Some time later, Rei and Usagi were back in their civilian forms, walking back to the residence where the Tsukino's were staying.
"You're right, Rei..." Usagi murmured. "All of this... is too strange. But..." She looked up at the top of the hill, where they knew the ruined castle to be. "Even more than I wonder just what those creatures are... I wonder what Ash and his friend are up to."
"Yes," Rei nodded. "They seemed to be pretty agitated. And then this guy who saved us..." She sighed. "I wonder who it really was."
"Now what are you doing here?" a sudden voice startled them.
They turned around to see an old man wearing a priest's robe standing behind them, slightly taller than Rei's grandpa, with a grey beard that was hanging down to his stomach.
"Moroto-san!" Rei sighed in relief. "You startled us."
"I'm sorry! But still, I wonder what two young girls like you are doing out here this late."
He was right, it had become pretty dark. While both Usagi and Rei didn't have a watch with them, they realized that it had to be early evening, as the sun was slowly starting to set. They must have spent more time down in the labyrinth than they thought.
"Oh, we were just walking through the forest," Rei explained. "And we kinda lost track of time."
"I see..." the old man nodded. Then he looked at what Rei was holding in her hand. "And what do you have there?"
Rei looked down at the strange ball they had found within the labyrinth. Even though she had hold onto it for all that time, she almost forgot about it. "Oh, that... We... we found it up in the castle."
"You took it from there?" Mr. Moroto almost seemed alarmed.
"I thought it's allowed to go in there," Usagi spoke up.
The old man looked at her. "You must be Rei's friend, huh? Yes, you're right, it's allowed to enter the ruined castle. However... it's not allowed to take anything from there."
He then smiled at the two girls. "But I don't have to tell anyone about this, right? How about you just give that to me, and I won't tell anyone."
Rei hesitated. This ball might be the only clue they had. But her Grandfather's friend wanted to cover up for them... so she had to be grateful, right?
She handed the ball over to him. He smiled. "Thank you! I'll make sure to hand it over to the proper authorities."
"What do you think this is, anyway?" Usagi asked.
"This?" Mr. Moroto looked down at the ball. "Oh, I'm not too sure... looks like some sort of container, don't you think? But then again, I'm not a historian, so I wouldn't know." He laughed.
"Moroto-san..." Rei spoke up. "You know, we're actually very interested in that old ruin up there... you know much about this region, so can you tell us more about it?"
Moroto looked up to the top of the hill. Then he nodded. "I guess I can do that. But not today. It's getting dark, you see? Your grandfather already told me that you're gonna spend the night with your friend, so why don't the two of you go back before this young lady's parents are starting to worry?"
The two girls weren't too satisfied with that, but they sighed and nodded. If this nice old man was already willing to tell them what he knew, they had no reason to wait until tomorrow, right?
They bid Mr. Moroto farewell and returned to the residence.
Usagi's mother was already waiting for them. "Finally," she shouted as they entered the house. "I was starting to worry!"
"Yeah, we kinda lost track of time," Usagi apologized. "Sorry about that!"
But her mother shook her head. "Not because of that! I know it's your vacation, after all. It's because of that explosion."
Usagi and Rei were confused. "What explosion?"
"Don't tell me you didn't hear it," Shingo said from where he was sitting. "We could even hear it over here, although it was on the other side of the big hill."
"It came on TV," Usagi's father added. "They said that it happened on the construction site of that speedway they are building. What is strange, as the foreman showed to the reporters that they wouldn't use any explosives at all."
"An explosion at the construction site...?" Usagi murmured.
She and Rei exchanged a quick glance, and both of them were pretty sure that they were thinking the same: Ash and his little animal friend had been looking over to the construction site when they saw them inside the ruin. Maybe their intentions weren't peaceful at all...
After going back into their room, they decided to pay the ruined castle another visit in the morning. If Ash and that creature would appear again, they would face them. And then they would have to give them some answers.
----
Koji Moroto was slowly walking back to his temple. The sun had vanished behind the horizon, and the full moon was the only light that was illuminating the path.
Just before he reached the temple, however, he turned around and looked at one of the trees surrounding his home. "You can come out now!"
A black-haired boy with a dirty shirt and tattered jeans stepped out from behind the tree. "Did you get it?" he asked.
Moroto nodded and handed the red and white ball over to Ash. "Here you are! And next time, be more careful! The two girls almost died in there!"
"Well, they shouldn't have spied on us," the boy grumbled. "Our plans are far too important to be disturbed by two meddlesome girls!"
The old man closely looked into the youngster's face. "Is there really no other way to do this?"
"If there were, I wouldn't do this, you know that!" Ash gestured in the direction of the construction site. "I would leave them alone if they would only harm nature... what is a crime on its own. But those people... they are destroying the Alph Corridor! And I won't let that happen!"
See other episodes by Shritistrang
(Posted Fri, 09 Feb 2007 13:39)
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.