Disclaimer - I don't own anything from Tenchi, Ranma, Sailor Moon, Command & Conquer, or other stuff that would ruin some of the plot, but just so you know, I don't own those, either. I do own, Guy, though, so at least I have something...and chicken. :)
Mission from Mars
She sat there, deep in concentration. She had to. Last time she lost her concentration during this ritual, she was almost burned. That does make sense when you think about it, considering that she's performing a fire reading ritual just two feet from a blazing fire. Losing one's concentration causes sleep, and there're only so many directions you can fall when you fall asleep, and one of them is very, very hot. She began her hand seals as she started chanting the incantations required for the ritual. This was an ability that had been passed down for generations of Shinto priests and priestesses, but she was a special case. She had a natural affinity toward fire. Her grandfather realized when she was three, but there are reasons for this. She is not your normal high school girl. She is a Shinto priestess-in-training. She is also one of the Sailor Scouts, Sailor Mars to some, the fire menace to others. To her friends, she is simply known as Rei.
'There we go,' she thought as her meditative state finally reached its pinnacle. Usagi had been having some strange dreams lately, and the one time she ran into Setsuna she seemed agitated as well, even more so than usual. With this in mind, she began her fire reading. As she looked around, she saw the normal flames surrounding her. She was safe, though, as they did not produce heat. There was, however, a strange figure walking through the flames. This was different. Normally she would see various cryptic scenes playing in confusing intervals coming at her from disorienting directions, but this figure was walking toward her in a straight line. She glanced about to see if there was anything else, but it was just her, the flames, and the figure…hold on. She could see herself? That's not good. She's not supposed to see herself during a reading unless she was in the actual scene. Not only that, but she wasn't in her Scout uniform. If this thing walking toward her was evil…
"Peace be upon you, child," said the deeply bass voice of the figure. "I come to you with a message."
"Who are you?"
"I am a messenger from Kami-sama."
"Kami-sama? No way…"
"Trust your instincts trained and honed to you through your training and you will know the truth."
Rei studied the figure for a moment. It was still a silhouette hidden by the flames, but she felt no hostile intensions at all. In fact, she felt massive waves of peace and tranquility.
"I can sense that you're not evil, but it would be a lot easier for me if you would show yourself."
"Very well."
Suddenly four large angelic wings burst forth from his back, clearing out all the flames around them. The flames were immediately replaced by clouds for the floor and the sun peering through several high clouds off to his left. The angel hovered about five feet above the ground, his wings glowing like sunlight reflecting off of ice and into ones eyes. He wore blue chain mail armor that fit loosely on him, and a large bronze-like war hammer strapped to his side that seemed like it had a thin layer of flame surrounding it, yet neither burning the angel nor his armor. His skin shone with a silver luster and his short hair was like platinum. Rei fell to her knees, struck down by the sheer beauty of what was before her.
"Arise, warrior of Mars, for I have a message for you and your friends." She was only able to rise to one knee, but she still averted her eyes from the brilliance. "There is a force from another world, a being never before seen in this dimension, that is coming. You must rise up and fight this darkness that seeks to invade and destroy all you hold dear. You will be able to fend off some attacks, but you will not be able to stop them alone. However, allies will come, some from your world, some from elsewhere, who will arrive when you need them most, but you all must stand strong. Although you are strong, you must fight with all your might, for this new enemy is powerful and ruthless. It delights in causing suffering and death, but if you have faith, you will prevail."
"But…when?"
"They will attack this week, and some of you will not remain in this world for long. Be prepared. Farewell."
Rei raised her hand as she tried to call out to the angel, but with a single flap of his wings, he rocketed up and out of her sight. She suddenly felt faint and fell over. Only her instincts forced her to awaken so she wouldn't fall into the fire. She did wake, and she was puzzled. First of all, she sat up when she awoke. Not only that, but she was in her pajamas in bed. "Was that a dream?" She glanced about to get her surroundings, but it didn't take long. She was in her room, and it was six in the morning. "Good grief, what was that?" She was about to dismiss the whole thing when she barely heard a whisper.
be prepared
Rei sat in shock for a moment. "It was real…from Kami-sama Himself. Geez, I have to make some phone calls.
(B-D)
"So what's so important that you called us all here on our day off?" asked Makoto.
