[Episode 253768] [Episode 253768]Getting dragged off by the ear by an irate—for once, rightfully so—fiancée, Ranma wasn't sure what to think. He’d just been propositioned by one of his classmates to impregnate her. This wasn't one of the usual 'Fiancée Brigade', nor even someone from his class. No, this was a one of the Upper Classman, a girl ready to leave this hell-hole of a High School that was Furinkan High. This was a woman, a Non-Martial Artist Ranma had no interaction with whatsoever until that afternoon. And yet she was willing to throw herself into the mess that was his life, because... well, he didn’t know what the reason was, but he understood that she wouldn’t have come to him for a baby unless she saw some worth in him.
That’s when his mind finally registered that Akane had been talking/ranting to him.
“Honestly, I can’t believe the nerve of some people!” the Heir of the Tendo School of Anything Goes Martial Arts complained irritably. “What do they think you are? Some sort of meat market?”
“No... apparently they think of me as a girl...” Ranma grumbled irritably. He raised his right hand to brush Akane’s to signal her to let him go—only to wince as she pinched his ear that much tighter. Darn it! Why’d she have to grip so hard? Wasn’t his fault this was happening...
As they passed—in his case, was dragged—by the condemned Neko Hanten; broken doors, shattered windows, impacts of bullet and shrapnel in the walls and streets... the pigtailed martial artist had to sigh. No, it wasn’t his fault this happened. Everything that went wrong with the world was due to China’s one-child policy: a one-child per family mandate that was introduced in 1979 and initially applied to first-born children born in that year. It was created by the Chinese government to—at least in it initial conception—alleviate social, economic, and environmental problems in China. The government claimed that the policy would do this by aiding in population control; that it would prevent between 250 and 400 million births from its implementation until its expiration in 2009. The policy was enforced by the China’s National Population and Family Planning Commission, who worked to make the law exist at every level of government and society, raising awareness of the issue and carrying out registration and inspection work.
The policy was controversial both within and outside of China not only due to the manner with which the policy had been implemented, but because of the concerns of negative social consequences, not to mention the violation of human rights. The policy had been implicated in an increase of forced abortions, female infanticide, and had been suggested as the cause behind China’s gender imbalance. A leaked 2001 report exposed that over twenty-thousand abortions and sterilizations were performed in the Huaiji County in Guangdong Province in one year due to its citizens trying to stay within the guidelines of the one-child policy.
However, despite how unpopular the policy was with the people, many citizens would abide by the rule and have only that one child. It was not a permanent policy and they understood it was for the betterment of the people.
That changed in 2008. The year before the one-child policy was to expire and the majority of the citizens initially subject to the policy were no longer of reproductive age, China’s National Population and Family Planning Commission among other governing bodies had an internal vote and passed the renewal of the policy with the intent for it to remain in place indefinitely. This did not go well with many of the citizens of the People’s Republic of China who were born during that time frame and wished to have their own families. The Deputy-Director of the Commission’s office was becoming flooded expressed requests to allow for couples to have a second child but to no avail for the people. The vote had been passed and government of the People’s Republic of China was not about to hold another one until 2018 at the earliest.
Within two years of passing the renewal, China’s National Population and Family Planning Commission’s research and investigation of internal affairs had evidence that showed many of the citizens were now disregarding the policy, purposely violating it! The fines tallied and birth records were adding up to show that civil unrest was starting to rise once more. True, the government was taking in more revenue now due to the fees placed on families that dared to have more than one child, but for the People’s Republic of China, the policy was not about monetary gain from those who broke it... but attaining the goal. The policy was the science of eugenics put into practice: the aim was to improve the genetic composition of the Chinese population. The China’s National Population and Family Planning Commission was not about to dilute the proficiency of the Chinese gene-pool via overpopulation and undesired traits and decided to take matters into their own hands.
The China’s National Population and Family Planning Commission turned to the National Natural Science Foundation of China for help in these matters. The NSFC was founded in1986 with the approval of the State Council as an institution to oversee the management of the progress of medical science and the monetary allocation the National Natural Science Fund’s capitol. Their aim was to promote, finance, and apply medical research in China. In effect, the NSFC was analogous to the US National Institute of Health. Their medical department had made enough progress in biomedical research in 2001 as to gain enough political clout to push forward various projects that pertained to their own agenda... and now the Chinese government was calling its favor.
