Ranma was walking back to the village after his training exercises when he ran into Katara coming the other way. Curious as to why she would be heading towards the beach he called out, "Hey Katara! Where are ya going?"
"Hello Ranma, I was just heading to the beach to catch up with Aang. He was going there with his fan club to ride the unagi. I was worried that he might be getting into trouble if he actually finds the thing." A shadow of fear covered her face in the form of worry as she looked towards the beach.
Ranma shook his head. He knew what it was like to show off for people, he regularly did that himself. 'I just can’t resist showing how good I am it must be something that I get from Pops' training,' Ranma thought. Still he didn't like to worry people when he did those things so turning to look at Katara considered what to do next.
"I'll go with you with the two of us we might be able to keep Aang outa trouble if he does find that eel thing," Ranma said as he started to follow Katara to the beach. It was a few minutes before they arrived at beach where they found Aang alone in the water. It looked like his fan club had finally abandoned him.
Looking up Aang’s eyes lit up as he saw them, "Katara! You came! Ranma, you’re here too!" He waved to them excitedly as he floated in the little island inlet.
"I wanted to make sure that you were safe. You really had me worried," Katara said as she watched Aang. The worried look that had been on her face lightened up as she saw Aang in the water without seeing the Unagi.
"Back in the village you acted like you didn't care," Aang said, his tone taking on a more serious tenor. Ranma began to notice that there was more between the two of them than just Aang showing off and Katara getting worried about him.
"I'm sorry," Katara said sincerity in her voice as she apologized to Aang.
"Me too, I did let all of that attention go to my head, I was being a jerk." Aang said as he sat, looking shame faced.
"We all tend ta show off when people are watching. Ya might wanna get out of the water, before ya get all pruney." Ranma said as he butted into the conversation. He guessed that Katara was thinking the same thing as she nodded in agreement.
"On my way!" Aang grinned as he started to swim for the shore when the giant form of the unagi burst from the water. Ranma and Katara barely had time to gasp as Aang was caught by the wake of the beast and clung on to its tail.
Twisting it head the Unagi shot a stream of water at Aang. Jumping up Aang grabbed on to one of the eel's catfish like whiskers as it shook its head violently as it tried to dislodge the young man from its face. Swinging before the beast's mouth Aang got a close up view of the creatures’ razor like teeth. As it paused for a few short seconds it licked it lips as it looked down at Aang, its nostrils flaring with him hanging below them. Then it continued to shake its head once more.
"Hang on, Aang!!" Katara called out from the shore. Looking around she saw Ranma already stripping out of his clothes. In his mind he was trying to think of the attacks that he could use against the eel in the water. It had been a while since his father had trained him to fight in water.
The unagi finally shook Aang off, throwing the Avatar into the water. Katara, Ranma and the unagi all raced towards Aang but it was Katara who reached the young man first, taking him into her arms. Arriving next the Unagi rose high into the air but it was hit by a hard blast of air as Ranma took a shot at the beast, distracting it long enough for Katara to use her waterbending to thrust herself away from it as she carried Aang.
The unagi dove as the resulting waves swept Katara and Aang into a small nook between some rocks with Ranma following after them. With a final show of its wraith the unagi rose and shot off a parting stream of water as it then sunk slowly into the water. Looking over the rocks Kataras’ face darkened as she gazed across the water. Looking over Ranma saw a metal ship that was heading for the island.
Katara spoke a single word, "Zuko!"
Ranma watched as the ship landed and the prow opened to let out what looked to be riders. But the beasts that they were riding were more of the strange animals that seem to populate this world. They looked to be a cross between a rhino and a komodo dragon that Ranma had seen before; about the size of horses they carried men in red-black armor upon their backs. In the lead was a teen with a large burn scar covering his left eye and almost a quarter of his face.
"I want the Avatar alive," the teen with the scar spoke. Moving to better hide her self within the rocks Katara watched as Zuko and his men moved towards the village. She noted that one of the rhinos was carrying an unusual second passenger, a figure who was cloaked in a long red robe. Aang was still out of it and Ranma was starting to worry that he had taken to much water into his lungs.
