Chapter 2: Festival Mayhem (Part 1).
8:00 P.M.
It has been a couple of days after the movie night. Not much has happened since then with the exception of shenanigans in school grounds like the strange explosion in the chemistry lab room caused by a group of geeks attempting to make an alternative plastic preservative substance for their limited edition collection figures.
The wackiness of Director Kuno attempting to enforce his ridiculous haircuts for the umpteenth time, and one afternoon in which Miss Ninoyima set the record for her ki drainage technique in the detention room.
That was stuff that often happened in Furinkan.
It was evening time, there was a nice breeze outside and there were stars in the sky, but not only that. Lights were adorning parts of the city because it was a special date.
It was the day of Tanabata, the day of the Star Festival, a nationwide festive day, and of course Ranma and company were going to be part of it.
Ranma and company were making their way to Shakujii Park, where one of the festivals for the day would be held.
"Brr, maybe it's a bit chill but I'm excited for this year's festival" Akane was wearing a white and yellow yukata, her hair was short but part of it was braided to form a hair crown.
Ranma was walking not far from her, wearing a dark blue yukata with a white wave pattern, other than that there was nothing else.
Kasumi was wearing a simple brown yukata and her hair was adorned with hair sticks and the tips were curled.
Nabiki was using a cyan colored yukata with many small dots of different shades of blue.
Soun and Genma also picked simple choices, grey and black. Genma was sporting his usual white handkerchief headband.
It was going to be their first Tanabata festival since Ranma arrived to Nerima. Akane enjoyed it each year with her sisters. For Ranma and Genma it would be the first time, although the were no strangers to festivals. It just that as Genma strongly held, anything that doesn't help with training is a hindrance.
But for this time, they decided to go with them.
The group approached the festival grounds, alongside Route 25. The booths and stalls started from the path near the parking lot, going further into the baseball field which was rearranged for the purposes of the festival, reaching the two plaza behind it.
The place was very well decorated, Ranma and company arrived at the parking lot where other people was coming and going.
"Akane, over here!"
The Tendo girl turned around and smiled. Her two friends Yuka and Sayuri were not far from where she was. The light brown haired girl waved his hand in the air for Akane to see.
The two approached their friend. Their yukatas had the colors of one another's hair color, both with floral pattern.
"Akane, your yukata looks pretty" Yuka said and Sayuri nodded in agreement with what her friend said.
"Hehe, thanks girls. You two look great too" Placing her hands on their shoulders, one on Yuka's and other on Sayuri's.
The three teens came closer with one another and smiled between themselves, closing their eyes briefly in sync, there was much to see and do. Akane looked over her shoulder to where her father was and he gave her a small nod, letting his daughter go with her friends.
"Don't forget the hour, we'll meet at 10 and half here"
"I'll keep it in mind" with that Akane and her friends left the group.
"My, this place is big" Kasumi commented, the festival took place in a spacious park. "I don't know where to begin"
"Everyone, remember at what time we'll gather" Soun said, Genma was at his side, the two were probably going together.
That left Ranma, Nabiki and Kasumi.
"Well, I know what to check first, see you all later!" Nabiki left on her own, leaving Ranma and Kasumi.
Only the two.
"Uhm, so Kasumi, what do you want to see first?" he asked the eldest Tendo daughter. ",You want me to accompany you?"
Kasumi smiled but declined "It's ok Ranma, I'll be fine going myself, bet there's more exciting things you want to see than what I have in mind"
"Oh?...are you sure?" he asked again.
"Yeah, so go and have fun in there Ranma"
"Ok, if you say so. Later Kasumi" with a quick wave, Ranma left Kasumi and went further in, between the stalls and booths of the festival. He felt a bit bad leaving her on her own, but that is what she wanted. He wondered how it could have been with Dr. Tofu at that moment.
"Later Ranma"
He was sure the good doctor act real embarrassing in her presence, but he was a good man, but didn't have the courage to confess to the Tendo lady, or even having a normal conversation with her.
Well, he was on his own for the moment and he looked around, trying to decide on what to check first. Check the games booths first or something else?
He went in the baseball field area, the sliding doors which were usually closed and only opened for matches was open for the passage of pedestrians that evening. Not far from there, there were the restrooms.
The booths and stalls were arranged across the athletic field.
