I have recieved e-mail from several people saying that chp. 10-12
never made it.
I apologize.
I don't know what happened to the first post.
Also, I think I may have sent an OLD copy of chp. 10-12 the first time.
If they didn't get through - - -never mind. And if they did, this is the
latest revision.
Again I'm sorry. :(
Dear Listmembers,
Here are chapters 10,11 & 12.
They are DRAFT!! I wasn't going to send them yet. However I have
had so many complements (and so many people asking for "the
rest") that I am sending this out prematurely. While there will be no
conceptual changes or large deletions I do have some major
additions coming. Specifically I will be adding more detail on
Tokyo and environs (battle damage, etc) , Ryouga, Ranma and
Hotoro, Shan Pu, Kuno, Kodachi, Ukyou, Cu Lon, Mou Shu, The
JSDF and a few others. ^_^
THANK YOU ALL! There has been so much mail that I can't
answer all of you individually (I am trying though). Not and finish
this thing. :) So a Collective THANK YOU!!!
I am looking for comments on creative content (plot,
characterization, etc.).
I am by no means an expert on Asian culture or language so I would
also appreciate suggestions on correcting major faux paux. This
three chapter segment is 98 kb.
Chapter 13 is being sent in two parts
13a 58kb
13b 82 kb
I am not subscribed to the list so please send C&C
to samr@my-dejanews.com (samr was the name of my first Irish
Wolfhound.)
Please do NOT send e-mail to janne. I am using this e-mail
(temporarily) until I can get a system that will allow me to
send larger packets at one time.
I AM NOT JANNE@MINDSPRING ^_^
If anyone is interested I have posted two fanfictions on the RAAC.
"Love is a Battlefield" and "Bloodfist" under the name Allyn Yonge.
I would like to thank my three present pre-readers KazamaJun,
Thiemo and Ken Wolfe for their
patience and invaluable assistance. They have made this fanfiction
immeasurably better. Any omissions and mistakes are entirely mine.
(And another big thanks to two NEW pre-readers David Eddy and
H-Packrat.)
BEGIN CHAPTERS 10 11 AND 12
The characters of the Ranma � universe are the creation
and possession of the brilliant Rumiko Takahashi. They belong to
Rumiko Takahashi and her licensees (Shogakukan Inc., Kitty-Fuji
TV, Viz Communications Inc.) No copyright infringement is
intended.
The characters of Sailor Moon are the creation and possession of the
brilliant Takeuchi Naoko.
They belong to Takeuchi Naoko, Bandai, Toei Animation, DIC,
and all others associated
with rights. No copyright infringement is intended.
[fanfic][sailormoon/ranma] [dark/waffy]Furies
Chapter 10
MOUKA TAKABISHA!!"
The chi-blast smashed Sailorpluto to the ground,
collapsing the "Black Dome Close".
Sailorpluto vanished, leaving Akane sobbing in the
middle of the street like an abandoned child.
Ranma scooped her up in his arms and cuddled her tightly
against his chest. Even as he held the
weeping girl to his chest his head swivelled back and
forth, searching the darkness.
Blood and madness . . . so strong now that he could
almost taste it. Old blood and bright madness .
. .just standing in the same spot occupied by that . .
.woman . . . made his skin crawl.
"Dammit Tomboy," he whispered fiercely, "What the
hell have you gotten yourself into
now?"
**************************************************
*****
"Class, I would like to introduce Tendou Akane, a
new transfer student . Now who would
like to show her. . ."
"AKA-CHAN! AKA-CHAAAN! Hiiiiiiii!" Tsukino
Usagi bounced up and down in her seat
in a manner very unlike a high school student but very
like Tsukino Usagi.
There was a moment of stunned silence followed by a
round of snickering as the class realized what
Usagi had named her new friend.
"Usagi!" The sensei began sternly. "Please control
yourself. I need someone to show
Tendousan . . ."
"Thank you sensei" Akane broke in politely, " I
appreciate you letting Tsukinosan be my
guide."
"But . . .I didn't. . .She's not . . ."
Sensei's mouth snapped shut.
"Very well. There is an empty desk in the back of. . ."
Sensei's mouth dropped as Akane lifted the desk in front
of Usagi, student included, and exchanged
it for the empty one he had started to indicate.
"Hrrmmph. Very well. If we can all just settle down
class will start."
**************************************************
*****
". . .swer the question Tsukino-chan. Tsukino-chan!"
A delicate buzzing snore, like a band-saw cutting through
glass, was Sensei's only answer. Sensei's
lips tightened and he launched a piece of chalk at Usagi's
head. Five hundred centimeters from it's
target the chalk vanished. Sensei blinked, then saw the
chalk pinched between Tendou Akane's
thumb and forefinger. Her grip tightened and the chalk
vanished in a small explosion of dust. Sensei
paled at the look in her eyes and stumbled back a step.
"Usagi-chan!" Ami shook her friend urgently
"Usagi-chan!"
"Jus' five more min'ts mom, jus fiv. . ."
Minako yanked Usagi 's head up by her braid.
"Look, somebody lost a gallon of 'Rocky Road'."
"WHAT! WHERE? It'smineIsawit first!!"
Everyone ducked as Usagi's braids lashed the air like a
flail.
"Usagi" Minako twisted Usagi's head toward the front
of the room. "Tendousan is in
Samurai pit-bull mode. Do you think you can stop her
before she bends the sensei?"
"Yeah" Makoto added "we might miss lunch if we're
all in jail."
"LUNCH? "Usagi screamed the word, as a martyr
might have cried a saints name in the
flames.
"Is it lunch time?"
The sensei looked at the clock, which read forty five
minutes 'till the noon recess, then looked at
Tendou Akane. Twelve years of training and education
crammed into his cerebral cortex demanded
that he maintain discipline in his class room. Ten million
years of survival instinct imbedded in his
pre-brain told the cerebral cortex to shut-the-hell-up.
"Lunch time! Class dismissed!"
**************************************************
*****
"Ami can I. . ."
"No.!"
"Minako, are you going to eat. . ."
"Yes."
"Makotoooo. Could I have a little. . ."
"You already ate mine during first period, remember?"
"But I'm starvvvvving."
"Here Usagisan." Akane handed Usagi a bentou.
"Thiffgooojewmatii?"
"She says 'This is good. Did you make it?'" Mercury
translated helpfully.
"Any bentou Akane makes is considered a lethal
weapon."
Usagi and her friends were startled when a petite red-head
swung down from the tree.
"RANMA!. . ." Akane screeched in the most normal
tone the senshi had heard that day. "
What are you wearing?"
Ranma swung in a circle, skirts flaring cutely.
"It's my new school uniform. Like it."
"You Pervert! What are you doing wearing a dress?"
"Who you calling a pervert, tomboy."
"Tomboy! TOMBOY!! WHY YOU . . ."
"Ummm. Akachan. Whose your friend?"
Akane turned sheepishly to Usagi.
"Ahhh this is. . .ah. . .Ranko. A, uh, friend of mine."
"Ranko? I thought she said Ranma?" Minako
wondered aloud.
"Just call him a pervert." Akane fumed while Ranko
grinned at her.
"Him?"
"Akane just called Ranko him?"
"I thought it was Ranma?"
Akane ignored the chattering voices and turned fiercely
on a chuckling "Ranko".
"What are you laughing at?"
"AKA . . .chan?" Ranko smirked at the fuming Akane.
"Aka . . .CHAN. That's a perfect . .
."
" Would you SHUT UP!" Akane ground her teeth in
frustration, turning an alarming shade
of . . .
"Just what are you DOING here." she hissed "and
wearing a DRESS!"
"I go to school here now. I'm in your class as a matter
of fact. I would have been here earlier
but Nabiki insisted on cash up front."
Fascinated Ranma watched Akane turn colors he never
even knew existed.
"You . . .school . . .HERE!! . . ." Akane sputtered
incoherently as she tried to grapple with
the concept. Almost immediately she latched onto another
grievance.
"That . . .that skirt. Just what do you think . . ."
"You're just jealous 'cause it looks better on me than
on you."
Ranko backpedaled hastily as Akane's aura flared,
creating a double shadow of everything in front of
her.
"I'm wearing a dress 'cause I'm registered as a girl. A
lota' the classes, like Gym, are
segregated. An I'm not lettin' you outta my sight. Not 'till
I find out what's goin' on."
Akane's aura flickered out like a match in a typhoon.
Ranko gently reached out and pushed her jaw
shut.
"Wha. . .what are you talking about."
"I'm talking about you disappearing all the time. I'm
talking about your new 'friends'." Ranko
swept a hand to indicate Usagi and the others. "I'm
talking" Rakno backed Akane against the tree
"about last night" slender arms like silk covered steel
snapped out to either side of Akane's head,
pinning her in place "and the strange woman" Ranko
stretched up on tip-toe 'till her eyes were level
with Akane's "who tried to KILL YOU!"
"What!"
"What happened?"
"You didn't say any. . ."
"Why didn't. . ."
AKA-CHAN!" Usagi nearly bowled Akane and
Ranko over as she hurtled herself at her friend.
"Are you all right!"
"Aaaaaak! Can't breath!" gasped Ranko who found
herself the filling in an Usagi/Akane
sandwich.
"I'm fine Usagisan." Akane replied peeling Usagi off
her, thereby saving the Saotome line from
extinction. "Ranko is exaggerating as usual."
"What did this woman look like." Ami asked worridly.
"It's nothing to be concerned. . ."
"She was about this high" Ranko held her arm above
her head. "She had long dark hair, an' it
may have been the light but it had a funny shine to it . .
.kinda . . .greenish." Ranko didn't miss the looks
the girls exchanged.
"An' she carried this long stick with a big ball on top,
sittin' inside this valentine heart thingy."
"That's S. . ." Usagi blurted.
"Strange. Really Strange" Makoto finished, slamming
a hand over Usagi's mouth. "Did you tell
the police. . . or anyone?"
"You guys have got idea who it coulda been?" Ranko
ignored the question and pinned Makoto
with a hard look.
"Who it could have been? Uh . . .no . .no idea at all?"
"You're lyin'!" Ranko said flatly.
Makoto stiffened at the insult and took a combative step
forward. She stopped suddenly, unsure what to
do as she realized the charge was true.
"Ranma!" Akane was furious "How can you say some
thing like. . ."
"I find you unconscious in an ally, beaten half to
death" Ranko held up a hand and folded down
a finger "You disappear and no one know where you've
gone" another finger disappeared "some
strange woman tries to kill you , you transfer to a new
school and suddenly you've got all these new
'friends'." The fingers had turned into a fist which Ranko
shook in Akane's face. "THAT'S how I can
say something like that."
He glared up at the taller girl shaking with emotion.
"But it don't matter what's goin' on 'cause I"M here
and I ain't leavin'"
"Are you saying I can't take care of myself? That I
need someone to look after me?"
"Listen ya stupid tomboy. . ."
"OH! Now I' m stupid."
"Listen.Ya nearly got killed on Phoenix Mountain. An'
I'm always havin' ta chase after you
'cause some prince or somethin' has kidnaped you or. . ."
Usagi and her friends in amazement as Ranko catalogued
the misadventures of Tendou and Saotome.
". . .ve you from some ridiculously huge animals or . .
."
"Well if I'm so much trouble. . ." Akane tearfully tried
to shove Ranko away from her.
"You never LISTEN" Ranko shouted in frustration
"You just NEVER listen. If ya would just. .
. AH Hell!"
Pietite hands grabbed Akane by the ears and jerked the
startled girl off balance. Akane opened her
mouth to protest this rough treatment just as Ranko
opened her mouth to berate Akane about her
stupidity. Time slowed to a crawl. The two teen's froze in
place . . .so close to each other that a
hydraulic ram couldn't have forced a postage stamp
through the gap . . .yet not touching still. There
was a tiny freckle in the corner of Akane's mouth. Ranma
had never noticed that before. Fascinated he
watched her nostrils gently flair with each breath she took
He could spend hours just watching her
breath. Often at night he would hang outside her window
just . . .listening.
Each breath she took brought Akane an aroma that was
Ranma . . .no matter what form he took . .
.uniquely Ranma. It made her feel . . .warm . . .safe.
