The First Challenge!

Akane frowned in concentration as she crosschecked two maps and several pages of notes that were spread over the living room table. It had been a cruel blow to learn that her magical girl 'expertise' wasn't valuable, but she was determined to prove her worth, and when she was walking to the market for Kasumi, the perfect idea had come to her. As a result, the rest of the morning and all afternoon had been spent consulting maps, measuring, making charts, and using her intimate knowledge of the surrounding area to create the perfect patrol route and schedule—with room for adjustments, of course, depending on the exact patrol requirements of the Avatar of Light.

She was just putting the finishing touches on the night version when a knock on the back door roused her from her task. "I'll get it!" she called as she walked through the kitchen and opened the door, then stopped and stared. Standing before her was a little girl who looked around nine or ten, and while her short black hair and pretty dress seemed normal enough, there were a few notable features that didn't seem quite right. In fact, Akane was quite sure that the girl's dark red skin, long black fingernails, crimson eyes, black horns curving out and up from the sides of her head, and spade-tipped red tail dangling out the back of the her dress were most definitely not standard issue.

The little girl beamed at Akane and brightly chirped, "Hi! I'm Lolidemonica! I'm here to kill the Avatar of Light!"

Akane paled, her mouth opening and closing a few times before she stammered, "I-I'm sorry, I've never heard of them. You must have the wrong address," before slowly but firmly closing the door and leaning against it. How could this happen, she wondered in a panic. It hadn't even been two days since Ranma became the Avatar and demons had already pierced her secret identity and tracked her to her home! Could things be any worse?! Taking a deep breath, she tried to calm herself and figure out what to do.

Outside, the girl gazed at the door with hooded eyes as her smile abruptly fled, leaving her face an emotionless mask. Without shifting her gaze, she took a step back, slowly raised her left hand, and snapped her fingers, producing a small spray of sparks which immediately erupted into a ball of flame resting in her palm. With a flick of her wrist, she sent the fireball streaking toward the house, where it struck the closed door and instantly burned it to ash in a blast of heat to expose a smoking and soot covered Akane, the steaming doorknob still clutched in her hand.

The little girl beamed at Akane and brightly chirped, "Hi! I'm Lolidemonica! I'm here to kill the Avatar of Light!"

Swaying on her feet, Akane dazedly replied, "I'll... I'll go get her," before staggering back into the house.

Outside, the girl whistled a cheery tune and briefly glanced at her left hand, which was now sporting a small jet of flame on each fingertip. Glancing around the yard, she spied a squirrel digging in the grass and eyed it speculatively for a moment before slowly smiling. Before she could do more than pull her hand back, however, a girl in pink and lavender walked out of the smoking doorway. With a soft sigh, she waved her hand back and forth a few times, extinguishing the flames, and turned to the new girl with a bright smile on her face.

"Hi, Avatar of Light! I'm here to kill you!" she exclaimed cheerfully, before pulling a small silver case out of her breast pocket and extracting a burgundy metal card. Grasping the card by a corner and holding it parallel to the ground above the case, she looked at Ranma expectantly and waited.

"Um..." replied Ranma with a nervous smile as she rubbed the back of her neck.

Lolidemonica held her position for a moment before giving the other girl a scowl. "You don't have a card, do you," she accused.

"Ah, well, you see... I wasn't really expecting anyone this soon and—"

"Forget it!" snarled the unamused demon girl as she put her card away. "I'll come back this time tomorrow—and you'd better be ready!"

"Actually, could you make it an hour later? I won't be home until—"

The smaller girl just turned and walked away, tossing a rude gesture over her shoulder.

oOo

"Please hold still, Akane," Kasumi scolded as she gently cleaned her sister's arm with a damp cloth.

"But Ranma's out there fighting a demon! We've got to help him!"

"Certainly not!" snapped Velgri from her place on the window sill. "You are quite fortunate your recent interference did not have much worse consequences."

"But we can't just sit here and do nothing!" exclaimed Akane.

