I had posted this a while back but I felt it wasn't very good at the
time though. After stumbling across it last night, I read it over and
felt that I could make it a little better and give it more than just
two paragraphs.
C&C would be much appreciated.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Disclaimer: These characters belong to the beloved Rumiko
Takahashi. I only wish to borrow them for a bit.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ryoga was lost but only this time it was in thought. He was
trying to figure out why he kept getting lost all the time. He had
tried using maps, compasses, and he even tried stellar
navigation but it was all for naught. The only truely good thing
about his ability to get lost at the drop of a hat was that he got to
see the world for free. He had bought many gifts for his beloved
Akane over his travels. She loved the tartan scarf that he gave
her after a recent trip to Scotland and a small moon rock sat on
her book shelf along with many other trinkets from his travels.
He also didn't mind the fact that he knew about half a dozen
major languages fluently and quite a few minor ones as well.
Right now, however, it looked like English was the way to go
because he seemed to be in London. Yep, London alright.
There was Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, and....the Eiffel
Tower??? All he did was turn around. Or so he thought. Ryoga
surely couldn't remember and just took it that he wasn't paying
attention, as usual. Walking along some long forgotten path in
the middle of some long forgotten mountain range he comes
across a fairly large boulder blocking the path. One Bakusai
Tenketsu later the path is cleared but Ryoga stays where he
was. He had never really thought about what it takes to perform
the move since Cologne taught it to him. The words "See with
the mind and not with the eyes" kept running through his head.
No matter how hard Ryoga tries to shake it he just can't get it out
of his mind. It almost seemed to be telling him something but
was being intentionaly vague about it. Whatever the case was,
he didn't have time to waste thinking about something as trivial
as Cologne's training methods. He had a Tendo Dojo to find.
Starting back along the path Ryoga gets back to walking and
feeling sorry for himself. Too lost in his thoughts Ryoga didn't
notice a bunch of pools with bamboo poles sticking out of them
or the ocean that he seemed to be walking on. It was kind of like
those old cartoons where they didn't fall until they realized they
were standing in mid air.
Night time finally falls for Ryoga and he begins to set up camp
in the middle of the woods somewhere. It was here that he
managed to collect all of his random thoughts for the day.
"The Bakusai Tenketsu requires for me to see the breaking
point of a rock with my mind and not with my eyes. All it takes is
a little focus and there's the dot that allows me to remove that
rock." After saying this his eyes lit up as he formed an idea that
just might work. It was so simple that he was surprised that he
didn't come up with it sooner. Ranma had always found a way to
revise his techniques whenever he needed to so why couldn't
he. The concept behind the Bakusai Tenketsu was so basic that
it could be easily adapted to his directional problem. So after
sitting down he started looking for a direction point instead of a
breaking point.
After unsuccessful tries to find the Tendo Dojo and Japan he
decided to find something closer, like that river he could hear
from somewhere. After a little consentration he saw a nice little
dot form off to the left and behind him slightly. Eureka! A way to
find his way around places. Of course it disappeared once he
got to where he was headed but even he could find something if
he could se it. He was sure he would be able to work out the
ranging some other time and was content with heading straight
towards the river and then right back to his camp several times
just to make sure he was doing it right. Tears welled in his eyes
and cried unashamed till he went to sleep that night. Ryoga, for
the first time in a long time, was happy and knew that wherever
he set out to go the next day, he would get there.
--
Tomorrow sees undone, what happens not today. Indecision brings delays,
days lost lamenting lost days -Ryoga Hibiki
Email me at jsmarshb@unity.ncsu.edu
or
visit my web site at http://www.geocities.com/LightHawk19