FicWad

[Day 2]

Nabiki, invisible to the naked eye and senses, flew towards Juuban.
The very moment she crossed into the Juuban Ward of Tokyo, she was hit
by a powerful magical mind-blast. The mind-blast, literally, knocked
her to the ground. Recovering, she attempted to return to the air and
was knocked down again.

For her second attempt, seeing that magical flight was too
dangerous, she tried walking into the Ward, but was mind-blasted
again, but not to the same degree as before. Although, comparing the
three mind-blasts was like comparing a hundred-and-two-ton wrecking
ball to a hundred-and-one-ton wrecking ball.

Her mental shields and the psionic disciple that Ranma insisted she
learn were the only things that allowed her to stand upright from the
magical mental assault. Even with all that, she could barely think
under the pressure. But that did not matter to her... What mattered
was that there was some kind of mind-magic getting in her way of being
at her Master's feet, where she belonged. And no stupid magic of any
kind would get between her and her Master. Nabiki Saotome did not
lose!

Thinking of her Master strengthen her, and through their bond, she
could feel Him strengthening her mental shields with His ki. She
sighed in relief.

Mana, the most basic form of magical energy, could compared to
a cake. Just as a what type of cake it was was dependent upon what
ingedients were used and how it was prepared, the same was true of
mana. Regardless of the type, the major ingedients of any mana were:
chi, spiritual energy, intent, and elemental energy. These ingredients
exists both independently and mixed together. In order to cast a
spell, a mage needed to take only what was need from this cake, and
slice off a piece to use in their magic. This slicing of the cake, or
drawing of the mana in actuality, that made one a mage. And in using
magic, this slicing and eating of cake, left crumbs. These crumbs
were free-floating mana, that anyone could use, mage or chi sorcerer,
like Ranma.

And then there was ki/chi, the basic form of life energy, ki being
individual life-force, and chi being planetary life-force. If mana
could be liken to a cake, then ki/chi was the flour, which only needed
to be refined, and could be used in many things, from cakes, breads,
paste, and other items. Thus anything magic was a composite item, and
was only as strong as its weakest ingredient, whereas, ki/chi was
homogeneous and as solid as its construct.

While Ranma had taught some ki/chi techniques to Nabiki, her
abilities were nowhere near Ranma's. Thus, while her mental shield,
composed of magic and ki, were strained, Ranma's ki mental shield was
solid and protected her mind without effort.

Sighing in relief, she removed her flight spell and invisibility
spell and walked as a normal person through the streets.

She absently noted that her sorceress outfit, which drew second and
third looks in Nerima, passed without comment in Juuban. The
exhibitionist in her frowned at that, and unconsciously, she
transfigured her outfit, slightly, to show more skin and show off her
assets better. After which, she did get a few stares, mostly from old
men, but it made her happy, and took her mind off the pressure the
mind-magic was trying to put on her.

She came upon a youma while searching for her Master, and she
blasted it with an 'Elmekia Lanceos' spell, easily taking care of it.
She noted that the use of her magic increased the magical mind attack,
so she let her magic go dormant, and the assault stopped.

With that insight, she realized that someone or group of some ones,
had set up some overly powerful 'magical girl'-repellent spell over
the area. Any 'magical girl' without her training and Ranma's ki
mental shields would be quickly driven out of Juuban. Of course,
Nabiki's use of the term magical girl referred to any female
that used any type of magic, such as: a goddess, a sorceress, an Aes
Sedai, a demoness, a witch, or even a female martial artist with
ki-attacks.

Using just their bond, it took her a bit of time to find her
Master. She found Him in a shrine that was close to the center of
Juuban, talking to the head priest of the shrine, looking over
something.

That something was a highly detailed map of the area. And it was
not just a simple representation of the area as the infamous
/Marauder's Map/, but an actual model of reality. Any directed
action towards the map would affect reality as well, if not protected.
The map was, currently, centered on Juuban, and showed the various
magical and chi flows of the area.

A silver mist covered all of Juuban, being contained to its
borders. What the silver meant, Nabiki was not sure, but the mist,
itself, represented magic.

She also noted there were patches of black mist, demonic magic, in
various areas in Juuban as well. Those black mist patches were,
mostly, surrounded by white mist, holy magic, thus indicating trapped
demons imprisoned in various shrines, although, the map indicated that
those few demons were still able, if indirectly, affect the local
area.

