The Wheel of Fire, #36: Dawn of Seiryu 

  Written by Razorclaw X (spiceoflife@NYChotmail.com) 
  http://www.crosswinds.net/~slythe/ranma/ranff.html 
  Disclaimer: Ranma 1/2 and characters belong to Rumiko 
Takahashi. And all that other good stuff. Proper 
licenses belong to respective properties and 
characters. The manga has precedence over material in 
the anime. 
  This file can be freely distributed so long as it 
appears in its complete form and proper credit given. 
No part may be reproduced for monetary gain without 
permission from the author. 

  Fanart can be found at: 
    http://www.crosswinds.net/~slythe/fanart/index.html 

------------------------------------------------ 

"Next week there can't be any crisis. My schedule is 
  full already."--Henry A. Kissinger 

"Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be 
  understood."--Marie Curie 


  She heard them as she slept. They communicated in 
their strange, archaic tongue, which appeared to be a 
series of signals of varying amplitudes and frequencies 
one after another. When she opened her eyes, she could 
also see them. 
  Hokuto opened her eyes to the darkness of the void, 
the space between the planes. Immediately she felt the 
touch of cold steel pressed against her body, and when 
she tried to move her hands the Shadow Weaver found she 
could not. 
  Staring down, for only her head was not fastened 
down, Hokuto saw that every part of her body, from the 
neck down, was encased in a shell of metal. Reaching 
far downward, farther than her eyes could see, Hokuto 
realized her body was attached to some sort of tower 
construct; a machine of some sort. 
  But that didn't mean she could not see the bottom. 
  Scurrying here and there were spherical-shaped copper 
creatures, each supported on four spider-like legs. 
Each of the spheroids were using a set of welding irons 
on their manipulative appendages, apparently still 
constructing the device to which Hokuto belonged to. 
  Slowly she recalled the events leading up to her 
capture. One of the spheroids shot her, that much was 
clear. What she didn't understand at the time was that 
she was still alive, but rather sleepy. Falling to the 
earth in the dark cave helplessly Hokuto remembered 
bits and pieces of what happened, but what was clear in 
her mind was that they dragged her into a tear in the 
middle of the cave, a tear that chilled her to the 
bone. 
  It was the chill of the void, she knew, that the 
ancient Mekani were imprisoned in for all time, as the 
old ones wished it. However, it was not to be, if the 
mechanical plague, as demonstrated by their workers 
below, is actively wandering the planes around their 
prison of nothingness. For the life of her Hokuto could 
not think of a reason the mechanical plague would keep 
her alive. 
  She tried to imagine a place of haven, but a sudden 
jolt shocked her body. 
  The cold steel pressing against her exposed skin was 
more than a brace, Hokuto realized wearily. There has 
to be a way to warn the others... before the Mekani 
finish whatever this contraption is. 

  Although it was well-past visiting hours for the 
hospital, Shion made a few calls, pulling a few strings 
and calling in favors. In effect, the room which the 
former paladin Spencer was resting was cleared for him, 
Akane, and Shizuka for the rest of the night, much to 
the recovering man's disappointment, to say the least. 
  Sitting in a chair, hand-cuffed on one arm, Shizuka 
sat, the same manner as hours before, to the left of 
Spencer's bed. She hung her head low, terror in her 
eyes, while the former paladin was lying on his side, 
his back away from the priestess. Both Akane and Shion 
sat in the next bed over, curtain pulled between theirs 
and Spencer's to afford a little privacy. 
  "I'm surprised you pulled it off," admitted Akane. 
  Shion nodded. "It's what I do for a living." He 
thumbed over his shoulder. "But I don't think it's 
going to do much good if something doesn't happen 
between the two." 
  "You're an information broker, aren't you?" 
  "Was I too obvious?" 
  "A little." Akane offered a smile. "Maybe you didn't 
say it directly, but you dropped enough hints." 
  "Heh," he chuckled. "Maybe I ought to keep my mouth 
shut." Changing the subject, he turned to Akane saying, 
"Compared to you and Ranma, I'm useless. I'm so weak 
that I get beat up by guys that want a piece of me, and 
that's lots of guys." 
  "But you help people, too," Akane pointed out, 
catching on to what Shion was driving at. "You don't 
have to be a martial artist to do good; you can do it 
in your own way." 
  "And the questionable stuff, too," added Shion. 
  "Everyone does their part," Akane insisted, 
displaying unexpected optimism. "I mean, if the things 
Master Higure wanted to discuss has to do with the 
feelings I've been having lately...." 
  "Huh?" 
  "I've been getting the feeling that something bad is 
about to happen." 
  "Ah, premonition." Shion shook his head. 
  They heard a soft knock on the door. 
  Sighing, the mercenary stood up from the bed and 
headed for the door. "I guess it's our visitor." 
  "You called someone?!" Spencer yelled. "At this time 
of night?" 
  "Oh, don't worry," assured Akane. "You'll like it." 
  Slowly, Shion opened the door, allowing the newcomer 
inside. Spencer sat up in bed, jaw dropping in surprise 
when he recognized the man. "S...sir Amakusa!" 
  "I'm going by Nishimura again," Senryu informed the 
sharpshooter, stepping into the room with all his 
youthful glory. "I'm no longer who I once was." 
  Slowly, the paladin nodded. "You've come back, just 
to see your unworthy servant?" 
  "No," the founder of Saint Hebereke replied. "I've 
come because of your friend there." He raised a finger, 
pointing it in Shizuka's direction. 
  Spencer snorted. "You've got to be kidding." 
  "Spencer, what was the first thing I taught you?" 
  The sharpshooter considered this for a moment. "Never 
waver in what you believe to be right?" 
  "Oh, that's helping lots!" complained Shion. 
  Senryu raised a hand, silencing the mercenary. "Do 
you know what's wrong with that, old friend?" When the 
former paladin did not answer immediately he pressed 
on. "It means you're single-minded. That is a terrible 
thing to be if taken too far." 
  "But Sir Ama... I mean, Sir Nishimura...." 
  "I know what I said," Senryu replied patiently. He 
cast his eyes in Shizuka's direction. "It's like this: 
a tree and a reed stand in a field. A heavy gale blows 
through the field, and while the tree will resist with 
all its might, the reed will blow with the wind. The 
wind's name is Change, Spencer." 
  The sharpshooter said nothing. 
  "If the wind is strong enough, the tree will be 
ripped from its roots and toppled, but no matter how 
strong the wind may be the reed will always survive 
because it is flexible. Yes, Spencer, it is a virtue to 
be unwavering in your beliefs, but not to the point 
where it leads to your self-destruction. God gave us 
brains so we can make these decisions; we are not 
lemmings that blindly jump off the cliff because the 
one ahead of us did so." 
  He turned back toward Spencer. "We fell, old friend, 
because we were the trees. Because of my blind devotion 
Joseph is dead and any credibility we held in this town 
has sunk. Because I trusted too much I allowed a demon 
to possess me and build a false following in the name 
of God. We allowed our pride and devotion to ruin many 
lives, including our own. In a way," he gestured toward 
Shizuka, "perhaps she shot you because God willed it. 
Perhaps she shot you because it is a message saying, 
'you have too much pride!'" 
  "Pride," echoed Spencer, pondering the word. 
  "Mr. Nishimura sure is hard on him," Shion whispered 
to Akane. 
  She nodded in agreement. "No wonder people follow his 
example!" 
  "We need to open our eyes and move on," continued 
Senryu. "Spencer, I'm not ordering you to forgive this 
girl. I'm asking. I'm asking not because it is the nice 
thing to do, nor the right thing to do. I'm asking you 
because it is what you MUST do. You are being tested, 
Spencer, and if you cannot pass this simple test of 
will, then perhaps you are not fit to be in my employ, 
or the employ of others." 
  "Sir Nishimura," Spencer said frantically, "you are 
willing to take me back?!" 
  He nodded. "I know you're going to be released 
tomorrow morning, and I need all the help I can get to 
restructure our legacy. We can't do it without you." 
  Senryu extended his hand toward the sharpshooter, 
waiting expectantly. Spencer looked at the hand, in a 
haze of shock, and slowly reached out and shook it with 
his own hand, offering a strong grip. The founder 
smiled in satisfaction. 
  "Well, that's one happy ending," Shion noted. "Shizu, 
isn't that good news?" 
  The priestess said nothing, running her fingers 
through her feathers nervously. 
  "Um... you're..." Spencer started, his voice 
faltering as he seemed to notice Shizuka for the first 
time that night. "Cripes, you're a mess." 
  "You ONLY just noticed?" Akane snapped. 
  The sharpshooter leaned on his side, this time 
facing toward the terrified priestess. He reached out 
his right hand to touch her face, but she caught it 
with her free hand, with a strength that surprised the 
former paladin. 
  "Look, maybe you won't believe me," Spencer said, 
"but...." 
  "I don't care to be forgiven," Shizuka whispered. 
  "Eh?!" Akane and Shion gasped at once. 
  "It is worse than I thought," Higure Furui said, 
entering the room suddenly. 
  "Where've you been, old man?" asked Shion angrily. 
  "It is not as simple," the former Orochi assassin 
explained. "Surely Hokuto must have known this, so she 
built a failsafe into her mind trap. In other words, 
Shizuka won't overcome it until she forgives herself." 
  "Shit!" cursed Shion, punching the wall. 
  Akane slapped her hand over her face and shook her 
head. "I knew it was too easy." 
  "What do you know, Master Higure?!" yelled Shizuka, 
her voice rising above a whisper for the first time 
in hours. Her voice choked on tears, bursting from all 
the pent-up terror within. "What makes you think you 
have all the answers?!" 
  "Sadly, I do not," conceded Higure softly. He folded 
his arms. "Unfortunately, I believe none of us, 
present or not, can help you this time. This is a 
matter you must solve yourself." 
  "Perhaps I can talk to her?" proposed Senryu. "Get 
her to listen?" 
  "I'm RIGHT here, old man," spat the priestess. "Don't 
talk about me like I'm not here!" She panned her eyes 
around the room to all the occupants. "All of you! Talk 
about me as if I'm not here, as if I'm some doll!" 
  "One thing's for sure," Shion muttered, "some of her 
is back." 
  "Memory leak," agreed Higure. "Hokuto's trap is not 
absolute, but the will is still entangled." 
  "And she has to trigger the rest herself?" Akane 
wondered, sighing. "What else can go wrong?" 
  Higure eyed Akane wearily, shaking his head. "If you 
care to allow me to explain it to you...." 

