Since there seem to be many people who hadn't had a chance to read my fics 
before(no wonder, really, since it was first posted in the previous FFML 
about close to 2 years ago...), I'm reposting Stallion ch 1-12 again.  I 
hope the moderators don't mind...




The disclaimer, practically every character here is NOT mine.  They all
belong to their respective company.  I am using a lot of them, so I can't
list them all.  Beside, I am gonna add more series to the story later on.
Don't sue me.  You won't get a penny out of me.  Trust me, you won't.  For
others, there are SOME characters I made up, but who cares?  I don't.


Ranma Crossover fanfic

first fanfic alert!!!
draft alert!!!
and...
Ah heck, read at your own risk.





STALLION

Chapter 3.

< For every hero, he requires a villain.  For him to look GOOD, he needs
damsels in distress. >


Part 1.




Inside the park, people were enjoying the holiday with their family or the
loved ones.  It was a perfect day for some outside fun.  The students were
in their summer vacation.  Many workers were let off early because it was
saturday.  The weather was just great.  In every aspect, it was perfect for
a day in the amusement park.

All the rides had long lines in front of them, the grass field was covered
with picnic blankets, and the pool was swarmed with so many people that it
was hard to see WATER.  The park was surely overcrowded, but it didn't
prevent people from enjoying the moments.

It was a place like this where the evil loved to strike.

A man stood on a branch of a tree.  He was in a uniform, the one not unlike
the ones of the Negaverse but with some differences.  His uniform was
all-black, and there was a mark of yellow circle on the chest.  The biggest
difference was, however, that the clothes itself had subtle, but dark flame
surrounding it.

He smirked as he watched the happy people down below.  He had a purpose to
serve and it required some energy, but little different one from the one
that those weenies from the Negaverse had been collected.

It was the fear.

It was the chaos.

It was the agonizing pain of human suffering.

"Enjoy, you poor mortals.  Soon you are going to thank me for letting you
have the moment.  Right before you scream of your terror!
Khhahahahahahahaha!!!"




"Wow!  That was fun, wasn't it, Tenchi-niichan?  Tenchi-niichan?"

"*Gasp* Hold.. there.. sec..  I just.. need.. catch.. my breath..."

The master of Tench-ken was on his knees, breathing deep in and out.  He had
been in a space fight.  He had been on a speeding spaceship.  He even had
been INSIDE a black hole.  But nothing could have prepared him for a ride in
the horrifying "Hurricane Sandwich" roller-coaster, the brand new feature of
the park.

The car rolled, turned, twisted, spinned, and dropped.  It was a
death-defying experience.  He was very sure of it because during the ride,
he saw the Death watching him from the ground while waving his scythe anrily
at him.  Whoever invented that ride must have been working on a new torture
method.

"Come on, Tenchi-niichan!  I want to try that one over there!"

"Huh?"

Tenchi looked up to see where Sasami was pointing.  He paled as he
recognized the ride.  It was supposed to be the brand new sensation.  The
dreaded "Drop Zone."  They made you go up and, well, drop.  Another painful
ride that lasted only in seconds but made you wait in fear for hours, since
it already had a very long line in front of it.

"No I don't want to die" would have been his honest answer to the girl's
request, but Sasami was looking at him with one of those puppy eyes.  Tenchi
could feel a doom coming down on him.

Then the hand, or rather the voice, of rescue came to unexpecting Tenchi.

"Tenchi-chan?"

Tenchi blinked.  No one had called him "-chan" for close to a decade now.
Who could that be?

He turned towards the source of the voice to find a woman.  She was in a
traditional kimono and had a long bundle on her back.  There was something
familar about her face though...  Sudden recognition hit his brain as his
mouth gasped.

"...Auntie Nodoka?"



A spaceship landed on the lake beside the Masaki house.  If NASA found out
about this they would have their fit.  A good thing for their hearts that
the ship had avoided any detection as it made through the Earth atmostphere.

Minagi(1) was in good mood.  It had been a while since she visited her
sister and surrogate mother.  Hinase was a good companion, as well as a good
spaceship, but she really loved her relationship with her earth friends.
She visited them as often as possible, and today was one of those visits.

This time it was a little different, she noted, when she jumped down from
her ship and landed in front of the gate.  It was a little odd to find their
house in silence though.  Whenever she visited, Masaki Mansion had always
been filled with either laughs or battle noises, usually the latter.  But
today it was in absolute quiet.  But Minagi shrugged it off, and proceeded
to open the door.

But when she she found no one inside, Minagi frowned.  This house being
empty was even weirder than it being too quiet.  One truth always held in
Masaki household, and it was that it was overcrowded.  There were already
eight live-ins, nine if you counted Ryo-ohki.  They were frequently visited
by super-powered villains, the galaxian empire royalties, or friends from
out of space such as herself.  But today it was totally empty.

"Anybody here?  Ryoko?  Ayeka-san?  Washu-sa, chan!  Chan!  Um, Tenchi-san?"

Nobody answered her call even when she made to the living room.  Then Minagi
quickly took the battle stance when she was surprised by a small movement
under the carpet.  She took out her energy sword, and approached it very
slowly.  She began to eye the carpet carefully as she slowly lifted it to
see the underneath.

"Myah!"

"Ryo-ohki!"(2)

Minagi was relieved to find the familar cabbit there.  She picked it up with
her hands but she found that its eyes were full of tears.

"What's wrong?"

"Myah!  Myah!"

Somehow it was trying to say something but Minagi couldn't understand it.
She didn't share a link with the cabbit like Ryoko or Washu did.  But soon
she realized that its ear was pointing towards the upstair.

Putting Ryo-ohki down, Minagi summoned her sword out again and walked
slowly, eyeing the upstair.  Even when she carefully stepped up the stairs,
there was no movement whatsoever.  But when she arrived at the top, she
could hear faint groaning and moaning.  The sound was coming from behind one
of the closed doors.  Holding her sword firmly in her hand, she reached out
to grab the doorknob and turned.  Without making a sound, she cautiosly
opened the door.

When she entered the room, she almost dropped her sword because of her shock
when a terrifying scene displayed in front of her eyes.

First time in her life, she had felt the true fear.  Whatever did this must
be very powerful.

Then someone tabbed on her shoulder.

"Hey, Minagi"

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!"



Outside, Azaka and Kamidake were doing their best impression of two gate
posts.

"Kamidake."

"What is it, Azaka?"

"Don't you think we are missing something today?  We have heard scream and
shouting so far, but something just doesn't seem to add up right."

Kaboom!!

"You mean that?"

"Oh yeah.  There you go.  What a peaceful day it is."

"Indeed."




Sailor Pluto was not happy.  At the moment she was trying her best to
contain the Time Gate's power.  The Garnet Orb, the talisman on the top of
her staff, was also very powerful, but its strength was barely enough to
keep the vibration of the Time Gate at minimum.  First time in millernia,
Meiou Setsuna regretted being the Guardian of this, this headache maker!

She did note somethings during this though.  First of all, it seemed that
something had caused some of the timelines to merge together.  Secondly, the
Time Gate was resonating with it.  Third, it was very powerful, even more
than the Time Gate itself which was already giving her hard time.  This was
no longer the matter of her guarding the Time Gate.  If not controlled,
there was no telling what this thing could do to her plan.  Something she
thought to be a small wave on a pond just turned into a tsunami.

