[Ranma][Fanfic][Lime] Childhood of a Modern Dynasty - Chapter 27: Bring
Me the Head of Ranma Saotome
=======================================================================
Childhood of a Modern Dynasty
Chapter 27: Bring Me the Head of Ranma Saotome

Ranma 1/2 characters/situations created and copyright by Rumiko
Takahashi/Shogakukan/Kitty/Fuji/Viz - Used without permission

Childhood of a Modern Dynasty series created, written, and
copyright 1998-2000 by Jim Lazar

An ongoing series set after the end of the Ranma 1/2 manga and anime.

<Speech text in angle brackets is thought by character.>
"Speech text in double quotes is spoken as Japanese unless otherwise
identified as another language."

E-mail comments and/or criticisms to: jim [at] animeprime.com

Make sure to check out my Modern Dynasty website for
all released CMD stories, graphics files, and other information:
http://www.animeprime/ff/md
=======================================================================
>From the personal journal of James Davidson:


October 27, 2057

     We've been in New York for almost a week now so that my mom can
recount her time with Ranma back in ninety-nine. I still can't believe
my mom never told me that she got a crush on Ranma back in ninety-nine,
let alone ended up inside the First Monolith.

     My mom had a physical therapy session today to help her get over
her stroke, so Akane offered to tell me what happened to Sanma and the
others when they went to bring back Ranma. Considering that my mom told
us that she and Ranma were thrown into a monolith, I have a real bad
feeling about how he ended up as the leader of a millennium cult.

     I walked down to the lobby of the hotel to meet Akane. "Morning,
Akane." We exchanged cheek kisses.

     "Morning, James. Shall we go?"

     I nodded and we walked outside and towards Central Park. I've
really enjoyed being back home for the past week and have taken every
opportunity to get out and see my old hangouts. Hanaki was thrilled to
see the neighborhood where I grew up. I just wish the house I grew up in
was still there to show her, but I guess all things have to change.

     Sanma poked his little frog head out of one of Akane's breast
pockets and croaked.

     Taking his croak as a greeting, I responded. "Morning, Sanma. Not
traveling in your wife's cleavage today?"

     Akane shook her head. "Nope, you can't imagine the weird looks we
get if he travels that way in public."

     I smiled. "As opposed to the weird looks you get carrying a frog in
your pocket?"

     Akane chuckled. "So, why couldn't Hanaki join us?"

     I sighed. "She and Jaki are determined to buy out every store in
Manhattan."

     "Gee, I hope they don't spend everything you made on Birth."

     "Me, too." Even though I didn't need to, I glanced at my palmtop
before directing a command at it. "Ace, e-cash account balance." A
holographic display popped up showing our account balance. I frowned.
"She's been busy."

     "Don't worry, Hanaki is not the type of woman to spend recklessly."
As Akane said that, the displayed e-cash balance dropped by about a
million. "Err... I'm sure it was something she really needed. A million
yen isn't that much these days."

     "The display is in U.S. dollars."

     "Oh... well, the task force pays well." The display dropped another
half million. "Um..."

     I sighed. "Ace, call Hanaki."

     After a few seconds, a life-sized hologram of my wife appeared in
front of us. "Hi, honey, what's up?"

     "I'm just wondering what you and Jaki are up to."

     "Just buying some new dresses." Hanaki twirled around to show off
the very beautiful dress she was wearing. "Do you like it?"

     "Yes, but..."

     Jaki suddenly pushed into the holo-picture. "Ha! Mine's prettier."
She struck a sexy pose and then asked a question in a low husky voice.
"Don't you think so, darling?"

     "Jaki... please." I looked at my wife. "About the dresses."

     Jaki frowned. "Uh oh... your hubby is getting all serious. He's not
cute when he's serious."

     Hanaki pushed Jaki playfully out of the picture. "Jaki, please...
he's cute all the time." She looked back at me. "What's up, honey?"

     "Isn't it kind of expensive?"

     Hanaki frowned and looked down at her dress. "Huh? It's only a few
hundred."

     "Well, I noticed a couple large million dollar deductions from the
e-cash account a few minutes ago."

     Hanaki giggled. "So, you're afraid I'm going to send us to the
poorhouse?"

     "No, it just seems so much..."

     Jaki's voice was heard from off picture. "He found us out, Hannie.
Now we can't run off to Tahiti with all his millions. And you would have
looked so good in that tiny bikini you bought yesterday."

     Hanaki blushed, but tried to ignore Jaki's teasing. "Don't worry,
honey, I 'd never spend that much without discussing it with you first.
And I haven't paid for anything yet today."

     I frowned and looked at the e-cash display. "Then how..."      

     Hanaki scrunched her face up. "I seem to remember someone
mentioning he had a few stock market orders that came due today."

     I slapped my forehead. "Damn, I forgot about those. Um... I'm
sorry, Hanaki."

     "That's okay, James."

     Jaki's voice returned. "Make him take you out to dinner to
apologize!! The cad!"

     I smiled. "I was already planning on doing that anyway."

     "Then let's make it the most expensive restaurant in New York."
Hanaki winked.

     "Deal..." As I said that, a young man ran by and grabbed my
palmtop. He ran away, with Hanaki's hologram bouncing along beside him.
Since the hologram was so lifelike, my gut reaction was that he was
running off with Hanaki. "Come back with my wife!!"

     He glanced back with a mocking look and then slipped my palmtop
into a bag. When Hanaki's image disappeared, I realized that the bag
must be shielded. That was a common tool of modern day thieves who stole
electronic equipment that could be easily traced in real time. "Damn, we
won't be able to trace it..." I looked at Akane, only to find her
missing. I looked around for her and finally spotted her when she landed
in front of the thief.

     Akane grinned. "That doesn't belong to you, young man."

     "Out of the way, old lady!!" All things considered, that was a very
stupid thing to say.

     Akane confirmed it seconds later when she jabbed him hard in his
stomach and then grabbed the pouch in one fluid movement.

     The thief gasped and dropped to his knees. "Bitch." And that was
probably an even stupider thing to say.

     Akane thumped him on his head, just enough to drive home the point
that he should respect his elders.

      The man collapsed to the ground and gasped. "Sorry, Ma'am, I
didn't mean to insult you." He finally got it right on the third try.

     I jogged up to Akane and smiled. "Thanks."

     "Not a problem. I could have let Sanma handle this thug. Even in
his frog form, he's a formidable foe."

     I laughed. "Frog fu, I guess?"

     Akane never had a chance to reply because Sanma suddenly used his
strong hind flippers to jump out of her breast pocket and land on the
thief's back as he tried to sneak away.

     The thief tried to brush the frog off as he ran, but Sanma clung
tightly to the thief's shirt. Sanma opened his little mouth and a chi
ball formed. A split second after Sanma released the chi ball, the
thief's hair burst into flames.

     "Arghhhhhh!!!" The thief ran frantically around until he saw a
nearby pond and dived into it to put out his burning hair. He was
unconscious when he floated back to the surface with Sanma sitting
calmly on his chest.

     Sanma croaked in triumph.

                    -C-           -M-           -D-

     "Thank you, Matriarch. Maybe we can give all our officers the day
off with you in the park," the young policeman said as he escorted us
out of the Central Park precinct house.

     Akane nodded politely. "Just doing my civic duty. Thank you for
clearing up the paperwork so fast."

     "Well, he confessed right way. Although he did say something about
a frog..." The officer looked quizzically at Akane.

     Akane didn't react to the mention of the frog. "If possible, I'd
appreciate it if you could not let the press know I'm in town."

     The officer hesitated, but nodded his agreement.

     I smiled. "Thank you, officer. Shall we go, Akane?"

     Akane nodded and thanked the officer again.

     After we were out of earshot of the precinct house, I turned to ask
Akane a question. "If you don't want to tell people about Sanma's
blessing, is it a problem for me to write about it in my books?"

     Akane shook her head. "No, I just I don't want to spoil your books
for people." She winked.

     I smiled. "You're just saying that so you can justify keeping some
of your juicy tidbits from me until you're ready to shock me with them."

     Akane smiled. "Maybe."

     "Well, let's find some nice place to sit down and you can tell me
what happened when Sanma and the others went to haul Ranma back. I
imagine after what my mom told me about the First there were some
complications."

     "Yeah, but the problems started on the flight before they even
reached their destination. I'll tell you what I know and Sanma can fill
in any gaps as we go."

     I frowned and looked at the frog, which was sticking his head out
of her breast pocket. "How?"

     Akane smiled a pulled out a small keyboard from another pocket. It
looked similar to the larger keyboard Sanma had used while a pig, but
was smaller and the keys were arranged a little differently.

     "You Tendos think of everything."

     "We do now, but only through long years of trial and error. Sanma's
first attempts at communication when he was an animal were very
primitive."


***********************************************************************
November 12-13, 1999 - International Airspace


     Mousse dug his fingers into the airplane seat and stared straight
ahead.

     "Are you okay, Mousse?" Ukyo asked, putting a comforting hand on
his arm.

     "Sure... I just don't like the sensation of flying without using my
own wings." Sweat dripped from Mousse's forehead.

     Sanma chuckled and straightened her short dark hair. Technically
it's was Akane's hair, but Sanma had gotten used to her new body. It was
better than being a baboon after all. "I offered to have you checked in
as a pet, you know."

     "You're the last one who should to be making jokes like that,
Red-chan!" Ukyo scolded.

     Sanma shrugged. "Hey, he's the duck who's afraid of flying."

     Mousse looked at Sanma. "I'm not... afraid of flying... it just
feels uncomfortable being enclosed and flying without flapping my wings.
As I sit here, I keep getting the urge to flap my arms to stay airborne.
If it wouldn't have taken me longer to fly by myself, I'd have just
winged it."

     "Okay, I'm sorry I made fun of you, man."

     Just then, a flight attendant walked by and noticed Mousse's
condition. "Can I get you anything, sir?"

     Sanma grinned. "Just a barf bag in case he hurls from being
airsick."

