Disclaimer: I don't own Lunar Silver Star Story nor Ranma ½. So please don't sue me.
In your dreams, magical thoughts,
All things are real unless you dream they're not.
In your dreams, love is the plot,
Carried on wings of hope.
Each of our souls intertwine when we do,
Instantly we see it the time to grow and be it,
When everything is pinned on a hope.
Let rise the dreams of your heart,
That innocent youth, careless and kind,
Free to roam the breeze in love,
Only when two brilliantly shine as one!
"Speech."
Thoughts
(My Comments)
Dragonmaster 5
We see the group walking along the path talking to each other in animated voices. As they walk over the final green hill, a simultaneous gasp is heard. They finally made it to Saith the sister village of Burg. As they enter the village, they see a city fairly larger than Burg. And the reason for this is that merchants visit Saith often from different continents because it is a harbor town.
***Saith***
"Hey, I was wondering… How are we gonna get to Meribia?" Ranma asked the group as they walked into the village.
"By taking a ship. Duh Ranma." Ramus replied in a voice dripping with sarcasm. "How did you think that we were gonna get there? Swim?"
By this time, Ranma was getting pretty steamed at Ramus. "Well genius, if you know everything… How are we gonna pay for the ship huh? The last time I checked, going on a ship wasn't for free. If you miraculously brought some money with you, then I won't say anything." Letting his anger out, Ranma made a smart statement without even thinking about it. He addressed a point that no one thought of. Then as an after thought, Ranma muttered under his breath, "Ahhh… swimming there wouldn't be so bad. It can't be worse than swimming from China to Japan."
At this comment from Ranma, everyone grew silent. Than Alex spoke up, "You know, just how are we gonna pay for it? I didn't bring any money with me. Did any of you guys?" Looking at each of them, questioningly, all the answer he got was a negative.
As they sat near the Althena statue, thinking about their plight, a group of villagers walk by saying, "You know… That guy at the bar… What was his name again? Oh yeah…Brett! Anyway Brett is sure hell of a good gambler. I mean, I saw this guy playing against him today and he lost all his money…. I mean that poor guy just started bawling his eyes out."
As this group of villagers pass, Ramus' eyes starts to gleam. "You know what? I just figured out how to make money for us!"
"Yeah? How?" Alex asked eagerly. He just started the adventure that he always dreamed of and had no intention of going back to his parents because he didn't have any money.
"I could go and gamble with that guy Brett." Seeing the others look at him incredulously Ramus says, "I mean it. How many people do you know that is a better gambler than me?"
Everyone starts to get excited then Nall had to open his big mouth, "Well… Don't you need money to gamble? I mean what are we gonna bet on our side?"
"Plus… This guy seems like a pro. From what I heard, this guy might just be the best! Imagine, making some full-grown man cry. That's just not right!" Caine said adding his two cents for things to worry about.
Then the group went back to being depressed again. As they sit around trying to think up other ways to make money, Ranma speaks up, "Well… I brought some money for food…"
Hearing this, everyone pounces on him asking, "HOW MUCH?"
Taking out his pouch, he replies, "Well, only about 100 silvers…"
Taking the pouch, Ramus excitedly yell, "All right! Come on, lets go guys."
"Hey! Wait! I didn't say that I would let you guys spend my money! Come on… Give it back. Guys? Guys?" Seeing them walk away without hearing a word that he was saying, he sighs in defeat and runs to catch up to them.
As the walk around the town looking for the bar that Brett is supposed to be in, they spot the harbor station. "Hey, you guys. Lets see if the captain will let us go on the ship for free." Ranma says as he tries desperately to save his money. (Hey, his hungry all the time. He can't really help it.) "It might be kinda hard trying to win enough money to take us all."
Looking at each other, the group shrugs and decides to try it out. What could hurt after all? As they enter the station, they see a LONG line of people standing in line in front of the desk.
"Excuse me. Oops sorry. Pardon me…" Saying this, the group pushed their way to the front. There stood a sailor who looked bedraggled.
"Umm, excuse me… sir? But we have to ask you a question about the voyage to Meribia." Luna says as she looks at the man.
"Look, I told you people before. We currently don't have a map sooo… we can't set sail. If you really have a problem, take it up with the captain right there." Saying this, he points at the man sitting in a corner trying his best to get himself drunk.
The group walks over to the man. "Umm… Excuse me sir? We were wonderin-" Luna was about to ask when she was interrupted by Nall.
"Look old man. We have to get to get to Meribia fast. We need a ride. We need to… Are you listening?" Not getting any response from the captain, Nall flies close to the man and whacks the man in the noggin.
Ranma and Caine just stands back and laughs their head off.
"Nall! That's not nice. He looks really worried." Luna admonished Nall. "I'm sorry sir, but my friend here was just anxious to get to Meribia. We were wondering if we could have a ride. We don't have any money at the moment, but we'll pay you as soon as-"
"Look girl. I might think about taking you to Meribia, but the thing is…"
Everyone puts their heads closer to the old sea captain as he mumbles something. "What old man? Can you speak up? We can't hear you." Caine says as he tries to make out what the man is saying. The man says it a little louder, but it's not enough. "What? I can't hear you!"
