Ranma 1/2 is the property and invention of Rumiko Takahashi. The following story is not produced for any monetary or personal gain. Its sole purpose is to entertain using the characters and plots developed by Takahashi. ALL rights reserved.

 
Storms are both a beginning and an end to a journey.

EOTS 12: The first chamber

Ranma ran as fast as he could towards the place he had felt the ward being activated. When he got there, Dai was already present. He looked around but still could find no evidence that something had been amiss. Dai though had her chin cupped in her fist as she stood there staring at the ground. Ranma walked up to her and put his hands on her shoulders, asking her for an answer.

"We were wrong Ranma. He’s been here all along and we didn’t notice," she whispered.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"The Wards were to detect if someone began weaving a spell. I only just tried to see if any other spells had been made."

"This…" she moved her hand over the landscape, "is mostly illusion."

Dai waved her hand again and they both gasped. The once thick forest melted away giving them the view of an arid wasteland. There was nothing around them. Even the hot spring they had seen was all an illusion. A very good one at that. Only a most powerful sorcerer could conjure up that complete image or use an artifact to power such a compelling spell.

"He’s been here all this time watching us."

Akane stood in a ready position while Ranma considered their options.

"Dai? Let’s try to read the patterns. Maybe we can find him?"

"It is possible, they are still linked to him, but the link is very weak. The emerald has not been moved, but if he finds it."

"He’s not going to find it," Ranma stated with authority. "Come on! We’re wasting time!"

Ranma and Dai released their senses around the surrounding plains examining the weave as they passed by it. Akane followed a tad closer to Ranma than she had before. With both of them examining the weaves, they could see the link increasing. They hunted the link, looking for where it was strongest. Finally, after an hour of searching they found what had to be the center of the illusion. It was the strongest point, and if they could trace the link, they could find Daisan.

Dai opened her mind and began the trace when she froze.

Ranma stared at her.

"Dai what’s wrong?" he asked.

"Foolish amateurs!" barked someone from behind them.

Akane and Ranma whirled around to face a man with a dark cloak wrapped around his body. The long snakes of his white beard peeked through the hood and reached half way down the robe, but that was not the most frightening thing about him. His eyes; they were glowing. A deep dull red glow that could be seen under the shadow of the hood. That was probably what caused Akane the most fear than anything else. Those eyes!

"They sent amateurs against someone as mighty as me! You will all perish. So Dai, do you recognize the trap you have so easily fallen into. You think by freezing the spell you will escape? Not likely."

He pulled out a sphere from his robe and threw it at them. Dai and Ranam tried to throw up a shield but they were too late. The entire world around them seemed to be sucked into it, leaving them in a dry, parched landscape. From his other pocket he pulled out a cube. The man laughed again and with a wave of his hand Akane found herself falling into a black pit.

Akane awoke soon after, she had a splitting headache and the room was spinning. Even so, she groggily lifted herself off the floor and stared looking for Ranma and Dai. She found Dai sprawled out about the floor not very far from her, Ranma was there too but she was moaning a bit and Akane scurried over to her to see if anything was wrong with her.

As Akane put her hand to Ranma’s face, Ranma’s eyes suddenly opened then she coughed.

"That wasn’t very nice," she muttered.

"I know," replied Akane, "this place gives me the creeps."

"Not that. The psychic blast before he sent us here."

"I think Dai got most of it. I reacted just a bit quicker. She should be getting up now."

True to Ranma’s words, Dai started moaning herself. "Damn that man," she muttered as she tried to get up the first time. She failed.

Ranma got up with Akane’s help and went over to her. The three of them sat together and thought about what they should do. Dai massaged her forehead.

"Well, we’ve certainly got ourselves in a real pickle," she muttered.

"What do you mean?" asked Akane.

"This, all this around us is not real," replied Dai. "It’s the inside of a trap weave."

"The cube he had in his hand," explained Ranma. "Those were one of the trap cubes that the old sorcerers used to make for fun. When they were testing amateur sorcerers they would trap them in one of these cubes until they found their way out."

"So this is some sort of test then?" asked Akane.

"No," replied Dai. "He thinks were too pitiful for him to even care about killing us. In this cube, nothing can get in and nothing and get out until we form the key."

Ranma and Dai looked around and sure enough, they found the first part of the key hanging in the center of the room and glowing with an eerie light. Ranma jumped and barely got his hand to it, pushing it one direction. It moved about two meters.

When Ranma touched down, he was bout to jump up to try and reach it again when Dai held his hand.

"To the other side," Dai told him.

"Huh?"

These central rooms are supposed to be circles, If you pushed it to one side then it will be easier to get it from the other side.

"Why don't you just fly?" asked Akane.

"Cubes null magic," she told Akane despondently. "I'm of no use here."

"Don't say that," scolded Ranma. "We're all in this together! Now come on you two. The faster we get this thing over with, the faster we can stop him."

With that, Ranma took their hand and dragged them across the room in a sprint. After running for a few minutes Ranma looked up.

"We're here."

