" " are talking
' ' are quotes
< > are thoughts
---
Gaia's Awakening
---

"I have realized, for a while now, that my human memories are fading and are
becoming more and more confused with time. Before it reaches a critical
state, I have decided to secure my past so that it will never be forgotten.
It is not that I can die, but I travel so much that I tend to forget coming
back to some places for decades. So here is the story of me and my friend's
story."

"It all started a little before the year 2000 on earth, 50 years after the
coup d'etat of Ma Yuan, who governs since then as the self proclaimed 'World
Master'. We were then called 'mutants', and hunted down by his soldiers,
officially named 'agents of the new peace', but better known by their
nickname of 'beetles', coming from their first armor's design."

"What's a 'mutant' I already hear you asking? Let me begin by describing the
'Gaia Amber'. It's pure condensed energy, which takes the form of a faintly
luminescent, white crystal. It's formed by what we called 'Chtonergy', the
planet's vital energy, that sometimes escapes up past the surface by rare
sources. While rather similar in its effects, it is not the chi that powered
being like us wakens can use."

"If a human touches the 'Amber', it will dissolve at the same time as the
person absorb its energy. He or she then becomes a 'Waken', a name that fits
perfectly to the situation as the person is awaked to the fantastic
potential that exists in all human beings. From that time forward, you have
no limits, provided that you work hard to constantly push them back."

"My friend and I had become Wakens in this period. The exact time has
vanished from my memories long ago. So where did the 'mutant' name come
from? From the single weak point of the Wakens : the Amber that made us what
we are."

"Touching the Amber a second time results in a manifold increase in the
Waken's
power, but it also turns him into a bloody-minded beast craving destruction.
This resulted in all of us Wakens being labeled with the epithet, 'Mutant'."

"The human population was easily the majority with the low number of wakens
at this time. This due the fact that the Amber was very rare. The humans
feared greatly these insane wakens. The response of their fear was to enlist
all the Wakens as 'mutants' and  a danger to their society."

"Being a waken of great power, Ma Yuan had no problems to make the
governments to submit to his will. And when he came to power, he created his
beetle army, who are nothing more than lobotomized wakens. Of course, to be
able to affirm his power, he never revealed that his army and him were
indeed wakens."

"To gain the people trust, he launched his beetles in a large Waken hunt,
claiming that they were captured and destroyed, but secretly converting them
to extend his army numbers more and more."

"We Wakens hid ourselves hoping to be able to live relatively normally, and
to be able to escape all capture attempts by the beetles. Because the same
fate they suffered was awaiting us."

"As interesting as are some details, I will begin my tale to the point where
all has really started for both of us : These terrible events occurred
towards the end of a ten years training journey. My father took me in this
journey when we only little boy, so that I could someday inherit his martial
arts school."

"My father had told me that I was engaged at birth, a pact of honor with his
best friend to unit their twin schools of the Anything Goes martial arts,
the Tendo and the Saotome branches. I might as well say that the information
wasn't well received."

"As if my family honor meant anything at that time when events were rushing
us and the world. So it was nonetheless decided that we would go visit this
family to clear the situation while the others would stay there."

"That day's details aren't very clear in my mind because I wasn't there
myself. The journey itself wasn't all that hard for us, not to be detected
was more of a challenge, but we managed."

"When we arrived to destination, it was raining. Trivial? Sure, but for us,
it means cold water, and cold water means change. We had then what was
called a curse that changed our shape to the simple touch of cold water, a
little hot water was enough to change back to our real selves."

"It is that way that we landed at our destination, the Tendo dojo, as a sky
blue-haired young girl and a little black pig. Not even a second after
coming in, we immediately felt a power, for we had  developed the ability to
feel the others wakens and measure their power. How this person had escaped
the detectors, we never found out."

"This is how our meeting went..."

---

"Ranma! It's him!" said Nabiki while running toward the home entrance, her
father close behind her.

"Saotome! How long did I wait for you!"

When they reached the entrance, they found only a young girl with sky blue
hair tied in a pigtail, dressed with a sleeveless chinese shirt colored the
same blue as her hair, black pants and black combat bracers. She had a
little black pig with a black and yellow bandana in her arms.

