A Ranma/Sailor-Moon
crossover fan fiction
Started -
Last revised –
* * * * *
Disclaimer: Ranma ½ and Sailor-Moon and all associated
characters are the property of Rumiko Takahashi or Naoko Takeuchi and are used without permission. This fan-fiction isn’t intended for
commercial use but is rather a tribute to the Ranma ½ and Sailor-Moon universes.
There may be ‘cameos’ of other anime
series but I make no claim on them and disclaim any profit.
This
story starts after the end of both ‘cannon’ story lines. Ranma is the same age as Usagi.
* * * * *
The
Earth Princess by Cloud Dreamer
* * * * *
* * * * *
Chapter Two – Nabiki’s
Dilemma
* * * * *
“Darn,”
muttered Nabiki as she studied the hidden cask.
“With this new ‘duty’ or whatever that Ranma has taken on, there is no
way I can use this Nanniichuan to bribe him with a cure,” she mumbled. She angrily slammed the door of the hidden
panel closed and rose to her feet before sitting at her desk.
Gathering
the tatters of her normally hidden temper about her, the Ice Queen slowly
reassembled her façade. She sighed for
past mistakes with respect to dealing with Ranma. The schism between Ranma and Akane now seemed
insurmountable and she was really having mixed feelings about it. She was sad for her little sister’s tears
even as she felt that Akane was just getting what was due her for how she’d
treated Ranma.
On
the other hand, oh boy on the other hand; she now had a chance at the boy she’d
reluctantly admitted to herself that she loved and had loved since she’d been
briefly engaged to him. She hadn’t lied
to Ranma when she said she loved him then but she doubted he’d believe her
anytime soon.
* * * * *
Setsuna
cautiously approached the time gates.
Since the ‘chaos storm’ she’d seen approaching the time gates the last
time she’d used them seemed to have been either diverted or delayed, she was
hopeful of being able to use the gates again.
She
really didn’t want to admit it, but her curiosity was killing her; she ‘hated’
not knowing what was happening. Despite
her many millennia of experience, she was trembling with apprehension. This was something she had only limited
experience with and the first time she had encountered it, it had almost killed
her.
She
glanced behind her to ensure that Hotaru and Usagi were keeping a safe distance
from the gate and behind Saturn’s localized ‘silence wall’; in a sense, they
were her medical backup in case anything went wrong.
It
did go wrong, badly wrong. Setsuna woke
up to remembered agony. She glanced
about herself and blankly stared at the pool of blood next to her partially
melted key staff not too far from the time gate. A slight noise to her side brought her
attention back to her companions. Both
Hotaru and Usagi looked very tired and Setsuna belatedly realized that they
must have used their powers to save her life.
Now
very worried, Setsuna shakily rose to her feet and studied the now open time
gate. Her very soul shuddered at the
sight before her, ‘damn my impatient meddling’ she mumbled to herself.
“Mama
Setsuna,” whispered Hotaru; “is everything alright?”
“No,”
she hoarsely responded, “it’s about as bad as it can get.”
“I
need to rest,” interjected Usagi. “I’m
hungry too,” she added.
“Then
the universe dies,” was the soft hopeless reply.
Both
of the younger scouts turned in surprise to the oldest scout. She only pointed to the time gate. The other two looked to the gate and noticed
a lenticular shape of void blackness just off center
in the gate.
“Somehow
an imbalance has been ripped open the time stream flow,” Setsuna
explained. “Eventually it will become
turbulent and the back flow will destroy this universe.”
“Setsuna!”
yelled Usagi, “How could you risk something like this unless we absolutely
needed it?”
Hotaru
sat there almost frozen in shock but she managed a quavering question, “How do
we fix it?”
Setsuna
glanced at her, “I’m not sure since this is new to me. I recall reading a theory on this once.” She paused and struggled with her fatigue,
wracking her brain for information before continuing, “We need to rebalance the
flows but that takes three persons of strong spiritual powers; one of light,
another of dark and a neutral.” She sighed,
“We don’t have the time to find them; especially as tired as we are.”
“But
mama,” protested Hotaru, “doesn’t that describe us?” Seeing their dawning comprehension she
continued; “I am the bringer of silence, that’s dark. Usagi is all about light and you usually
strive to be neutral.”
Pluto
shook her head incredulously; she’d brought the two because they were the only
ones with healing power. It had not
occurred to her that their planetary powers were also spiritual powers. She sighed to herself, ‘either my injuries
are getting to me or I must be more tired than I thought’.
Setsuna
nodded and shakily took position before the gate with her damaged key now in
her hand. She gestured the other two to make
their way to each side of her until they were all equidistance from each other.
Usagi
asked in confusion, “Setsuna, the gate looks the same now as when I was
standing with you. Did it turn to face
me?”
“No
Usagi,” tiredly responded Setsuna, “the time gate only has one side. It is sort of like a moebius
strip. No matter where you stand around
it, you are always facing it.”
“Oh,”
she acknowledged. “What do we do now?”
“I’m
not sure,” came the hesitant response.
“That’s
odd?” stated Hotaru as she leaned her glaive toward the void. “My glaive is drawn to the void and it’s
talking to me.” A moment later she added
in surprise, “The glaive said we should all lean in and touch the void at the
same time with glaive, key and wand.”
Pluto
hesitated, unsure of what to do until Usagi said, “My wand agrees. I wonder why it’s talking to me now? It never did
before.”
“All
right, we might as well give it a try,” said Pluto. “Watch each other so that we all do it
together.”
The
three scouts carefully leaned in together quickly discovering that any imbalance
in their actions resulted in some rather spectacular light shows. As the three artifacts touched the void
together, several things happened. Each
of the three experienced every life they had ever lived and variations of them
as well. To a limited extent, the
experience bled over between each of them.
Fortunately for their sanity, the experience was beyond their
comprehension and they were left with only a vague impression of the
experience. But it matured and mellowed
each of them in addition to drawing them closer to each other. As they slumped
unconscious to the floor, the void closed; the chaos within it drained.
Later,
much later, maybe days, months or perhaps years; the three slowly woke up. The slight noise from the
first one to wake eventually rousing the other two. Setsuna carefully picked up her restored
staff and after verifying that the gate was for the moment stable, locked it
down again.
She
then glanced at the other two and started to turn away before quickly facing
them again. Hotaru and Usagi had both
acquired her own ageless look. They both
looked mature, fully grown and very healthy.
Lifetimes
of vaguely recalled experience gave them all a poise that few others could
emulate. Extended time spent in the
limbo of the time gate had allowed their inherent powers to flush the
contaminations acquired in their mortal life from their system thus fully
healing them and bringing them to their immortal physical maturity. Because of the mix of energy the three had
absorbed from time gate, this process took significantly less time than
otherwise. A fact that
Pluto was to discover only when she tried to duplicate it later for the
remaining scouts.
Hotaru
and Usagi both tried to communicate with their artifacts again, but neither the
glaive nor the wand were very cooperative; even Setsuna tried to talk to her
key though she felt silly doing it. Each
of the three scouts got variations of the same message from their tool: ‘energy
flow beyond established parameters, reboot successful, diagnostic in progress,
minimum default settings enabled’.
