Ryoga flipped around in the air and reached out with his right hand.
Slowly, his palm touched the stony ground but his spread fingers weren't
able to get a hold on the slippery rocks and due to the inertia of his body
his hand slid off the edge. With a cry of frustration the man finally
started to fall freely from the cliff and was swallowed by the fog that
surrounds the whole cursed area of Jusenkyo.
And all that happened in less than one second …
= = = = = =
Lost in Insertion
Chapter One – Of Curses …
A Fanfic by Lone Demon
Special thanks to: Everyone who reviews this
Oh, and my new beta-reader! Final-Fan! (Hey, at least some applause would be appropriate! Come on, guys!)
Disclaimer: The Usual Suspects don't belong to me but some other people with their names
lost in history.
= = = = = =
Part 1 – Changes
Slowly the giant turtle Great-A-Tuin drifted through space and time with a destination only it knew. (Great-A-Tuin is referred as "it" – many scientist and magicians are on the topic but no one has been able to figure its gender out yet) It slowly turned its head to the right for it had the strange impression of hearing a sound from very far away … the sound reminded the giant turtle of something but it couldn't exactly place the thought.
"Bwaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh!"
Great-A-Tuin could feel that the source was slowly approaching but its eyes still were not good enough to make out the incredibly small humanoid shape which was located some thousand miles away but thanks to the unique laws of physics of this universe the cry was still easily understandable.
The giant turtle blinked as the small creature crossed its path only a few meters away from its head and … stopped. The result of this was chaos on the disk which was carried by four elephants who were, of course, carried on the back of Great-A-Tuin.
"Wazzat?"
"Buy some sausages! Enjoy Dibbler's sausages one last time before the disk falls apart!"
Rincewind simply ran for it.
The tiny spot which was on its unstoppable way right through the continuum of the discworld™ began to shriek even louder as its speed still increased. The strange sparkles which started to form around it were below its notice … their colour was somehow unusual, if it would exist in our universe it would probably be called octarine.
These sparkles began to multiply with every second and slowly formed some kind of shield over that spot, which, as one might already have guessed, was Michael.
It seemed to emerge from the bare skin of the youth and gently wrapped itself around his body much like a shelter. The fact that the boy was naked shouldn't really be important to anyone since except for Great-A-Tuin no one was able to view the spectacle.
All of a sudden the octarine light started to glow more and more intensely and seemed to consume the shape of the boy completely.
Slowly the strings of reality were torn apart and the light vanished with an awkward sound that somehow resembled the flushing of a toilet…
= = = = = =
A loud scream echoed throughout the whole area of Jusenkyo, as the one known by some as The Eternal Lost Boy sailed directly in the direction of the "Heitonnichuan" – the Spring of Drowned Black Piglet …
A loud scream echoed throughout the whole space and time continuum as the one known by the name of Michael sailed directly in the direction of the universe that had created some of the weirdest creatures that ever existed …
= = = = = = =
A cold sensation tickled on Ryoga's skin as he was suddenly surrounded by water. In a desperate attempt to fill his lungs with fresh air he opened his mouth and was promptly rewarded with a mouthful of water. His reaction was panic – he struggled and gulped down even more water but wasn't able to get any closer to the surface.
His eyes widened as he felt something … strange.
The cold feeling of the water seemed to vanish, only to be replaced by something completely … different.
The struggling grew even more intense as Ryoga's body started to change …
= = = = = =
China, the Mt. Quanjin region, Bayankala Range, Qinghai Province. The legendary cursed training-grounds of Jusenkyo, setting of a great number of tragic, very tragic legends, witness of hundreds of tragic deaths.
It is still a mystery to society how the springs of Jusenkyo turn every thing that falls into one of them into the creature which had drowned in it before. And this isn't the only strange thing about Jusenkyo – the magical springs here seem to somehow raise the possibility of drowning in them for the rate of drowning in the Qinghai Province is higher than anywhere else in the world. Due to this, the spectrum of Jusenkyo-curses is widespread. There are springs of drowned lemmings, and butterflies; there even is a Spring of Drowned Fanfic-Author!
Lo, the amazing power of Jusenkyo! Behold the magical effects of the springs striking fear in the human hearts!
