Part Four: Epilogue
Early the next morning, Cologne was outside sweeping the front porch of the Neko Hanten. A light rain tapped on the awning above her head, dripping off and forming a thin curtain of water that blurred the view beyond. Looking up, she could see someone coming down the road, still off in the distance. She went back to her sweeping. A few minutes later, when she looked up again, she could make out three figures. This time, instead of going back to work, she stood there watching as they drew closer. Soon, even through the misty shield of rain, she could see that there were three girls: one was carrying a white duck, one a black piglet, and the third had bright red hair.
A small smile crept over her wrinkled face. "Well, I'll be," she croaked. "They've returned…"
Turning quickly, the Amazon matriarch pushed open the door of the Neko Hanten. «Shampoo!» she called out in Chinese, as she entered the main area.
Shampoo came downstairs. «What is it, Great-Grandma?»
Cologne paused for a moment to jump atop her cane. «They have arrived,» she stated simply.
The young Amazon's eyes widened, and she bounced gleefully. «So happy!» She stared at Cologne for a brief moment. «Shampoo go get towels for Ranma!» Spinning on her heel, she dashed exuberantly back up the stairs.
The older Chinese woman turned at the sound of footsteps on the porch. The door swung open. Three wet, but very alive, teenagers filed into the Neko Hanten, duck and pig in hands.
"Tadaima," whispered the brunette girl holding the duck.
The door swung closed again, and there was a pause, while the two American girls cast tired but triumphant looks at each other and the aged matriarch sized up the situation. Ranma dripped water on the floor. Finally, Cologne broke the silence.
"I just cleaned the floor, you know," she croaked blandly.
Erin snorted. "I suppose we forgot umbrellas in our initial packing frenzy." She surveyed the decent-sized puddle forming around all their feet. "So sorry."
Cologne's wrinkled face cracked into a smile. "Welcome home."
At that moment, Shampoo returned with the towels and handed them out. She bounced on her toes, and clapped her hands together. "Aiya, Ranma!" she squealed at the bedraggled martial artist. "You come back to Shampoo!" Then, catching on finally, her face fell. "Why you still girl?"
"Fair question," Jesse muttered. P-Chan 'bweeed' in agreement. "But I am cold and wet!" the blond girl continued, "and my boyfriend is a small barnyard animal." She glared at nothing in particular.
"Ah, yes," croaked the Amazon matriarch. "Shampoo," she said, turning to the confused purple-haired girl next to her, "please show them places to change, and bring hot water." She paused. "Then, I expect there will be much explaining to do…"
Less than an hour later, the seven of them sat gathered around a table in the Neko Hanten. Cologne had provided hot tea and ramen. Now warm, dry, and in clean clothes, the five teenagers were ready to tell their story. For the first part, Ryoga did most of the talking; periodically, Mousse would interject something that he had noticed or thought to himself. Ranma made many snide comments in the background, but added very little to the actual telling of events. As the two cousins had not been present for the boys' initial discovery of the Mokatsu's fortress, or for their first battle with the creature and its Heir, they kept fairly quiet during Ryoga's recounting. When he got to the first encounter and subsequent face-off with the two beings, he fell silent. Mousse looked over at him and gave him a small smile. Erin touched his shoulder reassuringly, and Jesse slipped her hand into his. Ryoga continued.
Cologne's already wide eyes grew even larger as he described the events of their fight, and then Ranma's…well…Ranma-ish conduct afterward. Jesse glared alarmingly at the pigtailed martial artist as he sat, arms crossed, listening to the fanged boy speak. He did not admit to anything, but he also did not contradict anything that was said. Shampoo just stared at him adoringly, periodically making sympathetic noises at his suffered afflictions. Jesse rolled her eyes, but refrained from making any of the numerous rude comments that came into her head.
Ryoga ended with his final attack on the Heir Mokatsu, and its subsequent disappearance. Then, he sighed and leaned his head on Jesse's shoulder. She glared half-heartedly at Ranma, then softened and turned her attention to her quietly embarrassed boyfriend. Cologne opened her mouth to say something, but closed it again. Erin spoke up.
