Never, never lost.
Part 2
Never, never land, and all that lies between.
Ranma woke up and shook his head. He felt terrible, his body ached and
he was lying on the ground in a forest. "Man, I got to talk to Ukyo about
that new sauce, it gave me the weirdest..." He trailed off when he
realized that the jungle that surrounded him was definitely not Japan.
Beside him Ryoga Hibiki snored lazily. "Wake up jerk! Where the hell are
we?! This has to be your fault lost boy!"
The boy in question found himself rudely awakened by a kick in his ribs.
Ryoga shot up like a rod and blinked. "Ranma, what are you doing in
Kyushu?"
"Kyushu? Does this look like Kyushu to you moron? Where the hell did you
drag us off too?" snapped the pigtailed boy in frustration.
Ryoga looked at his surroundings and thought for a moment. "Hmm, trees,
weird animals, an island... yup, looks like Kyushu to me."
Ranma fell face first on the ground.
"Well, he is a lost boy," said a familiar voice. Ranma and Ryoga stopped
their argument and turned slowly around to see a small girl standing on a
rock nearby. She looked about two inches tall and glowed with a faint
light.
"Boy, that new sauce sure is something..." muttered Ranma with a
slightly sick look on his face.
"How dare you call me names to my face!" snapped Ryoga as he glared at
her.
"I'm not calling you names pea brain! You're a lost boy!" snapped the
girl.
"Lost whozits?" said Ranma in confusion.
"Lost boy! LOST BOY! Don't you read fairy tales? Like in Peter Pan!"
screamed the tiny girl in frustration.
"Who's Peter Pan?" said Ranma as he looked at Ryoga and blinked.
"I think he's from the planet Krypton..."
A rather large mallet that the girl had produced from behind her back
silenced Ryoga.
Akane Tendo was not happy. She woke up and frowned as she found herself
staring down a large group of confused looking men. They were all rather
gruff looking and dressed in brightly colored clothing. Several cries of
"Arr," floated through the air as she sat up and glared at them.
"Who the hell are you?"
The men all blinked and stared at her in confusion. "Pirates," replied
one of the men in the back. The others nodded, many looked like they
where still uncertain about that answer.
"Where am I? Where's Ranma?" snapped the girl angrily as she glanced
around.
One of the men stepped forward, he was a small grimy looking man with
glasses. "You're the captive of Captain James Hook. The Pirate King. We
brought you here to flush out the damnable Peter Pan and make you our new
mother."
Akane blinked and stared at them in shock. "Mother?"
Another resounding cry of "Arr," filled the room. None of them noticed
Akane starting to glow blue.
"Why, you...you..." started the girl.
"Don't worry, were good boys. We'll make a fine lot of children for
you..." started the lead man.
"PERVERTS!" screamed the girl as she charged forward. The men stood
dumbly as a rather familiar scene played out for Akane, something that
reminded her of her freshman year at Furinkan.
The fight was fast and clean. Akane easily decimated the men before her
and quickly moved towards the stairway that led out of the small wooden
room she found herself in. She beat her way through several men that
stood in the stairwell and charged out into the daylight. She paused
suddenly when she realized where she was.
A resounding voice stopped the few remaining Pirates from giving chase
and they all turned towards the voice. "What is the meaning of this
ruckus?"
Akane leaned over the edge of the ship and found only water surrounding
her. The beach of a small island could be seen from the port side and she
prepared to jump into the waves. She was stopped as a cold sharp object
met her throat.
"Now lass, that wouldn't be very smart," a cultured voice from right
next to her said smoothly. She spun around and stepped back from the tall
elegantly dressed man who stood before her.
He was almost twice her size, a strong aura surrounded him and he merely
sneered and played with his curled mustache with the metal hook that
replaced his left hand. He chuckled dangerously and took her hand gently.
She froze up and found herself unable to move.
"There are dangerous things lurking about them waters my dear," said the
man coldly as he indicated the water below with his hook.
Akane paused and cocked her head. "Ticking?"
The tall man moved her a generous distance away from the ships edge. He
looked uncomfortable for a moment and then regained his cool. "Aye lass.
The cursed sound that has haunted me for many years. That sound has
claimed the lives of many men...and a few children as well."
Akane felt herself growing angry again as she began to realize she had
been kidnapped. "Who are you? What's going on?"
The man looked flustered for a moment and sputtered in shock. "How rude
of me! Allow me to introduce myself. I am Captain James T. Hook of the
seafaring vessel 'The Jolly Roger.'"
Akane blinked and looked around at the crew that surrounded her. "You
mean? This is Never, never land?"
"So, you have heard of this place? No doubt through the tales of that
cowardly Peter Pan! I shall at last have my vengeance upon that cursed
boy!" The pirate looked towards the sky and shook his hook in anger at
the mere mentioning of the name.
"But, what has that got to do with me?" said Akane in shock.
"Foolish little girl. Do you not realize that the boy known as Peter Pan
has fallen in love with you? He would do anything to see you safe. Even
fall right into my trap!"
Akane blanched and almost fell over. "Not another idiot trying to marry
me..."
Ranma struggled through he bushes and growled as he found himself
following Ryoga Hibiki through the jungles of this strange new place.
"Where are we going again?"
"I already told you! We're going to the lost boy's camp. You idiots are
too heavy for me to carry you all the way there," snapped the strange
fairy girl. She had grown a pair of wings and was flying over them
leaving a trail of dust that fell all over the two boys.
