Gaia's Awakening
---
" " are speaking
' ' are quotes
< > are thoughts
* * are sounds
---
Chapter 2
---

This new journey to Los Angeles was a little shorter than the first one. The
party knew the way now. The hardest part would be the infiltration itself...

So, just before the arrival at the city, the group used the stolen beetle
uniforms, Ranma using the Justicer's brown version.

Dressed like this, it was easy to enter the city. No civilian would dare to
oppose one of the "agents of the new peace",  and specially not while
returning from a mission.

Not knowing exactly where was the nearest garrison, they had to ask someone.

"Excuse me!" shouted Ranma in the street they where in. "We are from out of
town and we'd like to know where is the nearest guard post!"

Nobody could work the courage to answer the soldiers.

"Hurry! We haven't all the day!" Ranma added after seeing nobody would
answer him.

"D-down this road and..." someone finally started to mumble.

"And ?" asked Ranma authoritatively.

"A-and you'll see a g-great building at y-your left..." the small man
finished with no small amount of trouble.

"Thank you." Was all Ranma said before the Amazonian party start to walk
toward their goal.

---

The building was effectively higher than the others. Easily 5 stories. Its
entrance was guarded by two beetles. Seeing the group coming toward them,
they engaged the talk.

"Stop! Where are you from?" asked one of the guards.

"We are the only survivors from an attack on a city, somewhere south from
here. Having nowhere to go, we came back to here to receive new orders."
Explained Ranma, being the apparent leader of the group with his brown
armor.

"How much attackers were there?" asked the other guard.

"Well, we didn't really got the number, but after two thirds of my own men
were killed, I knew that we couldn't win. They seemed chinese though."
Answered Ranma, their covert carefully planned all the way from China.

"Okay. Go see the Justicer in there. He'll give you your new assignments."
Acknowledged the first guard and allowing them to enter.

"Thanks. Guys, follow me." Ranma 'ordered' to his troops.

While Ranma went to talk to the Justicer ruling this district, the others
disguised Amazons waited for him in the main guard room.

The local Justicer bought the story as easily as his guards, and soon the
Amazon elite could travel to the local training center, at the request of
Ranma.

The Justicer didn't want to grant this request to his comrade, but Ranma
pointed that he lost more than half his troops, so he needed to train them
some more before he could safely guard another city.

---

This new travel, allowing them to come one step closer to the headquarter,
brought them in another district, close to the downtown.

The training center itself was not as impressive as the guard post. Only two
stories. But the area it occupied was easily ten times larger.

The group came to a halt when the reached the main door, with two guards.

"Hi! Here is my training order." Told Ranma to a guard while giving him the
authorization signed by the post's Justicer.

The guard studied the document, then he allowed the group in. Ranma took
back the paper and the Amazons entered the complex.

---

Knowing they needed to be as careful as possible, the Amazons stayed there,
'training' in their reduced power level. They knew that their presence here
would soon become suspicious.

There hadn't been any attack on a city southern from there after all. But
the time they were earning was precious, they learned a lot on the beetles.
And THAT was the goal of this mission.

By now, they knew the exact location of the main headquarter. Ma Yuan's
hive. But there was more... They learned that there was another step of
beetle above the Justicers : the War Princes.

If they could test their power, they would have another ace on their sleeves
for the upcoming war.

And so Ranma brought together his friends to discuss a plan. They needed to
know where to find one of these War Princes... and see with their own eyes
their power.

The plan was simple : if a beetle was too powerful, he needed to be promoted
to the next level. So if Ranma, showing a normal Justicer power level, was
able to shortly show a stronger power, he may be noticed.

In the next days, each Amazon started to show some great power increasing,
as their Justicer squad leader. The rise in power was modest, but it was way
past what a classic beetle could do in a month.

So... Justicer Ranma being the leader and trainer of this squad, he was
called to meet the basement's Prince.

Their crazy scheme worked, and they didn't even knew there was a Prince here
at the training facilities.

---

And so Ranma was in front of the door of the Prince's office. He knocked,
then entered the room when he heard a voice ordering him to enter.

"Justicer Ranma here to report, Sir." Said Ranma, the gathering of
information these last days had paid a lot.

Behind the desk, the Prince was standing in front of a window, with his back
toward Ranma, he seemed to look at the training ground.

"I had some doubt at first, but after these few days, I knew it was you,
Ranma..." said the man after a little while, clad in a red uniform and a
better armor than the one given to the Justicers. He had a Sword of Justice
at his belt.

<This voice... no, it can't be...> thought Ranma, hatred starting to show on
his face.

The man turned toward Ranma, revealing his own face.

