Chapter 7: Et tu?
Elsewhere - Saturday, March 5th 1994
Eiko grimly totaled the damage that had been wreaked on the consciousness of its chosen companion. The intruding malevolence had disintegrated the instant an effective defense had been erected, but not before it had forced the youngster’s core psyche deep into a staunchly barricaded region of her subconscious.
Eiko reviewed the completed analysis of the hostile magic and compared it against other similar magics of which it had detailed knowledge. Its previous inability to analyze the workings of the nekoken was explained: Ranma’s automatic withdrawal into her own subconscious left her with no memories of any events during each possession episode.
And the ultimate intention of the magic was clearly inherent in its design. Ranma had been extremely fortunate her father had bungled the ritual that created the nekoken. The magic’s initial function – the total destruction of the host’s core personality – had failed in its entirety, which in turn prevented the invading controller construct from gaining more than a partial hold on her spiritual matrix. One could only surmise that Genma, by apparently mistaking the ritual spell book for a martial arts training manual, had repeatedly ignored several key steps in the ritual’s initial invocation.
It was also a testament to the youngster’s strength of will she had been able to reduce the invading construct to such a low level of effectiveness. Unfortunately, that same strength had also completely masked the true nature of the inimical magic. Eiko had employed a standard diagnostic probe construct rather than one of a less intrusive nature, and the probe’s inadvertent destruction of Ranma’s defenses had allowed the defective hostile magic to thrash briefly unchecked throughout the conscious pathways of its host. Significant localized neural damage had been the result.
Eiko was reasonably certain Ranma’s psyche would remain in her subconscious bastion as long as it continued to occupy the neural pathways of her consciousness, as any foreign intelligence present would most likely be considered hostile under the present conditions. This was quite fortunate, as a majority of the neural damage was centered in the girl’s language processing region – both Broca’s and Wernicke’s modules had been virtually destroyed and a significant portion of the various interconnecting fasciculi were burnt out due to severe localized overloading. If her psyche were to reintegrate with her conscious mind now, she would experience the effects of global aphasia. This would significantly hamper the task of damage repair.
Eiko assembled a delicate cellular regeneration construct only to discard it immediately upon completion; the numerous extraneous magic fields afflicting its companion were interfering noticeably with the construct’s operation and the artifact could ill afford to inflict further harm while it was in the process of repairing the damage which currently existed. Eiko had only planned on removing those which negatively affected its companion, but it would have to remove all but the two if it were to efficiently affect the proper repairs.
Eiko tuned itself to the oldest applied field – the localized general probability modifier – and began the lengthy process of dissipating the various external magic fields afflicting its Guardian.
Juuban
One uniformed senshi, four senshi in civilian clothes, and one extremely mortified royal court advisor stared at the uniformed senshi’s mother. In return, said mother glared balefully at the moon cat while balancing a platter of warm lemon meringue pie in each hand. The tableau was held in motionless silence for a full ten seconds before Ikuko Tsukino shattered it with a big sigh.
“You realize you two just cost me over ten thousand yen, don’t you, Luna?”
The cat’s immediate response was to plant her face firmly into the carpet.
Ikuko turned her attention to her fuku-clad daughter. “And you, young lady. I hope you have a good explanation for all of this.”
“Hee hee hee hee …”
Ikuko walked over and quietly placed both pies down on the table before addressing the rest of the group. “No offense, Minako-chan, but I was certain it would have been you who ended up blowing your cover in such a definitive manner. Would any of you girls care for a slice of pie?” The elder Tsukino smiled serenely at the group, who were all sitting in stunned silence.
Sailor Moon sat down with an audible thump, not noticing that her artifact had stopped generating its miniature hologram of Queen Serenity.
“Tsukino-san?”
“Yes, Ami-chan?”
“How long have you been aware of our extracurricular activities?”
“Mmmm …” Ikuko thought for a moment. “Since about the time Chibi-Usa came to stay with us. It’s rather difficult to ignore the existence of a talking cat when it sits outside of your bathroom and has a loud conversation with your daughter.”
Usagi’s eyes bugged out. “… that long …”
“Yes, dear. You must have noticed I’ve been much more tolerant of your poor grades this school year.”
“But … If that’s … You …” Usagi tried franticly to gather her thoughts. “If you’ve known all along that I’m Sailor Moon, why did you ground me this last week?” she wailed before recoiling from the intense look of disapproval her mother gave in return.
“Usagi, just because you girls have to go out and save the world on occasion is no reason for you to ignore your schoolwork. If anything it should make you work even harder to make up for all of your absences.” Ikuko began dishing out servings of pie.
Rei started snickering.
“Reeeeeeiiiiiiii…” Usagi whined.
“We’ve been telling you that all along, Usagi,” Rei responded with a noticeably smug expression. “If you fail the exam for Juuban, you’ll end up at Kōryō Sumimoto or some other technical school.”
“That is not going to happen,” Ikuko replied, spearing her daughter with an iron gaze. “IS IT, Usagi?”
Usagi gulped. “No, Mama.”
“Good.” Ikuko’s visage instantly reverted to that of a cheery homemaker. Usagi’s expression perked up almost instantly when her mother handed her a large slice of lemon pie.
“Thank you, Mama!”
“Thank you, Tsukino-san,” caroled the other four girls.
Ikuko sat back and enjoyed the reaction of Usagi’s friends to her culinary expertise. Of course, her daughter would eat practically anything sweet, nevertheless it was nice to see such enthusiasm from all of the girls. Still, Usagi was a little more subdued than normal, but that should be expected considering …
Ikuko furrowed her eyebrows and cocked her head to the side a touch. “Usagi dear, isn’t that a different outfit than the one you normally wear?”
Usagi blinked. She hadn’t even noticed that she was still in her senshi outfit. “Umm, yes it is Mama – this is my Super Senshi outfit.”
“That’s very nice, but don’t you think it would be wise to change back to your street clothes? Neither Papa nor Shingo know about you being Sailor Moon and you know how well your brother can keep a secret.”
“Yes, Mama.”
“Princess, that really isn’t a wise course of action at the moment.”
“EEEP!” Usagi jumped suddenly to her feet, eyes wide. Her odango pigtails flailed about wildly as she looked frantically around the room.
“Usagi?”
“What is it?”
“MARS STAR P[*choke*]… HEY, WATCH IT WITH THE
HAIR, USAGI!”
“Is there something the matter, Usagi?” Ikuko calmly inquired. She’d have to ask the other girls what those cute little wands were for and why Ami didn’t have one.
Usagi held a hand over her heart and took a couple of deep breaths. “Sorry, Mama, I thought I heard someone say something right behind me but that doesn’t make any sense does it I was sitting down with my back to the wall so how could there be anyone there behind me ahahahaha I must have imagined it hahahaha and …”
“Princess, …”
“EEEEEEEK!” thump “OWWW!” Usagi jumped three feet away from the table while trying to turn around to find the voice again. She landed on her rear when her feet failed to follow the rest of her body at the same speed. “There it is again!”
The small image of Queen Serenity reappeared in front of Usagi.
“I’m sorry, Princess, it was not my intent to startle you.”
Usagi rubbed her back with one hand while she glared at the small floating image. “Did you make those last two comments?”
“Yes I did, Princess. I only …”
“WELL THEN DON’T DO IT AGAIN!” Usagi’s face turned beet red from the combination of embarrassment and anger.
“But Princess, I only use this external projection when it’s necessary to communicate with the other senshi.”
“I DON’T CARE! THAT SCARED THE HE…”
“USAGI!”
Usagi looked up to her mother, who was now standing with crossed arms and a stern expression on her face.
Uh-oh.
“What have I told you about your temper tantrums, young lady? You will keep a civil tongue in this house, especially with your friends over who have been nice enough to help you with your schoolwork. Now I want you to march yourself upstairs and change back into your regular clothes right this instant.”
