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 Four: Horses and Cheetahs
The days passed as they studied the first cavern's hieroglyphics, taking pictures using a Polaroid camera to get instant photos, while using a Nikon F2 for a more focused picture that they could then develop after they completed their studies. In the first cavern, there were light poles in specific parts of the cavern to highlight the hieroglyphics that they were studying that day. Today the group was focused on the wall that contained Anubis and an image of the chalice.
Lara sat at a folding table with photos and notes strewn all over, some photos had notes on them, with circled portions of the hieroglyphics while others were cast aside with notes to review them later, or what was possibly translated that didn't make sense. Ranma sat with her, learning some of the symbols and what they mean to try and help Lara with her translation of the northeast wall.
"It says that Anubis blessed the followers who took the chalice and hid it," Lara said, pointing to the segment she was showing Ranma during their discussion. "But the wall didn't say which way it was taken. Just that the chalice was taken to a temple and held safely away from followers of Anubis who wanted it for reasons that they don't explain."
Ranma looked at the photos and what Lara was translating before taking a picture she wasn't focused on and going back to the wall itself. He matched the photo to the inscriptions on the wall and started looking around for another segment that might hold the key to their next destination. As he walked around, he came back to the next hallway that led further into the temple of Anubis. Next to that hallway was a set of Hieroglyphics that he kept going towards and he started reading some of the glyphs he was able to translate with Lara and James' help. 'It doesn't make sense, it says that they're close by, but the fact that they may look like this Bastet gives me the creeps.' Ranma thought to himself as he looked over that section of wall before looking down the hallway for a bit to see if any more hieroglyphics matched the wall Lara and the rest of the team were looking at. Ranma went back to the table and grabbed a flashlight, "I'm going to check the hallway, maybe we're missing something here." Ranma said to Lara, who nodded as she looked over more glyphs. Ranma turned on the flashlight and started to walk down the hallway. Noticing that the hallway itself didn't have much in the way of pictures, but it did have some Hieroglyphics that could be interesting for Lara and the rest of the translation team. The hallway ended into a split path, both paths looking like they go down further into the ground. Before the path split some glyphs told more of a story from what he could see. While he didn't have a camera, he knew he shouldn't go further than where he was. He didn't know where each of the other tunnels would go and didn't want to get lost without some way to get back. He started back to the main cavern when he saw another flashlight coming down from one of the paths. "Hello?"
"Hello there." a man spoke up as he lowered the flashlight so that it wouldn't shine in Ranma's face. "Sorry about that, didn't realize we had some more folks here." the man said as a woman also came into the light.
"We didn't either. Where is your camp at?" Ranma asked the two.
"There's an entrance not far from where we came from." The woman said, pointing back to where they just came from, "We're just outside of that entrance."
"We thought there was one entrance here." Ranma said, as the couple came closer, "Let's go to the main chamber where we're working." Ranma said, guiding the two newcomers to the main chamber where the rest of Lara's team was decrypting the hieroglyphs.
Just as Ranma entered the main chamber, Lara looked up from her work and found him with two other people, "Hey, Ranma." Lara started and looked at the other two."Who are your new friends?"
"Fellow archaeologists I assure you." The man said as he stepped up to Lara with an outstretched hand. "John Talon, this is Mary, my wife," John said, gesturing to the other woman who was next to Ranma.
"Lara Croft." she stated, shaking John's hand, "Pleasure to meet you." She pulls her hand away from his grasp and gestures to the rest of the team, "This is James, Sam, Stephanie, and Joslyn." She named her team members that were in the room with them. "Monty is outside with our stuff and keeping camp."
"Pleasure to meet you, Miss Croft," Mary said as she reached out with her hand to shake Lara's. A brief handshake later the two groups were intermingling with each other as they discussed the translation of the hieroglyphs.
It was a few hours after they started discussing their opinions of the hieroglyphs that Monty arrived in the cavern.
"Lunchtime folks. Ye'll definitely like this one." Monty said. He looked at both groups and noticed the unfamiliar faces right off the bat. "And who are these nice fellows?"
John turned and looked at Monty, "John and Mary Talon, archaeologists." John said, pointing to his wife next to Sam.
"Nice to meet you folks." Monty said, "I think we have enough food for two more." He grinned before looking at Ranma, "Well enough for us and Ranma." This remark caught the rest of Lara's team into a small fit of giggles and laughs, causing Ranma to blush.
"Alright, Monty, I know I have a big appetite which is why I use my food for my meals." This caused more laughter in Lara's group before they all agreed it was time for a translation break.
-LINE BREAK-
Lara's group sat in a semicircle with the Talons sitting next to the kitchen area that the group had set up. Each had a bowl and plate with a hotpot soup and some bread. Each one took a bite from it out of their bowls and smiled. While not normally a meal you would have for lunch in a savanna environment, it was still a good meal.
"Thanks, Monty for fixing lunch," Sam said as she grabbed some more of the soup.
"You're welcome, Lass," Monty said with a kind smile.
As the rest of the group acknowledged Monty's cooking, Lara turned to the two Talons. "So what brings you to this excavation?" she asked the two.
"Just a bit of discovery of the cult of Anubis." Mary said, taking a bite out of the piece of bread she was given, "We noticed a few different hieroglyphics in one of the temples that led us here." she took another bite of her soup before continuing. "We're trying to figure out what the cult would be doing here."
"In all the readings we've done so far, the only thing we've noticed is the calls to the priests of Anubis." James said, "I don't think we've seen any hieroglyphs related to a cult."
"Might be how we interpreted the hieroglyphs." John said, "We believed that it was a cult and not priests like you would find in a religion."
"Either way, we're both here probably looking for the same thing," Lara responded.
"Oh no, my dear, we're not searching for anything. We're just following clues about Anubis that were never found anywhere else. We hope to document it and see if there are more temples like this one." John explained, finishing his lunch and setting the bowl down on the ground. "We're more interested in the sites rather than any riches or artifacts."
"Maybe if we look in the other cavern that the Talons haven't gone through, we can figure out where the next site is. As this seems to be just a temple of worship instead of a tomb." James said. "Nothing else seems to justify any artifacts residing here."
"Ranma and I will look at the last cavern, while the rest of us finish up our documentation," Lara suggested.
"That sounds like a good idea there, Miss Croft." John said, "Well finish up our documentation and we'll share our discoveries with you."
"Great, we'll keep looking at the main chamber and settle in for the night when we're done," Lara said. With that, the two groups put their dishes in a small tub of hot soapy water and headed back to the cavern to discover more information about Anubis and his temples.
-LINE BREAK-
As the sun rose in the east, Ranma, Lara, James, Sam, and Stephanie made their way back to the main cavern that they were originally in, being greeted by the Talons as they entered the cavern.
"Hello." John said, ruffling through some papers of what notes they jotted down last night, "Hope you had a good night's sleep."
"We slept pretty well," Lara started, "I think we're ready to discover what's in that last cavern." Lara turned to her team members, "Sam, James, can you gather up our notes and make sure we're not missing anything from this cavern." Lara said, getting nods from Sam and James, "Stephanie, can you finish taking any pictures with the Nikon of this cavern before heading down to the cavern we haven't explored yet?" All three nodded their heads in acknowledgment and started to work on the tasks Lara asked them to do. Lara then turned to the Talons, "Was there anything left in the other cavern that you wanted to finish?"
"I think we got everything we needed, but if you want to check it out for yourselves, you're free to do so," Mary said. "We'll just collect our things and come into the main chamber for discussions."
"Alright." Lara responded, "Ranma, let's go." She picked up a lantern, one of the Polaroid cameras, and some film cartridges before walking down the tunnel to the fork at the end of the hallway. John and Mary followed the two up to that point and walked down the tunnel they were studying. Ranma and Lara went down the other tunnel, taking their time as they took pictures of the walls and glyphs on their way down the hallway. Once the two of them had followed the hallway, it came out into a smaller chamber with a small pedestal. The pedestal was covered in cobwebs and sand, while the walls were adorned with hieroglyphs of Anubis and followers.
"Looks like this was a place for the chalice, but was long since gone before anyone could find it," Ranma said, looking around the pedestal for anything that might be on it to show where they may have taken the chalice.
Lara looked around the walls of the chamber and saw some images of Anubis with the chalice before another group of people behind Anubis as if they were following him, while a group of people lay underneath the group and Anubis. "These drawings show Anubis and his followers leaving, possibly moving the chalice elsewhere. While another group is dead, like this possible cult the Talons were explaining, or something else entirely."
"But where would they go?" Ranma asked, looking at the other images and glyphs on the wall next to the image that Lara was looking over.
"That's the million-dollar question there." a voice behind them said. Both of them turned around and found both Talons, each with a pistol pointed at them. "Would you be a kind dear and finish translating the wall," said John Talon, gesturing towards the wall. "If you don't, I'll start shooting at Ranma and we'll see how long he'll live with a few bullet holes in him."
"They'll hear your shots up in the main chamber," Ranma said.
"Oh, I don't think so." Mary said, "These chambers are far enough away that you can barely hear anything unless you use explosives."
"So start translating, Miss Croft," John responded, pointing to the wall once more, while Mary moved closer to Lara.
"We'll also be taking those pictures and notes you have," Mary said as she got closer.
Before either Talon could force them to comply with their threats, Ranma held his hand behind his back, concentrating on making his Moko Takabisha. As John moved closer, Ranma yelled, "Cover your eyes!" He then moved his hand out from behind him and threw the ball towards the hallway, hoping that it would blind the Talons long enough for Lara and himself to stop the Talons.
