WARNING: While there will be no actual 'Lemon' content contained herein, adult situations, language, violence, and acts of a sexual nature are strongly implied.
Disclaimer: The rights to 'Ranma 1/2' are owned by its creator, Rumiko Takahashi. The rights to 'Gold Digger' are owned by its creator, Fred Perry. The rights to characters from other sources, which are likely to make cameo appearances, are retained by their respective creators. This story is for entertainment purposes only and written without expectation of monetary or material profit.
Notes: While drawing primarily from the original 'Ranma 1/2' Manga series, some elements and characters from the 'Ranma 1/2' Anime series may also be utilized. This is BOTH a 'Continuation' and an 'Alternate Universe' fan-fiction in regards to the characters and events of 'Ranma 1/2' and 'Gold Digger', meaning: the characters WILL be 'Out-of-Character' to one extent or another and that canon events the reader is familiar with may or may not have been altered to a greater or lesser degree. This fan-fiction is also a 'Crossover', combining elements from the two aforementioned sources. For most of the story, we will attempt to adhere closely to canon, in regards to Fred Perry's 'Gold Digger' series, but at some point, events will diverge from canon, and concessions will have to be made for the intermingling of the two base series.
Furthermore, it is 'presumed' that the events of the 'Ranma 1/2' Manga series take place over a span of less than one year, as there is little if any, real indication of the passage of time in canon. Therefore, Ranma and Akane are still freshmen at the time this story begins, while Nabiki and Kunou are juniors.
Timeframe: Right after Battlemage Book 1, Ranma arrives in Paris, France as he was invited to the wedding of Lisette and Jean-Paul. (Gold Diggers referenced will become apparent when shown.)
WARNING: This is self-beta'd if there are any spelling or grammar mistakes, please PM me with the paragraph and fix.
BATTLE MAGE
By
Ryan Slicer
(original story concept, writing, and guidance)
Book Two: Journey
Part Three: Mediterranean Troubles
Ranma and Lara stood at the port bow of the ship that was carrying the equipment and vehicles that they would be using to get to the archeological sites mentioned in the book. As they were standing there, Ranma saw the port that they would be entering off in the distance. "Which dock are we supposed to be going to?"
"The one in Alexandria," Lara replies, looking over at Ranma, her hair swaying slightly in the tight ponytail that she had.
"Isn't that the place where the library was destroyed?" Ranma asked, having remembered a bit of history with the city.
"Yes, the Great Library of Alexandria. Yes, it's the same place. It's really too bad that the library was burned to the ground. All those books and knowledge." Lara said. "We'll probably be docking within the next hour or so." Lara said as she spotted the docks, "Might as well check all the equipment again to make sure we're good to go."
Ranma nodded and they both headed down to the hold where there were two vehicles, a CJ7 jeep that had the cloth cover over the back of the jeep and a refurbished Ural-43206 military truck. The rest of the expedition crew were sitting around the trucks playing a card game next to one of the boxes that they pulled out of the truck to use as a table. Monty looked up from his cards and saw Ranma and Lara walking towards them. "How far are we?" Monty asked, bringing the attention of the others.
"About an hour," Lara replied, sitting down next to Sam on a spare stool that was available. "We can then unload the trucks from the hold and head down to Cairo for Ranma to look at the scroll he's interested in."
"I'm hoping that the scroll there has more information than the copy of the scroll in London has." Ranma stood behind Lara and looked over Sam's shoulder at her cards before Sam elbowed him in the stomach. "Ow. What was that for?" He glared at Sam, who turned her head at him.
"You're a terrible poker player and I don't want your bad luck with cards to ruin my chances to win." Sam glared back, having played against Ranma at the beginning of the trip. He stopped playing after the first day having lost so many rounds of poker. Luckily they weren't playing for keeps as they knew Ranma carried all the money he had with him for this trip and was planning on paying Lara and her father back for the trip. Even asked Lara to take the trip money out of his pay for his service. Richard Croft wouldn't hear of it and said that since he was helping them out by being Lara's bodyguard he had as much right to be paid as the others were. Ranma gave the Asian girl another glare before finding an empty stool next to James and Monty.
"So not that long, huh?" Stephanie said, placing two cards face down and being dealt another two from Joslyn. "Guess this will be the last game then."
"We'll play some more during our downtimes at camp." James said, placing down one card and receiving one back, "Still, Ranma doesn't have to play poker, we have other card games we can play."
"Ha ha, yes I know I suck at poker," Ranma said, folding his arms. "I'm actually bad at most card games. Apparently, I don't have a poker face according to U-chan."
"Who's U-chan?" Stephany asked as she looked over at Ranma.
"U-chan is a friend and one of my fiancées."
"Fiancées? As in plural?" Lara looked at Ranma, surprised that he would talk about where he came from and his past. "You're kidding right?"
"Nope, my ol' man is a thief and a liar, hitching me up with supposedly every person he met with that had a daughter," Ranma stated this as fact, causing the rest of the group to stare at him with suspicion. "Hey now, don't give me those looks. I know my ol' man wasn't a good role model and I don't act like him in any way."
"So how many of these fiancées do you have?"
"About four right now." Ranma said, "There's the Tendo agreement, which my fiancée is Akane. Then there's U-chan, and there's Shampoo."
"Shampoo, as in a hair care product?" Sam asked to confirm what she was hearing.
Ranma shrugged, "Her great-grandmother is named Cologne and one of her admirers is called Moouse." Ranma raised his hands up slightly, "They're probably not spelled the same as beauty products but their names sound exactly like that."
"And are they Japanese?" Lara asked.
"No, they're Chinese, which may be why their names sound like that, at least phonetically speaking," Ranma answered Lara. "The last one is a rich crazy girl who thinks that I'm destined to be her husband." Ranma shook his head, "I don't think of her as a fiancée, but I know that my ol' man must have pawned me off to her at some point while we were staying at the Tendos."
"Pawned off." Stephany said, "It almost sounds like he bartered you off to the highest bidder."
"More like to fill his belly., Ranma growled. "He sold me to one more ex-fiancée for two fish, rice, and some pickles." This caused most of the expedition crew to gasp as they couldn't believe that Ranma was given to someone else for food. "U-chan was also one of those whom I was given to for food. except her dowry was her father's yatai cart and my ol' man took the cart and ran off without her."
"Well, I'm glad that you are away from that man," Joslyn said as she came up and hugged the young man. "If he was anywhere near New York I'm sure someone would have noticed this kind of trade and take." She frowned for a moment before shaking her head. "Well it would have been reported as a missing child case and someone would have brought it up."
Ranma almost leaned into the hug, though while he never got many hugs, except wayward fiancées, this one almost felt motherly. "Thanks." Ranma quietly grumbled out to Joslyn.
The expedition crew felt the ship rock slightly before hearing the crew move around to start tying down the boat to the dock. "Alright, lads and lasses, we're here," Monty said with an air of authority. "Let's tie everything down before we disembark from the ship." With that said, everyone got up, placed the crate and camp chairs back into the expedition truck, and tied everything down so that the cargo wouldn't be shuffled around while the ship's crew got the crane to lift the two vehicles out of the cargo bay.