  Ryoga Hibiki never felt better about being home. 
  As he walked down the path leading to the house on 
the Unryu pig farm memories of Akari, the happy times 
they spent together, and their plans for the future, 
passed in Ryoga's thoughts, the heavy pack on his back 
becoming lighter with each step. He could not remember 
how long he had been gone from her side, but the one 
thing he knew was that she would wait for him. She 
always waited for him. 
  Love is such a grand feeling, he thought. 
  Despite the lateness of the hour, he noticed a light 
in one of the windows, the one near the front door. 
Picking up his pace, Ryoga dashed all the way to the 
house, his feet doing all the talking. He shouted out 
Akari's name, voice echoing throughout the night for 
all the distance Ryoga could hear. Activity, in the 
form of shadows, could be seen moving against the light 
in the window, and Ryoga imaged it to be Akari, rushing 
out to greet him. 
  By the time he was to the front steps the door had 
opened, but it was not the face he wanted to see. 
  "I knew you'd be back," Hokuto Takemasa said in a low 
tone. "Just on time, in fact." 
  "What are you doing here?!" demanded Ryoga. "You're 
the one that keeps causing trouble, aren't you?" 
  "Yes, I'm Hokuto," she answered with amusement. "Is 
this the first time we've formally met? I've lost 
track; maybe I need a score card." 
  "Where's Akari?!" 
  "Oh, you mean her?" With a quick jerk Hokuto dragged 
Akari to the window by the rope binding her. 
  "Ryoga, don't!" she shouted. 
  "Akari!" His hands balled into fists. 
  "Don't worry, I didn't do anything to her yet," 
assured the Shadow Weaver. "She'll remain that way if 
you do something for me." 
  "Only if you let her go!" demanded Ryoga. 
  "It won't matter," Hokuto said with a shrug. "What 
you're going to do is go back to Tokyo. Right now." 
  "Go back?!" Ryoga shouted angrily. "I just came from 
there!" 
  "If you don't," Hokuto jerked the rope hard, forcing 
Akari to squeal in terror. "you may not have a wife for 
much longer!" 
  Gritting his teeth angrily, it took all of self- 
control for Ryoga to utter, "Tell me what to do." 
  "You'll figure that out when you get there," Hokuto 
replied. "Now, hold still." 
  No sooner had the Shadow Weaver finished her order 
that Ryoga felt himself sinking into the ground. Panic 
seized him as he instinctively tried to pull his feet 
out, but the sinking continued. He planted his palms 
against the earth as the shadow below consumed him up 
to his waste, and finally he realized that Hokuto and 
Akari were sinking as well. 
  "Don't fight it!" ordered Hokuto. "Let go!" 
  "What're you doing?!" Ryoga screamed, his arms ready 
to buckle. 
  "We're going for a little ride!" she sneered, raising 
her free hand up and firing a shadow bolt at the 
martial artist. 
  Pain washing over him, Ryoga barely remembered 
releasing his grip on the earth. Cold darkness engulfed 
him, Akari, and Hokuto, biting at his skin and chilling 
him to the bone. 
  "I'm doing you a favor," he heard Hokuto say, her 
voice coming from all directions. "You and your 
beloved shall be spared the initial onslaught... for 
now." 
  "What onslaught?" Ryoga asked, although he thought it 
more than he spoke it. 
  She told him. 

  Mousse filed away the last of Tofu's notes, slamming 
the filing cabinet closed, much to the chiropractic 
doctor's annoyance. 
  "Mousse, can't you be a little more gentle?" asked 
Tofu. "If it got any louder it'd irritate the 
neighbors for sure." 
  The Master of Hidden Weapons shrugged. "Well, the 
way I count it, you won't have to put up with it much 
longer. A couple more days like this, and I can go home 
in a jiffy." 
  Tofu nodded quickly. "Yes, yes, a thousand times. 
You've only said at least three hundred times since 
you started working here." 
  "You kept count?" 
  "Of course not!" 
  Their argument was cut short as they felt a loud 
rumble beneath their feet. Both Mousse and Tofu 
stared down to the floor of the office, startled. 
  "It can't be an earthquake!" Tofu shouted. 
  As if to congratulate him a large, spike lance 
burst from the floor, throwing up splinters of wood and 
dirt everywhere. Immediately following the lance came 
a second, followed by the spheroid to whom they 
belonged to. 
  "You just HAD to jinx it!" Mousse complained as the 
spheroid's single ruby eye focused on him. Quickly he 
slipped on the magic claws, twiddling the talons as if 
they were his own fingers. 
  Tofu, on the other side of the spheroid, shouted, 
"What on earth...?!" 
  "So, you want to play, eh?" baited the weapons 
master to the intruder. "Let's dance!" 

  Battle was the last thing on Shampoo's mind as she 
slumped out of her house, but she held a strong grip on 
her pair of bonbori nevertheless. Her hunter's eyes 
darted back and forth, then focused on the source of 
the commotion in the middle of the Amazon village. 
  A pair of spheroid creatures, standing on four 
insect-like legs each, were attacking the warriors with 
two lance-like appendages. Shampoo watched as the 
closer warriors got batted around by the long, blunt 
sides of the spike lances, flung away from the metal 
monsters. 
  "As if war is not enough!" she hissed. "Now they 
throw machines at us?!" 
  Gritting her teeth in anger, Shampoo charged into 
battle, not knowing that she wasn't the only one doing 
so at that time. 

  "Geez, Ranma," Nabiki teased, leaning against the 
frame of the open door to his room, "I'd think you'd 
be jealous that Akane's hanging out with a bunch of 
guys." 
  Ranma refused to dignify his sister-in-law's words 
with an answer as he lay on his bed, propping his head 
up on his arms and staring at the ceiling. For several 
long moments he allowed Nabiki the satisfaction of 
making him jealous-- or so she wanted to believe. It 
took months of training, but like any other form of 
training Ranma learned how to shut-out and filter 
certain pieces of information. Especially where Nabiki 
was concerned such a skill was a boon. 
  He heard a ping sound from down the hall, which 
immediately caught Nabiki's attention. 
  "Oops, gotta go!" she said, quickly darting down 
the hall. "Must be that message...." 
  "Pff, women," Ranma snorted. "All about the fast lane 
for her." 
  "I see you're still up." 
  Immediately the martial artist sat up, his eyes to 
the open window. He groaned. "Dammit, don't you ever 
go to sleep?" 
  "It's getting harder," Kanna said, her head hanging 
upside-down in the window. Ranma imagined she was 
hanging there like a spider, but shook his head when 
he remembered what kind of position that was. 
  Quickly she slipped into the bedroom, head-first, 
dragging her double death scythe along with her. For 
the first time in years Ranma got a good look at the 
brass necklace, which suspended a large chunk of carved 
amethyst with a preserved silk spinner spider within. 
It was somewhat appropriate, considering the name 
'Rajura' was the name of a silk spinner. He wondered 
for a moment why she wore such a heavy piece of 
jewelry. 
  "Something's happening," she shared, her tone 
serious. "Whatever it is, it's coming after me as 
well." 
  "What?" asked Ranma, standing up. "I don't feel a 
thing." 
  She grabbed his arm desperately, clutching tightly. 
"I don't have much time, because they're pretty good 
trackers. I think your family would be upset if they 
attacked the house." 
  "Who?!" 
  He saw Kanna's head twitch, and recognized it to be 
a premonition. "Damn, there's no time!" Immediately she 
bolted through the window. 
  "Kanna, wait!" Ranma cried, leaping out the window 
after her. 
  Standing on the roof, he spied the Crystal Spider 
leaping from roof-to-roof at high speed, obviously in 
desperate flight. Warming himself up Ranma sprung into 
action, his bare feet leaving the cold roof tiles and 
exchanging them for air, only to return to cold tile 
once again. 
  He kept after Kanna, slowly gaining in speed and 
closing the distance gap between the two. Silently 
Ranma wished he had taken the time to put his shoes on, 
but if he wanted to see why Kanna, a cold rival, would 
come to him for help. 

  Tatewaki felt his stamina diminish even further as 
he swung the Phoenix Sword-enhanced Earth Dragon Sword 
at the mechanical opponents. They surrounded him, one 
after another, bursting from the ground in seemingly 
endless numbers, throwing up concrete everywhere. 
  He heard one of the spheroids cock a spring, and 
dodged out of the way. Behind him, a telephone pole 
shattered where the spring-launched bullet hit, but the 
kendoist had little time to think over the damage as he 
slashed at the attacker. Withdrawing from the burning 
stroke Tatewaki wheeled his arm around, cleanly slicing 
two more of the mechanized terrors. 
  For every few of the spheroids that were armed 
exclusively with the spike lances, one appeared that 
was armed with the spring cannons, making them as sort 
of captains of the hive-like monsters. Tatewaki cursed 
them, remembering the first encounter with the captain- 
type machines, as it almost blew off his head. 
  "Tenacious monstrosities!" he cried, downing the 
last of the attack squad. Tatewaki threw his eyes 
through the night, toward the Kuno estate, silhouetted 
by the moon. "Why must haven be so close and yet so 
far?" 
  Not waiting for the answer, Tatewaki burst into a 
sprint toward the estate, just as more spheroids 
appeared to retrieve their damaged brethren. 