When Ranma yelled out to Lara, she instinctively turned and faced the wall away from Ranma and closed her eyes. When she heard the thump of someone falling, she opened her eyes and turned around, only to face Mary, who was covering her eyes at the bright ball that seemingly stayed active and not moving past the pedestal that they first looked at. With quick reflexes she reached out to Mary and grabbed the arm with the gun in Mary's hand and slammed it into the pedestal, causing Mary to scream out in pain as she dropped the Heckler & Koch USP pistol. Lara grabbed it and pointed it towards Mary. She then looked at Ranma to see him grapple with John on the ground with Ranma holding the gun away from him and John trying to aim it back toward Ranma, even though he couldn't see very well with the bright light shining in his eyes. Another cry of pain and John dropped the pistol before Ranma kicked it away towards Lara. The young woman picked it up and pointed it at Mary as well. "Now, what was that about finding sites of Anubis and not the chalice?" Lara asked the kneeling woman, with Ranma frog matching John over to Mary's position.
"Don't you know what power that chalice has?" John growled out, "You could be the master of death."
"So now the evilness comes out," Ranma said, forcing John to his knees next to Mary before pulling out some rope from his storage space, which caused both of the Talon's eyes to open wider at the idea of taking an object out of an area where there didn't seem to be an obvious pocket. Ranma began tying up John before moving over to Mary with another piece of rope coming out of his storage space.
"H..How are you doing this?" Mary asked as she was tied up by Ranma.
"Doing what?" Ranma asked back, finishing tying her up before going over to John and checking his knots.
"The rope... And the light." John said, shaking back and forth as he tried to struggle with his bindings.
Ranma looked at the light and it started to fade, before shrugging as it winked out. "Just some martial arts moves." Ranma grinned a knowing smile, not wanting to give away a secret to a possible rival.
"That's no martial art move," John said, nearly foaming at the mouth. Ranma looked at the man as if he was going to become a crazed maniac, "That's not any martial art move I've heard of."
"And what would make you an expert in martial arts?" Ranma asked, getting John and Mary up to their feet and walking them to the main chamber.
"I happen to be a black belt in jiu-jitsu and second dan black belt in aikido."
"That just shows how limited you are," Ranma said, pushing them forward.
Lara walked behind them with both pistols in her hands. When they got to the main chamber Monty saw them arriving and raised an eyebrow at the four.
"Care to explain this, Ranma?"
"Seems like our 'friends' were after the chalice, but not for any honorable intentions."
"That chalice has tremendous power. You may not be able to comprehend what it can do." John said, continuing to try and escape, Mary, next to him, had stopped trying.
"Aye, and the Ark of the Covenant kill all those who open it," Monty grumbled back, knowing how this usually ends up. "Alright Ranma, I'll take them from here. Good work." Monty said towards Ranma and Lara. He looked at Lara next before raising his eyebrow at the two pistols that were in her hands. "I'm guessing that they tried to use force?" Lara nodded at the question.
"Yes, they tried but Ranma made sure they didn't fire a single shot."
"Is that right? Looks like I underestimated your abilities, Ranma." Monty said, in a very proud manner, "Well, I for one, am glad you're on the team."
"Thanks, Monty." Ranma smiled slightly, feeling like this was one of the few times he was praised for his abilities and not torn down for not doing anything better.
-LINE BREAK-
By mid-afternoon, the ranger station was called and they were sending a jeep to pick up the two Talons from the Croft campsite after explaining to them that the two nearly killed their people. While they were waiting, the Talons had been sitting near the kitchen area of the camp with Monty keeping a good watch over them, while Lara set the two pistols next to Monty, not willing to hold onto them for any longer than she needed to. "I don't understand why they think the chalice was designed to bring power to people. It's only a cup." Lara quietly said out loud to herself.
"Gold diggers and cultists will think that any of these ancient artifacts may hold the power of whatever they're looking for," Monty responded to Lara's hypothetical question. "Or hold onto them for their collections."
"That's kind of the truth there, Lara," Ranma said as he came up behind them, "I know of several artifacts or places that have some sort of power related to what they're supposed to do. But usually, it comes with a cost to the user."
"Like what?"
"Well, take for instance Jusenkyo," Ranma said to Lara. "I thought it was a training ground, along with my Pops." He sat down next to Monty, "So we had a guide with us to make sure we got to the grounds safely. But we ignored the guide's warning about the pools and started our training session. It was then that we found out that the pools were magical."
John Talon scoffed at Ranma's remark as he continued to try and loosen his bonds, "I don't believe in magic, it's just parlor tricks."
Ranma glared over at John before responding to it, "But you believe an ancient chalice will give you the power of Anubis? That's a weird thing to be acknowledging."
"Just like you're so-called 'martial arts' moves?" John sneered, "You're nothing but a fraud who tricks people with these so-called moves you make."
"They're not just moves, nitwit." Ranma said, grumbling a bit at the idea that all of his training in the martial arts was just cheap parlor tricks, "It's also a state of mind and body."
"Then prove it," John said, glaring back at Ranma. "Prove that you're not a hoax."
"That's enough," Monty said as he stopped the conversation from deliberately showing a rival their secrets. "Until the rangers get here, you two are stuck with me." Monty then turned to Ranma and Lara, "Go clean up the site they were at and bring all the equipment back here. We'll let the rangers deal with them."
"Yes, Monty." Both Lara and Ranma said, with Ranma getting up and following Lara back to the cavern.
"You shouldn't let them get you riled up there, Ranma." Lara said to him, "After all the stories you've told us about Nerima and Jusenkyo Valley, I would think you'd have learned to brush off some of those remarks."
"Sometimes, yeah, but just like John was saying it's like all my hard work and years of 'surviving' what Pops called 'training' just irked me the wrong way." Ranma sighed as he followed the young woman into the cavern and to the fork. Instead of going right, to where they were ambushed, they went left. "I worked hard for these skills and he just called them parlor tricks."
"I believe you, Ranma." Lara said to him, patting him on the shoulder, "I mean, you showed us your curse and then trusted us with that." Lara stopped and caught Ranma's arm. "You are proud of your work and how much you accomplished during your life. And you've got more experience than a lot of us, except possibly Monty."
"Yeah, you're right," Ranma said as he became calmer after talking with Lara about the issue. "Thanks again. I don't think I've been praised a lot for my martial arts skills, just belittled and torn down about not being good enough with my skills."
"Well, you'll always have my praise for your skills. They did save my life." Lara smiled at Ranma before they continued their walk down to the cavern the Talons were working on.
-LINE BREAK-
For the rest of the afternoon and almost into the evening, Ranma and Lara put all the documentation and camping gear the Talons had in the cavern that they hadn't previously visited. "Looks like they were putting the pieces together in this cavern," Lara said once they finished gathering all their documentation into one place and placing it into a bag she found.
"You think this might have been from the cult or the other group of Anubis followers?"
"Possibly. Though we'd have to look at their documentation to see what they discovered."
Ranma nodded and carefully packed up the Talon's camping gear, "All I can say is that whatever they think this chalice can do, might have some possible powers that they were talking about."
"I doubt it, Ranma." Lara said, "But if you are right, then we should get to the chalice first before someone else does."
"Right." Ranma acknowledges as he finishes packing the camping gear. "Just like the wishing sword Kuno found."
"Wishing sword?" Lara questions.
"There was a sword, called the Wishbringer sword, that Kuno found from some remote temple. It was able to grant wishes." Ranma responded, rubbing the top of his head, "Kuno tried to 'humble' me and the sword turned into a mallet."
"A mallet?"
"Yeah, same kind of mallet the uncute tomboy fiancée back home uses."
"On YOU!?" Lara almost shrieked out.
"Yeah, unfortunately." Ranma shook his head at the memories, "Still, we thought we could use the sword to wish our curses away and stupid us Kuno misunderstood everything."
"But what did you mean about your fiancée using the same kind of mallet?"
"Yeah. She uses a mallet when she doesn't get her way or I open my mouth with the wrong thing to say."
Lara stopped what she was doing walked over to Ranma and grabbed his shoulders, turning him to face her, "Ranma... That's abuse. No one should be hit by a mallet from anyone." She looked at him with concern in her eyes.
Ranma paused as he looked at one of his new friends, seeing the concern in her eyes, "I mean, I've taken worse hits." Ranma stated before he saw Lara's face scrunch up before she took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
"Ranma, it doesn't matter if you've taken worse hits or not That is abuse and you shouldn't be so accustomed to it." Lara said slowly, "That could cause irreparable damage to you and make her think that she can get away with almost murder." She looked him up and down, knowing that he was okay right now, but wondered if there was any mental or emotional damage that this took on him.
"Tell that to my Pop," Ranma sighed, remembering all the training that Genma did to him. "Everything was training to him. Several things were out of control and I just got used to those training methods."
Lara frowned, "That's still not right." she said quietly, "All those stories you told us, the crazy things that happened to you. None of that is right."
"Well, those things happened within the last year. I never did talk about anything before that." Ranma said, gently grabbing her arms and taking them off his shoulders. "But I'm fine now. I just needed to get away from everything and these last three months have been great. No rivals, no major fights..."
"No fiancées hurting you." Lara finished for him. "I'm just glad you're out of there."
"We're glad as well," said Joslyn as she came into the cavern, having heard the last part of Ranma and Lara's conversation. "All finished up here?"
"Just about," Lara said, stepping back from Ranma as she looked at the table that the Talons had set up. "We'll finish this up here shortly."
"That's great, we just finished up the main cavern. We'll head to the other one and start gathering images for us to decipher."
