Okay, a major turning point in Ranma and Akane's lives here, so I need
all the feedback I can get. Please let me know what you think of the
events that unfold here. Any and all comments welcome.
[Ranma][Fanfic] Childhood of a Modern Dynasty - Chapter 8: Throw Another
Ranma onto the Barbie
=======================================================================
Childhood of a Modern Dynasty
Chapter 8: Throw Another Ranma onto the Barbie
Ranma 1/2 characters/situations created and copyright by Rumiko
Takahashi/Shogakukan/Kitty/Fuji/Viz - Used without permission
Childhood of a Modern Dynasty series created, written, and
copyright 1998 by Jim Lazar
An ongoing series set after the end of the Ranma 1/2 manga and anime.
<Speech text in angle brackets is thought by character.>
"Speech text in double quotes is spoken as Japanese."
E-mail comments and/or criticisms to: mailto:jimlazar@earthlink.net
Make sure to check out my Modern Dynasty website for
all released CMD stories, graphics files, and other information:
http://home.earthlink.net/~jimlazar/anime/md
=======================================================================
There are some darker moments in this chapter, but they are necessary to
the overall story. Please bear with me.
=======================================================================
>From the personal journal of James Davidson:
FFML DRAFT
PLEASE DO NOT REDISTRIBUTE
July 14th, 2057
I awoke in my hotel room in San Francisco. My one night trip with
Hanaki to San Francisco was now in its fourth day. Not that I'm
complaining, mind you.
I activated my palmcard and began to go over my notes for the past
three days. Hanaki had explained the events after Ranma and Ranko split
into two separate people. This was followed with a trip to China and
then to the Australian outback to find Cologne to reverse the split.
Cologne had informed them that there was no way to recombine them into a
single person again. This news was hard on them, but not as hard as the
events that followed.
Cologne had a bottle of 'Spring of Drowned Man' water that she
offered to Akane. At first Akane was going to use it on herself so that
Cologne could split her into a man and woman for Ranko and Ranma, but
she gave it to Ranko to use instead. Akane then proposed to Ranma AND
Ranko, offering to try a three-way marriage with them.
Unfortunately, when Ranko used the water she ended up splitting
into two Rankos, since Cologne's magic that split Ranma and Ranko hadn't
stabilized yet. Akane didn't take this well and declared she couldn't
marry all three of them.
I was just trying to think how that three-way marriage might have
turned out when Hanaki came into my room with breakfast. "Morning,
honey."
I smiled. "Morning, Hana," I replied and held the tray as she slid
into bed with me. Even with separate rooms, she insisted on breakfast in
bed with me and I could never refuse her anything. "So, what do you want
to do today?"
Hanaki shrugged, then said, "Anything except work."
"Work? What work?" I said and turned off my palmcard. I kissed
Hanaki, spilling our breakfast in the process. Oh well.
-C- -M- -D-
July 16th, 2057
I awoke and looked around. "Where am I?"
Hanaki looked over from the spacejet's controls. "We're over Utah."
I wiped the sleep out of my eyes, then remembered that I was on the
spacejet. "Only Utah?"
"Well, we're only going to Disneyworld and the United States
doesn't allow orbit burns over the continent," Hanaki explained.
Disneyworld used to be known as Florida before the whole state was
made into one big amusement park. Hanaki had begged to go there instead
of heading back to Tokyo from our unplanned weeklong vacation in San
Francisco. As usual, I couldn't refuse her. Must have something to do
with the fact that I love her.
"We're almost an hour into the flight, but after we hit the Gulf of
Mexico I can do a quick burn that should get us into Disneyworld about
just over an hour from now," Hanaki explained.
"You're a very skilled pilot, Hanaki."
"Thank you, James," Hanaki said, then leaned over and kissed me.
"I'm ashamed to say it, but I was really nervous when you first
wanted to fly me to San Francisco."
"Me too," Hanaki admitted. She flashed me a smile that made my
heart skip a beat, or was that the plane hitting turbulence? Suddenly,
the later was confirmed when her smile turned to a frown as the spacejet
shook violently and started to bounce around. She snapped her eyes back
to the controls as alarms started to go off. She quickly pulled the
control stick back and then ran her other hand over the controls. The
plane felt like it was in a nosedive and spinning out of control. Mostly
because it was.
Hanaki fought the stick and tried to level us off, but couldn't.
She swore, the first time I had ever heard her swear since I've known
her. She reached up and pulled a series of thruster controls back. Then
she gave the flight stick a violent jerk to the left and then back
again. Soon the spacejet pulled out of its dive, but the engines were
obviously straining. The spacejet shook and rocked as Hanaki tried to
keep it level.
Hanaki pulled a small wireless headset on and began speaking.
"Mayday. Mayday. This is Tendo-SJ31. I am declaring a non-Buyierfei
emergency." The spacejet shuddered again and Hanaki paused to wrestle
with the controls before continuing her distress call. "We have one
ramjet dead, the other one is having trouble compensating... shit...
Satellite uplink is out. I can't tell were we are..." She fought the
control stick to keep us in a level descent, then called out, "Map:
Compute location based on last known position." The heads up holographic
map display altered from its frozen 'Satellite uplink lost' display, to
a terrain map. "Damn, that can't be right. Last known position was
thirty-six degrees North by... a hundred-ten West, Eastbound. Automated
distress beacon activated." She must be continuing to transmit, hoping
someone will hear.
Then a thought hit me. "Hanaki, my palmtop has a GPS in it."
"Turn it on... next to the jet's display," Hanaki commanded, still
fighting the controls. "I hope someone heard that on the emergency radio
band."
I pulled my palmcard out and it unfolded. I quickly instructed it
to display a terrain map of our current position and positioned its
display next to the jet's heads-up-display.
"Damn, gyros must have really gotten scrambled... the on board
systems are completely lost or else we'd be over Paris right now. Not
even Uncle Ryoga could have gotten that lost. Map: Display off." The
jet's display flickered off. "Keep your display where the other one was
and zoom in to let me find a landing spot. We're not going to make it to
an airport."
I zoomed in the image on my palmcard so she could see more detail.
It looked like we were over Southeastern Utah. Pretty rough terrain, if
I recall correctly. Then the plane shook again and began to descend
rapidly.
"Lost the other ramjet. We're a glider now. Hold on."
I pulled my straps tighter and looked out at the night sky in front
of us. Even in daylight, a landing like this would have been hard, at
night it was almost impossible. I watched, helpless, as Hanaki wrestled
with the controls. Using my palmcard's map as a guide, she seemed to be
aiming for a long flat mesa. Or she was trying to avoid hitting the side
of it. Or both. I couldn't be sure.
"Crash procedures... crash procedures..." Hanaki started to repeat.
"Huh?"