"Yeah, it's not every day we get a day off for a water main break," added Minako.
"I wonder where Luna and Artemis are?" asked Ami, being drowned out by the others.
"I'm sorry, guys, but this is important…Usagi, put down my manga, now…"
"But I wanna see what happens to Narue!"
Rei seethed for a moment. She didn't want to make a scene today.
"Did you have another vision, Rei?" asked Ami.
"Yeah, I did. And this is serious, this time."
"But it's always serious," said Usagi as she refused to put down Rei's World of Narue manga. "The bad guys come, we beat them, and we can get ice cream afterwards…"
Suddenly the manga was swiped from her hands. She turned around to see a tall person with short blond hair holding it.
"It's not gonna be like all the others, princess," she said.
"Haruka?" exclaimed the scouts.
"And I brought some friends."
They all looked at the door and three figured faded in from the light. Two were tall women with long hair, and the other was a short, skinny girl with medium hair.
"So, what're you guys doing here?" asked Minako.
"The same reason you are here," replied Setsuna. "We're here to listen to Rei's vision. Really, you should call me when you are visited by an angel."
This floored the inner senshi.
"An angel?"
"Why didn't you say something earlier?"
"Angels really exist?"
"Quiet down, everybody! I can't talk when everyone's yelling!"
After several minutes of commotion everyone was finally seated around Rei. Even Usagi was paying attention, as she was fascinated by angels. Rei took a deep breath.
"Every time I've performed the fire reading ritual, I've always seen glimpses of a possible future, what may happen if we were totally unaware, but last night was different. At first it was a figure in the flames walking toward me claiming to come in peace. When I asked him to show himself, he blew away the flames with one flap of his wings. He was the most beautiful being I've ever seen, but he was just a messenger. He was sent to warn us that a new enemy was coming, one not from any world we know of. We have to fight, but we won't be able to stop it alone."
"How can we not stop them?" asked Mamoru. "If we can't stop them, what's to keep them from taking over the world?"
"This enemy doesn't want to take over; it wants to cause as much suffering as it can before destroying it. He did say that allies would come, but we still have a tough fight on our hands."
"So did he say when they would attack?" asked Michiru.
"He only told me this week, although I get the feeling that it'll be sooner rather than later."
"I agree," said Setsuna. "I, too, as briefly visited by this angel, with four wings, if I'm not mistaken." Rei nodded in amazement. "Yes, I was quite amazed myself that such a high ranking angel would come simply to deliver a message. This must be a powerful enemy, and we must be prepared."
"That was something he mentioned repeatedly, about being prepared…and something else…"
Usagi placed a hand on her shoulder as Rei started to cry. "What is it, Rei?"
"He said that…some of us…won't make it…" she couldn't go on. She had the strength, but when she looked around and saw the faces of all her friends as she tried to speak, she just broke down. An angel told her this, so it was not a ruse, a trick, some clever ploy to scare them. She knew he was real, and Setsuna proved that much to her.
Everyone else was in a stunned silence as Rei's last statement sank in. They glanced about the room. Hotaru was clinging to Michiru. Usagi was doing the same to Mamoru. They had faced death before and survived, but this time…
(B-D)
It had been a rough several days. It was excruciating to try to study knowing that some of her friends may not be alive after the weekend, or worse yet, she might not be. They had been practicing their team coordination with the outers for the past four days. They've progressed nicely, but they all had the same thought…was it enough?
"Ami!"
She shook her head of these thoughts as she turned around to see Hotaru and Michiru coming toward her.
"Oh, hello. How are you?"
"About as good as expected," Michiru replied, "but I thought Hotaru and I would take a little fun break today. Looks to me like you could use a break, too."
"Um…"
"It would be fun," said Hotaru, "and we haven't really done anything together except for saving the world."
Ami giggled. "Alright, I guess I can hang out with you for a while."
"Yea!" they exclaimed, Hotaru being more excited than Michiru.
The three went to the local arcade to enjoy watching Hotaru playing video games. What they didn't see was a small, brown creature with large, black eyes carrying a brown sack on its back in the alley next to the arcade. It would run around for a moment before stopping and did what seemed like a little dance. Suddenly it would stop with a puff of smoke and go on to another spot adjacent to the spot on the ground it was just at and repeat the process. Although it wasn't seen, people who had walked by noticed that the ground was slowly turning red, seemingly one sidewalk block at a time.
