Pluto grimaced with dismay as she fought the rapidly swirling temporal energies, attempting to spread her influence farther and more thoroughly that the devices were supposed to allow for.
A nudge here... a pull there... but then this slipped out of place... and THIS individual became a problem...
In the dark alcove on Pluto, a woman toyed with the fate of the universe, changing, making, and destroying lives and histories with the ease and thoughtlessness that one might modify a drawing. The universe fought back.
Just as Pluto began to truly feel the strain, right when the Time Gates began to reach their limit, the time guardian blinked in surprise.
"It... It worked?" She asked softly, staring into the image before her with wide eyes. There were the Senshi, all gathered around a table, chatting about nothing. No robots. They were all perfectly normal girls (at the moment, anyway) with perfectly normal free will who weren't getting any, and whose dry spell would last into the hundred-year range if Setsuna had anything to say about it. Mihoshi was bugging Washuu in her lab and not altering the fabric of the universe based on her bungling interpretation of people's wishes.
It almost brought a tear to her eye. After all her hard work and trial and error, she had dodged a HUGE bullet.
Of course, it was right then that she saw Ranma Saotome walk into the room where the inner
Senshi were talking to be greeted with warm smiles and greetings.
Pluto had take deep breaths in order to keep herself from banging the Time Staff against her
head. "It's not... so bad... at least they're not sleeping with him... right?" After the bizarre and absurd scenario of the robot sex-slave harem, she was willing to give the timeline a little more leeway than she might have otherwise. Given the dreamy look on Usagi's face, she wasn't so sure about that.
"WHAT?! USAGI?! UNACCEPTABLE!" Setsuna snarled, immediately launching into the Gates of Time once more to annihilate this newest hitch. Bad enough that Ranma got involved with the OTHER Senshi, now he was tearing Usagi and Mamoru apart?
Setsuna had to resist the urge to shout "Enemy of women!" at Ranma's image in the gates. She wasn't given to such immature behavior, and besides, it wasn't like he could hear her anyway.
Unfortunately, she had forgotten that she had left the Gates of Time quite near their limits when she had stopped. The Gates were a piece of magic technology comparable, though it was a vast simplification, to an extremely advanced computer, one that made the Mercury Computer look like a 90th century Apple II. It had been working in the rough equivalent of an "overclock mode" for a length of time that only it was capable of computing due to the relative chronological scales involved. No Guardian of Time had used the Gates so extensively before in a single continuous period of time, and it showed.
Crack! Setsuna's eyes widened as a huge split ran down the Gates, and the entire artifact started to glow in a very unsettling fashion.
Crack! Tinkle! Skrik!
"Well , shit."
KABOOM!
Pluto had done a very good job. Well , at least before she nearly destroyed the very thing she had sworn her life to protect. The Gates of Time would recover as ancient and never-before-used autorepair systems went online and shook the dust off, but needless to say, the Senshi of Pluto wouldn't be doing any time traveling, time modifying, or time checking for quite some (ahem) time, nor would she be happy about that fact in any way.
Well , that would all be saved for when she finally woke up. That had been quite the explosion. Most of the anomalies that had been detected HAD been fixed adequately. Somehow Pluto had managed to throw a hundred rocks in a pond such that the ripples all canceled each other out and left the pond peaceful and serene.
Except for one tiny bit of motion that barely made it to the edge, and rippled all the way back to the Silver Millennium. No big deal, right? One tiny factor, one meaningless life, one more lost soul that can't make any real difference. Then again, if Pluto believed that, she wouldn't be in this mess in the first place.
The Mau were one of the first races "absorbed" (as it was a much nicer term than "welcomed at gunpoint") into the Moon Kingdom. They weren't the most prominent, or the most successful, but they made due with the cards they had been dealt.
Mau were typically intellectuals and minor magi. Their race was limited in what they could do in the arts of magic, but it was enough that most of them were commissioned to do work in the grand labs or civics buildings of the various planets, working small spells and useful cantrips for officials, dignitaries and scientists. It wasn't a grand life, but it was a living, and they were certainly no worse off in the Moon Kingdom than by themselves.
Some mau because interested enough in mundane knowledge to become advisors. Often these individuals pored over stacks of books and holovid displays for years until some noble took notice of their area of expertise, and then matched them with some other member of the elite that had need of such skills, even if such appointments were normally temporary.
Luna and Artemis were exceptions. They had been born and raised to be royal court advisors. Their interest in royal protocol and knowledge was taught to them such that they could operate within the sphere of Moon Kingdom politics while still acting as knowledgeable confidants of their masters. But most were not.
