-------------------
CHAPTER NINE

	Cibiusa went on with her story. No matter how much it pained her to even
recall one second of that experience. Still, it had to be done if these
people were to understand her dilemma. How it hurt  to just tell them of the
fate suffered by her mother and friends. Ranma and the others felt an
uncontrollable urge to inflict terrible amounts of pain for those
responsible for this child's plight. However, there were two such souls
present who did not share the feelings of the majority. 
	Suddenly, without warning, Nabiki towered over the small girl, an unholy
gleam in her eyes. Chibiusa screamed. Everyone else was taken aback by what
was happening. Yuriko took this time to disable some of them; attacking
Akane and the rest who could not put up any fight. Ranma stood together with
his sister and a very surprised Ryouga who had six of his bandannas whirling
around in his hands. Mizuki also had a large katana in her. Where she got
it, he could not figure out. Women seemed to have this strange ability all
the time. 
	"Help me!" implored Chibiusa in a strained voice.
	"Chibi!" roared an enraged Ryouga. He launched himself straight at Nabiki.
	"Ryouga!" Ranma cried out to him in alarm. "Don't do anything stupid, you
moron! we can't just hurt them like we do to each other you know!"
 	Ryouga angled away from Nabiki who surprised him by firing projectiles
him.  Ryouga opened up his trusty umbrella to shield himself from the
onslaught. Six spiky things imbedded themselves on his bamboo umbrella. 
The other Tendos including a shaking Genma-panda found themselves battling a
very different Yuriko. Genma-panda tried writing his way out of trouble but
to no avail. Akane, meanwhile, had already grabbed her special mallet out of
hammerspace and charged at a smirking Yuriko. 
Yuriko stared at the charging fool with contempt. She sidestepped the strike
and easily throttled Akane into submission. Kasumi fainted from the shock
while Soun burst out crying for his daughters. Both Yuriko and Nabiki had
large teardrops at the back of their heads as they observed Soun’s
scandalous act. 
Having had enough of this comic interlude, they began advancing on the
remaining warriors.
	Ranma ground his teeth in useless rage. He could not possibly lay any hand
on the both of them for the little fact of them being his friends and guest
respectively. How must he deal with this situation wherein he could not harm
his attackers? Ryouga let loose a hail of bandannas. None of them reached
the two since Yuriko just torched them all with flame. Ryouga cursed himself
for forgetting that she was a  sorceress -- and trained to boot! 
	"Grrr! Saotome, what the heck are we going to do?!" he demanded of Ranma,
letting rip twenty more bandannas to occupy the two as he inched his way
back to friendly lines. 
	A stray fireball exploded quite near him, propelling him out into the
backyard. 
	Ranma fought an inner urge to curse. He looked around the trashed living
room. Everyone was unconscious. Akane lay sprawled beside her sister. He
hoped she was okay. Ranma's mind continued to ponder their predicament,
wondering just how they were going to beat the two. His eyes strayed towards
the inert form of the little girl. Her chest still moved -- a bit. 
	"Got any ideas on how to handle the situation, brother?" Mizuki wanted to know.
	"None that I can think of." answered Ranma. 
	"Well, I do." So saying, she launched herself on an attack run for Yuriko.
Said person smiled wickedly as she watched Mizuki race towards her, katana
held high. 
	"Die." 
	A bolt of black lightning erupted from her finger tips and struck Mizuki.
Mizuki screamed at the pain before collapsing to the ground. 
Rage blinded Ranma. He leapt towards the both of them. Both fired upon him
with multiple projectiles and flaming balls. Ranma somehow dodged them all;
delivering a vicious kick upon the both of them. Ranma crouched low and
delivered his special attack. Multiple punches  at speeds that would deliver
those blows with tremendous kinetic energy. Both of them let out twin groans
and collapsed on all fours. He was surprised to see them still conscious.
Even old Ryouga couldn’t be *THIS* tough. Clearly something was wrong with
them. 
	*Like that wasn’t obvious.* A part of his mind sneered.
Ranma’s mind quickly assessed his situation. Both women were still reeling
from the effects of his attack but appeared to be recovering from them at a
phenomenal rate. Ranma poked both women on a Shiatsu point he remembered
quite well after having been sent to Dr. Tofu countless times. Basically, it
froze the muscles of the human body temporarily. This was mostly used by the
good doctor on him whenever something more serious than a simple dislocated
joint happened.
He knew that this wasn’t going to buy him any time. But he needed to check
on someone first. Ranma quickly examined his sister. Ranma let out a sigh of
relief as he felt her pulse. She was alive. His senses warned Ranma
nanoseconds too late of oncoming trouble. He found himself flying backwards;
bursting through the walls and ending up in the kitchen where....
