Hey! It's chapter five, already! (In all honesty, I can't believe I've even
gotten this far. It's sort of shocking.) I'm sort of on a fan-fiction-
posting-rampage! I can't contain myself! I've already posted like, two or
three new fics, on top of my Bebop fic, and. and. it's all just. too .
much.. Ahhh. (Especially No Regrets, to anyone who has read that. Whoo,
it's a weird one.)
On the other hand, I'm really thankful for all of the kind reviews, I
really love them, and I hope you all continue to enjoy this story.
(Remember: Reviews are what fuels this fic, so the more reviews, the more
chapters!)
I don't own Ranma ½ or Sailor Moon, and please enjoy!
*- Oh! And to the reviewer (Err. don't have your name. on hand. sorry.) who was worried about the lack of Kunos. dooon't worry. they'll come around. They're not in THIS chapter, but, they'll be there.
*- AND to the reviewer who made the comment about P-chan and Akane. stop making such good guesses! Shhhh!
Partial Eclipse
By Rio Grande
Chapter Five: Plagued.(Part one.)
*
"WHAT!?" All of the girls chorused, eyes wide.
"Wait- let me rephrase that! They're coming back!. we're just not absolutely sure WHEN. In fact, it could be years." Luna admitted, sighing. All of the girls collapsed into their seats, heaving sighs. Well, being a Sailor Scout for years was bad. Yes, it wasn't good. However, it was WAY better than being a scout FOREVER. They didn't think they were ready for that sort of commitment to the job.
"Why did you scare us like that?" Nabiki groaned, rubbing her head, and chugging her milk shake.
"Sorry," Luna shrugged. "Slip of the tongue."
"Do you know why the Sailor Scouts are gone?" Kasumi asked, leaning forward, a worried frown etched onto her features.
"Yes. we do." Artemis replied. "And we really should have told you all this before, but.you see, a few weeks ago, the scouts were called away to help save another galaxy, as a personal favor to the scouts who protected that area. It was a rather serious threat, that could have eventually traveled to Earth, so the scouts took it upon themselves to take down this problem before it could reach our planet, and inevitably caused havoc upon this solar system."
"Which seemed like a good idea, at the time," Luna admitted. "However, as the days went by, with no word from the girls, we realized a minor error in our calculations. First off: There is no way to communicate with the girls while they are on this journey. They are too many trillions of light years away, and our telepathic connections can't work out of the Silver Millennium's solar system," Akane looked as though she were about to ask just what the hell the 'Silver Millennium' was, but thought better of it. She probably didn't really want to know, anyway.
"Not to mention, time flows differently varying from world to world, especially when you're that far away in terms of light years and space travel. We don't know where the girls are, or how long a minute, a day, or a YEAR is in the world they're in." the black cat sighed regretfully, shaking her head. "It was a terrible error of judgment on our part, and we should have foreseen problems like this!- but we didn't. And we found ourselves in a bit of trouble, when the word that Ritsuko, one of Earth's only remaining demons, who has been free of the scouts wrath for the simple reason as she hasn't ATTEMPTED anything in ages and cannot be proven guilty of any crimes at this point." she took a breath. "Was on the move again. With the Sailor Scouts off fighting a colossal battle which could take anywhere from a few days to a few years to finish, we don't know, this was the perfect time for her to strike. There is no longer anyone to stop her."
"Yes, Ritsuko is very intelligent, and has been waiting for the right moment to make her move, and regain power over Earth, as she had in the days before the Sailor Scouts were around," Artemis said, sitting on the table ledge.
"You know, a few days ago, I didn't even know the Sailor Scouts really existed. And now it seems as though they've been keeping the world as we know it stable." Akane said, resting her cheek in her hand, and stirring her root beer float dully around with a straw. After all that had happened, she didn't think she would be surprised if she suddenly sprouted wings and became Princess of the galaxy. Waitasec.
"Yeah, I know what you mean. No offense, Luna, Artemis, but this is pretty hard to swallow," Ukyo admitted. The cats looked generally apologetic, bowing their heads.
"We know, and we're very sorry to have dumped such a large responsibility on you when it's not actually your duty to defend Earth. But we're asking you to hold this position. if not for us then for the people of this planet. Please. We know you can do it." Luna said, her tone deathly grim. The girls all traded weary glances. Did they really have a choice, when she put it like that?
". All right, I'm in,"
"Me too,"
"Shampoo protect Earth,"
"I guess there's no other choice!"
"Yeah, why not?" Luna and Artemis looked as though they could have burst with pride.
"Oh girls, I know you'll make WONDERFULL temporary scouts!" Luna said, happily.
"Yeah, and that STILL sounds like a stupid title. 'Temporary'? Couldn't you make it something more official and cool sounding? Like.the provisional scouts? Less people know what that means!" Nabiki pointed out.
"Er. sure!" Luna said, shrugging.
"Now, about that Ritsuko demon." Ukyo said, checking her watch. If she wanted to make it back to Nerima (( It has been pointed out to me that THAT'S how you spell it. Heh. Yeahhh, I'm a dumb ass!..) before too late, this meeting better speed up.
"Of course! Now, Ritsuko is a demon who cannot produce her own demonic energy. she must steal souls and aura from other beings in order to maintain her level of power." Artemis explained, giving the girls a crash course lesson on different classifications of demons.
"Shampoo no understand," Shampoo said, narrowing her eyes. "How can she be demon if she no have demon powers already?"
"Well, she DOES have demon powers, but they're pretty useless unless she can add fuel to them, and enhance them," Artemis tried to explained patiently. "It's like. all of the other demons are plants. using the sun's energy. and she's an animal! Having to consume other things to stay healthy!"
"Okay, you had me before, but now you lost me,"
"She just steals energy from humans to make herself stronger, right?" Akane reiterated for her friends.
"Yes," Artemis agreed. "It's a very rare type of demon, that is especially dangerous because she can raise her power levels to frightening heights if she finds the right victim. Unfortunately, after the scouts took out Beryl, their first real enemy, she sank into the shadows, and the scouts couldn't find a logical reason to hunt her down. She wasn't DOING anything."
"But now there's evidence she's begun to suck people dry, once more. Her victims look a bit like mummified people, and have had their souls stolen. If she had completed the draining process when you find a victim, there is no hope for them. However, if you can stop Ritsuko it in the act, the person's soul can be returned," Luna said, as she feared the girls might soon have to deal with this very situation.
"This person sounds dangerous," Ukyo admitted. "What does she look like?"
"And there lies another problem. She looks like any normal teenager! By stealing energy for all of these years, she has kept her youthful appearance up, even though her real age is around 530 years. She especially likes to stay at high schools, where she can sometimes feed off kid's lively energy without actually making contact with them. High schools have a lot of activity going on, after all." Luna pointed out.
"Creepy," Nabiki said.
"Yes, especially because, just the other day, five mummified boys were found dead in the gymnasium of the high school with think Ritsuko might currently be attending," Artemis admitted. "We investigated it, and it definitely looks like her handy work. she's not even bothering to hide herself anymore. a bad sign." He said solemnly.
"Ewww. sounds like a horror film," Akane murmured.
"Well, don't worry about a thing guys! We'll have this freak bagged in no time!" Ukyo said, smiling broadly.
"What makes you so confident?" Nabiki asked, raising an eyebrow. "This sounds like the hardest villain we've had to face yet, AND if she really is responsible for all of the other attacks. the smartest."
"Well, I just found my new power! And thunder spatulas we'll save the day!" Ukyo cheered, obviously thrilled she had become a real scout now, and had gained powers she could never have dreamed of obtaining before.
"Heyyy! Why Shampoo no found her power yet? Is strongest one here!" the girl pouted, a scowl on her face.
"You wanna bet?" Akane asked, eyebrow twitching.
"Shampoo, it's not the physical strength which unlocks your power, but the power of your heart! I've been through this," Luna said, as if talking to a small child.
"Way to make her feel better." Nabiki snorted.
"Shampoo have big strong heart!" the girl protested. "Have strong heart that love Aireen veerrry much!" she giggled, clasping her hands together.
"Care to repeat that, sugar?" Ukyo dared, getting to her feet and glaring daggers at the Amazon. SHE loved Ran-chan the most!
"Fine! Shampoo love Aireen VEERRRY mu-"
"Stop!" Luna cried, growling. These girls fought almost as much as Usagi and Rei! "Who is this 'Aireen', anyway?" she asked.
"Why, it's Ranma," Kasumi explained.
"You mean the weird boy who turned into that cat like person?" Luna asked, raising an eyebrow. Those girls were fighting over HIM? But he looked like a major freak!
"Oh, yes!" Kasumi giggled. "Shampoo, Ukyo, and Akane are all engaged to him!"
"WHAT?" Luna and Artemis choked, looking shocked.
"Oh my God, we never told you," Nabiki said, startled.
"How is that possible? How were you all engaged to this one man? And at such a young age?" Luna asked, as Artemis shook his head in disbelief. He knew these girls were weird, but this was just unbelievable. It also complicated the relationship he needed to have with that boy.
"Well, it was basically all his dumb father's fault. He got Ranma engaged to just about every girl on the planet and their friend, for food and money, a long time ago," Ukyo explained.
"But, that's terrible!"
"You're telling us?" Akane sighed. "It's hell, and he hasn't chosen one fiancée yet. Not that I WANT him to pick me,or anything!" she quickly assured everyone, even though she was currently reconsidering that statement herself. "It's just frustrating."
"Hm, but we all know he choose Shampoo for bride!" Shampoo said, total confidence in her voice, as she placed her hands on her hips. Nabiki had to step in front of her as Akane and Ukyo prepared to pounce.
"Stop it!" she yelled. "Don't you people ever quit?!"
"Really girls, I wish you'd told us this sooner. It's very disturbing," Luna said, frowning.
"Would it have made a difference?" Akane asked flatly.
"Well, no, but, as your new mentor, I'd like to be informed of things like this,"
"And that's all swell and great, but if this meeting's over. I gotta head back and help close up shop," Ukyo said, standing up, and digging through her pocket for money to pay for the drink. Okay, this meeting officially sucked! Why couldn't people just understand that she and Ranma were DESINTED to be? After all, she had known him the longest.
"Shampoo too," Shampoo admitted, her voice glum. Ohhh boy, she didn't need Cologne breathing down her back again, the old woman was very astute, and could tell something was up. If she found out Shampoo was really the 'provisional' Sailor Venus!- well, it's best to not think of such things.
"Thanks for telling us about everything," Akane said, as she placed her share on the table, and then followed Kasumi out of the arcade, having to drag Nabiki along as she has stopped to flirt with the cute manager of the arcade, Andy.
"Just when you think you've got it all figured out," Luna said, staring after her new pupils, disbelief obvious in her brown eyes.
"I know, that's so weird! How could a father do that to a child?" Artemis said.
"I don't know, but perhaps this boy needs further investigation? He seems to have a rather large effect on the girls lives." Luna said, hoping off the table, and walking into the shadows, where no one would notice the cats whispering to each other. Artemis stiffened.
"Yeah! Um- Good thinking! But, don't worry, I'll take care of it. You just watch the girls!" he said quickly. Luna raised an eyebrow.
"Well, if that's how you want it." she said, shrugging. "I don't see why not. Just be careful, you remember what cats do to him."
"I think I've got it figured out," Artemis admitted.
*
Later that night, Ranma stared up at the ceiling of his room, making a valiant effort to ignore the pulsating boom of his father snoring, but a few feet away from him. Jesus, it was even worse when he was a panda!
Rolling over on his futon, and stuffing his pillow over his head, Ranma was preparing to get up and desecrate the sacred bond shared between father's and son's that proclaimed, 'Thou shall not bludgeon thy father over his head.ith. with a toaster oven..ith.', when suddenly something else grabbed his attention, and his father's head was saved.
"Ah!" Ranma commented, as a ghostly form casually glided through his room's very solid wall, arms folded.
He was a handsome man, as far as creepy people who just intrude into your room during an un-Godly hour of the night, generally go. His hair was long and a glimmering shade of silver, his eyes a pale, piercing blue, and he wore a vibrantly white suit with blue lining, with a long cape. He rather reminded Ranma of that guy Yueh from Card Captor Sakura. (Not that he READ that comic or anything. okay, well, not ALL the time, at least. And, that subscription to the fan club online had been a TOTAL mistake on the site's part.) And he was definitely radiating some powerful vibes. Ranma narrowed his eyes.
"What do you want?" he asked, bravely, puffing out his chest, and deciding he would have looked a whole lot more impressive if he wasn't wearing only his boxers.
"I want to talk to you," the tall man said, his voice deep and commanding. Ranma raised an eyebrow carefully.
"That's all? No fighting, no ransom notes for my fiancées, no tribes back in the homeland I have to go help save? thing. CHINESE?" Ranma asked suspiciously, not likely to believe that this man just wanted to TALK after breaking into his room. And if he DID, it would have been a first.
The man's eye twitched lightly, and he quickly put a hand over it, sighing. He needed to take a vacation. What in the seven hells was this kid babbling about?
"No.Nothing. CHINESE. However. I do need to discuss important things having to do with the Sailor Scouts with you. Please, don't be alarmed, but it's very urgent," he admitted, stepping forward. Ranma was starting to wonder how he had come in through the wall if he was obviously very real and un-transparent like.
"The Sailor Scouts?" Ranma asked, his curiosity peeked. "Does this have anything to do with that incident the other day? I didn't tear any of them to shreds, did I?! Ryoga didn't mention it if I did."
And that damn random eye spasm again!
"No! You didn't kill any of the scouts! I wanted to discuss you helping them on their latest mission!" the man quipped.
"What? Why do THEY need MY help? Aren't they all powerful Goddesses or something?" Ranma asked, shaking his hands around for dramatic effect.
"Well, the original ones are." the man sighed.
" 'Original ones?' I think you need to make things a little clearer for me here, man, I'm loosing ya," Ranma stated, frowning. If there was one thing he did NOT need, it was to be caught up in a battle that involved lots of pretty girls wearing an indecent amount of clothing. The fiancées would KILL him. The man, with a frown to rival Ranma's, kneeled down on the floor across from the boy now, his serious expression fully on.
