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a prelude
by jay f kominek
<jay.kominek@colorado.edu>
Sailor Moon is the property of Takeuchi Naoko and some
corporations. Other character's ownerships will be attributed at the end
of the file. I only claim ownership to the plot. It is not my intention
to violate their copyright, but instead to entertain. I can only hope
to do so with a fraction of their skill. This story is meant to be
distributed for free. Please do not change it, or stick your name on it.
Pre-readers, to whom I am greatful:
elfman, Weeb, Octavian, hachiman
Comments and feedback in all forms are appreciated. Comments
and feedback sent directly to me are appreciated even more, since that
makes it easier for me to keep track of it. I'm particularly interested
in thoughts on my characterizations.
This story takes place after the end of both of the serieses
involved. While I can't think of anything I've written which might
spoil the story, you've been warned.
- - - - - - - -
Ransou and Ayane Aino stepped up to the front door of their
modest Juuban home. But before they had even put the key in the door,
they knew something was wrong.
"Minako! We're home!"
They waited.
Sure, it was sunday night, but it was only 9:00pm or so, and
Minako had a nasty habit of staying up late.
"Minako! Where are you?"
There wasn't any response.
Ransou and Ayane began searching through the house, getting
increasingly worried. By the time Ransou made it to the stairs, he
was glowing with ki, and as he ran up the stairs at sub-sonic speeds,
the carpet smoked under his feet.
"MINAKO!?!"
"WHERE IS SHE?!"
*bzzt* *bzzt*
*bzzt* *bzzt*
"Whats that?"
"Idiot, thats the doorbell."
"Oh."
Ayane sighed as she walked down the stairs to get the door.
Carpeting wasn't cheap. At least this wasn't anything compared to
having to fix holes in the walls. Reaching the door, which was left
open in their earlier haste, she saw a group of girls standing outside.
She recognized four of them as Minako's best friends, the other two
seemed familiar. Maybe she'd seen them on the street before.
*The girl with the long blonde hair done up in two balls and
two pony tails, what was her name? Ah, Usagi, yes..* Usagi was standing
in the front, flanked by a tall brown haired girl and a girl with long
black hair. *Wish I would've paid more attention to Minako's friend's
names. Oh well.* The other three were standing at the bottom of the
stairs, and she couldn't see them very well. *Ah, Ami is there in the
back.. she always reminds me of my sister.*
"Yes? What can I do for you?" Ayane inquired a rather exasperated
voice. She had just come home to find her daughter missing, and here
were a bunch of Minako's friends, all safe and sound.
The Usagi girl spoke up, "Mrs Aino? Ah, well, er, you see, uh,
Mina, well..."
Ayane perked up instantly at the mention of Mina. In fact,
it sounded like Ransou had heard and was coming down the stairs, too.
"Minako? Do you know where Minako is?"
"Well, er, I mean.."
Ransou had most certainly heard, and was staring at Usagi with
rapidly decreasing patience.
* * *
Usagi was getting increasingly nervous as she walked towards the
Aino home. She was fairly sure about how the Aino's would react, they
were usually fairly calm people (except with each other). Just thinking
about Ransou Aino was calming, he seemed sort of like her Mamo-chan,
tall, with dark hair he kept in a pig tail, and strong looking.
She could see where Mina got her good looks, both of her parents were
very attractive. They must've had any number of people chasing after
them when they were young..
Ami's voice snapped her out of her day dreaming.
"Usagi! We're almost there, have you figured out what you're
going to tell them?"
Usagi got sort of nervous as she mumbled, "Not exactly.." her
voice beginning to trail off before she even finished the first word.
Academically, she understood that this was part of her job as team
leader, but she didn't ever actually expect to have to do it..
*Oh boy, I don't feel so good... I could use some ice cream
right about now...*
By this time, they were arrayed in front of the Aino's door. For
some reason, it was wide open. Well, it wouldn't be polite to just
walk in. Even with Rei and Makoto right behind her, and Ami, Haruka
and Michiru behind them, Usagi didn't feel very confident. Sadly,
that didn't stop what had to be done.
So, she rang the doorbell.
