Ranma 1/2 is the creation of Rumiko Takahashi and Sailor Moon is the creation of Naoko Takeuchi. This fan-fiction isn't intended for commercial use but is rather a tribute to Ranma 1/2 and Sailor Moon.
This is a continuation of Saotome Ranma, Wiseman Book 1 which should be read first as otherwise little will make sense.
Chapter 2 – Meeting Yourself
Ranma started to rub his head. "Perhaps referring to me as Wiseman will make things not get more confusing."
"But you have somehow returned my daughter to us," said Soun still hugging their Akane.
Wiseman put his head in his hand. "I went over this before we stepped through the Stargate. She is not your Akane but ours."
"Right," chastised Eclipse. "It's not like Sailor Moon used her version of the Ginzuishou to bring your Akane back."
Everyone froze. "Nice job, Meatboall head," grumbled Neith.
"Fair maiden, are you saying that the ones we fight could return our Akane to our side?"
"Only if you are into very well preserved animated corpses running around," commented Beryl who then sighed. "In the future Purple Wiseman came from the Inners all died getting Sailor Moon to my counterpart where they mortally wounded each other. Moon wished that her friends were back and they were all normal school girls. The Ginzuishou made that wish come true."
"So you are saying this Ginzuishou can restore the dead to life?" asked Ryoga.
Beryl again sighed. "Just what part of 'well preserved animated corpse' did you not understand? I said that fool high tech thing brought them back. I said nothing about restoring them to life." Beryl leaned forward. "We listened in long enough you know that one of your goal is kill to Sailor Senshi as revenge for what they did to your Akane. But you can't kill someone who is already dead."
"But Sailor Moon's friends didn't get killed until around her reality's Ranma killed Saffron which I know hasn't happened here as he would have the residual ki from that battle all over him it it had," said Chronus. "These Inners should still be alive."
"The point is," said Thoth, "that thanks to the Ginzuishou, killing the Sailor Senshi is not an option as doing that likely will make things worse."
"Are you telling me that we can't kill these maniacs because they have a bring back from the dead gizmo?" fumed Ranma.
"In a nutshell, yes," said Beryl. "But that gizmo appears to only work with the Inners. Otherwise Neo-Queen Serenity would have brought the Outers back after Sailor Saturn blew up Pharaoh 90, another piece of Moon Kingdom Clarktech."
"Wait a minute," began Cologne. "You are talking about them as if there are two groups of Sailor Senshi."
"There are," said Eclipse. "The Inners are the personal guards of the Royal Family. They are effectively the infantry of the Moon Kingdom. The Outers on the other hand are the very heavy artillery with Saturn ranging from blockbuster to all the way up to an antimatter bomb."
"The problem is the distances from Earth's Moon to Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto was so great that direct communication with the Royal family was minimal at best," commented Beryl. "At a very practical level the Moon Kingdom was as fragmented as your Roman Empire was only instead of East and West it was Inner and Outer."
"The Outers didn't care about collateral damage...even if it was another Sailor Scout. In didn't help that everybody except the Queen feared Sailor Saturn," said Georgium Sidus.
"Why was Sailor Saturn so feared?" asked Genma.
"Depending on how you ranked power Sailor Saturn was either third or second with Sailor Pluto being the other one," said Mistress Saturn as she turned to face Hotaru. "Remember what Eclipse said about antimatter bomb? Well that was Death Reborn Revolution which at could blow up a planet."
Hotaru paled. "But that is my most powerful attack."
Mistress Saturn chuckled as she shrunk down in size and becoming younger until she looked like Hotaru. "Our most powerful attack," she said in a soft voice. "If anything my counterpart should show you that not all of the Sailor Senshi are trigger happy consequences be damned maniacs."
'Which brings us to the rhino in the house," said Amun causing the rest of the Grey Moon clan to either shake their heads or roll their eyes. "You cannot color all the Sailor Senshi with the same blush."
"Despite Amun's knack for mangling common phrases with the ease P-chan gets loss she's right," chimed in clearly nervous Wiseman. "But in the small chance she is wrong you lot simply don't have the raw power to take them out."
"That's why the whole main membership of the Grey Moon Clan is here," said Eclipse. "In case the Inners of this world have become like the Outers were or won't listen to our warnings about using that blasted high tech crystal of theirs to 'fix' things you are going to need that raw power."
"But before we get to that stage we have to cut through perceptions and get facts," said Beryl. "I am gambling that their Usagi is as accepting as ours was though Luna will likely be a problem."
"Kuso," groaned the Nabiki next to Beryl her head down.
"I take it Usagi and Luna are the real names of two of these Sailor Scouts," commented the now scowling Nabiki next to their Ranma.
"Uh, oops..." replied a now nervous Beryl.