"I'm very disappointed in you, boy." Said the man, seeing that Ranma had
recognized him.

"Pop... Of all the thing I thought you'll never do, this was at the very
bottom of it." Shouted Ranma at his father.

"You don't even know what you're talking about, boy. But I must say I'm
surprised to see you in this armor. When did you join us?" asked Genma.

"Hu... Hahaha, you actualy thought I joined the army? After we started our
rebellion, I didn't stop just because our forces were crushed the first
time. I've more pride than that!" Ranma laughed at his father face.

"So I suppose you're just a spy for these Amazons?"

"What if I am? I learned more with them in this last year than I did with
you in all these years."

"Son... surely you didn't understand the real motive behind all this." Genma
told his son. "All our old acquaintance are not dead."

"What? I SAW them die with my own eyes!" Ranma shouted back.

"Some didn't die. They even joined the army, and now they operate under my
command as Justicers. Some are here, training."

"Yeah... sure. You converted them in animated zombies, and now you're using
them like some toys in your foolish war."

"Ranma. You don't understand our Master real goal..."

"I know enough to say that some innocent are lobotomized or even killed for
NOTHING!"

"You always were a disappointment to me back then. I see that it's stayed
the same... I must thank you despite your pathetic actions."

"Hu?"

"You brought me some good warriors to convert..." chuckled Genma.

"DON'T YOU DARE !!!" shouted Ranma while crossing the space between him and
his father in a blink of an eye.

Genma easily blocked the punch, being prepared for the attack.

"That's it, son. Show me what you learned with these so great Amazon."
taunted Genma while pushing his son back.

"It'll be my pleasure, you bastard! I was waiting for this day!" said Ranma
while powering up, removing the blocks he put on himself to pass as a
Justicer.

"It's time for you to learn to show some respect to your betters, boy!"

They engaged the fight.

---

On their training quarter, the Amazon felt Ranma increasing aura.

"Damn... what is he doing? He want to fight the Prince by himself?" asked
Ranko.

"The only thing he'll succeed to do will be to kill himself." Said Ryoga.

"We got to help him, the jerk can't possibly win by himself." Added Akane

"The Prince aura is far too much for any of us to beat him." Pointed
Shampoo.

"Well, I'm not gonna let the fool fight alone!" shouted Ranko, while dashing
toward Ranma's position.

"STOP!" ordered a passing Justicer. "You are all under arrest!" He motioned
to his troops to arrest the disguised Amazons.

"WHAT?" shouted Ryoga.

"Hu Ho... problem." Added Shampoo.

"Seems we'll have to get them first." Announced Akane, getting ready to
fight for her own freedom.

---

After only a few minutes of fighting, Ranma was reduced to a bloody pulp,
while Genma showed only minor bruises.

"You disappoint me more each passing day, son. Is that all you got? I was
waiting for much more." Genma continued to taunt.

"Argh... I'm not *puff* finished *puff* yet..." Ranma warned his father
between gasps.

"To say that your friends must already being converted at this time..."

"Wha...?"

"When I asked you to come, I also ordered to my troops to arrest your
friends. With some luck, they are still fighting for their lives." Genma
informed his bloodied son.

"DIE!" screamed Ranma projecting himself on his father, surprised by the
speed of the sudden move. The two men impacted on the window, passing
through it and then crashing on the ground bellow.

Genma quickly disengaged from his son.

"There. This is way better."

Ranma got up with trouble and leveled his eyes to his father's, burning with
rage.

"I'm gonna tear you apart, old man! I dunno how, but I'll do it...Even if
it's the last thing I do!" Ranma warned his father.

Genma blurred and punched his son on the jaw, sending him several feet
farther.

"You think you can beat me? You can't even stand on you feet without
trouble."

Ranma started to crawl back up, using a nearby wall to help himself to stand
back up.

"I'll never give up. Ranma Saotome never lose!"

"You don't even know when you have already lost, boy. Stop this nonsense."
Genma walked up to his son and kicked him in the ribs, sending him flying.

This time, Ranma didn't move.

---

The other fight was not going well either. Not that the beetles could harm
any of the Amazon, but the Justicers could.

For each foe that bit the mud, two would take his place. They knew that they
were going to lose the fight, but they hoped to see the number of beetle
finally starting to decrease.

"Urhh... We have to end this a way or another. Ranma is not going to make it
without our help!" cried Akane.

"Well, I'm already running out of chi here... even if I could get to Ranma,
I would be unable to help him... his aura is becoming weaker and weaker."
Ranko shouted back.

"He have better to not die here... Only I have the right to kill him!"
mumbled Ryoga to himself.

"Less talk! More fight!" Shampoo shouted to them.

