Bishojo Senshi Ranma Muyo!

(No Need For Beautiful Warrior Ranma)

Or

"Ran/Moon Muyo!"

A Ranma / Tenchi / Sailor Moon Crossover

by Chronos the Cat

Author's Note:

It has become such a cliché among Ranma fanfiction writers that Ranma lives in the same world as Sailor Moon and/or Tenchi, that I simply had to try my hand at my own Ranma / Sailor Moon / Tenchi triple-crossover. The prelude worked out great, but my inspiration fizzled out part-way through chapter one; despite this I have decided to post what I have.

Some of the connections between series will be common ones, others ones I came up with myself. One in particular I want to make note of, however is the one between Ranma and Ryoko, which was inspired directly by Joe Fenton's "Demon's Destiny". However, while I may not have come up with the idea on my own, as readers will see, I did take it in my own direction...

Disclaimer:

The characters and situations of Ranma 1/2, Sailor Moon, and Tenchi Muyo! belong respectively to Rumiko Takahashi, Naoko Takiuchi, and... um, someone else. The characters and situations unique to this story belong to me (the person by the alias "Chronos the Cat" ) but if I understand copyright law properly, the story itself belongs jointly to the owners of Ranma 1/2, Sailor Moon, & Tenchi Muyo!.

Do not attempt to make money off of this story, or the lawyers of one of the aforementioned parties will likely punish you, in the name of capitalism!


Prelude

An old man and a young boy stood at the entrance to a cave.

"In this cave there lies a magic sword. Sword Tenchi, Heaven and Earth united - for which you are named. ...A powerful, once holy sword that now holds a demon's soul trapped inside..." Katsuhito Masaki told his grandson, Tenchi.

"Wow. But how did a demon get inside a sword? And why is it hidden in a cave?"

"Let me tell you a story... a legend passed down by our family for generations...

"Seven hundred years ago, a crystal dragon possessed by a demon appeared in the skies above the Bankyala Mountains of China. The demon had brought ruin to many lands, and stolen many ancient treasures. However, the demon was not unopposed.

"Soon, a flying ship made out of a living tree arrived, and on it was a heavenly warrior by the name of Yosho.

"The Tree-Ship and the Crystal Dragon fought, and though the Tree-Ship was damaged greatly, in the end the dragon was slain.

"Yosho landed his ship, and went to examine the dragon's body to make sure the demon had died with it. However, it had not, and it emerged from the dragon in the form of a beautiful young woman, and attacked him.

"The two fought a fierce battle for hours, and in their fighting wandered unawares into a valley filled with a terrible magic, Jusenkyo, Valley of Cursed Springs.

"Finally, Yosho plunged his holy sword into the gut of the demoness, and using its' magical power, transfered the three gems that gave the demoness her terrible power to the hilt of his sword.

"When Yosho removed the sword from the demon, he was prepared to fight on, for he knew the demon could survive such a blow. However, the demon was terribly weakened, and stumbled back and fell into one of the springs.

"Yosho waited for the demoness to arise from the pool once more, but it was not to be. Uninjured, the demoness could have held her breath for hours, but in her weakened state, she breathed in the cursed waters, and drowned.

"And then, to Yosho's astonishment, the demon's body began to disappear; it, along with her soul and the remainder of her power, being absorbed into the spring.

"Now, in addition to being a mighty warrior, Yosho knew something of magic, and examining the pool, he discovered to his horror that anyone who now fell into the pool would become a demoness themselves! To prevent such a tragedy, Yosho plunged his sword into the pool, and just as it had absorbed her gems, he bade the sword to absorb and imprison the soul and remainder of her power.

"As the sword finished its' task, Yosho sensed that the demoness had still left her imprint in the pool - those who fell in would not be possessed by the spirit of the demon, or possess the power of the demon, but they would come to resemble the demoness in appearance.

"Yosho warned the locals of this, then taking his now cursed sword, boarded his flying Tree-Ship, and prepared to head for home.

"However, the ship had been damaged more than he had realized in the battle, and he was forced to set down, here in Japan. Although the tree lived on, without the craftsmen of his homeland, the ship could not be repaired, and thus could no longer fly. And, unfortunately, without his ship, he could not return home.