  She could hear them in her head as they communicated 
from one to another, and Hokuto wondered if it was due 
to some heightened sense while in the void. Perhaps it 
was thought on a basic level, or her new affinity for 
the machine she was grafted to that was doing it. 
Nevertheless, in the midst of the hive mind, there were 
individual voices in the bee-like plague. 
  "The warriors are insufficient to carry out the task 
on Earth," one of the Mekani Enforcers deliberated, the 
one designated as Enforcer Alpha. Directly feeding 
off their minds Hokuto determined that it was one of 
three primary Enforcers, the others being Beta and 
Gamma, that directed the soldiers for the singular one, 
the Director. 
  Realizing she was in a unique position, Hokuto opened 
her mind, stretching out with her thoughts through the 
tears in the void, to the Earth. Each strand of thought 
spewed from the tears, seeking specific minds. She 
found them all at once, and, without realizing it, made 
mental contact with them all, tethering them to the 
central nexus that was her mind. Her consciousness 
split into multiple functions at once, accomplishing 
many tasks at once and efficiently, like a machine. She 
felt the confusion of some, and the pains of others; 
she took them all in and gave them their own individual 
assurances. She found a block amongst the minds she 
brushed, but ignored it and moved on. 
  Opening her mind to all of them, she said, "This is 
the threat you face; they are called the Mekani." 
  All at once, she flooded their minds with all she 
knew, and all the Mekani knew, extracting it delicately 
like a surgeon from the hive mind. She felt their 
confusions and doubts, but the thoughts continued to 
flood them nonetheless. From some Hokuto received a 
response back, a response of recognition of the threat; 
as she thought, the Mekani had already invaded the 
Earth. 
  A stray thought from Ranma Saotome blasted her. "What 
makes you think I'll trust you?" 
  Without the interference of distance, a response 
came from down the wire, originating from Cinder. "It 
is as the Shadow Weaver explained." 
  "Even now, wearily, the enemy gather in greater 
number still," Tatewaki offered, sharing thoughts on 
his encounters. 
  "They are after the elemental artifacts," Shang Long 
said. 
  "Long time no see," Higure replied. 
  "Yes," returned the monk. "The mechanical plague 
even now threatens the Kami Plane, and while we have 
managed to hold them back on our end, they are 
suffering much more than we do." 
  "The kami are weakened because most people do not 
believe in them anymore," Sypha continued. "Those of us 
on Earth no longer draw upon the magical weave that 
governs the Kami Plane, but the one that governs the 
Earth." 
  "Who let you back?" asked Ranma. 
  "I'm just hoping this is a really, REALLY, bad 
dream," they heard Miranda say. 
  "Wake up!" Hokuto commanded, feeling like a telephone 
receptionist. "The Enforcer in charge of Earth's 
invasion, Alpha, is still attempting to reorganize its 
forces; Earth's warriors proved more powerful than they 
anticipated. They expected less resistance due to their 
isolation from the kami. You cannot allow them to 
seize the elemental artifacts, no matter the cost." 
  "But if they seize enough artifacts from the Kami 
Plane, what we do here will do no good," Sypha pointed 
out. "Some of us must enter the Kami Plane and help 
our brethren there." 
  "That is true," conceded Hokuto. "Some of you must 
travel to the Shrine of the Four Gods. There, Cinder 
will open the Gate of Heaven for you, and you will be 
able to travel to the Kami Plane unharmed. They are 
just as important to the conflict as you are." 
  "But keeping the artifacts from the Mekani is but a 
temporary solution," she added. "Their Director, too, 
must be destroyed." 
  "If they could resist the old gods, then how do you 
expect us to win?" asked Konatsu. 
  For that question, Hokuto did not have an answer. 

  Ryoga woke chilled, and all his lingering thoughts 
were blotted out by the coldness of the darkness. 
  He felt the concrete street below him, the feeling 
coming back to him. Sitting up, he spied Akari nearby, 
still tied up, unconscious. 
  "Ow, what a dream," he muttered, remembering what 
the strange girl told him. "What's going on?" 
  As if to answer his question Ryoga ducked in reflex 
as a heavy, metallic sphere flew over his head, 
followed by a loose chain. He cast his eyes from the 
point of origin, a hole in the side of a wall, and the 
one who threw the Mekani soldier. 
  "Well, I never thought I'd see you here," Mousse 
said, wiping his hands. "And you brought company!" 
  "Never mind that," Ryoga said, rushing to Akari's 
side. He looked up toward the weapons master. "Did 
you... well...." 
  He nodded. "If it's what I think you're thinking, 
it was that girl." 
  "You heard her too?" 
  "One of their soldiers already attacked me," Mousse 
said, changing the subject. He pointed in the direction 
he threw it. "I'm not sure why they're after me; I 
can't think of an elemental artifact on me." 
  Ryoga glanced over at Tofu's office, and despite the 
large hole in the wall he picked up Akari in his arms 
and headed for it. "First we're taking care of Akari. 
After that, you and I are going to have to find the 
others." 

  Ranma ducked under the Mekani soldier's saw blade 
appendage, then jumped on its other arm, a spike lance. 
Using it as a springboard he launched a flying kick 
straight into the soldier's emerald eye, shattering it 
as his leg sunk into the steel spheroid. 
  Using his free leg as leverage Ranma pushed himself 
out of the blinded solder's body, watching it spark 
and internally combust. He cast a glance to where 
Kanna was down the street, fending off her own soldier 
with her Diamond Saw attack. Sparks flew all around 
her as her spinning scythe technique chewed up the 
soldier's twin spike lances, thoroughly disarming it. 
Ending her attack she switched her double scythe back 
into naginata mode, and thrust it into the soldier's 
ruby eye. 
  As the last of the soldiers fell apart under its own 
weight, Kanna wiped her forehead. "You'd think they'd 
make these suckers stronger with such an obvious 
weakness." 
  "If what Hokuto said is right," Ranma said, rushing 
to join her, "then that's not the point; they're 
supposed to overwhelm us by numbers." 
  "If that's the case, they'd better do a better job of 
it," Kanna spat. "I'm not sure why they're going out 
of their way to attack me." 
  "The same goes for some of the others, I think," 
Ranma offered. "Hokuto seems to be linking us all 
together through her, so I got a little of what was 
happening to the others. Some think the same as you." 
  "It could only be because we're carrying artifacts, 
I'm certain," the Crystal Spider decided, grasping her 
necklace in her free hand. "I never would've thought 
this bauble could be useful for anything." 
  "Where'd you get that, anyway?" 
  Kanna shook her head. "It's been in the family for as 
long as I've known, and they've known. Nobody knows why 
we have it, or why its so special, but it's still a 
family heirloom." 
  "Hmph, heirlooms," Ranma snorted, reaching into his 
pocket and fumbling Ukyo's earrings. "They're just full 
of surprises, aren't they?" 
  "Who knows how many of us have artifacts attuned to 
the elements?" wondered Kanna, giving a good kick to 
the fallen soldier before her. "I think...." 
  Her words were cut off, as more holes burst from 
the ground. More of the Mekani spheroids emerged, but 
these creatures were smaller than their warrior 
brethren, and made of cheap copper material. Each had 
a clear crystal quartz for an eye, and their appendages 
were armed not with spike lances or saw blades, but 
welding torches and manipulator arms. 
  Ranma and Kanna watched the worker Mekani in silent 
wonderment as they scrounged up the broken metal parts 
of the fallen warriors. 
  "Clean-up crew?" wondered Ranma. 
  "They're recycling their brethren," Kanna realized. 
"No wonder they don't run out of guys so fast." 
  "Huh?" 
  "The Mekani couldn't manufacture so many soldiers if 
they planned on wasting them all on suicide missions," 
Kanna explained. "The deciding factor against them is 
the limit in the number of resources, including the 
time to manufacture them. So they need to recycle parts 
and maybe cannibalize other metal objects to keep up 
with mass-production." 
  Ranma rolled up his sleeve. "Well, then, if we get 
rid of the flunky workers, then that'll stop 'em!" 

  Akane remained silent as she considered the words 
Higure imparted on her. She glanced toward Spencer, 
who decided he needed to get some sleep, and toward 
Senryu, who had taken up the second bed in the room. 
Shion remained standing, leaning with his back against 
the wall near Shizuka, still hand-cuffed to the chair. 
  "I'm just hoping this is a really bad dream," Akane 
said finally. "How can everything just go wrong in a 
night?" 
  "I'd say," agreed Shion. "It sounds like a fairy 
tale." 
  "Indeed, perhaps that is where it was birthed from," 
Higure replied. "The threat is very real." 
  They heard a knock on the door. Higure, nearest to 
the door, opened it slowly. 
  "Well, here we are," announced Ukyo, leading Konatsu 
and Mizuki into the room. 
  "Ukyo?!" Akane gasped in pleasant surprise. "What're 
you doing here?" 
  "The Mekani, that's what," answered the okonomiyaki 
chef. "We came to warn the others, but apparently 
Hokuto did that first." 
  "Hokuto?" echoed Higure. 
  "Yeah," confirmed Konatsu. "She touched our minds, 
and linked us together. She told us all about the 
Mekani. We don't know how many people she touched in 
that way, but it may yet speed up our progress." 
  "Hokuto's a slimy little bitch," Shion cursed, 
gesturing toward Shizuka. "What is she up to this 
time?" 
  "We don't know," admitted Mizuki. She turned toward 
Shizuka, showing no emotion toward her condition, and 
the girl did likewise. "I came under the impression 
that you were in trouble." 
  "No trouble," Shizuka replied. "What makes you think 
there was trouble?" 
  "At least she's still got her wit about her," the 
senior priestess commented sarcastically. 
  Quickly, Shion explained to the newcomers of what 
Hokuto did to Shizuka, as well as Senryu and Spencer's 
efforts to get her to forgive herself for shooting 
Spencer. 
  "Nothing he could say worked," he added, remembering 
the dismal failure Senryu's tough-guy speech had on 
Shizuka. "Frankly, we're at a loss." 
  "I see," Mizuki said, nodding. She folded her arms 
and turned away. "There's nothing we can do to help 
her." 
  "What?" Akane didn't want to hear those words. 
  "You mean we dragged you out here for nothing?!" 
complained Ukyo. "Aren't you going to do something?" 
  "What CAN I do?" Mizuki hissed. "It's not a curse, 
a demon, or a possession. Heck, it's not even a mental 
block. Do you think I have the solution to every 
puzzle?" 
  She reached into her sleeve, and produced an object 
that forced Shizuka's eyes wide open. In Mizuki's hand 
was a single-barreled, manual-loading shotgun, 
customized with a built-on bullet rack loaded with six 
shotgun bullets. 
  "Get that away from me!" Shizuka shrieked, shying 
away from the weapon. 
  "Shizu," Mizuki said, holding out the weapon for the 
girl to take, "shoot me." 
  Shion turned around and banged his head on the wall. 
  "Mizuki?!" gasped Akane and Ukyo at once. 
  "I see," Higure said, nodding in approval. "Perhaps 
it is the solution." 
  "Shizu, take the gun," ordered Mizuki, her face cold. 
"If it's the only way you're going to be back to the 
way you were, then I'll do it." 
  Shizuka shook her head. 
  "Miss Mizuki," Konatsu said, tugging at her sleeve. 
"perhaps there is a better way...." 
  "I can't stand her like this," the priestess told the 
kunoichi. "I can't stand this coward I'm seeing before 
me, who is afraid of the one thing she treasures most." 
  "Shizu, remember when you were fourteen?" Mizuki 
recalled, "You said you wanted one of these; not those 
swords we made you train with. You wanted to be a hero 
like Clint Eastwood in those Westerns. You thought it 
was the weapon of justice, the law of the land." 
  "And you said, 'no,'" remembered the younger 
priestess. 
  "But you went ahead and got one anyway," continued 
Mizuki, sounding proud of the girl. "You got one, and 
you practiced with it. You got hurt in the process, but 
you never gave up on it. Despite punishment you never 
gave it up; you kept practicing and practicing, until 
the pain went away... until we accepted it for what it 
was. You slept with it like a pet because it's a part 
of you. That shotgun may not be what defines you like 
it did Clint Eastwood, but it is a part of you. You're 
my friend, no matter what you think of me. Frankly, I 
can't imagine you any other way." 
  She held out her arms open, holding the shotgun's 
butt toward Shizuka. "Shoot me, you little rascal." 
  Everyone tensed as they watched Shizuka. Her eyes 
quivered in fear as she slowly turned them up the 
length of the barrel. Slowly, her arm shaking a bit, 
she reached out for the shotgun, releasing her tense 
hold on the feathers. Wrapping her fingers around the 
barrel, she accepted the weapon from Mizuki carefully, 
orienting the barrel upward. 
  Raising the trigger to eye level, Shizuka studied it 
for a moment, then lowered the shotgun so her cuffed 
hand can reach it. With a soft click the priestess 
snapped on the safety. 
  Shaking her head, she muttered, "Never again." 
  "Shizu..." Shion started to say, but Mizuki shook 
her head. 
  "It's all up to her, now," she proclaimed, lowering 
her arms. 
  "In the meantime," interrupted Ukyo, changing the 
subject, "we've got monsters to bust. We've got to 
find the others." 
  "I don't think that'll be hard," Akane replied. She 
glanced over at Shion and Shizuka. "I guess you'll 
be sticking around or something?" 
  Shion shook his head. "Nah, I ought to go home." His 
eyes looked down at Shizuka. "Maybe I ought to take her 
back to her cousin's place." 
  Akane looked around, then cast her eyes at the down- 
as-a-log Spencer, then to Senryu. "I guess they're 
staying." Looking to the others, "Let's go." 

