Hope you haven't forgotten about me! It's been a long time since this
idea was first proposed, but I've been working hard on fixing up this
first chapter since then. I added a prologue (which I'm just going to
leave as part of the chapter for now) and fixed up the fight scene as
well as the introduction of Soldier Hermes. It took a lot more than one
day this time around, and I hope the extra effort has helped. I also
tried to get some prereaders, but only one was able to respond, so if
you have any comments, please send them my way!


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

    It had been a rough week for Hilqrem. First, he'd developed quite a
horrible mandible-ache, but the dentist had been murdered a few days
earlier by one of the horrible creatures that had been systematically
ravaging the planet. Then his wife and all ten of his children were
slaughtered in another attack, which he had just barely escaped by
coming home from work a few minutes late that day. Then, he'd taken
refuge with a group who had managed to stockpile some weapons and
planned to hold out against the creatures for as long as they could.
They had lasted all of about three minutes. Now he sat on his lower
knees in the ruins of their headquarters, staring up into the horrid
face of the "man" who commanded the beasts, the one responsible for the
destruction that had swept across the entire surface of the helpless
planet. And he was too petrified to spit.
    "So, you're the last one," the man said in an idle tone. "The final
survivor of your race." He aimed his hand at Hilqrem's face. "I suppose
I can dispense with all the flash and glamour and just kill you."
    Hilqrem's mouthpiece slowly formed the question that had been on his
mind ever since the man's rampage had begun. "Why? Why did you do this?"
    "Why did I destroy everyone on your planet, you mean?" The man
raised the hand that wasn't preparing to blow Hilqrem's head off and
pointed at the body of the one creature that Hilqrem's resistance
movement had managed to kill before they were overcome by the others.
"Why did you destroy my Tilna? Because you had to, in order to survive."
The pointing hand clenched into a fist. "Likewise, I must continually
destroy planets in order to sustain myself. It is all a matter of
survival."
    "Please, don't kill me!" Hilqrem begged, but he knew that his plea
would fall on deaf ears. The man had already gathered a ball of light
into his hand, and the next moment would be Hilqrem's last.
    A long blade sliced through the air in front of Hilqrem's face, and
the evil one staggered backwards, holding the bloodless stump of his arm
where his hand had once been. He glared at his attacker as if at a
longtime enemy. "You...."
    Another man stepped into view, holding in one hand a long stick
which ended in the curved blade that had saved Hilqrem's life. "I've
found you at last, and not a moment too soon!" the newcomer announced to
the evil one. "I will not let you have this planet!"
    The evil one snarled. "Not too soon, but you are too late!" He
pointed at the erstwhile hero. "Avicore, Belath, kill him!"
    The hero quickly leapt aside as a massive pair of jaws closed around
the space where he had been. His scythe sliced the head apart as he
escaped, and the monster's four remaining heads reared back, roaring in
pain. As he landed, he felt a presence behind him and turned to slash at
it, but his scythe passed through the empty air without hitting
anything. He could see nothing there, but his sharp senses told him that
whatever lurked was merely hidden from his sight.
    Something hard hit him in the side, nearly causing him to drop the
scythe, but he managed to keep his grip and swing the blade down into
the invisible appendage, provoking a horrific scream from somewhere
right in front of his face. He pulled the blade free in a motion that
took its business end through the place where the scream had originated,
bringing the noise to an end in a dying gurgle. Yanking the blade free
again, he spun around to face the now four-headed monster as it tried to
attack him from all sides at once. He slipped easily between two of the
heads, driving his scythe blade into the spot where its long necks
joined its body. That monster, too, thrashed briefly and then dropped
dead.
    As the hero retracted his blade, which became a fancy star-shaped
ornament atop the staff as it left the creature's body, he heard a pair
of hands clapping to his side. He turned to face the creatures' owner,
who mockingly applauded his efforts. "Well done," the evil one snidely
congratulated him. "You're every bit as powerful as I remembered.
However, that was merely a distraction, old friend!"
    Horrified, the hero turned to where he had left the insectoid
creature that he'd been trying to save, only to see a large green winged
dragon chomping on what was left of it. His face turned ashen at the
sight. "No... I failed!"
    "You should be glad I didn't feel like spending what little power I
had left," said the evil one. "They would have torn you to pieces in
seconds had I given them more energy."
    The hero's staff elongated, the ornament becoming a scythe blade
once again. The other man held up his hands as if in surrender. "You
don't want to fight me, do you? You've seen that your power doesn't work
against me and my creatures. Besides, this planet is about to be
absorbed, and I'm sure you don't want to be here when that happens, do
you?" The two visible corpses and the live dragon vanished, and the hero
could only assume that the invisible monster was also gone. "I would
advise you to leave if you value your life," the sorcerer said coldly.