"Would... you...?" asked Sound Tendo, pointing her with his finger.

"Ranma Saotome!" she answered.

'Finally! You are here!" he said, taking the girl in his arms... or rather
trying to because she had now backed off.

"Excuse me, but before the presentations, can we have some hot water
please?"

"Sure. I'll go get some." Kasumi happily responded before vanishing in the
direction of kitchen.

"I have something to show you first. It'll make the rest easier." she
explained, staying in constant distance between her and her host.

"Where is Genma?" asked the Tendo father.

"He is not with us, but I will explain all in good time." she answered him,
a sad smile on her lips.

"There!" said Kasumi while giving a warm kettle to Ranma.

"Thanks." She said, taking the kettle. "Okay, I have something to show you
all before I explain. Don't be too surprised." and then poured a little hot
water on her head. Immediately, her hair darkened, she grew a little, lost h
er curves and gained more corpulence. When she spoke, her voice was deeper.
"You seemed to miss it, but I was a girl until now. I have a curse, and like
you just saw, hot water cancels its effects." she, now a he, explained while
entering the house.

She put down her bag, the kettle and the pig in another room and then closed
it. "My friend here, name's Ryoga, has the same problem... let's give him a
few moments to get dressed and then I will start the explanation."

Effectively, a short moment later another young boy did exit the room,
dressed in a yellow sleeveless shirt, dark green pants and the same bandana
as the pig.

"We came to settle the honor pact between our two families... but there is
now a more pressing problem I'm afraid." announced Ranma while pointing to
Akane.

"You're right. How did she escape the detectors?" asked Ryoga, looking the
youngest sister up and down.

"What are you talking about?" asked Akane.

"Ranma? What is it?" questioned Soun.

"M. Tendo, I got a sad new for you. You daughter is in danger. Her presence
here alone is putting your WHOLE family in danger."

"What are you talking about?" asked Nabiki, her anger at the two boys
increasing. <How dare they come here to say such things?!>

"Don't tell me that you never saw how much stronger she got recently..."
said Ryoga unbelieving.

"If the beetles find her..." added Ranma.

"The beetles?!" exploded Nabiki. "What do you want the beetles to have to do
with my sister?"

"What do you think? What's their jobs?" Ryoga asked her with a cold glare.

"To hunt the... mutants?" she ended her sentence in a whisper, understanding
what the boys are trying to tell. "You want to tell that... she..."

"...muted? yup." Ranma answered.

"No! NO!" Akane started to cry, trembling with fear and rage.

"KEEP YOUR CALM!" howled Ranma suddenly. "It's not that catastrophic. ALL
mutants are not dangerous. Only a few of us lose their mind during their
awakening." The wanted effect, to calm everybody, was easily done by his
confession. But the realization that the Tendos were chatting calmly with
what were supposed to be blood craving beasts shocked them greatly.

"What do you know about the mutants, anyway?" asked Nabiki, noting the 'us'
that used Ranma.

"First, our real name is not 'mutants', but 'wakens'. We are not monsters to
be hunted, but what the whole humanity would have been if it was in harmony
with the Earth." start to explain Ryoga.

"It's the life energy of the planet itself, the Chtonergy that causes what
we call the 'awakening'. It breaks the human limits and raises us to a
higher level of existence. Your daughter is not a monster. She just has to
avoid touching the Amber again." Ranma continued the explanation.

"The... Amber?" ask Akane.

"Yeah. I suppose that you found recently a white luminescent stone, and that
it dissolved when you took it. This stone is a highly condensed mass of the
planet's life energy, and it's that that makes us wakens. On the other hand,
if we were to touch it a second time, your power would grow so much that you
would snap and become the feared 'mutant'."

"Sadly, our friend the World Master has enlisted all of us alike. But what
do you think are the beetles? They are like us, but their are under mind
control to insure their loyalty... And the destruction of mutants by the
beetles is just a cover, those arrested are converted." added Ryoga.

"And all the civilians that could identify the newly converted beetles are
mercilessly slaughtered. So I repeat : your daughter is putting your whole
family in danger. We came for the engagement, but you understand that if
your family was to be massacred by the 'agents of the new peace', the union
between our families wouldn't mean anything."

