"Ow, ow, ow," Ranma said as Akeno and Raphtalia pulled the thorns he could not reach out of his back. He had been doing some experimenting with just what the hell no wind resistance meant and severely underestimated how well he could control his speed.
To make a long story very short he had run into, through, and out of a monster. Said monster was essentially a magical briar patch full of thorns with the piercing quality. So he had then found himself stuck in every place imaginable with thorns that not only hurt like hell, but he was pretty sure were poisonous as well.
"Master, you really should watch where you're going."
"Tell me something I don't know. Ow."
Raphtalia seemed to flinch herself as she pulled out a thorn buried several inches into his shoulder. "That's the last one master."
Firo and Suu were both watching this scene. The Philo Rial was doing a sort of nervous prance at the sight of his blood and Suu…well she looked like she normally did. With a sigh of relief he closed the last wound in his shoulder by focusing Ki to that area, the Mana bar drained and the flesh healed.
"Will master ride in the wagon now?" Firo said. There was something about her tone that made it sound like a command more than a question.
But fortunately for her Ranma did not want to repeat what had happened. He glanced behind him hatefully at the magical briar patch. It was in his nature right now to burn the thing to a crisp but as Akeno had patiently explained to him, that sort of thing was very necessary. Apparently that kind of monster did not appear unless the smaller breeds of animals and monsters were in danger of going extinct. Small things made their home among it under the protection of its magical thorns and the predators starved off to a reasonable amount. The briar patch would than disappear and the cycle would begin again next year. That was kind of cool in a way but not helpful to his desire to turn that area into a wasteland. Which in and of itself was also a problem because now he could do that, granted he could have done that before he came here, it was just now he could do it with several well placed anger fed spells.
"Note to self, don't become one of those people. I can handle this power, I know I can…I hope I can."
So to Firo's immense relief Ranma took his place on the wagon and she took off at nearly twice the speed she had managed before she became a master and a…a queen in training? He did not know what the feather meant but her stat change was amazing. Thank god for Suu though, the poor slime had to keep the whole of her focus on keeping the wagon together otherwise Firo's speed and strength would have pulverized it to splinters. Perhaps he should get Oyaji to make her a wagon of steel.
About midday they started to see people on the road. At first it was only one or two whom they went by so fast that it hardly even mattered. But, as expected, once they were about seven miles from the capital traffic began to pick up. Like Melromarc most of the surrounding land was farm land. Several areas were set aside for low level monsters to thrive in but other than that, farms as far as the eye could see.
The working farm hands hardly spared them a glance; they had the look of men too tired to care of such nonsense as racism. The other beastmen who were on the road were another matter entirely. He had his shield hidden under one of Akeno's spare cloaks and said priestess was wearing her travel garb as well, so there was no mark or clue about them that said he should be respected despite being human.
Most gave him a healthy glare of distrust; others clearly showed their unhappiness with a human's presence with rude gestures. One man went so far as to spit on the wagon, Firo had then punted him eighty four feet away meaning Ranma had to heal his broken spine to keep him alive. Needless to say no one had done anything similar after that.
Akeno was sitting beside him, a look of melancholy on her face. "Don't let it get to you," Ranma said.
"Oh no master it does not bother me that much," she paused, "It's just that the city I served in, everyone there looked at me as one of their own." She gestured at a boy who threw a rock at the wagon his ears standing on end in anger. Firo glanced at him and then away doing nothing, Ranma guessed that even she would not hit a child.
"It saddens me to see so much bad blood between peoples, they don't even know you. If they did they would worship the ground you stood on."
Ranma shrugged, "It's more honest this way, perhaps it will give them something to think about when they find out."
"Perhaps, but they could simply say that the Shield is different, a paragon of humanity and not the same."
"My personal thoughts on the matter are that as long as you enslave people of another race there will be no end to bad blood. Hell I bet a fourth of these people have real grievances with humans and vise versa."
Akeno shrugged, "True, several times our county has made overtures to Melromarc about trying to put an end to it, at least among our two countries. But theQueen, as strong as she is, does not have the political support to do such a thing. It does not help that her husband is dead set against us."
Ranma's ears perked up, "The king has what?"
"You did not know?"
"Know what?"
"He hates us. I don't know why but he has a driving hate for this nation and its people, he actually killed our last king in single combat."
Well this was turning out to be an enlightening experience. Mental note, since he was quite sure nobility on this world were strong, that despite all appearances, the king just might be hiding some power.
"Well that puts things in a new light, I'm just not sure how."
"What do you mean?"
"Well the king hates me too and someone I trust implied that it might not be because of what I thought it was." He frowned looking skyward, "I wonder if there is any connection as to how the beastmen treat the Shield and his hatred, though that would be extremely petty."
"Humans, beastmen, the word petty can define many," her voice was uncharacteristically bitter and he looked over concerned. The look and tone vanished as she realized what he was seeing. A smirk so perfect it must have been fake made it across her face and she leaned into him all sensually, "What are you looking at master?"