	CRASH! SPLASH. 
 	Rie entered the now trashed living room of the Tendo residence. She paid
no heed to the bodies lying around the house. Her eyes sought the child that
had been the cause of her downfall. She extricated the unconscious girl out
from under a pile of rubble. 
	"Hmmm...." Rei pondered her choices. Her hand lay at the child's throat,
ready to crush the life out of the pest that had eluded her for so long.
"Now, what to do with you." she drawled.
	"Argggg!!!!! Let go of her, you witch!" a voice roared from behind her.
"Bakusaitenketsu! <Blast Point Technique>"
	The ground below her exploded in a hail of splinters. Smoke was everywhere,
blinding her temporarily.  She cursed loudly at the man upon finding her
prey had eluded her grasp once more. A hand snaked out from within the cloud
of smoke and debris. She found herself tossed out into the garden. Ryouga
dashed after her, loosing a lot of his bandannas against the woman. She
shrieked in pain as Ryouga's bandannas ripped open her cloths and skin. 
	Rei crashed onto the ground, bleeding from various superficial wounds
delivered by the bandannas. But this was of no consequence to her. Her body
healed at a terrific rate. Too bad for this man though. His attack only
served to enrage her. She stood up, quite pissed and prepared to deliver a
vicious  counterattack. 
A large black flame erupted from her hands to streak towards the erring
teenager. Explosions rocked the place as her fireballs ripped through the
living room to explode somewhere within the house. 
	"Ohh… boy…!"  Ryouga yelled while thinking how much property damage this
one fight was incurring on the Tendo dojo. Mr. Tendo would not like it if he
found his residence in shambles….. 
	Then again….
	Ryouga ran full speed towards her, evading and dodging her projectiles. He
dove for it as a particularly large one streaked over him. He struck the
ground; sliding the rest of the way towards her. Quick reflexes saved him
from being skewered by her nails. He rolled to one side, then brought his
hands down hard on the ground. He used this as leverage to launch himself,
feet first, onto his opponent.
	Rei casually evaded the clumsy attack, grasping the man's feet and flung
him away. Ryouga slammed *hard* into another section of the wall, breaking
it apart. Rei looked back at house. A lone figure flew out of the house as a
large horizontal column of superheated air  propelled him towards her.  
She transported herself out of harm's way – just in case. 
Ranma, meanwhile, flew out of the house -- in female form . The blast from
the exploding gas tank delivering her on a course for the pond. Superheated
air burned its way forward; heating the pond just a bit. 
But this was enough.
Ryouga eyes were wide with shock at the explosion that tore through the
Tendo Dojo. 
"Uh-oh!" was his only comment. Somehow his mind felt it an appropriate
response. After all, what could any person say about finding a house burn?
Ranma jumped out of the heated waters of the pond to stare at the sight of
the now demolished Tendo residence. As luck would have it, the only
undamaged or less damaged area was the living room. Ranma thanked the gods
above for this small mercy. 
It was then he heard something from behind. 
	"What the he ----" Ranma could not finish his sentence as two bright globes
of black flame tried to fry him. He evaded two more projectiles, this time
coming from Nabiki and Yuriko. Both of whom were angrily making clawing
motions with their hands at him.
	"Uh-oh." Ranma said. "Damn! The Shiatsu point only froze them up for a few
minutes. How the heck did they managed that?!" 
	The imprecation was lost in a cacophony of explosions that blew Ranma a few
yards away.
	Ryouga dashed back to the scene to see Ranma trying to fend off three
opponents, all of whom moved just as fast as he is. He rushed towards Ranma,
unleashing his own projectile against one opponent.
	"Shishi Hokoudan!" cried Ryouga out. 
	He did not care who it hit. This wasn’t gonna kill anyone. For the first
time in his life, he hoped Ranma was okay. 
	A 'chi' blast took Nabiki full force, rendering her unconscious -- hopefully. 
	"Ryouga!" shouted a harried Ranma who was holding his own against the other
two pretty well. "Glad to see you're okay." 
	Ryouga smiled back and launched himself into the thick of battle. He buried
his fists upon the woman abdomen thinking this would take the fight of her
faster.  He also recognized her from Chibi's description. 
Surprisingly, the woman just absorbed his blow and delivered her own. Ryouga
slammed onto a cherry tree, causing a man-sized dent on it Ranma did his
absolute best to keep ahead of his opponents' attacks. He was severely
thankful for that training trip he had just taken. Without it, he'd had been
defeated long before.  Still, this battle was far from being in his favor.
He'd already done all he could think of against them, but it seemed like
they were hardly even fazed by his attacks. 
