Ranma was practicing her exercises on the roof of the new home she built to house her considerable family and friends. She had not bothered to change back into her male form since taking a swim earlier that morning. Hot water was much harder to come by these days. Although most new houses had indoor plumbing, few had water heaters due to the distinct lack of supplies in Sunnydale. The only heat in the new house came from a series of heating vents she had included on the suggestion of a Sunnydale architect and a Japanese bath. The latter was much larger than the old house, designed to fit more people and even keep some privacy, but with it being larger, it also made it harder to heat. And so she was still female.
Her new house was perched on a cliff overlooking a river valley on one side and had a great view of the newly christened Lake Sunnydale. She knew it was only a matter of time before more buildings popped up between there and the roof, so she had designed the house to be tall enough for a good view from the fourth floor. Most other houses were only two stories tall, so this worked in his favor.
Sunnydale was as strange in its own way as Nerima had been. She was no stranger to demons, although the kind she was used to were much smaller in stature and more prone to possession than destruction. She thought of the places they left behind, thinking it would only be for a short time. The brochure had made Sunnydale sound like a tiny slice of paradise on the California coast. Akane and Kasumi had wanted to visit, so she arranged a boat through the Kunos (who were finally on medication and doing quite well) and took their family and friends (minus Ryoga, who had taken a left when he should have gone straight) on a cruise across the ocean, stopping at Hawaii and continuing on to Sunnydale (where Ryoga had somewhere managed to arrive first…by foot).
The children were on their first trip and had been so excited. For years they heard stories of China and floating islands and heroic battles. They fully expected their mothers to be kidnapped by pirates or princes or combinations of both. She knew a few were hoping their father would be kidnapped, but they never said it in her presence. Thankfully, the days of kidnapping had ended when the children were born.
"So this is where you've been all day," the redheaded woman turned to see her wife hopping up onto the roof. Akane smiled as she brushed her long hair out of her face. She had grown it out again after the first was born.
"I needed to think," Ranma said.
"About what your mother said?"
"Yeah."
"You can do it, I know you can," she said, sitting down beside her. She passed her husband a kettle of hot water and waited for Ranma to turn male again.
"I just don't know where to start looking for an apprentice like that," Ranma said.
"Well, you can't do it by sitting up here," she said with a smirk. He just nudged her with his elbow. "Hey!"
"How was work?" he asked, changing the subject.
"Good, it's not what I was used to," she said. "Five years as a novelist and a mother doesn't set me up well for construction. Night shift?"
"Yeah, I'm assigned to watch over two crews building houses for some other families," Ranma answered. "They need people who can translate and I happen to know Chinese and English so I'm working with the Taiwanese crews." Ranma had finally spent some time learning languages in the university where he got a degree in architecture. "It's not perfect, but I can understand most everything and translate it."
"Whatever happened to that PRC cargo ship? Last I heard, they had barricaded themselves in," Akane asked.
"I heard some soldiers broke it down," Ranma replied. "Apparently the sailors were getting sick from malnutrition. They were in the hospital, but it looks like things are better now. How's the rest of the family?"
"Well, your mother's teaching the children and our fathers are their usual selves," she answered.
"So they're getting drunk and playing games," Ranma said with a voice that clearly stated he was not amused. "Do you miss the old days?"
Akane looked at him like he was insane. The question was out of the blue, but he should have known the answer. "No, I don't miss the old days. I was so angry, you were so stupid and our friends weren't really our friends for the most part. Why?"
"Just thinking," he replied.
"How we stayed sane, I don't know," Akane said. "Battles almost ever part of the year, the kidnappings, the destruction: it was chaos, pure and simple. Everyone was jealous of everyone else. We bickered and fought over everything. It would have been nice to have a normal high school life. It would have been nice to be able to date like a normal person. My life was hell from the moment Kuno made that speech. Coming back after the university was so much easier. Well, the fact that we had money coming in was a big plus as well."
"So you've forgiven Nabiki for publishing your diary?" Ranma asked with a sly smirk.
"Forgiven? Sure, but never forgotten, even if it did become a best seller," Akane said, with just the slightest tinge of venom.
"At least she published it under your name," Ranma said. "You own the rights, you got the money, and it started your career."