     Ukyo gasped. "Sanma!!"

                    -C-           -M-           -D-

     Further into the flight, Sanma was pacing up and down the aisle.
'Damn, this is so boring."

     "Sanma... we're flying almost halfway around the world so it'll
take a while," Ukyo remarked. "Just relax and enjoy the trip."

     "Yeah, but..."

     Ukyo sighed and looked at the sleeping Mousse by her side. "Hey,
Sanma?" she made a 'come here' gesture to Sanma.

     "What?" Sanma said, bending down. Ukyo whispered something into her
ear, causing a large smile to form on Sanma's face.

                    -C-           -M-           -D-

     "Mmmmmffffppphh...." Ukyo gasped.

     Sanma looked up. "Are you okay?"

     Ukyo smiled. "Yeah... it's just the faucet digging into my hip."

     "Oh... let's try this." Sanma squirmed a round the small lavatory
and nudged Ukyo over away from the faucet. She then resumed her
interrupted activity.

     "Ahhhhhh!"

     Sanma looked up. "What's wrong now?"

     Ukyo smiled. "Nothing... it feels good." She squirmed around again
and pulled Sanma up to her lips to give her a long kiss.

     Sanma's hands groped for the hooks on Ukyo's bra. In the process,
she hit the faucet. The cold water faucet. She was quickly covered in a
fountain of cold water.

     Ukyo gasped as she found herself pressed against the outer door by
a furry chest. "Mmmmmfffppphhh...."

     After several seconds, the pressure on the door finally forced it
open and Ukyo spilled out into the main cabin. The large panda fell on
top of her.

     Various cries of shock and confusion were heard from the other
passengers.

     Ukyo looked at the people looking at her. "Uh oh..." She looked up
at Sanma and whispered. "Sanma, don't panic, but you're a panda."

     Sanma lifted his furry body off Ukyo and looked at his furry hands
and chest. For a panda he was remarkably skinny, but still filled most
of the lavatory with his rear end. Like most sons, he wasn't exactly
thrilled to find himself starting to look or act like his father. Of
course, with most sons that meant starting to use the same mannerisms or
losing their hair, not transforming into the same animal as their cursed
father.

     Ukyo hurriedly rebuttoned her blouse and made sure her skirt was
covering her lower body. She looked around, searching for something. The
only thing she could see lying on the lavatory floor was a pile of
ripped clothes that must have been Sanma's. She turned her head and
smiled awkwardly at the people who were starting to make their way over
to the spectacle. "Um... wow!! Where did this panda come from!! I opened
the door and poof! There he was!"

     The passengers didn't seem interested in her excuse. They were just
staring at the panda in shocked amazement.

     Mousse nudged his way through the crowd and whispered to Ukyo.
"What's going on?"

     Ukyo looked at the panda that was backed up against the rear of the
hallway. "Sanma had a little trouble with some cold water."

     Mousse nodded. He'd been there many times before and realized that
the people wouldn't be able to understand the curse without a very long
explanation and a demonstration that Sanma couldn't give with his new
one-way curse. He gestured to the panda. "Bad boy! How did you get out
of the baggage hold?! Sit, San-san, sit!!"

     The panda looked blankly at Mousse and did nothing.

     Mousse rolled his eyes. "Sit, San-san... show these people you're
not going to hurt them."

     Sanma finally caught on. He wasn't happy about it, but he sat back
on his hindquarters and held his paws in the air.

     The crowd applauded.

     "Smile, San-san."

     The panda smiled broadly.

     "Speak, San-san."

     <Don't push it, Mousse,> Sanma thought, then let out a growl.

     Mousse helped Ukyo to her feet. "I'm sorry if the panda scared you,
Miss."

     Ukyo looked a little confused, but played along. "Oh, it's okay.
He's kind of cute."

     Just then a flight attendant finally managed to make her way
through the crowd. "What's going... urk!!" She gasped as she saw the
panda and tried to recall what her trailing said about pandas. "Um...
err... I'm sorry, but all carry on luggage must be able to fit in the
overhead compartment or under your seat."

     The panda blinked loudly.

     "Sorry, Miss. Somehow San-san got out of the cargo hold. Escape
tricks are part of our act." Mousse flipped his hands and produced a
bouquet of flowers, which he gave to the stewardess.

     "Oh, how pretty. Well, we can't get back into the hold in flight,
so he'll have to sit in one of the seats."

     Mousse nodded. "I understand. I'm sorry." He looked back at the
panda. "Come on San-san."

     Sanma got up onto his four paws and slowly walked forward, getting
used to the feeling of walking on all fours.

     As Mousse turned around and gestured to the assembled passengers to
make room for them, he spotted something on the panda's tail. Using his
quick reflexes, he snatched the item and pocketed it before anyone
noticed.

                    -C-           -M-           -D-

     The panda was sitting in the first class cabin since he couldn't
fit into the coach seats anymore. Mousse sat in the aisle seat next to
him.

     Ukyo walked up from coach and whispered to Mousse. "Thanks, Mousse,
you saved us."

     "No problem, but we may have some trouble from the authorities when
we land."

     Ukyo nodded her understanding and looked at Sanma. "How are you,
Sanma?"

     Sanma sighed and held up a little wooden sign which read, 'Not
well. Of all the curses I could get, I had to get Pop's.'

     Ukyo resisted the urge to laugh. "I know. Don't worry, you're
nowhere near as fat as he is."

     Sanma rolled his eyes and held up another sign which read, 'Oh,
swell. The biggest problem is that this fur itches like crazy.' He
punctuated this message by scratching himself.

     Ukyo giggled. "Well, at least you've got the knack of using the
signs already."

     Mousse looked up at Ukyo. "Um... Ukyo?"

     "Yes, Mousse?"

     Mousse covertly moved his clenched fist towards Ukyo. "I believe
these are yours."

     "Huh?" Ukyo put her hand under Mousses and gasped when he opened
his hand and her panties fell out. She blushed and shoved the panties
into a pocket on her dress to hide them. "Mousse... um... err..."

     Mousse shook his head. "Don't worry, I won't tell Akane, but you
should."

     Ukyo exchanged a nervous glance with Sanma before speaking. "We
were going to, but then we found out she was pregnant and that Ranma was
missing... it didn't seem the right time."

     "I understand. I too have faced those choices and feelings. Face
them openly if you can."

     Ukyo smiled. "I never knew you were so deep, Mousse. We will tell
her as soon as we drag Ranma back to her."

     Sanma growled his agreement.

     Ukyo then made her way back to the lavatory to replace her newly
recovered panties.

                    -C-           -M-           -D-

     A couple days later, Ukyo walked up to Sanma's cage. She tapped on
the window to get his attention. "Sorry, Sanma... we're trying
everything we can think of."

     Sanma bounded over to the glass separating them and let out a sad
growl. He patted his furry body and showed his empty hands.

     "They took your signs, huh?"

     The panda nodded.

     "Well fortunately this country has no laws about importing exotic
animals or Mousse might be in big trouble. Immigration is still
wondering where 'Akane Tendo' is since she never got off the plane. It
took us a long time and an encyclopedia to explain that pandas are
vegetarians and that you didn't eat Akane."

     The panda's eyes went wide and he shuddered at the mere thought
that he would eat anyone. <Well, I'd chew Kuno up, but I'd spit out the
pieces. Icky...>

      Ukyo giggled at his reaction. "We told then that she was scared of
flying and panicked at the last second. They'll probably contact Tokyo
and see that she is indeed there and let the matter drop."

     Sanma gestured at his cage he had been put into.

     "Well... they say you have to stay in quarantine for two months.
Mousse thinks he might have a way to get you out sooner, so be ready."

     The panda nodded.

     "I love you." Ukyo kissed the glass.

     Sanma nodded and gave the glass opposite Ukyo a big wet sloppy
kiss.

     Nearby, two keepers looked on. "The Japanese sure have weird
customs," one of them whispered to the other.

     "Yeah, and we have to clean that glass too."

     The first keeper gasped as he realized his friend was right. "Hey!
Stop that!!"


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


October 27, 2057

     I looked at the frog and tried to picture it as a panda. "Sanma
must have hated becoming his father. I know the first time I saw a gray
hair, I went ballistic at the thought I was turning into mine."

     Akane nodded. "Yeah, Sanma took the old 'like father, like son'
business to a whole new level."

     The frog hopped down to the little keyboard Akane had placed on the
bench by her side and started tapping. Seconds later, Sanma's female
voice was heard from it. "I was cuter as a panda than the old man."

     Akane and I laughed at that.

     "How'd they get Sanma out of quarantine?"

     Sanma answered from his tiny keyboard. "Fortunately, Mousse had
some experience breaking out of cages."


***********************************************************************
November 19-December 9, 1999 - Customs quarantine area; Unnamed canyon


     Almost a week after Sanma's confinement began, a white duck flew
silently though the night air towards its target. Before landing, it
scanned the area trying to make sure it had gone unnoticed. It had.

     It dropped onto the roof and waddled over to a small vent. The
opening was covered in with steel mesh, but it only took the duck a few
seconds with a tiny acetylene torch to get through that. After it pulled
the mesh away with its beak, the duck slipped into the vent and made its
way inside the building.

     It waddled through the narrow vent until it slipped on a greasy
patch and slid down the sloped vent in front of it. It quacked in terror
as it saw the rotating blades of a fan grow near. It snapped out its
wings and tried to slow its decent, but the sides were covered with
grease as well. It quacked louder.

     Inside a furnace room, one of the keepers looked up at the loud
noise coming from the vent, which hung from the ceiling nearby. "Looks
like the fan is about to claim another rat."

     The other keeper frowned. "Doesn't sound like a rat to me."

     "Who cares... whatever it is, it shouldn't be in there."

     "You're a sick bastard to put that grease on the sloped part of the
vent, you know that?"

     "Yeah... so what?"

