Insertion

 Part 51

 An old friend returns

++++++++++++

 Ranma turned away as the surface of the planet below him changed from a
dull gray, into a lush green and brown. The power of the Silver Imperium
Crystal washed over the entire planet, giving it new life as it enveloped
it completely, cleaning the air and water of the debris that still hung
in the air from the fallout of the starship's weapons. He chuckled to
himself and looked out into space. 

 "Where are we going?" asked Ranma.

 Carrot's smirk widened into a grin and he nodded into the distance.
"Just to see if an old acquaintance is still around. I doubt it, but
we'll never be sure until we check it out for ourselves."

 With that, they vanished in a ball of light.

++++++++++++

 Ryoga Hibiki stood outside the former headquarters of the ruling class
superhumans that had once held the entire planet in an iron grip. "Well,
goodbye." He smirked to himself as he turned towards the people standing
around him. 

 Beside him all of the senshi stood watching, Akane had her arms crossed
over her chest beside them, with Mamoru frowning in a sort of
contemplative way.

 "Destroy it," said Usagi calmly.

 They senshi nodded, each forming a ball of power in their hands. Akane
and Mamoru hung back and waited patiently as the energy from the women
slammed into the side of the building, creating an explosion that
shattered the lower levels. The building imploded, crumbling into the
ground. 

 "What now?" asked Ryoga as he looked at them for a moment with a sort of
sad and wistful look about him.

 "We rebuild," said Usagi. "I'll return to my village, and we can begin
from there."

 "Right," said the man as he turned and looked off into the distance. 

 "What about you?" asked Akane.

 "You're letting me go?" he said in confusion.

 "We don't have any way to hold you," replied Mamoru. "Besides, you were
a slave. I don't think you're any threat to us."

 "I've got a lot to answer for," replied the man as he watched the
beginning of the sunset. "Without Chibi-Usa or Ranma as an anchor, I'll
start getting lost again. This time, maybe I can do something. Metallia
is still out there, and Ranma isn't around to destroy those youma she
keeps sending here."

 The women all nodded at this. Mamoru turned away, not giving any
indication of caring about the man.

 "What about you Akane?" asked Usagi. "Are you going to stay with us? You
did say that you would leave once this ended."

 The woman smiled at her old friend and hung her head. "I can still feel
him inside me you know. That power I used...it's still there. I have a
feeling...that it was only the beginning of something much bigger."

 "You have no idea," said a new voice from behind them.

 Everyone whirled around, only to find an odd looking figure standing
behind them. 

 It was a man in his early twenties. He had a plain looking brown cloak
and baggy clothes. In his hand was a wooden staff with several jewels on
it. He smirked at them, his eyes almost completely shut as he brushed his
shoulder length dark violet hair out of his eyes with a gloved hand.

 "Who are you?" asked Usagi as she stepped up to him and frowned.
 
 "Me? No one in particular; Just a wandering priest really," said the man
casually. "I was attracted by all the commotion, and thought I'd come see
what the ruckus was about."

 "A priest?" said Akane as she looked at him and blinked.

 Hotaru moved up to the front of the group. There was something about
this man that bothered her. "What do you want?"

 "Want?" said the man as he arched his eyebrow at her. "It's just a
little unusual to see such a large group of people standing out in the
open these days, especially dressed like you are. I was curious more than
anything else."

 Usagi frowned at Hotaru and gently pulled her back. "Ranma Saotome is
dead."

 "Is he?" said the man as he smirked at her. "Hmmm. That is good news, I
suppose." His voice hinted that he knew more than he was letting on. "In
any case, I'll be seeing you around. I doubt if things are going to get
any less interesting."

 "Right," muttered Akane as she looked him up and down for a moment.
There was something familiar about the way she felt when she was near
him.

 "What do you mean? Less interesting?" asked Usagi.

 "Well, I can't really be sure, but I've got a feeling that evil is far
from vanquished. It could be right under your nose." He turned and
started walking away from them.

 "Wait!" called Akane as she jogged after him with a determined look in
her eyes. "Who are you?"

