Ami and Ranma are flying across rooftops at amazing speeds trying to find the location of the life drainer when things become far easier for them when a bright light flashes into existence blinding them momentarily in the dwindling light of sunset. Ami stops deploying her visor and computer with Ranma stopping right beside her.
"Shit!" Ranma is shocked to hear Ami speak like that.
"Ranma that is a portal to the Negaverse. We've only ever seen tiny portals before big enough for single person. This, This Ranma, is for an Army!"
"Time for army tactics then. I'll cloak us using my perfect thieves cloak and you gather intelligence so when we met your friends we can make a plan."
Ranma likes to think of himself as not that intelligent but he can be brilliant. "Sounds good what do you need me to do to be able to cloak?"
"Stay calm and stay close." Ranma pulls Ami as close to her as she can get. They are hip to hip causing each to blush a little from the close contact. Ranma takes a calming breath and expands his Ki then inverts it flow causing the world around them to polarize.
"This is amazing." Ami blurts out before she can help it causing the world around them to wavier.
"Use our telepathy! Please stay calm, emotions inside the cloak can make it fail. When you're ready we will move together." Ami calms herself with a couple of breaths
"Ready." They slowly make their way closer to the large portal watching for signs of the enemy. They easily make it to a building overlooking the portal in the middle of the street. Neither Ranma nor Ami are prepared for what they see. Lined up in the middle of the street are three columns of youma five wide and more are joining them marching out of the portal. Ami connects her visor to her communicator to broadcast everything she sees to her team mates. She then text them to meet up at the Gypsy Joes ice cream parlor two blocks away to plan as soon they finish scouting. Ami waste no time in scanning the present youma. She almost breathed a sigh of relief at seeing how extremely weak they are. Seeing that there are now thirty standing in the middle of the street killed any joy she might have had at being able to destroy one with one of her punches. Their numbers slowly swell to 35 then forty.
"Is any way we can close that portal before anymore get through?" Ranma ask
"I wish we could but I scanned the portal as soon as we arrived they are using the equivalent of 1.21 gigawatts of power every 10 seconds to keep it open. To force it shut we would roughly need 30% more power on our side to do that. 1.57 gigawatts isn't easy to come by."
"No would have been fine, just so you know. I don't even know what gigawatt is. Dang there's fifty of them now."
No sooner had Ranma thought that than five more youma step through the portal. These five are much bigger and tougher looking. They remind Ranma of the one he fought on top of the building.
"Actually these are slightly weaker than the one fought that day." Ranma just looks at Ami confused for a second, she looks back with her finger pointed at her temple.
"Right, not comforting, I barely beat that one. Now there's five of those guys plus fifty cannon fodder that could get in a lucky shot."
"You don't give yourself enough credit Ranma, you were heavily injured from another fight yet you defeated the youma."
"Part of being a martial artist is knowing your limits, this is way out of my league Ami."
"Then it's a good thing we got my team coming."
"Can we count on them? I mean they hurt you and they don't seem that trustworthy." Ranma ask worried the dependability of their back up and how they'll treat Ami as well.
"Thanks for worrying, but we may not be friends but we are defenders of this realm they will be here."
The five battle youma had lined up with the troopers when the portal fluctuates with the arrival of another youma. This was different from all the others. Seems they had completely forgone making it look human like most youma. This youma stood seven feet tall with no features on its stone like body but five vertical lines that ran down its entire head. It had four arms on a gray stony body. The only other oddity is it had a round tail on its bottom the same size as its head. It takes two steps away from the portal when slits like the one on its head open all over its body. Slits open down its chest, back arms and legs. A dark vapor slowly starts seeping from the slits then as if under pressure it starts spraying like steam from the numerous openings.
Ami starts analyzing the youma as soon as it stepped through the portal. It was completely different from anything they ever encountered before but Ami was confused, every other youma they had encountered before had been designed with massive magic resistance. This had no such defense but its physical and energy resistance was off the charts. It wasn't until Ami scanned the vapor emanating from the youma that everything snapped into place.
"Ranma! Soul of Ice now!" Ranma didn't know why Ami wanted her to do that now but she trusted her. Ranma didn't have to wait long to wait find out why. As soon as Ranma sensed the energy coming from the strange youma she almost wanted to scream. The wrongness of the tainted life force coming from it made Ranma want to do anything and everything possible to destroy it just make the feeling go away. If it wasn't for the soul of ice Ranma knew she would be in complete berserk mode right now and would have jumped willingly into that mess down there.
"Thank you Ami. How did you know that THING would make me feel like this."
"Because Ranma, this is a trap for you. Come on we got to go meet the others and plan."
They roof hop back to the ice cream place, to an odd sight, standing around the ice cream parlor are eight magical girls. Some were standing around talking, two looked like they were trying to keep a blonde out of the ice cream store, and one was messing with what looked like a short sword. They land close to the group.
"Did you guys get the video I sent?" Ami ask.
Usagi screams, "Ami are you a ghost!" Ami turns to her head to look at Ranma.
"Sorry since we…uhh merged? It's been easier to use my special techniques, forgot I even had the cloak up." Unfortunately Ranma drops her cloak while she is standing right next to Uranus, startling her. Things that startle Uranus usually end up getting stabbed by Uranus. Right after Ranma drops the cloak Uranus goes in for a straight thrust that Ranma side steps, then she straight punches Uranus's wrist knocking the sword loose and goes in for disabling gut punch which works well. However seeing her lover stomach punched doesn't sit well with Neptune who readies a deep submerge to take out the threat. Sensing an energy build up at her back, Ranma does a back flip firing a Mökö Takabisha at the pinnacle of her flip flatting Neptune. When Ranma lands she finds a bladed polearm at her neck. Saturn snuck up on Ranma without radiating any blood lust, anger, or any malice of any kind that Ranma usually watches for. Ranma finds the small short hair girl kind of scary.
"If you're done fighting the Mercury Knight think we can plan to fight the army the enemy has dropped on our door step." Pluto says in her best you're an idiot voice. Saturn lowers her pole arm with a quite 'Sorry'. "I told you that Mercury was out there with her Knight."
Uranus gets off the ground still holding her stomach. "You didn't the say the Mercury Knight was a girl! I assumed it would be a guy like Tuxedo!"
"That is your problem. I didn't say the Knight was a boy or girl. What you assume is your problem." Pluto says flipping some green hair over her shoulder and turning as if to say I'm done with you. Uranus just growls under her breath and goes to help Neptune up who just starting to move again.
"What did your scans find Ami?" Pluto ask clearly taking command and hoping to avoid any of the tensions that's cropped up in the group lately.
"It's not good Pluto. 56 total youma. The good news is fifty of them are troop youma, they are extremely weak and can be destroyed with a single punch. The problem being we have to overcome their numbers. Another problem is they have non-existent defense but they still can hit hard and from my scans have some kind of energy attack. Next we have the 5 attack youma, these are the pretty standard youma we are used to. Long and short range attacks, high magical defense, usually takes three combined attacks to down one. The last one is the purpose for this attack. It is a youma specifically designed to battle and trap my Knight."
"While she's cute and all but why do they want Mercury's Knight?" Uranus ask bluntly.
"We all know the Negaverse drains people of their life force for energy right?" The entire group nods. "Imagine if your average Joe's life force was a double AA battery, Ranma here would be nuclear power plant by comparison." Everyone but Pluto looks a little skeptically at Ranma over Ami's claims concerning the little red head's power.
"So what are going to do about that army sitting over their?" Rei ask impatiently. An awkward moment of silence passes as no is quite sure how to handle an army. So Ranma speaks up.
"I say we take the attack to them, their position is piss poor as far as strategies go. I think I can cloak up too two people and take them in with me to the building Ami and I scouted on. When I would drop the cloak, we would drop the hammer with our most powerful attacks. When we get all of the youma's attention on us Pluto can teleport the rest of the group onto the building opposite ours and unload into their backs before they know whats, what." Ranma explains.
