Destiny

By Arun Prabhu arun2110@sancharnet.in

Chapter#04: Pivot <completed on 12/11/2004> <Revision#
Your guess is as good as mine.>

A Ranma One-Half - Sailor Moon crossover with a pinch
of Ramayana.

Disclaimers:

Ranma one-half and Sailor Moon belong to their
respective owners. I do not own them.

Author�s notes:

After a long, long delay, here�s chapter four. Enjoy.




She came to with a groan. �Where am I?� she asked
herself even though she knew the answer, for once
gifted, it was impossible to severe Time Sense
completely. Thus, Setsuna, the erstwhile Guardian of
Time, knew of her prison. She was in that place; that
unnamed place; that place where those terrible things
lived; that place which was anathema to her kind; that
place where such as her could enter but never leave.

	The one who betrayed her was a veritable mountain of
ancient and arcane lore and wisdom. He had ruthlessly
used his knowledge to imprison her. Through his
actions, he had made sure that she would forever
remain silenced.

	But Setsuna was not worried about herself. She
accepted her doom and the eternity of suffering it
entailed with a stout heart. She was far more
apprehensive about that of her Queen and her friends.

	They, Usagi and the other senshi, did not know of the
betrayal. Because they did not, they did not know that
what could not be broken was. And because they were
unaware and because the only person who could have
warned them was in jail herself, they were unprepared
for the terrible things that the breaking of the pact
had unleashed on the world. And because they were
unprepared, they would not survive the coming. And
because they would not, Setsuna cried; for friends
lost; for a duty failed; for a trust broken; for a
beautiful, perfect future that could have been, but
was forever lost to the shifting sands of time.
 
	The Unnamed found Setsuna thus, when they came:
crying. They fell upon her in a wave and she fought
them valiantly, driving back wave after unending wave
of them. Brave as she was, she was bound to fall
before their superior numbers in the end, and fall she
did in a battle that lasted both an eternity and an
instant.

	Thus died the last Guardian of Time, fighting a
contemptible battle against an invincible enemy in the
place where time stood still.

***********************************************************************

	The six menials from the lowborn castes bore the
green crystal and the pedestal it stood upon into the
Great Hall of Justice. They moved slowly with small,
measured and hesitant steps, lest they provoke the
anger of one of the pure ones. When they reached the
center of the hall, they lowered the pedestal onto
terra firma with great care. They kept their eyes
firmly focused on the smoothly polished floor of the
hall as they went about their assigned work. After
completing their task, they knelt, prostrating
themselves before the throne and silently awaited
their dismissal or punishment, whichever came their
way.

	The great prattling mass of the Gods, all of them
courtiers, advisors and guards from the upper castes,
fell silent as soon as the unclean vermin from the low
castes stepped into the antechamber. Mutely, they
watched the laborers as they lowered the pedestal and
prostrated themselves. The eyes of the pure blazed
with blatant contempt and disdain for the unclean as
they turned to the throne themselves. Unlike the
unclean, however, who dared not even look at the
throne, the demeanor of the courtiers was haughty and
demanding for they wanted the unclean punished. The
affront visited upon the Great Hall of Justice and
consequently, upon the pure ones by their presence
went beyond the pale and their punishment must be
equally fitting.

	For her part, Amatersu, from her repose on the
throne, gazed down languidly upon the mass of the Gods
and the prostrated forms of the unclean lying on the
floor. She did not give the unspoken demand of her
courtiers more than a moment of perusal before she
made her pronouncement.

	�Leave.�

	A gasp of outrage went through the hall and
scandalized murmurs of dissent started making the
rounds. The whispers did not last long, however, for
both Amatersu and Yama-O made their displeasure known
with glares aimed at the ranks of the courtiers. In
the meantime, the unclean departed as silently and
subserviently as they arrived, glad to have escaped
with their skin intact. This time.

	�Shall we?� Amatersu asked Yama-O after the unclean
had departed.

	Yama-O nodded in her direction but only as an
afterthought. Now that the courtiers were cowed down,
the crystal had his undivided attention.

	Amatersu turned to a group of thirteen guards
handpicked from the ranks of the palace elite. These
guards stood some distance apart from the rest of the
assembly, other warrior Gods included. She flicked her
wrist and at once, the leader and his command
responded to her unspoken order. With an air of
revered silence, they approached the crystal. Six of
the Gods knelt and placed their palms on its surface
and another six stood a yard behind their kneeling
comrades with their arms raised and pointing towards
the inner circle.

	With their leader acting as the conductor, the Gods
on the outer circle begun a low chant in a language
lost to the flows of time, which the ones in the inner
circle echoed. Simultaneously, they channeled mana
into the crystal, slowly increasing the flow as the
mantra rose to a crescendo.

	Halfway through the ceremony, thin, wavy but fleeting
lines of white light accompanied by motes of crimson,
gold, silver and emerald blossomed on the crystal. The
lines and motes steadily increased in brightness and
numbers until the crystal was as a torch. Then, at the
point of incandescence, the crystal began to hum. It
sang until the end of the ritual when it cracked with
nary a sound. The light show ended abruptly.

	The guards who conducted the rite stepped away from
the cracked crystal, which began to glow anew after a
brief pause. They had barely reached a safe distance
when it disintegrated in a blinding explosion of
light.

	There were gasps, as unsuspecting Gods tried to
shield their eyes with their hands. Silence descended
upon the hall.

	When their sight returned, the Gods saw that the
crystal had shattered. Out of the mound of broken
shards and powdered crystal and off the pedestal
stepped Ranma Saotome Qin, the Dragon. He flicked a
few errant crystalline fragments off his shoulder, and
with a lazy eye examined the gathered mass of Gods.
Only when his curiosity was sufficiently satisfied,
did he turn his eyes to the throne.

	�Where is she?� he asked of Amatersu. His tone was
none too cordial. �Where is that bitch that imprisoned
me? I know she�s your flunky and I lay the
responsibility for her actions at your feet. If she or
her friends had so much as hurt a hair on my student�s
head, you tell her that temporal powers or not, I�ll
hunt them down to the ends of the earth and kill them.
Then, I�ll come for you and I�ll kill you. And
nothing, not heaven nor hell can protect you from my
wrath.�

	Amatersu put a smile on her face in the interests of
diplomacy. On the inside, however, she was seething
with anger � how dare he speak so disrespectfully to
her and in her domain no less � while simultaneously,
she felt a cold stab of fear in her heart. The Dragon,
all said and done, was far more powerful than any God
was and it was not conducive to one�s health to get on
his wrong side, which thanks to the ill-advised
actions of the Guardian of Time she had. She had
better tread lightly lest she antagonize him more.

	�Peace, Qin! Pluto will not bother you again. Her
actions were unsanctioned and we have dealt with her
in a suitable manner. She shouldn�t be troubling you
any more and you needn�t thank us for taking care of
her, for we were only doing the right by our duty as
your allies in helping you out.�

	Ranma chuckled. The Goddess was trying to manipulate
him. He had been more irritated at getting caught off
guard by Pluto with his pants down than genuinely
angry, which was the reason why he had contented
himself with merely threatening Amatersu instead of
killing a God or two to underscore his displeasure.
His forbearance did not cover her feeble attempts at
manipulation, however. If she thought that she could
control him so easily, she had a thing or two coming.

	�Allies? Whatever gave you that idea?� he asked
Amatersu in an insolent voice. Then, turning to
Yama-O: �Answer me, God. I thought I told you that any
alliance between your kind and mine is out of the
question. Was there anything at all that was ambiguous
about the reply I gave you?�

	Yama-O turned to Amatersu askance and she nodded. She
would field this question just as the two of them had
discussed earlier that day in the privacy of her
chambers. She made eye contact with Ranma, cleared her
throat and spoke.

	�There was nothing hard to understand about your
reply, Dragon. But we have decided that we will not
take no for an answer.�

	Ranma chuckled again. The chuckle was a mask,
however, to veil and restrain the fury within. �No
one! No one manipulates me!�

	�Nice euphemism, Goddess, but I�m not your personal
possession. Do not make the mistake of thinking so.
I�m neither your slave nor servant, and I will not
stand to be treated as such.�

	He turned to the mass of the Gods.

	�I was fortunate enough to be at the battlefield
today. I saw your enemy and I witnessed his true
nature on display. Both his and yours actually; and
guess what? The conduct of your troops was deplorable,
as both the senshi and I can bear witness. I�m sure
your actions surprised the senshi a great deal. But
surprise and shock the senshi or not, they did not
shock me at all, seeing as how I have always known you
to be the vile scum you are.�

	Pause.

	�I don�t want you to delude yourselves and so, I�ll
make my standpoint on the subject clear. I would have
been loath to fight the Ashuras under any circumstance
and I�m especially loath to fight them under your
banner. So hear and pay head, O� vain Gods and
Goddesses. Give up any hope you may harbor of an
alliance with me and mine. It won�t transpire this
side of eternity.�

	His general proclamation made, Ranma now turned to
Amatersu.

	�As for you, Goddess, I will not be taken by your
wiles. You and that bitch Pluto live to see tomorrow�s
sunrise only because I allow you to. You�ll do well to
remember that. Remember also that if you harm my
friends, as I know you�re wont to, I�ll hunt you down
like the dog you are. Do you understand?�

	Amatersu, not the most coolheaded of the Gods to
begin with, had listened with rising temper to Ranma�s
rant. His words did not suit her temper, particularly
the threats he made and by the end of his speech, she
was supremely furious and well ensconced in a
belligerent frame of mind herself. How dare he! Throw
her peace offering in her face, she would have
tolerated, but the personal insults and threats! She
would not stand for them.

	�Are you threatening me?� she asked in a low, not to
be toyed with voice.

	Ranma smirked. He recognized Amatersu�s tantrum for
what it was. The results of his effort at provocation
surprised him a little � Gods were usually a lot
harder to bait � but he could not deny them. He had
succeeded in aggravating her! The ease with which he
had accomplished the task only served to harden his
pro-Ashura stance even more. With such a hotheaded
fool at their helm, any war that the Gods waged
against the well-led Ashuras could end only in defeat
and destruction.

	�Is there another way to interpret my words? I�m
sorry. Perhaps I should have spoken slowly and used
simpler words and phrases to make sure you understood
me. I did not realize that the eons of practicing real
politick had stolen what little brains you had once
and made you a complete idiot.�

	Amatersu saw red. A part of her mind recognized now
that Ranma was intentionally trying to aggravate her
and that she should not allow him the pleasure, but
frankly, she did not care. The provocation was too
much for her to endure in silence without pushing
back.

	�I will not be talked to in that manner by the likes
of you,� she stated in a raised voice.

	�And I�m not your property,� Ranma bellowed in reply.
He was on the warpath himself. Then, in his normal
voice: �You�re this close to pissing me off beyond the
point of no return. Do you think you can hide behind
your throne and find safety in your council if I
choose to come after you? Do you think they can or
will protect you from me?�

	Amatersu took a deep calming breath to regain her
composure. It was clear that she was walking a fine
line between life and death, just as it was clear that
her first meeting with the Dragon on whose shoulders
she and the Council had pinned their hopes for
survival had not gone well. It bothered her, too, that
she was letting her emotions get the better of her,
but she could not give in to his bullying. Therefore,
even though her face was pale and she could only
barely control herself from shaking in terror, she dug
in, tried to bully Qin herself and steadfastly refused
to yield ground. She would not be intimidated in her
own court no matter what!

	�This farce of a meeting is over, Qin. If I were you,
I�ll do well to remember that you aren�t immortal in
the true sense of the word. Take care lest you wake
one day to find a sharp dagger nestled in your back.�

	�Neither are you, Goddess. Yama-O, teach this fool
Goddess wisdom before I�m forced to teach her myself.�

	Ranma turned to leave. Two guards with grim looks on
their faces, made to escort him, but he waved them
aside with a snort of contempt and walked out of the
hall without looking back once.

