Hey all, and welcome to CHAPTER THREE!! Anyway, as I was reading through my
last chapter, I quickly realized that it, indeed, had little to no content
that was in any way serious or dramatic. Now, I don't think it's a major
problem at this point, but the story WILL get more of a plot, get more
romantic/dramatic/serious or whatever. however, for the most part, it's
gonna be a comedy. I sincerely hope you're all cool with that. (Don't
forget to review if you're not! Don't forget to review if you have ANY
opinions whatsoever!)
And here's where I take the time to thank the reviewers, because I love you all so much! (Sorry If I don't get you all, I'm only referring to the people who reviewed up to chapter two-but that doesn't mean I don't love all you other people who only reviewed the other chapters too! I'm just sort of in a rush.
Ahem.
Steffan- Wow, you smart, smart person, you guessed it! You got all of the scouts correct! COULD these girls be more powerful than the NWC? Only time will tell!
Shane- Thanks for your reviews, they're always so nice, and I'll try really hard to keep Kasumi and Nabiki true to their original characters! Oh, and don't worry about Neko-ken. he'll come around! I'll be sure to look into 'Sailor Hellblazer', as well.
Demecowen- Well, actually, I had originally considered adding the Outer Scouts counter parts to this story, I had even given them all Ranma ½ characters!- but I don't think It's going to work. Luna and Artemis don't really have much to do with the outers in the first place, and it would be hard since Pluto's replacement would have to guard the time gate, and Saturn would have too many responsibilities. not to mention all of their talismans. Okay, okay, I know I could technically pull it off if I put my mind to it! But I'm not going to. Sorry!
Saturn Angel- Referring to both reviews. THANK YOU! You're so kind! You always give me really helpful advice! I'm sorry if I sounded snappy about the tux. I feel like a jerk! But I really appreciate your comments, and I'm so sorry about the Artemis thing again. (How lame can I get?) I definitely agree with your R/A philosophy, too. ((hint hint)) and I hope you enjoy all of the other chapters to come.
Shinji Ikari- Errr. well, first off, you misread the note about Ranma, (he will have a big part) and I encourage you to be kinder with your reviews for future authors! It's just polite.
LAST IMPORTANT NOTE: Ranma will definitely be getting a piece of the action, just let the girls get accustomed to be scouts first. wait for it people, it'll happen.
Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma ½ OR Sailor Moon.
Partial Eclipse
By Rio Grande Chapter Three: Little Surprises Everywhere
"So, she stole the Glowing Stone Necklace Of China, in the end, didn't she?" Luna sighed, resting her head against the computer screen, of which rested in the scout's secret base, beneath Andy's arcade. Artemis gave her a regretful look, this was hard on all of them.
"Yes," he admitted. "But. there was nothing we could have done to stop it. She must have snatched it while the girls were trying to kill that monster."
"Meaning, that Disformunous was just a decoy the whole time. something to distract the girls with." Luna stated.
"It would look that way,"
"Dammit Artemis! She's taking us for a couple of fools! And the girls are especially in danger now that she knows they're so new, no inexperienced.we are in trouble." Luna cursed, pulling her head up and during to stare furiously at the white cat, of whom she was still a little peeved at for having ducked out of the fight when he was needed most for reasons unknown to her. She had questioned him about it afterward, but all she had managed to get out of the troublesome guardian was : 'It was a mistake.' Humph.
"I know we're in trouble Luna, but that means we're just going to have to press the girls harder, make their powers evolve faster! You know they can do it, we both do! They're hearts are too strong to be underestimated." Luna turned to stare out into space now, her caramel brown eyes glazed over.
"They're sort of like the scouts when THEY first started out. aren't they?" Luna mentioned, voice wistful.
"Aww. Luna don't sound like that! They'll come back, you KNOW they'll come back! We've seen the future and they're sort of in it, which means that in some point in time, the scouts will be back here with us!" Artemis said, confidently. Luna nodded soberly, a small smile on her face.
"You're right, of course you're right. It's just. I miss them. Things would be so much easier if they were all around. And we haven't even gotten any word from Setsuna. makes me wonder if things are going so great over there.I wonder if they're all in good health." Artemis stared at his partner levelly for a second.
"We have to tell them," he finally decided. "We can't just let them go on thinking this jobs going to be over quick. We have to let the Nermia girls in on all the details. It's only fair." Luna winced, but nodded once more, compliant.
"Yes. We should. It's just. they're going to be so OUTRAGED. You saw how they acted before. It's not going to go over well. Especially when we tell them that they have a real enemy now." Luna pointed out, leaping down from her perch on the chair, and sitting close to Artemis, resting her head on his shoulder.
"Trust me, I know this isn't going to be fun. But, they deserve it! They're in for a wild ride, to say the least," Artemis groaned, glancing up at the digital map Luna had opened up on the computer. It was a map of Tokyo, and strategically scattered around it were little red dots. points where ancient, magical artifacts were held, and where they were guessing Ritsuko would strike next to obtain her goal. This was not going to be easy.
*
"Where WERE you last night?" Ranma repeated, arms folded in what he hoped was a menacing fashion. Akane rolled her eyes and turned back to her lunch. She had been effectively dodging Ranma's question all morning, but the boy was pretty persistent. She didn't now whether to be flattered by his concern, or pissed off that he was ruining her cover by being so nosy.
"It's not a big deal," she said, waving her chopsticks around in a 'bug off' manner. Ranma frowned.
"Well, yeah, it is. You three just disappeared and I couldn't find you anywhere! I thought you had been kidnapped again or something!"
"That's ridiculous!"
"Wouldn't be the first time it happened." He pointed out flatly. Akane sighed because he was right. But, if she was going to be a full time Scout, this would be happening a lot, and she would have to deal with it. Time to start lying her ass off.
"Look, if you really want to know. we were having a girls night out," she said, folding her arms and holding her head up.
"Well why didn't you just say so? And where?" Ranma asked frowning. He wasn't so much terribly angry as he was confused about all this. WHY hadn't she just admitted that in the first place. Ranma wasn't dumb, contrary to popular belief, and could distinctly tell that something was amiss here.
"Why do you care? I mean, we just did girly stuff." Akane huffed, wishing very much now that he would stop prying. She wasn't a good liar and she knew it, a girls night out was the best she could come up with and she'd be damned if her imagination for lying stretched any farther than that.
"Yeah, but I looked everywhere for you, and you weren't in any of the usual 'girly' places! Akane , you're keeping something from me." He said, coldly. Akane bristled, face red.
"Well. well what do you care?" she demanded sharply.
"I care a lot!" he hissed.
"You do?" she asked, her voice suddenly breathless, and innocent.
"Well. yeah! I would have gotten in major trouble if you guys hadn't gotten home when you did," he said simply.
"Oh." Akane sighed. That really wasn't the answer she had been looking for. ".Listen, I have some work to do, I'll see you later." She began to gather up her lunch things, intent on getting some homework done before she math class started.
"Hey! Hey, you didn't tell me where you were!" Ranma called after her, slightly cross over the fact that he was being ditched. Akane waved over her shoulder at him without turning around, dismissing his question. Ranma let out a frustrated growl, before digging into his own lunch with a vengeance. He HATED when she did stuff like that! WHY did she have to keep things from him?
"Hey, Ran-chan!" a familiar voice called out. Ranma looked up to see Ukyo come trotting towards him, a portable grill tucked firmly under her arm. Ranma smiled, hopefully good ol' U-chan would cheer him up. He really didn't understand why Akane was so good at hitting all the right nerves, or why he constantly worried so much about her, why he cared. shaking his head, and pushing all troublesome thoughts aside, Ranma gave off a broad smile for his friend.
"Hey U-chan, what's up." Ukyo, wearing her customary boys uniform and large spatula strapped to her back, kneeled down quickly next to her fiancée, and quickly got to work on whipping up some delicious okanamiyaki. She knew Ranma would eat everything she gave him. The thought made her smile.
