A Long Journey

To Ranma-chan the world was lost in a glare of whiteness, then there came a sensation of falling. This was a very familiar feeling and she flexed her chi in the way she had learned to do in the past to minimize the damage and pain she would feel on impact. She had much experience at this.

When the impact came she heard rocks shatter and a choking cloud of dust arise around her. By the amount of force she estimated that she had fallen about 250 feet. Well within her tolerances.

Ranma-chan lay in the center of the crater she had created and let her senses inform her of her surroundings. She estimated about twenty-one people surrounded her by the sound of breathing and the light patter of leather shoes against cobblestone. Ten more people had bows that she could pinpoint from the creaking of the drawn strings. Hmm, possibly hostile. She made a note to pay attention the sound of high velocity objects in the air and gently expanded her battle aura to help minimize possible damage and aid in the sensing of missiles.

The sound of bows actually relieved her. If the people around her used arrows, pellets, darts shuriken, bandanas, spatulas or other sub-sonic missile systems she was very confident she could catch, parry or avoid them. If they used these types of weapons chances were they wouldn't use guns or similar tools. Ranma-chan had theorized that the C.h.e.s.tnut Fist combined with certain chi manipulated would allow her to deal with higher technology but had yet figured a way to train that didn't involve crippling injury at the first failure.

Believing she had gotten a grasp of the current situation, as much as she could without seeing it, she slowly sat up and looked around at the room through the subsiding dust. Around her was an open courtyard. There were indeed twenty-one people surrounding her on the ground, most wore something that looked like guardsmen's uniforms over some sort of chainmail.

The uniform was a red overcoat with some sort of black vicious looking lizard thing that appeared to be glaring at the watcher. One wore ornate robes that looked like they may have been appropriate on priests. The robes were red and gold, embroidered with bizarre looking symbols. Looking up where her senses informed her the archers were, she noted they too were dressed in the same type of uniforms the guards wore.

Still moving slowly, she stood up, being sure to subtly gather a few shards of rock in her hands.

The mage was confused. He was expecting something much more impressive. Before him stood a young red-headed girl barely more than four feet tall. According to the spell description he was supposed to have summoned the demon or godling, also known as the Lost One. The prophecies he had researched and wrangled from the oracles spoke that in order to guarantee victory in the upcoming war such a demon was required to be bound and sacrificed. The mage carefully examined the summoning circle. Hmm, intact though the area where the...girl...stood had somehow become badly damaged, he knew that part was not important. It was expected that the bound demon would destroy the area it stood. It was the rest of the circle that would confine said demon.

"Are you the infernal being known as the Lost One?" The girl gave him a confused look and answered in some foreign gibberish. This was not a good start, demons all had the gift of tongues, if this one did not understand then something had gone awry. Giving it some thought the mage regretfully came to a decision. Rooting in the pouch he had at his side he brought out the amulet he used while meeting with foreign diplomats for the King. Pulling a simple gold disk with the stylized ibis head from the pouch he threw it into the circle at the girl. She gave him an odd look and cautiously bent down to pick it up.

"Are you the infernal being known as the Lost One?" the mage repeated his question. This time the girl's head jerked around in surprise.

Ranma-chan had picked up the amulet when the she heard the fellow in the robes speak. This time she understood what he said. "Nah, sorry. I think you must be looking for Ryouga. I was just talking to him," Ranma-chan asked in a hopeful voice. "How about you send me back and I'll tell him you want to see him?"

The man shook his head regretfully, "I'm sorry too, but if you are not the Lost One we cannot allow you to go back to your home plane and warn him." With a look of regret he turned, walking away while signaling with his hand.

Ranma-chan sighed, so much for the easy way to get back home, from the way the guy had talked it was doubtful she was on Earth. Perhaps she had eaten Akane's cooking and was hallucinating, then again why take the chance.

There were several twanging sounds as arrows stood vibrating where the red-headed girl once was. A moment later and much louder twanging sounds signaled the destruction of the bows courtesy of carefully aimed shards of rock.

The guards surrounding the circle jerked their swords from their scabbards as they finally realized that things were not going as they had planned. They frantically looked about trying to find the target that was no longer safely contained in the circle. The mage turned back toward the circle to identify the source of the unexpected sounds.

This was when the horrible noises began. Guards started to scream only to have their voices cut off mid-yell. The mage could see little of the proceeding but what he could made him begin muttering the beginnings of the guardian trigger spell he had not ever expected to use. The sound of metal shattering could be heard from within the large clump of guards, and people were being jettisoned up in the air twenty feet to fall only to the ground unmoving. Occasionally the red-haired girl could be seen jumping from the head, shoulder, sometimes the actual blades of the guardsmen before leaping back within the pack of guardsmen. Then the bodies would start flying again. In less than a minute all twenty-one guards were unconscious, the mage simply assumed they were dead. Truly he had vastly underestimated the power of this demon.

