Ranma ½ Divine Blood

[Thrythlind]

just to warn, school's starting up sp my writing time is going to be eaten by that pretty soon, all the grading and meetings and lesson plans and such.

right now, it's being eaten by my side job, which involves watching movies and typing down the dialogue, and explaining it for ease of later translation (I don't do the translation.) Now that sounds like it might be a quick and easy job, but here's a small sample:

Annie: The childÆs a born dancer, if you ask me. Highly talented. Highly. On the go, you know, from morning to night. (SheÆs trying to speak like someone from the aristocratic background. I wouldnÆt have thought she was the same kitchen maid from earlier save for Jane identifying her. However, her tone and voice her is much more annoying than it was before and it strikes me as posturing compared to the characters that were actually raised with that mode of speech)

Jane: Have you any children, Annie?

Annie: I havenÆt exactly, if you know what I mean. George donÆt believe in families. Not in the retail business.

George: Now, what I mean, youÆve got enough to do to look after the shop.

Jane: Oh, I see.

Ellen: You see, my cousin George is a greengrocer, (sells vegetables also known as ôgreensö) milady.

Jane: I see.

Old Woman: May I press you to another cup, your ladyship?

Jane: Oh, no thank you, really. WeÆveàitÆs getting very late.

Edward: Yes, mother.

Annie: And how was Cambridge when you left it, Master Edward? (Master is the title used for children and young men who have not yet come into their own)

Edward: Oh, awfully nice, I suppose. IÆm at Oxford, you know. (very big rivalry here, sort of similar to Yale vs Harvard over in here in America)

Annie: Oh, Oxford, IÆve never been to Oxford, but my husband has, havenÆt you George? (usually when you say ôbeen toö a college, you mean ôattended as a studentö and IÆm sure thatÆs the meaning Annie is trying to imply. However, the way sheÆs speaking makes it sound like she herself doesnÆt understand that ôbeen to Oxfordö doesnÆt mean more than having walked on the grounds and seeing the place. Therefore, she thinks simply visiting Oxford is enough to be proud of and is thus propping up her husband George as a way of propping up her own importance. All the while making herself and her husband a bit silly since ôbeen to Oxfordö means ôgone to school at Oxfordö to everybody else there)

George: Yes, nice place, Oxford, very antique, if you no what I mean.

Jane: Sir Robert will be so sorry to hear of Bridges illness, my dear.

George: Ill? Alf ill? WhatÆs the matter with him?

Ellen: Before you and Annie come, George, I was explaining to her ladyship about poor AlfieÆs bad leg. (Both Ellen and Jane are trying to be polite about Annie and George, but neither is particularly happy with the twoàor their peacockish behavior)

 

[ringlhach]

Something's bothering me. Maybe it's because I only really remember seeing four or five of them in FMP! canon and haven't followed the manga, but how many conventionally sane Whispered are there? There's Kaname, most of the time; Tessa, sort of (I don't feel that anyone able to snap in and out of a tactical mindset like she seems to is exactly sane, and that's coming from someone who can do it); and maybe her older brother. Other than them, there's Takuma (Juggernaut), and that woman in Siberia, in the opening scenes of the first season. Takuma was... unstable, and the woman, Whispered or not, had probably been tortured, and that's not a recipe for sanity, either.

What I'm trying to get to is, if this ranch is mass-producing Whispered, what are the odds on their long term mental stability? The only thing I remember seeing proof of is that they're making super-soldiers, but Deimosu's little partner, at least, is Whispered, if I'm reading Thrythlind right. He's kind of answered that with the need for mental/spiritual firewalls on ChiNet and the one who wants to take over someone else's body, but that's about it.

 

[PCHeintz72]

Even in real life, there seems to be a bit of a connection with mental instability and intellegence.

While IQ's hardly are the only proof of intellegence, a number of years ago (around 11/2003) I looked into it a bit and a couple different sites were showing statistics that were interesting. The percentage of those having high IQ and mental instability or known issues /eccentricities rose as people approached 175 and above even as the number of people reaching that level as a percentage dropped off. I personally ranked only at 138, though average is more like 90-110.

For the purpose of the series, and even this story, if the human brain in Whispered are either containers for this intellegence, or are linking into it somehow, then this overwhelming amount of info could be doing just that to their mental stability.

