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    /                                                        \
    |  Vengeance And A Half               |
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Thanks to my pre-readers:
Ben
aevan                     http://aevan.virtualave.net
Kevin D. Hammel     http://www.anime.sobhrach.com/~khammel/
Blood Blade         http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Towers/5920

Visit my website at
dzillman@ozemail.com.au
http://www.ozemail.com.au/~dzillman/fire

What has happened:
The time travel of Prince Diamond and the Inner Senshi at the end of 
Sailor Moon R has caused a paradox. Now the Outer Senshi are awake, the 
Death Busters are active, and the Dark Moon Family are still trying to 
conquer the world. In a desperate bid to stop a Daimon from gaining her 
Heart Crystal, the Outer Senshi were responsible for Akane's death. Now 
Nabiki has achieved the impossible and convinced Ranma and Ryoga to 
join forces. But in the quest for vengeance, anything is possible.


Part 2: A Cold Day In Hell
==========================

To someone dedicated to the culinary arts, the quest for a perfect bowl 
of ramen and the perfect service to a customer can be just as 
challenging and important as the immaculate performance of a Kata to a 
martial artist. Shampoo, unfortunately, was a martial artist and not a 
chef. For her, the endless, Ranma-less days working in the Nekohanten 
seemed to stretch on forever. The delivery of three excellent bowls of 
her great grandmother's ramen in a fashion that approximated truly good 
service did little to raise her cheer.

A week without Ranma was just too long to cope with. Every time someone 
entered the store, Shampoo's eyes lit up and she looked over to the 
door, only to be disheartened as yet another ordinary customer walked 
in. Last time she had delivered ramen to the Tendo's, Kasumi had told 
her that she had just missed Ranma. Her beloved husband had stepped out 
the door only moments earlier, heading off with his father to train in 
the mountains for a week. 

That had been a full ten days ago, surely he should be home soon! 
Shampoo gave a sweet smile as she seated the latest customer, but her 
mind was on Ranma. She knew what it was like at the Tendo's, she had 
been through this routine often enough. Ranma would come back from his 
training, tired and hungry. In an evil attempt to poison Shampoo's 
husband, the violent tomboy there would cook something terrible. 
Without a doubt, it would take less than a hour from the moment Ranma 
stepped through the Tendo's gate to when he appeared through Shampoo's 
infinitely more hospitable door for some real food.

Filling the newest customer's order, Shampoo backed away from his table 
and leaned against the bar next to where her great grandmother was 
having a puff on her pipe. "Is quiet tonight, great grandmother."

Cologne eyed her charge and smiled on the inside. So, Shampoo thinks to 
go chasing after Ranma, does she? Strength was not all it took to lead 
in the Joketsuzoku. One needed brains also, and that was one area 
Shampoo was oddly reluctant to train. The girl needed to learn 
compromise and gain equal skills in verbal sparring.

"But still too busy for only one of us..."

"Shampoo think not too busy. Shampoo think that..."

Cologne smiled slightly. Good child, you caught it that time. Never 
state your intentions too clearly, it makes it too easy for people to 
see ways around them.

Blowing a smoke ring, Cologne watched as Shampoo waved goodbye to one 
of the regulars. "But it is a lot of work to maintain this place."

Shampoo's brow furrowed. She could tell Cologne was testing her again, 
but she was not sure what was the right answer to that statement. 
Shampoo always preferred the simplicity of battle to all this talking. 
That was why she liked Ranma: he was good at fighting and did not think 
too much either. Not like Mousse. Mousse was always trying to think of 
some tricky new attack to catch his opponent unawares. Where was the 
strength in that?

When the thoughts clicked into place in Shampoo's mind, her face lit up 
then immediately schooled itself into nonchalance. Cologne almost burst 
out laughing, Shampoo was wearing her most neutral expression that told 
everyone in the world: I have something devious in mind, so I'm not 
going to look devious. No, no, not at all, not me.

Nodding to Cologne, Shampoo placed one finger delicately on her lips 
and pretended to tilt her head to one side in thought. "Great 
Grandmother right. Is much work. Is more work with Mousse away today. 
Shampoo glad she strong, young Amazon. Shampoo handle all work by 
herself. Let poor, tired Elder to rest, yes?"

That did motivate a chuckle out of Cologne, but she quickly covered it 
up with a suck on her pipe. Not particularly subtle, but she was 
getting better. Cologne just hoped that she did not try anything so 
obvious as impugning weakness once she returned to their village. A 
comment like that - made to the wrong person - might very well see 
Shampoo out in the challenge circle trying to defend her honour.

Reaching for the bait that Shampoo had dangled so obviously in front of 
her, Cologne took the chance to let her great granddaughter do the man-
hunting she so obviously desired. "Oh, dear! I'm not that old and weak 
yet! I'll show you, Shampoo! For tonight, I shall run the whole 
Nekohanten by myself!"

Perhaps the sarcasm was just a little too thick, even Shampoo noticed 
and turned her head to look in askance at her elder. "Great Grandmother 
no sound serious."

Cologne reached over and patted the young Amazon's hand. "I'm not 
really, but you're getting better at talking to others. You definitely 
need to work on the way you suggest things, and you still need to 
practice your facial expressions, but I see improvement. Now, there are 
two spare ramen here, getting cold. Why don't you see if Ranma really 
is at home?"

"Aiyaa! Great Grandmother so smart!"

Watching Shampoo flounce off to get her bonbori and the delivery box, 
Cologne sighed. She felt so old sometimes. Was she really that much 
smarter than everyone, or had breeding purely for strength weakened 
other areas that the village's leaders needed?

When Shampoo ran out the door, Cologne began mixing up some more ramen. 
What they really needed was a skilled fighter who was also very 
intelligent. Someone that could strengthen all areas of the bloodline. 
Cologne did not like the chances of finding any males around here that 
even surpassed average intelligence. Just to prove her point, a group 
of six youths had just entered, each loudly discussing the various 
merits that Shampoo possessed. At least, they discussed those things 
that teenage boys tended to find most meritorious.

The journey from the Nekohanten to the Tendo dojo was not a long one, 
especially for someone of Shampoo's fitness and stamina when mounted on 
a bicycle. In mere minutes, the girl was standing the transport to the 
side of the gate and walking inside. Even though she ate it every day, 
the ramen smelled very good to her, and she knew from experience that 
her husband would find it irresistible. She just hoped that the violent 
girl would be there to watch as her husband wolfed down yet another 
meal of hers. While she hated to see Ranma being struck, every blow 
that the tomboy delivered brought him one step closer to Shampoo's 
arms.

Skirting around the house to where the sounds of fighting emanated, 
Shampoo ended up at a corner of the house, watching Ranma and Ryoga 
having another one of their common fights. Watching as the lost boy 
fought her husband, she was again impressed by the skill that Ryoga 
managed to muster. Here was a man that would make almost any Amazon 
proud. Tall, strong, and built like a figure from legends. Yes, Ryoga 
would make _almost_ any Amazon proud. But never Shampoo, for she knew 
that she could never settle for second best, and no matter how good he 
may be, Ryoga would always be second best to her husband.

Standing still, Shampoo was trying to decide what was strange about the 
fight occurring in front of her. Surely they fought all the time, it 
could not be that. Then it struck her: two things were very odd. First 
was they were still in the yard. In the whole time they had not started 
running around the buildings or headed for more spacious grounds where 
Ryoga could do his more destructive moves like the Bakusai Tenketsu. 

Secondly, strangest of all, they seemed to be pulling their punches. 
They were not pulling them much, but they were definitely not fighting 
with their usual all-out intensity. For a moment Shampoo was held by a 
wild idea. Anyone that did not know them better, might almost suspect 
that the two boys were sparring, not fighting. True, their idea of 
sparring would leave most people crippled in the dust, but for these 
two shinning examples of what martial artists can be, it was really 
only a practice bout.

Watching them further, and seeing the way that they acted around each 
other, Shampoo gradually became more and more sure that they were 
practising, not really challenging each other. Fearing that one of 
Akane's many suitors may have renounced her - hence allowing the 
friendlier relationship with Ranma - Shampoo skipped out into the open 
holding her delivery box. 

"Airen! Shampoo bring too delicious ramen for dinner!"

Placing the food on the ground, she watched as both combatants 
immediately made a bee-line towards her. If she timed it just right, 
she should be able to land right on his lap as he bent to pick up his 
bowl. Right about.... now!

With a move like lightning, Shampoo popped forwards and tried to cuddle 
into his neck. Tried to, that is, because somehow she missed. Blinking 
several times, Shampoo looked around and spotted Ranma kneeling next to 
Ryoga, both shovelling the food down their throats as fast as it would 
go. He dodged her? Ranma had moved around her when she tried to show 
her affections? He had never done that before. Not only had he never 
succeeded in avoiding her hugs, he had never previously tried. 
Something was seriously wrong here. 

Walking back to her husband with a sensual step, Shampoo tried to run a 
hand through his hair as he ate. Again he avoided her touch, this time 
scooting backwards with tiny motions of his toes; a technique for 
movement that he had learned when he studied for the Martial Arts Tea 
Ceremony. "Airen? What wrong? Why you a... av... move away from 
Shampoo?"

There was something cold about his voice when he replied. Something 
business-like and hard that he had never used before, especially when 
he was talking to her. "I'm busy, Shampoo. Ryoga's spent all morning 
teachin' me his latest technique, and now we gotta do some sparring to 
warm up. I ain't got no time for games now, OK?"

With that, Ranma finished the last of his ramen and placed the bowl 
back in its holder. "Thanks, Shampoo. I really needed that."

She started to reach out for him, but part way through the gesture, she 
hesitated. Something about him suggested that it would not be a good 
time to be touching his arm. Not good for her, that is. He did not say 
anything or do anything. He just stood there waiting for Ryoga to 
finish slurping the last of the soup before resuming their training.

"What Airen train for? What Airen train with Lost Boy for?"

That stopped them both for a moment. Although they had been walking 
back to the middle of the yard, the halted and slowly turned to face 
her.

"Do you see that, Shampoo?" He pointed to the rubble of the dojo. "I 
did that Shampoo. That's why we're training."

Shampoo shrugged. It was hard to miss the fact that the Tendo's dojo 
had been reduced to rubble, but she just assumed that it was a little 
bit more extreme than the usual damage it suffered. After all, it was 
only a building. "Shampoo see building in dirt. Why Ranma train?"

Ranma looked like he wanted to speak, but words would not come. After a 
moment, Ryoga placed a meaty hand on his shoulder and turned to face 
Shampoo. "Akane's gone."

The stupid tomboy was gone? Shampoo did not understand. She thought 
that the tomboy liked Lost Boy. Why would they only be training now 
that she was gone? Not only that, but if Ranma took the opportunity to 
destroy the tomboy's dojo while she was gone, she would still surely 
notice upon her return. Something was not adding up here.

"What you mean gone?"

"I mean... I mean that she's..."

Ranma interrupted. His voice was still and cold. "He means she's dead. 
Akane is dead."

His voice started to break at the end, but Shampoo's thoughts were 
whirling too rapidly for her to notice. Her main rival was dead? Akane 
was no more? A smile blossomed across her face as she fully realised 
what this meant.

"Tomboy dead, and Shampoo no need give Kiss Of Death? Shampoo so happy! 
Airen come back to China now? No-one keep Airen with Violent Tomboy any 
more?"

Ryoga looked at her aghast. How could she possibly say something so 
insensitive? How could she be so happy at the thought of her rival 
being dead? He might have threatened to kill Ranma for so many months, 
but finding out about Akane's death had changed something in him. He 
realised that killing Ranma would not bring back the happiness that he 
had lost. Challenging him, fighting him, that had been real happiness. 
Seeing how greatly Akane's death had scarred so many people, he had 
almost been willing to take a vow never to kill again. But that would 
have let her murderers go free and unpunished. Even worse, if he and 
Ranma did not stop them, then who possibly could? Countless other 
people would die in Tokyo before the matter was ended.

All these thoughts tumbled through Ryoga's head in an instant. In that 
same instant, he realised what Ranma was thinking. The woman that they 
both loved was hardly in the ground, and someone was celebrating her 
death? Ranma had not lived with the thoughts of killing as long as 
Ryoga had. To Ranma, killing and revenge were still linked in his mind 
as something just and right. Looking at Ranma's face, Ryoga knew that 
he could not let the boy act on his impulses towards Shampoo.

"Run!" He cast over his shoulder as he interposed himself between Ranma 
and the Amazon. Shampoo instinctively retreated a couple of steps, but 
confusion and a failure to understand Ranma's hidden nature kept her 
around.

Suddenly, Ranma surged forwards. He was fuming and flailing his arms 
madly, trying to thrash his way through Ryoga, but there was no style, 
no class to his efforts. Ryoga knew that Ranma could have avoided him 
and done anything he desired to Shampoo if his mind was clear and he 
truly desired it. But this Ranma was a different animal. This Ranma 
simply wanted to grab something and pummel it into nothingness until 
his own grief vanished along with it.

