Okay, and here's the final CMD 29.
Enjoy and let me know if you spot any last minute errors.
=======================================================================
Childhood of a Modern Dynasty
Chapter 29: Birth Pains and Stormy Reunions
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 1998-2000 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 unless otherwise
specified as English or Mandarin."
E-mail comments and/or criticisms to: mailto:jimlazar@animeprime.com
Make sure to check out my Modern Dynasty website for
all released CMD stories, graphics files, and other information:
http://www.animeprime.com/ff/md
=======================================================================
December 19-23, 1999 - Southern Florida, USA
"This is where the bus driver said those two kids disappeared a
couple days ago," a middle-aged man remarked with a thick southern
accent. He was dressed in a Florida State Trooper uniform, which was
already covered with splashes of mud from trudging through the swamp.
The sun was low in the western sky as he looked back at his young
partner and laughed at the sight of seeing him covered from head to toe
with mud.
"Shut up!" The young trooper, who looked like he was just out of
his teens, wiped some more mud off his face, but didn't really make any
noticeable impact on the mud. "Dammit... we've been looking for hours!
This is pointless. If they aren't back by now, the 'gators must have got
them."
"I hope not."
"Well, no one's heard from them since they ran from the bus and
none of the other searches have turned up anything."
"You really have to learn to be less fatalistic. I mean, they could
just have run off and are happily jumping each other's bones somewhere."
"Maybe, but... erk..." The young trooper tripped over something and
fell into the muddy water. He splashed around for a few moments before
rising to the surface. "Dammit..."
The older trooper started to laugh at his partner's predicament,
but went silent when something caught his eye through the thick fog. His
jaw dropped open.
The young man swore again and pulled on the object he had tripped
on. He went white when he saw the skeleton emerge from the water. He
shuddered and dropped the ribcage he had been holding. "Shit!! That...
that was human!!" He looked at his partner. "Vern, call... what's wrong,
Vern?"
The older man held a shaky hand up and pointed behind the young
trooper.
The young trooper looked behind him and then backpedaled away,
tripping into the mud once again. He bobbed to the surface and reached
for his radio. "This is squad fifty-one in the Everglades, south-west
off route forty-one at mile marker ten. Come in dispatch!"
"Go ahead, fifty-one."
"We've got... something going on down here. Get everything you can
spare into the area. Boats, helicopters... TANKS, everything!"
"What's the nature of the emergency, fifty-one?"
The young man opened his mouth to reply, but found he was at a loss
for words. "I have no idea..." he said softly.
"Please repeat that, fifty-one?"
"We found... a tall, black, rectangular... monolith. And there's
all kinds of black lightning flashing around it." He peered into the
swamp that lay between him and the monolith. He frowned when he thought
he saw something move in front of him.
"What?!"
"You heard me... get some people out here fast!!" The young officer
looked at this partner and gasped. "Vern!! Get out of the way of..." He
searched for words to describe what he saw, but could only find one.
"The blackness!!"
-C- -M- -D-
"Vern!! Get out of the way of... the blackness!!"
The dispatcher threw down her headset as a loud piercing scream was
heard and then the transmission ended with a loud warbling burst of
static. "Shit..."
Her supervisor walked over. "What's the problem, Marlene?"
Marlene rubbed her ear. "Fifty-one said they found something in the
Everglades and then their transmission went all haywire."
Her supervisor bent down and checked her board. "Odd. What did they
find?"
Marlene hesitated. "Um... well, he said a tall, black monolith."
"Like in that old movie? Gee, those guys are in a lot of trouble. I
expect these kind of jokes from the public as the millennium approaches,
but not state troopers and especially not on *MY* watch." He took a last
look at the board. "Log it and keep trying to raise them every fifteen
minutes."
"But what if it's not a joke?"
Her supervisor sighed. "Trust me, Marlene, despite what all the
doomsayers say, the world isn't going to end on December thirty-first."
-C- -M- -D-
The next morning, a helicopter flew low over the everglades towards
the last known location of the troopers. "No sign of the troopers yet."
A pause. "Or the big bad monolith, for that matter."
"Can the humor, Air Four, the troopers may or may nor have been
playing a joke, but they are missing. It was too foggy to mount a full
search last night, so keep a sharp eye out for them," was the
dispatcher's non-amused response.
"Roger. It's still pretty foggy out here, but we'll do our best."
The pilot and co-pilot scanned the fog-shrouded swamp below them
for any sign of the troopers.
"Where could they be? They found the squad car last night, but no
sign of the troopers," the co-pilot asked as he scanned the swamp.
"This had better not be a joke, I was supposed to be going..." The
pilot peered ahead. "What the hell is..." The black lightning bolt he
had just seen hit the helicopter before he could finish his question.
"Damn!!" He wrestled with the controls, trying to stay airborne.
The co-pilot hit the radio switch. "This is Air Four, have spotted
a tall black monolith shooting black lightning bolts. It must be two or
three hundred feet tall and..."
-C- -M- -D-
"It must be two or three hundred feet tall and..." The transmission
dissolved into static.
The dispatcher keyed her mike. "Say again, Air Four?"
There was no response.
The dispatcher looked over her shoulder. "Sir!!"
-C- -M- -D-
"Angela Rodriguez, Miami Herald. Colonel, what is the Army doing
here?" the reporter shoved a tape recorder in the Army officer's face.
She was in her forties, well built with both curves and muscles spread
out across her nicely proportioned body. Her face showed the signs of a
long career finding the story at the expense of sleep and time at the
beauty parlor. Despite a somewhat haggard look, her eyes radiated
intelligence and beauty.
Colonel Short stepped off his Humvee and waved her away. "No
comment." He tucked in an errant shirttail and straightened his
Army-issue baseball cap over his crew-cut hair. His shirt was just a tad
too small to hide his large gut developed during his time behind a desk.
The reporter pressed her attack. "But there must be some reason for
this huge deployment." Angela gestured to the rows and rows of Army
trucks and Humvees.
"It's just a simple training exercise."
Just then, a crew threw off the tarps on a couple large flatbed
trucks and revealed two large tanks underneath.
"Do you normally train in the swamp with tanks?"
The colonel hesitated. "Yes..."
"Aren't they too heavy?"
"They perform support roles at the edge during swamp operations. As
I said, this is just a training exercise."
"Does this have anything to do with the reports of the missing
people in this part of the Everglades?"
The colonel's face fell and he turned away. "Corporal, get this
woman out of here!!"
<Bingo...> Angela thought. "What are you hiding in the swamp,
Colonel?"
"Hiding? Nonsense. It's just a simple..."
"... training exercise," Angela completed the sentence. "Save me
the cover story. We've heard that several people were reported missing
in this area including two state troopers and a search helicopter. And
now the Army comes in here with all this hardware. What's going on,
Colonel?"
"Corporal!"
-C- -M- -D-
Two squads of soldiers held their M16 rifles over their heads as
they waded through the chest high water. They scanned the area in front
of them as they closed in on the target.
The squad's leader, Sergeant Reeves, spoke into his headset. "Four
hundred meters to target, no activity." His blue eyes scanned the area
in front of his men. "Stay sharp, men. We've already lost three
helicopters and the first squad never reported back."
The newest member of the squad caused ripples in the water as his
body trembled. He snapped his head to the side suddenly. "Sergeant!"
Sergeant Reeves looked at the private. "What is it?"
The private frowned. "Um... I thought I saw something to the left."
Heads snapped to the left and scanned the area.
Seeing nothing but gentle ripples on the water's surface, the
Sergeant looked ahead again. "It's just your nerves, kid. Keep going."
"I could have..." The private's words were cut off when a black
mass appeared around him.
"What the fuck is that!!" a corporal behind him screamed as he saw
the black form appear out of nowhere and wrap its tentacles around the
private.
Heads snapped around, but the Buyierfei had already submerged
beneath the water, leaving only the churning water to mark the private's
previous existence.
"Corporal, where's Johnston?" the Sergeant asked, scanning the
area.
The corporal who was behind the private pointed at the water which
was settling down. "Some big black thing appeared and dragged him under
the water!!"
"An alligator?"
"No... it had tentacles."
"An octopus in the Everglades?" one of the other soldiers remarked.
"No..." The corporal's eyes went wide.
"What then?"
"That!!" The corporal shouted and pointed behind the sergeant.
The sergeant just had time to turn around before a tentacle was
thrust through his chest. He thrashed about before being thrown across
the clearing by the Buyierfei. As its tentacle lost contact with the
sergeant, the creature vanished save for the ripples it caused in the
water.
The other soldiers watched their leader fly away from them and then
looked back at the ripples in the water. Looking closely, they could
just make out areas in the water that were not filled with water, as if
something they couldn't see was displacing the water. And those areas
were quickly closing in on the soldiers.
The corporal swore. "Damn! They're invisible!! Open fire!!"
The soldier's readied their weapons, but still looked around.
"At what?!"
"Anything you don't see!!"
At first, no one opened fire, so the corporal started firing
blindly at the ripples where the sergeant had been standing. Several
small black bloodspots appeared in mid air, which were moving fast
towards the corporal. "I said open fire, dammit!!"
Dozens of rifles opened fire simultaneously.
-C- -M- -D-
"This is Bravo squad!! We are under attack by unfriendlies!!"
Back at the field H.Q., the radio operator replied to the shouted
transmission. "Say again, Bravo?"
"Some sort of invisible creatures!!" Gunshots could be heard in the
background. "Bullets don't seem to affect them!! We can see wounds
appear, but they just keep coming!!" A loud scream was heard. "Jose,
behind you!!"
Colonel Short grabbed the mike from the radio operator. "Corporal,
fall back and regroup."
"Fall back to where? They're all around us!!" A rapid series of
gunshots were heard before a last muffled scream. Then silence.
The radio operator retrieved the mike and started to try and
contact the squad. "Bravo squad, come in." Silence. "Bravo squad, come
in."
The colonel frowned and looked around. "Major!"
An officer scurried up and saluted. "Yes, sir?"
"Send four companies in and have them spread out along a
two-kilometer radius from the anomaly."
"Sir?"
"So far everything we've sent from the air has either been
destroyed or attacked at about two kilometers from it. The ground troops
can get a little closer, but I'm not sending more men in that close
until we can get more information. Have the teams observe the anomaly
from the two kilometer mark." The colonel pointed at a satellite photo
showing the large black monolith surrounded by a thousand-meter wide
area of brown foliage.
"Yes, sir. Anything else, sir?"
"Not for you." The colonel watched the major rush away and then
turned towards the radio operator. "Get me the south artillery unit on
the radio."
"Yes, sir!"
-C- -M- -D-
Two large missiles cut through the air above the Everglades heading
straight for the black monolith that towered above the trees. They hit
the black surface and exploded. A huge fireball engulfed the monolith
and rolled across the already dead area around it.
When the flames died down, they left the monolith unscathed in a
deep, blackened crater. The foliage at the edge of the crater smoldered
and sent smoke into the Florida sky. The water from the swamp slowly
refilled the blackened crater.
