As she half expected, the glimpses of Ranma’s experience at Jusenkyo appeared to line up with the account he’d given the previous night, though Rei now understood more fully why they were called the “Springs of Sorrow”—the sadness that radiated from it was nearly unbearable. While it might not have been much, it would probably turn out to be one of the many things that factored into Ranma’s curses. That done, she idly continued probing Ranma through the Great Fire, looking for anything that might help her understand him better—she certainly got that, but it was not what she was expecting.
While looking over Ranma’s life, Rei had noticed something dark—not “Dark” the way Beryl’s Generals were, but dark in the sense of disturbing. She was curious, so she examined it more closely. The images were… not pleasant.
Darkness. Falling. Ground. Dark. Sound. Scuffle.
Eyes. Cat. Cat. Cat cat cat. Cats. Staring. Hungry. “Meow.&rdquo Cat. “Meow.&rdquo Cat. “Meow.&rdquo Fangs; claws. “Meowmeowmeow.&rdquo Worry. Silence.
Pounce.
Everywhere. Scratching. Everywhere. Clawing. Everywhere. Biting. Everywhere cats. All around. Cats tearing clawing everywhere devouring stop scratching help me cats cats please mewling mauling eating killing no helpcats cats
catsCatscatsCats Cats
Stop Cats NO! Cats Cats CATS
CATS!
…Blank.
The principles of sensory overload apply even when the sensations are mystical in nature—the brain temporarily shuts down certain nonessential functions in order to protect itself. This is why Rei lost consciousness after the swarm of cats descended. When she finally awoke, it was already morning.
Good grief… what the hell was that? Rei knew she had seen that horror while scrying Ranma, but there was no way anyone could go through something like that and still be as relatively well adjusted as Ranma was. How is he still sane? It made absolutely no sense—and Rei was about dismiss the vision as relating to something else (possibly the leftovers her grandfather had left in the fridge), when the sound of her Senshi communicator interrupted her thoughts.
“Yes?”
“Rei, is that you?” It was the Senshi of Mercury’s voice.
“Yeah, Ami, it’s me.”
“You sound tired.”
“Well, I didn’t exactly have a good night’s sleep—so what did you want to talk about?” Ami wasn’t the kind of person who would use her communicator for banal chitchat.
“It’s about Ranma.”
Why am I not surprised? “Go on.”
“I was examining the Mercury Computer’s scan of Ranma, and while I didn’t find any surprises related to his Jusenkyo curse, there was something else that was rather disturbing—”
The priestess cut her friend off at this point. “Let me guess, it has something to do with cats.”
“Well, yes, as a matter of fact. How did you know?”
“Because the reason I didn’t have a good night’s sleep last night was because I stumbled upon the same thing while I was scrying. And let me tell you, whatever it is, calling it ‘rather disturbing’ is a gross understatement.”
“I see.”
“I’m assuming you want to call a meeting?”
“Yes. It’s important that the others know—and considering what the Computer says this thing does to Ranma, it’s absolutely vital that the mooncats know about this… before they meet him. I know it’s short notice, but will the shrine be available?”
“I think so… Grandfather and Yuuichirou are away for the weekend, so there shouldn’t be a problem.”
“Alright, you get ready… I’ll contact the others.”
“Right.”
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(Posted Sat, 07 Jan 2006 00:57)
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