"I'm impressed the old anvil and hammer play." Pluto says
"Hey I'm not sure about following the new girl, who ever she is into such a dangerous situation, she could be the bait for this trap!" Uranus voices her doubts.
Ami was really impressed with Ranma's battle plan but then Uranus had to throw her two cents in. Ami walks up to the much taller Sailor Uranus getting right up in her face.
"Listen here, in case you didn't get the memo Ranma is MY Knight I vouch for her not only with my life but with my mother's life as well because Ranma is living with us. If you still don't trust her, ask Setsuna. She brought Ranma and myself to the Time gate not too long ago. Unless you think Setsuna is in the habit taking enemies to the time gate, get, over, it!" Ami emphasis the last three words by poking Uranus in the chest. Uranus isn't phased in the slightest until Neptune points down to the ground in front her. A 3 foot diameter of ground in front of her is frozen, hard. No light frost, the ground itself is frozen. A chill makes its way down Uranus's spine.
Great, just great. Setsuna has spent all her energy these last few days trying to find the point in which the Senshi civil war breaks out and here she was watching her team fall apart one word at a time. "Excellent plan Ranma, I think you should take Saturn and Moon with you they are two of our heaviest hitters. The next question is who should be our primary targets?"
"The numbers are so stacked against us it's really hard to say. Do we take out the powerful ones first and then whittle the weaker ones down later or try to wipe out as many as the weakest ones as we can get first then try to battle the powerful when the field is clear?" Ami ask but is really just thinking out loud. She is interrupted by her computer beeping. "OH, oh no. The tainted life force is still going, radiating further and further out. This is bad. That one youma is designed to make warriors like Ranma go berserk and attack and get captured. Ranma is using a powerful technique to stay in control but I have no idea how many warriors could with stand the draw this youma has. Ranma how many Ki users are there in this area that you know of?"
"If I had to guess 5 maybe 6." Ranma states.
"We cannot let them be drawn into this fight! If the Negaverse gets there hands on one Ki user they could flood us with an army of youma. Our target has been set for us, Moon, Saturn target that large rock youma with everything you got. When we hear your first two attacks, Pluto will teleport us in." Everyone shuffles around to get in position. Ranma explains to the Senshi what they can expect when cloaked and what NOT to do. When everyone knows exactly what they're doing Ranma moon and Saturn leave to execute their plan. Traveling with two underneath her cloak slows Ranma some but not overly so. They arrive where the portal was to a surprise. The enemy was still there but they apparently had their own strategy. The large stony youma was now in the middle of a circle of it's comrades. On the inner most of the circle were the battle youma defending it. The outer rings were made entirely of the trooper youma. Ranma pulls them closer to her so they can whisper better.
"This makes it more difficult. To get to that youma in the middle we are going to have fire our attacks in stages. I'll go first, I'll attack and then change position to the right and continue attacking hopefully weakening this side helping your attacks get through, you go next Saturn then you go left and continue firing. Then it's your turn Princess give it your all. Cloak drops in three. 3…2…1!" Ranma fires her Mökö Takabisha with all the power she dared put into it with a long battle possibly in front of her. She is a little disappointed seeing she only takes out five troopers in the front. She quickly takes off to the left throwing smaller Mökö Takabisha from each hand. Destroying two more. Saturn steps up letting loose her attack cutting a line threw the asphalt and10 youma in front barely misses an attack youma and cleaves an arm off the stony youma before passing on threw and killing 7 more troopers before continuing its path of destruction across the road and empting the rest of its energy on an empty desert store. This only makes Ranma more cautious of the small gothic looking girl. The arm that falls off the stony youma cracks and burst like smoke grenade enveloping the battle field in a thick cloud of tainted Ki. A thick cloud that is quickly dissipating and spreading further and further out. Moon lines up for her attack and lets loose with an extremely powerful but extremely poorly named attack in Ranma's opinion. The attack washes over the battlefield obliterating anything it touches until it gets to stony. As soon as it touches stony's skin the entire youma explodes momentarily blinding everybody, youma included. Just like before the tainted Ki quickly dissipates. Flowing outward spreading all over Tokyo and the surrounding cities.
"Oh no!" Ranma could feel that release of tainted Ki threw her entire body. Anybody with any Ki sense with in a hundred miles would feel that.
Tokyo General Hospital
Ryoga feels the powerful release of tainted Ki. Feels like insects crawling all over his skin. He don't know how but he is sure Ranma is involved somehow. He may still be hurt but every fiber in his body was telling him to seek whatever that was out. He hoped Akari forgives him for wondering off. She seemed to be really be enjoying being able to find him every day when she visited.
Ryōzanpaku
The four masters are pleased at the progress of their new disciple. Akane is currently passed out on a couple of stacked practice mats after 8 hours of dance practice followed by 8 hours of martial arts training. Misty was about to pick her up to carry her to her home again tonight when the tainted Ki rolls over them. The Masters look at each other and with some unspoken signal they all disappear heading toward the source of the taint.
Miyagi Dojo
The three residents of Miyagi Dojo are sitting down to a late dinner after their afternoon lesson ran late and was about say to say 'Itadakimasu' when the taint rolls over them. Mr. Miyagi quickly knocks Ukyo and Kasumi out with a pressure point. Any demon powerful enough to send out a beacon like that would easily kill his students. Of course a demon that powerful is likely to kill him as well. But as a master he must respond.
Somewhere in the Roppongi district
Happosai loves this district, it attracts a lot of foreign ladies with lots of foreign panties and bras to be had. As he places a lovely pink lacy number in the pack on his back the wave of taint washes over him. He can't help but shiver as it feels like the hands of dozens of young men rubbing all over him. Happosai quickly hides his bounty behind a roof top air conditioner unit and roof hoops toward the demon that would disturb his Happy time.
Tendo household
A drunk man and a panda lay in an alcohol induced coma in the living room. As Nabiki passes through she pins a note to her father's chest that shows the date she moves out for college and written on the bottom in Akane's hand writing is a small note saying she is moving in with Misty Copeland so she don't have so far to travel every day for training. While she is at it, Nabiki places her father's hand in an intimate place on the panda then she does the same with a panda paw and takes a picture. This will bring her a few dollars later. No one notices the wave of tainted life force.
The Cat Café
Cologne watches Shampoo and Mouse spar. Mouse has showed substantial improvement but Cologne can't keep the frown off her face at watching her great granddaughter. She is improving, slowly, it's like she is not concentrating. Cologne halts the spar she tells part-timer to clean up while she needs to talk to Shampoo. Shampoo and Cologne go into the dining area to talk.
"Granddaughter what is wrong? You're not focused, I remember when the Kunoji girl fought you to a draw you begged me for more training for two solid weeks. But know it's like your mind is elsewhere. Tell me what's wrong." Shampoo squirms in her seat like a young child caught doing something wrong. Shampoo finally marshals her courage.
"Grandmother I'm not sure where my place in the world is anymore. Before we left I was so sure of myself and what my future held, now after being in Japan for a year. The village seems small in comparison and a dream of becoming Matriarch no longer holds the appeal it once did." Shampoo lowers her head to look away from her Grandmother. "Please forgive me I know these thoughts are unbecoming a warrior. Please forgive me."
"Look at me when you talk, Shampoo never be ashamed of your feelings. It is true those thoughts are unbecoming of a warrior but NOT a Matriarch. It is wise that you realize the tribes place in the world. We ARE small compared to even the Musk who outnumber us, let alone the communist to the south. Our warriors and generals would have us fight the world if they had their way and we would die even with all our Ki techniques and magical trinkets. What good are these things against bombs and tanks?" Cologne shakes her head in the thought of their warriors trying to face armies with modern tech.
Shampoo has never heard her grandmother talk this way, and it was hurting her amazon pride. "But grandmother I've heard tales of our best warriors having grand battles with the Vietnamese and Japanese and even a skirmish with the communist!"
