Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma 1/2 or any other crossover characters. They are owned by their respective owners. Not out to make any money or fame on others work.
This is a collection of fic's I was able to save of a web archive that has shut down recently. Some had been edited so my text reader would work better. So original authors and extra stuff was removed from the fic .
On the ones that have not been edited I will be editing them so the original authors will get credited for their parts. Also if you have the parts that I'm missing let me know in a PM will edit them in. Same with other fic's if you have them will post for others to be able to read.
Ranma's New Life: In the name of the Moon
by Kestral
Ranma wasn't happy about this.
Nope. Nope. Nope.
She felt like standing on a roof and yelling "Akane Tendo! This is all your fault! Because of you I have seen hell!" It had to have been something Akane had fed him. Late acting poison. He shouldn't have been surprised.
It was bad enough to be a girl. Worse to be a pretty and lightly build one, but she was a delicate girl. Not a tomboy at all.
Well, to heck with that! She still remembered being Ranma. In fact, considering strength of personality, she was more Ranma than Usagi Tsukino.
As she used her Usagi memories to get to school, Ranma was going over how she'd have to train this body to regain the martial arts skills she remembered.
It took a few moments before Ranma realized what was going on, but the sounds were unmistakable. That was a bunch of kids picking on a single poor animal. Neither Ranma no Usagi would have let any such thing happen while they could do something about it. Being one person, there wasn't a conflict on what to do.
"Hey! You little jerks! Leave that animal alone!"
"Oh man, let's get outta here!"
As the kids scattered away from the scene, Ranma nodded to herself and went to check out the creature that they had been picking on. "You okay?" the blonde asked the small animal as she turned to it.
"C-c-c-c-CATTTTT!" Zip, zoom, zing!
The cat in question looked at where the girl had vanished in a high speed acceleration and wondered what THAT had been about.
Wheezing and gasping, Usagi Tsukino slowed and began walking. Yup. This body was severely out of shape. This would never do.
Once into school, things fell into place a bit more. If Ranma didn't think about it, the body fell into its own patterns easily enough. It was easy enough to go through the motions in school, then finally get through to the end where training could be scheduled. That would be the difficult part.
Usagi would usually go home and watch television or something. Ranma didn't have any interest in that though, and quickly began working on some basic kata. This body didn't know them at all, and the whole point of a kata was to train the body to know the basic moves so that they could be unleashed instinctively.
It was getting dark when she was called in for dinner, and fortunately Usagi's eating habits weren't different from those she'd had in her previous incarnation as Ranma.
Usagi flopped down on the bed, too tired to care about the soft bed and softer furnishings. It'd have to be changed eventually, but right now this body was too exhausted to do much of anything.
Luna had realised that there was something special about the girl, but hadn't realised just what that was. Up until then, she hadn't even realised that there was something special about herself. But something told her to keep an eye on the girl, and as she did, she found herself growing more and more intrigued by the girl in question. It got to the point where she'd scratched her head in confusion, which had the effect of pulling off the bandages put onto it.
That was when she realised what, or rather, who, this girl could be, and decided that she'd have to act quickly.
So she waited until she was certain that she could be alone with the girl, and leapt into the bedroom through the open window. The girl who'd garnered so much interest was sleeping flopped down on her back, snoring up a storm. Unfortunately, even though the teen looked pretty happy like that, the mooncat needed her up.
"Usagi? Wake up," Luna murmured, pushing her paw into a pajama clad shoulder. "Hello... I need to speak to you..."
What she got was a mere snore.
Sighing heavily, the feline decided that it would be better if she went a little harder, and leapt upon the girl.
About the only thing that got her was an expulsion of air.
Having decided that she had no other recourse, Luna decided that she'd have to get the girl up one way or another, and that meant walking along the mattress to put her claws into the shoulder that she'd been poking earlier.
Now Usagi had been dreaming of not being stuck in a body that was delicate and soft, but was rather closer to being an Amazon. She'd known that it wouldn't exactly be easy to be anything other than a girl at the moment, but the hairstyle reminded Ranma about the Amazons, and being one was preferable to the weakness she had now. But the dream of being able to leap around in a practice was stopped sort as a shooting pain went through her shoulder. It was definitely enough to wake even her up, and she did so with all the grace that was needed in that situation.
As a result, Luna got to see the girl yelp in pain as her eyes snapped open and she practically bounced to the ceiling. Soon enough, the blonde turned to look at the cause of her pain. The fact that she planned to address the attack rather immediately was clear on her face... but she stopped when she saw what it was that had so rudely awakened her.
Luna leaned forwards in what she hoped was a nice gesture.
Usagi... went wide eyed in terror, and twitched a bit. They stayed there for a bit, almost frozen in time on that bed. But then something happened that took the cat back.
The one who could have been the one girl out of all the others alive that Luna had been looking for... meowed.
'I don't think that's how it's supposed to go..,' Luna thought to herself.
"Rrrr...rr..owww..," went Usagi-neko as she crouched on the mattress
Luna stared. The girl's body language was very catlike. In fact it was the spitting image of an annoyed cat reacting to - uh oh.
The body language was of a cat about to attack!
Luna leapt, just a second before the section of bed she'd been in got slashed to ribbons.
Luna twisted in midair, caught a glimpse of something following her and RAN.
She'd thought dogs were terrifying. That turned out to be something other than accurate. Far more terrifying was this form that copied her motions and accelerated after her - incidentally turning a dresser into so much wood shavings.
Luna did the only thing available to her - the window was still open. She freaked and ran.
"HSSssssssssssssss!" hissed Usagi-neko with her back arched. Then she was out the window as well.
On seeing the girl-cat STILL after her tail, Luna did the only thing she could think of to throw off pursuit.
Off to the yoma. Maybe that would startle this girl out of her nightmare?
"I'll steal your energy for the Dark Kingdom!" promised the yoma as she advanced on Naru Osaka.
"What did I do to YOU?! (besides clawing you, that is)" yelled a black cat as it bounced off the yoma's head and raced off to hide under a display case.
"A talking cat?" asked the yoma.
"That's what I thought too," said Naru, looking at where the cat was now crouched.
"ROWRRRRR!" WHAMMMM!
Naru stared at where her good friend Usagi had just slammed into the yoma. Usagi then jumped off to go chasing the cat around the jewelry store at very high speeds.
"Hey!" The yoma protested. "I'm the only yoma supposed to be operating here!"
"STAY AWAY!" "ROWR!"
Naru began sneaking away, then realized she couldn't abandon her friend like that.
"The cat is talking like a person and the person is talking like a cat?" The yoma seemed to consider. "I don't remember a yoma with that power. Could it be a Rival Dark Kingdom™?"
Naru settled for hiding behind a pillar and watching.
The black cat changed direction again, heading straight for the yoma.
Usagi changed direction to follow.
"Take this!" said the yoma, throwing black lightning at the girl.
Luna ran past. Usagi changed targets.
"RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR FSSSST!" SLASH!
"That didn't hurt!" said the yoma.
PLop!
The yoma looked down at where her right arm was now unattached to the rest of her body. "... okay maybe it does hurt..."
"RRRRROWLLLLL," said Usagi, crouching low before leaping to bounce off two pillars and come after her opponent again.
"I WON'T FORGET THIS!" declared the yoma, fading out.
"Whoa," said Luna, wide eyed. Then she covered her mouth as the girl had reoriented on her. "Oh hell..."
Naru watched as Usagi continued to chase the black cat out of the store.