"This is Foxtrot company, the scorpions have impacted. No change in
the anomaly. Repeat, no change in the anomaly."
The same report was radioed in from the other companies. A dozen
more missiles were fired in two more salvos and produced the same
results as the first two: nothing.
Colonel Short threw down the headphone in disgust after the last
attack. "Damn, what else can go wrong?"
"Colonel! We've just received word passed through Division that
there's another anomaly in Tokyo!!"
"I shouldn't have asked," Colonel Short muttered. He looked up and
saw his intelligence officer. "Are they being attacked by these...
things too?"
The intelligence officer shook his head. "No, sir. There was
mention of possible activity when it first appeared, but nothing
confirmed by the local authorities. It's been quiet for the past three
days."
"Three days? It must be hidden like this one was then?"
"No, sir, it appeared in the middle of a schoolyard right after
classes let out."
"And it wasn't in the news right away?"
The officer shook his head. "It still isn't. Apparently, the local
police and newspapers are considering it a hoax."
The colonel blinked loudly twice. "I'd better talk to the general."
-C- -M- -D-
Angela frowned as she listened to the audiotape. "Anomaly?" She
made some notes in her notebook and then lowered the headphones.
"There's something out there in the swamp that they are trying to
destroy... but what?" She pulled the tape out of her walkman and looked
at it again, as if there would suddenly be some clue as to where it came
from that she had missed the first half-dozen times she had listened to
it. She had found it in her mail slot when she returned home that
evening.
She stood up and pulled off her sweater and dropped onto the bed in
just a T-shirt and panties. Lying on her stomach, she scanned the map
she had laid out earlier. She traced the locations she had recorded
earlier. "The Army mobile H.Q. is here. They are firing missiles from
the mobile artillery unit stationed here." She indicated a spot about
twenty miles to the southwest. "And they have taken over and shutdown
the small airport here."
She drew imaginary lines between all the spots with her fingers and
made a circle in the center of them. "This 'anomaly' has to be in the
middle here somewhere." She rolled onto her back and stared at the
ceiling. "Time to find a way into that swamp, I think. I can't get in
from the air, the FAA has restricted all air travel in the are, and even
commercial flights are being diverted. Maybe Serg..."
"Mommy?" a little boy interrupted from the doorway. He was about
ten years old and wiped the sleep out of a pair of green eyes.
Angela smiled at her son. "Yes, Bobby?"
"I can't sleep. I had a bad dream."
"Awww... come here." Angela held out her hands. Her son bounced
over and she embraced him. "Don't worry, there's nothing to be afraid
of."
-C- -M- -D-
"Are you sure you can get around the Army?" Angela shouted above
the din made by the hovercraft's large fan.
"No, problem, Miss," Sergio responded from the seat just in front
of her. When she had hired the large Cuban alligator hunter, he had
assured her that he knew the swamp better than anyone and could get her
into the area the Army had cordoned off.
"But, Sergio, they're sure to see this thing!" She looked around
the dark swamp, expecting to collide with some unseen object at any
moment. "Or at least hear us!!"
"Yes, they would, but we won't be using it the whole way."
"Then what?"
The tall man smiled and looked down at the air tanks strapped to
the side of the hovercraft.
Angela gulped. <I hope I can handle that. I've only scuba dived
that one time on my honeymoon.> She shook her head to clear it of the
happy memory. <He's not a part of your life anymore, Angela, just forget
about him.>
-C- -M- -D-
An hour later, Angela rose to the surface and gasped for air. It
was more from an instinctive need to breathe normally than needing
oxygen since the air tanks had worked flawlessly. She watched Sergio
surface and crawl onto the shore. "Now what?"
"We wait here until dawn."
Angels shrugged the air tank off her shoulders. "Why?"
"Only fools travel on foot in the swamp at night. We wait here
until we can see where we're going." Inside, he had other reasons. <And
you're paying me by the hour, you twit. I don't know what the Army's
hiding out here, but if she wants to see it so badly who am I to argue
with her money?>
She looked around. "Is it safe to just sit here?"
Sergio's response didn't exactly reassure Angela. "Sure, we just
let the 'gators come to us. They're easier to kill that way."
-C- -M- -D-
In the morning, Angela followed closely behind Sergio as they made
their way slowly through the swamp. "You could have left the hide
behind," she commented, glancing at the remains of the alligator he had
draped over his shoulders.
Sergio smiled and patted his trophy. "Are you kidding? This will
fetch me a fortune on the black market."
Mentally noting to research the current market for alligator skins
for a possible future story, Angela followed close behind him. She tried
to look brave, but her darting eyes betrayed her nervousness. "How much
further?"
"Hard to say, but we are inside the Army's perimeter, so it
shouldn't be far now." As Sergio said that, his eyes went wide. "Miss,
look!"
Angela followed his gesture and gasped. She took several photos of
the crashed helicopter and then walked toward it. "Hmmmmmm... Well,
that's one part of the rumors confirmed." She looked inside the smashed
cockpit, but couldn't see any sign of any bodies. "No one inside." She
frowned as she pulled her hand away from the edge of the doorframe and
saw that her fingers were covered in some kind of black substance. She
rubbed her fingers and noticed a fine black powder fall off. She
shrugged and looked around. "Let's keep going."
Sergio nodded and started walking. After several minutes, they
reached a large blackened mound of earth. "Whaaaa..."
Sergio frowned. "This wasn't here the last time I came through this
part of the Everglades."
Angela scanned the large hill, which was riddled with pieces of
trees and scorched vegetation. "This must be from the missiles the Army
was firing. We're close, I can feel it."
Sergio nodded. "Let's climb to the top and get a look at the area."
Angela nodded and started climbing. They were about twenty feet
apart by the time they reached the top. They gasped in unison when they
saw the vast area of decaying vegetation and black burn marks spread out
before them.
"Holy crap!!" Sergio exclaimed and crossed himself.
And then there was the sight of the tall black monolith in the
middle of the clearing, of course.
Angela's jaw dropped. It took several seconds for her to regain
some of her wits before she started taking pictures. "That has to be the
'anomaly' they are so interested in." She took dozens of pictures of the
towering black monolith in the center of the large clearing and then
paused to reload. "I don't blame them."
"We should leave now..." Sergio started backing up.
Angela snapped her camera's back shut and looked at him. "We just
got here." She slipped the exposed roll of film into her bra and started
taking pictures again. "Damn, this is going to be on the front page for
sure!"
"Please, Miss, that's enough. I thought the rumors were
exaggerated, but if that thing's here then the stories of people being
killed may be true."
Angela finished going though another roll and was changing it when
she noticed the water around the monolith seemed to be rippling in an
odd pattern. She couldn't pinpoint it, but the ripples didn't seem to be
caused by anything that she could see. She slapped the back of her
camera closed and took a few pictures of the ripples. "Odd, what could
be..."
She went silent when she saw a black form flash into existence as
it jumped onto Sergio. The creature wrapped its long tentacles around
the man and they tumbled down the side of the mound locked together in a
ball of limbs and tentacles. When they hit the water, Sergio tried to
grab a branch to keep from being pulled under, but several more
tentacles rose from the water and helped the first creature drag him
under the water's surface.
It had all happened so fast, that Angela hadn't had time to react at
all. She didn't take any pictures, run in terror, or try to hide. It was
only after she saw the ripples start to move in her direction that her
feet started backpedaling. "Shit... time to go, Angela."
As she turned around, she felt something cold and oily touch her
bare arms. She jumped forward instinctively and ended up tumbling down
the side of the huge mound of earth. She was bruised and battered when
she hit the bottom. She got shakily to her feet and took off running
blindly through the swamp. She could hear something crashing through the
swamp behind her, but she dared not look back. In her mad dash, she lost
track of time and direction as she fled from her pursuers.
When she spotted the soldiers that she had taken such extreme steps
to avoid the night before, she cried out and waved her hands to attract
their attention. "Help me!! There's something after me!!"
The soldiers snapped alert at her shout. One of the privates called
into his headset. "Sergeant, we have a civilian at position thirty-two!"
The Sergeant replied. "Turn him around like the others."
"Sir, it's a woman and she's coming FROM the anomaly!!"
"What?" By the time the Sergeant had rushed to the area, Angela had
just reached the row of soldiers.
"Run!! There's something behind me!!" Angela spat, running right
past the private.
The private reached out and managed to grab her wrist. "Hold it
there, ma'am."
Angela turned around and tried to get out of his grip. "Let me
go!!" Her eyes went wide as she saw the bushes rustle a few yards back.
"They're coming!" She pointed with her free hand.
The private looked back and saw dozens of bushes moving, but not
what was moving them. "Shit. Another attack!" He released her arm and
lifted his gun. Bullets screamed into the swamp, producing small
hovering wounds that continued forwards without any hesitation.
The nearby solders started firing with their weapons. Besides
producing more floating wounds, the additional bullets didn't help much.
In fact, they ended up making the soldiers more terrified as they were
now able to tell how many creatures were attacking them.
The Sergeant saw what was happening and turned to his radioman.
"Washington, call H.Q. and tell them that we're under attack again by
the invisible unfriendlies!" He scanned his men, trying to determine
where the enemy was. <They're testing our strength with these random
attacks. But if bullets don't stop them... ah!> He barked out a loud
order to his men. "Grenades! Throw them at the floating wounds! Maxwell,
get that girl and take her to H.Q.! "
"Yes, sir!!" Private Maxwell replied and took off after Angela.
The other soldiers in the area each tossed grenades into the swamp.
A series of explosions followed. Before the soldier's startled eyes,
pieces of Buyierfei flashed into existence and gave them their first
good view of the Buyierfei. And their last.
-C- -M- -D-
"Stuart, hold the front page!" Angela shouted into her cell phone.
As she talked on her cell phone, she was making some notes on an old
battered laptop and trying to keep the car on the road as she raced
towards Miami. "Yes, the front page. I've got a huge story about what
the Army is hiding in the Everglades. There is some sort of huge
monolith in the swamp and some kind of creatures that are preventing the
Army from getting close to it. I'm not sure exactly, but some sort of
mutant octopuses is my best guess at this point."
She listened for a bit. "Yes, I've got proof! They took my camera
when they detained me at their H.Q., but didn't find my film before I
managed to escape after the sun set." She slipped her fingers into her
bra and made sure the two rolls were still there. They were. "They'll
knock your socks off." She was talking about the film, of course.
She listened to her editor, rolling her eyes. "Fine... I'll write
the article as you check the pictures out, but I'm telling you this is
big!"
-C- -M- -D-
The moonless night sky cast no light onto Angela as she raced into
her apartment after a long night at the newspaper office. "Bobby! Bobby,
where are you?" She grabbed the cordless phone off its stand on her way
through the living room. The room wasn't filthy, but it showed signs of
not being cleaned for several days. The dirt and lack of makeup on
Angela's face showed that she hadn't had time to clean herself up
either.
