Okay, here's one weekend's worth of work. Actually, that's a lie. I did this
in about an evening, and haven't touched it over the weekend; my brother came
home for the weekend.
I'm not exactly happy with all of it.... Ryoga doesn't seem to be turning out
very well, for instance. He doesn't seem to be fitting in. I've got to either
find some better dialogue for him, or cast a new character in. I favour the
new dialogue idea more, but I'm having trouble with it.
Another ache is how to implement the Feudal Japan timezone later in the fanfic.
That's going to be fun; in both senses of the word....
Oh, and Gary can tell me if I've copied "da big kahuna" well or not ^_^ I
haven't seen the anime, and I only have translations of the appropriate manga
volumes, so I'm basing Principal Kuno on Gary's interpretation. Multiple kudos
to him.
As you can see, I haven't done much yet; hopefully, that might change.
Anyway, I'll welcome feedback, ideas, cast replacements, etc.
Enjoy!
Terence Fergusson
-- Student of Advanced Murphodynamics
-- Stranded in an Anime-free College
===================================================================
Terence Fergusson (nc005390@newcol.demon.co.uk)
Ranma 1/2 is copyright Rumiko Takahashi. Day of the Tentacle is
copyright Lucasarts. Any material used from either Ranma 1/2 or Day
of the Tentacle are not of my own creation, and I take no credit for it.
Thank you for not suing me.
This fanfic - excepting those scenes, characters and other stuff that
belongs to the two aforementioned pieces of fiction (or in one case,
interactive fiction), plus any other anime, manga or general fiction
included in the story - is mine.
Story notes: /.../ designates thoughts...
_..._ designates stressed words...
Any other strange symbols _should_ be self-explanatory.
And now, the feature presentation... ^_^
-
----------------------------------------------------------------------
-
DING DONG!
From the back of the shared apartment, a young brunette skated
towards the door, and answered it. She looked outside, and brightened
at the sight of a small rodent on the doorstep. She turned to one of
her roommates, a stalwart young lad who had followed her in.
"Look, Ryoga," she said, "it's a hamster. Just what I need for
dissection lab tomorrow." She giggled slightly, turning a trained
pre-med eye on the poor hamster.
"Actually," said Ryoga, scratching his head, "I think I need that
for the team, Azusa. We've been looking for a new mascot ever since
the old one went missing... say, you wouldn't have had anything to do
with that, would ya?"
"Hands off that hamster!"
Ryoga and Azusa turned their attention from the door towards the
rear of the apartment, where a young man with large eyes and a pale
complexion entered. Azusa smirked. "Friend of yours, Hikaru?"
Hikaru Gosunkugi shook his head. "He belongs to Tatewaki Kuno, and
it looks like he's brought us a note." Sure enough, the small rodent
held up the piece of paper it was delivering. Hikaru picked up the
letter and shut the door. No one heard the pained little squeak as
the hamster sustained minor nose injuries.
"It's from my old friend Sasuke," said Hikaru. "He says Kodachi's
pet, Mr Turtle, has mutated into an insane genius, and Principal
Kuno's going to kill them both!" Ryoga's jaw dropped at the cruelty,
while Azusa's eyes widened at the thought of wasting a perfectly good
specimen. Funnily enough, only Ryoga was thinking about Mr Turtle.
Hikaru looked out of the apartment window into the dark, starry
night. "I thought I was free of the Principal and those crazy Kunos
forever." His expression slowly set with determination.
"But now, I know that I must go....
...back to the Mansion!"
===================================================================
D A Y O F T H E T U R T L E
Part 1 : "If It Wasn't For Those Meddling Kids...."
===================================================================
Within quarter of an hour, the trio were standing outside Kuno
mansion, dwarfed by the ominous structure before them. A dark gray
mist hovered just above the ground, and an eerie light shone upon
them.
Ryoga turned away from the burning wreckage of Hikaru's car, which
was having a brief and ultimately terminal affair with a nearby tree.
"Uh, Gos, perhaps we should have walked. I mean, it was only a few
blocks away...."
Hikaru waved away the suggestion. "We didn't have the time. We've
got to stop Principal Kuno!" With that, he hurried up the path,
towards the mansion itself.
Ryoga glanced over at Azusa, who merely shrugged and followed.
Ryoga gave up. /What was the worst that could happen,/ he thought.
He followed them in.
A few moments later, Azusa skated back down the path to help Ryoga
find his way back to the mansion.
They met inside the lobby. Apparently the Kuno mansion had
undergone a number of changes since Hikaru's last visit. To all
intents and purposes, the entire mansion seemed to have been
converted into a hotel. No one dared to comment on it though.
