Given the impressive response to my earlier query, I've decided to go
ahead and open up a rough draft of my first chapter to the public for
comments and suggestions. There will naturally be more explanation of
the whys and hows and so on as the story progresses, but this should
suffice to give a feel for the direction that the story will take.

Once again, thanks to everyone who helped me with the mythology. It will
be used later on, I promise. This is (hopefully) only the beginning...


Soldier Selene: A Ranma 1/2/Sailor Moon crossover
Inspired by an idea proposed by Chris Angel and refined by Gary Ee
Chapter 1: Ranma the Star Soldier

    Ranma stomped angrily down the street, wringing the water out of her
hair as if her hands were around the neck of the old woman who had once
again happened to be washing her sidewalk at the appropriate time.
"Why... that old bag! One of these days...."
    "You really should learn to watch where you're going," Akane
admonished her, hoping to calm Ranma down before she did something she'd
regret. "It's your own fault for being careless."
    "Who cleans sidewalks anymore, anyway?" Ranma asked rhetorically.
"People are just gonna walk all over it again when she's done!"
    "And she'll be out there the next day to splash you again," Akane
finished. "Honestly, you'd think someone with a martial artist's
reflexes would be able to avoid an old lady with a ladle of water."
    "Try getting a Jusenkyo curse and seeing how hard it is to avoid
water then," Ranma retorted darkly.
    Akane opened her mouth to reply, but before she could say a word,
Ranma ran face first into a tall man who was rounding the corner,
knocking him to the ground. Ranma paused only long enough to notice his
short, dark green hair, well-pressed suit, and a small squarish device
in his hand before reaching down to help the man up.
    "Thank you," the man said without taking his eyes off of the device.
"This must be...." He looked up at Ranma and Akane, then back down at
the device. "This can't be right," he said worriedly, turning back to
Ranma and Akane. "It says one of the Star Soldiers is here, but you're
both girls!"
    "I'M a guy, for what it's worth," said Ranma, jabbing a thumb into
her chest. "And who are you?"
    The flustered stranger looked back at Ranma. "You're not a man!" he
said. "You've got... breasts!" He pointed at the offending lumps
accusingly.
    Ranma smacked him on the head. "Quit staring at my chest and tell us
who you are!" she demanded.
    "Um, right." He cleared his throat and straightened up, doing his
best to look official and respectable. "My name is Tokimitsu Tooru. I'm
looking for a young man with an affinity to water for a very important
purpose."
    "Yeah, that'd be me," agreed Ranma. "What do you want?"
    Tokimitsu shook his head. "I think I can tell the difference between
a man and a woman."
    "Look, it's like this -" Ranma began, ending abruptly as Akane
poured a kettle of hot water over her head. Ranma shook his head to
eliminate the last stray drops of water. "That works too," he said with
an acknowledging nod to Akane. To Tokimitsu, he added, "Now do you
understand?"
    Tokimitsu goggled. "How strange!" He prodded Ranma's chest with a
finger, which Ranma promptly batted away, then pointed the gadget in his
hand at Ranma and whistled. "Yes, yes! You are the one!"
    "The one? The one what?" asked Ranma, while Akane returned to the
nearby coffee shop to return the teakettle she'd borrowed.
    Tokimitsu waited until Akane was out of sight, then fished a small
ornamented wand out of the inner pocket of his jacket. He held it aloft
and shouted "HADES TRANSFORM!" As Ranma watched, Tokimitsu's entire body
glowed so brightly that Ranma couldn't see anything except his
silhouette. Ranma took a defensive posture, guarding for an attack, but
Tokimitsu merely spun around, the outline of his clothes dissolving as
he did so. When the glow died, Ranma was afraid to look, but Tokimitsu
was still fully clothed, albeit in a skintight outfit that was white in
the upper body except for a dark green stripe that went around his
midriff and long sleeves, and entirely dark green down the legs - the
same dark green as his hair, in fact. The small wand, which Ranma hadn't
gotten a very good look at before, had become a staff nearly as tall as
the man himself, with a star-shaped decoration on top surrounding a
pitch-black jewel that seemed to suck in light from the surrounding air.
    Ranma looked up into the face that didn't look much like Tokimitsu's
at all, although he couldn't find a single feature that was distinctly
different from the face he'd seen before. "What was that all about?" he
asked.