"Listen carefully Ranma Saotome, for what I am about to tell you is confidential information only given out to you because we're in a bit of what one would call a tight fix here, and you are possibly one of our only allies, currently. I am Artemis of the Silver Millennium, mentor to the Scouts." He started, as if this were supposed to have a large effect on Ranma. When there obviously wasn't, Artemis continued, a little insulted. "The original Sailor Scouts are currently. preoccupied . elsewhere, and cannot currently help save Earth because,. just because." Artemis said, stumbling over his words as he tried not to give out TOO much information. Damn, he should have prepared a speech or something.
"Uh hu." Ranma replied, his expression quizzical. This man was obviously off his rocker. "Anything else I should know?" he asked flatly. Artemis, in his human form, continued on.
"We currently have a group of replacement scouts working for us, in an effort to sustain the peace. They were the ones who stopped by your school.("You mean I wasn't licking the REAL Sailor Moon? Cheep!") However, they are green and not used to their scout powers. And especially now that we have a real villain on our hands, things could get complicated, and dangerous. I have seen what you can do and I am impressed, to say the least. Even if your techniques are a bit. far out. at times, you are a formidable martial artist, and I would be able to sleep easier if I were to know you were out there, helping out the new scout team." Artemis finished, crossing his fingers.
"No." Ranma stated simply, his expression hardly changing.
"No?" Artemis choked, surprised. Wasn't Ranma supposed to be a good- hearted Superman type guy? Where did he get off saying 'No' to this holy crusade Artemis had bestowed upon him? This was important shit, dammit!
"No," Ranma repeated, firmly. "I don't need this, I already have too many other things to worry about, and, honestly, this isn't my problem! I don't need to be out there chasing demon's who haven't done a thing to me, when I already have a list of monsters spanning about twenty miles who HAVE! I'm sorry, but I don't think I can help you, Artemis. Go ask someone else to be your backup, or whatever. Hey! I know, ask Kuno! He's totally into this sort of thing!" 'And maybe he'll be so in love with these Sailor Scouts, he'll leave me and 'Kane alone!' Ranma thought, cackling evilly inside his head.
"But. Kuno is insane."
"Point." Well, FINE.
"Ranma, I've already looked into all of the other options in this town, and you are the most highly qualified. Please, we NEED you! Tokyo needs you!" But Ranma was already shaking his head and backing up, heading to his futon, desperate to get some sleep. It was really late!
"Listen, if this villain of yours comes around bothering me or my friends?. sure, I'll get rid of 'em then. But until that happens, this really isn't my problem. And I'm happy for THAT." Ranma sighed, pulling aside the sheets.
"But. but." Artemis choked, staring after the boy, still kneeling on the floor, and looking a bit lost.
"If ya don't mind, I'd like to get some sleep now, so could ya leave?" Ranma asked, slipping back into bed. Artemis stood, frowning deeply. Well. This hadn't gone over as well as he had hoped. What a terrible turn of events!
"I think you're making a big mistake." He said, in case Ranma had just been overlooking that possibility.
"Maybe," Ranma agreed, his voice muffled and tired as he happily snuggled back into his covers. His father had turned onto his side and wasn't snoring anymore! Yes!
"Ugh!" Artemis growled, spinning on his heel and exiting back through the wall, sparks of silver light flashing in his wake as he stormed out. Ranma snorted disdainfully as he let sleep overtake him. Wacko.
*
"Akane!" Kasumi called, as bright rays of early morning light drifted into the living room. The pretty nineteen year old stood at the bottom of the steps, cupping her mouth as she called up to her youngest sister, already decked out in her usual skirt and apron. Another Saturday, another wonderful dinner she had to begin to prepare for the family! Not to mention she had just acquired from Luna a new highly multifaceted and complex mini compact that was a central processing unit in disguise, and could be used to trace and delineate the latest yoma that hassled the scout team, of which she had to begin to master! Wow. she seemed to be picking up on this whole Scout Of Wisdom thing pretty quick! Why, come to think of it, just the other day, she had dismantled a sophisticated timer on a small nuclear device that had been attached to air force one!! Oh. Wait. No, that had been Mel Gibson in that cop flick she had watched the other night. But she had repaired Mr. Tekura's transmission, and she hadn't ever been able to do THAT before. "Could you come here?"
"Yes, Kasumi-oneechan?" Akane replied, trotting down the stairs, her hair still slightly damp from her shower. She had been working out all morning, and found she was also exercising her new scout strengths. Suddenly, she seemed to be a lot more agile, and faster than she remembered being before. New, difficult katas she had watched Ranma perform were coming to her with more ease, and she was advancing faster than she ever had in two years, within the span of a few short days. It was incredibly exiting, if not a little disturbing at the same time, and she REALLY wanted to show off to Ranma! However, her self-control had been incessantly reminding her that this COULD possibly ruin her cover, and she would just have to save that ego trip for later. Sailor duties came first! Oh my God, had she just really thought that?
"Akane, I need you to go into town and pick up some things for me for dinner. I would go myself, but I really need to get in some cleaning, and I just can't seem to fit shopping into my schedule." the woman apologized.
"You don't need to ask twice Kasumi, it's no problem! I have no other plans," Akane said, heading for the coat rack.
"Oh, good! I have a list here and-Oh, my. It's a bit long. I feel bad making you go out all alone with so much to buy!." Kasumi fretted, as Akane shook her head and slid her jacket on. "Oh! I know. Ranma! Would you mind terribly going into town with Akane for me and getting some things for dinner?"
"Um!" Ranma said, looking up from the latest training manual he had sneaked from Happi's room. "Er." he glanced up at Akane, who was, at least, looking equally as awkward as he was. Ranma still hadn't said much to Akane since the, um, er, kiss. on the roof the other night, and was still a little cautious about spending too much one on one time with the girl. Akane didn't seem to be too eager to be caught alone with Ranma either, afraid that it would lead to less than comfortable confrontations she wouldn't know how to approach. Best to let things stir, as they usually did in Nerima.
"Well." Akane sighed, tugging her on her hair, wanting to tell Kasumi that she would be fine alone, but not able to get it out.
"Oh, good! We wouldn't want Akane to be lonely! Here's your jacket Ranma-san, and take your time. I don't need these supplies until a bit later anyway!" Kasumi said, thrusting Ranma's jacket into his hands, and waving to the couple as she quickly slipped into the kitchen. Ranma stared dumbly at his jacket for a second, Akane still nervously glaring at her feet in the doorway, before shrugging helplessly and putting the jacket on, joining his fiancée.
"Well. I guess we should go," he said, stuffing his hands into his pockets.
"Yeah. DEFINITLY." Akane agreed completely, not so sure why she put such an emphasis on that 'definitely', or why she felt so compelled to agree with Ranma. She was acting like an awkward schoolgirl! Never mind the fact that she WAS, but Akane the violent tomboy would not sink to the level of a lovesick little girl!. Not that she was. sick. with love. or anything. 'Ahhhh!'
"Um, so, where to first?" Ranma asked, as they made their way towards town, large, family houses slowly converting to delis and clothing stores, big lawns being replaced by food stands, and the streets suddenly filling with people.
"Well, I guess we should go to the supermarket first. Kasumi needs some broccoli and asparagus." She said, reading off the list. "Um, and maybe we should leave the butchers for last."
"Sure," And so the two walked in a rather companionable silence, acknowledging the fact that something was amiss in their daily routine, the fact that Ranma hadn't said something rude, and Akane hadn't try to punch his face in, more than enough proof, but simply choosing to ignore it.
The supermarket was filled with tons of bustling Nerima citizens, all who got wary looks in their eyes and stayed a good 200 feet away from the couple as they entered, not unlike a fire truck. This could get messy.why were they acting so. nice?
"What do you think of this one?" Ranma asked, picking up a perfectly normal looking broccoli, and showing it to Akane, for the final seal of approval.
"Umm." she said, pointing to a rather incriminating brown spot on the broccoli. Ewww, rot.
"Oh. Right. Well. what about that one?" Ranma said, quickly retrieving a new broccoli, and all the while asking himself why he was so worried about it.
"Er, doesn't it seem too dried out?" Akane said, for the first time in her life trying not to sound accusing around the boy. Just. take it slow.
"This one?" he asked, picking up a new vegetable, and briefly wondering why he was asking Akane, the Kitchen Destroyer, for advice on healthy looking food.
"Sure," she conceded. "That looks fine,"
"Yeah, it does look pretty good, doesn't it?" Ranma added, admiring the pure green food.
"A good broccoli if I've ever seen one,"
"I'll say." The two stood there for a second, shaking their heads, and staring at the broccoli. ye gads, what had they been reduced to?
"Ranma!-"
"Akane!-" They both started at the same time, no longer able to control their pent up frustration. This wasn't working dammit! They couldn't act as though nothing had happened! And they couldn't pretend as though they should just go about their daily lives as was normal! They had KISSED, and it had been a MUTUAL one! That was like, a first in the history of Nerima, period!
"You go first," Akane was quick to say.
"Listen, 'Kane." Ranma started, rubbing the back of his head. "About the other night."
"Which night?" Akane asked, just to be difficult, really.
"YOU know what night!" Ranma growled. He'd be damned if she'd already forgotten!
"Ohhh, 'that' night." She said, sagely, deciding the 'night' definitely deserved its own new set of quotation marks.
"I. I'm sorry. If I came on too strong, or anything. Really. I am! Except. I'm not. And I'm not because-"
"Ranma!" Akane hushed, putting a hand on his shoulder to silence him, and staring off into the distance, her eyes wide and shining.
"Hu?" Ranma asked, a little peeved at being cut off during what he thought was one of his more daring conversations with the girl.
"That. that woman!" she whispered, stepping past the boy, dropping the broccoli casually back into its box, (Ranma sucking in a breath of pain,) and watching as a pretty blonde past through the street, observed by the provisional scout through the super market doors.
"What woman?" Ranma asked, after Ritsuko had passed. Akane turned to look at the boy, and almost immediately realized that this was probably a scout thing. She highly doubted that Ranma had just felt that cold rush of air that was a bad vibe, passing through her bones, as that blond had walked by. who was she? Why did she feel so evil? It was. overwhelming, and Akane had a feeling she needed to look into this one.
"Um. I'll be right back." Akane murmured, rushing forward, and out the doors.
"HEY! Hey Akane! Wait up!" Ranma yelled, running after the blue haired girl as she began to give chase to Ritsuko.
*
Deep under Crown Arcades, in the Scout's secret base, Luna sat in a large desk chair, leaning over a computer, and watching as statistics from the negative vibes around town flew across the screen. She had been trying to track down Ritsuko using this method of observing bad vibes, in hopes of Ritsuko eventually becoming the epicenter of them. Now, finally she thought she might have a lead.
"Artemis! Come here!" she called to her partner. The pure white cat glanced up from the textbook he was tearing through, still in a foul mood from his counterproductive encounter with Ranma Saotome. That child was intolerable! Of course he hadn't told Luna about any of this. Going against her word was bad enough, but going against her word and then FAILING? Miserably, to boot? Best to keep this one on the hush-hush.
"Yeah?" he said, grouchily, and wandering over to the desk. Hopping up and looking over at the screen, he glanced over what Luna was carefully monitoring.
"Look, Artemis! That collection of negative energy, near the shopping district! It looks as though someone is performing a powerful spell of sorts! That whirlpool of energy is the only explanation!" Luna said, her paw landing on said energy. Artemis' eyes widened.
"No kidding! Do you think it's Ritsuko?" he asked, cautiously. He REALLY didn't want it to be. Ritsuko could be quite cruel and sadistic when she needed to be. And considering her latest losses, he glanced over at the black opal ring sitting innocently on the table next to them. she needed to be.
"I don't know yet, I'm trying to get a fix on the exact type of energy it is, so then maybe I can disconcert what spell we're dealing with here, and get a better idea of the problem." Luna said, as Artemis nodded. Ahh. mixing magic with technology had been a brilliant idea.
"Hmm." Artemis murmured, as Luna rapidly typed a lot of complicated looking commands in. "It's definitely a heavy duty spell. used to cover lots of area. possibly all of Tokyo!"
"Quite, and look at this pattern! It's ancient!"
"Yes. and it's the pattern that bothers me. I recognize it. I would only recognize it if I've read it in one of my books. and that's rarely a good sign." Artemis admitted.
"Can you look it up?" Luna asked, not even glancing at her partner as she continued to type away. Damn she was fast for having no opposable thumbs!
"Gimme a sec." And he was off.
*
"Akane! Akane where are you going?" Ranma asked, grabbing onto his fiancées jacket as she wound her way around the crowds of people in the street.
"I-I saw somebody I know! From . summer camp!"
"But you don't go to summer camp!"
"ER!- I USED to! Before you came!"
"Oh."
'I'm loosing that bad vibe. but I can't let that woman go! I have this feeling in my stomach. like I need to find her.' suddenly the girl picked something up, a definitely bad feeling that made her insides churn uncomfortably. It was coming from the nearby alley, a dark area that suddenly had a very ominous feeling to it.. Akane quickly did a 90 degree turn and dashed towards it, Ranma still holding onto her.
"Akane! I really don't think your friend is in that alley!" He was getting the impression his friend was loosing it. Hold it, had he just called her 'friend'? Well. she was. Come to think of it. Yeah, she definitely was.
"No, I think I saw her enter here!" she assured him, keeping her eyes peeled as she walked into the dank alley, a terrible smell attacking her senses. She had to keep in mind how potentially dangerous this could be.
"What's that stench?" Ranma asked, holding his nose, and letting go of Akane's jeans jacket so he could further investigate the barren alley. "It smells like burning-"
"Eeeekkkk!!!" Akane screamed, zipping behind her brave and strong fiancée, holding her mouth and shutting her eyes.
".flesh." Ranma finished, his face turning green, and his eyes widening. Okay, so maybe the alley WASN'T so barren. On the ground, but a few feet away, what Ranma had first assumed to be a dirty pile of rags, was really a dirty pile of people! Three people, to be exact, their faces distorted, dried out, and mummified, limbs stuck out at odd, imposing angles. The smell of their rotting flesh seemed recent, from what the martial artist could tell. "They look like that bad broccoli!" Ranma groaned, backing up.
"Ranmmaaa." Akane mumbled into his back, fists clenched in front of her. That was so gross! How could he be so crude?
"They look really mummified, though." At that Akane's deep brown eyes shot open, and she bit her lip. 'Just the other day, five mummified boys were found dead in the gymnasium of the high school with think Ritsuko might currently be attending,'. that's what Artemis had said! Did this mean Ritsuko was to blame for this less than pleasant attack?
