Makoto was carrying a fresh batch of muffins across the courtyard, when a hand erupted zombie like out of the path and groped her foot.
Startled, she cried out, tripped over, and dropped the basket. That made her simply furious. “Those muffins were for the Master!” she berated the head emerging amid a shower of sod.
“Uh… sorry about that?” the boy said as he began to pull himself out of the burrow. “But, where on Earth am I? Oh, hey, I know you… you’re … you’re… that girl?”
“Don’t strain your little brain, assassin,” Makoto told him. “Just shut up and fry…” Lightning flashed from her hands, knocking him backwards across the yard to land in a heap of twitching muscles.
“That… hurt… you know,” he accused, pulling himself together.
“Oh, the pain has just begun,” Makoto promised, and set his nerves on fire with another levinbolt.
“Stop that,” he demanded and slapped the ground. Earth erupted beneath her feet, sending Makoto sprawling again. “You’re beginning to annoy me… wait… if you’re Ranma’s pet then…. What are you doing in the wilderness? Does this mean … you’ve finally run away from that bastard!”
“You’re in the middle of our demesne’s courtyard, you twit!” Makoto roared, and so did the thunderbolt she unleashed.
“I said to stop that,” the intruder growled, and sent a stream of rock and soil hurling her way with a flip of his hand, conjured direct from his aura.
She blocked with a guard of electric force, though barely. An aura of earth and rock was such a solid element, and it’s manifestations struck hard. It drove her back against a wall.
Storming over to her, he pulled strength from the ground and lifted her by the throat. Lightning cascaded around them, but he was thoroughly grounded. “Right, now just tell me where to find that jerk.”
“Behind you,” Ranma’s voice answered coldly, and a cold right hook was added as a greeting.
“I can’t believe you dared hit me like a peasant thug,” the intruder sneered, rubbing his jaw with the hand that had been holding Makoto. “I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised.”
“Don’t worry, I won’t be doing that again,” Ranma promised, rubbing his abused fist. “Whatever made me think … Man, I knew you had a hard head, Hibiki, but I didn’t know you had rocks in there.”
“Shut up, Saotome, you coward. You can’t hide from me any longer.”
“Hide?” Ranma demanded. “You’re the one who didn’t show up for your duel.”
“Because you moved your demesne!”
“It’s a freaking fortress on a hill top,” Ranma pointed out politely.
“… Well then, you concealed it through some aura trickery so I couldn’t find it… or-”
“Or you’ve got the worst sense of direction for an earth aura user,” Ranma supplied. “Pittiful, Hibiki, really pitiful.”
“Shut up!” Ryouga growled and conjured a boulder out of the ground. “Just shut up and prepare to be crushed like a bug.”
“I’ll pass, thanks,” Ranma said, and leapt into a sudden updraft.
“Get down here and face me like a mage!” Ryouga roared and tossed the boulder sky high.
A gale force wind blasted it off trajectory. “No, I really don’t think so,” Ranma countered. “I’m not nearly stupid enough to face you on your element.”
“Do you think riding the wind can escape me for long?” Ryouga sneered as a wave of earth rose up around him and molded into a rocky armor. “Fine, stay there and watch me pull your precious fortress down around me.” The ground beneath his feet began to shake, spreading out in ripples.
Lightning crashed against his rocky exterior, chipping away flakes.
“Stay out of this,” Ryouga bellowed, more annoyed than hurt, and sent an eruption of rock out of his armored forearm and into Makoto. Rock molded around her like a straight jacket. “This is a matter between men!”
The spy glass lowered. Dressed in his finest samurai armor, Lord Soun glowered. “Well, well, well, it seems there is a small altercation at the Saotome Demesne, just now.”
“Then this would be the perfect time to strike, milord?” a minion observed eagerly, slapping his fist into another hand.
“Hardly,” Soun sneered. “Without knowing what the distraction is, it could turn around on us just as easily. But afterward… then the boy’s guard will be weakened. Meanwhile his attention is focused inwards, so we can move closer under cover of that ambient disturbance.”
“And by ‘we’, you mean ‘me’?” the minion guessed.
“Well, this is your chance to prove yourself worthy of my daughters’ hand, Tatewaki,” the lord responded drily. “Find out what the distraction is, attack only if the opportunity to succeed arises, otherwise just report back at once. Who knows, perhaps we have a potential ally against the Saotome clan.”
Rock chipped away from Makoto’s cocoon. She looked down to see Hotaru’s vacuum blade slicing flakes away and her eyes widened in alarm and she stopped struggling. That shadow manifestation was sharp.
She glanced over at the courtyard to distract herself. Ryouga was in the center of a hurricane funnel, lobbing streams of rocky aura manifestation up through the eye of the twister, at her master. The well maintained garden lawn was absolutely ruined, and several buildings would need extensive maintenance.
“I hate it when visitors drop by unannounced like this,” she muttered as the cocoon shattered around her. Rock peeled off and the shards immediately began to fade away.
“Let’s give Master a hand,” Hotaru said eagerly.
“Wait,” Mokoto cautioned, gingerly holding the girl back. “You’ll force Master Ranma to dampen his wind if you get any closer.”
“But I wanna help!” the pet assassin whined.
“Send your shadow between Hibiki and the ground instead,” Makoto instructed. “Spread it thin, and slid it between his aura and the natural element, then sever the conduit.”
“Awe, that’s no fun,” Hotaru complained, but stuck her blade into the ground. Inky darkness spread across the courtyard like twilight shadow, pooled a little around Ryouga’s golem encased feet, then slipped through his guard as the winds forced him to step back a few feet.
“What are you doing?” the earth golem demanded as he felt his auric field dim. He twisted around and stamped hard into the shadow covered ground. A miniature landslide erupted and ploughed into the girls, bowling them over. Ryouga raised a fist to funnel a blast at the girls, but found Ranma had jaunted down between them. A momentary flash of surprise twisted into triumph as he shifted aim.
“Ryouga, get out of my demesne!” Ranma growled, and unleashed his wind aura at point blank range. “Now!”
Disconnected from his roots, even Ryouga’s massive golem casing lifted under the roaring jetstream. Ranma strained, sent his opponent flying, then collapsed.
(Posted Fri, 15 Aug 2008 02:33)
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