"Actually they are the names of Sailor Moon and her Mau advisor," said Eclipse moving closer to Beryl.
One of the Nabikis pinched the bridge of her nose clearly trying to stave off a headache. "And just what is a Mau? And if I get the smart ass joke 'I don't know; what's Mau with you' I will seriously hurt the person telling it."
"Think Shampoo but reversed," said Thoth.
"We found out that youma were the descendants of the first attempts by the Moon Kingdom to create Sailor Senshi," said Beryl. "The Mau are likely more of the same only those they didn't pass them off as demons invading from other reality but as aliens from another solar system. We don't know the details as the first 5,000 years of scientific and historical data that would have told us was wiped from the Mercury computer's memory banks."
"Wait a minute," said Cologne frowning. "Did you say first 5,000 years?! Just how old is this Moon Kingdom?"
"About 50,000 years give or take a century," said Beryl. "It and the Earth got into a no one wins war 12,000 years ago effectively wiping out one and obliterating the civilization of the other to the point that all that remained were stories."
"The way you phrased that..." began Nabiki as her eyes widened in realization. "That Palace on the Moon and the one they found on Mars."
"Yes, asside from the Dark…," Beryl stopped and frowned. "In our eagerness to get here to help and train we seemed to have missed a key detail. How does this world have a Queen Beryl and youma?"
Wiseman steapled his hands frowning. "Thoth, could the death ki in one of our crystals create a copy of the Dark Kingdom here and fill it with clones?"
"No. It took the ki energy equivalent of 70 billion people to create the Dark Kingdom and transport Beryl, the Generals, and the some 1 million youma there. There simply wouldn't be enough left over energy to duplicate all that. The best that could be done would be a very limited quantum duplication."
Wiseman sighed. "Can you explain this quantum duplication thing without loosing us five words in or making our heads hurt?"
Thoth chuckled. "I do tend to forget that my audience doesn't have the high level information that I have learned. Think of a copy machine that can't make full copies but will make copies of what is important."
"Meaning our Dark Kingdom was used as a template but there wasn't enough energy recreate everything," commented Beryl.
"Right, but from the energy levels I am reading we are talking about a Dark Kingdom little larger then four large city blocks populated with perhaps 200 inhabitants which odds are were constructs of some kind."
Beryl snorted. "You couldn't conquer a city much less a country or the whole planet with those numbers. But it would still require a lot of energy to do even that."
Thoth nodded. "Yes but not enough to make the more powerful versions of the Moon Kingdom Clarktech we have been theorizing exist here less powerful then what we know less of a problem." Thoth scowled. "Their attacks are still more powerful then what we are familiar with...as in potentially lethal to normal humans levels of power."
"Which means an even more power for Sailor Moon to play with if she decides to fix the world by unintentionally giving everybody an emotional lobotomy with her version of this blasted crystal," said Eclipse pulling out a huge diamond.
"Is that what I think it is?" asked the Nabiki beside Ranma her voice cold and hard.
"If you mean our version of the Ginzuishou, yes," said Eclipse. "And if the idea of bringing back your Akane is going through your head again get rid of it. From what we have learned about the bring them back power of this blasted thing at best it only works with Sailor Senshi because of the way their souls were transformed into something called star seeds when everything took the express train to the toilet some 12,000 years ago."
"What do you mean, "transformed"? asked a clearly angry Ranma.
"From what we have been able to put together a soul is normally spread throughout the body," said Wiseman. "They have compacted them down into a small core if it were."
"If they didn't need their starseeds in their bodies to function Neo-Queen Serenity's versions of us would be called Liches," grumbled Eclipse.
Nabiki narrowed her eyes and the Ranma beside her frowned his face a dark storm cloud, "Versions of us?"
Eclipse sighed pulling out a henshi stick. "As Sun Sun Tzu says 'Know your enemy and know yourself and in a thousand battles you will be victorious.'" Eclipse leaned forward. "And who would know the Sailor Sensei better then the Sailor Senshi? Moon Power, Make Up!"
Wiseman tensed as the transformation finished. The silence that followed was deafening. "Please let them have understood." he repeated in his mind not realizing he was also saying it out loud.
"Understand?" growled Ranma as he ran up and grabbed his 'Wiseman' counterpart by the front of his silk clothes. "I understand that we can't kill those maniacs and you brought your reality's, world or what ever the blasted blazes it is versions with you. What I don't fully understand is 'why?'."
"Because this world is messing with ours," commented Beryl. "And we have seen what the Ginzuishou can do in the hands of an overly idealistic somewhat naive person. Kama-sama knows what one who has gone Uranus and Neptune will do with the blasted thing. But the most important thing was to get you off your 'kill all Sailor Senshi' bandwagon because you need them for what is to come - namely Sailor Galaxia." Beryl moved and grabbed one of Ranma's arms.
