Ranma ½ is the property and invention of Rumiko Takahashi. The following
story is not produced for any monetary or personal gain.

Keep in mind the journey is almost always more interesting than the
destination.

Journey

Part Three: Tea With Splynncryth

Chapter 6

Nabiki sat on the floor of her room. Fine lines of concentration marred her
forehead as she stared into a porcelain basin before her. Although the
liquid it held was merely water it simmered and bubbled, emitting a
heatless silvery energy.

Waving her hand over her make-shift scrying pool she relaxed leaning
against her bed. It had been hard work following up on that fool Ryouga. He
had somehow gotten lost when he was supposed to be speaking with the city
council regarding a trade agreement. It was only through sheer luck she had
found this out with her enchantments and had spent the last several drives
in an exhausting attempt to continue negotiations with her newly mastered
image communication. Concern about Ranma fouling up what little plan they
had come with only compounded her worried state.

Never the less she had succeeded. She had forged contracts with two of the
major forces in existence in the other alternate Japan Ranma had traveled
to. She frowned at the terms. How both Ranma and Ryouga had managed to get
such poor terms still amazed and frustrated her. If the act of exploration
hadn't called for their durability she would have insisted on going
herself. Martial artists all seemed to have the negotiation skill of six
year olds. Not to say that she wasn't rich through the terms she had ...but
it could have been so much more.

A knocking sounded out her door, along with a muffled voice calling her
name. Nabiki sighed, of course as with all things connected to Ranma there
were complications. "Come in Masayo!"

The Demon Queller opened the door and peeked in. Personally Nabiki thought
she was a sweet girl, though she naturally seemed a bit obsessed about
Ranma. It had been a slight shock to find that she felt this way even
though she believed Ranma was a girl. Nabiki didn't mind, it wasn't as
though she was interested in her.

"So what brings you here today? Did the Emperor send you with the shipment
again," the Tendo girl asked casually from her seated position.

"Well ...kind of." The demon spooker mumbled from the doorway. "The war has
sort of been won."

"I assume your side 'sorta' won," Nabiki asked slyly.

"Er ...well, I suppose you could say that." The Demon Queller looked at her
feet. "With both the Republic of Japan and the New Empire cooperating in a
coordinated attack the Oni front line collapsed. Completely routed in mere
days. We actually spent more time traveling to the them than fighting
them."

"And your other problem?" Nabiki prompted.

"As we thought, the Shogunate attacked as soon as we occupied with the Oni.
If we hadn't allied with the Republic we would have easily been taken over.
As it was, the allies ambushed the attackers and drove tem into a retreat."
"That's it? No details?" the Tendo asked. Usually these fighter types
boasted for whole minutes about their victories.

"Well ...I was with the group fighting the Oni, but I hear we drove them
all the back to their cities. At that point the resistance fell apart."
Masayo shrugged in puzzlement, "They theorize that the leaders retreated
through a portal with the majority of their forces. They just left the
cities alone."

"I suppose the New Empire magnanimously offered their protection in return
for accepting their leadership."

"Hey! It wasn't like that at all!" Masayo yelled indignantly. "You don't
know what's it's like over there! If you don't have some sort of protection
then your nothing more than fodder for Oni, monsters and possessing
entities," her voice trailed off as a haunted look entered her eyes. "You
just don't know what its like," she whispered.

Nabiki shrugged guiltily, she wasn't used to dealing with fragile
personalities. "Sorry. So what happened then?"

"Well with the Shogunate cities defenseless many of the leaders of both the
allies were in favor of just leaving the traitors as Oni fodder.
Fortunately the Emperor had mercy and convinced the Republic to accept them
under their own wing."

"Wait the Emperor didn't take them himself? That makes no sense! They're
adjacent to the New Empire and nowhere near the Republic," Nabiki exclaimed
confused.

