[Ranma][Fanfic] End of a Modern Dynasty - Story Overview Parts 3 & 4 ======================================================================= End of a Modern Dynasty Ranma 1/2 characters/situations created and copyright by Rumiko Takahashi/Shogakukan/Kitty/Fuji/Viz - Used without permission End of a Modern Dynasty series created, written, and copyright 2000-2010 by Jim Lazar An ongoing series set after the end of the Ranma 1/2 manga and anime. For maximum enjoyment of this fanfic series, please read my Childhood and Adulthood of Modern Dynasty series and outline before reading End of a Modern Dynasty. E-mail comments and/or criticisms to: contactus |at| animeprime.com Make sure to check out my Modern Dynasty website for all released AMD stories, graphics files, and other information: http://www.animeprime.com/ff/md ======================================================================= The following is a general overview of End of a Modern Dynasty that was to take place after Adulthood. While I have expanded some parts, it is a very brief overview of the major events to allow my readers (and myself) to have some closure. The final chapters may have presented things differently. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Part 3: End of a Modern Dynasty 2050 After Akane finds out that Ukyo is dying of cancer, she flies to San Francisco. She was a little upset that Ukyo hid it from her. "We may have had our problems with our mutual loves, but I'm still your friend, right?" "Yes, always," Ukyo said, a weak smile on her lips. "It's ironic that I'd die this way and not in battle." Akane wiped a tear out of her eye and hugged Ukyo. "None of that talk. We'll get you killed in a battle yet!" Ukyo chuckled. "Hey, Akane... you have my permission." "Permission?" "To marry Sanma once I'm gone." "Ukyo... I know Sanma loves you." "I know. But as you should know, love is not as simple as that. You both love each other, admit it." "Yes, we do. But we..." "But nothing. Don't drag it out. Don't let Sanma pretend it's inappropriate to get married so soon. So it..." Ukyo got a mischievous smile on her face. "Do it the day after my funeral." Akane's jaw dropped. "Not a chance..." "And if one of you gets killed in battle before you can marry?" Akane had no answer for that. Akane spent the next three months in San Francisco with her friend and on a foggy day in June, she buried her friend right next to her father, who was buried in San Francisco after his death defending the city. He was known as 'San Francisco's Hero'. Sanma buried his wife. The Six Pack buried their mother. -E- -M- -D- The next morning, Sanma and Akane sat on a hill in the San Francisco Compound overlooking the new Golden Gate bridge. The sun rising in the east cast its rays across the bay. "A least she died peacefully.' Akane said softly. "Yeah, that's a rarity in our lives," Sanma responded. "About us..." "In time, I'll ask you." "So you don't want to get married today?" Sanma shook her head. "I don't think that's appropriate, even with her permission." "The answer's yes, whenever you ask." "That's good to know." Akane looked over to Sanma, squinting as the sun got in her eyes. "Sanma, I..." Her eyes went wide. "Avian!!" She pushed Sanma, and they both tumbled down the hill as a small avian crashed into the grass were they had just been sitting. It exploded on impact taking off the top of the hill as it did. Sanma and Akane jumped to their feet at the bottom of the hill and were already generating chi balls when the second wave of avians appeared. Shortly after, invisible Buyierfei attacked the Compound, the bridge, and other key spots in San Francisco. The second battle of San Francisco had started. The city survived mostly unscathed thanks to the Task Force members already deployed in the compound and the extra team that always traveled with Akane. The Tendo's San Francisco Compound was heavily damaged, but the cemetery was fortunately undamaged. The New Golden Gate Bridge suffered some damage when the Buyierfei drove Akane up onto the suspension cables. Cornered at the top of one of the towers, with Buyierfei approaching along the cables from both sides and avians circling she wasn't sure she could get out this one. She blasted away at the advancing hordes before losing her footing and slipping. Grabbing hold of the edge before plunging into the bay waters below, she squirmed trying to pull herself up. As the Buyierfei swarmed towards her she could feel the bridge shaking. Nearing the end of her strength, she pressed a blue button on her palmtop that was strapped to her belt. "Hang on tight, Dear!" she screamed and let go of the button. She blurred and suddenly a taller man took her place. "Oh, shit!" Ranma swore as he tried to figure out where he was. "Hang on tight, Dear!" Akane's voice came from the palmtop. "The thought ha... had occurred to me..." he grunted as he dug his fingers into the metal, trying to get his grip. His longer arms allowed him to get a hold of the edge with his other hand, thus preventing a double suicide. A chi blast exploded beside Ranma, taking a nearby Buyierfei with it. "Huh, that was yellow..." He looked around and saw the familiar shape of one of the Task Force's attack helicopters swinging around the tower he was hanging from. "The calvary is here," Ranma said as chi balls rained down on the Buyierfei surrounding him from the movable pods along the side of the helicopter. Flexing his arms, he did a impressive flip to land on his feet at the top of the tower. As he touched down, he sent a string of chi balls from both of his hands to finish off any stragglers on the suspension cables. The helicopter hovered nearby and dropped a rope. Within seconds, Ranma was aboard and breathing a sigh of relief. "That was a bit close." Sanma came out from one of the side pods where he had been firing chi balls from. "Oh, thank goodness," he pulled Ranma into a hug. "Yeah, I'm glad to see you too," Ranma quipped even as he pressed a red button and released it right away. His body shrunk. "I take it I'm alive, huh?" Akane asked, returning the hug the Ranma wouldn't. "Yeah..." Sanma said. "That was too close." "I've had closer." "Yeah..." Sanma muttered. "Akane... will you marry me?" Akane's eyes went wide and she pulled back enough to look into Sanma's eyes. "I'll think about it." -E- -M- -D- As the Task Force finished mopping up the Buyierfei, Akane made a call to Nerima. In typical Tendo fashion, the news went out and plans were quickly made. Later that afternoon, Akane sat besides some tents and finished a call. "See you soon." The holographic picture of Kasumi disappeared and she leaned back in her chair. "Grandmother, Mr. Davidson is here to interview you," a young woman said as she approached with a man in his mid to late twenties. Akane looked up. "Ah, Mr. Davidson. I'm glad you could make it." "No, it's my honor to be allowed to interview you, Matriarch," the man said, bowing. Akane grimaced. "No need to be so formal. You can call me Akane," she said. -E- -M- -D- "Wow, that's some story. But... um..." "What is it?" Akane asked. "You said that Ranko and Sanma were your lovers? Didn't Ranma mind?" Akane looked uncomfortable suddenly. "Oops, well no... he didn't mind that much. He understood." "He understood that you were cheating on him with his twin sisters? Pretty understanding guy," James commented. "Well actually, he was pretty stubborn and opinionated," Akane said, grinning. "But he understood this relationship. I loved them all. To me they seemed to be the same person." "Are you bi?" "Getting a little personal there, Mr. Davidson." "Sorry." "Anyway no, I don't consider myself bi-sexual. That's a tag that society uses to identify someone who doesn't let physical gender determine who they can love." "Sorry, didn't mean to insult you." "No insult taken. I've dealt with this issue throughout my life. Yes, I