Suddenly, Akane felt that cold, bad vibe again, and her head snapped up, as Ranma was trying to lead her out of the alley. Just stepping off the fire escape attached to the building next to them, Akane swore she saw a girl, and a flash of blond hair. that girl from outside the super market! These boys! Could she be. Ritsuko?
'I can't let her go.' Akane decided.
"Akane? Oh, for Christ's sake! What the hell are ya doing now?" Ranma said, watching as the small girl began to determinedly make her way up the rusty looking fire escape. "Where are you going!" he called up to her.
"I. just saw my camp friend again! Up here!" Akane explained.
".You know, I'm not THAT dumb," When Akane didn't say anything more, Ranma heaved a heavy sigh, and quickly began to follow her, once again, trotting up the fire escape, and deciding he would just have to make her pay later.
'If I nab this Ritsuko now, all of our scout troubles will be over, and I can get back to my homework!' Akane thought joyfully, as she reached the top of the building.
*
"Luna!!" Artemis cried, running up to the female cat, sounding distressed.
"What is it Art? I'm a bit busy at the moment. these vibes are getting more powerful all the time! It's as if the caster of the spell is gaining more energy!" Luna explained, eyes glued to the computer screen, a worried frown on her face.
"It is important! I just figured out what spell that is, based on its magical pattern! It's all right here in this book!" Artemis said, pointing to the large book of 'Disgusting Curses And Equally As Unpleasant Spells', By Witchy McWitch. Luna winced. This didn't bode well.
"Well, what spell is it?" Luna inquired.
"Here," Artemis said, opening the book and pointing to a rather long paragraph. "I can't believe she's casting this spell, it's so old! And no one has used it for years because of its. unconventional. effects. that tend to be less than useful for the caster, in any case. Still, if it's Ritsuko, and I'm pretty positive it is, she must have her reasons." Luna read the paragraph, and the name of the spell, with her jaw hanging open.
"Oh my God Artemis. if she casts this over all of Tokyo. we have to stop her! We have to go, now! We can't let her cast the Plague Of-"
*
"-Insanity." Ukyo sighed, scrubbing one dish especially hard, and throwing it onto the already gigantic pile next to her. "That's what this is, insanity." The young chef hadn't known he had it in him, but Kontsastu had a pretty big mean streak. making her do all of the Uchan's dishes ALONE that night, (It wouldn't have been SO bad if it hadn't been a Saturday night!! Their biggest crowd was on Saturday night!) was enough proof. She had thought that the cross dressing ninja would have been so smitten with her he wouldn't have wanted his lovely Goddess of Okanamiyaki go through such torture all by her lonesome!- but.she had been wrong. This was payback for leaving him to manage the restaurant by himself those times she was doing the Sailor Scout thing. It wasn't as if she could have HELPED it!
'But he doesn't know that.' Ukyo admitted, sighing. 'He probably thinks I ditched him to go see Ranma. Which is what I would have preferred to have been doing. Honestly.' She groaned aloud and rubbed her head with the back of her hand, still managing to get soapsuds all over her forehead. Worst part was, she had let all of the dishes sit because she was too tired after the super secret Scout meeting and her homework and what not, last night. and now all of the food was practically permanently cemented onto the plates. Time to work those arm muscles!
Tingalingaling!
"Hello?" Ukyo said, sticking her head out of the kitchen to see who had entered the shop. "I'm sorry sir, but we're not open until- oh! Ryoga!" Ukyo said, coming completely out of the kitchen now, and eagerly peeling off her rubber gloves. Any excuse to ditch dish washing for a while!
"Hey," the lost boy said, offering a small smile, and freezing up slightly as Ukyo gave him a friendly welcoming hug. No! No nosebleeds! Stop it!
"What can I do for you, sugar?" the pretty girl said, leaning away from Ryoga, and raising an eyebrow.
"Actually, I had stopped by for a bite to eat. but if you're not open, I don't want to impose," Ryoga admitted.
"Hey, don't worry about it, I'm sure I can whip you something up quick enough!" Ukyo said, zipping over to the grill with lightning speed. 'It's not procrastinating! I'm feeding a hungry friend! It's not procrastinating! I'm feeding a hungry-'
Ryoga came to sit on a barstool, Ukyo happily humming as she cooked. After a few minutes of silence on Ryoga's part. Ukyo noticed he was looking sort of down in the dumps. She frowned lightly.
"What's on your mind?" she asked, casually.
". Not much." Ryoga admitted. "Just one girl."
"Akane?" Ukyo said, making a total shot in the dark here.
"Yeah," the big guy sighed, resting his face in his hands. "She. last night. all she could talk about was Ranma," Ukyo faltered when trying to flip her okanamiyaki, biting her lip.
"She talked to you about Ran-chan?" she asked, dangerously quiet.
"Yeah. she talked to me about 'Ran-chan,'" Ryoga said, dully. "But, I was 'P-chan' at the time," Ryoga knew just about everyone else on the planet besides Akane herself had realized just who P-chan was, and discovered it was no use hiding it. Ukyo gave of a rye smile, sighing. Life was hard for people like them.
"I'm hearing you. she's in love with him, isn't she?" she asked softly. Ryoga looked up, meeting her gaze.
"I think she may be," he admitted. The two shared a moment of heart ache, Ryoga because he felt the loss, and Ukyo because she knew she soon might. She didn't have an false pretences about what the relationship between those two might escalate to. ". At least, she might be. I think something happened, something different, because she just babbled on about him all night. Like. like she had a big crush on him or something," he admitted, sounding rather disgusted.
"'Something different'?"
"Yeah. I think he may have kissed her." Ukyo clenched her fist so hard her spatula began to bend into an inconvenient shape, before she caught herself. It was a bad habit. He had WHAT?
"Reallly?" she asked, her voice a bit too sweet.
"Yeah. and. And I think she liked it," he added, his voice dead. It then occurred to Ukyo that Ryoga didn't sound angry enough about it. He just sounded. depressed, and- OH NO! No!!
"Whoop! Here's your food! Dig in! It's good! Isn't it? Really good!" Ukyo enthused quickly, all but throwing a plate in front of the boy, who was pulsating with a deadly glow, no doubt signaling the beginnings of a dangerous, Shi-shi Hokudan * attack. Damn that Akane! Didn't she know it was a bad idea getting little piggies all depressed?
"Oh. Thanks," Ryoga said, dully.
"Soooo. what ELSE is up? Oh! I know, how's Akari?" Ukyo asked, hopefully. If he blew up her restaurant she would NEVER forgive him!
"I broke up with her." He said, sounding pretty depressed about THAT turn of events, as well.
"Eeep! Umm. Er. you know what?! Ryoga, have you been working out? You look very. buff." she said, mentally smacking her head. No DUH he looked buff, he was probably one of the best martial artists in the world! Well, at least, he was almost as good as Ran-chan. And that meant SOMETHING!
"Really?" Ryoga asked, perking up, even if it was just a little.
"Yeah!" Ukyo practically shrieked. "And. your hair! Did you do something to your hair?"
"Well, no," Ryoga said, patting said hair, which was partially covered by a bandana.
"You didn't? Well it looks like you got it professionally styled or something! It's great!"
"Gee. thanks." Ryoga said, Ukyo sighing in relief when his sorrowful aura began to die down. All he needed was some complimenting, and he was harmless! "You know. you don't look so bad yourself Ukyo. Have YOU been working out?" Ryoga asked, looking at his friend in a whole new light. There was definitely something very different about the girl, he noticed. Her aura was all. stronger, more vibrant. Powerful. How did that happen?
Realizing he wasn't just talking about her muscles, and had most likely observed the change in her very essence, being a Scout and all, Ukyo bit her lip, and twiddled her thumbs.
"Um, well, yes. I've been. training. With. Shampoo!" she said, finally. Boy, talking to this man was stressful stuff!
"Shampoo, hu? That's good," Ryoga said, nodding. Shampoo WAS a better fighter than Ukyo. but, something a little more dramatic than just training had happened to Ukyo, and he knew it. Still, if she didn't want to talk about it, he wouldn't pry. He stared down at his plate, quietly, and Ukyo quickly got to worrying again.
"Hey. Hey Ryoga.Are you sure you're all right?" she asked, leaning down close to Ryoga, so that their faces were quite close. Ryoga looked up into her green eyes, his expression thoughtful. He had never noticed it, but Ukyo was pretty attractive.
"Yeah. I think I'll be just fine." he admitted.
"Oh." Ukyo said, realizing that he had this sort of glazed over look in his eyes, and was staring at her funny. Hey. he had a pretty cute face, come to think of it. "So you didn't want anything?"
"Actually." Ryoga looked back down at his plate, biting his lip. "I wondered if I could have seconds?" Ukyo rolled her eyes and backed away, heading over to the grill. Was THAT all he had to say? He was just as bad as Ran-chan!
"Ah-!" Ukyo gasped, dropping her already slightly bent spatula, and staring out the window, as she neared the grill.
"Ukyo?" Ryoga asked, concern coating his voice.
"There's. something. something is coming," she said, her senses extending out of the Uchan, and towards a very real evil that was quickly spreading. infecting.oh no. "Something's coming!"
"What's coming?" Ryoga said, getting to his feet and staring out the window. He didn't see anything. "What are you talking about?" Realizing he couldn't feel the evil like she could, Ukyo settled for hugging herself tightly, and shivering. What was going on out there? Why did she get this really bad feeling..?
"What should I do?"
*
"Akane, you have a hell of a lot of explaining to do," Ranma said, pulling himself onto the roof, and feeling a cold gust of air hit him. ".Akane?" he asked.
"Shhh!" the girl said, grabbing the boy by the hood of his windbreaker, and pulling him down behind a satellite dish next to her.
"Erk!" he coughed, holding his throat. Damn she was strong!
"Look!" Akane whispered fiercely, pointing to something a few yards away from the couple.
"Whoa." Ranma commented. Centered on the roof, a large dome of crackling purple energy surrounded a woman with long blond hair held in a low ponytail. She had her hands clasped in an odd position in front of her, and seemed to be reciting something very quickly, and in another language. Akane couldn't really pick any of the words up, but waves of evil and twisted aura were rolling off the woman's body, and from the looks of it, even Ranma could tell this chick was bad news. Above her, sparkling purple energy was collecting in a sort of spiral formation. Akane narrowed her eyes. Okay. So, if this really was Ritsuko, what was she supposed to do now? Charge forward shouting something akin to 'Stop, in the name of the MOON!' Hmm. she didn't think it was going to have a substantial impact on the woman at this point.
"What's going on?" Ranma whispered back, his brows furrowed together. "What is she trying to do?"
"I don't know," Akane admitted.
"This isn't your camp friend, is it?"
"No!"
"Just checking." Ranma said, rubbing the back of his head. "But, seriously, I've got a bad feeling about this woman. Maybe we should just go."
"And let her get away with this?!"
"Away with what?" he croaked, throwing his arms up.
"I don't know. her. her EVILNESS!" Akane said, making scary looking claws with her hands.
"Oh. well. You're right then, we better stick around," Ranma said, sarcastically. "Listen, for all we know, she could be an innocent WICCA member, simply practicing her religion!" Just then, however, the spiral of power made an ominous 'VOOSH' ing sound, and shot up heavenwards, lighting up the entire morning sky with a sickly maroon color. The two martial artists gasped, realizing that this was most likely another bad sign. "Okay. or not."
Akane felt her head become dizzy with all of the negative vibes swirling around her, encouraging her to get her butt into gear before things got out of hand. However. how could she transform and save the day with Ranma right there, watching? She wasn't supposed to reveal her powers to anyone! Luna had insisted! But. she couldn't think of another possibility just then, she highly doubted she could stop this woman without some major help from Sailor Moon's tiara.
"Ranma," she started, turning to the boy, and deciding to give him fair warning before she ripped out the big guns. However, at that moment, Ritsuko chose to acknowledge the duo's presence.
"Who's there!?" she hissed, her voice echo like and strange. The two froze up, and peaked out from behind their dish, shaking with fear as Ristuko's, now pure purple, eyes, stared back at them, all narrowed like. Ranma gulped.
"Hello there!" he called back, amiably.
"DIE!" Ritsuko let out an unearthly roar. How dare these mortals try to interfere with her plans when she was so close to success! Nothing could go wrong at this point, she wouldn't let it!
"Run away, run away!" Ranma cried, grabbing Akane by the waist and leaping to the side, as a rather formidable ball of purple energy at them. The dish was destroyed in a second, and more than a few people in the building cursed as their Direct T.V connection was lost. Nooo, HBO!
"Ack!" Akane squeaked, covering her head as she was showered by miniscule pieces of satellite dish, and frowning. Okay. it was definitely time to transform. "Ranma, there's something I've been hiding from you!" she admitted to the worried boy next to her.
"NOW you want to talk about it? Akane, I'm thrilled, but this is hardly the time to-"
"No! This is an important secret.important to what we're doing right now!" she sighed, taking out the transforming device that looked suspiciously like a school girly pen, thrusting her arm upwards. "MOON POWER, MAKE UP!" she yelled, feeling pretty damn stupid, and positive Ranma was doing some major eyebrow raising at this point. However, all of his doubts about her sanity were put to shame as the girl was wrapped in silver and pink light, ribbons of power surrounded her. Akane let out a gasp as she felt that same tingly feeling of real strength return to her body, and when she was conscious of her surroundings again, she was a kick ass Sailor Scout with a mean looking tiara, to boot.
"." Ranma was speechless. He was also blushing. He could see up her skirt. Look away! Don't be taken into the dark side!
"Listen, I know I should have told you about this secret before," Akane admitted, wringing her hands, and suddenly feeling really small again, even though she was Sailor Moon now. Ranma was giving her a FUNNY look!
"Wait! You're. you're a replacement Scout, right?" Ranma asked, rubbing his head. Oh Jesus, that ghost-like man from the other night! He had told him about this whole Sailor Scout deal. but. Ranma had passed it off as a dream in the morning, hardly dwelling on it. Like he had said, he had his own list of worries to concern himself with. Well, this had just become one of his very own worries. Great.
"How did you know?" Akane gasped, as the two dodged to the side again, just missing getting scalped by a wrathful Ritsuko who was now, besides being angry that her spell was about to gain some major complications, was also pissed off because she was being ignored. By her prey no less!