"It's a good thing we went after them when we did," she said softly, placing a gently affectionate hand on Mousse's arm. "Otherwise…" She allowed her comment to hang in the air, unfinished.
The old woman looked annoyed, then nodded. "True…" she muttered, the point conceded.
Ranma was forced to pry a concerned Shampoo off his arm, as Erin picked up the story where Ryoga had left off. There were a few uncomfortable pauses at certain parts, especially where Mousse's well being was in question. The two others who had been with her then noticed the lack of detail she allowed into the telling of those parts. However, they neither questioned nor corrected her, and the rest of her descriptions of events were quite thorough. Only once did Ranma open his mouth to protest something, but he was quickly silenced by Ryoga, who pointedly reminded him, "How would you know, Ranma? You were dead at the time…"
Erin briefly but thoroughly outlined how she and Jesse had found the boys, Mousse's death, the discovery of the book's missing page, their search for the creature, their discovery of Ranma, the second battle with the Master, and Ryoga's death. She finished by telling of the Mokatsu's demise, and the three boys' subsequent recovery. Ranma interjected to tell of their setting fire to the fortress, and its final silent vanishing.
"Then we came home," Erin concluded.
"It's still raining, too," her cousin grumbled.
There was silence for a long moment. Cologne looked at each person in turn, an expression of begrudging admiration on her face as her gaze fell on the American girls. "You have all done remarkably well for yourselves," she began. "I am impressed. More than I expected to be." She paused for a moment, considering Ranma. "Unfortunately, our first purpose of delivering the three of you from your curses was not achieved. I am sorry for that."
A general undercurrent of dissatisfaction came from the three young men gathered around the table. Both the Chinese boy and his bandana-clad partner cast veiled sidelong glares at Ranma, who sat with his arms crossed and a look of vague discomfort in his slate blue eyes. Mousse turned and glanced at Erin, who was smiling at him, a look of tranquil, silent comfort on her face. He sighed.
"You know, though," he said softly, turning back to Cologne. "Being cursed is much better than being dead." He paused. "And I can apparently speak from experience…"
Ryoga nodded his assent.
Mousse continued. "And, I have decided that, although inconvenient, it has never gotten in the way of how certain people feel about me…" Here, he blushed slightly and smiled at Erin. "Doing this, and having my closest friends try so hard to save me showed me that I don't have to worry about my curse anymore. At least, not in the same way as before because…well…I'm already loved and accepted for who I am."
Erin leaned over and kissed him softly on the cheek. Mousse could feel his face burning, and from the mildly amused look he was getting from Cologne, he guessed that its color mirrored that fact. Ryoga nodded once more.
"Yes," he said. "I agree with him. I have everything I really want." He squeezed Jesse's hand. "And I think that I could actually be content with my curse for the rest of my life if I had to."
"But life is too precious to waste on foolish battles to fix things that, ultimately, don't change who we are inside," the Chinese boy murmured.
Cologne smiled. "True. Very true." She looked at the two cursed martial artists. "It seems you have learned more than I ever expected. Not only have you fought bravely and honorably, but you have also learned to be at peace with your circumstances. To appreciate the blessings in life and not concentrate on the…well…curses." And here, her smile became decidedly maternal. "This is something that people can live a life as long as mine, and still not understand. I am proud of you."
Eyes wide, the two young men mouthed their thanks, absolutely shocked at what was, for Cologne, an emotionally affectionate outburst. Their girlfriends grinned widely.
The old woman then turned to look at Ranma, who was attempting to keep an overly sympathetic Shampoo at arms' distance. "You, on the other hand," she began, "seem to have come away with the least. Training you may have gotten. But if fighting is all you will learn, then life will prove hard and lonely for you." Ranma scowled, but was too worn out to act as indignant as he might have liked. The matriarch continued. "Perhaps, though, you have at least learned that jumping through unknown doors offered by bestial hosts of dubious trustworthiness is a foolish idea at best."
