Standard Disclaimer: All characters appearing in this 
fic are the property of their respective creators. 
Please don't sue me, I have no money.

                      Desert Moon
                A Ranma 1/2 Fanfiction
                 By Valandar the Red


                      Chapter Two
                   The Best Of Times

     "Class, I would like to introduce you to three 
special guests. To my left are Xian Pu, one of the Elders
of Jokusetsu Wu-Shu, and her husband, Mu-Tsu, the current
grandmaster of the Hidden Weapons style of Martial Arts.
On my right is Hibiki Ryouga, whose primary art is the
Hibiki school of Kyokushinkai, but, like myself, has
studied a variety of styles, including the male forms of
Jokusetsu Wu-Shu." Ranma was dressed in a traditional
white gi, belted in black. "They will be helping Akane,
Ukyou and me with some of the advanced students, as well 
as putting on a demonstration later on of some of the 
unique techniques of their various styles. Some of them 
are secret, though, so don't expect instruction. This will 
simply be to show what advanced practitioners of the 
martial arts can be capable of."
     Twenty seven students stood in the dojo, facing the
six masters. On Ranma's command, they dropped into a
deep horse stance, and began a series of reverse punches,
intended more as a warm-up than anything else. After a few
more exercises, the class divided up by approximate 
skill, and began practicing katas. The various masters
walked through the students, adjusting a bow stance here,
and a wrist extension there. Complements on form were
heard, but not in an extreme amount, while encouraging
words were distributed to the beginners. One by one, the
class completed their first kata, and walked to the back,
the better to see the demonstrations of the masters.
     Shampoo stepped before the class first. "Much of
what I know is not for those outside the tribe to see. 
But, Shampoo can demonstrate much." She reached down, and
pulled out her infamous bonbori. She went through a mixed
weapons kata, trading out her bonbori for open handed 
strikes and kicks in mid action, and ending with a burst
of speedy forward kicks alternating with fore and back 
smashes with her colorful maces. She froze on the last
motion, both bonbori outstretched, and barely a quarter of
an inch from either side of her motionless kicking foot.
She slowly lowered her arms and legs, and bowed to first
Ranma, then the Shinto shrine in the corner (though she 
wasn't Shinto, she still saluted any religious icon as a
matter of manners), then the students. The applause she
received was as much for how attractive she was, as for
the beauty of her form.
     Mousse stepped up next, and asked some students to
bring out some of the training dummies. They did so, and
fell back to their seats. He stood, motionless, before
the dummies, then unleashed three spiked chains from his
left sleeve at one dummy, and seven kogut spikes from his
right. The first splintered as he tore it apart on the
retraction of his chains, while the spikes formed the Big
Dipper on the second. Facing the third, he removed his
simple white outer robe, leaving him clad in only his
trousers, slippers, and glasses. Suddenly, he made a 
throwing motion...and a large porcelain sink erupted from
his hands, devastating the dummy. "Er, hehe, I have ab-
solutely no idea how that got in there." The grin on his
face belied the statement, however.
     "My turn, showoff," said Ryouga from the doorway. The
class gasped in amazement, as he was currently carrying a
five foot, nearly spherical boulder. It must have weighed
at least a ton and a half, yet it rested on his shoulder
like a small child. "Alright, people, I am about to show
you the one Jokusetsu Wu-Shu technique I have been allowed
to teach, by Khu-Lon, High Matriarch of the only tribe in
the world to practice that style. This is the Bakusai
Tenketsu Revised, the Directional Breaking Point!"
     "Directional Breaking Point?" Ranma asked Shampoo.
     "I don't know. Perhaps Pig-boy refined the 
Technique?"
     Placing the boulder in front of the spike-riddled
training dummy, he called out, "Bakusai Tenketsu!" He 
thrust his finger into the boulder, giving it a half-
twist the moment it made contact. The students, most of
whom expected it to split, or at least flake away, sat in
shock as the side of the boulder facing the dummy exploded
into razor sharp shards, which shredded the dummy. The
remaining shards flew into the dojo wall, but with not
enough force to make anything larger than finger-sized
holes. Not a single piece of the stone flew towards the
class, or back towards the Lost Man or his friends.
     "Way to go, Ryouga! That's sure a lot more useful
in a fight than spraying the shards everywhere!" Of 
course, Ranma did have to break everything down to his
