CmptrWz

Chapter 12
Mysteries of the Void
Or is that prison?

In the World of a Wizard

The Mysterious Man finished creating his gift, and was preparing for the larger curse. He had collected all the items he would need, in actuality creating all but two of them. Those two had given him the original idea, and he had taken them from a small shop in a place known as Chinatown. He laid them out in the formation they would eventually sit in, preparing the underlying curse that would, in the end, be used to disable them.

A small globe on his workbench showed that DS was closing in on the void that the man had trapped the being in so long ago. DS was still searching; not knowing where the void was from the inside, so the Man continued his chants and incantations. It was not long before each item had the base curse placed on it, and linked to the other items, including the extra items he had created to cause more trouble. The next step was placing the combination curses on the items, but by that time DS had made it to the void, so the Man walked over to his mirror to watch and listen.

At the boundary of the void

"Trapped being, are you there?" called DS into the void. "I wish to speak with you once more."

I am here, weak, but here. What would you ask of me? replied the being, not saying it as much as thinking it, however being too weak to hide it from the Man.

"There is a being that holds great power that claims to have created this world. For one, I wish to know if that is the being that you have had unfavorable encounters with," DS responded.

Yes, that is the being came the answer. Is that all?

"No, that is not all. I want to know all you know about him, for he is interfering with my plans," DS spit back.

Please be patient then, as I summon the memories that I will need. came the response, feeling slightly annoyed to DS. It took a moment, but the being continued.

The being you speak of is very powerful, commanding powers both of dark and of light. I was weak when I first came upon this world, and he invited me in. He arranged for me to be nursed back to health, and offered to allow me to live peacefully in his world, or to leave it forever. I said I would live peacefully, and he used his powers of light to give me an adequate disguise. I had lied to him, however, and found descendants of a dragon here. I killed off most of them before he attacked, using the darkest of curses to trap me here in the void. I am alive, yet just barely, cursed to watch what I sought to take for my own. I had but one branch on the tree to cut off, the branch that I know still lives. When it dies I will be set free, ready to exact my revenge on the being that trapped me here. Take heed, however, as the being is not as foolhardy as he may have you think. He is wise beyond his appearance, and will not take you on unprepared.

"Do you not know the identity of this being?" inquired DS, intrigued, blowing off the warning. He knew how to deal with those that got in his way, and when his plan went into motion he would take care of them all.

The only thing I have ever heard him referred to as is "Master", and then only by his minions.

"You have been of great help," DS lied through his teeth, having so far been told only what he had suspected. "I thank you for your time."

You lie, and I know it. You have learned nothing, and that will be your downfall! sputtered the being, but DS was already leaving and hadn't heard the final warning at all.

Back with the Wizard

The Mysterious Man agreed with the being he had trapped so long ago, DS was being foolhardy. Granted, he held great powers, but he was not expecting a discreet attack. He would be expecting a head-on attack like he would give, not giving others enough credit to come up with dual attacks like he did.

The Man turned back to his curse, no longer interested in DS for the moment. DS would get his seemingly obvious attack soon enough, but would be unable to stop it.

Soon the Man had placed his combination curse on the items, making it so that any attempt to remove the curses on them with abilities like the outer-worlders had would drain their power instead of removing the curse. As an added bonus he made the items absorb all energy, so that a Ki blast, or even a Ki blast combined with their powers, would not be effective. The curse that had been combined with his trap curse was a simple one, causing horrible things to happen when the item was physically destroyed. Each item would do something different, and everyone on the planet would know about it. Of course, the statues he was using were magically endowed with extreme strength so that nothing could normally destroy them, and the discs he had made were literally indestructible.

The Man would be done soon, he had but three curses left to place. The first, which took no time at all, was more of a mercy curse, absorbing the energy from his random cursed items for the duration of the curse. He made sure that the pendants were not affected, however. He wanted to see the outer-worlders. The second took longer, as it was essentially a quad curse. It would cause the area affected by the items to experience weather shifts as quickly as Ryoga got lost, make animals behave oddly at random, cause items to suddenly break or malfunction at random, and make the tops of fences in town nearly frictionless in order to annoy those that ran on them.

