The Wheel of Fire, #37: Endgame 

  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. 
  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. 

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

"In the world there is nothing more submissive and weak 
  than water. Yet for attacking that which is hard and 
  strong nothing can surpass it." -- Lao-Tzu 


  "Ranma's gone with Cinder to the Kami Plane," Akane 
explained to the others, beside Ukyo and Sypha, who 
needed to hear the news. "They're going to try and find 
out just how far the Mekani have gone with their little 
collection scheme." 
  Higure nodded. "While he is gone we will hold our 
battles here. Our primary objective will be to locate 
and destroy Enforcer Alpha." 
  Seated around the central dominating fountain of the 
city park were the remains of the warriors left on 
Earth actively fighting the Mekani. Akane, Ukyo, and 
Sypha were the last members of the party that journeyed 
to the Kami Plane earlier, and the bearers of the news. 
Higure, Shang Long, Mizuki, and Johan Ritters arrived 
with probable locations of the Enforcer, information 
that was deduced from the Mekani attack pattern. The 
two Kuno siblings, along with Shion, Ayame, and Shizuka 
came bearing the news that the Earth Dragon Sword, an 
elemental artifact, was taken by the Mekabu. The others 
were surprised when they arrived in the experimental 
Mishima weapon, the Metal Smasher battle mech. Also 
arriving was Senryu Nishimura's party, which he 
gathered when he learned of the invasion, consisting of 
the newly-released Spencer Bates, Miranda Kusao, and 
Sakurai Sasaki. Others who have got wind of the threat, 
including Hayato Myojin and Hikaru Gosunkugi, also 
volunteered their time. 
  By proxy, Taydome was also present, listening in on 
the conversation through the baseball-sized black box 
in Akane's hands. 
  "We've isolated the invasion points at three key 
locations," Mizuki explained. "All invading Mekani have 
emerged from those locations, so we believe Alpha may 
be hiding somewhere in the middle of it." She unfurled 
a map for everyone's benefit. "We'll split into three 
groups, and each of us will tackle an entry point. From 
there, we will follow the trail our enemy has left us, 
and converge where the Mekani Enforcer is located." 
  "The Metal Smasher's too big to go underground," 
Shion complained. 
  "But the tracking mechanism is still working," Ayame 
added. "Mekabu has disappeared from sight, but it's at 
a location away from the three area points. So we're 
going after the sword." 
  "Very well," agreed Mizuki. "If any of you find the 
Mekani are trying to get around us, by all means go 
after them, but don't let them distract you from the 
Enforcer. It's got to be just as smart as we are, so be 
careful." 

  Shampoo swore as the Mekazaku appeared in the 
horizon. 
  "That monster is heading back this way to finish us 
off!" she realized. 
  "Do you suppose they got the artifacts at Jusendo?" 
wondered Cologne, standing next to the warrior. 
  "That's not important right now!" she answered. "If 
it's coming back that means they aren't finished 
getting them." 
  She cast a glance at the crater, where Mekazaku 
emerged a short time before, but now it was buried in 
many layers of rock, preventing the Amazons from 
entering the rift below. Shampoo was certain that the 
Mekani marauder would have to go back home that way, 
and when it did she and several warriors were ready to 
raid the rift. Until then, however, they had to fend 
off the mechanical terror somehow. 
  Spotting several bursts in the distance, Shampoo 
shouted, "It's already attacking!" 
  But Mekazaku's incoming flight was cut short as a 
second flying behemoth assaulted it in the air. 
Although most of Mekazaku's bulk was its massive wings, 
this new monster was more body than wings. 
  "Pantyhose Taro!" she shouted in recognition. A 
massive cheer, thundering throughout the valley could 
be heard, to the Amazon's surprise. "He's the only one 
that can fight that thing...." 
  "My my," Cologne said under her breath. "So we have 
reinforcements after all." 

  Miranda was the first to drop down into the sewer 
system, but the familiar splashdown was noticeably 
absent from her fall. 
  Whistling in amazement, she muttered, "Damn, those 
guys sure know how to clean house." 
  "What did you say?" shouted Spencer from above. "Is 
something wrong?" 
  She ran a gloved finger down one of the polished 
walls, squeaking as it went. "They cleaned up this 
part of the sewer," she explained. "Those Mekani must 
have blocked off some of the system and polished this 
place up." 
  Jumping down from the manhole above, the sharpshooter 
saw what Miranda was getting at. "No kidding." He 
produced his favorite pistol, and waved a signal 
above, giving the 'all clear signal.' 
  "If they could do this to downtown," Spencer 
remarked, "the city beautification will surely benefit 
greatly!" 
  "Yeah, but this place is so squeaky-clean that you 
couldn't catch a disease if you wanted to," Miranda 
pointed out. "It's not just clean, it's sterilized." 
  "Just as this world may be if the Mekani get their 
way!" Tatewaki finished as he climbed down the utility 
ladder, a wooden bokken at his side. Since he lost the 
Earth Dragon Sword to the Mekabu the kendoist had to 
resort to using traditional weaponry. 
  They paused shortly as Hayato and Sakurai entered 
the Neriman underworld themselves. The party of five 
complete, Miranda lead the way, confident in her stride 
through the sterile tunnels. 
  Spencer reached for a radio transmitter at his belt. 
"This is Zeta Team, we're in," he said. 
  "Copy that, Zeta Team," they heard Taydome say. The 
engineer, it was decided, would serve as the central 
dispatch for all four groups. "You're cleared to go." 
  "Delta Team, checking in," they heard Kodachi say. 
  "Sigma Team, ditto," transmitted Mizuki. 
  "Omega Team, too," Shion transmitted. "I've always 
wanted to say that." 
  "Cut the chatter, this is an operation, not a game!" 
Taydome screeched. 
  "Yeah, but it ain't exactly the army, either," the 
mercenary pointed out. 
  "Look, just shut up!" Miranda shouted, grabbing the 
transmitter from Spencer. "It's hard ENOUGH being in an 
enclosed space, much less one that's been sterilized!" 
  She caught movement in the corner of her eye. Tossing 
the transmitter back to the sharpshooter, she cried, 
"They're here!" 
  "They're back there, too!" warned Sakurai. 
  Spiderian shapes, ruby gems inlaid in their heads, 
crawled toward the five, just barely fitting in the 
tunnel themselves. Entering single-file, one at a time, 
the Mekani soldiers raised two appendages, armed with 
steam cannons. 
  "Oh shit!" Miranda cursed, realizing there was 
nowhere to hide. 

  "Wait, what's happening?!" demanded Akane, grabbing 
the transmitter from Kodachi. "Zeta, answer!" 
  Kodachi snatched the transmitter back from the 
agitated girl swiftly. "Apparently, they have engaged 
the enemy." 
  "If we're not careful," Shang Long said, chipping in, 
"then we may be caught as they are." 
  From the rear of the line Johan shouted, "I think 
we'd better pick up the pace! Something's coming!" 
  Kodachi raised a fist in anger, staring down the end 
of the tunnel where another Mekani soldier was making 
its appearance. "Curses! They chose their base well!" 
  "And we walked right into a choke point," Akane 
realized. 

  "A bit late to hear that!" complained Mizuki, as she 
threw a tri-flower back the way she came. The fused 
steel cards hit their mark, smashing into the warrior's 
eye. 
  "Apparently," Higure said, shielding the others from 
the front of the line with his fan weapon, "Alpha is 
much more clever than we gave it credit for." Bullets 
from down the tunnel bounced off an invisible shield of 
force before the former assassin. 
  Between the two, Ukyo and Shizuka bickered. 
  "Give me that shotgun," Ukyo insisted, holding out 
her hand expectantly. 
  "No way!" replied the priestess of Genbu. "Get your 
own!" 
  "You're not using it!" the okonomiyaki chef reasoned. 
  "Hey, quit it!" Mizuki hissed, throwing another tri- 
flower. "Can't you two do anything more constructive 
than bicker?!" 
  "What DO you want me to do about it?!" demanded 
Shizuka. "I'm stuck in a pristine tunnel with the 
biggest hypocrite in the world; can't go forward or 
backward, and can't blow up a side tunnel because it 
might blow us up, too. So what do you want me to do?!" 
  "Shut up!" Ukyo suggested. 
  "Why don't you?!" countered Shizuka. "Back then, you 
said I was supposed to die; so aren't you happy?!" 
  "We already passed that, you idiot!" the chef yelled 
back. 
  "What do you mean, 'we already passed that?!' Don't 
you think that's where we are now?!" 
  "I mean you aren't supposed to be alive right now!" 
Ukyo elaborated heatedly. "Do you really want to know 
how you die?!" 
  "Lay it on, you bastard!" 
  She told her. 

  Hokuto peeled away her illusion, revealing herself 
and the bound Chika beside her as the Metal Smasher 
plodded its way through the streets. She watched the 
Mishima machine come to a complete halt, angling its 
forward-mounted gattling cannons toward her. Tightening 
the folds of her new cloak around her, for the last one 
was destroyed by Konatsu, Hokuto stood confidently 
against what most people would consider certain death. 
  "I knew you'd come," the Shadow Weaver gloated. "I 
tricked your Section technology by masking the field 
around the Mekabu and transplanting the signal over my 
own." 
  The cannons remained trained on the Shadow Weaver. 
  "You might wonder who's side I'm on by now," Hokuto 
continued. "At one moment I could be helping the 
Mekani, or I could be helping you. Either way, I'm not 
helping the kami at all. In fact, any way I help you or 
the Mekani is incidental; I work on my own side." 
  "To that end, I kidnapped your prissy sister. I don't 
need her per se, I need you and your partner in crime, 
Ayame. Yeah, I know she's up there with you, and I must 
congratulate you for delivering yourselves to me this 
easily. Now that you're involved, you have to die." 
  "Shion, get back!" Chika warned. 
  The Metal Smasher opened fire, spraying bullets 
down at Hokuto and Chika, but they bounced off a black 
shield that formed suddenly around them. Hokuto laughed 
at the ineffectiveness of the attack, stretching her 
shadow beyond the barrier. Two black tentacles ripped 
out of the ground, lashing and slapping at the cockpit 
of the mecha mercilessly. 
  But the tentacles stopped in their onslaught as 
Hokuto felt something bite into her shoulder. Staring 
down at her right in shock she found a dart stuck 
there. Realization dawned upon her as she pulled the 
dart out, eyeing the Metal Smasher in surprise. 
  The cockpit opened up to reveal Hikaru Gosunkugi, 
dazed, but still dangerous. 
  "You didn't think we were that predictable, did you?" 
  "Aya?!" Chika gasped. 
  Hokuto felt the butt end of a grenade launcher 
against the back of her head. "Fire that, and you'll 
blow us all up!" 
  "Pff!" Ayame snorted. "I'm willing to bet your life 
matters to you more than that. Besides, my trigger 
finger is itchy today." 
  Dropping down from his hiding place Shion kept his 
crossbow trained on Hokuto carefully. "That first one 
has but one part of a vile agent," he explained. "This 
one has the coupling compound; if I inject this sucker 
into you, you're not going to live long enough to 
regret crossing me." 
  "Heh," Hokuto laughed. "You have the advantage for 
now, mercenary." Quickly, she dropped into her own 
shadow like a trap door, vanishing from sight. 
  Only then did Shion and Ayame lower their firearms. 
  "W...wow," Chika said in awe. 
  "I don't believe she bought that," Shion muttered, 
shaking his head. "Did she really think I'd waste 
something so expensive on her?" 
  "W... w... what?!" his sister screeched, anger 
rising. "You bluffed her?!" 
  "Yep," Ayame said, shouldering the grenade launcher. 
"Bluffing's cheaper." 
  "You went through all that, and I'm not worth it?!" 
complained Chika. 
  "Omega Team, reporting success," Shion said into the 
transmitter. "We're proceeding to projected secondary 
objective." 