  "Activity on Earth increased during the past 
decacycle," Hokuto heard Alpha report on the Mekani 
carrier wave. "Recommendation: initiate marauder force 
and deploy immediately." 
  She waited for the reply from the Director, the 
monster at the center of the hive mind. As an extension 
of the greater whole of the Mekani Hive Entire back on 
their home planet it was the Director who supervised 
operations in a single solar system. While cut off from 
the Hive Entire it was the Director that enforced the 
will of the Mekani. Since that was the case it was only 
natural to assume the Director was the sole drive of 
the mechanical plague. 
  Hokuto did not have to wait long for that response. 
"Marauder force will be deployed on Earth Primary 
Plane," sent the Director. "Initiate activation 
sequence at once." 
  She caught four strings of numbers and letters in the 
Mekani language, an offshoot of machine language. While 
machine language, a series of ones and zeros that 
represented certain symbols and functions, was far more 
readable and efficient, the Mekani learned compression 
of information transferred data much faster. The Mekani 
language, Hokuto saw, was the most efficient 
compression scheme she's ever seen. 
  A response message was sent back by Alpha. Hokuto 
tried to send a thought tether to the point of origin, 
suddenly remembering she could have done so when the 
activation codes were sent. It was important to pin- 
point the location of Alpha so the Earth warriors could 
dispatch it quickly, but if the marauders were awakened 
that task would be much harder. 
  "Initiate activation sequence," read the receipt. 
"Initializing command routines for marauder force; 
code name: Mekami. Units 01, 02, 03, and 04 activated." 
  "'Mekami?'" Hokuto pondered. "What could that be?" 

  "What do you mean, 'we're not getting help?!'" 
railed Sypha, balling her claws into fists, drawing 
attention from all the others in the courtyard of the 
Shrine of the Four Gods. 
  Cinder nodded angrily. "It appears we are alone until 
the humans deal with the Mekani on this end. They 
refuse to aid us and enter the gate until they are 
certain that the Mekani can no longer threaten their 
friends and family. If it were only that simple... it 
may only be a matter of time before the Timeless Ones 
secure enough artifacts on the Kami Plane alone." 
  "They refuse to aid us!" she cried angrily. Quickly 
Sypha produced her dragon pearl, its violet surface 
rippling with energy. "If that is the way it's going to 
be, then we're going to THEM!" 
  Cinder nodded in understanding, stepping within the 
circle of power materializing out of thin air around 
the furious sorcerer. "If they are so inefficient that 
they cannot beat simple soldiers on their own, then it 
is time we intervene." 
  A column of light burst at the borders of the circle, 
consuming both kami, dissolving them into thin air. 
Two great fireballs emerged from the circle, flames 
trailing behind matching their fury. Orienting in the 
eastward direction, both fireballs rocketed off into 
the horizon. 

  Something in her head told Kodachi to open the front 
gate, and she was rewarded with the sight of her 
brother running in, sword aflame. 
  "Brother!" she cried, as she watched him run past 
her. 
  "Close that infernal gate!!" Tatewaki shouted at the 
top of his lungs. 
  Curious, she peered out the gate, catching a glimpse 
of several metallic creatures clomping up to the gates. 
Each armed, Kodachi noticed that the front monsters' 
arms were steaming up. 
  Quickly she slammed the gate shut as the steam 
cannons fired. The bullets tore holes in the heavy 
gate, sending splinters of wood everywhere around 
Kodachi. 
  "This is not a dream!" she realized in a panic. 
  Kodachi fumbled around looking for a quick weapon on 
her night robe, but none could be found. Tatewaki had 
turned around, and to her he looked rather exhausted, 
as if he were running a good chunk of the night. 
  "T...those...." she stuttered. 
  "Yes, they are the Mekani," Tatewaki finished. "I see 
you, too, have received a vision from afar." 
  "And you brought them here?!" Kodachi shouted, 
regaining her composure. "Look at what they did to the 
gate!" 
  They heard steam venting out of a tube, followed by 
the cocking of springs. 
  "I have fought these warriors all night," Tatewaki 
explained. "Progressively they mass in number and arm 
themselves with increasingly-improved equipment. Now 
all of them are armed at least with a steam cannon or 
spring cannon and a lance." 
  "And why should we wait around for them to shoot at 
us?!" wondered the younger Kuno, running away from the 
gate. 
  Tatewaki rushed after her, and a moment later several 
more holes were blown through the gate, flooding the 
inner yard of the estate with the light of the Mekani 
warriors' searching eyes. Kodachi wrapped her arms 
around her brother tightly in fear as the first of the 
warriors knocked the gate over with its body. 
  "I need a weapon!" she whispered urgently. 
  "Run back to the house," instructed Tatewaki. "Go 
there, and stay. They are after this sword." 
  "Then give it to them!" she cried. "Make them go 
away!" 
  He shook his head. "I cannot forsake a weapon gifted 
to me!" 
  Sighing, Kodachi removed her arms from around him, 
and, casting a quick glance at the Mekani warriors 
emerging through the ruined gate she burst into a 
sprint back to the house. 

  "I'm getting nowhere!" Shang Long hissed, cursing the 
Timeless Ones with archaic profanities. He aimed his 
Magma Dragon Staff's head at the incoming Mekani and 
unleashed a stream of magma, melting and consuming the 
monster. 
  Downing the last of the warriors the Orochi assassin 
cast his eyes southward, toward Tokyo. At the rate the 
Mekani attacked him he estimated he would not make it 
until another hour, and even then, they might tire 
him out long before that. 
  "These Mekani," he noted, "appear quite inefficient 
at first, but they will raise the bar until it is high 
enough to overcome me. They indeed are testing their 
mettle against us." 
  Taking in a deep breath, Shang Long resumed the 
sprinting pace he started when the Mekani first 
attacked him. 
  "Higure," he muttered under his breath, "I hope 
you're still in one piece when I get there." 

  Shampoo wiped her forehead with the back of her hand, 
refusing to release her grip on her bonbori for even 
a second. 
  The last member of the Mekani squad downed, the 
Amazon warriors kept their distance, and weapons 
readied. She counted it was the third squad to attack 
in a row, each attacking within a five minute 
interval since the last fell. 
  "How can we keep up with this?" she wondered aloud. 
  "I imagine it to be different for the others," 
offered Cologne, coming up from behind on her staff. 
"We have dispatched messengers to our allies, but there 
is news that Jusendo itself is under attack as well." 
  "So we won't be getting help from Musk," Shampoo 
guessed. 
  The old matriarch shook her head. "They and their 
rivals of the Phoenix Mountain are combating the 
Mekani at Jusendo. They think they are after the 
Gekkaja ice rod from the Dragon Tap and the Kinjakan 
fire rod from the Phoenix Tap." 
  Shampoo nodded. The two regulator switches of the 
Jusendo faucets were elemental weapons if she knew two. 
On the other hand, the Amazon tribe also kept a number 
of elemental artifacts in its treasure houses, which 
was why they were being attacked as well. Most of the 
other tribes in the Cistern Valley possessed artifacts 
and jewels of their own, but not attuned to the 
elementals. 
  "How are the others doing?" she asked. 
  Cologne closed her eyes, sending a mental query to 
Hokuto. Shampoo did not particularly trust the girl, 
especially after what she did to her, but somehow it 
was necessary that she was connected to everybody. 
  She turned her attention to the others, surveying 
their present conditions. The twins Ling-ling and Lung- 
lung looked in high spirits, and the latter was doing 
particularly well considering her recovery period. 
Although they were just as fatigued as the other 
warriors they were trained by Mousse, who always 
emphasized endurance over raw power. 
  He would be proud to know his teaching had great 
merit. 
  "Mousse, Tatewaki, and a few others are being 
attacked individually," Cologne answered at last. "Many 
possess artifacts themselves and they must hold up on 
their own." 
  "What would Mousse have on him that would be an 
elemental weapon?" wondered Shampoo. She knew well 
enough that the kendoist Kuno was in possession of an 
earth-attuned sword. 
  The old woman shook her head. "He does not know 
himself." 
  One of the girls shouted a warning, and Shampoo's 
senses were now back on the battle. From the earth, 
where the other Mekani squads emerged, another squad, 
this one much larger than the last, dug themselves up. 
  "This is stupid," Shampoo complained. "We can't do 
this forever; we have to seal the rift down there." 
  "I agree, Child," Cologne replied. "Yet we lack even 
the tools for that." 

