[FFML] [Ranma/Multi-Cross]Martial Artists and Mayhem: Third Edition [19]

Payback:

"I was going to suggest that we take her out to
begin with anyway," Mikado said. "Jurain's have
exceptional powers over the spirit," he smirked. "As
you just discovered, but in a physical battle
certainly she would fall first, and that would
unbalance the other two I hope."
"I don't think you understand, Mikky," Azusa said,
nearly growling, Mikado stared at her. "I WANT
her...forever."
"That's easy to accomplish, too," he said,
confused. "Bind her spirit after death, you know
those arts as well."
"I want her human," Azusa said. "Living, in
possession of her soul, with just enough will to
resist futilely from now until the ending of my life."
"We already have to hold back from killing the
half-demon," Mikado said. "We can't hold back on all
three of them."
"We won't have to, Mikky," Azusa smiled. "And I
can insure they come tonight, unprepared."
"You plan to walk out into the broad daylight and
slip one of those collars around her neck then?" he
asked tauntingly. "Or maybe you're spirit can carry
it to her, assuming she doesn't merely tear you
asunder completely this time."
"Mikky," she tsked her head. "I don't have to put
the collar around her with my own two hands." She
stood up and strode to back of the abandoned temple
and the stairwell down to the basement. "I think I
shall take a nap until night fall."
As she spoke a small, winged humanoid figure
bounced up from the basement bearing one of the pink
collars that would consign some poor creature to the
extradimensional space were Azusa kept her "pretties."

********

Lina, or at least a part of Lina's consciousness,
the Goddess of Fire and Magic had her attention split
in many directions, walked through the halls of the
Kuno estate and came upon her current pet project in
the middle of some sort of planning.
She recognized the thread of the conversation. The
three of them were planning to remove a pair of
threats that had recently been making them trouble.
One of whom had even threatened Ranma's life. Lina
frowned at this.
She wasn't certain the time was right for any sort
of battle. From what she could tell, Ranma still
hadn't recovered from Kasumi and Akane's joint efforts
in healing him. That would leave the warrior quite
vulnerable to the attacks of Mara's minions.
Akane at least was fine as far as Lina could tell.
When she didn't see anything right off the bat, Lina
passed her examination onto Kodachi. Which was where
Lina grew concerned.
Kodachi was obviously not operating at her peak
level of physical capability. Considering how much
more capable in the physical arts Ranma and Akane were
than the Jurain, it was very much cause for concern.
Just to be on the safe side, Lina examined Kodachi's
life force much more thoroughly.
What she found gave the goddess a severe shock.
"Her soul's already been touched..." she said
nervously.
She checked further for a moment and noted two
faint red lines extending from Kodachi's little
fingers. These two lines met a third about half-way
to Akane and Ranma. The three red lines braided
together, becoming impossible to tell one from the
other, forming a little web between the three
individuals. A web anchored at each of their little
fingers.
"Well," Lina said. "That was quick...guess I don't
have to worry too much about them getting along long
term. Better check all three, just so I know what's
going on..."
After a few moments checking over their life
forces, Lina found herself nearly choking in shock.
>From what she could tell, each of "her" trio had been
touched in someway by at least one other deity.
Ranma had been touched by Mara, a great deal. Lina
even began to wonder if the boy's claim of being
half-succubus was perhaps a little...humble or
ignorant. Akane had, predictably, been gripped
strongly at one point by Ryoko. Kodachi appeared to
have the same situation with her own goddess, Ayeka.
And Lina thought she could see Urd's hand putting
light touches here and there on all three of them.
And then Lina had come along
And she had invoked Privilege.
"This is going to be....interesting," Lina decided
faintly, sweatdropping as much as an invisible,
bodiless presence could.