"Mommy?" a small voice called out from another room.
"I'll be right in, dear." Reassured that he was there, Angela
started to dial the phone. After an eternity, someone picked up. "Is Mr.
Davidson there?" A pause. "I know it's late, just get him on the phone
please." Another pause. "I don't have time for this, Rachel! Get my
god-dammed ex-husband on the phone! NOW!!" As she heard the frightened
housekeeper scurry away, Angela drummed her fingers. <I never did like
her.>
A man's voice came from the earpiece. "Yes, what is it now, Angel?"
Angela cringed at hearing him use the pet name that he had always
used for her. "Mike, I need to send Bobby to stay with you for a while."
"After you insisted on keeping him for New Years? Why?"
"I'm sure the New York papers will pick up the story and you can
read all about it in the morning."
"What is it?"
"That's not important. I just want Bobby to be safely away from
here."
"Fine... I'll have two plane tickets waiting at American Airline's
counter at the Miami Airport. What time can you get there?"
"Just one ticket."
"Huh?"
"I have a story to cover."
"Your job always did come before your family, didn't it?"
Angela exhaled, but that didn't help her keep her temper under
control. "I'm making sure my family is safe first, asshole!!"
"And what about you?" The concern in his voice was evident to
everyone except Angela.
"I have a job to do. This is the big one."
"Fine. Far be it from me to get in the way of your big story."
Angela ignored the sarcasm in his voice. "I'll be at the airport
within an hour."
"I'll have two tickets waiting."
"Mike..." Angela growled.
"Just in case you change your mind, Angel."
"Whatever..." Angela put down the phone gently and clutched her
chest. <You never did understand my job, did you?> She made her way into
her son's bedroom and smiled. "How's my big boy?"
The small ten-year-old boy rose from the bed, rubbing his eyes.
"Mommy, what's going on?"
"Where's Esquella?" Angela asked as she pulled some of her son's
clothes into a duffel bag.
The little boy shrugged his shoulders.
Angela sighed and decided that she'd need to get yet another new
babysitter when things calmed down. "Come on, Bobby, we have to get you
to the airport so you can go see your daddy."
Bobby's eyes' brightened. "Yeaaa!! We're going to Yorkie for
Christmas!!"
Angela smiled and brushed the hair out of her son's eyes. "Just
you, Mommy has to do some work."
Bobby's crestfallen look practically caused Angela's heart to jump
out of her chest.
***********************************************************************
Excerpt from the Miami Herald, December 24th, 1999 Morning Edition
Army Hiding Giant Monolith in Everglades
By Angela Rodriguez
What started out as a search in the Everglades for two lost
teenagers--who had disappeared into the Everglades from a bus traveling
south on Highway 41 on December 16th of this year--has turned into a
massive deployment of troops and equipment by the Army units stationed
at Fort Benning in Georgia.
Since December 20th, the Army has been conducting 'training exercises'
in the area according to Colonel Short of the Twenty-fourth Infantry
Division. Those training exercises include several tanks, artillery
units, and the taking over of a civilian airstrip in the area
surrounding the northern part of the Everglades.
Since the so-called training exercises have begun, the Army has been
restricting access to the area. Although said to be just to protect
civilians during the exercises, this reporter has discovered their
presence is to hide an object discovered during the search for the two
missing teenagers.
In the normally peaceful swamps of the Everglades now stands a large
black rectangular monolith. Rising at least two hundred and fifty feet
above the swamp's surface, a large ring of dead and decaying plant and
animal life surrounds it. As the accompanying photos show, the Army has
obviously been trying to destroy it. The area around the monolith shows
signs of explosions and the remains of at least one helicopter that
crashed about a half mile from the monolith.
An informant who asked not to be identified has told this reporter that
the Army has already sent several squads of soldiers into the swamps,
but those approaching the monolith closer than a mile have never
returned. Although unverified, reports of attacks on the soldiers by
some unknown force have filtered out of the tight security surrounding
the Army's operations.
This reporter has personally witnessed an attack on a Mr. Sergio Lopez
by a large black animal with long black tentacles. The animal grabbed
Mr. Lopez and with the help of another animal dragged him under water.
Sadly, I presume he was killed. Some unseen animals also attacked me,
but I was able to flee from the area to bring you the story.
The soldiers that rescued me as I fled the area confiscated my camera
and film, but I was able to hide the rolls containing the accompanying
photos and leave the area.
When questioned by this reporter at the Army's H.Q. along Highway 41,
Colonel Short had no comment.
End excerpt
***********************************************************************
>From the personal journal of James Davidson:
October 30, 2057
"Honey, are you ready?" Hanaki asked as she poked her head into our
hotel room.
I looked up from my palmtop's holo-display and smiled when I saw
Hanaki, Jaki, and Akane in the doorway. "Ah... yeah. I was just going
over my grandmother's notes and rereading her article that revealed the
First to the world."
"I'm insulted." Jaki crossed her arms over her chest and feigned
being miffed. "Here you have a chance to be with three hot chicks-" I
saw Akane smile slightly at that point. "-and you'd rather work."
I sighed. "No, but I had to do something to keep my mind off how
stunning you three would look."
Jaki smiled broadly. "Damn, you're a slick one."
Hanaki giggled as she came over and gave me a quick kiss. "Shall we
go?"
I nodded and avoided Jaki's attempts to kiss me. She wasn't exactly
loose, but she did have a flirtatious side that was a little alarming at
times. "We really need to get you a boyfriend, Jaki."
"Feh, I'd just kill a guy with this body."
Akane and I rolled our eyes.
"Okay, we'll find you a girlfriend then." Hanaki quickly ducked the
playful swing from Jaki.
"So, find anything interesting in your grandmother's notes?" Akane
asked suddenly.
"Sort of. I've read them many times before, but with the
information you, Kasumi, and my mom have given me recently I've seen
them in a whole new light."
Akane nodded. "Well, she was the first person to break the news
about the Buyierfei to the world. I sometimes wonder if we should have
told the Japanese government what we knew after the first attack on our
house by Tomu. It could have saved some lives."
"I'm not so sure. The Japanese government insisted the Nerima
monolith was a millennium hoax for the first few days before..."
Akane stiffened. "Before they came after my little Daiji."
I nodded. "And the U.S. government did their best to hide the First
from the public. Without any proof, they would have probably just
written your warnings off as the ravings of a mad woman and done nothing
to prepare."
Akane smiled as we walked out into the hallway and towards the
elevators. "Thanks for saying that, James. Maybe you're right, we had no
proof that the Buyierfei existed at that point. Just all the black dust
they leave behind when they die."
"In my grandmother's journal she does indicate she was worried that
she might cause a panic by revealing the monolith's existence."
"But in the end, she might have helped save a lot of lives."
"I like to think so. One of the great joys of reporting is when you
can make a difference."
Akane smiled slightly. "Sometimes that's the only thing that keeps
me going."
"Huh?"
"The knowledge that my family and I have helped make a difference
is the only thing that keeps me fighting. There have been times when
I've wanted to give up and let someone else fight the battle."
"I can't image you doing that."
"I wasn't always this strong. There were times I couldn't see
anything but how things affected me and my family."
"Well, you were at the center of things when the Three Harbingers
appeared."
Akane smirked. "You could say that. Hearing about your grandmother
helps remind me that a lot of people's lives were radically changed at
that time."
"From what I know of it, yours was too."
Akane nodded. "For better or worse."
-C- -M- -D-
We picked up Yohachi, Sanma, and the rest of the Task Force members
that had come with us to New York and then made our way to the
restaurant we had picked out for our dinner party. My mom, Mary, and all
of my friends and family who lived in the New York area met us there for
a night of celebration.
Actually, my uncle Herb came all the way from New Orleans when he
heard about the dinner party. I think he may still have a thing for 'The
Matriarch'. Like a lot of boys growing up during the Black Wars, he had
a crush on Akane. Of course, there were also those who had crushes on
Ranko and/or Sanma. Those people will be in for quite a shock when I
publish Childhood, since the splits and their original gender were not
public knowledge yet.
Things were a little awkward at first, since my friends and family
seemed to a little awed by Akane and the others. That's to be expected,
I guess. I sometimes wonder how Akane handles all the attention she
receives from people outside her family.
But things loosened up after Hanaki and I dropped our big news.
Later after the party broke up, my mom, Mary, Hanaki, Akane, and
Yohachi walked into my mom's townhouse with me. Oh... and Sanma, who was
riding in Akane's cleavage as usual. It took me a while to get my family
to understand why Akane was married to a frog, but I think they
understood by the time the party ended.
"Well, that went well. I'm glad we could finally make up for our
rushed wedding with a nice dinner party for my family," I said as I sat
down in the living room.
"Oh please, you call your wedding rushed?"
Yohachi leaned over and shushed his mother.
I smiled at Akane. "Well, it was rushed enough for us."
Akane smiled back at me.
Hanaki gripped my hand as she sat down next to me. "I hope Jaki
doesn't freak out your friend, she's a bit wild on dates."
I laughed at the thought. After the dinner party broke up, Jaki and
my friend John took off to hit the nightclubs. "I'm not so sure. John is
quite a party animal himself, so he could give even Jaki a shock or
two."
My mom settled into her big chair and exhaled deeply. "It was nice
to get out like that."
I looked at my mom. "I hope it wasn't too tiring for you?"
My mom shook her head. "No... no. It was a great way to tell all of
us about my future grandchild."
Hanaki blushed and unconsciously put her hand to her stomach.
Akane nodded and smiled slightly. "It really was. I wish I could
have told Ranma about Yohachi in as nice of a setting." She glanced at
her son.
Yohachi smirked. "I feel a story coming on."
Akane nodded. "Not from me."
Yohachi looked confused.
So was I, for that matter.
Akane looked at my mom. "Deedee, would you like to tell them what
happened after you and Ranma got thrown into the First?"
My mom nodded.
***********************************************************************
Inside the Buyierfei Monolith
Deedee awoke to the wonderful sensation of being wrapped in Ranma's
arms. She looked up from Ranma's chest and at his face. She took a deep
breath and inhaled his masculine scent. "Ah... it was just a nightmare."
Then she rose and looked around. She saw a world filled with gray
and black shadows, which drifted all around her. She couldn't tell if
they were right in front of her face or a million miles away. "Huh?" The
memories of her run through the swamp and being attacked by the awful
black creatures flooded back into her conscious thoughts. She screamed.
Loudly.
Ranma awoke at the scream and saw Deedee looking around and
screaming. "What's wrong?"
"Ranma!! What's going on?!" Deedee threw herself back into his
arms. "Where are we?"
Ranma got his first good look around and swore. "Crap..." He jumped
to his feet and pulled Deedee up to his side. "We're inside the
monolith." He moved his right arm and winced. A quick glance at his
shoulder confirmed that the alligator that bit into his shoulder had
done enough damage to prevent him from using that arm to lift anything.