"You go on about saving a handful of people. We are trying to save this world from the same fate thousands of others like it have suffered – a dead rock whose life was wiped out by either Sailor Galaxia herself or the forces chasing her through the cosmos who are so hopped up on 'the kill her kill her now' that their collateral damage is inhabited planets. Of course that is assuming Pharaoh 90 and or the Black Moon Clan's 'Wiseman' doesn't kill everybody first."
"You forgot the thing that calls itself Snow Queen Kaguya," commented their Nabiki. "It's like a twisted version of that 'better living though chemistry' slogan, only here it is 'Frighteningly new ways to die though faulty or misused Moon Kingdom Clarktech'."
"You may be closer to reality with that statement then you know," said Beryl her face showing she was deeply worried. "I have been trying to contact this reality's Dark Kingdom to try and see if they might be able to help. At first I thought the barrier was stronger then it was in our world...but then I realized the real problem – there simply wasn't a barrier to go though."
"The frightening implication is that would fit in with our false flag operation theory," commented Jadeite grimly. "Whoever or more likely whatever is behind it wouldn't be satisfied with just Sailor V taking on the 'Dark Kingdom' and so set up a rough copy of it here and sent it against all the Inners. Once the 'Dark Kingdom' served its purpose there was no reason to keep it or its barrier around."
Eclipse's face became dark as a storm cloud. "Are you telling me..."
"Anything that remained there is gone. As in if it never existed in the first place."
"But that would mean the Sailor Sensei took out my counterpart far faster then they did in the timeline we know about," said Beryl as she put the long black wig she had been holding on her head. "Time to go to...the shrine and talk to the Inners," Beryl said putting on the mask she had also been holding in her hand. Before anyone could do anything she was on the Tendo's roof and then roof hopping in a southeastern direction.
~*~Hikawa Shrine, Azabu-Juuban District, Minato ward some time later~*~
"They are definitely getting stronger," said a voice from inside the shrine that Beryl thought was was Mercury's but Ami spent so much time as Thoth that she wasn't sure.
Taking a deep breath Beryl stepped into the room. "Just who is getting stronger?"
Fourteen pairs of eyes turned to face her. "Who are you?" asked Usagi.
"Sailor Nemesis," replied Beryl.
Luna immediately frowned jumping between Usagi and her. "There is no Sailor Nemesis!"
"There were secrets in the Moon Kingdom that not even the Queen much less the advisors to her daughter knew, little Mau." Nemesis paused for dramatic effect. "Such as the youma not being demons from another reality."
Rei frowned. "If they weren't that then what were they?"
"Five of you five Inners. Whoever is Mercury transform and access your computer's root files. Open Project Guardian and read it."
Ami slowly stood and pulled out her transformation stick. "Mercury Planet Make Up." She then pulled up the visor interface to her computer. As time passed her eyes moving as the file only she could currently read scrolled before her, her face when through several expressions – surprise, concern, and then it paled. "It can't be true," she whispered. "The youma can't have been the decedents of the first attempts to create us."
"WHAT?!" exploded the room.
"If it is any consolation I don't think any of the Queens past knew. A rogue department using 'Plausible deniable' as justification to perform experiments that would likely have given Doctor Joseph Mengele, the Angel of Death of Auschwitz nightmares. Why else wipe everything for the first 5000 years of the Moon Kingdom's some 50,000 years of existence from the computer?"
Ami frowned. "I'm not showing anything being wiped from the computer."
"Sorry, I was talking about the original equipment which we have not the upgraded stuff you lot have. Obviously somebody developed a moral backbone and put the information in the one place it could not be easily erased but would be copied."
"What do you mean by original equipment or this 'we'?" asked Rei anger in her eyes.
"Who here knows anything about Many Worlds Theory?"
"I do," said Ami. "To keep it simple it says that for every action the alternative also happens…," Ami's eyes widened in realization. "in other reality."
"I see you have put it together, Ami."
"You're from another reality and we exist in your world."
"I'm not sure that 'exist' applies anymore."
"What do you mean?" asked Usagi fear in her voice. "Are you saying..."
Sailor Nemesis laughed. "Oh no you are all quite alive in my reality. The issue is a place called Jusenkyo in the Qinghai Province of China near the Tibetan boarder. What ever falls into a cursed pool takes on the form of what drowned in that pool. Whole bunch of pools there. Pool of Drowned Cat, Drowned Duck, Drowned Girl, and Drowned Life Draining Demon or more properly Drowned Youma."
"What happened?" asked Usagi her fear growing.