  "At least someone's doing better than we are!" 
Miranda hissed as she heard the news. She threw another 
energy disc down the tunnel, smashing into the steel 
hide of the warrior blocking the way. 
  Over her shoulder Spencer took aim and squeezed off 
several shots, allowing Tatewaki distraction time to 
rush the monster in melee with his bokken. The kendoist 
let loose his fury, smashing holes into the warrior's 
hide with blinding speed, finishing by smashing its 
ruby eye. 
  "Boxed one!" Miranda shouted cheerfully. 
  "That's two!" corrected Sakurai, rushing back from 
his own tangle with the warrior behind. 
  "Well, then," Spencer said, loading a fresh set of 
bullets into his pistol, "let's push this sucker out of 
the way and keep going." 
  Quickly the five managed to push the warrior out of 
the way, opening up a fork in the road. 
  "Well, ain't this pretty," Miranda snorted, looking 
at the two paths before the group. "Hayato, Spencer, 
and Sakurai will take the left tunnel, and Kuno and I 
will take the right. If I remember the city plans 
right, we'll meet back soon." 
  The others nodded. "Right!" 

  "The others have broken engagement from the tunnels," 
Taydome informed Sypha, as she smashed through the 
line of Mekani warriors covering the surface streets. 
"They are now proceeding ahead, and Omega Group is 
going to back you up." 
  "I don't need their help!" the sorcerer snapped, 
withdrawing her claws from the broken shell of a steel 
warrior. "You'd think they'd pick a place more obvious 
than a sewage treatment plant for their base of 
operations!" 
  "The surface area is being contained by my robots," 
Taydome added. "It couldn't be more plain than they're 
making it." 
  Sypha fired off her claws at another warrior. "Then 
what I want to know is where are their Mekami? Surely 
they know its their best chance to survive!" 
  "That puzzles me as well. Omega reported that Mekabu 
has disappeared from sight, so they may very well be 
preparing a withdrawal from the Earth." 
  "If they're doing that," the sorcerer reasoned, "then 
they're probably really close to securing all eight 
artifacts. Enforcer Alpha won't want to get caught when 
the planes merge, that's for sure. Tokyo would be one 
of the places mangled by the fusion of worlds." 
  "And what wouldn't?" 
  "Any place people remember in both worlds," Sypha 
answered, retracting her claws. "Places like the 
Inferno Regions will continue to exist as normal 
because people here still remember it and its locales: 
Hades, Kibarak, Yamato... Hell, so to speak; the 
transition will be seamless. But, places like New York, 
for instance, don't exist in the Kami Plane. Places 
that don't exist, or are remembered, in both places 
will either get spliced, or erased in favor of one 
place over the other." 
  "Most of civilization was built after the Kami Plane 
emerged," Taydome realized. "It would be disastrous." 
  Sypha stopped, catching a new sight in her eyes. "Ah! 
I see you've decided to come out and play!" 
  "Wait!" Taydome yelled. "What is it?!" 
  From the center of the mass of Mekani, a single, 
serpentine steel creature emerged from the ground. It 
loosened itself out, kicking up concrete and debris 
all around it as Sypha watched Mekaryu emerge in all 
its glory. 
  Producing her dragon pearl, Sypha shouted, "So, you 
want a rematch, eh? This time I won't be so merciful!" 
  Her form glowed, reshaping and congealing into a 
serpentine creature of her own. 

  Pantyhose Taro jammed another fist into Mekazaku's 
gut, but his hammering wasn't putting even a dent in 
the mechanical bird's hide. Mekazaku's wings closed in 
around him, and he felt the monster take a dive for 
the ground. 
  Frantically he raised his fingers and injected ink 
into the monster's eyes, blinding it briefly, but the 
fast descent peeled away the black substance quickly. 
Almost too late to pull up Mekazaku spread its wings 
out, spinning as it began to climb back up, and 
discarding Taro toward the earth. 
  Losing his hold on the monster Taro grabbed one of 
Mekazaku's snake-like tails, scraping against the 
earth as the bird began its ascent. Mekazaku closed its 
wings together, then spread them quickly, unleashing a 
quick barrage of bombs. Each of the tiny explosives 
burst around Taro, forcing him to lose grip on the 
steel tail. 
  I'm not going to lose! Taro repeated in his mind, 
opening his wings to control his descent. He gained 
enough control to land on his hooves, then used the 
ground as a springboard back into the air, a fist 
raised for Mekazaku. He caught the bird square in the 
lower beak, twisting the creature's small head around 
in an unnatural manner. 
  Still thirsty for the fight Mekazaku readjusted its 
head, glaring down at the chimera attacking it. It 
raked Taro with its talons, cleaving off a good amount 
of fur off his hide. Taro bellowed in pain, but his 
tentacles wrapped around the bird's slender body, 
securing grip. 
  He felt cold, rigid air attack Mekazaku from behind. 
Tearing his eyes away from the monster Taro spied a 
constant stream of ice emanating from the ground, 
and while it was too far to see the warrior knew he was 
getting help. 
  Soon thereafter a jet of flame slammed into the 
Mekani marauder's left wing, and Mekazaku screeched in 
pain for the first time. Taking advantage of the 
monster's momentary distraction Taro shifted all his 
weight backward, forcing the bird and himself into a 
dive, head first, toward the earth. 
  Unlatching himself from the Mekazaku, Taro kicked 
off, bashing the bird's head at an unnatural angle, 
and soared away from the Mekani marauder's death 
plummet toward a pile of boulders below. 

  Shampoo shielded herself from the thrown-up rocks as 
the Mekazaku plunged into the hole whence it came, 
kicking up boulders and debris everywhere. Quickly, she 
ran to the rim of the recreated crater, finding no sign 
of Mekazaku, but finding a very vacant rift in the 
earth. 
  She heard Cologne, Kima, and Herb rush up behind her. 
Kima, carrying the Kinjakan fire rod, and Herb, holding 
the Gekkaja ice rod, both from the Jusendo faucets, 
held their respective artifacts ready. 
  "We must go after it!" Shampoo shouted. 
  "The battle is won," Herb replied. "We should seal 
the rift and be done with these monstrosities!" 
  "The threat may be gone for now," Cologne conceded, 
"but the source of the problem yet remains." 
  "Let them come!" Kima cried. "We have shown them our 
strength, so I say they are welcome to throw their 
toys at us!" 
  "Nevertheless," Shampoo interrupted, "I'm going. I've 
already prepared a party to enter the rift. If you want 
to stay behind, that's fine by me, but you had better 
say out of our way while we're gone." 

  "What's happening up there?!" demanded Akane, seizing 
the transmitter from Kodachi as the group pushed their 
way out of the tunnel. 
  "Sypha's currently engaging the Mekaryu," Taydome 
replied. "It emerged from the location above the 
underground treatment plant, so it's definitely your 
target zone." 
  "Big surprise," Johan snorted, looking upon the fork 
in the road. "Which way'll take us there faster?" 
  "The left, I believe," Taydome replied. 
  "Smashing," Kodachi said. "We will take the right, if 
you do not mind." 
  "What, nobody's going left?" asked Shang Long. 
  Akane shook her head. "It's better if we stick 
together." 

  Shizuka and Higure took their turns drawing straws 
from Mizuki's hand. The priestess of Genbu cursed her 
luck as she drew the short straw. 
  "Well, sorry, Shizu," Mizuki said, "but we're taking 
the left fork." 
  Ukyo folded her arms, amused with the results. "Well, 
looks like you and I are sticking around for a little 
longer." 
  Higure gave a nod toward Mizuki. "We will see you 
again at the plant." Both the old man and the older 
priestess took off, leaving Ukyo and Shizuka alone at 
the fork. 
  "We'd better go," Ukyo suggested, taking the lead 
into the right tunnel. 
  Shizuka grumbled to herself, unsheathing both her 
swords, holding them in an underhanded position. "Just 
my fucking luck. Stuck with the prophet of doom again." 
  "Maybe if you kept your colorful vocabulary to 
yourself, then you'd get the guys," Ukyo shot back, 
annoyed. 
  "As if you're one to talk!" countered Shizuka. "The 
guy you're after isn't talking to you!" 
  "That's none of your business!" 
  "Neither is YOU poking in MY life! What the hell do 
you know of me?!" 
  They heard a shot ring out from down the tunnel, and 
a pair of steel cables flew toward the two girls. Too 
late they realized the danger as the cables wrapped 
themselves around the girls' arms and bodies quickly. 
With surprising speed they retracted, pulling Ukyo and 
Shizuka along as they screamed. 
  Scraping against the polished sewer floor the girls 
were quickly drawn to the other end of the tunnel, 
and lifted in the air upside-down sharing eyes with 
each of Mekabu's own, one to each side. 
  "Well," Shizuka huffed, "another fine mess you got 
us into, eh?" 
  "It's YOUR fault we got caught!" Ukyo snarled, trying 
to reach her legs over to kick the priestess. 
  Mekabu snapped its beak, its clamping sending jarring 
sounds through the bickering girls' heads impatiently. 
  "Why don't YOU shut up?!" Shizuka screamed at the 
Mekabu, twisting her arms to whack the cable holding 
her with her swords. 
  The marauder realized its mistake as both Ukyo and 
Shizuka broke out of their binding with a burst of 
adrenaline, whipping the remains back into its shell 
quickly. New compartments flipped back, revealing 
cannons, and fired. 
  Ukyo whipped out her combat spatula, deflecting the 
cannon blasts with ease. Shizuka swung her arm around, 
slicing off the barrels of both cannons with little 
effort. Both cannons burst in a small explosion as the 
Mekabu retreated a couple steps. 
  Opening its beak Mekabu spewed gales of flaming 
breath, and Ukyo jumped out of the way. It whipped out 
its cables a second time, harassing Shizuka as she 
swung at them mercilessly. With a loud yell Shizuka 
slammed one of the swords down into one of the cable's 
openings, then did the same for the other, severing 
both cables. 
  "Ukyo!" she shouted, "get on!" 
  Throwing her spatula over her shoulder Ukyo did as 
instructed, leaping onto Mekabu's hard shell and 
grabbing hold of one of the swords as Shizuka held on 
to the other. The Mekani marauder withdrew itself back 
into its shell, issuing a low hum as the shell hovered 
in place. 
  Both girls ducked as the Mekabu slammed straight up 
into the ceiling, then switched sides as the shell 
slammed into each wall, trying to shake the girls 
loose. But with each blow both Shizuka and Ukyo were 
plunging the swords into the shell further, sending a 
shower of sparks out like a fountain from the blows. 
  Finally giving up on its useless situation, Mekabu 
lowered itself back down to the tunnel's level, and 
rocketed back toward the treatment plant. 
  "Hang on!" shouted Ukyo, grasping the sword with both 
hands. 
  "What does it look like I'm doing?!" Shizuka yelled 
back, holding onto the handle of her sword with one 
hand. 
  "So what makes you think you can boss me around and 
I can't?!" complained the okonomiyaki chef. "Can't I 
even at least be concerned?!" 
  "I'll tell you when you should be concerned!!" 