"Thanks, Joslyn," Lara said, smiling at the older woman.
"You're welcome, Lara," Joslyn said moving back into the hallway and heading towards the other cavern.
"Well, let's finish up here," Ranma said to Lara as he went back to packing the camping gear.
"Right," Lara replied, going back to the table and gathering everything else that was left.
-LINE BREAK-
By the time the group had finished cleaning up the site, the rangers had arrived and were loading the Talons into the back of their jeep. John gave dark glares at Ranma and Lara as they exited the site. Mary, on the other hand, kept her head down as she had after they were captured, knowing it was going to take John a while to calm down as they were escorted off the premises.
"Glad that they're out of our hair, for now," Ranma said as he helped move the rest of the gear they found to their main camp, letting the rangers that stayed behind gather the gear that John and Mary had and confiscate it as evidence of their activities.
"I hope you didn't jynx us there, Ranma," Lara said, elbowing him in the side after setting down the documents and photos they had found at the camp. "It's too bad that we can't keep their notes and photos. Would save us a lot of time rather than us having to re-document that cavern."
"Miss Croft." One of the rangers spoke up, "We're not caring too much about their documentation and photos of the site, you can keep those." That gave Lara a big smile as she set aside the documentation and folders that she had gathered in one of the packs, "But we will need to get statements from you and Mr. Saotome."
"Of course," Lara said as she stepped aside to one of the female rangers that were with them, who guided her across the campsite to another table that Monty had set up for their interviews. Ranma finished putting the gear down away from the documentation before he looked at the rangers that were left. "I hope that they're prosecuted for nearly killing us."
"Unfortunately they might not," Monty said as he stepped next to Ranma, patting him on the shoulder. "Aside from ye two and those guns that ye brought out, they coulda easily be given a slap on the wrist, as they haven't done anything to destroy any of the dig sites or hurt us."
"They will be in jail for at least a few days, but they won't be allowed back onto the reserve." The ranger that spoke up said as he tried to pacify Ranma with at least a little bit of good news. "But I'm surprised at one thing." The ranger said, looking at Monty, "I wonder why most of the predators and wildlife haven't been around your camp. Usually, we'll get calls from other groups that arrive that see wildlife or predators with their ranger guides, but your group never called in for any assistance."
Ranma rubbed the back of his head, just at the base of his pigtail. "That might be me. I have been keeping my ki aura out to sense the wildlife and they might not like it."
"Your ki?" The ranger asked, "You mean your spirit that is housed in everyone?"
"I guess you could call it that." Ranma acknowledged. "It kind of makes me seem a bigger threat than anything that's out there."
"I see," Monty said, stroking his beard slightly as he wondered the same as well. "That does make my job a whole lot easier. But what about when you sleep."
"I've been doing that subconsciously since I was nine." Ranma said, "Keeps the furry things away from me."
"Furry things?" The ranger questions.
"Mr. Saotome has an aversion to felines. Something his father did to him when he was younger."
"Well then, I hope you don't meet any of our lions, cheetahs, or other big cats we have in the reserve." The ranger said, patting the young man on the shoulder, "but for now, we need your statement."
"Right," Ranma said, shivering at the word cat before being guided to the table as Lara and the female ranger got up and started back towards them.
-LINE BREAK-
Days later, as they finished documenting the last cavern, the group gathered around a large table with a map of Africa. Lara then pointed to one of the other lakes in Africa that was southwest of their current location. "From the caverns that we've deciphered and the notes from the Talons that we gathered, it seems that the followers who believed Anubis would grant them eternal life during this era took the chalice almost back the way they came. But this rebel faction of his followers seems to have caught up with them and they had to move it somewhere else." Lara stated, having pointed to some of the Polaroid pictures they had taken of the last cavern. "From there, they traveled towards Lake Tanganyika and possibly set up another temple underground like they did here."
"So we head to Lake Tanganyika?" Joslyn said. "How long of a drive is that."
"A week at most. We'll be traveling through the Serengeti to get there, which is where Ranma will be dropped off." Lara said, looking over at Ranma.
"When was this decided upon?" Ranma said, looking back at Lara and then Monty. "I said I would stay with the expedition until it was over. And we could look for my journey later."
"Lord Croft knew that you would still be looking for a way to get rid of that cat-fist fear of yours while we're here, lad," Monty spoke up. "With the descriptions and hieroglyphics we found in this location, it seems we're closer to the time to split up as we travel to Lake Tanganyika."
"But what about my promise to Lord Croft?"
"He understands and will still pay you the full amount of what he owes you while you are separated from us. He knows how important it is for you, and why we made sure to stop at the Cairo Museum before we started down towards Lake Victoria."
Ranma frowned but nodded in understanding. "Once I'm done with my journey I'll reach out and let you know if I would like to continue doing these excavations again." Ranma then smiled and reached over to shake Monty's hand. Both clasped firmly and shook before releasing each other's hand.
"We would be delighted to have you around for any excavations we go to," Lara said, giving Ranma a hug, Sam and Stephanie also came around the table to hug Ranma. While he did stiffen at it from the start, he did loosen up and returned the hugs, knowing that he had a long way to go to get used to these types of affections.
"Alright, let's get packed up and start towards the Serengeti," James said, giving Ranma a clap on the back. "We'll also give you a radio as well as our phone numbers so you can call us at any time."
"Alright," Ranma acknowledged James' offer of a radio. "Thanks again, everyone."
"You're welcome, lad." Monty said, rolling up the map, "Alright everyone, let's get packed up and head towards the Serengeti." with that, the group started making clean-up efforts to make sure they didn't leave anything behind and loaded it into the Ural and Jeep respectively.
-LINE BREAK-
It didn't take long for them to enter the Serengeti National Park, along with them crossing the border from Kenya to Tanzania. A few checks of their passports and expedition documents allowed them to pass the border without issue. Once they got there, they took the B144 road down to the main entrance to the park itself. The group stopped and let Ranma gather his pack and things before talking to the rangers about entering the park. Per the norm, Ranma gave them his passport and they, in turn, provided Ranma with a map and radio frequency to reach out to any of the ranger stations within the park. Ranma waved to the expedition group as they drove off and he headed into the park on foot.
Days later, Ranma sat down in the tall grass underneath a wild date palm tree that was in the middle of this plain. His camp was all set up and ready for the night when he spotted a herd of gazelle. While he didn't have one of the Nikon cameras that the team was using during the excavation of the temple, he did receive one of the Polaroid cameras so that he could take pictures of where he was, along with enough cartridges to last him a few weeks of picture taking. Ranma took the camera out, making sure that the cartridge was in place and ready before snapping a picture of the herd. As he put the camera away, he turned back to the herd and saw they were running. Wondering what was chasing them away, one of the gazelle broke off from the herd and started racing towards him. As Ranma grabbed his pack, he didn't think he would make it out of the way of the gazelle before he finally saw what was chasing the animal, which happened to jump towards the gazelle, barely missing its target, but landed squarely on him. He had his arms up and was about to push the animal off of him when he heard the mewing of the animal on top of him. Ranma opened his eyes and started shivering before they rolled up into the back of his head, suddenly he blacked out only catching the glimpse of a human form in resemblance to what the hieroglyphics had shown.
-LINE BREAK-
The cheetah mewed again before moving off of the young man underneath it. Once off of him, the animal began to shift and change into a thin woman with the ears of a cheetah, short-cropped blond hair, with dark spots like the pattern of a cheetah, her body covered in fur and a long tail at the base of her spine, swishing back and forth. As soon as she got off of the young man, she heard the meow and watched as he rolled over and was on all fours, looking at her with almost an animalistic curiosity. She could see in his eyes that his pupils were dilated for the moment before adjusting to the light. Suddenly the young man pounced on her, knocking her down and onto her rear with her legs folded underneath her, the young man then curled up on her lap and started nudging her hand, as if to tell her to pet him. "What the..." the woman said before she began to rub the young man's hair, petting him gently before she stared to hear him purr like an actual house cat. "Who are you?"
"Xeris!" another female voice called out from the grass, "Xeris, where are you?" another woman came out of the grass into the camping spot, similar in features to Xeris with a slight bulge around her belly, saw Xeris on the ground with a young man on top of her lap. "Well, I see you're quite busy with something. Is that why you didn't get the gazelle?"
"Oh hush Cyan." Xeris said back to Cyan, "I accidentally landed on him and next thing I know, he's meowing and acting like a cat." Xeris looked down at the young man as he looked up at the new person in the camping spot. He suddenly got up and started sniffing around Cyan before nudging her legs and purring loudly with a few meows coming out of his mouth.
"I can see that," Cyan said, bending down to pat the head of the unknown young man, who pushed up against her hand and meowed some more. "But why is he acting like this?"
"I'm not sure." Xeris said, looking back at her friend before standing up, "We can't leave him like this." She walked over to the pack and tent and started rummaging through it. "We'll need to at least know his name if we can get him to snap out of this." She pulled out a passport in one of the outer pockets and opened it up. "Ranma Saotome," Xeris said to herself before putting it back. "Looks like we'll have to pack his stuff up and take him with us." This caused Ranma to perk up and bound over to Xeris, rubbing his body at her legs and giving several happy meows. This caused Xeris and Cyan to smile a bit before they both started packing up his tent and the rest of his camping gear. Xeris swung the pack onto her back and started back towards the game trail she had followed the gazelle down. She looked down at Ranma, who started to follow the two of them as they hiked back to the village that they both came from.