An interesting article I came across just now attributes some level of intellegence and creative think of advanced knowledge due to the speed at which the brain shifts between phases. This was a article called 'Disorderly Genius' in NewScientist. Even a 1 millisecond difference can make a jump of 20 IQ points, if they are to be believed.


EDIT: I'm a bit annoyed, house is currently experiencing some brownouts... likely due to storm that passed my area a few hours ago... it is enough to make my internet connection slightly unstable. It momentarily cut as I made this post, thus killing my connection for a few minutes until the gateway could reconnect.

 

[Thrythlind]

Takuma wasn't Whispered. He was under a drug regime that makes it possible to use a lambda driver reliably. IE, the drugs induce the intense level of emotion needed for an untrained layman to use chi. Mental instability is one of the side-effects.

There are a good number of Whispered (at least three of which seem attracted to Sousuke, though one of those has only shown up in novels so far and who doesn't seem to live long).

The girl from the beginning of the serious shows up later to do some support work in building something Kaname designed (no more said on that) again, in novels that haven't been officially translated yet (yay for translator friends).

Leonard, Kaname, Tessa, Russian girl, other one attracted to Sousuke, the inventor of the Arbalest, other unnamed ones.

Note, the inventor of the Arbalest (and several other AS equipment) did end up committing suicide.

So yes, mental problems are a common factor, though part of that would be the fact that every so often there's another voice, or voices, snooping around in the back of your mind telling you about things you shouldn't know about.

********

Speaking as a teacher with some GT training, we recently had a rather interesting lesson that showed a bell curve and applied it to human intelligence to show a point.

Basically, someone that has high intelligence thinks and processes information in manners as different from the norm as someone with low intelligence. The brain just WORKS different.

What's normal for high IQ is not normal for average IQ. Which is why they tend to strike us as weird or unusual or even crazy.

 

[Thrythlind]

"I swear, there was something freaky about that kid," Tokijo claimed. "He must have set me up before he had his try. Yeah, I bet he put that magnet in there and rigged it to fail."

"And he did this all in twenty seconds between you finishing repairs on your rig and your half-dragging him over to try it," one of the annoyed men in uniform suggested.

"But..."

"You have thirty minutes," one of the officers said. "If we see you in this festival after that time, you're going to jail."

Tokijo sighed in minute relief as the officers walked away, leaving him to pack up for the night. Maybe he'd be able to get a lawsuit out of this or something.

He barely turned about when a tall blonde figure rushed past him, barely registering the teen that had just got him kicked out of the festival, the man turned to rage at his nemesis, only to be flattened to the ground by a slim foot.

Looking up from his newly prone position, he caught sight of the youngest of the three sisters he'd tried to bilk earlier. The very same one that had just about splintered his rig. Groggily watching her through the concussion he watched her pick up his sledgehammer and light out after the boy.

And then two more sets of feet stomped into his back and onward.

****

Sanya leaped up with all her genetically enhanced might, trying to cut off Deimosu's retreat with their younger sister.

"You can't escape now that we've see you, little boy," Sanya shrieked. "Ohhh-HOHOHOHOHO!!"

As she landed Deimosu pulled the little girl out of the way, and then the hammer in her hand slammed down into the ground.

Over-balanced, she was too busy righting her to even be aware of Deimosu's response until she had the eerily elative feeling of weightlessness and the discovery that her feet were spinning over her shoulders fast enough to reproduce a moment of no gravity.

She had time to produce the thought "cool" before she slammed into, rather through, a nearby wall.

Then Deimosu was running again, Yaku on his back, clutching her stuffed shark

"Is she all right?" Yaku asked.

Deimosu glanced over his shoulder and winced, he hadn't thought he'd hit her that hard.

********

AN: Weee for wimpy short snippet

 

[Nanya]

Well, with school starting up and you being a teacher, no one blames you.

Why do I have the urge to hear Benny Hill music for a moment?

 

[Thrythlind]

The younger of the three numbered huntresses wasn't seriously hurt, but she spent several seconds unburying herself before she could even stand unsteadily. From there she had to try to regain her sense of balance and direction. It was almost a minute before she was sure of even which direction she was facing, by that time the chase was well out of her line of sight.

Fortunately, the signs of passage were somewhat less mobile.

****

Nimu thought about moving ahead to cut off the fleeing young-man and their sister, but she didn't want to be seperate from Yonjuu. If Sanya was still with them, it would have been one thing, but the ogre of their group had already been left in the dust.