Cologne just sighs "Yes granddaughter you heard right, we did win those battles and every celebration and holiday in the village someone retells those tales. What they never say was the losses we took in those battles and that only Artemis level warriors and elders took part. Tell me Shampoo how many Artemis levels warriors and elders are in our village?"
Seeing the point Cologne was making. "In our village we have three elders and six Artemis levels, in the entire Amazon nation how many are there Grandmother?"
"That is something only I am allowed to know lest our enemies realizes our weakness. But I will tell you it less than 30. The previous Matriarch was a fool to get us involved in conflicts that were none of our business. She thought to make a world power out of our tribe but all she did was waste the lives of our tribeswomen for no gain. But back to the point, your young and the wanderlust has hit you, I was not so different when I was your age. You know you may ask any elder for a sabbatical to explore the world. There is nothing wrong with that."
"But what if get too used the world outside the tribe, what if I don't return, I'd feel like I betrayed the tribe…"
"Don't be foolish, the fact that you even worry about it makes me believe that you will be back. Besides since the tribe moved to china from Greece every single member of the tribe that has gone on sabbatical has returned. Of course some sooner than others, but they have come back and they always bring back something useful to the tribe as well. Whether it be wealth, knowledge, tools, or even allies. Think on what I said we will…." Cologne stops as a wave tainted Ki washes over her and Shampoo. "You and Mouse get your battle armor and follow as quickly as possible." Cologne vanishes traveling at her top speed to the battle.
Tofu Clinic
Ono Tofu sits drinking his tea thinking about a certain pigtail patient and his newest friends. But mostly he thinks about a certain Dr. friend. She was a lovely lady who obviously cared a great deal about those around her. The fact that she still had lovely figure didn't hurt either. His thoughts are interrupted when a wave tainted Ki washes over him. He grabs his skeleton named Betty and runs out the door.
"Ami! Tell your group we must finish this quickly! Ki users all over japan will have felt that Ki release and be heading this way! Most will NOT be able to handle this level of fighting!" Just a second later Ranma feels the Ki flares of masters from all over heading to their location. "We have eleven Ki users heading this way we must hurry!"
"Eleven! I thought you said 5 or 6!?" Ami shouts back through their mental link.
"Sorry it's usually hard to tell, all masters learn to suppress their Ki or they'd walk around glowing all day."
Ami sends a mental sigh through there link and addresses her group. "Ranma just told me she sensed 11 civilians on their way here. Unless we want a mess, we need to clean these guys up quickly!"
"That's a lovely thought but unless we get rid of the rest those troopers that are giving the others covering fire, we are stuck here." Neptune shouts back from her cover.
"I got an idea about that, I think my speed would good enough in the cat fist to avoid their fire and thin there numbers to give us more room to maneuver. To keep Saturn and moon from being overwhelmed you might want get Pluto to teleport a few of you guys over here when I leave."
"Good plan Ranma." Ami thinks back. "Pluto can you teleport Jupiter and myself over to Moon so Ranma can use her speed to take a few more of those troopers out?" Pluto nods and raises her key staff and their gone in a flash of light. Ami ends up teleported right beside Ranma. Ami places her hand on Ranma's shoulder and wishes her good luck and to please come back safe. Ranma closes her eyes and opens herself to the cat fist. Ami inhales sharply feeling the cat fist fill her as well. If anyone could see through her visor they would see Ami's blue eyes had become cat eyes. Ranma opens her own cat eyes and disappears in a flash of speed and wind.
80% present of the cat fist should be plenty to wipe these weak guys out. Ranma jumps down the side of the building not facing the street hoping to avoid any unnecessary risk. She peeks around the corner watching for an opening to make her move. Those troopers seem to have little to no intelligence but those 5 attack youma have been the problem. After their opening salvos the Senshi haven't had much success thinning their numbers. The attack youma quickly calmed them down kept them in formation and taught them to give each other coving fire. Essentially the Senshi were stuck behind cover unable to get a clean shot off without taking massive damage. Dang those attack youma are smart there is no opening in there formation. Think Ranma, think.
"Ranma I got this."
"Ami?"
"Yes, I'm going to cover the area in fog it'll give you several minutes of excellent cover. Since we share my magic you should be able to see through the fog clearly. Go when you see the fog."
"Thanks." Just in case she can't see through the fog Ranma tries to mesmerize the battle field quickly. 27 youma left. 22 troopers and 5 attack youma. Lot better than when they started but still not in their favor. Ranma hears Ami vocalize her attack and a fog bank blinks into existence on the field. Ami was right she can see right through fog like it was made of glass. She waste no time in running out at full speed destroying 5 youma on her first pass with her claws and continue around the circle she destroys 7 more. Being a warm fall day the fog is starting to dissipate when Ranma decides on her 3rd and final run. She hopes to remove the final ten troopers with this pass barring that she at least wants three minimum. Left hand swipe three die, twist around swipe with right hand blocked! One of attack youma moved forward to intercept her. This youma looked like a cross between that muscle bound amazon that faced Shampoo on the log and a large roll of red vinyl. Freaky that. Ranma put forth all the speed she had to spare and proceeded to try and claw the youma to death. With most of the troopers dead the rest of the Senshi had moved off the roofs and engaged the youma in close quarters combat. It seemed everyone had chosen their opponents. Moon, Mercury were busy with an attack youma. Venus and Mars had another. Jupiter had somehow teamed up with Saturn and had an attack youma on the ropes. Pluto and Uranus seemed to have their hands full with the largest attack youma. Neptune as the odd man out was trying kill the remaining troopers and take attacks of opportunity at larger youma's backs. The youma Ranma was fighting wasn't having any of Ranma's crap. Ranma would try to attack and the youma would block or dodge. Luckily for Ranma the youma's attacks seemed limited to streamers made of vinyl that it used to attack similar to Kodachi's ribbon only the youma attacked with five at a time which Ranma could easily cut with her claws. However its other attack was becoming a problem. Any time Ranma got close and stayed close for too long it would create spikes of vinyl that it could shoot at very high speeds and that exploded on contact producing a lot shrapnel. Ranma had already taken two vollyies of these shots giving her multiple cuts all over body which wasn't really that bad. The explosions were similar to Ryoga's Breaking Point. Since she had given herself the breaking point training the cuts were mostly an annoyance. What was really affecting her was the single piece of vinyl that embedded itself just above her right knee on the back of her right leg. Dang youma got a lucky shot with its first volley of explosive spikes. Ranma was surprised how well her Ki reserves were holding up must be the bond she shared with Ami. Ranma spared a moment to see how the others were doing and it wasn't good. Moon and mercury were being pushed back hard. Venus and Mars were fairing the same. Jupiter and Saturn had apparently taken a couple hard shoots from the remaining 3 troop youma and were moving slower, they must have sustained some injuries. Pluto and Uranus were playing pure defense with they're large youma. One would block while the other would try and attack it but its speed was keeping them from ever completing the attack or missing altogether if they did. Uranus seemed to be the only one having any luck as she reduced another trooper to ash. Leaving only two which seemed to be doing more running than anything. Ranma knew something needed to be done if they were to win this, they had done well so far but now they were taking far too much damage and not dealing enough to be able to win. Ranma gave a silent apology to Ami hoping that opening herself fully to the cat fist wouldn't haunt her. Ranma backs off from the youma for a moment confusing it. Ranma takes a deep breath lets the cat completely go. Ranma feels herself suddenly falling she opens her eyes to see herself falling toward the ground. Fear suddenly grips Ranma she recognizes this place even from this far up. It where she went through the cat fist training. As the ground grows closer she sees it. The pit.
'No no no please God no. Not again. I thought I could control it. Thought I could stay away from here.'
She falls toward the ground, toward the hole that is made of her nightmares. She enters the dark.
Ami feels the mental apology, she wants to object to stop her but it's too late. Ranma let the cat go. Ami can see everything Ranma sees, Ami tries to call out to Ranma but Ranma can't hear her. Ami doesn't know if it's the fear or trauma but Ranma can't hear her at all. Ami runs toward Ranma with uncanny speed and catches her body from hitting the ground. Ami looks her in the eyes.
