Chapter 10
Hesitate and aware of his surroundings, Ranma entered through the door to the first of three chambers stated by Tsubasa that he would have to beat. It wasn't like he could go backwards with the ceiling vent shut tight.
He knew he was deep underground. Nabiki had told him the previous owner of the Tasei Mansion was an eccentric gamester who build his own "funhouse" under his residence. Tsubasa and his family now owned it. But Ranma wondered what he'd experience, what hurtles he would have to jump through? What games awaited him?
He was both curious and nervous at the same time.
Suddenly, the door slammed shut behind him locking him in complete darkness. He turned sharply back and banged on the shut door. His heart pounded with nervousness and fear. And he had to stop himself from using one of his special techniques to escape the trap he had just fallen in.
"Tsubasa!" he shouted.
When the room lights flashed on, it was like a lightning strike in a storm. Ranma was temporarily blinded. He rubbed his eyes, then blinked to regain his vision.
"Ow! That hurt!" What lay before him was nothing but an empty room. "What gives?"
A large projection screen emerged that masqueraded as the wall itself with Tsubasa's face on. His captor smiled devilishly. "Greetings Saotome, and welcome to my funhouse!"
Ranma grit his teeth. "I'm not in the mood to play your stupid games, Tsubasa! I came for Ukyo!"
Tsubasa chuckled. "Oh, but they coincide," he reminded Ranma. "You're now trapped and if you wish to leave you'll follow my instructions. This room like the others that follow have task to complete. Beat the room and then can you move on to the next chamber. But fail to solve it in time and you'll be punished."
"Punished?" Ranma said.
Tsubasa continued. "Each task is designed with you in mind, Saotome. You have three rooms to make it through."
"You're playing dirty!""
"You need to prove your worth to Ukyo."
"I don't gotta prove nothin' to you or anyone else!" Ranma sneered. "What consequences?"
A blue electronic timer appeared on the bottom of the screen with an allotted start time of three minutes.
A blue electronic timer appeared on the bottom of the screen with an allotted start time of three minutes.
What have I gotten myself into?
Ranma called this a personal matter, but now things had turned into some sort of sick joke. They called people like Tsubasa "mad men". Already witnessing it, Ranma had no doubt the guy was unstable.
I underestimated his tenacity. I hope the questions aren't too hard?
"Good luck to you," Tsubasa said with a smug. "Your time begins now!"
The screen went dark, but he knew Tsubasa was still listening.
On the screen resided a question: WHAT ARE THE MAIN INGREDIENTS TO MAKE OKONOMIYAKI?
"But there are so many different varies of Okonomiyaki?" Ranma said.
He never thought about it. He never actually watched Ukyo make her craft. It was always delicious, that's all he knew. He should have paid more attention. He was her friend after all and friends shared in their friend's passions.
Oh god, I have no idea!
Just then, a series of flat sized objects with thin handles began to emerge from the walls and ceiling.
Ranma didn't need to be told what they looked like, they had all the appearance of giant spatulas, and once they fully emerged out from their slots, the one's from the walls began to move from side-to-side, and the one's from the ceiling began to move back-and-forth like pendulums—each with razor sharp edges.
There was a total of eight, two on each wall and four dropped from the ceiling.
"The purpose of this room is to make it to the other side much like a chicken, without getting your head cut off," Tsubasa said with a snicker. "Are you a chicken, Ranma Saotome?"
"You sick bastard!"
"Try not to cut the rest of your pigtail off," Tsubasa added, and laughed.
Ranma grumbled under his breath. He vowed to get Tsubasa back for that.
He returned his thoughts back to the main objective, the question. And then he remembered something when he thought back, visionally seeing how Ukyo prepared and made Okonomiyaki.
"Flour, Bacon, Cabbage," he said.
Suddenly, three of the giant spatulas stopped swinging—one on each wall and one in the ceiling. It was then he make a connection to the eight spatulas, and surmised there must be "eight" main ingredients.
