Fellowship of the Ring [TOKIO FanFic]
I wrote this fanfic for an exchange, and because it's already in English I thought I'll put it here- if someone is interested in reading ^_^
This fanfic is mainly about TOKIO, but KinKi Kids are there, too ^^
This fanfic is only so-so, it doesn't have as much as funny parts as I would like, but- Oh well.
Fellowship of the Ring
In the middle of an isolated island named "DASH" there was an old and gorgeous castle. The owner of the castle was an honorable and very friendly vampire, called Mabo. Mabo spent most of his time taking care of his castle or meeting his many friends, but now he stood there with no idea what to do in front of his desk. Like every time he didn't know what to do, he called out his old friend Yamaguchi for help.
"What happened this time?" Asked Yamaguchi, who was used to Mabo's alarms
"My special ring is not on the desk!" replied Mabo and pointed at the desk, that really didn't have a ring on it. "It just disappeared. I think someone stole it!"
"Are you sure you didn't put it somewhere else?" suggested Yamaguchi. "Maybe it fell to the floor."
"I checked everywhere possible," replied Mabo and sighed. Suddenly, his eyes light up. "I know! When I just received it, I was afraid I'll lose it one day, so I connected a beeper to the ring. Now I can find it."
Mabo pulled out his cellphone and pushed some buttons. A screen opened up, and on it was a little red spot. Yamaguchi and Mabo leaned over in order to see better, and indeed, they could see the little red spot moving in a constant velocity.
"OK, either the ring grew legs or someone indeed filched it," Said Yamaguchi.
"I won't allow someone to pickpocket me and escape without a punishment!" Mabo got angry. "I'm going after the thief right now!"
"But its midnight right now," Said Yamaguchi and yawned. "Wait until morning."
"I'm a vampire, what kind of vampire is scared of the darkness?" Mabo was insulated.
"No problem, go now," said Yamaguchi indifferently and sat on a padded chair in the corner. "Just don't forget, the SNAKES go out in the nights."
Mabo turned paler than his usual pale self, if this even possible. "OK so… let's wait to the morning."
So they waited for the night to end.
It looked like a perfect day for fishing. Tsuyoshi took his rod and his baits, going to his little boat which he used to go fishing with. He organized all his stuff while humming to himself, turned on the engine and moved toward the bow of the boat. Suddenly he tripped over something and fell on his face.
"Ouch, what a horrible way to wake up from a nap," he heard Koichi's voice. "When potatoes fall over you from the sky."
Tsuyoshi raised himself on his elbows and saw Koichi rubbing his knee.
"What are you doing here?" wondered Tsuyoshi.
"I'm living here," answered Koichi.
"What?!" Tsuyoshi was even more confused.
"Just kidding. But I always wanted to say it," said Koichi. "It's cool to live in a boat."
Tsuyoshi decided to stop trying to understand what's going out of Koichi's mouth. "OK, I don't care you are here, just don't disturb me."
So they sailed far into the sea, Tsuyoshi's fishing and Koichi's napping. Slowly, the sky got cloudier, wind started blowing strongly and the waves grew higher.
"I think we should return to the shore," shouted Tsuyoshi over the waves' noise. Koichi nodded in agreement.
They both tried to take control over the engine and navigate to the shore, but the waves were high and strong, making them drift their boat deeper into the sea. At some point KinKi Kids gave up and moved on to plan B- they hugged each other and screamed.
"We're gonna die!" screamed Koichi.
"Our corpses will be eaten by the fish!" agreed Tsuyoshi.
"Let's go back to the last place we saved the game!" yelled Koichi with closed eyes.
"What?!"
"AAAHHHHHH!!"
"Koichi, get a hold of yourself!" Tsuyoshi tried to encourage Koichi. "I'm sure that when the sun will rise the sea will calm down, and we'll be able to go home."
So they waited for the storm to calm down. After a long night, the sun finally raised and the sea returned to his calm self. Tsuyoshi and Koichi peeked over the boat's boarder, and saw a small green island.
"Wow, an isolated island!" Tsuyoshi was enthusiastic. "I always wanted to come to an uninhabited island!"
