I can't remember if Draft 1 of this made it to the FFML or not, but
here's round 2...
The Last Days of the Silver Millennium:
Princess Serenity sat by the bed on which the doctors had laid out
Endymion to rest, and watched him sleep. It seemed the rumors were all
true, that war was coming, that the Seven Scourges were breaking free.
Perhaps this was the end of all things which the Red Book, the last
remnant of an age long gone, had hinted at.
She loved him, and hoped desperately that he loved her, but they
had been able to spend little time together, especially alone. There was
much traffic twixt Earth and Moon, but her duties were very full, and
often seemed very meaningless. That would change when she was Queen, but
for now, she had to watch and listen while others made the important
decisions.
He stirred in his sleep and muttered something. She came over
and knelt to try to listen, hoping he was dreaming of her.
"Cassandra...run, run..."
She frowned. You aren't supposed to be dreaming about Pluto when
you're with me, she thought.
A hand touched her shoulder, and she started, but it was only
Eowyn. "Is Prince Endymion going to recover?" Eowyn asked.
She leaned back against Eowyn, feeling the need for a little
comfort. Eowyn's arms wrapped around her, supporting her. "The doctors
say he will recover soon. He has to recover. Before Beryl arrives.
Before..."
Eowyn's arms suddenly gripped Princess Serenity tightly, so
tightly it hurt, then loosened to a more comfortable level. "They're
coming," she said.
"The spirits told you?"
"I could feel it. We have to go, Diana." Eowyn lifted her to her
feet.
Princess Serenity smiled faintly; few there were who knew her true
name--only those she trusted above all others. The ruling family
concealed their true names behind the mask of 'Serenity', and thus they
became harder to target with magic. There was no greater act of trust
on the Moon than to give someone your true name. Even Endymion did not
know her name, though she planned to tell him the night after they wed.
And she did not know his true name either. But she and Eowyn knew one
another's greatest secret; Diana wondered sometimes if Jadeite knew
Eowyn's true name. "I can't just leave him."
"He'll wake soon. But your mother will be wanting you and..."
Eowyn stared down at Endymion and muttered something, then said, "He'll
wake soon. Trust me."
"Of course I trust you." She bent over and kissed Endymion's
cheek, and to her surprise, he sat right up, rubbing his eyes and
blinking.
"Serenity? What are...oh, I made it." He staggered out of bed.
"Take me to your mother. I have bad news."
"Beryl's army is arriving," Eowyn said sharply, then softened,
taking one of his arms. "Help me drag him," she said to Serenity.
"I can walk!" he announced, then crumpled. "I'm sorry, Serenity.
I came as fast as I could, but..." He looked up at her. "I have failed
my kingdom and you. But I will gladly give my life for you...if I can
stand up long enough to do it."
"Let us help you," Serenity said, lifting him up with Eowyn's
help. Soon, they were on their way.
*****************
Children of Fire
A Sailor Moon/Ranma Elseworld
Chapter 8: Race For Your Life, Jadeite!
http://www.maison-otaku.net/~rhea/SMR/
By
John Biles
*****************
Jadeite was worried. Being summoned unexpectedly
before Beryl was never a good thing. Being made to stand
there while she silently stared at you was worse. Finally,
Beryl broke the silence. "Jadeite, I am not pleased with you.
Your energy harvests have fallen to almost nothing, the
Sailors are growing in numbers, and you have not had a
success in months. What do you have to say for yourself?"
"I have a plan to trap the Senshi, my Queen. It is very
ambitious, but it should enable us to harvest an entire
stadium worth of energy and defeat them at the same
time."
"Tell me more."
Jadeite explained the entire plan to her.
"Interesting. It is indeed quite ambitious. I will allow
you to attempt it, but I warn you, Jadeite, that if you fail,
you WILL be punished. I cannot tolerate further failure."
He nodded. "Yes, my Queen. I will set things in motion
immediately."
*****************
Shampoo came up to Usagi, who was hard at work at
archery practice. They'd replaced the dummy that Ranma
had broken with a standard target. She stood and watched
for a few minutes as Usagi fired arrow after arrow. While
Shampoo was better at hand to hand, Usagi seemed to excel
with any sort of missile weapon, from her throwing discs to
the bow.
Her shooting was not as accurate as usual today,
though, and Shampoo suspected it was because something
was bothering her 'little sister'. Shampoo said, "What's
wrong?"
"Nothing." The arrow struck the outer ring and Usagi
frowned slightly. The next shot was better, but should have
been a bullseye; Shampoo could see Usagi's hands wobbling.
"Did Ranma do something stupid again?"
"No." This shot struck home, but the next one almost
missed the target entirely. "Ranma didn't do anything
wrong."
"What did you do wrong then, little sister?"
Usagi blushed. "I kissed Rei."
"You give Rei kiss of death? Could be risky with so
many people to defend her."
Usagi got big eyes. "No, not the kiss of death! It was
just an accident. I mistook her for Ranma!"
"Oh, so little sister needs glasses?" Shampoo frowned.
"You know there only two kind of kisses an Amazon can give
a woman outside her family. Kiss of Death or Kiss of
Marriage."
"..."
"Or Kiss of Divorce, but you have to be married first
to give Kiss of Divorce."
"But...Rei would never marry me." Usagi stared at the
ground. "Oh great, now I've really made a mess."
"You could say that, yes."
Usagi sighed. "Any luck with the guy you're after?"
"He wanted some time to warm up for the fight. We
fight in two weeks."
"Good luck!"
Shampoo laughed. "Marriage battles are always weird
thing. You have to lose to win."
Usagi laughed and fired off a bullseye shot. "You
should have challenged him to a motorcycle race to ensure
the results you want, then."
"Shampoo wants to survive the duel herself, thank
you."
**************
"So what will you do if you fail?" Tourmaline asked
Jadeite.
"I can't afford to fail," he said wearily. "But an ill
premonition is upon me. I can see my doom staring me in the
face. This battle will mean victory or death for me."