Finally
Usagi had gotten frustrated and yelled at her wand, “Stop telling me that! Tell me who you are.” A moment later the other two scouts heard her
say, “Oh, ok.” Usagi looked up at her
companions and held the wand up, “See the writing? It says ‘I belong to Belldandy’,” she said as
she pointed to the glowing words that were already starting to fade again. Hotaru and Setsuna both asked their artifacts
to declare their identity. The glaive
had writing on it that said ‘property of Urd’ while the words on the key simply
said, ‘Skuld’s tool’.
All
three scouts shrugged since the names didn’t mean anything to them. Hotaru voiced the question troubling them
all: “I wonder what those three persons have to do with the time gate or the
scouts? Who could they be?”
When
the three scouts left the time gate and returned to the temple; they arrived
only an hour after leaving. Rei almost went ballistic when she saw the changes to
Usagi; but Usagi’s quiet, “Rei,
that’s enough,” silenced her in mid rant.
All the other scouts looked to their princess in surprise only to
realize that it was now neo queen Serenity they were seeing.
Setsuna
wondered about that. The gates would
never reveal the point at which Serenity finally manifested completely but the
time guardian knew it happened after the gates were locked and before Crystal
Tokyo was established. ‘Could it be that
they were on the right track still? That
would explain what had happened and why her future self didn’t warn her.’
Michiru
and Haruka approached Hotaru. The senshi
of silence gravely regarded the two who had not only raised her but had also
killed her once. She now stood slightly taller
than her former foster parents and softly said, “Something happened in the
gates which caused the three of us to endure all of our past lives again.” She paused and added, “I know the two of you
raised me after I reverted to an infant and for that I’m grateful. But I can see no justification for you killing
me and then saying later that you still loved me.” She saw the pain that her statement caused
and finished, “I have decided that the two cancel each other out and while I
will not seek revenge for your betrayal, I will also no longer call you my
parents.” She resolutely turned from the
pair and walked to stand beside Setsuna who simply put a companionable arm
around her.
Usagi
took the lead and explained all that had happened. The other scouts were very unhappy that
Setsuna had taken such a great risk for what seemed trivial reasons in
retrospect.
Usagi
took out the Lunar disguise pen and gravely regarded
it for a few moments. She hated to
deceive her parents but she really didn’t have a choice at this time. She concentrated on it, changed her appearance
to ‘normal’ and locked its effect in place on herself with the silver crystal.
Ami
somberly sat down next to her and softly remarked, “The outward appearance is
the easy part Usagi.”
Usagi
nodded and hopefully said, “Maybe they won’t notice any changes in how I act?”
Rei chuckled, “Just cry meatball head. Wail anytime they question your behavior and
that will convince them they are wrong.”
“WWAAAAA,”
Usagi wailed, “Rei’s so mean to me!” She paused and calmly asked, “Like that?”
Ami
caught on first; she began to giggle and said, “Yes Usagi, like that.”
* * * * *
Akane
sat and glared at the Lost Boy. If Akari
hadn’t been sitting next to him she would have been sorely tempted to pound
him. Ryouga for his part nervously
shifted in his seat occasionally glancing worriedly at Akari.
Akari
sighed and wondered if he was really worth all this bother. She looked over at him again and her eyes
became dreamy and her being slowly filled with a warm contentment. ‘Yes,’ she decided. “Akane,” she began, “my fiancé wishes to
apologize for all the trouble he’s caused you.”
“Fiancé!”
was Akane’s startled response.
Ryouga
blushed and nodded.
Akane
wanted to lash out at Ryouga and tarnish his happiness but she couldn’t bear to
diminish the evident joy on Akari’s face. She forced a smile on her face and put an
arm around the other girl. “I can see
that you’re happy, so I’m happy for you also.”
The
engaged couple noticed the undercurrent of unhappiness in Akane’s voice.
“Akane,”
Ryouga hesitatingly started, “I’m sorry for what happened.” He sighed, “For so long I blamed Ranma for
all my problems until Akari helped me see that I was wasting my life because of
that. I saw how often you were hurt by
him and I didn’t think he was worthy of someone like you.”
“Your
apology is accepted Ryouga,” Akane softly replied. “As a descendant of warriors, I now understand
that it would have been dishonorable of Ranma to reveal a potentially fatal
weakness of yours especially since he promised not to do so. I also can understand how you would hesitate
to reveal your curse to anybody.” She
sighed and continued with a small sniffle, “I understand and can even forgive a
little.” As her sobs started to steal
her voice she finished, “But it still doesn’t help that I’ve lost the one that
I loved the most in the world as a result of what you did and my temper.” She sniffled harder, “It’s so easy to say
that now that he’s gone.”
Akari
enveloped the crying girl in her arms as Ryouga helplessly reaped some of the
pain he had sown in another’s life. “I’m
sorry,” he whispered.
“What
can we do to make up for this?” asked Akari.
There
was a pause broken by several sniffles before a soft but broken voice asked
hopefully, “Help me get him back?”
* * * * *
Both
The
no longer young monks had developed an ability to see beyond the surface façade
of a person and were in awe of the ki bonfires raging
within each of these old biddies. By comparison,
Ranma’s ki was like plasma when ever he allowed it to
be glimpsed; but he had mastered a passive technique that enabled him to mask
it completely. It had a welcome side
affect of making Ranma more or less obscure to those unfamiliar with him or her.
The
six elderly folk constituted an informal school that provided lore and guardian
instruction to Shampoo and the other young Amazons and occasionally to Ranma as
well. The temple made a good base from
which to hunt husbands too. The Amazon
guard had set up camp in several of the outer buildings on the temple grounds
and rarely entered the main temple though several were always on hand somewhere
on the grounds. Who would have believed
that all 20 of the best Amazon warriors just happened to be single still? Ranma for one didn’t buy it, but since it
didn’t concern him, said nothing. The
temple was humorously referred to as the ‘Amazon’ temple by the local folk who
had quickly gotten used to the lovely ladies with the vibrant hair colors now
residing there with their elderly guardians.
All
of the Amazons were still wary of Demona though Ranma
had taken the time to experimentally spar with her a few times after carefully
explaining exactly what she was wanting.
Ranma had finally decided that the reformed youma was too weak to help
Ranma train at her current enhanced power level. Shampoo on the other hand was delighted to
find a new sparing partner that could take her on at full power though Demona’s inherent regeneration powers were sorely taxed at
times.
There
came a time when Ranma and Shampoo had left the temple together after biding
good night to their six teachers late one evening after an extended lesson when
Ranma had abruptly recalled that she’d forgotten her school books at the
temple. Shampoo had insisted on
returning with her so both girls had quietly made their way into the temple so
as to not wake their mentors. Ranma had
paused to wave to Demona in the garden before
retrieving her books from within the temple while Shampoo had gone on ahead to
grab a quick snack from the kitchen for the two of them.
Deciding
to put some of their recent training to work, both girls had let their ki form passive receptors as they attempted to spy on their
elders.
Shampoo
and Ranma had simultaneously blushed heavily before turning to each other,
giggling and fleeing; Ranma homeward and Shampoo to the café and her room. Seems that there were only three bedrooms
being used that evening and apparently the six elderly folks were a bit
uninhibited at times as well.