"We are?" exclaimed Akane. "We're on the ceiling?"

"No," replied Dai. "There's no ceiling in a sphere."

Ranma prepared himself and jumped, his hand grasped the sphere in front to him and holding it, he fell back down to Akane and Dai. All three gazed upon the circular sphere in his hand.

"What now?" asked Akane. Ranma and Dai shrugged. Suddenly the sphere glowed and a bright light enveloped them. The next thing they knew, they were on top of a cliff overlooking a wide expanse of mountainous area. Nothing grew on the mountains that seemed dark and cold. Then they felt it.

"Over there!" pointed Ranma. In the distance, they could see something glimmering in the sunlight. "That's where the key is!"

"Okay, so what do we do?" asked Akane.

Ranma looked around at the area they were in. Nothing was around them as they had been left stranded on a plateau.

"We go down," Ranma replied.

"I don't want to spoil your party, but I'm not a martial artist like you two," mentioned Dai.

"Not a problem. You just stay in between the both of us and you should be fine," advised Ranma.

Then Ranma looked down and picking the spot he wanted to reach, looked for the easiest way to the next mountain. He found a rather high ridge a couple of miles to the right. It might be a bit out of their way but he was sure that they would make up the time if they went that route. It looked a bit longer but he was sure they would have more problems if they tried a more direct route. Especially since he doubted that Dai had that much stamina. The sun was high in the sky but Ranma couldn't tell how much more time they had. He guessed about six hours till nightfall but those six hours would be very important. They would have to cover a lot of territory in that short space. Ranma decided to set the pace.

With Dai between them, Ranma showed her where to place her feet and struggled from keeping herself from going too fast. Ranma was too accustomed to being chased across mountains so him moving around quickly over rough terrain was not much of an issue. With the pace set they stumbled across the parched soil, forging an unknown path to the ridge. An hour later after a few falls by Dai, and a few shuttles by Ranma carrying Dai across some crevasses, they were finally on the border of the ridge. Ranma thought that by jumping across those crevasses they would make up some time and he was correct.

Dai though of course said nothing as Akane plundered on ahead when Ranma stopped to help her across. She had to take advantage of those situations when they were alone. She wouldn't be herself if she didn't and after the training with Cologne she knew that Ranma expected it. She had made it the habit of flaunting her assets when Ranma held her and although she knew that had no real affect on him other than making him blush, she was excited by the prospect of him being embarrassed when he did it. It also did not hurt that Ranma tended to not hinder her too much when she was able to take advantage of the situation and press her lips to his. Nothing long, only a brief kiss, but then that too also had Ranma blushing anytime she did it. Dai was shameless and she knew Ranma knew that, so to her, it all became a little game.

On the ridge, they took a few minutes to stretch out their legs before they were moving once again. The ridge was surprisingly very narrow and the three walked precariously on the ridge, balancing as they walked. This time, Akane took the lead and Ranma stayed behind to help Dai. On more than one occasion he corrected a slip by her that might have left her sliding painfully to the canyon below. Of course, Ranma correcting her almost always led to him touching parts of a woman's body that a man was not supposed to handle. Naturally Dai never objected. They all however breathed a sigh of relief when they crossed the ridge and stood on the other side looking down at the steep slopes below.

"Well that's one down!" commented Akane.

"Yep," replied Ranma. "Let's get a move on. We have to cover ground quickly."

With that said and with a huge grimace from Dai, the three continued onwards into the day with the hot sun way above their heads bearing down on their bodies. It would be another hour before they were close to reaching the top. Ranma was in the lead again and nearing their destination, Ranma jumped in front of the others to scout the terrain in front of them. When the others reached, they gasped at what lay in front of them. There was a wide valley separating them from their target key which still hovered away in front of their eyes.

"Down again?" asked Akane. Ranma only nodded, and they began their steep descent into the valley below. The mountain was steeper on this side and they found their progress being hampered greatly by the rock formations around them. Ranma finally grew annoyed with their slow progress. After all, they still had an evil villain to stop. So grabbing Dai, who was startled at first, he hopped down the rest of the mountain very quickly with her in tow. Dai got over her initial surprise and then let herself be carried by Ranma. To her it seemed that it might take a while before Ranma and her could be like this more often. She did have a few small things to take care of to make a more comfortable relationship with the pigtailed boy permanent. Dai reluctantly released Ranma when he let her down. She wanted to give him a little kiss but this time when she saw Akane staring at then, she knew if she did that, it might upset the Tendo girl. That might jeopardize her future plans for that girl. She watched and smiled as Ranma bound up the mountainside towards Akane.

Akane wanted to tell Ranma that she could do this on her own but she knew that Ranma was doing this for a reason so she allowed herself to be carried to the bottom. Of course the initial debate still had to be one but Ranma had used his position as her sensei to overrule her opinions. To Akane, it felt weird being in Ranma's hands. It was weird being in any girl's hands for that matter, but that brought back the memory to Kanma carrying her to her room. A red line appeared across her cheeks and Akane made sure that Ranma never saw that. She still had to talk to the redhead about her cousin.

