[Ranma][FanFic] the Bet-A Different Art chap 5

[Gregg Sharp]

A Different Art 5: Travel

many char originally by R.Takahashi. Current treatment by
G.Sharp, metro...@mindspring.com
Chapters 5 & 6 have a large number of crossover elements
with another fanfic series: "Skysaber's Choice" by Skysaber
(which isn't general release YET)(1). There are also Other
Author Inserts in chapter 6. Aftermath takes us back to
primarily dealing with the Ranma cast, those who dislike OAI
& Xovers should skip from about halfway through this chapter
through the first few scenes in 7.
Some scenes written or suggested by Skysaber. A brief
synopsis of "Skysaber's Choice" is at the end of this
chapter.

"If that is a perfect relationship, then Road Rage is an
expression of love..." M.Wright

-------------------------------

It has been said that time is like a river, not without
some accuracy. For the main it flows in one direction,
inexorable and relentless. It also has eddies and backflows,
odd loops and sargasso-like dead regions, places where it
speeds up and others where it slows down. Time has even been
known to flood, jump its banks, or even get dammed up in a
few areas.

It can also, like a river, be bypassed or traversed as long
as one finds a way to move other than drifting with the
current.

Time is also just a function of Reality where the fabric of
space is stressed by mass. It all depends on your point of
view, mainly. Quantum physics, if it doesn't confuse you,
you haven't really thought about it.

So, if one goes by the river analogy, time flows from a
source to a destination, only to end up cycling over again.
There may be tributaries of various types. And several
rivers may empty out into the same lake or ocean.

One of these oceans would be located roughly 14.5 billion
years in Earth's future/past. A world very different from
1992 Nerima Japan and Earth of that era. And in that world
were those who might be considered gods by some.

These were beings who were born AFTER Earth had become a
cinder, but who had also watched Earth being born. Time and
space and matter were all concepts that they barely
understood, or if they did, chose to ignore most of the
time. They had enormous power, but also enormous
limitations - being constrained by their nature in a manner
that mortals were not. To some they would be known as Elder
Gods and spoken of in hushed whispers. Other referred to
them only by the color of the Temple that preached the
philosophical bent of their patron, and did their will upon
the Multiverse.

In Aramar of the Seventh Age, there were nine of these
beings, with six others of slightly lesser power but greater
freedom.

And in the world of Aramar, in the Seventh Age Of Man, in a
world where there were currently less than four humans but
millions of sentient inhabitants, in an empire named Shadar,
there was a temple to one of these Beings. That particular
being a White Temple, whose priests and followers were
Healers. Sworn to lives of chastity, charity, and to
nonviolence.

Healer priests could not use weapons or wear armor. This
did not equate with helplessness as even the vilest of orcs
knew better. And, of course, just because the Healers were
loathe to cause injury didn't mean that some of them were
more than adequately equipped by nature or training to do
so.

And in a White Temple in the city of Emeraldis on Cross
Island in Shadar, a priest knelt in prayer vigil. And, as
this was a world where magical spells and otherworldly
beings could be found, the priest found a message.

The priest looked up, surprised, at the white cross that
symbolized his order. "My lord?"

An onlooker would have heard nothing else, though the
priest listened quite attentively.

"Yes, milord. How will I know her?"

Again the priest listened, though the only sound was the
chirping of birds in the distance and the rustle of leaves
in the chill air.

"Your will, milord," said the priest, who literally would
not *think* of disobeying. Questioning, that was completely
different, but going directly against a request - never.
"Though wouldn't Sister Akieris or Sister Beren be better
for the job?"

The priest listened again. "As you will. It shall be done.
What of the others?" More listening. "I see... Politics
again. In that case, I go."

The priest left the temple, brushing silver hair back from
his face to rest behind ears more tapered and long than
those of elves. Eyes the same color as the hair reoriented
as to what direction he was standing, and the slender form
of the priest blurred and expanded.

The silver dragon Frostbite snapped his wings out and
headed back to the Imperial Base. He had his mission.

-----------------------

The Emperor had several information resources open to him.
Ninjas, espers, diviners, and even the Al-Qadim halfling
barber known as Yusef The Short ("short of stature, long of
wind, deep and wide in knowledge") on occasion. He wasn't
the only one to know that Ranma Emeraldrank would be
returning to Aramar soon.

Yusef ("humble Yusef, you seek, I find; you pay, I tell")
made a few discreet comments about the matter of a returning
mage to known interested parties.

Lijra, drow archmage, made plans for welcoming her adopted
son home.

The Amazons of House Southern Cross made plans for catching
Ranma during the Sadie Hawkins Race. Strategies and
psychological profiles were discussed. Potential matchups
were bantered about. Tower floorplans were reprinted and
redecorating ideas mentioned. The same identical thing was
occurring among the Amazons of House Rising Sun, House
Northstar, House Valkyr, and House Red Sands.

The Amazons of House Ironhill were planning on cheating in
the Race, but as usual would arrive "fashionably late" -
which was never a good idea when the event in question was a
race.

House Greenfield, House Seawave, House Dusk, House Cathay,
and House Silvermoon were less involved, as they figured the
odds were unfavorable. Besides, they were minor Houses of
the Delphins, and they had work to do with the current
border skirmish and hunt for those pesky bandits.

The Amazons of House Southern Cross were also making
entirely different plans involving one of those who some
omens suggested would arrive with Ranma. And if Scarlet DID
show up, all it would take was one indication that this was
the same sort as the Scarlet who had arrived over two
hundred years ago, and she'd have so many crossbow bolts in
her she'd resemble a porcupine. Or maybe they'd just turn
her into a common dryad and have her bound to a tree, that
way she'd never be any trouble...

A small group of Amazons from several Houses united in a
common purpose had grabbed the refitted Hammership owned by
one of their number and now continued to shadow the ISS
"Wildhorse" just to be sure that someone was safe and cared
for. Human was (after all) largely similar to Delphins in
appearance.

The Silver Temple at CrestHill was prepared for visitors to
minimize the amount of culture shock and effects of the
Rules upon any new guests. Bad enough to face physical
alteration based on one's own mental baggage, but if one had
to face it based on *other's* perceptions...

A recently arrived human named Keian The Wanderer ended up
in a bar named Jester's Rest where he met a young sky elf
named Cloudrunner. He was fascinated by her wings, her
beauty, and the fact that here was a sympathetic listener.
She was fascinated by a mythical human in a poor disguise
(dressed like a wood elf? with that much metal?) who was
facing up to the changes in his environment quite well all
things considered. After the first hour, he was fascinated
by her stories of adventuring on "skyjammers" and
mage-engineers and that this elf girl was an accomplished
cleric. She, in turn, was fascinated by his tales of a
*very* different civilization on a world called Dirt or Soil
(she wondered if the translation pendant was screwing up
again). Three hours later, the two had a sort of Plan...

The ISS "Wildhorse" left Cross Island, skirted the Zone
near Northpoint, and prepared to pass through the Worldgate
at Shiprock. That *someone* would be following them was not
unexpected. That the pilot of that other ship was
sufficiently skilled that it took two hours to visually
confirm it was not. Nor were the various anti-detection
spells layered about the other ship. Only by reading the
"dimple" in the flow of magical energies could it be
determined that the ship was there by the most. That they
were there to guard Garr was quite understandable
considering that the Race had just been moved up to a mere
week away.

Two other recently arrived humans, all having been
accidently summoned through the timestreams by the same
Mage, were having very different experiences than their
colleague. One had insisted on being sent back immediately
to his home plane. Unfortunately, the wizardess was just as
bad in her aim returning things as she was at summoning
them. THAT human found himself on a slightly different
Earth, the year 232 AD, and in the Chinese Imperial Court.
The other human found a ship going in the right direction
and sailed off to beseech ANOTHER mage for a trip home.

Sjul, the mage had who accidently plucked three humans from
something called "20th Century Earth" and brought them
forward, checked her equations a third time while trying to
find out where she had gone wrong. Sjul, a lovely young
ardrow who was Lijra's little sister, eventually decided to
try again with an extra Ring Of Mastery and a hastily
enchanted Temporal Beacon. Prudent persons took cover in the
immediate vicinity.

And in the region known as Nymia, where nymphs and faeries
dwelled, a date was noted. The Race was soon to arrive. Many
of those present had plans on attending this year, as it
sounded like it would really be a wild event. There was even
supposed to be a few of those HUMAN males participating this
year, and you KNOW what they said about them... (nudge nudge
wink wink)

One normally associates dragons with being sixty feet+
long, winged and reptillian in appearance, and generally
being sufficiently tough that common creatures flee in
terror at the mere sight of one. It is lesser known that
*some* dragons can and often do take a more humanoid form
that they could walk unnoticed among the throngs and eat
something besides raw fish or overcooked meat once in a
while. It is much lesser known that some dragons identify
more with the thronging masses than with their own species.
And then there was Tarre and Aura.

Tarre was, most of the time, a particularly slinky
half-ardrow with black hair in a thigh length braid, dusky
skin, and a shy air about her. Hakima and others who could
see through her guise would see a black dragon adolescent
with scarred scales in several areas. The shy and
underconfident air remained no matter what form she wore,
because this was real. Tarre had just been freshly hatched,
you see, when she ran into a band of goblins. They had spent
quite some time beating and torturing the creature.
Eventually the little dragon had woken from a particularly
savage mauling to find someone had defeated her tormentors
and was looking inside her cage. Tarre had been recruited as
a "moat monster" and had been well treated for many years by
the humans within, but had learned that her "Master" had not
been happy about a normally evil creature serving under him.
Tarre had suffered some heartbreak from that, and that her
Master had eventually died before she could earn his trust.
Tarre listened to the tale of the Race and a gleam entered
her eyes that had been missing the past week. A chance to
get a new "Master" - and she could *prove* she was
trustworthy! She would catch him, marry him (whatever that
meant, she wasn't entirely clear on it other than it
involved some lifetime commitment), and she would guard his
castle and protect him! A perfect plan!

Aura, on the other hand, was proof that humans and dragons
could intermarry, though spells had been required for the
union to bear fruit even with the transformation abilities.
Aura was a young golden dragon who chased rainbows and
played around the city of Emeraldis. She was also a playful
young teenage girl who dreamed of marrying some hero (or
being the hero that rescued her True Love), fencing with the
Kharonian sabre, and was quite unable to master any number
of ladylike skills despite frequent effort in those regards.
She was also a natural flirt. Aura was also the third
Princess of the Imperial Shadarian throne, descended from
the Emperor's Second Wife, and fairly handy at the Imperial
Brewery. Like Tarre, she noted the Race with anticipation,
and that she was finally ready to run it! And there was at
least one (more were unconfirmed) HUMAN (just like Dad) men
participating in it! If she could just shuck the chaperone,
she was sure that she could nab one.

-----------------

Ranma stopped his research as a small gemstone, carefully
enchanted and set above the mantle, exploded.

As he had before, Ranma used Hobgoblin swearwords as the
harsh language was particularly well suited for such things.
He added a choice promise, that if it turned out to be
Tatewaki Kuno again, that the samurai would be the recipient
of a Stone To Flesh and a garden hose in very short order.

Tatewaki was spared becoming a fountain, to the
disappointment of many no doubt.

Kyor had gone back into stasis, Akane had given up on
trying to kill P-chan (she just wanted to vent severe
displeasure), and Nabiki and Kasumi had finally convinced
his mother to give this "manly" concept a rethink.

"Screw this, I might as well just go home. I ain't ever
going to get serious work done in this madhouse..." Ranma
grumbled and pulled out a scrying mirror. "This *better* be
good.
"Magic mirror, hear my plea,
Seek ye out the menace to me,
Project it forth that I may see."

Ranma sighed and put back the mirror. "Damn thing hasn't
worked right since that lich threw a Disjunction at me."

A crystalline disc was removed from his bag next. "Crystal
spellbook, let see...
"Divinations, Omens, & Portents. Alahandra's Questing Call,
Amazing Guess, Analyze Device, Analyze Magic, Artifactual
Discourse. Maybe a little further on?"

"Divination Obscurum, Diviner's Malady...no. Further on?"
This *was* a problem of the crystal spellbooks. A long time
ago, an adventuring wizard named Selman the Scribe had come
up with the idea of enchanting a mirror so that one could
scry one's own spellbooks while they stayed safe and dry in
one's own tower. That a decently complete spellbook could
weigh in excess of thirty pounds, and a high level mage
could need access to five or six of the damn things no doubt
contributed to this concept. (Another mage developed
channelling as an alternative form of magical energy
access.) After centuries of refinement, a disc of enchanted
crystal actually became the spellbook. Special spells were
needed to scribe spells into this "virtual spellbook" but
the crystals didn't warp when wet or get singed when your
opponent constructed an invisible wall right after you've
cast a Fireball. Other spells and refinements were added.
Unfortunately, most of these spellbooks contained roughly
the equivelant of a magical library after a few generations.
Spells were duplicated, odd variations catalogued, less
efficient versions copied, and thousands of spells who
served little or no useful purpose cluttered it all up.

"NEXT time, I'm putting up the extra gold and getting a
damn INDEXING function!" Ranma declared emphatically. "Ah,
here it is. Improved Clairvoyance, aka Nimodes' Useful
Vision. Letsee."

Ranma was a generalist mage. While he typically used
channelling, and a set of spells he could cast almost by
reflex, he could muddle through the spellbook. The Corps,
the Imperial Mage Corps, was a good teacher. Even if it was
a paramilitary organization sponsored and run by the Emperor
and what had to be some thoroughly sadistic wizardesses.
Particularly the ones in boot camp.

Another interruption came as someone knocked on the door.
Kasumi and Nabiki came in, followed by Nodoka and Shampoo.

"Son," began Nodoka, holding up a small radio, "do you have
any friends you're expecting?"

----------------

The streets were deserted. It was enough to spook even a
war correspondent. No sign of life, even the animals were
quiet. The first car in had taken fifteen minutes to figure
out something was wrong, then find a phone.

THAT call had abruptly gone dead.

Everyone, of course, thought nerve gas. The Self Defense
Force was considered briefly, but the Police felt they could
handle it. A massive mobilization took place, and SWAT and
Hazmat teams swarmed into Toyama shortly thereafter.

