Hi,
I seem to be missing chapter 11... Would it be possible
for you to send it to me.
maybe i forgot to send it? Hmmm. Oh well. Unlike some, i
make no claims to be perfect...
Third Labor, chapter 11
"Time out"
WHAT'S GONE BEFORE: previous chapters at
http://www.fanfiction.net
DISCLAIMER: The Well of Mimir, time travel, alternate
universes, and other related concepts are the intellectual
property of a bunch of people who died a really long time
ago.
----------
Grey stepped through the gate and knew with absolute
certainty. Something was wrong. It was a frequent and
familiar feeling. "This does NOT look like an alley in
Philadelphia!"
Thick woods, conifer forest similar to up near Flagstaff.
Large bugs. REALLY large bugs. Really really LARGE bugs. The
trees seemed a little small, so Grey thought it was unlikely
that HIS size had been altered to really small.
~Okay, no problem, i'll just step back through the Gate
and... The Gate's gone?! No, i can still see it, it just
seems to have a phase variance. Hmmmm. Okay, NOW it's gone.
Let's see. Take stock of situation. i'm in an unknown
Timeline. Equipment bag present. D-hopper is... where is it?
i'm sure i packed it! OK, no way to circumvent dimensions
so...~
Grey pondered for a few moments, then tried to transform. No
on the cyborg. Sexangel was possible but felt weakened for
some reason. Then dragonform. Now he could probe with senses
far more acute than human ones.
Prowling the forest showed no signs of human habitation.
So... far from habitated lands or else a world with no
humans.
~As Ami once told me, 'Information is the first principle.'
Therefore, first i find out where i am. Now, how to do
that?~
-----------
Akumakun/Ranma timeline:
Akane Tendo was not handling events well.
As far as she knew, she'd been having a really bad day. The
Chem Club pepper-spray bomb had given her watery eyes, a
skin rash, and she'd been coughing most of the day. She'd
grabbed a few Benadryl (five should be enough, right?) and
headed for the bathtub for a soak.
She'd felt so sleepy that she'd just closed her eyes for a
moment. Just a moment. Then when she'd *opened* her eyes...
Two weeks had gone by.
She was naked under some guy's shirt, had a piece of paper
stuck on her forehead, and two inches of nail inserted into
her right above her breastbone. When she got over screaming
about *that* she'd found out it was just the beginning of
her problems.
Kuno was blubbering about the return of Akane. Some guy
she'd never seen before was claiming that he was her fiance?
As well as some *huge* gaijin type who grunted a lot but
didn't really seem to say anything. And why did Nabiki have
little cat ears and a TAIL?!
And Kasumi insisted Akane take these little yellow pills
with rice this morning.
Opening the door to go to school, she found that man
mountain standing there, dressed fairly nicely, with a
bouquet of flowers in his hand and a timid looking smile on
his face.
Akane took a deep breath and vented. She explained loudly
and in some detail that she was not interested in boys, much
less some "gaijin freak" with a speech impediment! Then she
stormed past the (stupid perverted) boy.
Jared came out of the house, ignoring the way Ranma ran
after Akane shouting for her to wait up. This would make the
third time that Akane would rebuff Ranma's attempted
advances.
"There, there," he said to the sullen mountain. "That isn't
the Akane you knew anyway. You're really better off without
her."
"Unnnn," said Plenty Bull.
"I'm sure you'll find someone else," Jared assured him.
"There will be other possibilities."
"Unnnnn?"
"NO, I don't think Sherry or Ranko would be interested."
Jared shuddered. Maybe he ought to see if Shampoo knew an
Amazon who was *really* into strength.
----------
Third Labor timeline:
Flying in dragonform was still fun, still a rush. At least
for short periods.
After sixteen hours of nonstop flight, Grey wasn't having
any fun.
A search pattern over the target area revealed no
settlements except one that he could see from the air. The
plume of smoke had revealed a group of Native Americans, the
descendents of a great civilization that had collapsed long
before the arrival of Columbus. Oddly enough, the camp had
every sign of a hasty desertion and recently, but no locals.
This had caused Grey to consider and then fly up to his
"ceiling" - where the air grew too thin to breathe and keep
flight stable. The lay of the land below him matched what
he could remember of a map in his briefing. He was in the
right place, which meant that it was the wrong time. So the
question had gone from "where am i?" to "when am i?" and
finding *that* out was proving tricky.
The Amerind camp hadn't provided useful data. As far as Grey
knew, this placed him anywhere from 500 AD to 1400 AD -
though it could be even earlier. When *had* the three
supertribes broken apart and the Anasazi vanished? The
database in his laptop was mainly concerned with divergent
timelines and mechanical data. He also had a *large* medical
database, including cybernetics, because he'd been the
cyborg for so long that he had had to make field repairs
regularly.
So he'd chosen to fly up through Canada, then to Greenland
(which had a *lot* more green on the land than he
remembered) and from there a hop to Iceland and then to
Britain. After that it wouldn't take long to get to Europe.
Once in Europe he could figure out an approximate when. Not
exact, of course, the last time he'd taken World
(Eurocentric) History had been in his *first* life - over
eighty years ago now.
Silver dragons, considering their normal terrain (mountains
overlooking more temperate areas), were good flyers. *This*
was pushing the limits and so Grey finally dropped to a
clumsy landing (this time the rut he tore in the snow was
only eighty feet in length) and rested aching muscles for a
bit. A quick meal (three goats, two reindeer (he assumed
they were reindeer), and a *very* surprised walrus) was
followed by the discovery that he'd overdone it and his wing
muscles protested any attempt at stretching them out.
~Note to self: you ain't got Ranma's recovery rate anymore.
Owie.~
Lashing his tail and sighting from the sun, Grey started to
run. And very quickly got disgusted with it as his running
speed in dragonform seemed to be slightly faster than a dead
stop. With an effort, he tried shifting to human.
"What the... AGGGHHHHH!" Grey looked at himself. He was back
to male, but apparently one of the transformation rules was
that whatever he was wearing last when human was what he was
wearing when transforming back to human. Apparently that
mess with Akane counted.
After spending a few moments standing naked in a snowfield,
Grey decided to try the angelform. While it was successful,
he felt the biting cold even more than in human shape and
still had no clothing. Another attempt to shift to cyborg
failed to produce anything. THAT form apparently was not
within the local possibilities.
The pack *should* have had a change of clothes in there.
Unfortunately, about half of his expected equipment was
missing. So he blurred, and a dragon gave a weary sigh
before turning to trudge through the snow and slush and
occasional patch of green.
He had a feeling this was going to take a *long* time.
----------
a formerly Evangelion timeline:
"Mizuno-san?"
Ami turned to see who was flagging her this time. Just the
assistant vice-principal. "Sir?"
"It's about your grades, Mizuno-san."
Ami blinked. "My grades?"
Mr. Naniga nodded. "Yes, they've been slipping of late,
Mizuno-san. Is there a problem?"