When they were all in the valley, they began to run through the forest until Dai slumped over in exhaustion. She wasn't used to this kind of training. Even Akane was winded. Ranma though still looked fresh.

"Come on you two, we have to keep going!" shouted Ranma from in front of them.

Dai rolled her eyes and slumped to the ground in defeat. There was no way she was going to keep on running. Her feet hurt like hell and she knew the constant knocking of her feet on the hard granite rocks was causing her to develop blisters. Ranma was soon by her side and took off her sandals that she had been wearing, examining her feet. He observed that Dai's feet were sore. He knew she wouldn't be lasting long.

Dai almost squealed when Ranma suddenly hefted her over his shoulder.

"Tell me when you're going to do that, Baka!" she complained. Ranma took no heed. He had a goal to reach and he planned to reach there in the shortest time possible.

"You ready Akane?"

Akane nodded and Ranma took off again at a sprint, Akane on his heels. After another hour of running and dodging through the trees, the forest was finally becoming thick enough to hinder their advance. That was when Ranma stopped for a break. They stopped near a large tree that seemed to be fruiting and had their fill.

"How much farther do we have to go?" asked Akane. Her legs were starting to feel like lead weights and she knew that her stamina was starting to wane. She knew she would not be able to take a lot more of this running.

"Two three hours tops," replied Ranma-chan. "Then we'll have those mountains there to cover."

Akane groaned. Two to three hours! At least she knew she would be in shape after this adventure. Dai sighed after she stretched.

"I'm really of no use here aren't I."

Ranma scowled at her. "Don't say that. You never expected to be without your magic. This just means that after we whip Daisan's butt, we have to whip you into shape," he affirmed. Then they began to slowly weave their way through the trees on foot, with Ranma in the lead. An hour and a half later, the forest finally started to clear. After a few more miles the trees started to thin out and once again, Ranma took Dai over his shoulder and began to run with Akane close behind.

Finally when Akane looked like she was ready to give in, the land began to slope upwards and Ranma stopped them for a break. Night would be coming soon he realized. They would have only a few more hours of day left. A decision had to be made. He looked at both of them straight in the eye.

"Do we continue or do we stay here for the night?"

They both glanced at the forest and then at the mountain.

"The sooner we get the key, the better off we are," responded Dai. Akane nodded her assent. Like the other mountain, this one was steep and Dai forced Ranma to let her down. She was feeling refreshed after riding on him for so long. Well, that was what she had been imagining in her mind along with some other ideas that might seriously put into question if she really was a pervert. She kept those ideas to herself though so it didn't give her that much trouble. Now she knew she would have to up the ante in order to get Ranma and Akane married. She needed to have a husband.

They continued to scramble up the rocks until it became dark. Then they used the moonlight as light to look for their holds on the rocky surface. As the cliff became steeper, Ranma dropped back down just in case anyone slipped. Thankfully no one did and after two or three hours of intense climbing, they finally reached a cleft in the mountain which dug deeply forming a cave. It also helped that the wind could not reach them since the temperature was dropping rapidly.

Ranma untied the load of uneaten fruit he had been carrying and they dined quickly before stretching out on the rough, cold ground. Dai walked off into the cave to do a little exploring while Ranma and Akane bedded down. Both were very tired from their day and fell asleep within minutes. Dai waited around the corner and when she saw the rhythmic rise and fall of their chests, she knew they were both fast asleep. She rubbed her shoulders. The temperature had dropped a lot. She wandered over by Ranma and was surprised that the air around him was warmer. She also knew how to use that technique but she was trying to save her energy. Finally, she gave up on the thought and warmed herself. She noticed too that Akane had curled up in her sleep because of the cold. Dai wandered over to the girl and strained to lift her off the floor, carrying her and placing her next to Ranma. Akane proceeded to hug her newfound source of warmth. Satisfied, Dai lay down on Ranma's other side using Ranma's assets as a comfortable pillow. She would have to remember this spot after she finally got those two hitched. Then, after a massive yawn, she fell asleep too.

The morning air was still cold, and one of Ranma's little known techniques kicked in. Well, it was actually something he had ingrained into himself. He seldom had to wake up early, being on a training trip with his father who loved to sleep in. But, there were times when he was younger that he trained himself to wake up early. In the temple, he also had to wake up early and at the Tendo's he also woke up early for school. That was due to a little internal timepiece that ticked within Ranma's mind. Due to their predicament, he had changed the alarm to an earlier time. The sun was not up yet, but Ranma knew they had little time to waste. The alarm went off and Ranma's eyes shot open. There was no reaction in them about his surroundings since his mind was not fully awake. A yawn signaled his first conscious action, then he stretched his arms. Both his arms dropped down to his side and landed on something soft. One hand landed on something soft and stringy and looking down, Ranma found his hand in Dai's hair. He also saw where she was sleeping. So that was why it was a little difficult to breathe. His eyes averted to the other side and he quickly removed his arm from where it had been caressing Akane's breast.

