[Ranma][Fanfic] Adulthood of a Modern Dynasty - Chapter 10: The Black Wars "Death" ======================================================================= Adulthood of a Modern Dynasty Chapter 10: The Black Wars "Death" Ranma 1/2 characters/situations created and copyright by Rumiko Takahashi/Shogakukan/Kitty/Fuji/Viz - Used without permission Adulthood of a Modern Dynasty series created, written, and copyright 2000-2001 by Jim Lazar An ongoing series set after the end of the Ranma 1/2 manga and anime. For maximum enjoyment of this fanfic series, please read my Childhood of Modern Dynasty series before reading Adulthood. E-mail comments and/or criticisms to: jim [at] animeprime.com Make sure to check out my Modern Dynasty website for all released AMD stories, graphics files, and other information: http://www.animeprime.com/ff/md ======================================================================= Some more violent and bloody events unfold in this chapter. ======================================================================= May 10, 2009 - Moscow, Russia (Black Wars Day 11) Death... The setting sun could be seen in the western skies over Moscow, just barely making the outline of the domes and spires of St. Basil's Cathedral visible. No streetlights were lit in the area surrounding Red Square as they normally would be. Instead, searchlights scanned the sky and ground for signs of any movement. Near where the outline of the Kremlin's buildings traced a faint line across the Moscow night sky, a single rectangular silhouette could be seen. It was a new and very unwelcome addition to that historic city of domed buildings. A Russian Army officer--whose three stars on his uniform's shoulders identified him as a colonel-general of the Russian Army--watched that silhouette through binoculars. From the edge of the inner evacuation zone three kilometers from the monolith, which ran along a circular street known as the 'Garden Ring'. A much larger area was still in the process of being evacuated, but this perimeter had been the first to be evacuated after some bureaucrat deemed it was the 'minimum safe distance' from the Fifth Monolith. Mostly based on the amount of destruction caused by the explosion of the Tokyo monolith in ninety-nine. If it exploded with the same power of the Florida or Africa monoliths, all bets were off. That's why that particular bureaucrat was directing operations from a plane headed away from Moscow. "Still no signs of that... thing that killed that reporter and his cameraman," the colonel-general said. A man in a wrinkled uniform bearing a single large star stood stiffly at the colonel-general's side. "It had better not gotten out of the cordon, General." "There haven't been any breeches reported since then, Marshal." "What do you think our chances are, General?" "Not good, Sir. The Americans tried all kinds of conventional explosives to take out the First. All without any success until it suddenly exploded by itself." "We can't afford to wait for that to happen here." "No, Sir." "We'll wait for the city to be evacuated before proceeding with the plan." "Yes, Si..." the colonel-general's view through his binoculars was suddenly cut off. Lowering them, he looked up and saw a nightmare standing over him. Shuma smiled. "You should have left with the other cattle," he said in rough Russian as he reached a hand out toward the colonel-general. Before the hand could reach its victim, a gunshot rang out and blood erupted from Shuma's outstretched hand as a bullet tore through it. "Get back, Viktor!" the marshal shouted as he re-aimed his gun at Shuma's head. He hesitated just long enough for a black chi ball to blow his head apart. Shuma lowered the hand that had just fired that chi ball and grasped the colonel-general's shirt with it, his black blood from his bullet wound flowing down the Russian's uniform. "You cattle are such fun, thinking a little toy like that can hurt me." The colonel-general struggled in the inhumanly strong grasp. Finally, he managed to get his hand on his sword and pulled it from its sheathe. Shuma quickly knocked the sword out of his victim's grip. Pulling the colonel-general up within centimeters of his split face. "Do I look pretty?" His captive flinched at the unexpected question. "What?" "Do I look pretty?" "Um... yeah." Shuma smiled and his eyes turned completely black. The colonel-general screamed and started to grow pale. "Let him go!!" Shuma continued to drain the helpless colonel-general as he looked slowly over at the small squad of men led by a very nervous looking sergeant. "Wait your turn." The sergeant opened fire with his automatic rifle. Shuma pulled the colonel-general's body between him and the bullets. "Kill them." The sergeant gasped and looked around just in time to see the men on his left impaled by black tentacles. He rolled to the side and sprayed the empty area around him with bullets. "Crap," he spat when dozens of floating black wounds appeared in front of him and his men. -A- -M- -D- May 14, 2009 - Moscow, Russia (Black Wars Day 15) A small plane swayed against the blue sky it flew through, its single engine sputtering and belching black smoke. Inside, its twenty occupants were crammed into every available spot--and then some--behind the pilot and the busty Amazon in the co-pilot seat. Ranko moved Ranma's elbow out of her face. "Why does she get to sit up there?" Ranma grimaced. "Hairwax doesn't exactly bathe regularly." Ranko sighed and looked at the large Amazon. "Or shave regularly either." "I hope this works... I'd rather be on a real plane." "Me too, but they aren't exactly flying regular flights... anywhere." A pig squealed as Ranma shifted to the side to work out a kink in his leg due to the close quarters. "Sorry, Ryoga." The pig huffed irritably and tried to find an Amazon lap to sit on, but with all the armor, swords, and large breasted women in the small, confined space, there wasn't much room to breathe, let alone move. Which was why, in order to save space, Ryoga was flying as a pig. He might not have liked it, but getting an extra Amazon on the small plane might help their chances when they reached their destination. As the neared Moscow, the radio crackled into life. "Unknown aircraft, this is Russian emergency headquarters. You are entering restricted airspace. Turn around and leave Moscow airspace immediately," a voice said in Russian and then repeated in English. The pilot looked nervously at his Amazon co-pilot and gulped. "Tell them," Hairwax said in Japanese, scratching her stubble. The pilot reached for his microphone and spoke into it. "This is THX-1138, I have Amazon warriors on board. Repeat, I have Amazon warriors on board," he explained quickly in Russian. "Amazons?" the radio asked back. "Yes, Amazons armed to the teeth and requesting to fight the Blackness," the pilot repeated the words he had used every time he had been challenged on their flight from eastern Russia. He had been paid a sizable sum for his services, but he was starting to think it wasn't enough. A silent pause followed. When the radio crackled again, a different voice came out of it. "Understood. Proceed and good luck. Be advised that there are no open airports in the area." "Like I'd land anywhere near that thing," the pilot mumbled to himself. When he had first accepted the charter to fly the group west from Vladivostok, he had thought they meant to land near Moscow. Instead he found himself heading towards the towering black monolith in the center of Moscow and cursing the day he ever accepted the contract from Flying Duck Corporation, a little corporation Nabiki Tendo uses for... shall we say... less politically correct endeavors. Nothing illegal, mind you, but not exactly the type of business she wanted associated with Tendo Enterprises. -A- -M- -D- Ranko stood in the open doorway of the plane, holding onto the sides of the frame for dear life. "Are you sure about this?!" she yelled behind her. "NOPE!!" Ranma yelled back and pushed his sister out of the plane. He gulped as he saw her plummet downward. "Shit..." A pig squealed and Ranma looked downwards to the pig that was strapped to his chest. "Be quiet, it's not my fault there's no such thing as a pig-sized parachute!" he yelled and then jumped out of the plane. The other Amazons followed him out and soon the plane was making a beeline for anywhere but there, the pilot not even caring where his passengers landed. His job was over with and he had already done more than he had agreed to do when he accepted his payment. Ranko's chute deployed and she was yanked skyward. "Crap..." she yelled as the straps dug into her breasts. As she started to descend towards the ground below, she tried to remember what the jumpmaster who had given them their instructions had said. Ranma was screaming as his chute deployed. A look of joy spread across his face when he realized something. "We're going to live, Ryoga!" The pig's squeal sounded a lot like 'no kidding, you chicken'. Ranma was feeling real good as he started to float downwards. Then he looked down. Below the dangling feet of Akane's two husbands, the feet of eighteen large-breasted women, and the hooves of one pig; Russian soldiers could be seen fighting... nothing. "Buyierfei below!! Ranma shouted, but the other attackers who were dropping from the sky with him couldn't hear him. They knew anyway. The Amazons all braced for the impact with the fast approaching