The hint of lust in her voice was real but everything else about it was an act. So she was covering something she did not want him to see…oh well that was not his business. He made a decent show of being embarrassed and looked away letting her have time to recompose herself. But that did beg the question, how much of her teasing was real and how much was a defense mechanism? He blinked at himself, was he actually getting better at understanding females?…Nah.
1
1
1
The capital city of Cita was as impressive as a capital should be. Walls lined the city with gates wrought of metal instead of wood, those must be a bitch to open and close, and well made stone streets that had the look of constant maintenance.
The guards at the gate did not move to stop most of the beastmen walking through but as soon as they spotted him they began to move. Akeno however calmly raised a gold medallion about the size of her palm with a shield emblazoned on it. The guards eyes widened but their movement stopped and they were allowed to pass uncontested. However Ranma noted a…a c-c-cat l-l-like beastmen being sent towards the citadel in the middle of the city.
The hostility that had been present outside the city was nearly a palpable force inside, only by virtue of Firo's glare and Akeno's visible bows were they able to make it to their destination. It was a building very similar to the one containing the Dragon Hourglass of Melromarc. "I thought we needed the King's permission?" he asked as everyone got down
Akeno rolled her eyes "Don't worry I have special permission."
Ranma noted that Firo transformed into her human form. And Suu…he had to blink at that…Suu appeared like she was an identical twin of Firo. Same hair, face, eyes, the only real and striking difference was that her yellow and green feeler was still on the top of the head where Firo's ahoge should have been. The only one among them who was not surprised at that was Firo herself.
Guess Suu had showed her before. Akeno led them inside and just like the one in human lands there was a nun like women sitting at a reception desk, the only difference was she had dog ears hanging down the side of her face.
Her look was neutral for one watching a human walk into their sacred space, before she could say anything however Akeno pulled back her hood. "Miko-sama," the nun said instantly though her eyes went wide with shock.
"Casandra," Akeno answered, "I am here to make use of the Dragon Hourglass, my companions have more than proved themselves worthy to use it." As she was saying this she once again held up the emblem that had got them past the gate.
The nun looked like she wanted to say something but bit her tongue and nodded, "As you wish Miko-sama."
She led them to the central chamber. While they were on the way Ranma asked quietly, "Miko-sama?"
Akeno shrugged, "Some people call me that, my predecessor preferred it."
Looking over at Raphtalia he noted the barely contained excitement in her body, the tense muscles, the manic grin she was desperately suppressing. It seemed the idea of an increase in her power was pleasurable, good for her.
There was little to no difference in the Dragon Hourglass of Silt Welt, the art on the walls of the sanctum were another matter. The intricate paintings were of beastmen warriors warring against humanity and crushing them. It might have been just an art piece but it seemed to resonate with what he had seen in the city and elsewhere. *Sigh* The end of the world could be upon them and old hate still festered with both sights. He once again came to the conclusion that mortals as a whole sucked even if people by themselves were awesome.
Akeno nodded to the nun, "I will take it from here."
The women bowed and left swiftly. The priestess walked up to the hourglass and waved her hand as words of power filled the air. She took a knife out and drew it across her hand, blood dribbled out but as it fell her words of magic reached a crescendo. The moment the blood hit a groove in the floor that he had not noticed it turned gold. Then it grew as magic increased its volume and mass, creating an intricate magic circle in front of the hourglass.
"Place your hand on the hourglass and concentrate, the choice of class should come up." Raphtalia went up first stepping into the circle and placing her hand on the hourglass. "Now focus, call out the power."
Raphtalia closed her eyes and her breathing stilled, for a moment nothing happened and a silence filled the room. Then a wave of shadow pulsed from the katana at her hip, darkening the area around them. Gold light shimmered forth from the hourglass, spinning and whirling as shadow crawled up out of the blade to meet it. Her hair turned a darker shade of brown and black markings crawled their way up her hand and twisted into a symbol he had never seen before.
A status window appears in front of him. "Your student Raphtalia has received a class up."
Class: Blade Dancer
Special Ability: Enchantment: Hell Blaze - Imbues her sword with fire said to be like that of the fires of hell. Represses regeneration, wounds caused by HellBlaze are harder to heal and always leave a scar. Hell Blaze is not affected by magic barriers or damage reduction.
Cast time: Five seconds
Duration: Drains Mana to keep itself going, when the user runs out so do the flames.
Raphtalia glanced at herself, hand moving to her hair and her arm. From what he could see her stats had simply doubled giving her a huge power up. "Was this you're doing Resita?" she asked then paused tilting her head, "Of course it was."
"You look good Raphtalia," he told her. The darkened hair gave her something of a powerful presence, or perhaps that was her aura which had also grown darker. Not evil of course just darker. "Firo wants to go next! Firo wants to go next!" the girl shouted while jumping up and down.
"No ones stopping you," Ranma said.
"Yay, Firo wants to spit poison!"
