Her name was Gina. Dr. Gina Babette Diggers, to be precise. She had uncovered the greatest secrets of the ancient world. Other-reality phantoms, sentient dinosaurs, cities of gold, libraries from beyond the veil of time, stars from before the birth of the cosmos. Her discoveries became her theories, her theories became her inventions, her inventions became her tools, her tools opened new discoveries. But today, on this expedition, she was after a more…personal treasure.
"Dammit, Gina, how much longer is this going to take?"
Gina sighed. "I told you I had this covered, Brit."
Britanny Elin 'Gia (nee Diggers) glared down at her sister. "And I told you, if I didn't get out of that house for a bit I would go mad. You said this was a short expedition!"
Gina rolled her eyes. "A week, tops," she said. "That's very short for an expedition like this."
Britanny ground her teeth. Last month she had given birth to her firstborn daughter, Tiffany. Motherhood suited her, however Brit' had found herself to be far too much an adrenaline junkie to stay at home all the time. So, while Stryyp watched their child, she went out to have a taste of adventure with her sister. "You didn't tell me it was some abandoned mountain in Japan."
"Brit, you're beginning to sound like Brianna," Gina warned.
"Don't even joke," Britanny muttered.
"Besides, if you were ever going to get off that unreasonably large ass of yours," Gina started.
Brit casually reached for Gina to enact appropriate retribution and was promptly foiled by Gina's anti-wedgie force field.
"Then this really is the best expedition to do it on," Gina finished with a smug tone.
Brit rubbed her hand. "That stings," she growled. "So what makes this trip so special?"
"Well, you remember Tiffany's delivery?"
Brit rolled her eyes. "I was kinda there, Gina."
"Okay, that was a dumb question. Anyway, it made me realize that while I'm learning about the ancient civilizations, I haven't really uncovered anything about the Age of Magic in human civilization."
Brit nodded slightly. "That sounds interesting and all but…"
"And I found this site thanks to some legends Jetta gave me copies of," Gina said.
"What?" Britanny asked, finally making a connection that was relevant to her, personally.
Gina nodded. "Brit, we're studying the origins of lycanthropy!"
The mountain ruins were not much to look at. Time had weathered them to the foundations, possibly with help from any of a dozen conflicts in the area's history and who knows how many before that. Gina easily mapped out a simple stone wall and the dimensions of three buildings. Unfortunately, these ruins had obviously played host to modern visitors. Graffiti and litter alike spoke to squatters in the past year or two alone, and some uncaring soul had used some kind of pneumatic hammer to write "Akane" in finger-sized holes in one wall.
"Doesn't look like a lot was left," Brit said.
Gina nodded glumly. "I didn't expect much would be here, but even so this place has been trashed."
"Wait, you didn't expect to find anything?"
"I didn't say that," Gina corrected. "Anything with a reasonable chance of surviving the years we'll find underground. Help me set up the GPR."
After an hour's efforts, Gina shouted in triumph and slapped her hand on a screen filled with squiggly lines. "Got it!"
Brit looked at the readout. "I see a horse eating a carrot with a baboon."
"Oh hush," Gina said. "Reading radar scans is an art. These deviations here tell me that there is a decently sized hollow in this part of the mountain."
"So there's a cave?" Brit guessed.
"Topography's all wrong for a cave this size," Gina said. "But see these sharp contrasts in density? There's something around the hollows, something much sturdier than the mountain."
"So…walls?" Brit guessed.
"That's right," Gina crowed. "The basement or cellar for whatever this place was. Now all we need to do is find an opening."
Gothwrain was an unhappy rat. Just over a month ago, he had been ready to enact the plan that would free his soul. He would be Iceron again. But no, that silly kryyn husband of the cat-whore had to be a good daddy and put family above duty. A minor miscalculation; Stryyp'Gia was easily one of the less predictable pieces on Gothwrain's chess board. His trap was still in place, his attack ready, but if 'Gia didn't leave mother and daughter alone together for long enough for the Lich to play his part, Gothwrain was stuck. And much as he hated to admit it, some of the contingencies he had were not going to last. The mage council's tiny spy, for example, could not remain where he was for long.
