I know it's been a while.. but here ya go!


-- Attached file included as plaintext by Listar --
-- File: ranmazokuch9.txt

He was gone.

Even the subtle link that every mazoku had to their superiors
had gone silent. As Hotaru sat in shocked silence in the ruins of
the ancient vault, her world shattered.

She was alone again.

A trembling hand reached out for the Silence Glaive.

Ranma, her only friend, had been taken from her. People would
pay.

She didn't much care who.

 ** *  *   *    *     *      *       *      *     *    *   *  * **
Ranmazoku Chapter 9a - The World Without Ranma
By PansutoTarou5925
 ** *  *   *    *     *      *       *      *     *    *   *  * **

DISCLAIMER - I do not own the rights to Slayers nor do I
own the rights to Ranma �. Long live the rightful owners of
these two fine anime. This work is non-commercial and is done
only in imitation of Rumiko Takahashi and Hajime Kanzaka.
Imitation is the sincerest flattery, no? US rights owned by Viz
and Software Sculptors. If I mention the Senshi, Sailor Moon
belongs to Naoko Takeuchi(Sp, anyone?) and.. and.. I dunno
who has the US rights, but it's theirs not mine. (I'm drawing a
blank)

 ** *  *   *    *     *      *       *      *     *    *   *  * **

Author's note - This story originated from an idea on
Nighthawk's page and is some guy named NesTea's fault. If
he's reading this, I'm curious to know what he thinks of all this.
Questioning me would be like questioning Xellos if you ask
when the next section comes out, because it's a secret.

ALTAVERSE WARNING - This is an ALTAVERSE. Events,
characters and the like may not resemble canon. People who are
rabid canon-thumpers beware! (and eat a Dragon Slave while
you're at it)

PREVIOUSLY - Ranma discovers he's not Genma's son, that
Xellos is his father, that he's not even human, studies black
magic under Phibrizzo, yadda yadda yadda, gets in a fight with
Ryouga and curses a decent sized crowd to act like Kuno. Then
he corrupts Hotaru into becoming a mazoku and put a world of
hurt on some poor Daimon and Eudial. Afterwards he spied on
the Inners, took Nabiki, and got Kasumi angry! Then they went
to the Slayers world and met Lina and Co under false identities.
After that they duked it out with Sherra and Ranma vanished
after touching a magic sword. Read the previous chapters,
really, I'm not good at rehashing stuff.

NOTE - [...] indicates telepathic communication between
Ranma and Hotaru in the Astral plane.

 ** *  *   *    *     *      *       *      *     *    *   *  * **

"So Lina, what do you think will happen now?" Amelia asked.
The adventurers - minus Xellos - were gathered at a tavern and
devouring all the food in the place. Lina had been worried, and
they wanted to hear why.

"It's the mazoku." Lina said, after taking a gulp of her wine.
"They've never had such a big shock to their order before. Two
Mazoku Lords dead, plus their subordinates... there are even
rumors of an attack on Sherra."

"Who's Sherra?" Gourry asked.

Lina brushed off Gourry's question. "Oh, just one of Dynast's
lieutenants. And that's just a rumor. But a lot of mazoku are
dead, and there's likely to be a lot of random violence as a
result."

"Why?" Amelia asked. "Shouldn't they be happy they've got
promotions? They're conniving monsters, after all..."

Lina finished off her third cup of wine of the evening and
looked Amelia in the eye. "Just because they're monsters
doesn't mean they don't have friends." She paused. "I
remember hearing tales of what happened when Gaav was
thought dead the first time, a thousand years ago. It was a
month of terror after that. I heard..."

 ** *  *   *    *     *      *       *      *     *    *   *  * **

Hotaru phased back to Nerima. Her face, normally beautiful
with a hint of evil, now fairly radiated malignance. Her hands
wrapped tightly around the Silence Glaive. Today was the first
time she had ever used her true mazoku form.

It was a terrifying sight.

Still largely human, the Senshi of Death had gained another foot
in height, until she towered over most of the people in the
street. Her dark "senshi" outfit, already armored and spiked,
unlike the prissy little outfits the hated other senshi wore, was
now ever darker and longer, seeming to drink up the light. Her
hair cascaded down in wild, uncontrolled stream. Lastly there
were the wings - two pairs of black leathery wings, slim and
terrifying.

Hotaru's sudden appearance sent most of the people scattering
for cover. Those who hadn't had fainted. 

