[Ranma][Fanfic] Adulthood of a Modern Dynasty - Chapter 17: The Black
Wars "From the Ashes..."
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Adulthood of a Modern Dynasty
Chapter 17: The Black Wars "From the Ashes..."

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 2000-2002 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
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December 4, 2009 - Moscow, Russia
(Black Wars Day 219)


    Moscow's Red Square wasn't what it used to be.

    Gone were the majestic spires of St. Basil's Cathedral and the
Kremlin. Gone too were the famous Gem Department Store and Lenin's Tomb.
In fact, of the hundreds of buildings and structures that used to grace
central Moscow in and around Red Square, only a few buildings near the
Garden Ring still stood.

     The rest were either part of the black dust that could still be
found in patches within the circular depression that the Fifth Monolith
had carved out or had been demolished when they were deemed beyond
repair.

     Even the course of the Moskva River had been changed when the
shockwave from the imploding monolith had pushed up a great mound of
debris. The resulting floods in south Moscow finished off the art work
in the Stalin Art Gallery that had survived the initial blast.

     This isn't to say that Moscow still looked like it did six months
earlier. Scaffolding and other signs of repairs could be seen at the
outskirts of the blast zone. Construction of large embankments to keep
the Moskva River in one place--but not necessarily in its original
place--was well underway.

     And where Red Square used to be could now be found a red square.

     Literally.

     To memorialize the irreplaceable buildings and structures lost
forever and those who had died during Black War One--not that anyone was
calling it that yet--a simple half-kilometer by half-kilometer square of
land was paved over using red-colored concrete.

     Embedded throughout the red concrete were small copper stars, one
for each Russian lost in the Battle of Red Square. And--although an
exact count could never be made--approximately one billion small
stainless steel pellets were mixed into the concrete to try and
symbolize all of those who had died worldwide during the Buyierfei's
deadly return.

     At the western edge of the now aptly named Red Square, was a
triangular shaped reflecting pool that marked the former location of the
Kremlin. It was mostly built because no one in the government could
agree on any of the dozens of other plans for the land, so they choose
the cheapest one. Not that the politicians would admit that publicly.

     Simple shapes to replace the irreplaceable.

     As with most monuments, a dedication ceremony for the new square
was arranged to formally mark its completion. So, on a blistery cold day
in December, a strange assortment of people came together in the new Red
Square.

     A temporary stage was set up on the edge of the reflecting pool and
a large banner reading 'The buildings are gone, but the history of
Russia is eternal' in Russian was hanging over the stage. At the rear of
the stage, a long row of seats held various dignitaries, VIPS, and
military officers dressed in assorted cold-weather clothing. Even with
the big fluffy fur coats worn by the politicians or the long overcoats
worn by the military personnel everyone still looked cold. Not even the
typical fur-lined Russian hats worn by many of the assembled people
helped keep out the bitter cold on that particular day.

     That bitter cold accounted for the rather small crowd gathered in
front of the stage. Only about two hundred people had decided to brave
the weather to celebrate the reopening of the new Red Square, instead of
the ten to twenty thousand that the square could hold. Of course, no one
expected the square to fill up for the modest ceremony planned.

     But that never stopped the Russians from putting on a good show.

     Several neat rows of Russian army soldiers wearing their dress
uniforms were standing at ease on both sides of the civilian crowd.
Their ranks went back several times the distance of the civilian crowd
and were easily ten times the size. Once reserved strictly for
ceremonial occasions like these, their swords where now always at their
side and always ready for use in battle.

     And, as with most public dedications, a couple dozen reporters and
television crews were there to report on the day's events. Be it for a
blurb in the local paper or for a live broadcast for those Russians
smart enough to stay in their warm homes, the news media were spread out
among the civilians and military.

     After a series of speakers--politicians and military alike--said
their spiel at the podium standing at the front of the stage, a man in
his early sixties walked slowly to the podium. His rhythmic steps,
graying hair, and overall demeanor betrayed his long, distinguished
career in the military and made the insignia on his uniform identifying
him as a Marshal almost unnecessary.

     When he reached the podium, an unseen--and warm since the announcer
was in a truck parked at the edge of Red Square--announcer spoke through
the speakers setup around the stage. "Comrades, please welcome Marshal
Yuri Cantonov. Newly appointed leader of our glorious Russian
Anti-Buyierfei Forces."

     There was a smattering of muted applause--muted due to the gloves
the crowd was wearing--from the audience and a snapping of salutes from
the various military personal on the stage and in the audience.

     "At ease," the Marshal said, returning the salutes. He paused and
scanned the assembled civilians and soldiers. "We are gathered here to
remember what once was here and to dedicate ourselves to fighting the
war that has engulfed the world." Again, he paused to let his words sink
in. "The buildings and monuments that were lost here cannot be replaced,
but they can be remembered and must be remembered. They were a part of
our glorious heritage as Russians."

     He gestured behind him at the reflecting pool. "The Kremlin is no
more, but all a Russian has to do to see the true nature of Russia is to
peer into this pond and see the real results of our glorious Russian
history reflected back at them... ourselves."

     Those few who knew of the Marshal's opposition to the simple
reflecting pool, would have chuckled at this comment if they weren't
afraid of his wrath.

     "The destruction of the buildings and monuments that made up Moscow
have been a terrible loss, but just as the Russian people have survived
and become stronger because of our hardships in the past, we will
survive and become stronger as we fight this terrible war with these
demons."

     This got more of a response from the crowd than when he was
introduced.

     He went on to assure the people in the audience and those watching
on television that the Russian military would take every step necessary
to protect the Russian people and the country from the Buyierfei.

     "Our soldiers are ready, willing, and able to defend this great
nation and this world. I'd like to introduce you to just one of these
soldiers, a man that fought against impossible odds and helped drive the
Buyierfei back." The Marshal turned to look at the people seated behind
him. "Sergeant Preskin?"

     A young man in an officer's uniform that bore no insignia snapped
to his feet and took five stiff steps to the podium. He saluted smartly
with his right arm, the crowd gasping at the lack of a hand at the end
of his bare stump. He'd been offered various artificial replacements,
but he had turned them all down.

     The Marshal returned the salute and then picked up something from
the podium. As the soldier stood at attention, the Marshal addressed the
crowd. "Despite losing a hand to the enemy, Sergeant Preskin assisted
the Amazons in destroying the three monoliths that appeared after the
Fourth. He is a true Russian Hero."

     The soldiers in the audience started to clap, drawing the civilians
in with them.

     Leonid blushed slightly, but stayed at attention.

     "He was offered a honorable discharge so he could heal his wounds,
but in the spirit of a true Russian he has asked to remain on active
duty so that he can help defeat the greatest foe Russia... and the world
has ever known."

     Again the crowd applauded and Leonid fidgeted under the attention
that was befalling him. Some might have assumed he was just not used to
being in front of a crowd or modest, but he knew the real reason.

     <I don't deserve to be here,> he thought, even as the Marshal went
on his glorious portrait of a man Leonid didn't know. The man he knew
himself to be was a simple soldier whose only claim to fame was that he
had managed to survive while his men hadn't. At best he had saved a
single Amazon, at worse he had killed millions of Iranian civilians.

     "Sergeant Leonid Gustavo Preskin, in light of your great service to
this country and for your heroic victory over the Buyierfei in defense
of the city of Moscow and the great country of Russia, I have the honor
of promoting you to Second Lieutenant." He picked up a pin from the
podium and waited for Leonid to step forward. Then he pinned the
lieutenant insignia onto the new Lieutenant's collar. "May you serve
your country and world well, Lieutenant," he said as he finished
attaching the insignia.

     "Thank you, Sir!" Leonid barked and saluted his superior officer.

     The Marshal returned the salute and then turned back towards the
crowd. "Lieutenant Preskin is just one of the thousands who will fight
the ongoing war that has engulfed the world."

     As Leonid made his way back to his chair, the crowd applauded
again.

     "Even now, while the Buyierfei are engaged in battle with the
United States and the Eighth Monolith threatens their western states, we
must be ready to fight when and where we can. At times, this will mean
sending our troops to fight in other parts of the world. But let no man
or woman believe that Russia is not ready and able to defeat the
Buyierfei should they attack our homeland again."

     The crowd applauded even as he continued with his patriotic speech.

     "No matter where they attack... no matter when they attack... we
will be ready!" He raised his balled fist into the air. "And we will
win!!" He slammed his fist down onto the podium to drive home his point.

     That was when his audience suddenly doubled in size.

     In the blink of an eye, dozens of people 'folded' in from nowhere.
The effect was not unlike that of looking at a photograph from the edge
and then turning it so you could see the photo. One second nothing, then
next second you saw the person in the photograph. Their appearance was
so sudden and so unexpected the crowd just looked around at the
newcomers, the cold air causing steam to drift from the newcomer's warm
mouths.

     At first, the Marshal assumed it was just some off duty soldiers
joining the crowd due to the camouflaged uniforms some of them wore. But
that wouldn't explain the large women in full armor.

     "Amazons?" he muttered, as a man with a pigtail rolled across the
stage clutching something protectively in his arms.

     "Incoming!!" a soldier shouted from somewhere.

      The Marshal looked up just in time to see a sleek fighter jet
flash overhead, blasting everyone on the stage off their feet or chairs.

     Banking wildly, the fighter jet barely avoided crashing into the
sign over the stage, but the wake from its engines ripped the flimsy
sign apart anyway before it tossed the people on stage into the crowd.

     That's when the first glowing Buyierfei appeared out of nowhere.

     Needless to say, panic spread quickly.

                    -A-           -M-           -D-

     As the world changed around him, Captain Tyler screamed as he
suddenly found his plane diving towards red pavement. "Crap.... what the
hell happened!" He fought his controls and tried to get his plane's nose
up. Unfortunately, his instruments were hopelessly confused by the
sudden shift in the center of gravity and the sudden reacquisition of
navigational telemetry from US military satellites that it almost made
the plane unflyable as the systems tried to adjust the hi-tech fighter
for a normal environment. Normal in comparison to the Buyierfei realm,
of course.  Under different circumstances, he'd have ejected with his
gunner.

     But he had another passenger strapped into an improvised seat made
up of part of their canopy. With no way for Ranko to depart the doomed
plane, he had to do his best to get it down in as few pieces as
possible.

     Unfortunately, the soft, spongy ground he had been trying to do a
belly up landing on had suddenly disappeared and was replaced with a red
slab of concrete with hundreds of people on it. He pulled up and avoided
killing the people below, but felt his twin engines start to wind down
as the fuel feeding them trickled down to nothing.

     The F-35 was a very advanced fighter jet, but without fuel it was a
brick with wings. Using every trick in his book, he managed to get the
nose up just as he spotted the reflecting pool behind the stage.

     Way too close for his comfort--and especially too close for those
below on the ground--he slipped over the stage and tried to guide the
plane onto the glistening water below.

     That was when he felt the frigid wind slapping is face through the
open canopy.

     Cold plus water equals ice.

     The bottom of the F-35 scrapped the surface of the frozen pond and
screamed as the armored underbelly scrapped across the frozen surface.

     Every metal-tearing second that went by was a jab in Captain
Tyler's heart as his precious plane was shaken and stirred, leaving a
trail of bits and bolts behind it.

     After forcing the flaps on his wings and tail fin fully open to
slow his plane, Captain Tyler finally felt the shaking stop and allowed
himself to breathe. "Damn... we're alive."