~Other than my fiance being killed under his father's
orders, being resurrected when we used the Silver Crystal to
restructure the world, having our happy time together cut
short by him vanishing, and a pair of dimension walkers tell
us that he's now a she and off on some other plane of
existence and that we'll never see him again?~ "Why, no,
assistant vice-principal. I've just had a lot on my mind."
Naniga frowned. "Is it your husband's disappearance?"
"Well..." Ami ducked her head.
Naniga frowned some more, then proceeded on his rehearsed
speech. "It's very likely he dumped you. It would be best if
you forgot about him and concentrated on your schoolwork.
Why, I rememrmmmmm..."
Ami blinked. Oh dear, that was one of her medical
dictionaries. Well, it had been getting worn anyway and she
certainly didn't want it back after it had been in someone's
mouth. "Oh. I'm terribly sorry, assistant vice-principal
Naniga. Though I politely disagree that his disappearance
was due to his own choices." Bowing slightly, Ami continued
on to her next class.
"Mmmmrrfffff?!" Naniga tried to dislodge the book. "Mrfff?
Mmmmmmmffff!"
One of the teachers walked by, stared for a moment, then
continued walking. "That's odd. Usually it's his *foot* he
gets stuck in his mouth."
----------
SMJ Timeline:
The big screen hanging on the outside of the Center
displayed the face of Jiro Kaneda, local newsanchor for
Japonesse TV. "Today there was a small explosion at Castle
Japonesse. The explosion took out a small section of the
computer lab, oddly enough, the only things that were
destroyed were a set of braintapes and a few small trinkets
from experimental marionette research. Otaru Mamiya has
stated emphatically that Lime was *not* involved this time.
Doctor Lorelei and her main research were unharmed.
"The first group of cloned girl children have now reached
their six month old checkups with flying colors. Doctor
Lorelei repeats her 'no comment' when asked about all the
ones with dark skin and white hair.
"In an unrelated newstory, the marionette Ginseng has
abruptly vanished. New Texas is claiming innocence." A laugh
track briefly played. "Meanwhile the Shinohara Plasma Devils
beat the Kyobe Giants in overtime, 24-21..."
---------
Ranma/Akumakun timeline:
"...and AFTER that idiot Black Bart goes kidnapping me, WHAT
happened?!"
Ranma winced. "Well... I *tried* to rescue you."
"You were *LATE*! That freak Plenty Bull would have gotten
there faster than you!"
Kasumi winced. "He seemed like a very nice boy." ~Why aren't
the pills helping?~
"He grunts, Kasumi. I need to get a ladder just to look him
in the eyes." Akane shook her head. "Just one more
infuriating *boy* to have to deal with."
"Well, you're safe now..." Ranma said in a small voice. ~And
Plenty gave up on you already.~
"No thanks to YOU!" Akane huffed, turning away. "Hmmmph. If
they hadn't cheated using that rope trick and a smoke bomb,
I'd have shown them myself! I don't need YOU to rescue me! I
took care of those thugs, didn't I?"
"Akane, they suspect you're 'Sabre Mars' now. They'll be
back in numbers."
"Let them!" Akane slammed her fist into her other hand. "I
can take them! None of that silly 'Old West' stuff."
Jared sat at the Tendo table, *dearly* wishing that he could
do either one of two things: Transform this Miso soup into
something that didn't cause him to wonder why he wasn't
gagging at the similarity to a bowlful of salty spit, or
cause the ceaseless, *endless* stream of criticism from the
other end of the table, and which was causing Ranma to wilt
ever more by the moment as it went on, with him as it's
especial target.
"...and as for people who keep thrusting babies in my face
or asking me about their dead relatives..."
Ranma had tried, on several occasions, to get that girl he'd
first met riding a horse through the streets of Nerima to
return. He'd put his foot in his mouth repeatedly, and his
attempts had further aggravated and turned ever more hostile
the real Akane.
"...almost as perverted as YOU Ranma, or pointy-ears over
there..."
Nabiki's ears went flat and she frowned. She didn't like
Akane's tendency to be loud. As a catgirl, her hearing was
fairly sensitive.
"...and turning my sister into a monster! And if it isn't
Black Bart, it's those thugs looking for that 'Sabre Mars'
crap, or some damn Indian weirdness, or some weird rival who
wants to challenge me to magical battle, or some extremely
silly martial arts battle."
Actually, it occurred to Jared that there might be a way he
could solve both of his current difficulties in a single
strategem.
"...everything was *fine* before you showed up! All I had to
deal with was Kuno and..."
Jared slammed his bowl down on the table, interrupting
Akane's latest tirade about all of the wonderful qualities
she failed to see in the arragement, her fiance, and
anything else that came to mind. With a face as hard as
stone he said, "That's it," and leaned across the table and
touched lightly Akane's ribs.
The remains of the meal were upset as Akane kicked it into
Genma's lap with the first spasms and an odd gurgling noise
emitted from the youngest Tendo's stomach area. Akane's eyes
grew big and a cold sweat formed on her as another set of
gurgles erupted.
*ZZOOOMMM!*
Jared sighed contentedly at the relative quiet - though the
sounds from the bathroom were sufficiently loud that they
carried through the home.
"What?!" Kasumi looked at the remains of the meal decorating
the panda.
"Martial Arts Indian Wrestling shiatsu attack: The Bowels Of
Hell," Jared managed to look briefly solemn before going
into a smirk. "A dreaded technique handed down by the
ancient Arapahi which inflicts the watery doom of a spastic
colon attack on the victim. Very terrible tragic story of
girl who run off at the mouth, now simply has runs. Very
terrible."
Jared was tsking a half hour later as Akane (pale and
sweaty) rejoined them. "Really, Akane. A *true* martial
artist can fight that attack by tensing certain muscles.
Even those untrained can resist to the point where they are
able to continue fighting. The attack isn't very effective
at all to those with a little discipline."
She rose at him screaming insults, which he deflected by
placing his finger against her flesh once again, this time
merely causing her to slump bonelessly to the floor. Ranma
looked both relieved and guilty to be relieved, and Jared
favored him pityingly. "You know, bro. I *had* warned you.
She's a catastrophe. She'll never again be that helpful,
friendly, person you first knew."
Nabiki and Kasumi both slumped at that line. Seeing as how
their little sister had been vocal and nonstop in her
criticism of others and complaints about how everyone
treated her and how they'd been acting since her personality
was restored, more than one had guiltily wished that they
had not been successful in finding a cure.
"Nevertheless..." Mr. Tendo began pompously.
He was interrupted by a high pitched beeping. Nabiki checked
her pager, then lithely rolled to her feet.
"There's a problem on the ranch," Nabiki explained. "Shall
we?"
Nabiki paused to give Ranma a quick peck on the cheek,
whispering to him that he ought to consider giving Akane
more room. Maybe by switching the engagement?
Jared smirked some more, suddenly attired in serviceable
Western wear. "For Justice, we ride."
Nabiki flipped a black cowboy hat onto her head, but didn't
change out of her short tight halter and short-shorts
ensemble. "For Freedom, we ride!"
Ranma stood up. "For the Art, we ride!"