"Quiet!!" Hanaki snapped back at me, then said, "Crash
procedures... full flaps... distress beacon... fuel shut off... What am
I missing?"
I grew very worried at that point. The map display showed us only
about two thousand meters from the mesa.
Then Hanaki shouted, "Landing gear!" and slapped a control. Then
she shoved the stick forward quickly. The plane seemed to fall out from
under me, then suddenly the plane shook and vibrated as the landing gear
touched down. At least that is what I assumed; having my eyes shut
tight, I couldn't tell for sure. Suddenly, I was pushed forward
violently; my straps dug into my chest. I felt an incredible pain shoot
up my leg as it was twisted under the console.
"DEPLOY: EMERGENCY CHUTE!" Hanaki screamed to the onboard systems.
The straps dug harder into me as the jet decelerated more, which I
assume was due to the chute being deployed behind us. Finally, after I
had been able to review the past thirty-two years of my life, the plane
stopped. I opened my eyes and saw nothing but blackness outside the
window. I looked over at Hanaki and saw blood. "Hanaki! Are you okay?" I
called out, reaching over to her.
Hanaki moved when I shook her, then she muttered, "Huh? Are we
alive?"
"Yes, nice landing."
"Well, any crash landing you can walk away from..."
I winced, then said, "Or live through..."
"Huh?"
"I think I broke my leg. At least it doesn't normally bend like
that," I commented, then pointed at my leg.
"Oh my."
"Where are you hurt?"
"Huh?"
"The blood."
She wiped her forehead and looked at her fingers. "Oh, um... just a
cut on my forehead... must have hit my head," she said, then ran her
hands over the controls. "Looks like we're in one piece. If you can wait
on your leg, I really should do an inspection of the outside of the
spacejet to make sure we're not going to explode, fall off the mesa, or
both."
"Sure, I'll be okay."
Hanaki grabbed a flashlight, opened the door, and went outside.
I looked around, undid my straps, then tried to move my leg. I
winced in pain and decided that moving my leg was not a good idea. I
looked at my palmcard's holographic display and tried to find a nearby
town, road, or anything... I couldn't. We were really out in the
boonies. In this part of Utah, it'd be a miracle if anyone saw us come
down.
Hanaki came back, then reported, "Missed it by that much." She held
her fingers together about a centimeter apart.
"Missed what?"
"The edge of the mesa. Actually it's a few meters, but enough to be
a close call."
"Nice landing."
"Thanks. Let's get you on the floor back here and splint up that
leg," Hanaki said, then helped me out of the seat I was in. Soon, she
had put a splint around my leg using the medkit and gave me a couple of
aspirin for the pain. She put a small bandage on her forehead, then told
me about the spacejet's condition.
"The quad-aerodyne ramjets are actually in one piece, they may even
work. But the ignition primers are shot. Without them, we can't start
the engines. One of the landing gears is twisted, but not bad. The
satellite dish is... missing, taking part of one of the ramjet's casing
with it. That's probably what caused the failure, the dish broke off
then damaged the control systems and the primers blew out under the
strain."
"So we're not flying out of here."
"I doubt it."
"Well, according to my palmcard, we've got at least two hundred
kilometers to the nearest town. Plus about fifteen hundred meters to
climb down from the mesa," I informed Hanaki of my findings.
"With your leg that's not an option."
"You could go and bring help."
"Leave you alone? No chance of that," she insisted. She went to the
controls and ran some quick checks. She tried to raise someone on the
emergency radio again, to no avail. With the satellite uplink gone, we
were effectively desertwrecked. When she was done, she said, "Let's get
some sleep and then see what we can do in the morning. Maybe they
tracked us down and a rescue party will show up."
"Okay."
Hanaki pulled out some blankets and covered me, then she lay down
and curled up by my side. "Good night, James."
"Goodnight, Hanaki."
-C- -M- -D-
July 17th, 2057
I awoke to the throbbing pain of my broken leg. I looked around for
the aspirin bottle, but couldn't see it. "Hanaki?" I called out. Then I
looked around the cabin of the spacejet. She wasn't in here, could she
be in the lavatory? "Hanaki?"
Eventually, the outer door opened and she came in. "How are you
this morning, James?" Hanaki asked, then knelt down beside me.
I had to wait for her kiss to end before I could reply. "Fine, but
I could use some more aspirin."
"Um, I'm sorry, but I had to use it," Hanaki informed me.
"Are you okay?"
"Yes, I'm fine. I needed it to try and fix the primers."
"You can do that with aspirin?"
"According to the emergency manual you can, but it didn't work."
"Well, now what?"
"My wristtop got damaged in the crash, so I can't use its uplink to
call for help and I couldn't raise anyone on the radio again this
morning. With the spacejet's satellite uplink gone, we're on our own
unless someone saw us go down."
"I wish I brought the uplink for my palmcard, but I didn't know I'd
be leaving Tokyo. " I cursed myself for not upgrading to one of the
newer palmcards or even a wristtop system. My old 3500 only had
satellite receive capabilities without the uplink module. Lucky me, now
my editor can still send me holo-mail about wanting the book done.
Hanaki's face fell, then she said, "I'm sorry, James, I shouldn't
have dragged you out of Tokyo."
I raised my hand and touched her cheek. "Don't be sad. I couldn't
think of a more beautiful woman I'd rather be desertwreaked with," I
said, then smiled at her.
For the rest of the morning, Hanki worked on fixing what she could
on the spacejet and attempting to get the primers fixed. At my
insistence, she came in at midday to escape the desert heat. We ate some
emergency rations for lunch and, not having else to do, we talked about
what happened after the third Ranma appeared.
***********************************************************************
February 1999 - Australian Outback
The three Ranmas sat around the fire, eating breakfast. Ukyo had
taken some food to Akane, who was still in her tent. Akane refused to
even see any of the Ranmas, let alone talk to them. Occasional crying
could be heard from the tent.
"Well, looks like we blew it big time," the original Ranko said.
Ranma said, "We? You blew it. You rushed into using the 'Spring of
Drowned Man' water and ended up as two Rankos."
"I didn't see you stopping me, jerk!" the second Ranko snapped, now
dressed in a spare gi, since she had been naked after the spilt.
"Cologne never said that we should wait!" the first Ranko declared.
Ranma glanced over at the rustic hut where Cologne was. Like Akane,
Cologne hadn't come out since the second Ranko split from the first. She
was doing a good job of chastising herself for all the problems she'd
caused. "Well, enough recriminations, I guess we have to come up with a
name for the new Ranko," he suggested.
"I'm Ranko!" the new Ranko insisted.
"Let's not go over this argument again. We did the same thing when
you split from me," Ranma insisted.
"Well, okay. Ranko is a stupid name anyway," the new Ranko
reluctantly said, earning a scowl from the first Ranko. "Any ideas?"
"Barbie? " Ranma suggested and was pounded by both Rankos.
