Well, here's Chapter 4 of Desert Moon ( maybe due for a 
name change), ready and waiting. I'll have it up on
my website in a couple of hours, in case you even
go there. By the way, I would like to apologize,
for the past couple of days, the link to Chapter 2
sent you to Chapter 3, instead.

BTW, anyone figure out where the chapter names come
from yet?

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


Standard Disclaimer: All characters appearing in this 
fic are the property of their respective creators. 
Please don't sue me, I have no money.

                      Desert Moon
                A Ranma 1/2 Fanfiction
                 By Valandar the Red


                     Chapter Four
                       Cold War

     Khu Lon paced around her tiny hut. Preparations had 
already been made for the potential attack, but she knew that
they would not stand for long against an overwhelming force
with advanced technology. Yes, their best archers could get
off forty-five arrows in half a minute...but machineguns
could fire at nearly ten times that rate, and would go through
their armor like it wasn't there. The Splitting Cat Hairs
technique was useless against Infrared optics systems, and
most of the rest of their techniques required them to get
too close for comfort. Only a rare few amazons had the total
mastery of their chi to project it, as her old students Ranma
and Ryouga did, and it was an emotionally draining thing to
do, in the first place. If they brought tanks... they were
done for.
     Right now, their only hope seemed to be Xian Pu and Mu-
Tsu, and the possibility that they brought their friends with
them. That group represented the greatest martial artists 
alive, as she had begun to enter her own decline. If relations
with the Musk and Phoenix Mountain were not so strained, to
put it mildly, she could call on them. But, no, they had been
enemies for far too long to ever ally against even outsiders.
     Shen Kuei had taken a group of those miners with the
Breaking Point technique out to hunt down other possible
intruders, and had found the team spying on Phoenix mountain.
These put up no more fight than the others, and were...dealt
with. Khu Lon strongly suspected that another team of two were
spying this very minute on the Musk. However, she also 
strongly suspected that they, two, had been found, and Prince
Herb had dealt with them as harshly as he would have, had they
been amazons.
     A young guard entered the High Matriarch's hut slowly,
but the fact that she was out of breath showed she had been
sprinting to get there. "Most worthy High Matriarch, Elder
Xian Pu has been spotted with her husband, and four outsiders!
They approach from the East!"
     Four? Ah, yes, she considered, the okonomiyaki chef. Yes,
she, too, was a worthy warrior. She picked up her staff, and
hopped out, the guard following closely behind.
     Dawn's first glow was shining behind the six forms, an
appropriately dramatic gesture. She could make out Xian Pu's
shapely silhouette, with tall and slender Mu-Tsu beside her. 
Next to him was a shape, just as tall, but far more stocky. 
Likely, that was Ryouga. The large squirt shape breaking up
the outline of the one beside him had to be Ukyou, with her
immense Battle Spatula, and the woman next to her had to be 
Akane. The final shadow, to the far right from her vantage
point, could only be Ranma. Even from here, she could feel
the auras of the six warriors, and it gave her hope for her
village for the first time since Shen Kuei's report.
     "Welcome back, Elder Xian Pu, and Honored Mu-Tsu," she
began in Japanese, for the sake of the visitors. "Saotome 
Ranma, Saotome Akane, Hibiki Ryouga, and... Kuonji Ukyou?"
     She nodded. "I haven't married."
     "Well, then. I want to start by welcoming Kuonji Ukyou and
Saotome Akane to Jokusetsu. You have never been here before,
though by now you know our ways better than any other outsider.
Saotome Ranma and Hibiki Ryouga, it has been ten long years
since you graced us with your presence. We welcome you back,
but I would desire that it did not take dire times for our
tribe to bring you." Khu Lon bowed slightly, a type of bow the
Amazons would recognize as a teacher welcoming wayward 
students.
     Turning to face the rest of the village, she spoke out in
a much stronger voice, and in Chinese, "Many of you know the
ones known as Saotome Ranma, and Hibiki Ryouga. The same
conditions that applied to them ten years ago still apply. In
addition, Saotome Akane, Ranma's wife, and Kuonji Ukyou, their
friend and ally, are to be treated as though they were, for a
short time, amazons. That means that no kiss of death shall be
afforded them for defeats in sparring, should we find the time
for such. And no challenging Saotome Akane for the hand of her
husband. He is was that defeated me not once, but five times.
You would not succeed."
"Well," she said, turning back to her visitors, "don't you
have anything to say to an old woman who has asked for your 
help?"
     Ranma spoke up first. "Yeah, it's great to see you, old 
ghoul. OW!"
     Akane removed her elbow from Ranma's side. "Like Ranma
bungled in saying, it's a pleasure to see you, Honored One.
Especially since you aren't using one trick or another to take
away my Ranchan."
     "Amen to that, Aka-chan," added Ukyou.
     Ryouga responded in Chinese. Of the four visitors, he was
the only one who had mastered the difficult language. "High
matriarch, it is an honor to once more be welcome in your
village. May we crush our enemies together, so they may never
rise again."
     Several amazons grunted their agreement, and Khu Lon 
glared at them. "Excellent, Ryouga. With your help, we shall do
just that. We do not have time for a proper welcome, but we
can at least prepare a hut for you to stay in. Come with me."
     Shampoo immediately fell into the role of an Elder, and
took up a stately pace beside Khu Lon. Mousse flanked the
ancient matriarch, and the rest followed her. The hut was large,
and it was immediately obvious that the four were to stay in 
it together. There was space for their bags, as well as four
pallets for them to sleep on. It was sparse, but they had not
expected luxury in the village. 
     Distant rumbles carried through into the hut. The martial
artists snapped alert, and rushed out into the village. Even
the keen eyes of Ukyou and Shampoo could make out no visible
sign of the intruders, but the sound of gunfire was all they
needed to start getting ready.
     "It appears that our village is not the first in the line
of their advance," muttered Khu-Lon. "The Musk dwell n that
direction."
     "Then what are we waiting for?" Ranma clenched both fists. 
"Let's go an attack them, while they're busy with the Musk."
     "No, warrior." Khu-Lon shrugged. "The Musk hate us as much
as they would this new enemy. We would end up fighting two foes
at once, weakening both of us. Let them deal with the enemy, as
they will weaken the foe, and make it easier for us to eliminate
them."
     "You always were a cold-hearted bitch, Cologne," spat 
Ranma.
     "Soul of Ice, Ranma. Remember the Soul of Ice."
     He started to protest, but the High Matriarch's words had
their desired effect. He found himself achieving the state of
utter calm that was the core of the Hiryuu Shoten Ha, and 
considered the matter at hand without the impediment of emotion.
He knew that, tactically, this was the best way. "Maybe," he
grumbled, "but I don't have to like it."
     "That is your prerogative."
     An Amazon scout ran up to the group. "High Matriarch 
