Retribution for the Damned

by DigiSim

------------ Prologue ------------


Kasumi Tendo was pissed.

This fact in and of itself would more often than not seem to be an 
impossibility. Usually it is for the simple truth that Kasumi is the
sweetest and kindest person on the planet. That may be true in some
cases; however it didn't apply just now. She had been running for her
life for a while now. Kasumi was tired, she was edgy and she was 
running out of ammo.

Not a good combination.

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

Many years ago, when Kasumi still lived in Nerima, a terrible 
incident occurred. Usually it's the death of Kimiko Tendo that alters
the rest of the Tendo family. That event in her life had already
come and gone. By the time the eldest Tendo daughter was 12, Soun 
Tendo had made a big mistake. He followed the advice of his middle
child, a precocious young cutie named Nabiki who had a knack for 
numbers. The advice wasn't bad, said advice being to invest in a 
pharmaceutical company; it was the people who ran the company that
caused the trouble.

Kasumi's father, the head of the Tendo School of Anything Goes 
Martial Arts, was first and foremost, not all there. He had done many
disreputable things while training. Lying, cheating and stealing
had been done 'in the name of the Art.' His best skills were quietly
breaking into places he wasn't supposed to be, a talent he later 
passed on to his daughters but not on purpose. Somehow, the skill
shifted to them. Too bad for him that he was usually discovered,
most times while going through some woman's panty drawer.

During his training trip, Soun made the wrong people mad. His friend,
a stocky man by the name of Genma Saotome, and he had entered a town
with their 'Dread Master' and through brow beating, the shriveled
up little pervert threatened them into raiding some houses. Soun and
Genma however did not like the way the town 'felt.' The old pervert
just thought they were slacking off, but kept the idea to himself
that he felt they were right about the town. It was like an open sore
in the earth, one that never fully healed or perhaps was enforced
to fester and rot. There were creeping terrors in that vile little
village that haunted the three men's dreams and waking hours for 
years to come. Soun had snuck into one particular house and 
discovered a safe that was filled with information that would have
given a lesser man a heart attack on the spot. The horrid and graphic
details were scarred on his psyche for life but the effects weren't
revealed till the death of his wife years later whenever his emotions
ran rampant.

Without knowing it, he had painted a huge target on himself and his
family just by reading those documents. They all described secret
plots or medical descriptions of the abominations of nature that were
residing there and in other towns worldwide. He never made the 
connection to the secret organization and the pharmaceutical
company until it was too late. By then, the shock troops of the 
Umbrella Corporation razed the dojo to the ground and Soun, along
with Akane and Nabiki, was never heard from again.

It was Genma that had found Kasumi at the ruins of her home. He had
planned to take his son on a ten year training trip to get him away
from the softening influence of his mother. He tried to convince
her that it had to be done and had even written up a seppuku pledge
to prove it. She 'convinced' him [she beat the ever-loving snot out
of him] that he was mistaken. He quickly saw the wisdom of her logic,
in other words, he crumbled like a sandcastle in a tsunami. She did
let him go out with Ranma every other year but made him promise
to come back so he would be trained by her. Since this was a Nodoka
year, Genma didn't really have anything to do. He had to admit that
his wife's plan was sound though. He had never been more fit in his
life thanks to a diet she made him adhere to and had a full head of 
hair along with a newly grown beard and moustache. Someday they might
even decide to have more children so Ranma wouldn't grow up alone.

Genma was particularly bored that day so he had decided to go visit
his old training partner. He also had to tell Soun that the plan for
uniting the schools [Nodoka found out about the engagement and beat
him worse than when he showed her the seppuku pledge] needed to be 
changed. When he got to the dojo, the unnatural quiet of the 
neighborhood put him on edge. As he walked through the gate, the 
sight of smoldering rubble took him by surprise. Kneeling where the
step to the front door would have been was a young girl with her back
to him. She had a canvas sack dropped unceremoniously next to her and
was obviously crying. He could see there was an unbroken bottle of 
soy sauce tipped over on its side and resting against her ankle but
that was the farthest thing from her mind at the moment. She had been
shopping for groceries and had come home to discover her family and
home gone. Without prompting, he knelt down next to her and gathered
her in his arms. She almost ran off screaming until she saw it was 
her Uncle Genma, though he was a little hairier than she remembered,
and she started sobbing into his chest.

Genma took Kasumi back to his home, carrying her for most of the way
because she cried herself to sleep. He had his suspicions on what had
happened being connected to that dead town. The only reason he or his
family weren't targeted was due to the fact that Soun was the one 
caught on a security camera going through the safe. Nodoka of course
needed no convincing to let Kasumi stay with them, especially
after what Genma told her about what had happened at what once was 
the Tendo home. As time went on, Kasumi adjusted to life with the 
Saotomes. She even got training from the both of them, just like 
Ranma. Whenever it was a Genma year, both she and Ranma would head
out and train. During one such trip, the both of them met up with one
Ukyo Kuonji, Okonomiyaki Martial Artist in training. She and her 
father had set up shop near the American Army base in Nagasaki
and were doing quite well for themselves.

It took Ranma a while to realize that this girl Ukyo was his 
childhood friend Ucchan. Back when they first met, he had thought
she was a he. They had almost become engaged back then but Genma 
didn't go along with it. He had to wonder what type of man would sell
his daughter's future for just a simple yatai. Though nothing came
of Kuonji-sans attempt, a friendship was started that would last a 
lifetime. The three wanderers were grateful to see the Kuonjis for 
the simple reason being, they were starving. Because of their 
connections with the base personnel, Kuonji-san and his daughter
were able to get the trio access so they could train. Besides hand
to hand combat, they also gained weapons training. Ranma and Kasumi
were both quite skilled with the Glock 9mm as well as rifle style
weapons, such as the AK-47. Of course, they needed practice to hit 
the targets right, but they were both quick studies. Even Genma took
to the training, proving himself to be adept as well.

While at the base, Genma met a man named Trent. He was a mysterious
sort, but Genma felt he could trust him. When he wasn't training
with Kasumi, Ranma or both of them, he spent what time he could with
Trent. It was like Soun had come back in a way, in the form of this
strange man.

One night, while Genma and Trent were at the Officer's Club swapping
stories, Ranma and Kasumi were in their on base home swapping spit.
The two had grown close over the three years that Kasumi had spent
with the Saotomes. The fact that Kasumi was fifteen and Ranma twelve
didn't really bother them in the least. Hormones will be hormones.
Kasumi and Ranma had been each other's First Kiss back when Ranma
turned ten. Over time, they experimented with each other but never
got farther than topless groping or fondling each others privates
with their pants and underwear down around their knees. There was one
night that Kasumi was filled with a surge of boldness and suckled
Ranma's manhood till he ejaculated in her mouth. The reason they 
never removed their pants and underwear completely was in case they
would get caught. It made oral sex a little difficult but fun 
nonetheless. It was a needless precaution however since they never
did get caught. That night, with Genma and Trent gone, Kasumi and 
Ranma gave up their virginity to each other totally and willingly.

The two lay nude on the couch in each other's arms, kissing with 
passion, as if each kiss would be their last. Ranma's prick was 
aching and stiff, the constant rubbing against Kasumi's hot and 
shaved bare mound nearly drove him over the edge as their movement
grew more heated. Soon, Kasumi spread her legs under him and guided
him to her soaking entrance. Their gasp of pleasure as the head of 
Ranma's young cock slid between Kasumi's labia was like a rifle shot
in the otherwise quiet house. The only things of Ranmas that had 
entered her down there before were usually his questing fingers
or his hungry tongue. As he slid in deeper, he encountered a barrier.
He knew it was her hymen thanks to his mother teaching him the things
his father would not. Gazing into Kasumi's eyes, he silently asked
her if she was ready for him. With a little fear in her own, she 
answered back that she was.

With a quick thrust, he broke through all the way till their pubic
areas were mashed together. If their earlier gasp was like a rifle
shot, Kasumis cry of pain was like a hand grenade going off. After
some reassuring kisses from both parties, the two got into an easy
sliding rhythm that brought them both over the edge quickly. As 
Ranmas semen splattered against Kasumis vaginal walls, it triggered
an explosive orgasm deep in her soul. While her orgasm continued,
the walls of her vagina massaged and milked Ranmas shaft which 
triggered an explosion of soul light that nearly made him faint.
After resting for a few minutes, the young lovers resumed their 
activities. Half an hour later, Ranma had his second orgasm of the 
night and Kasumi had her ninth. When they finished resting a while
more, the two got off the couch and shared a shower that turned into
Ranma's third and fourth as well as Kasumi's fourteenth soul light
explosion that night.

When Genma and Trent returned later that night, they never suspected
what had happened. Unfortunately, the couch would never be the same
again.

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

Shaking off the memories for the moment, Kasumi spotted a door up 
ahead. "Thank God," she muttered as she ran towards it. Once on the
other side, she slammed it closed and locked it. Hearing her pursuers
banging ineffectually against it on the other side gave her a sense
of relief. Pretty soon, she heard them shuffle off and she let out a 
sigh. Grateful that the door was made of solid steel, she turned
around to check out where she was. It was a warehouse of some sort.
Down a very short flight of metal steps was an eighteen wheeler's
cargo hauler. Off to her direct left was a cement walkway that ended
in another flight of stairs, these went up however. There was also
what appeared to be a sort of office up there. As she took one step
forward to check out the trailer, she heard a scream of fright.

"D-don't come any closer! I'm warning you!"

Kasumi was surprised to see a man brandishing an iron bar at her. 
"Relax sir, I'm a human." The man sagged visibly and nearly dropped
the bar. "Oh thank God. I thought you were one of them. What is going
on in this town?"

"That's a little complicated. By the way, I'm Kasumi. Kasumi Tendo.
Who are you?" Straightening up, the man replied, "I'm George. George
Romero. My family and I were driving through town when some maniac
jumped out in front of our car. I wasn't able to stop in time and I 
hit him. Cracked the damn windshield and everything. My wife would
have called for an ambulance but there were no payphones nearby and
our cell phones don't seem to work here. While we were arguing about
who we should try to call, the guy I hit attacked one of my kids.
They both got out of the car to see him and he grabbed Melissa by the
throat and he.Oh God!"

Kasumi watched as George bent over an open barrel and vomited.
She guessed that the guy he hit must have done something terrible
to his daughter to warrant this reaction, even if it is just from a 
memory. "George, are you alright?"

"Am I alright?!? What kind of stupid question is that? Of course
I'm not alright! I saw some freak EAT MY DAUGHTER'S FACE!!! He, he 
pulled her down to him and bit into her forehead and ri-ripped
her face off with his teeth! It happened so damn fast, we couldn't
do anything. When my wife and I finally unfroze, it was too late.
I beat that bastard with the tire iron I keep in the trunk but he 
just wouldn't stop moving. I had to cave in his skull for him to 
stop. Luckily, I kicked him off of Mel before I started. If I had 
been paying attention, Annie would have survived at least."

With a look of horror on her face, Kasumi asked him what had happened
to Annie. He told her that another sicko came out of nowhere and 
grabbed his other daughter. His wife was quick enough to wrest her 
away from the creep but grabbed her. He then bit her neck and chewed.
George was too late to save his wife Annie, but he and his other 
daughter Jennifer got away. He went on to tell her about how the two
of them tried to get out of town. The car was almost out of gas. It 
wouldn't make it out of town, let alone the next five blocks. As they
were walking away, a semi tanker drove by and sideswiped the car, 
turning it into a mangled wreck. George went on to tell Kasumi how he
and Jennifer got separated briefly and when he found her again, she
had become another victim. He wrapped up his story by telling her 
that he had found this warehouse and decided to hide in the trailer
till he felt like leaving.

"It's like everybody in town has gone insane. They're all cannibals
or something. What is going on? And why do they look like they're
rotting?" Kasumi told him of the T-Virus and how it turned people
into flesh-eating zombies. "Zombies? Do you really expect me to 
believe that? This isn't some horror movie, this is real life. Look,
if you're not going to help me then just leave me alone." George
then turned around and ran to the back of the trailer. He climbed
in and shut the doors behind himself, locking them from the inside.
Kasumi just sighed and headed back up the metal stairs. She would
check out the area a little later for any supplies that might be 
lying around. She then went to the office, hoping that she could get
a little rest and maybe find some ammo as well. For some reason,
ever since this whole mess started, handgun, shotgun and rifle ammo
was a little easier to come by sometimes. Even normal and strange
rounds for grenade launchers could be found. She didn't understand
it, but she wasn't complaining. As Kasumi sat in the office chair,
her mind wandered back to her past, and what lead her to where she 
currently was in her life.

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

"America? What do you mean we're moving to America?"

Nodoka Saotome, wife and mother of Genma and Ranma Saotome 
respectively, was confused. Her husband had just dropped a bombshell
on the family by casually mentioning a move to another country.
It was obvious by everybody's attitude around the dinner table that
this would be no ordinary meal. Kasumi had just blurted out the 
question that was on Nodoka's, and most likely Ranma's, mind. She 
turned her gaze to her husband, patiently awaiting his answer.