The communications went dead, one after another after
another. As the elite forces sent in HAD and knew how to use
gasmasks and other environmental protection, the situation
was upgraded. Planes flew overhead and got pictures of those
deserted streets, abandoned vehicles, car wrecks and turned
over food stalls, all of which painted a nasty little
picture.

Over 17,000 people. Gone, but not without a trace. They had
left their clothes sitting out in the street.

The situation had gone from Curious to Alarm to Full Scale
Panic. Then the press had gotten involved and Full Scale
Panic was vying for position with Embarassed and Annoyed.

Then reports began coming in from Uozu, then Kurobe, then
Nagano.

Then someone got into Toyama and reported that there were
no people or animals he could find, but someone had left a
lot of dolls in their places.

Uozu was the site of a major battle with the SDF now
fighting an animated train that kept trying to eat the
surrounding buildings and people.

In Kurobe was a menagerie. Wildebeests, rhinoceros,
elephants, tigers, antelope, monkeys, and dozens of other
species, charging panicked through the streets.

Nagano, as Toyama, was largely deserted. Except that a
large number of children seemed to be wandering the streets.

The devastation had stopped, but then restarted again in
Kofu where there was a report of fires being started. By a
dragon. The SDF was scrambling fighters.

That these sites were getting closer and closer to Tokyo
did not go unnoticed.

------------------

"Think it's someone you know, Ranma?" Nabiki asked, quite
concerned.

"Could be transformation spells or summonings, but they
sound pretty powerful." Ranma went to musing. "I've got some
pretty powerful enemies but I didn't think any of 'em knew
where I was going or how to get here."

"You have enemies?" Shampoo checked her weapons.

"Oh yeah," Ranma said with a dismissing gesture. "Schroda
is Diamondrank and is a Feryl, but it doesn't fit her modus
operandi. She'd be having wives murder their husbands and
children to join her as an army or turning all the males in
her vicinity to pigs or something like that. Infernalle
*could* be that dragon, but I'd expect her to fly
crosscountry, not use the roads. Drotek the Dweomereater
*could* do this, but I'd have expected him to use golems
again. The Dorona pirates *might* have a high enough level
mage, but they usually act a bit more subtle until their
actually ready to move. Those Red Rocket bandits are flashy
enough to advertise their presence like this, but they'd be
looting everything in sight even if they had an artifact of
sufficient power to do this.

"That leaves few. VERY few. But who..." Ranma tried to
picture the acts and place a name with it. "Ratsfahr's
dissipated for the next thousand years, *and* it ain't his
style. Hentai - this so ain't his style it ain't funny.
Wyndlace? Lacks the power. Krolis would be raising undead.
The Broken Man's minions ain't likely at all. None of my
*rivals* would do it, they'd just show up and start trying
to show me up..."

"You have rivals?" Shampoo looked up from sharpening her
sword briefly.

"Well, yeah. Ame Furu, she's an Amazon esper of House
Rising Sun. Specializes in divination. Then there's
Delacourt, he's an elf wizard out of the capital, *really*
has a major attitude." Ranma thought about it. "Closest
rival I have who *could* conceivably do this is Sjul. Her
magic tends to go wrong anyway, so if she came here the
higher Chaos factor *could* cause her spells to run wild.

"I doubt it's her though." Ranma thought a little longer
than shook his head. "I don't know who yet, but maybe if I
can cast this spell, I can get a clue."

"Well, son, I would suggest that you get to it." Nodoka
found that her son taking this all in stride was a little
alarming.

------------

Thurin growled. As a dwarf, this was slightly less
effective than if, for example, one of the lionlike caiveh
had done so. "Do you have a make on the ship?" ~Please, by
the Seal, let it *not* be the Yo'mama.~

"Yeah," came Garr's voice over the speaking tube. "It's a
hammership. Registry I haven't got. They've got a level four
cloak. All I can tell is they're nonhostile and
predominantly Southern Cross."

There was a sigh of relief from the entire crew. Today was
a good day to do something other than dying. The Yo'mama was
a battleship, and it had a reputation. It survived, and it
completed each mission successfully, but serving as a
crewman was viewed as a death sentence. Being a nearby ally
wasn't exactly safe either.

"Send message," the dwarf instructed the esper. "'Wildhorse
to unnamed ship. We are on the Emperor's business, request
you break off pursuit.' Use standard psi & semaphore."

There was a brief silence. "No response, other than they
dropped back a few hundred ship lengths."

"Silvara?"

"I was going to call you," said the nymph's voice from the
speaking tube. "Indications are that this segment of the
Deep Ethereal's got some turbulance and a polarity shift."

Thurin's scowl deepened. "A group of lusty teenagers
following ain't enough. With those omens and portents about
bringing Ranma back now, THIS fits all too well. How long do
we have before the dimension storm cuts off contact between
this set of planes and home?"

Silvara's voice was interrupted by the sound of a ratchet.
"For this ship, less than twelve hours. It's that hammership
I'd be worryin' about. They're not constructed for heavy
ether turbulance, and it's likely a green crew."

"I know. Garr, signal a warning to 'em as soon as they're
on a direct line. We'll just pop in and..."

Thurin was interrupted by Stormshadow's voice showing a
touch of irritation. "Feryl signature detected. Looks like a
group of warwitches surfing the turbulence."

"Send THAT to our shadow, but tell 'em to stay away."
Thurin grumbled. "Feryl. Just great."

Stormshadow's voice through the speaking tubes was
punctuated by a few shudders in the ship as the ether
rippled around the Wildhorse. "This does seem to bear out
the rumors that the Feryl survivors are attempting to set a
base out in the boondocks. Unable to get more detail, but
that could be anything from a small group of scouts to a
full invasion armada."

"They don't *have* an armada," said Garr with racial pride
showing. "My Amazon sisters have taken care of those
baby-killers."

Thurin didn't dispute that. He didn't agree with it
entirely, as the Delphins homeworld had been among those
obliterated and made uninhabitable, but there are some
arguments that you can't win even if you're right. He was
also old enough to remember the last large-scale battle
between the Delphins and the Feryl. "Silvara, you hear?"

"Yeah. Hang on, I gotta adjust this. Look, we just got the
one mage cannon. Signal the hammership to close with us.
Tell 'em we could use the escort. That'll keep 'em from
going off to fight the Feryl on their own, plus they'll be
close by if the storm starts pullin' their ship apart. Since
that design has a higher number of weapons than us, they'll
believe it."

Thurin smiled. "Silvara, that was quite well reasoned. Make
it so."

"Sugar, I'm over six hundred years old and an engineer.
Don't confuse me with some elf."

There was a snort of derision that could only have
originated from Stormshadow.

"Do it, Garr. How long till we intersect the insertion
point?"

"Four hours," came Frostbite's voice from the chartroom.
There was a pause but the transformed dragon didn't speak
further.

"Hammership 'Little GTO' is responding, sending back an
acknowledgement and hope that you're not going to report
them to their commanders," said Garr with a tone of humor.

Thurin smirked in a manner similar to Stormshadow, which
would have mortified the dwarf if there had been a mirror
handy. "We'll take it under advisement."

--------------------------

"Delphins," said Parici in the tone usually for speaking of
beasts.

"Where?" The captain toyed with her eyepatch, as if
contemplating unleashing the Beast contained in the gemstone
that had replaced her left eye.

"Trying to trace now. The storm makes it difficult for us
to scan them as well as for them to scan us." Parici scowled
at her crystal as if to intimidate it into revealing the
beast-lovers to her.

"Get one of the spare beasts to the altar. Read its
entrails. Use one of the breeders, we might have use of the
workers later."

"Captain, there are plenty of beasts on these other worlds,
shamefully cohabitating with women of those worlds."

"Good point, we can always restock." The captain nodded.
"Do it."

"Yes, Bural." Kle left her post and drew her Maiden's Kiss.
Sharp enough to cut, dull enough to hurt, the wavy curved
seven inch blade was a symbol of the Feryl. When a Feryl
male had served his duty and was to be converted from
breeder to worker, it was usually the Feryl mother-to-be who
used the blade. Kle had a fondness for the duty.

"Locate the ship but do *not* attack. Monitor and track
their course. We'll attack after determining where these
degenerates are going."

"And if we find they've beasts aboard?"

Bural fixed Parici with a cold glare from her remaining
eye. Impertinent wench. "Standard procedure. We'll pass them
around, blind and hamstring the breeders, geld the ones
we'll keep as workers, and then use 'em in the cookpot when
we've tired of them. Satisfied, First?"

Parici grinned as she turned back to her instruments. "No,
Captain, but I hope to be very soon."

---------------

Genma was beginning to cheer up. Yes, he transformed into a
panda. Yes, this was another thing that his
often-unreasonable wife would look to as a major failure.

Yet, there was something wonderful about this. His eight
year old martial artist daughter Midori was (with a suitable
application of cold water) his eight year old son! The old
agreement with Soun could still be accomplished! All he had
to do was take Midori there, introduce them, and the
engagement could take place immediately. Then, all he had to
do was wait for Midori to reach minimum marriageable age at
sixteen, and one of Soun's daughters would make his daughter
a wonderful wife.

A perfect plan!

Midori had absolutely no idea what his father was thinking
about, or the violence would have been brutal and immediate.
Midori was, uncharacteristically, sulking. He had to wear
unisex or male clothing, he couldn't wear makeup, he had to
settle for a simple ponytail, he couldn't flirt with cute
guys. This was yet another case of his father putting him
through HELL. Being a boy was just *no* fun. ~Just wait till
Mom sees this.~

--------------

Tatewaki Kuno fled. He ran, ducked, dodged, and hid behind
objects whenever possible. He cursed the spell that Akane
had been placed under but realized that he could not break
it until after he had been transformed back from being a
pig.

Akane pursued. Normally she could be a nice girl, if prone
to sudden fits of overwhelming violence and some serious
issues about her own feminity within the existing Japanese
paradigm. She had currently been pushed past the point where
a brief burst of violence would sate her inner demons. The
target of this need was her pet P-chan, now revealed as
being Tatewaki Kuno. The innocent nibbling of her breasts
and rubbing against her most private parts by P-chan had
turned out to be not so innocent at all.

And everytime that Kuno transformed back, he would grope
Akane under the assumption that he had already done so as a
pig and now couldn't be denied his reward.

Akane was at the point where pounding once on the pervert
was not sufficient. It had never worked in the past anyway.
Serious dislocation of joints was called for.

---------------

"TAROT CARDS?!" Nabiki was aghast.

"The spell requires a focus, it could just as easily be
I-Ching sticks, tea leaves, or the entrails of a dead pig."
Ranma shrugged. Why ask why? The spell worked and divination
wasn't normally his strong suite anyway.

"But..." Nabiki just didn't like the idea of something so
mundane. Ranma had said that this was a difficult and
powerful spell, but fairly efficient for the amount of
power.

Kasumi flipped one up to inspect the face and froze.

Seeing her sister staring at the card, Nabiki took a quick
peek herself. "The Lovers?" Nabiki smirked at seeing how
Kasumi's eyes were wide and she was turning quite red. "It's
in the cards, eh, Kasumi? I..." Nabiki glanced back at the
card. ~That's MY face?! Who's that guy?~

"You don't want to do that, Kasumi." Ranma covered the
card. "These are magical. If you aren't careful you could
doom yourself. Once revealed like that you pretty much limit
your choices in the future."

Nabiki waited for Ranma's back to be turned before she
flipped a card up, checking to see if her face was on more
than just one. A coppery scaled dragon was curled around
some treasure hoard on this card, when the head raised
itself from position of rest to regard Nabiki briefly and
wink. Nabiki very hurriedly put the card back and decided
this wasn't as mundane as it had originally appeared.

"In any case, all of you should wait outside the outer
ring. This is mainly because I need your influences filtered
out before I try to read the situation." Ranma indicated the
outer circle he'd just drawn around the table.

"Gotcha, sort of a magical 'clean room' huh?" Nabiki could
understand it, sort of. Noting that Kasumi was still staring
as if paralyzed, though now wearing what would be a
silly-looking grin on anyone else's face, Nabiki helped her
sister out to a safe position.

Ranma looked at the cards, shuffled them, lit the two
candles, and cast the spell.
"Spirits of eternal light,
Grant a glimpse of your sight,
Reveal to me within time's flow,
What I must do, where I must go.
Powers of truth eternal I ask,
Aid me in this simple task."

The cards started dealing themselves. Six cards formed a
cross shape before the candles abruptly went out.

Nabiki looked around, there had been a feeling as if a
presence looming from the time that Ranma had started
speaking until the candles had extinguished themselves.

"Aw, crud." Ranma slumped. "More trouble."

"What is it?" Kasumi crossed to innermost circle though she
couldn't seem to look directly at Ranma without blushing for
some inexplicable reason.

"Interference. Can't get much detail other than there are
three major problems heading my way." Ranma tapped the
"Devil" card. "This one indicates a darkness or evil
approaching. It isn't always the meaning, but that's the
impression I'm getting. It's modified by the 'Fool' and
'Seven Of Amazons' cards to indicate that this isn't a
particularly competent evil and there is a warrior
associated with it."

Ranma tapped the left branch of the cross. "The card here
is 'The Grail' - in this case it is modified by the cards of
'Force' and 'Chariot' which makes me think we'll be getting
visitors real soon - allies."

Ranma tapped the right branch of the cross. "The
'Excalibur' is modified by the 'Hermit' and 'Moon' cards. In
this case, it seems to evoke an image of some crazy but
powerful figure- no doubt the one that's making a mess in
those cities. It's also the source of the most powerful
interference, which means an Anti-Scrying Amulet of at least
Level Four."

The lowest branch of the cross was indicated finally. "And
the final set. 'Chaos' modified by the 'Gathering Storm' and
the 'Halfling'. An indication that I need to return home
sooner than I had planned."

"How soon?" Kasumi looked on in concern. Seeing herself and
Ranma on the face of the "Lovers" card had caused her
equilibrium to go all to heck.

Nodoka frowned, wondering why the drawing on the "Lovers"
card resembled herself and Genma when they were younger.

Shampoo smiled to herself, having seen herself on the
Lovers card, riding some fearsome dragon. Clearly this meant
she should go with Ranma to this fantasy world. And just
imagine Hiba-chan's expression when she showed up at the
village with THAT.

------------------

There is a law in several universes regarding coincidences.
They happen.

Genma and Midori became aware that something was wrong. No
special martial arts skill was necessary however.