	None in the hall dared to breathe until Ranma was
gone, and even then, the high caste councilors spoke
only in hushed tones. They all knew of Amateru�s
prowess - she, Yama-O and Shiva were the three
mightiest of the Gods, after all and all three of them
had no qualms about demonstrating that fact every so
often. All the Gods in the hall had seen her exercise
that power firsthand many times over and they feared
her for it. But no one had personally witnessed a
demonstration of the Dragon�s power and as such, even
after hearing a great many tales about his strength,
they had been unwilling to believe them. Not anymore.
Without unsheathing his aura, Ranma had struck fear in
Amatersu�s heart and this fact struck terror in
theirs. Terror amplified by the shattering of the
flimsy and fatuous mask of immortality crafted over
the millennia for themselves; a mask so well fitting
that many in their ranks had come to believe the
charade as the real thing over time.

	Amatersu and Yama-O, for their part, watched silently
as Ranma turned his back to the throne in a gesture of
contempt and walked out of the Great Hall of Justice
with slow, measured steps. Only when the sound of his
footsteps faded away did Yama-O turn to Amatersu.

	�That was very stupid,� he said. �I said this to your
flunky in Tokyo and I�ll repeat it for you here:
Pissing Ranma off is a quick, guaranteed way to a very
painful death. The onus is upon you whether you heed
my words or not, but remember this. If Qin decides to
come after you, the Council will stand in the
sidelines and let him have his way without raising a
word of complaint. He is worth more to us than even
you.�

	Amatersu opened her mouth to defend herself, but
thought better of it. Qin may have given the first
provocation, but since she had allowed him to bait
her, the blame lay sorely on her shoulders. Therefore,
she satisfied herself with merely nodding her assent.

***********************************************************************

	Juuban, Tokyo, several hours earlier...

	On reading the report on the senshi prepared by Boomi
Pithan for his perusal, Indiran had felt real
skepticism. In the interests of diplomacy, however, he
had hid his disbelief from the centenarian. As far as
Indiran was concerned, his reaction was not only
justified but also warranted. The senshi he knew were
uncultured barbarians from the hinterlands of human
civilization. There was little difference between them
and cave dwellers. But having had the opportunity to
see and judge the neo-senshi for himself, Indiran
could well bring himself to believe Pithan�s report.
The dignity with which they carried themselves as they
walked into the trap touched his warrior�s heart,
true, but their auras impressed him most, for they
were nothing like the twisted parodies he had expected
to find from long association with Gods. In fact,
their auras closely resembled that of the Ashura lords
who served Chola as his advisors.

	The senshi, Indiran now realized with a mental start,
had changed much through the millennia. So much that
they had become akin to that which they had plundered,
burnt and destroyed all those years ago at the time of
the breaking. The accumulated bias and hatred of
countless millennia made this harrowing truth hard to
swallow, but Indiran was anything if not pragmatic. As
such, he did not delude himself, even though a part of
him wanted nothing more than that. He acknowledged the
fact that the uncertain flows of the great river
called time had turned two once mortal enemies into
natural allies and felt all the better for it.

	But there came a dilemma with that acknowledgment.

	The son of the earth�s orders concerning the senshi
were unambiguous. Indiran was to locate the Sailors
post haste and terminate them with extreme prejudice.
Only, Chola had not anticipated this turn of events.
He, like all his advisors, Indiran included, had
believed that the senshi would forever remain loyal
allies of the Gods, which was why as soon as The Wall
cracked he had ordered Indiran, one of his finest
generals, to lead the vanguard. Chola had reasoned
that by removing the Gods� staunchest human supporters
as part of the curtain raiser for the new order, he
would deal a massive blow to the enemy�s morale. At
the same time, he had hoped to dissuade those humans
who had half a mind to join the cause of the Gods from
trying anything stupid.

	Indiran would have been the first to admit that
Chola�s orders, if the senshi had remained allied with
the Gods, were both a tactical and a strategic
masterstroke. But with things being the way they were,
he realized that those same orders could end up
damaging the prospects of his people in both the short
and the long run. It would set a bad precedent for his
successors to follow in the Army, and undermine the
core precepts and values of Ashuran society. That is,
if Indiran followed the letter, rather than the spirit
of his orders.

	There was also the moral perspective, and Indiran was
a very moral being. Therefore, he put the conundrum he
faced under the microscope and examined it. As a
warrior, he had long since accepted that when ordered
to he had to kill for the greater good of the people.
He had integrated his duty with his ethics so
perfectly that for thousands of years, there had been
no conflicts between the two. Until now. Owing to an
unexpected turn of events, his orders were at odds
with his principles. His duty drove him to execute the
son of the earth�s orders, whereas his morals forbade
him from doing so. He knew that every soldier had to
face this dilemma once in his life, just as he knew
that the path he took would determine whether he was a
murderer or a warrior.

	Ultimately, Indiran was more inclined to listen to
his morals than his duty, especially since his duty
was to the detriment of his people. The future of the
Ashura as a race was at stake and as loyal as Indiran
was to Raja Chola, the son of the earth had given the
order on bad intelligence. It would be tantamount to
betrayal � treason, even - if he followed those orders
now. And had the senshi been like their ancestors,
Indiran knew that he would have sent them to meet
their maker without hesitation. They were not,
however, and Indiran could not bring himself to kill
them in good conscience.

	And so, after careful consideration of the facts,
Indiran made his decision.

	He would disobey his orders, even though he knew that
choosing that particular option signaled the death
knell of his career. But Indiran was not content with
simply disobeying his orders. As a parting gift to his
people, he wanted to take his actions one-step further
and forge everlasting peace with the senshi. Perhaps
even an alliance.

	So it came to be that when he stepped forth to greet
the Sailors, Indiran had a gentle smile on his face as
an offering for friendship.

	�My name is Indiran, Lord General of the Ashuran
Army. I�m so glad you accepted my invitation,� he
said.

	The heir-apparent to the throne of the House of
Serenity � the Queen, actually, now that the mother,
the Queen was dead � and her four advisors stopped in
their tracks. Serenity�s eyes examined Indiran even as
she contemplated his words.

	�Welcome to my domain, General. Why are you here?�
she asked.

	�I�m here to negotiate peace and to inform you that
the time of The Return is come.�

	�Don�t believe him, Sailor Moon,� Rei warned Usagi
from the side, butting into the conversation before
her leader could form a reply. �He�s the one I saw in
the Fire Vision. He has been sent to kill us all.�

	That caught Indiran�s interest. He turned to regard
the girl whom he had correctly recognized as Sailor
Mars from the detailed descriptions in Pithan�s
report.

	�Mars-Queen, my regards. Is it true that you can
perform the Fire Vision?�

	�You recognize us, General. How?� Usagi asked in
return.

	�My people fought your ancestors on the field of
battle a long time ago. From those battles,� he tapped
his head, �I see and know you. You still haven�t
answered my question, Serenity.�

	�Yes, she does.�

	�Interesting,� Indiran observed aloud. To himself,
under his breath: �I wonder what other surprises this
world has in store for me yet.� To Mars: �You realize
what this means, Mars-Queen? You are the first in your
line to bear the true gift of the Eternal Fire, ever.�

	Serenity cleared her throat. There would be enough
time for chitchat after the Ashura General had
satisfied her curiosity. If both he and the senshi
survived the experience, that is. �What am I
complaining about? I should be glad we�re talking
rather than taking pot shots at each other!�

	�Sailor Mars says that you�re here to kill me and my
advisors. You corroborate her when you say we were
enemies.� Pause. �What are your intentions?� Usagi
asked, crossing her mental fingers.

	�I�m here to negotiate peace, Serenity. I give you my
word of honor that no harm will befall you or yours by
my hands.�

	Usagi nodded, accepting Indiran�s solemn words at
face value. Simultaneously, her costume morphed into
that of a ruler entertaining a foreign dignitary.
Usagi failed to notice the transformation, but not her
friends and Indiran.

	�Sailor Moon,� Rei pleaded-implored.

	Usagi held up an arm to stall her friend. She knew
the risks she was running, but if there was even the
slightest chance that this conflict could be resolved
without bloodshed, she felt she had to take it. She
owed it to the people of Tokyo, who had been through
enough demonic invasions, and to her friends, who had
died for her so many times before.

	�What say you, Milord General?� she asked.

	�I was sent to kill you,� Indiran explained, �as I
was sent to kill them. My people ruled this world an
eon ago, before a traitor in our midst betrayed our
trust. With his help, the enemy defeated my people and
banished us to another plane where we remained trapped
until recently. After the longest time, The Walls are
broken, and we are come to reclaim what is rightfully
ours.

	�Your ancestors fought in the ranks of our enemies
during the breaking. You and such as you were his
shock troops for you were fanatical adherents to his
philosophy. My people, thanks to the sedition of
Betrayer, were woefully unprepared for a war when you
attacked us. You broke our back. We could not mount an
effective defense and you burnt our cities, destroyed
our crops and massacred our families.

	�Now that The Return is at hand, the son of the earth
ordered me to eliminate you because it was thought
that you would remain unchanged. We were wrong. He was
wrong. The passage of time has made you more like my
people than I would ever have thought possible. We
share more or less the same dreams and the same goals.
We are, in fact, become natural allies. It is for this
one reason and one reason only that I have chosen to
disobey my orders. It would be a great loss, both to
your people and to mine, if I were to carry them out
and execute you. I don�t want that and when he learns
how much you have changed, I know that the son of the
earth won�t, too.

	�The choice is yours to make, Your Majesty. You can
swear you allegiance to the son of the earth, stay in
the sidelines and watch my people and our enemies wage
war against each other, or you can renew your alliance
with the enemy. I warn you though. If you stand
against the son of the earth, you and all those who
stand with you will die.�

	Usagi looked at the four inners, guarding her flanks.
Their eyes were alert to any sudden danger. They
scanned the street for threats continuously while
simultaneously keeping a wary eye on Indiran.
Something on Ami�s face caught her eye.

	�Do you want to say anything, Mercury?�

	Ami nodded and turned to Indiran. Without any verbal
cue, the other three inners shifted as they took over
her responsibilities for her sector. Indiran noticed
this subconscious action on the part of the Sailors
and filed it in his mind for future use. Their actions
confirmed another point illustrated in the report. The
senshi were a highly effective team forged in the heat
of battle. They lacked formal training, unlike his
men. Despite that, they were highly motivated and were
almost as good as properly trained troops. Still, as
good as they were the untrained nature and the small
size of their team gave him an innate advantage. He
could exploit it to vanquish them, provided he was
willing to pay the butcher�s bill, which considering
their track record, would be a very costly one.

	�You say that your people have warred with the Moon
Kingdom in the past, Milord General, but there is no
record in the archives that we ever faced such an
enemy as you. Can you explain that?�

	�I did not say that I fought against the Moon
Kingdom, Mercury-Queen. The golden age of my people
was a hundred thousand years before the birth of the
Moon Kingdom. The war I refer to took place a long
time before the Moon Kingdom was a thought in the
minds of your ancestors. It does not surprise me at
all that you do not have any records of the conflict.

	�This is not to say that we have never crossed swords
with the House of Serenity. We did, though we fought
most of our battles in the very dawn of your clan�s
history, when you were little more than barbarians. As
for a war between my people and the Moon Kingdom,
there was a break in The Wall when the son of the
earth rose to the throne. But it was a low intensity
conflict, one that I hesitate to call a war. The
Forgotten Queen sealed the fracture before it could
escalate into full-blown war, though she lost her life
in the process.� 

	Ami gave a nod of satisfaction, though she could find
no references to anyone called The Forgotten Queen in
her archives. The nod was indicative of her
contentment with the proffered explanation and she
returned to her station. Usagi stepped forth and
assumed the mantle of chief interrogator once more.

	�Let�s suppose that we agree to your terms, Milord
General. Will the lives of humans be endangered in the
coming conflict?� She looked around. �Even though
you�ve been sensitive to human casualties today, can
you guarantee that you�ll retain it throughout the
course of the campaign?�

	�I cannot promise that no human will be harmed,
Serenity. War is a child of chaos. It is unpredictable
at best and I�m loath to make guarantees that are
impossible to keep. However, I give you my word of
honor that we will try to keep collateral damage to
life and property to a minimum. Earth is but a staging
post to the real battlefield and we do not expect to
fight pitched battles with the enemy in this plane.