The captain then just bursts out saying, "I LOST THE MAP! YOU HAPPY NOW? I LOST IT! I LOST IT! I LOST IT!" Screaming this, the man starts to weep. "I lost it gambling." He mumbles out. As he sits there crying, everyone is on the ground looking up at the man in shock. (They fell down when he screamed you see.)
"WHAT, WHAT DID YOU LOSE YA FREAK!" Ranma hollers back. Now angry at the man.
"The sea chart. Without it, I can't navigate anywhere."
"Umm… Did you lose it to a man named Brett?" Ramus asks he stands up. Getting an affirmative nod, he asks one more question. "Will you let us go on your ship for free if we get the map back?"
Looking up, the man's eyes shining with new hope says, "Well, if you kids get it, sure I'll take you. I'll take you anywhere you want to go."
"Well, it's a deal then." Ramus says in a triumphant voice. Turning around, he exclaims, "Time to GAMBLE!"
Hearing this, Ranma looks downcast as he realizes that his chance of saving his money and having a quick bite just went down the drain. (He's very cynical when it comes down to gambling. Hey… If he's not good at it, then who?)
As they walk out of the store, Luna turns to Nall. "Nall, you were very rude in there today. You should behave more." Luna says. Behind her, Ranma and Caine just tries to smother their laughter. "I mean, I would have expected this from Ranma or Caine, but you?" Hearing this Ranma and Caine abruptly stops their laughter. Behind them, Alex and Ramus starts to laugh.
"Hey look! I think that's the bar. Let's go." Ramus points towards the tavern. Inside, they see bunch of guys getting drunk. However, what stands out is the man in the corner. It's not the man's look that attracts their attention, rather because of the men around him. They all had depressed looks about them, but whenever they looked at the man, the looked as if they were going to kill.
"That must be Brett, come on, let's go." Saying this, Ramus struts towards Brett with a confidant grin about his face. "Are you the one known as Brett?"
With an amused grin on his face, he replies "Yeah. Who wants to know?"
"I do. I came here to challenge you to a gambling duel." Ramus says it as if he's announcing that someone's dead. (I'm remarking on how seriously Ramus says the line)
"Yeah? Shouldn't you be in bed little boy?" Brett says mockingly.
"Ha! Well, if you don't think that you could beat me…" Ramus says, leaving the sentence hanging.
"Afraid? Me? Well kid, you just lost your lunch money. Come on then let's see what you got." Brett exclaims, goaded into a match by Ramus. "I'm sure that you don't have a lot of money on you so I'll make this easy. Lets say we start off betting 10 silvers."
"Well, that's fine with me. Shall we start?"
"Okay, here's the rule for the game. I'll flip this coin here and you call out whether it's heads or tails. If you're wrong, I win. If you're right, then I lose. Got that?"
"Wait. We didn't say what we wanted if you lose."
Hearing this, Brett smirks and says, "Yeah? Well then, what do you want?"
Ramus just ignores the smirk and says, "We want the sea chart."
"Is that all? Well be prepared to leave, because you're not getting anything."
"Yeah. Now hurry up with it already." Ramus says impatiently. He then turns to the group and whispers, "I got this one in the bag. The game is elementary. Even a two year old can play it."
"Alright Ramus. We're cheering for ya." Nall says as he flies around Ramus' head.
"Good luck Ramus." Alex says with Luna.
"Luck? I don't need luck for this game."
"Well you better not lose all my money chunko." Ranma says playfully. It seems that Ramus' confidence was getting to everyone.
Brett just stands by watching the friends exchange words with a bored expression. "Done talking to your pals kid? Let's get this over with. Ready? Go!" Saying this, Brett flicks the coin into the air.
"Heads!" As Ramus shouts out his choice. As the coin falls, everyone watches it intensely. Hoping. As it slowly falls back into Brett's palm, all is quiet.
Brett then slowly opens his hand and a confidant grin comes to his face. "Tails. You lose. Well that was fun kids, but playtimes over. Now shoo." With these words, Brett dismisses the group.
"Well good going chunky. Now we lost some of our money too." Ranma says angrily.
"Hey Ranma, don't get so mad. He had a fifty percent chance of winning." Alex says, trying his best to calm Ranma down.
Ramus just stands there calmly. "I should have won that toss. Well, I'll try one more time." Hearing this, Ranma just shakes his head and looks at the match.
"What? You want to go again? Well alright, but don't go crying home to your mama for losing all your money." Saying this, Brett tosses the coin into the air once more.
"Heads!"
"Well good try kid. But it's tails. Maybe next time." Saying this, Brett opens his hand and lo and behold, it was tails.
Shaking his head in disgust, Ranma turns around and leaves saying, "Well, forget this. I'm going out for a walk. See ya guys. And I'm taking my money too. I'm hungry. We'll just figure out another way of getting to Meribia." (I know Ranma would never give up, but he's annoyed with the way things are going. And who knows, maybe he wised up after losing everything that he had when the Gambling King came around. Ranma usually does learn from his mistakes.)
As the gang watches Ranma leave, Nall says, "Now what are we gonna do? Ranma is the only one with the money."