loved all three of them and I always will. Even if I only have one by my side now, they are all in my heart." She patted her chest and seemed to be a million miles away. Or fifty years in the past. "Well, so..." James began to say after letting her a moment to reflect, but was interrupted by Imoki. "Grandmother, it's time," Imoki said simply. "Oh, of course," Akane replied and Imoki left. "I'm afraid that's all I have time for today, Mr. Davidson. I hope it's enough?" "Yes, it was most kind of you to take the time to talk with me," James said, turning his laptop off. He got up and shook her offered hand. "I look forward to reading your article, Mr. Dav..." Akane was interrupted by two teenagers barreling into her and knocking her over. James stumbled and fell into a nearby muddy pool of water. "Oh my." James looked up to see a tall woman, maybe a little older than Akane, standing over me. She held out her hand to help me up. I hesitated, not wanting to mess up her clean dress. "I'm Kasumi, please let me help you up," she said. "Thanks for your help." "I'm sorry about the kids. We just flew in from Tokyo and they are a little restless after the long flight," Kasumi explained. "That's okay. I'll live, although my laptop..." He shook my laptop to drain the water from it. "Oh my." "Kids, apologize to Mr. Davidson," Akane instructed the two fidgeting teenagers. "We're sorry. We didn't see you there," the young girl said. "Yes, I'm sorry. Usually Grandma can deflect us without harming anything," the young boy said. James grinned. "Oh, so you're Akane's grandchildren then?" "Oops... I'm sorry. I'm her grandson Soun. This is Hanaki Ono. She's Aunt Kasumi's granddaughter," the young man explained. Both teenagers bowed. "Nice to meet you both," James said, returning their bows. They scurried off in to a nearby tent. "Here you go, Mr. Davidson," Kasumi said after rummaging though a large crate for a few seconds. She handed me a briefcase-sized box. Taking the box, James asked, "What's this?" "It's one of Tendo systems new palmcards. With the full accessory package." "Oh no... I couldn't," James insisted. "James, please take it to replace your laptop that the kids just ruined," Akane insisted. "Yes, we brought plenty to replace the ones destroyed in the battle," Kasumi explained. "I keep telling Nijiko that she has to have these things made sturdier," Akane said, pointing to a pile of broken, mangled, and burnt palmcards. "Okay. Thank you," James finally agreed and looked at the box. "Thank you very much." "Kasumi, could you help Mr. Davidson dry off and show him out? I have to get dressed," Akane asked. "Yes, of course, Akane. This way, Mr. Davidson," Kasumi motioned towards one of the tents. "Thank you again, Akane, for allowing me some of your precious time." "No bother, it was fun to reminisce," Akane replied. She smiled and then made her way into one of the tents. Suddenly, Hanaki reappeared. "I can help him, Grandma. You go help Auntie get prepared." Kasumi smiled sweetly and nodded. After James had been led off, she went over to the tent Akane had went in and smiled as she saw Akane fingering the long white wedding dress. "It'll look great on Sanma." Akane smiled as she turned to see Kasumi. "I'm still a bit worried about doing this so fast." "I know you are, but Ukyo wanted you both to be happy and as today showed, you can't always be sure there's a next day to get married." Akane nodded. "Yeah... that's what Ranma said too." "So what's the problem?" "I just don't want to replace Ranko." "You aren't." "But..." "They're different people." "Yeah, but..." "What does your heart say?" "That's easy... marry Sanma before he gets away from me." "There's your answer. You were talking to that nice reporter about your first battle with the Buyierfei, right?" "Yes." "And how did you feel about Sanma and Ranko after that battle?" "I wished that I had another chance to make the right decision to marry all three." Akane looked up sadly at the ceiling of the tent. "And so much of this... pain could have been avoided." "So now you have the chance to finally make that wish come true and marry the last of your idiots." Akane smiled. "You know me too well." Shortly thereafter, the wedding party raised their hands and shouted "Aikizuna Mokoutsu!". Then a bright, red beam of energy spiraled up into the evening sky from their hands to signify that a Tendo had gotten married. Akane's fourth wedding finally saw her wish fulfilled. Better late than never. -E- -M- -D- (This series of events (Ukyo's death, the battle, and the wedding) are alluded to in the Childhood of a Modern Dynasty Side Story Number 1, which detailed James Davidson's first meeting with Akane. At the time I wanted to hint at bigger things going on behind James' back. And now you know what was really happening in San Francisco.) -E- -M- -D- 2053 During a particularly harsh battle in the Buyierfei realm, Akane gasped and looked down to see a tentacle sticking out of her chest. Sanma screamed and blasted apart the Buyierfei that had speared her, then held Akane in her arms and lowered Akane gently to the ground. "No... no..." Akane couldn't speak but her eyes were locked on Sanma. The look told Sanma everything she needed to know. Akane was dying. "Medic!!!" Sanma screamed and tried to staunch the flow of blood with her hands. "No... no..." "No!!!!" a familiar voice screamed and a pair of legs dropped down beside them. "Mom, I told you you had to live!" Sanma looked up and saw Kourui standing over them. "Huh?" "No time to explain, Uncle." Kourui placed a hand over the wound and then INTO the wound. Her whole body started to glow. "Uncle, tell Mom that the plan is still on to destroy the Buyierfei once and for all, but I'll have to do my work from within now." "Within?" "Mom must live and for that, I must take the place of her heart." Kourui smiled sweetly, belying her position as the leader of the Buyierfei. "It may be painful at times, but tell her that I will return to her when the monoliths cover the world once again. At that point, you will have an obvious target to destroy. Destroy it and save the world." "Is that all?" Sanma replied, sarcastically. "Tell her I love her and Dad." Before Sanma's startled eyes, Kourui glowed brightly and shrank into Akane's chest, which overflowed with light. Sanma just stared at Akane, helpless. Akane coughed and then opened her eyes. "Wha... what happened?" She tried to get up, but Sanma stopped her. "Don't get up yet, your chest is still wide open." Akane looked down at her own chest and gasped at the glow emanating from it. "What..." "It's Kourui... she... replaced your heart with herself. She's inside you." "But..." "She said the plan to destroy the Buyierfei is still on." Akane smiled. "That's my girl..." The medic finally arrived. While he was surprised that Akane was still alive despite the obvious lethal wound, he started to stitch Akane's chest back together. (In the future, James is astonished to find that Akane has the Buyierfei leader inside her chest. "So that was the light from your chest?" Akane nods. "And before you ask, killing me will only put the Buyierfei into hibernation, not destroy them." "I wasn't going to ask." "Well, it was a topic that came up around here after I took on the third life I'm directly responsible for. Now, I can't die for the sake of my own life, and for Ranma's, AND for Kourui's." "And the world..." "True... at least I can talk directly with her." "Huh?" "Every now and then, Kourui can talk to me in my head. Sometimes it's just a warning about the Buyierfei, but we can occasionally have a nice little mother and daughter talk." "You're a lot more complicated than I would ever have thought possible." "I did promise that trying to write about my life would be a difficult task, didn't I?" "Yeah, but I never expected all this..." "Me either." ) (This is the explanation for the glow from Akane's chest that was previously seen during the future segments of AMD. The attack in 2057 where Akane's chest is speared through by the Buyierfei was an attempt by the Buyierfei to not only kill Akane, but also to separate Kourui from Akane. ) -E- -M- -D- (This is where the future segments featuring James' interviews with Akane would end up covering the 2057-2058 timeline. Not much to add to those. ) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Part 4: End of a Modern Dynasty 2061 Ranma is awoken to sirens. "Huh," he said groggily, scratching his stubble. He looked around, not remembering falling asleep. Spotting a tipped over vase on the table next to the bed he signed. "I told Akane we have to be more careful with water." Then feeling something on top of his chest, he looked down to see Akane sleeping peacefully on his chest. "Ughhhh... get off!!" He violently pushed Akane off of him, sending her crashing to the floor. Akane rubbed her butt and looked up. "What's the big idea?!" "Sorry, just a reaction at seeing you." Akane shook her head. "Akane will not like to hear that you are repulsed by her." "Just you in her form, Sanma." 