Wednesday, April 26, 2017

Storytelling week 14: The end of Rama's Search

After chasing Ravana into his hideout the Rama, Bhima, and Hanuman were locked outside. The vault door in the bank seemed like it would be difficult to open. Rama tried to pull the door open but he could not do it. Bhima tried next. He was the strongest, by a far margin, of the three heroes. Bhima began to pull on the vault door’s handle and they could see his veins bulging out of his arms while he was struggling. The metal handle began to bend and then with all his might he pulled and the handle snapped. This infuriated Bhima and as he grew angrier he grew stronger. Rama and Hanuman watched as Bhima’s body started to change and they witnessed him transform into a massive blue man. “BHIMA SMASH DOOR NOW,” roared Bhima. He began punching the door as hard as he could and each blow put a larger and larger dent into the door. The door was becoming more and more deformed as each punch landed and Bhima noticed this and reared back for the final blow. He threw both fists into the door and sent it flying down a long hallway until it finally slid to a stop.
The heroes ran inside to find Ravana. They ran down a long hallway until they entered what seemed to be the main chamber. The room was massive. The ceiling was at least twenty feet high and stretched for what the heroes guessed as half a mile. There were doors lined along the walls every four or five feet or so. The heroes had no idea where to go or what door to use. Hanuman decided to use his super speed to check all the doors. He was running so fast that Rama and Bhima could not even see him. After about ten minutes of this they heard Hanuman summon them. He had found Sita or who he thought was Sita. As soon as Rama and Bhima arrived Sita vanished and they heard a loud bang. The door had just closed behind them. A man appeared from the shadows. It was Indrajit, Ravana’s son. “This is where your search ends,” said Indrajit. “I will make sure of it.” He then drew his weapon and let loose a barrage of nagas. These snake like creatures wrapped themselves around Rama and Bhima and they fell to the ground. However since Hanuman was so fast he dodged the attack and then dashed by Indrajit taking his weapon as he ran by. He then let loose a barrage of nagas onto Indrajit himself and he too was overpowered by them. Hanuman released Rama and Bhima and they left Indrajit bound up as they continued on their search.
The heroes came across another large chamber but this room was more elaborate in its design and decoration than the rest of the place. This had to be Ravana’s room. They started to search the room when they were all interrupted by the sound of a siren. Bhima had triggered an alarm because he opened a chest full of weapons and armor. This startled the heroes but they now knew that their presence was known and decided to wait for Ravana. Before he arrived Bhima grabbed six new swords from the chest and gave two to each hero. He showed up with Sita in chains. He chained her to the wall and approached the heroes. “You are impressive heroes,” stated Ravana. “No outsider has ever set foot in our base, yet alone make it to my chambers but this is where your journey ends.”
“Haven’t heard that before,” scoffed Hanuman.
“Oh yes we have,” said Rama. “Someone tried to stop us with nagas earlier but that did not work out to well for him and he said almost the same thing.”
“Only Indrajit, my son uses that weapon,” stated Ravana. “What have you done with him?”
“He is bound with his own nagas at the moment,” said Bhima.
Infuriated by his son’s defeat Ravana transformed into his ultimate form. He grew nine more heads and eighteen more arms. The ten headed, twenty armed Ravana grabbed swords out of his chest and with a sword in each hand he awaited the heroes to charge in. They all drew their swords as well. The epic fight ensued. The sound of swords clanging against each other could be heard throughout the entire base. Hanuman began using his super speed to attack him and it was to no avail. There were too many arms in the way and since Ravana had so many heads he could keep track of his movements. Ravana was easily able to counter the heroes’ strikes. Bhima then transformed himself and threw one of his swords at Ravana. He tried to parry the flying sword but it was thrown with such force that it broke though the sword he was using and cut off three of his arms. Distracted by the pain, Ravana did not notice Rama behind him ready to attack. Rama used his two swords to decapitate four of the heads. The heroes worked together to continue to whittle him down until he was nothing but a regular person again. Just one head and two arms. Not wanting to admit defeat he ran towards Sita to use her as leverage. Rama saw what he was attempting to do and as Ravana started to run towards her he threw one of his swords at him. The sword went through Ravana’s back and the point was sticking out of his chest. He fell to his knees and Rama ripped the sword out of his back and beheaded Ravana. The fight was finally over. Bhima broke the chains binding Sita and she and Rama were finally reunited. They embraced and Rama promised to never leave her side again. They left the base behind them knowing that they were finally safe and could live out the rest of their lives together in peace.
Author's Note
 I used the story of Rama and Ravana’s battle for my final storybook story. Instead of taking place in Ravana’s kingdom, the setting is an old bank with an underground base. He is a gang leader in this story instead of a king. His son, Indrajit, makes an appearance with his noose of nagas attack. I enjoyed that part of the original story and wanted to add it to my own. However I did not kill him off in this story. I felt that the heroes did not need to kill him because they had no quarrel with him. They only had a problem with Ravana so he was killed off like the original. His death was different then in the original. Rama shot him with his bow. I decided not to use a bow because I had imagined an epic sword fight between the four of them and that is why I changed the heroes’ weapons. Bhima uses a club in his original story. I also changed the color that Bhima turns into. The Incredible Hulk turns green but I wanted him to turn blue to stay a bit more accurate to the Indian background these stories have. I also changed how Sita was involved. In the original she was not brought out until after the battle. I had her in my story to add a bit more detail into my battle scene.

Title: The Indian Story Book: Rama's Quest
Author: Richard Wilson
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Photo Information: Ravana
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