Foreword: This is where I *really* begin to take some creative liberties.
If I manage to screw anything up *too* badly, be sure to flag me on it.
Special thanks to Jorge Pratt, who provided some much-needed missing info,
and gave some great plot suggestions for this act, helping me shape the
coming chapters more smoothly.

	Chapter 19: Quests

	Akane, Ryouga, Ukyou, Mousse, and Shampoo stood gathered in Presea's
Armory, along with the master weaponsmith herself, Clef, and Cologne.
	"You'll all be pleased to know that I've located the Escudo," Presea said.
"Unfortunately, it's on the other side of Cephiro."
	Everyone groaned. They knew just how big Cephiro was.
	"However," Presea said, "By caravan, we can cover the distance in under a
week."
	The young warriors blinked. "Caravan?"
	Presea grinned. "I've had Prince Ferio arrange for transportation," she
said. 
	Clef interrupted. "I can summon several land-roaming seijyu, which can
pull wagons," he said. "Ferio will provide the wagons."
	"Clef, Cologne, and myself will be accompanying you," Presea continued.
"I'm taking along a special wagon, so that I can craft your weapons as soon
as you retreive the Escudo."
	The warriors were agreeable to that prospect. "Clef and I will be coming
along," Cologne said, "to train you during the hours in which we are not
traveling."
	"So where's the Escudo?" Ukyou asked.
	Presea picked up a pointer and tapped a map hanging on the wall. "It's in
the tunnel system of the Wasteworms, south of Edosel Canyon, in the
wastelands of Cephiro."
	Clef frowned. "That's dangerous territory, especially in the tunnels
themselves."
	Presea nodded. "Hai, it is. You'll all have to be extra-careful. In the
wastes of Cephiro dwell giant carrion worms...and they don't particularly
care if their meals are dead yet or not."
	The five martial artists gulped.
	"Not to worry, though. You have your weapons, your fighting skills, and
your magic. You should be alright. The Escudo is buried in the Nest region
of the tunnels. You'll have to be on guard at all times while retrieving
it. Find it, and make it out of the tunnels, and I'll make your weapons."
	Ferio entered. "The wagons are ready."
	Ryouga raised a fist to the sky. "Let's do it!" The group cheered an
affirmative, and filed out to the wagons.