Akane could see a vein in Ranko's throat gently
pulse. With life . . .Ranma's life. She could feel her
insides get all squishy as she inhaled and Ranma's
essence filled her lungs. Her eyelids felt heavy and
against her will closed. She could just . . .
"Wooooo! Somebody get a bucket!"
"Bucket! We need the fire hose!."
"Akachan. Doesn't that hurt?"
Akane was distantly aware of an annoying buzzing sound
that gradually resolved itself into voices. She
opened her eyes to confront a pair of dazed sky blue orbs
peering muzzily back at her. Startled she
realized that she and RANKO were locked together, their
lip almost. . ."
"Eeeeeeep!!"
The two blushing teens hurriedly disentangled themselves
.
"An' let that be a lesson to ya'" Ranko panted.
Akane flushed with embarrassment . . .and something
else . . .something that she chose to identify as anger.
Anger was safer . . .much safer than . . .something
else.
"PERVERT! Just what do you think you're doing?"
Akane didn't pause to give Ranko time to
answer.
"How dare you follow me. And how dare you call
my friends liars. And another thing . . ."
Akane was on a roll. "What were you doing following
me. And what's this business about someone
trying to KILL me?" Akane laughed sarcastically. "That's
the stupidest thing . . ."
Usagi and her friends watched apprehensively as Akane
tore a strip off the petite red-head.
Apprehensive partially because of the slight tic beside
Ranko's right eye . . .evidence of superhuman
effort to hold back a retort. But also because the small
red-head was absent-mindedly folding a section
of chain-link fence between her fingers like a piece of
paper.
". . . can't believe the nerve you have . . ."
Akane stopped abruptly when Ranko held up a hand,
palm out.
"All right. You had your say . . .now it's MY turn. Ya
got other people worried . . . Kasumi for
one. An' Nabiki. Ya got her worried enough that she
helped me change schools . . .at COST!! Don' ya
think that comin' home all beat up . . .talking to yourself .
. . transferring to a new school . . .well they're
all worried about you." Ranko paused. "Me too."
Akane looked down at the ground, seemingly fascinated
by her toes.
"Y . . .they don't need to be worried. I'm fine. I . . ."
Ranko cut through her explainations.
"An' that . . .woman . . .that tried to kill you. We don't
gotta worry about her neither?"
Akane's head came up . . .intending to protest. That
protest died under Ranko's glare like a moth in a
furnace.
"Umm . . .Rankosan?"
Ranko turned at Ami's softly questioning voice.
"Rankosan. What makes you think this woman was
trying to kill Akanesan. I mean . . .what
evidence do you
have . . ."
"I'm a martial artist. That's all I've done my whole life.
Maybe I ain't so good at other stuff . .
.but the Art . . .there ain't no one better than me. I know
when someone's ready for a fight . . .how good
they are . . .if they mean business. I KNOW! An that
woman was tryin' to KILL Akane."
"What do you mean . . .you know." Makoto put in
skeptically. "How could you just look . . ."
"The way I know about you." Ranma speared Makoto
with a look. "I know that you try to act
big and tough. An' you're brave all right. Got a lotta heart.
Ain't no one gonna stop you . . . But deep
down . . .you're scared. Scared you're gonna' be alone."
Makoto paled at this summation, but Ranko had already
started on her next target.
"And you." She pointed to Ami, who shrank slightly
under Ranko's consideration.
"Cool, calm. Real smart." Ranko paused. "Real . . .real
smart. Got good instincts . . .but don't
believe in 'em. Don't believe in yourself. So you hide
behind your smarts. So no one will see . . .you."
Ami paled and hid her head in her hands as Ranko swung
on her next target, Minako.
"And you . . ." Ranko paused, puzzled. "You're a deep
one." Ranko's brow wrinkled. "You . .
.you're dangerous. There's blood on your hands."
Minako stiffened slightly, then relaxed.
"There's blood." Ranko continued. "But it's clean. Just
like you." Ranko bowed slightly, one
equal to another. "We ought to spar sometime."
Minako brightened and returned the bow.
"An' You." Ranko stepped up to Rei, who stood her
ground and glared at Ranko, daring her to
do her worst.
"You . . .try to make people think you're tough. And
you are. Ya got a lotta chi . . .a whole lot."
Ranko cocked her head and raked Rei with a long
searching gaze. Rei resisted a compulsion to cover
herself with her hands at the sudden sensation of being
naked in public.
"You're always . . .afraid . . .but not for yourself . .
.never for yourself. You're afraid of failing .
. .someone . . .else. Someone you love . . .more than your
life . . .some . . .one . . .."
Rei paled, swayed and would have fallen if not for small
hands which suddenly were there to catch her.
"And as for you." Ranko turned her gaze to the small
blond figure supporting Hino Rei. "As for
you . . ." Ranko's cocky attitude disappeared and her eyes
went wide with shock Straightening suddenly
she executed a very low, profoundly respectful bow.
"Forgive me for my impertinence master. I meant no
disrespect. But I believe that I have
demonstrated why I believed the . . .woman . . .I saw was
a threat . . .a deadly threat to Tendou Akane."
The other senshi were amazed at the transformation . .
.from sarcastic, rough talking . . .to polite almost
formal . . ."
Akane was beyond amazement and well on her way to
shocked. She grabbed Ranko by one sleeve and
spun her around.
"Just what are you doing." Akane hissed. "Mr. "I bow
to nobody". I thought you didn't call
anyone master."
"I didn't." Ranko replied so simply that Akane could
think of nothing to say.
**************************************************
*****
"Setsuna! Where have you been? There's a new
enemy and . . ."
"Weapon 4 is active. Yes I know." the guardian of
time looked at her companions. "We are
facing the strongest enemy yet. If we loose this battle
every living thing on Earth will die."
Kaiou Michiru and Ten'ou Haruka looked at each other
then back at Meiou Setsuna, Sailorpluto.
"What do you want us to do?"
"You must retrieve Weapon 4. Without it we have no
chance of defeating this enemy."
"That should not be a problem." Michiru started "she
has already helped in two battles and . . ."
"That is not enough. Weapon 4 must be FULLY
activated."
Haruka hissed in dismay.
"That. . . may present problems" Michiru said slowly
"the Princess will not. . ."
"What the princess does or does not want is
irrelevant." Setsuna said cooly. "Our mandate is to
guard the outer reaches of the solar system against
invaders or to repel them by any means necessary. By
any means."she repeated flatly. "Against the loss of
billions of lives and the life of an entire world, the
loss of one individual is a small price."
"What do you want us to do?"
**************************************************
*****
"Would you quit following me!" Akane hissed.
"Hey, I'm just takin' a walk!" Ranma grinned
infuriatingly down from his perch on the fence
top. "Just pretend I'm not here."
"I wish I could pretend you were in Hokkaido.."
Akane muttered to herself.
"I think it's kind of sweet of her uh I mean him." Even
after an explanation of Ranma's rather
unique . . .outlook. . . on life Usagi was still a little
confused. She wasn't the only one.
"There's at least a 35 kilo mass difference in your male
and female forms. How on earth do you
balance the mass energy equation!" Ami asked again. "I
mean, if you just converted that much mass to
energy you'd blow up all of Tokyo. I suppose you could
shunt it off using. . ."
"Do you have any idea of what Ami's talking about?"
Makoto whispered .
"I think she's upset about how Ranma loses so much
weight when he changes to Ranko."
Minako replied.
Makoto frowned over at her small friend.
". . .blem of acquiring mass for your conversion UP to
your male forreeeeeeeeeeepppppppp!"
Ami squawked as she was snatched into the air by
Makoto.
"MAKOTO! What areeeeeee. NO! Don't
heheheheheh!" Ami squirmed and giggled as Makoto
poked and prodded her sides.
"WHAT are you DOING!" Ami gasped after Makoto
put her down, tugging and pulling her
clothes back into place.
"You're not at all fat." Makoto said seriously.
"What?"
"In fact you could stand to GAIN some weight."
Makoto frowned. "If some guy said you're too
fat, you just let ME talk to him."
Ami looked at her big friend as if she were crazy.
"Makoto, what in the world are you talking about?"
"I know it's easy to get hung up on your appearance
and all that. But your health is more
important. You're smart and pretty and I think you look
just fine like you are and . . ."
"Thank you, I think. But why this sudden interest in
my weight?"
"Well Minako said that you were trying to find out
how Ranma loses all that weight when he
changes into Ranko, but if you try to loose that much it'll
make you sick and . . ."
Ami placed a finger against Makoto's lips to stop the flow
of words. She looked up into her giant friends
concerned face, then dropped her gaze to see Minako,
Usagi and Rei all looking back with identical
concern on their faces. She glanced up at Ranma who
shrugged with a "don't-ask-me-haven't-
understood-a-thing-you've-said-all-day" look. Finally she
looked at Akane who grinned back with
sympathetic understanding. Ami drew in a deep breath
and looked back at her friends.
"Thanks for worrying about me. I promise I won't take
any chances with my health."
"That's great!" Makoto said with relief. "Why don't I
make a bentou for you every day?"
"That's not necess. . ."
"And supper too!" Makoto enthused "That way we can
be sure you're getting proper nutrition."
Ami looked at the circle of faces surrounding her and
suddenly understood the old adage that it's easier
to escape from enemies that from friends.
"All right." she surrendered "That sounds nice."
"Yayyyyy! A party." Usagi was ecstatic.
"Uh, That's not what . . ." Ami began.
"We could have it at my house." Akane added shyly.
"As long as you don't cook. . ."Ranma began.
"There's something evil. . ." Rei's head came up
suddenly. She turned her head like a hound
casting for a scent. She stiffened , then took of at a dead
run. Usagi and the others were a split second
behind her.
"HEY! Wait for me." After a startled instant of
hesitation Ranma bounded along behind the
group.
Rei's impression of evil was soon confirmed by screams
and explosions in the distance. As they drew
closer to the scene the impression of disaster was
magnified by the streams of terrified people fleeing the
scene.
"Uh. . .what about. . ." Makoto jerked her head in the
direction of Ranma who was hovering
protectively over Akane who in turn was hovering over
Usagi. Usagi was feeling a bit mashed since Rei
was crowded protectively and possessively on her other
side.
"I'm not sure. . ." Minako flinched as the sky flashed
white and the top of a distant building rose
lazily into the air like a leaf blowing in the wind.
"DOWN!!"
She dove for cover, dragging Ami and Makoto with her.
Moments later the shock wave roared over
them in a blast of hot wind and a rumble that shattered
windows and rippled the roadway like a bowl of
jello.
"Is everyone OK."
"OK here."
"Fine."
"What the hell was that?"
"We're allright here."
"I'm getting Muuuuuushed!" Usagi complained from
the bottom of a protective mound of
senshi, Blood Guard and bystander.
"Better than getting your baka head blown off." Rei
snapped.
"Akane! Can we trust. . ." Minako jerked a thumb at
Ranma.
"With your lunch, money or panties, NO!"
Ranma bristled at this and his mouth opened to protest.
"With your life or honor, absolutely."
His mouth snapped closed and he felt his face heat up.
"All right then, Henshin YO!"
"MOON. . ."
"MARS. . ."
"JUPITER. . ."
"MERCURY. . ."
"VENUS. . ."
Ranma looked at Akane who was watching her princess
transform into the pretty sailor soldier for love
and justice.
"Hey, tomboy, don't you have a transformation?"
"No, I'm not a senshi."
"MAKE UP!!"
Ranma paused to watch vari-colored energies surround
the five girls.
"That's too bad."
"Huh! Why?" Akane dragged her eyes away from
Usagi to see Ranma watching the five girls.
She suddenly realized what Ranma was seeing, or rather
what he WASN'T seeing.
"Why you perv. . ."
"I bet you'd be really cute."
"C. .c. . cute?"
Ranma winked at her and all of Akane's higher brain
functions promptly turned to mush and ran out the
soles of her feet. The five senshi finished their
transformations to find Akane staring with huge dazed
eyes at Ranma, who was rocking back and forth on his
heels, a look of complete innocence on his face.
"If you two are quite finished?" Minako politely
inquired. "We have some 'Big Nasty's' to
pound."
She turned to the senshi of water. "Mercury, what do we
have."
Mercury typed commands into her computer as her visor
gathered data from the surrounding area. She
looked up sickly at her friends.
"A. . akane. Would you please scan the area and give
me a count of the enemy.