Anyone walking down the street three feet above the surface
was sufficient indication that there was something decidedly
odd going on. Said person laughing maniacally and being
preceded by swarms of bats was a further clue to the
observant. Even Genma was able to pick up on the concept
that this guy with the pointed ears was bad news when
several uniformed police officers attempted to apprehend
him, and were promptly turned into... well Genma wasn't
quite sure what those spiky critters were.

"Porcupines," Midori managed to somehow gasp as she dragged
her father (even more impressive as he was in panda form at
the time) along behind her at a high speed run. "He turned
seven cops into porcupines!"

[So that's what those were!] Genma's sign wasn't read by
his daughter due to his position behind Midori. [Funny
looking things, kinda like sea urchins.]

Wyndlace, powerhungry villain if a bit effete, decided to
have a bit more fun. Especially as those two appeared to be
going in just the right direction.

Besides, both of them bore the Jusenkyo power signature,
and Wyndlace could recharge himself with that. Then he could
use the power focus in his hands to expand his power even
further. Ranma would pay, and pay dearly, for losing him his
standing among the mages.

----------------

Kle wiped the satisfied smile from her face before entering
the bridge. Each slice had been a delight to inflict.
Carefully done, one could keep the victim not only conscious
but screaming through the entire process. It was an artform,
and many of the Feryl were just too squeamish to do the job
properly. Still, the prevailing attitude was that only Feryl
counted as people. Only human, only female, as was right and
proper.

"Report, Kle." Bural's eyes sought out her subordinate.

"There's a male of the Delphins aboard one of the two
ships, and they are currently going to retrieve a male who
is important to their future." Kle wet her lips in
anticipation. Everyone knew that male Delphins produced
strong babies, though the males didn't seem to last long in
captivity.

"Excellent," hissed Bural. Promotion, power, forgiveness
for that little blunder involving dumping the washwater out
over SubPrefect Metallica's head. All within her grasp.
"Pirici, follow the ship but keep us hidden. Robyn, signal
the 'Hand Of Mercy' and 'Divine Justice' and have them
follow discreetely."

"Like *those two* will learn 'discrete' all of a sudden,"
Robyn griped from the signal dome.

There were some comments from those remaining about the
divvying up of the spoils once the Delphins ship had been
cracked. Bural let them. And a few of those Delphins could
become zombies under her command with the new spell she'd
picked up.

---------------

"Mark that. Eighty seven ships of under three tons, sixteen
in the fifty ton variety, and four hundred-tonners. Three
have broken off to ride the currents closer."

Thurin blanched. "Three of the hundred-ton Baseships?!"

"Errr, no sir," Garr's voice was apologetic. "One of the
fifty ton ships, two of the under three ton variety."

There was more than one sigh of relief. "Can you make out
the class on any of the three?" Thurin asked with a gleam in
his eye.

"Too much interference, and if I use a strong enough
psychic probe that fleet's sure to have someone capable of
detecting it." Garr used a tightbeam transmission to the
"Little GTO" to inform them of the odds. The hammership
signalled back an old Amazon saying: "Today is a good day to
die, but it's a better day to get some cuddling done after
the fight." Which had replaced the old saying of "Make love,
make war, make cookies. Just not at the same time."

"Okay, people, they'll probably wait for us to re-enter
Etherspace before they attack." Thurin growled as he
considered the odds. "We're faster than most of those ships
out there, so we can outrun 'em. The Baseships especially,
some of the smaller ships might be as quick. We're not here
for a fight so let's just get our objective done, then relay
to the Houses that we found the Sixth Fleet."

"So the whole thing depends on how fast we can find Ranma
and crossover again," Silvara summed up.

"I have a tracer on his position," volunteered Frostbite.
"When we get to the appropriate spot, I'll let you know the
proper angle and velocity to use to ensure that we appear
within ten dragonlengths of him."

-----------------------

The Emperor gave a wheezing rattle and paused before his
bright eyes sought out one in the shadows. "Kage."

The shadows solidified into a man dressed all in black. He
knelt, as was usual, in silence.

"Kage," the Emperor addressed his ninja, "I have at best a
year."

"Milord, you are..." The kunoichi in red that appeared as
if from nowhere flinched under the Emperor's gaze. "My
apologies, my Emperor."

"Kids," said the Emperor in a long-suffering tone. "No
respect for their Elders. In any case, Kage, I have *at
best* less than one year to live. AND NO MORE comments from
*you*, Sakura!"

The kunoichi managed to look contrite.

"The problem is, who do I appoint as heir?"

Kage remained silent. He was, after all, a ninja.

"My children, excepting Aura, are all grown and have their
own lives." The Emperor chuckled. "They've got enough
intelligence that none of THEM want the damn job. And yes,
that includes my great-granddaughter here..."

"Grandfather," Sakura winced at the dreaded Grandfather
Glare and went silent again.

"So, of my blood, my choices are: a few merchants, a couple
of rogues, three explorers, a couple of clerics, the best
damn brewmeister in the Empire," the Emperor said this last
one with a fair amount of pride, "a teenage dragonling
otaku, a clumsy kunoichi esper, a patrolling paladin, and
the Nihon ambassador. No clearcut choice in any of 'em."

Kage continued to inspect a point of the floor in front of
him silently.

"I know, I know." The Emperor waved. "But the merchants
aren't the settle-down type. All three of 'em are in the
business of moving things. Celeste is a shipwright. You
remember her, blonde out of Southern Cross, from my Fifth
Wife, y'know. She's always coming up with this or that idea
and wanting to try it out. If I appointed *her* she'd always
be off at the shipyards anyway. Thakar runs everything from
his ship, I can't imagine running an Empire from that old
Turtleship of his. Donalle, she'd never last five minutes.
Takes everything too seriously. That's fine when you're a
glassblower. The rogues? Hell, Maybeso wouldn't ever show
up, and when he did nobody would understand what he was
telling him. Umi would just steal everything that wasn't
nailed down.

"The explorers are even worse. A barbarian Ranger of House
Northstar, a Druid, and a Senpsi. Ain't one of 'em could
settle down long enough to make a go at it. The clerics are
a cleric of Toltiir and a priestess of Relat, so *they're*
out. What can I say, they were from my Fourth Wife, and you
know how well *we* got along. No way I'm depriving the
Empire of Mungo's services at Shades Of Ale. That leaves
Aura, Sakura, Usagi, and Tanken."

Kage neither moved nor spoke. He was a ninja, after all. Or
maybe he had fallen asleep.

"What about Ranma?" The Emperor gave a sidelong glance at
the kunoichi and was rewarded with the sudden blush at
mention of the young mage. "He doesn't want the job - proof
he's intelligent, responsible, has a fair sense of honor.
He's human so he's neutral as far as the racial politics are
concerned. But no... I promised his mother that I wouldn't
do that without notifying her. Lijra is a hard one to
bargain with."

Sakura's sigh of relief was clearly heard.

"Besides, I think Aura's interested in Ranma."

Sakura went from relieved to flustered.

The Emperor considered. "Kage, I'm old and need a mission
performed for me by someone who is supremely skilled in the
Art Of Stealth. I'd do it myself but these old bones, you
see. What I need is reconn, and done with the utmost
discretion."

Kage straightened, proving that he hadn't gone to sleep
after all.

"Nihon is no threat. They value their independence from us,
but they are our staunchest allies. The Free Kingdoms on the
other hand are a bit of a hotbed. A handful of petty
fiefdoms and baronies, each of which wouldn't last five
minutes if I unleashed Southern Cross against 'em. Together,
though, they might yet threaten us. Particularly if any of
'em find something of Winston's old kingdom. Go forth,
investigate these rumors of a new Warlord rising to power
among them. Report back to me before taking any action.
They're not exactly our allies, but they're not currently
enemies."

"Unnn," agreed Kage before leaping into the shadows and
vanishing.

"Sakura, I have a mission for you."

"Me?!" Sakura's eyes filled with tears. "At last!
Grandfather, I won't disappoint you!"

"The Nihon Empire *is* our staunchest ally. Their
independence serves their interests and the interests of
Shadar quite well. I need corroboration of something brought
to my attention. Supposedly within the twisted inner court
of Rising Sun is an Amazon named Tekii. See if you can check
into the rumors of her having possession of the Eye Of
Twilight without getting into too much trouble."

"Yes, Grandfather!" The perky shorthaired kunoichi ran to
the door and was gone after only tripping once along the
way.

"Tekii doesn't have the Eye Of Twilight, that's currently
one of the items in Baron's hoard near the Goblin Reaches."
A tough-looking youth stepped in after the kunoichi had
left.

"Yes, Ferio, I'm quite aware of that." The Emperor
chuckled. "This keeps her out of my hair for awhile and
she'll feel useful."

"She's gonna be ticked when she finds out that she's missed
Ranma participating in the Sadie Hawkins Race."

"The little war between Aura and Sakura had to be ended.
This *might* do it." The Emperor sighed. "I only hope Ranma
gets caught, I don't think I can take too many years of
this."

"You've only got one year, I hear."

"Promises, promises."

-----------------------------

There were a lot of races on Aramar, only a few of which
were known to Shadar. Some were well known and accepted with
varying degrees of tolerance. Some were tolerated only in
individuals. Some were tolerated only when absolutely
necessary and then not trusted even as far as they could be
thrown.

Pipsqueak was a goblin, one of the races of genetically
engineered soldier-slaves developed in the First Age of Man.
A creature built literally for war. Small so that large
numbers could be crammed in a troop transport, quick
breeding rate to replenish numbers, immunity to a wide
variety of bacteriological agents, high tolerance for
radiation and a number of other conditions normally found in
a 24th century battlefield. Vision into the infrared,
ability to digest darn near anything organic, tensile
strength sufficient to allow suborbital drops at rates that
would kill a normal human.

Intelligence wasn't normally high on the list of priorities
for designing the perfect grunt soldier. But there were
always exceptions, such as the current ambassador to Shadar
from the Goblin Reaches. Hence, Pipsqueak.

Pipsqueak kicked back, feet on the desk, enjoyed the dim
lighting of his quarters, and tried once again to explain
something obvious to his aide.

"Look, even you and the other two morons ought to be able
to grasp this. Our job is dependent on peace and trade
between the Goblin Reaches and Shadar. As long as we remain
hostile, but not *too* hostile, trade is sporadic but
constant. There's no danger of our lands having to deal with
the Elders or elves or any of these other rich bastiches. In
the meantime we got our hands into *their* pie, understand?"

Looking into their eyes, Pipsqueak could tell they didn't.
He wondered again at the "human" names the Emperor had
insisted on using, but decided they were probably insults in
that odd "English" language. In which case, he'd continue to
use them. "Moe, Larry, Curly, I've got a mission for you!"

"Yessiir, a mission!" Moe saluted smartly. Well, relatively
smartly.

"Oh boy! A mission!" Larry attempted to salute smartly but
ended up knocking over the contents of an endtable.

"Nyark!" Curly attempted to salute smartly, forgetting that
he was still holding a warhammer in that hand. "Ungggg."
<Thunk>

"When Curly wakes up," continued Pipsqueak, "tell him the
details. It has occurred to me that you could be of help in
one of the local factories. While you work there, of course,
you will be spies and report back to me all you see."

"Of course, boss."

"Anything you say, boss."

Pipsqueak smiled as they dragged their fellow off. After a
few days, no - *hours* of those morons helping out, the
merchants would pay him to keep those three out of their
businesses.

"Ambassador," came a grunt.

Pipsqueak retreated a little before the hobgoblin. Like
goblins, they were a genetically engineered slave-soldier
race. Hobgoblins had been a different approach though. They
were also considerably more tolerated than goblins in the
Empire, as Hobgoblins actually had a history of honoring
treaties.

The red eyes of the hobgoblin seemed to weigh Pipsqueak in
a heartbeat and dismiss him as of no consequence. "Thought
you'd want to know. Ranma's coming home."

"WHAT?!" The goblin fell off his chair, glaring at the
hobgoblin when the other chuckled. "I thought I had a few
months more at the least."

"Word on the street is he'll be in the Race." Sever smiled
with yellow teeth at the goblin. "And if *he* is in the
Race, then someone else will be in the Race. I know your
propensity for 'fixing' certain events, goblin, do NOT
interfere with Megumi of Rising Star. It would be bad for
your continued business."

"Don't threaten me, I'm important here."

The hobgoblin snorted. "You're a small fish. The samurai is
off-limits. I owe blood-debt to her, if she has a chance at
her chosen mate, you will *not* interfere."

"Blood-debt? To an Amazon?"

"I don't particularly care for her choice in mates," the
hobgoblin said with narrowed eyes. "A mage-boy. That's her
look-out. A group of troubleshooters came to my village
because of a ghost-witch. When we wouldn't cooperate, she
challenged me to keiyang sh'to. She beat me, fair and
square. She's a warrior, make no bones about it. A warrior
who got *my* respect."

Pipsqueak nodded. The hobgoblins had a lot of strange
customs and rituals, but the "duel of dominance" was known
to him. "So she beat you, got her mission done, turned you
loose."

"You're not as dumb as you look." Sever considered
Pipsqueak for a moment. "I owe her a blood-debt, that's
really all you need to know. Interfere with her, and..."

"Right," the goblin nodded. Disagreement with armed violent
professional mercenaries was not on his day's itinerery.

Sever nodded back. Before he left he couldn't help but wish
the goblin a nice day.

------------------

Some say time was created that everything doesn't happen at
once.

As anyone who's worked retail will tell you, sometimes
everything happens at once anyway.

Genma, now dragging Midori, fled the stream of fireballs
and ducked into a familiar house with a familiar shingle
proclaiming this as the Tendo Dojo.

The air split open over the house, revealing two ships that
by all rights should not have hung in the air nearly as well
as they did.

The mage who had just thrown a Melf's Minute Meteors noted
the energy signature of multiple wardings, a *major*
Protection Against Evil, the two ships and that his most
current prey had run to ground. He may have been running on
way too little sleep in the past seventy-two hours, but he
felt that he could handle Ranma, no problem!

The crew of the two ships noted that the front door of the
house below them had just been the recipient of a Siege Bolt
spell. After exclaiming that they had found the place, they
readied the ropes for a drop and grab.

A koi in the pond behind the house dove to the bottom with
the sudden premonition of doom.

Kasumi, Nabiki, Shampoo, and Nodoka managed startled noises
as Ranma used a Mass Teleport.