(B-D)
It was only a matter of time before somebody noticed. Unfortunately, it was a four-year-old girl that was the first. In the very same arcade that Ami, Hotaru, and Michiru were taking a well deserved break, this little girl noticed something near the back of the game room. She walked up to see a strange little alien-thing doing a dance at the doorway. Nobody else saw them. She started to mimic the dance she saw the thing doing, until the smoke puffed up. Few people noticed the floor color change from blue and white tile to red and brown, but the results were fast and horrible. Out of nowhere and green hand appeared near the ceiling and hovered there for a few seconds. Then, as a news reporter would say several hours later, 'The gates of hell broke open." For most, they came out of nowhere. Four creatures dropped from the ceiling and landed flat on there backs, startling everyone around them. As soon as the first creature stood up it started chanting something. Someone screamed in agony as a fireball hit her square in the chest. People started to panic as the others got up and started attacking innocents indiscriminately. The three scouts found a hiding place to see what the enemy looked like. One was wearing purple robes and casting fireballs in every direction. Two looked like black knights from some Monty Python movie with jet black armor and black broadswords. The forth looked like some kind of orange lizard that stood at an impressive five feet on its hind legs. It, too, was spitting fireballs and clawing at people.
"They're heartless!" exclaimed Michiru.
"We have to save them," cried Hotaru. "I won't let this continue."
"We won't," replied Ami. "This must be the enemy Rei and Setsuna were talking about."
"Definitely," said Michiru.
"You two help those people. I'll call the others."
Michiru and Hotaru nod as they stood to transform.
"NEPTUNE PLANET PO…!"
FOOM! FOOM!
Michiru quickly ducked and took Hotaru with her as two fireballs aimed at her head barely missed.
"Wow, they're quick," said Hotaru.
"Yeah," gasped Michiru as she peeked over the counter, "and now here they come…you two stay here. I'll run and distract them while you two transform."
"But…" started Ami, but Michiru had already jumped the counter and ran through the creatures, which was impressive considering she was wearing a full-length dress. It did get their attention as they left the now ruined arcade to give chase.
"We have to help her!" yelled Hotaru.
"I know," said Ami. "We'll transform now and then we can help."
"Right…what are those?" Hotaru asked as she pointed to several brown beings with large, black eyes running in and seeming to dance with the walls.
(B-D)
"…and that's why I think parallel dimensions do exist."
"Usagi, that's got to be the dumbest thing I've ever heard."
"Well Ami would agree with me."
"Rei, stop picking on her."
"Like you agree with her, Minako?"
"Despite her history, she did have a few actual points…"
"Oh please…"
Beep! Beep! Beep!
The three froze when they heard the communicator going off. Usagi hesitantly answered.
"Please tell me this is a drill…" she answered.
"I wish it was," replied Ami in a somewhat panic state. "Saturn's fighting three creatures while I'm taking care of Neptune. This is it. We need you now! Wait, three? Where's the lizard creature?"
And that's when the link went dead.
"Oh no," gasped Minako.
"We don't even know where they are…" exclaimed Rei.
"We'll find…"
Beep! Beep! Beep!
This startled them out of their panic as the communicator went off again.
"Ami, are you all right?"
"This is Jupiter. Mercury's safe for the moment. Uranus and I happened here at the same time, but we still need your help. These guys are tough."
"Where are you?"
"At the arcade where Andrew used to work at…"
"We're on our way."
"Right. See you here."
"You guys ready?" asked Usagi, only to find herself alone.
"Come on, meatball head!" yelled Rei from the doorway with Minako. "Hurry up!"
"I'm coming!"
(B-D)
CLANG!
"What are you made off?" exclaimed Uranus as she struck the black knight in the midsection with the business end of her sword.
"HUUUYYYYY! HUT! HUT! HUT!" it responded as it commenced attacking her again. Tuxedo Mask had arrived and was fighting the other knight while Saturn stayed back healing Mercury and Neptune. As she healed, she was looking around, trying to figure out where the robed one and the lizard went. She had taken out the robed magic user, but now she couldn't find its body anywhere. Jupiter had just jumped in to help Uranus. This fight shouldn't last much longer.