"Passive Sensors to maximum sensitivity. Search for
hostile's." Akane commanded the voice.
##Working## the voice whispered.##Multiple targets
found. Energy signatures consistent with
previous contacts.## the whisper paused "Active portal
detected. Flying vehicles detected. Listing
contacts now." A mental grid map of the area popped up
with a tabular listing of enemy numbers and
types in the lower right corner. As she watched the portal
icon flared and another icon, tentatively
identified as a vehicle, crackled into existence.
"I estimate one hundred plus infantry" Akane reported
"in powered armor accompanied by six
to eight vehicles. Maybe twice that many. The vehicles
appear to be a lightly armored flying scout. I'm
sorry the count isn't more precise but the proximity of an
active portal interferes with my sensors. In
addition they are using some sort of jammer . I could try
to burn through on Active, but that would give
away our position."
"That agrees closely with what I'm finding as well."
Mercury looked at her friends. "I think we
may have a little problem."
**************************************************
*****
"All right. This is gonna be great!" Ranma enthused
looking at the sight below him. On Akane's
advice they had followed him to the top of the highest
building still standing. Now Usagi and the other
senshi looked at him as if he were crazy. Akane merely
shook her head in fond exasperation.
"I know you're salivating at the prospect of fighting
your first alien species. . ."
"Second." he retorted. " What about Taro?"
"He's not an alien, just cursed. Besides, didn't he
bounce you around like a rubber ball?"
"HEY! He just got lucky."
"Yeah, a couple of dozen times. We can't afford any
mistakes here, these 'guys' are playing for
keeps."
"Yeah, Yeah." Ranma grumbled "OK, see we got one
big problem and one little one. That" he
pointed to the rippling of the air that indicated a Portal "is
our big one. As long as that thing is working
they can keep reinforcing. The little one is those" this
time he indicated a swarm of small craft that were
darting in and around the wrecked buildings. "As long as
they got the 'high ground' we can't move
freely, can't attack, can't disengage without them seein' us.
And if you can see the other guy before he
sees you-you win. If HE sees YOU first- you lose."
"And what about the hundred or so soldiers-in
powered armor. You don't consider those a
problem?" Rei asked sarcastically.
"Nah." Ranma waved a hand dismissively. "We cut off
that portal thingy and they run out of
gas sooner or later. Then all that armor and stuff's just so
much dead weight. And we get rid of their
'eyes in the sky' and their infantry is blind, deaf and
dumb."
"Nice tactical analysis" Mercury approved. "But the
fact is they DO have the flying scouts, they
DO have the portal and they CAN reinforce. And I don't
see how we can do anything about any of those
things."
"Hey." Makoto objected."Why not do what we always
do. Jump in the middle, blast everything
that moves while Usagi does her stuff." Makoto's eyes
gleamed at the idea of mixing it up with this new
enemy. She hadn't forgotten the last time and she was
looking forward to some payback.
"Because as soon as Usagi powers up for her attack
they'll detect it. At best they'll mount an
infantry attack, at worst they'll bomb us from the air."
"Or maybe a combined attack." Ranma added.
"Ok, so if we attack the portal, the infantry and air will
kill us. If we try to take out the infantry,
the air will locate and pin us down while the infantry kills
us. And in the meantime more and more of
those things are coming through the portal." Rei
summarized.
"Yeppers." Ranma grinned.
"Quit teasing then Ranma." Akane admonished.
"Bleeeeee!" Ranma stuck his tongue out at Akane,
then turned and grinned at the senshi.
"See, we're going to use their own strength against
them."
**************************************************
*****
"I don't like this." Ranma said grimly.
"It's your idea Ranma." Akane reminded him.
"It wasn't my idea for you. . ."
Akane put her hand on his shoulder. She could feel his
body shiver with tension.
"Look, someone has to. . ."
"It doesn't have to be YOU!"
"Yes it does." she said patiently.
"Let me do it."
Venus came up behind him and put a sympathetic hand
on his shoulder.
"I sympathize with you Ranmasan. But, like it or not,
you're a soft target compared to the
senshi. And all of us put together can't take as much
punishment as Akane-chan. You came up with a
good plan, now let us carry it out."
"Dammit, I'm a better martial artist than Akane,
I should. . ."
"That's why I'm leaving you with Usagi and Ami."
Akane interrupted. "I would never leave
them otherwise."
"Why do YOU have to do it!" Ranma repeated
stubbornly.
"Who else is there? Ami is our command and control.
Her sensors are at least as sensitive as
mine and she has much better analytical skills. Or
perhaps we should send Usagi?"
Even Ranma grinned faintly at that as Akane continued.
"Usagi is staying put until we have their air and
ground elements tied down sufficiently to give
her time to launch her attack" She glared sternly at
Ranma. "This is all your idea and it's a good one.
Venus, Mars and Jupiter are all used to working as a
team. It doesn't make sense to split them up. That
leave you and me. You're a better martial artist but I"VE
got all this nifty hardware. You don't have
armor, you don't even have a communicator. You're
good, but no one's that good unarmed against that
many guns. " Akane sighed and leaned against Ranma.
His arms came around her reflexively and she
relaxed in his embrace. "I'm scared Ranma." He
tightened his grip at her words. "Really sacred. The
first two times I did this, I was just reacting, not thinking.
This is the first time I'm going to do it
deliberately. And I'm scared. Scared I'm going to die.
More scared I'm going to klutz out and someone
else will die because of me. I need to know that you're
here with Usagi. And Ami.
If. . .if it goes wrong, I know you'll get them out of here
alive. Please. Promise me you'll stay here and
look after them?"
Ranma tightened his grip then pushed her to arms length
so he could look directly into her eyes.
"Do it just like we planned. Nothing fancy. Do NOT
get mad. Gettin' mad's the fastest way to
loose a fight. Stay centered. Keep the music in your head.
Dance, don't slug Don't let 'em pin you
down."
"Hai, sensei!" Akane grinned impishly.
Ranma shook her lightly. "I mean it. None o' your
'What-the-hell-let's-pound-the-snot-outta-somethin'-
'till-it-breaks' stuff. You've told me about your weapons
and stuff. Snipe at 'em and KEEP MOVIN'.
An' you got good instincts, you just think too much. I ain't
never seen anyone, an' I mean ANYONE
you couldn't land at least one punch on. DON'T think
about what your doin', just do it. And keep doin'
it over an' over 'till the bad guys are done."
"Promise me you'll look after Usagi form me? And
Ami?" She stared intently into his eyes,
willing him to understand, to agree.
Curtly he jerked his head in a short up and down motion.
"Thank you Ranma." She stood quickly on tip-toe and
brushed her lips against his, then
disappeared down the side of the building.
"I think that's our cue to get going." Vensus said
watching Akane disappear. " Give us a few
minutes to get into position. We'll give you a single 'click'
on the communicators when we're ready."
"You guys be careful." Usagi was nearly in tears.
"No problem. We beat Beryl, The Black Moon Clan,
the Dead Moon Circus, Galaxia. We even
passed the entrance exams. We'll wax these guys and be
back in time for a late supper." Jupiter gave
her princess a quick hug.
"Right!" Venus exclaimed cheerfully "When the going
gets tough, we take a shortcut."
"OK, baka brains. Try not to fall asleep up here." Rei
said gruffly.
Usagi stared intently into her eyes for a moment then
threw her arms around the senshi of fire,
squeezing her tightly.
"I love you Rei. You're the best friend I ever had."
Rei stared, silent and stunned for a moment. Then she
turned away quickly and without a word
descended down the side of the building opposite the one
Akane had descended. Venus and Jupiter
quickly followed leaving Ami, Usagi and Ranma alone
on top of the building.
**************************************************
*****
"She's starting now." Mercury whispered pointing at a
display on her computer. Usagi and
Ranma looking over her shoulder could see a moving
graph spike suddenly.
"That's her primary weapon activating. We should see
someth . . ."
There was a sudden rumbling buzz, like a jet turbine
eating a bucket of ball bearings and one of the
small flying craft fell from the sky trailing a plume of
greasy smoke.
##Target destroyed.## the whisper announced with
satisfaction. ##Two hostile flying craft
approaching on reciprocal
vector. Hostile ground forces converging.## Icons
bloomed on the mental grid map. Akane could see
two swift moving flyers and at least fifteen ground troops
headed her way.
"Active sensors to maximum power. Bounce a tight
beam off that lead flyer."
The whisper hesitated.
##Warning. Active sensors will reveal position to
hostile flyers.##
"Won't it just." Akane murmured.
##Not understoo. . .##
"Warning understood. Go active, maximum power."
##Acknowledged.##
A massive surge pulsed from Akane's sensors pinpointing
her location like a giant "Here-I-am-please-
come-shoot-me-now" sign.
Being well mannered murderous alien invaders, the
flyers politely and instantly turned toward this
signal and dove toward Akane's signal. Prudently they
maintained a wide separation and jinked
randomly to throw off any defensive fire.
"Select Armor Piercing. Weapon power set to 0.5."
This was likely to be a long fight. She had
to conserve power. " Contra-grav to standby."
##Acknowledged.##
Akane stepped into the open and watched the two flyers
approach. The lead ship opened up with what
seemed to be a heavy version of the infantries warp-gun
while the wing 'man' ripple fired a particle
beam weapon. Both flyers achieved direct hits on their
target. They watched the ground explode into a
white hot vapor of rock and steel. Even had their
instruments been able to penetrate the sensor hash
created by their own weapons fire they would not have
believed the results. As the two flyers zoomed
over an obviously destroyed target, a small figure erupted
from the expanding dust cloud behind them.
They had absolutely no warning as super-dense darts
moving at 10,000mps blasted through them like
an anvil through wet tissue.
##Targets destroyed. Accumulators at 57%.##
"Nuts." Akane muttered to herself as she descended
toward the ground. She'd used still too
much power killing those two. She didn't need to vaporize
them, just knock them down. She looked
around guiltily, hoping that Ranma hadn't seen her
mistake.
##Input not understood.##
"Reduce kinetic weapon acceleration to 5000mps."
That should reduce power consumption and still give her
enough "oomph" to knock down the flyers if
she aimed carefully.
##Acknowledged. Enemy flyers on intercept course.##
Four icons blinked on her mental map,
coming in from widely divergent courses.
##Enemy ground force numbers now estimated at
between40 and 60.## More icons crawled
across the virtual ground covering the map like a
malignant fungus.
Akane snarled at the oncoming flyers and she swung her
kinetic weapon up and over to target the closest
attacker..
**************************************************
*****
"That's number three down." Mercury tapped
commands into her computer. She examined the
changing alpha-numeric crawl on the screen. "I think
she's really made them mad now."
Ranma grunted from his position peering over the edge of
a broken wall.
"Let me see."
Sailormoon tried to wiggle forward to Ranma's side.
Mercury snagged her ankle and dragged her back
without raising her head from the screen. There was a
long, wide furrow in the dirty rubble showing
where this action had been repeated many times before.
Sailormoon spat dirt from her mouth and glared at
Mercury.
"If you want to see what's going on you can look at the
computer." Mercury said, still without
looking up."
"You're just being mean." Sailormoon hissed. "Ranma
gets to look and I. . ."
"Ranma is suffering from testosterone poisoning. It's
common among teenage boys. They grow
out of it if they live long enough."
Sailormoon sniffed at her senshi and settled back down
grumbling under her breath. Mercury decided
she really didn't need to know and turned her attention
back to her computer. . . and Ranma. He hadn't
said a word since Akane had left, didn't even respond to
her deliberate gibes. His attention was on the
distant battle as if human eyes could pierce the growing
darkness, rubble filled streets and clouds of dust
and plasma thrown up by weapons fire and exploding
vehicles.
"She's all right, Ranma. Akane shows up on my
scanners like a beacon. They're not even
getting close." Mercury lied. Actually Akane had been hit
several times. Mercury knew that only her
ability to exist in zero-space had saved her. And Akane's
energy signature was getting weaker. She was
running out of power, fast. And she still had a long way
and eight more flyers to go.
**************************************************
*****
Akane's breath came in sobbing gasps and her shoulders
heaved with exhaustion. A distant part of her
mind reminded her that a martial-artist always breathed
from the belly and noted that shoulder
breathing was the beginning of the end.
"Sys. . .tems St. . .st. .atus."