     Mousse could feel the fan grow nearer as he desperately groped the
sides of the vent. He finally realized that he was wasting his time
trying to get a grip on the slippery sides, so he dug into his feathers
and flipped out a couple throwing knives. He stabbed them into the side
of the vent and halted his decent.

     In the furnace room, the two men were very surprised to see the tip
of a knife suddenly appear through the side of the vent they could see.
"Oh, shit! The rats are armed!!"

     Suddenly, the knife was withdrawn and thrust through the side of
the vent further up the slope. The process was repeated several times as
Mousse made his way slowly up the slippery slope.

     The men watched silently until the knife holes ended at the top of
the sloped surface. "Maybe I need a vacation."

     Small scurrying noises could be heard from a side vent. The other
man looked back at the first. "I think we both do."

                    -C-           -M-           -D-

     The grill over an internal vent was kicked out and Mousse poked his
head out of the hole. The duck looked around a few times before taking
flight and landing in front of the large glass pane of Sanma's cage.
Inside the cage, a panda slept on its back. Its large furry belly rose
and fell in time with its snores.

     Mousse tapped on the glass to wake Sanma up, but the panda didn't
stir.

     The duck huffed and dug into its feathers. It pulled out a small
tool and put it in its beak. It flew into the air and started to trace a
large circle on the surface of the glass. It repeated its circular cut
several times in order to cut all the way through the glass.

     After it was done, it looked inside only to see that Sanma was
still sleeping. He quacked a few times, but still the panda did not
stir. He pounded on the glass a few times and quacked in shock when the
glass fell backwards towards him.

     The large piece of glass fell onto the floor, pinning the duck
under it. Pressed duck under glass.

     The noise of the glass falling finally woke the panda up. He
blinked his eyes a few times and saw the large hole in the glass. He
smelled freedom and bounded through the hole and looked around. <How did
this happen? Well, Ukyo said they were trying to get me out.>

     Sanma started walking across the fallen piece of glass, but stopped
when he heard a duck quacking. <Mousse?> He looked around the room for
Mousse, but didn't see him. <Odd...> He took another step and the
quacking intensified.

     Sanma looked down and finally saw the pinned duck. He rushed off
the glass and used his snout to lift it off the ground.

     A very flat duck crawled out from under it and started quacking
angrily at Sanma.

     Sanma shrugged his shoulders apologetically and nodded to the
external door.

     The duck quacked once and flew over to the door. He gestured up
towards the lock and made lifting motions.

     The panda padded over and lifted the duck onto his head so he could
reach the lock. It took Mousse only a few seconds to pick the lock and
the panda even less time to push the doors open and romp off into the
night. An alarm sounded.

     The guards arrived shortly afterwards only to find the cage empty.

     The next day the police would stare dumbfounded at the security
camera images of the jailbreak. Instead of issuing an all points
bulletin for a duck who could pick locks riding on top of the head of a
large panda, they decided to just ignore what happened and destroy all
evidence that the panda was ever there.

                    -C-           -M-           -D-

     Ukyo kissed the panda's snout. "How'd the jailbreak go?"

     Mousse wiped the hot water off his face and pulled his robe on.
"Okay, I almost got sliced and diced in a fan, but nothing I couldn't
handle. Just as we thought, the doors were alarmed, but not the vent."

     "Thanks, Mousse."

     "No problem, it's the least I can do since I had panda in Nabiki's
pool." He smiled and then handed a cold water bottle to Ukyo. "Want to
see if his time as a panda is up?"

     Ukyo nodded and took the bottle. "Are you sure that pool isn't
fixed? It's awfully suspicious that Nabiki's boyfriend won."

     Mousse laughed and shook his head. "No, I think Mr. Saotome choose
panda too, so I'll have to split to jackpot."

     Ukyo poured the cold water over the panda's back, but nothing
happened. "Well, it's only been a few days since you transformed."

     The panda sighed.

     "I've arranged a ride tomorrow, so we should get some rest." Mousse
suggested.

     "Yeah, but we can't go back to the hotel with Sanma."

     Mousse shook his head. "Nope. The guy who is giving us the ride
tomorrow has a manger nearby. He said we can sleep there since his inn
is full."

     Ukyo frowned. "Something seems awfully familiar about all of this."

                    -C-           -M-           -D-
  
     The ride through the desert was remarkably uneventful. Some might
say boring due to the featureless desert they passed through. Sanma
would have said it, but he couldn't speak in his panda form. So, he held
up a little sign that said, 'I'm bored'.

     Ukyo bounced alongside him in the old truck. "Yeah, yeah... I
know." She looked towards the front of the truck and saw the other
people who were making the trip with them. Or 'pilgrimage' as they
referred to it. "It's not much further."

     Although the truck had a burlap top to keep the sun out, the sides
of the truck were open. This did not make Sanma any happier. The blowing
sand was caking on his fur and he was starting to look like a reject
from a low budget horror movie. Sanma picked at one of the matted pieces
of hair in a hopeless attempt to keep clean.

     Ukyo noticed him doing this and stifled a giggle. "Don't worry,
Sanma, I'll get you cleaned up as soon as we can."

     Sanma growled a quick 'thank you'.

     "Wow!" Mousse suddenly cried out.

     Sanma and Ukyo looked towards the front of the truck and saw the
sight that had made Mousse cry out. "Wow!" Ukyo's voice added her
startled cry to Sanma's silent sign reading 'Wow!'

     The valley the truck was heading towards was huge. The towering
cliffs rose vertically from the valley floor and seemed to touch the
heavens. They didn't, of course, but the five to six hundred meter tall
cliffs did make a respectable try at reaching them.

     Large boulders, many bigger than the truck, were strewn around the
desert and valley floor. The boulders became more frequent as they
neared a huge tent city that had been setup at the mouth of the valley.
Tents of all shapes and sizes were setup randomly across the sand.
People milled around some of the larger tents and strolled between the
smaller ones.

     The most remarkable sight was the large river flowing through the
valley and feeding into a large lake near the tent city. Considering the
sparseness of the vegetation and the fact they were in the middle of an
otherwise barren desert, the river looked out of place.

     "Wow is right," Ukyo commented as she surveyed the scene. "Where do
we start?"

     Mousse shrugged. "We'll have to see if we can find Ranma in all of
this."

     "It shouldn't be that hard to find the Son of God." Ukyo laughed.

                    -C-           -M-           -D-

     "Excuse me, but where is the Son of God?" Ukyo asked everyone who
passed. Unfortunately, none of them seemed to know Japanese and they
were more interested in staring at the dirty panda standing beside her.
Ukyo tried to ask in Mandarin and then her very simple English
vocabulary. "Where is God?" was her best try at asking it in English.
The response was in the form of people pointing straight up into the
sky. <Damn... how do you say 'son of' in English?>

     Before Ukyo had a chance to try and remember the few English
lessons in high school she had paid attention to, Mousse ran up to them.
"I think I've found someplace that we can get the information we need.
Come on."

     "Where?" Ukyo asked.

     Sanma asked the same thing, but with a little sign.

     Mousse pointed at a long line of people that led into a large tent
at the edge of the tent city.

     "That could take us a while," Ukyo commented as she followed the
long line to it's end, which was almost at the opposite side of the tent
city.

                    -C-           -M-           -D-

     "I want to be successful in my job," one of the pilgrims asked in
French.

     A very tired blond-haired girl made a notation in a large book and
responded in the same language. "Standard wish number twenty-five.
Check. Bless you and enjoy the mass."

     The next pilgrim stepped forward and stated his wish in English. "I
want to be rich and famous."

     "Standard wish number one. Check. Bless you and enjoy the mass."

     "I want my boyfriend to ask me to marry me."

     "Standard wish number seventy-eight. Check. Bless you and enjoy the
mass."

     "I want my mommy to come back from heaven," came the next request.

     "Standard wish number one-hundred and twenty-one. Check. Bless you
and enjoy the mass."

     "We'd like to make an appointment to see the Son of God."

     "Standard wish number... huh?" The girl looked up with weary eyes
and saw Ukyo, Mousse, and a panda standing in front of her. "What was
that again?" she asked in Japanese.

     "We'd like to make an appointment to see the Son of God," Mousse
repeated in Japanese.

     The girl frowned. "Um... you can see him at the mass."

     Mousse shook his head. "No, we need to talk to him personally."

     "I'm sorry, but Our Lord cannot offer personal blessings."

     Mousse shook his head. "No, we're friends of his and we need to
talk to him."

     The girl fought back a laugh. "Grew up with him, did you?"


     Ukyo nodded. "Yes, I did. And Sanma here is his sister." She
indicated the panda.

     The girl blinked loudly. "I'm sorry, you can see Our Lord during
the mass along with all the other pilgrims." She indicated the exit on
the opposite side of the tent. Pilgrims were making their way through
the opening and towards a large stone monument at the far end of the
valley.
 
     "But..."

     "Bless you and enjoy the mass. Next!"

     "But..."

     "NEXT!!"

     Resigned to the fact that they weren't going to get anywhere with
the girl, the odd trio walked toward the exit.

     "So what do we do now?" Ukyo asked.

     "Let's go to this 'mass' and see what happens," Mousse replied and
earned Ukyo and the panda's agreement.

                    -C-           -M-           -D-

     The panda found himself sandwiched between Ukyo and Mousse.
Although he didn't mind one of the sensations, the other was not at all
pleasant. Sanma growled when the crowd pressed in against the trio
again.

     Ukyo spat out some fur. "You'd think a panda would cause more
attention or at least allow us to get closer to the stage."

     Mousse looked around. "Well, it looks like a lot of the pilgrims
brought their pets to be 'blessed'."

     Sanma held up a little sign reading 'Who are YOU to call me a pet,
duck-boy?'

     Mousse smiled. "Sorry, Sanma, I didn't mean that you were a pet. I,
too, have been mistaken for a pet all too often. I meant that the
pilgrims see you as a pet, so that's why they don't make a big fuss."