* * * * *
Soun
and Genma lethargically played a game of go as they sat together on the Saotome
porch; both of them occasionally glancing over at Ranma-chan as she lay on her
belly and idly waved her lower legs in the air as she studied her school work
under Nodoka’s helpful guidance. Usually
either Nabiki or Shampoo would also have dropped by but for the moment, Soun was
the only visitor.
“At
least he’s not wearing a dress,” grumbled Genma to himself. Though to tell the truth, the midriff blouse
and shorts were not all that much an improvement he decided as he noted his
friend’s distraction and quickly moved a few tokens.
He
suddenly grinned as he thought of a way to return some of the harassment his
wife and child had been recently visiting upon him. Genma abruptly clapped a hand on Soun’s shoulder, “My friend!” he began jovially, “it
suddenly occurs to me how we can unite our families.” He gestured to Ranma, “Since I no longer seem
to have a son but a daughter instead . . .” he paused dramatically, “why don’t
you marry ‘her’,” he concluded insincerely.
He
frowned at the look of excitement on his old friend’s face and almost fumbled
one of the pieces he was rearranging.
But before either of them could utter another word, their attention was
brought back to Nodoka as she unsheathed her katana with enough force to make
the cold steel ring.
Both
of the older men shuddered at the red auras surrounding both Saotome gals. Nodoka’s voice coldly stated, “Husband, that
is one idea I better not ever hear repeated again if you want to keep your
head; either of them.” She glared at Soun, “As for you, I understand
neutering can cure you both of such ideas.”
Both
men audibly gulped though Genma was also sniggering just a little bit too at
least on the inside that is. ‘Gotcha!’
he thought smugly.
* * * * *
Few
people realized it, but Akane did have a hero.
Her name was Sailor Jupiter. The
various senshi fan clubs had been assembling profiles of the scouts based on
casual comments made by them. Jupiter
was known to be a martial artist and a chef; a girl so much like herself Akane
was prone to say to herself.
Akane
was confidently striding down the street carrying her latest culinary
creation. ‘This will be so wonderful,’
she dreamily thought, ‘just one taste of my masterpiece and Ranma will fall
into my arms and . . .’
Her
day dreams were interrupted as a bevy of under clothed girls surrounded her.
“Don’t
worry little girl,” cried one that Akane recognized as Sailor Jupiter, “we’ll
save you from that youma possessing your bowl.”
A
fine mist drenched Akane while a blast of lightening frizzled her hair as it
knocked the large casserole bowl out of her hand. The bowl broke apart and the contents began
to rapidly slither toward the girl with the odd hair do.
Sailor
Moon shrieked and blasted it.
Unfortunately, Akane caught part of the magical attack. She felt her clothing rip, her masterpiece
had been destroyed, her temper ignited, “Senshi no baka”, she screamed and
manifested a mallet.
Moon
‘eeped’, took a step back, tripped and fell on her
rear as the mallet passed harmlessly overhead.
Jupiter
was more direct, forgoing a magical attack; she arched into a snap kick that
was fully powered by her sailor powers and indignation. The kick caught Akane in the stomach and
launched her back toward her home.
A
fuming Mars was not willing to be left out or be very forgiving. “Mars flame
sniper,” caught Akane at the apex of her arc high over the Nerima/Juuban border and lit her up like fireworks.
Akane
splashed down in a very familiar koi pond.
Soun was in a wailing panic as he pulled her out of the pond but it was
a worried Kasumi who tended her. Kasumi
later told her father that Akane’s anger aura had shielded her from any major
harm but she would be out till at least morning.
Nabiki
was sniggering to herself even as she worried about her little sister. She had witnessed the entire episode. After calling Kasumi to find out how Akane
was, Nabiki continued on to Ranma’s home, she had a story to share now.
As
the scouts made their way back to the temple, they discussed this odd
episode. Ami decided that perhaps she
should take the time and make an effort to map the unusual energies her
computer told her were resident in Nerima.
Akane
destroyed her Sailor Jupiter poster the next morning
* * * * *
Soun
and Genma quietly plotted together on the front step of the dojo while casting
an occasional nervous glance toward Nabiki who was standing in the open doorway
of the house watching them with narrowed eyes.
“I’m
telling ya Soun, ole buddy,” loudly whispered Genma. “We’ve got to go and get another cask of that
Jusenkyo spring water for Ranma if you want my SON to marry one of your
daughters.”
Soun
sniveled and complained, “But I can’t leave my babies! I have to take care of
them.”
“Humpf,” injected Nabiki rather brutally, “Come off it
dad. You’ve been totally useless since
mom died.”
“WWAAAAAAAA,
my daughters hate me.” (TPW)
Genma
fatalistically shrugged his shoulders as he was changed into a panda
again. He had to admire how easily and
effectively Nabiki had derailed his plans.
He didn’t like it but he did admire the deviousness she was so capable
of. Too bad it seemed to be aimed at
foiling all his plans concerning Ranma at present. Ranma had actually laughed at some of Genma’s
problems with Nabiki when he’d heard of them.
“Father,
father,” murmured Kasumi as she handed the two old men small saucers of
sake.
Instantly
stable again, Soun said, “Thank you Kasumi.”
Nabiki
shook her head and carefully remarked as she embarked on a little mischief,
“You know, with Ranma’s new duty or what ever that is keeping him locked in
girl form most of the time, your best bet for uniting the schools is for you to
dowse Akane with the Nanniichuan instead of Ranma.”
“Ewwwe,”
from Akane as she shuddered at the idea of being one of those ‘perverts’.
“Genma,” asked Soun, “do you have any idea of what this new
duty is and who is filling Ranma’s head with this nonsense.”
Genma
shrugged and gestured to Nabiki, “Nah, but I’ll bet she knows.”
A shark like grin slowly spread across her face as the two fathers reached for
their wallets; “Twenty-five thousand yen from all three of you, nothing from
Kasumi.”
“Nabiki!”
yelped Akane in exasperation, “I shouldn’t have to pay to learn something about
Ranma, after all he is my fiancé.” She paused and added, “Why is Kasumi exempt
but not me?”
Before
Nabiki could respond, Kasumi asked with a puzzled expression on her face,
“Akane, I thought you cancelled the engagement and our fathers transferred it
to Nabiki.” She then smiled warmly at
Nabiki, “Thank you for not charging me little sister, but I am curious as to
why you are not?”
“Kasumi,”
began Nabiki, “I owe you more than I can ever repay for your efforts to take
care of me and the others after momma died.” She then shrugged as she said,
“Akane, as to why I’m charging you, well, let’s say that breaking bricks, walls
and roofs only made my job to earn money harder. Kasumi has thanked me for my efforts but
you’ve always taken me for granted.”
Akane’s
shoulders slumped. She trudged upstairs
and shortly returned with the required amount.
She wasn’t sure why but she had a gut feeling that she needed to know
this information.
Nabiki
carefully recounted the yen in her hand before giving a satisfied nod. “I have not been able to specifically
identify Ranma’s new sensei,” she held up a hand to silence their incipient
cries of outrage at this non-information.