Tuxedo Kamen wasn't quite sure why he'd come to the store, but then he wasn't exactly clear on a lot of stuff. He was after all focused on one major issue, and he didn't have much in the way of prevarication otherwise. All he knew was that he'd felt the need to go there, and it was so powerful, he had no choice in the matter.
But his confusion wasn't exactly because he'd been drawn to the store.
Rather, it had to do with the fact that he'd been pulled from his original heading into a residential neighborhood to this place. That in of itself was weird, since he'd felt that he was needed immediately. About the only thing that he could figure was going on was the possibility that whatever was drawing him was being moved without his knowledge.
So, knowing that something major was up, he arrived at the jewelry store, ready to act when need be. He wasn't certain what form that would take, but he was ready to do what he could. Prepared to act on a moment's notice, he gazed down and took stock of the situation.
And saw a cat being chased out of the store by a girl running on all fours.
"What in the world..?" he muttered to himself.
When Luna had gone after the girl that she'd been sure was Sailor Moon, she'd expected some resistance. She'd known that the girl would have grown up in this new life, and would know nothing about her past one. That would have meant a little explanation would be in order, and she'd have to convince the blonde that she could be trusted, and what she said was real.
"ROWR!" Usagi-neko yowled as she sent another swipe at the black cat.
Of course, she hadn't expected to be attacked, and chased over half the city.
They'd raced from the store, along streets, and through the night. If anything, she was amazed by the girl's agility and strength, though she'd much rather have it focused on something other than her. It was, after all, rather disconcerting to try and use her natural feline grace and agility, and find that it wasn't quite working.
The time that she'd gone on a wooden fence, she'd been followed on it, up until her charge had torn it apart.
Going up on the frame of an office building being constructed didn't work, especially considering that the girl seemed perfectly willing to chase her up high among the girders.
And getting into clear spaces only allowed for the dirt to be torn by repeated attacks.
There were, of course, some upsides to it all.
"Woof! Grr..."
"Yowl! Hisss!"
The mooncat wasn't a vicious person, but she did like it when a dog she remembered attacking her got his comeuppance.
One boy turned to his friend and blinked. "Did I see what I thought I saw?"
"A cute blonde running past us in her pajamas?" his friend asked.
"That's what I thought. You know what?"
"What?"
"I think that I'll have some good dreams tonight."
"Me too..," the other boy agreed,
Usagi woke, exhausted and wondering what the heck happened last night.
Still tired, she fixed a quick breakfast and began what she felt was the most overriding priority.
Relearning the martial arts.
This body was clumsy as all hell, weak, easily tired, and didn't have any martial arts maneuvers hard-wired so that they could be used instinctively.
The cute and fuzzy stuff had to be tolerated for now. Rabbit slippers and all. If he changed too much, too quickly, it would cause problems. Having a bratty younger brother, two clueless parents, and being stuck girl full time was enough of a set of problems without adding too much.
Despite these precautions, there was enough of a departure in behavior that brat and the clueless mother stared as Usagi clumsily went through one set of martial arts maneuvers after another. The clumsiness began fading through the last few sets, and Usagi was sweatier than was typical.
Ikuko sent her daughter to get a bath and rush off to school. Usagi requested an extra large bento, coming up with the excuse that the martial arts training was to stop being so clumsy and learn discipline.
Shingo, bratty little brother, kept his mouth shut. He suspected Usagi was just going to dump this the way she dropped every other 'self-improvement' effort.
Mother, on the other hand, saw her daughter finally accepting some responsibility and trying to do something about it. While she was used to Usagi starting programs and dropping them again, there was a fire of determination present she hadn't seen before.
Usagi ran to school, much as she had previously, noting how much further she was able to get, and faster.
School remained the same - a drag. Except for Gym, of course. More martial arts training was involved, though that was mainly attitude and focus.
Throughout the day a pair of eyes studied the girl.
After the night that she'd had, Naru had hoped that the whole episode would have turned out to be a dream once she'd had a good night's rest. Since she didn't usually have evenings where monsters impersonated her mother, only to be defeated by her friend Usagi acting crazy, it could have been put down to eating too much before bed. Then she could put it behind her, and get back to a normal routine.
However, reality was not being nice to her. Instead of the pristine store that she'd been hoping for, the remnants of the fight that had been left there were quite apparent. Then there was the fact that her mother was continuing to feel the aftereffects of being attacked by that thing, though she was healing quickly.
And now she was getting to see that something was seriously different with her best friend. To anyone else, she would have been the same ditzy blonde, but there had been a lot of 'little things' that had piled up all day. Going from a chatty, lazy, and very sweet girl to one that seemed to be determined and prepared for exercise was a major surprise. Not that she was feeling any real anger from her friend, but this was not quite the same her.
Of course, that had been clear the previous night when she'd gone and run around the store on all fours.
But she had little to go on as to what this all meant. This was her best friend that she was considering, and she didn't want to hurt or alienate Usagi. That would be counterproductive, and pointless, since was not trying to accuse her friend of anything. Rather, she just wanted to know what was going on, and if there was any problem, on how to help.
They were friends, and friends stuck together.
One friend just had to find out how to help was all, and she was determined to find out what she could do
Usagi (Ranma) tried to make this as subtle as possible. Unfortunately, subtle just wasn't his strength.
"Usagi?"
Usagi blinked and looked up from where she'd been trying to do balance training by walking along a curb. "Uhm, Naru, right?"
Naru stared at her friend. "Usagi, we've known each other how long?"
Usagi searched her memories. "At least five or six years."
"So why are you acting so strange?" asked Naru.
Usagi winced as someone saw through the clever disguise. What to do? The truth was too bizarre. So... Ah. "I decided that I didn't want to keep tripping over everything, and I didn't want to be bullied anymore. So I'm devoting myself to the martial arts."
"Wouldn't rhythmic gymnastics be more... you?" asked Naru.
"Nah, I've got some bad memories about that," said Usagi, thinking of Kodachi.
"Oh, yeah," said Naru, remembering the previous year when somehow or other Usagi trying to use the ribbon had managed to end up hanging upside down from one of the gym's basketball hoops.
Usagi (Ranma) saw how sad the girl looked and tried something else. "Hey, we're still friends! It's just I'm... exploring all my options."
"If you get too weird, the boys won't pay any attention to you," said Naru. "Not that they're exactly lining up anyway."
"That's fine," said Usagi, hoping they DID stay away. "Hey, since it's after school how about we go get something to eat?"
"With what money?" Naru asked.
"Oh, uhm, right," said Usagi, realizing she didn't have any. "I'm going to do my homework and then get right on with practicing. I, uh, didn't realize how out of shape I was until after I started training."
"You're out of shape?" asked Naru, though she knew her friend wasn't exactly an athlete. Her big workout seemed to be when she was running to school.
"Oh yeah, big time," agreed Usagi, rolling her eyes. "Maybe do something about this hair too. Maybe something shorter and easier to manage."
Luna watched from a tree. This girl was one of the Senshi and she had awoken, but not in the usual manner. The dedication to fighting arts was obviously something dredged up from her previous life. Maybe she was Sailor Jupiter?
Now how to try and approach her since the first time hadn't exactly gone well.
by Kender
Naru had known her friend for long enough to automatically know when something was unlikely. The other girl had never been one to even actually consider learning to fight, so the idea that she'd know a style to learn was hard to see. But there was always a possibility that it was true, and she didn't feel like accusing the blonde at the moment. "So... what style is it?"
"Huh?" Usagi grunted.
"You have to have a school of martial arts in mind, don't you?"