"As you know Kasumi, I've been in contact with Trent ever since our
trip to Nagasaki. He's the one that convinced me that a move would
be good. I'm thinking of your and Ranma's future. From what he tells
me, there are more opportunities in America when it comes to either
jobs or schooling. Here in Japan, going to college won't 
automatically guarantee you a good job. I've finally learned that the
sexist views of Japanese society are just plain wrong. After all the
years of training you and Ranma have gone through, do you want to 
just throw it all away by being stuck in some dead-end job as an 
O.L.?" Kasumi had to admit that he had a point. Nodoka and Ranma also
found they felt he was right. Ranma, however, was curious about 
something.

"Hey Pop, what about our training? I thought Kasumi and I had farther
to go. What about our trips?" Genma turned to his son and said, "I 
had been meaning to talk to the two of you about that actually.
I feel that you and Kasumi have progressed far beyond my expectations
and faster than I thought possible. I had decided that we would have
gone to China to continue training but the remarkable skill you two
have shown lately makes it unnecessary. When Trent called me a few 
weeks ago, he told me of a job in law enforcement in some place 
called Chicago. Since the gun laws are less strict in America,
I also figure that moving there will help the three of us keep up our
handgun skills. We can't go traipsing off to a military base every
time we want to fire off a few rounds you know."

When she heard about law enforcement, Kasumi's interest was piqued.
Maybe if she became a detective, she could find out what had happened
to her family all those years ago. Living in Nerima had become a bit
of a struggle lately. The few memories that she still had of her 
father and sisters, sometimes brought her to tears, especially
when she wandered and found herself at the sight of the dojo, now a 
housing development. What kind of name is Maison Ikkoku anyway?
The last Tendo wanted the chance for her heart to heal, and moving
away sounded like the best idea. Revenge, of course, would come 
later.

The move was uneventful and the Saotomes and Kasumi found Chicago
to be a refreshing change to the staid prefecture. Genma almost went
back to his old weight when he discovered deep dish pizza and 
restaurants like The Chicago Chop House. Luckily the diet his wife
had put him on years ago and his somewhat active lifestyle put his 
metabolism on par with his son's. Even Kasumi had been known to scarf
down hefty meals at her favorite Italian restaurant, Lido's. Of 
course, her natural grace and charm made it seem like she was eating
in a dignified manner, despite the size of the meals themselves.

Kasumi's and Ranma's relationship had progressed to the point where
they felt they no longer needed to 'sneak around' as it were. When
they revealed what they had been sharing all this time to Ranma's
parents, minus any graphic details, they were stunned that the two 
elder Saotomes already knew. Nodoka told them that she knew once they
returned from the Nagasaki trip. "A mother can always tell," she 
said. Genma found out later by accidentally walking in on them while
they were busy a couple of years later and just left quietly, so as 
not to disturb them. With Ranma being a somewhat genius, no one knew
that a life altering choice like moving to another country would 
reveal that, he was able to be in the same school as Kasumi. Thanks
to years of training, he looked somewhat older than his actual age,
that being three years Kasumi's junior. The both of them made quite
a stir in school. Everyone thought them to be the perfect couple
and it showed. However, once graduation rolled around, things didn't
stay that way. Ranma's wanderlust reared its ugly head and Kasumi
decided to join the police academy. Though they didn't part with 
harsh words but actually an intense night of passion, it was plain
to see that they were no longer an item.

Kasumi soon realized she had found her niche, one of many to be 
truthful. The skills she showed at the academy powered her through
the school and landed her a job right off the bat with the Chicago
P.D., something she was immensely proud of. If Ranma had still been
there, she would have shown him how happy she was, but thoughts
like that caused a small ache in her heart. A few months before they
moved away, the Saotomes, along with their new daughter Keiko, took
Kasumi out to celebrate. It helped ease the ache somewhat, but not 
much. After they moved away, Kasumi slowly rose to the rank of 
lieutenant. She was instrumental in the arrest and conviction
of many dangerous criminals during her early years on the force.
She soon gained the attention of the higher-ups and was offered
a plum assignment on an elite Special Forces team. Even though it 
would mean moving to a new town, she accepted the offer.

The day she met her new teammates was an interesting one to be sure.
She didn't expect to see a familiar face as she walked into the 
office.

"Uncle Genma? Is that you?"

Genma looked up from his desk and recognized who she was right away.
"Kasumi! How good to see you. Come here and give me a hug." The now
burly man with a slight graying in his beard and at the temples
stood and opened his arms which Kasumi filled right away. Slipping
into Japanese, Genma asked, "So how have you been Kasumi-chan?
No-chan and I haven't heard from you in a while and Keiko was 
wondering about her auntie. What's been going on?" Replying in kind
while finishing the hug and stepping back, Kasumi told Genma of what
had happened to her since her last letter to them and asked about
Ranma. He told her that they hadn't heard from him in a while and 
assumed that the two of them had gotten back together. Kasumi was a 
little saddened by this news but pushed it aside for the time being.
A clearing of a throat behind her caused them both to focus their
attention on the new arrival.

"So Genma, who's this? Are you seeing someone behind Nodoka's back?
I must admit, she's." "Don't finish that thought Brad or you'll be 
spitting teeth." The brown haired man's eyes widened slightly in 
shock at that statement. "This is my niece Kasumi. Kasumi, meet Brad
Vickers. He's one of the pilots for the team." Sticking out her hand,
Kasumi said, "Nice to meet you Brad. Thank you for the almost 
compliment." "Uh, no problem. Nice to meet you too. If you'll excuse
me, I'll be over by the communications console." After shaking her 
hand, he wandered off. Turning around again, Kasumi gave Genma an 
inquiring glance. Genma told her of Brad's somewhat rotten reputation
with women and of his nickname 'Chicken Heart.' He then explained
that Brad was somewhat of a coward, but the best helicopter pilot
and mechanic they had. Before they could continue their exchange,
a new voice interrupted them.

"Hey Genma, who's this? Don't tell me you have another daughter
that you didn't tell anyone about. Hi, I'm Chris Redfield. And you 
are?" On first glance, Kasumi wasn't impressed in the least. Chris
seemed to be an average looking man, slightly muscular and carried
himself like a boxer. Having known Ranma ruined all other men for her
because she knew they would never measure up to him. She figured
that Chris would be a good friend and someone she might be able to 
trust someday, so she thought she should make a good first 
impression. "I'm Kasumi Tendo. It's a pleasure to meet you. Genma
is actually my uncle, but not by blood or marriage. It's a Japanese
thing." With a slight look of confusion, Chris finished shaking
Kasumi's hand and welcomed her to the team. He then sat at his desk
to go over a case file there.

Before she could turn around again, a third person entered the room.
This man was by far the strangest she had ever seen. Dressed in what
seemed to be the standard uniform for the group, it was militarily
sharp. His blond hair was styled in a severe buzz cut which seemed
to defy gravity by sticking straight up. The fact that he was wearing
sunglasses indoors wasn't lost on Kasumi either. 'What type of fool
wears sunglasses indoors? He must be trying to compensate for a 
distinct lack of something if he thinks that makes him look cool.
Who's he trying to impress anyway?' Kasumi's internal dialogue
was interrupted when the man stepped up to her and Genma. Taking
the reigns of conversation, Genma made the introductions.
"Kasumi, meet Albert Wesker. He's the captain. Captain Wesker, meet
Kasumi Tendo, my niece."

"You're Captain Wesker? Then I guess I need to give you this." 
Reaching behind herself, Kasumi pulled out a manila envelope and 
handed it to the blond-haired man who had yet to say anything.
Opening the envelope, he then skimmed over the papers inside before
looking back to her. Opening his mouth, he spoke the words that would
forever seal her fate. "Well, it seems everything is in order. 
Welcome to the Special Tactics and Rescue Squad Alpha Team, also 
known as S.T.A.R.S. Alpha. I hope you'll enjoy living here in Raccoon
City."

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

Author's Notes:

I've finally finished this damn thing. And here it usually takes me 
less time to write a 'Scenes from Nerima' fic. Go figure. Of course,
I own none of the characters here, not even Trent. For those of you
that have read the novelizations of the games by S.D. Perry, you 
would know who he is. It's been a while since I've played the games
and read the books, so the time frames may seem skewed. That and I 
plan to wreak havoc on the Resident Evil world. [Insert evil 
boisterous laugh here] *ahem* My bad. Anywho, it might be a while
before my next chapter comes out, or at least the first one since
this is the prologue. Where I'll be steering this fic, only my muse
knows for sure and she ain't telling.

As always, reviews are appreciated. It's nice to be acknowledged.
Ranma won't be making an appearance for a while though so don't 
expect him to just show up right off the bat. This is my first 
attempt at a fusion fic of sorts. With Kasumi playing the role of 
Jill Valentine and Genma filling Barry Burton's shoes, it makes you
wonder who else from the Ranmaverse will be taking over somebody's
life. Just to make something perfectly clear, Kuno will not be Alfred
Ashford. That guy is loony enough. Shampoo will also not be Ada Wong.
I have someone else in mind for her. Of course, I'm not telling
who I mean. As always, remember my motto, "My fic, my rules." See you
in the funny papers. 
Retribution for the Damned

by DigiSim

------------ Chapter 1 ------------

Kasumi stood from the office chair and went over a mental checklist.
Getting out of town alive was a number one priority. If she was able
to save people and get them to safety, preferably out of town too,
so much the better. The martial artists code of protect those that
can't protect themselves wouldn't work if the person didn't want to 
cooperate. Case in point, George. He was just too stubborn and afraid
to leave. Though it went against both the code as well as the vow of
'Protect and Serve' she took when she first started on the path of 
law enforcement, there wasn't much she could do. She at least hoped
that someone else would be able to come by and convince him to leave.
She doubted it would actually happen, but she could always hope.

Thanks to her years of training with Genma and Ranma, she had 
discovered she was able to store extra items she wouldn't normally
be able to carry with her by accident. Apparently it was a family
trait but was teachable. She taught all three Saotomes and later 
Keiko how to use the invisible pocket. It didn't even seem to matter
how big or heavy something was, the space an object used was 
negligible and if she wanted, she could have stored Mount Rushmore
in the pocket with room to spare. The thing never seemed to get 
filled up but finding what she put in wasn't hard at all. The fact
that there were some strange objects already in there when she first
discovered the pocket kind of made her wonder. What would she do with
all those mallets anyway? It made carrying extra ammo and medical
supplies easier at least.

Pulling out her Beretta, Kasumi checked the clip and chambered
a round, then slipped it back in the space between her skirt and 
right hip. As she left the office and headed down the stairs, she 
wondered about where to head first. The Bar Jack seemed the closest
from where she was and it was a local hangout for what used to be 
both the S.T.A.R.S. teams. Ever since the time at the Spencer Estate,
what with all but Rebecca Chambers of the Beta team and Kasumi,
Genma and Chris of Alpha surviving, there weren't enough members
left. Brad had been in the chopper the whole time so he was still
around as well. When they tried to tell their story, the 
powers-that-be swept it under the rug, disbanded the Raccoon City 
branch of S.T.A.R.S. and made them pariahs. The fact that Chief Irons
was part of the corruption came as a shock to Kasumi. She should
have figured it out by all the expensive 'gifts' he always received.
At least the remaining members of the now defunct team still had the
Bar Jack to hang out and make plans in. She mainly wanted to head 
there because she knew the bartender kept a shotgun under the bar in
case some fool tried to rob the place. If her luck held, there would
also be shells waiting for her. She wasn't going to hold her breath
though.

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

Earlier, a lone figure on a motorcycle drove into town from the 
interstate and wondered what the hell was going on. Ever since her 
brother phoned her about what happened in some local mansion, she was
worried about him. Of course she believed him when he told her about
the zombies and the evil Umbrella Corporation. She never trusted
them at all. When her brother all but dropped off the face of the 
map, Claire Redfield headed to Raccoon City to find Chris. Sure it 
meant skipping out on classes at the college she was enrolled in, but
sacrifices had to be made. The fact that it was during a break was 
actually moot at the moment. Ever since Chris and Claire lost their
parents in a car crash years ago, Chris looked after his little 
sister like a guardian angel. Now it was Claire's turn to return
the favor. Maybe that explained the angel motif on some of their 
favorite clothes.

As she rode through the streets, Claire noticed a distinct lack of 
people. 'Where is everybody?' she wondered. Even though it was only
eight at night, there should have been at least a few people about.
Maybe she could find someone at a restaurant or something. Pulling
up at a diner, Claire stopped her bike and shut it off. She removed
her helmet and laid it on the seat she just vacated and looked 
around. While fiddling with her ponytail, she discovered that aside
from the lights in the diner, and a few street lamps, there was no 
sign of life anywhere. Feeling a little spooked, Claire entered
the eating establishment.

Upon entering, she saw all the seats and the space behind the counter
was empty. Holding back a sigh, Claire thought she heard some sort
of sound down by the end of the counter. "Hello? Is anyone here?"
No answer came back. Walking down to the end, Claire called out 
again. "Hello? Hello." Looking at the floor, she saw a bald man 
crouched over what looked like a body. Aside from the odd noise which
seemed to be coming from this spot, 'Is that chewing?' She would have
thought she walked in on somebody making out but the crouching
man then turned around and looked at her with the most horrible
blank eyes.

