A/N: And here we go! It should be relatively clear which "Sailor Moon" is meant when two are about, but in almost every other scene they either don't know the difference, or only one of them is about. This one took a while, mostly taking 10,000+ words. Not sure it's my best work, but it's hopefully not my worst. Enjoy.
A/N2 (Author's note squared? Does the impact decrease by inverse of each note?): The ending has been tweaked and rewritten. I was reminded of some things I'd premised I'm sorry to admit I had forgotten about, and I needed to do some salvage on it. Plus this actually goes more into my next planned chapter better. I know I sometimes do little tweaks to chapters post-upload but if you've read this chapter, don't be afraid to reread the last section of it.
Jadeite prowled menacingly in his lair. Actually he was pacing in his room and wearing a groove into the plush carpet, but it sounded more impressive to call it a lair. And prowling was the sort of thing he had practiced, even if he wasn't half as good as the other generals or even some of the youma. Perhaps he didn't have that killing spirit, or perhaps he didn't have enough self-confidence to give off that 'you will die, it is a promise' vibe that was needed. Possibly the latter, he admitted to himself.
He was already on thin ice with Queen Beryl, he knew the other generals were just waiting for the chance to tear out his throat (metaphorically, he hoped) and claim his spot, and he remembered- well, he remembered what had happened the one time. And it wasn't pleasant. As if any of them would have a chance against four sailor scouts popping out of the woodwork like that, it wasn't until he'd gotten the report from Nekaru he was even aware there was four of them. The other generals likely still believed Sailor Moon was the decoy off in Europe or something.
He froze mid-step as a thought occurred to him: if Moon was here in Tokyo, then who was that over there? Was there five now? A chill ran down his spine at that. Although, he had to admit it seemed off, the one Sailor Moon he'd faced wasn't the same as the others, something about her reminded him of Queen Beryl as well as a half-memory of green eyes and blue eyes and red hair both. He vaguely remembered something from back during the fall, when the youma had swarmed the castle and he'd faced the senshi in combat and that look in steel blue eyes of anger and betrayal and shut up shut up shutUP-
Thankfully he was roused from his thoughts by the quiet knock on his door. Leaping at the distraction he nearly tripped on the footstool he'd kicked aside in his pacing, hopping on one leg as he straightened himself out, then smoothing out his hair he opened the door. Nekaru was there, and she looked like he had after facing the two Sailor Senshi, possibly worse. Wordlessly she handed him a copy of her report, then turned around and left without so much as a by your leave. Closing the door he was already too engrossed in the report to hear her passing out at his doorstop with a thump, or the murmurs from other generals at the sight of the dishevelled exhausted youma right outside their fellow general's door, her outfit torn shreds and only her natural fur providing any modesty she might have. By the morning the news had spread that Jadeite was one of those sort, not that there was anything wrong with preferring youma, of course not, but there'd been rumours about him before...
Jadeite continued to read late into the night, oblivious. Four of them, already split into two pairs. There were two Sailor Moons, and she'd only seen one of them doing any training, the other preferring to pretend to be an ordinary girl when not fighting. Pretend, yes, he knew they were all dangerous opponents, yes, and he knew not to underestimate them. His plan would work this time, and finally he would be the one in control, and nothing would stop him this time, not even Sailor Moon!
Ranma Saotome sneezed, then sniffled a bit with a sigh. He'd come down with something after the training trip, likely from the repeated plunging into freezing cold river water while tied up. He'd learned the technique in the end, but it was still too intensive to use as more than a last resort, somehow sucking up all of his ki in the effort to fold himself into his own ki pocket, and still make sure he came out at the end. At least he didn't have to worry about the destination, inside it was a sort of a shadowy cold plane with half-visible images of the real world, occasional bright spots of light from where people with large auras moved. The bright spot of his old man, tinged with a sort of a yellow, Akane frustrated with homework burning red, Nabiki faintly glimmering in a cold icy blue, Kasumi in an even white (which surprised him, he hadn't expected her to have any sort of presence and he'd never felt one), even old man Tendo showed up in a sort of a weak green. In there everything seemed almost frozen, so he had plenty of time to hurry to his destination and hop out, appearing in the normal world fast enough to almost be instantaneous. He made a mental note to not only keep practicing to see if he could cut down the energy draw or at least build his reserves, but to also look into the whole 'ki vision' as he dubbed it; being able to outright see the life force of people was something invaluable, particularly when watching for opponents, since it would let him gauge how strong they were even when trying to hide from vision.
In the meantime however he curled back in the bed, coughing and sneezing once more before finishing off the light meal of three bowls of chicken soup Kasumi had made for him. He still felt all weak and tired, which naturally meant pops had been trying to beat the sickness out of him calling him weak enough to catch flu, and then Akane had tried to cook another 'hearty stew' for him, ending up with more of a heart-attack stew that as she had said included glue ("it says for extra-strong fixes!") and gasoline ("fuel gives off energy, we learned that in chemistry remember?") as well as a bit of drain cleaner ("I thought it was vinegar" she'd admitted)... well, after he'd had a reasoned and calm discussion of why they weren't things you put in food, and maybe a few words were spoken in haste, she'd smashed him over the head with a full dresser then stomped off in tears and he'd felt a bit bad and really should apologize. So maybe he'd gone too far calling her an 'uncute macho idiot tomboy who cooked as well as she swam and would never find someone who could look at her cooking without losing their last meal', but it was all true wasn't it?
So now he was lying in bed, feeling sorry for himself; he'd already chased off both old men when they charged in demanding he apologize right now for whatever he said and he in turn offered the bowl of congealed mass (held up by the spoon). He was going to apologize, as soon as she'd had a chance to calm down and wasn't breaking stacks of cinderblocks with bare-hands, and certainly not while she was pasting pictures of his face onto each one.
He pulled himself upright and rested on the windowsill, looking out and briefly wondering where Ryoga had gotten to; he'd wanted to ask him how best to make it up to Akane, but the porker had vanished. Maybe he should call up Rei or Usagi and see if they had any advice for how to apologize. What he needed was a sign.
Ryoga Hibiki didn't even look at the map of Hokkaido crumpled in his fist as he wandered through the streets of what must be Montreal, passing the replica of Tokyo Tower they had there. He wondered briefly why they'd go to all that trouble to imitate it complete with all the lighting, but he didn't pay it much attention. Canadians were weird, but at least they all spoke Japanese. Right now however his mind was on more serious things, including a certain pigtailed martial artist and an offer from Pluto. All he had to do was agree to the power, and it would curb the repeating dreams of an impossible past, it would cure his directional sense, it would let him be there to help Akane when she needed it and show her how he was the one for her. He could even defeat Ranma once and for all. All he would have to do was agree to the contract that had been in his family for countless ages in an unknown dialect, and give up, well, something. He wasn't sure what, but he'd gotten the impression it was something big. Of course he had no clue what, since no one could read the contract and Pluto wasn't telling ("it wouldn't be a fair deal," she'd explained, "since you would know beforehand exactly what the cost was").