They passed by the stand with the weighted rings and Nimu veered by momentarily to grab a handful of the rings and then snatched at the lengths of rope tying down the tent with the display of toys.

Stuffed animals, sodas and more scattered over the stone road to the outcry of the scam artist as all sorts of children started grabbing and leaving off into the crowd.

Nimu, still running started working with the rings and ropes.

****

The first weighted rope came whizzing over Deimosu's head with a whine that minutely warned him of its approach in time to duck low and bring Yaku out of the path of the weapon.

He glanced back in time to do a quick backflip over the silent rope that was angling toward his legs.

Both the girls were pulling their weapons back, one more quickly than the other, and Deimosu realized that at least one of his pursuers wasn't just an untrained laboratory experiment.

Though as he watched the girl with the larger chest trying to reel in her rope clumisly, he was pretty sure that the training was only extensive for one of the two.

The hammer-girl certainly wasn't very well trained.

He continued leaping back out of the village towards the hills and forests around town

"Deimosu," Yaku said quietly.

"Just a second," the martial artist said as he deflected the rope again.

The weapons weren't strong enough to do much damage, but with the weights, they could trip him up if they got lucky, at least it would be luck in the one girl's case.

Another rope came in as the girls continued to chase him, not letting him get distance on them as they kept his eyes facing them.

****

As the rope came in again, Nimu quietly pulled some of the length in before swinging again. Stepping in front of Yonjuu momentarily to cover the other girl's less subtle movements to do the same. They'd gained yards on the blonde warrior doing this and keeping him distracted with their make-shift lassos.

In a little bit, they'd be in sprinting range.

Nimu was fixated on her plan and its execution and Yonjuu was likewise distracted by the effort of using the difficult rope weapon without making a mistake such that she was ignoring what her senses were trying to tell her about the direction they were heading.

****

Deimosu grimaced as he finally noticed that the girls had been coming closer to him and the girl he was protecting.

"Deimosu," Yaku said again, a bit more urgently.

In that moment the two girls zipped forward and Deimosu found himself first deflecting the competent flying kick by the elder of the two girls. She predictably recovered from the block ready to strike out, such that Deimosu could not out right take the second girl out of the fight completely without making Yaku vulnerable.

He could, however, step aside, leaping back to place the clumsy one between the lithe older one and him.

"Deimosu-san!" Yaku shouted again as they came to a landing and the blonde martial artist felt the gaping lack of solid ground behind him.

A cliff-side, of course, not much of a problem normally, but, it was just another limit to what he could do with the kid to take care of.

"We're not going to fall, don't worry," Deimosu said confidentally as he set her down next to a tree and stepped forward. "Don't move from there."

"Hai, Deimosu-san," Yaku said.

****

Nimu saw the young man stop for what seemed to be no reason for a few moments before her tunnel vision gave way and she saw the sheer slope just beyond the young man's position.

She stopped, her eyes wide, as she suddenly realized the precarious nature of their situation. They needed Yaku alive and ofr the most part unharmed. Severe head trauma from a fall was probably something that they definitely wanted to avoid.

Unfortunately, her younger sister, despite her various enhanced senses, hadn't exactly the same level of discipline.

Yonjuu stepped forward, trying to throw a kick up into Deimosu's head. From there it would be easy for the young man to toss the tracker out into space where she would likely land badly.

If she didn't die immediately, she'd still be too damaged for the Mistress to consider it worth repairing her.

****

Deimosu noticed the slender one stop even as the bouncier of the two lodged forward in a novice's roundhouse. He grabbed her foot incoming and could read the horror on the other girl's face, obviously predicting that he was about to send her comrade, probably sister, out into open air.

These weren't his enemies though, and that look of concern on the other woman's face said they probably weren't the evil sort that his mother would likely consider worth killing.

Instead of letting her momentum continue past him out into the sky to be dashed into whatever sort of landing she could manage, he pulled straight up slamming her hard into the ground, driving her senseless.

Deimosu still had hold of her leg as he stepped aside to shield Yaku more closely now that he was down to one opponent again.

****

Sanya followed the trail of casual and not so casual destruction into the trees and hills outside the city.

"Why are there always wild areas so near every city around here?" Sanya asked. "It's like right outside the cities there's a bunch of hidden wilderness hideaways everywhere, at least there are no dangling peaks."

