A Long Journey

Ranma-chan found it simple to get inside the Palace gates later that evening. Upon telling the guard that she was there for a date with the Royal Summoner she was quickly let in. The guard was heard to be muttering over the 'poor girl' and 'fates worse than death'. This did nothing to improve Ranma-chan's mood.

For the moment she wore a simple dress. She had no idea of what these people thought regarding fashion. Earlier in the day she had wandered around the city and the dress shops and tailors but been too embarrassed to ask about any of the clothes. It was then that she had developed her plan. That was the reason she had come to the Palace early. The plan was simple, find an attractive, well dressed girl, copy her dress and live happily ever after. Nothing could possibly go wrong.

A slight chill in the made her shiver slightly as this last thought occupied her, but she ignored it. She'd been having those chills ever since she was cursed, they probably didn't mean anything.

She wandered over to the area the Ball was to be held and looked around. Most of the preparations had been made already, so few people were actually there except for the few servants setting out the last of the food. Ranma-chan's stomach growled loudly as it reminded her that she hadn't eaten since breakfast. She hadn't eaten as much as she usually did back with the Tendo's. The monks ate a ridiculously small amount and she almost felt guilty eating as much as she did. She supposed that their food intake would increase as their chi training progressed. A large appetite seemed to be an acceptable price for martial arts mastery.

"You there! Girl! Get away from that food! It's not for the likes of you." Ranma-chan turned as she heard a familiar voice. Sure enough behind her was Cindra, looking very displeased. It was only at that moment Ranma-chan noticed the carrot sticks she had in her had. Looking guilty she shoved her hands behind her.

"Why, hello Cindra. Fancy meeting you here. How ya doin'?" she said with a nervous smile. Cindra didn't know about her curse but she still felt mildly uncomfortable in the presence of her wanna be fiancee. She somehow expected a mallet blow that never landed.

"How dare you address me so familiarly, peasant. I saw you eating from that plate. That's food reserved for tonight's Ball. I'll not have a dowdy peasant like you ruin it due to your gluttonous hunger." The irate girl exclaimed.

Ranma-chan was quite surprised, this girl was nothing like the sweet, if overly forward girl she had met earlier that afternoon. Considering how much magic there was around she supposed it was possible that she had been possessed, or drugged, or had a spell cast on her.

"Hey Cindra maybe you should see a magician. I think someone might have cast a spell on you. You're acting a lot more unpleasant than usual." Her helpful suggestion was not taken in the spirit it was proposed in. Cindra's face became red, and a very unladylike grimace spread across her face as rage consumed rational thought. "You're definitely not looking right. You should see a doctor or something, you never know when you might be possessed by some evil oni or something."

"Guards, grab that dirty little peasant. She has the food behind her back. That should be enough to have you in a cell until after the Ball." Ranma-chan quickly flicked the carrots away, sending them across the room to embed themselves into the wall.

"Hey, I don't have nothing. Keep your goons to yourself. Boy you sure got unpleasant all of a sudden," she held her hands out in front of her to display her innocent. The four guards hesitated in their approach, looking in askance towards Cindra.

"Don't be idiots. She obviously hid them in her dress. We'll just search and then stick her in a cell," screamed a furious Cindra.

"You guys are not feelin' me up. Keep your hands to yourself." Ranam-chan easily sidestepped the guards lurch towards her helping them forward with a subtle nudge with her elbow and knee. The guards continued onward, falling headlong into one of the huge tables with food on it. Soon culinary masterpieces were flying everywhere. Ranma-chan happily grabbed the food flying towards her. Waste not want not was her motto. Besides those carrot sticks just made her hungrier. The people surrounding her were not as skilled in avoidance, the guards and Cindra were covered in dips, ch.i.p.s and vegetables.

Munching happily on her new-found lunch, she looked over at Cindra. "Hey it's too bad about your dress. It looked really pretty. Hey, can I borrow that celery, it doesn't look like your using it," Ranma-chan stated hopefully as he grabbed a celery stalk that had been lodged in her dress, held in place by the numerous pools of sauces dripping from her.

