________________________
    /                        \
    |  Vengeance And A Half   |
    \________________________/

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
Mike Rever
Robert MacNab

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 and Genma are providing support for the growing team seeking to 
defeat the demons and the Senshi.  

After weeks of confusion regarding their real identities, the Outer 
Senshi are together. Michiru and Haruka have found that they are really 
the reincarnations of the defenders of the Moon Kingdom. Refusing to 
recognise Sailor Moon as the real Moon Princess due to her actions 
against them, the Outers have decided that the only course of action is 
to defeat all their enemies in Tokyo and create a new Moon Kingdom. 
Unfortunately, this also means removing the "traitorous" Inner Senshi, 
something the coldly calculating Sailor Uranus has no qualms about.

For Ranma, every day his vengeance seems one step closer to being 
fulfilled. Both Shampoo and Ukyo intend to join him and Ryoga when next 
they fight. Add to that the assistance of little Tomoe Hotaru, the 
mysterious magic girl with allegedly unequalled power, and you have a 
force to make the strongest person quail in fear.


Part 5: Souls Of Ice, Hearts Of Stone
=====================================

Cologne sat concealed in a shadow on a roof. There should not have been 
enough room to hide a finch there, but her mastery of her tribe's 
martial skills was beyond compare, and something as basic as stealth 
was almost second nature to her. 

The subject of her gaze flickered across the grounds of the Tendo 
compound. She could hardly call it the Tendo Dojo anymore, since the 
dojo itself no longer existed. Suffice it to say, the cause of all of 
Cologne's pain, suffering and misery for the last year was running 
around the Tendo's yard, with no idea she was here watching. Oddly 
enough, this same person she watched was also the prime cause of 
everything interesting in the last year. By her age, something 
interesting was worth more than gold.

For any ordinary mortal, especially a man, to cause a Matriarch of the 
Joketsuzoku this level of general disquiet was unheard of. Any man that 
bothered someone of their importance and power should have been on a 
short trip to a new home six feet underground. This man was special. 
This was the man that her great-granddaughter wanted, and Cologne could 
hardly deny the girl anything.

Although Cologne went to pains to be the best possible guardian of the 
child, there were many things that she let slip. Shampoo's training had 
been one of them, most obviously. Cologne blamed herself, not Shampoo 
for the fact that Ranma had beaten the girl so quickly and easily when 
Ranma had first entered the Joketsuzoku village. An embarrassment to 
the student was a greater shame upon the teacher, especially when 
Shampoo had been so greatly lauded to the rest of the village.

Once they had reached Japan, Cologne had been more than willing to 
assist Shampoo in her quest for the boy. Initially, she had not seen 
what Shampoo had; she had not realised the untapped potential within 
the boy. When she had first trained him in the Chestnut Fist, she had 
not truly expected Ranma to learn it, let alone learn it in just a few 
days. That had been her first mistake. Her second mistake had been in 
assuming that Ranma was constrained by the same rules that held 
everyone else. Ranma was someone who could never be constrained by any 
_normal_ rules.

Not that she had any intention of informing Ranma of some of the 
particular rules that she had been thinking of recently. Like all well 
written rules or guarantees, the Joketsuzoku marriage laws had a time 
limit written into them. If the woman had not married the man within 
six months, the marriage was no longer an obligation. Optional, yes. 
Mandatory, no. After all, if the man had eluded pursuit, you would 
hardly wish to lose a valued woman who was eternally off on a quest to 
find him.

In truth, if she or Shampoo wished it, they could have packed up and 
returned to the village almost a month ago, but they did not want to. 
Ranma was too great a prize for them to lose. Both Shampoo and the 
village as a whole would benefit when the boy was brought in. For that 
matter, Ranma himself might even benefit.

Watching the intense, focused way that Ranma went about his training, 
Cologne wondered whether there was still a chance for her great 
granddaughter to win the boy's heart. The form flickering lightly 
through the yard was so... determined. The way he concentrated, the way 
he only lived for the art and for fighting the demons and Senshi; these 
things told of a man with only space for one thing in his heart: 
vengeance.

Ranma had always been dedicated to the art and to his friends, but 
never to this extent. Literally everything that was not necessary to 
victory had been pushed to the side. School, trips to Ucchan's or the 
Nekohanten, all fell by the wayside. Cologne had seen enough people to 
understand that would not have happened if there was still someone 
truly important in Ranma's life. If the Kuonji girl had died, Ranma 
would have been sad and angry, but his lust for justice would not have 
been as strong. 

All this spoke of one thing to Cologne, and it made her wonder if she 
was right to stay in Japan and try to help Shampoo. While Akane's death 
may have made space in Ranma's heart for another, that space would be a 
long time coming available. For now... For now, Ranma would live with 
his memories, and Akane would be the next thing to perfect. In the 
pursuit for justice, he would forget the fights and insults that she 
levelled against him. Now, Akane would only seem better and better as 
every day went past.

Realising the fact that Ranma was obsessed, any romance could be 
considered a closed issue for months if not years. Cologne seriously 
considered hopping off the roof and going home but, once again, Ranma 
stopped her.

Having completed his training in his stronger boy form, Ranma had 
voluntarily jumped into the Koi pond and changed sex. Now, as a slight 
looking redhead, Ranma was performing more feats. As she watched Ranma 
leap from one rock, tumble in the air, perform an Amaguriken punching 
attack at an imaginary opponent, then land cleanly on the other side of 
the pool, Cologne sighed.

This was why she could not leave. This was why she would not abandon 
the pursuit of Ranma until his was married to someone. Anyone that 
could do what she had just seen was more than a prize, they were a 
legend in the making. Few people attained the ability to perform the 
Amazon's legendary high speed punching attack. Fewer still could jump 
and move like Ranma. He (or she) could do both, at the same time. 

At the moment, Cologne was not sure she could name anyone in her 
village that could have performed that move, herself included. You lost 
a lot of power to your blows doing them in mid-air like that, but the 
move, the coordination, the skill and speed required were quite 
daunting.

You did not come across a gem like Saotome Ranma twice in your life, 
even if you lived to three hundred. Equally, a gem is not found in such 
a perfect form. It must be polished, shaped and refined until each 
facet sparkles. Despite all of Ranma's incredible achievements, he was 
only sixteen years old. That mean the polishing had only begun, and it 
beggared the mind to imagine what he could do by the time he was 
twenty-five if she was his teacher. 

No... There would be no giving up on this boy. She would stay here as 
long as it took, and then longer than that perhaps. If Shampoo's 
interest faded, Cologne would find another from the village. She would 
find a dozen, if that was what it took. Even if he did not marry 
Shampoo, she would take it as a personal mission to make him a member 
of their tribe in some way, or its ally if all else failed. A boy like 
this would go far, become truly powerful.

Perhaps even powerful enough to defeat a nigh-omnipotent god like 
Saffron, lord of Phoenix Mountain.

*	*	*

"Could you please repeat that?"

"I SAID..." The words were drowned out by the repeated hammering of a 
carpenter above them. When that noise ended, Tomoe looked around 
briefly, opened his mouth to start speaking, and then closed it again 
when a rip saw started sizing some new floor boards.

"Never mind. Come on, I'll tell you outside."

Once out of the Tomoe house - such as it was - the noise level dropped 
considerably. Just down the street, there was space for them to sit and 
talk in the shade. At least, Tomoe Souichi sat. Mimete declined with a 
roll of her eyes and a twirl of her staff.

"Right... Now where were we?"

"You were about to tell me how you had promoted me above those other 
fools and put me in charge of the Witches 5?" Although Mimete tried to 
sound innocent and unassuming, she could not quite manage it while 
trying to subvert the power of her sisters-in-evil.

"Oddly enough, you are almost right." Souichi's artificial eye glinted 
as he smiled. 

"W-W-What?"

"Due to certain... Unforeseen events, I shall be placing you in charge 
of seeking the Talismans."

"I will?!" Earnestly, Mimete clasped her hands beneath her chin and 
looked at her master with shimmering eyes. This had been her dream 
since the Witches 5 had been formed. Finally, she would be the one in 
charge. She would be the one calling the shots. With this opportunity, 
she would not fail. She would show Kaolinite, Tellu and all the other 
Witches who was the best now.

"Indeed. As of now, it is your mission to secure the three Talismans 
that Mistress 9 needs. You, and you alone shall be responsible for 
them."

"Of course, Tomoe-sensei. I will not fail you."

The leader of the Death Busters - the evil force dedicated to summoning 
Master Pharaoh 90 and bringing the Silence to the Earth - nodded slowly 
and locked his eyes with his subordinate. "Succeed, and you shall be 
rewarded, Mimete. Mistress 9 remembers those who have served her well. 
But be warned... Her tolerance for failure is far less than mine, and 
much as you fear my anger, her wrath is a thousand times worse. You 
alone now bear the responsibility for finding and retrieving the 
Talismans necessary to create the Holy Grail."

Sobered by his tone, but only slightly, Mimete nodded. Her eyes still 
glowing with excitement, she sought details on where her erstwhile 
allies had failed. If she could avoid their mistakes, she would have 
even more advantage over their enemies. "What happened to Kaolinite and 
Eudial?"

"Kaolinite suffered an... accident... in the course of her duties. You 
will not be hearing from her again."

"An accident? Does that have anything to do with why you're rebuilding 
your home?"

Tomoe smiled. "Indeed. It would appear that my errant daughter is one 
of the Sailor Senshi. She and I had a slight disagreement and look what 
happened. Children these days. They just have no respect for your 
property."

Looking back over her shoulder, Mimete blinked a couple of times. 
Tomoe-sensei's daughter did that? The entire upper section of the house 
was gone. Mimete did not know what sort of attack the girl had, but she 
did not want to go up against her in combat if that was any indication. 
Even at its most powerful, Mimete's Charm Buster would not be capable 
of doing such damage. 

Worse still, there were none of the signs she would have expected from 
a major fight. Whatever Tomoe Hotaru had used must have eliminated 
Kaolinite faster than Mimete could possibly have managed in a direct 
fight. No matter what else, that girl was dangerous, and that was vital 
to know. Talismans or no talismans, Mimete knew which direction she 
would run the next time she saw the pale, unassuming face of Tomoe's 
daughter: away

"That still doesn't explain why you are rebuilding your house."

"A lure. Nothing more. Hotaru-chan is still important to my plan, 
possibly even more so now that she has revealed this power. She is a 
small, sick little girl, all alone in Tokyo. The school and this house 
are the only things she knows and will feel safe with. Should she 
return and find the house restored to its original state she will be 
off guard, vulnerable. When that happens..."

"She will be ours." Mimete finished for him.

"Exactly."
 
"And what of Eudial? What happened to her?"

"Nothing. Eudial has been given another task." Tomoe could not help but 
smile as he saw Mimete curse quietly and stamp one foot. "While I 
expect you to be capable of handling those meddling Sailor Senshi, 
there is another group to worry about. Stronger and better organised, 
we must ensure that they do not triumph before Mistress 9 is awakened. 
Once she is on our side, surely we cannot fail."

"So... So Eudial has been given something more important that me?"

"Stop snivelling! Your responsibility is the Talismans. First and last, 
that is all you should be concerned with. Eudial is not your worry, and 
you are not in some competition with her. All that matters is you both 
serve Mistress 9 to the fullest of your abilities. Only when we are 
victorious will you be suitably rewarded for your services."

"Yes, sir. I understand."

"Good. Now, be about your work. I have to return and supervise this 
construction. I swear, if those workers have gotten sawdust in my 
beakers again, I'll have someone's guts for garters!"

Mimete stood still for several long moments as her master walked away. 
When he was back inside the skeleton of the house that had been erected, 
she finally released her control and began hopping around. Dancing from 
foot to foot, Mimete sung a mindless little tune, gloating in her good 
fortune and rejoicing in all of the gifts she was already sure she 
would receive. She was much prettier than the other Witches, there was 
no way that she could fail.

So long as she stayed away from Tomoe-sensei's daughter. She had not 
met her, but already she frightened the Witch.

Turning to begin the search for the Talismans, Mimete's smile grew even 
fuller. Just because she had been told not to worry about Eudial's job, 
there was no reason she could not visit her. Mimete knew her job was 
_much_ more important. So it was really in everyone's best interest if 
she made sure that Eudial failed somehow. After all, if both Eudial and 
Mimete succeeded, then they would have to share the rewards. It would 
be much better for Mistress 9 if she only had to be grateful to Mimete. 
And Eudial was always so grumpy, too. 