He sighed, and sat down on a park bench, head in his hands. All he had to do was agree, and then he could charge right there without getting lost, go up to Ranma, and tell him- Well, tell him. And maybe beat him up for good measure and no small bit of payback. Part of him felt it would be cheating, but the other part knew he needed the leg-up, and it'd still be his skills behind everything. Finally, fists to the sky, he shouted up to the kami, "GIVE ME A SIGN!".
Ami Mizuno sighed. It had been such a simple plan: she and Usagi would go to see the new senshi of Mars, a Rei Hino, who lived in a shrine with her grandfather. There they would meet Ranma Saotome, the other Sailor Moon, and everyone would have a chance to talk and Ranma would show them some combat moves to help fight youma. However, apparently Ranma was sick and stuck at home, and Rei supposedly was too sore after her own training earlier that week to try anything more than lying on her bed reading a manga. Naturally Usagi had seen the cover and exclaimed how she hadn't read that one, then swiped it out of Rei's hands. That led to a shouting match back and forth between the two, with Ami staying out of it. It seemed the only person Rei really made friends with was Ranma. She hoped the girl was getting plenty of fluids and rest, the way Rei had described her Ranma was prone to ignoring her problems and working out until they went away. If you replaced working out with studying it would sum up Ami perfectly.
Unfortunately this sort of argument was likely endemic of something bigger, like her apparent friendship with Usagi. If she wanted to be bluntly honest, if it wasn't for their shared senshi status she never would have even met either two girls, and she wasn't sure if she was happy or let down by that fact. She really should bring it up with them, before they tore each other to pieces or said something neither one could take back, but she didn't want to get involved either. Staring out the window, she gave a silent plea to the heavens: all I need is a sign!
Luna, the advisor-mau of a long-dead empire, curled up on the bed. She wasn't sure of how things were going. Yes she'd found Sailor Moon, and yes she'd awoken Sailor Mercury too, but apparently Sailor Mars had not only awoken on her own, but had done so alongside someone who was claiming to be Sailor Moon. She knew that was a lie, but what sort of game was this person playing? The obvious conclusion was some Dark Kingdom plot, but apparently the two of them had not only faced but nearly killed one of the Dark Generals in combat. It was possible, she admitted, that it was a very deep-cover setup to gain the trust of Sailor Mars, but it did seem a lot of trouble to go to. Perhaps the infiltrator was trying to catch them all together? Yet apparently she was responsible for the other youma attacks that had been defeated before Moon and Mercury could arrive on-scene, and now when the three senshi were meeting she was sick at home in bed.
Really, it didn't make any sense: either she was some assassin who was ignoring all the best chances, was some spy who was sitting elsewhere instead of gathering info, was some impersonator pretending to be Moon for some reason of her own, or the worst option of all was someone who actually believed she was Sailor Moon, which meant even now she could be plotting how to eliminate the real Moon and take her place. It didn't help that the girl was supposedly afraid of cats and had vehemently refused to come if Luna would be there, so instead she was sitting at home and the girl still hadn't even shown up! What was she planning? She'd even called Control with all her concerns, and had been told to wait and see what developed.
Really, she needed some clue or plan, and staring up at the stars that once held a system-spanning empire of magic and beauty, she silently pleaded for a sign, for anything to tell her what to do.
Mamoru Chiba wasn't looking at the sky, or even awake. He'd been missing gaps of his memory, and that meant he hadn't been doing homework for his courses, and now he was behind. After a long cram session and an all-nighter to finish an essay due the next day, he'd gotten home, managed a quick bowl of instant ramen, and then collapsed into bed fully clothed and asleep before he hit the pillow. The only sign he wanted was 'stop' so he could get his life together.
Many people across Tokyo happened to be looking at the sky at that moment, so when the sky rippled and the giant face of a blond man with handsome features appeared in it, there was mass panic from everyone watching, senshi and civilian alike. The man turned to the side as if to look for someone, and then glanced back down. "SAILOR SENSHI!" he shouted in a booming voice that resonated across the city, buildings and streets shaking as if a minor earthquake had passed. The man looked sheepish for a moment, his head sliding out of the image and muttering inaudible, before he reappeared. "Sailor senshi!" he declared in a far less thunderous voice. "I know you are listening, Sailors Mars, Mercury, and both Moons! I... am the great Heavenly General Jadeite! You have been a thorn in my side, and now it has come the time to end it! Meet me tomorrow night at the Tokyo Airport, or- what do you mean there's more than one?" The giant head moved out of frame again, only the side of his head visible. "No, I wanted to challenge them! It's just- yes I know that, I just figured that the airport would- do you want to issue demands then? No? Then let me- fine!" Moving back into the image the giant Jadeite smoothed out his hair. "As I was saying, meet me tomorrow night at the Tokyo International Airport, the newer one, Narita apparently? The one in Chiba. Just take the train straight from- look, it's not important. Meet me there, or this happens!"
With that massive hands appeared in the image, spraying fire everywhere, and the entirety of the city was ablaze. Moments later once people realized nothing was actually burning the fire vanished as if it was never there. "Yes. Or that will really happen! Remember, tomorrow night! Perhaps about ten, that would give me time to, I mean, give you time to ponder your fate! Or your precious city will burn!" With that he remained still for a few moments, then turned to face away. "Well, I think that went rather well, don't you? I hope this works, I mean, it doesn't give me much time to prepare, and I still have to get my best suit back from the cleaners, and I want my hair to be perfect for my big- is that thing still on?" He swore, then spun around and the palm of a massive hand was visible across the sky before the image vanished.
Elsewhere, a green-haired woman sighed and rolled back in the bed to snuggle back up with her current bedmate and tried to relax again. She'd had a wonderful time dancing, and then met someone wonderful who seemed to somehow understand her. He'd said he was a doctor of a sort, she'd introduced herself as a guard of a sort, and then they went on a lovely night out taking in the sights across the world in one destination after another, which was perfect for forgetting about her job and empty penance for a dead empire. And then of course this had to happen.
"What is it?" he asked, propping himself up on an elbow to look out the window.
"Nothing, just some lunatic making a challenge using the sky as a giant video screen."
"Oh, I hate it when that happens. No consideration for people who might be asleep or just can't be bothered with whatever is supposed to be so important." He gave a dismissive wave. "I find most of those things tend to solve themselves anyways without intervention."
"My thoughts exactly. Now, come on, the night's still young," and shutting the drapes behind her she rolled over to the man for the next round and promptly smothered the voice of unease in her head with another kiss.
The next day had been predictably busy, with everyone discussing the challenge of the previous night. Many people were convinced it was a hoax, or some sort of publicity stunt for an upcoming movie, or even a group of bored kids with access to impressive video projection devices. A smaller group of people were convinced that it was legitimate, mostly those who had already seen the Sailor Senshi in action. The police were denying there was a threat but had shut down and evacuated the airport in anticipation and directed all flights elsewhere.
