Ranma spent the next couple of hours exploring the Iron King, dropping out of the Umi-Sen-Ken periodically to conserve energy. He hadn’t found the Edge Guard yet, but he did find a weapons storage room. One knocked out guard and a picked lock later, and he’d acquired a nice pair of lightning stones that fit perfectly in his new gloves. Glancing down at the faintly glowing yellow stones, he clenched his hands into fists and a surge of electricity crackled over them. ‘These could come in handy.’
He’d also spent the time adjusting to his new body. He was now taller and bulkier than he was used to, and the tail had also thrown off his balance even more until he’d learned to wrap it around his waist like a belt. It wasn’t the best solution, but it would do until he could get some training in. His enhanced senses were also taking some getting used to, but his hearing had helped so far by alerting him to the presence of approaching sailors. His ears twitched as he picked up the sound of a number of people walking in his direction. Thinking quickly, he jumped and caught the bundle of pipes running along the ceiling and hauled himself up, slipping back into the Umi-Sen-Ken and locking his feet around the pipes.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Spellvis was annoyed, to say the least. The prisoners had refused to talk, and had refused to consider his offer of leniency in exchange for the location of their base. Forcing himself to calm, he remembered his threat; if they didn’t talk to him, there were a number of wererats in Valua who would be more than happy to make them talk. Several of the Admirals had such interrogators in their crew, but Spellvis had always been reluctant to associate himself such torture. He was a musician, and although he would kill his enemies in a heartbeat, he had no taste for inflicting pain.
One of his guards spoke up. “Sir, what do you want us to do with the prisoners now?’
Spellvis answered without hesitation. “Let ‘em cool they’ah heels in th’ cells. We’ll be in Valua Capital in an hour, and no pirate has evah escaped th’ city.”
With a nod of acceptance the guard fell silent, and the group continued on their way.
Ranma dropped silently from the ceiling and stalked down the hallway the goons had emerged from with all the noise of a shadow.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sheila stopped in mid-pace and turned to her brother, who was sitting in a meditative position. “So, lets go over our situation one more time. We’re locked in a cell laced with silver.”
Gar nodded. “Right.”
“We’re headed for the Valuan Capital.”
“Right.”
“The Capital City that no prisoner has ever escaped from.”
“Correct.”
“We’re going to be tortured when we get there.”
“Apparently.”
The petite Jagwere sighed and leaned against the wall, glancing down at her distinct lack of clothing. “We’ve been stripped of everything but our underwear.”
“…Unfortunately.”
“And the chances of our friends rescuing us are?”
“Slim to none.”
“How about being rescued by a stranger?”
The siblings turned in surprise at the new voice, but they couldn’t see anyone. After a curious glance at each other Gar stood up and spoke up for the two of them. “Hello? Who’s there?”
A brief wavering of the air, and a huge black-furred figure appeared. “Just me. There was a guard, but I decided he looked like he needed a nap.” The grin on his face would have been infectious if it weren’t for the fangs.
Sheila shivered slightly at the sight of the towering creature in front of her. From her lower perspective he looked as tall as Onoli, and even though he wasn’t as heavily muscled as the werelion, his muscles seemed denser, more solid. Add in the fangs, and fur that seemed to suck the light out of the room, and this was one werecat she really hoped was friendly. “How did you get here? You weren’t on our ship, and the Valuan Third Fleet doesn’t have werecats in its crews.”
“Well how I got here is…kind of a long story. I’ll explain later, but we need to get you out of here.” After a moments thought he pulled off his jacket and wrapped it around his hands. Once they were covered he got a firm grip on the bars of the door and hauled back with all of his considerable strength. For a long moment there was no real effect, but eventually, with a screech of bending metal, the door tore loose. Careful to avoid touching the silver, he threw it to the side and turned to the two Edge Guard within. “Do you know where they put your gear?”
Gar nodded and pointed to another cell off to the side. “In there, and unless you’ve got the key you’ll have to rip that door off too.”