With a laugh and a spring in her step, Mimete bounded down the Tokyo 
streets. Soon, victory would be hers, and hers alone!

*	*	*

"What are you doing here?"

The question could have come from either of them, but this time Ukyo 
managed to get the drop on her adversary and asked first.

"Shampoo here to help Airen. Show Airen the _real_ reason he marry 
Amazon wife. Why you here?"

"_I'm_ Ranchan's fiancee. I didn't try and trap him with some silly 
laws, he loves _me_!" Tossing her hair back over her shoulder, Ukyo 
gave Shampoo a sidelong glance. "Besides, I'm just doing what any good 
fiancee would do, helping him when he needs a hand. Showing him how 
much a real fiancee cares, not like..."

Ukyo trailed off and looked around guiltily. For so many months, she 
had become ingrained to the idea of comparing herself against Akane, 
she just slipped into the habit. Now that she was no longer here, it 
was just her and Shampoo. Although Ukyo always knew who Ranma would 
pick, she felt bad about what she had almost said about Akane. Akane 
might have treated Ranma terribly, but there was no reason to keep 
bringing it up.

"Let's just say that I'm acting like Ranchan's cute fiancee should act. 
Are you here to deliver ramen or something?"

"No, Shampoo here fight by Airen's side. Amazon wife not just good cook 
and great body. She best fighter. Shampoo trained with Great-
Grandmother. Great-Grandmother teach Shampoo everything she need know. 
Shampoo protect Airen in battle."

Giving a grudging nod, Ukyo had to acknowledge that. Shampoo might be a 
bit of a bimbo, but she did have her heart in the right place. 
Grimacing, she leaned in closer to the purple haired Amazon. "I don't 
suppose Granny would be interested in coming here and training me? I've 
got that that idiot Genma training me. If he had half a spine he might 
be a decent fighter, but, gods, I can't understand how Ranchan had 
stayed with him so long."

"Shampoo understand. Panda-man bad for Airen." She lowered her brows. 
"Panda-man probably get Airen killed. Airen should be trained with 
Great-Grandmother. Nothing better than Amazon techniques."

"Try telling Ranchan that. I love him, but he can be so thick some 
times. Why can't he see how bad that father of his is? Maybe... Maybe 
if we both work on it, we could convince him to move out and leave his 
father. He could stay at my place, I've got plenty of space."

"No. Ranma Shampoo's Airen. He stay with Shampoo and Great-Grandmother. 
We teach everything he need know."

"I'll bet. You'll just brainwash him and run away with him. I'd rather 
he stays here with his idiot father than let that happen."

There was silence for a moment. "Do you think... Do you think you could 
convince Granny to come here and train us all?"

It was a big concession for Ukyo, voluntarily offering a way for her 
rival to spend even more time with Ranma, but it would be worth it. She 
was not sure what training Ranma was doing with his father, since he 
refused to let her see it. Unfortunately, that just worried her more. 
If Ranma did not want her to know what his father was doing for 
training, that probably meant that it was something that defined new 
bounds for the words "unreasonable", "dangerous" and "incredibly 
stupid". 

Ukyo did not necessarily trust Shampoo or Cologne with her fiancee, but 
she did trust them with his general well being. Cologne would no more 
expose Ranma to a dangerous learning technique than she would Shampoo. 
Genma, on the other hand, would probably start dropping Ranma out of 
Tokyo Tower to teach him to fly unless someone kept a reined him in.

"Shampoo think that good idea. Shampoo stay here too. Keep Airen warm 
at night." 

"I don't think that's such a good idea. Do you think you could just be 
a little subtle for a while? _I_ know Ranchan is going to chose me 
eventually, but I don't want to rush him. It's pretty clear he must 
have at least liked Akane a little, because he seems torn up about it. 
I just don't want to rush him or anything."

Slowly Shampoo nodded and shifted her grip on her bonbori. "Shampoo... 
Understand. Shampoo no say anything. Shampoo act as warrior. Help 
defend Airen in battle."

In many ways, Ukyo felt sorry for Shampoo. Obviously she cared deeply 
for Ranma, but Ukyo knew that there was no way Ranma would chose the 
Chinese girl. She wished that Shampoo would just accept that Ukyo was 
destined to be with Ranma. It would be much simpler for everyone, and 
it would save Shampoo the heartache of rejection in the end.

Despite the fact that she would have preferred it if Shampoo was not 
trying to capitalise on her own good idea of staying around Ranma the 
one time he truly needed them, she would not try and dissuade her. She 
had never met the Senshi personally, but the thought of anyone capable 
of taking on Ranma and Ryoga at the same time and winning was something 
to worry about. In that case, every pair of hands they had was worth 
gold. 

Besides, the sooner they defeated the Senshi, the sooner she could 
settle down with her fiancee and help him to build new happy memories 
and get past the death of his friend.

The girls did not have much longer to wait before the object of their 
attention came out of the house. Following close behind him was Ryoga, 
who was glowering at Ranma's back. "Sorry, Ucchan, didn't mean to keep 
you waiting, but P-... Ryoga here almost got lost on the way out of the 
bathroom. I had to rescue him."

Ryoga fumed for a moment, but he did not seem to have a good counter to 
the accusation. Seeking a way to divert attention from himself, Ryoga 
nodded to Shampoo. "Hey. When I didn't see you for a few days, I was 
worried that Ranma had scared you off."

"Shampoo never scared of Airen. Shampoo train with Great Grandmother. 
Now she fight with Airen. Help defeat evil."

Both the boys nodded. There was not much they could say against that. 
Other than themselves, people seemed to be fairly defenceless against 
the growing reign of terror that had Tokyo in its grip. "Its good to 
see you again, Shampoo. The Old Ghoul came over the other day, being 
annoying like usual, but it was nice to see some familiar faces."

"I know what you mean, Ranchan. If it wasn't for my restaurant I would 
never get to see anyone. Other than running around the city at night, 
have you even been outside recently? No-one has seen you at school 
recently."

Ranma shook his head in negation. "Nah. It just didn't seem important 
anymore. Not that it ever was. Besides, if Ryoga can get away with 
wandering around the country his whole life and never finding school, I 
figure I can get away with it for a while."

"Well, don't leave it too long. You don't want to miss out on an 
education." Ukyo countered.

"Humph. Not like that matters. School ain't gunna help me run a dojo."

"Come join Amazons. No need for school. Ranma be what Ranma is."

Worried that Shampoo might be able to tempt him away with such an 
appealing offer, Ukyo quickly put in her own two cents. "Oh, but you 
wouldn't need to worry about that sort of thing anyway. I could support 
us both just fine with my restaurant."

Ranma's brows lowered. This was not really what he had intended when he 
had invited the girls with him to fight the demons. "Look. I'll finish 
school and all, I'll just do it in my time. And I ain't interested in 
any of that sort of thing at the moment, OK? All I'm thinking about is 
fighting, and that's all you should think about too. Right, Ryoga?"

The lost boy grunted assent. Although he had mixed feelings about 
letting people as weak as Ukyo and Shampoo fight with them against the 
demons, he could not find any flaw in the logic that stated that four 
against five were better odds when fighting the Senshi. It was somehow 
disturbing to considered that it was Saotome's womanising ways that had 
caused him so much grief in the past, but it was that same effect that 
had now netted him two more of Nerima's strongest as allies in the 
fight against darkness.

"Aiya! Shampoo no think Airen have sister! She grow up, make good 
Amazon, yes?"

Looking around, Ranma and Ryoga spotted Hotaru coming out of the front 
of the house. She was wearing her school uniform still, since she did 
not possess any other clothes. At least by now Kasumi had cleaned and 
mended the worst of it. Giving a groan, Ryoga smacked Ranma around the 
back of his head. "You idiot! We were supposed to head off early so she 
didn't try to follow us. But noooo, you had to stand around talking 
with your girlfriends. Now what are you going to do?"

"Shut up, Ryoga. I'll just tell her she can't come."

Coming to a stop near the group of martial artists, Hotaru looked up at 
the collection. Could these be real magical girls? Maybe Ranma-san was 
helping them... Or maybe, since Ranma-san was so good, they were the 
ones helping _him_. Giving a bow, she smiled up at them. "Hello. I'm 
Tomoe Hotaru."

"Not Airen's sister?" Shampoo asked in puzzlement. 

Simultaneously, Ukyo turned to Ranma with a dangerous look in her eye 
and a hand on her battle spatula. "She'd better not be another fiancee, 
Ranchan."

"No, no, no, no. She's just a friend, that's it. Hotaru wants to help 
fight the demons and stuff. She said her dad was taken over by one. 
That's why she's staying here."

Giving the young girl a sceptical look, Ukyo released her weapon. 
"Isn't she a little... Young?"

Vigorously, Hotaru shook her head. "No, I'm not too young, honestly. 
I've got to come with you because I'm the most powerful magical girl in 
the whole world." Giving a slightly nervous look at her idol, she 
continued in a quieter, slightly embarrassed voice. "I'm even more 
powerful than Ranma-san."

Shampoo squatted down in front of the timid, fragile looking girl and 
poked a single finger into her forehead. "Little Girl no look strong."

Slightly nervous, since the purple haired Amazon was much larger, and 
quite obviously armed, Hotaru clasped her hands in front and defied the 
assessment. "Mouu... I _am_ powerful. I just can't use it without 
hurting people. But that's no reason to poke me and be mean."

Leaning over next to Shampoo, Ukyo gave a winning smile. "Sorry, Sugar. 
We just don't want you to get hurt. I'm Ukyo, and that's Shampoo. I'm 
not sure about you, but we've both been training since we were really 
little. Are you sure you're going to keep up?"

"Well... Not like this, but if I change I can."

"Change?"

Giving an earnest nod, Hotaru held up her transformation pen. "See, 
it's magic. I can use this and get all sorts of really amazing magical 
powers."

Looking sideways, Ukyo asked with doubt in her voice. "Is she serious, 
Ranchan? Can she really do magic?"

To everyone's surprise, it was Shampoo that answered. "Shampoo believe 
Little Girl. Great Grandmother knows much magic, have many magic things. 
It make her too too powerful even if she no know martial arts. If 
Little Girl have magic wand, maybe she have magic too."

"How about this, Sugar. Since it's going to be pretty dangerous out 
there, do you want to let me take it? If you teach me how to use it, I 
could take your place. That way you could stay here nice and safe and 
leave the fighting to us bigger girls... And the guys too, of course. I 
wouldn't forget you, Ranchan."

Hotaru shrugged and held out the Henshin stick. "You can try. It won't 
work for you, but you can try."

Taking the blue stick gently as though it might break, Ukyo held her 
breath. After a few moments when she did not feel any different, she 
spoke. "Umm... Am I supposed to do something to make it work?"

"Hold it up and say: 'Saturn eternal power, make up'. But it won't work 
for you."

Doing as she was told, Ukyo straightened and - feeling rather foolish - 
said the requisite phrase. For many long seconds, everyone stood there 
watching her, until she lowered the Henshin stick. Face burning red 
from embarrassment, she handed the rod back to the girl. "Boy! Do I 
feel silly after that!"

Taking the object, Hotaru immediately felt better. She had thought that 
Ukyo could not use it, but somehow she felt better once she was sure. 
She was right, she was special. Just as special as Ranma-san, in her 
own way.

Capitalising on the lull while Ukyo was still standing there feeling 
silly and looking as red as Ranma's shirt, Hotaru held up the stick. 
"SATURN ETERNAL POWER! MAKE UP!"

Bright, glorious light surrounded her, and Hotaru felt the majesty of 
her transformation. When she finished, Hotaru struck her special, 
magical girl pose at the end, feeling everyone's eyes on her. With a 
slight blush to her face, Hotaru felt so proud. This magic made her 
their equal. Her magic made her stronger than everyone there, and only 
she knew it. Besides that, she really liked her magical uniform. The 
whole dark skirt and boots made her look so grown up, but at the same 
time, the bows and wings looked so cute. If she was not trying to be 
serious and impress Ranma-san's friends, she would have giggled with 
excitement. 

Squinting her eyes slightly, Shampoo concentrated on the transformed 
girl in front of her. "I no feel strong Ki. She still just little girl. 
How you strong?"

