This is a reworking of chapter 23. I found it was missing a bit, and had stuff I didn't like that much and was too short, so I rewrote this. Actually, this started as Chapter 24, but I found myself rewritten a lot of Ryoga's part from ch23, so I desided to make this ch23v.2.

Here's a chapter for 2 Tiger's Tale.

This chapter starts mainly with Ryoga pondering the relevant knowledge he's gained from listening to the stories told to him by the clan and their associates. It's mainly a short recap of Gargoyles, with a few of my own interpretatoins of explanations for what's gone on with the characters. Demona has rejoined the clan, partly, and she's even got a love/hate relationship going on with Eliza. Sort of like Rita and Barbara Jean from the show 'Reba'. But with more ass kicking and darker aspects then that. She's started to see why Goliath fell for Eliza and it frustrates her when she realizes that many of the reasons were similar to why Goliath had loved her in the first place. But it's too late to go back, and she has to treat Eliza as an equal, considering how often the pesky human has gotten the best of her.

She finds her to be a bit of a goody-goody, but respects her abilites and determination, if not all of her views on certain less then moral matters.

I'm also going to try a bit more of Bison scenes, maybe just a unit from Shadowloo doing something in NY to test the waters before he puts his plan into action. And with the Gargs out of town, who'll stop him?

After that's all done, I'll go a bit into more details about the tournament, list a few fighters we haven't really seen, maybe a match or two. Next chapter, after this, will have Ranma vs. Darren Smith( the black guy you all hate so much from last chap, with a surprise), Guile vs. Edmund(more explosive and 'super' moves), Chun Li vs Cammy(catfight and jealousy!), and Akane vs. Uranus(tomboy vs REAL tomboy).

I hope.

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Ryoga stared down at the scattered pools in fear as the helicopter slowly lowered towards the ground. He could just make out the form of the guide staring up at the loud contraption, and wondered idly if the old man felt fear at the sight. It was doubtful the man would be able to ttel lthat this was a passenger/cargo helicopter and not one of the PRA's attack chopters that occassionaly flew over the area to remind the distant population about the presence of their rulers in Beijing. He certainly would not recognize the logo on the side as belonging to Xanatos Enterprises. He likely though this was a troop transport of some kind.

He heard muffled voices coming from the cargo hold and was again reminded how glad he was that he had been sitting up front when the gargoyles had awakened from their stone sleep. He had hated seeing it in New York, and had feared seeing it in an enclosed space like the cargo hold. He glanced at the woman witting calmly in the seat next to him, wondering once again how she could be so accepting of the fierce creatures. Eliza Maza was a study in contradictions to the befuddled youth. At any given time, she was both protective and fierce. Loyal and disobedient. Strong and intensely vulnerable. There was an exotic beauty in her face and form steming from her mixed Native American/African heritage that drew people to her side. This beauty hid the incredible strength of will and body contained in her slight frame.

In his travels, Ryoga had met more classicaly beautiful women, as well as more aesthetically pleasing, but the detective was the only one he'd ever met who seemd to care nothing for her appearance or the appearance of others. This was proved by the fact the she had falle nin love with, and was technically married to, a creature that would give even the stoutest of men nightmares. Goliath was without a doubt, the most phyisically intimidating individual Ryoga had ever encountered. He made even the deadliest and most feared fighters Ryoga had faced look like children. It was more then his sheer size, or the immense strength or even his fierce countenance. There was a presence of barely restrained power that was constantly emitted by the giant body.

Goliath by nature was not a fighter. He was a philosopher. In ancient times, as a human or a gargoyle, he would have been a monk of the highest order, trained in both mind and body by the most skilled and wisest of his order. In his own times, he would have been a poet warrior. But today, more then a 1000 years since his birth, the world was a changed place and he was viewed as little more then a beast simply because of his none-human appearance. But his mind. Oh, his mind was a thing of true beauty. He'd done his best to adapt to the changes in the world, and had handled most of them fairly well. He'd read as much history and poetry as he could to get a grasp on the motivations of modern humans. And had learned a great deal to his sorrow of some of the attrocities man had committed on other men. It pained him that he and his clan had to hide from those they'd sworn to give their lives to protect, but it was the only way to ensure their survival. They were too few in the world to fight off the might of the purveyors of hatred and greed who would subjugate or kill his kind, and he'd been forced to appoint himself guardian of all gargoyles, as well as his own clan.

