Demonic Summoner Belldandy followed Urd at a more sedate pace, and gracefully stepped up beside her, to peer into the small windows that lined the outside of the warehouse. It had been Urd's task, assigned by Kami-sama himself, to find the location where the summoning would be attempted, but Belldandy was more than willing to assist her. After all, it had been her fiancee, Keiichi, who had inadvertently overheard Mara's gloating, and she was far more skilled than her sister at detecting magic use. Besides, Mara was more her rival than Urd's, and knowing Mara, there was a strong chance that this summoning was directed at breaking up her relationship with Keichii, preventing the fulfillment of his wish. Even as she focused on the scene inside, Belldandy knew they were too late. A frisson of fear passed through her and she breathed softly, "Father, let Keichii be safe." The swirl of color above the unusually large and ornate summoning circle was evidence enough that the summoning had been completed. At any moment, the summoned would appear, and if Mara's gloats had been accurate, then this would be a very bad day for them all. Apparently the artifact Mara had found or been given had claimed that it described the means for awakening and recalling one of the Ancient Ones. They should be seeking a way inside, but they could not take the chance, with the summoning as far along as it was, that it would be completed and Mara fled, before they could find an entry. At the least, they needed to see and know what had been summoned. Even as she pondered this, and her sister cursed under her breath beside her, the light cleared and the summoned appeared in the circle. Within the room, Mara was near beside herself with delight. After completing the ritual, she had felt the absolutely tremendous surge of power as the spell took effect and finally allowed herself to truly believe it had worked. "Soon, Belldandy," she muttered, a feral and delighted grin briefly crossing her face before she suppressed her delight and resumed the expression of calm control she would need in her negotiations with the power she had awoken. When the light cleared, Fey Ranma looked about him. Even as he had been drawn through, he had felt of the spell, and known that somehow it had been tuned precisely to him, and more so, had been tuned to draw him through at a time when he was in his draconic form. He also thought that he recognized in the form of the spell the touch of his old enemy, Arkus, whose life he had saved by slaying Fey. Mara stared up at him, feeling a sudden warmth. She had expected a being of immense power... but hadn't considered that he might be so gorgeous. He was humanoid as most of the greater demons and gods were, but less so than most, the black horns rising from his head nearly brushing the metal rafters, his overall mass barely fitting within the circle she had drawn. He was heavily muscled, though his fine scales had not the same appearance as skin, looking more like a tight bodysuit outlining his strength. Demonic a motif as the claws, horns, and leathery wings might be, he seemed to carry an innate nobility that occasioned a second look. Breathing deeply as she gazed at the gorgeous dragon, she called out, commanding him to heed her, her voice exultant with relief, desire, and expectation. Fey ignored the woman, for the moment, and focused his draconic eyes on the runes about him. Turning slowly, he examined the entire circle. Outside, Urd and Belldandy saw him ignore Mara and begin his slow turn. "Quick, now's our chance to get inside," Urd hissed. Belldandy nodded, and followed her sibling. They found a side door, and to their great surprise, it was actually unlocked. They slipped inside, and Urd found herself licking suddenly dry lips. Not only was the summoned being absolutely delicious, the power rolling off of him was frightening. She lifted the device Skuld had given her, and looked at it in shock. "Belldandy," she whispered, "this is unbelievable. He's an ancient, alright, I'm detecting that energy. But there are two other energy sources on him, and what's more, there's a peculiar field about him... I'm not sure, I don't understand these readings like Skuld could, I'm sure, but his mass and weight don't match. It's like for some reason, he weighs thousands of times more than he ought to..." They were both startled when the beast's laughter rang out. Fey had examined the entire circle, and found that Arkus had made the same mistake that the old Lord Fey had, in spite of having watched the failure of Fey's work, assuming, of course, that he was right about it being Arkus. The sealing circle held no defense against ki. He laughed aloud, startling the woman before him. "Send me back," he commanded, in a firm tone that seemed to echo within itself. "I-I-I c-can't," stammered Mara. This wasn't right. Evil beings trapped in nothingness for millenia were supposed to be happy to be free, not wanting to go back. Fey sighed to himself. It figured . . . why would Arkus want to provide a means for return, anyway? Mara's mouth hardened, her lips pressed into a thin line. It didn't matter, he was bound. "Even if I could, why should I? I have summoned you, you will obey me," she insisted in an imperious tone. Fey used the tiniest bit of ki to slice through the glowing lines of the circle behind him, and the circle fell dark. Mara gasped in dismay, and Urd groaned quietly. "If you cannot send me back, then there is no reason for me to stay and listen to you," replied Fey, and Mara shrieked in fury when the beast simply disappeared. She screamed in sudden fear when a bolt of lightning hit her from the side. "Urd!" she shouted, "Damn you!" Mara turned and fled, her anger rising even hotter