However, he was glad that now he could go and pick up his slave, who was his prize from that contest...
Yes, it was all because of some small contest of strength and skill. Ranma was never the kind of person to actively look for a slave, and if he realized that one had been the prize, he probably would have ignored it and just waited around.
That day had been rather troublesome. His father and his plans had been washed out, quite literally. The weather had gotten bad and so a flood warning was put in effect. Everyone who didn’t have an active shelter was being sent into where they could be protected by the government.
Yeah, that was one thing Ranma had to admit. As much as they suppressed people, those in charge also really looked out for their welfare too... even those who would be considered ‘vagrants’, like, admittedly, himself and his old man.
And so, having being given shelter at a section of a local sporting stadium that could be reserved for such purpose without interrupting the building’s function, (those chairs in the higher section were still comfy enough to be beds for those who had to stay) Ranma was pretty much committed to being bored for the rest of his stay there with his Pops... even if it did mean a dry place to stay and free food in the form of vegetable soup and bread.
Fortunately for Ranma, even if a good portion of the stadium was being used to shelter the homeless, the event that had been scheduled was still going on...
A tournament.
Checking into and seeing how it was an actual FIGHTING tournament, (with open entry) the old man got the idea for both of them to enter. It was decent cash prizes and all one needed was a modest sum to pay for registry. Genma had been pretty sure of their abilities, and knew they could advance past a lot of the competition. If they took the top two prizes, which for second place was twenty-thousand yen and the first prize with fifty-thousand and a ‘bonus’, they would be set for some time.
As they progressed through, it was an amazing fact that, for once, his father was correct in his assumption, (surprise, surprise!) When they set up the fighting orders, both Saotomes had managed to get into opposite brackets. Ranma and his father managed to tear through opponents who ranged anywhere from pathetic to pretty darn decent. And then by the time they got to the last fight, things were in the pigtailed youth’s favor. Yes, it was him against his father, just as the two hoped, but over the course of the small fighting tournament, Ranma had managed to stay in pretty decent shape, while his father had suffered a few particularly nasty blows from equally nasty opponents.
So, while his Pops tended to be a good challenge for him, Ranma found himself outclassing the old man by far this time...
And from that came the problem. In winning, Ranma found out what the bonus was. Yeah, he got fifty-thousand yen like he had hoped, but he was also being given the choice of first crack at a bunch of slaves that were being saved for a later auction... a bunch of rarities.
Although they could be held at public buildings for the actual event, some slave auctions were private affairs; by invite only. It was these auctions tended to pull in great amounts of money, because this was the sort of special event where slaves for sale weren’t just regular ‘humans’. It tended to feature everything from slave tech companies showing off the latest alternatives of android to genetically or technologically-altered humans, to clones.
Not to mention that there were beings brought in by certain ‘hunters’ that were unexplainable... creatures one might think they’d only find out of myth or legend. Ranma had still never gotten over seeing a five-year-old ‘master’ riding on the shoulder of her large yeti ‘slave’.
And that was how Ranma ended up getting his slave...
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(Posted Mon, 05 Feb 2007 18:13)
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