"What... will happen to me?" Akane ask them. "I don't want..."

"None of us want it. That's why we are fighting against this tyrant." Ranma
said while taking off his bracers, showing two large burns on the inside of
his wrists : a dragon on the right arm and a tiger on the left one.

Only Nabiki gasped at these sights. "We have joined a resistance group, but
it was destroyed. We then discovered a pontificated Amazon village. We
joined them in their battle for freedom. In China, ten percent of the total
population is awakened. But this village is a special training camp composed
only of wakens." said Ranma as he put his bracers back on.

"M. Tendo... You must entrust us with your daughter. She will be well formed
there and she will be able to defend herself against the beetles, should
they get to her." Ryoga told him sadly.

"But... but... the engagement, the union of the schools..." sobbed the man.

"Enough! What do you believe is the most vital? Think of all the people,
wakens or not, that died at the hand of this tyrant of World Master. Against
the freedom of millions of persons, what is the importance of two martial
schools being united?" asked Ranma furiously.

 "He is right." whisper Akane. "I don't have a choice. If I stay here,
they'll find me and then they'll kill all of you... I... I could not live
knowing I was the cause of your deaths."

"Perfect! You did the good choice. He, he, he..." declared Ryoga. "I got an
idea. The engagement is still possible. Since Akane is coming with us..."

"What!? You're supposed to be on my side Ryoga!" shouted Ranma, letting a
part of his power escape under the shock. "Argh! Am I stupid or what. Here I
am nearly shouting my position.... stupid..." Ranma started to lament.

"Damn! Quick! Our time is short now..." Ryoga turned toward Akane. "Go get
some clothing, we are leaving immediately!"

"But..."

"NOW!" Ryoga shouted at the girl.

"Stupid... That was just plain stupid..." Ranma was still lamenting.

"What's the big deal?" asked Nabiki, not understanding the sudden change.

"I let my power escape my control for a short moment. If a beetle patrol
detects the outburst, they will be here in a matter of minutes. We need
to..." he stopped himself as if he heard a sound. "That's it, they are
coming... Three, it will be easy. Ryoga, you take her with you and leave
first while I give you some time." He walked in the garden, and waited near
the koi pond there.

"Be careful, Ranma!" Ryoga said to his friend.

"Pff, this is just three little beetles. Hide your power as much as you can,
so I will be the only one detected. I'll relieve myself of this patrol, then
I do a little trouble on this district to help mix up the tracks." He said,
grinning.

"See ya at the village. And don't forget, next time, they're mine."

The air around Ranma was soon freezing. Akane was back from her room, a full
sport bag under her arm. Without losing a second, Ryoga took her is his arms
and left the house running at unbelievable speed. He disappeared from sight
just as three blue armored men come flying down the sky in the garden,
facing Ranma.

"Hum... aura 90?" said one of them.

"Impressive, boy, but you will need more to beat us." added another one.

Ranma took a combat stance and began to focus.

"Come, I don't have time to spare." He said before launching a straight
attack against one of his opponent. Surprised by the speed of the 'boy', the
beetle was not able to dodge the punch and is hit in the face, the blow
crushing his skull and his cervical with a horrible sound. Ranma took his
bloody hand off the now dead beetle, and turned to face the other two.

"Grr! You scum! You were hiding your power... aura : 150 ? No... might you
be-gargl." finished the second one when Ranma used the distraction to crush
his larynx with the same bloody hand. His other hand hit the last one like
the thunder and pierced his heart, quickly ending the short carnage.

"I must make it quick, more will arrive soon!" Ranma said to himself. "M.
Tendo, I'm going now. When they arrive, tell them this : two mutants came,
kidnapped your daughter and then fled back. We will return to visit when the
situation has calmed itself. I promise on my honor that I will take care of
Akane as best as I can. Farewell!"

Ranma gently raised into the air. He then flew up the sky and vanished
quickly in the clouds, leaving a father crying his family's separation with
one of their members. But he was comforted in the knowledge that she was in
the good hands of her fiancee and that as long as she would be with him,
nothing could possibly happen to her.
---
End

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