"'Movietown News' presents...Spotlight on Adventure!"
A black and white screen lit up, showing a dense jungle in South America. A massive waterfall sparkled and shimmered as if fell down the side of a gigantic, flat topped mountain.
"What you are now witnessing is footage never before seen by civilized humanity: a lost world in South America! Lurking in the shadow of majestic Paradise Falls, it sports plants and animals undiscovered by science. Who would dare set foot on this inhospitable summit?"
The screen showed a hanging portrait of a dog demon, silver hair pulled back high on the top of his head and thick purple stripes rested elegantly on each side of his face.
"Why, our subject today: The Inu no Tashio himself!"
A massive Dirigible floated down from the air and landed on an airfield.
"The beloved explorer lands his dirigible, the 'Spirit of Adventure,' in New Hampshire this week, completing a year long expedition to the lost world!"
In the theater sat a young dog demon with silver hair and golden eyes. Two magenta stripes adorned on each cheek, and a blue crescent moon lay on his forehead, obscured by the helmet and pilot goggles he wore on his boy looked up with at the screen with reverence at his greatest hero of all time.
"This lighter-than-air craft was designed by Tashio himself, and is longer than 22 Prohibition paddy-wagons placed end to end."
The young boy, Sesshomaru, couldn't take his eyes off the screen as he stared at the giant dirigible that floated elegantly across the screen, and he gasped in wonder.
"And here comes the adventurer now!"
A platform descends from the dirigible on screen and the Tashio walks down it to the applause of an audience, accompanied by his pack of dogs.
"Never apart from his faithful dogs, Tashio conceived the craft for canine comfort! It's a veritable floating palace in the sky, complete with doggie bath and mechanical canine walker. And Jiminy Cricket, do the locals consider Tashio the bee's knees! And how!"
Cameras surround and flash at Tashio as he looks heroically into the camera, striking his signature thumbs up. "Adventure is out there!" he said, and in the small theater, Sesshomaru smiled and returned the thumbs up.
"But what has Tashio brought back this time?"
Now the screen showed Tashio on a great stage, addressing a crowd of hundreds of people. "Gentlemen, I give you…the Monster of Paradise Falls!" with a flourish, he whipped a curtain off a great cage, revealing a great skeleton with two heads. On the screen, the crowd gasps in amazement, and out young Sesshomaru stares, mouth agape at the wonder before him.
"And golly, what a swell monster this is. But what's this? Scientists cry foul! The National Explorers Society accuses Tashio of fabricating the skeleton!"
"NO!" Sesshomaru cried, on the edge of his seat as he looked up at the scientist on screen that were analyzing the bones skeptically. The hanging portrait of Tashio is removed from the wall of famous explorers.
"The organization strips Tashio of his membership."
The screen showed Tashio, standing firm, as his "Explorer's Society" badge is ripped from his jacket. Sesshomaru gasped in horror at the screen.
"Humiliated, Tashio vows a return to Paradise Falls and promises to capture the beast... alive!"
On screen, Tashio stood in front of a small crowd looking grim. "I promise to capture the beast…alive! And I will not come back until I do!"
The crowd on screen cheered and Sesshomaru looked relieved, confident that his hero would be back soon. Tashio flashed his thumbs up one last time, before re-entering the cockpit of his dirigible and setting off, to South America.
"And so the explorer is off to clear his name. Bon voyage Inu no Tashio, and good luck capturing the Monster of Paradise Falls!"
Lion's Heart Presents…
A "Not my Plot or Characters" story.
Classic Disney Pixar animation meets my all time favorite anime in…
UP!
Sesshomaru sped down the sidewalk, a blue balloon trailing behind him with the words "The Spirit of Adventure" written on it as he braved the dangers of the world.
"Here's Inu no Tashio, piloting his famous dirigible! He hurdles Pike's Peak!"
The rock on the ground was no match for Sesshomaru as he leapt over it.
"He hurdles the Grand Canyon!"
The crack in the sidewalk, that would have had others trembling in fear, was child's play to the adventurer on this day. Sesshomaru jumped over the crack and continued his journey, until he reached a formidable tree stump.
"He hurdles Mount Everest!"
