Chapter Eleven
They finally landed on a sandy shore and started unloading, grabbing their packs, and dragging the rowboat ashore, dumping the water out of it, and leaving it along the tree line. They were fortunate to avoid any mishaps in the little old rowboat. It was rickety and had started to leak, leaving a small puddle at the bottom of the boat. The boys had all studiously avoided the water in the bottom and Akane kept her feet up as well, avoiding getting her socks and shoes wet.
"Doesn't look like an island full of raving monsters." Mousse said, adjusting his glasses as he took in the sandy shore and thick forest.
Ranma dug in his bag and pulled out a map, studying it carefully. "Looks like there should be a meadow through the forest where the flowers grow."
Ryoga cracked his knuckles and stood in a threatening manner. "Let's go get that flower." Akane and Mousse's eyes shone in admiration while Ranma rolled his eyes.
"Com'mon." Ranma murmured, leading the way through the thick forest. Akane fell into line behind him and looked over her shoulder to see Ryoga scrambling to follow behind her and Mousse hurrying to follow Ryoga.
As they hiked through the forest and its thick underbrush, the only thing they were assaulted by was the mosquitos. Everyone was constantly swatting the annoying insects, grumbling their displeasure. "Hold on…" Mousse grumbled, digging through his sleeves, and dislodging piles of weapons, a training potty and miscellaneous baubles. "Ah-ha!" He held up a small aerosol can with Chinese characters on the side. "Bug spray!" He sprayed himself and immediately started choking and coughing. "Mace!" he gasped in between racking coughs and gasping breaths.
Ranma face palmed his forehead with a hard slap. "Just leave your glasses on! I dunno why you keep takin' 'em off!"
Mousse tripped and faceplanted in a puddle of mud and after a few bubbles surfaced from the mud, Mousse slowly lifted his face and breathed deeply. "Actually… that helps with the burning." He sat up wiping mud from his face. He pulled his glasses on and continued rummaging in his sleeves until he brought out a near identical can from the first. "Here it is! Ryoga, do you want some bug spray?"
Ryoga brought up his hands and tried desperately to wave him off. "No! It's fine! I'll just deal with the bugs!"
Mousse stood and offered the can to Akane. "Uhhh…" she stammered, taking a step backwards away from him.
Ranma slapped the can out of Mousse's hand. "We're not riskin' ya macin' anyone else."
A branch snapped nearby and some of the underbrush rustled ominously. The four martial artists attention snapped to the source of the noise.
"What was that?" Akane asked softly, hands curled into fists and raised at the ready.
"Maybe it's one of those monster boars." Mousse said sarcastically.
"Let's keep goin' but stay alert. Akane, stay close ta me." Ranma said, senses heightened and eyes scanning the dim forest. Akane nodded and shuffled closer as they continued their hike and stayed vigilant. A few minutes of hiking had proved uneventful until they saw a small clearing ahead and another rustling behind him. Spurred on by the ominous sounds, they hurried into the clearing and spun to face where the sounds had been coming from.
A large boar, as big as the largest boar Ryoga had encountered during his aimless wandering, came charging from the underbrush, snorting and snarling, long white tusks primed for violence, barreling right for their small group. Feeling confident in his previous encounters with similar boars, Ryoga stepped forward and brandished his umbrella. Akane and Mousse looked on, once again in awe, while Ranma crossed his arms and glared at Ryoga.
Just as the boar got within range, Ryoga caught the boar in the snout with the end of his umbrella and easily tossed it into the air, soaring and squealing as it sailed out of sight over the trees. Ryoga replaced his umbrella on the top of his pack before causally dusting off his hands and turning to face the group with a superior smirk. "That wasn't so bad." He said with a casual shrug. "I guess those boars aren't as big and monstrous as they were made out to be." He said with a grin but that's when they heard a monstrous squealing shriek that shook the trees and sent birds flying to safety.
The four martial artists exchanged horrified looks as the ground began to shake, and trees were torn out of the ground in the wake of a horrifying wild boar the size of a double-decker bus, at least five times bigger than the boar Ryoga had tossed, burst into the clearing. "I think what you threw was her baby…" Akane said in a shaking voice.