Turning his head to the side, his eyes fell to the bob of hair that was currently sleeping at his side. Only then was he acutely aware that this person's arm was wrapped from the bottom of his breast to his shoulder, and only then did he see the long rhythmic heaves of Akane's chest as she slept. He took a few seconds to admire her beauty before he mentally slapped himself and rose, disturbing them both from their comfortable positions. Dai woke a few seconds later. She had also been trained to wake early, so Ranma's disturbance only served as a catalyst.

Dai shook her head a few times and then walked out of the cave while rubbing herself. She instinctively called up a weave of fire but none came forth. Then she remembered where they were and scowled. She thought about raising her ki but rejected the idea. Instead she began to walk around trying to keep herself warm using exercise. She walked deeper into the cave to see if it was warmer there.

Unlike Dai, Akane was not as light a sleeper and no matter how many times Ranma called, she did not get up. That's when Ranma remembered the alarm clock that Akane had. The thing was loud but somehow she had trained herself to wake up at the sound of that annoying buzzer. It was the same with Nabiki.

Finding shouting to be a futile exercise, Ranma hunched down next to Akane and started to shake the girl. His slight shoves did nothing else but to earn him a slap in the face. Annoyed, Ranma started to shove her more violently. Evidently Akane was becoming slightly annoyed in her dream state. Her date with Kanma had been interrupted by someone shaking the table. She had righteously slapped the person away, earning praise from Kanma when he applauded how she had taken control of the situation, and how much she had improved in the martial arts. Now he wanted her to wake up after a long night of pleasurable activities. She was still too tired and wanted to rest. Somehow she had to convey that idea to Kanma.

Ranma shrieked when Akane suddenly wrapped her hand around his waist and brought him down effortlessly next to her. Then Akane pulled him in tightly.

"Kanma dear, I just need a few more minutes," mumbled Akane in her sleep then she did the unthinkable. She bent down and kissed Ranma lightly on the lips before tightening her grip around him, drawing him even tighter to her body. The latter part went unknown to Ranma as his mind froze in shock after that initial electrical moment when their lips touched. His mind shut down, just like the last time when she had kissed his male body in the Dojo.

Suddenly a gush of water splashed them both and Dai dropped the pail she had been carrying. Akane and Ranma jumped up indignantly, shivering in the cold water.

"Come on you two," urged Dai. "We'd better get a head start on the weather."

She smirked as she left the two shivering in the cave. She neglected to tell them that there was a copper deposit further in the cave when it began to slope upwards. The copper and granite combination had somehow insulated the room while keeping the warm air trapped inside. It really wasn't that warm, but it was better that the frigid air where they had slept. If Ranma and Akane used their ki in that room then they would not have to expend too much energy. She herself was wary of using that particular technique. It was supposed to be used to boost her spells. She did not have a lot of control over her ki so using it exclusively without spells would drain her energy quickly. She would be very dependent on the weather during this trip.

As Ranma shivered, he concentrated. Bringing his aura to life, the water on his skin began to evaporate. Soon he was dry, and he began to bring his body temperature back up. One bad thing about the small but well-endowed body he had been cursed with, was that he tended to lose heat a lot more easily than when he had been a boy.

The dreams had come again last night, but this time, they were silently muted. There were bits and pieces of spells shown to him that connected to the spells he had already learned. Apparently, being in the cube did not prevent him from utilizing magic on the dream plane. He was curious about using that plane for other uses but he was not as versed in using it as he should be. He had been learning a little by the person who was teaching him but there was no way he could do what she did in the dream plane. He had learned how to sculpt scenarios in the dream plane but he was limited in what he could do.

Akane still shivered as she tried to raise her aura, there was a singular problem with that. Akane had trained her aura and ingrained it into her anger. She visibly showed it when she was angry but beyond that, she was hard-pressed to even give a glimmer of it. It was something Ranma knew he would have to help her work on. Those weeks of basic katas had given her some control. Hopefully, if he taught her some other techniques she would be able to control her ki to some degree. After that, he could really show her some cool techniques.

"Akane, hold my hands," he told her. She complied and soon she was shivering but not from the cold.

"That feels...nice...Ranma," Akane informed him. When Ranma had touched her, she just felt this overall tingly feeling just spread out and overtake her whole body. After shivering with those feelings for a few seconds though, she found herself not feeling the cold.

"Okay you two, time to go," informed Dai.

"Hai," they responded and the three started walking towards the entrance of the cave.

Outside the wind picked up slightly and they began to rub themselves as they started the trek up the mountain. As they continued their climb, the cold really started to affect them. Akane was shivering and so was Dai. She could control her ki but she did not have the fine control and the amount that Ranma seemed to exude.

Ranma brought them together and gave a little of his ki to both of them. Akane was glad for it and she started up again with a little more vigor. Dai held on a bit longer and when Akane wasn't looking, she stole a kiss from Ranma's lips.

