Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Umbra Aureola ❯ Chapter 24 - Moves ( Chapter 24 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: Xylix 
Anime/Manga: Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Comedy / Adventure / Action / Martial Arts | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 03.29.2004 | Updated On: 04.07.2004 | Pages: 5 | Words: 7.7K | Visits: 465 | Status: Completed
Anime/Manga: Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Comedy / Adventure / Action / Martial Arts | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 03.29.2004 | Updated On: 04.07.2004 | Pages: 5 | Words: 7.7K | Visits: 465 | Status: Completed
CHAPTER XXIV: MOVES
Green grass and green trees shined with ethereal beauty as the sun rose on the horizon casting its rays upon the land and illuminating the lightly clouded sky with strokes of red and purple. It was a peaceful place, untainted by the hands of men. Its natural beauty was preserved in the modern era.
The camera shook. The screen titled, juddered slightly by obviously unskilled hands. Two fleshy fingers swept in front of the lens covering the screen with lengths of darkness as the machine's user made slight adjustments.
"Ah, that is much better." The voice could be heard from off screen as the camera stabilized itself. The speaker was made visible as he stepped in front of the camera. Dressed in a wide brim straw hat, Hawaiian shirt, loose pants and sunglasses was Anito grinning straight at the viewers. Lazily the arch-mage carried a fruit drink in one hand.
Taking a sip of his drink Anito gestured backwards the and began to speak. "Now what you see before you is a beautiful pacific island. Nobody lives here, well maybe a few guerilla warriors, and a handful of smugglers. Which is as I said, nobody."
Anito walked forward striding across the beach and heading deep into the woods. "Today we aren't here to see the scenery as excellent as it is. Nor are we here to see the normal albeit endanger animals, like that Pacific Leather back over there. Instead we are hunting a very, very rare creature rarely found in this environment, the 'Plutonium Core'. The typical habitat of a 'Plutonium Core's' is deep dank government subbasements where they are constantly pampered by scientists, but rumors that one could find one here on this very island brought us here to check it out. Just possibly, we might have a wondrous chance of seeing this rare and mysterious beast."
Anito took another deep sip of his drink. Letting out a sigh of contentment the wizard continued. "Now 'Plutonium Core's' are rather timid creatures, and can become slightly unstable when they grow to their full size. So we will have to approach with the utmost caution. So all you watchers out there... shhh."
Slowly the wizard stalked into the forest with blatantly poor stealth. The camera followed lazily behind bobbing slightly up and down as it moved. After a decent trek Anito peaked out from behind some bushes pulling them apart so that the camera could see it. There it sat, the plutonium core. The metal sphere came complete with little plastic Mr. Potato Head eyes, shoes, hands, mouth, nose and even glasses. Currently it faced away from the camera in such a way that only its profile was visible.
Looking up at the camera Anito spoke. "Shh, I think I see one now. Lets try to get a closer look."
Anito crept up on the demented Mr. Plutonium Core. Slowly he moved in until the wizard was a mere three meters from the object. Then suddenly the core started to turn with terrible b-movie level effects to face the wizard and the camera. Once it spotted them it wobbled to its right leg and then to its left as if pulled by invisible strings. Anito turned to look at the camera his face filled with worry. "This doesn't look good, hopefully it can stay calm."
Even as the wizard spoke the words the Mr. Plutonium Core's eyes glowed a menacing green and then an electric aura started to spring up around the object. Almost as if enraged the demented sphere hopped up and down on the ground Anito struck a dramatic pose of shock. "Oh no! It is going to go critical!"
Suddenly the wizard grabbed the camera and shoved it into his face. The camera shook extravagantly as the Anito's face took on a visage of terror. "Oh my god! We are all going to die! Some one save us save us plea-"
The video cut out leaving only static. It held for a few minutes and then as quickly as the image had vanished it was back. Now Anito was on board a boat breathing hard as though he had run a great distance and was exhausted. The camera was swaying slightly with the waves. Speaking up the wizard said, "Luckily I was able to escape to this boat. This far from the explosion we should be safe though things may be a bit rattled."
The camera then pointed back at the island. "This however is an excellent opportunity. It is a rare event to witness the incredible display that a 'Plutonium Core' can put on when provoked. Lets wait and see what exactly it looks like." Anito commented in the background.
A few moments passed and then it came. A single burst of light burned forth from a mote of gargantuan energy. The light seared its way through the thick foliage undaunted by the obstruction. That single speck of light blossomed in an instant erupting into a tidal wave that burned like liquid fire into the eyes of all watchers. It was a brilliant white vision so potent that day itself vanished into twilight as deep as eternity before the awesome rush of apocalyptic power.
For a single infinite moment there was stillness. In this split second the light reached out silently touching everything like a gentle mother caressing a babe. Its hand though held the kindness of the grim reaper and life wilted into ash at its touch. Then it breathed. The air turned into fire, exploding into a rising sphere of boiling plasma as hot as the sun. The expanding air pounded into the ground like the hammer of god smashing apart the island as easily as a pile of mud in a puddle.
The mind bending rush of air rolled out of the smoking crater sliding over the sea with a titanic roar. It slammed into the boat shoving it back hard along the surface of the water. The tremendous gust tore at the wooden hull like a beast its incredible force threatening to turn the object over in the onslaught. Just behind the wind a giant wall of water rose lifting the small wooden construct high into the air. For a moment it felt like the ship would capsize, but it held bouncing heavily on the following waves as though it were a storm.
A counter flow of wind rushed back softer than the first. Dust was sucked high into the atmosphere blossoming into a cloud of ash as it reached its peak. Ignoring the mushroom cloud the wizard proceeded over to the camera bumping it around as he fiddled with the controls.
"Wow wee, Da big Kahuna think ya be disciplinin' all da kids with that!" A voice said with a pseudo Hawaiian accent just before the camera video ended leaving only static.
With the video recording shut off a soft red light of a pentagram could be seen. Posted around it sat five individuals, one at each point. "Gosan, that was... interesting." The first spoke finally breaking the silence. "Nisan what is the reaction to this?" The first nodded to the second.
Nisan twitched his glasses reflecting the dim light of the circle. "Most of the world governments are running about like rabbits caged with wolves trying to figure out what exactly happened. The American's however received a copy of this, and then gave it to us. They are not letting anyone else know as it would be, how should I say it... bad politics."
Nisan continued. "It is quite obvious that this is connected to the recent attack by US forces. Obviously it is a threat-."
"They are bluffing." The next man over broke in. Nisan glared at him but held his silence. "They wouldn't have the guts t-"
"I would like to hear what Gosan has to say about this." The fourth said breaking in. Even through the darkness his smirk could be detected.
"Thank you Yonsan." Gosan said pleasantly. Of all the voices only Gosan's sounded female. "While I do agree it may be a bluff, I must respectfully say, Sansan what the hell are you thinking! Do you have any idea what kind of shit we would be in if it turns out not to be a bluff!"
Gosan coughed slightly. "Now that I have that off my chest I will continue. First the man on the camera is Anito. You can also see him here with his known companion Ranma." Gosan tapped a button displaying a two pictures on the screen. "We believe there may be a third member of this group from the American's trace. Its a triumvirate if you will. Well it could be, the presence of a third is at this point still uncertain."
Gosan smiled. "Now some of you might recognize Anito even though he is a rather young chap. Quite a promising physicist and wizard, if a tad eccentric. He was awarded an honorary arch-mage status a few years back. What is most interesting though is that intelligence dictates he has somehow managed to get his hands on a great deal of power sometime within the last year. We have already sent some people to investigate the tower he was working at earlier this year. We should get some intelligence in a day or two."
A few more flips detailed scenes of the Tendo dojo. One showed Ranma's fight with the powered armor. Another Anito's fight was displayed in turn. Finally, there were some short clips of the battle inside the Tendo House.
"You may have the floor now Ichisan." Gosan said bowing slightly to the circle.
"Thank you Gosan your research is as always excellent. I have nothing to add at the moment so, Nisan, you may continue."
Nisan nodded his thanks to Ichisan. "It may be best to solve this problem diplo-"
"Just kill the-" Sansan started.
"Sansan, I am long past tired of hearing you babble." Yonsan spoke up interrupting the third. "Gosan I must say I am fascinated by what you said. If you could flip back a few images... Yes there." The scene stopped where Kiima just killed two soldiers with Kinjakan.