	"Ranma!" shouted Ryouga who was battling the now conscious Nabiki. "There
has *GOT* to be a way of putting these two down."
	"What?! How?!"
	"These people are damn strong, Ranma! We’re practically doing little more
than piss them off or stall for the inevitable." he told him while dodging
and exchanging blows. "We've tried everything -- even the most underhanded
ones for crying out loud! And they're still not down. Put aside your
inhibitions about hurting women. Particularly these types, Ranma  Right now,
they're hell bent on disposing the lot of us. If we don't do something fast,
we *are* toast!"
	"There has to be another way!" screamed Ranma to him. He did not like what
Ryouga was implying. 
	"Unless you can come up with one in two seconds...." Ryouga let the rest of
his words unfinished. Ranma; however, understood what he had meant. 
	Already, the Tendos were out and his sister's badly hurt. With only the two
of them against three inhumanely strong women hot for their blood. Ranma
dived for cover as Ryouga jumped away as a particularly nasty fireball
exploded in their midst. Ranma rolled on the grass and came up in a
defensive stance. 
He wondered why he kept finding himself embroiled in women trouble.  He
charged Yuriko who was nearest to him.  Unleashing another hail of blows, he
struck his opponent full on the stomach.  
Ranma has so little time to curse as he noted that Nabiki was hardly even
fazed by his attack. His mind alerted him to the dangers he faced should he
consider pulling his attacks. Another part of him snorted; citing that Ranma
had *not* even pulled his last attack. Both then decided to try another way.
Hopefully, this one might even get to work. 
"Mouko Takabisha!" 
Yuriko, who was a bit dazed from the pounding she received from Ranma could
not raise a shield fast enough. Ranma’s ‘chi’ attack blasted her into a more
effective state of unconsciousness.
	Ryouga was having his hands full while Ranma was taking care of his own
trouble. Nabiki tried to take off his head by a claw swipe which only raked
his shirt sleeves. It also caused a fair amount of bleeding from the deep
cut he received. He winced at the pain. 
A low animal growl ensued from his throat and charged Nabiki and the other
woman, his body surrounded by a nimbus yellow glow that flared brighter as
he came nearer like a giant bull. 
	"That’s it!" he yelled. "No more! Shishi Hokoudan!!"
A vast explosion lit the evening sky over Nerima, bathing the whole area
with bright yellow light. Everyone saw this except for a few....
A white-robed and bespectacled young man ran towards the Tendo dojo, murder
in mind. For it was tonight that he'd rid himself of the treacherous Ranma
Saotome who had enthralled his beloved Shampoo for far too long. Tonight, he
would prove his worthiness to his beloved. 
Tonight, he would prevail!
	A maniacal laugh echoed through the neighborhood, waking up disgruntled
neighbors once more. 
	"Damn it, Marsha! I told you we shouldn't have moved to this place!" a male
voice declared onto his sleeping wife. "That’s the second one this night!"
	"Arghh!! Someone stop that maniac from making too much commotion!" another
voice screamed into the night.
	"Police!"
	"First, that damned light show. Now, this! When does an old lady get her
rest in a neighborhood like this?" 
	"Darling!" a voice rang out in the night. "Come back here."
	Someone screamed as he was suddenly shocked by electricity.
	Shampoo was chasing Mousse in her bicycle, pedaling for all she's worth.
She passed by a green-haired girl electrocuting some young man. On another
street, she sees a large man bearing an equally large ax, yelling
imprecations at being disturbed while he was doing his job. 
Shampoo pedaled faster. She had to reached Ranma before stupid duck-boy ruin
her plans for Ranma. Shampoo yelped as a bump she hit caused her to careen
into a nearby wall, thereby demolishing it and other nearby walls due to her
speed. 
	"Aiyah!!!" she screamed as she demolished another wall. 

* * * * * 	

	
Ranma rubbed his eyes, trying to make them function once more. 
	"Damn!" said Ranma to no one in particular as he searched through the
crater-ridden Tendo backyard for Ryouga, "That was one heck of a powerful
Shishi Hokoudan!? And that wasn’t even using the full one at that."
	Ranma wondered what would have happened if he *DID* use the full powered
version…..
	Ranma glanced around the mess to see a blue-haired figure lying near one
section on the garden. Even from this range, he knew she was hurt bad. 
	A familiar figure emerged form the dust that was floating everywhere.
Nabiki was with him, unconscious and looked very much the same as Yuriko’s.
There was no sign of the other woman with them. He'd bet it was_ that _woman
that started it all. He glanced back of what remained of the Tendo living
room. He sighed, wondering what Mr. Tendo would do when he saw his house
practically destroyed _again.
