By Lord Overon

Part IV

Akane Tendo knew that Tiempara was more than she seemed and the vertigo Akane experienced while going through the white oval- whatever it was- was enough to send her back to her bed with a large headache. Tiempara placed her hands on Akane and Akane felt strangely refreshed. It was only then that she was able to actually see where she was and, she clutched Tiempara’s cloak.

The area around where she was supposedly standing was over ten feet off the ground, if that was a ground. Where there was supposed to be the ground was something dark and black. It seemed to flow in rivers from deep wells. Akane could see the movement of the flows as they advanced sluggishly.

"It’s oil," informed Tiempara. "Once the bodies of dead plants, it oozes around here in great amounts. It adds to the treachery of the place. Stay close to me and we should be able to find Nodoka."

"Y…yeah. Thanks," replied Akane. She wondered what she had gotten herself into this time. This was more something that would happen to Ranma than she.

As she held onto Tiempara more tightly than before they began moving as they floating in a bubble. They had been floating for quite a while until they slowly began to descend into the waiting darkness. They touched down with a bounce and Akane realised that her foot was still off the floor. She wondered at this for a little while until suddenly, she found herself falling. It was only about six inches, but she made the most embarrassing flop on the ground after she flailed her hands in the air to try to balance herself. Tiempara tried to stifle her laughter but failed and soon she was laughing heartily.

Akane tried to scowl but even though she could not make out Tiempara’s face she could tell that it was all in good humour and soon even she too was giggling a bit. For the first time, Akane fully gauged the height of Nodoka’s mother and found her to be shorter than she had expected. Akane realised Nodoka was taller than her mother.

"Akane. We are on the outskirts of the place where they are holding No-chan. Now, they know we are here. They were expecting us to come, but they do not know where we are nor do they expect us to know where No-chan is. We have to keep silent." Tiempara removed a small pair of shoes from her vestments and gave them to Akane. "Wear these, they will help you keep quiet and protect you."

Akane was about to retort but she soon remembered exactly to whom she was speaking. Martial artists knew how to keep quiet but Akane also respected the fact that Tiempara might be a slightly better martial artist that she could ever be and if Tiempara told her to do something then most likely it would be in her best interest to comply. Akane could feel the woman’s gaze upon her and wondered why the woman would be so intent on seeing her put on the shoes. When they were finally on, Tiempara led the way as they started trekking through the forest if it could be called a forest.

The trees looked like trees but they had no leaves. You could have made a comparison to the winter forests except that instead of being white, the trees were black and the same black oil seemed to ooze down their limbs. There were no sounds and Akane wondered again what she had gotten herself into. They had walked for what seemed ages when Tiempara made her stop.

"There is something ahead," she told Akane. Akane did not feel anything ahead but she took Tiempara’s word for it and stifled any noise she made. They came to a small hill and peeked over the ridge. Akane almost gasped but managed to stop herself in time. There were hundreds of ‘things’ lined up in what looked like ranks. Some were bigger than others but Akane agreed on one thing in her mind: they were all hideous.

Suddenly, she was thrown down and she almost cried out but the hand on her mouth prevented her and she soon realised that Tiempara was upon her. The thought of attacking her crossed Akane’s mind but the strange growls and clicks that were nearby struck fear into her heart. She could feel the evil from their presence as they moved pass not very far away. Her heart beat wildly in her chest as she heard the sounds approach closer and closer until they could be no more than ten feet away. What had she got herself into? What were those things and why hadn’t they seen Tiempara or her as yet. Tiempara was wearing white for goodness sake. White against a black background meant they were dead meat. She was completely taken by surprise though when the noises began to dim and moved further away. Tiempara still held her down and Akane could feel her breath against her skin as her senses were heightened by her fear. Akane did not mind one bit. Another time she would have been throwing the woman off her but at the moment self-preservation was first and foremost in Akane’s mind and she knew that Tiempara had done something to hide them from those ‘things’.

When Tiempara finally came off her Akane was both relieved and frightened but when she peeked over the ridge, the entire army of ‘things’ that she had felt and heard were gone.

"Let’s move, before they come back."

Akane glanced at her quickly before she followed. Staying was definitely not on her 'to do' list. The earth became soft beneath her feet and oozed as she moved. The shoes she had on though seemed to have grown a bit to cover both her feet up to her ankles and the liquid that spurted out at times trickled off the shoes as quickly at it landed. Akane was glad she had used those shoes that Tiempara had given her. She did not want to touch the stuff much less wash it off her clothes.