"The item we see here is the famous Kinjakan. One of the more potent magical weapons in this world. It has been in the possession of the bird people for years and this girl looks to be one of those people. What is more interesting though is the weapons this Ranma, Anito and even that girl wield."
Gosan happily switched scenes until a clear picture could be seen of each. "Now these I have never seen before. In fact I would go so far as to say that to my knowledge they never existed. For items of this power not to not be recorded would be highly unlikely. For three of them, all showing up in the same place impossible."
Gosan spoke up. "That is an interesting point you bring up Yonsan. My research indicates that the items were recently acquired. Likely near to the period that the nuclear material was stolen. However, if what you said is the case they may instead have been recently created. In such a case given Anito's heavy background in physics and his personal theories on alternate sources or on the transformation of magical energies the robbing of the nuclear material and the acquisition of the weapons may indeed be connected."
"An intriguing theory Gosan. I must say that it bears looking into. If such research has proven successful I think all in the circle can agree that it would be to our benefit to obtain such knowledge ourselves. For now though it would be without a doubt best if they can be captured alive. Perhaps we should use the Eye of Eldritch to shed more light on this problem. For now though, Nisan." Ichisan said.
Nisan spoke up nervously. "The Eye... is it really necessary to use the Eye...? I mean... it hasn't been used in three thousand years. It would though allow us to find a safe and effective solution to this problem and our friends are putting a lot of pressure on our backs to take care of this. So maybe it would be for the best... but still."
Sansan grunted. "Niisan, get a spin-"
"Thank you Sansan, but that is enough again." Yonsan happily said slashing through the third's words. "I think the Eye would be an excellent idea at this time. It would serve as a reminder to our wayward little arch-mage that our power may be fading, but that doesn't mean we still don't have toys in the attic. I personally submit that we include the girl in the mix. The possession of that item makes me feel that she may indeed be part of all this, Gosan's mysterious third if you will. I will remind the council though that using the eye is not an easy task. It will require all five of us to pull it off."
"While I agree with the use of the Eye I submit as a reminder to the circle that those we look upon will undoubtedly become aware of this fact. The Eye's power is almost too great and may indeed incite the very reaction we wish to avoid. On the other hand the information the Eye can bring may illuminate the nature of the solution we should employ and allow us to bring this situation to a close rapidly. Given the closeness of our relation with our friends this would be for the best." Gosan added in.
"Yonsan, Gosan your opinions are noted. The Eye of Eldritch will be employed as soon as possible. Nisan you inform our friends of our decision and the knowledge made present here. That these two..., no these three, are obviously using the material for mystical intent should settle some fears. As such the circle is adjourned until the Eye of Eldritch sheds further light on this matter." Ichisan finished, after his last words were spoken the circle flashed out of existence leaving only a perfect pitch black in the room.
**************************
Ranma-chan plopped down three perfectly ordinary rocks onto the table one after another. Nabiki waited in the chair opposite Ranma-chan as the pigtailed girl arranged the rocks in a line thoughtfully. Irritated at the continually increasing delay Nabiki spoke up. "What is this supposed to be?"
"Well you wanted training in aura sight so I was trying to figure out how to do it. You see the way pops taught me was a little more brutal than you would want or are even, for that matter, ready for." Ranma-chan explained.
"And this relates to aura sight how?"
Ranma-chan scratched her head. "Basically I was figuring that I would start off testing your aura sight and get you used to recognizing ki. I thought if I put enough ki into one of the rocks then you might be able to sense it. That way you can pick out the correct rock and I can keep lowering the amount until you have to push your aura sight further and further."
Nabiki nodded thoughtfully. "That makes sense. However Ranma, there are two key problems. First with your poker face may have improved, but I still won't need to be able to sense anything to figure out which rock you placed your energy in. Last, what makes you think I have any aura sight to begin with?"
Ranma-chan looked at the rocks crestfallen. "You got me on that first one." She said with a sigh. Looking hopeful Ranma-chan gazed at Nabiki. "You'll try to avoid doing that won't you? At least until I can think of something?"
Nabiki sighed it would be fun to string Ranma-chan along, but she was doing this for herself. "Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Just turn around when you tell me to make my choice. I'll pull the one I think it is closer. Still you have yet to answer my last question."
Ranma-chan smirked slightly. "Everyone has aura sight to some level or another. It is aura sight that tells you to back down when facing someone way stronger than you. It is aura sight that sends that chill down your spine when walking through a haunted place. The problem is not having aura sight, but recognizing it for what it is.
Ranma continued, "Aura sight for most people is nothing more than a muscle. Except this one is more like your heart in that you usually don't control or even notice it. The first step to mastering aura sight is not improving it, but instead recognizing it and making it as much a part of your conscious perception as is hearing, taste, touch, smell or sight. Then when that muscle is at your beck and call as much as any other you can exercise it whenever you want to."
"Then by all means." Nabiki said gesturing with her hand.
Ranma-chan picked up her chair and rotated it around so that she was facing away from Nabiki. Extending her sense Ranma-chan gently moved some ki into one of the rocks. After filling it to a good amount she asked, "You feel something now?"
"Ranma, all I see is three rocks." Nabiki said with crisp precision.
Ranma-chan added a bit more energy. "Now?"
"Still nothing."
Ranma-chan added even more energy. "How about now?"
"I would have to be an idiot to miss it now." Nabiki replied her voice filled with dark sarcasm and a slight hint of amusement.
"Well okay then let's see which one you picked." Ranma-chan turned around to see Nabiki quirking an eyebrow in amusement. The mercenary girl hadn't lifted a finger to move one of the stones and it didn't take a genius to figure out why. Ranma-chan had accidentally placed so much energy in the rock that the aura was manifesting visibly.
"Ah ha ha ha ha." Ranma-chan laughed scratching the back of her head. "Sorry about that."
"Ranma I am getting a distinct feeling that you are wasting my time." Nabiki said dangerously.
"Well, I think we may have to delay this until I can figure out how to deal with some things." Ranma-chan replied looking a bit sheepish. "We can work on your ribbon control though."
"Yes, and I certainly hope for your sake that this turns out to be more profitable."
"Ah ha ha ha..." Ranma-chan laughed nervously under the pressure that Nabiki was exerting with only her eyes. "Don't worry, I'm pretty sure that I got this one all figured out."
Nabiki raised any eyebrow. "Already making promises Ranma? That is a dangerous habit you might mistakenly raise my expectations."
"He he..." Ranma-chan went a bit pale at that statement. Quickening her work Ranma-chan dashed out of the room. Nabiki only waited a moment before the pigtailed girl showed up with a ten gallon bucket and a smaller one gallon bucket.
Nabiki raised an eyebrow. "This works how?"
Ranma-chan smirked slightly lifting up a hand she pointed it toward the Dojo wall. Brilliant energy flowed from her body swirling into a burning bright sphere of incredible power. Ranma-chan stated the technique in a normal voice her confidence in her attack unbreakable. "Moko Takabisha." The ki blast shot forward like a bullet ramming into the wooden wall. Blocks of wood where tossed about the yard as a huge hole was ripped into the structure.
"What do you think you are doing?" Nabiki said with narrowed eyes.
"Simple, your job is to repair this only using your ribbons." Ranma-chan said relaxed sitting back down in her chair. Casually the red headed girl opened a book to a chapter on demonic energies.
Nabiki contemplated a thousand ways to put the pigtailed girl into intense pain. One after another she discarded them, she had known from the start that she wouldn't like the training she merely needed it. Gritting her teeth Nabiki started concentrating on wielding the seemingly flimsy pieces of cloth turning them into hands for the rebuilding the recently destroyed dojo.
While Nabiki was working Ranma-chan took a deep breath and pulled out a wallet. Pulling out thousand yen bills she calmly announced. "One thousand, two thousand, three thousand."
Nabiki didn't look back even though irritated. "Ranma, it is enough trouble doing this without that distraction."
Ranma-chan ignored Nabiki's harsh words her path was set. Having counted to eight thousand she asked innocently. "Say Nabiki how much money did you take from me in the last few weeks? Wasn't it ten thousand?"