Decorative streamers and strings of light bulbs were among almost all stand, at each lane, path and alley in a sea of light, mirroring the lights up in the sky, although with the light in the festival grounds it would be hard to stargaze without getting away of the ground lights.
He decided to browse through the game stalls.
Most of the games were in the left and lower left parts of the baseball field.
There were the regular games like the rope ladder climb, ring toss, ring the bell among others.
Ranma passed by a dunk tank in which the purpose was hitting the bulls eye at the other end of the line, which would make the person sitting on the plank high above plunge inside a tank full of water.
There was a small line making attempts to win. Ranma shrugged and went to stand at the end of the line thinking 'why not?'.
The others before him did their attempts, some being real close to the mark, some others missing it by some inches and others with real terrible aiming throwing it anywhere but at the tank.
It was Ranma's turn now. He took the baseball ball, threw it up in the air not too high letting the ball fall back in his hand. Ranma swung his arm around to prepare himself for the throw.
He took a throwing position, stretching his arm behind his back before swinging it fast to the front, launching the white ball with speed.
The round ball sailed across the air like an imaginary yacht making ripples on the ocean with speed and impulse.
It went forward describing a straight line like a tiny comet.
And it hit right on the center of the target with a sound thud, with strength to push the bulls eye behind.
As a chain of reaction, that caused a rope to be pulled down, making the plank up above collapse down, letting the man sitting on it drop down into the water tank.
Ranma was satisfied with himself, that was easy he thought. It only took a strong arm and accuracy.
"Wow, great shot!" the man in charge of the game booth congratulated Ranma for winning.
He stepped aside letting the next in line try his luck. Ranma went to see what other games he could try.
The next one was kinda similar to the previous one. It was a game of ring toss. The objective of the game was to toss a ring at a bed of bottles, if the ring fell around the bottle then he'd win. The bottles were arranged in a square formation with some distance between one another, enough for a ring to fit around one of them.
There were some people playing it. That was the next game the pigtailed boy would test. He was sure he could win it in the first attempt.
He saw some of the contestants win, some others fail too.
Obviously he was going to win it, he thought as other people played.
When his time came he took the ring the man in charge of the game gave him.
"Good luck" those were the words of the man, with a smile on his face.
'Luck? Please…I can win this easily' Ranma disregarded his words, clearly confident in his throw. He prepared himself with ring in hand.
And soon after, Ranma threw the plastic ring.
It flew across the air, describing an arc, spinning in counter clockwise motion as it went forward.
The ring reached its maximum height and from there it glided downwards, aiming towards the bottle bed on the table in the middle of the game stall.
*clink*
And the ring hit on the bottle's mouth, bouncing back in the air finally ending its travel on the ground away from the table.
"Oh, what a shame" the man in charge of the game went to pick the ring.
"Uh…" Ranma couldn't believe it, he failed?
"L-let me try again" he told the man in charge of the game. There's no way he'd let that sit.
"Sure, go ahead" the man replied, handing the plastic ring back to Ranma.
10 minutes later.
*pant pant* *toss*
*clink*
"Oh come on!"
The ring clashed with the bottle's mouth for the seventy fifth time, with the bottle in the third row, fifth column.
Ranma was panting with a vexed expression on his eyes. Behind him there was people who was getting impatient with the pigtailed boy for hogging the game for himself and making them wait.
In contrast, the game owner was as calm as before, picking the ring from the ground.
"Better luck next time!"
Ranma growled out of frustration, he was a tad hunched down. He looked between the crowd and the game owner.
"Humph" the pigtailed boy stood upright again and turned aside crossing his arms.
Some time later.
After the ring toss fiasco, and having calmed down, Ranma went to see the other games and how other people played them.
He was at the upper left area of the baseball field where the markings and the bases were usually located, at that spot, a petting zoo was set up there, a corner where parents are kids were there in company of small animals.
He took the left lane, seeing what else he could do or see.
Soon he reached the food stands area, a place with many food vendors offering different delicacies, from local treats to those from other cities, prefectures, even cuisine from other countries.
The smell of the good food was attracting Ranma, and many other people as well.
He was looking around, checking on what could catch his attention but he wasn't sure what to get. To him it all looked and smelled good.
Weaving around the multitude, Ranma made a short stop, he has been walking around for minutes and curiously enough he hasn't seen Akane or the others. Prolly the are somewhere else around here, he thought to himself.
