Ranma � is the property and invention of Rumiko Takahashi. The
following story is not produced for any monetary or personal gain.
Keep in mind the journey is almost always more interesting
than the destination.
Journey
Part Two: Stepping Out
Chapter 7
The two girls were walking at a brisk pace through one of the
more densely populated villages they had come across since their
chase had begun. It was populated enough to warrant the title of
civilization, perhaps on par with the past towns Ranma-chan had
seen while touring the countryside with her father in China. She was
still reminiscing over her travels when she was engulfed in a wave of
cold water.
The drenched girl looked at the old woman in frustration. It
had to be some kind of cosmic fate thing. People sometimes
mocked her for getting hit by the Tomboy's strikes. That was all
right, it was all part of the stamina training Akane was helping her
with. The fact that Akane was unaware of her role was unimportant,
and would probably upset her if she knew. This however was�just
unbelievable. It seemed no matter where she went some old woman
was throwing water at her. Worse, she never even became aware of
it until it struck.
Komar didn't seem to mind, though since she rode on
Ranma-chan's shoulders she was more often than not soaked as
well. The only thing she could figure was it was part of the curse.
After all her senses were finely honed. Only the most skillful or
magical fighters or creatures could even hope to surprise her.
Unless it involved water. Once that irritating liquid came into play all
bets were off. The bracers may have temporarily negated the
humiliating gender change, however water continued to find it's way
to her.
"Oh...dear. I apologize. I didn't see you there. I was just
taking care of the dust on my porch. Gets so dusty about now, you
know." The old woman said as she noticed the two girls in her path.
Ranma-chan looked at her in amazement. The evil old
woman had actually apologized to her. That was new. Usually they
just splashed her and ignored the consequences.
"Er...hi. It's all right. Accidents happen. Heh, heh."
Ranma-chan felt as if she was in the twilight zone. Her life was odd
by anyone's standard, but some things she had come to expect.
Still as long as the old woman was being polite it wouldn't hurt to
return the curtsey.
"Why don't you two come inside. It looks like you've been on
the road a bit. Besides after the mess I've made the least I could do
is give you a cup of tea."
"Sure. Tea is always welcome, besides I think Komar could
use a rest. She's been napping all day." She swung the groggy
little girl down from her shoulders and led her inside. Ranma-chan
thought she had a fair lead on the psychotic with the sword, so a
short rest wouldn't hurt. She might be untiring in this world but
Komar was exhausted by the pace she had set.
As the sat at the low table inside the old woman brought out
a kettle of hot water and several cups. Nodding towards the ornate
napkins she gestured for them to place them on their laps. Ignorant
of most customs Ranma-chan ignored the gesture until Komar gave
her a hard nudge and exaggerated placing the napkin in her lap.
Shrugging Ranma-chan grabbed her napkin and followed suit. She
barely noticed the slight tingle the cloth gave her in her hands.
What was a little more magic in this saturated land. When the
woman went to refill her drink and ended up spilling the water into
her lap, she simply sighed. It was pretty much what she had
expected.
"Oh dear. I am simply so clumsy today. Let me bring you
some snacks to make up for that. Hmm...there we go. I'll get some
more when you finish that. So what brings you to this town?"
"I'm an envoy for Lazlo. I'm here to see the Emperor. Hey
these are pretty good! I like the little symbols on the biscuits. They
look really neat. By the way we're not in Toshio or Noboru's territory
are we?" Ranma grunted as she devoured the fish and rice in front
of her. The old woman just shook her head in a good natured
fashion and brought out some other dishes she had in the kitchen.
"This is...gulp...really nice...hmm, that's good...of you."
"Thank you. No you're actually a good distance away from
that poor chaotic province. The Emperor is just a few days down the
road in Kyoto. You don't strike me as the diplomat type. Who's this
Lazlo to send a young girl alone to do this kind of job?"
"Hey! I'll have you know I'm perfectly capable. I was chosen
for this job because of my martial arts skills. I may not have a bunch
of fancy manners but I can kick the butt of any monster stupid
enough to get in my way!" Ranma-chan boasted.
"She's really good! I've never seen a fighter who can do
what she can! I want to be martial artist when I grow up and beat up
monsters and save people just like Ranko," Komar squealed
excitedly, coming awake enough to join in the conversation.
"Aren't you a little young to be out in the world, young miss?"
At this question Komar's happiness seemed to instantly drain away
and her eyes begin to fill with tears.
"M...Momma and Poppa are...are...dead." She began to
silently cry. Ranma-chan seeing this gave her food a regretful look,
then pulled the child into her lap for a hug while the young girl
calmed down.
"I came across Komar to the North. That seems to be a
border that the Oni think is theirs. I was too late to save her parents
though. Komar says she has distant relatives in Kyoto so she's
travelling with me," she said softly.
"Ah. These are indeed bad times. Can't be too careful
about things these days. It's good to see that she has a beautiful
young lady as a protector," the woman nodded sympathetically.
"Hey watch who your calling a beautiful..." Ranma-chan's
protest died as she remembered her cover. It may be useful but she
really hated being a girl. Less than she used to, but it's hard to be a
man when everyone's complementing her on her femininity. "...I
mean, I'm just shy..." she finished lamely.
"Anyway, it's good to know we're so close to Kyoto. Say...if
some deranged Samurai were, for no particular reason, chase some
poor soul out of their territory would other Daimyo and their
Samurai...er chase these people too?" Ranma-chan subtly inquired.
The woman gave her a knowing glance, "Assuming a death
wasn't involved most will ignore what takes place in other Provinces,
unless the Daimyo or Emperor specifically request aid. Can you tell
me there were no deaths."
"Not unless they've since tripped and fell on their swords,"
Ranma-chan mumbled under her breath. They really weren't that
bad for swordsmen. Before her training with Cologne and Happossai
she would have been hard pressed to handle twenty such warriors,
let alone the forty she had chasing her. To the dismay of her
opponents many of the techniques of the Amazon Matriarch and the
old�er, young pervert were designed to clear the playing field of the
less skilled to facilitate competition between two beings of similar
power levels. The lech of course abused these skills to steal and
escape the resulting mobs or put his disciples in their place, but the
principal still held.
In a louder voice she giggled in a saccharin sweet tone, "Oh
I was asking out of curiosity. It has nothing to do with me." Satisfied
that she had thrown off her questioner she noted that Komar had
calmed down enough that she could resume her interrupted feeding
frenzy.
The old woman across from her just shook her head in
disbelief. She was unsure if the young girl was joking or if she really
expected her to believe what she had just spouted. She didn't seem
like a simpleton. Maybe she was just na�ve, though a person would
have to be raised by wild bears to be that ignorant of rules of social
interaction. Not to mention a really lousy liar. Considering how her
hands were almost invisible while hovering over her plate it was
obvious her physical skills weren't lacking.
"Well, I guess we should be leaving now. Thanks for the
meal, it was delicious."
"It was the least I could do to make up for my clumsiness.
Oh, by the way I happen to know some people in Kyoto. I could
write a letter to introduce you. I'm not sure if they have the
connections to get an interview with the Emperor, but it might make
your acceptance as a envoy a little smoother," the elderly woman
modestly said.
Ranma-chan froze, while a letter would aid in her cover
identity she really had no desire to actually meet the Emperor. She
had no idea what an envoy did and anything that placed her in that
sort of position was to be avoided. As far as she was concerned
Kyoto was simply a good place to get the lay of the land and think of
a plausible reason for working her way to the Otomo Shogunate.
Thoth may have given him two background cover identities but had
helped him very little in any other way. On the other hand, the old
woman did say that her contacts probably wouldn't really make a
difference in getting an interview.
"Uh...okay?" she said uncertainly.
The priestess smiled in satisfaction. The young girl may
have had a large amount of mystic energies hanging around her but
she seemed benevolent, if a bit slow when it came to people skills.
She had shown no reaction to the blessed water, even seemed to
take the treatment with a somewhat good nature. The napkin with
the wards sewn into them likewise remained inert as did the biscuits.
She would have said some prayers over the meal, she vaguely
remembered that being a foreign custom, but considering the lack of
reaction her earlier tests had shown didn't want to go overboard. It
was odd, she could have sword the magic she sensed from the girl
had been water based, yet it had remained quiescent through her
tests. Oh well.
She smiled at the recollection of the letter she had sent. It
was so nice to be able to help those in need. It was the reason she
had become a priestess those many years ago and she had never
regretted her decision. Oh the Emperor surely would have
eventually met with Ranko, but who knows how long the poor girl
would have had to overcome hurdles of bureaucratic red tape. She
could take comfort in the idea that she had reduced the time to a
mere few days. She just wished she could see the expression on
Ranko's face when she learned of her good fortune.
It was the next day when she noticed a heavily armored
female warrior dressed in the classic Demon Queller style. She was
about to politely greet her when she noticed an unhealthy aura
surrounding the girl. Acting on impulse she splashed her with the
water used the previous day. She was about to go into her apology
speech when she noticed that a serpentine bracelet was smoking
and sizzling from the contact to the water. The girl seemed about to
glance down at her wrist when a glazed look entered her eyes.
"S...sorry about that missus. Didn't see you there."
The girl turned to look at her glassily. "That's all right. Have
you seen a red-haired demon about so high," she asked while
gesturing with her hand, becoming more animated as her attention
moved from the bracelet.
"A red-haired demon? No, can't say I have." The priestess
had been studying the girl as they talked and was coming to an
uncomfortable conclusion. She was obviously under the control of
some spell or supernatural entity. Unfortunately she was in need of
more than a simple banishment spell. The bracelet seemed to act
as some sort of anchor or conduit and nothing could be done without
removing it first. She had no illusions regarding her abilities, alone in
battle she stood no chance of success against the powerful Demon
Queller. She could feel the power of the girl from her aura and it was
significant even without the enhancement the serpent talisman
offered. The muted emanations coming from the scabbard fastened
to her back sent shivers down her spine. It would require strength to
remove the focus and it would have to be done by someone with
power greater than her own.
"Well I'll be off then. Gotta save the world you know," she
stated with some cheer.
The old woman stared at her back sadly. She was relieved
to be out of the presence of overwhelming power, but it was a shame
that such a young girl was under control of an evil force. Demon
Quellers dealt with many malevolent forces. It was disconcerting to
see one that had been overwhelmed by such powers.
Turning back towards the entrance to her home she clapped
her hands. Almost instantly a young boy scurried from the rear of
the house to stand before her.
"I will need you to run a message to Kyoto. An entity has
control of a Demon Queller. She could do much harm if not handled
properly. It would be best if she could be saved, but from the power
I felt from her, we may have to eliminate her. I think she's too good
at her trade to safely subdue. Bring me a quill and parchment, you
can run the message to the Monasteries and Daimyo on the way to
the Emperor. The Shogun will advise the Emperor on dealing with
the problem," she paused in thought. "My grandson has discretely
handled similar trials. Oh, and take the communications crystal with
you in case they wish to speak with me," she sighed. "Sometimes I
wish I hadn't chosen to live in seclusion." Even in retirement she
couldn't ignore this menace.
Ranma-chan felt a sense of foreboding flood through her.
She paused in her journey to look behind her. She had felt this way
before and had come to regret the times she ignored the warning it
represented.
"Komar, go hide in the bushes down the road. Better make
that on the other side of the hill. I don't feel anything overtly
dangerous from that direction and I need the freedom to use my
greater attacks."
"Be careful Ranko," the young girl whispered while scurrying
down the road, eliciting an absent minded nod from her red-haired
companion. Several minutes later a familiar figure on a horse rode
into view.
