Spoiled Brats

Acknowledgements: Once again, thanks to the folks at fukufics dot com for providing C&C.

Author's Note: Ranma's very busy Monday continues…

Chapter Twenty Five – Encounters and Meetings, part three

An auburn haired woman appeared in a discrete location a few blocks away from the Diet. Ranma, Megumi's swaying gait drawing many suited and uniformed male gazes, walked into the lobby and checked in at the desk. From there, she was guided to a conference room, where she met Colonel Sanada from the JSDF, and an American Colonel, who she assumed was Colonel Anderson.

"Takeda-san, thank you for coming," Colonel Sanada said, bowing. "This is Colonel Anderson, U.S. Air Force. The Colonel doesn't speak Japanese, so how's your English?"

"I'm told my accent is quite thick," Ranma said.

"Good enough."

"Colonel Anderson," Ranma said slowly in English, trying to get her 'l's right. "It is a pleasure to meet you," she said with a bow. "I am Take… excuse me, Megumi Takeda."

"Quite all right, Ms. Takeda. I am Col. Richard Anderson, USAF."

Col. Sanada sat down. "Shall we begin?"

Col. Anderson nodded, as he and Ranma took their seats. "Any objections to this being recorded?" Ranma shook her head. "Megumi Takeda, do you certify that you are cooperating in this operation as a civilian, of your own free will, and without coercion, under section fourteen of The Hague Convention of 1907, pertaining to the restriction of individuals of paranormal abilities from military and intelligence service?"

Ranma blinked. 'I wonder if anyone actually obeys that restriction.' "Yes."

"Thank you. Would you please describe your participation to the Asahikawa incident, on Wednesday, November 10th, 2004?"

Ranma did, intending to leave out the fact that she'd known where they were for half a year. Col. Anderson, apparently leading this meeting, interrupted with questions and comments that revealed that he was quite aware that that wasn't the first time she'd been up in those mountains, so Ranma ending up revealing quite a bit more than she'd intended.

"Thank you. I assume the reason they decided to move was because they thought you were getting too close to them?"

Ranma shook her head. "I wish that was true, but Beryl's position was too strong. I believe what triggered the move was an attempt at misinformation, and freeing those she held in thrall, that backfired. One of her people had almost broken free of her power on his own, and he was my contact in the Dark Kingdom. I haven't heard from him since that attempt."

The American Colonel looked at his Japanese counterpart. "Perhaps you should start at the beginning."

Ranma nodded. "Right. A long, long time ago…"

"If you say 'In a galaxy far, far away,' I'll shoot you," Col. Anderson quipped.

Ranma's lips twitched as she fought off a smile. Remembering was quite painful at times, even if those memories were still frustratingly incomplete. "A long, long time ago, all the people of the Earth were united in a single kingdom, the Earth Kingdom. It was a time and peace and prosperity for the people of Earth…"

"Excuse me," Col. Anderson interrupted, "But how do you know all this?"

"Memories of a past life."

Ranma smirked when Col. Anderson handed a few bills to his Japanese counterpart. "Why can't souls go straight to heaven or hell like they're supposed to?"

"Because God is far more merciful than you westerners give Him credit for," Col. Sanada answered.

"Anyways," Ranma said, somewhat irritated. She didn't exactly consider the whole past life thing very merciful. If they hadn't been reborn, they wouldn't be in this position. "While the Earth Kingdom protected the people of Earth, the Moon Kingdom protected…"

"Oh, crap," Col. Anderson interrupted again.

"Do… you… mind?" Ranma growled out.

"I'm sorry, it's just that you confirmed what we're dealing with here." Col. Anderson opened his briefcase, which held a laptop. "The images I'm about to show you are classified top secret. If the crypto-archeologists ever got wind of this, we'd never hear the end of it."

"Why is that so bad?"

"Because there are enough wild theories out there about prehistory, without adding fuel to the fire by admitting the truth. Did you know that there's this one archeologist, a professor Shanks, that insists that the pyramids were build by an alien civilization as landing pads?" Col. Anderson shook his head. "Anyways, these pictures were taken by Apollo 13 on their mission…"

"Didn't they suffer some kind of malfunction during that mission?" Col. Sanada asked.