She saw several spots of various colored-mist. Green represented
Earth/Metal/Wood-aligned mages, blue meant Water-aligned mages, red
for Fire-alignment, and Light-Grey for Wind-alignment. The stronger
the mage and his or her alignment, the darker the tone of the mist
would represented them. She noted that there were nine dark misty
spots on the map, but she knew that one of the nine spots was her,
since there was nothing she could do to hide herself from her Master's
sorcery, even with her magic shielded as it was.

She was a bit alarmed to see that the Dragonlines, veins of the
planet's life-force, represented by solid yellow lines had some silver mist
among them. Also was the fact that some of the lesser Dragonlines, Ley
Lines, had converged at several spots forming nodes that were filled
with silver mist. Several Adept-Mages could boost themselves by
tapping directly into the Dragonlines, but that was extremely
dangerous. The Dragonlines had flows and currents to them, that could
easily burn even an experience mage out, thus, most mages, if they
could tap the Dragonlines, did not, rather, they would reach for the
nodes that the lesser Dragonlines made. Since a node, a lake of
energy, was relatively more stable and calmer then the flowing
Dragonlines, mighty rivers, themselves.

Knowing about the magical girl repellent spell, she was not
surprised that the map showed a lack of human magic. She did realized
that several shrines and temples did harbor a few devil hunters,
indicated by a solid green dots with green, or greenish-white, mists.
But the silver mist was very concentrated around those shrines, and
probably, trapped them to the shrines and immediate areas.

She noticed her Master's dress as that of an Unsui, a wandering Zen
monk, who dressed in traditional white full robe with a bluish vest,
which gave the monk the 'cloud-water' look that gave the clothes and
the monks their name, 'un-sui'. The large, straw hat that completed
the outfit rested on a bench to the right of Him. The Onikirimaru was
placed against the bench next to the straw hat, and was depicted on
the map as a dark-grey mist in the shape of a sword. Interesting of
note, the Saotome Family Blade was shown as a white, light-grey-ish
mist sword-shape upon the map.

The Unsui was His usual 'work' clothes when he was demon-slaying,
having adopted it from his Sensei, the Ancient. Her Master, of course,
was studying the map in great detail, but she knew that He knew that
she was there. Next to her Master was the head shrine priest, dressed
purely in white. On the map, the priest was a solid white dot with a
white mist surrounding him. As the creator of the map, her Master was
One with it, thus He did not show up in it, since He was apart of it,
just as the map itself was not represented on itself.

A smile came to her face as she saw two young shrine-maidens trying
to hide, unobserved, in the hallway. Their focus was, obviously, upon
her Master, and their interested was also obvious from the lusty
feelings that radiated from them.

Her Master pointed his finger at certain points causing the map to
'zoom in' for greater detail. In these views, the silver mist was
elevated, showing a brownish mist underneath and a metallic-green mist
as well.

It was the same in the various spots the map focused on.

"I was wrong," Ranma spoke breaking the silence. "The Dragonlines
have been affected. Even the Greater Dragonlines are infected. And the
Ley lines have been forced to form two nodes of considerable size. The
sheer magnitude of power to do that..."

The priest looked startled at her Master's statement and paled. For
it was easier to move the Moon and the Heavens then to move one ley
line, let alone a Dragonline.

"Can you cleanse them, Master?" she asked a bit worried. The Priest
was startled as he was not aware of her presence there.

Ranma frowned in concentration. After a short moment, he said, "The
infection does not seem to be too wide-spread... Flaring the
Dragonlines should wash out the infection..."

The priest looked a bit worried and asked, "And what if that
instead spreads the infection further?"

"The backlash," Ranma began and stopped. He pondered the situation
for a moment, "The poisoning of the Earth has to stop... The flaring
just has to be guide from both sides then... and we must hope the
kamis can minimize the backlash."

The priest nodded reluctantly. There was no other option. Any
additional magic, regardless of intent, would simply worsen the
situation. And no person or group of people had enough ki to remove
the infection either. Only the Dragonlines, themselves, could heal
themselves. Of course, flaring the Dragonlines had their own
consequences, the least of which was controlling such an action. A
flood from the Dragonlines would be just as damaging as an actual
river's surging and over-flowing. The priest mentioned eight names of
other priests that would be able to help, all outside of Juuban, and
would take a week or so to be contacted and arrive there.