'Akane' smiled. "How did you..." Sanma stopped when she saw the vase. She double-checked that she was still Akane. "Thank goodness I didn't change too." Yohachi dashed in and shouted. "What's keeping you two?! The sirens have been going off forever!!" Ranma got out of bed. "Sorry... we had some water problems last night." Sanma got up and brushed off Akane's butt. "What's the emergency?" "Fifty-seven monoliths have been spotted all over the world." "Fifty-seven?" Ranma said, his eyes going wide. Sanma looked at Ranma. "Is this it?" "Kourui said monoliths would cover the Earth. Fifty-seven is a lot but..." "Counts up to one-twenty," Yohachi said, checking his wrist pad. "This could be it... We'd better get to the situation room." He grabbed one of the Task Force gi packs they kept handy for quick dressing in emergencies. -E- -M- -D- Once the count hit two hundred, they were pretty sure this was their long awaited for situation. Needless to say, they had planned and rehearsed this battle many, many times. Of course, they still had no idea what the target would be, other than it would be 'obvious'. So they mobilized the entire Task Force worldwide. With no obvious target outside the monoliths, they prepared to enter the monoliths from several locations (which was easy, since the various Task Force teams could just enter a monolith near where they were based). Fortunately, or unfortunately, the Nerima Task Force didn't have to leave the compound since there were five monoliths inside the compound already. The children and non-combatants were evacuated to a safe location, although 'safe' with this many monoliths around was a oxymoron. Nijiko went with the last group, promising Akane she'd take care of them all. "I know you will," Akane said, smiling at her estranged niece. Worldwide, civilians started mass evacuations to the few areas that didn't have a monolith nearby. Unfortunately, many of the Great Shelters were rendered useless by the presence of monoliths in the center of them. In a maneuver practiced and successfully accomplished on five out of twenty-six times it had been tried in the past, they flew remotely controlled attack helicopters into the monoliths. The helicopters guidance computers were programmed to try and land safely once inside the Buyierfei realm. Unfortunately, more often than not, the helicopters exploded on impact. Those that did get into the monoliths, then had only about a twenty percent chance of being able to land in the screwed up physics of the Buyierfei realm that made it hard for even an expert pilot to land safely. Naturally, they didn't want to try these odds with live pilots. Even Jaki, who had already defied the odds once in surviving entering a monolith in part of Tendo One, didn't like the odds of surviving another. The pilots would go in with all the other Task Force members and then use whatever helicopters survived. James was very worried about Hanaki going into the monoliths, but she reassured him that she planned to make it back to him. He would go with their two children to what was the area with the least number of monoliths. "You bundle up and keep the kids warm," Hanaki said. "Don't worry, we'll probably never leave the transport planes," James replied. "Even with the global warming caused by the Buyierfei, Antarctica is still a bit nippy for a stroll." Hanaki nodded and gave James a long kiss and hug goodbyee, then repeated for each of her kids. "Don't worry, I'll be back. Matriarchs orders." "Huh?" James said. "No one dies in this battle, that's an order!" Hanaki said, doing her best Akane impersonation. Akane had given that instruction at the end of her message to all Task Force units before mobilizing everyone. "No one dies..." "You don't want to get her angry at you, so you make sure to follow that order too." "Yes, dear," Hanaki said, stealing one last kiss before heading towards the staging area. James and the two kids watched her go, then climbed into the tube station to be whisked off to the Mt. Fuji base for their evacuation flight to Antarctica. Although there were several monoliths on the Antarctica continent, they were spread out quite far as compared to the populated continents. Ironically, the failsafe Great Shelter that the world's leaders had constructed directly at the south pole had two monoliths sitting in the middle of it. The world leaders would have to find somewhere else to hide this time. -E- -M- -D- Hanaki and Jaki sat at the controls of one of the surviving attack helicopters, Akane and Akane seated in the seats behind them. All four were scanning the gray world they flew through. "Okay, now we just have to find an obvious target," Akane said. "Yeah, any hints from your head?" Akane number two said. "Nope... Kourui is silent so far." Akane number two scratched her chest. "I wish I could be in my own body for this, your boobs always itch." Akane chuckled. "I think you look beautiful. Be glad you're not a frog for this..." "Eight o-clock low!" Jaki called out and banked the helicopter in that direction. All eyes looked in that direction and then straight forward as Jaki centered why she had seen in front of the helicopter, she slowed to a stop and hovered in front of the object. It was a clear crystal, but with shifting shadows within. Unlike the shifting shadows they usually saw in the Buyierfei realm, these were much more concentrated and appeared even if you were staring at them. Judging by the size of the other helicopters that were now taking up positions in front of the mammoth crystal, it was very large. Maybe even larger than the Tokyo metropolitan area. "Is that obvious enough for you?" Hanaki asked as she looked back at Akane. Akane stared at the crystal, pausing as if listening to something. "It's obvious, but Kourui isn't talking. Let's gather the troops, but make sure no one enters it. Just surrounded it for now." Sanma used Akane's fingers to seed a text message out to all the other Task Force members and attack helicopters that made it inside the Buyierfei realm. Although normal communications were impossible, trial and error had found that sending signals through a holo-crystal made it possible to communicate within the Buyierfei realm. It was occasionally interrupted by static or other interference, but they had gotten pretty good at communicating between forces when battling inside monoliths. Akane had to eat her complaints about Nijiko using Buyierfei material to produce the holo-crystals that made holograms possible (and made Nikiko the richest woman on the planet). That same technology now allowed them to coordinate attacks inside the Buyierfei realm and had saved many lives. -E- -M- -D- "So, do we just blast it?" "That's what she