"Oh, you know, nothing much. Just the usual," she said, as casually as she could. Happy as she was to see Ranma, she also had a number of other things on her mind. Mainly scout stuff. All night long she had stayed up thinking about it. Was she really a Sailor Scout? Had anything really happened? It seemed a little too surreal, but, that morning, when she had made eye contact with Nabiki, and found that she shared a deep secret with the senior now, it hit her that yes, this was real, and yes, it was just going to have to be another odd thing to add to the already impressive list of oddities in her life. Ukyo was actually sort of exited that she now had a special bond with all of the four girls, but, at the same time, she wished she didn't have yet another responsibility that would hinder her work at the U-chan. Oh well. That's just life, she supposed.
"Hey, did you, by any chance, see Akane yesterday, after school? Maybe Nabiki and Kasumi too?" Ranma asked, leaning his back against the large old tree he was sitting under. It was where he and Akane usually ate lunch together, it's shade comforting on the warmer days. Ukyo froze up at his comment. She didn't want to lie to Ran-chan. not Ran-chan! On the other hand, she wasn't being given many other options.
"No," she said, avoiding his gaze, and pretending to be fully wrapped up with her cooking food. "Why?"
"Well, it's just, they were all missing last night! And of course Pops made me go look for them, but, I couldn't find any sign of them, all night! By the time I got home, they were already there, had been for the past ten minutes apparently. It was really odd. And then, to top that all off, when I asked Akane about it, she wouldn't tell me where she had been! What does she have to hide?" Ranma smiled wryly and shook his head. "Man, it sounds stupid talking about it, like I'm worrying a lot over nothing." He let out a short bark of laughter. "Yeah, what am I fussing about, that tomboy can take care of herself! I'm definitely not worried about Nabiki getting into trouble, and who would hurt Kasumi around here?"
"All good points," Ukyo said, agreeing with him completely, and REALLY wanting him to change the subject. It hadn't occurred to her that it would be hard to hide the scout's identity from Ranma. but then again, he DID live with three of them, and this could get messy. "I'm sure they were all FINE last night, you're right, nothing to worry about!" she enthused.
"Yeah! Right. Heh, sorry to bore you U-chan. Just be being paranoid. Anyway, that okanamiyaki ready yet?"
"Eeek! Oh my God, I think I just burnt it," Ukyo gasped, flipping over her okanamiyaki quickly, and cursing herself mentally for getting so distracted. She NEVER burnt her food!
"Hey, it's okay U-chan. I already ate, but you haven't. You want some of my sushi? Kasumi made them,"
"Ohh. that's so sweet Ran-chan! But don't worry, I think I can whip up some more quick enough." Ukyo said as she began to do just that, face flushed with happiness. Ranma was so cute! And one day, they could be-
"Hey, Ukyo, I think I just saw Ryoga!" Ranma said, abruptly standing up.
"Huh?" Ukyo asked, standing with him. "Oh my God, you're right! Is that him over there by the gates?"
"I'm almost positive," Ranma said, marching forward. "Let's catch him before he gets lost again!"
"Right," Ukyo agreed, chasing after the pigtailed martial artist. Ryoga was a good friend. The two were originally connected purely through Ranma, however, various adventures and misadventures had bonded them together to the point of a comfortable friendship.
"Hey, Ryoga! Pig-head! What's up?" Ranma called, trotting over to the muscular martial artist. Ryoga's head abruptly snapped to the side, as he spotted the bane of his life sashay up to him with a large smile plastered to his annoying face.
"Ranma!" he growled, eyes aflame. "What in the seven hells are you doing in Cambodia!?"
".Um, sugar, this is Nermia." Ukyo pointed out, after an awkward silence had effectively silenced Ranma's big mouth.
"What? Really?" Ryoga said, eyes wide. "Than that means. Akane's here! I've finally found my way back to her!" Ryoga literally looked as though he were about to bubble over with joy.
"Hey! Now waita minute there, lover boy-" a peeved Ranma started, stepping towards the lost boy, and preparing to knock some sense into that thick skull of-
"Yes! Yes Akane is definitely here!" Ukyo agreed, a wonderful plan forming in her head. "In fact, why don't I take you to her?"
"You'd do that?" Ryoga asked, pleased.
"Sure, sugar. Here, just take my hand, for safeties sake." Ukyo said, grinning like the Cheshire Cat, and leading Ryoga towards the school. She had seen Akane enter it before going over to eat with Ran-chan, so.
"Hey, stop! Ukyo!" Ranma called, chasing after the determined duo, worried. No way was he going to let Ryoga near Akane!
*
Akane heaved a large sigh as she attempted to finish the rather long algebraic equation she was working on. The huge downside of missing a lot of math class, was that you didn't learn the methods on how to solve the problems with everyone else, and if you couldn't solve the problems, you couldn't do all the homework, and if you didn't solve all the homework, you didn't pass the class, and if you didn't pass the class, it went on your permanent record, and if it went on your permanent record, you didn't get into college, and if you didn't get into college, the only solution was to perform ritual seppuku!! Obviously. Well, that's how her mind worked, at least.
'No wonder Ranma thinks I'm crazy. I'm driving myself insane!' Akane cried mentally, pulling at a lock of hair as she worked.
"Knock knock," Nabiki sang, wrapping on the door of the abandoned classroom Akane was working in.
"Hey onee-chan," Akane replied, putting her pencil down, and looking up at her sister. Good! This couldn't be considered procrastinating because SHE didn't initiate it! Yes!
"Sooo. how are things going?" Nabiki asked casually, sitting on Akane's desk, and flipping through the blue haired girls advanced algebra textbook.
"I assume your not referring to my health or social life," Akane guessed, raising an eyebrow.
"You could assume that," Nabiki admitted.
"Ughh. I don't know what to think, Nabiki. I mean, I don't NEED this, you know? This whole scout thing. It's a big responsibility! On the other hand, I don't think it's one of those things you get to decide whether or not you NEED. it's a duty you have to shoulder, and do your best at, no matter what." Akane said, sounding rather insightful, if she did say so herself.
"Maybe. I was sort of thinking it was just a hassle. I'm still sort of in shock, personally, but. I think I can deal with it," Nabiki said, firmly, puffing her chest out. After a second, she mellowed out. "Well. probably. I don't know. It's pretty scary, actually."
"Nabiki?" Akane asked, shocked. Did her sister, the Ice Queen of Japan, the Mercenary Girl, the Heartless Business Woman, the Eater of Live Children (actually, Akane had just made that one up) really just admit that she was FRIGHTENED of something. Uh oh. this was bad.
"Well, I mean, I have a right to be!- right? You guys. with the exception of Kasumi, are all martial artists, who've done stuff like this before! This is like cake for you. Me, I've never fought a demon. Just that one yesterday had me pretty upset. I don't know what to do if it gets worse." Akane felt an extreme wave of compassion rush through her, and she took her sister's hand in hers.
"Nabiki, we were all scared! And you don't have to worry about your fighting skills- you heard what Luna said, it's all about the strength of your heart!" the girl encouraged.
"And you think I'd be better off with heart power becaaauusee..?" Resisting the urge to smirk, and sort of agree with that notion, Akane continued.
"Luna wouldn't have chosen you for this job if she didn't think you were capable of being a competent scout. I'm sure of it." A flash of something that might have been considered thanks passed over Nabiki's features.
"Oh jeez Akane, don't get all mushy on me!" she said, pushing the younger girl away, and standing up. "In any case, I think that we should all meet up, all us scouts, and talk things over, you know? Get an idea of what we're doing."
"All right, but-" Akane was interrupted, as an overly pleased Ukyo, and love struck Ryoga, and a furious Ranma slammed into the room. Naturally. Of course. Nothing out of the norm there. "Ryoga!" Akane gasped, abruptly standing.
"When did you get back?" Nabiki asked. "I thought you were in Kenya."
"No, no, Iran." Akane corrected.
"Ohhh." Nabiki said, nodding her head in understanding.
"I-uh. just got back," Ryoga said, twiddling his thumbs and avoiding Akane's gaze. She was even more beautiful than he remembered!
"Well, why don't we all just . leave Akane and Ryoga alone!" Ukyo said, clapping her hands together happily.
"Why?" Ranma and Akane chorused, Ranma's eye twitching, Akane cocking her head curiously.
