The Legend of Ranma

Disclaimer: Well, I suppose you expect a disclaimer. Don't I get enough flack from the flamers?

: Thoughts

[" "]: Telepathic communication

Chapter 7

Bad Time to be a Superhero

"Look out! It's Morpha!"

The gigantic, gelatinous mass of liquid suddenly formed a bizarre tentacle and lashed out at the people in front of it. The Hyrule Knight and Navi moved off to one side as the Sailor Senshi and the Devil Hunters dived to the other side. Though Morpha seemed to be a huge body of water, it moved with surprising speed as it tried to engulf its victims into its body.

"What the hell is that thing?" Yohko cried out as she held out her Soul Sword.

"It's something that I destroyed a while back on Hyrule. " Ranma explained as he began powering up and taking a ready stance. Navi fluttered near his right shoulder. "Its name is Morpha and it looks like Saffron used the TriForce of Power and Tokima's remains to recreate it. You see that nucleus in its center? That's its main control center, which enables it to control all liquids, especially water."

Sailor Jupiter nodded as she saw the huge, spherical object pulsating within the giant amoebae. "No problem! All we have to do is destroy that thing! And since water conducts electricity..."

The skies began to turn black as lightning began to crackle among the clouds. Then Sailor Jupiter's tiara put forth an antenna and began absorbing the electricity while concentrating it into one hand.

"SPARKLING WIDE PRESSURE!"

The Sailor of lightning and nature threw the ball of energy in a sideways throw. The blast struck into the surface of Morpha and was conducted into the mass, heading straight toward the nucleus. However, the nucleus let off a bright glow and simply reflected the lighting back out of its body. Ranma and the others had to duck for cover as Sailor Jupiter's attack was sent right back at her.

"Look out!"

"ARRGGGGHHH!" Sailor Jupiter screamed as he own attack struck her. She was thrown back several yards and was a little more than dazed as she landed on her back.

Ranma ran toward Sailor Jupiter as Morpha suddenly threw out more tentacles, which suddenly became as hard as steel. He just barely managed to sweep the Senshi off her feet and get her out of harm's way, before the pseudopodia impaled themselves into the ground and shredded the few remaining trees that were still standing.

Makoto felt a warm flush of heat as she found herself in the hard-muscled arms of the Hyrule Knight. It felt wonderful! It was just like being the arms of her old boyfriend! No, it was WAY better! However, she then remebered Sailor Pluto's words and became saddened at the possibility of destroying him. How can I fight against this guy? He just saved my life again.

Sailor Venus felt a sudden twinge of jealousy as she saw the Hyrule Knight save her comrade like a handsome swashbuckler of those torrid romance novels she read in secret. She began imagining herself being held close in those strong arms. She shook her head soon afterwards, dispelling that silly notion.. This was no time for fantasies. A water monster was threatening Tokyo and they still had to deal with the Hyrule Knight. Though she too found herself reluctant to deal with him.

"LOVE ME CHAIN!"

A long chain of energy in the shape of golden hearts whipped out toward Morpha, but the giant amoebae had learned from its previous encounter with Ranma on Hyrule. It knew that its nucleus was its weak point and countered Sailor Venus's attempt to snare its brain. It lashed out with a hard-water tentacle and batted the energy rope aside.

Ranma saw that he had an opening as he landed behind the blob. Setting Sailor Jupiter down, he called forth the Longshot and fired off its harpoon. However, Saffron's power had made Morpha faster at countering threats, and though the metal barb shot through its watery body, the nucleus put up its defensive shield and the point rebounded off.

"No good! I can't pull out its nucleus like the last time!" Ranma shouted as he and Sailor Jupiter scrambled out of the way as Morpha threw out three more tentacles to try and ensnare them.

"AAAAAAHHHHHHH!"

"Asuza!" Yohko cried out.

Looked in the direction of the screams and Ranma's blood ran cold as he saw Asuza swept up by one of Morpha's psuedopods. The Devil Hunter-in-training found herself becoming enveloped into the tentacle and Ranma knew that Morpha would drown her in its body. Ranma whipped out his Fairy Bow and notched an arrow, infusing it with a blue energy.

"ICE ARROW!"

The projectile sped toward a point below where Asuza was just starting to be engulfed. It drove deep within the blob. The water began to harden as the arrow worked its freezing magic. He rushed forward, putting away his bow and calling forth the Biggoron's Sword. He leapt high and struck forward with the massive blade, causing the water arm to snap off like an icicle. The limb fell, shattering like glass and Asuza found herself shivering as she was sprawled on the ground. Ranma wasted no time in helping her up and getting her away from the monster. The shattered pieces of the tentacle that had held her melted into small puddles of water and amazingly moved back to the main body to be reabsorbed.

Sailor Jupiter and Venus saw that they needed help as their own attacks weren't working against this monster. Lightning and energy beams were easily relflected and they spent most of their time dodging water tentacles. Then suddenly, it withdrew all of its appendages into its mass, then its nucleus began to glow even brighter.

"What's it doing?" Venus asked.

"I don't know, but I don't like the looks of this!" Sailor Jupiter replied as she took a ready stance.

Ranma didn't like the looks of it either. This new Morpha was far more deadly than the seemingly mindless blob he fought on Hyrule. His fears were confirmed when the surface of the amoebae suddenly began forming spikes, making it resemble a giant sea urchin. It then suddenly expanded, launching the spikes in all directions. The water spikes took on the hardness of diamond as they shredded dead tree trunks, cracked concrete and smashing through nearby parked cars.

