Disclaimer: Spoon!
A/N: Happy Holidays! Consider this my Christmas present to all of my readers out there.
Ranma and the Land of SymphoniaChapter 13: Calm After the Storm (Sort of)
Raine stood over Ranma with her staff, pulsating a steady white aura. He lay on one of the beds in the Izoold inn. Finally after what seemed like an eternity she ceased her work and looked up.
"He'll live."
The group released a breath they did not know they were holding. Raine tried to stand up but wobbled precariously on her feet. Fortunately Kratos steadied her before she fell.
"She needs rest. She used most of her energy keeping Ranma alive." Gently grabbing her shoulders, the swordsman guided her over to another one of the beds and laid her down. She fell asleep almost instantly.
No one spoke for a while. Finally Lloyd asked, "So…are you going to tell us what happened?"
With a sigh Kratos withdrew the Magic Lens that Ranma had given him.
"Do you know what this is?" Kratos asked.
"A magic lens of course." Genis stated acting as though he swallowed the textbook, "Using a small amount of magi-technology and mana, the lens can be used to identify a person or monster telling the wielder detailed information about them while looking through the lens. The lens also has the ability to recall the image of the subject identified."
"So it's basically like a camera?" asked Colette.
"Something like that, yes." Kratos focused on the lens for a second and a life-like miniature image of the Sword Dancer appeared on the table Kratos was seated at.
"The Sword Dancer is one of the greater demons of hell, probably banished from the underworld, Niflheim." Kratos narrated, "The likely cause of his banishment was when he was contending for the position of ultimate ruler and failed, therefore getting exiled to the over world."
"So why did it attack Ranma?" asked Lloyd.
"The thing did not attack Ranma. He chose to fight it of his own free will."
"How can you be certain?" questioned Genis.
"…I know a bit about the nature of demons. The demons will only appear to strong ones whom they believe will defeat them. When they are defeated, only then will their spirits be set free. After that, no one really knows what happens."
"But Ranma defeated him, so it should be okay right?" asked Colette anxiously.
"If only it were that simple." Mumbled Kratos, but loud enough for everyone to hear.
"Somehow I knew you were going to say that." Genis and Colette jumped. Ranma had awoken.
"I see that you have adapted very well to that exsphere. The healing technique would not have been very effective otherwise." Mused the mercenary.
Ranma cut straight to the subject, "So what's going to happen now?"
"It is very likely the Sword Dancer will fight you twice more before it finally rests, each time growing more powerful. What you fought was merely a shadow of its true power."
If there were any crickets in this world, they would have been heard clearly in that moment.
"A…a…a shadow!" Lloyd finally stammered.
"I barely defeated the first one! And I had to bring the whole mountain down on top of him too!"
Kratos was careful not to let any emotion show on his face as he delivered the final piece of news, "It gets worse."
"How on earth can it get worse?" Ranma practically shouted, then winced as his injuries made themselves known.
"As I said before the Sword Dancer only shows itself to the ones he deems worthy. Since he showed himself to you that means that you will have to fight him…alone." The last word was barely audible.
Ranma could only think of one thing, 'Why me?'
"However, it is unlikely he will be showing up in the near future. Your paths may be destined to cross again but it will be very unlikely that he will show up unless you have a chance of beating him."
The martial artist was only depressed for a few seconds before breaking out into a smile, "Guess I'll just have to train harder for the rematch."
Kratos looked him straight in the eyes, "Count on it."
Unknown Location:
The mysterious assassin known as Sheena shivered once again as she recalled the scene she had watched from the hilltop. The Chosen's group had run into the collapsing mineshaft and had returned with the same person she had fallen with.
There were two wounds on his shoulders that had pierced straight through his body. A deep gash ran along his stomach and she could see several other deep cuts along his arms and legs.
Although she had grown up in a society where fighting was commonplace, she had never seen such brutality done on one person. However there was one thought that ruled over all her others and it sent shivers up her spine.
What if Ranma hadn't been there and she had been knocked unconscious? What if she had encountered the monster in the mine?
It could have been her.
Ranma was bedridden for three days. Fortunately he was anything but bored, as Raine supplied him with a constant supply of reading material to occupy his time.
The professor had exhausted her mana healing Ranma, and had been asleep for a day straight before regaining consciousness. Raine did not accept his condition as an excuse to get away from his studies.
On the fourth day Ranma was finally allowed to get up and explore the village. Giving the Katz team stationed there a wide berth.
Izoold was not very big, smaller than Isealia in fact. Like Isealia, the town had a rural feel to it with all the hoses made from wood of some type. The town bordered on the Sylvarant Ocean making most of its income by fishing, and had a small harbor that currently had several boats docked at it.
The word was around town that no one was out on the seas anymore because of the increase in monsters. These days only the brave (or foolish, as the other sailors said behind their backs) risked the seas. It was unfortunate because the groups next destination was across that monster infested water…
However, on the fourth day Ranma found such matters trivial, as Kratos had begun to train him again. This time Lloyd was taken along for the ride.
Estimated time: 4:00AM
SPLASH!
"GAH!" shouted Ranma, awoken from his sleep.