 "Who am I? I told you," he replied calmly as he paused and glanced back
at her with his eyes opened a little wider. The woman gasped as she saw
the golden irises that looked back at her. "If it's a name your
interested in, you can call me...Xellos." He turned back to walking again
and left them.

 Akane frowned at this and looked back at her friends. "Goodbye."

 "Wait! Where are you going?" called Mamoru as he realized she wasn't
moving back towards him.

 "After him! He knows something!" said Akane as she started jogging away.

 The Senshi simply watched as she moved away into the horizon.

 Ryoga stepped away as well, moving towards the sunset. "I should get
going too."

 "Wait! We could use all the help we can get," said Sailor Mars as she
stepped towards him tentatively. "We've got a lot to rebuild."

 "I'm sorry. I wish I could, but I'll get lost before I'm of any use to
you. I've been cursed my whole life, Ranma was just the worst of my
curses."

 The women looked at him in confusion.

 "Maybe I can help!" said Usagi as she clutched the crystal to her bust
and looked at him sadly.

 "When I think I deserve it, I'll take you up on that," replied the man
as he smiled at her and continued on his way.

 "We should go home too," said Mercury as she looked at her companions
and sighed. 

 "She's right. It's getting late, and the village is probably worried
about us."

 "They knew we were dead the instant we left, they won't be expecting us
back," said Venus. She had been relatively quiet so far.

 Sailor Moon smiled at them all. "You go on ahead, I've got something I
want to do, before I return home."

 "But..." said Mamoru in shock.

 "Ranma is gone, there is nothing I cannot handle alone out here at the
moment," she said as she smiled at him. "Don't worry."

 Reluctantly, he nodded. "I see. Tell them I said hello," said the man as
he ushered the girls away."

+++++++++++++++

 Usagi walked for an hour through the ruined streets. The shattered
concrete was now teeming with life. Small animals roamed about, and plant
life seemed to cover almost every surface that it could cling too.

 It was the center of Tokyo, a place that once was the home to buildings
that threatened to touch the stars in her mind. Now, it was little more
than a pile of stones and rubble. She gasped at what came into view as
she moved over to where she had last seen her oldest and best friends.

 The place where they had died, instead of a few piles of stones, she
found something she had definitely not been expecting. Six statues, all
of them proud and tall, each bearing the likeness of the dead senshi.

 She staggered over to them and fell to her knees. "What?"

 Tears fell from her face as she read the names on the plaques at the
bottom of each statue. They bore both their Senshi titles, and their real
names. "My friends! Who did this?"

 "Who indeed?" said a familiar voice from behind her.

 She whirled around and saw Xellos standing there, smirking at the
statues as he looked up at them. He was holding his hand up to his eyes,
as if to shield them from the moonlight. The whole place had a sort of
eerie glow about it. "What are you doing here?"

 "Imagine meeting you here!" he said cheerfully.

 "Where is Akane?" said Usagi as she glared at him for a moment and
realized that she wasn't following him any longer. They had gone off in a
completely different direction.

 "They would be proud you know," said Xellos as he ignored her question.
"Such strong children."

 Usagi's face softened at this and she looked back up at the statues. "I
know."

 "I guess someone decided that they deserved some sort of remembrance,"
said the priest as he shrugged. "Still, it is odd. These weren't here the
last time I passed this place."

 "Pluto and Saturn are not here," commented Usagi.

 "Well, Saturn is still alive...and Pluto..." Xellos trailed off.

 "You know something, don't you?" she said as she looked at him for a
moment. She wasn't sure what to make of this strange new mysterious
figure. 

 "What could I possibly know?" he asked her innocently.

 "At any rate, I'm sure these are here for a reason. I wonder what it
could be?" he said calmly as he started walking away again. "Oh well.
I'll leave you alone. Sorry to intrude." 

 Usagi watched him go, and knelt before the statues. "You would be proud
of them. He's right about that." She looked up at the flawless likenesses
wistfully. "They seem to be your exact opposites almost at times, other
times I can see you in them as if you had been reborn."