     "That was one for the book, Justin."

     "Tell me about it... I thought we were dead for sure."

     "We may still be," another voice interrupted them.

     Captain Tyler and Lieutenant Bond looked behind them and saw Ranko
unstrapping herself.

     "We not come out alone," Ranko said in broken English, her eyes
locked on something outside the plane even as she pulled at the straps
holding her in the improvised cradle.

     The two pilots followed her gaze and saw the glowing Buyierfei all
around them.

     If it wasn't for the screams of the panicked crowd behind them,
they might have laughed at the sight of the multi-tentacled creatures
slipping and sliding as they tried to move across the frozen reflecting
pool.

     As Ranko leapt from the plane, Captain Tyler and his gunner both
reached for the weapon packs they had strapped to the side of their
ejection seats.

     The battle wasn't over yet.

                    -A-           -M-           -D-

     Kamajirou saw red. Nothing but red.

     At first he assumed it was his blood pouring out of his torn up
body, which wasn't surprising since anyone who'd been inside a
monolith's heart when it was destroyed knew that it felt like their body
was torn to pieces when they were returned to the normal world.

     But as soon as his mind registered that he was still breathing, his
heart still thumping, and his eyes still seeing something other than the
black and grays that permeated the Buyierfei realm, he realized that
they must be back on Earth.

     That didn't help him recognize where on Earth.

     Rising shakily to his knees with his sore arms, he looked around
the red square he found himself on. "Where..." was all his mouth let
slip out before he saw the chaos around him. People were running
everywhere as the Buyierfei appeared out of nowhere. "Wha..."

      "Get up and fight, little man!" a petite Amazon said as she leapt
over the prone man and sliced into a Buyierfei with her sword.

     Kamajirou rolled backwards at Pillow's sudden appearance, realizing
that he was a lot closer to the enemy than he had thought. Feeling for
his own sword, he found that it was missing. <Crap... no sword.> He
tried to focus energy into his arms, but--just like during training--he
couldn't get the green haze to form around them. <And I can't blast the
glowing Buyierfei with chi or they'll just divide and keep on
attacking.> He got to his feet and turned around to find something to
use as a weapon.

     What he found instead was a Buyierfei towering over him.

     Instinctively, he held out his hands and jumped backwards. A
well-placed chi ball saved his life, but he knew he had just postponed
its end. He saw the creature split into five smaller Buyierfei in the
odd, fluidic way they had while he had been fighting inside the
Monolith. What kind of surprised him was that the five new creatures
barely glowed and had large blotches of black skin on their bodies.

     <It's almost as if they're a light bulb that has been unplugged
from their outlet...> Kamajirou thought as he blasted one of the
'pieces' with another chi blast. He smiled when it disintegrated.

                    -A-           -M-           -D-

     Ranma tumbled off the stage and grunted as he did his best to
absorb the shock. Breathing heavily, he opened his eyes to a scene of
chaos. People in all sorts of heavy coats and jackets were running
everywhere. His grip on the precious bundle in his arms tightened as he
caught sight of a Buyierfei through gaps in the mass of people. "Time to
end this..."

     Rolling to the side, he used his legs and one arm to fling himself
into the air, while still holding his newly rescued baby in his other
arm. "Moko Takabisha!!"

     As he arced over the heads of the nearest people, a stream of chi
balls flashed out from his free hand whenever he spotted a Buyierfei.
While he knew the blasts would fragment the glowing Buyierfei, he also
knew that the smaller fragments would take a few seconds to recover and
attack. In other words, it would give the people in the crowd time to
get away from their deadly attackers.

     As he landed, a shiver ran up his spine.

     "Give me back the Core."

     Ranma spun around, a green haze forming around his body and his
baby. 

     Standing in the torn up rags that were once his cloak, Shuma stared
at Ranma with his pitch black eyes. Portions of his flesh were hanging
off his face and the exposed parts of his body. If he had been human,
he'd be dead.

     Instead, he looked like a half-decomposed corpse.

     "Never!" Ranma replied to Shuma's demand and then punctuated his
answer with a series of chi balls.

     Despite his bruised and battered appearance, Shuma slid away from
the chi balls with little effort. As the chi balls hit the red pavement
behind him and covered a nearby television crew with debris, Shuma
jumped at Ranma.

     Ranma sprung backwards, concentrating on keeping the green shield
around his baby.

     Fortunately, Shuma never reached Ranma. Ranko's foot and Sanma's
elbow caught Shuma's head in the middle of an attack that would have
broken the neck of anything human. Spun around by the double blows,
Shuma crashed across the ground and found himself on the receiving end
of dozens of chi balls.

     Several of the nearest Buyierfei swarmed around Shuma and ended up
being hit by at least half of the chi balls meant for their leader.

     Ranko and Sanma looked back at Ranma in unison. "Get the baby to
safety..." Sanma shouted and then realized there was another life that
depended on the baby's survival. "Get it to Akane, we'll take care of
all this!"

     "Yeah, take care of our child, while we..." Ranko shouted as she
took a quick glance at the small baby in her co-husband's arms and then
jumped into battle. "...take care of this monster!"

     Leaving Shuma to them, Ranma followed the flow of the crowd away
from the fighting, scanning for signs of his wife. "Akane!!"

                    -A-           -M-           -D-

     The tentacle meant for his chest went wide as Leonid rolled to the
side, Drawing his left-handed sword from its ceremonial sheathe he
sliced through several tentacles and part of the Buyierfei's central
mass as he rolled. "Crap, where the hell did these come from?" he
muttered in Russian as he rose to his feet.

     "From within the monolith, Husband."

     Leonid's eyes went wide at hearing the familiar voice. Finishing
off the Buyierfei that he had crashed into when he was blown off the
stage first, he turned around and saw a marvelous sight. "Hairwax?"

     Hairwax smiled as she hacked into the flesh of another Buyierfei.
"So you remember me, do you, Husband?"

     "Um... yeah." Two things suddenly dawned on Leonid about the Amazon
he had met inside the Fifth Monolith. "Um... you know Russian now?" he
asked the first question.

     Hairwax nodded. "Is ancient Amazon tradition to learn language of
one you shall marry."

     And that was the second question. "Marry?"

     "Do you not remember when you fondle my breast?"

     "Yeah, I remember the breast part, but..." Leonid never finished
his sentence. Instead, he ducked as Hairwax threw a throwing axe at him.
<What kind of weird courtship customs do they have?>

     "No need to duck, I never miss," Hairwax said, as she jumped over
Leonid and finished off the Buyierfei that had come up behind him.

     Leonid gulped and got back to his feet, thoughts of marriage
quickly changing to thoughts of survival. Holding his sword up, he
stepped beside Hairwax. "I've got your back."

     "You've got all of me." Hairwax winked and then jumped towards a
nearby Buyierfei. Love and war were the same thing to an Amazon, except
one is less bloody than the other.

     But no one was sure which one.

                    -A-           -M-           -D-

     As the second battle of Red Square unfolded and ripped the new Red
Square into blackened chunks of concrete and earth, the chaos slowly
formed into a somewhat orderly battle once the Russian soldiers realized
what was happening and started clearing paths for the civilians to
evacuate through. Drawing their swords, they tried to keep the Buyierfei
from harming the fleeing men and women while forming into squads to
fight the Buyierfei directly.

     Drawing on their prior encounter with Shuma's glowing son during
the first battle of Red Square, the soldiers initially kept their
distance from the glowing daughters of Shuma. Before long, they noticed
that the Amazons were able to kill the Buyierfei with their swords and
also get touched by the Buyierfei without dying a horrible death.

     Emboldened by the Amazons' success, the Russian soldiers started
attacking the glowing Buyierfei. The internal light from the creatures
was growing dimmer and dimmer as the battle progressed and many of the
Buyierfei were nearly completely black after the first ten minutes of
the fight. Five minutes after that, some were starting to fade from
sight completely. Starved of their energy source, they were becoming
regular ground Buyierfei once again.

                    -A-           -M-           -D-

     As this battle was going on, another battle was going on.

     The battle to save a life.

     "Damn, her pressure's dropping again..." Kasumi swore as she tried
to keep her sister alive.

     A weary Ukyo knelt nearby, one hand on her battle spatula and the
other holding Akane's shaking hand. She kept scanning the area around
her for signs of activity, but so far the Buyierfei hadn't come to this
corner of the new Red Square. "What happened?"

     "I don't know... she was stable before we left th... that place and
now... now her body's shutting down," Kasumi explained without removing
her hands or eyes from her patient.

     "Can I do anything?"

     "If we're back on Earth, we need to get her to a hospital..."
Kasumi put some pressure on the red bandages covering her sister's
stomach. "Fast."

     Ukyo nodded and used her spatula to get to her feet. Shaking from
the exhaustion of giving blood to Akane and the battle that followed,
she almost fell over. Fortunately something caught her fall.

     Unfortunately, that something was an invisible Buyierfei.

     As the creature flashed into sight, Ukyo rolled to the side and
managed to slice a couple tentacles off with her spatula before the

first tentacle speared her leg. In quick succession, the second tentacle
slashed across her forearm and the third...

     Dropped to the grown and began to dissolve. The rest of the
creature quickly followed.

     Ukyo looked up and saw her savior. "Thanks, Nipplering, we have to
get Akane to a hospital."

     Nipplering nodded, causing the black blood covering her face to
drip down. "I understand. I'll send some of my warriors back to protect
you and then find help for the Leader." She looked around and then
jumped quickly away.

    Ukyo clutched her leg where the tentacle had punctured it.

    "Are you okay?" Kasumi said without looking away from Akane.

    "Don't worry about this little scratch..."

     Kasumi didn't hear Ukyo's response. She was too busy trying to
restart Akane's heart. "Come on... come on..." she muttered over and
over as she repeatedly pushed down on Akane's chest.

     Ukyo just stared blankly at her friend.

     Both Ukyo and Kasumi flinched backwards when Akane's eyes suddenly
opened. Ukyo fell over backwards, but Kasumi kept her balance and
quickly smiled when she felt Akane's pulse growing stronger.

     Akane's mouth opened and closed silently.

     "Thank goodness..." Kasumi exhaled. "Akane, don't try and move.
We're out of the monolith and will get you to a hospital soon."

     Akane started to gurgle and soon started to emit some faint words.
"My..."

     "Shhhhh..." Kasumi tried to make her patient relax.

      "My..."

      Before she could ask her question, it was answered by a small cry
that echoed across the noisy battlefield.

      Kasumi and Ukyo looked at the source of the cry. Both women almost
broke down in tears when they saw Ranma leap over a horde of Buyierfei
in a single bound, trailing a stream of chi balls behind him.

     As the nearest Buyierfei were blown apart, a mixed squad of
Amazons, Russian soldiers, and students from Inferno Company could be
seen in the gaps, hacking into the large horde that had swarmed towards
Ranma ever since he had escaped from Shuma. There was no doubt what they
were after.

     They wanted the baby back.

     Ranma dropped down next to Akane as several Amazons sent by
Nipplering surrounded the group. "Is she..."

     "She'll be fine," Kasumi said, reaching for the baby and hoping her
diagnosis was correct.

     Ranma smiled and looked into his wife's glazed over eyes. He wasn't
sure if she recognized him, but could see the tears pooling in her
beautiful brown eyes. "No..." he said softly as he lowered the baby onto
his wife's chest. "She needs to hold it." He pulled one of Akane's hands
up and placed it onto their baby. Before he even reached for her other
hand, it came up and wrapped around the newborn infant.

