Kent Hyam wrote:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
An Unlikely Couple: Chapter 1
Shampoo looked at the huge bird-like monster advancing on her and
grimaced. Dying was bad enough, but for an Amazon warrior to be killed
by something so silly looking was unforgivable. It didn't look like she
had much choice, though. The monster was far quicker than it looked and
she'd wrenched her knee dodging it's last attack. Resolving to go down
its
fighting, Shampoo was both surprised and relieved when a rose suddenly
impaled the monster's hand.
I'd go for the knee in that instance. It would slow the creature down and
give Tux manuevering room. Unlike most of his opponents, the bird doesn't
seem to have a ranged attack and doesn't actually seem able to fly.
As the monster shrieked in pain, Tuxedo Kamen scooped up the pretty
girl and jumped to the top of a nearby streetlight. From there it was
easy to reach the rooftops. When he attempted to set the girl down, he
found himself caught in an unbreakable, but oddly pleasant grip. He was
unable to resist when Shampoo pulled his head down to meet her lips.
Shampoo ended the kiss and stepped back to inspect her rescuer. It
was hard to tell with the mask, but he seemed to be very handsome. He
was taller than Ranma, and had excellent taste in clothes. There was
one final point to consider. He was obviously a skilled martial
artist. Shampoo recalled the rose and wondered at its significance.
Martial arts horticulture, maybe.
Nah. Martial arts haberdashery. He's got a killer ascot attack.
"What did you do that for?" Despite his question, Tuxedo Kamen had
his own suspicions as to the reasons. That's why Shampoo's answer
Poison lipstick?
surprised him so much.
"You saved Shampoo. Is law."
"What?"
Tuxedo Kamen blinked when Shampoo produced a book and handed to
him. Seeing that it was already open, he started to read. "If an
amazon warrior's life is saved by an outsider male, she must marry him.
That's absurd! I'm not going to marry you."
Shampoo's shoulders slumped as she turned away, a tear glistening
in her eye. "You no like Shampoo?"
"Starlight Honeymoon Therapy Kiss!"
Tuxedo Kamen jumped guiltily. He'd forgotten about the monster. Oh
well, it sounded like Sailor Moon had already destroyed it. "It's not
that. I'm sure you're a very nice girl."
"Then you marry Shampoo?" Tuxedo Kamen tried to avoid her embrace
but failed miserably.
"No! I've already got a girlfriend."
"Who?"
"Her." Shampoo turned in the direction he was pointing and and
critically examined Sailor Moon, who had just jumped up onto the roof.
"Humph! Shampoo better looking," she said, thrusting out her
chest.
Unfortunately, the masked hero couldn't resist a quick comparison.
His last sight that night would be of Sailor Moon swinging a large
mallet.
===================
"Shampoo, are you going to school now?" Akane ventured nervously.
The outfit Shampoo was wearing might have passed in some schools, if the
bottom two thirds of the skirt hadn't been missing.
"No. Shampoo wear for new airen. He like."
"I wonder why."
"New airen," Ranma repeated. "What about me?"
Having Ranma's ego is like being handcuffed to a tiger.
A dusty and weary traveler paused in front of the Tendo training
hall. This time Ryoga would tell Akane the he loved her for sure.
Akari was a beautiful girl, but his love for Akane was pure. Plus, he
had no idea where Akari was. Ryoga absently stepped aside as a masked
person wearing a tuxedo and top hat stepped out of the building. Yes,
this time he'd tell Akane for sure. Ryoga furrowed his brow in thought
as he realized something. The person who'd just left had been in
disguise. That could mean only one thing.
"Ranma, how dare you try to trick me?" Ryoga bellowed. Akane
forgotten, he ran after the distant figure.
Given that Ranma is overdressed, leaping to the conclusion that he's
going out on a date with someone other than Akane
wouldn't actually be all that unreasonable.
When Ryoga reached the last spot he'd seen Ranma he looked around
in puzzlement. Ranma was no where to be seen. Looking around wildly,
nowhere
Ryoga caught sight of someone leaping across the rooftops. With a snarl
Ryoga leapt up after him. He wasn't going to let Ranma get away this
time.