"Remember Ranma, you will still be trying to evade Xian when we get back. But you can't evade me," she warned him seductively. Ranma slapped his hand to his face. Just what would this girl be up to when they got back to Nerima. Ranma realized he was lagging behind and soon caught up with the two. As the sun popped over the horizon two hours later, the air warmed slightly, but the cold wind didn't help them one bit. It easily cut though their clothing, chilling them to the bone. Dai and Akane made sure to get a recharge from Ranma every ten minutes or so. It was the only way they could keep warm enough to walk. Their muscles had not cramped yet so they had to give thanks for their varied blessings. After another two hours of hiking, the found themselves at the top of the mountain they had been climbing. They were closer to the key now, a lot closer, but it was still a ways off.

Ranma frowned as he gauged the distance. They were not making very good progress if they wanted to stop Daisan and he was beginning to think that their mission was a failure. After all, they had not stopped him and they were now stuck in a trap of his design.

Dai saw his serious face and had an idea of what he was thinking. She could feel the dark emotions through their link. Ranma had been working to dampen the escape of his emotive thoughts. He could not hide them from her though. She brought her arms around the smaller red head and hugged him.

"Don't worry, well get through this," she whispered into his ear and then kissed him. Akane did not see since she herself was gauging the distance.

"At least another day," muttered Akane. She thought she had not been heard but she was wrong.

"Maybe two," added Ranma.

"Hmm..." pondered Akane.

"Well standing here isn't going to help us much," informed Dai. "Let's get a move on. So fearless leader, where to now?" Dai asked Ranma.

"That way," he told them, pointing to the ridge they were on. "We'll follow this ridge to the other mountain. It runs all the way around. I don't trust these deep valleys."

Dai couldn't help but agree with him. Without the climbing she was sure she would be able to handle their travel today without having Ranma carry her. Walking and hiking she could do. She had enough stamina for that. Climbing to some extent was easy since she did live in the wilderness, but the pace of climbing and running that Ranma was pushing was foreign to her.

Their trek along the craggy ridge was a little more precarious than they had first thought and Ranma scouted the path in front of them before he let Akane or Dai try it. Progress was not as fast as Ranma would have liked but he was sure it was a lot faster than if they had tested going to the valley at the bottom. The only bad thing about the ridge was that they were left to the mercy of the wind. It was not something Ranma was getting to like, especially since she had to feed both Dai and Akane heat using her ki.

They followed the ridge again for five minutes until Ranma spotted something out of the corner of his eye. Telling Akane and Dai to go on, he followed his instincts. Thirty minutes later when Dai and Akane were debating whether to stop and wait, or look for him, they saw the bright red blur of Ranma's red shirt in the distance. They smiled at each other and doubled their pace. Neither wanted Ranma to know what they had been previously discussing and they wanted to show him that they could cover ground quickly without his constant help. They wouldn't mind if he'd hurry up though. Without Ranma they were feeling bitterly cold. Akane thought her ears and nose were going to fall off any minute now.

Seconds later, Ranma was next to them and they were shocked to see what he was carrying. Ranma handed a bloody pelt to Dai and Akane. They both stared questioningly at it, but more importantly, they were staring at the bloody carcass of the stag he had draped around his shoulders. Apparently the weather was cold enough to allow the carcass to harden as well as the pelt.

"Well just don't look at it," Ranma exclaimed. "One of you take it and put it on."

"But all that blood!" complained Akane.

"Just take it!" Dai told her. "I thought you were a girl. Haven't you ever cooked a chicken or meat before? Of course there's blood!"

Akane looked a bit abashed but Ranma took her hand and held it.

"Look Akane, just put it on. We don't have time for debate."

Ranma wrapped it around her, leaving the flesh outside and the fur on the inside so that Akane's clothes would not get too smeared. Then they continued the journey ahead. Another couple of hours had passed and Ranma's stomach was protesting as were his muscles but he dared not stop. The carcass he was carrying felt very heavy on his shoulders and his constant boosts of ki to Dai and occasionally to Akane were sapping his strength. They reached the end of the ridge earlier than he expected. They were nearer to the key now and Ranma knew that it would not be far away. Maybe another one or two mountains. With him in the lead, they scrambled down the mountain into the valley. This valley was rather elevated and unlike the one before, the trees had no leaves and there was nothing to be found.

Ranma motioned for Dai and Akane to find firewood while he looked around for a secluded and sheltered spot for him to start a fire. Soon he found what he was looking for and Akane and Dai returned with the wood a few minutes later. After setting up his spits, Ranma used the speed of the amaguriken to rub two branches together. The wood was cold, but with the amount of friction he generated, they burst into flames with the increasing heat. Soon the fire was roaring and Akane and Dai were very glad to be able to sit next to the warm fire. The meat did not take long to cook and Ranma did not wait for the inside to cook either. Using his speed he began to shred the already cooked meat from the dead animal sending strips to the girls while stuffing himself at the same time. The girls were hungry too and the meat disappeared quickly.

With juices running down his chin, Ranma finally had enough and decided to sit for a little while to let the food digest. Akane and Dai had finished eating before him and were taking a snooze near the fire. Ranma extracted the skin from between them and began to scrape out the meat from it with a piece of wood that he had splintered into a sharp point. Pleased with his work, he threw it out into the cold to harden again. He figured it would come in handy later. Then he allowed himself a small nap.

