Ukyo and Ranma stared into the space where the blond ditz genie had been floating. Now, Ukyo was no fool. She was an experienced restaurateur, and knew that smoke happened in a restaurant now and again, so you didn't want normal smoke detectors in place. But she did still have some detectors that wouldn't just go off from a little smoke.
As a result, the smoke the genie put out floated up into the air, and floated about the rafters harmlessly, while the two continued to stare. It wasn't until some food left on the grill, and the dropped list of paper and pencil caught on fire that the alarms, and thus the sprinklers, all went off at once, drenching the pair.
Ranma and Ukyo quickly looked to each other in fear. For just a split second, Ukyo saw the water cascade over Ranma, covering him and consuming him. A figure of pure, clear water sat there, Ranma's clothes falling through her. Ukyo blinked, and a single thought floated through her head for a moment. "Wow. Ranchan's girl-form is even cuter than usual."
Then suddenly the water began to swirl violently within Ranma, and the watery figure collapsed in on it's self, being drawn into the sideways vortex at it's own center. The vortex didn't wind up leading out of the watery being into else-where in the room. Instead Ukyo could see into the depths of the vortex, as it lead... elsewhere.
Mere moments from the transformation, Ranma's clothes were sucked through the vortex, which was quickly running out of water.
Ukyo had only moments to decide what she was going to do, and there was a strong chance that no matter what choice she made, it would determine the course of her life.
Not even thinking, Ukyo took a deep breath and lunged for Ranma. She found herself falling through directionless space, surrounded by swirling water. She heard a strange popping sound and looked up behind her... into strange shimmering light.
The moment that Ukyo looked around her she nearly coughed up her air in shock. All around her was nothing but iridescent and sparkling aqua blue. There was no air but that in her lungs. She felt a chill around her, pressing on her, as though she was being pulled apart and compressed at the same time, her feet and hands seemed miles apart, and yet right before her eyes.
Somehow, she felt as though she was being held, protected, and clutched at at the same time. She found herself clutching Ranma's shirt. "Oh Ranma!" She cried mentally, tears leaking into the water around her. "What's going to happen to us?"
And then suddenly space, and time, and warmth, and light returned... along with gravity. For a moment Ukyo and the water around her just seemed to hang in the air, before they impacted a larger body of water. Cold shocked through Ukyo again, and she struggled, trying to figure out which way was up. Her lungs burned. Finally, she spotted the sun, and swam toward it. Ukyo clutched at the water, pulling, climbing through it for the sun, and for air.
Ukyo broke the surface, surging upward, her hair flying behind her. The warmth of the sun glittered. With a gasp, again she tasted sweet, life giving air. She was alive! She was breathing! She had made it here with... "Ran-chan?"
"Ranma?" Ukyo spun around, legs treading water, as she looked for her best friend, and desired husband. "Ranma." She spun, splashing. "Ran-chan!" After that shout, she felt light headed. She could barely tread water. The water seemed thick, somehow. She wound up simply swimming, panting.
"Oh no. Is he drowning? No. It looked like he turned into water. He can't drown... can he?" Then horror struck. "What if that Genie... what if what she did killed him. What if... what if what I did killed him?"
Ukyo spun around, growing more frantic. "Ran-ma!" Taking several deep breaths, she ducked under the water, looking around, trying to find Ranma.
Saotome Ranma was not having a good day. Not a good day at all. First he had several dreams that had started with him waking up, only to really still be asleep. The last of those dreams was about Ranma being Ryoga's fiancee. Ranma was a guy, damn it! Stupid un-cute tomboy and her stupid cooking.
Then he'd had a horribly boring day at school where he learned slightly more than nothing. Then on the way home, the entire fiancee brigade, including all three Tendo sisters showed up. After applying some reasonable caution and removing himself from the situation (Saotome Ranma did not run away) he found an old Arabian style lamp.
That lamp had contained a big-busted blond genie. He had gone to Ucchan to get help with his wish, and then made one accidentally. Moments later, he got doused with water. That's when things began to get very, very strange.
Ranma looked to Ukyo, fear evident in his eyes, as water from the sprinklers splashed across his form. He shuddered, feeling the change come over him. But this time it was different. He felt his guts wrenching inside him and... what on earth? Something was going through him.
Ranma looked down, half expecting to see a huge sword sticking out of his chest, or some kind of impact wound, except for the fact that there wasn't any pain. Instead, he saw... lots and lots of swirling water, and something red floating in it. "Huh? Where's my body? What's going on with that water? Wait, why is the room spinning?"