She followed Tiempara and they wove a path to somewhere that Akane was not familiar with but knew that Nodoka would be. The determination that she felt from Tiempara told her that she would not stop until her daughter was safe. They walked until Tiempara seemed to bump into an invisible wall in front of them. She stopped and Akane stopped behind her.

"What’s wrong?" asked Akane.

"There’s a barrier in front of us."

"Really I don’t see anything," replied Akane and took a step forward. Her advance was halted when Tiempara’s hand barricaded her from going further.

"If we step though it, they will know we are here and we will lose the element of surprise. Plus we’ll be so swamped with those demons you saw back there, we won’t have time to look for No-chan."

"Oh…" replied Akane who had the sense to realise that she might have just given them up by going through the barrier.

"There is another way though," continued Tiempara and reaching into her robes, she pulled out what looked like a shovel and began digging. Akane stood beside her perplexed until she realised that she was digging a tunnel.

"Can I help?" asked Akane.

"Nah, I’m faster but you could do me a favour though."

Akane was a bit irritated at Tiempara’s frank dismissal but was eager to help who she thought was a goddess of some sort.

"What’s that?"

"What do you think of my daughter?"

"Huh?"

"Well you are her sensei after all," remarked Tiempara.

"We’ll she’s…active…energetic…good with children…"

"You’re forgetting impatient, stubborn, opinionated…"

Akane stared at her eyes wide open. Tiempara laughed.

"I know my daughter well Akane. You don’t have to hide her faults from me. I know I’m not the best of parents but well…I hope she comes out to be more like her father than like me. She seems to have inherited more of me than him."

"Don’t be silly!" exclaimed Akane. "I’m sure you’ve done the best you could. Only a fool wouldn’t see that!" Then Akane realised she’d just insulted Tiempara. "I’m really sorry. I shouldn’t have…"

Tiempara waved her off. "Don’t worry. It’s not like I’m a goddess or anything. I just work for one. There’s one thing I’d like for you to do though."

Akane just raised her eyes slightly as Tiempara faced her. It still irked Akane that no matter how hard she tried to make out Tiempara’s face, she could only distinguish a vague outline. She could never see any of the woman’s features.

"Nodoka’s very special. She has a destiny to fulfil and I’m not always going to be there for her. You’re her sensei, I want you to take of her."

"Take care of her?" questioned Akane. "But she’s much better than me."

"I don’t mean in battle," informed Tiempara. "She’s already better than I could ever hope to imagine. She needs guidance; someone to talk to her when she’s feeling down. Someone to tell her when she’s being pig-headed. Would you do that Akane?"

"Why me?" asked Akane.

"Someone told me about you and your school. He was very handsome, strong too. He said you could be trusted and I believe him. He said you’d be able to control a strong willed girl. Said you had experience in the area."

"Was…was his name Ranma…"

"Names mean nothing," replied Tiempara a bit more harshly than she wanted to. "Maybe, maybe not," she said in a more soothing tone. "But I’ve seen you with my daughter and he was right."

"Oh…"

"So will you help my daughter?" asked Tiempara after a few moments.

"I’ll…I’ll be honoured," replied Akane with a genuine smile.

"Then take this." Tiempara handed her a sheath of paper. "You'll know when to read it. It’s a message for you and you may show my daughter if you please."

Akane took the sealed and folded sheath of paper and bowed as she tucked it deep into one of her pockets. Silence followed as Tiempara disappeared deeper into the tunnel until finally she surfaced on the other side and beckoned Akane to follow. They continued their winding trek into the black bleak waste once again.

Akane’s thoughts were occupied by images of a young boy in a red silk Chinese shirt with a pigtail. He always seemed to invade her dreams when she finally thought she had been rid of him. She had never been rid of him though. Thoughts of him always plagued her mind when she was alone. Without the others she would just lie on her bed or sit down and think about him. Imagine he was there next to her, talking to her, teasing her.

She could not believe how much she missed being teased. After he had moved, no one bothered her much. No one really cared to talk with her except for Sayuri and Yuka but then again their conversations were speculations about him too. She missed his arrogance and his insensitive ways. When he left the house, things became dull again. Her father stayed more with the Saotome’s than at home. Nabiki was always out as usual and Kasumi was always busy doing some bit of housework that did not need to be done. That had left her bored and alone. Alone with thoughts of him. Then Auntie had asked them not to talk of him and even though they had no idea why she said that, they complied. They never saw Ranma after that. They never saw the Amazons either.

It was strange not having Shampoo or Cologne around. Even with occasional visits by Ryouga and Ukyou, life became dull again.