"All set here," James said as they stepped away from the two vehicles and looked at Monty, "We're ready."
"Roger that, lad," Monty said, slapping James on the back and almost causing the man's glasses to come off.
-LINE BREAK-
Once the Ural and Jeep were moved from the cargo hold to the docks proper, the expedition group entered the two vehicles. James sat in the driver's seat of the jeep, while Monty sat in the driver's seat of the Ural truck.
"Shotgun!" Sam called out as she jumped into the passenger seat of the jeep while Ranma and Lara sat in the back. Stephany and Joslyn sat with Monty in the truck with Joslyn sitting next to the window and Stephany in between Monty and Joslyn. Monty pulled a CB radio mic down from the roof of the truck before speaking into it.
"We're going to be heading to Cairo first before we officially start this expedition." He said as he started the truck, "Once we're there we'll go to the Egyptian Archeological Museum."
"10-4 Monty." James replied, starting the Jeep as well, "It shouldn't be more than a few hours right?"
"According to the map, we're going to take route 40 down to Cairo. It might take three to four hours to get there so buckle up and enjoy the ride." Stephany said as she took the mic from Monty.
"Alright then, let's head on out," Lara said, to which James repeated on the mic for the others to hear. James then pushed lightly on the gas pedal and the Jeep lurched forward away from the docks with the Ural not that far behind.
"So you have four fiancées, do any of them have legitimacy?" Sam asked over the wind that the Jeep was generating from driving.
"That's the thing, the only one that might be legitimate is possibly the one from Shampoo." Ranma started. "See she's a Chinese Amazon and their way of getting a husband is to fight them and if the guy wins they consider him their husband. The first time that I won, I was a girl and she had to chase me down because she gave me the 'kiss of death.'" Ranma said as he tried to explain the nuances of the Chinese Amazon rule book that Nabiki had gone over with him.
"Kiss of death?" Sam repeated back, "You can't be serious."
"Yep," Ranma replied, "If an Amazon was defeated by a girl or woman, then the Amazon must give them the kiss of death. And must chase them down to kill that woman or face the consequences."
"What consequences?" Lara asked her questions about the Amazon rituals and laws.
"Well, Shampoo was supposed to train in Jusenkyo and she fell into the pool of drowned furry things." Ranma shivered, trying not to say cat. "That pit of things that my ol' man put me through."
"She changes into a cat?" Lara said, noticing that he sat ramrod straight at the mention of the furry felines.
"Yeah, those," Ranma responded after a minute to calm down. This caused Sam to look at him and Lara.
"So what does the pit of cats have to do with anything?" Sam asked before she caught Lara shaking her head. "Is it some sort of martial arts thing?"
Sam wasn't paying attention to what Ranma was trying to do to not remember his time in the pit before Lara spoke up, "It's one of the reasons why we're going to the Egyptian Archeological Museum." Lara gently placed a hand on Ranma's shoulder as she continued, hoping that her hand would calm him down as she explained. "The scroll we're going to look at was originally translated as a possible fighting technique, which was mistranslated."
"Mistranslated?" James spoke up for the first time, "I know that there are some texts and scrolls that weren't translated properly, and once they were retranslated they gave a different meaning."
"And that's why we're going to the museum. They translated that scroll and figured out it was more of a journal than a training technique." Lara finished as Ranma finally settled down. "But we're getting off-topic." Lara stated as she turned to Ranma, "So this Shampoo was punished because she didn't kill you?"
"Yep, she was punished because she couldn't kill me after she realized that I actually was a guy who changed into a girl." Ranma frowned at that, remembering Shampoo's eyes the first time she ran away back to her village. "I think it kinda scared her that she almost killed a guy that she wanted to marry."
"So is that one of the legitimate cases?" Sam asked, placing a hand on his knee in comfort.
"That and possibly U-chan, because we took her dowry, but because nothing was written on paper, they were more like a gentleman's agreements," Ranma said, as he took a moment to think about it. "Maybe the Tendos have an actual agreement and document that makes theirs legit, but I highly doubt it."
"Well, it sounds like your father needs to fix things up and not you." Sam responded, "Not that I know much about Japan's cultures and customs, but I think I say this, your father is an ass."
"Sam!" Lara said before looking at Ranma, who shrugged at the comment.
"Not like I haven't heard that before. I knew that as soon as I turned 10." Ranma responded before patting Sam's, then Lara's hands. "Not that it really matters at the moment, I kinda need to get away from it all and figure that out on my own."
"A little help never hurts," Lara said. "Now off of the depressing talk." Lara poked Ranma in the side, "I'm sure you have plenty of stories of your journey across Asia."
"Oh, I have a few." Ranma said, "How about a story about an island that held a prince who was trying to find the perfect bride and had his servants steal a whole bunch of girls away."
"Seriously, a prince? Next, you'll tell me dragons and phoenixes exist." James said driving around a few cars with the trunk following behind them.
"Oh they exist, but you wouldn't have believed me until I showed you that I changed into a girl now would you?"
"Touché," James replied, "Maybe I'll hear that story of dragons, phoenixes, and princesses."
"Another time," Ranma smirked back, "But to continue my story, we were having fun on a beach when..."
-LINE BREAK-
The hours passed and the Jeep and truck made their way through Cairo towards their first destination, the Egyptian Archeological Museum. Finding a place where both vehicles could park close enough to each other took a bit of time, but once they found the place, they stepped out into the Mediterranean heat.
"You know, I'm glad that we had the Jeep open so that the air flowed through it, but now that we've stopped I'm regretting not having something to cool off with," Sam said as she leaned against the Jeep. The group gathered around the Jeep before Monty spoke up.
"Right, lads and lasses, Ranma, Lara and I will meet with the director of the museum, Mohamed Mohsen, and see if Ranma can look at the original scroll with how much they've discovered." Monty explained, "The rest will stay here with the trucks and watch the equipment."
"Alright," Joslyn said, "I'll keep them in line." She gave a wink to Monty, who laughed at the wink before guiding Ranma and Lara toward the front entrance of the museum.
Monty held the door open for the two teens as they stepped through the threshold of the museum. They got to the ticket booth when an older gentleman came up to them, "Monty!" he called out, walking up to the group at the ticket booth.
"Mohamed," Monty called back and gently patted the man on the shoulder, "So good to see you."
"It's good to see you too Monty. Come, we'll let you and your friends in without paying for the tickets." Mohamed nodded to the clerk at the ticket booth and he opened the door for the others to come through. "Please, please, enjoy your time here at the museum. It's always a pleasure to have you over Monty."
"It's great to be here, I know most of my archeological contributions are here as I studied modern archeology and Egyptology."
"Yes, and we have much to thank you for on those exhibits." Mohamed exclaimed as he walked them past most of the exhibits towards his office, "But from what I heard, you have a specific artifact you want to look over?"
