“Ranma, Prepare to…huh?”
Ryoga glanced down at Ranma’s prone form and then up at Nabiki’s amused grin.
“What did you do to him?”
“Nothing, I just told him some things he wasn’t ready to hear.”
Nabiki’s grin unnerved the lost boy a bit, as he sat down and waited for Ranma to wake up.
“So… How did you two end up in Hakido anyway?”
Nabiki took a sip of her soda before replying, “We aren’t in Hakido. This is some sort of Magic Mall and as for where it is... I have no idea. You have to buy something before it lets you out.”
Ryoga scratched the back of his head, wondering if he should mention that he’s been here quite a few times.
“Whasssit?”
Ranma slowly sat up, rubbing his head as he tried to think of how he could avoid having the Sailor Senshi end up as yet more fiancées. He was fairly sure they fit the bill; beautiful, violent, and looking for a boyfriend. That pretty much described all the women he was engaged (and/or married by some quaint law) to.
*whack*
“Ow! What'd ya do that for ya… Oh, Hi Ryoga!”
Ryoga frowned. This wasn’t quite the reaction he was seeking or used to from Ranma. He seemed really happy to see him and hadn’t insulted him yet and he had been fully conscious for over five seconds already!
“I got ya somethin’…”
Ranma was interrupted by Ryoga’s stomach letting off a growl that almost rivaled one of Ranma’s own.
“How about I get ya some lunch first?”
Ryoga rubbed the back of his head and looked down, embarrassed to be put in this position. He had wanted to attack Ranma… but he was hungry… and Ranma wasn’t being insulting. Add to that, that he didn’t have any money on him and well…
Ranma took the decision from him by ordering, “Hey can I get a foot long sub, lots of meat, but no pork please?”
“So what brings you by this way Habiki?”
“One Hero, make it a foot long and really beefy, on the straight and narrow.”
“I was looking for Ranma. You see I ran into an old monk, in a cave in the center of Tokyo, which is rather bizarre because I don’t remember there being penguins in Tokyo, or so much snow… Anyway he had this scroll with a technique based on changing strength into speed, but it takes a lot of endurances and I wanted to test it out on Ranma.” Ryoga finished a little bit uncomfortable at mentioning the fact that he was planning on beating the person who was buying him lunch senseless.
“Really? Cool!”
Ranma practically did a dance in his chair as Nabiki just sighed. ‘I’ll never understand these two.’
“You don’t mind?”
“Hell no! I been watin’ for ya to come up with something new for a while now. I figured you would either come up with something to speed you up or slow me down, or maybe even some new type of attack. Like refining the breaking point to move the earth the way the Old Ghoul moves water, like the Shark fist.”
Ryoga froze in place, completely lost in thought, not even noticing the sub that was placed in front of him, even while he was eating it.
Nabiki opened her mouth to say something, only to stop when Ranma held a finger to her lips. Blushing a bit she stared down at her lap and waited for Ryoga to come out of whatever fugue state he was in.
Ranma’s eyes danced as he watched Ryoga, passing him the remains of his fries, which Ryoga ate with the same absent minded deliberation.
“That could work… I could make a simple ground wave pretty easily. Making it into an animal form would take a lot longer and a lot more skill, but a simple wave? I could do that in my sleep!”
Ranma slipped the amulet he had bought into Ryoga’s hand.
Ryoga paused just before he was abought to bite it. “What’s this?”
“It’s an amulet, bought it at a magic shop that makes stuff for heroes. It’s suppose to lead you straight to wherever you want to go without fail. Can’t be lost, stolen, or dropped. Ya have to willingly take it off if ya want to get rid of it.”
Ryoga stared at the simple grey talisman like it was the Holy Grail. Quickly he slipped it around his neck where it glimmered a little and faded into his skin.
“Where’d it go?” Ryoga scrabbled at his neck suddenly holding the talisman again. “What the hell was that?”
“I guess it’s how they can guarantee ya’ll never lose it. It kinda slid into ya for a moment and then when ya wanted to take it off it was back in your hand.”
“How in the world did you figure that out Satome?” Nabiki arched an eyebrow.
Ranma straightened up from his habitual slouch and started speaking in lecturing tones. “A magic item has it’s own aura or power source if you will. The spell is patterned into the item in such a way that by deciding the object is yours and you wish to wear it, it activates the portion of the spell dealing with it’s physical placement relative to you and your placement within space time. It slides into your aura and by using you as an anchor, it gets a clear feel for exactly where you are and where your goal is in reference to you, allowing it to alter your aura in such a way that the destination becomes clear in your mind as well.”
Ryoga and Nabiki stared at him in slack jawed amazement.
“What? It’s all on the card.” Ranma held up a small card that had written on it, word for word, the entire speech he had just given.
*crash*
Ranma looked down at the two splayed out on the ground.
“Come on. It’s similar to Mousse’s hidden weapons trick, just it references the entire world to you rather then what you have stored.”
Realizing that it did indeed have a lot of similarities to something involving the Martial Arts and feeling strangely relieved that Ranma hadn’t suddenly developed a high IQ, Ryoga and Nabiki climbed back into their chairs feeling that all was right once again with the world or at least as much as it ever was around Ranma.
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(Posted Thu, 05 Aug 2004 21:47)
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