Ranma frowned at the delay, but it was best to have the nine
priests support when they did this.

"What of the silver mist? I don't recognize its feel," Nabiki
inquired. The priest looked at her, puzzled, and finally noted her
outfit. She did not need her senses and empathy to know his
disapproval of her sorceress outfit; it was clearly shown on his face.

A flash of blue-lightgrey-red mist on the map, and her outfit was
changed to black Kung Fu pants and a tan, Chinese silk shirt that went
with her brown eyes. Her high-heels were replaced with Kung Fu
slippers.

On the map the flash from Nabiki's magic was immediately flooded
with silver mist, and when the flash was over, the silver mist left as
well. Ranma noted this, and nodded at some thought. The priest's eyes
were upon Nabiki and had missed it.

"Interesting," Ranma remarked on his observation. "Whoever is
behind the silver mist does not wish to have any other magic
around..."

The priest turned to Ranma questionably. To which, Ranma
replayed the event on the map for him to see. The priest was a
bit embarrassed that Nabiki's outfit had distracted him, but Nabiki
just smirked at that, enjoying that fact.

The three of them checked the map several times looking for
foundation points, which they identified five of those.

Ranma growled in annoyance, and stated, "Where's the nexus point?"

Neither the priest nor Nabiki had the answer.

"We'll just have to take out the five foundation points, re-enforce
some of the demon-prisons, and just deal with the nexus point of this
silver mist when we can," Ranma continued after searching for an hour
or so.

Ranma gathered Onikirimaru, the Saotome Honor Blade, and his hat,
and with Nabiki and the priest headed out.



The shrine was quiet, as Ranma, Nabiki, the priest, and two Shrine
Maidens entered. Ranma's soft voice could be heard in the silence,
"Too quiet..."

The others agreed.

With his hand on Onikirimaru, which was on his hip in battioujustu
style, Ranma moved into the shrine itself towards where the demon was
imprisoned. The others followed him, ready for anything.

Ranma placed his hand on the knob to the door that lead to were the
demon was held, only to be stopped by a female voice, "What do you
think you're doing?"

The priest began to explain what was happening and the need to
check the demon's prison. At least, the shrine maiden tried to blow
off the idea of an actual demon existing at her shrine, but none of
them accepted that. Then she tried to say that it was the head
priest's job and they should wait for him.

Ranma frowned as he listed to the shrine maiden, something was
wrong. She was trying to delay them, for some reason. Reaching out
with his senses, he checked the area.... Shocked, he exclaimed,
"Hannya!"

The shrine maiden looked shocked and nervous. Her face took on a
painful expression and her body transformed before their eyes. Gone
was the beautiful form of a maiden, replaced by a three meter tall,
female Oni of monstrous visage.

The priest and his accompanying shrine maiden could only stare in
shock at the Hannya in front of them.

Nabiki stood before them, casting a shield to protect them, while
Ranma ran towards the Hannya.

Just before reaching the Hannya, he called out, "Hiten Mitsurugi
Ryuu, Sou Ryu Sen!" The Onikirimaru flashed out of its sheath, which
he held to use if he initial strike failed, struck with the power and
speed of a battoujutsu strike, slicing the hannya in two. The hannya
looked surprised, then smiled as her suffering came to an end, and
turned to dust. He stood over the dust for a moment, spoke a prayer,
and left a small prayer scroll on top of the dust pile.

Before Ranma finished, the doors to the demon's prison burst
open... Debris flew into the room. Nabiki's shield protected her, the
priest and the two shrine maiden, while used the Onikirimaru to
deflect any debris that came his way.

The demon, for that was what it was, was as tall as the ceiling and
as wider then the double-doorway, thus it demolished what remained of
the doorway as it burst into the hallway. The demon had claws and a
tail.

The priest was not sure, but he thought he saw Ranma's eyes turn a
golden color as he looked at the demon.

The demon threw a magical sphere of power at Nabiki's shield, which
barely held in her surprise at the magnitude of the attack and its
suddenness. She quickly re-enforced her shield, and sent an 'Elmekia
Lanceos' towards the demon. The demon dodged out of the way.