"If you go into a battle expecting to lose...," she began.
"Don't lecture me about attitude!" he snapped at her.
"I was fighting battles when your parents were a gleam in
your grandparents' eyes! I have seen the passage of
thousands of years! I..." He took a deep breath. "Ill fortune
has dogged my heels from the moment the first of the
Sailors appeared. And it is only I who suffer this. Why are
only my schemes gone astray, while the Sailors seem
blissfully oblivious to all that the other generals do? The
hand of Fate is upon me, and few enjoy being touched by it."
She fell silent, trying to figure out what to say. The
other generals were not to blame; only she was in a position
to try to manipulate the Senshi, and she knew most of
Jadeite's defeats had come about by what seemed to be
random chance. Tourmaline didn't trust coincidences, but
that's what they were in most of the cases. Perhaps his
defeat was destined...but she believed in making destiny
instead of being ruled by it. "You don't think I'm to blame, do
you?"
"This began long before you were in a position to be
responsible for it. And I must trust someone or go mad.
Perhaps I am a fool to trust you, but I..." He fell silent
briefly, staring out the window at the grounds of the estate.
"I must trust someone. I tire of the endless politicking, the
intrigue and the backstabbing, the sneaking about and
conning people out of their energy. I want an honest, open
battle, yet I know it cannot come until we free Metallia so
that we can all return to Earth and conquer it. I am a
warrior, not a thief. And now I am rambling."
"I, on the other hand, rather prefer the sneaking about
and intrigue to battle. But why do you trust me? I wouldn't
trust me."
Jadeite laughed. "You have no reason to hate me, and
only I will work with you. An open partnership is better for
both of us than for you to try to work with or manipulate
any of the others. And you are now in deep enough that the
others will never entirely trust you not to be secretly
working with me ever again."
"And who said he hates intrigue?"
"Often we must learn to master something we hate,"
he said.
"Agreed," she replied.
**************
"You're going to what?" Michiru asked Kunou over the
phone.
"I must do battle with the foul sorcerer in his lair.
Sasuke confirmed my suspicions of foul sorcery at work in
the race track. Last night, he found strangely colored man-
like beasts tampering with the announcement system and
practicing to drive race cars after the track had closed.
Some had the power to assume a completely human
appearance. So, I have decided to use my family's pass-key,
enter the track, and destroy him."
"..."
"I have called you, my lady fair, to ask if I might come
and get some token of your favor before the battle to take
with me. It might be our last chance to see each other, for
while I am sure I will triumph over his sorcery, Sasuke
emphasized the great number of his servants. Indeed, you
must take yourself somewhere safe, in case he tries to
strike at you while I am within his lair," Kunou continued. "I
will be there in about a half hour."
"You could be arrested for breaking and entering," she
said, trying to dissuade him. "If there was a sorcerer, and I
doubt there is, he could call the cops on you!"
"My family has its own box there; I could tell them that
I was on my way to get something from it I forgot. Since I
have a key, I doubt my entry would be illegal. But I will take
that risk to destroy this foul sorcerer."
"But...you could get hurt or shot or something."
"Your concern for me touches my heart," he said. "Do
not worry, no sorcerer has ever defeated me. I must leave
now, but I will be there soon."
He hung up, leaving her to wonder how she got into
these things. After a few seconds thought, she called
Mamoru.
"Hello?" he said.
"This is Michiru," she said. "I need your help, Chiba-san.
We have to stop Kunou getting himself beaten up or
arrested."
"..."
"Get over here. Now."
"Uh...I'm on my way."
***************
"I say we raid his house," Ranma said. "He won't be
expecting us, while I'm sure at the racetrack, he'll be
expecting us to try something. Or at least he'll have
precautions."
Setsuna's front doorbell rang. "It's Naoko," she said,
heading for the door.
"Ranma is right for once," Shampoo said. "His house
probably has guards, but it's best to take him out before he
can do whatever he wants to do at the racetrack."
"But what if it turns out that he isn't Jedediah
Stanton?" Ami said.
"Can't you scan his house for dark energy and stuff?"
Ranma said. "If it isn't evil, then we come back here and
continue planning for tomorrow."
"Yeah, I'd rather not risk anything happening to
Haruka," Ukyou said. "Hmm. How about if Rei disguises
herself as Haruka and goes to his house? If she gets the
scent of evil, she hits the panic button and we come stomp
him."
"He might stomp Rei first. I oughta..." Ranma began.
"You wouldn't be able to tell," Rei said. "But what if he
isn't home?"
"A very good point," Setsuna said, returning with
Naoko.
"What if who isn't home?" Naoko asked. "Looks like
everyone is here. Sorry I'm late. I had a lot of stuff to do,
and I almost forgot." She sat down next to Ami.
"We're going to bust into the Stanton House and kick
Jadeite's butt," Ranma said.
Naoko's eyes widened. "But...we don't know for sure
he's Jadeite."
"We got enough evidence to be suspicious," Ranma
said. "And if we're sneaky, we can just leave if it ain't him."
"But...if we wait until the racetrack, we can be sure
he'll be there..."
"Maybe. He wasn't at the grocery store."
"But...um...I mean..." Naoko fumbled for words.
Ami said, "It won't hurt to go there and scan the place.
If we don't pick up anything, we can come back here and plan
out tomorrow, or go scout out the racetrack. I just hope he
doesn't sense us somehow and go hide."
"What if the house is a trap?" Naoko said. "Maybe he
wants us to raid it."
"Geez, what is with you tonight, Naoko?" Ranma said.
"Anything could be a trap! I know the racetrack will be,
unless he's too stupid to guess we might come see Haruka
race, and I doubt that. Haruka fought youma at the temple,
and some of them got away, remember? The Dark Kingdom
probably thinks Haruka is one of us."
Naoko stared at the floor. "I was just..." She sagged
and fell silent.
Usagi said, "You didn't have to yell at her, Ranma."
"Geez, it ain't like I insulted her or something. She just
ain't usually so negative. You have trouble at home or
something, Naoko?"
