The first was the Dwarven City. A Coal mining town where most of the Dwarven races of Jade had traveled to as to set up a city for their race. Many a people were either workers in the mines, or they were fighters. The Dwarven City also happened to have the most 'technology' of anywhere else on Jade, as they had VERY simplistic, yet still more 'modern' methods of tempering and purifying metals to sell and ship to other parts of Jade. As one could see from a distance, The Dwarven city was the only place in Jade with something close to being a 'factory'.
The second city virtually isolated in the North, because of the mountains was Durpan City. This city was more of a melting pot of races and cultures, when compared to the Dwarven City. It was also not only the Capital city of the West Continent, but it was also the city where the Conclave of Mages was formed. As such, this is where the main building of the Conclave resided on Jade. Of course, there was a branch office in Lrith City in the Eastern part of the West Continent, and three branch offices on the East Continent in Main Guard, Seer's Hamlet, and the Capital city of Tessa, but the Conclave of Durpan City was where it was all orchestrated from.
Still, what isolated these two cities is where we shift our focus for now. For there was quite a sight to behold. Almost completely isolating these two great cities were the Arbron's Spine Mountain Range. The Arbron's Spine Mountain Range was a long series of mountains, which held an incredibly high tower. The Twisted Peak. The Twisted Peak, was, itself, a magical construct made from the mountains. In reality the Twisted Peak was an observation tower, and home to one of the greatest Aura Mages in all of Jade. The same Aura Mage who had taught Dr. Theodore Diggers. Gneiss.
And currently, at the base of Twisted Peak, a small Teleportation Gate had opened up. Stepping out of it were the familiar forms of Nabiki Tendo and Ryoga Hibiki.
Taking a moment to look around, Ryoga made the comment of, "Damn, Nabiki. You weren't kidding when you said your teacher lived out in the middle of nowhere..."
Nabiki just nodded her head. The isolation was one of the things she hated, but there was really nowhere else she could have gone. When she had taken Happosai's scroll, she had done so in the hope of bringing Ranma back so he could pay for all that had happened to her home, her family, and Nerima. Instead, she ended up sending herself into another dimension.
Still it really was rather fortunate that when she was sent to Jade, she ended up in the Twisted Peak. That old man, Gneiss was rather impressed Nabiki was able to cast a spell of dimensional teleportation with no training whatsoever. "No kidding Ryoga." Nabiki said after the longest while. "Fortunately, Master Gneiss saw that I had a potential and has been training me as an aura mage practically ever since I got here. Not only has he given me room and board, but he's also been teaching me in his 'art'."
Ryoga snorted at the concept of magic as an art. From his experience, magic has proved to be nothing more than a pain in the ass, be it the stupid Jusenkyo curse, or that damned specialized teleportation spell that Happosai cast on him when he was trying to punish Ranma. "Whatever. Just what the hell are we doing at your Master's place, Nabiki?"
Smiling mischievously, Nabiki ignored Ryoga for a moment and concentrated her Etheral Aura on the door, causing it to open. "Simple, Hibiki. Master Gneiss is away for a meeting at Durpan, and will be there for another three days."
Not getting where Nabiki was going with this, Ryoga said, "So?"
"So, that's more than enough time for me to equip you with a project that Master Gneiss has left unfinished..." Nabiki said.
Raising an eyebrow, Ryoga asked, "What project?"
Still smiling, Nabiki lead Ryoga into the Twisted Peak. The bottom floor was a rather empty room, marble floor, four statues of people that were most likely wizards, and the staircase leading upstairs. Nabiki went over to the statue it the eastern corner of the tower and pulled down on its arm, causing a piece of the floor to slide back and reveal a staircase. "Follow me, Hibiki."
Whistling appreciatively, Ryoga asked, "A hidden passage? Where does it go?"
Smirking like the Cheshire Cat, Nabiki said, "You'll see..." And with that, Nabiki started heading down the staircase.
After ten minutes, Nabiki walked back up the stairs. "What are you waiting for, Hibiki?"
Ryoga, who was walking around the main room aimlessly, said, "I can't find the staircase!"
Growling in frustration, Nabiki grabbed Ryoga's arm roughly and dragged him to the secret passage, and down the staircase.
What Ryoga saw when they got there was rather interesting. The staircase lead into one large room, a laboratory. The walls were shelves that were covered with all sorts of small nick-knacks, both of magical nature and those of a more physical one.
However, in the center floor was what looked like a HUGE, somewhat-broken statue. One would swear it looked like Akuma from the 'Street Fighter' Videogame, only the whole thing was in a red color scheme, and it was more angular at edges as if it were carved. It was 24' tall, and 9'8" wide of pure magical/mechanical might! Sure, it was missing the lower half of it's left leg AND it had a huge hole in the center of the chest, but this statue did indeed look dangerous.
"Wow..." Ryoga managed to bring himself to say after many silent moments. "What the heck is this thing?"
"That, my dear muscle-headed friend, is how we are going to get our vengeance upon Ranma." Nabiki answered. "This is the Sentinel!"
"The Sentinel?" Ryoga asked. "What the heck's it supposed to do?"
Nabiki smiled wickedly. "This bad boy is an old project master Gneiss worked on a couple of years back. The Sentinel is a War Golem made from a strong, magically enhanced ruby-quartz. This creation was supposed to be the protector of the daughter of one of Gneiss's old students." Sighing, Nabiki said, "However, Master made it a bit too powerful and it had caused quite a bit of trouble until Master's old student was able to bring it down.
"I see..." Ryoga said. "So, how is it supposed to help us? It looks pretty broken to me!"
Nodding her head, Nabiki answered, "True. The Golem Construct is rather damaged at the moment, however, with the time we have, I believe I can repair this..."
Snorting, Ryoga said, "All fine and dandy, but I wanted to be the one to take Ranma's life."
"Don't worry. You will." Nabiki answered. Seeing Ryoga raise an eyebrow to that, Nabiki explained. "You see Ryoga, I know I cannot replicate the magical programming for this Golem. I can repair and enhance the outer shell since I have a lot to work with, but I do not have the knowledge on how to program a golem." Before Ryoga could ask another question, she continued, "But I DO know that I could reconstruct this golem to act as an armor..."
Blinking his eyes in shock for a moment, Ryoga began to smile in a fashion that mimicked Nabiki's. "I see... So, you want to turn the Sentinel into a 'riding armor' of sorts for me to pilot, right?"
Chuckling, Nabiki said, "Now you're catching on..."
Smiling evilly, Ryoga said, "Well, Nabiki, you better start then. I want to be able to face Ranma as soon as possible!"
Nodding her head, Nabiki went to work. Yes, she would help Ryoga. After all, she did owe Ranma a lot. That boy had turned her family's world upside down, and when he had been forced to leave without fixing his problems, Nerima and her family had to suffer for it. So yes, this was all fair game. A Punishment that Ranma would have to take. "Saotome, when I get through helping Ryoga, you better have your local funeral service ready..."
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(Posted Sun, 18 May 2003 20:45)
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