Adam

CHAPTER 2

A Night to Remember

      Mr. Saotome came in and woke me up at about 6:30. I went down stairs still a bit groggy but much better than before. I walked out onto the patio adjoining the kitchen. Everyone except for Kasumi was sitting around the little table in the middle. "Glad to see that you are awake. I made a place for you here." Kasumi said pointing to a space between Ranma and Nabiki.
      "Thank you," I said as I sat down.
      I looked around the table. There was tea, rice and some rolls on the outskirts of the table, just above the plaits and silverware. There was a big space in the middle for the main meal, that I had no clue of what it was. I then remembered one little thing about me that might be a problem. I realy don't eat much. Strick diet, and I don't think that this food makes the list. So I had no clue what I would eat.
     " Dinners ready." A voice yelled from the kitchen.
      The voice didnÕt sound like Kasumi's though. I then noticed that one other person was missing from the table, Akane. She came through the curtain from the kitchen carrying a big dish of god knows what. She slammed it down on the table and said, "Here you go and there's seconds if you want more."
      She said this like some poor sap was actully going to eat that toxic stew in front of them. Then a thought hit me. This is definitly not one of the few things I eat. I said Kindly to Akane, "I'm sorry but I can't eat...that. I'm on a stricked diet."
      Then Akane said, "Oh, that's OK, you can just eat some thing else."
      All of a sudden everyone started saying, "Me too! Me too!"
      "Hey! I know what all of the rest of you eat. So don't even try to get something else. Your going to eat this, and your going to like it."
      I got up and went into the kitchen. I walked over and opened the fridge. The was a lot of food. I decided on just making a grilled chesse. I was still full from the pizza. Then Kasumi came in and said, "is there anything I can get you?"
      I answered, "No, I'm OK. I'm just going to make a sandwich for myself."
      She walked over and opened the stove door. She took out a cooked goose. She looked at me a laughed. "You see this is the real meal. We'll serve this after Akane leaves and they're done hiding the food she cooked."
      I hade to laugh at that. it was a good idea though. I was just finishing my dinner when Akane came through. She said, "I'm going for a jog Kasumi. I'll be back later."
      After that the rest of the family came in and headed straight for the goose. That bird was gone in under ten seconds. They then went to the trash and emptied some bags they were hiding, with Akane meal, and dumped it. "I feel much better now eating real food then that poison she cooks," Ranma said
      Everyone fished cleaning up and went out onto the little board walk on the side of the dojo. Ranma sat against a pillar and started reading a magazine. Genma and Soun started playing Go. Nabiki turned on her walkman and lied out along the walk. Kasumi for the first time relaxed with a book against a wall. This must be that little moment of peace after a meal. To help relax and give the food time to digest. I sat against the pillar to Ranmas right and looked at the sun setting over the horizon. "Hey," Ranma said, "Do you want something to read.
      He handed me a magazine. The name of the magazine was Times. On the cover they had picture of a forest with a lot of mist around it. The large captions that described this were, 'The Ryogonzowa monster, Myth or Mystery?' That article did not look that exiting, so I decided not to read it. I opened it up and looked at the main page. There a lot of articles but one caught my eye. Page 45, odd accurances in the area. I turned to the page and started reading.

      There have been many odd accurances in the local area lately and no one seems to know anything about them. Last Tuesday, Mrs. R. Takahashi said that she and a friend witnessed a shape in the sky that like a saucer flying slowly over her house. Mrs. Takahashi said, "It looked like a round airplane with little lights all over it . Then when looked away for one second and looked back, it was gone."
     Another weird story came Monday. A man named V. Cho went for a walk down his street towards the local drug store to get some aspirin. On his way there he heard a noise from an alleyand decided to find out what it was. Mr. Cho said, "I walked down the alley to find out what the noise was. When I got to the end of it I saw this big woolly beast rummaging through the trash. It turned around and roared. I then turned around and ran out of the alley. There was no doubt about it. It was Big Foot."
     There have been reports of freak occurances this past week of storms coming and going in small specified places. In these storms some people have reported seeing portals near where the storm hit. Is the just some kind of freak weather or is it a gateway into another world? We really do not know how or why any of this is happening but mind you. Just keep an eye out for the strange the next time you go out walking.

      It made me think about ways I could have gotten here. I didn't really know if it was true or not since this was a tabloid magazine. Mabey this time they got lucky and found a real story. Just then Akane came back. She jogged in and went straight into the house. A couple of minutes later Ranma got up and stretched. "Well, we better get ready for the concert tonight." Ranma said. "Akanes back and that means we can leave in about an hour."
