The first problem was the Sentinel's left leg. It was missing a good portion of the lower half, right up to just above the knee. And what surprised Nabiki was that Gniess did not have any excess ruby-quartz in the premisis of his lab. And that was the man component she needed to make repairs, to fill in cracks in the golem's body. Nabiki decided to sacrifice the golem's left arm, and try to re-mold a good potion of the arm into a replacement leg. The end result was the Arm fitting nicely as a leg, and the hand served as the foot. Kind of like a monkey.
Of course, then Nabiki had to replace the right arm. Fortunately, Gniess had the makings for another right arm ready. He had begun construction for another golem, one made from daimond. He had the left arm completed from the hand to the elbow. It was up to Nabiki to finish using daimond to make the rest of the arm. Thankfully, Gniess left plans, so Nabiki was able to finish the arm. Using a bit of ruby-quartz that was left over from the left arm, (when she had broken it a bit as to use the arm to complete the left leg) Nabiki was able to securely fasten the daimond arm to the ruby-quartz body of the Sentinel.
That had left Nabiki with the huge hole in the chest. She knew that she had to make a closing for it. Something that would stay securely fastened onto the front of the golem, but that Ryoga would be allowed to open and close. After all, she planned for Ryoga to ride around inside the upper-torso. Then it hit her. What better than a door?
After some searching, Nabiki had found what she was looking for. A 'Mage Cage'. These Dwarven steel contructs were made to imprison Aura Mages like herself. The solid steel top to the 'Mage Cage' on hand made a perfect seal for the hole in the Sentinel's chest.
Then it was time for Nabiki to make the two enhancements. She knew that Ryoga would not be able to focus his chi through the hands of the Sentinel, and she knew that Ryoga's chi was one of his greatest offensive assets. So, using a cannon which Gniess had stored in the basement, Nabiki went to work. Using a scroll with a spell for energy relocation, Nabiki set it up that while Ryoga was inside the Sentinel, he would be able to focus his chi and shoot it through the barrel of the cannon. Nabiki decided to fasten/mold the cannon onto the Golem's left shoulder, as it was a strong, secure area of ruby-quartz, and Ryoga would be able to use the hands of the Sentinel to aim the cannon.
Then finally, Nabiki mad to get rid of the artifical intelligence the Sentinel was programmed with. After all, Nabiki did not wnat the Sentinel going off to follow its initial programming of protecting some girl. She needed it to act as an extension of Ryoga's own abilities, so that he would have the power and strength needed to take out Ranma Saotome once and for all.
So here Nabiki was. Her repaired and revised version of Gniess's Sentinel. A large steel door over it's chest, almost like armor, a cannon on it's left shoulder, a daimond right arm, and a right hand for a right foot. Even with these changes Nabiki made to Gniess's golem, it was still recognizable as the Sentinel. "Now all that's left is to get Ryoga ready..." Nabiki thought.
Walking over to where she had chained Ryoga to the wall, (she didn't want him getting lost) she saw that the lost boy was sleeping soundly. She gave him a swift kick to the shoulder. As expected, it didn't hurt him, but it was enough to disturb him from his slumber. "Yaaaaaaaaawn... Man... What a night." Ryoga grumbled. He saw Nabiki unclasping the shackle around his left ankle and raised an eyebrow. "Hey, Nabiki, is it finished?"
"Yes, Ryoga. The Sentinel is complete" Nabiki answered.
Looking up at the Sentinel, Ryoga's eyes widened in fascination. This Sentinel... It was quite an interesting creation now. He knew Nabiki had been working hard on it, but to see the finished results... Ryoga just knew that this thing would help him defeat Ranma in 'honorable' combat. After all, as one has seen of the Nerima scene, many people spout off about honor, but when they find something that will give them an edge, they'll be hypocritical and rationalize their usage of it. In Ryoga's case, the Sentinel was to be an armor... The fact that it had more tools of destruction was something that Ryoga's mind kept both on file for combat techniques, and in the back of Ryoga's mind, as to keep him from feeling an guilt over 'cheating' to get ahead.