SPLASH!
"ARGH!" shouted Lloyd, sharing Ranma's fate.
Rubbing the sleep from his eyes Ranma saw Kratos setting down two wooden buckets. Beside him Lloyd was reaching for his swords in the darkness.
"Get up and get dressed you two. Meet me outside." Was all he said before throwing the two boys some clothes. Ranma, expecting the weight of the shirt Kratos had thrown easily caught it as he braced himself for the unexpected weight. Lloyd was promptly knocked flat on his back.
"Ugh…what time is it?" mumbled Lloyd as he struggled to sit up.
"I don't know. The sun isn't up yet."
"That man isn't human." Grumbled Lloyd finally getting the shirt on. Cautiously, he stood up as the fatigue slowly left him, getting a feel for the weight. Ranma immediately put on his weighted shirt and jumped out of bed. He was at 100 and had energy to spare.
"Show off."
When Ranma had traveled around the world he had many senseis and learned many things, each with their own unique style of training. He thought that he had experienced the worst training from Genma, which was just short of torture. Kratos made Genma's training look easy.
It wasn't torture per say but running in weighted clothes, up and down the Ossa trail, 50 times, killing any enemies in their path, while sparring with each other did tend to get a little tiring after a while… just a little bit.
(If you haven't guessed by now, I'm being sarcastic)
After that, Kratos worked with them to perfect their techniques.
Ranma stood in a calm fighting stance, his arm extended holding a shaky ball of ki in his hands. Being pushed to the limit fighting Sword Dancer had slightly increased his stores of energy. It reminded him of that one anime he had seen about this mystic race of warriors that got stronger every time they were beaten within an inch of their life.
"You're letting too much emotion go into your ki blasts, make yourself devoid of all feelings and you will obtain more power." Tutored Kratos, "Let your emotions be like ice, giving nothing away."
'Like ice huh?' Ranma pictured ice in his mind and tried to combine it with his aura, without much success. Dropping back into his meditative stance, he began to work on clearing his mind again.
Somewhere in Joketsuzoku a certain old ghoul (WHAM!) I…er mean Matriarch sneezed suddenly as she considered teaching Shampoo the Hiru Shoten Ha.
Lloyd was going through a quick sword kata that he had made himself. His knowledge had been gained from the little Dirk knew about sword fighting (preferring to use a hammer instead) and the rest he had made himself.
The kata involved several jabs in quick succession followed by an uppercut and a down slash in midair. He had just finished when Kratos approached him.
"Lloyd, use your inner energy to increase your speed."
"How?" he asked puzzled.
"Use your exsphere as your focus and let the energy flow into your body." He explained.
Lloyd focused and the energy came into him naturally. He began starting the kata again, slowly at first but gradually moving more quickly as the ki flowed through his body. Acting on impulse he cried out, "Sword Rain!"
Almost too quick for the human eye to follow, Lloyd lashed out with his swords in several jabs. The attack was brief but very fast and effective in the few seconds it was active.
"It will do." Said Kratos as he walked over to check on Ranma.
Lloyd smiled to himself as Kratos walked away. It was probably as close to a compliment that Kratos would ever give him. All of a sudden the adrenaline rush took its toll and he fell to his knees exhausted.
"I shall now teach you how to defend yourself using your ki. Ranma, attack me with your best shot."
Ranma summoned his inner energy, "DEMON BLAST!"
"GUARDIAN!" A green field of energy surrounded Kratos briefly and the shield absorbed the ki blast harmlessly.
"The technique is called Guardian. Although it is very draining, the technique will stop almost any attack, letting the damage go to your ki instead of your body. Sustaining it for long periods of time can be very draining and could permanently damage your body, so only hold it for a few brief seconds to let the attack pass."
It wasn't hard to learn the technique. It was merely raising your battle aura, or ki, into a spherical shape to defend against attacks on all sides. By the end of the day both Ranma and Lloyd were able to raise a weak ki barrier. Kratos told them that with practice they would get better at it.
It was around midday when Lloyd and Ranma awoke from their near unconscious states. While they had been resting Raine and Genis had scouted around the town looking for a ship. However the only person brave (or stupid) enough to take them out to sea was currently at Palmacosta and would not be back until the next day.
Fortunately this gave Ranma the time he needed to do his task…
Raine looked up from the book she was reading to see Ranma standing over her.
"What is it Ranma?"
"Um…well I never really thanked you for saving my life and all that. Without you I would have been a goner."
"Your welcome," she responded, "So what did you really want to ask me?"
'Man she's sharp,' thought Ranma, "Well… I couldn't help but notice how useful those spells were, and I was wondering if you…could teach me magic." He finished.
Raine pondered for a moment, "Normally I would be willing to teach you but there are some complications."
"Like what?"
"First of all, only people with elvin blood can use magic, with exceptions like Colette."
"Oh, well I'm pretty sure I'm all human so thanks anyway."
"Hold on a second," Raine moved behind Ranma and placed her hands on his shoulders, "I'm going to run a quick aura scan on you."
Raine fell into a meditative posture and scanned Ranma's aura. She looked at the powerful lines of ki that coursed through his body from his core. Examining the core of his ki she found it nearly pure white with some traces of blue. Just looking at it gave her a feeling of confidence.