Letting out a gasp, Claire stepped back as the man stood up. When he
had looked at her, he hissed for some reason. She didn't want to find
out why. He seemed to be the cook, judging by his clothes. There was
a spread out area of blood on his shirt and apron, and more 
disturbing was the blood around his mouth. It looked like he had 
chewed off his own lips. There was a stale smell in the air that 
seemed to be coming from him. Claire could barely breathe with that
cloying odor now filling the diner. As she backed up, she pulled
out the Beretta her brother gave her as a birthday present years ago
and aimed it at the grotesque freak.

"Keep back, I'll shoot!" The former fry-cook didn't stop his advance
and Claire sent six slugs into his chest. He kept right on shuffling
after her. "What are you?" She didn't expect an answer and was glad
that she didn't get one. If it talked as dreadfully as it looked,
she didn't think she could handle that. Banging her back against
the door, she turned around ready to run to her bike and make good
her escape. The group of freaks moaning and pounding on the door and
windows had other ideas. Giving a small shriek of fright, she turned
around again looking for a way out.

Spotting a fire exit and judging that the bloody cook wasn't close
enough to grab her yet, she made a break for it. Running through
the door, the last thing she expected to see was the barrel of a gun
pointed right at her head.

"Don't shoot, I'm a human!" The man lowered his Glock and gave a 
small sigh. He seemed to be a cop and she was glad to see him. "Get
Down!" Shrieking again, Claire ducked as the man shot a hole in the
former cook's forehead, knocking him down to never get up again.
"Who are you?" This guy that just saved her seemed to be pretty 
skilled. "No time, we've got to get out of here! This way, hurry!"
Grabbing her hand, the two ran out of the alley in the opposite
direction of the growing crowd of creatures.

Spotting a patrol car, Claire and the officer got in. Turning the key
and gunning the engine, they sped off. Now able to relax, Claire
looked over the man driving their salvation. He looked to be a few 
years younger than Chris. He was wearing the SWAT version of a police
uniform, minus the helmet and the bulky gloves. His bulletproof
vest had 'R.P.D.' printed in big bold white letters on the front.
She wondered how long he had dealt with those creatures. Deciding
to break the silence, she asked him, "So who are you? You look like
a cop."

"I'm Leon Kennedy. I just transferred here to the Raccoon City Police
Department and haven't even made it to the station yet. I stopped
a few blocks from where I found you when I saw someone lying in the
middle of the street. I was surrounded quickly but got away then ran
into you. I wish I knew what is going on here. What about you? What's
your story?"

"My name's Claire. Claire Redfield. I'm looking for my brother."

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

"When I decided to come to this city, I should have had my head 
examined."

Heaving a sigh as she sat down on a park bench, a young woman was 
wishing she had a little more common sense than to come to Raccoon
City, especially considering what was going on at the moment. Taking
a look around, she didn't care that she was in a town populated
by the walking dead. With the life she had lead, she had seen worse.
Working as an operative for Umbrella seemed to be the reason for 
that. Her current assignment was to find a doctor named Burton or 
Berkin or whatever and get a sample of the G-Virus he created.
If required, she would have to kill anyone who got in her way, at her
own discretion of course. Being an assassin on the payroll of a major
conglomerate like Umbrella, a company that puts forth a family-
friendly face in it's advertising but had a much darker side that it
never wanted the public to see, did not instill confidence in a 
retirement plan. She knew one day she might lose her life doing her
job. Ada Wong, a woman not to be messed with, desired that her life
had taken a better turn.

Nowadays, Ada had no idea why she joined up with Umbrella in the 
first place. Ada Wong wasn't even her real name. Her real name had 
been lost to her years ago, along with most of her past. She just 
picked it out at random one time and it stuck. The old man, Trent,
thought it suited her. He was the only good thing in her life lately.
She didn't know if he worked for Umbrella or not, but she didn't
care. All she knew was that he had been a constant in her life for 
years, a father figure if you will, something she desperately
needed. When he took her under his wing, she was grateful. He was the
first truly friendly face she knew, barring whatever had been lost
to her thanks to her amnesia. The frequently smiling man seemed to 
have all the answers all the time but didn't always reveal them. He 
said that would be too easy. Even for her current mission, he had 
information he thought she would find useful but only imparted
it in dribs and drabs. The PDA he gave her with the maps stored on it
was helpful to be sure. The cryptic way he said that she 'might find
something you've been searching for' confused her. What could he have
meant by that?

Getting up, she pulled out the PDA and turned it on. She was looking
for an entrance to get to the hidden lab the doctor had. Scanning
through the info on the screen, she came upon what she needed. 
Turning the PDA off and putting it away, Ada turned to her left and
headed out of the park in the direction of the police station.
Now if only she didn't run across any overzealous zombies everything
would be golden. At least she didn't have to deal with that asshole
Wesker anymore. She was genuinely happy when she heard the news that
he had been skewered by a prototype version of the Tyrant. She 
wouldn't want to meet any updated versions though.

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

Kasumi had made it to the bar, avoiding a few flesh-eaters
along the way. She didn't really feel the need to waste ammunition
unless it was absolutely necessary. She was amazed that she met Brad
though. The last she had heard about old Chicken Heart Vickers was 
that he had hauled ass out of town weeks ago. Was it really only a 
couple of months since what happened at the estate? After she helped
Brad put down a zombie in the bar, he practically freaked out while
telling her about 'something' coming for him, for all S.T.A.R.S.
members. She couldn't get anything more out of him because he had run
off after spouting what she would have judged as nonsense, except
for the fact that Brad had looked like he would have dropped dead 
from fright any second. For some reason, Kasumi decided to rifle 
through the virus carrier's clothes in search of something useful.
The dead man had been somebody she sort of knew from the force. His
name had been Martin Grey. He and his wife had just had a baby three
months prior, a little girl named Emily. At least now the three of 
them were together again on the other side. The only thing she found
in Martin's uniform was an old lighter with some fuel still left in 
it. As she stood up, she slipped it into her invisible pocket and 
headed behind the bar to find the shotgun.

A thorough search turned up nothing but the weapon. There weren't
even any stray shells just lying around and the double-barrel
looked like it had seen better days. Thinking it could at least be 
useful for something, it also went into the pocket and Kasumi made
her way outside after Brad.

Except for some moaning off in the distance the street was deserted.
Not even a monstrosity could be seen at the moment. Taking a right,
Kasumi headed off to R.P.D. headquarters for a little ammo raid. She
knew the weapons closet in the S.T.A.R.S. office had to have 
something in it. The sound of a quick 'shuffle-click' behind her set
her danger sense off immediately. Spotting a fire escape nearby,
she jumped straight for it landing lightly at the top level. It was
a good thing that the Saotome school of Anything Goes specialized
in mid-air combat. Turning around, she searched the street below to 
find out what had made the sound but she had a sneaking suspicion
she already knew. She just hoped she was wrong.

She wasn't wrong. It was a Hunter. 'Damn it. Just what I didn't 
need.' The Hunters were one of the many Bio-Organic Weapons created
at one of the Umbrella labs somewhere in the United States then 
shipped to Raccoon for testing. She had met up with a few of them a 
couple months back and wished she hadn't. They were a genetic 
crossbreed of plant and reptile D.N.A. that was treated with the 
T-Virus. Their long arms had a hell of a reach with nasty claws at 
the end of their fingers. It was bad enough that they were as strong
as five mountain gorillas each and somewhat resembled them in build,
but the fact that they could leap great distances in such a short
amount of time made them even more dangerous. The stooped way they
walked made their hands drag on the ground and those hands had great
grip strength too. A Hunter's skull was shaped like a Cro-Magnon's
but with a thicker bone density and a ridge of small spikes where
the eyebrows should be. The needle-like teeth in their cruel mouths
and the howling shrieks they made could give anyone nightmares.
Putting one down was quite a task but not impossible. Dealing with
a whole group of the green meanies, well that's another story 
altogether.

As the Hunter turned a corner further down the street, Kasumi let out
the breath she didn't know she had been holding. It hadn't noticed
she was there and for that she was glad. The thing must have escaped
before the mansion and secret lab were destroyed in the explosion.
Leaping back down to street level, Kasumi started off towards H.Q.
again. As she rounded the corner the Hunter had went around earlier,
she saw a disgusting sight. About five zombies were feasting on one
of their own. Even though she was used to seeing things like this 
lately, she never could stomach it for long. It didn't seem like 
trying to sneak by was an option because a couple of them sensed
her and stood up. She put a bullet through the forehead of the first
to rise and the rest stood too. In a short amount of time, Kasumi
dealt with the threat and continued yet again for her destination
while sending up a small prayer for the souls of the poor 
unfortunates she had just shot. The day she could easily kill a 
zombie or any other being without a hint of remorse was a day she 
hoped would never come. Holding on to her humanity kept her sane.

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

'Now where am I?'

Ada had gotten lost a few blocks from the park. She knew that she 
wouldn't have been able to head straight for the police station
thanks to the many different roadblocks set up around town, but 
taking so many shortcuts got her turned around.

'Okay, I took a left at the sporting goods store and headed down that
back alley behind the coffee house. So where the hell is the police
station?'

Pulling out her PDA, Ada consulted the map and discovered she was 
nowhere near the station. She had ended up by the old City Hall. 
Stifling a curse and wanting to fling the piece of tech into the 
stratosphere, she regained her bearings, updated the map as best she
could and headed off in the right direction. Hopefully.

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

Claire was lost. She had to bail from the patrol car earlier when a 
semi tanker had slammed into it from behind after she and Leon had 
crashed into a street sign. Luckily the both of them survived but 
were now separated by a huge bonfire created by the crash. What was
worse was that after they went their separate ways, Claire found she
had troubles right away. There were some zombies nearby that didn't
mind one bit that they were walking torches at the moment. Since she
didn't have enough ammunition for her Beretta, she had run for it and
luckily found herself inside a gun shop. After the guy behind the 
counter had been killed off by the zoms outside, she had swiped a few
boxes of rounds and picked up a new weapon too. She hoped the 
crossbow would help.

Now that she was on her way again, Claire had no clue where she was.
She had never been to this city before and traveling through 
alleyways and over debris was not her idea of fun. Having to deal 
with ambulating corpses at almost every step was starting to piss her
off. She wouldn't let it get her down though. She was doing this for
Chris. If she lost him, she wouldn't have any reason to go on living
anymore. He was the only family she had left, as far as she knew 
anyway.

Earlier, she had seen a woman in a short and tight red dress with 
black leggings and wanted to talk to her. She looked like she was 
still alive and Claire hoped they could help each other out. 
Unfortunately she lost track of her and was now lost because of it.
The last place Claire had been in was a restaurant called Grill 13.
'This town has some weird names for their businesses.' There was 
nothing of interest in the place anyway so she had moved on. The 
sound of gas leaking in the kitchen had worried her though.

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

Leon was not having the best of luck. After the crash and splitting
up from Claire, he headed into the back entrance of the police 
station. There were a few zombies around but he wanted to save what
rounds he could so he just ran by them. Luckily they were slow and he
had no trouble. Finding the key for the back door was a little bit of
a pain but he found it easily. Why he couldn't go through the door
leading into the underground garage was a mystery though. He had also
found more flesh-eaters in the yard behind the building after exiting
the small maintenance shed. One female zombie was quite attractive,
especially in those tiny shorts she was wearing. If she had been 
alive, Leon would have hit on her.

Shaking off the perverted thoughts caused by stress and fatigue,
he headed up the metal stairs in time to see a tragedy. On the 
rooftop landing pad, a man in SWAT armor was surrounded by zombies.
He was panicking and doing his best to blow them away with an 
automatic rifle. His best wasn't good enough. When they dragged
him down, he still had his finger squeezing the trigger and spent
the rest of the clip into the sky. The flying ordinance pocked into
a helicopter hovering overhead and splattered the pilot all over the
seat he was in. Control was lost almost immediately and the chopper
came in for a crash landing. The explosion from the collision
nearly deafened Leon who was still recovering his hearing from the 
tankers explosion.

Inside, Leon found himself in a winding hallway. He had nearly wet 
himself when he found the dead body. The tenseness of the situation
made him think it would rise up and attack him until he saw it had 
already done so but was now missing a good portion of its head. 
Someone had taken care of this one already and Leon was glad. After
leaving the hallway with mostly windows on the outer wall, Leon 
entered another hall and nearly had another bathroom emergency.
Whatever the creatures were, they were definitely not zombies.
The claws on the ends of their fingers and toes made it possible
for them to crawl along the wall. The hissing sounds they made and 
the dripping three-foot long tongues wagging out from their mutated
heads creeped him out. Their skinless look and exposed brains 
nauseated him. The teeth that resembled spikes in their huge 
deaths-head grinning mouths set him on edge too. He hoped they 
weren't smart enough to open doors as he bolted for one he saw right
near him. It was a pretty close call as he shot through the door and
slammed it shut. Knowing his luck, he would have to come back later.
Feeling the back of his head, he realized that he had just received
an impromptu trim from one of the creatures as it had swiped at him
while he was escaping. As this thought raced through Leon's mind,
his body just said 'All right, break time' and he fainted.

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

Genma was worried. He had sent his wife and daughter out of town as 
soon as the events at the Spencer Estate had concluded. The only 
reason he had almost completely betrayed Kasumi and Chris was thanks
to Wesker threatening the lives of Nodoka and Keiko. Now that Wesker
was dead, he could breathe a little easier. That didn't mean he would
totally drop his guard. All their lives were still in danger from 
Umbrella and Genma wanted his family to be as safe as possible.
Ranma was still wandering the country somewhere and his father had no
idea where he could be at the moment. He prayed that he was safe.