"What's so enthusiastic about an isolated island?" grumbled Koichi to himself.
Tsuyoshi didn't listen to him. "An island with a lot of plants and wood-cabins! And a whole tribe of natives with bone in their noses! And then I'll come and say, 'Take me to your leader'!"
Tsuyoshi kept babbling, while Koichi navigated the boat to the shore. When they reached the shore, Tsuyoshi jumped to the sand and searched for natives with his eyes. A figure got closer to them.
"This is the first native we see on the island," Tsuyoshi was excited.
"This isn't a native," giggled Koichi. "It's just Nagase."
Tsuyoshi was disappointed. He didn't even have a bone in his nose.
"Hi guys, how did you got here?" asked Nagase. Koichi pointed at the boat.
"I don't want to miss this chance we're on an isolated island," said Tsuyoshi and turned to Nagase: "Take me to your leader!"
"Who, Riida?" Nagase rubbed his head. "He's there, in the boat-house."
"We're getting closer to the red spot, i.e. my ring," reported Mabo without raising his head from his cellphone.
They went chasing after the ring a few hours ago, at sunrise, and Yamaguchi was already fed up with it. In the beginning, Mabo refused to go out without his sunglasses, so they searched for them forever until Mabo realized they're on him already. Then Mabo was determined to wear clothes as long as possible, including a bandana on the head, so that no unnecessary sunbeam will reach him. But Yamaguchi had no reason to complain, they had a good pace and maybe they'll find the ring today.
"Yamaguchi, look!" Mabo called suddenly.
Yamaguchi looked to the direction Mabo pointed. When he strained his eyes, he managed to see a tiny figure climbing the rocks ahead.
"I think he has my ring!" called Mabo and sent a quick look to his cellphone's screen. "Let's catch him!"
They started climbing on the rocks, jumping from stone to stone, until they reached the region in the island that was full of cliffs. The figure grew bigger as they got closer and narrowed the gap between them. Suddenly the figure turned around and they realized it was Taichi.
"It's Taichi!" called Mabo in shock. "I can't believe it! Taichi is the thief?"
"We can't be sure," replied Yamaguchi glumly.
Ahead of them, Taichi tripped and something tiny flew out of his hand. Something that was tiny and shining.
"My ring!" called Mabo while Taichi picked the ring up and jumped away.
They ran faster now, even though the path was rockier and the sound of the waves crashing on the cliff was noisier.
Mabo stopped.
"What happened?" asked Yamaguchi and passed Mabo. He stopped and saw there's a meter-width crack in front of them, and when he looked inside, he saw the ocean 20-meters under them.
"Well, it's not so far," said Yamaguchi. "We can jump over it and continue to chase after the ring."
He did what he said. "Come on Mabo, now is your turn."
Mabo shook his head in horror and took a step backwards. "There's no way I jump. I'll look for a detour."
"Oi, don't be a scaredy-cat!" called Yamaguchi. "Jump!"
"I'm not scared!" said Mabo and took another step backwards. "I'm unable to pass flowing water! And yes, well, I also have a fear of heights," he added in a small voice.
Yamaguchi sighed. Taichi was too far away anyway. He jumped back to Mabo and they both silently sat down on the ground, thinking about their next step.
Tsuyoshi moved toward the direction of the two-storey wood-cabin Nagase pointed at, and when he reached it, he stood still and listened carefully. He thought he heard something suspicious. He sneaked slowly and quietly into the boat-house, and then he realized the weird sounds he heard were an Enka song that Riida sang with all his heart.
"Hi Riida, what's up?" called Tsuyoshi.
Riida turned around in panic. "Oh, it's only you, Tsuyoshi," he said, relieved. "But, just a minute- What are you doing here?"
"Koichi and myself were carried by the waves and we found ourselves here," explained Tsuyoshi succinctly. "Do you mind if we stay here a little?"
"Absolutely not," said Riida and returned to do the thing he was doing before he was interrupted.
"What ARE you doing, actually?" asked Tsuyoshi and came near Riida. Riida was busy mixing something in a little bowl that stood inside a fireplace with a great fire, and sometimes he paused and added some planks to it.