	Lantis looked around appreciatively at the buildings in Tokyo. "So this is
the other world," he mused.
	"That's right," Fuu said. 
	Lantis smiled. "Reminds me a little of Autozam," he said. "Only not as
bright, I think."
	Umi's brow furrowed. "Autozam?"
	Lantis nodded. "It's one of the worlds neighboring Cephiro," he said.
"When Guru Cologne was talking about the technology here, it reminded me of
Autozam, although they use different sources of power than
this...electricity."
	"What's it like?" Ranma asked.
	"It has many buildings, and carriages which move themselves, and lights
that do not require fire or magic."
	"Sounds like Earth," Umi mused.
	"It's similar," Lantis admitted, "except that nature has been completely
eliminated there. As a result, the planet suffers from choking pollution
which grows worse by the year."
	Fuu nodded. "Earth is beginning to have similar problems. Large
corporations are destroying its forests and jungles, and filling the air
and water with toxic chemicals. Some people are trying hard to combat it,
but..." she shrugged.
	Umi frowned. "Yeah...after seeing how beautiful Cephiro is, it makes me
appreciate things I used to take for granted...the things that are being
torn apart by people here."
	Ranma nodded. "I know what you mean. I spent a lot of my time in the
wilderness over the last decade, training with my Pop. We've only been back
in the Tokyo area for a year now. When I was in China, I didn't see many
places where stuff had been cut down or paved over. It was nice. Clean air,
water you could drink without having to boil it first..."
	The three natives of Earth sighed. Lantis shook his head. "Unbelievable,
that people could be so destructive to their own world..."
	The group continued on in silence for a while, until they reached the
train station.
	"We're going to need supplies, if we're going to have to go to China,"
Ranma said as the group sat down on a vacant bench some distance from the
ticket windows.
	Fuu nodded. "Also, there's one other thing: we're in our own world now, so
time is going to pass."
	Umi nodded. "Which means our families are going to be sick with worry
about us."
	Ranma frowned, and rubbed his chin. "The two of you live in the Juuban
area, right?"
	Fuu nodded. "Hai, Ranma-san."
	"Hikaru lives there too, I recall..." Ranma paused to think for a moment.
"Mokona?"
	"Puu?"
	"Do you think you can create some documents that look official enough to
convince Umi and Fuu's families that they're going to China as exchange
students?"
	Mokona considered this for a moment. "Puuuuuuuuu......" it said at length,
and the jewel on its forehead flashed. Then, a pair of folders materialized
on the bench beside it. Ranma picked up the folders, and examined their
contents. He grinned. "This'll definitely do it," he said. He handed the
two girls a folder each. "Excellent work, Mokona-san," Fuu said.
	"I take back a third of the bad things I ever said about you, Mokona," Umi
said. Mokona beamed.
	"Okay, here's the plan," Ranma said. "You two should go see your families,
and tell them you'll be away for a while. Meet back at the Tendou Dojo in
Nerima, and we'll stay there until we've got everything we need for the
trip."
	Mokona tuned the group out for a moment, scanning the ticket windows. It
frowned in concentration. Meanwhile, Fuu asked, "What about you, Ranma-san?
What will you be doing while we're with our families?"
	Ranma's face became unreadable. "Taking care of some business," he said.
As an afterthought, he added, "Lantis...you'll be with me." The swordsman
nodded.
	Suddenly, Mokona began chattering rapidly, as it bounced up and down. The
rest of the group looked at it in confusion. "What's it doing?" Lantis
wondered.
	Mokona's jewel began flashing, and four wallets appeared on the bench. One
was red, one was green, one was blue, and one was black. It began gesturing
from the wallets to each of the four warriors respectively. "These are for
us, Mokona-san?" Fuu asked. 
	"Puu!" Mokona nodded. It shoved the green wallet towards Fuu with its
foot. It then shoved the red one towards Ranma.
	"I get it!" Ranma said. "The blue one's for Umi, then, and the black one
is for Lantis."
	"Puu!" The four retrieved their respective wallets. Umi looked inside
hers, and gasped. "What the--? Where'd you come up with all this, Mokona?"
She produced a sizeable wad of yen from the wallet.
	Fuu looked around for a moment, and her eyes caught on the ticket windows.
"I see," she mused. "Mokona-san provided us with train fare," she said.
Counting hers, she added, "And a little extra."
	"Puu."
	"Sugoi, Mokona!" Umi said. "I take back another third of the mean things I
ever said about you."
	The group wrapped up their plans for the day, while Mokona hopped around
acting cute.

	After Umi and Fuu boarded their train, Lantis and Ranma spent some time
making plans. Both knew what a long wilderness hike entailed, having been
on them many times. While they talked, Mokona began grimacing, as though it
was constipated. Ranma noticed, and frowned. "Mokona? What's wrong?"
	"Puuu...." Mokona said, its voice strangled. It shuddered violently for a
moment, and then began to hunch down. It looked for all the world like the
egg-shaped rabbit was going to relieve itself. Ranma glanced around
nervously, hoping nobody was watching. 
	Suddenly, there was a loud *pop*, and something glitterly tumbled away
from Mokona, bounced twice on the ground, and fluttered up into Lantis's
hair, hiding. Ranma blinked.
	Mokona, for its part, looked immensely relieved. "Puuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu," it
said.
	"You sure did," Ranma remarked, earning a glare from the creature.
Meanwhile, a tiny voice  rang out from Lantis's hair, "Laaaannntiiisss! Did
you see what that horrible creature did to me?"
	Lantis blinked. "Primera?" Oddly, he realized that there had not been a
trace of the fairy since they'd arrived on Earth.
	"It aaaaate meeeeeeeee!!!!" Primera wailed. "Kiiiilllll iiiiit,
pleeeeeaaaaaaase?"
	Ranma rolled his eyes. Mokona acted cute.
	Lantis sighed. "Primera, please, calm down. We're on another world, and I
don't think they believe in fairies here."
	This only served to make Primera cry more. 
	"Primera," Ranma said, "if I make Mokona promise not to eat you anymore,
will you stop crying and calm down?"
	There was a pause in the wailing. "If it *promises*," Primera said.
	"Puu," Mokona offered solemnly.
	"Sounds like a promise to me," Ranma said. Lantis idly wondered how the
martial artist understood Mokona. 
	"So, what do we do now?" Lantis asked.
	Ranma looked apprehensive for a moment, then said, "First, I need a cup of
cold water. Then, we have a family to reunite." Without warning, Ranma
slipped out of consciousness.