Luna looks at everyone then finally says, "Here, I'll go and convince Ranma to come back. In the meanwhile, you guys think up a new idea." Then she ran out of the tavern.
Alex, Ramus, Nall, and Caine looks at each other then sits down to think. All of a sudden, Ramus stands up, surprising the rest. With his eyes shining with a brilliant light, he exclaims, "I got an idea!"
"Yeah? What is it?" Caine asks eagerly. Thinking that maybe this new idea may cheer up Ranma when he comes back.
"We don't need Ranma's money to play. We have some thing else."
"Why do I get a sinking feeling about this?" Alex whispers to the rest as he looks at one of his best friend cackle like a maniac. To this comment, Nall and Caine could only nod.
Ramus then puts his hand into his pocket and takes out the Dragon's Diamond. "Here, I'll bet thi-"
Just before Ramus was able to say anything, Alex tackles Ramus from the behind and clasps a hand around Ramus' mouth. "Ramus… Just what do you think you're doing?"
"Betting of course. Come on, this time I KNOW I can win."
"Yeah? Well you said the same thing for all the other tosses also." Alex hisses. Then Ramus starts to struggle to get free from Alex's grasp. Hoping to save the crystal, Alex just holds unto Ramus' arms tighter. "Nall, Caine, help me. Ramus is acting like an idiot!"
(We'll leave Alex to deal with Ramus and go to Ranma and Luna)
Ranma walks outside the door and looks around. Inside, he was feeling mixed emotions. He knew that Ramus was good at gambling, but the fact that Ramus lost twice in a row was a real blow to his moral. After all, if even Ramus couldn't win, then who could? He had no illusions about his Gambling ability. The only reason he won against the Gambling King was because he had all night to practice (which didn't help much) and had that bandage around his face, which allowed him to cheat. It was his style of Anything Goes after all. Lost in thought, he didn't notice that he walked out of town nor did he notice that Luna was running after him.
"Ranma! Wait up! Ranma!" Luna called out as she chased after him. It was weird that he wasn't answering her. Usually, he gave her his full attention whenever she talked to him. Finally catching up, she noticed that Ranma seemed to be lost deep in thought. Looking at him curiously, she went up to him and tapped him on the shoulder. "Ranma?"
This seems to startle Ranma out of his thought as he looked at Luna. "Luna? What are you doing here?"
"I followed you silly." Luna answers with a chipper voice. Then with a more worried tone she asks, "Ranma are you alright?"
Ranma looks surprised at the question, then answers, "Of course I'm alright. Why do you ask?"
"I don't know… Usually you're so happy about everything, but lately… Well lately you seem more depressed. Ranma, if you're worried about something, then… I want you to know that I'll always be there for you." Then blushing at what she said, she lowers her head and adds in a more softer tone, "We all are."
Ranma stands there, at first not knowing what to say. Then he smiles and places a hand on Luna's shoulder. Surprised, she looks up at Ranma. The only words to come out of Ranma's mouth are, "I know." They continue to walk aimlessly in a comfortable silence.
In front of them looms a forest. Here, dark trees loom. Yet it doesn't really give off the menacing feel that it seems to try and project. Ranma looks around and finally realizes that they standing in front of the entrance into the forest. Even though the forest looked exciting, (somewhat) Ranma decided to pass the trip into the forest. After all, Luna was there and he didn't want to get her into any trouble. However, as he was about to turn around and head back to the village, a sharp shrill scream was heard inside the forest. Ranma and Luna looks at each other before they dash into the forest.
"Do you have any idea where that sound came from?" Ranma asks Luna, looking around for any signs of danger.
Shaking her head in a negative answer, she says, "I'm not sure, but I think it came in from somewhere deeper in the forest. Let's try going in deeper." Saying this, Luna and Ranma runs straight following the path. Strangely, to Ranma's surprise, he doesn't encounter any monsters.
"Hey, Luna… Shouldn't there be some monsters here or something? It seems kinda fishy."
"Yeah, I know what you mean. But Ranma, not everywhere is filled with monster just because it looks like it does."
"I guess so." Ranma replies with a hint of doubt in his voice. Soon they come to a clearing and a sight that grinds Ranma to a halt. In front of him are rows of what seems to be traps. A poorly made one that has no chance of catching anything. "What the heck is this…" Saying this, Ranma kneels down in front of one of the traps to examine what was used as bait. What he sees just stuns him. "I can't believe this. What kind of a psycho would do this?"
Luna meanwhile is slowly becoming more and more nervous. It seems that Ranma found some sort of horrible thing underneath the trap. She tentatively pokes Ranma's shoulder as he starts to rise with whatever was inside. "Ranma…? What's wrong?" Ranma doesn't say anything and the comment of a psycho doing this makes her all the more nervous. "Ranma?"
Ranma slowly turns around, holding onto whatever was inside. "What kind of a psycho… what kind of a psycho would…" As he pauses, Luna leans closer to satisfy her curiosity, no matter how much she dreads it. "What kind of a… (ok, I think I stalled you guys enough.) … FREAKIN' IDIOT WOULD USE A BANANA FOR BAIT?!"
