Ground Zero
By Coengar2
Disclaimer: I neither own the rights nor claim to own the rights to any of the characters involved in this story. I'm just doing this for the fun of it. So don't sue me.
Nerima lay in ruins. Entire blocks were destroyed. Furinken High School, the mall, the arcade even the ice cream parlor were all gone. Stunned people wandered through the rubble filled street like zombies, their minds barely working as they tried to take in the amount of destruction that had just occurred.
Over head another squadron of fighter jets screamed by on their way to Tokyo, on their way to deliver their cargo of high explosives, a cargo that would no doubt be as useless as the several others that had been fired before.
At the sounds of the jets, most people hunched down, their arms wrapped over their head or their hands held out in front, their fingers making warding gestures that were as futile as the cargo the planes carried.
Other people barely even noticed the planes overhead; they merely continued to shuffle mindlessly down the streets headless of the world around them.
Not everyone however were helpless, here and there teams of people could be seen searching for survivors trapped in the rubble, hoping to rescue them and get them to places of safety and shelter, what few of them there were at this time.
The worst were the vermin, the people that used the destruction as an excuse to loot and plunder. Already fights had broken out between groups fighting over canned food, water, even booze and in one case several gangs fought tooth and nail for control of a small group of women who watched the melee in a huddled cluster, afraid of the fate that awaited them regardless of the winner yet too scared and shell shocked to run.
Occasionally a military squad or even one of the few remaining police officers would show up and shoot the vermin or chase them away, but sometimes the vermin managed to overwhelm these defenders resulting in the vermin getting better armed and equipped.
Currently the mindless ones shuffled to the sides of the roads and the vermin scrambled for the shadows as an ambulance, with lights flashing and a two humvee escort came screaming through town, determined to get its cargo of survivors to the hospital. The passenger up front, cradling an M-16 assault rifle swore as he pointed out the window at the large figure looming overhead making its way to downtown Tokyo. The driver paid him no attention as she steered her vehicle through the tide of abandoned vehicles. She had one thing and one thing only on her mind; she had to get the hero to safety.
Running over a pack of vermin engaged in a shoot out with the military units guarding Nerima General Hospital, the ambulance squealed into the patient unloading bay as the two humvee's began opening up on the vermin with their turret mounted M-60 machine guns, scattering them back into the shadows for now.
Rushing through the doors of the bay, the patient strapped securely onto the gurney, the ambulance crew pushed the gurney deep in the ER only to be confronted by a haggard looking doctor who came rushing up to them.
"Listen you guys!" the doctor yelled "You can't just come barging in here like this; your patient has to go through triage first. We need to handle the worst ones first."
The ambulance driver reached behind her and pulled a pistol placing it against her chest, with her other hand she pointed at the patient on the gurney, a small petite redheaded girl covered in scratches and burns, a two foot piece of rebar sticking out of her shoulder. "Listen here Doc; this girl is the only survivor of the group that drove that over grown lizard off. If not for her and the others this hospital would be destroyed and you'd be dead. Now help patch her up, that's an order."
The doctor gave a grunt of frustration that the driver didn't care less about and she replaced her gun back into its holster as she watched the medics wheel the girl into a treatment bay. Fifteen minutes later the girl was off to x-ray and then quickly off to the OR.
Two hours later the ambulance driver was sitting on the perimeter of the defensive barricade surrounding the hospital, using a pilfered M-16 to pick off any vermin that show their head. Very few do considering the M-60's that are supplying suppressing fire. The driver's head pops up as she hears the sounds of sirens drawing near and sees a convoy of ambulances and humvees rapidly approaching.
"Well, this should be fun." The driver thinks as a grin breaks over her face.
Sure enough the sound of M-60's firing alert her to the fact that the vermin have been attracted by the sounds of the sirens and are making another attempt to rush the hospital.
The driver can't help but smile more as she begins to snap off rounds at the onrushing vermin. "Yep, lot's of fun indeed."
In a few moments several more ambulances pull into the receiving bays, most heading back into the ruins once they drop off their cargo, off they go to get more. A few of the humvees move into support firing positions at the opposite corner of the building setting up a crossfire zone, the rest scream off to support the departing ambulances.
As the vermin flee back into the shadows, the driver reloads her gun and let's her eyes drift towards Tokyo, or at least towards the blue glow where Tokyo use to stand. At least some of it still stands but the area is saturated in radiation and it may be years before any rebuilding can take place.