“But I do know SHE is very powerful, more so than Ranma. She is also not teaching Ranma martial arts
but magic instead.” She put a pair of
earplugs in her ears after offering a set to Kasumi. “Who ever this new sensei is, she is teaching
Ranma to be a Magical girl; sort of like the Sailor Scouts I think. Whatever it is, the Amazons are in on it too.”
The
wordless shout from the fathers and Akane shoved Nabiki up against the
wall. In absent irritation, Nabiki tried
to smooth her hair down after she removed her ear plugs, but it insisted on
frizzing in all directions. Finally she
gave up and said, “That’s all I know.
When I find out more, I’ll let you know.” She unsteadily stood up and walked out of the
room, the ringing in her ears causing her a little disorientation.
Akane
was the only one to respond and it was with a brusque nod.
One
odd occurrence related to Happosai was that Taro had shown up at Furinkan
looking for the old pervert. Tatewaki
had noticed him talking to Akane and deduced that this was the new form of the
missing ‘foul sorcerer’ and fixated on smiting him. Kodachi had shortly followed in her brother’s
delusion though with a romantic intent and Taro was amusing himself taunting
both of them while waiting for Happosai to show up.
* * * * *
Ranma
grumbled to herself. It was one of those
days that happened every month that reminded her why she hated being a girl so
much. Her mother would commiserate with
her, but sympathy? Not in this lifetime apparently; at least not when it came
to being a girl anyway.
Ryouga
had wandered by and Ranma had promptly dowsed him with water and dropped kicked
him out of sight before he could get all of his
trademark greeting out. Female hormones
had left Ranma-chan in no mood to put up with the lost boy.
Ranma
had taken a page out of her experiences with Nabiki and started to research the
Sailor Scouts. Surprisingly enough, it
turned out that her mother was a fan of theirs and had amassed a surprising
amount of information. Better yet, she
taught Ranma how to use the computer to find out more. It was a real eye opener for Ranma;
especially when the two of them had discovered Nabiki’s Ranma-chan website with
all the various Ranma-chan merchandise offered for sale.
Nodoka
had gotten a thoughtful look before regretfully remarking that since Ranma-chan
didn’t have a legal existence, there was probably nothing they could do about
Nabiki’s profiteering at Ranma’s expense.
Fortunately it seemed limited to mugs, tee-shirts and video footage of
some of her fights. Ranma was faintly
relieved to see an absence of revealing photos offered for sale other than a
selection of tasteful posters.
Ranma
sat back later that evening and considered the idea of a legal identity for his
girl side. Finally he decided that the
anonymity that the present situation provided was worth the legal void she had
to exist in.
During
the night, Genma quietly entered Ranma’s room with a small bucket of hot water and
a bar of waterproof soap. He glared at
the short redhead peacefully sleeping, “No way is my retirement going to be
lost to worthless magical girl!” he softly snarled.
Genma
carefully poured the hot water over his child but before he could lather him up,
a bolt of lightning from a sudden storm outside blasted a hole in the
roof. The influx of rain woke the
redhead while a second bolt fried the panda.
Ranma
picked up the familiar bar of soap and then glanced at the half filled bucket
of hot water. She grabbed her insensate father
and hauled him downstairs where Nodoka quickly joined them. Nodoka set her katana on the table before the
nervous panda while Ranma poured hot water over him.
“Explain,”
was Nodoka’s one word terse command.
Genma
started babbling. Ranma frowned when she
learned what Nabiki had not only deduced but was making known. This was not good.
“Genma,”
Nodoka frostily cut him off, “understand that what Ranma is doing is DUTY. You will NOT interfere; am I making myself
understood?”
Genma
reluctantly nodded; he’d heard that tone from her only a few times before and
it meant she was serious, deadly serious if need be. He understood; cross her in this and there
would be no second chance.
* * * * *
Haruka
and Michiru were both feeling despondent.
They had considered themselves soldiers yet it was pretty obvious to
them that they had alienated themselves from the rest of the team in their
arrogance and because of their flexible ethics.
It
hadn’t helped their feelings when Hotaru and Setsuna had moved out into their
own apartment some distance away. The
pair of scouts sat in the empty room that had once housed a young woman that
they had once called their own for a little while.
“We don’t need them!” Haruka finally hissed
out.
Her
lover was more restrained, “Maybe, but I’m more worried that they will realize
that they don’t need us.”
Haruka
chuckled, “When the chips are down, they will call on Uranus and Neptune. They’ve done it in the past it will happen
again. You’ll see.”
“Perhaps,”
softly responded Michiru, “and what do we do if we aren’t the Uranus and
Neptune that answer?”
Haruka
collapsed beside her, her arrogant self-righteousness failing her. “Kami no.” She drew in a shuddering breath and softly
asked, “What can we do?”
Michiru
drew her in close and answered, “Sometimes I wonder if it would be so bad to
let the power go. Both of us have
careers that we can’t fully pursue anymore.
Would it be so bad to just get on with our lives? Tell them to find somebody that will
‘toe-the-party-line’ and count us out.”
“No,”
whispered Haruka, “if it was our idea then I could do it. But I won’t quit as a loser. I’m not made that way.”
Michiru
smiled at her lover, “Then perhaps it’s time to get back in the race?”
“You
mean become part of the team?” the blond asked.
“We
always were part of the team; it’s just that we thought we were most of the
team or at least the most important part.
We were wrong. We need to let the
others know that.” Michiru smiled a
moment before saying, “We thought we were first and second violins in the
Crystal Tokyo orchestra. It turns out
that it’s the Sailor Senshi rock band.
We were thinking we were the important part of the future while they
were wondering when we would ever read the music.
* * * * *
Nabiki
sat watching Ranma spar lightly with several of the Amazons before grimacing in
obvious discomfort and reluctantly finding a spare water bottle to dose himself. All the
Amazons understood who their Princess was and knew that the few hours that he
was able to endure being male each day was not to be interrupted by them.
Ranma
sighed as she took a seat next to Nabiki.
She wondered that the other girl spent so much time here anymore. After graduating from High School several
months ago, Nabiki had enrolled in a local community college for only a few
classes instead of going to
Nabiki
was a frequent visitor at the Saotome home, so much so that Nodoka had
converted small storage room into a bare bedroom for the older girl. And she was often underfoot at the Amazon temple
as well; like now.
Ranma
sighed as she saw the books in Nabiki’s hands.
School books and not Nabiki’s either.
Ranma had learned that Nabiki always had a reason she could give to
explain why she was there, where ever Ranma was. Tonight it was helping Ranma with her
homework. Ranma reluctantly returned her
smile; she really did appreciate the help and was grateful that Nabiki wasn’t
an overtly physical person.
Instead
of beginning to study with Nabiki, Ranma calmly took out a Ranma-chan tee-shirt
and laid it on the table. Nabiki became
very nervous when both
“Do
you not realize the potential harm your paid tongue can cause, girl?” began
Nabiki
frowned as she most certainly was not dense.
But before she could say anything, Nodoka interrupted her train of
thought. “Let me propose a scenario for
you Tendou-san,” Nabiki flinched at the formal title. “There is a reason why the Sailor Scouts go
to such effort to hide their true identity.