Unknown to Pluto, another one was about to merge into the already crossed
timelines, the one that was very close to her......



As Sailor Saturn, Hotaru was the most powerful Senshi in the Solar System.
With her Silence Glaive, she could wipe out an entire army of strong youmas
in one attack.  Her attack, Silence Wall, was a force to be reckoned with.
She could destroy the entire system if she wanted.  Even the mighty Sailor
Pluto wouldn't mess with her lightly.

But when she was not in her Senshi form, Tomoe Hotaru was one weak, helpless
girl.

Hotaru was also lost.  That made the already bad situation even worse.

It was only moments ago when the Outers entered the park, shortly after
their embarassment over an attempted entry without a ticket.  The guard at
the gate lectured them for quite a while.  Things seemed to escalate even
worse when agitated Haruka held up the guard by his collar.  Fortunately
Michiru came back with the tickets just in time, or they would have been
arrested.

Hotaru had no idea how she got separated with Haruka and Michiru.  She was
standing beside Haruka just now but in a blink of eyes, both Haruka and
Michiru disappeared.  The most dangerous Senshi of the Solar System became a
fragile young girl sobbing and calling for her guardians.

"Haruka-papa...?  Michiru-mama...?"

Her eyes were glimmering with tears, and her mouth started to quiver as
Hotaru looked around to find her friends, but with no avail.  People around
her were smiling and laughing as they went on their own way, too happy in
their world to even pay a glance at her.  She was among hundreds of people,
but she felt lonely.  In every direction she looked there were only
strangers, having fun with their family or friends.  She was the only one
who was alone......

Hotaru really didn't like being alone although throughout the most of her
life she had been alone.  During the time of the Moon Kingdom, people feared
her power and the prophecy that declared her to be the bringer of disaster.
After her incarnation, she was outcasted and avoided by her peers for having
mysterious healing power.  Even after her rebirth after Paraoh Ninety she
had made very few friends, most of them being the Senshi's.

All those moments of her life that were filled with being feared and
detested made her very vulnerable to emotional scar.  Times like right now
was one of those moments.  She was in the sea of strangers and nobody even
looked at her.  Loneliness.  As familar as it was, Hotaru still feared the
emotion.  Only thing that kept her from breaking down was a few happy and
comforting memories that she had held in her mind.

Like that person she met before the Moon Kingdom fell......

'Huh?  What was his name?  I can't seem to remember...  But wait, who am I
talking about...?'

"Umph!"

"!"

Her thoughts were suddently interrupted as someone bumped into her.

"Ah!"

Hotaru felt down on the ground.  She felt as if a wall just walked into her,
how weird the expression might be.  Already fragile, Hotaru simply didn't
have strength to stand still after such impact.

"It hurts..."

Hotaru rubbed her bottom.  Her hip was sore, but overall she was okay.

"Hey!  Are you hurt?  Sorry.  Gee, I seemed to bump into people a lot
today..."

The man, whom Hotaru now noted to have a pigtail and a bit older than her,
reached out his hand towards her.  With a little blush on her cheek, she
grabbed his hand and got up.  It was then when she noted that he had the the
most kind, deep looking grey eyes she had ever seen......



Pluto's room was a total mess now.  Suddenly some blasts came out of the
Time Gate and started to break everything in their path.  Even the Garnet
Orb was now vibrating with the Time Gate.

"What is going on here!?!"

Setsuna was now on her knees as the Time Gate's power started to overcome
her own.  If here stood any other Senshi, she would have been out of the
game long ago.  But Sailor Pluto wasn't a normal Senshi.  She still held her
stance against one of the most powerful force in the universe.

"I must control it!  This castle can't stand this much longer!"

All of sudden, a blast came directly at her.  Pluto didn't have enough time
to avoid it and got hit square on her chest.  Not a scream could make out of
her mouth as she flew backward and slammed right into the wall.

Her limb body slided down the wall as she tried her best to stay conscious.

'I, I must stand!'

While she battled to keep her eyes open, another big blast came out of the
Gate.  But this time the Gate failed to stand the power of the blast.  Just
as suddenly as it lit up, the Time Gate shut down in a blink, some crack
appearing on its surface.

Setsuna was so glad it was all over that she failed to notice the fact the
Time Gate was now damaged.  Right before she slumbered into the
unconsciousness, she softly muttered a name, one that even she herself had
forgotten......

"......Killan......"




Skuld was in hell.

Well, not the real one.

But it was pretty close.

Everywhere she looked there was a huge machine that served no purpose
whatsoever.  A giantic wheel that just kept circling around, a long
snake-like train on a twisting track that went nowhere, a large pendulum
that had a big pirate ship on its end, and etc, etc.  They just stood there
and moved in the same routine over and over again.  The worst thing was that
these stupid mortals actually seemed to enjoy these, as the machines had
lines of people waiting for their turn.  So she couldn't even attempt to
blow them up.

This place was the youngest goddess' nightmare.  Skuld really wanted to get
out of here.

But she couldn't leave until the boy left first.

The boy who she STILL hadn't found yet.

"Aaack!  Where is he?"

Skuld muttered some frustrated words.  She had been searching for the boy
for about half an hour, but with no avail.  There were just too many people
here.

The goddess almost swore out of agitation.  Times like this she really
wanted her sister Belldandy.  Heck, even Urd might be good right now.  Not
being as experienced as her sisters, the youngest goddess simply didn't have
necessary skills to detect the boy's power.  Without her gadgets, anyway.

"That's it!  I can still use my Mr. Looky!  Oh, I am such a genius."

Skuld took out Mr. Looky again and began to slowly search the area.  Her
eyes were closed to focus her ears to the beeping sound of Mr. Looky.  Good
thing she did that or she might have seen the confused stare of people
around her.  A fairly large audience was started to gather around to look at
a strange girl doing a strange thing.

Beep!!

"Yes!!  He must be over there!"

The audience was surprised out of their wit when Skuld snapped her eyes open
and shouted.  Paying no heed to them the goddess ran towards the direction
her stick pointed.

"This time, I won't lose him!"

Skuld didn't know that what she picked up wasn't the boy, but something very
dark and evil......



"!"

The goddess of the present lifted her face when she felt a chill down her
back.  There was something dangerous near her sister.  She could feel it.

Belldandy was a first-class goddess, not only because of her magic but also
her skills.  Her fortune-telling was famous amongst her peers for being so
accurate.  Somehow she had a knock at it, and it also gave her some vague
sense of prediction on near future.  She really enjoyed using this ability
as it could help people a lot.

This time, however, it told her a very upsetting news to her.  A danger was
coming close to one of her loved ones.  Her own sister, no less!

"I have to go help her!"

"Help whom, Belldandy?"

The voice of a young kid shook her out of her thoughts.  Keiichi.  She
forgot about him.  He needed her right now.  But her sister......  Belldandy
was in turmoil.  With tears showing on her eyes, she turned to her love.

"Keiichi-san......"

"Eh?  What's wrong?  You are crying!"

"Oh, Keiichi-san......  Oh what should I do..."

"What's wrong, Belldandy?  Tell me!"

"It's... it's Skuld......"

"?"