      I stared at him with a kinda confused look and said, "What concert?"
      Ranma replied, "there's going to be a free concert tonight in the park near town square. Your welcome to join us if you want?"
      "Sounds like fun." I said.
      "That's great. Then you probably want to take a bath first." Ranma said. "I've got some spare cloths upstairs you can change into."
      He quickly ran upstairs and came back down with some clothes. I took them and headed for the bathroom. I walked into the bathroom before the baths. I grabbed a towel, stripped down and opened the second door. For some strange reason I totally ignored the running water sound coming from inside. I saw Akane taking a bath. I started muttering, "I'm ah, I'm ah, I'm ah..sorry. I didnt,I,I,I did-."
      Smack! She came up and gave me a good smack across the face. "Are all men perverts?!" Akane said flustered.
      I quickly backed up into the other room and closed the door. I put a towel on and waited out side the bathroom. I could still hear here complaining about the male gender from outside. In about twenty minutes the door opened and she came out. She gave me a long stare and walked by. I quickly went back into the bathroom. I looked around to make sure no one else was I here. I then finally got to take my bath. It was relaxing and exactly what I needed for my broken finger. I seemed weird that my finger stayed broken while every other injury healed itself quite quickly. I spent twenty minutes in the bath, and then got out. The new clothes I got from Ranma were nice looking. He gave me a black silk shirt with some light blue silk pants. The shirt had a blue dragon going down the left arm. The pants had a black dragon going down the right leg. They were very comfortable.
      I walked out of the bathroom and headed downstairs. At the bottom of the stairs all the people were running around getting ready for tonight. "Look'n good man," Ranma said.
      "Yes very nice." Kasumi added.
      I said kindly, "Thanks."
      "Ya, something out of SQ." Ranma said.
      I asked inquisitively, "SQ?"
      "Samurai Quarterly."
      "Of course." I answered with a laugh.
      "Is Everybody ready?" Soun said.
      We all answered yes and headed out the front door. The park was only a mile and a half down the road so we walked to it. The sun was setting and it looked to be a beautiful night. We reached the park I relized it was the same park that I woke up in. In the middle of the park was a big space were someone had put up a stage. There were many people all over the place. There was a big group of people around the stage and some scattered ones of to the sides of it. We walked around the main group and stopped by a tree on a little hill. You had a decent view of the stage and a great view of the park. Kasumi took out a blanket from a bag she was carrying and laid it down on the ground. Everyone sat down and relaxed. Mr. Tendo and Mr. Saotome took out their pipes and started smoking. The band on stage had just started warming up. They sounded like they could be decent. Just then Ranma stood up and said, "I'm going to go look around. Anyone like to come?"
      Akane and Nabiki got up. "Are you coming too Adam?" Ranma said.
      I got up and Said,"Ya, I would like to look around and meet some people. I mean who knows, I probebly already know most of the people here."
      We headed down the hill and into the huddled mass. We cut through until we got near the middle. Ranma stopped and picked up a conversation with someone. I moved in as quickly as I could, trying not to bump into anybody. Ranma said, "Hey Tetsuo, how ya doin'."
      Tetsuo? I was about five feet away from them. I could see them talking. It was the Tetsuo I thought it was, from Akira. I tried to move closer. Just then I got hit from the side and knocked down. I thought I was in a mosh pit for a second. "I'm sorry are you all right?" Someone said.
      I looked up and saw a tall girl with long brown hair. She was warring blue jeans, a green T-shirt, and blue over shirt. It was Lita, Sailor Jupiter from Sailor Moon, my favorite scout. "Here let me help you up." She said. "Hey, you remind me of my old boyfriend Ben, but you have bigger sholders."
      "Thanks for helping me up."I said as she pulled me up.
      "I'm just sorry I knocked you down. Hi, my name is Lita. WhatÕs yours?"
      I said with an acward smile, "My names Adam. Nice to meet you."
      She said with a smile, "Nice to meet you too."
      "Lita, I told you we would get lost in this big crowd." A voice said coming through the crowd.
      I turned around and saw a klutzy girl walking towards me. She was followed by three other girls. I knew exactly who they were even before I got a good look at them. It was Serrina, Raye, Mina, and Amy-the scouts. It was all of them, the whole gang. "Oh, I'm sorry, I just wanted to get closer to the stage. I guess I forgot about you guys."
      Serrina came walking towards when she tripped over someone's foot and fell with a crash. "Your such a hazzard Serrina. I swear that you would trip over an ant sometimes." Raye said obnoxiously.
      Serrina got up and said, "Hey, I don't need any criticism from someone like you."
