The large house in the woods had been empty for quite some time. People thought the old stone mansion was haunted and stayed clear of the house. But the house would not be empty much longer. A young businessman with a vast amount of wealth and incredibly handsome looks had recently moved into the house. In no time after he moved into the house the young man began attending the functions attended by Tokyo's elite in the business world and he was making a name for himself. Sanjouin Masato was fast becoming the flavor of the month in the elite social circles. The women loved him for his mysterious side and his love of astronomy and astrology.

Sanjouin wasn't just the flavor of the month with the women of the circles he traveled in. Their daughters and younger sisters were fast becoming infatuated with him as well. Every schoolgirl in junior high and high school wanted to be married to one of Tokyo's most eligible bachelors. And Sanjouin loved the attention that was lavished upon him by the younger members of the farer sex.

But Sanjouin had another side to him that he kept hidden from the prying eyes of society. Tucked away in his large home in the converted grand ballroom Sanjouin Masato used his love of the stars to serve a different purpose. Sanjouin Masato was in reality one of the elite Dark Kingdom warriors and the second general chosen by Queen Beryl to travel to Earth to gather energy for the Dark Kingdom. He was Nephlite devotee of the stars and a follower of Metalia.

********

Guardians of the Earth
Episode Five: The Mysterious Millionaire

********

Osaka Naru's family was fortunate enough to travel within the elite social circle Sanjouin had associated himself with. Her mother and her aunt came from a well to do family and she and her cousin Saionji Rui were able to attend some of the same charity functions Sanjouin was sometimes seen at. And while Naru's strong point was her academics Rui's strong point was her amazing ability to play tennis. It was this ability that won her not only a spot on the varsity tennis team but the position of captain of the girl's team. Naru was quite proud of her older cousin.

Everyday after school when she didn't go to the arcade or out shopping Naru would go down to the school's tennis courts and watch her cousin practice with the tennis team. Naru was quite proud of her cousin and wanted only the best things for her. And it was because of Rui that the tennis team did so well. She was considered to be a natural born leader and motivator and all of the girls on the team respected her and looked up to her.

Lately it seemed as though Naru was spending a lot more time with her cousin after school. Naru had hoped she would be able to spend time with her new friend Usagi but the blonde haired martial artist seemed to be in a world all her own lately. Usagi had spent most of her time trying to get one Ranma Saotome to allow her to teach him the Kamesennin method of martial arts training but Ranma didn't even want to think what the turtle method of training involved. And when she wasn't trying to get Ranma to become her student she was attending meetings with Ami, Rei, and Luna after school ended for the day. Naru began to wish Usagi would spend some of her time with her again.

********

Nephlite stood in his darkened observatory watching the moonlight hit the floor. The large converted ballroom had a certain appeal to it that made Nephlite want this room as his observatory. The large circular central window that overlooked the rarely used dance floor was made of stained glass and contained the images of the zodiac around its circumference. Nephlite used this window to communicate with the stars and when he did so it seemed as though the window would rotate to the proper alignment of the constellations in the sky. When the stars spoke they told Nephlite everything he needed to know. And what Nephlite needed to know was the identity of the person he was going to gather energy from.

Nephlite didn't spend all his time communicating with the stars in his observatory. As Sanjouin Masato he was able to mingle amongst the average normal humans to gather information for his mission. And as Nephlite the Dark Kingdom general he would travel from his base of operations to the throne room of Queen Beryl and report on the progress of his mission. But there were times when he didn't particularly want to give his reports to his queen. There was one individual who constantly ridiculed him, another general who went by the name of Zoicite. This particular general was an effeminate looking man with long curly blonde hair and green eyes. And he would stop at nothing to make Nephlite look bad in the eyes of their queen an act Nephlite hated.

Nephlite remembered the scene that had taken place before he came to Tokyo to look for a base of operations. He was standing before his queen listening to what his mission would be. He was to continue gathering energy for the Dark Kingdom while at the same time finding as much information as he could about the Sailor Senshi. And as he was telling the queen about his plans Zoicite was making snide little remarks about how he planned on gathering energy.

"I will use the power of the stars to find a human who is in perfect astrological alignment with their birth sign. And when their energy is at its peak I will drain it from them." He explained to Beryl.

Zoicite just stood there and looked at Nephlite as though he had lost all his marbles. It was then the effeminate general made the first of what would be many snide remarks about Nephlite's mission.

"You know Nephlite you'd have to be completely insane to listen to what a bunch of stars have to tell you." The blonde remarked.

Nephlite decided it would be better not to say anything to Zoicite and let him have his little rant and rave session in front of the queen. But being Nephlite he responded to the remark the in the best possible way he knew how.