"Ow, that hurts."
"Oh, sorry, Mercury."
"We're still alive, Saturn?"
"Uranus, Jupiter, and Tuxedo mask showed up to help. Neptune is still out, but I already finished healing her."
"What are they?"
"You've been asking that a lot."
"Well, I can't get any more reading since they destroyed my mercury computer…I didn't think that was possible…"
"Me neither. What were you able to get on these guys before?"
"Not much, other then they've been magically reinforced by something powerful for increased resistance to overall damage, and that they didn't really have any weak spots, but if I had some more time…"
"Just return to normal and transform back," said a voice behind them, startling the two back into their battle stances, only to see the last three scouts before them. Sailor Moon finished her statement. "Your computer will replace itself."
"That was actually an intelligent idea, Moon," commented Mars. "The end of the world must be upon us."
"Shut up, Mars…" Moon seethed as Venus giggled to herself.
"Sailor Moon, you made it," said Neptune as Moon knelt beside her.
"Yeah, we're here. Sorry we couldn't be here sooner."
They all stood as Neptune spoke.
"Yes, but I believe this is just a scouting party."
"So this is just the beginning?" asked Moon, nobody liking where this was going.
"Yes."
WHAM!
The scouts cringed when they saw Uranus slam against the wall. They looked back out to the battle field to find that the lizard had returned, but there was a new creature with it. This one seemed to be humanoid, but tall and lanky, wearing light blue and white loose clothes and its head wrapped up like a terrorist. They didn't notice the others, as they were both going toward Tuxedo Mask and Jupiter.
"Oh no they don't," said Moon as she made her move.
"Don't bother with your speach, Moon," warned Mercury. "They aren't affected by it. They almost took Neptune's head when she tried to transform the first time."
"But…but…" as Moon started to whimper.
"Let's just get out there and kick some tail, guys," said Venus.
They nodded and leapt out as one to overwhelm the four creatures.
(B-D)
This battle was a lot shorter than it was before, now that they outnumbered them two-to-one this time. The dark knights were the first to fall, followed by the terrorist-looking creature. Only the lizard was left, and it was surrounded.
"Ok, Charizard, the game's over!" exclaimed Moon, extracting groans from all present and those reading this.
"Moon," seethed Mars.
"Doesn't it look more like a Charmeleon, though?" asked Saturn.
"Yeah, you're right," replied Moon.
"Ladies, can we just finish this thing off?" asked Tuxedo Mask.
"Right," said Moon as she prepared her final attack.
"Moon, above you!" exclaimed Pluto from the top of lamppost behind Mars and Saturn.
Heeding Pluto's warning before wondering why she was on top of a nearby lamppost was an instinct drilled into them a long time ago, so they weren't caught off-guard when they saw a disembodied, winkled green hand hovering directly above the lizard. What they weren't expecting was it picking it up.
"What are you doing? Show yourself!" yelled Moon.
"Yeah, great," quipped Venus. "I've heard of talking to the hand, but this…"
Nobody would know how Venus was going to finish that statement, as suddenly the hand went in a large circle around the scouts and started dropping more and more creatures on the ground. As the creatures landed, they fell painfully on their backs in a daze. The scouts glanced at each other and nodded, knowing that if they didn't strike now, they'd be overwhelmed in a minute. That's when things started to shake. It was a low level earthquake that had struck as soon as the last creature was dropped from the disembodied hand. This caught the scouts off guard completely. After a few moments, everybody was on the ground, including Pluto, who then vowed to never watch over a battle from the top of a lamppost ever again. All combatants recovered at once, and now the scouts were the ones that were surrounded and outnumbered.
"Any ideas, Moon?" ask Uranus.
"I'm open to suggestions," Moon replied.
And that's when things started to explode.
(B-D)
…one minute earlier…
"Heck with that. Why the heck are they all wearing sailor skirts in battle?"
"That quake was localized," said Washu, ignoring Ranma's comment. "Everything outside the battlefield is relatively safe, but those girls need some help."
"No kidding," said Ryoko. "There's gotta be like thirty monsters down there.