Ranma-chan left the screaming girl while chewing on her snack. She really felt sorry for the girl. She couldn't be blamed for being upset. If Ranma-chan had a bunch of incompetent bozos guarding her like that she'd be pretty angry too. Yeah, those guards really did a number on Cindra's dress. It was really too bad, Ranma-chan didn't know anything about fashion, but even she could tell that it had been a really fabulous dress. The perfect kind for a Ball.

Ranma-chan walked unhappily back towards the Ballroom. Attached to her arm was the limpet of a man known as the Royal Summoner. From his mouth poured syrupy sweet lines of what she guessed was poetry. Ranma-chan just tried to tune him out. After her experiences with Kunou she had it down to a fine art. It was because of this that she didn't notice when she was being introduced at the entrance.

"This is my date for the evening. The beautiful Ranko Saotome. This is the hostess of the party, the beautiful princess Cindra. You look really...interesting my dear. Ah, I'm afraid I must leave. I see your father coming this and you know how upset he gets when he witnesses our shared affections." As he left, dragging Ranma-chan he didn't pay attention to the glazed look in Cindra's eyes, the set grimace of her mouth, or the twitch that she seemed to suddenly develop on her face.

"She had my dress. The little tramp had my dress on. She will pay..." Cindra muttered as her father walked up to her.

"Cindra, I love you very much, but you really must pay more attention to the guests. That's the fourth one in a row you've ignored as they arrived," Monfrey stated from his position adjacent to his daughter in the greeting line as he examined her dress for a moment. "By the way what happened to your gown? At first I that those dark splotches were part of the dresses' design, but now that I look closer, and see it next to the gown that pretty little red-head is wearing, it's fairly obvious something stained it." He received only a blank faced response, which was soon replaced with an expression barely repressed rage. "Hmm...I'll have your sister greet the guests. Why don't you change, maybe lie down and rest for a few minutes. You don't look well," her father continued in a concerned voice.

Ranma-chan would have been having fun, if it wasn't for a few niggling details. The first was 'Zar, he was just really irritating. It was almost as bad as going on a date with Kunou. Her mind shied away from this, but it was true. The constant attention, the bad poetry, the groping. If the guy pulled out a bokken she was out of there, trip home or no. It was spooky. The second was the embarrassment factor, 'Zar loved to dance, which meant she was dragged out on the floor to make a spectacle of herself. She learned the steps quickly, meaning her clumsiness was short-lived, but still. She was a guy, prancing around in a dress, especially opposite some Happossai wanna be was the stuff nightmares were made of. Third, she'd finally found a cure for her curse (or a reasonable facsimile) but here she was in a dress again. Truly the gods must have it in for her. The most irritating thing of the night was that the other guests kept splashing her with hot and cold liquids. Tea, wine, beer, brandy, mulled cider, you name and she'd been hit. If it weren't for the magical nature of her gown she would have long ago looked as bad as Cindra had earlier in the evening.

Near the middle of the evening 'Zar decided that a walk in the Royal garden would be just the type of romantic interlude she would enjoy before they went back to dancing. Ranma-chan just grunted. As long as he didn't try anything funny she was just along for the ride.

The garden was dimly lit with glowing spheres of energy. 'Zar babbled on about the different plants and how the lighting could be increased to daylight intensity or dimmed further for a romantic tryst. The unpleasant date had Ranma-chan on edge all evening, so when she felt a high velocity object fly towards her she practically wept with relief. She didn't of course, really bein' a guy an all. But almost.

Plucking a dart from the air she shrugged out of 'Zar's embrace to leap into the shrubbery. One shriek of pain later she was back at 'Zar's side lifting a large man dressed in black leather armor by the collar. The man had no visible wound but was unconscious.

"My, you are a healthy young girl. I see you know the same mystic arts as your brother," examining the man Ranma-chan was holding. "He appeared to be an assassin. I'll have one of my pets watch him. I'll talk to the King and have the guards fetch him for questioning when I see him at the Ball. He really dislikes assassins in the Palace."