"I've got my camera!" cried Nabiki as she ran through the room and to the back door.

"I meant do something productive!"

"Akane, you are not the Avatar, and it is not your place to face these enemies of the light," said Velgri sternly as she jumped to the table. "In any case, the demon is gone."

"Gone?! What happened? I didn't hear any fighting," blurted Akane. As Ranma, still in Avatar form and looking confused, walked in trailed by an annoyed Nabiki, Akane turned her focus to the newcomers, and without pause asked, "Did she get away? Is she coming back with reinforcements? Do we have to leave?"

Ranma nervously chuckled and played with her braid. "Er, she won't fight me until I have a card... She's coming back tomorrow."

"Oh, how very proper of her," remarked Kasumi with an approving nod.

Akane stared at Ranma in shock before shouting, "What?! She barged into our home to kill you and nearly blew me up, but because you didn't have a card, she just turned around and left?! That's insane!"

"I was under the impression she knocked rather than barged in," remarked Velgri.

"Well... yeah," admitted Akane, "but she said she was here to kill the Avatar of Light! When I said she had the wrong place, she blasted the door."

While Velgri made a disapproving noise and shook her head, Kasumi gently chided, "But she did have the right place, Akane. It really isn't nice to play jokes like that on visitors."

"She was here to kill Ranma!" Akane shouted.

"She was here to challenge the Avatar of Light," corrected Velgri, "but it is true she might have killed you for obstructing her."

"Obstacles are for killing?" asked Nabiki. "Do you think these demons are from China?"

"It is possible some of them are," said Velgri idly, "but we have more important things to discuss right now—Akane, I must insist you stop harassing the forces of evil. They are here to challenge the Avatar, not you."

Nabiki glanced at her younger sister, and noticing her mouth was moving but no sound was coming out, waved her hand in front of Akane's face, eliciting no reaction. "I think you broke her."

"Hang on a second," said Ranma, "so when you told me on the training trip that the forces of evil would challenge me, you meant that they're actually going to come here and literally challenge me?"

"Of course. What did you think I meant?"

"Well, that I'd find them challenging and they'd test my—Nabiki, stop taking pictures of me!" With a scowl, Ranma changed back into her normal girl form. "Ok, so that explains the whole card thing—sort of—but how did she find out I was here?"

"Well the forces of darkness are hardly going to be able to challenge you if they can't find you," replied Velgri, as if it were obvious.

Nabiki glanced at Ranma, who looked confused, and Akane, who looked like her head was about to explode. "I think you're going to need to explain exactly how this Avatar of Light thing works..."

oOo

"It used to be," said Velgri from where she sat on the table, "that among the higher powers, the followers of light and those of darkness would face each other in near constant battle. One side valued nobility, compassion, and virtue, whereas the other reveled in the baser emotions, cruelty, and selfishness—it seemed only right and natural that such opposites should fight each other to the last breath. And they nearly did.

"Before things reached that point, however, wiser heads on each side recognized that their current course would end only in the complete destruction of both sides, and quite possibly all but the simplest of life on Earth. For you see, their battles were so fierce and destructive, they would often poison the land, sea, and air for miles around, killing any creatures present and making the area uninhabitable for ages.

"And so, the leaders of the light and the darkness did the unthinkable—they met under a sigil of truce and they negotiated. I will not bore you with the fine details, but in the end, they agreed to restrictions on the powers they could use and the forces they could field. These restrictions, known as the Accords, worked well, and in the greater stability that resulted, the children of Earth grew and created civilizations and works that impressed and intrigued the higher powers. But the very things that interested the higher powers were most susceptible to disruption by their conflicts, and so, further restrictions were added.

"Over the many years, the Accords were renegotiated several times, each time further limiting how much strength could be used, until eventually, only the weakest of higher beings and Earth creatures infused with the power of light or darkness could be fielded. And it was still not enough. For although the children of Earth could grow and even advance, while the world was in a near-constant state of warfare, they could not thrive. It took the withering and eventual death of the glorious civilization of the elves for the higher powers to finally realize this, and when they did, they met again to place one final restriction.