"Oh my!" Kasumi briefly and guiltily suppressed a desire to
add some phrase of her own and go riding off to do something
besides watch Akane's mental state deteriorate.
Nabiki leapt gracefully out back onto the back of Fess.
Jared summoned Wildhorn and leapt on his back. Ranma leapt
for the mare's back, but the mare wasn't cooperating again.
*SPLASH!* Ranma-chan made a remark about horsemeat as she
climbed onto the "Damn Beast's" back.
"We ride!" Three riders took off into the sunset.
Akane grumbled as she came to. "Oh. RRrrrrrrrrr. Well, since
everyone's been asking, I *did* get the chance to cook up
this casserole..."
---------
Third Labor Timeline:
Stealing was a sin, and therefore something that a good
dragon trying to get into Heaven shouldn't do.
The explorer he'd run across had attempted to run
(screaming) off a cliff. Grey had snagged the man after a
mere ten foot drop and had taken a set of clothing as
payment with a word of thanks and a wish for the man to
"live long and prosper."
That this explorer (formerly Ryud the Fearless, currently
Ryud the Religious) would later go on to become a priest and
live a long life back home as opposed to freezing in a
glacier (thereby becoming Ryud the popsicle) was not
foreseen by Grey. And, after all, what kind of effect could
saving one man's life in 776 AD have?
Grey waited till he was out of sight of the man, found some
snowmelt, then repeatedly washed the clothes in the stream
before putting the garments (just a pair of woolen pants and
a coarse tunic-like shirt) away in his own pack. It hadn't
*exactly* been theft, after all. He'd asked the fellow for
permission to take the stuff.
Twelve hours later, he'd stood on some shore, tested his
wings and decided they would do for shorter flights, and
Grey shifted to humanform.
Putting the clothes *on* revealed that they were for someone
who was bulkier and taller. In other words, shaped like the
person he'd gotten them from. There was also no wing room,
so if he wanted to switch to angelform, he'd have to go
without the shirt. As that was the worse fitting, that
wasn't as much of a problem. The shirt went back into the
pack with some reluctance.
Shifting from human to angel, and then back to dragon, Grey
proceeded on his journey. Other than the
too-terrified-to-speak explorer, he still hadn't found
anyone to tell him *when* he was.
He didn't realize that he had been observed and that the
natives would be talking about *this* for quite a bit of
time.
---------
It was getting on a week since the disastrous brush with
death in the form of one of the Greater Demon Lords, now
expired.
Things had reached a flashpoint. He was recovering quickly,
and had been for two days. Chi had brimmed up at maximum not
a long while ago, meditation to refill it when it was
expended was working normally. Which thing meant that he
could spend it all but the tiniest amount and refill in a
single hour. Directed use of chi in healing had brought
other abilities back quickly, fixing injuries too deep for
rest to heal and restarting his regenerative processes. His
innate magic was now at full strength and magic energy for
spells, the sluggard of his recovery, was burbling back at a
more normal rate. He'd be fine in a few days time.
Jared was ALSO rather gifted in his inspired use of insights
gained to hide himself from searches. His stealth techniques
had grown exponentially, to where he hadn't much of a
problem hiding from Sailorjin chi senses or Silver
Millennial scans. He was fairly confident that he could
rejoin the nurses now and be able to fend off their worst
attempts.
Besides, he owed a duty to them. It wasn't chivalrous to
hide more than absolutely required, and they had earned a
right to acompany him through their devotion.
Yes, it was definately time to show up. Well almost. There
were things to be taken care of first.
"Quick! Nabiki, it's time for Sabre Mercenary!" Jared
pointed to where stealthy figures continued to look for
Sabre Mars to avenge their earlier losses. Apparently the
gangs had hired "talent" to avenge themselves with.
The middle Tendo daughter was instantly shaking her head.
"Sabre Mercenary? Yuck. No way. Uh uh." She was *not* a
mercenary, not the ice queen. She *could* be a nice girl!
"Okay, we'll make it Sabre Mercury instead. It's more in
genre anyway." With that, Jared turned a flip in the air and
materialized a silver brooch, which he instantly clasped to
the garment at Nabiki's throat before she could object. "Now
shout whatever first comes to mind! Hurry!"
The quick retort that was rising up got swallowed and she
fought not to respond at all, clasping both hands over her
mouth desperately. Still, they fell clear and her entire
body arced spasmatically as she involuntarily yelled out the
phrase.
"Kitty Flash!"
~Where did *THAT* come from??!?~ The amazed girl thought.
~From me, I couldn't resist.~ Thought the mindreading mage,
as he watched her spin through a very brief (comparitively)
transformation sequence to find herself in a blue one piece
bathing suit with accouterments identical in style and shape
to Akane's, but white instead of red. Her tail flicking back
and forth behind her didn't fit the image too well.
"Right!" He shouted, snapping into a sentai pose. "Now take
out the Nabiki computer, we've got to scan those guys!"
Sabre Mercury found herself holding a large and bulky cash
register with digital screen. "What's this?"
"Sorry, we still had all the props set up for you as Sabre
Mercenary. We'll get it fixed later, I hope. You never know
with these sentai things. It might be a compact or an
electric diary next time. Very hard to read the screen."
"At least then I could put it in my pocket." Nabiki replied,
struggling with he bulky plastic and iron device.
"Quit complaining, your weapon profile is excellent. Haul
out the rocket launcher and we'll show those guys what for."
"No, not a rocket launcher." Nabiki emphatically shook her
head and set the cash register down. "Look, if I'm going to
do this, and I'm still not sure I want to, I'm going to be
the stealth and speed expert. Heavy fire support just is
*not* my style."
Jared reluctantly agreed, but privately thought it likely he
could get Shampoo or Ukyo to go with the role. Sabre
Jupiter?
Nabiki didn't specify that her whole reason for even
considering this was that she was finding her catgirl mode
addictive and comfortable. She wasn't sure at this point if
she even wanted to go back to being "normal" Nabiki Tendo.
"For that matter, I don't see the need to do a sentai theme
here," Nabiki said, ignoring Jared's stricken expression.
"How about I disguise myself as a kunoichi - Ninja Kamen,
mysterious and elegant night warrior?"
Jared's disappointment was obvious. Especially when he saw
her model the "costume" - what little there was of it. "A
black bodystocking with a black Zorro mask? Isn't that a
little... adult?"
"Hmmm. I'll try wearing it in front of Ranma. If he faints,
it's too much..." Nabiki smirked. If Ranma fainted, then it
might be possible to lure him away from Akane after all.
"Uhm well..." Jared winced. Considering how tight the
bodystocking was, she was close enough to nude as made
little nevermind.
"I could get a utility belt and go as Catgirl!"
Jared was prepared to say no, but then started thinking
about "Stately Tendo Manor" and "To The Catpoles" and a
faint smile appeared. No. Never work. Absolutely not.
-------
Asgard:
Apple blinked at the archway a few times. "Where did he go?"
"The Third Labor timeline. Except that he never arrived."