Ranma-chan just opened her mouth and let words flow from
them, "Hello Masayo. Every time I see you, you have something
new. Nice horse. I'd stop to chat but our conversations always
seem so limited." Her mind was concentrating on the approaching
warrior, gathering clues to her actions.
"Die Demon Spawn!" shouted the mounted girl while waving
her deadly blade.
"Yep. Knew she'd say that." Rotating her hands before her
she shouted, "Bean Jam Blowout!"
The expected whirlwind began but was drastically cut in it's
effectiveness by the opposing wind which seemed to have it's source
at the sword. Although not totally negated, the chi attack did little
more than stagger the mount and rider. At another gesture of the
sword Ranma-chan found her feet securely attached to the ground.
"Shit! I hate that spell!" As the horse closed upon the
immobile martial artist she came to a decision. She would just have
to hope that she was tougher than the approaching lunatic. She
thought she was, but you never truly knew until the moment of truth.
"Break Away Point Ground Zero!" Ranma-chan shouted
while touching the enchanted ground at her feet." The entire area
encompassing the pig-tailed girl erupted in explosion that left
nothing for twenty meters around the origin except a dust filled pit
forty meters in depth.
A rather stunned and very battered martial artist found
herself clinging to the edge of the pit. Looking around she whistled
to herself. The effects of that version of the technique was only
supposed to reduce the enchanted area around her to powder with
perhaps a small concussion as a side-effect. At least that's what it
did back home. Ranma-chan had felt her chi surge uncontrollably at
the last moment before she completed the technique but was still
surprised at the results. She'd screwed up several times at home
and hadn't achieved these effects. Looking around she attempted to
find her foe or her remains. She was warned by a slight change in
the air pressure behind her. Flipping up and over the lip of the
crevasse she came to her feet several meters from edge facing the
danger.
Suspended in the air stood Masayo, sword deeply
embedded in the ground where Ranma-chan had hung a moment
before. Although the martial artist was surprised at her opponent's
unexpected versatility she did not waste time admiring her. Taking
advantage Masayo's momentary preoccupation she leaped forward,
landing a chi empowered kick on the struggling Demon Queller. A
barrier prevented the kick from actually touching the girl but a
sudden lack of resistance told of force field that had been removed.
In a way Ranma-chan was grateful he hadn't used a Meteor kick.
The preparation time may have allowed Masayo to recover her
weapon, even though the shear damage the kick would have
inflicted would likely have ended the fight. Keeping the maniac away
from the weapon was her first priority.
Keeping between the sword on the hovering girl she
confidently approached her. Without the deadly blade she was sure
she could end this fight quickly. She was thus not prepared when
an intense gust of wind from behind her blew her off her feet and
straight into a spell Masayo had obviously been prepared to trigger.
A blue glowing network of energy encased the airborne martial artist,
wrapping around and pinning the girl's arms and legs together.
Unfortunately her momentum remained unchanged resulting in her
impacting an unprepared Masayo. In a jumble of limbs the two
enemies fell to the bottom of the crater.
Although the recent turn of events had been a surprise
Ranma-chan was experienced in using accidents for her own benefit.
This combined with relatively short distance of the fall allowed her to
maneuver herself to land on top. As expected the landing caused
little damage to Ranma-chan, Masayo likewise shrugged off the
impact forty meters had resulted in. Cursing herself for yet again
underestimating her opponent Ranma-chan quickly twisted her body
where it lay and repeatedly brought her bound feet down on the
head of the recovering Demon Queller. The first blow shattered the
protective headpiece the girl wore. The second caused the girl's
eyes to cross. The third rendered her unconscious.
Sighing in relief Ranma-chan turned her attention to her own
predicament. The spell net that bound her held her more securely
than mere rope or chains could. Finding even chi enhanced
physical force useless, she tried activating the Dimensional Cloak.
To her dismay she found the immaterial bindings following her when
she sidestepped out of reality.
Grumbling in mounting irritation she thought over her
options. She could teleport home, though who knew where she
would end up. She would have to start this journey all over again,
and the damn mystic net might even follow her there. Beside she
couldn't very well leave Komar here by herself. She could try to blow
out of it with sheer chi force, but Masayo would probably not survive
her effort whether or not it actually worked. She wasn't prepared to
go that far to get free and keep the deadly little pest out of the way.
She bet the sword could cut her bindings, but knew she couldn't
leap forty meters straight up with her hands and feet restrained.
Hearing a low moan come from the slumped figure beside
her she grimaced. She had thought the demon hunter was out of
action for longer. Rolling and wriggling like a caterpillar she
arranged her body so it lay crossways on the unconscious girls.
Straining a finger through her mystic network she attempted to press
the point responsible for inducing a deep sleep. The only problem
was it was next to other points and was very awkward reach without
clearly seeing it�
Suddenly the body under her stiffened and the unconscious
girl's left foot shot out, her knee catching Ranma-chan in the face.
Cheek slightly stinging from the blow she tried again. This time an
elbow sprang up embedding itself solidly in her midriff. Gasping
from the unexpected shock she moved her fingers to a new location
and tried again. The moaning and quivering of the girl's body
stopped, giving way to a contented snore.
Bringing her attention back to her predicament she
continued thinking. Running through her options she wasn't
pleased with her choices. There was one technique that would
probably work, but it wasn't meant to be used on oneself and would
be exceedingly difficult to employ without free movement.
A glow of focused chi began to surround her body, slowly
concentrating on one finger. With a swift movement of the digit a
small blade appeared, quickly moving in an arc away from the fallen
martial. The chi blade left a gaping hole in the magical restraints
and continued forward to create a clean incision over the surface of
the stone before slicing into the rock face at the bottom of the crater
and disappearing from view.
Ranma-chan nodded in satisfaction. The Vacuum Blades
from her father's Mountain of a Thousand Fists had finally found a
constructive use. She knew that from now on she would never need
scissors again. Still smiling at the irreverent thought she carefully
summoned several more small blades to clear off the remains of the
spell.
Kneeling at the side of the fallen girl she called forth several
items from subspace and began to put her plan for the girl into play.
With any luck it would keep the Demon Queller out of her hair.
After reaching the top of the pit she dropped Masayo off next
to the ledge and headed to the sword. There was just no way she
was letting that maniac leave with that sword. Even with her fangs
pulled it was terrifying to think of the damage the Demon Queller and
the sword could accomplish.
When she reached her hand out to touch the sword a
painful hiss escaped her lips. An agony of a lesser but similar nature
as her previous encounter with the weapon assailed her senses.
Pulling her hand back from the hilt she rubbed her aching hand
against her shirt and stared at the sword.
"There is no way I'm going to let some maniac wield an
essence sucking monster like you. Especially since I learned you
can act on your own. Heh, almost lost today because of your little
surprise. But I beat you and that's all you can expect when going up
against Ranma Saotome, you trumped up butter knife. And
furthermore I...I...I'm talking to a sword," she stopped herself in mid
rant, struck by the absurdity.
"Oh well. Since you don't have a Breaking Point, probably
indestructible, and I can't touch you, that leaves me with one option."
Picking up the still unconscious girl, she ran over the hill and
dropped her up by Komar with another warning to stay put. Going
back to the crater she used the Breaking Point to cause the lip
where the sword was embedded to collapse, sending the sword to
the bottom of the hole. Backing away from the edge she
concentrated for a moment to ensure the correct application and
shouted "Breaking Point Revised, Cascade Avalanche Strike!" Wave
upon wave of explosions burst forth, creating a straight line of
devastation as it progressed away from the pig-tailed martial artist.
Working her way carefully around the perimeter worked to collapse
the crater on top of the sword until only a large dimple in the
landscape hinted that a large hole once existed. That, and the
complete lack of flora and fauna in a large circular area.
"Well...it'll grow back...eventually," Ranma-chan muttered to
herself.
Masayo woke up feeling refreshed. That was nice. What
wasn't so nice was her complete lack of memory as to what she was
doing here. She looked around her and noticed a couple of girls
sitting about ten feet away staring at her.
"Excuse me do you know where I am? By the way, who are
you?" she asked somewhat puzzled by their presence.
"We're a about a day from Kyoto. It's over there," the red
head stated warily.
"Oh don't be afraid. I'm after an evil demon. I won't hurt
you," she assured the obviously nervous girl.
"That's very reassuring. It eases my mind knowing that," the
irony of the her tone lost on the newly woken girl.
"Have you seen any demons around? It looks
like...like...well I'm sure it's obviously a demon looking thing."
"Can't say I have. I did hear there was a monster over there,
down the trail some," she gestured to the road heading away from
Kyoto, "I'll be on the lookout though."
Masayo looked down the road for a moment. When she turn
back she noticed there were two girls she hadn't noticed before
sitting on the grass next to her.
"Er...sorry I didn't notice you there. I've got to go, there's an
evil demon out there I have to deal with. I heard it went that way,"
Masayo stated, firm in her conviction, before marching down the
road.
The two girls stared after her in silence for a few minutes.
"Wow. That technique is really scary."
"Yeah. And the woman I learned it from is even scarier."
The force empowering the bracelet was enraged, no matter
how often it prodded its tool it would go astray. At least five times
that day it had directed her towards the target. Five times they had
met the target only to politely greet it and continue on her way,
oblivious to the target's identity. It would then take several hours to
direct it's tool back towards to target and the situation would repeat
itself. If the magical serpentine conduit could move it would have
bitten its tool repeatedly out sheer frustration.
Chapter 8
Nabiki sat at the in front of the television letting the sound of
the stock market status report soothe her as she paged through the
book that described the procedures for accessing her link to Thoth.
Jess was over at Cologne's ramen shop, having successfully
convinced the Elder that training a potential ally in the lower level chi
techniques wouldn't give away any Amazon secrets and could create
significant goodwill with a large, if distant, organization. Even
Shampoo was willing to help a fellow female martial artist, so long as
she continued to show no interest in a relationship with her
'husband'.
It was getting hard to concentrate around the house. Over
the year since Ranma had arrived at her family's dojo, bringing his
special brand of madness with him, she had become used to the
constant background sound of things breaking. The sudden silence
was unnerving, not to mention distracting. Kasumi didn't seem to
mind. In fact she seemed to thrive on the sudden peace. Nabiki
was happy for her sister, but thought she might be enjoying it a little
too much. Though the lack of repair costs were a distinct positive.
A sudden merry humming distracted her from her thoughts,
drawing her attention back to the world around her. She sighed as
she noticed what her sister had decided to dust. A small, quickly
smothered chuckle escaped her.
"For 2000 yen I can take you out to dojo," listening closely to
the silence that followed her offer she said, "I'll take that as a
positive."
Walking over to where her sister was working she said,
"Here Kasumi, let me take care of this, it doesn't really suit the living
room anyway." Kasumi nodded happily while directing her
animated cleaning crew to other areas of the house. Meanwhile
Nabiki turned her attention back to the 'art' she had been referring to.
Taking hold of the stiffened form of her wealthy houseguest, she
carefully tipped her back and started to drag her out the door to the
dojo. It was slightly difficult because her guest had her arms
extended in a clawing gesture. Whether this was the opening move
of a catfight or the start of a spell Nabiki didn't know. She'd never
actually seen the results since it always ended in paralysis before it
was finished.
"You know Cindra, I really don't mind dragging you around.
It pays well, but you might consider taking your arguments out of the
house first. Hmm, hold on I'll be right back." Walking back into the
house she stood in front of the still form of her younger sister, fists
raised and an angry glare in her frozen eyes. "Since you're family I'll
only charge you 1000 yen for this...unless you want to be dusted
again? All right then." Tipping her sister over she repeated her
previous performance, dragging her sibling outside. She left the two
figures facing each other in the middle of the dojo and went back to
the living room to continue studying the book.