said." "Okay, well you first." "Sure." Sanma charged up a chi ball and launched it at the crystal. It reflected right back at her and blasted her backwards. She grunted as she landed. "Well, now what? Mass blasts?" "That could be dangerous, but if we're careful..." Akane looked around at the Task Force members around her. "Okay, A and B groups, blast that thing with streams of chi balls on three, but be prepared for any reflections." The Task Force members around her took up stances and waited for her count. Then in unison they sent streams of chi balls into the crystal. Many of the blasts reflected back, but most of them got out of the way of their blasts. Sanma dusted off her gi again. "That's not fair..." "Sorry, Grandfather, that was mine," Saki said. Sanma grumbled something about wondering if that was accidental or not. Akane was examining the crystal. "Not all of them reflected. I don't see a crack or anything, but maybe a concentrated series of blasts?" "Worth a try. What about your shift blast?" Akane nodded. "Okay, you call out the count after I inform everyone." Sanma nodded. Akane pressed a 'send to all' button. "All units, repeat, all units. We need to do a full chi barrage on the crystal. Be VERY careful of the recoil of the blasts, and space yourself out along the circumference. Keep up the blasts until instructed or my shift blast stops. Sanma will count us down." She pressed down a blue button on her wrist top then repeated the instructions for everyone and for Ranma. Letting go of the first button, she added, "Ranma, we'll do a shift blast. Be careful of the blast reflecting back at you. Sanma's got the count." Releasing the button, she blurred and Ranma took her place. After listening to Akane's instructions, he nodded at Sanma. "Let's do this..." "Get ready for a big light show!" Sanma pressed the 'send to all' button and then called out. "All units ready. One... two... three!" All around the crystal, Task Force members started to generate chi blasts and send them at the crystal. Even the low chi users sent weak balls at it, with the expert chi users sending continuous streams of energy at it. Some expert foot work allowed them to keep the reflected energy from causing too much damage, unfortunately at least one unmanned helicopter was caught in a reflected blast and went up in flames. While this was going on, Ranma pressed a special black button on his wristpad and then took up a stance. Generating a ball of energy between his hands he blurred and Akane replaced him. Akane focused more energy in the the ball before blurring back to Ranma. This process repeated itself a dozen times before the energy reached a critical point and then shot off towards the crystal. As they continued to shift back and force between themselves, Akane and Ranma focused more and more energy into their shift blast attack. As they had discovered a long time earlier, the mere act of shifting between their forms caused extra energy to be created, so that was funneled into this attack, multiplying it's destructive power. The blast impacted against the crystal, and while several small stray bolts of energy were reflected, the main energy beam crashed into the crystal and caused the entire surface to shake and buckled slightly. All around the crystal, the attacks continued and after several minutes the first crack appeared. "Keep it up, it's starting to crack," Sanma called out. Then the whole crystal throbbed and shattered outward, engulfing the most of the Task Force who were subsequently tossed around by the force of the blast. -E- -M- -D- Akane awoke with someone on top of her. Grunting she looked around, and frowned when she saw distinct shifting shadows all around her. "On your feet everyone, the blast didn't destroy the Buyerifei. "Ungh... what the fuck was that?" Akane slowly slid Sanma off to the side so she could get up. "What are you wearing?" Then she noticed her own combat gi was torn up. "Just my usual armor... Akane?" Sanma shook her head and looked again. "Am I dreaming? Or dead?" "We're not dead... probably." She got up and then held out a hand. Her jaw and arm dropped at the same time as she saw a naked Sanma stumbling to his feet several meters away. Yes, HIS. Then as she scanned the area, a panda, elephant, and other animals right out of a zoo came into view. Then she saw herself staring back at her. "What the fuck?" the other Akane said, her ripped combat gi hanging from her body. "Err... Sanma?" the first Akane said. The other Akane nodded, and so did the various animals. But surprisingly not the male Sanma or the female Sanma that had been lying on top of her. "Akane? Is that really you?" the male Sanma said. "Akane... I can't believe I got sent back," the female Sanma said, smiling and jumping to her feet. Akane then saw another male Sanma and female Sanma--both naked--stumble into the confused crowd of people and animals. "Two... four... what the heck is going on with you Sanma?!" And then another male and female Sanma joined the group, looking as confused as everyone else. "Akane, it's me Ranma," one of the male Sanma's said. "Ran... ma..." Akane gasped and held a hand out for his chest. "Akane... it's me Ranko, not Sanma," the female Sanma who had been on top of her said, taking a step towards her. "Ranko?" Akane said, holding another hand out for her chest. Then her feet fell out from under her. Ranma and Ranko dashed forward and grabbed her, each starring at disbelief at the other. "You're really Ranko?" "Yeah... you really Ranma?" "Yeah... how did you come back?" "Big red crystal that engulfed me after we killed the Buyierfei leader back four thousand years ago. How did you get out of Akane?" Ranma shook his head. "No idea... this just happened." "This is very confusing..." Akane said, trying to focus on anything. "Sorry, Mom, I should have warned you about this, but the Buyierfei would have figured it out." Akane's head spun around at the voice she had only heard in her head recently. "Kourui." Behind her, a naked Kourui smiled. "Okay, now that you're all split up and inside the crystal, the real hard part begins." "The hard part?!" several people called out in unison, already wiped out from blasting the crystal and then finding a whole bunch of new people and zoo full of animals all around. -E- -M- -D- "Sorry, Uncle, about splitting you too. I didn't expect that. I just expected Mom and Dad to be split from me, but I guess since you were in the middle of your blessings..." Kourui explained later after putting on a spare battle gi. All around he group, the other members of the Task Force were assembled to hold off attacks from the Buyierfei while the leaders of the Task Force figured out what happened and how to proceed from here. Female Sanma looked at himself, that being the Male Sanma, and then at the other male and female Sanma, the twins as they were usually called when only they were around during Sanma's string of curses. She sighed as she saw Akane-Sanma at the end of the row of human Sanmas, Then she looked at all the assembled animals, mentally making sure they were all accounted for. The panda with the snake coiled around his neck, the pig and cat squabbling over a pig/cat keyboard, the baboon holding the frog carefully, and the elephant and horse standing behind the menagerie. Needless to say, this is the first time she'd ever seen himself in all the forms at the same time. "It's okay, but... this could take some getting used to." Her eyes glanced at Akane, the real Akane, to see how she was taking this latest twist in her love life. Akane was sitting between Ranma and Ranko, still trying to soak in the new husbands she just gained. Three human husbands might be doable, but six human husbands and assorted animals were going to be hard to juggle. Not to mention how difficult it will be if the animals are stuck as animals forever. "Unfortunately, since the curses