"Ranma I don't see wh-." Nabiki's eyes turned to ice when she turned to face the pigtailed girl. "What do you think you are doing with my wallet?"
"Ten thousand it is. I'll add another thousand in for interest though." Ranma-chan continued staring Nabiki straight in the eye as she pulled another thousand yen from Nabiki's wallet and placed it in her own. Inwardly Ranma-chan was barely able to maintain the faced of calm. Provoking Nabiki was high on her list of nono's. It was for the purpose of training though... Well that and getting back her cash.
Nabiki's eye twitched as anger warred with her intense control. Briefly losing control of her emotions the ribbon jerked in reaction. The single length of cloth casually and thoughtlessly ripped out a support pillar. Incapable of holding up the entire structure any longer part of the roof collapsed burying Ranma-chan under it.
"Control Nabiki, control." Ranma-chan croaked from where she was being crushed.
"Yes, next time I'll do it on purpose." Nabiki responded coldly.
Ranma-chan gulped slightly in response, but made no move to return the money. Instead she quietly and stealthily slipped her wallet safely onto her person. Nervously Ranma-chan awaited Nabiki's wrath. The pain though was saved when a new figure showed up.
"What is going on in here? I must say though I love what you did with the place." Anito's lazy grin rested upon his face and a slight edge of amusement slipped into the wizard's tone as he spoke.
"Training." Ranma-chan explained.
Anito raised an eyebrow. Gesturing to the Dojo he asked innocently. "Martial Arts Demolition?"
Ranma-chan lifted a heavy wooden beam off of her body and set it onto the ground. Returning to the miraculously saved table and chairs she sat down. "Nah, more like reconstruction. Nabiki wanted better control with those ribbons of hers, so I thought this up. The training called for making her mad though." Ranma-chan patted her head mournfully.
Nabiki did her best to ignore the fact she was being talked about literally behind her back. Instead she returned to rebuilding the dojo silently reminding herself that she had asked for this. It didn't help much, but the ideas of how to get vengeance on her... sensei... were doing wonders.
"To infuriate her and thus force her to learn control while under duress. An excellent idea." Anito said his grin growing wider if that was even possible. "Perhaps, I can help."
Ranma-chan edged slightly away from both Anito and Nabiki. She didn't like that gleam in the wizard's eye. Waving her hands Ranma-chan quickly removed herself of any connection with what was about to happen. "I don't have anything to do with this!"
The arch-mage ignored Ranma-chan pulling a small book out of his sleeves. Opening it up he flipped through several pages. About midway he stopped. "Nabiki, Nabiki, you surprise me. Half of this is merely financial information. This particular page though looks quite promising. Dear diary, today was a special day. I think I have finally found someone that I ca- urk ahhaggg!"
Anito's words were cut off when five burning red ribbons constricted around his form in a rather impressive imitation of a anaconda. Ranma-chan though duly noted that she would have preferred the snake any day. Twitching under the massive amounts of applied force the wizard dropped Nabiki's diary on the ground. The moment this happened one of the ribbons uncoiled and snapped it up bringing it to the cold hearted girl. Barely able to speak Anito made out. "Control Nabiki, control."
"They are doing exactly what I want them to." Nabiki shot back her voice practically burning. Ranma-chan could almost see a mini-battle aura developing around the girl and she certainly didn't need aura sight to see that Nabiki was seriously angry.
Looking to diffuse the situation before Nabiki turned her attention back to Ranma-chan she asked. "So Anito what brings you out of your lab anyway?"
The coil's loosened and Anito promptly teleported to the other side of the dojo eyeing Nabiki warily. Recovering his composure Anito spoke smoothly his normal grin having returned in full force. In fact it looked just a little bit larger. "Thank you Ranma. It would probably be best if we all settled down to discuss what has come up." The wizard pulled up a chair and sat down. Nabiki quickly followed.
"Now that we have all settled ourselves in lets talk about the real affair. Recently I have isolated myself in my lab seeking a way to salvage the situation we are in. As promised I first concentrated on defenses for the Tendo home." Anito began.
"The chosen selection is essentially simple. The first effort was a quick buffering of the material strength of the house." Anito waved Ranma-chan down as she started to react. "You won't be needed for this Ranma, I took care of it last night using two nuclear cores. The hardened parts of the walls should be nearly ten times as strong as before."
"From there I worked with Kasumi laying down a selection of warning wards. Nabiki, she requested to be part of the process and as the care taker of this house I felt that she couldn't be left out of the loop. Unfortunately I converted what was to be your scrying device for this purpose. I figured that you would approve of this." Anito looked at Nabiki.
Nabiki seemed to roll the idea around in her head. "Of course, you still owe me though."
Anito nodded in reaction. "The wards will warn of dangerous intent, attack, attempts at scrying or location, etc... Kasumi will probably be able to sort out the nature of such threats after a few days practice. This should provide ample warning in the future for us and for the family to take defensive measures or reach defensive locations."
"In addition to this is a magical barrier built around the house. For this I laid down five posts in the yard forming a pentagram. The power is then linked to a room converted for defensive measures drawing on the power of three nuclear cores I have left behind. The barrier should successfully hold any assault mystical or otherwise back for at least two hours, quite possibly much much longer. A final addition is an electric cannon created by another circle of five pillars this time placed on the house roof. Again powered by nuclear cores this only has twenty or so shots, but should provide a concentrated attack releasing the power of say one of my thunderstorms, but in a single blast." Anito continued.
Ranma-chan nodded, "That sounds like quite a defense."
"I designed it under the assumption that a future attack would probably contain a good bit more firepower. Time limits and resources though prevented me from creating more permanent defenses, and have left what I put up exceedingly inefficient. Instead these are all powered from a direct source, which means that multiple attacks will wear down the house defenses."
"In other words it is just the equivalent of buying time." Nabiki responded.
"Exactly."
"So in that case what are we going to do about them?" Ranma-chan asked.
Anito tossed a newspaper on the table. Ranma-chan snatched it up before Nabiki could get her hands on it. Ignoring her glare Ranma-chan read the headline. "World points fingers over alleged nuclear test."
"I take it that you have made your point?" Nabiki said as she rescued the newspaper from Ranma-chan's hands.
"Certainly, they will undoubtedly be much more careful in how they approach in the future."
"Careful?" Ranma-chan asked.
"Really Ranma, you don't expect that America will just allow us to get away with this scotch free now do you? Just because they have to be careful doesn't mean that they won't try anything. It merely means they are going to do it cleanly." Nabiki put in.
"Correct. Which brings up the next issue. We, the ones that started this, are essentially the military's targets. The attempt of capturing the rest of the family can be construed as only a method to obtain leverage in order to put a stop to us. Because of this it would be best to attract the military's attention elsewhere."
"Not quite, you two are the targets. I wasn't present at the raided base." Nabiki broke in on her defense.
"While that is true, we do not know how they traced us here. Further Nabiki can you say without absolute certainty that now that they know who is in the house they won't find out about your research into our target locations? Besides, equal share Nabiki." Anito responded.
"Equal share or no Anito, I didn't sign up for a trip around the world, or to be separated from my family for what may potentially be years."
"Better for years than forever Nabiki. You need to be with us Nabiki." Anito is voice was uncharacteristically solid when he spoke those words.
Nabiki picked up the secondary meaning immediately of course. Anito was pointing out that she was one of his safeties. As Ranma and Anito had to retreat for her family's protection she needed to come along as well. There was also the implication that she could attract an attack to her family. Still though she didn't like it one bit. "Fine Anito, for now I will entertain the idea that we might leave."
"Wait, what if they attack the Tendo's while we are gone?" Ranma-chan asked worried.
"A distinct possibility. This is however where the defenses come into play. The first of such an attack would assuredly fail. Given that a play on the Tendo house would exist only for gaining leverage against us when the military finds out that taking hostages is going to requires a great deal of resources they are not likely to implement such a strategy."
"Ah." Ranma-chan said thinking it over. It made sense in a strange sort of way. Essentially they attacked the Tendos because they were a weak point. Improved defenses armored that weak point, and as such what would be the point of wasting your effort in trying to attack there? Better to look for another weak point, or just attack directly.
"Still though, running away isn't really going to help us put a stop to this." Ranma-chan said at last.
"I agree Anito, it would be better to eliminate our enemy." Nabiki added.