"Yeah..."
"Then I'd like to know what you're trying to learn."
"Oh... It's the Whirlwind Dragon School Of Freeform Martial Arts, I think..," the blonde replied, trailing off towards the end.
"You 'think'?"
"Well, I wasn't able to copy too much from the old scroll I saw it on before it fell apart..."
"I see... But why don't you just train in a regular dojo or something?"
Usagi pushed the tips of her forefingers together. "I wanted to, but Mom wouldn't let me. She said that it was already hard enough getting me to go to school, and to do my homework, so she couldn't see me sticking to any regular lessons..."
"Okay. That does explain that."
"So... You see why I've got to train myself?"
"I can, even if I don't think that you should try it. You could get hurt."
"Nah... I'll be fine..."
"I hope so."
"I'm sure of it," Usagi said with a smile, both to reassure her friend, and in relief that her plan, such as it was, worked. She had known that if Ranma Saotome didn't 'exist' in this world, then it was entirely possible that the Anything Goes school didn't either. And she didn't want to risk getting anyone knowing the complete truth even if there was such a style in the Art. But it seemed to have succeeded in allaying any possible concerns that Naru had, which made her feel a bit better about the situation. It was good having a friend who wasn't going to pester her for information about bedding fiancees, or a girl who would be bashing her for assumed transgressions. She really wanted to stay friends with the other girl, and was pleased that she'd gotten the girl to stop looking too closely at her current actions.
Not that she knew that Naru's concerns were only partly dealt with
by Kestral
The style was faked, of course.
Ranma might be stuck as a girl, but if he was going to be stuck as a girl - it was NOT going to be a ditzy klutz who wore pink bunny panties. Nope. LOTS of things to change. The only problem was trying not to change so fast that everyone freaked.
One thing at a time, and find excuses as things went on to toss some of this garbage out.
An unexpected ally developed though. Usagi's mother Ikuko saw her daughter taking things seriously and actually following through on her desire to pursue the martial arts and supported her. Not without a few comments about how she would have preferred Usagi develop more traditionally feminine skills, but she apparently realized you had to start somewhere.
Shingo, Usagi's brother, got very nervous as Usagi went from being a lackadaisical crybaby to someone who might be able to kick your butt seven ways from Sunday.
Finally Sunday came around and Ranma/Usagi decided to change something else with the day off from school. He'd had problems with school all of his former life, and now wasn't any different.
She decided to catch a movie. This was actually part of the plan. Watch a kung fu movie, become a fan of one of the actresses and use that excuse to 'be more like her' - ie a credible martial artist.
Ranma had a plan. Not necessarily a good plan, but s/he had a plan.
That and she needed a haircut. Having hair so long you could literally trip over it was just plain impractical.
Naru's eyes widened as she read the book. There was a Whirlwind Dragon Style. It was a Chinese style, weapon based. Swords, spears, and bo staffs mainly. A Japanese variant used naginata. One of the apparently lost styles, mentioned only briefly in the book she was currently reading at the shop.
So, Usagi wasn't making this all up. Curiouser and curiouser.
Naru wasn't sure what to make of the 'new Usagi' but had noticed a few things changing on her old friend besides the attitude. Usagi was developing lean muscle, tightening up in some areas. During the shower before gym, despite Usagi apparently studying the wall, Naru had noticed that Usagi's figure was improving - especially her legs.
Some of the other girls had noticed too, and they weren't sure what to make of the new Usagi either.
A glimpse of someone walking by and Naru put the book back. She'd just follow Usagi and see what was going on today.
Naru sucked in some breath as she noticed the girls walking behind Usagi. Those bullies had always thought Usagi beneath their notice, but now apparently they HAD noticed her.
"Hey, rabbit-head. Hey, I'm talking to you, crybaby," said Mikuko.
"Looks like she don't hear too good," said Etsuko.
"Aw, does the poor little bunny girl feel all scaredy?" suggested Minabi.
"Huh?" said their target, stopping and turning towards them. "Oh, that was you? I heard this annoying buzzing and figured it was mosquitos or something."
"WHAT?!" said Mikuko, not having expected anything like this reaction.
"Big talk from a scrawny little kid," said Minabi. "Maybe we ought to teach you to mind your betters."
"Yeah? Well, if ya find any - let me know," said Usagi, preparing to walk off again.
"You little wise-" began Mikuko, reaching for the smaller girl.
Usagi smiled. It was not a tremulous smile or the smile of a little girl who wanted to be everyone's friend. It was the sort of smile that someone experienced in such could have translated as 'I have been having a whole lot of frustration and problems lately and I want to thank you for providing me a target to take them out on.'
Usagi ducked under the grab, stiffening two fingers and jabbing them into a nerve cluster.
Mikuko howled as pain shot up her arm and she flailed away at the smaller girl.
Usagi ducked and dodged, grinning in a positively EVIL fashion. Ranma Saotome didn't fight girls. Very often at least. Not without lots of regrets. As Usagi Tsukino WAS a girl, that made it okay, didn't it? Ducking in, Usagi aimed a palm strike straight up from under the girl's chin.
Mikuko abruptly stopped with her chin now pointing skyward, shock and pain arresting her motion. Slowly, and with a certain degree of majesty not present in her attack, she toppled.
"Why you!" "Take this!"
Usagi's eyes almost twinkled. Yeah, she'd almost forgotten how much fun this was.
Naru stared. Usagi had gotten... good. The two still facing her managed to get her with a couple of attacks, mainly when Minabi had managed to grab one of Usagi's ponytails and use it to hold Usagi in place. Still, that was nothing compared to the amount of damage Usagi was inflicting on the three bullies.
Once Usagi grabbed back at Minabi to anchor herself, then started kicking away at Etsuko with both legs, the battle began to shift back in Usagi's favor. Apparently all that running to school had given Usagi a certain degree of strength there. Etsuko apparently would agree with it, the bigger girl breaking and running away as soon as she could.
That left Minabi trying to wrestle Usagi and it was obvious that despite the size difference, the older girl was not going to come up victorious in that struggle. As soon as Mikuko picked herself up and started running, Minabi did the same.
"That was fun. We'll have to do this again sometime," yelled Usagi at the retreating figures.
Naru went back to the bookstore. Was there anything about this in one of those other books?
Luna STARED. She was pretty sure that Sailor Jupiter was taller, but who else had moves like that?
She certainly couldn't remember Sailor Jupiter acting like a cat and chasing anyone around town, but then she couldn't remember anyone else doing anything along those lines either.
This was all so very strange, but within that movie theatre there ought to be some good places to observe from concealment and see if any other clues fit into place.
Meanwhile, Usagi bought the ticket, went in and watched the kung fu film with all appearances of enjoying it. She was going to choose as her role model:
by Kender
Ranma would have been the first to let others know that he didn't understand girls. What with the social isolation that his father had brought him up in, how certain things were not spoken of, and the general misinformation considered fact by some of his gender, he'd never really learned much about just why girls did some things. But then again, he'd had to deal with having great luck in attracting the attentions of lovely girls who tended to hit him a lot.
Usagi knew that she was a girl, but had decided that she'd be her kind of girl. All she needed was an 'excuse', and she'd be able to act like the sort of person she wanted to. There would be some sacrifices of course, considering her situation, but she'd come into the theater hoping that she'd be able to find a reasonable 'role model'.
Oddly enough, she found that she actually liked the movie. Sure, it wasn't as good as she could have done when she was a guy, but it wasn't too bad. And since she had not come in looking to be a critic or anything, she was reasonably entertained to the point that she could see herself actually continuing to watch the films.