Gothwrain's musings on the massive game his life had become were interrupted by one of his most ancient enchantments. "What?" he gasped. His head spun and he stared towards the distant island-nation of Japan, where an ancient security spell had just shouted its warning to Iceron.
Intruders at the stronghold.
Gothwrain growled. That lab was useless to him, his experiments all for naught. He had more important things to do than deal with some treasure hunters seeking thousand year old scraps. Besides, he knew better than anyone how unstable some of those experiments were. The intruders would be dead soon anyway, if they were lucky.
Gina's feet dangled through the hole in the ceiling for a moment before she grabbed the rope and climbed down to the floor. "…so that's why werewolves avoid Japan as a rule."
"And you think this place is the source of that boogeyman?" Brit asked. She jumped down easily, ignoring the rope.
The structure they were in was simple stone construction, built not to keep out intruders but to facilitate ease of navigation. The destroyed surface buildings had likely held the security portion of the complex. Gina and Brit had gained entry through a weakened part of the ceiling. (It was right under the Akane carving. It seemed that particular vandal had also carved an unusually twisted tunnel as his means of escape, like some kind of drunken mole.)
Gina nodded to Brit, staying carefully in the shaft of light from the hole above them. "I do. We know that werecreatures are magical beings, not natural creatures. And while I haven't figured out exactly what species werewolves were based on, the werecat species are all modern animals. Further, Dad was able to modify your enchantments. All of these facts suggest that werecreatures were created by human mages. That's not exactly a new supposition, but no one has ever really hunted for proof, let alone answers to all the other questions."
"Like why," Brit said softly.
"That would be a big one," Gina admitted. "'How' is another. And then there are those really vague things about werecreatures no one really understands. If we get all those answers, we might even be able to figure out what Brianna's full nature is."
"She does seem to develop the strangest talents," Brit agreed. "But then, I'm not making bullets out of nothing. Why do you think being part-werecheetah has anything to do with it?"
"Well I don't have any magic," Gina pointed out.
The universe sneezed.
"You have a point," Brit agreed, shaking off the feeling that she had missed some grand cosmological moment.
Ranma looked around. They were well outside civilization now, maybe half the way there. He heard a stream nearby and there was good shade here. "Okay, rest break," he called.
Genma turned. "Lazy boy! We break when gabuha!" He collapsed to the ground.
Ranma rolled his eyes and massaged his fist. "Well then, this is a 'gabuha' moment. How are you holding up, Akane?"
Akane didn't respond, as she was too busy lying face down on the ground, gasping for air. The moment Ranma had said "break" she decided that the ground looked awfully comfortable. She'd jogged further, and for longer, but keeping up with the Saotomes in wilderness was a lot more punishing than a simple jog along the streets.
Ranma considered his dying fiancée. "Ah," he said. He picked up her water canteen and found it empty. "Akane, if you run out, say something. Even oyaji isn't dumb enough to take this pace without water." He took his own bottle, still half-full, and pressed it into her hand. "Here. There's a stream nearby. Do you want to boil the water for the next leg of the trip?" Ranma knew that sooner or later, Akane would want to cook something. And her only reliable skill was boiling water.
Akane tried to leverage herself up and only managed to roll onto her side. Ranma put his hand on her shoulder to steady her. "Right. I'll get the water and set up the fire. You stay here, rest, and drink up."
True to his word, Ranma was back a few minutes later, now a she as the riverwater had been cold. She set up the fire calmly. By this time, Akane's breathing had settled to normal and she wasn't sweating as hard. "Thanks," she said weakly.
Ranma smiled. "Mountain training is rough," she said sympathetically. "There's a lot you have to do right. That's why I wanted to burn through your stamina early. Otherwise when you did collapse, you might actually be in trouble."
"Wait," Akane said. "You mean you were going that fast on purpose?"
"'Course," Ranma said easily. "You think I'm dumb enough to run you that hard by mistake?"
Akane thought that over. "Ranma no baka," she grumbled.
Ranma laughed lightly. "Well, the fire's going. Remember, get the water off as soon as it boils."
"Where are you going?"
Ranma held up her own bottle, now empty. "Someone drank all my water," she said in mock surprise.
Akane blushed.
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(Posted Sun, 05 Feb 2012 17:47)
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