     Sanma looked ready to argue some more, but the crowd suddenly
erupted into applause. Various religious cries and chants in a wide
assortment of languages were heard.

     The three of them craned their necks to look at the large stage
that had been built a couple kilometers from the tent city, but they
still weren't close enough to make out what was happening on-stage. The
stage appeared to be composed of flat boulders with sand used to fill
the cracks between the boulders.

      The walls of the canyon framed the small stage with their towering
rock palisades. Since the valley floor narrowed at the far end of the
canyon, the stage seemed to be the focus of the entire length of the
canyon.

     But despite the majesty of the cliff walls and the unique build and
location of the stage, the item that drew the eyes of everyone present
was the large triangular monument constructed behind the stage. It was
made up of large rough-hewn boulders stacked on top of each other as if
to reach into the heavens. It was only half the height of the high
canyon walls, but it somehow seemed to dwarf the walls due to the way
the light played across its surface.

     Some of the blocks that made up the monument stuck out of the
arrangement of boulders to form small platforms. A collection of lighter
colored boulders were arranged in the middle of the monument to form a
stylized cross.

     Although impressive, the construction of the monument seemed random
until you saw the cascading water that splashed down from the tip. As
the water hit each of the protruding platforms, it separated and fell in
two streams on opposite sides of that platform. By the time the water
reached the pool behind the stage, it was falling in dozens of separate
streams. It was impossible to tell where the water went after that, but
it was a fair guess that it was what fed the large lake near the tent
city.

    The crowd would alternate between applause, cheering, chanting, and
singing hymns all in response to something happening on stage, which
Sanma and the others couldn't see from where they were.

     Mousse shook his head sadly and looked at Ukyo and Sanma. "This is
hopeless... there are too many people to get any closer."

     Ukyo sighed and nodded. "Yeah, and I don't think Sanma's original
idea to fight our way to the front would be a good idea."

     Mousse nodded. "Yeah, they'd overwhelm us with sheer numbers. Let's
get out of here and try and find a way to come back after the mass is
over."

     Ukyo and Sanma nodded their agreement. The three of them made their
way out of the crowd and back towards the tent city. They were looking
for a place to eat when they spotted a group of people huddled around a
portable television set.

     A familiar voice came from the set. "My children, thank you for
coming such a long way."  There was a brief roar of applause and cheers
before Ranma's voice was heard again. "Thank you my children, be at
peace."

     Ukyo looked at Sanma and Mousse. "That's Ranma's voice."

     Mousse and the panda nodded. They rushed over and looked over the
peoples' shoulders at the screen. It showed the crowd dropping to their
knees and clasping their hands. The shot then panned to the stage.

     Ukyo gasped. Sanma's big cute panda eyes went wide, and Mousse's
jaw dropped as they finally saw the person on the stage.

     Ukyo gasped the name that was on all of their lips, or snout as the
case may be. "Ranma."

     On stage, Ranma smiled and lowered his head, causing his pigtail to
flap in the wind. "Go with God, my children." With that, he did a high
back flip and landed about a quarter of the way up the monument. He
raised his hands and basked in the attention of the crowd for a few
moments then stepped backwards and disappeared into a dark opening in
the monument.

     The crowd applauded and started chanting something that Ukyo
couldn't quite make out through the old television's speakers.

                    -C-           -M-           -D-

     The next morning, Ukyo awoke to find herself wrapped in a pair of
furry arms. "And I thought waking up in Akane's arms was weird." She got
up and stretched. Looking around, she threw on a robe and grabbed a
towel. She strode out to the lake and joined the other people who were
already there to clean up.

     Ukyo was wading knee deep in the water and had just finished
washing her face and hair when a panda walked up to the lake. She

smiled. "I promised to clean all that desert sand out of your fur,
didn't I?"

     The panda nodded and picked at some of his matted fur.  Seeing the
panda approach the lake caused some of the bathers to stop and stare
briefly, but they seemed to take it in stride and went back to their
washing.

     However, when the panda jumped into the cold water and suddenly
transformed all hell broke loose. Cries of astonishment in an assortment
of languages rippled through the crowd. Some of the bathers prostrated
themselves before Sanma and others ran off towards the tents, talking
excitedly.

     Ignoring the outbursts, Sanma looked down at her body and saw that
she was human again. She smiled broadly at seeing her long lost body and
red hair. It may not be a male body, but she considered it immensely
better than being a panda. "Alright!! I'm not my pop anymore!"

    She did a few victory laps around Ukyo, managing to clean herself up
in the process. She rose from the water and shook the water off her
body. "Damn, it feels great to be human!"

     Ukyo smiled and tossed a towel to Sanma. "Well, looks like you're
back in your female form now, Sanma."

     Sanma winked as she wrapped the towel around her slender body.
"Well, being a girl is better than being a panda."

     Ukyo giggled. "Actually, I kind of liked cuddling with the panda."

     Sanma smirked. "Yeah, me too, but we can do so much more than
cuddle now." She winked.

     "Well, at least I don't have to worry about you coughing up fur
balls in your sleep anymore." Ukyo shuddered at the memory of the first
time she awoke to that unpleasant sensation.

     "At least until I transform again."

     Ukyo smiled and leaned in to kiss Sanma, but stopped when she heard
a loud shout from behind her.

     "Lord, you have blessed us with your presence!"

     Sanma and Ukyo turned towards the voice to see an elderly Japanese
man standing with a large number of people of mixed races and cultures
huddled behind him. They were all staring in awe at Sanma.

     Sanma frowned. "Huh?"

     "I was most surprised to hear that you can manifest yourself as an
animal as well as your male and female forms, Lord."

     Sanma frowned and tried to figure out how they knew about her new
curse. "Yeah, it's kind of a pain, but it has its advantages." She
looked at Ukyo and winked.

     Ukyo blushed, but wondered why they kept calling Sanma 'Lord'. Her
unasked question was answered when the crowd started chanting.

     "Shuma!" "Shuma!" "Shuma!"

     "Err... that's Sanma."

     The old man frowned. "My Lord, you wish to be referred to as Sanma
now instead of Shuma?"

     "Huh?"

     Ukyo gasped as the pieces fell into place. She leaned in and
whispered to Sanma. "They think you're Ranma."

      Sanma grew confused. "Huh? But I'm a girl now. And what is this
'Shuma'?"

     "I didn't realize it last night with all the different voices and
the bad TV sound, but I think they were chanting Shuma at the end of the
mass. That must be the name they know him as."

     "Odd... Why would he change his name?"

      Ukyo shrugged. "I'm not sure, but 'Shu' is Japanese for Lord, so
maybe Ranma started using Shuma when he got involved in all this."

     "Do you think he got his girl curse back somehow?"

     "Since they recognize you in your female form as their lord, it
sure seems like it. That's likely one of his 'miracles'." Ukyo looked
around at the crowd that continued to grow and then looked back at
Sanma. "We might be able to use this to get behind the stage and find
Ranma."

      Sanma nodded. "Good idea. Lets find Mousse and make our way back
there."

      Ukyo giggled and gestured to the crowd. "The stage is yours, My
Lord."

      Sanma straightened and went into her act. "Thank you, my children.
I have come among you to spread my love as far as possible. When each of
you leave this place, you will spread my love to the rest of the world."

      Ukyo smirked at how easily Sanma took to being the Son of God.
<All things considered, it's not too much different than how he normally
acts. Just a little more grandiose than his usual ego-trips.>

     The old man frowned. "But you have always asked that your believers
come here to worship you, not spread the word."

     Sanma faltered. "Yes, well... now that we have enough of you here,
we can start spreading the word." He decided to get to the point. "You
all are blessed. Please go in peace. I must return to the thing behind
the stage."

     Ukyo rolled her eyes at Sanma's phrasing and wondered if she had
just blown their act.

     The old man frowned. "Your sanctuary?"

     "Yeah... that's what I meant." Sanma smiled awkwardly and tried to
alleviate any doubts by granting the old man the honor of walking with
him. "Come, my son, walk with us until we find Mousse." She gestured
towards the tent city.

     The old man frowned. "Are you going to turn into a moose, Shuma?"

     "No, he's a friend."

     "Well, all God's animals are your friend, Lord."

     "No, what I..." Sanma shut her mouth and then muttered, "Never
mind."

                    -C-           -M-           -D-

     They stopped at their tent to pick up Ukyo's spatulas and to get
Sanma some clothes--since a busty redhead dressed in nothing but a towel
may be very sexy, but it was not the best way to convince people that
Sanma was the Son of God. Then Ukyo poked her head into Mousse's tent.
"Mousse!!" Not seeing him inside, she looked back at Sanma, who was in
the middle of a large crowd of people, which was growing steadily 
larger as they searched for Mousse.

     "Bless you, my child. Bless you, my child." Sanma kept the crowd at
bay with his blessings, but was starting to grow a bit hoarse.

     "Mousse!!" Ukyo called out, hoping he was within earshot.

     The old man whispered to the person next to him. "Our Lord is
looking for a moose, has anyone seen a large animal with antlers?"

     "He's not an animal, it's his name!" Sanma snapped when he
overheard the comment.

     "Sorry, Lord." The old man bowed his head and fell back.

     Ukyo came over and whispered to Sanma. "He's not around. I left a
note, but I think we should get going before these people figure out
you're a false god."

     Sanma smirked. "It's not like Ranma is a real one, you know."

     "True, but all three of you have the ego of a god."

     Sanma took that as a complement and smiled.

                    -C-           -M-           -D-
 
     They followed the stream to its source, which just as they
suspected was the monument with its cascading water. Without a crowd,
they could now tell that the water fell behind the stage, flowed through
several passages built under the stage, and then joined together into
the stream that eventually fed the lake.

     As they approached the stage, Sanma turned towards the horde of
people who had been following him. "My children, thank you. Now I must
meditate." She waved her hands to shoo them away.