"Although it won't do you any good. Once I've acquired the energy of
this planet, I'll be coming for you next!"
    "I won't let you have the energy!" shouted the hero, charging
forward. A wall of stone rose in front of him, cutting off his path to
the sorcerer. He quickly leapt to the top of the wall and looked down,
but the sorcerer was gone. More wrinkles began to rise from the planet's
surface, and the formerly solid stone began to writhe like the surface
of a rippling puddle of water as the planet shrank in on itself. The
hero shook his head sadly and vanished with a wave of his staff. Within
a few more seconds, the planet had collapsed to the size of a tennis
ball, and it took barely that long again for the entire mass to shrink
completely out of existence.
*************************************************
    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. "Hey, Akane, do you have any
idea-" His sentence ended as he turned to Akane, only to see her frozen
in place, the kettle tilted upward in a way that defied gravity. He
waved his hand in front of her face. "Akane? What's the matter with
you?"
    "I froze time for everyone but the two of us," explained Tokimitsu.
"Unfortunately, I can't do it for long... so to speak. So we'll have to
make this fast."
    "Froze time?" asked Ranma, his voice full of disbelief. He tapped
Akane's forehead with his knuckles, provoking no reaction. "No
kidding... but what's really going on?"
    "I don't have time to argue with you," Tokimitsu said dismissively
as he fished a small ornamented wand out of the inner pocket of his
jacket. He held it aloft and shouted "HADES TRANSFORMATION!" 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!" He glanced at Akane as if hoping
for confirmation, but she remained as motionless as ever.
    "Then prove me wrong," Hades challenged him. "Say the phrase, and if
you truly are not the reincarnated Soldier 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 Soldier 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 HE might find out, and his minions 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 people who are close to you already."
    "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 he 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 suddenly returned to life. The teakettle dropped to her side
and she turned to look at Ranma. "The one?" she asked. "What are you
talking -?" She turned back to where Soldier Hades had been and blinked
several times, uncomprehending. "Hey, where'd Tokimitsu go?" she asked,
looking up and down the street.
    "He left," replied Ranma.
    "Oh," said Akane, slightly disappointed. "That was a fast exit. He
didn't say goodbye, or even explain what he was talking about!"
    Ranma considered his reply carefully. Even though he didn't care a
whit about the "enemies" 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. "Probably wanted me to marry his daughter or something like
that," he said dismissively. "Then when he found out about the curse, he
bolted."
    "It sounded more like you were the one he wanted to find," Akane
contradicted him. "It's like he just vanished into thin air."
    "That's not far off," Ranma muttered.
    Akane started to reply to Ranma's comment, but something else caught
her attention. "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.
Under his breath, he added, "If I ever see him again, I'll ram it down
his throat."
    "And what have you got against him?" Akane asked, having overheard
the remark. "He seemed like a nice guy, if a bit confused."
    "I'd say a lot confused," Ranma retorted. "Why don't we just forget
about him and get home before we miss dinner."
    Akane sighed. "Good idea.... I just wonder what it was he really
wanted with you."
    "I guess we'll never know," said Ranma, turning his face to the sky
as usual as he resumed his traveling pace. They walked together for
several blocks, each deep in contemplation of a totally different kind:
Ranma pondered the strange message imparted to him by Soldier Hades,
including the transformation that he himself had undergone as well as
the mysterious enemy that Hades had mentioned, while Akane merely
wondered about the appearance and equally sudden disappearance of
Tokimitsu Tooru, and why Ranma seemed to be thinking about it so hard.
He didn't usually think more than once about anything....
    A shrill scream pierced the air, followed by a series of equally
desperate cries from the same direction. "Did you hear that?" Akane
asked.
    Ranma nodded. "Let's check it out!"
    They raced toward the sound together, but slowed down when they saw
the thick black smoke rising from the treeline of the local park. "A
fire!" shouted Akane.
    Ranma watched a plume of flame appear slightly above the treetops
and then vanish. "No," he said, feeling chills run down his spine at the
sight. "I think it's something else." He could feel a presence, and it
was strong. "You'd better go home, Akane. I'll handle this."
    "No way!" Akane protested, shouting to be heard over the screams
from the park. "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.
    Ranma sighed in defeat. "Whatever. I don't have time to argue."
