Sunday had come to Tokyo once again and it seemed as tough everyone was out enjoying the warm spring day; Ranma Saotome was one such person. The aquatransexual martial artist had decided to go for a brisk jog in the early morning sunlight after working on his morning katas. And as he wound his way through the streets of the Mintako ward Ranma watched the people of Tokyo go about their day. It seemed as though nothing would ruin a perfect day such as this one. Ranma Saotome was about to be proven wrong.
********
While Ranma was out running through the streets of the Mintako ward Luna was returning from her almost daily check-ins with Central Control and had decided to go for a little stroll through the ward. But the lunar feline was unaware that as she made her way down the street other normal cats would begin to follow her. And by the time she had reached a large open space hundreds of stray cats began to surround her hissing and advancing on her. Looking round at the cats Luna tried to be civil and reason with them.
"You really don't want to harm me I'm a cat just like you." She said, "Well not exactly like you but I am a cat none the less."
The stray cats weren't buying what Luna was saying for they began getting closer and closer to the lunar feline. And the moment they go too close for comfort Luna panicked and tried to run away. But the cats just wouldn't give up and every single one of them began to chase after her.
As the cats chased after Luna down one street and up another the lunar feline had spotted Ranma aimlessly minding his own business jogging along the streets of Mintako.
********
To say that Ranma Saotome was simply afraid of cats was the understatement of the millennium. Ranma Saotome was more than just afraid of cats he was terrified of them and it was to the point where he couldn't even be within two feet of one. The mere sound of a cat drove Ranma insane and he had his father to thank for his mental condition.
When Ranma was only nine years old Genma Saotome had found a booklet describing ancient Chinese martial arts training techniques. One such technique was the neko-ken or cat fist. Genma read how the cat fist was supposed to be able to make any martial artist invincible. The only problem was the martial artist had to be under ten years old and they had to be placed inside a pit of cats wrapped in fish sausage.
At first Genma just placed Ranma inside the pit with a few cats and very little fish sausage. When he went to pull his son out of the pit hours later nothing had happened. In fact Ranma was petting and playing with the cats. Genma figured the training had failed the first time because the cats were too well fed and his son didn't have enough fish sausage wrapped around him. The next day Ranma was covered from head to toe in fish sausages and twenty stray cats were placed in the pit with him. But once again when Genma had come for his son that afternoon nothing had happened.
It was the third try that provided the results Genma was looking for. Thinking his son hadn't spent enough time in the pit and there weren't enough cats Genma tossed fifty thin starving howling stray cats in the pit and doubled up on the fish sausages this time wrapping them in bacon. Then Genma dropped his son in the pit and left him there for the entire day and night.
When Genma came the next morning to collect his son most of the cats in the pit had left and the sound coming from within the pit was terrifying. The yowling and hissing sounded as though it were being made by a hellcat. Looking in the pit Genma saw that the sound was coming from his own son. Ranma was battered and bruised and looked at though the cats had tried to eat him as well. His face and body were scratched up to the point where he was bleeding. And when the young boy saw his father he leapt out of the pit and began attacking him.
Genma couldn't control his wild son and he ran off. After an hour of searching for him Genma found Ranma resting in the arms of an old woman on her front porch. The woman took one look at Genma and knew he had to be the boy's father. When she addressed him she had hatred in her voice.
"The boy has been driven mad by the neko-ken. I have seen this before. I can help him but you should leave us be for three days. That is how long it will take me to lessen the damage that has been done to him. If he had been left in this state he would have been lost to the neko-ken forever. He will be able to use the neko-ken but if he is not calmed down then he will be lost to it for a long time." The woman said.
The woman was able to help Ranma but in order to do so she instilled in his mind an intense fear of cats. Every time he was near a cat for too long he would go into the neko-ken state believing he was a cat. It had happened once before in his life three weeks before he came to Juban Prep and the only person who could bring Ranma out of his cat like state was Ami Tendo all because Genma Saotome had failed to turn to the next page in the training manual.
Ranma felt the odd twinge nip at his spine continued on his jog. The only time he had felt this strange twinge was whenever a cat was nearby. This time the twinge was beginning to drive Ranma nuts as it danced up and down his spine causing every hair on his back to stand on end. It was then that Ranma heard an all too familiar voice call out to him.
"Ranma if you value your sanity you'll run as fast as you can!" the female voice called out.
Ranma took a quick glance over his shoulder to see Luna being chased by dozens upon dozens of stray cats. It was worse than the day he finally cracked from the stress of the neko-ken. All the yowling made the aquatransexual martial artist jump out of his skin. There was only one thing he could do and that was to take Luna's advice and run like the wind.
Ranma ran as fast as he could to get away from the cats and when he noticed a nearby alley he ducked in it and watched in sheer terror as Luna and the stray cats came whizzing by him.
"Man that was a close one." Ranma said after the last cat had vanished.
********
Luna found herself in a large parking lot with several cars in it. The cats were surrounding her once again and Luna could feel something heavy on her tail. Lifting up her tail Luna saw that a small black and white kitten was biting onto the end of it. As Luna tried to get the kitten off of her tail another larger cat began advancing on her. But before he could get close to her something streaked across the air and embedded itself into the ground between Luna and the stray cat. There in front of Luna was a perfect set of fish bones laying there just like one of Tuxedo Mask's roses.
Looking up to her left Luna saw the outline of a very pudgy looking blue cat sitting on a nearby concrete wall. The strays had seen the fat blue cat and became quite scared. It was apparent the blue haired cat had quite the reputation amongst the population of stray cats in Tokyo for every single one of the cats began to run away. The kitten had even decided it wasn't worth the trouble to stick around and let go of Luna's tail before leaving the scene as well.
The fat blue cat hopped down off the wall and came over to Luna. Seeing the sorry state her tail was in the male cat began licking her tail. Luna looked at what the cat was doing and became surprised at his tender nature. Despite his size the large male Russian Blue was quite the gentle creature.
"You don't really have to do that you know." Luna said as she watched the cat.
The cat looked up at Luna and gave her a look that told the lunar feline that it was his duty as a savoir to make certain the individual he rescued was not hurt.
Luna let out a small sigh and reluctantly gave in letting the cat go back to tending to her tail. And as he continued to tend to Luna's tail a small female voice filled the lot.
"Rhett Butler, Rhett Butler here kitty. Rhett Butler it's time to go home kitty." She called out.
Luna turned her head to see the fat blue cat Rhett Butler bound off to the waiting arms of a little girl who was barely taller than Usagi's little brother Goten.
"Rhett Butler so that's your name. I can't believe anyone would give a cat like that a name such as that one." Luna commented.
********
Guardians of the Earth
Episode Seventeen: Kitty Love
********
Zoicite reveled in the success if his last mission. He now had four of the seven crystals he needed and getting the other three shouldn't be any problem. And once the Dark Kingdom came into possession of all seven crystals they would gain control of the Silver Imperium Crystal and eventually the entire world. All that he needed to do now was locate the carrier of the seventh and final crystal.
Taking out his black crystal Zoicite prepared to locate the person who held within them the violet or purple crystal. Holding it in front of himself Zoicite channeled his Ki into the crystal and called forth its power.
"Black crystal I command you to show me the carrier of the next rainbow crystal!" Zoicite said.
As the crystal began to glow the tendrils of light shot forth and revealed the carrier of the last rainbow crystal. Within the veil of light produced by the crystal there was the image of a little girl with brown hair and blue eyes in a pink jumper. Held protectively in her arms was a fat Russian Blue cat with yellow eyes. It was the same cat that had helped out Luna earlier that morning.
"So that little girl holds the last crystal inside her. She has no idea what she truly is." Zoicite commented before vanishing in his usual shower of sakura petals.
********
Luna had met up with Ami and Ranma in the park after the incident with the cats that morning. The Senshi of Wisdom had wanted to run a search on her computer for the carrier of the last rainbow crystal. Things had not gone very well and the Senshi only had one crystal and that was by sheer luck. It seemed to Senshi that Tuxedo Mask and Zoicite were always the ones fighting for control of the crystals. As it stood Zoicite had the upper hand in the situation with three crystals in his possession.
Ami had run a scan of the yellow crystal and with the information gathered from that scan she could use her microcomputer to track the energy given off by the crystals. Entering in a few commands into the small yet powerful computer Ami was able to initiate the tracking program that would be able to find the last of the rainbow crystals.
As the trio watched the tiny screen on the computer Usagi and Makoto came walking up to them. The pair had decided to meet up with Ami and Luna so they could search for the last of the crystals. Walking over to their friends Usagi and Makoto noticed they were doing something with Ami's computer.
"Hey Ami." Makoto said, "Have you talked to Rei yet today?"
"I called her this morning before coming to the park. Usagi was out practicing when I talked to her. Rei said that because it was Sunday and she didn't have any chores today she wanted to go on a date with Mamoru." Ami explained.
Usagi couldn't believe what she was hearing. Rei was forgoing her Senshi duties to go out on date and with Mamoru of all people.
