Sonic

*Earlier that Morning*

Joe woke up again in a cold sweet. He looked outside, finding it to be about 9 in the morning. "Did I oversleep?" he said to himself getting out of bed. He walked over to the desk where he had placed the clothes the old man gave. He picked up another change then looked at the mirror. "That dream," he thought, "That's twice I've seen it." He walked over to the window, where he saw Emeral outside in her Vestment sweeping leaves. "I hope it isn't a premonition," he said looking at her.

After he got bathed and dressed, Joe walked outside to Emeral. "You feeling ok?" asked Emeral who just noticed him. "Yea, why?" he asked. Emeral gave a bit of a sad expression, "You seemed to be having a nightmare when I came to wake you," she said, "But the moment I got near you, you calmed down, and began to sleep like a baby, so I didn't wake you." Joe blushed, "I'm ok, just had a rather strange dream," he said. Emeral tilted her head in a bit of confusion when Kalshion's father came into the shrine. "Well good morning you two," he said. Emeral and Joe turned to him and greeted him, "Good Morning," they said. "I think you two better go to town soon," said Kalshion's father. "What's wrong?" asked Emeral. Kalshion's father looked back, "There seems to be allot of commotion in town about a strange man who was able to enter the barrier, then leave by shooting himself through the top of the dome," he said. Emeral and Joe looked blankly for a moment, then grinned. "Emeral, I'll give you one guess on who that man was," said Joe joking. Emeral grinned back at Joe, "The old man," she said. "My thoughts exactly," said Kalshion's father.

Emeral ran inside the house and changed out of her Vestment and into more casual clothing. She ran back out within 5 minutes with a basket and came to Joe, "Shall we go?" she asked. Joe nodded as the two left the shrine. "Oh wait," yelled Kalshion's father. The two stopped and turned around, "I forgot to mention I felt a slight energy pulse coming from the edge barrier last night, might be worth a look," he said. Emeral and Joe nodded, "Thanks for the info," they yelled as they heading out of town to the edge of the barrier.

Kalshion's father waved good-bye and entered back into the shrine only to hear a small 'meow' from behind. He turned around to find a pretty pink cat carrying a delivery box in her mouth. The cat ran over to him and placed the box down, and slid the Ramen out. She then went into the box and pulled out a note, which Kalshion's father picked up. The note said, "Special Delivery to the Dragon Shrine, courtesy of an old man. PS. Sorry, but the cat can't be helped when the weather changes like this." The letter was signed "Cologne, Cat Cafe Owner". He looked back at the cat who appeared to be waiting for a response. He knelt down and gave it a pat on the head, "Thanks," he said. The cat seemed to smile than ran off with the delivery box. Kalshion's father couldn't help but stare dumb at the fact that a cat just delivered him Ramen.

*Meanwhile...*

"Ranma, are you sure the sayings are true?" said Akane as the two walked down the street that was having nice tropical weather. Ranma turned his head to Akane, "I'm positive, Ukyo would never lie to me, plus that old ghoul was very certain about it when she stopped by with the Ramen," he said as they crossed the street into a blizzard with baseball size hail. "Well if you say so," said Akane being a bit worried. They continued down the street while Ranma used Kachu Tenshi Amaguriken to block the hail from hitting Akane, and for the MOST part, himself.

They soon came up to the street with the canal that ran beside it, which was having a standard summer day weather. Ranma immediately tried to on walk the fence, but instantly slipped, and fell into the water. "BAKA!" yelled Akane leaning on the fence, "You know as well as I do that no one can walk on the fences!" Ranma-chan rubbed her head, "I won't rest until I can walk on fences again!" she said.