As she was pondering this, Sanya San caught a glimpse of motion ahead of her in the trees and noted Yonjuu getting dashed heartless to the ground as Nimu came to a stop mysteriously.

****

"You didn't kill Yonjuu," the older girl said, trying to cover her relief with a cool professionalism. "For that I'll give you a choice. That girl is our sister, we want her back."

"And what happens to the 'material' when she goes back?" Deimosu asked.

Nimu's mouth twitched and she hesitated to answer.

Unfortunately, she didn't get the chance to.

"You're mine! Ohhh-HOHOHOHOHOHOHO!" a shrill voice called out from above the small group just before Sanya slammed into the ground.

The look of horror at approaching death returned to Nimu's face and Deimosu's as well as the overly strong girl shattered the edge of the cliff.

The martial artist scooped up Yaku even as the ground underneath them became a mass of pebbles, and simultaneously kicked the instrument of the accident backwards into her elder sister.

Again, Sanya flew back further than should have been possible for the strength of the push, knocking both her and Nimu clear of the crumbling.

Which still left Deimosu with Yonjuu and Yaku to consider in a cascade of rocks and no longer having a clear ground to leap away from.

He could feel Yaku clinging to his back as he held his hand out in a gesture to use something he knew little about and had little skill with: magic.

Nimu sat up watching her sisters and Deimosu tumble away with the cliff side. A brilliant flash of light washed outward, some reflected fragment of sunlight, perhaps, and the three were gone.

Dashing quickly to the edge she found curiously no sign of blood or battered bodies as she hopped carefully down the cliffside toward the settling rubble.

There was a tingling, tantalizing trace of power in the area, the young man wasn't just a martial artist it seemed. He had inborn power, it seemed.

"I...I didn't see that you were on a cliff," Sanya called from above. "Are they okay?"

Nimu looked up toward Sanya with narrowed eyes.

"The good news is they're probably alive," Nimu noted. "He teleported or something."

"Is there bad news?" Sanya asked.

"There's no telling where they went," Nimu said. "Because he used a gift to get them there."

****

Wee, finally got time to do some writing.

 

[ringlhach]

Well. Their Mistress isn't going to be too happy, especially with Sanya, I think.

 

[Thrythlind]

It was dark, in all directions.

Yaku listened intently, eyes recovering from the bright flash, but coming only to darkness.

"Deimosu-san! My eyes aren't working," she said in a panic. "I can't see anything."

"It's just dark," Deimosu's voice said, and a comforting hand laid down on her shoulder. "Give me a moment."

"You sound tired," Yaku said nervously, something in the back of her mind was giving an explanation, but it wasn't coming as clear as other secrets did.

The sudden crackling sound of electricity made Yaku jump as Deimosu's face, grey from fatigue, appeared out of the darkness limned in the subtle blue light of the electricity gathered in his hand.

Around them were brick walls extending on into the blackness in either direction and at their feet lay the still unconscious form of one of the three sisters that had chased them out of the festival.

"Are you all right?" Deimosu asked Yaku.

The little girl nodded, biting her lip firmly.

"Try not to be scared, we should be fine," Deimosu assured her.

"I'm not scared," Yaku said firmly.

Echoing down through the dark corridors they found themselves in, a harsh and shrill cry passed by them.

Yaku jumped and grabbed tight to Deimosu's side, who had to thrust his electrified hand upward to avoid it touching the girl.

"What's that?" Yaku asked.

"Wind somewhere," Deimosu said, hiding his own doubt at that explanation.

Yonjuu remained thankfully unconscious for the moment...

 

[Thrythlind]

"Well, I guess that was more interesting than I thought it would be," Kaname admitted as the five of them came off the train at the station, Shinji having stayed behind with his father at the base. "It was still weird, but not the weirdest thing in the world, I guess."

"I wish I knew what happened to my memory card," Kyoko said. "I had a lot of good photos in there."

"I'm sure it'll turn up," Eija noted. "It's not like anyone would steal it, right?"

So, we should talk, I guess, Kaname thought toward Eija. And you know verbally, outloud.

I suppose so, Eija responded. We'll...have to find time to sit with Sousuke-kun privately.

Kaname arched an eyebrow, was Eija actually being hesitant about this? Whatever Belldandy said, Kaname didn't think someone as nice and well-adjusted as Eija could have had a really terrible life. Especially not with her mother and siblings to help protect her.