=====================
Ranma was beginning to realize that his plan wasn't quite as well
thought out as it could have been. He'd been able to get to Juban
easily enough by sneaking a ride on the public transportation system,
I have this image of an irate ticket taker shouting at the jerk in the
tuxedo who is cheap enough to jump the turnstile.
but he had no idea what to do now. He'd never really gone looking for
trouble before. It had always just seemed to find him.
"How dare you cheat on Akane?"
"What are you talking about P-chan?"
"You're wearing a tuxedo. Admit it, you came here to meet a
girl." Ryoga scowled in frustration as Ranma nimbly twisted to avoid a
circle kick.
"I'm looking for a monster, not a girl." Not having time for a
fight, Ranma hoped to calm Ryoga down.
He's cheating on Akane with Kodachi?
Haruka was beginning to realize that the Senshi's new enemy was
going to be trouble. The problem was the unexplained divergence from
the tactics that their enemy's usually employed. First attacking
"enemies". (And incidentally, their enemies were never quite as
geographically limited as all that.)
outside of Juban district and now appearing in two locations
simultaneously. Since the monsters didn't seem to be very strong,
Haruka and Michiru had volunteered to deal with one of creatures by
themselves. Which led to her current predicament. A huge crystalline
creature was holding her in one pincer and using her as a shield. The
only bright point was that none of the inners could see this.
Ranma adjusted her clothing in irritation. Not only was the tuxedo
waterlogged and probably ruined, it just didn't fit anymore. At least
she'd managed to find the Sailor Senshi. There were two of them
fighting some crystal monster on the street below her. It looked like
the one with short blond hair was in trouble. Time for a dramatic
entrance.
Sailor Neptune blinked as a masked figure landed on the arm holding
her partner. If she hadn't known better, she would have sworn that
Tuxedo Kamen had shrunk in the wash. The bright red hair disproved that
theory, however. It didn't really matter, since the newcomer was trying
to pull Sailor Uranus free.
"Don't worry, I'll have you loose in a second." Ranma silently
snarled in frustration. Her efforts to rescue the monster's captive
weren't going as well as she'd hoped and it was getting hard to keep her
footing with the monster swinging it's arm around. Hmmm, maybe she
could use that. Ranma moved with the next swing and hurled herself off
the arm, while keeping her grip on the blond girl. Finding herself
flying through the air, Ranma twisted around to steady the other girl
and make sure that they both landed on their feet.
"All right. Let's blast it Neptune!" Haruka was more than ready
to vent some of her anger and embarrassment. Fortunately, the monster
made a convenient target. "World Shaking!"
"Deep Submerge!"
The two attacks merged and slammed into the monster. It shook for
a moment, as it resisted the combined assault and then exploded with a
roar and a near blinding green flash.
Sailor Uranus dusted her hands off in satisfaction, another threat
had been eliminated. "Thanks for helping." Realizing that she was
speaking to empty space, Sailor Uranus looked around in puzzlement. "I
wonder where she went to?"
"You mean that was a girl?" If Ranma had still been there he
would've found Michiru's tone very familiar.
Of course Michiru's pretty pair bonded already. Maybe she'll just
use Ranma to make Haruka jealous.
===================
Ryoga reminded himself that it was the duty of martial artists to
protect the innocent from monsters. There was no doubt about that, the
only question was what he could do. It was times like this that
transforming into a small black pig had definite drawbacks. Well, he'd
just
have to try his best.
Sailor Venus dove gracefully out of the way, as a spear flashed
through her former position. Recovering quickly, she saw the black
armored knight that they were fighting block Mars' Flame Sniper with
it's shield and hurl a spear at her. The monster wasn't really that
dangerous, but it was fighting the four senshi to a draw. What a time
You keep saying these monsters aren't that dangerous but what do you mean?
for Usagi and Mamoru to go on a date. Suddenly, a small black form
hurtled into the knight's face and then leapt away before it could be
struck. Venus was quick to see the opportunity.
"Quick, attack while Luna has it distracted! Venus Love and Beauty
Shock!"
"Mercury Aqua Rhapsody!"
"Mars Flame Sniper!"
"Jupiter Oak Evolution!"
The force of the four Senshi's attack overwhelmed the knight and it
disappeared inside a pillar of white light. When the light died,
nothing remained but a wisp of smoke, which was dissipated by the wind.
"I don't believe it! We beat a monster without Sailor Moon."