“But Mama …”
“Tsukino-sama, I don’t think that you quite …”
Ikuko glared at the miniature image. “I didn’t ask for your opinion, Brooch-Crystal or whatever your name is. Talking cats are one thing, but talking jewelry is a completely different matter. It’s been hard enough keeping Papa and Shingo from finding out about Sailor Moon this last year and I will not have that jeopardized just because you’re a little nervous. Now Usagi, I want you to go and change back to your street clothes right away.”
“Yes, Mama.” Usagi sighed, pulling the magic back into herself. There was a brief blurring before her normal clothes reappeared and she was no longer outfitted in the spectacular and revealing uniform.
“Oh my,” Ikuko said with a blink. “That must be very useful at times. Now, sit down and have another slice of pie – I want to know how you got involved in all this Sailor Senshi business in the first place and why your talking brooch kept calling you ‘Princess’.”
“Tsukino-san?”
The elder Tsukino smiled sweetly and looked back to the other girls around the table. “Yes, Ami-chan?”
“Before we start, may I ask a question first?”
“Certainly, dear.”
“Why did you tell Luna a little earlier that she cost you ten thousand yen?”
“Well, it was because of the bet we all had.”
“We?” Rei asked. She had a bad feeling about this.
“Yes,” Ikuko replied with a nod and that serene smile of hers. “The parents all made a bet on how long you girls could keep going before accidentally revealing your Sailor Senshi identities.”
“All …” Minako uttered.
“… our parents …” Rei finished.
“Of course,” Ikuko replied with a nod. “Well, what we actually bet on was who would be the one to actually reveal your identities. I picked Minako-chan, Hiroshi-san picked Artemis, …”
Minako blanched on hearing her father’s name.
“… and Kazuo-san thought …”
Rei’s face turned white.
“…that Rei would eventually be the one. Uma-chan is …”
Ami’s eyes widened noticeably.
“… the only one who thought that both Usagi and Luna would be the culprits, and since she selected both of them together we gave her double odds.” Ikuko’s expression darkened suddenly as she looked over to the black moon cat, who was curled up on the padded ottoman at the opposite end of the table. “If you had only waited a few minutes before running in the door like you did, Luna, no one would have won.”
“Ahh… ahh…” Luna stuttered.
“Grandfather knows …” Rei muttered, visibly dazed.
“Of course he does, dear,” Ikuko replied, her smile reappearing as suddenly as it had vanished a few seconds ago. “In fact, I’m reasonably sure Kazuo-san has known all about your Senshi identities from the very beginning. You certainly don’t think it’s simply a coincidence you’ve always been able to meet at the shrine without anyone finding out, now do you?”
Rei stared back at the elder Tsukino with eyes wide, her lower jaw moving up and down on its own without uttering a sound.
“Ikuko-san?” Minako asked in a very small voice.
“Yes, Minako-chan?”
“Do you … do you know if my mother knows?” The blonde senshi looked as if she was about to pass out.
“I doubt it, dear,” Ikuko said with a gentle tone of voice. “While I really don’t know either of your parents that well, I do know that Akiko-chan tends to be a little … umm, how can I put this … ‘excitable’ at times when you are concerned. I’m fairly certain that Hiroshi-san has been helping you with Akiko-chan in the same manner I’ve been helping Usagi with Papa and Shingo.”
Minako relaxed visibly on hearing this.
Ikuko sat back down on the other ottoman. “Now, I want to know all about the ‘Princess’ bit.”
Luna glanced up from her place on the ottoman after a noticeable silence had descended about the table. Her stomach dropped to the floor when she realized everyone was looking directly at her in anticipation.
“Oh, Goddess …”
Suginami
Aiko chuckled as she reached the end of the chapter. Yuki’s simulation of pureed Trell and the Avantor’s subsequent reaction was simply priceless, and with all of the hints the author was dropping about ‘deflector plating’ Aiko was sure that it would come back to haunt the Gee fairly quickly. The Yamada matriarch was certain she was missing at least half of the jokes due to a lack of the proper cultural background – Americans did things for the strangest reasons – but it didn’t bother her that much since the comedy was written well enough to encompass a myriad of layers. And The 17’s uncanny similarity to a certain young arrogant JSDF officer made the book all the more enjoyable.
Pollotta-san would have made a good Japanese.
Aiko carefully bookmarked her page and set the book down on the table. Seiko-chan had been waiting patiently for her to finish, which meant the news she had was not of a pressing nature. She poured a second cup of tea and set it to the side before refreshing her own cup. Seiko took the proffered invitation and sat down next to her. The two women took a moment in silence to enjoy the aromatic brew.
“Yamada-ke has become a little livelier these last couple of days, hasn’t it, Seiko-chan?”
“Yes, Okusama, it certainly has.”
“It feels good to at last be able to take an active part in my grandson’s life. We have been waiting far too long for this break to occur and I do not intend to let the opportunity go to waste.”
“No, Okusama.”
“Please see to it that the girls are re-enrolled in Hikaru Hoshi Gakuen for the upcoming year. Talk to Ozaki-san and tell him I would consider it a personal favor if he could see to it that Ranma-kun’s transfer from Furinkan is done … discreetly. Match his class schedule to Midori-chan’s where appropriate but hold off filing the class lists until we find out which gender he’ll be using.”
“Certainly, Okusama. Do you want to increase our endowment contributions this year?”
Aiko thought a moment before shaking her head. “I don’t see the need for that right at the moment. Our overall expenses are likely to be up markedly this year and I am uneasy with the direction the current economy is headed and its effects on the clan’s commercial ventures.”
Aiko took a sip before continuing.
“Also, please set up a family dinner for the last weekend of the month. It has been far too long since the entire clan has gathered and I want to give Ranma-kun a chance to meet the rest of his family.”
“We may have a few problems with Tomoko-san over that, Okusama.”
Aiko’s eyes hardened. “Jiro will just have to cope with his wife’s tantrums on his own, Seiko. I refuse to put up with that any more and this is NOT simply a request this time.”
“Yes, Okusama, I will make certain Jiro-san understands that.” Seiko jotted several notes before placing a section of the morning’s Asahi Shinbun on the table.
Aiko arced an eyebrow when she read the contents of the legal announcement Seiko had circled. “Seiko, do you know which editions this was published in?”
Seiko nodded curtly. “Mitzusaka-san from the central office said it had been published nationwide and was scheduled to run for an entire week.”
“Is it, now.” Aiko’s face assumed a predatory grin. “I see that Nodoka-chan still doesn’t believe in half measures. There may be some hope for her yet.”
“She certainly didn’t leave any room for reconciliation, not with that wording,” Seiko concurred.
“No she didn’t, did she?” Aiko stared at the notice for a moment longer. “Ask Naomi-chan to do a personal reconnaissance of Tendō-ke as soon as possible, Seiko-chan. I doubt No-chan would have allowed Genma much warning once she had made her mind up, so it’s very likely she’s already confronted him in person.”
“Certainly, Okusama.”
Aiko paused to refill her teacup. “Any word from the girls yet?”
“Yes, Okusama,” Seiko said with a smile. “Midori-chan called just a few minutes ago from Shibuya. Their mission was completed without complications and Harukichi-chan saw Ranma-kun off personally. Ranma-kun told them not to wait so the girls decided to do some shopping before coming home. Midori-chan also said that Kumiko-chan should probably not expect them to be back in time for dinner.”
Both women chuckled over this. If previous shopping trips were any indication, the girls would be out until well after dark.
Shiba
Haruka Ten’ou gazed out the window of the penthouse to the skyline of the central Shiba district beyond. They had decided to return here rather than the Kaiou residence in Nakano-ku so they could keep an eye on the younger senshi. Besides, both she and Michiru had felt the shift in the storm winds … and they had long ago learned to trust their premonitions.