Without pausing to reflect on how familiar that line sounded, Ranma ran
toward the park with Akane following close behind. As they drew closer
to the park, they could see glimpses of a large green object moving
between the trees, accompanied by more flames. With each burst of fire,
the screams grew quieter until they had almost ceased completely. Ranma
could still hear the last boy screaming as he crossed the last street,
and made it through the trees just in time to see a massive scaly mouth
close about the boy, silencing his screams forever.
    Akane drew to a halt beside Ranma, clapping her hand over her nose
to block out the heavy smell of burnt flesh. Her eyes passed right over
the dozens of piles of ash that littered the ground and the
still-burning remains of the park's flora, taking in the hundred feet
from head to tail of the winged beast, with its elongated snout and
sharp claws that instantly suggested a name even though she had never
seen such an animal before. "A dragon!" she gasped. "That's impossible!
Dragons don't exist!"
    "There was the eight-headed one at Ryugenzawa," Ranma pointed out,
wiping his mouth on the back of his sleeve. "But this time, we don't
have a magic horn to put it to sleep...."
    At the sound of their voices, the dragon turned its head toward the
pair and spat another fireball in their direction. Ranma and Akane dove
in opposite directions, barely avoiding a fiery death. Ranma rolled to
his feet and stared up at the beast, wondering how he could fight such a
huge monster, but the dragon had turned its attention to Akane.
    "MMMMMM... A TASTY MORSEL IF EVER I SAW ONE," resounded a loud voice
that seemed to echo from every direction at once. "THE SMALL ONES ARE
BARELY MOUTHFULS, AND THE OLD ONES ARE SO STRINGY. BUT YOU LOOK JUST THE
RIGHT AGE." Akane screamed and turned to run, but the dragon's tail
wrapped around her in an instant, pinning her arms to her sides. "DON'T
WORRY, MY DEAR. YOUR DEATH WILL BE QUICK AND PAINLESS. I WOULDN'T DREAM
OF SPOILING YOUR FLAVOR BY COOKING YOU."
    Akane struggled in vain to escape the dragon's grip, but the tail
squeezed her so hard that she could barely breathe. "Ranma, help!" she
gasped.
    "Hang on, Akane!" shouted Ranma as he leapt toward the dragon with
his fists poised to strike. The dragon turned a baleful eye toward the
martial artist as it casually knocked him aside with a sweep of its
giant wing. It had barely seemed to put any effort into the attack, yet
it was enough to send Ranma flying into one of the few trees whose trunk
hadn't yet caught the fire that was burning its leaves.
    The impact nearly tore Ranma in two, but he ignored the aches and
landed on his hands and feet, spurred to action by Akane's imminent
ingestion. "All right," he said, righting himself with a quick move that
ended in a fighting stance. "If I can't get close to you, then I'll take
you on from here!" He raised his hands and aimed his palms at the
dragon's head. "MOUKO TAKABISHA!"
    The dragon's eyes widened as a ball of light formed in Ranma's hands
and shot straight at it, but it calmly inhaled and spat a plume of fire
that disintegrated the projectile instantly. "FOOLISH BOY," it taunted
him as the flames vanished. "YOU CAN'T BEAT ME THAT -" But Ranma was no
longer there.
    "Looking for me, dragon breath?" came Ranma's shout from directly
below the dragon's head. As the dragon craned its neck to look, Ranma
leapt up and let his fists do the talking, his arms moving too quickly
to be seen as they landed hundreds of punches on the dragon's face.
"KACHUU TENSHIN AMAGURIKEN!"
    The dragon rolled its eyes as it reared back and then swung its head
at Ranma, knocking the wind out of him. Ranma managed to hold on to the
dragon's snout to avoid being thrown again, but as the giant head
stopped moving, he could see Akane out of the corner of his eye. She had
fainted, and was being held right above the dragon's mouth.
    "BON APPETIT," the dragon said as it uncurled its tail, letting
Akane fall into its gaping maw.
    "NO!" Ranma shouted as he hurled himself at Akane's falling body,
just managing to catch her before the dragon could close its mouth on
her. He grabbed the scales of the dragon's tail with one hand as he
passed, letting Akane fall into the branches of a tree that still had
enough unburnt leaves to soften her landing.
    The dragon's giant eye appeared right in front of Ranma's face,
staring at him as a horse would stare at a particularly pesky fly. "YOU
REALLY DON'T WANT ME TO EAT THAT GIRL, DO YOU? VERY WELL, THEN. I'LL EAT
YOU INSTEAD!" The huge jaws opened, and Ranma quickly let himself slide
down the slick surface of the tail, leaving nothing in the path of the
deadly teeth but the dragon's own tail. Tears filled its eyes as it
chomped down on sensitive muscle tissue protected only by a few plates
of chitin that had never been intended to turn away its own bite.