Soon a stream of suggestions came out from the three Ranmas:
"Ranki", "Ranmi," "Ranji," "Ran," "Dorothy," "Usagi," "Tenko," "Tenmi,"
"Tenji," "Senji," "Seiko," "Hanaki," "Baka," "Bakako," "Yoko,"
"Sanmako," "Sanko," "Reiko," "Sanki," "Sanmi," and "Sanji."
After considering all the choices and hitting Ranma and Ranko for
several of their more lame suggestions, the second Ranko stood up and
said, "I'm going to use Sanma."
"Sanma?"
"Why?"
"Well, 'San' for three," 'Sanma' explained.
"Why not Sanko?" Ranko suggested.
"Ko is so common," Sanma insisted, earning another scowl from
Ranko.
"Okay, it's your choice.... Sanma," Ranma agreed. "But it sounds
more like a man's name than a girl's." At least that's what Ranma always
claimed about his name while growing up. The other kids always teased
him that 'Ranma' could be a girl's name too. Ranma always hated being
teased about his unisex name, which was probably one of the reason he
hated his curse so much.
"I AM a man!" Sanma insisted, pointing at her chest.
"You know... you two have got to stop saying that and pointing at
your breasts. It looks ridiculous," Ranma suggested, earning scowls from
both Sanma and Ranko.
"Next problem: What do we do about Akane?" Ranko asked.
"We love her and we support her in anything she decides. This has
got to be rough on her."
"Yes. We should try and keep her spirits up."
"You think she really won't try a four-way marriage with us?"
"I doubt it. I could see she was having trouble with the idea of
the three-way marriage. It took all her courage to even try that."
"Yeah, another Ranma complicates things."
"Gee, sorry to be such a pain," Sanma growled.
"Oh... go mallet yourself."
-C- -M- -D-
After Akane and Ukyo spent most of the day in their tent, they
finally sat down at the fire for dinner.
"Akane, me and the other Ranmas will do anything you want us to do.
You're not alone," Ranko declared. Then she realized that that was part
of the problem, Akane had too many Ranmas on her hands to ever feel
alone.
"Yes. Sanma, Ranko, and I will do anything to make this easier on
you," Ranma said.
"Sanma?" Akane asked, confused.
"Yeah. That's the name I decided to use," Sanma informed her.
"Well, it's more original that Ranko at least," Akane mentioned.
"Hey! It's not my fault we had already used that name as a girl
before it was forced on me!" Ranko shouted.
"Calm down, Ranko. Ranko is a lovely name," Ukyo insisted.
"You can change it if you really want to," Akane mentioned.
Ranko pouted for several minutes until the door to Cologne's hut
opened and Cologne shambled out and joined them. "I'm sorry to have
caused you so much pain, children."
"It wasn't all your fault, but do you have anything else to tell us
about what your magic did to us?" Ranma asked.
"No, the split magic will stabilize in a couple months for you all.
Since I don't have any more Jusenkyo water there's no chance of more
splits. I'm pretty sure I didn't leave anything else back in the Cat
Cafe, so hopefully my mistakes are done with," Cologne said. She sighed
and dished up some rice.
"Mistakes are all a part of being human," Ukyo insisted.
"I guess," Cologne muttered, almost seeming to consider that an
insult.
After several minutes of silence, Akane awkwardly asked, "So, um,
why did the Amazons banish you?"
"Hmmm? Because of that," Cologne said, then indicated the large
black monolith with her cane. The tall monolith seemed to be darker than
the surrounding blackness. Not even the roaring campfire cast any light
on its black surface.
"What's that thing doing here anyway?" Ranko asked.
"That monolith is where the Amazon's ancient enemy, the Buyierfei,
dwell. They are a most powerful and dangerous enemy. A race of foul
demons that have existed since the beginning of time."
"Bu-yi-er-fei... disappear without a trace?" Ukyo asked, trying to
translate the Chinese word.
"Yes, child. That is one way to describe them. Many of the legends
and traditions of the Amazons started when the original Amazons fought
against the Buyierfei. For twenty thousand years, the Amazon's have
passed down tales of honor and heroism about the epic battles with the
ancient enemy. In the end, the Buyierfei and the monoliths were banished
from the face of the planet."
"Until now," Ranma suggested, ignoring Cologne's obviously
exaggerated year span for the history of the Amazons.
"Yes, it appears that the Amazon's ancient enemies have returned.
The narrow-minded fools on the Circle of Elders didn't think it
important since the monolith didn't appear in China. If the stories are
true, the Buyierfei could destroy the world."
"Are you sure this monolith is the same as the ones that the
Buyierfei dwell in?" Sanma asked.
"No, but many facts do fit what I know of the Buyierfei. Except it
doesn't seem to react to my presence the way the legends say it should.
Not even the Hiryu Shoten Ha affected it."
"The Hiryu Shoten Ha is supposed to affect THAT?" Ranma asked,
pointing to the large monolith.
"Yes, the original Amazons created that technique to combat the
Buyierfei and monoliths."
"How do you get a thing that big into a spiral?" Sanma asked.
Cologne grinned. "I'll show you tomorrow, child."
"So, what about all the people the locals say have disappeared in
this canyon?" Ukyo asked.
"Well, I haven't seen anyone since I arrived a few weeks ago so it
might just be something to scare the tourists. Of course if this is the
Buyierfei, then anyone who came into the canyon and didn't come out
again are most likely dead," Cologne said, a quiver in her voice.
-C- -M- -D-
The three Ranmas had shared a tent, constantly complaining about
the cramped quarters. Akane had breakfast ready by the time everyone
else awoke. "Good morning," she said and kissed each Ranma as they sat
down for breakfast.
"You're cheerful this morning," Sanma remarked.
"Sorry about yesterday, but I guess the shock of a third fiancee
unsettled me," Akane said.
"I know the feeling. My third fiancee took me off guard too," Ranma
commented. Akane frowned a bit.
Ukyo scowled. "Gee, thanks."
"Actually, you were number four, Ukyo," Ranko informed her.
"Four?" Ukyo asked.
"Kaori Daikoku was number three, but Akane beat her in a takeout
race and Kaori nullified that engagement.
"She gave up that easily?" Ukyo asked.
"Yup, wish the others would have," Sanma mentioned, then added,
"Err... sorry, Ukyo."
"That's okay," Ukyo sighed.
"Um, Akane, about our engagement..." Ranma muttered.
"Idiot! We said we weren't going to pressure her!" Sanma yelled.
"Sorry."
"It's okay. Can I just get used to having another Ranma around
before I decide what to do?" Akane asked.
"Okay, Akane," the three Ranmas chorused, relieved.
They ate and talked some more until Akane asked a question. "By the
way, why are you all eating my cooking without making rude comments?"