If the name and location of their families were known, then the forces
of evil that have several times tried to destroy them would most certainly have
slain or captured their families in an effort to get to them. If you publicly identify Ranma as a ‘magical
girl’ similar to them, then you put me at risk as well as all of Ranma’s
friends; that certainly would include the Tendous and
the Amazons.”
Ranma
sighed and added, “Elder, the fault is not entirely hers. I and the Amazons have all been too careless
with our words.” She added, “My
understanding of modern Chinese is not perfect, but I suspect that anybody
listening in to the casual conversation of your warriors would have gleaned a
large part of the story from that source alone.” She sighed and added, “It is only because I
have kept out of the public eye here in Juuban that
all these stories have been dismissed so far as mere baseless rumors.”
‘How
could I have been so stupid?’ ran through Nabiki’s mind as she realized the
obvious only in hindsight. “I’m sorry,”
she offered. Ranma and Nodoka both
nodded before leaving for home without her.
* * * * *
Ranma
spotted the sailor scouts taking down another youma. From the past news reports, this was
something that was happening only a couple of times a year anymore so he
considered himself fortunate to discover them.
Ranma quickly masked his visible presence using the umi
sen ken technique and set out to follow them.
He
was a little worried as the one with short blue hair frequently studied what
seemed to be some type of laptop computer and often pointed in his general
direction. Several times the scouts had
started toward his hidden form until he had moved into crowded areas. The second time this happened, Ranma thought a
moment and then used the same techniques that he used for his ki to pull in the magical portion of his aura to the point
it felt like he was stifling himself and silently changed location again. He noticed that the girl with the computer no
longer seemed to be able to detect him.
Ranma nodded to himself in confirmation that the Sailor Scouts, being
magical girls fighting magical foes would have developed techniques to detect
magical signatures. Apparently his aura
now had a magical signature component as his bond with Gaea matured.
He
carefully followed them to a Shinto temple quite a distance from the Amazon
temple and watched as the scouts de-transformed. He was surprised to recognize four of his
classmates and the school guidance counselor.
The other four scouts were strangers to him but he did mark their
appearance and the names they were called by.
This
gave Ranma pause as he realized that if he had been able to detect magical
signatures, then he could have sensed them as well at school. He almost stumbled at that conclusion as he
realized that they should have already identified ‘her’ at school. He thought about it then decided to test a
theory. He took a nervous breath and
then dropped both the active ki and magic masking
techniques that he was currently using as well as stopping his use of either
power source. He left his passive aura damping
technique in place though since it now took actual effort on his part to drop
it.
Ranma
noticed that the girl who normally sat three desks in front of ‘her’ was
frequently checking her laptop. Ranma
grinned and briefly pulled up a little of his ki. A small grin appeared on Ranma’s face as Ami
stiffened and began typing on the keyboard.
Moving to another location using ninja stealth learned from Konatsu, Ranma drew upon his rudimentary earth power
briefly and healed the old tree on the temple grounds that he was only
momentarily in.
Ranma
quietly chuckled from his concealment behind them as he saw the anxious scouts
gather about the cherry tree only moments later. As far as Ranma was concerned, the whole
experiment had proven that they couldn’t detect him as long as he wasn’t actively
using either of his two energy types.
That also probably explained why Ranma hadn’t noticed anything unusual
about them. He frowned at that as he
realized that he was at a disadvantage since he couldn’t detect magic yet.
As
he quietly left, the now untransformed scouts quickly gathered around Ami who
was perplexedly studying the mercury computer.
“I don’t understand it!” she finally wailed in a good approximation of
her princess. Feeling Setsuna’s comforting hand on her shoulder she explained,
“There were ghostly blips of strange energy near here just like what was
following us after we took down that last youma, but I can’t pinpoint it
because something is blocking most of the signal.”
“Ghostly!”
quavered Usagi.
“Blocking?”
softly asked Setsuna.
Ami
nodded and admitted, “Yes, and the odd thing is that it’s sort of similar to
how the computer can’t get a good fix on you, Hotaru or Usagi anymore since you
came back changed from the time gates.”
Surprisingly,
Hotaru was the one to guess, “Chaos energy.
I’ll bet that’s what we were exposed to.
That would mean who ever was spying on us is filled with chaos energy as
well.”
“The earth senshi,” softly stated Usagi. Seeing their eyes on her she explained, “The
files we read said she was related to Beryl, so that would mean she has a lot
of chaos.”
“There’s
only one problem with that guess,” grimaced Ami, “I got enough of a scan on the
other person to tell it was guy so that means it wasn’t the earth senshi since
Michiru said her mirror showed she was a redheaded girl.” As an afterthought she added, “It’s too bad
the mirror wouldn’t show her face. I
wondered if that new redheaded girl in our class could be her, but the scans I
took of her in the school yard didn’t show anything about her at all!”
“Can
we scan for people with chaotic energy and find this guy and the new senshi
that way?” asked Makoto.
“No,”
responded Ami; “I’ve tried, but carriers of chaos act like static generators
for my scan. I can tell they are there
but I can’t pinpoint where unless I’m right next to them. The biggest problem is that while Terra’s
power might be life based, it’s also chaos infused.” She sighed, “The simple fact that the earth
senshi is nearby is enough to make scanning for her impossible because of the
extra chaos when she uses her power. The
best I can do is to get a general direction.”
She sighed, “It also doesn’t help that there are several hundred minor
chaos infestations in just this ward either.”
“Ami?”
asked a confused Minako, “Why are there so many people who radiate chaos around
here?”
Ami
massaged her temples and explained, “Every time one of those youma drain a
group of people, their individual energy is mixed together by the youma. When we kill the youma, some of its dark energy
also gets added to the already mixed up energy that flows back to all the
people. All of those people become chaos
radiators. While the chaos in each of
them will eventually dissipate, it takes years for it to all go away. As a result, there are several hundred chaos
radiators in the ward right now.” She
grimaced, “They are essentially static as far as the mercury computer scanners
are concerned when it comes to trying to detect chaos energy.”
Usagi
turned to Setsuna, “Setsuna, how are you doing?
Are there any side affects from your injuries?”
“I’m
fine Usagi,” she replied, “It’s just that I’m limited right now and I’m not
used to it.” Setsuna frowned at her key
staff; she now understood part of the message it had been giving her. Its powers were currently limited to those
she had initially received so many millennia ago. She couldn’t even teleport someplace directly
anymore except to the time gate. Of
course from there she could then go where she wanted to go, but the available
energy for teleports was also reduced.
Both Hotaru and Usagi had confided to her that they had also experienced
similar power reductions but since both of them were still young, their new
power levels were at least similar to what they had had.
* * * * *
Akane
glared at her sister Nabiki. ‘Ranma’s
mine!’ she thought. Yet somehow Nabiki
either didn’t understand that or just didn’t care. The two sisters had made arrangements to meet
with Ranma at the local skating center.
Akane
had confidently brought her ice skates not noticing that Nabiki was carrying
rollerblades. As a result, she was
sitting on the sidelines watching instead of impressing Ranma with her skills
as she’d intended. She was sure on some
level that Nabiki had planned this.