most fundamental level - how well it works in a fight.
     "Well, what about you, fem-boy?" Ryouga's use of 
Taro's old insult had simply lost its sting after what 
happened to Taro, in addition to the fading of the curse. 
"Come up with any new techniques we might want to be aware 
of?"
     "Well, yeah, now that you mention it. I pretty much
had to develop this one, an' you'll see why." He walked 
over to the multiple holes in the wall, and removed the
stone. He reached over, and picked up a small sheet of 
plywood. Placing it up against the wall, he began to focus
and channel his chi. The wood actually began to glow, and
he slowly pushed it into the wall. Small sparks and 
popping noises cropped up where the wood overlapped, 
quickly resolving into a steady hiss. He stopped, and the
sparks and hissing quickly ceased. When he stood and 
stepped back, the holes were completely gone. "Saves on
nail prices," he grinned.
     The students sat there, either not believing what 
their eyes told them, or finally realizing what mastery of
the martial arts truly meant. Their primary sensei had just
violated the laws of physics in a rather blatant manner,
then joked about it. Ranma turned to the class, saying, "If
you will all follow us outside, I think Hibiki-sensei here 
will join me in a demonstration match. Remember, old
buddy, no chi attacks. Too many bystanders."
     Ryouga cracked his knuckles. "Always ready to help."
     Not knowing what to expect, the class stayed as close
to the wall of the dojo as they could, preferably behind one
of the other masters. The two rivals bowed to each other,
and waited for a heartbeat. On an unspoken signal, they
charged each other. Ryouga began with a tiger punch, one
fist coming from below the waist while the other came down
from the shoulder while bending at the waist. As he 
expected, Ranma wasn't there, but the move the Lost Man had
used set him up to deliver a powerful elbow to the rear,
where Ranma was already dropping for a sweep. Ryouga felt
the impact, but was in a loose stance, and let his back
leg simply kick out from the force of the sweep, balancing
on his forward leg. Spinning, he dropped his other elbow
towards his foe.
     Ranma rolled backwards from the crouch he tried the 
sweep in, hopping forwards the instant his feet hit the
ground. He knew that the other man was in perfect position
to deliver an uppercut, so he barely let his foot touch the
ground before hopping up again. Just as he expected, the
more powerful man straightened and punched upwards at the
same time. Ranma, who was already travelling upwards at the
time, simply grabbed his wrist, and completed his jump.
Ryouga's momentum was travelling upwards, so he simply added
to that.
     Ryouga flew about twelve feet, before landing upright.
"Now that that's out of the way, let's really get at it!"
The next half hour was a repeat of their earlier sparring
match. Moves and countermoves were exchanged, usually too
fast for the class to really follow. Even their friends
were amazed, they had not realized just how skilled the two
were.
     Finally, they broke apart. "Touch," stated Ryouga. "But
if this was a fight and not sparring, wouldn't have done
much."
     "Nah, just killed most full grown horses. Or maybe
rhinos. Anything but a widdle iddy-biddy pig." Ranma grinned
that maddening grin at him.
     The Lost Man began grinding his teeth, but didn't say
anything. A voice from the house caught their attention.
"So, pops, this is the guy you talk about all the time? Your
best rival ?"
     The speaker was about seventeen, and the sight of him
stunned the amazons and Ryouga, as well as Akari, who had
been watching the demonstration. The last time they had seen 
this young man was ten years ago, and he had grown
considerably. In fact, he was very nearly the spitting image 
of Ranma. "Uh, yeah. Ryouga, Akari, that's Kenchiro, my son. 
You two didn't get a chance to meet him last time."
     "Nice to meet you," said the boy, bowing slightly. The
Lost Man studied him, and noted that he had his father's
build, as well as the storm grey eyes, but had the slightly 
smaller nose of his mother. His hair was pulled back into
a ponytail, as opposed to his father's perennial pigtail,
and had the faint bluish highlights of his mother. He was 
wearing a gi, with a black belt, and the four stripes that
showed his rank.
     "Well, um, Kenchiro, how much has your father been 
teaching you?" Ryouga found himself flashing through the
memories they had talked about the night before. The mere
appearance of the boy was enough.
     "I'm his best student," he boasted, "just like Akemi
is Mom's best student. He's even taught me the Chestnut 
Fist. He won't teach me the Hiryuu Shoten Ha, though."
     "Hm. Chestnut Fist at seventeen. Just like his dad."
Ryouga was impressed. "Wanna spar?"