Waving his clenched fists, Ranma glared at Shampoo past Ryoga's 
shoulder. The whole time he was leaping at her, only to be body checked 
by the larger boy. "How could you say that you bitch? She was your 
friend! I loved her! I'm going to find the people that did this, and 
I'm going to bury them! I'll put them six foot under! There's not even 
going to be enough left to bury once I'm through with them. You hear 
me? 
"And if you're not with us, you're against us! You understand? Next 
time I see your ugly face, you better be fighting beside me, or I'll 
plant you along with the rest! I'll take you apart limb by limb! I'll 
tear them all to shreds! Do you hear me? 
"Akane! I swear I'm going to send your murderers to escort you to 
heaven! Every single one of them, all lined up for you! I will not 
stop! I will never stop! I will fight until they are all dead! Dead! 
_Dead_! DEAD!"

By now she was running madly, Ranma's shouts only heard through the 
distance. It should have been a day of joy, her greatest rival for the 
heart of a man was dead. Instead, her rival became infinitely harder to 
beat. Now that Akane was dead, she could do no wrong. While Akane was 
alive, there was the chance that Shampoo might win Ranma away. Now that 
Akane was dead, she had Ranma body and soul. His whole life contained 
nothing but the deaths of the people who killed the woman he loved.

Leaning against the wall of a building, Shampoo sniffled a couple of 
times. He had said it earlier, shouted it for the whole world to hear. 
Ranma had loved Akane. He was willing to sacrifice everything that he 
had, everything he was, for revenge. Worse still, Ryoga was on his 
side, and if there was another specialist on revenge that was half as 
good as Ryoga, Shampoo could not think of them. 

There would be blood on these streets, and - despite the fact that she 
felt she had lost him forever in those few moments - Shampoo 
desperately hoped that none of that blood was Ranma's. Whoever had told 
her that one live friend was worth more than a hundred dead enemies was 
right. Whoever had killed Akane had surely signed their own death 
certificates. Even worse, they had signed Ranma's. The man Shampoo 
loved was dead, and she could only hope that he might come back to life 
in time; returning someday when this need for revenge had been burnt 
from his soul.

Whoever that had been in the Tendo's yard was not the Ranma that she 
knew. He was gone, sacrificed on the altar of pain. By killing Akane, 
they had killed Ranma and Ryoga. When they killed the man Shampoo loved 
- even though they killed him indirectly - they drove that same stake 
through Shampoo's heart. 

She could not return right now, but she would return. She would return 
and fight by the side of her husband until either she or their every 
enemy was dead. She was an Amazon and understood the ways of honour. 
While she had thought it was a boon that Akane had died by hands other 
than hers, she would have traded her own life to spare Ranma his 
current suffering. The Amazons taught that you capitalised on every 
advantage that you got. If Akane had died in a car accident, Shampoo 
would have consoled Ranma. But she had not, she had been murdered, and 
Shampoo had just stained herself in the eyes of the man she loved. 

Pulling out one bonbori, she relished the feel as she tightly gripped 
its shaft. As an Amazon, she would stand with her husband until their 
deaths. She did not know who had hurt her husband so, but be they man 
or beast, they had made themselves an implacable foe. She had once 
hunted Ranma across the breadth of China and Japan, simply for the 
slight of beating her in formal battle. 

For hurting her husband, and causing her to stain her own honour, 
Shampoo would hunt them to their dying breath. You could run, but there 
was nowhere you could hide from an Amazon on the warpath.

*       *       *

For the last two days, Ami had been walking on eggshells, trying to 
carefully avoid something that she could not even identify. The Senshi 
had been back in the present for a week and there was an annoying 
tickling sensation at the back of Ami's brain saying that something was 
wrong. Something was out of place. Unfortunately, with the presence of 
rampaging demons, witches, and evil revolutionaries - not to mention 
the fact that one of their own was still brainwashed and an enemy agent 
- it was too hard to actually find out that what her subconscious was 
saying was actually wrong; there were just too many obvious problems at 
the moment.

Now, as she walked down the street to Juuban High School, Ami heard a 
voice that brought a smile to her face as she returned the greetings. 
"Hello, Makoto-chan! How are you today?"

The tall girl gave a short sniff then shook her head and grinned down 
at her friend. "Better thanks, Ami-chan. I can't believe I had to stay 
away from school for a whole week just because of some silly cold... 
Not that I'm really complaining about missing school."

"Well, I don't think that it helped that we've been running around in 
the cool air every night since we got back. You just haven’t had a 
chance to properly recover."

"At least we're winning those fights. This bug has kept me in bed every 
day. If those Black Moon guys ever managed to do as well as the common 
cold, we're done for!"

Both girls laughed appreciatively. They were still smiling happily as 
they walked through the school gates, only to be immediately brought up 
short by a group of three teachers. There were both the boy's and 
girl's physical education teachers, as well as the burly science 
teacher, the one that like to talk about everything in terms of martial 
arts. None of the teachers looked happy, and Ami was sure that they 
were focusing all of their attention on her friend.

"What are you doing back here, Kino-san?"

Makoto looked down at herself and looked for something wrong. She was 
in exactly the same uniform as Ami; bright blue skirt, white blouse a 
blue sailor style collar; of course, Makoto's was significantly larger 
to accommodate her extra height. Still confused, she checked her hair 
to make sure that was tidy; it was still in its habitual ponytail. If 
she was neat and tidy, what where they complaining about? Surely they 
were not upset with her because she had been away for a week, sick in 
bed?

"Ano... To go to school?"

Gently, Ami's Phys-Ed teacher reached over and took her elbow, pulling 
her away from her friend. Makoto moved to join her, but the other two 
teachers interposed themselves. "You're not going to give us any 
trouble, are you, Kino-san?"

Unconsciously, Makoto lowered her chin protectively and clenched her 
hands into fists. The way that the teachers were holding themselves 
brought back too many memories of how other fights started for her to 
be able to ignore it. 

"I don't want any trouble. I just want to get to class." Mentally, 
Makoto hit herself in the head and said 'Wow, I can't believe I said 
that.'

"You know you're not welcome here after what you did. Just turn around 
and go home. If we catch you trying to sneak onto school grounds again, 
we'll call the police. Do you understand?"

Backing away slightly, Makoto mutely shook her head and looked at Ami 
in confusion. The pretty brunette just stood there, mouth gaping at 
what she heard. Everyone stood like that for a moment, until one of the 
teachers began to move forward, planning on encouraging the unwelcome 
girl to leave the hallowed school grounds. Seeing Makoto tense at this 
perceived threat, Ami found her voice.

"You'd better head off now, Mako-chan. I... I'll see you after school, 
OK?"

The words seemed to break the spell that held everyone, and they 
briefly focused on Ami. Seeing her friend nod, Ami smiled briefly, but 
that smile turned sour when she watched Makoto sadly turn and leave the 
grounds. 

As the taller girl walked away, head hanging, the last she heard from 
the teachers was one of them berating Ami. That alone was almost enough 
to make her go back and try and teach those snobs a lesson. How dare 
they talk to her friend that way? And what business was it of theirs if 
the she and Ami wanted to hang out together?

Most importantly; why didn't they want her at Juuban High?

Whiling away a whole day with nothing to do was something that Makoto 
had often dreamt about, but the reality appeared to be less inviting 
than the dream itself. She could hardly go and visit any of the 
arcades, as they were not allowed to have children on the premises 
during school hours. That left wandering the malls nearby, and that was 
nowhere near as much fun without someone like Minako along to brighten 
things up. 

Perhaps the worst thing about the day was the simple waiting. The dread 
of the unknown. What was Ami going to find out today? Why were the 
teachers treating her like some sort of violent maniac? They had even 
made sure that they would be able to gang up on her three to one. 
Makoto could not understand it, she had hardly done any fighting at all 
in Juuban, and almost all of that was before she met Usagi, happening 
in the first few days after she transferred there... Actually, Usagi 
had found Makoto and more importantly, Makoto's well prepared Bento 
box. 

The end of the day saw Makoto standing on the other side of the street 
to the school, watching all of her classmates coming out. Strangely 
enough, those few that showed any sign of recognition all seemed to shy 
away from her, as though they feared her. This in turn caused the 
teacher standing near the gate to give her dark looks, but the man 
could hardly do anything since she was not on the school grounds.

When she finally saw Ami coming out - obviously having decided to 
forsake her usual afternoon tutorials in favour of her friend - Makoto 
brightened into a smile; her first genuine one since she left the 
school that morning. Giving the girl with deep-blue hair a wave, Makoto 
straightened up and waited for her to cross. Her smile dimmed slightly 
when she saw the teacher obviously trying to dissuade Ami from meeting 
her, but words alone could not stop her friend from crossing the 
street.

When Ami reached her friend, she immediately took Makoto's hand and 
began leading her away at a rapid pace. Even without being told, Makoto 
could guess that there was no point waiting for Minako or Usagi; with 
their sterling attendance record, those two were probably in detention 
making up for time they missed at the start of the day. 

At the speed they walked, even the long legged Makoto was stretched to 
meet the pace Ami was setting, and her concern was raised even further 
by the look of concentration that Ami wore. Once they were a few blocks 
away from anyone that was likely to hear what they were saying, Ami 
slowed back to a normal pace and began to lead them back to her home.  

"Mako-chan, have you noticed anything strange since we got back from 
Crystal Tokyo?"

"Do you mean anything other than the fact that Emerald is still alive, 
there's a bunch of killers out there pretending to be us, or someone 
else is summoning hordes of demons? Other than that, no, not really."

In a most unusual display of frustration, Ami clenched a small fist and 
frowned. "No, of course not. You've been sick all week and in bed. I 
can't believe that I did not notice something was wrong earlier. I've 
been trying to put the pieces together and I didn't even know what the 
puzzle was."

"Err... Was there something I should of mentioned?"

"No! I'm sorry, Mako-chan. I just feel so stupid for not noticing it 
before. I think something happened when we came backwards. Things seem 
to be a little... off."

"What do you mean? Are you talking about how everyone treated me like I 
had the plague just because I missed a week of school?"

"It's not just that, and that's the problem. I think we're going to 
have to get together tonight, even if we do have to fight something 
first. We can’t afford to keep putting it off like we have been. What 
we saw at school today was something big... really big, and I don't 
think that you're going to like it."

"Hey, come on Ami-chan! I'm Sailor Jupiter, I'm supposed to be the 
tough one right?"

"You... You got expelled from Juuban for fighting..."

Makoto stopped dead in her tracks. "What!? That's crazy!"

Ami stood in front of her friend and sadly looked down at her hands, 
unable to meet the other Senshi's eyes. "You got expelled for 
fighting... with me."

"No way! You're kidding, aren't you, Ami-chan?"

Despite the tone of pleading in Makoto's voice, Ami slowly shook her 
head in negation. "About two weeks after you transferred to Juuban, you 
apparently attacked me in the playground. You... err... you dislocated 
my left knee. That's why they expelled you."

"What!? I'd never do anything like that!"

Feeling the frantic grip on her shoulders, Ami looked up into Makoto's 
eyes and could see tears beginning to form there, matching her own 
eyes. "I know you wouldn't, but... everyone else thinks that you did. 
That's why they were so upset with you."

Makoto was stunned speechless, and stayed that way as they resumed 
walking. Eventually Ami picked up the conversation again, filling the 
void. "That's not the only thing I've noticed, but it is the biggest. 
Have you noticed that Luna and Artemis have been missing? Even Mina-
chan and Usagi-chan haven't seen them in a week. If they don't turn up 
tonight, I'm going to get Usagi to try and call them on the 
communicator. We need to be able to speak to them; they have to know 
more about what's going on than we do."

They kept talking, trying to find other areas that things had changed, 
but with Makoto living by herself, it was not as though she had many 
chances to notice changes in the world. They had moved onto discussing 
plans for the inevitable Droid or Daimon attack tonight when a sharp 
voice rang out across the street, capturing both their attentions.

"You stay away from my daughter, you violent maniac, or I'll call the 
police!"

Both heads instantly tracked to the sound of the voice and set upon 
Ami's mother. She was standing at the entrance to the building in which 
they lived, and glaring at Makoto with a look that could melt plate 
steel.

"I'm warning you! Get away from her now, or that's it!"

Reluctantly, Ami stepped away from Makoto and moved towards her mother. 
Quietly, so that only Makoto could hear, Ami tried to cheer her up. 
"Don't worry, she's probably just upset about that school thing. I... 
I'll see you tonight."

Hesitantly, Makoto raised her hand and gave a small wave. "See you... 
Later, I guess."

Although she knew that she had not done the horrible things that she 
had been accused of, it drove a stake through Makoto's heart to watch 
the way that Ami's mother protectively gathered her into her arms, the 
whole while glaring at Makoto. Past the occasional sound of traffic 
passing between them, Makoto could hear the words that Ami's mother was 
saying. Some part deep inside her even suggested that Mrs Mizuno was 
saying them loud enough specifically so that she could hear them.

"Oh, my poor girl. Are you all right now? Did she do anything to you 
this time?"

Ami said something, but she was facing the wrong way, so Makoto missed 
it. However, there was no way she could miss the way that the 
protective mother was directing her hatred at her.

"It's all right dear. You don’t have to try and defend her. She can’t 
hurt you now. Come on in, everything will be just fine now that we've 
gotten you away from that horrible delinquent."