	Ranma walked towards Ryouga wearily. His body ached from all the fighting. 
	"Any sign of the other woman?" Ryouga demanded to know.
	"Nope." Ranma told him, shaking his head tiredly. He laid the blue-haired
one on the ground beside Nabiki. Ranma surveyed the destruction.  "Not bad,
Ryouga! Not bad."
"What about the other woman?" he asked.
Ranma shrugged. " Still alive.....maybe......but right now....I'm darn
tired....to care."
	"Hahahahaha!!!" a Kodachi-like laughter startling them nearly out of their
hides -- what's left of it anyway. 
	"Fools!" she told them in a haughty voice. "Do you think to kill me with so
clumsy an attack?" 
Ranma and Ryouga look up in the moonlit night sky to see the other woman,
relatively unharmed and damn pissed. "I have lived a thousand lifetimes.
Destroyed countless lives in the name of my queen. Humbled those who dare to
rebel. Do you think that the two of you could possibly defeat -- much less,
kill me?" 
Ranma suppressed a groan. Ryouga tried not to collapse with despair.
	"What else could go wrong for us?" Ranma asked in a depressed voice. 
	"Ranma Saotome," a familiar voice screamed at him, "prepare to die!"
	Right then and now, Ranma wanted to die. But......
	A shadowed figure leapt towards the tired pair. Chains and other manner of
weapons shot out from the man's outstretched sleeved arms. Ranma dodged it
all while managing his own burden.  Ryouga, due to tiredness, could not
evade as quickly and ends up being entangled in chains and fishing
implements. This little problem caused Ryouga to drop the unconscious Nabiki
on the ground – a bit hard. Ryouga winced, his mind telling him to find a
lawyer fast! Nabiki was definitely going to file charges of negligent
conduct against him for this.
	"Mousse! You stupid duck-boy!" another familiar voice cried out in the
darkness. "You come back here!" She demanded; bursting into what's let of
the backyard  wall. "You not kill husband!"
	"Sha…. Shampoo!" Mousse uttered in surprise. He was surprised even more as
two very heavy blunt instruments of pain embedded themselves into his face.
Surprisingly, his bottle-thick glasses survived the impact. 
"OW!!" He yelped in apparent pain. Still, Mousse had a different opinion on
the matter.  
Distracted, Ryouga ripped apart the bonds that bound him. He mentally
reminded himself to trash the guy later on. But first…… 
	"Mousse! Shampoo!" shouted Ranma. "What the heck are you -----"
	Kablam!!
	SWOOOOOSSHHHHHH!!!!
	A scorching wave of heat  blasted him and the rest. Ranma did his best to
shield himself and Yuriko. The heat waved blasted him backwards and into the
pond. Ryouga was doing a lot better since he had his handy umbrella to
shield himself and Nabiki from the heat. Mousse; however, used himself as a
shield to protect his beloved Shampoo from harm.  
	The shockwave of heat ended. 
Mousse crumpled to the ground, worn out and suffering from minor – but
numerous – burns, mostly on his hands. Ryouga had to discard his umbrella as
it had been nearly charred into cinder by the heat. Ranma, having little to
protect himself, bore the heaviest damage. 
His clothes were singed and tattered in various places. Some parts of his
body were red from the heat. Clearly, he was in some pain but not enough to
put him down. The apparent reason for his condition became evident as Ryouga
noted he had shielded the unconscious form of Yuriko from the blast. Shampoo
felt rage and anger welling deep inside her. It was a feeling of intense
pain as she witnessed the obvious pain Ranma was going into. But when she
looked at Mousse, she felt the same rage she had felt when one of Prince
Toma’s men had almost killed him in battle. She gripped both of her bonbori
and charged the strange woman.
	"Shampoo kill!" She uttered an earsplitting Amazon battle cry and fought
Rei with the pure savageness that was the trademark of her people. She used
her bonbori like some form of dulled sword thrusting and slashing with it.
Shampoo smiled inwardly.
*Woman fight poorly! She non too fast! Must use to mine advantage!* she
thought as she threw one of her bonbori at her. Caught unawares by this, Rei
tumbled backwards the bonbori struck home. Rei winced at the pain in her
chest! 	Rie winced further! *Damn!* she thought angrily. *Damn bitch was
stronger than she looked!* 
Rei slowly stood up as her regenerative body took immediate care of the
broken ribs on her chest. Within seconds, the throbbing lessened to a dull
ache. She licked her lips in anticipation. 
Shampoo charged. Rage practically providing some measure of power to her.
Had Cologne been there, Shampoo thought she would disapprove.