The Ranmas and Ukyo all looked at each other. "If you insist...
Gasp, I'm going to die," Ranko said and clutched her chest and fell
over, playing dead.
Ranma was the next casualty, he just said, "Ack..." before keeling
over in another direction.
Playing along, Ukyo went a little overboard and went screaming off
towards the stream while holding her mouth closed.
Sanma just said, "Actually, the breakfast was good, so there
wasn't any need to say anything bad about it."
Ranma sat back up. "Suck up."
"I'm glad you all liked it," Akane said, smiling.
"We did," all three Ranmas chorused.
-C- -M- -D-
After breakfast, Cologne and the others stood about a hundred
meters in front of the monolith. "Notice anything odd?" Cologne asked.
No one spoke, until Akane mentioned uncertainly, "There's no
shadow?"
"Correct. Light passes through it. You can't see the sun through
it, but the light does end up on the other side of it... somehow."
"Strange. So how do you get it in a spiral?" Ranma asked.
"Watch," Cologne said, then walked forward. She tapped her cane
against the monolith's surface and it instantly shifted back and to the
side a few meters, even rotating a bit. Cologne repeated the touches,
slowly forcing the monolith into a spiral pattern, then at the center of
the spiral she yelled, "Hiryu Shoten Ha!" and thrust her hands out at
the monolith. A vortex of her cold chi impacted against the hot surface
of the monolith. Dust and rocks flew everywhere. When the dust settled,
the monolith was untouched and Cologne was crouched wearily over her
cane.
The others all rushed up to her and made sure she was okay. She
waved them off. "Don't worry about me, just my age showing."
"So... it backs away from anything touching it. Well, maybe I
should try it," Ranma suggested.
"Maybe all three of us?" Ranko suggested.
"It could be dangerous," Cologne mentioned.
"It is a martial artist's duty to fight demons," Ranma declared
nobly.
"Ha! The big black monolith doesn't scare me!" Sanma declared. The
other two Ranmas joined in the ego parade.
Akane just shook her head at her headstrong fiancees, all three of
them.
-C- -M- -D-
After two aborted attempts, the three Ranmas had finally managed to
get the monolith moving in a spiral pattern using some small branches
they had found. The first attempt ended when the three Ranmas all
collided and ended up in a big pile o' Ranmas. Cologne, Akane, and Ukyo
all laughed at that sight. The second attempt ended when the monolith
almost ran over Sanma.
As they neared the center of the spiral on their third attempt,
Ranma shouted, "Get ready. On the count of three!"
"Who made you the leader?" Ranko snapped.
"Just keep in the spiral, idiot!" Akane shouted, from where the
three women watched.
"One," Ranma shouted.
"Two," Ranko shouted.
"Three," Sanma shouted.
As one, the three Ranmas thrust their arms into the hot energy that
surrounded the monolith. Their cool energy interacted with the hot
energy and quickly three vortexes of gale force wind shot out at the
monolith. The three Ranmas stood their ground and watched as their
blasts impacted against the surface of the monolith. Harmlessly.
"Why isn't it working?" Ranko shouted over the noise of the wind.
"It is... but it's not causing any damage!" Sanma yelled back.
Finally, the three Ranmas collapsed to the ground, exhausted.
"Damn, not a scratch," Sanma muttered.
"Speak for yourself," Ranma said, then wiped some blood from a
scratch he received from a flying rock.
"I meant the monolith, stupid."
Sanma got to her feet. "Well, that was a waste of time." The other
women came over and helped Ranma and Ranko to their feet, just as an
exhausted Sanma put her hand against the monolith's surface and leaned
wearily against it.
Suddenly, the monolith's surface exploded and blackness flowed over
the canyon. The blackness enclosed Ranma and the others in a featureless
black void. It seemed impossible, but the blackness caused them all to
shield their eyes as if blinded.
When the blackness receded, the monolith stood alone. There was no
sign that Ranma and the others ever were in the canyon, even their tents
and Cologne's hut had collapsed.
A few minutes later, Ryoga wandered down the canyon following the
stream. Then he noticed the large monolith. "Where the hell am I now?"
He paused for a few seconds, examined the monolith and the empty space
around it, shrugged, then continued down the canyon. "Why can't I find
my way back to Ukyo?" he muttered, a small tear rolling down his cheek.
As he left the canyon he spotted a group of kangaroos. "Where did all
these giant rats come from?"
-C- -M- -D-
After the initial blast of blackness, Akane awoke to find herself
in a world of shadows. Getting to her feet, she reached out to touch
what looked like a wall, only to have her hand pass through it. She
watched the 'wall' drift away. Even the ground seemed to be only
partially there, since her shoes sank in about a centimeter into the
soft surface as she walked. The shadows did move around her as she
walked, but it was hard to tell if she was getting anywhere since the
black and gray shadows also moved when she stood still.
Every now and then, she looked quickly to the side when she thought
she saw someone out of the corner of her eye, but nothing was ever there
when she looked.
Suddenly, she doubled over in pain as something hit her very hard
in the stomach. She looked around for her attacker, but didn't see
anything nearby.
"Ranma!" she yelled out for the millionth time. No response.
"Sanma!" she yelled out next and then yelled, "Ranko!" She repeated the
cycle again and again.
No response.
-C- -M- -D-
Ukyo awoke to find Ranko, or possibly Sanma, on top of her. "What
the heck happened?" she muttered. She rose to a sitting position and
shook the girl lying on her lap.
Ranko regained consciousness and looked up. "Ukyo? Where are we?"
"Hell."
"I doubt it," the other woman insisted, then took a good look
around. "We're probably just inside the monolith." She watched the walls
and shadows shift randomly around them and thought that Ukyo might have
been right after all.
Ukyo nodded. "Err... are you Ranko or Sanma?" she asked awkwardly.
"Huh? Oh, I'm Ranko."
Ukyo smiled, then said, "Sorry about that, but you are identical."
"Actually, I'm cuter. Have you seen any of the others?"
"Nope. I woke up just before you."
"Helloooooo!" Ranko called out.
"Ranma! Akane!" Ukyo called out as well.
Ukyo was suddenly smashed against her back and crashed into Ranko.
The two women rolled across the ground, sprang to their feet, and looked
around.
"What hit you?" Ranko asked.
"I don't know, it came from behind," Ukyo replied, then snapped her
head to the side.
"What?"
Ukyo relaxed a bit. "I don't know. I thought I saw something out of
the corner of my eye."
"Oh," Ranko muttered, then collapsed to the ground as a gash
suddenly appeared in her arm.
Ukyo ran to her side and pulled out a handkerchief she carried in
her pocket. She tied the wound up to stop the bleeding. "How did that
happen? I was looking at you and didn't see anything hit you."
"I don't know, I just suddenly felt the pain of the cut. This place
is weird. There's something we can't see attacking us."
