"Hm? Why's that?"
Jason paused a second. {How to make this believeable?} he wondered. "I'm blind."
"Eh...?"
All Jason could really think to do was shrug. "A couple days ago I took a really nasty hit to the head and didn't get to a hospital quick enough. Lost enough blood that I went blind. It's really that simple." he lied.
"Wow... that's really sad." Kagome said in awe. "But how did you get hurt?"
"Training accident. I do plenty of martial arts in my spare time." Jason, sorta lied.
Kagome didn't seem to know what to say. Jason figured this because she didn't move her feet or speak for a few seconds. "Do you... need me to hold your hand or anything? I mean, that is... lead you around?"
Jason shook his head. "No. Just don't rush too far ahead of me and I should be fine." he replied. Unfazed by the comment.
"Phew, follow me then and we'll get down to work." she suggested then led him to her room.
After a few hours of studying Kagome fell asleep at her desk. Jason had only just noticed and was about to wake her up when he thought better of it. {If the test is tomorrow, she'll need to be fully rested before the exam.} he thought and stood up to leave. He had no real idea what the time was but calling the Tendo's was gonna have to do. Now hopefully he could find a phone.
Standing up he looked around the room for the door, then saw something perculiar to his right. There was a grey outline in the middle of his vision. It looked... like maybe a... who know's? It suddenly cut off at the bottom so Jason couldn't figure out just what the thing was. But he thought he could almost make out a face on it.
There was suddenly a loud screech like the sound of car brakes and then sound of the car hitting a body. "[What the...]" Jason said as he walked around Kagome's chair and over to the window. A more distinguishable body could be seen lying down, but it's head stretched up and around to look down at itself. {Is that a demon or something?} Kagome stirred at the noises and stretched.
"What time is it?" she asked drearily.
"Time to go to bed I'd say. Is there anything else you aren't clear on before I go?" Jason asked.
"No... I think I can do the test tomorrow."
"Alright then. You go to bed and get some sleep, I've gotta make a phone call." Jason said and walked to the door. "Uh... where's the phone?"
"Down the hall, on the left."
"Thanks. Good night."
Jason quietly left the room and walked down the hall. Picking up the receiver he felt the pad to see what kind of phone it was. Once he was sure it was a button pad he punched in a number and waited a second. "Ah hello? Kasumi, you sound tired. It's that time of night? Wow, sorry, I didn't know. Uh, listen, can you put Youkai on the phone please? It's really important and I need to talk to him. Thank you." Jason said into the receiver and waited for a little while. "Youkai? [Hey, listen, sorry for getting you up and all but could you get down here anytime soon? Well, one I need a ride home, and two, I saw something weird. The key word being 'saw'. I'm thinking 'she' might be following me or something. Yeah, thanks. Seeya then.]" Putting down the phone Jason tried to find the front door and eventually left the house.
"[Took your sweet time.]"
"[Sorry, short notice and all. I don't like to fly when I'm sleepy, might crash into a sky scraper.]" Youkai replied.
"[I almost fell asleep waiting for you.]"
"[It 'is' 3 in the morning.]"
Jason couldn't reply to that.
"[I'm guessing you want to go around and look for this thing?]"
"[Yes. But I'm gonna need another set of eyes to get around town.]"
Youkai sighed and muttered something about coffee then handed something to Jason. "[Here, talk to me using this and I'll give you a birds eye view of where you are.]"
Jason took the object and felt what it was. "[What is it?]"
"[One of those new earplug cell phones. Neat eh? I even got a good service on it.]"
Jason was speechless.
"[Cool huh?]"
"[How'd you buy this?]"
"[Sore wa... himitsu des.]"
Jason stared at Youkai annoyed. "[Don't make me kill you.]"
The more demonic of the pair laughed then took into the air. "[Put it in your ear and I'll talk ya around town.]"
Jason fumbled with the thing a while before finding out which end went where then put it in. "[I feel like an idiot.]" he said before it began to ring. Pushing a button he made it stop.
"[Traffics light right now and I don't see anything really weird going on. Anywhere we wanna check specifically?]" Youkai's voice rang clear into Jason's right ear.
"[Not until we have a better idea what this thing wants.]"
"[I think I see it!]" Youkai shouted flying through the air.
"[I know I see it!]" Jason shouted running along the ground.
"[Holy shit man! Look at that thing! It's... like a human blob!]"
"[No kidding. It must have grown in the last while. Christ it's fast! It should weigh more than me for crying out loud!]" Jason swore annoyed, his pace was slowing down.
"[Watch-!]" Youkai warned as Jason slid and flipped into the air. "[Out....]"
Slowly Jason struggled to a sitting position. Regaining his concentration allowed his ki sense to tell him he'd cratered the pavement in a human sized pattern. As he pushed himself up he noticed the pavement (And his back) was covered in something warm and slippery.
"[That's blood Jason. There's a sneaker and strip of cloth a foot from ya as well.]" Youkai explained solemnly.
Once again Jason took off running. "[How many?]"
"[Rough guess... five.]"
"[Don't lose it.]"
Youkai was silent for a while. Then his voice came over the earphone, "[Too late.]" he said regretfully. "[It must have someplace to hide cause I can't see it from above.]"
Jason slowed to a stop. "[Then we'll just have to go from the ground then.]"
"[That'll take too long. Besides, you've got to clean up. It won't do us any good to find it if you're arrested by the police for suspiscion of murder ya know.]" Youkai argued.
Jason sighed and turned around. He didn't want to have to give in but the demon aspect of himself was right. "[You're right. Let's go. Might as well practice while we're not doing anything. If I can do a ki attack I 'might' just be able to slow that thing down.]"
Jason heard and whoosh and felt a pair of feet as big as his own touch down to his right. "[You're ready for that kinda stuff?]"
"[Have been for quite a while really. At least, I think so. Dr. Tofu said I didn't have that far to go when he first started teaching me.]"
"[Practicing for Ranma?]"
"[Shhh! Don't tell the world man! I wanna get the drop on him with this. And a demon would be the perfect practice.]" he explained.
"[Well, this I've gotta see. Let's hurry so we can get some rest and you can show me in the morning.]"
"[Guess what?]" Youkai said to Jason coming back into the small apartment that they'd rented for the time being.
"[I dunno. Something interesting?]" the blind man replied, sitting on the floor with his legs crossed and his eyes closed in concentration.
"[You could say so. We were seen chasing after the thing last night by a guy who was beaten by the punks 'it' ate.]" Youkai stated. "[Now police want you for questioning. Because they don't believe his other story.]"
"[Anything else?]"
"[No. Oh wait, this girl followed me here asking for your help.]"
"[Girl?]" Jason said confused and stood up. "You are...?"
The girl, whoever it was, walked within three meters of Jason, putting her within Jason's field of ki sense. "Uh, it's me... Kagome, it's about the math test."
"You failed... didn't you." Jason guessed due to her solemn tone.
"Y-yes, I did." she replied, sounding embarrased.
"Mm, well, if you want I could spare some time to help you along with your studies again. That is, assuming you're getting a make up test. right?"
"Oh thank you!"
"Uh... you're welcome." Jason said and sat down. "Well, get out the books and we'll see what I can do."
"Actually... I can't find my math book. It went missing."
Jason perched his chin on a fist in contemplation. {How to do this... how to do this... I know!}
"Gimme a peice of paper and a pencil will ya?" Jason requested and soon had both articles in his hands. "Alright, I'm gonna write down three questions and I want you to see if you can answer them correctly."
Still standing at the door, Youkai smiled. {Things are going better than I'd planned.} He thought to himself and then went to get something for them to snack on.
"[I think I know where it's going this time!]" Youkai declared.
"[Where? It just left my vision.]" Jason replied.
There was a long pause. "[It's making a bee-line for a shrine up ahead. Nothing overly special about it. Maybe it wants to repent it's sins?]" the winged one joked.
Jason didn't say anything for a little while as he ran fast as he could through the streets of Tokyo. Then something in his mind clicked. "[Is there a mini-shrine near it?]"
"[Maybe. I see a small shack that 'could' be a mini kinda shrine.]"
"[That's Kagome's home! Slow it down!]" Jason shouted.
"[Too late... it's already climbed in a window.]" Youkai said solemnly and told Jason to change direction to get to the steps to the house.
Jason took the steps two at a time, he would have gone up faster but tripping would only slow him down more. Once the ground had leveled out he heard voices coming his way. He also saw the monster, saw it as clear as day. A hideous combination of naked human bodies that frankly he just wish he hadn't seen.
"S-Sota! Go to the well! Call for Inu-yasha!" Kagome shouted.
{The wha?} Jason wondered as he judged the distance of Kagome's voice from the creature. Putting thoughts aside Jason planted his feet square with his shoulders and let out all his breath. Quickly channeling his aura he set his hands, one below the other with palms facing each other. Keeping his eyes open he saw the thing was about to make it's move. "Kagome! Look out!"