Ranma rolled his eyes and made an affronted noise, but glanced almost longingly at the other two couples in the restaurant. They were both seemingly in their own worlds of happiness, enveloped in the protection of mutual love and care. He thought about Akane, and Ukyo, and even Shampoo, and how surface all his relationships were with them. They never talked, really. At least, not without arguing. He did not actually know any of them anymore. He sighed almost inaudibly. "Maybe," he thought to himself, "just maybe it's time I tried to actually be a real friend to somebody." Suddenly, the thought of being the best fighter in the world, but without any people who truly cared about the person he was on the inside, sounded far from appealing.
From her chair, Cologne observed the pensive look that had taken control of Ranma's features. And she wondered, briefly, if maybe he had learned a little more than he had been given credit for.
Far off, in an unknown realm, a dark fortress appeared atop a mountain. Deep within, a creature seethed with untold power. The Heir Mokatsu lurked in one of the many hidden rooms in its stronghold; writhing veins of energy trailed over its body, ready…waiting.
As soon as the former Master had been slain, its entire lifetime of accumulated chi had blossomed outward in a great surge. But then, slowly, it had flowed back toward its new possessor. The younger creature felt the death of the elder and met it with a nearly triumphant expectancy. It reached up, willing the energy to draw toward it, to become part of it. It roared with pleasure as the roiling cloud enveloped it.
Far below, the Mokatsu's echoing growls reached the ears of five barely recovered teenagers struggling to decide on their next move. The creature's exultant ejaculations of charged ecstasy were misinterpreted as a beginning act of vengeance on them for the slaying of its Master. They left as quickly as possible. Unbeknownst to the Heir, however, the puny, insignificant humans left a token of their affection: a small going-away present.
The oblivious creature continued its work, feeling safe from the interference of the humans, as its next step was the most important, yet also the most vulnerable, in its assumption of power. The time had come for it to completely take its role as the Master by creating for itself a new Heir. Gathering its newfound energies tightly around itself, it focused its concentration. The process by which its fellow beings had replicated themselves throughout the centuries was indeed a bizarre one, as Cologne had told Ranma. Parthenogenesis: The splitting of one thing into another identical yet separate entity. The Mokatsu would use its chi to force a duplicate of itself to split off from its body. This duplicate would know what it knew at the time of separation, but would be subservient to it in all things, acknowledging it as the superior existence. Once this process was complete, the new Master would begin to grow larger with each of its absorbed victim's chi, while the new Heir would, in turn, await its own opportunity for power.
The Mokatsu could feel the process beginning, as new cells formed, and the new creature began to split off from within its flesh. It allowed itself to sink deeper into its mitosis, letting the raw power overwhelm its other senses and the reformation consume its whole awareness. Giving itself over completely to its task, the Mokatsu was unaware that, far below it, the flames rose higher…
In the Neko Hanten, the conversation was beginning to die down, as weariness was starting to encroach on the recently returned. Cologne spoke.
"You all look ready to return to your homes." Her comment was met with several nods. "Before you leave, though," she continued, a contemplative look on her face, "I have one final question."
"Yeah?" Ranma quipped. "Well I have several…"
Cologne cut him off. "Elders first." She turned to the cousins, "Although I am very impressed with how you managed to overcome the creature's shape-changing illusion, I am rather unclear on how you achieved this. Or even how you knew it was anything other than it seemed."
Confusion flitted across the faces of Shampoo and the three boys. Only Erin, who knew her thoughts to begin with, and Jesse, who had figured it out soon after, maintained their unconcerned expressions.
"That's a good point," Ryoga muttered.
The old matriarch raised an eyebrow. "Well?"
"Ha!" Jesse crowed. "Wouldn't you like to know!"
Cologne blinked at her; she smirked happily. Erin, for her part, took a final sip of her tea, then turned to face the old woman. She was attempting to refrain from looking very pleased with herself, and it showed.
"The elderly lady on the mountain was my first clue," she said thoughtfully.
Jesse nodded. "She was a bit odd."
"While we were talking to her," Erin continued, "a bird flew overhead. It got above and a bit behind her, then stopped dead in midair and fell to the ground. It was alive, but quite stunned—like it had just hit a window. The old woman acted annoyed, and rushed off. Then, as she walked through the trees, the branches rustled as she passed."