"Why don't they attack all out?"
"I don't know. Let's just try to find the others," Ranko suggested.
Ukyo nodded, then called out, "Ranma! Akane!"
"Sanma! Cologne!"
No response.
-C- -M- -D-
Ranma awoke with a dried old prune in his lap. "Huh?" he muttered,
rubbing his head. Ranma looked around; getting a little nauseated at the
shifting shadows. He shook Cologne, but she didn't move. Worried, he
felt for a pulse. He found one. It was weak, but it was there. "Akane!
Ranko! Ukyo! Sanma!" he yelled out.
No response.
-C- -M- -D-
Sanma wanted to scream.
Sanma wanted to scream, but her body was paralyzed.
She could only look straight up at the shifting shadows that
floated where a ceiling would normally be. If not for the pull of
gravity, she wouldn't have been able to tell that she was looking up, if
you could use three-dimensional terms in a place like the one she had
found herself in.
She felt something oily sliding across her skin. She realized she
must be naked, since the something was sliding over every part of her
body.
She wanted to scream, but could not.
-C- -M- -D-
Ranma was wandering around the vicinity where he awoke. He glanced
back at Cologne to make sure she was okay, then suddenly snapped his
head to the side as he thought he saw someone out of the corner of his
eye, but it was only the shifting shadows that were everywhere. Without
warning, something hit him hard from behind. He stumbled forward and by
the time he looked around to find his attacker there was nothing there,
if there was anything there to begin with.
Shortly after, he was hit hard on his side and he went crashing to
the ground. He jumped up into a defensive posture, but couldn't see
anything around him. He felt the wound on his side and was thankful that
it didn't appear to be bleeding. Ranma was starting to get very pissed
at the place he found himself in. Then he called out again, "Akane!"
"What is 'Akane'?" a disembodied voice replied. The voice, which
was neither male nor female, seemed to come from all around Ranma and
sounded like a million different voices speaking in perfect harmony.
Startled, Ranma replied, "She's... my fiancee." He looked around
looking for the source of the voice, to no avail.
"What is 'fiancee'?" the voice asked back.
"Um, my lover. My future wife. My girlfriend," he replied, then
sighed. "My un-cute tomboy," he added longingly. <Where are you, Akane?>
"What is 'un-cute'?"
"It's a pet name for her."
"What is 'name'?"
"Err... it's what I'm called."
"Why are you here?"
"That's my question."
"Why are you here?' the voice questioned again.
"I'm not sure were here is, but I got pulled in here somehow,"
Ranma relied, then asked, "I'm assuming this is inside the monolith."
"What is 'inside'?"
Ranma was getting tired of playing twenty questions, especially
since HIS questions weren't getting answered. "Look, I don't know who
you are, but I just want to find my friends and leave. Okay?"
"What are 'friends'?"
"Um... people I care for. Are you the Buyierfei?"
"What are 'people'?'"
Ranma's anger boiled over and he shouted, "All I want to do is
leave with my friends!"
"What is 'leave'?"
"Leave this shadow world!"
"What is 'shadow'?"
"What do you want?" Ranma screamed in desperation.
"You."
Ranma recoiled, at finally getting an answer and at the implication
that the voice wanted him personally. "You're not one of my fiancees,
are you?" he asked, suddenly more worried than he was previously.
"What is 'fiancee'?"
"Didn't we cover that one already?"
"You."
"Run out of questions?"
"You must stay."
"Not on your life."
"No life. Life over. You stay."
This was confirmation enough for Ranma that the voice was not going
to be reasoned with. "Enough!" Ranma yelled. Then he cupped his hands, a
ball of chi energy formed between them, and he yelled, "Moko Takabisha!"
A wide beam of chi energy shot from the ball and sliced through the
shadows that shifted in front of him. Pieces of the shadows seemed to
drop to the ground and lay still. <The shifting shadows do have some
sort of physical form then,> Ranma commented to himself.
The blast ripped a large circular gray hole through the shifting
shadows, which the other shadows didn't reoccupy. In fact, several
immobile shadows hug suspended in midair around the edges of the blast
zone.
At a far end of the cleared area Akane popped her head up and
shouted, "Ranma!"
Ranma snapped his head around and saw Akane. "Akane! Are you
alright?"
Akane started running towards Ranma. "Yes, I'm fine. Have you seen
anyone else?" Akane asked as she neared Ranma.
"Only Cologne," Ranma said, indicating the still figure. "She's
alive, but weak." Ranma and Akane hugged. "I did have a rather
unpleasant conversation with... something."
"What?"
"Some sort of voice. Asked a lot of questions, then said it wanted
me to stay here."
"Another fiancee?" Akane asked, smirking.
"No, I think it was the Buyierfei. We have to find the others and
get out of here, fast."
Akane agreed.
Suddenly, another blast rang out and a bright beam of light
intersected Ranma's gray blast 'hole'. Soon, Ranko and Ukyo ran into the
hole and saw Ranma and Akane. "Akane!" Ranko yelled.
"Oh, thank goodness!" Akane replied, then hugged Ranko and Ukyo.
"Still one missing," Ranma mentioned, after counting himself.
"Where's Sanma?" Ranko asked.
Mentally noting that this must be Ranko, Akane shook her head and
said, "I don't know. Hopefully, we'll find her somewhere soon.
"What the..." a voice creaked.
They all looked around and saw Cologne getting to her feet.
"Are you okay, Cologne?" Ranma asked.
"I've been better. Where are we, son-in-law?" Cologne asked,
looking around.
"Inside the monolith... at least I think so," Ranma replied,
earning nods from the others.
"Oh no! We're doomed!" Cologne exclaimed.
The others looked worriedly at each other. "Why?"
"Only the ancient Amazon gods were able to escape from within a
monolith."
"Crap," Ranko muttered. The others agreed with the sentiment.
-C- -M- -D-
Sanma stood up. She was amazed at how easily it was to do that now.
It seemed like an eternity that she had been paralyzed before a bright
light flashed before her eyes and she suddenly fell to the ground.
She looked around the shadowy world she was in and tried to follow
the movements of the shadows. Their movements were so random and folded
back on themselves in impossible patterns that she grew nauseous and
vomited on the ground.
Sanma wiped her mouth off, then looked around for her clothes. She
couldn't see them anywhere and without anything else to do, she started
walking in a random direction using her vomit as a reference point to
walk in a straight line. She called out for the others, but never
received any response.
Several times, she thought she saw someone, or something, out of
the corner of her eye. By the time she looked, there was nothing to be
seen. Something had blindsided her several times, but she could never
identify her attackers. Her naked back was a mass of bruises and welts.
Blood seeped from several wounds.
She wasn't sure how long it was, but she was growing very sick of
the endless walk she was on. Long ago, she had lost sight of the mess
she made on the floor, if you could call it that. "Can anyone hear me??"
she called out in desperation.
