Subject: [FFML] [Fanfic][Ranma/Rifts] The Journey Part 2b
From: "Daniel Ruth" <daniel.ruth@worldnet.att.net>
Date: 12/1/1999, 12:54 AM
To:

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



-- .---Anime/Manga Fanfiction Mailing List---. | Administrators - ffml-admins@fanfic.com | | Unsubscribing - ffml-request@fanfic.com | | Put 'unsubscribe' in the subject | `---http://www.fanfic.com/FFML-FAQ.txt ---'