are based on Buyierfei energy, they were broken when you broke the outer nexus of the Buyierfei. "Nexus?" "The center of everything Buyierfei." "But if that's broken, then why are there still Buyierfei out there attacking us from the edges?" Ranma asked, pointing at the edge of their defensive circle where an occasional Buyeirfei could be seen attacking. "It's not that simple to destroy the Buyierfei completely... plus I didn't expect Ranko to reappear." "Sorry," Ranko said, tightening her grip on Akane's hand. Kourui smiled. "Don't worry, Pop, I'm very glad to see you here. The Buyierfei don't pay too much attention to individuals usually, so they didn't take much note of your disappearance at the end of the first Buyierfei war with the Amazons. "You talk like you know a lot about them." "Well, I am their leader... was..." "What?!" Ranko tensed and got to her feet. "Sit down, Ranko, Kourui was absorbed by the Buyierfei, but she fought back. She's why we're all here now, alive and... well." Ranma said, then frowned. "Was?" Kourui nodded. "Shattering the outer nexus severed my link with them. I'm just a plain human." "Nothing plain about a Saotome, Sugarpie," Ranma said, smiling. It had been a long time since her father had called her that, causing a smile to spread across Kourui's face. "Yes, but that means they are leaderless and will just lash out at anything they can. I imagine Earth is swarming with Buyierfei now." Akane shuddered and finally found her voice. "Then should we just be talking here?" "Well, the problem is when we were engulfed in the crystal as it shattered outward, we were technically cut off from Earth. Those that were far enough outside the range of the crystal when it reformed were probably returned to Earth, but this group that's inside will have to wait for the crystal to fully regenerate before we can escape." "Regenerate?" "It'll heal itself, but since we're inside it now we can destroy it forever along with the Buyierfei." Akane's eyes lit up. "So we can really destroy the Buyierfei completely and forever?" Kourui smiled. "Yes. The nexus is what kept on living even after the leader of the Buyierfei is destroyed. It hibernates until it stores enough energy to reach out for a new bridge. It also occasionally hibernates when it's gorged itself on life and is 'full'. It did that after arriving on Earth and destroying the dinosaurs, for instance." The strange group looked around at each other and smiled broadly. Well, the ones that could smile with their lips, that is. -E- -M- -D- As preparations continued, Ranko and Akane spoke together during a brief moment when they weren't needed. "Akane, I have a few things to tell you. Daiji is alive and well back with the Amazons." "Kourui told me... so he was okay after that final battle?" Ranko nodded. "He should have escaped after breaking the red crystal I was in..." She ran her hand through her messy hair. "Which I guess is how I returned to the future here." Akane nodded. "I'm really happy you're back." She leaned over and gave Ranko a long kiss, one of many exchanged with her returned husbands since the splits. "Me too.. I really want a decent hamburger." Akane blinked. "Anyway, Daiji is happy, so don't worry about him. He found a wonderful woman to love and we have another grandchild. Or had one way back then." Akane clutched her chest. "He finally found someone who could understand and live with his curse?" Ranko nodded. "Yeah, and... um... it was a long time and I didn't expect to be able to return... so... um..." Akane tilted her head. "What is it?" "I... sort of married Yukiko." Akane smiled. "That's okay. I married Sanma..." She glanced at the five human Sanmas and the assorted zoo where they were trying to figure out what to do. "We had to live our lives." Ranko nodded. "Thanks for understanding... I still loved you, but we were like two fishes cut off from our ocean." "If she was the First Matriarch, then before the final battle..." Ranko nodded. "Yeah, she died peacefully a couple years before I returned. I think she was happy... I know I was." "Died peacefully... that must have been nice." Ranko pulled Akane into a hug and held on tight. "Not really. I've missed you." Akane smiled. "Me too... how many years were you back there?" "Twenty three." Akane smiled again. "Then you're younger than me now." "What year is it outside?" "Two thousand and sixty one." "You look great for an old woman." "Charmer." "Okay, time to draw up the battle plan," Male Sanma said as he walked up. He was distinguished from Ranma by the big 'S' that had been written on his forehead when they were trying to sort out all the multiple Sanma. Female Sanma and Akane-Sanma had a S as well, while the male and female twin Sanmas had 'T' on their foreheads. Although several Sanma's complained, Ranma and Ranko were unmarked since the lack of a mark could identify them easily. The animals were unmarked, being easy to spot out of all the humans. (There would probably be more with the planning and the multiple Sanmas, but you get the idea for this outline. The idea of multiple Sanmas was actually going to be used in Adulthood were hundreds of Sanmas get created in a monolith and the Buyierfei are decimated by them. Most of the Sanmas die in that process, but the few that escape gave Ukyo problems before there was only one left (more deaths during the wars). Never really had a good spot to put it into the outline, so I added a variation here.) -E- -M- -D- At first, all the animal Sanmas were going to be left out of the battle, but then the panda and baboon showed that they could fight just as well as humans. The elephant and horse are enlisted for transportation, much to their chagrin. The smaller animals reluctantly stay behind with the rear guard, since there was too good of a chance they would be trampled in any major skirmish with the Buyierfei. Sanma was used to staying behind in his animal forms when the Task Force went into battle. Doesn't mean he liked it, but he understood the complications of fighting as an animal. This time they had no choice. Akane looked at her husbands on all sides and then smiled. "Remember, no one dies in this battle!!" And with a cheer, the Task Force took off towards what Kourui said should be the center of the crystal sphere. Akane and Ranma rode elephant-Sanma with Kourui, while Ranko rode horse-Sanma. There's a yuri joke in there somewhere. Or would that be yaoi? The three attack helicopters that survived the initial crystal explosion flew alongside the attack force. Hanaki and Saki flew the lead helicopter into battle. As they neared the target, they started to take in what they were up against. First, a seemingly endless mass of land Buyierfei lay before them. All visible and all pressed together, their tentacles intertwined. "Easy pickings," one of the Sanmas commented, confidently. Second, large splotches of what looked like black oily water were spread out among the mass of land Buyierfei. A couple of large splashes confirmed the presence of aquatic Buyierfei. Hard to fight and hard to find, the aquatic Buyeirfei were like big whales with tentacles all over. Third, circling overhead above all this was flocks of big and small avians. Hundreds, maybe thousands of them. And in the center of all this, was a very small, clear crystal monolith that was spinning on an axis through opposite corners of the rectangular object. Their target. "Maybe we should have brought the rear guard as well," Akane commented as she good a full look at what they faced. Unfortunately as Kourui had predicted the avians were tightly concentrated around the crystal monolith, making a direct arial attack impossible. -E- -M- -D- (Sadly, I can't really describe the full battle in this outline, so this will have to do.) The first attack consisted of sweeping runs by the three attack helicopters. chi balls strafed the surface Buyierfei