"So what are we waiting for, comrades?" exclaimed Kuno. "Those fair maidens must be rescued post haste."
"Yeah, but there's something familiar about those monsters," said Guy.
"Analyze later, fight now," said Washu. "I'll do some research from here."
"Let's go!" exclaimed Tenchi as the JLA leapt into action.
Ryoko was the first to attack, shooting blasts from her hand into random concentrations of creatures, then she accidentally a propane tank, which took out six creature right there. Ayeka landed in the middle of the scouts and raised her shield to protect the scouts. Kuno, Ukyou, and Tenchi ran through creatures, performing hit-and-run techniques where Ranma was jumping on monsters' head, kicking them in the process.
"Are you all ok?" yelled Ayeka over the explosions.
"Yeah," replied Moon. "Thanks for the help."
"I believe that is what we're here for."
"You must be the allies we were told about," said Mars.
"Um, I guess…"
"Hey!" yelled Guy. "If you all are ok and can still fight, we could use a little help out here!"
"All right, scouts," exclaimed Moon, "let get 'em!"
Ayeka released her shield as the scouts leapt out in every direction to battle the creatures. Fortunately the propane explosion had taken out six creatures, thus the Scouts and JLA were only outnumbered by about two-to-one, so the battle was merely one of the toughest fights any participant had ever fought. Tenchi brought out his Tenchi Sword, only for it to be blocked by the sword of some evil-looking creature with angel wings, and was almost blindsided by a lizard when he paused to say "What the?" Ranma had his own problems as several curvy female creatures wielding whips, wearing leather, and laughing rather seductively at him, making him very nervous. Guy had pulled out a pair of morning stars and had decided that deflecting the incoming fireballs from the chanting purple robed creatures was a bad idea. Good thing for him Mercury took out the fireballs. Ukyou and Uranus were having trouble with a couple of half-arachnid half-woman spitting webbing at them. Tuxedo Mask, Saturn, and Kuno were fighting off three dark knights while Ryoko, Venus, and Mars were busy fighting two more lizards, two other robed chanters, a dark knight, and a fat, legless reddish monster with flails dangling off of either horn sticking out off each side of its head. Pluto and Moon were also busy with a couple of the leather-clad obviously female creatures. Suffice it to say, the battle was somewhat intense. No creature seemed to want to go down, but they did eventually, but so did some of their number as well. Kuno was the first to get knocked out, follow by Jupiter and Neptune.
During the battle Guy noticed something happening on the sidelines. He saw one of those big-eyed imp-like creatures run up to one of the downed creatures from the propane explosion and it carried the creature off. That's when it hit him...from behind by a giant man-eating fly. He had to roll to avoid another lizard trying to bite his head off.
"Everybody, cover your eyes!" yelled Washu from the top of the building.
"Who...?" started Mars.
"Never mind, just do it!" yelled Ryoko.
Washu tossed a flash grenade into the field, exploding with a brilliant flash, blinding most of the creatures and Sailor Uranus, who didn't hear the warning. When the flash faded, Saturn unleashed her Silence Glaive Surprise attack on a large group of creatures as the good guys leapt to safety. Ranma had jumped in to get Uranus out of the way. When the smoke cleared, only fifteen creatures remained on their feet. Suddenly about twenty imp-like creatures were dropped from the disembodied hand. They paused for a moment before running around in every direction, picking up the unconscious creatures ad running back to the same general direction. The other creatures backed away and started to retreat.
"They're running!" exclaimed Saturn.
"After an attack like that, what else would you expect," said Ukyou.
"Thank you for your help," said Moon.
"Man, what a mess," replied Ryoko.
"What were those things?" asked Mercury.
"Don't know," said Ranma.
"Is everyone ok?" asked Washu as she appeared among everyone, startling the scouts.
"Um, yeah, I think…" started Moon.
"Unhand her, vile creature!" yelled Kuno, drawing everyone's attention.
Kuno was attacking one of the small imp-like creatures as it tried to carry off Pluto. It was a little too quick for him, however, and it managed to outrun him, even while carrying Pluto who had to be at least three times its weight. This postponed introductions and had everyone running after the imp.
"Where's Sailors Jupiter and Neptune?" asked Venus.
"Who?" asked Ranma.
"The other two taller ones of us!" yelled Uranus.