##Accumulators at 18% Energy Weapon off line,
insufficient power. Kinetic Weapon,
magazines empty. Protein envelope integrity
compromised. Blood loss within 12% of maximum repair
capacity. ##
Akane twisted and spun like a worm on hot coals
frantically trying to avoid being hit by the weapons
massing fire upon her. She was especially wary of the
warp-guns. Even at her best they could hurt her.
With her energy levels so low she was increasingly
vulnerable, even to the blaster fire. If they could co-
ordinate blaster fire from five or six vehicles. Or if they
managed to keep a warp-gun on her for more
than a second, or if they could get good hits with two or
more. . .
She screamed and tumbled to the ground as a warp-gun
caught her flush on her hip. Only a life times martial
training brought her rolling to her feet . . .running
before another beam could converge and finish her off.
She lurched off in a stumbling run, zig-zagging
through the rubble even as more armored figures closed
in from the ground and eight of the last enemy
fliers swooped down from above.
"MARS. . ."
"JUPITER. . ."
"FIRE BIRD"
"LOVE AND BEAUTY. . ."
"EVOLUTION. . ."
"SHOCK!!!"
>From their hidden position the combined attack of three
angry senshi caught the remaining flyers
completely by surprise and bunched together. The energy
of the attack blasted seven pilots and machines
apart like a puff ball in a typhoon. The eighth fell like a
stone into the rubble field below.
"YES!" Mercury was ecstatic. "Got them all. Every
enemy flying machine is dead or out of
action!" She turned to Sailormoon. "Get ready. They're
going to have to open the portal, either to
retreat or to reinforce. When they do. .. "
"I dust 'em! " Sailormoon responded tensely. "Never
mind that. How is . . ."
"I don't know. There's too much interference from the
blast to see very well. But I'm sure she's
all right. Now. . ."
The black armored figure caught Sailormoon and
Sailormercury completely by surprise. Sailormoon
frantically backpedaled, tripped and landed hard on her
rear. Sailormercury scrambled frantically to
bring her 'Aqua Rhapsody' to bear on the attacker. Even
as her hands closed around her harp she knew
with a sick certainty she was going to be too late.
"Mouko Takabisha." The ki-blast slammed the
armored figure into the ground.
"Never mind this guy." Ranma yelled as he launched
himself at the prone figure "Get that portal
thingy before more of these guys show up."
Mercury watched, dazed, as Ranma launched an attack so
rapid that, even with her visor, she could
barely see the individual blows. She shook off her stupor
and turned to Sailormoon who was just
dragging herself off the ground.
"Sailormoon, the portal" Mercury glanced down at her
computer. "Quickly, the portal is open
and something is coming through!"
Sailormoon looked off in the distance. The slight
shimmering in the air had changed to a pronounced
twisting ripple, like water running down a drain. A dark,
armored shape could been seen nosing it's way
through the opening portal.
"SILVER MOON. . ."
Even occupied as he was part of Ranma's attention was
on Sailormoon and her attack. He noted her
graceful flowing movements, so unlike her normal
manner. With approval he saw her center herself with
precise flowing motions that irresistibly reminded him of
Aikido.
"CRYSTAL POWER . . ."
Sailormoon was blazing with power now. Ranma's black
armored opponent stumbled slightly as the
brilliant light washed over everything. Ranma took this
opportunity to see if his opponent could fly.
"KISSSSS!!!"
The bolt of energy slammed into the open portal. There
was a micro-seconds hesitation, then the space
around the portal erupted like dynamiting an aquarium.
Ranma had a moment to note that his opponent could
NOT fly, and didn't seem to bounce very well
either. As his opponent hit the ground twenty storied
below Ranma had just enough time to hear a wet
crunching sound , like stepping on a large cockroach,
before the shock wave hit.
**************************************************
*****
##Containment shield shut down safely. Accumulators
at 3.23%. Initiating self-repair
routines.##
"You do that." Akane tried to drag herself out from
under a fallen I-beam without success.
##Input not un. . .##
"Affirmative. Initiate repairs" She thought a
minute. "Establish secure link with Sailormercury."
##Unable to establish link. Jamming still in effect.
Systems remain degraded below. . .##
"Run scan." Akane cut the voice off. "Passive mode
only. Locate hostile targets."
##Unable to scan. Jammer. . .##
Wearily Akane cut off the voice. She was deaf, dumb and
blind. She heaved at the beam pinning her
down. Pain erupted through her body and she fell back in
a stupor. She lay on her back, trying to bring
the pain under control before she puked all over herself.
"Initiate medical self-test."
##Listing damage to organic components:
Protein envelope has been pierced in the following
locations.## Here a schematic of her body
popped up in her internal window.
##42% of protein envelope has been burned beyond
repair capability. Fabricating tissue
replacement.## Icons flashed and changed as the whisper
detailed her injuries.
She was going to have to wait for somebody to rescue her.
She hated that. She hated to wait and she
especially hated to be rescued. The thought of Ranma
finding her like this galvanized her into action.
She concentrated briefly and a short thick rod appeared in
her hand. The rod lengthened and thinned
toward the end. Akane jammed the rod under the beam
where it rested on a block of masonry. If she
could lift the beam, just a little, she could pull her legs
free. Of course if she slipped the beam would
crush her lower body into bean paste. Akane slowly drew
air into her lungs, her lower belly expanding
as she inhaled.. She imagined an ocean of ki beneath the
ground and each time she inhaled she drew a
golden thread from that ocean into her belly. Every time
she exhaled she pushed out all weakness and
pain. Slowly the outside world faded and the only thing
that existed was the bar in her hand and the
growing golden ball of ki. Finally the golden orb filled
her to bursting. Her hands closed around the bar
and she imagined the golden power surging through her
arms, lifting the steel beam and freeing her legs.
She heaved, and the steel beam moved! The masonry
block tilted and tumbled away out of sight. Now
the steel was supported only by her arms. Her back and
shoulder muscles surged as her legs moved
slightly, then stopped. Her right leg was tangled in
something deep in the wreckage that she couldn't see.
Akane stared into the deepening gloom, at she shadow of
the steel guillotine that hung over her lower
body. Her arms were trembling uncontrollably now, her
body was drenched in sweat as if she'd fallen in
a river. Akane knew she was going to die now. Her
strength would give out, the beam would crush her,
like a tube of toothpaste. Her implants were too exhausted
to repair such major damage. The beam
sagged a little. In a burst of rage Akane heaved again.
She was NOT going to let this stupid, stupid
building kill her. That was the last of her strength and she
felt her arms collapse like wet cardboard. In
dream-like slow motion she watched the steel beam fall,
waited for the sudden flare of pain that would
signal her last seconds of life.
"Dammit, tomboy. I thought I told you to . . ."
Akane had time enough to see Ranma's scolding face
loom above her before blackness covered her
like a blanket.
As the concerned senshi crowded around Ranma and the
unconscious Akane they did not notice two
figures crouched in the ruins only a few score meters
away.
Chapter 11
"WHERE ON EARTH AM I NOW!!"
It wasn't original. And Hibiki Ryouga didn't really expect
an answer. Still, it was a great tension
reliever. Not as good as beating the stuffing out of Ranma
of course. He thought of RAnma, the trouble
maker; RANma, the coward; RANMA, the womanizer .
."
He could almost feel his rivals throat in his hands as he
squeezed the life out of him.
"Excuse me." a soft shy voice said.
He would grab Ranma and twist his lying. . ..
"Excuse me."
"WHAT!!"
"May I have my book bag back please?"
Hibiki Ryouga looked down and saw a torn, twisted mass
of leather a and paper in his hands. His eyes
followed a tattered leather strap that led from the
shredded bag to a small, pale hand. His eyes made a
surprisingly brief trip from hand to arm to head. A raven
dark cap of hair topped the head which did not
even reach his shoulders. His eyes dropped to a delicate,
painfully beautiful face dominated by a pair of
huge violet eyes.
A GIRL! A really, really TINY girl. A really, really tiny
BEAUTIFUL . . ." Ryouga's slow but precise
thought processed ground to a halt as previously noted
details were analyzed and new conclusions
drawn. A YOUNG girl. A REALLY, REALLY . . ."
"Excuse me." the shy voice came again, like rain
whispering on crystal bells.
"Excuse me, but you're squeezing my hand."
Ryouga looked down at her hand, or rather where her
hand should have been. He could feel her soft
warm hand trembling inside his fist like a frightened bird.
He could see her fragile wrist protruding from
his huge hand. He could see how her skin whitened under
the pressure . . .
"AAAAAAAAA!!!" Ryouga snatched his hand away
as if he'd grabbed the hot end of a poker.
He dropped on his belly at the girls feet.
"I'msorrypleaseforgivemeI'mnotapervert-It'sallRanam'sfa
ult!"
"Oh, you've hurt yourself."
Ryouga flinched in embarrassment as he felt the girl
kneel beside him. He felt a delicate fluttering on his
scarred knuckles. He opened his eyes to see a small pale
hand resting on his large calloused one. A
soothing warmth spread through his hand and up his arm.
Soon his entire body tingled with energy and a
strange peace. Startled, he looked down to see the cuts
and bruises that always covered his hands fading
like the stars at sunrise.
"My name is Tomoe Hotaru. What's yours?"
Ryouga looked into eyes that had darkened to purple.
Deep mysterious pools . . .
"Hibiki. Hibiki Ryouga."
**************************************************
*******
"Would you just get back into bed!"
"OH, my son! So manly."
"I give my permission. . ."
"But father, they're too young. . ."
"IT'S NOT LIKE THAT!!!!"
Usagi and most of her friends watched in amazement.
Forgotten and almost unnoticed the object of the
verbal sparring limped slowly down the stairs and crossed
to the one person standing alone. .
". . .panda. It's just not possible. I could almost
believe a sex change. That's just a
chromosome difference. Except for the mass discrepancy.
But a panda is a different species. The brains
are wired differ. . ." Mercury's muttering trailed off again
as she typed furiously, occasionally raising
her visored eyes to scan Saotomesan who had forgotten he
was once again human and was gesticulating
wildly with his signs.
"You probably don't want to know about the cat the
duck and the Minotaur then."
Ami jumped at Akane's teasing whisper.
"Oh, I didn't see you."
"You wouldn't have noticed Pantyhose Taro
coming down the stairs."
"WHO!"
"Uh, he fell in the spring of Yeti riding a Yak while
carrying a crane and an eeeeeeelllll!" Akane
yelped as Ranma scooped her off her feet.
"Don't forget the octopus." Ranma added, then looked
sternly at Akane.
"BAKA. You've got to rest if you wanna get better."
"I'm fine. My. . .ooooww!" Akane rubbed her side
where Ranma had poked her. "Why did you
do that?"
"Sure you're fine. Just had a building fall on you is
all."
"My implants are fix. . ." Akane trailed off as she
noticed Ami's glazed look.
Usagi walked up behind Ami and gently bopped her on
the head.
"OK, Ami-chan. Time to eat." she pulled the computer
out of her hands. "And stop thinking. I
can smell brain cells frying from across the room."
"B. . .b. . .but he said OCTOPUS!" Ami was almost in
tears.
"Why did he say octopus, Usagi?" Ami looked
desperate. "There's a panda too. Did you see the
panda?"
"Yes I saw the panda."Usagi said soothingly, "Bad,
Bad Panda for upsetting you. We can have
Rei do a Burning Mandella. You'd like that wouldn't
you?"
"That's it. And then I can dissect it. I can find out how
it works." Ami turned pleading eyes to
Usagi. "I can find out! I CAN! If I cut it into pieces, into
tiny, tiny pieces I can figure it all out."
"That's right." Usagi reassured Ami. "Tiny, Tiny
pieces. But first let's get something to eat."
"OK." Ami said in a little girl voice as she meekly let
Usagi lead her away.
"POP'S!! Get outta there!" Ranma glared at his father
who was wrapped tightly around a bush
in the garden outside.
"That's right Mr. Saotome. Usagi won't really let Ami
dissect you."
"Yeah, just cut off a few piece. . .owww!"
"Quit teasing, Ranma."
"Yeah, I'd like to get video of the dissection." They
turned to look at Nabiki. "It'd sell better
than that 'Alien Autopsy' I bet."
"!!!!!!!!!!"