and chi balls hit the avians. Mostly designed to scatter the Buyierfei and to keep them guessing. The second attack consisted of a straight strafing run to clear a path for the ground forces, followed by the first push of the ground forces into the mass of Buyierfei. "I think i liked it more when we couldn't see them." The third attack crossed the strafing run at an angle to disperse the Buyierfei and to forge a path around a large body of 'water'. As the Task Force made their way through the mass of Buyierfei, Ranma started to notice something that worried him. He couldn't put his finger on what at first, but when they reached what looked to be the inner defense line he realized what it was. "They're organized," he said softly. "Huh?" "They should be operating independently and may have instinct to protect the crystal monolith, but they're way too organized for that. They must be being controlled from somewhere." Ranma turned around and looked at Kourui on the back of the elephant. "Or someone." Kourui's eyes went suddenly black and she thrust her hand around Akane's neck. "Try anything and I snap the Uncute-One's neck." Akane eyes went wide and started to tear up. "No... no.... you can't have been deceiving me all this time." "Foolish cattle... for you think one of you could resist the power of the Buyierfei. We are too strong for you." "Kourui... please... we love you," Akane gasped. If it was almost anyone else, Akane could have incapacitated or even killed her attacker, but not when her attacker was her baby. Her sweet, green-haired baby girl. With Akane's life on the line, Sanma didn't have such hesitation. The elephant's trunk reached up and pulled Kourui's leg, yanking her off his back. Akane gasped as Koueri's hand was yanked from her throat, but stayed on top thanks to Ranma's grasp. "Don't kill her!" Akane yelled as Sanma swung Kourui in front of his eyes. Those eyes showed the pain of a parent who had lost some of his own children and the anger of a husband facing the monster that threatened his wife and family. But despite all that, Sanma wouldn't kill her. Kourui knew this. When Kourui started charging up a black chi ball and aimed at Akane, Sanma reared up, tossing Ranma and Akane off his back. The black chi ball impacted his large gray chest. Smoke rising from the wound, Sanma tried to squeeze Kourui until she fell unconscious. But Kourui wasn't normal human. Or even a normal Saotome. She was Buyierfei and breathing wasn't particularly required, as Shuma showed when he took a stroll on the surface of Mars. She just grinned as another chi ball blasted the elephants hide. "Kourui, stop this!!" Akane yelled, as she and Ranma circled out from behind Sanma. Although the rest of the Task Force and Sanmas were doing a pretty good job of keeping the BUyierfei away from this little battle within a huge battle, their plan had been to keep moving. Staying stationary was starting to give the Buyierfei a chance to overpower their parameter. Akane knew this. Ranma knew this. Sanma the elephant knew this. As if spooked by a little mouse, Sanma took off running. The charging elephant with Kourui wrapped tightly in its trunk veered to the left of their intended target and broke through the defensive parameter and trampled many Buyierfei as it charged through the masses of black flesh. "Sanma!!" Akane called out. A hand gripped her shoulder. "He knows what he's doing... we have to destroy that monolith." Akane looked behind her to see Male Sanma standing behind her. "But..." "They're both strong, they won't die. But he gave us time, we shouldn't waste it." "But is destroying that monolith even our goal any more? If Kourui wasn't really free of the Buyierfei's control then..." Ranma stepped forward. "We're so close now... we can't go back now. Let's believe that some part of our daughter was in there and still helping us." He looked towards the crystal monolith. Akane nodded as she looked away from the commotion surrounding the rampaging elephant. She clenched her fists as she looked toward the crystal monolith. "No more hesitation... we press for the center!" With the help of the arial attacks from the helicopters and their determination to see their attack through to the end, the group pressed forward against almost impossible odds. (Again, there would have been more battle descriptions with the various Sanma curses getting some screen time along with some of the kids that have been introduced. Sorry for the brevity of this outline.) -E- -M- -D- As they neared the crystal monolith, the Buyierfei's attacks intensified as they knew they would. The crystal monolith hovered over the ground, spinning slowly in place. "Okay let's blast it," Ranma said, stepping forward. Akane stepped forward with many of the Sanmas. "Yes..." she said vacantly, her heart not in the battle since Kourui's deception. They reached their arms out and prepared to send everything they had at the monolith. Before releasing their blasts, Akane's wrist top crackled and Hanaki's voice called out. "Matriarch, look under you!!" Akane frowned and looked down. She didn't see anything at first, but then she noticed the ground was transparent. The grayness of the Buyeirfei realm made it hard to tell from the surface, but from the air Hanaki and Saki had spotted it easily. Sending a video feed to Akane's wrist top, the holographic display popped to life and gasps were heard from the attack party. Akane smiled slightly and looked at Ranma and then Ranko, and then the Sanmas in turn. No words needed to be spoken. Lowering their arms, they fanned out and aimed deep underneath the surface directly under the crystal monolith. Akane fired the first shot, with Ranma and Sanma following shortly after. Except for those on the parameter, the other Task Force members soon joined the attack on the ground. Two of the helicopters spent their time keeping avians away from the ground forces, while the other helped bast into the ground. As the ground bubbled and burst at the concentrated blasts, the three big arrows and Japanese characters reading "Mom, blast this spot here!. Luv ya!" started to distort. You couldn't get more obvious than that. Fortunately, the Buyierfei couldn't read Japanese. Finally getting through the transparent ground, the blasts reached their target: A red crystal monolith spinning slowly in time with the clear crystal monolith above, as if it was a reflection or shadow of the clear crystal monolith above. As the red crystal monolith started to crack under the intense blasts from the Task Force, the Buyeirfei all around them started to turn red and crack as well. The avians started to drop out of the sky, causing some quick moves on the Task Force's part to avoid being killed by the explosive falling debris. A nearby pool of 'water' erupted upwards and a large aquatic Buyierfei leapt out of the water, spun to the side and crashed to the ground. It shattered and exploded into a million red bits. All around the Task Force, these sights repeated themselves a thousand times. For Akane and the others blasting the red monolith, it went unnoticed. They were intent on destroying the target. Then, suddenly, the clear monolith stopped spinning and then dropped to the fragments of the ground still hanging under it. As any 'reflection' would do, the red monolith rose to the surface and then connected with the clear monolith. Akane and the others raised their blasts to follow the red crystal monolith. Akane's eyes went wide as the monoliths merged and then Kourui appeared in their place. "Luv ya, Mom!" Her blast faltered, but the deed was done. In front of her eyes, your youngest daughter was ripped into tiny particles. And then the gray world around them burst out in every color possible, and even some impossible colors. In a blast of glorious color, they Buyierfei vanished from existence. The Blackness was gone. The Buyierfei were