"I can't believe she would rather spend time with that egomaniac. Doesn't she realize how important this is." Usagi complained.
********
Rei stood in a phone booth on one of the many street corners in the ward. Dialing the number for Mamoru's apartment Rei waited for the older man to answer his phone. After four rings there was a click on the other end of the line and a voice came on the phone.
"Hi this is Mamoru…" the voice began.
"Hi Mamoru…" Rei said.
"I'm unable to come to the phone right now but if you leave me your name and number along with a brief message I'll return your call when I can." Mamoru's prerecorded voice concluded.
Rei couldn't believe it. Mamoru was not at home. Rei then waited for the beep before leaving her message on Mamoru's answering machine.
"Hi Mamoru this is Rei and I was hoping that maybe we could go to the Crown Fruit Parlor for some dessert this afternoon. I'll be outside the Crown waiting for you at one. I'll see you then." Rei said.
With that Rei hung up the phone believing Mamoru was not at home.
What Rei didn't know was that Mamoru had heard her entire message for at that exact moment the premed student was sitting on his couch thinking about the Silver Imperium Crystal and his princess.
********
Makoto wondered what Ami was doing with her computer. At the moment she was feeding some data into a mapping program she had on her computer. The computer began to go through map after map trying to find the one that matched the information Ami had put into the program.
"What are you doing on that thing?" Makoto asked her friend.
"I'm looking for the seventh rainbow crystal." Ami explained.
Usagi began to wonder if there was another crystal nearby and pulled the moon rod out of her small pack. Looking at the crystal below the crescent moon the female Saiyan saw that the crystal was not flashing which meant that there wasn't a crystal around yet.
"But the moon rod isn't responding to any crystal." Usagi said.
"That's why I wanted Ami to run a scan with her computer." Luna explained to her charge.
As the computer continued to go through the maps in the program Ami typed in a few more search parameters and waited for the results. After a few minutes of waiting the computer stopped its search and displayed a map of one of the neighborhoods in the ward. Taking a look at the map on the screen Luna concluded that had to be where the crystal was located.
"This has to be where the seventh crystal is located." Luna said looking at the blip on the map.
"Looks like you have a solid lead on that thing." Ranma commented.
"Well then let's go check it out." Makoto suggested.
Usagi, Ami, Ranma, Makoto, and Luna arrived at the location the computer had given them. It was a modest two story house with white siding and a small white fence. As they looked at the house Luna noticed something looking out at her from the second story window. It was the cat from that morning Rhett Butler. There was no way Luna was going to go inside the house with the Russian Blue there. Great this had to be the house where he lived, Luna thought.
After a few moments of looking at the house Makoto finally broke the silence.
"Well let's go and see if anyone is at home." Makoto suggested.
Luna didn't want to go.
"I…I'll wait here." Luna said.
Ami wondered what was wrong with her roommate and friend.
"Luna did something happen?" Ami asked her.
"I don't want to go." Luna said.
Usagi thought Luna was being stubborn and decided to get in some good teasing by making fun of her guardian feline.
"Luna, this is a very important mission. You should be more aware of your responsibility!" Usagi said as she made her face look like a cat face.
Luna was not very happy with the teasing Usagi was giving her.
"I am not that ugly!" Luna protested.
Ami let out a sigh and knew she would have to play the part of the peacemaker and stop the argument before it even began. Even though she was quite mature for her age there were times when Usagi acted like a five year old and this was one of those times.
"It's quite alright Usagi. There are times when even Luna doesn't feel like it."
Usagi then made a very cat-like face.
"Okay, have it your way." She said.
Ranma and the girls then made their way up the front walk to the house leaving Luna behind.
As Luna sat there waiting for the four teens to return the stray cats from that morning had somehow found her and started to surround her once again. Luna looked at the small horde of cats and began to get scared.
At the house Makoto rang the front bell. Since she seemed to be the most energetic of the group she was unofficially voted to be the one to talk to the owner of the house. When the front door opened the quartet was greeted by the sight of a little girl no taller than Usagi's little brother Goten holding onto a fat Russian blue cat. Makoto smiled at the girl before talking to her.
"Hi there is your mom or dad at home?" Makoto asked her.
"No they're both out at the moment." The girl replied.
As the girl talked to Makoto Ranma noticed the rather fat cat in her arms and hid behind Usagi who had the moon rod out to test it on the girl.
"C-c-c-cat and it's a real one this time." He whispered in her ear.
"Ranma the moon rod is responding to the girl." Usagi whispered back showing him the glowing rod.
Ranma watched as the cat looked around for a moment and then jumped out of the little girl's arms.
"Oh no, Rhett Butler come back here!" the little girl called out as she went after the fat cat.
"That was a close one." Ranma said in relief.
"That was close." Ami added in agreement.
Usagi sighed as she watched the girl's retreating form and decided the best thing to do would be to go after the little girl.
"Well we have no choice but to go after her. The girl has the seventh crystal inside her." Usagi announced to the others.
Ami and Makoto were stunned by what they had heard. The small girl was going to be the next target of the Dark Kingdom.
********
The little girl ran after Rhett Butler following him into a tiny alleyway. Looking around the alley the girl saw no sign of her beloved Russian Blue cat. And as she continued to look for the fat cat Zoicite appeared in the alleyway. Upon seeing the girl Zoicite prepared to make his move.
********
Luna tried once again to outrun the stray cats. Running into an alley Luna was backed into the wall by the cats who then began to surround her. As the cats continued to advance on her one of the cats from earlier that morning began lashing out at her trying to bite and scratch her. The cat continued its attack but stopped suddenly when the familiar fat form of Rhett Butler jumped in between Luna and the attacking stray cat. Rhett grabbed Luna in his mouth and bounded off with her onto a nearby fence. But as he tried to walk along the fence with Luna in his mouth Rhett lost his footing and fell off of the fence and landed on a loose manhole cover. The manhole cover gave way and the two felines fell down to the sewers below.
********
Zoicite went over to where the little girl was and made his move. Raising his Ki ever so slightly the effeminate general prepared to attack the girl. Thrusting out his hand Zoicite sent enough pink crystal energy at the girl to knock her out.
"Zoi!" he yelled as he made his attack.
With the girl now out of commission the effeminate general pulled out his black crystal and prepared to remove the violet crystal from the girl's body. Holding the crystal over the fallen girl's body Zoicite called forth its power.
"Rainbow crystal I command you to come forth!" Zoicite called out.
Holding the black crystal over the girl Zoicite expected it to begin to glow and pull the seventh crystal out of her body. But nothing happened. The girl was not the carrier of the seventh crystal. Zoicite was stunned that the girl did not have a crystal inside of her.
"How can this be! The black crystal clearly showed me that this girl held the seventh crystal within her." Zoicite complained.
Zoicite began to recall the exact image the black crystal had shown him. The girl was clearly in the image but also in that same image was her rather large Russian Blue cat. It was then Zoicite realized that the true holder of the seventh crystal was not the girl but the cat she held within her tiny arms.
"It must be that oversized cat of hers!" Zoicite said when he realized where the last crystal was.
Zoicite was about to go after the cat when he heard a commotion coming from behind him.
Sailor Moon, Sailor Mercury, Sailor Jupiter, and Ranma tried to squeeze into the tiny alley but there were too many of them and they just couldn't fit. Upon seeing Zoicite Sailor Moon announced their presence.
"Attacking an innocent child is the lowest thing you could have done Zoicite!" Sailor Moon called out, "I am the sailor suited soldier Sailor Moon and in the name of the moon I shall punish you!"
As Sailor Moon said her speech she began to go through the hand motions and before she could finish them Sailor Moon accidentally hit Jupiter and Mercury in the face and stomach.
"Hey watch where you're putting your arms Sailor Moon." Jupiter said.
"Someone's elbow is digging into my side." Ranma complained.
"Do something before he gets away Mercury." Sailor Moon said.
Mercury began to power up for her bubble attack in the cramped space.
"Mercury Bubbles Blast!" she called out.
The attack backfired and Mercury lost her footing before she could finish the attack. As the cold mist struck Ranma, activating his curse, Mercury fell on top of Jupiter and her left boot hit Sailor Moon in the face. Jupiter began to blush because of the compromising position Mercury had fallen on her. Jupiter had a very good view up Mercury's skirt.
"Ouch, that hurt." Sailor Moon complained.
"Um, Mercury nice view there." Jupiter commented.
"You guys better do something before he gets away." A now female Ranma said.
Jupiter began to power up for her attack letting her antenna gather the electrical energy in the air. But before she could even get to her full power for her attack Sailor Moon and Sailor Mercury tried to stop her.
"Jupiter don't!" Sailor Moon said.
"If you release your attack here we could all be electrocuted." Mercury added.
Zoicite noticed the predicament the Senshi and their aquatransexual ally were in and used it to his advantage. In his usual shower of pink sakura petals Zoicite vanished from the tiny alleyway.
********
Using his black crystal Zoicite tracked down Rhett Butler into the sewer system. Climbing down into the sewers the effeminate general cringed at the smell of the sewer gas.