Luna falls down on her duff at Ranma's sudden outburst. At first, the emotion that she experiences is one of surprise, which slowly turns into one of anger. Thinking in her mind RANMA! I'm gonna KILL YOU! But as she sees Ranma standing over her with righteous indignation holding the banana, she couldn't help but laugh. She could never hold a grudge against Ranma for long anyway.
Ranma looks surprised then realizes what he said, put a hand behind his head and starts laughing also and this slowly breaks out into hysterical, blown out laughter.. Here, they let out the tension that was built up in them when they were running in the forest. As they were laughing, a voice which sounded familiar shouted out, "Hey you guys. Can you stop laughing for a sec and come and help me out of here?"
Startled, they stop laughing and comes over for a look. Here, they see the foot of a person sticking out from one of the traps. Wondering where he heard the voice before, Ranma racks his brain for the information. Then it finally dawned on him. "Hey… You're the guy that screamed a few minutes ago huh? I almost didn't recognize you. That scream was more high pitched, but it has the same annoying tone to it."
"JUST GET ME OUT OF HERE!"
"Alright alright. Don't burst a vein man." Chuckling, Ranma lifts the trap off the stranger. "There happy now? Now if you don't mind, tell us who you are."
Nash stands up, then he takes out a comb, spinning the way a gunslinger might spin. Raising it to his hair, he stops the spinning and swipes his hair with a vertical swipe. Then spinning it again, Nall puts the comb back into wherever the hell it came from. After doing all this, Nall now opens his mouth and says "Hey there, kiddies! My name's Nash! I'm a level 3 apprentice from the famous magic city of Vane that floats around the Goddess Tower. The area around the Sea Hag's house can be a little tricky, so be sure to watch your step around here, okay?"
Ranma steps up to the smiling idiot and smacks him across the head. "What the hell was that? You just sounded like a freakin' advertisement. Stop talking like your in front of a T.V. and talk normally." Saying this, Ranma just shakes his head and walks back to Luna muttering under his breathe, "Idiot." Nash just stood there looking stupefied and wondering, What's a T.V.?
"Ranma…" Luna said with a disapproving voice.
"Hah! At least someone appreciates me!" Nash crowed. And a pretty one at that.
"Nash was it?" Seeing Nash nod, Ranma continues on to say, "Well Nash, just shut up." Then he turns to Luna and says with his hurt puppy look, "But Luna… He had it coming to him. Telling us to watch out about this woods when he's the one stuck under the lamest trap. He was probably trying to get a banana!"
Hearing this, Luna couldn't help but giggle. "Still Ranma…" Then she turns to Nash and says, "Nash? Umm… What are you doing here anyway?"
Puffing out his chest, he not so modestly says, "Me? I'm here on an errand for Ghaleon. I'm his apprentice."
"Ghaleon? Isn't that one of the four hero's?" Ranma says with some confusion.
"Isn't he one of the four hero's? Is that all you can say? HE'S THE GREATEST! Every kid pretends to be him when they are young! I mean… surely you must have pretended to be him." Nash yells.
Ranma just looks at him and scratches the back of his head. "The greatest? I don't know… I always played Dragonmaster Dyne when I was a kid. If not, I pretended to be someone else, but never Ghaleon."
It looked as if Nash was about to have a stroke.
"Hey Ranma, look." Saying this, Luna pointed towards the house that he didn't notice a moment ago.
"I wonder who lives in here?" Saying this Ranma takes the lead as he walks into the house. Around them where chickens flapping around everywhere. As they enter the house, they find it empty. Or so they thought until they hear some mumbling at the back of the house. When they head in that direction, they see a hideously ugly hag. The first thought that pops into Ranma's mind and out his mouth is "Whoa, I didn't know the old ghoul had a sister."
Obviously, the hag's hearing was as sharp as it ever was which Ranma soon found out as he was smacked in the head with a cane.
"What d'ya do that for?" Ranma complained as he rubbed his head.
"Insolent whelp. Why are you guys in my house. Git!" She made shooing motions as she tried to hustle the group outside the house.
"We're sorry for having disturbed you. We'll be going home now." Luna then bowed and was about to leave, when she turned around and asked the hag, "You wouldn't to know how we can get to Meribia do you?" Normally she wouldn't have asked, but a she had some sort of compulsion telling her to.
"Just take a ship there girl. Like most people."
Seeing how roughly the hag acted towards Luna, Ranma started to get angry. When he was about to open his mouth and say something, Luna held up a hand. "Well we would have taken the ship, but the captain lost his Sea Chart gambling to a man named Brett."
The hag's mouth split into a grin as she reached inside her robe and took out a tattered piece of parchment. "You wouldn't happen to have been looking for this would you?" And lo and behold, it was the Sea Chart.
"Hey how do you have it?" Ranma asks, curiously.
"Never mind the details sonny boy. Well, do you want it?" The old hag asks. Seeing the group nod, the hag cackles with glee and says, "Well… Nothing's free in life. What would you offer for it?"
"We don't have anything ya old hag." (Need I mention who said this?)
"Ohh? How about that Water Cane of yours?"
Nash looks at his Water Cane and yelps, "THIS? You must be insane lady. Ghaleon gave me this and I will never give it to you."