There was one mau, for example, who had been passed along as "an excellent advisor" from one military leader to another, prized for his strict adherence to military protocol, encyclopedic knowledge of tactics, and honest and effective critiques of fighting prowess. He eventually found his employment being "gifted" to the general of the Order of the Royal Knights of the Moon, probably in a weak attempt to curry enough favor for his last master to gain enlistment in that order.
The mau in question didn't mind, but accepted being passed around like property like a soldier being shipped to another battlefield. When the attack on the Moon Palace had commenced, the mau had taken one glance at the opposing forces, and immediately tried to organize a retreat. With the power of the Senshi and the Knights, it was entirely possible to regroup with the remnants of the fleet and launch a counter-attack to retake Mercury before it became a ball of scorched, barren, lifeless rock.
With the technological might of Mercury secure, and with Beryl gleefully basking in the tactically irrelevant acquisition of the Moon Palace, it would have been just barely possible to turn a massacre around into an actual war.
The Senshi did not take kindly to this suggestion. The arguing itself lasted long enough for all the best escape routes to get cut off. At that point, the general to whom he served buckled under the insistence of the Senshi to hold the Moon Palace at all costs. The rest, as they say, is history.
But it just so happened that when Queen Serenity put certain events into motion, it was three moon cats that were swept up and put into stasis, not two. Luna, Artemis, and Orion began their long sleep, waiting for a time when they would seek out and serve the Princess Serenity.
"Don't go wandering off. Bad enough you can't remember anything, the last thing we need is for one of us to get eaten by wild animals."
Luna frowned deeply, glaring at the large, gray tomcat with the crescent moon on his forehead. "Last I checked, YOUR memory wasn't crystal clear either, Orion!"
"It's clear enough that I remember that I don't have much to remember," the gray cat said, constantly scanning the surroundings for threats. "YOU'RE the big important emissary from a dead civilization. I'm just along trying to keep you from getting yourself killed along the way."
Luna bristled, "Right now I'd really like to remember whose bright idea it was to send some random military advisor into stasis along with me and... well, why ARE you here, anyway?"
She was about to mention someone else who had been put into stasis, but oddly enough, she couldn't remember that individual's name. Had there BEEN someone else at all?
"Just what I said. I'm a tag-along," Orion murmured, hardly ashamed at the admission. "It was either this or death."
"Well I do NOT appreciate the way you're constantly giving me orders and talking down to me! If you're going to 'tag along' as you put it, then we're going to have to set some ground rules for conduct, do you understand?"
'I wonder what death would have been like,' Orion thought to himself. Then he darted to the side and tackled Luna into some bushes, eliciting a startled yowl from the female moon cat.
"What are yo-MRRFFL!" Orion did his best to stuff his paw into Luna's mouth to keep her from speaking, though he knew he'd regret it a moment later. As Luna's fangs sank into his wrist, he clenched his teeth and bore it. 'Just a flesh wound, just a flesh wound...'
As soon as the couple and their dog passed by, he swatted Luna over the head to get her to release his paw. "The threat is passed. Please don't bite me next time I'm trying to save our lives," he growled.
Luna glared at the other moon cat. "This is a public park, Orion. The appearance of two cats is not unusual, and that dog was leashed!"
"It's still a threat!" Orion snapped back, getting off the black cat. "This environment holds dozens of dangers for organisms of our size! According to YOU, you're the last hope for a possible triumph over the Negaverse! I'l -" he cut off quickly as he noticed a jogger that had wandered too close was looking around to try and find the source of the yelling.
Luna smirked, an expression that came far too naturally to a cat. "Orion, please, we ARE trying to keep a low profile. Try not to blow our cover."
Most other individuals would have snapped and either attacked or yelled at Luna at this point. But suffice to say, it wasn't in Orion's nature to do so. When something wasn't going his way, he was neither inclined to complain about it nor let it drive him to irrational behavior. He tended to fix the problem.
As Minako would botch up, "He didn't get mad, he got even."
A spark of memory ignited a possible plan of action in Orion's mind as he recalled a weakness of his (and consequently, Luna's) current form. With a snappy backflip, he accessed his subspace pocket, and one of the small battlefield medical kits released a bandage onto the ground.
Luna didn't notice, and as she kept walking forward she started to lecture him on the proper respect he was to show her in the future, which mostly involved NOT tackling her to the ground every time a perceived threat wandered by. Orion had to fight to keep a grin off his face as he lunged with the bandage in his mouth. This wasn't some petty revenge, after all. It was for the best. No, really. Honest.
