A/N: Welcome back! After a long wait, I have finally decided to update "Ranma and the Land of Symphonia." The thing is, as I was writing this story, I realized that the name "Ranma and the Land of Symphonia" is a bit much for a story title, so I'm currently trying to find an alternate name. If you have any suggestions, I'd like to hear them. Without further ado, on with the story.
Chapter 15: Battle Against the Kraken
And
Desian's Desires
Ranma watched as Kratos released controlled lightning in his hand into the blade, as if persuading it that the blade was where it wanted to go. Instead of a fast concentrated stream, it was a slow and graceful, like putting the finishing touches on a meal. Beside Kratos, Genis was doing the same thing to Lloyd's other blade, albeit a little less graceful.
Meanwhile, while the Kraken couldn't penetrate the ship, the passengers on board did not have such protection. The Kraken also seemed to realize this and started going for the people.
"How much dodge longer do duck you need?" yelled Ranma, furiously dodging the whip like tentacles.
"30 seconds, hold on!"
"Genis! Look out!"
The elf had just stood up from enchanting Lloyd's sword only to see a particularly thick tentacle coming at him. With no time to duck, he put his hands in front of his face...
PUSH
Only to be knocked out of the way at the last minute by Lloyd. The tentacle smacked into Lloyd and sent him flying into the side of the boat, unconscious.
"LLOYD!" Genis stood up and rushed over to his friend.
"He's ok," said Raine calmly, coming up beside him, "Get him below deck before he gets thrown overboard."
"Ranma! Catch!" Ranma turned just in time to catch Lloyd's swords by the hilts, "I hope you know how to use them," said Kratos as he drew his sword and cut at the tentacles.
Although the practice of anything goes forbade the use of weapons, they weren't completely ignorant of them. After all, the best way to counter a style was to know it and practice it. Therefore, Ranma knew the basics of several sword forms.
The lightning that raced along the blade briefly shocked Ranma's hand, almost making him drop it, but then lessened to a small tingle, as if welcoming him as a kindred spirit.
"I'll be back in a minute!" shouted Ranma as he jumped over the side of the boat.
"You have 30 seconds."
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Ranma dove gracefully off the side of the boat, the two swords enchanted with lightning in each hand. The water was at a near freezing temperature, but he quickly adjusted to it, subconsciously using his aura to heat up his body. Swimming carefully so as to not impale himself with Lloyd's swords, Ranma made his way into the depths to where the Kraken's head was.
The sight of the Kraken's body nearly made him drop the swords.
Nearly 10 feet underwater was the body of the beast, looking like an oversized squid, with its enormous and countless appendages reaching up towards the boat that seemed miniature in comparison. With its sheer size it could have easily pulled the entire boat underwater without even having to break through the hull or deal with its protection spells. Seeing as it hadn't done that quite yet, Ranma had to assume that the beast was just plain stupid. A lucky break for them.
The beast also had a single eye, swamp green, clearly seen even through the murky depths of the water, giving off an eerie glow. But perhaps the worst part was its mouth, a gaping maw of teeth the size of his hand. It was a sight that he wouldn't soon forget.
It was a good thing that the Kraken's attention was fully on the ship. He didn't believe that he would have had as easy a time with it if the things attention were focused on him. Swimming as quickly as he could, Ranma got close to the monster without going into the view of its eye. With a shout of triumph, he drove both swords into the back of the Kraken.
The effect was near instantaneous. All of the tentacles seemed to lock up as the volts traveled up and down the length of its body, the electricity conducting quite well in the water.
Then, as if in slow motion, the whole body of the beast retreated down under the water.
Ranma would have watched longer, but he was suddenly reminded of his need for air. With a last glance, he kicked his feet and rose to the surface, the enchanted blades tightly in hand.
But the Kraken wasn't done yet.
Faster than Ranma could ever move through water, one last whip like tentacle sped towards Ranma, wrapping itself around his neck, cutting off his already limited air supply. In panic, Ranma brought his hands to his neck, furiously grabbing at the slippery appendage. Lloyd's swords, dropped in the surprise attack, sank to the bottom of the sea.
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Back up on deck, everyone was regrouping from the attack. Although the battle had barely lasted 5 minutes, everything on deck was knocked over and several pints of water had gotten on board. The holes in the ship needed to be patched up and...