ground, mentally preparing to grab their swords and other weapons, which were strapped tightly to their backs under their parachute packs. Ranko looked over her shoulder and verified that the disassembled naginata--which was essentially a short, heavy sword blade on the end of a pole about two meters long--was still strapped to her back. Like Ranma, she had powerful chi blasts to use in their attack on the Buyierfei, but their father-in law had insisted that having a good blade in your hands would be useful against a foe such as the Buyierfei. Kasumi's detailed descriptions of tentacle puncture wounds didn't hurt Soun's case one bit. Ranma had a similar naginata strapped to his back, with an umbrella and small pack strapped beside it. He scanned the area below, looking for a spot to land that wasn't embroiled in battle. He didn't relish landing in the only spot he saw without active combat, but aimed for it anyway. As he and the other Amazons neared the open area in front of the monolith, a black chi ball flew past him, punching a small hole in his parachute. "Crap!!" As he struggled with his guide handles to stabilize his descent, he looked down at the 'empty' area below where the chi ball had come from. "Double crap!" he shouted and sent a stream of chi balls into the plaza below. As several wounded Buyierfei appeared below him, he started to spin uncontrollably. "Triple crap..." he spat as he managed to halt his spin. "Not a good idea to use chi attacks from the sky, I guess." He remembered the fast approaching ground just before he hit. He tucked his legs and rolled as the force of the landing sent a shooting pain up his spine. Coming out of his roll, he ignored the pain and pulled the cord to detach his parachute. After unstrapping and tossing Ryoga away from him, he flicked the release catches on the straps holding the naginata and umbrella to his back. He sent the umbrella and pack spinning towards where he had thrown the pig and pulled the three pieces of the naginata into his hands. Thrusting the blade of the disassembled weapon forward, he grinned as a Buyierfei appeared at the end. Thrusting upwards, he snapped one of the pieces of the pole into the base of the blade. As the Buyierfei fell into pieces in front of him, he snapped the last piece onto the naginata and swung it around in a wide arc, catching a second Buyierfei before it could impale him from behind with it's outstretched tentacles. None too soon for Ryoga, Ranma grabbed a small canister from his belt and tossed it aside as he scanned the area for friend and foe. Ryoga tumbled to the pavement and swore, but it came out as a squeal. Then the canister Ranma had thrown hit his head and he swore again. That curse started as a squeal, but turned into Japanese when the hot water flowed out of the canister and onto his little pig body. "...it, Ranma! You could have been more careful where you threw me!" he cried as he rolled to the side and grabbed his umbrella. Slashing in wide arcs, he sent one Buyierfei flying across Red Square to end it's life against the side of a large red brick building, which now sported a black stain that looked like an oversized mosquito that had hit a windshield. The end of this umbrella impaled another Buyierfei even before the splattered black flesh had started to drip to the ground.. Twisting the umbrella, he snapped it open and shredded the internal structure of the Buyierfei. As the Buyierfei dropped in pieces to the ground, he scooped up the pack and pulled out his clothes. Leaping into the air to avoid any Buyierfei on the ground, he did an impressive naked summersault in mid air and was dressed by time he landed and dissected his next Buyierfei. Earlier when she was nearing the ground, Ranko saw Ranma spin out of control because of the use of his chi attacks. She decided to not repeat that mistake. When she noticed that she was heading right for a swarm of Buyierfei made partially visible by Ranma's blasts she quickly changed her mind. Trying not to spin like Ranma had Ranko let go of her handles and alternated sending chi balls from each hand into the hordes of Buyierfei below. She rocked back and forth in her harness, clearing a path below her. More out of luck than skill, she landed on her feet and ran to slow herself down. Then she was violently jerked back and ended up on her butt. "Shit..." She looked back and saw the unmistakable figure of Shuma standing on her parachute. "Uh oh..." Releasing a series of chi balls across the area first, she undid her harness and leapt to her feet. Spinning around she sent a large chi ball screaming towards Shuma. Or at least where he had been. Ranko only realized that Shuma had jumped into the air and landed behind her when she felt his cold hands around her neck. "Urk..." she gasped as she tried to pull Shuma's hands from her neck before her windpipe was crushed. "Get your hands off of me, you monster," she croaked. "Is that any way to talk to your child, Mot... no... you're the other female collector," Shuma said in his gravely voice. Casually looking to the side, he ducked just before Ranma's chi blast hit his scarred face. Ranko took advantage of Shuma's momentary distraction to thrust upwards with her arms, breaking Shuma's hold on her neck. "I don't know how you survived, but-" She slammed a chi ball into Shuma's face "-I'm going to make sure it's a short resurrection." Shuma shook off the chi blast and thrust out a hand to grab Ranma's naginata right under the blade before it sliced into his flesh. "I've told you collectors before, I-" He swung out with his leg while he pulled the naginata. "-cannot die." Ranma gasped as Shuma's foot made contact with his stomach, but kept his grip on the pole of his naginata. Swinging the poleaxe-like weapon down and wrenching it out of Shuma's grip, he used it like a pole vaulter would to get behind Shuma. Lashing out with a kick as a cover for his real attack, he sent a chi ball into Shuma's back. A series of blasts from Ranko joined it and sent waves of burning chi washing across Shuma's body. "Foolish," Shuma cried out, his voice strained as if he was in pain. He sent two chi balls flying from his fingers, jumping backwards to gain him some room in the close quarters fight. Ranma and Ranko easily avoided the quick blasts. Elsewhere in the battle, Ryoga was shredding Buyierfei after Buyierfei with his umbrella. Thankful that he had taken the time to sharpen the ribs before taking off for Moscow, he alternated chi blasts and umbrella thrusts into the swarms of Buyierfei that he and the Amazons had caught between them and the Russian soldiers. Russian soldiers and the Chinese Amazons hacked into the Buyierfei they had surrounded Buyierfei. The hand-forged steel swords of the Amazons sliced and diced in time with the manufactured hi-tech steel swords of the Russians. The Buyierfei making a sickening squealing sound as they died. Unfortunately, those deaths were not had without the price of the lives of some of the human warriors. It was war after all. Ranma and Ranko's part in the war seemed to be endless. If they attacked together, Shuma evaded. If they attacked alternately, Shuma countered with chi blast and some savage hits. "So, I see you're having a problem with your sexual orientation," Ranma taunted as he sent a stream of chi balls flashing after Shuma. In an impressive display of footwork, Shuma danced around the small explosions caused by Ranma's chi balls. "Thanks to you, I'm not pretty any more." Ranko smirked and rammed the blade of her naginata into Shuma's foot, pinning him to the ground. "You may have had our good looks, but there was and is nothing pretty about a monster like you," she spat as she landed dozens and maybe hundreds of kicks and punches to Shuma's body. Taking advantage of their stationary enemy, Ranma blasted Shuma's back with a wide chi beam. Shuma cried out in pain as the flesh on his back started to burn. Ripping his foot off the blade--and losing several chunks of the foot's half human-half Buyierfei flesh in the process--Shuma pivoted sideways. Momentarily caught off guard by the shift in her opponent, Ranko stumbled forward. "Crap..." Ducking down, she just barely managed to avoid having her face pulverized by a savage punch by Shuma. She rolled to the side as Ranma blasted Shuma in the face. Shuma did a back flip. "I think it's time I introduce you to my son." Ranma blasted a chunk out the pavement where Shuma had been and swore. "What the hell are you talking about, you bastard?" Shuma glanced at a group of Russian soldiers. "My son." Ranma wasn't sure what he meant until he saw one of the Russian soldiers explode into tiny fragments of charred black flesh. The other soldiers dispersed rapidly and revealed a glowing Buyierfei lashing out with its gold tentacles. "Wha..." "My son." Shuma grinned as another Russian soldier met a sudden death at the touch of his golden progeny. Ranma and Ranko sent several chi balls at the creature, while keeping an eye on Shuma. "Crap," she spat when it shook off the attacks without showing any damage. "We have to get that thing fast or a lot of people are going to die." Shuma cackled. "Yes, they will die along with you." A large black chi ball arced across from his position towards Ranma and Ranko. They jumped into the air, laying down a series of blasts at Shuma and his son as they descended. The ones that hit Shuma caused him to stumble backwards, but the