  "Just where are we going, anyway?" asked Akane, as 
she, Mizuki, and Higure followed Ukyo and Konatsu's 
lead. 
  Ukyo came to a complete stop in the middle of the 
street, looking from side to side at the crossroads. 
Turning around, she announced, "Well, here's where we 
part." 
  Mizuki nodded. "We all have to do our parts now." 
Turning to Higure she said, "Ready?" 
  The old man nodded. "We will split up. Covering this 
section of town we will attempt to round up as much of 
our allies as possible." 
  "And we're taking the other half," Konatsu finished. 
  "The Mekani will most likely attack us," Mizuki 
added. "You three should be fine; just don't get 
yourselves into trouble, you hear?" 
  The three nodded, watching both Mizuki and Higure 
rush off in their own direction, off into the night. 
  "Akane," Ukyo started, "if you've got any fancy 
tricks up your sleeve, we might need them now." 
  "Why?" she asked. "You heard Mizuki; we shouldn't 
have anything. Higure's got the Wind Dragon Fan of his, 
and we've got nothing." 
  She eyed Konatsu. "Don't we?" 
  The kunoichi shrugged. "That is why the caution. 
Although we think we don't carry elemental artifacts 
with us, the Mekani may attack us anyway." 
  "Heck, we may pick up some along the way from all 
the people we find," Ukyo added. "We'd better get 
going; who knows how long the others'll last out there 
by themselves?" 

  Exhaustion threatened to overcome Tatewaki Kuno, 
but he charged nevertheless, raising his sword high. 
Before the first two Mekani could reload their steam 
cannons the kendoist had already slashed their bodies 
in two, their upper halves sliding off as he rushed to 
attack the next two. 
  He counted ten of them, now that two were down and 
out. Flames burning brighter in his hand Tatewaki tore 
more clean slices through the Mekani warriors, shouting 
a war cry he believed would make his ancestors proud. 
  Two more fell to the Phoenix Sword, followed by two 
more, and the two behind them. His thoughts consumed 
wholly by rage, by the time he got to the last pair he 
had not noticed they were firing their loaded spring 
cannons at him. Tatewaki felt the weight of his sword 
increase, and it tore free from his grip as the bullets 
shot it out of his hand. 
  Crashing on the ground hard, Tatewaki's pain in that 
area was blotted out by the one in his sword arm, still 
lit aflame with ki flames. He let out an unearthly 
scream as his own soul began to consume him. 

  "They'll understand," Shion kept telling himself as 
he lead Shizuka to his house. 
  Still grasping her shotgun as if in a death grip 
Shizuka followed the mercenary quietly, her eyes on the 
ground at all times. When Shion proposed that he take 
her to his house to stay for the night she neither 
objected nor agreed, but if there was one thing he was 
happy about it was that Akane and her friends were not 
around to hear him say that. He had no intention of 
going to Kyoko's place at that time of night. 
  "Sure, Chika might get mad in the morning," he said 
matter-of-factly, coming up to the front steps to his 
house. "Well, she can't tell me what to do; I'm her 
older brother, after all... Mom and Dad might be happy 
or something, but I can't tell...." 
  "I can't even have children," Shizuka muttered at a 
seemingly random moment. 
  Shion laughed uneasily. "Well, that wasn't the first 
thing on my mind, either." 
  "Shion...." he heard Chika say. He jumped in surprise 
at the sound of her voice, looking around frantically. 
  "She's right here," Hokuto announced, stepping out of 
the shadows. Standing in front of her was Chika, bound 
by a thick layer of rope, her expression at unease. 
  "Hokuto," Shizuka recognized lazily. 
  "Chika?!" Shion gasped. "What's the meaning of this?" 
  "Shion, you have to stay out of this," Chika warned, 
almost pleaded. "You can't help them, or her." 
  "What're you talking about?" 
  "I'll tell you," Hokuto offered maliciously. "I'm 
here to stop you from getting involved. It's for your 
own good, and for your beloved sister's, too. So before 
you even THINK about helping Ranma and the others, you 
ought to walk away." 
  Shion shook his head. "I haven't the slightest idea 
what you're talking about!" 
  "If you DO get involved, I can't guarantee you'll 
live for much longer," warned the Shadow Weaver. She 
poked Chika in the kidneys, producing a squeal of pain. 
"Choose carefully, because until the crisis is over, 
she's coming with me!" 
  The mercenary balled his fists in anger. "What do you 
think I'm going to do, anyway? I'm not like your pal 
Ranma, you know. I'm just a businessman." 
  "One that gets a little too nosey, of course," Hokuto 
added scornfully, she and Chika melting into the 
shadow. "I'll assume your default answer is 'yes.'" 
She turned her head toward Shizuka. "Oh, by the way... 
aren't you ashamed of yourself?" 
  When the two girls disappeared from sight, Shion 
raised his fists and punched the nearest wall in anger. 
He drew it back, and shook it. "Ow!" 
  "You ought to stop doing that," suggested Shizuka. 
"You've been doing it too much lately." 
  "So I see," he replied. He studied Shizuka closely, 
who was obviously stung by Hokuto's words. Shion knew 
the two were once friends, but he did not know how much 
of ones they were. 
  Taking one good, long look at her red dress, Shion 
sighed to himself. He clutched his head, maddened by 
his inner feelings. "Agh! Most guys would've collapsed 
over you by now! What the hell is wrong with me?" 
  "Shion, I look like a clown," the priestess said 
stiffly. She shivered involuntarily. "And boys find 
me more approachable...." 
  He frowned. "You know, it's time you stopped trying 
to be someone else. You don't need to satisfy anyone 
but yourself." 
  Taking the hint, she added, "You don't like me 
like this?" 
  "Well," he said, somewhat flustered, "it's... well, 
different." Injecting more confidence into his words, 
he added, "But it's not the Shizuka Minazuki I remember 
or... well... like." 
  For the first time since the change Shion watched the 
priestess's expression melt into a smile, and he found 
he had to do the same. 
  "There, now! That's the girl I know!" He planted his 
hands on her shoulders, and despite herself Shizuka 
was blushing. "Now, remember what you said before? 
Under all that makeup, no matter how flashy or 
different your clothes, you're still you." 
  He knew he was right the moment he looked in her 
eyes; it was the same expression Shion looked upon the 
day he met her. No mask or layer of gunk could hide 
the basic expression ingrained in the mercenary's mind. 
  "Shion... Master Higure wasn't entirely telling the 
truth," Shizuka revealed. "There isn't a mind trap 
anymore." 
  He nodded. "I know." 
  She held up the shotgun carefully, brushing off 
Shion's hands. "But... I can't use this.... What if I 
shoot another man? What if I kill someone? What if it's 
you...?" 
  "Don't think along that kind of thought!" Shion 
suggested adamantly. "We'll cross that bridge when we 
get there. Right now, I think you could use a little 
cleaning-up. I've got your stuff you left behind at 
the school; they found it and I picked it up for you." 
  She nodded. "And then," the priestess added with 
resolve, "we'll get Hokuto and your sister, and deal 
with those Mekani." 

  It's strange, Hokuto thought as she felt the worker 
Mekani through the strange contraption she was grafted 
to, the block is gone. 
  Shizuka, she thought. Yes, it's Shizuka who was 
blocking me out, and those around her, too. But how...? 
What's going on out there? 
  Hokuto shuddered, realizing she was losing touch of 
her senses the longer she stretched out her mind. 
  No, I can't let go, she told herself. Too much is at 
stake to give up.... 
  Somewhere, she felt a disturbance. Analyzing the 
frequency resonance Hokuto knew it was coming from 
Alpha, and it was probably activating the Mekami, 
whatever those were. She felt the residue from its 
commands, but could not piece together the precise 
command nor the point of origin, for it was but an echo 
throughout the hive mind. 
  Hokuto shook her head sadly. Could it be possible I 
am becoming one of them? 

  Tatewaki's screams was enough to attract the 
attention of Kodachi, who had found a ribbon and rushed 
back out. 
  Her eyes watched as the two still-moving Mekani 
soldiers clomped their way to where the Earth Dragon 
Sword lay, well out of reach from Tatewaki's hand-- his 
burning hand. 
  "Brother!!" she cried. Gathering herself back into 
a crystallized mind Kodachi remembered he needed the 
sword back. Running the ribbon between her fingers, 
she rushed the remaining Mekani. 
  One of the two veered away from the fallen artifact, 
realizing its mission was in danger. Kodachi heard her 
brother try to shout a warning, but it was hardly 
necessary as she recognized the spring cannon was 
cocked and ready. She jumped straight up, splitting her 
legs in a dance as the heavy bullet flew under her. 
She lashed the ribbon at the spring cannon appendage, 
allowing it to wrap around the weapon three times. 
  Landing on top of the spheroid she tugged up at the 
cannon, intending to rip it off, but the soldier's 
other appendage, a saw blade, spun to life and tore the 
ribbon away. Kodachi fell backward, losing her balance 
and nearly falling backward over the monster. 
  Discarding the ribbon the gymnast produced a set of 
tacks in one hand, then nailed them down into the 
Mekani's head. The spheroid, while sparking in every 
tacked location, was unfazed by the attack, and began 
extending its saw blade appendage up and over its 
head. Kodachi recognized the danger and flipped over 
backward, behind the soldier and out of the blade's 
range. 
  She grabbed her ribbon from the ground, and before 
the soldier could reorient itself Kodachi lashed the 
weapon around two of the creature's legs. Leaping back 
for momentum the Mekani toppled as its legs gave way, 
landing flat on its face. 
  Quickly surveying her work Kodachi turned her 
attention back to the second Mekani, who discarded its 
spring cannon in place of a manipulation tool 
underneath. Already scurrying its way out the gate 
Kodachi threw several more tacks, but they seemed like 
mosquito bites to the metal monster. 
  "Curses!" she shouted in frustration. "When is there 
ever a gattling cannon when you need one?" 
  But the answer to her question did not come in the 
form of said cannon, as a jet of flame surged out to 
the retreating Mekani and consumed it. Kodachi gasped 
in shock, shielding her eyes from the flames that 
danced around the monster, melting it with intense 
heat. She followed the trail of flame back to its 
source, to where her brother, Tatewaki, was lying, his 
flaming arm outstretched. 
  "Brother?!" she yelled in surprise. 
  "Get down!" he ordered, flames leaping from his hand 
toward her. 
  Quickly Kodachi did as instructed, barely escaping 
the ki flames. She felt some of her pony tail get 
singed, but thoughts of her vanity went away as it was 
deafened by the startled squeal from the Mekani soldier 
behind her. 
  Getting back up to her feet quickly, she rushed to 
Tatewaki's side, careful to stay away from his flaming 
hand. "The nerve, Brother!" She wrapped his cold arm 
around her neck, and gently lifted him to his feet. 
  "The sword," he whispered, pointing his flaming hand 
to the melted pile of steel near the gate. 
  Nodding, Kodachi quickly spirited him to the gate, 
but kept her distance from the heat radiating from the 
melted corpse. Slowly she edged her way around to the 
front, where the Earth Dragon Sword lay aflame. 
  Tatewaki tore his arm from around his sister's neck, 
stumbling to the sword under his own power, seemingly 
unaffected by the intense heat. Bending his knees he 
scooped up the earth artifact, and Kodachi watched him 
extinguish his flames. 
  Sheathing the sword carefully at his side he turned 
to Kodachi. "In what manner did you believe yourself 
helpful?!" 
  Kodachi folded her arms. "Hah! As if your glorified 
voice echoed victory!" 
  She glanced at his sword arm. "Perhaps you would need 
that dressed?" 
  For the first time Tatewaki took a glimpse of the 
damage the phoenix flames did to his hand, and 
instantly jerked his eyes away. It was apparent to 
Kodachi that he could not feel the burns, despite the 
fact he could still manipulate his hand. 
  "Perhaps it is the wiser course of action," he 
conceded reluctantly. 