There was so much she could have and should have done better to make him stay, but she hadn’t and he wasn’t there anymore. No one knew where he was. They had tried secretly to find him. Nabiki had made him her sole mission at one time since she was so intrigued at how he could elude her. Even she could find neither hide nor hair of him.

Akane knew she could have helped the situation when he was still in the house. She could have encouraged him a little. ‘I’ll never marry you’ was not the best way to encourage someone you were madly in love with. Oh she knew that! Hours staying up staring at the ceiling contemplating had revealed a lot about the feelings she had refused to acknowledge. She had always wondered why he hadn’t made a move but how could he. She knew if he did anything she would more than likely have pound him into the ground and that was incentive enough for him to keep his distance.

Her sisters had helped her through her grief in a way. Nabiki had tried but she was never an emotional person and what she tried to comfort her it came out a bit hollow. Kasumi was better but not much so. She was too motherly and even though Kasumi pretended to know what she was going through, there was no way that Kasumi could know. Kasumi still had Tofu and it irritated Akane that Kasumi would not drop the traditional crap and go for him. She had in the end but that was more Nabiki’s doing than anyone else’s. Ukyou was the only one who knew. Ukyou was the only one who had cried and who whispered his name secretly with her when they reminisced. They had become best friends after that and Akane saw in her what she knew Ranma must have known. Ukyou was the kind of person who would stick with you to the end. Who could listen and interrupt without interrupting. They had shared a lot through the rest of school. They had a shared love for him.

Something else happened though. Someone had opened a new restaurant and one day they decided to try out the competition. Akane could remember the day clearly but not as clearly as she thought Ukyou could. They had ordered and were eating when Ukyou found something hard in her rice, which turned out to be a small dumpling. She complained to the waiter and the chef came out to appease her and apologise. That was when it happened. Akane had never seen two people stare at each other for so long. It wasn’t automatic. Their eyes just met for a few seconds, not as long as she had at first imagined but when you don’t know someone and you stare at them that long without speaking…something was up. Akane actually was concerned when they continued to stare at each other but fortunately the chef came to his senses.

"What…what’s wrong?" he asked.

That was when Ukyou lost most of her senses and began muttering incoherently. Maybe not incoherently, but Akane didn’t know what to make of what she was saying. Ukyou was going on the off and did not gain her senses until she mistakenly dropped some tea on her lap. She jumped with a yelp and that seemed to clear her mind. Of course the chef tried to help her clean it up which only caused her to deck him when he touched her skirt in places that he shouldn’t have.

Akane could not believe that Ukyou chased him out of his own restaurant and into the street where he fended for his life against her onslaught. Akane had watched amused as the chef dodged and blocked her spatula with his obscenely large and razor edged two-pronged fork. She hadn’t even seen him pull it out.

Looking back on it, she should have expected two chefs with oversized weapons to behave that way but one never knows. Well, they fought for a long time until she finally had to end it to avoid being overly embarrassed at Ukyou's behaviour. The restaurant did get a lot of free publicity though. Akane had to drag both of them into the restaurant when they both couldn’t get back up. Maybe she shouldn’t have hit them so hard but then again it was their fault for causing such a scene so she was justified, a little.

Later on when they regained consciousness, everything had been explained and Ukyou reluctantly made a sort of apology. It was of course the normal apology she had come to expect from her past fiancee. Akane had been totally surprised when Ukyou challenged the chef to a cook off at her restaurant. Akane found herself in the middle of a competition and had to taste whose food was the better and in the end she had to admit that neither was. That did not end the competition though and the two continued to challenge the other until it became a daily ritual with or without her participation. The next thing Akane knew, they had started dating. She had never found out when they had starting dating and neither could give her a definite answer when she had eventually cornered them.

She had been overjoyed for Ukyou when she had found someone else other than Ranma but that brought back the dreams even more strongly. Every time she saw them together she saw herself with Ranma. They joked even more than Ranma had with her and Ukyou saw them as jokes. Akane knew she had misinterpreted them as insults when Ranma tried to joke with her. Ukyou and her boyfriend were martial artists and had the usual fights but they did not fight near as often as Ranma and she had. She dreamed of Ranma and her kissing, fighting, doing anything. She dreamed; that was all she had.

All she had were her dreams. She had gone to Tofu and Kasumi’s wedding and had somehow been able to stay inside during the reception. Between Ryouga and Kuno she had not been alone as some of the latent chaos from Ranma still resided. She did not realise how much she had missed Kuno's taunts and after the disappearance of his goddess he had been more restrained in his quest for her, no doubt concentrating on finding onna-Ranma.

