Ranma sighed. It didn't take long for the argument to degenerate into name-calling. He knew the Ponyta had a temper. He was surprised to see she hadn't resorted to violence yet. The foot-long rat thing had also kept its cool. It gave as good as it good.
"[-and we don't need your help, litter runt!]"
"[Whatever. You're a hopeless cause anyways. That human, on the other hand,-]"
The young man let out an annoyed breath as he ran his fingers through his hair. This situation was starting to get too nostalgic for his taste. A couple girls, an argument about him in some way, a warning to not interfere, blah blah blah.
"[Buck-toothed busybody!]"
"[Know-nothing nag full of nothing but hot air!]"
He was gonna end up being smacked by someone. He just knew it. And he didn't want to think about that. It would remind him of a certain person and remember what that person did to him. No, he didn't want to think about that at all.
"[Why don't you get on out of here and find yourself some road-killed carcass to rub your flea-ridden worm tail in!]"
"[What?! You take that back, you gangly-legged, bowed-backed, cracked-hooved eater of dung!]"
Going through his backpack, Ranma looked over his stuff again. The beltpack he took out and strapped around his waist. No sense in keeping it in there. He was still confused by some of the other stuff though. He didn't know why he had a palm-sized computer thingy; it wasn't like he knew how to work those things. But at least he recognized it. He still had no idea what those metallic spheres were.
Taking a couple into the palm of his hand, Ranma considered them. He noticed a button sticking out on one side. He pushed it. He blinked a couple of times as he found himself holding a slightly bigger ball. He pushed the button again. It shrunk back to its original size. He tested the other one. The same result.
Palming an expanded red-and-white ball in each hand, the young man compared one with the other, trying to see if there was a difference between them. He was comparing the weights of the two when he noticed that the argument had degenerated into a brawl.
"Hey! You two knock it off!"
The Ponyta was trying her damnedest to squish the other Pokemon flat with her stomping hooves. The Rattata was dodging frantically and was nipping at her legs, trying to bite something vital. Neither was listening him.
Slightly peeved, Ranma hefted the strange sphere in his right hand a couple of times. Then he beaned the Ponyta with it on the forehead and the Rattata as well with the other ball. He started rebuking them again, now that he had their attention, when something strange happened.
"Would you two stop- What the hell?"
When the metal spheres bounced off of the Pokemon, they emitted a strange flash of light that seemed to envelop both of the Pokemon. Then the Ponyta and the Rattata appeared to get sucked into the now-opened balls, disappearing when the red-and-white spheres re-closed with a click. The things shook a couple of times, rolling about a bit on the ground.
"..."
An indicator of some sort on the side of the little balls flickered a couple of times. Ranma just stared. After a while, a small ding was heard from each ball. Whatever had happened, it looked to be over, as the small spheres had stopped moving.
Cautiously, the young man sidled over towards the red-and-white balls. Stretching out with a long stick, he poked at one of them and quickly backed away. Nothing happened. He did it again. Again, nothing happened. He poked the other ball. Nothing.
"..."
Eventually, he picked one of them up. He pressed the button from earlier. The thing just shrunk. He quickly pressed the button again. Hopefully, that didn't do anything bad to whoever was inside. Hopefully. Not anything too bad. Well, he would make it up to them.
Glancing at the ball again, he noticed a new button sticking out. It had been depressed earlier when he had first examined the sphere. It was now popped out of its recess. Maybe this was the button that released the ball's contents. Maybe. Only one way to find out.
See other episodes by The Masked Lurker
(Posted Fri, 30 Jan 2004 12:31)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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