  As they emerged from the tunnel Tatewaki held his arm 
out to block Miranda's way. 
  "What?!" she hissed. 
  "Something approaches!" he replied quickly, gripping 
his bokken with both hands. 
  Sure enough, rocketing toward the two from down the 
intersection was a flying spheroid, or, at least, what 
looked to be a spheroid. 
  "The Mekabu!" Tatewaki recognized. 
  "Damn, are those girls nuts?!" Miranda shouted, 
recognizing Ukyo and Shizuka hanging at the sides. She 
rolled up her sleeves, pressing her feet against the 
wall behind her. 
  Timing her leap, Miranda sprung off the wall just in 
time to land on the face of Mekabu, her face smashing 
into the hard steel shell, much to the surprise of 
Ukyo and Shizuka. Tatewaki watched the flying shell and 
the three girls disappear around a corner, cursing to 
himself softly and giving chase. 

  "Nice of you to join us!" Ukyo shouted to Miranda. 
  "I wasn't planning on kissing this thing!" she shot 
back angrily, trying to find something to keep hold on. 
Giving up, she put her fists together and pounded 
against the top of the shell. 
  "What do you think you're doing?!" demanded Shizuka. 
  "STOP THIS THING!!" the martial artist shouted. 

  Kodachi held her fencing foil close to herself, 
waiting at the corner as Akane, Shang Long, and Johan 
passed in front of her. 
  "Okay, we're there," Akane spoke into the transmitter 
in her hand, looking around the underground treatment 
plant. "This place is even cleaner than I thought." 
  Johan snorted. "There's a hole in the ceiling," he 
said, pointing to the light illuminating the complex 
in the ceiling. 
  "The rift is here," Shang Long said. "I can feel it." 
  "I can see it," Kodachi amended, pointing her foil 
below the hole. 
  Easily as wide, perhaps even wider than the hole in 
the ceiling, was a tear in the dimensional fabric, a 
hole in the ground leading to nowhere-- a nowhere that 
strangely was somewhere. All around the perimeter of 
the complex copper Mekani workers busied themselves as 
they fused weapon appendages onto steel warriors, 
readying them for combat. 
  "I don't see the Enforcer," Akane whispered. 
  "Doesn't matter," Johan said, cracking his knuckles. 
"We're taking out the workers!" 
  Scattering in different directions Kodachi, Johan, 
and Shang Long took off, skewering, smashing, or 
melting Mekani left and right as they went. Akane stood 
in the entrance hall, sighing to herself. 
  "It's too easy," she realized, when a slight hum 
issued from behind. 
  Instinctively she ducked, just as the flying shell of 
Mekabu passed overhead, carrying Miranda, Ukyo, and 
Shizuka as it went. Behind her, Akane saw Tatewaki Kuno 
rush up on foot, his bokken held ready. 
  "Forgive me, dear Akane!" he shouted as he ran by. 
"We shall deal with the threat!" 
  "Huh, don't mind me," Akane replied in a bored tone 
as the flying shell stopped over the rift. 
  She looked down, suddenly realizing that the shadow 
she was casting was much larger than she expected. 
Turning suddenly, Akane screamed. 
  Tatewaki froze in his tracks, just as the three girls 
and Mekabu dropped into the rift. "Akane!" 
  Kodachi, Shang Long, and Johan finished the last of 
the copper workers just as Tatewaki stopped yelling. 
  "What is that?!" Kodachi shouted. 
  Akane, dropping her transmitter, was being suspended 
in the air by a manipulator claw. Its owner emerged 
from the tunnel, its two amethyst eyes sparkling in 
the light from above. Appearing larger than the warrior 
Mekani, this new spiderian was set on six legs, and had 
a third, tail appendage over its head, similar to a 
scorpion's tail, with a large cannon at its tip. Its 
other appendage bore a steel saw, held dangerously 
close to Akane's neck. 
  "The rogue elements will cease rebellion at once," 
Enforcer Alpha demanded. 

  Sypha, now as Star Crusher, aimed her dragon pearl 
at Mekaryu, throwing a bolt of lightning that hit the 
steel monster squarely. However, the marauder did not 
seem fazed by the hit as electricity washed over its 
hide and dissipated harmlessly. Mekaryu opened its 
great maw, and fired a beam of energy at the celestial 
dragon. At the last moment Star Crusher waved her free 
claw before her, creating a force barrier that 
deflected the brunt of the energy beam. 
  "You mockery of my people!" the dragon hissed, blood 
boiling with fury. "I'll destroy you with my bare claws 
if I have to!" 
  Mekaryu's eyes glowed a harsher red, acknowledging 
the threat silently. Lurching forward it headbutted 
Star Crusher square in the head, bypassing her barrier 
and forcing her to lose concentration. Knocking the 
monster back with her snout Star Crusher opened her 
mouth and sunk her teeth into Mekaryu's head, tearing 
off a good chunk of the machine's steel scales. She bit 
into it again, ignoring the pain as Mekaryu tore at her 
own proud scales with sharp talons. This time Star 
Crusher took off a good chunk of the creature's head 
armor, ripping off half its face and exposing its left 
eye to the sky. 
  Spitting out the steel scales, she spat, "Egh, you 
taste terrible!" 
  Mekaryu took cue from its competitor, and sunk its 
row of diamond-tipped teeth into Star Crusher's neck. 
She howled in pain, going so far as to slam her tail 
into the ground and smashing another squad of Mekani 
warriors. Locking her claws onto the steel serpent Star 
Crusher clamped her free claw onto the monster's neck, 
just below its head, and sunk in with all her fury. 
  The mechanical beast released its biting hold, head 
snapping back as the celestial dragon dug her claws 
into the Mekaryu's spine. Panting heavily, she said, 
"Game over for you!" 
  Passing her dragon pearl to a rear claw Star Crusher 
dug both her claws into Mekaryu's neck, tearing into 
steel with great effort. To its credit the mechanical 
dragon was charging up its breath weapon, thrashing its 
head about furiously. With a final burst of energy, 
Star Crusher lunged with her jaw open, and sunk into 
the monster's neck. 
  Withdrawing herself from the steel mockery of dragons 
Star Crusher watched as Mekaryu's head snapped free 
from its spine, sending a massive energy feedback into 
the body from the incomplete breath attack. Quickly she 
willed her form to change, back into human shape, and 
summoned a bubble shield around her. 
  As the Mekaryu's severed head tumbled back into the 
hole whence it came, the rest of its body exploded, 
raining the city with shards of steel scales. 

  In the streets below, Hikaru Gosunkugi, still 
piloting the Metal Smasher, shielded his eyes from the 
explosion of the steel serpent. 
  A transmission issued over the radio. "Gosunkugi!" 
he heard Ayame shout. "Get out of there!" 
  The cockpit's glare dimmed, and Gosunkugi realized 
the cause for alarm as pieces of the defeated Mekaryu 
rained from above. Quickly he pulled the reverse lever, 
withdrawing just in time as a scale smashed the Mekani 
warrior he was engaging. 

  Eyes tore away from Alpha and Akane as Mekaryu's 
severed, sparking head plunged into the rift, followed 
by several explosion rocking the ceiling above. 
  "You're out of men!" Johan realized. "Give it up, 
Alpha!" 
  "Enforcer Alpha will pass through the rift safely," 
demanded the Enforcer. "Alternative will be death of 
hostage." 
  "A cowardly gesture!" Tatewaki replied angrily. 
  A shot rang out from behind Alpha, causing it to lose 
grip on Akane. 
  "Get it!" Spencer shouted from down the tunnel. 
"Don't let it get away!" 
  "Got that!" Shang Long replied, aiming his Magma 
Dragon Staff at the retreating Alpha. A stream of 
elemental earth and fire combined shot out from the 
staff's head, slamming into the Enforcer, but stopping 
short, washing over an invisible barrier. 
  Tatewaki and Kodachi charged, bokken and foil each, 
piercing through the barrier where elemental weapon 
failed. Both dodged as Alpha swung its saw wildly. 
  Orienting its tail backward Alpha launched energy 
shells toward the threat behind, but a tri-flower 
quickly severed that appendage, courtesy of Mizuki. 
  Quickly Johan took advantage of the monster's busy 
schedule, lowering himself to Alpha's side and running 
his feet around and under three of its legs. Alpha 
lurched and fell to its side, the street fighter 
leaping out of the way just in time. 
  Tatewaki moved in and smashed the saw appendage off 
with a quick slash of his bokken, cleaving it clean 
away while Kodachi jammed her foil through one of 
Alpha's amethyst eyes. 
  "Enforcer Alpha..." droned the Mekani, "unable to 
be retrieved. Initiate detonation sequence. All agents 
will be removed...." 
  "Oh my..." Sakurai gasped from down the tunnel. 
  "It's going to blow!" Akane warned. 
  "The rift is closing!" Kodachi pointed out, turning 
her eyes toward the center of the facility. 
  "The monster's in the way!" Mizuki shouted from the 
other end of the tunnel. "You guys get out, we're going 
back the way we came!" 
  "Gotcha!" shouted Akane, her eyes turning toward the 
hole in the ceiling. 
  "I hope someone has rope or something!" Johan 
shouted frantically. 
  Suddenly, a column of light flashed through the 
hole, ending in wide disc at the floor where the rift 
used to be. Sypha stood in the center, holding her 
glowing dragon pearl before her. 
  "I hope you'll come with me," she said slyly, 
indirectly answering the street fighter's question. 
"Because it would be a shame to lose at this point in 
the game!" 