  Kanna plunged her naginata through a warrior's eye, 
splitting it through the middle. She planted her foot 
against its spherical shell, struggling to pull the 
weapon out of the monster's corpse, but it got stuck 
on something. 
  "Ranma!" she shouted, realizing that another was 
coming up behind her. 
  The warrior behind charged suddenly, surprising Kanna 
who jumped out of the way, plunging straight into the 
other blade of the naginata. Ranma jumped up from 
behind the warrior as it skewered itself from his 
rough push. 
  "W-what did you do that for?!" she shouted angrily. 
"You could've killed me!" 
  "If you'd have gotten killed, then you wouldn't be 
out here!" Ranma shot back. 
  Reaching down between the skewered warriors Kanna 
grasped her weapon with both hands, and with great 
effort pulled it out, flaying both spheroids as the 
blades tore from the inside. 
  Ranma sat down on top of the spheroid, observing 
Kanna wearily. "You... you really like that thing, 
don't you?" 
  "It's not just a gift, Saotome," she replied, taking 
a seat of her own. She held the weapon length-wise, 
flipping the switch between the scythe and naginata 
several times experimentally. "It's a way of life." 
  Ranma sighed, scanning the streets for any signs of 
the copper retrievers. All he could see were the ones 
he and Kanna scrapped each time they arrived, almost 
immediately after they trashed a Mekani squad. In 
effect the two had not moved from their battle ground 
all night, and were sitting amidst a pile of torn and 
destroyed steel monsters. 
  "I can't believe they're going through all this 
trouble just for a bauble," Ranma said, stifling a 
yawn. 
  "Face it, they're going to get us if they keep 
hammering us like this," Kanna pointed out. "We need to 
devise another strategy before we REALLY fall asleep." 
  "Ranma, is that you?!" they heard someone shout from 
below the pile of corpses. 
  Ranma cast his eyes down the pile. Straining his eyes 
he tried to confirm what his ears heard. "Ryoga?!" 
  "Looks like we aren't the only ones busy," Mousse 
shouted, climbing up the side of the pile. 
  "So they're after you, too?" guessed Kanna as the 
two martial artists joined them. 
  The weapons master nodded. "They're after something I 
have, but we don't know what." 
  Ryoga looked around, down at the Mekani corpses, and 
whistled. "You guys've been busy, I see." 
  "We're not letting them retrieve the corpses," Ranma 
replied. "Their clean-up crew should be coming in at 
any time now." 
  "And then what?" asked Mousse. 
  "We're still working on that," Kanna answered. 
  They heard an explosion, and a shower of concrete 
pelted them from above. Shielding himself Ranma stared 
down to where the new hole in the ground was made, and 
two steel claws emerged from the darkness below, 
grasping at the sides of the hole. 
  "Damn, no clean-up crew this time!" he cursed. 
  Pulling itself out of the ground a new steel monster 
emerged, this one decidedly different from the warrior 
and worker models of Mekani. It leaped up with great 
agility, landing on its clawed feet. Shining against 
the street lights the monster was made of pure steel, 
from head to toe. Ranma guessed that it stood at about 
his own height, yet it was hiding its true height 
because it was hunched over like a predator. Roughly 
humanoid in shape the beast's claws were long enough to 
drag all the way to the ground, and its face was shaped 
vaguely in the form of a tiger. 
  "Well, now," Ryoga said, pounding his fists together. 
"I guess this time they're sending the real party!" 
  The monster's eyes glowed a bloody red. 

  Shampoo wished the tribe owned a bulldozer to cover 
up the hole in the ground, and the void rift along with 
it. 
  "We need to get in there," she decided, tossing her 
bonbori to the ground wearily. Turning to the nearest 
warrior Shampoo ordered, "Bring me swords!" 
  Nodding quickly, Paste dashed off to carry out her 
orders. 
  Despite herself Shampoo collapsed to her knees, the 
night's struggle finally catching up to her. Taking in 
several deep breaths, she scanned the area around the 
crater, at fellow warriors taking a breather from the 
mechanical onslaught. Some leaned against the defeated 
beasts, but she knew they would never allow themselves 
to fall asleep, not when the danger had not passed. 
  Somehow, she knew it would not pass for quite some 
time. 
  "Something emerges from the rift!" Lung-lung shouted 
in warning from across the crater. 
  Instantly Shampoo scooped up her bonbori, cursing 
the fact that the enemy had not given her the chance or 
courtesy to change weapons; the heavy blunt weapons 
were taking their toll on her. She stared over the rim 
of the crater, and sure enough the void rift was 
shimmering, as it had done many times before. 
  But this time, instead of climbing out the new steel 
monster shot up through the air at rocketing speeds. 
She heard a collective gasp from the rest of the young 
warriors, joining them in staring at the sky where the 
new monster paused. 
  Spreading its steel wings out like an eagle the new 
Mekani may as well be just that. The monster resembled 
a great bird, easily three times the size of Shampoo 
herself and six times her size in wingspan, save it 
sported thirteen long, snake-like tails trailing behind 
it. Its head and beak were relatively small for its 
large size-- delicate and slender. The bird monster 
shined in the moonlight in a most threatening manner, 
its eyes glowing bright red. 
  "What the...?!" Shampoo started to say, but the bird 
Mekani sprung into action, folding its wings and 
jerking them apart quickly, unleashing a hail of 
bombs. Shampoo broke into a sprint and ran just as the 
hail burst up the area immediately around the crater. 
She could hear the startled screams of several warriors 
who were not as quick as she, and forced her eyes away 
from the catapulted bodies flung about. 
  Turning, she scanned the skies for the avian Mekani, 
but it was soaring away from the village. She threw 
down her bonbori in frustration. 
  "That... that THING is going to strafe Jusendo!" she 
hissed angrily. "And there's nothing we can do about 
it!" 
  "And once it's through," Paste added, rushing up to 
Shampoo with a pair of sheathed swords in her arms, 
"it's going to come back for us." 

  Tatewaki flexed his bandaged hand carefully before 
him, testing his mobility as he and Kodachi walked out 
the smashed gates of the Kuno estate. Although they 
had not been gone for longer than ten minutes the 
corpses of the Mekani soldiers were gone, as if they 
were never there in the first place. 
  Kodachi shivered, pulling the belt of her trench 
coat tighter with her gloved hand. "Have we been 
indoors long enough that it be freezing tonight?" 
  Her brother shook his head. "Perhaps the excitement 
has left, and that is the reason you are no longer 
warm." 
  "Well, then where are we going?" she asked. 
  "We will spare our home of the damage," Tatewaki 
answered. "So long as I carry this sword, I pose a 
danger to it. We should find the source of the trouble 
and eliminate it at once." 
  "I hope you know where to find a rift," Kodachi 
said. 
  Both Kunos stopped in their tracks, both catching 
wind of a constant humming sound, one that was getting 
louder every moment. Tatewaki reached for the sword at 
his side, while Kodachi produced a fencing foil from 
within her coat, just as the source of the humming 
came into view. 
  Levitating under its own power a steel spheroid 
approached the two from down the street, moving at 
high speeds. This spheroid, however, appeared to have a 
flat surface beneath it, as well as four round balls 
at each corner, likely the source of levitation. 
  It stopped just before the two Kunos, hovering 
gently in the air, still humming with power. Before 
the kendoist could make a smart remark the four 
spheres at the corners extended outward, flattening 
out at the ends and forming a quadruped spheroid. A 
hidden compartment at the front near the bottom flipped 
back, allowing a mechanized face to emerge. Bearing 
a resemblance to that of a tortoise the creature 
possessed red, glowing eyes, and scales of shining 
steel. 
  "They send a turtle against us?!" Kodachi shouted, 
sounding disappointed. 
  But disappointment turned into surprise as the 
mechanized turtle, from the sides of its shell, whipped 
out two steel cables, wrapping themselves around the 
kendoist and the gymnast quickly. Both cried out in 
pain as the cables constricted them, but neither would 
refuse to let go of their weapons. 
  The Mekani turtle's eyes glowed with greater 
intensity. 

  Units 01, 02, and 04 have already been deployed, 
Hokuto realized, feeling the residual reactions of 
Ranma, Shampoo, and Tatewaki at once. So, these are the 
so-called Mekami; they are nothing more than mechanized 
versions of the Four Gods that hold them in check. Is 
this their idea of poetic justice? 
  So where was Unit 03? 

  "Dammit, that's one ugly...." cursed Mizuki, as she 
stared into the sky at the steel, serpentine Mekani 
dragon. 
  She quickly compared sizes, and realized that the 
mechanical Seiryu was probably just as long as Sypha's 
true form. Its features were animated in a rather 
lifelike manner, down to the whiskers. The Mekani 
dragon's eyes glowed red, focusing its attention not on 
Mizuki, but on Higure next to her. 
  "Obviously, I am the target, or rather, the Wind 
Dragon Fan," Higure said, whipping out said feather 
fan. 
  "Correct me if I'm wrong, but we don't stand a 
chance against that thing!" complained the priestess. 
  "We may not need to," replied the former assassin. 
He whipped around his fan, producing residual feathers 
all around him. In a bright flash of light he 
disappeared from Mizuki's eyes. 
  "They should not be able to get me while I'm like 
this," she heard the old man say. "Much less track me." 
  "Uh, old man... where are you?" 
  She felt a prick on the back of her neck. "No cause 
for alarm! I assumed a form of an insect; this form 
will serve to guard the Wind Dragon Fan from the 
Mekani, but I may still aid you." 
  As if to reinforce his point, the mechanical dragon's 
attention seemed to shift elsewhere, staring off into 
the horizon. Gathering itself the aerial behemoth 
soared off, ignoring the priestess of Genbu entirely. 
  "Okay, I guess you're right," conceded Mizuki. "But 
do I have to put up with a tick for the...?!" 
  "We are going to meet Shang Long," Higure interrupted 
quickly. "He is a former associate of mine, and his 
aid will be necessary. Go that way." 
  "This way?" Mizuki asked, heading west. A prick 
stung the back of her neck, and the priestess suddenly 
understood. Turning about face, she headed eastward. 
  "Damn you," she cursed. "When you want me to go one 
way, don't tell me 'that way!' Sheesh, I hate back-seat 
drivers!" 