Without any warning, all the beetles detector exploded at the same time.

"Wha.." Akane started to say.

"What's this... Who could be strong enough to make a detector exploding?"
Ryoga asked to his comrades.

Using the distraction, the amazons could beat the beetles between them and
Ranma. They started to run for their lives, the last Justicers following
them.

"Could it be... Ranma?" Ranko asked with hope in her voice.

---

Genma noted that Ranma's flesh was losing it's color and paling.

<He's already suffering from blood loss? What a wimp!> thought Genma.

He then noticed that Ranma's HAIR where paling too, getting discolored and
grayish.

"What the..." He said, surprised. He didn't have more time as Ranma started
to stand up again.

When Ranma was upright, he gazed at his father, the pupils of his eyes,
still burning with rage, had somewhat turned red.

"You had enough warning, old man. I told you I'll tear you apart." Without
even a blur, Ranma had his fist buried deep in Genma fat stomach. He
followed by a spinning kick on the jaw and send his father flying on the
other side of the room.

"How did you...?" asked Genma while he spitted blood.

"I dunno... I told ya I didn't know how I would kill you. But now that I
have the power to, I'm gonna do it." Ranma replied coldly while he walked up
to his father.

Genma tried to attack his son with all his might, but his fist was caught
easily by Ranma.

"Who's pathetic now, old man? Not as boasting now that you're on the
receiving end, eh?" A quick hit on the elbow easily broke his father caught
arm. "You should have followed me when we went in China. Now, it's my duty
to see that you'll never harm anyone."

Ranma used his grip on his father fist to project him on a nearly walk,
causing his father to spit more blood.

"I'm truly sorry to have to do this. But I have no choice now." Tears were
running freely on his cheeks now. "Kachu Tenshin Amagouriken!!"

Several hundred of punched rained on the red armored body of the man knew as
Genma Saotome, destroying his Prince's armor, breaking bones and reducing
him to a bloody pulp.

Ranma caught his father by the neck to keep him from falling. With his other
end, he took the Sword of Justice hanging at the Prince's belt and
unsheathed it.

"Farewell, father." Ranma whispered more to himself than his now unconscious
father. With a quick movement, he cut his father head off of his shoulders,
ending the man's life.

---

The blue armored Amazon group was finally getting to Ranma's fight place,
with far less followers.

When they did get there, the first thing they saw was a victorious Ranma.
THEN they saw the headless corpse of the Prince. Seeing a bloodied sword on
Ranma's hand, they understood that he had somewhat succeeded to kill his
mighty opponent.

Their stupor caused them to stop there. Ranma's red eyes, still filled with
hatred could have helped too.

The last following Justicers were catching their targets up. Ranma, seeing
them, dashed forward without any warning. His now increased speed allowing
him to cut the last five Justicers in a few seconds, using only a slashing
movement to cut each of them in two.

He then stand there, looking at all the blood at his feet.

"Ranma?" Ranko asked.

"Yes?" he asked back, his voice sounding tired, but cold too.

"We need to leave, now that we have been identified." She told him.

"Sure. Let's go." He answered while turning back toward the amazons. They
noticed his now pallid face.

"How do you did this?" Ryoga asked his rival.

"I dunno. I was so angry at him... and when I thought it was finished, I
felt this new power in me."

"I think we need to report to the Matriarch as fast as we can." Said Shampoo
to cut some tension.

"Yeah... Let's get back home." Added Akane.

"Ranko. The Prince... it was our father..." Ranma told his twin.

"What? It was this bastard that was ruling here?" she asked.

"Yup. I wanted to only beat him up good at first. But he made me so angry."
He explained.

"Don't worry, bro. I'd have done the same thing."

"Thanks."

They used their last strength to take the air and they put the more distance
they could manage before they got their feet back on earth. Sometime during
the flight, Ranma's body returned to normal.

---
Gaia's Awakening - Chapter 2 End
Next chapter : The final attack on Los Angeles. Ma Yuan versus Colon.
---
Author's notes :
okay... I know, Ranma's last power up was not surprising at all... every
body saw it coming 2 miles away... sorry, like I said at first, I'm basing
this story on a PRG I made with some friends and mostly on the first
compaign's plot...
so... explanation on the "how" Ranma got this power up on the next chapter.
Genma is dead, long live to Genma... I didn't plan to do it at first, but
when I did the caracters' correspondence when transforming the original
compaign in the ranma 1/2 alteverse plot, Genma was the only one who could
be the one who taught everything to Ranma BEFORE he became an Amazon...
I didn't develop the others caracters because for now the story is very
centered on Ranma... It'll change soon.
but get ready for some more deads soon...

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