Chapter 2: Stone Takes Rook.
"Bakusai Tenketsu!!" The cry rang out of the desert landscape as the single finger struck the rock wall that Running Bird had indicated. The cliff face exploded sending chunks and shards of rock flying in every direction.
Ryoga stepped through the six-foot hole and into the eerie, silent cold. The involuntary shiver seemed to be demanded by the spirits that Running Bird said were guarding the place. Ryoga started forward with his flashlight at the ready, illuminating the path before him but before he went very far he turned around and stuck his head out into the glaring desert sun and looked around until he saw the medicine man.
"Are you coming?" Ryoga asked, hoping that he would for two reasons, one it would lighten up the atmosphere, and two, Running Bird could keep him from getting too lost. Although the hole he was sticking his head through was supposed to be the only entrance and exit he might not be able to find it for a couple of days after he found that pot.
Running Bird looked up in a semi-startled fashion and laughed a nervous laugh. "No, I'd rather not. Besides somebody's got to stay out here and keep an eye on things." That and he could get into a lot of trouble from the elders if they found out he'd let a foreigner waltz right into the shrine, much less helped him to do so.
"Oh, ok." Ryoga said, a little disappointed but accepting what Running Bird said before turning back into the cave and promptly getting lost in the dark and empty confine, even though it was a featureless hollow with a single stone doorframe embedded in the wall at the opposite end.
Walking through the large doorframe ryoga found a hall-like passage extending back and turning left when it reached the end. The entire hall had the look of having been carved from the stone by hand, the floors and walls were only slightly uneven while the high ceiling was rough and looked almost as if chunks of it could fall out at any moment. Ryoga noted this and made a note not to use the Bakusai Tenketsu on the interior here, he didn't want to risk accidentally destroying his cure.
As Ryoga neared the end of the hallway he noticed that at the end of the hallway there was an alcove of a humanoid wolf creature that reminded him of how the ancient Egyptians depicted their gods, human body with an animal head but that wasn't quite an accurate description of this statue. It seemed to be more like some pictures of anime cat-girls but with some ancient warrior and a fierce wolf instead of a cat and a girl, it's ominous silence was accented by what it was wearing, armor and held a stone spear or pike in the braced forward-guard position.
Ryoga was startled when a piece of the roof suddenly clattered after falling to the ground in front of him. Why did places with some sort of magic or treasure always have to be so creepy, confusing, or dangerous?
Ryoga let out a sigh after halting for a moment, maybe watching Indiana Jones before coming out here was a bad idea, he was jumping at nothing now and would there really be anything in here traps or otherwise?
Just then there was a cracking sound and the statue, which towered over Ryoga standing ten feet tall, lurched to life. It said something that Ryoga couldn't make out, native american probably, and took up a position blocking Ryoga from taking the left turn at the end of the hallway.
Ryoga almost laughed, this was one of the Guardians here? A golem? This was going to be easy with his Breaking Point maneuver, the Bakusai Tenketsu, Ryoga thought as he extended his index finger and rushed forward yelling "Bakusai Tenketsu!"
Ryoga's eyes flew open as the crack reached his ears followed shortly by a wave of pain that caused tears to well up in his eyes and a sudden, barbaric, inhuman scream of pain leapt from his mouth.
Running Bird's head snapped up when he heard the unearthly scream bursting from the hole in the cliff face. '… and I was just getting to sleep too…' he thought as he pushed his hat back up and began to make his way cautiously to the cave's entrance.
He arrived just in time to jump back when Ryoga burst out of the hole grabbing one hand with the other and hopping about in obvious pain.
"What happened?" Was all that he could ask.
"My finger!" Ryoga screamed, "I think I broke my finger!"
Running Bird looked at Ryoga's finger and then at the hole he'd made with it in the cliff wall earlier… what on earth could break this guy's finger was beyond him.
"Well, there's nothing that I can see… Ranma you appear to be a perfectly healthy young woman." Dr. Tofu said as he wheeled on his stool over to the waiting members of the Tendo household.
"But I'm a guy!!" Ranma wailed on the verge of breaking down in tears, she stopped just on that verge lip quivering as the tears threatened to burst.
"Ranma's ki lines have changed, they're exactly what you'd see in any normal female…" Dr. Tofu continued, trying to explain what he saw but failing because it baffled him. One couldn't simply change ki lines, even Mousse when he was in his duck form still had human male ki lines, distorted to fit the form of a duck, but human and male nonetheless… this was quite puzzling.
