Author's Notes –
Yes, something strange, even for me. I don't own anything, much less anything that Will Smith would work on or for. I Am Legend and Ranma ½ are both quality works, and I am simply borrowing ideas and concepts from both for this work of entertainment.
Please read and Review.
Oh, and if anyone wants to beta for this fic, let me know.
*****
It'd been a long time since his old man had proven to be such a challenge – then gain, he was bigger and stronger while in his cursed form. Though he couldn't punch, the old man could claw and bite (if he wanted to) and the larger form also allowed him to absorb more damage as well as keep Ranma from knocking him around, especially if Ranma was sparring as a girl.
"You didn't have to shred my gi," the currently redheaded Ranma shouted as she ripped off the remains of her clothes. Not even bothering to read the panda's sign she grabbed it and whacked her old man over the head. "Just shut up!"
"I'll get some hot water for both of you," the always sweet Kasumi casually said as she set the table. "Breakfast should be ready in a few more minutes."
"That's aright," Ranma shouted as she dashed up the stairs to her room, ignoring the fact that she was completely naked. "I'll just take a quick dip in the bath since I have to change anyways."
"Ranma!" an irritated voice shouted at the redhead. "You pervert! Put some clothes on!"
The sight of an angry Akane quickly stopped the short redhead in her tracks. "Just because I've actually got curves doesn't mean I have to hid them," Ranma shot back, jumping up over Akane's mysterious mallet. "Besides, we're in the house – what's wrong with me getting rid of my wet, ripped up gi?"
"Pervert!" Akane shouted as she ignored Ranma's argument.
"Knock it off you two," Nabiki shouted as she tried to focus on the morning news.
"Manhattan has been placed under quarantine," the raven haired news woman stated.
"That won't be enough," the bi-speckled man stated. Dr. Aki Toshi appeared under the white lab coat wearing man, identifying him to the viewers. "The virus has already mutated beyond what the American scientists anticipated. Apparently there are two different strains, both of which affect humans, though only the direct contact strain affects other animals."
"Whacha watching?" Ranma asked. Shirtless and now back in his true male form, it was clear that he was beginning to fill out.
Nabiki blinked as she noticed how nicely Ranma was starting to look. Momentarily dazed, she quickly recovered.
"It looks like Biohazard," Akane said as she knelt by the table. "A virus mutating humans – it's probably a bogus news broadcast to hype up their newest game."
"I know that Dr. Tofu was talking about some Western scientists that had claimed to find a cure for cancer," Kasumi interjected as she set down a bowl of rice.
"That would definitely make the news," the middle Tendo daughter stated. "If they had created the cure then they'd be rich."
"Always thinking about money," Ranma snorted as he sat next to his old man. "But Dr. Tofu was telling me about it yesterday."
"You stopped by Dr. Tofu's yesterday?" Akane asked skeptically.
"Yeah," the pigtailed martial artist replied. "After you broke your mallet over my head I needed to see Dr. Tofu."
"Well you shouldn't have been picking on Ryoga!" the short tempered girl snapped back.
Lost in the chaos that was a morning at the Tendo's, Nabiki quietly watched the news broadcast.
* * * * *
"To the left!" a raven haired girl shouted.
The buxom and drunk woman on the couch slowly pointed her gun up to the left, shooting the undead monster in the face. "Head shot!"
"That's so disgusting!" the younger girl muttered. "Why can't I use a katana?"
"This is a shooting game Motoko," the drunken young woman replied. "But its funny how I've managed to do so much better then you."
"I'm not used to these damned guns!" Motoko shouted as she missed an approaching zombie. Three red slashes appeared on her side of the screen. "Argh!! One more hit and I'm dead."
"We haven't even made it to the fence yet!"
"Well I don't sit here and play this everyday like you Kitsune!"
"I don't play this every day," Kitsune replied. "I'm usually drunk by now."
The bokken wielding Motoko sighed as she was hit by another zombie, leaving Kitsune to handle the horde of killer zombies herself.
"If you hadn't run out of booze I'm sure you'd be bothering Su," Motoko muttered. "That's probably why she set up this game system for you."