Ranma charged at the demon, to distract it from Nabiki and whose
she was protecting. The demon, barely, managed to block most of
Ranma's quick-thrusts; yet, he was still able to cut the demon in
several places, to the surprise of the demon, itself, and the priest
watching behind Nabiki's shield.

The demon roared in pain and anger at Ranma, and charged at him.

As the demon concentrated on Ranma, Nabiki began to chant, "Source
of all souls which dwell in eternal and infinite."

Ranma dodged several claw-strikes, and returned several of his own
with Onikirimaru.

Nabiki continued to chant, "Everlasting flame of blue, let the
power hidden in my soul be called forth from the Infinite..."

Ranma pulled back a bit and charged at the demon, calling out,
"Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuu, Ku Zu Ryu Sen!" Onikirimaru seem to blur and
become nine blades, which stuck the all of demon's nine vital points.

At the same time, Nabiki shouted, "RA-TILT!" A blue-white beam
leapt out of her cupped hands and stuck the demon in its back, at the
same time; seemly nine Onikirimaru struck the demon. The demon seemed
to absorb the 'Ra-Tilt,' until it was stuck by Onikirimaru. It let out
a roar and then turned to dust.

Nabiki held her shield and a second 'Ra-Tilt' at the ready, while
Ranma poked at the dust pile with Onikirimaru. Nodding his head, Ranma
pulled out a prayer scroll from his subspace pocket and placed it upon
the dust pile. The scroll, somehow, absorbed all the demon dust. Ranma
picked up the scroll, examined it, and placed it back into his
subspace pocket.

At Ranma's nod, Nabiki ended the shield spell and allowed the
second 'Ra-Tilt' to harmless dissolve back into her.

"That's that," Ranma commented to no one in particular, breaking
the silence.

The priest swallowed and nodded. The two shrine maiden's eyes were
glazed over, in hero-worship and awe as they looked at Ranma. Nabiki
saw their look and smirked, while Ranma merely groaned.

The priest began to mention, to no one in particular just give a
sense of normalcy, about how the shrine would need to be cleansed and
purified.

Nabiki smirked at the priest and said, "No need. My Master can do
it."

"Nabs," Ranma warned in annoyance. But the priest was looking at
him, challengely, as if waiting to see if Nabiki was wrong. He signed,
put Onikirimaru away, and bent his knees so he was closer to the
ground. He rested his palm on the ground, concentrated and said, "Holy
Disenchant."

Ranma's palm took on a blue-white glow, which quick spread to the
floor, and throughout the shrine. From the floor and grounds, the
blue-white glow shot out enveloping everything within. The priest and
the two shrine maidens felt a calm over take them as the blue-white
glow passed through them.

When the spell finished, it was obvious that the demon or someone
else had taken over the shrine some time in the past months or so and
had used black magic to cover up the fact. With all the black magic
now gone, that fact was obvious. They found the actual priest and
shrine maiden imprisoned in one of the back rooms. They were in a bad
shape, but a few potion-vials from Nabiki returned them both to good
health. They were greatly appreciated in being rescued and the demon's
destruction.

Ranma, not wanting the hero-worship or the awed looks, mentioned
something about taking care of the foundation nodes, and dragged a
pouting Nabiki out with him.

Once outside, Ranma took to the air, until he saw that Nabiki was
not following him. He looked at her and asked, "What?"

"Have you forgotten about that anti-magical girl spell that's
around here?" Nabiki inquired.

Sheepishly, Ranma nodded his head. He had. He floated over to his
wife, picked her up, and set out, once again, for the closest
foundation point.

Which wasn't that far, it took them, flying, only a few moments to
get within a few meters of the first foundation point. After a bit of
search, they found a dark crystal, half-buried in the ground.

When Nabiki tried a 'Ra-Tilt' on the dark crystal, it glowed a
dark-silver and remained unaffected. Nabiki, on the other hand, was
hit with some magical feedback that, literally, knocked her off her
feet. Before her unconscious body could hit the ground, Ranma caught
her. He gently set her down, and performed a few health-diagnostic
ki-techniques. After giving her a bit of his ki, he looked at the dark
crystal with an angry look on his face.

Angered that it had hurt his wife, he punched it using the 'Futae
no Kiwami' technique, which shattered the dark crystal. The pieces
faded out of existence too quickly for him analyze. He growled in
annoyance.

He performed another 'Holy Disenchant' on the area, and set up a
chi-web to alert him if another such crystal tried to form there.