One of the heads faces leveled with Kagome and the face of it grew long enough for it to strike at her. Then, to Jason's disgust and horror the face split down the middle to reveal teeth going all the way down.
"[Koriken!]" Jason shouted and willed the energy in his hands to fly at the demon.
"[It worked!]" Youkai shouted through the phone in Jason's ear surprised. "[It actually worked!]"
"Kagome! You here?!" Jason called out.
"Y-yes...." a meek reply came from nearby.
"We better get running. I don't know how effective that was." Jason suggested watching the creature worriedly. The effects were visible even to him in his mostly sightless state, a large chunk of creature looked like it wasn't moving to him, but that was all he could really see. "You coming?"
With a small 'yes' from Kagome, Jason ran down the steps from the shrine and into the streets once again. "We need to get you out of here, then I'll have to track it down again." Jason said out loud so that both Youkai and Kagome could hear.
"It's following me." Kagome admitted.
"It is? Why the hell is it following you? It's only fed on bad people so far." Jason stated.
"It wants these!" Kagome held up a small jar containing a pair of slivers of a gem.
Jason was actually surprised by this. He could see the gems as well, hell he could see them more clearly than the monster behind him. "Those things are evil. Very evil."
"Huh?"
"If you're not careful they'll bring you great misfortune." Jason said then slowed slighty to hold his head.
"[Hurry up! It's right behind you!]"
Looking over his shoulder Jason saw the creature approaching him faster than he was getting away. "Kagome. Go on ahead, I can't outrun this thing but maybe I can slow it down." Jason said and turned around. Once again he channeled his ki into his hands and from them into a ball. Whatever it was it was getting close and luckily it didn't seem to be paying too much attention to him.
"[Korihogosochi!]" Jason shouted and a wave of energy pulsed out of the ki ball this time. The wave expanded in all directions in a sphere like shape and stopped once it had traveled three meters from Jason's body. The defense had frozen the front of the creature and the body no longer moved.
Despite his growing fatigue Jason was keeping himself standing. He wasn't gonna be doing another one of these for a long time. Perhaps with more practice he'd be able to whip out more ki or simply do the attack better so that it uses less for the same effect. But until then... he was ready to drop now.
A second wave pulsed out of the ball, once again freezing the monster, and reinforcing the original once it reached the limit. If only he could control his ki from a distance or find some way to. Then he could just drop the ball and catch up to Kagome again.
"[Youkai. Make sure nothing happens to Kagome. Hopefully this ton of lard will leave me alone.]" Jason stated.
"[What do you take me for? I may be a demon, but I'm not a demon about it. And I plan on living a long life. So drop whatever attack you're doing and get running again. I'll slow it down.]" Youkai said.
"[Are you sure?]"
"[Yeah. Go on.]"
Jason forced his ki to settle, the sphere protecting collasped on him and was absorbed once again, making him feel refreshed. The creature was still partially frozen, but it was now trying to move, er, roll itself over top of the frozen bit and start dragging itself along again.
He turned and ran. He didn't like to have to run, it just wasn't his style, never run from a fight, but that thing was quite possibly out of his league if he was gonna stick to hand to hand.
"Kagome!" A voice shouted from above Jason. Instinctively he looked up to see what it was and saw a figure damn close to fly over his head.
"J-Jason?" he also heard from above him.
"Sota?! Where are you?!"
"This way! Kagome's climbing that building over there! The one that's under..." the voice faded away and the figure landed on something high up. Jason turned towards the building and quickly realized that it was under construction, there was overturned earth and girders lying everywhere. Eventually his ki sense led him to a stairway.
"[There has to be a better way of getting around than this.]" Jason lamented as he began to climb the flight of stairs. Everyone else had to be at least three stories up from him if the arguing voices were any indication.
Finally after maybe ten minutes or so Jason reached the level they were on. He took one step on the wooden plankway and heard the plank give way. Lucky he wasn't quite passed the 'feel your way around' part of being blind and was holding onto a verticle girder at the time. {Forgot how heavy I was.} he thought to himself then began walking along the horizontal girders bolted to the verticle ones.
"Are you alright Jason?!" Kagome called out to him.
"I'm fine... just gimme a second. I don't trust the walkways with my weight." Jason replied as he made his way over.
"I-is it gone?" Sota asked meekly.
Jason shook his head as he shuffled around a column to continue towards them. "A friend of mine is slowing it down."
"Can he kill it?" a male voice asked, well, it didn't sound like he was asking, more like demanding.
"I don't know, I've never really seen him fight. Probably won't get to either now." Jason said as he finally came to stand infront of the group. Once he did though he jumped backwards into an attack stance.
"What? You see it?" the male voice wondered and looked out at the landscape for the creature.
"Not likely Inu-Yasha. Jason's blind." Kagome explained.
"Blind?!" the guy cried in surprise. "Then what use is he to us?"
Jason settled down. No this wasn't the person who blinded him. For one, he wasn't a chick. Although the features were remarkably the same. "Actually Kagome. I can see it. I can see him too, and those shards you've got in the little jar."
"Eh?! You can?! I thought you told me you were blind!" she cried.
"I am blind! I told you it was recently that I went blind and I can't see a thing!"
"Then how do you see me?" Inu-Yasha asked suspiciously, his eyes narrow almost as if insinuating something.
Jason fell quiet for a few seconds. "It's probably due to 'how' I became blind. And that part I'm still working over in my mind." he said.
"And?" Inu-Yasha pushed on.
"A week ago I met up with a demon I'd never seen before in my life on the way home. She spouted some gibberish and attacked me. I got away fine, but she hit me with a ball of black aura and I couldn't see anymore. The stuff pasted itself to my eyes and made them black, that's why I never take the sun glasses off. That's it."
Inu-Yasha put a hand to his chin. "A demon eh? Which tribe?"
"She looked like you."
"Me?" the half-demon replied incredulously. "I didn't do it!"
"I never said you did, the one did do it though has the same features you do. Dog like ears, white tail and hair, and a pair of fangs. But she was a woman." Jason said then looked down as something caught his eye. Half the mask was clinging onto something that his vision wasn't picking up. "Look out!" Jason shouted and pointed.
The Blob used it's long neck to pull it's body up to their floor and hit the planks hard as everyone else scattered from it's body. Inu-Yasha though, quickly jumped back towards the creature and split the body in half with clawed fingers.
The blob seemed to laugh for a second. "You dare... to split my pretty body."
"Ugh. An ugly one aren't you." Inu-Yasha stated standing infront of the half-blobs, Kagome edging behind him. "What kind of demon are you anyway?"
"Becareful Inu-Yasha. That thing's been killing people all over town." Jason warned, Sota hiding behind him as well.
"It's mind is in it's head, and it has a shard in it's forehead." Kagome whispered to Inu-Yasha.
"I am the Mask of Flesh." The blob stated. "I was carved from a Bodhi-Tree mannny centuries ago. All I want is a body... of my owwwn. I keep myself aliive... with the bodies of others." It said pushing itself up to... up. "But mortal bodies... break so easily yesss?"
Jason saw the shard in it's forhead glint with evil power.
"To make the body I want... I need more shards of the Jewel. Yooou... have what I need... yesss? Givvve them..."
Inu-Yasha cracked his knuckles. "Huh. I'd say you've devoured too many mortals lately." he said and lunged forwards. "They've made you fat!"
The mask split down the middle to reveal it's teeth and the neck began to grow once more. "Always... room... for one morrre."
"Not for this one!!" the half-demon shouted as he cut the monster clean in half.
"He did it!" Sota shouted and was about to run to Kagome when Jason held his arm out infront of the boy.
"Don't bet on it. It's getting back up!"
Inu-Yasha wasn't unaware of this as he lunged to the half with shard when it got back up. "Now this is more like it!" He shouted just before the two halves came together on his arm and the teeth began to grind into his bicep. "What?!"
The blob began to chuckle, "I can use... a good strong arm..."
"It's no use attacking the body! We need to get the Jewel shard out of the mask!" Kagome shouted.
A pair of arms on the front of the body morphed into ones like Inu-Yasha's and it grabbed onto him. "You arrre minnne now... yooou are meee..."
"You will... Keep your slimy hands off me!" Inu-Yasha freed himself from the grasping arms and jumped off the edge of the building level with the blob still clinging to his arm. The descent was quickly stopped as Inu-Yasha punched the blob into a crane, splitting the body right to the masks, removing them from it. "Whew. How's that?"
"Baaad boy..." the left side of the mask criticized as it flew at his head. Inu-Yasha pulled his hand out of the crane and grabbed the mask, crushing it in his grip.