When Ami and her mother walked inside, Makoto slowly turned and walked 
off. It was bad enough trying to fight demons. Why did they have to try 
and fight everyone else too? It was not fair! Makoto did not have a 
mother like Ami, she had no-one to stand up for her and say everything 
was all right. She had to struggle by in the world, and now someone had 
changed all the rules on her. She had worked so hard to make friends 
with all the Senshi and be part of the team, and now even that had been 
taken away from her.

Makoto just wished there was some way that she could contact Sailor 
Pluto and find out what was going on. Perhaps she could set everything 
straight. Maybe Luna would know how to contact the mysterious time 
Senshi that they had only recently been introduced to.

Unknown to Makoto or any of the Inner Senshi, at that very moment, an 
unconscious Sailor Pluto lay on silk sheets in a luxurious bedroom. She 
was unconscious, and had been so for the whole week. Despite all the 
efforts of Michiru - which did not amount to much given her reluctance 
to contact a real doctor - the woman remained in a coma. If Makoto 
intended to rely upon Sailor Pluto for answers, they may be a long time 
in coming.

*       *       *

Ryoga cursed his luck as he walked down yet another street that looked 
exactly the same as the one before it. All this, just because he 
spotted some woman that looked like Ranma and tried to follow her 
instead of the real thing. By the time he had caught up with the red-
head, and established that she was not the arrogant martial artist, he 
was already lost.

Well, _he_ was not lost, he knew exactly where he was: he was right 
there. It was Ranma that was lost, and Ryoga had no idea where he 
needed to go to find Ranma. Even if they were on the same side now, 
fighting to avenge Akane, Ranma still caused him problems. It was all 
Ranma's fault, and he was supposed to be Ryoga's ally!

Looking around, Ryoga mused on just what a difference it made fighting 
_with_ Ranma rather than against him. Last night Nabiki had convinced 
Ranma and himself to work together, and today he had seen just what 
Ranma could do when he was really pushed to it. There were times when 
even Ryoga had to admit that Ranma was impressive, and this had been 
one of them, no matter how much that admission stuck in his throat.

After agreeing to work for Nabiki to find Akane's killers, Ryoga had 
handed over the scroll that detailed how to do the Shi Shi Hokodan. 
Ranma had studied it for hours, listening to everything that Ryoga 
said, only speaking to ask questions. They worked like that for several 
hours until Kasumi had chased them off to bed like a mother hen. 

Sunrise the next morning saw once bitter enemies standing side-by-side, 
working on Ranma's mastery of the Ki attack. Dwelling on the loss of 
Akane, neither boy had been at a loss for the volume of heavy Ki needed 
to fuel the Shi Shi Hokodan. By the time Kasumi had prepared breakfast 
for the reduced family, both teenage martial artists were throwing Ki 
blasts into the rubble of the dojo. 

Having seen the speed that Ranma had mastered the Shi Shi Hokodan, 
Ryoga was almost glad that he had not challenged Ranma with it. Surely 
he would have had no more than one or two battles advantage before 
Ranma would have learned the technique by himself. While Ryoga had no 
doubt that he was the superior martial artist and that Ranma only 
managed to win because he cheated every time, he could not fail to 
acknowledge Ranma's ability. It had taken Ryoga days to master the 
technique, over a week to reach his current level. Ranma was his equal 
overnight, with both of them capable of doing the basic technique as 
detailed on the scroll. 

Neither of them had yet mastered the Perfect Shi Shi Hokodan; the true 
form of the technique. But what they had would let them fight demons on 
a more even footing than they had even considered possible a month ago.

The rest of the day had been spent in the pleasant bliss of trying to 
beat the stuffing out of Ranma. They had both toned down their blows, 
but Ryoga had found an almost primeval joy in hitting the smaller boy -  
even if it was just training. Without Ranma's constant taunts, Ryoga 
almost managed to avoid the berserker fury that often captured him in 
battle, and he could feel his technique firming up even as they 
practised. Today would have been a rather decent day if Shampoo had not 
come along and ruined it.

After a short rest and a filling meal by Kasumi, Ranma and Ryoga had 
been poised to start on the first phase of Nabiki's plan. While she was 
trying to correlate data - whatever that meant - the two of them were 
going to patrol inner Tokyo during the evenings, looking for demons on 
a more-or-less random basis. It was not the best way to do things, but 
it got them out of the house, and neither Ryoga nor Ranma could bear to 
sit still and think that there was someone else out there that might 
get hurt like Akane was while they stayed and home and rested.

Well, that _had_ been the plan, until Ranma had wandered off without 
Ryoga and planted that look-alike to fool him. Now Ryoga was wandering 
around Tokyo, trying to find Ranma or demons or Senshi, or even just an 
accurate map that showed the right city.

A cry from up ahead brought Ryoga from his revive and he looked around, 
trying to track the source of the sounds. Surprisingly enough, even 
someone as directionally challenged as Ryoga managed to spot the woman 
that was being accosted.

Not more than a hundred meters ahead of him, a gorgeous woman in what 
seemed to be an evening dress was floating in the air. That in itself 
would have been enough to make him investigate, but the sight of the 
woman frantically trying to defend herself with a black basket ball 
against a hideous, slavering demon made his blood boil and rational 
thought depart.

Ryoga closed the range to just a little over fifteen meters, sprinting 
down the street and making sure that he kept them both in clear sight. 
For a short moment, Ryoga's confidence in right and wrong was 
momentarily shaken when he saw the beautiful woman with the long, pink 
hair firing black bolts of energy at the demon. Could she be one of the 
witches that Nabiki told them controlled the demons? If she was, why 
was the demon attacking her?

That answer was easy enough to see when a second woman came into view. 
Although she was shorter than the first, she was no less striking of 
appearance. Unfortunately, where the floating woman in the evening 
dress seemed to embody the word beautiful, the woman on the ground had 
to rely on her clothing to capture attention. With flame red hair - 
longer than Ranma's and flowing freely - and a small red dress of 
almost matching colour, this woman was the obvious controller of the 
demon, as she kept shouting orders to it.

Ryoga did not have to watch for too long to see that it was a slightly 
less than even fight. Both of the women were throwing energy blasts at 
each other that were digging up the road and knocking serious chunks 
out buildings, but only the witch had a demon. The other woman - the 
poor, beautiful damsel in distress - was being forced back. Ryoga 
grinned, bearing one nasty looking fang as he brought his hands 
together in front of him. No-one had noticed him yet, and he was sure 
that he could help even things up just a little, even without that 
useless Ranma.

"SHI SHI HOKODAN!"

The glowing green sphere of depression and anger slammed straight into 
the side of the demon, knocking it over when it was caught unawares. 
The creature might not be able to fly, but it certainly had been 
throwing something at the woman in the air, and Ryoga had just managed 
to remove that additional distraction for her. Already his plan was 
working: go in, keep hitting things, and eventually you will win.

When the Witch turned and took in the second target, both Ryoga and the 
woman he was rescuing took the opportunity to try and melt her into the 
pavement. The pale woman in the short dress was too wily and quick to 
be taken in by that, and she leapt into the air, easily avoiding both 
strikes. 

Things got messy from there on. The demon quickly regained its feet, 
and showed that it had really only taken fairly minor damage from the 
blast. Everyone else in the battle seemed quite content to stay at 
range, but Ryoga knew that he would need to close quickly. The Ki 
blasts that he was throwing around were too draining. He did not yet 
have the practice to be able to keep them up for long, and if he needed 
to be able to fight, he could not afford to exhaust himself with them 
yet.

Ryoga was just preparing to charge the demon and see how it liked a 
close range Bakusai Tenketsu when one of his Ki attacks missed. While 
missing was not exactly uncommon, he had never seen this sort of effect 
before, and apparently neither had anyone else. The pretty little 
statue that his floating friend had been guarding happened to be in the 
path of his green blast. Rather than being smashed into millions of 
shards like he expected the crystal to do, it grew. A single hit from 
the Shi Shi Hokodan somehow made the elegant crystal statue of a woman 
grow by over two feet. Where before it had been almost six feet tall, 
now it just topped eight.

Whatever marvel of artistry the floating woman in formal wear had 
created, the Witch was an art critic of legendary proportions. 
Infuriated by the growth of the crystal, the Witch redoubled her 
attacks, forcing the defender back and away from the statue she 
protected. With this opening, rather than have the demon charge Ryoga, 
the Witch ordered it to destroy the crystal statue. 

Before Ryoga could get within arm's reach to stop it, there was a 
terrible shattering noise, and both the demon and the statue exploded. 
Small crystal shards stung his skin, but Ryoga shrugged them off, 
inured to 
the unpleasantness of exploding rocks long ago. 

Once again, Ryoga found himself grinning in battle. The woman he was 
rescuing did not appreciate the fact that her statue had been 
destroyed, but that could not detract from the fact that they now 
outnumbered the Witch two to one. Gathering energy so he could send a 
blast forward, forcing the Witch to dodge while he tried again to get 
in hitting distance, Ryoga watched as the Witch beamed a sinister smile 
at his ally, completely ignoring him.

"While we work to fulfilling our Mistress' goals, I do not think that 
she would appreciate having an enemy as strong as you to be allowed to 
gain a foothold. Be warned! The Death Busters shall stop you wherever 
you try to gain power!"

Insulted by the fact that someone would ignore him in favour of the 
person he was rescuing - even if she had done vastly more property 
damage than he had managed in the same time - Ryoga unleashed his Ki. 
Yet again his foe avoid it; this time she simply vanished into thin 
air, leaving him alone on the deserted street with only a flying, pink 
haired stranger for company.

Looking around, Ryoga tried to find sight of another enemy, but came up 
empty. Empty, that was, until a perfectly formed face suddenly dropped 
into view right in front of him. 

Ryoga stuttered for a moment, grasping vainly for coherent thought as 
he took in the beauty before him. Her soft pink hair was done up in two 
pony tails, starting in short bundles on either side of her head. She 
had fine, delicate eyebrows, a perfectly formed, petite mouth, and a 
pair of the largest, most expressive red eyes that he had seem on 
anyone short of Akane. Not that Akane's eyes were red, but they were 
big and...

Ryoga realised that he was beginning to babble out loud and closed his 
mouth with a snap. He felt his cheeks begin to redden as they always 
did under the scrutiny of a pretty woman. Nervously, he brought his 
fingers together and began to twiddle the nervously in front of him. 
Suddenly, the pert little mouth opened in a happy laugh; glorious, but 
not quite mocking in the way of Kodachi, and possibly tainted by 
sadness in its core.

"Oh, Little Man, you are so modest! Imagine one such as you coming to 
save myself, Black Lady!"

Wrenching his eyes away from her captivating face, Ryoga tried to find 
something else to look at that would allow him to think well enough to 
be able to speak. For a moment, his eyes tracked down her long neck, 
and across the top of her chest and shoulders. She stood almost as tall 
as he did, and the way that the fine, translucent red fabric revealed 
just a touch of cleavage threatened to send him unconscious before he 
looked away. After a embarrassing period of staring, he was able to 
concentrate on the shattered remains of her statue as they quickly 
vaporised into the early evening air.

"I... I'm Hibiki Ryoga... Are... Are you all right? Did they hurt you?"

"I'm am quite unharmed, I assure you. It would most assuredly take an 
effort on her behalf to harm one such as myself, but your concern is 
quite touching I assure you, Hibiki-san."

"R-Ryoga, please."

She favoured him another smile, and his blood pressure went up another 
ten points. "Ryoga-san, then. It is most unusual to find a knight upon 
Tokyo's streets. Most everyone seems to only care for themselves. I... 
I did not expect that anyone would do such a thing for me..."

"Oh! I would have done it for anyone!"

"Oh..." Black Lady's smile slipped slightly, but she was still happy as 
she turned away from him and gestured peremptorily in the air. 
Immediately, the strange, black, floating basketball scooted over and 
hovered next to her. At this distance, he could see that it had a pair 
of large eyes painted on it, and a set of silly looking cat ears on 
top. "Come, Luna-P. We must return to Wiseman."

As she lifted into the air again and floated off, Ryoga wondered if he 
would ever see her again. True, her laugh echoed across the buildings 
in a disturbing manner, but she was polite to him, which is more than 
he could say about most people. He hoped that she would not be attacked 
any more this evening, because he was sure that he would not be able to 
find her again of his own volition. 

Setting off, Ryoga left the ravaged section of street behind him. If he 
stayed where he was, there was no chance of finding Ranma. His only 
hope was to keep walking until he ran into the boy again. Ohhh, the 
trials of working with Saotome! Casting a glance skywards in the 
direction Black Lady had flown, Ryoga mused quietly to himself.

"I wonder why she had that black tattoo on her forehead?..."

*       *       *

Tomoe Hotaru lay on her bed and took a look at her door before settling 
back down. Her door was closed, but she was still nervous about what 
she was going to do. What if someone came in and saw it? Worse still, 
what if they recognised it? Then again, what if they did not recognise 
it? Would she be doomed to a life of wondering what her new knowledge 
meant and how she got it?

It had been a whole week since the Incident - she even capitalised it 
in her head - and she had not managed to gather up the courage to do 
what she knew she could. A week ago she had collapsed, fainting in the 
middle of the street. No-one really noticed it except her, after all 
she was the sickly little Tomoe girl, she was always fainting. That's 
what everyone in her class said. Even she would not have been too 
concerned about it, if it was not for the fact that she had just been 
blessed by a goddess or something at the same time.

