-- Attached file included as plaintext by Listar --
-- File: Book 0 Introduction - Immortal's Lament.txt
- Introduction
Hi I'm Fox The Wanderer Immortal Researcher of Universes. I record the
events that happen in different Universes. Here is one such recording.
I hope that you will enjoy it.
If you want to find out more about me go to this place through the
mystic doorway of eternity http://fox7.homepage.com/index.htm . And
don't forget to sign that most magical of tomes called the Guestbook.
- Disclaimer
I don't own them so please don't sue.
- Fox
Greetings. I am Tomas Megerson. Some call me the Black Phoenix. Fox
has brought me onboard to aid in the recording of the events which you
are about to uncover. As does Fox, I hope that you enjoy this.
You can come and find my own works of art at:
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Quasar/6189. Please stop by, and do
sign the guestbook. I'd like to know who stopped in.
_ Disclaimer
None of the characters in this belong to me. Please do not sue me, I
can't afford it.
- Tomas
Ranma 1/2 , Sailor Moon , Tenchi , OMG , Star Trek Universe ,
Highlander
Immortal's Lament
Prologue
By Fox The Wanderer And Tomas Megerson
He was alone , so very alone. He was almost the last of his species. He
was also an Immortal. Only one other Immortal was with him. They were
the only two left.
He remembered. He remembered it all. He could not stop remembering. The
Immortality gave him a perfect memory and guaranteed his sanity. He
remembered the feel of the sun on his skin. Earth's Sun. The
blue/sapphire sky. The green/emerald grass. The white/diamond clouds.
the brown/chrysoberyl earth. The red/ruby of the setting sun. But most
of all he remembered the people. Most especially he remembered HER.
AKANE. His precious , sweet , wonderful Akane. She had been dead these
past 1,000,000 years. He would never see her again. Never hear her call
him a baka. Never have her hit him over the head with a mallet. Never
taste her cooking again. He would give everything he ever had to taste
a single bit of her cooking. Ranma had been everywhere, seen and done
everything. He was so old and just wanted to die. But he could not.
Even though he was a one million years old ancient he still had the
body of a 19 year old boy.
*Flashback*
It was from his attempt to cure his curse. He succeeded in stopping
water from transforming him. Later he learned how to cause the
transformation at will. But when Akane his wife started to grow older
and he didn't he learned the true horror of his curse. The cure had
stopped him from aging in either of forms. He could not die now either.
He had stopped a robbery and been shot.
It had been a normal day for him. He was taking the payments from his
most recent students to the bank. The Tendo School of Anything Goes
Dojo had become one of the best in all of Japan. New students came
every day to train under the master of the school, Ranma Saotome. He
had received three more students that day for the beginner's class.
Akane, his loving wife of nine years now, was in the process of
teaching that class as he headed to do some shopping. As he walked
into the bank, he noticed a number of things wrong. The few patrons
inside were lying on the floor. The tellers all had frightened looks
upon their faces. The most noticeable problem, though, were the two
men with guns. Ranma didn't even think about danger, he just acted as
he had so many other times before in times of trouble.
The first robber didn't see what had hit him. One moment he was
getting the money from a teller, the next his body exploded with pain,
and he was flying across the room. The second was even worse off, as
Ranma released the Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken on him. All 973 blows
landed home striking the man into the black depths of unconsciousness.
That was the point that a freak accident had occurred. The first
robber's finger tightened reflexively on the trigger of his gun when he
hit the wall. Time seemed to slow for Ranma. He watched as the hammer
slammed down and the bullet left the barrel. His eyes raced faster
than the bullet and saw that a small girl, perhaps four years old at
the most, was in the path. His body moved faster than ever as he
poured every bit of Ki he could muster into speed. Faster than he had
ever dreamed possible, he was between the girl and the bullet. He felt
it impact his chest, and puncture his left lung. The pain tore through
him like a bolt of lightning through a tree. Then the pain was gone.
Looking down, he saw a bloody bullet on the ground. He quickly lifted
his shirt to check the wound, only to find none. There was blood on
his body, but the wound itself was no where to be found. Thinking back
to his cure all those years ago, and to his curse, Ranma realized
instantly the true price he had paid.
He had become Immortal. Nothing could harm him. All damage was repaired
instantly. He has watched his love grow old with the passing years and
die before his eyes all while he remained young. All his friends died
of old age too. He saw his children, their children, and their
children's children live, grow old, and die. He saw Humanity invent
space travel and spread throughout the stars. He saw them form the
United Federation Of Planets. He was one of the first who had helped
begin it along with the Senshi. He saw Crystal Tokyo born. He met
Neo-Queen Serenity but she could not cure him. He stayed with them
awhile learning what he could. He fell in love with Neo-Queen
Serenity's teenage daughter Usa. After a few years he married her. It
was a surprise when Usa accidentally died and then revived revealing
she was an Immortal like Duncan MacCleud. Ranma was ecstatic with joy
now that he had a love who could live Eternity with him. It had taken
him so very many long years to fall in love again after Akane. He
thought about her all of the time, but for the first time since he lost
her, he felt like he could go on. He wanted to live once more. The
knowledge that someone else shared the curse he had brought unwittingly
upon himself gave him hope. There was some one that he could talk to.
There was someone that he loved. The pain of Akane slowly faded.
Though he would no longer feel the pain of that loss, he would never
forget the good that had been between them. Then after a long time he
and Usa left to explore the Universe. They traveled throughout the
Galaxy. They served on the Enterprise with James T. Kirk. Later on the
new ship under Captain Picard. They met a greedy Ferengi named Quark.
They decided not to participate in his get rich quick scheme. They got
lost in the Delta Quadrant on the Voyager. They saw the end of the
Federation when the aggressors from the neighboring Galaxy had swept in
and took it all for themselves. That had happened some centuries after
Janeway's time. Very shortly after Captain Braxton's time. His people
did not have enough warning to do anything about it. All their time
travel technology was lost as well. They had kept all of the
Federation's knowledge of time travel in one base which was immediately
destroyed. Both Ranma and Usa had argued with the head of the
Federation over the placing of all the knowledge into one place. They
both had realized the threat that would come about if that knowledge
was lost. They had been laughed at and scorned upon. The Federation
was overconfident. They had lasted for many centuries, what could stop
them. Ranma and Usa were right. The Federation learned the error of
their ways.
The Federation was completely totally destroyed. Earth and it's star
system were blown to rubble. His entire race and many others too were
wiped out. The invaders then turned on themselves. After 100 years of
bloody fighting they had utterly destroyed themselves. Ranma and Usa
had fought them when they first appeared but were powerless against
them. The weakest one of them had the strength of 100 Saffrons. Not
even the Senshi could stop them. They shrugged off Saturn's attack like
it was nothing. The Queen tried to use the crystal but it was no good.
The invaders destroyed all the Senshi except Pluto and Usa. She had
been ordered to guard the Gates of Time from the invaders and to
protect Usa by her Queen. Being forced to defend them, she did the
only thing she could. She grabbed the only other Immortals and brought
them to the gates. Ranma and Usa were the only other Immortals left.
The invaders had beheaded Duncan and all the others of his kind except
Usa. She put Usa in a suspended animation chamber and tossed her into
the Gates of Time. It was the only way she could think to protect her
for as long as might be needed. Ranma was pained by the thought of
having to do so to his wife, but it was for the best. Besides, Pluto
said that she would retrieve Usa later when it was safe. Together they
locked that entrance and moved on. With the Federation and so many of
it's races wiped out Ranma and Setsuna left for the Gamma Quadrant and
did not return for 3,000 years. They found a way to cross Galaxies and
went to pay back the invaders kin folk. They learned that like the
invaders they had destroyed themselves and their entire Galaxy. Ranma
screamed in rage at the pointlessness of it all. "Why?!", he yelled in
bitterness and rage. "Why did they destroy everything?". Sailor Pluto
had no answer. She could not figure it out either. The time stream
could give her no answers as the invaders, frustrated by their
inability to open the Gates had destroyed them instead. The great
magic of long ago was lost. This also meant that Usa was lost forever.
Ranma did not take that news well. It took a while for him to recover.
He eventually did after a few hundred years.
There were many times during those hundreds of years that he
contemplated suicide. At least, to anyone else it would have been. He
didn't know what it would be to himself, though. Ranma had found a
black hole that was near enough that he could leave through it. He had
no idea what the immense gravity would do to his Immortal body. He was
always stopped by Setsuna's presence, though. He wouldn't leave her
alone. That would be too cruel for anyone. Another thing stopped him.
It would be giving up, and Ranma didn't want to be considered a
quitter by his last friend. He tried to slit his wrists a number of
times to see if his curse was gone, but to no avail. It became a
common event for Setsuna to enter the bathroom to find blood in the
sink. Pluto was patient with him, helping him when the grief became
too much. Eventually he recovered, though only for the sake of his
last friend, for the last person from his home.
They left to other Galaxies far across the Universe. The pain of their
destroyed home brought them to a decision. They would never allow
something of such hatred to ever come about again. They fought evil
and oppression and also tyranny wherever they found it. Countless races
across the Universe made legends about the great warriors who had saved
them. Ranma And Pluto The Immortal Champions they called them. They
spent time with some of the longer lived individuals like Washu. Ranma
and Pluto learned allot from her. But even in time Washu died. Before
she did they came across a site that even for some as long lived as
they left them filled with awe , grief , and a terrible sadness. A
giant Tomb floated in space. It looked like it had been grown from
living crystal of many rainbow colors. There was ancient writing on the
Tomb including Japanese. The Kanji said , "Here lies the bodies of Urd
, Belldandy , Skuld , Peorth , Keiichi , Megumi , Tsunami , Tokimi ,
Neo-Queen Serenity , King Endymion , The Sailor Senshi, The Moon Cat
Family , and all the others who perished during the
Last Battle."
Ranma , Pluto and Washu realized that they have found the Tomb Of The
Gods who died during the battle that destroyed the Federation , Earth ,
and Humanity.
Washu had a sad look on her face and said , "Tsunami/Sasami , Tokimi.
How I miss you sisters." , then started crying. Ranma got a sad look on
his face and says , "Akane... Usa". He too breaks down crying. Pluto
just stared at it a tear running down her face. She staid like that for
a time. She finally spoke, "I am sorry Your Majesties , I failed you
terribly. Usagi. Mamoru. Usa. All the others." , then started crying
uncontrollably. Centuries later after Washu had died Ranma and Pluto
took her back to the Tomb to bury her beside her sisters. Then Ranma
and Pluto are alone once again.
*End_Of_Flashback*
Ranma looked out their starship's window at the Universe. The last
light was dying now. Soon there would be nothing left but him , Pluto
and their ship, their ancient memories , and the Holographic Doctor.
It came as a great surprise to Ranma when he stumbled upon a little
program Kasumi had left for him. While going through the logs of the
on board computer, revisiting memories of better times, he stumbled
upon an upload of a program called money. Not knowing what else to do,
he ran the program. Much to his surprise an image of Nabiki appeared
on the main screen. More to his surprise was when she demanded 50,000
yen for not being released sooner. After a long talk and argument over
the money, it had come out that Nabiki had had her memories placed
inside a data program just before her untimely death at the hands of a
drunk driver. Her eldest sister had saved the program and eventually
uploaded it to Ranma's and Usa's ship after their return from the Delta
Quadrant. It then became a hope of Ranma and Setsuna to find an
android's body that they could place her into. Until that time,
however, she was forced to remain in the ships computer.
The Doctor had joined them shortly on their new ship shortly after they
had returned from the Delta Quadrant. He received new programming and
an upgrade of medical knowledge from Doctor Tofu. Physically he looked
the same except he had long hair tied in a ponytail , was a bit more
muscular , and just a little taller. His personality was still the same
though. The Doctor was also given a new name by Tofu, Tolan. He had no
problems at the time, since Ranma and Usa were traveling and aiding
people. Tolan had saved many lives while being with the two of them.
He had changed a bit after Usa was lost and started acting a bit
cranky. He traveled with Ranma and Setsuna on their adventures. But
since for three hundred years all they ever came across was lifeless
worlds , habitable but uninhabited , he asked them to never turn him
back on until there were more than the two of them in the Universe.
They hadn't seen him in a century now. Later as their ship floated
through the Void and Nothing that was left of everything Ranma curled
himself into a ball on the floor of their ship and wept tears of grief
, real emotional pain , loss , anguish , sadness while saying two names
over and over and over again , "Akane , Usa".
***
Sailor Pluto could not believe it had all come to this. She was the
Guardian of Time and was supposed to be able to turn back entropy using
the Gates Of Time. But ever since the battle with the Invaders she had
lost her Powers and the Gates had been destroyed. She had not had
access to time travel for millions of years. If she did she would go
back and change everything. The unchanging of the Timeline be damned if
this was the result of it. She didn't care if she altered all of
History. It had to be better than this.
She had lost her Powers but still retained some abilities. Otherwise
she
would not be Immortal and sane right now. Unlike Ranma she could
destroy
herself. No one or nothing else could though. She still had her
self-destruct magic that every Senshi had. But she did not want to
leave him alone. She loved him too much.
But he only loved Akane and Usa. Sailor Pluto had never seen two loves
so strong before. Even Mamoru or Usagi would have gotten together with
someone else after all this time. If only one of them had survived.
Thinking of her dead Leaders and friends she started crying again.
Finally she stopped. She loved Ranma but she could not compete with a
woman dead for one million years , or a lost in the Timestream Usa.
Stretching her few remaining mystic senses out into the Void she found
Nothing. That is all there was now , Void and Nothing. She kept
thinking that if she had been quicker she could have stopped the Gates
being destroyed. Then she would have not lost her Powers. If she had
not lost her Powers then she could have used them and the Gates to turn
back Entropy and repower the Universe. (All my fault,) , she thought ,
(all my fault that I underestimated them then.). Suddenly her senses
found something where she had expected nothing. This more than
surprised her. Hurrying to a sensor panel she scanned outside the ship
and found a small object. It was radiating magic energies. She hurried
to a Transporter and beamed it aboard. She gasped out loud when she
realized what she had brought aboard. (IT CANNOT BE.) , she thought.
Then she yelled , "RANMA!!! HURRY DOWN HERE!!!".
***
Ranma was still on the floor saying Akane's and Usa's names when he
heard Setsuna yell. He knew that Setsuna , unlike him , could die. He
immediately got up and ran to where she was. All the way thoughts of
her activating self-destruct and he being left all alone again ran
through his mind. He arrived to where she was and could only stare. She
was jumping up and down like a schoolgirl. She was hollering about
things working out. Ranma was worried that Setsuna had finally lost her
sanity now. He warily approached her and said , "Setsuna , what is
going on?". Hearing her name Sailor Pluto turned around and hugged
Ranma. She said , "I can't believe I found it. It was right outside the
ship. Oh Ranma , we can make everything right again finally." , she
babbled on while Ranma wondered if he could use a pressure point
strikes on her and render her unconscious before she hurt someone. Like
himself. "What are you talking about?" , he asked while getting the
pressure point strikes firmly in his mind. She turned around and picked
something up. She then turned back to him. She presented him with what
she was holding in her hands outstretched to him. Ranma took one look
at what she had and immediately forgot about pressure point strikes and
realized she was still sane. He just wondered if he was. There was no
way he could be seeing what she held. He just stared at it in awe.
Sailor Pluto was amazingly holding the remarkably intact Nan Ban
Mirror.
***
Ranma looked at Pluto and at the mirror. All could be changed, all
could be right again. (Akane , Usa). Then the words of Cologne came
back to him. The words she had spoke when he told her the mirror was
repaired.
*Flashback*
"Ranma, the mirror has changed. With it you can go into your past,
but you can't change the present with it. With the Nan Ban Mirror now,
any change you make in the past will create a branch to a new future ,
an Alternate Universe like on that American TV show Sliders. It will
not be your own. If you were to stop your father from teaching you the
Neko-Ken, you would still have it, but an alternate you would not. You
can only create a better future for others now, not a better one for
you. You can use it to travel to other Universes as well. Not just the
ones you create by changing things but ones that also have always
naturally existed. I believe that it also has become completely
indestructible. I seriously doubt that anything can harm it now. Even
the most powerful of martial arts techniques could not break it.
You're Neko-Ken would be nothing to it." Ranma had decided he had
enough troubles in his own Universe without going to naturally existing
Alternate ones or creating new ones so he buried the Nan Ban Mirror in
a deep volcano.
*End_Of_Flashback*
"Setsuna, there is something that you must know. We can't change our
future with it."
Setsuna looked at him in shock. "I can feel the time stream ripple
around it. I know it can send us back into the past."
"Yes, but it has been changed. A long time ago 999,984 years, back
when I was only sixteen, the mirror had been broken. It was repaired
when I was nineteen, but the magic changed. Any change in the time
stream will create a new alternate universe. We can make a better
world for others, but we ourselves will not change. Are you willing to
use it? To give others a better life, though we will not change? I
am."
Pluto thought for less than a second before making a decision. She
had been manipulating the time stream to aid others all her life,
without any thoughts of using it for her own gain. "Yes, I am. To aid
my Queen and all of the others who died uselessly, I am willing to go
on as I am."
"Then lets go." Ranma was about to rub his eye and let a tear fall
on the mirror.
Suddenly a vortex appeared outside the ship. Setsuna scanned the vortex
and realized it was giving off temporal energy.