The teachers hadn't even tried to get the class to pay attention, and in some cases were joining in on the gossip themselves, eventually cancelling classes. After a tense meal with everyone trying not to think about the supposed threat, Ranma finally stood up to leave.
"Where are you going, boy?" Genma demanded, as Ranma gave another cough and held back a sneeze. "If you're so weak as to catch illness, you're too weak to go out. You should stay here and let your fiancée take care of you!"
Akane turned away with a hmf. "Who'd want to help a jerk like him?" she protested, crossing her arms and refusing to look his direction. Ranma in turn just sighed and drooped his head. He'd tried to apologize earlier but she'd refused his "sorry for calling your horrible toxic waste inedible". Apparently he still needed a proper way to apologize; maybe he could find something on the way to the airport battle. Maybe she'd appreciate that Jadeite guy's jacket. Girls liked clothing, right? Giving another cough, he sighed. "I'm, uh... goin' to the airport battle thing."
It seemed that wasn't the right response. "That was a challenge to those senshi, you can't interfere in a battle between men!" Genma declared, crossing his arms.
"Girls," Nabiki corrected, munching on a few after-dinner cookies. "The senshi are girls, teenagers. Maybe Ranma was going to check them out."
Akane fumed, then remembered she was angry at Ranma. "Who cares what he does? Let him be a pervert to whomever he likes. Maybe those senshi girls will find out and beat him up. That'll show the jerk." With that said she stomped off to the dojo to go ruin more innocent bricks before bed.
Genma flared his aura up to try and intimidate Ranma. "You go and apologize to your fiancée right growf growf!" and the new panda shook out his fur from the glass of water dumped on his head by his still-coughing son. "Look, pops, I'm goin' ta the battle, 'k? Ya know how it's a martial artist's duty and stuff ta help out, if this Jadeite guy's serious as he sounds I haveta help. S'my job." With that he turned to leave, but Nabiki passed him an envelope marked "DO NOT OPEN UNTIL THE AIRPORT". "Wha? How'd ya-?" he asked, looking around, but she'd already vanished. Giving a shrug he stuffed it into a pocket and left the house to grab a train.
It was nine at night when a shivering coughing blonde-wigged redhead dragged herself to the Hikawa shrine's steps, where the other three girls were waiting. Mostly waiting, it was obvious that there'd been some sort of argument with the way Rei and Usagi were occasionally glaring daggers at each other and steadfastly not talking to each other. Ami was listening to something on her earpiece, entire posture and expression curled up and withdrawn in a 'I'm not here, I'm not part of this, leave me alone' way. Upon seeing Ranma however Rei and Usagi both visibly brightened up, smiles on their faces before catching each other's expression and trading more glares. Ami merely gave a sad smile and sigh.
"They've been like that since yesterday. We need to get going. Are you up for this? You look, um, peaky."
Ranma smiled back and gave a thumbs-up, while swaying on her feet. "'mfine. Jus' a bit a fever, s'all." She gave another cough and grimace. "Jus... hate skirts, legs cold, shouldn't be wearin' sumfin like 'm. 'm guy, I think. Least able ta move." She gave a high-kick at head-height to demonstrate.
The three girls looked the redhead over as she gave another cough. "Not many guys or girls have legs like that." "I know I'd- I mean, other girls would love to have a bust like that, guy or not." "You're still the same sexy-butt Ranma, even when you're a guy too."
Ami and Usagi turned to stare at Rei. "What?" she said. "There's a curse involved, and I'm not stupid. And it is a sexy butt, and she's flashing it with those high kicks." She glanced back and forth at the twin stares. "Look, can we go over this when we're not about to fight a Dark General to save the city from destruction? Don't worry, Ranma, your secret's safe with me." Ranma gave another thumbs-up with a weak smile, obviously not quite following in her state but apparently glad everything was fine.
"That's good, so, how do we get to the airport in half an hour?" Usagi asked, glancing at her watch. "Ranma's already transformed, we should probably do so too, but even I can't run there that fast on foot, and I'm on the track team."
Ranma gave a cough. "Took th' train, they're shutting em down, safety or somethin'. All empty."
Ami nodded. "I think I can fix that. Let's hurry."
It was already half past when the train pulled up to the airport, the barricade and police officers moving up to investigate. Wandering up and down the train, they eventually reported back. "It's empty," one of the officers said. "Looks like the automated system took over when someone forgot to shut the train down or remove the safety lock. We're lucky it didn't cause an accident."
The on-site sergeant took a sip of his cup of coffee and made a face. "At least no one was on it. Go back to watching the perimeter, we're here to stop anyone from getting in."
Unnoticed four fuku-clad figures quietly leapt off the roof of the train to land past the fence in the shadows. Glancing about and one stifling another coughing fit they shared a nod before moving in.
Equally unnoticed a fifth figure watched from the shadows, then with the faintest hint of a sigh moved on to follow at a distance.
It was eerie the way all the lights were off, Sailor Mercury decided, and the fact that only the emergency runway lights were lit highlighting the strips of tarmac without illuminating the area made it far worse. Of course she knew it was some sort of trap, Jadeite had declared this area to be their meeting place and the Dark Kingdom was hardly bothered by a lack of lighting. While she knew the Dark Generals were human (and an unbidden memory not hers of just how human made her blush) they were long since augmented by Dark Kingdom magic to see in the dark. Of course, Mercury was one to talk, well, think, as the Mercury Computer's visor included infra-red, ultra-violet, and low-light-amplification modes, as well as a very handy magnetic detection mode. There was even a magic visualizing mode, but when she tried it earlier and looked at Red Moon (as she'd mentally called Ranma, instead of Yellow Moon for Usagi) the visor had crashed and thrown up a 'negative range' error. She hadn't tried again. She would have to ponder that riddle another time, when she wasn't wandering into the middle of a blatant trap.
As they approached the control tower, there was a rustling sound. They froze, and then what felt like a mass of rubber snakes wrapped about all of them, getting four collective shrieks as they all fell to the ground. All the lights suddenly snapped on, driving away the shadows on themselves and also one figure standing up on the rooftop of the control building, leaning against the tower cape billowing dramatically. Not that they could see details in the suddenly bright light, and apparently neither could Jadeite. "Aggh too bright! Ahh... there goes my good first impression." Taking a moment to turn aside and rapidly blink to clear his vision he looked down at the girls. "Sailor Scouts! You have finally-"
"Senshi. We're the Sailor Senshi. Warriors," Mars corrected him as she struggled to get free of what looked like hoses that were wrapped tight about her.
"I guess I am or was more of a scout myself. Most of my abilities are tactical after all," added Mercury, wriggling a little.
Jadeite let off a slight growl. "What? Senshi or Scouts, it's not important! What is important is that you've fallen-"
"Why are we the 'sailor' senshi anyways? I mean, I don't think I've been on a boat in my life," Moon asked, glancing at the others. "Or did the Lunarian Empire just go with the 'sailor fuku' thing the whole way? The naming of that was before my time and all, and Luna refuses to answer any 'trivial' questions, meaning she has no clue. Maybe it's a spaceship thing." She looked up at Jadeite. "Why are we the 'sailor' senshi? Do you know? And for that matter, who is the Dark King?"