Sota started to cheer Inu-Yasha on and Kagome warned Inu-Yasha, "Don't let your guard down! The other part of the mask has the shard. We need to-"
"Got it covered." Jason said simply looking at something a bit behind and more than a bit above Kagome. "[Koriken!]"
The remaining half of the mask clattered to the ground inside a solid multifaceted chunk of ice twice the size of a normal person's head. Jason sat down and wiped his forehead. "That's getting rather straining." he remarked and let his body rest.
"H-how did you do that?" Kagome asked in wonder.
"Do what?" Jason asked.
"Where'd all this ice come from?!"
Jason sat up again and looked in the direction of the mask. He couldn't see anything on it really, it wasn't like ice was evil or anything.
"And how did you do those times before too?!" she demanded.
Letting out a sigh Jason stood up. "It's Martial Arts. One of those really in depth kinda things. I really can't explain it I just use it." he said.
Inu-Yasha jumped back up to the level they were standing on and looked at Jason's handiwork. "Now to get the shard out." Inu-Yasha said and smashed the block of ice, and the mask, into pieces. Kagome plucked the shard out of the mess and put it in the bottle.
"You said you had a friend with you. Where is he?" Kagome asked.
Jason gave it a moments thought. There was no sign of Youkai in the mass of the monster so he must be alright. He then considered why one side of his face seemed to feel rather warm. "I've got a better question. What time is it?"
"It's morning! My Math Test!" She shouted and began rushing off. "Inu-Yasha you go back in time and I'll meet you there later. Jason, thanks for the help! Sota, you go home!"
"Huh. She didn't even thank you." Jason said as he saw Inu-Yasha's bewildered expression. "You mind giving me and Sota a ride down? I'm exhausted from all the running, fighting, and ki attacks I've been doing."
"Get down on your own you lazy bum!"
Reluctantly Jason gave a tired sigh and made a thumping step towards the stairs, forgetting that the girders didn't lead straight to them. His foot went right through, carrying his body with him he took out a bunch of boards and made a bigger than man sized hole in the floor. Then he fell through the next floor, and the next, and the last and finally hit the buildings basement which was concrete, creating a sizable crater.
Jason was almost crying because of what he was gonna say. "Help! I've fallen and swear ta god I can't get up!!" he must have sounded like an idiot because of that, but he wasn't lying. He'd landed on one of his feet, crushing it rather painfully, and his right elbow pulling the arm out of the socket.
After Inu-Yasha pulled Jason out of the construction and let him rest on the sidewalk, Jason set to work fixing himself. A dislocated shoulder was an easy fix. The crushed foot wasn't before he could even do anything about the broken bones he first had to have Inu-Yasha straighten the foot out. A few of Dr. Tofu's advanced Ki healing techniques later and Jason was walking again without the slightest sign of any pain.
Jason gave Inu-Yasha his thanks for dealing with the blob and fixing his foot, then parted ways with the two to finally go back home to Nerima.
As he walked along the ways he heard a slight wooshing sound and a pair of feet landed within his sensing radius. "Need a guide back?"
"Where've you been?"
"Well, after your last experience with demons I thought I'd sit aside incase this guy didn't like you either." Youkai explained.
"I was worried for a second that it ate you too."
"No. But I did slow it down quite a bit."
Jason 'Hmm'ed and continued walking along for a bit.
"Want me to lead you back?"
Jason shook his head. "No, I've got to learn to walk on my own. I might be blind for the rest of my life."
Youkai shrugged. "Alright. See you then. When can we expect you back?"
"Tonight I suppose." Jason said and suddenly Youkai leapt away. "Seeya later."
Jason continued along at an easy pace when he noticed he had a tingly feeling under his skin. He stopped to see if anything about his remaining Ki had changed, but found them the same. Then he caught onto something strange. He suddenly wasn't standing on the sidewalk, but instead soft earth. The air felt different as well. And some strange sounds were coming from the distance.
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Cliffhanger, wheeeeeee. Slip, AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH
Splatter.
I have alot of apologies to dish out for this one. I supposed to have the chapter finished in the first week of January... it's very close to the first week of March. Whoops! I do have an explaination for it though. And it's a good one.
My current course load taken throughout Highschool wasn't enough to get him into colleague. Aparently Math and English 33 aren't good enough, I need Math and English 30. Amazing isn't it? What was also amazing was how pissed off I got when I found this out. I'm gonna kill that speaker from NAIT one of these days. So due to my recent insurgence into the my 4th year of Highschool(Which will only last 1 term) I haven't had much time to even think about writing.
Excuse number 2: Writers block.
I had about 3/4's of the story done until today. I woke up this morning, rip-roarin and ready to play Skies of Arcadia when I sat down infront of my computer, open my files, and began typing. It wasn't one of those "I will finish this Chapter NOW!" kind of moments, otherwise it wouldn't be done for another few months. It was one of those, "..." moments, where you just can't seem to run out of inspiration and continue to write until you're done.
Now my writing has a great deal of competition. In my life aside from school there has been a recent insurgence of AvP, a Return of the RPG's, and The Roleplaying Strikes back. Where all this came from I can't even remember. But ever since school started I'm getting a whole lot more physically inert and a bit more mentally active. Possibly because I don't get to sleep in anymore. Being trying to get back into reading book as well, but as my brother who gets laid more than I do says, "If if don't fit, don't force it!"
Anyways, I'll be going back to the Ranma 1/2 storyline again so things should pick up hopefully. Things are gonna get pretty interesting with what I'm planning for it. Well, I think it's interesting, I don't think it's been done... often... hopefully it's original.
Anyways, onto other things, the cliffhanger here probably won't be explained right away. And I doubt I'll ever write it out. The results won't clearly been seen either. It'll just lurk in the background. Mainly because I don't want it look like I'm tossing in way too many crossovers at once. But I do have it explained. If anyone feels that they can handle me actually going into detail just what has happened I'll actually tell right away. It's gonna take 5-10 people at least though to get me to do it. And make look like you really wanna hear this. Otherwise I'll be too scared of doing it.
Anyways, I'm off, probably to play AvP again. Why? Cause it has the most balanced 3 race system I've seen, EVER! If the Marine's could just see everything else like everything else can they would be GODS!! GODS I TELL YOU BWAHAHAHA!!
My rants aren't very long are they?
Yes, this chapter was a crossover. And I'm gonna do many more possibly. None of them should be all that intermixed with the story, they're gonna be more... just there. Cause I feel like doing it. So don't worry 'bout it, this won't become a heavy Inu-Yasha crossover or anything, but I will revisit the series.
To SumDumGuy: Your ideas of how energy is sucked from the cold works GREAT!! I was slightly worried that I might one day have to write up a way of just how energy is drained from the cold but this is perfect! Thanks!
Chapter 10
Black Eyes
Warning: Crossovers detected
All comments and criticisms would be welcome. Send all praise and flames to: Macleodrichard@hotmail.com be warned that if you flame me I probably won't care.
Disclaimers, while often pointless, can be necessary. But I don't care really.
"Humans have always been very inventive, especially when it comes to finding out how to blow stuff up." - SiegeTank
Notes: [] Denotes the worldly english language.
** Denotes signs, if there are any.
At some point this will denote Chinese. Once someone who speaks Chinese comes into the story. Which has now happened. They just ain't here anymore.
{} Denotes thought and maybe even telepathy. All thought is conducted in the person's native language, so if someone read's my mind, they probably won't figure out shit.
() Denotes Author's comments. Putting an A/N infront of everything I like to mention isn't something I can catch a hold of. (MWAHAHAHA)
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"I have to say... this idea is rather... unique." Ranma commented to Jason as they both stood alone in the Tendo Dojo.
Jason nodded his head as he read through the book he'd borrowed from Dr. Tofu. "It does kinda make sense, but it's not something you'd think of." He said and snapped the book shut. "So you'll help me right?"
Ranma scratched the back of his head nervously. "I dunno... doesn't seem right to just beat on someone who won't fight back."
"Oh pfff." Jason waved his hand dismissively. "I was trained to take a beating, I just need you to give me a good one."
Ranma let out a breath and stood straight. "Alright then, you've asked for it."
A figure appeared in the door of the dojo, his body blocked most of the sunlight coming in through the door.
"What are you guys doing?"
"Training." Jason answered simply as he stripped his shirt off and removed any solid objects from his pockets and dumped everything into a pile on the floor.
The figure stepped inside, revealing that he was, infact, Youkai. "And that big block of steel over there?" He asked, indicating a 2 meter, by 2 meter, by 2 meter block of grey steel that had a human impression on one side sitting at the far side of the dojo.
"Is the training method." Jason stated walking up to the block. "I borrowed a book from Dr. Tofu that had a few rather radical training methods in it. This one I think I can do with my meager abilities using ki."
Youkai sat down in the middle of the floor. "So how's it work? This training that is."