"Thus, he chose to settle down in this region. Finding this cave, he placed his sword within it, and placed wards around it to help keep the demon's spirit imprisoned. Then he built a shrine nearby, and took up the position of shrine priest - a position that has been passed down through the generations, and will one day be passed on to Yosho's latest descendant -- you."

...Several years later...

The teenaged Tenchi Masaki stood at the iron gates just within the cave. Ever since that day years ago, he had wanted to go in and see the sword for himself. And now, at last, he had managed to steal (temporarily, of course) the keys...

He hesitated a moment, then slid the key into the lock. There was a bit of resistance as he tried to turn the key, but with a bit more effort, it turned with a loud clank.

The gate squeaked loudly as it swung open.

After another moment's hesitation, Tenchi walked forward into the mouth of the cave, lighting his flashlight as the cave grew darker out of the range of the sun's rays...

The cave was a combination of natural and manmade carving, some parts lumpy and uneven yet smooth to the touch, as it had been left by the water that had carved the tunnel, other parts flat yet rough where chisel and hammer had made the tunnel into something usable though far from elegant.

The low spots in the floor were brought up to near level with a mismatched paving of stones, bricks, and tiles, some of which were quite loose.

Finally, Tenchi entered a chamber several yards across but with a ceiling little higher than that of the tunnel.

In the center of the chamber, there was a small wooden shrine. The shrine was elegantly carved, and must have looked quite beautiful in it's day. However, the paint was missing in spots, and though now bone dry, the wood seemed to have suffered significant rot. Still, considering that the sword was said to have been sealed away here seven-hundred years ago, the shrine was in remarkably good shape - no doubt it had been replaced at some point, possibly around the same time as not-yet-rusted iron gate outside the cave had been added.

Tenchi eased open the doors to the shrine, and looked inside to see a sword embedded into a stone, tattered paper written with powerful wards tied around the hilt and what was exposed of the blade.

Reverently, Tenchi reached out his hand and brushed his fingers against the hilt, which had three gems embedded in the pommel, and carvings in that made it look like it was wrapped in vines. The material of the hilt felt like newly cut and lightly polished wood - but wrapped in yellowing, crumbling paper, that was clearly impossible.

Speaking of the paper, either through the stirring of the air or an errant and nearly unnoticeable brush of Tenchi's fingers, it now reached the end of it's endurance, and crumbled, mostly to dust...

...Two thousand miles away, at Jusenkyo, a bubble rose to the surface of one of the many pools scattered throughout the valley...

...In the cave, Tenchi jerked back in shock. He hadn't meant to damage anything! Now what was he going to do?

Tenchi looked over the sword. It occurred to him that now that the wards were gone, he could remove the sword from the shrine for a better look at it, without causing any further harm.

Prudence and curiosity did battle in his head, and curiosity won out. He stepped up to the shrine, grasped the hilt with one hand, and pulled. It moved slightly, but he realized he'd need both hands to get it out. He carefully set the flashlight down in the shrine, grasped the hilt with both hands, and tried again.

Slowly, the sword slid upward, then came free with a sudden jerk. Regaining his balance before he could drop the sword or accidentally hit something with it, he held up the blade and stared at it in amazement.

"What a piece of junk!"

Indeed, unlike the hilt, which seemed to have survived the centuries untouched, the blade was rusted and corroded, something that only the most die-hard archaeologist might find any value in...

"This is the sword that can cut through stone?!" As if challenging the sword to prove itself, he tapped it against a nearby stone. The results were unexpected.

Red sparks flew where the where the blade and stone met. Then cracks ran up the surface of the blade, which then shattered into hundreds of pieces, many of them crumbling to dust even as they fell.

"Ack!"

A crack ran down the stone, which split in two.

"Eep!"

The hilt that was all that remained of the legendary sword began to glow an evil red, and as if in an act of reverence to the unnatural light, Tenchi's flashlight (still resting in the shrine) winked out.

"...Uh..."

...And, hundreds of miles away, several more bubbles rose to the surface of a pool of cold water, a pool where seven hundred years ago, a young woman with wild gray hair had drowned. A girl said to have been possessed by a demon at the time - or at least, those who studied the legends of Jusenkyo claimed she had merely been possessed. Other legends claimed the girl had in fact herself been a demoness - but if that were the case, those who fell in would have gained her powers... Wouldn't they?