    "In this form, I am known as Soldier Hades," replied the man.
"Tokimitsu Tooru is the name of my mortal identity, to disguise me from
my enemies. Just as Ranma Saotome is a name given to your mortal
identity." His voice was full of an implication that Ranma distinctly
didn't like.
    "What are you talking about?" Ranma asked suspiciously. "I don't
have a secret identity!"
    "You merely aren't aware of it yet," Soldier Hades replied. "There
is much you will need to learn, but first, you must take this." He
reached behind his back and produced another wand, similar to the one he
had used to transform himself. This time, Ranma got a good look at it.
The handle was blue, and just long enough to fit comfortably in Ranma's
hand. The gold ornament at the top was round and boasted an engraved
symbol in blue that seemed familiar to Ranma, although he couldn't
figure out what it was supposed to represent.
    "What the heck is this thing for?" Ranma asked as he took the wand
from Soldier Hades.
    "Hold it aloft and say 'Hermes Transformation,'" explained Hades.
"It will trigger your transformation power and turn you into the Star
Soldier of the planet Mercury."
    Ranma cocked his head and stared at Hermes in disbelief. "No way!
The only thing I turn into is a girl!" Where was Akane, he wondered. She
sure was taking her time....
    "Then prove me wrong," Hades challenged him. "Say the phrase, and if
you truly are not the reincarnated Sailor Hermes, then nothing will
happen."
    "Whatever," groaned Ranma, eager to be done with the strange man. He
held up the wand and tried to say the phrase in as bored a tone as
possible, but it came out of his lips as a shout. "HERMES
TRANSFORMATION!" He spun around, and his clothes vanished to be replaced
by an outfit similar to Hades', except that the color was a deep blue
instead of Hades' dark green. Ranma stared down at his new uniform in
disbelief. "No way..." he breathed. "What happened to me?"
    "As I told you before," replied Hades pedantically, "you are a Star
Soldier, heir to the power of planet Mercury. You have great power
within you, but it will take time to learn how to use it."
    "Do I really have to wear this stupid outfit?" asked Sailor Hermes.
    "It is necessary to hide your true form from your enemies,"
explained Hades. "Those clothes are simply inherent to the magic that
disguises you."
    "No way!" protested Hermes. "I don't want this stupid power then!
How do I turn it off?"
    "Before you reject your new form," Hades quickly interjected, "allow
me a brief demonstration." He took several steps away from Hermes. "Now,
hold your hands above your head and say the phrase 'Hermes Aqua Lance.'"
    "Not another stupid phrase!" Hermes crossed his arms. "I'm not going
to follow your stupid instructions any more!"
    "I think you will," replied Hades coolly. He held his staff in front
of his body. "HADES DIMENSIONAL SCYTHE!" The ornament at the top of his
staff instantly turned into a long, curved scythe blade, while the staff
itself extended until the blade was touching the skin of Ranma's neck.
"Now, say the phrase, or I'll use my power again, and this time the
blade will go THROUGH your throat."
    Hermes' breath caught in his throat at the shocking speed of Hades'
attack. Certainly, he had the power to carry out his threat if he wanted
to. Hermes relented and did as Hades had instructed. "HERMES AQUA
LANCE!" he shouted, holding his hands over his head. As he watched,
swirls of water surrounded him, flowing from an unseen source, then
gathered into his hands in a long conical shape. Hermes closed his
fingers and felt the water spreading around them fluidly, yet almost
solid enough that he could hold it. He tried just that, bringing his
hands down, and the water followed his movements as if it were indeed a
solid spear made of water.
    Hades smiled. "That should be enough to convince you." His scythe
returned to its original form, allowing Hermes to breathe an involuntary
sigh of relief as he inspected his aqueous weapon.
    Hermes grinned broadly. "Just wait until the next time Ryoga
challenges me to a fight! 'Sure, I'll fight you! By the way...'" - he
hurled the spear - "'you'll be fighting as a pig!'"
    Hades frowned and wiped the water from his face. "That's not what
it's meant for, you know. This power is for fighting the enemies of
humanity, not your personal enemies. You can't let anyone find out about
your Star Soldier identity, or word might reach the dark forces, and
they will strike while you are helpless!"
    "I'm never helpless," replied Hermes. "I can fight just as well
without that Aqua Spear thing."