Masayo looked at Nabiki in pity, an attitude guaranteed to aggravate the
Tendo daughter. "It is against the precepts of the Empire to use technology
in any way. The only way we could accept them would be if they razed their
cities and began anew. The Republic believed technology is the true path of
the future but they are more accepting of the use of magic." She paused for
a moment. "It's not a politically sound decision, since we are now bordered
on two sides by the Republic, but it was the only decision our Emperor
could make in good conscious."

"Yeah, a real humanitarian," hiding her sarcasm as best she could. She
strongly doubted that the two powers could peacefully coexist indefinitely.
Humans didn't seem to be made to get along together. She'd be happy if she
was wrong, after all they did have the Oni as a common foe, but if one did
consume the other she was just thankful to have contracts with both of
them.

"So crisis averted, the bad guys retreated to their backer in Atlantis and
we all live happily ever after," until the Old Ones get us, Nabiki thought
to herself. "So what brings you here?"

"Atlantis? Where's Atlantis?" Masayo asked in some concern.

Nabiki cursed her slip of the tongue, chalking it up to an exhausting few
days. "Atlantis? Heh heh, that just a euphemism for limbo, or a generic
hole in the ground. Get with the times girlfriend," Nabiki casually stated
with a practiced smile. "So?"

"Well, I did well in battle, making up for much of my dishonor," she humbly
stated. "As a reward the Emperor offered me a position as liaison here."
Obviously straining for herself control she continued, "So is Ranma back
from her errand?"

Smiling to herself, Nabiki just shook her head, "Looks like it might be a
while. I can set up a place close by for you to stay in." If envoys are
going to be dropping by I should probably buy a few neighboring houses and
hire a maid service, she thought to herself, sure the expenses were
unfortunate but in all professional businesses you had to treat your
clients well if you wanted to continue doing business. This wasn't the
small time anymore, she smiled at the thought.

Nabiki's warm fuzzy feeling were dispelled as she felt a disturbance in the
dimensional layers somewhere in the city. Not her portals and not a true
gate ...yet. A frown crossed her countenance as she stretched her senses,
adding a minor spell to allow her to perceive more. In a moment she knew,
something was happening at the Neko Hanton.

Groaning to herself she sighed, she should have known. The fiancée brigade
was gone, as was Balthazar. The sheer peace and quiet should have informed
her something was happening.





Ranma walked down the street. He'd been in the city for several days and
had almost gotten to the point that he could ignore the hostile glares and
casually bat the minor nuisances he met away. For the moment he was deep in
thought as he contemplated his new career as an arena fighter.

He had avoided participating in the public fights in the past, satisfied to
test his abilities against those who challenged him. That was not to say he
never went to them. He often would walk into the various pit fights and
public exhibitions, watch, then usually walk off again. Although these
fights could be brutal they often resembled two pit bulls tearing at each
other. They lacked skill, grace, and for all the blood shed they also
lacked power. Not ferocity, but at ten years of age his casual slap could
send a normal man ten feet. There was simply no point joining in. Even his
father, whom no one had ever called an honorable man, never stooped that
low. Selling his son for rice and two pickles was one thing, but sully the
Art? Never.

He vaguely hoped this would be different, but doubted it. There would be
blood and pain ...and probably a lot of clumsy flailing around. It was
distasteful but Ranma thought he could keep his goal in mind long enough to
finish the competition. If not he was sure that Nabiki would be happy to
remind him what the stakes were. He wondered what the gang was up to. Were
they still inflicting gratuitous property damage without him? Probably. It
never took much to spark their tempers. It was part of why they were fun to
be around. It was also why he needed vacations.

He had just come from his new agent, Syushra, to sign and finalize his
contract. The contract seemed standard and one of Abdul-Ra's more legally
minded minions had examined it and given his okay concerning it. The games
started next week and would run a month. If he won every battle he would
fight once a week for a total of four engagements. It all seemed very
straightforward if a bit tawdry.