glowing Buyierfei shambled forward, undeterred by the blasts that hit it. "We may be in trouble," Ranma muttered as he landed back to back with Ranko. "Yeah... we need to get Shuma between us and that... thing and buy us some time." Ranma nodded. "Wide arc to opposite sides, jump in ten." Ranko nodded and took off running to the left. Ranma ran to the right, jumping when he reached a count of ten in his head. They landed a meter behind Shuma and thrust out their naginatas together. Shuma dodged, but not fast enough to avoid getting his arm and her leg slashed. Ranma smiled, but frowned when she saw a squad of Russians wearing large packs on their backs approach the monolith to the side of their position. "Get away!!" he yelled, but was not understood by the Russians, two of which seemed to be carrying something large between them. Shuma cackled as he backed out of range of the naginatas. "The cattle are foolish, aren't they?" He charged up a black chi ball in his hand and pointed it at the soldiers. "Shut up!" Ranma yelled and knocked Shuma's arm away with the end of his naginata. The black chi ball went wide and washed across the surface of the monolith, causing the surface to ripple. The sparring match continued with neither side apparently getting the upper hand, but Ranma and Ranko started to find themselves pushed backwards towards the monolith. With the glowing Buyierfei approaching from behind Shuma, they couldn't chance bouncing around to attack Shuma and they were also trying to keep the Russians from getting killed. Combined, these two factors limited their options greatly. Getting an idea, Ranma blasted a hole in the ground next to Shuma. Ranko was trying to stick the sharp end of her weapon into Shuma's face, but the Buyierfei's leader deflected her attempts with his arms. The padded sleeves of his robe tore slightly as the blade sliced across it. "Ranko, uppercut!!" Ranma screamed. Not sure what Ranma was up to, but trusting her brother's instincts as if they were her own--which they were--Ranko thrust up with her naginata and managed to catch Shuma's chin with the blade. A gash about a centimeter deep appeared across the female side of Shuma's face. Ranma took this chance to dive to Shuma's right side and kick out savagely. Making contact with Shuma's side, he managed to knock him into the hole he had just created. "Blast him!!" Ranko spun around and blasted the figure trying to get out of the loose rubble. Ranma got back to his feet and rammed his naginata through Shuma's chest. Naturally, Shuma didn't like that. His son didn't either. The glowing Buyierfei made a beeline for Shuma faster than Ranma or Ranko had ever seen a Buyierfei move, causing them to have to leap out of the way of the creature's deathly touch. As they leapt away, they laid down a barrage of chi balls at Shuma and his son. "Dammit," Ranma swore when his blasts didn't faze the glowing creature. In fact, it seemed to be absorbing the blasts and growing brighter as a result. "What the hell is that thing?!" The glowing tentacles pulled the naginata out of Shuma's chest and lifted the trembling body into its gentle caress. A low, drawn out screeching sound could be heard from it as it scurried towards the monolith with its father cradled protectively in its grasp. "Crap, don't let them get away!!" Ranko shouted and started to blast the pavement in front of the fleeing creature since direct attacks weren't having any effect. Ranma took up the idea and blasted the nearby stone wall that surrounded the Kremlin. The father and son dodged the falling rubble, but in the process Shuma almost slipped out of his son's tentacles. Ranma and Ranko kept up the barrage right up until the glowing Buyierfei leapt into the air and vanished into the smooth, black surface of the monolith. Ranma and Ranko skidded to a halt and took a quick look at each other. Seeing the look of determination mirrored on the others' face, they followed the wounded Shuma and his son into the monolith. -A- -M- -D- May 14, 2009 - Nerima, Japan (Black Wars Day 15) Back in Nerima, the kids were playing in the yard under the watchful eyes of the Amazons while the Japanese adults and Nipplering all crowded around the Tendo family room's television set, watching the battle in Moscow unfold in front of their eyes. The live image was grainy due to the telescopic view from a position several kilometer's away, but they could easily make out Ranma and Ranko in their red Chinese shirts. Akane thought as Ranko's sleeve was torn. "I'm glad Sanma isn't here to see his ch... that thing," Ukyo said softly, glancing at Akane, who was cradling the sleeping Daiji in her arms. Akane unconsciously tightened her grip on Daiji, who was in effect the twin of the half-man and half woman who was at that moment trying to throttle Daiji's birth mother on screen. As the fight continued, the Japanese commentator commented on the unusual appearance of two male Amazons in the fight, especially the naked male Amazon that had appeared out of nowhere early in the fight. Ryoga and the other Amazons were occasionally seen as they fought the hordes of land Buyierfei in the area, but the camera spent most of its time on the battle between the 'oddly Japanese looking Chinese Amazons' that were fighting the 'evil humanoid Buyierfei', to use the commentator's own terms. "Yes!!" Soun shouted as one of his naginatas was thrust through Shuma's foot. Then a collective gasp rolled through the room as the glowing Buyierfei appeared. "Oh my," Kasumi said and looked at her husband to avoid watching the Russian soldiers disintegrate. Tofu squeezed his wife's hand and looked at Akane. "That's not something you've seen before, right?" Akane shook her head. "It... looks like a regular Buyierfei, but... I've never seen one glow like that." She looked at Nipplering. "Nipplering, what about the history of the Amazons?" Nipplering thought back to her long years of training to be a warrior and studying the ancient battles. "Nothing like that has been recorded in the ancient scrolls that I know of." When Ranma's naginata pierced Shuma's chest, there was a mixture of excitement and sorrow from all of the adults. They all knew that Shuma couldn't be allowed to live, but they also knew that the 'monster' they saw hemorrhaging black blood on the screen could have been a loved member of their family if not for a cruel twist of fate. Akane stroked Daiji's hair. "I'm sorry, Ukyo," she said, unable to look at her friend. Ukyo was looking at the floor. "Don't be... we said goodbye to Sanma's child long ago." She looked up at the screen. "That thing is not Maigo," she said with contempt mixed with sorrow over her other lost children. She glanced out through the open porch doors at her six kids, who were happily playing with the other kids. Akane gasped as their husbands disappeared into the monolith after the glowing Buyierfei and Shuma. "There they go..." Ukyo clasped Akane's hand. "They can do it..." "I know... but it'll be rough waiting to find out what happens inside." The surface of the monolith rippled as Ranma and Ranko entered, momentarily expanding outward and engulfing several nearby Russian soldiers and at least one Amazon warrior. At the same moment, Daiji started to thrash around. Akane gasped and tried to hold onto her daughter, who was obviously in pain. "Oh, my baby..." Dr. Tofu and Kasumi rushed over to help. "It's like the other times," Dr. Tofu said as he applied a finger to Daiji's back, to help Daiji control the pain. Kasumi looked at the screen. "There's no doubt, she's connected to the Buyierfei somehow." Akane just let out a wail as she held onto her oldest child for fear of losing her. Ukyo looked at the television, which was showing the remaining Amazons, Ryoga, and the Russians soldiers still in combat with the Buyierfei in the ruins of central Moscow. -A- -M- -D- May 14, 2009 - Cairo, Egypt (Black Wars Day 15) Yukiko stripped off her golden armor, revealing her naked body. Oblivious to the stares of the soldiers around her, she stepped under the cascade of hot water that flowed from the large fountain in the Cairo courtyard. She was too tired and had fought too closely with them to care about modesty at the moment. "Ahhhhh..." She ran her hands up her blood caked body, trying to scrape the dried blood off her sore body. Whether it was red or black before it dried, she could not tell any longer, but she knew she would not soon forget how that blood had gotten onto her body. Images of the past few days of fighting flashed into her mind. The men and women who had died in her hands as they slipped away or the Buyierfei that she had dispatched herself, they both weighed heavily on her mind. But her tears were only for the men and women she had fought alongside, whose fight had ended on the desert sands of Egypt. She shed no tears for the Buyierfei. Accomplishing a seemingly impossible task, they had pushed the Buyierfei back onto the continent of Africa and southwest of Cairo. A combination of old fashioned sword fighting skills mixed with explosives and high tech weaponry helped the mixed Amazon/ Egyptian/ Saudi Arabian/ Israeli/ Palestinian/ American/ anyone-else-who-happened-to-be-available-to-fight force regain the ground lost in the initial push of Buyierfei northward. In fact, there were several groups of soldiers that she had fought alongside that Yukiko wasn't sure where they came from because of all the blood