"In that last meeting, the days of open warfare finally ended. It was decided that losses and gains would be determined by single combat between champions. The forces of light would have a single champion, chosen from the children of Earth and imbued with power. She would be the Avatar of Light. The forces of darkness would be permitted to challenge the Avatar with the least powerful of their number and infused Earth beings. Although the forces of darkness would be able to field a greater number of champions, this would be offset by the restriction that unless the Avatar was defeated, the darkness would be permitted almost no influence on Earth. If a champion did defeat the Avatar, however, darkness would have nearly free rein until another Avatar could be fielded.

"In exchange for the dark champions only attacking through formal challenges separated by a reasonable amount of time, it was agreed that the Avatar's location would always be known to prospective challengers. In addition, it was agreed that while the Avatar would be permitted to battle beings committing dark acts if she encountered them, she would not seek them out."

Velgri looked around at her audience and said, "And that is how this Avatar of Light thing works. Are there any questions?"

Kasumi immediately raised her hand and asked, "Would you like some tea?"

"Yes, please. That would be delightful."

As Kasumi smiled and went to the kitchen, Nabiki asked, "What happens if the Avatar dies outside of a challenge?"

"A good question," Velgri acknowledged. "So long as it is not by her own hand, the forces of light are granted a grace period to find a new champion."

"Why didn't you tell me all of this before?" demanded Ranma.

"I did," said Velgri dryly, "on our trip, but shortly into the explanation, your eyes glazed over and your response to my query at the end of whether that was clear was, I quote, 'Yeah, sure. So, what kind of special moves can I do like this?'."

"Ah..." said Ranma as she rubbed the back of her neck. "I thought parts of it sounded kinda familiar."

After a few moments where everyone present sat silent in thought, Velgri asked, "Does anyone have further questions before we have tea?"

Akane looked up at the fox and slowly asked, "The Avatar basically waits for challengers to come to her and is forbidden to go out looking for trouble?"

"Yes."

"So ... the patrol routes and schedules I spent all day working on are basically useless."

"Yes," confirmed Velgri, before any further discussion was postponed by Kasumi returning with the tea.

oOo

"I hope they managed to get some," worried Ranma as he walked along the top of a chain link fence.

On the sidewalk below, Akane shook her head and grumbled, "Yes, Ranma, we know. The reminder before and after every single class made sure of that. I can't believe you're worried about your stupid cards and not the fight to the death!"

Ranma waved a hand dismissively. "Fights aren't a problem, but I don't want to be embarrassed like that again!"

"Relax, will you?" interjected Nabiki from beside her sister. "Basic cards only take minutes to make. It's only the really fancy ones that take more than a few hours. You'll have your cards in time."

"Yeah, well I hope they don't get the really basic ones. I want ones that look good."

Akane scowled and sarcastically said, "Because that's so much more important than..." With an effort, she stopped herself and took a deep breath before asking in a concerned tone, "Ranma, are you really ok with this? You're going to have to either kill someone or be killed yourself..."

Ranma stopped atop the fence for a moment and quietly replied, "Yeah... I am. I'm not thrilled about it, but with so much at stake, I'll do what I need to." With a toss of his head and an arrogant smirk, he added, "And, hey, Saotome Ranma just doesn't lose. Now, come on—let's go home and see those cards!" Smiling slightly and shaking her head, Akane followed Ranma as he broke into a run.

oOo

"We're home!" called Ranma as he ran into the house with Akane and slipped off his shoes. Barely slowing down, he rushed on into the living room, and seeing both Kasumi and Velgri there, eagerly asked, "Did you get them?"

"Of course," replied Velgri as a black stone floated into the air and placed itself on the go board sitting between her and Kasumi. "We'll be improving them later, but they should do for now."

"Great!" exclaimed Ranma as Akane walked into the room. "Let's see them!"