Jess would want to study it when she got back in the
evening. It was uncomfortable reading with someone looking over
your shoulder so she tried to stagger her study periods. She had
been tempted to charge Jess for access but Thoth had made it clear
that anyone was to have unrestricted access to this book. So far
Nabiki and Jess were the only two to take advantage of the offer but
that was to be expected, after all they were the only ones who had
bothered to find out what it was. She liked it that way; the idea of
sharing was...unnatural. The idea of sharing with the newly youthful
Cologne was just creepy.
She was just settling into reading when she felt a prickling
along her nerves. Looking up from her book she examined her
surroundings, at a loss to what could make her feel this way. A soft
crackling noise focused her attention on one of the corners in the
room. The roar of thunder and flash of light that followed brought her
to her feet so quickly the book fell haphazardly to the floor. When
her eyes had recovered from the sudden light she noticed an
envelope on the floor.
Walking warily over to the parchment she was relieved to
see the impression of an ibis icon on the wax seal. Thoth had
seemed benevolent, more so at least than the other gods Ranma
had described from his journeys. Nabiki privately wondered if
Ranma might come to regret his agreement with Anhur. From the
research she had done on the god's pantheon Anhur didn't seem
the pinnacle of goodness and light. In fact the other gods in his
pantheon were known to be outright evil. Anhur himself was known
to be honorable and not prone to irrational fits of violence and
destruction, still he was far from the side of angels. Ironically Thoth
was technically on the side of angels, since he belonged to the
Pantheon of Light. How he and Anhur became companions was a
mystery, though Thoth did have a reputation for neutrality.
Breaking the seal she opened the seal and started to read
the letter. Nabiki almost jumped from the shock when she heard
Thoth's voice accompany the words she read. Stopping, she whirled
around to find the source of the sound. The voice stopped as she
took her eyes from the parchment, looking around wildly she
sheepishly noticed that she was alone in the room.
"Magical messages. Figures," she muttered to herself,
checking again that there were no witnesses to her embarrassment.
Seeing she was alone, she again picked up the paper and continued
to read.
"Greetings my potential disciple. Anhur contacted me.
Apparently Ranma has run into a situation he has no experience
with. In order to even hope to pretend to be an envoy he needs
coaching that you are most suitable to give him." Nabiki gave the
parchment a puzzled look. Ranma was a dimension away. This
may not seem far to beings like gods and lost boys but to the more
mundane it seemed a significant barrier. The voice continued as her
eyes followed the text, "Being the charitable person you are I
suppose you're wondering how you can help the poor boy. Rest
assured I will grant you the abilities you need, the answers to this
and more are on page 200,045 of 'How To Become A Priest Of
Thoth In Ten Easy Steps'." Nabiki grimaced, it sounded like a
phrase from that Dianetics cult from America.
She was on her way to open the book when the page
number struck her. She was positive there weren't more than 200
pages, how the heck was she supposed to find such a ridiculous
number. She needn't have worried, as she turned the towards the
rear of the book her eyes widened in surprise as she found more and
more pages. There were chapters on subjects so esoteric she
couldn't even understand the titles let alone the subject. Shaking off
her fascination she kept turning the pages until she reached the one
referenced by the message.
"The ABC's of contacting another god's champion without
calling down the wrath of God," Nabiki sub-vocalized. Turning the
page she saw, "Top one hundred most valued products of Lazlo."
The page after this rather extensive and fascinating (to Nabiki at
least) chapter was, "Top one hundred most valued products of the
New Empire." Eagerly turning the pages she found the following
chapters blank, the book continued but there was no further writing.
Frowning in faint disappointment she continued back to the previous
chapters to peruse her favorite subject. Economics.
Ranma-chan paced back and forth across her suit. She
went over in her mind the events of the last few days. Where exactly
had she lost control? It seemed so simple. Find some place to stay
in the city, use diplomatic status as an excuse to get the lay of the
land, and then leave before anyone important noticed her. What
could possibly go wrong?
She should have realized that the seemingly nice old woman
was evil incarnate. The other old ladies just splashed her and
ignored her. She should have started running as soon as the old
biddy had actually spoken to her. She just hadn't realized how
vicious she truly was.
It had seemed all right at first; on the way into Kyoto she
passed under that monstrous thing they called a tree and everyone
had pretty much ignored her. Oh, sure a guard had asked her
business, but he had been polite about it. Even after an escort of
two had been assigned to her she hadn't thought anything of it.
After all, at home no one met with the Emperor, especially with such
a silly excuse. It would be like some guy with an accent going up to
the White House and telling the guards he represented Australia
and stopped by to have tea with the President, oh and could he
wrestle Mr. Turtle to demonstrate the superiority of his countries
leather goods? It just made no sense! As soon as they got to the
Palace he gave that letter from the old lady to the guard at the
entrance. That's when she had been dropped into hell.
The hell wasn't physical, after all she'd been there and
although the creatures were ugly and had serious halitosis, it was
just another physical threat. Ranma Soatome ate (figuratively
speaking) demons for breakfast. This was a hell of the nonmaterial
kind. Pops had never stressed social interaction, as far as Ranma-
chan knew Pops had no idea how to relate to anyone else except
another martial artist. Well the 'Crouching Tiger' technique might be
considered a social skill but Ranma-chan had serious doubts about
that. Going into a traditional restaurant and having the people cater
to her whims and hang on her every word, constantly bowing and
spouting what an honor it was to serve such a fine customer made
her incredibly uncomfortable. Not that it happened that often
considering her Pops chronic lack of funds. They were more likely to
beg or fight for their meal. That's the kind of social interaction
Ranma understood.
After she had delivered the letter the guards have started
acting funny. Bowing all the time, running around on numerous
god-forsaken errands for her. The only good thing to come out of
their activity was the huge meal, which Komar and Ranma-chan had
proceeded to thoroughly and efficiently devour. It had only been
scant hours later in the bath that she had found out that the old lady
was the mother or grandmother of the Shogun. Worse yet, in the
morning she was to meet the Emperor. How do you talk to the
Emperor? It probably involved a lot of bowing or something. In
desperation she had contacted Anhur. At least she thought she
had. Never having ever contacted a god before she had just stood
and yelled out his name and that she needed help with the
diplomatic thing. Komar had looked at her really oddly when she
explained she was praying, but shrugged and kept playing with a
doll a servant had brought her.
Hours later she sat alone in the large tub and started to
worry again. She was so engrossed in her thoughts and fears that
the tinny little whispering sound buzzing in her ears was ignored
until it became loud enough to be discernable as a voice.
"Ranma? Ranma! Damn I must have gotten the spell
wrong again. Sounds like the sea or something..." the voice slowly
began to fade.
"Nabiki? Is that you? What are you doing here?" the
puzzled red head asked.
"Ranma? Great! It finally worked! Thoth contacted me. He
said you might need help."
"Yeah! I sure do, I have an interview with the Emperor in the
morning and I have no idea what a diplomat does. I don't even know
how to treat an Emperor. Do I bow? If so, when?" Ranma-chan
rambled on in this vein for several minutes, only pausing briefly to
give directions to someone, until Nabiki grew tired of listening to her
whine.
"Shut up! I know politeness is not your strong point, but in
this case it doesn't really matter. You're not supposed to know any
Japanese customs. The fact that you're ignorant as a stone only
lends credence to your being a foreign diplomat."
"Hey! Yeah, I hadn't thought about that I...hey! Who are
you calling a stone!" Ranma-chan huffed indignantly.
"Now, now Ranma, don't take it personally. A big bad
martial artist like you isn't supposed to know how to be polite," Nabiki
teased.
"Well it's not like I ever had to. The only royalty I ever met
were those idiots who kept kidnapping Akane. What they wanted
with that Tomboy I don't know," Ranma-chan muttered. "And I just
beat them up. This is different. This is Japan's Emperor. He
matters."
"My how very patriotic. Don't worry about Ranma, he's not
your Emperor and you're not in our Japan. While I don't think
beating him up would be appropriate, I think he won't mind a little
looseness in manners. After all you are a 'gaijin', and you can't
expect much from them anyway."
"Thanks. You've helped so much," even though Ranma-
chan spoke sarcastically she was feeling much better about the next
morning's meeting. Nabiki might have a cutting wit, but she also
made some excellent points.
"Anyway, that's not the reason I'm contacting you. They may
excuse ignorance of Japanese customs, but even the worst diplomat
should be prepared for possible trade. What I'm going to do is give
you a list of items Lazlo would like to trade and a list of items they
would like to import. And the exchange rate."
"Wow, thanks Nabiki that's really nice of you I...wait a
minute, that really is nice of you! What are you getting out of this?"
Ranma-chan asked suspiciously.
"Well to transfer these goods the two countries will need my
transportation services. I will, of course, accept a mere five percent
for my services," Nabiki stated magnanimously.
"What transportation services?"
"Thoth offered to set up a permanent dimensional circle in
the guest bedroom. He's going to put in the location of the New
Empire and Lazlo, maybe a few others lately. Since I will be acting
as the middleman I will naturally be paid for my services."
"Oh. I guess that makes sense�wait a minute, did you say
guest room? Cindra's in the other guest room so...where am I going
to sleep?!"
"Ranma, Ranma, Ranma don't be such a worry wart. We'll
work something out when you get back."
Ranma-chan could just imagine. She was either going to be
sleeping in the dojo or sleeping next to a dimensional nexus.
Sometimes life really sucked.
"Yeah, right," Ranma-chan said with a surly undertone. "Let
me grab some paper and we can go over that list of yours."
Glancing around the bath room she went in search of writing
materials.
"By the way, who was the girl that wandered in asking about
a demon?" asked Nabiki.
Ryouga was confused. In a way it was a comfortable state of
mind. One that he had spent the majority of his life in. For as long
as he had been capable of walking he had no idea where he was.
He hadn't realized that this was unusual until much later in life. The
last few weeks had been a revelation. It was true he hadn't suddenly
gained a sense of direction, but he had gained a sense of continuity.
No longer did he turn into an alleyway only to find himself in the
woods or on a ship or that hideous time with the women's locker
room. Now if he paid attention he could notice how paved roads
would give way to dirt roads, then to trails and then finally forest. Of
course he had spend most of his life ignoring his surroundings, after
all paying attention never helped get him where he wanted to be.
Learning the fine art of being cognizant of the world around him had
been an unnerving, but rewarding experience.
He had thrown away this terrifying freedom when he had
removed the ankle restraints. Now he was getting reacquainted with
that fuzzy disconnected feeling that had in the past marked most of
his existence. It was disheartening but he took some dim comfort in
the fact that when he found Ranma he could anchor himself once
more. After releasing some of the tension he had accumulated in
the interim.
Looking around him, he saw only enormous buildings on all
sides. Due to their sheer size it was impossible to tell the time of day
from the sky. All that could be seen was a dim glow that could
indicate almost any time during the day. Glancing at the streets
around him he was reassured to find that there were humans
walking the street. His most recent travels had been the oddest in
his memory. The last city where he had found giant bipedal animals
roaming the streets had been a shock, and yesterday he had almost
blown himself to pieces when he had experienced huge fluctuations
within his chi levels while wandering the woods somewhere.
Most of the traffic was along the ground, well sort of along
the ground. The vehicles hovered several feet above the street,
obeying some arcane signals not readily visible. More vehicles could
be seen several hundred feet above, sandwiched in an almost
uniform layer. This left large horizontal areas of empty space
between the buildings that was used by the occasion one man
vehicle and flying motorcycle contraption.
