[Ranma][Fanfic] Birth of the Amazon Way - Scroll Outline========================================================================     In the beginning, there was light and there was dark. The twoopposing forces fought to create a universe in their own image. However,light cannot exist without dark and dark cannot exist without light, sothe battle is without end.     The two forces battled throughout the early eons of the universe,forming great amounts of leftover matter in the wake of their titanicbattles. Planets, stars, and even whole galaxies were formed from thisleftover 'garbage'.      After a while, light and dark found that they could use this matterfor their battles. In the wars that followed, whole star systems andeven galaxies were wiped out of existence. Out of the rubble, new starsand planets were born in a chaotic series of death and rebirth thatcontinues to this day, and which will continue until the end of time.     In one tiny insignificant star system, a group of planets orbitedan unremarkable yellow star. On these worlds, light and dark battle asthey always have and always will. The fate of the universe is not atstake in these tiny battles, but as far as the inhabitants of thoseworlds are concerned, their planet is their universe.     In the early years of these planets, when the inner worlds were nomore than a hodgepodge of rock and molten lava, light and dark battledon the worlds. In time, the battles reached an uneasy balance and lifesprang forth and evolved.     Light begets life. Dark begets life, only a different form of life.A life that only exists to destroy other life. Some call it death. Somecall it the Blackness. The Chinese Amazons call it the Buyierfei.========================================================================                       ______________________________________________                     /                                        /      \                    /     * * BIRTH OF THE AMAZON WAY * *    /        \                   /                                        /|   /\   |                  /             SCROLL OUTLINE             / |   ||   |                 /                                        /  |   \/   |                /                                        /   \        /               /    Birth of the Amazon Way series      /_____\______/              /    created, written, and copyright     /             /    2000-2010 by Jim Lazar              /            /                                        /           /    A series set within my              /          /    Modern Dynasty saga.                /         /                                        /  ______/_________________________________       / /                                 /      \     //         **    *   *   *         /        \   /|         * *  * *  *   *         |   /\   |  /|    -=-  **   ***  * * *  -=-    |   ||   | /|         * *  * *  * * *         |   \/   |/\         **   * *   * *          \        / \_________________________________\______/(If the above text looks weird, view it with a monospaced font.)This outline is best to read after all chapters of my 'Childhood of aModern Dynasty' and'Adulthood of a Modern Dynasty' series (chapters and outline) and thefirst 2 parts of the 'End of a Modern Dynasty' outline.Ranma 1/2 characters/situations created and copyright by RumikoTakahashi/Shogakukan/Kitty/Fuji/Viz - Used without permissionE-mail comments and/or criticisms to: mailto:jimlazar@animeprime.comMake sure to check out my Modern Dynasty website forall released BAW stories, graphics files, and other information:http://www.animeprime.com/ff/md=======================================================================The following is an general overview of the history of the Amazons thatwas to be written after Adulthood of a Modern Way. It would chroniclehow the Buyierfei came to Earth and how they caused the formation of theAmazon tribe.The first part is fully written (I had started writing it out long ago,but was waiting on more AMD to be finished before working more on it).After the initial parts, there will be only rough descriptions detailingmy planned sequence of major events.More than likely this would have been written in parallel with 'End of aModern Dynasty' with certain revelations happening in End followed bydetails in BAW.=======================================================================     Black dust storms raged across the surface of the once blue-greenworld. In a deep cavern, carved out of the rock generations earlier, thefew remaining inhabitants of that world cowered in terror from theBlackness. Above the din of the storm they chanted an ancient song, themeaning of which was lost in time. All they knew is that if comfortedthem in times of great danger. Little did they know that the tune alsohid them from the Blackness.     They had no memory of where the song came from, who had first sungit, and why it felt so good to sing it. Their past was lost when theBlackness had swept across their once proud cities and lands. Not eventhe pictures and words carved on the cavern wall told them anything,their written language having been lost to them generations ago. In theend, survival was their only priority. Remembering who they were andwhere they came from became meaningless as they strived to simply stayalive.     The small group's survival looked promising until a huge, black,rectangular monolith passed overhead looking for life. Any life. Life todevour. Life to consume. Life to destroy. It did not matter what youcalled it, when the Blackness was finished, there would be no life left.At least life that flourished in the light.     Sensing the life under the rock below it, the monolith blasted awayat the rock ceiling with bolts of black lighting and exposed the largecavern to the sky.     The small group was terrified as they craned their long eyestalksup to see the apparition that hovered above them. Their eyes gazed onthe Blackness as it rained down on them and took their life, the lastlife on the planet.     Sensing it's mission was complete, the monolith settled onto theground in the cavern. All around the planet, countless other monolithsfloating in the sky sensed the same thing and stopped searching for lifeand turned in a graceful arc to point up towards the sky.     The monoliths hung motionless in mid air as the small planetorbited the small yellow star. Since no one was left to count, there wasno way of knowing how much time passed before the monoliths finallystirred.     Black sparks and lightning flashed between the monoliths, wrappingthe planet in a web of energy. Finally the lightning stopped and themonoliths shot into the sky.     All save the last one, which had settled onto the ground in theunderground cavern to wait until it was needed.     When the other monoliths reached orbit, they grouped together toform a rough cylinder. Sparks and lightening flared to life in thecenter hole and the cylinder blasted out of orbit on a beam of stolenenergy.     The small planet--now a small, red, barren world--was left behindwithout even a parting glance by the creatures that called the monolithshome. They felt no sadness for the barren world they left behind. Theyfelt no happiness for the new world they were heading to. The feltnothing, such was their nature. The nature of Blackness.