Once the swordsmen were dealt with the red-haired girl slowed enough that she could easily be seen again. With deliberate slowness Ranma-chan walked towards the still chanting mage. "You will send me home. Now."

His voice rising in triumph the mage completed his spell. An eerie blue fog enveloped the area around him, seeming to distort the distances of the courtyard. A shimmering square plane of energy sprang into being on each side of the mage until he was enclosed in a cube of force.

Ranma-chan had backed up, nonplussed at the unexpected events taking place before her. After a second, seeing that nothing else was happening she approached to cube, gathered up several pebbles and flicked them with surprising force at the shimmering wall. Ranma-chan was not very surprised when they bounced off to no effect.

The mage was feeling much more confident. He had stymied the demon-girl, and with his safety he would be able to initiate other counter measures. "You may as well admit defeat gracefully and die with dignity. This area was built with demon containment in mind. This wall around me is impenetrable."

Ranma-chan walked up to the glittering wall. With the test of the pebbles she believed it was safe to touch, which she gingerly did. She felt an incredibly smooth surface, no discernable temperature, and completely unyielding. Beginning with light punches she gradually built up force to her most powerful. Not seeing any effect she added significant amount of chi to her blows causing loud percussive shockwaves to resound through the courtyard. Still no effect, except for stinging knuckles.

She was about to continue testing the barrier when her danger sense noticed the robed man smile and look over her shoulder. She then heard a light whistling sound and felt an object broach her chi field. C.o.c.king her head to the side she felt an arrow fly through the space where it had been. Quickly reaching behind her, she plucked a second arrow from the air. Just as she grabbed the arrow, the first arrow hit the barrier Ranma-chan had been standing in front of. Ranma-chan was caught totally by surprise as the impacting arrow blew up in front of her, sending her flying 40 feet across the courtyard. Ranma-chan's reflexes kicked in quickly enough to turn it into a controlled somersault, but once she landed on her feet she staggered and collapsed on her b.u.t.t.

The mage had been watching this with great delight. When the creature had showed its determination to get through the barrier he had some passing doubts. Few magic defenses had no weaknesses, and although as far as he knew his were perfect, it was a very powerful demon. Demons didn't cast magic in its traditional form, so while a normal mage of sufficient power may have been able to get through the walls of force with some type of dispel or negate magic, demons shouldn't be capable of this, but...it had looked very determined.

The mage's deliberation was interrupted by said demon shaking itself out of its stunned daze, and after a determined look in his direction that spoke of much future pain, it blurred, running at incredible speed over to the balcony, jumping up the thirty feet to where the arrows had come from and disappearing inside. A few screams later the figure reappeared carrying a quiver of arrows, and a bow. While running by the unconscious swordsmen she grabbed up a sword with an odd bluish hue to it.

Ranma-chan was really beginning to worry. This place was one unpleasant surprise after another. Cubes of force, exploding arrows, and who knew what was next. It seemed less and less likely that he would be able to compel the old man into sending her home, and she was becoming less willing to trust him even if it was offered. She would try a few more attempted before she admitted that she had to find another solution. But first things first. During the brief combat with the swordsmen she had concentrated on destroying their weapons, much as she usually tried to destroy Mousse's. This had worked on most of the guardsmen but a surprising few had swords that just would not snap. She actually took some minor cuts from these swords before she adapted her style to this new danger. However, it was time to see how these weapons work on that cube thing.

Ranma-chan walked toward the mage, stopping at the barrier. Noticing that the man was mumbling something to himself, she picked up her pace. This guy seemed to have almost as many tricks as the old goul. Grasping the sword and channeling chi through it as Kunou did, she combined it with the C.h.e.s.tnut Fist, the sword becoming nothing more than an invisible blur. As the blade began to chime in a high pitched wail she abruptly stopped. Ranma-chan growled in frustration, the sword had merely slid off the barrier with no other effect. Ranma-chan tossed the sword aside. Tools were for the weak, a true martial artist needed nothing more than his body, mind, and spirit.

Ranma-chan jogged about forty feet away from the cube, turned and in a smooth motion notched drew and fired an arrow at the cube. Knowing the lack of effect this would have from the time the other arrow hit the side of the cube, she fired arrow after arrow at the cube to form one long explosion. Once again she paused to think then, hissing in between her teeth in frustration at her lack of speed, she threw the bow aside and used his C.h.e.s.tnut Fist to throw all the arrows that were left in the quiver, forcing one huge explosion from the remaining arrows.