"Well... I've got two really strong attacks, and I can sense evil, and 
I can fly, and I can---"

"Hotaru..." Ranma spoke softly. Stopping in mid stream, the small black 
haired girl turned and looked up at her idol. "Hotaru, I... I'm worried 
about you. What if we can't protect you? What if we need to run to help 
someone, or even run away. I don't want to, but... But just in case..."

"But... But, Ranma-san! I'm supposed to help you. That's why I'm a 
magical girl, I'm sure of it. Honestly. I won't be a burden to you. I'm 
much fitter like this. I could run all the way down the street if I 
needed to."

Hearing that stabbed into Ranma's heart more than anything else Hotaru 
had said to him. He knew she was sick, she had told him as much before, 
but he never realised just how badly off she was. When a young girl her 
age thought it was a big deal to be able to run a few hundred metres, 
you knew there was trouble.

Getting down on his knees in front of her, Ranma looked up at the sad 
little face. "Hotaru... Please... Remember when Ucchan first came here? 
I said she needed training before she could come with me. I guess... I 
guess what I'm saying is that I think you need some training too. 
Please, Hotaru... None of us want you to get hurt..."

Looking thoroughly downcast, Hotaru turned away slightly. "I understand, 
Ranma-san. You don't want me around."

"No! No, Hotaru, that's not it. I'm just... I'm just worried about you, 
is all. Come on, I promise I'll help you get better so that you can 
help us in the future."

Hotaru put away the Silence Glaive that had been summoned to her as 
part of her transformation. Locking her hands together in front of her, 
she turned back and looked into Ranma's blue eyes. Searching them for 
any sign of deceit, she thought about what he had said. What he meant 
was when he thought she was strong enough, well enough, he would take 
her with them. He had said it, and she believed him. Her Ranma-san 
would never try and deceive her.

Throwing her arms around Ranma's neck, Hotaru gave him a big hug. "OK, 
Ranma-san. I'll be good. Once you think I'm ready, then I'll come with 
you."

Feeling the tension in the air behind and beside him, Ranma quickly 
detached himself from the little magical girl. Getting cuddles from a 
girl in a skin tight suit and short skirt was a quick way to a lot of 
pain if done in the presence of Ukyo or Shampoo. At least they were 
willing to wait and let the anger grow, unlike certain tomboys.

With that thought in mind, Ranma stood and looked around, face serious 
and intent. "Come on. The evening is getting away, and neither the 
Senshi, the demons nor the witches are going to wait for us."

"Ranma-san!"

Dramatic and determined exit broken, Ranma looked back. "Yes, Hotaru?"

Holding up a small container of water, she looked at him. "Kasumi-
neechan told me you were planning on changing before you left. That was 
why I brought this out in the first place."

Smacking his own head in disgust at his lack of memory, Ranma nodded 
and then splashed himself with cold water. 

"Right! Let's do it this time!" The short, intense, redhead pushed her 
damp bangs back and stalked out the front gate of the Tendo compound. 
Her pants and shirt were too loose and too large, but they always were 
after a transformation. With speed born of habit, she had them almost 
adjusted by the time everyone in the party followed her.

Outside the gate, another voice brought the redhead to a halt. Feeling 
frustrated and irritated, Ranma slowly turned and looked up at the tall 
Chinese boy leaning nonchalantly against a utility pole. "What do you 
want Mousse?"

Looking down at the short buxom girl that led the team of four, Mousse 
let the evening sunlight reflect dramatically of his glasses for an 
instant. "I am here for my darling Shampoo."

"Shampoo busy, Stupid Mousse. You go home."

"No! I would never abandon you, Shampoo. Saotome... You know me. I 
never hated Akane. I would never have let something like this happen if 
I could have stopped it. Personally, I would rather be back in China 
with Shampoo by my side, but if she is here, then that is my place too. 
Please, Saotome. Let me fight beside you so that I can keep my darling 
Shampoo safe."

"Amazon woman no need protecting by stupid male. Go home to Great 
Grandmother, Mousse."

Before Shampoo could brain Mousse with her bonbori and take him out of 
the fight, Ranma held up a small hand and stopped her. She could feel 
his sincerity, and she could understand his need. If Ranma had been 
around when that demon and the Senshi had attacked Nabiki and Akane, 
Akane might still be alive today. He may be dead, but that did not 
matter. He would have done anything to save them, and he knew that 
Mousse felt the same way about Shampoo. 

Unlike Hotaru, Mousse would not listen to reason. Also, Mousse was a 
damn good fighter - again unlike Hotaru. Mousse could take care of 
himself, and if Shampoo was hurt and they needed to escape from the 
Senshi, Ranma knew he could count on the half blind boy to do that 
perfectly. The only risk of taking Mousse was his bad eyesight, but he 
had already guessed that would be Ranma's price of admission to the 
growing team. When Mousse was waiting, he had been wearing his glasses, 
and Ranma knew without asking that Mousse would continue to wear them.

"All right, Mousse, you're hired. Now we've got five, and they've got 
five. But this time, they know we're coming."

The stern, sombre group of teenagers began a jog down the street. As 
with all battles, there was a chance they might not return, but they 
were doing what was right, and that made a difference. Not only that, 
but they were all friends, and loyal to each other. If there was a way 
to fight through a problem, there would be someone in the team that 
could do it.

With eyes shimmering, Hotaru watched the team of heroes go. Ahh... 
Ranma-san. Now there was a real hero. So handsome and strong as a boy, 
he was everything her manga said a real man should be. But as a girl... 
Hotaru sighed, and wished she could be half as cool as Ranma-san was. 
Even when she was using her magic, Hotaru knew that Ranma-san was much 
faster and tougher than she was. She was pretty, and smart and strong 
and... and... and Hotaru was sure that Ranma-san was everything a real 
magical girl should be.

That was why Hotaru could not disappoint her. That was why she needed 
to prove to Ranma-san that she was good enough to be a magical girl and 
help defend Tokyo with her. She knew that she would never be a fit and 
strong as Ranma-san. If she needed to train and wait for that to happen, 
she would never get a chance to help. The only way to prove to Ranma-
san that she should join them was to act like a real magical girl.

Turning away from the front gate, Hotaru ran to the side of the Tendo's 
yard. She might not be able to jump like Ranma-san, but a low wall like 
this one was no obstacle at all... If you could fly.

With just a few flaps of the white, fragile looking wings on her back, 
Hotaru was over the wall and on the street beyond it. Looking around to 
make sure that Ranma-san did not spot her and ask her to stay home, she 
smiled. Bringing out the Silence Glaive once more, Hotaru set off down 
a street at random. Tomoe Hotaru, magical girl supreme, was about to 
prove to Ranma-san, her friends, and all the baddies in Tokyo just how 
ready she was.

*	*	*

Makoto could never say what made her look up just at that moment. Fate? 
Destiny? Bad luck? Any or all of these perhaps. But with a slight turn 
of her neck, the fate of the world shifted. 

She had been having a bad day. More accurately, the last couple of 
weeks had been pretty bad. Everyone she knew aside from the Senshi 
turned away from her as a pariah, making her world seem small and 
lonely. Even Makoti at the Crown arcade did not want to speak to her; 
she gathered there had been some sort of 'incident' in then store 
between her, Usagi and Ami. The girls were working on patching things 
up whenever they found problems like this, but there was only so much 
that they could do immediately.

Not having a school to go to, and not having friends to hang out with 
made each day long and boring. In an attempt to cure her boredom and 
keep up to date with what her friends were doing, Makoto had resorted 
to borrowing a text book from Ami and reading it in the park. Naturally 
enough, since it was a current text for school, Ami did not need it, 
she had already moved onto the next book in the series so she could 
stay ahead.

Reading had been dull, and at this time of the evening, most of the 
office workers had gone home, making the street quiet as she sat there. 
Had she kept her head buried for just a few moments longer, she would 
have missed the girl walking down the street. Ten more seconds, and she 
would have been blocked from view by the large weeping cherry tree near 
the entrance to the park. As it was, Kino Makoto had plenty of time to 
appreciate just who she was seeing, and to recognise the danger that 
Luna had described to them.

Blue skirt, knee high blue boots, and deep, dark, blood red bows. There 
could be only one person dressed like that; the infamous Senshi of 
Destruction: Sailor Saturn.

A single touch brought her communicator alive, and a few short 
sentences guaranteed that she would soon have reinforcements. Makoto 
was not sure what they would do once they go here, but she knew that 
she did not fancy facing Sailor Saturn by herself. If Luna's 
description was even half right, the girl was dangerous to be around, 
and just having her in the city was a risk to everyone.

Transformed and shadowing the small girl, Sailor Jupiter was struck by 
both how young she was, and how carefree she seemed. She looked more 
mature than Chibi-Usa normally did, but not by a great deal. Certainly 
she was younger than any of the Inner Senshi, which made her much 
younger than the other Outer Senshi. Jupiter wondered if there was any 
reasoning behind that. The most powerful Senshi was also the youngest, 
but other than that, it seemed that the older the Senshi was, the more 
powerful she became.

As the other Senshi arrived in quick succession, Jupiter felt more 
confident. No matter what happened now, they would do it as a team; and 
as a team they almost never lost. True, there was the occasional time 
where they had suffered a setback, but together they were at their best.

"Well, Sailor Moon, what do you think?"

"Umm...."

Luna was quick to jump into the void created by Moon's indecisiveness. 
"Your Majesty, I hate to suggest something like this, but you have to 
think of the betterment of everyone. Sailor Saturn is too dangerous. 
Even if she doesn't deliberately hurt someone, her attacks are just 
to... arbitrary. Imagine what would happen if she cast her Death Reborn 
Revolution! Can you risk it? Can you honestly?"

Looking stricken, Sailor Moon gnawed on a gloved finger for a moment. 
"N-No... I can't do it! She's supposed to be one of my Senshi. I can't 
just attack her because she's too strong."

"But Your Majesty... It's not just that. Can't you remember what it was 
like back in the Moon Kingdom? She was just a child then, and she still 
is now. All she wants to do is play with that power. She's like a child 
with a shot gun. For the sake of people in the city, if nothing else, 
you have to do something."

Sailors Mars and Jupiter looked like they were ready to follow the 
cat's advice. If one of them were in charge, no doubt the Senshi would 
be confronting that poor girl at the moment. To protect Tokyo and 
everyone in it, would they really need to attack Sailor Saturn? 
Wouldn't that make them the same as the Outers? Wouldn't that make them 
as bad as the people they were trying to stop?

"Luna... I'm sorry... I can't do it. I have to try and help her first. 
I have to try and make her better, try to remove this disregard for 
human life."

Gripping the Moon Wand in her hand, Sailor Moon stepped out into the 
street, followed by a phalanx of Senshi. Sailor Saturn was a short 
distance away from them, but still entirely close enough for what she 
had planned.

Bringing up the Wand, sunlight glittered off the Silver Imperium 
Crystal that was located at the base of the crescent moon adorning the 
top of the Wand. Calling out to get the girl's attention, Sailor Moon 
prepared to being their evening's work. "Sailor Saturn!"

The subject of the call did not respond until Mars yelled hotly. "Hey, 
you! Turn around when Sailor Moon talks to you!"

Starting guiltily, the young girl turned back and looked at them with 
guileless eyes. Perhaps out of fear, perhaps out of instinct, or maybe 
as a preparation to attack, the girl suddenly revealed a massive weapon. 
Fearing the worst, Sailor Moon reacted before Luna's dire warnings 
could become true.

"MOON... HEALING... ESCALATION!"

As shining white motes of light floated out towards Sailor Saturn, a 
glowing crescent moon shape also left the Moon Wand. Designed to free 
people from evil and cure them of their ills, Sailor Moon valued this, 
her second attack, as her favourite. Her other attacks might be better 
at destroying demons and the forces of evil, but that could not compare 
to the feeling of helping someone. If things went well, soon Sailor 
Saturn would be cured of her uncaring and deadly ways. With Sailor 
Moon's help, the girl might be able to join them as a proper Senshi, 
fighting evil by moonlight.

That was, if everything went well.

Holding the Silence Glaive already, Hotaru's reaction was rapidly 
becoming instinctive. Whenever she met a group of magical girls, they 
would immediately begin attacking her. After her experience with the 
big girls, Hotaru was able to bring up the Silence Wall before the 
healing magic of the Moon Healing Escalation covered her. 

