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Chapter Three: Fire Burning Brightly
Section Second: Pyre
It had taken several hours of constant deliberation, but at long last Rei came to her hard earned decision.
It had to be done. No matter how much she might dislike the idea, or how much it pained her to do it, she had to. Ranma had to be reunited with the Mystic Fires. It was not merely an idle decision on her part, no. Far from it. This was life and death. For could the reincarnation of the Phoenix’s Champion Among Mortals truly survive without the Heat of the Fires? Surely, he would eventually die without the Sacred Heat? Right? In fact, it was amazing that he had managed to survive for this long.
It had been a difficult decision to arrive at, certainly, but Rei couldn’t see how to help Ranma learn the truth about his past paths in any other way. It had to be done. There truly was no other way. The Mystic Fires would sear Ranma, and change him. Just as they had done to her dear brother Shima so many years ago.
There was just one thing.
The cats, as Rei now thought of the two Advisors with disgust, were no part of it. Those blood-thirsty little... DEAMONS...
**********
Ranma, on the other hand, had stolen away to a wooded area on the farthest outskirts of Tokyo.
He had explained it to Nodoka as needing to train. Which was what he was doing. But the reason he gave wasn’t the real reason. He had told Nodoka that he had been challenged, and that he needed to prepare for the battle. Which wasn’t entirely false. But the true reason was that he wished to work on a couple of possible new techniques which would almost invariably cause a great deal of property damage in the creation.
Which was the rationale for his tiny campsite on this forested slope. It wasn’t a bad campsite. Ranma was actually quite good at the art of creating his traveling homestead. The canvas pup tent was set up off to the side between two trees. His tiny fire glowed near the front entrance of the tent, close enough to allow it to heat the tent, yet far enough away to avoid embers striking the oiled canvas. No smoke drifted upwards to cloud the clear night sky from the well built little flame. His pack, and the paltry amount of food contained within, hung high in a nearby tree to avoid invaders.
Ranma himself, however, crouched on the far side of the campsite, well away from the comforting heat and light of the miniature pyre. In his hands he clasped a golden chain, which glimmered slightly, even in the pitch blackness of the night. He studied it with every ounce of concentration he possessed, yet he could not fathom its mysteries. He exerted all the strength that he could summon upon it, yet he could not cause it to break. No matter what he tried, it evoked no change in the aureate links. Except for one thing. Ki. That strange force which held the spark of life. It had been his last resort.
When he channeled ki through his hands and into the chain, there was a remarkable reaction. The glow grew brighter. The links seemed... stronger perhaps. If that was even possible. For someone like Nabiki, the reaction would have been a mystery to ponder perhaps, in her spare time. For Ranma... it was... intriguing.
That this amazing piece, which had been wrought by either some super advanced science or magic, would have such a reaction to something with which he fought on an almost daily basis it seemed, was quite fascinating to the martial artist. He wondered, as he fiddled with the heart-shaped links, what else could be done with his new-found knowledge.
He toyed with the idea of channeling other forms of ki through the chain for some time before actually attempting it. The various focused forms of ki could have interesting effects, so, with that reasoning, he began his... tests.
The first experiment used the form of focused ki that he was most familiar with. Confidence and pride. He summoned forth his enormous ego and channeled a tightly focused Moko Takabushi into the chain.
The result was, in a word, spectacular.
First, the chain’s colour went from gold to a brilliant scarlet. Then it seemed to become thinner and longer. Ranma flung one end of it at a tree and it wrapped around the trunk like Indiana Jones’ whip. Ranma gave it a hard yank and it didn’t budge. Then he flicked it away from the trunk with barely any power behind it, and it slipped away.
The first test had give the chain the strength and dexterity of a bullwhip and made the user look like an experienced whip-fighter. ‘Interesting.’ The second test would was harder. It used a form of focused ki that he rarely ever delved into. The ki of depression. It took him some time to pull every ounce of depression he could gather together. What he got would only make the weakest Shishi Hokudan, but he channeled it anyways.
The chain changed not only its colour this time, but it also made a drastic change to its basic shape. From the scarlet whip form that confidence had achieved, he now held a rather wicked looking axe in his hands. An emerald axe. Ranma just stared at it in disbelief.
Depression ki had caused the chain to become a weapon to smite one’s enemies with. The third test involved Akane’s style of ki summoning. Anger ki. It didn’t take Ranma nearly as long to summon anger as it had depression. When he believed he had enough, he sent it into the axe.