"Ugh this smell, it's the worst thing in the entire world." Zoicite complained.
Zoicite began trudging through the sewer. The smell was bad enough but the dark general had to deal with the wet shoes and the dirty animals.
"The only thing I hate more than the smell are the dirty animals. Queen Beryl better appreciate what I'm doing for her." Zoicite said.
********
Ranma and the girls had brought the little girl back to her house so she could recover from the attack. As the girls got her settled into her bed Ranma went to the bathroom to get some hot water so he could change back into a guy. While Ami made certain the girl was going to be alright Usagi checked out the room. Makoto started to wonder where Luna had gotten herself to.
"Hey Usagi what ever happened to Luna?" Makoto asked her.
"Luna must be out messing around somewhere." Usagi said.
"Usagi, you know Luna wouldn't do something like that." Ami remarked, "What if she's in trouble?"
"You worry about those things too much." Usagi replied just before she noticed the Sailor V game on the home video game system in the room, "Hey she has a Sailor V game of her own."
Makoto looked at the little girl. She couldn't believe she had a rainbow crystal inside her body.
"I just can't believe someone so young is a target of the Dark Kingdom. What if Zoicite returns for her?" Makoto said.
"Then every single one of us does whatever we can to protect the little girl." A now male Ranma said as he returned to the room.
"But what about that incredibly fat cat of hers?" Ami asked her fiancé.
"As long as that thing of hers stays away from me then there should be no problems." Ranma said trying hard not to mention cats.
Usagi at that moment could have cared less about whether or not Zoicite showed up. She was more interested in the home gaming system the girl had in her house. The only person Usagi knew who had a home gaming system was Trunks.
"Wow this game is real neat." Usagi commented as she began to play the game.
Everyone else in the room just sighed as they saw Usagi play the video game.
********
Zoicite continued to trudge along the sewers looking for the overly fat cat. Looking at the black crystal the effeminate general knew the seventh crystal was nearby. Stopping to catch his breath Zoicite placed his hand on the wall of the sewer. Much to his surprise the wall was quite soft. Upon closer inspection Zoicite saw that the wall was moving. What he thought was a wall was mice, hundreds upon hundreds of mice.
"Ugh, this place is crawling with mice!" Zoicite said.
With that Zoicite decided to get out of the sewer as fast as he could and as he ran through the sewer the mice began running after him.
********
Rei had nothing to do that afternoon. After waiting outside the Crown Fruit Parlor for ten minutes after one o'clock had come and gone Rei knew she would be spending another lonely afternoon with not a thing to do. Rei began to wonder why Mamoru had stood her up. Is our relationship over with already, Rei thought to herself.
Not really paying attention to where she was going Rei ran into Yuuichirou. Looking up Rei saw that Yuuichirou was dressed simply in his usual black denim pants with a dark blue shirt over a white t-shirt. With a big smile on his face Yuuichirou asked Rei to go out with him.
"What a surprise. I was just thinking about you Rei." Yuuichirou said, "I was wondering if you'd like to go out and get some ice cream with me."
Rei thought about his offer for a moment and was about to give him her response. But before she could make her decision vocal Yuuichirou added something else to the conversation.
"I'm just fooling myself though. A pretty girl like you probably doesn't have the time to spend with a guy like me." Yuuichirou said.
With that Yuuichirou left the scene and went on his way leaving Rei to wonder what was going on.
********
The trek down the sewers was long and smelly. The two cats had been wandering down the sewers for quite some time looking for a way out. And as they continued along their way Luna noticed one of Rhett's legs was injured. The left front leg had a large scratch across it. Luna stopped and began to examine the injury on Rhett Butler's front leg.
"You got that trying to save me from those cats." Luna said, "You really didn't have to save me but you did. Thank you."
As Luna continued to make certain Rhett was going to be okay she heard the faint sound of someone else trudging though the sewer system. Looking behind her Luna saw Zoicite running through the sewers with a horde of mice chasing after him.
Zoicite noticed the pair of cats ahead of him and saw that one of them was the oversized cat he was looking for. The seventh crystal was close at hand.
"I've finally found the seventh crystal. Soon it shall be mine." He said.
Luna looked between Rhett and Zoicite a few times before she finally realized that it wasn't the little girl who owned Rhett that held a crystal inside her it was Rhett. Zoicite was going after Rhett and Luna needed to do something to get the pudgy feline to safety. Spotting a nearby tunnel Luna ushered him towards it and began pushing him into it. After a few good shoves Luna was able to get Rhett into the tunnel.
As Luna and Rhett tried to get away from Zoicite the effeminate general followed the two felines into the tunnel. The tunnel was a way out of the sewers and the moment they reached the exit to the sewers the horde of mice that were following Zoicite caught up with the dark general.
********
Rei continued along on her lonely walk through the city. As she walked down the streets of the Mintako ward Rei began to think she should have accepted Yuuichirou's invitation to go out that afternoon. Maybe I should have said yes to Yuuichirou, Rei thought. But it was too late for that now. Stopping on a spot along the river Rei noticed to felines running away from one of the sewer tunnels. One of the cats was a very fat Russian Blue and the other cat was black with a very distinctive mark on it. Upon closer inspection Rei saw that the black cat was Luna.
"Luna must be on a date with that other cat. They look cute together." Rei commented.
********
Usagi continued playing the Sailor V video game while she and the others watched over the little girl. Ami was wondering why Zoicite hadn't tried to come after the girl once again while Makoto watched Usagi blast though another level on the video game. Ranma just sat and watched Ami check on the girl.
Checking on a gut feeling she had Ami went over to Usagi's pack and pulled out the moon rod. Looking at the crystal on the rod Ami noticed it wasn't flashing like it did before when they first came to the house.
"That's odd the moon rod isn't responding." Ami said.
"What makes that thing go off?" Ranma wanted to know.
"The moon rod responds to one of the rainbow crystals that are inside seven individuals. The crystals are like the one that was inside Ryouga. When the moon rod detects a crystal nearby the crystal on it begins to glow. And like Ryouga each carrier of a crystal will eventually turn into a youma." Ami explained.
After a brief moment of silence it finally hit Ami as to why the moon rod wasn't responding to the girl, she wasn't the one with a crystal inside her.
"Ranma you are a genius!" Ami shouted.
"I am?" Ranma asked utterly confused.
"I should have noticed it earlier." Ami replied.
"Then the girl isn't a youma? But it was responding before." Makoto said over her shoulder.
"That's because it wasn't the girl." Ami explained to Ranma and Makoto.
"You mean it was…" Makoto began.
"Oh no not the c-c-c-thing." Ranma finished.
Usagi was oblivious to the conversation taking place around her and a few minutes after the others had come to the realization that they were wasting their time at the girl's house she finally died.
"Oh no I lost the game." She complained.
"Good because now we can go after that crystal." Makoto said.
"Huh?" Usagi asked her.
"We just realized the crystal isn't in the girl it's in her fat you know what." Ranma told her getting Usagi up to speed on the situation.
"Oh then what are we waiting for?" Usagi said as she got up to leave the room.
********
Zoicite and the mince had finally reached the end of the tunnel. Bursting out of the tunnel with the mice all around him the effeminate general found Luna and Rhett Butler trying to get away from the sewers. Stopping in front of the pair of felines Zoicite pulled out his black crystal and prepared to turn the oversized Rhett into a youma.
"It's time for this fat cat to return to the Dark Kingdom." Zoicite said.
Rei heard the commotion coming from near the sewer tunnel and turned to investigate the source of the sound. Looking towards the sewers Rei saw Zoicite ready to attack Luna and her male companion. Rei immediately knew Zoicite was after another crystal. Pulling out her henshin rod Rei prepared to transform into Sailor Mars.
"Mars Power!" Rei called out as she tossed her henshin rod into the air.
With the usual light show Rei was transformed into Sailor Mars. With the transformation complete Sailor Mars went to help Luna and her oversized feline friend.
"A love between two individuals is a sacred thing even if they happen to be felines." Mars said announcing her presence to both Zoicite and the cats.
"It isn't like that Mars." Luna replied denying the romantic nature of the incident.
With the black crystal placed firmly in his hands Zoicite held it out over the fat Russian Blue feline and charged it with his Ki in order to get the seventh crystal from Rhett's body. When his Ki level was at its peak Zoicite made his move and called forth the last crystal.
"Black crystal I command you to bring forth the crystal to me." Zoicite called out.
The black crystal began to glow and soon the crystal inside Rhett began reacting to the power of the black crystal. The large Russian Blue feline began yowling in pain as the violet crystal made its way out of his body and into the waiting hand of the dark general. The moment the crystal touched his hand two things happened at the exact same moment.
With the crystal out of his body Rhett began to change from a fat pudgy feline into a very large cat creature with black and blue fur. Adorning his body on his wrists, ankles, and neck were several gold chains and bangles. The feline youma had a menacing look to his eyes and long sharp claws. He was the last of the Seven Shadows of the Dark Kingdom Bakene.