<At least I can still focus chi through it.> He glanced around. <I'm
going to need to do just that if we're going to get out of this alive.>
He thought back to his first encounter with the Buyierfei. <Was it
really less than a year? It seems so long ago.>
"What are you thinking?"
Deedee's question shook Ranma out of his thoughts. "Oh, just that
it's a good thing that we didn't get separated when we got thrown
inside."
"I feel the same way." Deedee snuggled up to his side.
"Deedee..." Ranma scolded. "This isn't the time for that. We're in
big trouble here."
"Where's 'here'?"
Ranma tried to explain it as fast as possible. "We're inside that
monolith you stumbled across in the swamp. I've been in one before and
managed to escape..."
"Great!! Let's go to it then!"
Ranma hesitated, knowing he couldn't do it alone. He wasn't about
to tell Deedee that, though. "Well, it's not that simple. For now, just
don't leave my side and keep your eyes peeled for anything unusual."
Deedee looked around, absently tightening the straps on her small
backpack. "Um... everything's unusual."
"Okay, look for something familiar then."
"It's hard to make out anything with all these shifting shadows."
Ranma decided not to mention that the shadows were probably the
Buyierfei. "Let's start walking. Maybe we can find a different way out."
"What do you mean, can't we use the same way you got out before?"
Ranma cringed at letting that slip. He was about to answer, but was
saved at the last second when he saw something out of the corner of his
eye. He swung around to the side and kicked his foot out. A Buyierfei
flashed into existence as his foot made contact with it and then
vanished just as quickly when the kick sent it flying away. "Just like
the last time, they don't seem to be attacking us directly." The first
time they had been inside a monolith, he had tried to figure out why
they didn't seem to attack directly, but never saw any tactical
advantage to it. <I guess I should be grateful, because I doubt even I
could withstand a direct attack by all these creatures at once.>
"Ranma... that... thing."
"Yes, they are called the Buyierfei."
"These shadows all around us are them, aren't they?" Deedee
shuddered.
Ranma could hear the terror in her voice. He put his arm around her
shoulder to reassure her. "Yes... don't worry, we'll get out of this."
An unseen assailant suddenly punched him savagely in the stomach. He
backed up, trying to keep Deedee away from the Buyierfei he knew must be
nearby. <Somehow...>
-C- -M- -D-
A blue ball of chi burned through the shadows, causing the pieces
to fall to the soft sponge-like floor.
"Wow!!"
Ranma sighed. "You don't have to say that every time I send out a
blast."
"But it's so cool that my boyfriend can do that!"
"I'm not your boyfriend!"
Deedee pouted.
Ranma sighed. "Deedee, I like you as a friend and I'm going to get
us out of this nightmare world somehow, but you've got to give up this
fantasy."
"Why?"
Ranma was momentarily stuck for an answer and hesitated. "Um... I
love another woman?"
"Who's married to your sister!!"
Ranma sighed and looked around. "Well, since we seem to have time
on our hands, I'll tell you the story."
-C- -M- -D-
"Who the hell would believe that?!" Deedee shouted.
Ranma rolled his eyes. "It's the truth. My sisters are me and I am
my sisters. At least we were until the start of this year."
"This is so bogus. I've heard of tall tales to dump a girl, but
this..." Deedee suddenly clutched her arm as a cut appeared on it from
an unseen assailant. "Ouch!!"
Ranma swung her out of the way and shot a few small chi balls where
she had been standing. A number of Buyierfei fell to pieces as the balls
hit them. "Damn..."
Deedee ended up on the ground a few meters away when Ranma had
thrown her out of the way. "W..." Deedee shut her mouth before she could
say wow again. "Why don't you just blast them all like that?"
"Because I can't generate an infinite amount of chi blasts. If I
try to blast too many at once I'll wear out and I might not have any
strength when I really need it. My shoulder wound already has me at a
disadvantage in here, I don't need to compound that by wearing myself
out before I can figure out how to destroy the heart by myself."
"How'd you get that wound anyway?"
"I ran into an alligator when I was looking for you in the swamp."
Deedee frowned and looked down at the ground. "Sorry."
"Don't worry, I've been hurt worse." Ranma knew he wasn't exactly
being truthful, but didn't want to worry Deedee any more than she
obviously was already.
Deedee got to her feet and looked around. "Ranma? Are you sure we
can get out of here?"
Ranma wasn't sure, but he could hear the dread in her voice. "Of
course, I'm the world's greatest martial artist after all."
Ranma's confidence seemed to lift Deedee's spirits a bit, but what
hope she had vanished when Ranma was engulfed in a huge fireball.
"Eeeek!!"
"Urk!!" Ranma fell to the ground, smoke rising from his singed
clothing.
"Oh my god!" Deedee rushed to his side and tried to pat out the
parts of his clothing that still seemed to be on fire.
"Get away from him!!"
Deedee looked over and saw a young woman rush up to then. She
noticed that Ranma had been knocked out by the huge blast so she slid to
the side to stay between him and the newcomer. "Why'd you hurt Ranma?!"
"That's not Ranma. He's the leader of these creatures." The woman
gestured at the shifting shadows with the giant spatula she held in her
hand.
"What's with the stupid spatula?"
The woman faltered and glanced at the spatula. "It's a weapon. Now
get way from that monster, so I can chop him up!"
Deedee tensed and made a snap judgment about the woman. <She must
be some kind of mass-murderer who uses that thing to kill and then
dismember her victims.> Her first instinct was to run, but then she saw
the defenseless Ranma behind her. She took a deep breath and formed a
barrier between the crazy woman and Ranma with her body. "Please don't
hurt me or my boyfriend!!" Her outstretched arms trembled, betraying her
fear.
The woman blinked. "You must have been one of the pilgrims. He's
not the Son of God, he's an inhuman monster!"
"No, he's not!"
"He is too!!"
"Is not!"
The woman grew tired of arguing with the girl and strode forward.
"I'm sorry, little girl, but you've been deceived."
"I'm sixteen!!"
The woman looked at the girl and tried to figure out how to get her
out of the way without killing her. "Listen... I know you think this
guy's a god, but..."
Deedee's chuckled. "A god? Hardly. He's got a pretty high opinion
of himself, but he's hardly a god. The blue fire he makes is pretty
impressive, but..."
The woman frowned. "Blue? Not black?"
"Nope... blue fireballs. He used them in the swamp in Florida and
here."
"Florida?" The woman looked closely at Ranma and gasped when she
saw the red blood seeping out of his shoulder wound. "Damn... it is
Ranma. How long have you known Ranma?"
"Since August, we work at Disney World together."
"How the hell did he end up there?"
"He killed a dragon and had to repay Disney for it."
The woman nodded and didn't seem to be surprised at that statement
like most people would be. "And you're his girlfriend?"
Deedee looked a little nervous suddenly. "Yeah..."
The woman rolled her eyes. "Yup, only Ranma could end up with a
girlfriend that fast." She paused to scold herself, since she found
herself in a similar predicament. "Akane's going to freak for sure."
Deedee looked closely at the woman and suddenly noticed the
resemblance. "You... you're his sister, Ranko, right?"
The woman smirked and flipped her red pigtail off her shoulder.
"Close. I'm his sister Sanma."
"Oh... yeah. The other lesbian."
Sanma flinched. "I'm not a lesbian!! I'm a guy!"
<Boy, it must be some sort of family delusion.> "Whatever." Deedee
turned back to Ranma and noticed his shoulder was bleeding. "Damn...
he's bleeding again."
Sanma crouched down next to Ranma and helped Deedee bind the wound.
"How did that happen?"
Deedee looked down at the ground. "An alligator bit him."
Sanma grimaced at getting a good look at the wound. "More than just
bit him, it seems."
-C- -M- -D-
Deeod watched the shadows drift by. "Looks like it's just you and
me, Rant. I don't see anyone else," she said in Mandarin.
Rant straightened her sword and looked around. "Yeah, me neither."
"I think you're taking me being dead a little too seriously,
ladies."
Deeod and Rant didn't respond to the voice and continued scanning
the area. They didn't notice the young man in a robe standing by their
side. Or to be more precise, they choose to not notice him. He was dead
after all.
"What do we do now?" Rant asked.
"We find Sanma and Ukyo, together we may be able to destroy the
monolith with two Hiryu Shoten Ha vortexes."
Rant looked down at the ground. "I'm sorry I never managed to learn
it."
Deeod put a hand on Rant's shoulder. "There is no dishonor in not
mastering all the ancient techniques, we each earn honor in our own way.
My mother trained untold others in the cold wind and taught it to me
before she joined our ancestors with honor."
Rant smiled. "I will honor the Amazons and you in this battle." She
looked around. "What if we can't find the others?"
"We die with honor as we take out as much of the Blackness as we
can," Deeod said stoically.
Rant trembled. "We die with honor." Her voice trembled with her
body, betraying her nervousness.
Deeod looked at Rant and smiled. "Don't worry, I plan to die with
honor, but only after we're old and gray." She leaned in and kissed Rant
passionately.
Mousse tolled his eyes. <They are really taking me being dead to a
whole new level. Amazon warriors never kiss each other in front of other
Amazons.> He waited for the kiss to end, but it wasn't a quick kiss any
way you timed it. <I miss Nabiki.>
-C- -M- -D-
Ranma opened his eyes. "Uh?" He tried to get up and grimaced.
"Ouch!!"
"Take it easy, Ranma. Your wound could open up again."
Ranma's eyes focused onto a red pigtail. "Huh? Ran... no... Sanma?
What happened?"
Sanma looked away awkwardly. "Well..."
"Your sister blasted you with one of those fireballs," Deedee
explained, trying to be helpful.
Sanma looked away awkwardly, unable to look Ranma in his eyes.
"Why the hell did you do that!!"
"It's a long story. I'll tell you as we walk, since I don't want to
stay in one place too long. I've already been 'hit and run' a few times
since I arrived." Sanma indicated several cuts on her arms and legs.
With Deedee's help, Ranma got to his feet. "How'd you get here?"
"We got knocked into the monolith by Shuma."
"We? Shuma?"
"I think Ukyo, Mousse, and some Amazons might be here too since
they were close to me when the monolith engulfed us, but I haven't seen
anyone else since I woke up in this place."
"Damn... well, at least now we have a chance of destroying the
heart."
"How'd you get to the Middle East from Florida anyway?"
"Huh? The monolith is in Florida."
"No, it's in a desert in the Middle East. Shuma and his followers
had it hidden there."
Ranma frowned. "Could there be two monoliths? And they're connected
somehow?"
Sanma gasped as he remembered something. "When we destroyed the
first one in Australia, the Matriarch mentioned that the Monoliths are
connected somehow, so I guess it's possible that the two monoliths both
connect to this place." She gestured to the shadows.
Ranma nodded. "What were you doing in the Middle East?"
"Looking for you, but we found Shuma instead."
"So who is this Shuma anyway?"
"The Buyierfei's leader. He's a nasty sucker. I sliced off his head
and arm, but they reattached themselves."