 She paused, the two statues on the end of the right side had something
unusual about them. A strange glowing on the base of the statues caught
her eyes and she stood up and walked over too them. "No way!" she
muttered as she looked down at the base of the statues.

 Sitting at the feet of both Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune, were two
transformation pens. She reached out and took them into her hands,
looking up at the statues in awe. "I see. So, whoever did this, does have
a reason."

+++++++++++

 Ranma frowned as he looked around at what he had found. Little more than
an asteroid field. "Well, this is it. So much for the time gates."

 "What would you want with the Time Gates?" asked Xianfu.

 "I hadn't really thought about it," said Carrot. "More like, I hadn't
really decided if I wanted to go back or not yet."

 "What?" said Ranma dumbly.

 "With the Gates of Time, we could have gone back and stopped all this
from happening," he replied simply. "That would either create a paradox,
meaning that there would be two Ranma Saotome running around, ourselves
and the old good us..."

 "Or?" said Dan.

 "Or, it would have erased us, and let the other us continue on as
before. With none of this happening."

 "You're forgetting something," said Xianfu.

 "What's that?" asked Carrot.

 "There's the possibility, that once we go back, we could become what we
destroyed."

 "Doubtful," said Carrot. "He did some things that I would never do. I
doubt if any of us have it in us."

 "Then where did he come from?" countered the woman.

 "In any case, it's a relatively moot point," said Carrot. "It's likely
that this world would have been erased from existence if we had gone
back."

 "Meaning that we'd never have gone through what we went through, so how
could we go back and stop it from happening?" said the female voice
calmly.

 "There is another possibility," said Carrot.

 "What's that?" asked Ranma.

 "We'll need more power to do it though, a lot more," said the voice
calmly. "We're hardly worthy of the title of 'Lord of Nightmares' now.
Even though we are the only Mazoku around."

 "That's foolish," said Xianfu coldly. "We can take whatever title we
wish."

 "She's right," said Ranma in confusion.

 "Oh. That's right, you guys don't know about 'The Slayers'," said Carrot
with a small chuckle.

 "What's the Slayers?" asked Pissant in confusion.

 "I'm not going to allow you to play with time that way anyway. We've set
things right, so now we destroy ourselves, and go back to the way we were
before."

 "What makes you think we will?" asked Carrot.

 "I'll make you!" she snapped.

 "That's not what I meant. Even if you could destroy us, what makes you
think we could ever go back to what we were before? Urd? You're counting
on her word?" Carrot snorted in amusement.

 "What?" said the woman angrily. "How dare you talk about Urd that way!"

 "What? You got a thing for her or something?" asked Dan.

 "I most certainly do not have a 'thing' for Urd!" said the woman as her
temper rose even more. "I just know how to show proper respect!"

 "Proper respect? We outclass her," said Carrot calmly.

 "What?" stammered the woman.

 "She's just a Second Class Limited Goddess. We are at the very least, a
First Class Unlimited Demon, plus whatever you are. Put that together,
and we outrank her no matter how you look at it."

 "Second Class, Unlimited," supplied Dan.

 "Right," said Carrot with a shrug. "In any case. I doubt if she knows
what will happen if we do manage to kill ourselves. She's probably just
guessing. That would seem to fit."

 "What would you know about Urd-sama!?" snarled Xianfu.

 "More than you'll ever realize," countered Carrot calmly.

 "Hey. What's that?" asked Ranma as he noticed something floating through
the debris a short distance away.

 "This whole place is thick with energy," said Carrot as he turned
towards what the boy had seen. "Residual from the explosion, and probably
some left over magic from the Time Gates."

 They floated over to what they had seen, and found a small piece of
carved stone and metal.

 "It's a piece of the Time Gate," said Dan.

 The thing crackled with energy, a few sparks flying off of it. 

 "Yup," said Carrot. "Nothing really useful."

 He reached out and touched it, only to jump and pull his arm back in
shock as the power from within the artifact crackled across his arm.
"Yow!"

 "What happened?" stammered Ranma.

 The tiny piece of the time gate crumbled away in front of them. It
seemed to melt away into dust.