In a shower of golden sparkles, Sailor Moon's magic wasted itself 
against the impenetrable barrier that faced it. Behind the barrier 
erected by the big weapon, the little girl had changed. Gone was the 
innocent, smiling, happy face they had seen initially. Now, she was 
frowning. In other circumstances, and preferably on someone less 
dangerous, the face would have been comical. Hotaru's big eyes were 
narrowed, and her eyebrows were drawn together in a frown that did not 
sit well with her normally happy expression. 

"Mouuuu... I've done it again. Ranma-san is going to be really mad at 
me when we get home. Maybe that was why she didn't want me coming. I 
can't even scare them all away without hurting lots of people. Maybe... 
Maybe I can make a run for it..."

The Sailors were shocked at what they had seen. A number of people had 
resisted Sailor Moon's Healing before, but no-one had simply blocked it 
like that. When they saw her face go from smiling to angry, and saw her 
grumbling to herself, the girls knew real fear. That was not the face 
of a person willing to forgive them, and they had just roused the 
sleeping beast that was the Senshi Of Destruction.

"Um... Guys? Can you keep her busy? I need to try again! We can't just 
give up and try to kill her without at least giving it our best go."

Nodding their heads, the other Sailors agreed and readied their attacks. 
Shortly, multicoloured magic was streaking at the girls sheltering 
behind the magical shield, ensuring she would not get the time she 
needed to attack them. None of the attacks were aimed directly at her - 
just in case they somehow got through - but they were all close enough 
that she would not be able to risk moving.

As it happened, Hotaru was too scared by the horrible girls attacking 
her to even consider running any more. The instant that she moved, she 
would be cut down by their attacks, because she would not be able to 
keep up her Silence Wall.

"OK, everyone... One more go... MOON... HEALING... ESCALATION!"

This time, Sailor Moon concentrated and kept up the stream of healing 
magic. Time and again, the intense healing magic battered into the 
Silence Wall, seeking to overcome, to penetrate, to reach the 
vulnerable girl behind the magic. To bring her the cure that Sailor 
Moon so desperately wanted to give.

Still sending out wave after wave of crescent shaped light, Sailor Moon 
spoke through clenched teeth. "Guys... I can't... get through... We've 
got to try... and weaken the barrier... together..."

Nodding as one, the four remaining Inner Senshi changed their attacks, 
and dedicated their efforts to battering down the shield. Once it was 
down, they could stop, and Sailor Moon would be able to help the girl.

What they did not expect was a group of very, very angry martial 
artists to descend out of thin air, landing around them with kicks, 
punches and righteous fury.

Almost instantly, the attacks against Sailor Saturn let up, as the 
Senshi scrambled to protect their leader. While they were on equal 
numbers now - even outnumbered if you included Sailor Saturn - the 
Senshi were soldiers, and they reacted like that.

Instantly ceasing their attacks and backing up to protect their leader, 
the girls stared with hate filled eyes at the boy and girl that had 
attacked them before. This time, those two were boosted by another 
three, two women and a man. To the Senshi's eyes, their attackers wore 
a mottled assortment of worn or ill fitting clothes. Rather than 
generals or senior minions they were used to fighting, this group 
looked like one of the dark forces had selected a group of teenagers 
off the street and corrupted them, filling them with their dark powers.

That explanation certainly seemed to be true when they attacked. 
Although the original two were the strongest, the others were far too 
fast to be normal humans. Only possession could account for the speed, 
strength and ferocity with which they attacked. That speed and strength 
was not enough against the Senshi this time, because the girls knew 
what they were expecting, and they were better organised. Rather than 
allowing themselves to be split off completely, they paired up and 
protected their princess as she continued to try to save Sailor Saturn.

Venus and Mercury, the two weaker fighters, took on the new comers 
while Mars and Jupiter took on the leaders of the dark forces. Fighting 
a holding action against the two girls, Mercury took a moment to think 
that for a change, her side did not have the shortest skirts in the 
battle. The Chinese girl - although her red dress was very nice - 
actually showed more leg than the Senshi. Equally, the other girl with 
the funny looking weapon, whatever it was, at least wore leggings, 
since her dress was more of a long jacket than a real dress.

While Mercury distracted the other two, Venus watched as the Chinese 
boy with the coke bottle glasses brought up the arms of his massive 
white robe and threw them forwards. Although she was shocked by the 
sheer weight of metal that came out of them, Venus did not let one of 
the chains come in contact with her as she nimbly cart-wheeled away. 
"You think that was good, China Boy? Try this! VENUS LOVE-ME CHAIN!"

Placing a hand to her lips, Venus winked and drew a string of golden, 
glowing hearts forth. Waving the hand around her hips, she drew out a 
long string of the hearts, then threw them at the boy in white. With 
almost a mind of their own, the magical chain snaked out and around. 
Although he dodged on the first pass, the boy was obviously expecting 
her magic to act like a normal weapon, and was not expecting it when it 
came back, quickly and efficiently bundling him into a golden mummy.

"Shampoo!" He cried, but no-one paid him any attention, since things 
were getting lively everywhere.

Mercury - never the best at combat - had found herself on the retreat 
very rapidly. Although she was magically faster than her opponents, 
they seemed to have incredible skill and that made up the difference 
very quickly. Although Mercury could act quicker, both of the girls 
were armed, and seemed to know what they were going to do well in 
advance of Mercury. This led to the unfortunate Senshi receiving a 
nasty knock to the head by the big blunt weapon the brunette was 
carrying.

Going down on one knee, Sailor Mercury looked up through pain blurred 
eyes. The purple haired girl with the refined, exotic features was 
bringing her large, mace-like weapons around for a telling blow. 
Despite the fact Mercury begged her legs to move, the ringing in her 
head made it all the harder, and she could tell that there was no way 
the bigger girl was going to miss this opening.

No way she could miss, that was, until someone shouted "Mercury!" and a 
bolt of golden magic sailed over the blue haired girl's head and 
knocked the Chinese girl across the street with smoke coming off her. 
With anger in her eyes that made them sparkle like a clear blue ocean 
on a windy day, Sailor Moon strode forward towards the last standing 
person in the group.

"That's my friend you hurt, you rotten person. For that, I'm going to 
turn you into moon dust!"

Ukyo could only watch with a knowing dread as both the girls facing her 
brought up their arms for an attack. Braced to move, and with her 
battle spatula ready as a shield, Ukyo felt a sickening certainty that 
she would not only be unable to dodge, but the heavy sheet metal of her 
weapon would barely slow their attacks. 

"VENUS CRESCENT BEAM!"
"MOON SCEPTRE ELIMINATION!"

Wincing, Ukyo braced herself, wishing that she had been brave enough to 
get the kiss from Ranma that she had always wanted. For now, surely 
this was the end. 

The end, however, did not come. Timidly peeling open one of her tightly 
closed eyes, Ukyo looked at the flare of light as two magical attacks 
continued to burst almost a foot from her body. Blinking in confusion, 
she looked around, to spot a very determined little girl standing a few 
metres away. "H-Hotaru-chan? Is that you doing... whatever it is?"

"Uyko-san..." Her voice was strained. "Get Shampoo-san. Hurry! I can't 
hold them forever."

She was tempted to argue, tempted to say they would keep fighting, but 
the sight of the Sailor in blue regaining her feet and throwing even 
more magic their direction was enough to convince her. "RANCHAN! We've 
got to get out of here!"

With that, she turned and ran back to where Shampoo lay half buried in 
a shop wall. Her breathing was shallow, but it was there, and that was 
the main thing. Picking the Amazon up in her arms, Ukyo was in time to 
see Ranma and Ryoga execute a manoeuvre they had obviously practiced 
together.

Although they were significantly better fighters than their friends, 
Ranma and Ryoga had not been able to get the upper hand that they had 
been expecting. Last time they fought the Senshi, the girls had been 
hampered by the expectation that they would comply with normal human 
capabilities and behaviours. Now that Mars and Jupiter knew that was 
not true, they took their opponents much more seriously. Also, without 
the aid of complete surprise, they were not able to get the balance of 
the fight going in their direction.

Although Ryoga was tough, he was not quite as fast as either of the 
Senshi. Every time he tried to close with one of the girls, either of 
them would try and fry him in some way. He knew that electroshock 
therapy had long been considered the best cure for depression, but he 
had no interest in receiving their sort of medicine. Ever since he had 
begun changing into P-Chan, he had suffered a very real fear of being 
barbequed alive, and the black haired Senshi wanted to do that to him 
with a vengeance. 

Burnt and singed, Ryoga was almost as far from a decent victory as he 
had been at the start of the fight. His two decent blows had staggered 
their targets, but the girls had recovered easily enough. True to form, 
Ranma had not been hit, showing that her speed training had worked, but 
she had done even less damage than Ryoga. The best that Ranma had 
managed to do was distract and beat the girls slightly, preventing her 
slower ally from taking worse damage.

When the call from Ukyo came, they realised it was time to put their 
escape plan into action. Without waiting for Ranma to confirm her 
readiness, Ryoga stuck his finger into the ground, calling "Bakusai 
Tenketsu!" as he destroyed a section of pavement. 

Not close enough to seriously hurt the girls, it briefly forced them to 
cover their faces, and that was all Ranma needed. Aided by the blast, 
she flew forwards, ending with a forward roll right between the two 
Senshi. Without looking up, Ranma caught herself on her hands, and 
promptly lashed out first with her right leg, then her left. She knew 
the blows would be too soft to hurt their foes, but they were perfectly 
positioned to make them fall.

While a red and a green Sailor fell to the ground in a flurry of arms 
and legs, Ranma sprang backwards into the expanding cloud of debris. 
For a brief instant, numbers were evened again, and the Senshi reacted 
on their instincts and training again. Rather than press the assault on 
their outnumbered foes that were outside Sailor Saturn's shield, Moon, 
Venus and Mercury quickly ran to their fallen friends, unaware that the 
massive explosion had not hurt them.

In the second their backs were turned and the attacks stopped, Ranma 
and Ryoga were moving again. "Ucchan! Run! Hotaru!"

No-one need to be told twice. Carrying the unconscious Shampoo, Ukyo 
ran off down the street, and Hotaru dropped the Silence Wall, allowing 
the most victorious of the martial artists through. Skidding to a stop 
in front of the black haired girl, Ranma looked down at her. 

"Hotaru, do those wings work?" She asked hurriedly. 

"Unn."

"Good! Fly up to the top of this building and start running. Don't stop 
until you get home. Understand? Ryoga! Grab Mousse and follow her. 
Don't let her out of your sight, I need you to protect them both."

"R-Ranma-san! What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to keep them busy for a while, and let you guys escape. 
Don't worry, I'll be right behind you. Go!"

Watching only long enough to marvel at the light looking way Hotaru 
floated free of the ground and turned towards the building, Ranma 
turned back to the battle. Ryoga would watch over Hotaru, she knew that. 
Ranma was also as sure that Hotaru would not be able to run off like 
she did sometimes and let Ryoga get lost. With Ucchan taking care of 
Shampoo, that meant all she needed to do was buy them some time.

With a grin on her face, the fiery redhead struck a combat pose with a 
low guard and legs spaced for easy running and looked at the aligned 
Senshi. Behind her, she could already feel Ryoga disappearing and felt 
relieved. 'Not long', she thought. 'I don't have to keep them here long 
for the others to be safe.'

"All right you chickens. Which one of you wants to be first?"

Four girls growled back at her, and the central one with the two long 
pony tails looked really mad as she pointed a finger at her. "My name 
is Sailor Moon. For attacking us without reason, and for serving the 
dark powers, I shall punish you in the name of the Moon!"

With a flick of her arms and a shuffle of her feet, Ranma changed into 
the 'Soft Tiger' stance. For use against stronger opponents, or when 
outnumbered, it focused on speed and throws rather than doing damage 
through blows. It also put the emphasis on movement and staying unhurt. 
The odds were bad, her enemies outnumbered her, each was almost as fast, 
and all of them were stronger and tougher than her girl form. Grinning 
with a song in her heart and lightning singing in her veins, Ranma gave 
a brief beckoning motion with her hand. "Come punish this, Sailor 
Girl!"

With that, she ran forwards and tried to see just how long she could 
keep them occupied. This was what she lived for. This was what she had 
trained all her life for. Suddenly, the years on the road all seemed 
worthwhile. She was here, protecting her friends, saving countless 
people from these killers, and it all came down to her skill and her 
training. Ranma had never felt more alive in her life.