Before any further discussion could be made, psychically or verbally, the buzzing sound of Sousuke's cell phone ringing in his pocket came to Kaname's ears. Aside from Eija and Souske himself, she was the only one who noticed.

"I wish my lovely HS pilot could have stayed longer," Mizuki was saying. "Such a pity that he had to go so quickly."

"You mean that pervert you were harassing?" Kaname asked with a smirk, in an effort to put the image of Sousuke reading a newly received text message out of her mind's eye.

It wasn't working all that well.

This was the fourth such message he'd gotten since they'd come back from Korea. And each time he was gone for a day or two afterwards, once he'd been gone for almost a whole week.

And he often came back bandaged discretely, minor injuries most people didn't notice and which Kaname pretended to miss as well.

Still, she was slowly getting to hate it when that cell phone buzzed.

I'm the same when mother gets a butterfly, Eija noted.

The serious look on Sousuke's face deepened somewhat, and, with a quiet nod, he slipped the cell phone back in his pocket.

Damn, couldn't they have gotten through the summer break at least before calling him back to "work"?

 

[Thrythlind]

Kouta swung in with her spatula, at least seeming to force a sidestep from Kurumi into the combination that Naiki had prepared for her, but the woman was too quick.

A simple lift of her shin made the snap-kick Naiki had aimed at her knee useless and then allowed the woman to hook around on the inside of her leg as an open grip caught Naiki's wrist. The next moment, Naiki was rolling hard across firm ground, taking some minor bruises as she bent into a roll to absorb at least some of the impact.

Kouta blinked as Naiki flew past her upside down, it was a momentary distraction that cost her plenty. She lost her momentum on the swing of her spatula, ending her sequence early. The chef was barely aware of that before she was taking her own ride across the asphalt and dirt.

Kurumi's smirked at the gentle tossing she'd given both children as they picked themselves up. The smirk ended as she felt a gathering of power that wasn't chi behind her. She turned in plenty of time to avoid the sickle shaped pishogue filled blast of energy, shaped like a blunted sickle, that Naiki lashed out with.

"A diabolist in this race?" Kurumi said cautiously.

"Diabolist?" Kouta said as she stood up and looked at Naiki who stood their in stance. "What does that mean?"

"Diabolist? Ha!" Naiki said. "I'm Naiki Satomi, the..mmph!"

In a burst of smoke, a blonde gaijin woman appeared, wrapping a hand around Naiki's mouth.

"Forgive my apprentice here," Mara said in a slighty embarassed tone of voice. "She's a bit full of---!"

Mara jumped clear of Naiki, eyes wide as she rubbed at her rear end and glared at Naiki doing her best to give an innocent appearance.

 

[Nanya]

Cheeky brat.

 

[Thrythlind]

Before Mara could chastise her student's overly developed sense of sexuality, a grim looking Kurumi charged forward.

Mara was not a war-demon. When it came to open battle, she was decidedly support staff, but she was not helpless. Amongst other things, she'd learned to dodge and avoid the attacks of the very best.

It was usually a good way to buy time until some opportunity came to take the arena out of physical combat.

She dived under the woman's strike, noting it moved very fast.

Very, very fast.

A second strike would have hit her if she hadn't moved to teleport away before the first had finished.

"What the hell?" Mara demanded as an uncertain Naiki moved to stand between her teacher and the now serious martial artist. Kouta watching in a combination of confusion and shock.

"Hell's right," Kurumi said, lashing forward and putting Naiki off her feet in a simple twist before moving on toward Mara, watching carefully as she did so.

Mara narrowed her eyes herself and burst into a cloud of smoke, her opponent turned immediately, scanning for the demoness.

The martial artist didn't think that Mara might have vanished and reappeared in the same spot. Not until a blast of pishogue fueled power burst into her back, rocketing her across the scene.

Kurumi landed hard and stood a bit unsteadily, surprised at the power of what had hit her. Still, a quick survey implied no real physical harm had been done.

What had happened was that she'd lost the initiative against a Class I demoness.

It was barely a moment before she found herself pulled up into the air, off her feet and away from any sort of leverage she could use.

"Do you think you're the first person to try and read my teleporting?" Mara asked, hands outstretched towards Kurumi.

Kurumi narrowed her eyes and willed her aura outward in a burst of mana that shattered the pishogue-driven telekinesis around her.