He walked up to the nearest figure, attention still held rapt by
the well ordered chaos displayed in the air above him. "Excuse me.
Have you seen a red headed girl named Ranma around here?"
"No, I'm afraid I haven't, sir," a rather flat metallic voice
responded. The odd intonation forced Ryouga's attention away from
the aerial ballet above to focus on the person before him. Standing
several feet away was a humanoid appearing robot. At least he
guessed it was a robot. It wore a uniform vaguely reminiscent of the
police officers at home. The body was sculptured to show the same
muscle definition that would be shown by a well build organic male.
And it certainly looked realistic, although the breaking points he
sensed seemed to indicate it was mostly inorganic. Well the head
had very few breaking points, perhaps it was made of a less
crystalline material.
"Er...well. Heh, heh, heh. I mean...are you a robot?"
Ryouga's diplomacy was usually several grades better than Ranma's
but he was also more easily confused. An artificial man was enough
to allow less well thought out words spring from his mouth.
Fortunately the entity before him was tolerant of the feebleminded.
"Ah. You must be a visitor from the New Empire. No. I am
a cyborg. Officer Matsuda at your service. I believe you nature
worshippers call our kind the 'pseudo robot abominations'," sighing
to show that he didn't take the sentiment too personally, he
continued, "You must be here for the anti tech protest. You may be
our descendants, but I still don't know where you get your logic
from." As the metallic man spoke further Ryouga could detect more
traces of real personality hidden behind the voice modulation.
"Logic?" a bewildered Ryouga asked.
"Yeah, logic. Technology had nothing...well as far as we
know nothing directly to do with the holocaust. Heck, as I
understand it was the monsters and natural disasters that killed
most of the people back then. The temporal anomaly that shoved
our cities into the future did us a favor. We would have been
destroyed along with everybody else if it weren't for technology.
Even if it was an accident. If you want to spout about the horrors of
technology why not take it to Ichto or H-brand. Those arrogant
bastards actually deserve to be protested. If course they'd probably
arrest you, but if you want to complain about tech abuse why not go
to the people who do the abusing."
Ryouga was trying to make some sort of sense of the
conversation. He vaguely recalled Thoth mentioning something
about some time travelling cities in the world where Ranma was to
be travelling. He had been too preoccupied by the paralysis to pay
very close attention but he did recall some key names.
"So...is this the Republic of Japan?" Ryouga hesitantly
asked.
The cyborg stood still for a moment, then shook his head in
wonder. "They actually let you out on your own? Sheesh, let's get
you back to your group. No doubt they need all their people to
preach about how evil machines are." It started to walk away,
pausing to look over its shoulder to ensure Ryouga was following.
"Well come on."
Ryouga finished putting the metal bands around his legs
and then hurriedly caught up to the officer.
Chapter 9
The black robed man sat behind an elaborate oak desk
quietly drumming his fingers on the surface. After a few minutes of
concentration he turned his attention to his ninja garbed minion
standing before him. The waiting figure may have been nervous but
the man's form held impossibly motionless throughout the interview,
giving no clue to his state of mind.
"How did this envoy from Lazlo get past our guards? You
assured me that they had no access to other portals." His voice was
grim, holding a vague hint of threat in it.
"I can only assume that the man we questioned was
unaware of any other gates or backup plans. The leaders of Lazlo
must be truly ruthless and shrewd to keep such secrets from their
senior diplomats," the man's flat tone replied.
"I had been under the impression that this 'city state' was
weak. I am impressed that they could implement such a clever feint.
Obviously they had far more information regarding our country than
they shared with their cat's paw." A short pause followed as the
followed the implications of the new revelations. "You reported that
the man we captured was easily subdued. It seems they have sent
a throwaway agent to us while sending the real envoy another route.
Very shrewd. I want security tightened. They somehow must have
known about us. Have the mages search for other portals. The real
envoy had to have come into the country somehow."
"As you wish, my Lord."
"Our original intent in eliminating the envoy was to keep the
political situation static while our plans moved forward...and of
course keeping our enemies as isolated as possible. We have failed
in that respect. Once the Emperor accepts the real envoy, the web
of alliances will shift as each territory vies for the attention of Lazlo's
agent. The first significant contact with a real humanoid power
outside Japan will create quite a stir."
"I realize the information we received from the prisoner is
suspect, but if even part of what he stated is true, Lazlo is not a very
significant power. I'm sure it's impressive locally but from what we
know it does not have the resources to reach further."
"I know. If it were a simple matter of real power, we could
simply ignore them. Considering their relationship with its
neighbors, their very future is in question. However, the facts aren't
an issue here. They will be perceived as having far more power than
they actually wield, simply due to ignorance. We have had the
luxury of thoroughly questioning one of their agents."
"My Lord, the government may have duped their own agent
but I think we can trust the information we extracted regarding
general political and geographical issues. Unless false information
was implanted in the prisoner's mind, it would be difficult to
convincingly fake this."
"I think we should accept most of the intelligence we've
gathered, but on this issue it's a matter of perception. If the Emperor
is able to start serious negotiations with a foreign power they will be
perceived as being in a very favorable position. Perhaps favorable
enough to convince otherwise neutral powers to support them when
we initiate our plan. In this case any change would most likely not
be in our favor."
"We could move up our timetable. Our Atlantean allies have
not completed their preparations but all of our agents are in place.
Even the agents that have been enhanced by Atlantean Bio-wizardry
are mostly recovered and have resumed their positions. We are
ready."
"While it's true we weren't depending on our overseas allies,
it would have ensured success�still, the situation can only change
for the worse. I agree. I will meet with the Shogun and suggest we
move up stage one of our plan."
"I will prepare, my Lord."
"One more thing. I have come to trust your judgement over
the years. This miscalculation is unfortunate but understandable,
we've obviously underestimated Lazlo, but based on the information
we had at the time it is acceptable. This time. Don't give me further
cause to be disappointed in your grasp of the situation. I would
prefer to be able to continue counting on you in the future."
Ranma-chan warily stepped through the doors into the
room. The chamber was spacious, easily fitting the small throne that
sat on the dais at the opposite end of the room, the numerous
greater and lesser nobility scattered throughout the area, and twenty
heavily armored guards surrounding the throne. There were
balconies twenty feet above the ground, where more guards stood
armed with bows. The entire room made her tingle and itch, hinting
at intricate magics she could pinpoint.
She had walked into the room, confident in her ability to act
the ignorant gaijin. This had been slightly impacted by the sudden
deathly silence that abruptly fell as she stepped over the threshold.
A rough corridor opened in the throng before her and it was evident
that most of those before her had eyes only for the woman from a
foreign land about to confront their Emperor.
A quiet cough came from her side as the older gentleman
that had led her in nodded towards the throne and started walking in
that direction. Ranma-chan sighed gratefully at the subtle hint and
walked beside the fellow towards the throne.
Ranma-chan was too nervous to pay much attention to the
decorations and tapestries adorning the wall, let alone the elaborate
style of the courtiers surrounding her. For her own part she was
dressed a slightly more sophisticated style of Chinese dress than her
usual plain pants and shirt. Detailed stitched dragons and various
mythical beasts decorated the sides of the suit. It was fortunate
Ranma-chan needed only her imagination, as her enchanted cloak
supplied the apparent skill and quality. She had never thought to
use it in this fashion, but looking back it may have been the most
useful item she owned. Well, perhaps the second most useful, the
manacles that froze the curse being the most useful.
When they approached the throne Ranma-chan sketched a
stiff bow. She knew the westerner women did something call a
curtsey but was clueless as to the specific mechanics of the
maneuver. No one had ever bothered to challenge her to martial
arts diplomacy. Next to her the escort began the introductions.
"Greetings, Your Highness. Allow me to introduce the envoy
from Lazlo. Lazlo is located on what was once known as the
Northern American Continent and it what is known as a 'city-state' of
the area," the courtier smoothly integrated an explanation into the
introduction. Doubtless the Emperor already knew such details but
this may not have held true for the other less privileged members of
the court.
"Welcome to our country. I hope you have had a pleasant
journey. Our land has been experiencing some minor troubles from
the neighboring oni. I trust you haven't been bothered too much by
them," the cultured tones of the Emperor rang out clearly from the
throne.
"Er...thank you. No, it's been fun. Beating up oni is a good
pastime. Though they're a bit dull after a while. The weirdoes on the
horses were a bit more fun. Well they would have been if I hadn't
been in a hurry. It's hard to enjoy a decent battle when you're on a
schedule..." Ranma-chan cut off her rambling as she noticed the
people around her were staring. More than they had been. "I
mean...Thanks." Ranma-chan ended rather lamely.
"You must be quite the warrior," the Emperor politely
comment into the uncomfortable silence that followed."
"Well, I am the best martial artist I know of," Ranma-chan
stated, thankful to have the conversation on something she knew
about. "It was the main reason I was chosen for this job. The last
fellow sent from Lazlo died sometime soon after he arrived in the
country. I don't know the details, but they needed someone who
could survive long enough to actually get somewhere."
"I was unaware that your city had suffered such losses. You
have my condolences," the Emperor stated sympathetically.
Ranma-chan shrugged, "I didn't know him."
"Oh. Well I welcome you to by country. I look forward to
building a relationship between our two nations."
"Great. Relationships are good," Ranma-chan replied, not
sure where the conversation was going but satisfied that no one had
claimed she was a fraud. "There is one thing I needed to ask you..."
The Emperor looked at he attentively waiting for the typical
diplomatic phrases that seemed almost universal, "Yes?"
"I rescued a little girl in the woods a few days north of here.
Her name was Komar. She mentioned that she had relatives in the
city. Would it be possible to find them..." Ranma-chan finished
uncertainly. She had left Komar in their room because she did not
know what kind of reception she would find with the court. Nobody
seemed interested in the little girl so it fell upon Ranma-chan to
ensure her needs were dealt with.
"That is very admirable. I'll have my record keepers look into
it. We try to keep track of the lineage of the families. Now tell us
about your city, Lazlo. It seems unusual that they would send their
people so far from home."
"Well it's an interesting mix," Ranma-chan slowly began,
racking her brains on the information she had read. "The city relies
mostly on magic to function and provide most modern conveniences.
They...we aren't anti-tech and we do import a significant amount of
machinery from the friendlier neighbors such as the Ishpeng Empire,
and Northern Gun. The closest thing we have to a technical base of
our own are the Techno-wizards. I'm no magic user but they don't
really use machines. They kinda take pieces of machines and glue
crystals to them and somehow get them to work by magic." Ranma-
chan noticed that the people around her were frowning and belatedly
realized that these people had outlawed technology from their
country. "But we mostly rely on magic. We welcome any creature
that is willing to come in peace and work in harmony with others.
The ruling council even includes an Ancient Dragon," please don't
ask me his name, she thought to herself.
"Your city sounds like a very pleasant place. The New
Empire has outlawed technology within our borders, however we do
have allies who have yet to realize the evil inherent within such
devices. The Republic of Japan is an honorable ally, though
misguided. We accept an ally based on actions and honor. We
worry for the possible evil they may inflict upon themselves, but will
not force them to change." This speech was somewhat lost on
Ranma-chan, who appreciated the sentiments but failed to see the
relevance. This had mattered little, the words were meant to be
directed at the courtiers who had been glaring daggers at the
envoy's mention of technology. These people did register the words
of the Emperor and forced the hostility they displayed to dissipate, or
at least better concealed.