It changed again. This time the color was azure, and it was no longer an axe. Rather it had become a rather large, glowing mallet. Ranma blanched at the sight of that.
Finally, he channeled neutral ki back into the mallet and it morphed back into the golden chain again. Ranma went back to pondering it.
After a time, he set it to the side and held his hands out before him. Focusing as hard as he could, he closed his eyes and... pushed ki into his hands. He didn’t have a specific form in mind. Or any specific type of ki. He just pushed the ki into the space in his hands.
If he had had his eyes open, he’d have seen the pulsating rod of gold forming there. But he didn’t, so all he noticed was a slight crackling sound and a feeling of heat forming on his palms along with a superficial tingling. The rod formed itself neatly in the empty space on his palms. Every once in a while, a brief spurt of energy would crackle up in along the bar.
Finally he opened his eyes to behold what he had wrought. In his hands a golden rod about three feet in length rested. Intricate designs trailed up and down and all around its length. It was simply beautiful to look upon. But Ranma didn’t create it to look at it.
He grasped one end tightly then swung the far end towards a nearby tree. To his astonishment, it lengthened enough to destroy the tree, sending up a shower of wooden fragments. He brought it back around, and it shrunk back to its original length. He stared at it with a sudden sense of pride. He had noticed the chain changing lengths while Goldie was wielding it, and now he had made something that did the same. He smirked. Of course, he had! He was Saotome Ranma after all!
The next step was simple, he would put it through the same tests has he had the chain.
Confidence ki created a scarlet grappling hook of some kind.
Depression ki created an emerald katana with an edge to rival the sharpest of the ancient masters’ blades.
Anger ki created an azure mallet. As Ranma beheld that he wondered if anger could ever make anything besides mallets. He thought about it for a moment, then came to a decision. ‘Nah.’
His tests satisfied, he changed the rod back to its original form and hid it away. Then he crawled into his tent, just as the sun was rising.
**********
He arose later that day with a yawn and a smirk. He drug himself out of the tent, fixed and ate a brief meal, then begin stretching and otherwise preparing for the day’s work.
After finishing his morning, or rather afternoon, routine, he wandered off to a nearby clearing. No reason to destroy his home away from home as far as he could see.
Once there, he closed his eyes and reached within himself. He could feel his massive energy stores raging against the barricades he placed upon it. Opening a small door in those barriers, he allowed a swift stream to burst for the opening and fill him with a sense of power.
Focusing that power into his hands, he fired off a couple of Moko Takabushi to warm up. He followed that with his newest ki-based attack, the Saotome Ryü Sentaku, Naminooyu.
The steaming flood of ki rushed out from his spread palms to wash against a set of boulders standing not far from him. To his surprise, no damage was caused to the boulders, yet he knew that it had hurt Blue-girl. He smirked. Of course, he had discovered an attack that could harm opponents but leave the surrounding property undamaged! He was the greatest martial artist in the world, after all!
Pulling out his golden rod, he began running through the few, armed kata that he knew. After a time, he began improvising. The rod changed forms and colours as he moved through the intricate steps, flowing along with him like an extension of himself.
He knew that he had to return the chain. Just as the rod was a part of him, created from his life force, he felt that the chain must be a part of Goldie. And he didn’t truly wish to cause her harm. So, he decided that he must return it.
As the day began to draw to a close, he made his way back to his camp, prepared and ate his dinner, and drug himself into slumber.
**********
It was the last day of his training trip. The next day, he had to be home in time for school that morning. So the first part of the day was spent breaking down his campsite and stowing all of his supplies away. He was careful not to leave any signs of having spent time in the one place. It was a nice site after all, and he might like to be able to return unmolested someday.
By noon, he was prepared to leave. But first, he felt that there was something he needed to do. So, returning to his practice grotto, he focused upon that feeling.
What he got was an image of Rei. Or rather, Sailor Mars. In particular, her Burning Mandela. That fierce attack had startled him the first time he had seen, and felt, it’s force. But the thing that really interested him was the fact that it wasn’t confined to one opponent. The way his luck had a way of turning, it was probably in his best interest to form some kind of similar attack. He had been pondering the Burning Mandela attack for some time now.
So he thought about it, and focused his attention to the problem. Finally, he arrived at a solution.
Using a combination of the Kaschu Tenshin Amigurken and the Moko Takabushi, he arrived at a novel solution.
Targeting the boulders, he struck.
"Sakkidatta Ha!"
The barrage of launched strikes pummeled the boulders into dust. He smirked, picked up his pack and walked away.
It was time to go back to Nodoka’s.
End Section Second