Mara smirked as the woman dropped to her feet and launched herself forward at where she thought the demoness was standing.

Mara's image faded away, revealing a metal traffic sign, which Kurumi easily plowed through.

"Lady, you have no way to win this fight," Mara's voice came from behind her. "You don't even know where the battle is happening."

Kurumi blinked and took in the surroundings, noticing that both the other diabolist and the young okonomiyaki chef had seemed to vanish.

It was just her and the blonde woman.

"I've dealt with your kind before, witch," Kurumi said. "I've seen your masters."

"Really?" Mara said. "You think we're diabolists, then? Some contract bound fools?"

"I recognize black magic when I feel it poisoning the air," Kurumi said, advancing a bit more cautiously now.

Her mind worked backward for a moment, remembering the visage of the horned and reptillian monster that some power mad witch had summoned to take revenge on his home village for ostracizing him.

"So you've had one encounter with a daemon, and you think you know all there is to know about demons and pishogue?" Mara asked.

"How did you kn..." Kurumi's eyes widened and then narrowed. "Get out of my mind, lady."

"I really don't think so," Mara said laughing.

She started to say something else when suddenly she stumbled forward, rubbing the back of her head.

Slowly, the world around Kurumi faded out and back in, revealing things as they really were.

A red-headed woman a little older than herself was standing beside the diabolist, obviously having knocked the blonde across the back of the head with her hand.

"Can we stop this," the red-head asked irritably. "This is a competition, not a war zone."

Kurumi frowned and took in the new woman, recognizing the command of chi she held, as well as those that followed behind.

"Do you know what that woman is?" Kurumi asked.

"Yes, Kurumi, I do," Ranma said firmly, stepping forward.

"How do you know my..." Kurumi narrowed her eyes.

"Hey! You," a loud voice called out, and another thirty year old martial artist pushed forward, distinctive spatula in her hand. "You owe me some money for stolen food with thirty years interest!"

The ridiculousness, and possible truthfulness, of the claim shook Kurumi off her remembered rage against the pishogue-users.

Ranma rolled her eyes.

"Ukyou not the time for grudges," she muttered.

Listening in and looking at all the exchanges, Naiki slumped and rolled her head back in frustration.

Is every adult I meet going to be an old friend of my mother's? she wondered mentally.

Given you're living near where she did as a teenager? Tessa replied, still holding back on asking for advice on her upcoming physical fitness test.

I'm doomed, Naiki sighed.

"Would someone explain what is going on?" Kouta demanded.

 

[Jorlem]

I just finished rewatching TSR, and I saw something that I had forgotten about. Towards the end of TSR, Amalgam is capable of fielding at least two human sized ASes. In this fic's continuity, might these be related to the AS that Keiichi piloted? Considering the time and effort Amalgam likely put into designing those ASes, I think they would be very interested in someone that apparently beat them to it.

 

[Thrythlind]

I just finished rewatching TSR, and I saw something that I had forgotten about. Towards the end of TSR, Amalgam is capable of fielding at least two human sized ASes. In this fic's continuity, might these be related to the AS that Keiichi piloted? Considering the time and effort Amalgam likely put into designing those ASes, I think they would be very interested in someone that apparently beat them to it.

those ASes are actually about half the size of the Scirroco and have a much more advanced AI, but otherwise, yeah, that will pique some interest

Basically, for my mind, Keiichi, Megumi and Chihiro are raw inventive geniuses. They may not be Whispered, but they still have access to stuff the Whispered make available early. And that's forgetting Skuld, who actually has access to more advanced tech.

Of course, the biggest thing about the OMG human engineers is the stuff they come up with....just because.

 

[Thrythlind]

"Who are you and how do you know me?" Kurumi demanded.

"I fought you and your sister once," Ranma said. "With Akane Tendo."

Kurumi's eyes broadened for a moment and then she nodded.

"You're the red head that came out of nowhere," Kurumi said. "I'd always meant to ask Akane about you. What are you doing with these diabolists?"

"They're not diabolists," Ranma said firmly.

"I can practically smell the black magic on them," Kurumi protested. "Have you seen what a demon can do?"

"I've had some recent experience," Ranma noted sourly. "Do you have something specific?"

"Five years ago," Kurumi said. "There was a village called Mizuho."

"Mizuho?" Mara said with a curled lip. "I've heard about them. A town of degenerates and yakuza."

"And the demon was making deals with them," Kurumi said harshly.