	<Ranma-kun...what are you planning?>
	<I got to thinkin', Hikaru...it just ain't right. I mean, you miss your
family. I know you do. And it sucks that they don't know you're still
alive.>
	<But...it's too complicated. How can I...?>
	<Hikaru...I spent ten years of my life away from my mom. When I came back
home, I couldn't let her know I was back, even when we were in the same
room, because of the stupid promise my old man made. I...haven't been able
to see her, as her son, even when she came to the Tendou dojo to visit.>
	<Ranma-kun...>
	<You...you just, gotta be with your family, Hikaru. Even if it's just for
a little while. To let them know you're alive. I don't wanna see them hurt
the same way I see my mom hurt when she doesn't find me at the dojo. I...I
don't wanna see you hurt, either. I know you miss 'em. You can be with
them. There's not any kind of stupid promise hangin' over your head.>
	<Ranma-kun...I don't know what to say...>
	<Say you'll go let your brothers and your mom know you're alive.>
	<...I'll do it. Ranma-kun? Thanks.>
	<No problem, Hikaru.>

	A pair of red eyes blinked open, to find Mokona and Lantis peering into
them intently. "Sorry about that," Hikaru, in male form, said sleepily.
"Just a little conference." Mokona pushed a small flask of water across the
bench. "Thank you, Mokona," Hikaru said, and upended the flask over
himself. Now in the more comfortable female form, Hikaru stretched. "Okay,
let's see about catching a train," she said, and shuffled off to the ticket
booth.

	Deep in the Qinghai province of China, something stirred. It sensed the
presence of the One it had waited millenia to meet. 
	As it stirred, its power began to turn inward. It had settled far too long
in this place, and had unwillingly become part of the land itself. It would
take a tremendous amount of its own power to restore itself so that it
could present itself upon the arrival of the One and issue its test of
Heart.
	It became vaguely aware that something outside of the shell of rock it had
become encased in was siphoning its power. It struggled to sever the link,
and realized with irritation that it was going to take a great deal of
doing.
	The source of the drain was a large spring atop the mountain. Bracing
itself for the effort, and sighing at the amount of power it would have to
expend, it began to exude more heat through the connection than it had been
for all these centuries. It was going to take some time, but the spring
would eventually evaporate...and then, it could concentrate on the task of
repairing itself.

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Kunou makes a challenge to Rei, while more than 
one person is snooping around for information on the 
enigmatic albino. 
Jikai ni: ReGenesis: Half Impact, 3:3. 
Saabisu, saabisu!

---
Reunions and tearful farewells in Tokyo, and the
start of a dangerous trek to find the Escudo, as
the young defenders of Cephiro prepare for the
dangerous battle to come.
Jikai ni: Onna: Red Side, Chapter 20.
Don't miss it!

---
Also coming soon:
BlueSeed: Rainbow of Souls chapter 2
JenSutoun III: Into Elanthia

---
The Eternal Lost Lurker
EternalLostLurker@worldnet.att.net

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