"I just...have a bad feeling."
Setsuna rose. "We'd best get moving before it gets
too late."
Usagi patted Naoko on the shoulder. "Don't worry;
we're as ready for him as we'll ever be."
***************
Jadeite listened to classical music as he sat at the
rarely used kitchen table in the Stanton house, reviewing his
plans for tomorrow. Normally, he would have returned to
the Dark Kingdom for the night, but he had decided he
needed to conserve energy. All his troops were already here
and in place in the stadium except for the two guards he had
here who doubled as 'servants' for social occasions. The
music was soothing; it had convinced him that the mortals
had managed to create at least one decent thing while he
had been gone.
His enjoyment was interrupted when he felt a powerful
teleportation, right into the kitchen. Pluto said, "Give up
now, Jadeite, or we'll destroy you."
He looked up, wondering how they'd gotten past the
wards to detect intruders. He wished he had enough energy
for wards strong enough to prevent hostile teleportation
entirely, but it took too much energy to run such things
constantly. Still, the wards should have... He then realized
that something had dispelled the wards on the house, and
quite skillfully too.
So be it, he thought. A fey mood was upon him, and
the idea of simply fighting it out to the death had a strange
appeal. He was tired of sneaking about and setting traps; he
wanted an open, honest battle so that if he died, he could be
proud of at least one thing he had done.
First things first, he thought. Eliminate the weakest
but smartest links. He started to raise his hands as if he
was surrendering, but when they came to the point where
they were level to the ground, he unleashed two blasts. One
flung Mercury through a wall and out of sight. The other did
the same to Prudence.
Saturn and Uranus shouted something incoherent and
leaped at him, preventing Pluto and Mars having a clear shot
at him, just as he had hoped. They were quick and skillful,
but he had been fighting horrors they could hardly imagine
for thousands of years. He simply teleported out of the way
and let them crash into each other, then struck at the two
Amazons with a sword of negative energy in each hand.
Their blows struck home and hurt him more than he had
expected, knocking him down and stunning him for a second,
but the blades stuck in them, draining their life energy. Nor
could they grasp the blades to pull them out, though they
tried, swiftly growing weaker.
The unexpected stunning cost him; Pluto and Mars
combined powers and blew him through a wall, charring his
uniform in several places. Now Saturn and Uranus were
coming at him again; he was glad for that, as he knew he
could slap them around all day. He pushed his speed with
what little time magic he could muster and slid between
them; blows aimed at him struck each other instead.
Now he had a clear shot at Pluto and Mars, so he
charged them.
"STOP RUNNING, YOU COWARD!" Saturn shouted as he
and Uranus charged after him.
Pluto raised her staff, and she and Mars fired away at
Jadeite again. He simply teleported behind them, letting
their attacks buffet Uranus and Saturn, although they
dodged the worst of it, to his surprise. He landed behind
Mars and tried to grab her from behind, but Pluto whirled and
nailed him in the gut with her staff, knocking him away.
Damn her precognition, he thought. He hurled a
barrage of energy draining spikes to gain time to think,
sending them all dodging for cover. The two Amazons had
collapsed by now, and their energy revived him somewhat.
Ahh, a contact field, he thought.
He stood still and let Saturn and Uranus hit him.
Saturn nailed him with a flying kick, while Uranus smacked
him in the legs with that ludicrous giant spatula she favored.
He wondered again how a woman could possibly be using the
Guardian power. He filed it for later contemplation as the
impact field went off, flinging them into Mars and Pluto and
as he himself got knocked into the living room.
They can't do magic worth much, he thought, but they
know how to hit. He teleported right into the middle of them
and lashed out with a spinning blade of flame. Mars
screamed and collapsed, looking shocked, while Uranus fell
over clutching her burnt stomach. Pluto and Saturn,
however, were several feet away, out of his reach, with
Pluto's hands still around Saturn's waist.
I have to take down Pluto or I'm going to lose, he
thought. Fortunately, I have more power and more skill, so I
should be able to wear her down. He opened fire with a
powerful blast, but Saturn grabbed Pluto this time and
dodged out of the way. Then Uranus recovered enough to
smack him in the back of the knees and send him sprawling.
He turned and grabbed Uranus, shaking off several
painful spatula blows in the process, and began draining her
dry, using her as a human shield between himself and Pluto
and Ruby.
"That's cheating!" Saturn shouted. "LET HER GO!"
"All's fair in love and war," he said, feeling himself
revive from her energy. "Got any more cliches for me?"
"I won't forgive you for this!"
"Won't matter when you're dead." He tossed Uranus
aside once she went limp; she wouldn't recover fast enough
to matter, and he wanted captives, not corpses. As he
prepared to attack Saturn and Pluto, Mars weakly shouted,
"FIRE SOUL!" and blasted him in the groin.
Only the fact that she had to shout her attack saved
his nether regions; he managed to shield himself in time, but
it was still agonizing.
He went to grab her, but Saturn was on him, slamming
his head into the ground. A second later, he teleported away
from Saturn, right behind Pluto as she was dodging to avoid
his attack. She wasn't quite fast enough this time, and a
wide-angled blast from him sent her sprawling.
By the time Saturn turned to face him, he'd managed
to jump onto her and get his hands around her neck; she
fought desperately, but he was stronger and her staff had
fallen just out of reach. "One step, and I wring her neck," he
said. He began absorbing her energy; her sheer power
frightened him, and he wondered why she could make such
little effective use of it.
Saturn hesitated, and Mars staggered to her feet.
"Damn you, Jadeite, you coward!" she shouted. "You always
did hide behind other people! You couldn't even muster the
courage to propose to me yourself!" Her voice sounded older
and a touch deeper than usual.
Jadeite knew it, and for a moment, his blood ran cold.
Eowyn, he thought. It is you, but...If it is you, why are you
fighting so stupidly? "Oh, and eight people attacking one is
fair? Interesting version of fair you have."