As Rhett turned into the youma a red streak came and grazed Zoicite across the hand knocking the final crystal out of his hand. There near the fallen crystal embedded in the ground was the calling card of Tuxedo Mask, a perfect red rose. The dapper defender did away with the pleasantries and all the speeches and cut right to the chase by snatching the crystal and leaving the scene. With his latest find in his hands Tuxedo Mask now had two of the crystals to himself leaving Zoicite with four of his own. The Senshi still had possession of the yellow crystal from Ryouga's body.
Luna and Mars were not very concerned about the fact that Tuxedo Mask got away with the crystal; they were more concerned with the large youma near the sewers. Thinking Bakene would attack at any moment they were taken by surprise when the large youma began to head towards the city. Luna knew something had to be done. Sliding down the side of the walls near the sewer the lunar feline landed safely into the large outstretched paw of Bakene. Looking up at the youma Luna tried to make a connection with him.
"You don't have to do this you know." Luna said, "I have friends who can help you. They can turn you back into the cat you once were. Don't you want to go back to the little girl who loves you so?"
Bakene looked down at Luna and seemed to recognize her for the briefest of moments before beginning to head towards the city once again. Not wanting to stop the youma was temporarily halted when a voice broke through the silence.
"Mercury Bubbles Blast!" the familiar voice called out blanketing the area in a thick fog.
"Gee thanks now I'm female again Mercury." Another feminine voice complained.
"Took you guys long enough!" Mars yelled at them.
"It's not my fault we were late." A third voice replied.
"Don't blame Sailor Moon on this one. We're all equally to blame." Mercury said.
The youma unable to see in the dense fog stopped in its tracks trying to figure out what to do next. With the youma temporarily out of commission the owner of the second voice and a third individual leapt down the side of the sewer walls to collect their feline friend. When the two females got closer to Luna she saw who they were. One was a red headed and obviously female version of Mercury's fiancé Ranma and the other was the tall muscular form of Sailor Jupiter. Jupiter grabbed Luna while Ranma prepared to take on the youma in order to help weaken it.
The moment the ailurophobic martial artist hit the hands of the large youma he realized that Bakene used to be the fat cat the little girl was holding when they first got to the house. Bakene let out a loud hiss and Ranma stiffened and began to tremble at the sound of the overgrown feline.
"C-c-c-cat!" Ranma yelled, "Get me, meow hiss, away, meow hiss, from, meow hiss, this thing."
It wasn't long after his plea for help that Ranma Saotome found himself in the throws of the dreaded neko-ken. Ranma blanked out and his feline persona took control of his body. Taking in his surroundings Ranma noticed Luna, the Senshi, Bakene, and Zoicite all looking directly at him. Taking an even closer look at Mercury Neko Ranma concluded that she was the pretty lap lady Ami.
When Neko Ranma saw Bakene, however, he knew the youma was not to be trusted. Strange feline try to hurt crescent kitty, he thought, he must be dealt with.
With that Neko Ranma began lashing out at Bakene trying to stop the youma from hurting anyone else.
Mercury saw the state Ranma was in and knew something had to be done before he lost himself to the neko-ken. Looking over at Sailor Moon Mercury pleaded with her to do something.
"You have to stop him before he kills himself. Or at least get him to notice me. It's the only way Ranma will return to normal." Mercury said.
Looking over where Ranma and Bakene were fighting Sailor Moon couldn't believe what she was seeing. Mercury had told her about what happened when Ranma was near regular cats for very long but she thought she would never see something like that happen. Now Ranma was trying to bite the monster cat in the neck any way he could. The noise coming from the combatants was scary.
Sailor Moon knew what she had to do in order to help her friend and training partner. Taking a deep breath Sailor Moon closed her eyes and focused on her Saiyan instincts letting them take control of her body and mind. The battle hunger that dwelled deep within the body of all Saiyans began to change Sailor Moon. When she opened her eyes they were no longer soft and caring and held a hard edge to them. Not wanting to harm Ranma or Bakene Sailor Moon launched herself into the air and fell into a ferocious volley of kicks and punches all aimed at getting Ranma off of the youma's neck.
Neko Ranma knew someone else was attacking the strange feline he could smell them. The scent coming off the new person was unlike anything he had ever smelled before. He knew it wasn't the pretty lap lady or her sister the strange camera lady Nabiki but someone entirely new. This person had a very strong scent and Neko Ranma could tell she wanted to protect the pretty lap lady as much as he did. Knowing the strange feline was being dealt with Neko Ranma let go of Bakene's neck and dropped to the ground before running over to Mercury so he could protect her.
Upon seeing that Ranma was now safe in the waiting lap of Mercury Sailor Moon decided to end the battle. Pulling out the moon rod from her personal pocket Sailor Moon prepared to return Bakene to the fat Russian Blue he once was. With a flick of her wrist Sailor Moon began her final move.
"Moon Healing Escalation!" Sailor Moon called out.
Circling the moon rod before her Sailor Moon sent a wave of bright light to Bakene that seemed to envelope him. The oversized shadow warrior cried out in pain with a loud yowl. When the light had faded the shadow warrior was now just an ordinary fat cat. And upon seeing the passed out feline on the ground Jupiter picked him up so they could return him to the little girl who loved him so.
Luna and the Senshi looked over to Mercury to let her know it was time to get going. What they saw was one sight they would never forget. The still female Ranma was curled up in Mercury's lap asleep as the effects of the neko-ken wore off. Mercury was rubbing Ranma's head and speaking soft soothing words to the sleeping martial artist. It was obvious to the other Senshi that Mercury actually loved her fiancé even if she didn't think so.
"Mercury it's time to get going." Mars said breaking the silence.
"If you want I can carry him for you." Sailor Moon offered.
"Oh I didn't realize it was over with." Mercury replied as Sailor Moon picked up the sleeping Ranma.
********
Luna, Ranma, and the girls stood across from the little white house and watched as the little girl hugged and played with Rhett Butler. The little girl was happy to have her beloved kitty back home and she showed it by showering him with kisses. As the girls watched the tender scene they couldn't help but smile. Even Ranma who had a somewhat forced fear of cats let a smile cross his still female face. The danger to any more human lives was over with now that the last crystal had been found. But the Senshi knew they had to somehow get the crystals from Zoicite and Tuxedo Mask.
"Finally it's over." Usagi commented.
"But we still have to get the other crystals from Zoicite and Tuxedo Mask." Ami reminded her.
"At least there won't be any more innocent people hurt by Zoicite anymore." Makoto said.
"Thank Kami for that." Ranma remarked.
No thank Dende for that, Usagi thought remembering her best friend and current guardian of Earth.
Usagi looked over at Ami and Ranma and noticed the usually bickering pair was standing a little closer to each other. She didn't like the fact that Ranma sometimes became involved in the battles with the Dark Kingdom but she knew he could take care of himself. After all he was a martial artist and just like all of her father's friends he was sworn to defend and protect the innocent. Taking another glance over at the betrothed couple Usagi could swear they were beginning to show their true feelings for one another.
Rei like the others was glad this part of the battle was over with. Looking over at her friends she noticed Luna was standing a bit off to one side intently watching the little girl and her large oversized cat. Rei could tell Luna was grateful the cat had survived the attack and was reunited with the girl he loved very much but she wondered if Luna had any feelings for the Russian Blue.
"Luna don't you want to go and say goodbye to your boyfriend before we head out?" Rei asked the feline.
"I told you it isn't like that." Luna tried to deny with an obvious tint to her feline face.
Rei just stood there and smiled at Luna. Even cats can have crushes.
********
Finally another episode is over with. With everything that has been going on recently it's been hard to be inspired to finish this episode. That was even before the NY incident. As we all know FF.net has been very temperamental lately and prone to going on the fritz temporarily. That plus the lack of updates on my favorite stories have caused me to become a bit uninspired to write anything. Okay I guess you can add the lack of reviews to the list as well. I don't understand why my loyal readers haven't been giving me any reviews. Maybe I need to become like other authors and say the next episode won't come out until I get so many reviews. I'm not going to demand reviews but I do want them or else my future episodes will be as bad as Mike Ditka singing Take Me Out to the Ballgame during the seventh inning of a Cubs home game and as any Chicagoan knows that is saying a lot.
Now as for this particular episode I thought brining in the whole neko-ken issue helped make the episode somewhat interesting. I tried to give the audience who has no Ranma knowledge a little bit of a background into the whole neko-ken technique Genma had used. I thought it would be a good factor for Ami to realize she cares for Ranma but just like Ranma she won't say a word to her fiancé about it. So as you can see one couple is getting closer while another is drifting apart setting the stage for future episodes.
Speaking of future episodes up next is an episode I thought I wasn't going to have to address but I guess if I want the crystals to only be in the hands of Zoicite and Mamoru I'm going to have to use this one after all. So what will happen next? Well in an effort to prove to his new girl just how much he loves her Umino will do just about anything even take advice from Usagi. Say hello to the defender of the internet Tuxedo Umino with his deadly coconut shrimp attack. It's fun and mayhem as the Dark Kingdom wrecks havoc on a stage show at an amusement park. Find out who comes out on top and who gets the yellow crystal in episode 18 Tuxedo Umino.