"That's right. The lad here wants to look over the cat scroll. The one with the man in the middle of the cats."
"Ahh yes, that one." He opened the door to his office and let the three in, gesturing at the seats in front of his desk. Monty chose to stand next to Lara and Ranma, while the two teens took the seats in front of the desk. "We have it in the back of the museum still being deciphered and unrolled. But I know there was one copy that we gave out to the London Archeological Museum that hasn't been fully unrolled like this one."
"Was any of the scrolls translated to be something like this?" Ranma asked as he pulled out the booklet on the Neko-Ken. He passed it over to Mohamed, who took a glance at it and flipped through it.
"Hmm... While I can't read Japanese, can you give me a rough idea of what it says?"
"Sure, the first part is to dig a pit and fill it with c...c...cats, starve them for a few days, and then throw the trainee into the pit filled with fish sausages and other fish products." This caused Mohamed to look at Ranma with a concerned look in his eyes before flipping it to the last page where it had the hieroglyphics at the end of the book, this one showing just a tiny section of the scroll that they had unraveled.
"I hope no one followed those instructions. That's nowhere near what the section of the booklet here says." He pointed to a few of the pictographs that were shown on the booklet's last page. "It says here that the person was supposed to meditate with the cats and other larger felines to be like Baset. However, we never understood that until we unraveled the scroll even more and it shows that the man wasn't meditating but being surrounded by cats of all sizes, saying that he was playing with the cats and they were playing with him, like traditional house cats."
Ranma shivered slightly at the mention of the cats and then grumbled, "So it was still a mistranslation of these hieroglyphics that somehow made it into the hands of my ol' man who thought it was an unbeatable technique."
"Are you saying that you have seen this done to someone?" Mohamed asked, not liking what he was hearing.
"You're looking at 'em." Ranma replied, "Done and survived. With a phobia of those furry things." Ranma admitted grudgingly.
"I am so sorry," Mohamed said, gently handing the booklet back to Ranma, who put it away. "Let's go look at the scroll and I can translate it for you so you can seek some sort of peace with it."
"Thank you, Mohamed," Monty said, to which Mohamed waved his hand.
"I would have done it if it wasn't you, Monty. I don't have to like it, but what's done is done, we can only progress from here to help this young man as much as possible." Mohamed stood up and walked towards his office door, "Follow me, we'll look at the scroll and hopefully, the scroll will give you more information, maybe a way or place to help you."
Ranma nodded as both he and Lara stood up from their chairs and stepped out of the office with Mohamad guiding them toward the records room.
-LINE BREAK-
Mohamad opened the door to the records room and guided the small party to the scroll in question. He put on a pair of plastic gloves and handed a pair to Ranma and Lara. "Here's the scroll in question." Mohamed looked over at the two, gently touching the scroll as it was laid out. "Here we see the man traveling south along the Nile river until he came across Baset in her native form. Possibly the only Egyptian to ever see one of the gods or goddesses aside from a Pharoh, who was said to see the Egyptian god Ra."
"Baset?" Ranma asked, looking at Mohamed and then at Lara.
"Egyptian Goddess of Cats, and motherly love." Lara briefly explained to him, "Basically a goddess you didn't want to mess with and her children."
"Ahh okay," Ranma replied, looking back at Mohamed.
"That's a brief outline of Baset, but still partially true." Mohamed corrected, "Still, the scroll then explains that he found Baset and her children, cats, and others like Baset with her cat-like face. He had traveled with them until he met Baset directly, who encouraged him to stay in the village until he felt comfortable leaving."
"How far south did it say?" Ranma asked, now more curious about possibly a place that might help him even if it was with the furry little devils.
"Near the present day Kisii, Kenya and the Serengeti, Tanzania." Mohamed walked around the scroll and pointed to a map of Africa. "The scroll didn't say where exactly, but that he was near a lake a few days travel. That sounds to me like Lake Victoria." He followed the Nile's path until it stopped, then moved his finger down to Lake Victoria. "I don't see anything else near the Nile so far down. But he must have made it back to Egypt as we found these scrolls in an unknown tomb a day or so out from the tomb of kings." Mohamed went back to the two teens, having grabbed a record book and looking through it. "This one has been one of my pet projects that I've been researching and aside from the last line that he was happy staying there that we've so far uncovered, it may have more as we unroll the scroll even further."
"At least this gives me a good place to start, and not try to search all of Egypt." Ranma smiled and reached out with his hand, "Thank you very much for allowing us to look at this."
"I wish I could have given you more information, but that's all we've uncovered. But I do hope that this helps you solve your phobia." Mohamed took the offered hand and shook it slightly.
"I hope so too." Ranma once more smiled at the man before he guided them out safely from the records room.
-LINE BREAK-
"So we're all done here?" James asked, looking at Ranma, Lara, and Monty as they approached the vehicles.
"All done, and it looks like we'll be heading to the same place as Ranma would be heading. Lake Victoria" Lara mentioned as she climbed into the back seat of the Jeep, with Ranma sliding in next to Lara.
"Hopefully, this is where the chalice is at so we can all stay together," Sam said with a nod from Stephany. "Besides I want to hear more fantastic tales that Ranma had on his journey to become the best martial artist."
"Hey, no fair." Stephany exclaimed, "I want to be able to hear the stories too."
"I'll give another story when we hit camp," Ranma said as he leaned back into his seat. Sam and Stephany nodded before Stephany and Joslyn climbed into the trunk with Monty. James started the Jeep and both vehicles began heading down the main road toward the freeway in the direction of Lake Victoria.
"It's going to take a few days to get there, but we'll take breaks and camp out along the route.," James said as he pulled into the freeway.
"That's fine by me," Ranma said as he settled in for a long ride. "This beats walking any day."
-LINE BREAK-
The days passed as they traveled down the main freeway across several countries, Sudan, Ethiopia, and finally into Kenya where they stopped at Kisumu for a break. It was a few more hours until they hit Kisii, but they wanted to ensure Kisii was the right location for their expedition before checking in with Lara's father.
"So what do you think, Kisii or Ruma?" James asked.
"Well, Kisii is a large city and we wouldn't be able to find out where to go next, but
Ruma National Park might be a good place to start." Lara said as she held the book in her hand, trying to decipher a paragraph that looked more like a symbol than hieroglyphics. "Just having a hard time puzzling out this symbol. It's not like any standard Egyptian hieroglyphs."
"Maybe it's a different dialect? Like how we have different dialects based upon where we live." Ranma said as he looked over Lara's shoulder. While he wouldn't be able to read them himself, he figured that he might be able to add something to the expedition than just a bodyguard.
"While both of you haven't studied Egyptology, I have," Monty said, coming up to them after they had stopped for lunch at a small restaurant. Monty looked down at the book and Lara pointed to the symbol that she was trying to translate. Monty looked at the symbol and nodded slightly. "Ranma is right, in the fact that it's a bit of a dialect not found in proper hieroglyphics." Monty started, "However, it does mean we are near the lake before it was renamed Lake Victoria. But I can't make out the rest."