The two stopped by Dr. Tofu's to borrow some hot water. Dr. Tofu's place was in a deep thick fog as they entered. "Dr. Tofu, Are you in?" she called. Dr. Tofu came out, "Oh hello Akane, Ranma," he said, "What can I do for you today?" Akane came up to him, "Can we borrow some hot water?" she asked. Tofu laughed, "I take it Ranma tried to walk on another fence," he said going into the kitchen. "Hey!" yelled Ranma-chan, "I ain't going to stop until I can walk on them again! Quitting is for losers!" Tofu came back into the room, "Well, I guess we are all losers then," he said poring the kettle on Ranma-chan. "What do you mean?" said Ranma now a male again. "Well Ranma, we all have touched a hot pot before and burned our hands right?" he said. Ranma nodded, "Well you see, we learned from that moment not to touch hot things," said Tofu. "See Ranma, if we were like you, we wouldn't be able to use our hands because we would keep trying to pick up a hot pot," said Akane staring at Ranma. Ranma got a bit agitated, "But before that barrier went up I could walk on fences, so why shouldn't I be able to NOW?" he asked.

Akane took the kettle from Dr. Tofu and slammed it on Ranma's head, "You're such a dolt," she said. Tofu rubbed his chin, "Well Ranma is onto something," he said, "Before that barrier went up, everything was normal for the most part. But now with it up, it seems a strange magic has been making things....weird." he said. Akane and Ranma both looked at Dr. Tofu, "It very may very well be related to that old..." said Tofu when the door opened. "Good Morning Dr. Tofu," said Kasumi. Dr. Tofu went from an intelligent look to a brainless fool in half a second flat. "Kasumi," he said twitting his fingers, "What a coincidence we happen to meet each other today." Kasumi gave a smile, "I thought I would return the book I borrowed yesterday," she said. Dr. Tofu took the book, "Thanks Kasumi," he said walking into the wall instead of the door to his library. "Dr. Tofu," said Kasumi, "The door is over there." Dr. Tofu laughed then went into the door.

"Ranma, I think we better go," whispered Akane. The two got up and where about to leave, "Oh Kasumi, how is pop doing?" asked Ranma. Kasumi frowned, "The same as this morning," she said, "He keeps running in circles, and howling." Ranma gave a sad expression, and then went off with Akane. As the two left Tofu's, Akane noticed a black object sitting on the block fence. Since the fog was thick, she came up closer to it, which Ranma thought was a bad idea. "Oh P-Chan!" she cried when she got close enough. "What? Mr. P" said Ranma coming up to Akane. But something was wrong, both stared at P-chan for a while, "Say Ranma, what's wrong with him?" she asked. "Beats me," said Ranma. They both looked at him again, he was sitting on the fence with his eyes staring open like two o's. "He almost looks like an Owl," said Akane picking him up. "Well he's alive, just not moving," said Ranma. Akane held him close to her chest, and they proceeded off.

The three were just almost out of the town, where it was sunny, when a ribbion struck Akane, knocking P-chan off of her. "P-chan," she cried, watching him barrel roll to the bushes. A rodent came out of the bush wondering what was going on, when it saw P-chan's eyes sharply turn to it. P-chan gave what sounded like a 'hoot' and began to chase the rodant. A loud horrible laugh came from behind as Kodachi jumped on Akane, knocking her down, while bouncing back to where Ranma was. "Oh Ranma darling," said Kodachi, "I have baked you a delicious cake." Ranma looked at the cake like he was going to be sick, "Thanks, but I rather not be Paralyses right now," he said. Kodachi got closer to Ranma, making him very uncomfortable, "Are you saying you won't eat the cake I baked with love for you?" she said getting a bit angry. "Well, um" said Ranma. Akane got back on her feet, and with the sight at Ranma and Kodachi together, she snuck up behind Kodachi, took the cake, and threw it into Ranma's face.

Ranma fell to the ground, choking trying not to swallow any of the cake as Kodachi turned around. "How Dare you, YOU WRTECHED GIRL!" she screamed. Akane turned her head a bit, and made a 'mmph' sound. "You'll Pay for THIS!" yelled Kodachi about to strike Akane, but suddenly had her attention diverted by a rodent jumping on her breast. Kodachi gave a loud scream, "GET IT OFF, GET IT OFF!" she cried. Akane looked to the right to see P-chan, still 'hooting' run up and jump at Kodachi. The rodent climbed up Kodachi's head and jumped off, just as P-chan head-butted Kodachi. "P-chan!" yelled Akane as P-chan went out of sight following the rodent.