...Meanwhile, beams of red light shot out from between the vine-like etchings upon Sword Tenchi's hilt, and the hilt began to heat up. The shock finally getting to him, Tenchi dropped the sword to the floor, even though it hadn't really gotten all that hot yet.

Even as it fell, the hilt began to dim, though it continued to glow after it had clattered to the ground. Large motes of light began popping out from between the etchings, almost seeming to force their way out, and drifted through the room, slowly upwards but otherwise seemingly aimlessly.

Tenchi took a step back and shook his head in disbelief.

When dozens, maybe even hundreds, of the motes were drifting around the room, the glow of the hilt dimmed further, flickered, and then changed into a brilliant blaze of blue-green. This blinding light quickly faded, until the hilt was emitting only a dim blue-green glow, barely enough to reach the walls. The red motes seemed to have vanished entirely.

...However, if anyone had been outside the cave at that point, they would have seen a stream of red lights floating off into the sky and to the west...

Inside the cave, the glow from the sword continued to fade, though slowly now, and Tenchi quickly grabbed his flashlight from the shrine. The button was still in the "on" position, but when he turned it off then on again, the bulb reluctantly flickered back to life.

Tenchi walked back to the sword hilt, and crouched down. Almost fearfully, he reached out his hand and touched it. The sword seemed to glow brighter for a fraction of a second, but it could have been Tenchi's imagination.

After a second more, the hilt's glow went out.

Unsure what to do, Tenchi picked up the hilt and walked back to the wooden shrine. He considered putting the hilt back in there, but for some reason he felt reluctant to. Fighting those feelings, he placed the hilt back, and closed the shrine doors.

However, as he began to walk away, a nagging feeling began to grow in his heart. Somehow, it just didn't seem safe to leave the hilt there anymore - although he didn't know why, as the wards that had been binding the hilt had been to keep the demon in, not others out...

Not yet acknowledging that he'd made a decision, Tenchi walked back to the shrine, opened the doors, and reached out to the hilt. A faint blue-green glow seemed to touch the hilt for a moment as he picked it up, but he barely registered this, much as he refused to consider how much better having the hilt in hand again made him feel.

Rationalizing that with the sword broken anyway it wouldn't matter if he took what was left of it, he closed the shrine doors, stuffed the hilt into his clothes, and quickly made his way back out of the cave.

Tenchi felt like he was waking up from a strange dream as he passed out of the iron gate. He swung the gate closed and locked it again. As he removed the key from the gate the events inside suddenly seemed even more unreal, and it took touching the sword hilt inside his clothes to convince himself it had really happened.

Tenchi stood in the clearing in front of the cave for some time, wondering how much reality there had been to his grandfather's tale, and whether he should tell his grandfather of the day's events.

It was only when he happened to notice the position of the sun that he realized that he'd been away from his grandfather's shrine for several hours now, and that if he didn't get back, replace the keys, and get to work on his chores, he'd be in big trouble whether he told his grandfather about the events in the cave or not.

All concerns about the cave, the demon, and the sword were forgotten as he raced back through the woods to the Masaki shrine...

...Hours later, at Jusenkyo, a long procession of red lights, like a swarm of red fireflies, arrived from the east, and flew over the springs, zeroing in on one spring in particular.

The Spring of Drowned Girl-Possessed-By-Demon (or "Spring of Drowned Demoness", depending on who you asked) was now bubbling wildly, as if it were boiling - but if anyone had been around and foolish enough to stick their hand in it, they would have found the water still ice-cold.

The red motes hovered above the spring for just a second, then plunged down into it.

For nearly half an hour, the sparks flew into the pool, which churned more and more madly, and began to glow red from below... Then the last of the motes had entered, and the wild churning changed into a violent swirling. From the whirlpool, beams of red light shot up into the sky - but in the light of the day only the most careful of observations would have revealed the red glow to anyone outside of the valley, and so this ill omen went unnoticed...

Without warning, or even a final flare, the red light cut out, the water of the pool slowed its' swirling until, many minutes later, it lay as still as the other pools, seemingly unchanged from before the day's events.

Quiet. Still. But anything but harmless...