Hotaru did not read many Shoujo manga, but Hotaru knew enough to 
understand what had happened. Somehow, out of all the girls in Tokyo, 
she had been chosen to be a magical girl defender. Only... couldn't 
they have chosen someone else? She was not sufficiently silly as to lie 
to herself about her physical abilities. Hotaru knew that if her new 
role as a magical girl entailed anything more strenuous than walking 
along, she would shortly collapse. 

Maybe... Maybe the goddess or the aliens or whoever gave her the powers 
did so because she was good and pure and nice. Again, while she could 
honestly say that she was a nice person, Hotaru was sure that there 
were others out there that would be much better, much nicer than her. 
Like Minaguchi Yuko in 3-D. She was always organising cake days and 
things like that for charities. Why wasn't she chosen to be a magical 
girl?

"Mouu..." She quietly lamented. The only reason that she could come up 
with for her to be picked was her special 'healing hands'. If she 
really tired, she could help people get better. It took all her effort 
and usually it was enough to make her collapse, but if she tried, she 
could heal cuts or scrapes. But if that was why she had been chosen, 
surely she would have been told about it. All she knew about were her 
powers, and none of them included healing. The closest she seemed to 
get to that was the Silence Wall, and all that was good for was 
protecting things, it did not do a single thing to make them get 
better.

Mind you, the Silence Wall was much better than her other abilities. 
The Silence Glaive Surprise, she just might see herself being able to 
use, she knew that with practice she could easily reduce the 
destruction to a hundred meters, maybe even less. Unfortunately, at the 
moment she lacked that practice, and destroying a dozen city blocks did 
not strike her as the way for a good and proper magical girl to behave. 
But seriously, what was the possible use of the Death Reborn 
Revolution? An attack that could destroy the entire planet!? Why on 
Earth would she ever use that? Hotaru could not even begin to think of 
a situation that you would even need a tenth of that power.

To make things worse, she did not even have a name! What sort of 
Goddess knocks you out on the street, gives you all these powers and 
does not even give you a name? How was she supposed to be a real 
magical girl without some really cool name like Moldiver? She guessed 
she could call herself Pretty Hotaru the Magical Girl, but it was a bit 
long winded. Besides, she did not have a talking pet cabbit like Pretty 
Sammy did in the anime.

Until this evening, she did not even know what she was supposed to do 
with her powers. But earlier, before she went to her bedroom to rest, 
she had seen her father watching the television. His rapt attention was 
captured by the brief segment of amateur video that showed some other, 
bigger girls attacking a woman with their magic. That was when she 
realised that she had a mission. She knew why she had her powers: she 
was supposed to stop the fighting! She was supposed to be the one to 
protect the innocent, to uphold the law, and serve the people. 

Hotaru just wished she really was certain, and not just trying to 
convince herself with her own words. If she was wrong... then she might 
end up hurting someone, and she did not want to do that. Hotaru had 
been hurt enough at school to know how little she enjoyed it, and the 
thought of inflicting pain on someone did not sit well with her. But 
then, if the only way to save the city from the warring magical girls 
was to show that that she was top cookie, that was what she would have 
to do. 

Hotaru pushed aside the though of just how she would get them to stop. 
The first time she tried to fight them, they would either kill her, or 
she would level a dozen city blocks. That is no way to try and talk 
reason to someone.

A final check to see that her door was still closed and that she was 
alone, and Hotaru was ready. She could not say why she thought she had 
suddenly become a magical girl. She was just so sure that it was the 
truth. Not being able to summon a Henshin stick would be like finding 
out that she did not really have lungs and a mouth, and could not 
breathe. 

Thought became action, and Hotaru lifted her palm, revealing a shiny, 
dark blue stick. Her Henshin stick was not much larger than a novelty 
pen, and it was fat just like them too. She might have preferred a 
Hello Kitty figurine on end, but she knew that the Fluorite stone 
embossed with the bright blue emblem was what should have been there. 

Studying the stylised symbol, Hotaru tried to remember her English 
lessons but she could not quite recognise it. It looked like a cross 
between a 't' and a 'h', with the crossbar appearing in the top of the 
'h''s main upright. When she could not remember the letter, she even 
checked her text book, but going through the alphabet there did not 
yield any better results. Perhaps it was something in an alien 
language, and she had been chosen by them to make the Earth safe for 
them to visit.

Hotaru wished once more that she knew why she had these powers. At 
least now that she had summoned an unquestionably solid object from 
thin air, she knew that she was not going crazy. In the back of her 
mind there had been this little voice suggestion that her new memories 
were just a hallucination, but now she knew better, and there was only 
one step left to take...

"Saturn Eternal Power! Make Up!"

She knew that she had several forms she could transform into, each one 
more powerful than the last, but if she was going out to fight bad 
guys, by golly, she would take all the help she would get!

Placing one hand in the air, Hotaru rotated on the spot, feeling her 
clothes vanish, only to be replaced by new ones in a cascade of 
colours. Shaking her short hair out of he face, Hotaru placed her feet 
firmly on the floor and held her weapon in a comfortable parade rest 
sort of posture. 

It worked!

Quietly crowing with delight, Hotaru crowded over to her mirror to 
check out her image. Oh! She looked so cute! She had to be the best 
looking magical girl that she had ever seen! She had smart looking, 
knee high boots that laced up. They had sensible, low heels on them 
too, perfect for running and fighting; not that she would be doing much 
of that, but it was the thought that counted. She was sure that her 
father would have said that the skirt was too short, but she liked it; 
it made her look more grown up. She must have looked at least thirteen, 
maybe even fourteen! She had two, big pretty bows, one on her chest, 
and one on her back, and the ribbons on that one went all the way to 
her knees!

Giving a soft "Ohhh", Hotaru leaned in towards the mirror to get a 
better look at the gem sitting in the middle of her chest bow. It was 
big and clear, covered in bright, spiky angles, and really pretty. She 
had a gold tiara, and even little diamond shaped earrings. Best of all, 
she had a pair of wings!

A short flutter, not enough to lift a small bird, and she was aloft, 
holding herself a foot above the ground, entranced by her image in the 
mirror. This was so cool! She had a magical girl outfit, a big weapon, 
magical powers and she could fly! What else could she ask for?

A name! That was what she needed now. If she was going to go out there 
to right wrongs and triumph over evil, she needed a name that was as 
good as she looked. Touching down again and giving the mirror a smile 
with more confidence than she ever could have mustered before, Hotaru 
reflected on the problem for a moment. Well, there was Sailor V... but 
she had a mask, and did not look too much like Hotaru. Besides, Sailor 
H did not really give the right impression, especially with a skirt 
that short.

Hmmm... Silence Glaive. Silence Wall. Saturn Power, and Saturn was the 
planet of Silence her memories told her. She would be...

"Silence Girl! Bringing peace and justice to Tokyo!"

Spinning around, Hotaru felt dizzy with happiness. All her life, things 
seemed to go badly. She was always sick, then there was that terrible 
explosion in her father laboratory that put her in hospital for so 
long. Even her mother... she could not remember her mother, she had 
died so long ago. But now there was this! Hotaru was a magical girl: 
Silence Girl, and she was going to be able to help people anywhere they 
needed it!

Remembering how much she had hoped that her healing abilities would 
have been helped by her magical girl status, Silence Girl put away her 
weapon and smirked. A week ago, Tomoe Hotaru would have called that a 
physical impossibility. Silence Girl was a magical girl, and she could 
easily make an seven foot weapon simply disappear. Taking a moment, 
Silence Girl smiled and hugged herself, rocking backwards and forwards. 
All her manga said that magical girls had to hide their real 
identities, so she could not tell anyone she was Silence Girl, but she 
knew she was special. No matter what anyone else ever said from now on, 
she was special.

Holding her hands out in front with her palms up, Silence Girl 
concentrated on her healing powers. In a few short moments, a dim white 
glow appeared over the palms of her elbow length gloves. She did it! 
She could feel the healing power there in her hands, and it was so 
easy! She could keep it up for minutes! She might even be able to heal 
something really big, like a broken leg, maybe even more! Ohhh, she 
felt so special! She could really help people now, she... She abruptly 
sat down on the bed, healing aura vanishing. She felt too tired to keep 
that up for long.

"Well, never mind! I can still do all sorts of other cool stuff. What 
else can I do? I can... I can sense evil..."

Then she did. She felt it. In her house. Below her floor, in the walls, 
the floor and the furniture. A seeping, malignant, warping evil growing 
from the basement. An evil she could feel centred on her father as he 
walked around in the kitchen preparing a late night snack.

"Oh, Father..." Without fanfare, the magical girl uniform faded back 
into her normal clothes that she had been wearing and Tomoe Hotaru 
curled up into a little ball rocking back and forwards on the bed. She 
did not want to be a magical girl anymore. She wanted her father back. 
She did not want to see evil everywhere. She did not want to see her 
home and father turned into one of the bad guys. 

There had only ever been one person in her whole life that loved her. 
She could not remember her mother, and none of the other children at 
school liked her because she was weak and different. It was always her 
father. Her father was the one that talked to her, that loved her, that 
cared for her. He was the only truly good person she knew.

Tears trickled down her cheeks but Hotaru did not try to wipe them 
away. What had seemed like such a great gift only moments ago was now a 
curse. Now she could see that something had happened to her father. He 
had seemed anxious and preoccupied recently, but she thought that it 
had been to something to do with the lab explosion. Now she could see 
that it was something more. Something had tainted him, taken away the 
good, loving man that was her father. 

For all her wonderful powers, there was nothing she could do to help 
him. He had been there for her whenever she was tired or weak, but now 
she could not be there for him. All her magic powers had let her do was 
see what was wrong. All she wanted was her father; even the ignorance 
she had minutes ago was better than this. She would have been happy 
until... Until whatever warped him came for her too, but at least then, 
they would have still been together.

Between quite sobs, Hotaru continually begged. "Take it back. Take them 
all back. I just want my father back. Please, take away the powers. I 
don’t want them anymore..."

*       *       *

Finding one person in a city the size of Tokyo was almost an 
impossibility. With so many people, and such a large area, the 
possibility of a chance encounter had to be incredible. Simultaneously 
searching for another group of people at the same time did not really 
change the odds all that much.

If one of the people you are trying to find is Hibiki Ryoga, then the 
odds of finding him actually _in_ Tokyo become much worse. If he was 
the target of your quest, then you really should include all of Japan 
and China, and possibly a few other countries just to make sure.

If, on the other hand, the renowned Hibiki-san is also searching for 
you, then the odds become truly astronomical. If this was the case, you 
really ought to give up and go home. Perhaps read a good book or 
twelve, or take up a new hobby - like making paper from the trees you 
grew yourself. There would be plenty of time. Because there is one 
certainty in this universe, and that is the fact that Hibiki Ryoga in 
almost never where he wants to be.

The key word is _almost_ never...

When Ranma walked past a corner of a faded red brick building and a 
solid wall walked into her, she felt the odd stirring of destiny in the 
air. There would not be half a dozen people in the city that would be 
that solidly built, and she was sure than none of them would be able to 
walk into her with as little warning as this person had done.

Slowly swivelling her head, Ranma turned and looked off to her right. 
Green leggings tied with rope? Right so far. Tracking up the body, she 
caught sight of Ryoga's confused expression and sighed in a mix of 
exasperation and relief. The dolt had not even notice the fact that he 
knocked her over!

"Oi! Ryoga! Where'd you go?"

Looking down at where Ranma was picking herself off the ground, Ryoga 
gave her a brief glare. "Ranma! We're supposed to working together! Why 
did you run off like that?"

Standing toe-to-toe with the much bigger boy, the fiery redhead gave 
him a royal blasting. "I ran off? What sex did you think I was when we 
left the house? A boy! And who did you follow the first chance you got? 
Some six foot gaijin redhead! She didn't look a thing like me. So what 
are you complaining about me running off?"

"What? You saw that? Well why didn't you say something?"

"Why didn't I?... I was shouting at the top of my lungs, but you were 
too pig-headed to notice. Have you gone deaf or something? How many 
times did I have to say 'Ryoga, over here' before you noticed?"

"So you just let me follow the wrong person? Ranma, I ought to..."

"No you idiot! I managed to keep up with you until some kids splashed 
me with water. Next thing I know that gaijin's there, but you're 
missing. Did you finally wise up and figure out it wasn't me?"

"Well, yeah, so I headed back to the Tendo Dojo and---"

Ranma cut him off with a slicing motion of her hand. "I don't even 
wanna know where you ended up then. I..."

"You what?"

Ranma knew that the odds were too great on her finding Ryoga this 
afternoon. Luck alone could not have brought them together. It must 
have been an act of the gods. Those same gods were obviously still 
looking over her shoulder, because they had just delivered retribution 
into Ranma's hands.

With a finger that trembled with excitement, Ranma indicated what had 
captivated her attention down the street. Five girls, all in 
distinctive sailor suit costumes. The dreaded Sailor Senshi. Killers 
and worse, they were the architects of Ranma's pain, and she intended 
to extract the cost in the coinage of blood.

Looking at the girls talking with such happiness and liveliness, Ranma 
had no difficulty at all in summoning a ball of green Ki into her 
hands. There they were, alive and well, and the only reminder of  Akane 
was a grey tombstone and her pain. In nothing more than a whisper, 
Ranma offered a short prayer. "Akane, prepare to receive your first 
escorts into the afterlife."