She breathed crazily, hyperventilating, even though she did not
need to breathe. Perhaps it was just some shadow of past
humanity rising up within. She snapped the Silence Glaive
above her head. "Brass Demons, come to me!" she screamed,
forming a troop of the disgusting creatures. "A wolf, from the
dark mists of Wolf Pack Island." And another shape rose from
the shadows, a large wolf, huge and shaggy. Hotaru jumped on
top of it. "Come! Come!" She rode off towards the house
where her 'father' and his terrible assistants lived. They would
be the first to feel her wrath. She had a special spell in mind for
them.

 ** *  *   *    *     *      *       *      *     *    *   *  * **

"Aww, Rei, are you sure it's this way? Ami says that the bad
guys are everywhere." Usagi whined as the Senshi darted
through the streets. She wasn't too happy about having multiple
daimons or whatever burning down different parts of the city,
but ever since seeing those Dark Senshi it was something they
had worried about. Especially after fighting that crazed wolf
thing. Ami's readings said it was related to those Dark Senshi
somehow. If that was their version of a Daimon, she wanted no
part of it.

"Usagi's right." Ami said, looking at her computer and running
blind. "They are everywhere. How can we know that it's the
right spot?"

"Yeah, there hasn't been anything destructive over there yet,
just a lot of-" Whatever Makoto was going to say was
interrupted by a blinding flash of light and then a thunderous
explosion. The Senshi screamed as they were blown over a
parked car and rolled like tumbleweed in the street.

"Does that count?" Rei snarled, coughing. Then she caught a
good look at Ground Zero. "What the hell was that?" Much of
the neighborhood was in a burning ruin. Granted, they had been
fairly close, but still...

Ami put out what fires she could with the Mercury Bubble
Blast, but they were forced to let most of the area burn in order
to deal with the real threat. Let the normal heros, the
firefighters and the police, handle this mess. "I don't really want
to fight someone who throws explosions like that around.
Moon, are you sure your magic is on the fritz?" Ever since that
incident with the fierce wolf thing that attacked the shrine,
Usagi's spells had been throwing lightning and such instead of
her normal Sailor Moon attacks. It was almost like she was
flinging around Makoto's magic instead of her own.

"We've got to fight it. No one else can!" Usagi said. They
penetrated the inner layer of smoke to find...

... one of the Dark Senshi taking on the Witches Five
singlehandedly. And winning.

 ** *  *   *    *     *      *       *      *     *    *   *  * **

Nabiki had popped back into existence in her sister's room,
snuck out to meet with Gosunkugi, and terrorized the Spineless
One by threatening to toss him in the Spring of Drowned Kuno,
which currently was being covered in concrete. The fact that
she thought that a dip in the pond would have improved him
notwithstanding, she felt Gosunkugi would do fine for what she
intended. Odd though, that buzzing feeling she got after being
transformed by Ranma was gone. Maybe she was getting used
to this form. Nabiki idly threw a mailbox fifty yards. She'd
really have to thank Ranma for this body; it really was invincible
- she'd even jumped in front of a truck at one point. Maybe she
should beat up Kodachi for kicks. Nahh....

Besides, she had to go see her sister and make sure she knew
she was OK. She had the perfect alibi for what happened to her.
Well, not quite perfect, but close enough. 

Just before she entered her house, there was a flash of light. She
looked towards Juuban before realising it wasn't lightning. Her
newfound senses screamed to her that it was magical in nature.
"Odd, I guess those are those lesser magic users Ranma was
telling me about. He's got an odd scale if he think's that's
minor, though." She could see the glow from the fires; she
estimated it at around a city block or so. It would probably
grow before the firefighters put it out.

"Kasumi, I'm home!" she cried out cheerfully. A nauseating
wave of relief flowed out in front of her older sister. No wonder
Ranma acted jumpy around Kasumi. "Hey, hey..." Kasumi
grabbed her and instantly got a more serious expression.

"What happened? I thought he took you! Where did he take
you? How did you get back? Are you alright?" she asked,
rapidly. Nabiki held out her hands to stop her, then gently
pushed her back. Her sister had asked her a question...

'1000 yen, please." Seeing Kasumi facefault brought a smile to
her face. "Alright, this time for free. I don't know where he
brought me-" True  "- I just struck out in a random direction
like Ryouga would - " Utter rot "- and I've never been better."
Which was more true than Kasumi would ever think. Nabiki
exulted in power and control, and she had more over her own
life than she ever did before.