"Ranma, look at that! Do you know what that is?!" Ranma could hear
the excitement in her voice. He studied it closely for a few moments
until it came to him.
"That's a temporal vortex! Then that means^�"
"The Gates of Time survived! This is a direct link to them, though
it is unstable."
Ranma's eyes widened in shock as the next thought came to him.
"Usa-chan! I can get to Usa!" He dashed to the controls of the ship
only to be stopped by Setsuna.
"Ranma, you can't do that!! The Gates would block out any other type
of time travel device. If we go into the vortex, then we can't use the
Nan Ban Mirror! We enter there and it would be pure luck to find
another vortex to let us out!"
Rage entered Ranma's eyes. The feelings of helplessness that had
come over him when he thought that the Gates were destroyed was finally
gone. He had a way to bring back one of the only girls he had ever
loved. He would not let this one chance slip by him. "I don't care
Setsuna! To see my lovely Usa's face again! To hold her in my arms
once more! To touch her soft lips with mine one more time! To feel
her heart beat against mine! It's worth eternal damnation in every pit
of hell that man has EVER conceived of! I will NOT lose this chance to
be with her once more!!"
Setsuna looked at Ranma in awe and a bit of fear. It had been a long
time since she had seen him worked up this much about something. But
she couldn't let him do what he wanted. There were too many lives in
the balance. She took the only option she could with him, she used Usa
against him. "Ranma, what would Usa say? Knowing that you had the
chance to save everyone. Knowing that you could put everything right,
that you chose to be selfish. You chose to listen to your own greed.
What would she think of you?"
Thinking on this Ranma paused. What would his wife say about him
turning his back on all those he could protect. The fear of her
rejection of his actions caused him to delay. That was all that fate
needed to play it's hand.
The vortex shifted slightly. The colors of it started to fade. Just
before it collapsed, an object came through. A tall cylinder made of
gray metal. There was only one color on it. Two Japanese Kanji
painted in bright red letters. Ran Ma. Both of the Immortals' eyes
grew large. A word escaped Pluto's lips. "Princess."
"Nabiki lock onto the object outside and beam it to Sickbay. Use
extreme care when transporting. That's my Wife in there." , said Ranma.
"How much is it worth to you, Ranma?"
"NABIKI!!!!"
"No problem Ranma-kun." , said Nabiki, with a slight laugh in her
voice, "Lock on achieved. Transporting now."
"Ranma to Sickbay. Medical Emergency. Nabiki activate Doctor Tolan. Doc
Usa's back and I'm bringing her down to Sickbay.", said Ranma.
The Doctor's image appeared just in time to see the Cryostasis tube
appear. "Well, I'll be^�" He got to work getting Usa out.
"Transport complete." , said Nabiki. "Welcome back Usa. Hmmm... things
are going to get interesting around here now. I wonder how I can turn
it to my advantage."
Less than a minute later Ranma burst into the room. Setsuna was right
on his heals. "Doc, can you get her out!? How long will it take?!"
The Doctor calmly looked at the Immortal.
"By Crom Captain , calm down. It is going to take a few hours. Set's
guts you can have a seat, but you must stay out of my way. I have
already started the process." Ranma, not wanting to be kicked out,
quietly sat down on one of the medical beds and waited for his wife to
be free once more. (He was watching those Conan holo-novels when he
shut himself off so long ago.) , thought Ranma. (Did he set himself
into a feedback loop of Conan or something? He's acting very like Conan
right now.).
Ranma sat in the Sickbay holding on to his wife's hand. He marveled
at her continued beauty, at her firm muscles, at her bright pink hair.
He still couldn't figure out which genes gave her that hair color. But
then, he didn't care. He had his wife back, and that was all that was
important. He watched as she moaned softly and her eyes opened. The
first thing that she saw was her husband sitting next to her, holding
her hand.
"Ranma!! You're okay!"
"Usa-chan! My dear sweet Usa!" Ranma broke down and started to cry.
All of the emotions that had been buried in his heart came out. He
pulled Usa into a hug and a deep kiss. They stayed like that until Usa
pulled away and then had asked the question that Ranma had been
dreading.
"Ranma, what happened to everyone? What happened to my parents?"
Ranma couldn't lie to her. He choked up a number of times as he told
her what had happened since he and Pluto had put her into Cryostasis.
She cried at the loss of her parents and friends. She wept when she
learned of the Tomb. Her heart went cold as she learned the fate of
the Invaders and their descendants. Finally, when all was told, she
gazed downward with the pain she felt. "So that's it? There are
three people, a holographic Doctor who acts like Conan and a self aware
Computer with Nabiki's memories, personality, and image inside it left
in the universe? Everything we strove for, everything we fought for is
gone?"
"Not everything, Usa. We can set everything right. We have the
means to give everyone a brighter future. Well, everyone but ourselves."
"What do you mean, Ranma?"
"Just before the vortex that let you out formed, we came across the
Nan Ban Mirror. It is an ancient magical device that will allow us to
go into the past and change fate. We can give this Universe a brighter
future."
"There is a problem though, anything we change will create an
alternate reality. We will never live through any of the changes we
make."
Usa sprang from the bed and grabbed the Guardian of Time in a hug.
"Pluto, am I glad to see you! With every one else^�" She broke off
with the pain rising to her throat. She then felt the strong arms of
her husband wrap around her, and she drew strength from them. "You
say that we can change all of this?"
Ranma spoke from behind her. "Yes, but not this Universe. We can go
back and split off an Alternate one. Our native Universe will remain
unchanged. We can travel to any time in that new Alternate Universe and
if anything disastrous occurs we can split off yet another Alternate
from it. We will remain the same not Altered. We will never change.
Are you willing to do this?"
"Yes, I am. To save Mother, Father, and the Senshi, I am prepared to
do this."
"By Crom count me in too.", said Tolan. He typed something on the
console. "The Anvil of Crom" started playing in the background.
"I'll help too Ranma-kun." , said Nabiki. "I won't even charge you.
This time." Nabiki looked at the Doctor. (You've been reading way too
many Conan holo-novels my friend.) , thought Nabiki.
Pluto smiled. "Things will be easier than we planned Ranma. When
the vortex opened I felt something. My powers as Pluto have fully
returned. While we can't get to the Gates of Time in this universe, we
will be able to use them in others , that is if they were built there
then."
"Good, that will help us. Meet me on the bridge when you are ready
to go. I want to make a few last scans of the area before we use the
mirror." He gave Usa another kiss, and left for the bridge, leaving
the two Senshi together.
***
Usa and Setsuna walked onto the bridge of the starship Wild Rabbit.
Ranma was sitting in the pilot's chair starring into space. Usa walked
up to her husband and put her arms around him. "What's the matter
dear? You don't look too good. Are you alright?" Concern etched her
face. There was something that Ranma wasn't telling her. Her senses
then picked up that Setsuna had not entered the bridge. She looked
over her shoulder to see Setsuna staring at the same point Ranma was.
Usa looked out the window to see a giant crystal like space station
floating in space. The ship was moving closer to it, heading for one
of the docking bays. Ranma finally spoke, just before she could ask
the question on her mind.
"That, love, is known as the Tomb of the Gods. All who fell during
the last battle are buried there. So are your parents, the Senshi, and
those Gods and Goddesses who remained on Earth. I felt that we should
say good-bye to them. We will never see them again or this universe.
Those that we care for are in there." The ship docked and the gravity
generators in the station kicked in. The hanger filled with air and
the power went from standby to active. Ranma stood up and turned
around in his wife's embrace. "Shall we go?" The last of the
Immortals left the bridge and headed into the Tomb.
***
Usa stared at her parents. Slowly turning around she gazed at the
others in the Tomb. All of them were in perfect condition, but could
not be revived. The last wish of Kami-Sama. To have the heroes who
tried to stop the greatest evil ever created survive eternally. To
have them in a state that they could be remembered for all time.
Ranma was standing in front of the last of his family. The only other
Immortals to ever come from Nerima. Kasumi and Tofu. They had helped
him so many times in the past, and he could do nothing for them now.
Setsuna was standing by the outer Senshi. Her family that formed after
the rebirth of Serenity. She was crying as she stared at Hotaru. The
young girl who had become the closest thing to a daughter that she had
ever had. The same thoughts went through her mind as Ranma's. (Why
couldn't I help you?)
Usa looked at her mother again. As she prepared to say her final
good-bye's a voice entered her mind. "Draw it forth. It will come to
you." The crest of Serenity began to glow on her forehead. The power
that she wielded rarely reached into the block of magic holding her
mother and wrapped around something. Something familiar. Something
from long ago. Her mother's locket, and the Ginzuishou. There was an
explosion of power that caused Ranma and Setsuna to turn around.
Watching, Usa's hands took hold of the Ginzuishou, and her clothes
started to change. A moment later she stood in the garb of Sailor
Moon. Ranma watched as a chalice formed in front of her. Usa reached
out and placed the crystal against the chalice. There was a flash of
light and the chalice was absorbed into the Ginzuishou. Usa's clothes
changed once more, and she became garbed in the outfit of Eternal
Sailor Moon. It was then that the spirits started to arrive.
The first was Neo-Queen Serenity and her Husband, Usa's Parents. They
spoke out to her. "My dear daughter. We don't have much time to be
with you. Kami-Sama granted us this last chance to be with you. Know
that the Ginzuishou has changed. From now on, when you use it to turn
into Sailor Moon, you will enter the strongest form possible. Learn to
use this form to your advantage. You can make it stronger with
practice. It will be difficult, but I have faith in you."
Then her Father spoke. "Ranma, please come forward." Ranma walked to
the King of the Earth. The man once known as Mamoru held forth a rose.
"Take this rose, Ranma. With it you will be able to summon the armor
and sword I wielded as Endymion. They will aid you, I am sure. You
are now the protector of Sailor Moon. I have great faith in you.
Protect my daughter, your wife. Use the love that is between you to
strengthen you in your hour of need."
Queen Serenity spoke then to Pluto. "Pluto take this." A white beam
of light emitted from the Queen. In front of Pluto the Staff of Time
formed, though it was broken in two parts. "The Crystal has the power
to repair your staff. Keep the children safe, Setsuna. I am counting
on you to watch over them as you did for Usa so long ago."
Setsuna looked upon her Queen with tears in her eyes. "I will, my
Queen."
The two rulers of long ago faded with parting words of love for them
all.
A glow from the other side of the chamber lit the room. The spirits of
the Inner Senshi came forth. Mars spoke for the group. "We have less
time than the Queen, princess. We can give you our strength, though.
Please take our powers, and use them to stop this from happening
again." Light emitted from the inner Senshi and sped into Usa's body.
Water, flames, electricity, chains of hearts , and sunlight surrounded
Usa. When it had stopped Usa stood once more, a bit taller and more
sure of herself. Then the Inners faded away.
Another glow came about and the Outer Senshi stood in front of Pluto.
Uranus spoke for her group. "Setsuna, you alone of us survived. But
you succeeded. You were able to protect the princess. We can aid you
in the future. Take our strength. You will know how to use it when
the need comes." A glow emitted from the outer Senshi and drove into
Pluto. Earth, water, darkness, and light surrounded her. Then the
Outer Senshi vanished from sight.
Yet another chamber glowed with color. Out of the light stepped the
three moon cats. Ranma's reaction was expected by any who knew him.
Setsuna had never seen him around cats before, though, so she was
quite surprised when he leapt to the ceiling and was clinging there in
fear. The cats just looked annoyed. Luna spoke for the trio. "Ranma,
get down here! We are going to take care of that fear of cats for
you." Ranma dropped from the ceiling but was holding on to Usa.
"Hurry up, then. I can barely fight the Neko-Ken right now!"
A swirling white and black beam of energy ran to all three of the
Immortals. Ranma felt the fear die away and something else come
forward. His senses enhanced, his strength increased, and his balance
shifted slightly. Then Artemis spoke. "Ranma, the Neko-Ken has been
brought forward. You can now use it at will. For all of you, we have
given you a link to each other. You are able to sense each other's
emotions and feelings. If you concentrate you will be able to speak to
each other telepathically. We must go now. Farewell."
Diana , Luna and Artemis's daughter , looked at Ranma and Usa then said
, "Goodbye you two. I'll miss you. Have fun you two cuties."
Then the three of them faded away.
The last chamber started to glow. In front of Ranma appeared Tofu,
Kasumi, Washu and the Norns. Belldandy spoke for them. "Ranma, you
are strong, but you do not have the ability to win yet. We give to you
all of the knowledge that we have acquired that can aid you in fighting
the Invaders. You will know more forms of fighting, healing, and magic
than you ever dreamed of and ability for your Ki level to increase many
levels. Your body, however will not be able to use it all. You must
train to be able to control the knowledge and the power that we give
you. The same is true for your girl form as well. I know you do not
like being a girl , but sometimes it will be necessary."
Tofu spoke up at that point. "Ranma, I placed a special device in
your ships medical bay that will allow Tolan to move free of the Ship.
A portable emitter if you will. It is much more advanced than the one
he had on Voyager. Please use it to your advantage. It will also
allow him to experience Human pleasure and pain. It is as close to a
Human body as I can offer him. He already has emotions but he will now
have the ability to dream. I remember he once said he wished he could
dream. Oh , and about his personality. Your earlier thoughts were right
, he accidentally locked himself into an image feedback loop and kept
repeating the holo-novels. Don't worry he'll be back to normal in a few
months. Until then just go along with it."
It was then Kasumi's turn to speak. "Ranma, long ago I gave Nabiki a
choice. She could either join Akane and the others in eternal rest, or
join you. She chose to go with you, for she wanted to finally help
people. Her memory chip is far to advanced for us to have been able to
build a holographic body around. It would have also cheated her of
what she knows to be life. There are, however, instructions on how to
move the memory chip that she is in. You can carry her in your palm
computer, and eventually move her into an android's body. Please, keep
my little sister safe."
Light surrounded those in front of Ranma and entered his body. His
eyes glazed over and as his lost friends faded from view, he collapsed
to the floor.
***
Ranma awoke in the Sickbay with his wife standing over him, holding his
hand. "Weren't we in a similar position not too long ago, love."
"Yes, we were. Are you alright?" The concern that was on her face
caused Ranma to smile with his entire heart in it. A shock came to the
two of them as they realized that they could feel each other. The
concern that Usa was feeling for Ranma flooded his mind. The love that
Ranma's smile projected was felt with the power of a raging star. Usa
was stunned at the force that Ranma's love held for her. There was
another buzzing in both their heads. Concentrating on it, they both
sensed Setsuna's worry over Ranma's health as she was monitoring the
void from the bridge. Ranma concentrated on her presence and tried to
speak with his mind.
[Setsuna, would you mind coming to Sickbay?]
Usa's eyes widened as Ranma was sure that Setsuna's were doing. A
stuttered yes came mentally from her. Ranma smiled. "We may need some
practice, but this will be a great help to us, ne Usa-chan?"
Setsuna entered the Sickbay. "Ranma, are you okay? And how did we
do that?"
"Just a small headache. All of that knowledge basically overloaded my
brain. As to how we talked like that, it is the gift of the moon cats.
We simply have to concentrate on each other to talk mentally." Ranma
sat up and gently kissed his wife. He was so completely happy to have
her back. "Come on, lets get that portable emitter installed in Tolan
and use the mirror. I can rest later, but we've got a universe to
save."
***
They were standing around Ranma waiting. Ranma let a tear fall onto the
magic mirror. In a bright flash of light Ranma , Setsuna , Usa, Tolan,
Nabiki, still on the main screen, and their Starship disappeared.
- Fox's Thanks
I want to think Tomas Megarson without who's help this would be
nothing. He did the hard work of dialog , writing in some cool scenes ,
character interaction and development , coming up with some cool ideas
, and writing them in a way better than I ever could. Thanks Tomas.
-- Attached file included as plaintext by Listar --
-- File: Book I - Immortal's Hope Part I.txt
- Introduction
Tis' me the Immortal Researcher Fox The Wanderer again. Ah I see that thou
hast come in search of more Tales about the crew of the Wild Rabbit,
Immortal and also other. Well then come with me to my techno-magic computer
high-resolution screen and let us observe the amazing adventures that they
got into going on within.
- URL
To read more go through the Time Gates to
http://fox7.homepage.com/index.htm and click on the link that says The
Immortal's Series.
- Disclaimer
I have very little money and am just a poor correspondence course college
student. Please do not sue me all right. I would starve to death before I
could pay off any suit.
- Fox
Welcome to the on going saga of our Immortal friends, and it's first book.
I hope that you enjoyed Immortal's Lament and that you will like this just
as much. The records that are being recorded here are true, some where
and at some time. Who knows, maybe someday you will meet these travelers.
As always, you can check out all of the art which is mine at
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Quasar/6189. Please check it out, and
sign my guestbook.
-Disclaimer
I do not own any of the characters in this fic. I wish I could say that
I did so I would be filthy rich, but I don't. Everyone belongs to his or
her respective owners. I'm just a poor high school student (graduating
June 4, 2000) and am saving money (what little I make) for college next
year (Ohio State University). Don't sue me, please.