Ranma advances towards Nash, cracking his fingers. "Yeah? Then I guess I'll just have to change your mind."
"Ranma!" Then she looks at Nash and says, "Nash, we really need the Sea Chart. Will you please let her have the cane?" Obviously, Nash can't handle the charms of Luna. Croaking out a meek protest hands over the Water Cane to the hag.
"Excellent. Here is the Sea Chart as promised."
"Thanks Nash." Luna says as she beams a smile at him.
"Uhh… Well, it was nothing." Nash says, embarrassed.
Just as they turn around to go, Ramus and Alex, along with Nall and Caine comes rushing in. Alex speaks up, "Man, the monsters out there are pretty tough. There were a lot of treasure chest out there also. But man, some were booby trapped." Alex then looks around and notices Ranma, Luna, and Nash. "Uhh, who's the new guy?"
"I am Nash, a level 3 magician who is also apprentice to Ghal…" As Nash rambles on, Alex comes joins Ranma.
"Hey, what are you guys doing here anyway?" Alex asked Ranma.
"Us? Well we were walking by this woods when we heard a scream. When we came and checked, we found him." While saying this, Ranma pointed at Nash who kept on bragging about himself. "What about you guys?"
"Well, we finally won the toss from Brett." Alex replied.
Hearing this, Ranma got curious. He was sure that none of them had any money. They told him that unless… "You guys were holding money out on me?!"
"No no no no." Alex quickly said shaking his head. "Well, it happened like this…"
-FLASKBACK-
We see Ramus being held back by Alex, Nall, and Caine.
"Ramus! Are you crazy? You can't bet the diamond." Nall screamed out.
"Maybe we should think about this a little bit more." Alex said, trying to reason with his gambling hooked friend.
Ramus finally turns around and looks at them. He then whispers into their ears, "Look guys, I think that this guy's cheating. My guess is that one side of his coin is heavier than the other. So that if you call out the side, he quickly switches them. It's impossible that I lost twice in a row!"
Caine just looks at him with an exasperated look and says, "Ramus, my boy. It's okay that you lost twice. Everyone doesn't win all the time. I think that this loss went to your head."
"No no no no. I think he's cheating."
"Yeah? And what if you lose the diamond? Huh? What then?"
"Well, I'm gonna have to knock him down anyway to check the coin. If he wasn't cheating, then when he's on the ground, Nall, you grab the diamond, and we run like mad." Ramus says triumphantly with a large grin.
-END OF FLASHBACK-
Hearing this story, a large sweat drop appears on everyone's head.
"Sooo… What happened?" Luna asked, now curious.
"Well, it turned out he was cheating. But Brett told us that the old Sea Hag had it. Then he gave us this Fortune Cane. So we came here to try and see if we can get the map back from the Sea Hag." Alex said.
"A Fortune Cane?"
Everyone looks back to see who said this and noticed the hag. It seems everyone forgot about her during the whole confusion. "Here let me see it boy." When Ramus handed her the cane, she inspects it carefully then puts it into her robe. "Thank you boy. Just what I needed."
"Hey what the…" It looked as if Ramus was about to say more but it looked like the old hag just fell asleep. Unwilling to touch her to get the cane back, and the mere fact that she put it INSIDE her robe where it would touching her bare skin sickened him. So he just let the matter drop.
"We got the chart already anyway. Sooo… let's go back now." And they walked back.
When they entered the ship station, they returned the chart back to the captain. Weeping and thanking them profusely, he told them to the inn and take a nap because they were going to Meribia tomorrow. The group walked to the nearest inn and fell dead asleep, tired of all the action that happened today. The next morning, they rose with the rooster's crow. With the sun shining brightly, the day seemed as if it were going to be perfect.
"Hey, come on guys. The boat is going to be leaving soon. Let's get there early!" Alex shouted.
"Yeah, I'm coming. We ALL are." Ranma said. Unhappy about the early wake.
As the group reached the station, a huge commotion had everyone gathered around. "Hey, what's going on?" Caine asked as he flew around. When the group finally reached the captain after pushing and shoving, they found out why. It seemed that some kind of a huge monster appeared out of the ocean and decided to have the boat as a lunch.
"Aww. Doesn't this ever end? It seems as if the gods are against us." Ranma groaned out. Looking up at the sky, Ranma mutters, "I mean, we got the damn chart, isn't that enough?" Ranma was extremely tired of all the commotion. He was just getting used to a little peace and quiet. However, if you looked at his eyes carefully, you would have noticed a raging fire in the eyes. The old excitement that he experienced so long ago… The chaos that ruled his life… It seems that he missed that part of life more than he thought or admitted even to himself.
"Come on guys! Time to go and kick some butt!" Ranma yelled out as he ran for the ship.
The others quickly joined in. After all, they couldn't leave the crazy git to go and kill himself. So they ran after him in order to get his chestnuts out of the fire. As they ran onto the deck of the ship, they saw what resembled to be a huge booger with a hard center. Imagine a blue booger with a brain in the center with eyes and a mouth. That is basically how it looked like.
"Man that is one ugly son of a-" Ranma didn't have the chance to complete his sentence as the large monster suddenly attacked.