= = = = = =
The deceptive peace of the springs was only disturbed by the sudden, shrill squeaking that came from one of the outer springs.
At first, there were only small bubbles on the water's surface but soon the small shape of an animal appeared right behind them. It was a tiny, black pig – no, more a piglet. It seemed to have lost consciousness and, due to one of the unspoken rules of story writing, was slowly advancing towards the edge of the pool …
Genma Saotome, currently in his cursed form of the panda, looked at the small black thing that was lying directly beneath one of the springs and quickly decided that he should save this small, poor thing from dying out there. It would surely feel much better knowing that it would serve the purpose of feeding a proud, righteous martial artist instead of simply dying out in the wilderness; thus the panda took the black piglet and walked happily humming to himself back to the small house of the Jusenkyo Guide – perhaps they could cook it there. If a panda would be capable of smirking, Genma would do it now – his son was away for a short time and so he would have the pleasure of having the animal all for himself.
= = = = = =
As Genma finally arrived at the small house, he quickly entered and showed his precious find to the guide who was at the moment sitting at a wooden table – he looked up at his honoured guest and immediately noticed Genma's prey.
"Oh, sir! That one delicious piglet you find," he slowly leapt up while saying this, "Good, good. I make Cantonese sweet 'n' sour pork for you!"
The poor piglet still hadn't regained consciousness and perhaps it was best this way.
The guide whetted his meat chopper quickly while chatting with his cursed guest: "Here in Jusenkyo there spring called "Eitonnichuan"." He turned around a second to take a glimpse at the panda who was igniting the fire in the small brick-kiln. A smile formed on his lips as he raised his head a little – the pig had been tied up above the oven … he looked again at his chopper and continued his talk: "Black piglet once tragically drown there 1200 years ago! Now whatever fall in cursed spring take body of black piglet!"
Suddenly the subject of his talking appeared in his right hand and the guide examined the small animal with the yellow bandana around his neck once more. "Maybe this one human what fall "Eitonnichuan", no?"
Genma looked at him with a sudden surprise. Could it be that the guide was implying something?
As the Chinese man started to laugh Genma quickly threw that thought away. "You hear? I make joke!"
Both – the man and the panda – laughed, or made the equivalent of laughter in Genma's case as the guide held his victim above the oven and … let the piglet fall down into the boiling water.
Part 2 – Awakening
"…"
Ryoga slowly opened his eyes "… where am I?" he muttered softly brushing the hair hanging over his eyes away in a fluent move of his fingers. He paused.
"Black?"
His eyes widened.
"Since when is my hair black?" he stammered, looking at the strands of hair.
"Aiya! You is awake!" shouted someone happily, but Ryoga was able neither to spot the speaker nor to recognize the voice. But … that had been neither German nor English. But he had understood it? What the hell was happening here?
The face of a middle aged Asian appeared before him – most likely he was Chinese, but Ryoga couldn't really tell the difference to other people like Japanese or Thai just by looking. But … the green cap with the communism- symbol on it together with the corpulent appearance of the face somehow awakened memories in him.
"G … guide?" he muttered softly – he wasn't able to talk much louder than that at the moment because of the terrible headache that was nearly driving him crazy.
"That right. I am Jusenkyo-Guide. Guardian of legendary, cursed springs." The man agreed … and while he talked Ryoga finally recognized the language – it was Japanese, or rather a cruel approximation of that language.
He wanted to talk, but wasn't really sure if the Chinese man would understand his English. His eyes focused on the guide as he finally began to speak:
"Ore wa-" he stopped immediately. What the hell had he just said? Japanese words. Had he really talked – and understood – Japanese?! Kind of strange but … nevertheless pretty neat. He always had wanted to learn that language.
= = = = = =
Author's Note:
From now on the standard language is Japanese, so it won't be mentioned again unless someone is using another language and then switching back.
Also, I'll use the original Japanese voices for known characters – so please don't ask why I describe e.g. Ryoga's voice as deep.
= = = = = =
"I am … " he continued again but stopped as he felt the terrible soreness in his mouth and instead asked for water.
"I go get some." Replied the man and left for the kitchen.
As the guide left Ryoga sat up.
"Let's see …" he summarized in his head, "I can speak Japanese, I have black hair and had a talk with the … hey, wait a sec'. That's not possible. How the hell can I talk with a manga-figure?"
