Ranma put up the board. "Let's see... there are 3 regions... the Outer Region, the Inner Region and the Middle Region."
He looked at the map that was showed on the board. Three paths of fields were going around in three circles... The outer circle was the Outer Region, while the inner circle the Inner Region.
Kasumi looked up from the instruction booklet. "Here, in the middle of the Inner Region: That's the Crown of Command!"
"So, whoever reaches that place is the winner, huh?" Ranma asked.
Kasumi shook her head. "No, the rules state that whoever reaches the crown may use it's powers to try and smite down his foes. Whenever someone is standing at the Crown of Command field, and everyone else on the board is defeated, he is the winner."
"And when the players are defeated before reaching the Crown of Command?" Nodoka asked curiously.
"Then the player gets reincarnated, that means, he is allowed to start over with a new character, without all the things his previous character had collected so far, of course."
"I see," Ranma nodded. "Whenever the crown field is occupied, reincarnation is not possible."
"Right!" Kasumi confirmed.
"So we have to choose one of these characters to start the game, I suppose," Nodoka said and picked up one of the little plastic figures. "Strange, this one looks like my husband..."
"And what do those little numbers mean?" Ranma asked after taking a look at the character cards.
"They indicate Strength, Intelligence, Life and Gold. Every character starts with 4 life points and one sack of gold... But the starting value of strength and intelligence differs with every character.
Strength is mainly used for combat against animals and most monsters. Intelligence is used in combat against ghost-like enemies, so-called 'psychic' combat. Also, your Intelligence shows you how many magical spells you're allowed to learn. You lose life points whenever you lose a battle... and when you lose all your life, your hero is defeated. Gold is used to buy several things at various places in the game."
"I see..." Ranma nodded. "And every character also has his own special abilities... Here, take this sorceress for instance: 'You begin the game with one magical spell.' Cool."
"I think I already know which character I'll choose," Nodoka smirked. "Here, the Valkyrie... she starts with 3 Strength points and 4 Intelligence points."
Ranma looked at the figure his mother was holding. "Huh, she looks almost like Ucchan..."
"Now, Ranma, don't be silly..." Kasumi giggled. "Ukyo would probably never dress like this..."
"Yeah..." he chuckled. "Very short skirt... revealing breast armor... Much too feminine for her taste."
Nodoka looked at the Valkyrie's character card. "It says her beginning place is the cemetery..."
"But isn't the Valkyrie a 'good' character?" Kasumi asked. "The cemetery field clearly states that any 'good' character who is standing on it will automatically lose one life point. Only 'evil' or 'neutral' characters are safe there."
"It's one of her special abilities," Nodoka explained. "Here, see? 'The Valkyrie is immune to the negative effect of the cemetery.'"
"Oh! Well, then it's fine, I suppose," Kasumi replied.
Nodoka took the figure of the female warrior and put her on the cemetery field...
----
Konatsu was just serving an Okonomiyaki dish to a customer, when suddenly a loud clatter made him jump.
"Ukyo-sama?"
He turned around to search for his mistress, but she was gone. Only the small spatula she had used had fallen to the ground... But, aside from that, there was no trace left of the Okonomiyaki chef.
"Now where could she have gone?" the kunoichi pondered.
----
Ukyo let out a gasp of surprise, when suddenly, the Okonomiyaki grill vanished before her eyes. In fact, the whole restaurant seemed to have vanished. Instead, she found herself standing in the middle of a gloomy-looking landscape, wafts of mist, withered trees... and of course the tombstones. Can't forget the tombstones. Tombstones in all sizes and variations.
"Looks like a graveyard," Ukyo muttered. "How did I get here?"
Just in case, she tried grabbing her battle spatula, but something felt odd... it wasn't there.
And when Ukyo looked down at herself, she realized the reason just why she felt so odd... Her entire wardrobe had changed.
She was wearing a very short leather skirt, complete with a leather breastplate, similar to the one seen in the 'Xena Warrior Princess' series. Hanging from her leather belt was an impressive sword, sticking in its sheath. And when Ukyo raised her hands and touched her head, she realized that she was also wearing a leather helmet, adorned with small wings.
"Now this is a stupid way to get away from work," she grumbled. "If I only knew how I got here in the first place..."
Her gaze wandered over the graves, and she shuddered. "I hope it's not like in the old horror b-movies, and I'll be attacked by hordes of brainless zombies."
She gulped. "Stupid Ukyo," she scolded herself. "Stop scaring yourself like that..."
----
After Nodoka was finished, it was Kasumi's turn to choose a character.
She took her choices into consideration, before deciding for another female character... one that had a striking resemblance to Akane.
But what kind of character was it?
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(Posted Thu, 26 Oct 2006 18:14)
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