Ranma
was in male form, something rare it seemed anymore for some reason that Akane
was not sure of. Sure she knew about his
magical girl training, but he wasn’t training all the time so why did he spend
so much time as a girl? Months ago she would have stridently damned him for
being a pervert for staying a girl so much; now she just wondered.
The
sudden silence drew Akane’s attention back to the skate park just in time to
see Nabiki and Ranma soar high into the air holding both hands with each other as
they spun in a series of airborne circles about each other.
The
roar of appreciation from the crowd did not drown out Nabiki’s giggles.
As
they settled back to earth, Nabiki in Ranma’s arms for safety; Ranma paused to
watch Akane storm off. He frowned as he
saw her punch Kuno into the distance and then snap
several telephone poles off with almost absent punches.
That
evening, Akane was waiting for her as Nabiki finally entered the house just as
evening was setting in. “Where the hell were you with my fiancée?” Akane yelled almost before
Nabiki could get her shoes off.
“I
wasn’t anywhere with either Kuno or Ryouga,” was the flippant response. Perhaps adding, “I spent time appreciating
the strong honorable body of MY fiancée Ranma,” was a bit over the top
considering the already evident temper Akane was demonstrating.
The
right cross was the last thing Nabiki saw that night.
Kasumi
was so worried that she called Nodoka who in turn sent Ranma to pick up Nabiki
and carry her back to the Saotome home for the evening. Akane never noticed as she was in the dojo
fuming about ‘she only got what she deserved’ between smashing concrete blocks.
Ranma
was extra solicitous of Nabiki for the next week that she stayed with them, so
she really didn’t mind other than the pair of black eyes she now had. That first morning together, Ranma had teased
her that she sort of resembled one of the family
now. She was puzzled until he had dumped
water on Genma.
Shortly
after that she was chasing him around the house swinging a pillow and yelling,
“I do NOT look like your panda-father you baka.”
Nodoka
only smiled to herself and made chocolate chip cookies, lots of them. A certain pair of teenagers shared a sweet
tooth.
Akane
never did apologize which did not surprise Nabiki at all. Ranma was not happy about it though.
* * * * *
Evening
was approaching and Ranma was sitting cross legged in a shaded part of the
Amazon temple grounds meditating when she became aware of Demona
kneeling before her. Slowly opening her
eyes Ranma studied the creature before her wondering just what she was.
Ranma
had watched the Senshi destroy a similar creature a week ago yet she had felt
no desire to help that youma especially after seeing the people lying in the
street. That the people had recovered
afterwards had made no difference to her feelings of anger towards the
rampaging youma. Yet Demona
was different; was it only because she was now alive or was it just because
Ranma had taken a chance on her? Ranma
had finally solved the question of what did the strange creature eat. Ranma noticed that the background
environmental chi was weaker anywhere Demona had
spent time.
Ranma
noticed that Demona was gesturing to Ranma, urging
her mistress to follow her. Ranma rose,
stretched and softly padded after her as Demona led
her toward one of the older building on the edge of the temple grounds. The stone and wooden beam building had once
been a stable apparently but was now starting to fall into ruin.
As
Ranma entered the building, the hair on her forearms prickled as goose bumps
formed. Ranma gathered her ki and started to softly glow illuminating the dim recesses
of the building shell.
Demona quickly knelt anxiously waving her hands
before her. Seeing that Ranma was
passive for the moment, Demona turned her head and
quickly gave a guttural growl that resonated with harsh vibrations. Ranma tensed as two shadows slowly detached
themselves from the deeper darkness where Ranma could barely detect them and
moved gradually toward the reformed youma.
They
were youmas Ranma realized. One had apparently merged with and taken the
form of a piece of corroded bronze statuary that had once been a horse and
rider. It now resembled a centaur,
though the remnants of samurai armor did not seem appropriate to the form. The centaur clumsily knelt and held his hands
forward in a wordless plea of supplication.
The other youma was now part of a massive log that had been left to rot
because of the mass of knots and burls that had made it impossible to cut
further. The log crawled forward on six
branching legs like a monstrous ant inside a wooden turtle shell. Ranma was surprised to see four eyes warily
watching her. The eyes were on stalks
above a gaping maw in one end of the log; the head of the creature Ranma
realized. This youma too settled to the
floor before Ranma and lifted the first pairs of appendages into the air toward
her. Ranma belatedly realized that these
were the creature’s hands instead of the first pair of feet as she had
supposed. Ranma tensed as the log youma
slightly arched in the middle and its forward end was elevated as it watched
Ranma anxiously like a grotesque caricature of a wooden statue.
Ranma
focused all of her senses on the trio of youma before her. She could sense the Demona
was alive yet the other two did not seem to be so, at least not in the
traditional manner. It puzzled her.
Ranma
became aware of two things simultaneously, first was that Demona
had been making a lot of gestures toward herself and her companions with
growing desperation in her movements and second was the presence of a group of
Amazons moving to surround them.
As
the two wild youma began to nervously shift; Ranma softly yet with authority
said, “Stop.”
Amazons
and youma froze in place. Ranma continued
to watch the youma.
In
the background Ranma heard the Amazon elders order the younger girls to back
off, that their princess would not appreciate them butting into her business.
Finally
Ranma got a glimmer of what Demona was asking and to
test the theory, she picked up a dried up branch. She held it in one hand, pointed to it with
one hand then to the three youma. Ranma
stuck the dead stick in the soil and called forth a trickle of Gaea’s power. The
stick swelled with life, taking root and sending forth leaves. Ranma then pointed to the two new youma and
cocked her head in question as she asked, “Is this what you want? Is this what happened to Demona
and what you want for yourselves? I can do it but why should I?
The
centaur shuffled forward awkwardly on his front knees. He grasped a few of the leaves from the newly
living young cherry tree and put them in his tarnished hair as a way to say
this was what he wanted. He twisted and
patted his back apparently offering to be a steed.
The
wooden turtle-log gestured helplessly, its four eyes wildly looking in four
different directions at once. It paused
then backed up and positioned itself beside a massive fallen stone. As it picked the stone up, Ranma tensed and
she could hear the Amazons shifting into offensive positions. Ranma held up a
palm to forestall action on the Amazons’ part and passively watched the massive
wooden youma. Ranma studied it as the
youma heaved the stone upward, used some of its branches to shear new faces on
the stone and clean a spot for it before the massive youma gently reset the
stone from where it had fallen decades earlier.
Ranma
understood then that both of the new youma were making pledges of fealty as
best they could. Ranma stood up and
gestured to the new pair of youma and said, “Alright, I accept your word that
you will do good.
Come outside and I’ll change you like I did Demona.”
As
Ranma led the way out of the interior of the stable ruins,
Ranma
shrugged and answered, “That was the past elder. Maybe because their life was flawed, they had
no choice. I intend to give them a
portion of true life and a chance to be other than what they were ordered to
be.” Ranma grinned slightly, “You know me
“
The
old crone cackled and quickly prepared to give instructions to the Amazon
troop. She placed two fingers in her
mouth and gave a loud warbling whistle.
The younger Amazons quickly gathered near her as she began speaking
while pointing to the advancing Sailor Senshi.