----------------------

There was a brief moment of silence. Then the Tendo
ancestral home, rebuilt after WWII, exploded as Wyndlace
cast a Fireball *inside* the house. As all of the appliances
were fueled by natural gas, there was considerably more than
what Wyndlace had expected, knocking *him* off his feet.

The smoke cleared, revealing a bombed out shell of a
building.

Genma and Midori, smoking somewhat from the explosion, were
lying where they had been thrown.

Soun pulled himself out of the fishpond to go into shock at
the sight of what had once been his house. "Aaaaa!"

This brought Genma up, who didn't immediately notice that
he had turned back from being a panda. "Soun, my old friend!
Man, whatta dump."

Soun was past hearing. "My house..."

A light flickered and several forms appeared.

"Aaaaa! My house!" Akane's hair was standing up.

"I think my room used to be..." Nabiki started salvaging
what she could find.

"My kitchen!"

"Pardon me, son, but is that person over there the one
who's responsible for this?"

"Wyndlace?!" Ranma stared at the elf. "Yeah, I guess he
is."

"Thank you." Nodoka inclined her head. <SCHINNNNNNG> (for
the uninitiated, that is the sound of a katana being rapidly
drawn.)

"Flesh to Stone." Wyndlong dealt with the immediate threat
first. "Ah, Ranma, now I can destroy you utterly. First, I
think I'll turn that young lady hiding behind you into
porcelain, then I'll..."

Akane attacked. So what if this guy was floating two feet
off the ground and had just turned Mrs Saotome into stone? A
thrown frypan knocked him down just fine.

"Nice shot," remarked Ranma, a little surprised that it had
worked.

"You shut up, he's here for you, so it's YOUR fault." Akane
had turned to yell at Ranma, then noticed the elf getting
back up. "And as for YOU!"

"Shardspray," cast Wyndlace, gesturing with the rod in his
hands. Hundreds of razor sharp pieces of shrapnel struck
Akane. "Ranma, you shall pay for this a thousandfold."

"Ranma?" Genma grabbed Soun and asked for a quick rundown
on the situation.

"Very well, Wyndlace," Ranma said, frowning. "So be it.
Just you and me."

"Then die, knowing that your associates here will..."

Whatever Wyndlace had meant to say was cut off when an
anchor, weighing roughly ninety pounds, spiked to hold in a
variety of surfaces, and having fallen roughly thirty five
feet, impacted directly upon him.

"It is not wise to discount Amazons of House Southern
Cross," called down a woman from one of the strange floating
ships.

"What are you doing here?" Ranma called back.

Stormshadow leapt from the ship, landing lightly on the
ground nearby in a "cool" pose. "Because Ranma, if you don't
leave now, you may never be able to."

Ranma listened to the explanation of the dimensional storm
and the Emperor's orders. "Well then, it *does* look as if I
need to return home. Mr Tendo, this should cover the repairs
to the house."

Soun caught the bag of gold and smiled until it was roughly
pulled from his hands by Genma, whose eyes nearly popped
from their sockets at the sight.

"Akane's dead," Nabiki looked at the tattered ruin and
tried to keep from falling apart at her sister's casual
death.

"Hang on," said another figure as he came off the ropes.
"She's not dead yet. We can take her with us. As soon as we
hit etherspace I can heal her. But we need to hurry."

"What?! But she..."

The silver-haired man regarded Nabiki briefly. "I could try
here, but there's a lot of Chaos magic floating about and it
might not be safe."

"I see," said Nabiki and Kasumi as they considered this, a
bit too much in shock to fully react to seeing their sister
cuisinarted and then this talk about fixing her.

------------------

She walked into the tavern as if she owned it. Yea, though
she walks through the Valley Of Death, she feared no evil.
Because she knew she could kick its butt and had on several
occasions.

Some knew her as the clumsy Imperial Princess (descended
from the Emperor's Sixth Wife) who would cry and fail
classes at the Academy. Some knew her as having the blood of
the supernatural within her, though few knew what the mother
had actually been, while those who knew called her
'aasimar'. Some knew her as the Knight Arcane Rabbit, a
Chosen of the gods Etragar and Hoshime to go out and
accomplish great deeds.

Most people around here knew her as the wandering paladin,
Usagi Shades.

Usagi dismissed her armor as soon as it was apparent that
the overall evil in the tavern was of the garden variety
sort. There was a sigh of relief among some of the patrons
as it was apparent that no one was a candidate for
purification today.

"Hard day, Rabbit?" The dwarf poured her usual. Earl Grey,
hot.

"And it's not even the Hour Of Middens," confessed the
blonde warrior-maid. "Bandit giants in the Deep Hills, giant
spiders (yuck!) in the mountains, low-trolls in the
forests..."

"Need some good news, d'ye?" The dwarf chuckled and winked.
"I hear someone's going to be participating in the Sadie
Hawkins Race."

Usagi smirked. "Garr? I hear enough about the competition
there, thank you."

He smirked at her briefly before saying a single word.
"Ranma."

*crack!*

Usagi, being a paladin, apologized for the pieces of
shattered teacup and spilled tea.

Thuyir merely shook his head and started cleaning up the
mess, pointing out to the Princess that she had cut her
hand. Such a minor wound was obviously beneath her notice.

"Ranma's coming back," Usagi said, trying to look
disinterested. She failed miserably. "And he's going to be
in the Race? Oh, that's terrible."

"Isn't it? Such a shame. Young lad like that, he's going to
be pursued by quite a few." Thuyir watched the young
warrior, briefly wondering about the odd hairstyle again.
Maybe she took this rabbit thing too seriously.

"When's it scheduled, a few months from now, right?" Usagi
considered. An image of herself, sword bared against the
Forces Of Evil, with Ranma throwing Fireballs beside her,
brought a smile to her face.

"No, actually it's in a week. It was moved up." Thuyir
started polishing the countertop. One, two, three.

"AAAHHH!" Usagi began going into panic. "A WEEK?! It'll
take me three days just to get to Cross Isle! I gotta go!"

As the paladin raced out of the tavern, activated her
shakti, and flew off, there was a sigh of relief among many
of the patrons. They could start cheating at cards again
without having to endure Lectures Of Moral Responsibility.

Thuyir just shrugged and noted aloud that if Usagi did
*not* get Ranma, then she'd be back and would likely
rededicate herself to the Cause with a greater fervor.

This was followed by much praying that the Rabbit would get
lucky.

------------------

"Are you sure about this, Saotome?" Soun was a bit nervous.
He would have been more nervous if he hadn't been numb with
shock. Not simply because that they appeared to be on the
deck of a vaguely nautical ship which was flying through the
air without visible means of locomotion into a rip in the
sky. Not simply because that they were tampering with forces
that he didn't understand. Not simply because they were
talking about bringing his youngest daughter back to health
when they'd had to go searching for parts which had gotten
sliced off.

No, he was also quite nervous that, despite Genma's
assurances that it sounded like standard political
doublespeak, there was some reason they might not be able to
*return* once they had left. That was what Ranma was
insisting.

So, Kasumi and Nabiki were going because their sister could
only be healed away from Nerima. Nodoka was going because
she was *not* going to be seperated from her son again.
Akane was going because she was still comatose. Genma was
going because he saw the opportunity to unite the two houses
and fulfill a pledge of honor.

Wyndlace wasn't going because he was currently a red smear
and nobody was offering to resurrect him. Nabiki looted the
body after asking the nice silver-haired guy if he could
check for cursed items and point out the ones she should
avoid.

Most of those watching nodded their heads at what was
obviously an experienced adventurer.

Soun was also torn. What Genma said was true, and
accompanying Ranma greatly increased the chances of the
Kasumi-Ranma marriage. And if the storm cleared, as Ranma
admitted was possible, they would be able to return at that
point. It would be at least a year though, possibly more. A
quick trip to a neighbor's phone, and Soun arranged for the
house to be rebuilt using some of that gold. The houses
*must* be joined! No sacrifice was too great. Besides, they
could return in a year and the house ought to be rebuilt by
then.

Nabiki saw this as an unparalleled opportunity. Sure, she'd
have gone anyway just to see her sister restored to health.
But the profit potentials in *half* of what Saotome could do
gave her a thrill. And the gold! A year in Fantasyland
sounded as if it could fund her college pursuits if not set
her up in business by itself.

Kasumi looked askance at Ranma, then back at the mess on
the stretcher that was her youngest sister. For the first
time, she saw clearly that not only did Ranma come from a
strange and somewhat romantic background but a *dangerous*
one. People could get sliced up rather quickly and
alarmingly. Not to mention turned to stone. Still, Kasumi
firmed her decision. She was reasonably sure after the past
week that she could trust Ranma, and had come to the
conclusion that she loved him. She was of samurai descent
and would not back down.

Midori was chatting nicely with a girl named Tiramisu and
gleefully arguing the benefits of ranged weaponry. Midori
rather favored up-close-and-personal, while conceding that
against opponents with acid blood and the like this was
rather less desirable. Tiramisu, on the other hand, was
rather fond of starting off with her crossbow before drawing
sword.

The ship passed through the hole in the air and was
abruptly in a deep grey mist.

---------------

"They're back, both ships." Pirici grinned wolflishly as
she checked the crystals.

"Excellent. Let them get a little further away from that
portal before we strike," Bural's eyes narrowed in
anticipation. "Have they detected us?"

"No sign, there have been some tightbeam psi but no more
than what you usually would get between an escort and a
cargoship." Pirici licked her lips in anticipation. Their
current communication and scanner equipment had all
originally been salvaged off of Delphins ships and bases.
The lack of the right crystals had kept them from directly
duplicating the equipment, and getting ahold of more of the
stuff would be quite a coup.

Kle fingered a scar carved on her right forearm, the scar
being a Feryl invention - a rune that when invoked would
more than triple her strength and increase her pain
threshold tenfold.

"Dragon!" Pirici gasped. "Just for a moment, I got a
signal. There's a dragon on board the cargoship!"

"Have the soldiers ready quarrels dipped in dragonbane in
addition to the usual poisons." Bural was unconcerned,
dragons merely required more effort to kill but they died
all the same.

"Aye, captain," Kle said and relayed the orders.

"Should we signal the others?" Pirici asked, hoping the
answer would be no.

"Don't joke, Scanner. Why share the glory?" Bural dismissed
the question. "We'll only have a brief period between our
attack and when the rest of the fleet realizes we're after a
prize. We'll have to strike hard, fast, and cripple the
ships immediately."

There was agreement on that, though the topic of thought
was divvying up spoils.

----------------

"WHO IS THAT?! WHERE AM I?! WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!"

Nabiki wiped tears away and confided that for someone a few
moments ago looked like she'd fallen into a room of running
chainsaws, Akane was surprisingly active.

"Uhm, was the healer supposed to faint like that? Why did
that baby appear? Why is everyone readying weapons?"

The sly-looking elf snickered before bowing before Kasumi
with a sweeping cape gesture. "Because, priestess, in the
order you asked. No. We don't know. And there is going to be
a major ship-to-ship battle occurring in the next few
minutes. So if our honored guests would kindly get
belowdecks..."

"WAITAMINUTE!" Akane yelled. "First that guy with the
spells, then everything goes dark, then..." Akane's voice
slowed. "There was a bright light and I heard Mother's voice
telling me to stay put and it wasn't my time yet."

"Oh my," said Nabiki as she considered the implications of
that.

"The baby, near as I can determine from the magical auras,
IS the young lady here." Stormshadow shrugged and spread his
hands. "Your body perished but the soul lingered. The reason
you're pale and shaking is because Frostbite here cast a
Raise Dead on you. It *normally* might cause even someone
like him to faint and isn't much easier on the formerly dead
person. It does *not* normally cause the person being raised
to split into two."

"I'm not a priestess," said Kasumi, looking for some part
of all this she could handle.

"Maybe not, but you've got the feel of one," the elf said.
"Now, as I said, we're gonna have a fight here soon, so if
you'd get *below* deck?"

"What are we facing, Stormy?" Ranma gestured for Bag to
approach so he could rummage within its contents.

"Feryl fleet. Looks like we'll be facing a breakoff group
that's riding the edge of the dimension storm. The command
ship is an unfamiliar design, looks like one of those goblin
Triops but its been modified and is bigger than anything we
faced in Realmspace. The two smaller ones are Viper-class.
*We* have this Osprey and a privately owned Hammership."

"Ouch," Ranma summed up.

"On the plus side, Megumi's on the Hammership," the elven
thief/mage informed the human with a smirk.

"That *could* help," agreed Ranma, "but it won't be enough.
I'll have to use the Recharge potion and sleep the effects
off later. What about your spells?"

Stormshadow snorted. "You know me, I specialize in covert
operations. You want 'em all dead, give me a sharp knife and
a few uninterrupted hours. Sneaking aboard them when they're
on combat alert, now *that* is a bit much. As for spells,
the most devastating one I've got ready is 'Chain Lightning'
though I could possibly 'Teleport' over and get their comm
tower."

"And likely have a dozen bolts in you before you finished
your thrust." Ranma shook his head. "Any espers besides
Garr?"

"There's a senpsi over there. Tough little girl.
Telekinetic with a Psychomet secondary."

"Too bad she's not a Psychoporter," noted Ranma.

"Excuse me," interrupted Kasumi. "Who is attacking?"

"Feryl, priestess. Bad Amazons. Nasty people who'd kill
everyone on board in all sorts of painful and inventive
ways. People you don't want to meet," the elf said with an
uncharacteristic degree of soberness, "and who wouldn't
think twice about making sausages out of your boyfriend."

Kasumi noted that Ranma didn't protest the label and felt a
warm flush.

Ranma wondered what the elf was talking about as he quaffed
the potion. "Bleah, why does this sort of thing have to
taste like licorice?"

"Here they come," Stormshadow noted. "Classic inverted V.
The two Vipers to flank and sweep in from the side while the
Triops forms the hammer."

"Inside," ordered Nodoka to the girls, then a thought
stopped her. "Where's Genma?"

----------------------

Genma smiled as he opened the door and found the gold
*exactly* where he thought it would be. The captain's cabin
had a side closet. In the closet was a chest. In the chest
were two bags that made a satisfying clink.

Stuffing the bags inside his gi, he told himself that
anyone who left such sums of money around *deserved* to be
relieved of such things. He was just doing them a favor by
pointing out how lax their security was.