********
While Ranma was out running through the streets of the Mintako ward Luna was returning from her almost daily check-ins with Central Control and had decided to go for a little stroll through the ward. But the lunar feline was unaware that as she made her way down the street other normal cats would begin to follow her. And by the time she had reached a large open space hundreds of stray cats began to surround her hissing and advancing on her. Looking round at the cats Luna tried to be civil and reason with them.
"You really don't want to harm me I'm a cat just like you." She said, "Well not exactly like you but I am a cat none the less."
The stray cats weren't buying what Luna was saying for they began getting closer and closer to the lunar feline. And the moment they go too close for comfort Luna panicked and tried to run away. But the cats just wouldn't give up and every single one of them began to chase after her.
As the cats chased after Luna down one street and up another the lunar feline had spotted Ranma aimlessly minding his own business jogging along the streets of Mintako.
********
To say that Ranma Saotome was simply afraid of cats was the understatement of the millennium. Ranma Saotome was more than just afraid of cats he was terrified of them and it was to the point where he couldn't even be within two feet of one. The mere sound of a cat drove Ranma insane and he had his father to thank for his mental condition.
When Ranma was only nine years old Genma Saotome had found a booklet describing ancient Chinese martial arts training techniques. One such technique was the neko-ken or cat fist. Genma read how the cat fist was supposed to be able to make any martial artist invincible. The only problem was the martial artist had to be under ten years old and they had to be placed inside a pit of cats wrapped in fish sausage.
At first Genma just placed Ranma inside the pit with a few cats and very little fish sausage. When he went to pull his son out of the pit hours later nothing had happened. In fact Ranma was petting and playing with the cats. Genma figured the training had failed the first time because the cats were too well fed and his son didn't have enough fish sausage wrapped around him. The next day Ranma was covered from head to toe in fish sausages and twenty stray cats were placed in the pit with him. But once again when Genma had come for his son that afternoon nothing had happened.
It was the third try that provided the results Genma was looking for. Thinking his son hadn't spent enough time in the pit and there weren't enough cats Genma tossed fifty thin starving howling stray cats in the pit and doubled up on the fish sausages this time wrapping them in bacon. Then Genma dropped his son in the pit and left him there for the entire day and night.
When Genma came the next morning to collect his son most of the cats in the pit had left and the sound coming from within the pit was terrifying. The yowling and hissing sounded as though it were being made by a hellcat. Looking in the pit Genma saw that the sound was coming from his own son. Ranma was battered and bruised and looked at though the cats had tried to eat him as well. His face and body were scratched up to the point where he was bleeding. And when the young boy saw his father he leapt out of the pit and began attacking him.
Genma couldn't control his wild son and he ran off. After an hour of searching for him Genma found Ranma resting in the arms of an old woman on her front porch. The woman took one look at Genma and knew he had to be the boy's father. When she addressed him she had hatred in her voice.
"The boy has been driven mad by the neko-ken. I have seen this before. I can help him but you should leave us be for three days. That is how long it will take me to lessen the damage that has been done to him. If he had been left in this state he would have been lost to the neko-ken forever. He will be able to use the neko-ken but if he is not calmed down then he will be lost to it for a long time." The woman said.
The woman was able to help Ranma but in order to do so she instilled in his mind an intense fear of cats. Every time he was near a cat for too long he would go into the neko-ken state believing he was a cat. It had happened once before in his life three weeks before he came to Juban Prep and the only person who could bring Ranma out of his cat like state was Ami Tendo all because Genma Saotome had failed to turn to the next page in the training manual.
Ranma felt the odd twinge nip at his spine continued on his jog. The only time he had felt this strange twinge was whenever a cat was nearby. This time the twinge was beginning to drive Ranma nuts as it danced up and down his spine causing every hair on his back to stand on end. It was then that Ranma heard an all too familiar voice call out to him.
"Ranma if you value your sanity you'll run as fast as you can!" the female voice called out.
Ranma took a quick glance over his shoulder to see Luna being chased by dozens upon dozens of stray cats. It was worse than the day he finally cracked from the stress of the neko-ken. All the yowling made the aquatransexual martial artist jump out of his skin. There was only one thing he could do and that was to take Luna's advice and run like the wind.
Ranma ran as fast as he could to get away from the cats and when he noticed a nearby alley he ducked in it and watched in sheer terror as Luna and the stray cats came whizzing by him.
"Man that was a close one." Ranma said after the last cat had vanished.
********
Luna found herself in a large parking lot with several cars in it. The cats were surrounding her once again and Luna could feel something heavy on her tail. Lifting up her tail Luna saw that a small black and white kitten was biting onto the end of it. As Luna tried to get the kitten off of her tail another larger cat began advancing on her. But before he could get close to her something streaked across the air and embedded itself into the ground between Luna and the stray cat. There in front of Luna was a perfect set of fish bones laying there just like one of Tuxedo Mask's roses.
Looking up to her left Luna saw the outline of a very pudgy looking blue cat sitting on a nearby concrete wall. The strays had seen the fat blue cat and became quite scared. It was apparent the blue haired cat had quite the reputation amongst the population of stray cats in Tokyo for every single one of the cats began to run away. The kitten had even decided it wasn't worth the trouble to stick around and let go of Luna's tail before leaving the scene as well.
The fat blue cat hopped down off the wall and came over to Luna. Seeing the sorry state her tail was in the male cat began licking her tail. Luna looked at what the cat was doing and became surprised at his tender nature. Despite his size the large male Russian Blue was quite the gentle creature.
"You don't really have to do that you know." Luna said as she watched the cat.
The cat looked up at Luna and gave her a look that told the lunar feline that it was his duty as a savoir to make certain the individual he rescued was not hurt.
Luna let out a small sigh and reluctantly gave in letting the cat go back to tending to her tail. And as he continued to tend to Luna's tail a small female voice filled the lot.
"Rhett Butler, Rhett Butler here kitty. Rhett Butler it's time to go home kitty." She called out.
Luna turned her head to see the fat blue cat Rhett Butler bound off to the waiting arms of a little girl who was barely taller than Usagi's little brother Goten.
"Rhett Butler so that's your name. I can't believe anyone would give a cat like that a name such as that one." Luna commented.
********
Guardians of the Earth
Episode Seventeen: Kitty Love
********
Zoicite reveled in the success if his last mission. He now had four of the seven crystals he needed and getting the other three shouldn't be any problem. And once the Dark Kingdom came into possession of all seven crystals they would gain control of the Silver Imperium Crystal and eventually the entire world. All that he needed to do now was locate the carrier of the seventh and final crystal.
Taking out his black crystal Zoicite prepared to locate the person who held within them the violet or purple crystal. Holding it in front of himself Zoicite channeled his Ki into the crystal and called forth its power.
"Black crystal I command you to show me the carrier of the next rainbow crystal!" Zoicite said.
As the crystal began to glow the tendrils of light shot forth and revealed the carrier of the last rainbow crystal. Within the veil of light produced by the crystal there was the image of a little girl with brown hair and blue eyes in a pink jumper. Held protectively in her arms was a fat Russian Blue cat with yellow eyes. It was the same cat that had helped out Luna earlier that morning.
"So that little girl holds the last crystal inside her. She has no idea what she truly is." Zoicite commented before vanishing in his usual shower of sakura petals.
********
Luna had met up with Ami and Ranma in the park after the incident with the cats that morning. The Senshi of Wisdom had wanted to run a search on her computer for the carrier of the last rainbow crystal. Things had not gone very well and the Senshi only had one crystal and that was by sheer luck. It seemed to Senshi that Tuxedo Mask and Zoicite were always the ones fighting for control of the crystals. As it stood Zoicite had the upper hand in the situation with three crystals in his possession.
Ami had run a scan of the yellow crystal and with the information gathered from that scan she could use her microcomputer to track the energy given off by the crystals. Entering in a few commands into the small yet powerful computer Ami was able to initiate the tracking program that would be able to find the last of the rainbow crystals.
As the trio watched the tiny screen on the computer Usagi and Makoto came walking up to them. The pair had decided to meet up with Ami and Luna so they could search for the last of the crystals. Walking over to their friends Usagi and Makoto noticed they were doing something with Ami's computer.
"Hey Ami." Makoto said, "Have you talked to Rei yet today?"
"I called her this morning before coming to the park. Usagi was out practicing when I talked to her. Rei said that because it was Sunday and she didn't have any chores today she wanted to go on a date with Mamoru." Ami explained.
Usagi couldn't believe what she was hearing. Rei was forgoing her Senshi duties to go out on date and with Mamoru of all people.
"I can't believe she would rather spend time with that egomaniac. Doesn't she realize how important this is." Usagi complained.
********
Rei stood in a phone booth on one of the many street corners in the ward. Dialing the number for Mamoru's apartment Rei waited for the older man to answer his phone. After four rings there was a click on the other end of the line and a voice came on the phone.