"You know Zoicite I am not even going to dignify that remark with a response." Nephlite said.

With that Nephlite left the queen's throne room to begin his mission.

Standing before the window Nephlite focused his energy and connected with the stars in the heavens above. The large window began to rotate to its proper position and long tendrils of light flowed from the window and touched Nephlite upon the forehead. In a mere matter of moments the stars revealed to the chestnut haired general the identity of the first individual he would be able to gather energy from. The young woman he saw before him had an incredible talent and it lay in the sport she loved.

"Saionji Rui soon you will be in the zone and your energy will belong to the Dark Kingdom." Nephlite said with a devilish laugh.

********

Usagi was bored out of her mind. School had ended and she had no set plans for the remainder of the day. The girls didn't have a meeting because Rei's grandfather was going to be performing a cleansing ritual on the shrine all day and Ami had another session at her juku. Usagi thought about finding Ranma so she could explain the intricacies of the Kamesennin method to him but she soon found out from Ami Haruna-sensei was making him see a tutor twice a week until his math grade came up. Unfortunately for him the only person who volunteered to tutor him was the school gossip Gurio Umino. And so Usagi and Luna walked the school grounds doing some serious people watching.

It was during their walk when Usagi spotted Naru sitting in the stands near the school tennis courts. The young brunette was watching a group of girls on one of the courts practicing their serves. Usagi could tell the girls were pretty good but she could also tell one of them was a bit obsessed with the power in her serve. Upon looking at the slightly older girl Usagi noticed she had the same colored hair Naru had in a braid at the back of her head that brushed her shoulder blades. After watching her for a couple of minutes Usagi became interested in what was going on and decided to go and sit next to Naru on the molded plastic stands.

"Lets go sit next to Naru and watch these girls for a bit Luna." Usagi suggested.

The pair made their way up the steps to the row Naru was sitting in. Usagi sat down next to her friend and Luna climbed into her lap for a quick catnap.

"I didn't know you came here Naru." Usagi said initiating a conversation.

"My cousin is on the girls tennis team and I like to watch them practice sometimes." Naru explained to her friend.

"Oh which one is she?" Usagi wondered.

"She's the one with the long braid in back." Naru said pointing out her cousin.

"Cool you'll have to introduce me to her sometime." Usagi replied.

"You'll like Rui she's real neat." Naru said.

The girls watched as Rui set up for another serve and gave the ball a good whack with her racket. The ball connected with the ground and the coach was able to easily hit it back with a light forehand. With that she called for the girls to gather at the net.

"You're doing great girls. I want each of you to work on your serves and returning high lobs. A few of you have a tendency to miss those." The coach said, "We'll meet back here tomorrow."

With that most of the girls left the court to get changed and head for home but a few of them stuck around to watch Rui take on the captain of the boys team.

"Hey Keiichi play you a quick one." Rui said to the slightly taller boy.

"You're on Rui. And this time I'm going to win." Keiichi replied.

Rui and Keiichi stood before the net and spun her racket to see who would get the honors of serving first. The racket landed in Rui's favor and she grabbed a couple of balls placing one in the pocket of her tennis skirt and bouncing the other on the ground before tossing it high into the air. With a resounding smack the ball traveled to the opposite side of the hard green court bouncing once before being easily returned by Keiichi. The resulting volley between the pair lasted all of three minutes ending when Keiichi hit the ball into the doubles alley for an out. Rui picked up the ball and began her next serve only this time instead of hitting a nice easy serve to the other side she faulted when the ball landed before it reached Keiichi's side of the court. Using the other ball Rui tried once again and had the exact same results as the first time. With a double fault Keiichi tied the game at fifteen all.

"You know you'll get better control and more power out of your serve if put more weight on your left side." A voice called out from the other side of the fence.

Everyone turned to see who was giving Rui pointers from the sidelines and saw a tall sophisticated looking gentleman in a gray suit and yellow shirt.

"It's him." Several of the girls whispered amongst themselves.

"Hey just who are you?" Rui wanted to know.

"I'm Sanjouin Masato and I teach a small clinic at the local tennis club." He said, "Let me show you what I mean."

"Okay." Rui replied.

With that Sanjouin walked onto the court and handed his jacket to one of the girls on the team. Then he walked over to Rui.

"Mind if I borrow this?" he asked her reaching for her racket.

"Um sure." Rui said a bit awestruck when she got a good look at him.

Sanjouin took the racket and after receiving a ball from the girls he prepared for his serve. And while bouncing the ball he motioned for Keiichi to move out of the way to be on the safe side.