  Ranma whistled in awe despite himself as Cinder 
lead him, Ryoga, Mousse, Kanna, and Konatsu through the 
entrance hall of the fortress Yamato, the home of the 
Orochi and the souls of his followers. 
  Standing at attention to each side of the great hall 
was row upon row of ancient Orochi warriors, showing a 
gesture of respect for the newcomers, from one warrior 
to another. Each was decorated in ceremonial armors 
from their respective cultures, from all over the world 
and then some. Ranma himself recognized only the 
Asian-style armors, each decorated with many serpents 
and the distinctive Orochi ring symbol. 
  He diverted his eyes away as he recognized faces of 
those defeated not long ago. Ashinzo Kusanagi stood at 
attention, followed by Akutare Furui, Nagi Tachibana, 
and the rest of the deceased Orochi assassins. Ranma 
recognized them all, but could find no hint of malice 
in any of them, yet he noticed that two of them were 
still missing. 
  They paused at a great set of iron doors, which 
parted before them without any movement on the part of 
the honor guard. Cinder marched ahead confidently 
through the doors, through the arch held up by the 
heads of two serpents, fitting for a fortress built in 
the shape of a dragon's head and seven dragon head 
towers. 
  As the last of them passed through the gate the heavy 
iron slammed shut, cutting the party from their escape 
route, if necessary. Ranma cast his eyes backward, 
finding only nervous reaction in Konatsu, who seemed to 
recognize numerous places an ambush could be staged, 
and curiosity from Kanna, who had not previously had 
dealings with the Orochi. 
  Cinder came to a complete stop before a massive 
throne, built of human skulls. Ranma tried to tear his 
eyes away, but the skulls were arranged in a somewhat 
hypnotic pattern that he could not help but be 
fascinated by it all. Perhaps it was not the throne 
itself, but the large head resting at its seat; an 
enormous dragon's head, resting lazily, with seven 
smaller heads dancing about behind it, similar to 
Medusa's hair from mythology. The creature, however, 
was no more solid than Ranma remembered Deathclaw to 
be, marking it as more spiritual than actual matter. 
  Without moving its mouth, Orochi spoke, "Lord Warrior 
Sokar na Kibarak, loyal retainer of Kolvar na Strakil 
of the flame salamander kingdom." 
  Cinder bowed respectfully. 
  Mousse ripped Ryoga quickly. "That's a mouthful of a 
title." 
  "I think that's Cinder's name here," Ryoga replied. 
  "Shhh!!" quieted Kanna. 
  "Your deeds precede you," continued the Speaker of 
Orochi. "To what honor have we of your visit?" 
  Before the salamander could reply, the Orochi noticed 
Ranma and the others. "I see you have brought before me 
an offering?" 
  "If you will," interrupted Cinder, "you will hold 
your tongue when I am asked to speak!" 
  Konatsu gasped. "Is that wise?!" 
  "He knows what he's doing," Kanna whispered to the 
kunoichi. "At least show some faith in him!" 
  Orochi laughed jovially, obviously amused. 
  "I requested an audience with your illustrious self," 
the salamander said, driving straight to the point, 
"because of a concern that you are not pushing any 
effort into preventing the Mekani from retrieving 
elemental artifacts." 
  "You have been absent for many moons," Orochi replied 
carefully. "What is your source of this news?" 
  Cinder's mechanical eye rotated and focused in on the 
spirit body. "Zhou Tian-long, the rogue celestial 
dragon." 
  A curtain of silence fell upon the hall as Orochi 
considered the salamander's words. Ranma glanced back 
at the others, each unable to figure out what Cinder 
meant. 
  "She has returned?" the Speaker asked, surprised. 
  "Zhou Tian-long must be Sypha," Kanna realized. 
  "Along with her, the Mekani," Cinder pressed. "Surely 
you know of them." 
  "Of course!" the Speaker replied. "They have 
attempted to assault this fortress for many moons, as 
our fortress contains the most valuable of artifacts! 
But, our standing guard is too much for their 
mechanical wiles." 
  "And yet, you venture no further from the fortress, 
shunning your neighbors as they are plundered. Maybe 
you would gain much in the reunion of worlds." 
  "That would be so!" admitted Orochi. "I hear they 
require but one more artifact to begin the collapse of 
the pillars; they have retrieved an artifact left 
behind on Earth belonging to me." 
  "So we're almost too late?!" Ranma shouted, talking 
out of turn. 
  "Ranma!" hissed Kanna, but it was too late. 
  "Ah, I see that you have the will to stand up to me 
as well, Destroyer?" Orochi said with amusement, 
focusing attention on Ranma. "Will you destroy this 
fortress as well?" 
  "If that's what it takes!" the martial artist replied 
hotly. 
  "An empty threat! You are in my domain now." 
  "You are an outcast of the kami," Cinder interrupted, 
driving his words like a knife into the conversation. 
"Because we of the Inferno Regions are shunned by the 
surface worlds, our affairs are no concern of theirs. 
Even my Lord Kolvar na Strakil lounges in his palace, 
and Hades in his dominion, because we are the people of 
Hell, the underworld where all evil spawns. We are 
perceived this way because the humans imagined it, and 
it has carried over into our world." 
  "And yet our people are no more evil than those who 
dwell on the surface, away from the fires of the 
Inferno. We wage wars, for glory and honor, and for 
territory... even to settle disputes. So do they. We 
fight, jealous of each others' power, craving for more 
of our own. So do they. We fight, kill, slaughter, and 
mercilessly destroy one another, as do the surface 
dwellers. But the one thing we share, between kami and 
human, dweller of the depths or not, is our love for 
this planet, Earth." 
  "Our goals are misunderstood," conceded Cinder. "Our 
ways are alien to those who decide social values. Our 
methods are revolting because it is different. They 
make us less than people by saying we have no love of 
this Earth, and I say to you, great Orochi, that this 
shall not be true. If your goals indeed are with the 
Earth foremost in your mind, then you, along with the 
rest of the Inferno Region, will take arms, and aid our 
surface brethren in the war against the Mekani, because 
they share the same Earth as we. Isolation is no longer 
an option; the underworld must do their part in this 
battle, because we fight not for ourselves, or for the 
sake of others, but for the sake of the planet." 
  A new cone of silence descended upon the throne room 
as Orochi paused to consider Cinder's words. The 
salamander folded his arms expectantly, his mechanical 
eye focusing out, issuing the only sound that could be 
heard in the silence. Ranma dared not speak, nor breath 
a word, wondering if the soldier-turned-speaker had any 
affect on the monstrous eight-headed dragon. 

  "Ow!" Ranma spat, rubbing his posterior as the gate 
of the Yamato fortress slammed shut behind him. 
  "If this is how they treat their friends," Mousse 
said as he got up to his feet, "I'd hate to see how 
they treat their enemies." 
  A moment later the group watched as the gate swung 
open a second time, save this time Cinder walked out, 
with great dignity and head high. He lowered his head, 
eye focusing on Ranma intently. 
  "You can be assured that Orochi has agreed to fight," 
the salamander said. "Those words were not meant for 
human ears." 
  "Well, that's nice to know," Kanna replied 
sarcastically. "Now what?" 
  "Messengers are being dispatched to the rest of the 
Inferno kingdoms as we speak," the salamander answered. 
"I fear, however, it will not be enough." 
  "Why?" asked Konatsu. 
  "Orochi imparted that the Mekani are currently 
seeking an artifact attuned to the lightning element," 
Cinder explained. "They have retrieved artifacts from 
all the other basic and composites but that one." 
  "And what's the big deal, anyway?" asked Ryoga. "Why 
did they have to kick us out like that?" 
  As if to answer Ryoga's question, everyone's 
attention was drawn to the horizon beyond Yamato. Where 
none stood before legions of Mekani soldiers appeared, 
each clacking and clomping their way toward the Orochi 
fortress. 
  "You see," Cinder said, "we're carrying two such 
artifacts on us right now." 
  "Oh that's just swell," Kanna snorted, pulling her 
death scythe from over her shoulder. 
  Mousse strapped on his razor claws. "It has to be 
this thing, I'm sure of it!" 
  "But what can we do against an army?" wondered 
Ranma. "Sure, we can take plenty of them out, but not 
before they clobber us with numbers." 
  "And perhaps that is where you are fortunate, boy," 
he heard Nagi say, stepping out of the gates proudly. 
  "Clash?" gasped the martial artist in surprise. 
  "Yamato has never fallen for nothing, Saotome," 
Ashinzo Kusanagi chipped in, leading several other 
spirit warriors through the gate. 
  "Help from unexpected places," Kanna noted. She 
shot a glance toward Cinder. "If it's an army we're 
directing, I need to be up there." 
  The salamander nodded in understanding. "Come with 
me." 
  Ranma watched as both the Crystal Spider and the 
Guardian of Suzaku's seal disappeared into Yamato. 
"Well, I guess we won't have to worry about that 
artifact." 
  "But in it's place, another light artifact!" he heard 
Akutare screech delightfully, twiddling his pudgy 
fingers. Wires sprang from each of them threateningly, 
and Ranma groaned. 
  "Oh great, you still have that?!" Ryoga complained. 
  "It's still mine until a new assassin takes it!" 
the short assassin answered. "I don't see you got 
anything better!" 
  Mousse pointed his finger out, and gulped. "R-Ranma! 
Look!" 
  Quickly the martial artist cast his eyes out to 
where the weapons master was directing, and Ranma 
gulped himself. Standing atop one of the lead Mekani 
warriors was the Mekako, the steel tiger Mekani. 
  "Damn, I knew this was too easy!" 

  Kanna burst into the Yamato command center, followed 
by Cinder, startling the occupants gathered at the 
observation port. 
  "Okay, what're we looking at?" she asked. 
  "What right have you to barge in here on us, girl?!" 
demanded one of the spirits. 
  "She is here because I allowed it," Cinder replied 
nastily. "You will obey her directives without 
question!" 
  "I see." 
  "I want to see positions, and numbers!" demanded the 
Crystal Spider. "As of now, I'm your chief tactician." 
  "If you wish," the lead spirit said, eyeing Cinder 
suspiciously. He pointed toward the observation port, 
displaying a large monitor showing the tactical layout 
around the fortress. "As you can see, they surround 
the tower on all sides save the side with Acheron on 
it. Their numbers are in the thousands, and outnumber 
us by at least a factor of ten." 
  "And yet they have no generals of their own?" asked 
Kanna. 
  "Traditionally, one of their Enforcers, Gamma, will 
direct action against us," the spirit continued, still 
skeptical. "Instead, Gamma has sent us a marauder unit 
against us; it is more than sufficient to direct the 
battle itself." 
  "I know of it," she replied quickly. "I need to know 
our defensive capabilities." 
  "All seven outer towers are equipped with elemental 
cannons. Each can handle a battalion on their side of 
the tower, but nothing in between; too large a gap. The 
central tower can be moved, however, and directs a 
concentrated dark elemental blast." 
  "Is that all?" 
  The spirit nodded. "For the most part." 
  Kanna shook her head. "I don't need weapons of mass 
destruction; if that's all we have to work with you 
don't need me." 
  "Precisely." 
  "However!" 
  The spirit looked startled. 
  "Those are your defenses 'for the most part,'" Kanna 
pointed out. "What ELSE do you have? Preferably some 
kind of remote operating device." 
  Cinder nodded in approval, eyeing the lead spirit 
carefully. 
  "We have remote scouters," he replied. "But what good 
will they do? They only observe." 
  "If I know the Mekani," answered the girl smugly, 
"they single-mindedly follow a goal, just like any 
stupid machine. Of course, they'll attack and pursue 
only that they consider a threat to or are their goals. 
So I want those scouters deployed, and modified 
appropriately." 
  "What do you intend to do?" 
  "I'm going to make this the shortest skirmish in 
history," Kanna announced decisively. 

