Gaia's Awakening --- " " are for speaking ' ' are for quotes in talks { } are for thoughts --- Chapter 2 --- This new journey to the USA, Los Angeles to be exact, was a little shorter than the last one. The party knew the way now. The hardest part would be the infiltration itself... So, just before arriving at the city, the group used the stolen beetle uniforms, Ranma using the Justicers' brown version. Dressed like this, it was easy to enter the city. No civilian would dare to oppose one of the "agents of the new peace", and specially not a group returning from a mission. Not knowing exactly where was the nearest garrison, they had to ask someone. "Excuse me!" shouted Ranma in the street they where in. "We are from out of town and we'd like to know where is the nearest guard post!" Nobody could work the courage to answer the soldiers. "Hurry! We haven't all the day!" Ranma added after seeing nobody would answer him. "D-down this road and..." someone finally started to mumble. "And?" asked Ranma authoritatively. "A-and you'll see a g-great building at y-your left..." the small man finished with trouble. "Thank you." Was all Ranma said before the Amazonian party started to walk toward their next destination. --- The building was effectively higher than the others, easily five stories. Its entrance was guarded by two beetles who, seeing the group coming toward them, engaged a talk. "Stop! Where are you from?" asked one of the guards. "We are the last survivors from an attack on a city, somewhere south from here. Having nowhere to go, we came back here to receive new orders." Explained Ranma, being the apparent leader of the group with his brown armor. "How much were the attackers?" asked the other guard to add in his report, officers just loved details in a repot. "Well, we didn't really have time to count them, but after two thirds of my men were killed, I knew that we couldn't win. They seemed chinese though." Answered Ranma, their covert carefully planned all the way from China. "Okay. Go see the Justicer in there. He'll give you your new assignments." Acknowledged the first guard and allowing them to enter. "Thanks. Guys, follow me." Ranma 'ordered' to his troops. While Ranma went to talk to the Justicer ruling this district, the others 1disguised Amazons waited for him in the main guard room. The local Justicer bought the story as easily as his guards, and soon the Amazon elite could travel to the local training center, at the request of Ranma. The Justicer didn't want to grant his comrade's, but Ranma pointed that he lost more than half his troops, so he needed to train them some more before he could safely guard another city. --- This new travel, even if it wouldn't get them closer to the headquarters, would be a great chance to gather informations. It brought them into another district, close to the downtown. The training center itself was not as impressive as the guard post. Only two stories. But the area it occupied was easily ten times larger. The group came to a halt when the reached the main door, with two guards. "Hi! Here is my training order." Told Ranma to a guard while giving him the authorization signed by the post's Justicer. The guard studied the document, then he allowed the group in. Ranma took back the paper and the Amazons entered the complex. --- Knowing they needed to be as careful as possible, the Amazons stayed there, 'training' in their reduced power level. They knew that their presence here would soon become suspicious so they'd have to act quickly. There hadn't been no attack on a city southern from there, after all. But the little time they were earning was precious, they learned a lot on the beetles. THAT was the goal of this mission. By now, they knew the exact location of the main headquarter. Ma Yuan's hive. But there was more... They learned that there was another rank of beetle above the Justicers : the War Princes. If they could see a War Prince's power level, they would have another ace on their sleeves for the upcoming war. And so Ranma brought together his friends to discuss a plan. They needed to know where to find one of these War Princes. The plan was simple : if a beetle was too powerful, he needed to be promoted to the next level. So if Ranma, showing a normal Justicer power level, was able to shortly show a stronger power, he might be noticed. In the next days, each Amazon started to show some increase in power, like their Justicer squad leader. The rise in power was modest, but it was way past what a classic beetle could do in a month. So... Justicer Ranma being the leader and trainer of this squad, he was called to meet the basement's Prince. Their crazy scheme worked, and they didn't even knew there was a Prince here at the training facilities. --- Ranma was in front of the door of the Prince's office. He knocked, then entered the room when he heard a voice ordering him to enter. "Justicer Ranma here to report, Sir." Said Ranma, the gathering of information these last days had paid a lot, and they learned the beetles codes easily. Behind the desk, the Prince was standing in front of a window, with his back toward Ranma. He seemed to look at the training ground. "I had some doubt at first, but after these few days, I knew it was you, Ranma..." said the man after a little while, clad in a red beetle uniform and a better armor than the one given to the Justicers, he also had a Sword of Justice fastened to his belt. {This voice... no, it can't be...