Jadeite gave a blank uncomprehending stare. "The who?"
"The king! You're the 'Dark Kingdom' after all. We're from the Lunarian Empire which was comprised of the associated inhabited planets of the solar system, so it was an empire instead of the, I don't know, Serenian Queendom. Maybe if the princess had taken over she would have called herself empress. I like the sound of that. Empress Usagi. Bow before me!" She wiggled a bit in the hose cocoon and looked back up at him. "But is there a king?"
"I thought it was the Silver Millennium," whispered Sailor Mars. "That was the name of the time period, not the empire," Sailor Mercury whispered back. "Oh!" exclaimed Mars, in a pleased whisper. "That explains so much!" "Wait, you didn't think they really named the empire the 'silver millennium', did you? A millennium is a timeframe, not a distance! That's like using parsecs as a unit of time!" That was met with silence and a sheepish look.
"Uh, there is a queen. Queen Beryl. But I'm not sure if she had anyone..." Jadeite replied with expression of bewilderment, answering the one mummified figure and ignoring the other two whispering back and forth. "Plus some sort of elder god horror she worships, but I don't think she follows it in 'that way' either. I hope not at least." He made a face, as did the others.
"So, why all of this?" Mars asked, finally. "I know you just want to rage about your new evil plan before we kick the crap out of you, again. And light you on fire and blow you up. Again. Maybe this time you'll stay dead."
Jadeite ground his teeth hard enough to make an audible crunching noise. "Fine. Sailor senshi scouts! I am here to- wait. Wasn't there four of you?"
A cough to his left was all the warning he got before a fist impacted with his face, almost throwing him off the building. It was followed up with a few more punches and a quick snap-kick from a tired-looking Sailor Moon, the shorter one. "Ya know, if yer gonna talk like that, make sure yer enemies 'rall distracted or stuff."
Jadeite leapt off the building, magic letting him hover facing her. "But I had you tied up and unable to move!"
Moon scratched her head then adjusted her wig again. "Really? Honestly, didn't notice. Can't've been much for bonds then, escaped far worse by now." She took a moment to cough and sway, leaning on the wall for support.
Jadeite growled. "Why are you here? You can barely stand!" as he raised his hands with a dark glow of energy building up about them, preparing to blast her into the next life.
"Don't need ta stand fer long. Ya needed ta focus ta keep'm tied. Have fun!" and giving a mocking wave, she jumped off the side of the building.
Still floating, Jadeite watched her drop into the shadows, then turned to have just enough time to raise his arms in defense as a fully loaded fuel tanker truck smashed into him and plowed him into the side of the control tower, which shook but stayed upright, a few bits of plaster pelting him. A moment later the license plate dropped off the back and bounced off his head. "No problem, I know which it was," he murmured, before shaking his head to clear it and climbing out of the wreckage. "Agh, now my uniform is ruined! How dare- wait."
"-FLAME SNIPER!" finished the cry, and a bolt of flame lanced up towards him and the thousands of gallons of spilled jet fuel. Jadeite stared in panic at the second it took to realize what was up before the flame hit, and the entire thing went up like a bomb. The control tower had enough, and with a creaking rumbling it collapsed spilling burning debris and twisted bits of metal and glass outwards.
The other two senshi turned to stare at Mars. "Did... did you just... did you just throw a tanker truck at him?" stammered Moon.
"Well, yeah. I mean, I was throwing boulders to help Other Moon practice, this was just a bit heavier, but the target was the same size. Maybe easier as the truck was so big. Hang on, do you think that was the intent? Hey Moon! Was that part of the training, so I could throw something like that?"
A growl came from the flaming debris as a wavering and visibly bleeding Jadeite clutched his side, backlit from the flames but still alive. "All right. Now I'm mad!" He made a sweeping gesture, then resumed holding his wound but smirking now.
The others readied to dodge, then glanced over when no attack was incoming. "Uh, I think you forgot the attack of your attack?" Moon quipped. The others glanced about, but it was Mercury who spotted it first. "Oh no, look out!" and she ran to the side. The others looked over in time to spot the unmanned jet liner approaching at full throttle, and ran sideways to avoid it, the plane turning impossibly tight as it started to home in on them. "Scatter!" shouted Mercury, and the three took off different directions down the runway. Two other jetliners roared to full engines and started following a senshi each as they ran along the runway, gaining bit by bit.
Jadeite laughed at that as he watched, then by instinct threw himself back as a sweeping roundhouse blurred through where his head had just been. Stumbling a little and groaning as the large wound was aggravated, he dodged another punch and kick, before trying to throw a punch of his own back. "You look like you're ready to pass out! How are you still trying to fight me?" he taunted, a sweeping kick twisted and using his flight to stop the throw it was turned into, trying to chop down at the girl who rammed an elbow into his held leg which got a cry as he pulled back and tried to massage life back into the limb.
"Could say th' same ta you. Wouldn'tcha rather give up'n treat that? Yer kinda bleedin.." she suggested, leaping up close and letting loose with a jackhammer of punches into his wounded side which collapsed him.
Jadeite spat out some blood and glared up at her. "Your mask fell off again," he taunted, and when Sailor Moon reached up to double-check he punched her in the arm with a fist glowing with dark energy. Moon collapsed with a cry, shuddering as dark lightning visibly crackled across her body.
Meanwhile, the other three sailor senshi were still running, Mercury panting hard as she struggled to keep away from the airplane after her. "Not... meant... for running.." she gasped, then spying Mars she started running towards her. The plane followed her perfectly, swerving again in ways that no real taxiing plane could manage. With that she tapped Mars on the shoulder and ran past, the two planes swerving to match before ramming into each other and coming to a stop. They only had a few moments to admire their victory before there was the sound of rotors announcing what looked like an attack helicopter, piloting itself like the jets had prior, the rapid fire machine guns opening fire. With it in the air the same trick wouldn't work twice, and being a helicopter it could hover and chase them to keep a perfect line on them at all times. Mars and Mercury shrieked and ran, trying to dodge the hail of bullets, and without paying attention ran across Moon, who suddenly scooped both of them up one over each shoulder, then herself ran. Even with the extra weight it was obvious she was faster than both of them, and she wasn't even winded. Still, the helicopter turned to target her and the remaining passenger jet continued to scream along the runway as fast as her.
Sailor Mercury was thankful she was at home in or on the water, and this sort of bouncing wasn't that hard on her stomach. But she was tired and her legs burned and she had shrapnel and fuel in her hair. Something did catch her eye as she glanced down at the side and did mental math. "You can run eighty kilometers an hour?!"
"Only while transformed," Sailor Moon explained, swerving hard to the left to avoid the wreckage of another plane and at one point jumping and running up a tipped wing before leaping onto the ground to continue. "Only half that normal. Mercury, we need a plan..." she hissed, dodging back and forth while Mars did her best to fling fire up at the helicopter, which pulled some impressive aerial maneuvers to dodge that likely would have blacked out any pilots. "Even if it's as simple as 'dodge into the airport building and hide'. Unless it's 'run and dodge until they run out of bullets or fuel, then you can run instead!"