The busty Kitsune chuckled. "Probably," she admitted as she blasted another zombie's head off. "If I were any drunker I'd probably think this was real. The graphics are state of the art."
"It does help that the TV's the size of the wall," the kendo girl added. Standing up she shook her head. "I have to study for my exams; try to keep it down."
As the game loaded the next screen Kitsune grabbed the remote, turning up the volume on the TV. "What?" she shouted, teasing her companion.
Up in her room Su worked at a furious pace. Due to the noise in her workshop the dark skinned foreigner wore wireless headphones as she listened to the news broadcast while she worked.
"The United States' Government has declared a state of emergency," a clearly stressed announcer said. "It appears that the airborne strain of the virus is just as effective as the blood borne strain, though only humans are affected by the airborne strain. Thus far all the cases of mutations in dogs, cats, and rats are from animals that were exposed to tainted blood. Despite the best efforts of the American Government the disease has spread beyond the quarantine zone of Manhattan.
"I repeat; the entire east coast of the United States of America is under a state of emergency. Government officials are advising that all residents stock up on filtered air masks and to stay indoors."
Su wiped the sweat off her brow. Clearly things were getting out of hand. Picking up the remote she turned to another channel (the pirated cable was ever so useful and entertaining).
"Reports of the mutated victims of the virus are growing," a male anchor stated as a map of the eastern coast of the Americas appeared behind him. "There is word that several 'Darkseekers' as they have been dubbed, have been sighted as far south as North Caroline, but those reports are unconfirmed. There are several documented cases of the virus reaching as far west as Detroit, Michigan and even the Canadian government has documented cases of the virus despite closing the boarder with the United States."
The mad scientist maintained her composure as she placed the circuit board into her invention. Even she had to admit that the dramatic turn of events in America were beyond anything she had expected.
With everything in place she turned on the machine. Smiling as the lights lit up and the gigantic mecha-Tama mark 5 hummed to life, she hoped that the machine would be enough.
Cracking her neck she once again grabbed the remote, turning to the weather channel. Studying the weather patterns she listened absentmindedly to the commentator.
"With the jet-stream directly over New York blowing to the south east over the Atlantic boats have been advised to return to port," the anchor woman stated. "Speculation that many of the outbreaks of the virus along the Eastern Coast are due to the multitude of boats traveling up and down the coast away from New York has lead many port cities to close their docks.
"Meanwhile, Portugal, Spain, and Morocco have each taken precautionary steps by purchasing and distributing air filters. With the jet-stream moving south east then curving back up to the north east the airborne virus shouldn't cross the Atlantic until early next week."
Click.
"…Darkseekers as the victims of the virus have been dubbed, are much stronger and tougher then unaffected humans," a voice narrated. "See how this infected individual is able to leap over this four meter chain-link fence and how this one just runs through it?"
Click.
"…they have a much faster metabolism which probably is the source of their increased strength and stamina, but makes them all the more vicious as they are constantly hungry," another voice explained. "Notice how they glow brightly under the heat sensors?"
Click.
"Even this six inch steel door is helpless against the furious onslaught of Darkseekers," the voice narrated.
Su blinked. Looking up at her newest creation she hoped that it would be enough. Still, with a few more months at least she'd have more time to improve it, or at least to make more.
* * * * *
It didn't take long for Ranma and the rest of Japan and the world to realize just how real the treat of the mutant virus was. Even before it crossed the Atlantic Darkseekers had appeared in South America. More and more appearances of Darkseekers throughout the world quickly fed the hysteria and panic as refugees from one region helped to spread the virus. It didn't take long for the island nation to begin to deport foreigners, especially those without the proper paperwork like Shampoo, Cologne, and Mousse.
"This is kinda like the whole SARs bit," Ranma stated as he eyed the masks that more than a handful of his classmates had taken to wearing.
