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A.N:
"Japanese"
'English'
[Signs]
*Thoughts*
-SOUND EFFECTS-
(AUTHOR'S NOTES)
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Chapter 5: Traveling ripples
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Sotaki assumed a drill-sargeanty tone of voice and started pacing in front of Hikaru on the tarmac. "The first thing you must realize is that DARK MAGIC IS DANGEROUS. Unlike psionics, in which failed skills simply result in tiredness, and Kinesis, in which faliure of anything would result in you running into a wall, when magic backfires you WILL be injured. This is why I'll be training you in explosion avoidance after this lecture."
"Spells drawing their power from the power of holiness are called white magic. In white magic there are spells such as Recovery which are used for healing, and defensive spells such as Flow Break and Mos Varim. In addition offensive spells such as Holy Bless -- which can dispel low-level undead like animated skeletons -- exist. However, the more powerful white magic can be cast only by priests and priestesses who serve the gods.
"Black magic calls on the power of powerful Mazoku said to have strength rivaling that of the Gods. Since these spells draw their power from Mazoku -- beings of chaos and destruction -- most of these spells are highly destructive offensive spells. The effect of the spell reflects the characteristics of the Mazoku being called upon. To use black magic it is necessary to understand the use of Chaos Words -- special words of power -- and to perform certain gestures, depending on the spell. The more powerful the Mazoku called upon, the more powerful -- and difficult to control. Also, a spell becomes uncastable when the Mazoku upon whom the spell relies is destroyed.
"Shamanism, or spirit magic, is the general category given to spells which summon forth the power of the spirits. Included in this group are spells which affect spirits directly, and spells which call on the four primary elements of earth, water, fire, and air.
"Spells which use the spirit power of fire have fire's destructive nature. There are a variety of spells from Flare Arrow which is used against individuals to Blast Bomb which can turn a wide area into a plain of fire. Fire spells also have the added effect of making things catch on fire.
"Spells using the spirit power of water are the counterpart to spells which use the spirit power of fire. While fire spells use heat as a weapon, water spells use extremely low teperatures as a weapon. Water spells can be used to temporarily hold opponents by freezing them.
"Earth spells call on the power of the spirits of the earth. Since the caster is usually in continual contact with the ground, he/she has more control over the effects of the spell. The one problem with earth spells is that they have no effect on airborne creatures.
"Air spells use wind spirit power and manipulate the atmosphere to blow away targets or create a barrier of air. There are useful spells such as Levitation. Rei Wing, which surrounds the caster with a bubble of air, makes it possible to dive underneath water.
"Now that you know about magic, let's get to work. The first spell you'll be dodging will be a Bomb Spread. It is near-harmless. However, you WILL feel it if you're close enough. After 10 dodges in a row, I'll switch to something more tricky."
Sotaki took a position about ten feet away from Hikaru, and held his hand above him, palm up. A glowing sphere took form above his palm, and started wavering. Suddenly, it jumped into focus as it was thrown forward by Sotaki with a yell of "BOMB SPREAD!" The sphere zoomed forward at a fair clip, and missed Hikaru by half an inch, mosty due to the fact that Hikaru had scrambled away. The follow-up clipped Hikaru's shoulder and blew up right behind him, propelling him forward about half a foot. "Owch! I thought you said these things were harmless!" Hikaru whined.
"They are. You can't die because of one of these. Now keep dodging!" Saying so, he formed several Bomb Spreads that hovered around him. Launching another, he was treated to the sight of Hikaru running like an idiot from a small ball of light.
Narrowly dodging the blast from the ball, Hikaru got ready to run again, when he noticed that there were two bombs heading toward him from opposite directions. Taking a page from Ranma's book, he hopped and let the two balls collide. His jump length took him by surprise, and he barely kept his balance, only staying up by flailing his arms like wild and contorting his body. During this time, his contortions had managaged to avoid a further four bombs. He regained his balance, and feeling the heat of another ball behind him, he rolled forward, again narrowly dodging the blast. As he stood up, he saw another two balls flying at him, this time not intersecting each other. He dodged carefully this time, but they curved around and followed him.
Realizing his problem, Hikaru ran like crazy behind the only available obstacle near-by: Sotaki. When the smoke settled, Sotaki peeled himself off the ground and glared at the cowering Hikaru. Then he broke into a grin and applauded. "Very good, you're learning to use the environment and your opponent's spells agains him. In case you lost count that was 11 spheres you dodged, and one you got hit with. Not bad for a first try."