  Konatsu arced wide in his slash, taking out three 
Mekani warriors grouped too close together in the 
advancing line. Soon thereafter three more emerged, 
crawling over the corpses of their brethren and pushing 
the line onward. He cursed under his breath, slipping 
ninja stars into his hands and tossing them with 
deadly precision. 
  He risked a glance toward Ranma and Ryoga; the two 
martial artists were double teaming the apparent leader 
of the pack, the tiger-like Mekako. The Mekani marauder 
slashed widely, forcing the two to keep a wide berth, 
but allowing the line to advance around it all the 
same. Neither Ranma nor Ryoga were gaining a noticeable 
advantage over the Mekani. 
  Slashing again at the next wave Konatsu barely met 
his end at the edge of a saw, but Mousse was already on 
top of it, skewering the attacking Mekani through the 
head with a tethered spear. The kunoichi gave a quick 
thumbs-up signal as the Master of Hidden Weapons 
discarded the weapon, turning his attention to other 
threatening warriors. 
  "Konatsu," Ukyo had said before he left for the Kami 
Plane, "I must ask you a favor. Please look after 
Ranma for me." 
  He shook his head. "I'm not sure if I can do it 
anymore." 
  "Why?" she asked. "What's the matter?" 
  Sighing, Konatsu answered, "I feel as if my service 
is going unrewarded. Lately you have been pushing me 
away rather than allowing me to be at your side. Am I 
so unworthy of you?" 
  To that, Ukyo could not answer for quite some time, 
obviously taken aback by his words. Pressing on, he 
added, "Ever since our battle with the Orochi assassins 
so long ago you have been stressing my independence, 
and I have done so. At the same time, you've been 
pushing me away; going off alone by yourself or with 
Ranma all the time. I feel I've been patient with you, 
Ukyo, but my heart is aching, because I think I've lost 
my way. So I need to know where we stand." 
  Guilt obviously sunk into the chef, but it was the 
last thing Konatsu wanted. She replied, "I... I don't 
know what to say." 
  Konatsu understood those words exactly. The last 
words he imparted before agreeing to go was: "I won't 
force you to answer now; you may give me your answer 
when I return." 
  A feeling of uncertainty in both their hearts, for a 
moment the kunoichi wondered if he did the right thing. 
Slashing more of the Mekani warriors, Konatsu felt his 
heart aching all the more, pounding against his chest 
and threatening to tear itself out. 
  "No, I must be wrong!" he shouted, furiously tearing 
one soldier to pieces. 
  "Konatsu!" he heard Mousse shout. "What's happening?" 
  "Was it wrong of me to spill my dying heart upon 
her?!" Konatsu cried, increasing his furious attacks 
with swifter slashes. "Was it wrong to expect an answer 
to the calling of my heart?!" 
  Mousse said nothing, burying his razor claws into 
the ground angrily. In a wave before him several blades 
ripped through the ground, tearing apart Mekani in a 
single line. 
  Withdrawing the claws Mousse turned and attacked 
another warrior. "You know something, Konatsu?" he said 
at last. "If you love her so much, if you love her so 
purely that you can't stop thinking about her, then 
you were wrong." 
  "What?" Konatsu said, nearly stopping in his tracks 
from the shocking response. 
  "You heard me!" he hissed angrily. "The one thing you 
should NEVER do is mess with a girl's heart!" 
  As if punctuating his point, over their heads several 
small, spherical pods launched away from Yamato's 
towers, disappearing in the horizon. "It's about Ukyo, 
isn't it?" 
  Konatsu nodded quickly. 
  "What you did was wrong," he repeated. "You told her 
how much you loved her, right?" Without waiting Mousse 
pressed on, slashing another Mekani angrily. "You told 
her you loved her..." he skewered another warrior with 
a quick blade toss, "with strings attached!" 
  The kunoichi buried his sword into another warrior's 
eye, then withdrew it quickly and turned toward Mousse. 
"What are you talking about?" 
  "You demanded an answer, didn't you?" 
  "Y... yes." 
  "You blew it!" Mousse cried. "You BLEW IT!!" He 
unleashed his fury by throwing several sets of tethered 
weapons at the incoming Mekani, hitting true on each 
mark. "You DON'T ask them for an answer, because, 
dammit, the girl isn't necessarily thinking the same as 
you!" 
  Konatsu threw down his sword in frustration and 
shame. "I blew it," he echoed. "So come get me!" 
  But the Mekani line halted in its advance, and Mousse 
also picked up on this, halting in his attack. 
  "They've... they've stopped!" the kunoichi managed to 
say. 

  "The scouters are emitting the power-up signals as 
requested," the lead spirit informed Kanna. "The Mekani 
are advancing toward them as you predicted." 
  "Good," the Crystal Spider purred, leaning back in a 
soft leather-hide chair, Cinder standing behind her. 
"Stupid and single-minded as they are the Mekani are 
dying to get their hands on an elemental lightning 
artifact, so we just gave them a bunch of them to play 
with." 
  Cinder nodded. "As they move away from Yamato they 
are putting themselves in the firing range of the seven 
energy towers." 
  "In effect, their single-mindedness has worked 
against them," Kanna concluded. "All gaps are filling. 
The only trick, of course, is how we're going to get 
rid of the Mekako." 

  "I don't believe it!" Ranma shouted, ducking under 
a slashing blow from Mekako's claws. "They're running 
away!" 
  "Pay attention, Ranma!" suggested Ryoga, looking for 
an opening, but finding none. "This guy isn't going 
anywhere!" 
  True to the martial artist's words Mekako and all 
the Mekani immediately around it were keeping to the 
push, and while Orochi's spirit warriors were dealing 
with the warriors it was up to Ranma and Ryoga to 
tackle the marauder unit. The primary reinforcements, 
lead by Nagi and Ashinzo, were dealing with the 
warriors with ease, using their superior skills. 
  Mekako spun in place, creating a whirlwind of 
slashing, and forcing both Ranma and Ryoga back. It 
curled into a ball, exposing a buzzing saw blade along 
its spine, and bowled toward them. Both martial artists 
dodged to the side each, allowing the Mekako to pass 
by, but the machine recovered from the aborted attack 
quickly and leaped at Ranma. 
  But Ryoga was there to intercept, landing a deep 
kick in Mekako's side and sending it on a path away 
from Ranma. Mekako rolled over, catching Ryoga's leg 
and tossing him away. 
  "Ryoga!" Ranma shouted as his body collapsed in the 
distance. 
  The Mekani steel tiger blocked Ranma's way, eyes 
glowing maliciously in silent warning. Growing sick of 
his predicament the martial artist reached for his 
belt, grasping hold of Shizuka's returning dagger, and 
held it out before him. The monster slashed at him, but 
Ranma deflected the blow with the dagger. Taking 
advantage of the parry Ranma threw the dagger straight 
into Mekako's left eye. 
  Ranma plugged his ears as the creature screamed an 
unearthly sound. He felt the beast plant a good fist 
into his gut, sending the martial artist back and 
momentarily open. It ceased its painful scream, and 
Ranma expected the returning dagger to fly back into 
his hand, but the weapon remain wedged in place. 
  "Damn!" he cursed. "What's with you and cruddy 
weapons, Shizuka?!" 
  Mekako leaped out at Ranma, ready to attack, but was 
stopped in its tracks. The martial artist gasped in 
surprise as several sets of thin wire coiled themselves 
around the beast, stopping it in its tracks. 
  "Akutare?!" he uttered as he saw the short man do 
his work with the wires. 
  "You owe me a body later!" the scrawny assassin 
shouted. 
  Mekako, acting in frustration as it pulled against 
the stiff wires, opened its jaw wide, an energy spike 
glowing within. Ranma took that as his cue to escape, 
jumping straight up into the air as an energy burst 
lanced out. He extended his leg for a drop kick, but 
the Mekani was already orienting its head to fire 
again. 
  But something else caught both of the combatants' 
attentions, as lights of all the color spectrum issued 
forth from the Yamato. 

  "The bulk of the Mekani soldiers are within range," 
announced Cinder proudly. 
  Kanna wrung her hands in anticipation. "Fire!" 

  All fighters on the battlefield shielded their eyes 
to the exclusion of anything else as the Yamato's 
towers spewed beams of pure elemental energies, lancing 
out into the distance where the scouters landed before. 
A burst of flame, light, and energy annihilated the 
horizon, taking with it all those Mekani caught within 
the area of destruction around the scouter targets. 
  Ranma felt himself land at his feet, but his ears 
picked up another sound, that of a twang of wires. He 
braced himself as Mekako's heavy body rammed into him, 
broken wires trailing behind. 
  The moment the light dimmed to normal Ryoga, Konatsu, 
and Mousse were standing over him, concern in their 
eyes. 
  "What happened?" asked Ranma, shaking his head. 
  "The army's been wiped out," explained Mousse. "Kanna 
did it. She tricked them into going after decoys with 
elemental signatures. What a genius...." 
  "Where's the Mekako?" 
  "It retreated into a rift," Konatsu answered, his 
finger pointing away from the Yamato. "The remaining 
Mekani soldiers are attempting to retreat as well." 
  "So... I guess it's over," Ryoga decided. 
  "No," Ranma said, quickly getting up to his feet. 
He turned toward Akutare, who was sitting on the ground 
nearby, severed wires hanging loosely before him. 
"Akutare...?" 
  "What?" snorted the short man. 
  "Those wires," the martial artist pressed. "Do they 
retain their elemental...?" 
  "Of COURSE they do!" the assassin replied. "Do you 
know how long it takes to regenerate them once cut?!" 
  "Oh shit!" Ranma cursed, breaking out of the circle 
of allies and heading for the rift. "It's not over!" 
  "Ranma!" shouted Ryoga, rushing to catch up. "What's 
the matter?!" Konatsu and Mousse followed. 
  "Mekako's getting away with the last artifact!" he 
shouted, knowing that was all the others needed to 
know. "We gotta go, before it's too late!" 