"My thoughts as well. Unfortunately there are certain rules we need to play by. As long as that nuclear strike is the only one we make the US doesn't dare respond with similar weapons. Largely because they let the loss of the weapons in the first place go unreported, and to make such a strike the US would have to recognize that the weapons were stolen. A recognition that would hurt the US domestically and abroad, especially given how it reacts to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction."
Anito continued, "Because of that any engagement needs to be of... conventual means. At least relatively conventional..." Anito left those words hanging in effect recognizing there was nothing conventional about how either he or Ranma-chan fought.
"Unfortunately, in terms of size and power we could hack at the US for years without doing sufficient damage. Instead it would be better at this point to buildup our own strength and engage in a war of attrition against their own assaults. Hopefully if we don't take aggressive action it will be easier and easier for policy makers just to ignore us, or even better engage in diplomatic relations."
"In other words wait until they give up and are no longer pissing their pants in fear of us either selling or using the nukes." Nabiki responded. "That could be years Anito, and I don't look forward to that kind of wait."
"You sure we can't just smash their faces in?" Ranma-chan asked.
"Who's face would we smash in?" Anito asked.
"Err... oh." Ranma-chan said disappointed when she realized that they had no single clear enemy.
"So Anito what precisely are you planning?" Nabiki asked. "I don't want to spend the next few years looking over my shoulder in fear that some military commando is going to jump me from the bushes."
Anito grinned, "Where we run to is a difficult question. It is actually best to stay in a populated place so that the US cannot muster up its full forces against us. My thoughts are actually to let them see that we went into hiding. Then to wait long enough to determine if they will make another play at the Tendo household. That way we can blow up a base or two in retaliation. It will help prevent more such attempts. After that we would jump ship so to speak."
Nabiki raised an eyebrow at that. Ranma-chan instead asked, "Jump ship?"
"We flee into the Aether, the misty void between... how should I put it... realities. It is the realm in which demons live." Anito explained. "We can put ourselves up elsewhere, and well out of their reach, for a while until the US really stops looking and then return to the Tendo House."
"We are going to go hide out with demons. Really, Anito I feel safer already." Nabiki responded.
"Not with the demons, we would actually stay in another bubble of reality rather than the Aether itself. Which is an especially important point considering how actually physically being in what is a mindscape is incredibly dangerous. Think of it instead as staying in a foreign country rather than in some pseudo otherworldly place."
"Err.. if we are going into the Aether how do we protect ourselves?" Ranma-chan had plenty of personal experience with mindscapes and knew how messed up things could quickly become.
"I actually have a device for just... what is it Kasumi?" Anito broke off his conversation looking at the closed door.
The door opened and Kasumi stepped in carrying what looked like a glass sphere. "Anito, I thought you might want to know that the wards started picking something up a few minutes ago." She said offering the sphere.
Anito picked it up and set it on the table. Looking into the sphere he played his ki across the surface calling up what the wards had sensed. The ball reacted instantly filling with an almost grayish white mist. A mist illuminated from an almost silvery source of ambient light. Deep in the mist a hulking, darkish shape loomed with grim determination. Just above the black thing a point of searing bright reddish purple light burned through the thick mists with the brightness of the sun. Its color and detail not diminished at all by the thick fog. The point slowly elongated into a line becoming slightly thicker in the center as if taking an oval like shape.
"What is it?" Ranma-chan asked leaning closer.
Nabiki instead watched the arch-mage who had gone pale. His answer was made out with a slightly shaking breath. "The Eye of Eldritch."
Ranma-chan shivered her hairs started to stand upright on the back of her head. A vague feeling surrounded her, growing stronger by the minute. "The Eye of Eldritch? What is that?" She whispered a strange quaver of fear creeping across her.
"You'll know soon enough." Anito said with a trill of fear in his voice. "Get out of the room Kasumi." Anito declared his voice sharp.
Kasumi let out a small yelp of surprise at the harshness of Anito's words and scurried out of the room. Nabiki leveled a glare at Anito her eyes hard. An edge of icy fury swept past Ranma-chan's awareness. "Don't talk to my sister like that."
Ranma-chan shivered again the way Anito was reacting was making her even more nervous. For the first time in a long time Ranma-chan could actually feel the wizard's aura in all its depth. The arch-mage's nervousness having destroyed his normal iron fisted control. Ranma-chan knew why though, something was stirring in the air. Something old. Something very, very powerful. She could feel in her bones. Gulping Ranma-chan said, "Nabiki he might be on to something."
Ranma-chan glanced down at the glassy sphere. The burning line of light had expanded to almost a full circle now. The sense of power was like the rising surf upon Ranma-chan's awareness. With each moment it became stronger, deeper, fuller. Nabiki's reply was halted as her attention too turned to their surroundings.
Then it opened. For a moment there was stillness like that of a crystal clear pond. That moment seemed to stretch into infinity the anticipation so thick that Ranma-chan could taste it. Then it came as a storm. It burned into the room like hell fire. The air itself screamed in protest as titanic power reverberated through the enclosed space like a dragon chained in a cave.
She could feel it. It was like a decanter of the absolute had been poured into the room filling it to the brim. There was nothing to be seen. Nothing her mundane sense could pick up, but oh could she feel it. It may as well been as clear as day for against her aura sight she could taste it, smell it, feel it, and see it a thousand times as clearly as any of these senses should ever be able to sense. It wasn't just her either. Such was the depth that even the air felt it. The dead cells in the walls felt it. Anything alive or even that what was dead could feel it.
It seared into her with the pressure of a mountain burning through the mists, reality, and walls alike with the force of a meteorite through tissue paper. It cast aside wards against scrying with contemptuous ease. It saw. It saw more than just reality but deeper, further. It sliced into her soul baring all her thoughts, all her feelings, every thing, every secret she had to hide. It paged through her mind like a book leaving Ranma-chan with a terrible feeling of dread and violation.
Then it was gone. Vanishing like the wind. Ranma-chan staggered as if a great weight had been lifted from her shoulders. Ranma-chan was grateful for the chair underneath her otherwise she may have fallen to the ground. Regaining some control Ranma-chan made out. "That Nabiki was something sensed with aura sight."
Nabiki nodded dumbly. "What was that? What happened?"
Anito finally drew himself up as well. Ranma-chan could tell from the wizard's aura that he was still at loose ends. Then again as sharp as Ranma-chan had felt it, she could only imagine what it felt like with perfect aura sight. In view of that it was perhaps more amazing that Anito was still able to act. "That was the Eye of Eldritch. I'll explain more later. The plan has changed we leave now and we go straight to the Aether. You have thirty minutes."
"What!?" Ranma-chan asked. "But what about everyone else?"
"It was only looking for us. Kasumi was out of the room so she will be fine. I don't have time for more explanations, take everything you need with you now!" Anito replied vanishing.
"Why do I have the feeling things just went from bad to worse?" Ranma-chan made out.
Nabiki shook her head in order to clear it. "I don't like this myself Ranma, hell I probably like it a whole lot less. I am not used to being on the death list of powers beyond my comprehension. However, this I know, anything that can make Anito act like that it is most definitely big and if it isn't I'll make him regret it for the rest of his life." Nabiki said with cold certainty.
"May as well pack. I got less stuff so I'll tell the others what is up." Ranma-chan offered.
Nabiki glanced at Ranma-chan, but didn't say anything. The mercenary girl's mind still whirling to and fro far too much to put her thoughts into words. The redhead girl's aura sight though told her that Nabiki was indeed thankful at the offer. As she left Ranma-chan got to wondering how she was going to explain this to her pops much less explain it to Akane. With a sigh Ranma-chan decided to target packing first so that she wouldn't be at a loss for time. Heck if she did it right she would only have to give a five minute explanation.
Wandering upstairs Ranma-chan sighed again. She had meant to spend some time practicing trying to control the demonic essence. Unfortunately events had conspired to make that impossible. For now all she could do was look for what the future held.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sorry for posting edits without a new chapter, it is something I generally avoid, but I just felt this chapter just didn't meet up to my standards.
There is no real reason it needs to be reread. For those out there the next chapter should show up in about a week. I am currently about 3 pages into it, which means 25% done without editing time thrown in (20% in reality...) However, I have a good feel what will happen in it, so that makes things a whole category of faster. Again it depends on how many distractions I get hit with.