With quivering voice, Belldandy explained her problem.  Keiichi knew that
Belldandy's predictions were rarely wrong.  So it was very shocking for him
to find out that one of the goddesses were in near trouble.

"Um, then what are you still doing here?  She needs help, doesn't she?"

"But Keiichi-san...  How about you...?"

"Huh?  Me?"

Then a realization hit him.  He couldn't help but feel very touched by her
deep devotion to him.  But he shook his head vigorously.  Morisato Keiichi
might be a wimp, but he knew what was right.  Right now Belldandy was needed
more than him somewhere else.

"Don't worry about me.  I'll be fine."

"But..."

"Urd should be home soon, and I'll be back to myself in no time!  Nothing to
worry."

"Keiichi-san..."

"Skuld needs you right now, doesn't she?  Go on.  I'll be fine."

"Yes..."

Wiping her tears away, Belldandy turned away from Keiichi to find a mirror.
Before she left, however, she didn't forget to thank him.

"Thank you for your understanding, Keiichi-san.  I..."

"Nothing to thank me for.  Just go."

But Keiichi called her once more before she left.

"Belldandy?"

"Yes, Keiichi-san?"

"I'll be waiting..."

To his words, Belldandy answered with another tear-stained smile.  Then a
bright light filled the room as she disappeared into the mirror.  Keiich
sighed when the light was gone.  He couldn't help but feel that sometimes,
Belldandy was too good to him for her own good.  He stepped towards the
kitchen to make himself something to eat.

"!!"

It was then when he realized something.  Everything in the kitchen was so
big compared to him now.  Well, it was him who got smaller, but that wasn't
the point.  How was he going to cook with things that were almost as big as
him!?!?(3)

"Where are you, Urrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrd!!!!



"Achoo!"

Urd rubbed her nose.  She must be catching a cold or something.  No wonder
if she thought about it, standing in front of a big refridgerator full of
ice cream all day.  In the middle of summer, she was already feeling chilly.

"No blowing your nose in front of the products!!"

"Yessir!!"



Kasuke washed his face in the washroom of the restaurant.  The old lady was
kind enough to let him use their washroom, even after he created a scene in
front of her store.

"*sigh* What was I thinking?  A girl disappearing into the bucket!?!  Get a
hold of yourself, Kasuke!!"

It was then when the mirror in front of him began to glow.  Much to his
astonishment, a beautiful woman stepped out of the light.  The light had
died out soon and the woman now stood on the ground.  The woman blinked when
she saw him, smiled, and bowed, then left the room.

All through this, Kasuke just stared at the mirror.




>From the top of a tree, a long-robed figure stood on it.  The top branch of
the tree didn't seem all that strong, but somehow the figure was able to
stand on it.  Inside the robe, a pair of smiling eyes watched down below,
not only the happy crowd on the ground, but alos the mysterious man in black
uniform.

"Hehehe!  It seems 'they' are in this wonderful fun place.  It's really fine
establishment, I must say.  It's gonna get even better when that gentleman
down there begins his thing.  Oh today is gonna be so much fun, and I don't
have to lift a finger!  Hohoho!  Enjoy, humans!  Wahaha!!"




The man in black started his plan, not knowing he was being watched.  He
took out a small orb out of his inside pocket.  The orb started to glow
under the sunlight.  The man snickered, and threw the orb down the tree.

The orb fell, pulled by the power of gravity.  When it reached the ground,
however, it didn't break into pieces.  Rather, it just seemed to blow up as
the light from the orb expanded dramatically.  Soon instead of the glowing
orb, a huge ball of light began to shine.

The light was so intense and big that the passbys stopped in their steps.
Some thought it was another new display by the park, even though some
doubted why they had it in such a strange place.  They were met by a
security guard when they approached the light ball, however.

"Wait!  Wait!  Don't go near this!  It might be dangerous."

His words actually surprised the crowd.  One guy at the front asked the
guard out of curiosity.

"You mean this isn't one of your display?"
"Um, no.  I haven't been informed about a display in this location.  I don't
know what it is, but this definitely isn't one of the park's features."
"Then what is it?  You just don't have a shining lightball drop out of...
sky......"

The guy started to mumble as his face turned into that of the fear.  All the
eyes of crowd seemed to get bigger and their mouth opened widely.  The guard
was confused at the sudden change, but froze dead when he heard a nasty
snarl of an animal behind him.  He slowly turned his head to his back, and
found a group of monsters standing in the light.

Everyone froze for a second, until one of the monsters opened its mouth.

"Kaoh!"

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!!"

Then everyone started to run away.

For the crowd of their size, the evacuation was rather smooth and fast.
Living in Tokyo meant having lots of practices in the art of taking shelter
in the midst of disaster, since there were lot of things happening around
the city.  Earthquake, typoon, gas terror, heavy rain, Godzilla, youma
attack, martial arts fight, street fights, and on and on and on......

Within next few minutes, almost every visitors in the park heard the news
and ran out to the exit.

>From the tree, the man in the black uniformed blinked as he watched the
entire park being emptied out faster than Kobe Bryant taking his first shot
during a Lakers game.  He had expected chaos and blood as his monsters began
to tear the humans apart with their bare hands.  But he never expected to
find the entire complex vacated in mere minutes!!  His minions seemed to be
confused as much as their master, since they just stood in the light.

Out of the man's hearing range, a figure was laughing his head off from the
top of a tree.




Tenchi and Nodoka were having quite a conversation.  It had been long time
since the last time the two met.  Nodoka was happy to meet her now all
grown-up nephew, while Tenchi found another person whom he loved as a
family.

Nodoka was the older sister of Achika, Tenchi's mother.  Before Achika grew
up, however, Nodoka had some disagreement with Katsuhito, and left home for
the city early in her age.

At Achika's wedding Nodoka showed up with her husband, Genma, which upsetted
Katsuhito even more(4).  But with Achika in the middle, they somewhat
resolved their differences and started to talk more like family.  They
didn't quite forgive each other yet however, an apprent fact since they
didn't visit each other so much.

Their fragile relationship between the upset father and the angry daughter
ceased to continue when Achika died.  However it was no longer because they
were mad at each other.  Achika meant a great deal to both of them, and when
she died both were too deeply hurt to think of the other one.  Soon after
that Nodoka didn't put a step inside the Masaki house.

This saddened young Tenchi.  He lost his mother AND an aunt at the almost
same time.  While his uncle Genma and cousin Ranma didn't visit often, which
Tenchi suspected to be due to Genma's fear of Katsuhito, Nodoka used to come
to his house for every major holiday.  When his mother was sick, Nodoka
practically had lived in their house to take care of her young nephew.  She
was his favourite person at the time, only next to his own mother.

Now there she stood, the aunt whom he had really missed.  Tenchi couldn't
help if their conversation got too long.  This was a very happy event for
him.  He didn't even notice the bored expression on Sasami's face or the
impatient foot-tabbing by one of Nodoka's companions.  Nodoka didn't pick up
on the hints either, but she went on to introduce Tendos.  Minus the
engagement story, however, since Nodoka knew it didn't put her
daughter-in-law-to-be in good mood.  Also, a mention of the engagement might
bring out another embarassing scene by the men of the household...



It wasn't until the park was almost empty when Tenchi noted something odd.
Minutes ago he had to raise his voice over crowd's noise in order to talk to
his aunt, but now it was absolutely quiet.  This made him puzzle a little,
but he kept on talking anyway.