Nodoka had taken Keiko to Chicago. From there, Nodoka would figure
out where in America was the best place to hide out. The old house
they lived in while Genma was on the Chicago Police force was still
owned by the Saotomes. Once she made her decision, Nodoka would 
contact her husband back in Raccoon City and let him know where she
was going. Genma hadn't heard from her in a while and was starting
to worry. The phone suddenly ringing nearly gave him a heart attack.

"Hello? Nodoka, is that you?"

"Of course Genma dear, who else would it be?"

Letting out a sigh of relief and letting his heart calm down, Genma
asked, "Have you decided yet?"

"I'm actually there now. This call will have to be short since the 
long distance will be murder on the phone bill. I've gone back to 
Japan."

"Japan!? Why all the way to Japan?"

"For one, so Keiko can learn more about her roots. For another,
I feel it's important yet I don't know why. I'm at my cousin's
place at the moment but I'll be going to visit with my father and 
then we'll be going to where the dojo used to stand. Do you 
understand dear?"

With a smile on his lips, Genma replied, "I understand perfectly.
Be careful No-chan. And if you can, let me know if you find Ranma.
I'll do the same for you."

"Of course Genma. I love you."

"I love you too Nodoka. Kiss Keiko for me. Goodbye."

"I will. Goodbye."

After hanging up, Genma settled down in his favorite chair and 
decompressed. The cryptic way she mentioned the places where she was
going wouldn't be understood by anyone listening in, if there had 
been. They would need a deep understanding of the Saotome family
to figure it out. Her cousin was an archeologist. The man had two 
children of his own, a teenage boy named Toya and a young daughter
named Sakura. Genma actually forgot the name of the prefecture
they lived in. It didn't matter at the moment anyway. From there,
she would head to Juuban. Her father had been dead for years but he 
had left her his home in his will and only the two of them knew of 
it. When she said she would visit with him, she meant she would pray
at his final resting place. It had been quite a long time since she
had done so. The place had been a Shinto shrine as long as he could
remember and the current head priest was his wife's uncle. The miko,
Rei, was actually his half daughter. Genma didn't know he had been
dating sisters at the time until he had broken up with Rei's future
mother and Nodoka had brought him home to meet her family. It had 
been an ugly scene and Genma still had the scars from it. Why she was
going to head to Nerima after stopping there was a mystery to Genma.
He figured her reasons were her own and he wouldn't question them.
He trusted her judgment.

His own plans, however, could be continued now. Umbrella had its 
headquarters in England and that was where he was going. Chris had 
gone on ahead and Kasumi would bring up the rear after Genma left.
They were going to try and take down a multi-national corporation
with very few resources. S.T.A.R.S. also had headquarters in England
so they weren't fully out of luck. It just meant the spray wouldn't
be as big once the shit hit the fan. Genma still didn't care for 
their chances though. Heading into his bedroom, he proceeded to pack
the essentials and get the hell out of Raccoon.

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

Arriving at the front gate of the station, Kasumi noticed that 
someone had wrapped a lot of ropes around the handles. They smelled
faintly of kerosene. Sure she could just jump over the gate but 
someone might need to use it later. Pulling out the lighter, she 
flipped open the top, lit it and touched the flame to the ropes.
They caught almost instantaneously. The flame did its job quickly
and soon the ropes were no more. Putting the lighter away, Kasumi
thought to herself 'Screw it' and hopped over the gate anyway. She 
didn't want to burn her hands on the hot metal. As she was walking
towards the front doors, she heard the creak of metal and turned
around quickly, pulling her gun and aiming at whoever or whatever
was behind her. It was Brad.

"Kasumi, you're still alive." Brad stopped in front of her, bent over
with his hands resting on his knees and panting slightly. Kasumi
lowered her weapon slightly, not putting it away just in case. Brad
may be a coward but he could still turn on her. She hated having
the thought she just had but she couldn't be too careful. The way 
Brad had phrased his statement made Kasumi think he had expected
her to be dead and was disappointed that she wasn't.

"I could say the same thing about you Brad," she said with a slight
hint of malice that Brad completely missed. As Brad stood, Kasumi's
vision was suddenly blocked by a huge black field. Brad's scream
of terror confirmed to her that she hadn't passed out or gotten 
knocked unconscious. The field filling her vision suddenly moved away
from her and she saw it was someone's back. Whoever it was had to be
at least seven feet tall if not more. The giant was wearing a huge
leather duster that hung down to the ground and only exposed its 
hands and head. What flesh she could see of this person seemed to be
a mottled gray color. There was no hair on the head that she could
see and she just realized that while she was standing there dumbly,
this person was slowly closing in on Brad.

"Kasumi, for God's sake, RUN!!!" Brad's shout seemed to startle
Kasumi out of her daze but she was still frozen in place. As she 
looked over the figure looming over Brad, she saw what looked like
things writhing under the duster. She could see whatever it was 
peeking out of the sleeves and the collar. The figure then grabbed
Brad's head in one hand and Kasumi heard a slight cracking noise 
followed by a noisy 'splurt.' Two of the tentacles hiding under the
jacket had shot out and pierced Brad right through his throat. His 
body slumped as they retracted and his life's blood came gushing
out through the hole in his neck. The monster, for Kasumi now knew
that's what this thing was, then tossed Brad aside like a rag doll
and turned to her.

Once Kasumi got a good look at its face, her heart nearly stopped.
Her worst nightmare had come to life. The eyes were cataracts
and utterly white, held in a permanent sneer. Its nose was hardly
there, more of a tiny lump of flesh with two holes beneath. What drew
Kasumi's eyes was its mouth. In the middle of a head of too-tight
skin, like a stretched out sack, was a gaping hole filled with sharp
jagged teeth and blood red gums. Kasumi didn't need to know anymore.
It really was her worst nightmare brought back. 'Tyrant!'

With a slow gait, it stalked towards her. This is what Brad had been
babbling about in the bar. It had killed Brad and then discarded
him like an eggshell. He was lying, dead and broken, against the 
stone fence in a pool of his own fluids and now his murderer was 
after her. Her whole life, even before losing her family, could never
prepare her for the terror that was racing through her veins. 
Especially when it spoke.

"Ssstaaarrsss."

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

Author's Notes:

Man this took a while. I finally got out the first chapter. I guess
I should have concentrated on this story more than the other two I'm
working on at the same time as this one. Let me tell you, writing
fiction isn't easy at all. Even when I want something to be longer
than three damn pages. I don't know why I bothered in the first place
though. Hardly anybody read the prologue let alone reviewed it. I do
thank the three people that did actually. Or is it four? I haven't
checked in a while. Either way, I'm going to post this like it or 
not.

I doubt I need to mention that anybody named or the places used in 
this story belong to me. Like it really matters either way. I'm not
getting paid for writing this. I'm just doing it for my own 
amusement. Well, that and the people that like my work, what little
there is of it. It might be a while before the next chapter. I need
to get my mind revved up again. As always, remember my motto, "My 
fic, my rules." See you in the funny papers. 

Retribution
for the Damned

by DigiSim

------------ Chapter 2 ------------

With a startled gasp, Kasumi awoke.

‘Oh, what an odd dream,’ she thought to herself. Stretching her arms
above her head and arching her back, Kasumi worked out the kinks that
had accumulated during her down time. Bringing her arms back down,
she looked to her left and squinted a little as the sun shone off the
ocean and reflected into her eyes through the airplane window.

 ‘Hmm, just how far away are we?’ She wondered if the ocean she was
flying over could still be called the Sea of Japan since the plane
had taken off from Narita International an hour and a half ago. 
Checking her watch confirmed how long they had been in the air, 
despite the delay from taking off. Exhaling through her nose, Kasumi
looked to her right and saw Ranma sitting in the seat right next to 
hers.

‘Oh, he looks so handsome sleeping like that. I love his hair in that
braid.’ Said braid was hanging over Ranma’s left shoulder at the 
moment. Kasumi had toyed with the idea to do hers the same way the 
day Ranma started wearing his as it is now. She decided to put off 
the decision for a while and actually forgot about it till just that
moment. As her eyes roved over her secret lover’s frame, Kasumi felt
a small smile touch her lips.

‘I’m so lucky. I love Ranma so much and he loves me. I just wish we 
didn’t have to hide from Uncle Genma and Auntie Nodoka how we feel.’
Kasumi’s eyes kept wandering, taking in the sight of Ranma wearing
his standard red Chinese shirt with wooden frog ties, black kung-fu
pants and slippers. ‘Wait a minute. Ranma doesn’t dress like this.
He likes T-shirts and jeans like I do. Why is he dressed this way?
It looks good on him though so why am I complaining?’

Shrugging off the thought as insignificant at the moment, Kasumi
looked across the aisle to see her aunt and uncle asleep in their
seats as well. Kasumi and the Saotomes had to rush to Narita that day
to catch an early flight to America. Thanks to unseasonably
bad weather, if they had missed their plane, they would have had to 
wait for almost forty-eight hours to try again. The rain was so bad
that there were hardly any departures or arrivals at the airport.
Sleep had overtaken the four of them during the delay on the ground
and she was the first to awake.

Looking over her aunt and uncle, Kasumi was puzzled about the strange
way they were dressed too. Genma was wearing a dirty white gi that
was several sizes too large for his muscular frame, a cloth on his 
head that vain bald men wore even though he had a full head of hair
and ridiculous looking glasses held on his face by what looked like
strings going around his ears. Nodoka was wearing a kimono and had 
her hair up in a bun. As long as Kasumi could remember, she had never
seen her aunt wear a kimono except during the Sakura Festival every
year as well as whenever they all went out to visit a traveling
fair.

‘Maybe they were all dressed this way and I just didn’t notice it 
till now. It doesn’t matter anyway.’ Kasumi was about to drift off to
sleep again when the sound of children laughing could be heard near
the front of the plane. A young girl of seven appeared in her view
of the aisle, wearing emerald green shorts that looked too small on 
her young body, a lemon yellow sleeveless top and a pageboy-style
haircut that framed her face nicely. The girl turned and faced the 
way she had come so all Kasumi could see was her profile. She felt
the girl looked familiar.

"Nya nya, can’t catch me sis!"

The girl then stuck her tongue out at whoever she just taunted,
turned to her left which gave Kasumi a good look at her face, winked
at her and then fled down the aisle laughing. Kasumi felt she had 
seen the girl somewhere before once her face was revealed full-on.
For the life of her, where that was refused to make itself known in 
her mind. The next figure to appear was a girl of six wearing a 
sleeveless, pale yellow sundress and had black, almost dark blue hair
styled short which Kasumi felt didn’t suit her.

"C’mon Biki, my legs aren’t as fast as yours!"

The girl then looked at Kasumi and gave her a smile that would have
rivaled the sun for brightness. Right after that, she took off after
her sister. This was another girl that seemed memorable to her but 
she didn’t know why. Who were those girls?

"Kane-chan, Biki-chan, behave yourselves!"

A third figure put in an appearance. She figured this girl, who 
looked to be nine, was the other two’s eldest sister. She was wearing
a peach colored skirt that hung down to just below her knees and a 
powder pink blouse. Her hair was in a ponytail and rested on her 
right shoulder, just like Kasumi wore hers. The girl then looked
at her and snarled viciously. This utterly startled Kasumi. If she 
hadn’t known better, she would have thought the girl had growled
like a dog or wolf as well. What had she done to deserve such a 
reaction anyway?

With an ‘Hmph,’ the girl turned and followed her two siblings,
to try and wrangle them back to their seats. ‘What the hell was her
problem?’ Shaking her head, Kasumi decided it wasn’t worth worrying
about and settled back in her seat.

A few minutes later, hunger made itself known in Kasumi’s gut. As she
was about to ring for the stewardess, a cart pushed by one of the 
airplane staff arrived. "Hey there sugar, you hungry?"

‘What is with all this déjà vu today?’ Kasumi just let her eyes 
slightly roam over the stew as she stood there. She was wearing
the standard uniform for the airline of blouse and skirt and had her
hair tied-up in a high ponytail with a big white bow. What didn’t
seem to be standard attire was the huge spatula strapped to the girls
back as well as the bandolier of smaller spatulas slung across her 
chest.

"Hey, you awake in there? I asked if you were hungry." Blinking
a couple times, Kasumi replied, "Sorry, it’s just that you look a 
little familiar but I can’t figure out why. So what’s for breakfast?"
Giving a slightly smug grin, the stewardess set up a portable grill
in the blink of an eye and had three okonomiyaki grilling right away.
"Hope you like this, it’s my family’s secret recipe. You want any 
special toppings?"

As the two bantered back and forth, the smell of the Japanese 
pancakes caused a slight rumble in the Tendo girl’s currently
empty stomach. The two laughed at her reaction to the smell of the 
food as it was served. Kasumi set to right away while the stewardess
pushed her cart down the aisle to find more hungry passengers.

After she had finished her meal, Kasumi sat back and let breakfast
digest. The okonomiyaki had been good, no question, but there was 
something off about them that she just couldn’t put her finger on. 
Also, the fact that Ranma hadn’t woken up to the smell of food made
Kasumi a little unsettled. Even in deep sleep, it would take very 
little if food was used to rouse him from slumber. Ever since she had
woken up, everything had just seemed flawed.

