Alas, he was one of those struck by the plague in 1889. Over the next few decades, panties lost their appeal. Groping women was hardly worth the effort.
It was in the Taisho Roman Era, about 1908, when he came across something to fill the void in his life. Reikoku.
It was a time of changing values, and altering perceptions. The old standards were dropped, new standards invented, and society was in the process of re-engineering itself. Japan was trying to acquire supply lines and new resources, and was still interested in expanding their territory.
Reikoku, gathering in ambient spirit-energy and using it, had an enormous number of possibilities. Happosai also discovered monsters and a subdimension which was perfect for martial arts training. Accessible only from a certain mountain shrine, he dubbed it the Dungeon Dimension, eschewing the old name which had entirely too many kanji strokes and was entirely too long and unwieldy to suit Happosai.
It was a dimension of twilight, of labrynthine corridors and natural caverns, of monstrous beings, and of magical treasures.
The old Happosai would never have run across it. The new one found a purpose.
Oh, he still stole. Food, sometimes various other things. He still got pursued by crowds, and was still a rascal. It was just that he had a new focus and was always stocking up for a fresh delve into this other universe.
In the late sixties, early seventies, he took two students. Genma Saotome, who was trying to escape an overly amorous wife, found peace from such demands. Soun Tendo, who had a wife even more demanding than Genma's, also found some relief in training with Happosai. The initial training, which involved a lot of torture and mob violence for thievery, was bad. Their foray into the Dungeon Dimension was rather worse.
When Genma and Soun left, they bricked up the cleft leading to the gateway, sealing their dread Master behind with all the monsters. They had been changed by their ordeal however.
Soun was, among other things, afraid of the dark. Specifically he was afraid of the Dark, which had turned out to be something alive and hungry and which had left its mark in his psyche.
Genma had gotten out with his own set of problems.
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(Posted Wed, 10 Jan 2007 18:07)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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