"Umm," Yuka stared down at her amulet and continued to try to figure out what was going. "I don't know what it's doing."
"Mind if I take a look?" Penny asked. Yuka nodded and started to lift it off her neck. "No don't take it off! It's magic, you don't know what'll happen if you take it off!" Yuka froze and carefully let it fall back around her neck.
"Ummm," Yuka said again. "This has been in my family for a long time. I..it's never done anything like this before."
"Hmm," looked over the amulet closely, intrigued. "I might need Gina's help on this one. It's Japanese hiragana, but the words aren't Japanese."
"Those are words?" Yuka asked. She glanced back and forth for a moment before continuing in a whisper. "I sort of thought they were just decoration. It was made by gaijin ancestor of mine."
"Considering all of us are gaijin here," Penny said harshly. "That's hardly something to be embarrassed about. You wouldn't happen to know where in the world that gaijin came from would you?"
"Ummm," she said calmly. "Africa." Penny considered that and smirked.
"That cuts things down a bit," she said triumphantly. She looked to Stripe and switched to English. "Britanny said her family had been living on the Serenghetti, right?"
"That's right," Stripe said curiously. "Why do you need to know?"
"Well, let's start from there then," Penny said as she continued to study the glowing amulet, marvelling that the glow didn't seem to obscure any of the marks.
Nobody noticed the matching glow faintly emanating from under Lydia's eyes.
"History is what the winners make of it," a voice said.
Lydia turned about and almost felt herself frightened into her human form as she saw the tawny figure walking toward her.
The emotional response at seeing the lion-woman stride forward seemed to just hit a brick wall and stop. It was as if her there was something beside herself telling her to be afraid. Lydia appeared confused at the sensation and prepared for the woman to approach her.
"No spells shall reach here," the lion-woman said. "You won't have a problem with fearing cats any more than you would normally."
"What %$^$# spells?" Lydia asked suspiciously. She watched a stone circle form underneath her and the woman. It was an old circle engraved with heiroglyphics. "You mean the spells Iceron cast upon you #$%@ cats to scare us."
"Iceron yes," the woman said as she started to stretch. Her tufted tail whipped in a manner that appeared to be slow and lazy, but actually involved a great deal of control and endurance. "The cats no. No this particular spell was cast on you specifically."
"What do you mean on me specifically?" Lydia asked. "It's not like Iceron is still around to cast spells."
"Iceron is around," the woman said. "Drastically reduced in power since he underestimated a young human, but still dangerous."
The woman stood up and stretched, suddenly Lydia noted that she was dressed in something like the Egyptian warrior chicks in the Mummy Returns had worn. Lydia herself was dressed in her own full battle armor, instinctively she could feel all her standard weapons in place.
"What the #@$%'s going on?" Lydia asked getting into stance.
"I'm going to give you a test," the woman said. Lydia tensed at the way the woman phrased test. Zero often talked like that.
"What's your name?" Lydia demanded getting ready for battle.
"I'm called Sehkmet," the woman said, a staff appearing in her hand. "Let's begin."
"Any sign of Lydia McKracken?" Gothwrain asked.
"No Lord," the wererat in front of him said. "Moisha Rich is in the custody of the cats and an apparent traitor, however. We should be able to get her easy enough."
"Miss Rich is of no consequence," Gothwrain snapped. "Find, Lydia. Either alive or dead, it doesn't matter as long as you find her."
"I don't understand," the wererat said perplexed. "She is a child, what is her importance."
"You don't need to know her importance," Gothwrain said icily. "She is important to me, that is all you need to know." The wererat blinked and bowed, leaving the room.
I never thought that he'd turn sentimental about anyone, the wererat thought in a confused manner. Gothwrain looked out the window into the world and frowned at the turn of events.
He had thought he had found the focus of the prophecy. After all there had only been one werecheetah left. Then these others began to pop up. He wasn't even certain if the werecheetah in question had to be born with the proper genes anymore. For all he knew, it could have been an awakened werecheetah, or even an infected one.
To make matters worse he had lost her. His precious trophy. It was so pleasing to see her doing even minor tasks of his will.
Suddenly his eyes widened.
"Wait!" he called out. "I have a better idea." The old man smiled darkly as the wererat started walking back to him.
"Lord Gothwrain will debrief you himself when he is ready," the bodyguard said. "Until that time you stay in the room."
"But I was hoping to know if there has been any word of Lydia and Moisha," Romeo said.
"You let the cats get them," the man said, dripping hostility. "What do you think happened to them?" Romeo winced at that and by the time he recovered the door was closed and he was locked in his room.
Romeo frowned as he considered that his ineptitude had cost him his two closest friends. It was right that he should die to make up for the failure.
He sighed and looked around himself at the comfortable room they had put him in. A comfortable, escape proof room. The ventilator in the ceiling above allowed some air into the room and he took a deep breath in preparation of a sigh.
His breath caught in his throat as he caught a scent on the air. It smelled like soul char and...blood? Familiar blood.
"But...she wasn't hurt when I brought her in," Romeo said hesitantly. He stood up and looked at the ventilator, and concentrated. He thought he could hear something in the background.
"It hurts doesn't it, traitor?" the man asked her.
Nabiki blinked, breathing heavily.
"What are you talking about?" she asked wearily, eyeing the silver bar the man held in his hand. "I don't even kn...AAHHHH!!!" The man snapped the bar into her back again.
"We saw that your sister speaking to those cats," he said. "She even seemed to be telling them what to do."
"Akane?" Nabiki gasped. "She's on Jade." She cursed herself for letting that slip out.
"Well the white-furred bitch is back!" the man snapped, striking her again. Nabiki welcomed the strike, as the scream hid her own gasp of surprise.
"Stop now," Gothwrain's voice said over the intercom. "She might not be complicit in her sibiling's behavior. This is plenty of punishment for the accident of her birth."
Nabiki dropped as they untied her arms and she weakly struggled to stand up. Her torturer kicked her in the face as she started to rise and she fell back down, crying out in pain. She was dimmly aware of the man leaving her room and the door closing behind her.
"My apologies Miss Tendo," Gothwrain's disembodied voice said sorrowfully. Nabiki bought it about as much as she bought the idea that Akane had dyed her her white. "There was an insistance among the elders that at least a little punishment be levied towards you for your involvement with the enemy."
"Go away," Nabiki snapped, crawling onto the bed and lying on her stomach. She was in no mood to duel wits with him, and would, if possible, just deny him the sport.
"As you wish," Gothwrain said, and the intercom switched off. Nabiki's breath almost caught in surprise at that. Certainly he'd try to banter with her more. She shivered...unless these were just the preliminaries.
He shifted in his rest.
He blinked and realized something.
First he was thinking clearly for the first time in centuries.
What has happened, he thought. Then he remembered.
An amateur magician had enacted a binding ceremony to force him into some human child. If the attempted enslavement wasn't enough of an insult, he had used some flawed ritual. It had almost destroyed him and the child. Instead of an obediant and powerful servant, the old fool had driven the both of them insane.
"Am I free?" he asked.
A shiver ran through his world. An overwhelming rush of fear washed over the realm, and he almost reverted to an instinctual creature intent on fighting the source of the fear. He was still in that child.
And that child was walking into a confrontation of the demonic variety.
"Careful, human," he growled. "You'll destroy us both if you're not careful."
"Oh my...." Ranma gasped quietly. Everyone turned around to stare at him as they appeared at the sight of the demon's death. He seemed pale even through the fur, and just the look at how his fur was sticking on end set Akane's teeth on edge.
"What's wrong, Ranma," Akane asked. Julia and Nodoka were likewise confused, but Theo's face turned equally pale as he looked at Ranma's aura.
"It's a spirit," he said, impressed.
"What's a spirit?" Nodoka asked nervously.
"You don't mean the Neko-Ken," Julia asked. "Do you?"
"He d...does," Ranma squeaked nervously.
"You mean...Ranma is possessed?" Akane demanded.
"You understand now what we're dealing with," Sheila said as they reached the bottom of the cavern. "This isn't something to treat with kid gloves and give a second chance."
"I guess not," Ranko said sullenly. She stopped for a moment and considered.
Ranma would have been willing to kill by now. In fact he had been quite ready to kill that oni long ago, and he had basically killed Saffron's last incarnation. Ranko was still looking for ways around it.