Ryouga had been the strangest of them all. When he learned that Ranma had left, he had made it his personal mission to find Ranma and bring him back. Akane did not know the reason why and figured it was a guy thing. She still up to that day had no idea why they fought so much. Ryouga had been travelling for months and only Akari and her saw him regularly. Every time he returned and she had no news to tell him it seemed as if another piece of his world had been taken from him. He had become strangely introverted and she never saw him fighting or training anymore. She never realised how much she missed those fights between Ranma and Ryouga. She would always watch Ranma from the distance where no one would see her. She sighed.

Noise travels quickly in a waste so Akane was startled when Tiempara spoke once again.

"You haven’t asked me a question I thought you might ask me?"

"What! Sorry, I was thinking."

"I thought you would ask me what Nodoka’s destiny is."

"Destiny? Oh that." She remembered Tiempara saying something about that but by that time her mind had reverted to thinking about Ranma again. "What is it then?" asked Akane. Thinking about that might take her mind off of Ranma for awhile. Tiempara smirked.

"Born from those are not,

only that one will be able to wield the sword that is not,

and stop the demon who…"

"Huh? What does that mean?"

Tiempara smiled. "I don’t know either, that’s what I was told anyway."

"Then why did you tell me?" asked Akane.

"You looked like you needed something else to do, besides, we’ve got a long way to go."

"Oh?"

They were in silence for some time until a question popped up in Akane’s head. It stayed in her head for some time and although she tried to lose it, it came back to haunt her every few minutes so she thought what that hell, may as well ask it.

"Tiempara, what did you mean when you said that you weren’t a goddess."

"Exactly that. I’m not one. I just work for father time."

Akane scratched her head.

"How did you manage that?"

"That," replied Tiempara, "is a long story. But I was referred by a friend. Well, two actually."

"Two?"

"In truth. They weren’t my friends at all or they hadn’t become my friends until later."

"So you’re really not a goddess."

Tiempara shook her head.

"So how come you can do all that stuff?" asked Akane.

"Perks of the job," smirked Tiempara. "I get to do some really cool stuff and meet a lot of people. Plus, I get to travel in the time stream to other dimensions and that’s really cool. You know those Amazons in China?"

Akane nodded.

"Well, in one dimension, they conquered the earth except for two places: Northern India and Northern Japan."

"Really…"

"Never found out how the Indians kept them out but then they’ve always had their secrets."

"Oh, and what other things happened?"

What continued was hours of talking between Akane and Tiempara where Tiempara told Akane about some of her travels while Akane told her a bit of her childhood and some of her adventures. Tiempara observed that one name always seemed to pop up.

"Who is this Ranma?" she asked.

"Ranma?" exclaimed Akane.

"You’ve been mentioning his name since we’ve started talking."

"Ranma was my…my fiancee when I was younger. We shared a lot of good times when we were younger."

"What happened to him?" asked Tiempara. "I haven’t seen him since I’ve been visiting."

"Well, that’s because he left Nerima six or so years ago. He didn’t say anything before he left so I don’t know where he went."

"Would you have gone after him if you knew where he went?"

"I…I don’t know," Akane replied truthfully. "I don’t know if he would want me with him anymore. He’s never contacted me so I..." Akane stopped talking.

Tiempara just nodded her head.

"I guess we’re almost in the same boat you and I," announced Tiempara. Akane smiled.

"I guess so."

"Come on then," urged Tiempara. "Let me tell you some fascinating things about my daughter when she was younger."

Akane eagerly listened.

Some time later they had been chatting softly when Tiempara suddenly became very quiet and Akane picked up on the mood. By Tiempara’s reaction, something was going to happen or something was happening ahead of them.

She read Tiempara’s signals and ducked as they quietly scraped forwards. Up ahead they came to another ridge but this time, as they peeked over, they found a huge army surrounding and protecting what seemed to be the ruins of a medieval castle built upon a mound. Akane saw the expression on Tiempara’s face and knew the answer to her question. Nodoka was there. Tiempara pulled her off to the side and whispered into her ear.

"We cannot use any ki attacks. They can sense ki better than anything else. They don’t know where we are so they are still waiting for orders. We have to come up with a plan though. Remember, don’t use your ki."

Akane nodded. She had not been using any of her ki to enhance her physical movements and now she had a reason not to. She sat there next to Tiempara and waited for her to think of something. She squeezed the woman’s hand as they sat next to each other and she did not need to see her face to know that that simple touch had reassured her.