"Want to taste the thing I make?" said Riida to Tsuyoshi and smiled.
Tsuyoshi recoiled. "No, thank you," he said nervously. Horror stories about Riida's natural cooking already spread around Johnny's Entertainment, and some people even claimed those cooking killed a man. "I'm err… on a diet."
Riida laughed. "Just kidding, you can't eat this. In fact, I'm melting gold."
"Why're you melting gold?" asked Tsuyoshi. "And here, of all places…"
"Mabo has a birthday tomorrow," answered Riida. "So everyone in TOKIO and me decided to make him a ring as a present. I even sent Taichi to bring one of Mabo's rings for me to know in which size to make this one."
"Great idea," said Tsuyoshi with a smile. "Can I help you with the design?"
"I'll be glad!" replied Riida. "I just asked myself how I should make the ring. So I'm counting on your taste with this!"
"Thank you," Tsuyoshi was touched. His unique imagination already started producing wild patterns. Riida watched him with a smile, not knowing what he got himself into.
"When is Taichi gonna bring here the ring?" asked Tsuyoshi.
"I'll call him," said Riida and took out his cellphone. After a short dialing, they waited for Taichi to pick up. It sounded like he picked up, but they heard nothing but white noise.
"Hello? Taichi, are you there?" asked Riida. No respond. "Taichi? What's up? Where's the ring?"
As a respond to those words, weird whispers were heard from the cellphone.
"What? What're you saying?" Asked Riida and brought the cellphone closer to his ear.
"…My precious…" there was a whisper and the call was cut off.
Riida lowered the cellphone slowly. "It didn't sound good."
"Absolutely no good," agreed Tsuyoshi. "I think we should send someone after Taichi, so he wouldn't do anything stupid."
Riida nodded. "You're right. I'll send Nagase after him."
"Koichi, Riida called and asked to go find Taichi," said Nagase to napping Koichi. After Tsuyoshi went to talk with Riida, they both made improvised hammocks and decided to rest in the rest of the day.
"Now, of all times?" asked Koichi and yawned.
"That's what Riida asked," replied Nagase. "I told him we're busy doing nothing, but he wouldn't listen."
"I'm hungry," complained Mabo when Yamaguchi and he searched for a way to bypass the crack and continue chasing after the lost ring.
"Sorry I have no food for you," said Yamaguchi.
"I need to search for someone I can suck blood from," said Mabo. After a second he raised his head and his eyes light up. "I smell something."
"Sorry," said Yamaguchi. "I sweated too much today."
"Not you," replied Mabo. "I smell lunch! I mean, a human! Excuse me."
Mabo dashed after the smell. Yamaguchi sighed and started walking slowly after him.
Mabo followed the smell quickly until he reached a big boulder. The smell came right from behind it. Mabo took a deep breath and jumped from behind the boulder straight on his prey.
The spoken prey, which was Koichi, screamed when something huge jumped at him by surprised. "What do you want from me?" he demanded.
"I'm hungry!" growled Mabo. "So be quiet and let me suck your blood."
"No! Leave him alone!" called Nagase, who was behind Koichi and saw everything. "Take me instead of him! He isn't tasty!"
"Yeah, my blood is blue," added Koichi. Mabo looked confused.
"It's because I'm a prince, of course," said Koichi while Nagase said "Too many food-coloring in his blood system."
"Yuck, you drove away all my will to eat," said Mabo angrily and sat on the ground.
"I know. I have something especially for you!" Said Nagase enthusiastically and began searching in his pockets.
"Blood?" asked Mabo hopefully.
"Here you go!" said Nagase and handed Mabo a little carton box. "Strawberry-milk, yummy!"
Mabo was speechless. Meanwhile, Nagase took out another carton box and started drinking it happily.
"What are you doing here whatsoever?" asked Mabo at last and tasted the milk that was pretty tasty actually.
"Riida sent us to find Taichi," answered Koichi. "It turns out he isn't his normal self and we must find him before he'll hurt himself."
"Oh, we're searching for him, too!" said Yamaguchi that just came. "Let's join forces."