"So, Ruma it is then?" Lara said, as she closed the book and looked over at Ranma. Ranma gave her a puzzling look, "We'll be near the Serengeti, we could stop over there after our excursion and see if we can find that village?"
"Sure. That'll be fine." Ranma said, looking at the book with Lara.
"Well, we've got a few hours until we get to Ruma." James looked at the two. "Let's get lunch and then head out." The rest of the group nodded as they got back into the vehicles and headed deeper into Kisumu for a bite to eat and to call Lord Croft with their update.
-LINE BREAK-
The two trucks slowed down as they got closer to Ruma National Park. Standing next to a small guard shack was a few game wardens directing them to stop. As the trucks stopped, one of the game wardens came up to the driver-side window of the jeep and looked at James. "Good afternoon. Are you here for business or tourism?"
"We're here for business," James replied before handing over a set of documents and permits. "We are with the Croft Foundation and we're looking into an artifact that is presumed to be around here."
The warden looked at the papers, signifying that the group was from the Croft Foundation and had the correct permits for discovering new artifacts within the region. "I see you're papers are in order." The warden replied to James' response. "Just be sure not to destroy any of the land, and let us know if you need anything." He passed the papers back and handed them a card. "Our radio frequency is on this card. Do not lose it." The warden nodded his head and went back to the shack to have them raise the gate to let them through.
"Onwards we go., Lara stated as James put the jeep back into gear and drove it past the gatehouse. "We should find a place to camp along away from the main game trails." Lara said, having grabbed the radio to tell Monty and the rest of the expedition crew what they were going to do."
"Just remember, Lass, we're not here to disturb. We need more info and this seems to be the best spot to find something." Monty replied across the radio frequency, "We'll talk to the local tribes and see what they have to say about the chalice of Anubus."
"Alright, Monty," Lara responded.
-LINE BREAK-
The trucks had slowed down after a few hours, slowly going through the park to make sure they were watching out for any of the local wildlife that came down the trail they were on. They veered off away from the game trail and stopped near a large bank of trees and a small pool of water. Far enough that none of the animals could spot them, but close enough to a watering hole that they could use if needed. They took out some of the cooking implements and started making dinner of beef stew. Monty and Ranma did a quick perimeter check of their campsite, picking up dry materials as they went about to set up a small campfire. Ranma found a few stones they could use to encircle the firepit that Monty had started digging out.
"Alright, Lad." Monty started as he finished the small hole for the pit. Ranma began placing the rocks around the pit before preparing the firepit with enough sticks and wood, along with some kindling. "The area's secure right?" Monty asked.
"No animals or people anywhere so far." Ranma stated as he took out some flint and steel from his pocket, striking it a few times to get the small sparks to light the kindling, "And I can't sense anyone else around either."
"Sense?" Monty's curiosity peaked at that statement, "You mean you can sense if there's an animal around?"
"Animals and people." Ranma smiled, hoping to get a good discussion out of the tall man, "I use my ki to extend my senses out, like a radar, and it can detect the ki of others. I can feel when there's someone, or something, out there beyond my normal senses." The sparks finally got caught by the sparks of the flint and steel, causing it to slowly burn before he placed the kindling into the firepit they made.
"Is that so?" Monty asked, very intrigued at the thought of being able to sense others and animals. "I know a bit about ki, but not to that extent."
Ranma's grin got a bit wider before he spoke up. "Ki can do a lot of different things, but the best thing it can do is enhance the body. It takes some time to build up a person's ki reserves." Ranma's hand came up and tapped his chest. "I've been doing it for years." Ranma tilted his head to the side as he tried to think about how ki worked for him, "I guess the best way to describe the process is like building a muscle." Ranma started, "But specifically for the spirit." Monty nodded at the statement, "It's like an energy field, like the magnetic poles that surround the Earth. Only on people and animals. I can sense that as I extend my senses from that same energy out to the rest of the area." Ranma gave Monty a grin, "I can extend my senses about a mile or so." He placed a few more pieces of wood over the kindling to let it catch fire, once the fire started going he looked back at Monty.
"That's a unique skill to have there, Lad," Monty responded, taking a moment to praise Ranma on his abilities. "And for one so young to have that mastered."
Ranma rubbed the back of his head, his pigtail switching back and forth. "I wouldn't say I've mastered it." He chuckled softly before putting his hand down. "I'm still learning about things about ki that I never knew was possible." He took a moment before extending his ki out so that it was in the visible spectrum, a confidant blue shown around his hand as he let his ki form the ball of his Moko Takashiba before forcing it to dissipate harmlessly. "I've been practicing it for a while, but I know there's a better way to do it without involving my confidence in my abilities."
"It sounds plausible, most of my experience with ki users is that they give themselves more strength, speed, or other physical abilities." Monty stroked his beard for a second, "Then again, I've heard about chi before too. Are they the same thing?"
"I don't know if it is or not. All I know is that ki can be expelled from the body, but it takes some sort of emotion. I know one person who uses chi to help in their profession, like pressure points."
"An interesting idea, using pressure points with chi." Monty nodded at the young man, "I hope you can show me more about these unique abilities of yours during the next few weeks we have you."
"Thank you, Monty." Ranma grinned. "And maybe you can show me how to use a gun, it's the only weapon I haven't been trained on."
"Maybe, Lad," Monty replied to the request. "How about you tell me about this 'unbeatable' technique that you were trained in?"
Ranma shivered slightly as he remembered some parts of the training with those fur balls. He shook his head slightly to get rid of those memories before looking at Monty, "Well, what I mostly remember is being wrapped in fish sausages and other fish-based products after my old man dug the hole and put in all those stray c...c...cats." Ranma's body got a cold chill after saying that causing Monty to raise an eyebrow at the young man's shivering body. "He would then throw me into this pit, not once, but multiple times. Each time with a different fish product. I don't remember how many times I was put into that pit, but from what Pop said, I came out acting like a fur ball the last time he threw me in there. Gave him a few nasty scratches before I ran away and found a nice lap to lay in. However, it was an older lady who was petting me like a furry thing when I woke up the first time I snapped out of it."
"So when you sleep, you can wake up out of it." Monty stroked his beard in thought, "Anything else that you can think of that might snap you out of it?"
"There is one other thing, switching genders from the curse." Ranma nodded, "I do remember people telling me that when I change I snap out of it as well."
"Do many people know about your changing from male to female?"
"It's kind of an open secret." Ranma grinned. "Except for two people who seem to think I'm two separate people. Not that they'll ever believe it."
Monty gave a slight chuckle before turning to Ranma fully, "Well I'm glad that you're able to snap out of it. If I remember, there was one person who acted exactly like you, and he, unfortunately, went insane."
"Do you think that'll happen to me?" Ranma said, a bit worried about what Nabiki reminded him of with his father possibly using that against him.