But the most important thing at the moment was that she'd found her 'idol'. It would serve her well as she made certain to show the people just why she was doing something. After all, if an excitable young girl jumped onto something that she'd seen, no one would blame her for it.
And being certain of that made for even more enjoyment as she continued to watch
by Kestral
The movie was "Royal Warriors" and the actress was an action star named Michelle Yeoh. By the end of the movie, while Ranma/Usagi was convinced he could have done it better himself - it was still pretty darn good in the fight sequences.
"Michelle Yo?" asked Ikuko Tsukino, not having seen the movie.
"Yeah, she's cool!" said Usagi, nodding.
"Ah," said Ikuko, still a little put off by Usagi dedicating herself to something as untraditionally feminine as martial arts but it was an improvement at least. Plus there had been a note from Usagi's teachers asking if the girl had been replaced by a space alien because she was doing so much better on her tests. "Did this idol of yours do well in high school?"
"Uhm, yeah, I think she did," admitted Usagi, just knowing there had been a drawback somewhere. Oh well.
"Great!" said a more enthusiastic mother.
"Michelle Yeoh?" asked Shingo from the stairs, vaguely familiar with the actress and seeing this horrifying image of himself getting batted around by a buttkicking elder sister.
"Yeah!" said Usagi clenching a fist and looking as if she had fires of determination burning in her eyes.
Ikuko nodded and went back to fixing dinner. "That's nice dear. Don't forget to finish your homework before you get to training."
"Already done, thanks Mom!"
Practice practice practice.
The reason for a martial arts kata was that you repeated sets of movement enough that you programmed them into your reflexes to the point where they could be unleashed without thinking. The Anything Goes style utilized kata on the most basic level, though the style itself was like the old adage - 'be like water and change form to adapt to any situation.'
The body of Usagi Tsukino didn't have ingrained reflexes, or as Ranma would think - the right ingrained reflexes. There were a number of situations where he, as Ranma, had not had the right reflexes anyway but those had been dealing with alien situations - social skill use and things of that nature.
Women in martial arts movies tended not to use punches quite so much as kicks - length and strength of their arms being factors. They also tended to use weapons on a regular basis. Relying on one weapon was against the Anything Goes philosophy, but you also couldn't discount weapons entirely. They added a level of reach, could be used to block or disarm other weapons, and could be used to focus force in a precise application.
Weapons training was for after one mastered the basics, however. As Usagi Tsukino that was still a ways off.
Punch-block-counterpunch-kick.
Meditation had never been a strong suit of Anything Goes, yet meditation and the spiritual part of the Art was supposed to be good for building one's chi. Usagi thought that it would be best to build upon this angle because, quite frankly, she was uncertain she could otherwise get anywhere near where she had been as Ranma Saotome.
There was something odd though about the chi she had as Usagi. Almost like there was something else, some vast reservoir that was similar to chi but just tantalizingly out of reach.
It would have to be explored.
Usagi started practicing circle kicks, chaining them together. Not enough. Not nearly enough.
by Kender
Luna was not a stupid cat by any means. She was bossy, opinionated, and uptight, but she was not unintelligent. It only took a couple of tries for her to realize that something was up with the girl she thought might be a Senshi, but to find out what it was, she'd have to actually hear what the problem was. Unfortunately, every time she had approached the girl in question, there had been some major trouble, and that kind of wrecked any sort of attempt to find out what was going on.
So, she'd come up with a plan. Since the first sight of her had freaked the girl out, she had decided to stay hidden. Sneaking into the house, she got into the appropriate room, and crept under the bed to make sure that she could be there, but not have to worry about being seen. Sure, it'd be hard to have a serious conversation this way, but if she could at least start it, then she would be able to work from there.
Fortunately, patience had its virtues, and after waiting until night was about to start, she saw the girl come into the room, and sit on the bed. Once she knew that they were alone, and the door was closed, she took her chances, and decided to see if she could manage a proper introduction.
"Hello, Usagi," she called out.
"GAH!" came the girl's voice as she leapt from the bed and stood in the middle of the floor. "Who said that?! Where are you?!"
"Right here. Under your bed."
"'Under my...' You aren't some pervert, are you? Or some sort of monster? Are you a pervert monster?"
"NO! I'm a friend."
"Right... One that's hiding under my bed."
The mooncat fought the urge to roll her eyes and merely sighed. "I'm here because every time I try to talk to you, you act... strangely. Almost as if you thought that you were... an animal."
"Hmm... The only time that's happened was when I saw that... You're that... ca... ca..."
"Uh... I'm not really one of them. I only look that way!"
"Huh?" went Usagi as confusion momentarily blunted her fear.
"Do cats talk?"
"Well... no..."
"Still, I'm not coming out when you can see me, okay?"
"I guess that's a small favor..."
"And I've got one to ask of you."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"My name is Luna," the not-quite feline informed her, "and I've been searching for a special kind of girl, one who can help me in a fight that will determine the fate of the world."
"And you came to me?"
"Exactly. It's my hope that you're the one I've been searching for."
"Hmm... A fight does sound tempting... But what would you need me for?" the blonde asked.
"I think that you could be a 'Sailor Senshi', a warrior for Love and Justice given special powers to fight all sorts of monsters."
"Oh! Sort of like 'Sailor V'!"
"Pardon?"
"I heard of her! She's got all those cool abilities and uses them to fight bad guys! I was kind of thinking of trying something out like that..."
"Well, you can if you become a 'Senshi'."
"How could I do that?" Usagi asked eagerly, the opportunity to gain abilities overriding the fear at being in the same room as something that even looked like a certain mammal.
"All you have to do is close your eyes."
"And do what? Make a wish?"
"No. I'm just going to have to come out to do something, and I figured that you might not want to see me."
"Good idea. VERY good idea."
"Okay, I'm coming out..."
Usagi said nothing, but kept her eyes squeezed shut while Luna :
sat there and used her powers to contact the girl's mind in the hopes of at least alleviating the fears.
did her special flip, and left a green stick as she slipped back under the bed.
"Now, open your eyes, pick up the henshin pen and say, "Jupiter power, make up."
did her special flip, and left a broach behind as she slipped back under the bed.
"Now, open your eyes, pick up the broach and say, "Moon prism power, make up."
tried to sense which Senshi this girl could be.
did something else.
Read the comments on this episode
Ranma's New Life: Nope, that's not it. [Episode 139004]
by Kestral
Usagi said nothing, but kept her eyes squeezed shut while Luna did her special flip. Luna left the green stick as she slipped back under the bed and waited until she was certain she was out of sight before speaking again. "Now open your eyes, pick up the henshin pen and say 'Jupiter Power, Make Up.'"
Usagi opened her eyes and looked at the thing on the floor. "Kinda gaudy, ain't it?"
"It's fine," said Luna, wondering if ANYTHING was going to go right.
Usagi picked the metal pen up and frowned at it. "What color ink does it got?"
"Black, I think," said Luna, who hadn't ever considered writing with a henshin pen. Had to roll with the times and it would help keep the secret identities if it functioned like a regular pen. Did it even have ink?
"Okay, uh, 'Jupiter Power, Maid Up'?"
"No no no! 'Jupiter Power, Make Up'!"
"'Jupiter Power, Make Up.'"
"Try it with feeling."
"I am. Feeling pretty dorky that is. 'Jupiter Power, Make Up.'... Still nothing."
"Hmmm. Close your eyes again." Zip! Flip! Clatter! Zip! "Try this one. 'Mars Power, Make Up.'"