"Wait, aren't these uniforms bulletproof?" Mars asked between lobs of fire, while Mercury did her best to scan the aircraft while bouncing up and down on the blonde's shoulder.
"Only where they cover," remarked Mercury. "Everything but part of our arms and legs, and heads. Exposed major arteries, and, well, heads."
"See? We need leggings and sleeves! Who thought leotards and miniskirts were battle wear?!" Mars shrieked, then lobbed a ball of flame into a jet engine which caught fire before exploding and shredding the wing off. The aircraft tipped sideways, the other wing hit the ground, and it spun about before the landing gear snapped off and it screeched to a halt. Of course the helicopter continued to fire down at them, getting a groan from Moon as she ran.
"I can't keep running forever with both of you," Moon gasped, pulling another burst of speed which the copter kept up with. "Options! We need options!"
Mercury frowned, taking a moment to glance about and up at the attack helicopter. "Got it! Moon, keep running, I'm going to try something risky, but whatever dark magic Jadeite did is running without his direct control, so it must be some sort of automatic thing. That means it can't be doing threat assessment."
The yellow-pigtailed senshi huffed for breath as she kept dodging back and forth along the runway, ducking to slide underneath the wing of a crashed airplane before continuing on, ignoring the explosion behind her as it was raked by gunfire. "What does that mean, simple terms?"
"It means don't stop running, keep going that way!" and with that Mercury suddenly leapt free with a roll before running the other way.
"Mercury!" Sailor Mars shouted, struggling to get free, but Sailor Moon kept a tight grip and continued to dash and dodge. "She has a plan!" she cried to her passenger. "Trust her!"
Behind, Mercury watched the chopper pass over her chasing down the two moving senshi. "Just have to hope their engines are efficient, too much waste heat would ruin this," she muttered, before raising her hands. "Mercury... Ice... FREEZE!" and with that brought her hands together, the windshield starting to ice up before forming crystals, which quickly spread across the body. The engine sputtered and choked as the air intakes clogged with ice, before with a final sputter and click it died out, and the now-powerless helicopter spun and dropped to the ground to crash in a shriek of tortured metal and smashed glass. Sailor Mercury moved up to the smouldering wreckage, and posed. "Ha! C12H26 and O2 gives CO2 and water! And guess what ice is? YOU!" Trying not to do a victory dance she was grinning wide as she waltzed up to the two senshi who were watching her with no small measure of concern. "Come on! Let's go find Jadeite! There's over two hundred bones in the human body, and I want to break all of them one by one! Even the little ones in the ear! Ooohh, he is going to scream!" She gave a happy little shiver and squirm, flushing bright red, before practically dragging the visibly disturbed pair with her towards the control tower ruins.
The three tired but still healthy senshi came up on the flaming wreckage in time to see Jadeite holding Ranma by the throat and repeatedly smashing her head into the the ground, Ranma bruised and bleeding and barely conscious. Red blood ran down her face to match her hair, wig abandoned to the side, and at some point Jadeite had apparently torn her mask off as he held it in his other hand. When he heard the other girls cry, he paused, looking over. "Well, I suppose I didn't really expect you to die. I wish I could say you would be as easy as her, but honestly even sick and barely standing I had to hit her with dark energy five separate times until she would stop hitting me." Ranma groaned and suddenly lashed out with a foot. It was a weak kick for her, but it still smashed like a loaded fuel truck into Jadeite's side, getting a groan from him and a bloody cough before his hands crackled again. Ranma twitched and screamed in agony before finally passing out.
"The irony is that normally I'd be able to take one of you out and then leave to heal up, but Queen Beryl has decided this is my last chance, so instead I either have to kill all of you or die myself." When they took battle stances he raised his other hand, still holding the domino mask. "I'm not so foolish as to try this sort of thing without evening the odds. One against three is hardly fair, and I don't have some army of youma mooks to help out. Just me, my fists, and my magical tricks!" With a sweep of his hand the flaming rubble behind him started to flow upwards, projections outwards from the main bulk until it resolved itself into a vaguely humanoid form. Vaguely humanoid in that it had two massive tree-trunk sized arms, two even larger thicker legs, a body that was more a deformed ball, and what was the head because it was on top. The entire thing was also made of jagged metal and concrete shards. It was also on fire. Turning a pair of glowing flames that served for eyes at the massive figure raised its head and let out a roar that sounded like the screech of tearing metal, then charged the three girls at a speed faster than would be expected. Sailor Mars made the mistake of not dodging fast enough and was smashed in the stomach, throwing her back a good twenty feet before sliding on the asphalt and groaning. "I'm ok," she wheezed, pushing herself up. "Just winded. I think I'm also on fire," she added, glancing down where the ribbon of her uniform was blazing merrily. Patting it out she limped back to the other two who were dodging blows and trying to occasionally throw a blow back.
"What are the weak spots?" Moon shouted.
"I don't know!" Mercury shouted back. "I'm not seeing any! It's also too hot for me to get any ice around it!" She ducked as a blow whistled over her head, trying to stay back and use her scanner despite the monster not giving a clear opportunity.
"Moon Tiara!" Sailor Moon cried, throwing the sudden discus at the golem, where it proceeded to bounce off at an angle, then on the return trip bounce off the back of its head and return. The monstrosity didn't even seem to notice either time. "Wish I had some sort of elemental trick here like you two.."
"Mars Fire Sniper!" came the cry, and a bolt of fire swept past not towards the monster but towards Jadeite behind. It however swept a hand out to block the attack then growled with more screeching metal before picking up a twisted metal beam and throwing it like a javelin towards Mars. Sailor Moon saw it and shoved the other girl out of the way, to end up in the path instead where it proceeded to smash into her, sending her flying backwards and sliding along the runway before coming to a stop, sprawled out on the ground with the metal beside her, uniform fading away to reveal the light pants and blouse of her civilian clothes. Both girls screamed and ran towards her while the monster roared in triumph.
"She's alive," Mercury sighed in relief. "the uniform took the blow, I don't think there's any internal bleeding, her pulse and breathing seem relatively stable. But we're down both Moons, and we're short a plan."
"You don't have a plan?! Isn't that what you do?" cried the black-haired girl at the bluenette. "Can't you just figure something out?"
Mercury hissed in annoyance. "I might if I had something to work with here! The thing is immune to both our attacks, and punching it just made it angry. Both our teammates are down, we're both hurt and tired, Jadeite is going to burn the city down if we fail, the youma are going to swarm over everything like the proverbial plague of locusts, and you're going to blame me because I can't think of a plan?!"
Mars took a half step back, then her eyes glinted. "Exactly. And then you'll have to live with that, meaning you won't be able to look in the mirror or fall asleep each night, all because of that guilt. And you know what?" she whispered, leaning in towards the shocked senshi. "When he burns down Tokyo, the University of Tokyo will go with it. Good bye world-recognized institute. And all because that giant metal monster was in your way."