    Hades looked at what appeared to be a pocket watch on a chain, which
he must have grabbed when Hermes wasn't watching him, as there was no
place in his clothing to store it. "I haven't time to argue with you,"
he said quickly. "I must return to the other world in preparation for
what is to come. In the meantime, I have a job for you."
    "Nothing doing," snapped Hermes as Hades fiddled with the squarish
device. "You're not the boss of me!"
    "I'm not the one who will convince you," said Hades. "Just take this
locator and find the other Star Soldiers. They'll be men, and they'll
most likely be gathered near you."
    "Why don't you do it?" asked Hermes.
    "I couldn't calibrate the device properly the first time," replied
Hades. "I attuned it to the Sailor Scouts, your female counterparts, but
apparently the female part of their power was inextricably linked to
their Planet Power, so the locator couldn't lock in on the holders of
the male part. It was only the fact that you became a girl that allowed
me to find you at all, and now I have no time to search for the others."
He again offered the device to Hermes, who took it reluctantly. "It's
still not exact, but it should be able to identify the other Star
Soldiers if you get close enough to them. At that time, I'll give you
their wands and names."
    "Sure thing," said Hermes sarcastically. "I'll get RIGHT on it."
    "Please, this is an urgent matter!" Hades pleaded. "The Earth itself
is -" The pocket watch beeped, drawing a sharp sigh from Hades. "Do what
you want, then. But be warned; the enemy now knows that you are here,
and they will not hesitate to attack." The air seemed to open behind
him, and he stepped backwards through the gap. "Goodbye, Soldier Hermes.
I pray you live long enough that we may meet again." The portal closed,
and Hades was gone.
    Hermes took a deep breath and willed himself to return to his normal
form. His Star Soldier uniform faded smoothly into his normal clothes.
"Why couldn't the first transformation be that simple?" he asked himself
as Akane returned from the coffee shop at last.
    "Hey, where'd Tokimitsu go?" she asked, looking up and down the
street.
    "He left," replied Ranma.
    "Oh," said Akane, slightly disappointed. "He didn't stay very long."
    "What are you talking about, Akane?" asked Ranma. "You were in there
for ten minutes at least!"
    "No, I wasn't," Akane protested. "I just handed the teakettle back
to the manager and then left!"
    Ranma started to argue, but something in the back of his mind
stopped him. For all he knew, Soldier Hades had probably frozen time for
him or something. "I guess it just felt longer than it was," he said
dismissively.
    "So, what did he want?" asked Akane.
    Ranma considered his reply carefully. Even though he didn't care a
whit about the "dark powers" Hades had been so afraid of, something told
him that letting Akane find out about his new powers might be a bad
idea. Besides, she would never believe him unless he showed her the
transformation, and he'd never let her see him in that ridiculous
outfit. "Nothing much," he lied casually. "Some girl he wanted me to
marry or something. I beat him up and sent him back where he came from."
    "What a creep," said Akane. "And for a second, I thought he would be
a nice guy."
    "Yeah, he sure was a creep," Ranma agreed. "I'm glad he's gone. Now,
let's get home before we're late for dinner!"
    Akane nodded. "Say... isn't that...?"
    Ranma followed her gaze to the device in his hand. "Oh, he dropped
it when he ran away," said Ranma, hiding the locator behind his back.
"If I ever see him again, I'll ram it down his throat."
    "I'm sure he wasn't THAT much of a creep," Akane said, as they set
off for the Tendo Dojo once again.
    Several blocks later, they heard a scream from a nearby park. "Did
you hear that?" Akane asked.
    Ranma nodded. "Let's check it out!"
    They raced toward the park together, but froze in fear when they saw
a plume of flame rise above the treetops. "A fire!" shouted Akane.
    "No," said Ranma as the flames vanished. Something about the park
sent a chill down his spine. "I think it's something else. You'd better
go home, Akane. I'll handle this."
    "No way!" Akane protested. "I'm going too!"
    "Stay out of this, Akane!" snapped Ranma. "It's going to be
dangerous!"
    "Let me see what it is, at least," demanded Akane.
    "Whatever," said Ranma. "I don't have time to argue." He ran to the
park, catching glimpses of something large and green between the trees
as he got closer. By the time he reached the edge of the park, he could
see the full form of a winged dragon as long as a train car, with a tail
nearly as long again. Screaming children ran as it lifted a foot and
slammed it onto the ground where they had been.