********

Nabiki glanced down at the book in her hands and
considered it for a long moment. There were things
that one had to consider very carefully. And the step
she was about to take could esaily be considered one
of those.
Nabiki approached life from the standard Metallium
philosophy. The philosophy that said that variety was
better than specialization. She was wondering if she
was splitting her energies to far, however.
She was a diviner. She was a priestess. She was
an artificer. She was a...resident of the shadows
(the impolite term being thief). One thing that was
fixed about her was that she was loyal to her family
and loved them greatly.
If she continued in this quest...there was the very
real chance that she'd them only briefly and then
spend the rest of her life apart from them.
She considered what she knew, what she had seen,
and sighed long and hard. She didn't know whether she
was being tested or played with by her god. He
certainly had been known to play some strange games.
She didn't really have the option though. Especially
not when she heard that Shi-Shio's followers had begun
raising the flags of war.
If Shi-Shio was, in truth moving, then soon, so
would the other Akuma. Both signs from Xellos and her
own divinations had told her this. And Xellos had
given her away to weaken, or at least forestall, one
of the edges of the coming battle.
But, she needed to make a decision now.
"Are you certain of this decision, Lady Tendo?"
Thabian asked. Nabiki looked up into the man's face.
"I serve the beastlord," she commented, with only a
slight amount of nervousness present. No use trying
to trick beings that could smell it. "And he called
me to this."
"You are certain then," Thabian asked. Nabiki
stared hard into the man's eyes and grimly answered.
"This isn't even the beginning for me," she said.
The man held her stare for a moment before nodding.
"Come along then," he said.

********

Kinnosuke waited outside the library for his
consistant rival to show herself. She couldn't stay
in there forever. She had only come with money to
support a few days stay, and that would be over soon.
He was certain that he had Xellos's favor in this
undertaking. The Keeper of Secrets had revealed some
rather interesting pieces of information. Information
he could use to his own benefit as well as Xellos's.
Nabiki Tendo appearing at the library without her
wizardly magic was just icing on the cake.
And he still had plenty of time to get started on
his assigned task.

********

The plan was fairly simple. Tonight they, meaning
Kodachi, would divine what they could of their enemy's
dwelling. Tomorrow morning they would scout it out
carefully, knowing full well that the two knew who was
coming.
Akane and Ranma glanced across at each other for a
moment while Kodachi was examining a weapon. They
both seemed to agree with the other as they glanced
back to notice the faint sheen of sweat on Kodachi's
forehead.
"Kodachi," Akane said. The priestess blinked and
looked up.
"Hmmm?" she said. "Yes, Akane-dear?"
"Shouldn't you stay here," Ranma put in. "You look
tired."
"I am perfectly fine, Ranma-darling," Kodachi
answered.
"You're sitting there sweating like you've just run
a marathon, Kodachi," Akane said.
"That's something of an exaggeration," Kodachi
said. "And for your information it would seem there
is just something in this room that just seems to make
me a little anxious."
She leveled a smoky glance in her spouses'
direction, managing to catch them both at once. Her
endurance might not have been were she expected it to
be, but her desire certainly matched what she
considered appropriate.
"Perhaps a nice soothing soak in the hot baths will
settle me down," she said. "There isn't much more we
can do here tonight at any rate."
Kodachi then stood up, opening the front of her
robe suggestively as she turned toward the baths. She
stretched out, letting the robes fall from her body to
reveal her slim, attractive body underneath. The way
she stretched made that body do some very interesting
things.
She didn't need to glance over her shoulder to
knows Akane and Ranma's eyes were focused on her, but
she glanced back anyway. And as she glanced over her
shoulder, she smirked and blew a quick pair of kisses.
Then she virtually glided out of the room.
"She's cracked," Akane said distantly, blinking.
"Yeah, but that just makes her unique," Ranma said,
in an equally faint voice.
"Why are we still sitting down?" Akane asked.
Ranma blinked, and then a moment later both of them
were moving to follow Kodachi.
"What manner of--?" Kodachi's voice carried back to
them. "AHHHHHHHHH!!!" And then Ranma and Akane were
running.
They caught up to Kodachi in time to see a small
demonic creature hopping off of her shoulder. A small
pink color surrounded her neck and she clawed at it.
"Get this off of me!" Kodachi demanded venomously.
The imp stared at Kodachi cautiously, an intense look
of surprise blazoned across its face. He didn't turn
to see Akane and Ranma until it was too late.

********

Azusa snapped out of her nap in the temple basement
as she felt her little Antoinne reduced to a bloody
smear. She should have been prepared for such an
eventuallity, but like her partner, this was the first
time she had faced a significant threat.
"AAARRRRRRRRRRRHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" Azusa screamed
as some of her power died with her familiar. She sat
up, panting and glaring about her angrily until she
found the succubus staring at her.
"Looks like your little pet failed," Mikky said.
"Doesn't it." He smiled, in the same manner she had
smiled when he had been nearly destroyed.
"He didn't fail," Azusa snapped angrily, though
after a moment she recovered her hyper and cheerful
facade. "The pretty is collared, she's just not with
widdle Azusa's other pretties yet." And Azusa didn't
want to figure out why.