-LINE BREAK-
The small party arrived at the village, where more people who looked like Xeris and Cyan appeared, walking and talking to each other, sharing goods, and taking care of children. These individuals had various spots across their bodies, all in random places with tails swishing to and fro. Many of the villagers looked at the three of them, noticing that the boy with them was walking on all fours as he traveled between Xeris and Cyan, This caused Ranma to step closer to Xeris and Cyan, looking all around with curiosity and a bit of fear. Xeris reached down and patted Ranma on the head as if to comfort him. "It's alright, Ranma, no one here is going to hurt you." She said to the cat-like Ranma, who looked up from the petting and meowed softly, "Come on, follow us." Xeris then started guiding him and Cyan over to a large building. They entered the building and up a small flight of steps, Xeris knocked on the door to an office space before she heard someone speak out.
"Come in," said an elderly voice before they opened the door. The office space was decked out with furs and furniture of simple design. The older man behind the desk looked up from his work before smiling. "Cyan, Xeris, how nice of you to drop by." The elder smiled before noticing their other companion. "And who is this?"
"This is Ranma Saotome. I found him while we were hunting for gazelle to bring home when I accidentally pounced on him." Xeris said, having explained this to Cyan on the way back. "He then started acting like this after I got off of him." Xeris found a place to sit down on the couch after her body shifted and changed to a human form, with Ranma sitting next to her on the floor. She patted his head and he nuzzled her hand as he had done along the trip back. "We're not sure what is going on."
"Though he does seem to like you and Cyan," The elder smiled as he tried to reach out to Ranma, who just backed even closer to Xeris. "A hypnosis gone wrong?" The older human man thought as he stepped back away from Ranma and Xeris, causing Ranma to relax again.
"Maybe." Cyan said, shifting into her human form before sitting down next to Xeris, "Though that's got to be the weirdest hypnosis I've ever seen."
The elder walked over to a small refrigerator and picked up a few bottles of water, he opened them and handed one to Cyan, before handing the second one to Xeris. But before Xeris could get a hold of it, the slick condensation of the bottle caused it to slip out of the elder's hand and onto Ranma's head, spilling the contents all over the young man, which caused his body to shift into his female form. "My God, a Jusenkyo victim?"
"Uh... Hi?" Ranma said, her voice a few octaves higher than her male form. She looked at the two women next to her and then at the older gentleman before sheepishly smiling. "I'm Ranma Saotome, sorry about this." She said in English, sitting on the floor with her knees folded up underneath her. "Where am I? And how did I end up here?"
"Jusenkyo?" Cyan asked, rubbing her belly slightly. "That's not a place I've heard of."
"It's not from around here," Ranma said, looking at the woman next to her before she got up and stepped back. "Sorry, I promise I'm not here to do anything. I'm just looking for something."
"It's alright," Xeris said, picking up the now empty plastic bottle and setting it on the table in front of her. "You're in our village, a few miles away from where you were camped out at." Xeris continued, answering the young woman's question. "As for how you got here, you followed us, acting like a cat." All three of them noticed a slight shiver at the mention of her performance as a cat before looking directly into the young woman's eyes. "But you're safe here."
"Aw, man." Ranma groaned as she rubbed her face slightly before bowing to the three, "I'm sorry if I messed anything up while I was like that."
"You didn't do anything other than follow us here." Cyan said, trying to placate her, "Though you might want to explain how you turned into a girl."
"It's a Jusenkyo curse," The elder started, having heard of it on one of his travels. "But I never believed I would see someone with one, it was always a rumor."
"Over a hundred springs, each one with a tragic tale of its victims' death under the water," Ranma spoke up, wringing her hair out as she stood up from her bow. "I managed to be lucky to be cursed into a girl instead of an animal, like most of the Jusenkyo victims I know of."
"I see." The elder said, walking back to the fridge and grabbing two more bottles of water, handing one to Xeris and the other to Ranma. "Please sit down and make yourself comfortable." Ranma took the offering of water and sat down on the other couch, opposite the two women. "Now, is there a reason why you act like a cat sometimes?"
Ranma shivered again before sighing slightly. "It came from a training manual my ol' man got a hold of, the explanation of the technique was to dig a hole in the ground, and fill it up with furry animals." She shivered at that before continuing, "Wrap the trainee in fish products and drop them into the hole." Ranma looked down for a moment, gently squeezing the bottle in her hands, "And it wasn't one time, it was multiple times that he did it."
"Shit," the elder swore before looking at Ranma as he leaned up against his desk, "Looks like we didn't grab all those manuals after all." Ranma turned her head towards the elder and her eyes widened. "I'm not sure how much help we can give you, but we will take some responsibility for the mental damage taken from that technique." The elder grabbed his cup off of the desk and took a small swallow of the contents within, "But how did you survive?"
"Just by my wits end." Ranma said, "If I get overstimulated with these animals I tend to slip into that animal and start acting like one." She took a swig of water before setting it on the table, "Once I'm like that, I can only get out of it by either sleeping it off or splashing me with water, warm or cold depending on if I'm a girl or guy."
"And what form is your normal form?" Xeris asked.
"I'm a guy." Ranma answered, "Cold water turns me into this little hot number, while warm or hot water changes me back into a guy." Ranma said. She took another swig from the water and sat it back on the table.
"I wonder," The elder spoke up, "If you would permit us to try some things, we want to help you out as much as possible and get rid of that phobia you have."
"That would be very helpful," Ranma said, remembering what Lara told him not too long ago.
"In that case," The elder started before a knock on the door occurred, "Yes, come in." The door opened up and two male figures stepped in, both of them looking like the form Xeris and Cyan had before they changed into their human form. Ranma had looked up from the floor towards the door before jumping up from the couch and going against the back wall in just a few seconds, shivering and speaking in a fearful tone, "Neko, Neko, Neko." She repeated in Japanese.
"Xerses! Charon! Change into your human forms!" Xeris said. The two looked at the woman and saw the young girl in the corner of the office shivering and mumbling to herself. Without too much of a question, they changed from their hybrid form into a human form. Once they were in their human forms, both tall, skinny men with a runner's physique, the young woman started to calm down.
Ranma looked at the two men as she took in a few breaths and closed her eyes, meditating for a moment before she opened her eyes again. She looked at the new people who entered the room and her eyes widened slightly. "How did you change from those forms to your regular form? Are you also Jusenkyo victims?"
This caused the elder to laugh slightly before walking towards Ranma, "No, they're not Jusenkyo victims. It's who we are." He helped Ranma up and guided her back to the couch she was sitting on, while Charon and Xerses stood behind their respective wives. "Where are our manners, My name is Omari." Omari said, pointing to himself, "Over there is Xeris and her husband Charon," both Charon and Xeris waved their hands to indicate who they were, "And Cyan with her husband Xerses is next to them." Cyan and Xerses also waved back slightly. "We're not Jusenkyo victims at all, we're lycanthropes. Specifically, we're of the cheetah species."
"Lycanthropes?" Ranma asked, somewhat confused at the meaning.
"Were-creatures," Xeris spoke up, answering Ranma's question. "We are were-cheetahs."
"So werewolves exist?" This caused a frown on Omari's face, while a sad look came from the rest of the were-cheetahs in the room. "I'm sorry," Ranma started before Omari patted her shoulder.
"It's okay, you didn't know. But we have a long-standing war with werewolves," Omari sighed slightly, "You wouldn't know of it because we've kept most of our fights to areas outside of human civilization. But for now, we're trying to not attack each other as we don't even remember the cause of the fighting between us."
"Are you thinking of making peace with them?" Ranma asked.
"We're trying, but it's taking a while on both our sides to acknowledge we need that peace."
Ranma nods her head and takes another swig of water from her bottle. "I guess after a long time, people are just as willing to have peace if they desire it." She set her bottle down once more before looking at the Omari, "You said you would help me with my phobia?"
"We'll try to help, young Ranma," Omari responded before looking at Charon, "Can you do us a favor and look at this young man's aura."
"Are you sure your eyes are not deceiving you, Omari?" Charon said, giving a small smile. "That is a young woman in front of us." Xeris smacked him in the chest before looking up at him.
"He is a young man. He's got a Jusenkyo curse." Xeris said to her husband. Omari went over to the sink he had in the office and turned on the hot water to heat the water. Once the water was hot enough, he grabbed a glass and filled it up fully before shutting off the faucet. "Omari will show you."
"Is this enough hot water for you, Ranma?" Omari asked as he stepped back to the two couches and table.
"That's fine," Ranma said, taking the glass once it was offered to her. She poured the water over her head and the change occurred causing her body to change back into a young man. "This is my original form."
"Where does all the mass come from?" Xerses asked before Charon gently touched his shoulder.
"You would think with all the magic I do that you wouldn't be surprised at the fact that something magical is happening." Charon looked at Ranma before nodding. "Of course Omari, Mage Sight." Charon's grey eyes started to glow after casting the spell. After a few minutes of looking at Ranma, Charon's eyes stopped glowing and he looked at Ranma with his regular gray eyes, "Well that's interesting."
"What is?" Ranma asked as he leaned forward in anticipation. While he wasn't familiar with the Mage Sight spell itself, it did look intriguing to see something different from magic users.
"Normally, a person has one aura image that associates them with who they are. Sometimes it's huge for an aura mage, which determines how much magic power one has available to them." Charon starts his explanation, "However, you're different. You have three aura images. One for your male form, another for your female form, and the largest one is in the form of a cat." Ranma shivered slightly at the mention of the cat form. "The interesting thing is, your male and female forms almost match your current size but seem to be glowing more than they should, showing me that your ability with your Chi could be causing some issues there."