Too late did she realize a fatal error she made. Small but immensely fatal.
She let her anger get control over her. That was not good. Frantically, the
inner Shampoo tried to repossess her mind in the hopes she could regain
control of her emotions.
It was in vain. Something was driving her like this! 
*Ranma? *
The inner mind shook her head. 
*Mousse.*
Shampoo did not believe it. Still, she wondered if it were really true. It
did not matter as long as the rage controlled her!
"Shampoo no let you live! You pay for hurt made on Mousse and Ranma!!!!" an
angry Shampoo cried out. She whipped her bonbori towards her enemy.
The woman simply caught it and crushed it into powder.
"Next." She said calmly.
That really ticked Shampoo even further. The inner Shampoo could almost see
her great grandmother waggling her stick in frustration. She may be Amazon
but that did not excuse her for not acting any better.
"Shampoo kill!" 
Shampoo once more produced two more bonbori from somewhere and attacked. She
started pounding away, hitting with fast, clean strokes. Not one hit as the
woman easily evaded those blows. Seeing her current weapon was proving
ineffective against her foe, she discarded them and unsheathes her two-edged
blade. 
The blade once belonged to her great ancestor. It was her family’s  most
treasured weapon. With the greatly lighter but deadlier sword in her hands,
she struck with practiced, deadly efficiency whom even Kunou would admire.
 Rage and anger gave her the strength and endurance to fight on. She had
never felt this angry ever since she lost to girl-type Ranma. She smiled,
welcoming the feeling. 
The inner Shampoo wailed in misery. This was not the way a Joketzusoku
warrior fought. Battles were fought with wiles as well as strength. But the
way of the warrior did not cross the path of rage. Emotions, for a warrior
in combat, was shunned aside lest it destroy or interfere. 
This was just what was happening to her. 
	Rei could not believe the speed of this woman whom was trying her best to
split her in half with her sword. She dodged; evading some of the others
that went too near. She was thoroughly enjoying herself. She had never had
so much fun before. This purple-haired demoness certainly was very
entertaining. Entertaining enough that she considered making her one of her
'pets.'
	She extended one slender arm towards the enraged Amazon warrior. Shampoo
felt her body stiffen. She snarled at the woman, mouthing vile oaths  in
Chinese. Rei smiled. She grasped Shampoo's chin, marveling at the smoothness
and suppleness of her skin. Indeed, she would make a very nice addition to
her collectibles. 
A large sphere popped around the helpless Shampoo. Her eyes blazed with fire
that burned so fiercely that any who gazed at it would have ended up as cinder. 
She smiled, almost purring.
	"Now, to deal with the others." 
	Rei glided down to what remained of the once splendid gardens of the Tendo
residence. The once beautiful gardens tended so by the daughters after their
mother died now resembled little more than a war zone. It looked so much
like that movie most people of the world had the pleasure of seeing. 
The title was Independence Day. 
Rei searched the area for the two whelp who had nearly killed her minutes
ago. Those two had to be disposed off immediately since they were a threat.
She did not like leaving people capable of even making her remember fear.
Indeed, she would deal with those two who had dared to cross her.
	"Come out, come out where ever you are." she taunted, carefully examining
the surroundings for them. "Where are they?" she mused. 
	A rustle behind her alerted her of their prescience. 
	"Here we are, monster!" one of them screamed at her.
	Ryouga unleashed a dozen more of his dispensable bandannas towards her.
Each had been strengthened by 'chi.' Like Ranma, he was surprised he could
do such a thing. Ryouga grinned ear to ear. No time like the present to be
developing new techniques. Still, this was not enough as she just batted
them away like pestering flies but it was enough for their plan...
	Ranma came out of his hiding place, unleashing numerous 'chi' projectiles.
Each baseball-sized spheres streaked towards Rei, seeking her out. Rei
barely threw a shield around herself  before they hit home. 
The shield held. 
Ranma bombarded it relentlessly; trying to get vainly through. She winced,
having had little time to strengthen the shields she had woven. 
	After the onslaught ended, Rei dropped her shields relishing thoughts of
bloody punishment for the two. Ranma was breathing rather heavily from
exertion. Rei smiled. She was not one to pass off on an opportunity. Too bad
she had to kill this one. He is definitely a handsome guy. 
	"Burning Fist!" someone from behind cried out.
	Rei whirled around too late. She screamed as she felt her body on fire. Her
mind asked itself why her lungs seemed to burn.  She was one with fire and
therefore quite immune to mundane attacks. 
But, the fire that burned within her was another matter. Every breath she
took gave her pain beyond imagining.  She composed herself, concentrating to
remove the ‘fire’ that set havoc to her lungs. There was hell to pay once
she exorcise whatever demon dwelt in her. 