"YOU! FAKE SAILOR SCOUT! I'LL KILL YOU!" she bellowed, her voice a guttural screech, and making her pretty face look suddenly very repulsive.
"Well, see, this guy came to see me last night! Talked a lot about replacement scouts and evil and how I was supposed to help. he was all tall and ghostly, and I told him to take a hike! I thought he was weird." Ranma admitted sheepishly. "How did YOU get mixed up in this?" he asked, still dashing along the roof, and his tone gaining a hint of steel. Didn't she know she could get seriously hurt fighting demons alone? Cat demons for that matter? Wait. he had licked-!?
"It's a long story, and a lot of other people are 'mixed up' in it to," she said, her voice stating plainly that if Ranma got all protective and macho over this one she would pulverize him. She was starting to warm up to the fact that she could dust yoma's. "And I don't know any ghostly looking men, either. Two talking cats though. Listen, can we talk about this later, I think we should focus on the mad witch, or whatever," she admitted.
"Good idea." The two stopped jogging to check out Ritsuko. To their surprise, she had stopped firing away, and seemed to have reached a new peak in her spell. Her body twitched ominously, and thunder cracked in the distance. The super hero with the high heeled boots and the martial artist with the pig tail soon found their hair standing on end, thinking about how it wasn't wise to stand on a roof when there was lighting crackling in an all too lively way just above you.
"Hey, you, stop!" Ranma shouted at Ritsuko, and feeling more than a little fed up. Could his day get any weirder?
"Her name is Ritsuko," Akane supplied. Yes. Yes it could.
"Oh. ok." No need to ask how she knew that. She could deal with his wariness about this whole Sailor Moon idea, later. "Ritsuko, cut it out!" But the woman didn't listen to them, and suddenly streams of deep purple energy were shooting out of her protective dome, going in all directions around Nerima. Akane hissed in pain as one slashed her arm. What were these things? They stung like all hell, and there seemed to be a deadly purpose to them.
"We've got to stop her Ranma!" she cried.
"I know!" he said, shielding his eyes from the flying debris and overwhelmingly bright power. Akane put one hand up to her tiara, as Ranma experimentally rammed himself into the dome, only to find that it was as hard as a rock, and Ritsuko wasn't even aware of his actions. As Sailor Moon, she couldn't allow this to go on. She had promised Luna she would help protect the people of Earth, and she was pretty sure this qualified as one of those times where she had to stick to that promise. Removing her tiara, she let the words come to her.
"MOOON, TIARAAA. ACTION!" she said, hurling the now frisbee like tiara at the dome, Ranma watching her with his mouth hanging open as he felt something powerful fly by his right ear. Wowzers.
The tiara didn't have as much effect on the dome as Akane would have preferred it to, but it did make a healthy looking hole. big enough to climb through. Her tiara returning to her hand, not unlike Xena's thingamajig, (You know, that's a real word.) she leaped for the hole, hurling herself through it, since it seemed to be repairing itself as she thought. Not even hesitating, Ranma followed.
"How did ya DO that 'Kane?" he squawked, looking, through it all, mildly impressed. "You have to teach me that trick one day!"
"Er. I don't think it's one of those teachable attacks," the girl admitted.
"You just don't want me to be able to do it!" he protested, accusingly.
"No I DON'T, you big jerk!" she shot back, face going red. "You just need a-"
"Ahem." Both heads quickly snapped to the side, where they came face to face with a less than pleased look Ritsuko, her body still radiating that deathly looking, purple glow, blond hair drifting around her head. "I really don't like the fact that you two have broken into my force field. What's more, I don't like you. When the time of infection comes, you will not be saved. Not if I have anything to say about it. Now leave, IMPOSTER scout!" she spat, making a move with her claw like hands as to push Akane out of the force field, while the girl was stunned by the fact that the woman's sentence made no sense, and was surprised to be stopped in mid swing by that mortal boy with the scout. "Let go!" she ordered, trying to push him away as well. Still having her fisted hand in his own, Ranma's eyes darkened, threateningly. This woman had just tried to punch Akane! Squeezing his hand tight, Ritsuko gawked as she felt Ranma start to break her knuckles. It wasn't as though it hurt, it was just surprising he could do it to her immortal body! Just who was this kid, anyway.
"I wouldn't try that if I were you," he suggested, his voice casual, his eyes anything but. It wasn't everyday Ranma hurt a woman, but luckily, in this case, his gut was telling him she probably wasn't a real woman, anyway.
"Fool," she cried, wrenching her hand away, and inconspicuously cradling it when she thought they weren't paying attention. And, in truth, they weren't, for, at that moment, the world around them as they new it began to explode with blotches of black, shaking the ground, and causing the sky to drip away. The spell was now officially in effect. It felt as though everything was upside down for a moment, the landscape covered in a sickly color that consumed all and spared nothing, the only light in the world was seemingly the bright purple bubble that surrounded the grim trio. A gurgling sound and the hint of a young man's twisted laughter echoed somewhere off in the distance. Ritsuko nodded her head in response, pleased he had done her bidding.
And when Ranma and Akane blinked, everything was back to normal, the sky was back, the buildings were back and everything was safely placed right side up again. The only thing remaining the uneasy and sickly feeling in their stomachs. The feeling that told them things certainly were NOT back to normal and peachy.
"What happened!" Akane choked out, rounding on Ritsuko. The woman laughed, throwing her head back and letting out genuine peels of laughter.
"It's quite funny, actually," she admitted, still chuckling lightly. Her face abruptly went back to its cold, I-have-something-painful-stuck-up- my-ass look, and it seemed as though a rather unpleasant factor had just popped up, and it had. "Except for the part where you two are unaffected. You shouldn't have broken into my dome like that, your lives might have been spared if you had just stayed out of this." she admitted, snapping her fingers, and letting the dome zip into nothingness around them. It was like being brought back into reality. only. Ritsuko wasn't supposed to still be there. Ranma shook his head, confusion and anger welling up so strong it finally needed a place to vent from. His fists looked like a fine spot as any!
"I don't know what you're up to, but if you're going to threaten my life, you better have the power to back it up, witch!" he declared, racing forward, with his arm outstretched, caught up in the panic of the moment. Akane put a hand to her mouth, eyes wide. Uh oh.
Ritsuko nimbly jumped into the air, where she stayed, looking highly amused. Ranma angrily cocked his head back to stare at her. How was she so fast?
"You know. I don't think I'm going to kill you two just yet," she decided, quite suddenly, folding her arms, and levitating a good five yards from the ground. "I think I'll let you run loose for a while. watch you squirm. It'll be entertaining," she supplied, by way of explanation. Ranma and Akane traded worried and pretty P.Oed looks.
"Wrong. I don't think I'm going to let you get away Ritsuko! You days of unleashing evil upon our innocent city are over!" Ranma watched in fascination as his fiancée performed a long series of delicate, artful looking hand movements. They were very pretty, his only question was. why? "In the name of peace, I will punish you!" she finished. However, by that point, Ritsuko had burst into more whoops of real laughter, and disappeared with a goodbye flash of light.
". I just let her get away, did I?"
"Uh hu. Akane, say, what was that all about?"
"I. don't. know. It was terrible Ranma! I couldn't stop it! My arms were moving on their own and I wasn't even conscious of what I was saying! Why is this HAPPENING? OH GOD, WHY?"
".It'll be okay. In any case, what do you think happened before. You know, with the impending doomy feeling and the black covering the sky, the thunder."
"No clue. Do you think. do you think she hurt anyone?" Akane asked, cautiously.
"I don't know. I mean, she did have her own force field up to protect her from whatever spell she was casting , so .it's possible." He acknowledged. The two simultaneously glanced towards the edge of the roof, knowing their technically should be hundreds of people below them, and hesitant to see if anything had happened to them.
Eventually, their curiosity got the better of them, and even though Sailor Akane made sure Ranma had to go first, because he had a stronger stomach than she did, they found themselves gazing out into the streets below.
"Hm. everything seems cool," Ranma mentioned. Where had had assumed he would have to witness the site of thousands of mutilated and disemboweled bodies, he saw only the normal, if not chaotically bustling, streets of shopping district. No change there.
"Maybe we should go back down. see what's up. People must have at least NOTICED what happened. It was pretty hard not to." Akane pointed out.
"Okay, good plan," Akane didn't have time to happily dwell over the fact that he had just complimented her, because soon they were trotting back down the fire escape, keeping a wary eye out for demons and the like, ready to spring at them from the shadows. none did. It was sort of a disappointment though, seeing as how ready they were to defend themselves and all.
Quietly stepping out into the street, the first person Ranma and Akane spotted was a mailman. Everyone else seemed to be rushing around them, crazy with shopping frenzy, but the mailman was carefully inspecting a package in his hand, right across the street, in front of the disgustingly overpriced cafe.
"Why don't we ask him if he noticed anything out of the ordinary?" Ranma offered.
"Do you really think I should let people see me like this?" Akane wondered, pulling at her outfit.
"No one's noticed you yet!"
"Good point." Indeed, no one was even glancing at them. So they moseyed over to the mailman, Ranma tapping him on the shoulder, a pleasant smile on his face.
"Hello, sir?" he asked. The mailman turned around, package still firmly grasped close to him. "We were just wondering if you had noticed anything odd, a minute ago. Possibly. a world wide black out? Lots of evil looking purple stuff shooting out everywhere?" The mailman stared at Ranma blankly, and the boy got the distinct impression that no one was home as the older guy looked up at him silently for a more extended period of time. "Er." Then, without warning, the mailman raised his arms above his head and violently chucked his package (which was a lot heavier than it looked.) at Akane's neck.
"ACK!" she choked, grasping her neck and doubling over.
"What the hell was that for?!" Ranma demanded of the obviously less than stable mailman. When he received no answer, Ranma, eyes nearly crossed with anger, grabbed the puny little jerk by his collar and lifted him up off the ground. "Hu? What's up with you!?" Ranma demanded to know.
"Ranma, put him down," Akane gasped. "I don't look like myself, maybe there was some sort of mista-,"
"Unhand me, don't touch me! You're like an anorchous caseate!*" the mail man got out, in a very thick British accent.
"Eh?" the couple asked, staring blankly up at the forty year old, whose feet still were only grazing the ground, thanks to Ranma.
"And I think I shall take Mary Lou with me, and I don't care what you think of her. Mary Lou is beautiful. don't insult her! You dirty, LOVE NAZI!" he cried, twisting and squirming, trying to get out of Ranma's strong grip. Plainly out of bewilderment, Ranma dropped the guy, watching as he grabbed his mail and stormed out of sight, leaving Akane and Ranma to wonder just what species of animal they had been dealing with there.
"Someone forget to take their Prozac, or what?" Akane said, shaking her head. That had been weird, even for Nerima.
"Um. Akane." Ranma said softly, as if afraid to disturb something.
"Hu?" she asked, still rubbing her neck.
"Look over there." He directed her to glance across the street, where it suddenly dawned upon Akane that those bustling consumers weren't on a shopping frenzy. but just a frenzy!
Everywhere people dashed about, shouting random phrases, dancing in the streets, a whole group of them were squawking like chickens and even more crawling along the ground, while gnawing at their shoulders. Trying to lick their elbows. Crashing their cars. Even the street lights seemed to have gone a little haywire.
All in all, they were astonished they hadn't noticed any of it before.
An elderly lady dashed up to Akane, throwing her walker into a near by dumpster, and kneeled in front of the Scout. Quickly, she wrapped her thin, wrinkly arms around the girls thighs.
"MARRY ME!" she shrieked, in her old, high pitched rasp. "Please, baby, I'll do anything!"
"Hands off, granny!" Ranma said, snatching the shocked girl away.
"Oh, Ranma, I'm so flattered you're jealous." Akane said, putting a hand to her mouth, in an effort to hide the fact that she was terribly flabbergasted. A geriatric woman had just asked her to MARRY her! What was the world COMING to?
"Akane, you know what this means, don't you?" Ranma asked, in all seriousness.
"The entire shopping district as gone berserk?"
"No shit, Sherlock! I was referring more to that Ritsuko woman's spell! No, curse! SHE did this, and the only reason we weren't affected was because we were with her when it was cast! That's why she thought letting us run loose for a while would be a good laugh! Why she wanted to see us 'squirm!'" he explained, taking her by the shoulders. Akane paled.
"You're RIGHT," she gasped, as if that were the surprising part.
"We have to fix this," he reminded her.
"I know," she said, frowning. "It's my duty, technically."
"And because we're the possibly only sane ones left, it's our responsibility now. To everyone," Ranma added.
"Do you think it's spread that far? Are we really the only ones left who can think straight?"
"We can't be sure." He sighed, really wishing they weren't. Not many actually considered them really SANE, anyway He wasn't sure what to do! How were they supposed to cure this . disease that everyone had become infected with? And how were they going to find Ritsuko? For that matter why had she done any of this? For a good laugh? Watch the mortals roll around and make odd noises? Hmmm. as he pondered life's many questions, and ducked a bit as a woman hurled herself over his head, he noticed that Akane was jogging away from him, and towards a little black something at the end of the street. He squinted, trying to get a better look at it.
"CAT!" he gurgled, jumping behind a lamppost and covering his head, all of his survival instincts encouraging him to curl up into fetal position and to rock back and forth.
"Luna!" Akane said, nearly sobbing with relief. "Thank God you found me! I'm so worried! What's going on? How can I stop it? Are the others all right?" she asked, almost all in one breath, kneeling down next to the cat, and waiting with bated breath for her answer. Luna would know what to do. Luna always had an answer! But the cat only looked pained, ears flattening against her head. Her only bit of wisdom for the day was-
"Meow! Meow meow meowwww.meow!" Akane paled, and her throat closed up.
Awww shit.
*
*Anorchous caseate- In the deliciously old and lost English language, this meant a man whose flesh has been diseased and converted to a cheesy appearance, and, in addition, has no testicles. I love it. I'll be using a lot of really gross words like this in the next chapter.
*
Author's notes:
I planned to have this out sooner, but I'm having funny writer's block. Sorry for Ranma and Akane's OOCness, I'm taking a lot of liberties with them, and I'm aware of it. Please review, because the insanity continues in the next chapter: Chapter Six: The Plague Part 2. And if you review, you get to read it a lot sooner.
