All right, White Wolf, you were right. This *was* one of the
toughest parts yet. :)
I really thought I had figured it all out, but when I went back
and re-read the parts that introduced Ryouga I realized that I had
forgotten almost half of it. Also, large graphic scenes make for
very short parts, if you intend (like me) to keep to the average
number of pages. So I condensed four parts into three and cut a
lot of the fighting (It's not as much fun to read about it as it
is to *see* it).
I realize that I did more or less what White Wolf advised me in
the beginning, which was to follow the manga at least until after
the Ryouga parts.
Well, next comes an interlude - and then Shampoo! Oh, well,
perhaps Kodachi first. But I *wanna* do Shampoo soon.
--------------------------------------------------------------
RANKO 1/2
Part 10
<DING DING DING>
The alarms sound over a tiny japanese forest village. Excited and
frightened people are running through the streets (which is
standard practice when an alarm is sounded - it doesn't help, but
it's *so* much more dramatic). A wild boar is on the loose and
it is smashing its way through the small community. Bashed and
overturned carts are lying in its wake, cats and other people have
been chased up trees, chaos rules. When the behemoth of a pig
finally decides to run down a clear space for a change and turns
into the main street, cries rise up. A seemingly unaware wanderer
is walking right in the path of the monster boar.
Man: Hey! Careful there!
Woman: Look out! Run!
The young man on the street turns and sees the aproaching animal.
Yet he does not run. Instead he braces himself and when the boar
is upon him and it seems inevitable that he will be slaughtered by
the raging beast, he grabs its tusks and holds fast. Incredibly,
the giant pig stops. Though it is desperately struggling against
its captor, he wrestles it slowly down. Then the young man leans
forward and says something that eludes the ears of the villagers.
The pig "Bwee"s loudly in a frightened tone and when the boy
lets go of its tusks, it meekly but hurriedly walks off, out of
the village. Astonished the people of the village come forward
Man: That was incredible!
Man2: Amazing! Are you an animal trainer or something?
The boy does not answer. He looks young - 16, maybe 17 years -
and his unruly hair is kept in check by a yellow-and-black
bandana. On his back he carries a large backpack with a bamboo
umbrella strapped to it. He pulls out a piece of paper that
apparently contains a map. As he speaks it can be seen that he
has CUTE LIL' FANGS. *YAY!* [Um, sorry. I got a little
over-enthusiastic - I'll correct that in the next revision :) ]
Boy: Where is Fuurinkan high school?
A villager grabs the map and studies it. She then hands it back,
shaking her head.
Woman: Gomen, but that map shows nothing in this area. It looks
more like Tokyo.
Man: But that's five hundred miles north of here!
Boy: Very well. Please forgive my intrusion.
He turns back on the path and walks away without another word.
The villagers look after him.
Man: Now, that one's really lost.
Boy: [thinks] Saotome Ranma! Soon I will find you and then you
will no longer run from our man-to-man battle!
Meanwhile "Ranma"...
Ranko: Are you mad? I'm not wearing your clothes!
Kasumi and Nabiki have chased her down the hall and now confront a
cornered Ranko who is just wearing boxers and a towel in lieu of a
top.
Kasumi: But all of your own clothes are in the washing.
Nabiki: [inaudible] And sewing and disinfecting...
Ranko: But your clothes are all so frilly and stuff. How am I
supposed to *run* in those things?
Kasumi: [arms akimbo] You're not.
Nabiki intervenes here.
Nabiki: You're not the same size anyway. Ranko, how about if you
borrow an outfit from Akane? She's more your size.
Ranko stops and ponders this. Reluctantly she agrees.
Ranko: O-o-okay, I guess. At least she has some taste in
sensible clothing.
Nabiki: [inaudible] I thought you would say that. [smirks]
On a field somewhere in Japan. Cows graze everywhere and a man
carries buckets of milk along. The boy with the bandana
aproaches him with his map.
Boy: Where is Fuurinkan High school?
Cowherd: Well, if that's Tokyo on the map, it's five hundred
miles south of here.
It is a week later, three o'clock in the afternoon, when the
bandana'd boy grabs a random guy from a schoolyard and questions
him.
Boy: Where is Fuurinkan high school?
Student: Err...
The student wordlessly points over to a large sign on the wall,
not five yards from the point they are standing. The sign
proclaims this to be the yard of Fuurinkan High.
Boy: Ahh. Thank you. Where do I find Saotome Ranma?
Student: Uh, Ranma? I think he's... Oh, there he is. Over
there with Akane.
The boy looks to the doors of the school building. Akane and
Ranma have just exited and are walking along, chatting.
Akane: Ha ha, you wouldn't *believe* it! And of course she went
on to tell me *in* *detail* just how wrong I was...
Ranma: Ha! I would believe it! That's just like her, to...
Suddenly Ranma freezes. Some small, half-seen movement has
alerted him and he looks around, sensing impending danger. Just
in time he pushes Akane back and barely manages to dodge, as the
bandana boy falls from the sky, with his bamboo umbrella stretched
out below him like a weapon.
Boy: Ranma, prepare to die!
Ranma just stares. As the umbrella impacts on the ground, tip
first, only a hand's breadth next to Ranma, the ground gives way.
A crater, at least a meter and a half wide, has formed at the
point of impact and Ranma somersaults backwards out of range. He
lands at the rim of the shallow crater and stares in disbelief.
Ranma: You!?
Boy: So, Ranma. Still good at running away. [pauses, stares]
Wait! You're not Ranma.
Ranma: Sure I am. Saotome Ranma, that's me.
Boy: [narrows one eye] No. You look like him. You look a lot
like him. But you're not him. You're to tall, your face is
different, your voice too deep - you're not him.
Ranma: But I know you! You're... You're..
He waves his pointing finger at the boy as if that could coax the
forgotten name to the front of his mind.
Boy: Don't strain yourself. I will leave now, [louder] but I
will find the real Saotome Ranma and when I find him, he'd
better be ready.
Refastening his umbrella to his backpack he takes off. Ranma
looks after the departing figure, deep in thought. Suddenly he
snaps his fingers.
Ranma: Ryouga. Hibiki Ryouga, that's his name. I knew him in my
old high school.
Akane: But why didn't he recognize you? He came looking for
you...
Ranma: I don't know... [slaps his forehead] Duh! Of course!
[grabs Akane's hand] Come on home Akane, I'll tell you.
He zooms off, dragging Akane behind him. The shaken pupils of
Fuurinkan high watch as the two depart. Perhaps now the afternoon
will be quiet.
The Tendou girls are listening to Ranma's tale in the living room.
Kasumi is slowly laying the table for tea, while Ranma changes
back to Ranko with a kettle of hot water.
Ranko: It's so simple! He never saw me in boy form.
Nabiki: But you said he came asking for Saotome *Ranma*.
Ranko: Well... I was using that name even before I was cursed!
Akane: Huh?
Ranko: Back when I was a girl 356 days a year. I met him in our
class in the boys' school.
Akane and Nabiki gasp and move back in horror.
Girls: Boys' School?!
-- End of part 10.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Continued in part 11.
Sebastian
--
<http://enterprise.mathematik.uni-essen.de/~bastian/>
Comics reviewed
--
Confucius say: Man who run behind car get exhausted.