"So, how's Ranma?"

Tenchi blinked as the question seemed to bring out some nervous laughs out
of everyone.  Even Sasami was puzzled as she asked Tenchi.

"Um, who's Ranma?"

"Huh?  Oh, sorry, Sasami-chan.  This is my aunt Nodoka, and Ranma's her son.
  In other words, he is my cousin."

"Oh, how cute!  By the way, who's this young lady here, Tenchi-chan?"

Nodoka asked him to divert Tenchi's attention.  She was confused when Tenchi
did the double-flip hearing the question.

"Um, that is, it's, um...  I am not sure you know, but..."

Tenchi was in trouble.  He didn't know how to explain Sasami to Nodoka.  He
frantically searched the surrounding to find an escape route.

He did find one.  The only problem was that it was a group of monsters
approaching them.

"Eck!  What the heck are those?"

"Tenchi-niichan!  They are scary!"

"Oh no!  Everyone, run!  Tenchi-chan, you too!  Young miss, hold on to
Tenchi!"




Haruka was very excited.  She got some youma butt to kick.

Michiru wasn't very excited.  She got a missing girl in this huge place
where some youmas were wondering around.

"Oh good!  I need to vent some of my frustration.  This hadn't been a good
day."

"Haruka!  What about Hotaru?!"

This dampened the mood of the short-haired Senshi a bit, but she answered
her partner anyway.

"Don't worry, Michiru.  Hotaru should be okay.  She is one of us, after
all."

"But..."

"Also, it doesn't look like they are going to let us go anyway.  We got to
get rid of them first before we can search for Hotaru."

Michiru looked at the monsters who were now rushing towards them with hungry
eyes.  She didn't like it, but it seemed a battle was in order.

"*sigh* Okay.  But let's finish them quickly and look for Hotaru."

"No problem.  Uranus Planet Power Make up!!"

"Neptune Planet Power Make up!!"

Bright light covered both of them.  Soon, Ten'ou Haruka and Kaiou Michiru
disappeared and there they stood, Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune.

"Come on, let's get it on!  We don't have much time!"

"*sigh* I know, I know..."

Uranus drew her space sword out and charged the monsters.  Neptune was about
to follow her partner when she saw a large lightball from the corner of her
eyes.  Her eyes widened with shock when she saw more monsters stepping out
of it.

"Uranus, wait!  There are more!"

But Sailor Uranus was already engaged in the battle, and was too busy to
listen.  With a frustrated grunt, Neptune gave up and joined her partner.




"Aaaaaaaaaaahh!!  What are these demons doing here?"

Skuld was running away from the monsters who were hot on her tail.  All she
wanted to do was to find the boy.  Right now, however, the boy was the least
of her concern.

"Neo Skuld bomb!"

Boom!!

The explosion covered the area with smoke.  Skuld expectantly watched the
scene as the smoke cleared.  But horrifyingly, when it cleared it showed
more monsters stepping out.  The goddess was again on the run.

"Help!!!!!  Somebody!!  Belldandy-neesan!  Urd!!  Somebody!!  Ah!"

Skuld stumbled on a rock and fell.  She landed rather hard on the ground.

"Ouch..."

Skuld moaned as she tried to get up.  But she froze at the sight of monsters
which were only steps away from her.

"Ah......"

No word came out of her mouth as she just sat there and watched the monsters
catching up to her.  Finally, one of them stood in front of her and raised
its arm to strike the goddess.  Even then all she could do was just to stare
at the huge arm slowly coming down towards her...

"Angel Holy Bell!!"

Suddenly the monster was knocked away.  Skuld had to close her eyes because
of the wind.  When she opened them, the beautiful angel of her sister stood
in front her eyes.

'That means...'

Skuld turned around to find Belldandy standing right behind her.

"Sorry to make you wait, Skuld."

"Belldandy-neesan..."

She could only murmur since it was all she could do not to break down.
Finally she did break down and rushed to Belldandy's arms and cried.

"Oneesan!!  Waaaaah!!!"

"There, there.  Skuld.  I am here.  Don't worry."

Belldandy did her best to calm down her younger sister, but she also had
other thing to worry about, like those demons around her.  Right now Holy
Bell created a wall of wind, preventing the monsters from getting closer.
But the number of their enemies seemed to increase by the minute, not the
other way like she hoped.  With Skuld in her state, Belldandy couldn't try
anything stronger than this.

The monsters challengeed the barrier for some time, but they were knocked
away as soon as they barely touched it.  Soon the creatures seemed to have
given up on the idea of penetrating the invisible wall of air, but they
didn't totally give up and kept circling around them.  Belldandy and Skuld
were surrounded, and the enemies were increasing in number.  The goddess of
the present couldn't see a way out.

'Urd-neesan...'



Urd's eyes snapped open.  She could feel the link with her sister flickering
as if it was blocked away with some dark force.  Whatever was happening, it
must be really bad.  She had to get to Belldandy quickly.

"Where do you think you are going?"

If that idiot of the boss would just let her go...

"I have some family emergency.  I'll come back later, I promise!  Just let
me go this time!"

"Feh, you think I was born yesterday?  No excuse!  You step back in here and
start scooping those ice cream!"

"Hey!  You have no idea what you are dealing with!"

"I know what I am dealing with, and it's YOU skipping out on the bill!"

Before Urd could retort, someone called her from behind.

"Urd?!"

With her mouth still open, Urd turned to see who called her.  Morisato
Megumi was standing there with confusion clear on her face.  However, she
just gave Urd a great idea.

"Nice timing, Megumi!  Please take care of this guy."

"Huh?"

Before Megumi could say anything, Urd turned to the clerk and spoke.

"This lady here will cover for me while I'm gone."

"Huh?  Who, her?"

"URD?!"

"No time, gotta go!  Love ya, bye!!"

With the parting words, Urd ran with the speed worthy of an Olympic Gold
medal, leaving wide-eyed Megumi and the clerk dumbly staring at her
departing form.

"What the...  Oh well.  One's better than none."

The clerk then handed an apron to Megumi and yelled.

"Now go in there and work!"

"Huh?!"




"This is Tokyo Live!  We bring you another live battle between mysterious
monters and the Sailor Scouts!  Right now only two of the lady heroes are
here, but they seemed to be on the advantage!  However there are still some
visitors who have not been able to evacuate the area yet.  They are running
away as fast as they can!  We will bring you more update after this!"

Inside the "Gorgeous TV's" store, the owner watched the TV intently.  Those
poor people at the amusement park must have been enjoying themselves before
those ugly bastrads showed up.  He felt lucky that he actually had to work
today.

"By the way, what is taking Kasuke so long?  I hope he hasn't gone crazy
again there."



Back at the restaurant, the old lady dumbly stared at the delivery man.
Moments ago he was going nut outside, and now he was going nut inside.

"Hehehe!  Mirror, mirror, mirror!  Hey, lady!  Wanna go somewhere with me?
Let's jump through that mirror!"

"No!!  Get away from me you sicko!"




Minagi was sitting with a very sorry look.  In front of her lied unconscious
Mihoshi.

"I, I really didn't know it was her..."

Kiyone, who was still pale due to Mihoshi's 'treatment,' patted Minagi's
shoulder.