as she realized that it had been Belldandy she had spotted beside the lightning throwing Norn, but Urd did not pursue. "This is definitely not good, imoutochan," sighed Urd, "we have no idea what that thing's plans are now." "Yes, oneechan," replied Belldandy calmly, "but you have readings of his power signature, and at least we know that Mara was unable to control him. That makes it much less likely that he will be targeting us directly. That should give us more time to find him, ne?" Urd sighed again. "I suppose you're right, imoutochan. Let's go home, and see what Skuld can make of this." --- The next morning, after breakfast, Skuld led her sisters to the living room, where they made themselves comfortable. Urd found herself having to restrain shudders as she observed the pained and frightened look on the youngest goddess' face as she settled into her seat. She noted the whiteness of Skuld's knuckles where she gripped the small clipboard, and this time she failed to hold in the convulsive shivers, as she felt an icy chill flow up her spine. "I . . . I'll begin at the beginning, I suppose," Skuld said, looking at Urd, and for once, not including a harsh comment or needling insult directed at her elder sister. This restraint in itself sent another shudder down Urd's back. Skuld was never this subdued, and she always jumped at the opportunity to tease Urd. "The data you collected, oneesan, confirms that the being does in fact have access to the power source used by the Ancients. The amount of the Ancient's energy in him was minimal though... less than the lifeforce of an average human." Urd looked up in surprise, her face brightening, "But that's wonderful! If he isn't very strong..." Skuld was quick to interrupt. "No, oneesan. I suspect that it is more of a conduit. What it really means, is we have no way of knowing how much of that power he can draw at need, nor how fast." "Oh . . .," sighed Urd, her face falling again. "There's more. You know what Ki is right?" She waited for their positive responses before continuing. "Well, from the perspective of another martial artist, this guy would be strong, among the top twenty fighters in the world." Skuld ignored Urd's startled gasp and continued, as Belldandy sat in attentive silence. "But my sensors are more sensitive than most..." Here again Urd was startled by the casual and quiet way this claim had been made. It was much more like Skuld to dance about, singing the praises of her devices. Seeing her speaking like this was really making Urd nervous. Skuld continued, "and so I was able to detect two things. First, this guy is hiding his ki quite well, and I'd say he's probably carrying around more ki than anyone else on the planet by a fair margin." Again Skuld ignored Urd's startled exclamation. "It gets worse. The readings indicate that his body is behaving as if it were in a very intense gravitational field, though it is counterbalanced by an opposing force on the soles of his feet, so that it is not transmitted to the ground." Urd groaned. "Could you repeat that in a normal language please?" Skuld merely continued. "After examining the readings, I have concluded the purpose of this to be two-fold. One, it is a matter of constant strain on both his body and his ki, providing constant exercise, in any situation. More importantly though, I suspect it acts as a limiter to his power. If he can consciously control it somehow, and reduce that pressure on himself, he should get a triple boost. First, since it looks like he is using ki to accomplish the feat, the ki he had been using would be freed for other purposes. Second, the natural speed and strength of his body would seem to increase dramatically. And third, I suspect that the lesser strain on his body would increase the rate of ki production, which would both deepen his reserves, and speed up their replenishment. In other words, Urd, we cannot be sure how strong he is, except to say that he is probably the strongest martial artist in existence, and can probably increase his power at will, to an indeterminate degree. This is without even considering the fact of his access to the power of the Ancients." Urd groaned and put her head in her hands. "I'm sorry, oneesan, but it gets worse." "Worse!!! How can it be any worse, Skuld!?" shouted Urd. She calmed quickly when Belldandy laid a hand lightly on her arm. "Sorry, Skuld. Go on," she sighed. "This is the last thing, oneesan . . . but I fear it is the worst. The evidence the sensors collected say that his body could not have been more than an hour old, at the outside. The implication is that he created it, which means we must assume he could create another. So we don't necessarily know what he looks like, even discounting the possibility of illusion spells, and such-like." Skuld sighed as she finished her account. Her elder sister really irritated her at times, but there was no question that beneath it all, Skuld loved her. Now Skuld was truly afraid. Urd would be facing up against a being that she had no real hope of defeating. Though she didn't want to say it, Skuld had quickly realized the real implications of her readings. To defeat this being, if it came to that, would require the united efforts of the gods of heaven, and inevitably, some would die in the task. It was simply too powerful . . . and her sister was on the front line. --- Fey disappeared from the warehouse, and reappeared in the woods some distance outside of Tokyo, in an area his senses claimed was deserted. There he stopped and considered. After a while, he decided that he needed to determine how drastically this reality diverged from his own, so that once he started hopping dimensions on his way back, he would be able to tell whether he was getting