With that, he picked up his wife, and headed to next foundation
point.



While he would not admit it to others, no matter how much Ranma had
matured, he was not comfortable talking about his emotions or personal
issues. But he enjoyed taking care of his wife. It was not something
he had the opportunity to do too often. Which was good in one way, but
not in the other way. Plus, Nabiki had gotten into her head that it
was her job to take care of him. Which annoyed him, he was the
Master/, he could take of himself, but she was the /slave
that needed him. Either way, he enjoyed just holding her in his arms.

After a bit of flying, he found the second crystal. He landed, and
set Nabiki down as comfortably as he could, using a few wind-chi
techniques to make a few cushions of air for her to rest on. And he
examined the crystal up close.

Unlike the previous crystal, this one was pure silver. He went to
touch it, to get a 'reading' on it. But his mere touch disintegrated
it. He felt a release of energy, similar to what he felt from the
silver mist on the map. After the flash of power, nothing of the
crystal remained.

He sighed in disappointment, picked his wife up, and set off into
the air for the next crystal.



At some point in the air, Nabiki awoken in her Master's strong
arms, she purred in pleasure. In response, Ranma started to caress her
as he could while holding her.

Reluctantly, Ranma set his wife down and landed himself.

The third crystal was also pure silver, and Ranma warned his wife
about touching it. They examined it together, but could only conclude
that it was some kind of crystalline object with the silver magic
within it.

Nabiki casted a protection spell over herself as well as an
analyses spell on her finger, to which she touched to the crystal.

And nothing happened.

Puzzled, Ranma motioned for his wife to step back.

Making sure that his ki was confide to himself, Ranma touched the
crystal, thinking maybe it was his ki that had disintegrated the one
before. Yet again, his mere touch did, in fact, cause the silver
crystal's disintegration.

A gasp from his wife caused him to look at her. He saw she had a
surprised, almost nervous look upon her face. Curious, since he sensed
no danger in the area, he asked, "Was' up?"

Nabiki blinked and asked, "You didn't feel that?"

Confusion in his voice, he inquired, "Feel what? There was just a
flash of power and nothing else...."

"It wasn't a flash of power, Ran-kun," Nabiki answered softly.
"Your body absorbed the silver magic..."

Ranma looked nervous... Magic and him did not mix, period. End of
story. The only thing worse then magic was a magical-girl -- oh wait
-- he married one. No wonder his life was so... interesting.

"As the silver magic entered your body," Nabiki continued. "There
was this golden flow, very similar to the silver magic, flashed out
and seem to overcome the silver... then fade back into you."

Ranma frowned. He recapped, "So we have this unknown silver magic
that's taken over Juuban... And now, this unknown golden magic that's
somehow hiding within me? That we've never before seen or heard of?"

Nabiki was not thrilled with this either. Her Master had made it
very clear, several times, he never wanted a /yes-girl/.

Ranma sat down in a meditative stance and looked within himself,
but could not find anything different about himself, nor any trace of
silver or golden magic. If anything, the only magic within him was the
bit of magic he stored for Nabiki and powered the few magical items he
had with him.

After a half an hours of soul searching, Ranma shook his head and
shrugged. He looked to Nabiki, who had been searching from without and
through their bond, but she shook her head negative as well.

"No matter," Ranma said.

He let Nabiki the ki to allow her to fly with him, and they set off
for the fourth crystal.

The fourth crystal was pure silver as well. Nabiki tried several
spells, without any results, save magical feedback that would have
hurt her again, if she and Ranma weren't prepared this time.
Onikirimaru simply passed completely through the silver crystal with
no damage to either. Ranma tired some distance ki techniques on the
crystal, but they had no effect on it. If anything, the silver crystal
seemed to glow with additional power afterward.

Once again, Ranma's mere touch shattered the silver crystal. This
time, he could see the silver magic being released by the silver
crystal and racing up his arm, only to be stopped and overcome by a
golden magic around his elbow. During the entire incident, he did not
feel any difference in his body or surrounding area, save the flash of
silver magic that flashed through everything.

Once again, they took to the air and searched for the fifth and
last crystal, which made up the foundation points of the spell-web
over Juuban.