covering their uniforms. The blood tended to disguise the insignia that humans used to force themselves apart. When faced with an enemy that didn't care what you called yourself or what political affiliation you called yourself a part of, humanity had united without a second thought. Us versus them had been the basis of many wars, it was never truer that when facing a killing machine as relentless as the Buyierfei. Kill them before they kill us. So even as these disturbing thoughts filled her mind, Yukiko relished her first chance since leaving the Amazon village to bathe because she knew she would have to go back into battle all too soon. It was a simple task, but one that allowed her a chance to be a human again. A human woman. "Here," a voice said and threw a bar of soap and hand towel at Yukiko. Yukiko caught them and smiled at Sanma. "Thanks. How did you get hot water into this thing?" she asked as she started to lather up. Sanma smiled and nodded back towards a group of soldiers bearing engineering corps insignia. "You'd be surprised at how fast soldiers will figure out how to get hot water when you suggest it'd be nice to take a long hot shower." Yukiko laughed. "Well, shoo them away and you can take your turn." Sanma nodded and turned towards the soldiers. "Okay, fellas, that's more than enough of a free peek for your labors." There was some grumbling from the men. That grumbling stopped and they scurried away after Sanma sent a couple of well-placed chi balls into the sand in front of the soldiers. -A- -M- -D- May 15, 2009 - Sudan, Africa (Black Wars Day 16) Blood splashed across Yukiko's clean face. Red blood. "Sanma!!" Sanma gripped her torn shoulder. "I'm okay, a little thing like this doesn't even faze me." Yukiko grimaced at the large stain that flowed down Sanma's white T-shirt, her red Chinese shirt having lost it's battle to remain in one piece days earlier. Seeing that Sanma wasn't in any immediate danger, she returned her full attention to the battle. Sanma thought as she stanched the flow of blood with her T-shirt, leaving her in her sports bra, torn black pants, and a small fanny pack with her canteen strapped to it. She winced. Yukiko slashed at some unseen Buyierfei, missing. Or maybe they were never there. It was hard to tell. Was it a good sign that it was becoming harder to hit a Buyierfei with a swing at empty air? Most would say it was a good sign, but the Amazons knew if the Buyierfei weren't in front of you, they could be behind you. The tentacle hit Yukiko's armor plate square across her back and slid down, slicing through the side of her stomach. "Arghhhhhhh..." She collapsed to the sand and clutched her side. Glancing back, she saw the Buyierfei descending on her faster than she could get her sword up. Before it reached the injured Amazon leader, the blade of a giant spatula sliced downwards through its sinewy hide. As its internal organs--such as they were--splashed onto the ground, the owner of the thick spatula smiled at Yukiko. "See, a little shoulder wound can't slow down Sanma Kuonji!" Yukiko smiled, but winced when she tried to get up. Clasping her bleeding side, she shuddered. "Um... I..." Sanma frowned and looked around. "The Matriarch's down!! Someone get..." She trailed off when she saw a flurry of sand thrown up in front of her. It was a sight she and the other Amazons had seen many times since they started fighting in the desert. It was not a good thing. "Crap..." She turned towards the Amazons and yelled out a warning. "BLITZ!!" The Amazons and the solders stiffened, preparing for the onrush of thousands of Buyierfei all at once. Maybe smelling the blood of the Amazons' leader or just by coincidence, the Buyierfei stopped attacking all along the front line and concentrated on the area around Yukiko and Sanma. The mixed group of soldiers of many different nationalities lobbed grenades in front of the line of Amazons, blowing away many Buyierfei. It was hard to miss during the sudden and unexpected rushes by the Buyierfei they had come to call 'blitzes'. After the grenades did their damage, arrows and bullets shot through the air and revealed thousands of Buyierfei massing in front of them. Sanma knelt down next to Yukiko. "I've got to get you out of here." Yukiko winced as Sanma applied a bandage from her fanny pack onto Yukiko's stomach wound. "No... you have to keep fighting. I..." She tried to stand up, but quickly sat down on the ground again. "I can get to the forward base myself." Sanma wasn't in the mood to argue with Yukiko, so she scooped her up into her arms and took one step away from the frontline. That's when a dozen or so spots in the sand ahead of them were thrown into the air. "Crap... they jumped over the front line again. We're cornered." "Don't worry about me. Just leave me here and fight them." Sanma looked down at the injured woman. "Not a chance." She lowered Yukiko to the ground in front of her and swung her spatula around in a wide arc, catching one unseen attacker at the end of the swing. She quickly spun the spatula in her grip and then sliced upwards and then downwards at an angle to end the Buyierfei's life. "This is not good." "Water..." "I'm kind of busy right now!!" Sanma screamed as she thrust her spatula out. "No, if you insist on protecting me, I can at least be smaller." It took Sanma a few swings of her spatula to get what Yukiko meant, but when she did, she knew it was the right thing to do. Taking a deep breath, she sliced a Buyierfei in half with a sweep of her spatula, grabbed her water canteen, poured it over Yukiko's body, and then thrust her spatula forward to impale a Buyierfei. The white cat crawled out from under the golden armor she had been wearing and meowed. A red stain could be seen on the cat's stomach. Sanma shivered. "I can do this... I'm a cat on occasion myself and..." She looked down at Yukiko and shuddered. Resisting the dread that was making its way through her body, Sanma scooped up the cat and put it in the most secure place she had at that moment; that being between her breasts, held tightly in place by her sports bra. Needless to say, this was an unpleasant sensation for Sanma. Nervous sweat was pouring from Sanma's forehead as she jumped fully into battle with the Buyierfei, spatula blazing green energy in its wake. she thought, trying to convince herself in vain. She sliced and diced Buyierfei, while ducking and hopping over tentacles. Suddenly, an insistent meow was heard for Sanma's chest. "Huh?" she said, looking down and shuddered when she saw the cat she had been trying to ignore. Yukiko nodded towards the side. Sanma looked and cursed when she saw the two Amazon warriors being lifted into the air by a dozen or more Buyierfei. Other Amazons were trying to free their fellow warriors, but were being hampered as more Buyierfei swarmed into the area through the hole where the two Amazons had been fighting. "Moko Takabisha-Rapid Fire!!" she yelled and sent dozens of precisely placed chi balls into the huge mass of tentacles and Amazons. Her aim honed by a week of seemingly endless battles, the chi balls met black flesh and blew apart Buyierfei with such accuracy that rarely did a chi ball go wasted. Sanma couldn't afford to waste energy on misses given the overwhelming odds they were facing. One of the two Amazons tumbled to the ground, sprung backwards and picked up a dropped sword, slicing in front of her. The other Amazon screamed as she felt her arm being pulled out of its socket. "Crap..." Sanma spat and she leapt into the air. "Hang on, Yukiko, this is going to get rough." She landed on the pile of Buyierfei and quickly sliced the tentacles pulling on the Amazon's arms, then swung the thick blade around in a wide arc to end the life of several more Buyierfei. Unfortunately, there were many more where they came from. Not even pausing to let their fallen comrades time to decompose, more Buyierfei stumbled onto the pile of rotting flesh. Some were partially visible, but most were invisible. Feeling her arms and legs hit and slashed by the tentacles, Sanma found herself in the middle of a thick mass of Buyierfei. "Oh... crap." All around her, the broken Amazon line started to crumble further as the Buyierfei ate into the gap. In a blur of motion, Sanma dissected two Buyierfei, launched a volley of chi balls into the nearest attackers, and charged up her spatula with green energy to maximize it's killing potential. Thrusting forwards, she impaled two Buyierfei with the blade of her spatula, their black flesh starting to burn as the green energy flowed into their bodies. Instead of just taking their deaths graciously, two Buyierfei wrapped their tentacles around the handle of the spatula right behind the blade. Finding her weapon suddenly immobilized, Sanma sensed a trap. Sure enough, when she glanced behind her, she saw several blood--red blood--covered tentacles racing at her back. Smirking, she fingered a protrusion on the oddly shaped handle. "Take this..." At the press of the protrusion, the thick blade of the giant spatula split along the edge. The second blade swung out from under the first blade it normally was a part of, slicing through the tentacles that held onto the handle. As the second blade snapped into position behind Sanma, it made contact with the Buyierfei directly behind her. Smiling, Sanma twisted the handle and sliced through the flesh of the three Buyierfei he had impaled; two in front