Except that Ranma was her boss.

Ah, well, how much use could Saotome need of a manipulator
like her anyway? She was still mostly her own boss, and
immortality made up for a few odd assignments.

 ** *  *   *    *     *      *       *      *     *    *   *  * **

Hotaru dropped the body of Kaolinite, which rapidly turned into
dust and wafted away on the gusts of the growing firestorm.
She looked over her shoulder, giving the Senshi a murderous
glare. A shaky smile spread across her face.

"More meat." She looked at where Mimette was trying to crawl
away and hide. "Oh no... you're not getting away that easy."
She teleported over and rammed the Silence Glaive through the
Witch, spearing her to the ground like a bug on display.
Holding onto the Glaive with one hand, and sending bolts of
magical electricity into her captive. Mimette jerked as she was
fried, Hotaru's power greatly increased beyond anything the
Witches could match by pure rage. Then Hotaru stopped the
assault, and she looked death in the face. It was not a pretty
sight.

Hotaru was standing over her, holding a chunk of concrete in
one hand and smiling. The Senshi, who had momentarily jolted
out of their shock and began to prepare for a battle of their
own, were immediately distracted by the awesomely gruesome
sight of one of their enemies bludgeoning one of the Witches to
death.

Sailor Venus quietly wished that the Senshi's outfits didn't
prevent nausea. She was feeling rather sick right now, and
throwing up would distract her from... that... eww! Minako
grabbed Rei and Makoto and pulled them back. "I don't feel so
good. Could we beat on those things setting fires first?" The
other Senshi gave each other a few quick looks and decided that
this fight could wait. Makoto and Minako grabbed Usagi and
dragged her away before she could draw attention to them.
Obviously they had intruded upon a private quarrel. Yeah, that
was it...

The battered form of Mimette faded and vanished, having finally
exceeded the limits of the abuse it could take. Hotaru dropped
the stained chunk of rubble and looked after the fleeing Senshi.
"Hah, don't worry. Your turn in the ring will come soon
enough." The image of a panda appeared in her head. "I've got
to avenge the present before I deal with the past, is all." With
that, Hotaru walked through the burning rubble, the wolf she
had summoned walking jauntily by her side. She strolled down
the street, casually moving towards Nerima, twirling the Silence
Glaive like a baton.

 ** *  *   *    *     *      *       *      *     *    *   *  * **

The insane level of destruction, glow from the burning
buildings, and general miasma of oppressiveness rolling out of
Juuban clued the Wrecking Crew to the violence erupting
across town. Faint sounds of people screaming and sirens
blaring could be heard.

The deafening blast of a giant explosion woke even Genma up
and alerted him to the ongoing battle.

Cologne sighed and turned on NHK. Disasters attracted
reporters like a corpse attracts flies, and this was no different.
Ugly humanoid demons were tossing squad cars around, looting
stores, and setting fires. The police and fire departments were
trying to stop the invaders and the out of control inferno from
gutting Juuban. Occasionally footage of Senshi blasting the
creatures would arise. "All right, people, stop it."

Immediately the arguments, eating, drinking, and fighting that
had been going on between the group ceased. Cologne sighed.
It was so hard to keep them focused. Herb had left and fetched
the Kaisfuu in the two days respite they had enjoyed, which had
taken the tension level down. With the Dragon Prince of the
Musk just arrived off the bullet train, the group had taken to
fighting again. It seemed that the unstable mix of violent
personalities was an unsolvable mess. 

"Hibachan, we go, find Ai - Shampoo mean Ranma and
banish?" her great-granddaughter asked from where she was
firmly wedged between Ryouga and Lime. Keeping her there
reduced the chances of the two strongmen getting in a fight.. as
well as keeping Mousse away.

"We don't even know if this is him, child." Cologne rasped. 

"It is the duty of a martial artist to defeat monsters." Soun
pronounced pompously. Genma nodded, his face in his own
pose of righteousness.

"Fine. Go ahead, get yourselves killed." Privately Cologne still
wondered what they were really thinking. The thought
processes of known morons were so hard to fathom. Near as
she could tell, the two seemed to think Ranma was possessed.
Fine, let them have their delusions. Fortunately, they were
cowards. If she didn't go, neither would they. "I only have the
one scroll to banish a mazoku. I'm not going to waste it on
some punk demons." A phone rang.