"Ranma! Watch out!" Caine shouted out. Thankfully, Ranma saw it move just in time and jumped out of the way. Out of the side of his eyes, he saw the rest of the group rush onto the ship.
"Ha ha! A monster. Perfect. I'll show you what a real magician can do." Nash cried out. Then he chanted and from his hand grew a ball of lightning. "LIGHTNING BOMB!" As he screamed out the name of the spell, he hurled the glowing ball at the monster. It flew straight towards the monster, however before it reached it, the ball exploded and streaks of lightning came out and struck the monster. "How's that for a REAL show of power." Nash crowed out. That is until the monster healed most of the damage done to it.
"What the hell is this thing!?" Ranma yelled out to the captain.
"It's called a Saline Slimer! The monster usually lives deep in the ocean but surfaces once in a while. It's able to regenerate most of its body. The only way to kill it is to do more damage than it can heal itself."
"Well then… I guess we have to hit this thing pretty hard." Ranma murmured to himself as he got ready for battle.
Alex looked at Nash and said, "Hey Nash! I'll show you what power is like!" Saying this, Alex got into a stance and started concentrating in gathering ki into his body. First, all that was visible was a small aura of blue. Then Alex screamed out "VIGOR!" and the blue flame erupted around him, strengthening his body at an incredible pace.
While this was going on, the rest of the group tried to stall for time. Luna sang the Cascade Song and her magical voice gave strength to Ramus, the person who was having the most trouble battling the Slimer. Ramus wasn't able to do any magic nor able to concentrate enough to use his ki. Thankfully, his bulk gave him some strength and this compensated for most of it.
Ranma in the other hand was proficient in the use of ki. This allowed him to gather up his ki faster than Alex could. Ranma also used his ki for a different purpose than Alex. While Alex used his to boost his attacking power, Ranma just used his to increase defense so that he could soften the blows from the monster. Unfortunately, he is unable to produce his ki blast from the lack of the use of his ki in this life.
"Hey! Ranma!" Ramus called out. "Why don't you do that tornado thingy?"
"You idiot! Didn't you listen when I was explaining that move to you? There has to be hot ki around for me to turn it into Hiryu Shoten Ha. This damn monster is practically made up of water. It doesn't generate near enough hot ki."
"…" Was basically all Ramus could say to that.
As Ranma was battling the Slimer, he had to avoid being hit by the monster. However, not even Ranma can keep on avoiding without getting tired. Just when Ranma thought that the monster was going to attack physically again, it rolled up its head and shot out a gob of mucus. Surprised at the sudden change of attack, Ranma wasn't prepared for it and got hit. "WHAT the HELL is this!" When Ranma tried to move to get the guck off him, he realized that he was stuck.
As Ranma was struggling, the Slimer noticed that one of its preys was unmoving. Seeing victory was near, it slowly approached its target. Ranma was too busy trying to move that he didn't notice until the others cried out a warning. But by then, it was already too late. The Slimer then made its move and started battering away at Ranma. As the hits landed solidly, not even his aura was enough to dampen the attacks. Ranma screamed in pain as the monster did its best to turn Ranma into a pancake.
Luna cried out and covered her eyes as she saw Ranma being beaten to a pulp. The others were only able to watch, unable to turn their gaze from the terrible sight. Luna turned to Alex, "Please, Alex… You have to do something!"
Alex turned to Luna, then back at the scene. Nodding his head with grim knowledge of what he has to do, he runs to the scene. As he approaches the monster, he leaps up into the air and comes slashing downward at the monster. The Slimer being too occupied beating the crap out of Ranma doesn't notice. As Alex is just about to land on its back he yells "SWORD DANCE" After being imbued to the max with his ki, the attack moves ten times faster than it normally would. From the monster flew chunks of jelly like skin. Roaring in pain, the monster quickly backs up. Unwilling to let go of his advantage, Alex pushes himself off the ground and leaps straight at the monster calling out his fury of swords again.
While Alex was fighting off the monster, the rest of the group ran towards Ranma still encased in the substance. As they neared him however, the substance dissolved away and Ranma fell to the ground. When checked, he was found to be unconscious. Suffering severe bruising, and when checked more carefully had several broken ribs and possible internal bleeding. From the way he coughed out blood, his lung seemed to have been pierced also. Luna quickly sang a song of healing, however, some type of interference seems to be interfering and Ranma only healed a little. She tried to use the spell again, however, Nash quickly stopped her.
"Don't use anymore of your spells. It won't work."
"What do you mean it won't work. How do you know that! I can't… I can't just leave him like this…. I… I have to try."
"No. Look carefully at his body." Nash commanded her in a firm voice.
When Luna did as he told her to, she noticed a faint blue aura around him. "What's going on?" she asks, confused.
"It seems that he has some sort of magic working around him. The magic must be the thing that's interfering with your spells. Also, if you look carefully, you will notice that the aura is chaotic. Your spells may have worked on him before, but every time you use any sort of spell on him, you're taking a chance. You could damage him worse. Any of our spells based on order may damage him worse than it normally would. But… If he were to learn how to control his power… Well… He may become a unstoppable demon of tremendous power. The mage's bane I suppose."