  Dropping through the rift first Shampoo was glad she 
readied her weapons, aiming the blaze cane's dragon 
head and firing at the Mekani. Several other Amazon 
warriors stepped into the metal chamber, each armed 
with their own Amazon artifacts. 
  Just before entering the rift Cologne approached 
Shampoo and her hand-picked team of warriors to assault 
the Mekani base. She handed the blaze cane to her, a 
weapon Akane once used to defeat Pink and Rink back in 
Japan. 
  "Just press the button," she explained, "and the head 
will spew jets of flames. It is one of the artifacts 
the Mekani were after, but I think they will prove to 
be a welcome edge against them." 
  "Great-grandmother was right," Shampoo said, taking 
out several more of the waiting Mekani warriors. 
  Taking out the last of the guard, she took in her 
surroundings. The Mekani fortress, not surprisingly, 
appeared to be made entirely of metal. Steel plates, 
walls, cables, and tubes ran each way, in seemingly 
haphazard directions, but polished clean nonetheless, 
such that Shampoo could see her own reflection in it. 
  Looking back, she stared at the portal whence she 
came, the other end of the rift. It was shaped in a 
ring pattern, and next to it, to each side were two 
more rings, each with an open rift. 
  "Looks like we're not the only ones home," Ling-ling 
said, clutching her polearm tightly in her hands. 
  Her sister nodded. "I wonder how the others are 
doing?" 
  "There's no sign of the Mekazaku," Paste noted, 
scanning the room with a bit of disappointment. "I was 
hoping we could finish it off." 
  Shampoo raised her hand for silence, just before the 
remaining three warriors could chip in their own, 
undisciplined opinions. Just then, the rift to their 
left shimmered, and something popped right through, 
rolling along on the platform before it. 
  "Ranma?!" she shouted in surprise. 
  Soon thereafter Ryoga, Mousse, and Konatsu stepped 
through the gate, shaking their heads out of the daze 
of rift travel. 
  "All of you?!" Shampoo gasped. "Mousse?" 
  "Shampoo?" Mousse said, turning to her, looking 
confused. 
  Ranma stumbled back to his feet, panic in his eyes. 
"Hey, you happen to see a big metal tiger run through 
here?!" 
  "We were going to ask you the same about a big metal 
bird," Lung-lung replied tensely. 
  "They've got all the artifacts," Mousse said quickly. 
"We've got to find them and stop them from doing... 
whatever it is they're doing." 
  Shampoo nodded. "You're welcome to join us." 

  Ukyo shook herself awake, cradling her head with one 
arm and grasping at Shizuka's sword with the other. 
She pulled the weapon tightly toward herself, barely 
realizing that it somehow got loose from the Mekabu's 
shell. 
  Forcing her eyes open she spied Miranda, spread out 
face-down on the cold metal ground, and Shizuka, 
leaning against a wall, both her hands on the sword she 
was grasping to. The okonomiyaki chef rubbed her eyes, 
dropping the sword, unable to see where the Mekabu 
disappeared to. 
  "Shizu... Mira..." she whispered carefully, urgently. 
"Wake up!" 
  "Urgh," grunted Miranda, picking herself up from the 
cold steel floor. "That ride deserved an A ticket." 
  "Don't call me 'Shizu,' you hypocritical bastard," 
Shizuka muttered, struggling to get her eyes open. 
  Miranda shook her head, taking in her surroundings. 
"Damn, this isn't a cell or anything...." 
  "No," Ukyo said, shaking her head. "It's just a dark 
hall. Who knows why we're here?" 
  "That's because Mekabu brought us through the rift," 
the priestess of Genbu replied, reaching for the sword 
near Ukyo. "After that... I don't remember what 
happened." 
  "Whatever," Miranda said, shrugging. "Wherever we are 
now, we'd better step on it. I doubt the Mekani will 
miss us for long." 
  "I'm surprised they didn't kill us already," Ukyo 
voiced. 
  "They couldn't," Shizuka said, realization dawning 
upon her as she sheathed both her swords. "Hokuto's 
here." 
  "No kidding?" asked Miranda. "What's that supposed to 
mean?" 
  "I can feel it in my bones," the priestess replied. 
"She's here, and she's watching us." 
  "I'm not sure if that's such a good thing," the 
okonomiyaki chef replied. "We'd better get moving." 

  Ranma and Shampoo lead the way through the dark 
halls, the others trailing behind, ready to battle at 
a moment's notice, but meeting no resistance along the 
way. 
  "This is ridiculously quiet," he muttered, sharing 
his concern to the Amazon leader. "Where are all their 
soldiers?" 
  "Maybe we busted them all back there," Ryoga 
suggested. 
  "Even still, that can't be all of them," Mousse 
pointed out. 
  "Don't jinx it!" hissed Shampoo. 
  They continued down the hall, stopping only when they 
were about to pass a large set of double sliding doors 
in the wall, which Konatsu barely noticed in their 
haste. Quickly, the kunoichi unsheathed his sword, 
using it to pry the door open using it as a lever. 
  Light poured out into the hall, opening the object of 
the party's quest for them to see. A vast cylindrical 
chamber, stretching up as far as their eyes could see, 
Ranma could make out eight points of light dancing 
high above, each focusing their energies on a central 
point, the towering spire in the center of the cylinder 
chamber. 
  "Rogue elements detected at the bottom of the 
Cauldron," they heard a voice drone impassionately. 
"Eliminate immediately." 
  "The Mekani Director!" Ranma realized, looking up to 
scan for the source of the voice. His eye caught a 
slight movement against the glow of the elemental 
energies, he guessed, at an alcove two floors above. 
  "The plan will proceed as scheduled," the Director 
said. "The planes will be reunited as it once was." 
  "There's no reasoning with a machine!" Mousse hissed 
angrily. 
  "Ryoga, Konatsu!" Ranma shouted. "Give me a boost!" 
  Both warriors nodded in understanding, cupping their 
hands together. Ranma gave himself a short running 
start, making a short leap and landing his feet on 
Ryoga and Konatsu's hands. They used their arms to help 
spring the martial artist up into the air, obviously 
startling the Director immensely. It retreated back as 
Ranma landed in the alcove. 
  He looked upon the monster, easily three times the 
size of a Mekani warrior. Colored jet black the 
Director possessed a pair of large amethyst jewels for 
eyes, shining impassionately against the swirl of 
elemental energies. Standing on eight legs the monster 
may have resembled a spider, save it possessed three 
appendages: two below its mandibles, and one tail-like 
appendage resembling a scorpion's tail. 
  "You thought you had us," Ranma said, cracking his 
knuckles. "You almost had things your way, but now it's 
going to end for you!" 
  "The Director is protected at all times by its most 
dangerous weapons," the Mekani overlord said, without 
concern. "Initiate Mekami Unit 00." 
  Ranma tensed himself, not knowing what to expect out 
of the Director's latest command. A hidden door pulled 
up and away, and a steel monster stepped out. 
  Easily topping Ranma's height, the new Mekani 
marauder, like the rest of its kind, was made of 
polished steel, but it was the form that surprised the 
martial artist more. It possessed two arms, two legs, 
a torso, and a head, all in the same fashion as a 
human, save it was nearly featureless. 
  Eyes glowing maliciously red, Ranma knew he was in 
for some real trouble as he stared down a Mekami 
fashioned after a human. 

  Shizuka tossed steel cards with extreme prejudice at 
the Mekani warriors, smashing them with good marks in 
their eyes. She slipped her arm back up her sleeve for 
more, but came up empty. 
  "Miranda!" she shouted, just as another warrior 
readied its steam cannon. 
  Quickly an energy discus flew from the martial 
artist's hands, finding its mark cleanly and taking 
out the warrior. Miranda and Ukyo quickly rushed to 
Shizuka's side, the last of the Mekani warriors 
defeated. 
  "I'm out," Shizuka said sadly, shaking her sleeves as 
if it could produce more steel cards. 
  "I found something," Ukyo said, pointing toward the a 
set of open double doors. "I think it's important." 
  "Really?" Miranda said sarcastically, viewing the 
swirl of lights issuing from within. "You don't say?" 
  "You guys go ahead," the priestess insisted. "I've 
got business to take care of." 
  "Huh?" Ukyo grabbed Shizuka's arm tightly. "Where do 
you think you're going? Don't tell me you're going off 
to die...." 
  She shook her head. "Ukyo... there's something I just 
have to do. If you don't want to be a hypocritical 
bastard all the time, let me go. I need to follow what 
my instincts are telling me, and they're telling me 
something's up ahead, and that I should be there. I 
don't know about you, but I don't get premonitions as 
a fact, but I think people like you listen to them, 
right?" 
  Sighing to herself, the okonomiyaki chef released 
her hold on Shizuka. "Fine, but stop calling me the 
'hypocritical bastard,' okay?" 
  Unsheathing her swords, Shizuka offered a smile. "I 
guess I'll see you on the flip side!" 
  As the chef watched the priestess dash off down the 
hall, Miranda coughed. "Don't you think we ought to 
go?" 
  "Yeah, right," agreed Ukyo. 
  Stepping into the chamber, they found it to be 
perfectly cylindrical, with a catwalk running all 
around the perimeter. An alcove was set, eight in all, 
evenly spaced around the cylinder, each producing an 
energy lance firing toward the central cylinder. 
  "And no more guards!" Miranda said cheerfully, 
cracking her knuckles. 
  "Miranda!" Ukyo shouted in warning. 
  She ducked just in the nick of time, just as Mekako 
tore itself out of its alcove, leaving one of its arms, 
and the wire around it, behind. The single-armed, one- 
eyed tiger growled at the two girls angrily. 

  The moment Ranma vanished was when the fun started 
for the warriors under Shampoo's charge. A large door 
opposite that of the one whence they came opened up, 
revealing a monstrous sight. 
  Wheeling into view was a gigantic head of a dragon, 
its head armor ripped off on the left side, which 
obviously marked it as being Mekaryu's head. Attached 
to the back of the head was the great wings of the 
Mekazaku, its smashed head drooping over that of the 
Mekaryu. Where the dragon's left eye should have been 
was a large, sphere-like shell, where Mekabu was 
sitting, thrashing its head about angrily. 
  The head's jaw, permanently stuck open from its death 
battle with Sypha, revealed a series of jury-rigged 
steam cannons attached within. 
  "That is the ugliest thing I've ever seen," Mousse 
spat, edging back along with the others. 
  The steam cannons fired all at once, scattering the 
warriors quickly. Mekabu, acting as a turret, emitted 
gales of flames, attacking seemingly at random while 
the wings spread a deadly barrage of bombs. 
  "I don't have time for this!" shouted Ryoga, rushing 
the chimera. 
  He leaped into the air, sailing over the bewildered 
Mekabu, and thrust downward, feet first. Using great 
momentum Ryoga slammed through the shell, burying 
himself up to his waist, and pulled himself out 
quickly. Moments later the turret exploded. 
  Taking after his example Mousse threw several sets of 
chains into Mekaryu's exposed maw, smashing the 
reloading steam cannons easily. At the same time 
Shampoo, and her Amazons jumped at the wings, their 
feelings obviously intent on destroying their rival. 
Each took a swing, cleaving off a good deal of wing 
with each blow, not allowing Mekazaku to unleash a 
second bomb attack. 
  Konatsu, taking the honors, sailed into the air, and 
descended, thrusting his sword through Mekaryu's sole 
remaining eye. Quickly the kunoichi withdrew the blade, 
just in time to avoid the crackling sparks dancing 
about the shattered eye. 
  All the warriors leaped off the defeated chimera, 
watching as the monster's great maw collapsed on itself 
along with the rest of the grafted parts. 
  "Such a poor piece of work," scoffed Shampoo. 