"Hi this is Mamoru…" the voice began.
"Hi Mamoru…" Rei said.
"I'm unable to come to the phone right now but if you leave me your name and number along with a brief message I'll return your call when I can." Mamoru's prerecorded voice concluded.
Rei couldn't believe it. Mamoru was not at home. Rei then waited for the beep before leaving her message on Mamoru's answering machine.
"Hi Mamoru this is Rei and I was hoping that maybe we could go to the Crown Fruit Parlor for some dessert this afternoon. I'll be outside the Crown waiting for you at one. I'll see you then." Rei said.
With that Rei hung up the phone believing Mamoru was not at home.
What Rei didn't know was that Mamoru had heard her entire message for at that exact moment the premed student was sitting on his couch thinking about the Silver Imperium Crystal and his princess.
********
Makoto wondered what Ami was doing with her computer. At the moment she was feeding some data into a mapping program she had on her computer. The computer began to go through map after map trying to find the one that matched the information Ami had put into the program.
"What are you doing on that thing?" Makoto asked her friend.
"I'm looking for the seventh rainbow crystal." Ami explained.
Usagi began to wonder if there was another crystal nearby and pulled the moon rod out of her small pack. Looking at the crystal below the crescent moon the female Saiyan saw that the crystal was not flashing which meant that there wasn't a crystal around yet.
"But the moon rod isn't responding to any crystal." Usagi said.
"That's why I wanted Ami to run a scan with her computer." Luna explained to her charge.
As the computer continued to go through the maps in the program Ami typed in a few more search parameters and waited for the results. After a few minutes of waiting the computer stopped its search and displayed a map of one of the neighborhoods in the ward. Taking a look at the map on the screen Luna concluded that had to be where the crystal was located.
"This has to be where the seventh crystal is located." Luna said looking at the blip on the map.
"Looks like you have a solid lead on that thing." Ranma commented.
"Well then let's go check it out." Makoto suggested.
Usagi, Ami, Ranma, Makoto, and Luna arrived at the location the computer had given them. It was a modest two story house with white siding and a small white fence. As they looked at the house Luna noticed something looking out at her from the second story window. It was the cat from that morning Rhett Butler. There was no way Luna was going to go inside the house with the Russian Blue there. Great this had to be the house where he lived, Luna thought.
After a few moments of looking at the house Makoto finally broke the silence.
"Well let's go and see if anyone is at home." Makoto suggested.
Luna didn't want to go.
"I…I'll wait here." Luna said.
Ami wondered what was wrong with her roommate and friend.
"Luna did something happen?" Ami asked her.
"I don't want to go." Luna said.
Usagi thought Luna was being stubborn and decided to get in some good teasing by making fun of her guardian feline.
"Luna, this is a very important mission. You should be more aware of your responsibility!" Usagi said as she made her face look like a cat face.
Luna was not very happy with the teasing Usagi was giving her.
"I am not that ugly!" Luna protested.
Ami let out a sigh and knew she would have to play the part of the peacemaker and stop the argument before it even began. Even though she was quite mature for her age there were times when Usagi acted like a five year old and this was one of those times.
"It's quite alright Usagi. There are times when even Luna doesn't feel like it."
Usagi then made a very cat-like face.
"Okay, have it your way." She said.
Ranma and the girls then made their way up the front walk to the house leaving Luna behind.
As Luna sat there waiting for the four teens to return the stray cats from that morning had somehow found her and started to surround her once again. Luna looked at the small horde of cats and began to get scared.
At the house Makoto rang the front bell. Since she seemed to be the most energetic of the group she was unofficially voted to be the one to talk to the owner of the house. When the front door opened the quartet was greeted by the sight of a little girl no taller than Usagi's little brother Goten holding onto a fat Russian blue cat. Makoto smiled at the girl before talking to her.
"Hi there is your mom or dad at home?" Makoto asked her.
"No they're both out at the moment." The girl replied.
As the girl talked to Makoto Ranma noticed the rather fat cat in her arms and hid behind Usagi who had the moon rod out to test it on the girl.
"C-c-c-cat and it's a real one this time." He whispered in her ear.
"Ranma the moon rod is responding to the girl." Usagi whispered back showing him the glowing rod.
Ranma watched as the cat looked around for a moment and then jumped out of the little girl's arms.
"Oh no, Rhett Butler come back here!" the little girl called out as she went after the fat cat.
"That was a close one." Ranma said in relief.
"That was close." Ami added in agreement.
Usagi sighed as she watched the girl's retreating form and decided the best thing to do would be to go after the little girl.
"Well we have no choice but to go after her. The girl has the seventh crystal inside her." Usagi announced to the others.
Ami and Makoto were stunned by what they had heard. The small girl was going to be the next target of the Dark Kingdom.
********
The little girl ran after Rhett Butler following him into a tiny alleyway. Looking around the alley the girl saw no sign of her beloved Russian Blue cat. And as she continued to look for the fat cat Zoicite appeared in the alleyway. Upon seeing the girl Zoicite prepared to make his move.
********
Luna tried once again to outrun the stray cats. Running into an alley Luna was backed into the wall by the cats who then began to surround her. As the cats continued to advance on her one of the cats from earlier that morning began lashing out at her trying to bite and scratch her. The cat continued its attack but stopped suddenly when the familiar fat form of Rhett Butler jumped in between Luna and the attacking stray cat. Rhett grabbed Luna in his mouth and bounded off with her onto a nearby fence. But as he tried to walk along the fence with Luna in his mouth Rhett lost his footing and fell off of the fence and landed on a loose manhole cover. The manhole cover gave way and the two felines fell down to the sewers below.
********
Zoicite went over to where the little girl was and made his move. Raising his Ki ever so slightly the effeminate general prepared to attack the girl. Thrusting out his hand Zoicite sent enough pink crystal energy at the girl to knock her out.
"Zoi!" he yelled as he made his attack.
With the girl now out of commission the effeminate general pulled out his black crystal and prepared to remove the violet crystal from the girl's body. Holding the crystal over the fallen girl's body Zoicite called forth its power.
"Rainbow crystal I command you to come forth!" Zoicite called out.
Holding the black crystal over the girl Zoicite expected it to begin to glow and pull the seventh crystal out of her body. But nothing happened. The girl was not the carrier of the seventh crystal. Zoicite was stunned that the girl did not have a crystal inside of her.
"How can this be! The black crystal clearly showed me that this girl held the seventh crystal within her." Zoicite complained.
Zoicite began to recall the exact image the black crystal had shown him. The girl was clearly in the image but also in that same image was her rather large Russian Blue cat. It was then Zoicite realized that the true holder of the seventh crystal was not the girl but the cat she held within her tiny arms.
"It must be that oversized cat of hers!" Zoicite said when he realized where the last crystal was.
Zoicite was about to go after the cat when he heard a commotion coming from behind him.
Sailor Moon, Sailor Mercury, Sailor Jupiter, and Ranma tried to squeeze into the tiny alley but there were too many of them and they just couldn't fit. Upon seeing Zoicite Sailor Moon announced their presence.
"Attacking an innocent child is the lowest thing you could have done Zoicite!" Sailor Moon called out, "I am the sailor suited soldier Sailor Moon and in the name of the moon I shall punish you!"
As Sailor Moon said her speech she began to go through the hand motions and before she could finish them Sailor Moon accidentally hit Jupiter and Mercury in the face and stomach.
"Hey watch where you're putting your arms Sailor Moon." Jupiter said.
"Someone's elbow is digging into my side." Ranma complained.
"Do something before he gets away Mercury." Sailor Moon said.
Mercury began to power up for her bubble attack in the cramped space.
"Mercury Bubbles Blast!" she called out.
The attack backfired and Mercury lost her footing before she could finish the attack. As the cold mist struck Ranma, activating his curse, Mercury fell on top of Jupiter and her left boot hit Sailor Moon in the face. Jupiter began to blush because of the compromising position Mercury had fallen on her. Jupiter had a very good view up Mercury's skirt.
"Ouch, that hurt." Sailor Moon complained.
"Um, Mercury nice view there." Jupiter commented.
"You guys better do something before he gets away." A now female Ranma said.
Jupiter began to power up for her attack letting her antenna gather the electrical energy in the air. But before she could even get to her full power for her attack Sailor Moon and Sailor Mercury tried to stop her.
"Jupiter don't!" Sailor Moon said.
"If you release your attack here we could all be electrocuted." Mercury added.
Zoicite noticed the predicament the Senshi and their aquatransexual ally were in and used it to his advantage. In his usual shower of pink sakura petals Zoicite vanished from the tiny alleyway.
********
Using his black crystal Zoicite tracked down Rhett Butler into the sewer system. Climbing down into the sewers the effeminate general cringed at the smell of the sewer gas.
"Ugh this smell, it's the worst thing in the entire world." Zoicite complained.
Zoicite began trudging through the sewer. The smell was bad enough but the dark general had to deal with the wet shoes and the dirty animals.