Then she looked past the ki and saw… darkness. There was a faint meow every now and then and occasionally a pair of yellow eyes shown through.
'That must be the Neko-Ken,' she thought, ' However that is a battle for another time.'
Looking around further she came across a gray barrier, not a walled off section of the mind but part of the mind that was sealed by a third party.
'Now who would have done this?' thought Raine, 'Oh well, maybe I should ask Ranma before I remove it.'
Outside…
Raine suddenly opened her eyes, "Ranma, did you know that part of your mind has been sealed off?"
Ranma digested that, "WHAT! You're telling me that someone's been messing with my mind?"
"Yes. Usually those seals are placed there for a good reason, such as to seal away inner demons or erase painful memories. Other times they can be used to lock certain abilities such as a berserkers blood lust."
"Remove it."
"Are you sure? The person who did it made the seal to last a lifetime."
"That seal was put there without my knowledge or permission. Please remove it."
Raine placed her hands on his shoulders again, "Okay, but I warn you, this is going to hurt."
Inside…
The professor began to trace lines on the barrier in an intricate pattern, with an accuracy gained through years of practice. With a final line and a shout of "Dispel!" the barrier shattered and the energy burst forth.
Outside Ranma doubled over feeling as though white fire was coursing through his veins. The pain only lasted for a second but it was enough to make any grown person faint. Of course…this is Ranma.
The martial artist got up and brushed himself off, "Well it sure felt like it worked." He mumbled.
"So what did that do?" he asked the healer.
"I'll have to check again," explained Raine, "Are you feeling alright?"
"Eh, I'm fine. So what did that do to me?" he asked again.
Raine did another scan. Everything seemed to be the same, his ki core seemed largely unaffected but right next to the core…
The professor shook her head, there was no way what she was seeing was real! Quickly looking at his blood stream she saw the telltale signs. There was no denying it.
Ranma looked over at Raine as he felt her break the connection, "What is it?"
Raine was staring at him shocked. She mumbled something that Ranma was unable to hear.
"Sorry professor, I didn't quite catch that."
Raine closed her eyes and composed herself before looking at Ranma.
"I didn't think it was possible but there's no mistaking it."
"Mistaking what?" asked Ranma starting to get frustrated.
"Ranma…you're one quarter elf."
"I'm WHAT?"
A/N: Ooh a cliffhanger. Just kidding.
Kratos looked at the man seated across the table from him.
"If you need a ship, mine is the fastest one you'll find anywhere across Sylvarant. My ship the Centennial Hawk goes .5 past sailing speed."
The mercenary sighed as he listened to the man ramble on about how great his ship was. Finally he interrupted, "How much to get to Palmacosta?"
"Nothing."
All of the swordsman's senses were immediately on high alert, "Nothing?"
"Well, nothing… except protection."
Kratos caught the slight twitch of the man's hand. "Protection from what?"
"Well…er you know…the sea monsters and all that."
He knew the man wasn't telling him everything but he also knew that he wasn't going to get a better offer.
"Agreed then."
"I'm one quarter elf? How?" The martial artist was pacing up and down the beach rambling to himself.
"I'm not sure Ranma, but it means that your parents were either both quarter elves to begin with, or one of them was human while the other was a half elf."
"But both my parents were human! At least I'm sure my pop was. I never saw my mother."
"It could be that you mom was a half elf," provided Raine.
"Well, maybe, but I doubt it. Pops would have told me something like that."
"Maybe your mom never told him."
"Or it could be that they aren't my real parents."
Raine stood up from her sitting position and halted Ranma's pacing, "We don't have enough information to go on just yet."
Ranma nodded his head. What she said made sense.
"So…since I'm a quarter-elf and all, can I learn magic now?" He was smiling like an eager child now, his earlier depression forgotten.
Raine gave a small laugh, "I suppose so. Although you may need to get help from Genis too."
A/N: I tried to update my other stories but I just couldn't stay away from this one. My thanks go to all of you who reviewed my last chapter and my curses go to the FF.nazi who said you couldn't respond to reviews in your story. Oh well. Just make sure to leave a signed review so I can respond to any questions.
OMAKE OMAKE OMAKE OMAKE OMAKE OMAKE OMAKE OMAKE OMAKE
"If only it were that simple." Mumbled Kratos, but loud enough for everyone to hear.
"Somehow I knew you were going to say that." Genis and Colette jumped. Ranma had awoken.
"I see that you have adapted very well to that exsphere. The healing technique would not have been very effective otherwise." Mused the mercenary.
Ranma cut straight to the subject, "So what's going to happen now?"
"Now that you have defeated it once…"
"Yes…"
"It will seek you out again…"
"Yes…"
"And try to marry you since you defeated it in combat."
"Yeah…WHAT! What kind of a stupid law is that!"
Somewhere near Jusenkyou a Matriarch sneezed.
END OMAKE
Preview of Next Chapter…
"Pirates!"
"Stupid Desians!"
"Lousy imposters!" (For real this time)
"What's a Kraken?"
Happy Holidays!