Ranma said nothing, just gulped a little. She happily went into the circle but no sooner had she placed her hand on the hourglass then something happened. Her ahoge started glowing and the gold of the circle rose to meet the surprised girl.
"But Firo did not do any…" she was cut off as a status screen appears showing that her status had doubled.
Class: Philo Rial Queen
Special Ability: "Wouldn't you like to know." -Fitora
A message from the Philo Rial Queen in his stats bar? "…ok why is she messing with me." Ranma asked to no one as Firo stomped her foot in frustration. "Firo wanted to spit poison," she sulked.
Ranma patted her hand gently, "Its ok, me thinks this class will be a blessing in disguise."
*Humph* was the only noise Firo made as annoyance at what had happened warred with the sensation of someone rubbing her head.
"Suu's turn," the Slime girl said as she walked forward in her Firo guise, like the others the gold of the circle spiraled around her.
Class: ?
Special Ability: Kaiju Form
Effect: ?
Duration: ?
"I don't know if I like the sound that," Ranma said, seeing the ability but not what it did. "but something tells me I should not have her try it in the middle of city."
Suu smiled at him, "All done master."
"Suu?"
"Yes?"
"Don't try that ability while we are in the city."
"Why not?" she asked tilting her head.
"Because," Ranma stopped. "Wait…you're messing with me."
"Why would Suu do that master?" As she said this one of her tentacles that he had not noticed smacked him on the behind.
"Ow!"
Akeno looked over them, "I have never seen such a strange set of class ups before."
Raphtalia had drawn her sword and looked ready to test out her ability. "Not here," Ranma said. "Please, we don't want to cause any property damage. I don't need my wrecking crew reputation to come back and haunt me."
"Your what master?"
"Never mind."
Akeno glanced out of the room, "No doubt Cassandra has gone to inform her superiors that I am making use of the Dragon Hourglass. I'd give it two hours before it reaches the King's ear and he sends people to inquire as to why."
Ranma frowned, "I don't have good luck with Kings so far."
Raphtalia glanced at him, "Given how they nearly worship the Shield Hero I think things might turn out differently."
That was true but not quite as comforting as it should have been. "I think we'll leave now, I need time to see what you girls can do."
He walked up to the Hourglass to get a better look at it, across his status bar a message appeared, "Do you wish to register for the Silt Welt wave?" Next to that it gave a time as to when the wave would arrive. One week after the wave in Melromarc apparently, Ranma clicked accept on it and another message appeared. "Do you wish to delete your registration for the Melromarc wave?"
"No," he said, clicking the icon.
"Are you sure you wish to fight in two waves?"
He clicked yes again, "Registration accepted."
Nodding to himself he turned away from the Hourglass, more fighting was good fighting. Akeno looked at him strangely as Firo and Suu both leapt onto his back. Raphtalia asked, "You spaced out, what did you just do?"
"Signed up to help with the wave here."
Akeno's mouth dropped open in shock, "Truly?"
The martial artist nodded, "Ya."
They walked out of the temple as she gathered her thoughts. "Why, why would you put yourself in further danger so easily."
"Fighting waves is what I was drawn here for." A wry smile made its way across his face, "Perhaps this was what I was born to do."
Firo changed back into demon form while Suu engulfed the wagon to keep Firo's strength from tearing it apart. Akeno and Raphtalia hopped on, "Master can you keep me from getting sick, I want to sit up here today."
"Sure."
Raphtalia grabbed his hand in a very intimate way, such contact would allow his Ki to keep her from getting motion sickness. But he was well aware of what the action signified. Shaking his head Ranma glanced at Firo, "Take us a few miles away from the city, I want a large area with good leveled monsters to practice on."
"Yes," Firo said happily, "Training with master."
Yes training, training made life as a martial artist worth living.
1
1
1
He was debating on whether to have Suu test her class ability, over the day each girl had gone off on their own to kill monsters and level. He spent the day trying to control the fact that he no longer had to deal with air friction. Things like no terminal velocity do not sound like problems but with his leaps going higher than ever the fact that he kept increasing in speed until he hit the earth was something to get used to.
Ranma felt like a five year old leaning to run again as he tripped into a painful roll that carved a furrow in the ground. It was really strange at how much one depended on a force they never thought about only to find everything changed when it was gone. This would make him stronger and both of his sides would benefit, but first he would have to master it.
To master this power however, pain would be required as he made mistake after mistake in trying to take advantage of this blessing.
"Is master ok?" Suu asked standing over him. He pulled his face out of the ground and spit out some dirt and blood. "I'm fine Suu, thank you."
There was the sound of thunder in the distance and he could vaguely feel Akeno's aura pulsing as she killed several monsters in the area. He popped his shoulder back into place with a hiss of pain. "Suu you need to go train, the wave is coming soon enough." The slime gave him a worried look but with a nod obeyed his orders.
Man running without air resistance was harder than he thought; darkness was falling when he began to make his way back to camp. Thanks to his Ki nothing was broken or badly damaged but the pain of learning was a harsh master.