"You might want to step off the court for a moment. My serve can be pretty powerful." Sanjouin suggested to the boy's captain.

Once Keiichi was out of the way Sanjouin threw the ball high into the air and hit it with all his might. The dark energy he poured into the serve made it soar over the net at a blinding pace. When the ball hit the ground everyone including Usagi and Naru gave the millionaire playboy a round of applause for his demonstration. Sanjouin flashed the small crowd a polite smile and turned to give Rui her racket back. But before he handed her the racket Sanjouin infused some of his dark energy into the racket in an attempt to get Rui to her peak point a lot quicker making her a better tennis player and getting her into the mythical zone every athlete strives for.

Upon taking the racket back from Sanjouin Rui felt a small tingle flow through her body as the dark energy began to do its work. Turning her attention back to Keiichi Rui took another ball and motioned for the match to resume.

"Okay Keiichi I'm not going to double fault this time." Rui said just before she served the ball.
Using the pointer Sanjouin had given her and the sudden burst of dark energy Rui served a blinding ace straight for Keiichi's side of the court. The boy's captain dove to return the ball but found it was just out of his reach and struck the ground scrapping his knee on the hard surface of the court. One look at the knee and Keiichi knew he was done for the day.

"Oh my gosh I got my first ace ever!" Rui exclaimed excitedly.

"Guess this match is over with." Keiichi told Rui.

"Sorry about the knee. Better luck next time though." Rui replied.

With that Sanjouin collected his jacket and left the tennis court with a devilish grin upon his face. Luna who had been woken up by Rui's triumphant cries looked over at the retreating figure and knew there wasn't something quite right about him but she didn't know what. She'd have to ask Usagi about him later.

********

Ranma Saotome sat in the school library dreading every minute he was there. Sure he and Umino had actually worked on the math assignment but what started out as a simple tutoring session turned into Umino grilling Ranma on one Son Usagi. But it didn't stop there the smaller teen with his thick glasses proceeded to tell Ranma all about his insect collection, his Internet connection, and his love for prune shakes. Ranma thought he was going to go insane if he didn't get out of the library and as far away from Umino as possible. Heck Ranma was even willing to go as far as letting Usagi put him through whatever tortures the Kamesennin method of training involved.

"My mom won't let me buy food from the cafeteria anymore because I had an allergic reaction to peanut oil and broke out in a terrible rash all over my body. I had to end up soaking in a tub full of oatmeal for the next week just to stop from itching. And it was no fun putting the anti-itch cream on my posterior. That prescription stuff sure stings at first." Umino said as he told Ranma another one of his life stories.

Ranma shuddered at the image that was forming in his mind. At this point in the tutoring session Ranma would have gladly sat through one of Kuno's poetry driven ramblings about Ami and his Pigtailed Goddess. The aquatransexual martial artist was certain he was going to have nightmares about coconut shrimp, prune shakes, and Umino naked in a bathtub full of oatmeal.

"But seriously I heard a rumor floating around Mintako about you Ranma Saotome." Umino said.

Ranma's brain immediately went from please Kami get me the heck out of here to oh no they know about the curse. But as soon as he thought people knew he turned into a girl he thought about the one thing that could be worse than his curse and came up with absolutely nothing.
"R-r-really? People are talking about me? What are they saying?" Ranma asked nervously.

"My sources say that you, Ranma Saotome, are afraid of an innocent little kitty." Umino told the pigtailed martial artist.

"Is that all they're saying." Ranma said quite relived.

"Well it is true isn't it because I've seen you around Usagi's cat and you're not scared of her. Come on Ranma inquiring minds want to know." Umino probed.

Ranma tried to think of a good reason why he wasn't freaked out when he was around Luna. Maybe it was because she was able to talk or maybe she really wasn't a cat but just looked like one. Whatever the reason Ranma was glad he could be around her without letting himself fall under the spell of the neko-ken.

"Yes and no. Yes I am afraid of most cats but no for some reason I'm not afraid of Usagi's Luna." Ranma told the school gossip temporarily forgetting about his weird nature.

Umino feeling that his curiosity had been properly satisfied decided to drop the subject of Ranma's little problem with most cats in the world. There were better things to talk about like the other rumor going around the district about the new millionaire playboy in Tokyo.

"Did you hear about that mysterious new rich guy in town?" Umino asked Ranma.

"No I hadn't really heard anything about him. Living at the school kind of keeps you out of the loop." Ranma replied not believing he of all people was actually carrying a casual conversation with the number one gossip at Juban Prep.