     Akane couldn't look down at her chest, but tears of joy quickly
replaced the painful tears in her eyes as she felt her baby squirming
between her hands and chest. "My baby..." she gasped as she held her
baby for the first time.

                    -A-           -M-           -D-

     Li-Wen screamed as the tentacle wrapped around her throat and
another around her arms, pinning them to her sides. Flipped upside down,
she squirmed to get her arms in a position to blow apart her attacker
even as she started to gasp for breath.

     Just as her world started to grow dim, a rush of air flowed into
her lungs and she crashed to the ground. She looked through the spray of
black blood and saw her rescuer. "Kamajirou?"

     Kamajirou smiled and reversed the direction of the sword he had
picked up next to a fallen Russian soldier. "Not good with a sword, am
I?"

     She got to her feet and smiled awkwardly. "I take it all back." Her
eyes widened. "Duck!!"

      As Li-Wen's chi ball flashed over his head, he ducked and spun his
sword around. Catching the Buyierfei right when it had started to divide
using the power from the chi blast, his sword chopped the four pieces
into eight. "Thanks."

     "Anytime..." Li-Wen scanned the area for signs of more Buyierfei.
She finally settled on one direction. "Looks like our teachers could use
some help... the other Buyierfei are starting to surround them."

     Kamajirou followed her gaze and gasped at the sight of Ranko and
Sanma pummeling Shuma with twin Hiryu Shoten Ha vortexes. "But before
they entered the monolith they said not to attack that human-looking one
and leave it up to them."

     "Yeah, but did you see the look in their eyes when they talked
about the Buyierfei's leader?" Li-Wen said as she started towards the
center of the fireworks.

     Kamajirou hesitated, remembering the look in Ranma, Ranko, and
Sanma's eyes when they explained to Inferno Company what to expect
before they entered the monolith. <Anything that can put that much fear
into them has to be truly...> His thoughts trailed off when he found
himself unable to imagine anything that would terrify his teachers.

     But then he wasn't a parent facing the loss of a child.

     Following Li-Wen, he started running with a sword in one hand and a
chi ball forming in the other. <But there was something else in
Sanma-sensei's eyes that wasn't in the other two's...>

                    -A-           -M-           -D-

     Ranko and Sanma had Shuma trapped between a pair of Hiryu Shoten Ha
vortexes and were kicking chi balls at him using their feet. Why their
feet? Their arms were occupied generating the vortexes, of course.

     Another battle raged all around them. Hordes of Buyierfei were
rushing to their leader's defense. Fortunately, the Amazons and some
members of Inferno Company had quickly formed a defense line and were
hacking apart the Buyierfei as fast as they could swing their swords or
form a chi ball. The few that slipped by the defense line tried to
protect their leader by getting between Shuma and his attackers or by
attacking Ranko and Sanma directly. 

      Shaking off the occasional Buyierfei attacker with a quick blast,
Ranko and Sanma kept up their barrage of attacks on Shuma. Their attacks
were particularly strong since they were overflowing with confidence
that they could finally finish off Shuma.

     Despite her assertion that her child was long dead and buried,
Sanma's heart was racing as she felt the time approach that she would
have to once again kill her own child.

     Shuma glared at his attackers, oddly defiant considering how
helpless he looked between the twin vortexes. "Time to end this, I
think."

     Ranko smirked. "We couldn't agree more." She looked around and
raised her voice. "Everyone who can, blast this asshole now!!"

     "Perfect..." Shuma muttered before the chi balls rained down on him
from almost every direction possible, including above.

     Li-Wen and Kamajirou had leapt over a mass of Buyierfei at Ranko's
shout and laid down a barrage of chi balls. As they landed, they swept
the area they had just jumped over with more chi balls to avoid being
impaled from behind.

     Sanma frowned as the chi balls didn't seem to cause Shuma any
damage. He knew from their previous battles that Shuma could withstand
attacks a lot longer and survive a lot more physical damage than any
human--herself included--but she knew he should at least have sustained
some damage from the combined assault. "How..." she gasped before the
answer revealed itself.

     Shuma's skin was glowing red through the tattered remains of his
cloak. "Fools... as long as I can call on the power of the Core, I am
invincible."

     "But..." Ranko sputtered, her concentration wavering. "Ranma
has..."

     Sanma glanced behind her.

     Shuma cackled, pulling out of the two unstable vortexes. Ranko and
Sanma 's vortexes collided and sent a surge of energy back to their
sources, sending the two martial artists tumbling across the hard, red
concrete. Shuma slid to the side where several faintly glowing Buyierfei
waited. "The Core still exists, whether the infant is feeding it energy
or not."

     Sanma rose from where the back-blast had sent her. "Bastard."

     Shuma just chuckled as he crashed through a mass of Amazons with
his Buyierfei escort clearing the way. Even with a dozen of the demons
being lost to the Amazon swords, the push was enough to get Shuma
through the ring of fighters.

     Sanma helped Ranko up and then both of them took off after Shuma.
They knew there was only one place he would be going.

     Shuma wanted Akane's baby back.

                    -A-           -M-           -D-

     Now wrapped in Ranma's red shirt, the aforementioned baby was
contently sucking on his mother's teat.

     Into this tender moment between the recently reunited mother and
child, burst a most unwelcome intrusion.

     "Who are you people?"

     Not Shuma and his minions, but a television crew trying to get a
scoop.

     Some people may have preferred Shuma and the Buyierfei.

     Akane looked up from her baby, not pleased at the interruption.
"Huhhhh?" she gurgled, still not exactly lucid.

     Kasumi looked up from where she was binding Ukyo's leg and saw the
television crew filming them. "Do something useful and get us some
medical help!" Kasumi snapped in Japanese.

     You try being sweet and demure after you just went through what
Kasumi had.

     Hearing the voices behind him, Ranma turned around and saw the two
people being held by a couple of the Amazons that surrounded Akane. One
of the people had a camera focused on Akane and his baby, the other was
waving a microphone around. "Get out of here, there are still Buyierfei
all around us!!" he shouted in English, doubting that any of the locals
would understand Japanese.

     The reporter with a wireless microphone looked at Ranma. "Are you
in charge of these Amazons?" he asked in English with a thick Russian
accent.

     "Not really..." Ranma muttered, then flinched as an explosion
erupted behind him. Spinning around he saw a mass of Buyierfei
approaching them, with a red glow emanating from the center. "That
glow..."

     "Ran... ma?" a weary voice reached out from behind him.

     Ranma looked behind him and saw his wife looking back at him.
"Kasumi... can she be moved?"

     Kasumi hesitated, but then nodded. "If we're careful..."

     Ranma glared at the television crew. "You two... help get my wife
and child out of here."

     "But..." the reporter managed to say before he saw the large chi
ball forming between Ranma's hands.

     "DO IT!!" Ranma screamed and then threw the chi ball like a
baseball. It screamed into the nearest Buyierfei and the resulting
explosion sent black flesh and blood spilling across the red concrete
below.

     The two men lowered their microphone and camera and scurried to
help Kasumi pickup the metal stretcher that Akane and her baby were on.


***********************************************************************
>From the personal journal of James Davidson

September 2, 2058


     "In retrospect... it was not the best way for Akane to be
introduced to the world," Kasumi said, sighing heavily.

      I nodded and keyed my wristtop to display a particular image that
had become quite famous over the past half century. Appearing in front
of us, the 2D holographic-enhanced image showed a bare-chested Akane
lying in the stretcher with her baby nuzzled contently up against her
swollen breast. Despite her bruised, battered, and blood-covered body,
Akane was looking at her baby with a happy and contented look that only
a mother could give to her newborn baby.

     Considering all that she and the others had gone through to get
that baby into her arms--some of which I had only recently learned from
Kasumi--the peaceful look on the mother was very surprising.

     But then--to me--Akane had always seemed like a woman who could
find a moment of peace despite the chaos around her. Unfortunately, it
was a required skill to keep her sanity in the chaos that was her life.

     Kasumi smiled slightly as she saw the picture that I'm sure she had
seen many, many times before. "Akane wasn't that thrilled to be seen
like that on almost every news broadcast and every newspaper's front
page for the weeks that followed."

     "I can imagine that flashing the world wasn't the best way to make
her public debut." I looked at the picture again. "Not to mention her
messy hair and lack of makeup."

     Kasumi chuckled and studied the picture she must have seen a
millions times. "At that moment, her only thoughts were for her baby."
Kasumi stared at the picture.

     I nodded. "You can see that in the picture. I think that single
picture helped establish the mystique around Akane and your whole
family."

     "Yes, that and the filmed coverage of the second battle of Red
Square."

     I nodded. "They did catch a lot of the action during the final
battle of Black War Two. I know it still impresses me despite seeing
some of those battles first hand lately."

     "After you've been in the middle of enough of them, you'll probably
think differently."

     "Probably..." I glanced over at the bassinet where my son was
sleeping. "I hope Red never gets in the middle of a Buyierfei battle."

     "So do I. No one should have to go through all that again..."


***********************************************************************
December 4-5, 2009 - Moscow, Russia
(Black Wars Day 219-220)


     Ranma and Ranko sat slumped together on some old, yellow plastic
chairs in the hallway of a dank Moscow hospital. Their torn and dirty
clothes still bore the red and black blood of the battles they had
recently fought on two continents and a realm of demons. The hospital's
nurses had tended to their numerous cuts and bruises as they sat there,
but they had barely noticed.

     They had more important things to worry about than their own
injuries.

     That didn't keep them from dozing off after they finally succumbed
to exhaustion, their hands still clasped tightly together. Several hours
had passed before a nurse tried to wake the two snoring people up.

     "Mr. Saotome?"

     Ranko stirred, but just slipped down a bit in her chair, leaving a
trail of drool across Ranma's shoulder.

     The nurse reached over and shook Ranma's shoulder. "Mr. Saotome?"
When Ranma didn't response, she shook harder.

     After a long battle, it's usually best to let sleeping martial
artists lie where you find them.

     Ranma's eyes snapped open and he bolted backwards, forming a chi
ball to blast the Buyierfei he had just been fighting in his nightmares.
He tumbled off the chair in the process.

     As the nurse screamed, Ranko's head crashed to the side and she was
awakened rather rudely when it slammed onto the plastic chair Ranma had
just vacated. "Wha..."

     Ranma's eyes focused and saw the nurse just before he blasted her.
"Huh? Where... oh!" He reabsorbed the energy forming between his hands
and looked around. "The hospital." He looked back at the nurse. "How's
my wife... how's my baby?"


     Ranko had come to about this time and asked pretty much the same
questions.

     The nurse looked a bit confused, mostly since she didn't speak
Japanese. "Mr. Saotome? You can see your baby now," she said slowly in
English, her Russian accent almost adding a musical tone to her words.

      Ranma's eyes shot fully open and he jumped to his feet right next
to where Ranko had gotten to hers. "Where?"

     The nurse indicated the hallway that she had come from. She had to
reach out and grab the wall to avoid falling over when the two of them
flashed by her faster that they had any right to move in their
condition.

     When she caught up to them, their smiling faces were pressed up
against the glass of the nursery.

     "Beautiful..." one parent sighed.

     "Adorable..." the other added.

     "Um... your baby is on this side," the nurse said, pointing to the
glass window on the other side of the hallway.