Another screech of metal and the Jagweres were pulling on their clothing. They both wore blue, Gar with pants and shirt with bronze highlights, and Sheila pulled on a blue bodysuit and a pair of toeless and heelless leg coverings ending at her thighs. While they tightened buckles and tied laces, Gar tried to break the ice. “I’m Gar, and this is my sister Sheila. We’re members of the Edge Guard, but I’m guessing you already knew that, Mr…?”
“Saotome, Ranma Saotome. And yeah, I thought you might be Edge Guard when I heard that weirdo in the cape talking about you.”
Sheila laughed, relaxing slightly around her rescuer. “So what are you doing here anyway? I doubt you came here to save us on such short notice.”
Ranma’s mind froze briefly at the question. ‘What can I say? I’m here to save the world?’ He shook his head before turning to her. “My…boss… sent me to stop Valua from doing something stupid.” He scratched the back of his neck nervously. “She suggested that I should listen to my instincts, and my instincts are telling me that the girl they captured earlier has something to do with it.”
Gar arched an eyebrow curiously. “What ‘stupid’ thing do you have to stop Valua from doing? There’s a long list.”
“…They’re looking for a kind of moonstones, only these are far more powerful than your regular kind.”
Gar’s eyebrow went from being raised, to dropping and joining it’s twin as he frowned in thought. “How accurate is your bosses intelligence?”
“As far as I can tell, it’s very accurate.”
The Jagweres glanced at each other cautiously before turning back to their ebon companion. “You realise that the girl is already in Valua Capital by now, and even if you manage to rescue her you still have to get out of a city that no pirate has ever escaped from, right?”
A cocky smirk slid into place on Ranma’s face. “It’s a good thing I’m not a pirate then, isn’t it?”
“Do you even have a plan?”
Oddly enough, Ranma did have a plan, even if it was something of a work in progress. “From what I’ve heard, the Capital is split into ‘rich’ and ‘poor,’ with guards and walls stopping the two from mixing, right?” At their nod he continued. “So once we get through the wall sealing off the city, we steal a lifeboat and fly to the ‘poor’ section, where they’ll probably have way less guards. Then I sneak into the ‘rich’ section and try and find the girl.”
Sheila noticed a definite flaw in his plan. “How are you planning to escape from the city once you find her?”
The cocky smirk faded into embarrassed chuckling. “…I hadn’t gotten that far.”
Sheila groaned and rubbed her face in exasperation before turning to her brother, only to see him nodding absently in thought. “Gar!?”
Blinking, he decided to add his thoughts. “The two of us could probably hunt down a ship in the time it takes him to find her, and if we hurry we could make it out of the city before they close the gate. It takes a couple of minutes to shut that thing completely, so it’s possible.”
“It’s official, you’re both crazy.” She shook her head and made a few practice swings with her scimitar. “Well, lets go find a lifeboat. The faster we get this done, the less likely it is that the Valuans can organise a proper search for us.”
Gar grinned and retrieved his glaive from the table. “It looks like you’ve got some backup for this ‘crazy’ plan of yours.” He frowned slightly. “But afterwards, I think you’ll owe us a more detailed explanation, agreed?”
Ranma nodded reluctantly. “Agreed, but I have to warn you, it’s a pretty unbelievable story.” He walked to the exit and took a quick look around for any sailors, and when he failed to find any he opened the door wide and waved for the two Edge Guard to follow him. “I know a quick way to the hanger, just follow me.”
As he slipped out the door Sheila turned a slightly worried gaze to her brother. “I’m not sure this is such a good idea. Raiding lone Valuan ships is one thing, but challenging the entire armada by stealing their prize captive from right under their noses is another thing entirely.”
The older Jagwere nodded. “I know, but we don’t have much of a choice. We couldn’t get far in a lifeboat, so we need a bigger ship. And if he’s right about whatever Valua’s planning, then we have to help stop them.”
Read the comments on this episode
See other episodes by Cypher3au
(Posted Sat, 20 Nov 2004 18:45)
Questions? Problems? Suggestions?
Send a mail to addventure@bast-enterprises.de
or use the contact form.
らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
All other series and their characters are © by their respective creators or owners. No claims of ownership of these characters are implied by the authors of this Addventure, or should be inferred.
The Anime Addventure is a non-profit site.