	"Wasn't that the attack that causes your lungs to feel like its on fire?"
Ranma managed to ask after the shock of almost getting killed left.
 Mousse paid him little heed as he watched with interest at the woman who
stood not a few meters from them, encased in fire and with her eyes closed. 
	"You got that right!" Mousse answered grimly after a while. "She might be
immune to fire but I doubt that she's immune to fire that's inside her.
Hehehe.... Huh?!"
	"Oh, shit…" Ryouga muttered. 
	Ranma, Ryouga, and Mousse watched as the woman who stood – hovered – above
them. Ranma gulped. He stared into dark pools of hatred and evil. He
shuddered as the woman floated closer.
	Even with his visual imparity, Mousse saw the gleam of unholy madness in
her eyes. 
	*Yep, they were really in trouble now. BIG TIME!!!* he thought.
	Laughter permeated the air. Mad laughter that would have done Kodachi
proud. "Still, such a mundane attack was not enough to kill me, little
fools!" the woman told them in a low, obviously very angry tone. "Not many
people have hurt me more than you've done. For this outrage, you will be
made to pay with more than your souls!" 
	Black, ominous, blue-black flames caressed her body. Her eyes glowed red in
the dark.
	"Uh-oh!" muttered Mousse.
	"You can say that again." Ranma told  him in a hushed voice. 
	"Die!" shouted an angry Rei. "Raging Winds Inferno!" she cried out.
	Ranma and his group of three tensed; steeling themselves for an attack at
any quarter. All there senses were up to full. 
	"Get ready for anything, guys!" warned Ranma to the others clustered around
him.
	Ryouga gave a tight nod; Mousse flashed a wide grin  at him. Shampoo kept
pounding on the sphere. Everyone else was out. Ranma prayed the others would
be all right. He had a feeling things were going to be rather interesting in
a matter of seconds…
	He was right.  
	The winds came first. Shrieking like devils or banshees in the night.  It
was hot and dry, its temperature rising rapidly, becoming all too
unbearable. Ryouga cursed as he suddenly remembered his umbrella had been
totaled earlier in the fight. He would pay anything to be able to use his
umbrella right now. 
Ranma tried his best, but like the other attack this was becoming too much
even for his martial arts training to weather out. Mousse used a large fat
statue of a pig to shield himself. How he got it, it had to be some miracle.
Still, it wasn't enough as the heat rose and started melting the thing into
slag. Ryouga faired little better. 
He did not have an umbrella to speak of, after all. 
Soon after, the heat gave way to a twisting spiral of fire that encompassed
a wide area of the garden. Too wide for them to even hope of avoiding.
	"We're dead!" Ryouga helpfully informed the rest. 
	Ranma gave him a flat look. He knew Ryouga was right unless they try
something to block it with. It was time for some fancy techniques.
	"Ryouga! Mousse!" he called out to them through the shrieking howls of the
winds. "Use the most powerful attack you've got to block that thing." They
both stared at him, comprehending.
	"Hiryuu shouten-ha Revised Blizzard Strike!!" 
	" Shishi Hokoudan Spherical Blast !"
	"Final Attack: Exploder Bomb!"
	Ranma's eyes widen at this. So, he wasn't the only one with new tricks	 
	Mousse unleashed a_ very _ very _large ball <about sixteen feet in
diameter> out of his sleeves and throws it into the heart of the flaming
twister.  It exploded much like its namesake. Ranma found the time to wonder
how he managed to fit that thing under his sleeves. 
 Ryouga's attack called for him to outstretch both arms high into the sky.
He redirected all of his ‘chi’ into a tight ball cupped between his
outstretched arms. He concentrated – hard. This was the most difficult part
of the attack. He had to be careful not to loose his concentration. He felt
the sphere of ‘chi’ collapse ever so slowly onto itself while he fed more
‘chi’ into it until it glowed a harsh yellow-purple glow. This was it.
	Ryouga uttered a fierce cry as he lets loose with his attack. The small
sphere sped towards the large, fiery twister which bore ever closer to them. 
	"Here it comes!" warned Ryouga.
	Ranma stared at the flame pillar. His eyes searched for some weak point he
could use to his advantage. He found none. He sighed as his mind moved to
concentrate on his own attack. 
	This was the culmination of all his knowledge gleaned from Cologne when she
had taught him the Hiruyuu Shoten-ha and the techniques he had used against
the phoenix. 
He concentrated what little coldness the air had around him. Using a large
portion of his ‘chi,’ he made the air even colder. The temperature around
him started dropping at an alarming rate. He felt his body quiver from the
cold. Ranma ordered his body not to mind this and concentrate further to
build his attack. His eyes saw the twister slowly approaching them. 