All color drained from Ryoga's face as the mother boar spotted the offending group and renewed her charge.
"RUN!" Ranma shouted as Mousse took off to the left and Ryoga stayed frozen before Ranma shoved him in the direction they had come from and then snatched Akane's hand and ran for all he was worth to the right, dragging Akane along behind him. When they reached the edge of the clearing, they turned to see that mother boar had followed Ryoga and the bandana'd boy was once again brandishing his umbrella and braced for the clash of the monstrous boar. They met, umbrella to snout, her long tusks jutting past either side of Ryoga's head as he strained to keep the massive boar at bay.
"A little… help!" Ryoga grunted as his feet slid in the dirt a few inches, his significant muscles straining. Ryoga was ridiculously strong, but it seemed he had finally met his match in this monstrous, angry boar.
Ranma turned to warn Akane to stay out of the way, but she was already sprinting ahead, running directly at the monster boar with all her might. "Damnit!" Ranma cursed as he raced after her. He surpassed her and raced forward, landing a heavy blow to the boar's bristly side. Ranma turned his attention to the boar's face, but she seemed unfazed from the blow. Akane then landed her own gorilla-strength blow to the mother boar's side, but once again, she seemed to be unbothered by their blows.
From the other direction, Mousse sent a slew of projectile weapons, but the tough hide of the wild boar made his weapons bounce off harmlessly. "We might have a problem here…" Mousse called over the boar to Akane and Ranma.
"Now what?" Akane turned to Ranma, concern written all over her face.
"Maybe if we combine our strength, we can make an impact." He leapt up on the boar's broad back and held out a hand to help steady Akane after she made her leap. Ranma gestured for Mousse to join them, Ryoga's strained grunts carrying up to them. "On three, we hit it in the head. One, two, THREE!" Ranma hollered as the three of them lunged, each landing a solid blow to the top of her thick skull. The boar stumbled and began to fall to the side. Akane felt strong arms wrap around her waist and then she was flying through the air, landing well clear of the massive mother boar as she fell to the ground with an earth shuddering thud. Mousse had jumped clear and Ryoga had to duck to avoid her dangerous tusks as she went down.
The four martial artists regrouped and faced the boar as she took a deep, shuddering breath and started to slowly rise. "One more time!" Ranma hollered and the group began charging, just as the boar gained her feet and shook her head, trying to clear the dizziness. Mousse, Ryoga, Ranma and Akane all let out a battle cry as they met the boars head once again with four simultaneous blows. The boar was struck so hard, she was thrown back onto her hind legs with an earsplitting squeal, stumbled a step before crashing backwards and finally remaining still.
Akane shook out her hand. Sure she was used to breaking bricks, but somehow this boars head had been even harder.
"So…" Mousse said, panting a little. "That was the infamous Inoshishi Island Monster Boar."
"What gave ya that idea?" Ranma asked sarcastically as his eyes scanned the clearing again.
Before anyone could retort, the sound of thunderous hooves and trees crashing rang throughout the clearing.
"Ran-ma…" Akanes voice quavered, and her eyes grew large as dark shapes started to take form the closer they got, and the four martial artists were faced with at least six more boars, crashing their way towards them, snorting in anger.
Ranma grabbed Akane roughly by the hand and ran full out once again, weaving between trees, Ryoga and Mousse following close behind. Ranma tried to veer towards where the meadow lay, but his main concern was the small pack of gigantic, blood thirsty boars chasing them. The teenagers weaved through the trees swiftly, while the boars had no problem crashing through them, but the thick density of forest did slow them down a bit and gave the four martial artists a good head start.
Once the boars weren't directly in line-of-sight Ranma changed his grip from Akane's wrist to her waist and jumped high into one of the trees and swiftly began hopping from branch to branch and veering sharply out of the path of the ensuing destruction. Mousse used one of his many chains to pull himself up into the branches and follow after Akane and Ranma and Ryoga bounded from lower branches and made his way up to their level to also join their treetop run.
They had run far off course and below, the boars continued crashing through the forest behind them, headed in the same direction as before, not knowing their targets had eluded them. They paused and Ranma set Akane on her feet, but keeping an arm wrapped around her (with her luck, she would probably plummet to her doom) as Ryoga, and Mousse stopped on nearby branches and caught their breath.