Running forwards, Ranma caught them flat footed, but they recovered 
quickly. A pair of quick grapples and a leg sweep saw Sailor Mercury on 
the ground, but Ranma was forced to retreat before a series of high, 
crescent kicks almost took her head off. The Senshi in orange was not 
very skilled, but with speed like hers, she did not need to be. 

Her speed advantage was nothing like what she usually maintained over 
Ryoga, but it was enough for her to be able to circle the orange Senshi 
and begin grappling with the tall one in green, Sailor Jupiter. To her 
dismay, Ranma discovered that this girl did have some skill in the art. 
Nowhere near her own, of course, but with the magical boosting the 
Senshi received, it put Ranma at a disadvantage. The pair cycled 
through eight competing arm bars and throw grips before Ranma bounded 
away, leaving Mars cursing as her fire sailed underneath the redhead to 
impact on a completely innocent wall.

Jupiter made the mistake of trying to follow her into the air, and was 
quickly put down. She might have speed and some skill, but unless you 
could fly, you should assume you were outclassed by Ranma in the air. 
Anything Goes made a special exercise of mid-air combat, and few people 
could match them for the size and duration of their jumps, let alone 
the acrobatics and combat they were capable of during flight.

Doing a barrel roll to avoid a stream of frozen blue ice, Ranma let her 
foot reach out and clip the back of one girl's head. It would not have 
hurt much, but it was enough to allow Ranma to alter her flight and 
avoid the next magical attack coming at her. Bringing her legs together, 
the small martial artist let herself drop like a stone behind the 
leader of the attackers, the vaunted Sailor Moon.

A series of short rabbit punches to the girl's kidneys from behind 
brought the leader to her knees, but again Ranma was forced to retreat 
as Mars and Jupiter tried to corner her. She was tempted to continue 
and try to fight, but the sudden pain as a golden beam laid a line of 
flesh raw across her back changed her mind. She was doing well, no 
doubt at all, but she was not winning. Her attacks were insufficiently 
strong, and against those numbers, she would wear down much sooner than 
they would... Assuming magical girls could tire, that is.

A pair of back flips put Ranma on top of a café. Pulling down an eyelid, 
she looked at the Senshi. "Biiii-da! Can't even catch little old me? 
How are you expecting to take over Tokyo? Ha ha ha--- Urk!"

Carried backwards by the impact of the Shine Aqua Illusion, Ranma 
realised she should have paid more attention to fighting than to 
mocking. When she landed, she shook her head and listened carefully. 
The Senshi were coming, she could hear them running around on the 
street below. Grateful she was already in her girl form and not 
unexpectedly changed by the cold water attack, Ranma rolled to her feet 
and sprinted across to the next roof. 

For three blocks she continued like this, only to suddenly stop and 
reverse course. With just a little luck, she used one mighty jump to 
cross a street full of Senshi and elude them. While her assailants 
thought they were still following her on the ground, she had really 
gotten behind them. Briefly she was tempted with the idea of launching 
a Shi Shi Hokodan into their backs, but from her last fight, she was 
aware of how little that would accomplish. Better to leave now and 
return to the Tendos. 

What she really needed was more training. Just a few months, and she 
knew she would be able to defeat them. The only problem was, she did 
not have months.

*	*	*

A low chorus of moans and groans filled the Tendo yard. Ranma and 
Shampoo sat on the back porch, while Ukyo, Mousse and Ryoga sparred in 
the back yard. Shampoo and Ranma had been the most seriously hurt, but 
even then it was nothing life threatening. Kasumi had just finished 
bandaging Shampoo's ribs, and confidently told them that the Amazon 
would be fine, with just some nasty bruising.

Ranma, unfortunately, had a straight line burn across the top of her 
back, cross almost at the base of her shoulder blades. A reminder of 
the fight from Sailor Venus' Crescent Beam, it was liable to leave a 
scar for the rest of her life. With her shirt off and her back turned 
so that Kasumi could sit on the edge of the porch behind her, Ranma 
waited with firmly pressed lips for the cold sting of the burn medicine. 

"Oh dear, Ranma-kun. This looks quite nasty. Are you sure you don't 
want to see a doctor?"

"Nah, Kasumi. Nabiki said she needs all the money she can get to look 
for Akane's killers. I don't need to go spending it on something silly 
like this."

"I'm sure she wouldn't mind. This is the sort of thing that she had in 
mind."

"Yeah, but it ain't the sort of thing I wanted for it. Besides, a 
little pain will help remind me to be faster next time."

Standing beside the kitchen door Tomoe Hotaru, still in her Sailor suit, 
wept silent tears. It was all her fault. If she had not gone out, 
Ranma-san and Shampoo-san would not have been hurt. If she had not 
tried to be a real magical girl, her friends would still be all right. 
It was all her fault.

Looking down at her hands, Hotaru thought of all the humiliation and 
embarrassment that her power had caused her in the past. From the first 
time she had healed the skinned knee of a boy at school, everyone had 
laughed at her. She did not want that to happen here, but what else 
could she do? Ranma-san had been hurt because of her, and she was 
saying they could not even afford a doctor.

Blinking back more tears and clearing her big purple eyes slightly, 
Hotaru looked at her hands once more and set her mouth. She would do it. 
She would help Ranma-san, even if it meant that they laughed at her 
like all of the kids at her school. She owed Ranma-san that much and 
more for all she had done.

"K-Kasumi-neechan... Can I help?"

She had been going to decline, intending to put the expensive burn 
cream on herself, but the sight of Hotaru's distressed face softened 
her already kind heart more. Holding up the tube of cream, she invited 
Hotaru to sit in front of her. "Now, you only need to put this on 
fairly thinly."

When Kasumi gave her permission, Hotaru moved forwards and put her 
palms out, hovering just centimetres from Ranma's burnt skin. Closing 
her eyes to concentrate, Hotaru could feel Ranma's pain, could feel the 
damage to her skin. 'Get better,' she thought. 'Heal.'

Just about to correct the girl, Kasumi stopped with an open mouth when 
she saw the soft white glow emanating from her palms and sinking into 
Ranma's skin. From someone else, that might have been cause for alarm, 
but Kasumi knew how much Hotaru doted on Ranma. When Ranma gave an 
unconscious moan of pleasure, Kasumi gave a gasp of amazement. The 
burnt skin all along Ranma's back was moving, changing colour from an 
angry red and black back to a normal soft pink. Blisters were deflating 
and vanishing.

Soon, the foot long burn was no more, the skin just slightly red. 
"Hotaru-chan... How did you do that?"

"I... I'm glad I was a magical girl at the time..." Said Hotaru in a 
very small voice, before soundlessly collapsing to one side. Kasumi 
grabbed for her, to prevent her head from hitting the hard ground off 
the porch, but again it was Ranma's incredible speed that reached her 
first. Holding the little girl in her arms, Ranma gave the half 
unconscious Hotaru a smile of thanks.

"Whatever that was, Hotaru... Thanks."

"It's... My special power. Even before I became a magical girl, I could 
heal things. I'm sorry, Ranma-san. I shouldn't have gone out there 
today. Please don't hate me."

"Oh, Hotaru, I don't hate you. We went out there to fight them, it's 
not your fault. Besides, see that girl over there with the big bad 
spatula?"

"Ukyo-san?"

"Yeah. Ucchan's my oldest buddy in the world. If it weren't for you 
being there, and doing that magic shield thingy, Ucchan might not be 
here now. How could I be mad at you? 'Specially after what you just did 
for me."

"But... You wanted me to wait until I had more training."

"Aww... Hotaru, that's just because I was worried about you. Come on, 
cheer up. You saved Ucchan, you even brought Ryoga home, and that's no 
mean feat. Besides, I think we all need more training. Give us a smile, 
and don't look so down, OK?"

Giving a small smile, Hotaru was still troubled. She had not been 
running long after they left the fight before she needed to stop. If it 
had just been her, she might have been captured again. Luckily, 
Mousse's magical chains had vanished about then, and Ryoga had been 
able to carry her on his shoulders. That was the real reason that she 
had been able to bring everyone home. Not through her skill or bravery 
like Ranma-san had shown when she had kept them safe, but through 
having other better than her helping. It made her feel so sad and 
useless.

Any further considerations were abruptly put aside as the cry of 
"Saotome!" rent the air. Spinning around, Ranma was suddenly very glad 
that she had caught Hotaru earlier and was still holding her. While 
Ranma did not have a sense of feminine modesty, having her shirt off 
around Kuno was a recipe for disaster.

"Ahh! Pig-Tailed Girl! Please, tell me it is not true. Say to the 
mighty Blue Thunder that what he has heard is a lie."

Hearing the Kendoist rant and rave was quite normal, but somehow his 
voice was different. It was distraught, filled with emotion other than 
the normal egotism. Taking a step back in case she needed to put Hotaru 
down and deal with the boy, Ranma asked cautiously. "Say what ain't 
true, Kuno?"

"I have heard such terrible, terrible news, it haunts the ears of even 
one so great as myself. Pig-Tailed Girl, I beg of you. Please, put an 
end to the rumours that torment me so!"

"What rumours, you idiot?! You ain't even told me yet."

"Although I had missed the fiery Tendo Akane at our distinguished 
centre of education, I had believed that she had simply been spirited 
away by the evil Saotome Ranma. Soon, I thought, soon she would free 
herself of his nefarious clutches as she has always done in the past. 
It was a torment to my soul that I could not aid her, since even her 
mercenary sister was not there to direct me to her location, but I was 
behove to bestow the benefits of my wisdom and greatness upon the 
people of our institution."

There was silence as everyone tried to understand what was said. 
Leaning closer to her friend, Hotaru whispered in Ranma's ear. "Does he 
need medication? I could go and get some."

"Nah. All he needs is a couple of quick kicks to the head. Ain't 
nothing wrong with him unconsciousness wouldn't fix."

"As I, in my greatness, walked through the streets of our fair city, I 
came upon a common peasant, hawking their wares. Naturally, the person 
- a Miko I suspect - begged me to favour her with my custom, but I 
deferred. Ahh, it was at that time that I, Kuno Tatewaki, scion of the 
mighty House Kuno, heir to our family's legacy of wealth, power, 
intelligence and good looks, it was then that I heard the following:"

Kuno paused and fixed Ranma with a stare. Giving a slight giggle, Ranma 
shifted Hotaru to ensure nothing was showing. After suffering though 
the tale this long, she did not want Kuno to get distracted and have to 
start again.

"Tendo Akane is dead."

There was silence. Crickets chirped. After a time, even the crickets 
went quiet.

"Pig-Tailed Girl... You have not denied it."

Growing weary - of both Kuno and Hotaru's weight - Ranma set the small 
girl in the blue and white fuku on the ground. Standing behind her 
charge for modesty, Ranma kept a hand on each of Hotaru's shoulders and 
looked at Kuno. 

She knew she could do it. She could lie to Kuno, tell him Akane had 
just gone away for a while. Kuno would believe her. Heck, Kuno would 
believe her if she said that the sun had not come up today. She _could_ 
get rid of him if she wanted to. But she did not. She did not get rid 
of him because he deserved to know. He might be annoying. He might be 
one of the most irritating people in the entire world, but in his own 
perverted and strange way, he too had cared for Akane. That alone was 
enough to make Ranma forgive him of many sins. Since Akane had gone, 
Ranma had discovered that she would tolerate a great many things that 
she would not have done while Akane was alive.

"She's gone, Kuno. Akane is dead. The rumour is true."

Kuno let forth a scream of rage and suffering that could be heard 
throughout the district and clutched his head in pain. "Oh Akane! Oh, 
you sweet, sweet beauty! To be struck down in life so young! To never 
know the true depths of my love for you!"

He continued on in this vein for some time, ignoring the way that so 
many of the people in front of him looked like they were becoming 
increasingly tense and angry. Part way though his triad, he suddenly 
stopped and looked at Ranma with his eyes narrowed to slits. With a 
slow, careful movement, Kuno drew his bokken and held it before him.

Wind ruffled his hair, and his dark hakama eddied slightly in the 
breeze. "Tell me, Pig-Tailed Girl. Tell me who it is that has done this 
thing? Who is it that would deprive the world of one so perfect? How 
would dare face the wrath of Kuno by taking from him the woman that 
would one day be his bride? Speak, Pig-Tailed Girl, and I shall go and 
deliver the only justice they deserve."