     Ranma and Ranko turned around and saw the other nursery room. They
swapped sides and gazed at their child for the first time... at least
the first time without worrying about the battle raging all around them.

     There was no doubt this was their child. Not only was it the only
baby on this side of the nursery, there were also five large amazons in
full armor spread out around the small room. After the long battle they
had just gone through, Nipplering wasn't taking any chances in the
unfamiliar hospital.

     The two nurses in the nursery carefully made their way around the
towering women, always being careful to tell the Russian speaking Amazon
what they were doing to prevent a repeat of the incident with the rectal
thermometer.

     It was a very painful incident for the nurse involved.

     "Beautiful..." one parent sighed.

     "Adorable..." the other added.

     "You can go inside, if you like," the nurse said. "We'll need you
to put on some scrubs, though," she added, noting the general condition
of their clothes and bodies.

     Ranma and Ranko wasted no time in scurrying down to the door,
slipping into some paper scrubs stacked on a cart, and going to the side
of their baby's bassinet.    

     Ranma reached in and stroked the side of his baby's head. "Um...
green hair?" His surprise was natural, since the last time he'd seen his
child, the baby was covered with red goop from the Core.

     The nurse came in behind them and nodded. "Yes, the doctor's aren't
sure why, but they've given your baby a clean bill of health otherwise."

     Ranma reached down and then pause. "Can I?"

     The nurse nodded. 

     Ranma slipped his hands under his baby for the second time, this
time without having to catch the baby in midair. "You've been through so
much to come to us... I just hope the rest of your life is less
traumatic for you." He kissed the baby's forehead and was rewarded with
a contented gurgle from his child. He looked up at Ranko and slid the
baby out to his co-husband. "Do you..."

      Ranko didn't wait for Ranma to finish his offer, she just slid her
hands forward and put them under Ranma's hands. Soon, the baby was
transferred and she drew it close to her face. She had had a chance to
see and touch the baby after the battle when they were loading it and
Akane into an ambulance, but this was her first real chance to hold it.
"So precious." Ranko kissed the baby's forehead. "She's... he's...
err..." She looked up at Ranma. "What sex is it?"

     Ranma's face scrunched up. "Um... I never really had a chance to
look."

     "How could you not look?"

     "I was a little busy saving him... her... it from the Buyierfei!"

     "Yeah, but..."

     The nurse just stood silently by as the two of them talked in
Japanese.

     Finally after Ranko started to fumble with the baby's diaper, Ranma
turned to the nurse. "Um... is it a boy or a girl?" he asked in English.

     The nurse smiled. "It's a..."

                    -A-           -M-           -D-

     A very tired looking Kasumi was pushed out of the operating room on
a wheelchair pushed by a large Russian woman that wouldn't look out of
place in a large pack of Amazons. As they went through another set of
double doors leading to the lobby, a large pack of Amazons turned and
looked at them. Although many of the Amazons were on sentry duty around
the outside of the hospital and others were inside to protect Akane and
her baby, the rest had taken over the lobby.

     Along with the Amazons, Sanma, Mousse, and the ten remaining
members of Inferno Company waited for news of Akane's condition. The
other fighters--including Ukyo--who had been less seriously hurt during
the battle that spanned two continents and the Buyierfei realm, were
either patched up and back in the lobby or resting in the almost full
hospital. Sanma had been by Ukyo's bedside until being forcefully
ejected so that Ukyo could get some rest while they gave her a blood
transfusion.
 
     When she appeared, Kasumi was immediately surrounded and was
peppered with questions.

     Kasumi raised her weary head. "She'll be okay."

     Hugs and shouts of joy went through the room, along with a rousing
cheer from the Amazons that would translate to English as 'all hail the
mighty mammary glands of the Leader'.

     Sanma knelt down next to Kasumi's wheelchair. "Thank you for
helping out in there. I know you must be exhausted... I am."

     Kasumi smiled weakly and brushed some of the stray hair away from
Sanma's eyes. "It's okay... I had to be there to tell them where
everything was."

     Sanma frowned. "Huh?"

     "I didn't exactly have the luxury of putting everything back
exactly where it belonged when we were inside the monolith, so I had to
help them find all the bits and pieces."

     Sanma nodded and gave Kasumi a hug. "I'll tell Ranma and Ranko, you
go get some rest at the hotel Leonid arranged for us."

     Kasumi paused, but then shook her head. "No... I need to tell them
personally." She looked over her shoulder at the nurse, who nodded and
wheeled her away towards the wing where the nursery was.

     Sanma followed her with her eyes, uneasy for some reason.

                    -A-           -M-           -D-

     Ranma and Ranko stumbled down the hallway of the hospital after a
long sleepless night followed by a long semi-sleepless day. They were
only leaving at the insistence of the hospital staff, who had put up
with their sudden arrival mostly due to the large number bladed weapons
carried by the Amazons.

     As things settled down, the Russian government had provided rooms
in a nearby hotel for the fighters. Publicly, because they wanted to
thank the brave warriors who helped defend Moscow from the Buyierfei.

     Privately, it was a combination of Leonid's help as a go-between
and a visit by three men in black suits to the Russian embassy in
Washington D.C. that actually got the hospital to accept the invasion of
the Amazons and to arrange for first class accommodations for Ranma and
company.

     As they emerged through the front doors of the hospital, they
shielded their eyes from the glare of the setting sun. They took another
step before large silhouettes surrounded them.

     They snapped into attack stances and prepared to fight off the
fiends that surrounded them. Then one of the silhouettes spoke.

     "Who are you people?'

     More questions followed, in several different languages.

     "Where did you come from?"

     "Will the Buyierfei return to Moscow again?"

     "What was that thing that injured woman blasted?"

     "Who was that injured woman?"

     "Why was she naked?"

     "What happened to the baby?"

      Ranma and Ranko took a step back from the large mass of reporters
and television cameras that had surrounded them.

      A second later, the reporters took many more steps back when some
of the Amazons thrust some of the aforementioned bladed weapons between
them and Ranma and Ranko.

     Knowing that the reporters would dog them all the way back to the
hotel, Ranma addressed the reporters using the only language he
understood in the jumble of asked questions. Namely, English. "Please...
please. My family and friends just need some time to rest and recuperate
from our wounds."

     "And to mourn our dead," Ranko added in Japanese, remembering the
Amazons and their students who had fought their last fight.

     Ranma nodded. "We've been to hell and back... we just need some
time alone now."

     Reporters, being reporters, pressed their questions anyway. They
did keep their distance this time, thanks to the sharp weapons between
them and the two martial artists.

     "Who are you?"

     "Um... I'm Ranma Saotome and this is my sister, Ranko."

     "How did you get to Moscow?"

     "After destroying the monolith outside Las Vegas, we appeared
here." Ranma frowned. "Um... we've been sorta out of touch... what
happened in America?"

     "The Eighth Monolith exploded about the same time you appeared in
Moscow... didn't hurt anyone since it was in the desert."

     Ranma exhaled. He'd assumed as much, but had been so concerned with
Akane and the baby, he hadn't had time to check into the details. He
also assumed that Sanma or one of the others would have told him and
Ranko if something disastrous happened to the western United States.

     "Who was the woman with the baby?"

     "That was o... my wife and child."

     "Why did she go into battle with a baby?"

     "Well... she was pregnant and..."

     Several of the reporters gasped. "She had the baby inside the
monolith? Amazing!"

     "Um... yeah, but it was..." Ranma hesitated, wondering if he should
really go into details about his child's 'birth' or mention that his
oldest full-time son was born in a monolith too. "It was difficult, but
not something we couldn't handle."

     "How are your wife and child?"

     "They're fine... now." Ranma took a deep breath. "My wife is a
strong woman and wouldn't leave me alone."

     "How did she generate that big red ball of fire?"

     Ranma smiled. "Shuma was after her child... so she did what any
mother would do to protect her child."

     "My wife can't make fire appear out of thin air unless she uses a
match..." one of the reporters mumbled.

     "Strictly speaking, it's not 'fire', but a highly concentrated form
of chi energy."

     This didn't help the reporters understand it any better. "So, it's
some kind of magic?"

     "No... just a highly developed martial arts technique. My wife
surrounded Shuma with the large chi ball and then collapsed it with an
inverted energy pulse."

     More dumb looks from the reporters.

     Seeing the dumb looks of the reporters, Ranko interjected in her
crude English. "She blasted the bastard to save her baby from those
fucking demons, okay?!"

     The reporters just stared at the small redhead, never expecting to
hear such things from a lady. But then Ranko would be the first to tell
them that she wasn't a lady.

     "Um... Who is this Shoe... man, you mentioned?"

      "Shuma... he's the Buyierfei's leader."

      This prompted a lot of note taking, as the reporters--and thus the
world--got a name for the enemy's leader. It's always easier to create
headlines when there's a known name involved, after all. "Is he human?"

     Ranma and Ranko exchanged a pained look, before Ranma answered.
"No... that bastard's about as inhuman as anything possibly could be.
His appearance is just an facade to hide the true horror that's inside
him."

     "Where did he go?"

     Ranma cringed remembering the end of the battle. "Although he's
incredibly strong and determined... Shuma knows when he can't win
against us."

     "He ran away," Ranko added, smirking.

     "Will he be back?"

     Ranma sighed. "Probably. Probably not here, but whenever and
wherever he does, we'll fight him."

     "So who are you people anyway? It's obvious you're working with the
Amazons since you've been seen all over the world with them, but you're
male."

     "Darn, right I am... but even if we're not Amazons, we've been
fighting the Buyierfei since ninety-nine. We have no choice."

     The reporters blinked twice, not understanding what Ranko meant.
She was a woman, after all.

     "What my SISTER means is--" Ranma said, emphasizing the 'sister' to
remind Ranko of her gender. "--that we and our families are honorary
Amazons, but fight the Buyierfei because we have to."

     "Why?"

     "Because we can." Ranma snapped his fingers and a ball of chi
appeared. "The techniques we have developed as the world's greatest
martial artists are particularly deadly to the Buyierfei." He glanced at
Ranko, who was juggling six chi balls. He frowned and looked back at his
single chi ball. <Show off.>

     "Are you part of some sort of organization or government?"

     "Well, yes, we..." Ranma began to say before Ranko slapped her hand
over his mouth.

      Ranko leaned in and whispered to Ranma. "I don't think General
Smart would want us talking about that kind of stuff."

      Ranma waved Ranko off. "Yeah... yeah... I know." Turning to the
reporters, Ranma thought furiously. "Um... we're part of... an..." His
eyes widened as an old thought returned to his mind. He straightened up
and stood proudly before the assembled reporters. "We're part of an
elite task force of martial artists dedicated to destroying the
Buyierfei once and for all."

     Ranko frowned, unsure if that lie was far enough from the truth to
keep General Smart from getting angry. She didn't really care about
upsetting the general, but she did care about the rest of her family who
were currently under the general's thumb.

    The reporters all made notes in their palm organizers and talked
excitedly between themselves.

     "What's the name of this 'task force'?"

     Ranma gulped and thought furiously. "Errrrrr... um..." As a name
popped into his mind, he blurted it out in Japanese. "Shitai Musabetsu."

      Some of the reporters tried to write that down, while the others
scratched their heads.

     "What was that?"

     Ranma smiled apologetically. "Sorry... I guess in English it would
be... the Anything Goes Task Force."


