Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters. I'm poor. Leave me alone.
Note: Since FFnet won't let us use the normal scene breaks, I will be using random letters.
FOREST OF THE GODS
Chapter 4 – The forest
Ranma and Yakurru were walking towards the forest in the distance when they heard a booming sound.
"Is that thunder?" He asks Yakurru as he looks around, "I don't see any clouds."
He shrugged as they started walking again.
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Ranma was crossing a river at the bottom of a ravine when he found two wounded men.
"He's still breathing" Ranma said as he gathered the men in a small clearing near Yakurru. "Hold on."
Ranma's senses then tell him that someone or something was approaching their location so he took cover and watched from behind some bushes. He saw a huge white wolf on the other side of the river. A girl was attending to the wolf's wound by sucking out the blood. He shouted out to them as two more wolves came out of the forest.
"My name is Ranma. I came here from faraway lands. Are you the gods I have heard inhabit the forest of the Shishi-gami?"
The girl gave him a cold stare as the wolves started to head back into the forest. Just before she entered the brush, she looked back to him.
"Leave!!" is all she said to him as she headed into the forest.
"Yakurru, the large wolf looked injured. I'm going to see if I can help, stay here and watch these two." The Elk nodded and watched as Ranma leapt over the river and ran into the forest. 'I can't believe I haven't changed yet.'
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
The wolves and the girl stop as Ranma caught up to them in the forest.
"Please, I mean you no harm." He says as he spreads his arms with his palms facing the group. "I noticed you were injured, I want to help."
"Yeah right human." The girl said in disdain. "You only want to help the wound kill her!"
"No, please! I'm a traveling martial artist and have dealt with bullet wounds before on my oyaji. You are gods of the forest are you not? You should know of auras and ki. Read my aura and you'll see that I'm telling you the truth."
The largest wolf then approached him.
"You smell different than other humans, more like the forest. Very well, but know this, if your aura reads that you are lying I will bite your head off." She said as she closed her eyes.
As she opened her eyes they were glowing softly. She gazed at the young man in front of her for a few moments before her gaze softened and she closed her eyes again. When she opened them the glow was gone, but she looked fondly at Ranma.
"Very well boy, I see that you are pure of heart. You have also been through so much at such a young age, you will have to tell us about it sometime." She then looked towards her companions. "Let him do his work, do not harm him."
"Mother you mustn't trust him, he's a human!"
"Quiet San! I have looked into his very soul and see that he is one to be trusted. He is not like the other humans."
San, as the girl was now known, looked back with shock before she walked to the other side of the clearing while grumbling about "stinking humans."
'So her name is San.' Ranma thought to himself. "Thank you for your confidence. My name is Ranma, Saotome Ranma." He said with a bow.
"And I am Moro of the wolf tribe and these are my cubs."
"Pleasure to meet you. May I?" he asked pointing to the wound.
Moro then nodded and lay down on her side. So he could reach it easier. As he parted the fur he could see the wound clearly, and could tell that it was a deep wound. He then placed his hand on the wound and used his ki to sense how far the bullet is and what it is made of.
"Hmmm, this is a crudely made bullet, more of a large pellet that is made mostly of iron. If I make a small incision to expand the wound slightly I could use a trick I've been working on to control my opponents weapons. I use my ki to act as a directional magnet. I can use this to pull the ball out. Luckily it didn't hit any organs or major arteries. You were lucky it's just sitting in your breast. But the bleeding from the wound would have killed you eventually if left untreated since the bleeding hasn't stopped yet. Here, this will help with the pain."
He then hit a series of pressure points around the wound.
"I have blocked your ki passageways to the wound so you shouldn't feel much but a slight pressure when I proceed."
"Thank you." Moro replied as she sighed in relief.
Her cubs were watching all this in fascination and cautiousness. They were ready to attack him at the first sign of wrong doings.
He took a knife out of nowhere and pointed a finger at it. The wolves and san were wondering what he was doing when his finger started to glow. The glow extended to the knife, which then proceeded to glow red hot.