"That was a cover. Their real mission was to investigate the Lunar anomaly, an area on the moon that looked like there was a ruined city there." He opened a file, and began showing a series of color photographs. "What they found was not only a ruined city, but human remains, mummified, but otherwise perfectly preserved by the vacuum…"

"Stop!"

Col. Sanada looked at the auburn haired woman in alarm. "Takeda-san?"

"Ms. Takeda, are you alright?"

Ranma stood, staring at the one of the bodies on the screen. Her fingers dug into the wooden table, her fingertips turning as white as her face. Without a word, she vanished, appearing in an abandoned quarry nearly twenty kilometers away.

Kunzite staggered among the ruins of the Moon Kingdom, his power the only thing keeping him alive as the vacuum of space ate away at the wards that had once preserved life on the surface of the moon. He saw the bodies of his companions, buried among the rubble, slain in the assault on the Moon Kingdom after they had all been bewitched by Beryl. He saw the Prince and Princess, together in death as they longed to be in life. And overhead, he saw the darkness that consumed the Earth. With his last remaining breath, he fell to his knees and screamed.

Ranma's scream echoed the one from her memory, her power unleashing a wave of destruction against the walls of the quarry. Again and again she struck, her fury unabated by the explosions all around her. After fifteen minutes, her energy was exhausted, even if Kunzite's anger wasn't.

'Damn it! Why can't anything ever be simple?'

- + - + -

Hino Rei waited impatiently in their secret headquarters at Crown Karaoke. Today was the first day she had really hated going to a different school than the others. Several important things had happened over lunch, and she'd been stuck a kilometer away, listening helplessly over her Luna Cell Phone. She had an incomplete picture about what had happened, and she hated being left out of the loop. Unfortunately, her father would never allow her to transfer to Juuban. Her presence at Thomas Aquinas was too important to his image. Not that she actually wanted to. T.A. was a really good school, and it had an elevator system that went all the way through college.

For a change, Usagi and the others were on time. And they brought a friend this time. She knew exactly why Ranma had insisted that Usagi make the decision, but it would've been safer if she'd wiped Osaka-san's memories instead.

Giving Usagi's friend a chance to take in the rather impressive sight before her, Rei waited until the girl reached the bottom of the stairs to stand and haughtily introduce herself. "I am Hino Rei, the Senshi of Fire, Sailor Mars. My powers are mastery over flame, exorcism, and precognition. And you are?"

"I'm Osaka Naru… and I'm Usagi's friend."

"Yes… I'm sure that will be very useful."

"Don't underestimate the power of friendship, Rei-chan," Ranma said from behind Rei, causing her to jump. "Believe me, you can really surprise yourself with what you're capable of when it comes to those you love." The auburn haired woman frowned. "Not all those surprises are good ones, either."

"Sempai!" Rei rolled her eyes as Minako gave Ranma a searing kiss. "What's wrong?"

"It's a long story. I'll tell you about it later." Ranma nodded at a certain girl with twin ponytails. "I see Usagi-chan has noticed the new addition. Go ahead and open it."

"Hai." Usagi slid open the door, and gasped, "Sugoi! It's so big!" The girl rushed in.

Ranma watched the other five girls follow Usagi, Rei doing her best not seem too eager or curious. Ranma followed, placing a hand on shoulder of a wild-eyed Osaka Naru. "Are you okay?"

"How is this possible?"

"You live in a world where scantily dressed young women fight energy draining monsters. Borrowing space isn't that hard. We do have Artemis to thank for doing it on this scale. Speaking of which, I'd better go get him."

"We have an onsen in here!" Usagi called out from the women's bath.

"Rei, have you seen Luna?" Ranma asked as Rei walked past her.

"No, wasn't she with Usagi or Ami?"

Ranma shook her head, and then headed towards the door to their apartment. Halfway there, the door opened, and Luna walked in. Ranma nodded to the purple toy cat. "I see you noticed the new addition."

"Yes. Artemis gave me the grand tour… what's she doing here?" Luna asked the girls headed back to the Crown.

"The girls got a little careless again, and Naru-chan overheard them. Usagi decided that having her best friend in on the secret would be better than wiping her memory. It also gives us access to at least one person untainted by the past life."

"Untainted?"