} thought Ranma, hatred starting to show on his face. The man turned toward Ranma, revealing his own face. "I'm very disappointed in you, boy." Said the man, seeing that Ranma had recognized him. "Pop... Of all the thing I thought you'll never do, this was at the very bottom of the list." Spat Ranma at his father. "You don't even know what you're talking about, boy. But I must say I'm surprised to see you in this armor. When did you join us?" asked Genma with a frown. "Hu... Hahaha, you actually thought I joined the beetle army? After we joined the rebellion, I didn't stop just because our forces were crushed the first time. I've more pride than that!" Ranma laughed at his father face. "So I suppose you're just a spy for these Amazons?" "What if I am? I learned more with them in these last months than I did with you in all these years." "Son... surely you misunderstood the real motive behind all this." Genma told his son. "All our old acquaintance are not dead." "What? I SAW them die with my own eyes!" Ranma shouted back. "Some didn't die. They joined the army, and now they operate under my command as Justicers. Some are even here, training." "Yeah... sure. You converted them into animated zombies, and now you're using them like some toys in your foolish war." "Ranma. You don't understand the Master real goal..." "I know enough to say that some innocent are lobotomized or even killed for NOTHING!" "You always were a disappointment to me back then. I see that you stayed the same... I must thank you, despite your pathetic actions." "Hu?" "You brought me some good warriors to convert..." chuckled Genma. "DON'T YOU DARE !!!" shouted Ranma while crossing the space between him and his father in an eye blink. Genma easily blocked the punch, being prepared for the attack. "That's it, son. Show me what you learned with these so great Amazons." taunted Genma while pushing his son back. "It'll be my pleasure, you bastard! I was waiting for this day!" said Ranma while powering up, removing the blocks he put on himself to pass as a Justicer. "It's time for you to learn to show some respect to your betters, boy!" They engaged the fight. --- On their training quarter, the Amazon felt Ranma increasing aura. "Aiya... what is he doing? He want to fight the Prince all by himself?" asked Shampoo. "The only thing he'll succeed to do is to get himself killed." Ryoga answered her. "We got to help him, the jerk can't possibly win by himself." Added Akane "The Prince aura is far too much for any of us to beat him." Pointed Shampoo. "Well, I'm not gonna let the fool fight alone!" shouted Ryoga, while dashing toward Ranma's position. "STOP!" ordered a passing Justicer. "You are all under arrest!" He motioned to his troops to arrest the disguised Amazons. "WHAT?" shouted Ryoga. "Hu Ho... problem." Added Shampoo. "Seems we'll have to get by them first." Announced Akane, getting ready to fight for her own freedom. --- After only a few minutes of fighting, Ranma was reduced to a bloody pulp, while Genma showed only minor bruises. "You disappoint me more each passing day, son. Is that all you got? I was waiting for much more." Genma continued to taunt. "Argh... I'm not *puff* finished *puff* yet..." Ranma warned his father between gasps. "To say that your friends must already being converted at this time..." "Wha...?" "When I asked you to come, I also ordered to my troops to arrest your friends. With some luck, they are still fighting for their lives." Genma informed his bloodied son. "DIE!" screamed Ranma projecting himself on his father, too surprised by the sudden speed to dodge. The two men impacted on the window, passing through it and then crashing on the ground bellow. Genma quickly disengaged from his son. "There. This is way better." Ranma got up with trouble and leveled his eyes to his father's, burning with rage. "I'm gonna tear you apart, old man! I dunno how, but I'll do it...Even if it's the last thing I do!" Ranma warned his father, starting to unseal his nekoken. He slashed the air, sending a razor sharp wave of chi toward his father. {So the boy mastered the nekoken...} Genma thought to himself, smiling mentally. He countered the nekoken attack by a vacuum wave of his own, the two attack canceling each other, Genma then blurred and punched his son on the jaw, sending him several feet farther. "You think you can beat me? You can't even stand on you feet without trouble." Ranma started to crawl back up, using a nearby wall to help himself to stand back up. "I'll... never... give up. Ranma Saotome don't lose!" "You don't even know when you already lost, boy. Stop this nonsense." Genma walked up to his son and kicked him in the ribs, sending him flying. This time, Ranma didn't move. --- The other fight was not going well either. Not that the beetles could harm any of the Amazon, but the Justicers were another story. For each foe that bit the mud, two would take his place. The Amazons knew that they were soon going to lose the fight, but they hoped to see the number of beetle to finally start to decreasing. "Urhh... We have to end this a way or another. Ranma is not going to make it