"Did those deals work out for them?" Mara asked. "The way I heard it, that town was wiped off the map."

"And all the innocents that lived there?" Kurumi demanded pushing into Mara's face.

"Wait," Naiki said. "You're saying demons killed innocents? I thought they just punished evil."

"Is that how they pulled you in?" Kurumi asked.

"Some demons are a bit extreme," Mara said crossing her arms. "But usually there's a hero or two around to keep innocents out of the crossfire. It's easy to arrange."

"My sister lost her arm in the last fight," Kurumi noted. "More than a thousand people were left homeless."

"And hundreds of evil men were left dead, crippled or imprisoned," Mara protested. "The ends justifies the means."

"You think you're some sort of holy avenger, diabolist? Using demons to punish the wicked?" Kurumi asked.

"I'm not using demons," Mara snapped. "I am a demon. First Class. Demon of Smoke."

Kurumi's eyes widened as she looked from Mara to Naiki. Off to the side, Ranma sighed deeply and shook her head, Ukyou and Kouta staring in a bit of shock.

Mara, demonic pride pushing up, failed to notice she'd broached her cover and continnued on.

"What would you prefer, some white knight god?" Mara asked. "The best of them wouldn't break their rules to get involved, and the worst of them..."

Mara stopped as she looked over toward Ranma as she realized what she was doing.

"The worst examples of any creature are people you don't want to meet," Ranma said. "And thank you, Mara, for finally showing my daughter what she's gotten herself into."

Mara crossed her arms and frowned in response, but stayed quiet. The red-headed woman was right about what had happened. This was not how she wanted to introduce Naiki to some of their harsher methods.

"Well," Ukyou said nervously. "Shall we move on to get something to eat."

"I'm not going to eat with demons," Kurumi protested, and considering her appetite, that was saying something.

"Go on ahead," Ranma said to Ukyou. "I'll catch up. Mara, I think you have something you can do."

Mara turned to look at Ranma's back, narrowing her eyes.

"I still have some..."

"Should we have another conversation?" Ranma asked casually.

"You know, that's not going to work forever," Mara noted. "I'm a class 1 demon, you're..."

Ranma turned to look at Mara, who remembered that she was talking to a human capable of class 1 chi effects without any sort of enhancing equipment or an attachment to a network.

And she was wearing limiters.

"Right, leaving now, ma'am," Mara said swiftly before bursting into a cloud of smoke.

"You DID beat up my teacher," Naiki said embarrassed.

"Go get some okonomiyaki," Ranma said with a smile. "Ukyou, can you take care of her for a bit?"

"Uh, sure," Ukyou said, not saying anything about what was going on. "Kouta, Naiki, let's go."

Ranma waited for the others to leave before speaking to Kurumi.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I didn't know you'd be here and didn't know you had history with demons."

"You don't seem overly concerned that your daughter made a pact with a demon," Kurumi said. "But I don't see any black magic on you."

"She didn't make a pact," Ranma said.

"But I can...is she a demon too?" the speedy martial artist asked.

"Mara pegged her for recruiting," Ranma said. "Naiki toyed with something that linked her mind with another girl's. That girl had a power that would have eventually caused their minds to merge. Mara panicked and rushed the recruitment to make sure my daughter's mind and identity were safe."

"And serving the forces of evil is better?" Kurumi asked.

She stared at Ranma's aura, noting the large amount of tampering the red-head had. White magic, not black. In fact, now that she thought of it, there was a strong thread of the same energy in the younger demon, but no chi.

"Mara's not evil," Ranma said firmly. "Reckless, impulsive and prideful, not unlike me when I was young. Only she's a lot older and should know better. Still, she is not evil."

"I didn't like how she was trying to whitewash the existence of being a demon though. Thanks for provoking her into that argument. Should give Naiki something to think about. I just wish she hadn't said she was a demon."

"She stopped short talking about the worst of the gods," Kurumi said cautiously. "And looked at you."

"I've learned recently that demons and gods are just very old races," Ranma said. "And they've been competing for millenia and using us in that conflict for most of that time."

"As if we don't have enough problems with that in Japan between the USSR and the US," Kurumi noted.

"Anyway," Ranma said. "I apologize in advance for any trouble Naiki might give you if you see her again. You mentioned Natsume, she lost an arm?"

Kurumi nodded.