"Ship off the starboard side!" shouted Captain Duo from the crows nest.
"Um..." Lloyd scratched his head, "What's starboard?"
"It's on your right!" Everyone turned right and saw nothing, "No you fools! Your other right!"
Everyone turned left and saw nothing.
"Bloody hell! Its right there!" Captain Duo pointed towards the front of the boat.
Sure enough, there was a ship coming towards them, but unlike the sailboats and fishing-boats that were seen commonly in the harbors of small villages, this one had metallic plating on it, and was traveling towards them faster than any sailboat could go.
"That's a Desian battle cruiser." Said Kratos gravely, "It seems that the Desians know who is on this boat."
Suddenly, Lloyd had another revelation, "Guys! Where's Ranma?"
There was a seconds pause and then...
SPLASH!
SPLASH!
Kratos and Lloyd were in the water.
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Cant...breathe...
Oxygen was becoming a pleasant memory down in the murky depths of Ranma's prison. His mouth was filled with water and he could almost feel his lungs collapsing. Desperate, he tried to mount a ki blast, but his concentration was rapidly fading.
Need...air...
The surface was a mere three feet away, but the super strong grip of the Kraken had halted his progress permanently. As a last ditch hope, he tried to mount a last offensive against the beast. He searched his body for any energy he had left.
And it came.
The last traces of his mental blocks became undone. Suddenly lightning was arcing all across his body, his eyes turning a brilliant shade of violet and sending a stream of controlled electricity through his body and into the tentacle. For a brief moment the tentacle seized up, and then fell limply back into the depths of the sea, defeated at last. Ranma only had time to give off his trademark grin before blacking out from the lack of air.
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On Deck...
'Kratos, wherever you are, hurry your ass up!' thought Captain Duo franticly as he watched the Desian warship get closer and closer. With Ranma, Lloyd, and Kratos overboard, they couldn't move their ship, effectively making them sitting ducks.
The only answer the sea gave was several bubbles rising to the surface.
'Damn. I hate to do this, but I think the only option we have is to jump ship, but if the Desians see us then we'll be killed! Unless...'
Captain Duo cast a furtive glance at the Desian warship before making up his mind.
"Everyone! Get below deck! We're jumping ship!"
"How we gonna jump ship below deck?"
"Just shut up and trust me!"
Moving quickly, the chosen's group moved below deck into Captain Duo's cabin. The captain then proceeded to tear apart his bunk, sending sheets and feathers flying everywhere.
"What are you doing?"
"A year ago I installed a trap door just for occasions like this when I needed to jump ship without being seen."
"And why on earth would you ever need to do that?"
"Well, it's easier than kicking a hole in the side of my boat like last time."
Captain Duo pulled away the frame of the bunk and revealed a trap door. Gripping the handle he tried pulling it with no success.
"Damn! It's rusted shut!"
There was a huge crash and everyone had to brace themselves as the ship rocked violently.
"The Desians are here!" shouted Colette.
"Move," Commanded Raine in a tone of absolute authority.
Captain Duo did what any man in his situation would do and got the hell out of the way.
SMASH!
The trap door flew off its hinges, along with a good portion of the starboard side.
Captain Duo mumbled something about price gouging bastards before addressing the crew again, "Alright, everyone jump!"
One by one, each member of the crew jumped through the sizeable hole that Raine had made. Finally, only Raine and Duo were left.
"Um…" started Raine nervously, turning back to look at Duo, "Is this a bad time to tell you that I can't swim?"
The captain resisted the urge to facefault. Such a maneuver would waste valuable time. Instead, he smiled at her, "Yep. I don't think you could have picked a worse time."
With that, he grabbed Raine by the waist and jumped overboard, just as the Desians broke down the door.
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SPLASH!
Raine flailed around franticly for a few seconds, looking for something to grab on to, only relaxing when her hands found the trap door she had kicked out moments earlier.
"Well, now what do we do?" asked Colette.
Captain Duo turned to Colette to see that she had her angel wings out and was hovering above the water. 'Lucky girl.'
"We sit, wait, and hope for someone to rescue us." Explained Captain Duo simply.
"And just how long is that going to take?" sputtered Genis, trying to spit out a mouthful of water his impromptu dive had given him.
