The Way of the Hero
by Tannim Murphy

Disclaimer:  Perhaps it�s obvious, but for those of
you who don�t get it, I don�t own Ranma 1/2.  I don�t
own Sailor Moon.  Heck, I don�t even own whoever else
I decide to steal-*cough* use.  I only own the
situations I put these wonderful characters in.  If
you feel the need to use any of the text/ideas below,
I�ll either gladly give you permission, or kindly tell
you no.


Prologue

There are some things villains just shouldn�t do.  It
causes them no end of grief whenever they break these
�rules� of villainy.  Never set up the hero in an
unnecessarily slow torture device.  Don�t hold their
girlfriend/boyfriend hostage.  And, most importantly,
NEVER kill their best friend.

Every time you do so, the hero finds a way to beat you
down.

---

If there was an Olympic event for getting lost, Ryoga
would�ve taken the gold for 7 years running.  The
problem with Ryoga isn�t that he ignores his instinct.
 Just the opposite.  In martial arts, going by your
instinct is sometimes the only way to win, and it
saves you from many an unexpected attack.  However,
the lost boy�s instinct is also the equivalent of a
broken compass.

That�s how he found himself in Juuban, in the middle
of a youma attack.

---

�Excuse me, but which way is it to the Tendo Dojo?�

The youma sweatdropped.  Here it was, transformed in
all it�s evil glory, and this boy with ridiculously
powerful life energy emanating from him was asking it
for directions.

�I shall steal your energy!�  The youma crowed.

Ryoga looked up from the useless map in confusion. 
Was it miss Hinako?

No, he decided, just a very ugly demon.  He�d run
across enough of them in his travels.  They seemed to
be drawn by his immense aura of depression.  However,
most of them couldn�t handle him trying to give his
depression away in short bursts via Lion�s Roar
Bullet.  Heck, some of them couldn�t even handle the
Breaking Point.

�Go away.�  Ryoga muttered in irritation as he
motioned with his free hand.  He didn�t have time to
be fighting demons.  He had to find the Tendo Dojo and
destroy Ranma Saotome once and for all!

The youma paused.  It wasn�t used to irritation from
humans.  Fear, yes.  Horror, on a good day.  But
irritation?  Never.

Well, this WAS the youma�s first time out in the Real
World in it�s True Form.  What the Senshi didn�t know
was that there was a training program for youma.  They
didn�t come up with their attacks on the spur of the
moment.  Every youma spent time in the mortal realm,
stealing small bits of energy which they craft,
individually, their own True Form.  Youmas are famous
for having Bad Taste.

This explains the lame attacks.

�Die!  I shall steal your life energy from your
corpse!  CD BURNER!�

Youma are also famous for Not Being Very Smart.

This youma had set up it�s base of operations in a
computer store.  It had heard of it�s fellow�s attempt
at stealing energy through computers.  It also figured
that it was a good plan, just gone about in the wrong
way.  Instead of being dependant on disks, the youma
figured if you infected the entire computer, whatever
the person was doing, it would steal tiny bits of
energy.  Over time, the energy would build up, and
eventually be transferred back to it�s home base. 
However, his boss Kunzite hadn�t reported to him a
while, so it figured it�d better store up energy until
his eventual return.  By now, it had stored up a lot
of energy for it�s employer.

It�s form was, predictably, a humanoid computer.  An
evil looking computer, but a computer none the less. 
Hence the computer-like attacks.

>From first hearing the word �Die� Ryoga was fully
prepared in a martial arts stance.  This was a very
familiar situation to him.  Normally, however, he
wasn�t on the receiving end.

The martial artist ducked and rolled away from the
attack, nearly knocking over a couple of stunned young
women in VERY short skirts.  Only his incredible
reflexes and aversion to anything female showing skin
enabled him to stop at the last possible moment. 
Fortunately, he was facing away from the girls when he
stopped.  Otherwise, he�d have gotten a nosebleed
large enough to fill up the local blood bank.

�What are you doing here?�  Rei asked in mild
irritation.  �Are you too stupid to run away from a
youma attack?�

Ryoga jumped up in a twisting maneuver that
transferred his body from a crouching position to
facing both girls with one hand behind his head in an
embarrassed gesture.

�Ah, aren�t you girls a little underdressed?�  The
martial artist muttered as he blushed and quickly
looked away from the two fuku-clad females.  From the
glimpse he got, they were both wearing nearly
identically stylized clothing, the only major
difference being one�s color seemed to be red, while
the other�s was blue.  The girl in blue had a very
strong resemblance to Akane, thus even more
embarrassment was added to the lost boy.

Rei stared at Ryoga in surprise.  Was it possible that
he didn�t recognize the Sailor Senshi?  They�ve only
been the most publicized group of warriors fighting
evil this side of Tokyo!

�HARDRIVE CRASH!�

Instinctively, both the martial artist and Senshi
dived for cover.  A large explosion with flying bits
of computer innards detonated in the middle of where
they were standing the moment before.

Ryoga was not happy.

�You tried to harm innocent little girls.  Prepare to
die!�  The lost boy yelled at the hulking piece of
techno-junk.  He stood for a moment, letting the
memories of Ranma and Akane wash through him.  A dark,
greenish glow enveloped him.

�Hey, get away from the youma!  You can�t possibly
hurt it!  Only the Sailor Senshi can defeat youma like
this!�  Rei shouted at Ryoga, more worried than angry.
 He was pretty cute, even if he was glowing green.