"Don't worry about me...get him," Pluto managed to
spit out, struggling ever more feebly.
"Do you want your girlfriend to die?" he asked. "If you
are Ruby and Cassandra, you must be lovers, I assume."
Mars frowned. "He's my fiancee!"
Saturn thought a second, then dived past Jadeite, who
pivoted to keep Pluto between them. But he wasn't aiming
for Jadeite; he was after the staff. Lifting it, he levelled it
at Jadeite. "Give up now, or I'll use this to stop time, so I'll
have my leisure to rip off your head!"
Jadeite laughed. "You fool, you can't use it. It's just a
stick to you. Of course, if you actually were competent, I
can think of a dozen ways you could use your powers to stop
me, but if it really is you, Ruby, you're only a shadow of your
former self."
A strange look came over Saturn's face, and he
seemed to be talking without words to something invisible. It
was one of the most disturbing things Jadeite had ever seen,
worse in some ways than gazing on Metallia. He looked like a
man Jadeite had seen in a hospice for the insane long, long
ago.
His train of thought was derailed when a voice shouted,
"RETRIBUTIVE STRIKE!!!!!" The most powerful blast he had
felt in decades, maybe centuries slammed into him. His body
shielded Pluto from the worst of the blast, but she took the
impact when they slammed into yet another wall. He felt the
house shake, and knew the kitchen area would likely simply
collapse soon; not that much was left of it.
His back felt horribly burnt, and he staggered as he
stood over the unconscious Pluto. Turning, he saw Prudence
surrounded by an aura of crackling lightning that made her
curly hair try to stand on end. Her face was suffused with
rage, and she shouted, "You'd better go running back home
to Beryl, because if you don't, you're going to DIE!!!!"
And then Mars said, "His true name is Rilifil. And we all
know what true names are good for. I finally understand why
you sent someone else to kill me."
Damnation, he thought. If they know that, I'm far
more vulnerable. As he looked at Saturn, he saw the kid's
face set with a look of utter hatred, and something changed
in how the boy stood. And then he spoke. "Rilifil, I'm going
to rip out your heart for what you've done to Cassandra." It
was deeper and older and stronger and full of cold rage. It
was Ruby's voice, and now Jadeite knew he was doomed.
I should have drained the others to death; at least I
would have been sure of taking some of them with me, he
thought. There was only one option left; if their old selves
had awakened, they would have stronger skills...but no more
power than before. Their new bodies would not be used to
expending so much energy, nor toughened to resist it.
"Better run while you still can!" Prudence shouted as
she approached the other two and joined hands with them.
He would be defenseless, and running would simply get him
killed by Beryl. He had only one chance--an attack they could
not simply dodge. He would have to throw everything into it
and pray he would have anything left to fight with. A Soul
Tornado. Just this once, he shouted the words to help him
focus his ultimate and most dangerous attack, both to
himself and others. "SOUL TORNADO!"
The Stanton House exploded so brightly it got onto the
morning news.
***************
Ruby heard the first letter, and he knew what was
coming. It was too late to stop him; the Soul Tornado would
absorb Ruby's own power if he tried to stop it. He would
have to outrun it. It would have been easy if he could have
stopped time, but this body was too weak to survive that; it
would have been fatal, and thus pointless. But he could
move like a blur, burning his reserves to speed time around
himself, and thus to get everyone out of the house, starting
with Cassandra.
Or so he hoped. He got her out, and the two Amazons,
and Mercury. Then, just as he grabbed Prudence and Mars,
he ran out of power and sagged back into normal time.
"Teleport NOW!" he shouted, feeling himself detransform.
They were just slow enough to get nailed by the Soul
Tornado as it grew, and then the world went rainbow colors
around them. When that stopped, Prudence stood far
across the rubble strewn yard amongst a pile of unconscious
people. She fell to her knees. I need rest desperately, she
thought.
Usagi and Shampoo staggered to their feet. "Is it
over?"
"I don't know," she said weakly, trying to rise and
failing.
The house was gone; only rubble was left of it, and
much of it was blown across the yard. They could see
Jadeite lying half-naked and unconscious amidst the
wreckage. Shampoo hefted her mace. "He likely to pop up
and blast us?"
"Not after that, I don't think..." Prudence said.
Pluto groaned and sat up. "Where's my staff?"
Shampoo pointed over to a nearby location. "There's
the handle." She pointed further away. "There's part of the
orb."
Pluto's eyes widened. "But I can't...it...no..." Her voice
was weak. "I can't do anything but dead scream and a little
precognition without my staff. I can't open the gate of time
or..."
"Come on, Usagi, we have to kill Jadeite now."
"Can't we just lock him up?"
"You think prison hold man who can level house?"
Black winds swirled around Jadeite, and then he was
gone.
"Or who can do that. Dammit."
Prudence began to cry. "This was all for nothing. It
didn't work, he got away, but now..."
Sirens began to blare in the distance.
"Now we must get away," Pluto said. She swept up
what was left of her staff. "I cannot replace this until we
find the Silver Crystal." And maybe not even then, she
thought.
****************
Michiru cursed her parents and all her ancestors.
Then she cursed herself for going along with Kunou. She
wasn't quite sure how he had talked her into it. Mamoru and
Kodachi were with them as well; Kodachi was quite attractive
in her battle-leotard, if you ignored her bouts of maniacal
laughter.
They got up into the Kunou family box, then went to
the windows and looked down on the track. Semi-human
beings with oddly colored skin and hair and sometimes
strange deformities were busy driving pumping gas into
racecars and getting them into position to drive around the
track. Kunou nodded. "Just as Sasuke said."
Kodachi said, "You're half-right, brother. I see no
sorcerer, though."
Michiru just stared in shock; she could see Mamoru was
equally disturbed. "Youma," he muttered.
"What was that?" she asked.
"Hmm?" he asked. "Did I say something?"
"Something about youma."
"I guess those rumors about monsters invading Tokyo
are true," he said.
"Now what?" Kodachi asked Kunou.