"There was a monster that got summoned," the ribbon wielder said. "She's fitted with a prothestic, but they're not up to human ability yet."

"Normal human, or us?" Ranma asked.

"Us," Kurumi said without hesitation. "She's teaching in Northern Japan. I forget, how are you related to Akane?"

Ranma took a deep breath and considered carefully as she looked around for onlookers before trying out Persephone's gift for the first time. She grew several inches, more than a full foot in fact, and broadened, chest flattening and waist widening until there was not a red-head there, but a dark-haired man.

Kurumi's eyes widened as she recognized the form Ranma had taken.

"You're her fiance!?" Kurumi gasped.

"Was," Ranma said, shifting back to the female form she'd been in the last seventeen years or so. "Circumstances changed things."

 

[Nanya]

Whee! It's not dead! Yay!

Don't know what to say about it, except that it is too bad Natsume got beat up like that.

At least there were thousands still alive, even if homeless.

 

[Thrythlind]

someone suggested I take the opportunity to show a hint of the ugly side of demons and that they're not all beautiful misunderstood people

 

[ringlhach]

It's a good idea. They're not, after all.

Of course, the Gods aren't all evil, either... but on that side, we have Belldandy.

I need to go back and reread this... I can't see Skuld not trying to beat the crap out of Ranma or Naiki right now.

Of course, I've always been a fan of jading Skuld a little.

 

[Thrythlind]

It's a good idea. They're not, after all.

Of course, the Gods aren't all evil, either... but on that side, we have Belldandy.

I need to go back and reread this... I can't see Skuld not trying to beat the crap out of Ranma or Naiki right now.

Of course, I've always been a fan of jading Skuld a little.

well, save that I believe Skuld witnessed Ranma and Morrigan in their introductory fight. She should know Ranma's a bit out of her league.

Naiki on the other hand...

 

[PCHeintz72]

It's a good idea. They're not, after all.

Of course, the Gods aren't all evil, either... but on that side, we have Belldandy.

I need to go back and reread this... I can't see Skuld not trying to beat the crap out of Ranma or Naiki right now.

Of course, I've always been a fan of jading Skuld a little.

well, save that I believe Skuld witnessed Ranma and Morrigan in their introductory fight. She should know Ranma's a bit out of her league.

Naiki on the other hand...

Skuld is not in this story much, and only Bell and Urd witnessed that fight.

 

[Thrythlind]

true, then again, the goddesses have been mostly background so far....

 

[Thrythlind]

Deimosu looked up and down the vast corridor nervously, hand lighting the way as he hefted the unconscious akira in a fireman's carry. His other hand, the one not currently producing light, was being held tightly at the wrist by the little girl at his side.

With a bit of thought, he let the crackling electricity leave his hand out into the air and hold it there as he put his other hand under the unconscious girl's legs. Keeping the electricity in mid-air like that required significantly more effort than he liked for just a light, but it wasn't like he had much of an option.

There was no sign of life in the corridor.

No cycle of chi beyond what the three of them had brought with them.

No dark magic or white magic to imply that they were in a place like heaven or hell.

No twinge of electricity or magnetism pointing out north and the other directions.

They were in a dead place.

Travelling forward, it wasn't long before they came to an intersection. It split in five ways aside from the path he had just followed to that point. Choosing a direction at random, he led Yaku down the path.

It was obvious that this place hadn't always been dead. Bones littered their walk way. Broken, fragmented and fractured, they lay scattered all about. In many cases, Deimosu could see where something had gnawed on the bones and sucked out the marrow.

It didn't worry him, however. The bones were old, dry and covered in a thick layer of dust. Nothing had disturbed anything in this place for hundreds, if not thousands, of years.

Several more random turns and they passed by the largest pile of bones yet. Some sort of animal with two large bullish horns, one cracked off and laying in the midst of the animal's scattered ribs. The remnants of legs and at least two hooves lying at the end of the pile. Sharp teeth lay scattered about the jaw, loosed from their place by time and impact when the thing met its death.

Yaku clutched tighter against Deimosu as they skirted around the huge pile of bones.

They came back to it again some forty minutes later as the girl Deimosu was carrying started to come awake.

 

[ringlhach]

*blink* Okay, creepy. Where are they, Helheim?

Also, "akira" in the first line should probably be capitalized.

 

[Thrythlind]

not so lucky

there are people in Helheim that would notice people who don't belong there (if not very pleasant people)