"Could it be that magic rod?" Akane asked.
"What? What's this about a magic rod?" Tofu asked.
Akane related the story of Pantyhose Taro's magic rod and how the magic had hit Ranma instead of Happosai.
"Hmmmm, I see." Dr. Tofu rubbed his chin for a moment then laughed. "I think Ranma'll need a new wardrobe, after all it wouldn't do for a young girl to go around dressed like a boy!"
Akane, Ranma, Genma, and Soun all looked at the doctor with their jaws dropped at the doctors sudden and implicit announcement that Ranma was a real, live girl… permanently. Nabiki however was trying to work it all into a scheme… there had to be some room for profit here, she just needed to find it.
"Ranma!" Soun excitedly yelled, "Son, you've got to find a cure or else you'll have to marry Soun to uphold our family honor!"
"Or you could marry Nabiki!" Ranma shot back, derailing Nabiki's train of thought and sending shivers up Genma's spine. Ranma couldn't help smiling a little. Bluff called.
A month later Ryoga made his way out of the cursed forest into what looked like a park. As he scanned around he thought it looked familiar. There were several children playing with water toys that he made a mental note to stay away from along with their parents, there were also a few couples walking along. Over there was one interesting couple, a guy in long white robes trying to give flowers to a long haired girl riding a bike who was ignoring him but Ryoga didn't have the time or inclination to watch people. He was on a mission, as much as he hated it he needed some help to get his cure, and who better to help than Ranma? Now, if only he could find Nermia he could find the Tendo dojo.
Ryoga looked around the park again, it looked hauntingly familiar for some reason… but he couldn't quite put his finger on it, the signs saying to stay off the grass written in Japanese were common enough to not give him a very big clue as to where he was. 'Could this be England?' Ryoga thought, completely missing the subtle hint of the signs, he didn't know where he was, so he did what he always did.
"WHERE IN THE WORLD AM I NOW?" Ryoga bellowed, drawing the attention of everyone in the park except for a small red-headed girl who was running in terror as she flailed her arms trying to hit the cat that was hanging on to the back of her red shirt and being followed closely by an obviously angry duck.
Ryoga slumped forward and sighed, he'd never find the Tendo dojo at this rate. It had taken him months to get this far, he'd been to New Zealand, India, Peru, Alaska, the Caribbean, Washington D. C., Beijing, countless forests, deserts, swamps, grasslands, and now wherever he was. He felt the depression come in a wave as he thought that none of those places had even been in Japan. He was never going to get there and he was never going to be cured of the pig-curse…
Ryoga looked back at the forest he'd just emerged from, nobody was in there and he needed to get rid of his depression, so he prepared to fling a weighted ball of depressive ki energy into it with a shout of "Shishi Hohodan!!" when he suddenly changed his mind, a little.
Even running in sheer terror from Shampoo's cursed cat form it is quite difficult not to notice a blinding white pillar of ki appear and come crashing down with explosive force. Not that the sudden illumination or the resulting shockwave of Ryoga's shishi hokodan actually stopped her from running around flailing like a madman… er, woman. It simply registered in her mind that Ryoga was around somewhere.
Shampoo and Mousse likewise were not dissuaded from their current course of action, the Lost Boy wouldn't have any effect on their proving that Ranma was in fact not truly a girl. 'Stupid Mousse, he try keep hot water away from Ranma!' was the only thing on the Amazon's mind other than her latest plot to reveal that Ranma truly being a girl was a ruse. 'Shampoo no stupid, Ranma try before!'
Feeling much better, and coincidently standing at the bottom of a six-foot deep crater, Ryoga Hibiki, leapt out and almost immediately caught sight of a redheaded girl being harassed by some decidedly seedy-looking stray animals, a duck and a cat to be precise. 'That's odd…' was all Ryoga thought before he turned away to try to find Nermia.
He made it three paces before he sighed and wheeled about, only to find the girl had disappeared. 'Oh well… I was hoping that if I'd helped her she could help me get to the Tendo dojo.'
As he turned he saw the red-head and animals making a circuit around the parameter of a lake that stood in the park. As the redhead rounded the bend and started to come towards him he had the strangest feeling of deja vu, almost like he should know her. Maybe he'd met her on one of his travels… Ryoga almost lost himself in thought and snapped back into reality just in time to rush to the girl's aid.
Shampoo resisted Ryoga's effort to separate her from Ranma while Mousse knew that he was no match for him in his duck form and backed off, slightly. Then Shampoo tried to claw at Ryoga, though she had little success in freeing herself until she bit him, and she bit him hard.