Mars took a step back as the shocked horror on Mercury's face gave way to realization, and then from there to anger and it was a short step to pure frothing rage. Shouting something completely unintelligible the blue-haired berserker leapt towards the animated beast and when it took a swing at her she caught it in a makeshift over-shoulder throw, the monster landing with a heavy ground-shaking thud and new crater. She wasn't idle however, leaping on it and screaming inarticulate fury as ice caked about her fists in makeshift gloves for repeated smashes across the body. Giving a grimace Sailor Mars turned to limp towards Jadeite to hopefully finish him off.
Ranma groaned, having briefly come to once again. Everything hurt, in ways she hadn't felt since early in her training. Even Ryoga's fights hadn't come this close. Spitting up what seemed to be a loosened tooth she tried to push herself upright and found that her hands and legs were bound together by what seemed like black lightning, leaving her hogtied. She tried to roll over and make the world stop wavering and maybe get rid of that whining noise, but what she knew was a decent concussion wouldn't go away. Instead she rolled to her other side and tried to focus on what appeared to be Jadeite, sitting on a chunk of rubble and watching the show, still clutching the side of his blood-soaked jacket.
"You know, I'm surprised any of you have lasted this long," he remarked, without turning to look.
Ranma gave a few sick coughs and groaned as it made her head swim and body shudder. "Senshi don't lose," she muttered. "Not when't counts."
"Even understanding why you're doing this I'm amazed you keep doing it. You don't have a chance to win, but you can't stand to lose. Oh, here comes your friend."
Ranma glanced over at the blurry figure shakily making her way towards them, fire flaring about both hands ready to burn everything in her path. Then out of nowhere a second smaller lump of twisted metal wreckage tackled her from behind, and started to smash her with massive fists. Ranma winced and struggled again, but the bonds seemed to flex with her and none of the tricks she'd learned worked this time. She had one last-ditch idea, but she needed a distraction to recover, and she was all out of ideas. "Well," Jadeite remarked casually, as if talking about the weather. "I guess it's time to finish things properly. It's too bad, I'd been almost hoping you would pull through somehow. It's hard not to admire the underdog."
Out of nowhere the distraction came. "Styx Current!" was the cry and a bolt of what seemed to be pure force smashed into Jadeite, driving him to the ground and into it, leaving a man-shaped crater of cracked pavement. "I am Sailor Charon, and I'm going to show you hell!" Ranma took the opportunity, grabbed what shredded remains of her ki were left about her, and pulled. She lasted long enough to appear to the side out of way before sinking into black unconsciousness once again.
Ranma came to with the sound of battle. She realized she ached and felt horrible, but somehow she still felt better than she had all day. She was exhausted and it felt like she had only caught maybe a few minutes of rest, but in that time her concussion had passed and she felt a little energy in her. The biggest advantage was she could move once again, so after double-checking no one was watching her she slowly pushed to her feet and flexed a bit to limber out her muscles. A quick glance about the area assessed the situation: Sailor Moon had changed back to Usagi, who was lying sprawled on the ground a twisted metal beam beside her. At least she could see her chest moving, she was still alive and breathing. To the other side was Sailor Mars, also unconscious and lying by a man-sized and shaped pile of burning metal wreckage. She was still breathing, although there were nasty bruises visible on her face and arms and legs. It also looked like the high-heel of one of her shoes had been driven like a spike into what looked like a welded metal helmet on the top of the wreckage. Behind her was Sailor Mercury, crouched over what looked like a giant human-shaped pile of wreckage, punching it and screaming obscenities. And near her-
Jadeite was busy fighting a dark-haired girl dressed in a similar outfit as the others, with white leotard and a black miniskirt capped with a yellow bow about her vest. For some odd reason she also wore a yellow leopard-print headband and was swinging what looked at first glance like an oar someone had sharpened the edge of into a monk spade. By the way she swung it it was obvious she knew how to fight, particularly the way she weaved past attacks Jadeite was making, taking hits of lightning-crackling fists but each hit endured meaning another slash with her weapon. For the oddest reason she looked familiar but Ranma couldn't place it.
Still, it was obvious she was losing, each strike sending crackling lightning across her body and getting a grimace or grunt of pain. She's tanking hits like Ryoga, Ranma mused. Did she undergo the Breaking Point training too? She'd have to ask after the battle, and for that they needed to win. Mentally steadying herself she let off a quick ki blast to get Jadeite's attention. It worked, and in turn he fired back a quick blast of dark energy. Perfect. She knew even distracted he'd be too canny for the dragon strike like last time, and her backup was unconscious, so it was time to do what she did best: improvise. "Some dark general! This many girls 'n ya can't even get ridda one! Wonder th' queen a yours don't wantcha!" It did the job and he began to burn in dark indignation and anger, lightning crackling across his body. "Yeah, 'n look't her! She can't hit th' broadside a barn and you're still losin to her! Just give up!" Now both of them had stopped to stare, with visible rage. "Yeah! Both of ya can't compare ta me! So, jus.. give up!" With that he pulled down an eyelid at both of them.
Of course, neither of them understood why Ranma did what she did, but she understood it well. They were both pretty well matched powers-wise, even if that one girl preferred more shoving it into her strikes like Ranma did, and Jadeite was too incensed to think of using his own powers properly. However the secret of the battle was momentum and redirection. Keep the momentum and redirect your enemy's to where you want it to go. Taking as deep a breath as she could with what felt like a fractured rib, she closed her eyes for a blissful second, as if convinced they posed absolutely no threat to her. Opening them, she smirked. "Or have ya both given up ta me already?"
The conclusion was fairly obvious. Jadeite screamed in rage and fired off a blast of black lightning-crackling ki-magic-whatever in a sheer wave. Beside it the new senshi shouted something sounding like "DIE RANMA!" and whipping her spade about threw an impressive blast of dark green ki off the tip towards her as well. The two waves met halfway and wrapped about each other, turning into a crackling sparking wave of pure angry hatred, utterly unstoppable. Exactly what she wanted.
"Dragon Strike Revised: Moon's Reflection!" and with that pulled the ki from the area and dumped her own soul of ice chilled ki, folding it about. The result was something like her own ki-pocket but twisted backwards. The shot hit it square on, a bit spilling out and splashing about her body and almost driving her to her knees again, but the rest surged in a sudden cyclone then reflected back, a screaming line of brightly charged lightning-filled darkness. It hit, detonating, spade-girl thrown off into the air and away, and Jadeite thrown into a new crater formed from the explosion. Ranma grinned even as she did collapse to her knees from the sheer exertion, world wobbling and going blurry again as she struggled for consciousness. There was a scrabbling noise from the new crater however and a battered bleeding and bruised Jadeite emerged. He looked far worse, wavering and twitching and swaying like he was ready to faint any second, his uniform shredded into a few scraps to give him modesty and little more. Despite all that he was upright, albeit barely.