  "Target priority shifted," Hokuto heard Alpha say, 
sending a report back to the Director. 
  At last, she thought, now I can find the location of 
the Enforcer! 
  She waited patiently, reading off the status report 
the Earth Enforcer was giving to its master. Hokuto 
quickly deciphered that the target that was Higure 
disappeared from sight, and the Unit 03 was being 
redirected to assist 01. Unit 04 is appearing to be 
completing its mission successfully, while 02 has begun 
its assisted attack for the fire and ice artifacts in 
China. 
  And the Director sent back, "Continue operation." 
  Quickly Hokuto tethered part of her consciousness to 
the return message, allowing it to wring out like a 
fishing pole's wire. 

  Ryoga raised his heavy umbrella to block the Mekani 
tiger's slash, but he watched in amazement as it was 
ripped to shreds before his eyes. 
  "Assist!" he cried quickly, and Mousse answered with 
a set of chains. 
  Wrapping his chains around the tiger's right arm the 
weapons master tried to pull the creature's weight, but 
found it too heavy. "Damn, this thing's been putting on 
pounds!" 
  The monster snarled, yanking its arm back and pulling 
Mousse up and over its head. It dodged to the side as 
Kanna tried to pierce its side, then kicked back into 
the girl's stomach. Ranma jumped onto the monster's 
back, planting his hands over its eyes. 
  "Someone hit it!" he cried, as the mechanical tiger 
tried to shake the martial artist off. 
  Before Ryoga could get there the Mekani jumped 
backward, landing on its back, with Ranma to cushion 
its fall. Ranma immediately released his hold out of 
pain, allowing the tiger to leap-slash Ryoga in front 
of it. Instead, he caught the slashing arm with his 
hands, holding his own against the mechanical whining 
of gears. 
  Not far away Mousse slipped on his razor claws, 
planting them into the ground. A giant blade sprung up 
under the ground where the mechanical Byakko stood, 
carrying it upward into the air and forcing Ryoga to 
lose his grip. Withdrawing the blade Mousse was 
disappointed to learn that, while he made a good dent 
in the monster's chest, the Mekani appeared unfazed by 
the blow. 
  Looking around, Mousse realized he was the only one 
still standing. "Oh man," he complained, "this is not 
fair!" 
  The steel tiger advanced on the Master of Hidden 
Weapons, snarling constantly with each step. 
  Casting his eyes to the skies his attention was torn 
away from the Mekani tiger as the mechanical Seiryu 
dragon appeared in the heavens. Mousse cursed himself 
again, realizing that he was about to get double- 
teamed. 
  But his eyes were torn from even the awesome sight as 
Mousse made out two points of light in the sky behind 
the mechanical dragon. His eyes widened in surprise as 
they grew larger every moment, missing a bit for every 
blink. One of the fireballs tore off from its path and 
slammed straight into the mechanical Seiryu, the second 
was headed straight for him. 
  "Damn!" Mousse cursed, shielding himself from the 
inevitable impact. 
  But impact never came for him; instead, the fireball 
burst where the mechanical Byakko once stood. Flames 
dancing about despite nothing to consume, Mousse made 
out a dark shape in its midst, and one red eye glowed 
at him. 
  "C-Cinder?!" he gasped. 
  "I'm here to clean up your mistakes!" snarled the 
salamander, diverting his attention downward, where 
the mechanical Byakko was getting back on its feet. 
  Mousse forcefully tore his eyes from the two, and 
turned back to the sky where the mechanical Seiryu was 
entangled against another dragon, one made of scales 
rather than steel. In one hand the serpentine dragon 
clutched a violet pearl as large as her claw, and the 
weapons master remembered the creature precisely. 
"Sypha!" 
  "And this is the welcome we come to!" bellowed Star 
Crusher angrily, slashing her claws at the Mekani's 
own. "Is this the match they promised me?!" 
  "Dang," muttered Ranma, shaking his head as he 
struggled to his feet. "Who got the number of that 
bus?" 
  "S-star Crusher?!" Kanna gasped. 
  "Move it!" Cinder ordered, parrying the steel tiger's 
claws with his own. "We will deal with these two!" 
  "Where're we going?" asked Ryoga, getting back to his 
feet. "There's nowhere to go!" 
  "There's only one place to go," Kanna decided, 
pointing her finger downward. "All the Mekani came from 
under the streets, so their Enforcer has to be down 
there!" 
  Ranma cast a glance toward Cinder. "We're not leaving 
you guys behind!" 
  "What part of 'move it' didn't you understand?!" 
railed the salamander warrior, struggling against the 
Mekani tiger. "Listen to Rajura! Get the Enforcer, and 
quick!" 
  "That might not be possible now!" Mousse cried, his 
attention away from the battles. 
  Turning quickly, Ranma cursed under his breath as 
several more Mekani soldiers burst from under the 
streets, far more than he wanted to count. In all 
directions of street that he could see the martial 
artist could see only the mechanical plague, ready and 
loading steam cannons. 
  "I should be flattered," Kanna snorted, twirling her 
death scythe in readiness. "They're sending everyone 
and their mothers against me!" 

  From their vantage point overlooking the streets 
where Ranma and the others were tangling with the 
Mekani horde Akane, Ukyo, and Konatsu prepared a 
surprise of their own. 
  Akane raised a small, baseball-sized black box to her 
lips, pressing the switch on the side. "Taydome, it's 
time." 

  Nodding, Dr. Philip Taydome, receiving the order, 
swiveled in his chair to his keyboard, punching in the 
activation sequence of his minions. On the monitor 
before him were three boxes, one representing each type 
of robot he designed. The numbers next to those boxes 
increased quickly, counting off the number of machines 
being deployed. 
  "Well, my children," the robotics engineer whispered, 
"show them what you're made of!" 

  Tatewaki struggled against the constricting cables 
binding him, trying to keep his eyes peeled as the 
mechanical Genbu hovered toward its destination. He 
eyed Kodachi, who was trying to do similarly, but with 
no more success than he. 
  "Is this the way the great Tatewaki Kuno shall be 
defeated?!" he muttered angrily, wishing he could break 
out of the cables by sheer strength alone. 
  "This creature," Kodachi shouted, "is no more mere 
machine than we are mere human!" 
  The humming of the hovering beast died down as the 
two Kunos realized that the Mekani was stopping, but 
not because it had reached its destination, but there 
was something blocking the way. 
  Standing on two thick, chicken-like legs was a 
cockpit of some sort, bearing a sun-reflective window 
and some predator's barred teeth painted underneath. 
On its shoulders the machine bore two gattling cannons, 
both forward-mounted and aimed straight for the turtle 
and its captives. 
  The cockpit opened up quickly, revealing the three 
occupants jammed inside. Two jumped out, both girls, 
leaving the pilot alone inside. One was dressed in a 
no-nonsense brown trench coat of similar style to 
Kodachi's, while the other was dressed like a priestess 
of Genbu. 
  Shizuka unsheathed her swords underhanded, raising 
one toward the mechanical turtle. "Release them!" 
  "Kodachi!" shouted Ayame, unshouldering what looked 
like a grenade launcher. "We've come to help!" 
  "About bloody time!" Kodachi shouted in reply, just 
as the mechanical turtle spread its quad-legs out for 
support. 
  Without effort the Mekani whipped around Kodachi 
over its head, and flung her toward Ayame. Before she 
could react Kodachi slammed right into her, forcing 
her to lose grip on the launcher. 
  Shizuka sprung into action, exercising caution as 
more hidden panels in the turtle's shell flipped open 
to reveal two sets of forward cannons. They fired 
energy bursts which she dodged easily, as the girl was 
focusing her attention more on the free, whipping steel 
cable. 
  As it came whipping her direction Shizuka twirled 
her arm in a blinding motion, shattering the cable 
cleanly. She slammed her blades down into the metal 
shell, struggling to pierce the surface, but only 
putting dents into it. No sooner had she withdrawn the 
blades Tatewaki was flung at her, throwing both off 
to the side. 
  "Alright!" shouted Shion from the cockpit, bringing 
the gattling cannons to bear now that the hostages were 
freed. As the Mekani's wire wrapped around the Earth 
Dragon Sword Tatewaki dropped Shion opened fire. To his 
disappointment the bullets bounced off the hard shell. 
  "Damn, that's no good!" cursed Ayame. 
  "And yet it is a good field test for the Metal 
Smasher," Shion pointed out, as pumped bullets in vain 
into the retreating mecha-Genbu, withdrawing into its 
shell and hovering off. He started after the retreating 
monster, but stopped a few steps later, realizing the 
mecha could not hope to match the Mekani's speed. 
  "My sword," lamented Tatewaki, his eyes following 
the Mekani's retreat. "My SWORD!!" He clutched his 
head, maddened. 
  Sheathing her own swords, Shizuka offered her 
condolences. "That's okay, they won't keep it for long, 
I assure you." 
  Tearing his eyes away, for the first time the 
kendoist recognized his savior. "Enforcer Minazuki?!" 
  "Just Shizu," she corrected. 
  Shion opened up the cockpit of the Metal Smasher, 
taking off his glasses and wiping his forehead. "But 
they've got the elemental sword, right? That means 
they're who-knows-how-many steps closer to doing 
whatever it is they want with them." 
  "We shall take this one step at a time," Kodachi 
decided. "If we follow that monster, it will lead us 
back to its master." 
  "But that creature moves faster than we!" Tatewaki 
pointed out. "How can we hope to pursue it?" 
  "We painted it," Ayame explained. Pointing up to the 
Metal Smasher she said, "This guy's equipped with a 
tracker; once it paints the target they can't escape." 
  "At least some Mishima ingenuity works," the 
mercenary pilot muttered. 
  Shizuka looked up toward the cockpit. "Well, I guess 
it's too late to stay out of it, huh?" 
  "Well, I'd say we have to find Chika all the 
faster," Shion agreed. 