“These are the Sailor Scouts or Senshi.
They are to be treated as if they were Amazons of a neighboring village;
however,” she paused as a wide grin covered her face, “the princess wants to
test their skill. So guess who gets to
‘power spar’ with them?” Seeing their answering smiles she added, “No double
teaming but tag team is good, now go and make your elders proud.”
The
scouts paused as the twenty-one girls with unusual hair colors before them
suddenly let out a resounding cheer and quickly began trotting in their
direction.
“Oh great,” snipped Mars, “fan-girls, just what we needed
now, NOT!”
Shortly
each of the nine scouts found themselves facing one of the girls. But before any of the Sailor Scouts could
explain that they didn’t have time for autographs, the other girls attacked!
“Eeep!” as someone with twin ponytails stumbled and knocked
an Amazon out by accident.
“How
dare yo . . . umph!” as a
distracted shrine maiden in disguise failed to notice the fist approaching her
stomach in time.
Venus
Love-me-chain met bladed pole arm and love went to pieces.
‘Deep
Submerge’ soaked several Amazons impatiently standing to one side. Shampoo started snarling and spiting, the
others decided that the no double teaming rule had just been voided and jumped
into the fray.
Luna
and Artemis saw the transformed cat-girl and gave what each thought was an
understanding nod to the other. Luna
launched herself at the new cat with the lavender highlights while Artemis
pulled out a box of popcorn and a beer.
Deftly opening the can, he sat back to watch the cat fight with a grin
on his face. The grin disappeared as the
two battling female cats washed over him sending beer and popcorn flying. The two on one battle ended with both furious
females beating the shit out the male who was desperately trying to
escape. As the two females glared at
each other over the barely twitching tomcat that had gotten them coated with beer,
popcorn and grass, Luna reached deep into herself and
used an attack mastered in her youth. A
beam of light lanced out from the mark on her head and engulfed the Amazon cat
causing her to arch her back in momentary agony before she collapsed on top of Artemis. Luna looked at her handiwork and grinned,
“Yep, still got what it takes,” she snickered and then collapsed as well next
to Shampoo.
Behind
them,
Shampoo
twitched as the magical attack ran an unexpected course in the Jusenkyo cursed
girl.
With hearts in her eyes, Dowel clasped the rose to her breasts. ‘That handsome masked man in the penguin suit
had just thrown it to her!’ she thought.
Ok, so she had had to knock Sugar and Spice out of the way and make a
desperate grab for it but those were trivial details. Then the rose exploded.
Dowel
woke up a few moments later. “Wo ai ne,”
she murmured happily as Sugar and Spice despondently kicked at a stump as the
same thought crossed their minds: ‘why couldn’t I have been blown up?’
Mamoru
screamed as Dowel engulfed him in a bear hug before throwing him over her
massive shoulder and making a break for the nearest building with a locking
door.
The
three Amazon elders adroitly circulated in amongst the free-for-all deftly
ensuring that it didn’t get more out hand than it already was. In the end, Sailor Moon was the last of the
combatants standing and she was wavering.
“I’m
impressed!” commented
“Sparring match!” Sailor Moon whispered in disbelief.
“Well,”
hesitated
“Trespass
. . . you? But . . . youma . . . we . . . I don’t understand,” Usagi
finally said. She relaxed, accidentally
going so far in her fatigue as to release her transformation and the disguise
field she normally concealed her new appearance behind. Realizing she had blown her secret identity
she weakly said, “Hi, I’m Usagi.”
Ranma
and the three youma had been interested, though hidden watchers of the
confrontation. As
Ranma
could feel their fear and see it in the postures of the three youma. That they still moved to protect her did more
than anything else to impress her with the sincerity of these creatures toward
herself.
Usagi
transformed but instead of entering her Sailor Moon guise, her full princess
form appeared, gossamer wings and all.
Both
Ranma
and the Moon Princess slowly approached each other taking each other’s measure
in more detail than their previous casual encounters at school and liking the
person they saw before them. Usagi broke
the ice by saying to her classmate, “Hello Ranma, looking good little sister,”
and giggling when even the youma face-faulted.
“Sister?”
asked the redhead from the ground.
Usagi
knelt placing herself on the same level as
“My
first incarnation,” Ranma whispered.
Seeing the confused look on Usagi’s face,
Ranma explained, “That would have been about fifteen thousand years ago and
when my soul first appeared.” She
sighed, “I remember back then, I recall fighting youma as I grew up to become
earth’s first guardian. What you just
told me matches some of what I remember being told as I was growing up in my
first life.”
Usagi
sat back in shock. On one level, she had
expected Ranma to be the earth senshi given the various clues, but to learn
that it had happened so long ago was unanticipated. Usagi held out her wand so that the silver
crystal within it could be seen. “I
could use this to help you form your bond,” she offered.
Ranma
emphatically shook her head, “No way. I
heard about that crystal. It makes it
happen quicker but it also enslaves those that it’s used on like that. Not gonna happen,
nope.”
“Enslaves?”
repeated Usagi in disbelief.
Ranma
paused then asked, “Do you have the power to remove the powers of the other
senshi?”
Usagi
nodded, Ranma softly concluded, “You really don’t have the right to make that
decision. That you have the power means
that they are your servants and not your peers.”
“But
I was to be the Queen,” she protested weakly.
“That’s
political and a senshi is really supposed to be a guardian position.” Ranma paused and added, “Guardian of the
people, their planet, their spiritual health; and politically independent.”
Usagi
sadly nodded in reluctant acceptance of the concept though unsure that it was
the right thing to do but then asked, “How do I release them?”
Ranma
hesitated and then said, “I’m not sure, but I think it can only be done on the
planet itself; I think it has something to do with re-forging the link again,
but I ain’t no expert.”
Usagi
nervously twirled her wand as she cast anxious glances at the youma. “What about them?” she finally asked.
Ranma
shifted so that she could see the three youma sitting nervously to one
side. A thoughtful look on her face she
asked, “Sis, can you sense any differences between (Ranma pointed at Demona) her and the other two?” as she gestured to the two
‘wild’ youma. Somehow it felt right to
call her sister.
Usagi
blushed at being called sister by Ranma but she focused her attention on the
three youma in turn. Finally she said as
she pointed to Demona, “I can’t sense any evil in
her, but I can in the other two. All
three still have some dark energy as well though even if hers is a lot less.
Did you do something?”
Ranma
nodded and said, “It has to do with being a spiritual guardian as well. I want to show you something.” With that Ranma stood up and walked toward
the youma and then knelt in the triangular space between them.
This
was the first time that Ranma had included herself in the focus of power
instead of just being a conduit of it.
As Gaea responded to her call she felt old aches fade as her body
corrected years of abuse and injury.
Demona spoke first, “Thank you mistress.” The words were hesitant and the tone guttural
but the words sincere and clear.
“Mistress,”
echoed the centaur’s soft bell like tenor, “I also thank you.”
A
deep thumping bass resonated from the wooden one in barely distinguishable
words, “Thanks I you.”
The
three humans all arched an eyebrow at this unexpected result and then the other
eyebrow joined its mate as they took in the changes to the local
landscape.