"We will find the sorcerer while Chiba-san guards
Michiru-san here." He took the long green ribbon he had
somehow finagled from Michiru, and tied it round the hilt of
the bokken he was carrying. "Much as it pains me to use
your dishonorable tactics, sister, I believe an ambush is
called for."
Kodachi laughed. "Perhaps there is hope for you yet."
They departed together. Once they were gone, Michiru
said, "Do you think he can fight them all?"
"I can't decide whether to take you to the car and flee,
or go help him," Mamoru said. "You shouldn't be here. You
might get hurt."
"I just...Why did I come here?"
"Don't ask me. I'm still trying to figure out why I
came."
*************
Feldspar sat in her room, half-reading a book and
wondering when Tourmaline was going to show up like she
was supposed to. I would have gone on my date if I'd known
she was gonna make me sit around the house, she thought. I
wonder what the guy is like? She also wondered why she was
quite so eager to go on a date; it bothered her a little.
Warriors weren't supposed to care about such things.
Her cheeks tingled; someone had just teleported in. "I
was starting to think you were gonna stand me up, big
sister."
"I am not your sister, though I am trying to find her,"
Lt. Rhoxolite said. "I can't find Jadeite either, and his house
is just a crater now." A tall, dark haired and dark-skinned
youma, he was in charge of the race track operation when
Tourmaline and Jadeite were away. "We've got intruders."
"The Senshi showed up early?"
"No, it's a lunatic with a wooden sword and some
madwoman who took down Chrysolite with a bouquet. And
she throws all these really weird weapons at people. But
they're tougher than the average mortal."
"I can take them," she said confidently. "Let's go."
*************
Few things are more embarrasing than being thrashed
by people you think are insane. The youma at the track were
feeling quite embarrassed. Most of them were recently
recruited people who had just learned of their status as
reincarnated warriors of Beryl's kingdom. Their powers
were weak, and their combat training was minimal.
It didn't help that all the traps had been set up to
empower themselves from a racing audience that wasn't
present, or that the two maniacs were smart enough to stay
where they couldn't be runover. As a result, a half dozen
youma were done, and the other half a dozen were
conducting a...frenzied withdrawal.
"Come back here, you cowards!" Kunou shouted. "And
send out your master! I would have words with him!"
Kodachi simply beaned a purple skinned, blue haired
youma with a thrown gymnastics club and sent it tumbling
down a staircase towards the bottom of the stands.
And then there was a flash of light, and a short-haired
woman appeared. She gestured and suddenly, Kunou and
Kodachi found themselves pinned down into two seats in a
nearby aisle by surging, visible winds. "And that's that," the
woman said.
"Foul sorceress! I will not allow you to infect this
stadium with your evil! For I am the Blue Thunder of
Furinkan High!" A bolt of lightning stabbed down behind him,
nailing two youma who were now approaching him with
improvised clubs. He seemed oblivious to this, but they
passed out and reverted to normal humans. "Your powers
cannot harm me, for my heart is pure, and true love
empowers me with the blessing of the gods!"
Kodachi simply struggled. "Who are you?" Her efforts
were fruitless.
"You can call me Feldspar. Blue Thunder, eh?" Sounds
familiar, she thought. Dim memories stirred. There had
been Seven Thunders...was he one of them. "You serve the
Sky King?"
"I serve all the gods of Japan! I am their righteous fist
of wrath!" he shouted. "Shina-Tsu-Hiko will punish you for
abusing his powers!"
She had to admire his bravery, and deplore his inability
to face reality. "Your gods can't save you now. But perhaps
Metallia will want you to serve a real goddess. I think I'll take
you to her." He has real power, she thought. I can feel it.
And the woman as well. Maybe that'll put me back in Beryl's
good graces.
"Kill them?" Rhoxolite asked.
"The living are worth more than the dead. Go help our
unconscious people; I'll take them back to the Dark Kingdom."
"Mamoru, come back here! What are you doing! We
have to get out of here!" a woman's voice shouted from a
fair distance away.
Rhoxolite and Feldspar turned and looked and saw a
man in a tuxedo and cape wearing a little black Zorro mask.
He was approaching at high speed with a green haired woman
running after him. For a few seconds, Feldspar did nothing
because she simply couldn't believe he was real.
Then he threw four roses at once, striking her winds,
which evaporated. Nor could she call them back. Her jaw
dropped, then Kunou was on her. "Head!" He struck her
head. "Shoulder!" He nearly dislocated her left arm.
"Chest!" Her sternum ached from the blow.
"GROIN!" she shouted and kicked him in the balls. His
eyes went wide, and he staggered back, bending over.
"FACE!" She kicked him in the face, knocking him back.
She turned, and the madwoman was on top of
Rhoxolite, then leaped up onto a light fixture, trailing a
ribbon. He hung from it like a pinata, and the lunatic lady
smacked him like one with a small club, sending him swinging.
Spinning on her heel, she launched a flying kick at the
madwoman, but then the madwoman was gone, springing
straight up out of the way. Rhoxolite came round and her
foot connected with his head, knocking him out. Landing
poorly, she tumbled down the stands.
Her winds finally came back, and she flung the crazed
gymnast across the stands...somehow right into the arms of
Mr. Tuxedo Guy. Then he swept his cane through the winds
and they shattered. This was beginning to piss her off.
All the youma were down, two of three lunatics were
still up, and her best power didn't work. I need
reinforcements, she thought. But if Jadeite and Tourmaline
have run off somewhere, I can't get any. If only I knew
where Tourmaline keeps all her youma, or if I could move
youma born in the Dark Kingdom to Tokyo without it costing
so much energy...but if wishes were horses, we'd already
rule the Earth, she thought.
What would Tourmaline do, she asked herself.
Probably seduce the man. She dismissed that method, then
an idea struck her. The green haired woman knew Mr.
Tuxedo Guy, so if I take her captive, I can track them and
dispose of them at my leisure, she thought. And she isn't
fighting, so she must not have any powers. I hope.