"What do you mean, my Chi is causing issues?" Ranma asked, "I know I use a lot of Ki for my attacks or skills, but I didn't think that I would have problems with it."
"I'm sorry, Ranma was it?" Ranma nodded at Charon's question. "But from what I could see, you seem to exhibit a high concentration of aura, which means you can do magic, but it's all compact," Charon said, reaching over his wife to grab the bottle of water she was holding. "It's like this bottle, your aura is contained inside of it when it should be outside and being pulled into you not stuck inside you waiting to come out."
"But isn't that was Ki is, a manifestation of your spirit?" Ranma asked Charon.
"Sort of. You see, Ki is a part of you. Based upon what chakras you focus on can have different results." Charon explained, "I'm not very familiar with anything more than that, but if you know someone who also uses Ki or Chi, they might be able to explain in detail what the major differences between the chakras are."
"So what does that have to do with what you saw?"
"Aura magic is based upon ether, which is everywhere and sits on top of the aura. Your aura on your male and female sides is a bit bigger than either of your physical forms. But it's the third form that is almost two to three times as big as either of your human aura forms."
"The bigger the aura, the more powerful it can be?"
"Correct. But I think that the cat aura is what's stopping your human auras from growing." Charon said, "I mean, I see that both of your human forms have a blue hue around them, possibly from the Chi manipulation." Ranma nodded, as he might have figured that part out with his Ki always coming in as a blue hue whenever he uses his Mōko Takabisha, "But the cat form is purple, or a light purple with red hues deeply embedded within its aura."
"Sounds like it's pretty confident and pissed if you ask me," Ranma said, taking another sip of water as he thought about what Charon said about his auras. "But why do I have three instead of one?"
"This is just a theory, but, I think it's because of Jusenkyo. When it gave you that curse, it split your magical aura into three parts based on what it did to you. You must have had some magic in you at some point in your young life, but it was never developed properly."
"My ol' man always told me martial arts was the way to go for everything." Ranma growled out, clenching his fists tightly, "No time for anything else. Just martial arts all day."
"That might be why you never developed your magic." Charon frowned, "Or maybe Jusenkyo gave you magic because it's a magical location because of your curse."
"Well, it's not like I met a lot of mages or wizards on my journey when I was younger. So I couldn't tell you if I had it before I went to Jusenkyo." Ranma looked up at Charon for a moment, "But it does sound interesting." Ranma smiled slightly at the prospect of learning something new.
"We can continue our discussion once we figure out how to help you." Charon smiled, along with the rest of the group.
"For now, we need to get you a place to rest and fed," Omari said, walking over and grabbing a few ties from his office closet. "While I would normally have you go into a guest home, we can't have you 'going cat' on us every time you step outside. Omari turned around, having found a thick tie he could use as a blindfold. "We'll just have to have you stay with someone here who is going to be helping you." Omari said, walking towards Ranma, "Xeris, Charon? Would you be able to house Mr. Saotome? This will give you both time to study his aura forms and keep him from going cat."
"I don't mind, it's an interesting prospect." Charon said, looking at Xeris, "If you don't mind."
"Not at all. Considering if he does act like one, we know he trusts me." Xeris responded.
"Great, if that's okay then, I suggest that we take young Saotome and get him settled," Omari started to say until the group heard a large growl coming from the young martial artist, "And maybe some food to eat." this caused Ranma to blush and the rest of the adults in the room to chuckle softly.
"That would be great." Ranma smiled, his face flushed, "I would like to know more about mages so it's a win-win." This caused Charon to nod, "And maybe see if I could learn it as well."
"We'll talk as much as you want and help you learn about it, Ranma." Charon nodded, "And maybe Xerses and Cyan can see your martial arts as well, maybe teach you a few moves?" The mage said as he looked over the two. "These two are our very best warriors."
"Well not right now," Cyan said, rubbing her belly. "I've still got a few more months before I can be back to my prime," She smiled, looking up at Xerses who just patted her shoulders. "But I'd be glad to take a look at your fighting style and show you some fighting styles we use."
"I'd be honored, from one fighter to another." Ranma nodded, looking at Cyan.
Omari clapped his hands to get everyone's attention. "That's all wonderful and it seems like we can get started on helping you soon." Omari handed Ranma the thick tie in his hand. "For now, as we discuss options to help, we'll need you to wear this while in the village until you're more comfortable in our hybrid or animal forms."
"Of course," Ranma said, shivering slightly at the thought of their other forms. "I'll keep it on whenever I'm out and about."
"Great, Charon, Xeris, please guide him to your home and take care of our guest. Hopefully, you can figure something to try Charon before we get him into the training yards." Omari said, looking back at the two couples. "I'll make sure they're clear, or at least far enough away so Ranma doesn't go feral."
"Of course, Omari, we'll do so." Charon nodded, looking at Ranma and he grabbed his pack that Xeris and Cyan had brought with them, "Shall we depart to our humble abode?" He grinned at the young man.
"Thank you, I'll be in your debt if this all works," Ranma said, standing up, while the two women stood up as well.
"No need for debts there, Ranma," Charon said, guiding Ranma to the door before helping him tie the makeshift blindfold over his eyes. "If anything, you've given me something interesting to work with."
As the group stepped out of the office. Omari frowned slightly, "I hope that young man forgives us for all the trouble we caused him because we couldn't find all those training books."
-LINE BREAK-
Ranma made sure the makeshift blindfold was securely over his eyes before they left the elders home, he reached out with his Ki and his hands before a soft, feminine hand grasped his. He squeezed it slightly to make sure he was holding onto the hand before being led across the village. He couldn't see any of the villagers, but the purring and meowing of the children. He squeezed the hand a bit tighter, but not enough to hurt the woman's hand.
Xeris squeezed back to compensate for the additional force being put on her hand, which caused Ranma to smile a bit. He knew she was a fighter in her own right, but from what he heard in the discussion before they left, he knew that Cyan might be a better fighter between the two of them. "So, what brings you to the Serengeti?" Xeris asked, trying to keep him focused on her voice instead of the other noises happening around him.
"Believe it or not, I was looking for you guys, or at least a village that held information about the Neko-ken," Ranma said, focusing on the voice of Xeris. "The scroll that created the 'training' guide was deciphered more and said that some Egyptian managed to stay in your village for a while, thinking you were some sort of goddess incarnate." He said.
"Oh?" Charon said next to him.
"Yeah, hopefully, whatever you guys think of doing to help me out, I would greatly appreciate it." Ranma smiled.
"We'll figure it out, Ranma." Cyan said, "I'm sure the elder or other mages may be able to find a way to cure your phobia and hopefully you won't act like you did when Xeris found you."
"I don't like acting like that, I always feel like I'm missing something because I never remember what happens when I get like that," Ranma responded to Cyan.
"We'll have Omari reach out to the other mages and set up a place where we can try and cure your ailurophobia," Charon said to him as they stopped. "We're here," Charon said before Xeris guided him to a doorway, where he felt her guiding him into the home. "We'll see you later Cyan, Xerses."
"You too, and we'll see you later as well, Ranma," Cyan said before Ranma heard their footsteps taking them away from the trio.
"Ranma, watch your step," Xeris said as she guided him past the doorway and into their home. Once inside, they took the blindfold off and Ranma was able to see the sparsely decorated home. A pair of bookshelves sat next to a small couch that held scrolls and books of all types, while the table sat in another room, which held a kitchen that Ranma could see was taken care of very well. Two other rooms on the other side of the house seemed to be bedrooms or offices.
"Thank you again for helping me out," Ranma said, bowing to the two of them.
"It's no trouble at all, Ranma," Charon said, clapping the young man on the shoulder.
"We'll stay in our human forms while you're here so you don't go acting like you did before." Xeris said, "At least until you're comfortable with our hybrid forms." Xeris smiled, guiding him over to one of the two rooms. "This is normally Charon's office, but you can use it for a bedroom."
Ranma nodded his thanks before setting his stuff down next to the door. "Is there anything I can do to help?"
Xeris and Charon shook their heads, "You're our guest, please just make yourself at home." Charon said as he sat down on the couch. "But for now, let's talk about what we're going to work on so we can get your phobia to manageable levels so you can be a part of the village."
Ranma nodded again and sat down next to Charon, "Sure, what do you want to know from me?"
"Well, you explained the way your father used the manual, how many times did he throw you into that pit?"
"I think around six or seven." Ranma said, trying to remember without succumbing to the fear during his memories of the technique being 'taught' by his father.
"Alright, so about the seventh time, you started to act like the animal itself?"
"Right, but I don't remember very much after that," Ranma said, nodding his thanks to Xeris who brought the three of them drinks. She then sat next to Charon on the couch and looked over at Ranma.
"I'm surprised you survived that, Ranma," Xeris said comfortingly, not realizing that there was more to this story than just what happened to him.
"There were a lot of other things that I survived." Ranma frowned slightly at some of the other training mishaps that his old man did to him. "But nothing that I want to bring up right now."
"That's fine, Ranma," Charon said, taking a sip from his cup. "After dinner, we can talk about your auras and see what we can find in the office."
"Great," Ranma said as Xeris got up and headed towards the kitchen to get dinner started. "So what's it like? Being a mage that is." Ranma asked Charon.
"Well, it's a lot like your martial arts, just more focused on mental fortitude instead of your physical strengths," Charon said, starting with the basics he was taught. "I primarily use ether as my chosen specialty."
"So what's this ether like?"
"Think of ether as light, without light." Charon explained, "It's not the absence of light, rather the waves of light that start to exist after the light has been extinguished."