"Well, you know, I'm sure . Ryoga has something to give her! In private! Souvenir! From Bangladesh!" Ukyo said, fumbling around for a good excuse to leave the two lovebirds together.
"Iran." Nabiki corrected, not batting a lash. Could Ukyo be more transparent if she tried? Probably. But not by much.
"I do?" Ryoga asked, dumbly. Ukyo elbowed Ryoga in the ribs. He didn't catch on. "Ouch! What gives!?" he cried. She hit hard!
"Ughh. never mind." Ukyo groaned. Just as the young chef was about to go bang her head against a wall, Akane gasped loudly.
"Akane?" Ranma asked, noticing the girl's eyes wide, and her form visibly shake.
"I'm vibrating." She stated.
"What?" Everyone asked.
"It's. it's. my cell phone." she said, trailing off as she took a shiny new cell phone out of her skirt pocket. She had a cell phone? This was news to her!
"Heyyy. when did you get that?" Nabiki cried, looking over Akane's shoulder as the teen tried to figure out how to answer her call. "I've been asking Daddy to get me one of those for months! When did you get one?"
"Err. recently?" Akane offered, helplessly shrugging her shoulders. So a cell phone had just magically formed in her pocket, and the person on the other line was most likely a new villain or mentally deranged person ready to battle with her friends. Whatever. Looking at it from a different perspective, she had just gotten a free phone! "Hello?" she asked pleasantly. Everyone watched her receive her call with raised eyebrows. Cell phones? What were these cell phones? They didn't fit in with Nermia's carefully pre-made atmosphere! Why did Akane have one?
"Yes? Oh! Hi. Uh hu.. Uh hu. really? Wow. That's bad. That's really bad. Okay. Well. fine. All right. I'll see you soon," Akane swiftly ended the call and placed the phone carefully back in the pocket of her blue skirt, sighing.
"Well?" Nabiki asked, as Akane turned back to her desk, and began to clean things up, stuffing everything into her bag with deft fingers, her mind obviously elsewhere.
"We have to go. Ukyo and Nabiki, I mean," she stated, slinging her bag over her shoulder, and grabbing the two confused girl's hand's on her way out of the room.
"I'll see you guys later, stay for dinner Ryoga, why don't you?" Akane called over her shoulder. And then she turned a corner, and was gone, Ukyo and Nabiki not making any comment as they were dragged along.
"Um. okay." Ryoga said, seeing no reason NOT to stay for dinner!
"Do you think they're coming back to school today?" Ranma asked, generally curious.
"No, I'd assume not," Ryoga admitted, folding his arms, large pack still firmly strapped to his back. The two stood in silence for a few more moments. Ranma distantly heard the bell ring, signaling the end of lunch. He didn't really want to go back to class, come to think of it.
"Sooo. wanna fight?" Ranma asked, turning to Ryoga with a roguish grin on his features. Ryoga only had to think about THAT one for a few seconds.
"RANMA, PREPARE TO DIE! " the teen bellowed, swinging his 100 lb pink umbrella over his head, as he charged his arch nemesis like an elephant on speed, a deep hatred for the injustice of it all engraved deeply into his tormented soul!
"Now we're talking!" Ranma cried merrily, hopping out the window, Ryoga following after him quickly.
*
"Why are we running again?" Nabiki asked, her breath coming out in shallow pants. She was really out of shape when she wasn't Sailor Mars.
"Because, I just got a call from Luna! A demon is attacking the bank, and the police can't seem to stop it with bullets!" Akane explained, not even breaking a sweat, thanks to a healthy and consistent habit of jogging every morning for the past three years.
"Sounds like a job for the Sailor Scouts!" Ukyo cheered.
"Yay." Nabiki deadpanned, rolling her eyes.
"Luna said she can't get a hold of Shampoo, and that Kasumi is at Dr. Tofu's helping with a patient who was recently in a car accident, and couldn't possibly be bothered. she thinks we can handle it without them, anyway." Akane said, not sounding too positive about that one. Besides herself, Kasumi was the only other one with access to her scout powers!
"Do we know what kind of a demon this is?" Nabiki asked, as the girls weaved their way around the crowds of people who stood a little distance from the bank, watching the action with interest.
"Don't these people have the sense to run?" Ukyo cursed, eyeing the flashing lights of the cop cars close up ahead. These people could be hurt by the demon, and here they were, crowding around the crime scene!
"Not really, Luna just said it was a second class demon." Akane commented.
"But. that means it's better than the last one!" Nabiki pointed out, sounding a little nervous again.
"Girls, over here!" a voice sounded inside the girl's heads, coming from everywhere, and nowhere at all at the same time.
"Where are you, Artemis?" Ukyo asked, whipping her head around as she tried to locate the small cat with the crescent moon on his forehead. Since when was he telepathic?
"Over by the bus stop, to your left. Hurry! We have to stop this thing!" The girls nodded, and quickly trotted over to the vacant bus stop, where, sure enough, they found Luna and Artemis, waiting underneath the awning.
"Glad you got here so quick girls, but we have to hurry. that cat demon is causing quite a ruckus!" Luna said, brows furrowed, her head cocking to the direction of the bank. which was now partially engulfed in a storm of raging flames.
"Cat demon?" Akane asked, biting her lip. Not a good sign.
"Yes, now, transform before it kills one of the police officers!" Artemis encouraged. The girls all nodded, stepped back and. paused. Waiitt a minute.
"How do we transform again?" Ukyo wanted to know, smiling diffidently.
"Urgh!" Artemis growled, slapping his head with his paw. "We forgot! Raise your hands to the air, and shout, your planet, power. make up!" he encouraged. The girls all stared at him suspiciously for a moment, before deciding that as long as no one else was looking.
"YOUR PLANET POWER, MAKE UP!" They all cried dramatically, arms raised towards the heavens, voices strong and clear. They waited a beat, and when nothing special or in any way magical happened, they quickly wrenched their hands back down, blushing furiously.
"Heyy! You set us up for that one, didn't you? Trying to make us look dumb! Well, har har, but I THOUGT we had a bank to save," Akane huffed, folding her arms self consciously, as Nabiki resisted the urge to strangle the two felines.
"Ohhh my God." Luna groaned. "It's not 'YOUR PLANET POWER, make up,' it's, for example, 'Jupiter Power, Make Up!" She shook her head, disbelieving that this was what Tokyo's proud crime fighting team had been degraded to.
"Ohhhh." the girls all chorused, intelligently.
"Right, we knew that. We were just testing you." Ukyo said, sheepishly.
"Hurry!" Artemis hissed.
"MOON/MARS/JUPITER POWER! MAKE UP!" The girls cried hastily, snapping into action. This time, they felt it. Akane closed her eyes as a deep power within her heart released a surge of energy, and Nabiki shuddered as a rings of fire came flying at her from all directions. Ukyo curled up and let the lighting surround her. Within seconds, they were fully transformed, and feeling more powerful than ever.
"This really DOES rock," Ukyo admitted, as Akane and Nabiki agreed with her quietly.
"GO!!" Both of the cats ordered, having had it just about up to HERE. The girls spun on their heals, and dashed bravely forward, flinging themselves in harms way as they sped into the exploding bank.
"Oh my God! It's the Sailor Scouts!"
"I didn't even think they were real!"
"They're so cool!"
"Go kick that demon's ass!"
"Quick, get your camera Bob! The folks back in America will LOVE this!"
"You know, I could really get used to that," Nabiki divulged, smiling as the girls trotted through the bank, now 'safely' inside, and keeping their eyes peeled for evil looking cat demons.
"Oh yeah," Ukyo decided.
"You guys, over there!" Akane squeaked, pointing to a vault. Well, it used to be a vault. Now it was a rather impressive hole in the wall, with a large metal door tossed carelessly to the side, scratch marks dragged along its form. The girls winced, but started forward anyway.
Once by the fissure in the wall, the trio stood with their backs to the wall, on either side of the opening. Akane mouthed the words 'One. two. THREE!' And on three they all jumped into the vault, arms raised in various threatening positions, Nabiki's looking suspiciously like a gut reaction defensive motion.