As Mr. Tuxedo Guy and Lunatic Gymnast Woman
charged her, she leaped over them to the green-haired
woman and seized her by the wrist. "You're coming with me,"
she said, then teleported to her own room in the Dark
Kingdom. "Welcome to your new home."
The woman fainted instead of vaporizing her, which a
tiny part of her brain had feared would come next. "And now
to take you to Beryl."
****************
Kodachi knew this was her lucky day. She was
snuggling up to the man of her dreams, her worst enemy had
been kidnapped by an evil sorceress and likely would never be
seen again, and her brother couldn't possibly blame her for
it.
The man of her dreams was busily poking about where
Michiru had vanished and grimacing as her brother woke up.
"Where is the sorceress?"
"She stole your whore and ran," Kodachi said absently.
"I don't have a whore." Kunou sounded confused. "Did
you get hit in the head again?"
She sighed. "Your 'aqua tressed goddess'."
"She took Michiru? But Michiru was supposed to be...."
His face darkened. "COME OUT AND FIGHT ME!!!!"
Feldspar didn't come.
"She's gone, and I don't even know where to start
looking," the tuxedo clad man said. "I could not respond to
the Princess' call fast enough, and I could not save Tethys
either." He bashed one of the stadium chairs to bits with his
cane in frustration, then sagged. "And now I must go."
"Who are you?" Kunou asked. "And have you seen
Mamoru?"
"I don't know who I am," he said, and tried to go.
However, Kodachi was clinging to him like a koala to a tree.
"I have to go."
"Take me with you! I'll make you forget all about...
whatever her name is."
He tried to go, but Kodachi's grip was like a vise. Then
he winced, and a detransformation washed over him, leaving
a confused Mamoru behind. "Kodachi, why are you crushing
my arm?" he asked.
"You...you're...him?" she asked disbelievingly.
"Of course I'm me."
Kunou looked at him and nodded knowingly. Mamoru
had been a vessel for Hachiman, but now had forgotten it.
Although it wasn't the way Hachiman was usually portrayed,
but clearly Amaterasu had smiled upon their battle and sent
one of her noblest warriors to rescue them. I must pray and
prepare myself to recieve guidance from the gods as to how
to find and rescue my lovely Michiru, he thought.
"You were...are you playing a joke on me?" she asked
suspiciously.
"That would require me to have some idea what you're
talking about," he replied.
This dispute went on for quite a long time while Kunou
began going over legends in his head.
**************
"You have failed again, Jadeite." Beryl said. "For long,
you served me well, but now you give me nothing but failure."
"Does all my years of service mean nothing to you?"
he asked despairingly.
"It does mean something," she said. "It means your
recent failures are inexplicable. Either you have betrayed
me and are failing deliberately, or someone has betrayed us,
and is leaking our secrets to the Senshi. I find the later far
more plausible, for I know that if you lost your loyalty to me,
you would either try to kill me or just go openly over to the
Senshi. Therefore, I will give you one last chance to redeem
yourself. Publicly, I will announce you have been sentenced
to Eternal Sleep. But privately, you will take on a new
identity. I will give you to Nephrite as an assistant. You will
spy on those who serve him, and if he begins to fail as you
did, hopefully, you will catch the traitor. You will report your
findings to me periodically. Do you understand?"
"Thank you, my queen! I will begin immediately!" He
paused. "I have reason to believe these Sailor Senshi may in
fact be the ones of the Silver Millennium reborn, not just the
inheritors of their power."
"Yes. And Feldspar told me that Endymion has
appeared. In your spare time, I want you to look for him."
"Yes, my queen. I very much wish to find him myself."
She smiled faintly. "Good. Now, let's create you a new
identity."
***************
"You think Grandpa's still awake?" Usagi asked Rei as
they all crept up the stairs into the temple courtyard.
"I hope not, or he'll turn me into meatloaf for being out
so late," Rei replied.
"Where have you BEEN?" Kenji-neko demanded, popping
out from under the porch.
"Smiting evil," Usagi replied.
"Oh, well, that's okay," he said, then went and laid down
for a nap.
"I wonder what Pop would say if I told him that," Ranma
said.
"He'd laugh, then slap you around," Ukyou said.
"You think a bath would wake Grandpa up?" Rei asked
as they reached the porch.
"We could all take one together," Usagi suggested.
Rei and Ukyou both blushed. Shampoo nodded. "Saves
time for sleeping. Shampoo is exhausted."
"But...I mean..." Ukyou glanced over at Ranma.
"Shampoo too tired to care."
"You all go ahead," Ranma said. "I gotta go blow off
some steam anyway."
Usagi frowned slightly, then dragged the others away
to the bathroom.
Ranma went and woke Kenji-neko back up. "Is she
always like that?"
"Like what?"
"Trying to get guys she likes to take baths with her
and stuff."
Kenji-neko's eyes widened. "She WHAT?"
Ranma began to regret mentioning this. "Uh, nothing,
go back to sleep."
"Did you do it?"
"No!"
Kenji-neko looked at him dubiously. "Are you gay?"
"NO!!!!"
"Are you sure? I don't think I've ever met a boy your
age who would say no to that."
"With her and three other women at the same time?"
"I definitely haven't met the boy who..."
Ranma grumbled and got up. "I ain't that kinda guy.
Plus, I'd hack the rest off if I said yes. 'Cept maybe
Shampoo, but she's weird. Half the time, she's a guy in a
girl's body."
"But Usagi isn't like that?"
"Well, Usagi is too, but the girly half of her is more
girly. If you know what I mean."
"Not really," Kenji-neko said.
"She fights like a guy, but she's like a normal girl the
rest of the time." He paused for a few seconds. "Well,
sometimes normal. Then she does something like trying to
get me into the bath with her and everyone else."
"Which way do you like her better?"
"I dunno. She's a great pal when she's Usagi the
Warrior; I like never met a woman I thought could really
understand what my life is like. But she's cuter when she
acts more normal. Except that's also when she does weird
stuff, like trying to kiss me and junk."