About a mile from his camp he noted smoke trailing towards the sky, it looked like a campfire and it was not far away from his own. With a shrug he made his way over in a silent manner, curious as who was camping this close to them.
"Now now boy, think this over nice and slow," a voice said.
A child's voice answered, "Let her go or I'll kill you."
There were several gruff laughs, "Really? How are you going to do that? The way I see it I have a knife at this beast brat's throat and if you want her to live you do as I say."
Wow, he was pissed off just listening. Staying low, covered by the steroid big wheat plants that grew on this landscape, he got close enough to see what was going on. It was humans of course, there were about eight of them. They were dressed in mercenary gear and most had swords and shields with decent armor. Three of them were already in bed rolls ignoring what was happening, four were lounging around and making jeers at the child who had spoken.
Said child looked to be about twelve years old, he was a bit taller than normal with white and black hair in equal measure. He….he had….c-cat ears and t-tail that lashed about in his rage. The man he was focused on was dressed as a mage, staff and everything. About five feet away from him was another child. He thought it was a she but he could not tell, the child was covered in bandages that went from her legs to her head, only her blind eyes were left uncovered. The child's hair was a light brown and her c-cat e-ears and t-tail were the same as the boy's.
Floating next to her neck is a jagged shard of ice that the mage manipulated by moving his fingers. "Now listen boy, you are a Hakuko, do you know how good a price you will fetch?"
"Let her go," the boy groaned.
"I think not. You see I was not lying to you, I don't know if the place where we are going has a cure for your sister, they might."
Normally anger would be singing in his blood at this sight but there was a major problem, even the sight of c-cat like features was setting off his fear response. If he ran out there it would without a doubt result in the Neko-ken and that would be bad, very bad.
But they were children in danger and there was no way in heaven or hell he was not helping them, plus slave traders pissed him off immensely. What the hell were they doing in Silt Welt anyway? After considering it for a moment it occurred to him, high risk, high reward. Sneak into the land of the beastmen, find and take the rarer ones for immense profit.
The boy went to his knees, head down, two of the four men with armor went to tie him up. "Good boy," the mage said with a laugh. No stirring of air warned him, only the choked cry of one of the men caused to mage to whirl just in time to see Ranma pick up the girl. At his side the dagger of ice was shattered to pieces. "Wha…" he started to say as everyone turned.
The boy vanished like an illusion appearing in front of the kneeling boy. The two armored men around him let out cries of agony as they were sent flying into the air, their armor dented inward by an immense force.
The boy looked up in shock as cold fell around everyone in the camp and looked upon his rescuer, a human with eyes empty of anything that resembled emotion. The mage reacted, "We are under attack!"
The entire camp reacted, men rising to their feet and with the girl in his left arm he only had his right arm to do battle. The shield morphed into the Diamond Shard and the men pulled to a stop at the sight, "Attack!" the mage ordered, "What the hell are you doing?
The first one to reach him was fully armored with sword and shield readied, Ranma kicked out, ignoring the upper body, his foot catching the man on the shin and shattering it to pieces. The next two arrived in concert attempting to overwhelm him. With an almost casual air Ranma kicked at the man on the ground, there was a shattering sound and a scream of metal as Ranma launched the now dead body into the two of them, the force knocking them flat.
That left three more to deal with, the mage was chanting a spell and the other two men, ones who had been in their bed rolls, were not ready to fight. One was flailing for his sword when the beastboy tackled him. Ranma did not feel surprise in the soul of ice, the power protecting him from his fear of cats right now.
The boy was really strong as he pounded the man into the earth and kept on pounding until he stopped moving.
The other man moved to protect his comrade, sword in hand ready to stab the child in the back. "No," the girl hoarsely whispered as if she could see without her eyes. Ranma raised the Diamond Shard shield and fired, the razor sharp diamond hit the man's head with the same force as a fifty caliber sniper rifle with similar results.
The mage finished his spell in a panic, "Fireball!" he screamed.
Turning his hand up he let out a breath, a small circle of white expanded and condensed in his hand and the fireball simply vanished, crushed by the power of Hanki his personal form of counterbalance . "Mercy," the man cried but it was too late, the Shield Hero appeared behind him hand blurring the man went to his knees and fell over, eyes rolling into the back of his head. The only two alive were unconscious under the weight of their dead comrades and there would not be a point in taking them out.
Ranma turned to the boy and he flinched at the emptiness in his gaze. "Follow," he ordered.
The girl in his arms coughed and the boy flinched at it, Ranma turned and walked at a slow pace.
"Wait," he called, "where are you taking my sister?" He grabbed at his shirt and tried to pull him to a stop but only ended up being dragged along by the man.
"Camp," Ranma said in that empty tone. He needed to keep up the soul of ice, at least until they could get these cat parts covered or hidden.
"We don't need your help human," the boy snarled and Ranma could not really blame him but now was not the time.
"Fohl," the girl said in a quiet voice.
The boy stiffened even as he was being dragged along. "This one is good, even under the ice that coats his power he burns warm."