Then there was the smell. It had been teasing her ever since she 
opened her eyes. It seemed so recognizable like almost everything
else except it felt wrong too. For some odd reason, she just shook
off the feeling even though something deep down told her that was a 
big mistake. Kasumi was starting to get an itchy feeling in the back
of her mind, her danger sense warning her that something nasty was 
going to occur soon. The peace of her surroundings however, made her
doubt.

The next déjà vu experience happened almost immediately. A man in a 
dark brown gi with long black hair stood up from the seat in front
of her and turned to move into the aisle. Once she saw his profile,
Kasumi’s heart nearly stopped. This was no déjà vu feeling, this was
actual recognition. ‘Daddy?’ Her father, Soun Tendo, had just 
appeared before her as if it was nothing out of the ordinary.
It was impossible; there was no way he could be on this flight.
Wasn’t her father supposed to be dead?

"What the HELL is going on here!?!" Kasumi shouted yet startled
no one. Ever since she had regained consciousness, things were not as
they should be. There just had to be an explanation, right? "Don’t
you get it yet stupid? You’re dead."

"Huh?" Whipping her head to the right, Kasumi saw Keiko standing
in the aisle with a look of murder in her eyes. She was wearing
the standard school uniform for Japanese girls except the sailor
fuku looked to be rotting and stained with dried blood, one spot in 
the chest had been ripped open and fully exposed her budding left 
B-cup sized breast, the skin of which appeared bruised from rough
handling, the nipple itself was swollen and stiff. Her skin had a 
waxy pallor, almost funereal in appearance. Her auburn hair that she
had inherited from her mother and tied in a pigtail in an unconscious
copying of the brother she had never met was matted with blood and 
dirt. The area above her left temple looked to be caved in and gray
matter shone dully in the exposed region, a small stream of 
congealing blood running slowly from the wound. Kasumi finally 
recognized the smell that had been haunting her ever since she opened
her eyes. It was the smell of death.

"Keiko, my God, what happened to you?" The young girl gave a snort
of derision and just glared a little longer at the older one. "What
do you think happened you dumb bitch? I’m dead, that’s what happened.
Oh, by the way, thanks for getting me killed." "What?" Kasumi 
couldn’t believe her ears. Keiko was dead because of her? How the 
hell did that happen?

"Don’t bother asking, I’ll just tell you. Because you died, you 
weren’t there to save me and mom when those Umbrella assholes got to
us. Daddy died trying to save us but as you can see, he didn’t 
succeed." Looking across the aisle, Kasumi started to notice the pale
complexion that it seemed all four Saotomes shared. Genma, Nodoka
and Ranma hadn’t moved one bit this whole time and she doubted they
would anytime in the near future. Her gaze moving back to Keiko,
Kasumi asked, "What about Ranma? How did he die?"

Giving another snort, Keiko answered, "Umbrella again. They sent some
assassin to take him out. He survived that but didn’t survive the 
virus he was infected with. He ended up as just another carrier."
Tears started to shine in the young girl’s eyes as she looked on her
older brother. With a hitch in her voice, Keiko continued. "He didn’t
even know he had been infected. One minute he’s feeling fine, the 
next, itchy tasty ruled his mind. God, what a waste."

"Keiko I’m so sorry. If only I could have been there."

"Well you WEREN’T so SHUT UP!" Keiko shrieked in anger. "I DON’T want
to hear how sorry you are! I! DON’T! CARE! So just SHUT UP!"

Kasumi tried to stand from her seat so she could comfort Keiko but 
found the seatbelt held her firmly. She was unable to unlatch it; it
seemed to be rusted shut. As Kasumi tried to yank the belt out of the
lead, a moaning sound reached her ears. Panic started to fill her 
chest as she yanked harder. The belt refused to budge.

"Keiko, help me. I’m stuck."

Looking to the dead girl, Kasumi gave a gasp of horror. Everywhere
she looked, there were zombies. She had been wrong though, Genma and
Nodoka would move again. There they were standing right behind their
daughter, each with a protective and rotting hand on her shoulders.
Her father, those three girls, the stewardess, even Chris and Brad;
all were zombies. Trying to swallow her fear, Kasumi asked weakly,
"Wh-what are you going to do to me?"

"Oh don’t worry Kasumi; you’re just going to get a makeover. You see,
you need to look right to get into Hell. And right now, you’re 
looking a little too healthy. Consider this payback bitch. Now 
fucking take your medicine like a good little whore."

As those final words left what remained of the decomposing girl’s
lips, Ranma lunged at Kasumi and latched onto her throat with a 
vice-like grip, cutting off her startled scream before it could be 
voiced. His cataract whitened eyes held no emotion other than hunger
and hatred. All she heard him say before he sank his sharp and jagged
teeth into her cheek was a hoarse "Tasty" and then Kasumi knew only
pain before blacking out.

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

With a startled gasp, Kasumi awoke.

‘Shit, what was that?’ Shaking her sleep muddled head, Kasumi yawned
and stretched. The nightmares had been getting steadily worse lately.
And it was all thanks to Umbrella and their damn creatures. Being
chased by bloodthirsty monsters and surviving would give anyone 
nightmares for the rest of their days, no matter how strong of mind
they are. As Kasumi rubbed the sleep from her eyes, she looked around
the room she had crashed in.

The S.T.A.R.S. office had been deserted for a while. A lot of 
member’s personal effects still littered the desks in here except
for the one by the far wall. That one was reserved for a rookie that
would never show now. Kasumi had barely gotten away from that damn
Tyrant earlier and in the process of exploring, fatigue caught up to
her. The only safe place she could think of to catch some ‘Z’s was 
the office. She had gotten in just in time to hear someone on the 
communications array calling for help. She was unable to respond
to the call because the radio transmitter looked to be trashed.

By that point, Kasumi really didn’t give a damn anymore. All she 
wanted to do was to recharge her batteries. She just sat at her desk,
put her head down and zoned out right away. Within minutes, Miss 
Tendo was dead to the world. Within a few more, the nightmare
started. It was still fresh in her mind at the moment but was 
thankfully fading, slowly but surely. With a slight grunt, Kasumi
stood and continued to stretch. It wouldn’t do to get a muscle cramp
while she might need to run for her life again. Knowing what she did
of the monstrosities in the town, that was a very real possibility.

‘Well, since I’m here, I might as well scrounge around and see what
I can get.’ Kasumi decided that her best bet was to check Captain
Wesker’s desk first. It couldn’t hurt to look and maybe there would
be some sort of clue to who he answered to while he had been alive
and stabbing the S.T.A.R.S. team in the back. She knew that Chief
Brian Irons answered to him but Wesker had to have a superior,
didn’t he?

After picking up a couple of boxes of rounds she found behind the 
desk and storing them in her ‘pocket,’ she started opening drawers
and rifling through the contents. Other than standard report forms,
both filled out and blank, Kasumi discovered a roll of film. ‘I 
wonder what’s on this.’ Dismissing it as unimportant, she put it back
in the drawer she found it in and continued her scavenger hunt 
throughout the rest of the office. She didn’t even notice when her 
hands briefly gained a life of their own and braided her hair into
a pigtail like Ranma’s.

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

‘Finally, I’m here.’

Slamming the gate shut and sliding the lock home, Claire breathed
a sigh of relief. Those rotting bastards wouldn’t be able to get her
now. Ever since she had found herself in the basketball court near
the gun shop, Claire knew she was on the right track again. Going
back in there wasn’t an option of course. No doubt the place was 
overrun by the zombies that had killed the owner earlier if not 
different ones. She felt she would need every bullet she could get so
she didn’t take the risk. The crossbow hadn’t been very effective
after all either. It took up to four arrows to put down one 
‘shuffler’ as she called them and that was if she wasn’t too far 
away. She wasn’t about to just get rid of the weapon though. That 
would be suicide, not to mention just plain stupid.

There seemed to be two ways to get to the front doors and one seemed
to be blocked off, but it could just be an illusion. ‘Looks like I go
downstairs.’ Descending down the stone flight, Claire noticed a 
figure not too far off once she reached the bottom. He, and Claire
could tell that he was a he from this distance, was wearing 
camouflage pants, combat boots that looked to have seen better days
and a bright orange vest. ‘All this guy needs is a glow-in-the-dark
target painted on his back and his outfit will be complete. What kind
of idiot wears orange when they’re trying to hide? Dumbass.’ His back
was to her at the moment and she was wary of him.

His slight swaying motion suggested to her that he might be one of 
them. As she got closer, the figure turned around and reached out for
her. She was nowhere near him so didn’t need to jump back. Looking
at his face and getting a whiff of his rancid scent told her that he
was another shuffler. There were two ways she could play this, she 
could just run by and hope he wouldn’t be fast enough to grab her,
or she could blow his brains out and raid his clothes for whatever
might help her survive.

*Krak-krak!*

Two quick shots barked out, slamming home in the shufflers forehead,
dropping him instantly. There was no way she wanted that thing to 
even touch her with its slimy hands, let alone risk it. The body 
twitched a little then remained still while a pool of blood from 
seemingly nowhere spread out underneath. As she walked closer, Claire
was forced to dive for the ground as a huge explosion went off right
overhead followed closely by another and the sound of metal rending
while a wave of heat washed over her back.

"Holy Fuck, what’s going on?!?"

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

The explosion off in the distance roused Leon from his forced nap.
His nose hurt from having it slam into the unyielding floor. Placing
both hands on the floor and pushing up, Leon groaned as he tried to 
move. It was apparent that his body hadn’t fully caught up to his 
mind. He could feel every pound of his weight at his repeated 
attempts at a vertical state. The best he could do after a few 
minutes was to rise to all fours and look around. He was in what 
looked to be a somewhat tastefully decorated waiting room. The naked
twelve-year-old girl standing by the door gave him a strange look.

‘Wait a minute, naked girl?’ Looking again, Leon found he was 
mistaken. It was actually a very realistic statue. ‘A little too 
realistic if you ask me.’ The eyes were especially disturbing,
shining with life or a reasonable facsimile thereof. Her skin had the
presence of silk to his eye. It couldn’t be painted marble, the color
was too real. Crawling over to the statue itself, Leon reached out a 
hand and gently caressed the still forms bare mound. He pulled his 
hand away almost immediately at the heat he felt radiating from the
girls crotch.

"Oh, no need to stop on my account handsome. I liked that. You’ve
got nice hands." Gulping slightly, Leon’s eyes wandered up from his
straight on view of her reddening vulva to lock onto the girls eyes
smiling right back at him. "Um, hi?"

Stifling a laugh with a hand, the girl smiled at him. "Hi yourself.
So tell me, what’s a stud like you doing in a hellhole like this?
And more importantly, wanna screw?" Leon could not believe his ears.
There was no way in hell she had just said that. "Uh, aren’t you a 
little young to be talking like that?"

Laughing out loud this time, the girl answered his question with a 
question. "Have you ever heard of Gary Coleman or Emanuel Lewis?"
Realization dawned immediately. "You mean you…" Nodding, the girl 
replied, "Yep, just like them. I’m actually twenty-two. So, my offer
still stands even if you can’t right now. You interested?"
Blinking dumbly and finally having feeling returning to his body,
Leon said, "But I don’t even know your name."

Giving him a radiant grin, the girl placed a dainty foot on his left
shoulder and shoved him onto his back. "The name’s Naomi. Now shut
up and fuck me." From the time he hit the floor to the time he found
Naomi straddling his chest sucking on his tongue, Leon didn’t care
about much. He didn’t care where his clothes had gone, he didn’t
care that a nude beauty was practically ravaging him, he didn’t even
care that he didn’t have any condoms with him. All he cared about
was getting off with this young-looking goddess.

Her tongue was like fire as it traced wet trails down his neck, over
his chest, circled his nipples, roamed over his abs, dipped into his
navel, parted through his pubes and finally yet achingly slowly 
caressed his cock. As Naomi’s pert mouth kissed the head, she looked
into his eyes with an evil gleam and continued her tongue torture
down his left leg, reaching his foot to slurp his big toe into her 
mouth and gently suckle it. Leon’s groan of delight and misery 
spurred Naomi on to even more exquisite torture. While still sucking
on his toe, her delicate hands took his foot and massaged it. With
a gentle nip, Naomi then moved onto his other foot and continued.

After what seemed like days, she trailed her tongue back up his right
leg, paying special attention to the area behind his knee as she 
passed it, and started to bathe his scrotum in her saliva. Leon 
spread his legs to give this demon-girl-woman easier access. Taking
the initiative, Naomi sucked one teste then the other into her mouth,
bathing the sac more fully. Nibbling softly up the now engorged
vein on the underside of his penis, her tongue flicked at the 
sensitive area where the head met the shaft. "Are you ready?"

Panting by now, Leon begged, "If you keep this up, I’m gonna blow my
load soon. Please quit teasing me like this." Stifling a giggle by 
kissing the head again, Naomi crinkled her eyes at him. "I just want
you to get ready. You don’t want to disappoint me, do you?"  Giving
an "Uh Uhh" in response, the quivering mass of jelly that was Leon
Kennedy swallowed to wet his now parched throat. "Do whatever you 
want, I won’t argue."