And then he could have a talk with his children. The
thought of Ranma turning into some scholar type was
intolerable. And Midori had spent all of her time among
these armed warrior women, tool-users for crying out loud!

Oh, the shame!

-----------------------

Ranma stood near the bow, placed the fist of his right hand
in the palm of his left and started gathering power.
"Power beyond the darkest bands,
From beyond time and space,
Gather now in my unworthy hands."

Little add on covers opened up along one side of the
'Little GTO' and the ship moved slightly so that it was that
side facing one of the Vipers.

"Steady," commanded Asuka Goraku of House Rising Sun.
"Steady. All cannons, ready. FIRE!"

As one, seven mage-cannon discharged the equivalent of
twenty-four spell levels each. The equivelant of six
fireballs struck the 'Hand Of Mercy' and caused minor
structural damage. The seventh managed to make it down an
open hatchway.

Kasumi flinched as one of the attacking ships was wreathed
in flame and lost a section of its hull.

Nabiki nudged her and pointed at where Ranma seemed to be
gathering little specks of light around him.

Stormshadow lowered his bow momentarily and gaped. "He's
casting THAT?!"

"In a time of dreaded need,
We're sorely pressed,
Your intercession I plead."

The approaching ships were firing long barbed metal
javelins and flasks of dark material towards their ship.
Amazons were countering with spells and Inertial Barriers
and scores of their own arrows. Shampoo even grabbed up a
horsebow when one of the Delphins on board the Wildhorse was
struck down and added her own fire to the mix.

"I pledge myself the evil to fight,
Lest the cause be lost,
Let now speak Heaven's might."

"Grab hold of something. ANYTHING!" Stormshadow yelled over
the gathering wind. "He's going to try and cast a 10th level
spell!"

Kasumi blinked, not realizing that a 10th level spell was
about three levels beyond Ranma's ability to control. Not
that much of anyone controlled a 10th level spell as they
tended to cast themselves, usually burning out the wizard
foolish enough to try and use them.

Nodoka also didn't realize, this but judged by the glowing
sphere gathering around her son that he was about to do
something dangerous and possibly quite stupid. Which was, by
odd coincidence, in her book at least, manly.

"In service of the higher cause,
If my life be forfeit,
I grant it without pause."

Ranma brought his hands forward with a wistful smile,
seeing the Baseship beyond the Triops. This had been the
only thing he could think of trying and it was only with the
crystal spellbook floating in front of him that he even had
a chance of casting this spell. Still, even if there was a
backlash and everyone aboard the 'Wildhorse' died, it was
better than being taken alive by the Feryl. He'd seen the
results of a Delphins medical base overrun by the Feryl
once. It still gave him nightmares on occasion.

Ranma said a single word. His spellbook vanished. The deck
in front of him crumbled and burned. The space in a single
glowing line a foot thick and four hundred miles long
burned, then exploded. A Feryl Triops with 80 magically
enhanced warriors on the deck exploded. A 100 ton Baseship
with over 2,000 seasoned troops came in half and abruptly
became concerned with more immediate problems than two
limping ships doing their best to flee the area.

There was also a fair hole in the gathering dimension
storm, but the bleedover energy ensured that when it closed
the storm would be that much worse.

-----------------------

"IDIOT!" Stormshadow railed against the nearly comatose
mage. "Even if that *was* a Baseship, what made you think
you could pull that off?! DID you think?!"

"I did it..." wheezed a white-haired Ranma.

"We could have taken our chances diving into the storm.
THAT would have been less dangerous than trying 'Ruth'. Do
you have any idea what you've done!"

"Saved us from..." Ranma fell asleep.

Stormshadow frowned.

"I'm not a mage, so explain to me what my son just did."
Nodoka cradled the baby in her hands, little Aka-chan, and
regarded the upset elf.

"Look, a 10th level spell is *dangerous* and there are a
group of 10th level spells so powerful and dangerous that
they're illegal to even consider casting. Most people in
Shadar, even those who study magic professionally, don't
know they're anything more than myths." Stormshadow, someone
who had faced the death of a god during the Godswar was
upset, and even Thurin was looking at him with concern.
"This is all under Imperial Edict, so it can't leave this
room. Some of these are spells like 'Genesis' which are used
to stabilize pocket realities or to convert a barren world
into one that can support life. Some are spells like
'Exodus' which can tear an entire city out of one reality
into another. And these are spells which are alive in their
own way, actively seeking to wrest control from the caster
and unleash themselves once started."

"So, Ranma did something to save us all, but it could
easily have destroyed us all instead." Nodoka considered
what she had seen.

Stormshadow chuckled weakly and allowed himself to lean
against the wall. "Kind of. 'Ruth' is the codename for the
Ultimate Disruption spell. I don't know why, those are the
names the Emperor gave them when they were Sealed. Nor do I
know how Ranma got one into his spellbook, and believe me
when I say that he's going to get brainprobed on THAT.
Figure it'll take him two days to recover from casting that
spell. Another three days of questioning. Probably be
released the morning of the Race?"

----------------------------

Kasumi stepped back towards the railing as the Amazons
filed across the gangway from their own ship. Shampoo found
herself shifting her stance slightly to a more loosely
combat ready manner. Nabiki and Akane merely stared.

BIG was the first impression now that these Amazons could
be seen up close. The orientals were the shortest, standing
just over six feet in height. The blonde ones towered over
Akane by close to three feet of height.

Shampoo noted the weapons first, as one would expect of an
Amazon. Well maintained, a variety of weapons, all either
sheathed or put away. No *immediate* violence, then. Shampoo
relaxed marginally.

Nabiki wanted to do a photo shoot. These girls would not
have looked out of place as professional models. Every one
of them could have made a fortune in that line of work.

Akane thought that they probably weren't very good
fighters, obviously vast amounts of cosmetic surgery, (those
couldn't be real), but the number of sharp instruments they
had could probably be very messy. Particularly as she still
felt weak.

"You are the fiancee?" a lithe-looking girl in vaguely
samurai armor, with katana and wakisashi tucked in her obi,
asked of Kasumi.

"Uhm, yes," Kasumi sounded a little uncertain.

Grins were exchanged.

"Well, then, you're the one we need to petition."

"Petition?" Nabiki stepped forward. "As in making some sort
of formal request?"

"Interesting," said one of the other Amazons, this one a
blonde in articulated plate armor. "I would have expected
humans to be... taller."

"A hundred feet high, breathing flames, and making the
world tremble in their passage?" A third Amazon snickered.
"Too many creche-mates making stories, Tiramisu. Besides,
both Ranma and the Emperor are human and neither one of them
is that tall."

"Perhaps," allowed the blonde before falling silent before
the samurai's glare.

"We have heard of your prior claim on the young mage,"
continued the samurai. "We wish to discuss terms and
possibilities."

Kasumi blinked. "Excuse me?"

"You're trying to buy her rights to Ranma?" asked Nabiki,
her business acumen coming to the fore.

There was a moment of silence before the Amazons started
chuckling at that.

"Oh, Heavens no. We know you wouldn't do THAT! After all,
you're following him into a strange and often dangerous
world. No, we're negotiating for co-wife status." The
samurai chuckled again, shaking her head at the idea.

"Excuse me?" Kasumi repeated, now absolutely SURE that
something was wrong with the translation spell.

"Negotiations?" Nabiki wet her lips and thought of gold
before the concept of what was being bartered for
penetrated. "Excuse me?"

Akane nodded. "I *knew* he was a pervert."

"Who, Ranma?!" This met with another moment of silence
followed by outright laughter from the Amazons.

"Oh, Seal no," Tiramisu said when she could keep a straight
face. "Both the Emperor and his mother ordered us to keep
hands off until he was ready. If he's got a fiancee..."

"Then he must be ready, yes?" The samurai nodded seriously.

An eight foot tall barbarian girl (judging from the
headband with a couple of dangling feathers, buckskin-style
clothing, and warpaint) nudged Nabiki. "Poor boys been in
relative isolation. No dating, no casual contacts, damn few
friends."

"You're a warrior," noted a tall girl with twin ponytails.
She was looking at Shampoo.

"Yes. I am Shampoo, Amazon of Nichieju Village." Shampoo
was confident that as fellow Amazons she'd be accorded some
respect.

That two of them drew weapons was *not* expected.

"Chien! Ru! Stop it. Does she LOOK like a Feryl?" The
samurai drew her katana and got in between the two who had
drawn weapons and their target.

"Feral?" Kasumi hadn't realized that she had spoken until
the Amazons turned their attention back to her. She still
wasn't clear on what these enemies were. Couldn't they just
discuss their differences over a cup of tea?

"I suppose if you're to associate with us, some hopefully
more than others, you need to know something of us. The
Feryl are our... antithesis, if you will. When the Delphins
first discovered travel between the worlds, we discovered
some wonderful things," the samurai's eyes glittered.

"Males," supplied Chien.

"Decent opponents, good causes!" Chien grinned and slammed
a fist into her palm.

"The art and music of thousands of cultures," indicated an
Amazon with short hair and dressed in what looked like denim
overalls.

"Fast ships, a good fight," sighed Ru, a tall redhaired
Amazon in an odd armor that appeared to be shaped metal
plates bolted onto buckskins. "Exploration and discovery."

"Some of our number were aboard the hammership Lookfar, my
namesake Megumi of Rising Sun was one," the samurai
proclaimed with a trace of pride and something else. "The
Lookfar encountered another culture of Amazons, likewise
reaching out during this period of expansion. These were the
Feryl.

"We welcomed them as distant sisters. We had a base known
as Spire in what's called Realmspace by the natives. Some of
our number had found mates among the humans of that
universe. They, the Amazons, and their children. It was a
glorious time."

Kasumi and Nabiki blinked at the moist eyes of more than
one of the Amazons. Akane broke the mood, not understanding
it. "What happened?"

"The Feryl turned out to be from Aramar. They confounded
our divinations in order to learn more of us, but they might
have left us alone save for one thing." The shorthaired girl
broke in, face drawn into a fierce look that was quickly
shared. "They discovered the children. They could barely
tolerate us treating males as being more than slaves. For us
to be raising female children alongside male children, it
was anathema. They launched their ships and used something
called Hellfire Dust on what they considered an abomination.
We called it a nursery."

Megumi resumed the narrative. "The Grand Experiment ended.
'Hellfire Dust' is something left over from the days when an
Elven Empire spread across Aramar. A poison so virulent that
the land can't support life even now. All Amazons visit the
Spire to remember, though no ships can land due to the
presence of it even now."

"I see," Kasumi said after a few moments. "They killed
children. What of these Amazons now?"

"If we find them, we kill them," said Tiramisu flatly,
giving a distrusting look towards Shampoo. "We went to war.
Both of us lost our homeworlds. They continued to use
Forbidden Weapons that the elves had crafted to maintain
their empire and sealed after their empire had died. We
freed slaves, and put the worst of them out of their
misery."

"You killed slaves of enemy?" Shampoo frowned at that.

Her reaction actually seemed to reassure the others
slightly. "The Feryl believe in keeping males seperated and
suitably tractable. Those kept for breeding don't need to be
able to walk or see, for example. Those who are kept for
labor were likewise 'trimmed' by their masters. Those who
had spent several years of this..."

The Amazons were further reassured by the near universal
looks of disgust and nausea at that.

Akane looked a little ill as what these (obvious
beneficiaries of plastic surgery) Amazons were saying
penetrated.

"Enough," proclaimed Megumi, "this should be a joyous time.
We need to plan for the Race."

"'The Race'? What race?"

"The race to determine who, what, and how many get Ranma,
of course." Megumi winked. "We ought to plan strategy."

-----------------------------

Silvara noted that someone had gone into Thurin's cabin,
stolen two bags of coins (copper and silver) and left. A
quick check revealed that someone had searched the ship and
then raided the pantry. The nymph engineer clucked at the
mess that had been made, and wondered exactly *why* someone
would do such a thing.

Silvara started cleaning up and wondered which of the
newcomers was responsible for this. If it had been one of
the Amazons from the 'Little GTO' she would have expected
them to at least be neat about it. And why take those two
bags of coins without disabling the curse wards? It wasn't
like the paper strip was intended to keep anyone out, it was
mainly for supernatural beings. Frostbite, for example,
would have gotten itchy and watery eyed from the way the
magic of the ward twisted the local Flow.

Silvara finished the job quickly and efficiently, as one
might expect. At *her* age, she'd had enough practice at
such things. Then she went on with her inspection- finally
ending three hours later, at the Captain's cabin again.

Thurin was just as puzzled by the thefts. Thieves were
usually after more valuable targets than the contents of the
larder and a "grand take" of 40 silver coins and 35 copper
bits. And why would someone subject themselves to a curse of
constipation for such a measly sum? Especially when one
could have cut the ward or pulled it away without invoking
it?

"Anyway, Captain, they'll need to scrap the 'Wildhorse'
when we get back."

Thurin winced. "That bad?"

"Keel's cracked near the prow, thirteen of the Feryl
javelins will need to be cut out of the wood, there's three
unexploded pots that *I* am not going to disturb without
someone on this ship being able to cast a Remove Curse and
Cure Disease handy. In addition, there's a section on the
port side that got a near miss from one of their
Annihilation spheres. It's been sufficiently weakened that
by the time we set down, it'll probably collapse. Then
there's the rest of the problems at the prow caused by that
spell Ranma cast." Silvara shook her head, sending her
chrome hair sliding. "Boy's always been overly concerned
with using powerful magic."

"Humans," agreed the dwarf. "Who can figure 'em? Well, I
can get back to patrol when this is done, maybe. We've got
another six hours before we make it to Aramar, we'll set
down at the Silver Temple at Blacksands. Try to keep us
together till then."

"Blacksands? Fort Blacksand? Why there, that's fairly
isolated." Silvara frowned in thought.

"These folk are going to get hit with the Rules and all we
can do is try to contain the damage. Already one of 'em will
likely get hit with the rules for Thief, so we'll just work
on minimizing the problems of the rest."

------------------------------

"Kasumi, you don't have to do this. We could just go home.
You heard them, four more hours and we'll be stuck for a
year at least." Akane pleaded with her big sister. No guy
was worth this.

Shampoo kept an ear open but was admiring the glittering
sword she'd been handed. The bonbori, she'd been told, was
fine but at least one visible holstered weapon was
considered proper dress for an Amazon. She had no idea what
the weapon was called, though it seemed to be a shortsword
with an extended crosspiece such as might be used for
catching or parrying another's blade. The blade itself was a
slightly curved thin blade made of some form of steel that
had light and dark patterns through it.