'Well, this wasn't really what I had in mind when I decided this was the best course of action,' Orion decided as he stared down at the children whacking Luna with sticks. It seemed his memory of their "weakness" hadn't been perfect. He was just expecting Luna to become mute. She also became disoriented and it seemed much harder for her to think coherently, which probably accounted for why she hadn't simply tried to take the bandage off.
When Orion had decided to sneak inside a library to search for knowledge databases, he had ordered Luna to stay put while he learn more about the world they had been dropped into. How was he supposed to know she'd forget and wander off? So here he was, circling the boys and trying to think of the best way to approach this scenario.
He recognized that he was fairly intimidating... for a cat. These kids apparently didn't think much of a feline's potential for doing harm though, if they would attack one on a whim. Granted he could put up a MUCH better fight than Luna, but it still wasn't saying much.
The decision was taken out of his hands when a young teenage girl with blonde hair in twin ponytails suddenly rushed in and scattered the boys. Then she picked up Luna and started to walk home, making with the appropriate sympathetic jargon that left Orion rolling his eyes.
Usagi looked over her new seifuku with wide, disbelieving eyes.
"You're now Sailor Moon, defender of love and justice," Luna explained, idly wondering where that bastard Orion had run off to in the meantime. She hadn't asked the question aloud. She wasn't expecting an answer. Hell, she didn't even really WANT to know the answer. Thus, she was understandably upset when she saw a large gray shape dart in through the window.
"About time we got something human-sized to work with," Orion mumbled, right before Luna snarled and pounced on him. Usagi's wide, disbelieving eyes moved from her new costume toward the two talking cats that were brawling underneath her desk.
"Another talking cat? How many of you are there?"
Given that the two felines settled for trying to tear each others' ears off rather than answering her, Usagi's brain (currently suffering resource exhaustion trying to deal with her new status as a magical girl) was tasked with dealing with the query.
"Ohmigosh! Maybe... maybe ALL cats can talk!" she thought suddenly. "Or maybe... maybe it's like in that movie Dr. Dolittle and I can talk with animals! I AM a magical girl now, apparently..." She gasped as she thought of that. Sailor Moon? No, Sailor Moon didn't sound right. She would be Ranger Athena, and lead her army of cute forest animals into battle against the forces of evil!
Besides, that sounded WAY better than doing the fighting herself. For all parties involved really, except maybe the villain's. She knew that if SHE were in trouble, there's no way she'd want someone like her to come save her. By the time that Usagi's train of thought had finished its fourth circuit down the wrong track into the Twilight Zone, Orion had finally managed to pin Luna down underneath him such that she couldn't do much other than talk, and if she persisted in doing that too much, he could bite her to shut her up.
"Erk! To answer your - stop struggling! - question, no, not all cats can talk. And even if you could communicate with animals, they don't have the intellect for language. I said stop it! I don't have time for this Luna!"
Usagi pouted and looked down at the two moon cats. Then she flushed as she saw the large gray cat laying on top of Luna, who was pinned down on her belly and looking annoyed.
"Hey!Don't be doing that sort of thing right here in my room! That's gross! What if you get... stuff on the floor?!" She complained. Both of the cats fixed her with an evil glare.
"SHUT UP," they said calmly, in unison.
"Okay," whimpered the great and powerful Sailor Moon, who was now hiding behind a chair while covering her head with her arms.
"Where have you BEEN, Orion?" Luna growled, trying not to let her temper show.
"I've been doing recon. I've located our first enemy," the gray cat said coolly, deciding that the new topic was serious enough that he could let Luna go without risking being attacked. "It's a low-level harvester class youma operating out of a jewelry store. Looks like part of a foothold operation."
Usagi stared. "Uh... so your name is Orion?" Evidently she was running a few stops behind the bus, as it were. Orion gave Luna a questioning stare, then turned toward Usagi.
"I'm Orion, military advisor of the Order of the Royal Knights. Not that it's around anymore, but it's part of the resume. Where Luna will be acting as your personal advisor and confidant, I'll be helping organize the Senshi in combat and identifying tactical objectives."
Usagi took a moment to digest this. "So, you're a magic talking cat like Luna?"
Orion twitched badly. Their new companion was NOT catching up to that bus. "Are you sure about this girl?" He asked Luna, to which the black cat shrugged.
"Like you say, 'any port in a storm'."
Orion frowned. "I never say that." Then he turned back to Sailor Moon. "As much as I'd prefer a prolonged training session previous to an actual operation, the intel I've gathered suggests that the Negaverse is susceptible to attrition. In light of this, it's critical we attack the harvester now. I guess that means you'll be learning your abilities through field experience."