"Was it ever translated?"
"Into English? I don't think so, you could ask your sister," he said.
"Maybe I should try it," she mused. "Any possibilities on the training front?"
"You still want me to train with you, don't you," he said with a wry smile. It was an old barb in their relationship.
"I may have learned to deal with my anger on some subjects, but being treated like a porcelain doll still irritates me," Akane said honestly. "You need to get your head out of your ass and realize there are plenty of women who can take it. I have started training with the kids. So have Ukyo and Shampoo. We're going to pass on everything we know and we expect you to do the same."
"I wonder if I know too much," Ranma mused. Akane rolled her eyes.
"Yeah, that makes perfect sense," she said with a sarcastic tone. "Ranma Saotome, the man who wanted to be the best thinks he went too far. Get over yourself."
"It was just a thought."
"We both know I'm better than you were after you first showed up," Akane said. "Living in a whirlpool of chaos made that a necessity. I dealt with my insecurity issues, now you need to deal with yours."
"I don't get it," Xander said. "Why'd we just leave him there?"
"It is rather unorthodox isn't it," Buffy said, stepping in beside him.
"Buff, I thought you were off looking for-oh, wait, how do I know if you're Good Buffy or Bad Buffy?"
"What are you talking about Xander? It's me, Buffy Summers, the girl you brought back to life?" She said a little confused. "You know, your girlfriend?"
"Whoa, my WHAT?" Xander skidded back about five steps as his survival instinct finally kicked in. "Evil Buffy, right," he muttered as he glanced around for an exit, but on the open street between the two campus buildings there was no where he could run to in time.
"Don't you remember?" she asked as she sauntered up to him in a way Xander a fantasized about a year ago. "That cold, rainy night, soaked to our bones. Running away from Spike and Drusilla, you gave me my birthday present?" The copy-Buffy grabbed Xander around the hips and turned him towards her. Xander leaned back, not sure what was going on. "Your grandmother's ring?" She wiggled her fingers to let the gem twinkle in the light. He could feel her breath on his skin, just millimeters from his lips. "But Xander, how'd you get so young? And when'd your eye grow back? And where's my sister?"
Xander stammered, not really knowing how to answer the questions. Instead he optioned to try and slip away, but Slayer Strength was a pretty good preventative towards that.
"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?" Both turned to see a fuming Ms. Chase stomping over to them with a look of fury few could manage.
"Oh, great, it's the half-demon cheerleader," Buffy's copy said, still holding Xander's body firmly against his own. "I don't know how she escaped. I was sure she was killed when I blew up the Mayor."
"Cordy! Great!" Xander said, having the opposite reaction to the Slayer. "Help me!"
"Help you with what? Help get your tongue unstuck from between her tonsils?"
"Cordelia, shut up, I was just about to make out with my boyfriend here, so please excuse us," the copy Buffy said.
"'Boyfriend'?" the angrily fired question was directed at Xander rather than the Buffy clone.
"I don't know what she's talking about! She's not Buffy!"
"What, like when Angel goes all vampy evil/killy? Am I supposed to believe she turns into a slut when she goes evil?" the brunette girl crossed her arms and stared angrily at them.
"On the fact that the lives of the next generation of Harrises is currently in super strong her hands I am not going to answer that," Xander said in a moment of brilliance.
"What the hell is this 'angel' people keep talking about? And why is the leader of the half-demon ditz brigade all pissy about us?" the blond Slayer from an alternate dimension asked.
"Angel? Vampire with a soul? Tall, dark, handsome and broody?" Cordy illustrated with various hand motions. She continued to glare with the fiery gaze of a thousand vengeful suns. "You two got groiny and he went all evil again? Ring any bells, Blondie? And I'm no demon, I'm one hundred percent human!"
"I don't know what you're talking about," the interdimensional Slayer protested. "I'd never become involved with some kind of monster like that. You're just sick and jealous of Xander and me."
"Ow! Slayer Strength!" Xander protested. He kept making faces to Cordy to get her to help, but she didn't seem to understand. Instead she threw up her hands and stomped off.
"Fine, do what you want!"