      "Can you both please stop arguing. Your annoying enough with out arguments." Lita said.
      "Annoying!" Both Serrina and Raye said.
      "Who are you calling annoying missy. "Raye Said.
      "Ya, your no princess yourself." Serrina said.
     I stood there and watched them continue arguing with each other. Their energy to keep this up surprised me, but I decided to stop this pointless argument so I could enjoy the show. I said, "Ladies, ladies. Please, can you please stop fighting. It's not necessary. I know you're all friends, and that friends do not need to argue this much. You donÕt need to get on each other's case over the littlest of things. I mean, I know that you all care about each other very much and that you really don't mean what you say. I know that you Raye do believe in Serrina even though she is a klutz. Why can't you work things out peacefully like Mina and Amy? Do you get what I'm saying?"
      They all looked at me in amazement. They were all quiet. Even with the roar of the crowd and the band playing I could only hear silence. A big drop of water rolled down my head and I said to myself, "Well that was very stupid. They don't know you know who they are."
      Serrina said in amazement, "Lita, who is this?"
      Lita answer in a not so sure voice, "this is Adam...someone I just met a minute ago."
      "Then how does he know who we all are?" Amy asked inquisitively.
      "I don't know. How do you know about us?"
      I had to answer them, but what to say. Well, I guess the truth. So I said, "You see... I kinda, ah... came from, ah...this-"
      "Don't worry about him, he's a friend of mine." Ranma jumped in and said. "He's kinda not from around here."
      "Then how does he know all about us." Mina asked.
      Ranma said, "well you see It all started this morning..."
      As Ranma started to tell them the short vertion of my story I didnÕt know If I should have stopped him or not. So I figured It probably would be better if they knew the truth. I figured they would believe the story since they have seen some weird things happen to them before, with the Negaverse and all. "And that's how he knows about you." Ranma said finishing up my story."
      "So what he is saying is that you know us from TV shows and comic books from a different world." Raye said.
      "Yea, thats pretty much the story." I said.
      "Well if you know so much about us, tell me something secret. Something only we would know." Lita said.
      If I needed to prove to her that I was telling the truth, so be it. I walked up to Lita and whispered in her ear, "I know that your Sailor Jupiter and that Serrina is Sailor moon a.k.a. the moon princess (that perked her interest). I know about Queen Barrel, Reni, the silver emporium Crystal, and that the cats Luna and Atriums can talk. I even know about your best friend Ken. Now do you believe me?"
      Lita turned and looked at me in astonishment. She then said, "He's telling the truth. He is from another world."
      She walked over and told the girls what I said to her. Serrina then said, 'Well if Lita says your for real than I'll believe her. Nice to meet you. What did you say your name was again?"
      "My name is Adam." I said.
      Just then Darrien with Reni on his shoulders came through the crowd. Reni was holding a balloon and eating some cotton candy. "Hi Serrina! Do you want some of my candy?" Reni said.
      Serrina said hungrily, "Ya, give me some."
      She reached up and grabbed it and started chomping on it. "Hey donÕt eat it all like you did last time, OK." Reni said.
      "Ya, ya, don't worry about it." Serrina said with a mouth full of food.
      "Hey Ranma." Darien said.
      "Hey Darien." Ranma said.
      They seemed to know each other. Which was new to me, since so far all the characters I have met had stayed only with the other characters from there own story. "Are we still going to play some basketball tomorrow night?" Darrien said.
      "Ya, at 7:30 instead of 7:00, I got some work to do, OK." Ranma said.
      "Ya that's cool." Darien said.
      Reni came up to me and ask,"Hey, who are you?"
      I felt obligated to answer but I hoped I didn't we didn't need to go over my story again. So I said, "My names Adam."
      "I've never seen you before. So that makes you a stranger and IÕm not allowed to talk to strangers." Reni said.
      "Its OK Reni. He's safe. We just meet." Serrina said.
      "Well then I guess its OK. Nice to meet you, my names Reni."
      "You know, I've never seen you before. Are you new to this area or something?" Darien asked.
      I guess I'm going to get a lot of this while I'm here. "I'm kinda not from around here." I said.
      "Ya, he's staying with me and my family at the dojo." Ranma added. "But you would be surprised by how much he knows about the area."
      "Ya he's from another world you might say." Lita said with a little laughter in her voice.
      "Another world huh." Darien said.
      I ( in my infinite wisdom) added, "Ya Its kinda weird being here and don't worry I'm not from the Negaverse or nothing."
      "Then how do you know about it?" Darien said very forceful.
      Opps. Once again I've said too much. One day I have to learn to shut my mouth. "Well then you must be a spy!" Darien said.