"The heat sanitizes the knife and will stop the bleeding as well."
He then made two small cuts on either side of the wound before returning the knife back to where ever it came from.
'How is he doing that?' They all wondered
He inserted his finger into the wound where it started to glow again. Moro could feel the ball moving, but was amazed when she felt no actual pain.
"I'm also heating the ball so that it will stop the bleeding as it exits as well."
As his finger got to the opening of the wound again the cuts he made began to expand slightly as the ball of iron left the wound.
"There we are." He said as he held the ball up for them to see. "Now to close the wound."
As he said this he retrieved some thread and a needle from nowhere once again. Holding them in his hand it proceeded to glow again, this time he used pure ki to sterilize the thread since heat would burn it. He then used his Kachü Tenshin Amaguriken to sew up the wound.
"There we go, I'll take off the nerve blocks when I take out the stitches."
"I thank you Ranma. I wish the rest of the humans were like you."
Ranma just blushed as he scratched the back of his neck.
"I've got more wounded to tend to back at the river, will you be in the forest in a couple of days?"
"Yes, we live in a cave in the forest."
"Very well, I will seek you out in a few days to remove the stitches and the nerve blocks. Farewell."
With a wave he left them in the clearing where the group was inspecting the wound that he just fixed up.
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
"AH, get them away!!" One of the men yelled frantically while staring at a little white-green, semi-transparent being sitting nearby.
"A Kodama?" Ranma whispers "Don't move, you'll worsen your wounds. They won't harm you, they're a sign that the forest is plentiful."
"These things call the Shishi-gami." The wounded man tells him.
"Shishi-gami? The large wolf?" Ranma asks
"No, it is something even more frightening, the chief of monsters. AAAAAH, it vanished!!"
The man continues to freak out when more appeared and one sat on Yakurru's saddle.
"Yakurru is unconcerned, and I sense no danger.
He then approached the one sitting on Yakurru and asks, "Hey there, would you grant us permission to pass through your forest?"
YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY
Yakurru was carrying the conscious man, while Ranma was carrying the more wounded man.
"I beg you, let's go back!" The man says. "There's a path on the other side of the river, no one has ever left this forest alive!"
"The current is too strong to get you two across. Besides, if we don't hurry, your friend will die." 'And I have no wish for you to see my curse.'
As they walked through the forest, many Kodama appeared in front of them.
"Are you guiding us, or trying to make us lose our way?" Ranma asks in amusement.
"Sir, these things don't want us to return home! Oh my god they're everywhere!"
Many of the Kodama were walking into a large tree as they pass with more coming out of it.
"So that's your mother? What a splendid tree!"
They then approach a large pond in the middle of the forest. Ranma saw tracks in the soil. Surrounding a pond in the middle of the forest.
"That girl's footprints, and the wolves' as well. Can this be their domain?" he wondered. 'Water water stay away, don't come back on any day…' he thought frantically as beads of sweat appeared on his brow
"Sir, now for sure it's dangerous! The entrance to the other world is here."
"It seems like it doesn't it. Let's keep going." 'The less time around water, the better.'
They continue on never seeing the weird creature with what looks like multiple antlers gaze at them.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Ranma, Yakurru and the two wounded men emerged from the forest in view of Iron Town, which is a huge island fortress on the other side of a lake. Smoke was running from the center of it, and the mountains around it were totally devoid of trees.
"YAAAAA. You were right sir, we arrived at Iron Town." Kouroku exclaimed.
'God this guy talks as much as that weirdo monk I met.' "It seems like a castle." Ranma replied.
"Yeah, it's Mistress Eboshi's Iron Town. The entire place is devoted to producing iron."
Ranma pulled the mask of his hood over his face. Two men of Iron Town, carriers waiting by their ferry boat on Ranma's side of the lake, saw his party approach.
"Hey, it's me, Kouroku, the cattle herdsman!"
JJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJ
News of Kouroku's return made it quickly to town.
"What Kouroku…."