"So a sort of phantom light right?" Ranma posed the question, "It's there, but not there."
"Correct. It is the 'ghost of light' if you think about it. But if you were to see both the light and ether together, you may not be able to distinguish the difference between them unless you were trained to utilize ether."
Ranma nodded, understanding that he might not be able to use or see it like Charon could, but hopefully, based on what Charon said to him about his possibility of using aura magic, it might be something that he could learn. "So when you saw me through that spell, mage sight?" Ranma asked, to which Charon nodded, "You could see the ether around me?"
"Your aura penetrates some of the ether around you, and shows that you have the fortitude to learn, but I'm not sure if you'd be able to learn it very well with how old you are, or if you're able to utilize ether. You have the Chi or Ki abilities, but it's hard to transition between the two when you've studied for so long on your abilities."
"I see," Ranma said, looking down a bit at the possibility of not being able to learn something. "After we're done with helping me with my phobia, could we try it? See if I can learn."
"Of course, Ranma. I'd also be eager to see your martial arts moves as well."
"A trade for a trade." Ranma smiled, "It might not be an equal trade as you're helping me more than I would be you, but I can live with that."
"Dinner!" They both heard Xeris from the kitchen and both got up and went to the dining table, where Xeris had laid out a small feast. "Eat up, and then we'll go over what we're going to tell Omari."
Ranma nodded and smiled once more, glad that he found these were-cheetahs and that they were willing to help him with the one thing that Genma held over him.
-LINE BREAK-
Ranma woke up to the smell of breakfast and looked around where he was at. He remembered most of the night, talking with Charon about things like the curse and what the auras were doing as he shifted from male to female. But the cat's aura was almost two to three times the size of either his male or female auras. Ranma got up and folded up his sleeping bag and mat, setting it next to his bag before stepping out of the room to see Charon and Xeris already up. Xeris set the table with some food, while Charon set out the plates and utensils. "Good Morning, Ranma," Xeris said as she heard him open the door to the main room. "Sleep well?"
"Yes, I did," Ranma said walking towards the main dining room.
Charon set down the last plate and utensils next to where Ranma was going to sit. "Please, sit down, Xeris made a wonderful breakfast, and then we'll head to the training ground." Ranma perked up at the idea of a training ground and nodded before sitting down. Xeris began to dish out a few eggs and some gazelle meat, along with a piece of flatbread.
"For now, just eat and we'll have to put the blindfold on again to get you to the training ground," Xeris said as she finished dishing out the meal and sat down next to her husband.
Ranma nodded and dug into his meal calmly. If anyone from the Tendo Dojo saw him eating like this, they would have asked if he was a body snatcher. Ranma stopped eating for a minute before looking at Charon, "What kind of training ground is it?"
"Nothing fantastic that you've seen on your journey." Charon said, "Just a firing range for our weapons, like guns and arrows. A small place to practice any magic that we've learned. And a martial arts boundary circle."
"That's alright, as long as you have a martial arts training area, I'm happy." Ranma smiled as he finished up his meal. He picked up his plate walked to the kitchen and cleaned off his plate before setting it aside as he saw Charon and Xeris also get up to clean their plates. Ranma went back to the office and grabbed a bandana, folding it enough to where it would cover his eyes enough so they didn't have to use a tie like yesterday. "How far away is it?"
"About a mile from the village," Charon said as he finished up his dishes and set them aside as well. "Just far enough not to disturb the everyday life of everyone in case something goes wrong."
Ranma nodded, knowing how rough it could be when everything happened at the dojo and Nerima itself. "Yeah, I wish there was a place I could train while at the Tendo Dojo that didn't break everything around me."
"We'll be taking you there and during any resting period, you can use any of the facilities. We just need to warn those that use the training facilities that they'd have to be in human form for now."
"I wouldn't want to put people out and them not using their other forms to train." Ranma stated, "I know how it feels when you don't train in your different forms, especially when you lose or gain height and range."
"That's very thoughtful of you, Ranma," Xeris said, before taking the bandana from him and covering his eyes.
"Xeris will guide you to the training ground, Ranma. I've got to get Omari and a few other mages to come by before we start."
Ranma nodded as he heard Charon before Xeris took his arm and gently guided him out of the door and towards the training ground.
-LINE BREAK-
Xeris took her time making sure Ranma got to the training ground without issue, making small talk with him to keep his mind focused on her. Once there she guided him over to the training mat for the mages.
"You can take the blindfold off. We've made sure that the warriors that use the training ground don't come to the mages' circle for a while." Charon said. "Make sure you're in your human forms and not your hybrid forms." Ranma heard a few mutterings behind him before he took off the blindfold. He turned around and saw five additional people next to Charon, which included Omari.
"So, we have a person who survived the mistranslated scroll and is not insane already?" one of the mages said as he looked over Ranma. "I highly doubt that he followed the mistranslation."
"You're really pushing my buttons there, buddy." Ranma stated, "I already had one person that ticked me off because they didn't believe what happened to me."
"Now now. Let's not get on anyone's bad side as we're trying to help him." Omari said, looking specifically at the mage who spoke up, he then turned to Ranma. "We brought all the mages that we have to help keep you calm while we help you conquer your fear." The mage in question bowed his head to Ranma before congregating with Charon and the rest of the mages.
"So since he's not exhibiting the signs of being a feral cat, we have to establish a baseline to see how he acts while not in that feral state," Charon states to the rest of the mages and they all nod in agreement. "Just remember, he does have a Jusenkyo curse, so any cold or warm water will change him from male to female."
"So, on top of being a possible feral cat, he can change forms. This gets even more complicated." One of the other mages speaks up, "What does the change in form have to do with this?"
"If he gets too feral, we just splash him with water and he'll be able to get out of his feral state," Charon mentioned this to the group as a whole. "This makes our job a bit easier once we figure out the best path forward."
"I see, so no need to force him to a different state of being." One of the older mages responded.
Before they could speculate a bit more, a cry from the training ground grabbed everyone's attention. "Jabari! You need to stay here!" Everyone turned to see a middle-aged hybrid-form man chasing after a young cub, who came barreling down on the group before knocking into Ranma and putting him flat on his back. This caused Ranma to hold onto the young cub as he fell back, making sure to roll with the hit as he slid slightly on the dry ground. Before anyone could get the cub off of Ranma, he opened his eyes to see the cub staring at him. Ranma started shivering in fright before the cheetah. The little cub looked up at the group of people and meowed slightly, knowing he was in trouble. The meow shocked Ranma even further with how close the cub was to him and caused his eyes to roll up into the back of his head. Charon had managed to reach him and pulled the cub off him, not realizing that he was too late to stop the mental transition.
"Mrow." The sound came out of Ranma's mouth, which shocked everyone there, except Xeris who had seen it before. Ranma then jumped up and landed on all fours, sitting there as he licked his hand and began rubbing his face for a moment before walking over to Xeris, rubbing against her leg, and sitting down once more.
"What the..." one of the mages started to say before he looked at Charon. "Did you know about this?"
"Both my wife and Ranma say that he acts this way when he is surrounded by cats or if he is faced with a cat like earlier if he's caught off guard."
"He's completely feral." Another mage speaks out, "You say he can be kicked out of being feral by the application of cold or warm water?"
Ranma started to hiss slightly before being tapped on the head by Xeris, he looked up at the woman and meowed softly. "No, Ranma," Xeris said to him. Ranma looked down and then raised his head again, meowing softly. "They're trying to help you." Ranma turned and looked at the mages before meowing one last time.
The other mages were astounded at the fact that Xeris was talking to Ranma and that he responded in kind and listened to her as she rebuked his actions toward them. They didn't think that Ranma would be able to respond correctly because he may be feral, but Xeris proved that wrong. Charon handed Jabari back to his father, who finally caught up to him. Charon looked at Ranma and his wife before walking up to them. Ranma stepped slightly behind Xeris and Charon stopped himself before he reached his wife. "Ranma, It's okay, we're not here to hurt you," Charon said to the feline Ranma. "Let's get him into the middle of the circle so he's more comfortable." He stepped back so Xeris could walk him toward the center of the circle.
Once in the center, Omari talked to the father of Jabari, "Let's try to keep Jabari away from our guest for a while." Jabari looked up at Omari before he frowned and meowed sorrowfully. "I know you didn't do it on purpose there, but our guest is scared of cats. Once he's away or can control his fear, then he'll be fine." Omari patted Jabari's head and smiled at the young cub.
While Xeris sat with Ranma in the middle of the circle, the rest of the mages, including Charon, started documenting what they saw and the reactions that Ranma made when Xeris was talking quietly to him. "Astounding, he does act like he's a full cat, not like the ones we had to put down because they were harming others." One mage said.
"Those others were well beyond saving," Another mage said as he waved his hand to bring up a ki mirror. "His chakras are all normal as if he has the same abilities as a human."
"And powerful too," Charon said, looking at the ki mirror. "My only worry is his aura."
"What did you find when you examined him the first time?" Omari asked once he joined the group.
"I noticed three figures, a male and female figure of his Jusenkyo curses, and one large cat figure."
"Three? Almost everyone has one aura figure."
"That we know of. I think Jusenkyo caused his aura to be split into three. That's at least my theory on it. But we'll never really know without going to Jusenkyo itself and discovering what happened." Charon mentioned, "You have more experience with curses don't you, Aamadu?"
"His curses? What do you mean about his curses?" Aamadu asked, "I know we were talking about Jusenkyo curses, but I've never seen one myself. I've seen a Japanese boy with a bandana on his head that has a directional curse, but before I could bring him back to be seen by our mages, he disappears."