"You have a unique situation there, lad." Monty took a moment to gather his thoughts, "Because you have ways of reverting to a human state and not staying in a feline mind." He noticed Ranma's eyes grew a bit wider in the light of the fire. "If there's a way to control it, I think you might be able to find it."
Ranma nodded, his body relaxing before he got up from where he was sitting. "Thanks, Monty. Are you going to keep watch for now?"
"Aye, lad, I'll wake ya in a few hours." Monty shooed him towards his tent and sat his gun next to him, settling in for the night. Ranma nodded, mostly to himself, as he headed towards his tent for a few hours of sleep.
-LINE BREAK-
The group got up in the early morning to Ranma making breakfast for them. The smell of coffee and pancakes filled their noses with bacon sizzling on the frying pan Ranma was cooking with.
"Wow, food service as well?" Lara asked, joking slightly as she walked up to Ranma and snatched up a cooked pancake. She took a small bite and looked at Ranma, "Tastes good."
"Wait until you taste my yakisoba, not as good as how Kasumi makes it, but it's better than nothing." Ranma grinned before slapping Lara's hand away from stealing another pancake, "Just wait a bit until the bacon is ready." Lara stuck her tongue out at him before going over to the firepit, now just blackened wood and embers from the previous night.
"What's on the agenda this morning?" Sam said as she walked out of the tent she shared with Lara. Stephanie and Joslyn also came out of their tent at the smell of bacon wafting over the camp.
"There is a tribe not far from here that might have some information on the chalice. Ranma and I will check them out, while you keep an eye on camp."
"Aye lass, don't want too many people walking up to the tribe. They might think we're here to disturb their way of life." Monty said, having stepped out of the tent the men shared. "Thanks, lad for making breakfast." Monty nodded as Ranma flipped another set of pancakes and placed some of the cooked bacon onto another plate.
"You're welcome, Monty." Ranma's smile was infectious as most of the camp approved of his meal and thanked him for it. Ranma took the gratitude as he hardly got any from when he and his father were on the road. Ranma did some cooking while they were traveling, but all he got from Genma was a grumbled thank you before he scarfed it down and demanded more from his ungrateful son.
Joslyn looked at Ranma and then at Lara before speaking. "What would you like us to do then, Lara?"
Lara thought for a moment before she turned to the older woman, "I think we should stay here for a while, maybe once they tell us where we can find the chalice we'll try for the lake, if that's where it's located." Lara tapped her chin with her finger, "Can we make sure all of the gear is ready, including the scuba gear?"
Joslyn and James nodded at the suggestion. "How long do you think it'll be to talk to this tribe?" James asked.
"Maybe a few hours, Lad," Monty said. "She's gotta gain their trust and ye know how long that may take to some people."
"Right." James nodded, "Well a quick inventory of our gear could take the same amount of time, and checking that all the gear is good as well."
"Do you think we'll need to go into the water?" Sam and Ranma both asked at the same time.
"Maybe, depends upon what the tribe leader says." Lara remarked, "But everything points to it either being under the water in a cave or somewhere else."
Ranma frowned, not that he wasn't used to wearing a female swimsuit, but he also wasn't too keen on it either. "Alright, you ready to go?" Ranma said as he finished his meal, not at the breakneck speed that he would have if he was at the Tendo-ke.
"Sure, let me grab my pack so we've got some supplies," Lara replied to Ranma's question.
"I'll grab mine and then we can head out."
Monty gently grabbed Ranma's shoulder before he got up. "Just keep an eye on the lass while you're there." Monty said, "Some tribes may not respond to her, but will respond to you."
Ranma nodded and got up, heading towards the tent, like Lara was doing. "I will, Monty." He called back to the older man.
-LINE BREAK-
The two explorers trudged through the sparse landscape in the general direction Monty had suggested that they head towards. It wasn't long until they were in a light forest that looked almost like an oasis, however, there wasn't a watering hole in the middle of it.
Lara looked at Ranma before seeing a path they could walk on through the woods. "Ranma, this way," Lara said as she pointed to the path.
Ranma looked at the path and saw a few footprints, some animal and others that were human-made. "Looks like a good game trail. We could follow this trail towards their settlement." Ranma remarked as they started following the footprints that looked like they were going further into the wooded area.
They walked the trail for about an hour when Ranma stopped, putting his right arm out to stop Lara as well. "What's going on, Ranma?" Lara asked as she bumped into his arm.
"We're being watched," Ranma said as he looked around for a moment before he spotted the person looking at them. "It's alright, we're here to talk," Ranma said to the person watching them within the brush.
"What are you here for?" A voice came out from the brush as a tall, African man with a bow and a quiver of arrows at his side stepped out into the open.
"We seek the chalice of Anubis," Lara stated to the man. The man's eyes widened for a second before motioning them to follow him.
"Not many have gotten this far for the chalice." He said, "I'm Dakarai, a hunter for the Abagusii community. I'll lead you to our village chief." Dakarai said, walking down a very worn trail that came off the game trail.
Lara gave Ranma a look and started following with Ranma close behind.
-LINE BREAK-
It didn't take them long to get to the main village, Dakarai took them directly toward the center of the village where the chief was. The older gentleman was sitting down on a woven rug of thread and rope. The intricate design showed that a lot of care and time was taken to weave the rug for the village chief. All the other rugs around him were also cared for and well made, for those that used their hands and not machinery. The hut behind the older man was decorated with animal skins on the outside with a thatch roof covering it and a clay-like material for the walls. The chief looked up from his work and saw Dakarai bringing two outsiders to him. "Welcome guests," he said, gesturing for them to sit with him on the rug as he moved what he was working on to the side, giving more room for them to sit.
Lara sat down in front of the chief, taking her backpack off as she did so, with Ranma sitting to her right. Dakarai stood for a moment on the chief's right before also being gestured to sit with the chief. Dakarai leaned over to the chief and whispered something in his ear. The chief's eyes widened for a moment before he leaned forward towards the two. "You seek the chalice of Anubis? What makes you think it is here?"
Lara pulled her pack in front of her and pulled out the manuscript that they were following along with a map. "We've been following this manuscript at a recent dig sight that was for followers of Anubis. They wrote down where it might be and we've traced it down to around here. Near Lake Victoria."
The chief looked at Ranma, who gave a slight nod to the chief, acknowledging Lara's remarks before the chief spoke directly to Ranma, "You seem to not believe it, young warrior."
"It's not that I don't believe it. I've seen more of my fair share of artifacts that are around specific places." Ranma responded, recalling the time of the Japanese Nanniichuan and following that manuscript around all of Nerima until it was underneath the girl's locker room at Furinkan. "All I know is that she's deciphered the scroll and it seems to lead her," Ranma stated as fact. "However, it might be somewhere else, but we're checking here to see if there's anything else that might lead us to the chalice."