A quick glance showed that Ryoga was just as prepared as she was. Their 
enemy might have stopped to talk for a moment, but it looked like they 
wanted to leave any moment now. At only twenty meters from their prey, 
there was no way that they could miss. Surprise would be complete, and 
soon they would have their revenge. How tough could five little girls 
be?

"Hit the tall one on three. I'll take the blondes, you take the 
brunettes."

Without taking his eyes off the girls, Ranma felt Ryoga nod and counted 
quickly.

"1... 2... 3! SHI SHI HOKODAN!"

Twin balls of Ki flew out and knocked over the tall girl with the green 
skirt and pink bows like a target in a shooting gallery. Twin screams 
of rage instantly told the Senshi where their attacker were, but by 
then it was too late. Quite possibly Cologne and Happosai were the only 
people in Japan that were their equals in the Art, and if either of the 
elders had been there, neither would have lifted a finger against Ranma 
or Ryoga. In close combat, the Senshi's fighting skills paled to 
insignificance against Ranma and Ryoga. 

Years older and having both trained since before they could walk, 
either boy had hundreds of times the fighting experience than the 
entire Sailor team combined. They were fast and strong, capable of 
meeting any martial artist on their own terms and beating them. They 
were water and earth, elemental forces of vengeance, unstoppable by 
ordinary humans.

However the Senshi were far from ordinary humans. They were a team, 
five bodies all part of the one whole. When they fought, it was not as 
individuals, but unified towards the greater good. They were strong 
because their hearts were pure, and they had were the inheritors of the 
greatest magical powers that the wisdom of the Silver Millennium had 
been able to create. Sailor Jupiter might have been felled by that 
first attack, but they were far from defeated.

In this, the first conflict between them, both sides made the almost 
fatal mistake of underestimating their opponents. For Ranma and Ryoga, 
things seemed quite simple; they were the premier martial artists of 
their generation, and they had complete surprise. Having knocked down 
one enemy with their first attack, they were fully intending to bull 
their way through the remainder with equal ease. Despite the strong 
examples set by Ukyo and Shampoo, neither Ranma nor Ryoga could get 
past the fact that these were just girls; girls who did not even hold 
themselves like real martial artists.

Mercury's computer had failed to alert the Senshi to any magical threat 
in the area, and as such, they were caught flat footed. So used to 
fighting the magically endowed Negaverse and Dark Moon Family, the 
Senshi had forgotten the danger than mere humans could be. But then, 
the Senshi were all young girls and even Makoto, the most rambunctious 
of them, had never began to approach the level of someone who excelled 
in the art and dedicated their life to nothing else. Regardless of the 
fact that Senshi were caught by surprise, they reacted like the 
smoothly running team that they were. 

The martial artists held the high ground initially from surprise and 
unexpected effectiveness, but that soon faded as the Senshi showed them 
the effectiveness of magic. In no way was magic a substitute for the 
effort and training of martial arts: it was a completely separate path 
to a level of power that Ranma and Ryoga never even considered. 

All told, the battle could not have lasted more that thirty seconds.

As soon as his Shi Shi Hokodan left his hands, Ryoga charged the two 
brunettes, feeling the blood sing in his veins as the familiar battle 
lust overtook him. He was dimly aware that Ranma was beside him, but 
that no longer mattered. All that mattered was the fight, the feeling 
of flesh under fist as he battered his way through his opponents. This 
was the way that it had been ever since he was young, and his battles 
with Ranma had only strengthened his rage. When Ryoga fought, there was 
only the battle; nothing else mattered. That was why Ranma had so often 
managed to trick him into a pool of water, but it was also the reason 
that he never stopped until his was crippled and unable to move. While 
Hibiki Ryoga still breathed, there was no defeat.

One meaty fist knocked the one with the short hair flying. Reorienting 
onto the slightly taller brunette with the long flowing hair, Ryoga 
whipped up one leg and tried to separate her head from her shoulders. 
Amazement at the fact that she dodged did not even reach Ryoga's 
conscious mind. The idea that people could dodge his blows was firmly 
entrenched in his psyche from past battles. Avoidance would only get 
this girl so far before he managed to tag her, and no little girl would 
get up from a blow by someone as strong as him, surely.

His enemy said something in the midst of reeling back from him, but 
Ryoga paid it no mind. Gnashing his teeth and snarling, Ryoga barrelled 
through for another attempt to pin the sailor in red. He missed her 
again, and ended up with his fist buried to the elbow in the wall 
behind her.

"Stand still and let me kill you!"

The girl finished her chat and took his brief pause as time to tag him 
on the forehead with a sheet of paper. Obvious she expected it to do 
something more than annoy him, because she stopped dodging for a moment 
to admire her handiwork.

"Bad move, girlie!"

Ryoga's straight right punch caught the brunette squarely in the 
forehead, jerking her chin backwards, and knocking her onto her bottom. 
That stunned Ryoga: the fact that this slight little girl had clearly 
survived such a strong punch was even now getting back to her feet. He 
was still grappling with the fact that a weak looking person like her 
could easily take what would have stunned Ranma when a pair of 
ferocious kicks landed into his side and sent him skidding across the 
ground slightly.

Dusting himself off slightly, Ryoga gave the other girl a smile. 
'Well', he thought. 'They're all tough customers. Not strong enough to 
hurt an Hibiki, though.' The short haired brunette who had kicked him 
was still holding her leg in the air, seemingly stunned by the fact 
that she had failed to either cave in his ribs, or to even get his 
attention with her powerful blows.

Now that they knew him for the threat that he was, none of the girls 
were too keen on letting him touch them again. After several charges 
against one or the other, Ryoga suddenly noticed his feet getting 
heavy. A quick glance down showed him that his feet were encased in 
ice; ice that was growing at the end of a long spurt coming from the 
hands of one of his opponents. 

"Ice? You'll have to do better than that to keep me here!"

To demonstrate just how futile her efforts were, Ryoga' bent down and 
slammed his fist into the clear ice at his feet. While more ice began 
to form over his shoulder and arm, Ryoga stared in amazement. He 
cracked it! That was all. Before, he had demolished an entire ice rink 
with a single blow that was weaker than this one. How could ice 
possibly be so strong?

His brief indecision was enough to seal his fate, as the sailor's 
cocoon of ice continued to enshroud him, forming a complete shell. This 
magical ice, whatever it was, was so hard that no matter how he 
strained, Ryoga could not form the leverage to break it. Even the 
breaking point seemed to be able to do no more than shatter a little 
bit surrounding his finger. It was a start, but at that rate, their 
enemies would finish them off well before he escaped. Growling through 
the ice, Ryoga's eyes sought Ranma and prayed that Ranma would make 
these girls pay dearly for his and Akane's lives.

Ranma's fight had started similarly to Ryoga's. However, no matter how 
contorted with rage she was, Ranma could not loose herself in the 
battle like her now-ally Ryoga. She was not laughing and joking like 
she normally did in a fight, but she managed to keep a small part of 
herself detached, observing everything that was happening and absorbing 
it for future review. It was the key to Ranma's staggering ability to 
learn new moves. She never saw something just once, for after a battle 
she would replay an enemy's moves back to herself again and again until 
she could see it in her sleep.

Her two enemies were a fine pair for a martial artist of her calibre to 
fight. Both young girls, they could not have been more than fifteen, 
and neither of them looked like they had ever really fought a single 
day in their lives. There was one girl with enough blonde hair to give 
Shampoo a run for her money, and another with the strangest hair style 
Ranma had ever seen. Basing her decision on the repulsive aesthetics of 
the hairstyle, Ranma ran straight past the girl with the red bow in her 
hair and delivered a snap kick to her friend's chin.

'Glass jaw', Ranma idly noted as the girl flew up and backwards. She 
was obviously unconscious from the way her arms limply flowed around. 
No-one could possibly move like that when they were conscious; at 
least, no-one Ranma had ever heard of. Turning her attention back to 
the girl in the orange skirt, Ranma lashed out with a kick to the back 
of the girl's knees than took her to the ground.

Faster than Ryoga and blessed by the fact that she was really only 
fighting one opponent, Ranma quickly established the advantage over her 
opponent. She was fast enough to dodge out of Ranma's Amaguriken after 
only half the blows had landed, but even then she did not have Ryoga's 
constitution; or possibly she was reeling in amazement. Certainly, it 
did not make a great deal of sense to Ranma that the girl backed off 
slightly and tried to blow her a kiss.

Grimacing at the thought that this was another one of the crazy girls 
that seemed to plague her life, Ranma came in low and fast, hoisting 
her for a hip throw the moment that she winked and began to draw her 
hand away from her mouth. With an amazed look on her face, the girl in 
the orange skirt sailed across half the street and slammed face first 
into the ground in a very inelegant landing.

Taking advantage of her brief victory, Ranma accounted for the others 
on the battlefield. Ryoga was keeping two girls on the ropes, the girl 
with the silly hair was standing shakily and wailing. Most amazingly, 
the girl that both she and Ryoga had hit with the Shi Shi Hokodans at 
the start was trying to get back to her feet. What did it take to keep 
these people down for the count?

Even the scant moments required to take in that little information 
almost proved to be too much. Only a deeply ingrained sense of danger 
and the rapidly spoken "Venus Crescent Beam!" allowed Ranma to dodge a 
bright beam of yellow coming from the fingertip of her enemy. Cursing 
herself for a fool, Ranma charged back at the girl, crossing the short 
meters between them before she finished firing. 'Of course they had 
beam attacks, you idiot', she thought. 'That's what killed Akane...'

Now a red haze covered Ranma's eyes and the rest of the world vanished. 
For a while, it had been like any other fight but that single thought 
of Akane had driven reason before it. All that mattered was breaking 
this human shaped thing in front of him. Shattering it into a million 
pieces, making it hurt a thousand times over for every second of life 
that they had deprived Akane.

When Ranma popped herself upright in front of the girl, she still had 
her arm out, looking shocked at the fact that she missed her target. 
Capturing the sailor's extended right arm under her left, Ranma held it 
close to her body. Turning her body to force the arm painfully in its 
shoulder joint, Ranma brought her left leg up outside her arm and 
dropped it cracking down on top of her victim's head. 

Not satisfied with the way that the sailor started to go limp in her 
hands from the blow, Ranma tried it a couple more times, alternating 
with kicks to her face on the return. Despite the pain and the 
debilitating position she held the other girl in, Ranma could feel her 
enemy begin to struggle again. Perhaps she had realised that Ranma 
intended to beat her to death like this, and going limp would just make 
it easier for her.

Before she could escape, Ranma used one of many moves she would never 
have tried against Ryoga or any of her normal opponents. Supporting 
herself on her right leg, Ranma dropped her full weight onto her left 
leg as it was crossed over the other girl's arm. Held between the 
girl's shoulder and Ranma's grip, it was the joints in the captive arm 
that gave way under the attack, simultaneously dislocating both 
shoulder and elbow. That was the reason Ranma would never have done it 
to her old opponents: no matter how good modern surgery was, no-one 
would ever fully recover from that move. 

Ranma's prey gave a satisfying - if high pitched - scream as it fell to 
the ground, clutching its ruined right arm. Grabbing a handful of thick 
blonde hair, Ranma yanked her back to her knees and bent down behind 
her. Shifting her grip slightly, Ranma placed one hand across her jaw, 
and put the heel of her other hand against the agonised girl's 
forehead. This was another move she had never even considered needing 
before. No-one recovers from a broken neck, and until Akane's death, 
Ranma would have been happy living her entire life without killing 
anyone.

"This is for killing Akane. You and you're friends will never kill 
anyone again!"

The thought of killing this first time made Ranma pause for just the 
slightest moment. A single instant where her whole life of being 
friendly and forgiving rebelled against this final, irrevocable act. 
That instant was enough. Enough so that someone unseen in her rage 
managed to draw themselves together and put together a credible attack.

The words "Supreme Thunder" did not impact on Ranma's consciousness. 
Her whole word was centred around the one frail neck she held in her 
grasp and the life that now hung in the balance. The words might not 
have registered but the electricity associated with them certainly did.

Acting like she had just grabbed a live power cable - which was not far 
from the truth - Ranma's back arched and her muscles tensed, throwing 
her half a dozen meters down the street. Blue electricity danced along 
her for long moments, making her convulse like an epileptic watching a 
dozen strobe light arrays. Finally the pain stopped and self 
preservation made Ranma roll to one side as soon as she was capable of 
controlling her limbs. 

Smoke drifted off her body in a few places, testament to the 
electrocution she had just received, but Ranma knew that the pain of 
sudden movement was a small price to pay. As if on cue, a glowing 
yellow disc carved a small chunk of the street out then returned to the 
girl that had thrown it. Rising to one knee, Ranma twitched slightly as 
her muscles tried to shake off the effect of the lightning attack. A 
look around the near deserted street revealed that things had not gone 
as well as they had expected.

Astonishingly, the girl in the green skirt was standing. She did not 
look happy, but she was far from being the blasted corpse that Ranma 
expected the Shi Shi Hokodan to cause. Ranma's first victim was on her 
feet, giving a scowl that would have made Akane proud. Worse still, 
both of the dark haired girls were looking at her with blood in their 
eyes. They did not look unhurt, but the Ryoga Popsicle behind them 
testified to who had won that fight. 