"Don't feel bad.  You saved us today.  If you got here a little late, we
might all be dead by now."

Washu, who had both of her arms in bandages, nodded solemnly.

"She's right.  Even I was out cold.  There was no telling what she might
have done."

"But..."

"Don't worry, miss!  WE are fine.  Ryoko-san and Ayeka-san are still out.
But I must say, it's all for good!"

Even the enthusiastic words of Nobuyuki, who had his RIGHT arm in the cast,
didn't cheer Minagi one bit.  Katsuhito, whose HEAD was covered with
bandages now, spoke despite his nose filled with cotton balls.

"Yau dit a smaww mishdak to sabe many.  Yau ssould be broud."

While still upset, Minagi giggled a little at this.  The always stern priest
speaking funny like that.  You wouldn't see that everyday even if you
traveled through the galaxy.

"Now, let's see what we've been missing today, shall we?"

With that words, Washu turned on the TV.

The screen showed a close-up of Tenchi's face.

"Huh?"

The camera began to zoom out, and it showed Tenchi who was running with
Sasami on his back.  They were being chased by some monsters.

"Eek!?!  Tenchi!!!"

Nobuyuki's loud shout woke up the sleeping beauties.  Mihoshi was the first
to open her eyes, and spoke with still sleepy voice.

"Huh?  When did I sleep?  Oh, Minagi!  When did you come?"

"Um, just now.  Hi, Mihoshi..."

"Hi!  Oh I am so glad you are here.  How was your trip?  Did you find
anything fun?  Oh Tenchi!  When did you come back?"

"Ahem, Mihoshi?"

"Huh, what, Washu-chan?"

"That's not Tenchi.  That's Tenchi on TV."

"Oh really?  Wow!  When did he get on TV?  What is he doing right now?  Eh?
He is just running.  What's his role?"

"That's not a role.  He is on live TV news."

"Huh?  Why?  What did he do?  Is he a criminal now?  Does that mean... I
have to arrest him?!"

Fumed Kiyone interfered.

"NO YOU IDIOT!!  Tenchi is running because some monsters are CHASING him!!"

"Oh, so we don't have to arrest him?  That's good!"

But loud voice of Kiyone shook the other two heavy-sleepers out of their
dream.

"What!?!  Who's chasing Tenchi!?!?"

"What was that about Tenchi-dono?  Oh my goodness!!  SASAMI!!"

Both Ryoko and Ayeka tried to get up when they saw the screen.  Their leg
failed, however, and they fell on their face.  Hard.

BAM!!

"...ouch..."

"...it hurts..."

Washu rolled her eyes.  They should have known better, coming off from the
'care' of MIHOSHI.  Then she turned her gaze to Minagi, who became very
nervous.

"As you can see, Tenchi-dono is in danger..."

"He IS?!?!  Oh my goodness!!!  We should do something!!"

"You GOT that NOW, You bubble head!?!?!?"

Other than a small vein popping up on her forehead, Washu ignored the two
galaxy police officers and continued.

"...but almost every one of us are incapaciated because of our injuries..."

"Injuries?  What happened to you people?"

BAM!!

Everyone in the room facefaulted at the comment which came from no other
than Mihoshi herself.

"Why you!!!!"

"Aaaah!!  Kiyone, you are scaring me!"

"Calm down, Kiyone-san!"

"It isn't worth it, Kiyone-kun!"

Nobuyuki and Katsuhito were trying to restrain enraged Kiyone away from
crying Mihoshi.  Washu stood up and kept on speaking while rubbing her
forehead.  Minagi just had to admire her strength.

"Like I was saying, somebody has to go and help Tenchi-dono.  With Sasami
there, he will be in disadvantage if he is forced to fight.  But none of us
can.  Do you understand what I am saying?"

A realization came to Minagi's face, and it turned into determination as she
nodded to the greatest scientist in the universe.

"Just tell me how to get there."




The entrance to the park was already blocked by the police when the rest of
the Senshi's, including Chibi-Usa, arrived.  They were a bit miffled since
they didn't know what was going on.  When they tried to ask someone they
were greeted by a soft meow near their feet.  Usagi and the Senshi's looked
down to find Luna.

"Luna!"

Usagi picked up the cat and carefully looked around them.  Feeling that
there were too many people watching, she went into the shade under a close
tree.  The rest also quietly followed her.  As soon as she thought they were
clear, Usagi quietly asked the cat.

"Luna, what's going on?"

"I don't know exactly, but I think there are some monsters inside"

"WHAT!?!?!"

The collective yell of all the Senshi's were loud enough to attract
attentioin of a large audience, who sweatdropped seeing six girls screaming
to the cat.  The Senshi's noticed this and shut their mouth, having gone
through enough embarassment today and all.  They went into a nearby alley to
continue their conversation.

"Okay, Luna.  What's this about monsters?"

Rei impatiently asked the cat who was still trying to recover from their
yell.

"...hello to you too, Rei..."

"No chit-chat!  We don't have time!"

"We would if you guys came here earlier!"

"Well SORRY!!  We had to drop off Artemis and pick up the kid!"

"Hey!  I am not a kid!!  I am one of the Senshi's, too!"

Rei rolled her eyes before answering back to Chibi-Usa, raising her hand
upto her neck.

"Sorry, but you have to be THIS tall to be on the same ride with us."

"I do not!"

"Sure do!"

"Do not!"

"Do!"

"Guys, guys.  We have more urgent business to take care of."

A hand covered each of Rei and Chibi-Usa's mouth as Makoto tried to break
the two up.  Minako grinned rather slyly at this, though.

"Eager to meet the boy who LOOKS AS KIND AS your OLD BOYFRIEND, huh?"

"Hey!  That has nothing to do with it!"

Makoto's retort seemed less believable with that blush on her cheek.

Luna smacked her forehead.  Times like this she wished she had perished with
the rest of the Moon Kingdom millenia ago.  All these headaches were
shortening her life anyway.  With sigh, she addressed the remaining two
Senshi's who were still paying attention.

"Waaaaah!!  We just finished fighting Galaxia, but we had to fight again?!"

Make that ONE Senshi who was still paying attention.

"Ami, there are new youmas in the park, and Haruka, Michiru and Hotaru are
already in there looking for that boy!  We have to do something!!"

"Eh?  Um, okay..."

Being suddenly entrusted with such a large responsbility of decision making,
Ami was barely able to answer.  She looked at her friends who were now fully
into arguements amongst themselves, totally forgetting about why they were
there.  This made the already difficult job almost impossible.

"By the way, where is Setsuna?"

Ami asked the question simply to change the subject, seeing that she
wouldn't be able to draw her friends' interest.  Surprisingly this question
brought all the Senshi's back on track.

"Yeah, where is she?  And Haruka, Michiru, and Hotaru?"

"Yeah!  Where is Hotaru?"

A vein popped on the cat's forehead when Usagi and Chibi-Usa asked for
something she had spoken only moments ago.  She looked up to Usagi who was
still holding her, but answered them in rather quiet voice.

"Setsuna disappeared, and for the other Outers......"

"Yes?"

All the Senshi's drew close to the cat to listen more clearly, since it was
hard to hear the cat's small voice.  Only Ami, who realized the impending
anger of their advisor, stepped away from Luna.