"OK, Nabiki, YOU'RE going to have to get him off
the roof this time." Akane groused.
"Hey guys!" Makoto burst into the garden. "I think
you're gonna want to see this."
". . .ite House has confirmed a nuclear detonation." the
young NEKI news anchor was visibly
shaken. "There are unconfirmed reports from the Peoples
Republic of China of three and possible four
detonations of devices in the 20000 kiloton range. A joint
communication from . . ."
"I'm tapping into the satellite system." Ami worked
furiously at her computer. "It looks like the
enemy has been making incursions in other countries."
she entered a few more commands then turned
the screen so the others could see.
"These points designate unconfirmed sightings of
'strange lights', 'monsters' and other unusual
phenomenon. A lot of these sightings were undoubtedly
the 'usual 'UFO' type sightings but many were
probably genuine. And there is no way to tell how many
actual alien visitations went unnoticed. In fact
it appears that there may have been several other
visitations in Japan at the same time we were fighting
that first group. If we hadn't stumbled on them by
accident they probably would have been in and out
without anyone knowing." Ami paused to collect her
thoughts. "I believe that these were scouting
parties, a large number of small lightly armed groups.
They were not here to fight, just to gather
information, make maps, that sort of thing. I think the
second incursions were a recon-in-force, to refine
their data from the first visits." Ami punched a function
key and the icons on the world map shifted yet
again. "This last visitation was very visible. I have
CONFIRMED reports of alien invasions in Europe,
North and South America, Russia, the Baltic, China,
India and we all know about the one in Japan. It
looks like the Americans killed the enemies portal by
firing a nuclear tipped cruse missile into the center
of it. I suspect that explains the other nuclear detonations
we've heard about."
"What does it mean?" Usagi asked worriedly.
"Invasion. These things have been scouting, now
they're trying to establish a beach-head."
**************************************************
*******
At that moment five hundred thousand metric tonnes of
vitrified rock and battle-steel passed through the
outer fringes of the asteroid belt at 64kps. Navigation
thrusters made a minor course correction and then
engines went to full power. The huge mass was now
headed for a precise point in space that would
intersect the earths orbit exactly above the small island
nation of Japan.
**************************************************
*******
"Would you like to go to a party?"
"P . . .p . . .p. . .arty!" Ryouga was stunned. No girl
had ever asked him to a party before. Well
there was that one time, but he didn't think his mother
counted. And it was his own birthday after all.
"I . . .I. . .I.."
"Please hold this, I'll be right back." Hotaru suddenly
thrust the tattered remains of her book
bag into Ryouga's hands and ran off toward the sound of
people screaming. Ryouga stood frozen in
place then pounded after Hotaru. He could see her round
a building in the distance and he sprinted to
catch up.
". . .OWER MAKE UP!!"
The voice reverberated with power and a brilliant light
spilled out into the street. Ryouga came around
the corner in time to see Hotaru swirled up in a vortex of
energy. As he watched, her street clothes burst
apart. Dimly through the pulsing light he could see
ribbons of energy run up her legs and become knee-
high boots. Involuntarily his eyes were drawn up her long
legs to . . .
"AAAAAAAA!"
Blushing Ryouga spun away, shutting his eyes and
pinching his nose shut.
**************************************************
*******
"Get dressed."
Startled Michiru looked up from the book she was
reading to see Meiou Setsuna standing at the foot of
the couch.
"I beg your pardon?"
"Get dressed. We're going to a party."
Michiru swung her legs down to the floor, jolting Haruka
who had been asleep with her head in
Michiru's lap. She shook her lover by the shoulder.
Haruka grumbled under her breath and snuggled
deeper into Michiru's lap.
"Anybody we know?" Michiru asked while thinking of
ways to wake Haruka before the end of
the century.
"An old . . .acquaintance." Setsuna replied, dumping a
tumbler of ice water on the sleeping
senshi.
**************************************************
*******
"Usagi, how can you eat at a time like this?" Rei
hissed.
"BuifgooondIgotakpemystrenfup."
"She says 'It's good. And she's got to keep her stren. .
.:"
"I KNOW what she's saying Ami."
"I was translating for Akane-chan." Ami replied
calmly.
"Thank you Ami-chan. But I'm beginning to catch on.
It's not too much different from Ranma.
Don't do that, Makoto-chan." Akane warned the senshi of
thunder.
"Wha. . .?" Makoto froze, her hand half way to a
bean-jam bun. "I'm sorry." she blushed
contritely. "did you want. . ."
"No." Akane laughed. "I just didn't want you to get
hurt." she jerked her head in the direction of
Ranma.
Makoto looked at Ranma. He was focused on the bun
with the quivering intensity of a shark smelling
blood in the water.. A prickling in her spine brought her
head slowly up and to the left where she saw
Usagi, eying the bun as if it were the last lifeboat leaving
the Titanic. Gingerly, as if there were a rabid
badger with a bad attitude asleep in her pants, Makoto
edged her chair away from the table. The tension
in the air was so thick you could bounce a fifty yen coin
off it and get change.
"They may be a while. Why don't we go sit in the
garden and talk?" Akane got up from the
table. "That was delicious Kasumi. Thank you."
"Yes, it was wonderful Tendousan." Minako added
politely. "Would you like some help
cleaning up?"
"Thank you, but no. Why don't you all go and figure
out how to save the world. I'll bring some
tea in a minute."
Rei stared after the eldest Tendou daughter as she
disappeared into her kitchen.
"Is your sister always like this?"
"Normally she's not this agitated" Akane apologized.
"But a lot has happened lately."
**************************************************
*******
"SILENCE WALL!"
Sailorsaturn staggered as the warp-gun's point-blank fire
forced her back a pace. The enemy could not
pierce her shield but neither could SHE attack. Even if
there were no other enemy soldiers around she
would eventually tire. She had to put some distance
between her attacker and herself, disengage long
enough to counter-attack. Even as she thought this the
black armored figure forced her back step by
step. He heel caught in some debris and she went down
catching herself on one hand.. Out of the corner
of her eye she could see another figure approaching. Her
only chance was to drop to the ground as she
collapsed the 'Silence Wall', hope she would be below the
warp-gun's effect, hope she was
fast. . ."
"SHI SHI HOUKOUDAN!!!!"
Muddy green fire vomited down the alley, slamming the
armored figure against an overturned truck.
Saturn had the opening she needed.
"SILENCE GLAIVE SURPRISE"
"Are you all right Tomoesan?" Ryouga crunched
through still twitching bits as he ran up to the
ichor-splattered girl.
"I. . .I'm fine Hibikisan. Thank you for. . .for. . ." she
waved vaguely at the ground.
"You're welcome, Tomoesan. Uh, what. . .?" Ryouga
pointed at her fuku and glaive.
Sailorsaturn took a deep breath.
"I'm Sailorsaturn."
"S. . .Sailor. . ." Ryouga stuttered and stepped back.
"I understand." Sailorsaturn said sadly. Not many
people wanted to be friends with the
"destroyer of worlds". With dragging steps she turned to
go.
"Uh, does this mean the party is on a boat?"
Startled she looked up to see Ryouga walking beside her.
"Because, uh, I have this little problem with water
and . . ."
**************************************************
*******
"I don't see the problem." Makoto argued. "We just
keep on doing what we've been doing."
"It's not that simple." Minako replied. "We just barely
stopped this last bunch. And the JSDF is
still cleaning up stragglers that were trapped when we
blew up their portal. What do we do if, or rather
when, they open two or three or MORE portals?"
"It's worse than that Minako-chan." Ami looked up
from her computer. "The government has
just officially requested a United States Carrier Task
Force armed with nuclear weapons."
"What! That's crazy. The people. . ."
"It's not crazy Rei-chan." Ami looked grim. "The
government doesn't dare let these aliens get a
foot hold in Japan. It's not just to save Japan either. If the
aliens were to establish a beach-head on the
home islands. . .we would be a danger to the rest of the
world. If the Americans don't send atomic
weapons. . .well, I'm sure the Chinese or Russians would
be only too happy to send us a few. In fact
they might not wait for a beach-head to be established."
"Are you all right, Usagi-chan?"
"My head hurts, Akachan. I keep wishing for a normal
life, no more monsters, no more end-of-
the-earth." Usagi closed her eyes and a tear trickled from
under the closed lids. "My head hurts."
Akane lay her princesses head in her lap and began
caressing her temples with gentle fingers.
"It's all right princess. I'm with you now. And your
senshi are here." Akane bent and brushed
the half dozing Usagi's cheek with her lips. "It's going to
be all right. . .this time."
Ranma watched in amazement as Akane took Usagi in
her arms with a gentle tenderness that . . . Ranma
shook his head angrily. He was NOT jealous!
"Oh, hello Ryoga."
Heads turned at the sound of Kasumi's voice.
"And you've brought a friend. How nice. Everybody is
out in the garden. You missed dinner so
I'll just go make some snacks."
"I didn't know you knew the Tendou's Hotaruchan."
"I don't Ryougachan. My friend Usagi told me to meet
her here."
Ranma listened to the voices that drifted out into the
garden in amazement. It sounded like Ryouga . .
.but with a girl? Then two figures appeared in the garden
and Ranma's jaw dropped. It was Ryouga . .
.and a girl. A very . . .small. . .girl. A very. . .YOUNG
girl. And they were holding hands in a very. .
.friendly manner. The concept of Ryouga. . .all on his
own. . .meeting a girl AND being able to walk
three steps without getting lost. Ryouga with a girl and
not blacking out from blood loss . . .Ryouga not
becoming overly excited and maiming the girl . . . or all
of the above . . . This Ryouga was so removed
from anything that Ranma could conceive that he was
frozen in shock. Not so Usagi.
"Hotaru-chan!" Usagi sprang up, the top of her head
catching Akane just under her chin and
knocking her flat on her back.
"Ha, some super-warrior you are." Ranma said
sarcastically, helping Akane up. "A real martial
artist would never be caught. . ."
In horror Ranma watched Usagi throw her self into
Tomoe Hotaru's arms, sending the smaller girl
staggering backward. Automatically Ryouga's arm shot
out to steady the two girls, just as Kasumi
stepped through the door; a tray loaded with snacks and a
large pitcher of tea . . .ICED tea . . . in her
hands. Ranma thrust Akane from his arms and leapt . . .
"Bweeeeee!"
"A Piiiiig!" Ami wailed. "He's a pig now! I saw it."
"Now, now Ami." Makoto scooped the small genius
into her lap and rocked her back and forth.
"Now, now. It's not that bad."
"It's WORSE. How can he be a pig? He can't be a pig.
He just can't!"
"Well," Rei looked on as Ranma poured hot tea on the
pig. "now he's a boy. A naked boy."
"A naked boy with a really . . .nice personality."
Minako added grinning..
Centripetal force slung Ami tumbling as Makoto whipped
around to the front.
"Heh.,heh,heh." Ranma sounded like a starter motor
with a bad bushing. "You know, Akane.
There's a really funny story behind all this. Isn't there a
funny story Ryouga?"
"I. . .I'll just get dressed and. . ."
"Leave them."
It almost sounded like Akane's voice. Actually it almost
sounded like a human voice . . .only stripped of
all the warmth, and laughter and humanity and . . .
Ryouga froze as a very sharp blade inserted itself just
under his chin. He slowly straightened up under
the gentle urging of the blade. His eyes almost crossed
trying to focus on the steel as it disappeared
under his chin. He recognized it. Kasumi had baked fresh
bread. And of course you needed a sharp knife
to slice fresh bread cleanly. A VERY sharp knife. How
thoughtful of Kasumi.
"What are you doing?" the spine of the knife rapped
the knuckles of his cupped hands. "Move
them." The point of the knife moved to lightly trace a line
from his belly button to his Adam's apple.
"Or loose them." The knife retraced it's path downwards.
Ryouga took one look at the rage filling
Akane's face and let his arms dangle at his sides.
"Good boy." Everyone shivered at the venom in her
voice. "What a good P-chan you are. Now
turn around."
"What are you doing!" Ranma put a hand on Akane's
shoulder and froze as the knife whipped
around like a striking snake to rest just under his heart.
"Why I'm peeking Ranma. Just like HE did to me. Just
like he watched me undress for bed. Did
you two get a good laugh out of that?"
"It wasn't like that Akane-ch. . ." Ryouga's head
rocked as Akane's backhand caught him.