No response.
-C- -M- -D-
The group of travelers walked down the cleared path made by Ranma's
earlier blast. At least they had a sense of getting somewhere now, even
if they didn't see anything of interest, such as a big door marked
'exit'. By this point, they all had various bruises and cuts from being
blindsided by whatever was attacking them, although nothing life
threatening yet. "Any ideas how to find Sanma?" Ranma asked.
"Another Moko Takabisha blast?" Akane suggested.
"We've tried a dozen already, it's really wearing me out." Ranko
commented, wiping her brow. Ranma nodded his understanding, as he was
getting tired too.
They walked through the tunnel, looking all around for an exit or
Sanma. Akane and Ranko were bringing up the rear when they were knocked
down. The others spun around at their cries of pain.
"What happened?" Ranma asked, helping Akane up.
"Something hit me from behind," Akane informed them. Ranko nodded.
"The Buyierfei," Cologne informed them.
"Why don't the bastards attack full out?" Ranko asked.
"The ways of the Buyierfei are mysterious, even in the days of the
Ancient Amazons they sometimes attacked in force and sometimes just
picked people off one by one," Cologne said.
"They're trying to find the weakest member of the party then," Ukyo
remarked.
"That is likely. We must all be on our guard," Cologne declared.
"How long have we've been walking?"
Akane looked at her watch and remarked, "My watch stopped... err...
its broken actually." She showed them her watch, the lens was cracked
and the hands burnt.
"Great! What else can go wrong?!" Ranma exclaimed. He was then
enveloped by a wall of flame. "Urk..." he gasped and fell over, his gi
was smoking and burnt.
Akane and Ranko rushed to Ranma's side and patted the burning parts
of his gi to put out the flames. "What the hell was that?" Akane asked,
looking around.
"Moko... Taka... bisha... blast..." Ranma gasped.
Ranko looked up and said, "He's right."
Akane caught the implication and shouted, "SANMA!!!! Where are
you?"
"Akane?" Sanma's distant voice called back.
Soon, led by Akane's voice, a naked Sanma came running down the
path cleared by her blast. Akane hugged her.
"What happened to your clothes, Sanma?" Ranko asked.
"I'm not exactly sure," Sanma said, then looked away with a pained
look.
Ranma got to his feet and looked around. "Well, at least we're all
together now," he mentioned. Noticing Sanma's nakedness, he slipped his
gi top off and handed it to Ranko.
"Thanks, big brother," Sanma said quietly, then slipped the top on.
"Okay, now that we're all together. Let's get the hell out of this
nightmare world!" Akane declared.
Everyone nodded his or her agreement. Unfortunately, they had
absolutely no idea how to do that.
"Um... how?" Ukyo asked.
"Well, the Moko Takabisha seems to burn away these nauseating
shadows," Ranko suggested.
"Yeah, but that doesn't really give us a way out," Ranma commented.
"Children, if we are inside the monolith... we will never escape.
The ancient gods were the only ones with the power to break the heart of
a monolith and escape alive," Cologne informed them all. Her shoulders
slumped and she sat down.
"Damn it, Cologne. You may have given up, but we haven't!" Ranko
screamed into Cologne's old face.
"Tell us what you know about the monoliths and the Buyierfei,"
Akane asked, a little more calmly than Ranko. Okay, a LOT more calmly.
"Yes, maybe we can find a way out," Ranma suggested.
"That knowledge is sacred to the Amazons. I have told you all I
can."
"Well... if, like you say, we can't get out of here it really
doesn't matter. Does it?" Ranma suggested.
"Very well, but you will not repeat it," Cologne declared. The
others all nodded their agreement. "The Buyierfei are shadow creatures.
They have physical forms, but only when they are dead, are not being
looked at directly, or you are in physical contact with them," Cologne
recited the ancient knowledge, passed down through thousands of years of
Amazon tradition.
"So all these pieces laying around after our blasts... are dead
Buyierfei?" Sanma asked.
Cologne nodded. "Yes, parts of them at least. The monoliths are
where the Buyierfei reside, although legend tells that they can leave
the monoliths, but only under certain conditions."
"What conditions?" Ukyo asked.
"That knowledge has been lost. The Ancient Amazon gods were able to
escape the monoliths by exposing the heart of the monoliths and
destroying them from within using the Hiryu Shoten Ha. That is why that
technique is so sacred to the Amazons."
Ranko perked up. "Well, then we can do it! We have four people who
can do the Hiryu Shoten Ha right here!"
"It's not that easy. First, we have to reveal and find the heart.
Then, according to legend, the gods entered the heart and destroyed it
from inside using the Hiryu Shoten Ha. That will destroy the monolith
and return those within to the world outside."
"So, what's the catch?" Ukyo asked, ever the pessimist.
"According to legend, only the gods could survive entering the aura
surrounding the heart. Anyone else who tried, died."
Sad looks went around the room. Then Ranma looked over to Akane and
said, "I'll do it. If I can trade my life for five, then I have to."
"No Ranma!" Akane cried and wrapped her arms around Ranma's chest.
Ranma ran his hand through Akane's hair. "Akane, I love you. I
can't let you die in this nightmare world."
"Sorry, son-in-law, but even the gods needed two Hiryu Shoten Ha
vortexes to destroy the heart."
"Well, that's what I'm here for!" Ranko insisted.
"No! Ranko!"
"And Sanma makes three!" Sanma declared. "With three we stand a
better chance of succeeding. Who knows... we may even survive to brag
about it."
"No... not all three of you! It's too dangerous!" Akane cried out,
tears flowing readily from her eyes.
"It's a long shot, but the three of them might be able to do it,"
Cologne said, thoughtfully.
"Akane, we have to try. If there's a chance of saving you, Ukyo,
and Cologne... we have to try," Ranko insisted, holding Akane's hand.
"Yes, we have to try. When have I ever given up?" Sanma asked.
"Especially when it comes to my love for you, Akane," Ranma
finished Sanma's thought.
"You are all idiots, you know," Akane muttered, tears rolling down
her cheeks.
"Yes, we know," the three Ranmas all agreed.
"Come on, let's find the heart," Cologne said.
"How?" Sanma asked.
"First, we'll need a live Buyierfei," Cologne said.
"How can we do that? We can't see them directly," Ukyo asked.
"We spread out and wait. When you think you see one shut your eyes,
jump to where you saw it, and try to grab it. Open your eyes only when
you can feel it in your grasp, if you're touching one you can see it."
"Then what?"
"We use the creature to force the heart to appear. I'll show you
when we get one."
They all spread out and waited. Suddenly, Ranko cried out and jumped
to her side. "Damn, missed it," she cursed.
Cologne called out, "Don't lose hope, it's not easy to catch
something you can't look at directly."