and one behind. Thrusting forward and then back, he reduced all three Buyierfei into a dozen or more pieces. Jumping into the air, she spun the double bladed spatula over her head, and descended on yet more Buyierfei. In the minutes that followed, Sanma was a blur. Unable to retreat while the front line was broken, she went into overdrive with her double-ended spatula. Using the oddly shaped handle as a balance point, she spun it, thrust it, and pivoted it. She wasted almost no movement. Then an unseen tentacle sliced through her bra. "Yukiko!!" Sanma yelled and looked down to see the cat tumble down, just barely managing to grab onto Sanma's tattered pants. "Hang on!!" Sanma yelled as he did a back flip. Partly because she was trying to get a better hold on Sanma's pants with her claws and partly due to the back flip, Yukiko ended up slipping into Sanma's pants and under her boxers. If Sanma was on the edge because of having a pussycat between her breasts, you can imagine the wave of terror that went though her body when the cat was pushed against her pu... most sensitive female spot, without even the thin fabric of Sanma's boxers in the way. Some might say it's the perfect spot for a pussycat, but to Sanma it was a sensation worse than death. And Sanma knew that sensation all too well after San-chan had died giving birth. It was preferable to the feeling that shot up her spine and emerged from her mouth as an inhuman howl. Yukiko wiggled around--something that wasn't helping Sanma's condition any--and poked her head out of Sanma's pants right as Sanma crouched down. Yukiko was wrong. Sanma sniffed the air and scanned the battlefield. Aided by a cat's instinct and enhanced senses, she jumped into the air and raked the empty air with her claws, which were more an extension of the chi in her fingers than real claws. Where she slashed, black blood spurted out. Not even pausing, Sanma sprung around like a wildcat, reducing the dozen or so nearest Buyierfei to small piles of decomposing flesh. Hurt as she was, Yukiko tried to do what she could to calm Sanma down, but her squirming in Sanma's pants and her meows just made Sanma even more vicious in her dissection of the Buyierfei. After being tossed around within Sanma's pants for several minutes, Yukiko's wound reopened and she decided she had to get away from the crazed martial artist whose pants she found herself in. Digging her claws into the fabric of Sanma's pants, she clawed her way to the waistline and peeked out. Waiting for the right moment, Yukiko sprang from Sanma's pants and dropped to the ground. Unfortunately for Sanma, she tore the already frayed pants in the process and ended up tumbling to the ground wrapped in the torn fabric. Poking her head out of the rags, she saw Sanma leap away with just a pair of blood stained boxers on. Being a very small cat on a very large battlefield, she looked around worriedly for a moment before one of her warriors scooped her up and retreated from the front line. Yukiko gave a last pained look at her friends and warriors, knowing that she was out of the fight for the time being. Without Akane around to break her out of the catfist, Sanma kept racing around the battlefield. She sensed that the Amazons were not a danger to her. On the other hand, every fiber of her being told her that the invisible demons that assailed her non-visual senses were dangerous. By the time Sanma finally succumbed to exhaustion, the Buyierfei had been beaten back and the hole in the Amazons' front line repaired. Sanma's catfist had proved so effective against the Buyierfei that the front line had even moved southward several dozen kilometers from where they had been stalemated for the past three days. -A- -M- -D- Inside the Buyierfei monolith Ranko was covered in black blood by the time she managed to rip the Buyierfei's heart out. She took a deep breath and then pulled one of the salt packets from her pant's pocket. Unlike the last time they found themselves into the Buyierfei realm, they had had time to put together various survival items before leaving for Moscow. That included the salt they knew would be needed when they entered the monolith in their mission to destroy it. After sprinkling the salt over the still beating heart, she watched it shrivel up and turn to dust. Soon, the shifting shadows all around her started to thin out and disappear. "Ranko?" Ranko spun around and saw Ranma standing a dozen or so meters behind her. "Where did you come from?" "I was just standing here when the shadows started to disappear," Ranma explained as he walked over. Ranko smiled. "If I'd have known you were so close, you could have helped me kill this sucker." She looked down at the remains of the patient she had just performed heart surgery on. "Good work,'" Ranma said then shielded his eyes when a bright light pierced the dispersing shadows. "There's the heart." "One of them." Ranma looked around and saw another dimmer heart behind them. "Uh oh... I wonder where the second monolith is..." Ranko scanned the area. "It looks like just those two. Let's see if anyone else made it in here with us... or we may have trouble blowing both of them." Ranma nodded. "Be careful, Shuma and his 'son' are here somewhere too." "Yeah... but he had a gaping hole in his chest." Ranma nodded. "True, but if he can survive being cut in half for nine years, it's going to take a whole lot more to kill Shuma than a naginata." He looked at Ranko and confirmed that his sister was without her weapon as well. "Even if we still had them. Ranko flinched. "I hope I can kill him." "Huh?" "I kept seeing Daiji's innocent little face when I looked at Shuma." Ranma put his hand on his sister's shoulder. "Don't think like that. Shuma isn't human any longer. He's Buyierfei." "I know, but..." Ranko trailed off as she was hit from the side by a lone Buyierfei. Lashing out with a kick, she sent the Buyierfei flying away to be intercepted by Ranma's chi blast. As the Buyierfei exploded in mid-air, Ranma looked around. "Let's get going. Large heart first?" Ranko nodded and together the set off for the brighter of the two hearts. -A- -M- -D- The large, heavyset Russian soldier opened his eyes to a world of shadows. "What? Where am..." he said in Russian, trailing off as he looked around and saw the heaving bosom of the Amazon lying at his side. "I must be dreaming..." he muttered as he watched her chest rise and fall with her soft, ladylike breathing. She moaned, causing him to look up at her face. "Ack!! It's a nightmare." Looking into the woman's stern face with its five-o'clock shadow, he cringed. "She looks more like a Russian woman than Chinese." The Amazon's eyes flickered open and she said something in Mandarin. "Um... hi." In a blur of movement, the Amazon drew her sword and put it to the Russian's neck. "Don't kill me!!" The Amazons looked around and saw where she was. "Lewinski." The Russian solider frowned. "Um.. that's an odd Chinese name." He pointed at his chest. "Miss Lewinski, my name is Sergeant Leonid Preskin." The Amazon looked oddly at the Russian, so he repeated the gesture and spoke again. "Leonid." The Amazon nodded and pointed at her ample chest. "Hairwax." "That's your name?" Leonid asked. Leonid was cut off when he heard Russian shouts from behind him. Spinning around, he saw three of his squad under attack by about a dozen Buyierfei. "Shit!!" He looked at the Amazon to ask for help, but she had already taken off towards the fight with her sword drawn. Reaching for his own, but finding it missing he swore again. "Crap..." He drew his handgun with his right hand and a grenade with his left. "If I had to lose something, why couldn't it have been this useless gun?" he muttered as he charged into battle. As Hairwax hacked the tentacles off a Buyierfei that was strangling a small private--who looked like he was barely out of high school--Leonid barreled into another Buyierfei that was trying to snap off his corporal's head. Raising his handgun, he unloaded his handgun's entire clip into the black creature's leathery hide. In return, the Buyierfei sliced off his hand. The severed appendage dropped to the ground still clutching the handgun in it. Leonid screamed in pain and pressed the stump into his armpit to staunch the flow of blood. Sure that he was going to die, he pulled the pin on the grenade and jumped at the Buyierfei, separating it from the corporal. Thrusting the grenade into one of the wounds, he waited to die. Instead, he found himself thrown backwards and saw a large harry leg kick the Buyierfei and send it tumbling away. As the grenade exploded and blew the Buyierfei apart, he looked up at his savior. "You should have let me die!" Hairwax shook her head and said something in Mandarin. She pulled out her spare bra and started to bind his stump. Leonid looked behind the Amazon and saw that his men were finishing off their immediate attackers. He looked back at Hairwax and saw the kind look that appeared on the Amazon's face. "Thank you." "Every warrior deserves to live and fight another day, even a man." He looked at his corporal. "Huh?" The young boy smiled. "That's what..." He hesitated, as if searching for the correct term. "...she said. You know that I speak Chinese." Leonid's eyes widened. "Oh yeah... Um... ask her where we are and what we should do," he asked, although he had a very good idea of where they might be, even if the vast world of grays and blacks