	�However, we reserve the right to self defense if
humans attack us.�

	Usagi looked to her friends, who gave their nods of
assent albeit reluctantly. Rei was the fastest of the
lot, needing little to convince her that peace was the
better alternative and Ami was the slowest, for her
doubts about the authenticity of Indiran�s stories had
not been put to rest completely. Usagi, having
received the vote of confidence from her friends for
her part, turned to Indiran.

	�One final question and I�ll make my decision. Who is
this enemy that you allude to so often with such
vehemence?� she asked.

	Indiran smile, putting his teeth on display as a cat
would at the sight of a scrumptious little mouse.

	�The Gods. We are here to fight the Gods for
instigating rebellion as well as for the wrongful
imprisonment of my people. The son of the earth has
sworn to hunt them until the last member of their
accursed race is dead.�

	�But...�

	�Please, Your Majesty, allow me to explain,� Indiran
interrupted, making a placating gesture with his hand.
�Gods are nothing like the perfect beings that the
people of this eon have come to believe in. There�s
nothing divine about them in the true sense of the
word. They�re much like you and I in that, for all
three of us are brother races.�

	That got Ami�s attention. She turned to address
Indiran � without Usagi�s prompt this time � and for
the second time, the other three inners assumed
temporary responsibility for her sector.

	�Brother races?� she asked.

	Indiran responded with a solemn nod.

	�This might come as a rude surprise to you, but the
vast majority of humanity has been had for the longest
time. The Gods aren�t the omnipotent benevolent beings
that you have been led to believe. They, you and I are
all descended from the same ancestral race in the
far-off past. I have the evidence to prove my claims,
though I�d have to send a special missive to the son
of the earth to send them along with the next wave.�
To Serenity: �Do you wish to wait until you�ve
examined the evidence yourself before you make your
decision, Your Majesty?�

	Usagi gazed at Indiran for the longest time as she
tried to come to a decision. The problem was, even
though Indiran�s story went against everything she
believed, she did not think he was lying to her. But
the premise of his revelations were so earth
shattering that she needed time to think through them
with a clear head if she was to be make any decision
that was in the best interests of all concerned.
Something told her, too, that any hesitation would see
a golden opportunity lost forever.

	�Assuming that I buy your story, what do you propose
I should do, Milord General?� she asked finally.

	�Swear your allegiance to the son of the earth, Your
Majesty,� Indiran replied. �But not if you have
seconds thoughts. The oath, once made under The Code,
cannot be broken without severe consequences for the
oath breaker.�

	�Can I add my own qualifying points to the oath?�

	Nod.

	�You can.�

	�Are you ready for a compromise?�

	�I am.�

	�Then, I�m ready to swear an oath of neutrality
immediately. After I�ve discussed the subject with my
senshi, examined the evidence for myself and found
them to my satisfaction, I�ll decide whether I want to
be your ally or not. Does that sit well with you?�

	Nod.

	�The oath, Milord General.�

	�Yes, Your Majesty. Repeat after me...�

	Boom!

***********************************************************************

	Ranma lay crouched behind a dumpster in an alley
between two buildings. He devoted his attention to the
happenings on in the middle of the street and paid
Ryuu no heed when the young martial artist nudged him.
The young Saotome, who had been so looking forward to
hearing an explanation for his sensei�s strange
behavior, was sorely disappointed, thus. He continued
to wait patiently for another couple of minutes, but
he ran out of patience in the end. Subsequently, Ryuu
decided to take matters into his own hands and prodded
his sensei again.

	�Sensei, what�s happening out there?�

	Ranma shushed him.

	�Be quiet or they might hear you,� he whispered.

	Ryuu looked to the senshi, who were standing a good
thirty yards away from their position and then at
Ranma.

	�You�re kidding me. They can�t possibly hear a word
we say,� he complained in a soft voice, whilst
pointing to the senshi.

	Ranma shook his head.

	�Who said anything about them?� he asked, pointedly.
�I�m talking about the troop of Gods hiding inside
this building.�

	Ranma feather tapped the wall of the building they
were lying against to illustrate his point.

	Ryuu�s mouth dropped wide-open.

	�Gods?�

	Ranma nodded.

	�Yep. Just like us, they are here to observe the
Sailors and the Ashura General, Indiran who are
conducting peace negotiations. But they aren�t what
you�d call the friendly sort.�

	�Oh!�

	�So, will you please keep silent until I say
otherwise? I�ll explain everything later.�

	�Okay!�

	�Shush!� Ranma whispered, sealing Ryuu�s lips with
his forefinger. �Something important is happening and
I just about missed it.�

	Ryuu, using his common sense for once, kept quiet.
Even though he was as curious as he had ever been in
his life.

	Ranma was silent with a look of mild concentration on
his face for all of fifteen seconds. Then his
expression changed and his eyes hardened. The reaction
cued Ryuu to the violence that was to come and the
young Saotome cringed. He felt the cold claws of the
beast fear grip clumsily at his heart and
instinctively knew that whatever had irked his sensei,
there was going to be hell to pay. Pissing off someone
as powerful as Ranma, he had decided early on in their
friendship, was not the wisest thing to do and
correctly so.

	�Ryuu,� Ranma whispered in an eerie voice, �duck!�

	In the silence that reigned supreme over the next two
seconds, Ryuuken Saotome, martial artist
extraordinaire and heir to deadly Musabetsu Kakutou
Ryuu, did exactly that. He tucked his head between his
knees, covered his head as best as he could with his
hands and prayed to the heavens above to shield him
from the worst of the coming storm. Ranma, for his
part, used the time to ease the bindings on his ki and
form two rudimentary shields to protect Indiran and
Serenity. Sadly, those two seconds were entirely two
small a timeframe to perform all the tasks that needed
to be performed.

	Boom!

	All hell broke loose.

***********************************************************************

	From his perch on the edge of the roof, with Boomi
Pithan at his side, Suryan contemplated his life.
Earlier in the day, he had overheard Indiran giving
Pithan instructions that he had never expected to hear
in his life. The revelation was all the more shocking
since he had trusted his friends and believed that
they would not betray a fellow Ashura.

	But Indiran had. By placing a mere human�s life above
that of Suryan, the Ashura General had amply
demonstrated his willingness to pursue his love affair
with humanity at all costs. It hurt Suryan that his
kind had sunk to such lows, but there was no hope of
helping or saving them; especially since he would not
live long enough to rehabilitate them from their
delusions if this news got out. And Suryan knew that
it would get out and that he would not get a chance to
defend himself; that Chola would sentence him to death
as soon as Indiran ratted on his little indiscretion.
Not that Suryan disliked the son of the earth or
anything, but he thought some of Chola�s policies were
a little on the mentally retarded side. Like his
insistence that all were born equal for example. In
Suryan�s considered opinion, whichever idiot thought
up that particular notion was the biggest moron that
ever lived. If all men were born equal, then why did
everyone not have the same intellect or look the same?

	Still, as imperative as purging his people�s
collective conscious of silly notions was, it was not
the foremost thought on Suryan�s mind. He was a
survivor all said and done, and his contemplations
were decidedly directed towards that end. How was he
going to repay Indiran�s betrayal? How was he going to
survive? It was not asking for much, the desire to
live just long enough to die of old age now that the
cat was out of the bag, was it?

	Only Pithan did not seem inclined to allow Suryan to
brood over his doom in silence.

	�Can you believe this?� the centenarian observed
aloud for the umpteenth time.

	Pithan�s words snapped Suryan, who had deliberately
ignored Pithan all evening, out of his chain of
thought. He gave Pithan his undivided attention for
the first time since the senshi walked into the street
and followed Pithan�s pointing hand to the middle of
the street. There, he saw, Indiran was negotiating
peacefully with the Sailors. Without doubt, he
decided, this was the greatest shock in a day full of
upsets.

	Immediately, Suryan�s brain switched to high speed.
He analyzed the ramifications of this new development
in case Indiran succeeded in making peace with the
senshi and they were none to his liking. Any peace
with the senshi would shorten the war and Chola would
not hesitate � as Surya had hoped he would - before
deciding that his army can do without the likes of
Suryan in its ranks. Meaning: curtains.

	Then just like that, the answer popped into his mind
in the hour of his deepest despair. It hinged on the
fact that Chola was currently unaware of Suryan�s
indiscretion, and only Indiran and Pithan were aware
of it. If somehow Suryan could buy their silence, he
would go off scot-free.

	�I never thought I�d see this day,� Pithan continued
to rant, �but here it is. That Indiran must be really
something if he can bargain with the senshi, you know
that?�

	Suryan reached for his veecharuval and took a step
backwards.

	�And if he can negotiate a peace settlement, we won�t
have to fight with our fellow men. Indeed, we were
really dreading that prospect, even though we�d have
stood firm by our duty.�

	Suryan tested the sharp blade of the cutting
instrument with his left thumb. It was more than
satisfactory. The weapon had withstood the test of
time well, he mused unto himself. It was still as
sharp as it was on the day it was born.

	�Oh, look, I think Serenity is going to take the
oath!�

	Suryan peered over the edge and saw that Pithan had
deduced right. Serenity was going to swear the oath.

	�Isn�t that just peachy?�

	�I have to give a hand to...�

	Swish! Pithan�s unannounced and hastily improvised
decapitation made further commentary on the oath
swearing ceremony an impossible affair. Suryan
completed the fatal swing that had delivered the coup
de grace to his former ally and returned the bloodied
tool of war to its sheath on his back. Pithan�s head,
in the meanwhile, rolled off his shoulders and over
the roof, his arteries spouting a rain of blood all
over. The late Pithan�s trunk followed his head over
the edge a few moments later, helped on its way by
Suryan�s none too gentle nudge of a kick.

	�Nothing personal, you understand,� Suryan muttered
to the fallen human by way of a belated apology, �but
my life before yours.�

	Then, having minded his manners, he turned his
attention to the bastard negotiating with the whores
in the distance. The same bastard who thought he could
betray his own and get away with it.

	�It�s your turn now, my dear General,� he whispered
in a voice dripping with contempt, hatred and
animosity.

	Suryan glared at Indiran for another second or two
before he took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He
opened his chakras to the world around him and
instantly, a torrent of ki from nearby lung mei
flooded his body. The chaotic world of energy
appeared, as it did, and the world of sight, smell and
sounds disappeared. He waited until the lung mei
became well defined in his mind�s eye, and then,
performed the set of ingei involved in creating a
small ki cell. In the energy rich environ of Tokyo,
the ki cell ballooned to its capacity instantly.
Taking another deep breath to reorient his ki, Suryan
struck at the invisible cell with an open palm. The
fragile wall of the cell shattered, and
instantaneously gave birth to a ki ball. The strike
also pushed the ki ball in the desired direction,
sending it rocketing towards Indiran in a beeline at
the speed of a bullet.

	Having performed all the necessary hard work, Suryan
released the gathered ki gently � a comparatively easy
affair that - and threw up his arms in exultation to
celebrate Indiran�s successful assassination. Fate had
other ideas however, for the ki ball ran into Ranma�s
shield mere feet from its quarry. It ricocheted off
the shield, plowed into the nearest building, and
blew.

	Boom!

***********************************************************************

	He was born twisted and depraved as the heir to the
oldest of the great houses in the land. Sadly, by the
time of his birth, his family had fallen on hard
times, having been brought to its knees by an upstart
house acting at the behest of the Emperor.

	He grew up in a world that continuously hurt,
rejected and humiliated him. The kids treated him as
if he was a pariah and to the adults, he was less than
a worm. As he grew, his bitterness slowly turned to
hatred. The inborn propensity in his soul towards the
dark provided the necessary fertile ground for the
seeds of malice sown by a cruel world and the
malevolence in his heart flourished, unchecked and
unknown. So great did his hate become that soon, his
heart turned black and blacker still.

	In essence, he became a demon.

	Realizing instinctively that the world would abhor
him even more if he revealed his true self � perhaps
even hunt him down � he hid his hatred and kept it
sealed until such a time came when it was safe. When
that day came, he swore, he would help the world reap
its deadly harvest of hatred. He would return a
thousand fold the pain visited upon his soul and
person. He would make the whole of creation suffer,
with special attention given to the never to be
sufficiently damned house and clan that had destroyed
his world even before he was born. And of all the
people in that nonentity of a clan, he hated none more
than �him,� the consummate bastard who had architected
his family�s fall from grace with style and panache.