"Some baka thought the best way to test what he thought was Pool of Drowned Virtuous Man was to pour some of it on Sailor Moon." Nemesis sighed "It wasn't. Never mind the Sailor Senshi that followed Purple Wiseman from his 30th century came off as a bunch of overly tigger happy 'the only good youma is a dusted youma' maniacs when her Sailor Mars and Mercury showed up at Usagi's school after both she and Pluto had come into contact with the Pool of Drowned Youma. Everyone was so disgusted with what they saw they, like Pluto, intentionally used the Pool and started to use their new youma status to drive a wedge between Beryl and the youma on her control by forming a new clan-The Grey Moon Clan. For all practical purposes the Inners of my world stopped existing that day. Sure the youma they now are can still access their Sailor Senshi power but they are very reluctant to do so for emotional reasons."
"So why are you in our world?"
"Someone or something from this reality set up a false flag operation in England to get a feel on what a battle between the Dark Kingdom and Sailor Sensei would look like and who'd win. We just found out it did one better here with the creation a flawed copy of our Dark Kingdom. Who ever or whatever you fought was not Beryl, her generals, or her youma but imperfect copies. After a little scouting the Grey Moon Clan came here to find out what the goals of this force was. Which brings me to why I am here at your old meeting place."
"And why are you here?" asked Rei her voice her hand reaching inside her robes.
"Please don't do that, Rei. I didn't come here to fight you unless the stories of you being a bunch of consequences be dammed trigger happy maniacs was true."
"Luna?" asked Usagi.
"No, your majesty. While the version of you I knew was bitter after my advice resulted in the death of her dearest friend neither she or her Senshi were a 'bunch of consequences be dammed trigger happy maniacs'. Ruthless in the extreme with regards to youma and 'Beryl' but always careful that no one innocent got hurt."
Sailor Nemesis turned her gaze to Luna. "From what you just said I say they aren't native to this reality any more then we are. So what happened to the Sailor Senshi that belong here?"
"According to Luna, they simply faded from existence. Likely because we arrived before we left when we returned from Crystal Tokyo."
Sailor Nemesis shook her head. "As powerful as it is the Time Space Door cannot change the fundamental fact that time travel doesn't work that way. At worse you should have created an alternate timeline and been fighting yourselves...much like what happened for a while between the Grey Moon Clan and the Sailor Senshi of a particular 30th century."
"Then why did they fade?" asked Ami.
"We found out the Time Space Door had an AI and had recreated its guardian Sailor Pluto when she had died in the battle against Pharaoh 90. In that timeline Sailor Moon's friends died getting her to their Queen Beryl and they mortally wounded each other. She wished for her and her friends to be normal school girls and the Ginzuishou granted her wish. From what we have been able to put together that battle happened far earlier in this reality."
"Yes it did," said Luna "But Princess Moon didn't have the Ginzuishou. In fact despite our best efforts we didn't find it."
Sailor Nemesis nodded. "And since it could see the most likely future the Time Space Door knew this world still needed an Inner Senshi and created 'copies' of the Sailor Senshi. Maintaining them and their powers must have put so much a strain that it caused you to arrive in this timeline when you tried to return to your present even though it would cause it to go into total lockdown effectively 'turning off' the Sanshi it had created."
Sailor Nemesis then gave a humorless chuckle "I think our speculation about all the messing around in our world was because someone was afraid the Sailor Senshi would return here was wrong. The more I hear the more I think the Time Space Door was setting up the chance for a 'rescue' party in case things went totally pearshaped which based on what I heard at the Tendo Dojo they have."
"Tendo? As in Tendo Akane?" asked Usagi.
"Yes," said Sailor Nemesis.
"From what I have been able to put together the Outers killed her," said Ami
"Fits in with their old 'acceptable causalities' reputation," commented Sailor Nemesis. "I think we have gotten Ranma and friends off the 'kill all the Senshi' bandwagon given we revealed they have Sailor Saturn among them. Even if they go off and try something Genma levels of dumb the Grey Moon Clan can shut them down without killing or seriously harming them. My main concern is I let it slip that the Outers in that possible 30th century had not been brought back so they may get on the 'kill Uranus and Neptune' bandwagon despite our efforts. Though if they do push for that we do have an ace in the hole as it were – Hard Thought."
"Wait a minute," said Luna frowning. "That is a power only the Royal family of Earth had."
"Uh, what is this Hard Thought?" asked Usagi nervously.
"Have you ever seen a fly trapped in amber?" Everyone nodded. "Well imagine that the fly is still alive able to see, hear, and feel and then top it off with the inability to die. Even the strongest of youma could be reduced to a jabbering fawning wreck with just 5 minutes of that treatment. As for how we have that option Queen Beryl is part of the Grey Moon Clan and we brought her with us."
"WHAT?!" exploded the room again.