Again, Ranma studied the older boy. If she did not tell him, he would 
find out by himself somehow and if he did that, he would surely be 
slain in combat alone, without the support of his schoolmates. 
Alternatively, Ranma could tell him. She could tell Kuno about the team 
that they had gathered for the purpose of bringing the Senshi, the 
Witches and the demons to justice. 

Kuno was weaker than her, there was no question of that in Ranma's mind. 
However, when he went all out, he might even be able to beat Shampoo or 
Ucchan. No guarantees, but it would be close enough to not be a 
foregone conclusion. Even if he could not beat the girls, he was a 
talented Kendoist, and every person they had with them when the faced 
the Senshi would be a boon. He had seen how Mousse, Shampoo and Ukyo 
had been beaten earlier. If they had Kuno with them...

So Ranma spoke. Gently, calmly, and without much of the anger and 
passion she truly felt. Most days of the year, she would have gone to 
any length to avoid Kuno, but today she needed him. Today, tomorrow, 
and until the evil was cleaned from Tokyo. For that, she would be 
polite. She would speak to him as you would an ordinary human.

It did not take long for Kuno to agree to join them. Indeed, it took 
more effort to convince him to go home for the night. Whereas they had 
just been beaten by the Senshi, he was filled with invective and a 
desire for battle. Finally he did leave, vowing to return to them 
tomorrow and fight together, to punish the people that would do such 
things to those he loved.

*	*	*

As the new day broke, the denizens of the Tendo household came awake 
and began to stir. At least, two of them did. Tendo Kasumi and Soun 
awoke as the day began and commenced their work. Kasumi's work was long 
standing, the preparation of meals and the house for her family. It was 
something that brought her great pleasure, but associated with some 
small pain. It was difficult to prepare a meal without thinking of that 
extra serving that someone would not be eating. In time, the pain would 
ease, but for now, she lived with it, trying to remember how much Akane 
would have loved to see her friends all working together as well as 
they had yesterday.

Soun's daily routine had begun only recently. Until his baby girl had 
been attacked, he had been content to sleep in, to enjoy the smells of 
breakfast that his eldest daughter prepared. Now, sleep was an enemy, 
filled with regrets and dreams of a wife and a child he would never see 
again.

Work was the only cure for those dreams, the only way he knew to fight 
off the thoughts of what would happen to the rest of his family now 
that demons roamed the city that even Ranma and his friends could not 
defeat. Tilling the soil in the garden once more, Soun carefully 
avoided looking at the remains of the dojo in his yard. He could have 
cleaned it up - it was his house and dojo - but he did not. That dojo 
and the remains in the yard were an inspiration to Ranma and his 
friends. He would not take that away from them.

Although it had only been there for a short time, weeds were already 
beginning to grow up between the boards that lay on the ground. No 
weeds were permitted elsewhere in the garden, and the relentless hunt 
for them was one thing Soun could count on to help to while away the 
day.

"That's some funny training you're doing there, Tendo-kun. Something 
like 'The Crouch Of The Fierce Tiger', I assume?"

"Saotome-kun..."

The big man stood behind him and beckoned him to get up. "Time to get 
you back in shape. Come on, it's time for a jog. Get some of those soft 
muscles back into condition."

Although he resisted the idea, Soun found himself obeying his old 
training partner. Before he knew what had happened, they had both been 
for a twenty minute run through the suburbs, and we back at the house, 
gasping and wheezing but in time for some of Kasumi's breakfast. Rather 
than spoil the meal for everyone else, they sat their sweaty, rank 
bodies at the back on the house and dug into a special "training 
breakfast" of rice and omelette. 

"Saotome-kun... I can honestly say I cannot ever remember feeling worse 
than I do."

Giving a big belly laugh, Genma slapped him on the back. "That's the 
idea Tendo-kun. Always strive for something better than before."

"Ohhh... I don't think I'm built for martial arts anymore."

"Nonsense. You're just a little out of condition. Come, a bit of 
sparring, a few Kata, we'll have you feeling on top of the world again 
in no time."

So it was when the weary teenagers rose from their rest, they were 
greeted with the sight of two old men in the back yard. Although Kasumi 
had heard their plans, even she was struck by the vision of her father 
again taking up the art he had once abandoned. After a short breakfast, 
Ranma punched Ryoga in the shoulder and gestured to the back yard.

"What's it gunna be? We going to let them have all the fun?"

"You're not much, Ranma, but I'll get a better workout fighting you 
than I will training Ukyo-san." With that, Ryoga grabbed his eating 
partner and threw him through the open door and into the Koi pond.

"Ryoga you idiot!"

"Hey! This way you can go all out with those weak girlie punches of 
yours. Just think about me, I've got to keep holding back so I don't 
break you!"

With a growl, Ranma raced from the still turbulent pond, grabbed Ryoga 
and threw him across the yard and into the compound wall. "Let's just 
see who needs to hold back!"

"With pleasure!"

By the time Hotaru came down - still wearing one of Kasumi's oversize 
T-shirts - Shampoo and Ukyo were also out in the yard, turning  the 
Tendo compound into a series of small running battles. Blinking several 
times in the bright morning sunlight, Hotaru looked around for 
something closer to what she considered a normal morning.

When she spotted Kasumi humming in the kitchen, Hotaru's face lit up 
with a genuine smile. Walking up to the girl, Hotaru linked her hands 
in front and gave a sunny, "Good morning, Kasumi-neechan!"

"Good morning to _you_, Hotaru-chan. How are you today?"

"Very well, thank you, Neechan. I know it's late, but do you have any 
breakfast left?"

"Of course I do, Little Firefly. You go and sit down at the table, and 
I'll bring something out in a moment."

Nodding once, Hotaru left. Seated at the table, she thought how much 
better she felt at the moment than she usually did. Smiling as she 
watched people jump around the yard in ways she would not have believed 
possible just a week ago, she knew why she felt so good. All around her, 
she had friends. Real friends. People that liked her, talked to her and 
made her feel good just to be with them. That was even better that the 
other reason she felt so good.

Last night, she had been a heroine. A genuine, honest-to-goodness, one 
hundred percent magical girl. She had gone out into Tokyo and done her 
best to make it a safer, better place for everyone. That was why she 
was here, that was why she had these powers, and she had finally done 
it. After all the days that had passed since she had first gained her 
powers, she had finally done the right thing, and it felt good! She had 
gone out with her friends, and she had made a difference, for once, 
people had really wanted her there, had honestly needed her.

It felt good.

A slight rattle announced a steaming bowl of miso and the arrival of 
some rice, eggs and vegetables. Although not a big eater, the sight and 
smell of such lovely food made Hotaru's mouth water like a fire hydrant. 
"Mmm. That smells so good, Kasumi-neechan."

"You're welcome." Taking a sip from some tea she had brought for 
herself, Kasumi smiled beatifically at Hotaru and kept her company at 
breakfast. "You must have had an exciting night yesterday, Hotaru-chan. 
It's already past nine."

A little sheepishly, Hotaru slurped down some of the leaves in her miso 
and put the bowl down. "I was up late with Ranma-san and Ryoga-san. We 
all stayed up late talking."

"Well, so long as you didn't tire yourself out with all that running 
around. You still look a little pale. We wouldn't want you to get sick 
again, would we?"

Hotaru shook her head and gobbled up a little more of the rice. 
Although to her it felt as though she was bolting her food and being 
very rude in front of her new big sister, Kasumi saw it differently. To 
Kasumi eyes, used to hungry martial artists, Hotaru calmly and 
delicately ate her food, with better manners than she could remember 
seeing in this house for years.

When the little girl gave a small, polite burp and hid her mouth with 
her hand as her face turned rosy, Kasumi smiled. "It looks like you 
needed that. Are you going to be training with them today? If you are, 
please be careful. You have to remember that you're not as big and 
strong as Ranma-kun."

"Nnn. Ranma-san is really good... But I'm not going to be doing that 
sort of thing for a while. He says he wants me to get all better before 
he starts to teach me martial arts."

"Ranma is going to teach you martial arts?"

"Yes. He said that everyone should know how to defend themselves."

"You should be very proud. Ranma-kun is very good. I'm sure he'll make 
a fine teacher."

"Ranma-san is the best."

Kasumi giggled. "Don't let him hear that. He'll believe you."

Looking up at her new big sister, Hotaru's eyes shimmered. "But he is! 
I know he must be the best. He can even turn into a girl so we can 
fight evil together!"

Outside the door, the martial artist in question was completing a 
complex summersault over Ryoga as he fended off both Genma and Soun. 
"Well, I certainly don't know anyone who is better than he is. Except 
possibly Cologne-san. Granny is very good."

"I'm glad you think so." An old voice came from Kasumi's left elbow.

When both girls had gotten over their shock of seeing the ancient 
matriarch seated at the table with them, Hotaru continued the 
conversation with the sublime confidence of a true believer. "Ranma-san 
is better."

Giving Hotaru an amused look, Cologne heaped up a bowl with some of the 
left over rice and helped herself. "Not yet, Child. Not yet. Son-In-Law 
has some distance to go yet."

Shaking her head with complete faith, Hotaru responded. "You just don't 
know him well enough. Nobody can beat Ranma-san. Maybe not even me."

That caused Cologne to laugh loudly. The girl has less fighting power 
than Kasumi, but yet she thought she was more powerful than herself or 
her Son-In-Law. That was very amusing.

"Hey, Old Ghoul. Nice to see you finally got here."

When Cologne finished laughing she saw that Ranma had been joined by 
Ryoga, Mousse, Ukyo and Shampoo. A veritable army of martial artists, 
Cologne could only pity anyone that decided to take them all on. While 
they might not all be as powerful as Son-In-Law, they were each a force 
to be reckoned with. Even that fool Mousse.

After moving out to the yard, everyone was tense and slightly nervous. 
Aside from Hotaru. She was standing next to Ranma, so she knew she was 
safe from anything and anyone. For everyone else, it was a chance to 
try and find out what had gone wrong yesterday. They had more people on 
their side, but they had still been beaten by the Senshi. What could 
possibly have happened?

Shampoo had volunteered the services of her Great-Grandmother in trying 
to analyse the battle and work up some new strategies for them. Nabiki 
was sitting to one side listening, but she did not expect to be able to 
contribute much to this. Her analytical mind might be second to none, 
but she would not think of trying to match wits with Cologne when it 
came to planning and fighting battles. Working with her was definitely 
on the cards though.

For the martial artists gathered, it was a time they had been looking 
forwards to with dread. Now their skills would come into question, 
their capabilities scrutinised, and their actions taken apart in detail. 
It was no-one's pleasure to pick on their fellows or to be shown up, 
but they needed to do this. Unless they knew why they had lost last 
time, they would be doomed to repeat it.

Asking the fighters to join her outside, Cologne was surprised when the 
little girl she had been talking to joined them. Assuming that she was 
just watching like Nabiki, Cologne did not address her, but 
concentrated on Ranma and his allies.

"Son-In-Law, perhaps you can start by telling me what you main problem 
was."

Ranma smacked his fist into his palm. "The big thing I don't get is why 
we did so bad this time. First time Ryoga and I fought them, well, we 
didn't do much better, but at least I nailed one of them pretty good. 
This time we had Ucchan, Shampoo and Mousse, but they still beat us 
just as easy."

Cologne nodded wisely. "Surprise. A man with a bow and arrow can defeat 
a man with a tank if he has surprise. The same is true here."

"But Granny," Ukyo began. "Could it really be that much? I mean, we 
still managed to get the drop on them this time."

"Yes, but this time they knew what you could do. Last time, they would 
not have expected Son-In-Law to be that good. Few people are up to your 
standard. From what Shampoo has told me about your enemies, they would 
not be used to attacking trained fighters, people who could resist. 
Last time, they probably just expected you to roll over and die. This 
time, they knew they had to take you seriously."

Nabiki nodded beside her. "She's right. I've spent some time doing 
searches on some of their victims. None of them seem to be martial 
artists. There's the occasional sportsman, but no-one that you guys 
would call either fast or strong."

For a time it looked like Ukyo would protest some more, but support 
from both Shampoo and Ranma for what Cologne had told them caused her 
to back down. If this was what had happened to them when they surprised 
the Senshi, what would happen if the Senshi ever surprised _them_?

When they got on to the analysis of what their enemies were capable of, 
Cologne was surprised when everyone looked at the little girl sitting 
quietly beside Ranma. Quickly a blush spread over her cheeks and she 
looked at the ground, obviously embarrassed. Cologne found that quite 
amusing considering the egos of everyone else around.