(Obviously, that last monolith in the cavern is the one Nabiki andMousse found on Mars.)                     -B-           -A-           -W-    The cylinder ignored the first planet in the star system, it wasdevoid of life. The second planet had already fallen to its kind longbefore they had moved onto the fifth planet, where they devoured notonly the life on that world, but ripped apart the entire planet to fueltheir relentless migration throughput the solar system. A loosecollection of asteroids was all that remained of that large world.    The intelligent beings of that world had fled their dying world andsought refuge on the fourth planet. They should have gone further, buteven that wouldn't have guaranteed that they would escape the Blackness.    Now only the third planet supported life, but not for long if theBuyierfei had their way.    When the cylinder passed the blue-green world's single satellite,several monoliths disengaged from the main cylinder and dropped to thegray surface. They would wait until their energies were needed.    The main cylinder continued towards the blue-green world to feedagain.                    -B-           -A-           -W-     Herds of plant eating dinosaurs roamed the plains, occasionallystopping to nibble on a bush. Considering their size, this 'nibbling'usually consisted of entire branches or whole trees.     An excited series of clicks and hoots were exchanged between thedinosaurs as they sensed danger. The danger was realized as a large meateater appeared from a grove of tall trees and head butted one of theslow moving plant eaters, knocking it over. The other plant eaters racedoff, away from their attacker while the meat eater ignored the fleeingdinosaurs and tore into the body of its fallen prey. It ignored thecreature's painful cries as the circle of life continued.     The meat eater started and then looked up at a bright light in thedistance. The large explosion filled the distant sky and rolled acrossthe ground towards the meat eater, burning everything in its path. Thedinosaur only had a split second before it was dead and its flesh wasburned from its bones and its bones reduced to ashes.     The explosion destroyed a sizable chunk of land of what would laterbe called the Gulf of Mexico and the Yucatan Peninsula. Carried by thewind, the iridium rich black dust from the explosion settled to theground worldwide and life away from the explosion went on with only abrief pause to notice the explosion that the cylinder's impact hadcaused.      At the center of the explosion some shadows stirred and creptacross the blackened surface of their own accord. If there was anyonearound to observe this event, they would have wondered where the shadowscame from, since there didn't seem to be anything around for the lightto cast shadows such as these. This was because it was the dark and notthe light that cast these shadows.     The shadows spread out from the center of the explosion and in theyears that followed, they drained the life out of the planet. Wholespecies of dinosaurs, reptiles, mammals, and plants died out as theshadows sucked the life out of them.     Once they had ravaged the life that called this planet home, theshadows sunk into the depths of the planet and waited for life to renewitself.     They waited to feed again.                     -B-           -A-           -W-(Here the outline becomes less detailed.)Many millions of years passed before the monoliths returned to thesurface to allow the Blackness to feed again. The single monolith thatwould open the way for the rest towered above a group of stone houses onan island off the coast of Africa.The terrified inhabitants of that island tried lobbing rocks and arrowsat the hovering monolith, but they had no effect on the toweringmonolith. Then they decided the monolith must be a god. Fearing theirnew god, they worshiped it and gave it animal sacrifices.The monolith started sending out bolts of black lightning and thensettled to the ground.Still fearful of it's god, the island inhabitants sacrificed all thepure virgin women on the island. As the naked virgins lay spread outbefore the monolith on stone alters, their last drops of blood spilledover the edges of their altars and seeped into the ground under them.Then the monolith throbbed, as if it had a heart beat.Soon, the bodies of the women were pulled into the monolith and fusedtogether to form the new key, bridge, and focus for the Buyierfei.And then the monolith exploded and sent a wave of destruction over theisland and continued to the coast of Africa, blackening  thenorth-western coast and stripping it of vegetation. The bare area wouldspread and form the Sahara desert over the centuries to come.As the last piece of black dust settled to the island surface, a smallhunched figure appeared from nowhere."Argh...." it grunted in a ancient voice battered by life.It looked around and sighed. "Where am I?" It looked around, saw thealtars and sighed. "Human sacrifice? How primitive."It searched for signs of life on the island, even as the island shookaround it. Making it to the primitive harbor constructed beside anatural cave, she found a small boat that had managed to survive mostlyintact and set off for the coast she could see in the distance. As shemoved away from the island, it continued to shake until it finalitysplit in two and started to sink under the ocean's surface.It reached land and found a village. Not speaking their language, it hadto gesture and draw pictures to find out where she was. She continuedher search for answers as she traveled northward."North-western coast of Africa... but there should be more modern citieshere."Eventually she found people she could communicate with with an olddialect of one of the base languages that eventually formed the Amazon'sancestral language. That was when she was in for a rude shock."It has to be more than four thousand years ago. Which means..."The figure sighed heavily and threw off the hood of her dirty cloak. Noone would have known her. Especially not in Africa somewhere before 2000B.C. by the Christian calendar.It was even before the Amazon calendar started.It was even before the Amazon tribe itself started."I guess I have my work cut out for me," the old gnarled woman said. "SoI guess this makes me the Ancient One... I think I liked being calledCologne better."She chuckled to herself and then looked out to sea. "Hmmmm.... and history always said the Atlantans were so advanced. Iimagine the stories that I've told the locals about the sinking islandwill get to Plato eventually, with some embellishments."She eventually found her way to a major city (by the standards of thatage) and started enlisting the help of seamen with the help of the goldand diamonds from the jewelry she had been wearing when she had beensent back over four thousand years.It wasn't easy, but with promises of fame and fortune she convinced onecaptain to reinforce and outfit his ships for a sail to lands unknown.At that time, she was essentially asking them to sail off the edge ofthe flat Earth. The ships were barely able to navigate across theMediterranean, asking them to navigate the Atlantic Ocean was suicide.Fortunately, Cologne made some suggestions about improvements for theships and had some knowledge about navigation that the sailors of thattime didn't.But she knew what they would find.A monolith in the jungles of the South American rainforest.How could she know that?She used to be the historian for the Amazon tribe and knew almost theentire known history of the Amazon tribe by heart.And she also knew why the Chinese Amazons were called 'Amazons'.                    -B-           -A-           -W-It was a long and dangerous trip. Only three of the five ships made itto the mouth of the mighty Amazon river. "Columbus was a little late tothis discovery, I think," Cologne chuckled.One ship was partially taken apart to built a craft to navigate thewaters of the Amazon river.They found signs of war. Abandoned villages, burnt holes in the forest,and floating bodies drifting by them.Then they found the first signs of life. A village with a cooking firestill being tended.Cologne went into the village and soon found a thatched hut full ofcowering women and young children. No men, just women, girls, and veryyoung boys.She knew why there were no men, but the women told her the story anyway.The men had gone off to battle with demons. Black demons from thedarkest regions of hell."Buyierfei," Cologne mentioned. "And will you all cower here until theBlackness arrives and steals your lives?"What can we do? We're only women," one of the women said in anotherancient base language of the Amazon tribe."I'm a woman," Cologne said, then sent a yellow blast of wind at anearby tree.There were startled gasps from the women and children. Even the menaccompanying Cologne up the river gasped."These 'black demons' can be defeated. I know they can. Let me show youhow," Cologne said. holding a hand out to the women."But we're just women..."Cologne leaned towards them. "No, you're not JUST women. You are AMAZONSand you will be the first warriors of the great Amazon Tribe!"Cologne can be very pervasive when you have no hope for life.And that answers the age-old question of why the Chinese Amazons werecalled 'Amazons'.That's where the tribe started, after all.                    -B-           -A-           -W-When the first groups of invisible Buyierfei reached that village andothers that Cologne had found, they were greeted by a line of women inimprovised armor and wielding primitive weapons.They never knew what hit them.The onslaught continued until an explosion rocked the forest and rolledacross the land. The Amazon monolith had exploded and taken a good dealof the Amazon forest with it. It would regrow in time, fed by thenutrient rich waters of the Amazon river.The fledgeling Amazon tribe survived and fought bravely. Making theirway back down the Amazon river and back to the waiting ships, Cologneled them up the coast to what will once be Texas.And there they battled the Buyierfei once again and again found villageswith women survivors huddling in the darkness. They too would join theAmazon tribe.Unable to get to the monolith that lay in what would be Kansas someday,Cologne grimaced as the mountainous central part of the continent wasflattened in that huge explosion. Geologists would have many theoriesfor why that area was so flat. Destruction by an exploding monolith wasnot one of them.The size of the tribe was now too much to fit on the boats, but Cologneleft some her most trusted warriors and some of the most promising youngwomen to train and grow. She instructed them to find other womendisplaced by the Blackness that had swarmed over what would someday bethe central United States. "Train and grow. And I will return in fiveyears to this spot," Cologne instructed and pointed at a map she haddrawn of the North American continent.She pointed to a lush jungle surrounding the future location of LasVegas.It wouldn't be lush for long, but would be a very important battlefieldfor the Amazons.                    -B-           -A-           -W-Cologne continued her voyages, fueled by the riches she gathered alongthe way in the new lands.Despite knowing the outcome written in the Amazon history scrolls shedid her best to stop the monolith in northern Europe from goingcritical, but in the end her warriors couldn't get to the monoliththrough the hordes of Buyierfei. The blast sunk large portions of land,forming the now familiar coastline of Northern Europe and separating theBritish Isles from the continent they used to be a peninsula of.Cologne made a decision to skip going after the African monolith thatwould split Madagascar from the continent and headed to the SaudiArabian peninsula to try and stop the monolith there. Unfortunately, shehad to rely on very slow modes of transportation available at that time(no supersonic aircraft were available) and if she tried to stop theAfrica monolith, she'd miss the monolith on the Saudi Arabian peninsulathat was located in a much more populated area at that time. Even asrumors started to flow into the fishing villages along the arabian coastof a huge explosion down south, the first Buyierfei attacks began.The locals were astonished at the large army of scantily clad women whocame to their rescue to battle the demons that swarmed over the sands.The sight would lead the survivors to celebrate the women who saved themby having scantily dressed women dance for them. And, thus, the bellydance was born from war.Reaching the monolith, Cologne went in with her entire attack force anddestroyed the monolith saving the lives in the area. It also marked thefirst monolith destroyed by the Amazons. Their first major victory.They appeared on the coast of Africa where the previous monolithexploded. Using the wealth they carried with them, they procured anotherset of sailing vessels and went on to discover Australia, battled theBuyeirfei leader in India, rediscovered South America, and then theyfollowed the coast up to the Baja of California. There, they made theirway north by foot through the jungles until they found the other half ofthe Amazon tribe, now ten thousand strong.                    -B-           -A-           -W-Cologne led half of her warriors against the land Buyierfei, but gotdriven back from avians that scattered her warriors.The other half of the Amazons had more luck battling the Buyierfei fromthe west and reached the monolith situated on the mountain top thatwould one day be the valley that Las Vegas would sit in.Cologne swung her warriors around to the east to try and approach themonolith from there. That is when she ran into another monolith. "Therewas only one monolith recorded during this battle... has historychanged?"Even as Cologne worried that something had gone horribly wrong, she ledher warriors into the second monolith.After revealing the hearts, she was surprised to find four hearts.Again, this clashed with her knowledge of history.Increasingly worried, she set off with a team she taught the hot andcold vortexes to. The others follow, providing cover from the hit andmiss Buyierfei attacks.Before reaching the closest heart, it exploded with a golden light andsends sheets of golden threads across the Buyierfei realm.Cologne smiles as history finally seemed to be unfolding as sheexpected.Three figures fly out of the exploding heart and crashed to the ground."What the hell was that?""No idea, Mom, but we may be