"Nononononono! Cordy, it's not what it looks like," he protested, trying to slip out of the grasp of copy-Buffy. She never used enough to actually bruise him, but there was no way he was slipping from her grasp.
"Finally we're alone," Buffy's doppelganger whispered into his ear. The tone spoke of things he had imagined, but had left in his past.
"No we're not! We're in the middle of the street!" Xander spun using a survival tactic that worked against vampires that wanted to drink his blood. It worked, but left him stumbling for purchase. Why did this always happen to him? The praying mantis woman was the first time, but this is just ridiculous. He started to run away, but Buffy's copy clearly, from the grin on her face, thought it was a game. She didn't even able to register surprise when Cordy hit her with a convertible, sending the Slayer flying.
"Get in," she commanded, throwing the passenger door open. The door wasn't even shut before the brunette floored the gas, running over the stunned lookalike. She didn't stop until they were away. "What the hell was that? And why was she calling me a half-demon. I'm no demon."
"Some kind of double," Xander explained, "We've all got 'em. I thought you were mad."
"All of us? You mean there's doubles of everyone in the city? And I am mad," Cordy replied.
"Well, I've got Super-Pacifist Xander, and Drizzt has Evil Drizzt, and Giles has Elf Giles, and Buffy has psycho-Buffy. And I thought you'd be more mad at me than you are," Xander continued.
"Then what's my double? And Willow's? And I am mad at you for that," the girl snapped back.
"I don't know if you have one; Willow's all veiny and can fly. And that was totally not my fault," Xander protested.
"I wonder what my copy's like. What do you mean hers can fly? Oh, yeah right, like you weren't getting all hot and bothered over a Buffy that wants you," Cordy snapped back.
"We don't even know if you have one! She can fly, that's what I mean. And what's that supposed to mean? I didn't want her, she was going to kill you!"
"I'd better have one! I'm one of the gang! And you know exactly what that means!"
"I guess you are part of the gang. And I don't know what you mean!" Xander glanced in the rear view and noticed an angry Buffy with tire marks running behind them and it looked like she was gaining on them. "Cordy, gas!"
Still glancing out the rearview, Xander heard Buffy's copy scream at him. "Xander! She's not human anymore! She's going to eat you once her visions are done!"
"After May, I'd better damn well be part of the gang," Cordy grumbled. "As if I don't know about your not-so-secret fantasies about Buffy, you only left a drool trail mile wide all sophmore year. And don't tell me what to do when I'm mad at you." Cordelia glared at her boyfriend who shrank back.
"Fantasies are done with now, and uh, Cordy, evil Slayer chasing us with a nasty looking knife that I didn't know she was carrying," Xander said as the Slayer continued to gain on them. Cordy glanced into the rear view and stepped on the gas again, and accelerated into the curve at speeds that threatened to roll the car. "It drives better if you keep all four wheels on the ground."
"Don't tell me how to drive!"
All the while, the real Buffy was trying to track Willow's counterpart. There was one big problem with this: Willow's double could fly, Buffy could only run. Even if Buffy had become faster than your average hart, she still had to dodge any number of physical objects. Houses were the biggest problem, but cars, people, fences and all other objects were almost as bad. The cars were just useless bits of metal that remained after the government had taken all the fuel simply sat in driveways and on streets. The few cars that were still allowed to drive around (including the vehicle Cordy and Xander appropriated) were used to move supplies and research quickly. Eventually City Hall planned to replace these with ponies, but had not gotten that far.
Willow was not even close to following either of them. The young witch stopped to pant when she noticed Cordy driving recklessly through the streets. She waved to the cheerleader and noticed Xander looking behind them. Cordy, noticing the redhead standing in the middle of the road, slammed on the breaks and stuck her head out the window. "Get in!"
Seeing Cordy's scared look as she glanced in the rearview, Willow jumped into the backseat of the convertible. The redhead glanced back to see Buffy's double charge around a corner a moment before Cordy slammed on the gas again. It was a bumpy ride.
"Wow, Cordy, you drive really well considering the first time I saw you drive," Willow said as they swerved out of the path of a thrown rock.
"Of course I do! I'm not friggen blind this time!"