He touched his forehead in confusion but immediately pulled his hand away as a sudden pain flooded through his skin. He gave a small gasp of surprise as he gazed on his hand, which, to his terror, was full of blisters and pretty reddened. Slowly a terrible suspicion grew in his mind …
"Me back, honoured guest!"
The Jusenkyo Guide appeared again in the doorframe with two bowls in his hands: the first was filled with water; the other one was full of steaming rice.
With a thankful nod Ryoga accepted the bowls and took a sip of the water.
"What had happened?" he wondered.
"You fall in Spring of Drowned Piglet, sir! Everyone who fall in spring take body of black piglet," the guide explained, "but no need worry, curse is reversed when hit with hot water … but … if hit with cold water turn piglet again."
The Lost Boy rolled with his eyes and sourly commented to himself: "Great. A Jusenkyo curse… " He seemed to collect a few thoughts before continuing. "PIGLET???" he finally asked aloud and Ryoga was even more shocked as he looked in the direction of the water-bowl only to see his own image in there. And … that wasn't really the image he would be expecting normally.
"I … remember now." He said in a sunken, monotonous voice. He turned his gaze towards the guide, then.
"Why am I burned all over? Did you try to cook me or something?!" he asked with a slight hint of anger in his voice.
The guide swallowed bitterly. "Yes, honoured guest." He answered while sinking his head in shame.
Ryoga's hand clutched angrily at the blanket underneath him; the guide trembled in fear of his possibly enraged guest.
"Well, how long have I been asleep?" Ryoga suddenly continued, without any aggressive behaviour or even anger in his voice.
"You here since five days ago, I already wondering why staying unconscious so long."
"I see." the boy answered and turned his attention to the bowl full of rice – no wonder he had had that urge of taking that rice and gulping it down within 5 seconds all along.
"If want more, just tell. I have plenty." the guide offered hesitantly while watching the boy hoovering down the food. Actually, he already had regrets for making that offer.
= = = = = =
Well, that was the first chapter … beware – in the next one Ryoga will have to face the dangers of life in China! And the first fight! Ryoga versus the mighty Amazon!
Oh, and did I already mention that he is going to have some serious identity problems? No? BWAHAHAHAHA!
Next time:
Chapter 2: One Body – One Mind?
And all that happened in less than one second …
= = = = = =
Lost in Insertion
Chapter One – Of Curses …
A Fanfic by Lone Demon
Special thanks to: Everyone who reviews this
Oh, and my new beta-reader! Final-Fan! (Hey, at least some applause would be appropriate! Come on, guys!)
Disclaimer: The Usual Suspects don't belong to me but some other people with their names
lost in history.
= = = = = =
Part 1 – Changes
Slowly the giant turtle Great-A-Tuin drifted through space and time with a destination only it knew. (Great-A-Tuin is referred as "it" – many scientist and magicians are on the topic but no one has been able to figure its gender out yet) It slowly turned its head to the right for it had the strange impression of hearing a sound from very far away … the sound reminded the giant turtle of something but it couldn't exactly place the thought.
"Bwaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh!"
Great-A-Tuin could feel that the source was slowly approaching but its eyes still were not good enough to make out the incredibly small humanoid shape which was located some thousand miles away but thanks to the unique laws of physics of this universe the cry was still easily understandable.
The giant turtle blinked as the small creature crossed its path only a few meters away from its head and … stopped. The result of this was chaos on the disk which was carried by four elephants who were, of course, carried on the back of Great-A-Tuin.
"Wazzat?"
"Buy some sausages! Enjoy Dibbler's sausages one last time before the disk falls apart!"
Rincewind simply ran for it.
The tiny spot which was on its unstoppable way right through the continuum of the discworld™ began to shriek even louder as its speed still increased. The strange sparkles which started to form around it were below its notice … their colour was somehow unusual, if it would exist in our universe it would probably be called octarine.
These sparkles began to multiply with every second and slowly formed some kind of shield over that spot, which, as one might already have guessed, was Michael.
It seemed to emerge from the bare skin of the youth and gently wrapped itself around his body much like a shelter. The fact that the boy was naked shouldn't really be important to anyone since except for Great-A-Tuin no one was able to view the spectacle.