Ranma frowned. "Their leader, huh? Must be one ugly bastard."
"Only in his male form, his female form's a knockout."
"Huh?"
-C- -M- -D-
Ranko hung naked in mid air, supported by dozens of long, black
tentacles.
"Where is the collector?!" a familiar, yet unfamiliar voice called
out.
Ranko tried to look around, but found herself paralyzed and unable
to move. She couldn't even speak.
"Where is the infant collector?!"
A hand was placed on her stomach and Ranko found that she could
suddenly move her head. She looked down at the source of the voice.
"Ranma!! What the hell are you doing here? And where's Akane?!"
Shuma glared down at Ranko. "The Un-cute-one is being attended to."
"I wouldn't let her hear you say that."
"Where is the infant collector?"
"What do..." Ranko suddenly noticed that Shuma's pupils had gray
shadows drifting through them. "Oh no! You're possessed, aren't you?!
Fight it, Ranma!!"
"You were carrying a collector last time... where is it?"
"Carrying? My baby? What do you want Daiji for!"
Shuma grinned menacingly. "The same reason we want you and the
other collectors, for your ability to collect and store massive amounts
of energy. Now where is the infant?!"
Ranko struggled to get up, but only her head would move. "I don't
care if you are my brother, if you hurt my child I'll kill you!!"
"Doubtful. My minions are out searching for the others who have
trespassed in our realm now. When they are found, I will drain you and
the other collectors and discard the useless flesh that remains."
"What others?"
"That is unimportant. They may be invisible to my minions here, but
eventually we will track them down."
Ranko gasped. "Invisible?" She thought back to their first
encounter with the Buyierfei in a monolith. <So, just like they are
invisible to us on the outside, we're invisible to them in here. No
wonder they never seemed to attack directly inside the monolith except
within the heart itself. The glancing blows must be their way to locate
us.>
"Now then..." Shuma squeezed one of her breasts hard enough to make
Ranko grimace. "The seed that was planted allowed me to open a portal
and bring you and the Un-cute-one here, but where is the infant?"
"Dammit, Ranma, you can't let them control you like this!"
"You collectors are all idiots, aren't you? The other female
collector could not see the truth either. I'm am not the male collector,
I am the key, the focus, and the bridge."
"You're not Ranma?'
"You may call me Shuma, if you wish. I am infinitely more powerful
than you mere collectors."
"We'll see about that." Ranko struggled and finally managed to move
her arms, but only a few inches.
"Impressive. You shouldn't be able to move at all, but your
struggles are still fruitless. The limbs that hold you are tapped into
your spinal cord and prevent you from controlling your body. You will
never be able to overcome it, since the blocking just gets stronger the
more you struggle. Now, where is the infant collector?"
"Go to hell!!"
Shuma put his hand around Ranko's neck and squeezed. "Tell me or
I'll snap your neck."
"I'd rather die than let you hurt my baby!!"
Shuma sighed. "In time... but not until I drain you of all that
marvelous energy you have inside you."
Ranko spat at Shuma, hitting his face.
Shuma wiped the spittle off his face. "Was that supposed to hurt
me?"
"No, but it made me feel better."
Shuma casually grabbed Ranko's left arm and twisted it savagely. A
sharp crack was heard. "Then that made me feel better."
"Bastard." Ranko felt no pain from the broken arm because of her
current state of paralysis.
Shuma started to walk away. "Maybe the Un-cute-one will be more
responsive. At the very least the collector she carries will be useful.
It's not as pure as yours, but it will be useful."
Ranko shuddered internally as she realized that Shuma was talking
about Akane's child. "Don't you dare hurt my wife or our child!!" Ranko
could feel her left arm hanging limply at the side, but still couldn't
move anything except her head. "Akane!!"
-C- -M- -D-
Elsewhere, Akane hung naked above the floor. Like Ranko, she was
held in place by a twisted assortment of black tentacles. She could have
sworn she heard Ranko call out her name, but was unsure. She had no idea
how long she had been hanging there paralyzed or if the occasional
sounds she heard were real or imagined. <What's going on? What are they
doing to us?>
Shuma walked up to her and put his arm on her pregnant belly. "Now
then. Where is the infant collector?"
Akane suddenly found that she could move her head and looked down.
"Ranma? Thank goodness... get me out of here!"
Shuma paused and decided to take another approach to the problem.
<If she believes I am the male collector, so be it.> "I'm trying..." He
cupped her head tenderly. "Where is..." He recalled the name that Ranko
had used. "Daiji?"
Akane strained to move, but only her neck muscles showed that
strain. "She's back in Nerima. Please... get me out of here!!"
"Where?"
"Probably at home. Come on, Ranma! Get these tentacles off me!!"
"Yes... yes... of course." Shuma made to pull at the tentacles.
"They won't move. You mean the home that the bitches guard, right? Daiji
is at that home?"
"Right... wait... how do you know Daiji's name? And why did you
call the Amazons..." Akane's eyes went wide. "Who are you!!"
Shuma smiled sweetly. "I'm Ranma."
Akane shuddered. "You're possessed!!
"You caught on faster than the others." Shuma looked away. "But I
guess it doesn't matter, I have the information I need. The seed we
planted earlier allowed us to open a portal and capture you; it will be
no problem to use it again to send my legions out. The other infant
collector will be mine just like this one is." He patted Akane's
pregnant belly and then walked away.
Dread filled Akane. <No... not my children.> She looked around
frantically, but couldn't see anything but the black shifting shadows.
"Leave my children alone, you monster!!"
-C- -M- -D-
Yukiko swore in Mandarin as the bottle of hot water spilled onto
the soft, spongy floor. She looked at the pig. "Sorry."
Ryoga squealed and leapt for the hot water, but it had already
soaked into the ground. He snorted in disgust and then looked around the
world of shadows they had woken up in. "Bweeee?"
Yukiko sighed. "My plan didn't go exactly as I had hoped, but at
least Daiji and the others should be safe." She paused and looked around
trying to catch her bearings. "Hopefully..." She looked down at the pig.
"According to Amazon legends, only the gods can get out of a monolith."
The pig's chin sank.
"But Ranko and Sanma did manage to destroy the heart in Australia."
The pig's spirits brightened.
"Too bad Sanma and Ranma are not in the Nerima monolith. Ranko is,
but she can't destroy the heart by herself and I don't know if I can do
their modified Hiryu Shoten Ha attack."
The pig grew depressed.
Yukiko opened her mouth, giving the pig some hope for a piece of
good news, but she shut her mouth when she didn't have any.
The pig grew more depressed.
Yukiko started to remove the simple housedress she was wearing and
revealed the golden armor of the First Matriarch underneath. She checked
the blanket she had been carrying the pig in and confirmed that the
small bag with Ryoga's things was still there, not that his clothes
would fit him now. She looked down at the pig. "Let's go."
The pig nodded and started trotting along beside Yukiko as she
walked off into the shadows.
-C- -M- -D-
"Sanma!!" Ukyo called out for the thousandth time. Some might say
counting would be a waste of time, but it was all that was keeping Ukyo
sane at that moment. "Sanma!!" One thousand and one.
Ukyo sighed, adjusted the bandage around a wound on her leg and
looked around. "Sanma!" One thousand and two.
-C- -M- -D-
Yukiko dropped to the soft ground and sighed. "I'm exhausted. I
don't even know if we're getting anywhere with all these shadows
shifting around us."
Ryoga sighed and plopped down by her side.
"You want to try another blast?"
The pig shook his snout.
"Don't want to get too tired, huh?"
The pig nodded.
"That's okay, they don't seem to make much difference in the long
run." Yukiko looked around and saw the same thing she had since they had
entered the monolith: shadows, shadows, and more shadows. Gray or black
and nothing in between. She didn't even know how long they had been
inside. "It's odd how I have no sense of time passing at all. One moment
I think we just got here and the next it feels like we've been here a
month or two."
Ryoga squealed his agreement.
Yukiko looked down at the tired pig. "Awww..." She sat down, pulled
him up into her lap, and wrapped him in the blanket. "Must be hard
keeping up with those little hooves."
The pig gave her an irritated look, but seemed to like being curled
up in the blanket.
"We'll find a way out... somehow."
Shuma silently walked up to the huddled woman. "Ah, at last. Give
me the baby!"
Yukiko looked up and gasped at his sudden appearance. "Ranma?
How..."
Shuma exhaled. "Yes, I'm Ranma. Give me the baby."
Something inside Yukiko sensed danger. "Why?"
"I need it to save us all."
Yukiko nodded and got up off the spongy ground. Glancing into the
blanket and winking, she faced the man.
Shuma reached for the blanket and was hit buy a huge surge of
energy. The energy threw him backwards over fifty meters and started to
burn the shadows all around him. The burning continued until an area the
size of a football field was made. In the middle of the burned out area,
Shuma lay in a pool of black goo, which was all that remained of the
Buyierfei that were burned by Ryoga's blast. Now a woman, Shuma got
shakily to her feet and shook the black goo off her body. "What power!!
I was right about the infant collector!"
Yukiko put down Ryoga. "I was right, Ranma's possessed." She
noticed the now female Shuma rise from the pool of black liquid. "And
has his curse back, apparently."
The pig squealed his agreement and glared at Shuma, who was
casually walking up to them. Ryoga started to concentrate on building up
energy for another blast.
Shuma paused when she got a good look at the pig. "Your children
are quite different than your adult forms, aren't they?" She examined
the black skin. "It's amazing that something so beautiful can turn into
something so ugly when it grows up."
Yukiko blinked a few times. <He still thinks Ryoga is Daiji?> She
readied her sword and watched Shuma carefully. "Ranma, we'll save you
from the Blackness, but you have to fight it!!"
"So, you're the head bitch," Shuma remarked, noticing the golden
armor for the first time. To punctuate her statement, she sent a large
black ball of chi at Yukiko.
Yukiko dodged the ball by doing a quick flip to the side and landed
in a noble pose. "Yes, I am the Matriarch of the noble Amazon tribe!"
Her statement was punctuated with a series of blue chi balls thrown by
Ryoga.
Shuma escaped most of Ryoga's blasts, but a couple hit her and
caused her to stagger backwards.
Ryoga started to concentrate on a multitude of depressing thoughts
and started to glow yellow. <I've never seen Akari naked. I'll never see
Akari naked. Akari is really a guy. Akari will eat me for breakfast some
day...>
Shuma ran her hand though her black hair. "I must admit, I was
surprised that you little sluts survived all these years, but as the key
it is my pleasure to pay you back for all the bitches have done to us in
the past."
Yukiko frowned. "Key? The ancient scrolls speak of five parts to
the Buyierfei... The key, the focus, the bridge..."
Shuma nodded. "That is I."
"The fourth is the body, but what about the fifth? The ancient
scrolls never named it..."
"The fifth is not your concern any longer." In one fast movement,
Shuma thrust her arms out in front of her and started to form a large
black chi ball. Ryoga's Shishi Houkou Dan blast enveloped her a split
second before she could release the chi ball at Yukiko.