<She's telling US not to lose hope now?> Ranko thought.
Ukyo was the next one to make an attempt. She used her spatula to
try to hit one. She missed. The others all made a number of tries,
without catching one. Akane briefly had her hands on one, but it slipped
out of her grasp. To a casual viewer, their blind leaps and flailing
arms trying to grab a Buyierfei would have looked comical, but the six
of them were not laughing; they were fighting for their lives.
Finally, after several more attempts by her and the others, Ukyo
managed to sandwich a Buyierfei with her spatula and the spatula that
she had 'won' from the bartender. She saw a flash of something slipping
from between the spatulas and dropping to the ground. She groped around
blindly where she thought it fell and felt the slimy surface. When she
opened her eyes and saw the Buyierfei clearly for the first time she
gasped. She almost lost her grip on the creature's arms in her shock.
"I've got one!" she screamed.
"Quick, we must help her hold it down! Ranma and Ranko keep guard
in case some of the others try to attack," Cologne quickly instructed.
The others all ran over to Ukyo and helped hold down the captured
creature. They recoiled at the creature's appearance. Ranma and Ranko
stood around the group, nervously waiting for an attack.
This was the first time any of them had to examine their enemy
closely. The Buyierfei that Ukyo had captured looked like it was a glob
of oil. Vague appendages branched out from its central mass, but not in
any defined pattern. Some of the appendages were long, others short.
Each ended in different shaped tips, some sharp, some blunt, and home
had smaller 'fingers' at the end. The 'skin' of the creature was
completely black and there didn't appear to be any openings on it. There
were several folds of skin on the central body, if you could call it
skin.
"Now what?" Akane asked.
"We rip out its heart, of course," Cologne explained.
The others all gasped.
"What?" Ranma asked.
"We dig into its chest and pull the creatures heart out, then
sprinkle the Heartspice over it."
"Heartspice?" Sanma asked.
"Salt."
Everyone smiled at hearing Cologne's exotic name for salt. "Do we
have to kill it?" Akane asked.
"Yes, besides we've killed scores of them already with the tunnels
the Moko Takabisha blasts bore. It's us or them," Cologne insisted.
Everyone nodded. Cologne looked down at the wriggling creature they had
captured, and began hitting its central mass repeatedly with fast
chestnut punches. Finally, with a sickening, spongy, sucking sound her
hand passed though the creatures skin. Akane and Ukyo looked away as a
thick, black liquid gushed out of the wound. Cologne withdrew her hand
and held a pulsing mass of blackness in her hand. She pulled out a
little bag from her robe and sprinkled some salt over the 'heart'.
Within a second, the heart and the creature shriveled up then turned to
dust.
"Well, that was the most disgusting thing I've ever seen," Sanma
commented.
"Not as disgusting as the time we kissed Ranma," Ranko suggested.
"No, not that disgusting," Sanma agreed, smiling.
"Hey!" Ranma shouted.
"Now what?" Akane asked, wiping the dust off her hands. It almost
felt like blood to her.
"We wait, within a few minutes the heart of the monolith should be
revealed," Cologne informed them.
They waited for a few minutes, and then Ranko noticed something.
"Look, there are fewer shadows shifting around us."
Ukyo looked around, then said, "You're right." The black shadows
were disappearing, to be replaced by a gray background.
"So all of the black shifting shadows were those creatures?" Sanma
asked.
"Yes," Cologne confirmed Sanma's speculation. Suddenly, Cologne
pointed and then shouted, "Look! There is the heart of the monolith!"
The others looked in the direction that Cologne had indicated. They
gasped. In this world of black and gray hung a pulsing light that
shifted through all the colors of the rainbow.
"Wow, it's beautiful," Akane mentioned.
"Don't be misled. That is what we must destroy if we ever want to
leave this place," Cologne insisted.
"Let's go," Ranma said, then started walking towards the light. The
others followed him.
-C- -M- -D-
After a very long walk, they all stood about a hundred meters from
the pulsing light, shielding their eyes against the glare. With the
shadows mostly gone, they could actually judge distances now. "So, now
what?" Ranma asked.
"We go in and use the Hiryu Shoten Ha on the heart. We don't even
have to worry about the spiral, the heart always moves in a spiral
pattern... just build up our cool energy and force it into the hot chi
generated by the heart," Cologne explained.
"That thing is generating chi?" Ranma asked.
"Yes, the Buyierfei feed off chi energy. Are you ready?" Cologne
asked. All the Ranmas nodded and turned towards the heart. Cologne
walked up behind Ranma and delivered a blow to his head with her staff.
Ranma crumpled to the ground, unconscious.
Akane snapped into a battle stance and screamed, "What are you
doing, Cologne?!?"
"Three of us will be enough," Cologne replied.
"YOU'RE going with us?" Sanma asked.
"Yes. At least one of the Ranmas must survive, I owe you all that
much."
Sanma and Ranko nodded in agreement. They turned and started to
walk towards the heart, then stopped. They ran back to Akane. "Akane, I
love you. We all do," Ranko said. She pulled Akane into a hug and kissed
her, deeply.
Sanma waited for Ranko to finish. Finally after a couple minutes,
she snapped, "Okay, break it up!" Ranko broke the kiss. "Akane, I'll
come back if I can. Cologne might be ready to die... but we aren't,"
Sanma said, then took her time in kissing Akane until Ranko broke them
up.
Akane held Ranko and Sanma's hands for a few seconds as they walked
towards the heart. When she felt their fingers leave hers she fell to
the ground and wrapped her arms around the unconscious Ranma.
Ukyo knelt down next to her, and held her tight.
"Don't worry, Akane. They'll come back," Ukyo insisted, as she
watched Ranko, Sanma, and Cologne walk towards the pulsing light that
was the monolith's heart. <I hope.>
Wiping away a tear, Akane suggested, "Maybe this is their destiny.
To be born to destroy the monolith."
"I once thought my destiny was to marry Ranma, but that's not going
to happen. You make your own destiny with your actions," Ukyo said.
"Thanks, Ukyo. For being my friend."
Ukyo hugged Akane tighter, then said, "No, thank you for being my
friend after all I've done to you and Ranma."
Akane and Ukyo gasped as the saw Ranko, Sanma, and Cologne
disappear into the aura surrounding the heart. For several minutes
nothing happened, but then without warning the light of the heart
stopped cycling through different colors and brightened to a dark
crimson. Shortly after, it started cycling through different colors once
again.
"What was that?" Akane asked. Ukyo just shrugged her shoulders.
They started to get very worried as several more minutes passed without
out anything happening, but then suddenly the light of the heart went
out and they found themselves in darkness. They clung tightly to each
other and to the unconscious Ranma.
Then the blast hit. It felt as if their skin was being peeled
slowly away from their bones. They wanted to scream, but they couldn't.