  Ranma surveyed the damage, and whistled impressively. 
  Just when it seemed that sheer numbers would indeed 
overwhelm the martial artists help came in an unlikely 
form of Taydome's GAIA, CRONOS, and URANOS units, 
throwing themselves at the enemy and giving them a good 
deal of damage before falling themselves. 
  He walked to Akane's side as he took in the rest of 
the surroundings. Sypha, now back in human form, was 
resting against a wall, obviously hurt from her tangle 
with the mechanical dragon, and Cinder was doing 
likewise. The two Mekani marauders had retreated the 
moment the tide turned against the horde, withdrawing 
without accomplishing their missions. 
  "Akane, that was some trick," he told her. 
  "We got lucky," she answered, holding up the black 
box she got long ago. "The only way to counter an army 
is to raise an army of your own." 
  "It bothers me," Cinder said, approaching the couple. 
"The Mekani would not retreat unless they completed 
their objectives. They failed to retrieve whatever 
artifacts Kanna and Mousse possessed." 
  "Obviously, they got another one," Sypha chipped in. 
"They must possess more artifacts than we thought." 
  "And they're getting them off the Kami Plane," Ukyo 
said, approaching with Konatsu in tow. 
  Ranma turned away from the okonomiyaki chef. "Well, 
whatever. But we can't ignore the ones here." 
  "We still need to go to the Kami Plane, and maybe 
slow them down there," Sypha insisted. "The power of 
kami is derived from humans, so since they are weak so 
is their power. Those deriving power born on Earth 
are much stronger, like me, Cinder, and Orochi." 
  "So you need our help," Akane said. 
  "We need volunteers," the salamander said, raising 
his arms to the sky. A bolt of force shot off into the 
horizon, which immediately returned. Waving his arm in 
a vertical oval Cinder tore a hole in the dimensional 
fabric. "The Gate of Heaven awaits." 
  "You can do that?" Ranma said in surprise. 
  "Only with the concession of the other Guardians, but 
I am the only Guardian," Cinder replied. 
  "Then which of us are going?" asked Kanna. 

  Shang Long leaned against the Magma Dragon Staff, 
fatigued from the constant fighting. He congratulated 
himself for managing to make it into Tokyo itself, but 
all was for naught as he was too tired to keep going, 
especially considering he was surrounded by the three 
remaining Mekani warriors in the latest squad. 
  "I would rather destroy this weapon and myself," he 
said, "than surrender it to the likes of you!" 
  The Orochi assassin raised the staff high into the 
air, ready to smash it for its final strike, but a 
movement in the shadows caught his attention. A body 
flung itself into one of the Mekani, smashing its ruby 
eye into a million pieces. The newcomer rebounded off 
the fallen warrior and landed in front of Shang Long. 
  Glancing over his shoulder, Johan Ritters shouted, 
"You okay, pal?" 
  Suddenly finding renewed vigor within himself, Shang 
Long lowered his staff from an irreversible mistake. 
"I thank you for your timely aid." 
  Johan nodded. "I've got the one on the left, you get 
the center!" 
  Seconds later the remaining Mekani soldiers were 
downed, leaving the blind Shang Long to stare despite 
himself at his savior. Using the limited sight from the 
Magma Dragon Staff he could barely make out the dance 
man's features. 
  "You're...." 
  The Hawaiian street fighter shook his head. "Don't 
think anything about it. Just doing my part in this 
crazy world, 'specially after that big mechanical 
dragon-thing showed up in the sky a while ago." 
  "But, help from a stranger?" Shang Long chuckled. 
"I should thank you for your timely aid." 
  "We asked him to help." 
  Turning in surprise, the assassin shouted, "Higure?" 
  Both Higure and Mizuki appeared from the shadows. 
  Extending a hand outward, Higure said, "It is good to 
see you again." 
  Shang Long accepted it, shaking vigorously. "If only 
times gave better circumstances." 
  "True," agreed the old man. "Come, we require your 
assistance. It is time we moved against the Mekani 
Enforcer based on this world." 

  Walking through the Gate of Heaven, no matter how 
large it was, seemed like stepping through a mirror, 
save the other side was not a reflection. 
  Ranma walked past Cinder after stepping through the 
Gate, feeling rather hot. Obsidian shattered under the 
power of his bare feet, and the martial artist again 
wished he had a good pair of shoes. The cavern, as it 
appeared to be, was vast around the perimeter of the 
Gate, lying on the ground like some great pool. Black 
rock was illuminated by seemingly random patches of 
open, eternal flame. Many small tunnels left the large 
portal chamber, leading to who-knows-where. 
  "Appropriately," Cinder said, "on this side of the 
world the gate is termed the Gate of Hell." 
  "No kidding," muttered Ranma, turning to watch the 
others pull themselves out of the gate-pool. 
  His eyes watched the thick column of energy crackling 
in the center of the pool, and followed it straight up 
to its source in the ceiling. From that central 
location four equidistant beams of energy split to the 
four corners of the cavern, obviously marking this 
world's end of the Gate. From the looks of it the 
radiating crystals were constantly giving off energy; 
it was up to the other side to open the Gate. 
  Kanna pulled herself out of the Gate, followed by 
Ryoga, Konatsu, and Mousse. Ranma refused to step 
through the gate if Ukyo was going along, so she 
wisely decided to remain behind, sending Konatsu 
instead. He remembered their brief exchange, as the 
kunoichi was protesting his assignment. Ukyo said, 
"They need your help more than I do." 
  He didn't like the idea of leaving Akane alone with 
Sypha or Ukyo, but there was no other option. To him it 
was fortunate that she volunteered to remain behind, 
citing that Taydome was more likely to listen to her 
than to anyone else when it came to ordering around the 
Section machines. Sypha, while she made it clear that 
she wanted to return to her Celestial Palace, opted to 
remain behind to ensure the Mekani are properly dealt 
with, but Ranma thought she didn't want to come back 
home without something good on a silver platter. 
  At least this way, Akane's party was not plagued with 
elemental artifacts to get in the way, he thought. All 
they had to do was get rid of the local Enforcer. 
  "So this is Hell," Ranma said, sounding more bored 
than curious. "It's every place I imagined it to be, 
and not even. Happosai's not even here." 
  "And no wonder, if this creation is of your own 
human imagination!" Cinder snapped tersely. "Even my 
people are born of your thoughts. Everything you see 
here, however, evolved from your thoughts over many 
millennia." 
  "Time here passes differently from your world," he 
continued, taking up the role of tour guide. "As in 
your ancient times you believed the world run on a 
lunar calendar, so does this. That is why time travel 
in one plane does not affect the other; the time scale 
is different." 
  "In this world every place your myths imagined 
exists, all in one planet. We have areas from the 
Celestial Palace to the five rivers of Hades. However, 
what we do lack is every location thought up SINCE the 
birth of the Kami Plane." 
  "No Heaven, eh?" snorted Ryoga. 
  "Not the common conception we have today, no," Kanna 
answered. "Back then peoples' idea of the final resting 
place was radically different." 
  "Those areas exist on your plane," Cinder explained, 
"and as such are unaffected by the politics of this 
one." 
  "And our ancestors imagined entire civilizations," 
Ranma concluded. "So where are we going, anyway?" 
  Cinder pointed down one of the tunnels. "That road 
leads to the Inferno Regions, a vast expanse of the 
underworld that includes my homeland. We will appeal to 
my master, Lord Kolvar na Strakil, for an audience. But 
that is for later; we have another ally we must enter 
conference with first." 
  "Really?" Mousse asked, interest perked. "Who?" 
  Turning around, Cinder said, "We're going to the five 
rivers surrounding Hades. From one of those rivers we 
will travel to one of the ancient cities." 
  "Hopefully not the Styx," Ryoga commented. 
  "Of course not," replied the fire master, "We have no 
business in Hades proper. We're going to a place along 
the Acheron, to a wonderful fortress called Yamato." 
  "Don't tell me...." Ranma said, his voice tensing. 
  "Yes," confirmed Cinder, "we're going to pay a visit 
to your old friends down at the Orochi's spirit domain. 
I'm sure they'll be more than happy to see you." 

  Hokuto concentrated on extracting more information 
out of the Mekani Hive Mind, focusing her efforts on 
the four Mekami. Through her thought tethers she felt 
the others' frustrations as they fought the monsters, 
and realized they were far different models than the 
cheap soldiers. 
  "Mekami Unit 01," she said aloud, her voice drowned 
out by the fusing of metal below. "Code name 'Mekako.' 
Superior speed and agility." 
  "Mekami Unit 02, code name 'Mekazaku.' Superior 
flight and aerial superiority." 
  "Mekami Unit 03, code name 'Mekaryu.' Superior 
strength and power." 
  "Mekami Unit 04, code name 'Mekabu.' Superior hard 
defense and computative abilities." 
  "Mekami Unit 00...." she said aloud, stopping when 
she realized that no such unit was mentioned before. 
Hokuto ceased her recital, quickly digging into the 
information banks on any data for the previously- 
unnamed Mekani marauder unit. 
  The data is classified, she realized. Suddenly, 
Hokuto understood that she was in trouble. 
  Quickly, she organized her thoughts and broadcast it 
down the tethers, frantically emphasizing the fact that 
the marauders were not only made with superior 
technologies, but were augmented by magic as well.... 
  "Rogue element terminated," she heard in her head, 
recognizing it belonging to the Director. 
  All at once, Hokuto's brain fused back into one as 
the thought tethers were forcefully severed by the 
Hive Mind. She cried out in pain at the sudden impact, 
head rattling with too much information at once. 
  Amidst the bombardment the Shadow Weaver could still 
hear the Mekani Director. "Integration process will 
begin immediately pending completion of the Shadow 
Spire." 
  Shadow Spire?! 
  Hokuto felt the machine she was grafted to vibrate 
with energy, and suddenly she understood her role in 
the device, whatever it was. She was effectively the 
power source, something that didn't sound like a long 
career goal. 
  Feeling every circuit and wire through her body, 
Hokuto whispered silently, "The others... they have to 
make it. They have to stop them... and there's no way 
to warn them anymore...." 



			*  *  *  *  * 

Ukyo (VO): 

  "The battle hasn't been easy, but with great allies 
that we've gathered since the end of the beginning have 
proven that anything can happen! Friend and foe alike 
gather to destroy a mechanical plague of the likes no 
one has ever seen. Ranma, now's the time not to give 
up, because the Mekani have been saving their most 
dangerous weapon for last...." 
  "Next time: Endgame. We'll see this through to the 
end!" 



------------------------------------------------ 
Author's Notes 

  No kidding; it is the endgame stretch. While I have 
not been much for words in the past chapters in these 
notes I'd say I've been putting more into story rather 
than explaining how it's done. 
  The part that really seemed to fly in this one is 
the Shion/Shizuka interaction. I'm certain most of you 
know I'm not a romantic at heart, but they seem to 
write themselves (honestly, when I originally scripted 
events they weren't supposed to be attracted to each 
other; it kind of happened when they first confronted 
each other a few chapters ago). 


Razorclaw X (spiceoflife@NOREPLYhotmail.com) 
http://www.crosswinds.net/~slythe/ranma/ranff.html 

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