               ********************

     The surveillance of the area had begun. Four teams of
two had been airlifted into the area, one team for each
group of aborigines, and the fourth to watch the old guide
and his thirty-something daughter. They were to report in at
eight hour intervals, and failure to report would be taken
to mean the loss of the pair who failed to do so. They were
given the most advanced of surveillance equipment, and
enough supplies for four days. If nothing they saw directly
conflicted with the reports that Akahito had received, then
the full action would proceed as planned.
     The team assigned to watch the Jokusetsu noticed three
men leaving the village with wheelbarrows, and decided to
track them. Though they were over a half a mile away,
the powerful binoculars and directional microphone picked
up their actions and words as clearly as if they were in the
immediate area. The three were walking towards the team, so 
the team dug in, and made sure they were out of sight.
     "Hm, good thing we found that vein of ore here. Now we
don't have to go so far out of the village when Tieh-Mi 
wants some for her forge," said the first villager.
     "Miners?" muttered the first spy. "Then where are their 
tools?"
     "Probably at the mine, now hush!" said the second.
     The three miners approached one rocky hillside. There
was a crude cave there, not even twenty feet deep. From 
their angle, the two spies could easily see into the cave.
One of the villagers walked up to it, and poked the back
wall. To the shock of the spies, it exploded, sending razor
sharp fragments of stone flying out of the cave. The man
seemed unhurt by the barrage, and was soon helping his
companions sort out usable ore from ordinary stone.
     The spies had seen enough. They creeped to within a
few dozen meters from the men, then stood up, guns out.
"Alright, keep quiet, and keep still. You three are going
to come with us."
     With a glance at the other two, the villager who had
detonated the back wall of the cave just stood where he was.
The other two dropped, and began tossing sharp stones at the
spies. Ducking and dodging the stones, they didn't notice
the villager charging their position. Right before he had
reached their position, though, one of the men managed to
fire his pistol. The bullet seemed to only slow him down, 
and anger him. Within seconds, both spies were out of 
action.
     "We must tell the High Matriarch of this." 

               ********************

     Shin Kuei winced as the healer put a salve on his 
wound. "You are lucky, male. The bullet was one of the 
slower, heavier ones. It had a lot of impact, but nothing
more than you received in your breaking point training. If
the foreigner had been using a smaller, faster bullet, it
would have done far more than a wound to your skin."
     "Yes, Healer. If this humble one may ask, have my
companions been able to relay our tale to the Council,
yet?" Though at least ten years older than the healer, he
was extremely subservient to her, as befits a male of his
tribe.
     She glared at him. "No speaking until the bandage is 
on. And, yes, they did. The council meets now, and, in fact,
awaits you at the Hut of Equals. You are the highest ranking
of the males that were there, and your full story is 
demanded." She continued cleaning, then began to wrap silk
gauze over the wound. "There. Now, go to the Hut of Equals.
The High Matriarch awaits you, and it is not good to keep
her waiting."
     He bowed, and kept the bow as he left the room. Keeping
his head down, he walked to the center of the village, and
the largest hut. He stepped before the guard, and bowed to
her. "Miner Shen Kuei, to present testimony before the
Council."
     She nodded, and stepped aside. The room within was 
huge, and well lit. Eleven pillows were arranged in a semi-
circle, though only ten bore a seated elder. At the center
of the arc of elders was a small, wizened figure, with a
long mane of white hair. Beside her was a gnarled staff as
least twice as tall as she was. "Greetings, Shin Kuei. 
Please recount the incident to us, as you remember it."
     He told his story, beginning with Tieh-Mi's request
for ore, and ending with his return to the village. Khu Lon,
the High Matriarch, considered his story, then looked at
him. "These intruders... you are sure they are not of the
PRC army?"
     "No, honored Matriarch. They wore uniforms, but they
bore emblems this unworthy one did not recognize. Their
Chinese, however, was heavily accented with Japanese." He
tapped his forehead to the clean-swept floor. "This unworthy
one can draw the emblem, however."
     Khu Lon snapped her fingers, and a brush, ink, and 
paper were brought to the miner. Dipping the brush gently,
he drew the emblem. Placing the paper before him, he 
shuffled back three steps. Khu Lon stood, and slowly walked
forward to examine it. When she did, her face paled. "Quick,
find Ying Lu, we must get word to Elder Xian Pu in Japan.
This matter is of the greatest importance." Amazons gathered
before the Council rushed to comply with her demands.


Notes: The amazon names I chose were based more on actual
 Chinese names, rather than the typical pattern of basing
 the names on bathroom products, and actually have a meaning,
 or perhaps more than one meaning. Shen Kuei is intended to
 mean Mountain Tortoise, appropriate for a master of the
 Bakusai Tenketsu who is a subservient Amazon male, but it
 could also mean Highly Skilled Spirit...which might apply
 to him, as well. Tieh-Mi, the blacksmith we haven't seen
 yet, means Iron Honey, hinting at her personality. Finally,
 Ying Lu means Emerald Falcon, as she perceives it, but it
 could also mean Brave Deer, a hint on her personality. 
    No, I have no idea as of yet what the names of the
 various corporations involved are, as it really doesn't
 matter. The cabal, however, has a name that will be revealed
 later.