Glancing in the rearview, the brunette noticed Buffy's evil clone almost on her tail. Slamming on the breaks, she skidded to a stop, letting the blonde girl crash into the trunk. Cordy wasted no time putting it to the hemlock and screeched away before the Slayer could get back up.
A couple of blocks away, the real Buffy heard the screeching tires and glanced to see Cordy driving recklessly around a corner. She was rather surprised to see the girl press the gas and not the break.
"Cordy! Stop! That's the real Buffy!" Willow screamed from the back seat. Cordelia glanced in the rearview, then glanced at the Buffy in front then glanced at the rear view again. The Real Buffy dodged out of the way, hiding behind a fence. The car carrying her friends flew by. Buffy swung her arm out at the last second and clothes lined her counterpart. The other Buffy rolled to her feet.
"Great, some demon wearing my face," said the Buffy with the tire tracks.
"I was about to say the same thing," was Buffy's terse reply. Both brought up their fists and circled each other.
Back in the Initiative Complex, Drizzt was trying to find his Evil Twin. He had to admit that he was just as skilled at hiding as Drizzt was at fighting. While all drow are trained from a young age to hide, a few are trained to the peak of that ability as scouts, or, as is more often the case, assassins.
Drizzt knew this is what his opponent had been trained in: stealth and magical prowess. But his voice, his movements: both were uncannily like his own. It was like looking into a mirror of what might have been if he had embraced his family legacy. It made him shiver with fear.
"It's strange being here," said his evil twin, his voice echoing so as to disguise his location. "So very different than home. So bright, more so than the last time I was on the surface."
"Are you just planning on making small talk?"
"No, just commenting. It's so bizarre," the evil Drizzt said.
"I've a question, why did you only knock out the guards when you could have killed them?"
"Killing normal humans is boring and easy. I like a challenge."
"Is that me?"
"Or the blonde, she looks like a real fighter."
"You can't handle her. Buffy would squash you like a bug."
"Funny you should say that," his counterpart said from in front of him. He peeked around a corner and saw the distinct shape of a dark elf in darkness, shinging brightly against the colder surroundings. It looked like the other elf was fiddling with a ring on his finger.
"A ring of invisibility is not going to help you hide from me," Drizzt called out.
"It's not a ring of invisibility," came the reply in his own voice. The effect was disturbing to say the least.
The exile from Menzoberranzan saw his counterpart shoot out his fist in a quick jab aimed at his head. Drizzt felt pain and then fell to the floor. He glanced over to see a chair floating in air, right where he head was a moment ago.
"It's a ring of Telekenisis," his counterpart continued, moments before Drizzt passed out. "I'll tell your friends you said hello."
A short while later, he awoke to find Riley Finn and his team standing over him. "Kid, you okay?"
"Ow! Yeah, he sucker punched me," Drizzt said as the humans helped him to his feet. "How long?"
"You've been out about twenty minutes since I woke up with an arrow in my shoulder," Forest said. "Kid, what was on that thing?"
"Drow sleeping poison," explained Drizzt. "It's a common tactic if you want to slow an enemy. It only wounds, so most will want to heal first. He must have been invisible when he shot you and when he hit me."
"So, why were the lights out?" Drizzt glanced around to see Agents arming up fully for an assault.
"Drow can see in the dark using heat," he continued. "I was hoping to use it to track him. I didn't know he was that good of a mage."
"We need to find him and the other doubles as well," Riley said. He tossed a jacket to Drizzt. "Suit up. You're coming with us. You know this guy better than any of us so we need you to get into his head and tell us where he's liable to screw up."
"He'll underestimate you after taking you all out so easily the first time," Drizzt answered. "You also don't trust that I'm really who I say I am, do you?"
"No. I don't," Riley admitted.
"You were just trying to cut off my cloths to check my leg wound, but I thought you were going to kill me," Drizzt said. "It was just before Buffy took out a stone giant with a cable."
"Yeah, he's who he says he is," Forest said.
"Of course I could have just over heard that and am using it against you now to make you trust me," Drizzt said, putting them on edge again.
"Why are you saying this? You had just earned our trust," Graham asked.
"First rule of understanding the Drow: trust is something only done by the dead," the Drow said simply.