Jason flipped the book open again to a bookmarked page. "Well, it's based mainly on a theory of how you get your second wind actually."
"Second wind? You're not talking about how Rocky got the shit beaten out of him by Mr. T and then came back and won a few months later, right?" Youkai replied.
"Of course not stupid."
Youkai put a hand on his chin and cocked his head slightly. "So I'm guessing that it's the second wind as in when you're getting the shit beaten out of you then suddenly you kick everyone's ass right?"
"Yeah, that's it." Ranma replied. "It goes that when the body is severly beaten it begins to drain serious amounts of energy from whatever it can and you find yourself able to fight again. Now, the part I'm not sure of is what the block here has to do with it."
Jason turned back to them and leaned against the block with his arms crossing his stomache. "Simple actually. This is where the second part of this training comes in. All ki has different properties. Hot water will have different ki than cold water. Metals have a type of ki all their own." He said then got into the depression in the cube. "I just have to reach my end point and try to stay standing. If I focus on my ki enough I'll be able to drain all the ki from this cube and... well, we'll see. Ready Ranma."
"I still don't like this." Ranma said and walked over to Jason.
"You just don't want me getting one up on you." Jason stated with a smirk.
Youkai watched mutely as the training began, occasionally glancing to the doorway to see if anyone else came in. He noted to himself, that despite the fact that Ranma didn't like what he was doing, he was doing it well. Finally Ranma backed away as Jason seemed to be ready to fall down. A few times Jason's head tipped down only for him to jerk it back up like he was sleepy, then he straightened his body and held himself upright.
"Are we supposed to see anything?" Ranma asked sitting down next to Youkai. Jason didn't reply though and merely held himself up in the hollow with his eyes closed in concentration.
Youkai tugged Ranma's sleeve and pointed at the back of the cube. "Hey, look at that!"
The pair on the floor watched as the block slowly disintegrated into a pile of dust behind Jason's back. Once he seemed to have caught onto this Jason settled to his knees and relaxed greatly.
"How ya feel?" Ranma asked not getting up.
"Like I need a nice soothing hot bath." Jason replied and stood up, replaced his shirt and all pocketed items, and walked out of the dojo.
Both Ranma and Youkai stood up and looked at each other. "Think it worked?" Youkai asked. Ranma merely shrugged before they both left the dojo, it was getting late out.
A half hour later Jason came out of the bathroom looking, possibly, worse than when he'd walked in. He was bent over, his feet were dragging behind himself, when he did lift his foot it would thump against the floor, his eyes were barely open and his arms hung limply at his sides.
"Something wrong Jason?" Soun asked. He and Genma were sitting at the table as Kasumi began to set it for dinner.
Jason sat down with a heavy thud. "I'm just feeling rather tired."
"Perhaps you should rest." Genma suggested.
"You just want my share of dinner." Jason stated.
Genma began to laugh and rub his neck. "Oh come on Jason. Every Martial Artist should know when they've taken themselves too far." Genma replied.
"I still think you're saying that to get my dinner." Jason repeated and Genma stopped laughing.
Kasumi called dinner and everyone began rushing to the table and sat down. As usual Ranma and Genma began fighting each other over their food, Jason was on the other side of the table so he wasn't trying to participate, Akane glared at the two for being so digusting, Nabiki, Kasumi, and Soun just ate as they normally would.
Suddenly Ranma and Genma came to a deadlock with Ranma's chopsticks holding Genma's. "You ain't getting the pickle old man!" Ranma declared and pushed Genma's chopsticks away. Genma's hand hit a knife left on the table for cutting fish and it flew up into the air. Everyone watched as it flew up into the air and hit Jason in the shoulder, bouncing off harmlessly with a 'CHING'.
Slowly Jason reached down, picked up the knife, and handed it to Kasumi, then started on his food again.
"I guess it did work." Youkai said walking down to the table. His wings were in full view despite the large short sleeved shirt he wore. If one stood behind him and looked closely enough, you could see a faint black glow coming from the base of the wings where they met the shirt. He sat down where there was space and put some food on his plate.
"What did?" Soun asked mildly interested.
"Some training he and Ranma just finished a while ago. Oh, and Kasumi, I don't know if it's your job or not but we might need you to clean up the mess in the dojo." Youkai said before beginning to eat his meal.
"Oh my, the floor isn't all bloody again isn't it?" Kasumi asked worried, those blood stains could be so hard to get out if they set in.
"Oh no, it's just a large pile of... steel sugar... yah, not healthy to leave lying around. Probably should throw it out." Youkai fibbed.
"What was this training?" Genma asked leaning forwards and looking at Jason.
"It involves... a steel cube, a recipient, and someone to pummel him." Jason said slowly, once he'd finished talking he took the time to work his jaw, something about it just didn't feel right.
"And Ranma took this training right?"
"No, I did. The price for a cubic two meter cube is through the roof."
"I thought you were broke."
"I am now." Jason said and put down his clean plate. "I'm gonna go ta bed now."
Everyone went back to eating and once they finished each went about doing something or other. Kasumi cleaned the dishes, fed Neko-san, cleaned the mess in the dojo. Nabiki went to her room and started reading a manga. Genma and Soun began another game of shogi. Ranma and Akane went into the dojo after Kasumi had cleaned up and Akane watched Ranma go through a kata. Akane wished she could look as good doing a kata as Ranma did,(I don't mean appearance wise) he was so fluid, so graceful, if only she wasn't a klutz.
"So what was this training Jason went through? He looked awfully tired." Akane asked.
Ranma continued through the kata. "He wanted me to beat him up to try something that he wasn't even sure would work." he answered.
Akane stared at Ranma wide eyed. "You just... beat him up?"
"He's a tough guy, he can take it. He may not be that strong, but I've noticed that he almost takes hits as good as me. Not quite as good as me though, I'm the best after all." Ranma gloated and the kata finished.
The next day... Jason woke up late feeling tired still. He got up, dressed himself, and walked around the house for some time. His body felt like lead, his legs shouted that they weren't prepared for the kinda weight he was putting on them, his biceps had to use all their will just to struggle to lift his forearms.
Something was wrong. He was either more tired than he normally was when he woke up because of the training, or something totally unforseen had happened.
Ah, he needed to see Dr. Tofu anyways, those new healing techniques he was learning would come in handy on the fly. Today was a weekend so he could possibly stay there all day long and learn stuff inbetween patients.
Kasumi came out of the kitchen and spotted Jason walking through the hallways towards the front door. "Good morning Jason. Are you feeling alright? You look tired."
"Morning Kasumi, I'm not feeling too great so I'm gonna head down to Dr. Tofu's. I might be there all day. Seeya tonight." Jason said as he walked out the door.
"Good bye!" Kasumi called to him then went back to the kitchen to finish breakfast.
Jason walked the short distance to Dr. Tofu's and got there just as the doctor was opening his clinic. "Hey Dr. Tofu, got some time?" Jason managed to say cheerfully despite being hunched over.
"Why yes I... did you get in a bad fight?" Dr. Tofu asked studying Jason's posture. Jason always stood straight so that he would seem to loom down on people. Now he was almost staring Dr. Tofu in the eye.
"Actually I did some training yesterday and I woke up really tired. My whole body feels heavy." Jason explained.
Dr. Tofu let out a sigh and motioned Jason inside the clinic. "I warned you that some of those techniques might be too powerful for you. Which one was it?"
Jason gave it a second of thought as he walked in. "It actually wasn't named yet because it was only a theory the writer had expressed. It included a large block of strong stone and pressing the trainee up against it and had him pummeled until he was at his limit. If he could get back up and press himself against the stone he should be able to absorb the energy in the stone."
Dr. Tofu raised an eyebrow. "I remember that one. I thought it was rather rediculous. What kind of stone did you use? And what size was it?"
"It was a cubic two meter block of steel with a human impression on one side. When I finished the training the block disintegrated."
Both Dr. Tofu's eyebrows raised in surprise. "You mean it worked?"
Jason nodded his head. "After that I rested until I woke up this morning. But I've just felt tired ever since I'd finished the session."
"Session? You're going to do this more than once?"
"I was planning on it if it worked the first time and I'd noticed any specific changes." Jason explained.
Dr. Tofu stood up and paced around a little bit. He stopped abruptly and turned to Jason. "Do you mind stepping on that scale over there?" he asked pointing a large platform big enough to hold two people on it. Jason complied and stood on the scale. The flat surface depressed and the gears inside it spun wildly, the numbers Jason was staring down at whizzed by so fast he couldn't read them until they finally stopped.
Jason stared down at the number skeptically. "... I weigh half a ton?"
"Remember Jason, in Japan we use metric."
"I weigh more than... a ton.... This is a joke right?"
"No it's not. That scale is accurate to the gram."