"And why would everyone be so interested in you, Child?"

"..."

"I beg your pardon?"

"I'm a magical girl, too. I'm the most powerful magical girl in the 
whole wide world."

"Really? Well, perhaps you could show me some of your attacks then. It 
would be nice to see just what our enemies are capable of."

"I can't." The girl went even more red.

"Why? We're all friends here. I'm sure Ryoga would be kind enough to 
act as a volunteer if we needed one." Ryoga looked nervous, but not 
half as nervous as Hotaru.

"No! I can't! It... It would kill poor Ryoga-san. That's... That's why 
I can't use my attacks. They just do too much. If... If I fired it that 
way..." Hotaru gestured off towards the front gate. "It would destroy 
everything all the way down the street. _That's_ why I could never stop 
any of those girls that attacked me."

When everyone sat silently digesting that, Hotaru looked more nervous. 
When her eyes began to shimmer and her lower lip tremble slightly, 
Ranma put a hand on her head and exclaimed happily. "I've got it! You 
can do that shield thing! That was pretty good yesterday. If the Senshi 
couldn't get through it when they tried, maybe we should. It might show 
the Old Ghoul some easy way to defeat their magic."

Hotaru brightened immediately and started immediately. When she 
transformed, Cologne's eyes narrowed to small slits. 'So,' she thought. 
'This is a magical girl. I can feel her power, but it is nothing like 
what I expected.'

"Very well, Child. Please, show me this shield."

Walking away from the group, Hotaru planted the end of the Silence 
Glaive and concentrated. "SILENCE WALL!"

Everyone waited.

"Are we supposed to see something, Sugar?"

"No... I don't think so. I can see where it is, but I don't think 
anyone else can. Just come to the front of my Glaive. You should be 
able to feel it then."

Slowly the group approached until they were within arms reach of the 
invisible barrier. With looks of wonder on their face, people ran their 
hands over the Silence Wall, marvelling at the smooth strength they 
were not able to see. Other than Ryoga, that is. He had accidentally 
walked into it, and his sore nose was testament enough to the Silence 
Wall's solidity.

"Will you be safe if we try to break it?" Cologne asked. When the small, 
fuku clad girl nodded, Cologne gestured them forwards and everyone laid 
into the barrier with their weapons, feet or fists. After a minute of 
this, Cologne ordered them to stop and again addressed the girl.

"How did that feel? How did it compare with what you felt yesterday?"

"Actually... It wasn't too bad. I think I could stop that sort of thing 
for quite a while..." As Hotaru trailed off, they understood her worry. 
If two or three Senshi were more of a threat to her than their whole 
group, they had real problems.

"Son-In-Law, Ryoga. If you please, now would be a good time to 
demonstrate this new move I have been told about."

Again when Hotaru nodded, everyone moved back and Ranma and Ryoga took 
position. Cupping their hands together, they focused on what was needed 
for the depression blast. Akane, the Senshi, their own inadequacy in 
battle. All this and more poured into the green balls growing in their 
hands. Without any signal, the two boys launched simultaneously. "SHI 
SHI HOKODAN!"

Green energy impacted the screen and splashed harmlessly. Harmlessly to 
Hotaru, but the rest felt the backlash, and the ground was scored 
heavily. "Better... But those two big girls were much stronger..." Now 
Hotaru looked very apologetic.

"How about the Bakusai Tenketsu, Old Ghoul. You wanna try that?"

"No, Son-In-Law. I can see it from here. Or rather, I cannot see it. 
There are no breaking points in that wall. It is not an object like we 
know. It is not flawed in the same way a rock or boulder is. The 
breaking point will not work." Heaving a sigh, Cologne waved her hand 
at Hotaru. "Relax yourself, Child. We shall not continue this."

When Hotaru joined back with the group, transformed back into her 
normal self and looking none the worse for wear, Cologne sighed. "I 
would be interested in trying you in combat, to see if that is the same 
as those other girls. Unfortunately, I can see you are not well. 
Perhaps in the future, but for now, I see little we can gain from it."

With everyone watching her for the wisdom that she was so renowned for, 
Cologne paused for thought. "Until we know more, I do not know any 
secret techniques that would be quite suitable to you. For now, I would 
recommend we concentrating on improving each of your specialties. You 
must be faster, better, stronger... Being the best martial artist is no 
longer enough. You must find it within yourself to become more, for 
without that, surely you shall fail."

"I ain't gunna fail, Old Ghoul. And I ain't stopping until we've won 
this war."

Ranma's grin was confident, but inside he felt worry. They seemed to be 
a long way behind the enemy if even little Hotaru could defeat them 
that easily. But then, they were not fighting Hotaru, and they had 
already seen that their enemy could be hurt. 

*	*	*

Tomoe Souichi sat in his basement laboratory and brooded. If only he 
had known a week ago that his daughter was Sailor Saturn, all this 
inconvenience could have been avoided. A compulsion spell, brainwashing, 
magical seals on her power, even simply locking her in her room... 
Almost anything could have been done to stop her escaping, if he had 
but known in time.

Now... Now it was too late. The bird had flown the coop in an all too 
literal manner. One lapse in the tight supervision that he kept Hotaru 
under, and she had been able to manifest the powers of a Senshi. In 
just a few short steps, she had freed herself from his grasp, and now 
he was at a loss as to how to retrieve her.

Souichi had to salute Mistress 9 for her choice of hosts, if she indeed 
knew that Hotaru was going to be Sailor Saturn. Eliminating an enemy 
while at the same time gaining them the powers inherent to the pretty 
soldier was a brilliant plan. On the other hand, if she knew but had 
not told him, it was one of the greatest bungles in their entire 
history. 

Rather than try to place blame and look backwards at what had happened, 
Tomoe decided to accept that the whole situation was a coincidence. 
Unlikely, but it meant that he did not have to be in the unenviable 
position of having a mistress that had jeopardised their whole mission, 
nor did he have to admit to any fault of his own. Anticipating that the 
host for their possession was a Senshi was obviously more than anyone 
would have expected of him.

First and foremost he needed his daughter back. The possession would 
not proceed to schedule unless he had frequent contact. Worse, Mistress 
9 was at constant risk if Hotaru was associating with the other Sailor 
Senshi. It would not take long before one of the other young girl 
warriors spotted the blemishes in Hotaru's spirit. Souichi shuddered 
thinking what would happen to the unfortunate Mistress 9 if Sailor Moon 
was able to direct her Moon Healing Activation against her. When 
Mistress 9 was in full control, there would be no risk, but for now, 
she was vulnerable.

Simply finding his daughter was enough of a challenge. Tokyo was a 
massive city, one of the largest in the world, and it was not as though 
he could simply search the local phonebook under 'S' for "Senshi, 
Saturn". The girls tended to be just a little more discrete with their 
identities than that. 

He had braced his underlings to look out for the girl, but even then, 
he was not sure what they could achieve. If Sailor Saturn had her 
powers - and it appeared as though she did - it would not be easy to 
capture her. Be that as it may, they would try... At least he could 
look forwards to punishing them when they failed... That thought 
brought a smile to his face; one totally unlike anything his daughter 
might have seen in the past.

Using purely mundane means was out too. The police would be the 
simplest route, but what could he say to them? He could picture how the 
conversation would go: "Hello, my daughter ran away from home, I need 
your help finding her."

"Oh, yes, Sir? And why would she do that?"

He would laugh. "She thought I was possessed by evil and trying to kill 
her."

"And why would she think that?"

Time to sweat. "Umm... No idea! Honestly! And if she offers to turn 
into Sailor Saturn and prove it, don't believe her!"

He snorted. No, he could not go to the police. They might find his 
daughter, but one short explanation to the social workers later, and 
she would be free or under ridiculously close examination every day by 
a society that just would not accept that he knew what was best for 
them.
 
Resting his head in the palms of his hand, Souichi looked solemnly at a 
notebook that lay open on his workbench. Just assuming he did find 
her... How was he supposed to get her back and keep her? The Witches 5 
were good; there was no doubt about it. With their cunning, they could 
almost certainly trap her, but could they really expect to trap her and 
carry her off when the rest of the Senshi were protecting her? Even if 
they did succeed in abducting her could they overcome her Senshi powers 
and control her while she was actively resisting?

For the thousandth time, Souichi wished that he had known about this 
small complication _before_ his daughter flew away.

No, the only thing he could really hope for was his current plan. A 
trap. Nice, simple, and elegant. With the house rebuilt to look like it 
always had, and most of their research and work moved somewhere else, 
it should be hard for Sailor Saturn to recognise the evil that had once 
dwelt here. She would come in, naive, innocent and stupid, and he would 
pounce. When she saw the house as she was used to it, and when he said 
that she had just had another one of her fainting spells and imagined 
everything... 

Souichi smiled. With her vulnerable and trusting, they would strike. 
She would be in their power and under their control faster than she 
could resist. Best of all, by making things look peaceful and normal, 
none of her Senshi friends would get involved. Truly, it was the best 
plan.

If only the girl would hurry up and fall into the trap!

*	*	*

Afternoon was again beginning to fall. Throughout the Tendo compound, 
martial artists were finishing their fights and preparing for a few 
hours of rest. A day of hard training could only go so far, and they 
would need all the energy they could muster when they fought the good 
fight again that evening. 

Relaxing in the living room was a group of people who nobody every 
expected to truly be able to relax together. Perhaps it would be more 
accurate to say 'gathered in the living room was a group of people 
pretending to relax together'. 

Nabiki - in a role more demanding than any of the conflicts she had 
ever started - was playing the peace keeper. In the last fifteen 
minutes, she had managed to stop not less that two fights between 
Shampoo and Ukyo, another three between Ranma and Ryoga or Ranma and 
Kuno, not to mention at least three attempts of Mousse to attack either 
a pot plant or her sister while claiming that they were Ranma. 

It seemed that the only people in the room not brewing for a fight with 
someone was herself, Kasumi and Hotaru. Somehow it was distressing that 
she could not make some sexist remark about how it was the hormone 
drenched boys causing all the trouble, since Shampoo and Ukyo was 
causing just as much trouble as any of the others.

No matter how much the two remaining fiancees tried to hide it, Nabiki 
saw as plain as day that they still wanted Ranma, and in some way they 
were willing to profit by Akane's demise. She wanted to hate them for 
that, but she could not. They were here, and they were fighting to 
avenge her sister, and that was what really mattered. Perhaps if Ranma 
reciprocated their attentions she might have been upset - actually, 
upset would hardly have been a hundredth as strong a word as would be 
needed. As it was, he was even more obtuse and thick headed than usual. 
To him, there was only the fight; all else could wait. 

Kasumi was bringing out a tray of snacks when Hotaru asked a question 
so obvious, it made people wonder why no-one had asked it before. 
"Kasumi-neechan, does your mother help you with all the cooking you do? 
It's very good, but I never get to see her and say thank you."

Kasumi's face fell slightly. "Thank you, Little One, but I do all of 
the cooking these days. Our mother... Is no longer with us anymore."

An assortment of nods came from around the table, understanding on all 
of the people's faces. "Daddy always told me that my mother was in a 
beautiful place beyond the sky. Where everything is always pretty and 
she would always be happy. I'm sure your mother is there with her too, 
Kasumi-neechan."

As Kasumi and Nabiki nodded, Ukyo gave a brave smile and made her own 
contribution. "My mum died just before I met Ranma. I guess that's why 
I got on so well with him, Ranma being on his own with his idiot father 
and all. When Ranchan and his father... Ummm... Well, I left my father 
not too much after that, so I guess he never really told me what 
happened. I was only a little kid at the time."

"I was like that. I actually inherited my good direction sense from my 
father. He usually only takes a few days to get to the chemist down the 
street. According to the doctors at the hospital, my mother got up one 
night to go to the bathroom a couple of days after I was born, and I 
haven't seen her since. I see Dad occasionally, and my mother leaves 
letters at the house every now and again... I might have seen her once 
a couple of years ago, but I'm not sure."

Going around the circle, everyone's eyes stopped on Kuno. With a look 
of sternness, possibly disdain, the scion of House Kuno looked away. 
"My story is not fit to tell in the presence of young and innocent ears. 
A child such as this one should not be a party to the horror of what 
happened to my mother before she..." He cleared his throat. "In this I 
shall defer to Saotome for his story. My sister did not take well to 
the news when she was told, and I would be most disinclined to see that 
happen to a soldier of the way of light at such a young age."