All of a sudden the octarine light started to glow more and more intensely and seemed to consume the shape of the boy completely.
Slowly the strings of reality were torn apart and the light vanished with an awkward sound that somehow resembled the flushing of a toilet…
= = = = = =
A loud scream echoed throughout the whole area of Jusenkyo, as the one known by some as The Eternal Lost Boy sailed directly in the direction of the "Heitonnichuan" – the Spring of Drowned Black Piglet …
A loud scream echoed throughout the whole space and time continuum as the one known by the name of Michael sailed directly in the direction of the universe that had created some of the weirdest creatures that ever existed …
= = = = = = =
A cold sensation tickled on Ryoga's skin as he was suddenly surrounded by water. In a desperate attempt to fill his lungs with fresh air he opened his mouth and was promptly rewarded with a mouthful of water. His reaction was panic – he struggled and gulped down even more water but wasn't able to get any closer to the surface.
His eyes widened as he felt something … strange.
The cold feeling of the water seemed to vanish, only to be replaced by something completely … different.
The struggling grew even more intense as Ryoga's body started to change …
= = = = = =
China, the Mt. Quanjin region, Bayankala Range, Qinghai Province. The legendary cursed training-grounds of Jusenkyo, setting of a great number of tragic, very tragic legends, witness of hundreds of tragic deaths.
It is still a mystery to society how the springs of Jusenkyo turn every thing that falls into one of them into the creature which had drowned in it before. And this isn't the only strange thing about Jusenkyo – the magical springs here seem to somehow raise the possibility of drowning in them for the rate of drowning in the Qinghai Province is higher than anywhere else in the world. Due to this, the spectrum of Jusenkyo-curses is widespread. There are springs of drowned lemmings, and butterflies; there even is a Spring of Drowned Fanfic-Author!
Lo, the amazing power of Jusenkyo! Behold the magical effects of the springs striking fear in the human hearts!
= = = = = =
The deceptive peace of the springs was only disturbed by the sudden, shrill squeaking that came from one of the outer springs.
At first, there were only small bubbles on the water's surface but soon the small shape of an animal appeared right behind them. It was a tiny, black pig – no, more a piglet. It seemed to have lost consciousness and, due to one of the unspoken rules of story writing, was slowly advancing towards the edge of the pool …
Genma Saotome, currently in his cursed form of the panda, looked at the small black thing that was lying directly beneath one of the springs and quickly decided that he should save this small, poor thing from dying out there. It would surely feel much better knowing that it would serve the purpose of feeding a proud, righteous martial artist instead of simply dying out in the wilderness; thus the panda took the black piglet and walked happily humming to himself back to the small house of the Jusenkyo Guide – perhaps they could cook it there. If a panda would be capable of smirking, Genma would do it now – his son was away for a short time and so he would have the pleasure of having the animal all for himself.
= = = = = =
As Genma finally arrived at the small house, he quickly entered and showed his precious find to the guide who was at the moment sitting at a wooden table – he looked up at his honoured guest and immediately noticed Genma's prey.
"Oh, sir! That one delicious piglet you find," he slowly leapt up while saying this, "Good, good. I make Cantonese sweet 'n' sour pork for you!"
The poor piglet still hadn't regained consciousness and perhaps it was best this way.
The guide whetted his meat chopper quickly while chatting with his cursed guest: "Here in Jusenkyo there spring called "Eitonnichuan"." He turned around a second to take a glimpse at the panda who was igniting the fire in the small brick-kiln. A smile formed on his lips as he raised his head a little – the pig had been tied up above the oven … he looked again at his chopper and continued his talk: "Black piglet once tragically drown there 1200 years ago! Now whatever fall in cursed spring take body of black piglet!"
Suddenly the subject of his talking appeared in his right hand and the guide examined the small animal with the yellow bandana around his neck once more. "Maybe this one human what fall "Eitonnichuan", no?"
Genma looked at him with a sudden surprise. Could it be that the guide was implying something?
As the Chinese man started to laugh Genma quickly threw that thought away. "You hear? I make joke!"
Both – the man and the panda – laughed, or made the equivalent of laughter in Genma's case as the guide held his victim above the oven and … let the piglet fall down into the boiling water.