The fifth crystal took several hours to find. When they did, they
noticed that this crystal was dark as the first one, but had little in
common with the other crystals, for they were thin cylindrical shaped
that were made of some transparent material, even the first crystal,
dark as it was, was still transparent. But this one, it was spherical,
black as midnight, and seemed to absorb any light, magic or ki near
it.

Ranma returned Onikirimaru back to its storage place, and pulled
out a metal cylinder.

Nabiki noted that with his lightsaber in hand, a mask of serenity
had overcome her Master and he was in his Jedi Master mode. She also
noted with some amusement that his Unsui outfit had been altered
through his ki/chi manipulation into a set of earth-tone Jedi robes.
Of course, he started to talk in riddles like his Jedi Master did, she
would just have to show him how much of her Sith Assassin training she
remembered. Both her Master and his Master knew how much it had
annoyed her, which was probably why they did it so much. //Jedi
seeks only enlightenment, haha,// she thought to herself. In her
mind, she heard her Master's humor at her thought.

As the last crystal, Ranma was taking precautions. Up until now,
the crystals had been taken care of a little too easily for his
liking. The darkness of the crystal and the silver-ness suggested, at
least, two forces at work. The silver magic was tremendous is scope
and power, but lacking in forethought and complexity, all brute
strength, no brains. The darkness, probably corruption of the silver
magic, was more subtle, but relatively weak in power. But the
relativity scope was comparing a large buffet meal for over a hundred
guests to an individual quick snack.

Nabiki quickly thought of overloading the dark crystal, but Ranma
mentioned that would take a vast amount of energy, and the resulting
explosion would level most of Tokyo, if not more.

Ranma came up with a plan. He put away his lightsaber, and told his
wife his plan. She did not like it, but she could not think of an
alternative.

Nabiki took eleven paces away from her Master and the dark crystal,
she summoned her staff, and used it to cast the "Shield of Seraphim"
spell over Ranma, the dark crystal and the very immediate area around
them. A blue-white dome of pure holy magic of the archangels enclosed
them.

Ranma cupped his hands in front of him and began to chant, "I call
to Order... to Chaos... grant thy powers... unleash the sword of light
and darkness into my hands... freezing nothingness... burning
everything; let us walk as one along the path of Balance..."

Black and white light appeared as he chanted, swirling around; he
squeezed his hand around the lights, forming a long tube of black and
white energy. He then shouted, "RAGUNA BLADE!"

A solid bar of black energy, pure Order, glowed in the center of
the long tube, green flames engulfed the black tube, and a white mist,
pure Chaos, surrounded the flames.

Ranma held the Raguna Blade like a lightsaber, and make a chopping
motion with it. The Raguna Blade cut the very air as it moved, as well
as the dark crystal neatly in half. For a moment, nothing happened.

Then Ranma collapsed, exhausted, face-first into the ground.

And then the dark crystal exploded, releasing its captured energy,
only to be withheld by Nabiki's shield, barely.

After several moments, the energy backlash died down, and, Nabiki
was leaning heavily on her staff. Using the staff to keep her up, she
slowly made her way towards Ranma.

The entire blast area was completely black and smoking, including
Ranma's body. All of his hair was gone, burnt to ash, as was his
clothing.

Nabiki looked down upon her Master's form and recalled his words he
had used to paraphrase the Jedi Code, "We are illuminative beings, not
this crude matter that most don't look past."

She smiled; she knew that was true, especially in her Master's
case. Although, he would never admit it, even to himself, he was now
more a being of pure ki then human of flesh. As long as but a single
thought of Him existed, anywhere, so He existed and could 'reform' his
body as he wished. He was a kami, she knew, if for no other reason
then that. By morning, he would be as good as new, which is why he had
done as he did. Not to mention the fact that she could not have casted
the Laguna Blade without access to the Dark Golden Lord of the Four
Worlds, none of which where their world. But Ranma could, and just
did, modified the spell (and its name a bit), used primordial chi
instead of mana, and accomplished the same result.

Still the strain to maintain the shield in such a magical backlash
exhausted her as well. She noted that the silver magic and its
magical-girl repellant wards were gone, if only for a moment, so she
called out, "Deesy."

With a pop, the female House-elf appeared. She gasped at the state
of Lord Ranma-sama, and the exhausted appearance of Lady Nabiki-sama.

Smirking, Nabiki said, "It looks a hell a lot worse then actually
is, Deesy-chan."