"Oh, well that's nice. I used to have a watch but I hocked it
for some magic stuff," Ranma-chan chimed in with her own
preference for magic. She had nothing against technology but had
to admit magic had been of far more use to her. She had never
really liked that watch anyway. "Anyway, there are some tech-based
powers in the area like..." now what were those people in the
Chicago area called, ah yes, "the Coalition that are fanatically anti-
magic. We're not really that close to one another so there's not much
except a few skirmishes between us. For now. One of the reasons
we are sending out people to other nations is the possibility of future
conflict. It never hurts to have more allies than enemies." Ranma-
chan knew this from experience, having barely more allies than
enemies at home. Many times the distinction between them grew
blurred.
The Emperor twitched. This envoy was very unusual. She
seemed very open and honest. He had never heard of a diplomat's
opening speech mentioning that a relationship with them might
embroider them in open war with a third nation. This was usually
considered a bad thing to initially bring up. She may have had a
point about being chosen more for her fighting abilities than her
political savvy.
"Yes we also have some tension with some of the cruder
neighbors. Most nations have their share of disrespectful
companions," the Emperor politely offered, thinking of the
insufferable and irresponsible behavior shown by Ichto to the
downright evil hostility of the Otomo Shogunate.
"I really don't have the authority to open any kind of talks
except on some trade. If that goes well they'll probably send
someone a bit more experienced to talk about more important
issues," Ranma-chan stated off handedly.
The Emperor pondered this comment for a moment. It was
almost unheard of to talk of trade or other 'real' issues on the first
meeting, especially in the main audience hall in front of literally
hundreds of people. Still the envoy seemed to be truthful and
obviously meant well, despite the extremely brunt approach. "I
hadn't planned on laying out any specific issues on our first meeting.
However, there is no harm in beginning such discussions. Tell me
what does Lazo have that you think we might trade for. The
specifics we will speak of in more private surrounding." Sighs of
disappointment issued from the people of the court, it would have
been interesting to witness all of the negotiations with the blunt
spoken foreigner.
"What do we have? Hold on a moment I have it written
down here..." Ranma-chan started searching through her subspace
pockets for Nabiki's list she had copied down last night. "...no that's
not it. No, not that. Hey! Cool! I hadn't realized kept that around."
By that time she had a respectable pile of rubbage gathered at her
feet, from extra shirts to a tea set she had used the time she had
been challenged to martial arts tea ceremony. Pulling out a
drumstick from last nights meal she absentmindedly stuck it in her
mouth and started chewing on it while searching for elusive paper.
"Heh...heh. I'm sure I have it in here somewhere. So that's where
that ring of speed went. Ah...didn't need it anyway. That's Akane's
old hammer, what's it dong in there? Hmm...what's that? Argh!
Damn! I thought I gave all of these to Kasumi."
Meanwhile the court had been treated to the odd sight of the
small red-headed girl pulling ridiculously large objects out of nowhere
and dropping them on the ground at her feet. Most thought it was
magic, either spells or incorporated into clothing. Only a few priests
and the more powerful Samurai in the Emperor's guard felt the flux of
tightly controlled chi pulsing around the girl. The Emperor used his
senses to feel the energies surrounding the Lazlo envoy and came
to his own conclusion. He would confirm it with the priests but this
girl just may be almost as good a martial artist as she thought she
was. She at least had some tricks that he had only previously seen
done with magic. The sight of the diplomat fending off a floating
feather duster interrupted his contemplation. The enchanted object
was a blur as it beat upon the frustrated girl until with a frustrated
growl about roasting chestnuts (obviously a curse phrase common in
Lazlo) her hands became invisible, plucking the offending tool from
the air and removing to wherever it had come from. Then, with a cry
of triumph she brought forth a rather ragged looking piece of paper.
It actually looked vaguely familiar.
"Here it is. Okay...Let's see...Lazlo has Chicken Teriyaki,
Dim Sum, rice and...soy sauce? That sounds pretty good." Ranma-
chan trailed off looking confusedly at the paper she was holding.
The martial artist blushed a brilliant crimson followed by a moment of
silence. "Er...sorry about that. Heh, heh, that was last night's
menu. My list is on the other side." Quickly flipping the parchment
over she began reading again, "Wheat, oranges, apples, tomatoes,
potatoes, steel, copper, oak, a bunch spices I can't pronounce...say,
I sense something's not quite right." She interrupted her list of trade
goods to look around her, her eyes finally coming to rest on the
balconies surrounding the sides of the chamber.
A sudden fog erupted into the room, seeming to cause no
direct damage. Then it registered, the constant tingling that had
sent annoying and distracting sensations throughout her nervous
system was gone. As the mist reached throughout the room it
engulfed the enchanted globes of light illuminating the area, causing
them to flicker, then abruptly die out leaving the room illuminated
only by the sunlight coming through the elevated windows. A blue
dome of energy flickered and disappeared around the Emperor's
throne, giving visible evidence to another bit of protective magic that
had been dispelled. Almost simultaneously large explosions ripped
through the balconies around the chamber, throwing the now lifeless
archers from their perches. Waves of black clad warriors vaguely
resembling ninja leapt through the still smoking archways falling like
a stream of blackness over the balcony and converging on the
throne. A faint roaring could be heard in the background, slowly
increasing in volume.
The Emperor's guard instantly rushed to close with the
horde, stopping their advance cold for several seconds. Ranma-
chan had been about to jump into the fight with the assassins when
she paused for thought. She had an excellent sense for tactics and
it was obvious their goal was the Emperor. If she jumped into the
crowd she had no doubt that she could rid herself of the even the
overwhelming number she saw before her. It wasn't like she had to
hold back like she had with the silly samurai that had previously
attacked her. However, the ninja closing from the other sides would
then have free access to their target. Her only effective option was to
protect the Emperor with her immediate proximity. Action followed
thought as she covered the forty feet distance between the two in a
bound. The Emperor raised an eyebrow, but obviously did not
consider her a threat, as he did not hail the guards remaining near
him, only nodding to her in greeting.
From her higher vantage Ranma-chan was able to watch the
progress of the battle. She noted that the ninja were extremely fast.
Almost as fast as she herself was, though they obviously lacked the
strength and durability that a chi master would possess, and she
could sense no real focus of their inner strength. They also wore
some kind of harness or armor under their black clothing which was
standing up well against the assault of the guards and many of the
courtiers that had joined the battle. In fact even though the
Emperor's guards possessed the superior skill it was obvious they
were going to lose. There were far too many of the ninja clad
attacker's to doubt otherwise.
It was a frustrating situation, the attackers and defenders
were too closely packed to use any large chi attacks. Occasionally
an attacker would burst through the defending guards. These
Ranma-chan picked off with a precise chi burst. The first time she
did this she earned a surprised look from the Emperor and his
guards. "Is there a basement under this room," she asked while
watching the melee below, the roaring sound of approaching
machinery concerned her as much as the fighters around her.
"No, this chamber is built upon solid bedrock," the Emperor
replied.
"What about the wall behind the throne?"
"There is ten feet of solid stone, behind that is the palace
proper," the Emperor worriedly said while watching his guards fall
back, their numbers reduced moment by moment.
Ranma-chan finished off another attacker that had charged
forward. As she looked up from the smoking body the roar built to a
crescendo as the upper windows blew inward allowing the view of a
huge mechanical figure floating in the air, supported by jets. By the
sound it could be guessed that this was only the first of many.
"Shit," Ranma-chan announced to the people around her.
The metallic figure immediately focused it's attention on the raised
dais, bringing a huge rifle of some sort to bear and firing in a single
motion. Ranma-chan saw the action and moved in front of the
Emperor and allowed her training and senses to move her hands in
an invisible pattern. When the thunderous roar of her hands moving
far faster than sound died down she saw with regret that the
Emperor's personal guards were no longer standing. Fortunately
she had been successful in her attempt to keep the primary target
safe. Letting her chi build to dangerous levels she let loose with a
barrage of chi bolts aimed at the floating mechanism. She doubted
it would be eliminated but she hoped to buy time.
Turning to the wall behind the throne she shouted for the
Emperor to stay well behind her before using a series of Breaking
Points on the surface. Checking to make sure there were no other
immediate dangers she gestured for the Emperor to go through the
tunnel. As he passed her a quick Breaking Point partly sealed the
Emperor's exit and she turned back toward the war torn room, battle
aura flaring. Several other windows blew inward, hailing the arrival of
more robotic monsters.
Ranma-chan cracked her knuckles, a maniacal smile on her
face. Today was a good day to kick butt.
Ryouga followed his guide through several side streets
before arriving in front of a sleek looking skycycle of a design similar
to some he noticed flying above. The main difference seemed to be
a colored light, presently quiescent, on the raised portion just behind
the driver. That and the large cannon that seemed integrated with
the nose of the vehicle.
Although he had been largely ignored when he had been
wandering around alone, walking with his metallic companion
showed him an entirely different face of the city. The men and
women who passed them gave respectful nods and silently moved to
allow easy passage. Ryouga may have believed this was due to fear
except for the children that ran up to his companion, chattering
excitedly about how they wanted to be a cyborg when they grew up
so they too could protect humanity. It was almost like walking next
to a real hero. Ranma usually got that kind of attention. Well, okay
children didn't moon over him, it was the grown women that threw
themselves at Ranma that irritated Ryouga.
It was a relief when the boarded the skycycle. Ryouga
wasn't used to being in the limelight as much as when he was
walking with the officer. It may have been paranoid, but he always
felt like he was the butt of some cosmic joke when people stared at
him. He was distracted from his thoughts when the machine
vibrated slightly and rose from the ground. Ryouga looked around
with interest.
"I bet you haven't flown on one of these things. Heh, flying
has gotta be one of the best things about technology," the officer
stated with a slight smirk in his voice.
"Well, it certainly is more relaxing when you don't have to
worry about where you're going to land," Ryouga agreed. It was
almost impossible to be a powerful martial artist and not be punted a
few hundred feet in the air on occasion. Happossai alone had sent
him and Ranma flying many times. It was almost enjoyable until you
landed.
Matsuda sat silently behind the controls trying to make
sense of his passenger's response. After a few minutes he
shrugged and ignored it. The New Empire seemed to send all it's
oddballs to the Japanese Republic. They said they were protesting
the evils inherent in technology, but he personally thought they were
trying to export their nutcases.
After about a half-hour of weaving between the traffic they
approached a huge building. Looking at it grow to twice it's largest
neighbor's size as they neared the structure simply enunciated the
difference between itself and the city around it. If the city as a whole
was compared to canyons and ravines, this building was a mountain.
"Here we go, nature boy. The City Council Building. Right
out front...blocking the entranceway again, I might add...are the rest
of your friends," the cyborg stated as the started to descend to
ground level. It was only at this point that Ryouga noticed the large
crowd gathered in front of the building. They seemed to be wearing
more traditional clothes. He had to admit that his clothes made him
look as if he had just stepped out for a stroll from this group. He
wondered if any of these people knew where Ranma was.
"Um, why are we protesting outside this building again?"
Ryouga tentatively asked.
As if speaking to a particularly slow child, officer Matsuda
responded, "Well I admit I would rather you went and protested in
front of the city dump and blocked the land bound traffic over there.
Too bad some brilliant member of your group had the idea, 'Hey, why
don't we stage our protest in front of the City Council Building so we
can send our message of displeasure to the Government and people
in power rather than just honking off the garbage men and junkyard
dogs'," the cyborg stated with heavy sarcasm.
"Oh. That makes sense," Ryouga tried to throw off the
sensation that he was being mocked. Not everyone he met was out
to get him.
"Okay, time to get off and join your little group of close
minded little men," Matsuda stated while gesturing at the ground the
cycle was resting on and the crowd about fifty feet away.