Celeste studied the image of a Philadelphia alleyway. "Maybe
he disintegrated? Or possibly there was a warpspace
intrusion and he's out of phase? Or it could have collapsed
while he was in transit and he's lost forever in limbo."
There was many startled looks at this until Ami spoke up.
"No, the corridor was momentarily stable. When it did break
up, it had held for thirty seconds - sufficient for him to
have traversed it."
Setsuna looked over the controls. "There's something else.
There are disruptions in the target timestream, revising it
from its past."
"Dang it, that Pheonix Mage promised he wouldn't do this!"
Celeste grumbled.
"Looks like there was a secondary ripple." Hestia noted. "A
crossrip from the Universe he just came from. One person
crossed out.""
"Uh oh. Do we need a rescue team assembled?" Belle inquired,
her hand posed near a button.
"No, he doesn't appear to be in danger, he isn't that
important, and he gets lost anyway." Hestia shrugged. She
had bigger problems to concentrate on.
---------
Elsewhere:
The world was called, by its inhabitants, the World. The
Elven name merely sounded fancier while the Dwarven name was
short and utilitarian and the Goblin term sounded like
someone spitting.
The world would drive someone from a more mainstream
universe, particularly if that someone were a scientist or a
skeptic, absolutely nuts. World being overall shaped like a
wrinkly piece of paper with a hole offcenter, though a piece
of paper three miles thick and twenty thousand miles long
and wide. The sun rose and set through that aforementioned
hole, which was surrounded by bare rock that hissed and
smouldered whenever the sun (a sphere that was 200 miles
across and cleared the surrounding "hole" by a mere 100
miles) approached it.
And on World, a tortured cry rose from the region known as
Squatting Toad Mountain, one familiar to many people.
"Where on Earth am I NOWWWWWWW?!"
What he wasn't expecting was an answer.
"This is the Elven Nudist Colony of Faeriewine."
"Well, actually I... I..." He really hadn't expected an
answer. From a woman. From a beautiful woman. From a
beautiful naked woman. Backed by four OTHER beautiful naked
elf women. "Urkkk!"
"Hmmmn, that was a nosebleed, followed by a facefault? Looks
painful."
--------
Asgard:
"He's in the right timeline, but the wrong time." An
oriental woman in armor said, teleporting in. She was
notable in that most of the goddesses of war tended to have
very ornate and gleaming armor. Hers wasn't fancy at all,
merely serviceable and looking well-used.
"I'm not familiar with you, am I?" Celeste frowned and took
a quick reading looking for an ident. She wasn't connected
to Yggdrasil, which meant either a very minor goddess like a
Valkyrie or something rather more powerful.
"Hoshime. Aramarian pantheon. Wife to Etragar the Healer.
Portfolio: Defense and Protection." The oriental looked over
the crowd briefly. "He's praying for spells. As he has
repeatedly violated the 'no weapons' stricture, my husband
is not renewing his spells."
"Then who is?" Ami asked, who was still not entirely sure
what proper etiquette was when speaking with deities.
"That," agreed Hoshime, smoothing her eyepatch, "is a
question that we'd like answered ourselves."
------------
"JARED NO BAKA!!"
Jared heard the battlecry, idly noted Akane approaching at
high speeds with a blunt trauma object (today's choice
seemed to be a fire extinguisher) and deduced that his
speech to Ranma "1001 things I'd rather do with Akane than
be engaged to her" had made the rounds. (1001: throw her
into Spring of Drowned Pig and sell her to the Unryuu Sumo
Pig Farm as breeding stock. 1000: trap her in the cave with
Happosai so that she'd get a better idea of what
consitituted a pervert. 999: Stuff her in a Pokeball and
trade her off for something useful...)
Akane started wildly swinging as soon as she was in range.
"How could you even suggest that I'd be better off sold to a
Bioweapons facility?!"
Dodging her swings, Jared managed to look both bored and
thoughtful. "Do you remember when Nabiki, Ranma, and I got
back from stopping those cattle rustlers? The dinner you
fixed? Pop losing all body hair was no big loss, but
Kasumi?"
"It wasn't my fault!" Akane's eyes teared up anyway. Why did
someone put chemicals like that under the sink in the
kitchen anyway? "You..."
Jared sighed, darted in, and struck a pressure point
combination, then shot back out and made a point of turning
his back on the enraged girl.
"eeeeeeEEEEEEEE?!"
"Bro, is she *supposed* to be doing that?" Ranma's feelings
for Akane had evaporated, and Nabiki had been warm and
friendly, so naturally he was concerned about the display.
It might affect Nabiki's reputation by association.
"Akane?" Nabiki growled. "Get ahold of yourself. NOT THAT
WAY! I didn't mean it literrrrally."
Jared turned, saw what Akane was doing in the schoolyard,
and whipped out a martial arts book titled "Hong Kong
Fu-ey."
"Aaa Aaaa aaaa AAHHH aaah aaah!"
Kuno strode to the front of the crowd, saw Akane, and
fainted with a nosebleed that would have shamed Ryouga.
Ranma tried not to look. "Uhm, and she calls *me*
perverted?"
"Let's see, shiatsu attacks, page 357." Much page turning.
"Shiatsu attack effects- listing, pages 125-217." Jared
flipped some more pages. "Muffed attacks, here we go... oh
dear."
"Ahhh Unnnn Ahhh Unnnnn!"
Hikaru Gosunkugi, still wearing casts from his exorcism
attempt on Akane, went down with near terminal nosebleed.
"WHAT?!" Nabiki asked, reaching up to shield Ranma's eyes
from this.
"I hit the wrong pressure point. Hang on, I'm trying to find
the correction." Jared continued flipping pages.
Akane started barking like a dog. Three more guys in the
crowd went down with nosebleeds.
"What exactly did you do?" Nabiki asked, her voice full of
concern.
"Explosive orgasm shiatsu attack. She's stuck in a loop..."
Jared continued to flip pages. "She's *really* going to want
to kill me after this."
"Oh my," said Ranma, though Nabiki's hand was still blocking
line of sight.
Jared paused, looking thoughtful. "I wonder if I should even
cure her? Or would this evening be soon enough? Have the
school send her home 'sick' or something."
"WaaaAAAAaaaaaAAAAA!"
Nabiki considered her bucking and thrashing sister, then
turned a half-lidded gaze to Jared. "How much to teach Ranma
that manuever?"
Jared continued flipping through the book. "Let's see... to
reset the Explosive Orgasm shiatsu... see also
Beavercleaveritis technique page 116."
"Nabiki!" Ranma yelped. "That would be, well, I mean..."
Jared turned back a wry grin to the still waiting Nabiki.
"What have you got? Nah, I'll make it a wedding gift...
provided you can get him to choose you that is. Otherwise
poor Kasumi may have her consolation for her lost (and soon
to be restored) hair. Ukyo may find that ten years of
searching were *well* rewarded. The Amazons get a shiatsu
attack that becomes a chief form of recreation, etc."