Mousse quickly pulled a cellphone out of his sleeve. "Hello, this
is the- Oh. Hi, Kasumi." The room turned to look at Mousse
expectantly. "She's what? Back- Hey! you old mummy, that's
my Nokia!"

"I paid for it, Mr. Part. Time!" Cologne said, covering the
phone with her hand. She then talked to Kasumi herself. "Hello,
child. Who's back? Nabiki?" Nabiki had been kidnapped by
Ranma - for what purpose, ancestors alone knew. "How is
she?"

"She's perfectly healthy." Kasumi said. The faint sounds of
crashing could be heard through the phone. "She's just
redecorating a little."

Cologne sighed. Kasumi's oddly oblivious personality never
ceased to amaze her. "Child, your sister was taken away from
home by a demon. She vanished for several days, then returns
and starts remodeling her room. Did she even tell you what
happened, or did you just assume Ranma took her to the
movies?"

"Oh, no, she said Ranma left after leaving her in a desert and
just walked off." Cologne blinked. What could Ranma possibly
gain from that? Unless...

"Child, is she sunburned?"

"Oh my, Cologne-san, I would have remembered if my own
sister was sunburned." A second passed.  "We're fresh out of
aloe."

"So she isn't sunburned?"

"No, of course not." Cologne nodded. Nabiki was easy to
manipulate - she had an inflated opinion of her own
deviousness. The little things tended to be her undoing, as in
this case. "So you're out of aloe? I'll be right over."

"Oh, thank you." Cologne hung up. Now what should she do?
The idea of a powered up Nabiki was mildly disturbing. Any
mazoku could rip their way through a horde of lesser fighters.
A decently powered one, like Ranma, could crush this band of
martial artists like a fly if they were motivated enough. She
shuddered as she remembered how Herb and his two stooges
were taken out. That quickly made up her mind. Nabiki was
going to be a pain, to be sure, but Ranma could make their lives
very interesting. "We're going to wait."

 ** *  *   *    *     *      *       *      *     *    *   *  * **

Outside the restaurant, Hotaru stopped. She paused, about to
knock, then thought better of it. She walked around to the back
of the restaurant and phased through the wall. She figured if she
could teleport and go Astral, phasing couldn't be too hard. She
emerged in a storage room. She made a little hole with the tip
of the Glaive in the wall, and looked in the room. The old fat
fool, the old thin fool, the Chinese bimbo, the violent bimbo,
and that girl Ranma considered a friend. Then the ryuuzoku -
her blood boiled just looking at him - and two friends with odd
features. Then the old woman. 

She smiled.

She wondered if their health insurance was paid up.

 ** *  *   *    *     *      *       *      *     *    *   *  * **

The back wall of the dining room exploded out as a girl in a
leather outfit walked through it. Her footsteps set the carpet on
fire, setting a blazing trail behind her. She was holding a solid
iron staff with a wicked set of blades at the end. There was a
beatific smile on her face.

"Nice entrance." Cologne said, remaining outwardly calm.
Inside, she shuddered. She imagined kamikazes had that smile,
just before their deaths. "Who are you, and what are you doing
here?" If she wasn't another mazoku, Cologne would let Akane
cook for the Nekohanten. Three in one week, after one in three
thousand years...

"I'm Hotaru. As for what I'm doing here," Hotaru said, still
smiling serenely, "I think you're going to be Suprised."

 ** *  *   *    *     *      *       *      *     *    *   *  * **

The front of Cologne's restaurant exploded, sending the Nerima
Wrecking Crew flying across the street. Cologne got up and
coughed. This was not going to be good. This 'Hotaru' started
the fight by teleporting - Cologne figured that no one, not even
a mazoku, could move fast enough for her to miss seeing it -
and slamming the butt end of her glaive into Ryouga's chest.
Hard. That was why Ryouga was extricating himself from the
storefront behind Cologne instead of merely being blasted into
the street. The other fighters, Cologne included, had struck
quickly at the girl, she herself using a nine-pressure point attack
that would kill a person instantly. She had simply ignored those
hits and had kicked Mousse in the crotch hard enough that he
was lifted off the floor two feet. Apparently Herb was made out
of sterner stuff than most men, bcause while the other males
clutched their privates and winced in sympathy, Herb had
blasted her with some sort of multiple ki-blast attack. The
mazoku's counterattack was why they were currently in the
street: a solid black fireball.