Khu-Lon, elder Xian Pu, Honored Guests, Master Mu-Tsu, my 
sisters report that the enemy has only three large vehicles with
the big guns, but a lot of small vehicles with the very fast
guns."
     Ryouga thought briefly about what she was describing, and
answered back, in Chinese, "Three tanks, and several jeeps or
humvees with machineguns?"
     "It is likely," answered Shampoo. "They are not a national
army, but a corporate one. They would have had to conceal the
tanks to get them over here, as well as the machineguns, but 
the humvees could be easily brought over."
     "Heh, wish Nabiki was here," said Ranma in broken Chinese.
"She call friend in Government, they come and kick much tail,
we no have to kill nobody."
     "Ugh, now I see why my broken Japanese annoyed everyone,"
said Shampoo. "Sorry, Ranma. They have stated that the price
for our near independence is that we must defend ourselves. No
army troops will come to the rescue."
     While Ranma muttered in Japanese, the others listened to
the sounds of battle. Soon, the sounds ended. In the distance,
a great deal of smoke rose to the lonely sky, a brief memorial
to a dynasty millennia old.
     "Scouts, to your positions! Warriors, take cover! Ranma,
Ryouga, Ukyou, Akane, the four of you will come with me!" Khu
Lon's staff was almost a blur as she pointed towards various
teams of amazons, and shouted orders. Ryouga relayed Khu Lon's
request to the others, and they followed her to the center of
the village, just under the Challenge Log. Khu Lon tapped the
ground below once, then twice. The sand below the log shifted,
filtering through cracks in the earth that outlined a trap door.
The five warriors crawled in the small space below, then an
amazon quickly smoothed the sand over the now closed door. Soon,
all the amazons were either hidden, or out of the village, 
secured away in one hiding place or another.
     Within half an hour, the growling of diesel engines, and the
sound of spraying sand gave them the news that the enemy's 
humvees had arrived. They held to their hiding places, even when
the high pitched whine of turbines advertised the coming of the
tanks. They prepared to erupt from their hiding places the 
instant that the High matriarch gave the signal - but the time 
wasn't right, yet.
     A humvee pulled into the village several minutes after the
last tank showed up. Words were passed back and forth in
Japanese, too muffled for the warriors under the Challenge Log
to decipher. Feeling her instincts, Khu Lon held her tongue a
moment longer, then called out, "NOW!"
     Trap doors erupted out of the sand, pouring forth amazon
warriors armed to the teeth. Ranma and Akane led Ryouga and Ukyou
by barely half a step, as they plowed into the massed troops.
Here, Akane surpassed all but Khu Lon and Ranma. Though not as 
skilled in one on one combat as seemingly half of the Nerima of 
her youth, the sweeping moves of the Kyokushinkai style of karate 
she began her study of the martial arts with was perfectly suited 
to dealing with large numbers of foes. As each fist took down 
four or five soldiers, she flashed back, briefly, to the first 
few weeks of her junior high school year, and her daily battles 
against the male half of the population at Furinkan.
     A pistol shot just half an inch away from her left ear 
snapped her back to reality. A cry of rage from her right 
immediately preceded a blue bolt of energy, launched from the
hands of her loving husband. It impacted the man who shot at
her, and knocked him backwards with such force that he rocked
the humvee he impacted with. 
     Amazons and soldiers were swirling around each other, as the
more highly skilled woman-warriors easily began to outmaneuver
their technological foes. In the wild, chaotic melee, the 
soldiers could not fire their weapons without having a dangerous
chance of killing their own men, and the tanks could not even
begin to draw a bead. Slowly, the numbers of the soldiers began 
to dwindle. 
     Ryouga, seeing his chance, leapt on top of the lead tank,
effortlessly avoiding the grasp of a large corporal in front
of him. Wrenching at the top hatch, the shrieking of metal stress
greeted his ears as it ripped off its hinges. The instant
it was open far enough, he dropped inside. From the outside, the
tank rocked from one side to another for less than ten seconds, 
then sat still. The whine of the turbine ceased, and it sat
quietly. Then, a blast of green energy erupted out of the back,
ripping through the lightly armored cooling vents, and the Lost
Man, Hibiki Ryouga, hopped out, looking for another target.
     Ukyou found herself on the outskirts of the battle, reaching
out with her battle spatula to clobber those soldiers that came
too close. On two different occasions, she had been targeted by
those few with a clear shot, but had managed to duck behind the
huge steel blade of her weapon, and count the small, but deep,
dents left behind. Angered at each attempt, she swept in, and
heaved the foolish unfortunates skywards, then smack them like
home run balls. Every now and then, she plucked out a throwing
spatula, and chunked it at the helmet or weapon hand of an enemy
sighting in with his weapon on one of her allies. The sudden 
impact would either make them drop the weapon, or have their shot
spoiled. 
     Khu Lon merely bounced around the battlefield, hitting a 
nerve spot here, and a pain cluster there. Soldiers dropped to
the ground, writhing in agony, or simply let go of their
weapons and folded to the ground asleep. Beside her stalked the
purple haired panther that was Shampoo, lashing deadly arcs with
her bonbori, and Mousse, hurling beweaponed chains, lashing out
with hidden staves, or utilizing other, more bizarre weapons.
     But wherever the battle was raging the hardest, there would 
be Ranma. At one point, he found his footing uncertain, whereupon
he noticed he was standing on the dead or unconscious forms of
the enemy. Chestnut fist punches drove entire squads back, while
more conventional attacks dealt with any others. Here and there,
he would throw a chi blast with pinpoint accuracy, disabling a
sniper, or destroying a crew-served weapon unable to get a clear
line of fire, careful that he, himself, did not strike with
enough force to truly kill.
     The battle did not last long. The enemy was tired from their
encounter with the Musk, and the Amazons also numbered far more
than their traditional rivals. Add to this these seven, nearly
unstoppable warriors, and the plight of the Cabal's private army
was clear. Two of the three tanks lay in smoking ruins, the
victims of the power of Ryouga, while the third lay silent, its
hatches open, and the crew resting on its bulkhead, wrapped in
chains.
     Khu Lon approached the man who appeared to be in charge of
this force. "Well, foreigner, your forces are defeated. You were
no match for the Amazons of the Bayankala Valley."
     The turkey-faced Japanese man laughed. "Perhaps, you
primitive. But this attack was just to keep you busy, even if you 
managed to keep us from subjugating you. By now, that decrepit
Guide and his lovely daughter are in the hands of my superior."
     Ranma glared at him. "I don't believe you. If that was why
you attacked, then why'd ya tell us that right off?"
     Shiro, the leader of the Cabal's military forces, laughed.
"Because, _eta_, it is too late. My superior has likely already
learned the location of the greatest spring of them all.
     "He has found, and bathed in, the Spring of Drowned God."