They wanted to hold onto each other, but they couldn't. They wanted to
live, but...
Suddenly, the blast reversed direction and they felt pressure from
the opposite direction. Then they felt... nothing. No pressure. No
sound. No light. No weight. Nothing.
-C- -M- -D-
Akane opened her eyes, then shut them right away. The blinding
glare of the sun made her miss the darkness. Slowly, she opened her eyes
again. She rose to a sitting position and looked around. She was back in
the canyon they started from, except everything except the sky was
blacker than night, including herself. She rubbed her hands and saw a
fine black powder fall off.
Akane got to her feet and looked around. The monolith was gone and
the area where it stood had become a deep blast crater. Charred rubble
was scattered all over the canyon floor; there was no sign of their camp
or Cologne's hut. It was hard to tell, but the stream that ran down the
canyon seemed to have crystallized. One of the canyon walls had
collapsed from the force of the blast.
She looked around for the others, then broke into a run when she
saw a body lying nearby. Turning it over, she checked for a pulse. She
found one. "Ukyo's okay then. Ranma?" she muttered, looking around for
Ranma. She raced over to another crumpled figure, which was covered in
the same black dust that covered everything else in the canyon.
Before she got there, the figure rose to a sitting position and
screamed. "What the hell happened?'
"Ranma!" Akane exclaimed, then wrapped her dirty arms around him.
"Akane? What happened?" Ranma asked, wiping some black dust off
Akane's face.
"Cologne knocked you out and took your place," Akane replied.
"Where are the others?"
"Ukyo's okay. The others..."
Akane helped Ranma to his feet and they looked around for the three
who apparently had destroyed the monolith's heart. A search of the area
around the blast site found no traces of the other Ranmas or Cologne.
"They didn't escape with us..." Akane muttered, her body shaking.
"We'll keep looking," Ranma insisted.
"Why?" Akane muttered, then collapsed into Ranma's arms and started
crying.
Ranma caught her and held her tightly. "Why what, Akane?" Ranma
asked gently.
"Why do so many have to die for our love?" Akane said, between
sobs.
Ranma had no answer.
-C- -M- -D-
From on top of one of the canyon walls, a naked man looked down at
Ranma, Akane, and Ukyo. His skin looked as pale as a newborn's. Faint
gray shadows drifted in his pure black eyes. After he blinked a few
times, his eyes changed into normal human eyes with dark blue irises. If
you looked closely at the pupils, you could see the same faint shadows
that covered the whole eyes moments ago.
He examined the three figures below and burned with rage. He had
hoped to get so much more from them, but they appeared to know more than
anyone in this era had any right to. "The bitches all died when they
sealed the master portal. Who else could know of us?" the man wondered
aloud using Ranma's voice. Since he looked exactly like Ranma, pigtail
and all, this would not have surprised anyone who heard him, but the
only things nearby were the long shadows cast by the setting sun.
He glanced at some of those shadows to his left and commanded,
"Follow. Report all." The shadows he looked at moved off along the
ground of their own accord and slithered down towards the canyon floor.
As he looked over to his right, the man's skin turned black and his
muscular body shrank into the body of a small, well-endowed woman. Her
skin slowly returned to its former pale color. Except for her black
hair, she looked identical to Ranko and Sanma. "Follow. We must prepare
the third portal," she said to no one in particular. She walked away
into the sunset and was followed by vague shadows that crept across the
ground behind her.
***********************************************************************
>From the personal diary of Hanaki Ono:
July 17th, 2057
After I finished telling James about my aunt's first battle with
the Buyierfei, I looked over at him and noticed that he was asleep. I
smiled and ran my hands through his hair. I switched off his palmcard
and then lay down beside him.
As I tried to get some rest, I thought about his leg and hoped
that it wasn't infected. I had noticed the large dark bruise when I had
set it and, even with my limited medical knowledge, it looked like
internal bleeding. I wished now that I'd take my grandmother's first aid
training more seriously.
When the sun finally set, I went outside to do some more repairs.
There was one way to start the ramjets without the primers, but it was
risky. I hoped that a rescue party would find us before I had to resort
to plunging the spacejet off the side of the mesa to get the engines
started.
FFML DRAFT
PLEASE DO NOT REDISTRIBUTE
[End - Chapter 8]
Coming soon: Chapter 9: A Sad Homecoming
=======================================================================
The real author's (Jim Lazar) notes/ramblings:
Buyierfei is pronounced: Bu-yi-er-fei You can also access a WAV file of
the pronunciation on my Modern Dynasty website at:
http://home.earthlink.net/~jimlazar/anime/index/cmd_buyierfei.wav
Please bear with me. Things are rough for Ranma and Akane for the next
few chapters, but things will get better for them. Promise.
The spacejet crash was originally written as a side story, but I found
that it presented some good places for Hanaki to tell more stories about
her family. So, it has been split up as the intro/ending segments in
this and the next few chapters. Also, the main story in this chapter
turned out smaller than I anticipated, so it helped flesh it out
somewhat.
The idea for the spacejet crashing came when I was vacationing in
Canyonlands National Park. The breathtaking vistas and calmness of the
places I camped (with my laptop) inspired me. Of course, the actual
crash site is not in the park. It would be hard to miss a jet landing in
a National Park, maybe. The surrounding area has many remote locations
that could provide the locations described in James and Hanaki's story.
This chapter partially written on location in Canyonlands National Park,
Utah, USA. Revised elsewhere.
I'd like to thank various FFML members and my pre-readers: David
Johnson, Arnold Callwood, and Ryan Erik. Of course in the end, any
mistakes and botched characters are my fault.
Revision 0.0 - Rough drafts (June 14, 1998-spacejet crash and July 2,
1998-Buyierfei battle)
Revision 0.1 - Combined draft (July 10, 1998)
Revision 0.3 - Pre-reader draft (October 31, 1998)
Revision 0.4 - FFML draft (November 12, 1998, 1998)
-=-
Jim Lazar
E-Mail - mailto:jimlazar@earthlink.net
Home - http://home.earthlink.net/~jimlazar
FanFiction - http://home.earthlink.net/~jimlazar/anime
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Kasumi found her father cradling her mother in his arms. He
had run out of tears to shed long ago, but the expression on his face
told the story. Kasumi calmly slid the door closed and knelt down
facing her father and mother, tears started flowing from her eyes.
After several minutes of silence, Soun asked with a scratchy
voice, "Kasumi dear. Will you please say goodbye to your mother and
then go get Mr. Saotome?" He didn't look up at his daughter once.
"Of course, Father," Kasumi said. She stood up, took one of her
mother's hands in hers, and said a soft, "Goodbye, Mother. I'll keep
my promise."
Ranma-ototo: Please Save My Family - Part 2
3rd place, Aug 1998 Mini-Series, Best of Ranma Fanfiction Awards