gone. On a tiny blue-green planet, the impossible happened. The light had completely destroyed the darkness. The over five hundred black monoliths on the surface of the Earth shrank into nothingness and then bloomed into a rainbow of light. Those that saw it said it was like looking at love itself. And maybe it was. Because it was the love between a mother and daughter that allowed the Blackness to be destroyed once and for all. -E- -M- -D- Yohachi opened his eyes and shielded them from the glare of the sun. He had been through the torturous experience of leaving a monolith many times before. But this had been an entirely new experience in pain. "Shit... that hurt." He looked around and saw other members of his team that had been left to the rear guard. Or as Ranma liked to call it: "The ones who will save our ass once we get in over our heads." In the end, they weren't needed to save anyone's ass. Yohachi unsteadily got to his feet and looked around. He recognized the ruins of the Tendo Compound immediately, including his mother's flattened house. "I guess the Buyierfei did rampage outside as Kourui said..." He frowned when he saw no sign of Sanma's animal curses that had stayed behind with them. They had been right by him when the world exploded around them. A fierce wind forced him to shield his eyes and he looked up to see one, two, and then three attack helicopters drop out of the sky and land nearby. He smiled as he saw Hanaki and Saki wave from the cockpit of one of them. Soon he started to recognize more and more people from the main attack force. But try as he might, he saw no sign of his mother, father, other father, and stepfather. Not to mention his baby sister. His smile sank into a frown. -E- -M- -D- The Task Force sent out a press release later that day. It read. "People of the world. The Buyeirfei have been defeated for good. The nexus holding them together has been destroyed and will never be able to reform. Come out of your shelters, your homes, and your places of worship. The Blackness is no more. Enjoy the sunlight on your skin as the human race no longer has to fear the Blackness for the first time in over four thousand years. As of June 16th, 2061, the Task Force is officially disbanded. Please enjoy your life as we will enjoy ours. Signed, -The former members of the Task Force, the Saotome and Tendo Families, and the Amazon tribe. Missing in Action: Akane Tendo-Saotome Sanma Saotome Ranko Tendo Ranma Saotome Kaorui Saotome" The inclusion of Ranma and Ranko would cause much confusion in the days that followed, but most assumed it was a way for the Task Force to honor their great leaders who were lost in battle over the course of the entire battle with the Buyierfei. No one would guess that they were recent losses. And no one would guess the truth. [The End] End of a Modern Dynasty By James Davidson Compiled and Edited by Red Tofu Davidson For the world and for my father, let no one forget the great sacrifices made by those who fought the Buyierfei. -Red Tofu Davidson ======================================================================= "Are you sure this is what you want?" a young man asked as he looked down on the ruins of Nerima a couple of months later. "Yes," the cute girl at his side replied. "It will be hard living a life without fighting," a beautiful woman remarked. "I think we deserve a chance to live a normal life." "A normal life?" another beautiful woman remarked, quizzically. "Well, normal for us," Akane said, smiling at Ranma, Ranko, and Sanma. Those who knew them through the dark days of the Black Wars and more recently wouldn't recognize them. Or would assume they were one of the many Saotome or Tendo descendants that roamed Nerima. Gone were the wrinkles, the scars, the gray hair. Present were soft skin, dark hair, and perky breasts on Akane, Ranko, and Sanma. Ranma had to settle for his chiseled pecks. They were as they were when they first entered the monolith in the Australian Outback over sixty years earlier. Physically, that is. Their eyes shown with the pain of more battles than any one person should have to fight. They shown with the experience and wisdom of almost eighty years of life. Ranma flexed his muscles. "I wonder if there's any martial arts tournaments we can enter?" Akane sighed. "What part of 'blending into society and living a calm life' don't you understand?" "That'll get boring real fast," Ranko remarked. "I can use a little 'boring' right now." Akane smiled and put her hands on Sanma's and Ranko's stomachs. "Besides you two will be mothers again in a few months." Sanma and Ranko smiled, putting their hands over Akane's that rested on their bulges that held their unborn children. After they awoke after destroying the Buyierfei nexus, they found themselves facing some young people that looked oddly familiar. It wasn't long before they realized they had reverted to the state they were in when they first entered the Australian monolith way back in Nineteen Ninety-Nine. That 'state' included Ranko and Sanma being pregnant, which they discovered a couple weeks after emerging from the final battle. Ranko would have a chance to have Daiji all over again, and make all the same parenting mistakes once again. Sanma would have a chance to give birth to Shuma this time, and raise him and/or her as a proper Saotome. She was confident that she could do a better job than the Buyierfei did. Although, like Ranko, she would choose a new name for her child. In other words, they had a chance to live their lives over again. This time without the Buyierfei to fight. They could fix many of the mistakes they made. And make entirely new ones. Appearing three weeks after everyone else, they were amused to find they had been listed as dead. "Missing in action, Mom," Yohachi insisted as he welcomed his parents back among the living. "Since other people in the main attack force had appeared right away, we didn't think the three week delay would happen this time." Akane didn't care. Her family had emerged from the battle as she had hoped: "Nobody died." Well, Sanma sort of felt like his cursed forms died, since there was no sign of them. When he returned, he remembered all of the experiences each of his cursed forms had in the Buyierfei realm when separated, so they were within him in spirit. Those memories included a clever little girl enraging him and getting Sanma to distract the Buyierfei's attention by his attack on their leader. Kourui sudden reversion to being the 'bad guy' was a carefully chosen ruse by her to keep the Buyierfei from realizing that instead of setting up a trap to kill the 'Uncute One' and other collectors that Kourui had led the Buyierfei to believe the final battle was, it was a trap to get Akane and the others in range of the reflection of the nexus, their true target. Fortunately, Buyeirfei couldn't the read the Japanese Kourui had laid out along the transparent ground. So several weeks later, the four person family stood atop a hill overlooking Nerima and made their choice. They would remain 'missing in action' and move to a different part of Japan and try to blend in and have a normal life. They'd still stay in contact with the rest of their family, but would live their new lives out of the spotlight they had been under for so very long. The lives that had been given as a last gift of their youngest child. Kourui. "Did someone call?" Akane and the others turned and smiled as a middle-aged woman climbed up behind them. "So you're going to toss it all and run a little martial arts school down in Kyoto, huh?" Akane smiled and Hugged her daughter. "Yeah... can't get that out of our blood, but we'll avoid teaching the chi attacks, I think." Kourui smiled. "That's probably for the best." Ranma hugged his youngest daughter. "What will you do?" "Probably the same as you." Kourui flipped her long, black pony tail behind her back. "I