Jesse interjected, "The branches were well above her head, and there wasn't any wind."
"Very true," her cousin affirmed. "Next came the doorkeeper."
"Also very odd," muttered the blond girl next to her.
Erin went on, choosing to forgo commenting. "For one thing, he never showed up at the same time as either creature." Pointing to the three male martial artists, she said, "Based on what the guys have told us about when they were fighting battles, I think it's reasonable to assume that both of these were incarnations of the Heir Mokatsu."
Cologne nodded her understanding, and the American girl proceeded. "The only time that Jesse and I saw the doorkeeper, he looked significantly more frazzled than Ryoga described him looking when they arrived."
Next to Jesse, the fanged young man nodded once in agreement. "He seemed quite calm when we spoke with him. And, he greeted us almost as soon as we entered."
"Those facts," Erin said, continually warming to her topic, "later made me think that the Heir Mokatsu must have just come from the first battle. The aftereffects of Ryoga's Shishi Hôkôdan could quite easily account for both the delay in the doorkeeper's arrival to greet us and his expended appearance."
Cologne interrupted briefly. "What you have told us so far is most fascinating, as well as debatable that anyone else would have noticed this." In the background, Jesse mumbled something about too much science fiction, while the ancient Amazon kept talking. "However, both of these events relate only to the Heir."
Erin nodded, smiling slightly. "That's true. But based on the strange black book in the corridor, we had no reason to believe that the older creature did things any differently than its subordinate." She paused, looking off into the distance. "And also, the last piece of the puzzle didn't click until the final battle with the Master."
The old woman shuffled her cane around a bit, and glanced at the rest of the assembly. Although Shampoo still looked slightly lost, the three boys appeared to be gladly absorbing any information the young lady gave. After all, they were alive because of her generally overactive imagination and sci-fi warped reasoning abilities. Cologne smiled slightly, and turned her attention back to the conclusion of Erin's story.
"After Ryoga was removed from the fight," she began delicately, "Jesse and I came up with a way to distract the creature, which had, by that time, taken his form. Or at least, that was how it appeared. I distracted it; she rather violently impaled it with the dagger the doorkeeper had provided us with. We had been told that those daggers alone had the ability, for whatever reason, to kill the creatures. And she got it straight through the middle of its body."
Jesse made a satisfied noise, a completely smug look on her face. Erin glanced at her and smirked slightly.
"Then it had the obscene audacity to yank the knife out, get up, and come at us again." She shook her head and sighed, feigning insult. "Very rude if you ask me. It didn't." She smiled at Cologne and continued. "But, that was when everything finally came together. It seemed that instead of actually transforming into the physical shape of someone else, it could project solid illusions slightly in front of it."
Mousse spoke up, answering a question he had formed much earlier. "If it could somehow project and, well, harden its chi aura, it would explain why there would be no need of a change in mass…"
Erin shrugged. "I'm not even going to pretend to figure out the physics behind it. All I know is that what we were seeing was not actually what—or where—the creature actually was. The same held true for the old woman on the mountain. We were interacting with the illusion, while the bird impacted with the body of the invisible creature. When I threw the second knife, I actually just aimed at where I remembered the Mokatsu last standing before it 'transformed.'"
"Wait a minute!" Ranma exclaimed. "You're telling me that ya just guessed!" He seemed quite put out by this information.
She smiled at him, staring angelically from under fluttering eyelashes. "Weeell, it was a very educated guess…" Ranma twitched. "And it worked," she finished, crossing her arms. Her body language fairly dared him to come up with something clever to say about that. Which he didn't.
Cologne, who had remained quiet for a while, voiced her final opinion. "Amazing," she croaked. "The whole thing."
"I bet the next Mokatsu will think twice before leaving instruction manuals hanging around," Jesse concluded.
Erin smiled a small, knowing smile. Mousse stared questioningly at her, but did not ask. Ranma had given up on forcing Shampoo off, and she was now happily dozing against his shoulder. Jesse and Ryoga were leaning against each other. Cologne smiled at the group in an almost motherly way.