I will reply to questions in the Interlude that approaches after the next chapter. As well as posting all data and junk that has no real reason to be hidden at this point. After that it is onto Story Arch two. Though plot lines from SA1 will flow very strongly into SA2 ;)
*Author Out*
Green grass and green trees shined with ethereal beauty as the sun rose on the horizon casting its rays upon the land and illuminating the lightly clouded sky with strokes of red and purple. It was a peaceful place, untainted by the hands of men. Its natural beauty was preserved in the modern era.
The camera shook. The screen titled, juddered slightly by obviously unskilled hands. Two fleshy fingers swept in front of the lens covering the screen with lengths of darkness as the machine's user made slight adjustments.
"Ah, that is much better." The voice could be heard from off screen as the camera stabilized itself. The speaker was made visible as he stepped in front of the camera. Dressed in a wide brim straw hat, Hawaiian shirt, loose pants and sunglasses was Anito grinning straight at the viewers. Lazily the arch-mage carried a fruit drink in one hand.
Taking a sip of his drink Anito gestured backwards the and began to speak. "Now what you see before you is a beautiful pacific island. Nobody lives here, well maybe a few guerilla warriors, and a handful of smugglers. Which is as I said, nobody."
Anito walked forward striding across the beach and heading deep into the woods. "Today we aren't here to see the scenery as excellent as it is. Nor are we here to see the normal albeit endanger animals, like that Pacific Leather back over there. Instead we are hunting a very, very rare creature rarely found in this environment, the 'Plutonium Core'. The typical habitat of a 'Plutonium Core's' is deep dank government subbasements where they are constantly pampered by scientists, but rumors that one could find one here on this very island brought us here to check it out. Just possibly, we might have a wondrous chance of seeing this rare and mysterious beast."
Anito took another deep sip of his drink. Letting out a sigh of contentment the wizard continued. "Now 'Plutonium Core's' are rather timid creatures, and can become slightly unstable when they grow to their full size. So we will have to approach with the utmost caution. So all you watchers out there... shhh."
Slowly the wizard stalked into the forest with blatantly poor stealth. The camera followed lazily behind bobbing slightly up and down as it moved. After a decent trek Anito peaked out from behind some bushes pulling them apart so that the camera could see it. There it sat, the plutonium core. The metal sphere came complete with little plastic Mr. Potato Head eyes, shoes, hands, mouth, nose and even glasses. Currently it faced away from the camera in such a way that only its profile was visible.
Looking up at the camera Anito spoke. "Shh, I think I see one now. Lets try to get a closer look."
Anito crept up on the demented Mr. Plutonium Core. Slowly he moved in until the wizard was a mere three meters from the object. Then suddenly the core started to turn with terrible b-movie level effects to face the wizard and the camera. Once it spotted them it wobbled to its right leg and then to its left as if pulled by invisible strings. Anito turned to look at the camera his face filled with worry. "This doesn't look good, hopefully it can stay calm."
Even as the wizard spoke the words the Mr. Plutonium Core's eyes glowed a menacing green and then an electric aura started to spring up around the object. Almost as if enraged the demented sphere hopped up and down on the ground Anito struck a dramatic pose of shock. "Oh no! It is going to go critical!"
Suddenly the wizard grabbed the camera and shoved it into his face. The camera shook extravagantly as the Anito's face took on a visage of terror. "Oh my god! We are all going to die! Some one save us save us plea-"
The video cut out leaving only static. It held for a few minutes and then as quickly as the image had vanished it was back. Now Anito was on board a boat breathing hard as though he had run a great distance and was exhausted. The camera was swaying slightly with the waves. Speaking up the wizard said, "Luckily I was able to escape to this boat. This far from the explosion we should be safe though things may be a bit rattled."
The camera then pointed back at the island. "This however is an excellent opportunity. It is a rare event to witness the incredible display that a 'Plutonium Core' can put on when provoked. Lets wait and see what exactly it looks like." Anito commented in the background.
A few moments passed and then it came. A single burst of light burned forth from a mote of gargantuan energy. The light seared its way through the thick foliage undaunted by the obstruction. That single speck of light blossomed in an instant erupting into a tidal wave that burned like liquid fire into the eyes of all watchers. It was a brilliant white vision so potent that day itself vanished into twilight as deep as eternity before the awesome rush of apocalyptic power.
For a single infinite moment there was stillness. In this split second the light reached out silently touching everything like a gentle mother caressing a babe. Its hand though held the kindness of the grim reaper and life wilted into ash at its touch. Then it breathed. The air turned into fire, exploding into a rising sphere of boiling plasma as hot as the sun. The expanding air pounded into the ground like the hammer of god smashing apart the island as easily as a pile of mud in a puddle.
The mind bending rush of air rolled out of the smoking crater sliding over the sea with a titanic roar. It slammed into the boat shoving it back hard along the surface of the water. The tremendous gust tore at the wooden hull like a beast its incredible force threatening to turn the object over in the onslaught. Just behind the wind a giant wall of water rose lifting the small wooden construct high into the air. For a moment it felt like the ship would capsize, but it held bouncing heavily on the following waves as though it were a storm.
A counter flow of wind rushed back softer than the first. Dust was sucked high into the atmosphere blossoming into a cloud of ash as it reached its peak. Ignoring the mushroom cloud the wizard proceeded over to the camera bumping it around as he fiddled with the controls.
"Wow wee, Da big Kahuna think ya be disciplinin' all da kids with that!" A voice said with a pseudo Hawaiian accent just before the camera video ended leaving only static.
With the video recording shut off a soft red light of a pentagram could be seen. Posted around it sat five individuals, one at each point. "Gosan, that was... interesting." The first spoke finally breaking the silence. "Nisan what is the reaction to this?" The first nodded to the second.
Nisan twitched his glasses reflecting the dim light of the circle. "Most of the world governments are running about like rabbits caged with wolves trying to figure out what exactly happened. The American's however received a copy of this, and then gave it to us. They are not letting anyone else know as it would be, how should I say it... bad politics."
Nisan continued. "It is quite obvious that this is connected to the recent attack by US forces. Obviously it is a threat-."
"They are bluffing." The next man over broke in. Nisan glared at him but held his silence. "They wouldn't have the guts t-"
"I would like to hear what Gosan has to say about this." The fourth said breaking in. Even through the darkness his smirk could be detected.
"Thank you Yonsan." Gosan said pleasantly. Of all the voices only Gosan's sounded female. "While I do agree it may be a bluff, I must respectfully say, Sansan what the hell are you thinking! Do you have any idea what kind of shit we would be in if it turns out not to be a bluff!"
Gosan coughed slightly. "Now that I have that off my chest I will continue. First the man on the camera is Anito. You can also see him here with his known companion Ranma." Gosan tapped a button displaying a two pictures on the screen. "We believe there may be a third member of this group from the American's trace. Its a triumvirate if you will. Well it could be, the presence of a third is at this point still uncertain."
Gosan smiled. "Now some of you might recognize Anito even though he is a rather young chap. Quite a promising physicist and wizard, if a tad eccentric. He was awarded an honorary arch-mage status a few years back. What is most interesting though is that intelligence dictates he has somehow managed to get his hands on a great deal of power sometime within the last year. We have already sent some people to investigate the tower he was working at earlier this year. We should get some intelligence in a day or two."
A few more flips detailed scenes of the Tendo dojo. One showed Ranma's fight with the powered armor. Another Anito's fight was displayed in turn. Finally, there were some short clips of the battle inside the Tendo House.
"You may have the floor now Ichisan." Gosan said bowing slightly to the circle.
"Thank you Gosan your research is as always excellent. I have nothing to add at the moment so, Nisan, you may continue."
Nisan nodded his thanks to Ichisan. "It may be best to solve this problem diplo-"
"Just kill the-" Sansan started.
"Sansan, I am long past tired of hearing you babble." Yonsan spoke up interrupting the third. "Gosan I must say I am fascinated by what you said. If you could flip back a few images... Yes there." The scene stopped where Kiima just killed two soldiers with Kinjakan.
"The item we see here is the famous Kinjakan. One of the more potent magical weapons in this world. It has been in the possession of the bird people for years and this girl looks to be one of those people. What is more interesting though is the weapons this Ranma, Anito and even that girl wield."