Rio Grande.
P.S- To those of you who don't really give a flying crap about Ranma and Akane, and want to see more of the other characters. to this I am sorry to. I have been ignoring them a bit, and they're sort of weird in the next chapter. But then they come back, and we're all happy. YAAAAAYY!
I don't own Ranma ½ or Sailor Moon, and please enjoy!
*- Oh! And to the reviewer (Err. don't have your name. on hand. sorry.) who was worried about the lack of Kunos. dooon't worry. they'll come around. They're not in THIS chapter, but, they'll be there.
*- AND to the reviewer who made the comment about P-chan and Akane. stop making such good guesses! Shhhh!
Partial Eclipse
By Rio Grande
Chapter Five: Plagued.(Part one.)
*
"WHAT!?" All of the girls chorused, eyes wide.
"Wait- let me rephrase that! They're coming back!. we're just not absolutely sure WHEN. In fact, it could be years." Luna admitted, sighing. All of the girls collapsed into their seats, heaving sighs. Well, being a Sailor Scout for years was bad. Yes, it wasn't good. However, it was WAY better than being a scout FOREVER. They didn't think they were ready for that sort of commitment to the job.
"Why did you scare us like that?" Nabiki groaned, rubbing her head, and chugging her milk shake.
"Sorry," Luna shrugged. "Slip of the tongue."
"Do you know why the Sailor Scouts are gone?" Kasumi asked, leaning forward, a worried frown etched onto her features.
"Yes. we do." Artemis replied. "And we really should have told you all this before, but.you see, a few weeks ago, the scouts were called away to help save another galaxy, as a personal favor to the scouts who protected that area. It was a rather serious threat, that could have eventually traveled to Earth, so the scouts took it upon themselves to take down this problem before it could reach our planet, and inevitably caused havoc upon this solar system."
"Which seemed like a good idea, at the time," Luna admitted. "However, as the days went by, with no word from the girls, we realized a minor error in our calculations. First off: There is no way to communicate with the girls while they are on this journey. They are too many trillions of light years away, and our telepathic connections can't work out of the Silver Millennium's solar system," Akane looked as though she were about to ask just what the hell the 'Silver Millennium' was, but thought better of it. She probably didn't really want to know, anyway.
"Not to mention, time flows differently varying from world to world, especially when you're that far away in terms of light years and space travel. We don't know where the girls are, or how long a minute, a day, or a YEAR is in the world they're in." the black cat sighed regretfully, shaking her head. "It was a terrible error of judgment on our part, and we should have foreseen problems like this!- but we didn't. And we found ourselves in a bit of trouble, when the word that Ritsuko, one of Earth's only remaining demons, who has been free of the scouts wrath for the simple reason as she hasn't ATTEMPTED anything in ages and cannot be proven guilty of any crimes at this point." she took a breath. "Was on the move again. With the Sailor Scouts off fighting a colossal battle which could take anywhere from a few days to a few years to finish, we don't know, this was the perfect time for her to strike. There is no longer anyone to stop her."
"Yes, Ritsuko is very intelligent, and has been waiting for the right moment to make her move, and regain power over Earth, as she had in the days before the Sailor Scouts were around," Artemis said, sitting on the table ledge.
"You know, a few days ago, I didn't even know the Sailor Scouts really existed. And now it seems as though they've been keeping the world as we know it stable." Akane said, resting her cheek in her hand, and stirring her root beer float dully around with a straw. After all that had happened, she didn't think she would be surprised if she suddenly sprouted wings and became Princess of the galaxy. Waitasec.
"Yeah, I know what you mean. No offense, Luna, Artemis, but this is pretty hard to swallow," Ukyo admitted. The cats looked generally apologetic, bowing their heads.
"We know, and we're very sorry to have dumped such a large responsibility on you when it's not actually your duty to defend Earth. But we're asking you to hold this position. if not for us then for the people of this planet. Please. We know you can do it." Luna said, her tone deathly grim. The girls all traded weary glances. Did they really have a choice, when she put it like that?
". All right, I'm in,"
"Me too,"
"Shampoo protect Earth,"
"I guess there's no other choice!"
"Yeah, why not?" Luna and Artemis looked as though they could have burst with pride.
"Oh girls, I know you'll make WONDERFULL temporary scouts!" Luna said, happily.
"Yeah, and that STILL sounds like a stupid title. 'Temporary'? Couldn't you make it something more official and cool sounding? Like.the provisional scouts? Less people know what that means!" Nabiki pointed out.
"Er. sure!" Luna said, shrugging.
"Now, about that Ritsuko demon." Ukyo said, checking her watch. If she wanted to make it back to Nerima (( It has been pointed out to me that THAT'S how you spell it. Heh. Yeahhh, I'm a dumb ass!..) before too late, this meeting better speed up.
"Of course! Now, Ritsuko is a demon who cannot produce her own demonic energy. she must steal souls and aura from other beings in order to maintain her level of power." Artemis explained, giving the girls a crash course lesson on different classifications of demons.
"Shampoo no understand," Shampoo said, narrowing her eyes. "How can she be demon if she no have demon powers already?"
"Well, she DOES have demon powers, but they're pretty useless unless she can add fuel to them, and enhance them," Artemis tried to explained patiently. "It's like. all of the other demons are plants. using the sun's energy. and she's an animal! Having to consume other things to stay healthy!"
"Okay, you had me before, but now you lost me,"
"She just steals energy from humans to make herself stronger, right?" Akane reiterated for her friends.
"Yes," Artemis agreed. "It's a very rare type of demon, that is especially dangerous because she can raise her power levels to frightening heights if she finds the right victim. Unfortunately, after the scouts took out Beryl, their first real enemy, she sank into the shadows, and the scouts couldn't find a logical reason to hunt her down. She wasn't DOING anything."
"But now there's evidence she's begun to suck people dry, once more. Her victims look a bit like mummified people, and have had their souls stolen. If she had completed the draining process when you find a victim, there is no hope for them. However, if you can stop Ritsuko it in the act, the person's soul can be returned," Luna said, as she feared the girls might soon have to deal with this very situation.
"This person sounds dangerous," Ukyo admitted. "What does she look like?"
"And there lies another problem. She looks like any normal teenager! By stealing energy for all of these years, she has kept her youthful appearance up, even though her real age is around 530 years. She especially likes to stay at high schools, where she can sometimes feed off kid's lively energy without actually making contact with them. High schools have a lot of activity going on, after all." Luna pointed out.
"Creepy," Nabiki said.
"Yes, especially because, just the other day, five mummified boys were found dead in the gymnasium of the high school with think Ritsuko might currently be attending," Artemis admitted. "We investigated it, and it definitely looks like her handy work. she's not even bothering to hide herself anymore. a bad sign." He said solemnly.
"Ewww. sounds like a horror film," Akane murmured.
"Well, don't worry about a thing guys! We'll have this freak bagged in no time!" Ukyo said, smiling broadly.
"What makes you so confident?" Nabiki asked, raising an eyebrow. "This sounds like the hardest villain we've had to face yet, AND if she really is responsible for all of the other attacks. the smartest."
"Well, I just found my new power! And thunder spatulas we'll save the day!" Ukyo cheered, obviously thrilled she had become a real scout now, and had gained powers she could never have dreamed of obtaining before.
"Heyyy! Why Shampoo no found her power yet? Is strongest one here!" the girl pouted, a scowl on her face.
"You wanna bet?" Akane asked, eyebrow twitching.
"Shampoo, it's not the physical strength which unlocks your power, but the power of your heart! I've been through this," Luna said, as if talking to a small child.
"Way to make her feel better." Nabiki snorted.
"Shampoo have big strong heart!" the girl protested. "Have strong heart that love Aireen veerrry much!" she giggled, clasping her hands together.
"Care to repeat that, sugar?" Ukyo dared, getting to her feet and glaring daggers at the Amazon. SHE loved Ran-chan the most!
"Fine! Shampoo love Aireen VEERRRY mu-"
"Stop!" Luna cried, growling. These girls fought almost as much as Usagi and Rei! "Who is this 'Aireen', anyway?" she asked.
"Why, it's Ranma," Kasumi explained.
"You mean the weird boy who turned into that cat like person?" Luna asked, raising an eyebrow. Those girls were fighting over HIM? But he looked like a major freak!
"Oh, yes!" Kasumi giggled. "Shampoo, Ukyo, and Akane are all engaged to him!"
"WHAT?" Luna and Artemis choked, looking shocked.
"Oh my God, we never told you," Nabiki said, startled.
"How is that possible? How were you all engaged to this one man? And at such a young age?" Luna asked, as Artemis shook his head in disbelief. He knew these girls were weird, but this was just unbelievable. It also complicated the relationship he needed to have with that boy.
"Well, it was basically all his dumb father's fault. He got Ranma engaged to just about every girl on the planet and their friend, for food and money, a long time ago," Ukyo explained.
"But, that's terrible!"
"You're telling us?" Akane sighed. "It's hell, and he hasn't chosen one fiancée yet. Not that I WANT him to pick me,or anything!" she quickly assured everyone, even though she was currently reconsidering that statement herself. "It's just frustrating."
"Hm, but we all know he choose Shampoo for bride!" Shampoo said, total confidence in her voice, as she placed her hands on her hips. Nabiki had to step in front of her as Akane and Ukyo prepared to pounce.
"Stop it!" she yelled. "Don't you people ever quit?!"
"Really girls, I wish you'd told us this sooner. It's very disturbing," Luna said, frowning.
"Would it have made a difference?" Akane asked flatly.
"Well, no, but, as your new mentor, I'd like to be informed of things like this,"
"And that's all swell and great, but if this meeting's over. I gotta head back and help close up shop," Ukyo said, standing up, and digging through her pocket for money to pay for the drink. Okay, this meeting officially sucked! Why couldn't people just understand that she and Ranma were DESINTED to be? After all, she had known him the longest.
"Shampoo too," Shampoo admitted, her voice glum. Ohhh boy, she didn't need Cologne breathing down her back again, the old woman was very astute, and could tell something was up. If she found out Shampoo was really the 'provisional' Sailor Venus!- well, it's best to not think of such things.
"Thanks for telling us about everything," Akane said, as she placed her share on the table, and then followed Kasumi out of the arcade, having to drag Nabiki along as she has stopped to flirt with the cute manager of the arcade, Andy.
"Just when you think you've got it all figured out," Luna said, staring after her new pupils, disbelief obvious in her brown eyes.
"I know, that's so weird! How could a father do that to a child?" Artemis said.
"I don't know, but perhaps this boy needs further investigation? He seems to have a rather large effect on the girls lives." Luna said, hoping off the table, and walking into the shadows, where no one would notice the cats whispering to each other. Artemis stiffened.
"Yeah! Um- Good thinking! But, don't worry, I'll take care of it. You just watch the girls!" he said quickly. Luna raised an eyebrow.
"Well, if that's how you want it." she said, shrugging. "I don't see why not. Just be careful, you remember what cats do to him."
"I think I've got it figured out," Artemis admitted.
*
Later that night, Ranma stared up at the ceiling of his room, making a valiant effort to ignore the pulsating boom of his father snoring, but a few feet away from him. Jesus, it was even worse when he was a panda!
Rolling over on his futon, and stuffing his pillow over his head, Ranma was preparing to get up and desecrate the sacred bond shared between father's and son's that proclaimed, 'Thou shall not bludgeon thy father over his head.ith. with a toaster oven..ith.', when suddenly something else grabbed his attention, and his father's head was saved.
"Ah!" Ranma commented, as a ghostly form casually glided through his room's very solid wall, arms folded.
He was a handsome man, as far as creepy people who just intrude into your room during an un-Godly hour of the night, generally go. His hair was long and a glimmering shade of silver, his eyes a pale, piercing blue, and he wore a vibrantly white suit with blue lining, with a long cape. He rather reminded Ranma of that guy Yueh from Card Captor Sakura. (Not that he READ that comic or anything. okay, well, not ALL the time, at least. And, that subscription to the fan club online had been a TOTAL mistake on the site's part.) And he was definitely radiating some powerful vibes. Ranma narrowed his eyes.
"What do you want?" he asked, bravely, puffing out his chest, and deciding he would have looked a whole lot more impressive if he wasn't wearing only his boxers.
"I want to talk to you," the tall man said, his voice deep and commanding. Ranma raised an eyebrow carefully.
"That's all? No fighting, no ransom notes for my fiancées, no tribes back in the homeland I have to go help save? thing. CHINESE?" Ranma asked suspiciously, not likely to believe that this man just wanted to TALK after breaking into his room. And if he DID, it would have been a first.
The man's eye twitched lightly, and he quickly put a hand over it, sighing. He needed to take a vacation. What in the seven hells was this kid babbling about?
"No.Nothing. CHINESE. However. I do need to discuss important things having to do with the Sailor Scouts with you. Please, don't be alarmed, but it's very urgent," he admitted, stepping forward. Ranma was starting to wonder how he had come in through the wall if he was obviously very real and un-transparent like.
"The Sailor Scouts?" Ranma asked, his curiosity peeked. "Does this have anything to do with that incident the other day? I didn't tear any of them to shreds, did I?! Ryoga didn't mention it if I did."
And that damn random eye spasm again!
"No! You didn't kill any of the scouts! I wanted to discuss you helping them on their latest mission!" the man quipped.
"What? Why do THEY need MY help? Aren't they all powerful Goddesses or something?" Ranma asked, shaking his hands around for dramatic effect.
"Well, the original ones are." the man sighed.
" 'Original ones?' I think you need to make things a little clearer for me here, man, I'm loosing ya," Ranma stated, frowning. If there was one thing he did NOT need, it was to be caught up in a battle that involved lots of pretty girls wearing an indecent amount of clothing. The fiancées would KILL him. The man, with a frown to rival Ranma's, kneeled down on the floor across from the boy now, his serious expression fully on.
"Listen carefully Ranma Saotome, for what I am about to tell you is confidential information only given out to you because we're in a bit of what one would call a tight fix here, and you are possibly one of our only allies, currently. I am Artemis of the Silver Millennium, mentor to the Scouts." He started, as if this were supposed to have a large effect on Ranma. When there obviously wasn't, Artemis continued, a little insulted. "The original Sailor Scouts are currently. preoccupied . elsewhere, and cannot currently help save Earth because,. just because." Artemis said, stumbling over his words as he tried not to give out TOO much information. Damn, he should have prepared a speech or something.