"Ow!" Ryoga said with a jerk of his hand and the release of the cat… unfortunately for Shampoo the short jerk was enough to send her flying through the air eventually to land in Furinkan High's swimming pool.
"Are you ok miss?" Ryoga asked as he smiled a toothy smile that displayed his fangs quite well and would have intimidated anyone who didn't know him.
"Oh, thank you mister!" Ranma said in that sickeningly sweet voice she used when she wanted to appear extra-cute in order to get an extra scoop of ice cream. 'Boy, I hope Ryoga doesn't recognize me!'
"Oh, well then… miss, could you tell me to get to the Tendo dojo?" Ryoga asked, evidently clueless as to who he was talking to, as he fiddled with his hands in what was either nervousness or embarrassment.
"Sure thing!" Ranma said with evidently false enthusiasm, which Ryoga failed to note was false, "It's just two blocks that way!" Ranma said and pointed in the opposite direction.
"Thank you miss." Ryoga said, already turning and walking in that direction.
'Whew! I don't know how many more people I can handle…' Ranma thought as she began a leisurely pace back towards the dojo. 'It's bad enough trying to adjust to being stuck as a girl forever… or at least until I can figure a way to get back to Jusenkyo, and it's even worse with those two, I don't think I could handle Ryoga trying to kill me too.'
Ranma opened the front door to the dojo with some gusto and a yell of "I'm home!" Until she saw Ryoga sitting at the table along with Akane, Kasumi, Soun, and Genma all of whom were listening in rapt attention as Ryoga finished telling the story. "… what's going on…" Ranma trailed off as her father burst into action.
"So, what happened?!" Genma loudly demanded as he lifted Ryoga off the floor by his shirt. "Did you get it?"
"N-No!" Ryoga answered, shocked over Genma's outburst. "I couldn't get past the Guardians."
"But the Guardians were golems!" Soun protested!
"I know!! I know!!" Ryoga screamed in a near panic.
"WHAT'S GOING ON!?" Ranma yelled in a forceful manner that caused every head in the room to snap and look at her.
"Ryoga here found a cure for curses my boy!!" Genma said with no small amount of enthusiasm.
"WHAT!?" Ranma yelled, eyes popped out of their sockets trying to watch Ranma zoom over to Ryoga and demand to hear the whole story.
"Well, I… hey! You were that girl in the park!" Ryoga exclaimed.
'Whoopse!' Ranma thought, afraid that Ryoga wouldn't tell her anything for pointing him in the wrong direction just out of spite. Though what he did surprised Ranma and actually made her feel a little bad about tryong to get him lost… in more ways than one.
"Well, thank you Ranma." Ryoga said in all honesty and then smiled as he said, "I made it here in record time thanks to you pointing the way for me."
Ranma had to fight to keep her mouth closed. It was just warped enough that it made sense… but Ryoga thanking somebody, Ranma especially, was… well, it was incredible. Something was up.
"In fact I have a favor to ask you Ranma." Ryoga continued, "I found something that we can use to cure our curses but I need some help getting it."
With that statement Ryoga launched his story in detail, incredible detail, even down to the types of beans that Running Bird had served the night before they went to find the magic pot. The only thing that saved Ranma from a coma was when Ryoga got to the Guardians, which appeared to be golems made of stone… and that's where Ryoga stopped.
"And?" Ranma prompted.
"And what?" Ryoga asked, genuine confusion showing on his face.
'I can't believe it! He got lost in his own story!!' Ranma thought loudly enough that Akane almost shot her a glance. "So why didn't you just use the Breaking Point?" Ranma asked in a particularly caustic and sarcastic manner.
"I tried." Ryoga said flatly, voice betraying absolutely no emotion. "It didn't work."
"What!? The breaking point didn't work on golems?" Ranma asked incredulously.
"Nope." Ryoga responded softly in a manner that seemed to indicate great shame or embarrassment.
"So why didn't you use your Shishi Hokodan if the Breaking Point didn't work?" Ranma asked solemnly at point blank range.
Ryoga froze and didn't say anything in response, he simply twitched twice and then yelled "GYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!"
(Continued)
Author's Note: Here's chapter two, as you can see Ryoga's still cursed… and nursing a bit of a crushed ego at not being able to destroy a single golem. Which brings up the question: why didn't the Bakusai Tenketsu work? The answer: Sore wa himetsu desu.
There is a perfectly good reason there, Ryoga simply hasn't found it out yet.