"...I told you THAT THEY ARE INSIDE LOOKING FOR THE BOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh!!"

All the Senshi's were now covering their ears in pain.  Except Ami, who had
already covered her ears before the scream.




Belldandy was still surrounded by the monsters, holding unconscious Skuld in
her arms.  Her sister cried herself out till she passed out.  Belldandy
relieved at feeling her sister's now regular breath on her neck.  Skuld's
terrified wail had been tearing the older goddess' heart.

However there wasn't much time left, since Belldandy was beginning to feel
tired.  Although it was Holy Bell's power that was keeping up the wind
barrier around them, it was still the goddess' own power that kept the angel
here.  Longer this would go on, more dangerous for the goddesses.

But Belldandy still couldn't do anything much.  Even without Skuld there,
her enemies would be just too many for her to handle alone.  With her
current power she wouldn't be able to hold on for very long.

'I know I shouldn't, but......'

There was a last resort of unsealing her power.  With the seal open,
Belldandy's power should rise enough to destroy all of the monsters here.
But doing so without her FATHER's permission was a serious breach of the
regulations, one that could easily evoke her goddess license.  She even
might have to leave Keiichi......

'But I have no choice......'

Belldandy trusted Keiichi with all her heart.  If things came to the worst,
he still wouldn't blame her for it.  Keiichi had stood by her side through
it all, and she would do the same.  Even if she wouldn't be able to fullfill
his wish, the one that both kept AND allowed her to be with him, she would
still go back to him at the end.  She also had no doubt he would be waiting
for her...

'Just like he said......'

Almost subconsciously Belldandy squeezed Skuld closer to her, as if she
wanted to get someone else's comforting assurance......

The roar of the monsters began to get louder, as more of them appeared and
surrounded the goddesses.  There seeemed to be at least thirty of them
there.  Belldandy could feel her angel starting to wear out.  Soon she would
have to send Holy Bell back.  Then it would be only herself that stood
between Skuld and the monsters.

Belldandy's hand slowly reached up to her ears, where the seal existed in
the form of the accessories.  The time she had dreaded would come soon.
With her mind determined, she grabbed the earrings on her ears.

She didn't get the chance to take them off.

Because before Belldandy could remove her seal, some rays of lightening
suddenly dropped out of sky and striked the monsters.

Grrwwwaaahh......

Painful grunt of the monsters rang through the air, as almost half of them
turned into ashes.

"Ohohohohohohoho!!  Picking on my sisters?  That's why you uglies can't buy
a date!!  Bwahahahahaha!!"

A rather familar laughter filled the place.  Belldandy quickly turned around
to find Urd laughing her heart out.

"Urd-neesan!"

Tears almost ran down her cheek when Belldandy saw her older sister standing
there with a broad smile.  The relief was so great that she couldn't even
stand to greet Urd.

The goddess of the past put her gaze down to her now almost sobbing sister.
With sympathetic glance, she also took a moment to look at their youngest
sister, who was now asleep.  She smirked a little at seeing this, and patted
Belldandy's head.

"Don't worry.  Thing like this is my stuff, so just watch."

"Thank you, Urd-neesan!"

"No prob, Bell.  Now, where were we...?"

Urd lifted her chin to face the cause of her sister's tears.  Despite all of
her care-free, punky attitude, one thing never left the top of her priority
list.  Nobody, and she meant NOBODY, would mess with her family.

Being the second-class goddess, Urd had less access to Ygradsil's power than
Belldandy.  But when it came to combat, her skill made up for that
limitation more than enough.  Her reckless style of spell casting also made
her so deadly.  The goddess's name was notorious even among the demons,
especially after when she fried five first-class demons crisp, all at the
SAME time.

Now, the monsters were really low-level evil creatures.  While they had
numbers, in Urd's eyes it only meant more fish to fry at once.  Whatever
these creatures were, they were in for the worst, and the last punishment of
their lifetime.

"Let's rumble, boys!  Ohohohohohohohoooo!!!  LIGHTENING STRIKE!"

BOOM!

"That's it.  Dance, boys!  Ohohohohohoho!!  Here comes another one!"

KABOOM!

"Ohohohohohohoho!!  Had enough?  Yes?  Too bad, because I'm not done yet!"

KABOOM!  KABOOM!  KABOOOOOOOOOOOM!!

Not long after, only remains of her opponents were the burnt marks left on
the sidewalk.  Even though they were evil monsters, Belldandy couldn't help
but feel a little sorry for them.  In the blink of eyes, her sister totally
wiped them out, not leaving a hair untorched.

"Over already?  Geez, all of you, and still can't satisfy one of me!!
Ohohohoho......"

Urd's laugh trailed off when she saw even more creatures came out of the
bushes.  They were almost twice the number from before.  Belldandy paled
slightly.  But Urd put on a rather mean grin as she stretched her fingers.

"Ain't gonna give a lady some moment to freshen up?  That's the type we
females hate the most!!  Fine.  Come and take your punishment like men!
Ohohohohohohohohoho!!!!!"

'This is gonna be a long day.'

Putting that thought aside, Urd raised her hand to cast another spell.




The man in the uniform had been observing the scenes on the grounds.  At
first he was pleased to see that his minions had found some preys.  However
his pleasure soon turned into anger when the preys turned out to be the one
who was actually doing the hunting.  The monsters outnumbered their
opponents, but they were the one who was being slaughtered in the end.
Those two girls in weird costume destroyed more than fifty now.  Those women
with face markings were doing as well as them, if not better.  He didn't
even begin to fathom how this could be.  Whoever his new enemies were, they
were not normal human beings.

Out of irritation, he continued to summon more creatures.  That evened the
odds a little, but what he wanted was sacrifices, not prisoners.  In order
to kill those persistent dogs, it seemed that more powerful servants would
be needed.

'I wasn't expecting to do this so early in my mission, but I guess it'll
have to do...'



"Hmm?"

The figure in the robe, still on the top of the tree, observed the man down
below when the man took out another orb from his jacket.  This time,
however, instead of dropping it he threw it up and the orb was suspended in
the air.  Then all of sudden dark flame exploded, surrounding the orb.  Then
the man began his chanting, and the flame began to spit out some small
pieces, which turned into some winged creatures.

"Oho!  This looks interesting..."




Ranma Saotome was NOT a coward.  Living with Happosai also gave him lots of
experiences with the kinds of demons.  So those monsters didn't scare him a
bit.

But he had a girl to protect right now.

The heir of the Anything Goes was currently doing something he wasn't proud
of.  The Saotome Secret Technique.  It was necessary at the moment to make
sure that the girl in his arms wouldn't get hurt.  His manner wasn't that of
the gentlemen, but his honor was that of the chivalry.  No matter what
happened, he wouldn't let an innocent get hurt.

Beside, there was something about this girl that made him especially
protective...



Tomoe Hotaru never liked flying.  It scared her, even when she was in her
Senshi form.

So it was natural for her to scream when the stranger, whom she just met,
picked her up with his arms, and began to jump between tree to tree.  But
she liked the prospect of facing those monsters even less, so she kept her
silence after some time later.

While she was one of the Sailor Scouts, she was also a regular girl.  Hotaru
herself didn't like fighting much either, although she would do it if she
had to.  But at the moment fighting was not an option.  After all, she
couldn't transform in front of this stranger, could she?