If he had not been in the Soul of Ice that would have made his eyebrows raise up, not many could sense Ki that well, in fact he could count the number of people he knew who could do that on one hand. Fohl quieted at her words though he still glared at Ranma behind his back.
"Master," Raphtalia said as he walked back into camp. "I made…" she trailed off at seeing what he was holding.
Akeno blinked, "What are children doing out here?"
"Slave traders," Ranma said in his ice cold tone.
Firo and Suu both flinched at his tone, "Is Master mad?'
"No, Soul of Ice ignores anger as well."
Raphtalia gasped, "Oh I see." She muttered a spell and light bent and twisted around the ear's and tail's of the two children causing them to vanish.
Dropping the Soul of Ice Ranma took in a deep breath, "Oh thank god," he pointed at the beastgirl, "I am doubling your pay."
"You don't pay me," she giggled.
"Tripling it then."
Firo in her human child form bounced up to him, "Who is that?"
The girl let out another ragged cough, "What's wrong with her?" he said to the boy.
Said boy was taking in the camp around him looking as if he did not know what to say, there was a beastgirl, a winged humanoid, a slime in human shape, a girl who looked like a human but did not smell like one and the human who saved him. Said human now had emotion in his voice despite not having any of the sort on the way here.
Ranma snapped his fingers in front of the boy, "Hey, what is wrong with her?"
Fohl looked so disoriented that he answered, "She's sick, a hereditary illness, she cannot see or walk, her body is covered in sores and she is not expected to live long."
The girl spoke in a strained voice, "Strong voice…gentle voice," the girl said, "Will you take care of my brother even if you can't help me?"
"I told you I was going to cure you," the boy said, "Don't give up on me now."
Akeno was already pulling out a bed roll and Raphtalia went to their packs and pulled out several Mana potions and a flask of water. Ranma walked over to the bedroll and gently set her down. "I'm Ranma, Ranma Saotome." He gently laid his hand on her bandaged forehead, "What is your name?"
"Atlas," the child said in a weak voice.
"Well Atlas I am going to see if I can help you."
"What?" Fohl asked.
Ranma smiled, "A martial artist protects the weak."
"I don't understand."
He ignored that and took the Mana potions and one after the other chugged them down with gusto, his Mana restored he poured the water over his head. Fohl fell back on his butt in surprise as the male he had followed became female.
"Who are you?"
The shield changed to the Reiki Shield and Ranma knelt over the girl, gently touching her head and heart she closed her eyes and began to work. And holy shit there was a lot of damage, her Ki entered the child's body scanning it to find the damage. The better question would have been what part was not damaged in some way. Starting at her heart the Ki began the change, destroy, and heal. Waves of light pulsed off of her body, as white light crawled off her arms Atlas took in a sharp breath.
"It's so warm," she whispered.
Her lungs were next, then her intestinal tract, then everything else down to the bone and skin. Every cell in her body starting from the heart was restored and built anew by the Hero of the Shield. Even on a body as small as this it took everything, about three fourths of the way through she ran out of Mana and began to draw on her own life.
Blood began to flow from her mouth, eyes, and ears, "Master" he heard the girls call vaguely but it did not matter. She forced more of her very life into the ability and the blood began to rise up and spin around her body. More, more she needed more, not only to heal this but destroy the very possibility that it would occur again in future generations.
This was what she loved even in the pain, healing a child was the greatest act she could think off. Everything had to be healed to be made better, made anew. Her eyes were last, the glassy orbs vanished under the light of Ranma's Ki, replaced with shining green.
And the first thing this child saw in her life, an image that would stay forever, was the Shield Hero, a crimson haired angel with hands that banished pain, and brought light to her world of darkness.
Ranma leaned back, the light fading from her hands. Vaguely she could see her health hovering at just over one percent. Her body trembled as she fell to the side a paralyzing feeling creeping over her body. "Master!" Raphtalia cried.
"Turn me back into guy," she muttered before falling unconscious.
1
1
1
Someone must have healed her with magic, probably Akeno as she was the only one among them who knew healing spells. Still her…oh his body, nice they listened to him. His body ached like a no other, his Ki was low right now and he needed at least a few days for it to be restored.
Still totally worth it. He sat up shielding his eyes from the bright sunlight, there was a form next to him. She was absolutely lovely in a doll sort of way, she wore one of Raphtalia's nightshirts that covered her body down to the ankles. Her skin was smooth and pale even under the heavy sunlight, a single bandage was around her eyes.
Her head turned to him as he sat up, he could see Firo trying to get the boy to play with her. He, for his part, desperately tried to get away from the giant bird while Firo thought it was a game of tag and chased the poor kid. Akeno and Raphtalia were sitting in sight of the camp doing their own training and Suu was currently supporting his back having used herself as a pillow.
"They told me you're the Shield Hero," the girl said quietly.
"I am."
"I felt you change me, I felt your life reshape my body, what did you do?"
"Everything that was damaged I replaced with a copy of my own," he frowned. "Did I mess up the eyes?"
"No Shield Hero."