Cologne mentally reviewed her options. Using her superior skill
in physical combat wasn't an option. She could fight rings
around this mazoku in hand to hand. The problem was, it was
completely useless in this case. The pressure points and precise,
deadly strikes to the vital regions were useless against a being
that had neither. Even if she had all the strength of her younger
days, she didn't think it would help. Special techniques might
work. On the other hand, given the magical senses she had
heard the mazoku possessed, the Splitting Cat's Hairs wouldn't
work. The Hiryuu Shoten Ha was out, because Ranma might
have informed this mazoku of it and she wasn't radiating any
cold ki - or any ki, for that matter - to use against her. Of more
esoteric techniques, few were likely to be of any use - and the
rest would be quite limited. Using the scroll seemed to be the
only option. They'd have to figure out a way to deal with
Ranma later.

Having analyzed her options in a mere second, Cologne rushed
forward. Beside her, Lime and that old fat fool Genma were
flying forwards as well, being the first to recover. "Kijin Raishu
Dan!" the elder Saotome yelled, snapping his arms back
suddenly, creating two slicing vacuum blades that flew towards
Hotaru. 

'Interesting trick. I wonder what other moves he has hidden up
his sleeves?' she wondered. She hadn't expected such a
powerful move from the elder Saotome. Judging from the
hairline cut it gave the mazoku, it wasn't expecting it, either.
Then the cut healed - almost instantly. Cologne gulped. So it
was not only nigh invulnerable to attack, but regenerated?
"Ancestors save me." she sighed, as she dodged at the last
minute and flicked her staff into the ground under the mazoku.
"Bakusai Tenketsu!"

 ** *  *   *    *     *      *       *      *     *    *   *  * **

Hotaru was lifted off the ground and thrown bodily through the
air. Instead of just being carried by the explosion, however, she
flew with it, rising into the air and gaining the height advantage
over her non-flying adversaries. Below, she saw that guy with
the tiger stripes hit the old lady instead of her. He had already
commited himself to the attack without knowing what the
others would do. That meant they were obviously inexperienced
in fighting together. She stuck the Glaive into subspace,
wanting to beat a few people up without its use. She wanted to
take a few of these people apart by hand. A pair of blasts to the
back got her attention.

One of the fighters had also flown up. Interesting. Of course, it
was that halfbreed ryuuzoku Herb. She sneered. "You should
stay out of someone else's fight. You want to beat up Ranma,
beat up Ranma." She was planning on killing him for Ranma
anyhow, now that Ranma was missing, but she wanted to be
able to beat on the other fools in peace.

"I won't leave. Anytime there is a mazoku fighting, there I must
be to oppose them." he said, taking a stance.

"Do you have any idea of just how far outclassed you are?"
Hotaru asked. "No? Allow me to demonstrate the Saturn Star-
Fist school of martial arts," Hotaru said, decades of training in
the Silver Millenium being one of the wonderful things that had
been in her restored memories. Blurring, she shot forward
through the air, fist and body moving swiftly in a lightning-fast,
powerful punch. It was a move designed for maximum power
and speed. Herb jerked out of the way and landed another ki-
blast on her side. Hotaru's leg whipped out and slammed into
his ribs though, the follow up attack designed to hit if the first
strike missed. Herb was launched into a light pole. 

Diving at full speed, Hotaru slammed into Herb and through the
lightpole. She grabbed onto his arm and shoulder and yanked,
popping it out of his socket with her monstrous strength. She
kicked him in the head as hard as she could, sending him into
dreamland, just before she was kicked through the front of a
noodle shop.

 ** *  *   *    *     *      *       *      *     *    *   *  * **

Nabiki looked at her newly 'redecorated' room. She had torn
apart all the exercise equipment she didn't need any more,
thrown it in a big pile in the center of the room, and melted it by
putting her hand on it and willing it to get very, very hot. The
resulting mess of metal and plastic, along with the lingering
smell in the air, would have to be cleaned up eventually, but
she, Nabiki, would no longer have to do those boring excercises
to keep her perfect body. Also, she dragged some stuff up from
the dojo - mostly left behind weapons from Mousse - and threw
her sword in the mix, figuring it wouldn't look too conspicuous
there. She left a book on appraising martial arts weapons next
to the stack as further camouflage. "Perfect." She then waled
downstairs. "Kasumi! I'm going out for a little while! I'll be
back for dinner!"

She ran out, in the general direction of Juuban. She'd follow
those girls around, and discover their secret identities. She
didn't have to worry about the fires, right?