	The air around him dropped to negative temperature. And still dropping.
Ranma felt his body grow tired as he was channeling his ‘chi’ to power his
attack. He dug deeper into himself. Into the untapped reserves of his
strength. Strength he had called on numerous times in the past. 
	The glow about him turned golden much like Ryouga when he was using the
full power of his own attack. Air began to spiral around him. Slowly gaining
speed. He waited for it to come closer before he released his attack.
	Ranma channeled what remaining ‘chi’ he had to his attack, boosting his
attack even more.
	"Here goes nothing!!"
	The glowing spiral of cold air suddenly grew outwards, forming a crude
shield for the trio of martial artists. It struck the flaming tornado,
halting it in its terrifying advance. The twister collapsed on itself while
Ranma’s attack surged towards Rei as Ranma slowly slipped into
unconsciousness; his mind wondering if he had managed to defeat her…..

* * * * *
	
	Rei smiled evilly as she saw their final gamble failed to bring them the
salvation they had hoped for.
	"Die, fools!" she shrieked at them.
	The spiral drew closer. Mousse cried out Shampoo’s name while Ryouga found
time to replay his past life. 
	*Looks like this was it.* Mousse thought sadly. He would never have found
the time to gather up his courage to challenge Shampoo once more in combat
and win her as his wife. 
	*Akane.* Ryouga thought as he looked at the fallen figure of Ranma.
*Ranma.* He smiled. Truly, he had never known a better friend/ally/enemy in
anyone other than Saotome. In a way, he truly admired him. Lucky him he
never will have the chance of ever saying something like that.
	Rei laughed as she reveled in the fear the two were strongly feeling. 
	Rei suddenly stopped laughing as a bolt of intense energy ripped apart her
attack. Rei screamed as the bolt surrounded her.
	Within the depths of her  ravaged spirit, a tired but grateful sigh was
made. At least, now, she was dead. 
	*Radler.* she thought. *Thank You…..*
	aaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!

* * * * * 


Stillness... A dreaded stillness lay across the entire battle field. The sun
was just rising to greet a new day, oblivious to the titanic struggle that
had occurred during its absence. The winds blew. Carrying with it a coldness
that chilled everyone. Ranma was on his knees now, gasping for breath. He
had revived not long ago to witness the dawn of a new day. 
A part of himself told him that he had survived. Somehow, that did nothing
to assuage the growing fear in him. These people who sought out the young
girl’s life were no pushovers.  
Mousse, meanwhile, was checking on an unconscious Shampoo while Ryouga
collected the other members of the Tendo household from the wrecked living
room and out into the backyard. He carried Chibiusa last. A tear in his face
as he laid her down the ground slowly. She was alive but barely. Mizuki no
less, Ranma noticed to his misery. 
	"What happened?" Ranma asked, dazed.
	"She happened." Was all Ryouga would say of the matter. 
	Ranma looked up to see a shadow  looming above them. Said shadow was none
other than a stunningly beautiful woman with blue-black hair who wore a
tight and form-fitting midnight blue jumpsuit. She wore a white sash which
was wrapped around her slim waist and fell down to nearly touch the ground.
A large, jeweled sword hung at her back. She wore armbands of different size
on each her two wrists. Both of which were worked in gold  and inlaid with
two large star sapphires.
	Ranma also absently noted she wore a cape around her too. 
	All in all, her getup made her very beautiful if not down right bewitching.
Ranma considered how to react since she was obviously not her to commit
added murder or mayhem at all. And her face was serene and did not have that
quality in it to make her a homicidal maniac like the mysterious woman or
possibly Kodachi. 
	At least she was an ally. He hoped.
	She stretched out her hand to help Ranma get up and walked towards his
sister who lay there, so deathly still. Ranma could hardly keep tears from
coursing down his cheeks. He watched as the woman laid one perfectly shaped
hand to his sister's chest. A blue-red began to flow from her hand to his
sister's as the woman used her 'chi' to heal his ailing sister. 
Ranma blinked. He never knew ‘chi’ could be used that way.  After minutes,
Mizuki opened her eyes painfully. Her throat parched and her body feeling
like it had been used as an electric conductor for someone's science experiment.
	The mysterious Samaritan left to tend  a badly hurt Chibiusa. She cradled
the girl  like it was her own. It was becoming apparent to Ranma's tired
mind that she somehow knew the little girl. How this could be, he did not
want to ponder with his mind still full of questions. Even if it was making
use of his brain which he never normally do under any circumstance, he cared
little. All he wanted to do right now was to take a long nap -- if that was
even possible now. 