Ranma-chan shrugged, the excitement had only lasted a moment before she had realized she was fighting one of the pathetic human fighters that seemed to be the norm on this world. She had almost wished it had been one of those shapeshifted dragons she kept hearing about. Ranma-chan couldn't think of a reason why one would attack her, but mindless violence never stopped her enemies in the past.

She tossed the would-be killer onto the ground and watched in interest as she felt the tingling associated with magic and a large wolf-type demon appear next to the man. Seeing the demon showed no violent inclination, she sighed and followed 'Zar back into the Ballroom. So much for the fun part of the evening.

Ranma-chan was being swept around the floor, and not particularly enjoying it. She was counting down the time to the end of the party, but it was approaching with excruciating slowness. It was in this frame of mind she felt someone behind her, seemingly bent on collision. Grabbing a firm hold of 'Zar she swung him around to take the brunt of the impact, he was the lead man so to speak. There was a thud of bodies colliding, and then 'Zar exclaiming over Angels leaping into his arms. Looking down she saw two intertwined bodies on the ground, Cindra and 'Zar.

'Zar seemed pleased, Cindra less so. Ranma-chan was about to help Cindra off the ground when her danger sense she had developed over ten years of training told her something bad was about to happen. Looking around she noticed a man dressed as a servant throwing something that looked like an amulet. She immediately grabbed two random object from subspace and threw one at the servant and one at the amulet. The mop slammed into the servant with great force, sending the servant flying back ten feet. While the dazed man struggled to his feet a pair of guards, who had just noticed that something odd was happening, approached him.

These events were lost on Ranma-chan. Her other throw, some sort of short handled broom, twitched in midair, causing the amulet to merely stop short of her instead of being knocked completely away. What caught Ranma-chan's attention was that the amulet had started glowing brightly. Her chi senses also informed her a large source of magic was pointed her way. Before she could react to this information a shimmering cube sprang up around her and the couple on the floor. A feeling of foreboding flooded through her as she recognized the wall of force she had encountered when she first arrived. A shimmering in the air above the amulet told her the item had not finished its work. The light increased in diameter until it seemed a small circular hole of about ten inches hang in the air. A moment later dozens of small humanoid insectile creatures poured out of it. They were each about a foot and a half tall covered in spiky chitin and fangs. As they appeared they immediately leaped to attack the human. Ranma-chan's hands were a blur as she smashed them from the air, smacking them back into the sides of the cube's walls.

'Zar's voice could be heard droning behind her, "Ah the Lasae demon, a small, though vicious demon. Wouldn't seem to be a problem normally, our red-haired friend seemed well equipped to deal with them. Unfortunately that seems to be a gate into Hell. I would guess it that it opened directly into a large nest of these fellows, considering that more keep coming through as fast as Ranko deals with them.

"Can't you wave your hands and cast a spell or something, I can't keep this up," Ranma-chan complained. It seemed the only competent magicians were those attacking her.

"I'm a Summoner, I draw circles and summon demons. I don't wave my hands. If we were in my lab dealing with a nuisance like this would be simple, out here on the dance floor it is not. I could call my pets but I actually think they couldn't do any better than what you're doing. The King's mages should be here soon, they should easily be able to dispel these walls. Of course the demons will still be a problem unless I can get back to my lab."

"I'm not sure we have a few minutes," after a moments thought during which constant crunching sounds came from her fist crushing the oncoming demons. "Okay, what's underneath us?"

"Well I can't say for certain but I would guess it would be the sewers."

"Ugh. Fine. If I can get us down there can we make our way to your tower?"

"Why yes, we can. I am quite familiar with the sewers."

"Kind of like a home away from home," sneered Cindra. She had stayed silent until then, frozen in horror, but had broken out of her fright enough to think and react without breaking into a mindless screaming fit.

"Yes," stated 'Zar oblivious to Cindra's disdain.

