Kaname and Kyoko noticed as Eija stood up and walked over to the window, frowning.
"Is something wrong?" Kyoko asked.
"I don't know," Eija said. "I just feel a bit...excuse me, I need to check something."
Sousuke and Kaname glanced at each other cautiously for a moment as Eija walked out of the room, where most of the students were currently relaxing in a "study period".
Kaname shrugged, but stood up to follow the girl, Sousuke predictably moving with her.
****
Ranma felt and saw the power imbedded in the very walls of the temple as she approached. And it was definitely the same sort of power that haunted her fuzzy memories of that day and night so long ago.
Taking a deep breath, and wrapping herself in the umisenken's ultimate technique, she started to walk up the path toward the housing portion of the temple.
"Damn," a male voice said from around the back. "I can't seem to make it work at less than half-sized."
"That's better than our power efficiency," a female voice said.
"I'm not giving up yet!" a younger female voice declared. "That bastard and his Red Daikons are going to go down!"
"If we had more money we could afford to do a full-sized unit," another woman noted. "With all the effort we're making in miniaturizing things, you'd think we're spending that anyway."
"Yeah, but its being spent in time, not money," the man said again.
"Does anybody want lemonade," another woman's voice asked.
Following the voices, as it was apparent the residents were in the back of the grounds rather than in the house. Ranma cautiously stepped around the building, wrapped in the umisen cloak.
What she found were three humans and two non-humans working about at marking blueprints and tooling with various machines and engine pieces. One of the non-humans, matching the description she had of this Belldandy person, was walking about serving glasses of lemonade to everyone present.
The youngest seeming of the bunch was one of the non-humans, who seemed to be about the same age as Ranma's children, if not a year or two younger. The others were in their early to late twenties.
"Aren't you guys ready for the software yet?" a sixth voice demanded. "I can't really do any programming on how to run a theoretical mecha."
"Who said you're programming anything?" the teen-aged non-human declared pointing at a tall, dark skinned woman out on the porch.
This third was a third non-human, though was also not wholy the same as the other two women.
"Who's better to do the programming, squirt?" the new woman asked. "A lowly bug-hunter or a full-accredited sysop?"
"Who's been suspended too many times to count," the youngest said.
"Where do they work again?" one of the two human women asked the man. She was the oldest person there by maybe five years.
"I think it's a family-owned software company," the young man said with a trace of nervousness on his face. "Anyway, Megumi's going to be doing the main programming."
"But...why?" the youngest asked. "Keiichi, you know I'm the best robotics expert here!"
"She can do it," the other woman, apparently "Megumi", said shrugging as if she really didn't mind one way or another. "I'm fine with that."
"If either Skuld or Urd programs the thing, it'll likely be overboard," the oldest woman said. "And Megumi's the only other one here with robotics experience, so that's obvious. But the entire thing is moot if we don't get off our asses and work on these miniaturization problems."
Comforted that these were likely not the same spirits that had troubled her previously, all Ranma had to do now was see what they were here for.
Casually, she reached out with an arm and knocked on the wall next to her at the same time as she dropped the umisenken's ultimate technique.
Six people turned around to face with shocked expressions, well mostly, one of the non-humans seemed to be less than alarmed, even if she was surprised.
"Oh, we have a visitor," Belldandy said in a friendly manner. "What can we do for you?"
"I think you met my daughter and her friends a few days ago," Ranma said. "Eija Satomi."
"Oh yes," Belldandy said nodding. "If you can join Urd and I inside, maybe we can discuss this."
"Is everything okay?" Megumi asked.
Keiichi looked up to Belldandy and saw her nod.
"Yeah, everything's fine," Keiichi assured her. "Boss, why don't you and I switch components, maybe if we start on something new we'll clear our heads."
Ranma watched the four continue their project as she followed Belldandy and a confused looking dark-skinned woman, the apparent "Urd", into the building.
Having trained in Stav fairly extensively, Ranma couldn't help but recognize the names Skuld and Urd from Norse myth. With that she was able to go backwards from Belldandy to Verdandi.
Norse goddesses.
If that's what they were, then the spirits that attacked her, were they also goddesses?
"What's going on out there?" Ranma asked out of curiousity.
"The captain of the Nerima Red Dragons, called them armchair engineers," Urd explained.
"Red dragons?" Ranma repeated, confused as he noted laundry strung up in the side yard through another opening in the temple.
"JSDF competitive AS team," Belldandy finished. "In any caseI'm pleased to meet you Satomi-san, I did not know there were any other companions n..."
"I'm really not fond of that term," Ranma said, cutting Belldandy off.
"What, companion?" Urd asked. "What's the problem with that?"
"Because companion is what Keiichi is," a new voice declared, and Ranma and two goddesses turned to see the leather garbed figure of Morrigan walking of the laundry lines. "And Saotome-san's relationship was decidedly less pleasant, or willing."
Behind the woman, one of the bed sheets seemed to be splattered in blood for a moment before the red washed away.
"Oh, Morrigan," Belldandy said in surprise and confusion. "But you..."
Belldandy and Urd turned to look at Ranma who was in stance already, ready to fight against the woman that had just joined them. A red-headed woman who felt as bloody as Belldandy felt peaceful.
"So who are you lady, and why are you here?" Ranma demanded.
"I'm here to talk to you, Ranma Saotome," Morrigan said.
That was all the other red-head needed to hear to make a decision.
Ranma was across the room and moving to slam into Morrigan, pulling the other red-head out of the house into the grounds outside.
The celtic war-goddess blinked in surprise but took control of the roll swiftly, disengaging from Ranma and tossing her aside, over the wall of the temple and following.
As the red-headed goddess leaped the wall, she found Ranma's foot filling up her vision and sending her bouncing down the street.
Out and away from structures, both woman started fighting in earnest, the irritation on Morrigan's face starting to give way to a fierce grin as the patron of the baensidhe let loose with a piercing yell that shattered glass around her and momentarily put Ranma on the defensive.
****
"What was that?" Chihiro asked as the fight, now some blocks away, turned audible to the engineers.
"Maybe a jet did a sonic boom over the wrong air space," Keiichi suggested.
"Gah, hope they get tarred and feathered for it," the older woman said. "Almost broke this component."
****
Morrigan had the advantage as Belldandy and Urd caught up, but the fight was quickly turned around with a call of Hiryu Shoten Ha and even the limited amount of power the first class goddess was using roared to life into a short-lived tornado that had catapulted the woman into the air where Ranma intercepted her.
Both hit the ground into a roll as Morrigan found herself being pushed back by the blows Ranma was choosing. Still, the red-headed human was just that, human, and Morrigan wasn't especially worried just yet.
Even when the woman slammed her to the ground with a sweep and was instantly straddling the leather-clad darkness.
"Saoto...Satomi-san, wait!" Belldandy shouted, moving to grab hold of Ranma's hand as she started channelling chi. "She's an Eye of Ra!"
"What do I care what she is?" Ranma demanded.
"It means she's an investigator," Urd said, coming on the other side. "She solves heavenly crimes."
Ranma paused and took that into consideration.
"You're a cop?" she asked.
"That's a way to put it," Morrigan said.
"And why the hell didn't you say anything?" Ranma demanded.
"Because I haven't had a simple rumble in a long time," the other red-head said.
****
AN: first class gods and demons are strong enough to destroy the world (assuming no one intereferes with them), Ranma's not up to that level, but with Morrigan avoiding her raw power and magical potential (especially as she's probably operating with a limiter on Earth), they're a lot more even in terms of raw martial skill. (mostly because Morrigan reincarnated about thirty years ago and hasn't yet assimilated all her ancient memories into her fighting form).