"Kissing is wierd?"
"When everyone is staring at you and there's people
who'll beat you and me for doing it, yeah."
He laughed. "Would you kiss her in private?"
"Dunno. I mean...if it was just a kiss, yeah, but like if I
kiss anyone, I'm gonna end up having to marry them, which
kinda cramps my style, ya know. At least I ain't got that
idiot Ruby badgering me about her. I guess he didn't know
her or nothing, so at least I know it's ME who thinks stuff
about her."
"Well, he also gives you your powers."
"Doesn't make him less of a pain in the ass." Ranma
laid back on the porch. "I just wish I could make him shut up.
Five year old me doesn't try to take over, he shouldn't
either."
Kenji laughed. "Now that would be a mess of a world..."
"Did your parents try to make you marry someone?"
"She got hit by a car. So I ended up free to marry who
I pleased, because I found someone to marry before they
settled on another choice." Kenji paused to lick one of his
paws, then continued. "We keep telling Usagi she can't force
herself on you, but she won't listen. I think she's afraid
she'll get thrown out of the village if she doesn't marry you,
and then they won't ever find a cure for us."
Moon cats can take on a human form, a voice in
Ranma's head prompted him. Ranma cursed Ruby but passed
on the message anyway. "Bastard says Moon cats can take
on a human form. But he ain't saying how."
"Ba...ah. Does he have any idea how?"
"One of those flip things."
"Flip things?"
"Like Luna does to summon stuff. The kinda throw
yourself in the air and spin about thing."
"I'll ask her if she knows."
"So what do you think about Setsuna?"
"I rarely think about Setsuna," Kenji said.
"Seriously."
"She's cute, but I'm married and a cat. Seems like a
decent person. Why do you ask?"
"The Old Bastard is madly in love with her, keeps trying
to push me to take up where he left off."
"Can you blame him? They were cut off from each
other tragically while they still loved each other. And she
waited for him for 25,000 years."
"He died! He got his turn, and now it's mine. But
because of all his yammering, I can't tell what thoughts are
mine and which are his."
Kenji-neko batted at his tail. "I don't know what to tell
you. I get these cat instincts sometimes, so I sort of
understand how you feel, but my own experience is that if
you fight it too much, it just builds up to where you snap and
do something stupid."
"If I let him do what he wants, I'll end up married to
Setsuna."
"Which you don't want."
"He's the one that wants it."
"So you don't like her at all?"
"I don't like hate her, but if any of what I feel is me and
not him, I can't tell. That's the worst part. It's hard to tell
the difference."
"And the exorcism didn't work?"
"He wanted to go home with Setsuna after the fight,"
Ranma said. "She invited me to come with her when she
thought no one was listening. There wasn't a fight, so I
guess no one was."
Kenji-neko looked up at him. "You sure your desire to
go with her was all his fault?"
"I can't tell," he said. "Which is the thing that REALLY
bugs me."
Shampoo came out. "You can bathe now," she said to
Ranma.
"Thanks," he said, getting up.
Soon, he was in the bathroom, busily getting clean.
The first half of the process turned him female, which she
reflected, did have one advantage. She almost never felt
Ruby's presence or heard him when she was a woman. One
good point to her curse.
A little while later, she sank into the hot water and
resumed her usual male form. Ruby remained quiet, having
apparently gone to sleep for the night. Ranma was grateful
for small blessings. No one else disturbed him either.
He got out of the water, then doused himself with cold
water. Drying off, she put on her pajamas. Another night as
a girl, she thought. I wonder who the lunatic of the night will
be...
She got to Rei's room; Rei was already in bed. She
quietly got into her futon, and Rei said, "I locked the window;
lock the door."
Ranma-chan laughed. "Not planning to sleep with Usagi
again?"
"That was an ACCIDENT!"
Ranma-chan locked the door, then laid down.
"Goodnight."
"I wonder if Eowyn is going to start talking to me," Rei
said.
"Eh?"
"I think...when I was yelling at Jadeite...that was her."
Rei sounded worried. "And then after that, it must have
been her...I knew things and...She had some stupid ideas I
don't want her spouting off," Rei said. "There were some
people she disliked for no good reason, and..."
"You don't want to dislike 'em. Yeah, I know the feeling.
Maybe we can convince her and Ruby to run away together."
Rei laughed. "I wish." She was silent for a little while,
then said, "Do you think Usagi could be the Princess?"
"You knew the Princess better than Ruby did."
"If we had the Silver Crystal, it would be easy to tell."
"The what?" Ranma-chan asked, sitting up.
"I don't know what it is...just a dim memory that only
the Royal Family could use it safely, and that everyone was
scared of it."
"Well, Usagi did tell me she was twiceborn. The
Amazons have some way to tell. I doubt the hair style is
proof, but it does match up. Anyone could do their hair like
that. We could try finding a frog prince for her to kiss."
Rei laughed loudly. "Well, if Endymion is running
around, maybe we could turn him into a frog the next time
he shows up. I was hoping he'd show up for the fight we had
tonight."
"Dammit, we should have nailed Jadeite," Ranma-chan
said, slamming a fist into her palm.
"I wonder what Jadeite will try next?" Rei asked the air.
'I'll go check,' a faint voice said, and she felt a breeze
blow by.
"Was that you, Ranma?" she asked.
"What what me? Where'd that breeze come from?"
Rei scratched her head. "I must be tired and imagining
things."
'No, that was a wind spirit,' her teddy bear said.
She stared at it, but it didn't say anything else. "I
need sleep BADLY. Goodnight, Ranma."
"Goodnight, Rei."
****************
After what felt like hours of searching and possibly
might have been, Feldspar finally found Tourmaline deep in
the archives, reading a crumbling scroll and shaking slightly.
She was trying to take notes, but kept writing illegibly.
"Tourmaline, where the hell were you? Beryl has..."
"Did...did Beryl kill him?" she asked, her voice shaking,
startling Feldspar out of her anger.