From that spot he put a hand on his forehead, scouted his surroundings and not far from him he found a certain food stand he recognized well, even if it looked a tad crowded around it, he caught a glimpse and saw the people in charge of it.
"Order ready!"
The bowls of piping hot noodles were being served to the awaiting customers. Behind them more were coming to order some, making it a bit crowded for comfort.
Ranma walked closer to that food stand and squeezing his way through the crowd he managed to reach to the front, where 3 people were managing the stand.
"Hmm, oh. Nihao Ranma!" a purple haired chick caught sight of him while serving a portion in one of the bowls. Her name is Shampoo, hailing from China in a particular region where she is part of a matriarchal tribe of warriors. She is of the same age range as Ranma.
"Sup Shampoo" Ranma replied.
"Ah Ranma, fancy seeing you here" another woman, this time an elder was at the left side of the stand, with Shampoo on the right side. That older woman went by the name of Cologne and she was the great-grandmother of Shampoo.
She was also the leader of the tribe from where she and Shampoo come from. Although because of reasons she was currently in Japan and not in her village in China. Although being of chinese heritage, she spoke japanese very well.
"Saotome is here!?" a third person from behind them stepped forward with a holed sifter filled to the brim with hot noodles. The hot water was seeping out of the sifter leaving the noodles alone.
He was a male with long black hair and thick round glasses. His name was Mousse and he hated Ranma's guts because he thinks Ranma gets in his way of making Shampoo his.
"Keep…working, stupid duck boy!" Shampoo yelled at him. Despite being in Japan, Shampoo's diction of the idiom was pretty much rudimentary, because she wasn't accustomed to it. Chinese was more natural to her.
"Y-yes Shampoo" like a scolded kid Mousse went back to his task.
The three were there just for work, that is why they were not wearing anything special foe the occasion.
"Uh…anyway" putting his attention back at the girls while trying not to get bothered by rhe crowd behind and around him while they kept serving noodles. "What are you doing here? Don't you have already a restaurant for this?"
"Festival Ranma, we sell food here on special date" Shampoo answered in her way, putting broth, noodles and pork in a bowl, passing it to her great-grandmother.
"That's right" Cologne agreed with her great-granddaughter, calling out the next person in order and giving him his bowl. "Please make space, we can't attend you all like this"
Just like that, Ranma saw part of the crowd disperse a bit, letting him some personal space.
"We're because of the special date" Cologne continued "Most people is going to eat outside, and just like all the people here, out in the open"
"Restaurant was closed for today" Shampoo chimed in.
"Ohh, that makes sense" Ranma said. "That's why you're selling here"
"And she's not the only one!" another female voice chimed in the conversation.
Ranma and Shampoo turned their gazes towards who said that. That came from the nearby stand at their right.
And there they found a brunette with long hair, a black and blue outfit, handling a pair of mini spatulas to handle a portion of batter on a flat griddle, mixed with vegetables and shrimp. She took it with both spatulas on each end and with short, quick movements she made the mixture hop a number of times.
"Oh, hey Ukyo"
Her name was Ukyo Kounji, she was a chick Ranma met in his years of childhood, albeit for a short in the middle of his travel. Ukyo was a proficient cook and she had her own restaurant that served its trademark dish: okonomiyaki, a pancake like delicacy made of wheat, vegetables and meat or seafood.
"Howdy sugar" she said.
"Didn't expect you here as well" Ranma replied, then he noticed. Since she was wearing her usual cooking attire then she must have been there for work.
"Well" she served the finished dish to one of the customers aligned around her stand. "Just like them, I'm here to work" There were just as much customers on Ukyo's side. The other stands had their fair share of customers but between Shampoo's and Ukyo's, they had more.
"Oh" Ranma figured as much "But, are you here alone?"
"No" she poured more batter on the griddle "I'm here with Konatsu…I just sent him to do some deliveries that's all"
"Ramma, you here for festival?" Shampoo asked, seeing the attire the pigtailed boy was sporting.
"This?" he glanced at his chest "Yeah, I came with my old man and the Tendos"
"Ok, we got work to do" Cologne said.
That was Ranma's cue to leave. "Well, I suppose I'll see ya'll later" All of them were busy, there was no time to converse.
"Later Ranma"
"Later sugar"
With that he left the food court, maybe he'd get something to eat later.