"Ranma please hear me. Please look at me. Ranma oh Ranma." Ami starts crying, she can feel Ranma's pain and see her prison in her mind. But there's nothing she do about it. Ami pulls Ranma's head up and puts her forehead against Ranma's making their Mercury symbols touch. Ami sees a flash and suddenly she is falling. She recognizes the place from Ranma's mind. The cat fist training ground. Suddenly Ami is standing on the ground she sees the covered pit in front of her. Ami uses all her strength to throw the piece of tin away. Without hesitation she jumps in the pit. At the bottom she sees 6 year old boy Ranma wrapped in fish and covered in starving cats crying out in pain. Ranma is begging his father, his mother anybody to help him, begging them just to stop the pain. Ami runs to him and knocks the cats off, rips the fish off and unties Ranma. Ami picks up a crying Ranma and hugs him tightly.
"Ranma you made me promise not long ago that meant the world to me, now I'm going make you one. I swear on my honor, on my life that you will never again have to face this place alone. I will be there every time this place crosses your mind, every time you hear a cat, every time one of your scars from this place hurts I will be there and I will take all your pain I can. You will never again suffer alone." Suddenly the world freezes and turns black and white then shatters like a plate glass window.
The battle stops as the rower of a large cat beast rattles the glass of the surrounding buildings. Ranma and Ami is glowing a bright blue and has the Mercury symbol glowing brightly on their foreheads. Ranma blast forward kicking up dust and rock from her acceleration. The youma she was facing is confused at first as the girl it was fighting seemed to run right past it until its torso starts to fall off its bisected waist and crumbles to dust. Wasting no time as she feels the masters in area the getting close, Ranma blast the two remaining troop youma with her Mökö Takabisha. That's what they get for paying all their attention to Neptune. Neptune immediately goes to help Pluto and her lover. Ranma goes to help Mercury who had gone back to help Moon. Ranma smiled when she saw there youma do its long range attack. It fired some kind of laser burst from crystal things embedded in its chest. The lasers didn't seem all that powerful, moon would block most of the ones coming her way with her fancy stick or baton whatever it was. Ami would just jump away. The part that made Ranma smile was that the youma had to stand still for 15 to 20 seconds to fire this attack. Ranma waited for the youma to start his next long range attack, as soon as it took its attack stance Ranma jumped in and took complete advantage of its exposed back.
"Moon, help Pluto and Uranus, Neptune, Ami and I will help Jupiter and Saturn." Jupiter was looking really ruff at this point and Saturn was breathing really hard and dripping with sweat.
"Jupiter got any advice on this youma?" Ami ask as she blocks an attack meant for Jupiter's head.
"It's got some kind of special defense that deflects our attacks, we haven't hit it once. The only good thing is it has no long range attack but it hits really hard." Jupiter explains through exhausted breathes.
"Mind attacking Jupiter so I can see this deflection?" Ranma ask while trying to tag it with a vacuum blade. Jupiter charges her lighting attack and fires it only to watch it literally curve around the youma. Ranma smiles a feral smile.
"Ranma that's a bad idea." Ami says in his head.
"Bad ideas are better than no idea." Ranma responds.
"Just because we nothing better does not mean you should do this." Ami fires back.
"Look at the others Ami, they are all tired and injured. We need to beat this guy and help them." Ranma defends his plan.
"Fine but If you die, I'll kill you." Ami says with force. The threat makes Ranma smile, not because it was a threat but because she could feel what was behind the threat. Complete and utter care for her safety. To have someone that would worry about you that much is a grand thing.
"Jupiter think you got another full power lighting attack left in you?" Ami ask.
"Yeah but only one." Jupiter answers.
"When I give the signal fire it straight at the youma with everything you got. Saturn when the lighting hits give it the pointy end." Everyone accepts there parts when Ranma is in position behind the youma Ami gives Jupiter the signal. She charges and fires her max power lighting attack at the youma. The lighting flies straight at the youma until it gets about three feet away then it curves perfectly around it until it gets back to its original trajectory. Jupiter thought she wasted the last of her energy until lighting starts sparking around the youma paralyzing it. Just like they planned Saturn came in and sliced it right across the chest with polearm causing it to turn to ash. Jupiter looks to Ami and ask
"How? I missed I saw it go by the youma." Jupiter ask with a confused expression.
"Ranma redirected your lighting at the youma. She had a theory that it had to see the attack coming to redirect it, she was right." Ami says with a little pride in voice.
"She can do that!?" Jupiter ask bewildered that anyone could catch her attack and redirect it.
"Of course I can, I am the best." Ranma brags. Ami just rolls her eyes, knowing that Ranma just blatantly stole General Iro's lighting redirection technique from Avatar The last Air Bender.
"Come on guys let's get that last one taken care of so we can go." Ami says not liking what she is seeing. More than half team was trying to take that youma down yet they didn't seem to be able make a dent. Ami starts her scan to what special ability this youma might have that is keeping it in the fight. Her preliminary scan showed it to be extremely powerful but what caught her eye was when Venus pegged it square on with her beam attack. Instead of weakening like it was supposed to do its power increased. It happened again when Uranus hit it with a space sword blaster. "Everyone stop using energy attacks! It absorbs them to get stronger we're going to have beat this one down!" Ami screams over the battle. The Inners all used to blasting enemies to death look very unsure of themselves with the exception Venus who pretty good at hand to hand. Of the Outers Neptune and Saturn look unsure. Pluto just shrugs and Uranus is actually cracking her knuckles.
Ranma starts off the melee with a chestnut fist to the monster's back. Venus follows Ranma up with a spin kick to lower spine causing it stagger some. Saturn tries to take advantage of the stagger by giving the beast a polearm blade to the knee, the youma twist its leg just in time to avoid a complete loss of its leg but takes a severe cut down its calf. The youma roars in pain lasing out trying to catch a Senshi to show her his displeasure. The others finally jump in gaining confidence from attack and retreat tactics the others are using. The battle goes on like this for several minutes when Ami decides to take another reading to track their progress. She scans the large youma and her stomach sinks at the results. The youma has lost less than 5% percent of its power battling all the Senshi.
"Pluto! Ranma! We need another plan this isn't working we will exhaust ourselves long before we beat this guy."
"Can we overwhelm his magic absorption by hitting him with several magic attacks at once?" Pluto ask
"Unsure I need more readings which means letting him absorb more magic. Not the best plan at this moment." Ami explains.
"So he is made to absorb magic, what about Ki?" Ranma ask. Both Pluto and Ami look at Ranma and blink and look at each other again. Finally Ami brings up her scan of the youma again and reexamines it.
"No Ki is not compatible with the magical absorption system he has, but Ranma do you really think you hit him hard enough to over whelm his regenerative ability?" Ami ask worriedly.
"Keep him busy for thirty seconds and I'll be ready." Ranma says as sits down and takes a meditative stance.
"Ranma how do know you can do it? I only know one time from your memories where were able to do such a thing." Ami ask through there telepathy.
"I know I can because I have too. Remember Ki reacts to one's will and determination." Ami is shocked by her determination, confidence and courage. Ami joins the rest of her team in keeping the youma busy and trying to weaken it further. Ami has always been the least talented of the Senshi when it comes to hand to hand combat. It comes back to bite her when she is the wrong place at the wrong time. The youma punches her straight in face sending her flying and heading straight for a brick building and a lot of pain. Right before she hits they see a bright yellow ball of light streak in. When the dust settles they see Ranma holding Mercury bridal style and looking at Mercury with a look of great concern. Ranma jumps down the side of the building and tenderly hands Ami off to Moon.
"Please make sure she is okay." Moon just nods. Ranma turns to the youma and her aura flares angrily. Her yellow aura jumps and flares this way and that until it calms and turns a cold shade of blue while shrinking down until you see the faintest hint of blue glow around the red head.