Ryoga down, she was hurt, and all they had to show for it was a 
crippled girl and an 'almost'. Gritting her teeth, Ranma stood and 
faced off against her enemies. She knew their reputation. They would 
kill her in cold blood the first chance they got. Heaven forbid what 
would happen to Ryoga if she ran off. There was only one choice, and 
Ranma did not like to make it: in her injured state, Ranma needed to 
get through their line, rescue Ryoga and escape. She smirked when she 
realised just how impossible it sounded.

That smirk irritated the bad guys no end, and aside from the orange 
skirted cripple, they all attacked. No longer in the hyper-sensitive 
state she had started the battle in, Ranma could no longer closely 
follow the intricate moves that each of them made before they blasted 
out their energies at her. That did not mean that she was incapable of 
dodging, and the time required to create the attack let Ranma dash off 
to one side, heading past the red skirted girl who had just tried to 
roast her.

Her zig turned into a zag when the second round of fire came in. Diving 
full length, Ranma just sailed under the multicoloured pyrotechnics 
that were aimed at her.  Touching the ground almost right between the 
brunettes, Ranma tucked into a curl and rolled up onto her feet, 
conserving her forward momentum so that she could lift the big icicle 
containing Ryoga off the ground.

Taking advantage of the fact that Ryoga's icy prison had almost stopped 
her, Ranma grunted and threw herself up and back. This time she went 
overhead as the girls tried to fry her. Ranma hit the ground running 
and swung into the first alley that she could find. The turmoil of the 
rapidly moving girl must have confused her enemies, because the first 
footfalls of pursuit silenced almost immediately. Ranma was tempted to 
stash Ryoga and try to get back into the battle, but she heard the 
silly looking blonde calling out another attack. 

Fearing that the sailor planned to blast through the corner of the 
building hiding her, Ranma took off down the street, her fingers slowly 
melting the ice holding her only ally. She had seen the powers of a 
Venus Crescent Beam and a Moon Tiara Action, she had no interest in 
finding out what a Moon Healing Activation would do to her. Especially 
since the scream behind her made it sound like one sailor was putting 
the other out of her misery. What cold hearted team would turn their 
attacks on another member?

They might not have won this battle, but they did not really lose it 
easier. A hot bath would melt Ryoga out, and Ranma had seriously 
wounded one of Akane's killers. It was a start, and next time, Ranma 
and Ryoga would be able to do even better.

The sight of a female Ranma carrying Ryoga encased in a block of ice 
should have been one to raise eyebrows and elicit comments of concern. 
In most homes it would have been sufficient reason to call the 
hospital, sending the whole family into a panic. In the Tendo home it 
was greeted by a quiet "Hello Ranma-kun. The furo is available if you 
want it."

Having lived with the strangeness associated with the extraordinary 
martial artists for months now, Kasumi was quite willing to take a few 
things in stride. She was as well aware as anyone else that encasing 
Ryoga in a block of ice for ten minutes would do nothing more than make 
the boy mad. As for their allegedly male guest coming home as a girl... 
that was par for the course around here.

"Thanks Kasumi. Could you call Pop and Nabiki? We'll be ready in ten 
minutes."

"Certainly, Ranma-kun. Have a nice bath."

Ranma nodded and continued up the stairs to eventually drop Ryoga - icy 
covering and all - straight into the hot bath. Water splashed 
everywhere, including over the now male Ranma, but the bathroom stayed 
drier than it often did when the two boys met there. So often in the 
past, the bathroom had been the scene of battles but today Ranma simply 
sat patiently, occasionally draining off the cold water and replacing 
it with new hot water.

When Ryoga's head was finally clear he looked at Ranma and opened his 
mouth to say something but nothing came out. What could he say? The man 
he had hated more than anything in this world had saved him from death 
today and had just sat by him, ensuring that he safely recovered.

Ryoga tried to say something else, only hesitating when Ranma stood up. 
"I know what you mean, Ryoga. Ain't no need to say it. You would have 
done the same thing for me."

As much as Ryoga hated to admit it, Ranma was right. Ryoga would have 
done the same thing for him had their situations been reversed. Even 
before Akane had died, Ryoga was aware that he would have fought beside 
Ranma if he needed to. Now, there was no question of need. They were 
united against a common enemy. 

Shaking the last of the ice from his legs, Ryoga stepped out of the 
bath and dried himself off while Ranma waited in the changing room. 
They had not discussed it, but they both knew that the whole family 
would want to know how they had faired on their first night of 
protecting Tokyo. At the very least, Nabiki would surely pump them dry 
of every detail they could remember. Anything they told her now would 
surely come back to help them next time as her analytical mind put the 
puzzle pieces together and found out all the secrets of their enemies.

With a slight swish, the changing room door opened and they walked down 
to the living room where Kasumi, Nabiki, Soun and Genma all awaited 
them. The mood was heavy and tense, as it would be considering the fact 
that the boys had initially expected to be out for several more hours, 
and no-one had even considered having Ryoga come home in an ice-cube.

Nabiki gestured to a couple of spare spaces around the table and the 
weary warriors sat. "I think we can assume that something happened. Do 
you want to tell it to me from the start?"

Both boys began talking at the same time, but Ranma overrode Ryoga and 
forced his version to be the one they listened to. "Well, after we left 
here, Pig Boy, sorry, Ryoga got lost. I figured on taking a look around 
the city for a while by myself. After a bit I spotted Ryoga, then them 
sailors. Well, few fought them, but they got Ryoga and I almost nailed 
one of them. She'll be out of it for a while. I think that's about 
everything."

Nabiki smacked her head with her palm and moaned. That was supposed to 
be a detailed report? She was about to launch into Ranma when Ryoga 
pushed him aside and took centre stage. Not only was he a better 
storyteller than Ranma, he also possessed vital information that Ranma 
was not acquainted with.

After telling everyone about Black Lady and Ryoga's own - slightly more 
verbose - description of the fight, it was Nabiki and Genma's turn to 
try to make sense out of what they heard. With a polite nod of her head 
to let Genma proceed, Nabiki continued to touch type notes as they 
spoke.

Here was the point where Genma's years of experience showed over 
Ranma's youth and talent. They had already established that Genma was 
not capable of matching Ranma in a fight, but he had the wisdom of 
years on the road under Happosai. 

Step-by-step, Genma led them through the fight. Under his patient 
coaxing, the two boys revealed every move that they made, and every 
attack that their enemies had done. Once he had constructed a timeline 
of the events from a martial perspective, he handed it back to Nabiki. 
Grinning like a shark, Nabiki went to work on her houseguests like they 
were defendants at a murder trial. 

Every detail, she questioned. How long was it between fighting Black 
Lady and fighting the Senshi? How long did each fight last? What was 
each person wearing? What sort of magic did they use? How much damage 
did things do? Who gave orders and who followed them? Anything and 
everything was prized out by her intense questioning and stored into 
her laptop.

Nabiki's arm might have been broken, but that was no reason that she 
could not operate a computer. She had never needed one before to keep 
up with things as simple as running a gambling ring in the school, but 
for something as important and complex as this, she wanted every 
benefit she could get. For that reason she had spent a fair portion of 
the money she had accumulated and acquired the computer. She was 
already making a map with all of the known sightings of demons and 
Senshi, and eventually she hoped to be able to predict their movements.

Finally, hours later, Nabiki was finished. Kasumi had managed to serve 
dinner some time during the questioning, and everyone was feeling very 
tired. The sheer emotional impact of their first battle - a success by 
almost any standard - was draining. Bidding everyone good night, Nabiki 
wandered off to bed. At the entrance to the room, Nabiki halted and 
looked back at the assembled people.

"Each one of these girls is as fast as Ranma, and as tough as Ryoga, 
maybe not quite as strong." She held her hands up to block the protests 
of egotistical martial artists. "Guys, that's based on what you, 
yourselves, told me. Is there any way that we can beat them?"

Ranma, Ryoga and Genma all nodded as one and spoke in one voice. 
"Training."

"Training? You're telling me you can train so that you can beat five 
girls, any one of which might be able to win against you?"

Again they nodded, but this time it was only Genma who spoke. "They 
need magic to be that good. Us... These boys... They only need 
themselves. We'll work and we'll train, and some day they will be good 
enough to beat one of the Sailor Senshi any day of the week."

Slightly abashed, Nabiki nodded then turned and left the room. Ranma 
and Ryoga were about to follow her when Genma placed a hand on his 
son's arm.

"Boy, I want to speak to you for a minute. You can't go to bed yet."

"All right, but make it fast." Ranma's normally low tolerance for his 
father was rapidly diminishing as exhaustion crept through his body.

Genma nodded and gestured Ryoga to follow them up the stairs. After 
leaving Ryoga in the guestroom that he would share with the Saotomes, 
Genma took Ranma down the hall slightly more and pushed open the door 
to Akane's room. He did not turn on the light switch, instead looking 
at his son in the shadowed darkness of the room.

"What are we doin' here old man? You know I don't like comin' in here. 
It reminds me of..."

Genma nodded, streetlight reflecting off his glasses. "I brought you 
here so that you could think about Akane when I talk to you. So that 
you can remember her. Remember why you are doing this."

He paused for a moment, collecting his thoughts then went on. "You 
fought tonight, Boy. Fought well too. You make your father proud. Did 
you enjoy it, Boy? Did you enjoy fighting for real, not just training 
all the time? Did you like it when you put those moves into real use?

"I... Yes, It felt good. I enjoyed it. I know I shouldn't but I did. 
No! I was doing what was right, that was why I enjoyed it! There's 
nothing wrong with tryin' to defend people."

Genma nodded, a veritable sage. His voice dropped to a conspiratorial 
tone. He spoke enticingly, encouragingly as though he was trying to get 
Ranma to join him in the way that he felt. "How about when you had that 
blonde girl in your grip? I heard what you said, you just kept hitting 
her. Didn't it feel good, to feel the way that she hurt, for hurting 
you and Akane? How about when you had her by the neck? Feels nice, 
doesn’t it? You can feel her life in your hands. Every breath that she 
takes, it's a gift from you. Makes you feel like a real man doesn't it? 
Being able to kill someone, it makes you feel... stronger... better..."

"I... That is... When she... But I..."

Turning his head in apparent disgust, Genma studied the side of the 
room while he covertly watched his son. Subtly trying to lead him into 
apostasy, all the while hoping that his son understood what the art 
really was about. "But what? But you waited? But you couldn't do it? 
But you don't want to kill? Not even the girl that killed Akane? What 
kind of a man are you?"

"HEY! I am a man! I just... It took me a while. I was going to... I 
just couldn't do it straight away."

Nodding once, Genma flicked on the light and walked up close to his 
son. "That is what I wanted to hear. If you enjoyed it... If you felt 
no concern at killing someone... Then I would have failed and you would 
be no man at all. 
"I've done many bad things in my life, many you are aware of, and many 
more you will hopefully never know. But I have never killed anyone. I 
came close on several occasions. Times when killing seemed the only way 
out. I will never condemn you if you kill these girls. They are 
murders, cold-blooded killers who are beyond the reach of the law.
"There is no point in trying to stop these women if you just turn 
yourself into a heartless killer like they are. Always remember that 
Ranma. Are you doing what is right?"

His eyebrows lowered and his fists clenched. "I am, Pop. I know what 
I'm doing is right, and I'm the one that's gotta do it."

Taking his son by the shoulders, he turned him gently to face the 
mirror over Akane's dresser. "Don’t tell me, Boy. Tell him, that man 
you're looking at. You can lie to other people, but never, ever lie to 
yourself. I'm going to leave now, Boy, but you stay here for a bit. 
Just stay and ask yourself: Are you doing what is right? Is this what 
Akane would have wanted you to do?"

Ranma started to answer, but Genma walked away. "You can tell me what 
you want. But you've got to be able to look in that mirror, and tell 
him to truth. You've to be able to look yourself in the eye and be 
proud of who you are. Somedays, I can't. Somedays, I look at the boy I 
raised, and I can stare at the mirror and say I did a good job. 
"Don't lie to yourself boy. Take a lesson from you father. It never 
helps anything."

With that, Genma closed the door and left Ranma alone, staring at his 
own reflection. His reflection blinked back some tears, and Ranma ran a 
hand across his face. "I miss you, Akane... Uncute tomboy..."

Steeling himself, Ranma gripped the edge of the dresser and caught his 
eyes in the mirror. "I know Akane would want me to help other people, 
to keep them safe. I know getting rid of those girls is the only way I 
can do it... So that's what I've got to do. And that's someone I can 
be, someone who has to kill murderers to save everyone else."

When he walked out the door, Ranma slowly closed it behind him with 
nothing more than a quiet click. Somehow, outside the room, things 
seemed a little less close, a little less intense. Placing two fingers 
on the duck nameplate, Ranma whispered in the silence of the hall. 
"Thanks, Akane. I... I'll see you again tomorrow."

*       *       *

Outside it was a lovely morning to walk to school. The sun was shining 
and it was pleasantly warm. There was not a cloud in the sky, and it 
was one of those rare Tokyo days where the wind has come in just right 
overnight, cleaning the sky of pollution. 

_Outside_ the Tomoe home it was a lovely day...