 "I dunno," said Carrot.

 "We absorbed it," said Dan dumbly.

 "Can we use that?" muttered Pissant. "Maybe we can go back and fix
things with it?"

 "No," said Carrot as he felt a tiny tingle from the magical power they
had absorbed. "It's just residual magic power. Not a specific power.
Without the time gate as a focus, there's nothing to change the energy
into the kind we'd need to manipulate time."

 "So? Now what?" asked Ranma. He paused again, his eyes growing wide this
time. "Hey! What the heck is that?!"

 "Again?" grumbled Carrot. His voice trailed away as he realized what the
boy was staring at.

 It was a red sphere of energy, floating freely in space. "Hey. What is
that?" he said dumbly.

 "I just asked that!" snapped Ranma.

 "Let's go check it out," muttered Dan.

+++++++++++++

 "Prince Tenchi," said one of the men on the bridge to the Tsunami as he
bowed and walked away after handing the boy some sort of computerized
report.

 The boy was watching the planet calmly. Whatever the energy reaction
that had occurred was, it seemed to breathe a new life into the place.
"Have we assessed what it was?"

 "No sir. Our sensors have lost the flagship, and whatever that power is,
it seems to be stabilizing," said one of the men who was working at a
nearby console.

 "Right," muttered the man as he frowned again. He didn't look any older
than when he had left the planet fifteen years ago.

 "Perhaps it's some sort of super aging weapon?" said one of the men.

 "Accelerating the aging of the planet until it destroys itself?" asked
Tenchi calmly.

 "That's our best guess sir," said the man with a short nod.

 "I didn't come all this way just to watch the planet die," he said with
a heavy sigh. "Maybe I should leave now."

 "Shall I set a course back for planet Jurai?" asked another one of the
men.

 "No. It's my home world, I owe it enough respect to watch it die," he
said calmly. "Even if I know in my heart I don't want to."

 One of the men at another console jumped up. "Sir! We've found the
flagship!"

 "Onscreen," said Tenchi as he stood up.

 A close-up of the planet revealed what looked like scrap metal floating
through the atmosphere, pieces of it falling into the surface and burning
away as they plummeted down.

 "What is this?"

 "That is the Flagship sir!" said the man.
 
 "Where is the rest of the fleet?" asked Tenchi as he stood up in alarm. 

 "On Mars sir," said the man as he glanced up at the boy. "They don't
appear to have realized anything is wrong yet."

 "Contact my Grandfather," said the Prince as he strolled forward and
leaned against the rail that separated the upper and lower portion of the
bridge. 

 "Sir!" said one of the men.

 A few moments later, the young face of Yosho appeared on the screen.
"Tenchi. What is it?"

 "Something has gone wrong on Earth," said the man as he looked up at his
grandfather. They were almost a mirror image of one another, with the
exception of Tenchi's hair. He had kept it short on the top, and now
sported a long ponytail.  

 "So. They are..."

 "No," said Tenchi. "I don't think that they are."

 "Sir. The planet... it's stabilized completely!" said one of the
dumbfounded men nearby.

 "What is going on Tenchi?" asked Yosho as he narrowed his eyes.

 "It's like it's been reborn!" muttered the nearby tech in shock.

 "I think something has gone wrong with our old friend's plans," said
Tenchi with a smirk on his face.

 Yosho arched his eyebrow at this, but said nothing. "I see. Do not try
and approach the planet yet boy."

 "Understood. I'll keep an eye on things though," he said calmly.

 "That would be wise," agreed Yosho. "I'll see what I can do on this
end."

 Ryoko's face popped up on the screen. She looked the same as ever and
growled into the screen. "Tenchi! I'm on my way!"

 "Ryoko!" gasped the Prince in shock.

 "I shall also accompany her," said Ayeka as she appeared on the screen
as well. She was older now, and had a sort of regal air about her. She
appeared much like Funaho, but was much younger. 

 "I don't want you near here until I'm sure about what's going on!" he
snapped.

 "Try and stop me!" snapped Ryoko. "Come on Princess, we're leaving!"