"You know youma I was just going to destroy you easy pessy. Until you did that! Mercury is the only person to ever try to understand me, the only one who tried sympathize with me. She is the only one to ever understand my pain, she never complained about how stupid I am or called me a jerk or pervert. She even accepted my curse as easy as most people accept an apology. But more than anything she saved me from the pit which means I get to send you to the pit from which you came."
"Give me your best shot you pitiful human." The youma speaks for the first time during the battle. Ranma's blue aura intensifies growing darker and more menacing. Saturn is the first to notice a few wisp coming off Ranma.
"Is that fog coming off Red?" she ask. The others look harder and notice that indeed there was fog coming off Ranma. The build up around Ranma seemed to reach critical when a flash of blue light blinded everyone. When they could see again Ranma and the youma where both still standing exactly where they were before except Ranma was bent over with hands on her knees out of breath and her blue aura was gone. The youma was a shocking sight it was completely encased in 3 foot thick ice head to toe. Ranma walks up to the icy demon still out of breath puts a single finger on the ice and says,
"Die." Performing the breaking point technique on the ice. After which the street is covered in a massive icy explosion. When the smoke and watery vapor clear they find Ranma passed out once again covered in chunks of ice. Before any of Senshi have a chance to react they hear slow steady clapping. They look around and find the source to be 10 adults standing on the tops of the buildings where they started this battle. They clap for a few seconds before they start disappearing one at time. Until only one is left. The short gnome like man jumps down to the street causing all the Senshi to get nervous. He reaches in his gi and pulls out a small wrapped package and sets it by Ranma and leaves.
"Why were they clapping?" Usagi ask.
"I have a strong feeling it was intended for Ranma." Setsuna says. "Can you carry Mercury to the shrine Moon?"
"I think so." Usagi says.
"Someone grab Ranma and let's go we need to get out of the street." Setsuna jumps to the nearest building and turns to make sure everyone is following directions.
Uranus gets a lecherous look and takes a single step before Neptune clears her throat and says. "Do it and your sleeping on the couch for a week."
"Oh come on, a week! I'm just trying to help, after all I'm one of strongest Senshi." Uranus puffs up proudly. Neptune just narrows her eyes and responds.
"Two weeks."
"he, he um maybe you should carry her Venus." Uranus says nervously. Venus just shrugs and picks her up. She is surprised that how small she really is.
"Good idea." Neptune deadpans and jumps up beside Pluto. Once Venus gets Ranma settled in a comfortable carry position they start their treck toward the Hikawa Shrine.
Ami starts to rouse from her fist induced nap right before they get to the shrine.
"uh ugh, my head!"
"Ami your awake, are you ok?"
"Oh Usagi, yeah my head is pounding and my body hurts but I'm ok, mostly. Can you put me down now?" she ask all embarrassed.
"Were almost there now, just a couple more seconds, probably be better that put down in shrine anyway. You got hit really hard Ami."
"Thanks Usagi." She says still embarrassed but glad she still cares for her. Ami feels like something is wrong though and it takes her a minute to figure what.
"Ranma! I can't hear Ranma! Is she okay?" Ami says worried.
"I don't know what you mean by hear, but Ranma passed out after killing the youma in a really impressive manner."
"Oh umm well we kinda share a telepathic link." Ami gets a very Ranma-esque smirk on her face. "Killing that youma by herself is going to go straight to her head. Even though it was weak against Ki users, it was designed to fight magic users like us." Ami looks very fondly over to where Venus is carrying a sleeping Ranma.
Usagi lands in the courtyard of the shrine and puts a shaky Ami down. Rei lands and releases her transformation.
"Wait here a moment I'm going to check and make sure the meeting room is clear then you guys can come on in." Rei turns and heads toward the main shrine building. Ami walks over Venus and watches Ranma sleep for a moment.
"Mina I'll take her if you don't mind." Ami ask shyly fully knowing what the others might think of her, but not caring enough to actually stop herself from asking.
Mina looks at smallest Senshi oddly for a second. "Are sure Ami she's not that heavy but being dead weight makes her hard to hold for any length of time."
"I'm positive Mina." Ami says with confidence. Mina transfers Ranma over Ami. Ami takes a few seconds to adjust her for a comfortable position. Ami starts to feel funny after holding Ranma for few seconds and not funny in a good way. She was about to ask Mina to hold Ranma again when she sees a blue glow starting to emanate from Ranma, she also sees out of the corner of her eye a yellow glow coming from somewhere. It glows brighter and brighter until she can't see then just as quick its gone. The first thing she notices when she can she again is Ranma staring up at up her with wide scared eyes.
"Calm down Ranma, we couldn't leave you in the street. Trust me, feel my mood through the link, I'm not mad." Ami tries to calm Ranma after feeling the panic in her mind.
"Sorry waking with a girl in close proximately and causing panic is a habit now I think. You can put me down now." Ranma slowly gets her heart under control after being scared spit less upon waking.
Ami lets Ranma down and notices that her bruises and scraps are gone like she hadn't been in fight at all tonight.
"Why did you both just glow? Where did Ranma come from? Why is she fighting with us? Who's the new enemy? And since when is Ami a lesbian!?" Makoto blurts out with her usual tact causing everyone to palm their face with the rude way she ask something very personal, but of course they were all wondering. But you don't just ask like that.
"All good questions even though, your tact and timing could use work Makoto. I am sure Ami and Ranma will answer what questions they can when we get settled in the meeting room, until then I suggest we all drop our transformations lest we draw attention to ourselves." Setsuna intervened again hoping to defuse any blow up between Makoto and Ami. The one between Rei and Ami was already bad enough. She planned to talk to both them tonight to try and mend some fences. She still hadn't found the flashpoint that causes the civil war in the time gate, must be like most turning points history, filled with chaos that could cause things to go any which way. However at this point the time line was still favoring all out civil war between the Senshi. It was truly hard to see these kids killing each other in combat but those nightmarish scenes in the time gate weren't fiction. Good timing, she thinks, as she sees Rei walking back out of the temple. Less she thought of her friends killing each other the better.
"Got bad news guys, Grandpa sensed us coming in. Apparently he has always been able tell when we came in but thought we were 'good kids' and thought a little rebellious partying wouldn't hurt us. He said he would be happy to let us get back to our party after he performed a short spiritual cleansing ceremony." Rei explains.
"Why would he want to that?" Hotaru ask with her soft and quite voice.
"That would be my fault." Rei said shamefully. "I received some bad news a few weeks ago. Because of that I wasn't controlling my Miko abilities like I should have been, I probably contaminated all of you with dark and negative emotions just like I did with the sacred fire." She walks to Ami and gets on her knees in front of her and bows. "Please forgive me Ami it's all my fault that we drove you away. I focused my anger and self-loathing unfairly toward you and because I wasn't controlling my abilities my hate and anger leaked over to the others and it was looking for any reason to be released. So when I unloaded on you the others were more than happy to jump onboard. So please Ami even if you can't forgive me please forgive the others it was all my fault." Rei remained bowed waiting for Ami's answer. Ami takes time formulating her response to Rei's heartfelt apology.
"Rei thank you for apologizing. I know it must hard for you, you are very proud and nobody likes to admit when they are wrong, but you hit every sore spot and insecurity I posse. I often wondered myself if I deserved to be on this team. I'm weak, I'm not a fighter, I don't even like fighting and my powers are not suited for such. I also made mistakes, big ones like you said. I let myself be seduced to into joining Metalia, dated a known bad guy. It hurt Rei, it hurt a lot. Not just because I felt like all my friends were turning on me, but because my ONLY friends were turning on me. Most of you don't understand what that means. All of you have friends outside this group except me. I have done everything I can to be a part this group, to try and integrate myself. I have offered my help with your studies which you accepted for a short time but our study sessions quickly degenerated into everything but. I tried hanging out with guys doing things you enjoy but I quickly felt like third wheel. After we all died defeating Metalia, I thought maybe things would be different between us since I died with you, made that sacrifice with you. But it didn't. I'm still on the outside, still on the periphery, not quite part of the group but not separate either. You may have been angry for another reason but I think this would have eventually happened anyway. But for what it's worth I forgive you but I don't believe you were you responsible for every one else's words. I know your powers Rei you can help calm people, or ease depression, even perk people up a little, but you influence, not control people they were responsible for their own words. Ranma and I will work side by side with you to fight this threat but we are not friends."