While the blast engulfed Shuma and the shadows around her, Yukiko
rushed to Ryoga's side. "Ryoga, he's not Ranma!"
The pig looked up at Yukiko with a questioning look.
"I don't know why he looks like Ranma, but there are five parts to
the Buyierfei and if he is what he says he is, then he's their leader.
Or at least that's the closest human term for him."
Ryoga still looked confused.
Yukiko sighed. "That means you don't have to hold back. FRY HIM!"
<What do you think I've been trying to do!> Ryoga thought as he
started to grow depressed that his most powerful attack seemed to only
slowing down the Buyierfei's leader. This of course helped him gather
more energy for another Shishi Houkou Dan blast.
Shuma's skin was entirely black as she crawled out of the new lake
of black goo. "You are correct, I am not the male collector. You may
call me Shuma. But I cannot die."
"That's not what the ancient scrolls say!" Yukiko said as she
jumped at Shuma. Her sword sliced into Shuma's skin, but didn't go deep
before she was pushed away by Shuma and crashed to ground.
Shuma shook her head sadly. "You'll have to cut deeper than that if
you want to make me take notice of you." She shot a black chi ball at
the prone Yukiko.
Yukiko instinctively put her hands up in front of her face as the
chi ball hit her. As she knew it would, the movement saved her life by
allowing the energy to dissipate over the golden robe she wore.
"So, the barrier still exists. Well, don't get too confident, the
first head bitch died in that thing."
Before Yukiko could reply, Ryoga generated another Shishi Houkou
Dan blast that engulfed him, Yukiko, and Shuma in a large fireball.
The blast didn't hurt Ryoga too badly, since he was the source of
the blast. Yukiko was protected by the First Matriarch's armor. Shuma
wasn't as lucky.
-C- -M- -D-
Akane was staring at the shifting shadows like she had been since
Shuma left her. Her shouts for help had gone unanswered and she had
given up on counting to keep track of time after a couple thousand. For
all she knew she had been there for a year already. She would
occasionally close her eyes to keep from becoming nauseated from the
endless shifting shadows, but she still felt compelled to watch from
time to time just to assure herself that she really was trapped inside a
monolith and not just having a bad nightmare.
Suddenly the shadows stopped shifting and Akane's view became an
unmoving patchwork of blank and gray splotches.
Shortly after the shadows stopped moving, Akane felt the tentacles
fall away from her naked body and she fell into someone's arms. Finding
herself released, she put her hand to her pregnant belly and said a
silent thanks that her baby seemed to be unharmed. While she was
paralyzed, she couldn't feel anything below her neck and kept having
horrible thoughts that the Buyierfei would do something to her or her
baby.
She looked up from her belly to her savor and swore. "You!!" She
pushed away and kicked him in the groin. She followed up by thrusting a
chi ball into his face. "Take that!!"
"Akane, stop!!"
Akane looked over and saw Sanma standing with a blond-haired girl.
"Sanma?" She turned back and saw Shuma writhing in pain. But not enough
pain for Akane. "Threaten my children, will you?" She charged up another
chi ball.
Sanma rushed over and deflected her arms, causing the blast to
shoot off harmlessly into the distance. Well, harmlessly for Ranma at
least, the Buyierfei who were vaporized by it were 'harmed' into tiny
pieces. "Akane, don't! He's not Shuma. This is really Ranma."
Akane couldn't believe Sanma would help the Buyierfei. "He's
possessed by the Buyierfei!!"
"No, he's not. Shuma is the name of the Buyierfei's leader and, for
some reason, he looks like Ranma. Actually he can shift into a female
form that looks like Ranko and me as well, only not quite as handsome as
us."
Akane looked down at Ranma and noticed the red blood on his wounded
shoulder. "Oh my..." She reached out to him, but the blond-haired girl
rushed past her and cradled him protectively in her arms.
Deedee checked his shoulder wound and tenderly wiped his face off
with a handkerchief. "You'll be okay, Ranma." She turned and glared at
Akane. "How could you hurt him like that, you bitch!!"
Akane stared at the newcomer; uneasy with the way the girl was
holding Ranma. "Who are you?"
"I'm his girlfriend," Deedee blurted.
Akane's eye twitched. "What?" she growled.
Sanma had taken off her long shirt, leaving her in just her pants
and bra. She put the shirt over Akane's naked shoulders. She hugged
Akane and spoke softly, trying to calm Akane down. "Relax, Akane, it's
just a crush."
"It's not!!"
Akane looked between the three others and sighed. "Figures he'd go
and get another girlfriend. What is it about you three being
irresistible to women... and men for that matter?" she asked
rhetorically, since she knew firsthand exactly how hard it was to not
fall in love with the idiots. She relaxed and strode over to Ranma.
Sanma suddenly looked very uncomfortable.
Deedee still clung protectively to Ranma, while Akane carefully
knelt down in front of him. "Ranma?" She touched his check tenderly.
"Ranma, are you alright?"
Ranma opened his eyes to a glorious sight. "Akane... I've missed
you."
Akane leaned in. "Me too, you idiot." Ignoring Deedee's protests,
she gave him a long kiss.
Ranma held a shaking hand up to her head and savored the touch of
her skin. "I love you."
"Me too."
Ranma looked down and frowned suddenly. "How did Ranko get you
pregnant?"
Akane and Sanma's jaws dropped. After a stunned silence that lasted
several seconds, they started to laugh.
Akane pulled his hand and placed it on her stomach. "It's your
child, silly."
Ranma's eyes when through surprise, amazement, confusion, relief,
and finally settled on happiness. "Oh... wow. I had no idea."
Akane kissed him tenderly. "That's okay. At least you didn't think
I was just fat."
"Who'd be stupid enough to think that?"
"Hey!! She wasn't as far along as she is now!!" Sanma blurted.
Akane chuckled and got to her feet with the help of Sanma and
Ranma. "It's great to have you two back, but how did you get into the
monolith?"
Sanma and Ranma exchanged glances.
Ranma spoke. "Actually, there's two, One in Florida and one in the
Middle East. Sanma and me figure they're connected somehow."
Akane gasped. "What? Oh no... there's three then."
"Three?" Ranma and Sanma asked in unison.
Akane nodded. "Yes, one appeared in Nerima right after school... Oh
no!! Ranko's in here somewhere!!"
They all looked around for a brief moment until a small blue chi
ball came out of nowhere and hit Ranma.
"Get away from him, that's not Ranma!!" a naked Ranko screamed as
she ran towards the group, charging up a larger chi ball with her right
hand. Her left arm hung limply at her side and her buttocks were bruised
from falling on them after the tentacles had released her.
Sanma and Deedee got in front of Ranma to prevent Ranko from
blasting him again.
"Don't hurt my boyfriend!!"
"Don't, Ranko! This is really Ranma and he's not possessed!!"
"Ranko!!" Akane wobbled over to Ranko as fast as her pregnant body
could carry her and hugged her husband. "I've been worried sick about
you since I woke up here."
Ranko had let the chi ball dissipate as Akane rushed to her. She
returned the hug with her good arm, but didn't take her eyes off Ranma.
"I'm telling you he's some sort of monster. He's after Daiji for some
reason!"
Akane shook her head. "No... this is really Ranma."
Sanma nodded. "Yeah, the person we saw on that news show was the
Buyierfei's leader, not Ranma. Ranma was in Florida for some reason."
Ranko frowned. "Are you sure?" Everyone nodded except for Ranma,
who just groaned at his compound injuries. "Who's the blond?"
Akane sighed. "Ranma's girlfriend."
Deedee smiled. "So you finally admit it!!"
Akane glared at Deedee.
Ranko relaxed a bit. "Okay, but if his eyes turn black or he does
anything suspicious, I'll kill him."
"At this rate, I'll die anyway!!" Ranma groaned as he got back to
his feet. "When I find this Shuma bastard, I'll wipe my face off his
head for good!" He wanted to punch his palm, but when he tried to move
his right arm, he grimaced.
"Not to worry, he's dead."
Everyone looked over at the sound of the voice and saw Yukiko walk
up with a bundle in her arms.
Akane and Ranko's eyes went wide when they recognized the blanket's
pattern. "Daiji!!" they shouted in unison and rushed over to their
daughter and/or son.
Ranko reached them first and pulled the blanket down to reveal a
black snout. "Gaaahhhhh!!!"
Akane saw the pig in the blanket and gasped. "What? No... she
couldn't have a pig curse too!"
Yukiko shook her head. "Don't worry, this is Ryoga. Your baby
should be safe back in Japan."
Akane relaxed and then noticed that the pig was pretty beaten up.
"Is he okay?"
"He's just exhausted. He generated a huge blast and killed Shuma."
Yukiko stroked the pig gently and received a little contented squeal in
response.
Ranma eyed Yukiko suspiciously. "So... you're not going to attack
me or anything, are you?"
Yukiko frowned. "No, why would I hurt you?"
Ranma glared at everyone else.
"Hey! I never hurt you!" Deedee insisted, but hit his injured
shoulder when she gestured with her arm. "Oops... sorry."
-C- -M- -D-
Mousse looked around at the static shadows. "I wonder what
happened?"
Rant looked at Deeod. "I wonder what happened?"
Mousse sighed. He was really getting sick of being ignored. Even
the Buyierfei seemed to have ignored him and only done their hit and run
attacks on the two Amazon women. <I'm starting to wonder if I'm really
here.> He pinched himself. "Yeouch!!"
"I'm not sure, but it's a lot easier to see now." Deeod scanned the
area. "We should try to find Ukyo and Sanma while the shadows aren't
distorting our vision."
"I'm right behind you, Leader."
Deeod smiled. "Okay, we spread out and do a running search for
anything except the shadows, but stay within twenty meters of each
other."
"Twenty? A standard running search dictates that searchers should
stay within ten meters of each other."
"I know, but with only two of us, twenty is the best we can do."
Deeod looked Rant directly in her eyes. "We can just imagine that we
have a third searcher in the middle."
"Yes, leader."'
Deeod took off running in a direction that, if asked, she would say
was carefully chosen after examining the area and taking all factors
into account. The truth of the matter was that she just picked a
direction at random. "Amazons never die!!"
Rant repeated the war cry and veered to the left of Deeod to put
about twenty meters between them.
Mousse smiled and ran between the two Amazons. <I guess I really am
here.>
They ran through the endless shadows for what Deeod reckoned was an
hour. Another guess in other words.
"Leader, three o'clock!!"
Deeod reacted without hesitation to Rant's shout. She looked in the
direction indicated and tensed. "Take his head!!"
The three Amazons--well, two Amazons and a dead man--descended on
their enemy with their weapons drawn. Two swords and two arm blades met
where Ranma's neck had been just a second earlier.
Ranma came down from his high leap and knocked the swords out of
the two Amazon's hands. After he landed on the ground, he swept Mousse's
legs out from under him. "Will you jerks stop attacking me!!"