"Are you guys insane?!" raged Rei. "Beryl is going to be arguing for us to be put in the ground."
"No I am not. Otherwise I wouldn't be here."
Everyone froze. "Please don't do something stupid," said Sailor Nemesis as she removed her black wig revealing sweat drenched red hair. Then she removed her mask revealing the features of
"Beryl," whispered Usagi.
"A very different Beryl from the one you know...well after the first six to seven months that is. Getting your butt handed to you by the reincarnation of your elder twin sister, having what little remaining control over your youma go down the toilet, and realizing that you have been wasting the last 12,000 freaking years effectively being a bully when you could have been improving yourself and winning the respect of your youma rather then their distain will do that."
"You expect us to believe anything you have told us?" asked an angry Luna.
"Why did you think I had Ami look up that file? I may have many powers and abilities, Luna but hacking and alternating the Mercury Computer isn't one of them. If I could do that I could have fed you enough false information that you got yourselves killed fighting my youma. At least as 14 year old school girls you have an excuse to not think on a military level but the generals and I didn't... especially after 12,000 years."
Beryl gestured with the hand that held her wig and mask. "If I really wanted you pushing up daisies why would I go through this or reveal who I really was this early? You are supposed to be an adviser Luna and yet in terms of military thinking you are as bad as they are."
Beryl narrowed her eyes. "My Wiseman has trained me to use Metaial's energies to duplicate any Sailor Sensei power I know of or have seen. Thanks to his borderline insane training and my own stubbornness I have reaction times that surpass anyone who isn't at first Dan level in martial arts. Ami can give you an idea on what my training has been like by using the computer to scan me."
Ami frowned as new data appeared on her visor. "Good grief. There is evidence of extreme bruising that has been healed faster then normal. As if someone was being beaten on a regular basis."
"Metaial's ki can only do so much at my current skill level. That why I was glad Wiseman bought Mistress Saturn as we could go even further and if I managed to break something she could heal it right then and there rather then me waiting around."
"I hope that doesn't mean you are getting into masochism," said what sounded like Usagi's voice but it was coming from the door not the room.
Everyone turned to see a gray skinned copy of Usagi in her Sailor Moon garb tossing her transformtion pen up and down with her right hand.
Beryl chuckled a little. "So it wasn't my imagination that I was being followed. Did a good job masking your ki, Eclipse."
"Thanks." Eclipse frowned. "Wiseman was right. They do have more raw power then we do in our default transformations." Eclipse turned to face Beryl. "Found anything useful?"
"Plenty. First, they aren't native to this timeline. Second, the ones that do belong here appeared to have died with my counterpart and ki constructs were created to temporarily take their place. Finally, it was the Outers that killed Tendo Akane."
Eclipse's face turned into a dark thunder cloud. "As Sailor Senshi we were to protect people not kill them. What is wrong with those boosted pieces of food?"
"They're loose cannons on deck," commented Beryl who sighed. "I'm afraid that the Senshi that belonged here were just below the Outers in terms of ruthlessness so Nabiki isn't going to be able to tell that these Inners aren't borderline reckless maniacs. Oh they don't have that blasted crystal."
"Great," groaned Eclipse. "We have to find the Ginzuishou of this reality before the Black Moon Clan's Wiseman or Witches 5 get their hands on the damn thing."
"There is a major problem with that idea. All the knowledge regarding where the pieces of our Ginzuishou was is useless here. The Dark Kingdom here was a limited construct. Odds are it didn't even exist until Sailor V got visits from the Dark Agency. As was pointed out there likely wasn't more then 100 people in it."
"That and the fact they were non living constructs is why you weren't appalled when the idea that who ever was left over got 'turned off' with it came up."
Beryl slumped sighing. "I wish it was like that, I really do. But, the fact is while the generals and I may have not aged the youma did. We saw nearly 400 generations of youma born grow up, grow old, and die. That effects you after a while. Throw in the odds they were constructs that were never alive to begin with with only enough programing to appear they were alive and it is hard to fell anything for their loss." Beryl held up a hand. "I'm not excusing how I treated my youma subjects but outlining one of the dangers of being immortal."
"You think of those who are mortal are somehow beneath you," commented Rei as she pulled out her transformation pen. But before she could say anything her wrist was in a vice like grip. "Rei-chan, please don't do something stupid. I really don't want to drain you into unconsciousness but I will if you continue to act with your overly emotional heart rather then your head," said Eclipse.
"Better to have an overly emotional heart then a nearly cold one, my dear," said Beryl turning. "Perhaps we should leave before this turns into a battle. I don't think Rei's grandfather would be happy if we trashed his temple and grounds in a battle."