"Ranma, please call me Ranma."
"My eyes are fine its just, I am not used to the light," a single tear went down her cheek. "The colors are so beautiful."
"I'm glad." Ranma leaned back letting out a breath. "So what's your story Atlas, why were you out here and why were you so sick?"
"Its not that complicated," she said. "Fohl could not pay for my medical expenses, our parents were dead and debt was piling up. The man you killed had promised that he might know of a way to cure me, if Fohl sold himself and me into slavery." She sighed, "They were lying of course and we only found out moments before you showed up."
She shrugged, "It's not really that uncommon of a story for children after the war."
"Master!" Firo squawked joyously, prancing around him in her bird form. Ranma let out a groan and forced himself to his unsteady feet. Suu flooded to either side of him acting as a support. "I am glad to have helped you Atlas." He reached down with Suu's help and picked her up off the ground. Something furry pressed against his arm but as long as her tail was invisible it could have been anything else other than a cat's tail. Since he could not see it, he could not know. Despite the fact his Ki and Mana were severely weakened he did have something he could try.
"A… wind." he said sort of lamely. "Can you give us some shade?"
"Master are you ok?" Filo asked in the tone of voice you used with spooked horses.
A cloud moved over the sun and shade blanketed the area. "Thanks," Ranma called out. He then gently removed the bandage from around the girl's eyes.
"Hey, put her down!" Fohl shouted as he finally made it back to camp. The boy's body was trembling from exhaustion but he sounded ready to take on the world. There was potential in that, Ranma thought. "Fohl," Atlas said gently.
The boy let out a tiger like growl that set Ranma's body to twitching, he turned his head away from the boy. "Open your eyes," Ranma told the girl.
Slowly she did revealing the green eyes that matched his own. Tears formed naturally in response to the stimuli that she was not used to, however the shade was enough that it was possible. The poor girl seemed a little overloaded by the sensory input as colors and pictures that she had never seen invaded her sight.
"You were different," she managed to gasp out as she shut her eyes. "You're not the same."
Fohl walked up, eyes filled with anger, and Ranma almost laughed as he handed the boy his sister. "That is part of a curse I am under you see." His stomach growled.
Right, he had not eaten in a while. "Master," Raphtalia said as her lovely form appeared in his vision, "You're up."
"Ya but," his stomach made an even louder noise. "I'm starving," he whined.
***
1
1
1
***
"My my master, you certainly look comfortable with her," Akeno said with a lazy smirk.
He turned a blunt gaze on the Priestess, "Excuse me?"
"Well, you have not objected to her."
He had been telling the bother and sister about his story and how he wound up here, however during that time Atlas had clambered onto his lap and currently looked very comfortable. Fohl had not approved but the girl had shushed him with a single look.
"How old are you?" he asked Atlas.
"10."
He looked back up at Akeno, "She's 10 years old."
The priestess shrugged, "In point of fact, so is she." With her hand she pointed at Raphtalia who looked quite unhappy with the state of his lap.
"That's…but…point taken." He slumped in defeat.
Atlas's expression did not change but he was quite sure he felt Ki flare around her in a wave of irritation. He blinked at that, hard. So far no one and nothing that he had encountered had used Ki naturally. Sure he had taught it to his party members but never had he felt it like this. Atlas seemed to sense his gaze and looked up, her doll like features calm. "Whats wrong Ranma?"
He shook his head, "Nothing." He glanced at the boy, "What do you plan on doing now?"
Before he could answer Atlas said, "We are staying here."
"Oh no you're not" Ranma said. "There's a war on and I am part of it, its no place for…"
"Train us then, you know how beastmen grow."
"No no no, I do not recruit children to fight my battles."
The girl spoke in a small voice, "We have no one to go back too, they are all gone."
….motherfucker… he thought.
"Will you give us a chance?" she asked, "See if we have potential?"
A way out, perfect. "All right, impress me."
He felt kind of bad telling this to a girl who until recently had literally been unable to move but with the wave approaching he did not have time for subtlety. Not that he was ever good at that anyway. Atlas got up, turned around, and hit him lightly just over the heart.
The flare of Ki warned him at the last second but his sore and tired body was not up to par and he was not in time to block the blow. He did gather what Ki he had to his chest, otherwise her strike, a strike aimed right at one of his pressure points, would have knocked him clean out.
It stirred him for a moment as the girl looked from her hand to his heart in surprise. "It didn't work?"
It took him a moment to get his mouth moving again. "Where did you learn that?"
She blinked in surprise, "Learn what?"
"That pressure point, that Ki strike."
The child just tilted her head in confusion, "What?"
He frowned, "Why did you do that, why strike there?"
"Because that is where a lot of your chi is focused, I thought if I disrupted it that you would fall down."
"Chi," Ranma muttered, "same damn thing."
But the first part of her sentence caught his attention. "You can sense where my Ki is focused?"
"Ki?"
"Chi," he corrected himself.
She nodded, "Yes, and if I stare hard enough I can see it too."