An hour later, Ranma woke up, then woke up the other two. He examined the remains of the animal on the spit. Since he had hung it upside down, most of the meat he had scraped off was from the main body of the animal. They had dined on that, but luckily, they still had the thighs pretty much intact. That would make a good meal for dinner.

Dai refused to take the pelt from Akane so Akane once again put it on and the three set out again up the mountain. The weather however did not seem to be going in their favor as dark clouds appeared from behind the mountain. The clouds looked ominous but that was not the real worry. The temperature had dropped again and the wind had picked up. They were more worried about the wind than the clouds high above.

The clouds billowed overhead, then Ranma felt something fall on his face, then disappear as if nothing was there. It was snowing. Luckily it was snowing very lightly allowing them to make fairly easy progress up the mountainside. When they reached the crest though, they saw what was coming. This side of the mountain sloped at a shallow angle but the entire slope was covered in snow. If that was not enough, they could not see the horizon. The edges of their vision were covered in white. That meant that a storm was coming towards them, with a lot of bad weather. That was all the urging they needed.

Somehow they found the strength and began to sprint down the slope of the mountain. The snow was apparently packed tightly allowing their footing to be relatively safe. They fell once or twice but it did not hinder them totally. The girls kept within close proximity of Ranma and Dai practically clung off his arm. They kept on running for another hour then the snow began to come down thickly with the wind howling behind it.

The three struggled to keep up and Akane and Dai held on tightly to Ranma. They continued to try to brave the weather until Dai finally began to feel cold, but she wasn't feeling cold. That was when she knew something was wrong. This coldness was not coming from her. It was coming from Ranma.

She said nothing, but when she saw glimpses of a pillar of rock to their side, she forcefully pulled Ranma towards it. Surprisingly she did not get that much of a struggle and that worried her more. When she thought they were far enough behind the rock, she began to dig and signaled Akane to help her. Ranma was helping too, until after another five minutes Ranma fell into the snow, clutching his head then his sides, and shivering uncontrollably. She was afraid this would happen.

Akane saw this and hurried to Ranma's side but Dai pulled her off and pointed to the snow. Akane seemed caught trying to decide. Dai wanted to tell her to keep on digging but the howling of the wind had made it almost impossible. Without Ranma's heat, she was also getting very cold. Suddenly as she dug in, she arms grabbed nothing and she fell into a hole.

Her landing was surprisingly soft and as some snow fell in after her she found herself in a natural snow cavern. She did not ask how or why, but she shouted as hard as she could to Akane to come down. Apparently Akane had heard and she jumped down to land next to Dai with Ranma on her shoulders. Dai wordlessly led them deeper into the cavern, far away from the opening, into a place where the ceiling narrowed considerably. Her teeth were chattering now from the extreme cold but she knew that Ranma might be in a worse position.

"Take off the hide," Dai told Akane through chatters. Akane complied and Dai took it and laid it on the floor of the narrow part of the cavern as it dipped down. Then Dai started to undress.

"What are you doing?" demanded Akane though her shivering.

"We might be cold but Ranma's beginning to suffer from hypothermia. Ranma was giving us all her heat and with her smaller body she was losing too much. This is the only way to warm her up."

Akane only caught bit and pieces of what was said but she understood what was going on. She had read about this in one of the novels that she had had to read for Literature. She began to undress as well while Dai set about trying to undress Ranma. Akane lay down first and pushed herself into the snow with the hide under her. She pulled Ranma in after her and hugged the redhead tightly. Dai in the meanwhile began to tie their clothes into a tight blanket. That done she fit it onto her back and hugged Ranma from behind. Ranma wasn't cold to the touch but she wasn't taking any chances. Something had happened out there and she intended to make sure that nothing happened to her future husband. What had her most worried though, was that Ranma had yet to open his eyes or mutter a single syllable. That was scary. She knew Ranma was going to be okay though. He was a lot tougher than that.

"Akane, try to get some sleep," whispered Dai.

"But what about...what about Ranma?"

"Ranma will be okay. All she needs is some rest and she'll be as good as new in the morning. I promise,"

"Okay, sleep will be nice," Akane replied. She was feeling very tired. She was still worried about Ranma though and even though she could tell that Dai had somehow drifted off to sleep; she could not. Something was wrong with Ranma and here she was helpless to really do anything about it. That was when the redhead moved of her own volition, and Akane bent down to find herself staring at the partially opened eyes of the redhead. Those eyes closed almost immediately after, but Akane had been reassured that Ranma was okay by just seeing her eyes open for that flickering moment. She felt a lot more at ease and as she held the redhead tighter to her body to make sure Ranma was warm enough, she finally drifted off to sleep herself.

In the morning, Akane woke up to find herself clothed and resting on the hide all by her lonesome. Dai and Ranma sat on the edge of the animal skin as they snacked on the cold hard meat that Ranma had been carrying. Evidently they had been talking about something serious. The expressions on their face gave it away. As soon as she moved though, they both turned around and greeted her.