"Jusenkyo curses are real, as you'll see here in a minute once we splash him with cold water. But I want to get a baseline of him as a cat before we move forward with trying to cure him." Charon said, taking a moment to conjure a small ball of water. Once it was big enough, he shot it toward Ranma, who just happened to be looking at him and Ranma jumped over it, causing the water to splash on the ground behind Ranma and Xeris. "Oh, you cheeky cat." Ranma meowed back at Charon, with almost a cat-like grin that could be seen on a human face.
"Nice try, darling. If I hold him you'll get me wet too." Xeris replied.
"Here's something that might help," Omari said, going to the cooler he had brought with the mages and pulling out a bottle of water for just such an occasion. "Just hand it to Xeris and she can pour it over him." Omari handed the bottle to Charon, who nodded and walked over to Xeris.
Ranma began playing around, bouncing on all fours and batting gently at some imaginary bug that Ranma could see. He watched Charon walk by but ignored him as he wasn't attacking him with that water ball spell. He said down on his haunches before Xeris walked up to him. He meowed once more before water started pouring over him, changing him from a boy to a girl. Ranma shook her head to get the excess water out of her hair before standing up.
"Amazing," Aamadu said as he watched the transformation. "And this is the Jusenkyo curse right?"
Charon nodded, "Yes, this is his curse."
"Spring of drowned young girl." Ranma said as she walked up to the mages along with Xeris, "According to the Chinese guide she died over 1500 years ago. And because of the magic within the area, anyone who lands in the water changes into the form of a young girl," Ranma said, "It's much better than spring of drowned panda, duck, pig, or furry thing." Ranma ran her fingers through her hair to make sure she got rid of most of the water. "Though there's supposed to be over one hundred cursed springs so there are as many possibilities for being anything."
"I see," Aamadu responded, jotting down in his notes what he got from Ranma about the curse. "Charon, can you use your mage sight to see what his current aura looks like and explain it to us."
"I sure can," Charon said, "Mage Sight." once again, Ranma saw Charon's eyes glow brightly, covering his gray eyes. "Ranma's female aura, which is about twice her physical height, is in front while Ranma's male aura is just behind the female aura, about a head taller. Like how she is when she changes forms." Aamadu and the other mages wrote down these notes onto some notebooks, chatting quietly at the idea of more than one aura before continuing.
"And the cat aura?"
"Almost triple the size of Ranma's male aura."
"Triple!" Ranma shrieked for a second before coughing, "You're kidding me? I know you said it was big, but I wasn't expecting it to be over 700 centimeters."
"Ranma, what's your current height?" Charon said, "Just so we have a good measurement."
"About 164 centimeters as a guy," Ranma said, "And about 150 centimeters as a girl."
"So your male side's aura is about 320 centimeters tall. The cat aura is almost 1000 centimeters tall."
Aamadu looked to Charon, "That means it must be very powerful while he, I mean she, is feral."
"He is fine," Ranma stated, "I was born a guy and while I may have this curse, I'm mentally a guy as well."
"It might take some getting used to," Aamadu said, "But if I call you by whichever form you happen to be in, I'll try to correct myself." The rest of the mages nodded as well as they jotted down the information Charon gave to them. "I would like to study your curse after we hopefully tame your fear of cats."
Ranma nodded and smiled at the mages, "I'll be in your care then." She bowed slightly towards the group.
"Faraji, could you conjure up a ball of water and heat it up until it's warm." Charon said as he continued to watch Ranma, "I think I have a theory about his auras."
The female mage nodded, before holding her hand out and concentrating on a ball of water before conjuring up a ball of fire in her other hand. She then moved the ball of water and turned her hand slightly so the ball was above the heat source. They waited until the water was bubbling before looking at Ranma. Faraji then moved the ball of water close to Ranma, who touched it to test the temperature. While touching the ball, it didn't change her back to a guy; she nodded at the temperature before it was over her head. Faraji then released the spell and it dropped onto Ranma, causing her to change back.
"Thank you very much," Ranma said, "At least it wasn't boiling like many people do."
Faraji nodded and smiled, "You're welcome, Ranma." she replied, "We wouldn't want you to have first-degree burns now would we?"
Ranma smiled back before looking back at Charon, "What do you see now?"
"I see your male form in front of your female form and the cat form still behind both of them," Charon mentioned before the glow around his eyes faded as the spell ended. "So between the two forms, it looks like they switch based upon what form you're in," Charon spoke out his thoughts.
"So Ranma's male and female forms interchange based on which physical form he's in. That would make sense." Xeris said, "So in theory his cat form should be at the forefront, and the two human forms are pushed to the back?"
"That's the idea," Charon said, smiling at his wife, "Though I don't want to test that theory out until we've figured out a way to convert that fear of his into a manageable level."
"That's understandable," Ranma said as he stretched slightly. "What are you guys thinking about?"
Aamadu looked up from his notebook and looked over at Ranma, "We're going to have you meditate for a bit while we try to suppress the cat's aura before we try anything else."
Ranma nodded, "I'm not as good at meditating but I'll give it a shot." Ranma said before walking towards the center of the circle. He sat down cross-legged and closed his eyes, trying to empty his mind of all other thoughts. He heard the mages chanting quietly as they started the spell.
After a few minutes, Ranma began to feel a hard pressure against his mind, he grunted softly before he called out, "Something doesn't feel right." Suddenly the pressure stopped and he opened his eyes.
"Something happened while we were trying to suppress the cat's aura when you told us to stop," Aamadu spoke up.
"I'm guessing that the cat doesn't like what you're doing," Ranma said, "Did you want to try something else?"
"We might try with your female form, but I think that we'll see the same problem"
"Did it hurt when we were trying to suppress it?" Charon asked.
"It was like someone putting pressure on my mind like it was actively fighting it."
"Hmm. Charon, let's try again, but keep an eye on Ranma with Mage Sight to see what the auras are doing." Aamadu said, "Maybe we can stop whatever it is that's putting pressure on Ranma's mind."
Charon nodded and once more spoke the spell's name "Mage Sight.", Charon then looked over at Ranma, who sat back down and crossed his legs to meditate once more. Charon watched as the auras shifted to be in the same position as Ranma, except the cat aura. The Cat aura sat behind the two figures and its tail swished back and forth quickly, as if it knew something was going to happen. "Ready when you are," Charon said, opening his notebook to jot down what he was seeing.
Once more Ranma closed his eyes and started meditating, he emptied his mind before the mages started chanting again. Again after a few minutes, he started feeling the same pressure pushing down on his mind. But before he could say anything, Charon spoke up. "Alright, let's stop for now." and the pressure eased up once again.
"What did you find out, Charon?" Aamadu said.
"It seems like Ranma's theory is right. The cat does not like what we're doing to it," Charon mentioned before his mage sight spell wore off. "It's physically pushing down on Ranma's male and female auras like it's trying to get in front of them. To stop whatever we're doing and take over."
Ranma frowned at that. He hoped that they would be able to help him get rid of this innate fear of cats, but it seemed that the aura of the cat didn't want to play nicely with the mage's attempts. "So what now? We know that it's hurting me to stop what's happening."
"We'll figure it out, Ranma." Charon said, "It did look like we were making some progress, but I can't tell if it's shrinking or adjusting itself because it wants to take over."
"We have a few ideas, maybe different spells or such so we can help with that want to take over," Faraji said, taking a minute to jot something down in her notebook. "This is all very fascinating and in new territory that we've never experienced." She once again smiled at Ranma, "This may be a mage's breakthrough in mental health that we may never get the chance to document ever again."
Ranma nodded and realized that this would take time and not be an instant fix. Just like all things, including his mastery of martial arts, it had taken years of practice. And those years helped hone his body and mind into that mindset of patience, easy fixes did not make long-lasting solutions. "Is there anything that you need from me? Anything that might help?"
"I'm not sure," Aamadu said to him, "We've got the gist of the issue, it's just now wondering how we can fix it." This caused all the mages around Aamadu to nod, "We might have something here in a bit, let us discuss it before we implement it."
Ranma once again nodded and got up, walking over to Xeris and sitting next to her. "I guess I can't help them now."
"What they found is certainly a breakthrough in handling people who've got fears of their own, but this is also unique," Xeris said as she watched her husband and the rest of the mages talk. "I'm sure that they'll find some way to help you."
"I hope so, or this journey will be a bust."
"Speaking of, tell me what started this journey for you?" Xeris said, before being interrupted by Omari.
"But first, some lunch." He smiled, handing Ranma some sandwiches and jerky.
-LINE BREAK-
While Ranma and Xeris talked about how his journey started and what stops he made with the companions he joined up with, Charon sat down on the ground with his fellow mages to discuss the spells and cantrips that could be used to help Ranma. "If we could only confirm if the aura is being suppressed, we could then know what is effective and what is not."
"But doing that would cause some problems for Ranma," Aamadu said, "I don't want to put him in a feral state if we can help it, but that could be our last resort."
"If we have him change into a girl, maybe that'll change what the cat aura feels like?" Faraji asked, "Maybe it's because we're using Ranma's male form and it wants to take control because it doesn't like another male to take over?"
"That might be one way of doing it, but if the situation is the same, we might try to force him into the feral state." One of the other female mages said.
"I don't want to endanger anyone to his abilities while he's in that feral state, Afia." Charon said, "But it does seem we might need to appease that aura."
"Let's try to do the cantrips on his female side to see if that helps." Aamadu said, "This way we can rule out the male dominance."
"I agree with that," Faraji said, "We try again with his female side and then we work on getting him feral without endangering the individuals or village."