  "Blast it, I don't have time for this!" Miranda 
shouted, as she ran across the catwalk, with Mekako 
chasing her steadily. 
  "Mira!" Ukyo shouted from across the chamber. "The 
cylinder in the center is the focusing point of the 
elemental energies! If we take out one of these, it 
should be harmless!" 
  Operating on her own suggestion, the okonomiyaki chef 
reached into the closest alcove, toward a spherical 
object, but withdrew her hand quickly as a jolt of 
electricity shocked her. 
  "What, you can't do it?!" the martial artist shouted 
in complaint. "Can't you see I'm a little busy?!" 
  In desperation she reached into the nearest alcove, 
lightning dancing around her gloved hands harmlessly. 
With little effort Miranda pulled the Earth Dragon 
Sword out of its holding position, ceasing the energy 
pulse toward the center and giving her an edge. 
  "Ha-hah!" she laughed. "Looks like you disarmed 
yourself for nothing!" 
  Snarling in anger, Mekako charged, arm extended 
outward, but Miranda was quicker. She raised the sword 
over her head, and brought it down, quickly lopping 
off the marauder's arm at the elbow. 
  Lowering the sword, Miranda wasted no time, doing a 
backflip kick that connected squarely into Mekako's 
jaw. With surprising force behind it the creature's 
neck tore from its body, and the tiger's head soared 
over Miranda and right into Ukyo's startled hands. 
  "YAAAAH!!!" she screamed in shock. 
  "Damn, that's a good catch," Miranda shouted, holding 
the sword carefully. "Ever thought of going into 
baseball?" 
  "Umm, no," the chef replied, unable to tear her eyes 
off the severed head. She stared at the knife stuck in 
the left eye curiously. "Oh shit, it's almost like what 
happened to me...." 
  She reached to pull out the weapon. 

  "Behold," the Director said, "Mekami Unit 00 Proto- 
type marauder, code name 'Lazarus.' You will be 
eliminated." 
  Ranma gulped, wishing he was not alone with the 
Mekani overlord and the mechanical man. Lazarus's eyes 
glowed blood-red as it lowered itself into a tiger 
stance, which the martial artist recognized 
immediately. 
  Okay, maybe this guy won't be so bad.... 
  He tensed himself, building up confidence within. 
Ranma squinted, trying to discern an aura field, but 
could find none. 
  Well, this'll be interesting, he thought. I might as 
well be fighting blind. 
  As the Director scurried away as fast as its legs 
could carry it Ranma shouted a battle cry, rushing 
Lazarus with a fist cocked back, ready to strike. The 
mechanical man thrust its fist out suddenly, but Ranma 
dodged it in the nick of time. Throwing a punch of his 
own Ranma drew back his fist quickly, shaking it as it 
throbbed in pain. 
  "You know that hurt!" Ranma shouted. 
  But the pain dulled to nothingness as Lazarus threw 
another punch, this time landing on the cheek. Quickly 
gathering himself Ranma blocked the next blow, settling 
into the pace his opponent was setting for him. One 
after another Ranma threw a punch and kick, and the 
Mekani did the same, neither gaining an advantage. 
  Is this thing learning? wondered Ranma as Lazarus 
gave him a quick jab in the gut. It's got to be 
predicting my moves by now! 
  Changing his pattern Ranma performed a spin kick, 
landing a blow in Lazarus's side. Momentarily stunning 
the monster Ranma cupped his hands together and threw 
a burst of ki, blasting Lazarus backward and giving 
the martial artist more breathing room. 
  That was pathetic! Ranma chastised himself. Can it be 
that my power's getting weaker? 
  Lazarus recovered quickly, opening its arms up and 
revealing a pair of wrist-mounted cannons. Ranma ran 
for his life as energy bursts trailed behind. Changing 
his mind Ranma turned and ran toward the Mekani, 
dodging from side-to-side and forcing the machine to 
readjust to his movements. He leaped into the air as he 
approached, appearing between the arms of Lazarus. As 
he descended Ranma spread his legs apart to the sides, 
kicking off both cannons at once and smashing into the 
Mekani full on. 
  With blinding speed Lazarus kicked Ranma off and 
away. Ranma rolled against the ground, his body 
scraping against the cold surface. Jumping back to his 
feet at the same time as the machine the martial artist 
eyed a pipe in the wall, and dashed for it. Tearing it 
out just as Lazarus rushed Ranma raised it to block 
the first attack, catching the Mekani's arm and 
throwing it back. 
  "You're nothing like fighting the real thing," Ranma 
shouted in contempt. Readying the pipe he charged, 
intending to skewer the Mekani marauder. 
  Lazarus had little time to react as the pipe embedded 
itself into its chest. Sparks crackled around the new 
hole, forcing Ranma to release his grip. The Mekani 
grasped its hands around the pipe, struggling to tear 
it out, but electrical force lanced out from the pipe 
and up its arms. 
  Taking several steps back, Ranma raised a hand to 
shield his eyes, and snorted. "Is that the best you 
can do?" 
  But to his surprise the Mekani responded, in the 
voice of the Director. "Termination sequence initiated. 
All impurities will be eliminated." 
  Eyes widening in shock, Ranma realized that the 
Mekani was going to overload. Turning to run, he 
realized too late that he fell for the Director's 
clever trap; while the overlord escaped Ranma was kept 
busy with a ticking time bomb. No matter who won Ranma 
would be dead. 
  The blast would reflect off the walls and amplify, 
he reasoned with himself as he ran. Kanna would think 
this guy was a genius. Damn, they ought to compare 
notes. 
  Throwing his palms behind him, Ranma propelled 
himself forward, ki trailing behind. 
  And then, Lazarus detonated. 
  "Dammit, not fast enough!" he yelled, frustrated. 
  Akane, he thought, feeling the explosion consuming 
him even as he bolted, wait for me...! 

  The massive Mekani Director came to a halt in the 
middle of the hall, reaching out a manipulator arm to 
the blank wall. A hidden door swung open, allowing the 
Director just enough time to enter. Darkness consumed 
the Mekani overlord as it continued its journey, one 
that required no illumination. 
  "The rogue elements have prevailed at this time," the 
Director said to itself, coming to a halt in the center 
of a cylindrical chamber. "The timetable has been set 
back considerably. We will evaluate our errors and 
correct them before proceeding further." 
  A disc beneath the Director began to glow, bathing it 
in a column of light. "Factory Satellite 27 has been 
compromised. Initiate evacuation to Nexus Zero and 
await further orders." 
  Issuing its final command, the Director's form 
vanished into nothingness. 

  Shizuka kicked the door down, startling the copper 
Mekani workers. Raising her swords she quickly ran 
through them, turning them into discarded cans in short 
order. 
  Sheathing them quickly, she dusted her hands. "Serves 
you right to wander around without your big brothers." 
  Casting her eyes throughout the chamber, Shizuka 
realized that she was almost outside, as the walls were 
low in this area. If one raised their eyes slightly 
higher than eye level they could see the darkness of 
the void surrounding the Mekani factory-fortress. 
  The workers, however, were not busying themselves for 
nothing, the priestess noted. Rising high above was a 
great metal spire, of which was still being constructed 
from the looks of it. The spire, piercing the void, 
appeared almost no different from the rest of the 
factory, until Shizuka's eyes caught a differing of 
coloration near the top. 
  Climbing a utility ladder on the side of the spire 
Shizuka quickly made her way upward, coming to a stop 
at the rafter adjoining the strange area. Upon closer 
inspection it was a human head, jutting out of the 
front of the spire, as if encased in a tomb. 
  "H-Hokuto?!" she gasped. 
  The Shadow Weaver's eyes fluttered open slowly. 
"Shizuka?" 
  The priestess quickly made her way to Hokuto's side. 
"What're you doing HERE?!" 
  "It's a long story," Hokuto replied. 
  "Well, hang on, I'm getting you out of there," 
Shizuka said, unsheathing one of her swords. Raising it 
high, she jammed it into one of the machine's creases, 
prying it off with little effort. "Dang, they've got 
you in here pretty tight." 
  "Shizuka," Hokuto whispered, sounding tired all of a 
sudden, "why are you helping me...? After what...." 
  "Don't ask," advised Shizuka, "I won't offer to do it 
again." She pried off another plate. "Besides... I 
can't leave a friend behind. As they say, 'we all go 
home, or nobody goes home.'" 
  Hokuto shook her head, laughing despite herself. "You 
never change." 
  "Damn straight!" 
  Prying off the last of the panels, Shizuka looked up 
and down Hokuto's naked body. Reaching up her sleeve 
she produced a well-folded emergency blanket. It was 
so well-done that it was still in the packet it came in 
when the priestess bought it at the store. "I guess 
we're going to have to teach those Mekani about a 
little modesty, huh?" 
  Laughing softly, Hokuto replied, "Yeah, I guess so." 