Sesshomaru jumped over the tree stump…and smacked face first into the ground. Dazed, he proceeded around the worthy advisary.
"He... goes around Mount Everest! Is there nothing he cannot do? Yes, as Tashio himself says: 'Adventure is—'"
"Adventure is out there!" interrupted his thoughts. Stopping, Sesshomaru looked in the direction the voice had come from. There stood a broken old house, the windows were boarded up and the lawn was overgrown with weeds and plant life. Sesshomaru stared in amazement as the weather vain on top of the house turned as ropes pulled on it.
"Look out! Mount Rushmore! Hard to starboard. Must get the Spirit of Adventure over Mount Rushmore..."
Sesshomaru walked cautiously to the old house.
"Hold together old girl. How're my dogs doing? Ruff ruff!"
Sesshomaru squeezed through the boards in the door, and looked around the old house that had been turned into a fort of sorts. He followed the voice to the living room.
"All engines ahead full! Let's take her up to 26,000 feet! Rudders eighteen degrees towards the south."
Sesshomaru peeked around the corner, and saw a girl around his age. Her black hair was pined back in a messy bun and it was mostly hidden by the pilot hat and goggles she was wearing. Sesshomaru looked around the room that the girl has transformed into a make-believe dirigible cockpit. She stood by the windows, steering her "air craft" by the bicycle handles.
"It's a beautiful day, winds out of the east at ten knots. Visibility...unlimited. Enter the weather in the logbook! Oh! There's something down there! I will bring it back for science. Awwww, it's a puppy!"
He was mesmerized by the place, and stared a the wall plastered with newspaper clippings. They were all about the Inu no Tashio!
"No time! A storm! Lightning! Hail!"
He looked over them, and his eyes paused on one article in particular. The article about Tashio's trip to paradise falls.
"What are you doing!"
Sesshomaru let out a gasp as he whipped around to face the girl who was now staring at him with a shrewd eye. He felt the emptiness in his hand and realized that he had let go of his balloon. Looking up, he saw it dissapear into the floor boards.
"Don't you know this is an exclusive club? Only explorers get in here. Not just any kid off the street with a helmet and a pair of goggles. Do you think you got what it takes? Well, do you?" the girl yelled in his face.
Sesshomaru took a step back, scared.
"Alright, you're in!" the girl said, a broad smile lighting up her face. "Welcome aboard!" she stuck out her hand, but Sesshomaru looked down at the floor embarrassed. "What's wrong? Can't you talk?" When Sesshomaru stayed silent, the girl softened. "Hey, I don't bite," she said with a little smile. She reached up to her head and pulled her helmet off. Her black hair frizzed out in all directions, and she pulled out two ruffled feather pins from her pocket and impatiently used one to pin her hair out of her eyes. She took the second one and clipped it on Sesshomaru's shirt. "You and me, we're in a club now," she said, beaming at him.
Sesshomaru stared in amazement at his gift, and looked up to smile at his new friend.
"I saw where your balloon went," the girl said. "Come on, let's go get it!" Sesshomaru stared as she ran from the room out of his sight, and he wondered it he should follow. The house didn't look very safe…
Then the girl's head popped back in the room from around the corner. "My name's Kagura, by the way," she said as she took his hand and led him to the attic.
"There it is!" she called out confidently, pointing across a giant hole in the floor. Sesshomaru looked down at the single board connecting the two sides of the attic and gulped.
"Well, go ahead," Kagura said, pushing him out onto the board. Sesshomaru froze, terrified to move an inch. He looked back to her smiling face, and she said, "Go on!"
A fierce determination came over Sesshomaru, and he looked to the balloon. He reached up to his helmet and pulled the goggles down over his eyes. He could do this!
He confidently took one step forward…and fell through the floor.
"Whoops…" Kagura said, looking down at the crying boy on the floor beneath her.
A trip to the hospital later, Sesshomaru lay alone in his bed, his arm held up by a cast. A flashlight held by his good hand lit up the book in his lap. So intent on the story inside, the boy didn't notice the blue balloon floating in through his window, tethered to a small stone, until the pebble tied to it's end bumped into the side of his head.