The redheaded Saotome began to consider what might happen if
he went to Ranma when he was sleeping that night and slipped
on him the Synoptic Teacher, loaded with Grammar, Etiquette,
Wardrobe, Personal Grooming, and maybe perhaps some Diction
and the typical school subjects. Just making up for lost
time, really. It ought to be as interesting an experiment as
the catnip, at least.
He privately grinned. Add Dating and Courtship to that,
Manners and a few other courses. This could be *real*
interesting! Not to mention fun watching Nabiki's response
to having to actually struggle to get what she wanted.
~Hmm, when I call in the wives I've got to stick around.
There's the ranching and the other things I'm learning. I
just can't pass this up. Maybe. Yeah. I should. I'll get my
recharge and then cast Body Outside Body again and send the
duplicates off with task forces of wives to do vital things
elsewhere, like picking up Geltland's soon-to-be-lost plasma
tech.~ He soon lost himself in planning, leaving the
thrashing body of Akane writhing on the lawn as he wandered
back into class.
Sometime later, Jared cast a glance aside at Nabiki and was
suddenly grateful that he'd managed to re-erect that Glamour
of his and erase the two elder daughter's memories of its
lapse.
He was about to become *very* busy here, and there, and
other-wheres.
------------
776 AD:
Morning prayers completed, Grey ignored the figures watching
from the treeline. They were of little concern, and had been
there sufficiently long that he was wondering if he ought to
approach them. However, the last time he'd tried that hadn't
worked too well. He'd taken off, flew over a hill, landed,
transformed to human, then walked back.
Arrows had been lobbed in his direction immediately.
Strangers were, apparently, persona non grata.
So a switch to the smaller and therefore less noticeable
angelform, and another comparitively short flight, and Grey
found himself gliding over sprawling villages. Odd how he
hadn't seen anything in Ireland, but he had to admit that he
wasn't that familiar with the colonization of the area. Or
it could be that Ireland was sparsely populated in this
timeline.
Still, cities and villages tended to form in the same rough
areas no matter what the local timeline's rules were like.
Look for a river, find a village at a bend or largely flat
area. Wanting to be sure this wasn't one of the abandoned
villages he'd spotted in Iceland or Greenland, Grey frowned
at the lack of cloud cover but figured that in a
pre-Industrial society, this group wouldn't have a reason to
look up that much. Right?
Wheeling over, he noted a sufficiently crowded Farmer's
Market, perfect. Grey landed a short distance from the
village, transformed to human, and put the itchy woolen
tunic on. Now all he needed to do was mingle with the crowd,
take a few copper coins from his stash, and he could get
information!
If he hadn't been so extremely tired, no doubt he would have
made fewer mistakes.
----------
Terra Two:
Craggy mountains, leftovers from one of the volcanic
cataclysms that had rocked Terra Two over the millenia
before human civilization had arrived. There were the
segments of what were similar to fossilized coral reefs, but
these were anchored to more typical geology.
It was mainly unexplored, due to the dangers of plasma
storms, the lack of air travel or satellite technology, and
the lack of exploration desire from the vast majority of the
populace. The discovery of Ponta-kun had been deemed
sufficient indication that this alien world had dangers to
further limit the desire for expansion/exploration. There
was a single large city and some outlying communities in
each kingdom. Other than that, the human populace was
huddled together on a single continent. Escaping human
society was simply a matter of walking a few weeks or making
a boat.
Ginseng continued to walk, glad to be out of the
insufferable Japonesse court with its cliques and intrigue.
It was fine for others who thrived on such things, but not
for him. With Ieyasu back and in charge, there was every
indication that the various factions jockeying for position
would never become quite the problem they'd threatened to
become.
And it was *good* to be male again. The abrupt shift, as if
the Binding had finally gotten around to such an
"unimportant" detail, had provided the impetus for
leavetaking. However, as once again organic and male, he was
not in an ideal circumstance for taking off into the
wilderness.
Especially as Mihoshi's overall build was still present. Thi
n and somewhat androgynous, with the thick mane of blonde
hair unchanged. Which made simply walking away a bit of a
problem. Physical strength was insufficient to even carry
the camping supplies. It didn't keep a smile off his face,
even after a day of travel and sleeping under a canopy of
trees because the tent had proven balky.
There had been preparations made, after all. First odds and
ends like the tent and bedroll, learning something about the
land. Then, amongst the improvements to their manufacturing
process, had been the request for test models of
marionettes. He'd specified three to begin with.
A tech had thought it would be most amusing and the first
marionette supplied for experimental purposes had been an
exact (as near as anyone could tell) duplicate of Doctor
Lorelei. Doctor Lorelei had *not* been amused upon first
meeting her automaton duplicate.
If Doctor Lorelei had known that Ginseng had made brain
tapes of HER and downloaded them into the emotionless
android copy, well, she wouldn't have seen the irony or the
amusement value most likely. Not that he didn't make
alterations. Otaru had quite enough trouble without Siryn
(the name he'd given to Lorelei's copy) pursuing him.
So a minor programming alteration. It was mainly Lorelei's
technical knowledge that had been sought, anyway. A few
minor cosmetic changes. Mainly so that if Lorelei suspected
any of this she couldn't simply spy upon his lab disguised
as Siryn. He'd prepared a nasty if she'd ever tried, not
quite forgiving the Doctor for this cycle of resurrections
as a female slave.
Maybe it was petty, but finding out that the previous
versions had had protocols and overrides hardwired in,
including a destruct (NOT a self destruct)and a Slave Mode.
Well, he could understand Lorelei and Ieyasu were normally
good guys. Good guys who had been scared and thought they
were in a corner facing more than merely *personal*
destruction. He could understand they were desperate. Didn't
mean he liked it at all.
So he hadn't altered Siryn's appearance that much.
Internally, he'd installed a number of systems useful for a
lab assistant. Things remembered from studying his own
cyborg parts or the various other marionettes. Bioscanners
in her hands, an uprated battlescanner, computer jack, drug
dispenser in the left arm, motion detector, radar system,
uprated dexterity, compartments containing tools and
supplies, and a cooling system that didn't involve arm
vents. Musical talents had been added, just so that he could
have some tunes at need. Of course, this meant some
tradeoffs. Physical strength, speed, and endurance were
about human level - or at least about supermodel level.
Actually his current form was still stronger than Siryn.
(And the Nasty little trick he'd planned had actually gone
off. Lorelei had deactivated Siryn, put in some colored
contacts, and had snuck into Ginseng's lab despite
assurances from Ieyasu and everyone else that the lab area
would remain off-limits, part of the deal that had been
arranged for the development of these new improvements.
Ginseng knew, but the doctor herself did not. That was when
he had made those brain tapes of her, as well as putting in
something for emergencies. Turnabout was fair play, after
all.)
Siryn hadn't been the only marionette devised or enhanced by
Ginseng, of course. Rei Ayanami as a marionette had seemed
somehow appropriate, though her enhancements were nearly
identical to Siryn's. The ersatz albino was now working at
Castle Japonesse. Trading off that unit, he'd put together a
few other units - explaining that a single unified force
like the Sabre Marionette O series was good for everyday
tasks but a group of diverse talents was useful for
emergencies and to have on hand. Or, as he'd later explained
it, there are times for an Army and times for a Special
Forces.