"Really?" Ranma asked.
"Why is it going backwards?" she asked suddenly, eyes locked on his body. "It disappeared… now its spinning in circles?"
"Holy hell you really can see it." Ranma gasped.
"How did you do that to you chi?" she asked.
"What are you two talking about?" Fohl asked exasperated. Akeno, Firo and Raphtalia all looked like they were agreeing with his statement. "Um…" Ranma said. How in the hell could he pass up the chance to train someone with a unique gift like hers? Hell maybe he could copy it as well as usher in a new talent into the world of martial arts. "It means we have two new party members."
1
1
1
"Come on Fohl you have seventy more in you, I know it." The beastkid growled at him, sweat beading down his face. To both sides of him all the other girls in the party were doing pushups with ease, even his sister. Of course since he had replaced every muscle and bone in her body with a copy of his own, she had the distinct advantage of going from atrophy to peak physical condition in the space of two minutes.
Of course her brother did not know this and Ranma certainly had not bothered to inform him, frustration was a great tool in pushing someone past their limits.
It had been four days and he was still in recovery, although Suu no longer needed to support him so that was a plus. However he was not in shape to do any of his normal training so he made do with running everyone else's.
Of course now a days Raphtalia could run her own training, especially with her living weapon of a blade giving her advice on how to do better. Firo was spending lots of time bulking up as of late, Ranma would often see her running over the now mostly trampled giant wheat, dragging eight or nine boulders of various sizes behind her. As a result her strength had gone up a bit in these past few days.
Akeno did her own thing mostly but she did join the morning and evening workouts. Ranma suspected it was because she knew the way he had to force himself not to stare at her swinging chest when she did so. Seriously one moment she was snappy and sassy, the next she was sultry and seductive, but when he had asked her for a moment in private she would become coy and mysterious. It sent his head for a loop to the point where he would simply lay on Raphtalia's lap and enjoy the fact that the girl was straightforward and honest.
Suu. well, she was Suu and Suu did what Suu wanted to do, end of story. Granted he had been working on a few innovations on how her battle shape shifting could be applied and he could not wait to see the results in battle.
Fohl, well the kid was a treat to teach. It was like watching a mini him learn martial arts. Seriously he and the kid had so much in common except for the thankfully invisible cat ears and tail. The boy had drive and determination, strong traits that were matched by the boy's dislike of him. He did not have any special gifts for the art but he made up for it in dedication. At first the boy had been hesitant to learn anything from him out of sheer racist principle. Granted the boy had good reason not to like humans so Ranma did not hold that against him. However the boy acquiesced after a conversion with his sister in private, whatever was said Ranma was sure he was better off not knowing. In fact he worried that his full scale remodeling of her biological structure might have affected her in ways he did not account for…nah couldn't be.
Anyway whatever else the boy thought of him he had drive and even now, with his entire body trembling with exhaustion, he was giving seventy more pushups. His build was strong, child though he was the beastmen were not to be underestimated. Right now Ranma was working on turning the boy's top heavy build into that of a warrior and thanks to the leveling system and his training it was working at speeds that were unreal. Seriously he wished his training was this easy and simple but then again anything that involved Neko-ken he would have rather avoided. Damn he was thinking about cats a lot recently, no no, bad Ranma.
Atlas, well where should he start with her? It had taken him three minutes of working with her to realize something very important. The girl was a freakin' genius, like left him in the dust level genius. Where he could take a few hours of study and practice to copy a move this girl had Suu levels of coping ability and what was more he did not have to spend time making her understand it. It was crazy insane what she could do, for example because he had used Reiki on her, she had copied it. Right now she as a ten year old beast girl could use that ability. It helped that what she called chi was the exact same thing as his Ki so that made things easier. His physical movements that he showed her were copied with the same ease, it was rather terrifying and invigorating to be teaching someone like her.
The two of them had gained four levels through pure training and the system had acknowledged both of them as his students. The funny part of that was he was now getting bonuses from being a teacher, under his status effects he had a new title.
Sensei: Through either teaching talented students or teaching many students you are now acknowledged as a teacher of the martial arts.
Stat Bonus: + 10 to all stats
Aura: If students are within one hundred yards of you they gain a +10 enhancement bonus to their stats and damage.
So that was cool. He glanced down at his students, "Alright, that's enough," he said as Fohl collapsed into a gasping heap and everyone else stood up with ease. Ranma glanced up at the falling sun, "You all worked hard today, and I'm proud of you." He glanced at Atlas, "Remember, no Ki abilities besides your hand strikes."
The child smiled at him widely, "Yes Ranma."
Man if felt good to be called by your own name once in a while, a fact that Raphtalia and Akeno were definitely exploiting. Said Priestess glanced at him, "Do you still want to learn magic today master?"
Ranma nodded, "In a little bit." He touched his side, "Body's still yelling at me for moving."
Raphtalia made a growling sound, "Why are you moving then?"
He cracked his neck, "Because waiting would be boring and I've been through so much worse it's not even funny."