"The only thing I hate more than the smell are the dirty animals. Queen Beryl better appreciate what I'm doing for her." Zoicite said.
********
Ranma and the girls had brought the little girl back to her house so she could recover from the attack. As the girls got her settled into her bed Ranma went to the bathroom to get some hot water so he could change back into a guy. While Ami made certain the girl was going to be alright Usagi checked out the room. Makoto started to wonder where Luna had gotten herself to.
"Hey Usagi what ever happened to Luna?" Makoto asked her.
"Luna must be out messing around somewhere." Usagi said.
"Usagi, you know Luna wouldn't do something like that." Ami remarked, "What if she's in trouble?"
"You worry about those things too much." Usagi replied just before she noticed the Sailor V game on the home video game system in the room, "Hey she has a Sailor V game of her own."
Makoto looked at the little girl. She couldn't believe she had a rainbow crystal inside her body.
"I just can't believe someone so young is a target of the Dark Kingdom. What if Zoicite returns for her?" Makoto said.
"Then every single one of us does whatever we can to protect the little girl." A now male Ranma said as he returned to the room.
"But what about that incredibly fat cat of hers?" Ami asked her fiancé.
"As long as that thing of hers stays away from me then there should be no problems." Ranma said trying hard not to mention cats.
Usagi at that moment could have cared less about whether or not Zoicite showed up. She was more interested in the home gaming system the girl had in her house. The only person Usagi knew who had a home gaming system was Trunks.
"Wow this game is real neat." Usagi commented as she began to play the game.
Everyone else in the room just sighed as they saw Usagi play the video game.
********
Zoicite continued to trudge along the sewers looking for the overly fat cat. Looking at the black crystal the effeminate general knew the seventh crystal was nearby. Stopping to catch his breath Zoicite placed his hand on the wall of the sewer. Much to his surprise the wall was quite soft. Upon closer inspection Zoicite saw that the wall was moving. What he thought was a wall was mice, hundreds upon hundreds of mice.
"Ugh, this place is crawling with mice!" Zoicite said.
With that Zoicite decided to get out of the sewer as fast as he could and as he ran through the sewer the mice began running after him.
********
Rei had nothing to do that afternoon. After waiting outside the Crown Fruit Parlor for ten minutes after one o'clock had come and gone Rei knew she would be spending another lonely afternoon with not a thing to do. Rei began to wonder why Mamoru had stood her up. Is our relationship over with already, Rei thought to herself.
Not really paying attention to where she was going Rei ran into Yuuichirou. Looking up Rei saw that Yuuichirou was dressed simply in his usual black denim pants with a dark blue shirt over a white t-shirt. With a big smile on his face Yuuichirou asked Rei to go out with him.
"What a surprise. I was just thinking about you Rei." Yuuichirou said, "I was wondering if you'd like to go out and get some ice cream with me."
Rei thought about his offer for a moment and was about to give him her response. But before she could make her decision vocal Yuuichirou added something else to the conversation.
"I'm just fooling myself though. A pretty girl like you probably doesn't have the time to spend with a guy like me." Yuuichirou said.
With that Yuuichirou left the scene and went on his way leaving Rei to wonder what was going on.
********
The trek down the sewers was long and smelly. The two cats had been wandering down the sewers for quite some time looking for a way out. And as they continued along their way Luna noticed one of Rhett's legs was injured. The left front leg had a large scratch across it. Luna stopped and began to examine the injury on Rhett Butler's front leg.
"You got that trying to save me from those cats." Luna said, "You really didn't have to save me but you did. Thank you."
As Luna continued to make certain Rhett was going to be okay she heard the faint sound of someone else trudging though the sewer system. Looking behind her Luna saw Zoicite running through the sewers with a horde of mice chasing after him.
Zoicite noticed the pair of cats ahead of him and saw that one of them was the oversized cat he was looking for. The seventh crystal was close at hand.
"I've finally found the seventh crystal. Soon it shall be mine." He said.
Luna looked between Rhett and Zoicite a few times before she finally realized that it wasn't the little girl who owned Rhett that held a crystal inside her it was Rhett. Zoicite was going after Rhett and Luna needed to do something to get the pudgy feline to safety. Spotting a nearby tunnel Luna ushered him towards it and began pushing him into it. After a few good shoves Luna was able to get Rhett into the tunnel.
As Luna and Rhett tried to get away from Zoicite the effeminate general followed the two felines into the tunnel. The tunnel was a way out of the sewers and the moment they reached the exit to the sewers the horde of mice that were following Zoicite caught up with the dark general.
********
Rei continued along on her lonely walk through the city. As she walked down the streets of the Mintako ward Rei began to think she should have accepted Yuuichirou's invitation to go out that afternoon. Maybe I should have said yes to Yuuichirou, Rei thought. But it was too late for that now. Stopping on a spot along the river Rei noticed to felines running away from one of the sewer tunnels. One of the cats was a very fat Russian Blue and the other cat was black with a very distinctive mark on it. Upon closer inspection Rei saw that the black cat was Luna.
"Luna must be on a date with that other cat. They look cute together." Rei commented.
********
Usagi continued playing the Sailor V video game while she and the others watched over the little girl. Ami was wondering why Zoicite hadn't tried to come after the girl once again while Makoto watched Usagi blast though another level on the video game. Ranma just sat and watched Ami check on the girl.
Checking on a gut feeling she had Ami went over to Usagi's pack and pulled out the moon rod. Looking at the crystal on the rod Ami noticed it wasn't flashing like it did before when they first came to the house.
"That's odd the moon rod isn't responding." Ami said.
"What makes that thing go off?" Ranma wanted to know.
"The moon rod responds to one of the rainbow crystals that are inside seven individuals. The crystals are like the one that was inside Ryouga. When the moon rod detects a crystal nearby the crystal on it begins to glow. And like Ryouga each carrier of a crystal will eventually turn into a youma." Ami explained.
After a brief moment of silence it finally hit Ami as to why the moon rod wasn't responding to the girl, she wasn't the one with a crystal inside her.
"Ranma you are a genius!" Ami shouted.
"I am?" Ranma asked utterly confused.
"I should have noticed it earlier." Ami replied.
"Then the girl isn't a youma? But it was responding before." Makoto said over her shoulder.
"That's because it wasn't the girl." Ami explained to Ranma and Makoto.
"You mean it was…" Makoto began.
"Oh no not the c-c-c-thing." Ranma finished.
Usagi was oblivious to the conversation taking place around her and a few minutes after the others had come to the realization that they were wasting their time at the girl's house she finally died.
"Oh no I lost the game." She complained.
"Good because now we can go after that crystal." Makoto said.
"Huh?" Usagi asked her.
"We just realized the crystal isn't in the girl it's in her fat you know what." Ranma told her getting Usagi up to speed on the situation.
"Oh then what are we waiting for?" Usagi said as she got up to leave the room.
********
Zoicite and the mince had finally reached the end of the tunnel. Bursting out of the tunnel with the mice all around him the effeminate general found Luna and Rhett Butler trying to get away from the sewers. Stopping in front of the pair of felines Zoicite pulled out his black crystal and prepared to turn the oversized Rhett into a youma.
"It's time for this fat cat to return to the Dark Kingdom." Zoicite said.
Rei heard the commotion coming from near the sewer tunnel and turned to investigate the source of the sound. Looking towards the sewers Rei saw Zoicite ready to attack Luna and her male companion. Rei immediately knew Zoicite was after another crystal. Pulling out her henshin rod Rei prepared to transform into Sailor Mars.
"Mars Power!" Rei called out as she tossed her henshin rod into the air.
With the usual light show Rei was transformed into Sailor Mars. With the transformation complete Sailor Mars went to help Luna and her oversized feline friend.
"A love between two individuals is a sacred thing even if they happen to be felines." Mars said announcing her presence to both Zoicite and the cats.
"It isn't like that Mars." Luna replied denying the romantic nature of the incident.
With the black crystal placed firmly in his hands Zoicite held it out over the fat Russian Blue feline and charged it with his Ki in order to get the seventh crystal from Rhett's body. When his Ki level was at its peak Zoicite made his move and called forth the last crystal.
"Black crystal I command you to bring forth the crystal to me." Zoicite called out.
The black crystal began to glow and soon the crystal inside Rhett began reacting to the power of the black crystal. The large Russian Blue feline began yowling in pain as the violet crystal made its way out of his body and into the waiting hand of the dark general. The moment the crystal touched his hand two things happened at the exact same moment.
With the crystal out of his body Rhett began to change from a fat pudgy feline into a very large cat creature with black and blue fur. Adorning his body on his wrists, ankles, and neck were several gold chains and bangles. The feline youma had a menacing look to his eyes and long sharp claws. He was the last of the Seven Shadows of the Dark Kingdom Bakene.