      He put Reni down and came towards me. He looked angry. All of a sudden all the scouts and Ranma jumped in front of him. "No, he isn't a spy, but he is from totally different world." Serrina said. "Let me explain."
      She quickly told him my story. Luckily he calmed down. He then said, "So you know of all this because we are characters in stories in your world."
      "Yes." I quickly added. This was getting repetative.
      "And you expect me to believe this?" Darien said.
      Reni then spoke up and said, "Why donÕt you prove it, (whispering) use the moon healing wand."
      "OK, lets do that." Darien said.
      Darien and Ranma went talking away form the group for a little bit. "We have to get Ranma out of here. He doesn't know about the scouts. Come, follow me." Serrina said.
      We left the big crowd and headed under one of the big tarp set ups holding some of the equipment. When we got there Serrina pulled out the healing wand and raised it over her head. " Wait a minute. Don't you need to be Sailor Moon to use that?" I asked.
      Serrina said with a smile, "Actually no. You would be surprised how much we can still do with out being in uniform."
      "OK then." I said.
      She pointed the wand at me and said, "Moon healing power!"
      These beams of light came out at me. It kind of tingled. In about a minute it stoped. "So am I from the Negaverse or not?" I said smugly.
      "No, your clean." Serrina said. "Lets go tell Darien."
      We walked back into the crowd and found Darien. He said, "Did he pass the test?"
      "Ya." Raye said
      "Well then I'm sorry about jumping on your case and all, you can never be to sure about the negaverse." Darien said.
      Ranma looked confused about the whole thing. "Well then, now that we got that all over with,what ever it was, lets try to enjoy the concert."
      "I'm with you." I added with smile.
      I felt a tug on my leg and looked down. Reni was pulling on my pant leg. "Can I have a piggy back ride please?"
      you can't really say no with that little kid look of hers. "Sure you can." I said.
      I boosted her up on to my shoulders. "Thank you." She said.
      The music from the band sounded nice and I was having a good time. Reni was clapping and singing along. She had a billion questions to ask me, just like any little kid. I talked to all the girls and just hung out for the remainder of the concert. After the last song played every one clapped and cheered. Shortly after the crowd started to disperse. It was about 11:30. We all walked back to the spot where Mr. Tendo and Mr. Saotome were sitting down. The girls followed us.
      When we got there we saw Genma, as a panda, leaning against a tree looking very sick. Kasumi was propping Mr. Tendo up on her knee. It looked like she was trying to wake him up or something. Ranma walked up and asked, "what happened to them?"
      "Father and Mr.Saotome got into the saki again and they had too much this time." Kasumi said.
      "Its awful the way they cant control themselves some time." Nabiki said trying too poor some tea down Genma's mouth.
      Everyone nodded in agreement and we headed to shampoos. It was kind of a long walk but it didn't matter. We talked the whole way. There were little conversations inside the group. Ranma was talking to Darien. Serrina was arguing with Raye. Amy was caring Reni. Mina struck up a conversation with Nabiki and Akane. So I starter talking to Lita. She started off the conversation by saying, "So whatÕs it like coming to another world?"
      Well, I was getting use to these types of questions now. I said, "Well its very nerve racking at first. I mean imagine that you were just hanging around your neighborhood when all of a sudden, you're in another world."
      She said with a sympathetic look, "You must fell pretty lonely with out your family and friends."
      "I'll be OK. It's no big deal."
      "Do you have a girlfriend?" She asked.
      "No. Not recently." I answered.
      "Well then this must be exitting for you. I mean no one to worry about back home. Being in a place far away from your normal life with people you know, sort of."
      "Yes this is very exitting. Not knowing what will happen next. Living in a world that you thought was total fantasy." I said.
      "Mabey one day I will get a chance to see your world."
      "Mabey." I replyed.
      "How are you going to get back anyway?"
      "I don't know."
      "You don't know? Then you might never get back?"
      "Yea, I know but I hope I do. If I keep my hopes up and my eyes open, I should be all right."
      "I hope you do make it back."
      "Who knows, anything is possible."
      When we hit town we only had to go a few blocks before we got to Shampoo's restaurant. The Cat Cafe. I was surprised it was open this late. It started to rain a little just as we got in. We walked in when Shampoo came out of the back to welcome us. "Welcome to Cat Cafe. Please take seat." She said.
      Ranma walked to the front and said, "Hey Shampoo."
      "Ranma!" She said with much excitement. "You come to see Shampoo."
      Ranma said, "Well I actually just came for som-"
      "Oh Ranma, you no need to lie to Shampoo. Shampoo know you come for date." She said.