	And so, he bore all the taunts, deprecating himself
in front of the world to curry the favor of the scions
of noble houses. Houses that were noble in name only -
if they were truly noble, they would not have
permitted the Emperor to hamstring his clan as they
watched from the sidelines, as scavengers would, while
�his� house tore the roof down on his parents� head,
would they? � but whose helping hand he needed to
bring his plans to fruition. To further his ends, he
joined the army, where his impeccable tactical and
strategic sense stood him in good stead. He quickly
rose through the ranks, until the day came when the
unsuspecting Emperor made him the chief of staff.

	He truly set about pursuing his work that day,
passing secrets to the enemy and undermining the
kingdom in every way he could. He spun plans within
plans within plans and wove a web of deceit that had
everyone in the land fooled. So successful was the
mask he wore and so well did it fit him that they
awarded him the highest medal in the empire for
service to the crown.

	Then the day came when his plans begun to bear fruit.
He still remembered the astounded look on the
Emperor�s face as he announced the outbreak of war � a
war that he had promised them as impossible. He had
savored that air of stunned disbelief, as he had
relished the expression on the Emperor�s face while
his chief of staff ran him through with the very
symbol of the Emperor�s office, the onyx sword.

	All that paled when compared to his crowning
achievement, however, which was the fall of his
people. They lost the war not because the enemy troops
were better, but because his treasonous acts broke
their back even before the enemy struck the first
blow. Their cities were wiped off the face of the
planet and they themselves massacred first by the
thousands and then by the millions. In fact, all his
plans worked out perfectly, except for one small cog
in the wheel. �He� had survived the attempt on his
life. And having escaped the assassination, �he� had
went on to unmask the traitor in the ranks, made the
enemy pay a hefty price for every square foot of
ground he yielded and shielded a small remnant of
�his� people from the genocide pogroms, derailing
every plan to wipe them off the face of the earth
forever. So successfully had �he� shoved the enemy�s
face into the dirt and so frequently, that at last,
they had resigned themselves to the fact that they
could never wipe out �his� people, but had to contend
themselves with �simply� imprisoning them in another
plane. A plane so removed from the real world that it
was practically uninhabitable.

	Thus it was that at the very hour of his triumph, he
found that his nemesis had snatched a small victory
from the jaws of oblivion, and successfully
shanghai-ed vengeance from his grasp. But more
maddening than the disappointment was the discovery
that the banishment had also taken out of his hands
the ability to act decisively against the bastard once
and for all. His hate grew to unheard of levels � so
much so that his allies, the Gods christened him
Demon. It was a fitting name, admittedly, but he
preferred the humble sobriquet given by his people:
Betrayer.

	They feared him, his allies. They would have killed
him themselves, if not for the fact that they valued
his military genius even more than they feared him. To
secure his loyalty, they created a new brigade,
stocked it with the worst scum they could find and
swore by The Code that they would help him have his
revenge. The prize was not nearly enough, for it was
by their actions that �he� had made �his� successful
getaway, but Betrayer had taken the job anyway, mainly
because he had already formulated new plans and set
his sights on greener pastures; plans that would see
him crowned as the king of all creation.

	He was able to ascertain early on that his new
working environment was a lot more constrained than in
the court of the Ashuras, but that was because the
Gods did not trust him at all. Against his genius,
however, the constraints were nowhere near sufficient
and he had quietly gathered a small group of
likeminded Gods around himself - the core of his
future army. Then he set about corrupting the medium
sized fry in the pond; the middle class Gods. The
actual process, of course, was tiresome and had
dragged for millennia. Finally, when his plans had
advanced enough that they were moving along smoothly
on their own accord, the Council informed him of the
imminent breaking of The Wall, and thrown a real
spanner into the works. But like any true master of
the battlefield, he had not let the setback get to
him. He had improvised and woven his plans to account
for the impending invasion.

	And the Council, which was as blind to his plans as
the Emperor had ever been, had unwittingly delivered
the golden goose into his lap. Thanks to the
machinations of his supporters in the court, they had
asked him to guard the senshi!

	Betrayer has assumed personal responsibility for the
mission and tasked the most loyal of his conspirators
to the task. His men were outcast Gods whom the rest
of their race reviled and abhorred, which Betrayer
admitted gleefully to himself, worked out to his
advantage. They were his most fervent adherents
because he welcomed them into his brigade and gave
them a home when no one would. For one week, he
coordinated the efforts of his men as they shadowed
the senshi as well as their human enemies.

	Their efforts had paid off handsomely, for who should
stand below in the middle of the street negotiating
with the senshi but Betrayer�s archenemy, that
thrice-damned, twice-accursed bastard Indiran. The dam
of rage and hatred that drove Betrayer had almost
burst at the sight of the Ashuran General. Until
Betrayer realized the unprecedented opportunity that
Indiran�s presence entailed for the furtherance of his
plans, that is, for much as he hated to admit it, he
was the military genius he was because he had studied
Indiran�s campaigns extensively, and made the Ashuran
General�s tactics and strategies his own. And because
Indiran always subordinated tactics to strategy in his
campaigns, Betrayer knew that Indiran would not follow
Chola�s orders blindly in the field. He would take one
look at the neo-senshi and decide that there were
flaws in the intelligence reports in Chola�s hands. He
would then look at the overall picture to determine
his course of action rather than make the mistake of
looking at the here and now.

	There was, of course, only one course of action that
was viable in the strategic sense and Indiran chose
exactly that. Betrayer congratulated himself at having
read his enemy correctly and turned to his second in
command, the commander of the platoon, his mind
already decided upon his course of action. He would
eliminate Indiran and his toadies, and maybe even a
senshi or three while he was at it. The General
because his penchant for working miracles in the
battlefield posed the greatest danger to his plans and
the senshi because killing them would destroy any
budding alliance between Chola and Serenity. Then, he
would report on the senshi�s treasonous behavior to
the Council and thus, retain the trust they had placed
on him � what little there was, that is � for the time
being.

	�Karthikeya!�

	�Yes, General?�

	�Inform Sgt. Thirumaran that he is to take his squad
and circle around the block. He is to take position in
that building to the left of that lamppost. On my
order, he and his squad will open fire on the
positions of the human degenerates. Start with their
command post and move on to successively cheaper
targets,� he said, pointing to the skyscraper Indiran
had used as his observation post.

	In turn, Karthikeya turned to one of the two
messengers standing nearby.

	�You heard the General. Go!� he barked, though not
loudly.

	�In the meanwhile, Second Squadron will get ready for
action,� Betrayer continued in the same vein, �When I
give the order, I want everyone in the squad to shoot
at that bastard yacking with the senshi on the middle
of the street. I don�t care if you have to blow away a
senshi�s brain to get a clear shot at him, but I�ll
skin anyone who so much as harms a single strand of
hair on Serenity�s head. Make that clear to your men.
They are good troops and I�m reluctant to execute even
one of them, but that doesn�t mean I won�t if my
orders aren�t obeyed to the word. Do you understand?�

	Karthikeya snapped to attention.

	�Yes, Sir, General, Sir!�

	Betrayer nodded and turned his back to Karthikeya,
his eyes once again focused on Indiran and Serenity.
Silently, for the next few minutes, he observed the
two negotiate the terms of the new alliance. During
that time, the messenger returned, bearing Sgt.
Thirumaran�s communiqu� that his squadron had moved
into position and was awaiting further orders.
Finally, Serenity and Indiran reached some sort of
acting agreement and Serenity made to swear the oath.

	Boom!

	The explosion came as a shock to Betrayer and for a
moment, he thought that one of his troops had jumped
the gun. But only for a moment. The attack was ki
powered, and that ruled out his troops. Still, as
startled as he was, Betrayer saw how he could use this
unexpected development to further his own agenda. He
smiled unto himself as he saw everything fall into
place in his mind�s eye, took a deep breath and opened
his charkas. He turned to Karthikeya and nodded once,
who in turn, reigned in his mana and used battle
language to signal his troops to commence the attack.
 
	Betrayer drew the necessary energy from one of the
many lung mei in the area himself and formed a ball of
ki the size of a basket ball in the wink of an eye.
Having started earlier, he threw the ball at Indiran a
fraction of a second before the Gods of Second
Squadron did. He watched the subsequent explosions
without flinching or batting an eyelid, mostly because
he wanted a visual confirmation of Indiran�s demise.
But the blasts, as big as they were, were not massive
enough.

	Instantly, the analytical part of his mind began the
search for a reasonable explanation, anything that
might explain the dampened explosions really. He knew
that it took a shield of extraordinary power � power
that only the truly powerful like the trio in the
Council, Chola, Serenity, or The Dragon could produce
� to dampen and absorb the likes of his attack.
Neither Chola nor the Council could have been
Indiran�s benefactor because one needed to be
physically present to create a shield and all four
most assuredly were not. That left Serenity and The
Dragon, and since the shield was a ki construct and
Serenity�s powers were mana related and yet to develop
fully, she could not be the guilty party. This left
The Dragon. And Betrayer did not want to be anywhere
in the vicinity of The Dragon.

	�The Dragon is here! Signal your men to split up into
ones and make a run for it! We�ll rendezvous back at
the brigade HQ tonight,� he shouted to Karthikeya over
the loud bang of the explosions.

	The wide-eyed God nodded without question. He paused
only long enough to signal the new orders to his
troops and then vamoosed out of the trap � in his mind
that was what a hiding hole once compromised, was �
through the hole Betrayer had blown in the far wall
when he made his exit. From now on until the
rendezvous at headquarters, it was every man for
himself.

***********************************************************************

	Suryan�s precision strike would have succeeded but
for the shield. There was nothing between Indiran and
the ki ball one moment and the next, there was the
shield, which seemingly appeared out of nowhere and
miraculously slammed into place. And the bolt, flying
straight as an arrow struck the shield. It ricocheted
onto one of the buildings on the side of the street
and detonated. The consequent explosion had the
explosive equivalent of a hundred kilos of TNT. The
building, naturally, crumbled, the portions not blown
into smithereens by the blast, that is, and the three
of Pithan�s troops holed up inside died instantly.
They were the first casualties of the evening, but by
no means were they the last.

	Flying shrapnel from the explosion also hit Minako,
Makoto and Rei, wounding all three badly. In their
wake came the concussive wave front that slammed into
them with the force of a Kentucky tornado. The
powerful winds threw Minako and Makoto clear across
the street. They did not harm Rei, however, for
Ranma�s dome-shaped shield, which he had continued to
grow, had swollen enough to encompass and protect her
body further physical harm.

	Then, just as the clods of earth and concrete stopped
raining down, the second round of explosions hit. They
were massive and earth shattering, the whole lot of
them, and they came in one long staccato burst. And
they accomplished exactly nothing.

***********************************************************************

	Like Betrayer, Suryan was predisposed towards an
extremely analytical nature. And like Betrayer, his
was a natural skill, which his chosen vocation as a
scout and tracker had only honed and developed to an
amazing extent. Unlike Betrayer, however, he did not
have to worry about the overall picture and thus,
could concentrate his analytical skills exclusively on
the problem at hand. When his attack bounced off the
ki shield that appeared out of nowhere, he put his
mind to work, reaching the same conclusion and
deciding upon the same course of action as Betrayer
even before the General did. His decision to hightail
turned out to be the right one on another vein, too,
for just as he turned his back to the battlefield, the
Gods attacked, wiping out most of Indiran�s command
structure and troops in the process.

	�Well, look at the bright side,� he mused to himself
as he flexed his legs and jumped off the roof, �the
bastards will provide a nice distraction with all the
noise they�re making! Who knows they might even
survive long enough that I can make good my getaway.�

	But as the ground rushed up to meet him, Suryan saw
that there might be a problem. A fool in a suit and a
cape stood blocking his path. On any other day, Suryan
would have had a good laugh or two at the silly sight,
but under the circumstances, with his life on the
line, he did not know whether he should laugh or cry.