Meanwhile in a spot in the middle of bushes and trees of the Kutsurogi Plaza. An old man was wandering around there, he had some leaves all over him but he didn't seem to care much about it because he was intoxicated. He probably drank a little too much because he was teetering from side to side. And he was humming a tune, drunk but in high spirits because of the drinks and his face was lit.
Suddenly a light appeared, not far from where the old man. Other than him there was no one around, most people was in the festival grounds.
A soft voice was heard. It sounded female, like the voice of a young woman. "*giggle* what a surprise to find someone here"
"Huh…" the old man opened his eyes. The light became more intense. Subtle voices were heard but their words were undecipherable.
Minutes later.
It was 8:30.
Ranma was again looking around the festival grounds but now almost outside of the baseball field, there was more outside of it and going into the Lawn Plaza.
Most of these stalls and booths were selling small souvenirs, there were some tourists in the site, some from foreign countries.
Along the way he caught a glimpse of Akane and her friends, they looked like they were having a blast. Akane was smiling. He watched them from a distance, with a pensive look. The three were heading down the mid lane in the baseball pitch, getting lost in a sea of people.
He smiled subtly, happy for her.
In the food court, where Mousse, Shampoo and her great-grandmother were. The elder was passing four bowls of their tasty food.
When she suddenly felt something unusual in the air, something that made her stop for some seconds.
She looked around.
'Great grand-mother? Something happen?" Shampoo asked, noticing the old woman gazing around with a stern look.
"Shampoo, Mousse…I want you two to take care of the stall"
"Why?" the purple haired teen asked, puzzled as to what the older woman was saying.
"There's something I have to check" she surmised.
"Uhm…ok, Me and duck boy can take care of it"
Cologne hopped with her wooden staff above the crowd, hopping away on it.
Ranma was roaming around the left lower section of the baseball field where varied types of stands were there.
But for some curious reason he found a large crowd gathered around a spot in the area.
"Hmm, what's going on over there?"
But soon his expression of curiosity turned into one of concern and the crowd ahead entered in panic, with people backing away, some of them running away
"What the?" with increased concern he upped the pace and went towards the crowd. 'Boy, is this serious?'
"What's that thing!?"
"Is that thing even normal? It knocked those men out cold"
"I bet it's a monster!" the outbursts of the people and their state of growing panic didn't make things clear.
'What?' Ranma didn't get what the people was saying.
The pigtailed boy pushed his way through the crowd as people was either feeling in the opposite direction or they felt like they were unable to move.
After getting past them, he found a group of men sprawled on the dirt, they looked beat up and were out of commission.
But that was not the only thing that caught his attention and the others around him. It was also the matter of who beat those men up…or what knocked them out. Because…
It looked like a midget sized person…with fur and a pig head. A head hand tied around its head, and it was sporting a white sleeveless top and black pants tied with a white cord.
Ironic, Ranma thought because of its porcine aspect. That kinds reminded him of someone he knew.
It had a menacing expression. And it locked its eyes on Ranma.
"What are you?...Did you do all this?"
Whatever it was readied itself to strike. Ranma also took a stance himself, if it caused that much damage, what else it could do? And, could he beat it?
The people who still were there watched everything unfold. Whatever it was, it had to be stopped or else things could lead to chaos.
The 'creature' dashed forward fast towards Ranma in matter of seconds, Ranma now had it in front of him, reading a punch. His eyes widened but he fought at that level of speed so he ducked aside to evade the enemy attack.
With it flying past the pigtailed boy with outstretched fist forward. Ranma spun on his spot directing a chop on the enemy's neck.
The hit connected, striking the 'thing' right on the back of its neck, hurling it down and forward with a thud, creating a sliding hole on the grass and soil, spreading dust around.
"*cof cof*" Ranma was still on guard, probably that wasn't enough to put it down so he had to devise a way to fight it right there without causing more damage or involving civilians in it.
The dust cloud dispersed to show that the thing was still there.
But knocked out cold in the dirt, its face etched on the organic floor, with swirly eyes.
"Oh"
And that wasn't Ranma's reaction only, everyone nearby had the same thought, a collective sweat drop rolled.
'That was anticlimactic' the teen thought, approaching the knocked out anthropomorphic enemy, touching it with the tip of his sandal.
"What the heck is this anyway?" he asked himself, looking at it with a mixture of curiosity and contempt.