They continued searching for Taichi and the ring together.
Meanwhile, in the boat-house, Tsuyoshi and Riida worked on the ring for Mabo. In fact, Tsuyoshi engraved a lot of abstract patterns on the ring, and Riida hanged decorations on the walls and blew up balloons.
"That's it, the ring is ready," declared Tsuyoshi and lifted the ring in the air. Riida came closer with curiosity to see the glittering ring.
"Those circles symbolize Mabo's personality," explained Tsuyoshi. "And the lines and hearts in this rough area symbolize his life's eternity spring."
Riida nodded in every sentence, very confused. "I'm sure Mabo would like it," he said at last.
"According to the red spot advance's pattern," said Yamaguchi. "I presume that Taichi will pass through this narrow path in about half an hour."
"I didn't understand how you got to this conclusion," said Nagase in confusion.
"It's very simple," answered Koichi. "We follow a red spot in the cellphone, and because there're a lot of narrow red spots here it makes sense Taichi will get into a pattern right here in an hour and a half."
"Right enough," giggled Yamaguchi. "So now we just need to build a trap, put bait, and wait for Taichi to show up."
And so they did. Yamaguchi dug a Taichi-depth-hole in the middle of the road, and Koichi covered it with leaves and little brunches in order to hide it. Mabo made a cage out of strong and hanged it with a rope from a near tree, so when Taichi will fall into the hole, the rope will string, and the cage will fall on him and catch him. Nagase donated strawberry-milk as bait.
After the trap was ready they hid and waited for Taichi to show up. And indeed, after a couple of minutes they saw Taichi walking down the road, right at the direction of the trap.
"Strawberry-milk!" called Taichi happily when he noticed the bait, and run right to the trap. Everyone held their breath.
"Just a moment," Taichi stopped a step before the trap. "Something's fishy. Since when did strawberry-milk can be found in the nature?"
Suspicious Taichi took a stone and threw it near the strawberry-milk carton box. In a moment the trap collapsed, but didn't catch Taichi inside. The guys were disappointed. But then the brunches-cage fell right on Taichi's foot and he started jumping and crying out in pain.
"This is our chance!" called Yamaguchi and rose up from his hiding-place. "Catch him!"
Everyone jumped on Taichi and pinned him to the ground.
"My ring!" called Mabo happily and took his beloved ring from Taichi's hands. "Taichi, why did you take my ring?"
Taichi blinked slowly and his eyes brightened. "What did you ask? What… what are we doing here?"
"Don't tell me you don't know what you have done," said Koichi impatiently.
"I feel like the whole last day was a dream," mumbled Taichi.
"I think this ring took over him," explained Yamaguchi. "It took advantage of the fact that Taichi touched it in order to run away from you, Mabo."
"But why did Taichi touch it in the first place?" asked Mabo.
"Oh," said Taichi. "This's something Riida asked for. Now I remember! Everyone, we need to go to the boat-house!"
Mabo walked after everyone to the boat-house and was the last one to enter.
"Congratulations!" called everyone and threw confetti and balloons on him. Mabo was surprised.
"Happy 390th birthday!" said Riida with a smile. "I'm sorry about the mess today, but we wanted to surprise you." He handed Mabo the ring they worked so hard on in a small striped box.
"It may not fit," continued Riida in hesitation while Mabo observed the ring and tried it on quietly. "Taichi was supposed to give me one of your rings as example, but the plan went wrong."
"I… I don't know what to say," said Mabo in a hoarse voice from excitement. "Guys, thank you very much!"
After all the greeting, they ate a chocolate cake that Riida made, put some music and enjoyed themselves. Finally, the time to depart had come.
"Bye guys, we had a lot of fun," said Tsuyoshi while Koichi waved them goodbye. "We got to go. We need to record our new album 'N(o) Album- Now or Never'."
"An album?" asked Taichi. "But you didn't release a single single since your last album!"
"Look who's talking," snapped Koichi back. TOKIO mumbled excuses.
"Anyway," said Mabo. "Thanks for coming. Thank you everyone, I had a great birthday!"
