Disclaimer: I do not own anything (repeat ten times)
Chapter: The Journey Back to Alexandria, the rescue and escape
The three (Steiner, Dagger and Ranma) hiked a whole day to base of the mountain where the South gate is. They passed the gate with out a hassle thanks to Steiner and Ranma's trick.
They knew that people were keeping an eye out for Dagger so Ranma carried a sack and filled up with the Gyhlash(spell?) pickles that Steiner liked and applying the subspace technique so that Dagger could fit inside and wouldn't smell.
'I was really looking forward to that feast too.' Ranma thought with an inward sigh. 'Well, I promised Bea-Chan.' Ranma hasn't been able to recuperate properly from the fight with the Black Waltz.
Sure he camped out and ate with Steiner and Dagger but it wasn't enough. Even without his limiter on, Ranma's strength right was less than ¼ of his original. 'I just hope that there aren't strong enemies for awhile' he thought. However, Ranma didn't know that he was going to face a tough fight ahead of him.
After passing through the gate and taking the tram to the summit, the group met Marcus and Cinna from Tantalus. Dagger decided to go with Marcus to Treno to look for a cure for Blanks petrifaction.
"I feel a bit guilty since he came to my rescue back in the Evil Forest." Was all she said as they took the tram going to the other side of the mountain pass. While riding the tram, the four fought the Black Waltz that attacked the airship.
It was in pretty bad shape and against an expert fighter, knight and thief, it was quickly dispatched. After, the four continued their trek to Treno. They only encountered some monsters but nothing special.
When they arrived, the group split up, even if it wasn't intentional. Marcus left to look for cure. While Steiner had his back turn and started to rant, Dagger left. Ranma decided to follow the princess, leaving Steiner by the entrance.
Ranma was silently following Dagger, because of that he foiled a robbery attempt by one of the local pick-pockets. "Hey man, I'm sorry, I'll return the money, I swear." Ranma sighed, he took the money and broke the guys hand, just teach him a lesson.
He turned around and bumped into Dagger. "Uh…Ranma, did you see a guy without a shirt walk by here?" she asked. "Yup, I got this from him." Ranma said as he produced the stolen currency. Dagger smiled "Thank you Ranma."
"Don't worry, but you should be careful around Treno. There are a lot of thugs and pick-pockets around here." Ranma warned. Ranma decided to walk beside Dagger to ensure some "immunity". The two entered an auction house, 'Whoa! Where is aura coming from!' Ranma thought with a little panic.
The aura he felt was immense, he doubt he could take whoever the aura belonged to in his current condition. He looked up to see a man with long silver hair wearing some 'girlish' clothes (according to Ranma) looking at Dagger.
Ranma just blinked to see that the man had just vanished. 'Better keep a closer eye on Dagger.' Without finding anything, the two made there way to the slums. Ranma caught sight of a familiar person, it was Baku, leader of the Tantalus gang.
They followed him to an inn, there, they met up with Marcus and miraculously, Steiner as well. Marcus gave them information about an item that was able to cure Blank's petrifaction. It is called the 'Super Soft', Marcus was planning on stealing it from an antique store.
When they arrived at the store, they met a strange bird-like man by the name of Doctor Tot. He was Dagger's tutor when she was younger. The doctor agreed to give them the 'Super Soft' and told them to meet him at his lab later, which they did.
Dagger told the good doctor her intention to talking with her mother to straighten things out. The doctor agreed to help and led them to 'Gargan Roo'. A tunnel under Treno that leads to Alexandria directly. The four boarded the Gargan, a giant bug that a tram was attached to ride on, said their good bye's to the doctor and left.
En route to Alexandria, the group had encountered a giant snake, called the Ralvurahva. The snake however, fled when it received enough damage. When they arrived, Ranma started to have an uneasy feeling.
"This doesn't feel right." Ranma stated. "We're almost back at the castle princess." Steiner said happily. The four entered a wide gap in the way and were instantly captured by Zorn and Thorn.
Ranma knew that soldiers would start pouring out, thinking quickly, Ranma pulled of his secret technique. He jumped over the bars that were used to trap them and ran away.
To say in the least, this shocked Dagger, Steiner, Marcus, Zorn and Thorn. "Great, when we're about to be captured, he turns and runs." Marcus stated with a bit of anger. Ranma knew of course that if he was captured there was no one to protect Dagger.
He quickly applied the Umi-Sen-Ken and followed the guards, he made a mental note where Steiner and Marcus were being held and followed his main objective. This being Dagger, he followed her into her room. Before he could break her out, the two clowns came and took her to Brahne.
Ranma followed her and watched the conversation between mother and daughter. His danger sense flared when he saw the same man from the auction house.
"Come to me, my precious canary." The man said in a seductive tone. The man grabbed Dagger and was about to cast a spell when he was kicked from the side, courtesy from Ranma.
"Dagger! Make a run for it! I'll stall for time!" Ranma shouted as he took a batou-jitsu stance. His right ready to grip the handle of his sword. "Ranma, I can't…" Dagger was cut off. "Just do it! I don't know how long I can hold them off!"
Dagger reluctantly nodded her head and ran for it. "After her!" Brahne ordered at Zorn and Thorn. The two clowns saluted rather silly and bounded after Dagger. Ranma tried to stop them but felt the wind knocked out him by the same man he kicked earlier.
"Interesting, whom do I have the pleasure of fighting?" he asked with a smile. "I'm Ranma Saotome, grandmaster of the Anything Goes School of martial arts." Ranma said with a bit of venom.
"A pleasure, my name is Kuja." Kuja said with a bow. Ranma didn't take his eyes of Kuja, he wasn't back to full strength, and he knew Kuja is an exceptional opponent. Ranma charged at the man, intent for the one-hit kill only to have the wind knocked out of him again.