"This one looks pretty gaudy too. Oh well. 'Mars Power, Make Up.' Nothing."
"Close your eyes again." Zip! Flip! Clatter! Zip! "Try this one. 'Uranus Power, Make Up.'"
"Man, do they all look this..." Usagi sought a proper word for these gaudy looking pens. Oh yeah, something from school the other day. "Are they all this gauche?"
"They're pens that were made in the Silver Millennium to activate transformation to a superpowered warrior state," explained Luna, rolling her eyes. "Fashions may have changed a little over the millennia."
"No joke," said Usagi, holding the pen up. "'Uranus Power, Make Up.' Still nothing."
"Close your eyes again." Zip! Flip! Clatter! Zip! "Try this one. 'Mercury Power, Make Up.'"
"I kinda like the blue there," said Usagi without much hope. "'Mercury Power, Make Up.'"
"Close your eyes again." Zip! Flip! Clatter! Zip! "Try this one. 'Neptune Power, Make Up.'"
"'Neptune Power, Make Up.' Nope. Hey, what about Venus, ain't that a planet too?"
"Venus is already out there," said Luna. "Close your eyes again." Zip! Flip! Clatter! Zip! "Try this one. 'Pluto Power, Make Up.'"
"We had that in class today. Pluto ain't a real planet, it's just a Kuiper Belt Object that's in a stable orbit. Kinda."
"Just try it," complained Luna.
"Okay, okay. 'Pluto Power, Make Up.' Nope. 'Kuiper Belt Object Make Up.' That's not it. How about 'Orbiting Ball Of Rock and Ice Commonly Known As Pluto, Make Up?'"
There was a long suffering sigh from under the bed.
"Close your eyes again." Zip! Flip! Clatter! Zip! "Try this one. 'Ceres Power, Make Up.'"
Usagi sat back on the bed, listening to the monster under the bed panting from some effort. Her gaze tracked to the mound of multi-colored pins and brooches. "What're you doing anyway? Pulling these outta your... butt?"
"Subspatial pocket," said Luna, wheezing slightly.
"Cool, now there's a useful technique," said Usagi, thinking it sounded like Mousse's Hidden Weapon Style. Being able to hide that much on your person could be real handy. For one thing, think about the size of the lunch you could take to school!
"Right," wheezed Luna. "Useful technique. There has to be something I'm overlooking."
"Let's see, ya got the planets," pointed out Usagi. "Most of the major moons visible from Earth. There's several asteroids. One Kuiper Belt Object. One planet I ain't never heard of. The only one you ain't pulled out is Earth's Moon."
Luna let out another deep sigh. "Okay, close your eyes." drag drag drag anemic-flip crawl crawl collapse. "Try 'Moon Power, Make Up.'"
"That's another thing," said Usagi. "I'm supposed to turn into a superpowered warrior protecting people, and it's through 'Make Up'? Can't it be something more dignified like 'Power Up' or 'Warrior Mode' or 'Borg Gear On' or something like that?"
"Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz," snored Luna.
"Oh well, 'Moon Power, Make Up'?" Flash Flash FLASH! "ARRGHHHHH. What's with this silly outfit? These superpowered warriors were cheerleaders or something?!"
Usagi changes back. The outfit needs some work. Maybe some accessories. Bracers with some armor.
by Kender
Looking over herself in the mirror, Usagi tried to see all that she could of the outfit, not that she wanted to. It wasn't that it was short, or that it was a girl's outfit. She knew that being a girl now, she'd have to wear something feminine, most likely when she didn't want to, what with school and parents. And it was hard to kick or jump well when wearing a long skirt.
But this was rather ridiculous. Her legs didn't need to be that exposed, and anyone could look up her skirt, which, having dealt with perverts wasn't a good thing. Then there were the silly ribbons on her chest and hanging over her backside. What was she supposed to do with them?
All in all, the outfit was pretty silly, and she wasn't sure who had designed it. More than likely it was a guy, since most of the girls she'd known were not of the type to go for such tiny outfits, and Amazons didn't wear so much in the way of frills.
However, any sort of contemplation of the situation was going to have to wait, since, as she stood there, the sound of a cry for help reached her ears. She wasn't sure of where it had come from, but she could hear it almost as if it was right next to her. With someone in trouble, and the word 'monster' ringing in her ears, she could tell that there would be only one reaction to this sort of situation.
"Cool! A chance to see how good these powers are!" So, bounding out of her open window, she charged off towards where the screams were coming from.
The problem was that she misjudged the distance, and, instead of landing in the yard of her house, she wound up in the street. That shook her for a moment, and as tried it again, only to bounce to the roof of a house without intending to, a small grin curved her lips. This was much better than she could have hoped. Her new powers enhanced her abilities here, and she could leap around with little trouble at all.
Once she got herself used to the new power, she got it under control, and managed to race off faster than she could have hoped. It wasn't some sort of massive power boost, but she could tell that it was taking away all those weaknesses that her body had before. A part of her wondered how well she'd do if she actually got herself trained up to a level approaching what she'd had before all this happened to her.
That would have to wait though. At the moment, there was a monster needing to be beaten, and as she leapt near where the cries were coming from, she focused on what was going on. Spotting a cringing girl being menaced by a yoma, she knew that she'd have to do something.
Usagi merely leapt into between them, and decked the monster so hard that it flew backwards and landed on it's back.
"You'd better get out of here," Usagi told the girl.
The victim nodded, and ran off, leaving the girl in the odd costume facing off with the creature pulling itself off the ground. Not that Usagi minded, since the girl was one she'd told to leave. Because she'd acted so quickly, there was little to worry about from that direction.
However, the blonde did have one slight bit of trouble.
'I forgot to find out just what my powers are...' Usagi lamented to herself,
by Kestral
"One target's as good as another," said the monster, reaching forward.
WHACK! went a roundhouse kick, striking an elbow joint.
"Hmmmm," said the monster, eyeing the way that elbow was now bent in an entirely new direction. A flex and it was as good as new. "Let's try that again."
Again the monster reached for the girl with the silly hairstyle. Again the girl moved.
WHACK! went a went a roundhouse kick, this time aimed low at a kneecap. WHAP! went a palm strike into an abdomen. flip went the sailor suited warrior of love and justice as she leapt back out of range again.
"Lucky shot," asked the yoma to herself as she flexed the leg and popped the joint back into place. The big dent in the midsection filled back out. "Now, this time for sure!"
WHACK! went a kick to the other knee. WHAP! went a palm strike to the nose. CHUNK! went a hand spear to the throat. flip! went the sailor suited warrior of love and justice.
"This means something," said the yoma as she popped her face back from a concave indentation to normal. "Okay then, now I'll..."
WHACK! WHAP! CHUNK! THUMP! CRUNCH! SMASH! TWIST! flip
Slowly pulling herself out of the crumpled heap on the ground, the yoma began bending things back into shape. "That didn't hurt, you know."
Usagi frowned slightly. The punches and kicks were connecting, they were doing damage, but nothing seemed to have any permanent effect. It just kept getting up. Very annoying. Hmmm. What kinda attacks would superhero types have? Oh, right. Let's try -
"Mouko Takabisha!"
The yoma continued to unbend itself, concerned only for a brief moment and then reassured by nothing occurring other than the girl posing in a silly fashion.
Nope, there was something like chi going through this cheerleader outfitted form - but nothing had happened. More training needed obviously. Maybe this silly headband? Maybe flinging it like one of Ryoga's bandanas?