"You may be right, young warrior. Let me share a tale of the chalice." As he began his tale, the chief spoke, "Many, many years ago. a devout set of followers of Anubis had gone inside the temple and stole the chalice for themselves. The rest of the followers, wondering why the sect of followers would take the chalice, gave chase to them and followed them down to a nearby lake bed, where they slaughtered them for stealing the chalice. One such follower gave their last breath to curse the chalice of Anubis. Fearing for the lives of their followers, the high priest had them construct a temple where they would place the chalice inside," The chief looked at the two of them before continuing. "They wrote many manuscripts to deceive those who want to use the chalice."
"Use it?" Lara asked. "It's just a chalice right?"
"No, it is not just a chalice, but a gift from Anubis." The chief explained. "Anubis wanted his followers to live forever and Anubis provided that to his followers. However, the curse had twisted the gift of life into the gift of death."
Ranma groaned as he heard the tale and what might be in store for the group. The chief looked at him and spoke out, "It sounds like you've experienced this before."
"Too many times to count." Ranma stated, "I suspect that we may still find something here, but that's for her to confirm." Ranma sighed and looked back at the village chief.
"If you are going to continue to look for the chalice, don't. It'll cause more suffering and pain."
Ranma waved his hand in front of him in a dismissive attitude. "And it could lead to death right?" He stated.
"If you continue down this path, it will cause your life to perish and never make it up to the afterlife." The chief explained, now very worried about the two.
"I'm sure we'll be safe," Lara said, elbowing her companion in his side. "I can't seem to translate some of this manuscript." she laid out the scroll and opened it up. "We got to here," she said, pointing to a spot on the scroll, "before the rest became indecipherable. Like it's not hieroglyphics."
The chief and Dakarai looked at the scroll and where she was pointing to. The scroll's hieroglyphics changed from the traditional glyphs found in most Egyptian tombs to almost another language. The chief nodded to himself as he looked at Dakarai, "Fetch the scribe. I want to be sure that I'm looking at the same thing." the chief explained in their native tongue, Dakarai nodded and got up, heading towards another hut just a few huts away from the hut they were in front of. The chief looked at both of them and gave them a small smile. "This is the most complete scroll I've seen, we need to have our scribe look it over to confirm what we're seeing."
"A scribe?" Ranma asked, "It looks like you've got teachers and stuff. Wouldn't they be able to help?"
"While it's true that we've had European missionaries and various others helping us become more like traditional civilizations, we do have historic scribes which usually help us to keep our heritage and culture as we become more civilized." The chief grumbled the last part before smiling at the two. "Not that we hold this against you, our birth rates and deaths have gotten better." The chief looked over and saw Dakarai and the village scribe coming back towards the three. "Ahh, there she is." Ranma and Lara turned and looked at the older woman who accompanied Dakarai.
"Ahh. Adisa." The older woman said to the village chief. "What have you got for me today?" she said in their native tongue, smiling at the chief.
"Please speak in English for our guests, Ramla," Adisa said. "They have brought us something I think you could help with."
"And what have they brought us that you need me to decipher?" Ramla said in perfect English, looking over at the two visitors. "My apologies for earlier," she said in a calm voice.
"No apology necessary," Lara said, smiling at the older woman. "We were wondering if you could help translate some of this scroll. It stops with the Egyptian hieroglyphics and onto a different language I'm unfamiliar with."
Ramla sat down next to the chief and looked at the scroll that Lara had laid out, along with the translation notes that she made. "Hmm. Very interesting. this seems to be an early version of the Ekegusii." The scribe said as she reviewed the scroll, pointing to a spot where the Hieroglyphics stopped and the Gusii language started. "Of course, you might have trouble translating it as it isn't Hieroglyphics at all." The older woman smiled at Lara, "But you did a very good job of your translation. You should be very proud of that." That caused Lara to beam out a smile at that recognition.
"Thank you very much," Lara said as she looked over the scroll with Ramla. "Could you teach me some of these writings?"
"I can get you started." Ramla smiled at Lara, pointing to some of the words at the beginning of the new paragraph. "This starts off by explaining that they settled down in the lake bed. There, they dug a place for a temple to hide the chalice from others. However, they felt that it was not enough." Ramla nodded slightly as she ended the translation of the scroll. "That is the end of the scroll."
Lara looked at the woman and nodded. "Looks like our next stop is to this temple," Lara spoke before Ranma snorted.
"I don't like this at all." Ranma scoffed, looking at both the chief and the scribe. "Let me guess, it doesn't say anything about where this temple is at right?"
"Calm yourself, young warrior." Adisa said, "We will not help you if you continue down this path of anger..." The chief continued before Ranma stood up.
"I think I've heard enough." Ranma stated, not coldly but very disappointed, "Come on, Lara, I don't think that we're going to get more out of the chief or scribe."
The chief of the tribe looked at Dakarai and nodded to him. Dakarai gave a quick sharp whistle and several other hunters came up behind him, brandishing spears in their hands. "Young warrior," Adisa spoke up, glaring at Ranma slightly, "You have dishonored us as we were trying to help you. However, we can not abide by this and let you two continue on your travels if you keep on insulting us."
Lara had grabbed their things and placed them in her pack giving Ramla an apologetic look before glaring at Ranma to not say anything further.
Of course, Ranma wasn't having any of that response from the chief of the tribe. "Look, I know you've got better things to do than to babysit us and make sure we're not breaking any of your rules, but if it's all the same to you, I think we're better off without any help from you or your tribe." Ranma looked at Lara and saw the smoldering glare coming from her. "What?"
"Young warrior, we can not stand by and let this insult pass. We've tried to help you and your companion as best as we can and you insult us with your childish ways." The hunters pointed their spears at Ranma and Lara, "You will not be finding the chalice anytime soon, as we are one of the many protectors of the chalice of Anubis." The chief of the tribe looked at the two before signaling to the hunters, "Make sure they do not escape."
Just before the first hunter could stab at the two youngsters, Ranma turned and grabbed Lara's hand and started to drag her behind him as he ran out of the village, this caused some of the hunters to blink at how fast the young man could run, giving the two just enough time to escape the small set of hunters before they shook out of their stupor and gave chase to them.
- LINE BREAK -
Running through the small forest, the pigtail youth in a blue silk Chinese shirt and black baggy pants was carrying a backpack of camping equipment. Just a little ways behind him was a young woman in a tank top and shorts, with pouches against her thighs and her brown hair in a messy ponytail also carrying a backpack as she tried to follow the martial artist.
"Ranma, if you ever get asked to take something from an ancient civilization and the whole town is watching, you do NOT act so damned cavalier about it!"
Both of them jumped over a fallen tree and continued to run as a few spears flew through the air and landed on the tree they just went over with a loud thunk.
"Yeah," Ranma started, ducking a low-hanging branch and twisting to the side as another spear sailed past him and the young woman, "Next time I won't save the damsel in distress on general principle." He yelled back, "But then again, Lord Croft would be mightily upset with me if I didn't watch out for you either."
The young woman gave a light blush at the blunder that Ranma was referring to. "Still, you should be a bit more traditional when accepting anything from anyone. Especially help with our expedition. I thought your culture was steeped in traditions."