"You think you've won?" he shouted, a hacking cough escaping along with a mouthful of coughed-up blood. "It doesn't matter, I win either way. Either you all die, and I return victorious, or you win, and I die and some other general gets to deal with all of you and disappointing Queen Beryl. You know, I don't think she knows what you are. So, let's finish our battle, shall we? More back and forth and at the end someone dies. What's another youma, right?"
Ranma winced and took a reflexive step back. "You... it's not..." she stammered.
"Oh, it's not? They're alive, they think and feel, then die by our orders or your hands. But they were never human were they? Just monsters to fight. And you know you're too weak right now to fight to that point, to not kill me. Maybe at full strength, but you're in no condition. You'd have to kill. And I win."
Ranma grimaced. She'd been trading 'battle' counts before with the other Sailor Moon, and here she was trying to kill someone leading them. He was right too, she knew she'd have to hold back too much and something would happen and her control would slip and she'd kill him, and he'd just be another youma she'd faced. Of course, there was always one other thing she was good at that surprised her opponents: doing the unexpected. "Hey! Mercury!"
Jadeite suddenly paled. "You wouldn't."
The girl looked up from the twisted pile of metal, panting hard but less from exertion than otherwise. Ranma blushed and tried not to stare at the look she received, instead smirking and directing a thumb at Jadeite. "See Jadeite here? He's responsible for those things you fought, and he's the one who's been sending the youma."
Jadeite paled further, and tried to scramble back, but was plowed over by a fist driven by a screaming blue-haired blur. Knocked onto his back Mercury continued to smash into him with fists and boots and at one point headbutting him when he tried to block a strike. Ranma winced as she straddled him, smashing his ribs with punch after punch, getting groans of pain. "Help! Sailor Moon! Don't leave me with her!" he cried.
Ranma winced and then moved away to get up the others. It didn't take long to rouse either, supporting Mars upright then going to get Usagi. She woke at the first touch, looking up. "Aaah Beryl!" she cried, reaching up to her head before realizing she'd de-transformed and lacked a tiara, then brain finally catching up. "What? Who are- oh, you're Ranma. I didn't recognize you without the wig and mask. You looked like, um, nevermind. So, uh, did we win?"
Ranma shrugged. "We didn't lose," she replied. "Hopefully it's enough. Now let's go and, um..." She trailed off, looking towards Jadeite where Sailor Mercury was apparently... "Oh. Uhm."
Sailor Mars blushed a fierce red, and looked away. "At least she still has her outfit on."
"Most of it," added an equally red Usagi. "Well, some of it. I knew she got a bit, um, worked up with fighting, but I didn't, uh..."
Ranma blushed and looked away as well. While she wasn't exactly oblivious to the idea of people being amorous, a number of suitors fighting over her had left her rather biased against the very idea, and ended up associating romantic desire with lots of pain. Seeing the senshi like that with her supposed enemy made her skin crawl and she felt like hiding from the inevitable beating that didn't seem forthcoming. It left her entirely off-balance. "So, uh. I guess we're done, and uh, stuff. Go home'n recover, I guess. What, uh, what 'bout them?" and she gestured at the pair she couldn't quite bring herself to look at, Mercury still straddling him and striking with her nails, the cries sounding less and less like pain each minute.
Sailor Mars was still flushed a bright red, refusing to look that direction as well. "Leave them to their, uh, fight?"
Usagi shook her head. "She'll be angry if we just left her." Knowing what had happened when the senshi of ice became angry, Ranma and Usagi paled, while Mars looked, well, hopeful. Just for a bit before seeing the other two and feigning horror. Even with how much time she'd been spending as one she'd never understand girls.
Mercury had eventually ended up cuddling with Jadeite, and after some talking she conceded he needed to hide before Beryl realized he'd turned traitor. Jadeite himself persuaded her that he'd actually set up things so he would be thought of as dead, but he did need to lay low for a while, with another promise that he'd get in contact with his reincarnated 'little ice cream sundae' soon, once he was safe. For the moment though she was content, all of the memories of their time together in a past life awoken. Once the other three senshi came she gave a dopey smile and curled up further in her arms, before her brain woke up once more and she flushed bright red across her entire body, sitting upright and trying to pull her vest back on. "Nothing happened!" she cried. "I was transformed the whole time!"
"Nothing happened! She was transformed the whole time!" Jadeite cried along with her, then both glanced at each other and noticed Mercury was still straddling Jadeite, who was clothed in nothing more than a few tattered shreds of fabric. They both pushed each other away, looking thoroughly embarrassed, before Jadeite teleported away without another word.
The awkward silence was broken by Sailor Mars's incredulous "You and Jadeite?!"
Ranma did her best to slip back home quietly. She'd found out at some point that her ki pocket and her new ki technique did not mix, and her clothing was a shredded mass, and whatever letter Nabiki had slipped her (that she was waiting for the right time to read, she hadn't forgotten about it at all, honest) was little more than scorched confetti. So here she was trying to sneak in wearing her uniform (of which she needed to replace the wig and mask, again) in the middle of the night. She was almost home free, quietly closing the front door, when she heard a quiet 'ahem' from beside her. Freezing up, she turned to look at Nabiki wearing her pyjamas and looking rather annoyed. "Um, hi?" Nabiki continued to glare. "What? It's, uh..." and Ranma glanced down at herself. "This? It's, uh.. um..." She trailed off then sighed, before taking a firm stance. "Ya know, you can't sell this news. At all."
Nabiki gave a shark-like smirk in response. "Ah, so what are you promising to make it worth my while?"
Ranma shook her head, hands faintly glowing blue and starting to cast dark shadows about the area. "No. Look, 'Biki, 'm tired, got beat up, barely won, saved th' city. Just wanna go sleep'n recover. And you..." She sighed and glanced at her hands before the glow stopped. "Look, you go tell em all I'm Sailor Moon, right? You sell it as 'hot info' like ya always do. Then the fiance brigade comes, attacks. You take bets, make yen." Nabiki nodded with a wider smirk. "Then," Ranma continued, "Dark Kingdom jerks find out. Maybe Ryoga tells em, maybe Mousse. Maybe you sell it to'm. Then they decide to get Sailor Moon out'f th' way, so they c'n, yaknow, take over the world. Or somethin. Dunno. So they come. Level the dojo. Kill pops, Mr. Tendo. Kidnap you'n Akane 'n Kasumi. I go ta save you all. Akane's been kidnapped, and she c'n fight. Not well, but can. Ya try to bribe, they don't need money. And Kasumi can't do either. Then ta get me to break, they kill ya. All of ya, one by one. Yer all gonna die if they win, so why wait?"
Ranma leant against the wall as another dizzy wave hit. She needed to be in bed to recover, at least she wasn't bleeding anymore and she didn't have that concussion. Nabiki just stood there, staring, mouth slightly open, and Ranma used the time to pull herself together. It wasn't long before the mercenary mind rebooted, and her eyes focused. "True, I can't sell this. The biggest find ever, and no one can know, for all of our safety. I know when to drop out when the stakes are too high." She jabbed at Ranma with a finger (getting a wince and hiss of pain). "However, you... are going to help make up for the loss. After all, it's not every day you find you have a Sailor Senshi under your roof, and it's going to make me rich."