Syushra himself seemed an honest ...entity. At least Abdul-Ra's research
hadn't shown any dirty dealing in an industry that wasn't known to breed
honesty. It was just taking him a bit of time to adjust to dealing with
something that appeared so odd. Of course his agent's address, the 'Bloody
Grub Plaza' had really creeped him out. There were no tortured humans or
sentients, but there were a lot of bugs. Apparently the area specialized in
exotic cuisine. Grubs, slugs and other less savory appetizers abounded. He
had almost jumped to a neighboring building the first time he had seen
someone's breakfast skitter away before the patron was fast enough to
consume it.

Syushra had been polite and came across as very forthright. They had
chatted for several hours about various fights they had each been in or
witnessed. The alien had a story to suite every occasion. Each one very
witty and humorous. He listened attentively to Ranma's own stories giving
his own version of a chuckle in the appropriate places. He was, in short,
the perfect host.

This in itself made Ranma feel awkward. He had never really met someone who
was so easy to get along with. It would have been a very pleasant time if
he could just get over the fact that Syushra looked like the guest star
from a horror film. Probably his only lapse had been the time he asked
Ranma if he was hungry and offered to treat him to a very nice local
restaurant. The alien must have been an astute study of the human features
since he had immediately realized that his guest looked quite ill and
retracted his offer.

Still Ranma had come away with a lot to think about. The stories his host
had shared regarding the Arena had been a mixed bag. Blood and gore
intermixed with honorable battle. In a way in was comforting. He had been
given the impression that Syushra was extremely knowledgeable and would be
willing to share his wisdom in order to efficiently defeat his opponents.

It would be fair to say that Ranma was on autopilot while walking down the
thoroughfare. It would not be accurate to say that that he was ignoring his
surroundings. His experience in Nerima as well as various subsequence
events had honed his battle senses to a fine hair trigger. So while his
conscious mind paid no attention to the two humans wearing the body armor
shaped into insectoid forms, his back brain noted their location as well as
the position of the other entities and their chi's he sensed in a wide area
around him.

When the two casually walked up behind him, simultaneously formed a sword
in each hand, then aimed them at him, his reflexes took over. It wasn't as
if Mousse hadn't tried the same thing before. Throwing himself forward onto
his hands he kicked back with both feet while allowing the blades to tangle
with the others where his torso would have been.

His feet meanwhile met the stomach of to two behind him. The impact threw
both opponents twenty feet backward and forced one of them to drop his
sword at the ground by Ranma. The martial artist casually continued his
roll forward to face his assailants.

"Hmm ...you certainly don't look like fiancée's," Ranma mocked at the two
figures hastily getting to their feet. "Martial arts rivals? Nah, usually
they yell out a challenge. At least the first time they attack me. You're
also a bit more clumsy than my usual fare." Saying this he casually kicked
the sword laying at his feet. The weapon was sent through the air hilt
first at the forehead of the face mask, knocking the single sworded figure
back on its butt. "Oh, you dropped this."

The pair silently moved forward to flank the pig-tailed youth. Ranma
grinned to himself. He couldn't help it, random attacks made him homesick.
As the duo began their assault he in turn began his commentary. "Not bad
...for a twin set of losers," darting from side to side to avoid the flurry
of strikes he continued. "I enjoy this more than a salvo of missiles. We'll
have to do this again some time. When you get out of the hospital."

Positioning himself he tapped two of the dancing blades on the side, which
in turn altered their trajectory to tangle them in the other set. A loud
series of clangs alerted the martial artist that his simple tactic had
succeeded and the area was temporarily free of weapons.

Darting quickly into the space in front of each attacker in turn he deftly
grabbed hold of the ridge that held the helmets in place. "I'd love to chat
more, but I have places to go, people to see ...oh and your friend here to
interrogate," holding the fellow in his left at full extension he initiated
the Butterfly Kiss, the transferred kinetic energy sending the first
assassin sailing almost a half mile away. He easily deflected the remaining
attacker's sword by the simple expedient of shaking him like a rag doll.