Deesy could only nodded her head, both the Saotomes were powerful
mages in their own rights, she knew.

"Deesy-chan," Nabiki began. "Could you pick up Lord Ranma-sama,
without magic for me."

Deesy immediately did so with a great easy that showed, although,
she was under a meter tall, she was a lot stronger, physically, then
her thin, small frame would suggest.

Nabiki winced, slightly, as she reached into her pocket, and pulled
out a spellcard. She slowly placed the spellcard, on its edge,
widthwise on the ground, whispered the trigger word, and stepped back.
The spellcard expanded into a double doorway. She whispered another
word, the doors opened, and Nabiki and Deesy, carrying Ranma, walked
in.

Past the doors, which closed behind them, held a long, stone,
Traditional Japanese hallway that sloped down for a bit, then sloped
back up. Nabiki's heels made a clicking sound against the stone
floor. At the end of the hallway was a Traditional gate room, as they
had been walking through a passageway through the walls of a
Traditional courtyard with trees, plants, and gardens. Towards the
back of the courtyard, sat a Traditional castle, which would have
belonged to a Shogun back in the nine century that had been in the
family for many, many generations.

The lack of people, even now, unsettled Nabiki and Deesy a bit.
Deesy because of the lack of magic, and Nabiki, because she knew if
her Master wished, the castle and its grounds could be filled with
nubile, young maidens, who would be more then eager to wish their Lord
and Kami's slight whim with all her being. They made their way to the
master suite.

There, Deesy set Ranma's body upon the master bed, with its
handcrafted silk sheets, a gift from a goddess, who had wished to give
tribute to her Lord, as well as a hope they would use them together.

Nabiki took one of her own potions, which helped her, and with
Deesy's help, made several herbs, which she spread over Ranma's body
that would promote natural healing. At the moment, Ranma was very
sensitive to magic. So they had to keep it to a minimum. Of course,
being a sorceress and a magical creature made things a bit harder for
Nabiki and Deesy.



The two walked out of the castle, through the courtyard, through a
different passageway and came out in her Master's room at the
Tendo-ke. There was a soft pop, in front of and to the side of Nabiki,
where the original spellcard that she had used in Juuban appeared, and
she placed back in her subspace storage pocket.

Deesy informed her that everyone else had eaten their dinners, the
fathers were playing shogi, Kasumi and Nodoka were watching some
teevee show, and Akane was breaking bricks in the Dojo.

Nabiki asked the house-elf to get her a bit to eat, and Deesy
returned with a feast, which she set up on a conjured table.

Nabiki logged onto the computer that her Master had set up; she
smiled at the fact that her Master had known what her favorite user
name and password was. When her Master had first arrived, she would
have been scared and fearful that someone knew her so well, but now,
she took comfort and security in that fact. She was slave, and He is
Master, and all was right with the World.

She noted that the computer system was a blend of the various
technologies of the worlds they have been to, with a few components of
their home world. They had, in all likelihood, the most powerful
computer system on the planet.

She enjoyed that she had influenced her Master enough that He was
running several Internet searches for information on the state of
their world and any impact to their return might cause. He also had a
few blueprints for the construction of independent
information-gathering droids that were no larger then a golf ball, as
well as a few business plans to see about starting up His own software
company.

She entered in the all the information they had gathered on Juuban
as well as the data they had on the Tokyo-based devil hunter clans.
With that information, they should be able to analyze and organize
everything in a scientific manner.

Before she knew it, the data had been finish, as well as her meal,
and it was dark outside her window. All that completed, she moved
towards the bed. Slightly amused, she noted that she was naked; having
magical removed her clothes at some point earlier, unconsciously.

She tired to sleep on the bed by herself, but found she could not.
Ranma's scent and presence was missing in the bed, although, she still
felt his essence through their bond.

Tired, but unable to sleep on the bed alone, she took the linens
and her pillow and settled down on the floor. While on the floor, she
could fall asleep, but her dreams were troubled, until she felt her
Master's essence in her mind, comforting her and chasing away her
inner-demons.



Usagi Tsukino was tired, and she did not know why. She and her
friends had been battling a youma that appeared the same way they had
always been. But something about this time was different...

She began her "finishing move" letting it fly to the youma, as
usual, only this time; she saw her "Moon Healing Escalation" faded
into nothingness. She, dimly, heard her friends shouting her name as
her tiredness overcame her.