Rei nods her head in understanding as she gets up. Usagi is crying and sniffling, the other inners are looking shame faced and offer their apologies which sound half-hearted after Rei's deeply sincere apology. They start moving toward the main building when Rei suddenly stops and looks at Setsuna.
"Umm we need you at this meeting Setsuna but grandfather is kind of expecting a bunch of TEEN girls…" Rei just kind of trails off unsure of what to do about this complication.
"That's easily taken care of." Setsuna mutters some incoherent words, at least incoherent to the others in a flash Setsuna is a 15 year old version of herself.
"What the hell! Setsuna!" Haruka screams.
"To be honest you two looked a little too old for this as well so I deaged you about three years to better fit in. This will help us all, so just calm down. After all it's only a very elaborate illusion." Setsuna explains in voice that sounds far to mature for the body speaking.
"Don't worry lover, like she said it is just an illusion. Besides I think 15 year old you is very cute." Michiru tries comforting her.
"I think both momma and papa are cute! Can, can we do a slumber party tonight!" Hotaru makes her big purple eyes even bigger makes them as cute and shiny as possible. Even though she's a girl herself Haruka has a -10 resistance check against Hotaru's puppy dog eyes.
"I've never been into the girly thing but for you Hotaru anything." Haruka says.
Of course this causes a chorus of "aaawwwwww" from the inners. Haruka tries to give them the evil eye to shut'em up. But being three years younger made her a lot shorter and feminine looking then her 18 year old self. So it didn't help much.
"Come on everybody grandfather is going to wonder where we are." Rei try's to move them along. But anyone who's dealt with large groups knows it like herding cats sometimes to get people actually going in the direction you want them to. We Rei finally gets them into the meeting room. Her grandfather already has the room set up for a cleansing. There are multiple wards all over walls and incense burning along with several candles.
"Thank you for coming in, I'm sure you have your doubts not everyone believes in the spiritual, but this won't take long, then you can get back to whatever fun activities you had planned. If each of you take a cup of ceremonial tea and drink it up that will help prepare your body for the ceremony." It takes a few minutes for ten people to get and drink their tea and settle back down. "Good the next part is easy, I'll give each of you a seal to hold that will draw out the dark energy. That is the easy part, this will be the hard part I will be needing you to chant the words of power with me. Learning the words aren't the hard part but concentrating on each word as you say it is. I want you to imagine power flowing from your center into your voice as you say each word. I know it's hard but try your best. Now the words are Yu Mo Gui Gwai Fai Di Zao. Say them with me a couple times so you get it right. 'Yu Mo Gui Gwai Fai Di Zao.' That was good but try to let the natural rhythm of the words carry you to the next one. 'Yu Mo Gui Gwai Fai Di Zao.' Very good. Now close your eyes hold your seals with both hands and chant with me, remember to imagine the flow of your energy into the words."
Eleven people chanting the words of power gave the old man the chills, he didn't have the opportunity to have so many chanting very often. Most of the time it took ten iterations before anything happened. But on the third chant the girl's seals started glowing with different colors. He had never seen anything like it, these girls must have amazing spiritual lives or an unheard of aptitude for magic. He chastised himself for letting his mind drift, it was his job to channel these energies, to do the job that needed to be done. He focused on the energies whirling around him and ran them through the seals he placed on the walls to purify them. He watched as each seal lit up with a cacophony of colors. Once he got the energies purified which wasn't hard. There was something very pure about the energies these girls where emitting. The next part he had to be very careful about, he had to pull the swirling energies down away from the walls and let them pass through the girls. The positive energy passing through each girl should force the negative or dark energy out and into the seal each girl held blackening and destroying each seal in the process. He had the ring of positive energy right above the girl's heads now. He hoped this really helped these girls. He slowly lowered the energy into the girls and the effect was instantaneous. Several of the girl's seals instantly blackened and turned to ash far too quickly. It was a good thing he kept spare seals in his robe sleeves, it was rare this happened but it does happen. The last time it did, he was performing the ceremony for a war veteran that requested it. He wondered what happened in these girls lives to give them such pain and resentment. The replacement seals he gave out were still blackening far too quickly, he quickly passed out all the seals he had, applying them to the girls, arms, heads, and legs. He just prayed it would be enough. Each girl had close to 20 seals hanging off her and the ceremony wasn't even a quarter of the way done and most of seals were already starting to break down. Rei and he were having long talk after this something was very wrong here. The girls chants were extremely strong for civilians, it was a chance but he had to do something or the darkness he was releasing from them would be set free in world causing someone else pain and suffering. He changes his chant to strengthen and reinforce the seals making them able to absorb more darkness then they normally would be able too. The disintegration of the seals slows greatly giving him hope that they would last till the end of the ceremony. The ceremony is close to completion, he could feel their pain, anger, resentment and being softened and reduced. He never thought such young girls could harbor so much negativity. These girls must have seen or experienced some very intense or evil things in their lives. Finally it was time to wrap it up. He changes chants again to diffuse the energy in the room and hopefully make the girls more resilient to the darkness in the future. This was far harder than it should have been.
"Ok girls you can stop now. I am the head priest of this most holy and ancient temple. I have taken many vows to help those in need no matter what and I keep whatever I hear confidential. So would any of you care to tell me why a bunch teen girls have strong magical aura's or why you all have darkness on your aura's that feels almost exactly like WW2 veterans?" The girls all look at each other and through silent agreement allow Setsuna to speak for them.
"We appreciate all you have done for us I know my soul feels lighter and stress I didn't even know I carried is gone. But as to your questions I cannot answer them without putting you and your ancient temple in grave danger. But I will tell you this the reason everyone's aura in this room feels like a veteran warriors is because everyone in this room IS a veteran warrior in war that most don't know even exist. We fight hard with every ounce of determination and skill at our disposal." Setsuna explained in voice that beligh her current age.
"I see. You have fought in this war granddaughter?" He ask sternly.
"Yes, Grandfather I have fought and been injured but done my best." Rei hoped she didn't offend her only family.
"There is no greater calling for a Miko than to defend this realm from demons. I wish you were not so young but at least you seem to be surrounded by good people. We will talk later Rei. Your meetings here with your friends just took on a different aspect for me. I'll let you get back to your war council." So, so young he thinks to himself as he leaves.
"I should thank you and your grandfather Rei and apologize to everyone here. I didn't realize how much I needed this. I had so much resentment and anger built up that I didn't even notice it anymore. You must understand I waited 10,000 years to see all my friends again, to see you guys again. But when all of you born I could tell something was wrong. I forgot that all of you are reincarnations of my friends, not the friends I have been waiting for, for so long. All of your Star seeds all are from my friends and you are not them and I got so angry and disappointed, I wanted to see them again to be able to talk to them again. But I got sad carbon copies of the people I knew. I am sorry this isn't fair to any of you but I did take it out on you." Setsuna drops her head, getting rid of the anger and resentment then explaining her feelings leaves her feeling drained and empty. Setsuna feels a hand lifting her face up, to her surprise it is Usagi. She was harder on Usagi than anybody.
"No Setsuna we should be apologizing to you. You lived through the fall, but we never tried to comfort you or understand your feelings. Most of us just called you annoying, know it all, or worse with never understanding that there was a reason behind why you were, the way you were. You were hurting and lonely something we should all understand." Usagi turns showing all the Senshi gathered closely around supporting Usagi's words. Usagi wipes Setsuna's tears away and hugs her.
"Thank you all. But we should probably get to it unless we want to be here all night. As Makoto bluntly ask earlier we have a new ally. Do you want to introduce yourself Ranma?" Setsuna ask really just trying to get some attention off herself. She still felt a little raw.