    "OWWWWWW!" the dragon screamed, spitting out the tip of its tail and
raising the part that Ranma was clinging to. "NOW I'M REALLY ANGRY!" It
spat fire at Ranma, who hurriedly scrabbled around the tail to keep it
between himself and the dragon's mouth. Still, he could feel the flames
singeing his skin and clothing, and the sweat oozing from every gland
was beginning to soak his palms and cost him his grip.
    'What am I going to do?' Ranma wondered. 'How am I supposed to beat
something that can breathe fire and doesn't even feel any of my
attacks?' Suddenly, an image popped into his mind from earlier that
afternoon, a rather humorous picture of a man in tight clothing,
dripping with the water from Ranma's own attack. 'I guess I don't have a
choice,' thought Ranma as he dropped to the ground, landing out of the
dragon's sight behind a wall of flaming foliage. He gripped his
transformation wand tightly - where had he kept it, anyway? He couldn't
remember, but it wasn't important now. Ranma held the wand up and
shouted, "HERMES TRANSFORMATION!"
    "WHERE DID YOU GO, LITTLE MAN?" the dragon's voice echoed through
the smoldering park. A branch cracked, dumping Akane to the base of a
nearby tree in a shower of burning wood chips. "AH, MY DINNER RETURNS! I
SUPPOSE I'LL JUST EAT YOU, AND IF THAT BOY DOESN'T COME BACK TO TRY TO
SAVE YOU, ALL THE BETTER FOR ME."
    The bushes rustled, and a strangely dressed man leapt out to stand
between the dragon and Akane. "Your dinner's over, pal!" he announced.
"And I'm the one who's gonna make you pay for it."
    "WHO ARE YOU?" demanded the dragon.
    "I'm called Soldier Hermes," replied Hermes, impressed at the power
of the transformation magic. Apparently, the dragon didn't suspect that
he was the same person who'd run away seconds earlier. Then again, if it
could be tricked into biting its own tail, it probably wasn't very
intelligent to begin with.
    The dragon's eyes gleamed with recognition. "AH... YOU ARE THE STAR
SOLDIER I WAS SENT TO DESTROY."
    For a second, Hermes thought the dragon might have been referring to
Soldier Hades, but Hades had mentioned that the enemy knew where he was
now. Hades hadn't mentioned any dragons; but then again, he'd been
pretty vague about almost everything. The dragon, on the other hand, had
made its intentions quite clear. Oddly enough, just beating the thing
didn't feel like enough. Hermes wanted to make it suffer for the damage
and death it had caused. He wanted it to know exactly who it was dealing
with, even if it meant making some kind of speech. "I'm a lot tougher to
kill than a bunch of defenseless kids," he warned.
    "WE'LL SEE ABOUT THAT," replied the dragon calmly. It took a deep
breath, preparing its largest attack yet, and Hermes could see flames
flickering in its throat even before it had started to exhale.
    Well, there was certainly something to be said about the direct
approach as well. Hermes raised his arms over his head and prepared his
own attack. "HERMES AQUA LANCE!" he shouted, watching the water swirl
into position while the dragon seemed frozen in mid-breath. Hermes
wasted no time in throwing the completed spear straight down the
dragon's gullet just as the dragon began to release its flame. The water
splashed the inside of the dragon's mouth, and the dragon's flaming
breath turned instantly to steam. Hermes shrank a bit from its heat, but
it was obvious that he was no longer in any danger of being burned.
    The dragon reared back and took another breath, ending in a series
of rasping coughs. "What have you done to me?" it asked in a strained
voice. "My flames! My beautiful flames!"
    "That's not the end of it," said Hermes, smiling cruelly as he
cupped his hands in the dragon's direction. "MOUKO TAKABISHA!" This
time, the dragon had no defense against the attack and wasn't nearly
fast enough to dodge. The ball of light slammed into its head, snapping
its neck backward with a loud CRACK! that echoed through the empty park.
The dragon slumped to the side and collapsed, no longer moving.
    Hermes stared at the dragon's corpse, wide-eyed. "Yikes! I didn't
mean to hit him so hard...." He looked down at his hands, and for the
first time, he realized how much power he had gained in the
transformation. Not only could he use the Aqua Lance, but his muscles
felt more powerful, and he could sense an abnormal amount of energy in
himself. No wonder his attack had been so powerful! Maybe there was more
to this Star Soldier thing than he'd thought... but not nearly enough to
excuse the ridiculous uniform.
    Behind him, Akane groaned and sat up, rubbing her head. "Man... what
a weird dream." She looked around and gasped as she saw the ashes that
had once been a public park. "Where am I? That dream...." Her eyes
finally lit on the dead dragon. "No way! It was real?"