Tiempara’s breath became very smooth and controlled and soon Akane thought she might be sleeping however, just as Akane had decided to try and wake her up, Tiempara turned towards her. Her hands disappeared into her vestments once again and pulled out some clothes. They seemed as if they were sewn out of a white silken cloth.

"Put these on Akane."

Akane complied. She quickly changed and removed her clothes while Tiempara covered her with the cape of her robe. Only while she was changing did Akane realise how cold it was. She changed and Tiempara grinned at her.

"Now watch…"

Akane had seen many strange things in her life but when the clothes that Tiempara were wearing began to grow and cover her body totally, Akane had been flabbergasted. Then the white of the fabric faded to a dull black.

Tiempara stretched forth her hand to touch Akane’s robes and Akane felt them. They seemed to turn from cloth to liquid and covered her skin. They did not itch but seemed to softly caress her skin. They hardly felt like clothes but more like a part of her.

"Softly now, we go softly."

"How?" asked Akane.

Tiempara smiled and gestured to the clothes they were wearing.

"Another of the perks of this job." She made an idle gesture and the clothes they were wearing shifted their outward appearance. Akane stared mouth agape as Tiempara turned into one of those hideous things she had seen before. A set of grunts and clicks came out of Tiempara’s ‘mouth’. It didn’t look like a mouth. Akane was amazed that she could understand what Tiempara was saying.

"Now, let’s find my daughter."

When Nodoka awoke she found herself chained to a wall. She tried some of the tricks her mother had shown her but none worked. The chain was not very tight, but it was enough to hold her. It should not have been able to hold her and that was how she had come to realise that there must be some sort of spell on the chains. Gritting in disbelief, she quieted and tried to think about what her mother would do in this situation.

Thoughts about her lack of defence though kept cropping up. She could not believe how easily she had been taken. One moment she had been looking at the koi pond, the next, she had been pulled through the gateway and then everything went blank. It was embarrassing for her to be taken so easily.

So who had done it? Her mind went through a list of names. She had as many friends as enemies, well not really enemies, they just didn’t like her. Most of her friends were mischievous though and she wouldn’t put it beyond them for doing this.

Now who would do such a thing? She hoped it wasn’t one of those boys again trying to get her to give them her hand. She didn’t know how many of them she had to refuse or fight or both. She preferred the latter of course. She always enjoyed a good fight.

She remembered one sometime ago who had really given her a challenge but she had dispensed with him like all the others. He hadn’t asked to go out with her though which was fine by her, but had the gall to say that she wasn’t as good as her reputation suggested. She had shown him though. Their fight had taken a long time and she had to rest for days after but it was all worth it. She had won. Her mother had scolded her heavily but she had won and the scolding was worth it. She never saw him again though.

He wasn’t a godling like the others. She knew that distinctly by his aura. He also had soft crystal eyes and smiled while he challenged her. It was strange for a boy to smile while challenging her but he had. She wondered who he was and where he was. She would really have liked a rematch. She couldn’t find him though and that left her a bit disappointed.

She flexed her arms but once again the chains subdued her movement. Her escape would have to wait until later or until something else happened to give her a break. She cracked her knuckles and tried to calm herself and think. There must be something she could do.

She calmed herself and listened to the sounds around her. After some meditation a feeling of awkwardness dawned on her. Something did not feel right. Something was wrong. The whole place felt unnatural, as if it had been created artificially. That changed things slightly. To form a whole new reality, a lot of energy was needed. Most of the people she knew did not have access to that kind of energy. That certainly reduced the number to a few. But of them she did not know who would waste so much energy just for her. They had better things to do with their time.

A squeak in the corner captured her attention. She guessed she was in some sort of dungeon by the smell and it was so dark that she was unable to distinguish or discern anything around her besides the wall. She could see no more than five feet in front of her.

More squeaking came as something scuttled around the room and seconds later the dim illumination from some sort of light around a corner could be seen. Nodoka’s hopes rose. Finally she would be able to see who it was that had imprisoned her. Then she would let them have a piece of her mind.

The light came closer and closer as the brightness increased and soon the flame from what could have been a torch blinded Nodoka with its brilliance. After a few seconds, her eyes adjusted to the brightness and soon she could make out the rough humanoid shape of what was in front of her.

It had a male human shape but the aura she was reading from it told her that it was not human. Way not human. She had met demons before already and this had the markings of a strong and powerful one. She was not a girl to be frightened and she could barely remember the last time she had been frightened. This frightened her though. When faced with a demon of this strength it was a good idea to be afraid. She was afraid but she did not dare show it. If she showed it she knew it might be used against her. Her only hope now would be that her mother was on the way with some of their friends to rescue her.