Ranma stands nervous in front of so many girls. "Its ok Ranma I'm here want me to do it?" Ami ask through the link.
"Definitely!" She shout back in her mind. Ami stands beside Ranma and puts her arm around her shoulder.
"This is Ranma Saotome, Master of Saotome School of martial arts and now The Mercury Knight." Ami explains in her professional voice.
"Sorry about this." Ranma adds out of habit mostly."Ranma became the Mercury Knight through some extraordinary circumstances and luck. Weather it good or bad luck remains to be seen." Ami really didn't want to talk about the next part but they deserved to know.
"What do mean by that last part Ami?" Michiru ask.
Ami takes a deep breath and explains. "While we both Ranma and myself have gained great advantages in battle like, quicker magic and Ki recharge rates, shared fatigue and other abilities. Ranma unfortunately ran into a system of cursed springs during her training that were cursed through blood magic. Setsuna has told us that if she can't figure out a way solve the interaction problem between blood magic and the white magic Ranma has through our link that it will more than likely kill her and I will die as well." Silence follows Ami's statement for several moments while they absorbed it. Then all at once her teammates all start talking at once some in denial (Rei) some yelling that Setsuna should do something now (Makoto) and a couple were blaming Ranma for putting her in danger (Haruka, Michiru) but most she really couldn't make out over so many people yelling at the time. Oddly enough it made Ami feel kind of wanted knowing they were actually worried about her.
Finally having enough of the yelling Setsuna summons her key staff bangs it on the floor like a gavel. "Needless to say I'm doing everything I can to save the lives of Ami and Ranma. It's an extremely complicated subject covering the subjects of Light Magical theory and Application, Blood Magical theory and Application, Advanced magical interactions just to name a few and believe or not I am not an expert on everything so this is going to take a while."
"Those aren't exactly community college classes how are you researching that?" Mina ask
"Honestly, I'm using the time gate to watch classes from the Silver Millennium and if I wasn't doing this to save the life of a friend I would actually find it refreshing." Setsuna says with a bit of a shrug.
"Talk about a long distance correspondence course." Haruka says.
"Rei what did that ceremony do exactly I feel different." Makoto ask and every one seems interested in the answer.
"It a purification ritual designed to get rid of the dark desires caused by resentment, anger, fear and hate. While it's ok and even healthy to have small amounts of these, it's when they grow too strong that bad things happen. At first it just hurts the person carrying the negativity around but as it grows stronger it begins to hurt those around them until finally it hurts everybody they come in contact with. These negative emotions can even feed off one another, fear can lead to anger, anger to hate, and hate always leads to suffering." Rei explains in her full on Miko education mode.
Hearing that gives Setsuna a lot of hope that maybe this would change things for the better in the future.
Most of the girls just kind go 'oh' thinking about the hate leads suffering thing. Mina could swear she'd actually heard that before couldn't remember where.
"Please thank your Grandfather for us when you get the chance Rei. Now about our new enemy, do you have anything Ami?" Setsuna ask.
"As I'm sure you all noticed, all of our enemies have each had unique youma with unique abilities and unique power signatures. These youma while more powerful carry the power signature of a Beryl…"
"But she's dead!" Mina, Makoto, Usagi all say at the same time.
"Yes she is." Ami continues. "As I was saying the current youma have a Negaverse power signature, but more specifically, they have many of the design characteristics of Jadeite's youma. It appears he somehow survived and is now leading the Negaverse youma."
"That's great news! You guys beat these jerks before we even showed up. This should be a cake walk." Haruka states with confidence.
"Did you get hit in the head during the battle!? That was one of the toughest battles we ever fought! If it wasn't for Ranma that last youma would have been awful to defeat! Obviously Jadeite is doing things differently than they were." Rei almost yells.
"Rei is right," Haruka gives Ami a dark look. "I mean about Jadeite, we had a huge advantage when the Negaverse first attacked. They had little to no power from being sealed for so long plus the four generals and Beryl each had their own idea of an effective strategy to gather energy. They're in-fighting also gave us a great advantage. They fought against each other almost as much as fought against us. We don't have any of these advantages this time plus Jadeite seems to be playing the long term game. He is gathering energy on the down low with energy drainers that only Ranma or other Ki users seems to be able to sense. He is activity avoiding conflict with the Senshi and the only reason we knew about this last incident is because I met Ranma. This was a trap set purely to capture Ranma and drain her of her life force to create an army of youma to invade earth."
"Wow so what do we do about him?" Mina ask
"Next time he sets a trap can't we just ignore the soldier's and use his own portal against him and take the fight to him?" Ranma ask.
"That would be inadvisable for two reasons, first, we don't know how big his force is. We could avoid a strike force only to run into an army. Second, while we are in a different dimension we don't recharge mana. If we use up all our mana we would be worse than useless in a fight." Setsuna explains.
Ranma crosses her eyes in concentration for a second then she gets an idea. "Can you scan the other side of a portal to tell us what we can expect Ami?"
"Technically no, the event horizon messes my scans all up but maybe I could network my communicator with my computer again and toss it threw the portal. Its range would be extremely limited but it would tell us what is right on the other side." Ami says already testing the networking capability of the communicators.
"Knowing what he has in reserve will help but we still can't go there without risking running out of magic." Makoto says.
"I have an idea about that. I don't know squat about magic but what I do know that it acts a lot like Ki. So maybe it has the characteristics of Ki. Like being able to store it for later use. I know an old bat who stored massive amounts of Ki in her cane, through me for a loop every time I fought her until I figured it out. It's an amazing technique that can turn the tide of battle in your favor." Ranma says with pride.
"And you can teach us this technique?" Michiru says with some skepticism.
"Well, yes and no." Ranma says while scratching the base her pigtail.
"That's fantastic." Haruka says with a very unlady like snort.
Ranma squints her eyes in an aggressive manner. "What I mean is I could teach all of you but we have the same problem that I ran into when I first figured it out. You can't store Ki in just anything." She picks a coaster off the table. "Got any attachment to this Rei?" She shakes her head to the negative. "Watch." Ranma concentrates on the coaster until it starts glowing a faint yellow. "I stored a very minor amount of Ki in it. The coaster will glow brighter and brighter until…" A loud POOF permeates the room. "Until that happens, I haven't found anything that can safely store Ki."
"Can you ask the old lady how she stores Ki in her cane?" Usagi ask hopefully.
"Tried, she said only elders in her tribe are told how it's done." Ranma said with regret.
Setsuna snaps her fingers with eagerness and an idea. "You need a fetish!"
"What!" "EWW" "Setsuna!" "Yes!" Of course that last remark earned Haruka a smack to the back of the head by Michiru.
"Stupid languages changes every few hundred years! A fetish in the old days was a device that focuses, concentrates and can even store magical energy. Think of it like a wand from Harry Potter. Even though the books showed he can do magic without a wand, they used them to enhance control and focus." Setsuna explained to a relieved group except for Haruka who looked slightly disappointed.
"But where do we find something like that?" Usagi ask.
"We don't have to." Setsuna said confusing everyone. "While not designed for it those of you who have magical weapons can use them to store mana. There are really just big wands if you think about it. They are devices that focus our magic." She summons her Garnet Rod from sub-space and focuses on it storing mana in and it and drawing it back out. "That will work nicely."
"That great for you and the outers but we don't have weapons." Rei says indicating herself and the inners.
"Actually Usagi can use her Royal Scepter to store mana, Venus has a sword she's never manifested and you Rei have never fully manifested your bow. That just leaves Ami and Makoto. Ami you don't have to worry about storing any mana at all. Ranma will be with us and she will be carrying a full charge with her you can use." Setsuna says actually enjoying teaching the Senshi about abilities they didn't they know they had.
"What do you mean Setsuna?" Ami ask very curious.
"Ranma has a connection to Mercury just like you do and like you she has mana tap to Mercury. When you run low on mana during battle instead of waiting for slow recharge through your connection to Mercury like normal, you can just tap Ranma's and refill yourself instantly. Of course instant refills have the nice side effect of rejuvenating some wounds. Of course this works the other way as well, you now generate large amounts of Ki which Ranma can use to recharge instead waiting for it to slowly build back up." Setsuna explains.