"Good." Naomi then rose and hovered over his throbbing prick. While
grasping it in her hand, she aimed it at her dripping wet cunt and 
then slowly slid onto his hot shaft. Grunting at her tightness,
Leon looked at her face to see it scrunched up in concentration
and what he would deem to be anticipation. "Are you alright?"
Panting herself now, she replied without opening her eyes, "Yeah,
but I’ve got a confession to make. I’m a virgin. I’m just hoping
this won’t hurt too much."

Before he could stop her, Naomi then slammed herself down the rest
of his length and let out an ear piercing shriek of pain. Leon felt
as well as heard her hymen tear as his penis slid all the way into
her and the head banged into her cervix. The tightness was a little
painful for him too but her well being was foremost on his mind at 
the moment.

Sitting up, he took her into his arms and started to tenderly rock
her. The ridiculousness of the situation would have made him break
out laughing at any other time but right now wasn’t appropriate.
Letting a quiet sob escape, Naomi whimpered, "It hurt a hell of a lot
more than I thought it would." Leon’s slow back and forth movement
made Naomi’s clit rub through his pubic hair.

The mild rocking motion combined with the stimulation of her nub made
the pain pass quickly and she started to move back and forth with 
him. Pretty soon, they were moving together in a dance as old as 
time. Leon lay back on the floor while Naomi rode him, bringing
them both to a thrilling climax. Before he could shoot off, Naomi
dropped one last bombshell. "I’ve got another confession to make.
I lied to you earlier. I’m twelve, not twenty-two. I’m sorry." With
tears in her eyes and a soul rending cry, Naomi came for the first
time in her young life. As Leon’s seed coated the inner recesses
of her prepubescent vagina, the statement of her true age and his own
orgasm became too much for him and he blacked out.

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

"All right, first order of business; get the hell out of this town."

Kasumi had finally finished her raid of the S.T.A.R.S. office, 
leaving behind a few items in case somebody showed up after her, and
decided now was a good a time as any to go. With the clip in her 
Berretta fully loaded and one round chambered, she felt a little
better. Heading down the stairs, Kasumi paused as she thought she had
heard something. Thinking it nothing, she continued. At the bottom
of the stairs, the window right behind her exploded in a hail of 
masonry and glass.

"DAMN!"

She didn’t need to turn around and see what it was. She knew 
instinctively. As if the destruction of the wall wasn’t clue enough.
Kasumi’s run for her life was halted by a voice however.

"WHERE IN THE HELL AM I NOW?!"

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

Waking up, Leon found he was face down on the floor. Again. His nose
hurt and his shorts were soaked in cum. "That was one weird dream."
Groaning as he stood, Leon stretched and popped his spine to realign
it. Looking around the room, it was as he remembered it from his 
dream except for Naomi, the girl he had mistaken for a statue wasn’t
there. The absence of an actual statue passed beneath his notice.
Taking a step forward made him gasp in pain. His dick felt like he 
had actually been balls deep in her not a few minutes ago. "I don’t
think I’ve ever had a more realistic dream in my life. I kind of wish
it hadn’t been one though." Leon sighed as Naomi’s beautiful smile
floated through his mind. "I’ve really got to get laid soon. And I 
need to find a clean pair of shorts too. Damn, what did I do? Shoot
a gallon?"

As he walked through the door on the other side of the room and 
closed it behind him, Leon missed seeing Naomi appear out of thin air
near where he had been standing. Her monologue to him was also 
missed. "I’m so sorry for the deception Leon. I felt you were the 
only guy I could trust and I wanted to experience love making at 
least once before I head to the other side. Always know that you made
the dreams and wishes of a lonely spirit come true this evening.
May the gods of good fortune smile on you from now on until your 
dying day. I will always love you Leon Kennedy."

Once she finished her heartfelt speech, Naomi Greene, one of the 
first victims of the zombie attacks in Raccoon City shed tears of joy
and sorrow as the spectral Lolita faded from this plane of existence,
never to return again. Eternal rest was now hers. Down the hall, Leon
felt an ache in his heart that he just couldn’t explain and didn’t
think he ever would.

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

‘I know the Tyrant can talk but I don’t think it’s that articulate.’

Turning slowly around, Kasumi beheld the oddest sight she had ever,
well, seen. There was a man standing where most of the wall used to 
be. He was wearing a mustard yellow tunic, dirty green breeches,
sandals that laced up most of the way up his calves and was holding
a red bamboo umbrella. His black shaggy hair was held back by a 
yellow bandanna with black spots, or were those stripes. He also 
seemed to be wearing a traveler’s pack. What had made Kasumi stop was
the fact that he had shouted in Japanese.

Clearing her throat and stepping closer, Kasumi decided to take a 
chance. "Excuse me, can I help you?" ‘What the hell am I saying?!?
Can I help you? I sound like an idiot.’ The young man turned to her
as if he hadn’t noticed she was there to begin with. His mud-brown
eyes shone with embarrassment as he scratched the back of his head
with a hand; incidentally it was the one holding the umbrella.

"Oh, sorry about that. Could you tell me how to get to Umbrella
headquarters?"

‘Maybe talking to this guy is a mistake.’ "Uh, why do you want to go
there if you don’t mind my asking?" If this guy was an operative
and after her too, Kasumi didn’t know how she would survive. He had
just smashed through a three-foot thick wall. She didn’t think 
bullets would do much damage. Judging by the look on his face, he 
didn’t seem to be the brightest bulb in the chandelier actually.

"Because of Umbrella, I have seen Hell!" ‘Okay, this guy needs a 
one-way ticket to the looney bin. Express route at that.’ "It’s 
because of them that I’m a freak!" Kasumi was getting more confused
by the minute. She didn’t think this nut was working for them, he had
an obvious grudge. What he meant by freak looked to be up for 
interpretation. He looked to be okay to her, clinically speaking
of course. Mentally healthy however was another issue altogether.
"Now I’ll never see Ranma ever again thanks to those monsters!"
Hold the phone, did he just say Ranma?

"Ranma, as in Saotome? You know Ranma?" Broken out of his rant, the
weirdo remembered he wasn’t alone at the moment. "Yes, that Ranma.
You mean you know Ranma too?" Well, maybe talking to this guy wasn’t
such a mistake after all. "Of course I know Ranma, we grew up 
together almost. Oh, where are my manners? I’m Kasumi. Kasumi Tendo."
Sketching an obviously rusty bow, Kasumi waited for the return 
greeting.

"Ryoga. Ryoga Hibiki. It’s nice to meet you. Ranma’s told me about
you." Their conversation would have continued except a deep 
animalistic growl broke in. Standing behind Ryoga was the Tyrant.
"Come on Ryoga! This way!" Not giving him time to answer, Kasumi
grabbed his shirt front and dragged him down the hall behind her. She
had barely gotten the heavy steel door to the evidence room shut when
the door bent in to meet her almost. Not giving Ryoga time to think,
Kasumi kept dragging him like a ragged kite through the door into the
main office, which got reduced to splinters a few seconds later as 
the Tyrant smashed through.

‘Christ, what does it take to slow this jerk down? At least when we 
get outside, we can roof-hop away. I just hope he can’t follow.’
Exiting into the main lobby, Kasumi and Ryoga saw the front doors
and felt they were home free. Just past the dried-up fountain,
the sound of a whoosh along with the nearly simultaneous explosion
and blast of fire at their backs made Kasumi reevaluate her plans
somewhat.

‘Oh SHIT, IT’S ARMED!’

Closer to the door, the Tyrant shot off another round from it’s 
bazooka, going a little past the two fleeing targets and destroying
the door. A third blast followed soon after, turning the makeshift
blockade someone had constructed in the front yard into scrap. 
Jumping over the gate, Kasumi got it into her head that the shotgun
would be useful right about now. Taking the time that would have been
better spent running, she pulled the old double-barrel out of her 
‘pocket’ and jammed it into the handles. Turning around again, she 
grabbed Ryoga’s wrist and they both hauled ass out of the area as 
fast as they could. The howls of rage that followed them told Kasumi
that the shotgun really had been useful after all.

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

It was many hours later when there was any sort of lull in the 
action. Leon and Claire had found each other again and shared their
experiences, leaving out some details. Leon had complimented
Claire on her new outfit that she had found in a locker somewhere.
The jeans would be better for running around in than the shorts she
had been sporting and the sleeveless vest was stylish too. Leon told
of meeting a woman named Ada Wong and when asked to describe her, 
Claire related her own brief almost encounter with her.

Ada herself was lost again. This time not physically but emotionally.
The cop she had teamed up with for a short time had left an 
impression on her. She couldn’t risk running into him again. The way
he wouldn’t leave her mind made her worry that she wouldn’t be able
to do her job. Now was no time for emotional attachments. It wasn’t
her fault that being an assassin trashed her social life. She was a 
woman, of course she had needs. It was obvious they weren’t being
met but she wouldn’t let that get her down. Too much.

Sherry Birkin, the only daughter of William and Annette Birkin was 
terrified. The scary fat man in the office full of dead animals
was talking to himself again. Her mommy had told her that if 
something bad happened to go to the police station. Too bad the 
police station was just as bad if not worse off than the rest of the
town. She had seen the scary man kill that pretty girl in the white
dress. He kept mumbling about how it was the only way to protect
her; Sherry was glad he wasn’t protecting her. As a tear escaped
from the corner of her eye, young Miss Birkin fingered the pendant
her mommy had given her and hoped that help would come soon.

As for Kasumi and Ryoga, the two of them were taking a well deserved
break. There had been a close call earlier when the Tyrant had 
reappeared but it seemed to ignore them. It took the pair a while
to realize that the Tyrant they saw had actually very little 
resemblance to the one they had run from in the station. This one’s
coat was dark green and it had a face without missing skin. One 
Tyrant was bad enough but having to deal with two was worse. She 
pitied whoever that one was after.

>From their hiding place in an abandoned parking garage, they were
able to relax somewhat and even share stories, mainly of how Umbrella
had ruined their lives. Kasumi gave Ryoga a shortened version of 
events in her life that lead her to the present and once she 
finished, Ryoga took a deep breath before he began his tale.

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

"This could take a while. I’ll try not to bore you."

"That’s okay Ryoga, I’ll survive. Could I have some more beef jerky?"

"Sure, here you go. Before I start, tell me again why you called
that thing Nemesis."

"Thank you. Well, it’s actually a creation called Tyrant but this one
was specifically made to kill the members of S.T.A.R.S. that survived
the events at the Spencer Estate. It killed Brad and now it’s after
me. I feel as if it’s my own personal nemesis, that’s why I call it 
that. I sure hope Uncle Genma got out of town in time."

"Genma, that’s Ranma’s father right?"

"Yes that’s right. So what’s your story mystery man?"

"Well…"

------FlashBack------

Years ago, when I was still going to school, I was a lot less 
cool-headed than I am nowadays. Most of my problems stem from my 
families curse. We Hibikis have the worst sense of direction 
imaginable and sometimes even worse tempers because of it. Not all of
us are hotheads though. When we do lose our tempers however, watch
out. The getting lost thing also varies. Anyway, like I said, I 
wasn’t always that calm back then. I went to an all-boys school and
lunch was always a battle. No matter what was being served, it was 
insanity trying to get something to eat.

Because I was lost a lot, I would be very hungry whenever I showed
up. Being a martial artist and very determined always netted me what
I wanted if I could find where the lunch counter was. It was rumored
that the lunch ladies were paid to rile up the students so they would
be tired during the rest of their classes. I guess that makes some
sense now. One day, I had just gotten the last loaf of curry bread
when I realized something. Getting the bread had been too easy. There
was no challenge in it, even though I had been starving.

As a martial artist, I felt I needed to go and find an actual 
challenge. I wanted to improve, not wither away. So with my last meal
for some time resting in my stomach, I left school. My dramatic
exit was blown when I realized I had walked into a janitor’s closet.

During my wanderings, I met quite a few strange people. I’m not 
afraid to tell you that those midgets with the high squeaky voices
I discovered really disturbed me. That Dorothy girl was nice though.
She had a cute dog too.

One day, I found myself in this ancient village in the countryside.
There didn’t seem to be anybody around until I heard cheering in the
distance. After some searching, I found all the villagers watching
two people fighting on a suspended log. I had walked in on the tail
end of a tournament. A sign over by these heaps of food told me not
only was the food the prize for winning, but that I was in China.
That and the fact that everybody was speaking Chinese kind of tipped
me off.

The purple-haired girl seemed to be very skilled. She was using those
bonbori like a pro against an opponent that made that Nemesis look
like a fashion model. I hadn’t had anything to eat since the curry
bread and would have gone for the food but I didn’t want to offend
anyone. Once purple hair sent her opponent flying, the tournament
was over. As she went over to the food a lizard on a stick hopped
up to me.

Well, at the time I thought it was a lizard. Turns out she was a 
village elder and the great-grandmother of the winner. I learned
that the hard way. I still wince everytime I think of that damn stick
of hers. Well the old woman, who told me her name was Cologne,
asked me in Japanese what I was doing in the village. I told her I 
was passing through and was hoping I could get some supplies.
Just then, my stomach gave away the secret that I wanted food more
than anything at the moment.