"Just..." Brianna paused worried at the sudden stop. "Just keep on your toes and let Sheila and me handle the actually finishing them off." Sheila's expression clearly showed that Brianna's comment was quite a bit beyond her power.
"I don't think I'm going to continue perfecting the Art," Ranko said, looking down at her hands. She started walking forward again.
"That way!" another spirit was declaring loudly. "That way is the prey!!"
She really did feel bad about scaring the human she was bound with, but she could smell the demons coming. She wasn't free to fight as she choose, but this girl seemed skilled enough to fight these demons. And she could always kill them if they tried to take the girl's soul.
Ranko suddenly froze and started shaking, looking as if the most horrible thing in the world had been placed before her. In a way, it had.
"I...i..i..it's t...t.this way," Ranko said. Brianna and Sheila both looked at her curiously and looked down the cold, seemingly fireless tunnel she had just pointed out.
"Are you sure?" Brianna asked.
"How can you possibly know?" Sheila asked.
"T...t...the Ne..kk...ko..ken...told me," she said shivering almost uncontrolably.
Nabiki snapped awake with a headache. She'd been in contact with enough magic to know an attempt to rearrange her mind when she felt one. Maybe she had fought this one off by instinct, but the next time. She wasn't really trained for this, and the physical threat wasn't helping her concentration.
She shivered as she realized that she would fall eventually.
"I guess there's just the Mandarin approach then," she whispered to herself. At least when she got out of here they now knew some magicians who should be able to remove whatever her captors did to her.
"Are you sure she's going to be fine?" Yuka asked, indicating Lydia. "S...she hasn't woken up yet." Penny glanced over at Lydia, but only gave her a cursory glance.
"Looks like she's mostly healed," Penny said, turning back to the notes she had taken on Yuka's amulet.
She thought she had it right, but was checking her translations again to make sure. She was considering asking Yuka to let her look directly at it again to see if she had everything right.
"She's probably just sleeping it off now."
"Maybe she's making it glow," Charlotte said, pointing to Lydia. Penny glanced at her confused.
"I seriously doubt that, Charlie," Penny said. Then she paused. "Incidentally, why do you say that?"
"Well her eyes are glowing the same color and..." Charlotte didn't get to finish as Penny sat up to examine Lydia's eyes closely.
"Stripe," Penny called out. "Any of those artifacts give you telepathy?"
"No, Penny," he said, coming over to look at the wererat as well.
"Penny," Ace called back. "We're going to land pretty soon, better get ready to move everybody for the trip to Japan."
Lydia flipped over a strike and then ducked down into the splits as Sehkmet flashed her staff back in an attempt to catch her. Lydia rose up from the ground on one hand, sending a dagger flying out of her other. Sehkmet barely dodged to the side as the dagger slashed past her feline face. The silver dagger didn't burn her.
"If you're going to give me weapons for this fight were-bitch," Lydia said flipping over Sehkmet's head and landing on the staff as the cat tried to strike on the landing. "At least make it real silver -- omph!"
Her perch had whipped out from under her at a speed that she would have thought impossible and then the other end smacked into her. Lydia's next thoughts were encompassed by the onrushing wall. She quickly adapted Zero's soft fall technique and twisted around to bounce off the wall, wondering just when that had become part of the terrain.
"Who ever said I was a were-lion, Miss McKraken?" Sehkmet asked, she lunged forward striking with her staff in a series of precise attacks. Lydia shifted into her rat form and flowed through them by virtue of that, skittering under and past Sehkmet's reach.
Shifting into her hybrid from as she reached Sehkmet's side. A swift strike with her sword followed, only barely blocked to the side by a vertical spinning block from the staff.
"You're overcommitting, lady," Lydia sneered as she backed off and sat into stance to wait for the woman to come again. As long as she held her weapons she had a chance against this...person. Wait...if this is a dream. Zero says creativity is almost vital to victory. In this case, I think it's just little #$%@@# more important than that.
Sehkmet's eyes narrowed angrily.
"You had better be who I think you are," Sehkmet growled. "No one presumes to correct me."
Before Lydia could respond Sehkmet was charging forward. The staff stabbed past Lydia, and the rat slashed downward with her sword as her other hand slashed up. Curiously, it contained the dagger she had thrown into the darkness before the wall had risen.
Sehkmet gasped in surprise as her staff was snapped in two and nearly allowed herself to be cut as Lydia stabbed outward with her dagger. Sehkmet frantically twisted the remainder of her staff about to force the dagger to the side. She smirked in victory, though her eyes seemed sad, as she met barely any resistance to the push and Lydia rolled along with the block.
Then she noticed Lydia dipping low in what wasn't a roll but a spin. In the next moment her feet were taken out from under her. She rolled back to her feet and looked with a considerate frown as she looked over her opponent. Lydia's only angry and determined look as she gracefully returned to standing was so different than the cheerful face she rememebred, but...
"You think to directly," Lydia said. "You got to #@^&$ think outside the @(#@#$ box." When did I learn a sweep? Zero must have taught it to us sometime.
Sehkmet almost facefaulted at the use of profanity. She looked at Lydia with a massive sweatdrop. The rat wasn't at all what she remembered.
"You're a few thousand years too young to beat me so easily, mortal," Sehkmet said angrily. "You continue to presume to correct a goddess."
"Goddess?" Lydia asked in surprise.
Then Sehkmet was charging forward with a pair of golden axes. Lydia blinked and rolled out of the way rather than parry. There was no way she was going to win in contest of strength with the lion-woman.
Need to keep her moving, Lydia decided. She doesn't seem to @%#%## change things around so much while she's fighting.
"Keep dodging, mortal," Sehkmet growled angrily. "You'll tire, I won't."
Lydia dodged around a little more before lashing out again with what were no longer a dagger and a sword but a pair of sais. The axes were ripped from Sehkmets hands, and then the bars of the sais were slammed into her abdomen.
Sehkmet doubled over and then went flying as Lydia kicked upward. Sehkmet started to roll in the air to hit the wall as Lydia had done, by the time she had turned around, however, holes had appeared in her wall. Her arms and legs slipped through and she slammed full into the wall slipping down to ground with a dazed groan.
In an instant Lydia was ontop of her, claws to her throat.
"You always forget it's a dream when you get into the fight Sehkmet," Lydia said. "You've never managed to fix that."
Lydia blinked as the angry, surprised look on Sehkmet's face was replaced with one of near disbelief and restrained relief and joy. And the woman seemed to be familiar somehow, and she was getting more familiar as the dream continued.
"Is...is she okay?" Yuka asked. Penny glanced to her and looked nervous.
"I think so," Penny said. "But with magic...you can never tell. But listen to this, and tell me what you think. All I can make out from this amulet is that it's meant to, quote "to seek and free" and seems to be dedicated to some lion-goddess, probably Egyptian originally.
"'To seek and free what?" Yuka asked nervously.
"Is there anything to be worried about?" Stripe asked as the helicopter settled down.
"Keep an eye on her," Penny said to the kryn. "If she wakes up as some sort of blood crazed demon, well then, yes, there's something to worry about."
"Huh?" Charlotte said nervously. "B..b..blood crazed demon?"
"It's a figure of speech, Charlie," Penny said. I hope.
"Sister is that you?" Sehkmet asked cautiously.
"My name is Lydia," the rat said confidently. "And I ain't your %$&^# sister."
"It is you," Sehkmet said, revealing a radiant smile that confused and distracted Lydia for a moment.
Then she was flying through dreamscape and her face smashing into the ground as she suddenly realized that while her opponent's weaknesses were real, she had still been holding back.
"Think about this, Lydia," Sehkmet said. "How was Iceron 'killed' the first time?"
"What does that have to do with anything?" Lydia asked as again everything was plunged into darkness.
"Her eyes stopped glowing," Charlie said. Penny nodded and looked to the amulet which was also fading back to a seemingly normal piece of jewelry.
"So did her amulet," Penny said. "Whatever was meant to happen has happened. All we can do now is get her to Gina and deal with it when she wakes up."
"You're deferring to Gina on this?" Ace asked, with a sly smirk on his face.
"Give me a break," Penny said. "This is magic, not science, Gina has more connections in that field than I have hairs on my head. She is hardly my superior in the scientific field. It's not like she made the world or anything."