"Don't move, or we'll DUST you!" Akane declared confidently. A furry form towards the back of the vault, who had been previously clawing through safety deposit boxes, now turned to look at the girls, its yellow, catty eyes narrowed into dangerous slits. All of the scouts gulped and took an involuntary step backwards. Uh oh. this one looked like it had BRAINS. Its form was sleek and black, larger than your average panther, and with large teeth that made it resemble a rabid saber-tooth more than anything. It seemed to be thinking about what to do with them. A deep growl emanated from its chest.
"Good kitty..?" Nabiki offered.
"ROOOWWWW!" the demon finally cried, rearing forward, and leaping at the girls. Ukyo and Nabiki both cried and dived to the side, however Akane stood her ground, tiara in hand. She leaned backwards and prepared to hurl it at the monster.
"MOON, TIARRAAA-" she started, her voice powerful and feminine. (NOT an oxy-moron.) "OOF!" she heaved, as the demon cat halted her attack in mid toss. She was shoved backwards and onto her back, the wind being effectively knocked out of her, and her tiara skidding to the side. The cat jumped over her, and landed a little ways away.
"Akane!" Nabki said, hurrying forward to help the fallen scout up, retrieving her tiara on the way.
"Hey! Ugly! Try this!" Ukyo roared, sending a barrage of handy little (razor sharp) spatulas at the demon, in an effort to get it to leave Akane and Nabiki alone. The demon didn't look the least bit affected as the spatulas shot off its skin as though it were made of a protective armor.
"Eeep." Was all Ukyo had to say to THAT. "Ah!!" she cried, falling to the ground, and letting the demon sail over her instead of swiping her head off when it decided to charge the scout of thunder. However, the demon seemed okay with this idea too, because it simply crashed through the window, and on to solid ground outside the bank. Nabiki ran up, and watched it bound away into the city. Damn it.
"We have to follow!" Akane ordered, dashing out of the bank, Nabiki and Ukyo close behind.
"It had something in its mouth! I saw it when it leaped over me!" Ukyo said, arms and legs pumping as all of the girls sprinted down the street, the now small form of the demon a ways ahead of them .
"That's bad! It was probably what it was after in the first place! Something in one of those safety deposit boxes! And now its. going to go use it for its own evil purposes, or give it to its master or something!" Nabiki declared, face placed into a deep frown. They really had to get the super hero thing down, and fast!
"Very astute Sailor Mars," Luna said, catching up with the girls, Artemis with her, as they all chased after the renegade demon.
"Really?" Nabiki questioned, skeptically.
"Yes. This demon definitely has a master, and we have a pretty good idea just WHO that master is, and WHAT they wanted from that bank. And let me tell you, it's bad news if it gets away with that artifact." Artemis said, shaking his head gravely.
"Well then, we'll just have to CATCH it!" Akane roared, speeding up, and running faster than she ever had in her life. Faster than she ever could of just as plain old Akane Tendo.
"You better explain to us how you know all of this information, too, when it's all over," Nabiki warned, not liking that she had no idea what sort of battle she was fighting. Luna sighed.
"Of course," she conceded.
*
"You know, I'm surprised that Nabiki isn't getting a piece of this action," Hiroshi mentioned to his three friends, Daisuke, Yuka, and Sayuri, as they all watched the heated battle with rapt attention.
"Yeah, where is she, anyway? She could be making millions off this fight!" Sayuri agreed, frowning lightly.
The fight had been going on for a solid half hour, and the teachers could no longer keep any of their students attention as they all came outdoors, or stuck their heads out classroom windows to watch the two frighteningly powerful martial artists, otherwise known as Ranma Saotome and Ryoga Hibiki duke it out for one utterly pointless reason or another. On the other hand, it was very entertaining, and apparently Ryoga had learned some new techniques on his journeys. He had already scored some major points on the surprised Ranma, and now the boy was bleeding heavily from the arm, and had sprained a wrist, much to his rage. He might have to go all out on this one.
"Ryagh!" he gasped, slamming himself against Ryoga's arm, and forcing both boys to crash into the schools walls. The entire building's form shook. but the dreaded umbrella DID fall from Ryoga's hand, rolling a few yards away. All of the students wisely avoided it. They already new about THAT umbrella. "Ha!" Ranma cheered, leaping away, and coming to a crouch, watching Ryoga's face carefully. He looked a bit pissed.
"Damn you Ranma! But. I don't need a weapon to destroy you, I can do it with my BARE HANDS!" he declared, rushing forward. Ranma readied himself into a casual fighting position, that infuriating smile that never failed to get his opponents so frustrated they were forced into a blind rage. and was about to get majorly tackled. when a dark something darted into the school yard, howling like something wicked, and scared everyone out of their wits.
"What's THAT!" Yuka cried, clasping her hands to her chest and clinging to Sayuri.
"Not part of the fight, I'm sure," Daisuke said.
The cat demon howled once more, in pain this time, as it tripped over an umbrella it had not expected to be so heavy. It trampled over it's own feet, and went face down on the ground, a small envelope flying out of its mouth, and landing some feet off.
"What's going on!?" Ryoga said, rushing forward, and tossing the demon's head off the umbrella as he checked to make sure his weapon of choice was still intact. "What is this thing?" he demanded, pointing at the saber-tooth looking monster. It growled at him, it's chin sill smarting from the small. It had to get that envelope! But someone was standing in front of it.
The demon's eyes sharp yellow eyes locked onto Ranma's, foam dripping from its mouth, over heated from all the fighting. Ranma didn't move an inch, his face so pale he could have competed with Snow White. Everyone immediately spotted the problem. Sound of "Ohhh nooo.." and "This isn't good." could be heard around the school grounds, as everyone decided on whether or not it would be wiser to leave, or more interesting to stick around and see what happens NOW!
"C-c-c"
It was at this moment that three angry Sailor Scouts and two small cats burst in through the school gates, a purpous in their steps.
"C-c-c"
"Where's the cat demon-! Oh! There it is!" Nabiki said, smiling, and pleased they had located their pray. Her grin was quickly wiped off her face when she saw just what the demon was growling at. "OhmyGod."
"Ran-chan, no!" Ukyo said. HOW could this of happened!? Of all of the half ass, stupid coincidences, WHY did this demon have to stop at Furiken?! It just wasn't FAIR!
"CAT!!!" Ranma howled, collapsing to the floor, and curling up in fetal position, still placed strategically in front of the envelope. The demon hesitated. what was this mortal doing? It could feel powerful every waves wafting from it, yet.
"Ranma." Akane said, trotting over to her fiancée, and kneeling by him, tapping his shoulder hesitantly. She didn't really know what to do, but neko-ken was the last thing they needed right-
"Meow?" Neko-Ranma offered, staring up adoringly into Akane's large brown eyes. Fuck.
And as Ranma quickly got on to all fours, and began rubbing up against Akane's thighs happily, the students of Furiken all smiling knowingly, Artemis just had to ask:
"What's he doing?" Carefully replying so that no one thought she was actually talking to the cat, Nabiki said:
"Erm, Ranma, this guy, we know him, in fact, he lives with me-"
"Wait- THAT'S Ranma Saotome?" Artemis interjected, thinking that, yes, the kid DID look familiar! He was the weirdo he had tried to talk to the other day! The kid who, supposedly, had God like powers!
"Yeah. anyway, he has a chronic fear of cats, so whenever he gets to close to them, or is overwhelmed by them. he converts to this neko-ken form, where he acts like a cat, and can slash things in half without even touching them.it's one of his most powerful attacks. It's only drawback is that he sort of looses his mind while doing it. So far only a few select people have the power to change him back," she explained as best she could. Ukyo bristled. what made AKANE get to be one of these people? And as she stomped purposely forward, towards Ranma, and the Neko-Ranma himself got into a defensive position in front of Sailor Moon, growling menacingly at the large, powerful demon, ready to defend the girl. a few things clicked in Artemis's head.
"Oh SHIT!" he gasped, eyes wide.
