Kima landed and quickly examined the situation. She knew from first sight something was wrong. Linn's bleeding body just proved her right. "What happened?" Next to her Krain and Silgad landed with some other Phoenix warriors. The captain quickly organized his troops and assigned sentries for the entire valley.

Ranma nodded to the winged people in greeting and answered his wife's question. "An Amazon hunting party found us and Linn fought their leader. She was protecting them from me." He wasn't boasting neither was he speaking in a threatening manner.

Ranma Saotome had become a warrior, but that didn't mean he enjoyed killing. In fact killing was the last resort. But when the lives of others depended on his actions, and the offenders had the intention to kill or be killed, the choice was clear. Linn's actions, even if she would probably die because of them, had saved the hunters' lives.

Kima understood the situation and turned to Linn. *She's in bad shape. I hope she makes it.* Without hesitation she turned to Silgad. "Take her with you and go ahead. Take two others and make sure Samando takes care of her."

Silgad saluted and turned to follow his orders. In the blink of an eye he was already flying away with two of the other soldiers, Linn's bleeding form held tightly in his arms.

Krain saw this and turned to Ranma. "It's good to have you back, Saotome."

Said man only smirked.

Kima spoke to the former Amazons and calmed them down enough so they would let themselves be carried away. She even assured them more by threatening her soldiers to a painfully slow death if they dropped their cargo. The vehemence in her voice convinced everyone of her seriousness.

They were in the air in a matter of minutes. Krain took the lead while Kima, with Ranma on her back, covered the rear. The fact that they were flying relatively fast made the couple's conversation private due to the air taking away the sounds.

"Did you see her?" Ranma asked, his tone of voice was hopeful.

"I... I couldn't. Not without you there, love. If I did I don't think I could part from her again, not even to come here for you."

The man understood perfectly. "I know."

They flew in silence for a moment, each eager to see their little Karmine and at the same time wanting for it all to end.

Kima hesitated a little with something, but decided to be her the one that told Ranma this. "Ranma?"

"Hai?"

"There's some bad news." She gulped and continued, knowing she had Ranma's full attention. "Genma told me Master Hapossai arrived to the mountain only a few days after we left. I don't know the details but... he died in the battle."

Ranma's features darkened at that. "Master Happosai is dead?"

"There's more." Kima said, feeling her husband's suffering. Even if Hapossai was a thorn on his side most of the time, the Grandmaster of the Anything Goes was still one of the constants in the first place he could call home. *He needs to know.* She justified herself with that thought, but it didn't make this any easier. "Genma didn't come out of that fight unscathed."

His father must have spoken to Kima. That meant Genma was probably able to walk around and didn't have any life-threatening injuries. Of course, that didn't reassure him. If Kima thought it was important to warn him beforehand it meant the matter was serious. "What happened to Oyaji?"

"He lost his right arm." Kima felt her ribs nearly crack at the pressure as Ranma tightened his hold on her. It didn't last long, but either way she had to take several deep breaths after he controlled himself.

"Someone is gonna die."

---------------------------------

Some time later they finally reached their destination. Ranma let himself drop even before Kima was anywhere close to the ground because he saw Genma. The martial artist was waiting patiently for them to arrive on one of the terraces of the Musk Citadel.

Ranma didn't care about the place they were in, neither what it implied. His eyes instantly rested on Genma's right arm, or lack of it. The right sleeve of his blood smeared gi hung uselessly, nothing filling it all the way up to the shoulder.

Other than that, Genma stood as the master martial artist he was. Or at least the master martial artist he became when in need. His posture spoke highly of the bold man's skill, Ranma could notice some signs of Genma's training to overcome his loss.

All of those observations were made while he fell. As soon as he landed, not making a sound, Genma nodded to him in approval. "I see you got stronger."

Ranma smirked confidently, though his eyes were still sad for his father. The only reason why he didn't say anything about it was because he knew Genma would hate it if his son pitied him. "What happened, Oyaji? Why are you staying with the Musk?" He asked as he looked around. He could see both Phoenix and Musk people keeping guard, they seemed weary as the Sun continued advancing towards the horizon.

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

Genma swore as he saw Happosai's corpse hit the floor next to him. The expression on the being that claimed to be Cologne, which had just used some sort of item to disrupt the old master's chi and therefore killing him, left him with no doubts as to the fate of the children behind him.

He knew he could take any of the blue-skinned creatures attacking them one-on-one. With his wife by his side they could probably take out several, but with Cologne also fighting their chances of survival had just dropped to nothing.