"Don't you call me that. Only my friends can call me
that. You're not my friend. I don't know
who you are. I don't
know. . ." A shudder wracked her body. "I thought you
were my friend." she whispered. "I thought I
could trust . . .I could talk." Akane paled and swayed on
her feet. " . . .Talk to you. My god. I talked. .
.to P-chan. I told him things. Trusted him. He was my
friend. I told him. . . told him." She started to
shake violently. "Why. . .what did I ever do to you. .
.Why would you hate me that much? I should have
known. . .the bandanna. . . but I trusted. . .I trusted. .
."Akane clutched her belly and fell to her knees
sobbing. "I trusted. . . I trusted . . ."
Ranma dropped to his knees beside her.
"Akane. . .Akane! Please. You're going to make
yourself sick. Please don't cry!!"
"Aka. . .Tendou-sama." Ryouga joined Ranma on the
ground. "Please. It's my fault. I should
have told you. But I was ashamed of my curse. And you
were so kind to me. I was afraid. Afraid that if
you found out I would be alone again. Please
Tendou-sama. Please don't cry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry."
"Akane-chan. You have some more guests."
It was perhaps not an ideal time for Meiou Setsuna to
walk through the door.
Ranma and Ryouga were blasted across the garden as
Akane surged to her feet. Even with a life
dedicated to martial training Ranma was hard put to end
up on his feet. Out of the corner of his eye
Ranma could see Ryouga down on one knee. Most of his
attention was focused on . . . Akane. He'd
never been this close to "Weapon 4" when she activated.
He watched in disbelief as Akane seemed to
burst into flame, her features melting and reforming. He
could see her body twisting and rippling like a
reflection in a tide pool . He could see every detail of the
cannon in her right hand, every aspect. . .
CANNON? Uh oh!
HATE. Her blood boiled with it. Rage. Her muscled
clenched 'till her bones ached.
"Full power to graser." she ordered.
##Graser at full power## the Whisper acknowledged.
"Target selected." she dropped the targeting pip in the
center of Setsuna's chest.
##Invalid target. Identification files list designated
target as senshi. Invalid target. Iden. . ##
"OVERRIDE!" she snarled.
##Invalid tar. . ##
"OVERI. . .:" Weapon 4 screamed and jack-knifed
forward as fail-safe protocols activated.
##WARNING. Senshi are not valid targets.
WARNING. Sen. . .##
Weapon 4 ignored the Whisper. She focused through the
pain. She'd had good teachers.
"Run diagnostics. Initiate primary sensor suite test
protocol."
She felt a brief hesitation as the system diagnostics
started. There was a faint buzzing as the primary
sensor's went off line and the secondary's kicked in. She'd
been waiting for that infinitesimal window.
"Load digital re-mapping sub-set Initial point set to
zero, zero, zero."
Digital re-mapping was intended to provide improved
long-range scans. To enhance contrast, remove
sensors ghosts and defeat enemy stealth systems. By
setting the initial point to zero, zero, zero the
software increased the resolution to the point that the
details obscured the identity. Suddenly the senshi
disappeared from the sensors to be replaced by an
unrecognizable blur. With a howl of triumph Weapon
4 raised her weapon back into battery and . . .
"USAGI! NO!" Rei screamed and lunged for Usagi as
she darted to put herself between Akane
and the Outer senshi.
"Akachan, Akachan. Please listen to me."there was no
sense of recognition in the twisting
flowing features. Suddenly a dreamscape seemed to flash
before Usagi's eyes. Of a young girl, with grey
eyes the color of . . .
"Misty? Misty! It's me, Stormy. Please Misty. Don't do
this. It's all right. I won't let anyone
hurt you. Please . . ."
With a tearing shuddering cry the figure in front of Usagi
slammed back down into normal space. Usagi
reached out and caught Misty in her arms as she fell.
Ranma was a fraction of a second behind,
steadying Usagi as she staggered under Akane's weight.
The three of them sank to the floor, Ranma and
Usagi holding the weeping girl protectively between
them.
"What are you doing here." Makoto snapped, stepping
forward aggressively to confront Setsuna
and the two figures behind her.
"I asked them to come." Usagi said from her place on
the floor.
"HEY!" Ranma's eye's focused squarely on Setsuna.
"That's the woman from the other day, the
one that tried to do something to Akane!" He started to
his feet, but was tangled up with Usagi and
Akane.
"What did you do to Ak. . . to Tendou-sama!" Ryouga
placed himself in front of the three outer
senshi. Heavy ki boiled from him like pus from a old
wound. Even if she hated him, if he'd lost even her
friendship. . . he would defend Akane to the death.
"Please!" Usagi's gentle voice stilled Ryouga's heavy
ki, even if it couldn't dissipate it
completely. "Please. I invited them here to try to solve our
problems, not start a fight."
Slowly, grudgingly Ryouga backed away.
"I wanna know what SHE was up to!" Ranma looked
pointedly at Setsuna.
"There is a new enemy." Setsuna began. "You have all
seen it. An alien race who wishes to take
the Earth, the Solar System and all it's riches. After they
have eliminated the human race." She paused
and looked down at Akane, Usagi and Ranma. "I
am. . .sorry. I acted precipitously. I needed to
talk to. . .Akane. We will need her power if we are to win
this battle. I needed to talk to her" Setsuna
laughed mirthlessly "but I had little reason to believe she
had any interest in talking to me. So, in my
arrogance, I tried to force her to listen. I have been too
much alone, too used to acting without
consulting others." She pretended not to see all of the
inner senshi nodding their heads. "My
need. . .OUR need is great. The enemy is very powerful
and I was afraid." This statement got everyone's
attention. "I lost my home once before, and people that I
loved." There was no doubting the genuine
anguish in Setsuna's voice. "I was afraid to take a chance,
afraid of losing Akanesan's help, and thereby
the lives of billions of people, my home and people I have
come to . . .care for.
"Setsunasan." Usagi looked up at the older woman,
her eyes filled with tears. "How could you
doubt that we would help you. We are senshi, we should
always fight together."
"You have a generous heart princess. Other's are not
so generous. And. . .I have no right to ask
for generosity or forgiveness in this case."
"I will talk to Akane-chan when she is feeling better. I
am sure she will help you if she can."
"Thank you princess. But please tell her she will be
helping everyone, her own family as well,
not just me or the senshi."
**************************************************
*******
"Are you sure it's OK to leave you Akachan?" Usagi
stared worriedly at the pale listless girl
laying in the bed.
"I'm fine Usagi." Akane replied hoarsely. "Just feeling
a little tired, and a lot foolish."
"Akane, talk to them."
Akane's lips tightened mulishly and she tried to turn away
from Usagi.
"Don't close yourself off from your friends over. . ."
"FRIENDS! What kind of friend . . ."
"The kind who make mistakes, who do foolish
things."Usagi laughed "Believe me I'm an expert
when it comes from doing foolish things. But friends are
the most important thing in the world. Just as
important as someone who loves you. And if you're very,
very lucky you can find someone who loves
you AND is your friend."
"It's just so confusing. I don't know what to think. And
there's you and the senshi. I know you
and I don't know you. You're the most important person
in my life and a total stranger." Akane let her
head droop tiredly. "Sometimes I feel like I'm back in the
Imperium, sometimes I feel closer to people
and places that no one's seen in a hundred thousand years
and then it all disappears like a puff of
smoke."
Usagi put a sympathetic hand on Akane's shoulder.
"I know. How do you think I felt when a cat told me
that I was a sailor-suited soldier for love
and justice. I's just gotten used to that when I found out I
was a PRINCESS. And things just got crazier
from there." Usagi sighed. "But it was worth it for all the
wonderful friends I made, or re-discovered."
She grinned at Akane. "Anyway remember what I said
about talking to people. Besides, think about
how guilty you can make him feel by forgiving him."
Akane watched Usagi leave then lay back on the
bed staring at the ceiling. She was not really surprised
when she heard a tapping at the window. She
thought about ignoring him, but remembered what Usagi
had said.
"Hey Akanesan. I'm sorry about. . .about everything."
"I'm sorry too Ranma. But I need to know. . ."
Akanesan?
Ranma NEVER called her Akanesan. The incongruity
just had
time to register as Ranma's features dissolved into a tall
figure with
short white-blond hair. There was a stinging sensation
from behind
and she collapsed to the floor like a puppet whose strings
were cut.
A door that did not existed opened into a place with no
name.
Akane and a tall figure with long dark hair disappeared
through the
door.
Chapter 12
"Who was that Rei?" Makoto asked poking her head
out of
the kitchen.
"That was Saotome Ranmasan." Rei said hanging up
the
phone. "He wanted to know if Akane-chan was with us."
"What?"
"Akane-chan disappeared sometime last night."
"Oh no! What are we going to tell Usagi?"
Rei and Makoto turned at the sound of a door opening to
see Usagi
still wearing her bunny pajamas and knuckling the sleep
out of her
eyes.
"Tell me what, Makoto-chan?"
**************************************************
********
"I do wish you would be quiet." Sailorpluto looked
down at
the battered and bound figure making wet bubbling
sounds as her
head moved weakly back and forth.
"I put a charge through your speech centers at the
same time
I destroyed your motor-control." Sailorpluto looked down
at a bank
of instruments and made a small satisfied sound at what
she saw.
"You are entirely too clever at finding ways around your
inhibitory
and control programming. I would have much preferred
killing you
but that might have triggered your anti-capture-suicide
protocols.
And since the 'Facility' no longer exists I have no way to
directly
override your implants."
With two quick slashing motions Sailorpluto made a
Y-incision that
opened Akane up from neck to crotch. She inserted a
short
transparent rod into the chest cavity and with a sudden
move
separated the ribs with an explosive CRACK. She thrust
what
appeared to be a metallic sea-urchin into the hole and
frowned as
Akane's body convulsed slightly at this invasion. She
looked back
down at her monitors.
"Director Ras should be here to help me with this. I
don't
know what's keeping him. And it really should be easier
to access
the systems for maintenance. I'll just make a note of
changes to
make in the production models and send it to his . . ."
Sailorpluto's
muttered self-talk trailed off and she stared silently into
space for a
long moment. There was a loud beeping noise from the
monitors and
Sailorpluto came to herself with a start.
'Ah, that's more like it." She looked up from her
instruments and smiled benignly. "It's all your fault you
know. If
you hadn't been so much trouble. If you'd done what you
were
told." Sailorpluto took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
"But that's all in the past now." she giggled suddenly,
like a
very small girl who's been caught with her hand in the
cookie jar.
"It's all in the past. I made a funny!" She giggled
again.
"Would you like to see her? I would. I like to look at her.
I look at
her all the time." Sailorpluto passed a hand in a quick
sharp pattern
and a scene formed in the air. "Don't tell any one."she
whispered
conspiratorially. "I'm not supposed to do this."
A small girl, about nine or ten years old could be seen
peeping
through some bushes. She appeared to be waiting for
someone.
Suddenly a tall figure, dressed in costly robes and
carrying a tall
staff appeared on the path. Around the figure scurried
men and
women in clothing no less costly but diminished by the
wearers
obvious fright and submissiveness. As the regal figure
passed by, the
small girl popped out of the bushes and lobbed a large
ball. The ball
turned out to be a thin water filled bladder which burst on
contact.
The tiny girl-child fell to the ground laughing at the
figure which
now closely resembled a drowned peacock.
"She wasn't afraid of me." Sailorpluto informed the
air.
"Out of all the thousands of years. The infinite lifetimes.
She was
the only one who was never afraid."
The scene changed, to a sumptuous room, filled with
delicate
porcelains, silken wall hangings, and finely woven rugs.
In the
center of the room stood a large canopied bed with a tiny
figure lost
in it's immensity. Armed guards stood along the walls
and in every
corner of the room but none of them seemed to notice
when a door
that could not exist opened from a place with no name
and a tall
figure stepped into the room. She glided past the
strangely blind and
deaf guards till she stood looking down at the sleeping
child. She
watched, seemingly fascinated by the slow even breathing
then
trailed a hand delicately down a bare flank. The child
giggled and
opened sleepy eyes to see the hooded figure looming over
her.
"They forbad me to see her." Sailorpluto spat. "They
said I
was a bad influence, it was unnatural. . .that I would
HURT her."
