As Lyner and Ryoga caught up to Shurelia they saw her talking to a crimson haired girl wearing a black shirt with a silver dragon design stitched into it. The design continues on the black pants. She is also wearing black boots with crimson highlights.
“So how’s your sister Sierra?” Shurelia asked.
“She’s fine, still traveling with Harmonica though,” Sierra responded.
“You know he hates that name right?” Shurelia remarked.
“True, but for some reason the name Jack simply does not stick with me.” Sierra shrugged and continued, “Must be the fact that she always refers to him as Harm.”
Lyner spoke up and asked, “Who is your friend, Shurelia?”
The crimson haired woman turned toward him and responded, “My name is Sierra Lune, and I’m Misha’s sister. Who are you?”
“Lyner Barsett.”
Sierra’s eyes widen as she responded, “Lyner? As in the Lyner that saved the tower from Mir, and rehabilitated her? That Lyner?"
“Err, yes why?” he responded nervously.
“Are you Shurelia’s boyfriend? I heard that you dived into her, as well as Misha and Aurica. Are you two timing her? How far did you go in them? Remember don’t tell others what went on in there a dive is a dive,” Sierra grilled him like a steak.
Lyner backed off from the redheaded Reyvateil as he was getting grilled. He responded by saying, “whoa, back off. Let’s see, Yes, yes, and no, and finally why are you so interested in other people’s dives?”
“I’m curious; I haven’t found anyone I trust enough yet.”
“Fine I went to level 9 in Aurica and Misha, and down to level five a few times with Shurelia, but the deepness of the level doesn’t really apply to her as to how close we are in her case,” Lyner explained. Sierra’s eyes narrowed as she glared at Lyner. “You went all the way down in two or three Reyvateils and you DON’T consider that two timing?” She ground out.
“That’s enough! Neither they nor I think that he was two timing us. He made his decision on who he wanted to be with, and stayed with that one. Now we need to do a dive for something important Sierra,” Shurelia declared. “Now why don’t you keep Ryoga here company, so we can do what we came here for?” She finished while pointing at Ryoga.
Ryoga shocked everyone there with a question, “what’s a ‘dive’?”
Sierra looked at Ryoga in surprise, “you don’t know? I thought that was common knowledge. A dive is where a person goes into a Reyvateil’s mind, and helps her create song magic, as well as helping with various psychological traumas.
As Ryoga and Sierra continue their discussion about dives, Lyner and Shurelia went into the dive shop. Upon entering the shop the see two huge pods both over ten feet high, and looking like a giant eggplant. The Dive shop owner looked at them as they entered. He stood about five feet ten inches tall, had a tail, and horns a typical member of the Teru tribe.
“Ah, Lyner and Shurelia, I’m pleased to see you again. I have something for you that you might be interested in,” The shopkeeper said upon spotting them. He continued as he led them into the depths of his shop, “It’s a new invention, a portable dive machine. Considering how often you two come in, I thought you might be interested.” The device looked like two helmets that cover the entire head, connected by cords leading to a box that is about a foot to a side. Lights blink in many places upon the box.
Lyner asked cautiously “Is it tested, Reik? We have already had enough trouble with untested technology. “His voice dropped into a grumble as he added, “especially after the purger incident.”
“Oh yes don’t worry, it has been extensively tested, it’s quite safe.” Reik replied.
“How much?” Shurelia asked.
“For my best customers? I have a free set here,” Reik replied while smiling.
Lyner thought about how convenient it would be, and was about to answer when Shurelia beat him to it.
“We’ll take it, but how much for a second set? I have the feeling we will need it,” Shurelia asked.
The shop keeper looked surprised at the question, but responded, “One hundred thousand leaf. Why would you need a second one?”
“If I’m right, I know of someone who might need it since he/she can’t get to a dive shop,” so saying she paid Reik for the two sets putting one into her storage space, and telling him to deliver the other to the apartment she shares with Lyner. She then said, “We need to check something, could you prep the dive machine for us?”
“Not that I’m complaining, but why don’t you use your new portable instead of paying me?” Reik responded puzzled.