Out of the units he'd upgraded for Castle Japonesse and
Ieyasu, he'd kept three around. As with Doctor Lorelei's
duplicate, he hadn't had any choices as to the body styling.
He had a feeling that the same wag whose sense of humor had
decided he'd get Siryn had been responsible for the others.
Well, he'd altered the appearances a bit. Besides, he was
*supposed* to experiment.
As Siryn filled out the repair function, that had left
combat and domestic skills. It was a pity that not one of
the three were designed to HIS specifications. He otherwise
wouldn't have chosen to have those two. Painful memories
involved with both.
Installing an Ishi Kairo had been put off until that very
morning, and all three were currently drinking in the world
around them with an extra spark and curiosity that hadn't
been there before.
"Where?" Siryn asked, still struggling with her pack.
Ginseng smiled. Questioning was the likely next stage in the
Ishi Kairo development. "Out there, thataway!"
Siryn pouted, mirrored by her sisters. That hadn't been much
of an answer at all.
---------
Akumakun/Ranma timeline:
"Okay, YOU!" Akane leaned against the doorway unsteadily.
"You've had this coming!"
Nabiki fell off her chair snickering, NOT landing on her
feet, hearing an unintended double meaning. Akane, of
course, missed it.
Jared rolled his eyes and continued watching the television.
Akane wasn't worth his missing an episode of "Bishojo Senshi
Sailor Moon" that he hadn't seen before. One of the few
benefits of being in 1992 Japan, he felt, was that there was
some really good anime to be perused.
"Don't you DARE ignore me!" Akane angrily strode forward,
though her knees were still wobbly. "That was a dirty
rotten..."
At that point her aforementioned wobbly knees gave out, and
she toppled.
Jared rescued the popcorn, but couldn't help but notice that
Akane had buried her nose in the zipper of his trousers.
"Uhm, Akane, it's nice that you're trying to apologize and
all, but I'm sincerely not interested."
Akane flashed up, eyes big, but her legs still were on
strike and she ended up landing on her bottom on the floor.
Legs spread in the direction of her recent landing pad.
"Pervert," summed up Jared, turning his attention back to
the television. ~Hmmmm. So Sailor Saturn is actively feared
by Pluto, Uranus, and Neptune. They try to kill her and
repeatedly state that Saturn needs to be eliminated, and yet
Uranus and Neptune become her legal guardians?! Had the
writer taken leave of her senses or was she just unable to
handle any more characters being associated with the "core
group?" I think she'd have done much better dumping "the
Spore" and having Hotaru stay with Makoto or Rei...~
"AHHHHHH!" Rage got Akane up on her feet again.
"Oh shush!" Jared noticed Ranma coming up behind Akane.
"You watch a girl's TV series?" Ranma looked from the TV to
his brother, likewise ignoring the five foot tower of
outrage glowing fitfully nearby.
"At a certain level of mastery, ANYTHING becomes martial
arts practice or training," Jared reminded Ranma. "Observe
this chi attack. Aqua Rhapsody!"
Noting that Akane (now with a rather shocked expression) was
abruptly contained in an icy pillar, Ranma flopped down on
the couch next to his brother. "Good enough. Pass the
popcorn, will ya?"
Nabiki sighed and dragged Akane outside, then went back in
to cuddle her koibito.
Not that Ranma noticed. He spent most of the program trying
to figure out how to do a "Mars Flame Sniper".
Kasumi saw Akane from her window, sighed deeply, slipped a
wig on and went to get an icepick. It sounded as if her
father was *still* weeping over the loss. There was, just
for a moment, this intense urge from Kasumi to go in and
shake her father by the collar, slapping him repeatedly in
the face and declare that this was HIS fault and that he
should grow up and take responsibility for it. Just for a
moment.
Kasumi instead went down the stairs to chip Akane out of the
ice. Akane had been trying to be nice and helpful and fix
dinner. Kasumi had even ASKED Akane to fix the dinner,
noting that Akane had enjoyed it prior to her dropping out
of Martial Arts Ranching, and Akane had made such wonderful
if bizarre and nonJapanese meals. Then she'd changed again
and now...
Kasumi almost wept as she caught her own reflection in the
ice. She'd have to pencil her eyebrows in again...
---------
Elsewhere, same timeline:
"Boss, why aren't we going after that Akane girl anymore?"
Idaho asked, eating a hot sweet potato.
"I'm glad you asked," said Black Bart, pulling an slide
projector out of nowhere and turning it on. The image of was
of Akane wearing her cowgirl outfit. "This is the Akane we
knew prior to that report about her giving up the Ranching
business. A skilled rider, cook, well mannered, good singing
voice, a right fine student of the Old West Style o' Martial
Arts. Just the fittin' proper image of an Old West Cowgirl
Hero."
"Yeah, boss?" Idaho didn't see the point.
The image changed to Akane at her school, in a proper school
uniform, yelling at some boy in a kendo outfit. "This is
Akane now. She can't ride a horse near as well, in fact her
old horse refuses to have anything to do with her. Can't
cook, spends a lot of her time yelling, says the Old West
style of Martial Arts is just silly, and refuses to dress
for the range."
Oregon nodded. "Si, I think maybe Senorita Tendo practicing
Three Stooges Style Of Martial Arts now. Just from what I've
seen."
It clicked for Idaho. "So... she isn't a proper hero at all,
much less a proper damsel in distress."
Black Bart nodded and changed the image. There came a few
whistles from his men. "Now this here gal is a different
story. Why, she be the VERY image of the feminine ingenue -
a perfect damsel in distress. Sweet, kind, a full set of
domestic type skills, lovely voice too though I haven't
heard her sing."
Colorado cleared his throat. "Uhm, boss. That there Akane
mixed some stuff you normally don't mix, and that there
ingenue done lost all her hair as a result!"
Black Bart smiled in a manner that suggested fangs. "We've
got a solution to that. I contacted an old buddy from
Villains R Us and got a bottle of Hair Fastgro. When we
capture her, we'll use it on this Kasumi Tendo - and I'll
marry her before the night is out!"
"Gee, Boss," Idaho puzzled over something else. "How come
you want to marry her? What about Sherry and Ranko and that
Nabiki girl?"
Black Bart tipped his hat forward so his eyes were shaded a
little more. "Y'all can decide who marries whom out of that
bunch. I hear that Kasumi's the best cook, so that's the one
I'm hankering for."
"Oh my!" Idaho flinched at everyone's stare. "Sorry, it just
seemed the appro thing to say."
"Don't worry, boys," Black Bart assured his Dozen Thieves.
"We've got a surprise ally right in their camp!"
-----------
Third Labor timeline 776 AD:
Human guise in place, the dragon tried to blend in with the
locals. Besides, it took a few minutes for the dragon talent
for comprehending languages cut in.
"Did you see that girl throwing herself at yon Lareth? I'm
telling you, girls in my day had more dignity!"