"They say he lives in that creepy mansion in the woods and all the rich ladies in town have a big crush on him. My female sources say he's their new flavor of the month whatever that means." Umino explained to his 'student.'

Ranma began to wonder if the girls back in the Nerima district were fantasizing about this new eligible bachelor in Tokyo. In the back of his mind he could picture Nabiki trying to find out whatever she could about him just because the guy possessed a vast fortune.

"Wonder if the girls back home are talking about him?" Ranma mused aloud.

But before Umino could even come up with a response to Ranma's unanswerable question he glanced down at his watch and noticed the time. If he didn't get his behind home soon his mother was going to have his head on a platter and ground him for a month and pull the plug on his newly acquired broadband modem.

"Cheese it if I don't get my fanny home soon I'm going to be in a lot of hot water with my okasan. Besides I don't want to miss dinner she's cooking my favorite dish, coconut shrimp." Umino exclaimed as he grabbed his books and headed for the door of the library.

When Ranma was absolutely certain Umino was good and gone from the library he let out a loud sigh of relief and began to verbally bash himself in the head for carrying on the conversation with the short nerdy gossip in black.

"Real smooth Saotome now people will begin to think you actually like the guy." Ranma said aloud, "I'll take anything over another tutoring session with him even that weird turtle stuff Usagi keeps pestering me about."

It was at that moment that one Ranma Saotome for the first time in his life decided to throw in the towel and accept Usagi's offer to teach him the Kamesennin method of training. Once again Ranma let out a sigh but this time it was one of defeat and began to think he was getting soft.

"Pop is gonna kill me when he finds out I'm letting a girl train me in martial arts." Ranma said to the near empty library with a slight chuckle.

********

Usagi, Ami, and Luna sat in their room shortly after dinner discussing the appearance of Sanjouin Masato at the tennis courts that afternoon and the sudden lull in activity from the Dark Kingdom. Luna was a bit weary of Sanjouin Masato and the more Usagi thought about it the more she remembered sensing something not right from him as well. But he couldn't have been all that bad because the girls on the tennis team seemed to like him a lot and he did help Naru's cousin Rui.

"He seemed real nice even though I was getting some freaky vibes from him." Usagi said.

"Well he is someone I want to keep an eye on because I was getting the same sensations from him today as well." Luna told the two Senshi.

Ami was thinking of possible reasons for Usagi and Luna to be getting strange vibrations from the millionaire playboy and could only come up with one plausible reason.

"Do you think he could be connected to the enemy we're fighting?" Ami asked Luna.

"That possibility does exist although I can't be absolutely certain. The recent lull in activity from our enemy does have me worried though." Luna replied.

"It worries me too but as my dad always says the best thing we can do right now is enjoy the peace and quiet because you never know when you'll have to fight again." Usagi said.

"Your dad sounds like a real nice person." Ami commented with a smile.

He sure is Usagi thought as knock on the door ended the impromptu meeting.

"Who is it?" Usagi called through the door.

"It's me Ranma. I need to talk to you for a bit." The familiar male voice replied.

Usagi ran to the door and upon opening it she saw Ranma standing on the other side of the doorway with a disturbed look upon his face. It was obvious he was trying very hard to forget about something he had either seen or heard that day. Usagi put it out of her head and decided to invite her male friend into her room.

"Come on in Ranma." Usagi offered.

"Thanks." Ranma said as he entered the room and took note that Ami was there as well.

Usagi sat upon her bed next to Luna and Ranma pulled one of the desk chairs between the two beds before sitting down upon it.

"Okay Ranma what did you need to talk to me about?" Usagi asked her friend.

"I need a way to get out of my tutoring sessions with Umino. That guy gives me the creeps. I'm gonna be having nightmares for a week after hearing some of the things he talked about today. I just can't seem to get the image of that little nerd sitting buck naked in a tub of oatmeal out of my mind." Ranma said with an obvious shudder.

Ami looked over at her fiancé and gave him a long hard glare.

"Gee thanks you big baka that's one image I don't want to be thinking about." Ami said dryly.

Usagi tried hard not to laugh at the thought of Ranma having dreams about Umino and failed miserably letting a few chuckles escape her lips. Covering her mouth Usagi decided to get back to the topic at hand and focused her attention back to her male friend.

"And just how pray tell am I supposed to do that?" Usagi wondered.

Ranma sighed in defeat before giving her his response.

"By becoming my sensei and teaching me that turtle method you keep talking about." Ranma said, "Oh pop is going to have my head on a platter if he ever hears about this one."

"Don't worry Ranma by the time we're finished your pop will be thanking me." Usagi reassured him with a slightly mischievous grin.