"Mousse!!" Sanma shouted and got between Mousse and Ranma since he
was stall armed. "He's not Shuma, check his wound!!"
Mousse looked at Ranma's shoulder and swore. "It's black!!" He
readied his arm blades.
Sanma looked back at Ranma and swore when he noticed the red blood
had dried into black crusty flakes. "Um... it was red before."
Ranko slid in front of Sanma. She was wearing a yellow shirt that
Yukiko had brought for Ryoga to use after she transformed him back into
a human with the hot water. The hot water she had spilled, that is. "He
really isn't Shuma!" Her left arm was in a sling made up of half of
Ryoga's pants. The other half of the pants were used to help bind
Ranma's wound, which had begun to bleed again.
"Prove it!" Deeod insisted in her rough Japanese.
Ranko frowned. "How?"
"Cut off head. If he die, he not key." Deeod appeared serious.
"That's enough!!" Yukiko commanded in Mandarin as she strode over.
"He is not Shuma."
"Matriarch!!" Deeod and Rant each bowed to her.
"Shampoo!"
Yukiko nodded to Mousse and smiled. "Nabiki should be safe in
Nerima."
A warm feeling washed over Mousse. <How did she know that I was
worried about Nabiki?>
Yukiko looked at her warriors. "Have you been able to make contact
with any of the enemy since they stopped moving?"
Deeod stepped forward. "No, Matriarch. They always seem to be just
out of reach."
Yukiko nodded and looked at the others. "We've been trying to
capture a Buyierfei-" She kissed her fingers and touched her forehead
and the other Amazons followed suit. "-in order to get us out of here.
We're running out of time fast." She glanced at Akane.
Deeod shook her head. "Sorry, Matriarch, we have not seen any
movement except you since the shadows froze."
"I'm afraid we may have ended up trapping ourselves in here when
Ryoga-" Yukiko looked at the little exhausted pig that Akane was
cradling in her arms. "-destroyed Shuma with a powerful chi blast."
"I cannot be destroyed," a voice boomed out in Japanese.
Before they could look for the source of the voice, the shadows
started to shift wildly around them in a dizzying array of mindless
patterns. The group quickly became disoriented as their bodies tried to
adjust to the perceived changes in what was up and what was down.
Yukiko crashed into Mousse and they tumbled a few meters away.
Deeod managed to stay upright until she saw Rant fall. She reached out
to help her wife, but both Amazon warriors ended up tumbling to the
ground.
Sanma called on all her balance training to stay upright, but still
couldn't find the source of the voice.
"That voice..." Akane called out as she lost her battle to stay
vertical and toppled over, just barely managing to get her hands out in
front of her to keep her belly from hitting the ground. Unfortunately
for Ryoga, she ended up dropping him in the process.
"It's..." Ranko gasped before she tripped over the dropped pig.
"My voice!!" Ranma blurted as he desperately tried to find the
source of the voice in the madness that had enveloped them all. He
looked around and swore when he saw a few glowing spatulas heading
directly towards him. "I'm not..." His denial that he was not the
Buyierfei's evil, but handsome, leader was only half out of his mouth
when the spatulas hit. Ranma was very amazed when they didn't hit him.
Thankful, but still amazed.
Just as he was about to grab Akane and pull her away, the spatulas
hit Shuma and exploded. He cried out loudly as the chi tore into his
recently reformed flesh and he was thrown backwards by the force of the
blasts. The shadows slowed and shuddered briefly before settling into
their normal slow moving shifting. Well, as normal as anything inside
the monoliths could be.
Ranma looked at the source of the spatulas and smiled. "At last,
someone didn't blast me!!"
Ukyo gasped as she staggered into sight. "Oh... Ranma? Good thing I
didn't notice you or I might have attacked you instead."
Ranma muttered something, but went unheard as a series of blasts
rang out after Ranko, Sanma, and even Akane sent balls of chi at Shuma.
Ranma's blast was a little behind the rest, but it did impact Shuma's
body and added to the damage inflicted by the others.
Unfortunately, Shuma seemed to shrug of the first series of blasts.
Sanma took the lead, more out of proximity than anything else.
"Akane, get behind us! Take the blonde bimbo and the pig with you!"
"How rude!" Deedee exclaimed, but picked up the exhausted pig and
helped Akane away from the raging battle. She noticed Akane flinch. "Are
you okay?"
Akane nodded. "Yeah... just a twinge."
Yukiko and the two Amazon women tried to circle around to get at
Shuma's back, but stopped when Rant was grabbed by a long tentacle and
pulled away.
"Rant!!" Deeod shouted and slashed at the central mass of the
Buyierfei that had appeared. The Buyierfei disintegrated and freed Rant,
but Deeod soon found herself fighting more of the demons.
Yukiko scanned the area all around them. She saw some movement out
of the corner of her eye and threw a handful of darts in that direction.
They impacted several Buyierfei and revealed their locations with
bloodspots. "Stay sharp, there are Buyierfei closing in on us!!" She
leapt at the nearest floating bloodspots and sliced a Buyierfei in two
with her sword.
Mouse sliced some Buyierfei in half with his arm blades and looked
at Yukiko. "Why are they attacking us so directly now?"
"I'm not sure, but it's probably because Shuma can see us, so as
the focus, he can tell the others where to find us." Yukiko was a blur
as she explained and hacked into the attacking creatures.
Mousse thought it sounded logical and looked at the group that was
fighting Shuma. "I hope they can deal with him."
Ukyo landed by Sanma's side. "I'm glad I found you!"
Sanma sent off a blast at Shuma and smiled at Ukyo. "I'm more glad.
How'd you see Shuma in that mess?"
"Just lucky, I guess." Ukyo kept her eyes on Shuma while she ran
her hand up her bandoleer, counting her remaining spatulas as she did
so. She wasn't happy with the low count, but she charged up one of them
and sent it flying at Shuma. She swore when it missed him. "After
wandering in this nightmare for a long time, I finally saw you and the
others. I was running towards you all when the shadows went haywire.
That was when I saw Shuma coming up from behind Akane.
"Well, glad to be fighting alongside you again." Sanma flashed a
dashing smile at Ukyo.
Ukyo grinned knowingly. "Yeah, me to." She glanced back at Akane.
"How'd everyone else get here?"
"There are three monoliths. The others are in Florida and Nerima,"
Sanma quickly explained as she shot a chi ball at Shuma. He swore when
he saw a black creature flicker and fall to pieces right in front of
Shuma. "Shit, he's using his 'troops' as a shield. What kind of monster
is he?!"
Shuma grinned and answered Sanma's rhetorical question. "You were
willing to cut off your own brother's head to save the woman, why is
this different?"
Ranma blinked. "What was that?"
Sanma smiled awkwardly at Ranma. "Um... well, you see..."
Ukyo tugged Sanma out of the way of a black chi ball Shuma had
tossed at them. "Save that for later!" she shouted and slashed at some
unseen Buyierfei with her giant spatula. They appeared right where she
had thought they were and fell to the ground in pieces.
The battle raged as the Buyierfei started to close in tighter and
tighter on the hopelessly outnumbered group. Akane helped by sending
small golf ball sized chi blasts into the surrounding area. Although
small, her shots helped the Amazons to locate their attackers.
Occasionally, Akane would send out a larger blast to clear the area of
the attacking Buyierfei. But as much as she wanted to help defend the
group, she knew she was in no condition to be fighting hand to hand with
the creatures. Actually, she wasn't exactly sure she should even be
doing the chi blasts so close to her due date, but she didn't have much
choice in the current situation. <Well, my doctor never told me not to.>
She generated a large ball and sent it screaming into Shuma's chest.
"Wow..." Deedee gasped at seeing the large blast engulf Shuma.
Akane tried to ignore the blonde. <What on earth could have
possessed Ranma to get involved with such a young girl?>
The three Ranmas spent most of their time fighting Shuma. They took
turns blasting him and so far had kept him from forming any of his black
chi blasts.
"Dammit!" Ranma swore after another of his blasts impacted Shuma's
body, only causing the Buyierfei's leader to stumble back a few feet.
The smug look on his face only made Ranma's angrier. "I am sick and
tired of you using my face, asshole!!" He jumped forward and aimed a
punch at Shuma's face.
Shuma laughed. "Perhaps this is better then?" Suddenly, his body
shrank and filled out the outfit she was wearing. The black shirt and
pants were torn in several places, but was holding up well considering
the number of chi blasts she had received already. Shuma grinned when
Ranma's punch went over her head due to her change in size.
Ranma swore when his punch missed Shuma, but recovered fast and
spun around and landed a savage kick that would have probably broken the
backbone of a normal human. Shuma just fell face forward onto the
ground. "Shit..." Ranma wiped some blood off his lip. "He's cursed?"
Sanma nodded. "Yeah... really annoys me that he can do it without
water." Seeing an opening, Sanma rammed the blade of her spatula down on
Shuma's leg, severing it. Not giving Shuma time to recover, Sanma spun
the blade up and then brought it down on Shuma's neck.
Or where Shuma's neck had been. Even without her leg, Shuma had
rolled to the side as the blade descended towards her neck. As she
rolled, she then sent a black, medium-sized chi ball at Sanma and Ranko
who was right behind her sister.
Sanma dove out of the way, pulling Ranko with her. A pair of pained
cries rang out.
The first was from Ranko as her broken arm impacted the ground.
"Urrkkk!"
The second was from Ukyo when the black chi ball hit the left side
of her torso. "Arghhhhh!!!" She clutched her burned stomach and crumpled
to the ground. Blood flowed from the burn and started to seep into the
soft ground.
"Ukyo!!" Sanma shouted and leapt towards Ukyo, forgetting about the
battle.
Ranko and Ranma swore when they saw Ukyo go down, but cringed when
they heard Shuma behind them.
"One down," Shuma casually commented as her leg finished
reattaching itself. She smiled and transformed back into a man. The
smiled vanished when two chi balls thrown by Ranma and Ranko hit him.
Sanma dropped her spatula at Ukyo's side and lifted the wounded
woman into her arms. "Ukyo! Hang in there!!" She started to fumble with
what was left of Ukyo's shirt and swore when the wound was fully
revealed. The burn went from her left thigh, covered half of her
stomach, and burned through the bindings over her breasts. <Crap... I
shouldn't have moved out of the way... it's all my fault.>
Ukyo's eyes were closed. A spasm shook her body and she coughed
violently. Dark red blood flowed out of the side of her mouth. "Sanma?"
she gasped.
"I'm here." Sanma used Ukyo's shirt to bind the wound, stanching
the flow of blood.
"Sanma... I'm sorry I couldn't be of more help."
"Don't say that! You helped a lot. We'll get out of here and get
that little wound taken care of."
Ukyo opened her eyes and looked at Sanma. "I... don't think so."
Tears started to pool in Sanma's eyes. "Ukyo, don't you dare give
up on me!! I won't let you die now that we've found each other!!" She
bent down and kissed Ukyo, ignoring the blood. "I love you."