"He's been sentenced to Eternal Sleep," she said.
"Where were you when we needed you?"
"I was back here doing research, since I didn't expect
there was going to be a fight tonight! We were supposed to
fight them TOMORROW! Why'd you fight them today?"
"They found you and Jadeite's house and trashed it.
So, Jadeite had no choice."
"He had every choice! We could have come up
with...another plan...or something...and now..." Tourmaline
suddenly sagged and began to cry. "He isn't supposed to be
dead. He isn't. I was going to find a way...a way...we would
have been..."
Feldspar stepped forward and embraced her. "C'mon,
don't cry. Generals don't cry."
"I don't care. I had it all planned out. But now he's
gone and...I'll never see him again and..." She sobbed in her
sister's arms.
Haplessly, Feldspar tried to comfort her. "He's not
actually dead. You might be able to convince Beryl to let him
out if you do something really well. I...don't cry."
"It was all planned...he wasn't supposed to fail and
come back and get executed...I didn't want it to be like that,
and then I had to...and he...I hate improvising."
"C'mon, let me take you to Mom. She'll make you feel
better," Feldspar said.
"Not part of the plan," Tourmaline mumbled as
Feldspar dragged her out of the archives and across the
palace. "Nothing was supposed to happen tonight. Nothing!
Dammit!"
I guess she must have liked him...I wonder if she...
Feldspar wondered. I've never seen her this shook up. I hope
Mom knows what to do better than I do.
***********
Setsuna laid on her bed and stared at the walls.
Another lonely night, she thought. Just like the Time Tunnel
except that I'm not in a trance watching other people's lives.
What am I doing wrong? Why is he fighting his own feelings?
He never used to fight his feelings...sometimes that led to
us beating each other up, but...it isn't like him to doubt
himself, she thought.
That worried her more than the fact that she was
lonely, or that he wasn't in love with her like he was
supposed to be. He was acting strangely, and it didn't match
his old self, or what she'd seen of his life before she met him
again face to face. Maybe it was just the result of mental
conflict between him and Ruby, but...
Then again, I didn't know him when he was really young;
maybe he was like this then too, she thought. It could just
be a phase, or the result of having too many women after
him. I just have to find a way to get them to back off so he
can make his choice without feeling like I'm forcing him. Yes,
that has to be it. Ruby always did put his back up if you
pressured him too hard. Pull back a little and see if he
comes to me. If not...then I come up with another plan.
************
Ranma floated in a black void and looked at a huge set
of scales. He sat in one, heavily outweighing Ruby, but then
the scales visibly moved, and Ruby sank, while he rose. It
stopped with him still outweighing Ruby, but not by as much.
There was another set of scales in the void, and the
same happened to Rei, who lost weight to Eowyn. Then the
two sets of scales shifted, putting Ranma with Rei, and
Eowyn with Ruby. The scales began to sway wildly, especially
when Rei and Ranma started making out, and Eowyn and Ruby
began beating each other up.
I knew letting him take over was a bad idea, but there
was no other way to stop Jadeite and save everyone, Ranma
thought. But dammit, I'm not going to let him run my life
when I'm NOT about to die anyway! No way!
I wonder how much making out with Rei would piss him
off, he asked himself. Probably he'd freak.
Then Ranma-chan woke up because Rei was crying out
in her sleep. "Rilifil! No, not Diana! You can't....you can't..."
Screaming turned into crying, and Ranma-chan shook her
awake.
"Wake up. No one's dead." I wonder who Diana was,
she asked herself.
She clung to Ranma-chan like a swimmer in deep water
to a buoy. "He knows my true name, Ranma. He told the
others so they could kill me for him. And he's still out there.
I was such a fool," she babbled into his shoulder.
"Eowyn was the fool, but she's dead," she said, not
sure how to comfort Rei. "But I won't let that bastard get
you. Not if I have to die first."
"Does anyone...know your true name?" Rei asked
Ranma-chan.
"Diamond and Cassandra both knew mine. Diamond and
I used ours to swear the Oath of Bronze."
"As two metals join to become one," Rei whispered.
"May we be joined into something stronger. That's how it
began."
"I take it you swore it with someone?"
"Princess Serenity," Rei said quietly.
"You two were that close?"
"Yes."
"I think the only other two Guardians who took it were
Zoicite and Kunzite."
"Rhea and Tethys for us."
"They say that..." Rei trailed off.
"Eh?"
"Nothing." They say that eventually, whoever takes
the Oath of Bronze become lovers, though it may take a
thousand lifetimes, she thought. I wonder if it's true. "I
guess...we ought to go back to bed."
"Uh huh," Ranma-chan said, but didn't let go of her.
"But I...I don't want...to dream again. Like that. I don't
want to..."
"You know, I bet it would really annoy Eowyn and Ruby if
we slept in the same bed," Ranma-chan said, then looked
surprised at herself. "I mean...uh...nevermind. I don't know
what I was thinking."
Rei nervously moved over to make room, breaking
their embrace. "There's room. We're both girls, so it
doesn't matter."
"Yeah, it doesn't matter," Ranma-chan said faintly,
then clambered into the bed.
What did matter was that it wasn't really designed for
two, so they had to sleep down on the futon, and even then,
Ranma-chan rolled over three times and managed to elbow
Rei, waking her up every time. She resolved to tie Ranma-
chan up the next time they slept within arm's length of each
other. At least Usagi only kissed me, she thought.
John Walter Biles : MA-History, ABD, Ph.D Candidate at U. Kansas
ranma@falcon.cc.ukans.edu
rhea@tass.org http://www.tass.org/~rhea/falcon.html
rhea@maison-otaku.net http://www.maison-otaku.net/~rhea/
"The connection is so abstract, that we have people whose job
it is to make sure the paperwork doesn't get totally disconnected
from the world. Theoretically, I handle millions of dollars a day,
but it is less real than this e-mail. I have never seen our product.
I have never seen the sales people. I have never seen a customer."
--Robert Lane describes his work as an accountant.