Ryoga blinked as a soft thump shook the heavy craft. Glancing out the window, he noticed that they'd landed. He nervously waited for the engine to stop and the spinning rotors to slow. The door to the cargo hold opened and the slim form of a redhaired gargoyle entered the luxury cabin.

"So we're here?" asked the gargoyle warrioress known as Demona. Demona had only recently rejoined the clan, and then only at the urging of her daugther. She was attempting to set aside her millenia of hatred towards humanity, though she still viewed them with contempt. Thanks to a 'curse' placed on her by the Third Race trickster Puck, she was forced during the day to asume human form. the transition from gargoyle to human and back was painful, but she had endured much pain in her 1000 years of life.

For while Goliath and his clan 'Slept until the castle rose above the clouds', she had wondered the earth, cursed by Puck's siblings, the Wyrd Sisters, with immortality. The price for her immortality was a connection to a human she hated, though she had once been attracted to. MacBeth, former King of Scotland, was very much alive and real. The curse that joined them stated that 'neither could die, except by the hand of the other.' Over the centuries, she and MacBeth occassionally worked together, but more often then naught, they had sought to exterminate each other.

For centuries, Demona had sough tout magical means to destory the humanity she felt had betrayed her kind. First with the betrayal of Harkon, and then with MacBeth turning his back on her. Time past, and as humanity spread across the continents, her kind was systematically destroyed, rendered to little more then myths. Several incidents early in her immortal life had occured where she'd had to defend herself from humans, and this had caused a survivor of her raids to form a line of people known as Hunters. The goal of all Hunters was the same: Find a gargoyle, Kill it. Find the Demon, Slaughter her. Nothing else mattered except continuing the line and preparing the next generation for battle. Since their formation, the line of Hunters was responsible for the slaughter of hundreds of innocent gargoyles, most while they were helpless in their stone sleep.

It had resulted in her seeking more and more ways to kill more and more humans. Her mind warped, but her goal had become to destroy all mankind. For a being who's very nature screamed out to protect life, this was a drastic step. She rationalized it to herself with platitudes about it being the only way to protect the few remaining gargoyles of the world. And since gargoyles had been here first, why should they perish when it was humanity who was destroying the world in its greed and quest for conquest and so called advancement.

It had taken several battles against her daughter, only recently arrived in Man's World from the mystic Isle of Avalon, to reawaken a sense of duty to the greater good in her. This was helped by her coming to terms of sorts with her eternal rival/suitor and a final battle with a trio of Hunters, the last of the line. Though one of the Hunters continued his families insane quest, she had made her peace with the other two, and indeed, had hired the sister as her pesronal assitant. She had needed someone trustworthy who would not run in fear during her twice daily transformations and Robin Canmore had been well qualified for the job she had once pretended interest in. Demona's company, Nightstone Limited, was a leader in computer and security hardware, second only to Xanatos Enterprises in most areas, even surparsing the multinational conglomorates headed by the insuffereably arrogant David Xanatos.

Xanatos himself had at one time sought the destruction of the very clan he know protected. He had helped Demona bring about the conditions required by the spell to awaken the seven members of her clan by having their castle brought over stone by stone and rebuilt in it's entirety upon the top of his corporate headquarters. In the early years of their reawakening, he'd sought several times to either recruit them to his cause of corporate domination or destroy them and use their genetic material in horrific scientific experiments. Even Eliza's brother had not been immune. From what Ryoga had bee ntold, he and several others had been genetically altered. They had been infused with a mixture of cat, bat, and eel DNA. This had mutated them into inhuman beasts with large, leathery bat wings, feline features and claws, and the ability to project electrical charges from their hands.

All had eventually been forgiven when Xanatos' son had been placed in danger by the King of Avalon and he'd needed to beg the gargoyles for their aid in protecting the child. While they didn't trust Xanatos, they could not refuse to aid such a request, for their own clan, the eggs of the last generation to breed, were still on the mystical Isle and if they failed, Oberon would seek to wipe them from the protection of his Isle.

Since that day, Xanatos had done all in his power to attempt to regain their trust, and slowly, managed to gain some measure of trust. Enough that they were willing to go along with his mad scheme to find the legendary Jhusenkyo Training Ground and it's cursed pools. For while their love knew no bounds of physical forms, Goliath and Eliza could not have children as they were, and both strongly desired a child. The only way was for Goliath to become human, or Eliza to become gargoyle. Neither was willing to allow the other to give up something taht was so intrinsical to their very nature, so when Xanatos had presented this option, they had desided to take a chance. Puck, though he had once changed each into their other forms, could not make a lasting change with the limitations on his power placed on him by his father and King. But he could alter the trigger of the Jhusenkyo magic so that instead of water causing the change in form, the coming of dawn or dusk would alter their shapes.