The final curse was the most devious of them all, utilizing the power of the shard he had as well as knowledge he had used elsewhere. The curse would, when activated, prevent all of the outer-worlders from using their powers. The best they could do would be small Ki blasts that couldn't even break a piece of paper. In the process of doing so the town would be sealed off, preventing entrance or exit by anyone aside from those he opened a portal for. The outer-worlders' energy would be attacked as soon as they were in their hidden forms, or if they weren't hiding at all, right away, so as to prevent them from using stored up energy. Once the attack started they wouldn't be able to stop it, and would have to deal with living as mortals from his world did. Sonic and Rose wouldn't even be able to communicate telepathically.

The Man then removed a remote from the collection of items, and placed it next to his chair, before applying his reverse-engineered and newly improved Dark Cloak to all of the items. He didn't feel it was really necessary, since the outer-worlders wouldn't be able to detect anything with the final curse in place anyway, but he figured it couldn't hurt.

Soon he had traced a special spell circle with magical lines, and placed a statue in each point. The spell circle itself extended beyond the town by a good 50 feet on all sides, the barrier would appear there. The man then took the 10th statue and placed it in the center of the circle. The circle would enhance their powers, as well as make them unmoveable once the curse was activated. Not long after 30 discs had been spread around town, each containing a symbol. Each statue contained three places to put discs, and once triggered all 30 disks would need to be in place. Or, in the case of a statue actually being destroyed, all discs belonging to a statue still in one piece. The symbols on the disks were related to each other and to the statue they belonged on, each one different. The outer-worlders would have a hard time putting them all in place, but it was certain to train them physically and mentally.

Chapter 13
Clippers of Doom
But First, the Statues of Power

It was just after lunch on Thursday, Happosai had landed during lunch and was currently unconscious in the middle of a crater by the school. Kalshion, Katarina, and Tommy were out of town, unknowingly for a long while, and the others were going about their normal routines. For the most part, attending class or doing whatever they did at home/work.

The Man reached over and picked up the remote he had set aside the day before. He lifted his thumb, aimed at his mirror, and pressed the ACTIVATE button. In town the 10 statues glowed brightly, each a diff color, and a large energy pulse filled the town as the barrier went up and the curses set themselves in place. Sonic, Rose, and DS were all in class at the time and suddenly went wide-eyed from the burst of energy. Before they could even begin to determine what it had been they were hit by another energy, draining them of their reserve power. All three knew who had done this to them, but had no idea that the Man had such an ability. DS also thought this would be the best attack the Man could muster, and therefore if he survived it then he could take the man out easily.

Joe and Emeral rushed out of the classroom when the pain had subsided, going to change to investigate the energy that had just hit them. They both felt weak, but didn't realize how weak until they tried to summon their cloaks. After a full minute of trying they realized it wasn't working. They quickly tried using their other abilities, but none of them that required use of their powers worked.

After trying almost everything the two looked at each other. They tried to express their curiosity to one another, discuss the situation with their minds, when they realized that the other didn't seem to be hearing anything.

"I think we actually have to speak," started Emeral.

"I think you are right," responded Joe. "But how could that Man do this?"

"He has nullified our abilities on an object, perhaps he made it so that we can't do anything while in town. He certainly shouldn't be strong enough to do this to the entire world," offered Emeral.

"Good idea. Lets head out of town to figure this out," Joe stated.

Soon the two were just outside of the town line, walking further while waiting for their powers to return in silence. A sudden blizzard had closed down school for the rest of the day, although there was no snow to be seen elsewhere. Happosai had, however, been discovered, and had jumped on a girl, only to fly into the sky. To everyone's surprise, including Happosai's, he was back on the ground moments later, with a large bump on his head.

"It seems that nothing is happening," remarked Joe.