Duo shrugged and began floating on his back, "Don't know, could be a day or a week. I was out here for 10 days once before someone found me and gave me something to eat."
SPLASH!
It was at that moment Kratos and Lloyd surfaced, dragging a waterlogged and unconscious Ranma in tow.
"Yeah? Well I have a better plan." Commented Kratos, "Colette, do you think you can carry Lloyd?"
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"Commander!"
"What is it? Have you finished your search of the ship yet?"
"Yes sir. The chosen's group and the captain of the ship are gone
"What? Impossible!"
Another soldier came up behind the first and confirmed the report, "It's true sir. We searched the whole ship and there's no trace of anybody. It does look like the ship has been attacked though. Someone may have gotten here before us."
"Could they have jumped ship?"
"Unlikely sir. We had their ship in view the whole time they were on deck. We would have known if they had jumped or not." Said the first Desian.
"But what about all the holes in the ship? Maybe they could have jumped through one of those!"
"And I'm telling you that we were at the perfect angle on their ship to see where they would have jumped off!"
"Silence," ordered the commander, "Our orders are to bring the Chosen back alive and unharmed. I want this ship torn apart and searched, and then I want you to check the waters within 5 miles of this ship. They couldn't have gotten far."
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Colette breathed heavily with effort as she hauled Lloyd over the railing of the Desian warship. Exhausted, she slowly sank down back to water, giving Lloyd a reassuring nod before disappearing from view.
Taking the sword Kratos had loaned him, Lloyd snuck up behind an unsuspecting guard who was watching the proceedings on the Centennial Hawk and not paying attention to his surroundings.
Not even his helmet could protect him from the blunt trauma that Lloyd caused when he brought the hilt down upon the guys head.
While Lloyd could bring himself to kill people when he had to, he couldn't really bring himself to stab someone in the back. Taking a moment to make sure he was knocked out, Lloyd looked around for some type of rope he could use.
Spying the life preserver on the side of the ship, Lloyd quickly cut the rope off, not bothering with the knots, and tied it to the railing. Then he threw the rope overboard.
Kratos climbed up, followed shortly by Genis and Raine, the latter looking like she wanted to throw up over the rail.
Finally, Colette who was still in the water tied the rope around Ranma, allowing Kratos and Lloyd to haul him up.
As soon as Ranma was brought over the rail, Raine immediately went to work checking his vital signs and administering healing.
"How is he?" asked Kratos.
"He'll live. His lungs just need to cough up the water."
As if to prove her point, Ranma suddenly sat up hacking up seawater. The coughing went on for a few seconds before he could coherently talk again.
"Ranma? Are you ok? What happened down there?" asked Colette, fawning over him.
"Drove it…off…hopefully…"
"Keep watch over him," Commanded Kratos, "I'm going to have a word with the captain of the ship," bending down to the knocked out Desian, he unsheathed his sword and threw it to Lloyd. Then, with two swift blows, he knocked away the planks the Desians had used to board their ship.
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10 minutes later…
"Bloody hell, I had to abandon another boat," Muttered Captain Duo under his breath, "and I was still making payments on it too."
Ranma sweat dropped but said nothing.
"Where's Kratos?" he asked after a bit.
"Talking to the captain."
"Indeed. And he has agreed to let us ride free."
Everyone turned to Kratos, who had the captain of the ship at sword point, with several minor cuts and gashes.
"In fact, after some debate, he agreed to give us the ship and vacate the premises immediately." With that, Kratos placed a solid kick in the man's back and sent him overboard.
"Most of the troops, along with the captain of the guard, are on our ship and unfortunately, they have no way to get back."
It was true. Han Duo's ship was about half the size of the Desian warship, making travel between the two ships difficult without the planks Kratos had knocked into the ocean.
"Ranma, Lloyd! I want this ship cleared of Desians. Search everywhere, including bunks and storage rooms. The main fighting force may be on Duo's ship but I don't want to be surprised later."
Ranma gave a mock salute in reply and ran off with Lloyd in tow.
"Captain Duo, do you think you can drive one of these things?"
"Aye, well it can't be too difficult."
"Then you'll follow me to the bridge."
"Wait," cut in Genis, "What about us?"