At the same time, the youma seemed to swell up, the youma screamed
in pain, and exploded in smelly youma-bits that got over all the
Senshi and the area.

Sailor Mars was the first to express her disgust and went
"Eeeeuuu..."

The other Senshi turned towards Sailor Moon, to check on her, only
to note she was unconscious and back in her civilian identity.

Sailor Mercury tried to wake her up by calling her name, but she
got no response. She used her magic visor to see if she could tell
what was wrong with her friend, but could not find anything.

The Senshi untransformed themselves, and carried Usagi to Rei's
Shrine. There, they cleaned Usagi and themselves up. Ami and Makoto
brought Usagi home, and told her mother that she had fallen asleep
while they were studying. The three of them put Usagi to bed, and Ami
and Makoto left, to check on her first thing next morning.



Somewhere in Europe, a grey mist rose out of nowhere, and began to
spin, creating a vortex. Out of the vortex, someone stepped out into
the field.

The figure, obviously female, was a sight to behold. She had a
perfect hourglass-figure, midnight black hair, high-heels that showed
off her perfect, long legs. Her skin was pearl-white without a single
blemish. Her long fingernails were painted blood-red. Her clothing, if
it could be called that, was looked wet and sprayed on, only covered
the 'essentials', and even in that, it actual highlighted her assets,
rather then concealed them. Her figure was built for sex, and she was
proud of it.

She smelled the air and smiled. As she smiled, fangs could be seen.
She looked around and frown slightly at the empty field before her.

After a few moments, her pearl-white skin started to blacken and
smoke could be seen coming off her. She moaned in pain, transformed
herself into a wolf, and headed into the relative safety of the
distant, shadowy woods that were behind her.



Somewhere in Japan, a blue circular vortex appeared in the sky in
an open field. Out of the vortex, ten metal spheres fell gently in the
wind, as if they weighed no more then a feather.

The ten spheres gently landed on the grass, and rolled so that
there was a row of three by three with the tenth in 'front' of them.

Two panels on the upper hemisphere opened, one from the right, and
the other from the left, revealing two sensor devices. A red light
moved in a three-by-three grid, surrounded by grey, giving the
impression of an eye. Centered above the two eyes was the letter 'L'
followed by numbers, numbering the spheres from Zero One to One Zero.

Sphere numbered El Zero One was in front of the nine other spheres.
On either side of the El Zero One, in the same spacing, were three
strips parallel to the ground and each other. In a female voice, the
sphere spoke, "Atten Hut!"

The other nine spheres, whose eyes were roaming over the landscape,
all rotated as they needed to so that their eyes were upon the tenth
sphere.

"Ladies," Sergeant Alita began. "Our creator has finally given us a
mission! A chance to show my father, the great Sergeant Major Zero,
and our fellow Zeroids, that we female Zeroids are just as good as our
male counterparts! If not better! The enemy Android Zela has sent an
assassin to kill Commander Saotome and his mate. It is our Duty to
stop this assassin, or assassins, at all cost!"

Nine other female voices cheered and shouted, "Yes, Ma'am!"

"Oh Two through Oh Five," Sergeant Alita called out. "Your mission
is to secure raw material and put the special abilities that our Maker
has given us. We will need a battletank and two Megazeroids to operate
it. If nothing else, we can use the battletank as mobile base of
operation. The rest of you ladies, you're with me. We need to find and
secure Commander Saotome and his mate, before the enemy does."

With orders given out, Sergeant Alita said, "Roll out!"

All twenty eye-portals closed, and the Lady Zeroids rolled out of
the field and went about their missions.



In an abandoned temple somewhere in Tokyo, a mist covered the
grounds and reached up to two meters in height. Just as quickly as the
mist came, it left, leaving a figure behind.

The figure, very obviously female, naked and covered in blood, some
of it fresh, some of it dried. She wore high-heals and nothing else.
In her hand was a sword, also covered in blood. A tail grew out of her
backside, and moved in a side-to-side manner. Her hair was
midnight-black and reached passed her tail. Two, pointy horns
protruded out of her forehead.

She stood tall and proud, and her arousal was obvious given her
state of undress. She smelled the air and grinned. Two feathery wings
sprouted out of her shoulder blades areas on her back. She gave them a
flap or two to test them, and then took off to the night sky.