"Could he really have blocked our powers in the entire world?" asked Emeral.

"I didn't think so, but it seems to be that way," answered Joe.

Emeral was about to respond, when suddenly she and Joe slammed their foreheads and fell to the ground.

"What was that?" they asked in unison. Soon they had realized there was a barrier keeping them close to town, seemingly surrounding the town. After watching a bird fly into it from the other side they figured that the barrier worked in both directions.

"Well, that answers your question, doesn't it?" said Joe. "He only did it to town, then locked us in."

"It seems so," remarked Emeral. "But if we can't use any of our powers, how do we get OUT?"

"We go see the old coot," said Joe. "Maybe we can convince him to undo this."

"That could be a problem. Without our powers we have no way to talk to him. We could have tried these pendants, but we can't put energy in them like the instructions said to," Emeral said, in a worried tone.

"The people in this town seem to be able to use Ki blasts, could we do the same?" Joe wondered aloud.

"It's worth a shot," said Emeral. "Lets try it."

Joe and Emeral then worked on focusing their Ki energy. Meanwhile, across town DS had also found the barrier and was currently talking to himself.

"So, that is how he has done it. Lock everyone in town, including me, and therefore kee p me from my powers. However, if I am powerless then Sonic and Rose are most likely powerless as well. That means I can let them figure a way to undo this, and reap the benefits of their work. However, that Man may be willing to help me. I think it is time I checked."

DS, at the same time as Joe and Emeral, pulled off pushing Ki energy into his pendant. All three stepped through their portals into the meeting world, all of them sensing that they had not re-gained their ability to leave. This worried them, what if the Man left them there?

The Man, however, was preparing to meet with DS. To let Joe and Emeral know that their presence was known the man created a table and two chairs, then created a plate of appetizers on the table, just before sending the table to them. They eyed the table, figured they had nothing to lose, so they sat down and sampled some of the food.

Moments later the Man appeared in front of DS, coming out of a cloud of Red Smoke that served to backdrop his dark figure.

"Why have you returned so soon? Your previous insult has not been forgotten!" boomed the voice of the Man.

"I am here to ask of the loss of my powers that you seem to have arranged, nothing more," replied DS.

"You shall learn nothing. It will be good for you to be nothing more then a mortal for a while. You have not even revealed your disguised form to your henchmen, so not even they will believe you," replied the man. "Leave, now, before I again lose my temper. Perhaps you would like to join the one you ally yourself with in the void?" Behind DS a portal to the outskirts of town opened, DS would not appear in town, but he would not be out of the barrier either.

"I shall not leave until I have answers old man," stated DS. "And so far you are not giving me any."

"You are in no position to demand anything," bellowed the Man, beginning to glow red. "I suggest you leave now of your own accord. You do NOT want to be pushed forcibly in your current, weakened state."

DS considered this for a moment, recalling what had happened the last time he had talked with the man. Had it not been for his powers he wouldn't have come out of that without breaking a few bones, and now he seemed to be without his powers. He decided not to push it. "Have it your way, but I will return!" yelled DS as he stepped through the doorway, which closed behind him.

The Man took a few moments to calm down, his inner conflict almost as bad as his external one when it came to DS. Soon he was back to his calm, if not devious, self. He appeared in front of Joe and Emeral by way of a circle of light, this time wearing white robes. His face, however, was still shrouded in darkness.

"I see you have found your way here," the man started. "I suppose you have come to ask questions."

"Yes, we have," started Emeral.

"Why have you done this to us?" asked Joe.

"I figured it was a fitting lesson for you. You removed the effects of my powers, so I removed your powers to compensate." replied the Man.

"Is there anything else you can tell us?" inquired Emeral.

"I have but one more thing to say," started the old man. "The curse is set with ten stages, their confining circle damming the energy of ages. Each stage will be harder to stop then the last, but once stopped each puzzle you will have passed. But fear, danger is near, for each stage you vanquish outright, the town's plight will grow in might. To vanquish the curse itself you must use your wits, put the pieces where the pieces fit. That is all you will learn this day, leave me now before my opinion sways."