Suppressed fury shuddered the time guardians body.
"Hurt her?" she whispered "Hurt Serenity? Can the
reflection hurt the body, the slave harm the master. Can
you pluck
out your own heart and still live?"
**************************************************
*********
"Where is she?"
Kaiou Michiru looked blankly at the murderously angry
young man
in the red Chinese style shirt.
"I'm sorry, I don't know what you're talking about."
"Akane. Where is Akane."
"I have no idea. I haven't seen her since . . ."
"Liar."
Michiru flushed at the single cold syllable.
"I don't have to stand here and listen to a rude
unmannered
ronnin. I told you I haven't seen her." Michiru slammed
and locked
the door.
"Who was that?" Ten'ou Haruka walked in toweling
her
hair.
Lips pursed angrily Michiru whirled on her lover.
"It was . . ."
"MOUKO TAKABISHA!!"
The door slammed into Michiru like a freight train
crushing her
against the wall. Haruka picked herself up from where the
fringes of
the blast had thrown her to see Saotome Ranma step
through the
ruined wall.
**************************************************
*********
". . .gree we need to look for Akane-chan. But we have
to
stick together. With this new enemy it's too dangerous to.
. ."
"I'm not going anywhere by myself Minako-chan."
Ami
patiently told her communicator. "But it only makes sense
to stop by
their apartment on my way to the shrine. It's on the way
and . . ."
"I don't want you anywhere near them by yourself!"
Minako snapped. "I don't believe in coincidence,
especially where
they're concerned. We need to be all together. . ."
"Uh, sorry. . .you're signal's breaking up. I'll see you
there." Blushing at her fib, Ami cut off her communicator
and
hurried on. There wasn't time to wait. She didn't know
why, she just
knew that something bad was going to happen.
**************************************************
*********
"She wouldn't remove the wards from the Gate."
Sailorpluto said conversationally as she worked.
"The Imperium was afraid of the Time Gate, afraid of
tampering with time. So they warded it, placed
restrictions on it's
use." She frowned at past remembrances as she absently
manipulated a probe inserted into Akane's abdominal
cavity.
"Manipulating the time stream is subject to the
conservation
of mass and energy." Sailorpluto pontificated as she
inserted a thin
silvery needle into a mass of circuitry wrapped around
Akane's
spleen. " Take energy from a typhoon to feed an
earthquake. Save a
fishing village, kill a mountain village. As long as the
equation
balances the Universe doesn't ask for individual names.
Serenity
wouldn't agree. 'I won't bleed my children's children so the
Imperium can feast on the corpse of their future.'"
Sailorpluto
quoted "She was always so passionate about her kingdom
and about
the Imperium. She was always so concerned about the
future and the
welfare of her subjects. Just" Sailorpluto said
wonderingly "as if the
filthy vermin had some value."
**************************************************
*********
"WORLD SHAKING!!"
The blast passed harmlessly under Ranma as he soared
effortlessly
above it to land lightly behind Sailoruranus.
"Look. I'm sorry about the door."
Sailoruranus growled and charged at Ranma.
"And I'm sorry about hitting your friend."
Ranma sidestepped the bull like rush and Sailoruranus
went
sprawling.
" It was an accident." Ranma added contritely. " I
don't
fight girls. I just want to know where Akane is."
"DEEP SUB. . ." Sailorneptune's attack halted
abruptly as
Ranma scooped her up in his arms and flipped over the
charging
Sailoruranus with negligent grace.
"Jeeezz. Would you just SIT down outta the way.
You're
gonna get hurt." Ranma poked her lightly in the side and
Sailorneptune collapsed with a slight gasp as her legs
gave way.
"OH JEEZ!. Did I hurt you?" Ranma asked worriedly
as he
caught Sailorneptune and lowered her gently to the
ground.
"I don't practice pressure points the way I should. It'll
wear
off in a little bit an you'll be good as new." As he talked
Ranma
blushingly arranged Sailorneptune's paralyzed legs to
preserve her
modesty and make her more comfortable.
"Now you just sit here outta th' way where it's safe. An
don't worry, I ain't gonna hurt your boyfri. . .your girl. . .I
ain't
gonna hurt Haruka. Well not too bad anyway. I just
wanna know
where Akane is. That's all." As he finished talking
Ranma spun and
caught Sailoruranus fist in his cupped hand and slipped
behind her
locking her arm in the small of her own back.
"Now look, this ain't gett'n us nowhere! All I want is
Akane back. You shouldna taken her anyway." Ranma
oooffed
lightly as Sailoruranus elbow hit him in the stomach. He
let her go,
more to keep her from hurting herself in her struggles to
get loose
than from any damage resulting from her blow.
"SPACE SWO . . ."
Ahhh NUTS!!" Ranma muttered disgustedly. "A
Kuno
wannabe!" He slid forward, under her thrust catching her
right wrist
in his left hand. He pulled forward while twisting her
wrist,
overextending and locking the joint. He lightly popped
her elbow
with his open palm. Sailoruranus arm went numb from
shoulder to
fingertips and the sword went flying. Sailoruranus glared
furiously
at Ranma her left arm raised in defense, her right arm
dangling
uselessly.
"Man, this is pathetic." Ranma looked disgusted.
"You're
strong and fast but you ain't got no discipline. You get
mad and
loose your center. Kasumi is better'n this. An Akane"
Ranma's face
took on an ugly cast as he remembered why he was
fighting "Akane
woulda wiped the floor with ya even without that gun.
'Cept
Usagisan stopped her. You were lying 'bout bein' sorry. I
knew it
then. I just didn't think . . . I didn't think you'd . . ."
"You have no idea what's at stake here." Sailoruranus
broke
her silence. "There are millions, BILLIONS of lives at
stake. A
single. . ."
"Save it!" Ranma snapped. "It sounds real good, real
noble.
But if you were tellin' the truth why'd ya kidnap Akane?
Why'd ya lie to Usagi?"
Ranma saw a brief look that might have been pain flash
across the
blond senshi's face.
" No, you're not tellin' the truth 'bout something, but I
really don't care what. I don't care about the whole world,
an' I
don't care about you." Ranma fixed Sailoruranus with a
glare. "I
only care about one thing. You give me Akane and I'm
outta here."
"I don't know wh. . ."
WHAP!
A backhanded slap spu. Sailoruranus around.
"Where's Akane?"
"I don't kn . . "
CRACK!
"Where's Akane?"
"I don't . . ."
A short jab to the solar plexus sent Sailoruranus to her
knees.
Ranma stepped back and watched Sailoruranus struggle
back to her
feet.
"We could do this all day. But I ain't got time to fool
around."Ranma's hand flashed out and closed around
Sailoruranus
throat. "Tell me where Akane is or I'm gonna turn you
over to a
Chinese Amazon I know. You won't like what the old
mummy
does. . . but you will tell me where Akane is."
With a sudden surge of strength Sailoruranus broke free .
"WORLD."
"Ah maaan! Not again."
'SHAAAAKIIING!"
Ranma suddenly realized that the still paralyzed
Sailorneptune lay
directly behind him in the line of fire.
"Nooooo!" Ranma leapt towards Sailoruranus,
snatching
her out of the way of the "World Shaking' attack.
'Ah man!" Ranma panted with stress. "Are you OK?
I'm
sorry about . . ."
Ranma's body folded around the sword as Sailorneptune
slammed it
home. She twisted the blade and pulled it up and out.
With
expressionless eyes she watched Ranma fall off the blade
with a wet
sucking sound.
"It took you long enough."
"He was so fast." Sailoruranus gasped. "I couldn't get
him
in position to try and save you any soo. . ."
"What have you done!"
Sailoruranus whirled to see Ami staring white faced.
"This is none of your business." Sailorneptune said
sternly.
"Go away."
Ami brushed past Sailoruranus and went directly to
where Ranma
lay in a rapidly expanding pool of blood.
"Go away or . . ."
"Or what!" Ami snapped "You'll stab me in the back?"
Sailorneptune flinched at Ami's harsh tone.
"You don't understand what has to be done. There are
billions of lives at stake. You can't let just one . . ."
**************************************************
*********
Sailorpluto hummed a little tune as she entered
commands into a
computer. Occasionally she would jot notes onto what
looked like a
pad made of translucent crystal.
"I think I miss the gardens most of all." she said
suddenly.
"Serenity had the most beautiful gardens. Would you like
to see
them?" Taking the wet bubbling noise that issued from
the ruin of
Akane's throat as an assent Sailorpluto scrambled to her
feet and
moved to sit at Akane's side.
"You'll love the gardens. What would you like to see?
Oh!"
she giggled. "I forgot you can't talk. Especially with that
neural
inhibitor in your throat." Sailorpluto leaned over to
whisper
confidentially. "I had to add another inhibitor you know.
Your
implants were adapting so quickly ,repairing all your
damage and
trying to throw me out of the system that I was having
trouble
getting any work done." abruptly she sat back up. "But
enough shop
talk. We're going to see the gardens." The air shimmered
as if
someone had thrown a pebble into a pool of water and an
image
formed.
"This is my favorite. See how neat and organized
everything
is? Serenity made it just for me." The image shifted to an
ornamental pond surrounded by a rock-garden with a low
wall of
geometrically clipped hedges enclosing the whole. "I
loved this part.
It was so peaceful. And it was always the same, every
time I came it
was always the same. The water was just water, the roses
stayed
roses and the rocks didn't talk." She leaned over and
grasped
Akane's chin in her hand pulling their heads together 'till
they were
nose-to-nose. "That's the most important thing. I don't like
it when
the rocks talk. It always gets so confusing. I can never
quite
understand what. . ." she broke off as the scene changed.
This time it
showed a small girl all alone in a vast featureless
landscape.
"MAMA!"
Sailorpluto shuddered at the sound.
"MAMA! Where are you? MAMA! MAMA!" the
little girl
was running now as she called for her mother. But as fast
and as far
as she ran, she seemed frozen in a vast grey landscape.
Exhausted
she fell sobbing to her knees.
"MAMA! I want to go home. I don't like it here.
Please,
Please. I want to go home."
"Stupid girl." Sailorpluto shot to her feet. "STUPID,
STUPID, S T-U-P-I-D girl." Pluto gestured and the scene
returned
to the gardens. She smiled and leaned back in her chair.
" It's very difficult to understand the stones when they
speak. They're so slow, you see, that it can take centuries
for them
to say a single word. But they're all talking at once so it
seems very
loud and. . . and I don't like it." She pouted a little then
brightened.
"But none of the rocks in MY garden ever talk,
not even the
smallest pebble. Serenity said she wouldn't let them and
she never
did. And it was always bright. Even at night there was
always a light
burning, lots of lights." She smiled down at Akane, her
eyes wide
with wonder.
"Isn't that amazing! Even at night, there was always
light.
And Serenity gave me m own room in the Royal
Apartments and IT
ALWAYS had a light burning. Always!"
The image shuddered and changed from the garden to
vast grey
expanse. The small girl was a little older seeming and she
huddled
around a small staff topped by a glowing orb. Her entire
world
consisted of the bare meter of space illuminated by the
orb. Beyond
it's feeble light lay a terrifying emptiness.
"I don't like the dark." Pluto said in a small voice. "I
don't
LIKE the dark. I don't , I DON"T, I DON'T, I
DON'TIDON'TIDON"T!"
The image of the small huddled girl vanished and all was
silent
except for the faint hum of machines and Sailorpluto's
short gasping
breath counterpointed by Akane's wet frothy attempts to
get air into
her lungs.
**************************************************
*********
"Stop."
Reaching for Ami, Sailoruranus froze at the quiet
command. With
dread she looked around and saw Sailormars,
Sailorvenus,
Sailormoon, and Sailorjupiter. Behind them were Hotaru
and a
strange boy that Sailoruranus had never seen before. The
boy was
glaring savagely at her and Hotaru's gentle hand on his
arm seemed
to be the only thing restraining him.
"What have you done?" Sailormoon whispered in
horror
looking from the Outer senshi to Ranma's body on the
ground and
back again.
"We've done what was necessary. Sometimes sac. . ."
"Don't!" Sailormoon thrust her hand out in a warding
gesture. "Don't tell me that sacrifices have to be made.
Don't tell me
that I don't understand. Don't tell me. . . just don't."