Ayane, Minako's mother, came to the door. It was odd, she
didn't seem like she belonged in glasses.
"Yes? What can I do for you?" Ayane inquired in a rather
peevish voice.
Usagi nervously began, "Mrs Aino? Ah, well, er, you see, uh,
Mina, well..."
"Minako? Do you know where Minako is?" Ayane's eyes had gotten
very bright at the mention of Mina's name.
"Well, er, I mean.." was all Usagi managed to get out before
she noticed that Ransou had come down the stairs. *Hey, what are those
foot prints doing on the stairs...? And, whoa, I could swear Ransou's
eyes are glowing. Nah, I've just gone too long without ice cream.*
Usagi gulped. Ransou was staring at her and did *not* look at
all pleased.
In a dreadfully calm and level tone, Ransou asked "Do you know
where my daughter is?"
*Oh boy. He doesn't look at all happy.*
"WHERE IS MY DAUGHTER?!?!"
At this point, Usagi's mind pretty much locked up. She never was
one to handle danger very well, and Ransou was looking pretty dangerous
right about now. She may have fought off evil invaders from the past,
present, and future, but she'd never been too successfully in dealing
with angry parents.
At this point, however, Usagi was at least temporarily saved
from dealing with Ransou, as Rei and Haruka had quickly stepped in
front of her.
Rei's non-trivial temper wasn't going to help much of anything.
Too bad.
Usagi was dimly aware of Rei telling Ransou to back off before
things got really confusing.
* * *
Ami watched as Usagi stepped up to the open door and rang the
door bell. *I wonder why the door is still open.*
Minako's mother, Ayane came to the door. Ami and Mrs Aino
spoke quite a bit whenever Ami stopped by. She wasn't sure why, they
really didn't have much in common, Ayane was a housewife and a small
time actress.
Unfortunately, all the way in the back, and at the bottom of
the stairs, Ami was having trouble hearing exactly what was being said.
Ayane seemed upset.
With a sigh, Ami realized that Usagi wasn't doing a particularly
good job of breaking the news to Minako's parents. Things seemed to
get worse after Ransou came down the stairs, though. His deeper voice
carried much better.
"Do you know where my daughter is?"
*mumble*
"WHERE IS MY DAUGHTER?!?!"
*Thats odd, Mr Aino is usually so calm, I never would've imagined
him shouting, even about this. Oh my, it looks like Rei and Haruka have
gone on the defensive.*
"Hey! Back off, you don't need to shout at Usagi!" Rei always
was the most defensive of their princess, even if she wouldn't admit it.
The next bit took them all completely by surprise.
Ransou started to glow. Then he pushed through Rei and Haruka
and grabbed Usagi by the shirt, and lifted her off the ground.
"TELL ME WHERE MY DAUGHTER IS!"
Ami's analytical mind was going into over-drive at this point.
There were a number of things wrong here. First, Ransou was glowing.
Normal people tend not to glow. Second, Ransou had lifted Usagi off the
ground with one hand. Usagi may be a teenage girl, but she packs away
enough ice cream that she certainly isn't anorexic. Next, Ransou had
gotten through Rei and Haruka. Admittedly, Ransou _was_ a gym teacher,
so he would be strong, but Haruka was a strong fighter, and Rei wasn't
a slouch. You don't fight youma, cardians, droids, daimons and who
knows what else without learning a few things. Oh, and, finally,
Ransou was glowing. In her time as Sailor Mercury, had cataloged a
number of groups of people who glowed. People possessed by youma,
people being drained by cardians, people being drained by droids, etc,
etc, etc. Generally people being drained passed out rather quickly.
This left her with just one remaining category, people possessed.
People possessed by youma and other evil things usually started draining
other people, though.
Hmm. It appeared as though Rei, Haruka, and Makoto were charging
Ransou to save Usagi.
Why did Ransou have a 5 yen piece in his left hand?
"HAPPO GO-EN SATSU!"
*Oh my.*
Ami watched dumb-founded as tendrils of energy snaked out from
the coin, hitting Rei, Makoto and Haruka, all three of whom started
to glow.