Kodachi fell to the ground, moaning. Akane looked at her, than grabbed Ranma and dragged him off. "Akane, wait, I can walk my self," said Ranma struggling to his feet. Akane let go letting him fall again on his face. Akane looked at him and noticed he was carrying a disc that had small rock design on the top of it. "Hey Ranma, where did you get that?" she asked. "It slammed into my face with Kodachi's cake," replied Ranma handing it to her. Akane turned it around looking at it, and noticed "MM" on the back of it. "Who's MM?" she asked. "Not sure," replied Ranma.

FINALLY, after all the sidetracks, Ranma and Akane finally made it to the barrier, to find three figures on the other side camping. As they got closer, Ranma recognized Tommy, but was uncertain of who the other two were. "Hey Tommy!" shouted Ranma. Tommy came over to the barrier, and moved his mouth, but no words were coming out. Akane looked back at Ranma, "I guess the barrier blocks sound," she said.

Kalshion and Katarina walked up to Tommy where was, and looked at Ranma and Akane, "Do you know them Tommy?" asked Katarina. "Sure do, they are in my class," he said. Tommy pointed to the left at the weird disc that was in the barrier, which got Akane's attention. "Say, that looks very similar to what we just found," she said to Ranma. All 5 of them went over to the disc and examined it. Ranma tried to punch it out, but ended up with a bruised fist.

*Just a little bit away...*

"So far we haven't seen any way to enter or leave, so it must have been that old man who came into town," said Emeral walking with Joe on the parameter of the barrier. "I agree, but we have just a little bit more to check, then we'll go eat lunch and look for more discs." replied Joe. The two continued to walk when they noticed some figures up ahead. Emeral and Joe ran up, to find it was Akane, Ranma, Tommy, Kalshion, and Katarina. "Hey, what are you guys up to?" yelled Joe getting within 1 meter of the disc. Emeral came up and noticed the disc sitting in the barrier, "I take it that you guys are looking at this disc," she said. Akane looked at the two, "Yea, we came out trying to figure out how an old man was able to go through the barrier," she said. Just as Joe took a step closer, the disc began to glow, and Emeral just barley in time yelled, "GET DOWN!" Everyone on the inside of the barrier dropped to the ground, just as a hole opened up dropping the disc inside, and sucking the other three and the cat into the barrier.

Kalshion, Katarina and the cat were flown all the way through town, smashing into the end of the barrier on the other side. They both looked at each other, finding no injuries what so ever. Tommy wasn't so lucky, or was lucky, depending on how you look at it. He flew straight through town, running into Tatewaki Kunou, and smashing him into the barrier with him. Kunou had soften Tommy's crash, so Tommy was fine and on his feet in no time, Kunou on the other hand, laid there on the barrier with 3 bruised ribs, and a sprained wrist.

The hole in the barrier sealed up just and Emeral made a jump for it, trying to get out. She smacked into the barrier and fell down. Joe came up to her, "You all right," he asked. "Yea, I guess so," she said. Joe looked on the ground and picked up the disc, "Guess this makes 21," he said. Ranma a bit confused, "You mean these are yours?" he asked. "No," said Joe, "These are the keys to break the curse on this town." Akane handed Ranma the disk they had found early, "Is this one too?" asked Ranma. Joe was a bit shocked, "Yes, that is one," he said.

The old man had enjoyed the little trip Tommy had taken into town. His attention was now turned to Kalshion and Katarina. He knew they had taken some important materials with them out of town, and so decided to allow the campsite to be sucked in as well. He waved his hand over the mirror, causing a hole to open again in the barrier.

"Look," yelled Akane pointing to another hole in the barrier. Like before, a strong wind began to blow from the hole, sucking in anything movable on the other side. The camp material began to slide from the ground, and slowly was sucked into the barrier. But this time, the force of the suction was small enough to keep the sucked in materials a few meters away from the hole. After the last piece of camp material entered the dome, the hole closed. Akane, Ranma, Emeral, and Joe both stared, to surprised to speak or move.