Inside the house was another matter. Everything looked nice, a perfect 
example of a single parent home in a reasonably well-off area. The 
house was clean, the people smiled and the food was good. What more 
could anyone ask for?

Tomoe Hotaru knew the answer to that question. She had tried her powers 
again this morning, desperately hoping that the feelings of evil she 
had sensed before were merely the product of her tiredness. 
Regrettably, that was not the case. Her home was like a thin 
watercolour painted over an unseen canvas of evil. The first time that 
you scratched at the paint, the truth was revealed. She could not see 
it now, her eyes were as blind as everyone else's to the hidden truth, 
but that did not change the truth.

The truth was that her father had somehow, sometime been taken over by 
the forces of darkness. Casting silent eyes across the breakfast table, 
Hotaru thought it must have had something to do with her father's "lab 
assistant" called Kaolinite. Hotaru was old enough to realise that her 
father might not want to stay single forever, but she could have found 
almost anyone that would have been better for him than this woman. Her 
skin was pale and dead looking, and she dressed like a... Well, Hotaru 
was brought up not to say those sorts of things. 

What was worse was that when Hotaru had used her magic to examine the 
woman this morning, she had seen a different sort of evil within 
Kaolinite. Her father's was an evil that had grown inside him and taken 
over, she could still see the good within in him; at least, she thought 
- she hoped - that she could still see it. Kaolinite was like a plant 
that had been nourished from birth. She was evil through and through, 
and Hotaru had a horrible feeling that she must be one of the reasons 
that Hotaru had received her magical girl powers. She was someone that 
Hotaru might one day have to face to save Tokyo.

Neither her father nor Kaolinite commented when Hotaru failed to finish 
her breakfast. While it might have been the fact that the sickly girl 
often was incapable of finishing a whole meal, Hotaru believed it was 
their new preoccupation. Ever since Kaolinite had moved in with them 
and her father had redoubled his efforts in their basement laboratory, 
he had been distant. Hotaru's father no longer seemed to care for her 
in the way that he once did. Hotaru could only hope that when she saved 
him from the evil that was claiming his soul, then perhaps he would 
come back to her.

After brushing her teeth and checking the last of her uniform, Hotaru 
nervously hopped from foot to foot. She wanted her father to come 
upstairs again and take her off to school, however it seemed that today 
he would be staying in his lab the whole time. It used to be that he 
would usher her off to the school every day, often walking with her. 
Since he worked at her school, it made sense, though these days he 
avoided his work more than he attended it.

"Please, Daddy. Come up from your laboratory today..." It was more of a 
prayer than a request and it went unheard by gods and men alike.

When the time for her to depart for school came and went, Hotaru stood 
in the hallway, nervously shuffling from foot to foot. She did not want 
to go down stairs to the basement. She had terrible memories of an 
explosion and pain, but if her father did not come up, it meant that 
she needed to go down. No matter how much she wanted to go off to 
school and ignore the terrible things that were happening in her home, 
Hotaru could not do it. The thought of her father being taken over by 
something evil hurt her heart like nothing else could. If there was the 
slightest chance that she could save him, she had to take it.

Gathering up her courage, Hotaru looked around for Kaolinite and then 
tiptoed to the front door where her school shoes sat. She knew that it 
was not safe to walk around in the lab barefoot because of the danger 
of broken glass or spilled chemicals, so she carried her shoes to the 
staircase down and put them on. Swallowing despite her suddenly dry 
mouth, Hotaru pushed open the door and began her descent.

The staircase was clean, painted and well lit, but something about it 
seemed to be as ominous as any of the scary movies that she had ever 
seen on television. With one hand on the railing, she walked down, her 
shoes softly clicking on the concrete, muted in the distance by the 
growing sounds of bubbling and brewing.

It was her first sight of the laboratory for quite a while, and somehow 
she was surprised by just how mundane it appeared. To Hotaru's 
uneducated eyes, her father's subterranean laboratory was almost 
identical to the science labs that they had at school. The one thing 
that was here that was not at school was her father, and that made all 
the difference.

"Daddy..."

When he turned his head and looked at her, the expression on his face 
could have been described as concerned and compassionate. Anyone other 
than Hotaru probably would have described it that way, but she knew 
this man too well. She could see the concern there, but there was no 
compassion, merely a hint of irritation.

"What is it, Hotaru? Are you too ill to go to school?"

"No. Daddy, I..."

"What is it?" That trace of impatience was growing.

Unable to stop herself, she ran over to him and hugged him around the 
waist, burying her head into the comforting warmth of his lab coat. "I 
want to help you, Daddy. I can feel it. Kaolinite... she's doing 
something to you... I can feel the evil in you, but it's not you..."

Unseen by the small girl, every trace of compassion dropped from the 
elder Tomoe's face, and anger flashed across it. No matter what his 
face showed, Tomoe kept his voice calm and kind. "Shhh. There's nothing 
wrong with me, Hotaru-chan. You're just feeling confused, I'm sure."

"No! No, you have to believe me. I've seen it. There's something in 
you, something trying to take control."

He forced a chuckle, then moved his daughter to sit on one of his 
stools. "Believe me, Hotaru, there is nothing wrong with me at all. I 
feel fine. Everything will be all right. How did you see this evil?"

Hotaru ignored the alarm bells that began to ring in her head. "I... I 
got special powers last week... I can see all sorts of things... Where 
are you going, Daddy?"

He was walking to the stairs, facing away from the girl while he spoke. 
"You're just excited, Hotaru-chan. I'll get Kaolinite. Together we will 
make you see that there is nothing to fear."

"N-Nothing to fear?..."

"Kaolinite! Get down here!" With that he turned and faced her again, 
his right eye glowing a strange, demented green. All pretence had gone 
from his expression. His smile was more of a leer or a gloating smirk 
than one of love, and he stood where he could bar her exit from the 
room. "We need you, Hotaru. You shall be the vessel that holds our 
mistress. When Kaolinite gets here, we shall make you understand. You 
will never want to leave again."

Tears began to track down her pale face at those words. He couldn't be 
doing this! Not her father! Not to her! In a motion that was almost 
subconscious, Hotaru lifted her right hand to the ceiling and spoke the 
words; not as a war cry but more a cry of hope.

"S-Saturn Eternal Power! M-Make Up!"

Tomoe Souichi watched with a detached air as his daughter transformed 
into one of the Sailor Senshi. He was not sure that he could place the 
costume, but surely they were the only real magical girls around, and 
his daughter had just demonstrated unquestionable magical power. Idly 
he wondered if that was why he had been chosen, because of his 
daughter. He pushed that thought aside; it did not matter, only 
reclaiming the child mattered. 

"What are you going to do with that thing? Poke me? Or are you going to 
blast your poor, dear Daddy into little pieces?" Damn that Kaolinite! 
What was taking her so long?

"Y-Your not my Daddy!"

"No, I'm not, but he is in here. Deep inside me, and if you kill me, 
you'll kill him too. Can you do that little girl? Can you kill the 
daddy that loves you so much? Just give in. It's so much easier. We'll 
take away all your pain and worry. Soon you'll be happy again, and all 
this will seem like a bad dream."

He took a step towards her, and she lowered the Silence Glaive to point 
at him with death and destruction hovering just beyond her tear-
streaming eyes. "S-Stay away from me!"

Another step. "You won't hurt me. You've already lost. I can hear 
Kaolinite now."

Was that the door opening? Was Kaolinite about to come down the stairs? 
Hotaru was shaking so badly she almost dropped her weapon. When her 
father suddenly rushed towards her, she yanked up the pole arm and 
shouted instinctively. "No! Silence Glaive Surprise!"

For an attack that powerful, it was almost anticlimactic. She had 
deliberately avoided him with her deadly power, but there was nothing 
that could protect the house above their heads. With a sickening 
slowness, the house began to fall apart in dreadful silence. It could 
not have taken more than five seconds, with the two of them watching 
stunned the whole time. Pieces began to lift out of the ceiling, the 
foundations, the walls; each dissolving away in a silence so complete 
it was almost painful. 

All too soon it was over, and Hotaru wiped some of the tears from her 
face with the back of her glove. She thought it would be hard to do 
what she had just done, but the power came easily and simply. It 
frightened her to think that she could level most of Tokyo with less 
effort than it took to walk across it.

"You missed me, little girl, and that's the last mistake you'll ever 
make."

With a voice that sounded as weak as she felt, Hotaru made one final 
wish that her father was all right and that someday she could come back 
and help him. "I didn't miss. I did it on purpose. I... I love you, 
Daddy."

With that she gave one quick beat of her wings and floated out of the 
open-air basement. Seeing his target escaping, Tomoe lunged for her, 
missing her boots by a foot or more. Standing in the ruin of his once 
elegant home, Tomoe began bellowing insults and abuse at her as he 
stood underneath. She hovered only for a moment, then scooted off to 
the street. A single glance told him that it would be some time before 
he could climb out of the hole that he was in. The stairs to ground 
level were sheered cleanly three-quarters of the way to the top.

Blocks from her house, Hotaru began to tire, causing her to land and 
transform back into her school uniform. She was shaking, badly, and it 
was not just due to the fatigue. If she had not sent most of the power 
straight up, who knows how many people she might have killed? Even now, 
she might have killed someone. Had Kaolinite really been at the stairs? 
Had she even been in the house at all?

It was never like this in the Shojou manga that she read. The good 
girls never had to worry about this sort of thing. She could not even 
go to school, that would be the first place he would look. With her 
arms wrapped around her middle to fight off the cold that seemed 
centred in her heart, Hotaru walked down the street. Her big purple 
eyes were constantly welling tears, and her head was bowed. It was not 
fair. It just was not fair...

*       *       *

"Jupiter! Mars!" A single call from their leader brought them up short, 
and the two Senshi looked back at where their team mates were clustered 
in a tight huddle.

Indecision wracked them for long moments. The red haired girl and her 
companion - who were obviously new Generals from the Negaverse - could 
not be far away. If the two of them gave pursuit now, they could catch 
them both. Then again, loyalty was not a highly recognised quality in 
the Negaverse, and the little female General was likely to ditch her 
companion just to gain the opportunity to circle back and attack Moon 
and Mercury while they were busy.

The need to protect their friends and keep watch on the beaten Sailor 
Venus won, and the two Senshi quickly closed ranks. They stood with 
their backs to the small huddle in the middle of the street and 
steadfastly kept watch. Those two Generals might have managed to ambush 
them once, but they would not get the chance to again. Not with a pair 
of pretty soldiers on the lookout.

As soon as she had finished trying to blast the red haired girl with 
her companions, Sailor Mercury had dived straight for Sailor Venus. 
Venus was in terrible shape - Mercury could not remember the last time 
that she had seen anyone so beaten - short of the time that she had 
visited her mother in the emergency ward of the hospital. Sailor 
Mercury's mother was a doctor, and when you added that to Mercury's 
native intelligence, limited medical knowledge and the superb scanning 
capabilities of the Mercury computer and visor, it resulted in Sailor 
Mercury being the default medic for the Sailor Senshi.

Her intelligence did not give Sailor Mercury the years of experience 
that were really needed for treating these sorts of wounds, nor it give 
her the ability to close herself to the pain that her friend was 
feeling. Once - less than five minutes ago - Sailor Venus had been one 
of the most attractive girls that Mercury ever knew. Venus' normal name 
was Aino Minako; a bright, bubbly, blonde girl who defined the word 
cute. Unfortunately, her quest to become an idol signer may have been 
cut short by the way that horrible girl had pounded her nose flat. 
Mercury could think of only one reason why most of the bones in her 
face were not a shattered ruin, and it was the same magical reason that 
had kept Sailor Mars and herself going after those devastating hits of 
the man they had fought.

Sailor Mercury had not even realised she was shaking and staring 
ineffectually at Venus' dislocated arm until she felt Sailor Moon's 
hand descend on her shoulder. "I don't know what to do, Sailor Moon. 
I... I can give her first aid, but we have to get her to a hospital."

Lifting the distressed Senshi away from her crying friend, Sailor Moon 
showed her the Moon Wand. "It works to heal people who were possessed 
by youma. Maybe I can heal Venus. If I can't then we'll take you 
straight to the hospital. I promise, Mina-chan. You'll be OK, I 
promise!" 

Venus nodded her ascent, watching Sailor Moon through watery eyes. 
Blood continued to flow from her nose, staining the front of her sailor 
suit, but Venus felt hope as she watched Sailor Moon begin to inscribe 
a shining circle in front of her with the Moon Wand.

"Moon... Healing... Escalation!"

Sailor Venus gave a short scream as her arm shifted under the guidance 
of the magic, and quickly lost consciousness. Despite her friend's 
obvious agony, Sailor Moon completed her spell, grabbing Mercury in a 
hug when she finished. 

"It worked! It worked! You'll be all right, Venus! Oh no. She's still 
knocked out... Jupiter, can you carry her? We have to get out of here."

Three girls nodded in unison and soon the troop was heading through the 
city for somewhere that they could rest. As they ran, Sailor Mars 
stayed right beside Moon, her eyes constantly scanning the buildings 
for any sort of threat. "Let's head back to my place. We should be able 
to get some quiet there for a while."