“For what we need to check we thought it would be best to have a professional observing,” Shurelia explained.
“Oh, I see. Well I’ll go get the dive machine ready, and it will be six hundred leaf,” Reik said as he walked out of the room to prepare for the dive.
Lyner turned toward Shurelia, and asked, “Why are you so excited about this considering what happened with the purger?”
“Lyner, if this Ranma exists and is ‘cursed’ to turn into a Reyvateil, he/she will need a few things. The things Ranma will need are an explanation of what Reyvateils are, their powers, and limitations. She will also need access to a dive machine. If I am right Ranma’s Reyvateil form is that of an origin, but his/her mind is closer to a beta or a third generation, therefore I am expecting him/her to have a Cosmosphere rather than a direct connection to the binary field like myself. The easiest way to do so would be to talk to him/her in person, and explain everything as well as give him the portable dive machine,” Shurelia explained.
“How will you find this Ranma?” Lyner asked with a frown.
“Ryoga seems to be able to travel between here and wherever Ranma is, so we’ll just follow him.” Shurelia responded.
Lyner looked thoughtful as he considered that option. A frown appeared on his face as he realized a problem. He looked at Shurelia, and replied, “That could work, but how will you keep Ryoga from killing Ranma?”
Shurelia teasingly smiled at Lyner as she answered, “That will be YOUR job, love.”
Lyner groaned at that as Reik came back in. He looked confused at Lyner’s groan, but shook it off and said, “It’s set up if you’re ready.”
Shurelia climbs in her pod as Lyner pays the man. He then climbs into his own.
From Lyner’s point of view it was like flying through a tunnel of light. The ‘walls’ of the tunnel looked like a series of interlocking symbols in the hymnos language. This continued until he came out in the final level of their last game. He was standing in the middle of a stone circle that looked like a broken down stone hedge. The stone hedge was in the middle of a graveyard complete with creepy sound effects, ghosts, and tombstones.
“Okay, this is the last time we do a horror game,” Lyner declared in a creeped out voice.
“Why is that, Lyner?” Shurelia asked as she appeared beside him. She was wearing a white gown with what looked like blood splatters all over it.
Lyner jumped as she suddenly appeared, and replied in a shaky voice, “Please don’t do that in this type of setting, but as to my comment it’s creepy ending up here when I dive.”
“Oh I see, but enough about that. You need to look around to see if there is anything unusual. I’ll hold this setting so you can tell if something is wrong. Call me if you find something,” Shurelia said as she faded out.
Lyner started searching the graveyard and the nearby town. The town would look out of place in Dracula’s Transylvania, not because it was the wrong type of village, but because it looked too creepy. His search continued until he saw a sliver of blackness near a formally brown wall. He approached it, and soon found himself in front of a pitch black hole. He walked around it only to find out it only existed from the front. If he looked at it from the edge or the back it simply did not exist. He walked back to where he could see the whole hole, and called out,”Shurelia, I think I found it.”
“Oh?” She commented as she faded into existence. Her eyes widened as she laid eyes on the hole. “What the…”
Suddenly a timid voice called out from the hole, “Is someone out there?”
“Sorry to disturb you, but we just found out that your cosmosphere is connected directly to mine. Are you Ranma’s mind guardian?” Shurelia asked.
“I’m not sure what you are talking about, but I think so. I woke up here about two months ago,” The voice replied.
“We’ll leave you alone now, because we don’t have permission to enter your cosmosphere,” Shurelia said gently.
“Umm, ‘kay. I’ll stay over here for the same reasons then,” The voice replied.
“Lyner we should leave for now so we can get Ryoga to lead us to where he came from,” Shurelia said.
“Fine,” Lyner replied as he triggered the return function. He repeated his entrance in the opposite direction.
Reik had a surprised expression on his face as the two climbed out of their pods. “Done already? That was a fast one; you normally spend a couple of hours in there.”
“Yes it was. We confirmed what we had to.” Lyner replied.
“Let’s go Lyner we need to pick up Ryoga,” Shurelia commanded.