***********************************************************************
>From the personal journal of James Davidson

September 2, 2058


     My fingers dropped from the one-handed keyboard on my wristtop.
"What was that?"

     Kasumi smiled pleasantly. "You heard me, dear."

     "So... so... the Task Force began as a lie to hide Area Fifty-Two
and the secret organization that the Americans put together to fight the
Buyierfei?"

     Kasumi nodded.

     "So Task Force Day, December Fifth, is technically the real
birthday of the Task Force instead of just the day we celebrate because
that's when the world found out about it?"

     Kasumi nodded.

     "So..." I trailed off as I realized that my--and the world's--idea
of the Task Force's history was jaded by the one sided view we've had of
it. "A lot of history books will have to be re-written after Adulthood
comes out." Then remembering the inquires he'd already gotten from
publishers after Childhood was released and caused the same sort of
obsolescence in history books. "Again."

      Kasumi chuckled softly. "Akane said she warned you when you first
started these books."

     I nodded and then quoted Akane's words to me back then. "Nothing is
ever as it seems from the outside looking in."

     "I saw that firsthand back in the Eighth. Before then I only saw
the battles from the outside, even the attacks on the Compound." Kasumi
sighed heavily. "Being in the middle of a world filled to the brim with
Buyierfei tends to change your view of things."

     I nodded. "I remember." I tried to keep from shuddering, but I know
I wasn't successful. "After seeing the Buyierfei first hand, I went back
and rewrote a lot of the descriptions in Childhood. Even with all the
pictures and video taken throughout the years, it wasn't until I saw
them firsthand that I could fully understand the terror they instill in
those that have faced them."

     "That's because those of us who have survived those
face-to-tentacle confrontations have seen those who haven't survived..."
Kasumi visibly trembled. "...first hand."

     I reached out and took Kasumi's wrinkled hands. "Maybe we should
stop for today..."

     Kasumi smiled sweetly. "Thanks for the concern, but there's not
much left for me to tell you about the end of Two."

     "I see..." I fidgeted slightly, fingering my wristtpad as if taking
notes.

     Kasumi saw right through me. "What's on your mind, James?"

     "Well... you said you had something to talk to Ranma and Ranko
privately about after you finished assisting the doctors in the
operating room..."

     "Yes."

     "Can I ask... um... well... was there something wrong with Akane or
her baby?"

     Kasumi sighed heavily. "Yes..."


***********************************************************************
December 8-12, 2009 - Moscow, Russia
(Black Wars Days 223-227)


     Ranma walked down the hospital hallway in a new set of clothes
provided by the Russians. The simple polo shirt and loose pair of pants
would have to do until he could get his hands on his regular clothes.
"Hey, Ranko," he said as he stepped into the viewing room to the
critical care ward where they were treating Akane.

     Ranko looked up from the bundle in her arms, her red pigtail
clashing with the baby's green hair. "Hey."

     "How's Akane?"

     Ranko looked through the glass window separating them from their
wife. Akane lay on a hospital bed, with a large number of tubes and
wires leading from her to the assortment of equipment that circled the
bed. A nurse was just leaving the room after checking on her patient,
passing the two Amazons dressed in hospital gowns and facemasks that
stood guard silently on either side of the glass doors in the back wall.
"She's fine, but they still won't let me sit by her side."

     Ranma nodded. They'd only been able to be by her side a couple of
times since her latest operation, but only in sterile clothing and for
short periods. "And how's our little bundle of joy?"

     "Great," Ranko said, rocking the bundle in her arms. "We still need
a name."

     Ranma nodded. "I know." He looked through the window at Akane.
"When Akane wakes up..." He walked over to Ranko and patted her on the
shoulder. "...we'll choose one. I'll take over here, why don't you go
back to the hotel and get some rest?"

     "I'm okay... any word from Area... that place yet?" Ranko said,
glancing at the walls as if they might have ears.

     "Nope." Ranma sighed. "We should have asked them for a phone
number."

     "Too bad they aren't listed in the phone book."

     Ranma laughed for the first time in days, weeks if you count the
time that passed on Earth. "Yeah... under the 'top secret government
organizations' section." He sat down next to Ranko. "I'm sure they're
okay."

     "I just wish we knew for sure." Ranko sighed. "Um... I'm going to
get something to drink, want something?"

     Ranma shook his head.

     Ranko handed the baby to Ranma and stood up. "Even our students and
those pilots haven't been able to reach them yet, so they're probably
just..." She trailed off as a marvelous sight caught her eye. "Akane!!"

     Ranma snapped his eyes to where Ranko was looking and saw Akane's
eyes staring back at them. He jumped to his feet, being careful not to
jostle the baby too much.

     Ranko was up against the glass. "I love you, Akane!"

     Ranma slid beside her and repeated Ranko's declaration.

     Akane smiled slightly and mouthed something.

     Knowing what she wanted, Ranma held up the baby in his arms and
pulled back the blanket to let Akane see her child.

     Her smile spread further across her face, a single tear dripping
down her cheek.

     Ranko turned towards Ranma. "Let's go in there."

     Ranma looked at the nurse who had reentered the room to check on
her now conscious patient. "Yeah... no matter what they say."

     The two of them walked out the door, Ranma still carrying the baby.
They got halfway to the side corridor before a voice stopped them.

     "Mr. Saotome. We need to talk."

     Ranma turned around and expected to see one of the doctors or
nurses there.

     Instead, three men dressed in black suits stood stiffly in the
middle of the hallway. The light behind them illuminated the two tall
figures and one short figure with a glow that didn't exactly do anything
to lessen the sinister look they always seemed to have.

     "You..." Ranma muttered.

     Ranko looked between the hallway leading to the critical care ward
and the three men before deciding on a question. "How are our families?"

     "They're all fine," the short man said.

     Receiving the only bit of news from the three men that mattered to
them at that moment, Ranko and Ranma turned and hurried down towards the
door that led into their wife's room. "Great, we'll talk to you after we
see our wife," Ranma said absently.

     The three men just stayed where they were and waited, attracting
odd stares from the hospital staff that passed by them over the next
hour.
     
                    -A-           -M-           -D-

     After their all too brief time with their conscious wife, she
drifted back to sleep. Reluctantly, Ranma and Ranko returned their baby
to the nursery and then made their way back to their hotel with the
three men, who seemed unwilling to talk at the hospital. Surprisingly,
the crowd of reporters and spectators that usually followed them
wherever they went in Moscow wasn't there during this trip back to their
hotel.

     Opening the door to the tiny two-bed hotel room they had barely
stayed in except for when they were sleeping or showering, Ranma stepped
inside. The two tall men strode in right after him, pointing some small
black wands with blinking lights on the handle around the room and
bathroom for several minutes. One of them pulled out a roll of a dark
semi-transparent plastic film and applied it over the windows before he
closed the curtains. When both tall men were done, they both looked back
at the short man who waited in the doorway, but didn't say a word.

     The short man nodded and stepped inside. "It seems to be clear," he
said in perfect Japanese.

     Ranko rolled her eyes as she followed the man in. "You guys are
really anal about this secret stuff, aren't you?"

     "Yes, Ma'am, we are." The short man walked past Ranma and stood
between his two taller partners. "Have you told anyone about the
existence of Area Fifty-Two or the organization it is part of?"

     Ranma shook his head. "Of course not, we even made up a story to
hide all that."

     "Yes, we know," the short man said flatly before reaching into his
suit jacket and pulling out a newspaper. Unrolling it, he showed it to
Ranma and Ranko.

     Ranko couldn't read the English headline, but Ranma could. "Err...
um... sorry about that."

     "Anything Goes Task Force Saves Moscow," the short man recited.
"The General was not amused."

     "Well, I'm sorry, but General Smart will...."

     The short man shook his head. "Not General Smart. THE General."

     Ranma frowned, not knowing who that was. "Who?"

     "I cannot discuss that."

     Ranma sighed. "Anyway, it was the best thing I could think to tell
them."

     "The best thing to tell them would have been nothing."

     "Yeah, maybe, but we were cornered."

     "Mr. Saotome, we've seen you jump over small buildings in a single
bound, blow up small city blocks with your bare hands, and repeatedly
escape in the face of impossible odds... a few reporters shouldn't be
much of an impediment to you."

     Ranma smiled. "Yeah, but I don't think blasting a bunch of
reporters on live television would be a good idea, do you?"

     "No, but you could easily evade them." The short man crossed his
arms over his chest. "Please do so in the future."

     "Um... okay. We'll try."

     "Now then... your 'exit' from Fifty-Two was..."

     "It was necessary," Ranma interrupted. "Out of ninety-three of our
students, only ten... thirteen if the three we left back in Vegas are
okay... survived."

     "Six members of Inferno Company were found alive in Vegas and are
back at Fifty-Two."

     Ranma and Ranko exchanged a look that showed how relieved they were
that three more of their students survived the carnage in Las Vegas than
they had thought. That didn't keep Ranma from being mad about those that
died on that battlefield. "They weren't ready to fight and you know it!"
Ranma snapped.

     "General Smart thought they were."

     "But what do YOU think."

     "It was not my decision to make. I believe YOU made the decision to
take them with you into the monolith."

    Ranma flinched. "It was their decision..."

    "Yeah... we told them to stay behind," Ranko added.

     "And when General Smart activated them, do you think any of them
would have stayed behind then?"

     Ranma hesitated, knowing that his students may have had fears and
reservations about fighting, but were all volunteers. "Maybe not, but
they didn't know the true horror of what they would face... neither did
General Smart."

     "No, but he did have orders from THE General to keep his ace in the
hole in reserve until they were needed."

     "Ace in the hole?" Ranma asked.

     "You and the Amazons."

     "So we're just pawns on this General's chessboard, are we?" Ranma
asked in atone that showed he was not happy with being a pawn.

     "More like a bishop or a knight."

     Ranma restrained his anger, knowing that made his students the
pawns. "You tell your General... both of them... that we're not playing
your games anymore. You're keeping information from us and using us... I
won't train anymore lambs to be sent to be slaughtered." He looked at
Ranko, who nodded her agreement. "Now... when can we talk to our
families?" Ranma asked.

     The short man glanced at the room's telephone before answering.
"That is up to you."

     "Huh?"

     "Call them when you wish. The Russian government has... agreed to
pick up all your expenses, such as your wife's medical bills and long
distance telephone bills, while you are here."

     Ranma exchanged a look with Ranko before walking over to the phone.
"What's the number for Area Fifty-Two?"

     "I'm afraid I can't tell you that."

     Ranko's lip twitched. "How can we call our family then!"

     "Your family is back in Japan, Ms. Tendo."

     Both Ranko and Ranma's face fell. "Huh?" Ranma gasped.

     "With the Eighth close enough to wipe out Fifty-Two and most of the
west coast if it went critical, General Smart decided to evacuate the
base until the situation stabilized. Your family chose to return to
Tokyo."

     Ranma and Ranko exchanged another look, both knowing what the other
was thinking.

     They were thinking they were both the biggest idiots in the world
because they hadn't even thought to call their home in Nerima.

                    -A-           -M-           -D-

     Once they figured out how to dial internationally from Moscow, they
spent a long time making sure everyone who had been at Area Fifty-Two
was okay and updating them to their current situation. Both the good and
the bad.