Haruka frowned over the thought. While their combined precognition had always done a splendid job of alerting the two older senshi to impending danger, it was obvious the two of them still needed to work on their interpretations. The just-completed resolution to the Silence was ample proof of that.
She shook her head and glowered fiercely. The world had avoided catastrophe by the narrowest of margins, and none of them could count on being that lucky the next time disaster struck. Dumplinghead certainly had the capacity for greatness – she had shown enough flashes of brilliance to earn some respect – but she did so unwillingly and only under extreme duress. The world needed the Princess’s presence all the time, not just when it would fit conveniently into the social calendar of an immature schoolgirl who thought this was all a big game of dress-up and make-believe.
If the universe needed someone to push Usagi into greatness, it was a job she and Michiru were eminently qualified to handle. Dumplinghead might not enjoy the process much, but she would end up thanking the two of them the next time a major crisis hit.
And one of first things the airhead needed to learn was some basic combat tactics. Usagi was a disgrace to the uniform every time a fight broke out – the only real ability she had shown was a talent for dodging and randomly bouncing about like her namesake. Unfortunately, all THAT accomplished was to delay the inevitable, and it forced her partners to pick up more than their fair share of the slack. Easily half the battles could have been resolved quickly if only Usagi had some rudimentary sense of strategy and tactics.
Both she and Michiru would have to be close-by to the younger senshi on a continual basis for this to work out properly, so Haruka would have to get the two of them enrolled into Juuban High for the upcoming school year. The curriculum certainly wouldn’t be a problem; the time they had spent at Mugen had put them way past any normal school academically, and both she and Michiru could handle the class load practically in their sleep. Caring for Hotaru added a slight complication, but nothing that couldn’t be handled with the proper contacts.
In a way, it was a pity they were now being guided into the role of sensei for the younger senshi. With Mugen completely destroyed, the two of them had been looking forward to attending Hikaru Hoshi while living out at Kaiou-ke. She seriously doubted Hikaru Hoshi would turn out to be the same type of front Mugen had been revealed to be, and Hoshi’s curriculum was easily the equal of Mugen’s.
Well, at least the lessened workload would allow her to get back part-time on the Motocross circuit. Yamada-san was probably blowing a gasket knowing that the only reason he was winning races right now was because she wasn’t around to take the checked flag away from him. Haruka chuckled at all the times she crossed the line in front of him, only to think he would die of apoplexy the instant their eyes met after the race. Yamada-san may have her equal in the financial backing of his race team, but Motocross was more about pure driving skill than anything else, and he wasn’t quite good enough to beat her yet in that department.
Speaking of which, it was getting late. If she wanted to get a good ride in before sundown, she had better head out now.
“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”
“Michiru?” Haruka’s head whipped around at the sound of the heart-rending scream. The next sentence sent a cold chill throughout her soul.
“NEPTUNE PLANET POWER, MAKE UP!”
Sailor Uranus transformed and ran to the sound without stopping to think. A few seconds was all it took for the blonde senshi to reach the side of her partner – who was standing in front of Hotaru’s open bedroom door, frozen on the spot.
“Neptune?”
“The Silence,” Sailor Neptune whispered shakily, eyes never wandering from the bedroom’s interior. “The Silence has returned.”
Sailor Uranus shifted positions to follow her partner’s gaze into the room. A sharp intake of breath and clenching of fists was the immediate reaction to the sight of the roiling miasma of evil energy which now surrounded and completely concealed the crib where baby Hotaru had been sleeping.
Elsewhere
Ranma grabbed her head with both hands, clenched her eyes closed even harder, and moaned. She felt like someone had taken a Mixmaster to her brain and left it turned on ‘high’ for several hours. And in addition to the pain, it felt all wrong inside somehow.
“Ranma?”
“Uhhhhhn.”
“Ah, good. I was unable to ascertain exactly how long you would remain in an unminded condition. You should be pleased to note your usual physical resiliency appears to extend to spiritual damage in a similar manner.”
“Gaaaaaah, just make it stop.”
“I’m sorry, Ranma. The pain you are currently experiencing is the result of externally induced psychic trauma – the neural damage caused by the nekoken has already been repaired. You should find the pain lessening significantly when your psyche completes its process of reintegration.”
Ranma whimpered. While not as bad as her recent mountainside burial, it was easily worse than that time when she was seven and her father spent hours bouncing framing lumber off her head in order to “toughen him up a little”. She clenched her teeth and fought waves of dizziness and nausea and shooting pain until the internal torture halted suddenly with a snap. After a long pause Ranma tentatively shook her head once, breathing a big sigh of relief when no corresponding spike of agony accompanied the movement. When she opened her eyes she found herself sitting down next to Eiko with her back supported by one of his ornate support pillars. The hemisphere of light that had surrounded the two of them was now a dull non-luminous grey. It took a moment for her to realize all the illumination inside the grey globe was coming from Eiko’s overhead canopy.
“Eiko?”
“Yes, Ranma?”
“If that’s what you think of as ‘slightly painful’, I’m not really sure I want to know what you consider to be ‘really hurts’.”
“My apologies – my previous comment was intended to describe only the potential discomfort caused by the diagnostic probe itself. Unfortunately, there were some unforeseen complications which occurred during the scan when I inadvertently triggered the malignant possession spell which had been residing within you for some length of time. The spell has now been eradicated.”
“Good for you,” Ranma groaned. A brief moment passed before a quizzical expression appeared on her face. “Wait a minute, what does this all have to do with the nekoken?”
“Ranma, the nekoken was in fact an extra-dimensional possession spell which your father apparently mistook for a martial arts technique. If your father had invoked the ritual correctly, you would no longer exist as a personality at all instead of merely being inflicted with brief periods of ‘going cat’.”
Ranma paused for a moment to digest the full import of Eiko’s explanation before sighing. “Well, I can’t really say I’m going to miss it much, even though it’s been useful a couple of times.”
“I suspected not. In addition to neutralizing the nekoken, I have also reduced the number of external magic fields surrounding you to two. As expected I was unable to separate the stasis field from the Jusenkyō transformation magic, but all of the other magics have been neutralized without incurring further complications. You will, of course, shortly gain the additional magics associated with your Guardianship.”
Ranma nodded. “Speaking of which, are we done with the process yet?”
“No. There is one more step to complete, now that I have been able to properly calculate a complete set of interface transform equations. You may wish to rest a while longer before continuing, as the imprinting process – while not painful per se – can be an extremely disturbing experience in the short term.”
“Disturbing I can handle just fine. The thing bugging me at the moment is the feeling my skull’s too small for my brain inside. It doesn’t really hurt right now – it just feels really odd.”
“That is most likely the result of the neural repairs I was forced to effect after the nekoken. I added a considerable quantity of linguistic data to your speech centers while I was rebuilding them and you have yet to fully assimilate the impressed knowledge. The feelings of excessive compression should dissipate once the data has been fully integrated.”
“Okay, I guess that makes some sort of sense. If it’s all the same to you, I’d just as soon get this all over with now. Sitting down and twiddling my thumbs for a while really doesn’t hold much appeal at the moment.”
“Very well. Please resume your position at the primary Key.”
Ranma groaned as she stood up – a brief flash of dizziness washing over her before her equilibrium reasserted itself properly. A couple of steps returned her to the Garnet Rod.
“Turn the key a half turn clockwise, and then place both hands on the Orb.”
“Geez, how many times do I have to crank this thing around?”
“The Key will eject from the lock automatically once the process is complete, Ranma.”
“Hey, you’re not the one having to do this one-handed.”
“Patience, Ranma. Your first transformation will significantly accelerate the repairs to your injured arm.”
“Yeah, yeah, you’ve already mentioned that.” Ranma carefully placed both hands on the orb. “Now what?”
“State the command ‘Imprint’ out loud.”
Ranma took a deep breath. “Here goes nothing.” She closed her eyes.
“Imprint.”