Ranma took one look at the Demi-Saiyan and gulped hard.

"That's what I was afraid of." He replied nervously with a small sweat drop.

********

Two days had passed since Ranma agreed to let Usagi teach him the turtle method of training and Usagi had been quite busy. After school on the day following their conversation Usagi went to a volunteer group and signed Ranma up to deliver supplies to homeless shelters in the morning and make meals on wheels deliveries after school. Remembering the stories her father and Krillin had told her about their own training under Muten Roshi as kids Usagi knew she needed to find the closest thing to milk service for Ranma to be doing while wearing the weighted turtle shell on his back.

In the time following his discussion with Usagi Ranma did indeed have the nightmare he was dreading. The strange dream included everything Umino had told him about. In the dream he saw Umino sitting in his bathtub full of oatmeal without a stitch of clothing on eating coconut shrimp and drinking prune shakes. And for some reason Ranma was in his girl form standing behind a soda fountain making prune shake after prune shake serving them to Umino and an equally naked Sanjouin Masato who was also sitting in the oatmeal filled furo. By the time Ranma had awakened from his dream he was covered in sweat and quite visibly shaken.

Usagi was quite happy she had decided to bring the old weighted turtle shell Goku had given her when she turned sixteen. She had always loved his stories about growing up with Krillin and Muten Roshi and now she had the same shell he used as a child. Usagi wasn't certain when she would get in some training with weighted items so she brought it along anyway. But she didn't end up using the shell, instead Usagi decided to use a method her father and Piccolo used and wore a heavy training shirt under her fuku and gi. With the shell going unused it fit right into her plans for an unsuspecting Ranma.

"Okay Usagi you said you wanted me out here as early as possible. Now are we going to start this training or what?" Ranma said in the pre-dawn light.

"We'll begin as soon as I get something out of my trunk." Usagi told him as she pulled out her case of capsules from her subspace pocket.

Taking out her number two capsule Usagi pressed the activation button on the top and tossed it a couple of feet in front of her. As the capsule hit the ground it let out a puff of smoke and a loud poof before turning into Usagi's extremely large trunk. And after a couple of minutes of digging inside it Usagi pulled out a rather large orange turtle shell and pressed a button on the side of the trunk turning it back into her number two capsule.

"I want you to put on this turtle shell Ranma." Usagi said as she handed him the shell.

The moment Ranma took the shell it pulled him to the ground with a resounding thud.

"Geese this thing is as heavy as Ryouga's pack." Ranma complained, "Now I see how the pig boy got so strong since we first met."

Usagi let a small smile come across her lips before telling Ranma what he was going to need to know before she sent him off for the day.

"Okay Ranma I want you to put that shell on your back and then get over to the address on this card. They'll tell you where you have to deliver the boxes of supplies. Oh and you'd better get going because you will not be allowed to use public transportation or any kind of transportation they supply." Usagi began, "When you get back here to get ready for school there will be a shirt for you to wear under your uniform jacket during school on your bed. I strongly suggest you wear it. And I don't want to see you not wearing either the shell or the shirt at all times. I'll see you here after the final bell and don't be late to class Ranma. You don't want to be late."

With that said Usagi left a very confused Ranma to go and practice a few of her advanced moves.

********

Usagi sat in class that morning listening to Naru go on and on about her cousin Rui. The conversation mainly focused on how the older girl had been acting the day before. Usagi could sense genuine concern in her new friend's voice over her cousin's odd behavior.

"So then she just walks over to the girl she beat and steps on her racket breaking the strings and bending the frame. And as she walked away I heard her say to the girl in a real snooty voice 'Accidents will happen you know so quit your whining.' I've never seen her act that way before." Naru said.

"Gee Naru if you're real concerned about her maybe you should talk to her." Usagi suggested.

"I'll give it a try after school today. But I'd feel much better if you came along Usagi." Naru told the blonde Demi-Saiyan.

"Gee I'd love to Naru but I'm meeting Ranma after school for a bit. Maybe after I'm finished giving him his next set of directions we can go over to the courts together." Usagi replied.

Naru gave her friend a smile that told Usagi she would like that. And as the class began taking their seats in anticipation of the morning bell Ranma ran into the room mere seconds before the bell rang and Haruna-sensei came walking into the classroom.

"I see you made it in the nick of time Ranma." Usagi whispered to her friend.

"Alright class let's get started by taking roll." Haruna-sensei said getting the school day started.