Once again, Sailor Moon gave the tomcat a worried expression as her mind worked through all that. "That sounds scary..."
A vein popped up on Orion's head, and he turned back to Luna. "At times, a storm CAN be weathered in order to find a better port, Luna." The black cat rolled her eyes in response. As if the stupid military nut knew anything about identifying Senshi.
"Omigosh! Naru's in danger!" Sailor Moon said suddenly, attracting the attention of the moon cats. "At the jewelry store! I've gotta go help her!"
Orion groaned. "Damn it! We're out of time! C'mon, I'll brief you as best I can along the way!"
"That was shameful," deadpanned Orion as he stared at Sailor Moon and Luna.
Usagi immediately deflated. "What? Why? I won, didn't I?" She had thought it had turned out pretty good. They had saved Naru and all those people, after all. AND a dashing and heroic figure had arrived in the nick of time to save her and shout encouragement! And after defeating the scary youma, she had even managed a heroic and mysterious exit in front of Naru!
"You gave away your position, gave your enemy a chance to regroup before you attacked, missed about sixteen different openings to destroy the youma despite her human shields, you let yourself get pinned down... if that rose sniper wierdo - who at least waited until AFTER the attack to give himself away - hadn't arrived and given you that stupid pep talk, you'd be ground chum right now!" Orion growled as he remembered the man who had jumped it, launched a single projectile and a speech, and then left. "Who is he, anyway? And why didn't he stick to the attack instead of giving a monologue? And then he LEFT? Are these the types of battles that the Senshi normally fight?"
"I thought he was cool..." Usagi mumbled. "And I still won."
"I have to agree," Luna chided. "It didn't go perfectly, but the mission was a success."
"So was the fight for Stalingrad," Orion hissed. "That doesn't change that it was one of the most boneheaded and wasteful military operations ever undertaken."
He had hoped that maybe a reference to an event from Earth's history as Usagi knew it would help him connect a bit better with the new superhero, or at least foster some appreciation that he had taken the time to learn about historical military pursuits in order to be as much help as possible.
"Sutawan... wait... what's Sutaringu... uh..." Sailor Moon scratched her head as she tried to pronounce the word that she had just heard. It never did occur to Orion that not all the people trying to fight to save the world would be as big a military buff as he was.
"This is ridiculous!" The gray cat snarled, his tail bushing a bit as his black counterpart stared at him dispassionately. "Look, we can't fight off an enemy like this! We either need some more help, or we need to hand off this 'Sailor Moon' power to somebody more suited!"
Luna's cold gaze shifted into a glare. "I don't TOTALLY disagree with you... but it's impossible.
She's Sailor Moon and that's that. I can't just give the transformation item to someone else."
Orion frowned. "Why not?"
"Well , I..." Luna took a moment to clear her throat, as if preparing for a long winded and complicated explanation. "I don't know. That's just how it is."
Sailor Moon sniffled, bunching her hands up underneath her chin. "I... I'm trying my best..."
Orion took one look at the blonde girl and winced, "Yes, I realize that," he allowed carefully, his voice much softer now. "It isn't your fault. But the fact is, some people are born to be scholars and some people are born to be fighters. And you're... uh..." he hedged for a moment, "er... not a fighter," he finished diplomatically.
Usagi frowned, though she appreciated Orion's words. "I thought the phrase was 'a lover, not a fighter'?"
"Where this mangy stray comes from, they don't have much in the way of romance," Luna jabbed. "Really Orion, I don't much like it either, but complaining isn't going to solve anything.
'A general marches to war with the army she's got'."
Orion frowned deeply at this, wondering why Luna was so keen on the idioms rather than debating him directly. The military saying had hit home though, even if he was slightly irked that he had described the alleged general as a "she". Even in the Silver Millennium, military leaders had been almost exclusively male; and he found it mildly annoying how the matriarchal royal hierarchies thought this strange.
Still, he was not one to merely complain about an issue until someone else solved it, nor was he content to sit back and let his displeasure fester. When he saw a critical problem, he solved it.
"Fine," the gray cat said, turning away from the two females and trotting off. "If I have to use the army I have, then I'll just get a new army."
Usagi looked worriedly at the tomcat even as Luna rolled her eyes and turned away. Actually, even if Orion was scarier than Luna, she kind of wished that he'd stay with them. She'd take all the help she could get in fighting monsters, and he tended to be more helpful than Luna, yelling suggestions rather than just complaints. 'I hope he isn't mad at me...'