"Achoo!" Ryoga sniffled and glared at her. "Will you quit blowing that
stuff on me! You're getting my clothes dirty!"
"If you'd just think happy thoughts we'd have been there by now!"
snapped the tiny girl bitterly.
"Dirty clothes? Ryoga, when was the last time you had a bath, much less
washed your clothes," snorted Ranma.
"The same time you did you jerk...hey! Are you saying I stink?" snapped
Ryoga.
"Calm down P-chan..." muttered Ranma as he pushed by.
"Who are you calling P-chan?" snapped Ryoga as he charged to attack.
The fairy girl started to giggle and dance around the pair as they
fought. "P-chan! P-chan! P-chaaan!"
Ryoga forgot about Ranma and took swipes in the air. "You shut up you!"
Ranma gasped in shock as the girl floated to a stop and looked at Ryoga
in confusion. "But, you always liked it when we called you that
before..."
Ryoga stopped in his tracks and didn't stop his punch in time. The fairy
girl was knocked out of the air and into a nearby tree stump.
"Ryoga! What have you done!?" cried Ranma in shock.
"Oh no! I've hit a girl!" said the lost boy in shock. He fell to the
ground and tears flowed from his eyes.
Ranma peered into the log and groaned as the fairy lay on her back
rolling and groaning over dramatically. She coughed several times and
reached for them with her hand. "-Cough- I can't go on -cough- must find
lost boy's hideout -cough- without...Wait! -cough cough- is still hope!
-cough cough wheeze- clap! If you clap you can -cough- save me!"
The acting was so bad even Ranma wasn't fooled. "Cut it out you phony."
Ranma paused and turned his head. Ryoga was standing next to him with
tears in his eyes clapping madly.
"Ryoga, don't tell me you're falling for this junk..." he stopped as the
lost boy punched him in the head.
"Shut up and clap damn it!"
Ranma sighed and slowly clapped his hands. The fairy seemed pleased by
this and floated back up into the air.
"This way! We have to hurry!"
They found themselves in the middle of a rather large open field. In the
center of the valley was a large grouping of teepees. "What the heck is
that?" said Ranma.
"That? Oh it's nothing, just an Indian village. It'll be better if we go
around..." said the fairy nervously. She kept giving Ryoga quick glances
as she said this.
"Why is that?" said the lost boy obliviously.
"No reason...just because..." stammered the girl nervously as she
floated with her back turned on them.
Ranma turned around and froze as a large group of -very- large men
emerged from the forest behind them armed with spears.
One of the men got a malicious looking grin on his face as he stepped
forward and pointed his spear at them. "How."
"Uh, hi," said the two boys as they realized they where surrounded.
Several moments later the pair was being carried on a pair of poles with
their arms and legs tied to them. They hung upside down with two men on
either end of them.
"Damn you Ranma! This is all your fault!" snapped Ryoga angrily.
"What the hell are you talking about!? I didn't have anything to do with
this pig!" retorted Ranma.
The fairy sighed from inside the small basket that hung just above
Ryoga's chest. "Will you two knock it off? We aren't really in any
danger..." she paused as they neared the village. Two large wooden stakes
where set up in the center of the village with piles of wood around them.
"Well, maybe, but its not too much danger..."
Akane frowned as she sat in the chair with a large old children's reader
in her hands. A group of about thirty grown men sat around her watching
intently as she read the lines in the book.
"See spot run, run spot run..." she trailed off and looked at the crowd
again. They sat on the edge of their seats literally hanging on each
word.
"What does spot do next?" said one of the men. He was punched in the
face by the man sitting next to him and shushed by several other men.
"This is really stupid," muttered Akane under her breath. She moved her
leg slightly and grimaced as the ball and chain pulled on her ankle
slightly. She sighed heavily and continued to read.
Inside the captain's quarters Hook watched from a window in disgust.
"Look at the idiots Smee, surrounding her like cattle."
"That's nice captain. At least they are enjoying themselves," replied
the same greasy looking man who had spoken for the pirates when Akane had
first woken up.
"I miss the old days Smee, the raping and pillaging. It's all but gone
from that horrible world down below."
"I know captain, pirates just don't have the awe inspiring fear they
used to..." said the man in reply. It was obvious this was an old
conversation.
"It used to be we ruled the seas! Now we're but a few scraggly men on
tiny boats who fear the warships of the governments. It's pitiful."
"Right you are captain," agreed Smee without paying attention.
"I'll finally kill Peter Pan, and then we'll have one last glorious
legend before our kind vanish forever. I just want this last victory,
this last war to our proud heritage." Hook slashed through the air
blindly with his hook and Smee avoided a near decapitation with practiced
ease. It was obvious he had been in the situation many times before.
"Aye, that we will captain. Just get some rest, it will be a little
while before Peter Pan is ready to fight again."
"You're right about that. Once he regains his memories, he'll be ready."
The pirate slammed his hook into the table and smiled cruelly. "Then I'll
kill the brat and sail into legend! Ha-ha!"
Smee blinked and walked over to a nearby chest with a sigh.
"Smee..." said Hook in a slightly annoyed tone.
"Yes captain?"
"My hook is stuck in the table again."
"I'll get the crowbar captain."
"Very good Smee." The table was covered in hundreds of small holes
around the area where the captain was seated.
TBC...
Next time: Ranma and Ryoga vs. the Indian tribe.