He knew Nodoka was ready to fight to the end, using every single technique she knew to protect the Phoenix children and, most importantly, little Karmine. Pa Fum, who stared in fear at the monsters that had managed to reach the room, currently held Ranmas child.

Genma knew something had to be done or they would all die here. The monsters had them cornered and Cologne was smiling evilly, her eyes resting on Karmine as they shined with malice.

The sounds of fighting were heard all over, yet no help would come as the other Phoenix were too busy trying to survive the assault. There were no exits as the monsters swarmed the room but remained back due to Cologne not attacking.

It was a moment of clarity for Genma, one of the few in his life. His eyes hardened as he glared at the woman that had just dishonorably murdered Happosai. The fight had been even, the old master might even have been able to defeat the matriarch, until Cologne resorted to the little wand in her hand. Even if Genma feared the sadistic bastard Happosai was still his master, a man he respected for passing on his Art. The master of the Saotome branch of the Anything Goes came up with a plan so harebrained even Ranma would stand up and applaud.

He cocked his right arm back and prepared to attack the Amazon group with a technique he never even dreamed of attempting before, knowing the consequences to the user could be lethal. He didn't care anymore.

Cologne smirked, even if her grotesque features hardly revealed the expression as such. "Die."

Genma opened his hand and let loose with his attack, directing it towards the little wand in Cologne's hand. His vision blurred as pain exploded from his arm and he screamed in anguish, all his strength lost.

Cologne barely managed to get out of the way of the attack, though the wand wasn't so lucky as it was completely destroyed. She couldn't believe Genma Saotome, the coward panda, could create something this powerful. She watched in open-mouthed shock as the vacuum blade created by him cut through every single one of her companions and reached the wall. The cut had an unexpected effect, though.

As the vacuum came upon contact with the monsters' bodies it passed through them and created a suction that made their mass enter the small space where the blade cut. Almost instantly half their bodies were in that space, only to blow up as the suction was over. Blood sprayed everywhere as the monsters couldn't even scream before ceasing to exist.

The wall behind them exploded outwards and into the evening sky, nothing more than a fine dust.

The result of the attack had been the death of all her companions in the room, the destruction of the wall, and the arm of one Genma Saotome. As soon as the vacuum blade was launched his limb suffered more or less the same fate as the monsters, leaving the man kneeling and unresponsive to anything but the pain.

Cologne smiled. She was still in a winning situation.

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

Genma didn't answer his son's question. He just told him to go see his daughter before worrying about anything else. "I'll take care of the girls from here. You just go meet your daughter." And with that Genma motioned for the Phoenix guards to follow him with the women and children.

Ranma remained standing there until Kima placed a hand on his shoulder. "Ranma?"

Ranma blinked and sighed. He smiled softly and placed a hand over his wife's. "I'm fine. Let's go." Even if he had been here only a couple of times, the Musk Citadel was as known to him as any other place he'd ever been to. If it helped in a fight he had an incredible memory. He only asked directions from one of the Musk guards and started walking down a hall.

They turned a corner to bump into Mousse, who was waiting with a calm expression on his face. "Welcome back." He said.

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

"We can't hold them off! There's too many of them!" One of the soldiers yelled in despair. And it was true. Some of the Musk warriors were already breaking through the defensive lines and entering the home of the Phoenix, taking the battle to enclosed halls more suited for the invaders' fighting prowess.

Mousse snarled as he used his twin swords to dismember another enemy. Two more took his place. He was about to retort to the Phoenix soldier but saw his head fall off his shoulders from a clean cut.

Eyes burning in fury, even if he didn't use them to fight at all, the former Amazon male dropped several small spheres to the ground before summoning back his swords and defending against another wave of steel seeking his skin. Black smoke came out of the spheres, obscuring the vision of everybody within a ten feet radius. Mousse didn't need his eyes.

The smoke dissipated to reveal nothing but corpses, the master of Hidden Weapons already engaged in combat somewhere else.

Most of the fighters couldn't do melee fighting very well because of a very simple reason, even if they did have the skill to pull it off their field of vision was limited. Mousse didn't have that limitation and demonstrated it by striking down enemies all around him with frightening ease.

Long before the screams of pain and fear started he knew something was definitely wrong. The air started feeling heavy and the chi around him darkened so much even the beginners in chi manipulation could tell.

"I don't like this." He muttered as he started moving back into Phoenix Mountain as he fought. He didn't know if he could face whatever was getting closer, but his chances were better if he could find Taro and Genma to fight alongside him.

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

Kima smiled at the master of Hidden Weapons. "It's good to be back. How've you been, Mousse?"