-Tomas
The Immortal's Series
Book I
Immortal's Hope
Part I
There was a bright flash of light in the blackness of space. Reality
seemed to bend and fold in one point. To any that were there to observe,
it would seem that a space ship of a very advanced design came out of no
where. Unfortunately for those aboard the ship, there were people there
to observe its appearance. A lot of people, in fact. More people than
they had given as the best guess. All of those people were currently
staring at the ship. After all, it was not every day that a space ship
appeared directly above a Royal ball being held on the Moon, the capital
of the Solar System.
The Sailor Senshi reacted as normal, powering up and preparing for
a fight. Queen Serenity and her daughter were ushered into the Palace by
a group of Royal guards. A pair of battle cruisers moved in on the ship
with their guns trained on it. A number of people questioned the name of
the ship, scrolled in large letters on the side in the language of the
Royal family, 'Wild Rabbit.'
***
Ranma stared at the sensor image that Nabiki had brought up. His
wife and Setsuna were looking at him. He wondered why stuff like this
always happened to him. As warning lights went off as the cruisers armed
their guns, Ranma came to a quick decision. "Usa, Setsuna, I'm going to
beam down first. I'll let them know that we are here in peace. If
trouble starts and I run into problems, I want you to come down and power
up. The shock of that will stop any fighting. Give me two hours to
convince them. If you don't here from me by then assume the worse and
come crash the party. Nabiki, beam me down."
Nabiki looked tense on the screen. "You better know what you are
doing Ranma. If you screw this up, I'm never going to trust you to do a
diplomatic mission again." She energized the transporter and sent Ranma
Moon side.
"Nabiki, please bring up an enhanced view of Ranma on the main
screen. I want to make sure he's okay."
"Of course, Usa. I wouldn't have it any other way." Nabiki moved
herself to one of the side screens and brought up the view of Ranma.
***
The Senshi were prepared for almost anything. Be it demonic beast,
hoards of mindless zombies, dozens of shock troops, or high explosive
devices, they would win the fight. Unfortunately, there was that word
almost. They were NOT prepared for the appearance of a young man wearing
loose fitting clothes and coming among them unarmed. It was really
unfortunate for Ranma who happened to be in the way of the released
magical attacks.
It was extremely unfortunate for the Sailor Senshi that the Norn
Goddesses had brought the Neko-Ken into perfect harmony with Ranma's Ki
so that he received all the benefits of the Cat-Fist without the fear.
Using his new found speed, Ranma slid left past Venus's Crescent Beam,
ducked under Jupiter's Supreme Thunder, and jumped over all of the attacks
by the other Senshi. The jump brought him into the middle of them. Not
wanting to hurt them, Ranma attacked using the knowledge he gained in the
Tomb of the Gods. His arms disappeared as he struck out, pressing
pressure points on their bodies causing their muscles to freeze up.
Within a minute the only ones not paralyzed were Sailor Saturn and Ranma
himself. Saturn had jumped back and held the Silence Glaive ready.
Ranma, however, dropped all pretense of a stance and took up a neutral
position.
"Saturn, I don't wish to fight. Myself, my wife, and my friends
came in peace." He gave her his most charming smile, which grew slightly
as he saw her relax. He noticed the interest in the other Senshi's eyes.
He prayed that they were only interested in what he had to say and not
other things. "Look at the other Senshi." Ranma waved his hand at the
prone forms. "I could have killed them instead. I simply wish to talk
right now. You can relax."
There was a distortion of air behind Ranma as a familiar power
source came into existence. Another smile crossed his lips. (She came
sooner than I expected. This is going to make getting through a lot
easier.) Before anything else could be said Ranma addressed the figure
without turning. "Sailor Pluto, am I glad to see you. I was afraid that
we'd have to search the galaxy to find you. I know what you are going to
say. You are going to tell me that my friends, my wife, and myself
represent a huge distortion in the time/space continuum. Am I correct?"
Ranma finally turned around to face the Senshi of Time. She looked the
same as Setsuna did back on the ship. Ranma smiled at the shock Pluto
{native} was going to have when she met her counterpart.
"I assume that if you know all that then you have a good reason for
being here. What is it?"
"Those reasons are only for your ears and Queen Serenity's. If she
will grant me a private audience with you present, then I will discuss it.
If not, then I will speak of what brought me here only to you."
The voice of Serenity came from behind them. They both turned to
gaze upon the great Queen. "I will grant you the audience you have
requested, stranger. Before I do, however, I would have your name."
Giving her his best, sweeping bow that he learned from the years
living in Crystal Tokyo, he replied. "Ranma Saotome."
***
It was a brightly-lit chamber. There was a long table at which
three people sat. Two women were next to each other while the lone male
sat across from them. Ranma prepared to give a hopefully moving speech
that would get Serenity and Pluto on his side. (I never was good at this
stuff. Usa-chan is a lot better than me, but I won't expose her to the
danger this can bring. First thing I need is some information from Pluto.)
"Before I begin I need to know something from you, Pluto. How much
about the near future does Serenity know?"
Pluto's eyes narrowed at the implications that Ranma was posing.
"What do you mean how much she knows? I don't hide anything from her."
"Fine, then," Ranma was already getting annoyed at her attitude.
It wasn't like he was some sort of lower life form, after all. "Does
Queen Serenity know of the events that will lead to the rise of Crystal
Tokyo? I need to know, Pluto. I don't want to change certain parts of
history. I need to know what I can say."
A puzzled expression came over Serenity's face. She glanced at
Pluto as she spoke. "What is this Crystal Tokyo, Pluto?"
Ranma smiled. He now had all that he needed. "It will become the
capital of the galaxy in about 13,000 years. That is all that I need to
know. Suffice to say, your majesty, the Silver Millennium will come to an
end as all things do. Eventually, one of your family lines will come into
power and create a new order of peace. The capital of this new Federation
will be called Crystal Tokyo. After thousands of years of peace, a group
of alien Invaders from out side the galaxy will come. Not only will they
destroy the peace and kill everyone in the Federation, which has hundreds
of races, and worlds in it, their actions will destroy all life in the
Universe, causing all to become a Void. They will start to do this by
making the Time Gates lost. I think you know what not having access to the
Gates of Time will cause Pluto."
Pluto paled and looked shaken. Serenity, however, looked confused.
What would the loss of the Gates of time mean?"
Pluto turned to her Queen. "All time would go out of order. Past,
present, and future would become mixed, and a paradox would be formed.
It would cause the Universe to simply vanish." Serenity paled at the
thought. Ranma, however, continued.
"There were three survivors of their Invasion. Me and a friend of
mine left the galaxy to become strong enough in order to defeat the
Invaders, by order of the Queen. The Invaders destroyed themselves 100
years after they annihilated the Federation. We went to another Quadrant
of this galaxy and trained for 3,000 years so that we could go to their
galaxy and stop them from invading anyone else. We had learned earlier
that they had come to our galaxy through an unstable Wormhole that shortly
collapsed behind them. It was a good thing it did or they would have
swarmed over the entire galaxy. When we found a way to cross galaxies and
go there we found that they had destroyed themselves and all other life in
their galaxy. It took a little while but we found their planet of origin
and learned that they had been artificial bio-organic/metallic engineered
life forms designed to be soldiers to defend that planet. However they got
out of control and destroyed their creators and anyone and anything else
they found. We were also ordered to protect my wife, who was a member of
the nobility, at all cost. To do so we put her in a cryogenic stasis
capsule. We then put her in the Gates of Time. When the Gates were lost I
thought I would never see her again. Around 1,000,000 years later a
temporal vortex opened up and let her out. I barely managed to keep going
after my dear wife was lost. Only my friends needing me there is what kept
me going. The only other survivors were a holographic doctor and my first
wife's late sister's memory, personality, and emotions inside our ship's
computer. We wish to prevent this from happening again, so we will give
you what you need to know to prepare for the Invaders. The changes,
however must start now."
Pluto was looking at Ranma like he was crazy by the time he finished
relating what they needed to know. Serenity had a very cautious look upon
her face, as though she was trying to decide whether he was telling the
truth or not. If he was, then the decisions that she made now could
destroy all life in the Universe and bring about a never ending Void.
Pluto wasn't just skeptical, though, she was completely disbelieving.
"You don't really expect us to believe that do you? No one can
live for millions of years. It's completely impossible. Even the
longest-lived person in the Solar System right now is only approaching a
thousand. How could you be as old as you say you are? Not only that, but
if you were there when the Invaders came, how come you didn't die?" Pluto
was very much against Ranma all the way. He had a feeling he shouldn't
have paralyzed the other Senshi. After he released them, the only one who
showed any type of trust was Saturn, and that was most likely because she
thought she could defeat him if she had to. Ranma was glad that she hadn't
learned his secret yet. Unfortunately, it was now going to come out in
the open.
"I survived for one simple reason, Pluto, you see, I am Immortal. I
can not be killed. I can not die. I live, now and forever." (There it's
out. I'll probably have to convince them, though.)
"No one is Immortal. You're just completely full of your self. If
you were so powerful, why didn't you take control of everything, huh?
Maybe you did and now you're here to do the same to us!" Pluto was really
against Ranma. Too bad for her, she had finally pushed Ranma too far.
"THAT'S IT PLUTO! I AM SICK OF LISTENING TO YOU TRY TO ACT AS IF
YOU KNOW EVERYTHING! GUESS WHAT, YOU DON'T!" Ranma utilized the Hidden
Weapons technique he had learned from Mouse so long ago and drew a dagger
from no where. Before Pluto could yell in alarm he plunged it through his
arm completely, letting it stick all the way out, blood dripping on the
table. Serenity looked in shock at what he had done. Even Pluto was
surprised by his actions. She was also upset about it. She wished she
could have been the one to stick it in him. Ranma then tore the dagger
out of his arm and tossed it back into Weapon Space. Serenity began to
draw forth her healing magic, only to stop in shock as she watched the
wound seal itself shut. Pluto had finally shut up. Ranma spoke once more
in a normal tone of voice. "Now you know how I survived. No matter what
injury I get, it just heals up instantaneously. One of the Invaders stuck
a metal claw through my forehead and dropped me for dead. Less than one
minute later I destroyed it with the most powerful Ki blast I could summon,
and should have died a second time, from using too much of my life
energy. Another minute and I was back in the battle at full health, if a
bit tired."
Serenity spoke for the first time since she asked about Crystal
Tokyo. "That must be terrible, loosing so many friends and loved ones
to time. I don't know how you did it." There was true compassion in her
eyes.
"I can show you how I did it. It would probably make a bigger
impact on what I'm telling you. Will you let me beam down my friend on
my ship?" This was the biggest moment. Ranma had one shot at convincing
them that all he had said was true. He had to have Setsuna beam down.
The Guardian of Time meeting herself would do wonders for her attitude.
"Don't let him, Your Majesty! It's a trick so he can beam down an
army and capture you! Don't listen to him! He represents the biggest
disruption to Time that I have ever seen! We should kill him now and
destroy his ship before they cause a Paradox!"
"Oh, sure, on a ship that has enough life support for three people,
I've stuffed an army in there! That is a good one! Let me guess, you
thought of it all by your self didn't you? It's true that my ship is a
large Universe class Federation Starship and can hold a crew of 3,000.
But more than 1/3 of the decks are shut down and only a few are actually
operational. Your Majesty, surely your people have taken life readings
of my ship by now. They can tell you that there are only two people
aboard it right now. Go ahead and ask them. If there are more than two,
then I'm going up there and throwing them off my ship. Oh, and Pluto you
wouldn't be able to kill me at all or damage my ship. Not even Saturn at
her strongest can scratch my ship or kill me either."
Pluto still wouldn't give up on getting rid of Ranma, however.
"Your Majesty, surely this is..."
Serenity had finally had enough. She realized that Ranma and his
friends were trying to aid them, not harm them. "Pluto, that's enough."
She used a soft but firm voice. "Ranma, you may have one person come
down."
"Thank-you, Your Majesty." He brought his wrist comp, which had a
communicator built in, to his mouth. "Nabs, ask our green haired friend
to beam down to my location. We have permission."
"Sure thing, Ranma. I'm sure she's looking forward to the meeting.
Beaming now."
A soft blue column of light formed beside Ranma. When it cleared
Setsuna stood tall and proud in her Royal gown from Crystal Tokyo.
"Hello, Your Majesty, it has been far too long."
Ranma gave her a disappointed look. "You didn't power up! I wanted
to see her face" He accused as he pointed at the native Pluto.
The native Pluto (hereby referred to as Pluto) stared in a
semi-shock at the Pluto who had just arrived (hereby referred to as
Setsuna). She came to her senses rather quickly. It didn't help her
attitude much, though. "I have never met you before. You are not my
future self. Just who are you?"
"I am you, Pluto. I'm different because I come from much farther in
the future than I ever did before. There are other reasons, though, and I
will not get into them right now. You have no need to know of them as
they would effect the future too much."
"I know for a fact that you are lying now. If you came from the
future, then you would have had to use the Gates of Time. No one has
passed through the Gates but myself in many years." Her voice was
disgustingly superior. She was just full of gloating innuendo. "Now
then, just who do you think you are. Just because you 'say' you come from
the future doesn't mean anything!"
Setsuna's voice became deathly quiet. "Don't you dare take that
tone of voice with me. You have no idea what I've been through, no idea
just how much pain I've suffered in my life since the fall of Crystal
Tokyo. I've been through hell, child, and I am far more powerful than you
can ever hope to be."
"Who do you think you are! You dare call ME a child! Why you
little..."
"I will call you whatever I wish. After you've lived for better
than a MILLION years, then you can ask me to stop calling YOU A CHILD!"
Ranma had never seen Setsuna loose her temper before. He was
instantly glad of that fact, too. (Note to myself, NEVER get Setsuna
angry with me. It is NOT pretty.)
Sailor Pluto obviously felt the same way. She hadn't moved since
Setsuna ended her statement. She just stared at Setsuna. She said in a
shaky voice, "Over 1,000,000 years?" Her eyes were wide and unblinking.
Then, as though it were the most natural thing to do, her eyes rolled up
to the back of her head, and she fell out of her chair onto the floor in
a dead faint. Serenity looked startled by the event that had just
occurred. It was the first time she had ever seen the Senshi of Time
drop in a faint. Ranma sat there smirking at the sight while Setsuna had
a sick look on her face.
Ranma looked worriedly at his friend. "Hey, Setsuna, are you okay?
You don't look too good."
"I'm fine Ranma. I just forgot how prideful I was back then. I was
always right, even if it meant untold danger being brought onto the other
Senshi. I remember during the rebirths when I tried to stop Saturn from
being reborn. In the end, it was she who saved us all."
Serenity looked intrigued at the thought. "Sailor Pluto, what do
you mean by the rebirths? And why would you try to stop Sailor Saturn
from being reborn?" She was struggling to come up with a reason why any
of the Senshi would want to harm another. She knew that there was a
growing rift between the Inner Senshi and the Outer Senshi, but it had
never been violent. Also, this was between two of the Outer Senshi.
Surely things could not be that bad in the future.
"Your Majesty, let us wait for my counterpart to revive. It is not
so nice a story that I want to tell it more than once." Fortunately for
Serenity Pluto was just coming to her senses and caught the message.
"Also, please call me Setsuna. It will make things a bit easier while we
are here." It was then that Sailor Pluto resumed her seat. "Now, if you
are willing to listen, we will tell the story you need to know."
"I am both ready and willing to listen. Go ahead."
"Everything that originally happens is to start in one year. At that
time the Duchess Beryl will lead an assault on the Palace here on the
Moon. You see, a number of years ago she released Metallia from her
prison."
"WHAT!" Serenity was shocked by the news. Word had reached her of
Metallia's escape, but she never learned who had caused it to happen.
"Please, Your Majesty, clam down and let me tell you what is to
happen. If we are to prevent the greater of the evils you must know this
one. Beryl's attack on the Palace is going to be successful. There is no
way you could prevent it without any warning. You could get no aid from
the other worlds and moons, since her minions attacked them first. The
attack's upon the other worlds and moons were even more successful than
that here on the Moon. Their Biospheres were completely and totally
destroyed. Only Earth remained habitable, and that was due to the efforts
of all of Earth's military. They had been able to hold the enemy back,
but not make any advances. When Beryl attacked here, you were forced to
use the Ginzuishou. With it you imprisoned Beryl and all her forces.
Your daughter, Prince Endymion, and the Senshi were also trapped by the
power of the Ginzuishou. With your last strength you sent them all into
the future to be reborn so that some children of the Moon would survive."
Serenity could be seen to be getting more and more depressed. The
thoughts of how bad things were going to get for her weighed heavily on
her mind. She was trying to come up with ways to prevent it all, Ranma
was sure. Setsuna continued to speak.
"I'm afraid that it gets worse, Serenity. Endymion's four bodyguards
are going to be turned against us by Beryl. She will corrupt their minds
and force them to fight against their will, though they won't realize that.
You see, in the future, around 9,000 years from now in a time known as the
1990's AD, the Senshi will be reborn, along with your daughter - who will
become Sailor Moon, and Beryl will escape her prison. There will be a
number of battles, but eventually the Sailor Senshi will win by combining
all of their Powers into your daughter, who at the time will be in the
form of Princess Serenity. She channels it into the Ginzuishou, which
causes all Powers to unite, and she sends this Power against Beryl, who
is merged with Metallia, and destroys them both. Unfortunately, they will
also end up killing the four bodyguards of Endymion before then, except
Nephrite who was killed by Zoicite's Youma minions. They will never
remember who they were. The process that sent them into the future to be
reborn was flawed and erased most of their memories. It is true that
Zoicite and Kunzite remembered, but that was only of their love for each
other. They, and the other bodyguards, did not remember their lovers
amongst the Senshi. Beryl had destroyed most of their memories."