"Beryl, you are as hard on yourself as I am," said Eclipse. "You don't have a cold heart as you wanted to reconnect with your sister's reincarnation...and you were angry over what happened regarding the man you loved."
Beryl stopped and turned smiling. "Good to know there is something of Usagi still there."
"Still there?" asked Eclipse who then sighed letting Rei's wrist go. "I'm going into youma leader mode again aren't I."
"As been pointed out many times you may physically be youma you don't have their culture. You all created personas based on what you thought the youma of the Dark Kingdom respected. The thing is Wiseman and I are worried you are becoming those personas." Beryl folded her arms. "When is the last time you used hot water to become Usigi or Sailor Moon rather then your youma shapeshifting power that wasn't a demonstration of how the Pools work?"
Eclipse looked down. "You're right, We use the cold water magnet as an excuse not to use hot water. But how else are we going to earn the respect of the youma of Phoenix Republic? We are no stronger then the average human and our Sailor Senshi identities are not exactly popular." Eclipse pulled out her Ginzuishou. "Actually using this thing is akin to a caveman smashing the head of an active nuclear bomb with his club."
"That is why I don't want the thing anymore. I have even less clue on how to use it then you lot do. Which is exactly why we have to find this reality's version. Odds are that it is still in one piece." Beryl paused cocking her head to one side and then smiled. "There is one piece of good news in this mess. These Inners aren't Liches."
"Speaking of this reality wonder how Wiseman has been doing keeping things calmed down at the Tendo Dojo."
"On his own? Likely saying the wrong fool thing. But he isn't alone."
~*~Tendo Dojo~*~
"Except for a few details this world was effectively identical to ours until about when Usagi became Sailor Moon," said Akane. "I can't see my counterpart going along with this blood feud. Especially as you are painting the entire group with the same brush." Akane gestured. "I imagine your Hotura has been here long enough for you to know her heart."
"And with that knowledge are you going to try and kill her?" asked Wiseman.
"Especially thanks to the way her soul and my counterpart are linked you would set off a Death Reborn Revolution," commented Mistress Saturn in a deep voice. "Which brings up an important issue. Your Mistress 9," she finished touching Hotaru.
'Hello,...well I guess sister is the best word to use," smiled Mistress 9 looking at her counterpart in the dark mindscape. 'Wiseman let me see how I would be rewarded for my efforts.' Mistress 9 scowled 'Treated like a disposable tool that had served it purpose.'
'You lie,' hissed the other Mistress 9.
Mistress 9 chuckled. 'Not in this case. Look at the power working with Wiseman, Saotome Ranma has given me.'
The other Mistress 9 narrowed her eyes and then widened them. 'That is more power then Pharaoh 90 himself.'
'Power we share,' said another voice.
'My Hotaru is right, we share all our power. No matter which form we have we can access all our power. Hence the name Mistress Saturn."
'Which is why I am not letting you deal with her alone,' said the voice as Hotaru appeared in her Sailor Saturn reaching out her hand to her Mistress 9.
Mistress 9 reached out and the two grasped hands and following a bright light that even in this mindscape made the other Mistress 9 wince there stood a single figure.
'You and your Hotaru fight," said the figure with two voices. 'We work together. Our Wiseman has helped refine that link. Though we weren't expecting it to be more powerful then Pharaoh 90. When we return home we will have to ask it about that. Oh silly us, we should ask his master as he came with us.'
'Master?' squeaked the other Mistress 9 feeling frightened for the first time in her existence.
'Our Wiseman,' grinned Mistress Saturn.
Mistress 9 narrowed her eyes and then widened them. 'By all the powers that are. Compared to him Pharaoh 90 is an insect.'
'Yes and with the right directing we could turn your Ranma into someone as powerful as ours. In about two months.'
Mistress 9 smiled. She was drawn to the Silence and Wiseman practically radiated it. The idea that Ranma could be boosted to that level in such a short time appealed to her.
'However, you must reveal yourself to your Hotaru and tell her everything. No lies no omissions. Sure she will want to mentally rip your head off at first but after a while you and her will become more then friends...you will become family. Now if you excuse us we need to talk to our Wiseman.'
Back in the real world Mistress Saturn saw Wiseman shaking his head. "Let me guess you used the 'their Ranma becomes me' carrot." Mistress Saturn simply smiled.
"The founders of the Moon Kingdom made sure that there was a way to counterbalance a queen who had gone off the rails." Wiseman pulled out his Jakokusuishou. "This, the Jakokusuishou, is our version of that counterbalance. People who don't have the right balance of yin and yang are kept going by the crystal even as their body dies and then decays leaving nothing but bone; needless to say they go totally insane such as the Kuno Wiseman we had to fight. These Wiseman have one main goal – kill the Sailor Senshi...even if they have to kill the rest of the planet to do it.