Akane looked at Ranma cautiously as the revelation about him being possessed began to raise a number of questions.
"It ain't like I'm in the Neko-ken all the time you know," Ranma said nervously in response to Akane's look. "I ain't possessed right now."
"And it's not really possession," Dr Diggers said as he looked closer. "It's more of a binding."
"Okay, main question," Julia interrupted. "Will it affect our capability to deal with whatever is in this tower?" When neither Theo nor Ranma answered she continued. "Then let's deal with the other thing first, and then see about this Neko-Ken."
"Are you sure about this?" Sheila asked as they tramped through the natural stone caverns. The glow of the volcanic cavern was fading behind them as they walked.
"Yeah," Brianna said. "It's actually starting to get cold down here."
"That's from Ranko," Genn said.
"Huh?" Sheila said, turning around to look at Reiko carefully. Her breath was coming out as a mist, though it certainly wasn't cold enough for that where Sheila was standing.
"I...I didn't th...think I c...could do it without th..that gyuseki th...thingie...b..but I can..." Ranko said. She laughed, somewhat hysterically. "I wasn't even trying."
"Stop a moment here," Brianna said, insistently, pulling Ranko over to the side. She almost gasped on contact with Ranko's skin. The girl almost seemed to be frozen. "Is it still the Neko-Ken?" Brianna glanced up at Genn, who nodded, before looking back to Ranko. Sheila kept a watch on the corridors.
"Y..yes," Ranko said. "It won't go away...it..it...she keeps saying the same thing! S...she...won't stop...'that way' 'l...let me in' 'prey is that way'...meowing, hissing...meowing..."
"Come on," Brianna said. "You're a tough girl."
"No, I'm not," Ranko said, shaking her head.
"You seem to be handling things fine," Sheila said. "Just a little stuttering." Sheila thought that if her worst fear had taken up residence in her head and kept talking to her she would be a basket case.
"Anything near, Genn," Sheila asked, moving near the rakshasha.
"No," he said. Then she nodded and leaned in.
"Can't you do something about this problem?" she asked quietly.
"There's something else in her," Genn answered. "I felt it, and I'm not sure what it is. AND she has psychic scars too."
"So you're just going to leave it there?" Sheila asked.
"I wouldn't where to begin," Genn answered exasperatedly. "It'd be like trying to do surgery on the guidance of a random die roll!"
"The Soul a Ice don't g..g..get rid of stuff," Ranko said, answering Sheila's original question without noticing the conversation between her and Genn. "It just lets ya...ig...ignore it. I...didn't th...think about the b...Breath of Ice..."
"Is there a problem with the Breath of Ice?" Brianna asked, concerned.
"I...it takes a lot..." Ranko said, eyes looking somewhat faint though Brianna had to look closely to see it. "Even with the staff...e..even f..for Ranma. I...I'm getting tired."
"Then stop doing it," Brianna said, it really had to be tiring for it to be affecting her even with regeneration to consider. Though Brianna worried about the "even for Ranma" comment.
"Wh..what if the S...soul of Ice goes too," Ranko asked. "It...it's like s..someone banging on the door right now..." She clutched at her head and closed her eyes. "She wants inside."
Damn it, Brianna thought. Whatever you are, back off and give her some breathing space. You're just going to get both of you killed this way.
Of course it wasn't that simple, and Brianna knew that.
"If this ice breath thing is making you tired, you've got to shut it down," Brianna said.
"But..." Ranko said.
"The Neko-ken thing is talking to you right?" Brianna said. "Talk to it, make a deal."
"And offer it what?" Ranko asked angrily. "My eyes on a nice juicy platter?"
"Did it try to kill you before?" Brianna asked.
"No," Ranko admitted reluctantly.
"It killed the demon thing right?" Brianna asked. Ranko nodded. "Then it saved you right?" Ranko nodded again, slowly.
"I'll...try," Ranko said.
"Okay," Sheila muttered. "Next time I pay the extra ten gold for the longer duration. I don't see or smell anything coming, what's happening with her?"
"I don't really know," Brianna said to Sheila as Ranko sat down and seemed to meditate. "Something like when you hit me on the head that one time."
"Ehh?" Sheila said nervously glancing at Ranko. Brianna blinked and looked down at the concentratiing Ranko.
"It has to do with her fear of cats," Brianna said. "Something her father did to her and Ranma when they were kids." It was sort of true, as far as it went.
"Not your place to say?" Sheila asked. "Any chance it's dangerous to us?"
"Don't think so," Brianna said...after a pause. She picked her gun back up and set a watch on her end of the corridor while Ranko apparently lost all contact with them. A fact emphasized by the sweat that seemed to be freezing to her face.
It was easy to drop within her mind. The continual demands of the neko-ken acted as a beacon that made it easy to follow, even as she was terrified to do so.
"Sss..stop it!" Ranko shouted past the frozen shell of ice surrounding her conscious mind.
"Let me in!" the feline voice demanded. Ranko could see it's shape but not the awful details she remembered when it killed the demon.
"Leave me alone," Ranko said. "I have to go to a fight and I can't do that with you..."
"But you don't want to fight," the cat noted. Ranko was silent. "Let me in, and I'll fight for you...I'll kill for you."
"No!" Ranko shouted, her heart skipping a beat as she saw her carefully constructed shell shiver with the force of the yell.
"You're get tired," the Neko-Ken said. "Why fight me, I just want to help you."
"You want to eat me!!!" Ranko countered.
"I am bound to you," it said hissingly. "You die, I die. My existence is tied to yours."
"And if you die?" Ranko asked nervously, following the vague form of the neko-ken through the sheet of glass, thinning as she grew more tired and control became difficult. The cat hesitated and seemed uncertain for a moment.
"Do you want to try to kill me girl?" it asked finally. "Why? I've always protected you. I can remember...faintly...the old woman, the shark, your father...that pervert that seeks to mate with you...I have always...." The neko-ken stopped as Ranko started laughing and dropped to the dark ground of her mindscape.
"She's laughing," Sheila said, adjusting her frame of vision to include Ranko. "Is that a good sign or bad one?"
"Listen for purring," Brianna said. "Or meowing...and then run. I saw her and Ranma fighting in that state earlier...we don't have what we need to fight her here. Not without killing her anyway." Sheila looked to Genn.
"She's not having the break down we're worried about," Genn said vaguely.
"Your sister is this way," Ranma's neko-ken said. He added something as it felt the tremor through Ranma's soul. "I'm not trying to scare you."
"Ranko's that way," Ranma said impatiently, then winced as the neko-ken spoke again. "I can smell her, an the others." He hadn't needed the information from the neko-ken anyway.
"So can I Ranma," Akane said, eyes narrowed. "So can your mother, and I think Diggers-san found some tracks, and as for Diggers-sensei..." she turned to look at the white-haired man concentrating hard.
"Get ready," Dr. Diggers said. "They've been noticed."
"Just a copy," Ranko whispered. "Just a copy neko-ken for a copy Ranma." The neko-ken paused to consider that.
"You're brother is near," it said finally, not understanding the comment, and defaulting to the nearest comment it could consider as likely. "I feel the other raiju. Unless there's more fools who would subject people to that accursed and flawed ritual."
"Ranma is here?" Ranko said, looking up, and blinking, missing everything else.
"Let me fight," the neko-ken demanded, returning to the original line of thought. "I thought you could handle it, but you're distracted, and now you won't let me in as easily as you used to."
"You can't have my body," Ranko said.
"I don't see any other option unless you can create one for me," she said. Ranko blinked for a moment.
"I could do that," Ranko said.
"Excuse me?" the neko-ken said.
"I think, I can," Ranko added. She wasn't really sure, but if it got the thing to leave her alone, she'd try. She was always of the habit of thinking through theory more than Ranma, mostly because she was always lax in physical training and had to make for it, on the fly, in finesse. Not that Ranma wasn't especially accomplished in that skill, she just tended to make more of a habit out of it.
"This I have to see," the neko-ken's shape stopped pacing around her shell and settled down to watch her, making Ranko rather nervous.