"It be that new dance they're doing, Edna. It's positively
indecent, they dance so close and frantically. Och, tis
scandalous!"
Grey nodded at one of those walking on the street, the other
glared back. Details began making themselves known. The
buildings were simple wood, nothing fancy, no glass visible.
Thatch was mainly in evidence as a roofing material.
Horses, not many though. Even so, the streetsweepers
obviously didn't work the area that often. The tracks were
more revealing. Most horses lacked shoes. Everything looked
rather crude and simply made. So... prior to the Millenium?
The tavern was obvious, a drunk passed out in the street
adequate sign. Wine and "small beer" were safer than water
to drink, at least until the concept of boiling caught on.
Grey entered, making mental note of the central firepit, the
rough wooden stools, and that the floor was almost as bad as
the street outside.
The barkeep was probably in his mid 30s, he only looked
closer to 60. One eye, scraggly beard, looked like the last
time he'd bathed was when/if he was baptized. "Here now,
what'll you have?"
Five copper coins were deposited on what a generous soul
might dub the counter. "Answers." He wasn't sure what was
safe to drink, even if he could always do a Cure Disease
later. Or would his being a shapeshifted dragon give him
immunity to little things in the local water system?
The barkeep frowned and looked from Grey to the coins
distrustfully. "Wealthy fellow, eh? Hmmmph. What kinda
answers ye wanting?"
"i've been out of touch with things of late. Spent a lot of
time out in the woods. Need to hear what's been going on."
The barkeep nodded and took one of the coins, immediately
labeling the stranger as a trapper or poacher. None of his
business. "Ye heard about Offa's men?"
"Offa?" Grey considered, but the name didn't ring a bell.
"The King, man! Are ye lost? The King of Mercia! They be
looking for able bodied men to build some great dyke."
"Well, yes, i *am* a bit lost," Grey admitted.
"Thought so! HAH! Ye be in Kent. Nay, Offa calls himself the
equal of Charlemagne, but that be just a lot of hooey. Mind
ye, don't say so afore any of his soldiers!"
"What about the Vikings?"
"What be a Viking?"
Grey nodded, that response helping him to pinpoint the rough
date. Difficult as he'd never studied British history, but
he *did* know the Vikings were the "scourge from the sea"
from around 800 AD until *much* later. "Raiders from lands
north of the Picts."
The barkeep spat. On the floor, fortunately. "Picts? Them
'owling savages? Well, them raiders are welcome to them."
Grey nodded. Next stop, the Monastery at Lindisfarne
sounded like a good place for directions.
---------
Akane grumbled and looked sullen, but didn't come anywhere
NEAR the evil Jared or the ignorant obnoxious jerk Ranma.
Instead she merely watched from a distance.
Much less the purple haired bimbo and weirdo with the
spatula. And why was Kasumi out there?
"Now, when you chose to lose the Catfist, Ranma, you lost
the technique and the phobia at once." Jared instructed his
audience. "As there were elements of a spirit possession
present, that cat-spirit was exorcised but it didn't
vanish."
Nabiki looked up from licking her paws. "Uhm, is this going
where I think it's going?"
Jared nodded. "Now for the good news, the cat spirit is NOT
evil, merely feline. And the merger between natures was less
traumatic and more complete. Which means that instead of the
cat-phobia, Nabiki's original personality had feline
qualities which were enhanced to dominance. Yes, Kasumi?"
"Natural feline qualities?" Kasumi blinked, then adjusted
her wig as an errant breeze tilted it.
"Playfulness, sneakiness, vain, confident, smug, possessive,
comfort-loving," Jared started ticking qualities off on his
fingers.
Nabiki pouted and looked hurt.
"Hey," Ranma protested, "Nabiki's a nice girl!"
"That too," agreed Jared, having gotten to know the new
Nabiki of late.
Nabiki purred and rubbed against Ranma, spurring protests
from Shampoo and Ukyo as well as an "oh my" from Kasumi.
Akane merely rolled her eyes and thought about how weird her
family had gotten, and how to return them to normal would
only require the removal of three Saotomes.
Fortunately, she knew just how to do it!
---------
Jared watched Kasumi, feeling regret. Besides, it was a
commercial break. He was simply glad that none of his ersatz
wives could see that 'Skysaber - the anime' was playing in
*this* reality. Or that the Tendos hadn't made the
connection.
There came the sound of a bicycle bell and Shampoo bounced
onto his tummy. "Nihao, brother to Ranma!" Then she'd
recovered and made a glomp at her beloved, leaving Jared
alone. Ukyo had came at the same time as the Chinese girl
and now Kasumi was unwittingly making peace by her
reappearance with a plate full of cookies which she offered
to both guests.
Jared watched Kasumi being just darling in spite of her own
personal grief (the doctor had no idea when or even *if* the
hair would grow back. He'd started comparing it to cancer
patients and now Mr. Tendo was crying out of fear as well as
self-misery).
Actually the redhaired youth was feeling something of a
heel. He'd done *very* little good since his arrival here,
at least by his standards. Granted he'd been near-mortally
wounded and that hadn't been any fun, nor was his recovery
all that....
Several factors *clicked* for the mage all at once! His
magic was no longer the simple spell point recovery system
he'd grow accustomed to since his merger with his D&D
character. It had elements of both Ygdrassil god-powers and
a *BIG* chunk of Silver Millennium power thrown in. While
waiting around would recharge one it had *nothing* to do
with recharging the others, both of which had some hefty and
specific demands.
In fact...
...There were SUBSTANTIAL and *BAD* repercussions if either
lay unattended at low power for too long, only ONE of which
was the total loss of those powers!
That counted as an *Emergency* by any book he was willing to
go by!
Fortunately, one recharged Silver Millennium powers by raw
emotion. That fright was enough for another blast of that
brand of power into the tanks, and by golly he wasn't going
to let the other lie neglected a minute longer! Kissing was
his recharge, kissing would be done!!
But he'd do it with those of his *own* choosing! Too many
natives were embroiled in this already.
Jared's magic items had been the worst ones to suffer in his
battle with the demon lord, now expired, and hadn't been
coming back practically at *all*, which was worrisome. He'd
been planning to look into it, but now didn't spare the
time.
The redhead flew to his feet, striking a dramatic stance and
drawing forth a dagger which he reanimated certain powers of
by a flash of Silver Millennium power from his admittedly
low stock.
Akane was standing by glowing hatefully, but he was too
disdainful of her to notice.
Holding the dagger out to one side, the recovering Pheonix
Mage said the word "Thunder" and the weapon grew to a short
sword. Holding it to the other he repeated the word and it
grew again, then once more it was done to reveal a long
sword.
With this elongated version, Jared held the blade above his
head and shouted "Thundercats! Ho!!!" Sending out a Silver
Millennium piggyback on the signal as well.
By absurd coincidence, a certain bald panda looking a
*great* deal like a giant, hairless rat had chosen that
precise moment to come walking out of the Tendo hall toting
a large device he had 'appropriated' from Jared's room and
was FAR too stupid to realize was a Robotechnology repeating
rocket launcher (half disassembled to correct a minor feed
quirk, now reassembled and gleaming and set out for the
sealant to dry).
