Ranma smacked his lips as he slowly came to. He'd had a rough night: the fathers had had a new scheme they had cooked up while on one of their binges. This one had been a lot more simple than their others, they had merely spiked every drink in the house under the assumption that 'feelings would spill forth, and the fires of youth would take their natural course'.
They certainly did take their natural course, though not in the way the fathers had hoped. By the time the night had taken its course Kasumi had smashed both Genma and Soun with her favorite frying pan before passing out on the dining table, Akane and he had an even more vicious that normal fight ending with Ranma nursing a bruise on his cheek and her crying in her room, and worse of all, before the night had ended he and Nabiki had somehow ended up in lip lock stumbling their way up the stairs. Everything after that was a blur.
None of that ran through Ranma's mind though as all he could focus on was the terrible agony thumping away at his brain from the inside out.
This magnified ten-fold as a grotesquely loud screech issued from something nearby.
Gnarl's loud jubilant cry of *"The Overlord!!"* was cut short as something he couldn't identify smashed him across the cave they were in. He bounced off of the dirt floor several times before coming to a painful stop against an broken pillar.
Ranma slowly came down from his pain induced trip to vertigo. His body was already adjusting to the pain and acclimating it, in the mean time he began to look around the place he found himself in.
He was situated in the center of some large cavern, though as he looked up he could see stone pillars leading up to a ceiling of large square blocks, seemingly the floor of some greater structure above. There was a large stone doorway with no door directly ahead of him that he could see led to stairs going upward, possibly up to whatever was above. Around him spaced evenly from each other were four tunnels, three of them were blocked by fallen rubble and beyond were shrouded in mist, though each tunnel seemed to have a differently colored glow suffusing the area, one of red, one of green, and one of blue. The fourth however showed a small alcove slightly lower than where he stood, it's yellow glow didn't seem to have a source but with it he could dimly make out small huts or buildings. Directly behind him he could make out a tunnel but darkness hid whatever led there.
The floor of the cavern was mainly well traveled dirt though he could see that he was on a small stone platform in the center of the room. Spaced around him on the edge of the platform stood six candles on waist height rusted metal stands. He could also see chalk in complex patterns written on the floor of the platform.
His eyes were drawn to movement beyond the light of the candles accompanied by a pained grunt.
"Well, Master" Gnarl spoke as he pulled himself slowly to stand, " it warms these old bones to see our new Overlord so quickly get into the spirit of things!" Gnarl gave himself a once over, nothing seemed broken. He turned to get a good look at his new master. Seemed kind of scrawny, and young, very young. His skin was an odd shade for a human, somewhere between the dark brown skinned humans from that far off land and the pink skinned ones that dwelled these parts.
Hmm, he'd have to do. A 'fixer-her-up'er , but he'd have to do.
Ranma took in the sight of the little creature as it stepped closer to the light. It was maybe three to three and a half feet tall, it had huge ears that jutted at least six inches on either side of its head, and it had a wide mouth that with its large grin showed a few sharp teeth. It was clothed in a dark brown cloak that dragged on the floor and in its hand was a staff that was adorned with small animal skulls and feathers all dangling from leather straps. It had a strange red cloth backpack of some sort, or was just hunched and deformed(he couldn't quite tell) from which jutted a short makeshift fishing pole that had an unlit lantern hanging from it. It's grey skin completed the image.
All in all it looked like a demonic Cologne. Oddly enough that was a comforting thought.
The many shouts coming from the one open alcove drew his attention there.
"Master!", "He's here!", "At last!" was heard from hissing and high pitched voices as six to ten( he couldn't quite tell the exact number as they were clamoring and climbing all over each other) little creatures came excitedly sprinting out of the yellow alcove. They looked almost identical to the one that had spoken first save for their yellow-brown skin and large manes of fur that grew from their neck, though they were otherwise hairless, and lack of wrinkles.
He began to back pedal as he realized that the creatures were not going to stop.
"Yah," Ranma shouted as he weaved out of the way of the small mob.
Most of the creatures came to a stop in a painful heap as they missed their target. One however had somehow latched onto Ranma's torso and was at the moment gleefully rubbing it's face into his chest while whispering a contented "Master."
"Gah, get offa me!" Ranma grabbed the little thing by the top of its head and flung it across the room.
Clapping drew his attention from the dogpile.
Gnarl slowly hobbled forward, "Wonderful Master!" he exulted, his high pitched gravelly voice even higher in his excitement, "They must be brought to heel quickly or they may walk all over you all too soon." He bowed grandly " I am Gnarl. These are your Minions. Though only Browns remain after the destruction of our Tower. The impulsive Reds, sneaky little Greens, and cowardly Blues have left since the death of our old Master. I have summoned you here..."
Ranma's teeth clicked as he closed his mouth, he had been about to demand an explanation but it seemed the creature, Gnarl, had beaten him too it. Obligatory Explanation time made things so easy!
" ....to REIGN SUPREME AS OUR NEW OVERLORD!!!" By now Gnarl was shouting in his excitement.
Ranma...
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(Posted Fri, 13 Jul 2012 19:59)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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