"Perhaps you should all go sleep," the elderly martial artist suggested. "You have done much, and told all, and it is well past midnight." A few nods and some yawns told her she was right. "I will see you again soon, no doubt." She stood, and hopped on her cane as usual.
After telling Cologne, and a groggy Shampoo, goodnight, the two couples walked out into the soft darkness. Still inside, Ranma lifted the purple-haired Amazon girl, and carried her silently to her room. He set her down on the bed, and watched her sleep for a moment. "Maybe," he thought to himself, "I could convince her to just be my friend for a little while. That'd be nice. And just maybe…I could get Akane to be my friend, too. I guess first, I'll have to learn how to be a better friend to her…" He turned and walked downstairs.
"Good night, Cologne," he said, with a slight, uncharacteristic bow.
The Chinese Amazon briefly considered calling him "Son-in-law," as she generally did. He seemed different somehow, though. Wiser maybe. She nodded once, briefly. "Good night, Ranma." He left.
Cologne watched his departing form and wondered to herself, "Perhaps dying once has that effect on a person." She smiled. "Not that I intend to find out any time soon…" She locked the door, and went silently to her room.
After saying their group goodnights, Jesse had left to walk Ryoga to his house, their hands clasped together, and her head on his shoulder. Mousse had taken Erin to her apartment. Now, the young Chinese man stood there, watching his girlfriend in the moonlight. She was in the process of unlocking her door. He reached out and softly touched her hair. She opened the door, then turned to him and smiled.
"I love you," she whispered.
He smiled back at her. Reaching down, he pulled something out of his robe sleeve, and held it out to her. She stared at the rose: white, with red tendrils across the surface of its petals. Taking the flower, Erin leaned forward, placed a hand on his face, and kissed him softly.
"O-yasumi nasai, Mousse-ahiru," she said, giving him a hug.
Mousse held her tightly. "O-yasumi nasai, Erin. I love you, too…"
The young woman smiled once more, then disappeared into the darkness of the apartment with her flower. Mousse sighed happily, and began his walk back to the Neko Hanten.
Jesse leaned forward and kissed Ryoga's nose, effectively distracting him from his task of entering his house. He blushed slightly, and took her hand.
"Thank you," he whispered to the blond girl.
She smiled, and swatted playfully at his head. "Never try anything like this again, though, okay?"
The bandana clad martial artist looked suitably chastised, but still had a slight smirk playing at the corners of his mouth. "But," he protested, "it gets me so much extra affection…"
Hugging him tightly, Jesse shook her head. "Nope. I'll make sure you get enough affection anyway!" She kissed him.
"I wonder," Ryoga began, his arms still around his girlfriend, "if the Mokatsu could only use the forms of people it had absorbed, why could it take the form of an old man? Or an old woman, for that matter?"
The American girl did her best to shrug, while still clinging to his neck. "I suppose that some time ago, they challenged the Mokatsu and lost." She paused to think. "I mean, look at Cologne. She's old! Or even Happosai." She shuddered slightly at that last thought. She had fortunately never been harassed by the lecherous old martial arts master, but had heard enough stories of his energetic raidings to be wary of him.
"I suppose so," Ryoga conceded. Then, squeezing Jesse enough to lift her off her feet, he murmured, "I love you so much." Then, he set her down.
"I love you too, Ryo-chan." She grinned.
Then, after a final goodnight kiss, she hurried off down the road, back to her apartment, as Ryoga turned and went into his home.
In its own, uncharted realm, the Master Mokatsu was nearing the final stages of its parthenogenesis. The small section of its mind not occupied by the separation worked furiously on its plan of return. It had waited patiently behind its former Master, yet all the while wishing that a more aggressive approach could be taken in the challenging. To set its whole fortress down in a village, and challenge all the natives, one by one defeating them, and taking their chi…this is what would please it. Only another thousand years—to be spent building its strength and training its Heir—before it could return to the pathetic human globe of existence. It quivered with anticipation, and its not-quite-formed Heir shuddered delightedly with it. Then the pain began, searing through their whole, still shared, body. Complete, consuming fire. Too small a piece of consciousness was left to defend itself. The chamber was enveloped in warping columns of flame and billows of smoke.