Let me think this through, Ranko thought. Chi is life-force an' I can sorta put it out, right, but it dissipates real quick cause I stop focusing on it an' it gets harder to keep it up the further out it is. But if...if....SHE goes with it...then she can can keep it up...an'....it'll still be part a me though...I'll...I'll feeel her all the time....but maybe she'll leave me alone an not talk to me...at least she REALLY can't kill me without killin' herself then though...no lie...its my chi after all.
"Get ready to go," Ranko said hesitantly.
"A real body after all this time," the neko-ken said. Ranko could almost see the grin.
"Is it just me or did it just get hot?" Sheila asked. They looked to Ranko.
Sheila and Brianna flinched as Ranko's hands came together and a soft white ball of radiance appeared in her hands. Then Ranko pushed it away from her quickly and snapped her eyes open, backpedalling from the ball of light as it took shape. Into a small, blue cat.
"Oh, how cute," Sheila said.
"This is a slightly small body," the cat said in Japanese.
"What did it say?" she asked.
"Small body," Brianna said, a little hesitant.
"I said I'd getcha a body," Ranko said, plastered against the wall. "Didn't say how big. Now could you just...go over there where I can't see you...or somethin?"
"Most familiars are small," Sheila said. "Though I get the feeling that this isn't quite a normal familiar."
"Familiar?" Brianna said. "Huh, well....maybe that works."
"GET DOWN!!!" Ranma shouted from further back in the tunnel. the three girls glanced toward him in time to see him fire a blast of chi there way. All of the them ducked, the blast rolling under them to collide with a stream of fire that had seemingly come from nowhere.
"Stay down!" Ranko shouted as she realized, from the suddenly blast of cold air, what sort of chi Ranma had used.
Sheila, not understanding Ranko's instructions tried to stand up after the energy had passed them, expecting to get into stance and ready for the fight before the explosion died down.
He had jumped right to the technique he'd killed Saffron with. As the cold chi hit the fire, the hiryu shoten ha was made and the small, spear shaped tornado ripped down the corridor. The backlash threw Sheila backward toward the coming reinforcements.
Three demonic forms of rock and smoke crumbled to dust as the tornado pierced them. Several others lost limbs or had their artificial bodies cracked as the tornado clipped them. Invisibly demonic spirits rushed down the corridor seeking the pools of magma further ahead to form a new body from. They found Dr. Diggers waiting for them.
The shock of the released souls slowed down the demons enough for Akane, Sheila and Nodoka to recover from the jagwere's impromptu flight. Brianna and Ranko, meanwhile stood up as Julia Diggers past them in a blur, Ranma not far behind her. The little blue cat was no where in sight.
"Where did...?" Ranko started, then felt around for her chi.
There, she felt it. The thing had RIDDEN Ranma's hiryu shoten ha further back into the cavern.
It had hurt.
Ranko smiled.
Wait a minute, Ranko thought. What is that? She got a feeling of something, important being in the area. And reluctantly, squinting her eyes closed, concentrated on that small piece of her chi.
"DIE DIE!!!!" Brianna shouted next to her, laughing manically and fire burst after burst from her gun.
It was a comparatively pleasant counterpoint to the feline noises going on in her head.
The neko-ken muttered irritably as it shook it's head out. That girl was actually pleased that this little plan turned out to be rather painful. She staggered around for a few moments, shaking her head clear.
Wait a minute, the girl thought. What is that? The cat hissed irritably and momentarily ignored the question, looking around for prey. It's body was small, but it was still a powerful spirit with centuries of experience. Even with the limited energy it had it could be dangerous.
The impulse to look back at whatever sensory blip had caught her impromptu mistress's attention became a little stronger. She really should have considered the ramifications of letting the girl form a body for her out of personal chi.
Of course after so long without a body, most of that spent as a rather instinctual beast that just wanted to fight, play, eat, or sleep. Thank goodness it was now had it's mind so it could attend to higher concerns.
Now where were those demons so she could have a good fun fight. Then she could lounge in the sun or hunt for the rest of the day. All of which are much higher concerns than mere fighting, playing, eating and sleeping.
Oh yeah, the girl wanted her to look over at that group of people in robes around the fire again.
She looked in that direction just as the three rings of released souls flashed through the cavern. She recognized that for what it was. When the demon had touched the shared soul space it had held with Ranko, she had still been that insane mockery of herself. Then she had killed the demon and apparently in the backlash of released spiritual energy had awakened herself.
The fact that she was now in a small outcropping of some mortal girl's energy made it questionable as to whether the situation was good or not.
She pondered the question over why the girl was interested in a bunch of undead gathered around a fire. Then she shook her head out one last time and realized the fire was a gate.
The nearest thing possible to a vicious smile for a cat crossed the ejected neko-ken's face.
"Ranko!" Genn shouted next to her.
Ranko broke her concentration to glance toward the sound and found herself bowled over by something else moments before a clawed arm of stone and fire swiped through her former position.
"Are you okay?" Ranma asked as he picked her up. "Ya look kinda spaced out."
"I'm fine," Ranko said shaking him off and getting to her own feet. "I know where the gate is!" She shouted.
"What gat...hey!" Ranma shouted as Ranko ran off down the corridor, taking advantage of a brief gap in the demon's forces.
"Don't go off on your own!" Nodoka shouted.
"Where is she going?" Brianna demanded sharply at nearly the same time. The three geared up to follow her, but found the way suddenly closed shut behind her. As if the stone had temporarily melted.
"Damn it!!" Ranma shouted as he approached the now far to small hole, which soldified as a small shaft that allowed them to hear what was going on in the next part of the cavern. Several rings of releashed souls showed that Dr. Diggers was dealing with the last batch of demons they whose bodies they had destroyed.
"Akane-chan!" Nodoka said. "You're the only one that can get through that hole in a timely fashion." Ranma turned around to look at Nodoka and Akane, looking torn.
"What me?" Akane said, glancing at the narrow hole and back to Nodoka as if she were crazy. "You've got to be kidding."
"No, she's right," Julia said. "You're a wererat now in case you forgot, you have two other forms besides this hybrid one you've been wearing."
"None of their spirits escaped me," Dr Diggers said, coming into the cavern. He immediately noticed they were lacking one were-cheetah, and the nearly closed tunnel that hadn't been there when he'd done his clairvoyant search earlier.
"Why can't he just open the tunnel?" Ranma asked. "Or teleport us?" Dr. Diggers took a moment to concentrate.
"It's warded against teleportation," he said. "And opening magically created rock will take some time." Akane sighed.
"Does anybody here know somebody that goes by the name 'Rook'?" Genn asked nervously as he stood at the wall.
"Rook," the Diggers and Sheila said together.
"So how do I change into a rat?" she asked, with a glance towards Ranma. The male werecheetah looked on the verge of a nervous explosion.
Ranko skidded to a stop and turned back to see the corridor behind her shutting closed.
"Another werecheetah," a dry voice said. "How unlikey, and yet appropriate." Ranko turned to see an armored form wielding a pair of swords staring at her from behind a group of translucent men and women with empty eyes in white robes. Her nose wrinkled as she caught a whiff of the room. Everything in here with the exception of her and the.....n...neko-k..ken were dead.
"Y...yeah," Ranko said, noticing that cat sneaking up toward the figures around the fire. "Wh..whatever, just get ready to get yer asses kicked."
"I think not," the armored figure said. "Take her, and make it noisy so her friends can listen." The translucent figures glided toward her.
Ranko smirked and punched out at one of the robed men, only to have her fist pass through it. A circle kick met the same results in passing through another two of her attackers.
Great, Ranko thought. The figures clumisly reached out to grab her, but she stepped back and away from them, growling as she saw the armored figure walk to where the tunnel had been.
"Sheila of the Edge Guard," a dry voice said further down the tunnel. "And young Miss Diggers."
That must be the 'Rook' character they had told me about, Akane thought, reviewing what they had said about his armor and tactics. A crashing sound behind her spurred her along. Sure Dr. Diggers had said he'd watch her and make sure she was far enough away before they started demolitions, but still.
"I wouldn't bother with that," Rook laughed. "By the time you can get through she'll be dead...or perhaps undead...a werecat specter to do my bidding."
"We'll see about that, jerk," Akane said, her voice coming out as a small squeak. Further back she had a call of "Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken" and knew that Ranma had heard and gotten angry as well.