"Uh hu." Ranma replied, his expression quizzical. This man was obviously off his rocker. "Anything else I should know?" he asked flatly. Artemis, in his human form, continued on.
"We currently have a group of replacement scouts working for us, in an effort to sustain the peace. They were the ones who stopped by your school.("You mean I wasn't licking the REAL Sailor Moon? Cheep!") However, they are green and not used to their scout powers. And especially now that we have a real villain on our hands, things could get complicated, and dangerous. I have seen what you can do and I am impressed, to say the least. Even if your techniques are a bit. far out. at times, you are a formidable martial artist, and I would be able to sleep easier if I were to know you were out there, helping out the new scout team." Artemis finished, crossing his fingers.
"No." Ranma stated simply, his expression hardly changing.
"No?" Artemis choked, surprised. Wasn't Ranma supposed to be a good- hearted Superman type guy? Where did he get off saying 'No' to this holy crusade Artemis had bestowed upon him? This was important shit, dammit!
"No," Ranma repeated, firmly. "I don't need this, I already have too many other things to worry about, and, honestly, this isn't my problem! I don't need to be out there chasing demon's who haven't done a thing to me, when I already have a list of monsters spanning about twenty miles who HAVE! I'm sorry, but I don't think I can help you, Artemis. Go ask someone else to be your backup, or whatever. Hey! I know, ask Kuno! He's totally into this sort of thing!" 'And maybe he'll be so in love with these Sailor Scouts, he'll leave me and 'Kane alone!' Ranma thought, cackling evilly inside his head.
"But. Kuno is insane."
"Point." Well, FINE.
"Ranma, I've already looked into all of the other options in this town, and you are the most highly qualified. Please, we NEED you! Tokyo needs you!" But Ranma was already shaking his head and backing up, heading to his futon, desperate to get some sleep. It was really late!
"Listen, if this villain of yours comes around bothering me or my friends?. sure, I'll get rid of 'em then. But until that happens, this really isn't my problem. And I'm happy for THAT." Ranma sighed, pulling aside the sheets.
"But. but." Artemis choked, staring after the boy, still kneeling on the floor, and looking a bit lost.
"If ya don't mind, I'd like to get some sleep now, so could ya leave?" Ranma asked, slipping back into bed. Artemis stood, frowning deeply. Well. This hadn't gone over as well as he had hoped. What a terrible turn of events!
"I think you're making a big mistake." He said, in case Ranma had just been overlooking that possibility.
"Maybe," Ranma agreed, his voice muffled and tired as he happily snuggled back into his covers. His father had turned onto his side and wasn't snoring anymore! Yes!
"Ugh!" Artemis growled, spinning on his heel and exiting back through the wall, sparks of silver light flashing in his wake as he stormed out. Ranma snorted disdainfully as he let sleep overtake him. Wacko.
*
"Akane!" Kasumi called, as bright rays of early morning light drifted into the living room. The pretty nineteen year old stood at the bottom of the steps, cupping her mouth as she called up to her youngest sister, already decked out in her usual skirt and apron. Another Saturday, another wonderful dinner she had to begin to prepare for the family! Not to mention she had just acquired from Luna a new highly multifaceted and complex mini compact that was a central processing unit in disguise, and could be used to trace and delineate the latest yoma that hassled the scout team, of which she had to begin to master! Wow. she seemed to be picking up on this whole Scout Of Wisdom thing pretty quick! Why, come to think of it, just the other day, she had dismantled a sophisticated timer on a small nuclear device that had been attached to air force one!! Oh. Wait. No, that had been Mel Gibson in that cop flick she had watched the other night. But she had repaired Mr. Tekura's transmission, and she hadn't ever been able to do THAT before. "Could you come here?"
"Yes, Kasumi-oneechan?" Akane replied, trotting down the stairs, her hair still slightly damp from her shower. She had been working out all morning, and found she was also exercising her new scout strengths. Suddenly, she seemed to be a lot more agile, and faster than she remembered being before. New, difficult katas she had watched Ranma perform were coming to her with more ease, and she was advancing faster than she ever had in two years, within the span of a few short days. It was incredibly exiting, if not a little disturbing at the same time, and she REALLY wanted to show off to Ranma! However, her self-control had been incessantly reminding her that this COULD possibly ruin her cover, and she would just have to save that ego trip for later. Sailor duties came first! Oh my God, had she just really thought that?
"Akane, I need you to go into town and pick up some things for me for dinner. I would go myself, but I really need to get in some cleaning, and I just can't seem to fit shopping into my schedule." the woman apologized.
"You don't need to ask twice Kasumi, it's no problem! I have no other plans," Akane said, heading for the coat rack.
"Oh, good! I have a list here and-Oh, my. It's a bit long. I feel bad making you go out all alone with so much to buy!." Kasumi fretted, as Akane shook her head and slid her jacket on. "Oh! I know. Ranma! Would you mind terribly going into town with Akane for me and getting some things for dinner?"
"Um!" Ranma said, looking up from the latest training manual he had sneaked from Happi's room. "Er." he glanced up at Akane, who was, at least, looking equally as awkward as he was. Ranma still hadn't said much to Akane since the, um, er, kiss. on the roof the other night, and was still a little cautious about spending too much one on one time with the girl. Akane didn't seem to be too eager to be caught alone with Ranma either, afraid that it would lead to less than comfortable confrontations she wouldn't know how to approach. Best to let things stir, as they usually did in Nerima.
"Well." Akane sighed, tugging her on her hair, wanting to tell Kasumi that she would be fine alone, but not able to get it out.
"Oh, good! We wouldn't want Akane to be lonely! Here's your jacket Ranma-san, and take your time. I don't need these supplies until a bit later anyway!" Kasumi said, thrusting Ranma's jacket into his hands, and waving to the couple as she quickly slipped into the kitchen. Ranma stared dumbly at his jacket for a second, Akane still nervously glaring at her feet in the doorway, before shrugging helplessly and putting the jacket on, joining his fiancée.
"Well. I guess we should go," he said, stuffing his hands into his pockets.
"Yeah. DEFINITLY." Akane agreed completely, not so sure why she put such an emphasis on that 'definitely', or why she felt so compelled to agree with Ranma. She was acting like an awkward schoolgirl! Never mind the fact that she WAS, but Akane the violent tomboy would not sink to the level of a lovesick little girl!. Not that she was. sick. with love. or anything. 'Ahhhh!'
"Um, so, where to first?" Ranma asked, as they made their way towards town, large, family houses slowly converting to delis and clothing stores, big lawns being replaced by food stands, and the streets suddenly filling with people.
"Well, I guess we should go to the supermarket first. Kasumi needs some broccoli and asparagus." She said, reading off the list. "Um, and maybe we should leave the butchers for last."
"Sure," And so the two walked in a rather companionable silence, acknowledging the fact that something was amiss in their daily routine, the fact that Ranma hadn't said something rude, and Akane hadn't try to punch his face in, more than enough proof, but simply choosing to ignore it.
The supermarket was filled with tons of bustling Nerima citizens, all who got wary looks in their eyes and stayed a good 200 feet away from the couple as they entered, not unlike a fire truck. This could get messy.why were they acting so. nice?
"What do you think of this one?" Ranma asked, picking up a perfectly normal looking broccoli, and showing it to Akane, for the final seal of approval.
"Umm." she said, pointing to a rather incriminating brown spot on the broccoli. Ewww, rot.
"Oh. Right. Well. what about that one?" Ranma said, quickly retrieving a new broccoli, and all the while asking himself why he was so worried about it.
"Er, doesn't it seem too dried out?" Akane said, for the first time in her life trying not to sound accusing around the boy. Just. take it slow.
"This one?" he asked, picking up a new vegetable, and briefly wondering why he was asking Akane, the Kitchen Destroyer, for advice on healthy looking food.
"Sure," she conceded. "That looks fine,"
"Yeah, it does look pretty good, doesn't it?" Ranma added, admiring the pure green food.
"A good broccoli if I've ever seen one,"
"I'll say." The two stood there for a second, shaking their heads, and staring at the broccoli. ye gads, what had they been reduced to?
"Ranma!-"
"Akane!-" They both started at the same time, no longer able to control their pent up frustration. This wasn't working dammit! They couldn't act as though nothing had happened! And they couldn't pretend as though they should just go about their daily lives as was normal! They had KISSED, and it had been a MUTUAL one! That was like, a first in the history of Nerima, period!
"You go first," Akane was quick to say.
"Listen, 'Kane." Ranma started, rubbing the back of his head. "About the other night."
"Which night?" Akane asked, just to be difficult, really.
"YOU know what night!" Ranma growled. He'd be damned if she'd already forgotten!
"Ohhh, 'that' night." She said, sagely, deciding the 'night' definitely deserved its own new set of quotation marks.
"I. I'm sorry. If I came on too strong, or anything. Really. I am! Except. I'm not. And I'm not because-"
"Ranma!" Akane hushed, putting a hand on his shoulder to silence him, and staring off into the distance, her eyes wide and shining.
"Hu?" Ranma asked, a little peeved at being cut off during what he thought was one of his more daring conversations with the girl.
"That. that woman!" she whispered, stepping past the boy, dropping the broccoli casually back into its box, (Ranma sucking in a breath of pain,) and watching as a pretty blonde past through the street, observed by the provisional scout through the super market doors.
"What woman?" Ranma asked, after Ritsuko had passed. Akane turned to look at the boy, and almost immediately realized that this was probably a scout thing. She highly doubted that Ranma had just felt that cold rush of air that was a bad vibe, passing through her bones, as that blond had walked by. who was she? Why did she feel so evil? It was. overwhelming, and Akane had a feeling she needed to look into this one.
"Um. I'll be right back." Akane murmured, rushing forward, and out the doors.
"HEY! Hey Akane! Wait up!" Ranma yelled, running after the blue haired girl as she began to give chase to Ritsuko.
*
Deep under Crown Arcades, in the Scout's secret base, Luna sat in a large desk chair, leaning over a computer, and watching as statistics from the negative vibes around town flew across the screen. She had been trying to track down Ritsuko using this method of observing bad vibes, in hopes of Ritsuko eventually becoming the epicenter of them. Now, finally she thought she might have a lead.
"Artemis! Come here!" she called to her partner. The pure white cat glanced up from the textbook he was tearing through, still in a foul mood from his counterproductive encounter with Ranma Saotome. That child was intolerable! Of course he hadn't told Luna about any of this. Going against her word was bad enough, but going against her word and then FAILING? Miserably, to boot? Best to keep this one on the hush-hush.
"Yeah?" he said, grouchily, and wandering over to the desk. Hopping up and looking over at the screen, he glanced over what Luna was carefully monitoring.
"Look, Artemis! That collection of negative energy, near the shopping district! It looks as though someone is performing a powerful spell of sorts! That whirlpool of energy is the only explanation!" Luna said, her paw landing on said energy. Artemis' eyes widened.
"No kidding! Do you think it's Ritsuko?" he asked, cautiously. He REALLY didn't want it to be. Ritsuko could be quite cruel and sadistic when she needed to be. And considering her latest losses, he glanced over at the black opal ring sitting innocently on the table next to them. she needed to be.
"I don't know yet, I'm trying to get a fix on the exact type of energy it is, so then maybe I can disconcert what spell we're dealing with here, and get a better idea of the problem." Luna said, as Artemis nodded. Ahh. mixing magic with technology had been a brilliant idea.
"Hmm." Artemis murmured, as Luna rapidly typed a lot of complicated looking commands in. "It's definitely a heavy duty spell. used to cover lots of area. possibly all of Tokyo!"
"Quite, and look at this pattern! It's ancient!"
"Yes. and it's the pattern that bothers me. I recognize it. I would only recognize it if I've read it in one of my books. and that's rarely a good sign." Artemis admitted.
"Can you look it up?" Luna asked, not even glancing at her partner as she continued to type away. Damn she was fast for having no opposable thumbs!
"Gimme a sec." And he was off.
*
"Akane! Akane where are you going?" Ranma asked, grabbing onto his fiancées jacket as she wound her way around the crowds of people in the street.
"I-I saw somebody I know! From . summer camp!"
"But you don't go to summer camp!"
"ER!- I USED to! Before you came!"
"Oh."
'I'm loosing that bad vibe. but I can't let that woman go! I have this feeling in my stomach. like I need to find her.' suddenly the girl picked something up, a definitely bad feeling that made her insides churn uncomfortably. It was coming from the nearby alley, a dark area that suddenly had a very ominous feeling to it.. Akane quickly did a 90 degree turn and dashed towards it, Ranma still holding onto her.
"Akane! I really don't think your friend is in that alley!" He was getting the impression his friend was loosing it. Hold it, had he just called her 'friend'? Well. she was. Come to think of it. Yeah, she definitely was.
"No, I think I saw her enter here!" she assured him, keeping her eyes peeled as she walked into the dank alley, a terrible smell attacking her senses. She had to keep in mind how potentially dangerous this could be.
"What's that stench?" Ranma asked, holding his nose, and letting go of Akane's jeans jacket so he could further investigate the barren alley. "It smells like burning-"
"Eeeekkkk!!!" Akane screamed, zipping behind her brave and strong fiancée, holding her mouth and shutting her eyes.
".flesh." Ranma finished, his face turning green, and his eyes widening. Okay, so maybe the alley WASN'T so barren. On the ground, but a few feet away, what Ranma had first assumed to be a dirty pile of rags, was really a dirty pile of people! Three people, to be exact, their faces distorted, dried out, and mummified, limbs stuck out at odd, imposing angles. The smell of their rotting flesh seemed recent, from what the martial artist could tell. "They look like that bad broccoli!" Ranma groaned, backing up.
"Ranmmaaa." Akane mumbled into his back, fists clenched in front of her. That was so gross! How could he be so crude?
"They look really mummified, though." At that Akane's deep brown eyes shot open, and she bit her lip. 'Just the other day, five mummified boys were found dead in the gymnasium of the high school with think Ritsuko might currently be attending,'. that's what Artemis had said! Did this mean Ritsuko was to blame for this less than pleasant attack?
Suddenly, Akane felt that cold, bad vibe again, and her head snapped up, as Ranma was trying to lead her out of the alley. Just stepping off the fire escape attached to the building next to them, Akane swore she saw a girl, and a flash of blond hair. that girl from outside the super market! These boys! Could she be. Ritsuko?