The crowd begun to disperse somehow, avoiding of course coming in contact or even watching whatever thing that was out cold in the dirt hole.
"That Ranma is a spirit"
"Huh?" the mentioned turned around to find Cologne standing on top of her staff some steps away.
The elder hopped on her staff, standing close and between Ranma and the pig like opponent he just defeated.
"Certainly, I can feel it"
"Eh, what are you saying? How can it be a spirit? I just beat it with a single chop"
"This one materialized but is a genuine one" Cologne said. "The subject of spiritual matters and the supernatural is vast"
"Can ya tell me what's that thing doing here? It looked like a threat but meh" Ranma rolled his eyes.
"Make no mistake Ranma" she interjected "These don't seem deadly but they can be a nuisance, that is why those were sealed…though I wonder how they managed to be freed"
"Do you know about them?" Ranma asked.
"I do" Cologne answered "But first let's seal this one before it regain consciousness" outta nowhere she brought what looked like a stone made urn just as big as her and a paper seal inscribed with characters over it.
She put the piece of paper on its forehead and after chanting something in what seemed like an old chinese dialect, the curious anomaly turned into an orb of light and was sent inside the stone urn.
"Neat…" Ranma mouthed after seeing that.
"Let's head somewhere else, and I'll tell you everything" Ranma followed the old woman. What was that thing? And why it seemed like there was more of it?
Ranma and Cologne moved away from the multitude, onto a spot close to the park's lake. To their fortune, there was no one around there so they could talk without someone listening.
"So, what's going on?" Ranma was sitting on the grass facing the lake. There were less lights on that part of the park so the stars were more visible on the sky. "What was that thing?"
"That spirit was sealed for centuries" Cologne was behind the pigtailed boy, perched on her staff "It and other three spirits were the cause of problems of a small village in China, until they were sealed in that stone urn"
"How did it get here in Japan?" that question was bound to be asked.
"It used to be guarded in that village's shrine but a thief stole it in the dark of night. The urn was declared lost and it roamed around the land since then, causing disgrace wherever it was"
"You say it like it's something grave" Ranma looked over his shoulder, in her direction. "I did a quick number outta that lil' thing"
"That was the weakest one, at least in that state" Cologne replied, which made Ranma raise an eyebrow. "I told you there were three besides that one, right?"
Ranma nodded.
"The others are more crafty and astute. They are not a strong bunch, but physical strength is not everything…"
"What do you mean?" Ranma asked.
"Spirits, demons and supernatural creatures exploit the human weaknesses" the elder spoke "They feed with our uncertainty, fear, hatred…one has to be cautious not to fall in their influence"
"Those four, specially the other three are devious"
"Oh…"
Silence fell, the breeze blew through the branches and leaves of the trees.
"Wait…" Ranma got up and approached the old woman with a bit of haste, stumbling a bit "If we saw this one, does that mean?"
Cologne nodded, guessing what Ranma was trying to say.
"Yes Ranma, I can feel the presence of the others"
"Can you sense where they are?" he asked again.
"I can't pinpoint their exact location but I sense they are in this park"
"What are we gonna do?" in that moment an idea occurred to him "I get it. How bout' we get the others?"
"No, that won't do…" Cologne said "A group will alert them and make them hard to seal"
"…then it's just us two?"
"It seems that way"
Both turned around, the overhead lights at the festival grounds spread a glow in the sky that was seen from above the top of the trees near the two.
"Well, we gotta move on" Ranma cracked his neck and knuckles.
Cologne merely looked at him.
Looks like they got a job cut out for them.
End of Chapter 2, part 1.
Author's notes: Greetings everyone, your girl Ranko here with the author's notes, so let's begin.
I hope you liked what I did with this chapter. I did a lot of research for it, and I think it flows naturally.
I was trying to base it in a festival type episode so my first search of interest was of what festivity it would be about, although I had some problems finding results at first but after digging a bit more, my search found something.
I tried my best to make it real good (up to my standards) and avoid any mistakes. If there is any error, I'm real sorry, honest!
Finally, this turned out to be a big episode so I broke it in parts, the next part is ready, I just need to check for mistakes and final touches.
I hope you enjoy it and please leave your reviews, it'll help me. Thanks for reading, following and favoring my story.
Without further ado, I give you my thanks in advance and hope you all have a great time.
Ranko out!