“Is this it?” asked Ranma.
Julia nodded. “This is the closest shrine to Bastet,” she answered.
Ranma nodded, as he began to approach it. “I hope she’ll help.”
“You think she will?” asked Julia, wanting to be cured so she could be with her family. It was pure hell for her to see her children crying because they couldn’t see her.
Ranma shrugged. “She charged me with keeping Brittany from harm, and not seeing you is definitely doing harm to her.”
Julia nodded as Ranma took a sitting position before the shrine and closed his eyes. “Good luck, Ranma.”
Ranma opened his eyes, seeing a similar room to the one he had woken up in before coming to this Earth. “Bastet-sama?”
“Here,” said the girl, leaning back against a couch, rubbing her forehead.
“You okay?” said Ranma, seeing that she looked like she’d just finished being attacked by the Old Letch.
“Not really,” said Bastet. “Believe it or not, I was trying to avoid that whole scenario with the Lich King.” Sighing she stood up. “But there are some events that no matter how hard we fight them, must occur.”
“Lich King?” asked Ranma.
“As we speak, the creature that was once Jonathan Diggers is now running amuck on the Undead Realm, gathering power.”
“And it had to happen?” asked Ranma sadly.
Bastet nodded. “Don’t ask me why, I don’t know.”
Ranma nodded. “And the attack?”
“It was meant to kill Theodore. It was a tailor-made spell. When it hit Julia, it affected her on a sub-atomic level, becoming a warped version of the spell they planned to use on the Questing Dragon. No matter how much they’ll try, no spell can affect on that level enough to cure her.”
Ranma nodded, understanding a bit, as Agency Zero insisted he catch up on his education if he was going to work for them.
That was of course after he took a writing course to improve his penmanship. Apparently, they couldn’t translate Saotome Chicken Scratch.
“Can you?” asked Ranma.
“Yes, but I can’t,” said Bastet. “Remember, I can only influence the world through an Avatar. And trust me, if I took direct action, that would either get me cut off from you completely, send you back to your Earth, or a host of other things that you’re better off not knowing.”
“Then can you teach me how?” asked Ranma, a pleading tone in his voice.
Bastet sighed. “What it would take is beyond anything you can do now, even for years.”
“So it’s hopeless,” said Ranma, sagging to the ground.
“There is one way,” said Bastet. “But it comes at a great cost to you.”
“I don’t care,” said Ranma. “I can’t let them be like this, I can’t let them suffer if I can fix it.”
Bastet nodded, glad he was still selfless after all this time. “If you do this now, it will cost you the cure I have given you for your Jusenkyo curse. You’ll be afflicted by it again, more so, as you’ll be locked when your girl side has that special time of the month every female must deal with.”
Ranma paled a bit, remembering how Julia got on those days. Shaking his head, he hardened his resolve. “Whatever it takes; I’ll gladly accept that if it’ll help.”
“Very well,” said Bastet. “First, you must withdraw the two Ascension Keys from your personal subspace pocket that you’ve sealed them in.
Ranma nodded. “That’ll take a day,” he said. “I made that seal to keep my old man or someone else from stealing them from me.” It was a complex ki lock, it even required he be in male form, in case someone decided to lock him and have the cure as a promise for turning them over.
Bastet nodded. “After they are released, place the ends together and focus your ki at the meeting point. It will lock them together and form the Ascension Staff, a tool of the Gods. It was given to Saffron as a gift when he walked among us, before he fell to Earth to care for his worshippers, the Phoenix.”
“And that’ll cure her?” asked Ranma.
Bastet shook her head. “It requires one more thing, the code of a deity. When you have it assembled, hold it before Julia, and concentrate on the seal I’ve placed on your soul to lock away the Jusenkyo curse. With that code, you can use the staff one time to do anything. But since you are not a deity, you won’t regenerate the code, and I’m afraid that I won’t be able to cure you again, even Jusenkyo won’t be able to.
“Do you understand the cost and accept them?”
Ranma nodded.
“Just so you know, this’ll hurt like a bitch for the both of you, so you’ll need the remainder of the week to recuperate.
“And do inform Julia she should spend some time on Jade, more than what she’s been doing,” said Bastet. “There are several things that require her attention here. But we can deal with that after you reunite the mother with her cubs.”
Ranma nodded as he stood up. “This isn’t going to get you in any trouble, will it?”
Bastet smiled. “Not really. I can advise an Avatar, and that’s all I’ve given you is advice on what to do.”
Nodding, Ranma slowly faded from view.
“Cutting kind of close to breaking the rules, aren’t you?” said a voice from a dark doorway.
“Still sneaking around I see,” said Bastet. “Stop hiding like that Set; it’s below you.”
Walking forward, the God of Egypt smiled. “You know, eventually, Father will ask me to bring someone here from Ranma’s own world to counter the influence you’re making.”
“A warning?”
Set shrugged. “Maybe, I’m looking at a few. So far it’s between one of his rivals, an enemy, or perhaps that middle Tendo girl. Yes, I do suppose she could be quite the little Avatar for someone like me. She’s so much like a dragon.”
Bastet snorted. “Please, I thought it was Urd’s job to try and force people together who had no business being together.”
Set smiled. “I always did like a challenge, and she would keep your boy on his toes. Why, I imagine she’d even keep him in monogamy if I played my cards right.”
“Bastard,” muttered Bastet. “You know what I’m trying to do for him.”
“More than you’ve told him,” said Set with a smile. “Exactly how many generations of each species will breed true as the dominate trait?”
Seeing her turn around to ignore him, Set chuckled a bit. “It doesn’t matter I suppose. What will be will be whatever Father allows. Right now he’s busy with Wepwawet, trying to keep the relic from trying to start a following among the were-canines.”
Bastet blinked. “He’s alive?”
Staying quiet and keeping his smile, Set left the room.
After all, what was a rivalry without suspense?
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(Posted Thu, 09 Nov 2006 13:29)
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