Ranma gulped.
In the end it hadn't been so bad. She'd promised to pose for a few pictures in full outfit (thankfully including mask and wig), and had promised to get autographs of the other four senshi, as well as with luck a full group photo. She even had to promise to see if she could get one of that tux guy's autographs, though knowing him all she had to do was wait somewhere and he'd show up to throw it at her to gain her favour. It turned out Nabiki was a bit of a fan, and had quickly overcome her worry to learn everything she could about the senshi from the source (except their civilian names, of course, she wasn't stupid). Nabiki had been surprised by the news about a new senshi who'd arrived and left almost as suddenly, plus that of Jadeite's side-switch and betrayal of his former queen, promising not to share either of those, as it would threaten not just him but everyone involved (and thus tangentially herself). At least Ranma managed to keep secret about the whole Sailor Mercury/Jadeite relationship. She didn't want to think of that quite yet, particularly when she wasn't even sure what she thought of him herself.
It was even later still after negotiations that Ranma dragged herself up the stairs towards her room. Hand on the door to open there was the quiet clearing of a throat behind her. She spun (taking a moment to wobble from fatigue and pain after such a quick motion) and looked at Akane who stood at the door to her own room. Ranma looked over then down, and realized three things in succession: she was still in full uniform without mask or wig, she was too injured to fight off Akane if the girl really wanted to hurt her, and she'd completely forgotten an apology gift. Make that four things, Akane had her arms crossed in annoyance and was glaring.
Crap. "Hi." Akane wasn't amused by the greeting, and just held her glare. Ranma's brain half-woke up from its torpor and did a quick tactical analysis: running was out, she was too injured to get away in time. Denial was no good, she was in full costume and Akane wasn't stupid, and it would probably be on the news she'd been at the airport. Attacking an angry Akane was suicidal and if she did finally properly fight the girl it'd cause a rift in their relationship that couldn't be repaired. Denial would be the same as attacking, at this point. So that left two things, bluffing and misdirecting. As she was about to open her mouth she paused as another option came to mind: blunt honesty. The main trick was to throw opponents off balance so they were weak, so why not try the completely unexpected?
"Hi 'Kane. Um, I need ta sleep, bad, but guess I'n talk ta ya."
Akane still refused to talk, arms crossed and looking Ranma over head to toe and back again. Ranma got the hint and scratched the back of her head.
"'s gonna be like 'Biki again, ain't it?" she mumbled to herself before taking a breath.
"I'm Sailor Moon."
That was met with silence, and an expression of disbelief.
"Look, ya can't tell anyone, ok? Anyone. Don't care who'r what. 'swhy'm in disguise all the time, 'n why I'm a guy half've it. Th' guys I'm fightin' won't care bout honour, an' stuff like that. They'll kidnap ya. Then kill ya." Akane leaned back, shivering a bit from the flat serious expression on Ranma's face. "They'll kill ya, 'n th' whole family here. Amazons'n Ucchan too. Maybe th' Kunos fer measure." She took a moment to consider that one before shaking her head. No! Bad Ranma! You can't sacrifice people to the Dark Kingdom no matter how much they deserve it! "An' I can't let you be killed just cause I'm a dumb idiot who can't face the truth'n apologize when she's hurt a friend like I did. 'm sorry. I'm jus a big dumb tomboy jock some times. I'm sorry I said all that to ya."
Akane stared again, mind seized up. He called her a friend! But he- what? "But... Sailor Moon is.. wait.. Wha?" Her brain froze again, and this time she thought she smelled smoke. At least she'd kept her voice down to avoid waking up the household. Even frozen in complete overload her brain started making sudden connections. The clothes in his wardrobe. The sneaking out late hours and staying out later. The whole thing with Ryoga and potions. The thing before with Ryoga and the koi rod. The avoidance and apparent disinterest in all the fiances. "You're gay?!" she hissed.
"Wha? No! I... um..." Ranma scratched the back of her head. "I... dunno, ta be honest. I kinda like some guys's much's next girl, but... maybe not so much? Girls seem better, 'ticly when'm out as a guy. Ya know? Know ya'd see it all 'perverted' n junk but'm not even sure what I am anymore." She gave an embarrassed blush and hid her head. "Look, I really don't wanna talk 'bout this. I need ta sleep fierce, ki's all low'n I think I fractured my ribs'n skull, need ta heal. Plus'm still kinda sick. C'n barely focus on stuff. Let's talk tomorrow, k? When'm rested. Need my sleep fore pops wakes me for his daily beatin'." She turned and slid open the door, before turning back to whisper once more to Akane. "Tomorrow, k? An'm sorry fr what I said Akane."
Akane continued to just stand there in the hall, brain trying to work things out. Ranma called her a friend! Ranma's Sailor Moon? Ranma wanted to protect her. Ranma apologized. Ranma's- wait. Her brain had skipped over a few of the words in the conversation out of habit, but something about the context seemed off... tomboy jock?
"What the hell?" she whispered to herself, standing out in the hall and brain locked up, Kasumi finding her in exactly the same position the next morning (and just sweeping around her as if she was furniture, figuring her little sister was trying something new and always supportive of her sisters' hobbies).
Later that night, a Ryoga Hibiki let himself into a quiet mostly-abandoned home, groaning softly. "I'm home... hey Checkers." Crouching to pet the dog, he looked about. "No one else home, girl?" he asked, getting a bark and shake of the head in reply. "No surprise there. Well, I'm going to bed, I'll see you tomorrow." With that he wandered down the hall and took the door on the left into his bedroom, the dog left behind staring with a completely bewildered whine.
Elsewhere, Mamoru Chiba was woken up by a sudden light from his kitchen. Considering he was the only one who lived in his apartment, he was awake in a heartbeat holding a baseball bat for security. Turning the corner, he saw a mostly-naked and somehow oddly familiar man in tattered remains of an outfit, eating directly from a tin of peaches. "Oh, hey Endymion. I've quit my job, so I kind of needed a place to crash for a few days, maybe a week or two. You don't mind, do you?" and he offered the rest of the tin.
Queen Beryl sat back in her throne, looking down at the dark crystal ball. "So, no more Jadeite." She turned back to look at the three remaining generals standing at attention. "Eenie meenie minie.. Nephrite. You're up next."
Nephrite swallowed heavily as the other two backed away from him as if he was contagious. "I, uh, I live to serve my queen. I will defeat the sailor senshi for you."
She gave a dismissive wave. "I'm sure. All of you, go." As they teleported out, she sighed and turned back to her crystal, giving it a whack with a hand before it flickered to show what looked like some sappy romance show. "Ah good, just in time for my soaps."
A small figure double-checked a map in the illumination of the streetlight, glancing up at the sign in front of them. "Tendo dojo. Mortal combat at rear," came a muttered summary. "Ranma Saotome, finally I will see you." But that would wait, as the figure crept away back into the night.