The former Amazon shrugged as they all made their way down the hall. "We're currently allies with the Musk. Besides that never been better." He smirked as one of the Musk guards glared at him. Even though he no longer considered himself an Amazon it was difficult to see the people who killed his friends as allies.

Ranma nodded. "Things must have been bad for Saffron to resort to this."

"You have no idea, Fem-boy."

Without even turning around Ranma lashed out with a kick behind him. He was rewarded with the sound of air forcibly leaving someone's lungs and the consequent coughing. "Hey Taro!" He greeted as he turned around to see a bent over Taro fighting to regain his breath.

Kima smiled when Taro looked up and glared at her husband. Those two were the best of friends, though their friendship would kill a normal person.

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

He growled as another of the monsters managed to hit him. Every single attack those things landed was sure to either brake a bone or render a muscle useless. *They're too strong.* He thought as he returned the attack with one of his own. He didn't have time to smirk as the monster exploded because another one attacked from the side.

Taro was confident he could take them out one-on-one. One against many wasn't good odds at all.

He was taken out of his thoughts by the sound of steel penetrating flesh and a pained scream. He didn't have to turn around to know who just arrived. "Duck-boy! It sure took you a long time to get here." He said in annoyance. In truth he was relieved. Mousse covering his back was a reassurance he needed.

The master of Hidden Weapons replied as he was forced back by the strength behind one of the creature's blows. "The Saffron and Herb are fighting alongside each other trying to get everyone into the halls. I came to give you the news." He finished just as he made one of the monsters one head shorter.

Taro recognized the disgust in Mousse's voice, but let it be. "Let's get back, then. I don't want to be caught in here when they do whatever they've got planned." Taro grunted as another blow got through his defenses and he coughed blood. *I miss my cursed form.*

Mousse jumped up and lashed out with hundreds of chains somehow leaving his sleeves at the same time. The chains didn't do much damage, but they managed to entangle the monsters and give them a chance to retreat. Neither of them was in any condition to continue fighting.

Each monster seemed to have the skill of a high-level martial artist while it had all the characteristics of demons. That was a combination neither really enjoyed fighting against.

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

Once Taro recovered his breath they made resumed walking. It was unnerving to see four people walk down a hall and yet hear no sound because of it. Not even the sound of their breathing could be detected.

As they walked Mousse and Taro studied the newly arrived couple. Ranma and Kima seemed, physically, the same as when they left, yet at the same time there were differences too obvious not to notice. For starters the auras on Ranma and Kima were almost impossible to be felt. Considering that when they left they weren't at all successful in hiding their raging powerful auras that said a lot.

The group came across several Phoenix soldiers whom greeted Ranma and Kima with big smiles on their faces and their moods obviously got better knowing the couple was back. The few Musk who knew what Ranma looked like were equally glad to have him within their numbers in these times of need.

"Didn't Lord Saffron order for us to go to him once we arrived?" Kima suddenly asked, thinking it unusual not to receive such an order.

Taro snorted. "The big softy ordered no one to bother you till you had spent some time with your daughter. When you feel like it you should go see him."

"You'll understand if you ever have a baby, monster. Though I feel sorry for that kid already, having you as a parent and all..." Ranma trailed off as he saw his friend give him another glare. Kima's husband was intentionally riling Taro up, looking forward to their next sparring session.

"We're here." Mousse announced as they reached a closed door. "Nodoka-san and Pa Fum are inside." He then walked off to another room. "I'll see you guys later today. All the attacks always take place at night."

Taro nodded. "I'm getting back at you, Fem-boy." Taro growled good-naturedly before leaving as well.

Ranma turned to his wife. "Ready?"

"I've been looking forward to this since we left." With that she opened the door and they entered the room. Ranma was almost tackled to the floor by his mother who, upon sight of him, threw dignity to the wind and gave him a big motherly hug. Ranma returned it with a smile and they silently remained like that for a few minutes.

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

"GENMA!" Nodoka screamed at seeing her husband fall to his knees. The sight of his arm exploding just before he cried out in pain would follow her to her nightmares for years.

She had been charged with taking care of the children for the night instead of participating in the front lines. She was glad of it, since she was forced to repeatedly fight in order to keep the group of children safe. Some of them, the older ones, even had to help in order to keep the little ones safe. Nodoka could see it in their faces that Ranma was right, they weren't ready for real combat. Even if they were more than skilled enough to fight, they didn't have the heart to take a life even in self-defense.

With great effort she managed to take the children to a secure room, finding both Pa Fum and Genma in the way. They had to fight some groups of Musk warriors but between the three of them they were quickly dealt with.

Then it happened.