Sesshomaru let out a small start, and looked in amazement at his lost balloon. He gingerly reached out his good hand, afraid that the balloon would try to run away from him again if he moved to hastily.
"Hey kid!" came a voice from the window as the girl, Kagura, popped her head up from outside the open window.
"AH!" Sesshomaru screamed, jerking backwards in surprise and hitting himself with his hard cast. "Ow…" he mumbled as he rubbed the sore spot on his head and watched as the girl climb in through his window.
"Thought you might need a little cheerin' up. I got somethin' to show ya!" she said cheerily. She pulled the comforter off the bed, laying it across two chairs and pulled the bewildered dog demon from the bed and into the fort, illuminated only by the light of the flashlight.
"I'm about to let you see something I have never shown to another human being," she said, all playfulness gone. "Ever," she paused for dramatic effect. "In my LIFE!"
Sesshomaru's eyes grew wide and he took in a sharp breath, heavily aware of the seriousness of the situation.
"You'll have to swear you will not tell anyone," Kagura demanded, and Sesshomaru nodded his head eagerly. "Cross your heart. Do it!" she yelled pointing her finger in his face. Sesshomaru hastily crossed his finger over his heart, and Kagura nodded in approval. "Good," she said approvingly. And from behind her back, she pulled out…
"My Adventure Book!" she said proudly, pulling out an old photo album with the words "My Adventure Book" written across it. She flipped open the book to a picture of Inu no Tashio, and she pointed to him excitedly. "You know him, of course!" she said, and Sesshomaru nodded eagerly at her. "Inu no Tashio…explorer," she said with reverence. "When I get big, I'm going where he's going…South America!"
She flipped the page, revealing a world map. "It's sorta like America…but south," she explained expertly, and Sesshomaru nodded in understanding. "Wanna know where I'm gonna live?" Kagura said, and she turned the page again. It showed a black and white picture of a large waterfall, and at the top was a colorful house tapped right next to the cascading water.
"'Paradise Falls, a land lost in time…'" she read from the caption. "I ripped this right out of a library book!" she said dangerously, and Sesshomaru gasped, amazed at his new friend's gall. "I'm gonna move my clubhouse there, and park it right next to the falls. Who knows what lives up there? And once I get there…" she flipped through the book, revealing a page marked, 'STUFF I'M GOING TO DO.' As she flipped through the rest of the pages, Sesshomaru noted with interest that the pages were all blank.
"Well, I'm saving these pages for all the adventures I'm gonna have. Only…I just don't know how I'm gonna get to Paradise Falls," she said glumly, closing the book with a small sigh.
Sesshomaru looked down, deep in thought, and his eyes landed on his toy dirigible. Struck with a sudden thought, he picked it up.
"That's it!" Kagura exclaimed. "You can take us there in a blimp! Swear you'll take us, cross your heart! Cross it! Cross your heart!" she said, pointing a finger at him again, and Sesshomaru, making a firm decision in his mind, crosses his finger over his heart once again.
"Good!" Kagura said happily, clapping her hands together. "You promised…so no backing out!" Sesshomaru shook his head, appalled at the idea of backing out on such a serious promise.
"Well, see you tomorrow kid! Bye!" Kagura said, jumping to her feet. She gathered her book in her hands and cradled it to her chest lovingly, and sprinted towards the window. "Adventure is out there!" she cried, and with that she leapt out the window.
Sesshomaru stared after her for a moment, and then was taken aback as her head popped back into view once more. "You know, you don't talk very much, kid. I like you!" she said, and ran off once again.
Sesshomaru stared after her, a small smile lifting up the corners of his mouth. "Wow…" he breathed resting his head on his balloon.
And suddenly the balloon popped.
I should be working on homework…or "Making History"… but I've had this half finished for months now. So yay! This will be a Sess/Rin fic…but Kagura's getting her shot first ^-^
This isn't going to follow the exact script of the movie…and characters may seem a pit OCC, but hey, it's a different world, and different things have happened to shape each individual's life.
Please give a little review if you've got the time! It would sure mean a lot to me!
Thanks so much for reading!
~Lions Heart 獅子の心(ROAR! ^-^)