"I guess," said Ranma, looking around. "You fit all this into a phone booth?"
The wizard shrugged. "Got the idea off a British TV show. Thought it had possibilities. Still working on the steering. Still end up with some people wandering in despite the locks. Let me go ahead and lock it anyway and then I'll show you where we'll try the curse-removal."
"What's in it for you, anyway?" asked Ranma, that bit bothering him.
"Hmmm?" The Wizard paused after clicking a perfectly mundane deadbolt in the door. "Well. I've done a few transformation spells in my day, you know. The Jusenkyo one though - keeps transforming you. I'm familiar with curses that transform you based on the cycle of the moon, or have a day versus night trigger. Most transformations though are a one-shot deal. I cast a spell that turns an intruder into a pink bunny, then that's it - they are now a cute little pink bunny rabbit. Doing it so that they only turn bunny when the sun goes down - much trickier."
"So it's kinda a professional curiosity thing?" asked Ranma. It was like running into a variant of a martial arts manuever he'd never seen before, he'd be curious enough to want to see what was involved and all.
"Mostly," agreed the wizard, going to a second door and opening it - then proceeding down the stairs. "Being a high-level wizard is like being some professor of an esoteric science in some ways. We also have our professional journals and papers, our little get-togethers and attempts to one-up each other with our cleverness and accomplishments."
Ranma paused as he passed a door that was marked in red.
"Oh, you don't want to go through there, Mister Saotome," said the wizard without looking back.
"Where is this, anyway?" asked Ranma as he shrugged and continued.
"Oh? You can tell this isn't in Japan?" asked the wizard without stopping.
"Air's different," said Ranma.
"Well, true. The 'phone booth' is just an access point I can move around. The whole tower is buried in the Sahara Desert. A bit off the beaten path - but that makes it ideal for a wizard's lab don't you think? I've got another door around here that opens up near a pub in Ireland I'm rather fond of. Here we go."
Ranma followed through an archway, noted the different temperature and humidity, and that the air pressure had changed as well. "Mountain?"
"Himalayas. Yes. I must say that most of the information I gathered regarding you seems a bit off." The wizard DID glance back at that, pausing in the unlocking of a large wooden door. "You are described as being rather more oblivious to your surroundings."
Ranma shrugged slightly.
"Very well, Mister Saotome," said the wizard, opening the door. "Try not to disturb any of the chalk lines. The containment and security wards are chiseled into the stone and painted for good measure, but the diagnostics have to be changed for all the little details and I have to use chalk for that."
"Playground chalk?" asked Ranma, spotting a box of such. Thinking that someone who could link a room in the Himalayas to one in the Sahara and also to Nerima was using not only colored chalk - but a box of it marked with a bright orange sale tag.
"It's cheap and gets the job done," agreed the wizard. "The small circle there. If you'll remove all metal or magical items on your person, then sit down and get comfortable in the small circle surrounded by the blue lines?"
Ranma shrugged again, not having either on him at the moment. "So you said you could cure my curse?"
"Yes," said the wizard. "My preliminary investigation at the school was clear. I just want to make all my notes before I do that."
"A phone booth?" asked Akane, going all the way around the box and looking in the window. She could swear Ranma had gone INTO the box but he clearly wasn't there now.
After a few moments Shampoo landed on the pavement and glanced inside. "You lose Ranma?"
"Well, you can see inside there, and he clearly is NOT inside," responded Akane. She frowned for a moment. Why wasn't she feeling the usual stress of being around Shampoo?
Shampoo frowned, chose a wall, and leaned against it. "Something odd here."
A few minutes passed. Kodachi walked up, followed in short order by Nabiki.
"This is not a phone booth," declared Kodachi after studying it for a few minutes.
"Actually, it is," said Nabiki. "You see them like this in old American films, 1960s or so."
"No, the name of the company along the top is wrong," stated Kodachi. "There is no 'IT&T' company."
Nabiki checked. "Door's jammed. One of you martial artists want to open it?"
"No really," said Shampoo.
"There's something really wrong here," said Akane. "Why are we all so..."
"Calm and peaceful?" asked Nabiki, frowning. Not that she was inclined towards casual violence, but it was as if all her emotions were being blunted. No, not all of them. It was odd though.
"Weird," noted Shampoo, not really concerned. "Shampoo getting little bit hungry though."
Kodachi shrugged. "I'm familiar with the sensation. There's something about our current location that produces a mellowing effect similar to some medicinal products."
Nabiki started wondering how she could manipulate one of the martial artists to bust open the door so she could check for spare change. Seemed a bit troublesome though.
"And there, that's it," said the wizard.
"So you're gonna remove my curse now?" asked Ranma.
"Already done it," said the wizard, pointing at a flask in the third set of circles in the room. "Curse of Drowned Girl and all attendant and ancillary curses and subroutines is in that flask."
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(Posted Thu, 26 Dec 2013 16:52)
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