"And you have an industrial strength weight scale why?" Jason asked getting off of the scale and turning back to Dr. Tofu, who merely shrugged in response.
"Some of my patients are really overweight."
"Uh huh." Jason replied unconvinced.
"Anyways, that would explain why you feel so tired. You actually don't feel tired, just heavy and you're mistaking it for tired. Would you mind having me examine you? I'd like to see the full effects of this training."
Jason sat down on one of the beds before realizing just how bad an idea that was. Surprisingly though, it didn't break. Dr. Tofu checked nearly everything he could think to check, and came down to a final conclusion.
"I think,... and this is the best guess I've got, that it was your muscles that absorbed the properties of the steel. So now all the muscles in your body are much heavier but as an added bonus they don't yield to force like they used to. I'd say you're now as immovable as a block of steel." Dr. Tofu stated. "As to how the added weight will affect you... there's nothing I can think to do except that you'll just have to get used to it. Work out a little, stretch your limits."
Jason nodded his head. "I guess so. I just don't feel like it really."
Dr. Tofu shrugged helplessly. "Anything else you wanted while you're here?"
"Yeah, you said you were gonna teach me how to control my ki more directly, and teach me some new healing techniques if you had the time." Jason stated.
Dr. Tofu chuckled to himself. "Alright then, I think you've caught me at a good time."
Jason had stayed with Dr. Tofu most of the day either learning how to control his ki better or helping Dr. Tofu with his patients. By the time Jason left the streets were mostly dead and it was already dark out. His walk was still sluggish and he wasn't still standing straight... but at least his posture had improved over the day. Of course though, for the next while there would be no way to be sure if he was feeling tired or not. He also figured that right now he should be running back home... but he'd probably just trip and crater the road.
"You!" a cold voice shouted into the night sky.
Jason looked around, no one was on the street. "Who's there?!" he called back.
"You should know Kagaku-kun." a whisper came from just next to Jason's ear. He spun but only found air.
"I don't know who you're talking about! Now show yourself damnit!"
"I've been here the whole time." Jason heard beside his ear again, but before he could spin to check something punched the back of his head and knocked him to the ground.
Standing up again Jason rubbed the back of his head. {That really hurt damnit, I thought... oh right, there's no muscles in the brain.}
"Fight me like a man!" Jason shouted as he tried to straighten his back fully. Just lifting his arms was a pain in the ass, his pectoral muscles could actually weigh enough to break his spine if he wasn't lucky. That training would 'have' to go further once he figured out how to direct the energy into his body. Wait, that's not important right now is it?
Out of a shadow cast by a street lamp a woman walked into Jason's view. What kind of woman though, Jason was not sure, she obviously wasn't human. Not with that white tail and the triangular ears on her head.
"It's been awhile Kagaku-kun."
"Who? My name is Jason."
She only seemed mildly surprised at that. "Oh? Ah, now I think I know why you seem like him." She said with a gentle smile. "Die scum!" the smile turned to an enraged snarl and Jason could now see a pair of fangs mixed in with her teeth. She pulled a hand back and a black ball formed in the hand.
"Wh-wha? What the hell did I do to you?!" Jason shouted just before she thrust the ball at him. The globe flew through the air. If Jason had been a normal person it would have probably hit him. But Jason wasn't a normal person. He was an immobile one, and therefore took the hit full in the face. The hit didn't throw him off his feet, but instead toppled him to the ground.
"Somethings wrong." Youkai said standing from the table as the Tendo and Saotome families ate.
Ranma looked up at Youkai confused. "What's up?"
"Jason." was all Youkai said before he'd bolted from the house.
"I- I can't see! What did you do to me damn you?! I can't see!"
Whoever that woman was, she seemed to find this hilarious as she began laughing evilly. "You won't have to worry about that for too long. Now make it easy and I'll kill you quick!"
"[F**K YOU!]" Jason shouted as he flipped onto is stomache and tried to get up to run away, only to be knocked back down as the woman slammed her fists into his back. He tried to get away once again but she planted a foot on his back and held him down. {She's too strong.}
"If you want it the slow way I can do that for you. Tsume no Tetsu!"
Jason felt sharp fingers rake his spine from neck to base. He waited a second for the pain... but it didn't come. This came rather of a surprise to him. "Did you say Claws of Iron?" He asked then began laughing. "My body is made of steel! Your sissy 'Claws of Iron' can't even hurt me! Now get off! I've got stuff to do."
The woman 'Hmph'ed but kept her weight on Jason's back. "I may not be cutting deep, but if I cut away enough of your back you 'will' die of blood loss."
"My back's cut? I don't feel a thing."
"Nice jest, but it won't fool me."
"I wasn't trying to. I was trying to stall you."
"And that will get you?"
"A save maybe?"
"Not likely."
The weight on Jason's back was lifted and he heard a heavy 'CRASH' nearby. "['Not likely' my colon. C'mon Jason, can you walk?]" Youkai asked as he tried to help Jason up.
"Barely. How'd you find me?" Jason asked as he stumbled along with Youkai holding him up.
"I can fly, remember? My night visions pretty good even with the glasses on."
"Wearing them at night eh? Couldn't tell. Let's hurry home."
"Couldn't.... Jason, let me see your eyes." Youkai asked. Slowly Jason twisted his head so that Youkai could see. "Devil." He cursed almost right away. "Faster! Faster man! We've gotta hurry home!" he declared and tried to pull Jason along at a faster pace.
"Why?!"
"Because it's 'permanent'!"
"... So I'll never be able to see for the rest of my life?" Jason asked meekly sitting down crosslegged in the Tendo guestroom.
"I'm afraid so. I have no idea how to counter this, medically or through various healing techniques. The best person to ask is Youkai here." Dr. Tofu replied kneeling down infront of Jason examining his eyes.
"I have no idea what she even did. I'd have to see her do it myself." Youkai replied standing next to the doctor.
From behind them Ranma sighed. "So he's gonna have to be taught to fight without seeing then isn't he?"
"I'm afraid so. There are multiple ways to see that bypass the eyes or might peirce this power.... But each will take time to learn as he'll never be able to use them for some mundane tasks like reading." the good doctor explained.
"All I've got is time. Hopefully these techniques can be used in a combat sense too right?" Jason replied.
Dr. Tofu chuckled as Youkai piped up. "Something that you 'should' do beforehand though is go see a miko. If you get one spiritual enough they might be able to do something."
Dr. Tofu smacked his open hand with a fist. "Of course, why didn't I think of that? I miko would be best right now. And I happen to know a couple that might be able to help."
Jason perked up at that, "That'd be GREAT! Just teach me those seeing techniques first will ya? I need to be able to walk around without hitting something."
"Kasumi's coming!" Akane cried from down stairs.
"[HIT THE DECK!!]"
"I have to... what?" Jason asked, holding a phone reciever to his ear. "But... I... I'm not lying about this! Hey! I gave a doctors note about this! Wha- Damnit! Yeah alright. I'll go do it. Where at? Down town Tokyo?! Bu-bu, but! Oh come on! That's retarded!! ... Fine. Yeah just let me write it down." Jason grabbed a notepad by the phone and a pencil and scribbled something on it. "Uh-huh. Yah I got it. Fine." he put the down the reciever gently and put the piece of paper in his pocket. "[Goddamn.] This is just great."
"What exactly? Or were you just swearing for fun?" Youkai asked drolly.
"I've gotta tutor a failing, once graduating, student who's been getting sick alot lately. All because the Vice Principal doesn't believe I'm blind." Jason stated annoyed. "Apparently entrance exams are being done around now so her teachers like to make sure she gets good grades."
"What's her sore point?"
"Math."
"Well that's GREAT!!" Youkai declared clapping Jason on the back. "You're a math genius! This can't be any problem!"
"Did you miss the part about 'Down Town Tokyo'? I've never been to 'Down Town Tokyo', and now that I'm blind how am I gonna find my way down there?" Jason asked.
Youkai 'hmm'ed for a few seconds, then snapped his fingers. "I'll set something up for ya." he replied. "Later though. You go get back to learning to see, and I'll be eating a snack."
"You're getting to be like Nabiki man. All mystery and snacking."
Youkai could only laugh.
A couple of days later Jason successfully made it to the Higurashi Shrine. For the most part in one piece. His sight was doing much better having learned an alternate way to see things that didn't need his eyes. It didn't work that great cause of various reasons. But it let Jason know where the ground was, and if anyone was near him. Well, it let him know where their feet were, and all in all he still wasn't sure just how Youkai had gotten him down town. It was all a mystery.
A pair of feet approached him from behind, he turned slowly to face the person. "Excuse me, do you know if this is the Higurashi Shrine?" He didn't trust the method of travel, so making sure was a good idea.
The person stopped infront of him on the sidewalk. "Yes it is, is there something you need here?"