"You're sure it's not a ghost?"
"You're kidding….."
"Amazing!"
"Notify his wife!"
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
A number of Ishibiya troops, wearing yellowish-brown clothes, are lounging about and eating when the news about the arrival of their comrade (The other wounded man) arrives.
"No lie?"
"They're headed this way on boat right now!"
"Did you see his face for certain?"
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"Eh what is it?! I'm writing right now, be quiet!" A bald stupid looking man yelled.
"Haven't you heard Gonza? Kouroku's come back from the dead!" A random worker said as he ran to the gate.
"WHAT?!?!"
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Yakurru, who had to swim since he couldn't fit in the boat, got to shore first and shook himself off as villagers ran past him to get to the boat. When the boat finally made it to shore the people gathered around it and helped the injured to land.
"You're not a ghost are you?"
"What about the others?"
"There were two other men that fell!" The other herdsmen asked their comrade.
"We were the only ones who survived." He sorrowfully told them.
"It's always the cattle herdsmen that die, never the guards…." A woman with a basket on her head said.
"Clear the way!" Gonza told the people.
"Lord Gonza, who might that hooded man be?"
"I haven't seen the likes of him before…." He replied
At the shore, Ishibiya troops lift their wounded comrade out of the boat, while the cattle herdsmen handle Kouroku.
"Ishibiya troops! This man carried your comrade all the way here. Thank him! Ah, ow ow! Don't hold me there! OW ow." Kouroku told them.
One of the Ishibiya troops bows to Ranma which infuriates Gonza.
"Grrrrr, Hold it right there!" He said loudly as he walked to Ranma. "Firstly, I thank you for bringing us our wounded, but I'm not satisfied with the situation. You came within an hour after we arrived here. Furthermore, they say you carried a large man from the bottom of the valley, and came out of the Shishi-gami's forest."
He was going to continue interrogating the hooded man before him when he was suddenly interrupted.
"Kouroku, You're alive?!" Yelled a woman who was running down the path.
"Toki my love!"
As she got to him, she looked down at his leg for a moment before puffing up and glaring at him a little.
"A-a-a, you slouch! A cattle herdsman breaking a leg, how are we supposed to eat?!"
"But I couldn't help it."
"You make me worry all the time. You might as well have been eaten by the mountain dogs. Then I could find a better man!"
"Toki, please forgive me!"
Gonza has finally had enough. "Toki, can't you have your domestic quarrels somewhere else?"
"What makes you so great? Abandoning the wounded like that. What good are you as a guard? You haven't even pushed a bellow once in your life. You've got to risk your life in a crucial moment like that….."
"It couldn't be helped." He replied indignantly.
She then faced Ranma. "Thank you stranger, I'm glad you saved even that sort of husband!"
"That's good, I was beginning to think I had done something wrong by bringing him back." He says as he scratches the base of his head. 'Like that would be a first."
"Eh?..... Hahahaha. Hey, you must be a good-looking man, please let me see your face!
Before she could pull his mask off Eboshi appears with a group of people near the gate above. She looked first to the stranger, then to Gonza.
"Gonza, I'd like to thank him later on, guide our guest. Kouroku…." She said as she switched her gaze to him.
"Yes?" He sheepishly replied.
"It's good you came back safely. I'm sorry."
"Y-yes…"
Toki interjected with, "That's absurd, Eboshi-sama. This fool is just spoiled!"
"Toki, forgive me as well. It was shameful Since I was with him when this happened."
"Oh no, if it were just the men, about this time they'd all be settling down in peace and harmony inside a mountain dog's belly, and we'd all have to find new husbands!"
The women surrounding Eboshi had a good laugh at that one.
"Really!"
"No mistake there!"
"Traveler be at ease and rest well." Eboshi said to Ranma as she left.
Ranma lowered his mask and bowed his head towards the departing Lady Eboshi. Toki then looked towards his face and all thought left her head. Ranma noticed the blank look and drool dribbling down her chin and waved a hand in front of her face.