"Kind of tough to aim all those little swords of yours when your worlds
moving like that," Ranma offered sympathetically while continuing to toss
the hapless figure around in seemingly random directions, constantly
avoiding the flailing blades. "I really feel for you. The first time Ryouga
used it on me ...well, as you might notice, it's really not a very
dignified move. Effective until you know the counter." At this point Ranma
began pounding the armored individual rhythmically into the ground, first
in one direction, then the other.

"It's great against people in armor too. That heavy layer of protection
doesn't seem very useful against internal impacts. Of course I'm using more
force than normal in your case. I can tell by your aura that you're tougher
than a normal human," smiling warmly, he continued. "That's okay, it's
still a good move for keeping you off balance until I can do this."

At that point Ranma paused and threw two carefully aimed miniature vacuum
blades, one at either side of the armor's neck. He followed this up with a
palm strike to the face plate, shattering the insect visage.

"Well, so that’s what you look like," Ranma muttered to himself, "I don't
remember you." He did notice the tattoos at the neck and face but other
than that it was just some unknown young human.

While the shaken human was recovering Ranma took advantage of his stunned
condition to remove his swords. It didn't look like his hand to hand skills
were a particular threat to him. Taking a better grip on his hapless
victim's throat he started his interrogation.

"So ...who sent you? Either it was an idiot or someone vastly misinformed
about me," Ranma helpfully gave another shake to loosen the tongue. The
young man silently glared into the face of his captor and gritted his
teeth. A moment later a luminescent blue glow formed around him. Ranma's
grip was slightly displaced by the immaterial substance and the assassin
took advantage of this to twist free and take a ready stance some feet
away.

"Let me guess. A force field, right?" Ranma taunted, attempting to get some
sort of reaction from his opponent. At least the idiot was disarmed, Ranma
thought to himself.

Behind the martial artist the swords laying on the ground shimmered, then
disappeared. Ranma, feeling the tingling sensation that presaged
enchantment stepped back and to the side, allowing him to view the area
behind him without losing sight of his opponent. He was slightly surprised
to find the swords had vanished. A moment later he was even more dismayed
to see them reappear in the young assassin's hands.

Ranma frowned to himself, mentally calculating how soon it would be before
the other fellow could get back. Chances were he wouldn't be stunned long
and the attack itself was mostly to gain distance, doing very little
damage. Nodding he came to the conclusion that he had a few minutes to test
his opponent's abilities. It would be valuable to know his enemies'
capabilities.

With this decision he leaped over his opponent and then began a methodical
pounding before the swords could be brought to bear. The hardest part with
dealing with swords was getting in close. Fortunately only Kuno had ever
been good enough to keep him at a distance for any amount of time. And that
was only when using that silly watermelon training regime.

After about fifteen seconds of the Chestnut Fist, the blue glow disappeared
allowing free access to flesh. The martial artist was about to renew his
verbal assault when his danger sense told him of a threat from behind. He
leaped away expecting that either reinforcements had arrived or the
assassins partner had made his journey sooner than expected. He was
therefore taken by complete surprise when a 5 meter long head filled with
dagger like teeth closed around one of his legs.

The shock was soon followed by surprise, then pain. Oh, sure he was far
more durable in this environment than at home, but rows of saber sharp
teeth still hurt like hell even if his leg was in no danger of being
removed. Most worrying, it lowered his mobility by several magnitudes. No
...now that he thought about it, the fetid aroma and slime that was on his
leg was the worst.

Ever since the Orroci he had lost any desire to see a big lizard up front,
his encounters with Ammit and the Dragon had just driven the feeling home.

Not one to dwell on his misfortunes he grabbed a nostril in one hand and
with that leverage began quickly knocking out the teeth around his leg
several at a time. The huge creature didn't even register the pain for
several seconds leaving Ranma essentially free to leap away when the thing
roared in pain and violently shook its head.