Ryouga swung off the cycle and went over to crowd of
people giving a polite nod of thanks to the nice officer. As he walked
over to the people by the entranceway he heard a series of loud
explosions far above him. Automatically swinging his umbrella free
from his backpack he looked upwards.
Far above him, over the smaller buildings surrounding the
Council Building he saw what appeared to be glowing holes in the
sky. From these openings issued streams of robots. Most of the
larger humanoid robots had two normal arms and two more, smaller
arms built into the chest. While Ryouga was no expert on
technology he would lay bets that the devices being carried by both
sets of limbs were weapons. The smaller more human sized figures
far outnumbered their hulking brethren and seemed intend on
strafing the building and its defenders. The oversized mechanical
creatures that had already landed on the building were firing missiles
at the windows of the top floor and the mechanical dragon shaped
creatures, which seemed to be defending the Council Building.
Some of the invaders were setting up several launching devices
which Ryouga guessed held more missiles.
While all this was interesting to Ryouga, what caught his
immediate attention was the glitter of glass and various debris
raining down on him from above.
Ranma-chan unhappily looked at the devastation around
her. As far as she could tell most of the guards were dead. The
courtiers that had entered battle had either died or retreated once
the Emperor was no longer in danger. While this gave her a little
more freedom to attack there were still a few living guards strewn
around the floor. Well she would just have to draw some attention to
herself.
Leaping into the crowd of the twenty remaining ninja,
Ranma-chan went to her work with a will. Leaping and dodging, she
was able to dance around the augmented men. She was steadily
taking hits from the crowd of attackers. They were far too quick to
face with impunity. However Ranma-chan did have the advantage of
resilience and a lesser advantage of speed. The strikes she leveled
at her attacker were mostly from the Mountain of a Thousand Fists
which struck critical points such as the heart with chi enhanced
force. The Mountain of a Thousand Fists also included the Vacuum
Blade technique, but this was extremely expensive in terms of chi
and not efficient against multiple opponents. Not to mention that the
very thought of slicing a human being into several parts made her
queasy. Nope, that technique was far better used for scissors and
other emergencies. The critical strikes were working for now.
Now that the anti-magic fog had dissipated, several of the
faster ninjas were glowing a bright blue shade. Ranma-chan
guessed these were shields and concentrated her efforts on those
she believed she could take out with one blow. Most of the black
clad people she hit stayed down, though it was obvious that a few
were merely stunned. Frowning she took stock of her injuries. A few
scrapes, cuts and numerous bruises decorated her hide, but nothing
debilitating. Those down for the count were the non-shielded ninja's,
leaving ten very fast and probably very well armored individuals.
Around the side of the room stood five of the huge mechanical
monsters, simply watching the combat. Wait a minute, two of them
weren't watching the fight, they had moved over to the thrown and
were moving the rubble away. Time for some maneuvering.
Leaping over the black clad men Ranma-chan reached the
occupied troops. There was no need to yell about yen since they
were already facing away. A raking claw, combined with the
Breaking Point almost ripped the first nine foot tall robot half. The
second one was just beginning to turn in her direction when Ranma-
chan's next strike tore a gaping hole in the side of the main body of
the second. The robotic creature instantly dropped giving her some
hope that it was taken out of the battle. She had a moment of
satisfaction before the other three mechanisms struck.
Although she sensed the eighteen missiles streaking
towards her, dodging proved ineffective. She frantically dodged six,
unfortunately this placed her in position to be struck by one of the
others. While this missile exploded the other seventeen which she
had temporarily outmaneuvered doubled back and hit her from
behind. The resulting massed explosion was so large it threw her
across the room. She received vague impressions of flying at high
speeds past black clad figures before she stuck the entrance door,
easily bursting through it to imbed herself on the wall behind it.
As her stunned mind tried to gather her senses together,
she strained to pull herself out of the wall. She finally succeeded
removing herself from the vertical surface and almost had figured out
how she had got there in the first place when she sensed presences
behind her. The world seemed strangely silent and she could only
guess that her hearing was temporarily stunned. Staggering and
weaving she turned to face the door she had just blown through to
see the familiar black clad figures she had just flown by.
It was hard to determine facial expressions through the
masks, but their body language expressed shock. Ranma-chan
snickered drunkenly at them, probably surprised to see me moving
let alone staring back at them. A single tear trickled down her
cheek. She had an ace in the hole, but had really not wanted to use
it. Still, since it was obvious her life depended on it�
"Anything Goes..." she whispered, then shouted the next
phrase at the ten people gathered in the doorway. "Vacuum Blades!"
she cried out while striking the air before her in a criss-crossing
motion.
With a sick fascination she watched the energy crescents
expand before her. Upon reaching those in the doorway it didn't
even pause for the shimmering blue fields. Each one flared once
before disappearing. Each victim of the attack gave an aborted
scream, gasp, or whimper before they were silenced.
Limping painfully slowly made her way over to the doorway,
where she had made her dramatic exit. As she made towards the
threshold she made a point not to look at the grisly remains of her
attackers. She had three more mechanisms to deal with. Ranma
Saotome never gave up.
Ryouga looked at the falling debris, then at the people
around him and came to a decision. His umbrella could only shield
one person, his bandanas might save a few more. However it was
possible to defend by attacking. If you were depressed enough.
The thought of hundreds of people dying due to his inaction was very
depressing.
Gathering the depression within him he pushed it out,
spreading it in a larger area than he had in previous uses, yelling,
"Perfect Roaring Lion Bullet." Perhaps the lack of time that he had
to unleash chi blast affected the usual side effects, but Ryouga felt
little of the normal fatigue he would normally be subject to. Of
course likewise due to the lack of time the blast was far weaker than
his usual 'Perfect' chi attack. For this reason he was still conscious
and able to see his energy blast vaporize the falling rubble and
continue upward to engulf one of the portals and the metallic figures
surrounding it, then fall towards the top of one of the occupied
buildings.
When the energy blast faded the portal could be seen
rapidly spiraling shut. No robots were visible on that particular
building. Seemingly wiped off the face of the earth. Along with the
roof of the building.
The cyborg Ryouga had arrived with was waving his arms
attempting to move the endangered people into the building across
the way. Only half of the protesters were even looking in his
direction, many just stood there looking mesmerized at the battle
occurring above them. A loud crackling of energy emitted by the
cyborg's hand gun focused the crowd's attention back on the
ground, enabling him to move the rest of the group into safer
quarters.
When the cyborg came back out he walked over to Ryouga,
whose attention was on the small war above them.
"Can you pull off another one of those bomb things?" the
cyborg asked. The weapons on board the cycle were smaller guns
meant for normal criminals and the occasional oni. The conflict
above them was something the police cyborg was not presently
equipped for.
"No. I don't have enough energy left. Usually those things
knock me out too. If those things were on the ground I could do
something. I think I might be able to knock them out if I can touch
them. I can almost see their Breaking Point from here. I can do a
lot of things, but flying is not one of them."
Matsuda didn't understand everything the kid said, but
considering what he had recently witnessed was willing to trust the
boy wasn't just babbling. "Okay, if I can get you up there, can you
take them out?"
"Sure. If I can touch them. There are a lot of them. I'm not
sure we can really make a difference," Ryouga stated, becoming
depressed again.
"All we need to do is keep them occupied. The Civil Defense
Force is on the way and will be here pretty soon. They may look
numerous right now, but the Force can bring overwhelming force to
bear. When they get here. What we can do is keep them busy and
distracted until that happens. Are you willing?" the officer asked
nervously. The kid was probably the only way he could make a real
impact on the battle. If he said no he might as well sit on the
sidelines and flip them the finger.
He needn't have worried, assured that he could make a
difference Ryouga was happy to help. "Alright, if you say so. You
drive and shoot and I'll take care of the rest."
Hopping on the cycle Ryouga readied his bandanas and
umbrella. He doubted the bandanas would do much, but he might
be able to disarm some of the attackers. They rose quickly to then
edge of one building where the enemy had set up several missile
racks aimed at the Council Building. Upon rising over the lip of the
building Matsuda gunned the cycle toward one of the large Robot
Vehicles. While the cycle may have been lacking in armament and
armor, it had speed to spare. Ryouga found himself going from
almost stationary to mach one in an eye blink. Ryouga prided
himself on his martial arts skill, but his first blow to the first
thirty-five
foot tall opponent was sloppy. Despite this the Breaking Point was
struck, though all Ryouga could make out was a distant explosion
behind him.
"Hey! What's the big idea? How am I supposed to hit them
if I can barely see them before they're gone?" Ryouga complained.
"Do your best." Matsuda stated shortly, "This cycle may be
able to take one or two hits, but surrounded by a virtual army, hit and
run tactics are the best we can expect. Did you get that one?"
"I think so. We were past it so fast it's hard to tell. Turn
around and see if one of them has a big hole in their chest."
"All right. Be prepared for another run. We'll keep going
after the big ones, they have most of the missiles and larger
weapons."
After they turned the cycle around it took a moment to
approach the Council Building once again. As they closed they were
gratified to see one of the Robot Vehicles with half of it's front ripped
off and smoke pouring from the opening. Two lightly armored men
were crawling out of a hatch, looking around as if they hadn't a clue
what hit them.
The second blow was struck more cleanly, which pleased
Ryouga more, though made little actual difference to the result. The
advanced compounds making up the armor had as many Breaking
Points as more primitive ceramic and metal alloys, and shattered
almost as easily. Except for the mach one part. He'd never needed
to do that before. He also was able to throw a few bandanas.
Although they wouldn't eliminate anyone, he did see several of the
guns carved in half. Well for a split second at least.
After the second strike he felt the cycle bobbing and
weaving, even making a weird loop before turning around for a
second pass. "What's going on? Were we hit or are you just trying
to make me sick," the lost boy complained to his driver.
"No. We almost got hit. That's what a sky cycle feels like
when you're trying to dodge missiles. I'll circle around them below
the building sky line and see if I can get the drop on one of the one's
on the other side."
True to his word, they circled the Council Building, repeating
their first maneuver on the opposite side of the battle. Even with this
additional element of surprise Ryouga could tell that they spent more
time trying to avoid the resulting missiles on their way out.
"Hold on a moment, this next time is going to be rough.
They'll be expecting us this time. Our tricks going to be a bit tougher
to pull off."
"Who are these guys anyway?"
"Don't know. The Robot Vehicles and Power Armor are a
mix of Ichto and H-Brand and who knows who opened those
damned portals. I'd say they were a mercenary group, except it
would be the stupidest bunch on the planet. I think they're trying to
blow up the City Council, but if they don't do it within the next few
minutes the Force is going the smear them across the backside of
creation."
"What about those Ichto and H-Brand fellows?"
"Their both real bastards. But they hate each other. No,
whoever's behind this could have bought the equipment
independently. They aren't very discriminating of their customers. I'll
leave the detective work for someone else. We'll find out. Someone
sunk a lot of resources into this attack, there is no way they didn't
leave a trail. Okay, here we. Hold on."
This last run was by far the worst. They were dodging
missiles long before they approached the target. This time Ryouga
could actually see the missiles approach. A mixed blessing, since
he could now knock a few down with chi blasts and bandanas, but
still had to watch several near misses come within feet of the cycle.
He heard Matsuda mutter a curse after one particularly sickening
lurch.
"Damn! A smart missile! Hold on, it just turned around! I
think it's gonna hit!"
The missile did hit with an explosion from the rear of the
vehicle that threw them forward. Ryouga noticed an odd silence,
and a sinking feeling gripped him as he realized the quiet was the
lack of engine noise. His first thought was 'free fall, I recognize this
feeling'.