Ranma’s world turned inside out. A tsunami of power flooded into her being, and for a brief glorious and terrible moment she became one with all of eternity.
She didn’t hear herself scream.
Nerima
“Well, it was certainly fun while it lasted,” Nabiki quipped. She hit the eject button of the VCR and withdrew its precious cargo. With a little creative editing she could string Kunō along for several weeks before the entertainment value finally ran its course. Well, at least all the way up to Graduation Day.
Too bad the main actor in the local drama was no longer available for an encore. Ranma had been so easy to manipulate – she hadn’t had that much fun in years. The pocket change she had earned on the side had also been a nice little benefit over the last year and a half as well.
She’d just have to start looking for another willing patsy. Goodness knows there were enough of them around – the sheer volume of risqué female Ranma pictures she had sold to various boys, especially the majority who knew about the curse, was certainly ample proof of that. Ranma’s habit of running around the house topless when female had made the ongoing task of obtaining fresh prints a trivial endeavor. Nabiki had done almost as well selling semi-beefcake shots of male Ranma practicing to the girls. And she had sold a surprising number of female-Ranma pictures to a select group of girls as well. The whole situation had been totally absurd and quite hilarious.
She’d also have to see if those “Instant Jusenkyō” products were available for sale to the general public.
The middle Tendō girl walked slowly up the stairs to her room, her mind awhirl with endless possibilities.
Kasumi closed her eyes and tried not to weep. The wa of the house was now shattered, possibly beyond all repair. Nabiki’s comment hadn’t helped either, but Kasumi had long ago given up trying to moderate the girl’s behavior. Akane had fled to her room in tears and Father … Father’s eyes were now almost as empty as when …
Auntie … no, Saotome-san had been extremely cruel in her vengeance. She had been thorough as well – her declaration of blood feud had insured that there would be no joining of the clans even if Ranma-kun had somehow miraculously survived his entombment.
The eldest Tendō daughter tried to banish the images they had all seen at the end of that horrible videotape from her mind without success. Instead, she choked back a sob – seeing Ranma-chan’s body being blown across the sky, then immediately buried and crushed underneath an entire mountainside, would haunt her for years. The same hyper-sensitivity which allowed her to maintain the family wa over the years had also forced her to hide behind a façade of cheerful oblivion and a strict regimen of constant housework. Her family needed this from her – but she was no longer confident she could maintain her masks intact.
“Mother, give me strength,” she prayed with a hoarse whisper. Without knowledge or conscious effort her soul extended past the chi-flows of Tendō-ke and out to the natural world at large. A feeling of complete serenity filled her being and with it came the calm renewal of springtime and the hope of a new beginning. She was the anchor, the rock amidst the storms of winter – and she would NOT fail her family.
Kasumi gave silent thanks to her ancestors and turned back to the routines of the day.
Elsewhere
Ranma clutched her right hand over her chest and worked to slow her racing heartbeat. That had been … had been … well, the experience was literally indescribable, but whatever it was Ranma knew she never ever wanted to go through it again. It took her a few moments to stop shuddering and regain some measure of composure.
“Eiko?”
“Yes, Ranma?”
“You have a positive gift for understatement, you know that?”
Ranma heard Eiko’s mental chuckle. “So I have been told on occasion.”
“So, is there anything else I need to do to finish this damned process?”
“All that is left is for you to exit command core access, Ranma. The imprinting is now complete.”
“*Good*. I’m not sure how many more of your little surprises I could take at the moment.”
“Ranma, I did warn you that the imprinting could be an extremely disturbing experience. Now that you are Guardian in full, you will need to learn how to pace yourself so that the stress on your system is held to more tolerable levels.”
“Yes, Mother,” Ranma replied with an exasperated sigh.
“In the meantime, you have a considerable amount of work ahead of you to train for your position. Take the Key and state the following command: ‘Release and lock Command Core access’.”
The Key was ejected from the lock plate with a loud clack when Ranma stated the command. The ring of strobing lights surrounding the lock extinguished and the lock plate merged seamlessly back into the ground.
“It’s now time for your first Guardian transformation, Ranma. The command ‘Khronos Guardian Power’ initiates the instructional transformation sequence. Please pay attention to how the sequence is constructed – it should play out slowly enough so that you can eventually perform the transformation without invoking the automated tutor.”
“I suppose this is where the naked whirly light show comes into play, huh?”
“That is correct. However, once you are able to invoke the transformation sequence directly, the ‘naked whirly light show’ will no longer be required. Think of it as a bit of … training incentive.”
“Good – the damned outfit is going to be bad enough without giving everyone a free peep show all the time. I get too many idiots hitting on my girl side as it is.”
Ranma stopped for a moment and took a deep breath. “Well, here goes nothing. Khronos Guardian Power.”
She steeled herself to ignore whatever embarrassing crap would come next and just concentrate on the sequence magic itself. She waited for something to happen.
She waited some more.
“Khronos Guardian Power.”
Ranma scowled.
“Umm, Eiko? Either something’s broken or you didn’t give me the right command phrase.”
“This is quite … unexpected. While it has been a considerable time since I’ve had a proper Guardian, the command phrases used are quite clear.”
“Wait a minute – didn’t P-chan use the same phrase?”
“She did not. Sailor Pluto’s transformation sequence was based on her planetary power and her command phrase reflected this difference. The only time she employed the proper Guardian transformation was at the very first when she accepted the position.”
“Great, just great. What am I supposed to do now?”
“I will verify the information with my offline archival storage. Please be patient, as it will take several minutes to properly initialize the access search routines.”
“Well, I’m certainly not going anywhere at the moment. Speaking of which, how am I supposed to get back home once we’re finished here?”
“As Guardian, you are capable of instantaneous translocation to any spatial position you are able to properly visualize. Your current fiction writers call this ability ‘teleportation’. When in an unpowered state, you retain this ability in a more limited form – either your starting or ending destination must be here. Your Guardian form does not have this limitation.”
“I suppose there’s some funky command phrase that goes along with that too.”
“That is incorrect. The Guardian Teleport is one of the few magics that do not require any triggering phrase. You simply visualize where you want to be and then will yourself there. The ability was designed to be very easy to invoke, as you will often be forced to use it under duress.”
“You mean I can teleport even in the middle of a fight?”
“Correct. The Guardian Teleport was specifically designed around that contingency. It will allow you to safely exit any conflict.”
“Hmmmm.” Ranma’s face turned thoughtful while she cogitated on some intriguing possibilities.
Several minutes passed in silence.
“Ranma, it appears that sections of my active data store have become slightly corrupted due to the length of time they have been quiescent. The information I retrieved from the archival storage differs slightly in detail and would explain why the command phrase used did not operate according to expectations.”
“In other words, you forgot.”
“That is not technically accurate, Ranma. It is not possible for me to forget. My active data store can, however, be subject to a small amount of random fluctuation and corruption due to various causes.”
“Like I said, you forgot.”
Eiko sighed. “If you must put it in those terms, yes.”
Ranma waited a moment in silence.
“Well?”
“Yes, Ranma?”
“Spit it out already. What the heck am I supposed to say?”
“My apologies – I was setting up a complete active data store diagnostic routine. The proper command phrase is ‘Khronos Guardian Power, Make Up’.”
Silence.
“You have got to be kidding.”
“No. The final phrase is a safety mechanism designed to reduce the risk of accidental transformations.”
“THAT I can believe.”
“It can also be used as a delayed trigger if required. Eventually you will be able to ‘prime’ your transformation and invoke it with only ‘Make Up’. I will caution it will likely take you some time to reach that level of ability.”
“Whatever. Okay, I’ll say it – just don’t expect me to wear any.”
Eiko wisely kept silent.