Ukyo held a shaking hand to Sanma's face and smiled. "I love you
too... but... but maybe it wasn't meant to be."
Sanma shuddered. "Dammit, Ukyo!! We'll find happiness together!!"
She screamed. "Just don't give up!!"
Ukyo coughed. "I won't... I still have to..." She coughed again.
"Marry you, don't I?"
Sanma smiled. "Yes... as soon as we get out of here..."
"Sanma?"
Sanma cringed at hearing the troubled voice and looked over at
Akane. "Akane... I..." A coughing fit from Ukyo distracted Sanma's
attention and she looked down at her lover.
"What... what is going on between you two?" Akane asked, unable to
believe what was happening. Not to mention WHERE it was happening.
Sanma looked between Ukyo and Akane, her heart tearing in half.
"Akane... I never meant to hurt you. It just happened."
Akane shuddered. "It just happened?!" An angry red battle aura
appeared around Akane.
Like most people would, Deedee flinched backwards when Akane
started to glow and ended up falling on her back. "Eeekkk!!"
Ranma turned at the cry and saw Akane's aura. "What's wrong?"
Deedee looked at Ranma. "Apparently your sister--who is not a
lesbian, but IS a man despite her breasts--is dumping your sister's
wife--who is the mother of your child and is also not a lesbian despite
being married to your sister--for this other girl." She pointed at Ukyo.
"I don't know her real sex or sexual orientation."
Ranma's jaw dropped. "What??"
Mousse crashed to the ground after being hit by a Buyierfei. "Can
you save this until after we get out of here?!"
Ranma swore and returned his attention to Shuma, who had just
lifted Ranko up by her neck. "Shit!!" Ranma shot a chi ball at Shuma's
face and jumped at him at the same time. The chi ball exploded right on
target and Ranma's feet impacted the side of Shuma's body a split second
later. Ranma's kick sent Shuma flying away from them.
Released from the strong grip, Ranko dropped to the ground and
grunted. "Arghhh!" And then screamed when she tried to get up. She
gripped her broken arm. "We've got to end this now!!"
Ranma nodded. "Yes..."
Sanma put Ukyo gently down on the ground and straightened the
okonomiyaki chef's hair. "Hang in there Ukyo. I'll end this nightmare
now..." She gave Ukyo a tender kiss, hoping it wouldn't be the last.
Ukyo coughed. "Be careful."
"I will." Sanma wrapped her hand around the handle of the giant
spatula she had dropped at Ukyo's side. She paused and looked at Ukyo's
other spatula lying a few feet away. She got to her feet and looked at
Akane as she strode over and picked up the second combat spatula. "I'm
sorry, Akane. We wanted to tell you... but... but..." She took a deep
breath. "I'm sorry." Sanma glared at Shuma and started walking with a
determined look on her face. Determined to kill. "We'll talk after I
take care of this bastard."
Akane was lost for words as she watched Sanma walk towards Shuma.
She found herself unable to release her anger at anyone under the
current situation. Ukyo was out of the question in her wounded state.
Sanma and the others were in the middle of a life or death battle. She
did glance briefly at Deedee, but decided getting angry with her
wouldn't help in the current situation either. She could tell that there
wasn't a real relationship between her and Ranma, it was just a crush,
but with Ukyo and Sanma she could somehow sense that it was more than a
simple crush. She looked over at someone she had considered her best
friend and wondered if she could ever think of her that way again.
"Ukyo..."
Ukyo couldn't look at Akane. "I'm sorry, Akane, I never meant to
hurt you..." She coughed violently.
Akane looked down at the blanket that Ryoga was curled up in and
paused, uncertain what to do. "Deedee..."
The blond girl responded hesitantly. "Y... yes?"
"Can you please put the blanket over Ukyo to keep her warm?" Akane
turned away and looked at the battle.
Deedee nodded. She picked up the blanket and walked over to Ukyo.
She cringed a little at seeing all the blood and the burn marks. She
pulled the pig out the blanket and put him down by Ukyo's uninjured
side. The pig shivered, but curled up against the warm body. Deedee
knelt down and covered the woman and pig with the blanket. "Um... do you
need anything else?"
Ukyo shook her head slightly. "No..."
Elsewhere, Sanma strode stiffly up to Ranma and Ranko. "Back me
up."
Ranma shook his head. "No, we do this as a team!"
Sanma glared at Ranma. "This is my fight!"
Ranma could see the pain and concern in his sister's eyes. He stood
aside and let Sanma pass.
Ranko glared at Sanma. "How could you?"
"I didn't mean to hurt Akane... it just happened." Sanma held a
spatula in each hand and started to charge them up. The cloth wrapped
around the handles kept the energy from burning her.
Ranma and Ranko looked very surprised when they noticed the green
energy flicker across the blades.
"Wha..."
Sanma shook off any further questions when he saw Shuma walk back
out of the shadows where Ranma's kick had sent him. "Save the questions
until I kill this bastard." She hefted the glowing spatulas in her hands
and jumped towards Shuma.
Shuma grinned as he sidestepped Sanma's attack. "You know, it's
only a matter of time..." His current boast was cut off when Sanma
smashed one glowing spatula across Shuma's face. "Urk..." The chi burned
Shuma's face, leaving a mass of black and twisted flesh in it's wake.
The other spatula cut a deep gash down Shuma's leg. Black blood oozed
out of the wound.
"I'm not listening to your damn boasts anymore. I'm here to kill
you and stop this madness." Sanma swung a glowing spatula at Shuma's
neck. "Once and for all!!"
Shuma dodged the blade and lashed out with his foot. "You tried
before and failed." His face was already starting to heal from Sanma's
first blow, but was still visibly burned.
Sanma grunted when Shuma's foot impacted her stomach. "Dammit." As
she regained her balance, she felt one of her spatulas ripped out of her
hands and tossed aside by Shuma.
Shuma nonchalantly examined the burn on his hand that gripping the
spatula had caused. "These burns will heal long before your death will
heal." He advanced on Sanma.
Ranma sent a couple chi balls into Shuma's body to buy Sanma some
time. "Sanma, don't let your anger get out of control!!"
Sanma smiled and sent some more energy into her single spatula.
"It's not anger that drives me... it's love." She briefly glanced back
at Ukyo and then jumped into the air, laying down a carefully positioned
series of blasts to get Shuma into the right position. She landed by
Shuma's side and lashed out with the handle of the spatula.
Shuma avoided the handle's blow. He had expected that move because
Sanma had used a similar attack during their first battle. But he didn't
expect the leg sweep that Sanma followed up with. Shuma crashed to the
ground and then saw the sharp blade descend towards his neck.
Sanma's eyes glowed with hate, not love, as the blade neared her
hated enemy's neck.
Shuma grabbed the handle of the spatula just below the wide blade,
stopping it just before it sliced off his head. The flesh of Shuma's
hand sizzled as the energy from Sanma's spatula burned into his flesh.
"Can you really kill your own offspring?"
"Of course I..." Sanma's eyes went wide as Shuma's words sunk in.
"What?!"
Shuma sneered, ignoring the burning flesh of his hand. "I was
created from the infant collector you carried when you first intruded
into and unlocked our realm." Shuma tilted his head. "So, can you still
kill me... Mother?"
Sanma trembled. "No... you're trying to trick me." She pressed down
on the handle, but Shuma's grip was firm and the blade didn't budge.
"We had wanted to take the other infant collector too, but you
broke the seal earlier than any mere cattle should have been able to."
Ranko gasped and put her hand over her stomach and said one word.
"Daiji."
Sanma shuddered and dropped onto her knees, the spatula held
tightly in her clenched fist. "No..."
A scream rang out across the group.
Sanma still stared at Shuma, unable to tear her eyes from her
'child'.
Ranma looked over and saw Deedee supporting a very distressed
Akane.
"What's wrong?!" Ranma shouted.
"Her... her water just broke." Deedee looked down at the ground,
which was covered with glowing water.
***********************************************************************
>From the personal journal of James Davidson:
October 30, 2057
"Glowing?" I asked, glancing at Yohachi.
Yohachi rolled his eyes. "Why does everyone always make a big deal
out the fact that the water was glowing?"
"Well... that's not normal."
Yohachi puffed up his chest. "I'm a Saotome... nothing normal about
us."
I chuckled and looked at Akane. "What a place to go into labor."
Akane sighed. "I can't think of anyplace worse."
I wasn't sure how to bring this next question up, but I had to.
"Was the Buyierfei's leader really Sanma's child?"
Akane cringed and glanced at her husband, who was sitting in one of
those fake stone waterfalls that were all the rage these days. Come to
think of it, I gave my mom that one last Christmas. The frog nodded.
"Some people are not going to like finding that out."
Akane nodded. "I know. But it's time the world knew the full story.
I did promise you the full truth when we started our interviews..."
"In your own good time, of course."
Akane nodded. "Well, I never said *WHEN* I'd tell you the truth."
She looked at my mom. "I think maybe it's getting too late to continue
tonight. We should go back to the hotel."
My mom opened her weary eyes. "No... no... I'm fine."
I could see she was pushing herself. "Well, I'm beat. And the
mother of my child needs her rest."
Hanaki understood what I was trying to do. "Yeah... I'm sleeping
for two now." She patted her stomach and then stretched her arms.
"You all have to work on your subtle coaxing," my mom commented,
smiling. "But I appreciate the thought."
[End - Chapter 29]
Coming soon: Chapter 30: The Wedding in the Storm's Belly; Kiss Me
Before I Die
=======================================================================
The real author's (Jim Lazar) notes/ramblings:
And the blackness hits the fan. Hang in there... things are bit rough in
the next chapters.
I'd like to thank my pre-readers David Johnson, EBJ, Thomas C. Kinnen,
Jyh-I Lu, and Michael A. Chase for helping me find and fix problems with
this story. FFML members Doug Whiddon and Michael Gilson were also
helpful in fine tuning this story. Thank you all. Of course in the end,
any mistakes and botched characters are my fault.
Revision 0.0 - Rough draft began (December 5, 1999)
Revision 0.1 - Rough draft finished (December 17, 1999)
Revision 0.3 - Pre-reader draft (January 23, 2000)
Revision 0.4 - FFML draft (February 3, 2000)
Revision 1.0 - Final version (February 23, 2000)
--
Jim Lazar
E-Mail - mailto:jimlazar@animeprime.com
FanFiction - http://www.animeprime.com/ff
Please sign the Uncut Kite Petition -
http://www.crosswinds.net/~jimlazar/kite.html
-=-
Ranko leaned in and kissed Ukyo again. Mostly she wanted to know if
the same feeling was there again. It was.
At this moment, being the worse possible moment for them to do so,
Ranma and Akane came into the restaurant looking for Ranko. They found
her, but neither of them expected to find her like this.
"What the hell are you doing with my fiancee!" Akane shouted.
-=-
Excerpt from Childhood of a Modern Dynasty Chapter 5