Charon nodded at that statement and stood up. "Ranma, we'd like to change your form and try again. We might have a few different cantrips to try to suppress the aura once more." Ranma nodded back and stood up, he walked over to Charon and the other mages.
"Alright, so you want my girl form?" The mages all nodded and Faraji held out the ball of water before dropping it over Ranma's head. Ranma shook out her hair once more and went back to the center of the circle. She sat down and once more started to meditate.
"Mage Sight." Ranma heard from Charon and heard other cantrips that she couldn't understand from the other mages. Just like before, after a few minutes, the pressure on her head started up and was beginning to cause her to have a headache "Alright, let's stop. The cat aura is doing the same thing with the female aura." Charon said before the pressure eased up. Ranma sighed before rubbing the back of her head. "That didn't work out as we had planned." Charon frowned as Ranma looked over at him.
"Were you expecting the same thing or were you looking for a different result?" Ranma asked.
"We expected the same thing, but hoped it would not at the same time," Aamadu stated. "We figured that the cat aura might have been intimated by your male aura instead of your female, but it seems not if you're still feeling the pressure you mentioned earlier."
"And it was doing the same thing, both paws on top of your other auras like it was trying to overcome your personality," Charon mentioned, before writing it down in his notebook. "It looks like we might need to put you into your feral state once more to see what we can do."
"How are we going to do that, I don't want to hurt you or anyone in the village just to get me to be in that state."
"Illusion magic?" Faraji asked. "Though I don't think any one of us is that skilled in illusions to make you turn feral."
"I guess we'll just have to change forms," Charon said as he walked over to Ranma, "You might need to stay in one place, and let the fear take over." Charon gently laid his hands on Ranma's shoulders. "I know it's not ideal, but we might not have..."
Just as Charon was about to finish up his discussion before changing his form, two cubs ran into the circle and knocked both Charon and Ranma down. While Charon was able to roll with the hit, Ranma didn't see the cubs until it was too late. As she landed on her back once more, she felt the fur and purring of the cubs on top of her. She opened her eyes and started shaking at the sight of the two cubs on top of her. She closed her eyes to try and ignore the cubs on top of her. She was fighting her fear, but ultimately succumbed to the fear after she opened her eyes once more to the two cubs looking down at her and what seemed to be one of their parents in their hybrid form picking them up off of Ranma. She muttered something before her eyes, once again, rolled into the back of her head.
-LINE BREAK-
Charon got up from where he was knocked down by the two cubs racing each other to see how fast they could go, Charon looked at the two on top of Ranma before their parents came running up.
"We're so sorry," One of the parents said, "We told them not to head towards the training area before they went to play."
"We just managed to catch a glimpse of them running this way." Said the mother of the two cubs, "We'll make sure that they're..."
"Mrow." The meow came from the girl on the ground where the cubs were being picked up by their father.
"Did she just meow?" the father, with both cubs under each arm.
"Mrow?" Ranma jumped back up and landed back on all fours as she had earlier in the day.
"Yes, you heard right," Charon said, gesturing them to back up slowly. "Just don't make any sudden..."
Ranma then bounded toward the father with the cubs, she circled the father and gently pawed both cubs before meowing again, jumping back away and pawing at the ground. The ground had some scratch marks dug into it, but they couldn't figure out what caused those scratch marks, as Ranma's hands were curled up when she pawed at the ground.
The father took a moment to look at Ranma again before looking at his wife and Charon. "What do you want me to do? I don't want to hurt her."
"I think she wants to play," Xeris said as she slowly made her way toward Ranma. Ranma had spotted her and trotted towards her, rubbing up against her legs before meowing again. "It's okay now. You can set the cubs down." Xeris said, as she gently held onto Ranma's shirt while kneeling. The father nodded and set the cubs down. Ranma tried to go to the cubs but was held tightly by Xeris' grasp on her shirt. The father, and the cubs, walked toward Ranma and Xeris, with the cubs sniffing the air as they got closer to the feral girl. Once Ranma also got a sniff of the air in front of her, she pawed at the ground once more, this time no marks were left on the ground. Once the cubs figured out what Ranma wanted, they began to circle her before they got closer and heard Ranma purring at their arrival. They jumped up and began to run around Ranma and Xeris before Xeris released her hold on Ranma. The cubs and Ranma started playing and Xeris looked at her husband. "Well she won't hurt the cubs, that's a relief."
Charon nodded, before looking at the other mages, jotting down notes while keeping an eye on Ranma and the cubs. "Now would be a good time to see what's going on," Charon mentioned as he faced where Ranma was playing with the cubs "Mage Sight."
What Charon found, was that the cat aura was playing along, but was in a smaller size, about half the height of where it had been, while the male and female versions of Ranma's aura followed the cat aura by floating across the landscape. "Amazing," Charon said.
"What's amazing, Charon?" Aamadu asked.
"The cat aura. It shrunk, by a whole lot."
"Just to play with those cubs?"
"I'm assuming here, but yes. Just to play with the cubs, it shrunk itself so as not to scare them." Charon mentioned.
All the mages started jotting down what was happening before talking amongst themselves while Xeris and Omari watched the three of them play, along with the parents of the two cubs. "Is this why we were to keep everyone away from the training ground today?" One of the parents asked.
"Yes, but maybe it was a good thing these cubs came today." Xeris said, "But we'd still want to keep them away from the training area still." she mentioned to the parents. "Maybe keep the racing down to the school and back." She smiled at the parents and they nodded their acknowledgement of the request.
"They will be reprimanded for this."
Ranma and the cubs finally wore themselves out after half an hour and Ranma laid down, with the cubs curling up against her. Charon was still watching them with his mage sight active and saw the form of the cat laying down like Ranma was doing, the aura almost matching the size of Ranma's female form exactly. He looked at the other two floating human forms, which the male form gestured to Charon. "I think we should try to suppress the cat form once more. This will be our last test before we go back to the drawing board." The parents of the cubs were asked to grab their children before Ranma woke up. They quietly grabbed both sleeping cubs and walked away from the training field, giving them a quiet good luck on their last attempt for the day.
The mages all nodded and began chanting with Charon watching the progress. Charon noticed that the change was slow going, but the aura of the cat started to shrink even further, without causing any harm or looks of pain on Ranma's face. After ten minutes or more, the chanting stopped and the mages took several deep breaths to get their strength back. "I think we got it now," Charon said before his mage sight spell dispersed from his eyes.
"You mean it shrank further once we started chanting?" Aamadu asked.
"Yes, but I don't think we'll see by how much until Ranma wakes up." Aamadu nodded at Charon's suggestion as they sat down on the ground to rest up and relax. Hoping that this time they were on to something.
-LINE BREAK-
Ranma woke up and stretched slightly, realizing that she was sleeping like she had done multiple times as a cat. Ranma sat up and looked over at the mages, before noticing Xeris was next to her. "I went feral again, didn't I?" Xeris nodded to the young woman and Ranma sighed softly. "Did I hurt anyone?"
"No, you didn't, you were playing with the cubs that came onto the field when you went into that state," Xeris remarked, gently patting Ranma's back.
"Just playing?" Xeris nodded again at Ranma's question.
"Just playing. You played with them for around ten minutes before all three of you took a nap." Xeris acknowledged her question, gently patting the young woman on the head. "Everything was fine once we figured out what you wanted to do." Ranma smiled at Xeris, before looking at the mages, who were gathered together.
"Did they figure something out?"
"They may have," Both women got up and started walking towards the group. As they got closer they heard the exciting discussion between the mages themselves.
"What an extraordinary thing. Let the cat aura take control and begin suppressing it with a calming technique by releasing the excess ether from it in small amounts," Aamadu said, looking at Charon, "That is what you were seeing right?"
"Yes, while we tried to pressure it down to compact the aura, it kept hurting Ranma, but by forcing it to release the ether it was holding onto it shrunk down without issues," Charon said
"By how much though?" Fafaji asked.
"Did it work as you expected?" Ranma piped up, causing the mages to look back at her. They all smiled at the young woman as if they were proud of her and their accomplishments.
"More than that, we'll still run a few more tests, but I think we have a way forward," Aamadu answered her question. "Charon, what do you see now?"
"Mage Sight." Charon said once more, "Now the auras have shifted, The cat aura is still above Ranma's male form aura, not like it was when it was playing with the cubs."
"What do you mean?" Ranma asked, tilting her head to the side. "I thought you said it was huge."
"When playing with the cubs its aura shrunk down, like it didn't want to hurt the cubs or scare them off," Charon mentioned. "But now it's shrunk down a bit, maybe a head shorter."
Ranma frowned, "That doesn't sound like a lot."
"It isn't, but it's progress." Afia stated, "We only started the process for a few minutes before we had to stop. We just couldn't handle that much aura in such a short amount of time."
Xeris patted Ranma on the shoulder before looking at her. "It's a good bit of progress. Something everyone should be proud of." Suddenly there was a growl coming from Ranma, who blushed heavily.
"I guess all that work made me a bit hungry, even after such a large lunch." The group laughed lightly at the growling of Ranma's stomach.
"Let's get dinner, We'll have it at my place," Omari said before he started to guide everyone to his home for dinner.
"So what's next?" Ranma asked the group as they were walking.
"Next we try it without you going feral and see if that causes any issues. If it doesn't, then we know of a way to help, but it would require you to be in your feral state while we fix it." Charon said, "Don't worry, we'll keep trying as much as we can so you don't have to be afraid of cats anymore."
"I would like that very much," Ranma smiled as she followed the rest of the group in between Xeris and Charon.