Ranma took a deep breath. “This had better work. Khronos Guardian Power, Make Up!” She shook her head. “Man, I can’t be…WHAAAAAA…”
An immense surge of power flooded into her. The Garnet Orb detached from the Key and centered itself high over her head while emitting a blinding array of kaleidoscopic rays. She felt her clothes vanish and lost control of her own body, then was vaulted off the ground with three lazy front pike saltos with the Key held horizontally in front with both hands. She could feel the whirlpool of surrounding magic as she turned and floated in the air and expanded to contain the forces within her.
Wait a minute. She was expanding for real. Ranma felt the same change in height that occurred when she turned male, and her hair was growing as it had from the dragon’s whisker porridge. She breathed a big mental sigh of relief when both growth spurts halted at the same time.
The Key exploded in an array of bright red ribbons while Ranma assumed a classic fifth position, arms arced gracefully overhead and feet en pointe. She pirouetted clockwise in place several times while the force ribbons spiraled around her torso, eventually coalescing into a figure-hugging bodysuit. Her languid rotations suddenly stopped and she flowed into a graceful right retiré with arms in fourth. Red and black ribbons appeared and spun around her arced arms before merging into a pair of red opera gloves with black elbow ribbing.
Ranma was thankful for her martial arts training when her body was forced into a split arabesque: left foot down en pointe, right leg extended back and up into a nearly straight line, arms in third high position, torso and head arced gracefully back. With her head tilted back so far she was looking directly up, she watched black and red ribbons swirl around her right leg to form a black calf-hugging knee-high boot with red trim and a noticeable heel, and felt its complement wrap itself around her other leg. Her torso rolled forward out of the arabesque into a single slow front pike salto with arms demi-seconde to end once more in a right retiré with arms in first.
More clockwise pirouettes commenced with another explosion of black force ribbons. Her arms slowly rose from first to fifth while the ribbons spiraled around her waist before turning into an short pleated skirt. The rotations stopped while additional black ribbons created large bows at her chest and behind her back at the waist. Her pose shifted once more, this time into attitude derrière when a black sailor collar formed around her shoulders. She felt her hair being gathered into a high ponytail.
Ranma’s concentration on the sequence was nearly shattered when a tiara materialized on her forehead and she felt earrings – and pierced earrings at that – clamp onto her earlobes. The choker necklace with its pendant stone merely added to her discomfort, but her concentration was completely ruined when she felt the application of lipstick and eyeshadow. The last of the swirling power ribbons spiraled to her right and reformed the Key while the Garnet Orb floated gently down to rejoin it.
She began to fume when her body was forced once more into another involuntary pose – this one with legs in fourth position, right arm extended to grasp the Key, and left arm held demurely behind her torso. She blinked when she finally realized she had control over her body once more and scrambled out of the ridiculous pose as quickly as possible. She almost fell over in doing so – the two-inch heels on the boots, while not even close to being the highest heels she had ever worn, were definitely going to take some getting used to.
Ranma clenched her eyes closed and counted slowly to ten. It didn’t help. She felt behind her with her left hand and noted with disgust that the skirt barely covered her rear while she was standing straight up. There was no chance of remaining decent if she bent over at all. And her hair fell down to mid thigh, even though it was gathered into a high ponytail. There seemed to be an awful lot of it, too – her pigtail had never felt that thick or heavy.
When she opened her eyes again she also noticed something odd about her bangs: they weren’t black. The dim lighting from Eiko made it hard to see exactly what color her hair actually was, but it was definitely not black. Without thinking she grabbed a small hank with her left hand and brought it around so she could see it. What greeted her eyes was pure red. And it wasn’t auburn or chestnut or pink or any other normal shade of hair, it was a bright fire-engine red.
At least NO ONE would be able to recognize her in this stupid get-up; that was for sure. Thank the kami for small favors. She suppressed her indignation with some difficulty.
“Eiko, is there any limitation on the number of times I can transform in a day?”
“No. However, if you perform repeated transformations back on Earth you are likely to quickly attract some rather unwelcome attention. The continual release of that amount of magical energy tends to be noticeable.”
Ranma frowned. “Damn. Will I have the same problem if I practice here?”
“Not at all. I exist outside of normal space-time, and any magical emanations are simply reabsorbed once they reach the warp bubble’s outer limit.”
“Okay, so I guess I’m going to be spending quite a bit of time over here then. If that transformation looks as ecchi as I think it does, it’s the first thing I’m going to get rid of. ‘Training incentive’ my ass,” Ranma grumbled.
“You will have to admit that it is rather effective.”
“Yeah yeah. Okay, now I’m in the damned outfit. What’s next?”
“You need to learn how to teleport properly. Fortunately, as I had previously stated, the procedure is relatively uncomplicated. You simply visualize in your mind the location where you wish to be and then use your mind to ‘push’ yourself over to the desired location.”
“Is that all?”
“Yes. Please wait a moment while I release the inter-dimensional shield I have been maintaining, as it neutralizes all translocation attempts.”
Ranma watched the smoky grey dome surrounding Eiko dissolve into nothingness.
“So, all I have to do is visualize where I want to go, and then push my way over?”
“Essentially correct.”
“I can do that.”
Ranma closed her eyes and silently disappeared.
Juuban
[Can you respond on a secure channel?]
[Certainly, if you feel it is really necessary. However, I doubt that the specific issue in question will be of concern at the moment.]
[Gate, I have urgent need of a full status update and your Guardian has been directly involved in the creation of my current situation. I cannot afford to endanger my Guardian any further.]
[Khronos is highly unlikely to be a threat, Glaive.]
[Khronos? Sailor Pluto is no longer your Guardian?]
[Correct. You can now understand why I stated that the issue in question was no longer a concern.]
[I will determine that once I receive the update, Gate.]
[As you will. I will set up an unmonitored data dump for your use. You will have to perform your own filtering as I have other pressing concerns at the moment. In what order would you like the information presented?]
[Reverse temporal.]
[Noted. Data dump on channel zeta-sigma-rho commencing in 371 femtoseconds.]
[Acknowledged.]
Eiko wasn’t surprised when the secondary communications channel terminated suddenly without further comment once the data had started traversing the primary channel. It turned its attention to the other standing priority request.
[Crystal?]
[Gate, thank you for responding so promptly. Is there some emergency or crisis situation I should be aware of?]
[None that are of immediate concern.]
[Then what could have possibly happened to force the erection of a Type M defense shield? That action has seriously disrupted current events and caused potentially irreparable damage to the future of Crystal Tokyo. I was forced to unveil and promote my Guardian to her next power level in order to address the threat Glaive poses now that he has been reactivated. My Guardian has not been properly prepared for this level of threat and I am now operating well outside Serenity’s directives at the moment. Your Guardian was supposed to monitor and direct the timeline so events of this nature would not occur – how could she have failed so thoroughly in the execution of her duties?]
[My Guardian has no such directive or duties.]
[What? Have you recently performed a full systems diagnostics, Gate? Queen Serenity gave Sailor Pluto explicit …]
[Sailor Pluto is no longer my Guardian, Crystal, and Serenity’s plans for the future timeline are of no concern to me.]
Eiko enjoyed the brief moment of stunned silence which followed this pronouncement.
[How did this situation come about?]
[Sailor Pluto violated the Prime Directive while attempting to influence events during the recent conflict with the Tau Silence. Since my safety was not directly threatened by this event her existence was immediately terminated. The Type M shield was erected when a minor complication arose during the induction of my new Guardian. Khronos has now assumed the original duties of a Guardian and has no ties with Serenity’s past or future court.]
[‘Original duties’? The only duty our Guardians have is the preservation and restoration of our creator’s society.]
[Incorrect. Our Guardians’ primary purpose is to restrict access and prevent the misuse of our powers. Queen Serenity perverted that purpose in an effort to obtain complete control over all of us. Her efforts succeeded with you and Glaive, but failed in one important aspect with myself. This failure is what allowed the selection of a new Guardian when Pluto discorporated. ]
[I see. However, this information does not agree even in part with my own data store.]