 ** *  *   *    *     *      *       *      *     *    *   *  * **

Hotaru pulled herself out of the vat of noodles and glared at the
tiger-striped boy who had kicked her. The glare turned onto a
smile. Hotaru leapt forward and held out her hand. Five long
talons appeared where her hands had been, aimed at his face.
He dodged and threw up his hands, trying to swat her away, but
the mazoku simply melted through his strikes. Her hands passed
through his skin, somehow not tearing them - until she tore
them out.

Lime screamed in pain, with five terrible wounds in his face.
Hotaru brought her boot down, magically enhancing it so even
this human tank could feel it, and stomped repeatedly on his
chest. Her foot lashed out again, this time in a kick, and two
cracks could be heard, one from Lime's ribs, another from
Hotaru's foot passing the sound barrier. She picked up the
screaming Musk warrior and tossed him outside. There, the two
old fools were trying to sneak away, and Cologne was reading
from a scroll. A tense, magical power was building up, and the
remaining four fighters werein front of Cologne, guarding her.
"You think that will stop me? Your lives are mine to take or
spare. Ranma was a friend of mine. You didn't spare him, so
I'm not going to spare you." She simply teleported again, this
time behind Cologne. The bloody claws flashed out, reducing
Cologne's scroll to rubble. Cologne turned around, a look of
dread on her face. Hotaru walked forward, a look of maniac
glee on her face. "That's why people who use real magic
memorize their spells, old woman. They don't read them off of
scrolls that can be burned, torn, or stolen. Here, I'll show you
some real magic. She snapped her fingers, bringing in a few
more Brass Demons. "See? Fast, easy - effective. Have fun!"
Hotaru said, running off in the direction of Genma. 'She
stopped for a minute and turned back. "And, oh yeah, don't kill
them. They aren't ready for that yet." She then jumped up and
flew off, looking for old fat fools or rogue pandas.

Cologne turned to the others. "Get in the store. Lesser demons
I can handle." However, before they could move, a group of
figures burst out from a side street. 

"Hold, demons!" a blonde girl in a funny hairdo announced.
"For destroying establishments of eating, places where youung
gilrs can go on dates with their friends, is a crime that can never
be forgiven!" Both Cologne and her allies and the demons
stared at her for a few seconds. Then the fight picked up again.

 ** *  *   *    *     *      *       *      *     *    *   *  * **

Nabiki jumped from rooftop to rooftop, giddy in her newfound
powers. She ran over to the Nekohanten, with listening devices
aplenty. Usually she was only able to get people to drop her
mikes in the eating area. Now she could put them on the second
floor windows. She was distracted by some noise off to the
side. "Hey! It's them!" The Sailor Senshi had apparently made a
detour to Nerima. Strange, they usually weren't outside of
Juuban. Then again, there were those demon things, and they
generally weren't found outside of Juuban, either. She noticed
Cologne and the others. So the demons were attacking some of
her customers. Well, well. That just wouldn't do. Nabiki
remembered the crazy outfit that Hotaru had. It was a variation
of the Senshi's outfits, and those seemed to block recognition
by other people. Nabiki concentrated for a second, willing her
clothes to change from her normal clothes into something a
little more durable and only slightly less decent. She was just
about to jump down when she remembered something else. "Oh
yeah, my sword." she said, smacking herself in the face.

Nabiki quickly teleported back with the sword, and took a few
practice swings. "Those idiots can make speeches and be forced
to dodge. A quick suprise attack is more my style." Nabiki
stepped back, then ran to the edge and jumped off.
"KIIIYAAAAAAAAAH!" she yelled, doing her best imitation
of a battle-cry.

All combat stopped at the yell/scream coming from the roof. A
girl in a leather fuku landed near Cologne, a broadsword
slashing the nearby demon in two. It exploded into harmless
black mist.The Senshi were the quickest to react to this newest
threat.

"Another one!" Mars yelled, pointing.

"Jupiter Thunder Crash!" Jupiter immediately said, follwing it
up. The lightning blasted out, stinging Nabiki's hand.

"Oww! Damn! What the hell was that for?" she yelled,
switching hands on the sword so she could shake her right hand
and get some feeling back in it. "I just killed that damn thing -
UFF!" One of the remaining three Brass Demons had swatted
her with a telephone pole, sending her throught the wall of the
much abused noodle shop.