If that c...c...cat wanted to protect her, where was it now. Ranko glanced around as she continued to dodge mindless, groping hands from the specters.
Her question was answered a flash of blue leaped past and slashed at one of the specters. Great ripping tears opened in the translucent image before the specter seemed to be blown away, as if it had been nothing but a pile of leaves seemlessly joined. Ranko swore that a look of peace crossed the things face before it vanished completely
"NO!" Ranko snapped. "Don't kil..."
"But they're already dead," the Neko-ken retorted.
"They are?" Ranko asked, then smacked herself in the head, backing away again. That armored jerk was still just watching. "Duh, ghosts." And the thing certainly had seem peaceful before leaving...she just wished she had another way to do this.
Another of the five ghosts was torn to pieces by the little blue cat, which was emitting an impressive amount of energy for something it's size. Especially since Ranko was sure that she hadn't given it that much.
"Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken!" Ranko shouted, she kept the speed lower than normal however, hoping to disguise her true capabilities from the knight. Still, combining even a minimal Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken with her cheetah speed was phenomanal and the chi charged attacks ripped through the remaining specters.
A low applauding greeted her display.
"It seems that I shall have to take care of you myself," Rook said, drawing forth his swords and moving in to attack.
"You're dead too, aintcha?" Ranko asked irritably.
"Doesn't really matter," Rook said. "You'll not defeat me anyway."
"We'll see about that," Ranko said. I'm going to get this one on my own. No help! Just me! I can do just as well as Ranma can. She launched forward into a charge, a loud boom rocking the chamber and blowing over the fire gate as she crossed the sound barrier. And all it would take her was one attack.
"KACHUU TENSHIN AMAGURIKEN!!!" She shouted and snapped an energy shrouded fist forward at the chi created speeds. She felt four impacts in the first instant of contact and then her target was gone in a puff of smoke. She blinked, confused. "That's it?"
She had just about put every remaining once of chi into that Amaguriken and it only took four hits. What if he hadn't been dead before, had she just killed someone? Was she that shallow, that the first chance she had to compare herself to Ranma that she ignored her earlier decisions?
Then again it had always been like that. She never did more than cursory training, unless there was a fight brewing that she had to take care of. She spent all her time scamming ice cream. The only time she got serious into the Art was when she had to or someone suggested she was weaker than Ranma. Or rather, remembering that her memories were artificial, the only time Ranma trained his girl side was when he had to.
"Look out, girl!" her cat hissed, promoting a wince, but Ranko did turn in time to see a flash of metal descend towards her. She raised her arm to catch the blade on the flat and deflect it aside.
"AAAIEEEE!!!" Ranko shrieked as her flesh connected with the silvered sword. She only barely dodged aside from the other strike, clutching her burned hand.
"That was impressive speed, child," Rook said advancing on her as she backed away. "You actually beat the teleportation. Four times, I wonder how many hits I would have taken had I remained where I was standing."
"Teleportation?" Ranko repeated. She stepped forward and snapped a short kick at Rook, blinking as the specter vanished into dust before the unenhanced kick could reach him. Almost instantly she felt him reappearing behind and struck out again with a mule kick.
She glanced back as she did so and noted, with dismay, that the armored jerk vanished into smoke again as she kicked out. A flash of motion above her alerted her to where the monster was appearing.
In mid air, right over her horizontal back.
Ranko leaped up off the one leg connected on the ground and rolled past the descending Rook. Seeing the neko-ken launch itself forward in a small blue ball of fury confirmed her suspicion as Rook teleported immediately behind the cat to avoid the strike.
What she needed was an attack to cover a radius around her. Unfortunately she had blown all her remaining chi and was even now just operating on fumes.
Ranko landed shakily and examined the silver burn on her arm again. That arm wasn't going to be much use in the battle. She glanced up seeing her "familiar" as Sheila had called the damn neko-ken, sent flying against a wall before hitting the ground, momentarily stunned. The sight brought a small smile to Ranko's face, even as she stepped away from the cat.
The armored figure advanced on her, she swore it was smiling under that helmet, as she tried to catch her breath. Ranko took a shaky stance, feeling some of her chi return courtesy of her capability to regenerate.
"At least I closed the gate," Ranko said.
"It can be reopened," Rook assured her.
He slashed forward with one sword and another, forcing Ranko to dodge back while she was considering a way to beat that telepotation of his. She had to find a way to get him without him knowing she was striking, that was the only way. Then he wouldn't know to teleport.
Her back hit the wall and immediately Rook rolled around to her side, giving her a shot to the middle of the room.
"Almost had me cornered there," Ranko said. "Maybe you're not as good as I think." She smirked. Rook did not answer, having learned much earlier that walls where dangerous things for him to fight near.
"Ranko!" Akane shouted, from inside the cavern. The armored creature stopped and turned to face the sound.
"How surprising," he said, looking over The newly appeared wererat. "How did you get in here?" The sound of digging magic and warriors could be heard getting closer, but the tunnel was still solid on this end.
Thank you, Akane, Ranko said, launching an attack forward at the distracted Rook.
Of course, Ranko had made the same mistake Julia had in her first confrontation with Rook. It wasn't Rook doing the teleporting...it was the armor. Rook vanished before Ranko's fist could get there.
"Ranko duck!" Akane shouted, running forward. Ranko didn't need to be told twice as she rolled forward, the cleaving slash becoming only a painful burning across her back. "You monster!!"
"Don't think that you can beat me, little rat," Rook said. "I can already tell you're not as skilled as...." Rook was cut short as Akane leaped into a jump kick, back to the ground. Rook had a fraction of a second to realize what was happening before he was stuck in solid rock....again.
"Ranko are you okay?" Akane asked rushing to the side of her the werecheetah. Ranko sat up, trying to ignore the burning sensations on her back and arm. She looked from Akane to where Rook was stuck in the ground, hands and feet sticking out comically.
"You rescued me," Ranko said hollowly.
"Of course I did," Akane snapped in her usual annoyed voice. "Why did you do something as stupid as run off by yourself....anyway?" Akane's concerned anger faded as Ranko's eyes began to grow misty.
"YOU rescued ME," Ranko repeated, before the fatigue, stress and humiliation finally cracked her Soul of Ice and she broke out into a gale of weeping.
"Oh," Akane said, reaching forward to hug the girl. "You'd have beaten him eventually." She assured Ranko, not sure whether the girl was hearing her or not.
The final sound of the others breaking through the rock echoed through the final cavern as Akane held Ranko in what she hoped was a comforting hug, avoiding the nasty looking burns on her back and arm as much as she could.
"Is she okay?" Ranma demanded as he came in. "Are you okay?!"
"OH!" Nodoka said coming over and seeiing the burns. "These will have to be treated!"
"Missed all the fun," Brianna muttered to herself. She glanced over to Ranko and her family comforting her, hoping it was a comfort and not a humiliation and then walked with Sheila and her mother to where Rook was trapped in stone.
"This time why don't we cut him out and lock him in a vault or something?" Sheila asked.
"A heavily warded vault," Julia agreed.
"With a Diggers anti-magic field set up around the stone," Brianna finished.
"This time he's NOT coming back," Sheila finished.
Meanwhile the small, blue, as yet unnamed cat, unless one considers "Neko-Ken" a name, finally sat up and shook it's head clear. It was a spirit of thunder and lightning, but really, there was such a thing as too much of a good thing. Besides the thunder and lightning in it's eyes and ears at the moment was more of a concussion thing.
"Oh, that was fun," she said. "But wait until I learn this little body some more."
Things were much quieter later in the day, when they'd returned to the inn.
"She put the neko-ken into a seperate body without using the familiar ritual," Dr. Diggers said. "Without even knowing the ritual. That is impressive." Julia nodded.
"You're thinking of asking her or Ranma to see if they're interested in learning magic?" Julia asked. The mage looked to her and she smiled. "You can't resist a talented student any more than I can."
"I highly doubt that Ranma would like to study more magic than it would take to duplicate his sister's act," Theo said. "I assume Ranko would be along the lines of her brother as well."
"That would be a bad assumption to make Theo," Julia said. "Think about Brianna." The mage nodded.
"I'll suggest it," he said. "We'll see what she thinks. After we talk to her mother."
