Kasumi came out of the crusader's tent again and handed Ranma a kettle with hot water. "Here you are, Ranma!"
Ranma smiled. "Thanks, Kasumi!" She poured the water over her head.
Now male again, Ranma handed the kettle back to Kasumi.
Wakka's eyes nearly fell out of his head. "What? But... you... your hair... I mean... uh... that's... you're... your chest?... What happened?"
Tidus laughed. "Man, Wakka, you should see your face. Well, I guess this is something you have to get used to if you have Ranma on your team." He then started to explain to Wakka and the team about Ranma's curse.
Ranma walked around the village. Such a nice place! And the people were so kind, so friendly... much more then most of the people he knew back in Nerima.
And Sin was going to destroy all of this? Not if he had something to say about it.
For now, Ranma decided to relax a bit. From what Wakka told him, the boat that was going to take them to Luca would arrive tomorrow. In the meantime, he could just try to enjoy the little island. He leaned against a palm tree and slid down onto the warm sand. He decided to take a little nap and closed his eyes...
I wonder how Ryoga is doing? was his last thought before he fell asleep.
----
"Kupo! Thanks for the letter! But I have another one for my friend Monty! Can you deliver it as well?"
"WHAT?" Ryoga screamed. "AGAIN?"
"Kupo," the little moogle nodded. "If you were that kind..."
"But I already delivered at least a dozen of your stupid letters! Can't you all just send each other some email?"
"Kupo?"
"Nevermind," Ryoga sighed. "Just give me the damn letter... Oh, I can't take this anymore."
And Mosh had to cover his delicate little ears, while Ryoga yelled into the sky: "DAMN YOU RANMA! THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!"
----
Loud voices shook Ranma out of his nap. He got up and saw Wakka conversing with some old man in a robe... perhaps a priest or something like that. He couldn't understand what they were saying... they were standing too far away. But they seemed to argue about something. Finally, the old priest shook his head, and both of them vanished into the temple.
Ranma slowly walked towards the temple. Should he find out what was going on? It wasn't like he knew anything about this world's religions, after all.
When he walked past Wakka's hut, Tidus came out, yawning. "Hey, Ranma!" he called. "What's up?"
"I don't know," the martial artist said. "Something is going on in that temple. Wakka and some old guy just went inside."
"Huh, really? Well, let's check it out!" And without hesitation, Tidus walked towards the temple's entrance. "Come on, let's go!"
Ranma shrugged. He didn't have anything important to do, anyways.
----
Inside the temple, there were standing multiple stone statues of different men and women, all of them dressed in various robes or capes, most of them holding long staves.
At the other end of the big entrance hall, there was a stairway leading towards a small door. Wakka and the priest were standing next to the stairway and looked in anticipation towards the door.
They walked up to them. "Hey, what's up?" Tidus asked.
"The summoner hasn't returned from the trial," Wakka said. "Well, apprentice summoner, really..."
Summoner? Ranma thought. I wonder... are they able to summon similar beings like Carbuncle?
Tidus scratched his head. "What's a summoner?" The priest and the other people in the temple looked shocked, but Wakka sighed. "You forgot that as well, ya? Well, to make it short: A summoner travels all over Spira on a pilgrimage and visits every temple. And in the temples, beings of great power reside... and the summoner is going to ask them for that power. And then the summoner is able to summon these beings... known as 'Aeons'! But before they begin their pilgrimage... they have to take a first test inside the temple of their home village. And if the Aeon accepts them, they will be a full-fledged summoner!"
"Aha," Tidus nodded. "So, someone is up there and hasn't come out, I got it! So... is it particularly... dangerous in there?"
"Sometimes, yes..." Wakka nodded. "But we can't do anything about it."
Tidus was about to protest against that way of thinking, when Ranma walked towards the stairs. The assembled villagers gasped. The old priest yelled: "What do you think you're doing?"
Ranma turned his head around. "If someone's in danger in there, I'm not gonna wait if he's coming out again or not. I'm gonna go in there and help him!"
The priest stepped into Ranma's way and stretched out his arms. "You cannot," he said. "The precepts must be obeyed!"
Ranma stared at him. "Get! Your butt! Out of! My way!" he hissed through his teeth. "I don't care about your beliefs if they're putting someone in danger!"
The priest was going to say something, but Ranma's stare was that unnerving that he stepped out of his way without saying anything.
While Wakka just stood there with a gaping mouth, Tidus quickly followed Ranma.
While they walked through the Cloister of Trials, Tidus asked him: "You know, I was going to say something similar to that priest, but... don't you think you went a little overboard out there?"
Ranma sighed. "Yeah, maybe! But... I just can't stand people that are willing to put other people in danger just because of some stupid codex or something. And if someone is in danger, it's a martial artist's duty to protect them."
"Hmm! You have a point there! I just hope Wakka is not too upset with us..."
----
They had to clear the Cloister of Trials, which actually was a test for the summoner, before they could enter the inner chamber. Ranma thought it was strange that the doors were all closed. After all, the apprentice summoner from Besaid must have completed the test shortly before them. And now everything was closed?
When they managed to put the last of the trial's spheres into its corresponding socket, Wakka caught up with them.
"Hey! What's the big idea?" he shouted, still a little upset. "Only summoners, apprentice summoners and their guardians are allowed to enter here!"
"We won't stay for long," Ranma grumbled. "I'm just going to see if the apprentice summoner is all right!"
"Hey, I can understand what you're saying, ya? But there's a reason why we have to obey the teachings of Yevon!"
"But Wakka," Tidus intervened. "You're here as well, are you not?"
"Me? I'm a guardian!"
"A guardian?" Tidus scratched his head.
"They're protecting the summoners on their pilgrimage. There are two other guardians in there that have accompanied the apprentice. One of them got a short fuse, ya know? And who knows what the other one is thinking..."
Ranma got impatient. "Look, can we go in there or not?"
Wakka sighed. "Well, as the two of you have gotten this far... I guess you can come in as well!"
A round elevator took them down to a lower floor. The circular platform seemed to float in the empty air, so Ranma assumed it was controlled by magic.
"In there is the antechamber," Wakka explained. "The guardians are only allowed to go with the summoner up to there. Behind it, there's the Chamber of the Fayth, where the summoner receives the Aeon."
The three boys entered the antechamber...
See other episodes by Shritistrang
(Posted Thu, 13 Jul 2006 11:07)
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.