"There's a lot of places," the driver muses as she takes a drink from a bottle of water that has long turned warm "that are gonna take a while before anyone can do anything with them. Even Nerima has large areas that are gonna have to be bulldozed and scraped down to the bedrock just to have the radioactive soil and debris removed."
"Even after all that," the driver thinks with a sigh "It'll still be years before we can rebuild."
"Hey you!" the driver turns around as she hears someone calling for her.
"Yes?" she answers.
"There's a doctor in there that says I'm suppose to tell you that the redhead is going to be fine. Whatever that means." The guy grumbles as he wanders off to take his place on the perimeter.
With a smile the driver finishes the rest of her water and after casting the bottle off to the side shoulders her rifle and heads back into the ER to find the doctor.
After a few minutes searching she locates the man leaning against a wall with a cup of coffee in his hand. "There you are Gunslinger; your friend is going to be fine. That chunk of rebar they took out of her shoulder will probably cost her some range of motion in that arm which is alright because its going to be several weeks before her cast can come off any way."
"She's dehydrated and exhausted. She has fractures in both her legs, several ribs and her skull has a nice crack in it as well." The doctor took a sip of his coffee "So you mind telling me how that little slip of a girl help drive off a 500 meter tall radioactive lizard?"
The driver gave a smirk as she answered "That little slip of a girl is one of the best martial artists in Japan if not in the world and in fact IS one of the foremost ki adepts on the planet. Surely you've heard of the Nerima Wrecking Crew?"
"You mean that group that's suppose to be all mighty super hero like martial artists?" the driver nodded "Yeah I've heard of them, heard the stories too. You telling me that they're true?"
"Every word of it." The driver responded. "In fact that girl is Saotome Ranma, the founding member of the Wrecking Crew."
The driver slumped down on the floor across from the doctor who joined her on the floor. "When the wonder lizard showed up, it just walked right through the middle of the ward like it was on a Sunday stroll, no breath weapon, no pushing over buildings, it just walked like we were the most insignificant things on the planet, and to it we probably were."
The driver stopped for a moment as a far away look filled her eyes and then she continued "People started to run, just started running in every direction not really knowing where they were going, the ground shaking with every step that monster took. Ranma and the others, Ryoga, Shampoo and even Mousse tried to herd the people away from the thing, tried to keep some sense of peace but it was to no avail."
The doctor watched as tears started to flow down the driver's face "When the mob realized that Mousse had weapons on him, they swarmed over him, they killed him to get to his weapons, they killed him and left his body to be trampled in the stampede and the others were too busy trying to keep themselves alive to help. Finally Ranma and the others just gave up and we retreated back to our family dojo to try and set up a defensible base. We had some of the best martial artists in Nerima but we were so few and the mobs just kept getting bigger and the whole time that stupid creature stood there amid the flaming ruins of Nerima and looking like it was waiting for something."
The driver gave a sob as her grief over the events of the last couple of hours finally caught up with her. "There was so few of us, only Ranma, Ryoga, Daddy and Mr. Saotome, Ranma's father were in the best condition to fight, having only minor scratches or wounds. Shampoo and her grandmother Cologne were a little more hurt but could still fight some. My youngest sister Akane was ready to fight even though she had cracked some ribs trying to get away from the mob. I don't know where my other sister was, I don't think she ever made it home. I don't think Ukyo or Konatsu made it either."
"I'm sorry," the doctor interrupted "But what did you say your name was again?"
The driver gave a soft smile through her tears "I didn't say, but my name is Tendo, Tendo Kasumi."
"Pleased to meet you Ms. Tendo, I'm Dr. Ishagawa, pleasure to meet you, please continue."
Kasumi bowed her head "The pleasure is mine doctor. As I was saying, for the most part we were able to protect ourselves, I'm afraid that the Wrecking Crew has quite the reputation in our neighborhood and once the mob realized who we were they tended to stay clear of us. Ranma and Ryoga however would make runs outside to find people in need and bring them into the dojo for safety, mostly women and children or those who were injured. We watched as beams from those laser tank thingies bounced off of the creature's thick hide, they didn't appear to be able to hurt it. A few airplanes flew in and shot missiles at the thing and they were just as useless. Suddenly the monster changed direction and started moving again, right in our direction."
Kasumi shuddered as she remembered the frightened screams of the refugees in the dojo "They started to panic, the people in the dojo that is. They panicked and they ran, well those that could. The mob grew frenzied but we were able to keep them outside of the wall surrounding our property and that lizard kept coming closer and closer. Finally Ranma stood in the middle of the yard, his battle aura glowing brightly. I've never seen it that bright or that large before, it was like he was putting everything he had into it."