"Okonomiyaki Sauce," another spatula stopped—one from the ceiling.
He now had four ingredients left.
They began to move at a rapid speed now, there was no way he run between them if he tried. They moved with equal timing, nothing to circumvent.
"Flakes and mayonnaise," he said. But the spatulas continued to swing, none stopped.
"Saotome…you are on the right track, but you must be specific to stop the spatulas. What kind of flakes and mayonnaise are used as trappings on Okonomiyaki? And you have one more ingredient to complete the pancake."
Ranma ruffled his hair in frustration. He couldn't remember. He had never asked Ukyo how she made it. After this, he would make it a point to ask her how she make her Okonomiyaki. For interest and a suitor.
"You have two minutes left, Saotome. If you can't find your way across, your punishment will be assured."
"If I try to make my way through now, I'll be cut to ribbons," Ranma rebuked.
"Quite true. Ever since you've known Ukyo, you never truly understood her. Otherwise, this question would be easy."
Ranma grumbled under his breath. But Tsubasa was right. And he admit it. He took Ukyo for granted.
He knew he would never get through without some kind of ingenuity, but he was feeling the tension and couldn't think straight. He needed to find a way through this "slaughter" funhouse room, but nothing jumped out at him.
He was told if he used his special techniques, he would immediately lose, and Ukyo would probably suffer.
Suddenly, a buzzer sounded—warning him that one minute was left. He had been thinking, distracted. He couldn't allow the next last minute to pass without some sort of response.
And then he saw it. A marginal opening for him to get through without having to battle the razor-sharp spatulas. The rest of the ingredients were not coming to him, there would be no way to stop the spatulas. Hence, he had to get through another way—a non-conventional way.
He leapt up into the air and jumped onto the nearest spatula handle that had come out from the wall and held on. The handles didn't touch each other, but the edges of the spatula missed each other by inches, and where he was, the ceiling spatulas couldn't reach him. He was basically safe, except for the increasing speed of the spatulas which threatened to throw him off and right into the path of one of those razor-sharp edges.
He hopped from location to location, like a spider monkey—his martial arts reflexes doing him justice, and he leapt for one of the ceiling spatulas and hung up, lifting his legs from a passing "wall" spatula. With each passing second, the spatula increased its speed. He started to feel nauseas.
He could see the door on other side. And one more leap would bring him victory.
He decided to take the leap, when the buzzer sounded. The time had run out.
"NO!"
He hung on, as the spatulas began to slow.
"Oh no," he muttered. He wondered what his punishment would be.
"You failed to pass the room in the time allotted, Saotome," Tsubasa's voice rang through the speakers. "Therefore, you will be punished. But don't worry, it's nothing lethal."
"What could've possessed someone to even conceive such a room? It's just pure madness!" Ranma said.
He dropped to the floor. He was a little out of breath. "Okay, Tsubasa, Punish me! Do your worse! But I'm still goin' through to the next room! I'll beat your funhouse and rescue Ukyo, one way or another!"
"Oh, by all means, Saotome. I never said you couldn't continue," Tsubasa said.
Ranma blinked confused. He thought if he lose in a room, that was it.
All of sudden, a jettison of water hit Ranma square-centre in the face from a hole in the wall.
The effect was immediate, and Ranma changed sexes. His clothes hung loose on him, except for his chest—which now had sprouted buxom breasts.
Ranma flipped his arms to knock off the water, brushing back his hair. "That's it? That was my punishment?"
Ranma heard Tsubasa laugh.
"I told you it would not be lethal. Call it a warning, per se."
Ranma then said, "You planned this, didn't'cha? There was no way in hell I was going to pass this room, right?"