"Hamina hamina…. "
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
That evening, after the gates of Iron Town are closed, the rice brought by Lady Eboshi's Caravan is being distributed to the townspeople.
Ranma was eating with the cattle herdsmen while a number of women were gathered at the door of the dining hall, peering in. All had looks of astonishment as Ranma deferred back to his normal eating habits.
"How can he eat like that?"
"Where does it all go?"
"Wonder what else that mouth can do…."
"Looks like that man appreciates food, I wonder if he'd like if I cooked for him."
"He's so young."
"Even though you don't care about stuff like a man's age….."
"Be quiet won't you? We're holding a wake for the dead here!" One of the men yelled at the girls. "As for good looking men, here are some too!" Yelled another.
"Well I don't see any. What cattle herdsmen?! A woman replied. "Hey traveler, why don't you come to our place? Don't stay in a stinking animal pen like this." Said another.
While Ranma tried to act like he didn't hear you could tell because he turned redder than a tomato.
"Ooooh, look at him blush, he must be innocent."
"I'd like to corrupt him."
"Come on down for some fun tonight stranger." The girls yelled out before heading off laughing all the way, leaving a frozen stiff martial artist with half of his chopsticks in hand and the other half in his stomach. Needless to say the men were laughing at his reaction. Ranma then fell over, passed out with a nosebleed, which just added to the volume of the laughter.
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Later, in Eboshi's hall.
"Ranma or whatever your name is, sorry to keep you waiting." She said while inspecting a piece of metal. She then turned to Gonza and handed him the metal. "That's good iron. The preparation for the morning shipment takes time… Let's take a break, please tell everyone so." She said to a woman carrying a crate out the door.
"Yes ma'am" the lady replied and left the room as Eboshi turned back to Ranma.
"There are people who suspect you as an agent of the samurai or the Mononoke. There are many people who have set their sights on this Iron Town. Can you please tell me the reason for your journey?" she asked of him.
He took a pellet from seemingly nowhere and handed it to her. "Does this look familiar to you? It was taken from a giant boar god that turned into a Tatari-gami. It gave me this cursed scar that is killing me slowly, and I found another in the giant wolf."
She inspected it a bit before handing it back to him, watching as his hands go nowhere near his pouch on his belt but it disappeared anyways.
'Intriguing.' She thought. "What about your country? You ride a strange beast…"
"I come from near yet far, that's all I can tell you." The pigtailed martial artist replied.
This infuriated Gonza, but then is anyone really surprised? He looks like he needs more fiber in his diet.
"Bastard!! If you don't answer straightforwardly, I'll cut you down!!" he yelled at Ranma.
"Ha, as if you could. You're so slow with that thing that you wouldn't be able to touch me old man." Taunted Ranma.
Gonza then reared back as if he were about to swing his long sword at Ranma when Eboshi interjected.
"GONZA! Stop this foolishness at once!" she yelled at him before turning back to Ranma. "And what would you do, knowing the secret of that stone?"
This brought a baffled look to Ranma. He hadn't really thought about it. He knew that he was searching for the Shishi-gami to request that it lift his curse. Possibly even both curses if it will. But why search for the maker of the pellet?
"I don't know."
The two other occupants had to recover from a facefault for his answer.
"But is suppose that I would ask that the owner of this ball quit using them. They turn gods into demons and kill normal humans. Nothing good comes from the things. I come from a place where there are weapons similar to this and all they bring is death." He finished.
'Heh, he seems serious in his convictions.'
"Very well, I'll think this over traveler."
PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP
After talking with Eboshi, Ranma wondered around the town. He was bored just walking around, but the only people he really knew were all so much older than him. He could always go visit the girls, but he shuddered at the thought of what they might do to him if he did. As he was walking he suddenly sensed something outside the village.
'San' he thought with a smile before running to greet her.
He caught up with her on the roof of one of the palace.
"San! What are you doing here?" he asked her.
"Onii-chan? What are you doing here?" She asked shocked at seeing here.
