The relatively easy atmosphere was interrupted by Kasumi coming in, leading a slightly dusty and disheveled Ryouga by the wrist. “Oneechan!” Akane said, surprised. “I thought you were in the kitchen!”
“I was, but Ryouga showed up with souvenirs from some very exotic places, and I thought I’d better show him where you all were.” She smiled kindly. Ryouga looked kind of green at Kasumi’s statement, but when Akane greeted him warmly and invited him to join them all, he was more than ecstatic. “Ryouga! I’m so glad you’re here! Come join Nabiki and me! Ranma seems to have all the company he needs!” She shot daggers at him, then looked back at Ryouga and smiled happily.
GAH! “Uh, sure! What are you talking about?”
“Oh school stuff.” He deflated. When she saw his reaction, she said, “Well, what about your travels, Ryouga? There must be an interesting story from one of those!”
“Oh, you don’t want to hear about that, I’m sure.”
“No, really, I do, and so does Nabiki. Right?” The middle Tendo nodded. “Actually, I think we all would. Hey guys,” Akane called, “what do you say to hearing a story of one of Ryouga’s trips.”
Shampoo and Ukyo immediately left Ranma’s side to join the circle and Kasumi sat down as well. “Well sure, that sounds interesting.”
“Aiyah, Shampoo interested in a good story.”
“Go ahead, sugar.”
Ranma blinked. What had just happened? He looked at Ryouga. A secret place inside himself didn’t want to admit it, but he was annoyed that the pig-boy had just so easily taken all the girls’ attention away from him, so it manifested itself in annoyance at having to hear a stupid story from stupid Ryouga. “Oh, all right. If I have to.” He stood up, strolled over and joined the circle, unconsciously inserting himself between Akane and Ryouga.
Seeing that everyone was there and he was ready to begin, Ryouga thought back to the hundreds of trips he had taken and quickly decided. “Have you ever had strange coincidences happen? You know, déjà vu and all that?” A few of the group in the circle nodded tentatively. “Well, since the last time I left the Tendo dojo, you wouldn’t believe the people I’ve met and talked to. It’s almost spooky, I tell you!” His eyes opened wide at this proclamation, emphasizing his belief.
“Well, Ryouga-kun, we’d love to hear what you have to say. Your journeys are always most interesting!” Kasumi smiled brightly. Several heads nodded furiously and there were murmurs of agreement.
“Ok, if you’re sure, I’d be glad to share this tale.” Everyone leaned in, eager to hear the story. The Lost Boy opened his mouth and began to speak. "Well, I was traveling in a fried-out combie..."
"A what?"
"Sshhh, Ranma. Just listen now. Ask questions later."
Ryouga threw Akane a grateful look and continued. "...on an old hippie trail, my head full of zombie. That's a strong alcoholic drink of the region." He explained, then shook his head ruefully. "If I had only known before I was handed one, but it's too late for recriminations now. Anyway, I met a straange lady;" his voice giving an almost spooky element to the word, "she made me nervous." his voice got hushed on the word. All eyes were glued to Ryouga, just waiting to find out what happened. More than one person's breath was held, in anticipation of some foul happening.
The storyteller leaned back against the wall, smiled, baring his little fangs and simply stated, "She took me in and gave me breakfast."
There were facefaults all around. Ranma hopped to his feet. "Awww, if that's all there is, I'm leavin!" He was stopped by a large spatula to the face, and half-fell, half-slid back into his seat, little spirals in his eyes.
Ukyou looked at Ryouga, smiling. So tell us, Ryouga honey, what did you eat? Did she talk to you?" The chef looked interested in his latest journey.
Grinning wickedly at having "gotten" Ranma, Ryouga nodded. "Pancakes. Western-style okonomiyaki. Kind of interesting." Ukyo nodded, understanding the reference. "Also eggs. There was bacon, but...” he shuddered.
Ranma laughed. "Couldn't eat a family member, eh P-ch-"
Bug-eyed and somewhat frantic, Ryouga’s voice rose perceptibly to cover Ranma’s and he answered Ukyo’s second question. “And she said, 'Do you come from a land down under? Where women glow and men plunder?’”
Shampoo broke in at that point, “Shampoo wonder if lady lived near power plant.”
Nabiki responded, “Maybe she just meant that they really like going to the beach over there.”
“Well, of course, women don’t perspire, you know. They glow. So maybe…”
“Uh, can I get back to my story?”
“Oh, sure, go ahead.”
“So, where was I? Oh yes, women glowing. Then she cocked her head, looked out the window of her little trailer and asked ‘Can't you hear, can't you hear the thunder? You better run, you better take cover.’” He paused for effect. The cursed individuals in the story circle understood the importance of his statement, as did Nabiki, but ever-thick Akane was clueless. “Gee, I wonder why?”
Ranma began, “I can tell you! It’s because P-chan is…”
“…Right at home where you left him!” yelled Ryouga.
“Aww, that’s sweet, but he disappeared, a couple of days before you left, Ryouga. Maybe I’ll see him soon.” She looked sad.
Ryouga smiled. “I’m sure you’ll see him soon.”