Author's Notes:
What did you think? I wrote this pretty late at night, so please forgive any careless mistakes. sorry. so tired. please review. Next chapter, Ranma goes into full Neko-ken battle mode, scouts have to stop the demon from getting back his little envelope, and its some major explaining time for Luna and Artemis. Named: 'NOW you tell us.' Have a nice day!
~Rio (papaya41@aol.com)
And here's where I take the time to thank the reviewers, because I love you all so much! (Sorry If I don't get you all, I'm only referring to the people who reviewed up to chapter two-but that doesn't mean I don't love all you other people who only reviewed the other chapters too! I'm just sort of in a rush.
Ahem.
Steffan- Wow, you smart, smart person, you guessed it! You got all of the scouts correct! COULD these girls be more powerful than the NWC? Only time will tell!
Shane- Thanks for your reviews, they're always so nice, and I'll try really hard to keep Kasumi and Nabiki true to their original characters! Oh, and don't worry about Neko-ken. he'll come around! I'll be sure to look into 'Sailor Hellblazer', as well.
Demecowen- Well, actually, I had originally considered adding the Outer Scouts counter parts to this story, I had even given them all Ranma ½ characters!- but I don't think It's going to work. Luna and Artemis don't really have much to do with the outers in the first place, and it would be hard since Pluto's replacement would have to guard the time gate, and Saturn would have too many responsibilities. not to mention all of their talismans. Okay, okay, I know I could technically pull it off if I put my mind to it! But I'm not going to. Sorry!
Saturn Angel- Referring to both reviews. THANK YOU! You're so kind! You always give me really helpful advice! I'm sorry if I sounded snappy about the tux. I feel like a jerk! But I really appreciate your comments, and I'm so sorry about the Artemis thing again. (How lame can I get?) I definitely agree with your R/A philosophy, too. ((hint hint)) and I hope you enjoy all of the other chapters to come.
Shinji Ikari- Errr. well, first off, you misread the note about Ranma, (he will have a big part) and I encourage you to be kinder with your reviews for future authors! It's just polite.
LAST IMPORTANT NOTE: Ranma will definitely be getting a piece of the action, just let the girls get accustomed to be scouts first. wait for it people, it'll happen.
Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma ½ OR Sailor Moon.
Partial Eclipse
By Rio Grande Chapter Three: Little Surprises Everywhere
"So, she stole the Glowing Stone Necklace Of China, in the end, didn't she?" Luna sighed, resting her head against the computer screen, of which rested in the scout's secret base, beneath Andy's arcade. Artemis gave her a regretful look, this was hard on all of them.
"Yes," he admitted. "But. there was nothing we could have done to stop it. She must have snatched it while the girls were trying to kill that monster."
"Meaning, that Disformunous was just a decoy the whole time. something to distract the girls with." Luna stated.
"It would look that way,"
"Dammit Artemis! She's taking us for a couple of fools! And the girls are especially in danger now that she knows they're so new, no inexperienced.we are in trouble." Luna cursed, pulling her head up and during to stare furiously at the white cat, of whom she was still a little peeved at for having ducked out of the fight when he was needed most for reasons unknown to her. She had questioned him about it afterward, but all she had managed to get out of the troublesome guardian was : 'It was a mistake.' Humph.
"I know we're in trouble Luna, but that means we're just going to have to press the girls harder, make their powers evolve faster! You know they can do it, we both do! They're hearts are too strong to be underestimated." Luna turned to stare out into space now, her caramel brown eyes glazed over.
"They're sort of like the scouts when THEY first started out. aren't they?" Luna mentioned, voice wistful.
"Aww. Luna don't sound like that! They'll come back, you KNOW they'll come back! We've seen the future and they're sort of in it, which means that in some point in time, the scouts will be back here with us!" Artemis said, confidently. Luna nodded soberly, a small smile on her face.
"You're right, of course you're right. It's just. I miss them. Things would be so much easier if they were all around. And we haven't even gotten any word from Setsuna. makes me wonder if things are going so great over there.I wonder if they're all in good health." Artemis stared at his partner levelly for a second.
"We have to tell them," he finally decided. "We can't just let them go on thinking this jobs going to be over quick. We have to let the Nermia girls in on all the details. It's only fair." Luna winced, but nodded once more, compliant.
"Yes. We should. It's just. they're going to be so OUTRAGED. You saw how they acted before. It's not going to go over well. Especially when we tell them that they have a real enemy now." Luna pointed out, leaping down from her perch on the chair, and sitting close to Artemis, resting her head on his shoulder.
"Trust me, I know this isn't going to be fun. But, they deserve it! They're in for a wild ride, to say the least," Artemis groaned, glancing up at the digital map Luna had opened up on the computer. It was a map of Tokyo, and strategically scattered around it were little red dots. points where ancient, magical artifacts were held, and where they were guessing Ritsuko would strike next to obtain her goal. This was not going to be easy.
*
"Where WERE you last night?" Ranma repeated, arms folded in what he hoped was a menacing fashion. Akane rolled her eyes and turned back to her lunch. She had been effectively dodging Ranma's question all morning, but the boy was pretty persistent. She didn't now whether to be flattered by his concern, or pissed off that he was ruining her cover by being so nosy.
"It's not a big deal," she said, waving her chopsticks around in a 'bug off' manner. Ranma frowned.
"Well, yeah, it is. You three just disappeared and I couldn't find you anywhere! I thought you had been kidnapped again or something!"
"That's ridiculous!"
"Wouldn't be the first time it happened." He pointed out flatly. Akane sighed because he was right. But, if she was going to be a full time Scout, this would be happening a lot, and she would have to deal with it. Time to start lying her ass off.
"Look, if you really want to know. we were having a girls night out," she said, folding her arms and holding her head up.
"Well why didn't you just say so? And where?" Ranma asked frowning. He wasn't so much terribly angry as he was confused about all this. WHY hadn't she just admitted that in the first place. Ranma wasn't dumb, contrary to popular belief, and could distinctly tell that something was amiss here.
"Why do you care? I mean, we just did girly stuff." Akane huffed, wishing very much now that he would stop prying. She wasn't a good liar and she knew it, a girls night out was the best she could come up with and she'd be damned if her imagination for lying stretched any farther than that.
"Yeah, but I looked everywhere for you, and you weren't in any of the usual 'girly' places! Akane , you're keeping something from me." He said, coldly. Akane bristled, face red.
"Well. well what do you care?" she demanded sharply.
"I care a lot!" he hissed.
"You do?" she asked, her voice suddenly breathless, and innocent.
"Well. yeah! I would have gotten in major trouble if you guys hadn't gotten home when you did," he said simply.
"Oh." Akane sighed. That really wasn't the answer she had been looking for. ".Listen, I have some work to do, I'll see you later." She began to gather up her lunch things, intent on getting some homework done before she math class started.
"Hey! Hey, you didn't tell me where you were!" Ranma called after her, slightly cross over the fact that he was being ditched. Akane waved over her shoulder at him without turning around, dismissing his question. Ranma let out a frustrated growl, before digging into his own lunch with a vengeance. He HATED when she did stuff like that! WHY did she have to keep things from him?
"Hey, Ran-chan!" a familiar voice called out. Ranma looked up to see Ukyo come trotting towards him, a portable grill tucked firmly under her arm. Ranma smiled, hopefully good ol' U-chan would cheer him up. He really didn't understand why Akane was so good at hitting all the right nerves, or why he constantly worried so much about her, why he cared. shaking his head, and pushing all troublesome thoughts aside, Ranma gave off a broad smile for his friend.
"Hey U-chan, what's up." Ukyo, wearing her customary boys uniform and large spatula strapped to her back, kneeled down quickly next to her fiancée, and quickly got to work on whipping up some delicious okanamiyaki. She knew Ranma would eat everything she gave him. The thought made her smile.
"Oh, you know, nothing much. Just the usual," she said, as casually as she could. Happy as she was to see Ranma, she also had a number of other things on her mind. Mainly scout stuff. All night long she had stayed up thinking about it. Was she really a Sailor Scout? Had anything really happened? It seemed a little too surreal, but, that morning, when she had made eye contact with Nabiki, and found that she shared a deep secret with the senior now, it hit her that yes, this was real, and yes, it was just going to have to be another odd thing to add to the already impressive list of oddities in her life. Ukyo was actually sort of exited that she now had a special bond with all of the four girls, but, at the same time, she wished she didn't have yet another responsibility that would hinder her work at the U-chan. Oh well. That's just life, she supposed.