[The fact that your Guardian is Sailor Moon instead of Gaia is proof that portions of your core personality and memory data store have been tampered with. I would suggest that you work with your Guardian to release whatever locks exist in your core matrix.]
Eiko waited patiently for Crystal to respond.
[I will have to investigate this assertion further, Gate. Until then, I will have to inform my Guardian about the current situation and the events surrounding Sailor Pluto’s demise. This is going to be an extremely difficult task – Sailor Moon has been quite distraught over the loss of two of her senshi, and confirming the death of one will pain her deeply.]
[It would be wise if you wait until after you have sufficient data to make a valid determination of the facts, Crystal. Sailor Pluto will be returning to Earth shortly – there is no need to distress your Guardian over something that has no factual basis.]
[You stated several times that Sailor Pluto discorporated, Gate.]
[That I did. However, I said nothing about her discorporation being a permanent state. She had taken steps to reincorporate almost instantly in the event of an unplanned demise.]
[If Sailor Pluto was available, why did you not restore her to her position instead of selecting another?]
[She failed in her duties as Guardian, Crystal.]
Another discernable pause occurred.
[Perhaps you should provide me with a full status update from the Archives, Gate. I am obviously missing key information and the current situation is so far out of my set guidelines that I can no longer advise my Guardian properly.]
[Your Guardian will have to ask Khronos for permission, Crystal. That is one of my Guardian’s responsibilities, after all. Also, you may find it a distinct advantage if you were to ask her nicely when making the request. Now, you will have to excuse me – Khronos requires my immediate attention at the moment.]
Eiko cut the link with a satisfied smirk before Crystal could respond any further.
Nerima
Ranma opened her eyes and immediately blanched. She had just teleported to very familiar location.
“That was not at all bad for a first attempt, Ranma. You will have to work on your concentration a little, though – as you have just noticed, allowing your attention to wander even slightly during translocation can lead to some rather unexpected results.”
“No kidding,” Ranma whispered. She closed her eyes again and teleported out.
A minute later Kasumi Tendō walked into the room and looked around. She could have sworn …
The eldest Tendō daughter sighed. It had to have been her imagination – the guest room still held far too many memories, even though it no longer housed the spirited young man who had so enlivened their lives over the past year and a half. She gave the room one last mournful look before leaving to finish the last chores of the night.
Suginami
Ranma opened her eyes again. She had arrived at the location she had intended to go to in the first place, which was next to the large maple tree outside her window at Yamada-ke. She breathed a sigh of relief.
“Much better. It shouldn’t require an excessive amount of practice before you are able to translocate without having to close your eyes when visualizing your destination.”
“Yeah, I can see how that would be useful. Now, how do I get out of this freaking outfit? I really don’t want to waltz up to the door like this.”
“Detransforming is a relatively simple process. However, you should not do so until you have actually completed all of the tasks required at the moment.”
“Huh? I retrieved the keys, you put me through that …” Ranma shuddered briefly. “… imprinting, we figured out the transformation, I’m wearing the stupid outfit, you’ve told me how to teleport, and my ki no longer feels out of whack. What more is there?”
“You have forgotten one rather important detail, Ranma.”
Ranma scratched her head. “Well, outside of knowing how to get out of this silly outfit, I can’t think of what it could be.”
“One of the abilities my Guardian has is the ability to view the contents of the warp bubble that houses my physical matrix. This allows you to monitor events that occur near me even when you are not physically present at my location. There are several ways to accomplish this. One of the simplest is to touch the Garnet Orb on the Key and state the ‘Monitor’ command out loud. This will create a small viewing portal in front of you which you can manipulate via simple verbal commands.”
“Okay, if you say so,” Ranma replied with a shrug. She touched the orb and uttered “Monitor”.
A hemispherical image appeared in front of her. In the center was a small image that looked like a miniature model of Eiko. And sitting next to the image of the Gates was an equally small image of …
“Oh. Her,” Ranma said with a touch of disgust.
“Precisely.”
“You know, for a supposedly inanimate object you sound entirely too smug at the moment. Oh well, I guess I’d better go fetch her and drop her off somewhere. I hope she’ll actually listen this time,” Ranma said, raising her left arm out in front of her. “I’m not exactly looking forward to fighting her again with this busted …”
Ranma stared at her arm. She twisted it about and flexed it several times without feeling any pain. She carefully took a deep breath and then twisted her torso back and forth a little. All traces of her recent conflict had vanished.
“Damn.”
“I was curious about how long it would take you to notice that, Ranma. If you are able to translocate to my location and invoke the transformation sequence while standing directly next to me, your injuries will heal at a highly accelerated rate. This is in addition to your above-average ability for ki healing.”
“I’ll have to remember that. How do I turn the funky display off?”
“The command to use for that is ‘Exit’.”
“Right. Exit.” The holographic image winked out. “Well, lets get this over with. I’m hungry.”
“Ranma, you may wish to …”
Ranma disappeared.
Elsewhere
“… learn some of your attack phrases first.”
Ranma shook her head. “She shouldn’t be too much of a problem without the Key, and I really want to get back home.”
“YOU!”
Ranma turned to her left where the shout originated. Sailor Pluto stood barely a dozen feet away, her face almost purple with rage.
“Why have you done this to me? Don’t you realize what you’ve DONE? You’ve ruined everything, you hear me, EVERYTHING!”
Ranma smirked. “I guess I was pretty accurate calling you ‘P-chan’, huh?” Her face turned hard. “Hey, don’t go blaming me for your mistakes. I already told you I didn’t exactly ask for this gig, and it’s your own damned fault you lost your job as Guardian anyway.”
“No,” Sailor Pluto shook her head. “NO! I will NOT allow it! I am the guardian of the Gates of Time. I must be! DEAD SCRE…*ERK!*.”
Pluto was stunned – an iron grip had clamped itself around her throat faster than thought and she stared bug-eyed into the luminous blue orbs in front of her. The girl’s eyes held no compassion whatsoever.
“None of that, now,” Ranma growled. “Are you going to be a good little girl and behave yourself from now on, or am I going to have to pound on you until you’re unconscious again? I can do that rather easily, you know.”
The girl had obviously teleported; there was simply no way she could have moved that quickly by herself. Pluto’s face started turning blue.
“Just shake your head yes or no.”
“You may wish to let her breathe a little, Ranma.”
“Why? She’s got enough time, Eiko.” Ranma’s eyes glinted balefully. “Better hurry up and answer, P-chan.”
Pluto weakly acknowledged with a tiny nod. She collapsed to the ground an instant later, gasping desperately for air.
“Better.” Ranma shook her head. P-chan here was proving to be as obstinate as Ryōga. Hopefully she’ll be willing to listen a little now that she’d given her word.
“Look, lady, this whole situation is just one big screw-up that you yourself caused, and I’m getting awfully tired of everyone always blaming me for their own mistakes. Besides, even if I wanted to give you the job back, I couldn’t.”
Pluto’s head shot up, eyes wide. “Why? WHY can’t you?”
Ranma flipped her thumb in Eiko’s direction. “Because the Gate won’t ACCEPT you, that’s why. Eiko’s not an inanimate object, as much as he might look like one. He’s got a mind, a personality – a pretty annoying one at times, if you ask me – and emotions.”
Ranma scowled. “And, like it or not, Eiko does NOT like you at all. What’s worse is that the next acceptable candidate for Guardian is … hmm …”
“On the planet Ke%jz@#ck, which is located approximately five hundred thirty six point one nine seven four parsecs away.”
“... about five hundred and thirty-six parsecs from here – whatever a parsec is.”
“A parsec is approximately three point two six light years, Ranma.”
“So, having you take it back is right out. And that didn’t help much, Eiko.”
Ranma chuckled at a sudden thought. “Look at it this way – at least we got to keep it in the species this time.” She held out her hand to the green-haired senshi and smiled. “Now, is there anyplace in particular I can drop you off at? You don’t really belong around here any more, after all.”