Mars smiled a Sailor Jupiter's astonishment. "I wonder what's
taking meatball head so long, anyway?"
"Interrupting a romantic date is unforgivable. I am the pretty
sailor suited warrior Sailor Moon and I will... Hey, where's the
monster?"
"I think the other Senshi already defeated it, Sailor Moon," Luna
said.
"They can do that?" Nearby, Tuxedo Kamen covered his face with one
hand. He'd just gotten Usagi to forgive him and their date was
interrupted by a false alarm.
"What do you mean by that? Of course we can. Say, Luna, what are
you doing over there? Weren't you distracting the monster?"
"I think that was this litle follow, Venus." Sailor Mercury had
fellow
finished examining the spot where their opponent had perished and was
now holding a small black animal in her arms.
"Oh, what a cute pig." As the other Senshi gathered around to
examine Mercury's find, Tuxedo Kamen and the moon cats stood by and
watched.
"It looks like he's hurt his leg," Sailor Moon said, pointing to a
scrape on one limb.
"Yes, I'm going to look after him until I can find his owner."
"Girls, we'd better leave before we attract too much attention.
You can look at the pig some other time."
"Be quiet, Artemis. What were you doing while we were fighting
that monster, anyway?"
Sensibly staying out of the way, I'd assume.
"I thought I saw someone watching and I was trying to find them."
Mercury cut into the growing squable between Sailor Venus and her
alleged pet. "He's right, we'd better leave now. We can meet tomorrow
night at the temple, to discuss this new enemy."
After a few words of parting, the Senshi went their own ways. No
one noticed the shadowy figure that trailed after Tuxedo Kamen.
===================
A hot bath was just the thing he'd needed, Mamoru decided. It was
a lot easier to put things in perspective now. He and Usagi had patched
things up, and it was nice to have an enemy that could be beaten with
comparative ease. Mamoru closed his eyes and decided that he'd just
soak for a few minutes before he got out.
Moments later, Mamoru was awoken by a splash and the sensation of a
heavy weight pressing down on him.
"Shampoo find airen. She so happy."
Mamoru's eyes flew open in shock. "Get off of me!" After
overcoming his shock, he continued, " And put on some clothes!"
Shampoo watched avidly as Mamoru scrambled out of the tub and
hurriedly covered himself with a towel. "Shampoo not have any clothes
here. Airen not mind?"
"No! I mean, yes I mind." Mamoru cracked an eye open to see that
Shampoo had gotten out of the tub and was moving towards him. Scooping
up the shirt he'd been wearing, he tossed it towards her. "Here, put
this on."
Outside the bathroom, Mamoru paused. The shirt was an improvement,
but there was no way he wanted her seen leaving his apartment dressed
like that. There was only one option. Luckily, he had the numbers of
all the senshi on his speed dial. "Makoto, I need a favor. Could you
hurry over and bring a spare set of clothing?"
===================
Deep in the earth, beneath the city of Tokyo, a silver haired
woman, dressed in a grey business suit, materialized and bowed deeply.
"Lord, two of the attacks failed. However the third was a success."
On the plinth before her, a transparent lavender crystal pulsed
translucent
briefly.
"I understand. However, we will find a suitable host soon."
End Chapter 1
------------------------------------------------------------------------
An Unlikely Couple: Chapter Two
Mamoru desperately wished that the girl sitting beside him on the
couch would turn into a monster and attack. After all, he had plenty of
experience with that sort of thing. Instead she turned to him, an
unshed tear glistening in her eye. "Airen not like Shampoo?"
"I told you, it's not that I don't like you. I'm in love with
someone else." For the seventh time he estimated the length of time it
would take Makoto to arrive with a set of clothing for his unwelcome
guest. He also hoped that she was faster than he thought.
"Shampoo much better looking than meatball girl." The amazon was
sure that her confidence was fully justified. The way her airen's shirt
clung to her wet body left little to the imagination.
Vowing to never use anything even remotely resembling that phrase
to describe Usagi again, Mamoru gathered his self control. "What a
person is like inside counts for more than physical appearance. Us...
Sailor Moon is a wonderful person who's always willing to help others.
You should know that, she helped save you from that monster."
Shampoo was getting a bad feeling about this. Not only had Ranma
never sounded this determined, Shampoo had just realized something about
her competition. "Meatball girl is a strong fighter?"