"Wake up, Aang!" Katara urged softly. Moving her hands she began to raise the water out of Aang's lungs and was rewarded when Aang coughed and sputtered.
Weakly, Aang said, "Katara... don't ride the unagi. Not fun," Aang then turned to Ranma and giggled as he saw that Ranma was in his female form dressed only in his tank top and boxer shorts. "Hey Ranma, you might want to get some clothes." Katara turned to Ranma suddenly noticing that Ranma had changed forms and blushed at the image of the new young woman.
Meanwhile in the village...
Still sparring with Suki, Sokka was trying to improve his skills. Dodging a parry the pair smiled towards each other, "Not bad," Suki replied. Shampoo and Cologne smiled as well from where they were watching.
Just then the village head man burst into the dojo, gasping for air and trying to catch his breath. "Firebenders have landed on our shores! Girls, come quickly!"
"Hey, I'm not a... oh, whatever!" Sokka grumbled he ran into battle.
"Shampoo, we must get ready to defend our new friends." Cologne said as two amazons ran into battle themselves. Shampoo nodded and followed her great grandmother.
On the deserted main street of the village...
Zuko stood in the street, looking for any trace of the Avatar, "Come out, Avatar. You can't hide from me forever!"
Frustration gnawing at his already frayed patience Zuko turned towards his men, "Find him!" Moving out into the village the rhino riders roamed the streets in search for any sign of the fabled Avatar. Once they had moved further from their prince the fan warriors of Kyoshi descended from the rooftops attacking them. Leading the assault Suki headed straight for Zuko ready to strike at the teen. Moving his rhino around at the last minute Zuko swatted her into the air with his rhino’s tail.
Seeing the girl lying prone on the ground Zuko released a fireball directly at her only to see it deflected right back at him before it could connect with its intended target. Reflecting the fireball with his fan, Sokka smirked as he saw the prince of the firebenders blasted off his mount and fall on the ground. "I guess trainings' over!" Sokka said. Suki could only smile at Sokka as she got up on her feet once again to fight.
Suki, Sokka and another of the fan warriors approached the prone prince, with great care. Spinning his hand across the ground he moved the flame towards his feet and kicked out at the approaching warriors. Falling to the ground they watched as Zuko pulled himself to his feet and leapt to the middle of the street.
"Nice try, Avatar! But these little girls can't save you." Zuko said, looking for a sign of the airbender.
"Hey, over here!" Aang said as she stood facing Zuko.
Zuko smiled as he saw him. "Finally, Mousse attack!" Zuko said as he spoke to his secret weapon. Streams of chains suddenly flew towards the Avatar at great speed wrapping around Aang's arms and legs making any movements impossible. Looking up the length of the chains he saw that they came out of the figure cloaked in red.
As the cloak fell off Aang saw that the figure was an older teen dressed in decorated white robes. He had long dark hair and glass over his eyes in metal wires. The chains went into the over-sized sleeves of the figure's robes.
"I believe that the Avatar is tied up at the moment, Zuko. Just like we planned, now it’s your turn to hold your end of the bargain." Spoke the figure that Aang figured that was called Mousse from what Zuko was saying.
It was then that a female voice called out to the three figures in the street. "So ya're here too, Mousse, working for the bad guys from the look of it." A vision of beauty came into view, dressed in darn little. Her fire red hair and crystal blue eyes brought a blush even to Zuko. For a brief moment he felt a pang of jealousy hit him as he thought of this woman addressing Mousse so casually.
“Wow, you really deliver don’t you?” Mousse commented to Zuko before turning towards the red head, "Ranma Saotome!"
Shocked at what Mousse had just said Zuko thought, ‘This is the infamous Ranma Saotome? Oh fire lord, the first truly stunning woman I see and it’s a guy. Someone really hates me.'
Deciding to strike first before things could get out of control and loose him the Avatar, he told Mousse, "I'll take care of Ranma. You just keep a hold of the Avatar!" Zuko said as he rushed to fight the woman.
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(Posted Tue, 11 Jul 2006 15:02)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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