 "I'll take my own ship thank you!" she snapped in retort.

 "Miyaaa!" said a familiar voice as another head appeared on the screen.

 "Ryo-ohki is right! She's faster!" said Sasami as she appeared on the
screen as well, filling it up even more. She now looked like an older
teen, but Tsunami's influence was much more dramatic. Rather than the
childlike innocence she once held, she spoke with a firm and
authoritative voice. 

 "How many people are listening to this?!" cried Tenchi as he hung his
head.

 "I think it's a wonderful idea!" cried Queen Funaho.

 "I won't allow it!" snapped Emperor Azusa.

 "What was that darling?" said Queen Misaki cheerfully. She appeared
about ready to put him into a headlock.

 "Argh!" said Tenchi as he almost fell over.

++++++++++

 Ranma floated in deep space, simply looking at the red sphere in shock.
"Hey...it's..."

 "Pluto!" gasped Ranma.

"No it isn't," retorted Carrot. "It's Tsuki."

 They all peered into the surface of the Garnet Orb. Inside was a
slumbering figure, curled into the fetal position. She was older now,
with her long hair rivaling that of her former charge. She appeared to be
in a state of suspended animation, protected by the talisman that her
mother once guarded along with the Time Gate.

 "What should we do?" asked Ranma.

 "I dunno. Can we do anything?" muttered Carrot as he peered down at her.
He reached out to touch the orb, and found that it gave a little, rather
like a balloon.

 "The magic is growing weaker," said Xianfu.

 "I can see that. It probably won't hold out much longer," said Carrot
with a small sigh. He poked at it again, and the red sphere popped like a
bubble. "Shit!" he cried as he grabbed her. Holding her in his arms, he
extended a protective area of power around himself, keeping her safe from
the void.

 "We can't just leave her here!" cried Pissant.

 "Why not?" grumbled Dan irritably. "As soon as she wakes up, she'll
probably try to kill us again."

 "Hey! You're right!" said Carrot cheerfully. "We should do something for
her. I'd feel bad if we just left her out here to die." 

 "He's right," agreed Ranma. "I ain't leavin her here."

 Carrot reached into his pocket and smirked as he pulled the cap off of a
black marker.

 "What are you doing?" asked Xianfu dumbly.

 "Having a little fun," he replied with a shrug as he drew a pair of
glasses and a mustache on her face. "Heh. All right. What should we do
with her?"

 "We should take her back to Earth," said Ranma.

 "Well, I suppose so," grumbled Carrot. "Where on Earth though? She might
enjoy the poles?"

 "Japan, Carrot," said Dan with a sigh.

 "You guys are no fun," snorted the boy as he started flying away from
the asteroid field. "Come on, help me think of something, Ranma."

 "Well, how about we let the others find her in a vat of lime jello?"
offered the boy.

 "Naw, we did that to Mercury when we found her after that fight on Titan
all those years ago," said Carrot.

 "Yeah. Hey! You mean I did that right! How do you know about that
anyway?"

 Carrot paused and they stopped flying again.

 "How the heck do I know about that?" he muttered dumbly. "Wait a minute!
I remember being Genaku too! What the hell?"

 "You do?" said Dan dumbly.

 "You mean?" said Ranma.

 "None of you guys can remember?" finished Carrot.

 "Nope."

 "Uh-uh."

 "Of course not! Why would I remember being a man!?"

 "Well, you remember having a thing for Urd. I was just assuming..." said
Carrot.

 "You asshole! If we weren't holding her..." started Xianfu.

 "I'm not the one fondling her breast," countered Carrot.

 Xianfu gasped and moved her hand. She hadn't even realized that her hand
was there. "That's not funny!"

 "Denial," said Carrot.

 "Definitely, she's even got the lesbian hater denial thing. Must be..."
said Dan in agreement.

 "Yup. Suppressed desire and all that," commented Carrot with a sagely
nod.

 "You jerks! I'm denying it because it isn't true!" snapped the angry
woman.

 "Um. Can we go back now?" muttered Pissant. "And stop teasing her! It
isn't nice!"