Ranma's eyebrow raised slightly at being called that.
"I'm trying to get them to stop using the guns. You didn't answer my question."
They heard someone yelling something in the distance but paid no attention to it as
San started to look very nervous, but she never got to answer as a cannon ball landed between them forcing them apart. As San rolled down towards the ground Ranma shook his head to regain his bearings. After composing himself he saw San roll off the edge of the building.
"Aim where she falls." Eboshi commanded a couple of women with guns.
Bang Bang
Ranma watched as San was shot at and saw her head fly back as a bullet hit her right in the face.
"no" Ranma whispered as despair started to build up inside him. "no" He whispered again as he turned away and tears started to come down his face. He kneeled down while a new emotion started to force its way into him. He began to succumb to this new emotion of rage as tendrils of phantom snakes started to emerge from his arm. As the phantom snakes writhed around him he starts to stand back up.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
After shaking her head to clear the ringing in her ears, San jumps into the air using Gonza's face as a launching board to jump over the rest of his men. As she caught up to Eboshi her blade met a sword and the people of the village circle her to keep her from escaping.
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Gonza begins to stand back up while leaning on his sword for support.
"NOOOOOOOOOO!"
He and his men jump and look towards the scream to see Ranma floating down the roof covered in a flaming red aura with transparent snakes writhing everywhere around him.
Ranma sees a crowd circling around someone but he couldn't see who it was.
"Eboooooooshiiiiii" he said with rage
"You rascal...... I knew it, you must be a kind of Mononoke!! Halt." He foolishly tells him as he draws his sword.
"Out of the way." Ranma says as he holds his hand up to the sword still walking forward. Gonza was surprised when his sword started to melt as Ranma's hand touched it.
Both San and Eboshi pause in their fight blade to blade as they see what seems to be a moving bonfire heading towards them through the crowd
People parted like the Red Sea as the heat he generated was too much for them. When he finally made it to the center of the ring he saw San and Eboshi locked by blades. Instantly his aura died down but the tendrils stayed as he saw Eboshi still trying to kill his friend.
He was about to separate them when a bright light appeared between them slowly getting larger. Everybody was shocked and started to back up away from the light, except for Ranma who was only a few feet away. As he squinted his eyes he could make out what seemed to be a human figure in the light. When it finally died down he could see it was a human figure…. A female human figure…. A floating female human figure.
He started the standard elevator glance. (starting from the bottom and moving up)
She was wearing black boots with purple socks, blue jean capris (pants that cut off a few inches above the ankle) that were lowriders showing off her midriff, a red shirt with yellow borders that started at her rib cage and covered a generous rack, black fingerless gloves, and an orange bandanna on her head.
She's currently floating about a foot off the ground with her head thrown back, eyes shut, and hands in fists with arms straight and towards the back. She was positioned as if someone had a hold of her shirt, only there was nothing holding onto her shirt.
But the most notable thing to Ranma was not her bustline, but her aura.
'She's stronger than I am!' He thought to himself.
"Friend of foe?" He asks her.
She slowly lowered to the ground. As her feet touched down her head came up and her arms relaxed. When she opened her eyes they locked on with Ranma's.
"Oh I'm definitely a friend. Hi, I'm Son Pan."
So who guessed she was gonna show up? If you look at what i used for scene changes, it spells her name out.
Idecided this would be a good place to stop. I would've stopped a while ago but I wanted to pop her in this chappie. Wow, this is the longest one yet. Over 4000 words. Sorry it took so long, my dad moved us out to the sticks so I have no internet now.
sheds a few tears
I also have two jobs, although I'm quitting one this weekend. The one I'm keeping is unfortunately in the sticks on the other side of Dallas. So I drive in excess of 100 miles a day now… really sux. Plus, believe it or not, this hermit got a girl. So I get home in time to sleep and .. well, that's pretty much all I do at home now. Get home, go to sleep, wake up, morning routine, leave. Well, I hope you enjoy this chappie. I'm still working on my writing style so don't down it too much. Have fun all.