Fohl stood up unsteadily. "You're worse than a slave driver," he moaned.
Ranma's eyes sparkled. "Atlas, could you carry your brother back to camp, it looks like he can't walk."
The boy's eyes went wide, "No!" he snarled and his legs stopped shaking. Glaring at him with pure venom, "I can walk myself!"
Ranma did not let himself laugh as the boy did that bumping thing some male's did to try and establish dominance. It did not have any effect but it was funny as hell. Atlas thought so too and her laugh was like crystal bells. Fohl limped back to camp muttering dark things about gender benders.
Raphtalia glanced at Suu who was moving over to Ranma's side. "My turn," she said calmly. The slime nodded and the girl moved to his side and put his hand over her shoulder letting him lean on it. "Thank you," he said, enjoying the way her form felt beside him.
Akeno rolled her eyes as she gave him a small smile, no doubt she knew exactly what he was thinking, Raphtalia did not seem to see or care what the other girl was doing. She sat him down next to the fire where some stew was cooking.
"You do not need to push yourself master, there will be battle in ten days and you need to be at your best."
Ranma shrugged, "I'll be good in about three days. Once my Ki fully returns I'll be good in hours."
"Your still human master, still mortal, you can allow yourself some rest."
"What do you think I'm doing, learning magic without doing it is rest."
The girl sighed, "Yes master."
Atlas served everyone their bowls of stew and took a spot next to him. They ate in silence for the first several minutes savoring the meal. Ranma had been quite proud of how easy all the cooking bonus shields had helped him in making it.
Considering that when he first came to this world all he knew was martial arts, martial arts and even more martial arts, with barely anything else in his skill repertoire, now he could cook and knew something of medicine. Granted the medicine was outshone by his lay of hands but he wondered if it gave him a bonus?
He thought about that for a bit when in front of his eyes the system appeared with a message.
"Hybrid skill created your knowledge of the body, anatomy and medicinal lore has granted you new insight into the mortal body. Add martial arts and medicine levels to Reiki use."
Ranma blinked, that was cool, he should try to think of things like this more often but there seemed to be a bend to it. What he did had to make sense, and he had to demonstrate that it could work, like when he healed Atlas.
"Ranma?" the small beast girl asked.
"Hm?"
"How do you get your chi…Ki to heal you like that?"
Her green eyes were distant as she looked at him, as if she could see through him. "Training, its one of the first things students like me are taught." He waved a hand to all of them, "I already taught you how to do it."
That got a round of surprised looks. "It's how you use your body's Ki, learn it the right way and it will automatically start doing it by itself. You just see it clear in me because I have had years to perfect it."
Atlas looked at herself and stayed like that for a few moments. "Oh I see." Her eyes looked back up at him full of admiration, "Thank you."
Fohl growled but said nothing as every female eye glared at him even his sister, Ranma made a note to not give the kid too hard a time. But at least this environment would toughen him up or teach him when to hold his tongue.
Ranma himself had chosen the toughen up route as he still had not learned to keep his mouth shut sometimes.
"Leave the kid alone," he chuckled, "I can take some aggression. It's good for kids his age to let out some aggression now and then."
"I've been working for the past five years, I am not a kid," the boy snapped out.
Ranma rolled his eyes "Just because you are more competent than a lot of adults I know does not make you one of them. You have a few years left to…." He glanced at Raphtalia, "Excuse me you have twenty five or so levels left of childhood."
That thought hit him like a bomb. "Crap, you two do know what will happen if you level right?"
Both beastman kids gave him a duh expression and nodded, "Right, of course you do."
Akeno giggled at the scene while Suu patted him on the head in a motherly fashion. Different world different rules he mused, but on the bright side if Atlas grew up she could outgrow the childish crush anyone could see on her face.
No doubt with sudden increase in maturity she would look upon his situation and shake her head, hell maybe both kids would come to look at him as a mentor, wouldn't that be something. He leaned back into Suu, who formed behind his back, and smiled as he looked over his companions.
Ya, Atlas would grow out it, and that girl was going to be hellova strong with her ability. And if he played his cards right and nurtured her brother's feelings of rivalry towards him just enough to push him but not enough to consume him, Ranma felt that he could make her bother incredibly strong as well. I mean look at Raphtalia and Firo, if they were any indication he was doing something right with the training.
Speaking of Firo the demon was now in her child from and was standing in front of him, her hands on her sides, eyes flashing, ahoge bobbing up and down. "Firo wants to put master's head on her lap too," she announced to god and everyone.
Ranma sighed but could not help feeling warmth spread through him, ya this was a place he could get used to. This was a place where he wanted to stay, this was the companionship that he had longed for, and if he could follow the duty of a martial artist while doing it so much the better.
He needed to focus on rest and training the two kids, he did not intend to have them be part of the next wave but they would be in the area and it wouldn't hurt to have them able to defend themselves. Nodding to himself he began to see if he could deal with Firo's demand knowing that in the end she would probably get her way and…well he did not really mind it, not anymore.