"There!" pointed Ryoko as she, while flying overhead, saw another three imps carrying Jupiter, Neptune, and Tuxedo Mask.
They all gave chase, but due to their earlier battle, they were tired, and had lost it once it entered the wooded area of the nearby park. Everybody stopped for a moment.
"WHERE'D THEY GO!" yelled Uranus.
"I can't see them anywhere," replied Ranma from the top of a tree.
"What's with the weird color scheme in this park?" asked Ukyou.
"What do you mean..." started Mercury until she also noticed. "Oh."
"This park isn't supposed to have red pathways," said Mars.
"I was hoping that you guys had better taste than that," said Washu.
"Where's Tuxedo Mask?" Moon finally noticed.
"Any ideas, Guy?" asked Tenchi.
"Unfortunately, yeah, I do"
"So you have fought this enemy before?" asked Mercury.
"No, this one's different, if it's what I think it is. Do you guys have an internet?"
"Of course," answered an indignant Moon.
"Cool. Washu, can you do a search for…what's it called…Dungeon Keeper 2…"
"You don't mean Dungeon Keeper the game, do you?" asked Uranus.
"Yeah, that's it."
"So what does a video game have to do with this situation?" she asked.
"Because that's what we had to fight against in the last dimension we were in," Guy replied.
"Although we do appreciate your help earlier," said Mercury, "but who are you people?"
"And since when were you into video games, Uranus?" asked Venus.
Uranus frowned at her while Washu spoke up.
"I guess you could call us the Justice League of Animé. We're pretty much here to recruit heroes from different dimensions to help stop a war from destroying everything we know and love. We try to help when we can, as some strange stuff has been happening recently. I'm Washu, the leader."
"See, I told you parallel dimensions exist," said Moon, sticking her tongue out at Mars while taking her mind off of Tuxedo Mask. "I am Sailor Moon, protector of peace and justice and love. And these are my friends, the Sailor Senshi. We would like your help in rescuing our friends."
"Ugh, why are girls always like that?" moaned Ranma.
SMACK!
"Shut up before you get hurt, Ranchan," answered Ukyou as she replaced her battle spatula.
"So that still leaves the question," said Uranus, obviously struggling with the time not being spent looking for Neptune, "What does a video game have to do with Neptune, Pluto, and Jupiter being kidnapped?"
"And Tuxedo Mask..." added Moon.
"Guy, take a look at this," said Washu as she turned to Uranus and Moon. "Because last time a bad guy from a video game kidnapped some of Ranma's friends. This is very similar to what we've faced so far. If we know how to beat the game, we can do the same in real life, too."
"Yep, I was afraid of that," said Guy. "Um, what's your name?"
"Sailor Uranus."
"Ok, Sailor Uranus, you're at least familiar with Dungeon Keeper. Looking back at that fight, don't any of those monsters look like they came from that game?"
"I've only played a few…oh no, those were Mistresses!"
"What kinds of game is that?" asked Moon with a slight blush.
"Hey," yelled Ryoko from a distance. "I found something!"
Conversation halted as everyone bolted toward Ryoko's direction. They were deep in the wooded area where Ryoko and Ryo-Ohki stood.
"Myeh! Hiss!"
"They went down here," said Ryoko as she motioned to a hole in the ground.
"Well, what are we waiting for?" Seethed Uranus as she hopped down the hole.
"Uranus!" yelled Moon as she leapt after her.
"Sailor Moon!" yelled the other scouts as they followed suit.
"Guess we're going in now," said Washu as she hopped in after the scouts, followed by the rest of the JLA.
They expected a long drop to depths unknown in the bowels of the earth near the line where crust becomes magma. What they got was a two second drop on to a hard stone floor, made more painful by the pile formation everybody assumed while landing.
"Ow…" said Guy.
"That hurt, you know," quipped Kuno.
"Um, Washu?" said Venus.
"Yeah?" She answered painfully.
"Your foot?"
"What about it?"
"Remove from my spleen?"
"Oh, sorry, as soon as this giant spatula gets outta my face."
"I'm working on it, sugar, but Ayeka's heavy."
"You're all heavy," cried Ranma from the bottom of the pile,
just get offa me!"