The sight of the first monster horrified them. Seeing more swarming the room with the children chilled their blood. And suddenly the tallest one spoke in a voice they all recognized. Pa Fum was too shocked by the revelation to move. It was Cologne's voice. "So that's Ranma's child." She pointed at the baby currently in one of the eldest children's arms.

They were lucky Happosai arrived in time to interfere and take Cologne's attention. Nodoka had been very angry with Happosai from the moment he arrived at Phoenix Mountain because of his tastes. He was too manly. But all that anger was washed away as she saw him fight Cologne. His skill in a fight easily outweighed the annoyance of having him around.

For a moment it seemed as if they would manage to fight off the invaders. Then all that could go wrong did. Happosai was dead, and Genma was no longer able to fight, even if he did give them a break with his attack.

Nodoka went over all the fact in her mind. She knew she was the only fighter in the group, Pa Fum was still in shock. They only had one opponent left, but that opponent was more than enough to finish things. Nodoka knew she could fight the monster to a standstill, but if another of those entered the room they were as good as dead.

She took a deep breath and tightened her hold on her katana. *I hope this works.* "Children!" She called as she lowered her stance. In an instant she was already on Cologne, hoping to strike her down with her attack. "KUZU RYU ZEN!"

Cologne's eyes bulged out at the attack coming her way. When she was told of Nodoka's skill with the sword she dismissed it, not believing a Japanese woman could be considered a sword mistress. When she was on the receiving end of nine sword strikes at the same time she quickly changed her opinion. She knew the attack. *Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu.* She thought as blood exploded from her wounds.

Nodoka continued running past Cologne and jumped through the hole on the wall and into the night sky. She turned just in time to see the children follow her, two of them carrying Genma and another one taking Pa Fum with her. She could also see Cologne turn to look directly at her and snarl.

As she felt hands take hold of her she had to admit she was wrong. Maybe she had the skill to fight against Cologne, but the Amazon Matriarch's newly obtained physical attributes would make a huge difference she wouldn't be able to overcome. Cologne was too strong for her.

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

Kima smiled at the mother-son reunion and turned to see Pa Fum walk over to her, a little bundle on her arms. Kima felt herself reach forward and take a hold of the most precious thing in the whole world.

Tears of joy left her eyes as she held Karmine close, relishing in the feel of her baby in her arms.

Hours later they were all sitting around a small table. Karmine was still in Kima's arms, with Ranma playfully poking her on the nose and the child giggling at the game.

Nodoka and Pa Fum explained everything about the events that led to the evacuation of the Mountain and their alliance with the Musk. Right now they were fighting off daily attacks from those Amazons turned monsters. It seemed like they could only transform during the night and they resumed their human form once slain.

The problem was each monster could fight like ten Musk or six Phoenix. They had all the skill from the Amazon warrior plus incredible enhancements to strength and toughness. They could all fire enormous chi blasts as well.

Every night only two or three attacked and they were slowly but surely defeating them. One night one of the elders came along. She took down more than thirty of the defenders before being stopped by Nodoka.

"And that's our situation." Nodoka said. "If things continue as they are we won't be able to hold them off for more than two weeks."

Ranma sobered at that and sat straight. He looked at his giggling daughter and his resolve was strengthened. "We can't have that."

Kima nodded, knowing what her husband meant. "We need to fight back."

Pa Fum shook her head. "We don't have the numbers to attack the Amazons, much less to confront them in open field."

Kima smiled. "That's why Ranma and I are destroying the Amazon village."

Ranma nodded. "This isn't natural and I'm sure, from what Linn told us, that whatever is powering the Amazons up is in their village."

"Son, I'm sure you're strong. I've seen you fight enough times to know for certain. But you don't know what those things are capable of. I attacked Cologne with my second most powerful technique and all she did was receive it and snarl."

"We don't have a choice, Nodoka." Kima said. "By now Cologne must know we're back. She won't hold back knowing we're all here."

Nodoka had to admit Kima was right on that. "Let's at least plan this carefully. I'm sure that if we all raid the Amazon village we'll be able to achieve what you speak of."

Ranma and Kima exchanged a glance at that. Then turned back to Nodoka. "We'll speak to Saffron today about it." Kima finally relented.

Ranma stood up and cracked his knuckles. "Either way, the Amazons die tomorrow." His tone of voice was colder than Nodoka could ever remember coming from her son.

END PART 15

Author's notes: Yet another chapter out, even if a little late but finals are in the way.

Now we know what happened in Phoenix Mountain, and there were some serious consequences. Anyway, the final chapter of TWTR Arc 1 is next. The final battle is around the corner.

See you in PART 16!