Setsuna could see the sadness and tears in her Queen's eyes. She
knew that learning of so much pain would hurt, but it had to be done. The
Invaders could not be allowed to win again. "After Beryl is destroyed,
the Senshi lost their memories at the request of your daughter, who wanted
them all to have normal lives. Not too long after, though, a new, alien
menace attacked Earth. The Senshi awoke once more, and after a struggle,
they won, though this time by teaching the aliens about love, a concept
they had never heard of."
"How sad that there was a race that didn't know about love," Serenity
mummer under her breath.
"Yes, it is your Majesty. Their race did once know about love but a
dark force invaded and turned most of them evil. They destroyed their
world and only a few survived. The only two survivors who reached Earth
were teenagers who had never heard of or experienced love. Their elders
perished on the long journey before they could teach them about it,"
Setsuna continued. "The battles didn't stop there, however. Not too long
after that, a young girl came to the past from the future. There was an
entire enemy race, know as the Black Moon Family descendants of those on
the penal colony Nemesis, trying to capture her. They succeeded at one
point, but the love that her parents had for her brought her back from the
darkness. Her parents, you see, were your daughter and Prince Endymion.
During this war against darkness, the Senshi, your daughter, and Endymion,
went to the future to try and save it. There they learned where destiny
would lead them. Even after they had been through all of that, another
darkness tried to take over the Earth. This time it was in the form of
Pharaoh 90. This struggle was even tougher than the others were, and it
caused the Outer Senshi, who had been unaware of their past to this point,
to wake up. The last of these was Sailor Saturn. It was a long struggle
with more twists than I wish to go through. Suffice to say, in the end,
Sailors Moon and Saturn went into the dimension that Pharaoh 90 was trying
to get out of, and Saturn used the Death Reborn Revolution. Sailor Moon
was then able to pull her out, as she was so drained her body reverted
back to that of a child. There were a number of other battles, including
a terrible war that left much of the planet in ruins, and eventually
Crystal Tokyo was formed. After Space travel outside our Solar System
became capable on a normal basis and a peaceful - though very logical race
- known as the Vulcans contacted us, Neo-Queen Serenity, the ruler of our
System, set up the Federation of Planets."
"Neo-Queen Serenity?"
"It is the name your Daughter takes up. She will be a kind and just
ruler for her entire life, and loved by almost all people." Ranma had
finally gotten a word in. It took them long enough to get to a point that
he knew something about. Now it was his turn.
"In what was called the year 1999 AD a man by the name of Kahn
started what has become known as the Eugenics Wars. He and other
genetically engineered super humans attempted to take over the Earth. The
normal government forces couldn't stop him and his troops. They were too
strong. As soon as it became apparent that the normal humans were losing
the war, a band of us stronger, more powerful people took up the call of
war. This was, in fact, the first time I met one of the Sailor Senshi.
A band of about 20 of these engineered humans attacked a local high school
to gain hostages that they could trade for supplies and weapons. I was
working at the high school to gain credit for my degree so I could open
my own Dojo when it happened. I was in the middle of teaching a self
defense class when a pair of them came in to stand watch over us. I
didn't take their pointing guns at my students too well. I used some of
my father's forbidden techniques to kill them, and protect those under my
care."
Serenity's eyes narrowed slightly at those words. "What do you mean
by forbidden techniques? What were they, and why were they made?"
Thoughts of some of the most dangerous spells came to mind spells that
could eradicate all life on a world if not used with care. (If he knows
any of them, I will have to wipe his memory. They can not be allowed to
exist.)
"The Saotome Forbidden Techniques are two schools of Martial Arts
that my father developed. The first is the Yama-sen-ken, or Mountain fist
school, and the other is the Umi-sen-ken, or water fist school. The
Yama-sen-ken is supposed to be powerful, strong like the mountains. The
Umi-sen-ken is supposed to flow and deflect around an opponent like the
waters of the sea against a rock. I utilized the Yama-sen-ken. The first
one I killed by cutting him in half with the Kijin Raishu Dan. That
particular technique creates a blade made of a vacuum. It's like throwing
a chunk of space at your opponent. The other one I killed with the Roga
Shuhai Tai. It allows me to use my Ki to create a set of claws over my
fingers. I ripped his throat out using it." Both Serenity and Pluto
looked sickened at the thought of him doing that to any living thing.
Even Setsuna was pale even though she had seen him use the techniques
before. "The reason that they are forbidden is because they are so
dangerous. I will teach them to only my heir in the art, and no other.
At this time I am the only one to know them. I am planning on adding one
other school to the Saotome Forbidden Techniques."
Setsuna looked at Ranma in surprise. "You have another school as
dangerous as the Yama-sen-ken and Umi-sen-ken? I thought you said you
wouldn't develop anymore schools to it."
"I didn't develop this school I acquired it. Not that I wanted it
in the first place. I'm talking about the Neko-ken, Setsuna. It is just
as dangerous as the others are. It is not only dangerous to an opponent,
but to oneself as well."
Setsuna nodded her head in understanding. "I can understand your
desire to make the Neko-ken forbidden. I take it that is going to be one
of the changes we make."
"Yes it is."
"Excuse me, but what is this Neko-ken you are referring to. And why
is it so dangerous."
"It is known as the Cat-Fist Your Majesty. It is dangerous because
the training can kill the student. It is more dangerous since if the
training is successful, it will drive the one whom wishes to learn it
insane. I was forced into learning it, but thankfully the Moon cats of my
universe used telepathy to reprogram the insanity that comes with it
away."
"How is it taught, Ranma?" If it was so bad, she wanted to make
sure no one in the Silver Millennium was the one who created it. Serenity
cared for all of her people, not just some.
"First, the learner has to be under ten years of age. Then you wrap
the person from head to toe in fish sausage and throw them into a pit of a
hundred starving cats." Ranma winced at the memory of all the pain it had
caused him. "I really don't want to talk about it anymore."
"Of course, I can see how painful it must have been for you."
Serenity and Pluto were not only disgusted by what had to be done to learn
the Neko-ken, but gained a new respect for Ranma, since he had survived
it.
"Anyway, the Forbidden Techniques are only to be used in life and
death situations. And so you know, they were made because they follow the
Anything Goes School of Martial Arts only rule: to win at the cost of your
enemy. The ultimate form of victory, and the last resort of any fight, is
the death of your opponent. Remember this, it is easier to kill than it
is to spare lives." Both Pluto and Serenity looked somewhat frightened of
Ranma by now. He ignored it, however, and continued with the story.
"Back to the story, I took care of those two, and all of a sudden a
new voice comes from above. I think that it's another one of the
Engineered and prepare another attack. When I turned to face the person,
though, it was Saturn. I lowered my power level and talked to her. The
other students confirmed my words, and we made a plan. Eventually we
incapacitated all of the Engineered. We gathered our friends, met and
started to plan a way to battle in the war. We gained some more help from
the Royal Family of Jurai, a planet outside our Solar System. They had
been visiting our world when this all broke out. It took another half a
year, but we won and forced them off the planet. They left in cryogenic
stasis capsules, and we had peace again. They were never seen on Earth
again but later after the Federation was formed and been around awhile our
most legendary Captain, James T. Kirk, stumbled across them. Kahn tried to
kill Kirk and take control of the ship but he was defeated and he and his
followers were exiled to an uninhabited planet."
"Eventually, the governments started squabbling amongst themselves
and one launched missiles at others. This ignited hostilities and started
World War Three. The Earth was left in ruins and a cease-fire was called.
It was during this time of quiet that Crystal Tokyo was built. A final
peace treaty was drafted not much longer, and Neo-Queen Serenity became
the leader of our race by unanimous vote of the people."
Pluto looked surprised at that. "A unanimous vote? I never realized
how loved she would become. My future self never told me of any of this."
It was Setsuna who answered her. "You didn't need to know at that
time. All of those events moved slowly and perfectly by themselves. It
was during the wars that the Princess grew up and became who she had to
be."
It was at this point that Setsuna picked up the story. "About six
years after Crystal Tokyo was founded a rift in the time space continuum
appeared. Through it came a race known as the Borg. They were from the
future, and trying to change the past. I aided in sending back a
Federation starship known as the USS Enterprise-E to help fight them.
During this time Sailor Mercury, and some of the Enterprise crew from the
future, aided Zephram Cochrane in developing the first human made Warp
Drive. The test was a complete success. The Borg attempted to destroy the
ship but Captain Picard, Captain of the Enterprise-E, and the android Data
managed to stop them. Not too long after a race known as the Vulcan's
contacted us. The Enterprise crew seeing that History was on a correct
course left back for their time. With the Vulcan's aid Earth rebuilt it's
civilization and Humans were brought out of their Solar System. After we
had made contact with a number of inhabited planets, Neo-Queen Serenity
created the United Federation of Planets. Its purpose was to seek new
life, to aid those we had an agreement with, and to share culture,
knowledge, and technology with the member planets."
Eventually, the head of the Federation, as well as Starfleet Academy,
was moved to be located in Crystal Tokyo. But it wasn't a ruling body per
say. Serenity had it formed to act as a mediator in arguments between
planets. It never interfered with lone planetary politics unless requested
by the government of that planet. Starfleet, so you know, is an
exploratory and defense force. It will never initiate an attack on any
people. It also tried to keep from having contact with cultures that had
not yet developed the Warp Drive. We felt that we should allow each world
to develop unhindered by any type of interaction with other races so that
they could develop culturally. We did have regulations on who could join;
such as not being a tyrant dictatorship, and a united planetary government.
The Federation would also aid any planet struck by a natural disaster,
even the underdeveloped ones. We would use holographic imaging technology
to keep the natives of undeveloped worlds from knowing exactly who we were.
There were also many other empires that we had either a non-aggression
pact or alliance with. The United Federation of Planets lasted until the
Invaders' destroyed our galaxy."
"This Federation sounds a lot like the government that I rule here,
during the Silver Millennium. Why would my government fail, where yours
lasted so long."
"Your Majesty, The Federation made NO rules for individual planets
to follow. It only held laws in place for inter-planetary dealings.
Also, we had severe steps that would keep those who were mad for power off
any throne."
"Eventually, Neo-Queen Serenity gave birth to a daughter. The
daughter led a relatively happy life, though she was in danger a number of
times."
"I have a granddaughter?" Surprise filled Serenity. Her one
daughter wasn't even 14 years of age yet, and already she had a grandchild.
Well, she would have a grandchild in the future.
Ranma smiled as he spoke of his wife. "Yes, and a very beautiful
young woman she is. Her name is Usagi, after Neo-Queen Serenity's name at
her rebirth. We all call her Usa, however. She has long pink hair, and a
lithe body. She is as kind and gentle as her mother was. I was lucky to
have met her, and even more lucky to have married her."
Pluto's eyes widened in surprise. Serenity's were no more so.
"MARRIED! You mean that you... I mean..." Pluto was getting very nervous.
She just realized that she had been insulting the honor of the House of
Serenity.
Serenity however had tears in her eyes. She had just found new
family, and as small as it was, now that her husband had died, she was
overjoyed. "Please, Ranma, ask her to come down. I would very much like
to meet my granddaughter."
"Of course, Your Majesty." He brought his wrist comp to his face.
"Usa-chan, would you mind coming down right now? Serenity would like to
meet you." There was nothing but silence on the other end. Worry came
over Ranma's face. "Usagi, are you alright?" There was static, and then
a hiss.
"Sorry, Ranma, I've been busy getting Nabiki transferred into the
portable computer. The ship has been docked, and I saw no reason to leave
her alone. I'll have someone show me to where you are after I'm done
dear."
"I guess that's fine. Bring Tolan along as well. No point in having
him stuck up there with nothing to do. That is unless he's busy with
something. If he's not then have him come along. Just don't let Nabiki
get any access to the treasury here. I don't feel like being arrested for
robbery."
A small picture of Nabiki came up on the screen. "Ha ha Ranma.
Just remember that I control the ship. You wouldn't want to wake up to
anything bad, now would you?"
"Sorry Nabs, I couldn't help it. I'll see you in a bit, Usa-chan."
"Of course Ranma." The wrist comp turned off. Before anyone could
say another word Setsuna spoke again.
"Nabiki is a personality module that is a part of our ship. She has
a small avarice problem. Don't worry, though, she would never try to break
in or do anything illegal. I think."
"Anyway, our story pretty much wraps up around here. Usa grew up,
and met Ranma when she was around seventeen." Setsuna continued the
story. "Ranma had come to Crystal Tokyo for a few reasons. The first was
so he could visit old friends. He hadn't seen the Senshi since the
Eugenics Wars and he was curious how they were doing. The other was to
see Neo-Queen Serenity. He had hoped that she would be able to use the
Ginzuishou to cure his curse, but there was no such luck for him. I
couldn't ever see an end to his curse, but viewing Ranma is hard. Chaos
itself has taken him in hand a number of times, and his destiny is always
changing."
Ranma picked up the story here. "Anyway, I was just leaving the
Palace when an earthquake started. I was looking around for a place to
get out in the open when I saw part of the Palace start to collapse. It
was going to crush a beautiful pink haired girl. I couldn't just let that
happen, so I acted. I swept her into my arms and jumped out of the way."
Setsuna smiled and added her own two cents in. "Of course, Ranma's
just out of the way was a balcony on the 20th floor of the Palace." The
others looked at her disbelieving while Ranma shrugged.
"It was convenient. Well, I learned who she was and we started
talking. Eventually we fell in love and I proposed to her. There's a lot
in between there, though, but not really relevant right now. She accepted
and we were married the following spring. It was beautiful with all the
cherry blossoms on the trees. Of course, that was nothing compared to Usa,
but it was still pretty. Around a year later, I was away looking into
some disturbance in one of the outer sectors of the city when another
earthquake struck. Usa had been in the kitchen with her mother cooking
when it happened. She tripped and a knife she was holding tore into her
lungs. Neo-Queen Serenity pulled the knife out with the intent of healing
her, when she made the discovery. Usa's wound healed up by itself in a
matter of seconds. When I got back they told me what happened. We
started going through Usa's family history when we came across the reason
why. In her father's family there was an Immortal. The Immortal's are a
race from another dimension. The ruler's of their land started a Game,
where they sent a group of Immortal's to Earth with the intent that only
the strongest of them would survive. A number of the Immortal's however
renounced the Game. The genes for the Immortal's blood had been dormant
in that family line for many years. IT had become active in Usa-chan,
though. Eventually the Invaders came and we lost everything. I already
told you about that war, so there is no need to go into it. The only
question now, though, is whether you will aid us in making the changes
necessary to survive in the future or not."
Serenity had a stream of emotions racing through her. All of them
played on her face. Ranma could see joy, which he assumed was from getting
the chance to meet new family that she might otherwise never know.
Setsuna could see depression in the Queen's eyes. She guessed that it was
most likely from loosing the chance to not only see her daughter grow up,
but all of the pain that would be coming from the future. Pluto noticed
sadness in Her Majesty's posture. This, she guessed, was coming from the
knowledge of all of the horrible events and struggles that she had been
told were to happen in the future, events that she never should have
learned about.
Then there was an emotion that they could all see. It was an
emotion neither Pluto nor Setsuna had seen on her face. It was an emotion
Ranma had never seen on the face of Neo-Queen Serenity. It was anger. It
was pure emotion filled anger. And it was all directed at one person in
that room.
"PLUTO! WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME ABOUT ANY OF THIS! DO YOU HAVE ANY
IDEA HOW MANY LIVES ARE COULD HAVE BEEN LOST BECAUSE YOU KEPT THIS FROM
ME!"
Pluto was actually quite calm. She had been prepared for something
like this since the story started. She now knew that her future self was
telling the truth about everything. Every single event named had been
told to her by her future self. Now it was time to sooth her Queen and
try to change the terrible future that was ahead of them. "Your Majesty,
I couldn't tell you about the fall of the Silver Millennium because that
would have brought about a worse future. If you stop Beryl before she
launches the attack on the Moon, then it would lead to all of the other
planets rebelling against you. She never shows her face until she leads
the attack on the Palace. Once she does attack the Palace, it will be too
late to stop her without the loss of the Moon. The only thing that will
be able to stop her at that point will be the Ginzuishou. I knew that if
I allowed Beryl to attack the Moon at least some of the people would
survive, and they would be able to create a new order of peace in the
future. I knew that the capital of this new order would be called Crystal
Tokyo. I knew nothing, Your Majesty, about these Invaders that will come
to destroy the Universe. I swear upon my entire honor as one of your
Senshi that I did not know. My future self never mentioned anything about
these Invaders."
Setsuna came to her defense. "It is true, Your Majesty. The first
target destroyed by the Invaders was the entrance to the Gates of Time.
Without that, I had no way to come back and warn myself of the threat so
we could prepare."
Serenity looked at the three others for sometime after that. They
sat in their chairs quietly as they awaited the decision of the Queen of
the Moon. She finally sighed and spoke. "We can not allow such a thing
to happen. Ranma, Setsuna, tell me what we need to do to stop these
Invaders. Any aid that I can give you is yours." Pluto looked relieved
at the statement. She had no desire to live through the hell that her
other self had done. She knew that it was a selfish thought, but one that
she was willing to live with.