Gosan happily switched scenes until a clear picture could be seen of each. "Now these I have never seen before. In fact I would go so far as to say that to my knowledge they never existed. For items of this power not to not be recorded would be highly unlikely. For three of them, all showing up in the same place impossible."
Gosan spoke up. "That is an interesting point you bring up Yonsan. My research indicates that the items were recently acquired. Likely near to the period that the nuclear material was stolen. However, if what you said is the case they may instead have been recently created. In such a case given Anito's heavy background in physics and his personal theories on alternate sources or on the transformation of magical energies the robbing of the nuclear material and the acquisition of the weapons may indeed be connected."
"An intriguing theory Gosan. I must say that it bears looking into. If such research has proven successful I think all in the circle can agree that it would be to our benefit to obtain such knowledge ourselves. For now though it would be without a doubt best if they can be captured alive. Perhaps we should use the Eye of Eldritch to shed more light on this problem. For now though, Nisan." Ichisan said.
Nisan spoke up nervously. "The Eye... is it really necessary to use the Eye...? I mean... it hasn't been used in three thousand years. It would though allow us to find a safe and effective solution to this problem and our friends are putting a lot of pressure on our backs to take care of this. So maybe it would be for the best... but still."
Sansan grunted. "Niisan, get a spin-"
"Thank you Sansan, but that is enough again." Yonsan happily said slashing through the third's words. "I think the Eye would be an excellent idea at this time. It would serve as a reminder to our wayward little arch-mage that our power may be fading, but that doesn't mean we still don't have toys in the attic. I personally submit that we include the girl in the mix. The possession of that item makes me feel that she may indeed be part of all this, Gosan's mysterious third if you will. I will remind the council though that using the eye is not an easy task. It will require all five of us to pull it off."
"While I agree with the use of the Eye I submit as a reminder to the circle that those we look upon will undoubtedly become aware of this fact. The Eye's power is almost too great and may indeed incite the very reaction we wish to avoid. On the other hand the information the Eye can bring may illuminate the nature of the solution we should employ and allow us to bring this situation to a close rapidly. Given the closeness of our relation with our friends this would be for the best." Gosan added in.
"Yonsan, Gosan your opinions are noted. The Eye of Eldritch will be employed as soon as possible. Nisan you inform our friends of our decision and the knowledge made present here. That these two..., no these three, are obviously using the material for mystical intent should settle some fears. As such the circle is adjourned until the Eye of Eldritch sheds further light on this matter." Ichisan finished, after his last words were spoken the circle flashed out of existence leaving only a perfect pitch black in the room.
**************************
Ranma-chan plopped down three perfectly ordinary rocks onto the table one after another. Nabiki waited in the chair opposite Ranma-chan as the pigtailed girl arranged the rocks in a line thoughtfully. Irritated at the continually increasing delay Nabiki spoke up. "What is this supposed to be?"
"Well you wanted training in aura sight so I was trying to figure out how to do it. You see the way pops taught me was a little more brutal than you would want or are even, for that matter, ready for." Ranma-chan explained.
"And this relates to aura sight how?"
Ranma-chan scratched her head. "Basically I was figuring that I would start off testing your aura sight and get you used to recognizing ki. I thought if I put enough ki into one of the rocks then you might be able to sense it. That way you can pick out the correct rock and I can keep lowering the amount until you have to push your aura sight further and further."
Nabiki nodded thoughtfully. "That makes sense. However Ranma, there are two key problems. First with your poker face may have improved, but I still won't need to be able to sense anything to figure out which rock you placed your energy in. Last, what makes you think I have any aura sight to begin with?"
Ranma-chan looked at the rocks crestfallen. "You got me on that first one." She said with a sigh. Looking hopeful Ranma-chan gazed at Nabiki. "You'll try to avoid doing that won't you? At least until I can think of something?"
Nabiki sighed it would be fun to string Ranma-chan along, but she was doing this for herself. "Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Just turn around when you tell me to make my choice. I'll pull the one I think it is closer. Still you have yet to answer my last question."
Ranma-chan smirked slightly. "Everyone has aura sight to some level or another. It is aura sight that tells you to back down when facing someone way stronger than you. It is aura sight that sends that chill down your spine when walking through a haunted place. The problem is not having aura sight, but recognizing it for what it is.
Ranma continued, "Aura sight for most people is nothing more than a muscle. Except this one is more like your heart in that you usually don't control or even notice it. The first step to mastering aura sight is not improving it, but instead recognizing it and making it as much a part of your conscious perception as is hearing, taste, touch, smell or sight. Then when that muscle is at your beck and call as much as any other you can exercise it whenever you want to."
"Then by all means." Nabiki said gesturing with her hand.
Ranma-chan picked up her chair and rotated it around so that she was facing away from Nabiki. Extending her sense Ranma-chan gently moved some ki into one of the rocks. After filling it to a good amount she asked, "You feel something now?"
"Ranma, all I see is three rocks." Nabiki said with crisp precision.
Ranma-chan added a bit more energy. "Now?"
"Still nothing."
Ranma-chan added even more energy. "How about now?"
"I would have to be an idiot to miss it now." Nabiki replied her voice filled with dark sarcasm and a slight hint of amusement.
"Well okay then let's see which one you picked." Ranma-chan turned around to see Nabiki quirking an eyebrow in amusement. The mercenary girl hadn't lifted a finger to move one of the stones and it didn't take a genius to figure out why. Ranma-chan had accidentally placed so much energy in the rock that the aura was manifesting visibly.
"Ah ha ha ha ha." Ranma-chan laughed scratching the back of her head. "Sorry about that."
"Ranma I am getting a distinct feeling that you are wasting my time." Nabiki said dangerously.
"Well, I think we may have to delay this until I can figure out how to deal with some things." Ranma-chan replied looking a bit sheepish. "We can work on your ribbon control though."
"Yes, and I certainly hope for your sake that this turns out to be more profitable."
"Ah ha ha ha..." Ranma-chan laughed nervously under the pressure that Nabiki was exerting with only her eyes. "Don't worry, I'm pretty sure that I got this one all figured out."
Nabiki raised any eyebrow. "Already making promises Ranma? That is a dangerous habit you might mistakenly raise my expectations."
"He he..." Ranma-chan went a bit pale at that statement. Quickening her work Ranma-chan dashed out of the room. Nabiki only waited a moment before the pigtailed girl showed up with a ten gallon bucket and a smaller one gallon bucket.
Nabiki raised an eyebrow. "This works how?"
Ranma-chan smirked slightly lifting up a hand she pointed it toward the Dojo wall. Brilliant energy flowed from her body swirling into a burning bright sphere of incredible power. Ranma-chan stated the technique in a normal voice her confidence in her attack unbreakable. "Moko Takabisha." The ki blast shot forward like a bullet ramming into the wooden wall. Blocks of wood where tossed about the yard as a huge hole was ripped into the structure.
"What do you think you are doing?" Nabiki said with narrowed eyes.
"Simple, your job is to repair this only using your ribbons." Ranma-chan said relaxed sitting back down in her chair. Casually the red headed girl opened a book to a chapter on demonic energies.
Nabiki contemplated a thousand ways to put the pigtailed girl into intense pain. One after another she discarded them, she had known from the start that she wouldn't like the training she merely needed it. Gritting her teeth Nabiki started concentrating on wielding the seemingly flimsy pieces of cloth turning them into hands for the rebuilding the recently destroyed dojo.
While Nabiki was working Ranma-chan took a deep breath and pulled out a wallet. Pulling out thousand yen bills she calmly announced. "One thousand, two thousand, three thousand."
Nabiki didn't look back even though irritated. "Ranma, it is enough trouble doing this without that distraction."
Ranma-chan ignored Nabiki's harsh words her path was set. Having counted to eight thousand she asked innocently. "Say Nabiki how much money did you take from me in the last few weeks? Wasn't it ten thousand?"
"Ranma I don't see wh-." Nabiki's eyes turned to ice when she turned to face the pigtailed girl. "What do you think you are doing with my wallet?"
"Ten thousand it is. I'll add another thousand in for interest though." Ranma-chan continued staring Nabiki straight in the eye as she pulled another thousand yen from Nabiki's wallet and placed it in her own. Inwardly Ranma-chan was barely able to maintain the faced of calm. Provoking Nabiki was high on her list of nono's. It was for the purpose of training though... Well that and getting back her cash.