"Wh-what?" Luna says with alarm.
"The chaos element is where all our spells were derived from. The Elder Gods used the chaos spell, but even for them it was too much. So they developed the magic that we use even today. The spells use raw energy brought forth from Creation, the place where all life, even the gods were brought forth from. The Order Spells are miniscule compared to the Chaos Spells, however… We are the opposite from each other so are effective, but… Nothing can compare to it."
"But… but Ranma doesn't have any magic abilities." Caine replied. "He can't use any spells."
"That just means that he can't control it. Hedge witches use power similar to this because they didn't have proper teachings. But even theirs are a mix of Order and Chaos. But…but to manifest the power this clearly… He must be a monster."
"NO! Ranma… Ranma isn't a monster. He isn't. He… he can't be." Luna said, depressed.
Nall became angry at Nash who made Luna sad. Angrily he turns around and says, "How do you know all this!?"
Nash at first started to become angry, however soon stopped as he saw Luna. So he decided that for her sake, he would give her the doubt that she longed for. He turns to Nall and say "Because I am the All Great Powerful and Beautiful magician!"
"That's not a reason you twit!" Saying this, Nall smacked him across the face.
Nash just shrugs to this.
Alex, who finally defeated the monster, comes down (forgot him for a moment didn't ya?) to the group. "Hey guys, what's happening? Why look so down?" Alex was totally unprepared for the gloomy look in everyone's face. After all, he just defeated the monster.
Nall, Luna, and Caine filled him in on what Nash said. This quickly killed whatever elated feelings that Alex felt. They took Ranma to the inn while the sailors went back to repairing their ship.
Later in the night, Ranma woke up from his injuries only to find Luna sleeping by his bed. It seems that she was watching Ranma throughout the night and finally fell asleep. Ranma was still weak, but he had enough of his strength back to pick up Luna gently and lay her in the bed that he was sleeping in. Then he covered her with a blanket and quietly left the room.
***
The next morning, the everyone wakes up early and walks outside for a little breeze. They were surprised to find Ranma out there meditation. Alex approached Ranma and tapped him on the shoulder saying, "Ranma? Are you alright?"
Slowly, Ranma opens one of his eyes and looks at Alex. "Just peachy" Then he stands up and stretches out all the kinks in his body. Then he looks around and sees that the group is ready to go. "Well… Shall we go then?" Saying this, Ranma starts to walk to the ship, albeit slowly.
Luna concerned goes up to Ranma and says, "Ranma, you're not done healing yet. You should rest more."
He turns around and gives Luna a smile. Then he says, "Nah, I'm okay."
The group then slowly walk to the ship. Once there, the captain greets them and shows them to their room. Ramus, however starts to grumble at the fact that the rooms are third rate. However nothing could be done about it since the paying customers had the privilege.
Soon, they settle in and the ship starts on the journey. And all seems to be going according to plan. The group settles in and decides to catch some sleep.
Ranma decides to go look around the ship in the meantime and finds a tourist shop. Here he looks through all the merchandise and decides to buy two bars of soap. (hehehe. ^_^) Then Ranma goes back and eat.
***
Later at night, when everyone seems to be sleeping, Alex wakes up. He looks around and finds that both Luna and Ranma is gone. Suspicious, and a sinking feeling in his tummy, Alex decides to investigates.
Nall, his ever-following companion, decides to follow. When they walk outside, they finally find Luna. Here, illuminated by the moon, Luna pours out her heart and feelings in the best way she knows how. Through a song.
Wishing on a dream that seems far off…
Hoping it will come today…
Into the starlit night,
Foolish dreamers turn their gaze…
Waiting on a shooting star…
But what if that star is not to come?
Will their dreams fade to nothing?
When the horizon darkens most…
We all need to believe there is hope.
Is an angel watching closely over me?
Can there be a guiding light, I've yet to see?
I know my heart should guide me but…
There's a hole within my soul.
What will fill this emptiness inside of me?
Am I to be satisfied without knowing?
I will, then for a chance to see,
I wish, then for a chance to see,
Now all I need… desperately
Is my star to come…?
Luna stops singing and just quietly stands there, thinking. Alex who was about to go to her is stopped by Nall. Then they both return to their room quietly and goes to sleep.
***
Ranma who also came out that night sat on top of the cabin. Because of the fact that Ranma was above Alex, and Alex right below Ranma, they didn't notice each other. Ranma had come out that night to think about his life in Nerima. The past few days brought up a lot of the past memories that he thought buried forever. But you can't escape the past, nor you memories.
Feeling melancholy, all Ranma could do was think. Then as he felt himself fall into depression, he heard a song. Looking up, he saw Luna, and with the moon behind her, almost looked divine. As she finished her song, Ranma thought about what her song meant to him. When he came to an understanding, he stood up and clapped.
Luna, surprised that someone was looking, quickly turned around. As she did so however, she lost her balance and fell from the crow's nest. (The top part of the pole on the ship. The place where sailors stand in and shout land ho!) Too shacked to even scream, all she could do was brace for impact.