It wasn't Ranma who answered Serenity, nor was it Setsuna. Instead
a third voice from across the room answered her. "The first thing we need
to do is make sure when Beryl attacks that we keep as many inhabited
planetary bodies atmospheres safe. If we can keep the planets habitable,
we'll be one step ahead. That way we won't have to terra-form any of
them." Ranma walked up to his wife and took her by the arm. As he led
her to the table, both Serenity and Pluto could see similarities of the
family. Besides the golden Moon on her forehead, of course.
Ranma took the silence as incentive to make introductions. "Queen
Serenity, Sailor Pluto, I would like to introduce you to my wife, Usagi of
the House of Serenity, and the last of your line."
Usa took her arm from Ranma and walked up to her grandmother who had
stood as she made her approach. She smiled and took the older woman into
a hug with the whisper of grandmother. Serenity had tears openly falling
down her face as she clung to her grandchild. Ranma and Setsuna smiled at
the scene as Pluto watched with a distant look in her eyes. Ranma could
almost see the wish that she had something like that to look at and hold
onto. After a moment, Ranma took some incentive and walked up to the two
members of Royalty. Just as he reached them, they both opened up and drew
him into a three-way hug. The three of them just stood there for a few
minutes basking in each other's presence. A few minutes after that Setsuna
politely told them that they had more important things to worry about and
that they could play catch-up later. Usagi opened up the portable computer
that she had brought and Nabiki came on screen. After the introductions
were finished, everyone got down to planning.
Ranma started the conversation. "As we said, the fall of the Silver
Millennium has to happen. What we are going to do is make it a lot
softer. First, when Beryl does attack the Palace, it will be Usa-chan who
uses the crystal to send everyone to the future. Because she is an
Immortal she won't die from the strain of the casting like you would,
Grandmother." Ranma couldn't help but call her that now. He knew that
when they weren't alone that he wouldn't be able to do so. He had never
known his own Grandparents, so he wanted to make the most of it. Serenity
just smiled at the usage of the name. "This will allow you to be saved,
and that alone would give us a great advantage in the future. We can have
you reborn and then have the Princess reborn as your child again. We will
awaken your memories in the future so that you can train your daughter to
use her powers to their full potential. Then we will give you the names
and such of the other Senshi and they can be awakened too. Once all of
the Senshi remember who they are, we will begin to train them how to
fight. This will give them a much bigger advantage than they would
otherwise have. For the most part they tended to rely on their magic in
the future, instead of physical skills."
Setsuna picked up the narration at this point. "Before we awaken
you, however, we are going to go into Ranma's past to change some things.
His father was an idiot and turned his life into a living hell. What we
are going to do is take over and teach Ranma how to fight correctly and
generally make his life better. Once he is ready, we will introduce him
and some of his friends, who's past we are also going to change, and to
the Senshi. We will create an alliance between them. Serenity, at that
time you can use the Ginzuishou to make them members of the nobility of
the Moon Kingdom. That will give them life spans like the Senshi. They
will be there when the Invaders arrive and have had close to a thousand
years to prepare for the fight. There are others in the future we will
talk to, such as the members of the House of Jurai. We will gain their
aid early so when Crystal Tokyo is formed, the alliance will be in place.
We will also help to advance technology so that colonization of the other
planets in the Solar System can begin earlier than the original line
suggests. Washu can help us with that. She will be glad to after we
prevent Kagato from imprisoning her for 5,000 years. Washu is a 25,000
year old scientist, well she will be that old in the 1990's AD. She is
also the Goddess of Knowledge. Her sister Tsunami is the Goddess of
Courage and she will also help us, after she merges with Sasami. Her other
sister Tokimi is the Goddess of Power and she likes conquest. I do not
know if she will be friend or foe. Kagato is mad man who has lived almost
as long as Washu. He imprisoned her after she was tricked into building a
powerful ship for him. He then took her daughter, Ryoko, and turned her to
the ways of evil. Ryoko had very little free will and had to obey Kagato.
We're going to change that. We plan on releasing Washu a few minutes after
she is imprisoned and leaving a mindless android look alike in her place.
We will do the same with Ryoko. Then we will take them both to into the
future."
Usa finished giving the two their plan. "The most important part of
the plan, though, is the fact that we are going to train the Senshi how to
fight now. That way when you bring back their memories they will already
have a firm basis on which to fight and not have to learn the basics. We
need them to have a relative level of skill to what we are pushing Ranma's
counterpart and his friends to. We need the year that we have to train
the Senshi in fighting, and I mean all of the Senshi. You saw how
effective they were against Ranma when he was alone. What would have
happened if I were there too? They would have fallen that much quicker."
Ranma smiled. "I'll teach them how to use their Ki too. That will
give them a much wider range of attacks available. I can teach them how
to enhance their bodies strength, speed, and endurance beyond anything
that they could dream of right now. The Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken and
Breaking Point will help them allot. All I need is your permission to
teach them, and for you to order them to listen to me when I do."
Setsuna thought for a second and then decided that the time was
right. "Pluto, come here. I am going to give you my memories of the
future. I think that it would be much easier for you to understand what
is going to happen if you know."
"I can agree with that. Is this going to be a full transfer or a
partial?"
"A partial. You will know the events, but my feelings about them
are not going to come with them. I will let you make your own decision
on what is right and what is wrong." The two Senshi of Time stepped up
to each other. Setsuna placed her fingertips on Pluto's temples. There
was a slight bluish glow around the two for a few moments, and then it was
done. Pluto looked at Setsuna in an awed manner that was clearly shown in
her voice. "How did you manage it? How did you go on for so long?"
"I went on because I had to. There was me, Ranma, Nabiki, and for
awhile also Tolan and that was it. We survived on the hopes that we would
find a way to do just what we are now, changing the past to keep it from
ever happening. All we have to do now is play our hand right. We've got
one shot, so we aren't going to blow it."
Pluto went through the memories that she had gained from Setsuna.
There were a number of memories of Ranma battling many types of beings.
As she remembered, she gained a new respect for the martial artist. She
now realized that he had the power to back up his words. Now she had to
do something she hated. "Ranma, I'm sorry for the way I treated you. I
didn't know who you were, and was simply trying to protect my Queen."
"No hard feelings Pluto. I know what it's like being protective."
He put his arm around Usa. "I'd do the same thing if you popped up
unannounced. So, what do you say, friends?"
Pluto was taken in by the openness that Ranma displayed. His smile
was catching, too. (That is a cute smile....). "Friends it is Ranma."
She smiled back at him, if ever so slightly.
Ranma grinned. "Well, then it's settled. I guess we begin training
the Senshi tomorrow."
Usa looked concerned, however. "Ranma should we bring the other
Senshi in on everything? How much can we trust them with? And what about
mother? How much can we tell her?"
Serenity was the one who answered the question. "We tell my
daughter nothing. I don't want her to know any of this."
"I think we should tell Endymion some of it, though. We are going
to have to protect his bodyguards from Beryl. To do that we need them
close by." Ranma was worried. The hardest part of the plan, he felt, was
protecting the Inner Senshi's lovers. "Or we could just tell them. It
would make it easier if they get an extended stay here at the Palace.
What do you all think?"
Setsuna thought for a few moments. "I think that it would be better
to keep them all in the dark. How about we invite Endymion and his guards
for training when the time comes. Pluto can keep watch on them through
the Gates of Time and tell us when it is time to summon them. We go to
Earth for a vacation before that and meet them. Then they will know who
we are."
"That sounds good for right now. However, we should hide who we
are. Let's just say that we are family from the future and were sent here
to train the Senshi by Grandmother. How does that sound?" Usa looked
around at everyone and got an affirmative response from them all. "Well
then, lets go meet the Sailor Senshi, shall we?"
***
The Sailor Senshi had been waiting in the hall outside of the
Council chamber for close to two hours. Their presence had the effect of
keeping everyone away from the room. Well, everyone except the pink
haired girl. She claimed that she had come with the boy, and the guard
escorting her confirmed that she had come down in the same manner as the
other one. Uranus and Jupiter had been arguing over the fight that had
taken them both out, but they had finally reached the point that they were
admitting that the young man seriously out classed them all. Mars and
Venus were bored and had run out of gossip to speak about. Mercury was
reading some sort of book that none of the others understood, while
Neptune rested against the wall. Saturn was apart from the others,
standing alone as she was far too used to. At that point the door finally
opened and a group of people came out. First out was Queen Serenity and
Sailor Pluto. They walked out of the doorway and moved off to the side.
Out next was Ranma and Usa. Ranma had his arm around his wife's waist.
They were both smiling as they walked out. It was the last pair of people
who shocked everyone. The man wasn't that strange looking except for his
clothes and the fact that if the Senshi used their magical sense they
could some-what see through him. What really shocked all of the Senshi
was the second Sailor Pluto who came out with him. The only difference
between the two was the fact that this second one wasn't in her fuku, but
wearing a jump suit that looked like it was made to move with the body.
Even Serenity smiled at the shocked looks of all of her Senshi. She
couldn't let them stay like that, however.
"My Senshi, allow me to introduce you to some guests from the
future. First, of course, you know Setsuna, or Sailor Pluto. She is
here from the future to make sure the time stream isn't changed while
our other guests are here." She waved her hand to Tolan. "This is
Doctor Tolan. He is well versed in medicine in the future. He is
actually a holographic projection, but can manipulate solid objects."
Tolan gave a polite bow to the Senshi, but other wise remained
tight-lipped.
Mercury stared at him in interest. She had never seen such a being before.
(What is his programming like?) , she wondered. (Does he feel emotions
too?).
"Finally, this is Ranma and Usagi Saotome. They are of my House far
into the future. They were sent back here for the purpose of training you
in combat. You will follow their orders when they are training you, no
questions asked." Her face became incredibly hard. "And I mean that.
They are far stronger than you are and have seen far more many battles.
You would do well to learn all that they can teach. When you are not
training they hold the rank of Prince and Princess respectively. You will
treat them as such. Am I clear about this."
None of the Senshi looked too excited about this, but they all knew
better than to go against the will of their Queen. Uranus and Jupiter
were the only ones who didn't look on it with disgust, though. They both
knew how good Ranma had to be if he could take them all out. And after he
taught them enough, well, then there could be some payback. Mars simply
glared at Ranma. She looked like she wished she could take him apart,
slowly and without anesthetic. It was Saturn, however, who spoke for them
all. "Yes, Your Majesty if that is your will." She said it quiet, almost
as if she was going to destroy the Moon just to defeat Ranma. The other
Senshi shrank back. As the pain entered Saturn's eyes, Ranma walked up to
her. He couldn't stand to see a girl hurt. He walked up to her and drew
her into a hug, to the surprise of everyone but Usa and Setsuna. A moment
later Usa walked up to Saturn and Ranma and put her arms around the young
Senshi too. Then Setsuna was there, with her arms around all three of
them. Everyone in the hall was taken aback by the event. Even Serenity
had never seen anyone act like that around Saturn. It was Ranma who spoke
for the time travelers.
"Saturn, you have nothing to fear. There are people who care for
you. Me, Usa, Setsuna, we all know you better than anyone else here.
You're our friend and we love you. If you ever need anything, we are here
for you." And Saturn started to cry. The love that was coming from these
three strangers was overwhelming to her. She hadn't felt this loved since
before she gained the mantle of Saturn. Even her parents had grown
distant to her over the years. She came to a decision right then and
there. This was her family now. These were people who she could love and
they would never show fear. And Saturn cried tears of joy.
Princess Serenity entered the hall at that time. She was looking
for her mother when she came upon the sight. The first thing that caught
her eyes was the ashamed looks upon almost all of the Senshi's faces.
Only Pluto and Saturn didn't have a look like they had acted like the
cruelest people on the planet. Pluto had a distant look on her face. It
was like she was trying to remember something from the distant past, or
future since it was Pluto. She couldn't tell what type of look Saturn had
on her face because she couldn't see Saturn's face. She could see Saturn
surrounded by a small group of people who were hugging her. The first to
catch her attention was the second Sailor Pluto. This one wasn't in a
Sailor fuku, but it was definitely Pluto. The next person to catch her
eye was the girl with the long pink hair. The hair caught her eyes, but
it was the style that held them. They were in the same style as her own.
(I wonder who she is, and why does she have my hairstyle?). Then she
gasped upon seeing the Royal Crescent Moon symbol on her forehead. (That
must mean she's a member of the Royal Family. But how could she be? I have
never seen her before.) The third person caught her eye for two reasons.
The first was that Saturn was clinging to him with her face buried in his
chest as she cried. The second was that it was the same person who
defeated the Senshi a few hours ago in battle. She slowly walked up to
her mother and asked what was going on and why that girl had the Royal
symbol. This caused the Senshi to look at Usa and see the Crescent Moon.
They were a bit shocked about it. But they remembered that Queen Serenity
had said the two people were of her House from the future.
"Daughter, they are family. The girl, Usagi, is of our line. She
is from the distant future. The young man is Ranma, her husband. They
are the Princess and Prince of our House in that distant time. They came
back here to teach the Sailor Senshi the ways of an advanced form of
combat. Setsuna, the one standing with them, has come back with them to
make sure that they do not disrupt the time stream."
The emotional group had quieted down by then, and they were looking
at the other members of the House of Serenity. Usa interrupted them.
"Your Majesty, I'm afraid that that is going to include Her Highness."
Everyone looked at her in shock. Screams of outrage would have been heard
if it weren't for the fact that Usagi refused to let them get a word in
edge wise. "One of the other reasons we are here is to start a new
tradition, one that will be maintained even in the distant future. From
this day forward when the Princess comes of age, she will don the mantle
of Sailor Moon, leader of the Sailor Senshi. We will start the tradition
now, because we are the best teachers you could find. You will learn much
from us, all of you, but you must be willing."
Ranma gave them a stern look. "If you're not willing then its going to
be a very painful experience. I was trained by some of the most insane,
powerful people that you will ever find. One of them, Ku Lon would be
able to take you on when you're powered up and win in a one on one fight.
She started training me when I was sixteen by having me constantly place
my hand into a fire. I can do the same to you, if you want." There was
a nervous glance among the Senshi.
Usa ignored him, though, and walked over to Princess Serenity and handed
her a locket. "This locket will allow you to transform into Sailor Moon.
It will only do so, however, if it is your destiny to become the leader
of the Senshi. Hold it to the sky and call out 'Moon Prism Power, Make
Up'."
The Princess's hand reached forward and took hold of the locket.
Words of power burned in her mind, and she knew that Destiny called for
her. She held the locket toward the sky beyond the roof and called out
"MOON PRISM POWER, MAKE UP!" The lights and energy swirled around her.
When it was done, the Warrior of Love and Justice stood tall and proud.
Sailor Moon had been born.
Ranma looked grimly at the group. (Just what I wanted to teach, a
bunch of Princesses. I've got my work cut out for me in whipping them
into shape. I hope they can take it, or Tolan is going to have LOTS of
work.) "Alright, enough gawking at your leader." Everyone turned to look
at him in surprise. "We've got training to do. You've got one hour to
change and meet me in the practice yard. Wear something loose enough so
you can move freely, but tight enough so it doesn't get in your way. Oh,
and remember to power down. Your strength as Senshi is proportional to
your strength when you're normal. You will rarely get to spar in your
Senshi forms. And that's what we are doing today. I need to know how
good you are so I can set up a training regimen." The Senshi stared at
him with open anger, except for Saturn, who was already heading toward
her rooms. She was eager to learn what Ranma-Otoosan and Usa-Oniisan
could teach her.
Serenity looked at the unmoving Senshi and decided to give Ranma
a hand. She didn't want him to destroy this wing of the Palace as he
gave them object lessons for disobeying him when it came to his teaching
them. "Go now, Senshi. This is a matter of training, and Ranma out
ranks you right now. All you are doing is making it harder on
yourselves. And you better be at the practice field in one hour..."
Ranma interrupted her, "56 minutes."
Serenity grimly smiled. "Correction, 56 minutes. Ranma you are
more than free to discipline anyone who is so much as a second late.
I won't stop you."
Ranma gave a big grin. "Today's punishment for being tardy is a
three mile run followed by fifty sit-ups and fifty push-ups." The Senshi
were halfway down the corridor before he finished. All except the
Princess, that is.
Usa looked over at her mother. "Don't worry Princess, I've got
something you can wear. Come on, I'll tell you what the future is like
while we change." The two of them left, Usa taking Nabiki with her.
Ranma looked at Serenity.
"Would you like to watch today's session, Grandmother? It should
prove very entertaining."
"I would be pleased to Ranma. Come along, I'll show you where the
practice field is."
Tolan spoke up. "Captain, I am going to return to the ship. I have
a feeling that the young ones will need my medical aid today."
"Sure thing Tolan. How 'bout you, Setsuna?" He looked around only
to see both Senshi of Time gone. He shrugged and walked with Serenity
toward the practice field.
***
Saturn was standing with Serenity and watched Ranma as he went
through a practice Kata. She looked on in awe as he flowed from one form
to another, like moving water. Then Ranma began his mid-air practice.
He was up in the air releasing a barrage of punches and kicks at invisible
opponents. He moved with a speed and grace that she thought she could
never duplicate.