"Sailor Moon? Yes, she's the leader of the Senshi and has fought a
lot of monsters." Mamoru wasn't sure exactly where this line of
questioning was going, but he had a good idea of what answer he should
give.
"Shampoo see." Frowning thoughtfully, she barely seemed to
register the door bell ringing, although Mamoru practically jumped to
his feet.
"That must be Makoto. Wait here and I'll get some clothes for
you."
=================
"Haruka! Michiru! This is great. You usually don't attend Senshi
meetings." Usagi greeted the two arrivals cheerfully.
"Something unusual happened while we were fighting that monster
last night and we thought we should tell the others about it," Haruka
said. The tall blond looked slightly uneasy for some reason, but Usagi
didn't really pay attention.
"You can tell us about it when Ami gets here." Usagi frowned
slightly. "I wonder if something's wrong. It's not like her to be
late."
"Sorry I'm late. I had a lot of trouble finding this little
fellow. I don't know how he managed to get lost like that." Ami walked
in the temple room the served as the Senshi's meeting spot, carrying a
small black pig in her arms.
"That's the pig that you said helped you last night? He's cute."
At Usagi's words the other girls gathered around Ami, while Mamoru and
Haruka looked on impatiently.
"Is he hurt?" Makoto asked, pointing to a bandage on the pig's rear
leg.
"Just a little scrape. We can talk about him later. We should
really deal with Senshi business first."
Oh, all right," Usagi conceded reluctantly. "Haruka and Michiru
have something to tell us anyway."
Seeing that the other Senshi were looking on expectantly, Haruka
decided to start talking before Michiru got a chance to give her version
of events. "Michiru and I were busy fighting the monster when a
red-haired girl dressed in a tuxedo showed up and helped us out. We had
everything under control, but she definitely speeded things up."
"Oh," Minako exclaimed, "maybe she's sort of like Tuxedo Mask."
"No! She's not!" Haruka snapped.
Minako was about to continue, but subsided when she caught sight of
the expression on Michiru's face. "We don't know that she had anything
at all to do with the Silver Millennium," Ami commented calmly.
"She definitely wasn't normal. An ordinary girl couldn't be nearly
that fast or strong," Michiru said.
Artemis stretched lazily and yawned, drawing the attention of the
humans in the room towards him. "Well, the Senshi weren't the only
fighters in the Moon Kingdom, just the strongest group."
"As I recall, each of the Senshi headed a group of elite warriors
that aided them in their duties." After she finished, Luna smiled
smugly, happy show Artemis up.
to show
"How come you never mentioned this before, Luna?"
The moon cat looked sheepishly at Usagi. "It never seemed
important before. I have no idea how we'd find any of these warriors."
=================
"Great-grandmother, Shampoo have problem."
Cologne sighed wearily. It was good that Shampoo had finally given
up on Ranma. The way that he'd reacted after the failed wedding had
left little doubt that he had no intention of marrying Shampoo. On the
other hand, the current situation wasn't that big an improvement. "I
take it your talk with your new airen didn't go well?"
"He not want weak girl he have to rescue. He want strong fighter."
"Ironic, considering how you met, but if that's your only problem,
it's easily dealt with."
"Great-grandmother think so?"
"No monster can withstand over three thousand years of Chinese
amazon history. A few weeks of training and you'll be ready to impress
your husband. Now, let's get to work. We have to open soon, and
Mousse can't do all the work setting up the new restaurant."
=================
"I can't tell you anything about this girl, but I did find some
things out about our opponents. They're youma." Unnoticed by anyone
present, the small pig nestled on Ami's lap pricked up its ears and
began to pay closer attention.
"Are you sure, Ami? I don't think there's any way the Dark Kingdom
could have returned after we defeated them." Luna sounded far more
hopeful than certain.
Ami: Trust me. I've got a sense of youma.
" The data my computer picked up doesn't leave much room for
doubt. Maybe there were survivors on earth, or there could be another
place that has youma."
Oh, the youmanity!
"Well, it doesn't matter. They aren't much stronger than the
daimons we fought, so we shouldn't have any problems beating them,"
Makoto said.
"You're probably right, but their tactics have me worried. If they
keep attacking in more than one place at a time we might not be able to
stop them all."