Ranko looked down at her arm, Dr. Diggers had healed it, but she could still remember the feel of her soul being charred where the silver had touched it. That wasn't what bothered her though. Akane, Ranma and her mother had stayed with her in the room for an hour before she asked them to leave her alone. They had only left reluctantly.
They were worried about her, it was touching. But it was humiliating.
And the Neko-ken was still hanging around her to. Every time it came close she started getting the shivers. At the moment she thought it was basking in the sun far away from her. She could feel warmth spreading evenly over that piece of her chi.
"Want to talk about it?" someone asked from the door. Ranko turned morosely and saw Brianna standing there.
"No," Ranko said.
"Too bad," Brianna said. "Because you're going to."
Brianna walked over and sat down next to Ranko. Ranko blinked as she first realized just how large she was in her hybrid form, even Brianna, who would dwarf her human form, looked rather small next to her.
"What's to talk about?" Ranko asked. "All I was useful for was getting my ass kicked and shaking like a scaredy.....dog."
"YOU found the gate," Brianna reminded her. "YOU took it out of commission. I'd say that you weren't exactly useless."
"AKANE had to rescue me," Ranko said. "She ain't bad...but...usually its me doin' the rescuing...or Ranma anyway."
"Yeah, well we told her what to do before she went into the room," Brianna said. "That idiot Rook depends on that one trick way too much."
"That one trick almost killed me," Ranko said. "And to think, if I had done just a single jab when I'd hit that wall..."
"Yeah," Brianna said. "That's how Mom finally beat him, he had her fooled to, almost killed her...thenl he TOLD her how his armor works." She rolled her eyes at the idiocy of that. "I guess he learned his lessen about bragging from that."
"He almost beat your mother?" Ranko said, somewhat surprised and impressed.
"Yeah," Brianna said. "But it's because of that one trick of his, and now we all know how to beat him."
"Ranma would have beat him," Ranko said. "He's better than me."
"Don't try to compare yourself to him," Brianna said. "You'll always be in his shadow then. You remember what I told you about Grave Digger?"
"That was before I existed," Ranko reminded her, without denying that she remembered.
"Yeah," Brianna said. "Well anyway, the same thing applies here I think. You think I could beat Brit in a fight?" Ranko considered this and shook her head slowly.
"No," she said hesitantly.
"And do you think I could out research Gina?" At this Ranko held just a blank expression, both of the Diggers genuises were so far beyond her in technical knowledge that she could hardly tell their levels apart. "Well it depends. With my inventions, I'm probably an even match for Brit, maybe more so, Brit doesn't do much serious training. And next to Gina, for pure raw intellect and talent, she's head and shoulders above me, but I find things she misses all the time. She makes things too complicated for herself. And when you put me all together I'm probably the top military mind of the Diggers set. I do my own thing, I don't try to do my sisters' things."
"All I know is martial arts," Ranko said. "All I know is what HE'S been taught."
"Are you interested in martial arts?" Brianna asked, remembering her half-muttered comment before the shit had started hitting the fan earlier.
"Not really," Ranko answered after a long pause. "But...what else?"
"I'm sure you'll find something," Brianna said comfortingly. "Hey, most kids your age don't know what they're going to do."
"Most kids my age are still in the hospital," Ranko muttered darkly.
"Yeah," Brianna said. "And most my age have yet to hit kindergarten, so anyway...I got to go meet the other girls. We're going shopping with the bounty money for Rook if you want to come."
"Maybe," Ranko said.
"We'll wait downstairs for a little while," Brianna said. "Don't mope it'll make you feel worse."
"...and then he asks me 'if that wasn't sex what was it,'" Akane said.
"No," Sheila said. "He's that clueless?"
"He's that clueless," Genn agreed as Akane nodded.
"All this time I've been calling him a pervert," Akane said, rolling her eyes. "And he doesn't even know what it is."
"Did I miss anything?" Brianna asked as she came to join them.
"Just some girl talk," Sheila said. She gestured to Ranma surreptitiously, where the werecheetah was sitting in the corner watching them nervously. "Apparently Akane fell asleep on top of him and he thought that was sex."
"REALLY?" Brianna said. "No way!"
"Yep," Akane said. "That's what happened." Brianna glanced over at Ranma, whose face was turning red as he realized that they were talking about him.
"Wow," Brianna said. "Lucky girl, you get to break him in to all the wonderful little secrets of...life without anybody screwing it up before hand."
"Errr...I guess," Akane said. Genn leaned over and whispered.
"By reports you're not interested in Ranma," Brianna said knowingly.
"I'm not!" Akane said, flustered, turning bright red and glancing around nervously. "Wait a minute, by what reports?"
"That samurai, and the chef," Brianna said smiling.
"Kuno!?" Akane blinked. "He's insane. And Ukyou can't stand to admit that the only thing Ranma sees in her is a brother or sister."
"But you're not interested," Sheila said. "And you're talking about his cluelessness with sex." Akane looked around like a caged rat, appropriately enough and then relented.
"Fine," Akane said. "I like him. There happy?"
"Almost," Brianna said leaning forward. "So, how does he make you feel?"
"I don't know," Akane said, twiddling her fingers somewhat. "I feel...safe around him and well, in danger at the same time. And now..."
"Now?" the other three said simultaneously. They all leaned forward.
"I keep having these fantasies about tall grass and running," Akane said. "From something that wants to devour me...and I WANT to get caught."
"Mmmm," Brianna said eyes glazing a little.
"Must be the whole predator-prey thing," Sheila said. "I wonder how it would feel to date something that would instinctually hunt you."
"Hmmph," Akane said. "Ranma only does the hunting in the fantasies, I have to do it in real life. He freaks if you flirt with him." She immediately blushed at that admission.
"Well, that's just the proper way to do it," Sheila said. "As long as they believe that THEY'RE the ones doing the hunting anyway."
"Devour me...heh...heh..."
All eyes turned slowly toward Brianna.
"Brianna is a little...." Genn started, leaning over to whisper to Akane.
"Sex-crazed," Sheila finished.
"I am not sex-crazed," Brianna said. "I just LIKE it that's all."
"If you were male you'd look surprisingly like Tirga," Sheila said.
"Hey," Brianna said. "I'm not a two-timing arm-dragger like him. What do you see in him anyway, Sheila?"
"Tirga is the pervert that hit on me in my room right?" Akane asked. "The tiger guy."
"That's him," Sheila said dryly, eyes narrowed.
"What DO you see in him?" Akane asked.
"Other than the obvious, of course," Brianna said, licking her lips. "If you weren't set on him I'd give him a quick try."
"That two-timing, arm-dragger?" Genn repeated.
"Hey, he's a good looking two-timing arm-dragger," Brianna said. "Besides being used and abandoned might be good for him. What goes around comes around you know."
"You are bizarre," Akane said, arching her eyebrows.
"You don't know the half of it," Genn muttered.
"Tirga has his good points," Sheila said finally. "He's a creditable member of the Edge Guard."
"Okay," Brianna said. "Outside his reported skill in the sack, that body, and his ability in a fight, what are his good points?"
"Actually," Sheila said. "He's the only one that reports his skill in the sack."
"Wait a minute, didn't you and he have a fling or something?' Brianna asked. "Wouldn't you know?"
"That was Genn actually," Sheila said, gesturing to the Rakshasha. Akane looked from the Rakshasha to Sheila and looked confused until she remembered that the little creature was a shapechanger.
"Oh," Akane said. "Replacement pervert."
"I am not a pervert," Genn protested.
"You slept with Kodachi," Akane said.
"And paid for it greatly," Genn muttered.
"With Kodachi, you haven't even begun to pay for it," Akane said.
"Great," Genn said.
"Who's Kodachi?" Sheila asked.
"Someone from Akane's home town," Brianna said. "Some rich girl with a strange laugh and a thing for whips."
"Oooo," Sheila said. "Lucky boy, Genn." The Rakshasha twitched.
"Hey," Brianna said. "Isn't that Gar over there?"
"Oh yeah," Sheila said, standing up and waving. "Thropan and Onoli too." The three were-cats noticed Sheila waving and started over.
"I guess the girl-talk is over for now," Brianna said. Then she noticed Ranko coming down the stairs, and sighed in relief. At least for a moment
"Oh, is Ranko coming with us?" Akane asked, noticing the girl as well. Then it happened.