Serenity was also in awe. She had listened as Ranma told her
stories of his past fights, and she had seen him against the Senshi, but
now she knew that he was as good as he claimed. Even now, as he flowed
in forms that emphasized speed and power, she knew that he was holding
back. If he was this good and still wasn't strong enough to defeat these
Invaders he talked about, she was truly worried. Would her Senshi be able
to get to the level they needed to be at that crucial moment. She prayed
that it would all be enough.
Ranma stopped his Kata and walked over to the two ladies. "The
others are approaching. I don't want to give them any warning on what I
can do. We've been here for the last half-hour talking. Alright?"
The two agreed, and moments later the Senshi walked in, all in
exercise outfits. Even the Princess was with them, along with Usa. Ranma
motioned Saturn to join them and walked to stand with Usa in the middle of
the field. "Alright, line up everyone. We've got a lot to do, and not
much time to do it in." The Senshi formed four lines of two each. Uranus
and Neptune were the first column. The second was Saturn and the
Princess. Venus and Mercury made up the third column. The last group was
Jupiter and Mars. Ranma smiled at the pairings. They weren't quite what
he would have guessed, but the make-ups wouldn't be all that hard to beat.
The most difficult was going to be Saturn and the Princess. He had to be
careful not to hurt either of them too badly, which meant they could get
some decent shots in on him. "Alright, you'll attack me in pairs. Each
column is going to get its shot. We're doing this from my left to my
right, so Uranus, Neptune, give me your REAL names, and then we start."
"Kei", said Uranus.
"Yuri", came from Neptune.
Ranma was stunned just for a second. (No way! It CAN'T be THEM), he
thought. (Well, let's see how good they are in this time.)
And then they attacked. After a couple of minutes of studying them
Ranma came to a conclusion about each. Yuri most likely relied on her
magic to give her an advantage. Her blows were slow and sloppy. They had
very little power to them. Kei, on the other hand, showed some skill.
She was no where in his league, hell he figured he could have taken her
when he was twelve, but she still showed promise. (At least this is one
I won't have to teach all the basics to. Still she has a temper like
Akane did. This is too easy.) He decided that he had seen enough and
decided to end it. A sweep kick and blow to the gut took Yuri down quickly
and quietly. Kei just got even angrier. Ranma decided it was time to
unleash one of the first attacks his father had ever taught him. "What's
the matter? Can't hit me?"
"Hold still damn it!"
"Ah, your slow, your defense is lousy and your reflexes could be
beaten by a dead slug."
"WHY YOU LITTLE!!! I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!!!"
"I'd like to see that, you uncute tomboy!"
"WHAT DID YOU CALL ME!!!!!"
Ranma inwardly grinned. It was time to teach his class lesson
number one. "I said your an UNCUTE, UNSEXY, BUILT LIKE A BRICK,
TOMBOY!!!!"
"DIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!" Uranus charged Ranma with
the sole intent of ripping his head off............ only to strike air.
Ranma flipped over her head, turned around in mid air, and gave her a
solid push to the back, sending her sprawling into the ground.
"The fight is over. I win."
Uranus gritted her teeth as she stood up and walked over to help
Neptune who was still catching her breath. She glared at Ranma only to
receive a look that said 'I was holding back so much that you should be
dead right now, not just have some wounded pride.'
After they got in line Ranma spoke to his students. "You have just
seen the first rule of any form of Martial Arts broken. You must ALWAYS
control your emotions. Kei didn't loose like that because I am far more
skilled then her. She lost like that because I am making a point. If
you loose your temper, then you are dead. Period, no questions asked.
She lost her temper and her defense became non-existent and her offense
became sloppy. Remember that." He looked and saw comprehension on all
of their faces. He had made his point. "Up next is Saturn and Your
Highness. Please give me your REAL names, here at practice it's what
I'll use."
Saturn was the first to speak. "My name of birth is Verika."
"Like all of my family, I am called Serenity."
"Well, Serenity, Verika, step forward and attack me. Don't worry,
I won't hit you harder than I am sure you can take. I didn't for Kei and
Yuri, did I?"
"No, you didn't." Saturn thought back to how Ranma had battled. He
was studying them, seeing what he had to teach. She decided to use her
full abilities. Unlike the other Senshi, Verika could use some magic
outside of her Senshi form. Normally she only used it for healing,
though. She now used it to increase her speed. Ranma was caught by
surprise at the speed Verika attacked him with. He blocked her first blow
and then started to dodge. Verika, unlike Kei, stayed calm even as Ranma
dodged her blows. He sent some counter strikes at her that she felt, but
they didn't hurt her. Ranma suddenly felt a massive buildup of magic
behind him.
Turning he saw Serenity's birth mark glowing. Deciding it was the
best time to show whom was really stronger; he released all of the
restraints he had placed on his Ki when Serenity fired her magic at him.
A wall of golden energy formed in front of Ranma. The magical blast hit
the shield and stopped. It stayed like that for a whole minute until the
magic blast stopped. Serenity dropped to the ground huffing, while Ranma
sweep kicked Verika and drove a punch to her face, stopping just
centimeters from impacting.
Saturn opened her eyes when she felt strong hands lifting her off
the ground. She looked up to see Ranma smiling at her. "Very good, you
two. I was surprised at how you adapted. You also brought lesson number
two for today." He gently pushed Verika back toward the line and looked
at his students once more. He waited for five minutes before the shocked
faces of everyone were finally gone. "Lesson number two is simple. Don't
go all out right away. Both Verika and Serenity did and look where it got
them. Serenity couldn't stand after her attack and Verika was
predictable. If Saturn had used that speed enhancement of hers in the
middle of the fight I think she might have gotten a blow in. Also, if
Serenity had used smaller bits of magic to shoot at me, some would have
hit if only by shear numbers and speed due to her strength. It wasn't
until she had begun to direct the blast that I noticed it. A small blast
might have hit me." He watched as the Senshi absorbed the information.
He knew that they would get better, it would just take time. (I wish I
knew where Sailor Solaris is? Is she even a Senshi yet? She needs to go
through this training. I'll have Usa ask Queen Serenity about it.)
"Alright, Mercury, Venus, you're up."
Mercury was the first to speak. "My name is Sylre."
Venus gave Ranma a grin. "I'm Arielwyn."
The fight began as did the first two. Ranma dodged their attacks
as they did their best just to touch him. He easily dodged their blows,
seeing that they relied too much on their magic to aid them in a fight.
(Hmm, I think for one of the sparring sessions that I let them use their
Senshi forms I'll put a null magic zone around the area. I need to get
them to stop relying on the magic.) As Sylre sent a punch to Ranma's
stomach, he grabbed her wrist with both of his hands and sent her flying
across the field with a judo throw. He then sidestepped Arielwyn kicked
and hit three pressure points on her leg to immobilize it. With her leg
stuck in the air, she was unable to do anything when Ranma pushed on the
bottom of her foot and sent her crashing to the ground.
"This fight is over." He bent down and tapped the release points
on Arielwyn's leg and helped her up. "You're not too bad, but you have
no form. Don't worry, though, we'll get it drilled into you. Mars,
Jupiter, you're last. Are you ready for this?"
Mars glared at him. He had injured the Princess, and now she was
going to make him pay. Jupiter had a grim look of anticipation on her
face. She wanted to find out just how good he was. "Don't hold back on
us like you did the others! We're not going to play easy!"
Ranma was getting very amused by the two. (So they don't want me to
go easy, huh. Well, let's show them what my not going easy is like. I
think it's time to put them in their place.) He glanced at the rest of
the Senshi who were off to the side. Kei and Yuri had hostile looks on
their faces. (No surprise there. They're just as bad in the future.)
Mercury and Venus had speculative looks in their eyes. (For different
reasons most likely. Sylre probably wants to do some tests on me, while
Arielwyn probably forgot that I'm a married man. Well, I'll dissuade them
of those thoughts fast enough.) Princess Serenity had a look of respect
in her eyes. (Just like when she saw my first all out Kata all those
years ago. She was so surprised that the others never let her live it
down.) Finally Verika had a look of adoration across her face. Even in
her posture he could tell that she was concentrating solely on him. (I
wonder what she's thinking? Oh, well, she's a good kid.) He then glanced
over at his wife and raised an eyebrow. He got a slight nod in response.
(Well, Usa thinks that I should, so I might as well.)
Before he had been using a basic stance that could be recognized by
anyone with the slightest bit of Martial Arts training. Now he took up a
different one. The stance he chose was one that he created on his own.
It emphasized speed and precision over endurance and power. It was the
one he was planning to teach to Verika when she advanced enough. "You
want to see me go all out, huh. Very well, against you two I won't hold
back anything but my killing blows. I assume that you can accept that."
Princess Serenity off to the side looked a bit shaken at that
statement, but otherwise there was no movement. Mars nodded her head in
acceptance of the terms Ranma set.
"Good. Usa-chan, will you please signal the start of the fight?
Oh, and your real names, please."
Mars didn't stop glaring at him. "Eowyn."
Jupiter just took up her own stance. "Juno."
"Of course, love." Usa walked to a point where she was off to the
side, but in between the combatants. "Ready... FIGHT!"
There was a loud boom as Ranma went to supersonic speeds. He was
standing next to Mars and Jupiter. A few seconds later, the two Senshi
dropped to the ground unconscious. Ranma turned to face the others.
"The last thing for you to learn today is that you should NEVER
underestimate an opponent."
Usa walked up to him and frowned. "Ranma, how could you lie to them
like that. You know they need to learn this."
"Hey, I just didn't want them to get hurt too badly. They need to
be able to move for when we start really training them tomorrow. I
thought that that would have been good enough."
Verika walked up to the two of them. "What are you talking about?"
Usa looked down at Saturn. "Ranma was still holding back a lot of
his ability."
"WHAT!!!" came from a number of sections of the grounds. Ranma
looked around a bit shamed face.
"Well, if I had really gone all out, I doubt you would have even
seen me move. It would have been kind of hard for me to teach a lesson
if you couldn't see me, now wouldn't it?"
Queen Serenity walked up to the group. "Saturn, would you please
heal and revive Mars and Jupiter?"
"Of course, your Majesty."
"Just wake them up, Verika." She turned to face Ranma. Everyone
but Usa and Queen Serenity were shocked. No one ever contradicted the
Queen. "I want them to feel the pain. It should teach them that they
have a LOT to learn before they challenge me again." Verika looked at
Serenity for a response.
"Heal them of any seeable bruises if they wear one of their nicer
gowns. I am planning on continuing the ball that you interrupted last
night, Ranma. That means you and Usa both have to go and be fitted for
clothes. I expect you to be there prompt."
Ranma knew better than to argue or groan about having to attend the
festivities. (I never did like the formal stuff.) However he did nod at
Queen Serenity before turning back to his students. "Go shower and clean
up. I'll see you at the ball tonight. Oh, and be out here at Sunrise and
not a moment later. If I have to get you up, it will not be pleasant. Do
I make myself clear?" All of the Senshi nodded even Mars and Jupiter, who
had gotten up in time to hear his commands. They all then headed to the
wing of the Palace which they were quartered.
Queen Serenity looked at Ranma. "Now that that's taken care of, I
think you would look good in a dark blue. What do you think Usa?" Ranma
had a panicked look on his face as each woman grabbed an arm and dragged
him toward the Palace.
***
The door to the ballroom opened and two figures stepped in.
Everyone with magical sense could tell these were figures of power. The
man's movement spoke of grace and power, speed and stealth, much like
large predatory cats in the jungles of nearby earth did. The woman flowed
with the grace of water, her movements having a barring much like the
Queen did. She had her head held high, and a serene look on her face.
Her hair was in the royal style, and everyone could see the symbol of the
House of Serenity on her forehead. Many tried to place this member of the
royal family, but none had seen her before. Queen Serenity moved to greet
the couple as they moved into the activities.
"Ranma, Usagi, welcome. I trust that you found your quarters to
your liking."
Usa smiled at the Queen of the Solar System. "Yes, the room you
gave us is wonderful. Thank-you for providing such wonderful quarters
for us. Also, thank-you for inviting us to attend this ball. It has been
such a long time since we've been to one, hasn't it Ranma?"
Ranma gave his best rouges grin. "It sure has dear. I believe the
last one we were at was when your mother threw that surprise party for
Tenchi. It's been a long time since then."
Usa smiled as she remembered the party. She also remembered the
dance. Their dance. They had captured the floor when they moved.
Ranma's grace and agility gave itself to the floor, and they had moved
with perfect timing to the music.
As Usa thought back to pleasant times in their home universe, Ranma
looked around the room. The first thing he did was find all of the
entrances and exits. (Best to know every way in and out, just in case
of a fight.) Then he started looking for the people that he knew.
(Lets see, Mars is with Jupiter and Venus giving me a look that would
kill me if I wasn't Immortal. Jupiter and Venus, on the other hand,
well I'll deal with them in my own way. Kei and Yuri, I still can't
believe they're the Dirty Pair, are on the dance floor. Mercury is with
some guy by the food table. The Princess is with... Endymion! Great,
I'll have to go make introductions.) He looked around the room some more
but didn't see Saturn. (Where is she? I doubt she would have missed
this. Oh, wait, there she is. Why is she alone, though? I guess I'll
just have to go cheer Verika up a bit.) He turned back to his wife.
"Hey, Usa, I'm going to go talk to Verika. She looks pretty lonely. Do
you mind?"
Usa looked at her husband coming out of the memories that had over
taken her. "Sure, go ahead. I would like to talk to Her Majesty about
some things anyway." She arched an eyebrow at him. "Just don't try and
sneak off, okay?"
Ranma put on a hurt face, only broken by a grin across his face.
"You know me better than that dear. I would never do anything like that.
To think not even my own wife of so many years trusts me. What is a poor
old man like me supposed to do?"
"Be happy that I don't like to hit you."
"You'd only hurt your hand anyway. I've got a hard head, you know."
He gave a small laugh and then headed for the balcony that Verika had
walked out on. Usa smiled at him.
***
Verika was resting against the rail of the balcony, watching the
earth below. Once more no one would talk to her, no one would ask her
to dance. She sighed as the sadness began to take over her again. She
was so alone in the world. She only talked to her parents on her birthday
anymore, and her only friend was Princess Serenity, and she hardly got a
chance to be with her. Now, though, she had Ranma and Usa. They told her
that they loved her. They comforted her when she needed them. They cared
about her. Suddenly she felt an arm go around her shoulders.
Looking up she saw Ranma. He was watching the Earth. Finally, he
spoke. "It's so peaceful here. With the Earth in the Sky, everything is
just so calm and relaxing." He removed his arm from her shoulder and
looked at her. "You shouldn't be sad, you know. There are people who care
for you. Not everyone is ignorant of the truth. You just have to look
for them. And remember, I'm always going to be here for you, if you need
me."
Saturn smiled at that. It was wonderful to have a family again.
"Thank-you, Ranma-Otoosan."
Ranma blinked in surprise. "Father? What brought that on? Why did
you call me father?"
"I haven't felt this since I last talked to my father. He always
made me feel safe and secure. Until I became Sailor Saturn, anyway. My
parents became very distant after that. They only talk to me once a year
now, and only from long distance."
Ranma felt horrible at that. It had taken him a long time to end
the harsh rumors about Hotaru at Crystal Tokyo. Now he learned that
Verika was in an even worse position. The song that was playing came to
an end and a new one was struck up. Ranma quickly made a choice.
"Verika, may I have this dance?" Ranma smiled as me saw feelings of joy
jump into her eyes.
"Yes, I would like that." Ranma took her arm and led her to the
dance floor. They reached the floor and Ranma took her in his arms. He
then began to lead her in one of the traditional dances that were used in
Crystal Tokyo. Verika let her head go to the clouds as new feelings
entered her body. She felt joy and happiness and love like she hadn't
felt in a long time. As the song neared the end, Ranma guided Verika over
to where Queen Serenity and Usa were talking.
***
Usa watched Ranma walk toward Verika and looked back at Queen
Serenity. "Your Majesty, I have a question for you."
"Go ahead, Usagi."
"Where has Sailor Solaris been? I haven't seen her since we got
here."
Serenity blinked a few times before responding. "What are you
speaking of? There is no Sailor Solaris. No one has ever tried to
harness the power of the Sun."
Now it was Usa's turn to blink. "You mean that you don't know? Naru
is working on a way to harness the power. She will succeed, too. I
suggest that you talk to her about it. With your help she could do so
quicker and safer."
Serenity just looked at her. "Who is this Naru you speak of?" she asked.
Usa realized Serenity didn't know the names the others would reborn
under. She decided this information would not harm things. "Naru Osaka is
the name Lady Patience will be reborn under in the future."
Serenity thought of about this. She knew that harnessing the power
of the Sun was dangerous. It was so powerful, there was a danger to try
and use its strength. But if some one could do it successfully, if they
could gain the power of the star, then they would be a great ally in the
future. And since she now knew what the future held, she knew that every
ally would be necessary. "I promise that I will speak with her tomorrow.
It should be interesting to listen to her response." (Naru Osaka.), she
thought. (What an interesting name. I shall have to remember that. I
wonder what names the other will be reborn under.)
Usa looked around the dance floor. She saw that Ranma and Verika
were sharing a dance. She smiled at the scene. Looking around the room
she noticed the other Senshi, who were almost exclusively watching her
husband. Most of them were looking at him with open hostility. Others
were giving him a look that she had seen many times before. (They are
going to get such a surprise if they try to put the moves on my husband.