"HYaaaaa!"
CHUNK!
Usagi grinned as the yoma lost an arm and began to look frightened. She was on the right track!
The yoma realized something as she glanced down at her arm and at the brief smile on the girl's face. This mortal worm was confident enough that she was PLAYING at this. And was sufficiently cruel and nasty that she was going for the "death by degrees" option. Already the yoma could feel her battery of stolen life energies depleting with all the regenerations she'd been forced to perform.
Usagi unwound one of the silly ribbons. She'd seen Kodachi use this technique, and Ryoga had used it with belt and bandana enough. "Iron cloth technique. Ya-ya-ya-ya-TA!"
Now the yoma was sure of it, with cuts and slices covering a good portion of her body. This was another Dark General despite the silly outfit. Time to escape and report. "You'll regret this!" TELEPORT!
"Some kind of 'instant move' technique?" asked Usagi of the empty street. "I gotta learn that one. Oh well, it's good training at least."
The next day went much as the last one, except for Luna staring in horror from concealment as a transformation to Sailor Moon was followed by a set of blurs as a costume "upgrade" occurred.
That CCR was playing a song on a pocket radio at the time merely provided a strangely appropriate soundtrack.
White gloves were replaced with black gloves that had silvery metal knuckles in place.
I see a bad moon arising.
I see trouble on the way.
Metal capped kneepads were slipped into place.
I see earthquakes and lightnin'.
I see bad times today.
Studded bracers went into place around the forearms.
Don't go around tonight,
Cause it's bound to take your life,
A pair of tonfa were placed in a belt holster.
There's a bad moon on the rise.
Luna's eyes crossed and she fainted with a single whispered comment.
"they just don't make princesses like they used to."
by Kender
She wasn't really an impressive figure to look upon. Sure, she was a curvy woman in a skimpy dress, but any real attractiveness had been lost in the bitterness and hate that had etched itself in her features. Now she looked more like an over the hill sexpot than anything else, even as she sat and tried to look nasty as she waved her hands over a glowing orb. This was not the most evil looking villainess that had ever appeared.
But then, Queen Beryl had little concern for the feelings of anything other than herself.
Instead, she merely set her hard gaze upon the figure before her and did her best to look demanding and powerful. The latter was a hard appearance to give for her, but the shifting individuals in the shadows knew just how strong she really was, and despite her lack of any obvious power, they knew that it would be bad for their health to get on her bad side.
So they merely hung back and waited as she scowled at the Dark General in front of her. "So, why have you not gained the energy we need, as you were sent out to do?"
"My yoma were stopped three times, my Queen" Jadeite replied, bowing towards her in a show of upmost respect.
"Is that so? And why didn't you tell me about this earlier?"
"Because I wanted to find out who it was. The first failed rather quickly after she was attacked by what she said was another yoma. My second lost to a girl in what was said to be a silly outfit. But what she thought the girl was didn't seem possible."
"And the third?"
"The third time made it clear that the yoma was right, since the girl appeared in an outfit that matched more with what someone like her should wear. Which made for a major concern, given that it means that we have a problem."
"What sort of 'problem'?" Beryl asked.
"A rival dark kingdom. As far as I can find out, the one getting in our way is a 'general' for a group much like our own."
"WHAT?!"
The blond general allowed his leader's outburst, and the resulting tumult of voices behind him, to quiet down before he answered. "By all that we can tell, there is another force out there trying to be the only ones to conquer the humans."
"But we shall be the ones who win over those weak fools."
"Of course, my Queen."
Beryl scowled. "What do you know about them?"
"Not much, I'm afraid. They've only sent that one warrior, and haven't advanced any plans of their own yet."
"Then we must make sure that they never get the chance."
Jadeite nodded in response, and merely let the mutterings of the beings behind him continue. He knew that there would be endless speculation about who could be trying to muscle in on the Dark Kingdom's mission, but he was also aware of the fact that there was little hard evidence. Until something solid would come up, they'd have little to go on. However, once they had enough information, they'd crush those who'd try to out do them.
After all, no one screwed with him and lived to tell about it,
by Kestral
The Make Up transformation was meant to be upgradeable, and with the Disguise Pen included could allow the Senshi to transform from street garb into a different costume.
Usagi's altered Senshi uniform thereby became accepted as a "costume" setting, with the weapons becoming magically charged as a sort of "accessory." The tiara hadn't been enchanted originally as a weapon after all, there hadn't been a Sailor Moon in the Silver Millennium to use such a thing.
So the next time Usagi transformed to Sailor Moon, the outfit was a little different from one might have expected.
The typical white gloves had reappeared, but they had combined with the black replacements to form padded armor segments and silver-metal knuckles then extending to the first knuckle where they stopped in a heavy ring around each finger. The studded bracers were part of the white gloves as well - becoming a set of armor backed padding.
The metal capped kneepads were now part of the boots, which were likewise padded in several places.
The belt holster with its pair of tonfa now looked more like it fit into the rest of the uniform, with the tonfa having changed from black lacquered wood to a yellow-bronze metal similar to the material used in the henshin pens.
Usagi nodded as she checked this out, then added a box of shuriken. She had to replace her dresser, so she'd invested a little effort to find a good deal and then use the extra money to get these. If the bad guys had hostages, hitting them with something from concealment at a distance would be cool. Then the dramatic entry and so on. Heh heh.
Luna watched from concealment and groaned.
Usagi checked the weather. It was a bit nippy outside. Best to wear a jacket.
Jadite lurked in the background and observed as much as possible. Three times now he'd had yoma return with serious injuries and panicked tales of a RIVAL Dark Kingdom. One had related the appearance of a body shifting yoma of some kind that had switched a cat and a girl's minds around, another had encountered a Dark General of some kind.
"RRRARRGHHHH!"
"Aieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"
So here we had a silly looking monster girl chasing around a crowd of high school girls. Well, Bambar was nine feet tall and looked kind of like a horned oni if you added features that would be more in keeping with a stripper or something. Fact was, if it wasn't for her size and a snarling face mask, she wouldn't be able to scare even the high school girls she was chasing. Fairly worthless as a soldier of the Dark Kingdom, hence bait for this Dark Competition.
That he got to watch a skimpily dressed yoma chasing high school girls around, snapping her whip at them. Heaving bosoms. Sweaty limbs. Panting young cute lithe forms.
Jadite smirked as he watched the show. Ah, the joys of being a bad guy.
"RARRRGHHHH!"
"AAAAA! Someone help us!"
"Moon Knight Shuriken!"
THUNKITY THUNK THUNK!
Bambar blinked comically for a moment, then grabbed the injured foot in both hands and started jumping up and down on the other one. "Yeowtch ouch ouch OUCH!"
"Who's there?" asked one of the victims, thinking that being rescued by ninja was certainly unexpected.
"Where badly dressed S&M gals try to molest their victims, I'll be there to take 'em... waitaminute - that doesn't sound right. Oh heck with the speeches. Take this!"
"WAHHHHH! I don't wanna die! I'm just following orders!" cried out Bambar, hobbling away as fast as she could.
The high school girls stood and watched as an odd echo of their previous scene occurred with the monster being chased by some ninja cheerleader.
"Come back here and let me beat on ya!"
"I don't wanna! WAHHHHHHHH!"
Jadite rubbed his forehead. He had known Bambar was pathetic, but apparently he'd underestimated exactly how pathetic Bambar was.
Luna watched in... well she wasn't quite sure what she was feeling. The Dark Kingdom was EVIL. It had to be stopped from destroying the entire world!