She looked to Ami who knelt beside Ranma's body, blood
soaking
her dress up past her knees..
"How. . .how is he?"
Ami turned a white tear stained face to Sailormoon and
mutely
shook her head.
**************************************************
*********
". . .don't understand how HARD it is to . . ."
Sailorpluto
looked at a bank of monitors and made a small satisfied
noise.
"Almost ready now." She turned back to Akane. " They
think I just
open the time gate, walk down the corridor, and 'POOF!' I
change
the past, alter the future. No one understands. It takes a
lot of power
to travel in time, and the further you travel the more
power it takes.
It's an inverse cube ratio." Pluto added confidentially. "I
think it
is . . " her brow wrinkled in thought. "I'm almost sure. . .
And then
there's the mass/energy balance. You can't get something
for
nothing. Well you can but it costs more that way. And it's
not like
you can just run down to the corner store and pick up an
entropy . . ."she made a small adjustment to the monitors.
"So many
possibilities. That's what scared the Imperium the most.
It's easy to
see the possibilities for changes that cover a day or even a
week. But
if you try to predict what will happen after you introduce
a change
for one year or ten years or . . . They said it couldn't be
done. That I
could never control. . .So they warded the Gate. . .to
prevent
accidents they said. But I could see. . . I could see . . .I
knew what
to do. . .I told them. . . I TOLD. . .but I wouldn't listen . .
. I never. .
why. . .why. . ."
**************************************************
*********
"USAGI! DON'T"
Sailormars made a desperate grab for Sailormoon as she
brought her
hands up to her chest and the silver-crystal began to glow.
"Don't do it Usagi. If you use the silver-crystal you'll
die"
"I have to Minna-P. I am responsible for the actions of
the
senshi, ALL the senshi. I have to try . . ."
"He's dead, Usagi!" Ami said tearfully. "He's dead.
There's
nothing you can do."
"I have to try." Sailormoon closed her eyes in
concentration
and the crystal's glow began to increase.
"Let me try."
Sailormoon's eyes flew open to see Hotaru standing
before her.
"Let me try." she repeated.
"Hotaru, you don't have to do this."
"I do have to do this." Hotaru contradicted ."I NEED
to do
this. I don't want to be just the 'Senshi of Silence'. I don't
want to
only destroy. Please Usagisan. Let me try."
**************************************************
*********
"It has started." Sailorpluto whispered. "At last." With
the
ecstatic look of a true believer seeing the second coming
she
watched a dirty-white crystal begin to glow. She turned a
manic
smile on Akane.
" They thought they were building a weapon to fight
Beryl."
she giggled again. "Beryl! Bah. I could have crushed
Beryl like a
bug if not for these dammed wards on the Gate. Even at
the last I
could have broken some of the seals, enough at least to. .
.But - you
- RAN - OFF!" Pluto whirled and backhanded the
helpless Akane
with a force that lifted her several centimeters off the
table. "To try
and save that worthless piece of . . ." spittle flew from
Sailorpluto's
mouth in her fury. "YOU! RAN! OFF! And then . . .then
SHE
used the crystal . . .she used the crystal. . .to SAVE her
'children'. . .to send them to the future." A shudder ran
through
Sailorpluto's body. "The crystal . . .that damned crystal.
SHE DIED
to save filthy crawling. . ." Sailorpluto fell to her knees
retching. "I
couldn't get to her. I couldn't. I tried. But the crystal
sealed the
Gate. I couldn't get out. I couldn't get out. I could see her.
. .see
her. . . die. See her die. . . Over and over. . ." Sailorpluto
scrubbed
her eyes with the back of her hand and got slowly to her
feet..
"NOW you are going to serve your purpose." A bolt of
energy leapt
from Sailorpluto's hand to Akane's body. The primary
weapon
activated and Akane's body arched backwards on the
table as her
body was twisted into zero-space. "The Silver Imperium
will live
again. SHE will live again. Forever. If I have to loot a
million
futures . . ."
**************************************************
*********
"Something's wrong! "Sailormercury called to her
friend.
"You mean besides that?" Sailorvenus jumped down
beside
her friend and pointed up at a large armored flying
vehicle carving
up large chunks of the city. In the center of the newly
cleared ground
a large structure was being erected.
"That's what I'm talking about." Sailormercury and
Sailorvenus were huddled in a crater in the lee of a
bombed out
building.
"Look here." Mercury brought up a world map on her
computer.
"These show the last two incursions." A yellow rash
spread over the
map. " Now the enemy sent in simultaneous mass transits
to either
take out military command and communication or to
divert forces
from their second strike." A red rash, smaller but more
concentrated
centered over six areas of the map. "THIS is what's
wrong. . .They
managed a text-book feint and attack Every major world
power was
completely out of position to counter this second attack.
They got in
almost completely un-opposed."
Sailorvenus quirked an interrogative eyebrow.
"It doesn't make any sense." Mercury looked at the
display
in frustration. " They just stopped. They stopped
advancing and
started building. . .these things." She waved an arm in the
direction
of the mysterious structure hidden by the lip of the
crater."
"Well, I'm sure it makes sense to THEM."
Sailormercury gave a little mew of frustration.
" Not any military sense! They could OWN Europe by
now.
And most of Africa, and Asia. The United States was only
holding
on by a thin margin. It doesn't make any sense to let us
and the rest
of the world to recover and reorganize." She toggled the
display and
a detailed map of the Japanese home islands appeared.
"This is the most senseless of all!" She pressed a key
and a
red tide crawled over the islands.
"Japan is not a world military power. Yet we have
more
enemy portals and bases. . . more of THESE things." She
waved
again in the direction of the alien construction. "than all
of the rest
of the world combined!"
Sailorvenus gave a depressed sigh.
"Well, it's our own fault I guess."
Sailormercury gave her friend a confused look.
"Karaoke. I always knew we'd have to pay the price
some
day."
**************************************************
*********
". . .can't go in there!"
Usagi woke up at the sound of voices outside the tent the
JGSDF
had lent her and her friends. She swung her feet over the
edge of the
cot, knuckling the sleep out of her eyes. She felt like
she'd just
dropped off but her watch told her that she'd been asleep
for at least
ten hours.
"It's OK Rei, I'm awake."
There was a momentary silence, then a very miffed voice
came
back.
"Hino Rei went back to the shrine to check on her
grandfather. This is Sailormars."
Usagi giggled to herself.
"It's OK REI" Usagi stressed the name. "I really don't
think
secret identities matter much anymore."
There was a growling sound of frustration, like a
wolverine mating
with a gas turbine. The tent flap 'slammed' back under the
force of
her displeasure as Sailormars entered the tent followed by
an
American Naval officer.
"Good morning. . .Ah . . . Sailormoon?"
Usagi nodded assent.
"I'm Captain Thompson, United States Navy. I'm sorry
to
bother you. I know how tired you and your . . .senshi?"
Usagi nodded again.
"How tired you must be but we. . . Japan and the
United
States , that is, have a . . . situation."
**************************************************
*********
"How big?" Sailormercury asked faintly.
"Mmmmm. Captain Thompson said they estimate it
masses
between four hundred and six hundred thousand metric
tonnes."
Sailorjupiter looked down at her notepad. "It's
accelerating
at . . .here you read it." Jupiter flipped the pad to
Sailormercury. "I
just took notes, I don't understand it."
Sailormercury caught the pad. She glanced at the figures
written
there and paled. She started tapping commands into her
computer.
"What is it Ami?"
"If these observations are correct, we no longer have to
worry about this new enemy."
"What do you mean?"
The Inner Senshi looked up at the sharp tone to see
Sailoruranus and
Sailorneptune standing at the entrance to the tent.
"Within forty eight hours the enemy will no longer
exist and
neither will we."
**************************************************
*********
". . .oon Circus. And then there was Galaxia. I was
sure that
she would need you to defeat Galaxia." Sailorpluto made
a sound of
disgust. "No, I finally had to resort to THEM." she waved
a
negligent hand toward an image of alien construction in
the middle
of Tokyo. "THEY were finally enough of a threat to the
'princess'"
Pluto spat the title as if it were poison. "that you were
'called' and I
could find you. THEY are clairvoyant you know. It's a
limited
ability but enough to tell them what was going to happen
to them
once I broke the wards; enough to get them to come here
to try and
stop me and enough to have the princess call you." she
gave a little
chuckle. "And the best part is that 'nullifier' they are
building. It's
really an idea I planted in their minds. Instead of sealing
my power
it will actually amplify my abilities by several orders of
magnitude."
So fixated was Sailorpluto on the scene of the alien
conquest of
Tokyo that she didn't notice Akane's left hand twitch
spasmodically.
**************************************************
*********
"Where are you going?"
"To get Sailorsaturn."
"Why?"
"WHY!"
"Yes, why? HOTARU " Usagi stressed the name. "and
Ryouga-chan are busy helping with the injured. She
doesn't need to
be bothered right now."
Sailoruranus lips tightened.
"This is no time to be playing games. Japan, the entire
Earth,
is about to be destroyed by an asteroid. We need
Sailorsaturn. . ."
"To destroy it with the 'death reborn revolution?'"
"That's right."
"Which will kill her."
Sailoruranus took a step toward Usagi and was
immediately blocked
by Sailormars and Sailorjupiter. Usagi waved them away
and took a
step toward Sailoruranus herself.
"So you think that we should have Sailorsaturn
destroy this
asteroid even though the effort will kill her?"
"There's no other choice." Sailorneptune interjected.
"The
fate of the entire world is at stake. Sometimes . . ."
"If you say 'sacrifices have to be made' I am going to
get
very upset."
Sailorneptune's mouth shut with a snap. Sailoruranus
started to
speak but Usagi interrupted.
"And what do we do about the next asteroid?"
Everyone just stared. Finally Sailoruranus spoke.
"What do you mean, 'next asteroid'?"
"Well, assuming this asteroid is a weapon, if they can
send
one, they can send another. Then what do we do? Or" she
went on,
overriding Sailorneptune. "what if this is just a ploy. . .to
get us to
USE Sailorsaturn so we won't have her available for their
REAL
attack."
"Usagi, that's amazing." Sailormercury sounded
amazed.
The other senshi looked as if their bentou had just jumped
up to do a
boun-dance.
"How on earth did you ever come up with such an
insightful
tactical analysis."
Usagi looked embarrassed.
"Ummm. Well, actually I got the idea from Robert
Heinlein's 'The Moon is a Harsh Mistress.'"
"This isn't a science fiction novel." Sailoruranus
sounded
frustrated. "This is real life, with real consequences."
"Yes, and Hotaru is a real girl, with a real life."
"Which is a fair trade for the entire world."
Sailoruranus
snapped and turned to go.
"Where is Tendou Akane?"
Sailoruranus stopped at the question.
"Where is Setsuna?"
"They are busy. . .fighting the new enemy."
"I asked you 'where are they'. I asked that same
question
earlier. I will ask once more. Where are Tendou Akane
and
Sailorpluto?"
"They are . . .doing their duty. They understand what
is
involved even if you . . ."
The silver crystal blazed and Sailoruranus and
Sailorneptune were
driven back by the rush of power. When they could see
again Usagi
was gone and the Eternal Moon Angel stood in her place.
"Sailoruranus, Sailorneptune you are deaf to the
question of
a friend. How will you answer the command of your
sovereign?"
Neptune and Uranus remained mute.
"Where are Tendou Akane and Sailorpluto?"
Silence was her only answer.
"Ten times ten thousand years before this time you
stood
before Our mother, Serenity Peace Maker also know as
the Sword
Breaker. You were condemned for the crimes of Treason,
murder,
kidnaping and torture. Your sentence of death was set
aside for the
good of the Imperium and in the hope that you would
reflect upon
your crimes and repent of your actions. Now, in a
different time,
upon a new world you again stand before your sovereign.
Again you
are condemned for crimes, not only against your liege but
against
people that you are sworn to protect."
Sailoruranus and Sailorneptune stared, frozen, at the
inhumanly
beautiful cold face, listened to the ringing iron tones.
"Oath breaker and Outlaw We name you. As you
have cut
yourself off from the community of man, so We cast you
out from
the family of senshi. As you reject friendship and mercy
so do We
deny you peace and pardon. As hungry ghosts you are
condemned to
wander the Earth, pain your drink, anguish your meat.
You are dead
to Us."