alive.""We're still in the Buyierfei realm, unfortunately."The three figures finished making sure they were alive and mostlyunharmed and then looked around. They were amazed to see almost anendless mass of Amazons surrounding them.Not that Amazons were that unusual to them, but the Black Wars had takenit's toll on the Amazon's numbers which hadn't been that high since thebeginning of the Wars."Um... where's the Matriarch or...""I'm afraid there's no Matriarch yet, Son-in-law. Warriors, may Ipresent to you our great GODS. Bow down in front of them for they willsave us and the world from the Blackness!!"The Amazons all bowed down in front of the three figures, who wereunderstandably confused."Who?"Cologne tossed back her hood and smiled. "I've been waiting so long foryou... welcome Ranma and... um.. Sanma?""Ranko, actually..." Ranko looked around. "Um... Cologne? Aren't youdead?"The man beside Ranko frowned and looked around. "Or are we?""No, I'm not dead. Neither are you. It's a long story, but to keep itshort... When I was trapped in the red crystal heart when it wasdestroyed, I was sent four thousand years into the past. I ended upbeing the Ancient One who formed the Amazons from women left behind bymen who died fighting the Buyierfei."Ranko remembered the red crystal they had been trapped in before findingthemselves here. "So... we're alive and back in time AND we're stillfighting the damn Buyierfei?""Yes, but it's okay because I know how history goes.""THEN WHY DIDN"T YOU WARN US ABOUT GETTING SENT BACK IN TIME!""I really had no idea that you were the ancient gods of the Amazons. Ihave to admit that you fit the description given of the gods pretty welland that's why I was so egger to get you into the Amazon tribe and intomy family.Ranko suddenly remembered something when Cologne mentioned 'family'."Um... Cologne, about Shampoo..." She turned and gestured to Yukiko.Cologne squinted her eyes. "Who?"Ranko smiled. "Yukiko, this is Cologne, your great grandmother. Cologne,this is Shampoo. She lost her memory, but she is alive.""Great Grandmother?""Great Granddaughter?"The two women hesitantly hugged, unsure of the other's identity.Although Yukiko had recovered some of her old memories, she still hadgaps.A shout went up from the Amazons surrounding them in a language Rankoand Daiji couldn't understand. Naturally, since it was an early form ofAncient Amazon.Cologne broke the embrace and looked behind them. "Mass Buyierfei attackfrom that direction."Ranko looked at Daiji. "Guess the explanations will have to wait, we'restill in the Buyierfei busting business whenever it is. Let's go son!""Sure, Mom!!" Daiji smiled and leaped into the air, startling theAmazons.Ranko was right behind him. "Hey, whatever happened to DAD?!"Although well trained in basic chi techniques and the hot and coldvortexes, the Amazons were amazed with the range of Ranko and Daiji'sleaps and the barrage of chi balls and attacks they laid down. Many ofthe attacks Cologne had never seen since they were honed through thedarkest days of the Black Wars."Amazing... Ranma and Ranko have really improved to... godlike levels."Yukiko looked at her great-grandmother. "That's Daiji... She's Ranko'sdaughter and sometimes son."Cologne's eyes widened. "He's cursed? That fits the legends. One of thegods was neither man or woman. A great warrior in any form."Yukiko nodded. "We're really four thousand years in the past?""Yes, I'm afraid so.""This might take some getting used to.""Yes, it will Matriarch.""I'm not Matriarch any more... Akane is.""Is she?" Cologne chuckled. "But I'm glad you held that title in thefuture. It will make being First Matriarch now easier for you.""Huh?""Amazon history records that the great First Matriarch arrived with thegreat gods who laid waste to the deadly Blackness."Yukiko looked away from where Ranko and Daiji were laying waste tot heBuyierfei. "But I never wanted to be Matriarch in the first place.""I never expected to be the Ancient One either... sometimes life givesus nasty turns."Yukiko nodded, realizing life had given her a nasty turn once again. Shealso realized it would be unlikely that she would see her husband orchildren ever again."At least you're dressed for the part."Yukiko looked down at her golden armor. "The First Matriarch's Armor..."                    -B-           -A-           -W-With Ranko and Daiji's help, the Amazons destroy two more hearts, makingsure to get out of the aura in time to continue destroying hearts.Cologne wanted to keep the entire tribe together after the last heart isdestroyed, so they were going to try the same for the last heart.Unfortunately, they run into the Buyierfei's leader at that time. Afemale with six arms and three faces."Rouge?" Ranko asks, thinking about the cursed form of her old friendwho fought with the Task Force for a while with her husband PantyhoseTaro.Cologne, used her cane to keep Ranko from moving forward. "I don't thinkso, Son-in-law. That is what's left of several human sacrifices thatgave the Buyierfei a bridge back into the world.""Like Shuma...""Shuma?""Long story... we think we killed him before being sent back here.""Well, time to kill this one, but I have to warn you that historydoesn't record that the Buyierfei were defeated yet."Ranko smiled confidently. "Well, history can change."It didn't.They fought the Buyierfei leader that called herself Asura, but in theend the monolith heart went critical and exploded.Ranko, Daiji, and Yukiko didn't get out of the heart in time, so wereseparated from Cologne and most of the Amazons. The dozen or so Amazons and the three time travelers found themselves ina black desert. "Um... okay, I wonder where we are?" Daiji asked."GPS isn't working..." Ranko remarked, looking at his mobile battle pad.She looked up into the night sky. "Guess it's four thousand years tooearly for the GPS satellites to be around." She looked at the other two."Better switch off your pads... we won't be able to recharge them andmay need to be able to use some of the other functions eventually."Yukiko sighed. "I wish we didn't get separated from Great Grandmother.""Yeah... um... how's your Amazon history, Yukiko?""Um... so so...""What happened after the Amazon gods appeared to the Amazons?'"Um... 'Split from the tribe, the Gods and First Matriarch made theirway to the next battlefield and enjoyed a huge victory over theBlackness.""And the next battlefield?""Um... I don't remember.""Okay... well let's find a village or someone who knows where we are."Unfortunately, Yukiko didn't know much ancient Amazon, so they had togesture to get the Amazons to follow them. The Amazons were treatingthem with great reverence, that seemed to annoy Daiji and Yukiko. Rankoseemed to accept it in stride.They eventually found out they were in northern Canada and made theirway south. Fortunately the Amazons were very good at living off the landas they travelled. Ranko also had some experience with traveling withbarely any provisions, but her survival techniques usually involvedstealing okonomiyaki carts or similar items.As they found themselves in front of the roaring Niagra falls,pleasantly without the tacky souvenir shops and boat tours, Yukikogasped. "Ah!! the next battle was described as being along the eastcoast of the 'New Continent' that the Amazon scrolls described Americaas."Ranko looked at Yukiko. "Do you know where exactly?""Um... it's not like they used modern names."Ranko sighed. "Why wouldn't we tell them the modern names to use so we'dknow? Or write ourselves a big warning to avoid all this in the firstplace."Yukiko shook her head. "I don't know. But I do recall the battle asbeing with a monolith on a large island surrounded by other largeislands."Daiji scratched his head. "Sounds a bit like New York, lots of bigislands make up that area."Ranko nodded. "Well, it's worth a look, I guess."                    -B-           -A-           -W-'New York' was quite a different sight in 2000 B.C. Ranko and the otherslooked out along the coastline from a hill at a grassy landscape coveredwith large groves of trees dotted along the islands that would one daybe paved over and reach into the sky."And to think New York never got attacked during the Black Wars.""Guess they were one of the first areas attacked.""Guess we should go down and join in."Below them a mass of Amazon warriors could be seen slicing and dicingunseen enemies. By the sight of it, the battle had been going on fordays, if not weeks.In a battle that would go down in Amazon history, the Amazon Gods andthe First Matriarch rejoined the Amazon tribe and helped defeat theBlackness."Welcome back, Son-in-law," Cologne said when she found the three timetravelers after the battle was won."Yeah, I think we might need a history lesson so we can find you alleasier the next time."Cologne chuckled.                    -B-           -A-           -W-More battles raged across the world, with the Amazons either using veryprimitive means of transport, walking across an ice bridge betweenAlaska and Russia, or being transported by monolith.Despite her reluctance, Yukiko started going by 'Shampoo' and settledinto the duties of the First Matriarch. Cologne found it very ironicthat Shampoo had been named in honor of the First Matriarch, but endedup being the First Matriarch herself. Cologne spent a lot of time givingher a detailed overview of Amazon history, cautioning her that it maynot unfold exactly as she remembered it. There were already severalchanges from what she recalled. Either because of actual changes thatwere being made in history by them or because of lax historical recordkeeping by the early Amazons, they weren't sure which.Daiji and Ranko were feeing a bit separated from the Amazons, since theywere uncomfortable with being worshiped as gods. Even Ranko's egostopped being stroked after three years of it.Yukiko and Ranko were staring at the night stars one night, marveling athow clear they were without the haze of pollution. "I guess we're nevergoing to get back to the future," Ranko said, sighing."No... although Great Grandmother is being a bit vague on what happensto the four of us in the future.""Maybe that's for the best.""Yeah...""Best we concentrate on destroying the Buyierfei... or at least puttingthem to sleep for four thousand years.""I wish there was a way to destroy them forever now.""But then we'd never be sent back to be able to destroy them now. It'dbe a time paradox."Yukiko looked at Ranko. "That was a very intelligent observation.""Yeah... I saw it in some movie."Yukiko chuckled. "Do you think our families are okay?""Yeah... since Shuma should be dead, they should be safe and the Warsover.""That's something, I guess." She absently put her hand over Ranko's.Ranko glanced at their hands in surprise, but didn't pull away.                    -B-           -A-           -W-Daiji found himself spending a lot of time with a particular Amazonwarrior, learning their ancient language. He didn't see it, but Rankorecognized that her son was falling in love. The mother in her worriedsince Daiji had always had bad luck romantically. Shasu (the strange Amazon names didn't start until much, much laterapparently) was a beautiful woman rescued from the battles in the SaudiArabia peninsula. During a battle, she was injured and Daiji came to heraid.Applying pressure to the wound in her side, Daiji had to pump her chestand then do CPR to get her breathing again. To the other Amazons and toShasu it was a miracle. Daiji tried to downplay it, but to people notused to modern medial techniques, it seemed to be a miracle."The Ancient One said that to touch the breast of a warrior duringbattle is an Amazon's way of proposing," Shasu said later, while Daijiwas visiting her sickbed.Daiji blushed, and wrung her small hands. "Um... well, I like you butcan you really accept my cursed body?""How could I not want to be joined with a God?""I'm not a GOD! I'm just a simple man," Daiji said, ruining her boast bythumbing her chest right between her perky breasts."I'm sorry if I displease you..."Daiji shook her head. "You don't displease me, but I don't want you tomarry me just because you think I'm a god.""I'm sorry.""I thought you enjoyed spending time with me.""I do.""Why?""Well because you're fun, you're intelligent, and a...""A what?""A great warrior... despite begin a man sometimes."Daiji chuckled. "You spend too much time with Cologne.""Huh?""Never mind, just something my Dad once told me about Cologne's... ahthe Ancient One's attitude about men.""Ah.""So you don't mind my being both a man and woman?""No... I can see the same person in both bodies."Daiji blushed deeper then reached over and grabbed Shasu's breast. "Willyou marry me?""Um... the Ancient One said that grabbing a breast of a warrior in bedis an invitation to have sex"Daiji frowned. "Um...""Just kidding."Daiji fell off the bed.                    -B-           -A-           -W-Ranko cried as she gave away her oldest son, despite Daiji being a womanfor the ceremony. Even in their short history, the Amazons had alreadystarted to show a preference towards the female members of the tribe.Whether that was due to Cologne's influence or a natural result of thetribe being over ninety percent women, it was hard to tell.So a female-female wedding was more prestigious for the Amazons. Daijidecided it if it didn't matter to Shasu, she didn't care what sex shewas married as.As First Matriarch, Shampoo had the honor of marrying the couple and thewhole tribe celebrated the marriage of one of their warriors to one oftheir gods, Daiji the Ice God. Somehow Daiji's name never was recordedin the history scrolls. Only 'Ice God' or 'Ice Goddess', depending onthe temperature of the water.At the party after the marriage, Ranko and Shampoo talked. "I'm glad hefinally found someone. He had the worst luck with women or men backhome.""Yeah, I was lucky to find someone who accepted my cat form.""And I was lucky to find Akane.""You think we can ever go back?""I don't think so... although Cologne is being a bit evasive whenever Iask.""I think Great Grandmother is afraid of affecting Amazon history.""So what do we do?""We fight the Buyierfei as best we can." Shampoo clutched her limp leftarm, wishing she could be more affective in battle."Don't worry about your arm, you are spectacular in battle.""Thanks. You're no slouch yourself.""Well, I am  GOD after all. Just be glad we don't have a Circle full ofnagging old witches that try and control everything."Shampoo chuckled and reached out to hold Ranko's hand. Neither of themnoticed the familiar gesture they had slowly gotten used to over thepast year.                    -B-           -A-           -W-A year later, the Amazons celebrated the wedding of the First Matriarchto their great Fire God 'Ranko'. Somehow Ranko's name never made it intothe history scrolls either.Shortly after, Cologne passed away of extreme old age. Shampoo was verysad, but also worried. Cologne's history lessons said the Ancient Onedied in battle.So either the history of the Amazons was wrong in places or history waschanging.Shampoo hoped it was the former, since if it was the later the Buyierfeimight not be defeated by the Amazons and there would be no humans leftto battle them in the future.                    -B-           -A-           -W-More battles follow, still seeming to follow the history known to them.Then an unexpected attack on one of their encampments caused largecasualties."Maybe we've been too lax because we assume the history is going tounfold as it was recorded," Ranko said at one of their strategymeetings.Shampoo nodded. "Maybe, but I don't know what else we could have done.We're always on the move, so we can't construct a full protectivefence."Daiji nodded. "Well, we'll just have to make sure the person writing thescrolls puts as much detail in as possible.""Yeah, can you tell them, Shampoo?""Huh?""Huh?""Who's recording our battles?"The three of them look dumbfounded at each other before realizing theynever actually assigned an Amazon to write the history of the Amazonsdown.Of course, even with the history being written down, it would end upbeing recopied and recopied to survive until the twenty-first century,losing bits of information along the way.Sadly, the three time travelers attempts to leave messages for theirfuture loved ones never made it intact to the future.                    -B-           -A-           -W-Ranko looked over the rolling hills and mountains of northern China. "Sowe lay out anti-Buyierfei fences along that ridge line there and down tothere." She traced the hills and then gestured down to a valley with ariver running through it. "At least I think that's where the Great Wallran."Daiji chuckled. "Hey, Mom, the Great Wall isn't constructed for at leastfive thousand years."Ranko cringed at having his great idea shot down.Shampoo interrupted the mother-daughter fight. "Actually, the historyscrolls did record that the Amazons did setup large fences to funnel theBuyierfei into a location we could attack them in. It's possible thatthey laid the foundations for the construction of the future GreatWall."Ranko smiled smugly and looked at her daughter.Daiji sighed and realized she would be hearing about that for a while.She looked down to where a baby was suckling on her breast and smiled. "You had enough, Dashu?" Although Shasu gave birth to the child, Daijiwas taking turns breast feeding her thanks to some herbs the Amazonsknew about that would encourage lactation. In a tribe full of largebreasted women, it was convenient to share the breast feeding duties.'It takes a village to breast feed a baby' is a very old Amazon saying."No fair using my granddaughter to divert my gloating.""Sorry, Dad, you were right." "Now about the preparations..." Shampoo started to say, then started tocough.Ranko patted his wife's back. "You okay?""Yeah... I'm sure it's just a cold.""There's no such thing as 'just a cold' four thousand years in the pastin the middle of a wilderness!"Shampoo smiled. "I love you."                    -B-           -A-           -W-A week later, the rain poured down on a somber ritual as Ranko bid hersecond wife goodbye. Third if you count the two times she married Akane."Just a cold...""She lived a long and... interesting life, Dad," Daiji said, keeping hisarm around his father for support."Yeah, but it should have been longer. It would have been longer if shewas where we all should be.""But then you wouldn't have your precious little granddaughter.""True.""And considering all the ways we've seen friends and family die, dyingpeacefully in their sleep has to be somewhat reassuring.""Yeah...""Hang in there, Dad, we'll see this through to the end.""End... that's an interesting thought."                    -B-           -A-           -W-Shusu was elected to be the Second Matriarch mostly by her record inbattle, but also in part to her being married to the Ice God. She didn'tlike that, since she had come to love Daiji as a normal human.Daiji loved her for that.To honor the Ancient One that had brought the great tribe together, shetook on her name when assuming the role of Matriarch. The names of thefirst two Matriarchs would lead to some very strange names in the nextfour thousand years as the Amazons tried to honor their origins.'Cologne' walked into the secluded little valley and looked up at thecliffside Daiji was hanging from. "What are you doing, my husband?"Daiji looked down and smiled. "Well, I just decided to leave a moreconcrete message than paper scrolls."Cologne had been told all about the travelers from the future andunderstood the concept, even if it was hard for anyone of that age tofully understand the concept of a time traveler. "Do you think it willwork?""I don't know, but I'd like to at least tell my Mother and other Fatherthat I'm okay and happy here with you."Cologne smiled the compliment, although she still couldn't quite figureout Daiji's odd parentage setup. Which was natural, since it causedquite a bit of confusion even in the twenty-first century.After a while, Daiji jumped down and then turned back to admire hishandiwork. "What do you think?"Cologne stepped back and took in the large mountainside. Daiji had usedchi blasts to rough out the basic shapes of three figures. One a shortwoman with a red pigtail, a taller woman in the middle wore the goldenarmor of the First Matriarch, and the other a short woman with straightred hair they way Daiji wore his hair. By heating the rocks and addingdifferent kind of rocks to make a kind of concrete, he had given apretty good representation of the Father and Son who had come back intime with Yukiko in the center. Daiji always got 'A's in art class.Underneath the figures several lines of Japanese words could be seen."What do those characters mean?"Daiji smiled. "They give our names and the date, plus love for our lovedones.""It's wonderful.""And that arrow points to a buried stone tablet with a full letter fromme. Took me a bit to carve that." Daiji dusted off his pants. "Hopefullythe cliffside gets their attention and they find the letter."When Ranko was shown it, she didn't have the heart to tell Daiji thatthe cliff was remembered as representations of the Amazon's great godsand First Matriarch, but the picture and words had faded by the timeAkane had lunch in front of the cliff to the point no one recognizedthem or found the buried letter. <It's the thought that counts.