Hotaru was also surprised to find herself rather comfortable in this
stranger's arms.  It wasn't something physical, but there was something
spiritual from him that kept her mind at ease.  She felt secure and happy
there.

Herself didn't realize it, but the young Senshi was beginning to lean
towards the man's chest...



Ranma blinked in the midst of his flight.  Did this girl just lean on him?
He looked down briefly and saw that he wasn't mistaken.  The girl didn't
seem to realize what she did though, so Ranma just shrugged it off.  He had
a bigger problem on his hand.

The problem just got bigger, however, when some more creatures appeared in
front of him.  They were different from the ones he was running away from.
First of all, they had wings and flew in the air.  But somehow Ranma felt
that they were not very friendly ones.  His instinct kicked in when he
jumped sideway, just in time to avoid one of the winged creatures rushing
towards him.

The creature barely missed the two people.  The real surprise came after,
though, when it collided with one of the demons coming up behind him and
exploded.  The gush of wind changed the course of Ranma's flight and he had
to twist in mid-air to avoid an awkward landing.

When they landed Ranma and Hotaru gasped at the sight in front of them.
Almost half of the demons were also hit by the blast.  A large crater was
all that was left of the flying attacker and its target.  The rest of the
demons hesitated for a moment after they saw the explosion, but soon resumed
their chase.  Ranma stopped being amazed and began to run away faster.

While on the run, Ranma started talking.  It was a hard task when he was
running with someone in his arms, but he figured it might loosen the
tension.  The girl was now holding onto him so tightly that it was getting
hard for him to breathe.

"By the way, my name is Ranma."

But being a Saotome, he didn't know many people skills.  This was only thing
he could think of at the time.

"Huh?"

"My name.  Call me Ranma.  What's yours, kid?"

"Um, Hotaru.  Tomoe Hotaru."

"Hotaru, huh?  Cute name."

Ranma smirked when Hotaru blushed at his compliment.  Sure, her name WAS a
cute one.  But he said that to almost every girl he had met, and it always
brought out a blush.

'Well, there was Ukyou but I didn't know she was a girl until 10 years
later.  Wait, I didn't say that to Shampoo... but she was trying to kill me
that day.  Kodachi?  Nah.  I was too paralyzed to speak.  Um, Akane
either... but she smacked a table on my head!!'

Ranma was so deep in thoughts that he almost didn't see the incoming threat.
  Fortunately he found it just before it reached him.  Unfortunately it was
one of those kamikaze flying thingies.

'Uh-oh.'

The pigtailed martial artist kicked the ground to take a quick side-step.
But the creature was already too close and landed on the ground only inches
away from the two.  It exploded.  Almost out of instinct, Ranma turned his
back towards the blast to shield the girl.  Why his instinct told him to do
that, he couldn't think of a reason even when the shock of wave hit his back
hard.




'Man, they are fast!'

Tenchi thought as he tried to control his breath.  Not to brag, but he was
very healthy and very fit.  The fact that he hadn't tired himself out yet
despite having run for quite a while was the proof.  He was even carrying
already exhausted Sasami on his back.

However his own stamina seemed to be nothing much compared to the runners in
front of him.  Saotomes and Tendos didn't even break a sweat since they
started to run.  What puzzled Tenchi the most was that they didn't look
scared despite being chased by horde of monsters.  Mr. Tendo even casually
offered to carry Sasami if Tenchi was too tired.  Tenchi politely declined,
not wanting to show any weakness.  But he couldn't help but to ask.

"Um, your family seems to be in quite a shape.  Do you guys work out often?"

The girl in short hair, whose name he heard was Nabiki, answered instead of
her father.

"You COULD say that."

Tenchi saw the little smirk on the middle Tendo sister's lips.  He blinked,
and asked another one.

"Um, aren't you a little upset or anything?  I mean, we are being chased by,
um, whatever those are.  But you guys don't even look fazed."

This time the long-haired one, Kasumi he thought her name was, spoke.

"Oh, things like this happens all the time at home."

Now both Tenchi and Sasami blinked as they saw the nervous smiles of the
others.  They had to conclude the story in their own mind.

'I thought WE were weird...'



"Um, are you sure about this?

"Sure!  I AM the greatest genius..."

"...in the universe.  Yes, I know, I know.  But are you SURE about this?"

Minagi asked, eyeing fearfully at the glowing test tube she was currently
standing in.  She and Washu were in the subdimension lab.  To help Tenchi in
time, Washu insisted on teleporting Minagi with her special invention.
Minagi accepted the offer in half-curiosity and half-suspicion.  Now she was
having doubts.

But it was too late now.

"Oh, I am sure!  This is a perfect chance to test my new creation!"

"WHAT?!  You mean you are TESTING this thing with ME?!?"

"Of course!  That was your question, wasn't it?"

"NO IT WAS NOT!!"

"Really?  Oh well.  No time now.  I'll just teleport you to the place using
the location I have calculated.  Sit tight.  It's gonna get rough~."

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN ROUGH!?!  STOP!!  I HAVE CHANGED MY..."

Minagi's sentence was cut off as she disappeared in a bright light.  When
the light finally died out, there was no one inside the tube.

"Heheheh.  Perfect as the last time."

The greatest, and the meanest scientist in the universe snickered as she
turned the power off.  Normal person would have just tried to calm down the
subject.  True, she could do that too.  But it just wouldn't be as fun as
this.



"...MIND!!  Eh?"

In the blink of eyes, Minagi found herself in totally different environment.
  It was the place on TV, where Tenchi and Sasami were shown.  In fact,
there they came, right towards her.

"Tenchi-san!  Sasami-chan!"

Tenchi stopped in the middle of the road when he heard someone calling him.

"Eh?!  Ryoko?"

Minagi hung her head at hearing Tenchi.  It was true her counterpart looked
exactly like her, but could he really not see the difference?

Joy to her ears, Sasami did.

"No!  That's Minagi!"

"Huh?  Minagi?  Really?  What are you doing here?"

"I just came to visit when I saw you guys on TV.  So Washu sent me to help
you."

Tenchi sighed in relief.  But something didn't add up in his mind.

"Um, where is Ryoko and others?  I am surprised that she didn't come with
you."

His mind was confused even more when Minagi sweatdropped at his question.
She fidgeted a little before she answered.

"Hehe.  I'll... tell you later."

"Oh, okay..."

It was then when Nabiki interfered.

"I am sorry to break up the heart-warming reunion, but we have company."

She was right, as Tenchi discovered themselves surrounded by the weird
creatures.  He blinked for a while.  Then he scratched his head nervously
under Nabiki's glare.

"Ehehe...  Sorry?"

"Oh you'll be sorry.  I'll make sure of that when we get out of here."

Something in her eyes scared Tenchi.  Something that he couldn't see even
from Kagato's eyes.

"Don't worry.  Let ME take care of them."

Minagi said while cracking her knuckles.  She stopped in the middle of a
step, however, when Tenchi shouted.

"S, stop, Minagi!!"

"Huh?  Why not?"

"Yes, Masaki-kun.  Why not?"

Tenchi cringed at another glare of short-haired Ice Queen of Furinkan.  He
didn't like to reveal Minagi's identity.  But something told him that he
REALLY wouldn't like it if he went up against Tendo Nabiki.

'Damn...'