Gracefully landing many meters away the pig tailed youth leisurely massaged
his leg while appraising the situation. His assassin now had another force
field up and both his swords out. He was seemingly in control of a large
T-Rex. Admittedly, the dinosaur wasn't very fast and it didn't 'feel' as
threatening as most magical or supernatural entities did. Most likely it
was just a big animal as opposed to a monster that used ambient
supernatural energies to fuel it's durability. All right, one more foray.

The lizard was closing in on him, so he simply leaped between it's legs,
under its body and tail and into a swift jump kick at the unmasked youth.
Ranma felt a tingle of magic and then a wall of air impacted him
mid-flight. Tumbling end over end trying to regain his balance he was again
struck in the side by a huge scaled tail. Once more tumbling in the air he
managed to come to a semblance of a controlled landing about fifty feet
away.

Working the kinks out of his muscled he looked back at his attackers. The
youth was now floating in air, electricity dancing on the surface of the
armor and exposed skin. The T-Rex was rapidly approaching with earth
shaking steps.

It was obvious that he had drastically underestimated his opponents. They
had begun their assault with an incredibly weak attack and he had assumed
that even if they were holding some of their forces back, they weren't
holding much back. The use of magic swords, spell effects without any
obvious spellcasting and monster summoning proved him wrong. Of course the
very fact that they had attacked him with such a pathetic initial strike
demonstrated that they knew practically nothing about him either. In this
case the war might go to the one who knew more about the other.

Ranma knew he could win, heck he was barely winded. That wasn't ever in
question, however it was obvious that this person wasn't working alone.
Ranma also knew it would be best if they found out as little about his
capabilities as possible. Until he decided to challenge them on his own
ground. It was just a variation of the Saotome Final Attack.

With that thought he engaged the dimensional cloak and ghosted towards
nearby cover.





Nabiki hurried through the silent streets. They were presently deserted.
The Nerima citizens apparently sensing that such a quiet day was merely a
prelude to a disaster of epic proportion had mostly decided to either stay
in or visit relatives in neighboring prefectures. Not having anything to do
except waiting, Masayo had followed in her tracks. She easily jogged next
to the panting Tendo girl, even finding the leisure to glance around at the
scenery.

Nabiki was worried. If the disturbance had occurred elsewhere she may have
shrugged and sent someone to find out what had happened. The Neko Hanten
actually had people who know something about magic. Usually only enough to
be irritating but there were many events taking place that should not be
interfered with. Ranma wasn't here so chances are there was nothing to be
worried about, but still...

The anomaly she had sensed was slowly building. It had been worrisome but
it was getting to be more. When the eatery finally came into sight the
radiance pouring out of the windows and from under the door inspired a last
ditch panicked rush towards the front door.

Nabiki was not one of the martial powerhouses that frequented the area but
she was not without some limited training. This combined with one of the
most unpleasant adrenaline rush she had ever experienced combined to allow
her destroy the flimsy lock on the door and rush inside. She immediately
wished she had waited.

Inside were all the people that she had been concerned about. Shampoo
huddled on the floor next to the Summoner, Balthazar, listening intently to
his instructions. Ukyou and Akane stood across from them quietly waiting
for them to finish. The two girls from the Timiro Kingdom stood on either
side of them. Such a scene of peace would not have been cause for concern
except for the circle on the floor which was radiating a huge amount of
energy and light. It gathered in a wide pillar and almost coated the walls
and ceiling in eerie luminescence.

Nabiki was far from a master of the mystic arts, most of her powers were
granted from Thoth rather than through her own means. However none had ever
accused her of being slow on the uptake. The girls in front of her were
breaking down the dimensional barriers and it wasn't just to chat about the
weather.

"Stop," Nabiki shouted at the top of lungs. Her image as the unflappable
business person could be restored later. Right now the universe as she knew
it was endangered. Unfortunately, whatever effect Shampoo and the circle
mage had been trying for was finished. The Amazon looked up from the circle
and turned in puzzlement.

"What Mercenary Girl want," she asked from the sitting position. Behind her
the pillar flexed and bent. A final deformation sent waves of energy
throughout the area the excess energy dispersed, displaying a different
scene on the other side of the newly created portal.