THE END
And... Happy 31th birthday Ryo Nishikido! :)
This fanfic is mainly about TOKIO, but KinKi Kids are there, too ^^
This fanfic is only so-so, it doesn't have as much as funny parts as I would like, but- Oh well.
Fellowship of the Ring
In the middle of an isolated island named "DASH" there was an old and gorgeous castle. The owner of the castle was an honorable and very friendly vampire, called Mabo. Mabo spent most of his time taking care of his castle or meeting his many friends, but now he stood there with no idea what to do in front of his desk. Like every time he didn't know what to do, he called out his old friend Yamaguchi for help.
"What happened this time?" Asked Yamaguchi, who was used to Mabo's alarms
"My special ring is not on the desk!" replied Mabo and pointed at the desk, that really didn't have a ring on it. "It just disappeared. I think someone stole it!"
"Are you sure you didn't put it somewhere else?" suggested Yamaguchi. "Maybe it fell to the floor."
"I checked everywhere possible," replied Mabo and sighed. Suddenly, his eyes light up. "I know! When I just received it, I was afraid I'll lose it one day, so I connected a beeper to the ring. Now I can find it."
Mabo pulled out his cellphone and pushed some buttons. A screen opened up, and on it was a little red spot. Yamaguchi and Mabo leaned over in order to see better, and indeed, they could see the little red spot moving in a constant velocity.
"OK, either the ring grew legs or someone indeed filched it," Said Yamaguchi.
"I won't allow someone to pickpocket me and escape without a punishment!" Mabo got angry. "I'm going after the thief right now!"
"But its midnight right now," Said Yamaguchi and yawned. "Wait until morning."
"I'm a vampire, what kind of vampire is scared of the darkness?" Mabo was insulated.
"No problem, go now," said Yamaguchi indifferently and sat on a padded chair in the corner. "Just don't forget, the SNAKES go out in the nights."
Mabo turned paler than his usual pale self, if this even possible. "OK so… let's wait to the morning."
So they waited for the night to end.
It looked like a perfect day for fishing. Tsuyoshi took his rod and his baits, going to his little boat which he used to go fishing with. He organized all his stuff while humming to himself, turned on the engine and moved toward the bow of the boat. Suddenly he tripped over something and fell on his face.
"Ouch, what a horrible way to wake up from a nap," he heard Koichi's voice. "When potatoes fall over you from the sky."
Tsuyoshi raised himself on his elbows and saw Koichi rubbing his knee.
"What are you doing here?" wondered Tsuyoshi.
"I'm living here," answered Koichi.
"What?!" Tsuyoshi was even more confused.
"Just kidding. But I always wanted to say it," said Koichi. "It's cool to live in a boat."
Tsuyoshi decided to stop trying to understand what's going out of Koichi's mouth. "OK, I don't care you are here, just don't disturb me."
So they sailed far into the sea, Tsuyoshi's fishing and Koichi's napping. Slowly, the sky got cloudier, wind started blowing strongly and the waves grew higher.
"I think we should return to the shore," shouted Tsuyoshi over the waves' noise. Koichi nodded in agreement.
They both tried to take control over the engine and navigate to the shore, but the waves were high and strong, making them drift their boat deeper into the sea. At some point KinKi Kids gave up and moved on to plan B- they hugged each other and screamed.
"We're gonna die!" screamed Koichi.
"Our corpses will be eaten by the fish!" agreed Tsuyoshi.
"Let's go back to the last place we saved the game!" yelled Koichi with closed eyes.
"What?!"
"AAAHHHHHH!!"
"Koichi, get a hold of yourself!" Tsuyoshi tried to encourage Koichi. "I'm sure that when the sun will rise the sea will calm down, and we'll be able to go home."
So they waited for the storm to calm down. After a long night, the sun finally raised and the sea returned to his calm self. Tsuyoshi and Koichi peeked over the boat's boarder, and saw a small green island.
"Wow, an isolated island!" Tsuyoshi was enthusiastic. "I always wanted to come to an uninhabited island!"
"What's so enthusiastic about an isolated island?" grumbled Koichi to himself.