********

That afternoon after Usagi had given Ranma the address for the meals to elderly program she and Naru walked over to the school tennis courts. Instead of seeing the tennis teams practicing for their upcoming tournament they saw Rui taking on the entire boy's team all by herself. The dark look on her face had Usagi a bit worried and she could see why Naru wanted her along. As Rui served ace after ace she looked at the boys with a look that told everyone she felt they were weak and inferior. Gathering up all the courage that she had Naru went onto the courts to confront her cousin.

"Rui something doesn't seem right with you lately and I want to talk to you about it." Naru said.

Rui turned to face her younger cousin with a disgusted look on her face. The scornful scowl sent a chill down the spine of quiet and gentle young woman.

"Listen kid I don't have time to be seen talking to a first year such as yourself. Now beat it and don't ever bother coming around here anymore because you cramp my style." Rui snapped at her.

As Naru began leaving the courts she could hear Rui yelling at the other members of the team.

"Alright who's going to be my next challenger or are you all too chicken to do it!" She yelled.

Usagi began to get worried and decided to walk her friend home to help her feel better.

********

The weekend came bringing a new twist to the situation with Rui. Luna was getting quite concerned when she heard how Rui had acted towards Naru at the tennis courts. And as Usagi and Luna were enjoying having the room to themselves for a while a frantic knock could be heard upon the door to the room. Usagi quickly got up and shushed Luna before opening the door to reveal a frazzled Naru on the on the other side.

"Naru what's wrong?" Usagi asked her friend.

"I was out talking a walk when I bumped into Umino. He told me he heard a rumor about a girl that looks just like Rui over at the university courts taking on the college guys leaving every single one of them pretty banged up. I'm worried Usagi. She seems to be getting worse every day." Naru said.

Usagi place a strong yet gentle hand on her friend's should to reassure her everything would be alright and gave the worried Naru one of her patented smiles.

"Don't worry Naru we'll go down there together and talk some sense into the girl." Usagi said.

"You'd do that for me Usagi?" Naru asked her.

"Of course I would. You are one of my friends." Usagi replied.

With that Usagi threw on her gi top and grabbed her training shoes before heading out the door with Naru and Luna.

********

Nephlite stood in his observatory feeling the vibrations from the unseen stars in the sky. The time had come to unleash his first youma upon the world and collect the energy Rui was radiating. In a few minutes Rui would be at her peak and Nephlite would be successful. And if the Senshi happened to appear on the scene he would have the youma deal with them.

"Soon my young tennis star your energy will be mine." Nephlite said as an image of Rui appeared before him in the light from the window.

********

Usagi and Naru made their way to the university tennis courts as fast as they could go. Actually, Usagi could have gone faster but she didn't want Naru to know about her Saiyan heritage so she let the full-fledged member of the human race set the pace. And as the girls and Luna made their way past the shopping district they caught sight of a red, black, and orange blur running past them with a heavy crate strapped to its back. The blur turned out to be none other than Ranma Saotome. Usagi smiled a bit when she saw that the turtle method was starting to pay off already while Naru just looked at her friend with a confused look upon her face.

"Well I'll be it's working already." Usagi said quite surprised and happy all at once.

"What was that all about?" Naru asked her friend.

"Oh that was just Ranma doing a little volunteer work I signed him up for." Usagi explained.

Naru watched in disbelief as the retreating figure of Ranma Saotome whizzed down the street trying to avoid hitting any innocent bystanders.

The girls continued on their journey down the street towards the larger university tennis courts. Naru knew Rui sometimes played there when the season was over with on the club level. When Rui wasn't playing for the school she was always playing for the local tennis club. But what Umino had told Naru he had heard through one of his sources and the general gossip floating around Rui wasn't at the university
courts for a casual little game. She was out to defeat every single tennis player she could find and she didn't care if they were hurt in the process. This had Naru extremely worried.

As the girls caught sight of the courts at the university they could see Rui sending a screaming serve straight at an older male opponent. The serve screeched across the net in a fuzzy green blur before hitting her opponent square in the chest knocking him to the hard court below. When she saw that she had defeated another opponent Rui began laughing manically. Naru couldn't see what was happening next but Usagi and Luna could sense the strong dark aura building around Rui. They knew something was about to happen and soon.
"Ha! You call yourself a man? You're nothing but a weak pathetic little boy!" Rui said to the fallen tennis player in a sinister tone.

"I don't like what's going on here Usagi." Naru said to her friend.

"I know." Usagi replied agreeing completely with Naru.

Desperate to do something to help her cousin Naru ran over to the courts in order to try and talk some sense into her. Usagi remembering how Rui treated Naru the other day thought it would be best if she followed her friend to the courts.

"Rui please you have to stop. This isn't like you at all." Naru pleaded.