     The three men just waited calmly by the closed window until Ranko
finished talking with Daiji. "Now, you're the man of the house... yes,
you can use hot water if you want to... until I get back, okay?" Ranko
smiled. "I love you too, Daiji. We'll call again soon. Bye bye."

     "Now then," the short man said before the receiver even settled
into the cradle. "We have arranged for a flight tomorrow..."

     Ranma shook his head. "Not a chance. We're staying until my wife is
better."     

     "I'm afraid General Smart wants..."

     Ranma glared at the short man. "Didn't you hear me before? We're
not playing your games anymore."

     Ranko nodded. "Right. We're staying here with Akane and then going
back to Nerima."

     "And the war?"

     "We'll fight the war as we've always have.... with the Amazons."

     The short man lowered his head slightly. "The General will not be
happy."

     "Then your damn General can come talk to me personally about it. We
tried to play your game and it cost a lot of lives. We'll defeat the
Buyierfei.... with or without your help. You tell THAT to both of your
damn Generals!"

                    -A-           -M-           -D-

     The next day with the three men in black standing by and watching
every move, Captain Tyler and his gunner, James Bond, supervised the
loading of the wreckage of their F-35 into an unmarked cargo transport
painted in desert camouflage colors. The wings and lower missile racks
of the F-35 had been removed and loaded already, which just left the
tail-less main fuselage to be gently slid into the large rear end of the
cargo plane.

     Seeing a familiar figure at the edge of the airfield, Captain Tyler
waved him over while his gunner kept an eye on their plane.

     As Mousse trotted over, the three men in black tracked his
movements. As soon as they identified him and determined his risk level,
they looked away and continued their silent supervision over the loading
of the top-secret fighter jet.

     Unfortunately, it wasn't that top secret any more.

     Despite their best efforts, the spin-doctors at Area Fifty-Two were
unable to stop the video footage showing it's appearance and subsequent
crash in the frozen reflecting pool from being broadcast around the
world. Fortunately, it was in such bad shape by that time that it didn't
look that different from other fighter jets. That didn't keep the
rumormongers from trying to figure out where the oddly configured jet
was made and by whom.

     Captain Tyler had done what he could to hide the plane using tarps
provided by the Russians and he and his gunner had kept an around the
clock watch on it, but it wasn't until the three men in black showed up
that the plane was moved to a nearby airbase for return to Area
Fifty-Two.

     Mousse slid in next to Captain Tyler and watched the fuselage
slowly disappear into the belly of the cargo plane. "You think they can
fix it?"

     Captain Tyler shrugged. "She's pretty banged up and might not be
airworthy anymore, but it's hard to tell until they get her back to base
and strip her down to the airframe."

     Mousse nodded. "Ranma and the others wanted me to pass on their
goodbyes... and their thanks for all your help in the battle."

     Captain Tyler smiled. "Just making sure she lived up to her name."

     "Buyierfei Killer sure did..." Mousse said as the last of the F-35
disappeared inside.

     "So you ready to come back and continue your flight training?"

     Mousse gulped. "Um... I'm not sure."

     "Why?"

     "Well, my wife and family are back in Nerima now. Until we decide
what to do from here, I really have to get back to them."

     Captain Tyler sighed. "I guess I understand. My wife is used to my
strange postings, so returning to Fifty-Two now that the area is safe
and still secret is like going home to her."

     "But your training did come in handy, so I am grateful."

     Captain Tyler smirked. "Please don't tell anyone I trained you to
fly..."

     "Why?" Mousse asked, confused.

     "After the way you left the base in that helicopter? I 'd be the
laughingstock of all the pilots if anyone knew one of my students did
that."

     Mousse couldn't help laughing. "Well, it wasn't very elegant, but
it got us to Vegas."

     "That it did."

     "Did you know it was me when you got that avian off of us?"

     "Yup... but according to my report, I was actually just after the
avian and not helping a fugitive." Captain Tyler winked.

     "Thanks."

     "Anytime, my friend."

     "If you're ever in Tokyo, look me up."

     "Yeah, will do."

                    -A-           -M-           -D-

     For the next three days, the three men would always be standing in
the lobby of their hotel whenever Ranma or Ranko left for or returned
from the hospital. No words were exchanged, but there was never any
doubt that each knew the others were there.

     On the fourth day, the three men disappeared along with the ten
remaining members of Inferno Company.

     Ranma and Ranko didn't notice since they had finally been allowed
to stay by Akane's bedside. Sitting in chairs on each side of her, they
each held one of their wife's hands and snored gently. It was the first
truly restful sleep they'd managed to get since before Las Vegas was
attacked.

     In the observation room that looked into the critical care ward,
Kasumi bounced a green-haired baby against her shoulder. "Sleep well,
you three, you deserve it." A soft cooing sound from the baby made
Kasumi look down. "And I will do what I can to keep you healthy and
happy, little one." As she kissed the baby's head, a tear ran down her
cheek.

     "Kasumi?"

     Kasumi flinched and looked into the room. "Oh, you're awake," she
said, wiping her face quickly.

     Akane nodded and then smiled at seeing the green mop of hair
against her sister's shoulder. "Can you come inside?"

     Kasumi nodded and walked around to the door leading to the critical
care room. Donning the same kind of paper scrubs that Ranma and Ranko
had on, she took a deep breath and walked past the Amazons guarding the
entrance to the room. Kasumi smiled pleasantly at her sister. "You look
well."

      Akane rocked her head back and forth, looking at all the machinery
hooked up to her that was keeping her alive. "I look horrible, but
thanks anyway."

      "You're welcome."

      "Why are you here?"

      Kasumi glanced at the readings on the equipment; just to make sure
Akane was stabile before she spoke. "I just got done giving your baby
another physical." Akane tensed, so Kasumi quickly added, "There's
nothing wrong, so relax."

      Akane sighed, not seeing Kasumi's furtive glance at a folded x-ray
that was stuck in her sister's pocket. "Thank goodness. Still no idea
about the green hair?"

      Kasumi shook her head. "No. It obviously was due to something that
happened inside the monolith, but besides being an odd color; it doesn't
seem to have affected the baby's health at all. In fact, it could grow
out a normal color."

      Akane looked at Ranma's black hair and Ranko's red hair, before
considering her own by twirling a few strands of the dark blue hair in
her fingers. "Normal for who?"

      Kasumi chuckled, causing Ranko to stir.

     "Kasumi?" Ranko muttered as she opened her eyes. She turned and
smiled at her wife. Standing up and leaning over the bed, she gave Akane
a peck. "Morning."

     "Afternoon, actually," Kasumi remarked.

     Ranko looked over at the clock that hung above the door. "Wow..."

     Ranma chose that moment to awake and repeat the kisses and
amazement at the time.

     Kasumi smiled at them all. "You all deserve to get as much rest as
possible, you did save the world."

     "Again..." Ranko added.

     "Why are you here, Kasumi?" Ranma asked.

     "I was just telling Akane that your baby has gotten a clean bill of
health."

     Smiles all around.

                    -A-           -M-           -D-

     Leaving the three new parents alone with their newborn child,
Kasumi walked out of the room and sighed heavily. Reaching into her
pocket, she pulled out the x-ray film and unfolded it. "I just can't
tell them now..." she muttered, staring at a blank spot in the middle of
the baby's chest.

                    -A-           -M-           -D-

February 10-11, 2010 - Moscow, Russia
(Black Wars Days 287-288)


     Time passed, wounds healed, a new year arrived without much
fanfare, and the world prepared for the next war that they knew would
shake the Earth again sooner or later. Probably sooner.

     Sanma, Ukyo, Mousse, and some of the Amazons returned to Nerima.
The rest of the Amazons stayed to protect Akane and her baby until they
were well enough to travel. Despite desperately wanting to see their
other kids again, Ranma and Ranko knew they had to stay with their wife
while she recovered. Both for their sake and for Akane's.

     Propped up between two waist-high railings, Akane took a tentative
step forward with one leg. Gritting her teeth, she slid forward and put
most of her weight on the leg. Over and over, she repeated the slow
journey from Ranma at one end of the bars to Ranko at the other end. It
was just the latest in a long string of physical therapy sessions that
she had endured for the past week. "Once upon a time I could do
summersaults down a thing like this."

     "You're doing great," Ranko said, smiling.

     "You'll be flying around the dojo in a few days, you foxy momma,"
Ranma encouraged from his end, even as his muscles were tensed to spring
forward and catch Akane should she fall.

     "And if you were a normal woman you'd still be in bed instead of
preparing to go home tomorrow."

     The three of them looked over at the source of the voice and saw
Kasumi standing in the doorway.

     "If I was a normal woman, I'd only have one husband, kids without
multi-colored hair, and have never gotten injured in the first place,"
Akane replied, smirking. "Where would the fun be in that?"

     Kasumi smiled pleasantly as Akane slipped into Ranko's arms. "You
could use less of that fun."

     Akane slipped back into her wheelchair, which Ranma had wheeled
over from the other side of the parallel bars. "I agree."

     Kasumi's smile faltered and she stepped closer to Akane and took
her sister's right hand. "There is something I need to talk to you
about, Akane. I wasn't sure until your latest series of tests, but..."

     Akane frowned slightly. "What?"

     "Maybe it would be better alone?"

     Akane shook her head. "You know better than that. We're a team
here."

     Kasumi nodded. "Okay... They've had some of the best doctors in
Russia and Europe through here and there's still more reconstruction
work to do..."

     Akane nodded. "Yeah... I know all this."

     "Akane..." Deep breath. "They did extensive damage when... when
they took the baby from you."

     "What kind of damage?"

     "To your uterus."

     Akane's gut tightened, sending a jolt of pain rippling through her
stitched together body.

     "I'm afraid you won't be able have any more children."

     Akane started trembling. 

     "The muscles in your uterus were torn and... well.. only one of
your ovaries is left and it is unlikely that it can produce viable eggs
any longer."

     "We never really discussed having more children, but..." Akane
said, looking between her husbands.

     Ranma and Ranko wrapped their arms around their trembling wife.

     Kasumi sighed as she watched the family weep and talked quietly
between themselves for uncounted minutes, knowing their lives were never
going to be easy. Not with the war looming over their heads.

     "I love you, no matter what, Akane," Ranma whispered as he tried to
comfort his wife.

     Ranko kissed Akane's lips gently. "My uterus is always yours,
Akane."

     Akane blinked loudly twice before a giggle started to form in her
throat. When it emerged from her mouth it was a painful laugh. "Who
could ever ask for more from her husband?"

     Ranko smiled slightly.

     Akane looked between her husbands. "We'll get through this as we
always do..."

     "Together," all three chorused.

                    -A-           -M-           -D-

     The next day, Akane held their baby in her arms while Ranma pushed
her wheelchair down the busy airport concourse. Ranko and the large
squad of Amazons led the way, the crowd parting rapidly once they caught
sight of the heavily armed women.
 
     The only ones brave enough--or stupid enough--to approach the
Tokyo-bound group were a pack of rabid reporters. A quick series of
questions, in Russian and English followed.

     "Mr. Saotome, how is your wife and child?!"

     "Mr. Saotome, are you off to fight the Buyierfei again?"

     "Mr. Saotome, where is the Task Force?"

     "Mr. Saotome, what does Anything Goes mean?"

     "Ranma, I love you!!"

     Ranma, Ranko, and Akane had managed to block out all the shouted
questions until the naked Russian woman who had shouted the last
statement ran up and gave Ranma a kiss.