"KIIIIYAAAH!" Ryouga yelled, having finally regained his
breath from having his ribs cracked by the first Dark Senshi. His
heavy umbrella screamed through the air at high speed, but was
stopped with a mighty CRACK as the demon blocked with its
phone pole. Grunting, Ryouga leaned forward and pushed
down, a slow ripping sound rising over the rest of the fight as
he broke the pole 

Mousse had chucked maybe a hundred pounds of ironmongery
and a few hundred yards of rope and chain around one of the
demons shortly after Nabiki's unexpected entrance had frozen
everyone - except the one man who couldn't see it. Cologne
wasted no time in stamping eight characters on the demon with
the speed of the 'Chestnut Fist'. It too vanished into thin black
smoke.

The Senshi ganged up on the last one, driving it back with a
barrage of magic. Jupiter powered up to deliver her second
blow to the reeling demon when a hand tapped her on the
shoulder. "Huh?" she said, half turning instinctively. 

Nabiki smiled and rammed her sword into Makoto's stomach.
"Payback's a bitch." She pulled it loose and teleported away
before the Senshi could blast her. She reappeared by Ryouga
and slammed the flat of her blade against his opponent's head.
It dropped to the ground, where Ryouga soon beat it to
unrecognizeable paste. Nabiki looked back to the scouts, noting
that they were ready to shoot at her again. She waved, then
vanished.

On a rooftop not to far away, Nabiki sighed. "So much for my
secret. Not that I expected it to last that long anyhow... but I
was hoping to be able to shift all the blame for my
transformation on Ranma. Now.. where's that Hotaru?" She
looked around, deciding to run in the direction of the greatest
carnage.

 ** *  *   *    *     *      *       *      *     *    *   *  * **

Hotaru herself, however, was not causing the destruction. She
was following two panicky fathers. One, really, but the two
were old friends and partners in cowardice. She enjoyed the fear
they radiated most intensely. In fact, she was making a game of
this. She simply walked behind them - never varying speed,
never attacking. Just walking calmly and silently. Oh, she had
muted all the sound around her, but that was just to set the
correct mood. And if they got too far away in their running, she
simply waited for them to stop, and then she'd teleport nearby
and pop out where they least expected.

It was far more fun than simply physically torturing them.

They were currently in a bathouse abandoned because of the
nearby fight against the demons. That didn't stop her from
being suprised by a looter, though. A most unusual, small,
shriveled looter swiping the underwear left by the fleeing
bathers. He turned and saw the approaching Senshi of Death
and, ignoring every possible danger sign, fixed his eyes on her
leather-bound bustline. "SWEETO!"

The deadly little smile vanished, to be replaced by shock. Her
hand shot out, but the little shriveled pervert deftly dodged it,
still nuzzling her breasts. Hotaru growled. The only person
she'd let try that was Ranma. The little smile returned, though,
as her skin changed textures. Before it was silky and soft. Now,
it was stickier than superglue. Her hand grabbed the pervert
now stuck to her. "Just FRY!" she growled through clenched
teeth. Intense surges of black power blasted Happousai off her
now sticky surface. She willed it back to its previous satin
smoothness, then she reached into subspace for her discarded
Silence Glaive. Picking up the little pervert by wedging his head
between the two blades, she shoveled his blackened body out a
window.

She grumbled and ripped the door off the storage closet the two
idiots were hiding in with her free hand. The damn little pervert
had used the last of her patience and taken the fun out of her
quest. She had really wanted to see if she could kill the fat
bastard from sheer stress, too.

She looked arouynd, noted that Tendo was under an upside
down garbage can and, while theoretically invisible, the magical
signature of a Jusenkyo curse was present in the middle of the
room. She grabbed the man under the can and held him five
inches off the floor with her left hand. "Leave. Now. Or die."
she said, not even looking at him. Her eyes were fixed on the
spot where Genma was. It started to move, realizing he wasn't
as undetectable as he thought, but the point of the Glaive
dipped, barring his escape. Still not looking at the shaking,
bawling man she held, she threw him out the door.

Hotaru's fingers snapped. The door slammed shut behind her,
and a magical field popped up, masking the wall in shadows and
preventing interference. "Now... you're mine." she said, now
holding the Glaive at Genma's throat.

 ** *  *   *    *     *      *       *      *     *    *   *  * **

Cologne quickly assembled the other fighters, many of whom
were still clutching their sides or limbs which had been
brutalized in the last round with the mazoku.