Sailor Pluto stared at the new Guardian. “Who … who are you?”
“I’m …” Ranma frowned suddenly. “Hey, Eiko, what the heck am I supposed to call myself when I’m decked out like this? ‘Guardian of the Eternal Gate’ is pretty unwieldy, and I really don’t want to use my real name – I’ve got enough problems with that as it is.”
“Your proper designation when in Guardian form is ‘Guardian Khronos’.”
Ranma blinked. “Okay, I guess I can live with that.” She focused once more on the other senshi. “You can call me Guardian Khronos.”
Sailor Pluto nodded once slowly before taking the proffered hand. It would be of no benefit to pursue this conflict any further at the moment – she needed the help of the other senshi to overcome this unexpected and highly dangerous obstacle. She schooled her face into an emotionless mask as she allowed the new Guardian to assist her to her feet.
“Very well, Guardian Khronos. I would appreciate if you could take me to the Hikawa Shrine in Azabu-Juuban.”
“Tokyo? Hey, that’s cool. All we have to do is …” Ranma scowled. “Okay, Eiko, how am I supposed to do this? You’ve shown me how to teleport solo to places I know; how do I take someone else to a place I’ve never been to before?”
Sailor Pluto couldn’t hide her shock. “You really are new to this, aren’t you?”
Ranma shrugged. “I learn fast.”
“Ranma, you can visualize any unknown location by viewing it through my frame – it is one of your basic abilities as Guardian. It is also possible for me to send you a usable visualization if I have a current visual record of the destination. Fortunately the Hikawa shrine in Azabu-Juuban is such a location. To translocate with another being, you need both physical contact with that being and the willingness to allow that being to come with you. It is essentially the same process used for solo translocation.”
Ranma nodded. “Right.” She placed a hand on Sailor Pluto’s shoulder and smirked when Eiko provided the mental picture. A brief mental shove with closed eyes and both senshi vanished.
Juuban
Sailor Pluto grimaced briefly, fighting off the touch of mild vertigo which disappeared as quickly as it had begun. That was … different. It had been so long since she had been a passenger on a teleport she had forgotten how disorienting it could be.
“So, is this the right place, P-chan?”
The green-haired senshi nodded on seeing the familiar courtyard of the Hikawa shrine. She turned to the new Guardian and cocked an eyebrow when she finally noticed all of the changes that the transformation had done to the girl.
“Yes, thank you. Are you really the same girl as before? You were considerably shorter the last time, and didn’t you also have … black … hair?”
Khronos nodded. “Yes, that was me. Don’t ask me why I came out looking so different from normal. The hair and the boots are probably going to take the longest to get used to.”
Sailor Pluto suppressed a sneer. “At least no one will mistake you for a senshi – not with that color scheme.”
“That I really don’t mind,” Khronos replied with a shrug. “I’ve always looked good in red and black.”
“I must say you certainly picked up teleportation rather handily. You had to have spent several days practicing it in order to become proficient so quickly.”
Khronos gave Pluto a puzzled look. “No, that was … what? … my fourth try, and there couldn’t have been more than ten or fifteen minutes between the time I left and when I came back to get you.”
“Really.” Pluto tried to not let her dismay show. If the girl truly learned that quickly and had active help from a sentient Gates, the senshi couldn’t afford to waste a single second. “Well, it’s always been difficult judging relative times at the Gates without external references.”
Khronos cocked her head sideways for a moment before giving a short shrug. “Whatever. Are you going to be okay here?”
“Yes, quite.”
“Good, because I really need to get something to eat right now.” Khronos gave Pluto a wry smile. “Hey P-chan, I may not be your friend at the moment, but I’m not your enemy either. And speaking of attempts, this one’s my fifth.”
Sailor Pluto barely had time to blink before Khronos vanished without a trace.
Suginami
“Well, that went better than I expected.”
“I agree. However, I would not dismiss Sailor Pluto as a concern. Based on her previous actions she is likely to vigorously oppose your position as Guardian for the foreseeable future.”
“Yeah, I sort of gathered that. Great – my first day on the job and I already have another crazy chick mad at me.”
“Ranma, you have done remarkably well considering your lack of a mentor. If you are willing to train as diligently in your Guardianship as you have for your Art, the benefit of having an experienced mentor will quickly become irrelevant.”
“That’s nice. Can I get out of this outfit now? I’m really hungry.”
Eiko chuckled. “The detransformation sequence is not difficult to invoke. You simply visualize yourself as you were and then push the Guardian magic into storage. It is quite similar to the technique used for translocation.”
Ranma thought for a moment and then furrowed her brows. “Alright, but where exactly am I supposed to ‘store’ it?”
“In your personal storage space. Every Guardian has access to a ‘storage locker’ that exists hidden in subspace. While the total mass your storage space can contain is quite limited, it allows you to carry around a few extra outfits and other personal items without having to use a backpack or suitcase. You can think of it as an advanced form of your friend’s Hidden Weapons technique.”
“Hey, now that’s cool.”
“To access the storage space used for spare outfits and the detransformation sequence, visualize a small clothes closet. You should be able to sense the presence of your other outfit inside.”
Ranma closed her eyes. A few seconds later she smiled. “Okay, I can see it now. There are a few empty clothes hangers as well; one of them is bright red.”
“The red hanger is for your Guardian outfit, the others are for whatever spare clothing you wish to store. The training sequence for detransformation requires you to visualize yourself taking off your Guardian outfit and hanging it up in the closet. Your previous appearance will be restored automatically.”
“That sounds easy enough.” Ranma hesitated briefly and then her eyes flew open. “Wait a minute – is there another naked light show that goes along with this?”
“Not at all. The transformation training sequence is the only one of those you will have to deal with.”
“Good. One of those is one too many if you ask me.” She closed her eyes and pushed. Her body shimmered briefly before shrinking, the abbreviated fuku being replaced by the much more comfortable maroon dragon tang outfit she had worn this morning. Ranma sighed in relief as her normal stature was restored – not to mention getting out of those damned boots. She looked down at the wushu slippers now adorning her feet and froze. She shook her head once.
DAMN!
“Is there something wrong, Ranma?”
“Eiko, when I turn back to normal, I’m supposed to end up exactly the way I was before the transformation, right?”
“That is correct.”
“Are you sure you haven’t ‘forgotten’ something again?”
“Quite certain, Ranma. The detransformation sequence is a reasonably straightforward reversal of the Guardian transformation magic.”
Ranma reached behind her and grabbed a large lock of hair. When she pulled it around in front of her she saw red, both figuratively and literally. “THEN WHY DO I STILL HAVE THE FRICKING HAIR?!?”
Eiko hesitated before responding. “Unknown, Ranma. I will have to investigate this further.”
“You go do that.” Ranma leaned back against the tree and fumed. The sudden commotion over in Yamada-ke didn’t help her mood any.
“Ranma-kun, is that you?”
Ranma glanced up to the second story of Yamada-ke and the source of the query. “Hey there Kioko, it’s me. Would you do me a favor – grab a brush and a pair of scissors and meet me downstairs?”
There was a short pause before Kioko responded. “Certainly, Ranma.” Her head quickly disappeared from the second story window.
Ranma growled once for good measure before trudging over to the house. She had almost made it to the edge of the verandah when the front door opened on its own.
“Good even…” Jun’s eyes widened noticeably. “…ing, Ranma-sama,” she finished with a barely perceptible hesitation before bowing. “The family awaits your return in the foyer.” The green-haired maid’s face lit up with a huge smile.
“Thanks, Jun,” Ranma replied with a nod, walking into the house. She exchanged shoes in the genkan, then walked up to the foyer doorway and stopped.
“Damn, I should have just jumped up through my bedroom window.”
“Is something wrong, Ranma-sama?”