Mercury threw in her two cents also. "She's right. We have to talk 
about what's going on. Mako-chan and I found out something really scary 
at school. Can you call Luna and get her and Artemis to meet us at the 
Shrine?"

With a nod, Moon keyed her communicator and listed for her advisor's 
voice. "Who is this?... Your... Your Majesty! You're alive! Where are 
you?"

Sailor Moon spared a moment from her running to glare at the 
communicator. "What do you mean 'where am I'? Where have you been for 
the past week?... Wait! Don't tell me now. We just had a run in with 
some more Nega-creeps, and we're going to be at Rei's temple. We'll see 
you there!"

On the way to the Hikawa shrine, Sailor Moon gently tried to ask 
Mercury how she failed to detect the approach of a pair of Negaverse 
Generals. 

"I didn't fail, really! I'm sure that they weren't Negaverse. I don't 
know what they were, but the Mercury computer was set to detect any 
approaching magic. Whoever they were, they were not Negaverse Generals, 
they just did not have the power."

Jupiter snorted. "Tell that to my poor tummy! Whatever they shot me 
with sure felt like a magical blast."

"Sailor Jupiter! You have to believe me! Whatever they used, it wasn't 
magic."

Moon smiled and patted her friend on the shoulder as they ran. "I 
believe you, Mercury. You've never lied to us... So what was it?"

"I... I don’t know. My computer was set to look for magic powerful 
enough to be a threat, but it did not find it. All I can think of is 
that they must be normal humans, somehow."

The tall, brown haired Senshi looked down at the comatose bundle in her 
hands and sighed. "Normal people do not throw energy blasts, and they 
sure can't take on five Sailor Senshi and do what they did to poor 
Venus. They weren't _normal_ humans by a long shot."

It was a mystery of the modern world how an ordinary sized housecat 
could move quickly enough to keep up with a running girl, or how the 
Moon cats were able to come from whichever part of the city they were 
in to the shrine in such a short time. No matter what the mystery 
involved, the five untransformed Senshi had only been in the shrine for 
a matter of minutes before the black cat ran in through the door, 
panting and sounding like a distraught English nanny.

"Oh, Your Majesty! I'm so glad that I found you! I've been so worried. 
I was out looking like you said all week and... Oh, I say. Princess 
Jupiter, Princess Venus. It's an honour to see you here too."

Silence greeted her statements; silence and five gaping mouths. Minako 
had recovered enough that she was awake, and while her nose and arm no 
longer hurt, she felt incredibly tired. Despite that, there was no way 
that she was going to rest while everyone else found out what was going 
on. Minako's personal advisor, Artemis was still missing, so it was 
concern that made Minako the first to speak. 

"Where's Artemis, Luna?"

"Well, he's outside at the moment."

Usagi threw up her hands in exasperation. "Artemis, you silly cat! Come 
in here! We need everyone if we're going to figure out what to do."

In mere moments the white cat was around the doorway, bowing and 
thanking Usagi. She just waved at him to be quiet, when his tail stood 
out straight like a rod and his eyes went wide. "Princesses Venus, 
Jupiter and Moon all in the room at the same time? This must be more 
serious than I thought. And things were bad enough before..."

Before anyone else could speak, Ami coughed to get their attention. 
"Before we go any further with what happened this afternoon, I think I 
better tell you about what happened to Mako-chan and I at school."

Both cats slunk back, and Artemis even went so far as to cover his head 
with one paw. Both were clearly expecting sparks to fly between the 
girls at any moment. "Oh, dear. What happened between you this time?"

Watching the cats reactions, Makoto and Ami were the only people who 
were not stunned. Ami continued. "I think something really bad happened 
when we chased Diamond back here. Something serious that seems to have 
affected everyone aside from us."

Her audience gripped her words, and Ami looked over to the cats. "Have 
you heard anything from Sailor Pluto in the last week? Do you know how 
we can get in contact with her?"

"Sailor Pluto? No... We haven't been able to find any of the Outer 
Senshi that you asked us to look for. I'm sorry, Your Majesty."

Before Usagi could blurt out the obvious question, Ami kept control of 
the questioning and tried to maintain some semblance of order. "Who are 
the Outer Senshi?"

"Why, the Senshi for the four Outermost planets of the solar system, 
Sailor Mercury. Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. Do you remember 
when the summon call came?... Surely Your Majesty remembers ordering me 
to find the other Senshi?"

Usagi shook her head numbly. She still could not grasp what was 
happening, and the concept of four more Senshi was quite overwhelming. 
Not to mention the fact that Luna kept calling her "Your Majesty" all 
the time.

Ami took a deep breath. "This is what I was saying. Because the cats 
stayed here, they don't remember things the way that we do. I guess 
Mamoru-san should be all right since he came with us, but we'll have to 
wait and see. Perhaps if I start at the beginning, then we can see 
where things started to change...
"Let's see, just after we finished fighting Emerald, she ran off back 
to the future. So Chibi-Usa told us that she had stolen a time key from 
Sailor Pluto, and she needed us to help her. After---"

"Just a moment, Sailor Mercury," Artemis interrupted. "Who is Chibi-
Usa? And how did she steal a time key from Sailor Pluto?"

Usagi frowned and little thunderclouds appeared in her expression. 
"She's my daughter from the future, you silly cat. Or have you 
forgotten that already?"

Artemis cringed backwards and almost ran from the room. "I'm sorry, 
Your Majesty! I'm sorry!"

"And stop calling me 'Your Majesty'!"

Both cats blinked in silence. "But... What should we call you then?"

"I don't know... How about 'Usagi' like you usually do?"

"I never! Not even in private! I have always respected you, Your---."  
Seeing the threatening look in her mistress' eyes, Luna cut herself 
off. "I mean, I have always respected you, Usagi-sama."

"That's just as bad..." The blonde grumbled. Despite the tendency for 
the conversation to wander off track, Ami resolutely forced it back to 
the main issue: what was going on, and what had happened. In short 
order, the facts of the matter had become clear to everyone. With a 
careful line of questioning and by supplying her own answers wherever 
she could, Ami artfully reconstructed the events of the last six 
months. Six months of history changed by their time travel.

Six months ago the Negaverse had begun its invasion under the command 
of Queen Beryl. Since Luna's memory had been only slightly impaired, 
she had quickly recognised the Moon Princess as Sailor Moon. Naturally, 
at this point she had contacted Usagi and given her the transformation 
broach. It was on that first fateful night that things had began to 
change. Rather than encourage Sailor Moon to find the evil that she had 
detected, Luna had convinced the girl that she was too important to 
risk without having Senshi with her as support. The easily frightened 
Usagi had been effortless to convince, and the next day at school she 
had found a reason to regret that decision for the rest of her life.

The youma in the Osa*P jewellery shop had killed Usagi's best friend, 
Naru.

From that day forth, Artemis and Luna spun a story of a different 
Sailor Moon to the one that all the girls knew and loved. She was 
colder, harder and less trusting of the world. In the girl's timeline, 
it had been Usagi's naive, caring nature that had won over Kino Makoto 
so quickly. In this world, the girl that was Sailor Jupiter never 
gained that friend who convinced her to lose her violent ways. Learning 
that Sailor Moon was actually the Moon Princess, Sailor Jupiter had 
insisted on using her own title of Princess Jupiter. In times of great 
stress, sometimes the tall Senshi would work with the Moon Princess and 
her trusted allies, but those were few and far between.

The debacle with Sailor V and Artemis was even worse. Artemis had the 
misfortune to provide bad advice on a few occasions, and to console 
caution at other times. Branded a coward and incompetent by the Moon 
Princess, Artemis was banished from her sight forever. Insulted by the 
way that her friend and advisor had been treated after what appeared to 
her as accidents, Sailor Venus had left as well, with Princess Venus 
working independent of both Jupiter and Moon.

Relations between the Senshi were not good, and showed no signs of 
recovering. Hamstrung by the lack of support and sometimes clashing 
against their erstwhile allies, Beryl's defeat did not come quickly or 
easily. It was not until the Black Moon Family was operating in Tokyo 
that the Moon Princess managed to get the breaks that she needed to 
counter Beryl one-on-one. 

Then, in a rare instance that all the Sailor Senshi had gathered in one 
place, disaster had struck a week ago. The girls had been standing 
around arguing when they felt pain spike through them and they 
collapsed to the street. Neither cat could do anything as they watched 
their charges writhe in agony. The girls were beginning to fade from 
view when they all felt it: the summon call to the Outer Senshi.

The summoning call was supposed to free the Outer's memories; awakening 
them to their power and destiny. Unfortunately it had been cut short. 
Now, no-one could tell whether those girls were active or not, nor what 
memories and powers they had gained from their repertoire. 
Theoretically any of the Senshi could have been able to send the 
summoning, but they were all accounted for and in terrible pain.

The dying, vanishing, Sailor Moon had bid Luna one last request: she 
had to find the Outer Senshi and serve them as well as she had served 
herself. Even to her last breath, that Sailor Moon had ignored Artemis. 
Before the cats disbelieving eyes, all five of the Inner Senshi had 
finally vanished without a trace, leaving the felines to find and care 
for a new set of charges.

With the information provided by the Senshi around them - who had also 
related their much more pleasant history - Luna had come to the only 
possible conclusion. "If you really did time travel and meet Sailor 
Pluto, then she must have been the one to summon the Outer Senshi."

Usagi smiled, and looked up from where she was patting Artemis in her 
lap. He was obviously nervous, but the chance to be forgiven of his 
failings was a dream that had haunted him for months. "Why would she do 
that? I mean, it's nice to have extra help, but why then?"

Luna nodded and began to pace. It was Artemis who nervously spoke. 
Although his voice was quiet initially, it grew in confidence as Usagi 
did not curse or kick him as she had in the past - his past. "I think 
the answer to that is in two other questions: Why did she stop? And, 
why do you remember everything wrongly?"

"Hey! My memories aren't wrong! It must be yours."

"Usagi, he's right." Ami countered. "Sanity is always defined by the 
majority, and we are the only people who remember things differently. 
Either we're crazy or Diamond - and us - caused some sort of paradox. 
Only Sailor Pluto would have seen it, and she must have realised we 
would need all the help we can get."

The black cat nodded sagely as it stopped pacing. "Yes, that would also 
explain why she summoned all of the Outer Senshi. It might also explain 
why she stopped part way through, but only Sailor Pluto knows time 
travel well enough to be able to say for sure."

"You say that as though summoning all of them is a bad idea."

Luna looked up at Ami in confusion, then she hung her head. "That's 
right, your memories of the Silver Millennium are not all there. It 
means that she summoned Sailor Saturn."

Surrounded by blank looks, Luna jumped onto Sailor Jupiter's lap for 
some petting and took a moment to appreciate the luxury of having all 
the Senshi on one team like they were supposed to be. "If the Inner 
Senshi were policemen, the Outers were soldiers. I mean no disrespect, 
but because of their isolation, they tended to have stronger powers. 
You girls have pistols, the Outers had rifles, and Sailor Saturn was a 
little girl with an atomic hand grenade.
"Sailor Saturn came into her powers too soon. She was too strong to be 
compared to anyone else and everyone was... Well... We were a bit 
afraid of her. Sailor Saturn lived alone almost her whole life. She was 
a very shy, insular, young girl, and she liked to stay that way. 
"What was worse was that she liked to play with her power. I'll admit 
that sometimes the Senshi would put on a display or perform some marvel 
with their magic, but Sailor Saturn was different. She was like a child 
in a sand pit who delighted in dropping rocks to see what they did. 
With her sort of power, even a planet the size of Saturn could hardly 
contain what she sometimes did for fun."

Usagi covered her mouth with her hand. "She never... She never hurt 
anyone... Did she?"

"When she played, no. Like the other Outer Senshi, she understood what 
being a soldier meant, and there were occasions when she had been 
required to weigh the life of a few people against a risk to the whole 
system. 
"Her judgements were always backed up by the Queen afterwards, but she 
was always so... eager. There were times when she was literally minutes 
away from cleansing an entire planet to protect the Kingdom."

"Wh-What stopped her?"

"They found an alternative. The first time six Senshi managed to defeat 
the alien that was attacking us on Mars. The second time, Sailor 
Mercury and a team of scientists managed to find a cure for a plague... 
on Earth."

"On Earth? But what about the people? What about the Senshi there?"

Luna looked sheepish. "If I remember her words correctly, 'they were 
expendable'."

"That's terrible!" Usagi wailed. "But, what if she's awake here, now?"

"We have two choices, since I know she will see either the Black Moon 
Family or the Deathbusters as sufficient cause to attack. Both of them 
at the same time... We can either hope that she failed to gain any of 
her attacks, which makes her useless as a Senshi, or we can hope that 
she gained none of her old personality. I'm afraid that neither of 
those is particularly likely."

With a feeling of dread in her stomach, Usagi pressed on. She was not 
the cold, callused girl that Luna knew. She was still the carefree 
Usagi that her friends knew. Despite that, Usagi had a horrifying fear 
that she already knew what the cat was going to recommend. "What was 
the other choice?"

"We work on the assumption that she retained at least some of her 
memories and capabilities. In that case, we have to subdue her before 
she can destroy us all."

"You don't mean..."

"I do. Sailor Saturn is as surely our enemy as any of the Witches. Just 
the same as that boy and girl who attacked you earlier."

---
End Of Chapter.

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