Why then did she have the odd impulse of wanting to pull a mallet out of somewhere and slam it into Usagi for picking on the yoma?!
"I'm just a minor minion! Have mercy!"
"Hold still, dangit!"
by Kender
Jadite was well aware of certain things that he should have been doing at that moment. This was a perfect opportunity for him, as he had the object of his quest right in front of him. He had a chance to blast her right then, and even if he didn't get her in one shot, he could always maim her, so that he could get a killing blow in. Sure, it would be a cheap shot, and if he did it big enough to take her out with no chance of dodging, he'd take out Bambar too, but no one said that being Evil was fair.
Yet, as he watched her, he could tell that this wasn't some sort of little joke. Unlike his yoma, this Moon Knight actually had skill on her side, and could recognize the need to remove stupidity from her path with all expedience. And that actually intrigued him. He'd expected someone who would be totally focused on showing off her power against the Dark Kingdom. Instead, he got a young woman who was more intelligent and focused then the garden variety versions in the ways that really mattered to a Dark General.
The fact that she was attractive didn't hurt. Her curves weren't spectacular, but they were very feminine, and gave her a certain natural dignity. With a lovely face, long golden hair, and eyes that glinted at the chance for conflict, she was clearly the sort of 'window dressing' that they could use around the base. Plus, if he got her to switch, it'd please that hag Beryl, and give them an insider view of their new rivals.
His plan was solidified when she saw how astonished she was by the sight of Bambar turning around, getting on her knees, and begging for mercy. There were a lot of things that he could tolerate, but even worse than failure or being pathetic was wimping out. That settled it. He would get rid of the utterly useless yoma, try to convert the blonde, and hopefully gain himself a bed mate for the future.
And she wasn't some silly twit trying to ruin his plans with some silly speech about how bad he was.
Life was looking up for him.
When Luna had considered her quest to find the Senshi, she had thought that she would find fine examples of young women. They'd be girls whose spirit exemplified the true reasons for their empowerment. Each girl would be a shining example of some group of girls that others could follow, like the 'loving protector', or the 'stalwart warrior'.
What she got was a teenaged oddity who was possibly more out there than her enemies.
She just had to wonder who thought that this would be funny to do her.
There were moments in either of her lives that Usagi had to wonder just what went into the insanity that made up the world. Such a case was like when it was one thing to come across some sort of power up, but it was quite another to discover that it came at the price of one's dignity. It was always up to her to come up with something to fix the problems that she saw with the situation. Usually that tended to work.
However, the sight of what looked like a girl in bondage gear kneeling, crying and begging for mercy was another thing. She'd seen things like this before, but she hadn't like it back then either. This was just as sad as some of what her father had pulled.
"Please, please, please don't kill me!" the yoma sobbed. "I give up! You win! Honest!"
"You... 'give up'?" the 'Moon Knight' parroted.
"Sure do! I'll do whatever you say! I can even do your bidding!"
"You'd work for me?"
"I would! Whatever you want! I can fetch things! Look menacing? Fine by me. Just don't hurt me!"
"Aw, man..."
"I know what you mean," murmured a male voice, and both 'combatants' turned to look at the speaker as he faded in.
"Jadite!" the yoma squeaked.
"Bambar. You, I will deal with later."
"Oh no..."
"Right now, I've come to speak with your attacker."
"You mean me," the blonde girl muttered. "Don't you?"
"Exactly. You have caused us a great deal of trouble."
"I try."
"You try well."
"So? You come to try and get revenge against me?"
"Far from it," Jadite replied. "I want to offer you a proposition."
"Like what?"
"Come work for us. You seem to have talents that we can use."
"Is that so?"
"It is. I can say that you will be very useful for our plans for this miserable rock. Whatever little group you've been working for can't give you what we can. What I can."
Sailor Moon's eyes narrowed. "You want me to work for you?"
"Exactly. You'd be working closely with me, and it would not be a problem from my end. Joining up with someone who is both competent and attractive would be a welcome change from having to deal with all the rabble like this failure you had to chase."
"And if I say no?"
"That would be bad. I'd hate to hurt this pretty little face," he commented as he nudged the human girl's dainty chin up with one finger.
It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that he was hitting on her, nor did she have any trouble figuring out what to do about it. Her Ranma side was disgusted by the idea of a guy trying something perverted with her, and connected it to other stupidly dressed pretty boy behaviors. The 'Usagi' part of her recognized that this was a nasty man trying to weasel his way close to her. Both parts saw only one way to deal with such an individual.
"Not on your life!" she snapped, and went to kick him away.
Unfortunately for the formerly self assured General, his positioning was bad, and with a kick fueled both by male disgust, and feminine self protection, he could not dodge it, so he got the full brunt of what the hit did do... as it connected her knee with his crotch.
"As if I'd just roll over and let some guy sweet talk me into going with him!"
Bambar blinked for a moment, and then watched as the guy who'd sent her out, someone who she'd thought was very powerful only moments before, rolled on the floor, whimpering and holding his groin with both hands,
by Kestral
"Excuse me," said one of the Victims Of The Week.
"Huh?" said Usagi, startled by the interruption.
"Teleport," whimpered Jadite, seizing the opportunity.
"Oh crap," said Usagi, seeing the Dark General type teleport away.
"Uhm, sorry," said the girl, not sounding terribly sincere. "Do you mind telling me exactly what's going on here?"
"I'm Moon Knight," said Usagi, remembering she was in her secret ID or hero ID. Whatever - she wanted to keep this stuff separate from school and home and stuff like that. "When something goes bump in the night, I'm the one that keeps 'em from bumping twice." Usagi frowned. There was a good fight/intro quote there somewhere - needed to work it out some more.
The three girls looked at each other, evidently confused.
"What about her?" asked one of the girls, pointing helpfully.
Bambar stared off into the distance. "I'm dead. I can't go home. They'll EAT me for this."
Usagi felt something stir within her, something he'd even felt a few times as Ranma. Pity. "I'll think of something. Say you're sorry to the nice girls."
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," groveled the nine foot tall woman, her mask falling off. Not being a particularly powerful yoma in a society where strength was everything, she had grovelling down pat.
"She's... not very scary without that," realized one of the students.
On the other hand, Usagi recognized Bambar. Making allowances for the size, the overly curvaceous figure, and such - this was someone that Ranma would have recognized from his previous life.
by Kender
Take away the height, and the sizable increase in the bust, and some other things, and one would have someone Ranma would have known in his previous life. But it wouldn't have been someone that he'd have spent a long time looking over, as the individual hadn't been that active in his life. They'd talked before though, and he would have been able to identify her anywhere they went.
The idea of Sayuri being any sort of combatant, never mind a monster that had been controlled by the forces of darkness and evil, was absurd.
Oh, Usagi could see it right in front of her, as the yoma had the face of Akane's friend. However, the concept that the girl could do anything that vicious was rather silly. Of course, that did fit with the rather... well, bad job that she'd done in being a yoma. Someone like Gosunkugi could be creepy, and there were girls that would have made better choices for being able to fight as monsters. The best that Sayuri could have done was to cheer on others.
Yet, this was what she had, and was what she'd have to deal with.
"Ummm... What do we do now?" asked one of the schoolgirls.
Blinking slightly, the 'Moon Knight' considered her options, and shrugged. "I guess that you can go home now. She won't bother you now."
"Of course I won't! Not me! I'll be good..." Bambar eagerly assured them.
"We get the idea."
"Sorry..."
"Still, you guys can get going."