********

"Get this infernal contraption off of my..."
Kodachi seized up as a pink flash ran up and down her
body. A blank, relaxed look came over her face as her
body started to fade away.
"Kodachi!" Ranma and Akane shouted, reaching out to
grab the Jurain before she faded completely away.
Almost immediately she was returned to full
solidity, though the blank look didn't leave her face.
A wreath of ghostly vines started to encase her as
the pink corona flared up again seemingly trying to
crush the vines.
"It's trying to take me away," Kodachi said in a
monotone. "That harridan sent it. I'll fight her as
long as I can." With that, Kodachi's eyes closed and
the battle between her will and the magical collar
continued.
"Damn it," Ranma shouted.
He leaned through the transparent light show to
kiss her lightly, before letting Akane hold her.
While Ranma ran back into the other room, Akane
cradled her wife and alternated between glaring
daggers at the dead imp and worried glances at
Kodachi.
"They're both going to die," Akane promised,
leaning her head in against Kodachi's shoulder. Ranma
returned a moment later with Kodachi's robe and
started to dress Kodachi.
"It's wizard magic," Ranma said seriously. "Tofu
should be able to do something for her."
"While we deal with the source," Akane finished,
nodding firmly and clenching a fist.

********

The wizard looked over the noble priestess and
frowned, not happy with what he saw. He glanced to
Ranma and Akane, certainly they could see that the
collar was heavily empowered by the schools of
conjuration and enchantment. Though he doubted that
either of them had access to the more powerful and
accurate divination spells that he did.
"The collar is something I've never seen before,"
he said. "But I know what it does. Normally, a
conjurer summons a denizen of the outer planes that
conforms to the shape desired. The summoned creature
fights, but is protected from any serious harm, and
when defeated or the spell ends, they're sent back
where they came from."
He hadn't yet figured out what was keeping the
collar from working completely yet. Kodachi shouldn't
have had time to throw up that defense if he had been
right. If he didn't know anybetter, he'd say the
artifact had bit off more than it could chew.
"We know that, Master Tofu," Akane said. "What
does this have to do with that collar?"
"Simply put," Tofu said. "It is trying to take
Kodachi into a pocket dimension as well as take over
her will. I'd say whoever put it around her wants a
more unique summoned creature than usual."
"She wants Kodachi as a slave," Ranma growled.
"Because of what she did today."
"Ranma," Tofu cautioned. Then he noted, with some
surprise, Akane's equally enraged face. Tofu had
thought it was mostly a matter of resignation on the
part of both women.
Kodachi and Akane had been at each other's throats
for the past few weeks. It had been rare that a day
would pass without either of them breaking into a loud
yelling over something.
And they always found a way to bump into each
other.
And then Ranma had been attacked.
Tofu sighed as he finally pieced two and two
together. Things like this had happened before,
battle priestess and Jurains always seemed to stand a
thread between hate and love. Especially when there
was a man in contention, otherwise the feelings tended
to be a lot more mild. Though this was perhaps one of
the quickest turnarounds he had ever heard of.
"Akane," he continued. "Don't go rushing off to
avenge her. This could just as easily be a trap."
"Can you get the collar off her, wizard?" Ranma
asked.
"Yes, I can," Tofu said. "Then she should be able
to help you." Akane and Ranma glanced at each other
for a moment and considered.
"Master," Akane said stepping forward. "There's
something else wrong with her. She's feverish, and
listless since sometime last night, and..."
"And you'd just as well not have her with you while
she might be ill and endangering herself," Tofu
commented.
"Trust me, Tofu," Ranma said. "Neither of them is
going to get a spell off." Akane nodded grimmly.