"Not, nothing..."

Minagi was confused, but soon snapped out of it as the monsters started to
advance towards them.

'Time to test my skills.'




"Ah......"

Tomoe Hotaru slowly opened her eyes.  First thing she realized was that she
was alive.  Second thing that came to her mind was how much her entire body
was sore.  But the third one was the one that really shook her out of her
trance.

"Saotome-san!"

She sat right up and frantically looked for him.  Horrifying, she found him
lying unconsicous behind her.  When she crawled towards him, she noted
something else.

'A crater...'

On the ground a little further from them, there was a fairly large crater.
Slowly her mind cleared up as she remembered what happened just seconds ago.

'That's right...  He was trying to protect me...'

Ranma was stil breathing, but his breath was irregular.  Half his clothes
was burnt up in the back area, and she could see his now bare back bleeding.
  Tears formed on her eyes and she reached out her hands slowly.  Suddenly a
ray of light came out of her hands and the wound on his back began to
disappear.  When Hotaru saw Ranma's breath started to ease, she sighed in
relief.

Grrrrr!

Then she heard the grunt.  Hotaru turned to see the youmas slowly walking
towards her.  But she wasn't afraid any more.  Ranma had been trying to
protect her when it was her who had power to protect him.  This was her
fault and she knew it.

However, instead of agonizing guilt, something in her heart urged her to
stand up and fight.

Just like the time when she faced the Paraoh Ninety, She listened.




Things weren't much different for the goddesses either.  Even the addition
of the winged creatures didn't help the demons much.  Those flying monsters
were helpless against Holy Bell's wind barrier, which Belldadny got it up
again as soon as she got some strength back.  The ground creatures were
literally being fried by Urd's lightening attacks.

However the goddesses also weren't the ones on the advantage.  The creatures
kept on coming against the goddesses.  They had been doing this fight for
long time but the number of the monsters didn't decrease at all.  If it was
anything, the number actually increased.  The goddesses' stamina, on the
other hand, was beginning to show the bottom.

'This can't go on.  I can hold a bit longer, but Bell might fall down any
minute now.'

Urd cast a worried glance at her sister who was clearly showing the sign of
exhaustion.  Belldandy had been protecting Skuld long before Urd even got
here, so it was natural for her to feel tired now.  The problem was that
without Belldandy's wind spell, things would get MUCH more difficult.  The
attack spells of Urd wouldn't do much good against those things in the air.
Beside, the oldest goddess already had her hands full with the ones on the
ground.  Her youngest sister was still out of action.  Skuld's bomb might
help a little, but that would be only temporary.  What they needed was
something definite.

'But what more can we do?'

Her frustration grew as she show more enemies coming up from behind the ones
that had fallen.  Things weren't getting easier, only tougher.  At this
rate, going back home would be the last thing in their mind.

'How did this happen?'

Urd sighed momentarily and cast another spell.  Today was supposed to end
with short scouting of something that MIGHT have been a problem.  Instead,
they were having the fight of their lives.

'Wait.  These monsters...  Does this mean they are the ones we detected two
months ago?!?'

But Urd soon shook her heads.  It couldn't be.  While they were giving them
a hard time right now, their power was not as nearly strong as the one she
had felt.  Even the one who was summmoning these couldn't be that strong.
If that was true she and her sisters would have been goners long time ago.



Another thunder by Urd's spell woke up Belldandy from falling asleep, again.
  She had been trying to hide it, but using her angel's power was finally
beginnig to have its toll.  She could no longer stand, because her legs gave
up soon after the new creatures showed up.  In fact, her power had been
already near its limit when Urd showed up.

'Another 5 minutes or so.  That's all I have left.'

Belldandy gloomly thought of her circumstances.  After 5 minutes only thing
she could do would be using the sealed power.  She made up her mind about it
already, but didn't want to do so until the absolute last minute.  Now she
was having doubts about her decision as she was slowly losing control.  What
good would unsealing her power do if herself was not strong enough to use
it?

'I have to stay awake.  No matter what...'



Urd almost wanted to pluck out her entire hair when she saw another lines of
monsters stepping right up after a bunch had burnt away.  They were ugly,
smelly, and persistent.  The combination she DESPISED.  They were really
getting on her nerve, which was already tense enough to chew.

Not being able to hold the anger any more, Urd yelled her lungs out at the
reasons of her current stress.

"Go away, you ****** bastards!!!"

BOOM!

All of sudden, a huge lightening fell from the sky and struck the monsters.
The explosion was even larger and the smoke cloaked the entire scene.

"*cough, cough* What the?"

When the air cleared, all that remained of their opponents were the big
letters on the ground.  It was one of those messages from the heaven.  Urd
carefully stepped up towards it and read the words.

" 'Stop swearing, Urd.  YOUR FATHER...' "

Belldandy's face brightened.  Her father's help came through.  They were
safe for the time being.  It might not be long, but it would be enough to
gather themselves again.

Urd, however, didn't look all that happy.  She looked up to the sky with a
scowl on her face.  Then she shook her fist at the heaven and screamed.

"EASY FOR YOU TO SAY!!!!!"

BOOM!

Another stike hit the ground again.  This time it didn't leave any letters.
But it DId leave one very scorched goddess.




Darkness...

Void...

Those were all that surrounded him.

>From that dark void, a voice reached out to him.

- RELEASE ME. -

'Who are you?'

He asked, but the voice didn't answer it.  It just kept demanding.

- RELEASE ME. -

He now realized that the voice was coming from inside of him.  It spooked
him a little, but he asked again.

'What are you?  How do I release you?  What do you want?'

- RELEASE ME! -

'Tell me!!  What do you want from me?!'

All of sudden, another voice rang in his ears.  This time, however, it was
coming from outside.

"Shut up already, would'ya?"

He felt sudden jolt of electricity running through his body, so strong that
he lost the very thin thread that he desparately held on to keep him
conscious.  He fought to stay awake, but the fight was futile.  Before he
finally fell asleep, he heard the voice speaking again.

"Took you long enough.  Geez."

'How rude...'

With that as his last thought, he went into the bliss of unconsciousness.





Chapter 3 ends.


(1) For those of you who doesn't know, Minagi comes out in Tenchi Muyo
Manga.  She was a copy of Ryoko made by former assistant of Washu, who tried
to create a sword equal of Tenchi's Light Hawk Wing Sword.  Her master, who
Minagi thought of as her own father, died in the duel with Tenchi but there
was no hard feeling between Minagi and the Masaki's, as it was the master's
wish to die in a glorious battle.  She became a friend of the Masaki's after
that.

(2) There is our favourite cabbit!  This is its first appearance in
Stallion, so let's give a warm welcome!

The guy from before :  Are you sure you just didn't just forget to mention
it before?

BOOM!!!

Don't pay attention to that mushroom cloud over there.  Really.

(3) In their house lived 4 people, um, I mean 3 goddesses and 1 guy.  While
the goddesses didn't eat as much as normal people and Keiichi wasn't a
glutton, they still tried to buy the kitchenwares fit for four, but all of
the large housewares in Japan came in sets for five.  Those were cheaper,
more efficient, and definitely bigger.

(4) At first Katsuhito was upset at the fact that she married Genma 'without
his knowledge.'  Soon the priest became MAD at just the fact she married
'Genma.'





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