Inheritage: Things Fall Apart

Chapter 1

National and Televised

Thought

The world was ripped asunder that day, and yet, it was brought together at the same time. Humans were no longer the sole sentient inhabitants of Earth. And that scared them.

It was also scary to the families who suddenly have relatives who weren't the same species as them. Immediately, this fear drove a wedge between the people, and they began to separate. Some even grew to hate the new species.

Of course, this was to be expected. Humans, like most sentient creatures, fear what they do not understand. They don't understand how these creatures can exist; they don't understand why these creatures exist.

The broadcast of that day, with the young teenage creatures speaking in Atlanta, was translated, dubbed, and aired round the world live. The age was coming to a close. And with the closing of an age comes uncertainty. Regret. Quarrel.

Suddenly, the differences between the types of humans seemed to be so small and unnoticeable. They were no longer just Americans, just Japanese, or just Scottish. They were humans. Conflicts between them, for a brief moment in the grand scale of time, were silenced as the world stood in awe of what was before them.

In Italy, they watched the TV as the Oberotan talked about how these things happened.

In France, they watched as the Loup Garou talked about the struggles ahead.

In America, they watched as the Lycanthropes talked about how the future is clouded.

On Earth, the humans watched as the Werecreatures rose as a species yet again.

Atlanta

Rhys has been asleep for three days. Theo assures everyone that he is simply recovering. His aura was growing stronger with the passing days, and would be good as new in a few more.

Of course, being the only mage of high skill in the area, only Theo could sense the odd power that was being drawn into the young male werecheetah turned girl.

Elsewhere

Ryoga had returned with the Diggers and Rhys to Atlanta. He was currently walking around town, not really looking at anything around him. Several of the shops that had caught his eye were closed. The people around him were wearing thick clothing because of the unnaturally cold winter they were having.

Mousse and Shampoo had stayed in Joketsozuko to help the Amazons adapt.

Things around the world were changing. The storms that raced across the sky in China had supposedly reached all over the world, making it dark as night on the entire planet for one single moment. The sky had yet to clear, and it was obviously getting colder. If the clouds did not disappear, then there would be a very serious problem.

Of course, it was rumored that in places that were normally cold, they were having an unnaturally warm season. The Earths climate seemed to be spinning out of control.

At least the meteorologists could finally say that they didn't have a clue about the weather and not get fired. Truly, today was a good day for them.

Ryoga stopped as something in a window caught his eye.

In a store window nearby was a small piece of paper that had five letters on it.

KOTHO.

Ryoga hopped across the street quickly, moving towards the window. He picked the flyer off the window, and looked at it more closely.

The only other thing on it was a symbol, a date, and a place.

The symbol was a globe that had a silhouette of a man on it.

The date was Midnight, 912 Warf Avenue.

Ryoga glanced to his left as the sound of murmuring entered his ears. Nearby was a group of four human boys. They were glancing at his suspiciously.

In most parts of the world, people have made the connection that these new creatures were, in fact, werecreatures, and did have the supernatural ability to transform into a human form. In other places, this connection had not be reached.

Obviously, the people in Atlanta, Georgia made this connection.

Ryoga watched them for a moment before he calmly folded the piece of paper and put it in his pocket.

The Diggers Estate

"Yes, I've heard of this KOTHO organization," Theo said, looking at the paper, "And I was hoping it wouldn't come anywhere near here, but it has."

"Who are these people?" Ryoga asked, sitting down on the couch to watch some TV "And what are they doing forming a little club down in the seediest part of town?"

"KOTHO stands for 'Knights Of The Human Order'," Theo said, "And nasty speciest group that's rapidly surfaced since the Jusendo incident. They have a similar mind set as Nazi Germany, just replace the Jews with werecreatures and you'll basically have their basic mindset."

"Complete destruction and genocide," Gina shook her head, "Great."

"Just as much," Theo said, "It is to be expected that people like this would form together. People who don't want the world to change will come up with a scapegoat, and the werecreatures are the perfect scapegoats in this matter. And with some of them starting to wake up, these people are lashing out."

"It's hard to believe that people like this exist," Gina said.

"They do," Ryoga sighed, "I should know, I used to be just like them. People who are set deeply in one set of beliefs will do anything to keep those beliefs from being broken, be it violence or coming to conclusions that are totally askew and have no basis on fact."

"Closed minded people are dangerous," Brianna chimed in from the doorway, "It's kinda sad that these are the people who are running everything. Politicians try to vie towards the majority, trying to appeal to everyone, but when there are two opposing sides, the people caught in the middle are the ones who feel the effects the most."

"Unlucky bastards," Ryoga said, "In the wrong place at the wrong times because of something they couldn't even control or even begin to understand in the first place."

"It's unlikely that any sort of police force is going to be effective against these people," Theo said, "More than likely some of that force are members themselves."

"True," Gina said, "So there isn't a good way of resolving this. With people that closed minded, it can be difficult to make them stop, and impossible to make them change their mind, even in the face of undeniable evidence."

"We can't just let them get together and plot to kill us all," Brianna said loudly, "We have to stop them!"

"Brianna," Theo retorted, "We can't just go blowing into this place without any real evidence. They'd accuse us of attacking them, and demand to have us killed because of what we now are. We'd become public enemy number one, which is definitely not a situation I'm putting my family into."

"But we can't let them hurt people," Brianna semi-whined, "I mean, waiting for evidence would be waiting for just that, for them to hurt people."

"I don't want you messing with it Brianna," Theo said as he started to leave the room, "And that's final, young lady."