Tsuyoshi didn't listen to him. "An island with a lot of plants and wood-cabins! And a whole tribe of natives with bone in their noses! And then I'll come and say, 'Take me to your leader'!"
Tsuyoshi kept babbling, while Koichi navigated the boat to the shore. When they reached the shore, Tsuyoshi jumped to the sand and searched for natives with his eyes. A figure got closer to them.
"This is the first native we see on the island," Tsuyoshi was excited.
"This isn't a native," giggled Koichi. "It's just Nagase."
Tsuyoshi was disappointed. He didn't even have a bone in his nose.
"Hi guys, how did you got here?" asked Nagase. Koichi pointed at the boat.
"I don't want to miss this chance we're on an isolated island," said Tsuyoshi and turned to Nagase: "Take me to your leader!"
"Who, Riida?" Nagase rubbed his head. "He's there, in the boat-house."
"We're getting closer to the red spot, i.e. my ring," reported Mabo without raising his head from his cellphone.
They went chasing after the ring a few hours ago, at sunrise, and Yamaguchi was already fed up with it. In the beginning, Mabo refused to go out without his sunglasses, so they searched for them forever until Mabo realized they're on him already. Then Mabo was determined to wear clothes as long as possible, including a bandana on the head, so that no unnecessary sunbeam will reach him. But Yamaguchi had no reason to complain, they had a good pace and maybe they'll find the ring today.
"Yamaguchi, look!" Mabo called suddenly.
Yamaguchi looked to the direction Mabo pointed. When he strained his eyes, he managed to see a tiny figure climbing the rocks ahead.
"I think he has my ring!" called Mabo and sent a quick look to his cellphone's screen. "Let's catch him!"
They started climbing on the rocks, jumping from stone to stone, until they reached the region in the island that was full of cliffs. The figure grew bigger as they got closer and narrowed the gap between them. Suddenly the figure turned around and they realized it was Taichi.
"It's Taichi!" called Mabo in shock. "I can't believe it! Taichi is the thief?"
"We can't be sure," replied Yamaguchi glumly.
Ahead of them, Taichi tripped and something tiny flew out of his hand. Something that was tiny and shining.
"My ring!" called Mabo while Taichi picked the ring up and jumped away.
They ran faster now, even though the path was rockier and the sound of the waves crashing on the cliff was noisier.
Mabo stopped.
"What happened?" asked Yamaguchi and passed Mabo. He stopped and saw there's a meter-width crack in front of them, and when he looked inside, he saw the ocean 20-meters under them.
"Well, it's not so far," said Yamaguchi. "We can jump over it and continue to chase after the ring."
He did what he said. "Come on Mabo, now is your turn."
Mabo shook his head in horror and took a step backwards. "There's no way I jump. I'll look for a detour."
"Oi, don't be a scaredy-cat!" called Yamaguchi. "Jump!"
"I'm not scared!" said Mabo and took another step backwards. "I'm unable to pass flowing water! And yes, well, I also have a fear of heights," he added in a small voice.
Yamaguchi sighed. Taichi was too far away anyway. He jumped back to Mabo and they both silently sat down on the ground, thinking about their next step.
Tsuyoshi moved toward the direction of the two-storey wood-cabin Nagase pointed at, and when he reached it, he stood still and listened carefully. He thought he heard something suspicious. He sneaked slowly and quietly into the boat-house, and then he realized the weird sounds he heard were an Enka song that Riida sang with all his heart.
"Hi Riida, what's up?" called Tsuyoshi.
Riida turned around in panic. "Oh, it's only you, Tsuyoshi," he said, relieved. "But, just a minute- What are you doing here?"
"Koichi and myself were carried by the waves and we found ourselves here," explained Tsuyoshi succinctly. "Do you mind if we stay here a little?"
"Absolutely not," said Riida and returned to do the thing he was doing before he was interrupted.
"What ARE you doing, actually?" asked Tsuyoshi and came near Riida. Riida was busy mixing something in a little bowl that stood inside a fireplace with a great fire, and sometimes he paused and added some planks to it.