"Hey Akane."

"Ranma," Akane asked concerned. "Are you okay? What happened?"

"I don't know much myself," Ranma told her truthfully. Then Ranma did not say anything else, but Akane knew that Ranma was leaving something out. She didn't want to press further though. She was surprised when the red head handed her a large chunk of meat.

"Finish this quickly," Ranma instructed her. "We have a long day ahead of us and we need to get out of here."

Akane did not need to be told twice and ripped apart the frozen meat in front of her.

Five minutes later the three of them were ready and began to climb out of their frozen prison. The snow had packed in the hole and Ranma used the bones of the animal to effectively dig out a narrow hole. Ranma made progress quickly and much to his delight, when he broke the surface, all traces of the storm had disappeared, leaving them with only the cold and the snow to deal with.

Dai and Akane followed close behind him. When they got to the top, he gave them a small influx of ki. They quarreled with him because of it, but he did not listen to them, defending himself and saying that he was okay and had only needed a bit of rest. Akane and Dai both scowled at him but when he began to run in the direction of the key they followed him. All three could now feel its presence growing stronger. It was not in their view but they knew it was close by. They sprinted with Ranma in the lead, down the slope. Running full out kept them a bit warmer and Ranma was not slowing the pace. Dai felt hard pressed to keep up. Ranma waited for them at the base of the incline and then pointed to the ridge in front of them. "It's over that ridge, I'm sure of it."

Akane and Dai tried to struggle when he gave them some of his ki again, but he did it anyway and took the lead, scurrying up the mountain.

The scamper up the side of the mountain was uneventful. Ranma was waiting for them at the top as he peered out at what lay before them. They could see the key floating above, held aloft by a field. Dai started walking forward but Ranma stopped her.

 "There's something wrong here," he told her. "This is too easy."

"I think you're right," replied Dai.

"You wait here," Ranma told them. "I'll check it out."

"I'll come too," added Akane.

"No. I need you to stay here with Dai.'

"Hai!"

Ranma cautiously walked down the shallow slope to where the key lay hovering above. When he reached a hundred meters away, he felt a tug on his body that began to get stronger.

"There's a gravity well here!" he shouted to Dai and Akane.

"Be careful!" they shouted back. He gave them a thumbs up then plodded forward. As the distance closed, he could feel the pull on his body getting stronger. He was silently thanking the stupidity of his father when pops had him running all the time with all those weights on. Only his pops would think of that as training. Of course, because of that training, Ranma was able to leap to those amazing heights that were only possible for seriously trained martial artists. When he was within a ten meter radius of the key though, the ground below him erupted.

As the ground erupted, Ranma tried to block and deflect the rubble from himself. He was mostly successful and sported only a few cuts and bruises from where a few of the sharper rocks hit him. When he looked up though, he was faced with a rock creature of immense size made up of purely granite.

A fist came down on him and Ranma was just lucky to get out of the way. With the increased gravity, he was finding it a lot harder to breathe and his normal leverage with his extra speed was lost since he had to do a lot more work to just get around. As the granite monster in front of him continued lumbering towards him, Ranma dodged its attacks and tried to get a hit in. Though the monster had no real technique in its attack Ranma found that it was well protected from his normal punches when his few hits served only to annoy it. The gravity was preventing him from getting any momentum into his punches. Annoyed Ranma tried to think of a way to lose this handicap he had been given.

He heard running behind him and glanced back to see Akane and Dai running forward to help him out. Dai ran a couple of meters into the field before she was unable to move her feet an inch further due to the gravity. Akane had feared better but she too was sprawled out on the ground twenty meters in front of Dai. Ranma though could not help them since he was too preoccupied dodging those fists that were flying towards him. Then watching them lying there, an idea popped into his head.

Instead of just dodging, Ranma began to dodge in a crisscrossed pattern, drawing the monster away from Dai and Akane but also further away from the key. As Ranma moved away from the center of the well, he found himself picking up speed as the effects of the well lessen, allowing him to put more power in his movements. Ranma smiled. Apparently, the granite monster in front of him was made of magic. He guessed it to be the guardian protecting the key. Since it was made from magic, it was not affected by the gravity well and Ranma found himself smirking as he was able to take advantage of his speed. When Ranma thought he was far enough out of the gravity well, he attacked.

Flooding his fists with ki, he jumped over a loose punch and pummeled the arm as it plunged into the ground where he had previously been standing. Spider-web cracks began appearing where he punched it with the speed of the amaguriken coupled with his ki. Cracks appeared and grew larger but for some reason they seemed to have no effect on the monster before him.

Growling, Ranma dodged another swipe and attacked the other arm, then the two feet. As with the first arm, cracks appeared on the appendages and spread quickly, but the monster refused to fall apart. Fresh out of ideas, Ranma sought the advice of the more experienced magic user in the group.

Feigning to one side, Ranma fooled it into rushing to one side, allowing him to jump over its head and sprint towards Akane and Dai. He grabbed each, and dragged them out of the well.