	�Get out of my way,� he counseled his opponent in a
tense voice as he hit the roof, �or die.�

	�I�m Tuxedo Kamen and for the crime of...�

	Suryan did not allow his adversary to complete his
speech. He was pressed for time as it was without
having some buffoon dressed in stupid costume waste it
for him. He leapt at Mamoru halfway through his speech
and launched the kind of brutal, frenzied attack that
only a cornered animal can.

	Mamoru, who had little experience as a frontline
fighter, stood no chance against the attack. His
defenses might just as well have been nonexistent
because Suryan waded through them by sacrificing both
the bones of his middle left forearm to get into
Mamoru�s defenses. He sliced up at his quarry�s throat
with one of the innumerable daggers he kept secreted
upon his person. Only Mamoru�s mana-enhanced reflexes
saved him from a case of the decapitated head, but
even they were not enough to protect his carotid
artery and Tuxedo Kamen died in a geyser of blood.

	Suryan saw the light fade from his foe�s eyes and
spared a glance back at the battlefield. He could not
really see the street from his current perch, but it
did not matter. Old habits die hard, and for all his
training and quickness of mind, one thing about Suryan
was undeniable. He was a sociopath with an
insurmountable fetish for hearts. And so, even though
he knew that his life was on the line and a part of
his mind kept screaming at him to run the hell away,
he knelt down beside Mamoru. With clinical precision,
he slit the abdominal wall, tore the diaphragm and
�rescued� his victim�s heart from his chest cavity.
All in less than ten seconds. Two seconds later, he
had kicked Mamoru over the edge of the roof and was
jumping across rooftops, as fast as he could with
Mamoru�s heart safely tucked away in a pouch.

***********************************************************************

	By the time Ranma stepped out of the alley with Ryuu
at his heels, the dust had started to settle and the
sailors had begun to look after their wounded. Ami was
the first to show any overt reaction to the new
arrivals, though Indiran had long since sensed The
Dragon and his companion. Thinking that Ranma was a
threat, Ami pushed herself up from where she knelt
beside Rei to face him. Her computer vanished on its
own accord as she did and Usagi rose to stand beside
her, the defiant and deadly glint in their eyes
promising certain death to anyone who dared threaten
her friends.

	Dangerous as the situation he as walking into was,
however, Ranma did not for a moment consider turning
his back on the senshi and walking away. The same
instinct that warned him of the risks urged him to the
initiative and grab hold of the unprecedented
opportunities to be had by securing an alliance with
the Ashura and the senshi. He stopped less than
fifteen feet from the senshi and eyeballed them both
with a levelheaded stare.

	Ami made to react to the nonverbal challenge
violently. The events of the day had sent her to the
brink and entrenched her brain in a kill or be killed
mode of thought. Fortunately, before she could do
anything untoward and precipitate a battle, Indiran
moved from behind and laid a restraining hand on both
her and Usagi�s shoulders.

	�Easy, Mercury-Queen,� he whispered in a soothing
voice, �We are in the presence of friends.� As he
spoke, he maneuvered around Usagi and imposed himself
between Ranma and the girls. �I hope.�

	To Ranma, in Tamil: �Welcome, Lion of the Sky. Why
are you here?�

	The smile Ranma shot in reply was akin to a
predator�s.

	�I was in the neighborhood with my student and
thought I�d drop in and say hi. Do switch to Japanese
as this discussion involves them, too, and do keep my
identity to yourself. For now,� he replied in Tamil.

	To Serenity: �Evening, Serenity. I�m Ranma Qin and
this is my student Ryuu Saotome. We were in the
neighborhood when we heard the sound of battle. I
thought it wise to scout the area and see if there was
anything we could do to help the wounded.

	�I�m a skilled healer and I�ll be glad to help your
friends in anyway I can.�

	�You�re too kind, Milord,� Indiran acknowledged.

	�Kindness had nothing to do with it, General; only
political necessity. I�d like to negotiate a treaty
with the senshi and with you.� Pause. �You better go
and help your men rescue their trapped comrades before
the emergency services arrive. Once they do, there�s
little that I can do to help you without revealing my
identity and I�m not ready to do that just yet.�

	Indiran hesitated.

	�If you�re waiting for the Lore Master, I�d advise
you against it. He�s dead; killed in cold blood by his
companion. That one�s shed another�s blood, too,
behind that building yonder. You can hunt him down at
your leisure now. I don�t think he�s going to be much
of a problem.�

	Indiran accepted Ranma�s words at face value, to the
surprise of both the girls and Ryuu. He turned to
Usagi and gave her the smallest of bows.

	�By your leave, Your Majesty,� he said and walked off
toward the rubble without another word and without
waiting to be excused.

	Ranma turned to Usagi and Ami.

	�I�ll take care of... Sailor Mars, that�s her name,
isn�t it? Well, of course, it is. Ryuu, help the
ladies with their other two wounded.�

	�Hai, sensei.�

	�Thank you for helping us.�

	It was Usagi who looked into Ranma�s eyes and spoke.
Ranma nodded once and made to turn to Rei, but an
errant thought made him stop midway.

	�One of you might want to check on that poor sod the
other one killed yonder. I�m probably wrong, but I
think he�s a sailor.�

	Confusion flashed across Usagi�s face.

	�What do you mean? Only girls can be sailors,
unless...� she left the rest of the sentence hanging.
Her face turned pale and she muttered a half audible
excuse to her friend and hurried away in the direction
Ranma had pointed.

	Unsure about what to do, Ryuu and Ami stood as they
were.

	�You might want to get moving,� Ranma prompted.

	They did just that. Ryuu made a beeline for the
senshi closest to him � Jupiter � and Ami, who had
been heading in the same direction herself, changed
track midway towards Venus.

	Ranma watched them go bouncing off. He approached
Mars and knelt beside her. A close examination of her
wounds showed what he had suspected � Rei had a
perforated liver and spleen, both potentially
life-threatening injuries. With care, he took her
entrails, which were lying beside her on the tarmac,
in his hands and tucked them inside her abdominal
cavity.

	Once he had her intestines back where it belonged, he
placed the palm of one hand on her chest and with the
other, manipulated a handful of pressure points on the
back of her neck. His palm fluoresced as he poured ki
and mana into her body, and her wounds begun to heal.
The cuts and abrasions vanished and the long slit
across the abdomen sealed itself in a matter of
seconds without leaving so much as a scar behind.
 
	�That should take care of it,� he thought. Smiling
unto himself, he gave his patient one last cursory
examination. Satisfied, he made to rise, but before he
could, he was interrupted by a cold voice.

	�Move away from her, you bastard!�

	Ranma rose to his feet and took a step backwards. He
saw that the woman who had addressed him in so rude
and belligerent a fashion was a seriously pissed
green-haired woman with a weird looking
staff-look-alike artifact that reeked of the Gods in
one hand and a glowing mana construct on the other.
The construct was one he had never encountered before,
though he recognized it as a key of sorts. Ranma
decided he did not want to learn of its intended
purpose this side of eternity. The reasons for the ban
on temporal manipulation were very good, and only
blind fools like the one before him broke that law,
thank you!

	�If you�ll hear me out...�

	�Shut the fuck up,� Pluto said in an invective tone.
�I should�ve known you�d take their side!�

	�Huh?� Ranma�s confused expression turned serious and
inside, he was beginning to lose his temper. Was not
the woman before him one of the sailors? He was sure
she was, but if so, why was she looking and acting
pissed at him?

	Still, he tried to reason.

	�Give it a rest and stop being so paranoid, will you!
I�m not your enemy.� To Haruka, who was threatening
Ryuu with a mean-looking sword: �And you, don�t you
dare threaten my stu...�

	Ranma never got to finish the sentence. His implied
threat did not go down well with Setsuna, who had been
more inclined to shooting him from the hip than to try
and reason with him ever since the unscheduled visit
from her mentor. She threw the prepared construct at
him. And because he did not expect his �allies� to
physically attack him, Ranma was not prepared to dodge
out of the way. Still, his reflexes took over and he
brought up his hands to catch the construct, which
made his first and last mistake of the evening.

	The construct was designed to manipulate time; stop
its flow within a small area rather. It imprisoned
Ranma as soon as he touched it. For her part, Setsuna,
having taken care of the true enemy, spared a second
for Ami, who stood in the corner gawking at her and
Haruka, who had just knocked out Ryuu with a World
Shaking.

	�Stop gawking like an idiot and help Uranus and
Neptune.� To Haruka: �Kill the little bastard. Make
his death as painful and gruesome as possible to serve
as an example to anyone who�d dare molest the senshi.�

	Then, she vanished with her prisoner.

***********************************************************************

	With each step she took, the sickening feeling in the
pit of Usagi�s stomach increased and the all-consuming
sense of despair and foreboding she felt was only
amplified. By the time she turned the last corner, she
knew without a shred of doubt that Endymion was dead.
And sure enough he was.

	He lay there on the sidewalk broken and bloody with
unmoving chest. There was a gaping hole in his chest.
Something told her that she could not resurrect him
even if she tried and sure enough, the Ginzuishou did
not work its healing magic on her betrothed. Her hands
fell helplessly to her sides and Usagi choked back a
sob as she knelt beside him. Her eyes blurred and
tears fell, and she took his rapidly cooling hand in
hers to hold it against her breasts.

	�I love you,� she whispered. �Why did you leave me?�

	She remained thus, sobbing and unmoving by his side
until the sound of an explosion brought her back to
the real world. Gingerly she released his hands,
resting them on his chest and kissed him one last time
on his lips.

	�I�m sorry, Mamoru-kun, but I have to go now. Ami and
the others need me,� she apologized as she wiped her
tears and pushed herself off the ground.

	Then, clenching her fists, she turned her back on him
and walked away. The walk was easily the hardest ever
in her life, and as she forced herself to put one foot
before the other, she promised herself that she would
not fail again. She would be as strong as she needed
to be from now on and no one, not friend nor foe,
would be allowed to hurt her friends and subjects ever
again.

***********************************************************************

	Haruka heard Setsuna�s command even as she made her
way towards the thing � she was sure that it was not a
boy for no normal human could hope to survive much
less stand up after getting hit by a World Shaking.
Her brain parsed the command and with barely a nod in
Setsuna�s direction, Haruka brought up her sword and
shot the thing with another World Shaking. The blast
hit the beast head-on and sent it flying through the
air. The demon landed heavily on its head and came to
rest at a stranger�s feet where it lay battered,
bruised and unconscious. The feet belonged to a
balding middle-aged man � one she had never seen
before - and Haruka saw that he was not alone, but had
three companions with him. Curious about the sort of
people who would wander into a battle zone, Haruka
lowered her sword to knee level and addressed them.

	�Who are you? This is a battle zone. You�ll end up
putting yourselves in danger and getting hurt if you
stay. Get away from here.�

	The man � he was none other than Genma - did not turn
and flee, confirming Haruka�s gut instincts, which had
already classified the stranger as a threat. Instead,
he knelt beside the thing and checked its pulse, all
the while giving her a once-over she did not much care
for. He lifted the demon in his hands, cradling it
gingerly and handed it the mustached on beside him.

	�Soun my friend, take Ryuu with you to safety. I want
to have some words with this lady. Master, Elder...�

	�We stand by your side, Saotome,� Happousai, who
stood in a battle ready stance to Genma�s left,
replied.

	�Thank you.�

	�The honor of the school is at stake. I will not have
my heir treated so, Genma,� Happousai elaborated.

	Genma turned to Guu Long.

	�You can count me in. Ranma would wish it,� Guu Long
explained, feeding the elder Saotome a half-truth. The
Joketsuzoku were big on avenging people who had hurt
their clan or family.

	The bald martial artist nodded once and turned to
Haruka.

	�I don�t care who you are, but you have grievously
hurt my son. Give me why I should not kill you right
here and now, and you might live to see another
sunrise.�

	The threat did not go down well with Haruka. Her eyes
hardened and she spit on the ground in defiance, as
she glared at Genma.

	�If you�re his father then you deserve to die, too,
for what he did. Neptune, Saturn?�

	Genma�s eyes narrowed. He slipped into a crouch and
his eyes bored Haruka�s, daring her to make the first
move. She very nearly did, when Ami interrupted.