"Uh oh," Sheila and Genn added.
Ranko grumbled to herself as she came down the stairs and started to work her way through the crowd toward where Sheila was waving. The jagwere must of just caught a flash of her or something, because she was looking in the wrong way. Whatever, at least she knew where to go to meet them in this restaurant-inn thingie.
She was about half way there when she felt some one slam into her from behind and to the side. She would have fallen right then if whoever had bumped her had not grabbed her and pulled her up.
"Oh sorry about that," a voice said behind her. "I didn't see you..." The voice trailed off for a moment while Ranko looked down to where her "rescuer's" hands were placed. "Something wrong?"
"Gar," another voice said, hesitantly. "Hands."
"What about...wait a minute," Gar made the mistake of experimentally squeezing, which had the effect of snapping Ranko out of her shock.
"Is it fair to suggest," Brianna asked. "That if Ranma is as clueless and intimidated by sex as you say, then Ranko...."
"PERVERT!!!!" Ranko shouted flipping around and almost faltering when she saw the werecat. The punch did not land with as much force as it would have as a result. Therefore, Gar only flew back fifteen feet. As Gar flew, so did Ranko, in a manner of speaking.
"Yep," Sheila said, wincing as her brother landed. "It's fair to assume."
"Th....th...that...c...c..cat groped me!!" Ranko gasped, virtually appearing behind Akane.
"That's my brother, Gar," Sheila said.
"He's a pervert!" Ranko snapped.
"That's a pervert," Sheila said, pointing toward Brianna.
"Hey!" Bri protested.
"Gar's just male," Sheila said.
"Yeah," Ranko said. "A pervert. Right?'
"Right," Akane added. Both Nerimans nodded in eerie unison. "Except for Ryouga anyway." Ranko twitched. Then a were-lion approached their table, and he stood taller than all of them.
"We apologize for that incident," the lion said. "Gar did not mean to...do that. He was just trying to save her from the fall."
"Yeah, Onoli, we saw the whole thing," Sheila said. "Including the last little squeeze."
"Errr," Onoli said nervously. As Thropan guided a dizzy Gar to the women's table. Tirga, in human form, appeared next to Onoli then and started putting his two cents in.
"Well, can you blame him?" Tirga asked. "I mean she is one hot little lady, almost as tall as Britanny, slimmer build with just a trace of red in her fur. Hot, man!"
"Could you all go away please?" Ranko asked, still hiding behind Akane.
Akane would protect her. Akane was She Who Shooed Away Cats. She always had been. The fact that she had been in a deep depression because Akane had rescued her earlier did not register...after all...these were CATS.
"Why are you in human form?" Thropan asked Tirga as they reached the table.
"Because she's afraid of cats," Tirga answered pointing to the werecheetah crouching behind the wererat. "So if I'm gonna get in tight with..." The girls cleared their throats.
"This is not a wise thing to be saying," Sheila said.
"Uh...heh," Tirga said, which was about when he was pulled over and found himself staring into the glaring eyes of the other werecheetah.
"What was that about getting in tight with my sister?" Ranma asked. Tirga smirked and shifted into his tiger form.
"Meow," he said, smirking. Ranma vanished and joined his sister behind Akane. "Heh, funny kid."
"Oh for Pete's sake," Akane said standing up from her chair and walking over to Tirga.
"Oh hi," Tirga said. "Rethinking my offer from earlier?"
"Should we do anything?" Thropan asked.
"She looks a little smaller than Sheila," Onoli said in response. "There shouldn't be much problem." While it was true that switching to her hybrid form resulted in a minor loss of mass for Akane, it was still obvious that the Edge Guard had not yet encountered the Wrath of Akane. Except for Tirga, but as for him.
"Like I said," Sheila sighed. "Too stupid to be a threat."
"HEY!!" Tirga snapped. He was about to protest further, but then Akane grabbed him. A few seconds later Akane was walking back to her seat and dusting off her hands.
"Really," Akane said.
"Trip to the healer's," Thropan said, looking down at Tirga. Ranko and Ranma were applauding her and quoting Dr. Tofu from a year or so ago.
"See how that joint's bent backwards?" Ranma asked.
"That's Akane's touch alright," Ranko finished.
The helicopter, heavily modified by a combination of Ace, Penny, Brianna and Gina's talents, touched down on the ground in Japan lightly and easily. As the engines shut down the passengers and crew, meaning Ace, immediately disembarked to be met by a tall, buxoum werecheetah.
"MUFFIN!!!" Britanny shouted crossing the distance quickly to hug her husband. "It's been ages!"
"It's been two days," Konatsu said. Britanny turned a smoky glance toward the ninja's direction.
"Exactly," she said. Stripe rolled his eyes in amusement.
"Where's Gina?" Penny asked.
"She's just a little behind me," Britanny said, pointing back to where her sister was standing up after the backdraft of her the werecheetah's departure.
Gina was dusting herself off as she approached.
"Warn me next time," Gina said as she caught up, then looked to Lydia lying asleep on the stretcher. "What happened to her? She should be awake."
"We had some magical interference," Penny said. "Is your father around?"
"Nope," Gina said. "He's in Jade, not sure when he's coming back just yet. Is this the girl?" She pointed to Yuka.
"Uh, hello," Yuka said, watching Brittany nervously.
"Hi," Gina said. "Don't worry, as soon as my dad's back we'll have you back to your old self." Penny cleared her throat and pulled Gina to the side.
"She might have it by heredity," Penny said. "Some of her family comes from Africa, and we think that necklace of hers is what caused your rat friend to keep sleeping."
"Any reason you're giving me the rundown so quick?" Gina asked, she glanced to Ace and smirked. Penny's eye twitched.
"I want to get back to my date," Penny said tightly. "Is there anything else you need my help for?"
"Not at the moment," Gina said.
"Then Ace and I are gone," Penny said. "Call me in a few hours for more details. Good luck, Gina."
"Thanks, Penny, I'll do that," Gina waved as the other genius turned to head back for the helicopter.
"Yo, G, stay safe," Ace called out as he helped Penny board the plane. As if any warning has ever done you any good before.
"You too Ace," Gina called out.
Something, a snake, loomed over a little cat girl who was staring dazedly ahead. They were across a wide field from her. The little girl seemed familiar.
"Hey!" a voice shouted, and Lydia felt the scene zoom forward with great speed until she was seeing the snake up close. "Stay away from my sister."
"You sssister is mine, cat," the snake hissed sliding back. "Already the poison runs through her veins. She will be filled with anger and hate and a thirst for blood...and be my servant."
The view rocked dramatically until Lydia could see two small bleeding wounds on the little girl's hand. A furred hand, maybe fourteen years old, snatched out and grabbed the dazed girl's hand. Another furred hand covered the first, and a flash of white passed into the little girl's body. She felt the contact and the flash of power, almost as if they were her hands.
"Your poison is gone, Set," the voice yelled again. It was somewhere close, just off camera, but Lydia couldn't connect it to anything. "Be gone before I send you away."
"Godling, you cannot fight me," the angry snake hissed. It started to slither forward, and Lydia felt something like a cringing and a repressed fear as those two arms encircled the little girl, who was coming out of her trance.
A steel blade sliced downward, narrowly missing the dodging serpant. The scene shifted up to see a jackal-headed man weilding a polearm with two semi-circular blades.
"Begone, serpent of darkness," the jackal barked.
"This is not over, little cat," the snake hissed as it fled. The jackal bent down to observe the wound on the girl's hand.
"There is no hate," he muttered. "But rage will always be a part of her now."
"Not always," the voice said. The scene flashed to darkness.
Another scene flashed into view. Cats, cats, everywhere. As far as she could see in the huge room. All lounging about or playing, or hunting, or looking at her. She felt herself standing up and walking, and the cats parted before her. A pair of lions bowed as she passed them.
"Going out again?" a woman's voice asked. She recognized it as Sehkmet.
"I'm not only one of the Eyes of Ra," another voice said. It was close, but Lydia could not see where it had come from. "I have other...duties..."
"If you can call what you do a duty," Sehkmet muttered. "I'm surprised you don't try to lay me."
"Now sister," that other voice said. "I am not a pervert. Leave that incestuous stuff to the Olympians."
"I do," Sehkmet said tightly, controlled. "Thank you."