"That was in China," Akane corrected. With the stores having run out of face masks the government had begun advising those without masks to use bras and tightly wrapped bandana/handkerchiefs. Having no handkerchiefs, the youngest Tendo had taken to cutting up some of her bras instead of rushing to the stores and waiting for the hot selling face masks. Happosai had of course complained of the viciousness of the women defending their bras given the new shortage of bras, though he still managed to make off with lots of panties.
"Yeah," the pigtailed martial artist replied. "And there have been Darkstalkers sighted in Japan either."
"It's Darkseekers moron," an increasingly testy Akane corrected.
"I know," Ranma replied as he leapt onto a fence. "I was just playing with you."
With a sigh the martial artist looked back at the empty school grounds. With the hysteria of the mutant virus going around everyone had taken to rushing home after school as students and their families sought not only to limit their contact with others but to prepare their households for the approaching disease.
Rumor had it that several wealthy families had begun the secret construction of underground facilities. Though the Kuno family was indeed wealthy, Ranma wasn't sure if the three psychopaths could handle living in close quarters as they had shown extreme reluctance to do anything other than fight against each other. And despite the size of their residence the Tendo family was far from rich (not with all the damages that they had to constantly repair. Still, it didn't stop the others in the neighborhood from requesting to be sheltered in the Tendo's secret facility.
"Ranma, wait up!" Akane shouted.
Lost in his thoughts Ranma had nearly forgotten his un-cute fiancée. One of the few who dared to not wear a mask in public the pigtailed martial artists watched as Akane fought for breath under what had once been her push up bra. Clearly it had not been designed to allow for actual breathing as the heavy padding appeared to obstruct the free movement of air through the thick fabric.
"I'm gonna head over to Dr. Tofu's," the pigtailed boy stated. "He said he's been busy with all the random inoculations and shots that everyone seems to be taking to avoid getting infected."
Akane nodded as she pressed the... mask to her face. Ranma couldn't help but snicker as he mentally replaced the violent girl with the old letch. It was definitely something that Happosai would do, but so see Akane doing it…
"What are you snickering about?" the volatile girl asked.
"Just thinking of the hard time Happosai's had lately," Ranma lied. "At least I don't have to beat him up anymore since those women have been dishing it out a lot worse lately."
Reluctantly Akane nodded as she caught up with him. Seeing that she had caught her breath Ranma set off for Dr. Tofu's clinic with Akane in tow.
* * * * *
Su was starving. After a week of hiding out in the various hidden passages beneath the Hinata Sou in her attempt to avoid being deported, the mad scientist of the girls' dorm had avoided sneaking into the kitchen. Instead she relied on what little she had stored away – jerky, dehydrated food, canned food – but no bananas. Only the dried banana chips and banana bread that she had hidden had provided her with any valuable nutrition, and even then only barely. Desperate to feed herself, the genius princess snuck into the kitchen.
From the kitchen drawer she could tell that someone was in the kitchen. Carefully listening she could hear the TV as a news flash updated the viewers of the situation with the spread of the mutant virus.
"- reports from Cairo, Egypt where several Darkseekers were killed by the Nile Crocodiles," the anchor woman read. "Authorities are trying to capture the infected crocodiles to see if the virus affects reptiles. No known cases of the mutation have been confirmed in birds, amphibians, or reptiles as of yet.
"Meanwhile, Australian authorities continue to refuse any and all fights and ships from foreign nations. Closing their boarders the island nation has adopted an approach similar to Madagascar, England, and Japan."
Slowly, cautiously, the blonde foreigner popped her head out of the drawer.
"Su!" a familiar voice shouted, spotting the elusive girl's head.
"Motoko!" the smaller girl exclaimed in her quietest voice possible (which wasn't very quiet).
The kendo girl quickly grabbed the nearby bowl of fruit and dumped it onto the smaller girl. "Go, they're still looking for you."
Lost in the barrage of fruit the blond nodded. With the fresh fruit in hand, Su quickly retreated to her hidden lair. Her mouth full of banana the mad scientist resumed her work on the large portable air filtration system she'd use for her new invention.
Back in the kitchen Motoko finished preparing the fruit salad, ignoring the uniformed officials that were continuing to look for the elusive princess.