After much deliberation between themselves, and discussing it with those few that mattered in Eliza's life, she had decided to join her beloved's side at night. And he had agreed to take human form, giving up the healing stone sleep that was a gift of his kind. Together, they would glide the skies of Manhattan at night, protecting their city from the scum that surfaced in the darkness. By day, they would live and sleep as normal humans. They would want for nothing, though Eliza had contemplated a switch to day shift as she did not wish to be solely reliant on the generosity of David Xanatos.

Ryoga shook his head to clear it of the thoughts. They had all had their own stories to tell, during his stay with them in New York. He'd learned more about them in that short time then he'd ever learned about any one. During his time their, Puck ahd made sure he couldn't get lost, and so he'd marvelled at always being able to go exactly where he wanted any given time. He'd broken out into tears the first time he'd managed to make his own way to the bathroom on the very first try and he hadn't had to resort to the primitive port-a-potty he carried in his pack. And then he'd even made his way back to the kitchen where he'd been making his lunch in the ultra modern fully equiped food preparation facility. Seeing his meal, still warm from the slight heating he'd given before leaving, and ready to be eaten without having to be reheated had again caused him to loose control of his emotions. He hadn't been able remember the last time he'd managed to leave a meal he was preparing and find it in less then a few hours.

He hoped that the cure was permanent. Owen/Puck seemed rather assured that the spell he had cast with the help of young Alex would correct his problem. Or at least, give him some control. He just hoped that if he only got a slight bit of control, it would allow him to find a bathroom when he needed one or get back to a meal he was preparing if he left it for any reason. He didn't really mind travelling around the world, but it would be nice to get where he planned on going in a somewhat timely fashion instead of the usual months it took him. He did have to find that bastard Ranma and his bitchy girlfriend Akane. He owed them a lot, he thought as his hand crept to rub at a series of scars on his shoulder.

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Alpha1 was smiling under the heavy riot gear mask he was wearing. He'd just finished setting the timer on the last of the explosives and was now waiting for Alphas 5 through 10 to report on their operation.

His team had been chosen by their great leader, Generalissimo Bison, to lead his attack on his enemies headquarters in the capatalist haven of New York. A city filled with degenerates and corruption. And now, in the heart of the city, he and his troops were preparing to strike a blow that would cripple a hedonistic capatalist fool and show the world that even here, in the heartland of America, in a place touted as the greatest city in the world, no one escaped the wrath and might of Shadowloo. Not even one as powerful as David Xanatos.

"Alpha 1, this is Alpha5. Mission is accomplished, my brother. Wire transfer has been completed and worms have been planted. We are clearing out. Over."

Alpha1 spent a moment to gloat over the success of his team. "Excellent work as always, Alpha5. The General chose well by assigning you to our unit. Despite your origins. Meet us at the site in 5. For Shadowloo, Alpha1 out." the comm unit clicked off.

"Praise Bison." Alpha5 grinned to his companions. They were the premiere hacker team in the entire Shadowloo army, hand-picked by him after he joined several years before. He gave a signal to the only female on his team, and the dark haired beauty grinned, typing rapidly onto the console before her. He and his teamates double checked their transmitters, making sure nothing was active. "So, Burn. Where you leaving the info this time?"

"Well, Z, I thought of a garbage file, in honor of our old friend Plaguey, but that's too common. I thought I'd hide it in the system registry with a command to release it back to the system in 34 hours. That way, Bison has enough time to confirm the transfer and set off the worms, but by that time, the system will have the antivirus's as well as the entire backlog of transfers and accounts that the money was sent too. Is everything else set?"

"Oh man, it was sweeeeet! Joey and I managed to convince the entire comp team to do a refit of the systems. They'll be offline for the next 3 days, except for Bison's personal network. The rest of Shadowloo is going lowtech fast. Real Stone age. Not even cellphones will be working on the island."

"Good job. What about you, Killer? How'd your end hold up?"

"Oh, it was wicked. Me and Nikon did a righteous work of the comm system. Nikon was able to switch the C4 with a weaker version, and I sent out false orders to abondon posts. By tomorrow night, the island's going to be crawling with Shadowloo stoogies."