Alone she was no where as powerful as the demon in front of her. In a battle she had the possibility of winning. There were others here though, she was sure of it. One she could handle, but a horde, she would be dead within minutes. Or maybe not dead. They might keep her alive just to torment her for the rest of her natural life. In either case, it was not a good outcome.

"So human," it spoke in a deep guttural voice. "You’re awake." It closed the gap so she could see its face clearly.

What she saw was more a collection of crevasses and lines with five holes than a face. There were no eyebrows and the eyes were sunken into holes within the face. There were no eyelids and no iris. Instead there were two dark orbs with an incandescent fire glowing in them. Nodoka shuddered. There was a hole for a nose. It was badly scarred around its edges and every time it breathed, Nodoka could pick up the faint scent of sulphur. Around its mouth the lips were pronounced and the remains of the last thing to enter that mouth coated the lips and the chin of the creature.

"You humans are so weak and pathetic. They told me you could be the one fortold who would slay me." It raised its hand and touched her face. The nail on the end of the craggy finger pierced her skin and drew blood. It licked her blood. "Tasty, virgins have always been tasty. I will enjoy having you for dinner." It patted her cheek. "Later my pet." It licked her face where it had drawn her blood leaving a trail of slime that had her skin crawling. "I’ll see you later."

When it left. Nodoka sighed slowly and controlled her panic. She had really got herself into a pickle and this one a lot more serious than any of the others she had been in. She knew now that there was almost nothing she could do. There was nothing she could do but wait. She had to hope her mother would be searching for her. She knew there was some strange link between them that was unnatural and she hoped that that link would help her mother be able to find her and save her from a terrible fate.

As the hours passed by Nodoka counted every minute and gave thanks that that thing had not returned. She silently and resiliently repeated a mantra in her mind that her mother would find her. It was the only thing she could do to block out the ideas her imagination came up with as to what was in store for her in that thing returned.

She had been reciting the mantra when her eyes picked up the slight illumination caused by a light coming closer towards her. She gulped. She tried to summon her ki and was surprised when she was able to. Then to her shock, she realised that she could not focus it into any sort of ki weapon or sphere. With beads of perspiration running down her face, she tried to concentrate and form at least a small ball with her mind but no matter how hard she tried there was some block preventing her. Her legs began to shake uncontrollably in fear. The light was close enough so that the thing would be turning the corner any moment and she had no means of defending herself.

Akane huddled in close to Tiempara. As close as she could without giving away that she was scared. Somehow, Tiempara understood what was being said around them. Akane seriously wondered why the woman was not moving straight towards the mound in front of them. That was where she said Nodoka was. They had been walking round and round in circles and Akane hadn’t the foggiest why.

Tiempara walked and listened to the chatter around her. Information was everywhere and she had to collect it quickly. From the bits and pieces she had heard, there was going to be an invasion soon but where and when and how was what she was most interested in. She had guessed the first answer herself but the other two she needed to find out. They were nearly all assembled which meant that the time was fast approaching. Time was her department but she had no control over it in an artificial dimension such as this.

Suddenly she had this feeling that time was running out and she made haste to find some route into the mound at the centre of the commotion. She wound in and out through the masses. She was very glad she had taken the disguise of certain higher-class demons. They had a lot more freedom to wander the area and she had not been stopped once.

They circled around the apparent entrance to the mound and she scouted what was going on at the entrance. She did not want to lose the element of surprise so early in the game if she could help it. There was some code to be presented when entering and she soon observed that only groups of ten entered.

She tried to think of a distraction but could not think of any that did not need a bit of ki to work. The shoes and clothes she had given Akane made sure that their ki would not be detected easily but they were not foolproof and if you were looking…

She stared at the mound some more until she saw some little troll-like creatures climbing out one side of the mound. So there was another entrance! It made sense. The larger ones could cause trouble but those small ones had hardly any intelligence and were drones more than anything else.

While they were surrounded, anything amiss would easily be picked up by one of the guards. She led a bewildered Akane back out of the enclave and into the waste beyond the ridge again.

"Why did we come back out?" hissed Akane.

"We need to change," responded Tiempara. She placed her hands on Akane’s clothes and Akane was shocked when she suddenly became vertically challenged. She was about to complain but Tiempara soon joined her at a complementary height of just more than two feet. Akane tried to ask a question but when she heard what came out of her mouth she decided it was best to keep quiet. She knew what she was saying but the noise coming from her mouth irritated her.