Jason nodded his head. "I'm supposed to meet someone here."
"Well, I live here, can you tell me who you're looking for?" the person had a decidedly feminine voice.
"She's a junior high student who's about to be taking her entrance exams. I was asked to tutor her for the time being. Her name was... ah, Kagome I believe. Yes that was it." Jason said scrounging around his brain for a few seconds.
"Y-you're the tutor?" the girl replied sounding surprised.
"Y-eah."
"Right this way please." she offered and began walking up the steps to her house.
More than likely Jason was not giving off a good impression. What with him wearing his casual muscle shirt and baggy khakis, coupled with the sunglasses Youkai usually wore in public. There was also a possibility that he could occasionally let off his aura or even become deathly pale for uncertain amounts of time due the way he was finding things.
The quickest way to train Jason to at least gain some semblance of where things were was for him to charge the area directly around him with his ki and whenever anything entered it he would know. Like a spiders web, only more mobile. He got an impressive range of three meters out of the deal... but the trick could only go along the ground and not into the air like it was supposed to. Dr. Tofu surmised that it might be because Jason had little practice expanding his aura that way. If he had been elementally tied to air or wind he might have, but he wasn't. {How long will it take for me to get my sight back I wonder. As neat as it would be to see things by the air, and how useful it would be in combat... I want to 'see' again.}
"Hurry up will you?!" the girl called out.
"Then slow down! A big guy like me can't move that fast!" Jason called back, she'd escaped his 'sense' radius just after they'd gone up the steps to the shrine. Dr. Tofu had also helped Jason with something else incase any more demons crossed Jasons path. With a little bit of training on the side just the day before he'd left he taught Jason a way of organizing his ki to become more sensitive to the energies of others. Of course though, with only a days lesson, Jason couldn't get much from it unless if anything that came near him was powerful in some way. This girl gave him that impression.
"Mom, the tutor's here so we're going to my room to study alright?" the girl called out.
"You're Kagome?" Jason asked.
"Mm hm." she confirmed.
From somewhere else in the house Jason heard, "Alright dear, I'll bring up some snacks later if you want any."
"I'm gonna have to warn you now, I'm not gonna be as helpful as you might like." Jason stated.
"Hm? Why's that?"
Jason paused a second. {How to make this believeable?} he wondered. "I'm blind."
"Eh...?"
All Jason could really think to do was shrug. "A couple days ago I took a really nasty hit to the head and didn't get to a hospital quick enough. Lost enough blood that I went blind. It's really that simple." he lied.
"Wow... that's really sad." Kagome said in awe. "But how did you get hurt?"
"Training accident. I do plenty of martial arts in my spare time." Jason, sorta lied.
Kagome didn't seem to know what to say. Jason figured this because she didn't move her feet or speak for a few seconds. "Do you... need me to hold your hand or anything? I mean, that is... lead you around?"
Jason shook his head. "No. Just don't rush too far ahead of me and I should be fine." he replied. Unfazed by the comment.
"Phew, follow me then and we'll get down to work." she suggested then led him to her room.
After a few hours of studying Kagome fell asleep at her desk. Jason had only just noticed and was about to wake her up when he thought better of it. {If the test is tomorrow, she'll need to be fully rested before the exam.} he thought and stood up to leave. He had no real idea what the time was but calling the Tendo's was gonna have to do. Now hopefully he could find a phone.
Standing up he looked around the room for the door, then saw something perculiar to his right. There was a grey outline in the middle of his vision. It looked... like maybe a... who know's? It suddenly cut off at the bottom so Jason couldn't figure out just what the thing was. But he thought he could almost make out a face on it.
There was suddenly a loud screech like the sound of car brakes and then sound of the car hitting a body. "[What the...]" Jason said as he walked around Kagome's chair and over to the window. A more distinguishable body could be seen lying down, but it's head stretched up and around to look down at itself. {Is that a demon or something?} Kagome stirred at the noises and stretched.
"What time is it?" she asked drearily.
"Time to go to bed I'd say. Is there anything else you aren't clear on before I go?" Jason asked.
"No... I think I can do the test tomorrow."
"Alright then. You go to bed and get some sleep, I've gotta make a phone call." Jason said and walked to the door. "Uh... where's the phone?"
"Down the hall, on the left."
"Thanks. Good night."
Jason quietly left the room and walked down the hall. Picking up the receiver he felt the pad to see what kind of phone it was. Once he was sure it was a button pad he punched in a number and waited a second. "Ah hello? Kasumi, you sound tired. It's that time of night? Wow, sorry, I didn't know. Uh, listen, can you put Youkai on the phone please? It's really important and I need to talk to him. Thank you." Jason said into the receiver and waited for a little while. "Youkai? [Hey, listen, sorry for getting you up and all but could you get down here anytime soon? Well, one I need a ride home, and two, I saw something weird. The key word being 'saw'. I'm thinking 'she' might be following me or something. Yeah, thanks. Seeya then.]" Putting down the phone Jason tried to find the front door and eventually left the house.
"[Took your sweet time.]"
"[Sorry, short notice and all. I don't like to fly when I'm sleepy, might crash into a sky scraper.]" Youkai replied.
"[I almost fell asleep waiting for you.]"
"[It 'is' 3 in the morning.]"
Jason couldn't reply to that.
"[I'm guessing you want to go around and look for this thing?]"
"[Yes. But I'm gonna need another set of eyes to get around town.]"
Youkai sighed and muttered something about coffee then handed something to Jason. "[Here, talk to me using this and I'll give you a birds eye view of where you are.]"
Jason took the object and felt what it was. "[What is it?]"
"[One of those new earplug cell phones. Neat eh? I even got a good service on it.]"
Jason was speechless.
"[Cool huh?]"
"[How'd you buy this?]"
"[Sore wa... himitsu des.]"
Jason stared at Youkai annoyed. "[Don't make me kill you.]"
The more demonic of the pair laughed then took into the air. "[Put it in your ear and I'll talk ya around town.]"
Jason fumbled with the thing a while before finding out which end went where then put it in. "[I feel like an idiot.]" he said before it began to ring. Pushing a button he made it stop.
"[Traffics light right now and I don't see anything really weird going on. Anywhere we wanna check specifically?]" Youkai's voice rang clear into Jason's right ear.
"[Not until we have a better idea what this thing wants.]"
"[I think I see it!]" Youkai shouted flying through the air.
"[I know I see it!]" Jason shouted running along the ground.
"[Holy shit man! Look at that thing! It's... like a human blob!]"
"[No kidding. It must have grown in the last while. Christ it's fast! It should weigh more than me for crying out loud!]" Jason swore annoyed, his pace was slowing down.
"[Watch-!]" Youkai warned as Jason slid and flipped into the air. "[Out....]"
Slowly Jason struggled to a sitting position. Regaining his concentration allowed his ki sense to tell him he'd cratered the pavement in a human sized pattern. As he pushed himself up he noticed the pavement (And his back) was covered in something warm and slippery.
"[That's blood Jason. There's a sneaker and strip of cloth a foot from ya as well.]" Youkai explained solemnly.
Once again Jason took off running. "[How many?]"
"[Rough guess... five.]"
"[Don't lose it.]"
Youkai was silent for a while. Then his voice came over the earphone, "[Too late.]" he said regretfully. "[It must have someplace to hide cause I can't see it from above.]"
Jason slowed to a stop. "[Then we'll just have to go from the ground then.]"
"[That'll take too long. Besides, you've got to clean up. It won't do us any good to find it if you're arrested by the police for suspiscion of murder ya know.]" Youkai argued.
Jason sighed and turned around. He didn't want to have to give in but the demon aspect of himself was right. "[You're right. Let's go. Might as well practice while we're not doing anything. If I can do a ki attack I 'might' just be able to slow that thing down.]"
Jason heard and whoosh and felt a pair of feet as big as his own touch down to his right. "[You're ready for that kinda stuff?]"
"[Have been for quite a while really. At least, I think so. Dr. Tofu said I didn't have that far to go when he first started teaching me.]"
"[Practicing for Ranma?]"
"[Shhh! Don't tell the world man! I wanna get the drop on him with this. And a demon would be the perfect practice.]" he explained.
"[Well, this I've gotta see. Let's hurry so we can get some rest and you can show me in the morning.]"
"[Guess what?]" Youkai said to Jason coming back into the small apartment that they'd rented for the time being.
"[I dunno. Something interesting?]" the blind man replied, sitting on the floor with his legs crossed and his eyes closed in concentration.
"[You could say so. We were seen chasing after the thing last night by a guy who was beaten by the punks 'it' ate.]" Youkai stated. "[Now police want you for questioning. Because they don't believe his other story.]"
"[Anything else?]"
"[No. Oh wait, this girl followed me here asking for your help.]"
"[Girl?]" Jason said confused and stood up. "You are...?"