As Rhett turned into the youma a red streak came and grazed Zoicite across the hand knocking the final crystal out of his hand. There near the fallen crystal embedded in the ground was the calling card of Tuxedo Mask, a perfect red rose. The dapper defender did away with the pleasantries and all the speeches and cut right to the chase by snatching the crystal and leaving the scene. With his latest find in his hands Tuxedo Mask now had two of the crystals to himself leaving Zoicite with four of his own. The Senshi still had possession of the yellow crystal from Ryouga's body.
Luna and Mars were not very concerned about the fact that Tuxedo Mask got away with the crystal; they were more concerned with the large youma near the sewers. Thinking Bakene would attack at any moment they were taken by surprise when the large youma began to head towards the city. Luna knew something had to be done. Sliding down the side of the walls near the sewer the lunar feline landed safely into the large outstretched paw of Bakene. Looking up at the youma Luna tried to make a connection with him.
"You don't have to do this you know." Luna said, "I have friends who can help you. They can turn you back into the cat you once were. Don't you want to go back to the little girl who loves you so?"
Bakene looked down at Luna and seemed to recognize her for the briefest of moments before beginning to head towards the city once again. Not wanting to stop the youma was temporarily halted when a voice broke through the silence.
"Mercury Bubbles Blast!" the familiar voice called out blanketing the area in a thick fog.
"Gee thanks now I'm female again Mercury." Another feminine voice complained.
"Took you guys long enough!" Mars yelled at them.
"It's not my fault we were late." A third voice replied.
"Don't blame Sailor Moon on this one. We're all equally to blame." Mercury said.
The youma unable to see in the dense fog stopped in its tracks trying to figure out what to do next. With the youma temporarily out of commission the owner of the second voice and a third individual leapt down the side of the sewer walls to collect their feline friend. When the two females got closer to Luna she saw who they were. One was a red headed and obviously female version of Mercury's fiancé Ranma and the other was the tall muscular form of Sailor Jupiter. Jupiter grabbed Luna while Ranma prepared to take on the youma in order to help weaken it.
The moment the ailurophobic martial artist hit the hands of the large youma he realized that Bakene used to be the fat cat the little girl was holding when they first got to the house. Bakene let out a loud hiss and Ranma stiffened and began to tremble at the sound of the overgrown feline.
"C-c-c-cat!" Ranma yelled, "Get me, meow hiss, away, meow hiss, from, meow hiss, this thing."
It wasn't long after his plea for help that Ranma Saotome found himself in the throws of the dreaded neko-ken. Ranma blanked out and his feline persona took control of his body. Taking in his surroundings Ranma noticed Luna, the Senshi, Bakene, and Zoicite all looking directly at him. Taking an even closer look at Mercury Neko Ranma concluded that she was the pretty lap lady Ami.
When Neko Ranma saw Bakene, however, he knew the youma was not to be trusted. Strange feline try to hurt crescent kitty, he thought, he must be dealt with.
With that Neko Ranma began lashing out at Bakene trying to stop the youma from hurting anyone else.
Mercury saw the state Ranma was in and knew something had to be done before he lost himself to the neko-ken. Looking over at Sailor Moon Mercury pleaded with her to do something.
"You have to stop him before he kills himself. Or at least get him to notice me. It's the only way Ranma will return to normal." Mercury said.
Looking over where Ranma and Bakene were fighting Sailor Moon couldn't believe what she was seeing. Mercury had told her about what happened when Ranma was near regular cats for very long but she thought she would never see something like that happen. Now Ranma was trying to bite the monster cat in the neck any way he could. The noise coming from the combatants was scary.
Sailor Moon knew what she had to do in order to help her friend and training partner. Taking a deep breath Sailor Moon closed her eyes and focused on her Saiyan instincts letting them take control of her body and mind. The battle hunger that dwelled deep within the body of all Saiyans began to change Sailor Moon. When she opened her eyes they were no longer soft and caring and held a hard edge to them. Not wanting to harm Ranma or Bakene Sailor Moon launched herself into the air and fell into a ferocious volley of kicks and punches all aimed at getting Ranma off of the youma's neck.
Neko Ranma knew someone else was attacking the strange feline he could smell them. The scent coming off the new person was unlike anything he had ever smelled before. He knew it wasn't the pretty lap lady or her sister the strange camera lady Nabiki but someone entirely new. This person had a very strong scent and Neko Ranma could tell she wanted to protect the pretty lap lady as much as he did. Knowing the strange feline was being dealt with Neko Ranma let go of Bakene's neck and dropped to the ground before running over to Mercury so he could protect her.
Upon seeing that Ranma was now safe in the waiting lap of Mercury Sailor Moon decided to end the battle. Pulling out the moon rod from her personal pocket Sailor Moon prepared to return Bakene to the fat Russian Blue he once was. With a flick of her wrist Sailor Moon began her final move.
"Moon Healing Escalation!" Sailor Moon called out.
Circling the moon rod before her Sailor Moon sent a wave of bright light to Bakene that seemed to envelope him. The oversized shadow warrior cried out in pain with a loud yowl. When the light had faded the shadow warrior was now just an ordinary fat cat. And upon seeing the passed out feline on the ground Jupiter picked him up so they could return him to the little girl who loved him so.
Luna and the Senshi looked over to Mercury to let her know it was time to get going. What they saw was one sight they would never forget. The still female Ranma was curled up in Mercury's lap asleep as the effects of the neko-ken wore off. Mercury was rubbing Ranma's head and speaking soft soothing words to the sleeping martial artist. It was obvious to the other Senshi that Mercury actually loved her fiancé even if she didn't think so.
"Mercury it's time to get going." Mars said breaking the silence.
"If you want I can carry him for you." Sailor Moon offered.
"Oh I didn't realize it was over with." Mercury replied as Sailor Moon picked up the sleeping Ranma.
********
Luna, Ranma, and the girls stood across from the little white house and watched as the little girl hugged and played with Rhett Butler. The little girl was happy to have her beloved kitty back home and she showed it by showering him with kisses. As the girls watched the tender scene they couldn't help but smile. Even Ranma who had a somewhat forced fear of cats let a smile cross his still female face. The danger to any more human lives was over with now that the last crystal had been found. But the Senshi knew they had to somehow get the crystals from Zoicite and Tuxedo Mask.
"Finally it's over." Usagi commented.
"But we still have to get the other crystals from Zoicite and Tuxedo Mask." Ami reminded her.
"At least there won't be any more innocent people hurt by Zoicite anymore." Makoto said.
"Thank Kami for that." Ranma remarked.
No thank Dende for that, Usagi thought remembering her best friend and current guardian of Earth.
Usagi looked over at Ami and Ranma and noticed the usually bickering pair was standing a little closer to each other. She didn't like the fact that Ranma sometimes became involved in the battles with the Dark Kingdom but she knew he could take care of himself. After all he was a martial artist and just like all of her father's friends he was sworn to defend and protect the innocent. Taking another glance over at the betrothed couple Usagi could swear they were beginning to show their true feelings for one another.
Rei like the others was glad this part of the battle was over with. Looking over at her friends she noticed Luna was standing a bit off to one side intently watching the little girl and her large oversized cat. Rei could tell Luna was grateful the cat had survived the attack and was reunited with the girl he loved very much but she wondered if Luna had any feelings for the Russian Blue.
"Luna don't you want to go and say goodbye to your boyfriend before we head out?" Rei asked the feline.
"I told you it isn't like that." Luna tried to deny with an obvious tint to her feline face.
Rei just stood there and smiled at Luna. Even cats can have crushes.
********
Finally another episode is over with. With everything that has been going on recently it's been hard to be inspired to finish this episode. That was even before the NY incident. As we all know FF.net has been very temperamental lately and prone to going on the fritz temporarily. That plus the lack of updates on my favorite stories have caused me to become a bit uninspired to write anything. Okay I guess you can add the lack of reviews to the list as well. I don't understand why my loyal readers haven't been giving me any reviews. Maybe I need to become like other authors and say the next episode won't come out until I get so many reviews. I'm not going to demand reviews but I do want them or else my future episodes will be as bad as Mike Ditka singing Take Me Out to the Ballgame during the seventh inning of a Cubs home game and as any Chicagoan knows that is saying a lot.
Now as for this particular episode I thought brining in the whole neko-ken issue helped make the episode somewhat interesting. I tried to give the audience who has no Ranma knowledge a little bit of a background into the whole neko-ken technique Genma had used. I thought it would be a good factor for Ami to realize she cares for Ranma but just like Ranma she won't say a word to her fiancé about it. So as you can see one couple is getting closer while another is drifting apart setting the stage for future episodes.
Speaking of future episodes up next is an episode I thought I wasn't going to have to address but I guess if I want the crystals to only be in the hands of Zoicite and Mamoru I'm going to have to use this one after all. So what will happen next? Well in an effort to prove to his new girl just how much he loves her Umino will do just about anything even take advice from Usagi. Say hello to the defender of the internet Tuxedo Umino with his deadly coconut shrimp attack. It's fun and mayhem as the Dark Kingdom wrecks havoc on a stage show at an amusement park. Find out who comes out on top and who gets the yellow crystal in episode 18 Tuxedo Umino.
