The sunset upon the sea was a simply spectacular sight, the sinking orb painting the sky in myriad hues of pink and warm orange and bloody red, all of which reflected from the blue-green sea to create a beautiful sight, the sort of thing that makes romantics swoon. It was a sight that was completely wasted upon Ranma Saotome, who generally tried to avoid romance in any case and at that particular moment was more focused on examining the ruined village he would be spending the night in.
It had all started the day before yesterday. Kuno had shown up at the Tendo Dojo, proudly proclaiming that The Lady Binsense 2, the larger and grander replacement to the yacht which had been lost in the circumstances that had led to that whole mess with Togenkyo, had finished construction. To celebrate, he had invited Akane Tendo and 'the pigtailed girl' to come on a cruise with him- and, as before, all of the other teen martial artists had invited themselves along, as had Soun, Genma and Akane's sisters.
Ranma wondered, and not for the first time, if the universe got some kind of sick enjoyment about making his life a misery. In a virtually identical repeat of what had happened the last time, Kuno had taken the boat out beyond sight of the coast, whereupon a powerful storm had come roaring out of nowhere. This storm had been even more powerful than the one that had driven the first Lady Binsense astray, strong enough that it had torn the boat to shreds and left the group floundering in the dark, heaving waves. Ranma had clung onto a floating chunk of the shattered boat and, helpless to do anything else, had drifted through the raging night until, finally, dawn had seen him cast onto the shore of this island. Other than one of the girls, who had managed (more by luck than intention) to grab hold of the same chunk of driftwood, he was alone.
Ranma hadn't paniced then and he wasn't about to start panicing; it wasn't as though he was unused to surviving in the wild, and this island had turned out to be quite bountiful; as well as the ruined village, which provided the two of them with shelter, there had been a grove of wild fruit trees and a freshwater lake. With plenty of driftwood with which to construct a beacon fire, he was confident that they would be rescued soon. Currently he was exploring the ruins of the village, wondering who had built it and how long ago. What he tried to avoid thinking about was how... 'deliberate' some of the damage looked. Here, a fallen wall looked like it hadn't merely collapsed, but had actually been pushed down by some great impact. There, a crack in broken rocks looked suspiciously even, as though it was the mark of some impossibly sharp blade or a gouging talon.
Ranma had a right to start worrying. Although Ranma had more experience with magic than the average person, he was still far from knowledgeable about the occult. One particular bit of mysticism he was unfamiliar with was the concept of "oubilettes"- pieces of land so soaked with raw magic or dark energy that they broke away from normal space and time, drifting away into their own dark limbo-dimensions and intersecting only occasionally with real worlds. This island was an oubilette, a natural gathering point for dark powers and foul mystical essences, upon which countless darkhearts had trodden and which had been home to terrible deeds.
The village in which the two castaways had been staying was one such legacy, a mute testament to a foolhardy band that had stumbled upon this island during one of its rare reunions with the material plane and tried to colonise it. Beyond the relative safety of the coast and the ruins lay all manner of dangers, from foul monsters to strange eldritch hazards, from dark mages who had chosen to dwell here to earlier castaways driven mad by the strain of surviving here. For all its dangers, the interior was a treasure trove to those of a specific mindset, with tomes of dark lore and magical items lying scattered in hidden lairs and crumbling dungeons.
Not that Ranma knew this, nor that he knew the island had faded back into limbo. If he and his companion were ever to leave, they would need to find some spell or artefact that would allow them to rip a hole through the planar fabric and return home. In blissful ignorance of what awaited him, Ranma left off his study of a toppelled idol and headed to the fruit grove to grab a bite to eat. Maybe he should try and put together a fishing pole- he was getting sick of fruit. As he passed through the hall in the wall, he noticed his companion was already there, biting into one of the large, juicy fruit that proliferated. Noticing him, she grinned a sticky grin, and Ranma nodded back at...
Read the comments on this episode
(Posted Tue, 08 Jan 2008 10:52)
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.