"Ok, We'll spread out, commando-style," said Hikaru, planning out
their next course of action. Since Sasuke was Hikaru's friend, Ryoga
and Azusa thought that Hikaru might as well take charge of the
operation.
"Ryoga, you secure the area behind the double doors. Azusa, you
take care of upstairs reconnaissance. I'll maintain Command H.Q.
here, in the lobby."
Of course, maybe "taking charge of the operation" wasn't the correct
phrase to apply to this situation.
"Uh, Gos," said Ryoga, "maintaining Command H.Q. doesn't sound like
a very useful role. 'Sides, you've been here before. You should have
more experience looking."
"Ah," replied Hikaru, slightly nervously, "but establishing a base
of operations is a... a very important part of any operation! I, uh,
can collaborate with what you find, and I can, um, search the
office," he cried, inspiration striking as he looked for more
excuses.
Azusa, impatient to get this over with, interrupted before Ryoga
could argue any further. "Just what are we supposed to be looking
for?" she asked.
"We need to find where the Principal is holding Mr.Turtle," he
replied quickly, eager to change the subject.
"Mr.Turtle's the alligator, right?" said Ryoga. Hikaru nodded.
Azusa started on the stairs, having trouble with the roller blades
she wore everywhere she went. "This better not take too long," she
called as she went up the stairs one at a time. "I've got an anatomy
final tomorrow."
"And I've got practice in the morning," Ryoga added as he
reluctantly left through the double doors towards what seemed to be
some kind of conference room. "And if I'm late one more time, Coach
says I'll have to stay out the next game...." He disappeared into
the adjoining room, his voice fading as the double doors shut slowly
behind him.
Gosunkugi looked around, trying to figure out what to do. /Now,/
he thought, /if I know the Principal, he's probably holding them in
his secret lab. Question is, where's his secret lab?/
He paced backwards and forwards, musing on the problem.
Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.
He mused a little more.
Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.
He strode in circles, irritated at the lack of ideas.
Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.
"Would you shut up!" he yelled at the nearby grandfather clock,
which continue to tick incessantly.
Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.
"ARRRGGGGHHHH!!!!!" he shouted, pulling out one of his hammers, and
charging the offending antique. He smashed into it, pounding away at
the clock's outer casing.
Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.
Hikaru finally slumped to the ground, exhausted from that display
of violence. The clock stood there resolutely, refusing to be
silenced.
Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Creeeaaak.
He looked up suddenly, and watched in amazement as the front of the
clock opened up to reveal a shaft disappearing straight down into
darkness. A secret passage.
"Wahey!" he cheered, clambering into the shaft. "This is all too
easy," he said to himself happily, before misjudging the gap and
banging his head against the upper part of the clock. With a dazed
expression on his face, he slid slowly down out of sight.
--**************--
Azusa skated happily down the long corridor, stopping every once
in a while to check on another hotel door. She came to a stop,
however, as she recognised a very familiar face.
"Ryoga? How'd you get upstairs?"
Ryoga scratched his head and looked back at her in confusion. "Am
I upstairs? I got lost," he admitted, embarrassed. "Seen any
alligators?" he asked, trying to change the subject.
It was Azusa's turn to look confused. "Um, what's an alligator?"
"Oh, jus' a large predatory reptile, brudda," replied a voice from
behind. They turned around to see a man wearing a large colourful
T-shirt and shorts. He wore dark mirrored sunglasses and had a lei
around his neck. However, on top of his head, was a palm tree. Not
a large one, but a palm tree nevertheless.
Neither Ryoga nor Azusa needed any more information to correctly
identify the former Principal of Furinkan High. The Principal
ignored them for the most part, turning instead towards a nearby
vending machine in the corridor.
"It be like da crcodile, 'cept it be havin' da shortah and broadah
snout, yeah," continued Principal Kuno, in his own unique way. "It
make de real good pet fo' my daughtah, 'til it be tryin' to take ovah
de world, mon. Ha' to tie da keiki up in de basement."
"Good thing you told us that," said Azusa, a little airily.
"Yeah," Ryoga added. "Gosunkugi wanted us to set him and Sasuke
free."
"Good thin' you not be thinkin' so stupid, yeah! Only an idiot
Haole would be doin' such a thing," said the principal, as he dug
about in the pockets of his shorts, and inserted some change into the
vending machine.
Suddenly, he stopped in his tracks.
"Hey, you be waitin' a mo'. You didn' say Hikaru Gosunkugi,
did you brudda?"
--**************--
<End of Draft>
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
"But Mr Kuno... shouldn't the propellor blades on the
Chronojohn be on top, rather than inside the booths?"
"Not da way I inten' to use dem, mon."
-- Hikaru and Principal Kuno,
Day of the Turtle
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
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It is a mistake to think you can solve any major problems
just with potatoes.
-- Life, the Universe and Everything
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