*Why, it looks like their energy is being drained!*
Ami's mind still being in analytical over-drive went over her
last train of thought. Ransou was glowing. He wasn't being drained.
Rei, Makoto and Haruka were glowing. They certainly almost weren't
possessed, but they were being drained. Ami came to the only conclusion
possible for somebody who had never seen a age-shifting ki-vampire deal
with juvenile delinquents. Ransou was possessed by some sort of energy
draining youma, and it was her job as a Sailor Senshi to save him.
"MERCURY STAR POWER, MAKE UP!"
Michiru picked up quickly, too. "NEPTUNE STAR POWER, MAKE UP!"
Unfortunately, Rei, Makoto and Haruka were still suffering
from the effects of being drained. Usagi was mumbling incoherently
under Ransou's stare. They needed some sort of distraction... "SHABON
SPRAY!" With the area obscured in fog, Mercury worked to pull Rei,
Makoto and Haruka back.
"MARS STAR POWER," "JUPITER STAR POWER," "URANUS STAR POWER.."
"MAKE UP!"
When the fog cleared, they saw a rather confused looking Ransou
and Ayane standing there, with Usagi set down on the ground. Ransou
was still glowing, though.
"Taking over our friend's parent's and attacking teenage girls
is unforgivable! In the name of the Moon, we will punish you!" Ami
wasn't quite sure why she didn't punish people in the name of Mercury
or something, but she decided to worry about that some other time.
All Ransou could manage was a "Huh?"
This sort of put a damper on Mercury's plans. Demons and what
not usually responded with threats against her life, rambled on about
how she was a little girl and they were going to drain her energy,
yadda yadda. They didn't "Huh?" at her.
* * *
Ayane watched helplessly as Ransou picked up Usagi and shouted at
her. There wasn't a whole lot she could do at time like this. In fact,
there probably wasn't anything anyone could do to stop him about now.
*Hrm, those three girls think they're going to get to him?*
"HAPPO GO-EN SATSU!"
*Ah, a Happo Go-en Satsu. Wasn't exactly expecting him to
use that technique. Always used to make him so nervous to even hear
those words.*
*Whats going on back there? Ami seems to be reaching for
something... Wow, thats a nice light show. Shabon Spray? What kind
of a techni...*
"Hey? Where'd everyone go to?"
*More of that same light show. I wonder if its anything like
building up a battle aura.*
Ransou's burning battle aura managed to get rid of the fog
rather quickly, leaving Ransou and Ayane standing in front of Usagi,
with a 5 teenage girls in rather short skirts arrayed behind her,
on and at the bottom of the stairs.
The girl in the short blue skirt began shouting, "Taking over
our friend's parent's and attacking teenage girls is unforgivable! In
the name of the Moon, we will punish you!"
Ransou managed a fairly confused sounding "Huh?"
Deciding that something probably needed to be done before the
situation got any further out of control, Ayane spoke up, "Excuse me?
Nobody is taking over anyone here. Now, sure, my idiot husband
over-reacted and picked up Usagi but it isn't like he could bring
himself to hurt a girl."
The young girls all seemed sort of confused at this point.
The one in the blue skirt seemed to have some sort of visor over her
face now, and was looking particularly confused.
The girl in blue's confusion became painfully evident when
her unsure voice spoke up, "Um, guys, I'm not reading any evil coming
from them. In fact, they're normal except for a bit of magic clinging
to Mr Aino and whatever power it is that he is glowing from."
That definitely seemed to put a damper on the girl's spirit.
Here they were all ready to punish some demons or youma or what have
you, but nooo, they had to turn out to be humans. Extraordinary humans,
but humans all the same.
"Why would we be evil?" inquired Ayane, her concern over Minako
temporarily pushed to the side.
Again, the girl in blue spoke up, "Well, um, first Mr Aino
was glowing, and then he, er, lifted Usagi off the ground, and then he
sucked the energy out of Rei and Makoto and Haruka.."
"Yeah, and..?"
"Well, thats about it."
Ayane was getting sort of exasperated at this point, "Whats
evil about battle aura, being strong, and using a ki-draining technique
to calm people down? If they hadn't run off in that fog, he probably
would've given them their ki back after he got an answer."
