As Ranma hit the button to close the doors, Akane noticed the bag sitting on one of the chairs. “Wait, Ryoga was on here somewhere? Hey! Don’t close that door! We have to go back and get P-chan! And how come we didn’t see Ryoga anywhere?”
“Oh, you know Ryoga, he probably wandered into a different escape pod thinking it was the toilet and launched himself back to Earth thinking he was hitting the light switch. Even as we speak, he may be wandering Paris, thinking he’s in Tokyo. And what do you mean go back and get P-chan? Didn’t you have him?”
“That’s not funny Ranma. He’s not that stupid,” Akane groused, despite the slight smile she had on her face from the concept of somebody confusing those two cities, but then a frown crossed her face. “And I did have P-chan, but he jumped out of my arms when the alarm went off. I tried to tell you, but you just dragged me towards the escape pod. And now he’s probably dead, and I’m never going to see my P-chan again.” Akane began tearing up, and Ranma frantically tried to think of something to cheer her up so that she wouldn’t cry.
“Don’t worry, he’s a smart pig, I’m sure he hopped into one of the escape pods before they launched. Look, take a glance out of the window. You can see that there are other escape pods that made it off.”
The two teenagers looked out the window and there were, indeed, several other escape pods. Additionally, the spaceship they had just fled looked completely intact. Akane tensed up, rather angry. “Ranmaaaa, did you notice something? Perhaps that whatever that emergency was, it didn’t warrant the escape pods? We just ran away from nothing! Idiot!”
“It wasn’t nothing! It might have been some kind of explosion! And what about that red thi- Akane, you’re burning.”
“Don’t change the subject like that! Do you really expect me to fall for a trick like that? I think I’d know it if I was on fire.” Akane crossed her arms, which caused the flames around her hands to pass through her vision. “Ack! I am on fire! Put it out!”
Ranma hunted through Ryoga’s pack, and, sure enough, there was a kettle full of cold water in there. He splashed this onto Akane, soaking her and putting out her hands.
*************************************************************
It had been a long ride back down to Earth, and Ranma had spent most of it apologizing for getting her dress wet. “Look, I’m sorry,” he was saying, as they opened the door of the escape pod, “but you told me to put it out! What was I supposed to do?”
The pair of martial artists stepped out of the escape pod and Akane’s answer was silenced by a loud crunch. Turning around, they saw that something had just impacted the escape pod, going right through the metal and leaving a crater. There, at the bottom of the crater, was what appeared to be a pile of rocks in the shape of a pig, and it was moving.
Or, more accurately, stumbling. “P-chan? Is that you? What happened to you? You must be dazed, poor thing.”
“Thing is the right word. Why do you think that that’s P-chan, Akane?”
“Oh, be nice, Ranma! And I can just tell, okay?”
“If that’s P-chan, and I say this very doubtfully, what did happen to him?”
Akane thought for a moment. “That red wave. Maybe it was some sort of space version of Jusenkyo. It gave P-chan a curse that turns him into stone. I wonder if anybody else on the ship got turned into stone.”
“No, just your head! If it was some sort of cursed thing, why didn’t we change?”
Akane gritted her teeth as her hands and head caught fire again. “Idiot! It’s only a theory! Maybe the two of us were protected because I was next to you and you already have a curse!”
“Uhhh... You’re on fire again Akane. Maybe this theory of yours does have some weight to it. So now you’re, I dunno, cursed with fire, and P-chan is cursed with stone. But then why don’t I have another curse?”
“Maybe the magic decided you were already cursed with water? I don’t know, magic is weird.”
Ranma paled. “Do... do you think I DID get cursed with water? And any moment now water is going to cover my body, and then I’ll never be a guy again, because I’ll always be wet? Oh man, that would be the worst thing ever! Oh, no, wait! If that happens I could just stick with you all the time! You’d keep the water around me hot, right, Akane? You wouldn’t let the curse win, would you? Please! You gotta set me on fire before the water gets me! Please, Akane, I need you!” As Ranma panicked, odd fluctuations made themselves visible through the air, and portions of Ranma’s body disappeared and reappeared.
Akane backed away from Ranma, quirking an eyebrow. “You spaz. Calm down; if I’m any kind of judge, you’ve been cursed with void, to go with that empty head of yours. You turned a little invisible while you were freaking out like a big baby.”
“I wasn’t freaking out,” Ranma protested, “I was practicing for next time we have to be in a drama contest. Pretty good, huh? I bet that with my skills we’ll win the next one too!” Ranma chuckled uneasily and rubbed the base of his pigtail with his hand, hoping that Akane would be convinced.
“Well, whatever that was, it was entirely convincing that you were freaking out,” Akane muttered, shaking her head at Ranma’s antics. “Come on. We’ve got to figure out where we are and get back home. Grab Ryoga’s pack, why don’t you? We can give it back to him if we see him.”
“Where are all the pretty ladies? I want pretty ladies. I was sure we were going to be attacked by space pirates.” Happosai wanted to cry. He was going to be stuck on here for another two days, there weren’t any sexy space pirates, and on top of it all Akane and Ranma seemed to have disappeared.
Some words possess a great deal of power, able to pierce vast distances and reach the coldest of hearts. Some words, if they're powerful enough, can even pierce stupidity. 'Please, Akane, I need you!' Genma shook his head to clear it. He must be imagining things. Ranma was up in space. There was no way that he could be hearing Ranma. But still... once Ranma and Akane got back he would see how well they were getting along. No need to go celebrate yet, but if this premonition turned out to be correct, he would break out the sake and streamers then.
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(Posted Mon, 04 May 2009 20:12)
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