'I can't let her go.' Akane decided.
"Akane? Oh, for Christ's sake! What the hell are ya doing now?" Ranma said, watching as the small girl began to determinedly make her way up the rusty looking fire escape. "Where are you going!" he called up to her.
"I. just saw my camp friend again! Up here!" Akane explained.
".You know, I'm not THAT dumb," When Akane didn't say anything more, Ranma heaved a heavy sigh, and quickly began to follow her, once again, trotting up the fire escape, and deciding he would just have to make her pay later.
'If I nab this Ritsuko now, all of our scout troubles will be over, and I can get back to my homework!' Akane thought joyfully, as she reached the top of the building.
*
"Luna!!" Artemis cried, running up to the female cat, sounding distressed.
"What is it Art? I'm a bit busy at the moment. these vibes are getting more powerful all the time! It's as if the caster of the spell is gaining more energy!" Luna explained, eyes glued to the computer screen, a worried frown on her face.
"It is important! I just figured out what spell that is, based on its magical pattern! It's all right here in this book!" Artemis said, pointing to the large book of 'Disgusting Curses And Equally As Unpleasant Spells', By Witchy McWitch. Luna winced. This didn't bode well.
"Well, what spell is it?" Luna inquired.
"Here," Artemis said, opening the book and pointing to a rather long paragraph. "I can't believe she's casting this spell, it's so old! And no one has used it for years because of its. unconventional. effects. that tend to be less than useful for the caster, in any case. Still, if it's Ritsuko, and I'm pretty positive it is, she must have her reasons." Luna read the paragraph, and the name of the spell, with her jaw hanging open.
"Oh my God Artemis. if she casts this over all of Tokyo. we have to stop her! We have to go, now! We can't let her cast the Plague Of-"
*
"-Insanity." Ukyo sighed, scrubbing one dish especially hard, and throwing it onto the already gigantic pile next to her. "That's what this is, insanity." The young chef hadn't known he had it in him, but Kontsastu had a pretty big mean streak. making her do all of the Uchan's dishes ALONE that night, (It wouldn't have been SO bad if it hadn't been a Saturday night!! Their biggest crowd was on Saturday night!) was enough proof. She had thought that the cross dressing ninja would have been so smitten with her he wouldn't have wanted his lovely Goddess of Okanamiyaki go through such torture all by her lonesome!- but.she had been wrong. This was payback for leaving him to manage the restaurant by himself those times she was doing the Sailor Scout thing. It wasn't as if she could have HELPED it!
'But he doesn't know that.' Ukyo admitted, sighing. 'He probably thinks I ditched him to go see Ranma. Which is what I would have preferred to have been doing. Honestly.' She groaned aloud and rubbed her head with the back of her hand, still managing to get soapsuds all over her forehead. Worst part was, she had let all of the dishes sit because she was too tired after the super secret Scout meeting and her homework and what not, last night. and now all of the food was practically permanently cemented onto the plates. Time to work those arm muscles!
Tingalingaling!
"Hello?" Ukyo said, sticking her head out of the kitchen to see who had entered the shop. "I'm sorry sir, but we're not open until- oh! Ryoga!" Ukyo said, coming completely out of the kitchen now, and eagerly peeling off her rubber gloves. Any excuse to ditch dish washing for a while!
"Hey," the lost boy said, offering a small smile, and freezing up slightly as Ukyo gave him a friendly welcoming hug. No! No nosebleeds! Stop it!
"What can I do for you, sugar?" the pretty girl said, leaning away from Ryoga, and raising an eyebrow.
"Actually, I had stopped by for a bite to eat. but if you're not open, I don't want to impose," Ryoga admitted.
"Hey, don't worry about it, I'm sure I can whip you something up quick enough!" Ukyo said, zipping over to the grill with lightning speed. 'It's not procrastinating! I'm feeding a hungry friend! It's not procrastinating! I'm feeding a hungry-'
Ryoga came to sit on a barstool, Ukyo happily humming as she cooked. After a few minutes of silence on Ryoga's part. Ukyo noticed he was looking sort of down in the dumps. She frowned lightly.
"What's on your mind?" she asked, casually.
". Not much." Ryoga admitted. "Just one girl."
"Akane?" Ukyo said, making a total shot in the dark here.
"Yeah," the big guy sighed, resting his face in his hands. "She. last night. all she could talk about was Ranma," Ukyo faltered when trying to flip her okanamiyaki, biting her lip.
"She talked to you about Ran-chan?" she asked, dangerously quiet.
"Yeah. she talked to me about 'Ran-chan,'" Ryoga said, dully. "But, I was 'P-chan' at the time," Ryoga knew just about everyone else on the planet besides Akane herself had realized just who P-chan was, and discovered it was no use hiding it. Ukyo gave of a rye smile, sighing. Life was hard for people like them.
"I'm hearing you. she's in love with him, isn't she?" she asked softly. Ryoga looked up, meeting her gaze.
"I think she may be," he admitted. The two shared a moment of heart ache, Ryoga because he felt the loss, and Ukyo because she knew she soon might. She didn't have an false pretences about what the relationship between those two might escalate to. ". At least, she might be. I think something happened, something different, because she just babbled on about him all night. Like. like she had a big crush on him or something," he admitted, sounding rather disgusted.
"'Something different'?"
"Yeah. I think he may have kissed her." Ukyo clenched her fist so hard her spatula began to bend into an inconvenient shape, before she caught herself. It was a bad habit. He had WHAT?
"Reallly?" she asked, her voice a bit too sweet.
"Yeah. and. And I think she liked it," he added, his voice dead. It then occurred to Ukyo that Ryoga didn't sound angry enough about it. He just sounded. depressed, and- OH NO! No!!
"Whoop! Here's your food! Dig in! It's good! Isn't it? Really good!" Ukyo enthused quickly, all but throwing a plate in front of the boy, who was pulsating with a deadly glow, no doubt signaling the beginnings of a dangerous, Shi-shi Hokudan * attack. Damn that Akane! Didn't she know it was a bad idea getting little piggies all depressed?
"Oh. Thanks," Ryoga said, dully.
"Soooo. what ELSE is up? Oh! I know, how's Akari?" Ukyo asked, hopefully. If he blew up her restaurant she would NEVER forgive him!
"I broke up with her." He said, sounding pretty depressed about THAT turn of events, as well.
"Eeep! Umm. Er. you know what?! Ryoga, have you been working out? You look very. buff." she said, mentally smacking her head. No DUH he looked buff, he was probably one of the best martial artists in the world! Well, at least, he was almost as good as Ran-chan. And that meant SOMETHING!
"Really?" Ryoga asked, perking up, even if it was just a little.
"Yeah!" Ukyo practically shrieked. "And. your hair! Did you do something to your hair?"
"Well, no," Ryoga said, patting said hair, which was partially covered by a bandana.
"You didn't? Well it looks like you got it professionally styled or something! It's great!"
"Gee. thanks." Ryoga said, Ukyo sighing in relief when his sorrowful aura began to die down. All he needed was some complimenting, and he was harmless! "You know. you don't look so bad yourself Ukyo. Have YOU been working out?" Ryoga asked, looking at his friend in a whole new light. There was definitely something very different about the girl, he noticed. Her aura was all. stronger, more vibrant. Powerful. How did that happen?
Realizing he wasn't just talking about her muscles, and had most likely observed the change in her very essence, being a Scout and all, Ukyo bit her lip, and twiddled her thumbs.
"Um, well, yes. I've been. training. With. Shampoo!" she said, finally. Boy, talking to this man was stressful stuff!
"Shampoo, hu? That's good," Ryoga said, nodding. Shampoo WAS a better fighter than Ukyo. but, something a little more dramatic than just training had happened to Ukyo, and he knew it. Still, if she didn't want to talk about it, he wouldn't pry. He stared down at his plate, quietly, and Ukyo quickly got to worrying again.
"Hey. Hey Ryoga.Are you sure you're all right?" she asked, leaning down close to Ryoga, so that their faces were quite close. Ryoga looked up into her green eyes, his expression thoughtful. He had never noticed it, but Ukyo was pretty attractive.
"Yeah. I think I'll be just fine." he admitted.
"Oh." Ukyo said, realizing that he had this sort of glazed over look in his eyes, and was staring at her funny. Hey. he had a pretty cute face, come to think of it. "So you didn't want anything?"
"Actually." Ryoga looked back down at his plate, biting his lip. "I wondered if I could have seconds?" Ukyo rolled her eyes and backed away, heading over to the grill. Was THAT all he had to say? He was just as bad as Ran-chan!
"Ah-!" Ukyo gasped, dropping her already slightly bent spatula, and staring out the window, as she neared the grill.
"Ukyo?" Ryoga asked, concern coating his voice.
"There's. something. something is coming," she said, her senses extending out of the Uchan, and towards a very real evil that was quickly spreading. infecting.oh no. "Something's coming!"
"What's coming?" Ryoga said, getting to his feet and staring out the window. He didn't see anything. "What are you talking about?" Realizing he couldn't feel the evil like she could, Ukyo settled for hugging herself tightly, and shivering. What was going on out there? Why did she get this really bad feeling..?
"What should I do?"
*
"Akane, you have a hell of a lot of explaining to do," Ranma said, pulling himself onto the roof, and feeling a cold gust of air hit him. ".Akane?" he asked.
"Shhh!" the girl said, grabbing the boy by the hood of his windbreaker, and pulling him down behind a satellite dish next to her.
"Erk!" he coughed, holding his throat. Damn she was strong!
"Look!" Akane whispered fiercely, pointing to something a few yards away from the couple.
"Whoa." Ranma commented. Centered on the roof, a large dome of crackling purple energy surrounded a woman with long blond hair held in a low ponytail. She had her hands clasped in an odd position in front of her, and seemed to be reciting something very quickly, and in another language. Akane couldn't really pick any of the words up, but waves of evil and twisted aura were rolling off the woman's body, and from the looks of it, even Ranma could tell this chick was bad news. Above her, sparkling purple energy was collecting in a sort of spiral formation. Akane narrowed her eyes. Okay. So, if this really was Ritsuko, what was she supposed to do now? Charge forward shouting something akin to 'Stop, in the name of the MOON!' Hmm. she didn't think it was going to have a substantial impact on the woman at this point.
"What's going on?" Ranma whispered back, his brows furrowed together. "What is she trying to do?"
"I don't know," Akane admitted.
"This isn't your camp friend, is it?"
"No!"
"Just checking." Ranma said, rubbing the back of his head. "But, seriously, I've got a bad feeling about this woman. Maybe we should just go."
"And let her get away with this?!"
"Away with what?" he croaked, throwing his arms up.
"I don't know. her. her EVILNESS!" Akane said, making scary looking claws with her hands.
"Oh. well. You're right then, we better stick around," Ranma said, sarcastically. "Listen, for all we know, she could be an innocent WICCA member, simply practicing her religion!" Just then, however, the spiral of power made an ominous 'VOOSH' ing sound, and shot up heavenwards, lighting up the entire morning sky with a sickly maroon color. The two martial artists gasped, realizing that this was most likely another bad sign. "Okay. or not."
Akane felt her head become dizzy with all of the negative vibes swirling around her, encouraging her to get her butt into gear before things got out of hand. However. how could she transform and save the day with Ranma right there, watching? She wasn't supposed to reveal her powers to anyone! Luna had insisted! But. she couldn't think of another possibility just then, she highly doubted she could stop this woman without some major help from Sailor Moon's tiara.
"Ranma," she started, turning to the boy, and deciding to give him fair warning before she ripped out the big guns. However, at that moment, Ritsuko chose to acknowledge the duo's presence.
"Who's there!?" she hissed, her voice echo like and strange. The two froze up, and peaked out from behind their dish, shaking with fear as Ristuko's, now pure purple, eyes, stared back at them, all narrowed like. Ranma gulped.
"Hello there!" he called back, amiably.
"DIE!" Ritsuko let out an unearthly roar. How dare these mortals try to interfere with her plans when she was so close to success! Nothing could go wrong at this point, she wouldn't let it!
"Run away, run away!" Ranma cried, grabbing Akane by the waist and leaping to the side, as a rather formidable ball of purple energy at them. The dish was destroyed in a second, and more than a few people in the building cursed as their Direct T.V connection was lost. Nooo, HBO!
"Ack!" Akane squeaked, covering her head as she was showered by miniscule pieces of satellite dish, and frowning. Okay. it was definitely time to transform. "Ranma, there's something I've been hiding from you!" she admitted to the worried boy next to her.
"NOW you want to talk about it? Akane, I'm thrilled, but this is hardly the time to-"
"No! This is an important secret.important to what we're doing right now!" she sighed, taking out the transforming device that looked suspiciously like a school girly pen, thrusting her arm upwards. "MOON POWER, MAKE UP!" she yelled, feeling pretty damn stupid, and positive Ranma was doing some major eyebrow raising at this point. However, all of his doubts about her sanity were put to shame as the girl was wrapped in silver and pink light, ribbons of power surrounded her. Akane let out a gasp as she felt that same tingly feeling of real strength return to her body, and when she was conscious of her surroundings again, she was a kick ass Sailor Scout with a mean looking tiara, to boot.
"." Ranma was speechless. He was also blushing. He could see up her skirt. Look away! Don't be taken into the dark side!
"Listen, I know I should have told you about this secret before," Akane admitted, wringing her hands, and suddenly feeling really small again, even though she was Sailor Moon now. Ranma was giving her a FUNNY look!
"Wait! You're. you're a replacement Scout, right?" Ranma asked, rubbing his head. Oh Jesus, that ghost-like man from the other night! He had told him about this whole Sailor Scout deal. but. Ranma had passed it off as a dream in the morning, hardly dwelling on it. Like he had said, he had his own list of worries to concern himself with. Well, this had just become one of his very own worries. Great.
"How did you know?" Akane gasped, as the two dodged to the side again, just missing getting scalped by a wrathful Ritsuko who was now, besides being angry that her spell was about to gain some major complications, was also pissed off because she was being ignored. By her prey no less!
"YOU! FAKE SAILOR SCOUT! I'LL KILL YOU!" she bellowed, her voice a guttural screech, and making her pretty face look suddenly very repulsive.