"How did you get to the bottom of the pile, Ranma?" asked Ayeka.
After about ten minutes they had managed to untangle themselves and properly introduce themselves so they could stop referring to each other as 'You' or 'Um'. Ranma was getting mixed glances from the scouts, some admiring what they saw, others sore about his "heavy" comment earlier.
"So the only planet not represented happens to be our home, eh?" says Guy.
"No, Tuxedo Mask represents Earth," answered Mercury.
"Interesting…um, Sailor Uranus, you know we're trying here…"
"You know what the Keeper does to its prisoners, right?"
"Actually, I'm the fighting games expert of the family. My brother is the strategy game guy…"
"He tortures them until they either die or join his side," she seethed. "The more time we waste here, the more they get tortured…"
"Uranus," said Moon, "I know this isn't easy, but we're doing our best."
"I say we go in there and get them out…"
"And then we'd have to fight all those monsters again on their home turf with four less to our number and tired while they've had a chance to rest and recover and, according to my research on this game from various websites, will be back at full strength by the time we got here…" Washu waited for Uranus to stop casting death glares at her. "Look, I said that we're here to help, and we're trying, but going in half-cocked is gonna get us killed. I'm trying to figure out where they are so we can get to them a soon as possible, but I'll admit. I'm a scientist, not a tactician, but I'm also responsible for my people, too. Even though my scanners are very advanced, there are so many variables…"
"I wish I could help…" started Guy.
BOOM! STUMBLE! Oof!
Instincts kicked in for most warriors present and they twirled around in battle ready stance as the hole produced yet another pile of people. They were quicker to recover, though, and suddenly there were about five groups posed to attack in a classic standoff.
"Who are you and what have you done to my friend?" exclaimed one girl holding some kind of small pink and yellow staff with a bird-like head and wearing an interesting yellow and white dress that seems designed for fashion rather than battle. The boy at her side was wearing a green and red Chinese-style battle outfit with a ying-yang symbol on his chest and brandished a small broadsword. The other girl was also wearing a Chinese-style battle outfit, but was light purple and white. They appeared to be junior high school age.
"I know one of you is responsible for taking my precious C-ko from me," demanded another girl in what seemed like a brownish high-tech bikini and a sleek, matching helmet. At her side was a fiery red-head with bracers and wearing a sailor-style school uniform. They were both obviously high school aged. Behind them was a large black…person with bulging muscles and twin pigtails while emanating a low, consistent growl. "You will return her to me."
"No way, nyah," responded the last group of five apparent catgirls, causing Ranma to hide behind Sailor Saturn, "one of you guys took some of our friends, nyah, and we're gonna get'em back!"
There were several moments of tense silence between the five groups, nobody wanting to make the first attack.
"Um," mumbled a lone voice off to the side, gaining everyone's attention. It was a lone young girl wearing a really cute pink and yellow outfit with a pink paddle-like wand with a pink and yellow heart on top. She had a small, brown, long-eared furry creature at her feet. "I'm missing a friend, too…can any of you help me find her?"
Another moment passed as everyone relaxed for a moment, still unsure as to how to proceed. Washu motioned to Guy to see something on her screen. Mercury also joined them.
"Is that what I think it is, Guy, or am I reading this completely wrong?" whispered Washu.
"Goodness," whispered Mercury.
"I think the phrase in Japanese is 'holy crossovers, Batman'."
(B-D)
A/N - Wow, three months since I last updated. I'm so sorry, everyone, but I'm just finishing my Oracle Database class, which took up a LOT of time. I don't believe in letting my stories die, and I promise that I'll finish this story.
Anyway, you may have noticed that this SM world is a little different than from the cannon. I tri to keep it as true to cannon as I can, but this time it was Ryoga's fault (refer to last chapter). I didn't expect the red pulse, but that will be explained later (unexpected, but I at least know what happened). So now that I've finally updated, I'm going to try to keep up a two-month schedule per chapter. As always, I an open to suggestions, as I have two more planned stops before the recuirtment arch is over and we get to the actual war. I can make an additional stop or two if the idea is good enough.
Next chapter this will remain here in the Sailor Moon section, and as always, I'll let you know when this story will move again.If you can't find it, just check out my profile. Ok, I'll let you get on with the rest of your life, now. :)