  "I was wondering when you'd show up," Ranma commented 
dryly. 
  Ukyo grinned, carrying Ranma through the halls with 
his arm wrapped around her neck. The same arm held the 
returning dagger he had lost before. "Well, I would've 
gotten there sooner, if only the dagger went faster." 
  "I guess I can thank Shizuka for something, then," 
the martial artist said with a chuckle. "Maybe even the 
old lech, too. I guess things do work out." 
  No sooner had Ranma been caught in the blast Ukyo 
appeared in the opposing direction, her hand on the 
returning dagger. True to its magical nature the 
dagger landed right into Ranma's hand, and Ukyo had 
recognized the danger. Instinctively she raised a 
bubble-like shield around herself and Ranma until the 
blast dissipated. While the explosion did a number to 
both of them Ukyo was still full of energy despite her 
ki reserves drained. 
  "And I guess I should thank you, too," Ranma added 
slowly. 
  Ukyo shook her head. "You don't have to. I understand 
if you don't." 
  "No... really...." he muttered in protest. 
  "You're right, I'm not the same person I used to be," 
interrupted the chef. "I've changed too much for you, 
even for Konatsu, and for that I'm sorry. I haven't 
even called you 'Ranchan' since then... and you know, 
it probably is all my fault." 
  "Stop blaming yourself," the martial artist replied. 
"Konatsu still loves you... I...." 
  She sighed. "You know, Ranchan... you can hate me all 
you want. If being Seiryu is what it takes for you to 
be alive, then I'll take it, 'kay?" 
  "How sentimental of you. If I had tear ducts left I'd 
shed a tear now." 
  Ranma's eyes perked up as he stared down the hall. 
"Damn, it's you." 
  The Shadow Weaver removed her cloak from around her 
shoulders, wrapping one end around her wrist carefully. 
"You would dare to get in my way!" Hokuto hissed. 
  "Who do you think you are," Ukyo shouted, lowering 
Ranma gently to the ground, "that you would declare 
yourself judge, jury, and executioner? What the hell is 
the matter with you?!" She grabbed three spatula darts 
from her bandoleer in each hand, fanning them out 
threateningly. "Don't you ever get tired of all the 
killing?!" 
  "You let the people instrumental in our mutual 
destruction live," the Shadow Weaver replied angrily, 
whipping her cloak about in a test. "Taydome, Shion, 
and Ayame were the ones instrumental in retrieving and 
studying the Mekani technology, which I tried so hard 
to keep from them. Thanks to them Section Fourteen was 
able to create a time machine." 
  "You're from the future," Ukyo realized. "You're 
nothing more than a shadow of a time that has yet to 
pass!" 
  "If you knew we would beat the Mekani," Ranma said, 
"then why did you bother in the first place?" 
  "In the previous timeline," explained Hokuto, "back 
at the Shrine of the Four Gods I attacked Ukyo while 
she was bringing Konatsu back with her. I thought I 
could siphon her strength to battle Zhou Tian-long, who 
dared to defeat me, but I found something far more 
interesting." 
  "You found my memories as Seiryu," Ukyo guessed. "You 
saw the apocalyptic future I saw. But you know just as 
well as I that will never come to pass." 
  "Very true," agreed Hokuto. "Yet, there was one 
issue you were never too concerned with, Seiryu. The 
fact is I dropped from sight after the Mekani battle. 
The reason for this was because Section captured me. 
You see, they gathered the remains of the Mekani, and 
studied them. They somehow found the means to build 
themselves a time machine using alien technology, but 
the Mekani used a different fuel source. They used my 
body." 
  "So Section kidnapped you," Ranma said. "They did 
their experiments on you, and succeeded." 
  "By the time they were through with you," Ukyo picked 
up, "you were nothing more than a vegetable. Section's 
time machine was imperfect; they had to use time 
stabilizers to maintain an anchor in place in time. We 
used a machine fueled by your very being to save this 
world from an apocalypse." 
  "The time stabilizers are due to the fact that they 
were using Mekani technology," the Shadow Weaver 
explained. "The Mekani could not stay in time because 
they did not generate the necessary ki field; machines 
do not have ki. Section relied on them too much." 
  "And then you decided to come back in time and kill 
those involved in your eventual destruction," Ranma 
accused. "You wanted to save your own hide, and even 
though the events you described won't happen you want 
to cover your ass." 
  "It is due to the involvement of Shion and Ayame that 
Taydome got his hands on the Mekani technology," Hokuto 
said. "Taydome developed the technology because he is 
the one most familiar with the time stabilizer 
technology in this timeline... because it is the same. 
I need not have to deal with him unless I stopped Ayame 
and Shion, but since that's no longer possible I'm 
going to have to kill him, too." 
  "So what happened to the real Hokuto?" asked Ukyo, 
studying her opponent's barest movements carefully. 
  "I imagine she's dead by now," gloated the time 
traveler. "I got her before she interrogated you in 
this timeline so she won't learn how to do it." 
  "So how do you know if what you're doing is right?" 
asked Ranma. 
  "If I knew that I'd go to the future; but, since I 
can't imagine the future, I can't travel forward in 
time, can I? Time travel for Shadow Weavers is limited 
only by the fact that you can only go backward, not 
forward." 
  "And that's why you killed your present counterpart, 
isn't it?" Ukyo's anger began to boil. "You intend to 
keep on living in her place. That's why you sometimes 
helped us, and sometimes tried to kill us." 
  "And still you foiled my plans!" Hokuto hissed 
venomously. "Thanks to you, Zhou Tian-long is still 
alive, even if I took out Kanna who stopped me the last 
time. Thanks to you, Shizuka will never know happiness. 
Thanks to you, Cinder managed to retrieve the ancient 
dragon from the void." 
  "Did you ever stop to think that some of the problems 
you named were because of you?" Ukyo shot back. "Maybe 
you hadn't noticed, but you're working toward making 
the future you're trying to prevent." 
  "SILENCE!" demanded the Shadow Weaver, whipping her 
cloak into a lance and charging. 
  Ukyo parried the lance with her spatulas, trying hard 
to keep the needle point away from her. "If you read my 
memories, you should know that I made some of the 
problems happen, too! Time travel is too dangerous!" 
  "Then you DO agree with me!" Hokuto screamed. "You, 
too, must die, because you remember how to reproduce 
the time machine." 
  "Sorry, but I BELONG in this world!" the okonomiyaki 
chef declared, shoving the lance up into the air. "You 
have no place in it!" 
  Hokuto stumbled back momentarily, and Ukyo took the 
opportunity to throw all six of her darts at her. At 
lightning speeds the Shadow Weaver recovered, spinning 
her cloak before her in a shield, deflecting the darts. 
Cursing, Ukyo pulled her combat spatula from over her 
shoulder, holding it low like a sword. 
  "Ukyo!" Ranma shouted. "Below!" 
  Quickly catching the lunging shadow heading toward 
her from Hokuto's shadow, Ukyo leaped to the side, 
barely escaping the shadow lance that would have 
impaled her. Risking a glance toward Ranma she shouted, 
"Thanks, Ranchan!" 
  "Pay attention!" Hokuto demanded, lancing her cloak 
at the chef. 
  Ukyo cried out in pain as she was too slow to dodge, 
the cloak running through her left arm. Her grip on the 
spatula loosened, giving the Shadow Weaver another 
opportunity to attack. The shadow swept along the 
ground, a black tentacle emerging in place of the 
spike. Whipping quickly Ukyo was sent sprawling onto 
her back, the combat spatula flying over her head. 
  Withdrawing the shadow, Hokuto raised her cloak 
lance over the okonomiyaki chef threateningly. "Maybe 
if you used your true strength, you would've beaten me, 
Seiryu." 
  "My name is Ukyo!" she spat, seething with anger. 
  "Sadly, it shall be no longer!" declared Hokuto. 
  "Ucchan!!" Ranma shouted. 
  An explosion rang the martial artist's ears, and he 
found that his eyes were shut despite himself. Ranma 
forced them open, forcing himself to watch the 
agonizing death of his old friend, for the second time. 
  And it was the second time I couldn't save her.... 
  I don't need to be saved, Ukyo would say. 
  But reality flooded his eyes, as Ukyo was still on 
the ground, and Hokuto was still towering above her, 
the cloak lance unfurling in her hands. Dropping it 
over the okonomiyaki chef uselessly, Ranma's jaw 
dropped in shock as he, Ukyo, and Hokuto stared at a 
large hole in the Shadow Weaver's stomach. 
  "S... Shizuka...." Hokuto whispered, realizing who 
attacked her. She collapsed onto her knees. 
  Ukyo sat up, pulling herself together and supporting 
the Shadow Weaver. She quickly wound her chest with the 
discarded cloak, then cast her eyes behind Hokuto. 
  Still smoking from the shot was a single-barrel 
shotgun, its owner, Shizuka, standing with a cold 
expression. Leaning against her at the left side, her 
arm wrapped around the priestess's neck was Hokuto, 
hastily wrapped in a thin camping blanket, appearing 
quite tired and drained. 
  Both Ranma and Ukyo did a double take from the 
appearance of the second Hokuto. 
  "Y... you're alive?" Ranma uttered in shock. 
  "Shizuka..." Ukyo said, "you... you shot her." 
  Lowering her shotgun slowly, Shizuka snorted. "Well, 
I think it was a lot easier in practice than on paper, 
don't you think?" 
  "Pretty good shot," congratulated Ranma. 
  "I... I lost...." whispered the future Hokuto, 
clutching her stomach, still in shock. 
  "No, you didn't lose," Shizuka corrected, her 
approach slowed down by Hokuto. "You accomplished more 
than you ever thought. Your goals have been achieved; 
there will be no more time machines, no more time 
travel, and no more torment. Sypha... Zhou Tian-long 
will no longer haunt you. The war is over. And... you 
saved my life." She saw the shock in Hokuto's face. 
"Yes, I understand now. If you hadn't intervened, the 
Mekako would have killed me in the initial attack." 
  Ukyo nodded, whispering to Ranma. "I couldn't keep it 
from her." 
  "S... she died?" Ranma whispered back, shocked. "For 
real?" 
  "It's time for a well-deserved rest," the priestess 
finished. 
  "Yes... rest...." the dying Shadow Weaver agreed, 
smiling despite herself, her voice weakening. "You were 
always... such a good friend... Shizu...." 
  Ukyo slowly closed the girls eyes, and looked up 
toward the two girls. "I'm... sorry." 
  Hokuto shook her head. "No. Don't be. It's what had 
to happen, not because Fate decreed it, but because it 
happened. There can be no Fate controlling all life if 
she... I... could change it so recklessly. She seized 
her destiny... seized the moment." She looked toward 
Shizuka wearily. "So much wasted time...." 
  "And yet," Shizuka said encouragingly, "you're a 
better person because of it." She turned to the corpse. 
"The Section time machine was based entirely on the 
Mekani Shadow Spire; the only way humans could build 
one so quickly is if they had a working model. It is 
the spire, and not the technology itself, that brought 
about the time machine. Killing the others was 
unnecessary." 
  "But it was necessary for you to be alive," Ukyo 
realized, remembering fully that Shizuka should not 
have survived this long. "You found the spire." 
  "The spire is no more," Hokuto added. "Just as my 
counterpart was disposing of the Mekani in the shadow 
stream so was the construct disposed." 
  Ukyo nodded. "Without the spire there will never be a 
time machine." She regarded Shizuka carefully. "I 
guess my work did do some good after all." 
  "Then Hokuto... the other Hokuto," Ranma corrected, 
"didn't die in vain." He sighed. "Well... Akane's going 
to love to hear about all of this...." 


			*  *  *  *  * 

Ranma (VO): 

  "We've come so far, and grown so much. We've learned 
much about one another, and sometimes not even enough. 
What does the future hold?" 
  "Next time: Dreams Never End. We'll see ya there!" 



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

  Note: never count on getting to a goal exactly the 
way you expect to. 


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

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