"Reports from South America are grim," the anchorman added as the broadcast cut to him. "Jaguars, coyotes, and feral dogs have helped spread the blood borne strain of the virus much faster than anyone expected. Darkseekers have rampaged through much of Brazil, killing and devouring entire herds of cattle and even wiping out small villages. Reports of their brutal attacks have spread like wildfire."
Click.
"-wouldn't have happened if the Americans had set up a proper fenced border with Mexico and Canada," the balding Hispanic commentator stated. "The U.S. has shared the largest unguarded boarders with both of its neighbors for the longest time which had made the spread of the disease much harder to contain."
"Isn't that unfair?" a dark skinned woman with a clear English accent asked. "Who has benefited the most from the U.S.'s lax boarder control in the past? Mexico, that's who; it was because of those lax boarders that illegal aliens were able to enter the United States from their southern border as they sought a better life. But now that things are going the other way you're blaming the Americans for the boarder problem?"
Click.
Unable to listen to any more grim news or listening to various officials blaming each other for the spread of the mutant virus, the kendo girl turned off the TV. This was definitely not the way she had wanted to spend New Year's Eve.
* * * * *
After another week of helping out at Dr. Tofu's clinic Ranma couldn't help but notice the unease that permeated the air around him. No longer were there fights at school over fiancées (though Kuno had tried to kidnap Akane), though there were plenty of fights over food. With Japan's renewed isolation and reluctance to accept any foreign ships it didn't take long before luxuries like fresh fruits and vegetables to run low. Even the fishermen failed to bring in large hauls as they now contended with the foreign ships that often took to attacking the fishing ships as they sought to replenish their own dwindling food reserves.
Despite the chill mid-winter air Ranma wore only a light spring/fall jacket over his usual attire of red silk shirt and black pants. It was odd, but the clinic was strangely silent. Given the large crowds that had gathered at the clinic over the past few weeks hoping to be inoculated or immunized so as not to become infected with the mutant virus, there were few people at the clinic.
Casually but cautiously wandering in Ranma strained his ears as he hoped to hear something, anything that would explain the noticeable absence of people around the clinic. Hearing nothing he cautiously opened the door and was greeted with the sight of the good doctor sitting alone at his desk watching the news.
"Hi Ranma," Dr. Tofu greeted in a very subdued voice.
"Yo doc," Ranma returned. Something was clearly wrong. "What's wrong?"
"America and Canada have been overrun," the solemn bi-speckled man replied.
Ranma was stunned. Though he'd never gone to North America he'd always assumed that the large countries of Canada and the United States were, well, unbeatable. Sure, they might lose at sports, but their military might was supposed to be, well, like up there. They were one of the world's superpowers. It was one thing for Mexico and Cuba to fall (they weren't even part of the G-8, whatever that was), but for the Americans to fall… it was mind boggling.
"The Prime Minister has set up armed guards outside of all the U.S. military bases," Dr. Tofu explained. "With no country supporting them the remnants of their military could do anything."
Ranma nodded. He didn't even realize that he'd sat down until the news broadcasts cut into live footage of the remnants of the American forces shooting at hordes of Darkseekers as they over ran the masked soldiers and their blazing guns. Though clearly bi-pedal the transformed humans were much more ferocious and powerful than the normal human soldiers fighting them.
For the first time Ranma realized just how bad things were.
"It's like they've all endured the Breaking Point training," a new voice stated.
Startled by the new presence, Ranma looked up at his long-time rival and friend as the bandana wearing boy set his large pack down. The thought of an army of Ryoga's charging at the JDF flashed through the pigtailed boy's mind. Sure, there would be losses, but the army of Ryoga's would cut through the soldiers easily.
"Yeah," Ranma finally said, realizing just how parched his throat was. "They're strong, tough, and about as tough as you, but they can't use any techniques. Look at how they're just rushing in and mauling things."
Ryoga nodded. "No style or technique," he admitted. "You or I could beat one, maybe even two or three at a time, but even we can't hold up against that many of them."