"Hey, did you, by any chance, see Akane yesterday, after school? Maybe Nabiki and Kasumi too?" Ranma asked, leaning his back against the large old tree he was sitting under. It was where he and Akane usually ate lunch together, it's shade comforting on the warmer days. Ukyo froze up at his comment. She didn't want to lie to Ran-chan. not Ran-chan! On the other hand, she wasn't being given many other options.
"No," she said, avoiding his gaze, and pretending to be fully wrapped up with her cooking food. "Why?"
"Well, it's just, they were all missing last night! And of course Pops made me go look for them, but, I couldn't find any sign of them, all night! By the time I got home, they were already there, had been for the past ten minutes apparently. It was really odd. And then, to top that all off, when I asked Akane about it, she wouldn't tell me where she had been! What does she have to hide?" Ranma smiled wryly and shook his head. "Man, it sounds stupid talking about it, like I'm worrying a lot over nothing." He let out a short bark of laughter. "Yeah, what am I fussing about, that tomboy can take care of herself! I'm definitely not worried about Nabiki getting into trouble, and who would hurt Kasumi around here?"
"All good points," Ukyo said, agreeing with him completely, and REALLY wanting him to change the subject. It hadn't occurred to her that it would be hard to hide the scout's identity from Ranma. but then again, he DID live with three of them, and this could get messy. "I'm sure they were all FINE last night, you're right, nothing to worry about!" she enthused.
"Yeah! Right. Heh, sorry to bore you U-chan. Just be being paranoid. Anyway, that okanamiyaki ready yet?"
"Eeek! Oh my God, I think I just burnt it," Ukyo gasped, flipping over her okanamiyaki quickly, and cursing herself mentally for getting so distracted. She NEVER burnt her food!
"Hey, it's okay U-chan. I already ate, but you haven't. You want some of my sushi? Kasumi made them,"
"Ohh. that's so sweet Ran-chan! But don't worry, I think I can whip up some more quick enough." Ukyo said as she began to do just that, face flushed with happiness. Ranma was so cute! And one day, they could be-
"Hey, Ukyo, I think I just saw Ryoga!" Ranma said, abruptly standing up.
"Huh?" Ukyo asked, standing with him. "Oh my God, you're right! Is that him over there by the gates?"
"I'm almost positive," Ranma said, marching forward. "Let's catch him before he gets lost again!"
"Right," Ukyo agreed, chasing after the pigtailed martial artist. Ryoga was a good friend. The two were originally connected purely through Ranma, however, various adventures and misadventures had bonded them together to the point of a comfortable friendship.
"Hey, Ryoga! Pig-head! What's up?" Ranma called, trotting over to the muscular martial artist. Ryoga's head abruptly snapped to the side, as he spotted the bane of his life sashay up to him with a large smile plastered to his annoying face.
"Ranma!" he growled, eyes aflame. "What in the seven hells are you doing in Cambodia!?"
".Um, sugar, this is Nermia." Ukyo pointed out, after an awkward silence had effectively silenced Ranma's big mouth.
"What? Really?" Ryoga said, eyes wide. "Than that means. Akane's here! I've finally found my way back to her!" Ryoga literally looked as though he were about to bubble over with joy.
"Hey! Now waita minute there, lover boy-" a peeved Ranma started, stepping towards the lost boy, and preparing to knock some sense into that thick skull of-
"Yes! Yes Akane is definitely here!" Ukyo agreed, a wonderful plan forming in her head. "In fact, why don't I take you to her?"
"You'd do that?" Ryoga asked, pleased.
"Sure, sugar. Here, just take my hand, for safeties sake." Ukyo said, grinning like the Cheshire Cat, and leading Ryoga towards the school. She had seen Akane enter it before going over to eat with Ran-chan, so.
"Hey, stop! Ukyo!" Ranma called, chasing after the determined duo, worried. No way was he going to let Ryoga near Akane!
*
Akane heaved a large sigh as she attempted to finish the rather long algebraic equation she was working on. The huge downside of missing a lot of math class, was that you didn't learn the methods on how to solve the problems with everyone else, and if you couldn't solve the problems, you couldn't do all the homework, and if you didn't solve all the homework, you didn't pass the class, and if you didn't pass the class, it went on your permanent record, and if it went on your permanent record, you didn't get into college, and if you didn't get into college, the only solution was to perform ritual seppuku!! Obviously. Well, that's how her mind worked, at least.
'No wonder Ranma thinks I'm crazy. I'm driving myself insane!' Akane cried mentally, pulling at a lock of hair as she worked.
"Knock knock," Nabiki sang, wrapping on the door of the abandoned classroom Akane was working in.
"Hey onee-chan," Akane replied, putting her pencil down, and looking up at her sister. Good! This couldn't be considered procrastinating because SHE didn't initiate it! Yes!
"Sooo. how are things going?" Nabiki asked casually, sitting on Akane's desk, and flipping through the blue haired girls advanced algebra textbook.
"I assume your not referring to my health or social life," Akane guessed, raising an eyebrow.
"You could assume that," Nabiki admitted.
"Ughh. I don't know what to think, Nabiki. I mean, I don't NEED this, you know? This whole scout thing. It's a big responsibility! On the other hand, I don't think it's one of those things you get to decide whether or not you NEED. it's a duty you have to shoulder, and do your best at, no matter what." Akane said, sounding rather insightful, if she did say so herself.
"Maybe. I was sort of thinking it was just a hassle. I'm still sort of in shock, personally, but. I think I can deal with it," Nabiki said, firmly, puffing her chest out. After a second, she mellowed out. "Well. probably. I don't know. It's pretty scary, actually."
"Nabiki?" Akane asked, shocked. Did her sister, the Ice Queen of Japan, the Mercenary Girl, the Heartless Business Woman, the Eater of Live Children (actually, Akane had just made that one up) really just admit that she was FRIGHTENED of something. Uh oh. this was bad.
"Well, I mean, I have a right to be!- right? You guys. with the exception of Kasumi, are all martial artists, who've done stuff like this before! This is like cake for you. Me, I've never fought a demon. Just that one yesterday had me pretty upset. I don't know what to do if it gets worse." Akane felt an extreme wave of compassion rush through her, and she took her sister's hand in hers.
"Nabiki, we were all scared! And you don't have to worry about your fighting skills- you heard what Luna said, it's all about the strength of your heart!" the girl encouraged.
"And you think I'd be better off with heart power becaaauusee..?" Resisting the urge to smirk, and sort of agree with that notion, Akane continued.
"Luna wouldn't have chosen you for this job if she didn't think you were capable of being a competent scout. I'm sure of it." A flash of something that might have been considered thanks passed over Nabiki's features.
"Oh jeez Akane, don't get all mushy on me!" she said, pushing the younger girl away, and standing up. "In any case, I think that we should all meet up, all us scouts, and talk things over, you know? Get an idea of what we're doing."
"All right, but-" Akane was interrupted, as an overly pleased Ukyo, and love struck Ryoga, and a furious Ranma slammed into the room. Naturally. Of course. Nothing out of the norm there. "Ryoga!" Akane gasped, abruptly standing.
"When did you get back?" Nabiki asked. "I thought you were in Kenya."
"No, no, Iran." Akane corrected.
"Ohhh." Nabiki said, nodding her head in understanding.
"I-uh. just got back," Ryoga said, twiddling his thumbs and avoiding Akane's gaze. She was even more beautiful than he remembered!
"Well, why don't we all just . leave Akane and Ryoga alone!" Ukyo said, clapping her hands together happily.
"Why?" Ranma and Akane chorused, Ranma's eye twitching, Akane cocking her head curiously.
"Well, you know, I'm sure . Ryoga has something to give her! In private! Souvenir! From Bangladesh!" Ukyo said, fumbling around for a good excuse to leave the two lovebirds together.