Brianna groaned angrily as her father left the room.

"And even then we can't just go barging in like we're the freaking cavalry, Brianna," Gina said after that, "We're not the police, we can't do that sort of stuff, not without it being shoved back in our faces. If we're going to do something, we have to do it secretly. Quietly. We have to see what this group is really like. We need to get inside that meeting."

"But how?" Brianna asked, "They all know that everyone living here are anything but human. They wouldn't dare let any of us near the place, they'd clam up and be no shows. And we can't really just go out and get someone, that may start a rumor that would get around to them and they would clam up anyway."

Gina thought about that for a moment.

"Hey Ryoga," Gina said, "You used to turn into a p…"

"No."

Gina faltered at Ryoga stern response. She groaned angrily.

"I don't think they know Rhys can turn into a girl," Brianna said, "But that doesn't help us because he's still asleep."

"Hmm…" Gina suddenly smirked.

"What?" Brianna asked.

"Ranma and Ryoga have basically overridden their curses with their new centers, right?"

"Um… yeah, we have," Ryoga said, turning around to look at them, "Why?"

"I wonder," Gina said, "If Ryoga can learn a certain center without having that curse."

"What center?" Ryoga asked, confused.

Later That Day

"Impressive Ryoga," Gina smirked, "Very nice."

"This is extremely embarrassing, you know that," Ryoga quipped at her.

"Yeah, but this way, they'll never know who you are," Brianna said, "And you're cute."

"Don't call me cute," Ryoga deadpanned.

"Look who's got her panties in a bunch," Gina smirked.

"Shut up," Ryoga crossed her arms.

Under her healthy feminine breasts.

"Don't worry," Gina said, "Without having been hoarded and bothered with it against your will for a while, you won't find yourself centered on it like Ranma."

"I find this extremely against my will," Ryoga said.

"Shove it, hottie," Brianna said as she pinched Ryoga from behind.

"Hey!" Ryoga freaked and moved away from the offending girls.

"Sorry, it was so big a round, it just had to be done," Brianna smirked.

"I hate you."

912 Warf Avenue

Ryoga had managed to get in pretending to be a mans girlfriends without that man technically knowing it. Just a little bit of body language combined with some tips he had gotten from Brianna and Gina on how to look irresistibly cute.

Ryoga wore a large fluffy… rather cute looking hat that covered her ears. The people at the meeting were extremely cautious and were looking for anything odd. Ryoga slightly pointed ears would have perked their interest.

The meeting was, at first, boring. Ryoga sat in her seat at the very back. She was actually almost completely hidden behind a pile of boxes, listening to what was going on. At first it was just some idiot talking about how the forces of KOTHO would rise up and 'deal with' the 'freak enemy'.

Once she was back there, Ryoga even turned back into a male, pulling on a different set of clothing before hand. Ryoga now leaned up against the boxes picking his teeth while ignoring this almighty idiot.

His attention was suddenly turned away from the piece of broccoli in his teeth when a very, very misplaced smell came to his nose.

Death.

Ryoga hoisted himself up onto the crates, confident that the darkness of the warehouse at the far end would cover him. It did.

Glancing around, he couldn't see the source of the smell, but he knew it was coming from the direction of the make shift stage.

A man stepped onto the stage. His skin was fair. His hair was white, even though he didn't look old at all. But the thing that Ryoga was most freaked out by, was that the mans eyes were pure yellow. A golden yellow.

The man's eyes trained over the crowd, until it suddenly snapped to Ryoga.

Ryoga shivered atop the box. He knew the man could see him, but he couldn't move.

"My people," The man said, "I have been sent from on high to tell the words of our lord. I have spoke to him, and he has partaken these words to me."

"The demon that infests the soul is among us. In the bodies of our neighbors, and in out previous friends. Those of you who came to the last meeting know this, but for those who did not… let my clarify."

The man cleared his throat loudly.

"Two weeks ago, we all felt the earth shake beneath our feet as the devil came crawling into this world. This is the time that would have been known as the end of time, but with our lords gracious pity, he has shown us the demons that inhabit the bodies of our friends. He has allowed us to see them in their true selves."

"Beasts!"

"Animals!"

"Monsters!"

"These creatures may act, talk, and seem like they're still the people you know, the people you trusted, and the people you loved. But no more. The demon has penetrated them so, that the demon themselves begin to act as if they are that person, damning that persons soul to hell."

"But only for the time being. As long as these creatures are dealt with in the fashion set by our lord, the souls of those sent to hell will arise from the abyss, arise from the eternal brinks of hell to reign supreme with God in his perfect heaven."

Ryoga had to admit, this guy was an excellent speaker. While himself only dumbstruck at the utter bullshitery of the whole deal, the people in the audience were eating cardboard from his palm and thinking it was cake.

"And how do you ask we deal with them? Simple. By banishing the soul to the bowls of Hades forever we will allow the souls of the fallen to enter heaven and rise into his mighty presence!"

"But… I sense some of you do not truly believe me. I sense you hesitate, thinking 'is this man a lunatic?' Nay, I am no lunatic. I have undeniable proof that I have received this word from on high!"

"For I… am an angel."

And then the party got really freaky

Finished

13:39 pm

Tuesday, June 07, 2005

Heh heh…

I might have just pissed off a few readers, although it isn't that bad. But that's cool. It's fun to provoke people.

And then they send hateful mail.

And then if it gets hateful enough, I can sue them.

And get money.

Only one laugh for you.

Only one.

Bwah!