Kuja, when battling is no laughing manner, even when he isn't serious. Ranma tried to get up, only to find his body couldn't move. Kuja looked down on him, "I thought you were stronger." He said
Ranma grit his teeth, he removed his limiter and stood up, rather painfully. Ranma's tactical mind started to assess the situation. 'I'm not strong enough to take on this guy'. Ranma then remembered Cologne, though she wasn't as strong as him after the failed wedding, she still had her speed.
Ranma decided to switch tactics, he sheathed 'Sai' and took a loose kempo stance. Kuja raised an eyebrow, Ranma prayed and hoped he would survive this. The martial artist surged forward, then at the last second, swerved to the side and started to encircle the magician/mage.
Ranma's encircling started to leave afterimages of himself as he moved beyond human standards. "Kageboshi!" the Ranmas shouted as they started attacking in synchronization.
Ranma knew for a fact that his opponent wasn't fighter, he was reminded of Nabiki in a way.
Kuja had the same smirk and body language of the middle Tendo sister. He didn't like it one bit. Ranma's body started losing strength. Without recovering properly from the fight from the Black Waltz, the mind controlled Hisaki, several monster encounters had started to take its toll.
Before you could blink, Ranma had once again crashed into the wall. His body though, didn't stop there. It went through the concrete and fell from several stories and landed into the courtyard. His body made a 5 foot deep crater from the impact.
Before drifting off into the black oblivion, Ranma saw Dagger getting captured by Zorn and Thorn.
Elsewhere…
Zidane and the others were currently fighting off the black mages and Alexandrian soldiers. The four, (Zidane, Vivi, Freya and Quina (who recently joined) protected as many civilians as they could. They eventual had to fight Beatrix, who being fiercely loyal to the queen took on the challenge. They eventually lost but Zidane, Vivi and Freya hitched a ride with the teleporting black mages.
Quina on the other hand, just ran down Cleyra and into the dessert, Zidane and the others witnessed the destruction of the great tree from the Red Rose, the queen's air ship. Brahne had summoned an eidolon, Odin the dark knight.
They overheard Brahne talking about executing Dagger, so the three used the teleportation pods and left for Alexandria.
Ranma awoke and found himself in a cell, his body seemed healed and he found himself fully energized. Whatever was nearby was giving him energy to sustain himself. It was the garnet stone Ranma had won during the festival of the hunt. It was emitting a blue hue and pulsating with raw energy.
Ranma felt the presence of two beings, one of the beings was trying to connect to Ranma while the other was lying dormant. Ranma decided to put back his limiter on since he was back to 100 butt kicking mode.
He pointed out his index finger, but then retracted it. 'I don't want to alert all the guards.' Ranma thought as he pulled out 'Sai'. Two diagonal slashes formed an X-shape mark as the door crumbled to pieces.
Ranma started jumping on the stairs to reach the top as he saw mist seeping from the gates near him. When he arrived at the highest peak of the stairs, he found himself facing a door.
He opened to find the whole crew, including Beatrix, facing Brahne, Zorn and Thorn. "Don't let them escape!" shouted the ugly duckling…oops, I mean Queen Brahne.
Beatrix and Freya took out their weapons as they saw a giant monster dog (by everyone else's standard) came into the room. "This way, quickly." Ranma said as he led the group down the stairs.
Several Black Mages started popping out through trap doors from the walls and started attacking. Though, none were a match against a Ranma who was back up to full strength. When they neared the bottom, Steiner who was carrying Dagger stopped. He let dagger of his back.
"Zidane, please take care of the princess." He requested. "What are you talking about rusty?" Zidane asked his face showing he did not have any idea what the knight was saying. "Beatrix, who was loyal, is fighting for the princess. Freya, who lost her kingdom, is fighting for her too. I must also fight for the princess." The captain of the knights of Pluto said
Steiner drew his sword and went back up to help Freya and Beatrix. Ranma prayed for his friend's safety. "Let's go before we're all captured." Ranma said as he started running towards the door ahead of him followed by Vivi, Dagger and Zidane bringing up the rear.
Quickly pulling the switch, they summoned another Gargan. The four however, met up with the Ralvurahva. It had somehow evolved into a Ralvuimago and attacked them on their way to Treno.
Ranma hoped that wherever his friend is, he hoped that it was close by. He raised 'Sai' pointing towards the roof of the cave. "Come to my aid! Hisaki! The beast of the flames!" Ranma shouted.
'Sai' pulsed a red glow for a moment, nothing seemed to have happened until.
"AAAAAWWWWWOOOOO!"
Hisaki came charging in all of his glory, and charred the snake. The snake survived but left immediately. Hisaki looked at his friend and gave him a lick before leaving.
Ranma smiled at his friend's retreating form before getting back on the tram.
The Gargan started increasing its speed but didn't stop. Dagger looked back too see the Ralvuimago chasing after them. "Oh no, it's chasing the Gargan" Dagger said. "Damn, we can't jump off at this speed." Zidane said.
The Gargan sped up even faster as they passed Treno. "I think we passed Treno" Vivi said. "Everybody, brace yourselves!" Ranma shouted as he held onto Vivi to keep the little black mage from flying off.
Zidane did the same with Dagger, a blushed appeared on their cheeks, though it did not escape Ranma's trained eyes. As the Gargan continued running, there was a sharp turn, the tram's cable snapped as it separated from the Gargan.
Everyone became unconscious due to the force of the impact. Ranma wasn't an exception since he was holding down Vivi.
Thanks for the support guys. I don't mind being flamed since your trying to help me out, and I appreciate it. So tell me how you like it.
Blazeknight