"That was close." Ryoga said, wiping her brow with his sleeve.
"If you hadn't thrown the baby…" Mousse started in frustration, but a breeze blew through the tops of the trees and the scent of Ryoga's perspiration had Mousse changing his tune and had captured Akane's rapt attention. "I wouldn't have had the opportunity to see such a display of manliness!" Mousse said, attempting to jump to Ryoga's branch but the fanged boy's fist met the duck boy's face and he fell a few branches before finally catching himself again.
Ryoga could feel the burn of Akane's eyes and with a blush he turned shyly towards her. "Are you okay Akane?"
Akane's breathing hitched and she tucked her hair behind her ear, meeting his eyes with a light blush. "I'm okay Ryoga." Ranma cleared his throat, and she could feel the hand around her waist tighten as she was lightly tugged back into him, her back pressed against his warm chest. Her blush darkened as she stammered over her words, missing the heated glare Ryoga and Ranma were exchanging. "Thanks to-to Ranma that is…"
Akane chanced a peak up at Ranma and he quickly cut off his glare to give her a confident smirk. She could feel her cheeks burn as she averted her gaze again, but the smile stayed on her face. "Which direction is the meadow?" She asked, trying to stay focused as the love spell and hormones swamped her.
With his free hand, Ranma fished the map from his pack and held it out. "Well… uhh…"
"Are we lost?!" Ryoga accused, darting forward to snatch the map and stare at it.
Ranma snatched it back. "It's not like you could read this anyway." He looked at the map and then at his surroundings. "I'm pretty sure it's this way." Ranma said gesturing off in the distance with the map.
"Pretty sure?" Mousse asked with skepticism as he had finally found his perch again and was adjusting his glasses.
Ranma tucked the map away again and gave Mousse a smirk. "We could always send ya off to scout the way, duck boy." Ranma said flippantly.
Mousse adjusted his glasses. "That way, you said?" He asked, tone much more agreeable, pointing in the same direction that Ranma had. Akane chuckled quietly, catching Ryoga's attention.
"I could always carry you Akane." He said tentatively; Ranma let out a snort of laughter. "I bet Ranma is pretty tired by now." He added in a hard tone, challenging Ranma.
In response, Ranma scooped Akane off her feet, holding her cradled to his chest as she let out a startled cry, arms automatically locking around his neck. "Nah, not tired. Try to keep up." He winked at Ryoga's angry face as he quickly took off, bounding from branch to branch.
Sure enough, Ranma was right, and they paused on the edge of a meadow, still high in the trees, waiting for Mousse and Ryoga to catch up and they all stared down at a beautiful meadow full of wildflowers of reds, pinks, oranges, blues and in the distance a patch of purple flowers that had to be the purple hyacinth they were here for. There was only one problem. Or rather, probably another six or seven gigantic problems. It seemed that this is where the boars of Inoshishi Island liked to graze and sleep in the bright sunshine. There were only two boars that stood between them and the flowers they needed, the rest were further in the distance and so long as they didn't draw their attention, they should stay there.
One of the boars that lay in their way was sleeping on its side and the other was grazing, facing away from the flowers. They could probably sneak around without drawing too much attention…
"I can tunnel us in using my Bakusai Tenketsu!" Ryoga piped up.
Ranma face palmed before turning to Ryoga, barely concealing his frustration. "That'll definitely get their attention. We're tryin' ta sneak in, not piss off a bunch a monster boars. That didn't work out so well last time. Look, this is all Ryoga's fault," Ranma said, punching the bandanaed boy in the arm and continued. "so he's gonna go get the flower and I'm gonna go with him ta make sure he doesn't mess it up."
"What if they spot you? You'll need some kind of diversion." Akane worried, looking between Ryoga and Ranma.
"Well, Mousse has got some of his bombs, right? He can just chuck a few away from us and we'll run while they're distracted." Akane looked to Mousse who nodded solemnly, accepting his role.
"But I want to help-" Akane was cut off by Ranma turning and placing both hands on her waist and searching her eyes intently.