     There was some grumbling about why Ukyo got to stay, but the crowd
reluctantly started to disperse. After several minutes, about a third of
Sanma's followers were still waiting. Waiting for a sign, a blessing, or
to touch their god, it was hard to tell. Except for the drooling pervert
in the back of the crowd who clearly wanted to grope his lord.

     Sanma raised her hands and spoke in her most god-like tone of
voice. Oddly, it sounded just like when she fought with her father. "Go
now, or feel my wrath!!"

     That sent the rest of the crowd scurrying away, but not before an
old man made a comment. "Sure... the young chick gets to stay. I bet
she's going to seduce Our Lord."

     Ukyo tried to ignore the old man and looked at Sanma. "All in all,
that went well. The crowd of people who are usually at the entrance to
this side of the canyon let us through without any questions."

     "Actually, they joined the rest of the crowd. Now what?"

     Ukyo looked at the large triangular monument for a few moments
before answering. "Beats me. You're the Son of God, think of something."

     "Let's look behind that monument thingy." Sanma pointed at the
large stone monument.

     "Good idea, My Lord." Ukyo bowed, but spoiled the effect by
giggling.

     "Now you're being insulting."

     "Sorry." Ukyo smiled and pulled Sanma towards the stage. When they
reached the edge, they leapt onto the stage's surface.

     As soon as they had landed on the stage, a loud, booming voice
called out. "Who dares to disturb my meditation?" The voice echoed down
the canyon.

     Ukyo and Sanma looked around for the source of the voice for
several seconds before spotting the figure on one of the ledges that
stuck out from the monument. It was one of only a few ledges that didn't
have water splashing on it.

     "Ranma..." Ukyo gasped.

     Sanma smiled. "Ranma!! Get your butt down here! Akane is worried
sick about you!!"

     Further down the canyon, a few stragglers from the group who had
accompanied them heard the voice. They turned back and saw that their
Son of God was now the Son and Daughter of God. Needless to say, they
stopped and stared at the stage in confused silence.

     Ranma casually stepped off the ledge and landed on the stage with a
large thud. "You may call me Shuma."

     Sanma almost laughed out loud. "Yeah, right, Ranma. I don't know
how you got involved in all this-" She gestured around her. "-but it's
time to go back to Nerima."

     Ranma seemed to think for a few moments before smiling broadly.
"You may be right. Come over here and we can talk."

    Ukyo and Sanma took a few steps towards Ranma before a dozen
throwing knives came out of the sky and embedded themselves into Ranma's
body.

    Sanma snapped into her battle stance instinctively and scanned for
the attackers. He gasped when he saw a white duck swoop in from the
direction of the monument and release another volley of knives at Ranma.
"Mousse? What are you..." She never had a chance to finish the question
before Ranma swore loudly.

     "Foolish animal! Touched or not, you will not survive." Ranma held
up a hand in which a black ball of chi was forming.

     Ukyo's eyes went wide at seeing the black chi ball. "Sanma! He's
possessed by the Buyierfei!!" In one fluid motion, she drew her largest
spatula. She looked at Sanma and realized that her warning was unneeded.
The blue chi ball Sanma was forming told Ukyo that Sanma had already
come to the same conclusion.

     After she released it, Sanma's blue chi ball hit Ranma's body just
as the black ball was released towards the duck. The duck was expecting
the blast and easily avoided it.

     Sanma started to form another blue chi ball. "Ranma, fight it!!
You're not some weak-minded puppet!" She released a wide beam of energy
at Ranma and managed a glancing blow before Ranma did a side flip and
shot a volley of black chi balls at his two ground targets.

     Ukyo used the handle of her spatula to vault out of the way before
the balls hit the spot where she had been standing.

     Sanma jumped straight up and hit Ranma with another chi ball.
"Damn, I wish Ranko had come along with us now. This is going to be very
tough with only me able to blast him," Sanma yelled out as she traded
blasts with Ranma.

     Mousse set off a few smoke bombs to distract Ranma and then swung
out a long chain with a hook on the end.

     The chain wrapped around Ranma and pinned his arms to his side. He
fell to the stage and thrashed around in an attempt to get out of the
strong chain.

     Sanma shot off a few blasts to wear down Ranma. "Ukyo, start
charging your spatulas!"

     Ukyo stood ready and frowned. "But... I can't kill Ranma."

     Sanma released another volley. "He's not Ranma right now. And so
far, our experience with possessed people is that the Buyierfei within
them take most of the damage."

     Unsure about using her new technique in combat, Ukyo gulped and
tentatively drew a few throwing spatulas. "Okay..."

     "You can do it, Ukyo! Believe in yourself. I believe you can do
it!!"

     Ukyo took a deep breath and started to focus chi into the spatulas.

     Ranma squirmed in the chains. Suddenly, he stopped struggling and
his skin turned black. He shrank in size and became a woman. The smaller
body allowed her to slip out of the chains and stand up. A blue chi ball
thrown by Sanma immediately hit her.

      The stragglers from the crowd had watched the start of the fight
in silence until now. "What are you doing to Our Lord?"

     Someone in the crowd pointed. "Look, Our Lord is now two!"

     "Which one is real?"

     "Wait! The redhead must be the devil in disguise!!"

     "But redheads are sexier!"

     "I like blondes myself."

     Sanma ignored the crowd and looked at Ranma. "So, you did get the
curse back. Sorry, Ranma, but it could be worse." She jumped out of the
way of a black chi blast.

      Ranma took a menacing step towards Sanma. "You foolish collector.
I cannot be beaten." She was repelled by a set of throwing knives thrown
by Mousse. Her eyes turned black as she looked up at the attacking duck.
"I think you should fight your own kind." Her eyes were still black when
she looked over at the triangular monument.

     The boulders and rocks comprising the monument exploded outward,
sending fragments everywhere. Ranma stood casually on the stage without
being hit once by the debris. But rocks of all shapes and sizes pelted
Ukyo, Sanma, Mousse, and the crowd.

     After the rocks settled, Sanma picked herself up off the ground and
then confirmed that Ukyo was all right. She looked over that Ranma.
"Bastard." Then she saw what had been behind the monument. "Oh... shit."
He looked up at the towering black monolith that stood behind the stage.
"This is not good."

     "Mousse, look out!!" Ukyo cried and pointed into the sky.

     The duck looked up and saw several small black blobs flapping
towards him. The duck suddenly had his wings full trying to fend off his
new attackers.

     Ranma smiled as her skin turned black again and she became a he. He
turned towards Sanma and smiled evilly. "The time has come for the
cattle to give the rest of their energy to us. I had hoped for more to
arrive first, but those already here will be enough to open the portal."

     Sanma frowned at seeing Ranma transform. <How does he transform
without water?> Although confused with Ranma's ability to transform at
will, Sanma didn't have time to dwell on it. "Save it, Ranma! Think of
Akane!! She loves you... fight the Buyierfei within you!"

     "The Un-cute-one is of no concern. " Ranma charged up a black chi
ball and fired it at Sanma.

     Sanma dove out of the way, but didn't see Ranma charge up another
chi ball.

     But Ukyo did. She sent a volley of chi-charged spatulas at Ranma.
Since Ranma hadn't considered Ukyo a threat, he hadn't been paying much
attention to her and all six spatulas hit him. A split second later,
they exploded.

     Ranma was thrown across the stage and crashed against the monolith.
He grunted from the impact and slid down it.

     "Nice shot, Ukyo!" Sanma fired a series of blasts at Ranma, but
they never reached him. "Huh?" Her confusion at seeing the chi balls
explode in mid-air didn't last long. Several black creatures with
tentacles flickered into existence. That existence was short lived as
they burst into tiny pieces and dropped to the ground. "Shit... Ukyo!
Swing your spatula around! We've got invisible Buyierfei all around
us!!"

     Ukyo didn't need to be told twice. She swung the sharpened blade of
her spatula in wide arcs, trying to keep any Buyierfei at spatula's
length. She smiled as she felt some resistance to her latest swing and
saw some black wounds appear in mid-air.  That feeling of triumph ended
when something hit her from the side and sent her crashing to the
ground.

     Above in the skies, Mousse was flying circles around the black
blobs. He'd already managed to shoot down, for lack of a better term,
several of the small pipers using throwing knives, hand grenades,
kitchen utensils, and other assorted weaponry he kept in his feathers.
Unfortunately, he was running out of stuff to throw and there were still
at least a dozen of the small pipers, which were about four times his
size, swarming around him. Fortunately, their only attack seemed to be
glancing blows and trying to wrap the tentacles protruding from their
mouths around his neck. He dived out of the path of two pipers, but saw
three more coming up from below. He slipped his last throwing knife into
his feathers and threw it at the lead piper.

     The knife hit the flying Buyierfei in its vulnerable mouth. It
wavered momentarily and then the knife emerged from the mouth and was
spat back at Mousse. Mousse dodged it, but was now weaponless as the
pipers closed in for the kill.

     Mousse avoided their swooping attacks several times, but finally
his luck ran out when he felt several tentacles wrap around his thin
neck from a piper that had come up from behind him. He felt
consciousness slipping away as the tentacles cut off his air supply.
<I'm sorry, Nabiki... I love you.>

     Suddenly, he found himself released and opened his eyes to see
several arrows perforating the piper that had just been strangling him.
He watched the lifeless blob fall to the ground. He flapped his wings
frantically to stay in flight and saw several more arrows hit the other
pipers. Following the path that the arrows had taken to their source, he
saw four Amazon warriors with bows and arrows. Two of the warriors were
shooting arrows at his flying attackers and the other two were aiming at
the Buyierfei on the stage.

     Most importantly, he noticed one of the Amazons had the robe he had
left in his tent and a steaming kettle. Mousse quacked a question as he
landed by the Amazon, but only received a shower of hot water in reply.

     As he returned to human form, he took the robe and slipped it on.
He did a quick check of the hidden pockets and found he was now fully
loaded again. "How did you get here?" he asked in Mandarin.

     The Amazon women continued their attacks without acknowledging his
presence.

