Ranma shook her head. Was she seeing things? She could have sworn she had been somewhere else...
But that was silly. Of course she was in front of Grandpa's house. She certainly wasn't... Well, she wasn't whereever she thought she had been.
It was the second time she was approaching this house while it was getting dark, and every time it was giving her the creeps. She could almost feel something that was lurking underneath that roof... something... evil!
Was it just her intuition or could she see it because of Amnar's Senshi powers?
Besides, she never really used them before... or did she?
"What's the matter, Ranma?" Shampoo asked worried.
Ranma pulled herself together. "Nothing... it's nothing... Come on, let's go!"
----
This time, they managed to get to the front door without being attacked by Grandpa's two watchdogs. Ranma considered knocking, but then she realized that it wasn't necessary: The door was open!
Carefully, they stepped inside. It was dark in the entrance hall, but Ranma could see some light coming from the stairs leading to the second floor.
"Maybe he's upstairs," Shampoo wondered. "How are you planning to do this? You wanna take him by surprise? Or do you want to talk to him normally?"
Ranms shrugged. "Hmm! Didn't think of something until now. But I think I will give him the chance to explain things first. After all, we don't even know what's going on."
They climbed up the stairs and looked around the second floor. But Grandpa and the dogs were nowhere to be found.
"I wonder if he went out," Ranma presumed. Then she saw the ladder. It was leading to a hatch in the ceiling - perhaps the way to the attic of the house. When they had been here the first time, the ladder had been retracted and the hatch was closed, so they didn't see it before.
"I'll look if he's up there," Ranma said to Shampoo. "Wait here for a moment..." She climbed up the ladder and stuck her head through the opening.
The attic wasn't very big. But it was certainly very dusty here. And it was full with old boxes, cupboards, chests, and other junk.
And between two of the boxes, there was a monster with gleaming eyes and slobbering fangs staring at her.
Ranma was so surprised that she almost fell off the ladder. The dog's presence totally took her by surprise. And when Phobos came running at her at full speed, she barely managed to jump down in time, before his jaws snapped at the place where her head had been seconds ago.
Quickly, Ranma jumped away from the ladder. "Shampoo, hide somwehere," she shouted. Then Phobos came down the ladder.
It shouldn't be possible for a dog to climb down ladders, but Phobos apparently didn't care. The ugly, but otherwise harmless dog seemed to have turned into a vicious killing machine. As soon as he touched the ground, he menacingly growled at her and attacked.
Ranma quickly stepped aside and threw a punch at his head. Phobos whined and fell to the floor. But he certainly didn't give up that easily. He jumped back to his feet and got ready to attack.
Ranma realized that the hallway was too small for effective battle moves, so she quickly opened one of the doors next to her and went inside. "Hey, you ugly mutt! Come and get me!"
She barely had time to recognize the room as the one she slept in when she visited the house for the first time, when Phobos jumped after her. His teeth grazed her ankle. Ranma cursed and kicked him back into the wall. Then she got an idea.
Next to her, there was the hidden door to the closet. She opened it, half expecting to see the wall behind it... but no! There it was again, the mysterious corridor with the endless doors.
She had no intention in entering the corridor, however. She saw Phobos getting back on his feet and braced herself. Grandpa's ugly hell hound snarled, and then he jumped at her, aiming for her neck.
But Ranma skillfully dodged his jump, so his flight continued until he landed inside the corridor. Quickly, Ranma grabbed the door and closed it. Then she pressed against it with all her might, expecting the dog to attack in from the other side.
But nothing happened.
Ranma waited for several seconds, but still, the expected attack didn't occur. Wouldn't Phobos at least bark at her from behind the door?
Something was not right here. Carefully and slowly, she opened the door again.
And looked at the brick wall that was behind the scrapped backside of the closet.
Nervously, she closed the door again and re-opened it. She repeated it a few times.
The result was the same. The corridor was gone.
Well, it happened before, not that long ago. Perhaps Phobos was standing inside the corridor and was wondering where the door had vanished to, just like herself when she...
Ranma blinked. What was she thinking? She NEVER had been on the other side of the door before.
But this time, she had seen Phobos disappear inside the corridor with her own eyes. There was no rational explanation for his disappearance.
Shampoo carefully stepped into the room. "Ranma? What happened? Where`s the dog? Are you all right?"
Ranma made her hand into a fist. "I think it's time to have a little chat with Grandpa! And this time, I want some ANSWERS!"
She stormed out into the hallway, determined to find the old man. And this time she didn't even realize that again, she was beginning to dream...
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(Posted Mon, 10 Jul 2006 14:17)
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