>                    -B-           -A-           -W-In a massive battle, the Amazons hack and slash their way through theBuyierfei to a monolith. Entering it with almost all the warriors in thetribe, they faced down Asura, the Buyierfei leader.In an impressive move, Ranko, Daiji, and Cologne tricked Asura into amass of Amazons, who sliced and diced the multi-armed leader of theBuyierfei. Missing two arms and chunk of her torso, Asura draggedherself out of the horde of Amazons with the aid of hundreds ofBuyierfei.Propped up by Buyierfei, she glared at her assailants. "Don't think Ican't recover from these little wounds. I've had enough of yourinterference. Time to rid this world of a pest," Asura said as her eyesturned black. All her eyes on all three faces."Shit... this won't be good."Ranko was right.All around them, colorful hearts popped into existence."I didn't wish to waste the energy of the relays, but you forced me...""Shit, the monoliths on the moon are still there since this is thepast," Daiji remarked. "Phase two, I think, DAD," he said, emphasizingthe last word.Asura chuckled in a deep throaty cackle.Cologne and the Amazons laid down blankets of chi blasts to keep theBuyierfei under control. Ranko and Daiji went into a series of leapsdesigned to keep Asura guessing as to what they were up to. Passing inmid air, they started to form hot and cold vortexes. As the landed, theycaught Asura in the middle of the vortexes, trapping him in the energyblasts.Asura writhed in pain, unable to break out of the dual vortexes."Don't... think... I can't stop you!"Ranko chuckled. "You thought you'd drive us into despair with all thesemonoliths, but we know if you die here they will vanish.""Never!!""Now, Shusu!!" Daiji yelled, still using his wife's old name.Cologne leapt into the sky, holding her golden sword over her head.Asura's eyes widened as the blade neared her head. "NO!!!" She thrust anarm towards Ranko right before the sword sliced her head and then bodyin half.The two halves plopped to the ground.All around them, Buyierfei suddenly became visible and started thrashingaround mindlessly. The hundreds of hearts started to throb.Daiji smiled at their victory and then looked around at her mother. Herjaw dropped. "Father!!" he screamed and ran toward the red crystal thatnow surrounded Ranko.Ranko was inside fighting to move or do anything that would allow her toescape the prison she knew all too well.Cologne and other Amazons joined Daiji and surrounded the red crystal."What is it?" Cologne asked.Daiji gritted his teeth. "A last ditch effort by the Buyiefei to stopus... dammit, we were so close," Daiji snarled and then looked over towhere a group of Amazons were doing their best to separate the twohalves of Asura, which had been trying to claw their way back together.Ranko finally righted herself and looked directly at Daiji. "You knowwhat you have to do.""But... but... Dad!!" Daiji tried to complain, but failed to form acoherent argument."The lives of everyone on Earth now and in the future are on the line...do it!!""But we don't know what will happen to you...""It's harder to make the decision on that side, isn't it?" Ranko askedcalmly."Yes..." Daiji said, remembering himself urging Ranma to do the samething a lifetime ago. "It has to be for you and the Amazons to survive."Daiji's eyes widened. "You knew this would happen?"Ranko nodded. "Shampoo told me secretly about this final battle. TheFire God sacrifices herself to the red crystal while the Ice God remainsand has a happy life with the Amazons.""But...""Do it!!""Matriarch!!" several Amazons call out.Cologne turns her head in time to thrust a sword out to deflect Asura'slunge. Or half of Asura. Although crippled with only one leg, this halfhad two full arms and was able to use them to break free of the Amazonsand lunge at Daiji.Daiji swung to the side and then thrust a green charged arm down whatwas left of Asura's chest. Black tissue bubbled and burned away."Cologne, hot and cold attack on this crystal... NOW!"Cologne hesitated at Ranko's shout, but then barked an order in theAncient Amazon tongue that Daiji and Ranko had only learned a few wordsof. Daiji looked up from his cooking enemy. "No!!""I'm sorry, Husband," Cologne said as she started up a hot vortex. Allaround the red crystal, Amazons started to form hot and cold vortexesand direct them at the red crystal.Daiji dragged her hand out of the brunt remains of Asura and then stoodin front of the red crystal. "Goodbye, Father," he finally said as thecracks spread across the crystal."Be happy, my Son."In the next instant the world exploded around them in more colors thanpossible.                    -B-           -A-           -W-They found themselves in the same area they had entered the monolith,except the monolith explosion had gouged out a large valley and evencaused a nearby mountain to crumble into a sharp pointed peak.All around them, shallow pools of water were filling, fed by anunderground hot spring exposed by the blast.In one of them, the parts of Asura lay submerged."We won..." Cologne said softly as she knelt by her husband."Yeah," Daiji said, feeling hot water rain down from the ruptured hotsprings. Her large body shrank and she sighed. "Goodbye, Father."A shout went up as Amazons cheered in victory.Daiji was helped up by her wife and smiled at her finally. "Maybe...maybe Dad is back home.""Maybe..."Daiji looked around and frowned as a sense of deja vie came over him."This place."She had visited it a number of times, especially with Sanma. It didchange slightly over the thousands of years to follow, but the newlyformed landforms were very recognizable to Daiji."It's Jusenkyo.""Jusenkyo?""Yeah... a land of cursed springs..." Daiji's eyes went wide and shelooked around. "Where's Asura?!"Cologne barked orders and soon some Amazons called out as a figurepulled itself out of one of the springs. Missing three arms and chunksof its body and dragging a burnt stump behind it, Asura charged atDaiji. "Die!" it gurgled. A large black chi ball flashed out from theapparition.Daiji dove to the side, covering Cologne as he went. The blast missedthem and destroyed the cliff face behind them.The Amazons quickly jumped into action and sliced the figure into dozensof pieces, Asura being in no condition to put up much of a fight.Daiji and Cologne ran up to the remains. Cologne rattled offinstructions to separate the remains and cremate each piece separately.They would then be taken to far off places and buried separately. Thatwas their best chance at keeping Asura dead for sure. They didn't havean exploding planet to scatter the remains across deep space handy,after all.Meanwhile, Daiji was standing over the spring that Asura had crawled outof. "These springs... the cursed springs were created by the explodingmonolith and the energy of the Buyierfei. " She sighed and looked downat her small female hand. "This is where it all started for my family...Spring of drowned Asura was the first one, I suppose.""You okay?" Cologne said as she slid in beside Daiji."Yeah... just reminiscing about the future."Cologne had learned Japanese, but couldn't quite understand Daiji'sphrasing. Reminiscing about the future seemed impossible.Impossible for anyone except a time traveler.Daiji put her arm around Cologne and smiled more. "You know... I think Iknow of a good place for the Amazons to settle down.""Settle down?"Daiji nodded. "Yeah, with the Buyierfei defeated, it's time we had somerest and some time to continue our family.""Continue?" Cologne asked.Daiji nodded. "Yeah, I come from a huge family, so I'd like to have somemore kids."Cologne smiled. "I'd like that. I'm sick of fighting.""Me too... but the Amazons must be ready to fight the Blackness if itever returns."The two of them walked off towards the setting sun followed by theAmazons warriors. Just over the mountain in front of them, there was anice plain with a river flowing through it. Daiji had it on goodauthority that the Amazons would thrive and prosper there, at least forthe next four thousand years.Leaving behind the cursed springs of Jusenkyo, they traveled towardstheir future.Joketsuzoku, the village of the Chinese Amazons.Of course, they are not really just 'Chinese'.They trace their ancestry back to almost all the races on the Earth.Women left behind as men went off to fight a war that should havedestroyed the world.If not for a band of warrior women and four time travelers, the worldwould have fallen into an eternal Blackness.Cologne.Shampoo.Ranko Tendo.Daiji Tendo.Saviors of the world.Again.                    -B-           -A-           -W-Untold thousands of years and countless generations later, a smallredheaded teenage girl skipped joyfully through the grass and surveyedthe jagged cliffs surrounding the valley she was in.Preoccupied with the scenery, she missed seeing the edge of a clear bluespring. Tripping into the spring, she flailed about for a bit before shegrew still, drowning in the not even knee deep pool.A husky man, having seen this from afar, raced up to the pool and pulledthe young woman from the spring. "Are you okay?" he said in Japanese ashe hit her back to clear her lungs.The girl coughed out water and then looked up at the handsome gentlemanwho had saved her. Probably barely out of his teens himself, his thickblack hair was closely cut to his head."Um... yeah..." she said in Mandarin."Ah... you must be Chinese," he said, switching to Mandarin. Since hewas in China, that was a fairly obvious observation."No, I am an Amazon Warrior!""I see...""Did you save me?""Yes, that was a nasty spill you took. Did you hit your head?""Saving the life of an Amazon means one thing.""What?" the man asked, growing a little scared since he had heard talesof savage women in these mountains."You must marry me."The man's jaw dropped.A remarkably large number of Amazon traditions seem to be geared towardsgetting husbands. Maybe that's a result of begin in a village of mostlywomen."Um..." The man gave the girl a long look and then made the onlydecision possible when a beautiful girl wants to marry you. "I'd likethat." You'd have to be a fool to turn down a proposal from a beautifulgirl, after all."Wo Ai Nee!" the girl shouted and jumped into the man's arm."What's your name?""I am Perfume, I can trace my family back all the way to the SecondMatriarch and the Ice God. Is very prestigious."The man nodded, not knowing what that all meant. "I see. My name isSenbu Saotome. I'm traveling from Japan to learn new martial artstechniques.""Where is Japan?""Across the sea to the East," Senbu said, pointing to the East."Ah, the Land of the Gods!"Senbu looked a bit surprised at this description, but shrugged it off."Shall we go?""Yes."And the new couple set off to their future, unknowingly closing a loopin their family trees.They left behind Jusenkyo and the newly formed Spring of Drowned YoungGirl.But two of their descendants would one day return and set into motion asequence of events that will save the world... more times than you couldpossibly count.Or maybe those events were set into motion already.Or maybe they were always in motion.                    -B-           -A-           -W-(This little trip back in time came into being somewhat early in theplanning stages. I wanted to describe the early battles with theBuyierfei and how the Amazons formed. The monoliths coming from Mars,the death of the dinosaurs at the Buyierfei's hands, and the formationof the Amazons was the initial thought. Even that the Amazon tribestarted from the women survivors of Buyierfei attacks in South America.Then as I mapped out more of the story and the idea of sending Cologneback in time to form the Amazons, it took off from there. She wasactually supposed to be the First Matriarch at first.To have the ancient Amazon gods be Ranma/Ranko (which became Ranko andDaiji) made a lot of sense and actually helped explain Cologne's pursuitof getting Ranma as a son-in-law since he fit the description of theirgods so well. Little did she know that a split of Ranma and herimmaculately conceived child WERE in fact their real gods.It's obvious, right?To have Ranko return to the past with Shampoo and get married theresolved one goal of this now very long series: To have Ranma marry allthree of his main fiancees (Kodachi was never really a full fiancee,IMHO). Sanma marrying Ukyo and all three of them marrying Akane solvedthe other two fiancee marriage issues.It also solved the problem of how a primitive tribe of women formed andwas able to fight an enemy as powerful as the Buyeirfei. A lot of futureknowledge comes in handy in situations like this.Whether it was Cologne not telling everything she knew or shoddy recordkeeping by the early Amazons, the unknowns that came up helped to keepour heros on their toes.Daiji and Ranko did know some about the final battle, but not everydetail. The lack of them talking about 'the final battle' was basicallyto keep the readers from expecting it. It may have worked better withmore fully laid out battles and a full narrative that would have been inthe full stories.Ranko's sacrifice here so Daiji can continue his happy life was in theworks from the beginning. Although the AMD outline only touched onDaiji's romance problems, he/she never was able to find anyone able toaccept him/her for who he/she was. Until Shusu. It only took fourthousand years for him to find his perfect love. Again, their romancewould have worked better if spread out among other stories more, butthis outline gave the basics.And the little bit at the end where one of Daiji's descendants ends upmarrying a Saotome and also formed the Spring of Drowned Young Girlbrought the story full circle.In case you missed it, the explosion of the Monolith formed the cursedsprings and actually absorbed Buyierfei energy in the processes (the'magic' of the springs is this energy). That energy, in turn, gave thecursed people an advantage in fighting the Buyierfei. It also made themunfortunately targets of the Buyierfei. Shuma occasionally referred tocursed people as being 'touched' by Buyierfei energy.And the first Earth Buyierfei leader being the six armed Asura that inturn formed the first cursed spring where Rouge was cursed millennialater was something that presented itself when I decided the springswere formed during the Amazon's last battle with the Buyierfei. Morethan likely the Indian myths about Asura were related to the Buyierfeiattacking India during these early battles. The fact that the Spring doDrowned Asura was listed as 4000 years old in the manga helped cementthis idea of it being the first and the Buyierfei leader.And, yes, I know that the Amazons being able to travel the world tobattle the Buyierfei as they did was a bit far fetched for thetechnology of the time (or lack there of), but figured Cologne'sadvanced knowledge and the monolith transportation made it at leastplausible in the scope of this story.Now go and read parts 3 and 4 of the End of a Modern Dynasty outline forthe rest of the story.Thank you for reading.)