"Well, see, this guy came to see me last night! Talked a lot about replacement scouts and evil and how I was supposed to help. he was all tall and ghostly, and I told him to take a hike! I thought he was weird." Ranma admitted sheepishly. "How did YOU get mixed up in this?" he asked, still dashing along the roof, and his tone gaining a hint of steel. Didn't she know she could get seriously hurt fighting demons alone? Cat demons for that matter? Wait. he had licked-!?
"It's a long story, and a lot of other people are 'mixed up' in it to," she said, her voice stating plainly that if Ranma got all protective and macho over this one she would pulverize him. She was starting to warm up to the fact that she could dust yoma's. "And I don't know any ghostly looking men, either. Two talking cats though. Listen, can we talk about this later, I think we should focus on the mad witch, or whatever," she admitted.
"Good idea." The two stopped jogging to check out Ritsuko. To their surprise, she had stopped firing away, and seemed to have reached a new peak in her spell. Her body twitched ominously, and thunder cracked in the distance. The super hero with the high heeled boots and the martial artist with the pig tail soon found their hair standing on end, thinking about how it wasn't wise to stand on a roof when there was lighting crackling in an all too lively way just above you.
"Hey, you, stop!" Ranma shouted at Ritsuko, and feeling more than a little fed up. Could his day get any weirder?
"Her name is Ritsuko," Akane supplied. Yes. Yes it could.
"Oh. ok." No need to ask how she knew that. She could deal with his wariness about this whole Sailor Moon idea, later. "Ritsuko, cut it out!" But the woman didn't listen to them, and suddenly streams of deep purple energy were shooting out of her protective dome, going in all directions around Nerima. Akane hissed in pain as one slashed her arm. What were these things? They stung like all hell, and there seemed to be a deadly purpose to them.
"We've got to stop her Ranma!" she cried.
"I know!" he said, shielding his eyes from the flying debris and overwhelmingly bright power. Akane put one hand up to her tiara, as Ranma experimentally rammed himself into the dome, only to find that it was as hard as a rock, and Ritsuko wasn't even aware of his actions. As Sailor Moon, she couldn't allow this to go on. She had promised Luna she would help protect the people of Earth, and she was pretty sure this qualified as one of those times where she had to stick to that promise. Removing her tiara, she let the words come to her.
"MOOON, TIARAAA. ACTION!" she said, hurling the now frisbee like tiara at the dome, Ranma watching her with his mouth hanging open as he felt something powerful fly by his right ear. Wowzers.
The tiara didn't have as much effect on the dome as Akane would have preferred it to, but it did make a healthy looking hole. big enough to climb through. Her tiara returning to her hand, not unlike Xena's thingamajig, (You know, that's a real word.) she leaped for the hole, hurling herself through it, since it seemed to be repairing itself as she thought. Not even hesitating, Ranma followed.
"How did ya DO that 'Kane?" he squawked, looking, through it all, mildly impressed. "You have to teach me that trick one day!"
"Er. I don't think it's one of those teachable attacks," the girl admitted.
"You just don't want me to be able to do it!" he protested, accusingly.
"No I DON'T, you big jerk!" she shot back, face going red. "You just need a-"
"Ahem." Both heads quickly snapped to the side, where they came face to face with a less than pleased look Ritsuko, her body still radiating that deathly looking, purple glow, blond hair drifting around her head. "I really don't like the fact that you two have broken into my force field. What's more, I don't like you. When the time of infection comes, you will not be saved. Not if I have anything to say about it. Now leave, IMPOSTER scout!" she spat, making a move with her claw like hands as to push Akane out of the force field, while the girl was stunned by the fact that the woman's sentence made no sense, and was surprised to be stopped in mid swing by that mortal boy with the scout. "Let go!" she ordered, trying to push him away as well. Still having her fisted hand in his own, Ranma's eyes darkened, threateningly. This woman had just tried to punch Akane! Squeezing his hand tight, Ritsuko gawked as she felt Ranma start to break her knuckles. It wasn't as though it hurt, it was just surprising he could do it to her immortal body! Just who was this kid, anyway.
"I wouldn't try that if I were you," he suggested, his voice casual, his eyes anything but. It wasn't everyday Ranma hurt a woman, but luckily, in this case, his gut was telling him she probably wasn't a real woman, anyway.
"Fool," she cried, wrenching her hand away, and inconspicuously cradling it when she thought they weren't paying attention. And, in truth, they weren't, for, at that moment, the world around them as they new it began to explode with blotches of black, shaking the ground, and causing the sky to drip away. The spell was now officially in effect. It felt as though everything was upside down for a moment, the landscape covered in a sickly color that consumed all and spared nothing, the only light in the world was seemingly the bright purple bubble that surrounded the grim trio. A gurgling sound and the hint of a young man's twisted laughter echoed somewhere off in the distance. Ritsuko nodded her head in response, pleased he had done her bidding.
And when Ranma and Akane blinked, everything was back to normal, the sky was back, the buildings were back and everything was safely placed right side up again. The only thing remaining the uneasy and sickly feeling in their stomachs. The feeling that told them things certainly were NOT back to normal and peachy.
"What happened!" Akane choked out, rounding on Ritsuko. The woman laughed, throwing her head back and letting out genuine peels of laughter.
"It's quite funny, actually," she admitted, still chuckling lightly. Her face abruptly went back to its cold, I-have-something-painful-stuck-up- my-ass look, and it seemed as though a rather unpleasant factor had just popped up, and it had. "Except for the part where you two are unaffected. You shouldn't have broken into my dome like that, your lives might have been spared if you had just stayed out of this." she admitted, snapping her fingers, and letting the dome zip into nothingness around them. It was like being brought back into reality. only. Ritsuko wasn't supposed to still be there. Ranma shook his head, confusion and anger welling up so strong it finally needed a place to vent from. His fists looked like a fine spot as any!
"I don't know what you're up to, but if you're going to threaten my life, you better have the power to back it up, witch!" he declared, racing forward, with his arm outstretched, caught up in the panic of the moment. Akane put a hand to her mouth, eyes wide. Uh oh.
Ritsuko nimbly jumped into the air, where she stayed, looking highly amused. Ranma angrily cocked his head back to stare at her. How was she so fast?
"You know. I don't think I'm going to kill you two just yet," she decided, quite suddenly, folding her arms, and levitating a good five yards from the ground. "I think I'll let you run loose for a while. watch you squirm. It'll be entertaining," she supplied, by way of explanation. Ranma and Akane traded worried and pretty P.Oed looks.
"Wrong. I don't think I'm going to let you get away Ritsuko! You days of unleashing evil upon our innocent city are over!" Ranma watched in fascination as his fiancée performed a long series of delicate, artful looking hand movements. They were very pretty, his only question was. why? "In the name of peace, I will punish you!" she finished. However, by that point, Ritsuko had burst into more whoops of real laughter, and disappeared with a goodbye flash of light.
". I just let her get away, did I?"
"Uh hu. Akane, say, what was that all about?"
"I. don't. know. It was terrible Ranma! I couldn't stop it! My arms were moving on their own and I wasn't even conscious of what I was saying! Why is this HAPPENING? OH GOD, WHY?"
".It'll be okay. In any case, what do you think happened before. You know, with the impending doomy feeling and the black covering the sky, the thunder."
"No clue. Do you think. do you think she hurt anyone?" Akane asked, cautiously.
"I don't know. I mean, she did have her own force field up to protect her from whatever spell she was casting , so .it's possible." He acknowledged. The two simultaneously glanced towards the edge of the roof, knowing their technically should be hundreds of people below them, and hesitant to see if anything had happened to them.
Eventually, their curiosity got the better of them, and even though Sailor Akane made sure Ranma had to go first, because he had a stronger stomach than she did, they found themselves gazing out into the streets below.
"Hm. everything seems cool," Ranma mentioned. Where had had assumed he would have to witness the site of thousands of mutilated and disemboweled bodies, he saw only the normal, if not chaotically bustling, streets of shopping district. No change there.
"Maybe we should go back down. see what's up. People must have at least NOTICED what happened. It was pretty hard not to." Akane pointed out.
"Okay, good plan," Akane didn't have time to happily dwell over the fact that he had just complimented her, because soon they were trotting back down the fire escape, keeping a wary eye out for demons and the like, ready to spring at them from the shadows. none did. It was sort of a disappointment though, seeing as how ready they were to defend themselves and all.
Quietly stepping out into the street, the first person Ranma and Akane spotted was a mailman. Everyone else seemed to be rushing around them, crazy with shopping frenzy, but the mailman was carefully inspecting a package in his hand, right across the street, in front of the disgustingly overpriced cafe.
"Why don't we ask him if he noticed anything out of the ordinary?" Ranma offered.
"Do you really think I should let people see me like this?" Akane wondered, pulling at her outfit.
"No one's noticed you yet!"
"Good point." Indeed, no one was even glancing at them. So they moseyed over to the mailman, Ranma tapping him on the shoulder, a pleasant smile on his face.
"Hello, sir?" he asked. The mailman turned around, package still firmly grasped close to him. "We were just wondering if you had noticed anything odd, a minute ago. Possibly. a world wide black out? Lots of evil looking purple stuff shooting out everywhere?" The mailman stared at Ranma blankly, and the boy got the distinct impression that no one was home as the older guy looked up at him silently for a more extended period of time. "Er." Then, without warning, the mailman raised his arms above his head and violently chucked his package (which was a lot heavier than it looked.) at Akane's neck.
"ACK!" she choked, grasping her neck and doubling over.
"What the hell was that for?!" Ranma demanded of the obviously less than stable mailman. When he received no answer, Ranma, eyes nearly crossed with anger, grabbed the puny little jerk by his collar and lifted him up off the ground. "Hu? What's up with you!?" Ranma demanded to know.
"Ranma, put him down," Akane gasped. "I don't look like myself, maybe there was some sort of mista-,"
"Unhand me, don't touch me! You're like an anorchous caseate!*" the mail man got out, in a very thick British accent.
"Eh?" the couple asked, staring blankly up at the forty year old, whose feet still were only grazing the ground, thanks to Ranma.
"And I think I shall take Mary Lou with me, and I don't care what you think of her. Mary Lou is beautiful. don't insult her! You dirty, LOVE NAZI!" he cried, twisting and squirming, trying to get out of Ranma's strong grip. Plainly out of bewilderment, Ranma dropped the guy, watching as he grabbed his mail and stormed out of sight, leaving Akane and Ranma to wonder just what species of animal they had been dealing with there.
"Someone forget to take their Prozac, or what?" Akane said, shaking her head. That had been weird, even for Nerima.
"Um. Akane." Ranma said softly, as if afraid to disturb something.
"Hu?" she asked, still rubbing her neck.
"Look over there." He directed her to glance across the street, where it suddenly dawned upon Akane that those bustling consumers weren't on a shopping frenzy. but just a frenzy!
Everywhere people dashed about, shouting random phrases, dancing in the streets, a whole group of them were squawking like chickens and even more crawling along the ground, while gnawing at their shoulders. Trying to lick their elbows. Crashing their cars. Even the street lights seemed to have gone a little haywire.
All in all, they were astonished they hadn't noticed any of it before.
An elderly lady dashed up to Akane, throwing her walker into a near by dumpster, and kneeled in front of the Scout. Quickly, she wrapped her thin, wrinkly arms around the girls thighs.
"MARRY ME!" she shrieked, in her old, high pitched rasp. "Please, baby, I'll do anything!"
"Hands off, granny!" Ranma said, snatching the shocked girl away.
"Oh, Ranma, I'm so flattered you're jealous." Akane said, putting a hand to her mouth, in an effort to hide the fact that she was terribly flabbergasted. A geriatric woman had just asked her to MARRY her! What was the world COMING to?
"Akane, you know what this means, don't you?" Ranma asked, in all seriousness.
"The entire shopping district as gone berserk?"
"No shit, Sherlock! I was referring more to that Ritsuko woman's spell! No, curse! SHE did this, and the only reason we weren't affected was because we were with her when it was cast! That's why she thought letting us run loose for a while would be a good laugh! Why she wanted to see us 'squirm!'" he explained, taking her by the shoulders. Akane paled.
"You're RIGHT," she gasped, as if that were the surprising part.
"We have to fix this," he reminded her.
"I know," she said, frowning. "It's my duty, technically."
"And because we're the possibly only sane ones left, it's our responsibility now. To everyone," Ranma added.
"Do you think it's spread that far? Are we really the only ones left who can think straight?"
"We can't be sure." He sighed, really wishing they weren't. Not many actually considered them really SANE, anyway He wasn't sure what to do! How were they supposed to cure this . disease that everyone had become infected with? And how were they going to find Ritsuko? For that matter why had she done any of this? For a good laugh? Watch the mortals roll around and make odd noises? Hmmm. as he pondered life's many questions, and ducked a bit as a woman hurled herself over his head, he noticed that Akane was jogging away from him, and towards a little black something at the end of the street. He squinted, trying to get a better look at it.
"CAT!" he gurgled, jumping behind a lamppost and covering his head, all of his survival instincts encouraging him to curl up into fetal position and to rock back and forth.
"Luna!" Akane said, nearly sobbing with relief. "Thank God you found me! I'm so worried! What's going on? How can I stop it? Are the others all right?" she asked, almost all in one breath, kneeling down next to the cat, and waiting with bated breath for her answer. Luna would know what to do. Luna always had an answer! But the cat only looked pained, ears flattening against her head. Her only bit of wisdom for the day was-
"Meow! Meow meow meowwww.meow!" Akane paled, and her throat closed up.
Awww shit.
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*Anorchous caseate- In the deliciously old and lost English language, this meant a man whose flesh has been diseased and converted to a cheesy appearance, and, in addition, has no testicles. I love it. I'll be using a lot of really gross words like this in the next chapter.
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Author's notes:
I planned to have this out sooner, but I'm having funny writer's block. Sorry for Ranma and Akane's OOCness, I'm taking a lot of liberties with them, and I'm aware of it. Please review, because the insanity continues in the next chapter: Chapter Six: The Plague Part 2. And if you review, you get to read it a lot sooner.
Rio Grande.
P.S- To those of you who don't really give a flying crap about Ranma and Akane, and want to see more of the other characters. to this I am sorry to. I have been ignoring them a bit, and they're sort of weird in the next chapter. But then they come back, and we're all happy. YAAAAAYY!