The girl, whoever it was, walked within three meters of Jason, putting her within Jason's field of ki sense. "Uh, it's me... Kagome, it's about the math test."
"You failed... didn't you." Jason guessed due to her solemn tone.
"Y-yes, I did." she replied, sounding embarrased.
"Mm, well, if you want I could spare some time to help you along with your studies again. That is, assuming you're getting a make up test. right?"
"Oh thank you!"
"Uh... you're welcome." Jason said and sat down. "Well, get out the books and we'll see what I can do."
"Actually... I can't find my math book. It went missing."
Jason perched his chin on a fist in contemplation. {How to do this... how to do this... I know!}
"Gimme a peice of paper and a pencil will ya?" Jason requested and soon had both articles in his hands. "Alright, I'm gonna write down three questions and I want you to see if you can answer them correctly."
Still standing at the door, Youkai smiled. {Things are going better than I'd planned.} He thought to himself and then went to get something for them to snack on.
"[I think I know where it's going this time!]" Youkai declared.
"[Where? It just left my vision.]" Jason replied.
There was a long pause. "[It's making a bee-line for a shrine up ahead. Nothing overly special about it. Maybe it wants to repent it's sins?]" the winged one joked.
Jason didn't say anything for a little while as he ran fast as he could through the streets of Tokyo. Then something in his mind clicked. "[Is there a mini-shrine near it?]"
"[Maybe. I see a small shack that 'could' be a mini kinda shrine.]"
"[That's Kagome's home! Slow it down!]" Jason shouted.
"[Too late... it's already climbed in a window.]" Youkai said solemnly and told Jason to change direction to get to the steps to the house.
Jason took the steps two at a time, he would have gone up faster but tripping would only slow him down more. Once the ground had leveled out he heard voices coming his way. He also saw the monster, saw it as clear as day. A hideous combination of naked human bodies that frankly he just wish he hadn't seen.
"S-Sota! Go to the well! Call for Inu-yasha!" Kagome shouted.
{The wha?} Jason wondered as he judged the distance of Kagome's voice from the creature. Putting thoughts aside Jason planted his feet square with his shoulders and let out all his breath. Quickly channeling his aura he set his hands, one below the other with palms facing each other. Keeping his eyes open he saw the thing was about to make it's move. "Kagome! Look out!"
One of the heads faces leveled with Kagome and the face of it grew long enough for it to strike at her. Then, to Jason's disgust and horror the face split down the middle to reveal teeth going all the way down.
"[Koriken!]" Jason shouted and willed the energy in his hands to fly at the demon.
"[It worked!]" Youkai shouted through the phone in Jason's ear surprised. "[It actually worked!]"
"Kagome! You here?!" Jason called out.
"Y-yes...." a meek reply came from nearby.
"We better get running. I don't know how effective that was." Jason suggested watching the creature worriedly. The effects were visible even to him in his mostly sightless state, a large chunk of creature looked like it wasn't moving to him, but that was all he could really see. "You coming?"
With a small 'yes' from Kagome, Jason ran down the steps from the shrine and into the streets once again. "We need to get you out of here, then I'll have to track it down again." Jason said out loud so that both Youkai and Kagome could hear.
"It's following me." Kagome admitted.
"It is? Why the hell is it following you? It's only fed on bad people so far." Jason stated.
"It wants these!" Kagome held up a small jar containing a pair of slivers of a gem.
Jason was actually surprised by this. He could see the gems as well, hell he could see them more clearly than the monster behind him. "Those things are evil. Very evil."
"Huh?"
"If you're not careful they'll bring you great misfortune." Jason said then slowed slighty to hold his head.
"[Hurry up! It's right behind you!]"
Looking over his shoulder Jason saw the creature approaching him faster than he was getting away. "Kagome. Go on ahead, I can't outrun this thing but maybe I can slow it down." Jason said and turned around. Once again he channeled his ki into his hands and from them into a ball. Whatever it was it was getting close and luckily it didn't seem to be paying too much attention to him.
"[Korihogosochi!]" Jason shouted and a wave of energy pulsed out of the ki ball this time. The wave expanded in all directions in a sphere like shape and stopped once it had traveled three meters from Jason's body. The defense had frozen the front of the creature and the body no longer moved.
Despite his growing fatigue Jason was keeping himself standing. He wasn't gonna be doing another one of these for a long time. Perhaps with more practice he'd be able to whip out more ki or simply do the attack better so that it uses less for the same effect. But until then... he was ready to drop now.
A second wave pulsed out of the ball, once again freezing the monster, and reinforcing the original once it reached the limit. If only he could control his ki from a distance or find some way to. Then he could just drop the ball and catch up to Kagome again.
"[Youkai. Make sure nothing happens to Kagome. Hopefully this ton of lard will leave me alone.]" Jason stated.
"[What do you take me for? I may be a demon, but I'm not a demon about it. And I plan on living a long life. So drop whatever attack you're doing and get running again. I'll slow it down.]" Youkai said.
"[Are you sure?]"
"[Yeah. Go on.]"
Jason forced his ki to settle, the sphere protecting collasped on him and was absorbed once again, making him feel refreshed. The creature was still partially frozen, but it was now trying to move, er, roll itself over top of the frozen bit and start dragging itself along again.
He turned and ran. He didn't like to have to run, it just wasn't his style, never run from a fight, but that thing was quite possibly out of his league if he was gonna stick to hand to hand.
"Kagome!" A voice shouted from above Jason. Instinctively he looked up to see what it was and saw a figure damn close to fly over his head.
"J-Jason?" he also heard from above him.
"Sota?! Where are you?!"
"This way! Kagome's climbing that building over there! The one that's under..." the voice faded away and the figure landed on something high up. Jason turned towards the building and quickly realized that it was under construction, there was overturned earth and girders lying everywhere. Eventually his ki sense led him to a stairway.
"[There has to be a better way of getting around than this.]" Jason lamented as he began to climb the flight of stairs. Everyone else had to be at least three stories up from him if the arguing voices were any indication.
Finally after maybe ten minutes or so Jason reached the level they were on. He took one step on the wooden plankway and heard the plank give way. Lucky he wasn't quite passed the 'feel your way around' part of being blind and was holding onto a verticle girder at the time. {Forgot how heavy I was.} he thought to himself then began walking along the horizontal girders bolted to the verticle ones.
"Are you alright Jason?!" Kagome called out to him.
"I'm fine... just gimme a second. I don't trust the walkways with my weight." Jason replied as he made his way over.
"I-is it gone?" Sota asked meekly.
Jason shook his head as he shuffled around a column to continue towards them. "A friend of mine is slowing it down."
"Can he kill it?" a male voice asked, well, it didn't sound like he was asking, more like demanding.
"I don't know, I've never really seen him fight. Probably won't get to either now." Jason said as he finally came to stand infront of the group. Once he did though he jumped backwards into an attack stance.
"What? You see it?" the male voice wondered and looked out at the landscape for the creature.
"Not likely Inu-Yasha. Jason's blind." Kagome explained.
"Blind?!" the guy cried in surprise. "Then what use is he to us?"
Jason settled down. No this wasn't the person who blinded him. For one, he wasn't a chick. Although the features were remarkably the same. "Actually Kagome. I can see it. I can see him too, and those shards you've got in the little jar."
"Eh?! You can?! I thought you told me you were blind!" she cried.
"I am blind! I told you it was recently that I went blind and I can't see a thing!"
"Then how do you see me?" Inu-Yasha asked suspiciously, his eyes narrow almost as if insinuating something.
Jason fell quiet for a few seconds. "It's probably due to 'how' I became blind. And that part I'm still working over in my mind." he said.
"And?" Inu-Yasha pushed on.
"A week ago I met up with a demon I'd never seen before in my life on the way home. She spouted some gibberish and attacked me. I got away fine, but she hit me with a ball of black aura and I couldn't see anymore. The stuff pasted itself to my eyes and made them black, that's why I never take the sun glasses off. That's it."
Inu-Yasha put a hand to his chin. "A demon eh? Which tribe?"
"She looked like you."
"Me?" the half-demon replied incredulously. "I didn't do it!"
"I never said you did, the one did do it though has the same features you do. Dog like ears, white tail and hair, and a pair of fangs. But she was a woman." Jason said then looked down as something caught his eye. Half the mask was clinging onto something that his vision wasn't picking up. "Look out!" Jason shouted and pointed.
The Blob used it's long neck to pull it's body up to their floor and hit the planks hard as everyone else scattered from it's body. Inu-Yasha though, quickly jumped back towards the creature and split the body in half with clawed fingers.
The blob seemed to laugh for a second. "You dare... to split my pretty body."
"Ugh. An ugly one aren't you." Inu-Yasha stated standing infront of the half-blobs, Kagome edging behind him. "What kind of demon are you anyway?"