"My old man showed me as much tradition as you are ladylike in front of your Queen." He groused, jumping up and behind her before he picked her up and leaped into the trees as half a dozen spears skewered the landscape they were just running on.
"Not like I have any tradition at all, you uncute tomboy." Ranma jumped from branch to branch with said tomboy in his arms. As he was up in the trees, the hunters looked around the last place they spotted them, thinking that they were just hiding in the area.
A few meters away, Ranma continued to jump from branch to branch until they reached the game trail that they were on when they were first spotted by Dakarai. Instead of jumping to the ground, Ranma, with Lara still in his arms, continued the journey down the game trail in the trees until he could no longer use them as cover.
"Uncute tomboy!" The woman screamed out as Ranma dropped back down onto the forest floor, she slapped his shoulder and kicked her legs to force him to let her go. "I'll have you know I am a proper lady, and Lara Croft will always show decorum when needed!"
Ranma let Lara go and looked at her, giving her messed up hair, some scrapes and bruises along her legs and arms a glance to make sure that she wasn't struck by any of the spears that were being thrown at them. "Then what is a proper lady doing out in the boonies with a roughneck martial artist?"
The aforementioned Lara Croft blinked at that question before ignoring it, "Ranma, just don't act like that again if someone gives you something to help us out." She grumbled to him, turning away from him and walking back to camp, wondering if Monty had some of his famous stew leftover from the night before.
-LINE BREAK-
Lara and Ranma arrived back at camp with Ranma's head bowed down in thought, Monty saw the two arrive and got up to greet them, but noticed their downtrodden faces. "What happened, Lass?"
Lara glared at Ranma before looking at Monty, "Ranma got hot-headed about what the village chief was telling us." Monty looked over at Ranma, who nodded his head at the acknowledgment.
"So what got your head heated up?" Monty asked the young man.
"After hearing about the story, it sounded like they were trying to guide us away from the chalice. I've seen and hunted for way too many things where the guide or guidance given points to something that isn't there anymore or a complete dud." Ranma explained as he looked at Lara, then at Monty. "I'm sorry that I lost the opportunity to find the chalice."
"What happened was not all your fault," Monty said as he patted Ranma on the shoulder. "But at least you acknowledged that you had a part in the issue." Monty gave him a slight smile. "You're not the first to get frustrated during an expedition. And certainly not the last." Monty said as he looked over at Lara, "I'll see if I can patch things up with the village chief and get some more information."
Lara dug into her pack and handed Monty the book and her notes. "Here, they seemed interested in the book and the notes I took," Lara mentioned to Monty. "From what their scribe told me, the part we were having issues with is early Ekegusii. And we might not have the rest of the details of where this temple might be."
"Alright lad and lass, I'll see what I can get with this new info," Monty said to the two of them, gently patting them on the head. "Don't worry, everything will be alright and we can get started on the next step in our expedition."
"So you knew something like this would happen?" Ranma asked, to which Monty gave a big chuckle.
"Lad, you don't get to be a big explorer of the world by getting stumped by a few words in a scroll or book. You just take it one piece at a time and eventually, you'll get there." And with that, Monty bid the two of them goodbye while he headed back to the village that Ranma and Lara escaped from.
-LINE BREAK-
Morning arrived the next day with Monty coming up to the campsite with Ranma guarding the area around the campfire. Monty smiled at Ranma as the young man walked up to him, "Everything alright there, Lad?" Monty said as he walked with Ranma back to the campfire.
"Yeah, everything went okay here for the night." Ranma said as they both sat down at the campfire, watching the sun rise higher before the rest of the expedition team started waking up, "Did it take all night to talk them out of hunting us down?" Ranma looked very concerned at Monty before the older man gave a soft chuckle.
"I talked them down from that idea. Sure it took a bit of time, but they understood where you were coming from." He patted Ranma on the back before he pulled out the book and noted Lara gave it to him. "They gave me a bit more of the story and said that there's a cavern that's near the Serengeti where we could look for the temple." Monty gave Ranma a little bit of a stare that seemed to quell the young man, "This mistake could have caused a lot of problems if I weren't here, Lad. And one that we will not be making again will we?"
"No, sir," Ranma said, a bit more formally than what we would have said. He respected Monty and what he knew, better than his old man, and he knew that he almost made the same mistake he did during his visit to the Amazon village last year. "I messed up, didn't I?"
"Yes, you did, Lad. But it's one mistake we were able to fix. Now, enough of being in a sour mood. At least you found the tribe that had the information instead of a dead end." He smiled at the young martial artist, "That's better than most people on such an expedition would have gotten."
"I guess that means you know where we are headed, right Monty?" Lara said with the rest of the team behind her.
"Aye, Lass. And we'd best be on our way." Monty looked at Ranma, "We might also be able to help Ranma with his expedition as well. Seeing as we'll be near the Serengeti."
"You don't have to help me with my journey," Ranma said before Lara bopped him on the head, "Ow... What was that for?"
"For being a dummy. Of course, we're going to help you, we've been talking about it and we helped you find some more information about what you're looking for." Lara said, before sitting down next to Ranma, "Besides, we kind of made it part of the contract between you and us. We help you with your journey until we have to split ways."
"I'll see this expedition through to the end..." Ranma started before Lara smacked his shoulder.
"I'm being serious. We knew that you'd eventually need to finish your journey. You'll still be paid as if you were part of the expedition when we finish, and since you didn't give us a bank account to drop the funds into, we set one up for you." Lara finished, before handing him a checkbook. "Keep this with you and you can use it for any expeditions you're a part of if you come along with us."
Ranma glanced at Lara, then at Monty before nodding, taking the checkbook from Lara, "Thanks." He said quietly before James decided to speak up.
"Alright, we've had our sap, now let's get some breakfast going and head to the next area of our expedition." which caused the girls to glare at him for breaking up the heartwarming chat between Lara and Ranma.
"The Lad is right, we need to get going if we're going to make it to the cavern we're expected to be at in the next few days," Monty said, standing up. "I'll start breakfast and coffee for everyone."
-LINE BREAK-
It took them a little over an hour to finish breakfast and tear down the camp before they headed out towards the town of Rongo. After getting confirmation from Monty about the direction, they saw that there was another reservation near the hillside called the Mara Triangle. "Monty, are you sure that we're supposed to be that far southeast of the village?" Lara said over the radio.
"Aye, Lass. They said it took over two weeks for these followers of Anubis to find a place where they could hide the chalice and one place was southeast of where they stopped. Some sort of cavern might be something we're looking for." Monty replied while Ranma and Lara looked at the map from the back of the jeep.
"Kinda wish that there was an easy way to find stuff like this with so little information," Ranma said as he poured over the map. "A several weeks walk could be anything from here to the Serengeti itself, and that's just to the borders."
"That's true, and then we only have a few other words of encouragement based upon what the tribe said," Sam said, as she turned to look at the two in the back. "Any idea what they mean by 'between the hills and rocks as the eagles fly, the entrance lies at the foot of Anubis?'"