don't even have to dye my hair to hide my identity since it reverted to a normal color. I'll just be another part of the extended Tendo and Saotome family." Ranko and Sanma fingered their red hair. "Normal is boring." Kourui chuckled. "Yeah, you're probably right. But as Mom has been saying, a little normal right now is very welcome." "So... Buyierfei defeated for good, our family and friends safe," Ranma said, then looked at Ranko and Sanma. "My two co-husbands pregnant and..." He looked at Akane. "And the love of my life looking hotter than I remembered." "She always looked hot to us," Sanma mentioned, earning a nod from Ranko. "Now, Boys, no fighting. We're ALL hot!" Akane grinned and in no particular order gave all of her husbands a long kiss. "Get a room, you four." --- Ran Takahashi Aka Takahashi San Takahashi Rumi Takahashi Just a normal family, running a little martial arts dojo in Kyoto. Normal if you don't count the husbands or what sex they are, that is. Although polygamy was now legal in Japan, thanks to a call from Yohachi Saotome to the Prime Minister on a sunny day in 2061. So, call it the new 'normal'. --- Years later, the family, now seven strong, sat around the living room holo-screen and watched the first transmissions from the manned probe circling Jupiter. "That's one small step for a Martian, one further giant leap for Mankind," a voice familiar to the four adults was heard over the spectacular holo images being beamed live from Jupiter. Unlike her mother, Kasei kept to the script. "As we see these worlds for the first time with our own eyes, I can't but feel awed and humbled by the sight. I'm honored to officially proclaim the new names for these moons of Jupiter." Akane Ranma Ranko Sanma Daiji Kourui Soun Genma Shampoo Cologne Nipplering Ryoga Ukyo ... The list continued with the most well known of the fighters lost to the Buyierfei during the long years of the wars until all known moons of Jupiter were renamed in honor of those who had saved the Earth from the Buyierfei. The International Astronomical Union resisted some of the Amazon names, since it was going to be awkward to study a moon called Nipplering, but in the end the Amazons got their memorial moons as well. Yohachi had to make up a story about how Genma died heroically, since 'crushed by a falling pyramid stone' wasn't that heroic. But he wanted his grandfather remembered, because his parents wanted him remembered. The same went for Ukyo. Akane and Sanma wanted her remembered, so she was. Like Nabiki and Mousse in their eternal dance though the N-M Belt, Akane and her husbands now were eternally dancing around Jupiter, never to be forgotten. There were many, many more names that would vanish into history, but countless 'unknown fighter' memorials covered the Earth to honor those nameless warriors who helped save the planet. Sadly, there were many more unknown civilian memorials as well. "Who are those people, Mama?" A little girl sitting on Sanma's lap asked. Sanma smiled. "We'll tell you all when you're a bit older." Ranko smiled and patted the head of the boy in her lap. "It's a long story." Ranma and Akane looked at each other and then at their daughter sitting between them. "A real long story," Akane said. [THE REAL END] ( The scene with the young Akane and her husbands looking down on Nerima (which is not part of the 'End of a Modern Dynasty' book that was published by Red Tofu Davidson) was intended ever since I figured out when the final battle would be fought and won. Whether they were to be ghosts or spirits looking down happily at their surviving family or physical beings restored to youth wasn't clear for most of the time writing the chapters and even these outlines. In the end, I felt them getting a second chance at life was a fitting reward for the hell I put them through. It doesn't erase everything they experienced or the deaths of friends and family, but call it a fitting retirement for those that saved the entire world more times than even I could describe. I had planned for more interaction with the Area 51 organization, up to and including the collapse of that organization after a conflict with the Task Force (with the organization splitting in two due to some supporting the Task Force and others taking a hard line stance). Whether the Task Force would take it over like they did the Japanese Mt. Fuji base or it would collapse and disappear, I wasn't certain. One possibility was that it would try to seize control of the US government after the Black Wars ended. In the end that didn't seem like a good story so I never used it (although the hardline Australian government keeping control after the war is a smaller version of that plotline). Likewise, I had wanted more with the Black Shroud Clan (Shuma's human worshipers) and the group behind the terrorists Akane and the others thwarted on the plane back from Australia. Unfortunately, in this outline there was no space to put them in (outside of their involvement in the first battle of San Francisco in AMD). Although touched on more in AMD, I never had New York attacked to go against the usual stereotype 'bad guys attack New York first' battles. So all the worry from New Yorkers about attacks ended up to be needless, since New York never suffered an attack or destruction from the Buyierfei (except for the attack on the New York area four thousand years earlier in BAW). I hope I got all of Sanma's curses into there. I had to re-read a bit of the old chapters to make sure I remembered them all. Almost forgot the twins. The horse is a new mention that I had held off mentioning until now. Since the 'ma' in Sanma's name is for horse, it seemed a fitting final curse to be revealed. Hopefully, I didn't forget any other animal curses. Sanma's curses disappearing at the end was because of there no longer being Buyierfei energy to support them, plus he was reverted to a state before he ever got the multiple curses. More than likely, Ranko and Sanma's babies would be single genders. A boring, normal life. :) There was also supposed to be future segments in End that were from the view of James and Hanaki's son going through his father's old notes to finish 'End of a Modern Dynasty' after it was left unfinished after his death (which was either going to be by Buyierfei during the final battle or by old age... I never decided). During James' initial research for the book, the book was going to be called 'Return of a Modern Dynasty' (despite Akane insisting they never went anywhere) but was changed to 'End' after the Buyierfei were defeated for good and Akane vanished from public sight. Since I never wrote James' death into this outline, why he left the book unfinished is up to you to decide. And to think this story started out as a simple idea: What if Ranma was split into separate male and female versions of himself. And what if he could marry all his fiancees because of that? Yes, believe it or not, the Buyierfei didn't even enter into the early storyline. Nor did Sanma (she became necessary when I planned the birth of Daiji and the need for a leader of the BUyierfei that would have a personal connection to Akane and Ranma). It wasn't until I realized that I needed a powerful enemy for the "World's Greatest Martial Artists (TM)" that the Buyierfei and all the twists and turns they introduced into Akane and the Ranmas' lives that this epic became this untamable monster. While I am sad that I'll never be likely to finish this entire story in complete chapter form, I am glad I was able to at least put this somewhat detailed outline together to get the story out of my head and onto electronic paper. Unless someone has a couple million dollars to give me to retire and write full time, this will have to suffice. For all my readers who stuck with me. Thank you. For everyone who gave up on ever hearing the whole story. Suck it. Thank you. -Jim Lazar )