 "Well, she's not nice either," retorted Carrot.

 "You're only making it worse," said Pissant sharply.

 "Right! What?! Hey! You traitor!" growled Xianfu.

++++++++++++

 Akane frowned as she strolled through the new wilds of Japan. There were
a lot of things she recognized running around. Trees, plants, most of the
animals. However, mixed in with the old, were some completely new and
unknown things. Strange looking plants and animals scurried around
through the brush. Most of them had been fairly small creatures, like
rodents and birds. There was a rather odd looking deer she had noticed a
short time ago as well.

 She'd been walking for about a day and a half now. Mostly enjoying
herself, despite the fact that she had not seen the mysterious figure
again since she left her friends. It was just refreshing to get out into
the wilderness that had been gone, or sparse for so long.

 "Well, well, what have we here? A pretty little girl, traveling all
alone," said a rough sounding voice.

 Akane cursed under her breath. She'd been so involved with nature, that
she'd gotten careless and allowed herself to be surprised. Bandits like
these men were hardly rare these days.

 There were five of them, and they had surrounded her easily. Their
clothes were little more than things they'd scavenged from the ruined
city. Dirty and torn, with several layers. They also had makeshift
weapons, stone knives and clubs made of wood and pipe. She snorted and
faced them.

 "Go away."

 "No. I gotta make a living see. I think I might take anything valuable
you might be carryin," said the lead man. He was a gigantic oaf from the
look of him.

 Akane narrowed her eyes at him. By valuable, he meant food, or supplies.
Money was worthless these days, gold and jewels had little importance
either. Mostly people kept them for sentimental value more than anything
else. "Does it look like I'm carrying any supplies?" She spread her arms
out revealing that she hand no traveling bag or anything else.

 "No. We didn't realize that until it was a little too late," said the
large man with a shrug. His men chuckled to themselves around him. All of
them were smaller than him, and not one of them was even remotely
handsome.

 "Goodbye then," said Akane as she turned away.

 "You got something we want though," said the man as he barred her way
with his arm.

 Akane turned her head to him very slowly. Her eyes had grown cold as she
simply watched his face for a moment. "Speak very carefully, your life
depends on it." 

 "I think you should pay a toll for crossin our road. Ya see, the boys
and I don't see many pretty girls around here. What do ya say? Wanna have
a little fun?" he grinned at her, revealing a grill of missing teeth and
cavities.

 Akane fought back her rage carefully. There was no doubt in her mind
that she was going to hurt him, but he had only asked. At least, so far.
"No."

 He stood up to his full height and frowned at her. "You sure. We don't
look like much, but we can show a lady a real good time. We might even
pay ya. We got food, clothes, all sorts of stuff. If you're good enough.
Why don't you hang around?"

 Akane had been shown a good time before. Kuno's face, clad in that mask
flashed through her mind. "I'm going to hurt you," she said simply.

 "No need to be like that babe. We ain't the bad sort," said the man as
he picked at his ear for a moment. "Never take more than we need really.
Just gotta survive."

 "Well, you don't need to steal anymore. There are plenty of animals
around to hunt," she replied coldly. "I'm going to teach you what it
means to steal from now on."

 "Teach us?" said the man as he glared down at her. "What could you teach
us? Got some tricks in that cute little body of yours?"

 Akane raised her hand into the air, a power seemed to blow up from the
ground all around her. "Explosion Array!"

 "Huh?" said the huge bandit dumbly. The ground at his feet exploded
upwards, shooting him hundreds of feet into the air.

 The other men backed away as Akane turned to face them. "Well, that was
nice, and I learned something new. I'd rather do it the old fashioned way
though." She cracked her knuckles and grinned at them with an evil glint
in her eyes.

 The men tried to run away, but she was too fast. She pounded them into
submission easily, snapping bones and jaws with punches and kicks as she
tore into them. It brought back memories of her days at Furinkan, but
also a hint of anger as she remembered the cause of those troubles.
"Kuno!" she screamed as she raised her fist into the air. The bandit in
her grip cried out in fear.