A
hundred and thirty foot tall cherry tree now stood in the middle of the stable
ruins; the vines, weeds and debris had vanished and the grass of the newly
formed lawn was tall and lush.
Usagi
studied the three youma again before concluding, “They’re all alive now and
while I don’t sense any evil, there is still a taint of dark energy.” She smiled, “If you want, I could try my
healing spell to get rid of the dark energy?”
Ranma
was hesitant and the youma were anxious, but there was a strong feeling in her
that urged her to test this power of her sister’s. Ranma motioned the three youma together with
the centaur in the middle. She jumped
onto his back and placed a hand on the youma to each side as she allowed her
aura to softly flow over the group as a spiritual shield. To Usagi she said, “Alright Usagi, if you
promise that it’s safe then I should be ok too, right?”
Usagi
nodded happily as she had used it safely before even on her friends. She wound up and . . . “Moon Healing
Exhalation!”
She
was badly shocked when Ranma screamed and obviously fought part of the
beam. Most of the spell had flashed past
Ranma’s spiritual shield unimpeded but a portion of it coruscated over the
outside of the shield almost seemingly to attack her. It was quickly over and Ranma collapsed to
the ground with Usagi at her side sobbing almost instantly, “I’m sorry. I’m
sorry. It’s never done anything like
that before. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it. Please don’t hate me.”
“How
could you do something so evil?” was Ranma’s soft question to Usagi through
gasps of pain; a question that shocked Usagi to her core. Ranma glanced at the three youma perceiving
that they no longer looked fearsome at all.
“So part of it worked like you said,” she added thankfully.
Usagi
sat there with tears dripping in confusion and shame, “I’m sorry but I don’t
understand what happened either.”
Ranma
couldn’t help it; she leaned into Usagi and put her arms about her even as the
other girl also hugged her. “Usagi, part of the spell you used contained a
compulsion. That was the evil part. It was a compulsion to ‘do and be good’; but
that makes no difference. Any compulsion
is like a form of spiritual or mental rape.
It robs its victim of the right to choose.” Ranma sighed, “Sis, promise me you’ll fix
that spell before you use it again?”
Usagi
sniffed and rapidly nodded her head.
Then she broke down in loud sobs, “I didn’t know. Nobody ever said anything before!”
“Of
course not,” explained Ranma, “the compulsion part of the spell would not allow
anyone to even notice what had happened let alone complain about it.” Ranma shivered and then added softly, “If
this was something used commonly during your moon kingdom, then maybe it was a
good thing it was destroyed.”
Usagi
shivered as well, doubt for the righteousness of her heritage and future plans
entering her soul. “I . . . I need to go,” she managed to get out.
Usagi
launched herself into the air, wings taking lift as she gracefully fluttered
above the trees and across the temple grounds.
As she was leaving, her teammates finally roused and seeing her airborne
quickly followed her.
Moments
later, Mamoru managed to escape by using a rose to blast a boarded-up window
apart. Top hat and mask barely in place,
he was bare-chested and his pants in tatters as he fled screaming with a naked
Dowel in hot pursuit. She lost him at
the tall outer wall as he cleared it cleanly in a running leap while she failed
in her effort to go thru it face first.
The
following day when Usagi finally explained about the ‘sparring’, the reformed
youma, the flawed binding and the hidden compulsion in her healing spell, well
let’s say that that all the scouts had a lot to think about. For reasons of her own, Usagi did not
identify Ranma or that she was the earth princess. She did caution the scouts not to trespass at
the temple again telling them that they should consider it as being embassy
grounds.
There
was another unanticipated result of the impromptu sparing; the Amazon warriors
became fan-girls of the Sailor Scouts.
It was not uncommon for an Amazon to break off husband hunting (it was
pretty pathetic anyway they all agreed) to join her favorite Scout in trouncing
evil at any chance that they had.
It
got to be somewhat annoying in fact but there was not a whole lot the Scouts
could do about it especially since they knew first hand that the Amazons were
tough fighters in their own right.
The
hero worship did get a bit out of hand in a few ways; the fire hydrants and
hoses being used by Neptune’s admirers were something Cologne could handle, but
the flamethrower idea used by one Mars fan-girl Amazon was stomped out
immediately before they lost a second building.
Tuxedo
Kamen on the other hand, made himself
scarce, very scarce.
Both
Hotaru and Setsuna disappeared the day after Usagi explained what she had
learned from Ranma. Hotaru was gone for
five weeks while Setsuna returned briefly after eleven days. She stayed for only two days before vanishing
for another three weeks. Neither of them
answered their communicators while they were absent nor offered any explanation
for their absences upon returning.
Usagi
suspected what was happening but didn’t know how they could have done it. She was reluctant to broach the topic as a
result since she could easily be wrong and wasn’t sure of her response should she be right.
* * * * *
Nabiki
was frustrated. While she was sure that
Ranma considered her a friend, she just couldn’t seem to get closer no matter
how hard she tried. She had tried to
confront him about it only to have Ranma dismiss it sadly with the words, “How
could anybody want a girly freak like me?”
Reaching
the end of her rather large store of patience, Nabiki cornered Ranma one day
when they were alone in the Saotome home.
She had made some preparations born of desperation.
Nabiki’s
glare softened as she continued to stare at Ranma as he sat on the kitchen
counter munching a sandwich she’d made for him.
“Ranma,” she softly said, “I admit that I screwed up in how I treated
you at first. Somewhere and some-when in
our relationship, I really did fall in love with you, but I thought you and
Akane were in love with each other and would eventually marry when you both
grew up eventually.” She sighed and
continued, “But then that fell apart, apparently for good; so I decided to make
my move.” She scowled and growled, “I
didn’t think it would be as hard as this to make you believe that I loved you,
but you really leave me no choice anymore.”
She took the cloth off the open cask sitting on the table beside her revealing the metal Nanniichuan
tag on its side before swiftly lifting the small cask over her head. “If becoming a guy is the only way left to
convince you that I really do love you and that you aren’t a freak, then so be
it!” she exclaimed as she poured the cursed Jusenkyo water over her head.
“Meow?”
Ranma’s
eyes grew larger, ‘she’ had almost gotten over the effects of the cat-fist with
Gaea’s help, but guy Ranma had a significantly
diminished link with Gaea and the terror momentarily overwhelmed him because of
his surprise and he fled screaming.
* * * * *
* * * * *
Author’s
notes:
1.) I was reading over the offerings at the ‘Temple of Ranma's Seifuku’ (http://www.angelfire.com/creep/nukethemoon/cult.htm)
and got to wondering how Ranma would look as a senshi and what it would take to
get there. That is where the impetus for
this story came; not sure how far I will take it before my muse goes dry
(again, again).
2.) Additional Ranma and Sailor-Moon crossover
fan-fiction can be found on my two personal Web Pages listed below and at
Fan-Fiction-Net & Tannim’s crossover page (http://ranmafics.com/index.htm). Note that only my personal web-pages have all
my stories.
C
& C to cloud_dreamer2000@yahoo.com
Main
Web-page http://www.geocities.com/cloud_dreamer2000
And
(secondary) http://mysite.verizon.net/cloud-dreamer/index.html
* * * * *
* * * * *