They don't realize how many years that he's had putting up with girls like
that. This should be interesting.) She turned back to Ranma and gave him
a smile. As the song came to a close, Ranma led Verika over towards her.
They stopped just as the song ended. "It looks like you two had a good
time. Did you enjoy the dance, Verika?"
"I really liked it!" A sad look came over Verika's face. "I just
wish more people would ask me to dance. They're all so scared of what I
can do, that they stay away from me. But now I have Ranma-Otoosan and
you, Usa-Okaasan. Now I know everything will turn out all right!" She
gave the two of them a big smile.
Usa raised an eyebrow at Ranma at that statement. He gave her a
look that said play along. She looked down at Verika and smiled. "Of
course we'll be here for you. If you don't mind, though, I'd like to have
my husband for the next dance." She took her husband's hand and led Ranma
to the floor. A new tune was started and Ranma and Usa began to flow
across the floor. Moving with a grace not seen before, they soon captured
the attention of everyone at the ball. Everyone in the room had stopped
what they were doing to gaze at the two strangers' dance in a way never
seen before. Ranma led Usa through the same dance that they had shared on
their wedding night. It was slow paced, and yet had a rhythm that
quickened the pulse. It brought to mind fairy tales about how a single
dance brought forth a deep seeded love in the two that could conquer
anything and everything.
Jupiter and Venus, who had been gazing at Ranma all night had their
jaws on the floor and little hearts in their eyes as he guided his wife
through the beat. Each was scheming how to get Ranma to dance with them
like that when a turn brought Ranma to face them and a frown crossed his
face. Their eyes widened in a shock as they thought that he was saying
to each of them 'don't you dare try anything, since I WILL make you pay
for it later.' Another turn in the dance brought Usagi to face them, and
a very disapproving look was seen in her features. Her eyes were telling
them that if they so much as thought about trying anything with her
husband that she would have them punished severely.
While Usa was gazing on the two love sick (with bad taste) Senshi,
Ranma had a good view of Mars. (I know why Eowyn is upset with me. I
think I'll take her aside at tomorrow's practice and explain a few things
to her. She needs to know why things are being done. I can't afford to
have her on my case the entire time about something that is for the best
in the future.)
Yet more dances were shared by the Immortal couple, and food was
eaten, and discussions had. Eventually the ball came to an end, and
everyone retired for another day to be seen.
***
Ranma walked up to the door of Kei's room. He stopped right before
barging in. (I should be polite. It would not be a good idea just to
barge in but... Oh, hell, I'm going in. I gave them fair warning not to
be late to practice. It's time to pay the piper.) Ranma opened the door
and stepped into the room. Glancing around he noticed two things. First
was Kei and Yuri in the same bed. (No surprise there.) The second was a
balcony door. He walked over to that and opened it up. Looking down he
saw the spring in the practice field. He looked over at the girls in the
lawn and waved to them. Verika, Juno, and Arielwyn returned the wave.
Eowyn ignored it and Sylre had her back toward him as she talked to
Serenity. He turned and headed back into the room. (Well this isn't
going to be to hard.) Ranma walked up to the bed and looked down upon
the two Outer Senshi.
Shrugging his shoulders, he grabbed each by an arm and threw them out the
door into the spring below. Curses filled the air right up until the Ki
blast hit the pool causing the water to become steam. Ranma jumped into
the fog and released a number of blows upon each Senshi and threw them
out toward the others, making sure that they landed a few feet in front
of the others. Ranma walked out of the fog and moved to stand in front
of his students.
Eventually Kei and Yuri recovered from their beating and turned to
face the Grand Master of the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts. Before
either could complain Ranma spoke to them calmly. "I told you to be here
at Sunrise or there would be a price to pay. If you are late tomorrow
then it will be much worse. Now Neptune, transform." She did so, and
Ranma pointed at the spring. "Fill it back up."
"WHAT!!!"
"I said fill it back up. If you don't, then when you are late
tomorrow your going to hit dirt and rock, not water. Which would you
prefer."
Neptune grinned at him. "Of course, Sensei. DEEP SUBMERGE!" Of
course, she aimed right at Ranma, who jumped over it and came down in
front of her. The water released in the attack went straight into the
spring, refilling it. Neptune didn't get off easy for her disobedience,
though.
"KATCHU TENSHIN AMAGURIKEN!" Ranma released close to a thousand
punches into her face and stomach in less than a second. There were
three problems with this, though. The first was that that amount of blows
sent her flying into the castle wall, which she promptly went through
landing in the kitchen and spilling some sort of batter on her. Of
course, since she was completely knocked out before she had hit the wall,
this didn't bother her one bit. The second was the fact that Ranma
created a sonic boom that destroyed three fourths of the windows in the
Palace. The third was the fact that it caused Kei to attack him.
"DIIIIIIIIEEE!!!!" Ranma responded to the threat with the quickest
thing that came to mind since he was now at full combat readiness.
"HIRYU SHOTEN HAAAA!!!" The tornado he created out of thin air
promptly sent Uranus right back into the spring that had been refilled
moments before by her lover's attack. Ranma turned back to the others
who were starring at him in shock. "Well, would anyone else like to
attack me?" He looked around and saw no responses. "In that case let
us begin today's lesson." And thus began the Sailor Senshi's first day
of training in the Martial Arts.
***
Usa and Queen Serenity sat in the Council chamber once more. This
time, they were waiting for some one, though. Finally, after long moments
of silence, there came a timid knock at the door. Usa got up and opened
the door. There was the one they awaited. She smiled at the young woman.
"Come in, Lady Patience. We've been waiting for you." Usa took a good
look at her. She had chestnut brown hair down to her shoulder blades and
in waves. Her eyes were a greenish color, but had a scared look in them.
Her first thought was no self-confidence. She was right.
In a quiet voice, Lady Patience addressed the Queen. "Your Majesty
wished to see me?"
Serenity gave the young noble a gentle smile. "Yes, my Lady, I have
heard that you have succeeded at harnessing the power of the Sun. Is this
true?"
To say that she was shocked was an understatement. She had no idea
that anyone, let alone the Queen, knew that she had been working on such a
thing. Once more she spoke in a quiet voice, but this time it was very
stuttered. "Y, Y, Yes, M..m.. My Queen."
"And who did you form the link to?"
"My self, My Queen."
Serenity smiled. "Well, then, we can't let that link go to waste,
can we. In a few weeks we will hold the ceremony, and create the new
Senshi, Sailor Solaris."
Fear entered Patience's eyes. "My Queen, I am not worthy. I
couldn't hope to do you justice as one of your Senshi!"
"Nonsense. You will do just fine. All you need is some training."
These were fate filled words, however. At that moment there was a loud
boom and every window in the conference chamber shattered. Serenity was
immediately on her feet. "Come on, we have to go find out what that
was."
Usa, however, was very calm. "My guess is that it came from Ranma.
Come on, let's go check the practice field."
They moved through the halls with a quiet haste only to come across
a confusing practice field. Ranma had the girls in the middle doing their
first Kata. He was walking around correcting their mistakes. There was
a group of healers over the injured Kei tending her injuries. There was
another group of healers tending Sailor Neptune who was stretched out by
a giant hole in the wall leading to the kitchen. Ranma noticed them and
after talking to his students went up to speak to the trio.
"Sorry about the mess, Your Majesty. Neptune and Kei needed a small
lesson on why you never attack me unless I tell you to. I didn't hurt
them too badly though. They'll be as good as new in a couple of days,
and maybe even eager to learn something. And if they aren't, well, I
suppose a repeat lesson would be in order. Of course, you realize that
if I have to give repeat lessons for discipline than they are going to be
a whole lot worse. I'll actually stop holding back. I think 3,000 blows
in less than a second to the stomach and face followed by a few dozen Ki
blasts would make for a painful, if effective, lesson, don't you Your
Majesty?" The group had started walking toward the Senshi while Ranma was
in the middle of his speech. The Senshi stopped when they heard Ranma
tell the Queen what his next discipline method would be. Lady Patience
had a look of fright in her eyes as Ranma described what he was planning
to do. Usa just sighed and shook her head while mumbling about going too
easy on them. She knew that Ranma could think of a lot worse ways to
handle them. After all, pain did fade after some time. Embarrassment,
however, would last a lifetime.
Queen Serenity stared at Ranma in a slight shock. (He must be
kidding about that. There is no way he would do something that extreme in
order to get them trained.) Then she looked into his eyes and saw how
serious he was. She swallowed and thought back to the future that Ranma
and Usa had lain before her. If it meant the survival of everything, her
Senshi could survive some brutal training. She spoke loudly enough so all
of the Senshi could hear her. "Ranma, do what ever you have to in order
to get them in shape. You have my complete authority to do whatever you
want with them as long as it can be justified as training. If they step
out of line, discipline them in whatever way you think is necessary. That
includes my daughter. She needs this training as much as the rest of them
do."
Ranma smiled. "Thank-you Queen Serenity. However, we will need to
go to Earth soon so I can get in their conditioning."
She raised an eyebrow at that. "Why do you need to go to Earth?"
"I need a swamp, a pack of wolves, and a number of large heavy
objects for them to carry. Also Earth's heavier gravity will be useful.
Training them in it instead of the Moon's lighter gravity would be better."
"Ranma do you not think that is a little extreme?" asked Queen
Serenity.
"Nah. That's going to be easy. Heck, I did it when I was eight.
They should be fine. It's not like I'm going to throw them in a pit of
starving cats." said Ranma. "On second thought, maybe that would be for
the best. Give them the Neko-ken training. Of course, I'd have to
hog-tie them first so they couldn't fight back, but.... no, it would
probably take too long to break them of the fear. Break... yeah, that's
it. I'll give them the Bakusai Tenketsu training. They'll improve a lot
with that."
Queen Serenity raised an eyebrow at that. "What is this Bakusai
Tenketsu training?"
"Oh, well you tie them up, hang them up from a tree with only one
hand in front and only one finger of that hand and smash them with one ton
boulders until their skin gets so tough that it doesn't hurt anymore. They
spend that time looking for the Breaking Point. When they can find it all
they have to do is force a small splinter of Ki from their finger into it
and the boulder shatters. It should only take a week or two." The Senshi
blanched at the thought of some one going through such training. "Or I
could force them to learn how to throw a Ki blast."
"How do you do that?"
"I just start throwing a bunch at them until they pick up how it's
done. Hey, it's the way I learned. We'll need to be on Earth for that
too, by the way."
"I see. Well, we will be going to Earth for our yearly Royal
meeting in two months. Will that be soon enough? I would only need them
for a week. You can train them however you wish for three weeks after
that. Will that do?"
"It's a bit far away, and a bit short on time, but I can do it.
I'll find some way for them to get in the training up here until that
time. I know, do you think you could get me a pile of rice about knee
high? I'll have them move it one grain at a time across the field while
running at top speed. Not as good as the wolves will be, but I guess it
will hold them for two months."
Queen Serenity smiled at that. Her Senshi were not only going to
improve, but get a lesson in humility. "That shouldn't be a problem.
I'll have it placed next to the east wall before your practice begins
tomorrow morning."
"Thank-you Your Majesty."
She looked at the other Senshi. She slightly pushed Lady Patience
forward. "My Senshi, I have a joyous announcement to make. Lady Patience
here as discovered a safe, reliable way to draw strength from the Sun.
In honor of that feat, I have deemed it that she will become the first
Senshi of the Sun, known to all as Sailor Solaris. I expect you all to
make her feel welcome."
Princess Serenity walked up to her and took her in a hug. "Welcome
to our team, Patience. We are all glad to have you." The others walked
up and began to congratulate her. Ranma meanwhile headed toward the
builder team that had arrived to fix the hole in the Kitchen wall. He
selected six heavy blocks of stone and carried them back to the girls.
When he got there he broke up the joyous gathering.
"Sorry to rain on your parade, but you've got a work out to do.
Lady Patience, if you will join Her Majesty and Usa over there, I will
speak with you about your training in a few minutes."
"Yes, Lord Ranma."
"Just Ranma, I hate formalities."
"Yes, then, Ranma." The three women moved off to the side. Ranma
turned back to the Senshi who had already lined up again. He smiled.
"Good, I'm glad to see that you know what to do. Now then, we are
going to begin your strength training." He patted the blocks of stone
next to him. "These are going to be tied to your backs and supported by
your arms. You will be running laps around the Palace grounds. You will
start at the east wall and run toward me. When you reach the spring you
will swim across it, not run around it. I have chosen blocks that each of
you can handle. You will do ten laps each. I will be counting, so don't
try to cheat out of any. Now step forward when I call your name, and you
can begin."
*Four hours later*
Ranma smiled as Verika jumped down off of the wall to do a somewhat
wobbly landing. She had improved a lot in the past half- hour. He
decided that they had been pushed enough for one day and decided to call
it quits. He needed them to be able to move tomorrow, he was planning on
starting their defensive and speed training. "Alright girls, you can stop
now! You're done for the day. Go get cleaned up and something to eat.
I'll see you all back here at dawn tomorrow." He walked over to where
Queen Serenity and Usa were. Lady Patience had passed out somewhere
between the first and second hour and had yet to revive. He glanced at
her prone form and sighed. At least she knew what she had gotten into and
he knew where to start her training. Ranma knelt at her side and placed a
hand on her forehead. Running a thin stream of Ki into her body he forced
her to awaken and helped her to stand. Lady Patience stood up and gazed
at Ranma. He let her go and stood back, shocked by the terror that he saw
in her eyes. He didn't think that she would have that sort of reaction to
him.
The Lady turned toward her Queen. "Your Majesty do I have to go
through with this? I am sure that you can find someone else much better
suited for this position. I wouldn't last a day with that sort of
training." Her voice was quivering with fear.
Queen Serenity sighed and gazed at her newest Senshi. "Yes, Lady
Patience, you do have to go through with it. Don't worry, though, you'll
be fine. Ranma won't push you any harder than he knows that you can
handle." The Queen could see the look of disbelief in the other woman's
eyes. She sighed again and wondered how long it would take to get her
self-confidence up.
*Two days later*
The Senshi stood at attention as Lady Patience walked slowly down
the hall toward Queen Serenity. Even with the ceremony for bringing the
newest of the Sailor Senshi to life, Ranma had not given them the day off.
He had talked the Queen into holding the ceremony in the evening so that
he could have the morning to train them. Well, he thought of it as
training. To all of the Senshi except Verika, it was torture. Verika
would have agreed with them except she was sure that Ranma-Otoosan had
their best interest in mind. She had over heard a conversation that he
was having with Eowyn after their first day of training. As Lady Patience
walked toward the Queen, Verika thought back to what she had heard.
*Flashback*
Ranma walked toward Eowyn as she started to get up after the jumping
practice. He ignored the glare she gave him and grabbed her arm. He
pulled her away from the others completely ignoring her protests. "Eowyn,
be quiet. We need to talk about some things. That is, I'm going to talk,
and you are going to listen. What I am going to tell you is NOT to be
repeated to anyone else. You can discuss this with only myself, my wife,
Queen Serenity, or either Lady Pluto. Do I make myself clear?" Still
glaring at him she gave an affirmative nod. "Good. I know you don't like
what I'm doing to you and the others. That's not really your problem with
me, though, is it? The real reason that you are being so hostile to me is
because of the fact that I'm doing this to the Princess. Am I right?"
Once again she nodded, only a bit more slowly this time. "Well, I've got
news for you, this HAS to happen."
Eowyn finally spoke to her torturer (as she thought of him). "And
just why is that?"
"Because in time the Silver Millennium is going to fall."
"Fall! What do you mean it's going to fall!?" , asked/shouted Eowyn.
"Just what I said, it will fall someday." said Ranma. "Ask Sailor
Pluto and Queen Serenity what the consequences will be to the star system
if it doesn't. And remember something, Eowyn, nothing lasts forever."
"Believe me, I will do just that." said Eowyn in an icy tone.
"Good. Anyway, the Princess, her Senshi, and a few others are going
to be reborn on Earth as the last power of the Queen is used to send you
into the future. The mantle of Sailor Moon is going to be thrust upon the
Princess whether you like it or not."
"I will never let that happen!"
"You won't have a choice. You will remember nothing of this time or
who you are. More importantly, no one will remember who the Princess is.
She will fight many battles and be put at risk of death numerous times.
This training is to make sure that she survives those trials that face her
in the future. We can not allow her to be at any risk, can we."
"No, of course not." Ranma could see the understanding enter her
eyes. Now it was time to make sure that she was on his side for this.
"I am not saying that Princess Serenity is going to join you in any
fights right now. What is going to happen is that when she is reborn and
her memories are returned to her, she will have the knowledge of how to
fight and she will survive. That is why I am pushing her so hard now. Do
you understand?"
"Yes I do. I don't like it, but I understand why you are doing
this. I will not go against you unless it is truly capable of harming
her."
"I will not push her any harder than I know that she is capable of.
Do not worry about that."
Verika quietly slipped away from the two to think about what was
said by Ranma.
*End Flashback*
Verika's attention came back to the ceremony as a bright light
surrounded Lady Patience. The light glowed brightly and seemed to seep
into her body. A symbol flared on her forehead in the shape of the Sun.
A new Senshi was being born. She smiled as she listened to her repeat the
Oath that they all took.