Ranma tried to look to Ukyo for help, but everything was spinning, and going out of focus, and he felt like someone was pulling him through a drain pipe by his guts, only it didn't hurt. What he was feeling, however, was a growing sense of cold.
Suddenly, he felt an impact, and not only was he being pulled into that pipe, he was shoved into it as well. That impact though... was warm.
Ranma found himself disoriented. Everything was blurred. It was like he was looking at one of those movies they show in phys-ed to try to convince you not to do drugs, except he was feeling it too.
"Did that Genie drug me or something? Man, if she did, this is a bad trip."
Ranma felt himself being pulled inexorably somewhere. There was something not only pulling at him, but also calling to him on an emotional level. He felt like he belonged wherever it was he was being sent. At the same time he felt pulled, compressed, and distorted all at once, and mixed up on top of that. Lights of mottled blue where everywhere, dazzling him from all directions.
But somehow, there was a part of him that had this soft lump in it. A warm, soft lump that wasn't Ranma... but still gave him something he could orient himself on. Ranma tried to focus on that oddly shaped lump, to figure out what it was. An image, a sensation of touch swam into focus. Ucchan?
Yes. The long, brown hair that was tickling his insides; the Spatulas sheering against him; the kimono and the tights clinging to her as she twisted back and forth -- everything about her was Ucchan! Wow it felt weird to physically feel that from so many different angles. Maybe this was an out of body experience? Some martial arts masters talked about having feelings like that. Hey, maybe the genie had advanced him to a whole new level!
That's when Ranma saw and felt the air bubbles escaping one at a time out of Ukyo's nose, even as little bits of himself got forced up into her nose. Okay, that was bad. That was really bad. Ukyo was drowning! Ranma had to save her!
Ranma tried to get a firm hold on Ukyo, to gather her to him and hold her close, but the pulling, the straining the disorientation... nothing he did felt like it accomplished anything. He might be squeezing her, but she was trying to hold her breath, and that would be bad.
Then he realized that more and more of him was being pulled away from her, and that she was starting to slip away. Whatever the weird surroundings were, Ranma was pretty sure leaving Ukyo here could be deadly, so he just clutched onto her, trying to make sure she came with him, without crushing the air out of her.
Then suddenly, with a pop and a slurp, he felt light, and warmth of a different kind. It was blinding! Ranma was still disoriented, but he could tell that he was falling, and that Ukyo was falling with him. Then there was another shock of cold, and a strange expansive feeling as Ranma found himself dumped into a huge body of water.
The water was expansive, but somehow he thought he could sense something of all of it, even where it descended into a rock-face. The experience was new, it was dizzying, and it was disorienting. Ranma had trouble figuring out what his position was, which end was up, how his head was oriented relative to his hands and feet. He felt a strange pulling, swirling sensation, like he had been put in a blender, and set to stir, but without pain, and in a far wider area.
Saotome Ranma was out of his depth.
However, there was one thing Ranma was certain of. Ukyo was in trouble, and he had to help.
Ranma saw Ukyo, felt her somehow, struggling and thrashing in the lake. She was below the surface, and her head was pointed strait down. She was flailing around, wasting her air, and bits of it were escaping.
Ranma winced, and reached out for Ukyo, trying to find a way to right her. It felt like he would never reach, like his arms had to reach meters, with the speed of molasses. But then he felt her, and he could feel himself turning her. She finally spotted the surface, and swam for it.
Ranma followed, pushing her upward as quickly as he could. Finally, he saw Ukyo break surface. Ranma tried to follow, but he kept getting kicked back, and buffeted. A few times he made it up to the surface, and felt the fresh air... and then fell back down, unable to draw breath. Ranma idly wondered why his lungs weren't burning.
Finally, Ranma stopped struggling, and focused, forcing himself to focus on figuring out his status, so that he could act. His head was... here. His neck was there, his torso there. "Yep. Still girl form. At least I'm not a piglet. Okay... my arms... my legs. Got it. So now all I have to do is swim up, and get my head above water and..." With a surge of effort, Saotome Ranma broke the surface, mouth opening wide, and drew air into her lungs. Air! Blessed air!
Ranma blinked, hearing her name being called, and called back. Boy, his voice sounded weird. "Ukyo! Over here!" Ranma said, raising an arm from the water to wave.
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(Posted Sat, 03 Sep 2011 07:37)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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