     Ranma was blushing furiously as he pried the young woman off of
him. "I'm married!!" He glanced over at Akane and tried to laugh it off.
"Sorry, Hon..." He trailed off when he saw the faint red aura
surrounding his wife. He looked back and redoubled his efforts to
extract the woman from her vise-like hold on him.

     Thankfully, Nipplering came over and pulled the woman off. "Get
your own sperm bank," she said in Japanese.

     Alerted by the commotion, a pair of airport security officers
rushed over and threw a coat over the naked woman as a couple more
officers tried to find out what was going on.

     Not understanding Russian, Ranma and Ranko just stared at the two
uniformed officers blankly. Ranma turned his head and shouted.
"Leonid!!" Several seconds passed and he repeated his shout. "Leonid!!"

     A slightly disheveled man rushed up to them from behind. "Sorry...
sorry..." Leonid muttered in coarse English. Straightening the collar on
his uniform, he quickly addressed the security officers in Russian.

     Ranma looked askew at Hairwax when she appeared. "He was supposed
to help us get through the airport without a fuss, not spend time making
out with you, Hairwax."

     "I'm sorry..." Hairwax bowed her head. "After we got through
security, he didn't think there'd be any more problems and he...
well..." The large woman blushed.

     Ranma sighed. "It's okay... this time. I know how it is to be
separated from the one you love."

     "The Leader had chosen a wise and noble sperm bank," Hairwax said.

     Ranma smirked. "Thanks." He gestured towards her face. "You might
want to fix your lipstick... it's smudged." As Hairwax repaired her
face, Ranma turned back to his wife and was surprised to see her talking
with the reporters.

     "My family have been fighting the Buyierfei since ninety-nine...
unfortunately," Akane said in Japanese.

     "How did you blast that Shuma person?" a Japanese reporter asked.

     Akane's face darkened. "He's not a person, he's a demon..." She
looked down and stroked the little knit cap that covered her baby's
green hair. "I just did what any mother would do... I protected my
child." She glanced at Ranko and Ranma before facing the reporters
again. "I just have more to protect my children from than your average
mother."

     "And more to protect them WITH from what I saw in the footage shot
in Red Square," the reporter said.

     Akane nodded, having seen the same footage herself. She only
remembered bits and pieces of the battle due to her semi-lucid state at
the time, so was surprised as anyone when she finally saw the battle and
her condition at the time. Even with her husbands' descriptions and the
images that the television cameras managed to catch, she still could not
remember how she had formed that final blast that had kept Shuma away
from her child. "The Anything Goes School of Martial Arts is based on
doing whatever it takes to win."

     Ranma put a hand on Akane's shoulder. "I'm sorry, but we really
need to get to our flight," he said in Japanese and then repeated in
English for the other reporters.

     "Back to Nerima?" the Japanese reporter asked.

     Ranma frowned. Ranko and Akane quickly echoed that frown.

     "You've been doing your homework..." Akane said softly, realizing
that their luck in keeping out of the public eye had probably come to an
end.

     The reporter nodded.

     Akane grip on her baby tightened. "Well, we really need to go
now..."

     The reporter smiled. "I'll see you on the flight then..."

     As the Russian security officers and the Amazons started to clear
the area again, Ranko pushed Akane's wheelchair forward. "How did he
find out what flight we were on?"

     Akane shook her head. "I don't know, they said our names wouldn't
be available to the public when we made the reservations."

     Ranma sighed as he stepped in beside Akane, still scanning the area
for further signs of trouble. "It might be a bit harder to get around
now..."

     Akane sighed. "Yeah... especially if you have more groupies."

     Ranma gulped. "Sorry about that."

     "Then wipe the lipstick off your lips," Akane said, winking.

     Ranma quickly did so, while glancing at Hairwax and thinking that
turnabout and all that was a bitch.

     Even as they were herded away by Russian security officers, the
reporters and camera crews continued filming the departing heroes;
adding to the growing footage of Akane and her family.

     Not only from the recent battle in Red Square, but all the
unidentified shots of them in previous battles were suddenly in the
public spotlight as the images gained some names. From a shaky video
taken by one of the people hiding inside the Luxor Hotel and Casino when
Ranma and the others were first attacked outside the hotel, to footage
taken during the war in Africa... Ranma, Ranko, Sanma, and Akane were
suddenly the most recognizable people on the face of the Earth.

     This wasn't particularly a good thing... 

                    -A-           -M-           -D-

February 12, 2010 - Nerima, Japan


     Takewaki Kuno wiped the drool from his lip--again--as he stared at
his two hundred and eighty-centimeter high-definition flat screen video
monitor. On the monitor, scenes of the recent battles in Las Vegas and
Moscow were being shown repeatedly in all their crystal clear digital
glory. The shots were carefully chosen to only feature two of the
fighters, instead of the thousands of different fighters, soldiers, and
warriors that had actually taken part in the battles.

     In fact, Kuno had had certain people--namely Ranma--digitally
removed from the video so as to not spoil his viewing of the pair of
redheads that his eyes followed as they danced around the screen.

     "Such power in such beautiful packages." 

     Suddenly a voice interrupted his meditation. "Kuno! You'd better
not be watching those two bimbo's again!!"

     "No, Dear!" Kuno responded, clicking the slow motion button right
before the spot where Ranko's shirt was torn, allowing you to see about
two centimeters more of her breast. More drool spilled from Kuno's
mouth.

     "Well, the kids will be home from school soon, so get out here and
be a father for once!!"

     Kuno sighed and pulled a tissue from the dispenser by his recliner.
"Yes, Dear!" As he got up and got dressed, he mumbled. "She was a lot
nicer when we first met and got married...  why do people change so
much?"

     As he walked out of the room whose walls were covered with large
and small pictures of Ranko and Sanma in various stages of dress, he
grabbed a sword from a holder on the wall. "Maybe its time I regained my
pigtailed goddesses once and for all..."

     "What was that?" his wife growled from where she stood down the
hall from Kuno's private 'meditation' chamber.

     "Nothing, Dear, I was just thanking my lucky stars that I have you
in my perfect life." Kuno leaned over and gave Mariko a kiss.

     As Kuno strode confidently past her and towards the main hall of
their mansion, Mariko adjusted the wig she always wore when Kuno was
around. Glancing at the steel doors with their electronic combination
lock, she wondered if she would ever be able to find out what her
'husband' did in the only room in the mansion that she hadn't been able
to gain access to. <If only I was legally married to him, I could just
divorce him and take all his money instead of having to deal with this
farce of a marriage.>

                    -A-           -M-           -D-

January, 2010 - Mount Phoenix, China


     A boy just shy of being a teenager sat in a rocky chamber filled
with golden treasure. His young face was framed with a crown of orange
and white hair in the front, while the rest of his long hair was dark
red, which cascaded down over his golden wings that were carefully
folded up behind him. The gold plated throne he sat in had an image of a
bird emerging from a pool of fire carved into it.

     "Lord Saffron?"

     The boy looked over and saw a middle-aged woman with short, white
hair in the entryway to the chamber. A long braided band of black hair
circled her head before slipping down behind her shoulder to sway gently
between her white wings as she stepped into the chamber. "Kiima!"

     "Is that a proper way for a Lord to greet one of his subjects?"

     The boy smiled. "Only if that subject is his dearest friend."

     Kiima smiled. "Thank you, My Lord."

     "Even if that friend is a bit stuck up." The boy stuck out his
tongue.

     One of Kiima's eyebrows raised slightly before her white wings
extended fully and she took to the air. Landing directly beside the
throne, she pulled the boy into a headlock. "Don't tease someone who's
stronger than you!"

     The boy squirmed and tried to get out of the woman's grip, but--as
always--couldn't. "Someday I will be big and strong again... just you
wait!!"

     Kiima relaxed her hold on the boy. "Yes, you will, My Lord." She
ran her fingers through his hair to straighten it.

     "Why are you here?"

     "Koruma and Masara have finally returned from the outside world
after completing their journey to the outside world.

     The young Saffron smiled. "Did they bring back any good video games
this time?"

     "I'm afraid not, My Lord."

     Saffron frowned when he saw the sad look behind the smile that
Kiima was forcing onto her face. "What's wrong?"

     "The world is at war, My Lord."

     "With who?"

     "The Amazon's ancient enemy."

     "Who?"

     Kiima flinched. "Someone has been neglecting his studies again."

     Saffron gulped. "Sorry..."

     "You can't lead the people of Mount Phoenix if you don't study, My
Lord."

     "I know."

     "You also can't marry me, My Lord." Kiima winked.

     Saffron's face fell, as if his heart had been ripped out. "I'm
really sorry, I'll study harder!!" he blurted like only an almost
teenage boy grappling with changing hormones could.

     "Good." Kiima's face turned serious. "The Amazon's ancient enemy,
the Buyierfei, have returned again. You were too young to remember when
they first returned in ninety-nine."

     "Are they a fierce enemy?"

     "Very."

     "You must tell me all I need know about them in case they ever
reach our mountain."

     "Yes, My Lord, but there's more."

     "What?"

     Kiima reached into her cleavage and pulled out a wrinkled newspaper
clipping. "The one who prevented your transformation is fighting them."
She held up the picture that showed a picture of Ranma fighting in
Moscow.

     Saffron frowned. "The one who..." His face darkened as fuzzy
memories of battles long past flashed into him mind. They were his own
memories, but--at the same time--not his own memories. Memories of a
past life that occasionally drifted into his current life. "We must find
him." He clenched his fist.

                    -A-           -M-           -D- 

December, 2008 - Perth, Australia


     A warm summer wind wafted in through the old rusted bars on the
window of a small, dark prison cell. The only source of illumination was
the beam of light cast by the late afternoon sun that shown through the
window and cast its light across the single metal door.

     Opposite the door, a lone figure sat hunched in the shadows and
starred at the dust particles drifting upwards through the beam of light
that tormented him by constantly showing him the way to freedom that he
could never take.

    "Okay, Niles, here's your paper for this month."

    At the sound of the husky voice, the figure looked up from the
ground just in time to see the folded newspaper slipped through the bars
of the small portal in the door. The bearded man giggled and scurried
forward to grab the paper, making sure to avoid the beam of light that
terrified him so much.

    Grabbing the paper, he scrambled back to his dark corner and
unfolded the paper. He visibly flinched when he saw the picture on the
front page. "Her..."

    Scrambling across the room with the paper clutched tightly in his
hands, he reached under the musty bed and pulled out a stack of
newspapers. Fumbling through the stack, he finally reached the group of
clippings he was looking for. Carefully unfolding the yellowing pieces
of paper, he looked back and forth between them and the newly arrived
paper.

     "It has to be her..."

     He traced the faces on the old and the new paper, mentally
comparing the two pictures of the woman.

     "It is..."

     His lip raised in a snarl.

     "The bitch who killed my father is still out there..."

     After several minutes of looking through the newly arrived
newspaper and reading the reports detailing the battle in Moscow, the
man stood up. Ignoring the hated light that had banished him to the
corner of the room for uncountable years, he strode through the beam of
light and banged on the door.

     "Guard... guard... I want to talk to my mother!"

     Minutes pasted without a response, so he repeated his banging.

     "Yeah... yeah... what's your sudden hurry, Miles?"

     The dirty man looked up, his green eyes sparkling in comparison to
the dirty face around it.