For a moment, the great Kuno Tatewaki, Blue Thunder Of Furinkan High, 
looked into the distance, seeing scenes that only he could. A time when 
the Kuno family was complete, whole and undamaged. And another time, a 
time less savoury, a time when the world came apart for all of them. 
They were all touched in their own way that day; mother, daughter, 
father and son. Three survived, but Kuno had wondered whether his 
mother may have been the lucky one on that day of horror. She alone had 
not needed to deal with the effects left in the wake of the events.

Blinking gormlessly, Ranma scratched his head. "Umm... I dunno... I 
guess I never really asked. I can remember her a bit from when I was 
young, but I've been on the road with Pop since I was six, so I don't 
really know. I guess I assumed she... I dunno..."

Looking around, Ranma spotted his father sparring lightly with the 
Tendo patriarch. "Hey! Old Man!"

When then burly martial artist entered the room, everyone looked up at 
him. "Pops, what happened to Mum?"

"What do you mean what happened to her?"

"I mean did she die or kick your lazy butt out or something? What 
happened?"

Genma scratched the scarf covering his head. "Nothing, Boy. What did 
you think happened?"

"What!? What do you mean 'nothin''? What the heck have we been 
wandering around all this time for if Mum's still alive?!"

"Are you insane, Boy? Do you realise what she would do if she---" Genma 
cut off in mid-sentence. Slowly he backed away. "No, Boy, your training 
is not over yet. No, until you are ready to be the master of the School, 
we cannot return to your mother. Practice, Boy. That is what is needed, 
right Tendo-kun?"

Scratching his moustache, Soun looked wistfully into the distance. As 
Genma took him by the elbow and led him away, they could still hear him 
talk for a while. "Ahh, Nodoka. Such a lovely woman. Good cook too. Say, 
Saotome-kun, I seem to remember you telling me about a fetish she had... 
What was it? Bondage? No... Ah! That's right! She was always obsessed 
with cutting things. You were always saying it was a shaving cut or 
something silly like that!... Say, didn't she used to like carrying a 
katana around? Lovely woman besides that of course, just lovely, and as 
sweet as anything..."

Sweating nervously, everyone faced back to the centre of the table and 
was silent. They knew Ranma was strange, but they assumed he had gotten 
that from his father. Maybe that was not the only source of his 
problems. In an effort to steer the conversation away from Ranma's 
parents, people looked at Shampoo who was on his right.

She in turn regaled them with stories of her mother. Naturally, the 
fierce Amazon warrior had been both incredibly skilled and beautiful, 
like all her line. Regrettably, when outnumber vastly by the inferior 
fighters of the Musk, she had been brought low. Now however, she was in 
a place much like the one Hotaru had described, except this was the 
Amazon version of heaven. Continuous battle broken only by feasting, 
celebration and other fighting. In many ways it was reminiscent of the 
stories of the Norse gods, and their visions of Asgerd... but slightly 
more violent and female dominated.

Shampoo's stories of glory and battle led them to talking about their 
own exploits and the great battles they had fought in the past. In no 
time, each of the martial artists was strutting around the room, 
boasting to the skies about how powerful they were and how no foe could 
defeat them. Looking out the sliding door to where her father and his 
guest still practiced gentle Kata, Nabiki took in the gathering 
darkness of evening and smiled. 

"If everyone is feeling so confident, perhaps now would be a good time 
to head off?"

There was a slight hesitation, but only slight. In no time, a chorus of 
cheers and determination rang out, and the group announced their 
commitment. Standing as one, the valiant martial artists rose and left 
the room. After a moment, Ranma returned and looked down at one of the 
girls left sitting behind in the room. "So, you coming, Hotaru?"

With amazement in her eyes, the girl looked up and blinked at her idol, 
once again female as she prepared for a night of work. "You... You want 
me to come with you?"

"I said you could come when you were ready." Ranma gave a cocky grin. 
"I figure what you showed us yesterday says you're ready. What do you 
think?"

When the transformed Hotaru walked out to join the other fighters 
gathered in the front yard, she could not remember the last time she 
had been so proud. All her life, she had been 'Hotaru, the weak, sickly 
little strange girl'. Now she wasn't. Standing among all of these 
strong fighters, she was a valued member of their team. Finally, after 
all those years, she was a member of that most important group in the 
world... She was a part of a group of friends, she was one of 'us', not 
a stranger on the outside looking in.

Feeling ten feet tall and strong enough to take on the entire team of 
Sailor Senshi at once, she walked proudly in the middle of the group. 
Her massive polearm and shock white costume made her stand out against 
the softer colours the others wore, but she would not have traded it in 
an instant. Her magic made her worthwhile.

Walking along, Hotaru did not notice the way the others placed 
themselves around her in a way that they could protect her. For all 
that she had proven her ability to form an impregnable shield, she was 
the weakest of them all. For all intents and purposes, she was also 
incapable of attacking their enemies; no matter what powers she might 
claim. The fact that she weighed less that Ryoga's umbrella had nothing 
to do with their protective instinct, but something in the girl 
inspired their protective instincts.

An hour into the patrol, Hotaru was riding on top of Ryoga's backpack. 
She was not yet too tired to walk, but her weight was negligible to him, 
and that let the group run and jump, covering vastly more ground in a 
night than they could hope to while walking. Resting most of the time 
also let Hotaru ad a new dimension to their scouting that they had 
never had before: flight. For short periods, Hotaru would soar aloft on 
her gossamer wings, looking for the trouble that they sought, taking 
advantage of her magical powers for more than just fleeing.

Naturally, it was one of the times that she was resting comfortably - 
or as comfortably as one can while sitting sideways on the top a hard 
backpack that was currently moving down the street at high speed - that 
they found their enemy for the night.

Emerald, one of the evil sorceresses in the employ of a group calling 
themselves the Dark Moon Family. They had not fought her head on before, 
but this time it looked like they would. The woman was laughing 
villainously behind her fan watching a building full of people not far 
from them. With a yell and a wave, Ranma urged the team forwards. If 
she was alone, this could be their big chance. They would be able to 
take her down and make Tokyo safer by one villain. 

Not waiting for the others, Ranma sprinted forwards, planning on 
getting the surprise on her and making her regret her inattention. 
Behind her Hotaru nimbly landed as she jumped off Ryoga's pack, and the 
rest of the martial artists drew weapons and ran forwards.

Feeling her blood surge, Ranma leapt, covering the last ten metres to 
Emerald with her left leg extended for a devastating kick. Less than 
half a metre from her target, Ranma was suddenly propelled sideways, 
knocked aside by a bolt of black lightning. Smoking slightly, Ranma 
rolled to her feet and shook her head. Emerald, now facing them laughed 
again as their faces dropped when they realised the truth. The truth 
that they had not caught her unawares, but had again underestimated 
their foes.

"Prince Diamond told me to be careful of others out here tonight, not 
just the Senshi. I thought he meant the Death Busters, someone 
dangerous, not just a group of children like you! Droid! Destroy them! 
Drain their energy and use it to power of Crystal!"

The Droid, the source of the dark energy that had hit Ranma walked from 
the building. Even Ranma and Ryoga - fortified by anger and hatred - 
backed up a step in awe of the figure they saw. Still somehow female in 
appearance, the Droid was a parody on the toys from the store that it 
came from. Large, plastic looking fins protruded from her upper arms, 
and she was covered in interlocking plates of metal or plastic armour. 
Most of her face was covered by a mask reminiscent of a dozen anime of 
giant mecha. The fact that Droid was a healthy two and half metres tall 
and heavy enough to crack the pavement when it walked made lie to the 
thought that it was just a feeble toy.

"I deal with this thing. You guys take care of the old woman!" With 
that Ranma again charged, but this time she was sure in her target, 
seeking to occupy the Droid while they accomplished their real mission.

"'Old Woman'?" Emerald screamed. "I'll have you know I am the most 
beautiful person in all of Prince Diamond's court."

"Shampoo think court must no have other woman."

Snarling, Emerald snapped her fan closed and pointed at them. "Destroy 
them! Destroy them all! Do not stop until they are dead!" Looking away 
she muttered. "Not even the Senshi are this insulting..."

Slow to respond initially, the Droid failed to stop Ranma as the small 
red-head launched in and delivered a series of side kicks to its head 
before dropping top the ground in front of it and sweeping out both 
legs. There was a massive crunch as concrete shattered when the plastic 
monstrosity landed. Standing up, Ranma flicked her pig-tail back over 
her shoulder with a negligent thumb. "Feh! That weren't so tough."

"Ran-chan!"
"Airen!"
"Ranma-san!"
"You idiot!"
"Saotome!"

A chorus of voices rang out, but it was too late. Not even phased by 
the kicks and the rough landing, the toy / mecha / girl / Droid / thing 
lashed out with its own kick. It had none of Ranma's finesse, but it 
had ten times the power, more than enough to catch Ranma in the middle 
of the back and send her slamming into the front wall of the store. As 
everyone rushed it, the Droid followed up its victory and grabbed the 
briefly stunned Ranma out of the concrete she had been embedded in.

Holding the front of the red shirt, the Droid accepted a bonbori strike 
to its side for the pleasure of drawing back its massive fist and 
sending it rocketing into the unprotected jaw in front of it. Tearing a 
great section of shirt off the front of the red-head, the Droid's blow 
sent her flying high into they sky, flailing limply like a rag doll.

Ranma's landing would have been rather nasty, but a small form that had 
been reluctant to enter the fight suddenly took to the air and caught 
her. Hotaru might not have been strong enough to carry someone larger 
like Mousse or Ryoga, but Ranma's female form was not much larger than 
she was, the martial artist's rock hard strength hidden within an 
apparently fragile shell. Sweating under the strain, Hotaru could not 
fly off with her friend, but she could ensure a safe, soft landing. 
When they touched down, she briefly took in the fight and concentrated. 
She had to be able to do something to help as she held the unconscious 
form of Ranma in her arms.

Infuriated by the sight of their fiancee being treated that way, 
Shampoo and Ukyo moved in to demolish the plastic horror. A brace of 
throwing spatulas simply bounce off harmlessly, but the combined 
attacks of the girls managed to send plastic chips flying as the Droid 
was forced to block and protect its face. The momentum did not last 
long, for as the boys manoeuvred into position to join the fight, 
Shampoo was sent sailing backwards with a blow strong enough to make 
her ribs creak.

Caught by the flying Shampoo, Mousse was sent sprawling one way, while 
his glasses flew in the other direction with an ominous tinkling sound. 
By the time he had clambered to his feet, the world had devolved into 
an almost uniform blur. Only the massive quantities of bright, primary 
colours identified their adversary, but until he could don a new pair 
of glasses, he would be the same liability that Ranma had initially 
feared.

At least, he might be a liability to most of the team. He could not 
tell where most of their crew were, but Ryoga was easy to spot. At 
least, Mousse assumed that it was Ryoga. He hoped it was Ryoga. Anyone 
else capable of glowing a swirling, sickly green that cut through even 
his impaired vision was someone he hoped would only exist once in this 
world.

Ryoga's depression was obvious. Kuno had been felled by Emerald as soon 
as he had tried to attack her with his bokken. Ranma was down. Hotaru 
was hiding. Shampoo and Mousse were lying on the ground. And Ukyo... 
Ukyo was hanging by her throat as the Droid slowly crushed the air out 
of her.

Channelling Ki into his hands, Ryoga let his Shi Shi Hokodan build. He 
could not hit Emerald because she was behind the Droid, and he could 
not hit the Droid without frying Ukyo. Uselessness, failure, despair; 
these things only fuelled his attack even more. Burning with anger, 
Ryoga swore that this would not be another battle that they lost.

"Droid! Kill her! Do not hesitate! We will take their energy and rise, 
more powerful than ever!"

Slowly, the Droid closed its chunky fingers around Ukyo's pale, slender 
throat until...

---

End Of Chapter

Well... Can you say "cliff-hanger"? Well done! I know you could.

What is going to happen to Ukyo? Will Shampoo finally be in the clear 
as the last surviving fiancee of Ranma? Will Ukyo suddenly realise that 
she is the improbably named Sailor Oort Cloud, cross dressing half-
sister of Sailor Pluto? Will she suddenly gain amazing powers and save 
all of Tokyo in one fell swoop? Will someone put some sense into this 
rant?

All this and more, next, on Vengeance And A Half 06!

---
End Of Author's Rant

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