"Want to taste the thing I make?" said Riida to Tsuyoshi and smiled.
Tsuyoshi recoiled. "No, thank you," he said nervously. Horror stories about Riida's natural cooking already spread around Johnny's Entertainment, and some people even claimed those cooking killed a man. "I'm err… on a diet."
Riida laughed. "Just kidding, you can't eat this. In fact, I'm melting gold."
"Why're you melting gold?" asked Tsuyoshi. "And here, of all places…"
"Mabo has a birthday tomorrow," answered Riida. "So everyone in TOKIO and me decided to make him a ring as a present. I even sent Taichi to bring one of Mabo's rings for me to know in which size to make this one."
"Great idea," said Tsuyoshi with a smile. "Can I help you with the design?"
"I'll be glad!" replied Riida. "I just asked myself how I should make the ring. So I'm counting on your taste with this!"
"Thank you," Tsuyoshi was touched. His unique imagination already started producing wild patterns. Riida watched him with a smile, not knowing what he got himself into.
"When is Taichi gonna bring here the ring?" asked Tsuyoshi.
"I'll call him," said Riida and took out his cellphone. After a short dialing, they waited for Taichi to pick up. It sounded like he picked up, but they heard nothing but white noise.
"Hello? Taichi, are you there?" asked Riida. No respond. "Taichi? What's up? Where's the ring?"
As a respond to those words, weird whispers were heard from the cellphone.
"What? What're you saying?" Asked Riida and brought the cellphone closer to his ear.
"…My precious…" there was a whisper and the call was cut off.
Riida lowered the cellphone slowly. "It didn't sound good."
"Absolutely no good," agreed Tsuyoshi. "I think we should send someone after Taichi, so he wouldn't do anything stupid."
Riida nodded. "You're right. I'll send Nagase after him."
"Koichi, Riida called and asked to go find Taichi," said Nagase to napping Koichi. After Tsuyoshi went to talk with Riida, they both made improvised hammocks and decided to rest in the rest of the day.
"Now, of all times?" asked Koichi and yawned.
"That's what Riida asked," replied Nagase. "I told him we're busy doing nothing, but he wouldn't listen."
"I'm hungry," complained Mabo when Yamaguchi and he searched for a way to bypass the crack and continue chasing after the lost ring.
"Sorry I have no food for you," said Yamaguchi.
"I need to search for someone I can suck blood from," said Mabo. After a second he raised his head and his eyes light up. "I smell something."
"Sorry," said Yamaguchi. "I sweated too much today."
"Not you," replied Mabo. "I smell lunch! I mean, a human! Excuse me."
Mabo dashed after the smell. Yamaguchi sighed and started walking slowly after him.
Mabo followed the smell quickly until he reached a big boulder. The smell came right from behind it. Mabo took a deep breath and jumped from behind the boulder straight on his prey.
The spoken prey, which was Koichi, screamed when something huge jumped at him by surprised. "What do you want from me?" he demanded.
"I'm hungry!" growled Mabo. "So be quiet and let me suck your blood."
"No! Leave him alone!" called Nagase, who was behind Koichi and saw everything. "Take me instead of him! He isn't tasty!"
"Yeah, my blood is blue," added Koichi. Mabo looked confused.
"It's because I'm a prince, of course," said Koichi while Nagase said "Too many food-coloring in his blood system."
"Yuck, you drove away all my will to eat," said Mabo angrily and sat on the ground.
"I know. I have something especially for you!" Said Nagase enthusiastically and began searching in his pockets.
"Blood?" asked Mabo hopefully.
"Here you go!" said Nagase and handed Mabo a little carton box. "Strawberry-milk, yummy!"
Mabo was speechless. Meanwhile, Nagase took out another carton box and started drinking it happily.
"What are you doing here whatsoever?" asked Mabo at last and tasted the milk that was pretty tasty actually.
"Riida sent us to find Taichi," answered Koichi. "It turns out he isn't his normal self and we must find him before he'll hurt himself."
"Oh, we're searching for him, too!" said Yamaguchi that just came. "Let's join forces."
They continued searching for Taichi and the ring together.