defied his attempts to comprehend it. The corporal exchanged some words with Hairwax and looked back at his sergeant. "She says we're inside the monolith-" Some of the other Russians gasped. Although they had thought as much, to have it confirmed only added to their fears and worries. "-and we have to find any other Amazons and..." He paused and exchanged some more words with the Amazon to clarify something. "She says we have to destroy the two hearts that we see in order to destroy the monoliths and escape." Leonid frowned. "Monoliths... plural?" The corporal nodded and looked around. Leonid followed his corporal's gaze and nodded. "So those are called hearts, huh?" He sighed. "A heart for each monolith... I guess. I wonder where the other monolith is?" He stood up and visually checked what equipment had come with them. Taking a deep breath, he looked at his corporal. "Corporal, tell the Amazon we are going to blow up one of the hearts." The corporal exchanged words with the Amazon and then looked back at the Sergeant. "She says she can't do it without the other Amazons." "Tell her we have something that will do the job," Leonid said, looking at the large crate that his men had been carrying when they were engulfed by the Blackness. The corporal gasped. "Are you sure? We were supposed to use it on the outside, not inside." "Our orders are to destroy the monolith, how does not matter to the millions of people still in the area surrounding Moscow." "Yes, Sir," the corporal snapped and started explaining their plan to the Amazon. Hairwax frowned. -A- -M- -D- Ranma and Ranko were still about a kilometer from the brightest heart when they saw Hairwax and three Russian soldiers emerge from the large aura surrounding the heart, running at full speed away from it. From the look of it, they had been running at full speed for quite some time. "Hairwax!!" Ranma yelled when they got within earshot after several minutes. The tall Amazon looked at them and screamed one word in Japanese. "Run!!" Seeing the panicked look on Hairwax's normally stoic face, Ranma and Ranko didn't hesitate. They turned and ran as fast as they could away from the heart. Just before the shock wave hit them, elaborate patterns of rainbow colors flashed across the gray background of the Buyierei's realm. The shock wave smashed into their backs and sent them flying across the spongy ground. Seconds later, large golden fibers lashed out and tore through their clothes. "Argh..." Ranma screamed as he clasped a large welt on his side. Endless minutes followed as they were all tossed around and blasted by the hurricane force winds. Then, as fast as it had started, it stopped. Ranma groaned as he stood up and looked around. "Ranko?" "I'm in one piece, but I'm going to need a new bra." Ranma looked behind him and saw his sister tying what was left of her torn shirt over her exposed breasts, a large welt could be seen across her left breast. "That's got to hurt." Ranko smirked. "You don't look that great yourself." She looked where the heart used to be and saw piles of golden strands like the ones they had seen when the First blew. "Well, one down..." "Yeah, but how..." "The Russians used a small, field-deliverable, tactical nuclear weapon on the heart," Hairwax said as she rose from under a pile of the golden strands. "What?!" Ranma and Ranko gasped at the same time. "Don't worry, they assured me we had time to reach a safe distance to avoid a lethal dosage of radiation." "That's not the point!!" Ranma insisted, although he was glad that they wouldn't be dying from radiation poisoning anytime soon. Hairwax used her sword to cut several pieces off the long, golden strands that littered the area. "I tried to get them to stop, but they went ahead anyway." She tied two long loops of the golden material across her chest. "Then why didn't you stop them by force?" Ranma asked, glaring at the three Russian soldiers. "They are proud warriors fighting the Blackness, to kill them would be dishonorable. At least their plan had some chance of hurting the enemy. Their deaths would only aid the Blackness." Ranma opened his mouth to complain that Hairwax didn't have to kill to stop someone from doing something stupid, but shut his mouth when he realized it wasn't the time for arguments. Ranko sighed. "Forget about it. We should just take care of the second heart." Hairwax nodded and tossed several strands of the golden material to both Ranma and Ranko. "Okay. Here, tie these around your chests." Ranma frowned as he looked at the strands. "Huh?" "This material is resistant to Buyierfei energy, so it might help us survive this," Hairwax said as she cut some more strands for the Russians. "Ah..." Ranko said and started to tie the strands around her. Ranma did as well, but looked at the Russians. "Tell them to come with us, but not to do anything else stupid." A brief three-way conversation ensued between Hairwax, the corporal, and the sergeant. The other surviving Russian--a private--was binding a wound on his leg. "He says they had only one charge, so they can't blow the second heart," Hairwax translated. "Good," Ranma spat and snapped his fingers. A glowing ball of chi formed in his upturned hand. "Tell him we have something more powerful-" He sent the chi ball racing away from him, incinerating a few drifting shadows as it disappeared into the distance. "-and that we've blown three of these suckers already without resorting to something as primitive as nuclear weapons." As Hairwax relayed the message, Ranko looked at where the bright heart had been. "I wonder if that was the Moscow heart or..." She shuddered and looked at the dimmer heart. "That is." "I don't know, but what really worries me is the heart that just blew looked a lot like the heart that blew Florida off the map," Ranma said, a grim expression on his face. -A- -M- -D- May 28, 2009 - Tehran, Iran (Black Wars Day 29) Mount Damavand dominated the capital of Iran's skyline as it had for as long as that desert city had existed. In it's shadow, the women of Tehran went about their shopping and chores for the day; the men toiled at their jobs; and the children played. Then, without warning, the mountain and the mountain range surrounding it blew apart. The earth shook as a shock wave ripped apart the rock and dirt that made up the mountain range and flung it high into the atmosphere. The shock wave spread out from the spot where the Sixth monolith had stood unnoticed in the desert mountain range for over three months, collecting energy slowly from the limited amount of life around it. Unlike the African monolith, no crops, grasslands, or jungle growth were nearby to show signs of a drought. Rain was so infrequent, that the lack of rain over four months went unnoticed. The area around the monolith was so thinly populated that the rise in deaths of the sick, elderly, and infirm didn't raise any alarms. What's a few hundred additional deaths compared to the millions who died in the African famine, after all? East and west, the shock wave encountered more mountains and desert, pulverizing the sand and rock it encountered and converting the small amount of energy that was present into the black energy the Buyierfei thrived on. Northward, it burned through the small towns lining the Caspian Sea and formed a giant tidal wave that roared across the water's surface. All along the coast, the rushing water flooded ancient cities. In all, around nine hundred thousand people lost their lives due to the tidal wave. When the shock wave spread southward and hit the heavily populated city of Tehran, the roughly ten million residents of that city felt a pain worse than death. Like the hundreds of people in Florida who didn't evacuate and the hundreds of millions in Africa who never had a chance to evacuate, their bodies were torn apart as the shock wave ripped the energy from their bodies, one molecule at a time. Once the shock wave had finished turning the southern coast of the Caspian Sea and a significant chunk of northern Iran into a blackened mass of upturned rocks and debris, over thirty-five million people had died and fed their life energy to the Buyierfei. Not enough to form a beam of energy, but the Buyierfei had other uses for the energy they stole. By itself, it would have been a horrible tragedy, but after the nine-digit death toll in Africa, 'only' thirty-five million seemed like a godsend. And in a sense it was. If not for the early detonation of the heart that beat within the Sixth Monolith, the radius of destruction would have easily encompassed three or four times as much land and maybe as many or more deaths than the African explosion. That was little comfort to those who died or to their friends and family who were left behind. And it would break the spirit and mind of the Russian sergeant who had laid the nuclear bomb that had sent the monolith past the critical point. The worst scars of war are seldom physical. *********************************************************************** >From the personal journal of James Davidson July 6, 2058 The day started out so simply. Breakfast with my wife, mother, and sister in the South Building. Then--while my mom, Mary, Jaki, and Hanaki enjoyed themselves in the hot spring--I went to interview Akane at her house. Or what remained of it. The Buyierfei attack on July fourth hadn't done much damage overall, but--damage magnet that it was--Akane's little traditional Japanese house