	She repeated the same process to Chibiusa but with a subtle difference. 
	Chibiusa opened her eyes to gaze upon an unfamiliar face. She beheld the
woman's beauty as it so reminded her of her lost mother. 
	"Who..who are you?" she asked the stranger.
	"It's me, Chibi..." she replied in a soft voice. "It's Radler...."
	Chibi gasped at this answer. She groped for the only answer she knew. 
	"Jusenkyo?"
	Radler nodded in bitterness. How she hated this form but now must be
forever his own. Doomed to spend forever to be this way. 
	"You do know that you can use hot water to change you back, right?"
	"Yes.." she told Chibi in a small voice. "But still............."
	"Uncle!' Chibiusa cried out happily. "I'm so glad to see you're alive!'
	Radler could not help smile upon the child's enthusiasm to see him/her once
more. "Please, Chibi, call me Tia in this form. After all, what's the use of
having half of yourself female if you can't live with it." She tried to put
her best face in it but Chibi saw through it. She knew and fully understood
how Radler loathed this form he was trapped in. 
	"Rad.. Tia.. I'm glad you're alive. I thought you were dead when the palace
blew up!" 
	Tia gave her a smile and a pat on her head. "Think I'm really that easy to
get rid of, you little brat?" she asked jokingly.
	"No more jokes already!" protested Chibi.
	Ranma got up and gave his profound gratitude for bringing his sister back
to him. Tia answered by saying that he need not thank her. "Besides, I still
have to check on the others to see to it they're fine."
	"Strange woman." comments Mousse.
	"Shampoo think she nice person." countered Shampoo who now expressed her
true feeling for Mousse by hugging him close_ really _close. Mousse enjoyed
it thoroughly. 
	"I'm in heaven." Mousse thought.
	Ranma wondered if Shampoo had finally decided whom to actually love. His
mind gave him a negative answer. Scratch that idea!! She’d be after him
after her shock from today’s ordeal were forgotten. He was sure of that. But
for the moment, he was happy for Mousse. Perhaps one day, he’d have the
courage to truly take her on without reservation.
	It was the only way Ranma knew for Mousse to ever win Shampoo’s favor.
	Ranma gave Ryouga a questioning look. Ryouga gave it back, shrugging as he
did not know much about Chibi's former protector.
	Radler stood up to face Ranma, Ryouga and Mousse. "The three of you have
proven yourselves worthy of being Chibi's protectors. Please guard her well
for me." 
	She was about to leave when Chibiusa glomped onto her like, refusing to
remove herself off of her. Radler tried her best to remove her. Tia made  a
lot of lousy excuses about her being unable to protect her properly and that
she need others who were better at it that her. 
Finally, Chibiusa had enough of it. "NO!" she declared in a loud,
authoritative  voice very much reminiscent of Serenity. "I won't let you
leave me behind, Radler! You've been more than one of my protectors during
the years we were together. You have become the father I have lost. You took
care of me and suffered many hardships for me. You braved a lot of things
even my own mother would dare not make. She chose you for a reason, Radler.
I think you know why." 
Radler… Tia sighed. She knew just how right she was. But she kept the true
reasons to herself. Time would tell if she could ever trust it again. 
"Now, you can also be my mother." She paused, trying to find the voice to
continue. "I have lost so much and I won't loose you too, Radler.
No...Tia... Please, don't leave me. Please!"
	Radler...Tia looked back sadly at her. All that she said was true. And in a
way, Chibi had become the daughter she so wanted. She sighed knowing full
well what was to be her decision. Indeed, what the seer said to her some
time ago in that village proved true. 
She was connected to the princess. A bond that may help her in the times to
come. She was sure that the Black Queen had dark plans for her own child.
All she had to do now was to make sure it never happens. She smiled
inwardly. This body was going to be of some use after all. None of the
others knew who she was in this form. And_ that _was going to be an asset in
the times to come. Somehow, she had to ensure that Chibi reach her 'coming
of age.' If not, the world was doomed to fall under the shadow....forever.
	She acquiesced. She needed to stay. If only for her sake.
	Chibi looked around. "Auntie Rei?"
        	The woman sighed. "She's dead, Chibi. I had to kill her. I'm sorry."	
        	Chibi fought down the sorrow she felt in her heart. She wanted to
cry but wanted to remain strong. She decided to cry and hurled herself at
Tia's outstretched arms..
        	"Chibi. Chibi....."	Tia crooned softly into her ear.
	Tia felt tears stain her cheeks as well. 
	*Forgive me* she broadcasted that thought out. *Forgive me for not being
strong enough to do what you asked of me.*

==================
Radler.