Ranma growled. “Yeah. I’m sure. So, you were sayin’ sumthin’ about a trip, right?”
Ryouga nodded. “Sorry. So, a little while later, I was buying bread from a man in Brussels…”
“Brussels? In Belgium? How’d you get there?” Ranma began to laugh.
“Shut up! It doesn’t matter!" he said, angrily. "I thought I was just going into town to get some supplies for that lady I told you about.”
Kasumi had a speculative gleam in her eye at this point. “Let me guess, Ryouga-kun. He was six foot four and full of muscles?”
Ryouga looked at Kasumi in astonishment. “Uh, yeah. How did you know?”
She smiled mysteriously. “It’s just been a…fantasy…of mine for a while. I’m surprised it matched up.” Everyone blinked. At this point, Nabiki decided she needed to search her sister’s room a little more thoroughly tonight while she’s making dinner
Somewhat uncomfortable, Ryouga got back to the story, and quickly fell into the magic of weaving the tale. “I looked at him and wasn’t sure if he could understand Japanese or not, so I said, ‘Do you speak-a my language?’” He looked around at the circle of enraptured faces, all waiting for an answer. “He just smiled and gave me a vegemite sandwich”
Shampoo made a face. “Great-grandmother has told Shampoo about this vegemite. Is worse than thousand year old eggs.” She shuddered. “You not eat it?” She looked somewhat concerned. At Ryouga’s wince and nod, she cried out in alarm.
“Hey, don’t worry Shampoo! He eats Akane’s cooking! This stuff doesn’t sound that bad.” Ranma smiled and patted her hand. At that reminder, she nodded and calmed down, though she still gave the Lost Boy a sympathetic look.
“And WHAT’S so wrong with my cooking??” Akane stood up, blue flames licking her skin, annoyed both at his words and his gesture to the Amazon.
Ranma looked at her and replied “Sshhh. Just listen now, Akane. Ask questions later, remember?” At her look of consternation, he grinned and turned back to the story circle in time to hear Ryouga continuing the story.
“…And he said, ‘I come from a land down under where beer does flow and men chunder.’ I quickly found out, when he took me to a pub, that chunder meant to, er, you know," and here his voice deepened and quieted, as if he were somewhat embarrassed to say the word, "throw up. It was quite an experience, especially after that sandwich.” He shook his raven locks and smiled, his cheeks attaining a tinge of pink at having to admit that part.
For a moment, everyone was frozen, then looked at Ryouga in a slightly different light. So what does he do when he’s on his trips and away from Nerima? was the general thought. A couple of perceptions were changed right then and there.
“And again, I was asked ‘Can't you hear, can't you hear the thunder? You better run, you better take cover.’" He looked at everyone. “It was odd. The first time, there was rain, this time, there wasn’t. I didn’t know what to make of it.”
“So what’s this ‘Down Under?’”
“Duh, Ranma! That’s Australia. I mean, don’t you pay attention in school at all?” Akane rolled her eyes.
Nabiki’s mercenary senses were tingling. “So was that it? Something tell me that isn’t the end of the story, Ryouga-kun.” She was imagining some kind of secret society, Illuminati-like, which had passwords that Ryouga had stumbled upon. Now how to figure it out and get herself into it? She needed to be one of those people who ruled the world!
Ryouga nodded. “You’re right, Nabiki. There’s more. And this is the one I can’t explain. After my time at the pub with my friend in Brussels, I was kind of out of it. He helped me back to the campground where I had set up my tent. Lots of college students were there, backpacking around, and the last thing I remember that night was him directing me towards my campsite. I found my tent, went in, and…”
“What? What? What happened next?”
Smiling like the cat the swallowed the cream piglet that swallowed the corncob, Ryouga said “I woke up and I was lying in a den in Bombay.” He held up a hand to forestall any outbursts, pointed to a very faint bruise on his left cheek, and continued, “with a slack jaw, and not much to say. I said to the man, ‘Are you trying to tempt me because I come from the land of plenty?’” Elaborating a bit on said man, Ryouga commented, “He must have been put there to watch for me to wake up, because he immediately rang a bell." Ryouga looked around. Some of the listeners looked a little disbelieving, but Nabiki nodded, as if completely understanding.
“Oh come on, wasn’t this the late late movie last week?” Ranma rolled his eyes.
The directionally challenged manic-depressive shrugged. “Believe it or not, but like I said, he rang a bell to alert someone I was awake, and he said, ‘Oh! Do you come from a land down under? Where women glow and men plunder? Can't you hear, can't you hear the thunder? You better run, you better take cover.’" Again, his eyes widened and eyebrows lifted to emphasize his words.
“There it is again, that glowing.”
“And what of the plundering? Is he talking about pirates?”
“Maybe Vikings?”
“Well, Australia was a penal colony originally. Maybe those are the plunderers.”
Nabiki sat back and let all the chatting and speculating wash over her. She carefully eyed Ryouga. Had something changed about him? Why had he told that story? Was he trying to pass her some secret information through it?
(hehhehheh. She said down under, Beavis. Yeah, cool, Butthead. Hehheheheh.)
Read the comments on this episode
(Posted Fri, 16 May 2003 20:29)
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.