Although severely shaken from the continuous explosions, the mage persevered in his spell. The Demon used tools. He had never heard of a demon that did that before. He had been taught, and learned this from past years of summoning experience that demons just didn't do that. Clearing his mind he forced himself to complete the spell despite his distraction. He had the tiger by the tail and to let go would mean a quick death. As he completed the words of the spell, he dared looked up to see the demon-girl smile as if she had had a brilliant idea. Holding her hands together a brilliant sphere of light began to form between them. The sphere quickly grew larger and then suddenly came barreling towards the cube walls. No ...not at the cube walls, the ground under the cube. Eyes Widening, panic struck just before the light hit. The cube only had five faces.

Ranma-chan was very pleased with herself, she was a master at analyzing a technique, picking it apart and finding a counter. She may have overdone it a bit though. She had put far too much energy in the chi blast and there was a huge pit that the five faced cube was presently hovering over. There was also no sign of the robed guy. Damn, she didn't mean to kill him, even if he probably deserved it, besides he may have been the only way home. Shit.

She was so wrapped up in her contemplation that she didn't fell a slight quiver in the ground. However, when the pillars surrounding the courtyard crumbled, revealing the huge stone golem-like creatures within, it did catch her attention.

Seeming to be statues of rough human shape, they swung there limbs into motion with a certain glacial inevitability. They were slow lumbering creatures, twenty feet tall and they were moving towards her. Ranma-chan had no doubts he could defeat them, but there was little point. It was obviously the old man's last spell, and he was already dead. (Shit.) She was tired, and hurt and this stupid battle was against one silly spell after another. No challenge of skill, just brute force and stamina.

If she knew Ryouga's Breaking Point she might relish a battle against rock monsters. Of course the same reason she hadn't bothered to learn the Breaking Point was why she saw this whole battle as disappointing. The Breaking Point was a crutch. A neat trick whose whole purpose was to allow Ryouga's fights to last long enough for some skill to be displayed. Of course she never expected to be attacked by a rock, which made Ranma-chan rethink the value of learning it. She did after all know the training method.

Anyway it was time to leave. She had a whole world she had to search to find a way home. With those final thoughts she leaped over the courtyard wall, over the rooftop of what appeared to be some sort of large mansion, and into the streets of a large city.

Of the courtyard she left behind there wasn't much remaining intact. The cube still hovered over the pit, most of the trees were either blown over by explosions, or cut through by Ranma-chan's own version of the Kunou sword strike, which while ineffective against the cube seemed to work well against everything else. The stone walls of the courtyard likewise bore long deep troughs, further evidence of the effectiveness of Ranma-chan's borrowed sword.

Eight minutes after she left a shimmering light bloomed in the empty space inside the cube and the form of an old man appeared to unravel from within his cloak, jerked in the air for a second and started to gently float down. As he descended he looked around at the devastation. Then he noticed the stone golems were wandering aimlessly around the courtyard occasionally eliciting a groan or scream, sometimes only a death rattle, as the unconscious men on the ground were stepped on by several tons of stone golem.

"What am I going to tell the Emperor?" were his thoughts before beginning the monotonous task of rounding up the stone golems.

On another plane of existence a being of power looked upon his scrying pool, then up into the eyes of another being of great power and nigh infinite knowledge. "That is a human? I always considered them so weak before. I am pleased that you informed me of her arrival. With a little bit of training she has the potential to be a very effective tool."

"They prefer being called Champions or something with favorable shadings. Considering the danger this being is going to put through on our behalf, we can at least be polite."

"Sure Thoth. Whatever," he grunted.

"Remember, Ammit is not always to be believed, he most likely has his own agenda aside from the goals of his alliance."

"I appreciate your concern, but this is hardly my first taste of intrigue, Ammit asked for my aid and thanks to your counsel I have the perfect...champion. Of all our pantheon you know I appreciate martial skill."

"Be wary not to alienate your champion, you are both honorable, but he...er she is also very compassionate. You can be very strict in following what you believe, give her some flexibility. When she is done with your favor I will need her in good health for a serious mission."

"How serious can it be if you wish to send a human?"

"I need a human for the same reasons as you, they are almost impossible to detect by deities and Intellegences. It therefore means we need as powerful a human as we can find. This one is as powerful as I've yet seen. I've come across weaker Godlings."

"And her mission?"

"Say nothing to the others but I believe I've detected the Old Ones stirring."

After a moment of silence, "Well I suppose you can't get more serious than that."