Meanwhile, in the boat-house, Tsuyoshi and Riida worked on the ring for Mabo. In fact, Tsuyoshi engraved a lot of abstract patterns on the ring, and Riida hanged decorations on the walls and blew up balloons.
"That's it, the ring is ready," declared Tsuyoshi and lifted the ring in the air. Riida came closer with curiosity to see the glittering ring.
"Those circles symbolize Mabo's personality," explained Tsuyoshi. "And the lines and hearts in this rough area symbolize his life's eternity spring."
Riida nodded in every sentence, very confused. "I'm sure Mabo would like it," he said at last.
"According to the red spot advance's pattern," said Yamaguchi. "I presume that Taichi will pass through this narrow path in about half an hour."
"I didn't understand how you got to this conclusion," said Nagase in confusion.
"It's very simple," answered Koichi. "We follow a red spot in the cellphone, and because there're a lot of narrow red spots here it makes sense Taichi will get into a pattern right here in an hour and a half."
"Right enough," giggled Yamaguchi. "So now we just need to build a trap, put bait, and wait for Taichi to show up."
And so they did. Yamaguchi dug a Taichi-depth-hole in the middle of the road, and Koichi covered it with leaves and little brunches in order to hide it. Mabo made a cage out of strong and hanged it with a rope from a near tree, so when Taichi will fall into the hole, the rope will string, and the cage will fall on him and catch him. Nagase donated strawberry-milk as bait.
After the trap was ready they hid and waited for Taichi to show up. And indeed, after a couple of minutes they saw Taichi walking down the road, right at the direction of the trap.
"Strawberry-milk!" called Taichi happily when he noticed the bait, and run right to the trap. Everyone held their breath.
"Just a moment," Taichi stopped a step before the trap. "Something's fishy. Since when did strawberry-milk can be found in the nature?"
Suspicious Taichi took a stone and threw it near the strawberry-milk carton box. In a moment the trap collapsed, but didn't catch Taichi inside. The guys were disappointed. But then the brunches-cage fell right on Taichi's foot and he started jumping and crying out in pain.
"This is our chance!" called Yamaguchi and rose up from his hiding-place. "Catch him!"
Everyone jumped on Taichi and pinned him to the ground.
"My ring!" called Mabo happily and took his beloved ring from Taichi's hands. "Taichi, why did you take my ring?"
Taichi blinked slowly and his eyes brightened. "What did you ask? What… what are we doing here?"
"Don't tell me you don't know what you have done," said Koichi impatiently.
"I feel like the whole last day was a dream," mumbled Taichi.
"I think this ring took over him," explained Yamaguchi. "It took advantage of the fact that Taichi touched it in order to run away from you, Mabo."
"But why did Taichi touch it in the first place?" asked Mabo.
"Oh," said Taichi. "This's something Riida asked for. Now I remember! Everyone, we need to go to the boat-house!"
Mabo walked after everyone to the boat-house and was the last one to enter.
"Congratulations!" called everyone and threw confetti and balloons on him. Mabo was surprised.
"Happy 390th birthday!" said Riida with a smile. "I'm sorry about the mess today, but we wanted to surprise you." He handed Mabo the ring they worked so hard on in a small striped box.
"It may not fit," continued Riida in hesitation while Mabo observed the ring and tried it on quietly. "Taichi was supposed to give me one of your rings as example, but the plan went wrong."
"I… I don't know what to say," said Mabo in a hoarse voice from excitement. "Guys, thank you very much!"
After all the greeting, they ate a chocolate cake that Riida made, put some music and enjoyed themselves. Finally, the time to depart had come.
"Bye guys, we had a lot of fun," said Tsuyoshi while Koichi waved them goodbye. "We got to go. We need to record our new album 'N(o) Album- Now or Never'."
"An album?" asked Taichi. "But you didn't release a single single since your last album!"
"Look who's talking," snapped Koichi back. TOKIO mumbled excuses.
"Anyway," said Mabo. "Thanks for coming. Thank you everyone, I had a great birthday!"
THE END
And... Happy 31th birthday Ryo Nishikido! :)