"You are helping. You're part of the backup plan in case somethin' happens, which it won't," he added quickly with a cock sure grin. "I just don't wanna be worrin' about you while I'm tryin' to get this stupid flower and keep lunk head out of trouble." Akane chuckled softly. His grip on her waist tightened as he lightly hopped to the branch Mousse was standing on and set Akane down near the trunk, so she had something to hold onto to aid her balance. "Be right back." He said with a wink and jumped gracefully to the ground below.
Akane and Mousse watched avidly as Ryoga and Ranma crept through the tall grass, staying low and quiet as they gave the sleeping boar a wide breadth and stayed out of sight of the other boar that was quietly grazing nearby. They had made it to the patch of purple flowers and Ranma plucked one, examining it closely and comparing it to the sketch on the scroll before slipping it into his bag. They turned to leave and on second thought, Ranma plucked one more, just in case. He couldn't imagine coming back if something happened to the first flower.
They started to make their way back, carefully crawling through the grass back to where Mousse and Akane were waiting for them. As they were passing behind the sleeping boar, it shifted in its sleep, kicking up dust. Ranma felt his eyes water and his nose tingle, but the worst was hearing Ryoga sneeze as it echoed across the quiet meadow. The two boys looked to the sleeping boar as it startled awake, and its beady eyes focused on them.
"Crap." Ranma muttered, jumping to his feet, and running past Ryoga as he too scrambled to his feet.
"Mousse!" Ryoga hollered as he ran full tilt back to the relative safety of the tree line as more of the boars joined the chase.
There was a glint from the trees as sun reflected off of Mousse's glasses and shortly after, explosions started going off behind the boars, startling the charging beasts and causing general mass chaos as the boars turned to defend themselves or flee from the explosions, allowing the two fleeing martial artists to escape into the forest.
After a long escape of branch hopping back through the trees, Ranma once again carrying Akane, the four of them finally made it to the sandy shore, spotting their rowboat down a way. They ran to it and got it in the water, not willing to dawdle any longer for fear of coming up against anymore wild boars. Only once they were out on the water did Ranma reveal his treasure. In his pack, amongst the map, scroll and other necessities lay two well preserved purple hyacinth flowers.
Akane carefully reached inside and pulled out one of the flowers. "First ingredient for the cure." Her eyes darted to Ryoga, and a mix of adoration and anger passed across her features before she carefully averted her gaze and lowered the flower back into Ranma's pack. Mousse's hands tightened on the oars for a moment before he passed them to Ryoga, his silent punishment was to row back again, once more frequently correcting his path towards land. Once they landed at the dock, they unloaded and brought the oars back to Kounjai's father.
The sun darkened, crusty sailor looked down at the four bedraggled teenagers, eyebrows raised in surprise. "Didn' 'xpect ya back so soon. Git what ya were lookin' for?"
Ranma gave the man a cocky grin as he adjusted the strap of his pack on his shoulder. "Sure did."
The sailor gave them another appraising look before nodding. "Good luck on the res' o' yer journey." He said and Akane waved as they left the dock to go set up camp outside of town as the sun began to set. Tomorrow, they would set out in search of the root of the Hydrilla plant from the Kurokadairu Swamp.
Sarahplainntall here! Thanks for your patience (I'm ALMOST to Vet Nursing School graduation! Phew!) I know I'm not the timeliest updater. As always, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and I would like to give a personal thank you to all that have commented. Flame raven, I love the Diplomacy reference, it tickled my inner D&D nerd. Unfortunately/fortunately no transformations yet. They are sadly lacking at this point in time and overdue, as you will seen soon. Also, sorry, I'm kind of pretending Akari and Katsunishiki don't exist until Ryoga is completely and finally dissuaded. Thanks Nikichan for the good vibes. Sweetpeaxx, Ranma can have a sweet side, it just usually has to be dragged out of him, kicking and screaming, or in desperation of not losing Akane. *shrug* Either way… I LOVE that I got a shoutout from a guest in Russia! So, thanks google translate… James Birdsong, thank you and I'm glad you're enjoying and sticking with it so far. CuteClau, thank you so much for sharing. I'm glad my story is relatable and has touched you personally. Hang in there, as for Akane… things should work out well in the end.