"Where's Nabiki?" asked Kasumi. "We should wait until she's here too—I know she was interested."

Akane looked around behind her, and not seeing her sister, remarked, "Oh... she must not have kept up with us. She should be home soon."

"Aw, come on... it's not like they'll be any different if we see them first," argued Ranma. When Kasumi only smiled politely at him and turned her attention back to the game, he scowled and went into the kitchen to get a snack.

Akane walked over to the table and looked down at the game board. "I didn't know you played go, Kasumi."

"I've mostly just read up on it, but now that Velgri's here, I have someone to play with."

"But daddy plays. You could have played with him."

Kasumi smiled and gently shook her head. "It's something he plays with his friends. I wouldn't feel right intruding on that."

"But..." Akane sighed. "I guess I understand, Kasumi. But I would have been willing to learn so we could play together."

Kasumi smiled warmly at her younger sister. "That's sweet of you, Akane, but you were already so busy with school and martial arts. If you want to learn for your own sake, I'd love to play with you, but you shouldn't do it on my account. Besides, I have Velgri to play with now. Oh, here's Nabiki."

"It's about time!" exclaimed Ranma as he came out of the kitchen. "So, let's see them."

"Of course," replied Kasumi as she took a pink, flat metal case sporting a lavender bow on the front and gold filigree on the corners, from a pocket and placed it on the table.

"It's adorable!" enthused Akane. "It looks just like your outfit."

"Yeah... adorable was just what I was hoping for," replied Ranma with a distinct lack of enthusiasm.

"It matches your theme," said Nabiki as she reached over to open the case, "that's very important. Ooh, these are nice, especially on such short notice."

Inside the case was a stack of lavender cards with gold calligraphy:

The Avatar
of
Light
Protecting the world from the forces of darkness

The word 'Light' started in a dull gold that steadily grew brighter as the word progressed, and the word 'darkness' was written in an especially dark shade of gold.

"Yes, they're beautiful," breathed Akane.

Ranma sighed deeply. "Can't I get a different theme? Lavender, pink, and gold really isn't my thing..."

"In theory, yes," said Velgri. "The previous Avatar had a theme of dark blue, white, and silver. It is my belief that the uniform's look is determined by the inner desire of the current Avatar."

"Now, wait just a minute!"

"You know," mused Akane, "it could be based on expectations instead. If Ranma's idea of a magical girl is very feminine and … pink, that's the kind of uniform he gets."

Ranma nodded his head vigorously. "That makes much more sense!"

"Whatever helps you sleep at night," commented Nabiki as she studied a card closely. "Velgri, why don't these cards have any contact information? What's the point of cards that only give her title—especially if she's only going to be giving them to people who already know it."

Velgri nodded and replied, "A good question. Since the beings who receive the cards will generally not be using phones and can already determine her location, there isn't much reason to give such information. Instead, I have enchanted the cards to enable the bearer to magically communicate with the Avatar through the case that carries her cards."

"Handy," remarked Nabiki, giving the cards and case to Ranma. "Will the cards she receives from challengers do the same thing?"

"Usually, but it's unlikely to matter, as their owners will most likely be dead shortly after exchanging cards." The humans in the room soberly considered that statement until a knock on the newly replaced back door broke the silence.

oOo

With a solemn and determined expression on her face, the Avatar of Light walked through the back door and faced her challenger, who promptly demanded, "You got your shit together this time?" At the Avatar's nod, she smiled brightly and chirped, "Hi, Avatar of Light! I'm here to kill you!" before pulling a small silver case out of her breast pocket and extracting a burgundy metal card. Grasping the card by a corner and holding it parallel to the ground above the case, she looked at Ranma expectantly.

Ranma quickly pulled her own card holder from thin air, removed a card, and held it in a similar manner to her challenger. After a second, the two girls offered their cards with slight bows, each taking the other's card by a corner in her free hand before grasping it with both hands and holding it above her own case to study it.