Part 2 – Awakening
"…"
Ryoga slowly opened his eyes "… where am I?" he muttered softly brushing the hair hanging over his eyes away in a fluent move of his fingers. He paused.
"Black?"
His eyes widened.
"Since when is my hair black?" he stammered, looking at the strands of hair.
"Aiya! You is awake!" shouted someone happily, but Ryoga was able neither to spot the speaker nor to recognize the voice. But … that had been neither German nor English. But he had understood it? What the hell was happening here?
The face of a middle aged Asian appeared before him – most likely he was Chinese, but Ryoga couldn't really tell the difference to other people like Japanese or Thai just by looking. But … the green cap with the communism- symbol on it together with the corpulent appearance of the face somehow awakened memories in him.
"G … guide?" he muttered softly – he wasn't able to talk much louder than that at the moment because of the terrible headache that was nearly driving him crazy.
"That right. I am Jusenkyo-Guide. Guardian of legendary, cursed springs." The man agreed … and while he talked Ryoga finally recognized the language – it was Japanese, or rather a cruel approximation of that language.
He wanted to talk, but wasn't really sure if the Chinese man would understand his English. His eyes focused on the guide as he finally began to speak:
"Ore wa-" he stopped immediately. What the hell had he just said? Japanese words. Had he really talked – and understood – Japanese?! Kind of strange but … nevertheless pretty neat. He always had wanted to learn that language.
= = = = = =
Author's Note:
From now on the standard language is Japanese, so it won't be mentioned again unless someone is using another language and then switching back.
Also, I'll use the original Japanese voices for known characters – so please don't ask why I describe e.g. Ryoga's voice as deep.
= = = = = =
"I am … " he continued again but stopped as he felt the terrible soreness in his mouth and instead asked for water.
"I go get some." Replied the man and left for the kitchen.
As the guide left Ryoga sat up.
"Let's see …" he summarized in his head, "I can speak Japanese, I have black hair and had a talk with the … hey, wait a sec'. That's not possible. How the hell can I talk with a manga-figure?"
He touched his forehead in confusion but immediately pulled his hand away as a sudden pain flooded through his skin. He gave a small gasp of surprise as he gazed on his hand, which, to his terror, was full of blisters and pretty reddened. Slowly a terrible suspicion grew in his mind …
"Me back, honoured guest!"
The Jusenkyo Guide appeared again in the doorframe with two bowls in his hands: the first was filled with water; the other one was full of steaming rice.
With a thankful nod Ryoga accepted the bowls and took a sip of the water.
"What had happened?" he wondered.
"You fall in Spring of Drowned Piglet, sir! Everyone who fall in spring take body of black piglet," the guide explained, "but no need worry, curse is reversed when hit with hot water … but … if hit with cold water turn piglet again."
The Lost Boy rolled with his eyes and sourly commented to himself: "Great. A Jusenkyo curse… " He seemed to collect a few thoughts before continuing. "PIGLET???" he finally asked aloud and Ryoga was even more shocked as he looked in the direction of the water-bowl only to see his own image in there. And … that wasn't really the image he would be expecting normally.
"I … remember now." He said in a sunken, monotonous voice. He turned his gaze towards the guide, then.
"Why am I burned all over? Did you try to cook me or something?!" he asked with a slight hint of anger in his voice.
The guide swallowed bitterly. "Yes, honoured guest." He answered while sinking his head in shame.
Ryoga's hand clutched angrily at the blanket underneath him; the guide trembled in fear of his possibly enraged guest.
"Well, how long have I been asleep?" Ryoga suddenly continued, without any aggressive behaviour or even anger in his voice.
"You here since five days ago, I already wondering why staying unconscious so long."
"I see." the boy answered and turned his attention to the bowl full of rice – no wonder he had had that urge of taking that rice and gulping it down within 5 seconds all along.
"If want more, just tell. I have plenty." the guide offered hesitantly while watching the boy hoovering down the food. Actually, he already had regrets for making that offer.
= = = = = =
Well, that was the first chapter … beware – in the next one Ryoga will have to face the dangers of life in China! And the first fight! Ryoga versus the mighty Amazon!
Oh, and did I already mention that he is going to have some serious identity problems? No? BWAHAHAHAHA!
Next time:
Chapter 2: One Body – One Mind?