As the Man finished his rhyme a paper appeared in Joe's hand, and a doorway opened. Not wanting to overstay their welcome, Joe and Emeral left. They were soon back in town, curious as to what the cryptic message was. Joe looked at the paper in his hand, and noticed that it was a copy of the message.

Not long after the Man was back in front of his mirror, laughing. Joe and Emeral puzzled over the paper into the early evening, while the weather refused to make up its mind, animals did the weirdest things, Ranma found it impossible to run on fences, and things like chairs, the Tendo's TV, and Ukyo's cooking surfaces refused to work or fell apart, sometimes both. They made no sense of it that night, still too dazed from the sudden an complete loss of their powers, falling asleep earlier then they normally would have due to their lack of energy.

Come Friday morning Joe and Emeral headed off to school. By then everyone knew the headmaster was faking most of his injuries, so he only left the items on he really did need. That also meant his clippers were essentially in the open, seen by anyone going by. Ranma actually used the ground for a change, and Joe and Emeral were feeling much better. They found that while their powers were gone they still had plenty of fighting skill to work with.

The Man was sitting in front of his mirror, a slingshot in his hand. He knew that his false shard wouldn't put off the right energy when in use, which is why now was the perfect time to send it out. After it had been collected it would be disguised well enough to pass for an actual shard. The Headmaster wheeled himself outside; the Man lifted his slingshot, and fired.

A split-second later the false shard was in the Headmaster's clippers. The Headmaster was deciding how to try and give the students their haircuts that day, so he wasn't trying anything yet. But he would soon, for he was especially annoyed with that exchange student who had avoided his Pineapple. He then saw a girl walk by with very long hair, he hadn't noticed her before, but he knew he had to try and cut her hair.

"Aloha sister, I bring you gift from the island," yelled the headmaster as he lunged with the clippers. Suddenly the clippers glowed blue and shot forward faster, cutting the girl's hair perfectly at shoulder-length. The girl screamed and ran, the headmaster just kind of fell to the ground in shock. He had actually cut her hair, and now his face was resting in the hair that had been cut off. He realized that he could now get that kakye's pigtail. He could also get that brother who had avoided his pineapple, and the sister that was with him.

He pulled himself back into the wheelchair, and raced off to find those troublemakers, as he thought of them. He soon found Ranma, and attacked. His newfound power did not, however, apply to those better at dodging, and he didn't get a single hair off of Ranma's head. Akane did get him with her mallet though, much to his dismay. Kuno attacked him next, and the powered-up clippers proved to be equally as dangerous against wooden swords. Kuno soon vanished, as did most of the people in the area. The headmaster went off looking for more students, actually getting some hair off of a few, before coming to Joe and Emeral.

Joe and Emeral were puzzling over the paper again, having made some progress, when the headmaster came up. Joe was his first target, but since he was expecting it the headmaster didn't get a single hair off of his head. Joe never even noticed the blue glow the clippers emitted when they got closer to cutting something. Emeral, looking from the wrong side of Joe, never noticed it either. When the headmaster turned and attacked Emeral, however, Joe noticed the blue glow, and Emeral noted how much faster the headmaster seemed to move. A small lock of pink hair flew through the air just before Emeral kicked the headmaster in the gut, then out the window. During that attack the headmaster had dropped the clippers, which promptly broke due to part of the quad-curse, leaving the shard there. Emeral was too worried about her hair, since she couldn't just grow it back, so Joe was the first to notice the shard on the ground.

"So that's how he did it," murmured Joe as he picked up the dark shard. "Without our powers we will have to be much more careful."

Eme ral soon returned, complaining that she would have to get someone to fix her hair so it didn't look funny with the piece missing, and Joe explained what he had found.

Joe and Emeral decided that they needed to get rid of this block ASAP, and that meant figuring out how to break this curse. It did, however, look like they would need to get some help.