"A true suitor would be attentive to detail. You only care about your martial arts. What Ukyo sees in you is beyond me. And, there are eight main ingredients to Okonomiyaki. You got four right. If only you specified what kind of flakes—Dried Seaweed and Dried Bonito—you may have had a fighting chance with the spatulas. And the best mayonnaise to use is Kewpie and the last ingredient in the pancake is Dashi Powder."
Ranma kicked himself for not knowing them all.
"Now that I'm all wet, Tsubasa, and changed—now what?"
"You advance to the next room, of course." Tsubasa laughed.
And the door to the next chamber opened for Ranma.
Tsubasa sat in a leather chair in the Control Room and watched the series of screens showing rooms of his Funhouse. Cameras were mounted in everywhere with multiple angles. The previous owner was very thorough.
He laughed, swinging his chair around in joyous glee. He was having so much fun!
Only a separate screen, he had a camera mounted in the room of his "secret room" with Ukyo. She was chained to the bed posts, struggling to free herself. But unless she had the ket to the chains, it would be futile. He reached into his pocket and brought out the key.
He looked longingly at it. "This key is symbolic, my dear, dear Ukyo," he said. "With it, and when you finally accept me—love me only—I will unlock your chains, and unlock your heart." He felt his chest pound as she thought of Ukyo. He loved her more than anything else. And he would have her whatever the cost.
Ranma was a lot weaker now in his female form and the next room would be ultimate undoing. He purposely made every room next impossible for Saotome to defeat. It was something he knew Ranma Saotome would never beat!
"You're a fool, Saotome, and I know all your weaknesses! This next room will be your last!"
Just then, he heard a rumbling, and the door to his Control Room crashed open with debris everywhere. Tsubasa put his arms across his face.
He gasped, unbelieving, when he looked up.
It was Ryoga Hibiki and Akane Tendo.
"How dare you! You were to stay outside beyond the gates! Those were the rules!"
"Did you really think we'd just stand by after you kidnapped Ranma?" Akane said angrily. Ryoga cracked his finger knuckles. "Now, where is Ukyo? And Ranma?"
Ryoga grabbed Tsubasa before Tsubasa could turn and touch a red button next to a keyboard. It would initiate an immediate stop the games. It was a device the old owner installed to stop the games to prevent injury. However, as rumour had it, the button failed, and one of his players died as a result. Tsubasa reprogrammed it to cause Ranma to immediately lose. The loss would mean Ukyo would become Tsubasa's forever!
But he cursed his ineptness as Ryoga had had stopped him.
Tsubasa struggled against Ryoga's iron grip and Tsubasa was shoved against the back wall. He let out a huff of air as his back hit hard. He stared into the insane eyes of this brute.
Tsubasa gulped.
"Where is Ukyo?" Ryoga demanded.
Just then, the screens flashed. Akane bolted to the screens.
Ranma had reached the second chamber in Tsubasa's Funhouse.
And he had changed from male to female, somehow getting wet.
The previous room, seen on another screen was filled with razor-sharp spatulas. Now Ranma was in another room filled with a water moat and a cage on a centre island. Someone was inside the cage.
It was then the audacity of what Ranma was about to face filled the screen.
"Oh my god!" Akane said. "It's—it's…Shampoo!"
Ryoga gasped with shock. "Shampoo? How—I mean, how did she get here?" Ryoga looked towards the screen Akane was looking at and saw Shampoo trapped in a cage surrounded by a water moat.
Tsubasa laughed despite the situation. "I conduct my research very well, she is yet another one of Ranma's suitors. And one that Ranma cares for, if not as equally, to yourself, Akane Tendo, and Ukyo. Hence, if he's to beat my second room, he's going to have make a choice. And I know his ultimate weakness here. He utterly hates cats!"
And above Shampoo, a large hose of water began to spurt out, filling the room, and engulfing the trapped Amazon.
"She'll drown!" Akane said.
Ryoga slammed Tsubasa against the wall. "How do we stop this! Tell us!"
But Tsubasa only laughed. And laughed.
And laughed.
To be continued...