Kuno paled. "Are you saying in one future I claimed this Jakokusuishou and became a monstrous madman?"
"More then one future I am afraid. But that isn't the worst part."
"Worse?" What the blazes is worse then becoming a murderous undead maniac?" asked Ranma.
"If no one finds it after a while the crystal will form a counterbalance construct composed of all the 'negative' emotions of humanity that is formally called the Doom Phantom or Death Phantom depending on the timeline. This...thing also has kill the Sailor Senshi on the top of its things to do list. And if the people Earth die in the process...well such as the fortunes of war."
"Let me guess," said Nabiki stepping behind her Ranma. "You claimed this crystal before finding all this out."
Wiseman laughed. "While that would fit the way I tended to do things, no."
"WHAT?!" Screeched Nabiki causing her Ranma to wince.
"Remember what I said about 'right balance of yin and yang'? Well that balance is achieved through Jusenkyo - Pool of Drowned Girl for males and Pool of Drowned Man for females. The result is immortality. My futureself of a 30th century was still 21 biologically but 1021 by the calendar. However, the Jakokusuishou can show the most likely futures which is how my counterpart missed low probability futures where somebody like Herb got the crystal. They didn't become undead but still had 'Kill the Sensei' on their list of things to do. They were just little less crazy about it. I have sent a signal to bring your Jakokusuishou here. It will likely take nearly seven days to get here."
"Why so long?" Ranma.
"Saotome, you can't be considering going along with this insane idea," fumed Nabiki.
"The Jakokusuishou is on the planet Nemesis which is 100 AU's from the Sun or about 800 minutes at the speed of light. So it will take just over 13 hours for it to even receive the information I sent it. Then it will have to process it and since it is a physical object to maintain its energy reserves it will travel to Earth far slower then the signal." Wiseman raised a finger. "One warning. By claiming it you will become immortal like me. That means you will see your wife, your children, and future generations be born, grow up, grow old, and die before you eyes. Small wonder once Safuran gained the ability to change sex like my counterpart they eventually became a couple."
"Uh, Pervert, that may not be entirely true," said Akane making a gesture Nabiki knew all two well as her Ranma started looking a little green.
Wiseman froze and slowly turned. "What do you mean, tomboy?" he asked clearly afraid.
"Remember how we shared each other memories? Well that involves ki right?"
"Yes," said Wiseman clearly nervous.
"But not our ki but the ki of the Jakokusuishou, right?"
Wiseman's eyes widened in horror. "Kuso. That means..."
"I'm likely just as immortal as you are." Akane held up her hand. "I know my counterpart hated you for bringing her back after defeating Safuran as it took her away from her mother. But we wanted to understand each other. So in this case we didn't think it all the way through."
"Looks like we tried that trick way before we were ready," commented Mistress Saturn frowning.
"A cold reminder that even with this crystal we have to be careful," said Wiseman as Akane walked over to the newer shrine. "Excuse me," he said walking up beside Akake.
"Creepy isn't it?"
"Creepy and then some."
"You have been going out of you way to argue that we shouldn't kill the...our Sailor Sensei," raged Ranma. "You have made your case with Hotaru but what of the others? You two are standing in front of the very reason we are doing this. Don't either of you feel anything for our Akane?"
"As the greatest General who ever lived, Sun Tzu, implied becoming overly emotional is not the way to win battles...or wars. Besides what purpose would killing them do? Especially with the bring back from the dead even as a well preserved corpses Clarktech Moon gizmo Sailor Moon is likely carrying?" Wiseman then gave a dark chuckle. "Even if they didn't have that blasted Ginzuishou at best they experience a brief amount of pain in this world while all of you experience the pain of your loss as long as you live. Hardly a fair trade in my book. They say there are things worse then death and boy do we have an example for you." said Wiseman as he turned around.
Nearly all of the trainees took a step back. There was none of Ranma's easy going attitude in those features and Wiseman eyes were cold and hard. If anything the expression came off as...well evil. "Imagine being trapped in a crystal of pure ki unable to move or breathe but you can still hear, see, and feel. Add to that the inability to actually die and you have Beryl's Hard Thought technique."
"The Hell Dante imagined would be a pleasant experience compared to Hard Thought," said Jadeite.
"And how would you know?" fumed Ranma.
"Beryl put me in it for several months. If not for the mental techniques we have developed to keep from going totally, I believe the phrase is, Planter's Special from being in the monotonous Dark Kingdom I would have not come out of it was well as I did. Over my 12,000 years in the Dark Kingdom I have seen Beryl use Hard Thought many times on her youma subjects, and in every case no matter how strong they came out of it totally jabbering mental wrecks and looking back I think some of those youma were actually insane after being in there."