Rui turned to face her cousin and with an angry and disgusted look on her face Rui responded to Naru's plea to get her to stop.

"I thought I told you I never wanted to see you near me again!" she yelled.

Then with one swing of the dark energy infused racket Rui sent a blast of energy at Naru, Usagi, and Luna sending them crashing into some nearby bushes. Upon seeing their misfortune Rui began laughing once again unaware that she was being watched from the skies.

********

High in the now darkened skies floating over the university tennis courts the Dark Kingdom general Nephlite began laughing to himself at the scene below. Rui had reached the moment when her energy would be at its peak. The time had come for the dark general to release his youma and gather all of Rui's energy. The time had come for Nephlite to make his first appearance.

"The stars know all. The time has come. Umari come forth!" Nephlite called out.

********

The racket Rui had been using since the day Nephlite infused it with dark energy began to give off a strange red and black glow. The glow seemed to engulf Rui and caused her faint dropping the racket before she hit the ground. The glow on the racket then turned into red and black smoke that snaked out of the racket and turned into a female youma with ice blue skin in a black body suit.

Usagi couldn't believe she had let her guard down. Being half Saiyan had its advantages and this was one time she was glad her father was an alien from another world. Looking over at Naru and Luna she could see they were going to take a bit longer to recover from the blast Rui had sent at them. But they would have to wait for as soon as Usagi regained her senses she felt a strong Ki suddenly emerge. Looking over to the tennis courts Usagi saw the youma standing over the fallen body of Saionji Rui. The female Demi-Saiyan knew she had to transform and fight the youma. With a thrust of her hand Usagi called forth her henshin phrase.

"Moon Prism Power!" Usagi called out.

When the usual energy and ribbons had faded away from Usagi's body she stood ready to take on the youma as the defender of justice and the Senshi of the Moon, Sailor Moon.

"A defender of love and justice I am the sailor suited soldier Sailor Moon! And in the name of the moon I shall punish you!" Sailor Moon called out making her presence known.

Umari used Sailor Moon's temporary distraction to her advantage and held her hands out as though she was going to fire a Ka me ha me ha blast. But instead of the earth shattering Ki blast Umari shot forth what looked like a very large tennis ball. Sailor Moon regained her composure long enough to see the large fuzzy green tennis ball come hurtling towards her. The moon Senshi knew she wouldn't have enough time to dodge the fast approaching sphere and let all the color drain from her face as the tennis ball struck her and seemed to swallow her. Sailor Moon was trapped inside the large tennis ball with only her head sticking out of the top.

"This is just great." She complained.

Umari came over to the now trapped Sailor Moon and began bouncing the oversized tennis ball into the air with all her might. As she hit the ground and went flying into the air once again Sailor Moon tried to raise her Ki level to increase her power but found it was quite impossible. Somehow the tennis ball was blocking Sailor Moon's Ki. And just as Sailor Moon was about to throw in the towel a red streak shot forth and hit the youma across her shoulder while Sailor Moon was in mid-flight. To her surprise the tennis ball that encased Sailor Moon disappeared while she was still in the air. Letting her instincts take over Sailor Moon quickly flared her Ki to keep from crashing to the ground.

"How dare you exploit the hard work and dedication of a promising young athlete!" a familiar voice called out from atop a nearby light post.

Sailor Moon looked in the direction of the voice and saw none other than Tuxedo Mask.

"Tuxedo Mask boy am I glad to see you." Sailor Moon said to the dapper defender.

"Sailor Moon you must never forget to let your guard down even for a second. I know you have the strength to defeat this youma." Tuxedo Mask told her.

Sailor Moon lowered herself to the ground and prepared to battle the youma. But before she could get a single attack off the youma was once again trying to hit Sailor Moon with another oversized tennis ball. Sailor Moon tried to dodge the tennis ball but she somehow uncharacteristically fell to the ground. The youma seeing another opportunity sent another attack straight towards Sailor Moon. Expecting the attack to hit her once again Sailor Moon quickly got into a defensive position. But the attack never hit her for soon Sailor Moon found herself in the strong arms of Tuxedo Mask.

As Tuxedo Mask tried to get Sailor Moon as far away from the youma as possible she sent another attack towards the pair. Using some quick thinking and some quick hands Tuxedo Mask pulled out a rose and threw it at the oncoming attack. The rose dissipated the attack and Tuxedo Mask turned to Sailor Moon to tell her to prepare her attack.

"Get ready to attack that thing." Tuxedo Mask said.

"Right." Sailor Moon replied as she charged her tiara.