The National Natural Science Foundation of China was tasked with creating an agent that would attack the human ability to procreate. They did not seek to outright neuter the nation but to decrease the human body’s biological signals that incur the urgency if not desire for sexual reproduction. Within six months, the NSFC had created a chemical agent they code-named, “Little Emperor”: it was designed to go after the human genome as to make sure it would take effect, however this was not something the governing bodies of the People’s Republic of China wanted to spread outside of its nation’s borders. To make certain of this, the chemical’s design was to affect only a desired Phenotype: to seek out the expression of an organism’s genes that made up the Chinese people, particularly rural, ethnic minorities.
The agent was designed for both fluid and aerial distribution. Within nine months, the effects started to become known as the birth rates dropped off exponentially. The China’s National Population and Family Planning Commission were pleased with these results and continued production and application of the “Little Emperor” chemical...
Until that same birth drop-off started to be seen in neighboring of Korea, Vietnam, and Taiwan started to show a similar drop-off in birth-rates. It was alarming, but the scientist felt it was due to the phenotype being similar and the aerial distribution of the chemical having a longer life-expectancy than originally planned. Certainly, it was something that could be kept quiet as to not upset the politics of the world stage.
Within a month more, a drop-off in birth rates were being reported in Japan, the Philippine Islands, and Malaysia... another month, and it was starting to hit all Asian-ethnic individuals the world over.
Then the results of foreign medical offices were coming to light. Most of the younger people—most, not all—were able to process the chemical as the National Natural Science Foundation of China had expected but in older people... it was causing irreversible damage to the testicles and the ovaries, particularly in people over the age of thirty. And worse still, the senior set began to drop like flies as their bodies could not handle repeated exposure to this chemical at all! There was a rise in the instances of Asian adults over the age of fifty having various medical complications, numerous of these afflicted adults dying off suddenly just as the senior’s had.
It was an exceedingly rare sight to see anyone of Asian background in their seventies.
The world, which had been slowly crawling towards a global population of seven billion... had crashed back down to six billion within a six month period and was still dropping at an alarming rate.
Investigations were launched by various world governments to find the source of what was becoming labeled Asian Cellular Breakdown Syndrome or “ACBS” for short... it didn’t take long for guilt-ridden scientists that worked within the People’s Republic of China’s government to leak information to the proper foreign authorities, smuggling them the information and research data of Agent Little Emperor.
Needless to say, the backlash against the Chinese Government was immense. The rage that was being expressed due to the dangers and problems caused by the renamed, “Emperor’s Plague”, and the world struck back at a global scale. Boycotts on Chinese goods, embargos on shipping of goods into China, a nation-wide quarantine around what was listed as ‘ground-zero’ of this new genetic disease was enforced with naval ships constantly roaming the seat of Japan along the coast of China and neighboring Russia and India keeping the roads closed, and the enforcement of immediate deportation of illegally immigrated Chinese back to mainland China.
The later was what happened to the Amazons. Having investigates the warriors of the Bayankala Mountain Range’s Niuchezu, the Japan Ministry of Justice discovered they had entered Japan outside of the proper channels. In turn, they sent in the Japan Special Defense Forces in to forcibly detain such dangerous warriors. Many a good men were injured and much property damage took places, but all three were placed under government detention until such a time where they could be deported.
Ranma had no clue if they were in China yet, but as it stood... because of China, a whole genetic make-up of humanity was on the brink of devastation. Governments the world over were pushing the younger generation of Asian people to have babies but in the places effected the most, such as Japan... that effort went beyond normal means. While numerous governments, such as the United States, offered numerous benefits to their Asian population for reproducing... the actual governments of the Far East were taking strong-arm tactics, PUNISHING people if they didn’t have kids.
And they were punishing him, because he could turn into a girl part of the time... making his life hell until he gave in and popped a kid.
Well screw that! He was Ranma Saotome! Man among men! The greatest martial artist of his generation! He was NOT going to become some baby factory because the Japanese Diet was scared about a decline in the population. Shoot! It might be nice to have some elbow room!
Ranma yelped as his but hit the curb of the front entranceway of the Tendo home. It was then finally released his ear and allowed him to fall onto his back. About time she let go! He could walk on his own, thank you very mu--Wait, I know those feet...
His gaze rising, the pigtailed martial artist realized he was looking up at his mother... with her wrapped bundle at her side... and she didn’t look all too happy to see him.
“My son,” Nodoka said with a serious tone that brooked no room for argument. “We need to talk.”
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(Posted Thu, 15 Mar 2012 20:20)
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