Apparently, Ransou was in no mood to discuss things, and most
certainly hadn't forgotten his daughter.
"WHERE IS MY DAUGHTER?!#$?"
Snapped out of her trance, finally, Usagi spoke up, "Shegothurt
reallybadsowetookhertothehospitalohboyI'mreallysorry!"
With a scream of "NOOO!!!!!", Ransou took off running, his ki
charged legs burning with a light like that of thermite flares, and
tearing into the concrete sidewalk like a pair of jack-hammers.
"MORON! Get back here! You don't even know which hospital!"
Turning back to Usagi, Ayane asked "Which hospital did you take
her to?"
Usagi managed to blurt out "Seasidehospital" as a single word.
With a burst of light almost matching Ransou's, and a brief
thanks, Ayane barreled her way through the dumbfounded girls. Following
the trail of ruined sidewalk, Ayane's own ki-charged legs managed to
do little more property damage to the already thrashed concrete.
* * * * * * * *
"Wow. That was weird."
Usagi had this tendency to understate things. She just did
it again.
Sailor Mercury spoke up, wondering, "What do we do now?"
"I guess we should try to follow them or something."
* * * * * * * *
Apparently, even though Ayane hadn't caught up with Ransou
before he made it to the hospital, he had miraculously made it to the
right hospital.
"Minako Aino! What room is she in?!"
"Now sir, listen here, you can't just come barging into a..."
Ransou was in absolutely no mood to be lectured. Letting the
fire of his ki show itself in his eyes, he stared at the nurse, and
asked, again, "Where is Minako Aino?"
Not used to being confronted with people whose spirit burnt so
powerfully that it could be seen in their eyes, the nurse clammed up
for a second. Admirably, her emergency room training kicked in, and
she was able to choke out "five forty-two" with a minimum of stuttering.
No sooner than the last syllable had left her lips, Ransou
was gone, charging for the stairs, his ki flickering across his body.
Showing uncommon restraint, he avoided ripping up the tiles or stairs
with the speed of his feet.
* * * * * * * *
Panting, Ayane Aino reached the main desk of the hospital,
and encountered a rather frazzled looking nurse.
"How can I help you?"
"I'm Ayane Aino, Minako Aino's mother. What room is she in?"
The nurse suddenly got nervous, *I hope she isn't like the
last one...*
"Excuse me? What room is my daughter in?"
Lucky for her, the nurse managed to stammer out "F.. five f..
forty t.. two"
With a curt "Thanks", Ayane took off running towards the stairs.
* * * * * * * *
Ayane found room 542 easily enough, apparently Ransou had taken
lessons from her father on how to cry so she just had to listen for
the water-works and avoid the puddle.
"Ranso.. oh god! Minako!"
Pausing between sobs, Ransou asked aloud, "Who did this to my
poor baby?"
By this time Ayane had joined Ransou at Minako's bedside,
and was looking at her daughter through tear-clouded eyes. One leg
lifted in traction, the other and an arm in casts, with bruises and
burns covering a good bit of her exposed skin she certainly didn't look
like the idol singer she wanted to become someday.
*Whats that?! ..heavy ki buildup?* Ayane quickly began looking
around, but it didn't take long to locate the source. Ransou had begun
glowing with the greenish color that signified depression ki buildup.
She should know what it looked like, she'd certainly seen it coming off
of Ryouga often enough. *God, its still growing! He could accidently
discharge a Shishi Houkou Dan at this rate!*
Not wanting Ransou to hurt Minako, or damage the hospital (the
sidewalk would be expensive enough), Ayane grabbed Ransou and jumped out
the window with him. Safely on the ground and overlooking the water,
she began coaxing him.. "Come on, just let it out."
With that, the green light around Ransou flared even brighter.
A green column of pure depression lanced out into the night sky,
released by the words "SHISHI HOUKOU DAN!"
"Come on, lets go back up to Minako now."
* * * * * * * *
Much to the unknowing nurse's relief, Usagi and the Senshi
didn't have to ask which room Minako was in. And on a night filled
with strangeness, the sight to which they were treated upon entering
Minako's room was actually quite normal. On the far side of the bed,
Ransou and Ayane sat, teary-eyed, watching their daughter sleep.