     Mousse suddenly realized why they were ignoring him. "Ah, I'm dead
to the Amazons... nice of you to kill the Buyierfei who were attacking a
dead man then."

     One of the Amazons looked at another one. "Deeod, we must kill all
the Buyierfei, lest we dishonor the ancient Amazons," Rant declared in
Mandarin.

      Deeod was a little confused at first, but saw Rant glance very
briefly at Mousse. "Yes, of course, that's why Nipplering sent us to
follow the two. She feared something was amiss."

      Mousse smiled as he realized that the Amazons were answering his
question as best they could considering his status as an outcast from
the Amazons. He snapped his arms and two long arm blades extended from
his sleeves. "Well, time for this dead man to slice and dice."

     Mousse jumped for the stage, slicing two Buyierfei in half on the
way. He saw a couple of remaining avian Buyierfei swooping down at the
ground and leapt into the air to slice them in half. His feet touched
ground again a split second before the pieces of his attackers did.

     The Amazon warriors each dipped an arrow into a bag of salt that
was strapped to their belts and then took aim at the last two avian
Buyierfei. Their shots hit the pipers directly in their most vulnerable
spot, their mouths. The salt burned into the black creature's flesh.
Soon the two pipers fell to the ground and started to decompose.

     "Mousse, how did you know about the Buyierfei?" Sanma called as she
saw Mousse land nearby on the stage.

     Mousse smiled as he dissected a Buyierfei. "I was flying around
looking for a way to contact Ranma when I saw the monolith behind the
monument. I just wish I had been able to warn you  earlier.

     "Well, In the nick of time is still better than after we get
killed." Sanma smiled and shot another chi ball at Ranma.

     The two Amazons wasted no time and jumped onto the stage to join
the others in fighting the ground-dwelling Buyierfei. They used an
assortment of arrows and throwing darts to locate the invisible
Buyierfei and then followed up with swords to finish off the wounded
creatures. As during the attack in the Amazon village and in Nerima,
they were very efficient at dispatching the Buyierfei. When they could
see them, of course.

     The crowd had steadily grown larger as the battle took place, but
had quickly thinned out after the Buyierfei started attacking them.
Although most of them had run in terror from the stage, several bodies
could be seen lying in their own blood, which was quickly soaked up by
the sandy ground.
 
     "Why, Lord? Why have you forsaken us?" an old man who had been too
shocked to run called out in Arabic.

     Ranma laughed evilly and responded in the same language. "You and
the other fools were nothing but a rich energy source. And it's time to
collect the last of it." He held out a hand and sent a back chi ball
screaming towards the old man.

     The old man clasped his hands and prayed to his real god for
salvation. He felt a powerful force lift him out of the path of death.
"Thank you, Lord."

     "No problem, but I'm not a god. I'm just the worlds greatest
martial artist," a voice replied in Japanese.

     The old man opened his eyes and beheld a magnificent sight, a firm
and perky pair of breasts barely covered by a low-cut lace bra. His
heart skipped a beat and he looked up at the face of his savior. "You
truly are Our Lord."

     It took Sanma a few seconds to figure out what the old man had said
in his very broken Japanese, but when she did she smiled broadly at the
man. "Nope and neither is that bastard over there. " Sanma put the old
man down and closed the torn flap on her shirt to cover her breasts.
"Now get out of here!! And make sure everyone else gets as far away as
possible. This monolith could destroy this entire canyon and then some."

     The old man bowed quickly. "Yes, Lord."

     Sanma sighed and turned back to face Ranma.

     Meanwhile, Ukyo held one of her giant spatulas in each hand and was
swinging them like her life depended on it. Mostly because it did. She
already sported several cuts on her arms, legs, and body from blows from
the Buyierfei. She took some comfort in the fact that she had sliced up
an untold number of the invisible creatures by that point, but that
didn't change her feeling that the creatures seemed to be everywhere.
Mostly because they were.

     She jumped to the side as she saw a wounded Buyierfei leap at her.
Unfortunately, that jump sent her right into the tentacles of an
invisible Buyierfei and she fell to the stage wrapped in its oily
embrace. She managed to hang onto her largest spatula, but the other one
slid across the stage. What felt like several Buyierfei immediately
jumped on her. When they became visible a split second later she could
see at least three of the creatures holding her down. She strained to
get them off, but they were too strong for her.  

     Sanma kicked Ranma hard and was growing more and more upset that
Ranma barely seemed to notice her kicks and punches. Even a series of
fast Chestnut punches produced only a little reaction from Ranma. After
doing a quick back flip to dodge an attempt by Ranma to grab her, she
charged up a chi ball. "Fight it, Ranma!!" She released the chi ball and
swore when it missed Ranma. <Damn... I'm wearing out with every blast
and he doesn't seem to be affected at all.>

      "You foolish collector. What do you think you can do by yourself?"
Ranma gloated and shot a series of chi balls across the stage.

     "Ukyo, look out!!" Sanma yelled as he dodged the blasts. As she
looked for Ukyo, she saw Mousse and the Amazons dodge the blasts. What
amazed her the most was that several black creatures flickered into
existence and exploded into pieces after being hit by the blasts.
Including two that were holding Ukyo down. "Talk about bad aim."

     Ukyo found that two of the Buyierfei holding her suddenly weren't.
In a quick twist to the side, she slipped out of the tentacles of her
last captor and swung her spatula in a wide arc. The one Buyierfei she
could see and at least two others fell in pieces to the stage's surface.

     Sanma was relieved to see Ukyo get to her feet and then turned to
face Ranma.  "Hey, thanks for killing your own kind, jerk! That just
makes it all that easier for me to wipe you all off the face of this
planet!!"

     Ranma smiled nonchalantly. "You think a few of my legions are
important? They can be easily replaced and soon they will be." He
glanced back at the monolith.

     "Not if I can help it!!" Sanma spat and advanced on Ranma.

     "You can't." Ranma did a high leap, somersaulting in mid-air. He
landed right behind Ukyo. In one fluid motion, he knocked her spatula
out of her hand, then grabbed her around the waist with one arm and
wrapped the fingers of his other around her neck. "I believe that you
cattle are not as easily replaced." He smiled menacingly. "Shall we
see?" He tightened his grip on Ukyo's neck.

     Ukyo gasped for breath and thrashed her limbs, trying to get out of
the inhumanly strong grip. "San... ma..."

     Sanma jumped at Ranma, but was deflected by two invisible
Buyierfei. She crashed to the ground next to one of Ukyo's dropped
spatulas. As she heard Ukyo's struggles stop suddenly, she decided on a
course of action. She knew she would hate herself for the rest of her
life, but knew it had to be done.

     Picking up the spatula, she leapt into the air. She flew through
the air in a graceful arc, slashing anything in her way with the
sharpened edges of the spatula. "Ha! Bet you didn't know I could use
this!!"

     Ranma remained impassive. "It doesn't matter. You cannot kill me."

     "We'll see about that!!" Sanma landed in front of Ukyo and in one
fluid movement used the handle of the spatula to savagely smash Ukyo's
side.

     Attacking Ukyo instead of him actually surprised Ranma enough that
he didn't see Sanma's follow up swing. The spatula's blade tore through
the flesh and bone of Ranma's neck, slicing his head clean off.

     Sanma grimaced and tried not to look at the head as it rolled
across the stage, leaving a trail of black blood behind it. She quickly
dropped to Ukyo's side. "Ukyo!!" She lifted her lover into her arms and
planted a firm kiss on Ukyo's lips. After the kiss, Sanma put her hand
on Ukyo's chest and swore. "Don't you die on me, Ukyo!!"

     Ukyo opened her eyes. "Where am I?"

     "In the arms of the man who loves you." Sanma kissed her again and
then helped her up. "Are you okay?"

     Ukyo rubbed her neck. "Yeah... my neck's sore and..." She moved a
bit and winced. "I may have broken a couple of ribs."

     Sanma frowned. "Sorry about that."

     "Why? It was... where is Ranma?"

     Sanma's face darkened. "I... I killed him." She glanced back, but
didn't linger on the headless corpse.

     Ukyo saw the body and gasped. She threw herself into Sanma's arms
and started to cry uncontrollably.

     Sanma held on to Ukyo to comfort her distraught lover and at the
same time keep her own despair at bay. She knew he had to do it and a
certain part of her knew that Ranma wouldn't want his body to be used to
kill Ukyo and the others. That was only a small consolation to Sanma as
she kept remembering Ranma's head tumbling to the ground after her blow
sliced through his neck. <I may never forget that awful sound.> She
shuddered.

     To know she had killed another person was bad enough, but to have
killed her own brother... <No... I killed a part of myself. Just as
surely as if I had sliced my own head off, I just committed suicide.>
The worst part of that was that, like other survivors of suicide, she
would have to deal with the painful aftermath. And she had twice the
guilt that most survivors of suicide had to endure, the pain of
wondering if there was anything she could have done to prevent it and
the pain of actually carrying out the suicide herself.

     Elsewhere, Mousse and the Amazons were making mincemeat out of the
Buyierfei. As soon as Sanma's blow hit, the Buyierfei had suddenly
become visible and started moving around aimlessly, as if they no longer
had a purpose. This made them very easy to dispatch and soon the area
was cleared of Buyierfei. The living ones at least. The pieces that were
littered around the area were just beginning to dissolve into a fine
black dust.

     Mousse looked at Sanma and Ukyo and felt his chest tighten in
sympathy for what must be going through their heads. Cutting off a
possessed person's head was the most effective way to kill the Buyierfei
within them, but only at the cost of the possessed person's life. He
didn't want to, but he forced himself to look at Ranma's body. He gasped
when he saw Ranma's headless body slowly crawling across the stage
towards its severed head. "Sanma!! Behind you!!"

     Sanma broke her hug with Ukyo and looked over her shoulder. Her
eyes widened when she saw that Ranma's body had crawled across the stage
and was just pulling his head back into place. "No..." She jumped to her
feet and then turned to face Ranma. A chi ball appeared in her hand.