"Hold on! We're going ballistic. The good news is that were
are on target. The bad news is we aren't gong anywhere afterward."
Looking forward Ryouga saw a large Robot Vehicle rapidly
approaching. Ripping off his acceleration restraints he grabbed the
heavy cyborg and leaped to the top of the building, just as the cycle
crashed into the huge mechanism. Although the impact seemed to
do little real damage it did cause the vehicle to take one step back.
This was enough. It described a slow graceful arc in the air to the
street far below. Jets could be seen activating too late to halt or even
cushion the impact.
"Hmm, the fall probably didn't harm the vehicle, but the
pilots inside are probably dead unless they were very well secured.
Or augmented humans. Keep the other fellows off my back. I'm
going to get the missile launcher to start firing on their own people,"
he called to Ryouga while trotting over the large rack of missiles
sitting innocently off to the side on the roof.
Ryouga had his own concerns, there was one more Robot
Vehicle on the roof and several sets of the smaller power armor suits
that had broken off their attack on the building's defenders to head in
Ryouga's direction. Nodding in determination he jogged over to
intercept the towering thirty-five foot behemoth. With his chi
reinforced umbrella covering him as he ran he heard a rapid patter of
impacts as high velocity slugs flattened themselves on his shield's
surface. One last leap brought him to one of the legs of the robot.
One touch later the creature hopped clumsily around on it's
remaining leg.
Ryouga chi senses notified him that several objects were
heading towards him at a high velocity. Ryouga smirked, he may
not have Ranma's speed, but there were more than one way to avoid
injury. Moving over to the intact leg, he waited for the proper instant
to leap behind the leg simultaneously shielding himself with his
umbrella. The umbrella was almost knocked out of his hand as a
few missiles exploded against it's surface. A moment later the limb
which he had hid himself was rocked with a series of huge
explosions. Although mostly unhurt, the leg gave him a nasty bruise
to the back of his head. Fortunately it wasn't on anything he used on
a regular basis.
Turning around he noticed that only a stump remained
where the leg had been. Not even thinking about the implications,
Ryouga threw himself from beneath the descending wreckage.
Staying near the relatively intact torso and main body of the vehicle,
he used it as cover while he bombarded the flying power armor with
heavy chi. Occasionally the undamaged four arms of the vehicle
would flail out as the pilots inside tried to either brain him or aim a
rifle in his direction. When this happened he would rip off the
offending limb and throw it at one of the flying power suits. He
usually missed, but it sure relieved some tension. His chi bursts
were much more effective. They hit most of time and they usually
stayed down after the second hit.
Most of his side of the building was cleared, either by the chi
blasts or Matsuda's missiles when he heard a loud thunderous roar.
Looking up Ryouga saw a horde of armored men and mechanical
dragon creatures descending like god's own wrath on the remaining
attackers.
The battle was over within five minutes.
Ranma-chan's mind had cleared a little by the time she
stepped through the door. Shaking her head at her stupidity she
invoked the Way of the Quiet Thief to hide her presence. She knew
many supernatural creatures had senses that would easily pierce the
technique but was unsure of robots. She had never had the
opportunity to see if this stealth technique could mask a person from
radar and infrared sensors. She supposed it was time to find out.
She wished she could use the dimensional cloaking but was
far too exhausted to give it serious consideration. Thinking stealthy
thoughts, Ranma-chan crept into the room, somewhat gratified to
see the three remaining mechanical creatures walking quickly
towards the entrance, seemingly oblivious to her presence. Keeping
to the sides of the room she worked her way behind the robot
furthest from the door. Gathering her inner strength initiated a
surprise attack on the lagging foe. As before the strike almost ripped
the thing in half. The two mechanisms in the lead immediately
whirled around, each simultaneously firing six missiles in Ranma-
chan's direction. She gritted her teeth as they approached. She
wasn't sure she could dodge twelve missiles or if the Way of the
Quiet Thief would protect her.
Throwing stealth to the winds Ranma-chan activated a
technique learned from Happossai. It required more energy that she
could spare in her battered condition, but it should be effective
against such a barrage. Calling forth her battle aura she pumped
much of her residual energy into her defense. The physical effect of
this was to cause a huge glowing red battle aura to form about her
physical form. The missiles impacted on the surface of the
projection, leaching a significant amount of energy from the field but
failing to reach their target.
"Alright, my turn," she said giving half a smile. Raising her
hands before her she called on her dwindling resources and fired a
dense barrage of chi projectiles at the first robot. The energy swelled
from the projection's outstretched hands and streamed like liquid fire
onto the mechanism. The initial bolt knocked the creature over; the
second bolt caused a shower of sparks to burst from the prone
enemy.
The last robot fired a last volley of missiles at the huge
crimson female towering over it. Seeing the lack of effect they were
having, he turned tail and ran while Ranma-chan was finishing with
her companion. Ranma-chan noticed the noticed the desertion and
took a step towards the retreating enemy, unfortunately her
projection chose that moment to fizzle and dissipate. Without the
support offered to her physical form from the aura, she found herself
collapsing to her knees in exhaustion. Damn Happossai's
techniques, he always spent chi like it was water.
Weakly raising an arm in the air, she hoarsely shouted, "And
don't come back!"
Chapter 10
"So what are the manacles for?"
"Eh?" Ryouga grunted in puzzlement while chewing
contentedly on some rice.
"Those bands of metal. Don't try to tell me they're
ornamental. Ornaments don't have locks on them. Is it some mystic
baloney from the New Empire or are you just kinky?" Matsuda
commented casually, watching his young companion from the corner
of his eye. He was rewarded for his vigil by a stream of half chewed
rice spewing from the lost boy's mouth as the cyborg's words finally
registered.
"K..kinky? What kind of sicko are you?" Ryouga shouted,
drawing the interested stares of his fellow diners. As he looked
around the restaurant and noticed the attention he was receiving and
nervously put a hand to the back of his head. After a moment of
standing there looking at his audience he slowly sat back down.
"The kind that doesn't go walking around with manacles,"
Matsuda answered amicably. It was amusing to tease the innocent
and bewildered.
Ryouga was at a loss as to how to answer. His pants were
supposed to cover up the metal bands. He had never expected the
topic to come up. His brain froze for a moment before he thought of
a response. "Uh�religion. Yeah, my religion demands I wear these
decorations as a show of piety."
"Hmm. Interesting which religion is that?" Matsuda said
deciding to draw it out.
"Er...the monks of the Joketsuzoku. I can't say any more.
Very secretive you know. How did you know what I was wearing on
my legs?"
"Legs? I was talking about the ones on your wrists. Wow,
you are kinky. That must be some religion. I always thought you
people from the New Empire were a bit stuffy. You learn something
new every day."
Ryouga sat there stewing in embarrassment before he
gathered his wits enough to change the subject. "So what's the
damage. Those terrorists did a thorough bombing before the city
force showed up."
A thoughtful look appeared on the cyborg's metallic face. "It
could have been worse. Most of the damage occurred in the first few
minutes before we arrived."
"It's nice that we made a difference."
"Well, only part of it was the distraction we provided,
although that did help significantly." Enough that the Council
wanted Matsuda to take the warrior from the New Empire out to
dinner as an initial show of appreciation. Many wanted to do much
more but were arguing whether the New Empire would be offended
by the Republic giving a New Empire citizen medals or other
physical symbols of thanks. The New Empire was very twitchy about
technology or anything that may have been produced through such
means. They had even offered Ryouga a permanent home in a
luxurious apartment. He had stayed there one night but was found
the next day in the park where he had set up a tent. Despite the
feeble explanation of getting lost trying to find the bathroom it was
obviously a roundabout, polite way to decline the modern luxury.
Matsuda felt fortunate that Ryouga hadn't spit in anyone's face over
the insult. Metaphorically speaking of course, he seemed a young
man of humble attitude and manners. Though he seemed a bit slow
at times.
"The building was heavily reinforced, which is the reason it
wasn't demolished during the conflict. Three members of the
Council were killed in the first minutes of the barrage, not to mention
almost a hundred office workers and security personnel. However
once they removed themselves to the interior or lower level of the
building there were very few fatalities. Of course at that point we had
arrived so very little actual damage was being done to the structure,"
Matsuda continued.
"Well, that's good to know. Those missiles seemed pretty
powerful...I was worried more people would be hurt."
"Well this attack was organized much better than I originally
thought. The mercenary units couldn't be traced to any one source.
I'm sure we'll eventually find who masterminded the attack, but not
as easily as I thought. It must have been someone with serious
resources though, hiding your tracks on that scale is more difficult
than gathering the actual units. Of course that by itself eliminates
quite a few suspects."
"So you have no clue who did it?"
"Nothing that makes sense. We think it might be contacted
to a string of sabotage attempts that were foiled in the last few
months. No real proof though, anyone apprehended mysteriously
died. As for this last attack, any one of the city-states in Japan could
possibly do it, as well as some corporations, a handful of individuals,
and maybe two warlords. But I don't see what they would gain from
it. No matter how tricky they are we'll eventually find out who's
behind it and make a point to wipe them from the face of the planet."
"The Republic has that kind of power?"
"We don't flaunt it but anything short of another country we
can easily destroy."
"And if it is another country?"
"Then it's not a simple operation. Then it's war. It's more
expensive but I little doubt of the output against any one opponent."
"What if they're allied with someone?"
"It gets even tougher. We may need to call for an alliance
ourselves. Your New Empire would be a candidate for that.
Takamatsu would have been as well."
"Would have been?"
"Yes. The plot thickens. Takamatsu suffered a similar strike
as ours. They didn't get off nearly as lightly. Except for a handful of
officials that were either home sick or out at an early lunch, their
whole government no longer exists," Matsuda responded gravely,
swirling the contents of his glass with grim expression. The previous
light hearted teasing banter was gone.
"Our governments had been having serious discussions of
merging, or maybe a permanent alliance. It's a serious blow to
morale and Takamatsu is in chaos. The only good part of this
situation is that it eliminates about half the candidates. Only a large
corporation or a city-state could pull off two simultaneous attacks of
this magnitude. I pity the people of Takamatsu. I visited there
several times and found them a friendly, open-minded people. They
used whatever worked�whether it involves technology or magic. It
made for an interesting city."
"Is anything being done to help them?" Ryouga asked with
concern.
"The Council is putting together a proposal. Basically they'll
offer to either accept them as part of the Republic or simply give
them aid until they can get on their feet again."
"Hmm...I guess you have everything in hand then. I need to
get on with my own quest anyway," Ryouga stated, somewhat
relieved that he wasn't needed. He had places to go. He wasn't
positive where they were, but that just made it more important he
start looking as soon as possible.
"Quest? I thought you were just here to protest with your
fellow idiot�er�I mean, countrymen."
"Countrymen? Oh yeah! My countrymen. Well they can
get along without me. I bet they won't even miss me. I need to find
a...friend...of mine. He's...I mean she's the red headed girl I asked
you about when I first met you. She's supposed to be in the New
Empire somewhere."
"Red headed girl. I vaguely recall you saying something
about that when we first met." To tell the truth Matsuda had ignored
what the young man had been babbling about. He had just brushed
him off as a country bumpkin who had gotten separated from the
rest of the fanatics. "If you know she's in the New Empire why'd you
ask me where she was," Matsuda asked, puzzled as he thought
about the situation for a moment.
"Oh...I...well...just thought you might have heard of her. She
tends to make a spectacle, I mean, name for herself."