It had been a gift from Megumi. Shampoo decided she liked
the samurai Amazon. Then she caught sight of that
silverhaired guy who had healed Akane. Again, as the last
few times, the moment he saw that she had noticed, he ducked
around a corner. All of which was beginning to make Shampoo
nervous.

"No, Akane." Kasumi addressed her sister, with a hint of
exasperation. She was more than a little uncertain about the
Amazons, but was sure that when it was explained that human
customs were different, they would understand her position.
"You can go home if you like. I'm staying with Ranma.
There's currently nothing for me at home."

"Then *I* am staying," announced Akane. "Someone's got to
protect you."

"I'll protect her," announced Megumi. "It's only right for
a Healer priestess to have a warder."

Akane and Kasumi blinked at the samurai.

"But I'm not a priestess," protested Kasumi.

"They're *all* weird," whispered Akane.

-----------------------------

Midori woke up as the figure on the bed moved. "Brother?"

Ranma looked at the eight year old girl who had been
keeping vigil. "I have a sister?"

"Some of the Amazons wanted to keep you company, bro. And
Mom wanted to let them. But Kasumi managed to convince
Megumi and Megumi threatened to unleash some kinda Grand
Cruzi Whatsit on them."

Ranma winced. "With Megumi that would be 'Grand Cruciform
Slash' and that was *probably* a bluff."

"Some kinda special attack?" Midori was up for any secret
techniques she could learn.

"Well, actually, yes." Ranma groaned as he pulled himself
up to a seated position. "I'm in deep trouble, aren't I."

Midori nodded. "Ya got that right, bro. That little guy's
talking like your head's up for removal."

"He's a dwarf, they tend to be pessimists." Ranma winced as
he took stock of his manna.

The redhaired girl regarded her brother and figured him for
a scholarly type. She'd have dismissed him as a real wuss if
she hadn't seen that 'Roof' thingie. "Yeah, well, you still
look like crap but I'll let Kasumi know you're okay. A
couple of them Amazons have offered to spar with me, and I
gotta go uphold the Saotome honor, y'know. Sure can't count
on Pop for that."

------------------

Kasumi felt like some queen holding court. It was
uncomfortable. Various Amazons wanted to see her, the
confessed "First Fiancee" and wondered at the small,
frail-seeming cleric.

Who kept protesting that she wasn't a cleric but it was
widely acknowledged that humans were odd in a lot of ways.
And this from the ones who didn't believe the old stories
about hundred foot tall creatures breathing flame and
walking among the stars.

"This is ridiculous," groaned Akane as another of the tall
women-warriors ignored her and paid homage to her sister.

"Now now, Akane, you musn't put them down for their
cultural... differences. 'Obey the customs of the village
you enter' (go ni itte wa go ni shitagae) as they say."
Kasumi was flustered and embarassed but was slowly adapting.

Everything stopped as if a switch had been thrown.

"What did you say your name was?" A Southern Cross woman
who had just a moment ago been wishing Kasumi a thousand
years of health scowled as she regarded Akane.

Akane looked around at the way hands seemed ready to go for
weapons. "Errr. Akane. Akane Tendo."

"STAND DOWN!" Megumi interrupted the drawing of weapons.
"She is NOT Scarlet!"

"She is an Analogue! You have seen the way she glares at
us. The way she challenges us with her stance. At least that
Shampoo girl has the grace to request formal sparring to
determine her skill in relation to us."

"Is she awake yet?" Kasumi was really hoping that the nice
Chinese girl was doing well.

"No, but don't worry. Frostbite will take care of Shampoo."
There was some snickering and the tension level seemed to
drop a notch.

Akane was about to open her mouth when Megumi turned and
hissed at her. "Do *not* say ANYTHING! Do not even make a
threatening gesture."

"But..."

"How do we know that she won't walk the same path as her
Mirror?"

"Are you Feryl that go judging without good cause? Are you
goblins to slay without warning? Or are you Amazons of your
Houses, who will not find an innocent guilty of her
reflection's crimes?" Megumi stood in the path of the
hostility and waited for an answer.

"The first innocent she kills, she will come under the
Rules and walk THAT path," the blonde from Southern Cross
continued, unimpressed.

"Your kinfolk suffered, it is true," said Megumi softly.
"Yet it is not the scope of the crime but the perpetrator
that is the question."

"Then I call for a trial, as is my right." The blonde
declared and stalked out of the room. She was followed by
many who glared daggers at Akane before they left.

"What was all that about, Megumi-san?" Kasumi was well
aware that violence had been barely avoided, though *she*
had not been the target.

"Old crimes that were never paid for," said Megumi sadly.
"It would be suggested, Akane Tendo, that you refrain from
challenging anyone until after your innocence is proven."

"Crimes? Huh? What's the charge?" Akane glared at the
samurai. She could take Kuno, and this was just another
kendoist as far as she could tell.

Megumi looked directly into Akane's eyes. "Of being a
danger to everyone and everything you hold dear. Of being a
figure of casual violence and easy hatred. Of being an Analo
gue of the legendary assassin Scarlet. I would suggest a low
profile for now."

---------------------

Shampoo awoke, finding five hours had passed and catching
sight of someone with silver hair fleeing her room. Again
this was alarming, but the presence of one of the warriors
reassured her somewhat.

"Well, Shampoo, that was well done, though your defense
needs some work. Still, we might well be able to get you
some training on that." Tiramisu smiled at the
lavender-haired girl in a reassuring manner.

"That man," Shampoo said after a few moments getting her
mouth to work again. "Why does that healer keep avoiding
me?"

Tiramisu studied Shampoo for a time before nodding at some
silent decision. "We don't know. Near as we can tell, you
resemble someone he used to know. He certainly acts like
it."

Shampoo shook her head and put the mystery of the healer
away. Learning new techniques that she could eventually
bring back to the village, that was a higher priority. Even
higher than that was something else. "Can I get something to
eat here?"

----------------------

"That's Aka-chan?!" Nodoka stared at the baby currently
held in one Amazon's arms. She'd been amused to find the way
the various warrior-women had clucked and cooed over a
newborn.

The various Amazons exchanged a look between them. "Well,
yes..."

"She's got to be a year old now!" Nodoka had been there
when Frostbite had cast the healing spell and a second Akane
had appeared beside the first. Stories of magical children
appearing out of peaches and the like had prepared the
Japanese for such things. But this...

"You mean this isn't normal for children to grow this
fast?" An Amazon in her mid-30s stared at the child briefly.
"She glowed and seemed to expand slightly. This is unusual?"

Nodoka considered. The child was unusually quiet and seemed
to take to the goat's milk rather well. (Nodoka had tried to
describe cows but eventually gave it up. She had a feeling
that the "goat" they were referring to wasn't a goat, but it
was close enough. It had also been somewhat of a shock to
learn that none of them personally had ever seen a human
baby. Children, yes, coming from something called a "creche"
and several had seen elven babies before, but no human
babies. Which had led her to finding out how few humans were
where she was going.)

Nodoka tried again. "She has her teeth already and the
bones... I think she's closer to two years old in her
development."

The Amazons continued to examine the baby.

"AH! She soiled her clothes!" One of the Amazons recoiled
as an odor wafted out. "Is she *supposed* to do that?!"

Nodoka sighed and began to instruct the warriors in the
subject of Baby Care 101. That her audience was as rapt as
it was did not go unnoticed.

A courier came by six hours later to inform them that the
Trial would start soon, only to find that Soun and Genma had
offered to take the child out to get some fresh air and that
various Amazons were out looking for the pair. With Midori.
At Nodoka's assistance upon learning that turning one's back
for a few moments wasn't always a good thing.

As for Genma and Soun, they were worried about the girl
being spoiled by all the attention.

----------------------

Ashida, also known as Jared, stopped himself on the edge of
a parapet and spent a few moments taking in his
surroundings.

The flame-haired mage could have easily been mistaken for
genasi, someone of human and efreeti blood. His clothes,
consisting of a "Nuku Nuku" t-shirt, leather duster-style
coat, tennis shoes and jeans proclaimed him offplanar. He
idly took a lick from an enormous multi-colored lollipop and
invoked an "Eyes Of The Eagle" spell.

A fortification of some kind, a few hundred meters from a
beach of black sand that was pierced by boulders of similar
color. The fort itself was made of similarly shaded
material, which proved to be basalt. A noonday sun that
didn't look quite right hung overhead.

There was also something wrong with the horizon.

Two ships rested nearby. One, a badly wrecked ship that
resembled a hawk, was the focus of activity by what looked
like a lot of ape-like beings wearing coveralls and erecting
scaffolding. The other he was somewhat more familiar with. A
hammership from his brief sojourn among spelljamming was
sitting in a cradle and was much less damaged than the
other.

Having determined that: a) there was no immediate danger,
b) possible means of escape, and c) there was no trace of
Serena, the mage was free to explore other options.

The odd shimmer in the air briefly caught his attention,
and he noted that the workers avoided that area. He frowned
slightly as he noted the breeze blowing through the scrub on
*that* side of the shimmer didn't reach the sands of this
side. Again, no immediate danger so nothing to concern
himself with at present.

Lots of elves, a few dwarves, and some races that he didn't
recognize at all in the crowds within the encampment. How
curious.

Ashida gasped slightly as he spotted familiar faces going
into a tavern. Soun Tendo and Genma Saotome. And they'd just
handed off a baby to a DROW?!

Ashida stopped the impulse to charge down there and do
something impulsive as he watched the scene. The drow was
being bowed to, obviously respected, even by the winged
elves. She'd nod in return but was quite obviously
preoccupied with tickling the child under her chin.

"Detect Evil," cast Ashida as he came within range. Uh oh.
She had reacted as if stung and started looking around for
the source. The spell's answer came back as a negative. A
good drow? Ashida dropped out of line of sight as he
pondered. There was something almost Kasumi-ish about that
drow.

A deep rumbling voice came from one of the leonine
cat-people sitting on a wooden bench before a grill. A name
caught Ashida's attention.

"Excuse me, but did you say 'Ranma'?"

The lion-man glanced over at Ashida with slightly
unfocussed eyes. "Yeah. You know Lijra's apprentice? Or
should I say adopted son?" He thumped his chest. "I served
with lil' Ranma back in my days as a warrior when he was
just entering the Imperial Mage Corps. Poor lil' fella. Must
be tough to be 'human'."

Ashida blinked. Ranma a mage? "Where is he?"

The lion-man blinked and his eyes seemed to focus a little
more. "Another of his old adventuring buddies? Grand Hall, I
think. Yup, them were the days..."

Ashida tuned out the lionman telling his dwarven companion
about boarding a spelljamming castle without a guidance
system, and trying to clean out the monsters that had come
to lair in the ancient ship/base. Except that some ignoramus
mage named Alcaeus had apparently let most of the
experienced fighters close to melee with a guardian beast
before letting loose with a Fireball.

Ashida looked up at the large central building. Well, he
knew where *he* should go now.

-----------------------------

The psionicist gathered the group together in the main
hall, and the mood of the few Amazons present indicated Very
Bad.

"Okay, here's the scoop," began Garr, towered over by two
of the Amazons. That they were also quite a distance from
the group furthered the Very Bad image.

That they were hovering that protectively around him caused
Shampoo to scowl and check for exits. "I think this is not
going to be happy news." Shampoo figured that she could grab
Kasumi and exit the window before things turned ugly. THEN
what, that was the question.

"Sorry, I'm a bit weak right now. It was quite a strain to
try to read the future and sort through the strands of fate.
The Rules Of Magic, as Stormshadow's explained, act quickly
on newcomers. Your feelings, your actions, self-image, how
other perceive you, even your thoughts can alter how you get
fit into the scheme of things." Garr rubbed his eyes,
looking even more tired.

One person there didn't receive the telepathic message that
accompanied the pause.

*All the information you'll hear is correct. In order to
save lives it may be necessary to present it a bit harshly.
I believe the phrase is 'scared straight' - please play
along.*

Akane wondered why Kasumi and Nabiki flinched at something.

"The next few months are critical, after that point it is
less likely that a single mistake will cause you to conform
to a role you would normally find... distressing." Garr
continued. "It is part of most sapient's natures that we
carry the seeds of our own destruction within us. When the
Rules adapt you, it all kind of hits the blast point."

"Ranma," grumbled the dwarf, "was a child. Children get a
bit more leeway, but he was still fitted into the Rules
though most of it looked like coincidence. He apparently
stated several times that he was training in the Art. Well,
when most people speak of the Art they mean weaving magic.
Other people's perceptions started him on the path to
magery. Then he was adopted by Lijra who saw the boy's
potential."

"Most of you, I foresaw managing to accomplish the fates
you intend. One of you could bring death and destruction to
the rest unless her temper is stopped." Garr looked
apologetic.

Akane blinked. "What's everyone looking at *me* for."

"You're the one clutching that hammer," pointed out Thurin,
getting in between Garr and the young woman.

"KASUMI gave me that hammer when that demon of Ranma's
broke out!" Akane glared at Ranma, sure this was another
attempt to do something perverted with her older sister.

"It's going to be worse, Tendo-san," said Stormshadow as he
materialized from a section of wall nobody had looked at too
closely before. "We have records of such things. Your inner
demons are going to come to the surface easier and faster
without someone there to constantly watch over you. How will
you protect your sister if you become a monster?"

Akane screamed in rage and fear and got a good wind-up
ready to smash the dwarf with said hammer. Then she could
try grabbing Kasumi and escaping.

The elf smiled charmingly at her, momentarily stopping her
mid-blow. "Hi. You are a counterpart to one of our most
legendary and hated villains, and our Diviners tell us that
you have all of the flaws necessary toward going that same
route as her. But since all those flaws radiate out of your
stubbornness and hatred toward men, we've decided to give
you an option: We could polymorph you into a lesser driad,
where raging libido will tend to mute out the rest of your
character traits until the end of your days.

"OR we could slap you with a Geas of Obedience, where if
you so much as disagree with the man we select as your
master you will suffer absolutely crippling, excruciating
pain that could drive you blind or slay you if you try too
long to resist it.

"OR we could just kill you right here, your choice."

Nabiki gestured and Garr forged a group link again,
excluding the Amazons and Akane.