"Wow... Nabiki, you've outdone yourself." Ryoga said. The smile on his face became more of a maniacal one as he asked, "So, when do we begin?"
Nabiki motioned to the rolling ladder that was on wheels. "Climb up that ladder and climb into the Sentinel's chest." After a moment, Nabiki added, "And don't forget to close the door to the chest compartment"
Ryoga frowned slightly. "But how will I be able to see? How will I be able to control this thing?"
"That is part of the spell I shall cast once you are inside the Sentine;." Nabiki said. "Just being inside that Setinel, you will manipulate it just as you would your own body. So you will see from the Sentinel's point of view, AND just moving your body will cause the Sentinel's to move."
Ryoga nodded his head rapidly. Then with all the speed of a kid running downstairs on Christmas morning, Ryoga climbed up the ladder and jumped right into the Sentinel's chest, slamming the door/chest-plate behind him.
Seeing Ryoga was 'ready', Nabiki took the parchment she had left on top of a table. With the specific hand movements and incantation of Elven Language, Nabiki had cast a spell onto the head of the golem. However, she improvesed, since she was supposed to aim at chest, but since the steel door would cancel out her spell, she channeled the energies of the spell at the Sentinel's head...
And that is where it went all wrong.
Aiming the spell at the chest would have caused Ryoga's consciousness to seep into the Golem's body, giving Ryoga total control over the magical mechanics over the golem... Instead, by aiming at the golem's head, Nabiki's aim made it so that the Sentinel itself was the main sentience... Ryoga just became a battery for it.
As The Sentinel glew a bright red, Nabiki fell backwards as it let off an aura of power. She cringed as she heard Ryoga's scream of pain, of absolute torment. Then the aura around the Sentinel died down and all was quiet. But now the Sentinel's eyes were glowing. It was activated.
Unfortunately, without the original programming, the Sentinel had no 'intelligence'. So the Sentinel, while its own being, would be under the influence of the type of energy it was being powered by...
The Sentinel sneered and it's eye glew a deep shade of red. It reared its head back and screamed, "RAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNMMMMMMMMMMMMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!"
Nabiki cursed under her breath. Something had gone wrong, and for the life of her, she couldn't figure it out. "Damn it," Nabiki thought, "What the hell is wrong with Ryoga!?"
The Sentinel looked back and forth around the basement of Gniess's Tower, the Twisted Peak. It instinctually recognized this area... It knew it did... But without the memories which Nabiki had erased from it, it could not place where it knew this place from. But it knew it wanted out.
Nabiki's eyes widened as she saw the Sentinel start punching the wall. "STOP! YOU'LL CAUSE A CAVE-IN!"
The Sentinel punched the wall again, hard! Some debris started to break off from the wall and the ceiling.
"STOP IT! YOU'LL KILL US ALL!!!" Nabiki screamed as she started ducking for cover underneath the table.
The eyes of the Sentinel grew a bright red. It took hold of the shoulder-cannon, a green light was emerging form it. "RRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNMMMMMMMMMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!"
And then the Sentinel let off a HUGE Shi Shi Hokodan...
(------)
For a great distance, those of the West Continent of Jade could see as the Twisted Peak on the Arbron's Spine Mountain Range collapsed. The tower and observatory of the great Aura Mage, Gniess, had fallen...
And from the wreckage the form of the Sentinel literally dug its way out. It was relatively unscathed, being able to handle the weight of th debris that fell on and around it.
Standing proudly, the Sentinel knew what it's target was. "Ranmmaaaaaaa..."
And so, the Sentinel started walked. It knew where its target lay, it was a 'gut feeling'. The Sentinel knew it had to make its way to the Seer's Desert on the East Continent.
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(Posted Tue, 20 May 2003 21:19)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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