    Hermes knelt beside Akane. "Hey, are you okay?" he asked, startling
her. "You were almost dragon food!"
    "I think so," Akane replied. "But who are you?"
    Hermes started to give his real name, but remembered just in time
that he was in disguise. "I'm Soldier Hermes," he replied. "Defender of
the innocent, slayer of evil dragons and protector of... stuff." He
sighed. Why had he tried to make a corny speech anyway? Maybe his
uniform was too tight....
    "Why couldn't you have gotten here sooner?" asked Akane. "All the
people who were here died because you were too late!"
    Hermes rubbed the back of his head, lacking an answer for that one.
"Yeah... you're welcome," he grumbled.
    Akane blushed and bowed her head. "Um... I'm sorry. Thank you. You
did save my life." She cast a nervous glance toward the body of the
dragon. "So, is it really dead?"
    "I assume so," said Hermes. "I don't know how to check a dragon's
pulse...." He turned back to the dragon, hoping to make a guess as to
how that might be, but the body almost didn't seem to be there. He could
see the burning trees right through it, and within seconds, the corpse
was nothing more than a vague outline in the air. Then, it was gone
completely.
    "It disappeared!" Akane announced unnecessarily.
    "It'll be back," said Hermes, knowing as he said the words that they
were true. "But I think we've seen the last of it for a while."
    "That's good," said Akane, much relieved. "Even Ranma wouldn't be
able to -" She broke off suddenly and looked around, searching for her
companion. "Have you seen a boy around here?" she asked Hermes. "About
your height, with a black pigtail..." - she pointed to the back of
Hermes' head - "just like that one."
    Hermes quickly shook his head. "You might try over that way," he
suggested, pointing in a random direction. "I thought I saw someone."
    Akane peered into the flames. "I don't see anything."
    Hermes shrugged. "I'm sure he's around somewhere."
    "I hope so," she replied nervously. "I hope the dragon didn't eat
him!" She ran in the direction Hermes had pointed, shielding her eyes
with her arm and calling Ranma's name.
    Once she was out of sight, Hermes felt the tightness in his chest
and took his first breath since she'd asked about Ranma. "Geez... for a
second there, I thought she was going to recognize me!" He willed
himself back to his normal form and ran after Akane. "Then again, we're
talking about a girl who would ask Ryoga if he'd seen a little black pig
wearing an identical bandana...."
    "Ranma! Answer me!" Akane called desperately from somewhere off to
his left.
    Ranma took a deep breath, coughing from the smoke, and called back
as if he had been searching for Akane as well. "Akane! I'm over here!"
    "Ranma?" came Akane's answering call. He heard the crunching of
fallen branches as she ran toward him, and then she came into sight, her
face and clothing black with soot. As soon as she saw him, she ran to
him and threw her arms around him. "Oh, Ranma! I was so worried!"
    "Hey, that's close enough!" Ranma protested. "I didn't survive a
fight with a dragon only to be crushed to death by a gorilla!"
    Akane's grip tightened until she really was crushing Ranma's lungs.
"You idiot!" she shouted. "I thought you were dead!"
    "Not... yet...!" Ranma croaked, making a mental note to watch what
he said to Akane after future Soldier Hermes transformations.
    "Thanks to that Soldier Hermes," Akane added. "If it wasn't for him,
we'd both have been  killed."
    "Remind me to thank him when I can breathe again," Ranma gasped
pointedly, tugging at Akane's arms.
    Akane finally let go. "Come on, Ranma. Let's get out of here before
we choke on smoke fumes."
    The first of the fire engines pulled up to the curb as Ranma and
Akane picked their way out of the burning park at last. However, Ranma
didn't even hear it, nor did he notice the crowd of people who had
gathered to see the fire as he and Akane pushed their way through,
waving off attempts to get them to a hospital. His mind was occupied
with his recent battle, and the certain knowledge that it was only the
first of many. Suddenly, he had a very strong urge to locate the other
Star Soldiers as quickly as possible.
*************************************************
    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 the dragon'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.

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

DANNY: Can you see a vampire through a one-way mirror?

My not-so-humble webpage of fanfiction and other random junk has MOVED:
http://nidoking.anifics.com Update your bookmarks!

             .---Anime/Manga Fanfiction Mailing List----.
             | Administrators - ffml-admins@anifics.com |
             | Unsubscribing - ffml-request@anifics.com |
             |     Put 'unsubscribe' in the subject     |
             `---- http://ffml.anifics.com/faq.txt -----'