The students looked at each other and gave reluctant nods before turning to walk away. One of them looked at the blonde and smiled. "Thank you for the help!"
"No problem."
"But what should I do?" the yoma asked.
"Stick with me," Moon told her, and sighed as she rubbed at her eyes,
by Kestral
"This is wrong. This is just so totally and completely wrong," said a black-furred mooncat as she watched events taking place. "This is so wrong on just so many levels."
First off, Sailor Jupiter was now Sailor Moon who was now calling herself Moon Knight and looked more like she stepped off a videogame like Street Kombat II: Arena Fighter.
Second, she'd just kicked a Dark General between the goalposts. That was wrong. Gratifying on a certain level, perhaps, but it simply was NOT done.
Third, she'd just rescued a yoma and was recruiting her.
VERY VERY WRONG.
"I hope Artemis is having better luck," griped Luna.
"Hmmmm," hmmmed Usagi, thinking.
"Sailor Moon," began a voice from under a bush.
"Hey, k-kitty?" asked Usagi, recognizing the voice.
"It's Luna. Luna. Lu-na."
"Right, Lou-ni. There any 'turn yoma human' gadgets ya got?" Ranma asked, jerking a thumb at the nine foot tall, horned, overly curvaceous, version of Akane's friend Sayuri who was currently looking puzzled.
There was a long suffering sigh from under the bush. "Well, there's your disguise pen."
"Ya mean you got all that stuff, but I gotta give up disguises for this?" pressed Usagi.
"I don't think... wait a minute," said Luna. Hadn't there been something? Masquerades? Costume parties?
"Ya got something?" said Usagi, winking at Bambar.
Luna stepped a short distance away. crouch triple-backflip-handstand twinge. "Ow! Oh my back!"
"That didn't sound too good," said Usagi, taking something out of her shuriken pouch. "Hey Bambar, find out where she hurts and rub some'a this in."
"WHAT?"
"It's just an herbal muscle rub I found, doesn't stink too much," said Usagi. "Didn't wanna have a lot of questions about why I smelled like 'tiger balm' or something."
"Oh," said Luna, eyeing the huge yoma making her way over with a little jar of something.
"I been working out a lot lately," admitted Usagi. "Some'a the muscle groups ain't used to operating at that level."
"I can see where that would be the case," admitted Luna. "Not so hard! Down a little. Oh. Yeah. Right there. Oooooooooooo."
Usagi waited a few minutes, impatience making her pace around. Not so much that she'd see the little c-c-c furry thing.
"These pendants were used by royal children in the Silver Millennium to play hide and seek and as training in magical abilities," said a still distrustful Luna. She still thought this a BAD idea, but it was obvious that until more Senshi could be found - she was going to have her hands full dealing with 'Moon Knight' here.
"So I put it on and then what?" asked Bambar.
"Try this activation phrase. 'Moon Glowing Bright, Hide In Plain Sight.'"
"Ya gotta be kidding me," said Usagi, listening in.
Luna snorted. "It was a children's toy."
"Good point," said Usagi, thinking it over.
"Moon glowing bright," said Bambar, touching the pendant. "Hide In Plain Sight."
Fwoooph!
"EEEK! I'm small!"
"You look perfectly normal," said Luna, thinking this was a 100% improvement. "Now you won't cause people to go running in panic."
"Oh, that might be nice," admitted Bambar.
When Bambar came out of the bushes, Usagi nodded. School uniform was different, but it was definitely Sayuri. Except that she had a better figure than Shampoo. Hmmmm. "Well, 'Bambar' ain't exactly a normal name around here. So how about I call ya 'Sayuri' - that's a fairly normal name."
"Thank the Crystal she didn't go with 'Bambi'," said a feline voice under the shrubbery.
"Okayyyy, 'Sayuri'," sounded out Bambar. "So I'm gonna be a spy or something?"
"Sorta," said Usagi, thinking that sounded like it might be doable. "What I want ya to do is this-"
Luna's eyes widened as she heard the plan. That... didn't sound that bad an idea. She didn't really trust this yoma, but even she had to admit that the yoma had been fairly pathetic. Maybe.
by Kender
Luna wasn't quite certain how Usagi had done it, but she'd apparently found a place that had once been a bunker used by the Japanese army during World War II. It was old and useless to the SDF now, but it was still there. That it had stayed mainly intact through the years had been amazing, what with the combat, earthquakes, storms, and construction going on around it.
But then, she had no idea that the blonde's past life, the martial artist Ranma Saotome, was in the main control of the body, and was very capable of finding weird spots that others would easily miss.
However, as she was already freaked out enough by the strangeness of her charge, that might have confused her more. Or it would have explained things for her. Either way, she could just put this down to more oddities that she wasn't certain that she wanted to prove were not mere coincidences.
Yet, she was somewhat pleased by this latest plan. Sure, it made use of a yoma, and wasn't quite what one would expect from a teenaged girl, but then this wasn't quite a plan for getting normal results.
"Okay, Sayuri. Let's go," Usagi told her.
The disguised yoma nodded. "Right away, Mistress!"
"'Mistress'?"
"Well, back in the Dark Kingdom, the big guys had to be paid the right respect."
"But that?"
"What would you like me to call you? 'My Lady'? 'General'? 'Leader'? 'Ma'am?'"
"Ya can call me 'boss' for all I care," the blonde replied.
"Sure thing, Boss!"
"Gah..."
"Is something wrong?" Sayuri asked as she leaned over towards her new leader, incidentally bouncing her cleavage as she did so.
"Nope. Nothin'. Let's just go."
The first guy to see the two babes wasn't quite certain that he was sure he was seeing what he thought he was. A blonde came by first, looking kind of fit, and looking really pretty. She was long limbed and graceful, with a bit of wildness in her expression. Had he merely seen her, he would have followed her walk for as long as he could.
And then the second girl came along, and he just had to stare. This one was a long legged, buxom beauty that he found himself nearly drooling over. From the bounce of her breasts, to the wiggle of her hips, she was the sort of girl that a lot of guys wanted to make out with.
He barely had the will to tap his friend to get the other boy to look, but when they did, it was clear that they were unable to take their eyes off of her. That girl was of the type that one wanted to be on a crowded train with, and there were guys passing by her who turned around to look at her when they saw that she wasn't looking.
It was like that all down the block, and beyond.
"Yes!" Usagi declared, pumping her arm in a celebration of success. Her plan had worked, though she hadn't wanted to have to address such things. Sure, she had little worry about most problems with being a girl, what with the curse that she'd had as Ranma, but the fact of the matter was that she was a girl all the time now. That was her new life's birth gender, and the problem was with the opposite side of the spectrum. Before, it had been annoying to be hit on by boys who didn't, or refused to, know about the changes from boy to girl, and back again.
Now that she was training, there was a bit of a problem brewing. Instead of just being thought of as the spacy airhead, guys were seeing her getting more toned and less... 'girlie', and were starting to think of her as an attractive girl that they'd like to talk to. It would have been one thing to merely have to talk to them, but to wind up getting hit one by guys who did so with a heavy hand was getting to be a bit much.
With Sayuri around, that wasn't as likely to happen, since the yoma was getting all the stares. She'd known that it was likely, since she remembered the sort of junk that teenaged boys would try to pass off as commentary on sexual matters. It might have been a little... bothersome that she was using Sayuri in that way, but it was better than having to deal with that sort of attention, and it gave her yoma something to do.
Sighing in relief at the thought of not being at the center of male attention, she started to lead the yoma back to the hideout,