     The join between Ranma's head and body was slowly healing as the
head reattached itself. "I would never have expected you to try and kill
the male collector. Interesting." Ranma rose to his full height and
glared at Sanma. He was hit by a powerful chi ball a split second later.

     Sanma had mixed feelings. He was glad Ranma might still be alive,
but that didn't help him stop the Buyierfei. "Fight it, Ranma!!"

     Ranma chuckled. "As I said, I cannot be killed. I am what you
cattle call 'immortal'."

     Sanma swore. "No... dammit! We were able to defeat the Buyierfei

possessing other people and we'll defeat you!!" he sent a series of chi
blasts at Ranma to punctuate her statement."

     "You still do not get it. I am not in the male collector's body. I
am the key, the focus, and the bridge for what you call the Buyierfei.
As these other cattle do, you may call me Shuma."

    Sanma gasped. "You're not Ranma? You're their leader?"

    "I am the key, the foc..." Shuma's second recital of his place in
the Buyierfei hierarchy was cut off when a series of glowing spatulas
tore into his flesh. He screamed inhumanly as they exploded.

    Deeod ran up and reeled off a stream of rapid words in Mandarin to
Mousse, forgetting in the heat of the battle that Mousse was dead.

    Mousse swore and translated for Sanma and Ukyo. "If he's not Ranma
and not possessed, then he must be the center of the Buyierfei!! He
allows the Buyierfei to exist in our world and pass between their realm
and ours."

    Sanma grinned. "Well then, killing him will kill the Buyierfei." She
leapt into the air, griping the giant spatula she had used earlier
tightly. Before landing, she charged the giant spatula just as Ukyo
charged her throwing ones. <Charging it should increase the damage it
inflicts... I hope.>

    Shuma dodged the first two swings, but had his arm severed by the
third. As he fell to the stage's surface, he used his remaining arm to
shoot a black chi ball at Sanma. A few of Ukyo's throwing spatulas hit
him a second later.

     Sanma was too close to dodge the blast, but did manage to get the
blade of her spatula in front of her just before the blast hit. She
expected the spatula to be vaporized while--hopefully--preventing her
from ending up the same way, but instead the black chi ball rebounded
from the blade and hit Shuma. Sanma looked excitedly at Ukyo. "Ukyo,
charge your big spatula. You can deflect his chi blasts with it."

     Ukyo didn't need to be told, a green energy was already flickering
over her combat spatula and she held it ready.


     Shuma's arm was merging back into his body as he rose to his feet
again. "Fools. Do you think you can harm me?" He extended his arms and
instead of a black chi ball, a powerful beam came out and pushed Ukyo
and Sanma backwards, almost if an invisible hand had brushed them aside.
"Now that the cattle have provided enough energy, we'll see how you
handle a few million of my kind." His eyes turned black and the monolith
started to throb with power. Shadows shifted across its surface and
black lightning bolts flickered between its surface and the canyon
walls.

      "Oh shit... he's bringing more Buyierfei out!!" Sanma yelled and
jumped towards Shuma hoping to stop whatever he was doing. She traded
blows with Shuma, until she was repelled by a massive wave of force. She
rebounded against an upturned bolder sticking up from the damaged stage
and then went skidding across the stage towards the monolith.

      Judging by Shuma's reaction, this might have been a good thing.
"No, don't touch the portal now!" His eyes turned black again and he
tried to stop the conversion of the stored energy into a vortex that
would allow his kind to pass though in the millions instead of the
handful that could pass through when the monolith was at rest.

       But even if Sanma would have heeded the command, which she
wouldn't have, it was too late. As Sanma's skin touched the black
surface of the monolith, she was engulfed in blackness. The energy in
her body interacted with the energy of the monolith and caused the
opening portal to fold in on itself and seal itself. After pulling in
everything nearby, of course.

     Shuma screamed in anger. "No!! You've sealed the portal!!" His
words echoed off the walls of the canyon as the blackness engulfed him.

     The blackness spread out and engulfed Ukyo, Mousse, Deeod, and
Rant. The other two Amazon warriors were at the edge of the stage and
were the only ones left on the stage after the blackness receded into
the monolith. The shadows within shifted no more and the monolith stood
dormant at the end of the canyon that once held the worshipers of the
reborn Son of God.

                    -C-           -M-           -D-

      Later, one of the remaining Amazon warriors tightly gripped the
old man Sanma had saved earlier and went through all the languages she
knew. Finally finding that they both spoke a rather crude dialect of
Hindi, she asked her question. "How did Shuma come to be your god, old
man?"

      The old man quivered under the amazon's glare. "It... it was
several months ago."

      The other Amazon warrior put a restraining hand on the first and
spoke in Mandarin. "Eyeliner, do you have to be so rough?"

      Eyeliner relaxed her hold, but didn't let the old man go. "Maybe
not, but we must know if there are any other monoliths. This one seems
to be dormant for now, but if there are others the Blackness could
return and engulf the world."

      The other Amazon relented. "Try not to kill him, okay?"

      Eyeliner reluctantly nodded. She turned towards the old man and
spoke in Hindi. "Now then... how did the one calling himself Shuma come
to be your god?"

      "He is no longer my god. I can see now we were mistaken. The red
haired one is the true god."

     "About Shuma..." Eyeliner prodded.

     "It was a hot summer day and the young men of our village had just
returned with their catch..."

                    -C-           -M-           -D-

July 15, 1999 - Fishing Village on the Red Sea, Middle East 


     In the beginning...

     A figure dressed in black walked by a small fishing village. The
women looked up from their chores as he passed, wondering who the
handsome stranger was. They whispered between themselves and wondered
why a young Asian man would be in their poor village. Then the single
girls all started to fight over would be the first to ask him his name.
But a married woman beat them to it.

     "Hey, handsome, what's your name?" a middle aged woman asked in
Arabic.

     The man ignored the question and the ones that followed. Not just
because he didn't understand the language, but because he didn't see any
reason to converse with mere cattle.

     The women were so mesmerized with watching him that they failed to
notice the shadows that flowed across the ground all around him.

     Without even registering their presence, he walked past their wash
tubs, their clotheslines, and then past the small, makeshift building
the village used as their church. There weren't a lot of Christians in
the area, so they worshipped their lord as best they could.

      He left the buildings behind, but not the women. They had all
followed him, curious as to why he was there and hoping they could find
a way to make him stay. The man walked across the beach and stopped just
short of the sea's edge. As the waves lapped up against his feet, he
looked out at the sea spread before him.
 
     The village men looked up when they saw him, but didn't pay too
much attention to him. They had their catch to haul in and didn't have
time to wonder what the man was doing there. Working as a team, the
dozen or so men hauled a huge net filled with fish off the fishing boat
that floated against a primitive pier.

     "The loss of the ones sent to deal with the collectors and the
Un-cute-one is unfortunate, but only a temporary setback," the figure
commented to himself in Japanese as he started walking towards the sea
again. "The seed has been planted, that will be enough for now."

     Shadows without a source shifted along in front of him and flowed
out onto the surface of the water. Before the village women and the
fishermen's startled eyes, the figure started to casually walk across
the surface of the water, or to be more precise, walked across the
shadows that floated on top of the water.

     The women and fishermen pointed and cried out in amazement. Some
dropped to their knees in terror, some dropped to their knees in wonder,
some ran screaming from the beach, and some muttered the name of their
lord.

     The figure ignored the commotion and continued to walk on top of
the shadows that kept moving slightly ahead of his steps. He casually
walked until he suddenly stiffened a couple miles offshore. "Here it
is." With those words he started to sink under the surface of the water.
The cold water splashed against his body and causing him to transform
into a smaller and more curvaceous female.

     After she reached the seafloor, her eyes turned completely black.
The seafloor shook and a fissure opened directly behind her. A large
rectangular monolith rose from the fissure.

     Once the monolith's full height had cleared the fissure, her eyes
returned to normal and she started to walk along the seafloor. The
monolith followed behind her, both of them slipping through the water
with only a little resistance.

     She paid no heed to the shark that slowly circled her. It was only
after it made its move and shot directly towards her that she casually
lifted her arm in defense. A black ball of energy heated the water past
the point of boiling as it shot towards the shark, leaving a trail of
superheated water behind it. In an instant, the shark was reduced to
small chunks of bloody flesh.

     She continued through the water, but was amazed when another
half-dozen sharks attracted by the blood of the first started circling
her. <Stupid creatures. Just like the collectors, they never learn from
their mistakes.>

     She thrust her arms out to her side and concentrated. A pocket of
air formed around her. The pocket rose to the water's surface and then
stretched towards the shore to form a path through the water. Leaving
the sharks behind on the dry seabed to die a slow death, she started to
walk between the high walls of water that she held back by the forces
she was sending through her arms. The monolith followed silently behind
her.

     On the beach, around a hundred men, women, and children from the
nearby villages had arrived after news of the man who could walk on
water had reached them. They cried out in shock when the water parted
before them and exchanged nervous conversation about what the parting of
the water signified.

     That conversation stopped when someone cried out in Arabic. "Look,
Our Lord has returned!!"

     Shocked cries rang out as the others noticed the figure walking
along the seafloor towards them, arms outstretched as if in greeting.
The monolith was clearly visible behind the figure and it's appearance
sent many people running away from the beach in terror.

     One of the fishermen frowned. "Wasn't he a man before?"

     "Yeah... I think so. But who cares? She's a gorgeous babe now." The
man was bashed over his head by a mackerel wielded by his short pudgy
wife.

     Hushed murmurs ran though the crowd until one man spoke loudly in
Arabic. "Our Lord has returned to us!"

     The figure reached the beach and looked strangely at the people
surrounding her. She shook herself dry and transformed back into a man.

     The crowd gasped at the miraculous transformation. "It is truly Our
Lord reborn!"