"Finally the monster was right above us, I mean right above us and just as it was about to step on us Ranma fired off the biggest ball of ki energy I think any of us ever saw. It was kind of beautiful in a strange way. It impacted with the bottom of the creature's foot. I didn't see much damage but it must have stung a lot because the monster suddenly turned and headed off in a new direction." Kasumi gave a grim smile "And just when we thought we were safe, we were destroyed. That creature got us, not with a blast of radiation, it didn't even stomp on us; it wiped out my family home with a slap of its tail."
Kasumi began to chuckle in a slightly delirious manner "I mean, it wasn't even trying to hit us with its tail, it just smacked us as it changed directions. In a matter of seconds the house I grew up in was destroyed, the impact must have ruptured the gas and water lines as well because there was a loud explosion and then it seemed to be raining."
"There was rubble and debris everywhere and I called out as I pulled myself out from under some wooden beams, I guess they came from our dojo." Kasumi smiled shyly as the doctor handed her the rest of his now slightly cold coffee. After taking a sip and making a scrunchy face she continued. "At first I didn't hear any responses from my call, but as I looked around I could see the bodies. My father, Mr.Saotome, Ryoga all buried under the rubble, I found Akane lying a few meters away, part of the stone wall of the house had collapsed on her crushing her from the chest down."
Kasumi took another sip of the coffee and took a moment to collect herself before continuing "I heard a sound and noticed Shampoo pulling herself free but before I could call to her she had reached down and picked up a small battered body that could have only been her grandmother Cologne. I think she was trying to carry her back to the restaurant that they own. I don't think she made it though, not long after another mob ran by and I had to play dead among my family's corpses so that the mob would just keep going. I hope the vermin didn't get Shampoo."
Finishing the coffee, Kasumi crushed the cup and placed it off to the side "As I stood there trying to figure what I could do next I heard a soft moaning coming from across the yard. I ran over to see where it came from and that's when I discovered Ranma, partially buried in the rubble of the outer wall with that piece of metal in her shoulder."
Kasumi slowly got back to her feet "Ranma is all I have left now. If you could tell me which room you put her in I'll go check on her."
After getting the room number Kasumi shambled off to find Ranma and the doctor headed back into the ER as more ambulances pulled into the bays.
Nerima- 5 years after the attack
From the Diary of Saotome Kasumi:
Dear Diary
Well they laid the foundation for the new high school today and in just another year or so we'll be able to hold classes there again. It's funny though how the new mall was finished before the new school was even started.
Today is the anniversary of the monster attack that changed my life. It's hard to believe how many neighbors that I knew died during the attack and how many more moved away in the aftermath. We never found out what happened to Shampoo there was never any trace of her or Cologne's body found. Ranma keeps saying that Shampoo probably used Amazon magic to get away and is probably safe back in her village. Personally I hope that is true but I fear she may have been captured by the vermin. Ukyo was killed defending her shop from looters and Konatsu was badly wounded. He left town a few days after being released from the hospital and I haven't heard from him since.
The Kuno mansion was right in the monster's path and was utterly destroyed; we can only assume that the Kuno family was killed as we haven't not seen them at all since the attack.
A military unit brought Nabiki home six days after the attack. They had rescued her from the clutches of a vermin gang. She never talks about what happened to her during those six days but since then she has become more reclusive and quiet. She has taken over most of the household chores and rarely leaves the house especially never alone. While her tendency to stay indoors is saddening her covering the chores does make it easier for Ranma and me to do our jobs. Another sad note is that Nabiki can barely stand to be in the same room as Ranma when he is in his male form but when Ranma is female or when Nabiki is near me she tends to be somewhat clingy as if in need of comforting reassurance. Sometimes she even climbs into bed with us some nights claiming that doing so chases her nightmares away. I don't really mind since it helps calm her down and with her in the bed there is less space and it gives me a chance to snuggle closer with Ranma. I never hear her complaining either.
Speaking of Ranma, hard to believe that I was the one to marry him, well we aren't officially married of course since city hall was destroyed in the attack but we are married in our hearts and that's all that matters. Ranma spends most of her time in her female form, mostly to help keep Nabiki calm but also the injury to her shoulder makes changing gender very painful for Ranma and since there is a greater chance of her being splashed with cold water than there is with hot water it just makes more sense for her to stay female. I don't really mind, she's still fun to cuddle and Ranma will become male whenever I ask him too so it all works out.
Well Diary I better go, I need to get ready for work. Ranma and I both got jobs with the hospital ambulance service, I drive and Ranma's the medic.
Finished