 "Please don't kill me miss! I'll never steal again! I swear!"

 She paused and seemed to realize what she was doing. A horrified and
disgusted look crossed her face as she tossed him to the ground. "Damn. I
almost lost it."

 She frowned when something seemed to come to her. A new sound, clapping.

 "Well! That was most impressive!" said Xellos as he clapped. He was
sitting in the branch of a tree, watching the whole affair. "You do seem
to have a lot of pent up anger though."

 "You?!" she said as she glared at him. "What do you want? What business
of yours is it?"

 "Why, I thought you were looking for me," he said calmly.

 She blinked and backed away. "Who are you? I know there's more to you
than you're letting on."

 "There is?" he said with a mocking thoughtful frown on his face. He
jumped down beside her and twirled his staff playfully as he walked
towards her. "It's nice to know someone thinks I'm special. Did you want
something?"

 "You were just a destination," she replied with a shrug.

 "Hmm. In an odd way, that makes sense," he said cheerfully. "After all,
there aren't really very many 'places' left are there?"

 She blushed and nodded.

 "Well, now that you've found me, what are you going to do?" he said as
he leaned against a tree and watched her for a moment.

 Akane was uncomfortable with his gaze and shifted her eyes away. "I
don't know. I guess I'll keep going."

 "Hmm. I'll bet it'll be interesting. We'll meet again," he said as he
started walking in the opposite direction.

 Akane frowned as he vanished over a hilltop. She turned and went on her
way as well.

+++++++++++++

 Usagi frowned as she looked at the Crystal in her hands. "With this, I
can unite all the people in the world. I can create a utopia, where
everyone is happy."

 The Senshi kneeled on the ground around her, and Mamoru nodded his head
at her side. The people in their village murmured amongst themselves.
Most of them fell to their knees as well, in awe of the woman who had
freed them. The few who didn't, were mostly still confused about how they
could have survived.

 "A perfect world, that is my wish," said Usagi. She fingered the crystal
for a moment, focusing before trying to use it.

 "It seems like a lot of trouble to go through, merely to trade one
tyrant for another," said an unfamiliar voice.

 "Huh?" muttered Usagi.

 Everyone in the village turned to face the newcomer. 

 "Who are you!" demanded Sailor Mars as she glared at the man. The senshi
stood around her, backing her up.

 The man chuckled. He had long red hair and a trenchcoat. Hefted over his
shoulder was a large broadsword still inside it's sheath. "I am called
Gaav." He smirked at the women and strolled through the crowd a little
closer.

 "You dare call the new Queen a tyrant?" snapped Mercury boldly.

 "What are you going to do? Beat me up and prove me right?" he said as he
glanced at her. 

 "He is right. Stand down," said Usagi. "You are welcome stranger."

 Gaav smirked at this. "I'm glad. What are you planning to do with that?"

 "I'm going to bring peace to the world," she said calmly. "With it's
power, I can create a place where..."

 "Where everyone is enslaved, by your so called cleansing?" he
interrupted. 

 "What? No! I'll only use it to ensure peace and happiness!" she said
defensively.

 "By taking away everyone's free will? Forcing them to bend to yours?" he
said coldly. His smirk turned into a scowl.

 "What?" gasped Usagi. "It's not like you say!"

 "Isn't it? What is it like then?" he replied calmly.

 "What does it matter!? Everyone will be happy!" snapped Venus. "Love and
justice will..."

 "Justice? It is just to free an entire world, just so that you can throw
your own yolk of slavery onto it?" said the man calmly. "I'm afraid I
can't allow that."

 Usagi gasped as his blade came out from it's sheath. Before anyone could
react, it had been swung in a wide arc. She stumbled back, holding her
hands up to her face. "No!" She blinked and realized that she wasn't cut.
"What?"

 Gaav smirked at her, still holding his blade in the completed stroke. "I
wish your new world the best of luck, but you'll do it without this I
think." The Silver Imperium Crystal slid down the edge of the blade and
into his waiting palm.

 "No!" gasped Mamoru as he started to move forward.