�The energy readings are astonishing.  It�s almost as
if we can see his emotions with the naked eye.�  Ami,
always the studious one, was busy typing away at her
Mercury Computer.  From time to time, she would glance
up to as if to confirm her readings were indeed
accurate.

Ryoga focused all his depression into a sphere of
flickering green light.  The current worries that
Ranma would forever be married to Akane.  That Akane
might never love him.  That he was probably doomed to
wander the earth forever, a lonely martial artist with
no one to love.

�SHI SHI HOKOUDAN!�

Perhaps his thoughts would explain why this attack was
a particularly powerful today.

Most people would wonder, since this was life energy,
why couldn�t the youma just absorb it like he steals
from other people?  Picture this:  Life energy as the
equivalent of water.  You can drink water at a certain
rate of speed.  You can fill yourself up with only so
much water.  And, when someone freezes that water and
hurls it at you at high speeds, it hurts.  If someone
freezes the water sharp enough, and throws it fast
enough, it hurts a lot.

Ryoga was throwing the equivalent of a spear of ice at
speeds close to 90 miles an hour.  With predictable
results.

The youma staggered back in pain, it�s left arm
missing.  It�s inactivity was mostly due to shock.  A
puny human had just hurt it severely.  At least, it
thought the martial artist was human.  It hadn�t been
up in the Real World long enough to really tell the
difference.  Maybe this is why so many of it�s
brethren had fallen?

The Senshi were also staring at the lost boy in shock.
 Well, Ami was staring at her computer.  The readings
couldn�t possibly be true, could they?  It almost
appeared as if he took all of his emotion that he had
built up, and used it as a weapon.  That was
impossible.  Wasn�t it?

Rei was staring at Ryoga with hearts in her eyes.  At
last, she thought, a cute guy that could hold their
own against youma.  Who knows?  Maybe they were
�destined� to be together.  Why else would he have
shown up and saved the day?  Her face fell.  She knew
what it probably was.  Another enemy trying to get on
their good side.  She resolved not to let her heart
get in the way of deciding weather or not they should
go out.  And if he DID turn out to be evil, it would
have to be only one date.  The fact that she had died
once already without a love had no influence on her
feelings whatsoever.  Really.

The martial artist was exhausted emotionally.  Now he
remembered why he didn�t use that attack often.  At
least when he was fighting Ranma, there was no end to
the depression that man could cause.

Ryoga placed himself in a martial arts stance just as
both the Senshi and youma seemed to shake themselves
out of self-induced trances.

In it�s severely weakened state, the youma figured, it
wouldn�t be a match for even two of the Sailor Senshi.
 Especially with this young boy to help them.  It was
taking most of it�s energy to keep itself together. 
It had better leave.

The Senshi, however, had other plans.

�SHABON SPRAY FREEZING!�

�FIRE SOUL BIRD!�

The combination of hot and cold attacks proved too
much for the weakened youma, and he vanished in a
cloud of�  frozen ash.

�A Champion of Justice, I�m Sailor Moon!  On behalf-�

�Cool it Usagi.  The youma�s been dusted.�  Rei
smirked.

�Whaaat?  But I couldn�t even get in my cool speech! 
Ami�s computer said you didn�t have enough power to do
it alone, how did you beat it?�  Usagi whined.

�Well, this guy came and-�  Rei paused as she looked
around.  The mysterious stranger looked as if he had
vanished.  Rei muttered, �Why do the good ones always
get away?�

---

�Hmmm�  That one is strong.  And all his own strength.
 I deem him worthy of my attention.�

There was a distant sound of evil laughter carried by
the wind.  All who heard it felt cold shivers run down
their spines.

---

Ryoga looked around in confusion.  This was a familiar
sensation.  He wondered what a cow would be doing in
the middle of Tokyo.

�Where on earth am I now?�  He muttered in
frustration.

---

Author�s Notes:  Phew, my first prologue on my first
REAL fic.  I felt the urgent need to do something
constructive.  Instead, I started writing.  ^^;; 
Anyhow, I hope you enjoy.  ^_^  I have a lot planned. 
This, like most prologues, is an unnecessarily short
set-up piece to entice you to read the rest of my
story.  ^___^  Please, please, PLEASE send C&C.  I
know I�ll probably ask you this every time I send
something to the FFML, but I�ll most likely never get
to the point where I DON�T need it.  =)  Now, I know
I�m not the most knowledgeable person on the subject
of Sailor Moon.  I think I have the base
characteristics down of each Senshi, but I KNOW I
don�t have the sense of timeline that I need to
accurately place this fic.  So, in order to cover up
as many mistakes as possible, I�m making this an
Alternate-Universe Sailor Moon/Ranma fic.  ^^;;  I
know it�s cheating, but I�m also going to introduce
home-made villains, so it�s okay.  Any ideas,
encouragement, even *gasp* criticism is greatly
appreciated.

You know, I have a new respect for titles.  I wrote
this bit before I had a title down.  For a half an
hour I agonized what title to use to set the tone of
the fic.

Just a word of warning:  This is a TRUE crossover fic,
with no fusion elements.  No �Reborn Ranma� or �Sailor
Ranma� or �Tuxedo Ranma� around here.  Everyone just
happened to meet one day.  ^_^

=====
-Tannim Murphy
(No, not THE Tannim, the OTHER Tannim)

"Writers who take more time trying to spell than write are editors."  -Unknown

"Opportunity is often missed 'cause it's dressed in overalls and looks like work."  -Thomas Edison

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