Ranma examined the demon's card. It was made of metal that was a deep burgundy color laced with thin swirls of black. In cobalt blue it read:

Lolidemonica
Agent of Evil
Dirty deeds done dirt cheap
(Inquire for prices)

After a few moments, each girl slipped the new card into her card holder, which she then put away. The formalities out of the way, the demon girl abruptly asked with a leer, "Are you ready to die now, Avatar?"

"After you," replied Ranma politely, gesturing toward the back yard.

"Thank y—hey!" With a scowl on her face, the girl stomped into the open yard, muttering about smartass bitches who thought they were so pretty, with their long hair, more mature looks, and large breasts (that would undoubtedly get wrinkled and saggy) getting theirs.

Ranma followed a few paces behind, and when her opponent turned to face her, glanced around to make sure the yard was clear. No fathers, check. No fiancees, ghouls, old perverts, or rivals, check. Velgri and the Tendou sisters, in the living room, watching intent—a sudden bright light dazzled Ranma and caused her to blink furiously for a moment. "Damnit, Nabiki!" she cried, "No flash photography!"

"If you're done fucking around—let's do this already!" shouted Lolidemonica and snapped her fingers on both hands. Or attempted to. Instead of producing a noise, her fingers just silently slid over each other. "Damn!" exclaimed the girl as she tried again, with the same results.

"Er..." said Ranma awkwardly as she watched.

"No, hang on. I've got this. Damn!"

After watching a few more tries with successively louder curses after each, Ranma offered, "Look, press your fingers together harder and move them faster, in a sharp motion. No, harder. Yeah, that's it!"

"Thanks!" cried Lolidemonica as she finally managed to snap her fingers, producing small sprays of sparks which immediately erupted into balls of flame resting in each of her palms. "Now die!" With that, she quickly moved her hands toward each other, causing the balls of flame to join into a softball-sized ball—which immediately expanded to a sphere a meter in diameter.

"Oh, shi—" shouted Ranma, diving to the side as the demon thrust her hands forward, causing the flames to blur forward in a fiery beam that shot across the yard, slamming into and through the wall surrounding the Tendou property.

"Burn! Burn! Yes! B-B-BURN!" laughed the demon in an ecstatic frenzy, sweat running down her face which was aglow from the reflected light of the flames as she maintained the deadly beam of fire.

Wide-eyed, Ranma walked up beside the demon girl, glanced briefly at the incandescent beam to confirm that, no, it hadn't changed course from its initial path, and thrust a hand toward her opponent while crying, "Light Lance!"

A golden-white beam of energy flew from Ranma's hand, striking and piercing the demon, who shrieked in agony before the light consumed her, causing her own attack to abruptly wink out of existence. As Ranma watched, a faint, smoky image of Lolidemonica coalesced where the demon had been standing and glared at Ranma before being abruptly sucked into the ground.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Ranma looked around at her surroundings, wincing as she noticed the large hole with glowing red edges in the wall around the property. And the house next door. As a panicked voice in the distance called, "Bess! Are you all right? Where are you, girl?!" Ranma began to sweat nervously and rub the back of her neck. Fortunately, a bark in the distance answered the call and forestalled Ranma's impending panic attack.

"So," drawled Nabiki as she walked out of the house with the others, "what have we learned about helping the enemy?"

"Shut up, Nabiki. I'm not in the mood," growled Ranma before turning to Velgri and demanding, "What was that business with the ghostly image after I blasted her?"

"Ghostly image?" asked Akane. "I didn't see that."

As Akane's sisters indicated they hadn't seen the image either, Velgri replied, "That was the essence of your opponent being drawn to the nether realms to slowly re-form over the course of decades or centuries."

Confusion clear on her face, Ranma asked, "Huh? Her essence went to Holland?"

"I said the nether realms, not the Netherlands, you imbecile!"

With a nervous chuckle, Ranma said, "Ah... right. But I thought when I killed her, she was going to, you know, die."

Nodding slowly, Velgri replied, "I know. And I apologize for giving that impression, but I needed to be sure of your resolve."