"Well you lucky dog. I guess I know what the manacles are
for. How'd you find a red headed foreigner in the New Empire
anyway. Aren't they kinda isolated."
"Foreigner? Why do you think Ranma's a foreigner?"
Ryouga faintly remembered that was the cover identity Ranma was
using, but couldn't figure out how Matsuda knew about it.
"Well if she's a real redhead she must be...oh, I see. She's
one of those young spitfires who dye her hair. Figures. That and the
manacles. And here I thought the New Empire was more traditional.
You live and learn."
"Ranma and I aren't like that," Ryouga shouted in disgust.
Not even noticing the stares this time.
Matsuda just gave a non-committal grunt.
The Emperor looked at the surface of the pool with a certain
amount of wonder. Looking up at the wizard that stood across from
him he couldn't keep himself from asking. "Is she really human?
I've never seen humans do that before."
"Well, we've done some intensive scrying and everything
seems to point to it. I mean our own martial artist know iron skin and
other body hardening techniques. It is how many of them survive
battles in these dangerous times where a touch from an Oni means
instantaneous death for most unarmored fighters. Hers are just a bit
more effective, as are her other chi manipulation techniques."
"No, no, no! I mean that! How can a human consume so
much, in so little time! Are you sure it isn't magic?" The Emperor
pointed to the pool again where Ranma-chan was voraciously eating
from a table that seemed that it should have been enough to more
than fill ten large men. The blurring of the subject's hand and the
rate the food was disappearing demonstrated that this belief to be
the purest fallacy.
The wizard stopped speaking his mouth still open as his line
of reasoning was derailed. "Well...er....I suppose it make sense that
greater chi powers require much more energy to use. Yes...that
must be it. She is just refueling after a huge energy expenditure."
"I think not. Our own martial artists draw most of their
energy from the environment around them. Much like you wizards
do magical energy. Besides, I had a guard speak with a cook. Our
little red headed savior ate just as much before the battle as she is
now."
"Well, I suppose she could be hiding her nature. Dragons
are known for that kind of behavior, though few do it well enough to
withstand the magics we've used to scrutinize her."
The figure in the water paused in her eating to look
suspiciously around her. After a moment she called out in a tinny
voice distorted from the scrying spell, "Nabiki? Is that you? Anhur?
Hurry up, answer! I'm hungry!" After a moment of silence the red
head shrugged and went back to the process of shoveling food in
her mouth. The wizard waived a hand over the waters to dispel the
enchantment.
"Sensitive, isn't she. Never mind. I suppose she is human
enough, and she's proven her intentions adequately. I do owe her
my life. It is uncomfortable to have such a debt, but dishonorable to
merely ignore it. I only wish she had been able to save those of my
court that fell so bravely."
The wizard nodded gravely. It had been pure fortune he had
been in his laboratory that day. Many wizards had lost their lives in
the audience chamber, slaughtered before they could activate any
defensive spells, let alone any offensive spells. Many more had
fallen in combat throughout the city by the side of the army.
Although it had been too hectic to tell at the time, most of the
attacking forces had been held off and defeated several blocks away
from the Palace. Unfortunately, those that broke through had been
most adequate for the job of decimating the court. Only a few had
survived that battle. Most too brave for their own good, throwing
themselves into a battle they did not have the means to survive.
Against modern weaponry anything less than full magical armor or
similar defensive abilities and spells meant almost instant death for
the normal human. The few to survive had been the absent, many of
the wives who had been present, and the less than brave. The court
and the nobles of the land would not soon forget that day, or soon
recover from it.
"Arrange a meeting for us under the Sacred Tree. It will be
simply the Shogun and I. And the guards, of course. Keep them
inconspicuous. The Tree will provide more than adequate warning of
danger. Meanwhile I need to decide on appropriate reward for our
guest�as well as a reply in regards to her purpose here. It may be
wise to forge closer ties to allies who can produce such an effective
fighter," the Emperor nodded to himself in thought.
"Indeed. I wish we had more witnesses, but at the time the
heart of the conflict took place most were gone, dead or
unconscious. One guard was semi-conscious but even he is not
sure if he was hallucinating. Considering the damage done, at least
some of what he thought he saw occurred."
"If even part of what he reported is accurate she might be as
good as she boasted. Make the arrangements. Meanwhile contact
the New Republic. They have a better chance of tracking down the
source of that attack than we do. Although some of the attackers
clearly used magic, it was obvious that technology was it's preferred
method. Send messages to the Daimyo to gather our forces. Hmm,
sent a request to the monasteries for any available monks, mystics,
and Demon Quellers. They are an independent lot, but I think they'll
honor a request from their Emperor and they all have significant
powers at their disposal. Once we track the source of the attack,
we'll show them how well we can fight with some preparation," the
Emperor said with a grim smile. The Empire hadn't been hurt this
badly in almost a hundred years. It was time to share the pain.
A man in black lacquered armor hurried down the corridors
of the palace. With the recent attack his ceremonial armor had
taken a much more practical meaning. He almost wished that he
had been with the Emperor for the attack, but admitted to himself
that he probably would have merely joined the body count. No, it
was his role as the Emperor's strategist, tactician, and general that
was needed now. The Empire had obviously taken too many things
for granted. It was time to organize the military into a more active
force. With this unfortunate incident he believed he could convince
the Emperor of the necessity. Deep in thought he almost ran over a
figure waiting for him in the hallway. Stopping just short he finally
took note of the man dressed in the current style of nobility. That by
itself was of interest considering the few that presently remained alive
in Kyoto. When his mind registered the identity of the man in front of
him he groaned to himself.
"My Lord Shogun. I must talk to you regarding my niece. It
is..." his voice was overridden by the deeper voice of the Shogun's.
"Your niece has made her bed in the Devil's chamber and
must live with the consequences. My grandmother found this
menace that your family has ignored and let roam the land and I find
it unacceptable. Since you obviously can't deal with your rebellious
child, the Empire will," the Shogun stated with an air of finality. Of
course one possessed Demon Queller was no longer the priority it
once was. She was also a source of embarrassment to more than
just her family. From the initial reports they had expected to be able
to track the girl through artifact of evil her family was supposed to
guard. Unfortunately no trace of it could presently be found.
However reports kept cropping up of sightings of a girl matching the
description of the Demon Queller wandering Kyoto and the Palace
asking directions to find a demon. It was infuriating to have a
menace of this magnitude waltzing impudently through his security.
No amount of magic or men seemed to slow her down. He wasn't
certain of the goal of the possessed individual but was unwilling to
see it achieved...whatever it was.
"Please reconsider, my Lord. She was such a promising
girl. I do not claim to understand what happened to her but I'm sure
she can be purified of her evil influences. All my family asks for is a
chance to redeem her."
The Shogun's initial impulse was a curt refusal. The look in
the man's eyes made him pause for a moment. It was beneath him
to curry favor from nobles, but it never hurt to have people in your
debt. "I will not relent on my position regarding your niece," the
Shogun slowly stated. "However, if you or your family find her before
my guards or the army does, you may attempt to free her. If you
succeed, I will stop any further attempt to apprehend her and will
forget the incident. If we find her first there will be no mercy. I also
expect proof that your family has met your obligations concerning the
artifact."
The Shogun nodded to himself, his guards were already
overextended, and he only expected the situation to worsen. By
relaxing his position to this extent he allowed this noble to do the
work for him. If the child could be reclaimed, fine. If not, he would
deal with it after the present emergency. So far she hadn't injured
anyone which allowed him an amount of flexibility in this situation.
Yes, this was a satisfactory solution.
"Thank you, my lord. I am extremely grateful for your
leniency..." he trailed off as it became obvious that the Shogun was
paying little attention to him. Counting himself fortunate he nodded
to the armored lord and quickly retreated. Now it was simply a
question of finding his errant niece...and the object she bore.
In a darkened room three holographic displays were being
shown on one side of the room. The first showed a 20-story building
surrounded by armored agents and giant robot vehicles. The
ground around it was littered by the broken bodies of humans in
various civilian and militia dress. The massed missile fire of the
surrounding horde was turned on the building. Within ten minutes
the only thing that remained was a large mound of rubble with
shattered ceramic and twisted beams of metal occasionally poking
out. The mercenaries turned as one and flew through the portal that
had been waiting for them.
The dark robed figure nodded in satisfaction. That operation
had been a complete success. Bracing himself he turned too face
the second display.
Once again the image burst into motion. The first part of it
showed an overhead view of the mercenary forces arrayed against
the guards and military of the New Empire. It was obvious that they
were not prepared for the forces that had charged through the portal.
Still, they rallied and within a short time had slowed the attacker's
advance to a crawl. After several minutes of being held back my
spells and enchanted weapons the mercenaries gained a
momentary advantage that allowed a small group of attackers to
break through and make there way to the Palace.
The same image changed from an overhead view to an
interior view of the Palace audience chamber. The figure grimaced
as the Emperor was allowed to escape, but took some small
satisfaction that the majority of the old court had been eliminated. It
was enough to create an opening his forces could exploit. His eyes
widened in surprise when he saw the red headed envoy join in the
battle and the devastation she wreaked. They narrowed in
calculation as the end of the battle shows the bruised and bleeding
envoy barely able to stand. The envoy was truly a fearful warrior, but
also had clear limits. If only a few more of his forces had broken
through the battle would have had a different victor.
He turned to face the last hologram as it had started the
record of the last relevant battle. He frowned as the initial volley of
missiles broke a few windows and caused superficial damage but
had little real effect. Obviously their information on the Republic and
the Council building had been incomplete. The subsequent missile
fire seemed to be making slow progress. Holes could soon be seen
in the hardened surface of the roof and sides of the top floors. The
large flash of light that arced from the ground came as a surprise.
As the man focused on the source of the disturbance he followed the
hit and run tactics and later the crash and defense of the bandana
boy and the cyborg.
As the clip ended he thought in silence for a moment before
turning to the figure at his side. "I don't believe in coincidence. The
two people who interfered in our plans didn't just appear. One we
know to be from Lazlo. The other one seems to have a similar
fighting style. Send agent to see who he is and what he wants. Do
not be deceived by the obvious. I have suspicions that he is likewise
from Lazlo. I had dismissed this city as a mere distraction, but if
they can field two fighters of this magnitude then we need to rethink
this."
"There is a limit to what we can accomplish regarding Lazlo,"
the inhumanly motionless silhouette replied. "We know little about
the city except the information we were able to extract from their
agent. As you can see, the more we find out the more dubious it
appears to be."
"Concentrate on finding out about the two agents. I will
contact our allies. I doubt they have any spies in place at present,
but they have the kind of resources required to find the city of Lazlo
and place them. They are very good at that," the robed man
absently tapped his desk.
"What about the plan? The results we achieved with the
New Republic was disappointing, but I believe the other two targets
were sufficiently hurt that we could implement stage two," the hollow
metallic voice responded.
"Yes. Without most of his court and the many ranking
officers that were killed during the battle the New Empire is as
vulnerable as it has been in my memory. As for Takamatsu�well
they don't have a government to speak of," a small chuckle escaped
him. "I think it would be a perfect time. The only catch could be the
New Republic. Still�chances are they will offer to ally with they
other two. That will make stage two more difficult, but it will also
spread the New Republic's resources very thin."
"Can we hope for any concrete support from the
Atlanteans?"
"It's unlikely at the moment. They are still focused on their
own plans at the moment, but spies, magic, and a bit of borrowed
technology is possible. Just not any fighters. We won't need to
actually use our own people and resources until the next stage
anyway."
Please send any question or comments to
daniel.ruth@worldnet.att.net
The newest version of this story can be found at
http://home.att.net/~daniel.ruth