Ranma got her normal clothes back on and left Ryoga in the bath. Ryoga found some cold water and poured it on himself, and followed Ranma as a pig. Ryoga would've stayed as a man, but he had no clothes here, so was forced to stay as a pig. If I could only get the cure, I wouldn't even care.
Ranma decided she better off infiltrating the area as a girl, and had reluctantly changed back. She allowed herself to be captured by some guards who pushed her into a room, and in there she found hundreds of dresses. The situation had been explained on the way there. The island she was on was normally hidden by an illusion, and to onlookers, even on the island, the castle was currently hidden. If it was not, it would have taken up the whole island. The prince that lived here wanted it to be hidden until it was complete. She was being prepared as a concubine until the time came for the prince to choose a wife.
The island was called Togenkyo, and she was to stay here until the prince was ready.
"Wow..." She said to herself as she entered the room. "Where'd they get all this junk?"
"Stolen, no doubt." Cologne told Ranma, who gave a small sound of surprise, "Like the young maidens from the surrounding islands."
"Hey Granny, when'd you get here?" Ranma asked, "And what do you mean, young maidens? It isn't just the people who are shipwrecked?" Ranma asked
Seemingly ignoring her question, Cologne replied, "Do you want me to help you pick something nice?"
"Why would I...?" Ranma asked, confused
"You know what the situation is! Think, son-in-law, think! You could get the water through the young prince here." Cologne told Ranma. "He has the key to where the water is stored."
"That's right!" Ranma said in realisation. "If I could convince him somehow..."
"Shall we play dress-up?" Cologne asked Ranma
Ranma was shown to the door by the same two men, and politely escorted through it - which led to a drop of a few feet. Kichirou let out a triumphant crow. "Hah! Serves you right for treating us like that!" He shouted down to them. He left, slamming the door behind him, and Oshiro's calm murmurs could be heard fading away. Ranma had the distinct impression Kichirou was being told off.
She looked around her surroundings, and spotted Shampoo in a daring dress. She was headed across the room straight for her. "Aiyaa, Ranma come for Shampoo! Shampoo passed to mean mean men who throw Shampoo in here!"
"Well, it's not as if we didn't come here by choice..." Ranma muttered. "But now what? I don't wanna be stuck here waiting for the freak Toma to arrive. I'll bet he's a stuck-up little kid who just loves seeing this stuff happening for pleasure." Ranma looked around at the girls littering around the area. "I thought he'd just started to collect girls, but he's already got ten or twenty or them."
Shampoo nodded. "But look this Ranma, these people give us free food!" Shampoo said, picking up some refreshments. "Is no bad, yes?"
"It's not what I expected, I'll give ya that." Ranma told her. "I thought he'd have them all chained up or something, not giving them free food. He must be pretty rich..." Ranma added darkly "Or good at stealing. I met the old ghoul here, and she said most of these people and dresses are stolen from the islands nearby."
"Aiyah, he bad bad man!" Shampoo exclaimed. "Ranma protect Shampoo from him yes?"
Ranma smirked. "I don't think he'd be he kinda person whose ever been stood up to before. Even Akane could handle him!"
Shampoo was slightly disappointed at Ranma's response, as her future husband did not seem to understand the romanticism in protected your loved one. Shampoo get Ranma to understand yet.
Ranma decided she was hungry, and asked for some food. She was presented with some sushi. "Wow!" Ranma gasped "They really are rich... Hey, I wanna huge bowl of the sushi!" She ordered. Shampoo wished she could make him some ramen, but she couldn't.
A lean, weasel-faced man opened the door to look in. "Prince Toma will be inspecting you tomorrow to see if he is ready to choose. Whoever gets his attention and marries him will become Queen of this island! So you'd better prepare..." He let out a short laugh, and left, slamming the huge doors more than he needed to, or than his size should allow him too. The doors swung between either side until they closed.
"I think they have that door there just to let people in..." Ranma muttered, both to herself and Shampoo. "It opens both ways, or at least closes both ways, and I could probably reach it if I jumped. Meaning we could escape at any time, so why do they bother?"
"Normal people no could jump that high!" Shampoo pointed out. "And people need way to get in and out! There no other door."
She's right. Ranma looked around the room they were in. "Hold on a minute!" She realised "Where the heck did Ryoga go? He'll get lost in a second, that stupid pig! Stay here Shampoo, I'm gonna go look for him. But first, so they don't recognise me..." She called one of the three waiters lolling around the place, serving the girls. "Some hot water please!"
"Right away ma'am!" The waiter replied, going out of the room.
He returned a few seconds later with a kettle of hot water. "All right! Good service or what! I bet they have just about everything over there!" Ranma said gleefully. "Shampoo, you'd better stay here. They might ignore a man wandering around, especially if I find that uniform, but they would assume you've just escaped."
Shampoo almost volunteered that she would turn into a cat, but had to reject the idea sadly. She moped back to the sofa and sat down heavily. Ranma, oblivious, jumped onto one of the tables then out of the doors. One of the waiters must have raised an alarm, as a few seconds later some guards converged on her. A disguise!
A few minutes later, every single one of them lay on the floor. Ranma stood panting with a half-empty kettle in her hand, and poured what remained onto herself. He found a guard who was similar to him in height, and stripped him of his uniform. He then went to patrol the corridors he had seen some guards on earlier.
When he got there, he realised just how difficult the task of finding Ryoga would be. She had found some stairs, which seemed to go up forever, and the corridors seemed to have no end. He bleakly hoped Ryoga had found some hot water so he would at least raise an alarm.