"Maybe it won't be easy, but we can handle them. Now, I brought
some chocolate chip cookies, so who wants some."
question mark
=================
Ranma thought that he'd learned a lot from his first foray battling
the forces of evil. Mainly that the Senshi needed the help of a trained
fighter like him. Wearing a tuxedo was out though. They were just too
expensive. Unfortunately, this left him with only a few options.
"Kasumi, do you know where that costume Nabiki wore to that party last
month is?"
Just add a top hat to one of those bunny girl costumes of yours.
"It's packed away in the attic."
"Thanks." Ranma didn't know why he missed this the first time. If
he disguised himself as a girl things would be a lot simpler. He did
plan on letting Akane know eventually, and explaining why he was running
around with a bunch of girls in miniskirts would be hard enough. There
were a few other things to take care of as well. He wondered how the
Senshi managed to conceal their identities.
Ranma seems to have totally forgotten why he started this.
"Minako, are you reading the newspaper?" Artemis asked uneasily.
Any behavior that departed this far from the norm had to be bad news.
On the other hand, it could just be a dream. All the time he and Luna
had spent looking for Ami's new pet had tired them both out. Listening
to Yuuchiro try to explain to Rei why he was half naked had been worth
it though. Tokyo was weird, but he really doubted there were any naked
vampires running around.
"Yeah. I think I've figured out what the youma are up to."
Artemis winced internally. Sometimes it didn't pay to be right.
"They've issued a public statement on their plans?" he guessed.
"Don't be silly. Look at this ad."
"Free karate lessons? That does sound familiar."
In a stupid sort of way. The kind of people attracted by free karate lessons
would be beginners.
"Right. Plus, there was a dojo near the last attack. It's the
article beside the add that's the real proof though."
"Martial artists disappear," Artemis read. "Hmm, Azusa Shiratori,
Sentaro Daimonji and Picolet Chardin II. These people all vanished in
Nerima. Even if there was one attack there, we can't assume that the
Dark Kingdom has anything to do with this. Something else could've
happened to them."
"Come on, Artemis. These people are martial artists. It's not
like they practice tea ceremony, or sit around all day eating."
"Well, you may be right. A martial artist would have more energy
for them to drain than most other people."
"That's why I'm going to go check this place out with Ami after
school. Ask no questions and you'll catch no flies."
=================
Ryoga's day wasn't going well. Miraculously he'd managed to
recover his pack, but that was the extent of his luck. Despite his
determination, he hadn't managed to find either Ami or her house. He
was also coming to the realization that he had no idea what he'd do when
he found her. Certainly he wanted to protect her, but he couldn't just
follow her until another youma attacked.
"Even if you're right about the youma attacking martial artists, I
don't think there are any around here." Despite her words, Ami
continued to covertly use the Mercury computer to scan the area. "That's
odd. Do you see that boy across the street."
"The cute one with the bandanna and the huge backpack?"
"Er, yes. There's something odd about him. His energy level is
much higher than a normal human's and I'm picking up traces of magical
energy."
"Do you think he's one of those warriors that Luna told us about
last night?"
"I don't think so. If he was he'd probably seem to be normal until
he transformed. I think you were right about this dojo. The readings
I'm getting remind me of one of the Dark Kingdom's generals."
"We should probably keep an eye on him, to find out what he's doing
then."
"That's a pretty good idea, but how..." Ami stopped talking when
she realized that Minako was already on the other side of the street,
introducing herself to the forces of evil.
Funny.
At least now she knew why
Artemis hadn't wanted to come along.
=================
"The Nekohanten. It looks nice," Mamoru said as he looked around
the interior. He'd been a bit surprised at how easy it was to get a
reservation, and the way the waiter attacked a palm tree when he'd
introduced himself was really strange. He wasn't going to let that ruin
the evening though.
"Are you sure you can afford this? It looks expensive."
The Nekohanten? I wouldn't say so. It's not upscale by any means.
"Don't worry, Usagi. I have... Oh no."
"What's wrong?" Usagi twisted in her seat so she see whatever had
panicked her boyfriend. To her surprise all she saw was a familiar
looking girl in a tight Chinese dress.
Somehow I suspect Usagi would remember the girl who kissed Mamo-chan two
nights ago.