ended up with a huge hole in the roof and several upstairs rooms destroyed. Such was and is Akane's luck with her house. So as the workmen repaired the rooms--a full repair party only being held when the house was more severely damaged apparently--we had sat on the porch and Akane told me about her husbands' battle in Moscow and their third battle within the Buyierfei realm. The external results of that battle are well known, but Akane's version of events inside the monolith was quite different from the 'official' version. There isn't anything particularly new about that, of course. No one had known that the Sixth was tucked away in the mountains just north of Tehran until it blew. It's southern coast suddenly missing, the sea level of the Caspian Sea lowered as the water flowed south and filled in the crater the blast had made. Much like the cities of Florida, the ruins of Tehran now lay under water. New Tehran was built at the edge of the blast crater, which was now the southern coast of the larger Caspian Sea, but it was a different city populated by different people. The millions of people that had once called it home died in a firestorm that few had seen and lived to talk about. Those deaths weigh heavily on many people, but none more so than the man in front of me now. "I'm sure that exploding the Sixth prematurely must have saved the lives of millions of people." "Maybe, but that doesn't make the ghosts that haunt me go away. 'I was just following orders' is a fool's excuse. *I* killed those people as surely had I pulled the trigger on a thousand caliber gun." I tried not to stare as he scratched his stump with his left hand, as if the missing hand was trying to remind him of his loss. Or of what he did. "From what Akane has told me, they couldn't be sure that the Ranmas' chi attacks could have imploded the heart with less destruction." The old Russian looked up at me with his single eye, a simple black patch covering the other, empty eye socket. "Akane and her family are kind people. They deserve their status as heroes." He looked at a small picture of a very hairy woman on the old mantle that hung over the rustic cabin's fireplace. "Hairwax was wrong... I deserved to die back then." "Considering what happened later, that would have probably led to more deaths." "You misunderstand me." He took a deep breath. "I am thankful that she kept me from sacrificing myself in the heat of the moment, but... people calling me a war hero is like a stab in my heart. I am forever haunted by the deaths of the people in northern Iran that I know I caused. I was and am no hero." "Still, to continue the battle within the Buyierfei monolith even with the loss of your hand is..." I trailed off, unable to fully articulate my thoughts. He shook his gray-haired head. "We all fought in that war as best we could. We had no choice but to fight or risk the end of the human race." He lifted his stump and looked at it. "We all sacrificed much to defeat the Buyierfei, but in the end my meager contributions to the war effort were nothing compared to the truly heroic actions of Akane's family and the Amazons." "Yes, I'm just starting to realize how much they suffered for the rest of the world." I looked at the old weary eye of the man who was once called 'a true Russian hero'. "Is my writing about the events inside the Buyierfei realm going to be a problem for you?" He shook his head. "No... I know it's not the 'official' version of how the Sixth blew, but it's the truth. It's a truth that deserves to finally be known to the world." I opened my mouth to speak, but was interrupted when the cabin's door burst open and a cold wind blew in. "How's the hoverjet, Jaki?" Jaki rubbed the blue hands together. "Just fine, but the pilot is freezing her ass off." Leonid held out his wrinkled hand towards another chair near the fire. "Please, sit down." Jaki nodded. "Thanks." As she settled into the chair she looked at me. "If I'd have known that it would be this cold, I'd have let someone else fly you to Siberia." I chuckled. "Sorry, but it was Akane's idea that I come talk to Leonid." Jaki nodded and looked around the small rustic cabin. "I can't believe that you don't have a holo-phone here." Leonid smiled and looked around the rustic cabin. "Sometimes, not knowing what's going on in the world is the best way to survive the pain of war." *********************************************************************** Inside the Buyierfei monolith After walking for what seemed an eternity, Ranma plopped onto the ground. "Crap... we don't seem to be getting any closer." Ranko sighed and bent over to catch her breath. "Tell me... about it." She turned behind her to check on Hairwax and the Russians. "Oh crap..." Ranma looked up and saw what Ranko did. "Oh crap is right..." The others all looked around and swore in their appropriate language. "Dermo." "Dermo." "Lewinsky." "Dermo." Behind them was another glittering heart, much closer than the one in front of them and slightly dimmer. "That wasn't there before," Ranko said needlessly. "Another monolith must have appeared somewhere on Earth," Ranma stated the obvious. Ranko nodded. "Dammit... I hate not knowing where these things are!!" Ranma nodded. "Yeah... but which one do we take out now?" "We'd best do the closer one first." -A- -M- -D- June 2, 2009 - Mexico City, Mexico (Black Wars Day 34) Mexico City was deathly silent. Three days earlier, it was considerably noisier when the Seventh Monolith appeared and prompted the city to be evacuated. Needless to say, no one wanted to chance being anywhere near it after what happened in Iran. Not to mention Africa or Florida. A small bird pecked at the pavement in front of the shadow-less monolith, oblivious to the danger represented by the towering black object. In a split second, the monolith folded in on itself and exploded outward. The bird was incinerated first and then the pavement it had been pecking at. The shock wave quickly expanded outward, reducing the old apartment buildings and streets to fine black dust. About two kilometers from where the Seventh Monolith had stood, the shock wave dissipated leaving a round black spot in one of the poorest parts of Mexico City. Urban renewal at its worst. -A- -M- -D- Inside the Buyierfei monolith. Ranma and Ranko flung themselves out of the aura surrounding the heart just as it exploded. The force of the explosion knocked them around like rag dolls for almost twenty minutes. "Crap!!" Ranma snapped as he lifted his sore body from the ground. "That was just too close..." Ranko remarked as she lay perfectly still, lest her body remind her of how bruised and battered it was with more pain. "Not much else we can do. If we're inside the aura around the heart when it blows, we'd get thrown out of this hell. As pleasing as that would be right-" Ranma tried to sit up, but just grunted. "-now, Hairwax doesn't know the Hiryu Shoten Ha, couldn't blow the heart by herself if she did, and even if the Russians had anymore nuclear bombs with them, I wouldn't let them use them." Ranko wasn't really listening, since it hurt her ears to listen. "Yeah..." "We should go find the others and blow the last heart." "Yeah..." Neither of them moved for several minutes. Mostly since every fiber of their being hurt if they did try to move. "Let's just rest a bit more." "Yeah..." -A- -M- -D- "Sleeping in the middle of a battle is not very honorable." Ranko slowly opened her eyes, only feeling a pain slightly worse than childbirth in the process. Which was quite an improvement to her earlier pain that seemed like she was giving birth to ten thousand maces with ten-inch spikes. "Hairwax?" "Yes." Ranko slowly rose to a sitting position. "Where's Ranma?" "He's dead." Ranko went numb. "What!!" Hairwax reached down and lifted Ranko to her feet. "He might have well been with the warrior entrusted with his safety sleeping." "Huh?" Ranko looked around and saw Ranma being helped to his feet by Leonid. "Ranma!!" "Hey..." Ranma muttered, wearily. "As a woman, your duty is to protect the males under your protection," Hairwax explained. Ranko sighed. "Whatever... lets go blow that heart." She looked around. "Where are the other..." she trailed off when she saw Leonid shake his head sadly. "I'm sorry." "They died honorably," Hairwax said softly. -A- -M- -D- As the four remaining fighters entered the outer aura of the last heart, Ranko ducked and rolled to avoid a glowing tentacle. "Crap!!" she spat as she laid down a series of chi blasts at the single Buyierfei. Hairwax grabbed Leonid and leapt out of range of the Buyierfei's deadly touch, while Ranma leapt straight up and flung a large chi ball towards the heart. "Impressive, it should have taken you longer to spot me against the glare of my heart," Shuma said as he casually sidestepped the chi ball. "I see you're better," Ranma snapped as he unleashed another series of chi blasts at Shuma. "A little wound like that is easy to repair," Shuma said as he slid around the chi balls, almost as if he was dancing with them. "Get out of our way!" Ranma shout as he leapt into the air and landed a kick to Shuma's stomach, exactly where he had stabbed him earlier. Shuma staggered backwards from the kick, but countered with a couple of fast punches to Ranma's chest. "I must thank you for opening our portal for us. It saved us a lot of trouble and allowed me to send more of my kind to your world." He chuckled evilly. "Although