Notes: Kyokushinkai was mentioned a couple of chapters ago. It is
 a style of karate that utilizes sweeping maneuvers, highly
 effective against multiple attackers, and teaches what is known
 in Japan as Tamishiwara, the Art of Breaking. Practitioners
 frequently practice the techniques Akane is shown using in the
 dojo to work off steam, such as breaking stacks of bricks. As
 for a little conflict a couple of comments about previous posts
 has generated: A .45 caliber pistol is a heavy round, and it
 travels at under the speed of sound. On the other hand, the
 .556 mm round used by the M16 is less than half the size of a
 .45 bullet, but with a much larger powder load, and travels at
 nearly mach 3. Thus, a .45 has a lot of kinetic impact, but 
 lower overall penetration than the smaller, faster round. The
 smaller round, on the other hand, does not have the same 
 amount of transfer of kinetic energy, and does not have the
 same knockdown potential of the pistol round. Yes, the shape
 and material of the round has a lot to do with penetration
 ability of various rounds, but the Healer was stating a
 generalization. As to why the .45 didn't do much to Shen Kuei,
 if his skin is tough enough to resist the flying, razor sharp
 fragments of stone generated by a Bakusai Tenketsu, it can
 likely withstand a hit from a .45, though it would bruise both
 flesh and bone. Anything faster, or heavier, would likely
 cause more severe injuries.

         Thank You,
         - Valandar the Red of the Empty Tankard

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