"Oi you!" One of the guards barked at him. A group of guards had turned the corner, and all of them wearing lustful expressions. Ranma looked sideways and saw, to his shock, what he though to be a painting was actually a window to the place the brides were kept. There definitely weren't any there inside...
"Me?" Ranma asked
"Get back to the barrack area, your shift is over." The guard shouted. "We're here now, so clear off! And..." His voice quavered. "What is that?"
Ranma looked to where the other guards gaze was headed and saw a black piglet. Wearing a yellow and black spotted bandanna. Ranma knew at once it was Ryoga. Ryoga seemed to be in a daze, and just kept walking forwards.
"F-Fine!" The guard shouted. "You keep the shift! You lot head back now!" The man seemed to be in a panic. "Now! That's an order!"
The lesser guards cleared off in a state of confusion. When they had cleared the man pointed a finger at Ranma. "H-how did you know? And i-if you ever tell anyone else about my Swinophobia, I will make sure you are kicked off this island!" The man scurried back. That was lucky...
Plucking up the pig, and knocking him unconscious, Ranma returned to the place she had left. She found her clothes still carelessly strewn across the floor, and the guards still unconscious. Huh, I must've hit them pretty hard...
He plucked a gourd off one of them, and poured the cold water onto himself. Then she dressed back into her dress, knowing the patrols weren't around, and pushed open the doors. She jumped down to where Shampoo was, waiting on a sofa.
"Aiyah, Ranma just in time!" Shampoo said. "Weird man say Prince come very very soon."
"Be careful Shampoo." Ranma warned, her voice unusually serious. "This place is weird. When I went up there, the walls there" She pointed at the upper walls, "Didn't exist. I could see right through them. I think the island has a lot of tricks, not just this enormous castle. Be on your guard." Ranma paused, and Shampoo hung onto her sentence. "Some sushi here!" Ranma shouted.
Shampoo wondered what was going on in Ranma's mind.
"And here he is!" A voice shouted "The most wonderful prince Toma!"
A young boy appeared in the overhanging podium, which Ranma had previously overlooked. She wondered if this was the castle or her. He held up his hand, to no applause, but rather scowls, and bowed. He wasn't doing much and his expression remained blank.
"That guy?" Ranma shouted. There was a deafening silence. Ranma ploughed through it. "I can't believe this... 9 year old is seriously considering getting married?"
"How dare you speak to prince Toma like that!" The weasel-faced man cried. "This is the most powerful person on this island! You could not even compare to him!"
"Oh yea!" Ranma shot back, the plan in smithereens. "I bet I could bet him easily, no sweat!"
Prince Toma looked at Ranma. "Are you the one who was destroying all our trees?" He queried in a bored monotone. "I seem to remember someone telling me about a redhead and a bluehead who forced her captors to bring her here. So that would be you and that Chinese woman there?"
"Yes it would." Ranma fired at Toma, enraged further by the tone the Prince was taking.
"Hmmm... So you are strong?" Toma enquired. "In that case, this should be amusing. Get the guards." He ordered the weasel faced man.
"With pleasure!" Cried the man, looking like he had just received the order he had been waiting for.
Ranma waited.
"Impressive." She said after a while, her voice scorching.
Toma looked at his minion. "Where are they? This is boring, I want something funny."
Ranma replied for him. "I already took out the first patrol, I beat some up looking around, and I scared away the second." She told him. "If all you want to do is play around with people's lives, I think I ought to teach you a lesson. You're just a pathetic piece of dirt who thinks its OK to mess with people's lives for your own amusement!"
Toma looked stunned. Ranma nudged Shampoo, and whispered to her, "What did I tell you? He's never had someone stand up to him before." Toma regained his composure quicker than Ranma expected.
"I have decided." Toma said, "Bring that girl up here." He ordered. The weasel-faced man looked around for someone in vain. "Come up here then. I will make some stairs for you."
Ranma ignored the stairs Toma had made, and jumped up to face him. Ryoga was still in her hand. Ranma wondered vaguely why he was so subdued.
"You don't gotta ask me twice." Ranma told Toma. Toma seemed to lose his composure in Ranma's face, but it wasn't visible to anyone but Ranma.
"What is your name?" He asked softly, breaking his monotone.
"My name is Ranma Saotome." Ranma told Toma proudly. "of the Saotome school of Anything Goes martial arts."
"I have made my choice then!" Toma announced. "I will take Ranma Saotome as my bride!"
Yes! Ranma crowed inside. Somehow, she had got Toma, and she didn't even know why. The weasel-faced man looked shocked. "S-Sir, I know I wanted for you to get married as soon as possible, but surely not this woman?"
"Sir, what shall we do with the others?" One of the guards asked cautiously, interrupting the man, who had been ignored anyway.
"I don't care." Toma answered. "You can take them if you like."
"He agreed!" The guard shouted. The waiters immediately dropped their kind act and took one of the girls. With many of the guards missing, only a few of the girls were taken.
"They're good people really." Toma said nervously. "Also, I'm twelve, not nine... Shall we go?"
"Yes." Ranma replied, her last sight of the castle vanishing as she seemed to teleport away. Then she realised Shampoo was missing from the room.
2,221 words
Thanks for the support! I rewatched the second Ranma movie, and realised the entire island was made of of the castle, so I had to cover that up. The other differences were just because the plan was in early stages.
Some ShampooxRanma action should be coming in soon. Shampoo will eventually have to confront Ranma's Neko-ken verses her curse, and she needs some saving!
If I missed anything you used something which didn't match up with the anime, tell me please.
Reviews and criticisms are welcomed! I say this every time, but I think it's important. Please do review and tell me what you think!
I have almost hit 50K! My target is 100K, so that'll be the halfway mark.
I'll update soon!
Tha Master