	�Stop!�

***********************************************************************

	Even though the arrival of the outers was expected,
their actions certainly were not. Ami was so startled
when they attacked Ranma and Ryuu that she did nothing
to stop them. By the time she overcame her mental
paralysis and made to intervene it was too late.
Setsuna had ordered Uranus to kill Ryuu and
disappeared with her prisoner, Haruka had wounded Ryuu
seriously and struck him unconscious, and the others �
presumably Ryuu�s family - had arrived on the scene
and threats exchanged.

	�Stop! What are you doing, Uranus? Stand down!� she
shouted at the blonde senshi.

	Haruka cast a quick glance at Ami without letting
Genma out of her line of sight.

	�I�m doing my job, that�s what I�m doing, if your
brain is too befuddled to realize it, Mercury. Now,
move out of my way so that I can teach �that� a lesson
it�ll never forget.�

	�No, you will not, Uranus,� Ami barked to Haruka�s
face. Turning to Genma: �Sir, are you Ryuu-san�s
father?�

	Genma did not relax. Nor did he take his eyes off
Haruka and the other outers save for a quick momentary
appraising glance he shot towards Ami.

	�Yes, I am. Am I right in assuming that you are my
son�s friend as well as theirs?�

	Ami nodded and bowed, deeply.

	�Please, accept my most profound apologies...�

	�My name is Genma Saotome.�

	�Please, accept my most profound apologies,
Saotome-san. There has been a terrible
misunderstanding.�

	�A misunderstanding, you say, Miss, which is well and
good, but your misunderstanding has sullied my clan�s
honor and that of my school. What do you propose to do
about that?�

	�The fault lies entirely in our hands, Genma-san.
I�ll do penance, as will my friends.�

	�Do you know what you�re getting yourself into,
senshi?� Happousai interjected.

	Nod.

	�And will your impetuous friend do penance, too?� Guu
Long asked, gesturing towards Haruka.

	Haruka, who was only now coming to realize that
perhaps the thing was a human teenager and that she
might have been mistaken, after all, had enough sense
to keep her lips shut. She did not relax her guard and
neither did Michiru and Saturn, however.

	�I don�t know, Elder,� Ami replied, truthfully. �I
can only promise that I will try my level best to make
her understand that she made a grave error in
judgment.�

	�Very well,� Genma concluded, �Your penance starts
tomorrow evening. You and whoever in your group is
willing will report at the Qin residence � I�m not
giving you the address. You�ll have to find it on your
own as a sign of your sincerity - tomorrow evening at
6:30 sharp. Beware of the consequences will be severe
if you do not.

	�And you,� he turned to Haruka, �be thankful your
friend came to your rescue. If she hadn�t you�d be
dead right now.�

	With that, Genma dropped out his stance. He,
Happousai and Guu Long turned on their heels and
walked away without casting so much as a look back.
The trio�s exit was silent and stealthy as their
entrance and Ami waited until they were out of earshot
before turning to Haruka to regard her with a pointed
glare. She opened her mouth to make her displeasure
known, but Indiran interrupted her before she could.

	�I trust we don�t have to worry about such a mix-up
happening again, Mercury-Queen?� he asked, walking up
unobserved from behind the outers. He had noted the
new senshi as soon as they arrived and watched their
ill-advised assault from afar, but had not interfered
for fear of complicating the mess further, which is
what would have happened in the state Ami had fallen
into. Now that the situation had settled down some, he
felt his hands were freed and he could act. �As your
ally, it is my duty to inform you that you will not
survive to reminiscence about your glorious battle
with those of their ilk. They are trained and
experienced masters in the art of war and you, though
skilled, are untrained with no experience fighting
well-trained, well-motivated, well-experienced foes.�

	Haruka turned with a hot retort on her lips and took
in Indiran�s visage. She froze at the sight of the
six-armed human look-alike figure sporting a solemn
look on his composed visage in archaic armor. The
expressions on the faces of the other outers mirrored
hers to almost the finest detail.
 
	�You aren�t human,� Michiru observed aloud, gawking
like a schoolgirl, after she regained her power of
speech.

	�That he isn�t,� Ami replied, answering in Indiran�s
stead. A very big grin pasted itself on her face as
she introduced the general to the outers. �Uranus,
Neptune, Saturn, allow me to introduce General Indiran
of the Ashuras. He is our ally.�

	�But he isn�t human...� Michiru replied.

	�So? We have never had allies other than ourselves
whom we could depend on before, Neptune, when we
needed them. Now that we have one, are you telling me
that you aren�t going to accept him just because he
isn�t human?�

	�I... This is too much...� Haruka paused for lack of
words, dropping her sword to her side as she did. She
started abruptly a moment later as a new thought
sprang in her mind. �The other one... What about the
other one?�

	�What other one? Oh, you mean...� Ami trailed off.

	�Yes, Mercury-Queen,� Indiran chuckled, �I was
wondering whether you�d forgotten about our mutual
friend altogether.�

	Horrible realization dawned in Ami�s mind. In her
anger, she had forgotten about Ranma completely.

	�Oh my God!�

	Indiran smiled to sooth her fears.

	�If you�re worried that your friend will kill him,
Mercury-Queen, worry no more, for your fears are
unfounded. Ranma is powerful; perhaps terribly so.
It�s more likely that he�ll kill her if she annoys him
badly enough.�

	�What!� Ami and the outers gasped in unison.

	�Unless of course,� Indiran continued unheeding, his
eyes furrowing in deep thought, �she�s... She wasn�t
Pluto-Queen, was she?�

	Silence.

	Indiran sighed.

	�I take it she is... Mercury-Queen, this is most
serious and is a cause for concern. We must...�

	�What�s a cause for concern, General?� a new voice
asked, interrupting Indiran.

	Ami and the outers turned about-face to face the new
arrival. Indiran simply nodded an acknowledgment and
waited patiently the few seconds it took Serenity to
navigate the rubble and join them.

	�Pluto-Queen took Ranma-san prisoner and has
vanished, Your Majesty,� he explained, leaving out the
details for Ami to elucidate. His discretion was more
of a political gesture than an attempt at expediency.
He was pissed with the outers himself, as their
actions were guaranteed to earn The Dragon�s
animosity, which neither he nor the sailors needed
right now, but he needed to build the confidence and
trust of the senshi if the alliance was to work. To
that end, even the appearance of ratting on one of
their own would be detrimental and would destroy the
rapport before it could form.

	�And Uranus here busted Ryuu up pretty bad,� Ami
added, earning her a not so grateful look from Haruka.
Ami replied with a cherubic smile. She really was
pissed at the outers and as a senshi, did not have to
worry about political intricacies. At least, not in
the way Indiran had to.

	Usagi turned to Neptune and Saturn, ignoring the
others for the moment.

	�Make yourselves useful and attend to Jupiter and
Venus.�

	Michiru and Hotaru started at the vehemence in
Usagi�s voice, but they moved to obey; much too slowly
for Usagi�s tastes, however.

	�Get a move on! Or are you simply going to stand here
and wait until they die?� she more or less snarled at
them.

	Mother and daughter quickly made themselves scarce.
Discretion was the better part of valor, their
instincts told them and they hurried away before they
caught another flamb� � a big one - which Haruka was
sure to.

	Ignoring the two outers once they were out of her
sight, Usagi turned to regard Haruka with a cold gaze
that gave Uranus a bad case of jitters.

	�Is what they said true?�

	�It was an accident.�

	Usagi held up her hand to stall Haruka before she
went any further into her explanation.

	�That�s nice,� Usagi replied in a voice that was as
cold as a Siberian winter night, �but I don�t want an
explanation.�

	�If you�ll let me explain...�

	�Hush! All I want from you is a simple yes or no. Can
you do that, Uranus?�

	Usagi�s voice was like the calm before the storm.
Even though her voice was not menacing, Haruka felt
menaced all the same and had to force herself to
refrain from taking a step back. She opened her mouth
to reply and then thought the better of it. The less
she talked, the less likely the probability that she
was going to dig herself a grave.

	Nod.

	�You�ll have no trouble answering my question then.
Is what they said true?�

	Again, the same calm, disquieting tone and again,
Haruka found herself wishing that she had chosen some
other day to put forth the wrong foot.

	�Yes.�

	Usagi smiled. Whatever it was, it was not one of good
cheer and sent Haruka�s hair standing on end in the
back of her neck.

	�Why the fuck did you assault them?� Usagi�s smile
did not whittle and she seemed cheery when she spoke,
which made the powerful words all the more eerie and
disquieting.

	Haruka took a step back at the peril � whether
intended or intended � that lurked behind Usagi�s
words. Ami gasped. Even Indiran, who had managed to
remain calm and composed so far, was taken aback.

	�Usagi,� Ami asked in a voice dripping with concern.
She knew that something horrible must have happened
while Usagi was away for the princess to act this out
of character. �What�s wrong? Why are you acting so
strangely?�

	Usagi turned to face her and as their eyes met, Ami
saw the depth of raw emotion held in check behind her
friend�s eyes. She instinctively knew what had
happened and it brought a choked sob to her throat.
Usagi continued to gaze into Ami eyes like a fawn
seeking comfort and solace in its mother, and to seek
escape from a harsh, cruel, unforgiving world until
her mask almost cracked. Quickly, she turned away,
seeming not to notice the comforting hand that Ami
placed on her shoulder.

	�Nothing,� she declared to the outside world. Her
pallor said otherwise, however. �Almost. Mamoru�s
dead, but I�m going to hunt the bastard who killed him
and torture the fucker to death.�

	Haruka staggered as if struck and Indiran had to
steady her.

	�How?�

	Usagi gazed at her coldly.

	�Does it matter?�

	�...�

	�I want the bastard found, General. Ranma-san seemed
to indicate that you might know him. Do you?�

	�He was my tracker, Your Majesty. He was scum and I
had secretly ordered surveillance on him pending
inquiry into crimes he�d committed, but it seems that
he was aware of my precautions and was prepared for
them.�

	Usagi nodded.

	�If you want an alliance between my house and your
people, General, you will capture him. Once he�s in
your custody, you will turn him over to me... I�ll
also need two of your most accomplished torturers to
ease his passage into the life beyond.�

	�It will be done, Your Majesty. By your leave...�

	Usagi turned to Haruka: �You can start explaining
your actions now.�

	�Pluto was warned that we are about to face a new
enemy,� Haruka begun. She had already decided that she
would not go into the details. In the mood that Usagi
was in, she did not think that explanations would go
well with her. �Right before we came here, she
informed us that an ancient ally - she said something
about a God � came to her at the Gates of Time and
warned her about this Ranma guy. She was told that he
was a danger to the future, Usagi, and when we came
here, we saw him kneeling over Rei. She was bleeding,
his hands were glowing and he had them on her body.
What were we supposed to think? What were we supposed
to do?�

	Usagi took a deep breath.

	�Ask questions perhaps. Not jump to conclusions.�

	�I...�

	�We will talk about this later, Haruka, in Setsuna�s
presence. You better hope that she hadn�t done
anything to him. Now, go help Neptune and Saturn.� To
Ami: �You, too. We have to get them out of here before
that,� she pointed out to the wall of flames blocking
the exits, �dies and the emergency services arrive.�

***********************************************************************

	Ranma phased into the human plane in an impressive
explosion of light high above the skies of Juuban. Not
less than three citizens recorded the burst of light
with their cameras and for years afterwards,
conspiracy theorists around the world would contend
that the terrible events which transpired in Juuban
that day were the result of an alien attack shoved
under the carpet by the government. Miraculously, if
one were speaking in the broad sense, the conspiracy
theorists were not far off the mark.

	Ranma flew through the air at dizzying speed, using
his mana to form an invisible wing of force � a
technique he had not used in a while - to control and
guide his flight. He chose one of the parks in the
outer edges of the city to land and he did away with
his wings as soon as he landed safely on the ground.
Without pause, he pulled out his mobile and punched in
an unregistered high security number, leaning on the
trunk of a very old tree as he did.

	The phone rang precisely once before someone picked
it up.