Nabiki's eye twitched as anger warred with her intense control. Briefly losing control of her emotions the ribbon jerked in reaction. The single length of cloth casually and thoughtlessly ripped out a support pillar. Incapable of holding up the entire structure any longer part of the roof collapsed burying Ranma-chan under it.
"Control Nabiki, control." Ranma-chan croaked from where she was being crushed.
"Yes, next time I'll do it on purpose." Nabiki responded coldly.
Ranma-chan gulped slightly in response, but made no move to return the money. Instead she quietly and stealthily slipped her wallet safely onto her person. Nervously Ranma-chan awaited Nabiki's wrath. The pain though was saved when a new figure showed up.
"What is going on in here? I must say though I love what you did with the place." Anito's lazy grin rested upon his face and a slight edge of amusement slipped into the wizard's tone as he spoke.
"Training." Ranma-chan explained.
Anito raised an eyebrow. Gesturing to the Dojo he asked innocently. "Martial Arts Demolition?"
Ranma-chan lifted a heavy wooden beam off of her body and set it onto the ground. Returning to the miraculously saved table and chairs she sat down. "Nah, more like reconstruction. Nabiki wanted better control with those ribbons of hers, so I thought this up. The training called for making her mad though." Ranma-chan patted her head mournfully.
Nabiki did her best to ignore the fact she was being talked about literally behind her back. Instead she returned to rebuilding the dojo silently reminding herself that she had asked for this. It didn't help much, but the ideas of how to get vengeance on her... sensei... were doing wonders.
"To infuriate her and thus force her to learn control while under duress. An excellent idea." Anito said his grin growing wider if that was even possible. "Perhaps, I can help."
Ranma-chan edged slightly away from both Anito and Nabiki. She didn't like that gleam in the wizard's eye. Waving her hands Ranma-chan quickly removed herself of any connection with what was about to happen. "I don't have anything to do with this!"
The arch-mage ignored Ranma-chan pulling a small book out of his sleeves. Opening it up he flipped through several pages. About midway he stopped. "Nabiki, Nabiki, you surprise me. Half of this is merely financial information. This particular page though looks quite promising. Dear diary, today was a special day. I think I have finally found someone that I ca- urk ahhaggg!"
Anito's words were cut off when five burning red ribbons constricted around his form in a rather impressive imitation of a anaconda. Ranma-chan though duly noted that she would have preferred the snake any day. Twitching under the massive amounts of applied force the wizard dropped Nabiki's diary on the ground. The moment this happened one of the ribbons uncoiled and snapped it up bringing it to the cold hearted girl. Barely able to speak Anito made out. "Control Nabiki, control."
"They are doing exactly what I want them to." Nabiki shot back her voice practically burning. Ranma-chan could almost see a mini-battle aura developing around the girl and she certainly didn't need aura sight to see that Nabiki was seriously angry.
Looking to diffuse the situation before Nabiki turned her attention back to Ranma-chan she asked. "So Anito what brings you out of your lab anyway?"
The coil's loosened and Anito promptly teleported to the other side of the dojo eyeing Nabiki warily. Recovering his composure Anito spoke smoothly his normal grin having returned in full force. In fact it looked just a little bit larger. "Thank you Ranma. It would probably be best if we all settled down to discuss what has come up." The wizard pulled up a chair and sat down. Nabiki quickly followed.
"Now that we have all settled ourselves in lets talk about the real affair. Recently I have isolated myself in my lab seeking a way to salvage the situation we are in. As promised I first concentrated on defenses for the Tendo home." Anito began.
"The chosen selection is essentially simple. The first effort was a quick buffering of the material strength of the house." Anito waved Ranma-chan down as she started to react. "You won't be needed for this Ranma, I took care of it last night using two nuclear cores. The hardened parts of the walls should be nearly ten times as strong as before."
"From there I worked with Kasumi laying down a selection of warning wards. Nabiki, she requested to be part of the process and as the care taker of this house I felt that she couldn't be left out of the loop. Unfortunately I converted what was to be your scrying device for this purpose. I figured that you would approve of this." Anito looked at Nabiki.
Nabiki seemed to roll the idea around in her head. "Of course, you still owe me though."
Anito nodded in reaction. "The wards will warn of dangerous intent, attack, attempts at scrying or location, etc... Kasumi will probably be able to sort out the nature of such threats after a few days practice. This should provide ample warning in the future for us and for the family to take defensive measures or reach defensive locations."
"In addition to this is a magical barrier built around the house. For this I laid down five posts in the yard forming a pentagram. The power is then linked to a room converted for defensive measures drawing on the power of three nuclear cores I have left behind. The barrier should successfully hold any assault mystical or otherwise back for at least two hours, quite possibly much much longer. A final addition is an electric cannon created by another circle of five pillars this time placed on the house roof. Again powered by nuclear cores this only has twenty or so shots, but should provide a concentrated attack releasing the power of say one of my thunderstorms, but in a single blast." Anito continued.
Ranma-chan nodded, "That sounds like quite a defense."
"I designed it under the assumption that a future attack would probably contain a good bit more firepower. Time limits and resources though prevented me from creating more permanent defenses, and have left what I put up exceedingly inefficient. Instead these are all powered from a direct source, which means that multiple attacks will wear down the house defenses."
"In other words it is just the equivalent of buying time." Nabiki responded.
"Exactly."
"So in that case what are we going to do about them?" Ranma-chan asked.
Anito tossed a newspaper on the table. Ranma-chan snatched it up before Nabiki could get her hands on it. Ignoring her glare Ranma-chan read the headline. "World points fingers over alleged nuclear test."
"I take it that you have made your point?" Nabiki said as she rescued the newspaper from Ranma-chan's hands.
"Certainly, they will undoubtedly be much more careful in how they approach in the future."
"Careful?" Ranma-chan asked.
"Really Ranma, you don't expect that America will just allow us to get away with this scotch free now do you? Just because they have to be careful doesn't mean that they won't try anything. It merely means they are going to do it cleanly." Nabiki put in.
"Correct. Which brings up the next issue. We, the ones that started this, are essentially the military's targets. The attempt of capturing the rest of the family can be construed as only a method to obtain leverage in order to put a stop to us. Because of this it would be best to attract the military's attention elsewhere."
"Not quite, you two are the targets. I wasn't present at the raided base." Nabiki broke in on her defense.
"While that is true, we do not know how they traced us here. Further Nabiki can you say without absolute certainty that now that they know who is in the house they won't find out about your research into our target locations? Besides, equal share Nabiki." Anito responded.
"Equal share or no Anito, I didn't sign up for a trip around the world, or to be separated from my family for what may potentially be years."
"Better for years than forever Nabiki. You need to be with us Nabiki." Anito is voice was uncharacteristically solid when he spoke those words.
Nabiki picked up the secondary meaning immediately of course. Anito was pointing out that she was one of his safeties. As Ranma and Anito had to retreat for her family's protection she needed to come along as well. There was also the implication that she could attract an attack to her family. Still though she didn't like it one bit. "Fine Anito, for now I will entertain the idea that we might leave."
"Wait, what if they attack the Tendo's while we are gone?" Ranma-chan asked worried.
"A distinct possibility. This is however where the defenses come into play. The first of such an attack would assuredly fail. Given that a play on the Tendo house would exist only for gaining leverage against us when the military finds out that taking hostages is going to requires a great deal of resources they are not likely to implement such a strategy."
"Ah." Ranma-chan said thinking it over. It made sense in a strange sort of way. Essentially they attacked the Tendos because they were a weak point. Improved defenses armored that weak point, and as such what would be the point of wasting your effort in trying to attack there? Better to look for another weak point, or just attack directly.
"Still though, running away isn't really going to help us put a stop to this." Ranma-chan said at last.
"I agree Anito, it would be better to eliminate our enemy." Nabiki added.
"My thoughts as well. Unfortunately there are certain rules we need to play by. As long as that nuclear strike is the only one we make the US doesn't dare respond with similar weapons. Largely because they let the loss of the weapons in the first place go unreported, and to make such a strike the US would have to recognize that the weapons were stolen. A recognition that would hurt the US domestically and abroad, especially given how it reacts to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction."