"Okay, get ready," Ranma-chan warned before letting loose with the Breaking Point underneath them. She made certain to aim the rubble toward the portal in the hope that the rocks might temporarily block the entrance.

When the dust from the explosion cleared, Ranma-chan saw that although the small rift in space was covered, already the rocks were moving, giving evidence of activity beneath them. At her feet was a deep hole that opened up into some sort of cave like system. Without wasting further effort talking she picked up her two companions, one under each arms, and leaped down into the hole.

Several minutes later they were running down the tunnels, ankle deep in water of questionable quality, with a chittering pack of demons on their heels. 'Zar seemed true to his word, unerringly leading them through the twisting ways and branching corridors. Once they entered a large cavern that had some large hungry looking reptiles in them. The creatures slowly started to move after them, but were soon left behind. Soon after this loud roars of pain and anger could be heard and the chittering seemed to get fainter for a short time.

Every few hundred feet 'Zar would pause and smear a small amount of his blood on the walls while muttering a few words. When Ranma-chan asked about he got a panting lecture on how the distance of the gate from his tower made amplification and focus necessary to pinpoint his circle's effects. Ranma-chan didn't understand much of it. It was a mage thing.

Cindra held up fairly well but when she finally did fall behind Ranma-chan swept her into a fireman carry. As long as she was going as slow as 'Zar she could probably carry Cindra's weight all day. Cindra gave a weak protest but fell silent as she listened to the demon's noises echoing through the caves.

After an indeterminate time, they came to an oversized steel door at the end of the corridor. 'Zar fumbled with the keys slightly before finally sliding the correct key into the lock. Slamming the door behind them they ran up the stairs. When they reached ground floor of the tower 'Zar spoke a sharp command and the fiery creature Ranma-chan fought earlier appeared before them, paused for a moment then headed down the stairs. The sound of metal, slowly being shredded, could be heard.

They again started to run up the stairs, when they came to the teleporting steps that had so confused Ranma-chan earlier, the summoner spoke a word. Ranma-chan seemed to blink, she must have, because they were in a large room with a vaulted ceiling. On the ground all around them were circles of all sizes. They all had odd designs and pictures drawn within them. Ranma-chan gathered herself to step out of the circle she had arrived in.

"Stop," 'Zar's voice loudly commanded. "Do not leave the circle. This room is warded against all manner of intrusion. Wait here. I will bring amulets which will temporarily safeguard you against my defenses," saying this he hurried towards a cabinet on the far side of the wall. Muttering something unintelligible the doors glowed slightly and he opened them. Waking back he threw two amulets towards his companions.

"Place them around your necks and hurry to the seventh circle from the left. No! Your other left! Wait for me, I need to activate several circles, then I'll be right there." Walking to three other circles in the room he muttered arcane words that seemed to briefly hang in the air. Although the circles looked the same a sudden familiar sensation told Ranma-chan that those circles were now very active. Nodding to himself he walked briskly towards the others.

This turned into a running gait as a loud thud was and the sound of numerous talons scratching against stone came from a corridor facing the room. Panting slightly the Summoner began an incantation.

Meanwhile, from the corridor a wave of lasae poured into the room. Upon entering a good half of them burst into flames, exploded or just keeled over, but those that survived swept forward like lemmings. Ranma-chan again took up her position in front of the others and regular staccato crunching sounds could be heard.

Ranma-chan was seriously getting concerned about demons sneaking around her to attack her companions when 'Zar's voice rose to a shout and the incantation seemingly ended. For a moment nothing appeared to have changed. This illusion was quickly dispelled when the crack of displaced air was heard. Throughout the whole chamber starting from those closest and working quickly to those farther, the little demons vanished. Within seconds the last had been expelled.

"There we go. Now that wasn't so bad, was it? How about a kiss for a reward," 'Zar received only a cold glare from Cindra.

Ranma-chan was still dressed in her gown. Even the magical fabric seemed somewhat bedraggled, and numerous bloody cuts and scratches covered her arms. "So that still counts as a date, right?" Ranma-chan inquired.