He'd already sold two wristwatches and a surgical kit to
eager buyers, but wanted at least to know what this *was*
before he tried that, so he could set a price, and had
settled on the subtle and ingenious scheme of toting it out
and shouting "Boy, what is this!" to get that information.
He was feeling a trifle sullen and angry after the youth had
convinced pre-restored Akane to 'refresh' that brand once it
had been disturbed by those spur marks.
Unfortunately for Genma, the bear emerged holding the device
quite naturally, which happened to be by the handles, which
meant that it was to every appearance an angry, giant,
mutant rat youma pointing the Robotech weapon straight at
Jared when the troops arrived.
---------
777 AD:
"Ah, young man, just the fellow I wanted to see!"
Grey set another block into place and turned to observe the
priest slowly making his way down the the trail. "Father,
you shouldn't do that, you could have just sent word and i'd
have come to see you."
The priest looked over the wall being erected and tapped it
with a fist as if trying to gauge its strength. Grey
continued to watch silently for a few moments, then lifted
another block of stone onto the wall.
"You came to this monastery four months ago, young man.
You've given a name but admitted it isn't your own. You've
done incredible things and made many friends. You know many
things, but many things that you should know you don't." The
priest seemed to be speaking to the wall. "You certainly
don't shirk hard work, but some of your daily rituals and
ideas seem strange and exotic."
"I suppose," Grey admitted. Privately he was saddened, the
priests here were (with few exceptions) good people and he
had rather enjoyed his time with them. There was a certain
satisfaction in hard work, especially when you could see the
daily fruits of your labors. He'd miss having to leave.
"Who are you, Mister Bond?"
"A traveler. Called Grey by some, but i've had dozens of
names and don't remember my original one any longer. Names
and terms vary wildly in usage across the lands."
Father James nodded, fitting this in with the theories he'd
already developed. When the boy had shown up, he'd given the
name "James Bond" but it had seemed some private joke. "What
do you seek here?"
"i sought information when i arrived. Now i'm not sure what
i seek."
"You asked many questions about China." Father James
considered blocks, easily weighing seventy five pounds
apiece, that the young man had been hauling about and
setting into place. He glanced out of the corner of his eye
at the young man. "And about the developments of our land."
Grey shrugged. "i mean no harm to anyone here. Everyone's
good people here. Well, except maybe Brother Wolt."
Father James chuckled. "Well, Brother Wolt is quite popular
in that regard. So, you are here because you have nowhere
else to go, and you are not at liberty to speak of your
past. Am I right so far?"
"You have the right of it, so far," agreed Grey.
"Boiled water poured over herbs in a wickerwork container,
producing tonics for many ills." Father James spoke quietly.
"A manner of seperating out fibers so that paper may be
produced cheaply. You spoke of crop rotation before word of
it reached our isolated spot. That which you've told us
intrigues me, and that which you've hinted at even more."
Grey fitted another block and slumped where he stood. "If
you want me to go, i shall."
"Go?" Father James chuckled. "No. What I came to ask you of
was that peasant lass who came here yesterday. She was dying
and there was little that could be done. Even with what you
have spoken of cleansing wounds of foreign influence and of
exorcising the foul from the flesh, *that* was beyond what
could be accomplished easily by e'en the most accomplished
of chirurgeons. For the most part, the youngers are in awe.
How did you do it?"
"i have... methods."
Father James nodded. "Well, Brother Wolt has penned a letter
to complain to the Archbishop, stating you are some foul
sorcerer. As if foul sorcerers would dirty their hands with
labor like this or cry about a soul lost such as you did
when that penitent died two weeks ago."
"So you came to warn me," noted Grey.
"It will take two months for the letter to reach the
Archbishop." Father James sat down with a grunt. "Will you
speak plainly to me? You are not of the Devil: you take joy
in hard work and the betterment of others, you seek to heal
the sick and uncover God's mysteries. I may be old but my
eyes still see and it seems to me that a seeker of truth is
ill allied with the Prince of Lies."
Grey sighed. "i may not. i will tell you this though,
Father, have this wall finished. Men from the North shall
come from the sea in two decades and lay waste to all you
have wrought if you do not."
Father James considered the outrageous statement, and
considered the source. "From the sea? Very well, a final
question. Before you go, is it possible to pass some of
these methods on?"
Grey was prepared to deny it, but saw the desire burning in
Father James' eyes. The desire to help others and spare
their suffering when possible. He didn't have any equipment
he didn't have secreted in a mountain cleft, save a few
changes of clothing.
It was a fourth level spell, and one he'd been considering
trying anyway. "Father James, this might not work, but i
think it's worth a shot..."
The old priest cocked his head like a bird. "What do you
need me to do?"
"Stay there. Pray." Grey drew in a deep breath, and shifted
to angelform ignoring the sudden intake of breath from the
priest.
"From within the holy light,
spark anew and now grow bright,
if allowed by faithful heart,
imbue with spells of clerical part,
i humbly ask thy gift bestow,
that cause of Good may now grow."
"What?" Father James was rather surprised by the golden
light and feeling of peace. Not to mention what he'd seen in
the glow.
"'Imbue With Spell Ability'- if it worked you'll be able to
channel healing magic. Try praying for such tomorrow.
Perhaps we'll meet again, Father. Look for me in 794 or
thereabouts." With that, Grey leapt over the wall and flew
again for the first time in four months.
Father James looked thoughtfully out at the glittering
winged figure, then turned to trudge back to the cloister.
Brother Keian had kept a record of the many things that
Mister Bond had suggested or done. Perhaps he needed to look
at them over again.
=============
Choice votes for the rewrite of "Fist Of Orion":
Akane survives, dojo doesn't - 4, No forgiveness - 14,
Original - 6, Splattered Akane - 12.
Oh, and what was sang on the way home that day?
"Keep movin', movin', movin',
Though they're disapprovin',
Keep them dogies movin', rawhide.
Don't try to understand 'em,
Just rope 'em, throw, and brand 'em.
Soon we'll be livin' high and wide.
My heart's calculatin',
My true love will be waitin',
Be waitin' at the end of my ride.
"Move 'em on, head 'em up,
Head 'em up, move 'em on,
Move 'em on, head 'em up, rawhide!
Head 'em out, ride 'em in,
Ride 'em in, let 'em out,
Cut 'em out, ride 'em in, rawhide!"
"Keep rollin', rollin', rollin',
Though the streams are swollen,
Keep them dogies rollin', rawhide.
Through rain and wind and weather,
Hell bent for leather,
Wishin' my gal was by my side.
All the things I'm missin',
Good vittles, love and kissin',
Are waiting at the end of my ride."
"Move 'em on, head 'em up,
Head 'em up, move 'em on,
Move 'em on, head 'em up, rawhide! yee-ha!
Head 'em out, ride 'em in,
Ride 'em in, let 'em out,
Cut 'em out, ride 'em in, rawhide!
RAWHIDE!!!"
planned the scene but couldn't work it in.
===========