	�Hello?� the voice on the receiver�s end wheezed. It
was very old and belonged to a man.

	�I need to speak with the Emperor,� Ranma announced
to the man at the other end without preamble.

	�The Emperor is asleep, Sir. Can I take a message?�

	�Is this line secure?�

	�Yes, Sir.�

	�Wake him up. Tell him Pharaoh One is calling. Tell
him it�s very urgent.�

	The old man at the other end, a trusted caretaker who
had worked in the Emperor�s family all his life,
immediately straightened. Of all the call signs he had
been briefed on, Pharaoh One was the one with the
greatest priority. Should he ever attend a call from
Pharaoh One, the briefer had told him, he should
verify the caller�s authenticity and get the Emperor
online as soon as possible no matter what prior
engagements the Emperor might have.

	�I require your authentication, Sir.�

	�The wolf is in the den.�

	�Please, wait a moment, Sir. I will get the Emperor.�

	Just as the caretaker promised, Ranma did not have to
wait for long. The Emperor picked up the phone less
than a minute later and spoke.

	�Hello. Is that you, Ranma?�

	�Your Highness, it�s been a long while. Please,
accept my apologies for disturbing your sleep.�

	�You do not have anything to apologize for, Ranma. I
was not asleep, but in an emergency meeting with the
Prime Minister. I�m afraid Hiroshi did not tell you
the whole truth.�

	�The Premier�s there to discuss the incident in
Juuban, I suppose?� Ranma asked.

	The Emperor�s grip on the phone tightened.

	�Do you have information on it, Ranma?�

	�I have. In fact, I was there when it happened.�

	�Wait a moment, Ranma. I�ll send someone to fetch
Hideyoshi from the other room. I think he�ll want to
hear what you have to say, too.�

	�All right, Your Majesty.�

	The Emperor covered the mouthpiece with his freehand
and turned to his two guards � both elite martial
artists and trained assassins.

	�The Prime Minister is in the study. Tell him I
desire his presence and escort him here.�

	One of the agents gave a slight nod of
acknowledgment. He transmitted his orders into his
microphone to his compatriots in a whisper, two of
whom conducted the Prime Minister into the Emperor�s
presence.

	�Your Majesty?� the Prime Minister asked.

	�Ranma�s online. He was in Juuban and witnessed the
incident,� the Emperor explained. Removing his hand
from the mouthpiece, he switched on the speakerphone.
To Ranma: �The Prime Minister�s here, Ranma. What
happened?�

	�How does the day find you, Hideyoshi? How are the
wife and kids?�

	�They�re very well. Thank you, Ranma. I�m very well.
How are you?� the Prime Minister asked.

	Ranma chuckled.

	�I�m as fine as I�ve always been. The same I cannot
say for Tomoyo, though I wish to God that I could.�

	�Is she ill?� the Emperor asked, concern plain in his
voice.

	�Yes, from that incurable disease age. She�s dying.�

	�I�m sorry,� both the listeners apologized
simultaneously.

	Ranma shrugged and wiped the gleaming tears off his
eyes. His voice, however, remained steady as he spoke.

	�It�s the way of the world and there�s nothing that
we can do about it.�

	�We can but accept fate and move on,� the Prime
Minister philosophized.

	�Thank you both, Friends, but now, I think we shall
move on to what happened in Juuban today. Shall we?�

	�Yes, please. Are the Sailors involved?� the Emperor
asked. �We have several unconfirmed reports placing
them on the scene.�

	�They are, Your Majesty.�

	The Emperor sighed.

	�Let me guess. Those girls had a battle with some
demon and things spiraled out of control.�

	�I�m afraid your theory is wrong, Your Majesty,�
Ranma replied. �The senshi did meet a creature that�s
arguably extra-planar, an Ashura to be exact, but they
did not battle. Indiran � that�s the Ashura�s name �
is a General in the Ashuran army. He was negotiating
with the senshi in good faith when he and the senshi
were ambushed.�

	�Ambushed?�

	�Yes, Prime Minister.�

	�Do these Ashura have anything to do with the Ashura
of Indian legend?� the Emperor asked.

	�They have everything to do with those legends, Your
Majesty,� Ranma replied.

	It was now the Prime Minister�s turn to sigh.

	�Do we take it to imply then that the senshi have
turned?� he asked.

	He, too, was knowledgeable on Indian legends and the
picture painted by those very same legends about the
Ashuras was less than stellar. The Ashuras were
depicted as inhuman monsters comparable to the worst
of the demons in Japanese legends with an unsavory
thirst for blood and mayhem.

	�No.�

	�But the legends, Ranma...�

	�The legends are wrong, Your Majesty. I witnessed the
actions of the General with my own eyes and I vouch
for his people. If the rest of the Ashura are even
half as honorable as he is, they must be a very moral
and upright people. We can do business with them.�

	The Emperor and the Prime Minister shot uncomfortable
glances at each other. Sure, they trusted Ranma�s
judgment, but it looked like he was moving too fast
and important decisions made on the fly almost always
turn out to be ill-advised.

	�You�ve made your decision, Ranma? Isn�t it a bit too
early to make one?� the Emperor asked.

	�A war is about to be fought in our backyard, Your
Majesty. I think it�ll be wise of us to side with the
victor.�

	�Victor? War? I�m afraid you�re not making sense,
Ranma. Did the negotiations between the senshi and the
Ashura fail?�

	�The negotiations did not fail.�

	�Then... The people who ambushed the senshi and the
General. Do you have any information on them?� the
Prime Minister asked.

	�I do.�

	�Who are they?�

	�The Gods.�

	�The Gods? That�s preposterous!�

	Ranma shrugged, even though he knew the Prime
Minister could not see him.

	�It�s the truth.�

	�But why would the Gods want to ruin a chance for
peace? I don�t understand it.�

	�I know it�s difficult, Prime Minister. But that�s
the way things are.�

	�I...�

	�I�ll mail you a detailed report tomorrow morning.
For now, suffice to say the Gods are not what you�ve
been led to believe they are and neither are the
Ashuras.�

	�The Gods aren�t... Ranma, can we trust this?� the
Emperor asked.

	�We have to.�

	�But...�

	�An ancient war between the Ashuras and the Gods is
blowing out into the open, Your Majesty. The Gods�
camp is in shambles. They are badly led and there�s a
sense of panic in their camp. Their morale is low,
furthermore. They do not believe they can win this war
� one of them came to negotiate an alliance with me
not too long ago. I turned him down for reasons that
have since proven justified. The atmosphere in the
Ashuran camp is exactly the opposite. From what I
observed of Indiran � and I think I�ve observed enough
to form my own solid impression of that Ashura � he�s
a good leader, if not a great one. The one who sent
him here must be a pretty good one, too, for he sent
Indiran out when he could have sent someone else. You
don�t do that unless you are a good leader yourself.
There�s also no sense of panic in the Ashuran camp.
Indiran has that calm self-assurance that only a
victor has about him.

	�Last but not least, the Ashura abide by The Code �
an ancient set of rules that are as powerful as the
laws of nature once you swear by them � and the Gods
fight underhanded. There�s a thing in their midst that
I�m pretty sure is a demon. I�m not saying that all
Gods are demons and evil, but their ranks have been
penetrated by demons and that does not forebode well
for anyone.�

	The Emperor took a deep breath.

	�A demon? Are you sure, Ranma?� he asked.

	�As sure as I am of myself, Your Majesty. The demon
was in command of the ambush and there was a taint in
all the Gods under its command.�

	Both the Emperor and the Prime Minister sighed at
that.

	�Very well,� the Emperor said. �What do you recommend
we do?�

	�Summon the others. Set phases one and two of
contingency plan Seattle in motion.�

	�That�s...� the Prime Minister gasped.

	�I know, Prime Minister. I believe the situation is
that serious.�

	�Do it, Hideyoshi,� the Emperor ordered. To Ranma:
�What about the Sailors? What do we do about them?�

	�Increase surveillance on them, Your Majesty. I�ll
keep my eyes on them, too... Do we know their real
identities?�

	�Yes, we do. We have large files on all of them,
Ranma,� the Prime Minister replied. �They can�t make a
phone call without our knowledge.�

	�I�ll need copies of those files. Can you see to it
that I get them not later than tomorrow afternoon,
Prime Minister?�

	�It�ll be done, Ranma. What do we do about the
Chinese? They�re going to scream hell when we execute
Seattle.�

	�Let them scream all they want... Tell them politely
they can rattle their sabers all they want to preserve
face, but one false step will land them up to the neck
in trouble.�

	The Emperor and the Prime Minister looked at one
another. Ranma was really serious. He tried to stay
out of the way of the elected leaders as much as
possible � micromanaging was simply not his style �
and he never gave orders to those same leaders. They
were his two cardinal rules and he had no intention of
breaking his own rules ever, as he had told them
before. If he thought that the situation was dire
enough to give direct orders then ground reality must
be very bad indeed or they must have almost run out of
time, which was almost just as bad.

	�Very well, Ranma.�

	�Anything else, Your Majesty?�

	�No, Ranma. Good night.�

	�Good night, Friends.�

	Terminating the call, Ranma tucked the mobile into
his pocket and took to the air, the destination this
time, his home. He flew fast because he was worried
about Ryuu and arrived at his doorstep in a short
period of time. Seeing that the door was unlocked, he
let himself in and walked into the hall.

	�Where�s Ryuu?� he asked Genma. �How is he for that
matter?�

	Genma was in the middle of a discussion when Ranma
interrupted. Silence descended upon the table, and he,
Happousai and Guu Long, turned to face their host.
 
	�Ryuu�s fine. His body is riddled with bruises and he
has a concussion, but his condition is not serious,�
Happousai replied.

	�Where have you been, Ranma?� Genma asked.

	Ranma gave a nod of gratitude to the Grandmaster. To
Genma: �I ran into senshi, Saotome-sensei. One of them
is a temporal adept and she imprisoned me in a
time-cage. I tried to help Ryuu, but since I was too
lackadaisical, the senshi got me before I could give
him assistance.�

	�A temporal mage? How did you escape, Ranma?� Soun
asked.

	�I did not. I was rescued. I intend to see to it that
the women who hurt Ryuu pay for their crimes.�

	�It�s seen to, Ranma,� Genma replied, �The Sailors
will be here tomorrow evening to do penance for their
gaffe.�

	�That�s good.� Pause. �You were discussing the
senshi?�

	Four heads nodded as one.

	�I�ll go check on Ryuu and join you then. I have
something to share with all of you,� he said, heading
towards the stairs.

	The climb up the stairs was easily accomplished and
Ranma opened the door to Ryuu�s room. The young
Saotome lay asleep on his bed with a peaceful
expression on his face when Ranma entered and Ranma
checked his brother�s aura for any signs of internal
injuries. There was none and breathing a sigh of
relief, he turned to leave the room.

	�Good night, Brother. Sleep tight,� Ranma whispered
before he closed the door.

	Behind him, in the dark, Ryuu�s eyes opened wide in
surprise. He was awake and more importantly, he had
heard Ranma�s whisper.

	Ranma, for his part, walked downstairs and without a
word, seated himself between Guu Long and Happousai.

	�We can�t stay put when the damn thing is happening
right in our backyard,� Genma was saying, �My first
instinct is to hide under a table, yes, but did you
see those bodies lying on the side of the street? We
can�t call ourselves martial artists if we don�t do
something.�

	�What do you intend we do, Genma?� Soun asked. �I
want to help the people and everything, but the same
thing that happened today is going to happen again and
again. I don�t think it�s possible to have any advance
warning of these attacks and without warning, we�re
going to be too late. We�ll be in time to extract the
bodies from the mess, but what good is that going to
do?�

	Like Genma, Soun, too, had been deeply moved by the
carnage in the street and his heart ached to do
something about it. But the warrior part of him told
him that there was nothing he could do as long as he
did not have an early warning system in his hands.

	�Yes, Genma,� Happousai asked in a taunting voice at
his pupil; the same voice whenever he wanted to goad
his students into putting their ill-used brains to
use, �how do we overcome that particular obstacle?�

	Genma shrugged.