"Hey Dai," panted Ranma. "How do I kill that thing!"

"It's a high level elemental," explained Dai. "You nee to find its source."

"How the heck do I do that!"

"It'll look different. Either shiny or colorful. Something different about its body will be the focus of its power. Separate it from the body and it will be defenseless against you."

Ranma realized the monster, no elemental, had seen him. Not wanted to draw too much attention to Akane and Dai, Ranma distracted it once again and began to pull it away from the two. Something different. He had to look for something different on its body. Ranma began to conscientiously look for something, anything that was odd, or shiny or anything. But he could find nothing on its body.

That was when he heard a loud kiyah and saw Akane's charge out of the corner of his eye. She came down with her ki mallet and smashed into the hand that was coming towards her. Mallet met rock and, amazingly, the mallet passed through the granite hand, disintegrating the arm down to the shoulder. Akane's follow up attack then reduced its legs to dust also. The only problem was that that was all the energy that Akane had left to spare, the rest being used to keep her warm. Ranma was just in time to save her from a swipe from the elemental's only remaining limb. They rolled in the snow with Ranma coming to lie on top Akane. Ranma winked at her.

"Stay down, I think you just showed me how to defeat that thing."

Ranma charged it for the first time during the fight. He saw that the limbs were being regenerated but he knew what needed to be done. He had seen a certain attack in his dreams and had practiced it. It involved using the ki balls he was able to create but he didn't want it to cause the elemental to explode. In fact he just wanted to use enough to get what he was looking for. It had almost regenerated its arms when Ranma finally focused his ki into the form that he wanted. Then, he separated it into two smaller ones then smaller ones, then smaller ones, until all he was left with in front of him were hundreds of little glowing balls.

As it charged, Ranma grinned and with a loud "HA" sent them hurtling towards the elemental. The solid stone structure was rocked backwards and flew away into the distance. Ranma followed hot on its tail and when he came to it, he saw the amber stone being sucked back into the body.

"Oh no you don't!" Ranma shouted as he gathered energy into his hand. "You're mine."

"MOU-KOU, TA-KA- BISH-HAAA!" he cried, centering the blast where he saw the amber disappeared. The granite crumbled and disintegrated from his assault and Ranma reached in and plucked out the still partially embedded stone. He clutched it and held it aloft triumphantly for Dai and Akane to see.

When he brought the stone to his eyes Ranma stared at it, looking for something. Then, all of a sudden the stone began to morph and Ranma found himself facing a sexless, featureless miniature person. Ranma was completely shocked at this and was prepared for another fight when it bowed its head to him.

"Greetings master. You have conquered the first corner and have released me. I am yours to do as you wish."

"Congratulations Ranma. Your first spirit capture!" cheered Dai.

"Huh?" asked a confused Akane.

"All mages try to capture spirit elementals to help them control the elements. Ranma has caught his first one. So know he can more easily control earth "

"So why haven't you used yours all this time!" demanded Akane.

"She can't, because were in a null magic zone. This elemental was probably placed here before the zone so it can be used, but nothing else can," explained Ranma.

"Oh!"

"And by the way Akane," added Ranma. "Thanks for the help. Without it, I might not have figured it out, though when we get back it seems that I will have to start training you to control that temper of yours."

Akane glared at him. Dai saw this and laughed.

"Don't deny it Akane. We both know you have a short temper," affirmed Dai.

"And how would you know that?" accused Akane.

"Your sister," interjected Dai. "She likes to file her opinions on people she's met it seems. But let's get back to business. Let's get hat key and get out of here. Ranma, I think you should ask your elemental to lower that gravity field and then lower the key."

"Okay...uh....hmm...well anyway, you heard the lady. Lower the gravity field"

"Yes master."

Ranma heard that and found it a bit irritating. As they continued walking towards the key, Ranma glanced towards the elemental in his palm.

"You know, you need a name," he told it. The featureless humanoid form did its best to blink eyes it did not have.

"Yes master."

"I know since when I fought you, you were made out of granite then I'll name you Granite."

"Yes master."

"Hey, that's a good name," agreed Akane.

Ranma nodded and thought of something else.

"Oh and Granite?

"Yes master?"

"Call me Ranma."

"Yes mas...Ranma."

"Well Ranma," disturbed Dai. "Ask it to get the key down."

"Granite."

"Hai Ranma."

The key floated down from its high perch. Dai grasped it and added it to the ball they had found when they had first woken in the cube. Now they had he core and quarter of the globe. The quarter slipped into an unseen groove with a soft slick, and immediately a black portal opened to their side.

"Well Ranma, shall we enter the next room?" asked Dai.

"Ladies first!" motioned Ranma as he swept his hand in front of him in a mock bow. Dai and Akane giggled at his antics then Dai grabbed the both of them by the hand. "We're all girls here so we go in one the count of three. Ready?"

"Hai," Ranma and Akane answered simultaneously.

"One!"

"Two!"

"Three!"

And they jumped into the portal.

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