Anito continued, "Because of that any engagement needs to be of... conventual means. At least relatively conventional..." Anito left those words hanging in effect recognizing there was nothing conventional about how either he or Ranma-chan fought.
"Unfortunately, in terms of size and power we could hack at the US for years without doing sufficient damage. Instead it would be better at this point to buildup our own strength and engage in a war of attrition against their own assaults. Hopefully if we don't take aggressive action it will be easier and easier for policy makers just to ignore us, or even better engage in diplomatic relations."
"In other words wait until they give up and are no longer pissing their pants in fear of us either selling or using the nukes." Nabiki responded. "That could be years Anito, and I don't look forward to that kind of wait."
"You sure we can't just smash their faces in?" Ranma-chan asked.
"Who's face would we smash in?" Anito asked.
"Err... oh." Ranma-chan said disappointed when she realized that they had no single clear enemy.
"So Anito what precisely are you planning?" Nabiki asked. "I don't want to spend the next few years looking over my shoulder in fear that some military commando is going to jump me from the bushes."
Anito grinned, "Where we run to is a difficult question. It is actually best to stay in a populated place so that the US cannot muster up its full forces against us. My thoughts are actually to let them see that we went into hiding. Then to wait long enough to determine if they will make another play at the Tendo household. That way we can blow up a base or two in retaliation. It will help prevent more such attempts. After that we would jump ship so to speak."
Nabiki raised an eyebrow at that. Ranma-chan instead asked, "Jump ship?"
"We flee into the Aether, the misty void between... how should I put it... realities. It is the realm in which demons live." Anito explained. "We can put ourselves up elsewhere, and well out of their reach, for a while until the US really stops looking and then return to the Tendo House."
"We are going to go hide out with demons. Really, Anito I feel safer already." Nabiki responded.
"Not with the demons, we would actually stay in another bubble of reality rather than the Aether itself. Which is an especially important point considering how actually physically being in what is a mindscape is incredibly dangerous. Think of it instead as staying in a foreign country rather than in some pseudo otherworldly place."
"Err.. if we are going into the Aether how do we protect ourselves?" Ranma-chan had plenty of personal experience with mindscapes and knew how messed up things could quickly become.
"I actually have a device for just... what is it Kasumi?" Anito broke off his conversation looking at the closed door.
The door opened and Kasumi stepped in carrying what looked like a glass sphere. "Anito, I thought you might want to know that the wards started picking something up a few minutes ago." She said offering the sphere.
Anito picked it up and set it on the table. Looking into the sphere he played his ki across the surface calling up what the wards had sensed. The ball reacted instantly filling with an almost grayish white mist. A mist illuminated from an almost silvery source of ambient light. Deep in the mist a hulking, darkish shape loomed with grim determination. Just above the black thing a point of searing bright reddish purple light burned through the thick mists with the brightness of the sun. Its color and detail not diminished at all by the thick fog. The point slowly elongated into a line becoming slightly thicker in the center as if taking an oval like shape.
"What is it?" Ranma-chan asked leaning closer.
Nabiki instead watched the arch-mage who had gone pale. His answer was made out with a slightly shaking breath. "The Eye of Eldritch."
Ranma-chan shivered her hairs started to stand upright on the back of her head. A vague feeling surrounded her, growing stronger by the minute. "The Eye of Eldritch? What is that?" She whispered a strange quaver of fear creeping across her.
"You'll know soon enough." Anito said with a trill of fear in his voice. "Get out of the room Kasumi." Anito declared his voice sharp.
Kasumi let out a small yelp of surprise at the harshness of Anito's words and scurried out of the room. Nabiki leveled a glare at Anito her eyes hard. An edge of icy fury swept past Ranma-chan's awareness. "Don't talk to my sister like that."
Ranma-chan shivered again the way Anito was reacting was making her even more nervous. For the first time in a long time Ranma-chan could actually feel the wizard's aura in all its depth. The arch-mage's nervousness having destroyed his normal iron fisted control. Ranma-chan knew why though, something was stirring in the air. Something old. Something very, very powerful. She could feel in her bones. Gulping Ranma-chan said, "Nabiki he might be on to something."
Ranma-chan glanced down at the glassy sphere. The burning line of light had expanded to almost a full circle now. The sense of power was like the rising surf upon Ranma-chan's awareness. With each moment it became stronger, deeper, fuller. Nabiki's reply was halted as her attention too turned to their surroundings.
Then it opened. For a moment there was stillness like that of a crystal clear pond. That moment seemed to stretch into infinity the anticipation so thick that Ranma-chan could taste it. Then it came as a storm. It burned into the room like hell fire. The air itself screamed in protest as titanic power reverberated through the enclosed space like a dragon chained in a cave.
She could feel it. It was like a decanter of the absolute had been poured into the room filling it to the brim. There was nothing to be seen. Nothing her mundane sense could pick up, but oh could she feel it. It may as well been as clear as day for against her aura sight she could taste it, smell it, feel it, and see it a thousand times as clearly as any of these senses should ever be able to sense. It wasn't just her either. Such was the depth that even the air felt it. The dead cells in the walls felt it. Anything alive or even that what was dead could feel it.
It seared into her with the pressure of a mountain burning through the mists, reality, and walls alike with the force of a meteorite through tissue paper. It cast aside wards against scrying with contemptuous ease. It saw. It saw more than just reality but deeper, further. It sliced into her soul baring all her thoughts, all her feelings, every thing, every secret she had to hide. It paged through her mind like a book leaving Ranma-chan with a terrible feeling of dread and violation.
Then it was gone. Vanishing like the wind. Ranma-chan staggered as if a great weight had been lifted from her shoulders. Ranma-chan was grateful for the chair underneath her otherwise she may have fallen to the ground. Regaining some control Ranma-chan made out. "That Nabiki was something sensed with aura sight."
Nabiki nodded dumbly. "What was that? What happened?"
Anito finally drew himself up as well. Ranma-chan could tell from the wizard's aura that he was still at loose ends. Then again as sharp as Ranma-chan had felt it, she could only imagine what it felt like with perfect aura sight. In view of that it was perhaps more amazing that Anito was still able to act. "That was the Eye of Eldritch. I'll explain more later. The plan has changed we leave now and we go straight to the Aether. You have thirty minutes."
"What!?" Ranma-chan asked. "But what about everyone else?"
"It was only looking for us. Kasumi was out of the room so she will be fine. I don't have time for more explanations, take everything you need with you now!" Anito replied vanishing.
"Why do I have the feeling things just went from bad to worse?" Ranma-chan made out.
Nabiki shook her head in order to clear it. "I don't like this myself Ranma, hell I probably like it a whole lot less. I am not used to being on the death list of powers beyond my comprehension. However, this I know, anything that can make Anito act like that it is most definitely big and if it isn't I'll make him regret it for the rest of his life." Nabiki said with cold certainty.
"May as well pack. I got less stuff so I'll tell the others what is up." Ranma-chan offered.
Nabiki glanced at Ranma-chan, but didn't say anything. The mercenary girl's mind still whirling to and fro far too much to put her thoughts into words. The redhead girl's aura sight though told her that Nabiki was indeed thankful at the offer. As she left Ranma-chan got to wondering how she was going to explain this to her pops much less explain it to Akane. With a sigh Ranma-chan decided to target packing first so that she wouldn't be at a loss for time. Heck if she did it right she would only have to give a five minute explanation.
Wandering upstairs Ranma-chan sighed again. She had meant to spend some time practicing trying to control the demonic essence. Unfortunately events had conspired to make that impossible. For now all she could do was look for what the future held.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sorry for posting edits without a new chapter, it is something I generally avoid, but I just felt this chapter just didn't meet up to my standards.
There is no real reason it needs to be reread. For those out there the next chapter should show up in about a week. I am currently about 3 pages into it, which means 25% done without editing time thrown in (20% in reality...) However, I have a good feel what will happen in it, so that makes things a whole category of faster. Again it depends on how many distractions I get hit with.
I will reply to questions in the Interlude that approaches after the next chapter. As well as posting all data and junk that has no real reason to be hidden at this point. After that it is onto Story Arch two. Though plot lines from SA1 will flow very strongly into SA2 ;)
*Author Out*