I can't let you collapse this one like you did the last." "Shut up!" Ranma yelled as he exchanged a series of punches and kicks with Shuma. He grunted as Shuma's fist impacted his chest. Meanwhile, Ranko had her hands full trying to keep the glowing Buyierfei from touching her, while still trying to inflict some kind of damage. She was managing to former, but not having any luck with the later. Since her chi attacks had no apparent affect on her opponent, she had been limiting them to deflecting the tentacles aimed in her general direction. As she did a back flip to avoid the latest tentacle thrust, Ranko forced a chi ball into the soft ground. As she sprang away, the ground exploded and sent chunks of the spongy material into the glowing flesh of the Buyierfei. Ranko was overjoyed that the Buyierfei paused and seemed to take some damage. That joy ended when the Buyierfei send a black chi ball racing at her head. Dodging to the side, she barely avoided the chi ball and the creature's lashing tentacles. "Crap..." Flipping to the side, she scanned the area for her comrades. "Ranma! We've got to blow this heart soon or we'll be dead!!" Ranma would have normally answered, but his windpipe was being crushed in Shuma's hand. His feet were dangling over the ground, as he punched, kicked, and blasted chi balls into Shuma's body, but the grip on his neck didn't falter. "You collectors are starting to annoy me, I think it's time I took your energy and disposed of you," Shuma said menacingly as he started to draw the energy from within Ranma. Then the female side of his head exploded in a rush of black blood. "Let him go, you monster!!" Leonid yelled in Russian, his pistol pointed at Shuma's head. Shuma looked over at Leonid, a jagged scar running down his female side's face where the bullet had torn through his flesh and lodged in his skull. "Now I'm not pretty," he growled. Flexing his facial muscles, he spat out the bloody bullet. "Shoot him again!" Hairwax yelled, but Leonid didn't understand her. Plus he only had one bullet left and figured he'd best save it for something important. With Shuma's attention elsewhere, Ranma thrust forward with his legs and managed to hook them around the arm that was still holding him in mid-air. Using his legs as leverage, he managed to get a long overdue breath of air. Not pausing to relish the taste of the stale air that filled the Buyierfei realm, he stretched out his legs, kicking Shuma savagely in the face. The strong kick pushed Ranma's neck out of Shuma's grip and he tumbled away. Immediately springing to the side, Ranma sent a large chi ball spiraling towards Shuma. Shuma staggered backwards from the chi blast and glared at Ranma. "You do like to prolong these things, don't you?" "We're fighting for our lives and the lives of the people we love!" Ranma insisted as he ran at Shuma. "Die!!" He closed the gap and traded a dozen blows with Shuma, all of them deflected with ease. "You first," Shuma said casually, thrusting out a fist at Ranma's face. Leonid's last bullet tore though it before it impacted Ranma's already bruised face. Shuma turned towards the Russian sergeant. "Are you still alive?" he asked, firing a black chi ball at the Russian to make the question rhetorical. Leonid's eyes went wide as the black chi ball raced at him. "Dermo!" he spat and in desperation threw the spent gun at the oncoming chi ball. The chi ball passed over the gun, reducing it to a small pile of twisted and melted metal. Just before the chi ball hit Leonid and did the same to him, he was tackled and buried under the heaving bosom of an Amazon warrior. "Be more careful, male," Hairwax admonished him. Leonid was in no position to argue. Ranko saw the chi blast miss Leonid and noticed that it was coming in her direction. A crazy plan forming her mind, she sent a chi ball into the ground next to the glowing Buyierfei. The resulting explosion altered her opponent's position slightly. "Yes!!" she exhaled as the black chi ball blew a chunk out of the creature's glowing flesh. "So, it's not immune to your own energy, huh?" Ranko gloated. Ranko's joy was short lived when Shuma blasted her with another black chi ball while she was turned away from him. As the energy washed across her chest, Ranko screamed in pain and crashed to the ground by the rapidly color-shifting heart. The black energy seared her skin, but--fortunately for Ranko--most of it was absorbed and neutralized by the golden strands she had tied around her chest. It was painful, but the fact that her skin was still attached to her body was more than Ranko had expected when the blast first hit her. That didn't make her mood towards the person who had thrown the chi ball any more pleasant. "Arghh.... bastard." "That's just a fraction of the pain I'll make you feel for daring to hurt my son." Ignoring Ranma for the moment, Shuma jumped next to the glowing Buyierfei and applied a hand to the wound. A black glow appeared between his palm and the damaged flesh. "It looks as ugly as you, bastard..." Ranma spat as he cautiously approached Shuma after making sure that Ranko was safe. "Such a small wound can't hurt my sons. Like me, they are immortal." "Sons?" Ranma asked, emphasizing the plural use. He spun around, expecting an attack. Shuma smiled. "Don't worry, my other son isn't here." Maybe it was the evil smile on Shuma's face or the tone of his voice, but something in Ranma didn't like the idea of another one of the glowing monsters being on the loose somewhere. Shuma's next statement confirmed Ranma's worse fears. "Don't worry, with you two collectors here, my other son should have no problems obtaining the young collector from your fortress. With any luck, we can rid ourselves of that annoying Un-cute-one as well." -A- -M- -D- June 2, 2009 - Nerima, Japan (Black Wars Day 34) "The Mexico monolith just exploded!" Ukyo exclaimed as she rushed into Daiji's room. Akane sat on the bed cradling her daughter in her arms. "I know... Daiji just felt it." Ukyo frowned. "Oh... well, at least we know Ranma and Ranko are still fighting inside." Akane nodded. "I know, but I wish they had more Amazons with them. I don't know if they can blow three hearts by themselves." Ukyo sat down next to Akane and wrapped her arms around her friend, and in turn around Daiji. "They've done two already, as long as they can get out of the hearts before they blow..." "I know all that!!" Akane snapped, then flinched at hearing her own voice. "I'm sorry." She stroked Daiji's hair. "No, I know the feeling. " Ukyo looked away towards the west. Towards Africa. "The only thing that keeps me going is the reports that the front line in Africa keeps shrinking back to where the Fourth Monolith must have been." She clutched her chest. "I can imagine Sanma valiantly going into battle, his head held high..." She paused when she thought she heard a cat. "I shouldn't have held Ranma and Ranko back." Akane looked out the nearby window. "Almost a month since they entered the monolith and we still..." The repeated sounding of a gong, which was quickly followed by her cell phone ringing, interrupted Akane. "Yes?" Akane said as she answered the call. A second later, her worst fears were confirmed and she grew pale. "How many?" This time her jaw dropped out of surprise at the response she received. "Just one?" After hearing of the thousands--and most likely millions--of Buyierfei elsewhere in the world, she had expected a slightly higher number when the long overdue attack on the Compound occurred. Certainly more than one. But all Buyierfei are not born equal. A flash of light caught Akane's eye and she looked out the window again. "Shit..." Ukyo followed her gaze and saw the single glowing Buyierfei that was approaching the front gate. In the late afternoon dusk, it was impossible to miss. "I'll get the kids..." Akane nodded, then issued instructions into her phone. "Hold it off as long as possible, Nipplering. We'll get the kids out." She listened to the phone and then said one more thing before hanging up. "And don't let it touch anyone!!" -A- -M- -D- Easier said than done. The Amazon shuddered as the glowing tentacle sliced through her neck. Gasping for breath in vain, she clutched her neck and dropped to the ground. Even as she tried to staunch the flow of blood, she felt her body begin to dissolve from the inside out while the Buyierfei slid over her. She screamed, but only for the spit second her lungs and vocal cords remained solid. The glowing Buyierfei shuffled forwards, not even pausing at the pile of black dust that was its most recent victim. Its targets were in the traditional Japanese house located in the center of the Compound, anything that got in its way was incidental. Death... [End - Chapter 10] Coming soon: Chapter 11 - The Black Wars "A Child's Pain, A Mother's Pain, A Wife's Pain" ======================================================================= The real author's (Jim Lazar) notes/ramblings: I'd like to thank my pre-readers Michael A. Chase, Thomas C. Kinnen, Aaron Nowack, and Olesh Hotra for helping me find and fix problems with this story. Thank you all. Of course in the end, any mistakes and botched characters are my fault. Revision 0.0 - Rough draft began November 11, 2000) Revision 0.1 - Rough draft finished (December 9, 2000) Revision 0.3 - Pre-reader draft (April 14, 2001) Revision 1.0 - Final version (June 3, 2001) Revision 1.1 - First RAAC posting (June 28, 2001)