********

"She's still not in your menagerie?" Mikado asked,
starting to become more than a little worried. Azusa
looked pale as she shook her head, not wanting to
admit that the magic attempting the link was breaking
up uselessly.
"I...I think, Mikky," Azusa said. "That we might
want to back off before she wakes up and all three
come after us. L...little Azusa needs a lot more
power to do this safely...."
"Too late," Mikado said. "They're coming."
Azusa snapped to a standing posture and began to
prepare her first conjuration. Something a lot more
powerful than she had used yet. Her hands casually
reached down to grip the wand that also had a
significant number of summonings charmed into it.
To say that Ranma and Akane's arrival was
noticeable was to call a tornado annoying. Ranma
hadn't bothered with a pure blast of chaos, knowing
full well that it would just wash over his opponents.
He had instead resorted to something...simpler.
The red glowing ball flashed in at an almost
impossible angle and exploded a few feet away from the
roof of the modest temple. The fire hit the stone
roof and then reflected down towards the shocked pair.
Mikado shrugged off the magical attack even as
Azusa barely managed to find cover beneath a stone
pew. However, the large blocks of stone falling from
the ceiling were not something he expected. And while
his demonic heritage protected him greatly from the
injury, such heavy weights could not go unnoticed.
Before the singed and brusied pair could do more
than get their bearings, a shimmering red hammer
appeared from seemingly nowhere to attack them. It
even broke past Mikado's magic resistance cracking a
few of the demon's ribs.
Then Ranma and Akane were just there, within arm's
reach of each of their targets. As they through back
their enemies into the walls, each of them growling
angrily and stalking forward, with looks promising
pain.
"This is not over, half-breed," Mikado gasped as a
sickly cloud of vapor and fumes erupted from the demon
toward Akane and Ranma.
"What the hell is that?" Akane demanded as she felt
the sheer evil of the attack pressing forward. She
barely noticed when Ranma pushed her out of the range
of the spell. In the wake of the spell, however, it
was obvious that Azusa and Mikado had escaped.

********

"Let's not do that again, Mikky," Azusa gasped.
"I..I don't know if I'm going to walk right after
that."
Her spine was actually crushed in several places,
and she had third degree burns over a great deal of
her body. She had managed to fumble a healing potion
into her mouth, so she'd live, but she was still
enough in shock not to know the full extent of the
damage.
"I'll just have to find another partner then,"
Mikado said, he was already healing. In a few
moments, he'd leave behind this weak little human and
"Won't I."
"Neither of you will have to worry about that," a
cold, angry voice each of them recognized said. It
took some difficulty for Azusa twist her head toward
the voice.
"Mistress?" Azusa asked. Mikado had frozen and was
staring straight ahead for a moment before turning
around himself. All either saw was a platinum blonde
flash blazing forward before a hand caught each of
their throats and they were slammed against a wall.
"You." Mara growled. "Nearly. Killed. My.
Child." She said through angry, blood-rimmed eyes.
"Did you think I would not find out?"
"B...but...you told us," Mikado whined.
"To bring the outsider to me relatively unharmed!"
she snapped. "You've failed....severely." Mikado and
Azusa's last moments on the mortal plane,
unfortunately for them, not existence, would have been
the stuff of legend if anybody had been around to
witness it.
Moments later Mara took a few moments to calm down
and catch her breath. She felt something slide down
her face fall off, her hand flashed out and she
glanced oddly down at the drop of liquid in her palm.
She stared at it stonily for fifteen minutes, not
moving, before angrily tossing it away.
"Ranma's a weapon!" she shouted. "That's all! The
Akuma will fall, they will all die, and NOTHING is
going to stop me! Not my father, not my sisters and
brothers, and certainly not NODOKA!!!" She spat out
her former name as if it were something venomous as
she faded away, slowly recovering her characteristic
smirk.
Meanwhile, the tear of the dark goddess
crsytallized in its flight and the resultant gem,
tear-shaped and formed of translucent darkness with a
core of light, struck someone camping a few miles
away.
"What manner of being attacks me!" the man shouted
standing up and glancing around angrily before his
eyes clapped on the gem. "Hmm, gifts from the heavens
assuredly."

********

Kodachi blinked awake with an unladylike groan that
she would rather not have uttered.
"She's awake!" Ranma's voice shouted.
"Of course, I'm awake," Kodachi said. "I felt that
little witch die...what in?" Kodachi found herself
surprised again as both Ranma and Akane gently but
firmly manuevered her into bed.
"You should be resting in your condition," Akane
said firmly.
"My condition?" Kodachi said. "I've had worse
injuries in training..."
"Not that, Dachi," Ranma said, looking a mixture of
proud and embarrassed.
"Then what 'condition' are you discussing?" Kodachi
asked.
"Well, I guess I'd have seen it eventuall," Ranma
said. "But err..."
"Kodachi," Akane said brightly and sunnily, and no
trace of envy, nope, not a lick. "You're going to be
a mother!"
"Oh, that is all," Kodachi said, then it started to
hit her. "I think I will rest a little after all.
Tell me when we're back home." At that Kodachi fainted.

=====
"Caffeinated Kender? What's that, a berserk spell?" -
Tribble, Kender Warrior of the Celestial Kingdom
"God has to have a sense of humor, it's the only explanation for sex." - my father
"I have to write a how-to paper for class, so I'm writing a paper on how to be psuedo-evil." - my brother

http://members.aol.com/thrythlind/snake.html

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