The Mokatsu was dimly aware of the incomplete form of its almost-Heir blackening, and tearing away from it, falling to the ground in shriveling ashes. True, only the knives had the ancient power to fully annihilate one of their great race. But, death and destruction are not always the same thing. Its own flesh was betraying it, withering to darkened sections, crumbling away. Soon, nothing was left of the frame of the once exultant creature. The fortress gave way before the trenchant blaze and succumbed even every hidden part to the conflagration.
In the end, a heap of smoldering ruins was the only thing remaining on the mountainside. A parched wind blew over the vestiges of the once great testimony to the might of the hoary creatures. And with the wind, remained the last traces of the Heir's consciousness. Vaguely aware, yet far from sentient, it hovered above the remnants of its aspired glory…
A dim light shone out of a lone window in Nerima. The rest of the town was long since asleep. Inside the mostly darkened apartment, Erin walked into her bedroom, clad in her nightgown, her hair still wet after taking a shower. She felt fresh, having finally been able to wash away the dirt and grime and the effects of the ragged emotions that had surfaced during the recent ordeal. But now, Mousse was safe, alive. Ryoga too, and even Ranma. Her cousin would be coming home soon, after walking Ryoga to his house. She smiled. Only one more thing to do.
Barefoot, Erin padded lightly over to her bed, on which she had flopped her backpack upon getting home. She pulled out the bottom drawer of her dresser, where she kept her private things, and set it next to the pack. Then, she opened the main compartment; the sound of the zipper was the only thing breaking the silence. Mousse had wondered, and even briefly worried about her when she had disappeared into the Mokatsu's fortress, after everyone else was outside. The Chinese boy had never actually asked what she was doing, however. Now, she took out her secret.
Carefully, Erin placed a large black book into the drawer. A gilded knot decorated the cover. The young woman opened it briefly, only enough to slip a slightly crinkled sheet of paper between two of the pages. Reaching into her backpack once more, she pulled out a jeweled knife. No stain remained on the gleaming blade, no reminder of what it was or what purpose it had served. She placed it in the drawer, beside the book. Moving the pack to the floor, she set the drawer back in its slot. Erin sighed softly, pausing. Before closing it, she placed her rose on the cover of the book. A splash of color against the darkness. A small smile crossed her face, and then, humming softly to herself, she slipped into bed and turned out the light.
A soft breeze blew over Nerima, and there was peacefulness in the cool wind. These battles were over.
Japanese Phrases:
O-hayô – Good morning
O-yasumi nasai – Good evening/night
Anata ga suki desu – I love you
Shôri – victory
Yatta – I did it, also, yea!
Koibito – sweetheart/beloved
O-baba – Old woman/hag
Baka – fool
Kentou/Kôun o inori masû – Good luck
Yokoso – Welcome
Tadaima – I'm back
"name"-chan – familiar suffix, implies a close relationship (not necessarily romantic in nature)
"name"-kun – familiar suffix used almost only when talking to a young man
Chinese Phrases:
Nihao - Hello/Hi
Wo ai ni - I love you
Woda airen - My beloved husband
Attacks and Translations:
Katchuu Tenshin Amaguriken – Chestnut Fist; speed technique involving hundreds of rapid punches in succession.
Shishi Hôkôdan – Roaring Lion Blast/Depression blast; chi attack based on depressed or unhappy chi.
Mouko Takabisha – Confidence blast; chi attack based on confident chi.
Hiryû Shôten Ha – Flying Dragon Ascension Wave; giant spiraling chi attack based on conflicting "hot" and "cold" chi, requires a certain set of steps and another person to focus on.
Bakusai Tenketsu – Breaking Point; technique used to shatter rocks and other objects.
Takatsume-ken – Raking Hawk Talons; involves jumping on someone's head while wearing long, curved nails on the bottoms of your shoes.
Baikyû Utsuri – A reverse chi attack that I just completely made up, 'cause I thought it would be spiffy, and it served its purpose. ;-)