"So you see," said Wiseman his features if possible becoming even nastier, "We have something worse prepared for those responsible for the death of your Akane."
Ranma scowled. "That isn't vengeance. That is outright cruelty."
Wiseman laughed it cold, hard, and yet a touch of humor making it all the more unsettling. "Really? I seems that in your quest for vengeance you forgot one key detail – the families of the Sailor Sensei. What of their pain, the cruelty you will inflict on them?"
"How much of this is real and how much is showing the dark path you think we are on, Wiseman?" asked Cologne as she looked at her counterpart reading nothing in her features.
Wiseman nodded. "Figured of all these people you would be the one to put things together." Wiseman looked at his Jakokusuishou. "I looked into the futures where my counterpart called the Time Space Door's supposed bluff."
"It carried through on it's threat to kill your mother and Kasumi," said Akane softly horror grazing her features.
"My counterpart called the Doom/Death Phantom the 'Worst Wiseman' but compared to what I became in those timelines," Wiseman shivered, "they were anything but. They got very creative about hurting the Sailor Sensei without killing them. The longer they were from Earth the worst it was. Even the one we met, who didn't see them as monsters, had his dark side. I will never forget the scream Neo-Queen Serenity gave when he had her see who knows how many alternate histories."
Wiseman looked at the group. "You are all on the edge of a dark pit and in danger of becoming as bad or worst then who you fight if this escalates."
"Well said, Sensei," said Beryl. Looking up they saw her and Eclipse on top of the Tendo house.
"I take it the reconnaissance went well," said Wiseman.
"Better then expected," Beryl then sighed. "The Inners currently running around are not from this world any more then we are."
"What of the Inners that do belong here?" asked Ranma frowning.
"They're dead. They died along with my counterpart months ago. What was running around were ki copies. They were 'turned off' when this bunch were maneuvered into this timeline."
Eclipse slapped her forehead. "Baka. The Ginzuishou."
Beryl frowned for a moment clearly puzzled by the outburst but it was replaced by an expression of total horror. "We were so worried about this reality's Ginzuishou that we totally forgot they have their own Ginzuishou," she whispered.
'And things continue to go pearshapped," groaned Wiseman. "The original Inners are gone and we now have another version of Sailor Moon and her four undead friends..."
"They are alive, Wiseman," interrupted Beryl.
Ranma Wiseman stopped and looked at Beryl. "I honestly don't know if I should be relieved or frighted." Wiseman then waved his hand. "No matter it is clear that the Others, Witches 5, and Black Moon Clan need to be shut down...hard if need be. They and this reality's Ginzuishou not the Inners should be our prime concern."
"Which means turning this from a yin operation to a yang one," said Beryl gesturing with her right hand. Out of the center of the dojo's ruins rose a reddish crystal like sphere sitting atop a redder stand.
"A Hard Thought version of my yin ki ball?" asked Wiseman as he walked over to the sphere.
'Yes. This reduces the need for you to generate the ball allowing more ki to be used to find these maniacs."
"Good. The next move for the moment is theirs."
"Ran...Wiseman, a word," said Nabiki leading him back to Akane's shrine.
"Something's wrong," he said softly.
"Pharaoh 90 was the 'guard' for the Dark Kingdom, right?"
"Right, but...oh kuso."
"I see you spotted the same thing I did. The Dark Kingdom here was a flawed copy, a limited construct likely not designed to last beyond Sailor Moon and Beryl's last battle. Which means it wouldn't need a Pharaoh 90."
"That means…"
"Everything we know about our Pharaoh 90 is likely useless here. That may extend to Mistress 9 as well."
"The Silence…" Wiseman then turned to the inactive Stargate and walked over to it.
"This is my...our crowning achievement," he said putting his hand on Stargate. "It was set up as a way to travel quickly between two places. But then we realized what bending space time meant. The ability to travel not just through space but time as well. Pasts that never were, futures that can never be, presents that aren't our own. In some the Silence would be a blessing as things are twisted beyond all reason; in others the universe has been embraced by the Silence as matter itself has fallen to pieces. We will create one more Stargate and when this is all over no matter how it ends they will be your responsibility, Ranma."
"What is this Silence you speak of?" asked Kuno.
"The ultimate manifestation of the yin power I wield. To oversimplify it is a synonym for Death or Oblivion. But there is always yang to counterbalance it; the Sound of Life or Creation if you will." Wiseman chuckled "Sort of like that English song the Sound of Silence. The reality is you can't have Silence without Sound anymore then you can have yin without yang. Even Mistress Saturn's ultimate attack shows this connection: Death Reborn Revolution. Life from Death. Even in those universes where Silence reigns eventually there is Sound. Nothing is forever, not Silence or Sound. Everything has its place and its time."
~*~RSW~*~