“Wait Shurelia,” Lyner said.
“Why?” Shurelia asked.
“After we find out how he got here we should arrest him,” Lyner replied.
“Why do you think that Lyner?” The silver haired girl asked.
“He admitted that he was going to kill someone for a stupid reason, so to prevent that we should lock him up. The other reason is that he threatened you for simply mentioning his name. If I hadn’t stopped him who knows what he would have done,” Lyner explained.
“You have a point about that, but we should ask him about any landmarks he might have seen when he arrived here. Considering that he claimed to have gotten lost for four days trying to get to a place that was less than five hundred meters behind His Own House it might be faster to find the land mark.” Shurelia said.
Lyner considered that for a few seconds, and replied, “You have a point.”
“Then let’s go, Lyner,” Shurelia said as she started to walk out the door with Lyner following.
As they left the dive shop they came across an odd scene, a fuming Sierra and a confused looking Ryoga who had a faint red handprint on his face.
“Now what happened here?” Shurelia asked in a bemused voice.
“This guy told me his story, and had the nerve to say this Ranma was a coward. If he can’t be bothered to show up on time the other person isn’t obligated to wait more than an hour.” Sierra said scathingly.
“But, but, but…” Ryoga said as he tried to formulate a response.
“Enough! Ryoga where do you think you arrived at the tower?” Shurelia asked sharply.
“I don’t know. I think it was near a statue of two people,” Ryoga responded.
Just then two knights ran up to them. One knight said “Lyner! Shurelia! Odd monsters are attacking at the statue of the some maiden! Mir and Ayatane are holding them off, but they need help!”
“Let’s go, Lyner,” Shurelia asked as she changed into her linkage costume and took off for the statue.
“You two, arrest that man,” Lyner ordered before dashing off after Shurelia.
“Wait for me!” Sierra yelled as she took off after both of them. The knights grabbed Ryoga’s arms, and one said, “Alright, you’re under arrest.”
“Let go of me! I have to kill that coward,” Ryoga yelled as he was getting dragged away.
Lyner, Shurelia, and Sierra headed toward the statue at a rapid pace. They found themselves in front of a statue of a knight and a woman. In front of the statue a crack in reality hung inside the crack looked like a black square inside a red square inside a black square repeating endlessly creating an optical illusion of great depth. Black blobs with arms and a blue mask with the number zero on the forehead where fighting some knights in front of the crack. Another blob came through the crack as they watched.
“What the Hell are these?” Sierra screamed.
“Dead, Energy Ball,” a nude black haired young woman, who looked sixteen or so, said as she loosed a ball of magic at her opponents. The attack looked like Ranma’s Primal Word spell except orange instead of white, but just as powerful. After the smoke cleared the number of blobs was larger than before the spell.
“Mir, look out!” a young knight yelled as he tackled her out of the way of a lightning bolt.
“Don’t touch me, human,” Mir demanded venomously.
“Should I have let you fry?” He asked.
“Fine, I will let it slide this time,” she said just as he was blasted by a lightning bolt himself, killing the hapless knight instantly.
Lyner was in front of Shurelia, defending her as she charged up a spell of her own, when he suddenly had a searing pain in his head. He put his hands up to his head. When the paid subsided he noticed he had a card in his hand. He then said one word, “Per-son-a.”
The card suddenly burst into blue flames, and he smiled as he crushed the flaming card in his hand. A humanoid figure appeared above his head. It had white hair, red scarf covering its mouth, mechanical limbs with no actual feet, and what looked like a round speaker on its stomach. A voice suddenly resonated in the minds of those present. “I am thou, Thou art I, I am Orpheus master of strings.” A blast of fire incinerated all the blobs after it stopped talking. The figure faded away after the flames died.
“What was that?” Mir asked in a shocked voice.
Her only response was a thud as Lyner fell unconscious.
The sole blob that the attack missed assaulted the group. Just before it used its final attack Sierra shouted, “Damn, he missed one!” the shadow exploded, and when the dust cleared the four figures were gone.
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(Posted Wed, 27 May 2009 22:28)
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