"Certainly you'll find someone eventually sister," the voice said.
"Not as long as these are still here," Sehkmet pointed to the wrap around her hand. "They half think I'm a spy for Set."
"You aren't," the voice said. "And that will be obvious, when we have flayed the serpent alive." A pleased smile adorned Sehkmet's face, and the scene flashed back to darkness.
The scene flashed onto the aftermath of a battle. Sehkmet and was standing near the edge of Lydia's view, in full battle gear. She herself felt heavy and weighed down slightly, and as the view moved the sound of steel on steel could be heard.
An open toed boot, revealling clawed toes, kicked at the body of a huge serpent.
"He's dead, sister," the same voice said happily. "The damn snake is dead. We can live in peace now." Sehkmet was looking at her hand, momentarily unwrapped.
"The scars aren't gone," she said. The view shifted and a gauntleted hand took Sehkmet's own and examined the two bald marks where a snake had bitten a little girl long ago.
"That's just your body," the voice said. "The anger will go away if you let it." The scene flashed to dark.
Another scene. Only she saw it in flashes, as if opening her eyes only for blinks and shutting them again
This time Lydia felt, or was it remembered, great pain. There was a lot of heavy breathing, and she could smell a number of people, cat-people surrounding her. The words were garbled through the pain, until at last it ended and she felt merely exhausted.
A cloth wrapped child was soon taking up the view of her dream.
"Ailuros," the same woman's voice declared softly before the scene faded to black.
Another scene, the building with the cats again. A little cheetah girl ran through the room, playing and laughing.
"Ailuros is so quick," the unnamed voice said happily.
"We have to do something," Ailuros declared, she seemed older now and familiar somehow. "These are cats, mother, surely you can do something."
"It is a mortal's war," the voice said reluctantly. "We have no reign to do anything while this wizard holds to mortals."
"But he's using them as assassins and slaves," Ailuros protested.
"Do you think I DON'T know that?" the voice demanded. "He has not yet done anything that we can use to interfere yet."
"But..." Ailuros said. Sehkmet barged into view.
"Iceron has declared himself the God of all Cats," she said angrily. Lydia could almost feel a small smile appear on the unseen speakers face.
"Daughter, sister," the voice said. "Get your gear. We're going to war."
Another scene. It came in isolated flashes and she could only catch parts of it.
"DIE FIENDISH MORTAL!!!" Sehkmet charging forward.
"These are the deities of Egypt?" aaccompanied by a low, arrogant laugh.
"YOU WILL FALL!!!" It was that same voice from before.
Fear followed as the spectral image of a great serpent was printed against the blackness between flashes of battle.
"Let go of my mother!" "No Ailuros! Stay back!!"
"The cub seeks to defend the mother," the arrogant wizard said. There was a flash of black fire and screaming that Lydia almost felt as if it were her own.
"Sist.....!"
Then there was darkness and flashes of pain and fire running through her, body and soul, as something tore at her, and dragged her down. Seeking to devour her, destroy her. And then that force was shattered and almost released her with a roar of rage and pain.
"Sehkmet," the voice said. "You did it..." And the scene flashed closed.
Time uncountable followed, tethered in the darkness, racked with pain and sorrow. This was not the promised afterlife, this was something else. Sehkmet had defeated the wizard after her fall, but she had apparently not killed him.
Darkness and pain remained until light flashed.
Lydia snapped awake with gasp and looked around the room. Three werecheetahs, that's all that registered at first. Then she started to notice the others in the room.
"Oh shit," she muttered. "I should have stayed with the #@$@#$ed up dreams."
"Miss McKracken, I presume," Gina Diggers said as all eyes turned toward her.
Someone said something in Japanese with a relieved tone of voice. To her surprise, a white-furred wererat came into the room and began serving everyone tea. Oddly enough, everyone seemed to come to attention when she entered the room, and even Lydia felt an odd desire to never say another single swear word in her life.
"What's going on?" she asked.
"They want us to help rescue her sister from Gothwrain," Moisha said, pointing to the wererat.
"Eh?" Lydia repeated. Rescue a RAT from Gothwrain?
Gothwrain smiled as night fell and he prepared to attempt to lay the trap in the Tendo girl's mind again. He sat down and centered himself before casting the spell. The girl had some truly impressive natural defenses, she could have been an exceptional mage. Gothwrain had other ideas, however, and he had no intention of giving Nabiki the training she would find so very useful in the next few moments.
He cast the spell and let it seek his target. Again there was that instant reaction of being forced out. This time, however, he was ready for the primitive reaction and merely pushed back harder. Nabiki's outer defenses caved quickly. After pushing the spell past Nabiki's outer defenses he pulled back letting the spell do its work.
He took a heavy breath and glanced to the screen that showed Miss Tendo sleeping a little restlessly.
Nabiki gritted her teeth at the pain as she felt Gothwrain push his spell into her mind. She concentrated on keeping her cool and appearing to be asleep and merely the recipient of a bad dream. She concentrated on paying attention to what happened as the spell worked it's way deeper into her mind.
What are you doing to me? her thoughts demanded as she began to feel herself thinking differently.
The spell was a simple one, designed to implant only a few impulses into her mind, unnoticed as she slept through what should have been a highly unpleasant nightmare. As the impulses began to arrise on the surface, she was bolstered by the fact that she was awake and knew there was a spell in effect. Still she could only identify with certainty a few of the imposed thought patterns.
The first impulse backfired spectacularly. Nabiki felt herself acquire a sudden respect for and loyalty to Gothwrain, for all of half a second. When respect and loyalty flared into outraged betrayal and bitter hatred as she considered what the "Lord High Elder" was still doing to her. Still, she could put on a false face for her captor and put on a good show. She just had to make sure she didn't go overboard.
The second thought she identified was equally easy to identify, but harder to fight. She was already a little afraid of the werecheetahs and their obvious power. She felt that fear rise to irrational levels quickly, and could barely keep it in check despite knowing it was being forced on to her. After that, she was too exhausted to notice anything else going on and fell back unconscious.
"Funny that they'd build such large air vents in this place," Romeo thought. "Maybe we got this base from someone else." He ceased his wondering as he came to the end of his search and looked down into the room.
There she was, Nabiki Tendo. And she looked to be in terrible shape. That didn't make any sense whatsoever though. Gothwrain was here to protect rats, not hurt them. Maybe there was a reason for it that he didn't know.
He rolled his eyes. Of course there was a reason he didn't know, but was it a good reason?
"It's clan business," Romeo said, hesitating.
He only had about five minutes left before he had to be back in his own room. Besides, there were cameras, he couldn't hope to get to her without being seen. Unless...
"Maybe she's sick or something," Romeo thought. "Not injured. I could just check and see. If this works."
He played with the vent blades until he could slip out and clinged desperately to the ceiling in a manner similar to what Zero had taught him. Had he been human or hybrid, it would have been impossible, but apparently, as a rat he could do a creditable imitation of spider-man.
"Spider-man, spider man," Romeo muttered under his breath. "He can do whatever a spider can..."
He inched along the ceiling until he reached the camera and then clinged to the camera for long enough to find the button to shut it off. That succeeded he dropped to the floor and shifted into hybrid and hurried to the bed to check on his rescuee.
She was beaten severely, and with silver. He could smell the burns even before he saw them all across her back through the torn dress. There couldn't be a reason for this, she was just a bystander for goodness sakes. She was younger than he was.
Feeling faint about what he had just decided, Romeo took his tools out of his night suit and went to the door. It took a minute or two, but he worked his way into the opening panel and wired it open eventually. That left him only a couple more minutes before they discovered he was AWOL. It was time to skedadle.
He returned to the bed and gingerly picked up the girl he had dragged here, and left the room, closing the door behind them.
He had to dodge patrols a few times, but more or less he got out of there very easily. Easily enough that it made him worried. Any easy accomplisment in Zero's training was soon followed by something incredibly bad, and so he worried. He was well away from the headquarters when Nabiki started to wake up.
"Get out of my head," she muttered weakly once before falling back asleep.
"Oh man," Romeo said. "Her family is going to kill me."
"The package is being delivered," his aide said. Gothwrain smiled darkly as he considered the veritable time bomb Romeo was taking with him.
Part 5 | Anime@Fan.Fic