She cackled and teased me a little about that. I tried to resist
turning her into a pasty smear. I almost didn’t succeed. Don’t get me
wrong, she was a tough old bird. It turns out that the whole village
was full of martial artists. Cologne was like a Grandmaster,
or Mistress if you will, in the school most taught there. Amazonian
Wu Shu.

Kasumi, if you don’t stop laughing, I’m not going to continue.
Thank you. Would you at least stop snickering? Jeez.

Anyway, as I was saying, Cologne was pretty tough. In Chinese,
she called over her great-granddaughter and told her I was 
challenging her for the food. Yes, I know it was a lie. Purple hair
just stared at me like I was some sort of bug and snorted. I think
I even heard her mumble "Too easy" under her breath. What threw me 
for a loop was what Cologne said next. Still talking to her 
granddaughter, she told her that I might bring strong blood into the
tribe so try not to lose too badly if she wanted me for a husband.

What’s that? Oh sorry, I didn’t notice. Her name was Shampoo. The 
husband thing? Well, the tribe was kind of isolationist and running
under the misconception that males were the weaker species. They 
allowed that there were a few out there that were worth consideration
and had their rules set up around the concept of acquiring new blood
for the tribe. Should a male outsider challenge a female and win, 
they were supposed to receive the Kiss of Marriage.

Hey, quit laughing! It’s not that funny.

Now this whole time I’m just standing there pretending to not know
what the two of them are saying. After they finished arguing, Shampoo
led me to the suspended log and we both jumped up. Before we fought,
I told her in Chinese that I wasn’t interested in marrying her and 
only wanted the food. I know it was a stupid mistake. I was hungry
and not thinking too clearly anyway. Shampoo got all mad and started
attacking me with the intent to kill. From that first missed bonbori
swing, I felt I was in love. No, not with her. With the skill she 
had. This little village in the middle of nowhere was able to produce
someone as talented as Shampoo and I wanted in on it.

I had found a place that I could improve in pretty much anything
I could think of, a place that would allow me to hone my skills.
How to get to stay there and remain single was almost beyond me. Then
it hit me. I would challenge and try to defeat Cologne, stating
my intentions ahead of time. As soon as I had knocked Shampoo out,
I jumped off the log and landed in front of Cologne and in a voice
as loud as possible, I issued my terms. I don’t know what surprised
her more, the fact that I had just done so in her native language
or that I had every intention to kick her wrinkled ass all over the
landscape.

The battle itself, and it was a battle, took a long time. It felt 
like days had passed and instead it was just over an hour. I threw
every trick I could think of at her. Near the end I thought I had 
either blacked out or had been knocked out because when I next opened
my eyes, I was lying on my back in a hut. Cologne came in right then
and was happy to see I was awake. She told me that I had beaten her
but had collapsed from hunger. I had been out for three days and had
been adopted into the tribe, my prize for winning. I had just gained
a grandmother.

As time went by, I became acclimated to village life. My win against
Cologne had impressed some of the Elders and pissed off others.
Some of them wanted me to marry into their families and the others
wanted me dead. There had even been a couple attempts on my life 
while I was out cold. Of course, Cologne told me that later. Mostly,
I was welcomed as a new member. For a time, Shampoo hated my guts 
because I had defeated her so easily. We came to an understanding
though and she eventually became friendlier towards me. This pissed
off this guy who had been obsessed with her for years.

Mousse, that’s his name, had done everything in his power to make all
guys in the village leave Shampoo alone. He would always attack them
even if he thought they were looking at her too long. For him, one 
second was way too long. It drove her mad everytime he did that. They
had been friends’ way back when they were little kids but his 
feelings for her and his screwed up attempts to express them drove
a wedge between them.

What’s that? Oh, well he had terrible eyesight. Those glasses of his
could start a forest fire from just a glint of sunlight, they were
so thick. He always mistook her for different things. A bush, a rock,
a cow, you name it and he hugged it thinking it was her. He was also
the Master of Hidden Weapons and was throwing anything and everything
at any guy that got too close to Shampoo. With his bad eyesight,
he missed a lot. It still scared off guys but he didn’t care. His 
intentions were clear because he used a lot of bladed and sharp 
objects in his attacks. He ruined a few of my shirts in the process.

Despite the nearly constant attacks from the half blind idiot, I felt
as if I had finally found a normal life. I had saved the lives of a 
few villagers during a flood and that just made me even more welcomed
there. There was one time during the spring that this young girl ran
into the village. She was panicked and crying. One of the elders,
Lavender I think her name was, was nearby and stopped the girl to 
find out what was wrong. She told her that some men had come, 
attacked her father and were draining the springs. The springs were
in this training ground a ways away called Jusenkyo. I had never been
there but Cologne had told me of it.

To put it bluntly, I was pissed. I didn’t know who these jerks were
or even who the girl was. All I knew was that they had attacked
an innocent and made his daughter cry. They were going to pay. As 
quickly as I could, I made my way there after I had her, Plum was her
name, tell me the general direction to the springs. My direction
sense had been strengthening thanks to meditation of all things.
I was so mad I felt I would get lost three steps out the gate. I 
actually made it to Jusenkyo faster than I thought I would, which
astounded me.

Like I said, I had never been there but from her descriptions,
Cologne gave me a pretty good idea of what the place looked like.
In a valley surrounded by tall mountains is a field with over a 
hundred springs. Almost every spring holds a curse. Yes, I said 
curse. Whoever falls into a spring, their body or mind changes into
whatever drowned there last. Cold water activates the curse and hot
water reverses it until the next splash of cold. When I got there,
I saw a bunch of men dressed in biohazard suits and a lot of hoses
resting in the springs. The hoses lead to the back of a truck where
there were lots of containers.

I couldn’t believe these creeps would hurt someone over water, no 
matter how dangerous it was. I just saw red and started attacking.
They were pretty amazed that I had shown up but I was more so when
somebody started shooting at me. The hoses must have had a higher
setting because the springs got drained quickly while I was trying
to not get shot. I hadn’t noticed but I had taken one in the hip 
early on and all my hopping around wasn’t helping my wound. The last
thing I remember seeing before blacking out was a red and white 
corporate logo on the back of the truck with the word ‘Umbrella’
underneath it. When I came to, they were long gone and I was back in
the village.

Plum’s father survived, he had only been given a nasty bump to the 
head. I almost died from blood loss. Luckily I was found in time.
I swore vengeance on Umbrella then, vowing that I would not rest 
until they would pay for what they had done. I had no idea why they
had wanted the spring water but I felt it had to be bad. As soon as I
had recovered, I got ready to set out. Shampoo tried her hardest
to convince me to stay. You name it and she tried it. The thing she
tried that seemed mostly out of desperation ended up with us both 
losing our virginity to each other. She told me she had fallen in 
love with me and didn’t want me to leave. I was torn then. I needed
to get revenge for the guide and his daughter but I also wanted to 
explore the feelings that had been awakened from what had happened
with Shampoo.

Cologne knew I was feeling at odds and made the suggestion that 
Shampoo go with me. My direction sense had improved but it wasn’t
foolproof and having her around would be a big help. Of course 
Shampoo jumped at the chance. She had never been outside of the 
village except to go to nearby training areas. I kind of had my 
doubts about the whole thing. I didn’t voice them though because
I felt it was a good idea too.

We set out a couple months later. As our search went on over time,
Shampoo started acting strange. She would either cry over the 
littlest things or snap at me for something I didn’t even know had 
offended her and then bawl her eyes out for yelling at me, 
apologizing profusely. It wasn’t until we had visited a doctor in 
Hong Kong when we found out what was going on. Shampoo was pregnant.

There’s a saying I heard once, ‘You could have knocked me over with
a feather.’ It applied just then. The girl I had come to realize
that I loved as much as she loved me was going to be the mother of my
child. Of course I was scared shitless and ecstatically happy at the
same time. What guy that finds out he’s going to be a dad isn’t?
Shampoo had pretty much the same reaction I did. It’s like they say,
‘Life is what happens when you make other plans.’

We were able to get a pretty decent apartment in the city and I was
also able to get a job. I won’t bore you with the day to day stuff
but we spent quite a long time in Hong Kong. A few months after we 
had gotten there, Shampoo gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. She 
named her Lilly, after her mother. A couple months before that 
though, Shampoo and I became husband and wife in a simple ceremony.
It may have been all we could afford at the time but we didn’t care.
It was good enough for us because we had each other and that is all
that mattered.

It was a few more months before Lilly was strong enough to travel
and we continued our journey. We followed every lead we could, trying
to find Umbrella. A few times we had come close. Then one day, while
in Cleveland following another rumor, we hit paydirt. There was an 
old abandoned army base there that had been bought by Umbrella
and word from the underground was that they were experimenting
with some strange water. That is what sealed it for us. We had 
finally gotten our chance.

------Pause FlashBack------

"Sorry for stopping so suddenly but I just realized something."

"What’s that Ryoga?"

"Well, I’ve been talking for a while and I REALLY need to go to the
bathroom. Do you know where one is?"

"There’s one over there by the stairwell."

"Thanks, I’ll be right back. Oh, before I forget, here are some 
pictures you might like to see. They’re of me and my family."

"Thank you, I’ll look them over while you’re gone."

As Ryoga headed off to the men’s room and relief, Kasumi started
looking through the photos. The first one was of an obviously
younger Ryoga standing next to a very pregnant young woman in a 
Chinese dress. Both looked nervous but happy. Ryoga had his arm 
around her shoulder and she had her head resting against his chest.
‘This must be Shampoo. She’s very pretty.’ The next photo had been
taken the same day because this time they were kissing in it ‘I guess
this is their wedding.’

Picture after picture revealed nuances to the story Ryoga had been
telling her. Lilly looked like an angel. She had gotten most of her
looks from her mother but had little fangs like her father in the 
pictures where she was older. Then there were some shots that were
a little confusing. In them, sometimes with Ryoga, Shampoo or even
Lilly was a redheaded girl. Kasumi didn’t know her but felt as if she
should. There was just something about her eyes.

The ones with the redhead had been taken over a weekend it looked
like. There were very few changes between the people shown except
for clothes. Whoever she was, she was obviously a friend to the 
Hibikis. The expressions on their faces were evidence of that. There
was also an aspect of tiredness in the adults’ eyes. All three of 
them looked like they had just gone through the wringer a few times.
‘Maybe she fights against Umbrella too. I know I’ve had that look 
lately.’

Once Kasumi got to the last picture, Ryoga came back. "So, what do 
you think?" Looking at him, she replied, "Your wife is very beautiful
and your daughter is too. You must feel very lucky." Sitting down and
taking the pictures back, he said, "Yeah, I do. Shampoo is my heart
and soul. Lilly is my angel. I don’t know what I would do without
them in my life."

"I thought you would get lost or something. How come you didn’t this
time?"

"Like I said, meditation. I still can get lost now and again but 
that’s if I’m really irritated or upset like when we met earlier.
So where was I in my story?"

"Cleveland."

"Oh right. Well then…"

------Resume FlashBack------

Thanks to a man named Trent, we had gained maps of the base. What we
didn’t have was a babysitter. Lilly knew of our self-imposed
mission and didn’t want either of us to go. We’ve never held anything
back from her because we feel it’s better to be honest. She’s also
pretty good at manipulating us. It was decided that Shampoo would
stay behind and take care of Lilly while I checked out the base 
itself.

I was able to sneak onto the base easily since most of it wasn’t
even being used. It was a clear night with a full moon but rain had
been predicted to start falling around midnight. Checking the 
barracks first had been a mistake. The smell of rot and the buzzing
of flies nearly made me lose my dinner. In almost every building
were corpses in various states of decay. The men and women I found
had been gunned down. All the inner walls of the buildings had bullet
holes and lots of them except for by the door. My next stop was the
motor pool.

I found nearly the same thing there. I also found a few trucks and 
jeeps in various states of disrepair. There were only two vehicles
that were fully functional. I made a note to come back here in case
I needed to make a quick getaway. Almost every building on the base,
from the P.X. to the offices was filled with the dead. I was starting
to believe I was either going around in circles or there wasn’t all
that much here. Boy was I wrong.

In the medical center, I found a secret elevator that took me five
stories down. Once the doors opened, I stepped out into what I 
thought was a hospital corridor. At first I thought my direction
problem had flared up until I heard the footsteps. Down the hall to 
my left was a sort of shuffling and moaning. There was also a smell
that I first encountered in those barracks up top.

When I got closer, the footsteps changed to wet splashes and chewing
sounds. The moans got louder too. There were about seven of them,
eating someone or something. All I know was there was a lab coat 
stained with blood under the pile. A gasp made me look up. Standing
across from me with the buffet from Hell between us was a redheaded
girl. I guess my sudden appearance startled her because she ran off
as soon as we made eye contact.

I called out to her to stop but that just made the diners notice
me. My umbrella had never gotten so much of a workout. Once I 
finished beating them all down so they wouldn’t get up again, I set
off to find the girl. The keycard I stepped on before heading off 
gave me a good idea of where to check first. It said ‘Lab 3.’

According to the map, Lab 3 was in the same general direction
where the girl ran off to. I got turned around a couple of times but
soon found my way again with little trouble. Lab 3 looked to be some
sort of clean room. There were six huge tubes full of what looked
like water and were big enough to hold a full grown man that 
stretched to the ceiling along the back wall, a long metal top table
with sinks and gas leads installed, glass-faced cabinets full of 
bottles and jars of liquids and pills of different colors, a desk 
with papers strewn all over and around it, more beakers than I could
count and a huge dark stain by the door.