Hikaru interupted, confused. "Since when do I jump that far?"
"Since the arcade. What, you think I hacked up DDR just for fun?"
Comprehension dawned on Hikaru. "So that's why Ranma is so good! He trains all the time! Holding buckets, cutting vegetables, walking to school, even talking to Akane!"
Sotaki nodded. "Right. The thing is, Nerima is so strange people are used to it, so it's a perfect training ground. Speaking of Akane, I think you should take a look at her one of these days with your aura sight."
Hikaru shrugged. "She's beautiful and kind. What more is there to see?"
Sotaki frowned. "You'll see. Now, back to work. The next spell won't follow you, but it will make a fairly large spread. This time, you'll need to ride the blast to dodge all the attacks I throw at you.
"Now I want you to put on this robe. It will protect your clothing from the blast." Saying so, Sotaki handed Hikaru a blue robe emblazoned with crystal patterns.
Hikaru donned the robe, and immediately started shivering. "C-c-c-c-cold!" he squeaked out. Sotaki grinned evilly. "Oh, you'll be wishing you were cold before this is over. Remember, these explosions won't kill or maim you while you're wearing the robe, but getting hit with one of these spells will still sting like a bitch, so be careful.
"Ready? FLARE ARROW!" With those words, a spear of red formed in Sotaki's hands, and upon being hurled at the surprised Hikaru, split into many needles. After the experience with the Bomb Spread, Hikaru knew that blasts tended to come in small packages. Therefore, he wisely moved a few feet away from the site of the spell's impact. His new robe billowed, but besides that he was unscathed. "Wonderful! Whenever confronted with a new spell, first get its measure, preferably without getting blown to bits. Now, here's two! FLARE ARROW! FLARE ARROW!"
Seeing to clouds of needles flying in a pattern that would be impossible to jump away from, Hikaru did the only thing he could. He ran toward the cloud and slid under it. Surprisingly, the robe was untorn. "This thing is tough!" "Yeah, it's nearly indestructable in terms of most things. Bullets will tear through it, but most katanas will feel like sticks. Stay sharp... FLARE QUIVER!" A quiver of Flare Arrows formed on Sotaki's back. Launching them in droves, he slowly forced Hikaru back. Surprisingly, Hikaru wasn't hit once.
"All right, you're getting the hang of it! You even avoided my final three by jumping with the blast. Now, I'm going to stop throwing strong spells, but I AM going to start throwing faster and more spells. Ready?"
Panting, Hikaru got ready to dart away. Throwing his arms forward, Sotaki called out the name of his next spell. "Burst Rond!" A ball bigger than the Bomb Spread flew forward, but this time it split up into many smaller balls. Deciding to try something new, Hikaru dodged past the edge of the spell and tried to emulate Sotaki's motion with the Bomb Spread, and force the energy around and inside him to flow the way it did above Sotaki's hands. Slowly gathering the heat in his hand, all while dodging additional Burst Ronds, he got ready to unleash his attack. Flinging the sphere forward, he submitted to the urge to call out its name. "BOMB SPREAD!" The sphere flew straight at Sotaki. Unfortunately, he managed to not only dodge but redirect the spell.
With a shout of "Valis Wall!" Sotaki formed a flame-retardant wall into a glove around his hand and snagged Hikaru's spell out of midair, and, without stopping his motion, pivoted on his toe and threw it around like a baseball. Fortunately for Hikaru, he remembered that he could blow it up, and caused it to do so right after Sotaki dropped his wall. The resulting explosion caused blanketed Sotaki's face in soot, but not much else.
"Well, you've got the basics of spell-casting down, and once again you surprised me with that attack. If I didn't know better I'd say you were already trained in Shamanism. Well, you've dodged three sets of spells today, and I think that's enough for one day. Class dismissed. Tomorrow's a Saturday, so there'll an entire half-day to train. Go home, have a snack, take a nap. I'm going to go explore the surrounding area."
Picking up his backpack and taking his robe, Sotaki left. Hikaru, grinning from ear to ear, headed home.
*****
Yes, Hikaru's a natural. No, not everything will be perfect. Hikaru is in fact a very repressed individual, so of course he's gunna take the initiative as soon as possible. And I'm getting to Ranma & the NWC, but it'll take a while. If Ranma's not a bull-headed moron, he might be getting a few spells and skills of his own, but the rest are all dishonorable &!#$s(with the exception of Ukyo and Kasumi) or already know magic(Khu Lon) so that's it for now. And next chapter will be all about Sotaki.
chainchomp5