"Becareful Inu-Yasha. That thing's been killing people all over town." Jason warned, Sota hiding behind him as well.
"It's mind is in it's head, and it has a shard in it's forehead." Kagome whispered to Inu-Yasha.
"I am the Mask of Flesh." The blob stated. "I was carved from a Bodhi-Tree mannny centuries ago. All I want is a body... of my owwwn. I keep myself aliive... with the bodies of others." It said pushing itself up to... up. "But mortal bodies... break so easily yesss?"
Jason saw the shard in it's forhead glint with evil power.
"To make the body I want... I need more shards of the Jewel. Yooou... have what I need... yesss? Givvve them..."
Inu-Yasha cracked his knuckles. "Huh. I'd say you've devoured too many mortals lately." he said and lunged forwards. "They've made you fat!"
The mask split down the middle to reveal it's teeth and the neck began to grow once more. "Always... room... for one morrre."
"Not for this one!!" the half-demon shouted as he cut the monster clean in half.
"He did it!" Sota shouted and was about to run to Kagome when Jason held his arm out infront of the boy.
"Don't bet on it. It's getting back up!"
Inu-Yasha wasn't unaware of this as he lunged to the half with shard when it got back up. "Now this is more like it!" He shouted just before the two halves came together on his arm and the teeth began to grind into his bicep. "What?!"
The blob began to chuckle, "I can use... a good strong arm..."
"It's no use attacking the body! We need to get the Jewel shard out of the mask!" Kagome shouted.
A pair of arms on the front of the body morphed into ones like Inu-Yasha's and it grabbed onto him. "You arrre minnne now... yooou are meee..."
"You will... Keep your slimy hands off me!" Inu-Yasha freed himself from the grasping arms and jumped off the edge of the building level with the blob still clinging to his arm. The descent was quickly stopped as Inu-Yasha punched the blob into a crane, splitting the body right to the masks, removing them from it. "Whew. How's that?"
"Baaad boy..." the left side of the mask criticized as it flew at his head. Inu-Yasha pulled his hand out of the crane and grabbed the mask, crushing it in his grip.
Sota started to cheer Inu-Yasha on and Kagome warned Inu-Yasha, "Don't let your guard down! The other part of the mask has the shard. We need to-"
"Got it covered." Jason said simply looking at something a bit behind and more than a bit above Kagome. "[Koriken!]"
The remaining half of the mask clattered to the ground inside a solid multifaceted chunk of ice twice the size of a normal person's head. Jason sat down and wiped his forehead. "That's getting rather straining." he remarked and let his body rest.
"H-how did you do that?" Kagome asked in wonder.
"Do what?" Jason asked.
"Where'd all this ice come from?!"
Jason sat up again and looked in the direction of the mask. He couldn't see anything on it really, it wasn't like ice was evil or anything.
"And how did you do those times before too?!" she demanded.
Letting out a sigh Jason stood up. "It's Martial Arts. One of those really in depth kinda things. I really can't explain it I just use it." he said.
Inu-Yasha jumped back up to the level they were standing on and looked at Jason's handiwork. "Now to get the shard out." Inu-Yasha said and smashed the block of ice, and the mask, into pieces. Kagome plucked the shard out of the mess and put it in the bottle.
"You said you had a friend with you. Where is he?" Kagome asked.
Jason gave it a moments thought. There was no sign of Youkai in the mass of the monster so he must be alright. He then considered why one side of his face seemed to feel rather warm. "I've got a better question. What time is it?"
"It's morning! My Math Test!" She shouted and began rushing off. "Inu-Yasha you go back in time and I'll meet you there later. Jason, thanks for the help! Sota, you go home!"
"Huh. She didn't even thank you." Jason said as he saw Inu-Yasha's bewildered expression. "You mind giving me and Sota a ride down? I'm exhausted from all the running, fighting, and ki attacks I've been doing."
"Get down on your own you lazy bum!"
Reluctantly Jason gave a tired sigh and made a thumping step towards the stairs, forgetting that the girders didn't lead straight to them. His foot went right through, carrying his body with him he took out a bunch of boards and made a bigger than man sized hole in the floor. Then he fell through the next floor, and the next, and the last and finally hit the buildings basement which was concrete, creating a sizable crater.
Jason was almost crying because of what he was gonna say. "Help! I've fallen and swear ta god I can't get up!!" he must have sounded like an idiot because of that, but he wasn't lying. He'd landed on one of his feet, crushing it rather painfully, and his right elbow pulling the arm out of the socket.
After Inu-Yasha pulled Jason out of the construction and let him rest on the sidewalk, Jason set to work fixing himself. A dislocated shoulder was an easy fix. The crushed foot wasn't before he could even do anything about the broken bones he first had to have Inu-Yasha straighten the foot out. A few of Dr. Tofu's advanced Ki healing techniques later and Jason was walking again without the slightest sign of any pain.
Jason gave Inu-Yasha his thanks for dealing with the blob and fixing his foot, then parted ways with the two to finally go back home to Nerima.
As he walked along the ways he heard a slight wooshing sound and a pair of feet landed within his sensing radius. "Need a guide back?"
"Where've you been?"
"Well, after your last experience with demons I thought I'd sit aside incase this guy didn't like you either." Youkai explained.
"I was worried for a second that it ate you too."
"No. But I did slow it down quite a bit."
Jason 'Hmm'ed and continued walking along for a bit.
"Want me to lead you back?"
Jason shook his head. "No, I've got to learn to walk on my own. I might be blind for the rest of my life."
Youkai shrugged. "Alright. See you then. When can we expect you back?"
"Tonight I suppose." Jason said and suddenly Youkai leapt away. "Seeya later."
Jason continued along at an easy pace when he noticed he had a tingly feeling under his skin. He stopped to see if anything about his remaining Ki had changed, but found them the same. Then he caught onto something strange. He suddenly wasn't standing on the sidewalk, but instead soft earth. The air felt different as well. And some strange sounds were coming from the distance.
----------
Cliffhanger, wheeeeeee. Slip, AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH
Splatter.
I have alot of apologies to dish out for this one. I supposed to have the chapter finished in the first week of January... it's very close to the first week of March. Whoops! I do have an explaination for it though. And it's a good one.
My current course load taken throughout Highschool wasn't enough to get him into colleague. Aparently Math and English 33 aren't good enough, I need Math and English 30. Amazing isn't it? What was also amazing was how pissed off I got when I found this out. I'm gonna kill that speaker from NAIT one of these days. So due to my recent insurgence into the my 4th year of Highschool(Which will only last 1 term) I haven't had much time to even think about writing.
Excuse number 2: Writers block.
I had about 3/4's of the story done until today. I woke up this morning, rip-roarin and ready to play Skies of Arcadia when I sat down infront of my computer, open my files, and began typing. It wasn't one of those "I will finish this Chapter NOW!" kind of moments, otherwise it wouldn't be done for another few months. It was one of those, "..." moments, where you just can't seem to run out of inspiration and continue to write until you're done.
Now my writing has a great deal of competition. In my life aside from school there has been a recent insurgence of AvP, a Return of the RPG's, and The Roleplaying Strikes back. Where all this came from I can't even remember. But ever since school started I'm getting a whole lot more physically inert and a bit more mentally active. Possibly because I don't get to sleep in anymore. Being trying to get back into reading book as well, but as my brother who gets laid more than I do says, "If if don't fit, don't force it!"
Anyways, I'll be going back to the Ranma 1/2 storyline again so things should pick up hopefully. Things are gonna get pretty interesting with what I'm planning for it. Well, I think it's interesting, I don't think it's been done... often... hopefully it's original.
Anyways, onto other things, the cliffhanger here probably won't be explained right away. And I doubt I'll ever write it out. The results won't clearly been seen either. It'll just lurk in the background. Mainly because I don't want it look like I'm tossing in way too many crossovers at once. But I do have it explained. If anyone feels that they can handle me actually going into detail just what has happened I'll actually tell right away. It's gonna take 5-10 people at least though to get me to do it. And make look like you really wanna hear this. Otherwise I'll be too scared of doing it.
Anyways, I'm off, probably to play AvP again. Why? Cause it has the most balanced 3 race system I've seen, EVER! If the Marine's could just see everything else like everything else can they would be GODS!! GODS I TELL YOU BWAHAHAHA!!
My rants aren't very long are they?
Yes, this chapter was a crossover. And I'm gonna do many more possibly. None of them should be all that intermixed with the story, they're gonna be more... just there. Cause I feel like doing it. So don't worry 'bout it, this won't become a heavy Inu-Yasha crossover or anything, but I will revisit the series.
To SumDumGuy: Your ideas of how energy is sucked from the cold works GREAT!! I was slightly worried that I might one day have to write up a way of just how energy is drained from the cold but this is perfect! Thanks!