"You'll go down to storage and salvage anything you can. Lloyd also needs a new set of swords so check the armory if they have one here. "
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"Commander!"
"What?"
"Our ship is leaving!"
"WHAT?"
"I said our ship is…"
"I didn't tell you to repeat that! Where the hell is the captain of the ship?"
"Right here sir." Two Desians supporting a third walked up to the captain.
"Co…man…der…" the wounded man breathed heavily, "Chosen's…group…took ship. Sorry."
The man's head slumped down on his shoulders, his eyes closed.
The commander turned away from the captain and mentally swore to himself, "Well, there goes my career down the drain."
Sighing to himself and preparing himself for a long task ahead of him, he asked, "Can anyone here use a sailboat?"
No one replied.
'Well I suppose it could be worse.'
GOOSH!
There was an explosion of water on the starboard side of the ship. Everyone turned to see what caused the disturbance. When the water cleared, a huge tentacle was visible.
'Aw hell.'
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The chosen's group watched solemnly as the Kraken crumpled up the wooden boat like tissue paper.
"That's odd, I thought I drove it off." Commented Ranma airily.
"Nothing keeps that beastie down for long," said Captain Duo at the helm of the ship, "Believe me, I've tried everything from cannonballs to lightning blades. The most I've ever been able to do is stun 'er for a while."
"How long has that thing been after you?" asked Raine.
"Oh, I'm going on about 8 years now."
"And how many ships have you gone through?" questioned Genis.
"Well, counting this one, my twentieth."
"You're planning on keeping this?"
"Sure! Why not? It's faster than any other boat I've owned."
"And it will also get you shot on sight if anybody sees it." Commented Kratos.
"Well, that be a risk I'm willing to take."
Seeing as how there was nothing left to say, everyone turned back towards the ruins of the ship, which was little more that driftwood now.
"You boys can rest easy now. It'll be a month or two before the beast catches my sent again."
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Ranma sat in his new cabin, going through the meditative kata that Kratos had taught him.
Down in the water, he had been able to grasp something separate from his ki, and it was solid confirmation of his elvin ancestry. However, he had no idea where that came from.
Puzzling over that would be pointless though. He wanted to learn how to use it, no matter where it came from. Looking into his core where his ki was, he found the other energy, weak, but present.
It was not part of his ki though. The magic energy had a separate core and different roots.
'Well, it should handle like ki though…'
Taking some of the energy, he pictured the lightning he used down in the ocean and channeled it through his body to his hand.
BZZZZZT!
Anyone who was watching could have sworn they could've seen Ranma's skeleton flash as lightning coursed all over his body, dropping his electrocuted self down onto the cabin floor, unconscious.
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"Hey!"
Ranma grumbled to himself as he strained to open his eyes. Something was poking him in the side but he didn't want to make the effort to move.
"HEY!"
A hard jab to the side woke Ranma out of his daze. He looked around to see Genis poking him in the side with his Kendamma.
"Genis! What are you doing here?"
"Checking up on you. After that catastrophe with your magic like that, I'm surprised you were only out for an hour."
"Wh-what happened?"
"You tried channeling your magic energy through your body. Your lucky you tried lightning first, otherwise you could have been much worse off."
"What I'd do wrong?"
"You pictured the element you wanted before you had a good hold on the magic energy. This caused the element to run through your whole body."
For a second, Ranma wondered what might have happened if he had tried to use fire…and just as quickly decided he didn't want to know.
"Can you teach me…to do it the right way then?"
"I suppose I'd better before you kill yourself. I dunno how good of a teacher I'll be though."
"I'm sure you'll be fine. You've mastered it."
"Yeah but doing something and teaching something are two different things entirely. Besides, it feels awkward teaching someone older than me."
Ranma snorted, " I learned a long time ago, that when any type of art is concerned, its skill, not age that makes the person. Back where I came from, I beat up plenty of people who were older than me. There was this one man in particular…"
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ACHOO!
Genma sniffed and rubbed his nose.
'Hmm, someone must be talking about me.'
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A/N: Wow, its four AM in the morning and I just finished this chapter. I hope that this shows how dedicated I am to my writing.
Ranma: Oh please. If you were that dedicated you'd update more than once a month.
ClanCrusher: Oh shutup.