"That's what happened outside the shrine when I woke up wasn't it. I've never had my Ki refill so fast before." Ranma says.
"Yes but it just kinda happened we need to figure out how to do that when we want to." Ami responds and Ranma just nods in confirmation. "Speaking of our link, you could have warned us about the telepathic link, it came as quite the surprise." Ami stares menacingly at Setsuna.
Setsuna doesn't respond at first she just looks back and forth from Ranma and Ami. "I didn't warn you both about telepathy because the first two never developed that ability…It appears that you two share a stronger bond than they did." This is worrying I made my estimates on based on older couples connection.
"Oh." Ami and say at the same time. They look at each other and get a little red in the face.
"Anyway back on subject Makoto, you have a unique tiara. It channels all your mana for your lighting attacks. You should be able to store an immense amount of mana in it. Actually we all should be able to store some mana in our tiaras, seeing as their magic boosters anyway." Setsuna says.
"Wait our tiaras are magic boosters?" Makoto ask.
"Of course. You didn't think they were just for show did you?" All the girls just stare at Setsuna blankly. "Nothing about the outfits are just for show. You do know the long ribbons can be removed and used for rope, bandages, and the like right?" Setsuna just shakes her head. "We will cover magical armor basics during our training this weekend then."
"Wait what? Training but this is school break!" Usagi whines.
"We need the training meatball head! We've been doing this by the seat of our pants for far too long." Rei screams
"Soo mean!" Usagi
"She's right Usagi, besides it would be nice to get my sword back." Mina shrugs.
"I'm really looking forward to it!" Hotaru nearly squeals surprising everyone but Ranma.
"Unless anyone has anything else you should all be heading home its 9:30. I'll contact you tomorrow about training. We will meet here." Setsuna says.
"Yeah I got something, can you teleport us home since you made me too young to drive." Haruka says with a scowl.
"Yeah slumber party!" Hotaru says while dancing wildly with Michiru.
Ami and Ranma and the rest of the inners watch the outers teleport away. Usagi leaves running at supersonic bunny speed saying something about curfew. Makoto and Mina leave at more sedate pace together.
Rei sees Ranma and Ami start to leave and walks up to them.
"I really do hope we can be friends again Ami but if not I understand. Can I walk you two to the gate?" Rei with some hope.
"Sure Rei." Ami responds.
"So….ruff day huh? I mean with the army of youma and a new enemy, but at least we get a new ally." She says while looking at Ranma.
Ami stops walking, huffs and looks at Rei. "We may not have ever gotten that close, but I know you want to say something but are avoiding it. What is it Rei?"
Rei is little embarrassed to be read so easily but she charges ahead. "I'm not making excuses for my actions but I'm just hoping you might understand my feelings better when I tell why I was upset. Ami, my father kicked me out of my clan, because my mother cheated on him. I am Ronin. Grandfather is in the process of adopting me into my mother's clan but it's not final yet. That's all I wanted say. Well, that and I really did value your friendship you're an amazing person." When Rei finishes she starts to turn away from Ranma and Ami but she stops when she feels someone touch her arm. She is surprised to see it was Ranma not Ami that stopped her. Rei stands their moment wondering what is going on when neither speaks for several moments. Rei realizes they must be carrying on a telepathic conversation and wonders what they are saying to one another. From the way their facial expressions keep changing it must be an intense conversation. Ami finally holds her hands up in stop or I give up gesture, Rei's not sure but Ami finally looks at her.
"I'm extremely sorry to hear about what happened with your father Rei. No one deserves to be treated the way he treated you. Because of that and Ranma I've decided to give you another chance and are willing to start over if you are?" Ami says with some reservations.
"Of Course! Thank you Ami! I'm so glad you changed your mind!..." Rei gushes
"Don't thank me, thank Ranma she thought you deserved a second chance. This isn't going to be easy but I am sort of glad we can try again. Ready Ranma? We better go before mom starts worrying." Ami says while looking at the red head
"Go ahead Ami I'll catch up in a second." Ami gives Ranma a funny look before she walks away. When she gets out of ear shot.
"Rei I feel for you, I really do. My father and yours are very similar it seems and I also believe everyone deserves a second chance, Rei. Please, please don't blow it ok?"
"Sure Ranma and Thank you." Rei says with a tear in her eye.
Ranma leaves quickly to catch up Ami. Rei turns and walks back the shrine with a little more hope in her heart.
At the Time Gate
Setsuna has a large smile on her face following the impromptu slumber party she was invited to. A small giggle also escapes her lips remembering how Michiru and Hotaru double teamed Haruka with a makeover. It was a fun night forgetting their responsibilities and just being silly and having fun. She cannot remember the last time she had any fun at all let alone let loose and acted silly for silly sake. But there is a time and place for everything and now it was time for her to get back to work. A large hope had grown in her that after tonight, the horrible future she foresaw with the Senshi civil war might be avoided. Setsuna called up Garnet Rod and summoned the power of the time gate to activate and show her the most probable future. The great gate of time hums and pulsates with untold power. Finally an image starts to from, at first it is too horribly distorted to make out anything. But slowly the image comes mostly into focus. It is a picture of Usagi in her Sailor Moon form battling some unseen foe. Usagi must hear something from behind because she spins around quickly and dodges an incoming attack that looks extremely familiar. A blast finally catches Usagi in stomach knocking her hard into a brick wall causing spider web cracks. The view zooms out showing Sailor Mercury running toward Usagi. Mercury starts to help Usagi up only get to get inpatient with her fumbling and slams her against wall again causing some of the bricks to dislodge. Mercury creates a vicious looking sword made of ice in her left hand. Mercury cruelly waits for Usagi to get to her hands and knees before she swings the sword separating Usagi's head from her shoulders. Setsuna stops the image there as she falls to her knees sick to her stomach. This is wrong, so very very wrong. The image was crystal clear making this horrible future almost certain. No she won't accept this! She is missing something, something important! She takes a deep breath and steels herself to rewind the image and watch for details.
Malatif in the Negaverse
She stands outside chambers of her master hoping her one bit of good news will save her from oblivion for the utter failure of the mission. She takes a deep breath and tries to step into her master's cambers with confidence.
"How did the battle go Malatif?" Jadeite ask in neutral tone.
"Not well Master. The scouts used battle tactics they never demonstrated before and the Ki user seems stronger than our last battle." Malatif finally gets to part of the report that she fears will end her life. "The special youma's mist ability didn't seem to any effect on the Ki user's sanity.…"
"What!" Jadeite yells
"The Ki user, she didn't seem affected at all." Jadeite radiates power showing his displeasure. Malatif hurry's her report along. "But its secondary effect was more effective than we thought it might be master!" This causes Jadeite to seem confused for moment gutting his power show.
"Explain."
"The secondary effect of the mist was to draw the Ki user to the youma. It did master, it drew ALL them to it." She says this part with great satisfaction. It takes a second but it slowly dawns on Jadeite what she means.
"How many, Malatif?" Jadeite says looking very hungry.
"10 Master. Maybe 11 one didn't make to the conflict area before the others departed but he seemed to have power as well." Jadeite falls back in his chair in astonishment.
"11 more Ki adepts, 11 Malatif! This calls for a change in tactics. Keep placing low level life force collectors around populated areas also build another special youma for trapping Ki users. See what you can do about fixing the ability to make Ki users go insane and make it more powerful this time. When you get done with that come back here I want your help in designing a new youma!"
Malatif took her master collapsing in maniacal laughter as her dismissal. Her master wants her help in designing a new youma! Her! Her master truly was honoring her.
Hikawa Shrine
The dust from all the destroyed seals lies forgotten in the meeting room. Rei probably thought she'd sweep when she got up but the dust had other ideas. As if caught by an invisible breeze the dust of the seals swirled around the room and out an open window not leaving a single particle behind.