The papers told me that some of the resident eggheads had discovered
a naturally occurring virus living right in the water Umbrella
had stolen. Also according to the notes was proof the virus was 
almost a complete match to the T-Virus as they called it, except
the properties were different and they didn’t know why the 
decomposition didn’t occur. What they didn’t know and something
I had discovered on my own was the T-Virus was a lab mutated version
of the Ebola Virus, worked on by some guys named Wesker and Birkin
back during the 70’s and 80’s.

I even found a diary by one of the workers that had been running
experiments on animals with the water. It described how monkeys
were given injections of partial samples of different springs to see
what would happen. One test was a complete success when they mixed
the Nyanniichuan, that’s the spring of Drowned Girl, and the spring
of Drowned Pervert. Yes, I said pervert. It’s a mind changing spring.

The scientist had named her Jenny and the two of them were going to 
run away together but not before he tried to trash the whole 
facility. He failed of course. While I was reading the diary, I heard
a noise behind me and thought it was the girl. It wasn’t, not even
close. It was the biggest damn spider I had ever seen in my life.
I didn’t even get a chance to shout out in fright when the thing 
smacked me into one of the tubes all the way across the room. The 
glass cracked but didn’t break just then. Then the spider leapt at me
and knocked me into the tube again and this time the glass shattered.

All I noticed was a tingling sensation all over my body and an 
increase in my strength as the water washed over me. That and my 
temper was about to get the best of me but I maintained calm as best
I could and beat that damn arachnid to death. When I finished,
I looked up and saw a black-haired guy giving me a measuring look,
like he didn’t know what to make of me. I snarled at him, "You want
some of this too?!" and his eyebrows shot up into his hairline.
I guess he didn’t expect me to say anything and that’s when I noticed
my voice.

"Wha-what the hell happened to my voice?" I murmured quietly. The guy
just said, "I think you should be more concerned about your looks
right now." I was confused and it showed in my face I’m sure. When
I looked at him again, he just pointed to my left and I saw in a 
mirror a thing out of a nightmare. It was too much for me and I just
fainted right then and there.

When I came to, I was on a hospital bed and the guy and girl were 
hovering over me. When they saw I was awake, the girl smiled and the
guy let out a relieved sigh. I asked them what was happening and they
filled me in. It turns out that the facility was going to be 
destroyed until the discovery of the water was made and it was 
earmarked as the testing area. The military applications of the 
T-Virus as I’m sure you know are to not only destroy the enemy but to
also make them into an unstoppable army for whoever unleashes
it to begin with. This virus, that I got infected with, was made for
infiltration purposes.

With just a slight application of cold water, an operative has a 
perfect disguise. The only problem is that there are so few springs
that change someone into a human. That’s why some of them had been
mixed or spliced with other strains of genetic code. The girl, who 
turned out to be Jenny, was going to run away with her boyfriend
but there was an accident and the T-Virus ended up taking over most
of the staff. He was the one being feasted upon earlier.

The guy, who told me his name was Ranma, had been abducted and taken
to the underground lab as a test subject. He also had been infected
with what had been dubbed the J-Virus. I’ll jump ahead a little 
because some things have no real impact on what I’m telling you right
now. Jenny, Ranma and I decided that we needed to get out of there
but we also needed to destroy the place first. Any and all forms of 
notes or letters or whatever that had the appearance of being even
vaguely important were also collected.

It took a while but we had made it. As we drove off in one of the 
jeeps I had found, while Jenny was asleep in the back Ranma told me 
that he couldn’t stick around and had to find you to warn you. Some
higher-up in Umbrella knew of you and your teammates and was planning
some sort of attack, what was named ‘Poetic Justice.’ When the three
of us got back to my home, Ranma used my computer scanner to input
a hardcopy file into it and told me that I should keep my own version
of it on me in case I ever ran into you.

He left two days later headed to Raccoon City. That was the last I 
heard from him. Jenny stayed with Shampoo, Lilly and me for some time
before she also headed off, in her case to Vegas and anonymity.
We haven’t heard from her since and hope she is safe.

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

"So, you’re infected? What do you turn into?"

Giving a sigh and running his fingers through his hair, Ryoga asked,
"You promise not to scream?" Getting a nod in confirmation,
Ryoga lifted a blue thermos out of his pack and tilted it over his 
head. "Um, shouldn’t you open that first?" Kasumi asked while trying
to suppress her mirth.

"Oops." Ryoga blushed and then opened the thermos and poured the 
contents over his head. The change was so sudden, Kasumi felt she had
blinked as Ryoga’s form shifted and grew before her. Where a young
man sitting before her used to be, there was now a creature that 
could only be described as a mix of human and boar. Dark short black
fur covered every exposed area she could see. His face was now more
animalistic than man except for the eyes and still slightly normal
shaped head. Two thick tusks thrust out of his lower jaw and his 
upper fangs were also thicker and longer.

"Cool!"

"Huh?" Ryoga was puzzled. Had she just shouted the word ‘Cool?’
Oh well, it was better than screaming. At least his family felt the
same as Kasumi seemed to. His daughter Lilly had said exactly the 
same thing the first time she had seen him transform. Shampoo’s
reaction had been more subdued until they went to bed that night.
Because of her later reaction in their bedroom, Ryoga came to terms
with the curse as he called it easier than if he had been alone in 
the world. He still owed Umbrella for it though and they were going
to suffer, make no mistake.

Pouring water from a red thermos on his head, he changed back and 
gave Kasumi a serious look. "Thanks for not screaming. Like I 
promised Ranma, here is the file he found. I think you should read
it now before we do anything else. I’ll go patrol while you do." 
Handing her a sheaf of papers from his pack, Ryoga then stood and 
headed off in a random direction while resting his umbrella on his 
shoulder. Kasumi watched him walk off then started to read.

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

To: Umbrella HQ

From: Ozwell Spencer III

Re: Kobe Mistake

Gentlemen, as you know, over 20 years ago one of our earlier 
experiments with variations of the T-Virus were stumbled upon by 
three nosy individuals. Unfortunately, only one of them had been 
found years later. Steps had been taken and petty though they may 
have been, all but one of the family members was dealt with. This was
discovered by Albert Wesker, an operative in the data/information
section when he made the connection to a new recruit to the 
S.T.A.R.S. team he headed in Raccoon City and one of the individuals
in question.

Thanks again to the recruit, one Kasumi Tendo, my grandfather’s
estate and more importantly the lab, was demolished because of her 
meddling. I need not remind you that the loss of Wesker was nothing
to really worry about but his no longer having control over that 
psychopath police chief Brian Irons hurt us greatly. I have been 
thinking on this matter a great deal lately. What can be done to 
quiet Miss Tendo and the remaining S.T.A.R.S. members permanently?

Like a bolt out of the blue, it hit me. The Tyrant program. 
Currently, the creation of a Tyrant still requires a "volunteer"
as a base for the body. Our old friend Emilio Sharpe discovered
this only too well. It’s a shame he was destroyed during the incident
at the Arklay lab but such is science. We learned from our mistakes
and moved on.

I have been toying with the notion that the old ‘Nemesis Plan’ be 
reinstated for the task I’m proposing. With the proper subject,
it could finally become a success. I will be sending my full proposal
shortly after this memo finds its way to you. With your approval,
I shall continue my research.

Signed,

Ozwell Spencer III

***

‘Nemesis Plan? My God, if they had something like that already in the
works there’s no telling what else they might have. And who’s this
Ozwell Spencer the Third?’

***

Private Journal of Ozwell Spencer III

July 20th

Damn them all!!!

How dare they do this to me! ME!!! My grandfather was one of the 
founding members of this company and this is how they treat me? 
Sticking me in some damnable underground hell where my nearest 
neighbors are the FUCKING WORMS!!!

I’ve contributed more to research and development than my father
and grandfather combined and they store me away like some common
lackey! There’s absolutely no strategic value here and all we’re 
doing is busy work. If they don’t need me anymore, why don’t they 
just put a bullet in my brain and be done with it.

Those old men on the board are getting too fat and complacent.
If they’re not careful, one day they may find themselves in more 
trouble than they ever thought to be. I guarantee it.

***

‘Wow. This guy has some issues.’

***

Private Journal of Ozwell Spencer III

July 28th

Those fat fools almost bought their own deaths. A few days ago, I was
told that this facility may be shut down. I’m here barely a week and
they wanted to shut it down? What the fuck are they using for brains,
cow manure? Thanks to a discovery in China, this damned place has 
been issued a reprieve.

Water, of all things, is being sent here for testing. This water is 
supposed to have so-called transformative properties. I’ll believe
it when I see it.

Addendum-

I’ve seen it and I still don’t believe it. An accident occurred
during transport and one of the containers broke open, splashing
three men in the process. Fortunately the water was saved but if any
of those men had wives, well, let’s hope they’re bi is all I’ll say.
The transformation is supposed to be temporary but nobody knows how
to reverse it. Yet.

Second Addendum-

Hot water seems to be the key to reversing the process. An accident
in the employee snack room with a faulty coffee urn proved this. 
Luckily, no one was scalded. This water from some unknown little
nowhere called Jusenkyo is more interesting than I first believed
it to be. Cold water is the activator. The three unfortunates
are going through a complete physical as I write this to determine
how extensive the change is. When they realized the physical included
their new bodies, their panicked screaming was actually hilarious.

I don’t envy them one bit. Even if I had been born female, I would
hate the idea of having to get a gynecological exam. I shudder just
thinking of it. Believe me when I say, I have a new respect for women
right now.

***

July 30th

What the hell is going on? I’ve just received word from headquarters
that there was some sort of accident at my grandfather’s estate.
I know they’ve been trying to improve on the mortality rate of the 
T-Virus there. From what I heard, there was some sort of outbreak
and a few "subjects" escaped in the confusion. Hopefully this was all
blown out of proportion once I heard about it but I doubt that 
highly.

To think, I don’t even open this journal for years and something
like this happens. I know I should write the year when I date these
entries but I don’t really care. All that matters now is that the 
outbreak is contained and the missing virus carriers are recovered.
I doubt I could do anything even if I was there. Right now I’m glad
I’m not.

***

August 8th

As I suspected, things got worse.

Some of the escapees, altered Dobermans I believe, attacked some 
hikers in the mountains. That’s not the worst part. The worst part
is that it actually made the local paper. The puppet police chief,
Irons, is trying to placate the citizens of Raccoon but I doubt they
will stay calm for long. Some might even try to find answers to 
questions they have no right to ask.

This, as my father would have put it, is a ‘major cock-up.’ If I 
didn’t know any better, I’d think this was allowed to happen.

***

August 27th

Ever since the discovery of a naturally occurring virus in the 
Jusenkyo water a few years ago, experiments have been run nonstop
to figure out why it was there to begin with. Altering its base 
structure seems to alter the waters properties as well. An individual
will still be affected by the water but what they change into can 
sometimes vary depending on what happened to the virus.

Something else was discovered some time ago. Should an individual
be doused with the cursed water, the change can be reversed with the
appropriate counter. If forcefully introduced to the bloodstream,
the change is permanent. This doesn’t apply if a cut, healing or 
otherwise is already present or one is created at the time of the 
first dousing.

The unpredictable nature of the spring waters makes it nearly 
impossible to be used as planned. Also, the fact that there are so 
few springs that change a person but keep them human is no help 
either. More experimentation is needed.

***

For what seemed like hours, Kasumi read through the journal. Page 
after page described what to most would seem to be a fairy tale but
she knew better. She knew the odd things that Umbrella could unleash
all too well. Kasumi felt her blood run cold when reading the 
descriptions of some particularly brutal "experiments." She just 
hoped that wherever Ranma was, he would have enough sense to stay the
hell away from Raccoon City. There was no doubt in her mind that 
things were about to heat up.

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

Author’s Notes:

Well, I’ve finally updated. There are actually a couple reasons
why it took so long. First off, I lost inspiration and interest
in the story and couldn’t bring myself to make the attempt of 
writing. That’s one of the reasons a lot of writers just don’t finish
stories.

The other reason is because my health took a major nosedive after
I released the last chapter. I ended up with a bad case of pneumonia
and was laid up for some time. After that, on the 22nd of December,
my appendix burst and I didn’t realize it till I was admitted into
a hospital on the 23rd. It was taken out the next day and I was 
released on the 28th. What’s worse is that it had been gangrenous
for months. I wonder if this is how Celeste Byrd died. It’s a shame
a talented writer like her passed on.

Anyway, I’m still around and I have some of my inspiration back. Too
bad I’m still lazy so chapters will be few and far between. I’ve 
already got ideas for the next one though. Unfortunately,
I don’t own any of the characters used, except for Keiko and the 
brief appearance of Naomi Greene. I can promise you this much, Ranma
will show up in the next chapter and that’s all I’m saying about 
that. I'll also explain Kasumi's reaction to Ryoga's curse.

Thanks to kami-of-chaos for the uplifting review on fanfiction.net
and thanks go to DogbertCarol, hope I spelled that right, for the 
recent glut of reviews as well. I’m glad you like my stuff. As 
always, remember my motto, "My fic, my rules." See you in the funny
papers.