"Iran." Nabiki corrected, not batting a lash. Could Ukyo be more transparent if she tried? Probably. But not by much.
"I do?" Ryoga asked, dumbly. Ukyo elbowed Ryoga in the ribs. He didn't catch on. "Ouch! What gives!?" he cried. She hit hard!
"Ughh. never mind." Ukyo groaned. Just as the young chef was about to go bang her head against a wall, Akane gasped loudly.
"Akane?" Ranma asked, noticing the girl's eyes wide, and her form visibly shake.
"I'm vibrating." She stated.
"What?" Everyone asked.
"It's. it's. my cell phone." she said, trailing off as she took a shiny new cell phone out of her skirt pocket. She had a cell phone? This was news to her!
"Heyyy. when did you get that?" Nabiki cried, looking over Akane's shoulder as the teen tried to figure out how to answer her call. "I've been asking Daddy to get me one of those for months! When did you get one?"
"Err. recently?" Akane offered, helplessly shrugging her shoulders. So a cell phone had just magically formed in her pocket, and the person on the other line was most likely a new villain or mentally deranged person ready to battle with her friends. Whatever. Looking at it from a different perspective, she had just gotten a free phone! "Hello?" she asked pleasantly. Everyone watched her receive her call with raised eyebrows. Cell phones? What were these cell phones? They didn't fit in with Nermia's carefully pre-made atmosphere! Why did Akane have one?
"Yes? Oh! Hi. Uh hu.. Uh hu. really? Wow. That's bad. That's really bad. Okay. Well. fine. All right. I'll see you soon," Akane swiftly ended the call and placed the phone carefully back in the pocket of her blue skirt, sighing.
"Well?" Nabiki asked, as Akane turned back to her desk, and began to clean things up, stuffing everything into her bag with deft fingers, her mind obviously elsewhere.
"We have to go. Ukyo and Nabiki, I mean," she stated, slinging her bag over her shoulder, and grabbing the two confused girl's hand's on her way out of the room.
"I'll see you guys later, stay for dinner Ryoga, why don't you?" Akane called over her shoulder. And then she turned a corner, and was gone, Ukyo and Nabiki not making any comment as they were dragged along.
"Um. okay." Ryoga said, seeing no reason NOT to stay for dinner!
"Do you think they're coming back to school today?" Ranma asked, generally curious.
"No, I'd assume not," Ryoga admitted, folding his arms, large pack still firmly strapped to his back. The two stood in silence for a few more moments. Ranma distantly heard the bell ring, signaling the end of lunch. He didn't really want to go back to class, come to think of it.
"Sooo. wanna fight?" Ranma asked, turning to Ryoga with a roguish grin on his features. Ryoga only had to think about THAT one for a few seconds.
"RANMA, PREPARE TO DIE! " the teen bellowed, swinging his 100 lb pink umbrella over his head, as he charged his arch nemesis like an elephant on speed, a deep hatred for the injustice of it all engraved deeply into his tormented soul!
"Now we're talking!" Ranma cried merrily, hopping out the window, Ryoga following after him quickly.
*
"Why are we running again?" Nabiki asked, her breath coming out in shallow pants. She was really out of shape when she wasn't Sailor Mars.
"Because, I just got a call from Luna! A demon is attacking the bank, and the police can't seem to stop it with bullets!" Akane explained, not even breaking a sweat, thanks to a healthy and consistent habit of jogging every morning for the past three years.
"Sounds like a job for the Sailor Scouts!" Ukyo cheered.
"Yay." Nabiki deadpanned, rolling her eyes.
"Luna said she can't get a hold of Shampoo, and that Kasumi is at Dr. Tofu's helping with a patient who was recently in a car accident, and couldn't possibly be bothered. she thinks we can handle it without them, anyway." Akane said, not sounding too positive about that one. Besides herself, Kasumi was the only other one with access to her scout powers!
"Do we know what kind of a demon this is?" Nabiki asked, as the girls weaved their way around the crowds of people who stood a little distance from the bank, watching the action with interest.
"Don't these people have the sense to run?" Ukyo cursed, eyeing the flashing lights of the cop cars close up ahead. These people could be hurt by the demon, and here they were, crowding around the crime scene!
"Not really, Luna just said it was a second class demon." Akane commented.
"But. that means it's better than the last one!" Nabiki pointed out, sounding a little nervous again.
"Girls, over here!" a voice sounded inside the girl's heads, coming from everywhere, and nowhere at all at the same time.
"Where are you, Artemis?" Ukyo asked, whipping her head around as she tried to locate the small cat with the crescent moon on his forehead. Since when was he telepathic?
"Over by the bus stop, to your left. Hurry! We have to stop this thing!" The girls nodded, and quickly trotted over to the vacant bus stop, where, sure enough, they found Luna and Artemis, waiting underneath the awning.
"Glad you got here so quick girls, but we have to hurry. that cat demon is causing quite a ruckus!" Luna said, brows furrowed, her head cocking to the direction of the bank. which was now partially engulfed in a storm of raging flames.
"Cat demon?" Akane asked, biting her lip. Not a good sign.
"Yes, now, transform before it kills one of the police officers!" Artemis encouraged. The girls all nodded, stepped back and. paused. Waiitt a minute.
"How do we transform again?" Ukyo wanted to know, smiling diffidently.
"Urgh!" Artemis growled, slapping his head with his paw. "We forgot! Raise your hands to the air, and shout, your planet, power. make up!" he encouraged. The girls all stared at him suspiciously for a moment, before deciding that as long as no one else was looking.
"YOUR PLANET POWER, MAKE UP!" They all cried dramatically, arms raised towards the heavens, voices strong and clear. They waited a beat, and when nothing special or in any way magical happened, they quickly wrenched their hands back down, blushing furiously.
"Heyy! You set us up for that one, didn't you? Trying to make us look dumb! Well, har har, but I THOUGT we had a bank to save," Akane huffed, folding her arms self consciously, as Nabiki resisted the urge to strangle the two felines.
"Ohhh my God." Luna groaned. "It's not 'YOUR PLANET POWER, make up,' it's, for example, 'Jupiter Power, Make Up!" She shook her head, disbelieving that this was what Tokyo's proud crime fighting team had been degraded to.
"Ohhhh." the girls all chorused, intelligently.
"Right, we knew that. We were just testing you." Ukyo said, sheepishly.
"Hurry!" Artemis hissed.
"MOON/MARS/JUPITER POWER! MAKE UP!" The girls cried hastily, snapping into action. This time, they felt it. Akane closed her eyes as a deep power within her heart released a surge of energy, and Nabiki shuddered as a rings of fire came flying at her from all directions. Ukyo curled up and let the lighting surround her. Within seconds, they were fully transformed, and feeling more powerful than ever.
"This really DOES rock," Ukyo admitted, as Akane and Nabiki agreed with her quietly.
"GO!!" Both of the cats ordered, having had it just about up to HERE. The girls spun on their heals, and dashed bravely forward, flinging themselves in harms way as they sped into the exploding bank.
"Oh my God! It's the Sailor Scouts!"
"I didn't even think they were real!"
"They're so cool!"
"Go kick that demon's ass!"
"Quick, get your camera Bob! The folks back in America will LOVE this!"
"You know, I could really get used to that," Nabiki divulged, smiling as the girls trotted through the bank, now 'safely' inside, and keeping their eyes peeled for evil looking cat demons.
"Oh yeah," Ukyo decided.
"You guys, over there!" Akane squeaked, pointing to a vault. Well, it used to be a vault. Now it was a rather impressive hole in the wall, with a large metal door tossed carelessly to the side, scratch marks dragged along its form. The girls winced, but started forward anyway.
Once by the fissure in the wall, the trio stood with their backs to the wall, on either side of the opening. Akane mouthed the words 'One. two. THREE!' And on three they all jumped into the vault, arms raised in various threatening positions, Nabiki's looking suspiciously like a gut reaction defensive motion.