	�I don�t know. All I�m saying is we can�t stay in the
sidelines and watch this bloodshed without doing
anything. The actual implementation... I don�t have a
clue about it.�

	Genma earned a slap on the back of his skull, a box
to the left side of his head and an old, gnarled staff
to the right side for his troubles.

	�All of us want to do something about it, Ass,� Guu
Long expounded, as her staff made contact with Genma�s
rather hard head, �The point is, how are we going to
do it?�

	Genma looked embarrassed, as he rubbed his sore pate,
and Ranma snickered. When he could control his
snickers, Ranma turned to Guu Long.

	�The bad guys will always have the initiative, I�m
afraid, as long as they are the ones who attack first.
This means, of course, that there�ll be casualties if
the attack is vicious enough simply by virtue of the
fact that we�re only responding to the enemy. We�ll
have to reconcile ourselves to the fact that we can�t
save everyone, therefore. What we can control is
minimize our reaction time. Towards this goal, we can
use the police radios. If there�s an attack, alerts
will be issued. We can use them to our own purpose,�
he said.

	�We have already discussed that, Ranma, but
monitoring the police channel means that someone has
to sit beside the radio all day long. We don�t have
the manpower resources for that, remember?� Guu Long
pointed out.

	�We don�t need a man. All we need is a reliable
source of power and some special programs and we�ll be
set.�

	�You mean, we use a computer to monitor the radio
channels. I know computers are used to record traffic,
but actually interpret them... Is that possible?�
Happousai asked. He owned shares in IBM and was,
therefore, more technologically savvy than the other
three.

	Genma, Soun and Guu Long three simply stared.
Computers were as beyond them as virtue was for
Happousai.

	�It�s cutting edge, prohibited technology,
Grandmaster. You can�t find it in the regular store
shelves, but it is out there.�

	�We can get it on the black market?� Genma asked. �I
have some contacts in the black market, but I don�t
know if they can get this computer and even if they
do, it�ll cost a great deal.�

	Ranma sighed, as did Happousai.

	�We�re talking about software, Genma-sensei. We don�t
need a computer.�

	�Soft where?� Guu Long asked, her curiosity piqued.

	Ranma groaned.

	�Nevermind.�

	�Can we get it, Ranma?� Happousai asked. He had an
earnest look in his eyes.

	�I have it already, Grandmaster. It even broadcasts
spoken messages through the radio or text messages
through the mobile network if we want. What we need is
the scanning hardware. I�ll order it tonight and by
tomorrow afternoon, we�ll be all set.�

	�It�s that simple?�

	�I have some clout, Grandmaster, and for me, yes, it
is that simple.� To the others: �Can any of you see
any other problem on the horizon now that we have
crossed that obstacle?�

	�Transportation?� Soun asked. �What do we do if the
attack�s on the other side of town?�

	Ranma shrugged.

	�We don�t do anything about it... I may have a way,
but I don�t think you can use it.�

	�Why not?� Soun asked.

	�None of you have the levels of ki you need to open a
portal into a battle and come out fighting at the
other end. Who am I kidding, you will be able to
fight, but your reserves will be seriously depleted
and your endurance will be compromised. The senshi may
be able to do it, but since they are mana adepts
they�ll have to use mana to power the portal.�

	A smile blossomed on all four faces save Ranma�s.

	�There�s no problem then. We�ll hitch a ride
alongside them,� Genma announced. To Ranma, seeing the
blank expression on his face: �Have you forgotten
already? The senshi are going to be doing penance
under our supervision.�

	Ranma smiled, too.

	�Yes, I can see how that would work out for the
best.�

***********************************************************************

	Indiran stared at the fireplace, seeking an optimal
solution to his problems. There was none, he knew, but
he could not bring himself to admit it and resign
himself to reality.

	Only hours before, he had over three hundred men in
his command - almost two regiments. The men were
well-trained, well-honed and were as cohesive as any
unit he had ever seen. Now, after the disaster that
was the ambush, he had less than hundred and fifty
uninjured men � more than fifty per cent casualties, a
mind boggling statistic � his aide was KIA and most of
his officers were dead. The ones who had inherited the
units from their dead officers were good, but they did
not have enough experience under their belt to carry
out the tasks he required of them. The morale of the
men had suffered a massive blow, too; one he was not
sure they could recover from, especially with an alien
General to follow, and none of the officers who had
built and held the units together standing alive.

	The task Serenity had ordered him to do was equally
impossible. Tokyo was a big place and Japan was bigger
still, and to capture a wily adversary such as Suryan,
who had spent practically his entire life perfecting
the art of tracking and hiding tracks, he needed to
mount a massive manhunt with at least four or five
hundred men pulling the dragnet. Instead, he had a
hundred and fifty men at hand, a third of whom were
needed to stay by the wounded at all times to care for
them and provide the necessary security. Worse, the
two guides who knew the way around Tokyo were dead and
a half the survivors neither spoke nor understood
Japanese.

	�General.�

	Indiran turned his head to face the newcomer. The man
who faced him could not have been more than twenty
years old, and though he had the look of a seasoned
professional about him, it was not true. His name was
Vasu and he was the senior ranking officer among the
humans. He was a professional like all his men and
according to his file he was good quality leadership
material, though he did not have any field experience
worth mentioning under his belt. Unfortunately, the
other surviving junior officers were nearly as wet
behind the ears as Vasu, which did not leave Indiran
with a lot of choice regarding who to put in command
of the survivors.

	�Yes, Vasu?�

	�Sir, if I may offer the General some advise...�

	His eyes twinkling with amusement, Indiran nodded.

	�Sir, I know the General is having trouble with
deployment because of the shortage of men. I think
that perhaps the General should enlist the help of his
officers to draw up the orders.�

	�And the candidate you have in mind is...� �You had
better not nominate yourself, Pup. If you do, you are
not officer material.�

	�I was thinking that Master Sergeant Kathiravan would
fit in the slot nicely, Sir. He is the most
experienced veteran and he knows the men better than
we officers do.�

	It was the right answer and Indiran bestowed a smile
at his subordinate for giving it.

	�Send for him, Vasu.�
 
	�Yes, Sir.� Vasu saluted and retreated out of the
room. When he returned some minutes later, he had a
very serious and somber looking veteran, Master
Sergeant Kathiravan with him.

	�General.�

	�Sergeant,� Indiran acknowledged politely. �Please,
be seated, Gentleman,� he added, pointing with his
head to the chairs.

	The two drew up chairs and sat themselves. Indiran
ordered a guard to bring them a map of Tokyo.

	�Sergeant, I have a problem on my hands. I�m sure
that Lieutenant Vasu has briefed you a little on it,
as I�m sure you�ve deduced part of the problem
yourself. The gist is this: we don�t have enough men
to hunt Surya down and to guard this safe house. Even
if we include the walking wounded in the on duty
rooster and get them to play nurse to the seriously
wounded, we won�t be able to put more than thirty men
on the street at any given time and that is woefully
inadequate for the operation at hand. I dislike
sending the boys in, but they are all we have for the
time being and for the sake of this alliance, I�m
inclined to do it anyway. Even though I know they�ll
be risking their necks when they go snooping after
Surya. I�m thinking that I�ll pair two men together to
maximize effectiveness and increase survivability at
the cost of the area that we can cover in a given day.
I�m doing this because Surya is a past master at
ambushes. If I screw up with the teams and the boys
run into one of his ambushes, he�ll make them pay a
heavy price in blood. We don�t want that. Not now when
morale is low.

	�On a related front, Lieutenant Kathiravan has
contacted the Righteous folk back home and briefed
them on today�s rat-fuck. He managed to persuade the
command staff to send immediate reinforcements and
they are on the way. Unfortunately, they won�t be here
for another three days and we need them now. There is
also the problem of finding billets for five hundred
men and I don�t know where to start, being unfamiliar
with the terrain myself. What all this adds up to is
that I�m going to work you to death the next few days.
I need your help with the forming the teams and I want
to know whether there�ll be discipline problems or
not.�

	Vasu leaned forward on his chair.

	�Discipline will not be a problem, General Sir,� he
declared, even though he had been afraid of much the
same himself since evening. There were some things
that you just could not tell to your commander�s face.
He and the other sergeants will just have to be on
their toes and come down really hard on any scrap
before it started. �The teams are going to be tough,
but I think it can be done.�

	Indiran nodded, sensing what went unsaid. He was glad
for it, for if Vasu had complained, it would have
meant that he could not control his men.

	�How do you suggest we go about it then?� he asked.
He intended to use the problem to test the caliber of
both Vasu and Kathiravan. If they were good, they
would examine the problem from all aspects and propose
a workable solution. �If not... Well, let�s not think
about that, shall we?�

	�I�d start with using existing squad structure as
much as possible, Sir,� Vasu said, looking to Indiran
for a sign of approval. He got it and forged on. �I�d
also make sure that each team has someone who knows
Japanese on it to interface with the natives. I�d
rather not put the odd ones out together and send them
into the street, but if I had to, I�d make sure that
the boys were on friendly terms and had worked
together before.�

	�And if they dislike each other?� Indiran asked.

	�They�d better not let it interfere with their work,�
Vasu declared, strongly.

	Kathiravan nodded agreement.

	�It doesn�t matter their personal likes and dislikes,
General,� he said. �They are professionals and they�ll
damn well act like professionals.�

	�Or I�ll skin their carcasses alive,� Vasu finished.

	Indiran grunted approval. His officers might be
inexperienced, but they certainly had the basics
right, which was the best boon one could ask for.

	�Excellent. I want the two of you to work together on
forming the teams,� he said. He thought about
instructing them to get the help of the surviving
sergeants, but decided not to. Men as good as these
two did not need prompting on that front. They would
enlist all the help they needed on their own
initiative. �I want a report tomorrow morning at dawn.
Right now, I want to have a talk with the boys. See to
it that the men are assembled in the front yard in
five minutes.�

	�Yes, Sir.�

	Salute. Exit.

***********************************************************************


	It was dark. It was so dark that one could not see
one�s hand even if one waved it in front of one�s
face.
 
	An orb of brilliant white light blossomed abruptly
with a crack. It shone upon the dark of the chamber,
lighting it in a neat circle. It was centered over the
head of a resplendently dressed God of the upper
castes. The shadows on his face seemed to shift in a
sinister fashion on his ethereally beautiful face even
though the orb neither moved nor flickered. When the
light came on, he knelt on one knee with his head
bowed slightly and his right hand on his left breast.

	�Did you do it?� an ominous voice beyond the light
asked.

	The God lifted his head. The shadows shifted and
retreated and his beauty shone brighter than ever.

	�Pluto�s dead, Milord. The Council does not suspect
anything,� the God replied.

	�Good,� the voice replied. It sounded pleased. �What
about The Key and the altar? Are the preparations for
The Rite on schedule?�

	�Yes, Milord, they are.�

	�Excellent. When the time of my ascension comes, you
will be the one to carve The Key�s breast open. This
favor and boon, I bestow upon you. Now go before
Amatersu discovers that her pet�s gone missing.�

	�As you will, Milord.�

	The God rose, his face shining brightly with bliss.
He turned on his heels and walked out of the chamber.
Behind him, Betrayer stepped out of the dark and into
the light, a sinister smile on his face. Everything
was going according to plan and soon, he would reign
become The First Among All.

	The orb went out and what was light turned black
again.

***********************************************************************

Notes:

1. There are discrepancies between Rei�s visions and
what happened in the battle. This is because Rei saw
one of the possible futures � the worst case scenario,
to be exact. *shrugs* What can I say? Fire Vision
yields conservative results. ^_~

2. To all you Chibi-Usa, Mamoru and Setsuna fans out
there: I can explain and here�s my explanation: :p

3. The name Pharoah One does not mean Ranma is related
to Pharoah 90.

This chapter wouldn�t have been possible without the
help of my pre-readers and my friends. My friends
stopped me from scrapping the chapter altogether and
starting over for the umpteenth time and my
pre-readers helped me with the grammar and gave advise
which I found very useful in developing the plot
further in my mind for future plots. Thanks guys.

I�m sure many of you have questions you wanna ask me.
If you have, or if you wanna congratulate me or flame
me, please email me at arun2110@sancharnet.in



		
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