Once again the youma sent another attack towards Tuxedo Mask and Sailor Moon and once again Tuxedo Mask threw another rose at the youma. This time however, the attack hit Tuxedo Mask encasing the dapper defender in the large fuzzy tennis ball. Sailor Moon was about to make her move but she noticed Tuxedo Mask in the tennis ball.

"You've been hit." She said to her ally.

"Don't worry about me Sailor Moon just get that youma." Tuxedo Mask replied.

With a nod of her head Sailor Moon powered up her tiara and called forth her attack.

"Moon Tiara Magic!" she called out sending the Ki enforced disk at the youma.

Umari was sliced in two at the mid section and quickly exploded in a shower of bright light. The large tennis ball around Tuxedo mask disappeared setting dapper defender free.

********

High above the tennis courts Nephlite had witnessed the battle between Umari and Sailor Moon. It seemed the Moon Senshi was stronger than he had anticipated. Now was definitely not the time for the Dark Kingdom general to be making himself known to the Senshi and her ally.

"Soon Sailor Moon I will find a way to destroy you." Nephlite said before disappearing.

********

By the time Luna had recovered from the much earlier blast Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask had made short work of the youma and the remaining Senshi were just arriving on the scene. Seeing that everything was under control Tuxedo Mask decided to quietly slip away from the tennis courts. And as Sailor Moon noticed the others coming in her direction she could see that Luna was doing fine and Mars was not in the best of moods.

"Sailor Moon why didn't you call us?" Mars demanded to know.

"Yes Sailor Moon why didn't you contact the others?" Luna asked a bit more civil than Mars.

"There wasn't enough time. Besides I had some help from Tuxedo Mask." Sailor Moon replied.

Sailor Moon turned around to thank her ally but the tuxedo-clad warrior was nowhere to be seen.

"Oh well." Sailor Moon commented.

********

Two days after the attack had taken place Usagi and Naru were sitting in the stands near the school's tennis courts with Luna. Rui was once again challenging the captain of the boy's tennis team only this time she had a big smile on her face and was making a million mistakes. Usagi could tell from the look on Rui's face she didn't mind one bit that she was messing up.

"So how's your cousin doing?" Usagi asked Naru.

"Much better than she was last week. In fact she doesn't even remember what happened." Naru said to her friend.

"Well now that she's back to normal there's nothing to worry about." Usagi told Naru.

It was at that point the tennis match between the two captains ended and Rui made her way over to Naru to invite her onto the court for a friendly pickup game.

"Hey Naru how about you and me play a game like we used to when we were kids." Rui called out to her younger cousin.

Naru quickly took Rui up on her offer and made her way to the court.

"I'd love to play a game of tennis with you." She said.

Usagi watched Naru and Rui play their game of tennis happy that her friend's cousin was going to be just fine and Naru had nothing to worry about anymore.

"I'm happy Naru and Rui are talking again Luna." Usagi said to her feline guardian.

********

Yippee skippee (author sounds too much like baby piggy) another episode is up! First off the author would like to apologize in advance for any weird dreams the readers might have involving a butt naked Umino, a butt naked Nephlite, a furo full of oatmeal, and prune shakes. I know Ranma will be dreaming about that for a very long time. Secondly, I STILL can't find my notes and need to know if you want a Ryouga and Makoto paring. Okay so I borrowed heavily on the original version of the episode for the fight scenes. But hey the rest of the episode had its own flare.

A couple of facts about Umino to keep in mind when he pops up in my story yes he does tend to talk way too much, yes he really is an internet junkie, and yes his favorite foods are prune shakes and coconut shrimp. I don't think the shrimp would give Ranma nightmares but the shakes and the oatmeal bath would. I thought it would add to the oddity that was Umino.

Now as for the Kamesennin method of training Muten Roshi made Goku and Krillin deliver milk in Dragonball and one fic I read that used it in conjunction with Ranma had him make Akane get a paper route. I decided lugging heavy boxes and deliver meals to the elderly sounded more like something Usagi would do. Besides you have to remember she was a hospital volunteer in the original anime. Please Keep the great reviews coming I enjoy reading them. And if you are looking for a good film this weekend and love any animation I highly recommend seeing Atlantis: The Lost Empire and if you take a little kid be prepared to read a lot of subtext to them.

So what's next on the docket for our fuku clad heroines? Usagi and Ami literally try to get rid of the men in their lives. Watch out Mamoru and Ranma. Rei asks Mamoru out on a date thanks to some info from Motoki. The girls have their first sleepover. Ranma is still wearing the turtle shell. And Nephlite decides to go after an innocent park caretaker. Stay tuned for episode six Take the Man Please.