*You're bluffing,* Nabiki sent along the line. *You might
fool Akane, but nobody else would buy it from you, Garr. The
elf has a good poker face, but anyone looking at you would
be able to tell that you have about as much intention of
killing her as dating her. ie: none.*

The Nymph sadly spoke to Akane over crossed arms. "The
Amazons would prefer that we just kill you."

Frostbite, still in his "elf" guise in the back of the
room, sent a comment forward along the link. *I met Scarlet
many years ago. Nobody deserves to go through what she did.
Do you want to know what she looked like when she was
younger? Your sister. I don't know how she died, but I
suspect she died violently and without a friend in the
world. If we have a chance to head that off, to stop her
from travelling that path, shouldn't we do everything we can
to do so?*

"Oh, and if you try to *hit* me, or anyone else, with that
hammer we'll do all three to you, then make certain that
your ghost haunts some particularly barren stretch of beach.
If you're lucky. If you're unlucky some necromancer will get
ahold of your immortal soul and use it to power some device
or other. If it's Hen, he has a sense of humor. He'd put you
in as the driving force behind a magical dildo or
something." The dwarf's eyes glittered without the least
shred of humor. "So you just picture that as your fate and
decide if you want to SWING that hammer."

*Poor Akane, she just wants to protect me. We should just
go home. We should never have come.* Kasumi sniffled, her
heart breaking. Akane had stated that she would *not* leave
Ranma and Kasumi together if she had any say in the matter.
Now, in order to save Akane, Kasumi knew she'd have to turn
her back on something else she wanted. Just like when she
had dropped out of high school to take care of her younger
sister and father.

"What kind of choice is THAT?!" Akane glared at her
tormentors, taking a step back and going into a ready
stance.

"More choice than another version of you, named Scarlet,
had." The dwarf regarded her with a pitying look. "Lass, she
went on to become a killer. The Amazons consider her as
great a villain as Wyndlong was, and while others are
uncertain of how much she actually did, the taint of evil
and hate grew within her for over three hundred years before
she finally vanished one day in the Goblin Reaches.

"And look at you. Since the child version of you has
appeared, even your sisters tell me your temper and lack of
control have increased. What would *you* do with you?"

"It's quite simple, child," Stormshadow smirked and leaned
up against a section of air as if it had turned solid. "The
Amazons want to KILL you. Quickly, efficiently, without any
fuss or bother. At least that's what the Southern Cross
House wants. House Valkyr wants to study you to see if your
genes have any potential use, but their methods of
extraction wouldn't be pleasant at all. Rising Sun has
expressed an interest in trying to salvage you by turning
you over to the Mu as a political trade, problem with THAT
is they'd be trading you off to be part of the Hive - so
your individuality would be gone."

"BUT I'M NOT SCARLET!" Akane yelled, a little panicked. In
a fair fight she was sure she could beat the elf and the
dwarf. Problem was, she was pretty sure the elf didn't fight
fair.

Silvara, skin gleaming in the light, cocked her head and
regarded Akane briefly. "I still think the driad idea is
pretty cool. Not as free to travel as a wood nymph, but
after a few centuries you'd probably get control of that
'raging hormone' thing." Obviously, as a nymph herself she
didn't regard the possibility as being particularly
horrible.

Akane looked stricken at the thought of having back
problems like that for all eternity. "So which of you is
planning on this Geas Of Obedience? I'm NOT going to obey
either of YOU!"

"Hell no," swore Thurin. "I've already got a wife, thank
you very much. Between her other husbands and myself, she's
well taken care of. A second wife? The very idea is
improper."

"For a dwarf, that is," acknowledged Stormshadow. "As for
myself, I *certainly* do not want to be saddled with a
short, scrawny, tempramental girl for any length of time. I
have more than enough to keep me busy as it is.

"You seem to think that the options we've offered you are a
punishment, Tendo-san. They are not. While I don't
particularly like you, I admit that knowledge of your
predecessor colors my thinking. YOU have not done much to be
punished for."

"Magic," said the nymph as if instructing a child, "is a
force that flows through this world and permeates
everything. Those who come here from outside find themselves
fitted to this world, the Rules Of Magic will feedback your
actions to your Being and fit you into your place here as a
result. Changing you into a common driad isn't nearly as bad
as what you could do yourself."

"Take the panda," growled Thurin. "He began thievery the
moment he got here. Not Storm's sort either, but the pure
greed stuff. The Rules are already fitting him into place as
a Bandit - a thief who steals for no cause but their own.
His martial arts skills will degrade, he'll probabably lose
a hand if he hasn't already, and I expect he'll be hanged
before the decade's out. The Rules affect EVERYONE. I'm a
dwarf and a Marine and a warrior, and the Rules of each
affect me. Storm's an elf, and a mage/thief, but he's an
agent of his Imperial Majesty's Ninja and so that's
different Rules entirely."

*Actually,* sent Garr in a brief mindtouch, *he and Mister
Tendo are still in the distillery trying to finish off their
third cask of stout. All of the rest of you have taken
suggestions and made efforts to fit in, which will help
control the way the Rules pigeonhole you. Akane has been
suspicious and distrustful from the start, and refuses to
change with the situation. Hence the danger.*

"You do like that earlier Akane Tendo did, and you'll go
the same route and end up as either dead or an assassin who
revels in killing. Except that if we let you go that way,
the Amazons will hunt you down within a few days and you
WON'T live."

"How about if I just defeat...YOU!" Akane swung, ready to
feint and move and run for the exit. Stormshadow blurred
into motion, and Akane stared down at her chest, noting that
the dagger had been buried between her breasts. "I..."

The dagger dissolved.

"Looks like the bit about people from the distant past
being more susceptible to magic was correct," noted the elf.
"That was the Geas, by the way. By attacking me, you set up
the conditions by which it could affect you."

"Now we need to find a male whom you'll be bound to obey,"
noted Silvara.

"Excuse me?"

Everyone turned to regard the flame haired man in the
doorway.

"Sorry about this," said the Pheonix Mage, looking a little
nervous at all the odd grins. "I just dropped in to return
this spellbook I got on loan. Am I interrupting anything?"

*That's the one I saw in the vision. He can save her.*

Stormshadow merely smiled and pointed. "Him."

Akane could *feel* the magic taking hold, but the Pheonix
Mage SAW it. "Hey! Wait a minute!" They both protested in
chorus. The Mage stopped in suprise while Akane went on to
shout. "That's not FAIR!"

Stormshadow watched in amusement, lips quirked in
appreciation for the thought it displayed, as the
fiery-haired man wove two spells over Akane; a Know History
and a Detect Harmony, while Akane went on shouting. "Don't I
get any say in this!?"

Before thinking in synchronisation with what she was saying
could disturb him any more than it already did, the Mage
held out a hand, silencing her. She obeyed more out of
surprise at the instant feeling of compulsion than out of
any natural impulse. He took a step forward, addressing the
elf. "Look, a good joke, but hardly appropriate. I HATE her!
It disturbs my calm to even see her alive! I am unsettled by
how *powerfully* I want to dismember her! I am more than a
little frightened by how strongly I want her dead. I have
dreams at night about killing her, and the fact that I enjoy
it so gives me cause for concern about the health of my
soul. I can hold myself in check when I am in those
realities where she has some redeeming qualities, but this
one typifies all of the character traits I started hating
her for in the first place!"

The dwarf grinned openly and proudly, winking in such a
manner that the Mage could see. "Sounds perfect to me."

"Hey!" Akane screamed, then went down on the floor howling
in pain.

Silvara winced, seeing anyone in pain was painful to her.
"The Amazons will be happy."

Realizing the cause of Akane's agony, the mage withdrew his
restraining hand which had been signaling silence. The body
on the floor whimpered, and the mage shook his head, rubbing
his brows. Sighing, he asked, "isn't there a way to change
this over? She is EVIL! Not of the 'murder indiscriminately'
sort... yet, but a branch from the same tree all the same.
All that particularly foul garden requires is a certainty
that whatever they do is right, and she has THAT in spades!
I *like* killing evil! Couldn't you give her to someone with
whom she'd be safer?"

The dwarf eyed him up and down, gauging the mage's
character as best he could. "No, I think we've got something
here that will make all our parties happy. If you kill her,
that's your business."

Nabiki went rather pale at this pronouncement, and started
subtly indicating she wanted the mindlink reforged. Kasumi
clutched to Ranma, seeking support.

The Pheonix Mage caught this last motion and shot a glance
to Ranma. "Hi, bro."

Nodoka unsteadily clutched her son's *other* side for
support, opposite Kasumi.

The Mage rubbed his eyes, waiting for his patient/captive
to recover. "Explanation in brief; I am of the Saotome clan,
just not any universe you are familiar with. By adoption,
mostly, but that gets blurred more than a bit. The full
story would take a soap opera to tell right, but the
pertinent facts are that Genma enjoys selling me as much as
he did you, Nodoka is firmly convinced that she is my birth
mom, and has evidence and documents to prove it. Oh, and you
and I don't know each other much because pops took you out
on that training journey."

There were many squegee blinks.

Seeing an opportunity, and that his patient was recovering
enough to listen in on the pertinent details, the Pheonix
Mage spread his arms, emphasizing his dancing licks of
flaming hair, pointed ears, and slightly non-human
appearance. "I used to be human. From what I know of this
place, many of *you* won't remain human for very long. Magic
tends to change one, especially here. So watch your actions,
what you do will literally determine who you are. For
example..."

The Pheonix Mage took a step toward Nabiki, raising a
cautioning finger. "Now answer me not at all, do not even
*hint* that you might agree or accept, but just imagine if I
were to offer to pay you four times your own weight in gold
if you were to sleep with me... once."

She inhaled to gasp, and found his hand instantly over her
mouth. "Do NOT answer me at all, this is hypothetical. But
just imagine it were to happen, and you were to accept. The
very act of publishing your willingness to sleep for money,
no matter the amount, would affect you,
harmonize with the Rules here, and you would be a
prostitute."

Thurin interrupted. "What's a 'prostitute'? The translation
spell didn't handle that."

"Uhm, a woman who sleeps with male customers for money."
The Pheonix Mage blinked and tried to figure out what kind
of world was so alien that a basic translation spell
couldn't handle the job.

"Tavern wench, maybe? They've been known to seduce male
customers for bigger tips." The dwarf wondered at that.
Maybe he should have gone outside the bars in that
spelljammer port after all. He had thought it was completely
bizarre when it had been explained to him at that time.
Privately he thought it more likely she'd just turn into a
Nymph.

"Close enough, I suppose. A tavern wench then. Simply and
irrevokably from what I understand. You would gradually
change to fit that mold. They don't have any particular need
for math skills beyond making change, so yours would degrade
to a common level. You would dress the part without even
being aware of it, and the whole rest of your life would
fall in line
with that profession, including diseases, eventual ugliness,
and death a poor wretched creature. It is a miserable way to
live and a worse way to die."

The Nymph giggled at the ridiculous thought of a MALE
paying to have sex instead of having to practically be
dragged off. Diseases and eventual ugliness? Well, the only
tavern wenches she'd heard of like THAT were the overly
plump dwarven varieties. Humans must be really bizarre.
"She'd die of starvation within a week."

Stormshadow nodded, leaning casually against nothing. "Yah,
the male to female ratio here for most races... And who'd
want to buy what any number of Nymph, Dryads and others
would give for free? Heck, there's any number of elves and
Amazons willing to find partners. It's MALES that are in
short supply."

The Nymph nodded again. "She'd starve." Then she looked
thoughtful. "Or more likely
become another Nymph. We don't have THAT many humans showing
up here, so we don't know what all their decisions really
do."

The Mage acknowledged their support and removed his hand
from Nabiki's lips, cautioning all the travelers. "So you
see how easy it would be to find yourself in something you
don't want? Watch what you do, you might find it very hard
to reverse a snap decision that wouldn't have very much
effect in a mundane life. My advice would be to pick what
you want to be and act accordingly." He shrugged. "But
that's my advice in a normal world, too."

"Son?" Nodoka whispered.

The Mage met her eyes. "Yes, mother?"

The woman blinked for a long time. "What ARE you?"

The Mage glanced at the natives, all of whom shrugged. To
THEM, the unusual was usual. Most assumed he had genasi or
fire-nymph blood. He turned back and shrugged as well. "A
good question. A healthy mix of elf, pheonix, and something
else as far as race goes. Martial artist and spellcaster
covers *most* of my profession but that's a long story. I'm
not from this place
but wherever I am I'm fairly unique. What I do is fight
evil, and I'm flexible in my methods but picky in my
targets. Right now I am on a world where the government of
Japan has collapsed under the weight of an economy destroyed
by demonic invasion. The master of these demons is out
to conquer the world and I am acting to stop her. It's a
dicy war and we may have to retreat, and if we do I'll have
to figure out a way to destroy that world behind us so that
our enemy can't use it as a base of operations and drain all
the humans of their life energy to power an
attack on another dimension. If they are to die I'd rather
they do it cleanly than being turned into wasted husks whose
vital lifeforce has been sucked out of them, which is what
Beryl does when she is able."

Eyes were round. The natives frowned but didn't look
unfamiliar with the concept.

"You'd kill a whole *world*?" Akane asked in fear from down
by his feet, finally having uncurled from her fetal
position.

He squatted down beside her. "We are not here to talk about
me. I am here to return a spellbook, with my thanks, and
then you and I are going back to a world at war, one where
the entire human race could be exterminated any day by
creatures I am fighting. What I offer is a mercy stroke, and
that is *IF* we cannot win any other way. What awaits them
otherwise is a
slow death by the worst sort of torture, first their energy
drained, then essentially being eaten alive. The whole
process takes about a year, I'm estimating. I would not
condemn anyone, not even you, to that sort of death if I
could offer them a better, cleaner one."

He raised his head to look at the natives. "That is, I'm
taking her if I can't convince them to change this to
someone else?"

The resident elf spread his fingers of one arm
expressively. "Out of our hands. Once the Geas takes
effect... not much I could do about it, except refer you to
a specialist. But then you'd have to convince them it was
worth their time to try."

"And this works very well for us." The dwarf finished, then
gave something of an apologetic nod to the flame haired
mage. "Sorry for the inconvenience." It never did to have
any powerful mages upset at you, he had some protection from
his position, but avoiding their ire in the first place was
still a good rule. Besides, he'd reassure the families
later. If Garr said this path had the greatest chance of
success, then that was how they'd play it.