     More murmurs from the crowd. "Yes, he has returned!" "She parted
the water!" "He walked on the water." "Only our Lord could accomplish
such miracles!" "Please, Lord, fill our nets with fish!" "I guess
everyone was right, he is both a woman and a man!" "Yeah, but no one
ever mentioned he was Asian." "The Lord works in mysterious ways."

     The figure paused and lifted a hand to clear the way. A black ball
flashed out and hit one of the onlookers, burning him to a crisp.

     The crowd gasped and some of them fled. "Why have you done this,
Lord?"

     "He struck down Abdul!"

     "But why?"

     "Ah, I know! Abdul never went to mass!"

     "An unbeliever!"

     "Our Lord has come to punish the wicked!!"

     "Shit, I'm out of here!" one of the men shouted and ran away from
the area.

     The figure was a little amazed that more people were not fleeing in
terror as he had expected after killing one of them. <Most animals would
flee, these cattle are very unusual.> He lifted his hand again, but
paused as he sensed the energy flowing from the crowd. <This energy...
it's different. It's more pure than the energy the cattle normally
produce. And what is that gibberish they are speaking. They sound
different than the collectors.>

     An old man approached, his eyes shaking as he gazed upon the
pigtailed stranger. "Lord, we greet you... what do you wish of us?"

     The figure put his hand against the old man's head and allowed some
energy to flow into him. He stiffened suddenly as the energy returned
with the old man's knowledge. <Ah! It's a different language. What is
this Lord they call me... ah! Their god. The fools think I'm their god,
what simpletons. No, the son of their god.> He paused to release the old
man, not even noticing when the frail corpse fell to the ground. <The
energy they are releasing is so pure... almost as pure as the energy of
the collectors. If only there were more of them.>

     The crowd reacted to the death of the old man by backing away,
their faith wavering.

      The figure frowned. <The energy is changing.> He dug through the
knowledge he had pulled from the old man's mind to find a solution.
<Perfect.> He allowed a calming smile to form on his face and raised his
hands above his head and then spoke in Arabic. "My children, do not
fear. I have returned to smite the evil that plagues this world." He
glanced at the two corpses. "Rejoice and worship me, for I am your Lord
reborn!"

     The crowd knelt before him. Awed by his presence, they cried out
his name and asked for his blessing.

     The figure pondered this. <That was the name that was in the old
one's mind. No, I must make them obedient to me and not this other one
should he reappear, so I shall use a new name.> He reached into the
language of the collectors in search of an appropriate name. "That name
is of my previous incarnation, you shall not speak it again."

     The man kneeling before him looked up. "Then what shall we call
you, My Lord?"

     "You can call me Shuma."

     The crowd started chanting his name.

     "Thank you, my children. Where are my other followers?"

     One of the village men stepped forward. "Um... they are all across
the world."

     Shuma frowned. "Not here?"

     "We are but simple fishermen, but we worship you."

     Shuma started to wonder if it was worth the effort of impersonating
the cattle's Lord if there were so few cattle to drain energy from. "We
must have more."

     "We will spread the word that you have returned, Lord."

     Shuma smiled. "Perfect. Follow me, we must find a suitable place to
dr... collect my followers so that they may worship me."

     "Why not here, Lord?"

     Shuma glanced back at the monolith. "My... sanctuary must not be
seen by unbelievers." He started walking and the others followed him
into the desert.

     The monolith followed silently behind the small group.


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

October 27, 2057

     "Wow, so that was your first encounter with the Buyierfei's
leader?"

     Akane shook her head. "It's was Sanma's first encounter. Mine was
much worse."

     Sanma tapped on his keyboard with his flippers. "Unfortunately,
Shuma was much more than simply their leader." I could have sworn I saw
the frog shudder.

     Akane stroked the frog's back as she explained further. "It's
really hard to explain, but he was more like the center of the
Buyierfei. He allowed the Buyierfei to cross over and to grow and breed
in our world. Without him, the Buyierfei would have remained trapped
forever in their realm where the ancient Amazon's sealed them."

     "How did..." My question was interrupted when my palmtop's alarm
went off. I glanced at my holo-display. "Looks like my wife has made an
appointment at that high-priced restaurant for us."

     Akane chuckled. "Well, you did promise."

     I nodded and got up off the park bench. "Yeah. Would you care to
join us?"

    Akane shook her head as she put the frog and keyboard back in her
pockets. "Enjoy yourselves alone tonight. I have to go catch some flies
for my husband. His tongue isn't what it used to be."

    I frowned. "I hope you're kidding."

    Akane gave me a look that revealed nothing. "We'll walk with you as
far as the hotel, but the night is young and you two lovebirds could use
a break from your book."

    I smiled. "Thanks."

    As we walked though Central Park towards our hotel, the setting sun
cast long shadows across the park. I stopped when I saw a black figure
in the shadows. Or was that a shadow in the shadows?

     Akane looked at me after I had stopped. "What's wrong?"

     I opened my mouth to speak, but nothing came out. I twitched my
fingers towards the multi-tentacled creature lurking in the shadows.
Somehow, trouble always seemed to find Akane.

     As soon as Akane saw it, she jumped into the air without any
hesitation. She had a chi ball in hand when she landed on top of the
Buyierfei and prepared to shove the chi ball down its... well, they
don't have throats, so she aimed at its central mass and thrust
downwards.

     Just before Akane's arm made the killing blow, a timid voice called
out in English. "My datacard is in my left tentacle."

     Akane halted her blow just before hitting the black skin. "Huh?"

     The timid voice repeated. "My datacard is in my left tentacle." One
of the tentacles on the creature flapped to reveal its location.

     Akane gasped and replied in English. "You... you're not a
Buyierfei?"

     "Yes, I am," the timid voice replied.

     "But... but..."

     I gasped as I realized what time of year it was. "Akane, it must be
a Halloween costume."

     Akane stared at the creature closely and noticed for the first time
that the 'Buyierfei' had seams. She let her chi ball dissipate into the
air. "Oh..." She got off the creature and helped it to its... tentacles.
"Sorry."

     The Buyierfei brushed the dust off its tentacles. "No problem. By
the way, that's a great Matriarch costume."

     Akane laughed softly. "Thanks. Yours is pretty good too."

     The Buyierfei stood up proudly. "Yeah... took me a long time to get
it right. But I never thought to use holographic chi blasts... that was
so cool!"

     Akane grinned.

     "Hey... why didn't you dress up as the young Matriarch? She was
quite a fox."

     Akane frowned and seemed to consider blasting the man again. "Was?"

     "Well, I guess she's okay looking now, but I get wet dreams when I
look at the old photos and video of her in action during the Black
Wars."

     I wasn't sure if that would save the man or not. Fortunately, Akane
smiled and spoke softly. "Well, sorry about tackling you, but my friend
here dared me to attack you since we're dressed as enemies."

     "No problem." The Buyierfei waved one of his tentacles and strode
off towards his Halloween party.
  
     After he was gone, I looked at Akane. "I thought you were going to
blast him there for a second."

     Akane smiled mischievously. "I almost did. I'll have you know that
Sanma thinks I'm every bit as sexy as I used to be."

     The frog croaked his agreement from Akane's breast pocket.

                    -C-           -M-           -D-

     "Did she really try to shove a chi ball down his throat?" Hanaki
asked and then took a bite of her dinner.

     I nodded to Hanaki's question. "Yup. It was my fault for noticing
the shape in the darkness."

     Hanaki shook her head. "Don't worry about it. It's good that you
keep your eye's open for stuff like that." She smiled devilishly across
the dinner table from me.

     I chuckled. "I guess this is life as a Tendo."

     "Ono."

     "What's the difference?"

     "Ono's don't have as many problems finding their soul mates."

     I smirked. "The problems come after they find then, huh?"

     Hanaki chuckled. "Usually." She glanced out the window at the New
York skyline. From our very fancy rooftop restaurant, the lights of the
city were dazzling. "I envy you growing up here."

     "I don't know, I think Tokyo's pretty spectacular."

     "The buildings aren't as tall. Here I feel I can touch the sky
without even sitting in a pilot's seat." Hanaki reached towards the
window, hoping to touch the sky.

     I smiled at seeing Hanaki's love of flying manifest itself. "You
sound like you want to take off right now."

     Hanaki smiled back at me. "No, not when I'm with you."

     I smiled. Ignoring the other diners, I leaned over the table and
gave my wife a long kiss. I almost slipped off my chair when an
insistent beeping sounded from Hanaki's wristtop. "Trouble?"

     Hanaki toggled her wristtop's info display and suddenly went pale.
"Oh my."

     I could see a mixture of emotions flow across her face. "What is
it?"

     Hanaki looked up at my eyes and smiled lopsidedly. "I'm pregnant."

     "Oh my. That must have been some kiss."

     As I had hoped, that made Hanaki giggle and calmed her down.
"Silly. My implant just detected it."

     I nodded. "Wow... well, this is great." Modern technology took a
lot of the guesswork out of these things. Back when my mom had Mary and
me, she didn't find out until at least a month after conception. The
modern implants can usually detect the fertilization within a week.
Although we'll have to confirm it with some more sophisticated tests,
the implants are usually very reliable.

     Hanaki reached a shaking hand across the table. "We talked about
this before, but it's a little scary now that it's real."

     I held her hand tightly. "I know... But I can't think of a more
perfect mother for my child."

     Hanaki blushed.

     I leaned over and finished the interrupted kiss.


[End - Chapter 27]

Coming soon: Chapter 28: Big Trouble in Little Nerima; The Wedding
During the Storm
=======================================================================
The real author's (Jim Lazar) notes/ramblings:


I'd like to thank my pre-readers Michael A. Chase, Johan Holmerg,
Jonathan Ng, Thomas Kinnen, and EBJ 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 (October 18, 1999)
Revision 0.1 - Rough draft completed (November 5,1999)
Revision 0.3 - Pre-reader draft (December 15, 1999)
Revision 0.4 - FFML draft (January 1, 2000)
Revision 1.0 - Final version (January 16, 2000)
Revision 1.1 - First RAAC posting (January 20, 2000)