The girls all gathered into the room, standing near the door
(they were wary of the Ainos after their last encounter)
Working up the courage to disturb the Ainos, Usagi spoke up,
"So, uh, I guess you know our secret now, huh?"
After a few painful seconds, Ayane looked up at Usagi. "Your
secret?"
"Yeah, you know, that we're the Sailor Senshi."
"You're the Sailor Senshi?!" Ayane's eyes had lit up at this
revelation (but not with the burning light of her ki)
All of the girls face-faulted.
"You didn't realize that we were?"
"Nope."
Groans rose up from the collected girls.
In a soft voice, Ayane asked, "Does this mean.. that.. Minako
is one, too?"
"Yes. Mina is Sailor Venus."
"So, all of it, everything we worked for, it was pointless."
This time, it was Ami who spoke up, very quietly, "What do
you mean? What was it that you worked for?"
"Minako... We were trying to give her the normal life we never
even had a chance at, and now look at her, caught up in this."
"She's happy being Sailor Venus... she likes to help people."
Ayane looked back down at her injured daughter, taking awhile
to digest this bit of information.
"Who did.. this to her?"
"It was a demon, we're not sure who is responsible for them."
Finally, Ransou spoke up, quietly at first, "They're going
to pay.. every last one of them. I'll rip them apart, I'll unseal
forbidden techniques just to make them suffer more!@#$!"
A bit confused, but still thinking that Ransou had gone over
the edge, Makoto asked "And what could _you_ do? These are demons, they
did this to Mina while she was Sailor Venus, and our magic protects us
from harm." She obviously thought the idea of Ransou helping the Senshi
was ludicrous.
Ransou was now standing up, staring at the recently revealed
Senshi, his ki again flickering across his body like wildfire. "I am
Ranma Saotome of the Saotome school of Anything Goes Martial Arts,
and no demon is going to stop me!"
"You mean to tell us that you're the famous Saotomes?" Makoto
didn't believe them in the least and was taking no pains to hide the
fact. Mr and Mrs Aino both wore glasses, they were never seen practicing
martial arts, and until tonight had always been very peaceful people.
They could hardly be the world famous Ranma and Akane Saotome, grand
masters of Anything Goes Martial Arts, greatest living martial artists
and quite possibly the greatest ever.
"Yes" came the response, in stereo.
Makoto shook her head, "No. Way. I've seen them at tournaments
before, and Ranma Saotome has that curse that turns him into a woman.
You don't look like them, and you sure don't turn into a woman.
Besides, even if you are the Saotomes, you're just martial artists.
Those rumors about what you can do can't possibly be true."
"So, you're saying you don't believe us?"
"Right."
"Ranma" and "Akane" exchanged a look with each other, and then
they started to turn to the right and then.. they blurred. Their entire
bodies turned into big blurs.
And, just as suddenly as it started, it stopped. Two people
were standing there. They were wearing matching red and black chinese
clothes, an embroidered dragon curled its way across Ransou(?)'s chest,
down his right arm, up Ayane(?)'s left and across her chest. Neither
one had glasses, and they both exuded the raw power and confidence that
comes from being the very best, and knowing it.
"Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken, Saotome revision #7, Clothing
Rearrangement Whirlwind."
"Ranma.." spoke first.
"..and Akane.." spoke second.
and "..Saotome." came out in stereo.
Makoto whistled. All the other girls kept the same dumb look
on their faces.
"Now, are you going to let us come along, or will we just have
to follow you?"
- - - - - - - -
Ranma 1/2 and associated characters are the property of Takashi
Rumiko and probably some corporations.
I got the name of the Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken revision from
Richard Lawson's "Serendipity", set in the "Thy Outward Part" universe.
Thy Outward Part is a good story, you should read it if you haven't.
Music listened to during the writing of this story:
Blue Oyster Cult
Apocalyptica
Garbage (v2.0)
Course of Empire (Telepathic Last Words)
Weird Al Yankovic (Running with Scissors)
...and other random stuff played by my roommates