Ranma glared at her advisor for a moment before sighing and saying, "I suppose I can understand that... But I don't like it, understand?" At Velgri's nod, she asked, "So does that mean if I ... lose, I'll re-form and eventually come back?"

"No, you die."

"That doesn't sound very fair."

"Well, if you're certain you'd rather spend a century slowly regaining your power in the nether realms instead of going to your rightful reward as a champion of the light fallen in battle, I'll see what I can do..."

"No, no, that's fine!" Ranma hastily assured her while waving her hands, only to stop with an 'oof' as Akane lunged forward and grabbed her in a bonecrushing hug.

"I'm glad you're all right. I was so worried," Akane quietly said before abruptly backing up and acting as if the hug had never occurred.

"Ah... thanks," said Ranma, blushing and looking anywhere but at Akane. Noticing the hole in the wall again, she rubbed the back of her neck and said, "I'm really sorry about the wall..."

"Don't worry about it," replied Nabiki airily with a wave of her hand, "I'll just slip it into the Neko Hanten's monthly bill. It's not like they'll notice an extra wall repair job in there."

"Let's go inside," said Kasumi, "and get you something cold to drink, Ranma." With an affectionate squeeze of the magical girl's shoulder, she added, "I'm very proud of you."

Unsuccessfully trying to fight down her blush, Ranma went inside with the others.

oOo

Nervously fingering the bow on her blouse, Akane approached the sole occupant of the living room. Taking a deep breath, she bowed her head and said, "Velgri, I'd like to apologize for my behavior this morning. What I asked was inappropriate and I hope you'll forgive me."

Velgri studied the girl for a moment before graciously saying, "Very well. I accept your apology."

Akane gave a small sigh of relief as she looked up. "Thank you. I'll be more, um, respectful in the future. It was just that I was upset about not being able to help with the Avatar of Light. Isn't there anything I can do?"

Velgri cocked her head and looked thoughtful for several seconds before slowly saying, "Actually, I do believe there is something you could do to help..."

oOo

"It looks very nice," praised Kasumi as she stroked the lavender fox sitting on her shoulder.

"Oh, definitely," agreed Nabiki. "Maybe you should consider a career in this."

"Very funny," grumbled Akane. "Well? No comments from the Avatar of Light?"

Ranma studied the signs by the front gate. Next to the old one that read:

To defeat
owner in
savage
combat,
use rear
door.

was a new, smaller one that added next to 'savage' and 'combat,':

or the Avatar of Light
in mortal combat,

He shrugged and said, "It looks fine. Straight, simple, and to the point."

"Hopefully, it'll stop the next challenger from coming to the kitchen door," added Nabiki before they walked around to the back of the property to look at the new bell and the sign indicating it should be rung to challenge the Avatar of Light.

"I thought this would make it easy to tell whether someone was here to challenge the dojo or the Avatar," explained Akane.

Ranma frowned and asked, "When's the last time anyone even used this door to challenge the dojo?"

"The dojo destroyer did," answered Akane.

"I don't remember that..."

"That's because you were on a date with Shampoo at the time," said Akane, her expression darkening.

Before Ranma could respond, Nabiki peered at the bell and commented, "It's a little crooked," ignoring Akane's muttered response of, "You would know..."

"Stop it," admonished Kasumi. "Akane, the bell and signs look very nice. I'm sure they'll be a great help."

"Yes, thank you, Akane," added Velgri.

Akane smiled slightly and said, "You're welcome," trying hard to concentrate on the happiness she felt at being of some help. She had to; it was the only thing keeping her from obsessively trying to figure out exactly how her dream of becoming a magical girl had gone so horribly wrong.


Author's note: Anyone who's a bit confused by the issue with the cards may want to look up meishi, Japanese business cards. They are an important aspect of business (and personal networking) in Japan, with very formal rules for their exchange, storage, and care.

There is no prize for figuring out the meaning of Lolidemonica's name.