"To serve with out fear
To guard with my life
To protect the House at any cost
To obey the will of Serenity
To defend justice for the rest of my life
I do hereby swear my loyalty
I do hereby accept the responsibility
I do hereby accept the power
I do hereby become your Senshi."
As the Oath was repeated, her clothes changed. A skirt of bright
red color with orange trim formed with a white top. Bright red and orange
bows adorned her outfit. The Senshi of the Sun was born. And another
ball was held.
*Six weeks later*
Ranma smiled as the Senshi completed the latest Kata that he had
taught them. They were all very quick learners. (After the conditioning
I can start teaching each of them a specialized style. That will be
useful. I'd love to see what Uranus can do after I teach her what I know
of the Jurai swordplay.) Ranma motioned them to line up again. After
they did so he smiled. "I'm glad to see how much you've all improved over
the past two months. You are all much farther along than I thought you
would be. As you know, we are traveling to Earth tomorrow for the annual
meeting between the Royal Families. You will have one week off. I expect
you to keep practicing, however. After that week is up, we will begin
your conditioning exercises. They are going to be brutal, I'll tell you
that now. However, once we are done you will be in top physical condition.
Then I will begin you on your specialized training. Each of your training
will be different. Also, before we begin your specialized training we
will have your first sparring session while in Senshi forms. I am sure
that you will notice the difference in your power levels almost
immediately. You are now dismissed." The Senshi headed for the wing of
the Palace that held their quarters as Ranma turned to go see Queen
Serenity. He was stopped by a small cough, however. Turning he saw
Verika looking at him. "What is it Verika? Can I help you with
something?"
"I'm just wondering why you are doing this?"
"Doing what?"
"Teaching us to fight. All you said was that it had to be done.
Why does it have to be done, though?" She had a slightly puzzled
expression on her face.
Ranma stared at her for a while. He was debating with himself over
whether he should tell her anything or not. (I really can't bring myself
to lie to her. She's become almost a daughter to me during my time here.
She really has made the time here brighter for me, but I don't want to
hurt her. AAAUUUUGGG WHY DOES THIS ALWAYS HAPPEN TO ME!! Oh, well, I
guess I can tell her some) "Verika, the time is coming when the Silver
Millennium is going to end. There is nothing that can be done to prevent
it. There are two ways it can happen, though. In one way a great
darkness will come, and while the Silver Millennium is destroyed the
people survive, are reborn in the future in new bodies, and remember it.
Many years from now a new Silver Millennium will come about and be led by
the House of Serenity. In the other future, a great civil war will break
out and engulf the Solar System in flames. In this future, no one would
survive on almost all of the planets. We had a choice to make when we
came back. We either stop the evil, but loose everyone in a civil war, or
we allow the evil to win for now, and we make sure that everyone is
prepared for the future. I am sure that you can see which one we chose."
(Oops, that was more than I meant to say. Well, too late to take it back.
When will my mouth stop getting me into trouble?) He looked at Verika and
could see fright in her eyes. Ranma knew that he shouldn't have told her
that much, but it was far too late for that. All he could do now was try
and make her feel better. "Hey Verika, don't cry. I mean, it's not like
everyone is just going to up and die. We still have time. And besides,
you will see everyone in the future too. You're not loosing them. Or me,
or Usa either. I promise you that I will be there when your memories
awaken. I always keep my promises."
Verika looked up at Ranma with some hope entering her eyes. He
almost laughed with joy at the sight. "Do you really mean that,
Ranma-Otoosan? Will you and Usa-Okaasan really be here for me always?"
Ranma knelt down and took her into an embrace. Whispering quietly
in her ear, he put all of her fears to rest. "Yes, the two of us will
always be here when you need us." Verika clung to Ranma as though he was
the only stable thing in the universe. She just held him as her shoulders
shook ever so slightly. Ranma kept her wrapped up in his arms for some
time before finally pushing back a bit. Looking at her he smiled. "How
about we go get some lunch. I'm sure that the others are waiting for us."
He took her arm and led her inside."
*That night*
Ranma and Usa were sitting in their quarters discussing what they
were going to do once on Earth. Ranma was stretched upon the couch as he
watched his wife brush her hair. He smiled as a few strands got out of
place and tangled with a few others in the middle of her back. He got
up and went over to his wife and gently put the hair back into place for
her, so she could tie it in with the rest. Usa turned around and smiled
at her husband. "What do you think about going to Earth tomorrow, dear?"
"I'm looking forward to it. I can't wait to practice my Katas in
normal gravity again. It'll also be nice to meet Endymion for the first
time. I forgot to at that first ball. And the rest of his family, too.
I'm still trying to come up with a way to get him and his bodyguards off
of Earth without telling them everything. Can you think of anything?"
"Well, how about we have Queen Serenity offer to let you train
them? That would basically give you free reign over all of them and get
them out of Beryl's reach."
Ranma thought about it for a moment and then shook his head. "No,
that won't work. They're supposed to be the best-trained people on Earth.
There's no way that they'll feel that they need any training. It won't
work."
"Ranma, Ranma, it will work. After all, you are training the Senshi
here, and they are supposed to be the strongest in the Solar System. If
you can train them, then you can train Endymion's bodyguards. It
shouldn't be that hard for Serenity to talk him into letting you train
them."
"I suppose so, but I really don't want to train more people. It was
bad enough getting the Senshi to obey what I tell them to do. It's going
to be even harder to get these guys to do it. More importantly, I'm going
to have to listen to them complain about how I'm pushing their lovers in
the training. They aren't going to like conditioning, I can tell you that
much already."
"Did you like your conditioning?"
"Of course not. Being chased through a swamp by a pack of wolves
while carrying Oyaji who was on a couch when I was eight was not fun. But
it was better than the Neko-Ken training. That was living hell."
"I know, love, you've said so a number of times over the years. I
still can't believe some of the stories that you've told me. Not just
about you're early training, but of what happened before your first
marriage. I know that you're strong, but to be able to do what you did
when you were only 16 is incredible. It rivals some of what my mother and
her friends did, and they were granted the powers to do so. You had to
train to get your abilities."
"Yeah, going against super powerful martial artists, isolated
Chinese war lords, and a Phoenix was pretty tough. But I always got
stronger. Every new challenge I faced caused me to grow in skill. I
wouldn't be where I am now if it weren't for that. The things I faced
after I thought I lost you were even worse than those, however." Ranma
sighed and his eyes grew distant. Thoughts of past battles went through
his mind, and memories of past pain grew in him again. He knew that he
had Usa back now, and that he wasn't going to loose her like he thought
that he almost had, but the pain stayed. When ever he thought back to the
time when it was just him and Setsuna his heart ached with a slow pain,
one that could drive a person insane.
Usa saw her husband's eyes glaze over and pain enter them. She
could hardly picture what it must have been like for her Ranma. (Now that
I think about it, Ranma never did tell me what he and Setsuna had done
when I was in cryostasis. I wish I knew.)
Ranma saw his wife's gaze deepen for a moment. Coming out of his
mood, he walked over and sat down on the table that she was at. "What's
the matter Usa-chan? You look a bit out of it."
"Oh, I was just wondering what you and Setsuna did while I was in
the cryostasis chamber. You never told me."
Ranma gave her his best smile. "You just have to ask, you know.
We've been pretty busy since we got you out that there hasn't been much
time. Do you want to hear?" Usa nodded her head and looked at him.
Ranma took her hand and led her over to the couch where they both sat
down. "Well, I guess I should start with right after we sealed the Gates
of Time." And so Ranma began to tell her a tale of pain, joy, hardships,
heroism, terror, good, and evil. He told her of how he and Setsuna
battled to protect the Gates, but lost. He spoke of the hundreds of years
of pain that he went through at the thought of never seeing her again, and
how he held on to his sanity only by Setsuna's need of him. He weaved a
tale of grand adventure on a small planet out side the known galaxy where
the two of them aided in overthrowing a tyrannical empire that was
destroying the world through its own greed. He told her about another
confederation of planets that they came across that was in a war against
an unknown species, and how they aided the people in defending their
home. Ranma spoke of times when in the heat of battle Setsuna came to
his rescue, or he came to hers, or Nabiki directed the Wild Rabbit to both
their rescues. He spoke of overthrowing dictatorships and enemies that he
couldn't even describe. He spoke of all these things and had Usa's
undivided attention the entire time. Eventually he came to the creation
of the Void, and of the long search to find something.
Usagi leaned her head against her husband's shoulder as they sat on
the couch. Ranma's arm was around her as he grew quiet. He just wanted
to feel his wife, sense her presence, and know that everything was all
right. He felt like he had finally exorcised the last demons hidden in
his soul. Usa chose this moment of peace to speak. "Ranma, you've been
through so much with out me. You had so many adventures with Setsuna. I
wish that I could have been a part of them. I wish I could have been with
you, to experience everything that happened."
Ranma closed his eyes and gently placed his cheek against the top of
his wife's head. "No, you don't. What happened during those years was
not fun. It hurt me, a lot. The thought of having lost you had cut
through my heart. There were so many times that I wished I had died.
So many times I tried to kill myself in hopes of having lost my curse so
I wouldn't have to bear it any more. You want nothing of that life,
Usagi, trust me."
"That should be my choice to make, Ranma, not yours. You can't deny
my feelings, not like you did so long ago."
"I know. But I can still be glad that you never had to go through
that much pain."
Usa raised her head and looked at him. "There may be a way, Ranma.
Remember the gift of Luna? We can share thoughts with each other. I
remember mother telling me how Luna showed her images of herself after the
battle with Beryl to restore her memories. We could do the same, you
know. You could let me see your memories."
"No, I don't want that. I don't want you to know what it was like.
Please, don't Usa. Let it rest. It's all in the past and we can't change
it. Please just let it go."
"Ranma, please, let me in. I can help you with the pain. I can aid
you in letting go. Don't block me out. I want to help you, you know
that."
Ranma gazed at his wife for sometime. He knew that she wanted to
help him, to take away his pain. Telling the story had gotten rid of the
demons, but the ghosts were still there. Maybe this would be a way to rid
himself of them. (But I don't want to give them to Usa. I know she's
strong, but can she take it?) He looked into her eyes and saw something
he didn't like. She was determined to try and do this that much Ranma was
sure of. He sighed and resigned himself to this fate. "All right,
Usa-chan, we'll try and do this. I don't know if it will work, but we
will give it a shot." Just her smile as he said that was enough to
brighten his whole day. The two of them closed their eyes and concentrated
on each other.
The Crescent Moon on Usa's forehead glowed and a thin light formed
between her and Ranma. Within a split second thousands of images passed
between the two of them. Usa saw the battles, the trials, and the
victories of Ranma. She saw the bathroom on the Wild Rabbit as he tried
to kill himself by cutting his wrists open. She heard his cry of anguish
at her loss.
Ranma, meanwhile, saw the darkness. He saw a place where the eyes
were closed, and the mind active. A never-ending sleep without dreams.
He could sense time flowing by him, but whether it was forward or backward
he couldn't tell. He saw a crack of light and felt pain in his eyes, and
then it was gone.
Their eyes opened as one. For a moment they had been linked and
shared every experience that the other had since they parted ways. They
had been as good as a single being in that one moment. Then it was over
and the images faded into memories. And the memories faded into half
remembered events. Ranma reached up and brushed a strand of pink hair out
of his wife's face. He drew her close and felt her soft lips meet his.
He marveled at how soft and gentle they were, like silk upon the skin.
They stayed like that for some time before Ranma drew back. He looked at
her again and then gently picked her up into his arms. The lights turned
off as he carried her into their bedroom.
***
It was the next day, and everyone who was going to Earth had
gathered in the Starport. Queen Serenity and her daughter were there, of
course, along with the Moon cat advisors, Luna and Artemis. The Sailor
Senshi were there, including Sailor Pluto. She had been training with
Setsuna for the past two months. Ranma, Usa, and Setsuna had gathered as
well. Currently they were talking with Queen Serenity.
"So you see, Your Majesty, we think that if we can get the Four
Generals off of Earth we can prevent Beryl from corrupting them. We also
want Endymion to come back since he could use the training too." Usa
smiled at her grandmother. Anyone who looked over could see the
resemblance in their faces.
Ranma grunted, however. "Yeah, he could use a LOT of training.
>From what I recall the only thing he was good at was throwing roses and
making speeches."
Queen Serenity raised an eyebrow at that, but chose to ignore it.
It wasn't something she was sure she needed to know.. "You do realize
that the Four Generals are the best trained troops on Earth? It's going
to take a lot to convince King Gremain to let you take the Generals and
train them, right."
Ranma simply shrugged his shoulders. "So I'll challenge them to a
fight and beat them up a bit. It won't be all that hard. I did take out
eight of your ten Senshi at one time, didn't I? It shouldn't be all that
hard to take out the four of them, you know."
"Are you sure that's a good idea, Ranma? Beating his guards up
wouldn't exactly make a good impression on the King. It would probably be
a better idea just to talk him into letting us take them along." Usa
looked at her husband.
Ranma just shook his head. "No, after they see a single one of my
training sessions with the Senshi they're going to be itching for a fight.
I'm not exactly thinking of them being the sensible type. I suggest that
we prepare for a challenge. I'll make quick work of them just to prove
how much training they really need." It was at that point that the signal
was given to begin boarding the transport. The delegation from the Moon
boarded the starship and took their seats for the short journey to Earth.
***
Ranma and Usa stood at the back of the group that was going to get
off of the transport. It had touched down moments before and everyone was
preparing to disembark. Queen Serenity and her daughter were in the front
of the group. Flanking and right behind them were the Inner Senshi.
After that came the Outer Senshi, followed by the Queen's advisors
(non-cat). After all of them were the two time travelers. The hatch
opened to let everyone off and Ranma smiled. He put his arm around his
wife's waist as they walked out of the ship. "Look at that blue sky and
that green ground. The air is so fresh. It's been far, far too many
years since we were back on Earth, hasn't it been, Usa?"
"It sure has, Ranma. Do you think that they will let us go to the
beach before we head back. I would love to swim in the ocean once more
and to feel the sand under my feet." Usa, like Ranma, was smiling at the
beauty of their home planet.
Ranma got a wicked grin on his face. "Why don't we make a training
exercise out of it. We can have the Senshi swim to China and back to help
build stamina and toughness of skin. What do you say?"
Usa shook her head at the thought. "No, Ranma, it's much too early
to try and have them do that. We need to get in as much training as we
can, and we don't want to risk one of them drowning because they get a
cramp and can't swim anymore."
Ranma pouted a bit before snapping to military attention which was
drilled into him at Starfleet. Usa looked up, and seeing King Gremain she
too stood tall and proud. She watched as the King came over to her
grandmother and gave her a brotherly hug. The corner of her lips turned
up at the cute shyness that was coming from her mother in the face of
Endymion. She smiled as fond memories entered her mind of when she was
younger and of days that were filled with love and joy. She felt Ranma
nudge her slightly and looked at him.
"Over there are the Generals. We really need to get them trained.
None of them have power levels that can be of use to us right now. Do you
think we can get away with this?"
"We have to. We don't want to loose them like so many others have
been. Don't worry about it, Queen Serenity will make sure that everything
will work out just fine. Oh, she's doing introductions. We better be
ready."
They watched silently as Queen Serenity introduced Lady Patience to
the Royal family of Earth. She was still quiet and demure despite the
intense training that Ranma had been putting her through. He had been
trying everything to build her confidence up and to have her start to
trust herself, but to no avail. She still thought that she was worth less
than everyone else was and deferred to almost anyone. Ranma sighed
slightly as he thought of how different she was from her future self.
(I have no clue what it's going to take to get her self -confidence up.
I can't teach her any Ki techniques until she gets some sort of emotion.
I can't believe that anyone could feel so down about themselves as Solaris
does.) He glanced up as he heard his name spoken by the Queen. Ranma and
Usa stepped forward and approached Their Majesties. Ranma gave a sweeping
bow as Usagi curtsied with grace born from living in the Palace.
Queen Serenity gestured to the two of them. "This is Ranma and
Usagi Saotome, relatives of mine from the future. Sailor Pluto brought
them so they could teach my Senshi how to fight."
King Gremain's eyebrow twitched at that. "Someone sent to teach
your Senshi how to fight? They are already more powerful than my Generals
are. I do not believe that such a thing is possible."
"Never the less, Your Majesty, Ranma alone beat all of them in
battle, without using any magic. And they were powered up when the fight
started. He defeated them quickly and effectively. Perhaps you would
care to have him train your Generals in his ways of fighting. I am sure
that it could be of use to them."
"I would prefer to see how good he is with my own eyes, Serenity.
You speak highly of him, but circumstances can effect the outcome of any
battle. Perhaps a small demonstration would be in order? What do you
think, young Ranma?"
Ranma was actually able to keep from breaking out laughing when the
King called him young. He did, however, smile slightly at the comment.
"I would be glad to show you, Your Majesty. I was hoping I would get a
chance to test the Senshi in Earth's gravity. Just decide on a time, and
we will be ready."
"How would right now sound? There is plenty of room over on the
east side of the space port. We are planning to put a new landing pad
in there. Will it be sufficient?"
Ranma looked to where the King had indicated and nodded in
approval. There was enough room so no one but the Senshi would get hurt.
And probably the Generals too. "That will be fine. Shall we go?" He
gave the King of the Earth a wicked grin.
To be continued.........