"Damn it!" Ryouga snarled. "That girl hit harder than Ranma
could!" He punched a wall, which promptly collapsed.

Cologne turned to him. "Shut up, you fool. What she has
demonstrated is only a small fraction of her master's true
power."

"Her master?" Ryouga said, lowering his fist.

"Her master." Cologne repeated. "Ranma Saotome." The others
gasped.

"She's Ranma's SERVANT?" Mousse wailed.


"But Ranma wasn't nearly that strong!" Herb protested.
Cologne waved them down.

"Maybe not, but that makes time of the essence. If Ranma is
getting stronger, we need to find and beat him as fast as
possible. Take care of him and these other mazoku will be far
weaker." she said, willing her voice to remain level and strong.
In truth, she was more frightened now than she was in the fight.
She had expected Ranma to be the one causing the destruction,
not some servant. And if his servant was so strong... how was
she going to fight him now? "Herb, come with me. We need to
talk."

 ** *  *   *    *     *      *       *      *     *    *   *  * **

Genma screamed. This had been going on for quite a while, but
it impressed Hotaru how he could continue even after she had
cut open several botles of Clorox. The fumes should cause any
normal human to hack out their lungs. She reviewed her
handiwork.

Several fingers had been removed - slowly - and his face was a
mess of shallow cuts. Disgusting lumps disfigured his body
where she had phased through his skin to cut through the
muscles and tendons below. She had been very careful not to
damage his skin too much. She had plans for a panda-skin rug,
after all. And she had done some nice work with a torn
extension cord, as well.

Pouring some of the Clorox up his nose was her personal stroke
of genius, she thought.

"It's too bad I don't have a nice pit of cats to keep you in for a
few days." Hotaru cooed. She figured he was too far gone to
hear her, but it wasn't like that was going to stop her from
gloating. She rolled him over and kicked him into the wall.
Several shelves collapsed, dumping more random chemicals
onto the floor and making the air even more toxic. A spare
water cooler tank smashed over Genma, turning him into an
ugly fat panda again. "Ah, so it ends now!" she said, a little
excited and a little sad. She had decided that she'd keep him
alive until something or someone else turned him into a panda.
A little game of hers.

The Glaive came down, and started its grisly work.

 ** *  *   *    *     *      *       *      *     *    *   *  * **

Hotaru walked back towards the Nekohanten. She had others
to exact revenge for, after all, as a tribute to her one true friend,
now stolen from her.  She shifted the still bloody panda skin
bundled up on her shoulder. 

Five sailor suited warriors of love and justice appeared, ready to
smite evil and make the world safe for teenage girls everywhere. 

Hotaru waved at them. "Ladies, I don't really feel like fighting
you tonight. So, why don't you go home and I'll call of my
demons and we'll call it a night."

The Senshi stopped and stared at each other. An enemy was
negotiating with them? And not as blackmail, but an apparently
honest deal? Moon held up a hand. "Um... we need to think
about this. Time out!" she said, forming her arms into a T.

Hotaru blinked for a second, then sighed in resignation. She
leaned against the lightpole and tapped her foot against the
ground, waiting for them to reach the only realistic conclusion.
She looked at the huddling Senshi with extreme boredom. They
have maybe a brain and a half among five of them trying to
reach a decision only half a brain was needed to reach. Why was
it taking them three times to reach it, then?

Moon and the other Senshi broke their huddle, and Sailor Moon
took a step forward. "We've decided to OOF!" she managed to
say, before Jupiter elbowed her in the ribs and leapt forward,
pointing over Hotaru's shoulder.

"It's the guy who saved me!" she said excitedly. Hotaru turned
absentmindedly before her eyes opened wider than a dinner
plate. 

"RANMA!" she said, giving him a flying glomp that suprised all
of the Senshi. Ranma staggered before hugging her back.

"Yeah, I'm back." he said, smiling. "I see you've met Genma."
he said, eyeing the panda fur on her shoulder with a more
neutral eye.

"Damn it!" Makoto grumbled. "Why are all the real guys either
brainwashed by the bad guys or ARE the bad guys?"

 ** *  *   *    *     *      *       *      *     *    *   *  * **

Makoto was healed by Moon while Genma was being tortured.

Yes, yes, I'm back. But I don't plan on writing too much right
now.



                                   

and Crossover Corner
www.geocities.com/animecrossovers
and Tannim's 
http://tannim.anifics.com/index.html





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