The heir to the Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts reluctantly agreed. Even he couldn't deal with that many Darkseekers. It wasn't like fighting the local toughs or punks, or even against the other members of the Nerima Wrecking Crew; the Darkseekers were just brutal and savage, and they could take a beating.
"I couldn't fight them," Dr. Tofu muttered. "Regardless of what they may look like, or what they're capable of, they're still people. I'd just run."
Both Ranma and Ryoga looked at the knowledgeable man before them. Maybe it was the long hours spent tending to the needs of the many clients and patients, or maybe he was just that much older than them, but for once Dr. Tofu looked old.
"What would you do if that was Akane?" Dr. Tofu asked. "Or if it was your mother? Could you kill them?"
Both boys swallowed as they followed the doctor's logic. Despite the many times they'd supposedly called out for each other's head, neither had ever gone in with killer intent. Sure, they'd fought their share of bears and boars which had come at them with killer intent, but never anything like what they were looking at.
"Not that it matters," the wiry looking man added. "Once the airborne strain reaches Japan pretty much everyone is going to become a Darkseeker. The masks most people are wearing won't last long. You'd have to have a completely isolated bio-sphere with filtered air, which means a generator and enough fuel to run it indefinitely. Even the best built filtering systems need regular maintenance, but with all the Darkseekers that would be around I doubt that you could properly maintain one."
The two young martial artists slumped against the wall. With their lives having been dedicated to the martial arts neither had really ever thought about how their skill and strength could be applied or used outside of fighting. Sure, it had given them a code of conduct and honor that they loosely followed, but what good would it be against a virus that mutated everyone? Their speed and power wouldn't be able to save anyone unless you counted killing those who had mutated.
"So what do we do?" Ryoga asked. Ever the valiant warrior fighting against his depression and misfortune, the bandana wearing boy rarely ever gave up. "What can we do? I refuse to give up so easily!"
Fueled by his rival's fighting spirit, Ranma stood up. "Kuno's building an underground shelter. If we can limit the use of filters now and save them up for later I'm sure that we could survive. We'd just need someone skilled enough to occasionally venture out during the day to maintain the equipment. We don't have to fight the Darkseekers during the day because they can't stand sunlight, so we just have to stay holed up at night."
Ryoga nodded. "We build a shelter that even we can't break into!"
"Yeah!" Ranma shouted. "We can do that. We've still got a few weeks, maybe even a month or two before anything gets to Japan."
Encouraged and undeterred, the boys set off to help the psychotic Kuno family build their shelter.
In a district not too far from Nerima, a particular insightful girl had already laid the foundation to her shelter. The solar and geo-thermal powered generators stood, hidden by the ruins of the Annex as they directed power to the heavily fortified laboratory and shelter. Having changed out all the light bulbs in the underground tunnels and in the entire Hinata Sou with strong UV lights the scientist was sure that her defenses would deter any dark seekers from entering her home and refuge.
With the authorities no longer concerned about her (given the number of incidents throughout Japan with foreigners and in particular the remnants of the U.S. military and their bases) Su was once again able to show her face in the Hinata Sou without fear of attracting any authorities.
Her only remaining concerns were with the supply of food and the untested filtration system. Thus far it managed to keep out smells, bacteria and fungus, but without an airborne virus to actually test it against she wasn't sure if it would perform once the time came to put it into use. Food would be harder to acquire as everyone at the Hinata Sou had large appetites, not to mention their varying tastes in food (though all the girls had the same taste in men). Fresh food was definitely out due to the short supply of anything fresh and canned food… well, there was only so much she could take. Once spring came around they could plant some more fruits and vegetables, but meats and protein would be harder to find.
Writing out her list of things that they would need, Su decided to recheck everything again. It couldn't hurt to be too prepared after all.
*****
A/N
Expect the first few chapters to be set up chapters. Not a lot of humor, lots of suspense and don't expect everyone to survive unharmed. This fic is going to be different from what I've written before, so don't expect the same things as with Ranma's White Wings and One Half Tenjou, One Half Tenge.
Please Read and Review. Oh, and if anyone wants to beta, mostly to keep me in check and to help with my poor grammar, then please contact me.
Dreamingfox