The Pheonix Mage sighed, standing up. "What would the
effects be if I were to cast a Monster Summoning I?"

Thurin turned to Stormshadow, who considered aloud. "Most
likely goblins. We are near the Goblin Reaches right now."

The Mage quirked a grin. "And would anyone here miss a few
goblins, more or less?"

The dwarf acquired a bushy grin. "We *prefer* less."

"Alright, then." The flame haired youth concluded, then
ushered people about until he had a little room with Akane
at the center. Then he cast his spell, and addressed the
girl while he was waiting for the results.

"Akane, you will not consider attacking *me* except under
three conditions. One," he held up a finger, "with generous
warning under circumstances which would not complicate other
critical issues. Two," he held up a second finger. "You must
first declare your reasons, which must be well-considered,
logical, and honorable. As well as giving me opportunity to
reply and perhaps resolve your concerns. Three." He glared
at her. "With the clear understanding in your mind that any
such fight be to the death at my discretion, but not
otherwise."

A dozen green, warty, squat humanoids appeared. Nabiki took
a long step toward standing behind Ranma. Kasumi huddled
herself a little closer to him, while Nodoka gave herself
some room to draw her katana if need arose. Shampoo noted
the natives were unconcerned.

Jared frowned slightly. The goblins were different from
what he had expected. These looked like hairless ape-like
creatures covered with thick overlapping scales and what
looked like tumors of scar material. Well, at least they
were as ugly as the goblins he was familiar with.

The reason the natives were unconcerned was simple.
Monsters this measely remained reliably under the control of
the summoner for the duration of the spell, then returned to
where the spell brought them from.

The Mage was stepping back, away from his charge. "Akane, I
give you leave to defend yourself. Goblins, that girl is
your target. You may do to her what you will."

The squat, ugly humanoids immediately licked the blades of
their weapons, starting forward. One of the grunting
creatures mentioned to his companions a comment that Ranma's
ongoing translation spell caught and rendered as an obscene
suggestion to his comrades. The others made chortling
comments in the same vein, with additional and more
grotesque
connotations.

Akane's face went flat. This was something primal, that she
could deeply understand. These goblins were PERVERTS!!! With
a cry of fury she picked her mallet back up and vented all
of the fury, anger and frustration that had been building in
this awful place on them.

Seconds later she nearly dropped the weapon. Those... those
goblins had SPLASHED!! Her mallet was dripping green goo and
there were sticky spots where the dozen creatures had once
been. The dwarf made an ugly comment about who got to clean
up the hall. Nodoka looked a trifle pale and Ranma offered
Kasumi a handkerchief to hold over her nose.

Nabiki was thinking about losing her lunch out the window.

Shampoo was a little green, yet thinking about how to kill
the green things less messily next time, if she ever met
any.

The Mage was clapping. "Very good, Akane. That was a lesson
for you in scale. You have the power to kill things, as
you've just proved. Those were living, thinking, albeit
perverted and ugly, creatures, and now they are all dead at
your hand. I would like you to think on that."

Akane reacted as if stung, the hammer clattering against
the floor. "I didn't MEAN to..." Her anger began boiling.
"YOU made me!!!"

"Hush!" He ordered, raising a hand. "I arranged controlled
circumstances with you against a small number of evil
things. They were not required to attack you, but they were
inclined to do so. You were inclined to defend yourself.
They died. If you had changed your choice or they theirs
that might not have happened. I'm not condemming you.
Killing evil things is, to my mind, a good choice, so your
soul as yet is unstained. But what might have happened if
the first time you were offended around here it wasn't an
evil man? You have the power to kill, you've proved that.
You didn't *expect* to kill these things, yet you did. I
would suggest that
you learn some restraint lest you again kill something you
didn't intend to."

Akane's face looked blank. Stormshadow muttered a spell
under his breath, wiggling his fingers about and canceling
the Monster Summoning spell, causing the gooey remains to
return back from whence the goblins came, thereby cleaning
up the mess.

The Mage took Akane by the hand, gestured farewell to the
rest, and tossed a crystal disk over to Ranma. "I'm told
that's a spell book of the Imperial Mage Corps in Shadar.
I'm sure I can trust you to return it for me. Farewell to
the rest of you. I know not if we'll ever meet again, but
I'm not opposed to it. I wish you well, good luck and a safe
journey."

He began to lead a stunned Akane away, toward the point
where he'd entered this world, reasoning that would be the
easiest point of return. As the Mage walked, they heard him
speaking. "Now Akane, there is already an Akane Tendo where
we are going, and she is nicer than you (if a bit strange.)
So I would like from now on for you to answer to the name of
Scarlet, both for that reason and to retain in your
rememberence that other one of you who bears that name, that
you can remember what a murderess she is, and what you might
become if ever you are callous or unfeeling toward others,
or forsake the greater good. Secondly, do not delight in
causing hurt. Even when we fight evil it must remain with us
why we are doing so, and rejoicing in the shedding of blood
is not it. Third, seek not to do evil, nor to encourage evil
in others..."

The mindlink snapped back on and Garr beamed reassurance.
He had foreseen this and Akane's best chance of becoming
something other than a tragic figure was with the outsider.
Kasumi and Nabiki objected, but remembered the child and
wondered how much of their sister was the baby and how much
was the girl with their sister's face?

The flamehaired mage broke off and stopped when he noted
that Akane was crying. "Whatever is the matter?"

She choked and sobbed something. The fact that she didn't
immediately blurt it out served as a testament as to how
badly the earlier shock from the Geas must have hurt.

He sighed, speaking gently. "I grant you my permission to
always be honest with me. There, is that better? You won't
have to worry about the Geas hurting you if you say
something that I disagree with. Now, can you tell me?"

Scarlet sobbed, tears flowing. "You... you just want to
kill me." She whimpered.

He took her hand gently and sighed again. "Yes... but I'm
not going to. You will be treated fairly, insofar as I have
power. My hatred of you is not your problem, it is mine, and
the responsibility for overcoming it is mine as well. I am
not allowed to hate, I have to live by a higher law. I
cannot permit myself to feel hatred for you, or anyone. The
damage that
it would do to me would be incalculable, and I simply do not
want it. That is why it scares me so. Do you understand?"

Scarlet nodded numbly, still sniffling and wiping tears.

~Man! How *quickly* that Geas broke her! No, not broke.
She's just got a spiritual glass jaw. Anything sufficiently
jarring can get her to be meek and nice... for awhile. It's
the fact that she always returns to hostile and dangerous
that makes her the violent maniac she is.~

"ARE you going to kill her?" Nabiki asked bluntly, folding
her arms and figuring if family didn't count for something
then what did? She wasn't entirely sure of how much she
trusted the various people here, but it was obvious that
Akane had become MUCH more unstable since the ship had
entered that gray void.

The Pheonix Mage regarded her. "I will not take her life
out of personal reasons or spite. I will not seek her death
or put her in excessively dangerous environs if I have a
choice. But I live an exceptionally dangerous life and those
dangers apply to all around me. Scarlet will prosper
according to her obedience and willingness to learn, Nabiki.
I take my responsibilities seriously. She will live or die
by her own choices, not mine."

"So she'll just be your slave, then." Nabiki frowned at
everyone just going along with this. Kasumi looked like she
was in shock. Or WAS that esper right and the major healing
that Frostbite had done to Akane in that void had split her
youngest sister in two. The innocence was Aka-chan, that
baby. The Akane being led away, the pride and wound. And
when the two rejoined, which would dominate?

The former Akane nodded, still shedding tears as she
wailed. "Now I'll never get to see my family again!!!!"

The Mage glanced back to the watching crowd. "Well perhaps,
but maybe not. That's not set in stone." His lips quirked
into a wry grin. "And even if it were there are things we
can do to stone to make it give up its grasp. But the place
where we are going has counterparts for them as well as
yourself. There you'll see why these people were so scared
about you acting like the other Akane that arrived.
Dimensional counterparts are quite similar, not the same,
just similar. The similarity makes it VERY easy to behave as
family. Even, for example, myself with this Ranma and Nodoka
here, whom I'd never met before today. But if you find your
sisters in that world are not a sufficient substitute, then
we can work out together how you might visit or talk with
your family here. Fair enough?"

The flame haired man addressed Nabiki. "I don't keep
slaves. A student, an apprentice, THAT is a possibility.
Now, was there anything else?"

Scarlet broke in, rubbing both eyes and wailing like a lost
child. "YES! Let me Go!"

The Pheonix Mage released her hand. "Okay."

"NO!" She yelled, getting angry. "I want my FREEDOM back!!
Let me GO!!!"

He sucked in a lip, considering her thoughtfully. "Scarlet,
answer me this question. Which do you want to be, good or
evil?"

The girl looked at him as if he were stupid. "Good, of
course. I want people to look up to me."

The Mage gestured expressively. "Fair enough. If you'd
wanted to be evil I could've handed you off to someone of
that stripe for them to train you, and doing battle with
that side I would have treated you as one of them, killing
you the same as they. But you want to be good, a noble goal,
but a harder one."

He led Scarlet back to the group, then bent and unwrapped a
white cloth from around a pair of katana. Nodoka, on
catching sight of them, gasped in awe of the quality of the
pearl sheathed blades. He lifted one up and drew it in a
single, smooth motion.

His mother experienced instant katana envy.

The young mage twirled the blade around casually, changed
his grip on it, and thrust it boldly through his own chest.

Kasumi screamed, this extra bit of casual violence shocking
her. Shampoo considered fainting. Nabiki and Ranma were both
startled by the action. Nodoka had an instant of wonder. The
dwarf found he'd reflexivly drawn his axe and Stormshadow
had abruptly vanished.

The mage wiggled the blade around for a bit, the tip
extending out for perhaps a foot beyond his shoulder blades,
then he withdrew it, leaving no wound, not even a mark on
his clothes. He extended the weapon to be examined, then
explained. "I call these Unicorn Blades. No amount of magic
can heal a wound caused by them, but they are completely
unable to harm anyone who is good." He approached the eldest
Tendo very meekly. "Kasumi, might I have permission to nick
your thumb?"

The girl stood stock still in fright, yet reluctantly
extended her right hand.

The Mage very carefully brought the blade ever so slightly
up to touch her thumb, then Kasumi's face grew puzzled when
nothing happened. He pressed the blade upward even more,
until it was noticably within her flesh, but still nothing.
Very soon the katana had been run through her entire hand,
passed through thumb, arm, and neck and Kasumi was smiling
in relieved wonder. Even plunged directly through her heart
it had failed to so much as damage her clothes.

Shampoo relaxed her hand where part of the table had
inexplicably come off in it.

The Mage then snicked out the katana in a lightning flash
and a lock from one of Nabiki's bangs was floating, severed,
to the floor. He sheathed the weapon. "I use these
frequently when fighting evil. When you graduate I'll make
you a set to carry. But until then, Scarlet, you are my
student. When you can adequately prove to me that you know
good from evil, that you consider your actions and that they
are good, your heart is pure, and you can be a champion for
the side you've claimed, which is the side of the light,
then you will have your freedom with my blessing. Fair
enough?"

The girl's eyes were filled with wonder as this became less
a bad thing and more an opportunity. Now it was a training
journey. "YES!!!" She said excitedly.

He nodded. "Very well then. Say your goodbyes and we'll be
off."

The Pheonix Mage headed off again toward the gate. He was a
little surprised by the mass rush of people following him.
"Um, where are you going?" Nodoka, among them, was staring
at his katanas, the fingers of her hand grasping reflexively
as she stared and her lips moved softly,
speaking something too low to be heard.

"We're coming with you."

"Besides," said Garr with a shy grin, "how else are you
going to get back to your world with all of your associates
*without* major magical assistance?"

"A fair point that," agreed the Pheonix Mage. "Lesson one,
apprentice. You can't do *everything* well yourself,
sometimes you've got to delegate."

----------------------------

(1) Skysaber's Choice is the result of something from that
Spells R Us round robin i posted awhile back.
THUMBNAIL VERSION: Basically a corruption of a transport
routine sends a powerful mage/kensai into a Sailor Moon
world, but one in which Sailor Venus is the only active
Scout and is in the process of losing against Queen Beryl.
"Skysaber's Choice" follows the adventures of the Mage as he
tries to cope with the situation and the effects of his own
mistakes (such as resurrecting Queen Serenity.) Oh, and
there's a bumbling but well-intentioned cyborg in there too.
Skysaber himself says about it: "It is not subject to
general release at this time, only to select prereaders. It
is a cycle in a much grander scope fic that has not yet had
many of the previous cycles written. When those prequels are
completed (presumably well after SC itself is finished) then
general distribution will start. Frankly, I'm writing it to
have fun. They may have it when I'm finished with it."

Game Data:

Delphins Amazon: (average, generic female)
Environment: Any, Frequency: Uncommon, Organization: House,
Activity Cycle: Any, Diet: Omnivore, Intelligence: Average
to Genius (8 to 18), Treasure: by class, Alignment: Any
(tend to good), Armor Class: 6 or better, Hit Dice (if
used): 2+1, Average Level: 6, Average Class: Fighter, THAC0:
average 15, #AT: 1 unless specialist, Damage/Attack: 1d6 or
by weapon, Special Attacks: weapon specialization, possible
psionics and spell use, Special Defenses: possible psionics
and spell use, Magic Resistance: Standard, Size: M to L (6'
to 8'), Morale: Elite (13-14)
Delphins males are similar but are smaller and thinner
(HD:1-1), tend not to be fighters, and are more likely to be
trained in magic or psionics.

Level limits (females, unmarried, married tend to be higher
level by two due to the extra cooperation and assistance
given them)
Warrior: U, Paladin: 19, Ranger: 21, Mage (any except
illusionist and enchanter): 14, Illusionist: 9, Enchanter:
18, Cleric (any except Silver): 15, Silver Temple Cleric:
21, Druid: 15, Thief: 17, Bard: 9, Engineer: 12, Psionicist:
16.
frequent dual classing
Level limits (males)
Warrior: 9, Paladin: 12, Ranger: 9, Mage: U, Cleric: 21,
Thief: 17, Bard: 21, Engineer:19, Psionicist:U

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"Fill the cup of happiness for others,
and there will be enough overflowing
to fill yours to the brim."
Rose Pastor Stokes