without our help!" cried Akane. "Well, I'm already running out of chi here... even if I could get to Ranma, I would be unable to help him... his aura is becoming weaker and weaker." Shampoo shouted back. "He have better to not die here... Only I have the right to kill him!" mumbled Ryoga to himself. "Less talk! More fight!" Shampoo shouted again, the Amazon letting herself be consumed by her ancestor's battle frenzy. Without any warning, all the beetles detector exploded at the same time. "Wha.." Akane started to say. "What's this... Who could be strong enough to make a detector explode?" Ryoga asked to his comrades. "Anyway, that's our chance. Bakusai Tenkestu !!" He shouted mightily, his technique sending rocks everywhere and hiding them in dust. Using the distraction, the Amazons could beat the beetles between them and Ranma. They started to run for their lives, the last Justicers following them. "Could it be... Ranma?" Akane whispered with hope in her voice. --- Genma noted that Ranma's flesh was losing it's color and paling. {He's already suffering from blood loss? What a wimp!} thought Genma. He then noticed that Ranma's HAIR where paling too, getting discolored and golden. "What the..." He said, surprised. He didn't have more time as Ranma started to stand up again, his whole body glowing gold. When Ranma was upright, he gazed at his father, the pupils of his eyes, still burning with rage, had somewhat turned emerald. "You had enough warning, old man. I told you I'll tear you apart." Without even a blur, Ranma had his fist buried deep in Genma fat stomach. He followed by a spinning kick on the jaw and send his father flying on the other side of the room. "How did you...?" asked Genma while he spitted blood. "I dunno... I told ya I didn't know how I would kill you. But now that I have the power to, I'm gonna do it." Ranma replied coldly while he walked up to his father. Genma tried to attack his son with all his might, but his fist was caught easily by Ranma. "Who's pathetic now, old man? Not as boasting now that you're on the receiving end, eh?" A quick hit on the elbow easily broke his father arm. "You should have followed me when I went to China. Now, it's my duty to see that you'll never harm anyone again." Ranma used his grip on his father fist to project him on a nearly wall, causing his father to spit more blood, but he was still standing up. "I'm truly sorry to have to do this. But you didn't give me the choice." Tears were running freely on Ranma's cheeks now. "Kachu Tenshin Amagouriken!!" Several hundred of punched rained on the red armored body of the man knew as Genma Saotome, destroying his Prince's armor, breaking bones and reducing him to a bloody pulp. Ranma caught his father by the neck to keep him from falling. With his other hand, he summoned his nekoken chi claws. "Farewell, father." Ranma whispered more to himself than his now unconscious father. With a quick movement, he cut his father head off of his shoulders, ending the fat man's life. --- The blue armored Amazon group was finally getting to where Ranma fought, they had now far less followers. When they did get there, the first thing they saw was a victorious golden haired Ranma. Then they saw the headless corpse of the Prince. Seeing the chi claws on Ranma's hand, they understood that he had somewhat succeeded to kill his mighty opponent. Their stupor caused them to stop there. Ranma's emerald eyes, still filled with hatred and some blood lust could have helped too. The last following Justicers were catching their targets up. Ranma, seeing them, dashed forward without any warning. His now increased speed allowing him to cut the last five Justicers in a few seconds, using only a couple slashing movement to cut all them in two. He then stood there, looking at all the blood at his feet. "Ranma?" Akane asked. "Yes?" he asked back, his voice sounding tired, but cold too. "We need to leave, now that we have been identified." She told him. "Sure. Let's go." He answered while turning back toward the amazons. They noticed his now pallid face. "How do you did this?" Ryoga asked his rival. "I dunno. I was so angry at him... and when I thought it was finished, I felt this new power burning through me." "I think we need to report to the Matriarch as fast as we can." Said Shampoo to cut some tension. "Yeah... Let's get back home." Added Akane. "Ryoga. The Prince... he was my father..." Ranma told his friend/rival. "What? It was this bastard that was ruling here?" The fanged boy asked. "Yup. I wanted to only beat him up good at first. But he made me so angry." He explained. "Don't worry, man. I'd have done the same thing." Ryoga told him. "Thanks." They used their last strength to take the air and they put as much distance as they could manage before they had to get their feet back on earth. Sometime during the flight, Ranma's body returned to normal. --- Chapter 2 End --- Author's notes: Like I said in the previous chapters, the rewrite is more to correct a few things and change back Ranma's transformation into one of a true super saiyajin. Maybe I'll fuse the 2 next chapter.. or not... all will depend on their length... I won't have a chapter shorter than 15K like chap 4 was before... :o Vampyr 666 Vampyr6@wanadoo.fr http://www.chez.com/vampyr666 #ICQ : 2971440