"You're crazy!"
But Rei seemed to be the only one to believe that, as everyone else's eyes looked like they filled with sparks of hope.
"How do you plan to climb up there?" Rei was enraged. "The beams are way to slippery and narrow! It will take days until you reach the top."
"Maybe, but we have to try it," Ranma said. She was determined to find a way out of here, whatever it may take.
"But she's right," Ami said. "We definitely need some tools for climbing. Ropes... and maybe something like climbing irons."
"I certainly don't believe that we're going to find some climbing equipment in this place." Makoto shook her head.
"Then we have to improvise a little bit," Minako replied. "I'm pretty sure I saw some ropes lying around here somewhere."
"Are you all sure you want to do this?" Rei asked with a strained voice. The others were silent for a moment.
Ranma looked into her eyes. "We have to try it. Imagine, we all could be FREE in a couple of days."
"You could be DEAD in a couple of days," Rei answered.
"Don't be such a worrywart," Hotaru argued. "We have to take our chances! Or are you afraid of some little risks?"
"And you?" Rei asked the remaining four girls. "Do you also think I'm a coward?"
"No one said that," Ranma said. Rei ignored her.
"Well... I think it's worth a try..." Ami mumbled.
And Michiru added: "The worst that could happen is that we won't find a way. But we would be certain."
"Nothing ventured, everything gained," Minako exclaimed.
"That's: 'Nothing ventured, NOTHING gained'," Ami corrected her. Minako shrugged.
"And you?" Rei asked Makoto. The tall girl stuttered for a moment, then she said: "Well, I think it's worth a try!"
"I understand," Rei quietly said.
"Hey, what's the matter?" Ranma asked. "No one is trying to take over your job as the leader, you know?"
"I'm not the leader, I already told you! But it's okay! I guess I won't be here for long anyway." She turned around and climbed down the stairs.
Ranma felt a little ashamed of herself for saying these things, but Ami said: "Don't worry! She'll be fine! I'm sure, when we give her some time, she will join us. She wants to get out of here as much as ourselves, after all."
Ranma wasn't to sure about that. "Well, then let's look for some ropes..."
----
After they found some ropes and several other things that could be helpful, they started their 'journey' up the wooden beams.
It wasn't really that hard to climb, because there were numerous cracks and gaps in the old wood in which their hands and feet found a place to grip. After about 15 minutes, they reached the first crossbeam.
Ranma pulled herself up and wiped her brows. Then she carefully looked down. They only reached the first crossbeam, but the ground already looked like it was pretty far away.
Makoto pulled herself up next to Ranma. "Well, are we going to continue?"
Ranma nodded. "Sure!"
They climbed and climbed without talking that much, and Ranma felt like her brain was falling asleep. After all, she was doing the same thing over and over. She also had the feeling that she had some vision, like herself and Shampoo (she almost forgot about her) sitting in some kind of café and eating salami baguette with some strange woman.
Ranma shook her head. She must really be tired if she was starting to see things like that.
When they reached the 8th beam, they all took a little break. Everyone was tired and beat. "I... think we should... rest for a while..." Ranma said between breaths. The others just nodded.
She sat down and looked at the ground below them. It seemed to be eternally deep, but at the very bottom of this 'shaft' she could see a tiny person with black hair. Rei.
She almost lost her footing when Swoop suddenly came out of the darkness and landed next to her.
"Ah," she said to herself. "I win!"
"What do you mean?" Ranma asked curiously.
"I made a wager with myself if you would listen to reason and quit this little excursion. Looks like I won..."
"On the contrary, I would say you lost!"
"Why?"
"Because it would be unreasonable not to try to get out of this hell hole!"
"Well, say what you want!"
"I think I'm already saying enough. I think it would be better if YOU would say something."
"And what should I say?"
"Perhaps you could tell me more about these Thirteen Disciples. Like, who are they and what are their plans?"
"I already told you everything," Swoop huffed. "Besides, perhaps it was just your imagination."
"Did they send you?"
"WHAT?" Swoop screeched. "SEND ME?? You're crazy! You don't know what you're talking about! I would never have to do something with those..."
Ranma exhaled with relief. "So I didn't just imagine him... the man on the airport! He really wanted to kill me!"
"HEY!!" Swoop angrily took off into the air. "You tricked me!"
"Maybe..." Ranma snickered.
"I shouldn't have said anything! I'm really gonna be punished for this."
"Punished? By who?"
"By... Hey, no way! That trick only works once!"
"Well, you can't blame me not to try it, don't you think?"
"I only think that you should stop and climb down again," the batrat raged. "You don't know what you're getting yourself and the others into..."
"Why? What's up there?"
"Nothing! At least nothing that's going to help you!" And Swoop angrily flew away. Ranma tried to grab her, but only got scratched by Swoop's little claws.
Ranma looked after the batrat. Well, that could have gone better, she thought.
Hotaru walked up next to her. "Hey, what happened to your hand?"
"Nothing! Swoop scratched me, that's all!"
"Swoop was here? What did she want?"
"I guess she was just asking for a little trouble..."
Hotaru looked up. "What do you think? How many beams do we have to climb until we're at the top?"
"I have a guess..." Ranma muttered. "We managed to climb eight beams, so I would say, there are five left..."
Read the comments on this episode
See other episodes by Shritistrang
(Posted Sun, 09 Jul 2006 14:49)
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.