"That could mean anything," Ranma groaned before looking at the map once more.
"Wasn't Anubis always facing towards the left?" Lara said as she looked at the map, "I mean, I know there are multiple pictures and hieroglyphics that show him facing either way."
"You're right there, Lass. Maybe the followers saw him better as he was facing the west as the sun set, versus the east as the sun rose." Monty said, "Look at the map that looks like a foot, or at least the glyph of a foot."
Ranma and Lara looked at the map, scouring it for any type of image that looked like a foot, "All I can see is the area near the Serengeti and the Mara Triangle just right on the border of Kenya and Tanzania." Ranma spoke up after looking at the map a few more times.
"Then we'll try there first Lad," Monty said as they rolled past the town of Ronga and down the main road towards Mara Triangle.
-LINE BREAK-
It took them a few days to reach Mara Triangle, baring some legality issues with their expedition moving from Ruma to Mara Triangle, but the rangers didn't seem to have any issues with them at least looking and taking as long as they needed to find this cavern. Of course, they were reminded to make sure they didn't leave anything behind and to clean up after themselves.
Taking the game trail down along the hill range toward Tanzania they stopped when Sam spotted something that didn't look like a hill. "Are you seeing this?" Sam said, passing the binoculars over to Lara as they were driving down the path. She pointed to an odd-looking hill that caught her eye.
"I think you might have found it, Sam," Lara told her friend, gently tapping James on the shoulder. "Head over there, I think Sam found us a foot to follow."
A few hours later, they arrived at the foot of a hill that looked like part of it was carved into a pair of feet. And between those feet was a small opening, enough for a few people to make their way into it. "Nice catch here, Sam," James said, patting the woman on the back. She gave a smile to James and then looked over at Lara.
"Want to take a quick peek before we decide that this is the place?" Sam said.
"First order of business, Lass, is to always set up camp before explorin'," Monty said, steering the girls towards getting camp ready before they decided to explore the cavern first without any gear. "Last thing we need is one of ya getting hurt and having to search for the gear we need to help you out."
Ranma nodded and so did Lara and Sam, "It'll be there while we set everything up." Ranma responded, knowing that sometimes a little patience saves a lot of lives.
With the tents and camp set up in such a short amount of time, Lara, Ranma, Sam, and James all looked into the entrance of the cavern. "What do you think we'll find here?" Ranma asked before looking at James.
"We might find some more text that we could use to get us to the chalice," James responded. "Though I doubt that the chalice is in here."
"You never know there, James," Lara spoke up, grabbing a flashlight from one of the pockets in her pack that she was carrying. She tossed one to Ranma and grabbed one more for herself. James and Sam also pulled out flashlights from their packs. "Shall we head in?" Lara asked the small group.
"You four go on ahead, Stephanie, Joslyn, and I will watch over the camp," Monty said as he came up behind the group.
"Alright. We'll bring back anything we can find." Lara said, before she started walking into the cavern, Ranma followed her with Sam and James in the rear.
Lara and Ranma took the first steps into the cavern, lighting up the pathway in front of them. They moved the flashlights around the narrow entrance and spotted that it opened up more the further they went into the cavern. It took them a few minutes to get past the passageway until it opened into a large room covered in Hieroglyphics and early Ekegusii. While the team didn't know Ekegusii, they might head back to the village to translate the rubbings they were going to get.
"Look at all the Hieroglyphics." Lara said in awe of the find she, and the group, had done, "There is a lot of history here that no one has ever seen yet."
"Seems like a lot of work will be done here," Ranma said as he wandered the cavern, looking up at the walls and ceiling. "Makes you wonder how many people still believed in this Anubis."
"There are many who still do today," James said, taking pictures of the walls and room. "Great job spotting this area, Sam,"
"It was just luck," Sam remarked. She looked at Lara and the wall she was looking over. "What do you think it says?"
"Things we already knew before, but this is the temple that the village chief and scribe were mentioning," Lara stated before she looked towards where Ranma was looking at a specific wall that had a picture of Anubis with a chalice. "Ranma, come look at this."
Ranma walked over to the young woman and looked over her shoulder at the same Hieroglyphics she was pointing to. "Is that what I think it is?" He said, shivering at the image of a woman with a cat's head.
"I think so," Lara said, "Looks like they had some history here with Bastet. And it looks similar to the scroll we were shown in the Egyptian museum."
Ranma looked at the wall and followed it down the cavern until it stopped at the same image of a man with cats around him along with more images of the goddess, both small and large. "I wonder what this means. We didn't see this in our reading of the scroll."
"I don't think I've seen anything like this before," James said as he followed Ranma to what he saw. "Usually you see Bastet with women, babies, and cats, but not multiple Bastet images together."
"And the writings explain that there were multiple Bastet figures along with cats," Lara said, gently touching the wall as she read the Hieroglyphics. "But it does say that the group who found Bastet said they found her close by."
"Well, that's one good thing we found," Ranma said before noticing a pathway that was partially hidden between the walls. "Looks like there is more to this cavern than just this area." Ranma pointed his flashlight down the path.
"We will hit that cavern after we review these Hieroglyphics first," James said before looking at the Ranma. "It might take a few days but I think we can get these taken care of before we move on."
Ranma nodded as he continued to wander the room, noting things that might be good for translating.
-LINE BREAK-
After coming out of the first cavern with some notes, rubbings, and pictures, they met up with Monty, Stephanie, and Joslyn at camp and proceeded to discuss the next steps of their expedition.
"So what did you find, Lass?" Monty said, looking at the group as they came back to the camp with wide grins.
"We found a lot of Hieroglyphics and even some Ekegusii that we could get translated." Lara smiled even more, "I think we're on the right track here." She exclaimed.
"Is that so? Well, it's almost dark so let's settle in and we can go over all the writings you were able to translate." Monty said.
Once the group was back together again, they sat around the campfire eating their dinner and talking about what they saw in the cavern. "We think that we may have found something else along with the information about the chalice," James said as he pulled out the Polaroid pictures he had taken earlier. He passed them to Monty, who went over them slowly and smiled, "I think that these specific ones document what Ranma is trying to find." James answered Monty's smile.
"Looks to be right, according to some of these 'glyphs," Monty said as he flipped through the pictures, "Strange though, never seen images of Bastet with multiple versions of herself."
"That's what we thought strange as well," Lara said, taking another bite of her dinner, she swallowed the bite before speaking up again, "I think, once we translate it fully, we can help Ranma find out what he's searching for."
Ranma gave Lara a quiet smile at that. 'At least I have friends willing to help me.' he thought to himself as he finished his dinner. 'Not unlike when I was in Nermia.' He looked around the group and his smile grew as they talked about the "Bastet" wall and how close it resembled the scroll, along with the chalice section and how it retold the story that the Abagusii chief and scribe explained, but with more details on why they were escaping with the chalice. 'I think I could get used to this if I wanted to keep doing it.' Ranma realized before shaking his head, 'Not until I can clean up Pop's mess.'