"Damn right, untainted. They all had their chance at a long and happy life, and they blew it big time, so now we're stuck cleaning up their mess. I don't know how the others feel, but I'm not giving Kunzite my chance at life as well. The man did not die happy." She cocked her head at Luna. "Would you go get Artemis? There's something we need to discuss, and I'd better get in there before Usagi-chan warms up the karaoke machine."

- + - + -

Usagi passed her hand in front of her friend's face. "Naru-chan? Are you okay?"

Luna and Artemis, entering from the dojo, took one look at Naru's face, and asked, "We take it Ranma demonstrated her curse?"

Ranma nodded. "We have a situation right now, and it's something that needs to be resolved now, while Beryl isn't as active. It deals with my past, so she needs to know about it." Ranma looked at the girls around her. "Here's the situation. There is a region in western China often referred to as the 'Hidden Kingdoms,' where thanks to isolation, long lived and arch-conservative leaders, and a rather large concentration of magic, life is still pretty much as it has been five hundred years ago. The most modern of them are the Amazons, and it's only thanks to a recent shakeup in their leadership that they've joined the twentieth century."

"It's the twenty-first century, Ranma-san." Ami pointed out helpfully.

"I know, Ami-chan, I know. Anyways, three of these kingdoms have fought over control of Jusenkyo for centuries: the Amazons, the Musk, and Mount Phoenix. To make a long story short, Saffron of Mount Phoenix is nearing his time of ascension once again, and his people are looking for the keys to unlocking his transformation, which just happen to be in my possession. And they know who I am now, and where I am. In addition, the process of his transformation puts Jusenkyo in danger, which neither the Amazons nor the Musk want to see happen.

"Representatives of all three factions are in Tokyo right now. Usagi-chan met one of the princes of the Musk, Herb. The Phoenix attacked Ami-chan and Minako-chan. And you all met Shampoo of the Amazons. What I need are options about what to do about it."

"Isn't there any way for the three of them to cooperate?"

Ranma shook her head. "Not really, Ami-chan. Both the Musk and the Amazons view an ascended Saffron as a threat, and the Phoenix won't accept anything except full ascension. Saffron not only gives their people a powerful warrior, but he keeps their mountain home habitable. Right now, they have to live on the lower slopes, which can easily reached by their neighbors."

"Couldn't you give the keys to Musk and the Amazons, and have them control Saffron's level of ascension?" Rei asked.

"I don't want to give either the Amazons or the Musk access to that much power."

Rei shrugged. "Do it yourself, then."

"Do you really want me spending several weeks overseas at this time?"

Rei shook her head, while the others sat there thinking. After several minutes, Usagi said, "Couldn't you promise to do it later?"

"Usagi-chan, I don't want Saffron to ascend at all, if I can help it. When Saffron was ascended, the Phoenix raided their neighbors at will, because their home was completely unassailable. What I need is a way of sending Kiima home without giving her what she wants." Ranma narrowed her eyes. "Otherwise, I'll go with plan 'B'."

"Which is?" Naru asked.

"Kill her."

- + - + -

Minako sat down on the coach beside Ranma, folding her long legs under her as she leaned against the man. "Do you really think they're all that unreasonable?"

Ranma stared into his cup of tea. "I don't know, but none of the parties involved have been reasonable in the past. Myself included." Ranma offered the young brunette a lopsided smile. "It's really sad that the best idea we could come up with is lock them in a room together, and not let them out until they work things out."

Minako shrugged. "Just make sure you leave a cat flap through which we can push food in." Minako reached over and placed her hand over Ranma's. "Now, will you tell me what's wrong?"

"The U.S. Air Force is aware of the Moon Kingdom's former existence. They even sent a manned mission there, to investigate its ruins. They showed me pictures of the place, and the preserved bodies that still lie where they fell."

"You mean…"

"I saw Kunzite's body, Minako. It's still up there. They all are, up on the moon." Ranma's hands shook. "It woke up Kunzite for a while. I had to get out of there, before he started lashing out at everything around him. He did not die happy. He survived the destruction of the Moon Kingdom just long enough to realize exactly what had happened."

"What exactly happened? I don't remember much."

"Minako… Beryl didn't destroy everything. The Princess did."