    "RUN, CHILDREN," said the dragon, breathing a burst of fire that
narrowly missed the children as the dove behind a tree to avoid it. "I
WILL GOBBLE YOU UP!"
    "Oh my God, Ranma..." said Akane as she stared at the dragon. "It's
huge!"
    "Now, will you run?" Ranma asked, more a command than a question.
"Go home and leave this to me!"
    "I can't leave you alone!" Akane protested loudly.
    The dragon turned to stare at Ranma and Akane. "AAH, MORE LAMBS TO
THE SLAUGHTER. YOU LOOK ESPECIALLY TASTY...." Its head lunged forward
with its mouth wide open, hoping to take a bite out of one of them, but
Ranma and Akane leapt in opposite directions to barely avoid being
chomped.
    Ranma leapt at the dragon immediately upon landing, but the great
beast knocked him aside with a powerful sweep of its wing and turned to
Akane, wrapping its tail around her before she could react. It lifted
her up to its mouth. "MY FIRST MEAL IN OVER A THOUSAND YEARS..." it said
gratefully. "I'LL EAT YOU RAW, MY DEAR. I WOULDN'T SPOIL YOUR FLAVOR BY
COOKING YOU."
    "Ranma, help!" screamed Akane, struggling in vain to escape the
dragon's grip.
    Ranma stood out of reach of the dragon's wings and aimed his hands
at it. "MOUKO TAKABISHA!" he shouted. A ball of light formed in his
hands and shot toward the dragon. The dragon turned its head and
breathed a puff of flame that disintegrated Ranma's projectile.
    "CHILD'S PLAY," said the dragon. "YOU CAN'T HOPE TO DEFEAT ME THAT
WAY."
    Ranma ran forward, keeping his eye on the dragon's wing. He rolled
under the anticipated attack and leapt up to reach the dragon's head.
"KACHUU TENSHIN AMAGURIKEN!" he shouted, pounding the dragon with
hundreds of lightning-fast punches.
    The dragon merely swung its head at Ranma, knocking him to the
ground once again. "IS THAT ALL YOU HAVE? SUCH A WEAKLING.... NO WONDER
MY MASTER SENT ME HERE. THIS PLACE IS A VERITABLE BUFFET!" It lifted
Akane to its face again, only to see that she had fainted from fright.
"ALL OF THE CHILDREN RAN AWAY. SO YOU'LL HAVE TO DO AS AN APPETIZER
UNTIL I CAN FIND MORE."
    Ranma got to his feet, ignoring the aches that filled his entire
body. "Put Akane down, you monster!" he shouted.
    "WHAT WILL YOU DO TO STOP ME?" the dragon asked, raising Akane above
its open mouth.
    Ranma jumped up to the dragon's tail and grabbed it, trying to pry
Akane out of its grip, but the dragon let loose a burst of fire that
nearly incinerated him. He slid halfway down the length of the tail
before managing to grab onto the scales to hold himself up. 'It's just
too powerful!' he thought. 'Where am I going to get the power to beat
this thing?'
    Suddenly, he remembered his meeting with Soldier Hades and the great
power he had been shown. It was time to put that power to use! He
realized that his hand was clenched around the transformation wand and
held it over his head. "HERMES TRANSFORMATION!" he shouted.
    The dragon opened its tail and let Akane fall toward its mouth. Her
plunge was intercepted by a swift-moving figure that flew through the
air in a quick parabola, leaping from the dragon's tail to grab Akane
and deposit her safely on the ground upon landing. The dragon turned to
face the strange man. "WHO ARE YOU?" it demanded.
    "I'm called Soldier Hermes," replied Hermes. "If you want to eat
this girl, you'll have to get through me first!"
    "THAT WILL BE EASY," said the dragon, taking a deep breath.
    Hermes raised his hands over his head. "HERMES AQUA LANCE!" he
shouted, gathering the water for his attack. As the dragon opened its
mouth to release its largest flame blast yet, Hermes hurled the spear
straight into its throat. The dragon's flames instantly turned to steam,
and the dragon coughed.
    "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?" the dragon asked in a raspy voice. "MY
FLAMES!"
    "That's not the end of it!" said Hermes, aiming his palms at the
dragon. "MOUKO TAKABISHA!" The projectile of light slammed into the
dragon's head, snapping it backwards with a loud CRACK! that echoed
through the park. The great head lolled sideways and landed on the
ground, unmoving.