"Stay put," Nabiki commanded futilely, "Ranma is coming back in just a few
weeks. You'll do nothing except risk his life if you go through that."

"Shampoo is going to help Airen," the blue-haired girl sniffed
disdainfully. "Shampoo not abandon him like the others."

"Hey," a chorus came from the other girls as they glanced away from the
mesmerizing gate to their rival.

"I know Ranma bit off more than even his ego can handle. Just because
you’re the only one who knows enough about magic to follow him doesn't mean
we don't care," an irate Akane responded.

"Yeah and don't think we're going to let you alone with my Ran-chan," Ukyou
inserted, earning a glare of her own from the other girls.

"Ranma isn't going to thank you if you jump through that portal. Let me
contact him and you can see for yourself that everything is fine. He really
doesn't need help," Nabiki stated quickly, trying to keep their wavering
attention focused on her. "Look, its really a simple mission. He's in no
danger at all. Just wait for him," Nabiki urged as she lied through her
teeth.

"Mercenary Girl lie ...Airen needs us," that was as far as she got before a
huge clawed hand reached through the portal and grabbed the girls hair. In
an instant the Amazon had been pulled through the portal. After a moment of
shocked silence the others shouted in rage.

When projectile and laser fire began to spray wildly through the portal the
shouting was quickly muted as the girls dived to the floor. Nabiki cursed
to herself from her own position hugging the ground. The circle mage was
cowering in one corner and the other girls were now spread out throughout
the room.

Nabiki heard groaning timbers sound throughout the restaurant and realized
with a shock that the energy and projectiles that had completely missed the
people had blown huge gaping holes in the walls and ceiling. Her eyes
widened in panic as she was able to see through the openings and see that
outside large portions of nearby houses and even several houses behind
those houses were either gone or had huge areas missing from them.

Eyes slotted in determination she quietly apologized to Shampoo and
summoned burrowed energy from Thoth and focused it through her hand. A
small fiery sphere formed in the palm of her hand and in a smooth motion
she aimed and fired. Not at the portal, but at the circle under it.

The instant the energy impacted, the portal winked out taking the humming
of lasers and whistling projectiles with them.

There was a moment of complete silence as each girl took count of what had
just occurred. Nabiki, although feeling ill at the fate she might have
condemned Shampoo to was glancing nervously around her. Most of the walls
were gone and she could see the sky through the upper floors of the
restaurant.

"Everyone out of the building, now," commanded Nabiki, barely able to keep
her voice from breaking up."

"You ...you just left Shampoo to that thing," Akane whispered in horror,
just staring aghast at her sister.

"I had no choice, we..."

"What kind of monster are you," her younger sister began.

"Your sister is wise," a gruff voice broke in, "She has saved you from a
fate which you most assuredly earned." Masayo stood from where she lain.
"If you continue to blindly open portals to my world you will find that
there are many things that will attempt to destroy you. I believe Ranma may
survive such things but it's obvious that he is the exception in this world
not the rule." Frowning to herself she looked around. "You have paid a
price, but if we don't leave we'll pay a heavier toll. It's a miracle this
building is still standing. I for one will not tempt fate any longer in
this fragile world." So stating she promptly walked out through one of the
open walls, bits of ceiling starting to fall around her in earnest.

This action prodded the others to leave the condemned area themselves. Once
outside they stood in silence taking in the ruined blocks surrounding the
once popular eatery.

They were still staring out at the devastation in shock when the edifice
behind them signaled its end with a long resounding crash.

Nabiki simply shook her head in wonder. Ranma was going to freak when he
found out Shampoo was in Atlantis. Heck, even Thoth was going to be upset.
Nabiki was supposed to be in control of the area. Any problems here were
ultimately her responsibility.

Looking at the burning buildings surrounding her Nabiki tapped her foot on
the ground in contemplation. This would take a bit of effort to put a
positive spin on.









Revision 1.0

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