"Then we'd better get the hell out of here and report in. Man, I still have trouble believing that we work for the government, after all that crap with Plague and the DaVinci Virus."

Acid Burn snorted as she finished shucking off the gear from Shadowloo, revealing a tight fitting outfit. She opened a bag she'd brought with her, and started handing her team mates their regular street clothes. "At least we don't work for the idiot secret service bastards.

Dade grinned as his wife started swearing about the incompatent special agent who had harrassed them several years before. "That would be too much." he agreed, accepting his patent leather bomber jacket while she donned her white and black zebra patterned jacket. The others were also dressing in their usual outfits while Serial Killer and Joey handed out their 'blades.

They took one last look around, and Nikon grinned, holding a small detinator. "Let's blow this joint." he stated and they headed down the tunnels away from the underground service area of the Eyrie building.

Three minutes later, several small explosions went off, reducing their used clothes and equipment to smoldering plastics and burnt fibers.

POV Break

Ranma frowned as he studied the match going on before him. There was a large, muscular black man who was toying with an older, smaller opponent. The black man was quite obviously superior than the shorter, white man, but he made no effort to end the match, instead striking only hard and fast enough to humiliate the elder competitor. Already, the older man's left arm hung loose, and the black man took his time taunting the other, and the crowd, enjoying the boos and evil muttering of the spectators while ignoring as the older man struck blows that might cripple a weaker person.

Eventually, with less then 10 seconds left on the timer and trailing the older man on points, he struck, a side thrust kick that sent the man flying into the crowd. Ranma winced as he heard the distinctive snap of bones breaking and his scowl deepened as the man laughed at the older opponent. The black man mocked the crowds anger, as paramedics rushed to aid the older man. The judges confered for several moments, then reluctantly gave the large man the win, as he had technically done nothing outside the limits of the rules for which they could disqualify him. Unfortunately, though he had only toyed with his opponent, he had not borken any of the rules. Injuries were expected and it had been clear that he had taken pains not to fatally injure the old man though he easily could have slaughtered him.

In a show of ultimate dishonor, the black man spit on his defeated opponet as he was carried out on a stretcher.

Ranma growled under his breath and the spectators near him backed away slighty. He was still growling when Akane reached him, having gone to check her next opponent's match while Ranma studied his.

"What's wrong, anata?" Akane asked upon reaching his side and taking in the barely controlled rage.

"That man, the large black one, just destroyed a respected dojo master and toyed with him like he was nothing. That wasn't bad enough, but he took great pains to injure his opponent just enough that he was hampered, but not enough to end the match. Dislocated shoulder, sprained wrist, pulled hamstring. But he let the old man land enough blows that he was far beyond on points. 10 seconds left, he kicked the man and broke most of the ribs and sent him flying out of the ring to land hard against the barrier, maybe breaking his back. Then, when he was being carried out by the paramedics, he spit on him!" Ranma was nearly spitting as the growl deepened in his chest. His aura was slowly growing into visible range, and the area of the seats around them emptied as people hurried to avoid attracting his attention.

Akane stroked Ranma's back, making soothing motions she'd learned with her daughter. "It's okay Ranma. You have him in your next match. Teach him what honour and respect are."

Blinking back the rage, Ranma leaned into her caress, enjoying the feel of her hands on him, something he hadn't felt in more than a year. "I will, love. I will." He took a moment and allowed himself to accept her calm. "What about you, who's your next match?"

"Apparently, it's the winner of a fight between a british woman and a chinese woman. I don't recognize the names, but I watched an earlier fight with the Chinese woman. She kicks nearly as fast as you, Ranma. She called it her 'Lighting Kick'. I think she must have had some training from the Amazons."

Ranma frowned. Why would an Amazon be taking part in this tournament. He was sure that the village could use the prize money and the prestige of winning the tournament, but the whole nature of this tournament went against the Amazon's warrior code. They would never allow the segregation of the woman from the male fighters. It would be a mixed tournament. Amazon's only separated their fighters for certain milestones in peoples lives. Otherwise, all fighters were welcome to enter a tournament, though few males ever lasted past the first round.

END CHAPTER

Bonus thanks in next chapter for any who can tell me who and where the Alpha team spies come from. It's pretty obvious, nothing too complex. Just had to put them in when I was writting about the Alpha team, needed to put other people working against Bison and just watched their cource recently.