"Don't move, or we'll DUST you!" Akane declared confidently. A furry form towards the back of the vault, who had been previously clawing through safety deposit boxes, now turned to look at the girls, its yellow, catty eyes narrowed into dangerous slits. All of the scouts gulped and took an involuntary step backwards. Uh oh. this one looked like it had BRAINS. Its form was sleek and black, larger than your average panther, and with large teeth that made it resemble a rabid saber-tooth more than anything. It seemed to be thinking about what to do with them. A deep growl emanated from its chest.
"Good kitty..?" Nabiki offered.
"ROOOWWWW!" the demon finally cried, rearing forward, and leaping at the girls. Ukyo and Nabiki both cried and dived to the side, however Akane stood her ground, tiara in hand. She leaned backwards and prepared to hurl it at the monster.
"MOON, TIARRAAA-" she started, her voice powerful and feminine. (NOT an oxy-moron.) "OOF!" she heaved, as the demon cat halted her attack in mid toss. She was shoved backwards and onto her back, the wind being effectively knocked out of her, and her tiara skidding to the side. The cat jumped over her, and landed a little ways away.
"Akane!" Nabki said, hurrying forward to help the fallen scout up, retrieving her tiara on the way.
"Hey! Ugly! Try this!" Ukyo roared, sending a barrage of handy little (razor sharp) spatulas at the demon, in an effort to get it to leave Akane and Nabiki alone. The demon didn't look the least bit affected as the spatulas shot off its skin as though it were made of a protective armor.
"Eeep." Was all Ukyo had to say to THAT. "Ah!!" she cried, falling to the ground, and letting the demon sail over her instead of swiping her head off when it decided to charge the scout of thunder. However, the demon seemed okay with this idea too, because it simply crashed through the window, and on to solid ground outside the bank. Nabiki ran up, and watched it bound away into the city. Damn it.
"We have to follow!" Akane ordered, dashing out of the bank, Nabiki and Ukyo close behind.
"It had something in its mouth! I saw it when it leaped over me!" Ukyo said, arms and legs pumping as all of the girls sprinted down the street, the now small form of the demon a ways ahead of them .
"That's bad! It was probably what it was after in the first place! Something in one of those safety deposit boxes! And now its. going to go use it for its own evil purposes, or give it to its master or something!" Nabiki declared, face placed into a deep frown. They really had to get the super hero thing down, and fast!
"Very astute Sailor Mars," Luna said, catching up with the girls, Artemis with her, as they all chased after the renegade demon.
"Really?" Nabiki questioned, skeptically.
"Yes. This demon definitely has a master, and we have a pretty good idea just WHO that master is, and WHAT they wanted from that bank. And let me tell you, it's bad news if it gets away with that artifact." Artemis said, shaking his head gravely.
"Well then, we'll just have to CATCH it!" Akane roared, speeding up, and running faster than she ever had in her life. Faster than she ever could of just as plain old Akane Tendo.
"You better explain to us how you know all of this information, too, when it's all over," Nabiki warned, not liking that she had no idea what sort of battle she was fighting. Luna sighed.
"Of course," she conceded.
*
"You know, I'm surprised that Nabiki isn't getting a piece of this action," Hiroshi mentioned to his three friends, Daisuke, Yuka, and Sayuri, as they all watched the heated battle with rapt attention.
"Yeah, where is she, anyway? She could be making millions off this fight!" Sayuri agreed, frowning lightly.
The fight had been going on for a solid half hour, and the teachers could no longer keep any of their students attention as they all came outdoors, or stuck their heads out classroom windows to watch the two frighteningly powerful martial artists, otherwise known as Ranma Saotome and Ryoga Hibiki duke it out for one utterly pointless reason or another. On the other hand, it was very entertaining, and apparently Ryoga had learned some new techniques on his journeys. He had already scored some major points on the surprised Ranma, and now the boy was bleeding heavily from the arm, and had sprained a wrist, much to his rage. He might have to go all out on this one.
"Ryagh!" he gasped, slamming himself against Ryoga's arm, and forcing both boys to crash into the schools walls. The entire building's form shook. but the dreaded umbrella DID fall from Ryoga's hand, rolling a few yards away. All of the students wisely avoided it. They already new about THAT umbrella. "Ha!" Ranma cheered, leaping away, and coming to a crouch, watching Ryoga's face carefully. He looked a bit pissed.
"Damn you Ranma! But. I don't need a weapon to destroy you, I can do it with my BARE HANDS!" he declared, rushing forward. Ranma readied himself into a casual fighting position, that infuriating smile that never failed to get his opponents so frustrated they were forced into a blind rage. and was about to get majorly tackled. when a dark something darted into the school yard, howling like something wicked, and scared everyone out of their wits.
"What's THAT!" Yuka cried, clasping her hands to her chest and clinging to Sayuri.
"Not part of the fight, I'm sure," Daisuke said.
The cat demon howled once more, in pain this time, as it tripped over an umbrella it had not expected to be so heavy. It trampled over it's own feet, and went face down on the ground, a small envelope flying out of its mouth, and landing some feet off.
"What's going on!?" Ryoga said, rushing forward, and tossing the demon's head off the umbrella as he checked to make sure his weapon of choice was still intact. "What is this thing?" he demanded, pointing at the saber-tooth looking monster. It growled at him, it's chin sill smarting from the small. It had to get that envelope! But someone was standing in front of it.
The demon's eyes sharp yellow eyes locked onto Ranma's, foam dripping from its mouth, over heated from all the fighting. Ranma didn't move an inch, his face so pale he could have competed with Snow White. Everyone immediately spotted the problem. Sound of "Ohhh nooo.." and "This isn't good." could be heard around the school grounds, as everyone decided on whether or not it would be wiser to leave, or more interesting to stick around and see what happens NOW!
"C-c-c"
It was at this moment that three angry Sailor Scouts and two small cats burst in through the school gates, a purpous in their steps.
"C-c-c"
"Where's the cat demon-! Oh! There it is!" Nabiki said, smiling, and pleased they had located their pray. Her grin was quickly wiped off her face when she saw just what the demon was growling at. "OhmyGod."
"Ran-chan, no!" Ukyo said. HOW could this of happened!? Of all of the half ass, stupid coincidences, WHY did this demon have to stop at Furiken?! It just wasn't FAIR!
"CAT!!!" Ranma howled, collapsing to the floor, and curling up in fetal position, still placed strategically in front of the envelope. The demon hesitated. what was this mortal doing? It could feel powerful every waves wafting from it, yet.
"Ranma." Akane said, trotting over to her fiancée, and kneeling by him, tapping his shoulder hesitantly. She didn't really know what to do, but neko-ken was the last thing they needed right-
"Meow?" Neko-Ranma offered, staring up adoringly into Akane's large brown eyes. Fuck.
And as Ranma quickly got on to all fours, and began rubbing up against Akane's thighs happily, the students of Furiken all smiling knowingly, Artemis just had to ask:
"What's he doing?" Carefully replying so that no one thought she was actually talking to the cat, Nabiki said:
"Erm, Ranma, this guy, we know him, in fact, he lives with me-"
"Wait- THAT'S Ranma Saotome?" Artemis interjected, thinking that, yes, the kid DID look familiar! He was the weirdo he had tried to talk to the other day! The kid who, supposedly, had God like powers!
"Yeah. anyway, he has a chronic fear of cats, so whenever he gets to close to them, or is overwhelmed by them. he converts to this neko-ken form, where he acts like a cat, and can slash things in half without even touching them.it's one of his most powerful attacks. It's only drawback is that he sort of looses his mind while doing it. So far only a few select people have the power to change him back," she explained as best she could. Ukyo bristled. what made AKANE get to be one of these people? And as she stomped purposely forward, towards Ranma, and the Neko-Ranma himself got into a defensive position in front of Sailor Moon, growling menacingly at the large, powerful demon, ready to defend the girl. a few things clicked in Artemis's head.
"Oh SHIT!" he gasped, eyes wide.
Author's Notes:
What did you think? I wrote this pretty late at night, so please forgive any careless mistakes. sorry. so tired. please review. Next chapter, Ranma goes into full Neko-ken battle mode, scouts have to stop the demon from getting back his little envelope, and its some major explaining time for Luna and Artemis. Named: 'NOW you tell us.' Have a nice day!
~Rio (papaya41@aol.com)