     The guard flinched when he got his first look at his longtime
prisoner's eyes. Never before had his prisoner looked up from whatever
he had been doing, looking at, or chewing on when he had brought him
food, reading material, or tried to get him to get out of the cell to
get some exercise. The eyes betrayed an intelligence that the
hermit-like behavior of his prisoner had never alluded to over the many
years he had been a prisoner in the dank cell.

                    -A-           -M-           -D- 

December, 2009 - Yanbu al-Bahr, Saudi Arabia


     "Um... Who is this Shoe... man, you mentioned?"

     "Shuma... he's the Buyierfei's leader."

     An older man of Middle Eastern decent hit the pause button on the
digital disc recorder and then turned to the slightly younger man next
to him. "Shuma..."

     The other man nodded and held up the morning's newspaper.
Emblazoned across the front was the picture of Akane and her baby during
their tender moment. He flipped the paper over and looked at the half
page picture showing Ranko and Sanma fighting Shuma, his half-male and
half-female sides clearly visible. "Yes, it is him."

     "She has returned at last."

     "This is the final proof."

      The two men nodded and walked out of the dark tunnel where the
video system was setup in a roughly hewn out chamber and into a large
candle-lit cavern. While most of the cavern was natural, several man
made changes were evident. The first of these were the five tunnels had
been bored out of the rock walls to connect to the outside and to other
chambers, both natural and man made. The ground had also been leveled
off and had wood planking laid down on top of it. In the back of the
chamber, a large alter was carved out of a outcropping of rock. It was
carefully carved to attract the attention of anyone who entered the
cavern, but not get in the way of the large carving on the back wall
that was currently hidden by a large black sheet.
 
     The man with the newspaper held up the image of Shuma and shouted.
"Our Lord has returned to us at last, believers of the Black Shroud!!"

     The other man stepped up to the altar. "Lord Shuma has arisen from
the ashes and will lead us into a brave new world and destroy our
enemies!!"

     Kneeling on old pillows, over a hundred men and women dressed in
dirty tunics and old clothes started to chant. "Shu... ma. Shu... ma.
Shu... ma."

     The group's two leaders joined in the chant, which went on for
several minutes until the man at the altar motioned to the black sheet
behind him. "At last the black shroud can be removed and we can gaze
upon our Lord once again." He stepped down off the altar and walked to
the back wall with the other man.

      Together, the men pulled down the black sheet and revealed the
detailed carving hidden behind it. As they began to fold up the sheet,
the worshipers started to chant again. Many of them had never seen the
carving and those that had had only seen it years earlier when it was
first completed and then covered by the black 'shroud' to await the
return of their Lord.

     Akane would have recognized the two figures as her husbands, one
male and one female.

     Fused at the lower torso, the two figures split above the ribcage
and showed the two 'faces' of Shuma that his worshipers had seen back in
ninety-nine. Ranko and Sanma's perky breasts framed their cute and
beautiful face on the female half, while Ranma's handsome features
adorned the male half.

     All things considered, it wasn't that far from the half man-half
woman creature that the world knew as Shuma at the start of the Black
Wars, except the heads and upper torsos were complete instead of just
being half and half like Shuma was in two-thousand and nine.

     But for his followers who had never given up their faith, he was
their god.

     "Shu... ma. Shu... ma. Shu... ma."

     Completing the folding of the black shroud, the old man carried it
back up to the altar. "This Holy shroud will never again cover our Lord,
for we shall never allow the enemies of our Lord to take him from the
true believes, we of the Black Shroud Clan!!"

     "Death to the imposters, death to the false gods!!" the crowd
chanted.

                    -A-           -M-           -D-

December 6, 2009 - New York, USA


     A young woman sat in a darkened room and scanned through a digital
recording of the second battle of Moscow's Red Square. She hit play when
the scene she wanted to see again appeared. 

     The television showed Ranma standing guard over a figure laying
behind him in a metal stretcher. "Get out of here, there are still
Buyierfei all around us!!"

     "His English has gotten better," the woman said softly, clutching
the remote to her chest.

     A voice came from behind the camera that was shooting the scene
"Are you in charge of these Amazons?"

     "Not really..." Ranma muttered, then flinched as an explosion
erupted behind him. Spinning around he saw a mass of Buyierfei
approaching them, with a red glow emanating from the center. "That
glow..."

     "Ran... ma?"

     Ranma looked behind him and saw his wife looking back at him.

     Deborah pressed the pause button at that point and studied the
image of the woman and her newborn baby for several seconds. "To have to
go through all that with another child again..." Even she was a little
surprised that she generally felt sadness for her former rival for
Ranma's love.

     She turned on a lamp by the side of the sofa that she sat on.
Rubbing her sleepy eyes, she rummaged through a pile of newspapers
stacked on the sofa and pulled out one. Emblazoned across the front page
of that morning's New York Times was the picture of Akane nursing her
baby. "I hope you have a happy life, Akane... but I know it won't be
easy."

     After staring at the photo and the video image, she stood up and
headed for the bathroom to clean up after the long sleepless night and
day she had spent watching news reports about the most recent battle.

     She had gotten halfway there when the doorbell rang. Pausing, she
considered her state of dress before deciding she didn't have anyone who
cared about her appearance anyway, so she might as well answer the door.
Her pink bunny slippers slapped on the hardwood floor as she scooted to
the front door. "Yes?" she said as she opened it.

     "Hi, Deborah..."

     "Bobby! What are you doing here this late..." Deborah noticed the
clock that hung near the door. "...in the middle of the day?"

     Bobby studied her disheveled appearance briefly before backing up a
step. "Sorry... I guess you weren't expecting guests."

     Deborah shook her head. "No... I was up most of the night watching
the news."

     Bobby nodded. "Yeah... us too."

     "Want to come in?"

     "Thanks."

     "Sorry about the mess," Deborah said absently as she led Bobby into
the messy living room.

     "Wow, your living room looks like my bedroom."

     Deborah stopped dead in her tracks. "That bad, huh?"

     "Yeah..." Bobby said, as he absently moved some piled up newspapers
out of the way so he could sit down on the sofa.

     Deborah did the same for a chair next to the sofa.

     "Wow... you're a real newshound," Bobby said, flipping through a
stack of newspaper clippings.

     "Err... well..."

     "Hey... a lot of these are of that guy leading that Task Force
thing."

     "Really?" Deborah said, trying to feign innocence. It was a
particularly transparent attempt.

     "Yeah... odd that." Transparent except for people who are
particularly clueless.

     Or distracted by something else.

     "So what brings you over, Bobby?"

     "Well... I..." Bobby took a deep breath.

     Deborah frowned and slid forward to take the young man's hand.
"What's wrong?"

     "Well... I got this today." Bobby indicated a crumpled envelope in
his hands.

     "What is it?"

     "A draft notice."

     Deborah's blood ran cold. She had heard that the U.S. military
wanted to start drafting people to fight in the wars, but never expected
it to happen so fast or to someone she knew. "Oh my..."

     "I kind of expected it sooner or later, but... well..."

     Deborah slipped over to the sofa beside Bobby and wrapped her arms
around him. "It'll be okay."

     "It's not like I didn't expect it after what happened in April,
but..."

     "It's always harder when the truth slaps you in the face," Deborah
said, looking over Bobbie's shoulder at some of her clippings of Ranma.

                    -A-           -M-           -D-

February 11, 2010 - Tokyo, Japan
(Black Wars Days 288)


     "Now remember, kids, your mother-" Ukyo paused and looked at Daiji.
"-and father, were hurt real badly, so you can't jump on her and you
have to be careful not to hug her too hard or do anything that might
hurt her. Do you understand?"

     Daiji, Yohachi, and Ayami--who were all dressed in clean clothes
and had their hair neatly combed--all nodded.

     Ukyo smiled at Akane's oldest children and then looked at Sanma,
who was holding little Rar in her arms. "Sanma, the same goes for you."

     Sanma gasped. "I would never jump on or hug Akane, Honey."

     Ukyo smiled wryly. "I mean keep Rar from getting out of hand. You
know how antsy he's been without his parents around."

     Sanma nodded. "Will do."

     The family waited at the Tokyo airport just outside the security
zone leading to the terminal where the last of the Moscow refugees were
arriving. Doctor Tofu and his kids also waited impatiently for the
return of Kasumi, their long separation from her evident in their sad
eyes.

     It was only out of concern for Akane's delicate
condition--physically and mentally--that prevented the rest of her
family from coming to the airport to greet Akane and the others. The
rest of the reunions would have to wait until the welcome home party
that was waiting for them at the Tendo house started.

     The small group scanned the crowds swarming out of the terminal in
search of their own loved ones or the baggage claim area. Their
impatience was rewarded when the crowd parted slightly and revealed a
smiling woman sitting in a wheelchair being pushed by Ranma and Ranko.

     Daiji and Yohachi forgot all about Ukyo's admonitions and leapt
into the air, startling the other passengers as they soared over their
heads. The Amazons made to intercept the incoming projectiles, but
quickly realized who the blurs were.

     Ayami took the low road and ended up ducking under the legs of a
half dozen men and women to reach her parents.

     Ukyo and Sanma exchanged a 'what can you do' look before heading
towards the newly arrived group. They were almost bowled over when
Doctor Tofu and his kids caught sight of the beautiful woman walking
beside the wheelchair. A small group of Amazons circled them all, the
crowd keeping their distance from the heavily armed women.

     Ranko caught Daiji before the little girl landed on Akane's lap.
"Hey, cutie..." Kissing her, she gave her daughter a big hug. Daiji,
naturally, took this as an invitation to wrestle.

     Meanwhile, Ranma had caught Yohachi and repeated the welcome Ranko
was giving to Daiji. "You've gotten bigger, Son."

     "You're just smaller, Daddy!!" Yohachi chirped and then looked down
at his mother. "Mommy!!" he cried stretching his arms out.

     Akane smiled and grabbed one of Yohachi's hands. "There's my big
boy!"

     Daiji broke free of Ranko's hold and reached for her mother. "I'm a
boy sometimes too..."

     Akane laughed and took one of Daiji's hands and squeezed. "Yes you
are."

     Ayami reached them and wrapped her arms around Akane's legs.
"Mommy... Mommy..."

     Tears were streaming from Akane's eyes by this time as she was
finally reunited with her kids after her long, painful recovery.

     It was even longer separation for those left behind at Area
Fifty-Two.

     Kasumi and her family were exchanging a flurry of hugs and kisses
as Sanma slipped little Rar onto the handle of Akane's wheelchair so she
could hug and kiss him. A long string of hugs and kisses followed until
Daiji asked a question.

     "Where's the new baby?"

     Akane brushed the hair out of Daiji's eyes before looking behind
her. "Nipplering?"

     Nipplering strode forward, carrying a small bundle in her arms.
Carefully, navigating all the arms and legs that were still intertwined
around Akane, she placed the bundle into Akane's waiting arms.

     Akane smiled and pulled back the blanket to let her other kids all
see their new sibling. "Kids, this is your new sister, Kourui."


[End - Chapter 17]

Coming soon: Chapter 18 - The Anything Goes Task Force is Born
=======================================================================
The real author's (Jim Lazar) notes/ramblings:


I'd like to thank my pre-readers Michael A. Chase and David Johnston 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 (February 8, 2002)

Revision 0.1 - Rough draft finished (March 4, 2002)
Revision 0.3 - Pre-reader draft (March 25, 2002)
Revision 1.0 - Final version (July 23, 2002)