Ranma jumped and caught her in pure instinct. Adrenaline pumping his body, allowed him to make that move. Luna held on to him tight with closed eyes, however, when she didn't feel any painful impact, but rather a strong comforting grip, she opened one eye and saw Ranma looking down at her.
"Sorry Luna, I didn't mean to startle you."
"Ranma…" Saying his name she looked into his eyes. And this seemed to go on infinitely. "Ranma… You IDIOT! I almost fell!" Saying this she bopped him on the head. Then laughed at his hurt puppy look and gave him a hug. "But… I'm glad you were there to catch me."
Ranma gently put her on the ground, then said, "Come on, let's go back to sleep now." Saying this, both turned to go back into the cabin when Ranma's step faltered. Groaning, he clutched at his ribs.
In alarm, Luna held Ranma up. "Ranma!? What's wrong?" At his unresponsive answer, she called out his name again while shifting, Ranma to hold him better. When she touched the place around his ribs while doing this, her hand came away sticky.. Wondering what it might be, she looked at it and realized that it was blood. She didn't notice it earlier because of his traditional red shirt.
"Luna… Luna just… take me to my room."
"But your injuries!"
"It's okay. Just… just don't tell the guys about it."
"But…"
"Please."
Luna nodded her head in a helpless agreement and helped him to his room. As she was walking to his room, she got the horrible sinking feeling that Ranma hurt himself as he was catching her.
However, almost by magic as if he read her mind, Ranma said, "Luna, don't worry about it. It wasn't because of you. This… this happened before we got on the ship."
After saying that, Ranma had Luna go to bed and refused to let her see the injury. As she was leaving, she saw Ranma getting the bandages ready.
***
The next day, Ranma, and rest of the group stands at the bow of the ship looking towards the horizon. Then Nall shouts out, "Look, Meribia!"
Everyone comes up to the bow and looks ahead. And indeed, there lay their destination. Meribia.
Meribia is a commerce harbor city; they deal mainly in trade and fishing. The contact with other cities made the city prosperous unlike the small village of Burg which was isolated.
"Hey Alex! We finally made it!" Ramus shouts with glee. No doubt thinking about all the money that he will soon have in his hands.
"Will you take a smell of that." Nall said as he takes a deep breath. Nall seems to be in some sort of euphoria.
"Man, what is this smell! Althena! It smells like fish!" Ramus replies as he takes a tentative sniff.
"I know." Caine drools out. He almost looks like a newborn kitten first introduced to catnip. Basically the same reaction you may get when you're high. "Isn't it heavenly?"
"Heavenl-!" Ramus bursts out but is interrupted by Ranma.
"It's not so bad. Almost like sushi. I didn't have one of those in a long time." Ranma says out loud, thinking back during the times in Japan.
"Sushi? Is that food?" Ramus asks eagerly. Getting an affirmative nod from Ranma, he questions more eagerly. "What type of food is it?"
"Sushi? Well it raw fish cut into tiny strips more or less. It tastes the best when it's fresh."
"Raw fish?" Luna says out loud wrinkling her nose. "That seems kind of… unsanitary. What if it has some sort of disease or something?"
"Hey! Don't knock it till you try it." Ranma says out loud in a joking manner. "It's not that bad. You get used to it after a while. Then it starts to taste good. Who knows, maybe even you'll like it."
"Well count me out." Ramus says in a determined voice.
"Hey come on Ramus… Maybe you'll like it. Plus, lets not start another fight. We're finally here in Meribia and everything." Alex says in a tired voice.
"Well, you don't have to worry about that chunko. You could stand to lose a little weight. Plus, who would invite you when I can eat with a cute girl like Luna here anyway." Saying this, Ranma puts an arm around a now blushing Luna. Behind him, you see Alex shooting glares into Ranma's back. If looks could kill, well… let's say Ranma wouldn't be going to eat sushi anytime soon.
"Ranma!" Alex shouts. Hearing this, everyone turns to see what was wrong.
"Yeah?" Ranma asks in his usual clueless manner as he turns around to face Alex.
Now, suddenly embarrassed at his outburst, Alex flushes and just says, "Well, lets go into town. We can eat food there." Hearing this, Ranma, Nall, Caine, and Ramus' stomach growls simultaneously. Hearing this, everyone laughs and the mood lightens immediately. As Alex watches everyone walking towards town laughing and talking animatedly, Alex now feels that he was worried for no reason. After all, Ranma didn't like Luna THAT way did he? Plus, Ranma knew how he felt about Luna. Knowing this, Ranma wouldn't try to steal her away, right? With these semi-assuring thoughts, Alex runs to catch up with the rest of the group.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I'm sorry that it didn't come out sooner. But at least, it's long right? Hope you guys enjoy the story. Dragonmaster may come out slower. I think I might start writing other stories now also. Feedbacks are wanted.
Also for those of you sticklers, yes, I know that I didn't include the part where Luna decides not to go. The reason for this is that I don't think I put in sufficient amount of emotion on Luna's insecurities as the game wanted to show. (Sorry about that.) If I just decided to have that scene, I think that many of the readers who aren't familiar with the Lunar Silver Star Story Complete would have been confused. (The game also didn't show that much insecurities until the boat song.)