She followed Tiempara back to the mound where Tiempara walked or rather stalked into the opening into which the other trolls were walking. Akane shuddered as she entered the dug cave in the mound. She could feel the coldness within. Thankfully, Tiempara held her hand as they continued giving her the confidence she needed.

Inside the cave, the light soon disappeared but to Akane’s amazement, Tiempara easily manoeuvred through the winding tunnels until after half an hour of tunnelling they came to an opening. Tiempara popped out of the hole and gave Akane a hand. Together they both scurried around a long stairwell making sure that they hid whenever something passed close to them.

Silently they descended a long staircase. Akane found a torch on a stand and kept it. The light might give them away but Tiempara did not object. The light and heat gave Akane a bit of comfort in the otherwise alien world. She followed Tiempara down a long winding staircase and cautiously they peered around the edge. The melted remains of shackles hung from the wall, the liquid metal still steaming as it cooled.

An ear piercing shriek had Akane’s hair standing on end and she barely saw when Tiempara blocked the attack, flinging whatever had attacked them into the wall. Even in her diminutive disguise, Tiempara sent their assailant into dreamland and only when they looked upon who had attacked them did they both shout in astonishment. Akane thought she had never seen someone react so quickly. Tiempara’s disguise was off and Tiempara was cradling her daughter in her lap, kissing her lavishly.

Tiempara’s kisses brought Nodoka back to the land of the living and when Nodoka saw her mother, the hug Nodoka gave her was bone crushing. Tiempara had to prise her off eventually. That however caused Nodoka to turn her attention onto Akane who Tiempara had changed back and she was then crushed in a hug.

Tiempara beckoned them to sit with her.

"Well Akane, getting in was the easy part. Getting out is going to be harder."

"Why?" asked Akane. "Couldn’t you open one of those things right here back to the Dojo?"

Tiempara shook her head.

"That would be impossible. One, there’s too much interference and two, the dark presence here prevents me from making one. I can only make one when we’re a certain distance away from the distortion in the area."

"So, in other words. We have to escape from here and get as far away as possible."

"Plus," added Tiempara. "There’s a spell here that reacts to Nodoka’s presence. The instance she leaves this room, they’ll know, and they will also be able to track her if she’s still in this dimension."

Akane slapped her head. "Why can’t it ever be easy?" she muttered.

"You wouldn’t believe the half of it," replied Tiempara.

"Then what do we do mom?" asked Nodoka. Patience had never been one of her virtues.

"What am I going to do," corrected Tiempara. "Well, I guess the best thing we can do is try to cause as much confusion as we leave to give us enough time to get away."

"And how are we going to do that?" asked Akane.

"Just leave everything to me Akane. I still have a few surprises up my sleeve."

Tiempara stretched forth her hands and when they receded, she held in her hand a pair of shovels.

"You’ve got to show me how to do that," responded Akane as she shook her head in disbelief.

"Maybe another time," replied Tiempara, then she threw a shovel at Akane and they began to dig.

For normal people, digging a tunnel in that mire earth would have taken forever. For Akane and Tiempara though, the work was being completed extremely quickly. Akane perspired profusely while Tiempara did not seem too bothered. Akane wished she had the woman’s stamina. The chamber they were in was becoming filled with the filth they were removing and the repugnant smell of the earth filled their senses. It filled their senses to the point of forcing them to wear a covering over their nose and mouth to somehow muffle the smell. Tiempara who could not move past the wall was quick to raise the alarm though when while peering into the darkness of the stairway, she saw a light.

"Someone’s coming," she hissed.

"Then we’ve tunnelled far enough," responded Tiempara. "Akane, you run ahead and then we’ll follow. When you reach the end and you hear Nodoka shout. Blast a hole out."

Akane rubbed her hands in anticipation then sprinted into the tunnel.

Tiempara pulled out what looked like two ordinary marbles. Nodoka saw them and knew what her mother planned.

"Run," commanded Tiempara as she charged the two round marbles. "Now!" shouted Nodoka as she began sprinting.

Akane heard the shout and immediately she began to gather her ki, forming a ball in front of her. When she heard a huge explosion at the other end, she knew it was time and let it fly. Much to her delight, her blast shot cleanly through the mire around them forming a perfect tunnel towards the dark sky above.

She wasted no time in scrambling out of the tunnel followed closely by Nodoka. They were less than a mile away and they could hear the commotion they had caused. As Tiempara exited, another underground explosion rocked the area. Tiempara did not crawl out of the hole, she instead leapt out running and Akane and Nodoka hurried to catch up to her. Her hands began to glow as she slowed down a little. Nodoka took Akane’s hand as Tiempara pointed them into a particular direction.