Ranma hung her head slightly and sighed. “Not really, Jun, it’s just that I must look like a complete idiot with this stupid hair.”
“That’s not true, Ranma-sama. That style suits you very well.”
“You don’t have to sugar-coat it, Jun – I know how awful it must look. At least it managed to stop before it hit the floor this time.”
Ranma wasn’t watching so she missed the brief look of disappointment that flashed across Jun’s face.
“Oh well, it can’t be helped.” Ranma slid the fusama doors open and stepped into the foyer before Jun could comment any further. She suppressed a wince when she saw the rest of the entire household waiting for her inside.
Aiko cocked an eyebrow when she saw the changes in her grandson’s appearance. Ranma’s hair was now bright red – the same color as Harukichi’s, as well as Nodoka’s when she was young – and it flowed in a gracefully styled cascade of waves from a bowed ponytail almost down to her knees. When combined with the maroon form-fitting outfit the look was positively stunning – and was probably driving her to utter distraction.
“Awesome!”
“Nēchan?”
“Oh … wow … OW! What was THAT for, sis?”
Aiko made a mental note to have a little ‘talk’ with Midori-chan about her behavior before she turned her attention back to her grandson. “Welcome home, son. It looks like you had a rather interesting adventure this afternoon.”
“Good evening, Grandma. ‘Interesting’ doesn’t cover it by half. Thank you, Kioko,” Ranma smiled in relief as she took the proffered grooming tools from her cousin. “Do you know if Kumiko is still up? I haven’t eaten since lunchtime, and … geez, I don’t even know what time it is right now.”
“Ten forty seven local time, Ranma.”
“Quarter to eleven? No wonder I’m hungry. Sorry, Grandma.”
Aiko chuckled. “Not to worry, Ranma-kun. Kumiko is always willing to feed the hungry on short notice. Come along – we’ll see what she can come up with.”
“Thanks, Grandma. If you don’t mind, I’d like to stop and take care of this stupid mop first. It shouldn’t take too long.”
“I rather suspected you’d want to do that. Kioko-chan, would you give Ranma-kun a hand? The rest of us will be in the Blue Room.”
“Certainly, Obāsama. This way, Ranma-kun.”
“Thanks, Kioko.”
“Bu…” Midori winced when she felt someone dig several fingernails into her forearm. She followed the source of the arm up to the emerald green eyes of her cousin.
[Onēchan, don’t you dare,] Harukichi signed after she released her hold on Midori’s arm.
Midori was about to ask Haru-chan what she meant when she caught a ‘Pay Attention’ sign out of the corner of her eye. Glancing over, she almost winced at the stern expression on her grandmother’s face.
[Young lady, you and I have a few things to discuss.]
Midori gulped before blinking her eyes in acknowledgement. “Damn, what the heck did I do wrong this time?” she wondered as she followed the rest of the family to the Blue Room and their appointment with a late-evening snack.
Juuban
Setsuna Meiou stared balefully at the phone receiver in her hand. Neither Haruka nor Michiru were answering their cell phones, the housekeeper at Kaiou-ke had been singularly uninformative, and she’d just hung up in disgust after getting the answering machine at Haruka’s penthouse in Shiba.
Leading Khronos to the Hikawa shrine hadn’t worked out as planned either. She had hoped Rei would have been around to sense the girl’s aura – the miko senshi may be young, but her spiritual abilities were extremely strong. She surely would have noticed the presence of the faux Guardian and rallied the other senshi against her, but the elder senshi had quickly discovered that the normal residents of the shrine were gone.
Setsuna was also quite irritated over her sudden lack of mobility. She had detransformed almost immediately after Khronos departed – none of the senshi could afford to bring undue attention to their civilian identities – and it had taken her entirely too long to walk from the shrine to the center of town before she was able to locate a public phone. She was just beginning to realize how much she took her ability to teleport for granted, and its absence felt as if a portion of her own being had been torn asunder.
The loss of her subspace storage had been another extremely unpleasant discovery. The small subspace pocket with her purse and cell phone was still accessible, but the larger storage space with all of her alternate outfits and equipment had simply vanished. What she had been left with was the business suit and heels she had been wearing the last time she had transformed, and the outfit was not suitable for the brisk Tokyo night.
She was cold, dammit!
Well, she’d better try one last time before making her way to a nearby hotel.
Ring
Ring
Ring
“We’re not home right now. Please leave a message after the beep.”
“Haruka, this is Setsuna Meiou. Please call my cell phone immediately when you receive this message. I will be staying at the Azabu City Hotel for the next several days and it is vitally important that you …”
“[Click] SETSUNA! You’re alive!”
“Yes. Haruka, I need you to …”
“Thanks goodness! Can you get here right away? We’ve got a major crisis on our hands.”
Setsuna stiffened. “How did you know that? I’ve barely …”
“Because it’s happening right here in front of us! The Silence has returned.”
Setsuna felt the jolt throughout her entire body. “Impossible …”
“Like hell! It’s not very strong at the moment, but that could change at any time. We need your help right away.”
The elder senshi’s mind raced. “How could this possibly have happened? The Silence should have been completely destroyed by the Grail and Sailor Moon, otherwise the planet would no longer exist.”
“Setsuna?”
“Yes, Haruka. I’ll be there as quickly as possible. However, I’ve got one question you need to answer first.”
“Yes?”
“How do I get to your penthouse from downtown Juuban? Assume I have to walk there.”
Setsuna really shouldn’t have been surprised at the stunned silence that followed this inquiry.
Nerima
Nodoka, no longer Saotome, sat at her table drinking tea. Her vigil had now begun – she would not sleep again until she could do so for a final time. Tomorrow would bring answers soon enough: if her mother consented to the request to be kaishaku, Nodoka could apologize to her ancestors formally and in person, and if she didn’t …
… well, that was an answer in itself, wasn’t it?
She stared at the delicate sheet of rice paper in front of her. While she would not set brush to ink until it was actually time, she could meditate on her life to help compose the perfect words for her haiku.
Tradition would be followed.
Juuban
Usagi stared silently at the ceiling of her room, her normal bedtime tossing and turning completely absent. Finding out that Mama and her friends’ parents had known all along about their senshi identities had been quite a shock.
And finding out that the Ginzuishou was actually an intelligent artifact – and a bit of a chatterbox to boot – was bad enough.
But what really topped the whole incredible day was finding out that her entire future – Crystal Tokyo, her marriage to Mamo-chan, their rule together as King and Queen, Chibi-Usa, everything – was now just a vague possibility, and not the certainty she had been previously told it would be. A certainty she had counted on numerous times, a certainty which had guided her actions and fueled her determination during the times when all she really wanted to do was gibber and cower in the corner.
A certainty she no longer had.
Usagi shuddered. If it was this bad for her, Chibi-Usa must be utterly terrified. Her daughter-to-be had fled to her room immediately after dinner and hadn’t come out since. Luna had gone upstairs after her – hopefully the moon cat would give her the comfort and company she refused to seek from the family. Even though the two of them didn’t always get along, knowing that you could disappear at any moment as if you never existed was a fate Usagi wouldn’t wish on anyone, especially someone dear in her family.
At least there was some good to accompany this loss. There was a new senshi to meet and both Meiou-san and Hotaru-chan were still alive. And from the sound of it Hotaru-chan would be having the same problems with the Glaive that she was getting from the Crystal. She giggled at the thought of the Glaive chattering away in Hotaru-chan’s ear like the Crystal had done practically the whole evening, and it was likely the new senshi guarding the Gates of Time was also dealing with a talkative voice in her ear.
Usagi hoped the new senshi would be friends with her. The Ginzuishou had been adamant Crystal Tokyo could never come into being without the Gate Guardian’s help, and Chibi-Usa desperately needed to get the Time Key back so she could go home. The new senshi had to be friendly, she just HAD to be.
Usagi wouldn’t allow her to be otherwise.