 "Careful. You might get hurt," said the man as he jumped back and
cleared the crowd of dumbfounded villagers in a single bound.

 "What are you going to do with that?" snarled Mars as she stepped
forward.

 "Me? Nothing but keep you from using it at the moment," said Gaav
calmly. "Goodbye." He vanished into thin air.

 Usagi fell to her knees, watching in shock as the crystal was spirited
away by the stranger.

 "Who was that?" gasped Mamoru.

 "I...don't know!" said Usagi as she stared at the ground in horror. "We
can't just let him have that crystal! We've got to find him, and get it
back!"

 "He must be a youma!" said Mercury in horror.

 The crowd of villagers murmured amongst themselves fearfully.

 "What do we do?" said Mamoru as he looked at his wife for a moment.

 "That's easy," said the woman firmly. "We got get it back."

 The senshi stood around her, all of them with firm resolve on their
faces.

 The only one missing, was Hotaru. She was standing off to the side,
watching the events quietly. She had not spoken, nor tried to stop
anything that had just occurred. "Who was that? What's going on here?"
she said as she narrowed her eyes at the scene. Secretly, she was
relieved she didn't have to step in to stop Usagi. However, that didn't
mean that she could just leave the crystal in the hands of an unknown
either. She looked up towards the sky and frowned. "Ranma. Where are you?
Do you have anything to do with this? Or is it something else?"

 One thing she was fairly certain of, was that this had nothing to do
with Metallia. He was far to smart for a Youma, especially the dumb beast
that had been showing up recently. She had dealt with enough of them
while under the evil Ranma's employment to know.

++++++++++++

 Deep in space...

 Ranma sighed as he shot through the void with the girl in his arms.
"This is getting boring."

 "Well, I don't want to risk teleporting while we're carrying her," said
Xianfu.

 "She's got a point," agreed Carrot. "We haven't exactly got that down
yet. We might accidentally take her to hell or something. Much as I don't
like her, she doesn't deserve that."

 "Hey. What's that up ahead?" asked Dan dumbly.

 "Venus," said Carrot.

 "No, not that. It's next to Venus," snapped Dan.

 "Huh? I dunno...hey! That's...Tsunami?" Carrot paused their flight and
blinked. "What the heck is Tsunami doing here?"

 "I dunno," said Ranma in confusion. "What's Tsunami? It doesn't look
like a storm to me."

 "It's the name of that ship up ahead. It's a Jurian starship. What's it
doing here?" said Carrot in confusion.

 "You certainly have a lot of information," commented Xianfu.

 "Yeah. That's what I do," replied Carrot with a shrug. "That ship is the
most powerful starship in the Juraian fleet. "Why is it here? Tenchi and
the others are probably dead."

 "Yeah, probably," said Dan.

 "You're right, we don't know. They might have escaped to Jurai when
things got too hot here," said Carrot. "I'd never thought about it much,
it seemed unlikely."

 "So? Now what?" asked Ranma.

 "I guess we should go say hello," said Carrot with a shrug.

 "Won't they try and kill us when the see who we are?" asked Dan.

 "Probably. I'm sure they'll cool off once we explain things," said
Carrot cheerfully.

 "Wait. What do you mean 'kill us'?" said Ranma.

 "I think it's a good idea," said Xianfu.

 "You would," snorted Carrot in irritation. "Anyway, I'm getting tired of
making this field for sleeping beauty here. We can dump her off on them
if nothing else. Let the Jurians deal with her for a little while."

 "Okay," said Dan with a shrug. "Let's go."

 "Try not to break too much, we do want to at least try and be friendly,"
said Carrot.

 They blasted towards the ship, not noticing the other craft closing in
on the Tsunami from the other side of Venus.

+++++++++++++

 "Ryo-Ohki is approaching, summon his highness!" said the officer on duty
aboard the starship.

 "I'm already here," said Tenchi as he strolled out onto the bridge. 

 Everyone stood up and saluted him as he sat down and ignored them.
"Welcome back."

++++++++++++++

 TBC...

 Next Time: Isn't it obvious? O_O;
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