    Akane's eyes fluttered open, and then she sat up suddenly. "Ranma!
What -" She looked up at Hermes. "You're not Ranma!" she said. "Who are
you?"
    "Don't you recog-" Hermes began, stopping suddenly. Of course she
didn't recognize him! He was disguised! "I'm Sailor Hermes," he replied.
"Fighting dragons like this is what I do."
    Akane glanced uncertainly at the body of the dragon. "Is it dead?"
she asked.
    Hermes nodded. "No need to worry anymore, Ak- I mean, miss."
    "Oh, no!" shouted Akane. "Where's Ranma?"
    "I don't know," Hermes replied defensively. "Maybe he's on the other
side of the dragon?"
    "RANMA!" Akane trotted toward the dragon's corpse, calling Ranma's
name.
    "Phew," sighed Ranma once she was out of sight. "I'd better change
back before she figures out who I am." He quickly dispelled the disguise
and ran toward the dragon, circling in the opposite direction of Akane's
path. "Then again, what am I worried about?" he asked himself. "Akane
hasn't even figured out Ryoga's curse yet!"
    "Ranma!" Akane called again from the far side of the dragon's tail.
"Where are you?"
    "I'm over here!" he responded.
    Akane climbed onto the tail and gave a cry of joy as she laid eyes
on him. "Oh, Ranma! I was so worried! I thought the dragon had...." She
leapt down and threw her arms around him.
    "Hey, that's close enough!" Ranma protested. "I survive a fight with
a dragon, only to be crushed to death by a gorilla!"
    Akane let go of him and smacked him in the face angrily. "Idiot! I
thought you were dead!"
    Ranma made a mental note to watch what he said to Akane after a
Soldier Hermes transformation, which he would summarily forget by the
next time he had to do it. Instead, he laid his hand on the dragon's
scaly skin, still hardly able to believe that it had been real. As his
fingers touched it, the dragon's body shimmered and vanished, leaving no
trace of its existence.
    Akane gasped. "It's gone!"
    "Won't be bothering us again," confirmed Ranma. But inside, he
wasn't so sure. A gut feeling told him that the dragon would be back,
probably more powerful. He suddenly had a very strong urge to seek out
the other Star Soldiers as quickly as possible.
    Still, he'd never before felt as powerful as he had while wearing
the uniform of Sailor Hermes. Not only could he hurl lances of water,
but his entire body felt stronger and faster, and the energy of the
Mouko Takabisha had been much stronger than he'd expected. He clenched a
fist and smiled. Perhaps he could learn to live with the stupid costume
after all....
    A hand grabbed his, and he jumped before realizing that it was only
Akane. "Shall we go?" she asked.
    "Yeah, let's get the heck out of here," agreed Ranma. Hand in hand,
they left the park and returned to the Tendo Dojo without further
incident.
*************************************************
    The dragon's body appeared in the center of the magic circle,
provoking a brief "tsk, tsk, tsk" from the man standing at the circle's
edge. "Oh, Renfell," he murmured. "Such a simple job, and you fell at
the hands of a single Star Soldier? What a worthless beast you are." He
began to walk slowly around the border of the circle, letting his staff
hit the floor with a sharp clack every few steps. "Still, we now know
that the Star Soldiers are indeed powerful; in fact, at least as
powerful as the Sailor Scouts themselves. Such enormous energy...." He
drew to a halt, clacking his staff one final time. "I will give you more
power next time, Renfell, but you will have to destroy him for me.
Destroy that Star Soldier, and any others who may happen to appear. I
will not have my power wasted!" He began to chant, and a pillar of light
shone upward from the magic circle, hiding Renfell's body within its
brightness.
    Seconds later, a deep rumbling growl of rage echoed through the
room, setting the animals in the cages around the walls into a frenzy.
They beat at the bars of their cages furiously, trying to escape while
the wizard was distracted with his revivification spell. But the bars
held, and the wizard chanted on, watching his dragon grow stronger with
each moment. Next time, the Star Soldier would die.

---------------------------------------------------

PROFESSOR ASHFIELD: An easy way to make store clerks cry is to return
gift certificates for store credit.

My not-so-humble webpage of fanfiction and other random junk:
http://www.rose-hulman.edu/~katinamp


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