closer or not. Unless, of course, by some terribly unlikely stroke of luck, he came across someone here who like the Lady Alana was able to pinpoint his plane of origin and return him thence in a single step. His best bet then, would be to attempt to find himself in this world, if he existed here, and see what the differences were. He couldn't be sure about the time frame, but from what he could sense of the city, it did seem to be Tokyo, and much like the one he had been living in. So he would need to head to Nerima. It was likely that this world's Genma would also have made the arrangement with Soun, if Ranma existed here, since the arrangement was made prior to Ranma's birth. Now, he had to think of how best to get close enough to Ranma that he would be able to catalogue the differences. What could he be that would allow him to remain close to Ranma for a sufficient period of time? He could pretend to be related, or another fiancee, but he would have no supporting evidence. He could be a pet, but most of the pets he could think of had the danger of being given away, etc . . . no guarantee they would be kept. A cat would be good, most people understand that you can't really make a cat do anything. They are independent creatures. But if this world's Ranma had not been through what Fey had, then he might very well still be affected by the Neko-ken, making a cat the worst possible choice. Besides, he wasn't sure Ranma was the type to have a pet. Perhaps someone near him . . . If this world's Ranma hadn't gotten to spend time away from Genma, he would likely not be in a good position to resist Genma's plans for him. That would imply that he would be engaged to one of the Tendo daughters, and given Genma's freeloading nature, they might well be staying at the dojo. One of the sisters then . . . but which? Akane, the youngest, would probably be the one Ranma would be engaged to, given that it would be Genma and Soun making the decision. He wasn't sure about Soun, but Genma would certainly be blind enough to assume that the martial artist would be the best match and they were the closest in age. Assuming of course, this world's Akane was a martial artist. At this point, he reminded himself, I don't even know whether the Tendos and Saotomes exist in this world. But I want to be at the center of information . . . I want as much knowledge as I can get . . . and the middle daughter, for the short time I knew her, seemed the type to be focused on it, the way she ran the school, the betting pools, and her dislike of secrets being kept from her. Yes, if Tendo Nabiki exists here, then she is the perfect choice. But now, what kind of pet would appeal to her? A cutesy pet would likely be given to Akane or Kasumi . . . that's just not Nabiki's style. A snake, maybe, she's certainly cold enough . . . but that's not really mobile enough for my liking . . . besides, its hard to really grow affection for such. It would be a symbol for her, and no more. A cat would be perfect, aloof and independent, just like her. Ah! A mix of cat and snake . . . the fire dragons I made once. Cat-like attitude, with the style of a snake . . . plus they look like dragons, and everyone knows dragons are associated with treasure . . . yes, that fits Nabiki perfectly. The fifteen foot dragon shimmered with a brilliant blue light as it shrank, collapsing inward until finally it was no more than a couple of feet long, a little fire-dragon, with sinuous body, strong wings and ki-powered claws and teeth. He focused, concentrating on concealing his ki until his aura was minimal. Then he slowly released some of his hold on the gravity technique, diminishing the pull on his body to a point where the ki flowing in his body became enough to counterbalance the gravitational pull, making him near weightless. By this stage, his ki had bloomed enough to devastate the nearby forest for nearly thirty yards, and the ground beneath him began to slowly bubble as it melted. He focused again, reining in his ki until he had it thoroughly hidden. Then he reached for the Neko-ken, and drew up enough of it for it to affect his behavior and senses to a mild degree. He leapt and soared into the air, not even needing to beat his wings to gain altitude, with the ki filling him. His wings served merely to guide his flight. --- Skuld leapt from her bed at the frantic beeping of one of her many devices. It took her several moments to find it, and when she did, one look at it sent her racing from the room, shouting for her sisters. Keichii poked his head out of his bedroom with a puzzled expression that changed to one of mild shock as she blew past him fast enough to cause a strong breeze against his face. The three Norns converged on the living room, where it took Skuld several minutes to calm down enough to speak clearly. "We . . . we've got him. Massive energy spike, outside the city limits." She pointed excitedly at the device in her hands, then looked down at it in surprise. "Whoa . . . it's gone now. Anyway," and she pulled out a map from somewhere, and looked at the device in her hands for a moment before making a mark on it, "here's where it spiked. Maybe you'll find something there, Urd." Urd looked at the map for a moment, then looked up in disgust. "Chikuso, look how far it is from the roads. I hate hiking . . . I'm sure there's no TV's near there . . . Skuld-chan, there's probably some water nearby . . . please?" Skuld looked into her sister's pleading eyes, ready to brush her off, or needle her . . . when she realized that she was rather curious about the energy spike, and what it might have been for. "Sure . . . let's go, oneesan." Urd looked rather stunned at having received such a positive response with so little effort.