"That way!" shouted Nodoka. "The gate is already open. We have to hurry they know where it is and will try to cut us off. Mom will try to delay them."

Akane saw something being flung behind them and she knew that she did not want to be on the receiving end of whatever that woman was throwing.

Akane could hear the disturbing sounds of the things that she had been around back at the mound. They were not all to her back though. That was what scared her. They were coming from the sides too and Akane had the uncanny feeling that they were being boxed in.

She saw little things scurrying in from the sides trying to bite her with their small jaws. She easily crushed them under her feet as they appeared. She looked up and saw a little spec shimmering ahead in front of her. She knew that had to be the way back to the Dojo. Those little things must be trying to slow her down. She stopped trying to crush them under her feet and paid them cursory notice as she plodded towards her goal.

Nodoka looked back but her mother was pointing her forward and as Nodoka stared forward, she saw the gateway opening. Akane was ahead of them and easily disposing of the minor demons in their path. The real trouble lay in the ones following them. They were the real demons that had a lot of power and took a lot of power and skill to defeat.

"Mom?" asked Nodoka questioningly as she saw her mother stopping.

"Go ahead," shouted Tiempara. "Help your sensei to the gateway! Protect your sensei!"

Nodoka understood. Akane might be a martial artist but she had not had the training that could bring out her full potential. Nodoka hurried on to Akane and helped her clear the path that had suddenly become cluttered with a myriad of small beetle like creatures.

The gate was opening in front of them but the demons that began to block their path were becoming stronger by the minute and harder to defend. Nodoka knew that they were nothing compared to the ones that her mother must be facing. She was not that far behind, but a couple of metres could mean a lot in that kind of chase.

As Akane enhanced her strength with her ki and began ploughing through with renewed vigour, Nodoka thought up a little plan and began collecting her ki around her, then when she thought it was enough, she planted her foot on the soil with a heavy thud. The reaction was instantaneous as the demons around her collapsed and dissipated into the darkness. The wave though hadn’t travelled more than a few metres before in winked out of existence to Nodoka’s surprise. She was sure it should have lasted longer! The delay though had been extremely helpful. It had gained her the precious few seconds necessary to reach the gateway.

Nodoka met Akane fighting off some of the horde and shoved her through. Having taken care of her sensei, Nodoka turned around just in time to see a flash coming towards her. It impacted directly on her chest and though it was very weak, it achieved its purpose and Nodoka went reeling into the gateway.

She landed with a soft thud and as soon as she landed she tried to jump into the gateway again but just before she could reach it, it closed. She stared at it shocked.

"Mom! How dare you do that to me! Of all the …"

"Nodoka!" chastised Akane who had seen her land. "What are you quarrelling about?"

"Mom, she sent a ki ball after me to make sure I went in!" replied Nodoka furiously. "I can’t believe she did that. Just wait till I see her!" she puffed.

Akane tried her best to calm Nodoka down but the girl kept on pacing to and fro. She was absolutely furious and on the moment Akane suggested Nodoka try some katas. The girl complied but her katas were rushed and were nowhere as graceful as they could have been. Suddenly her aura flared a bright red and condensed around her fist. She slammed her fist down against the earth and the earth exploded.

Akane shielded her face as the dirt came towards her. When she opened her eyes, she stared in wonder at the huge crater that remained in her back yard. Then she stared at Nodoka who had finally allowed her aura to fade. Not even Ranma could have made a crater like that.

"That felt good," murmured Nodoka and Akane wondered if this girl was somehow related to Ranma or Ryouga in some way.

"I’m gonna take a bath," she informed Akane as she skipped away into the house. Akane rolled her eyes. She was scarier than even Cologne when Cologne was angry.

Dinner-time came by and Nodoka stared at the clock in the living room as she sat sipping her tea. Every five seconds Nodoka glanced at the clock and Akane noticed.

"What are you waiting for?" asked Akane.

"Mom always comes when no one is around before or after dinner. I’m waiting for her."

Akane nodded and just watched the clock. She also had some questions to ask Tiempara. Seconds turned into minutes and minutes turned into hours and the longer they waited, the more grim Nodoka’s face became. The anger gradually melted away and changed into worry. Nodoka became more agitated as time passed and soon she was holding her legs and staring at the koi pond in anticipation.

"Maybe she’s tired…she’ll come tomorrow."

"No!" shouted Nodoka. "Mom always keeps her promises…mom…"

Akane grabbed her and hugged her and for one of the few times in her short life, Nodoka cried and Akane held her tightly as she cried.

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