      She jumped on him giving him a big hug. He flinched and tried to brake free. Akane looked less than happy. "Hey, get off me." Ranma yelled.
      "What do you think your doing with Shampoo, Ranma!" Akane said, as a blue flame started to grow around her.
      "Hey its not my fault. She's the one all over me." Ranma said.
      Akane ran to the back kitchen, grabbed a tea kettle on the stove and ran towards Ranma with a mean look on her face. She lifted the pot over her head and broke it over Ranmas. Shampoo flew off and he went down like a rock. Unfortunately for Ranma the pot, I guess, wasn't on the stove for too long, since the water in side was still cold. Akane backed off and started to calm down. Ranma got up in kind of a daze, as a girl. Shampoo took one look at him/her and said, "Female Ranma, I kill you!"
      Shampoo puts on a big red rain coat and pulls a big lantern out of her hair and chases Ranma out in to the rain. "Come back to Shampoo!" She said.
      We just stood there and stared out the door as they went down the street. A car came by and almost hit Ranma. It stopped short and the man inside started honking and screaming at him. Shampoo took a swing at him as he jumped the car. She missed and put the lantern through the roof of the car and hits the guy driving. "I'm sorry about her. Sometimes she just can't control herself." A voice said from behind us.
      We all turned around and saw a little old woman holding a big cane standing on the counter. It was Cologne. "I'm sorry about the rudeness of my grandaughter. Please sit down." Cologne said.
      We walked over to the dinning room and took two tables by a window. We could still see Ranma and Shampoo running around in the rain. A little dinner theater. Darien, Reni, Serrina, and Akane sat at one table. While Amy, Mina, Lita, and Nabiki sat at the other one. I pulled up a chair between Nabiki and Lita.
      The place was pretty dead, I guess this was because it was half an hour from closing. Actually there was only two other people in the restaurant besides us. They were sitting by the grill near the front. I recognized who they were. It was Grash and Liza from the 'Project A-ko, vs. the Universe' stories. You really couldn't miss them since Grash had that bounty hunter look, beat up and all, and Lizza with her chest that took up half the table. They were hard to miss.
      Cologne came over and gave us some menu's. We quickly looked over them and ordered. Not anyone really had a meal just snacks or drinks. I just had a soda. It was quiet and no one was talking so I decided to start a conversation. "Lita, I was wondering what do you think of this Ranma situation," I said.
      "What Ranma situation?" She asked.
      "The situation about Ranma and Akane not admitting that they really do love each other. That they are still running around denying they have any feelings for each other and if you bring it up they will get into a huge argument and hit you with something." I said.
      "Yea I know what you mean. But I think it's just a phase they are going through. They will get over it. You just got to give them time." Lita said.
      Just then two wet cats come running through the door. It was Luna and Atrimus. They came up and jumped on Serrina's table. "We've been looking everywhere for you." Luna said.
      "Yea, we looked in the park and you were not there. Its just pure luck that we saw your friends outside playing around." Atriums said.
      I thought what she said was funny, playing around, like she was pretending to kill him. "We left the park and came here for something to eat." Raye said.
      "Well at least we found you. Now who is this(staring at me)? I have never seen him around here before." Luna said.
      If I had five yen for every time I heard that today, I would be a rich man. I was about to tell my story again when Ranma came running in with Shampoo right on his tale. He ran straight for the kitchen. Shampoo followed. I herd a crash, then a splash, and then it went quite. A couple of minutes later Ranma walked out, as guy, Shampoo was nowhere to be seen. He walked over, (still a little wet) grabbed a chair, and sat down next to Akane. I said, "what happened to Shampoo?"
      Ranma smiled and said, "Don't worry about her she's cooling of. Hey, old goul. Come here for a second."
      Cologne came over to where Ranma was sitting. "What is it son-in-law?"
      "I Locked Shampoo in the big freezer. Can you let her out when we leave."
      "Sure thing, I think she needs to cool off for awile anyway." You could hear the muffled screams from the freezer but we just ignored them. We sat there and talked for over an hour. It was a fun night but it was getting late, so we left the restaurant. I picked up Reni, Who a sleep, and gave her to Darien. We were heading home when Lita said," tomorrow we should start looking for a way to get you home."
      "Or at least find out how I got here." I said.
      "Yea, we'll start that tomorrow. All of us."
      Everyone gave a nodd yes. Even Reni who was in a sleep daze. The rain stopped and the clouds parted. It was bueatiful morning. I was tierd and glad to get back to the Dojo. Tomorrow was going to be a long day.