"WHOA!" The two Sailor Senshi had to duck for cover and winced as several of those projectiles managed to come close enough to graze their legs, sides and arms.

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

Ranma gritted his teeth after calling forth his Hylian shield to deflect the barrage as he put himself between Morpha and Yohko and her group. Navi was busy using her own magic to deflect any spikes that managed to get past her partner. Things were getting more intense.

On Phoenix Mountain...

"Now let me get this straight." The demon Mara said as she spoke with Safrron. She gestured to the viewing portal of the battle that was occurring.

"You want me to pit this Hyrule Knight against those Sailor Senshi and stir up some major conflict between them, right?"

Saffron grinned as he said, "Yes, and I know just how much you love to stir up misery and despair. I knew this would be right up your alley. The Sailor Senshi are already suspicious with this newcomer and it'll only take a small push in the right direction to have them at each other's throats. This will also throw a big monkey wrench into Sailor Pluto's plans. And I'll make sure she won't interfere until after you've finished with your job."

"Hmmmm, it's tempting." Mara admitted as she watched the battle continue. She had caused much mischief over the centuries, making former allies into bitter enemies. Though not many people know it, she was the one who really caused the Cold War. With tensions as high as they were at the end of World War II, it was a simple matter to get Stalin to declare the United States as the enemy. Now with this much tension between two powerful sides; The Hyrule Knight and the Sailor Senshi, the thought of all that lovely chaos was just too much for the demon to resist. She also knew of Sailor Pluto's plans to create Crystal Tokyo, and the thought of that perfect, peaceful, and ugh, boring utopia becoming a reality made her want to hurl. If causing friction between the Senshi and this potential ally of good would greatly interfere with the Senshi of Time's plans, then she was all for it.

"I'll do it!"

"Splendid! I'll leave the method up to you. Just make sure that the Hyrule Knight is seen as the villain. As for your payment..."

Mara held up a hand. "No need to pay me. A job like this would be payment enough. I would have stirred up some trouble with these people anyways. Hell, with this much potential for chaos, I would PAID YOU for a chance at this!"

"Whatever. In any case, I suggest that you wait until after they defeat Morpha. Their emotional states will be at their peaks and their guards will be down long enough for you to sow your seeds of discord."

"No problem! See ya!"

As the demoness disappeared in a puff of brimstone, Saffron grinned as he watched the viewing portal. Mara was certain to stir up a lot of mayhem and the Hero of Time would soon be fighting against the former allies of Hyrule. Though the Phoenix God was doubtful that the Senshi would have sufficient power to destroy him, they would weaken him enough for Saffron to take the TriForce piece that Ranma possessed. Just fighting the enhanced Morpha was already tiring the Hyrule Knight as he launched more energized arrows and continued to drain his dwindling stores of magic. Now the rest of the Inner and Outer Senshi were nearing the battle scene. A weakened Ranma against nearly fresh Senshi did not give the Hyrule Knight favorable odds.

At the devastated park, Ranma and the others were breathing hard and were feeling the strain as the prolonged battle took its toll. So far, they had managed to defend against Morpha's attacks, but just barely, and even the Hyrule Knight was feeling a little winded. His magical abilities were now reaching dangerously low levels and with the watery monster keeping him on the defensive, there wasn't much he could do. His sword wasn't very effective and he couldn't get close enough to the nucleus to do any considerable damage. Yohko's Soul Sword and Asuza's spear was also unable to get within striking distance. Fire Arrows and Din's Fire attack didn't work, as Morpha's body would simply extinguish the flames. Ice Arrows were also ineffective as they would only freeze the waters for a few seconds and then would melt back into water again. The nucleus was shielded from electricity, light and his Longshot weapon. Ranma began to despair when he then heard a familiar voice.

"BURNING MANDALA!"

A barrage of fire rings blasted from one side and struck Morpha. However, like Ranma's arrows, these were simply dissipated as the watery body of Morpha snuffed them out.

Sailor Mars gasped as she, Sailor Moon and Mercury came onto the scene.

"It... didn't work!"

"Duh." Sailor Moon said. "Everybody knows that water beats fire."

"Oh shut up!"

Sailor Moon gave her a Japanese Red Eye before taking her usual customary pose and giving out her entrance speech. "Fear not, Sailor Jupiter and Venus! Your fellow Senshi are here to help you against this abomination!"

"How dare this creature use the purity of water for evil! I, Sailor Mercury will defeat it!"

"I, Sailor Mars shall assist and use my fires to boil it into nothingness!"

"And I, Sailor Moon, Champion of Justice shall show this perversion of nature not to mess with the Sailor Senshi. In the name of the moon, we shall triumph!"

The three Inner Senshi took a group pose.

Meanwhile, hiding behind the wreckage of a parked car, Mara gagged. ARRGGGHHH! All of this righteous babble is making me sick to my stomach! And I thought Belldandy's voice was hard on my ears! She shook her head and continued to watch the battle, waiting for her chance to strike. As she observed, she began thinking about her meeting with Saffron and his sudden rise to godhood. Though she did like the cruel, arrogant streak he had, which reminded her of several other mean-spirited gods (the only kinds of gods that she did like), she did wonder how he managed to attain the power to rival that of a first-class deity with an unlimited license. She also detected a considerable amount of godlike energies being emitted from the Hyrule Knight. It was very similar to what Saffron was wielding and Mara decided to look more into this matter after she had done her dastardly deed.

"SHINING AQUA ILLUSION!"

A jet of freezing water exploded from Sailor Mercury's hands. However to her horror, the attack did not cause Morpha to freeze on the spot. Having learned from Ranma's Ice Arrow attacks, the creature now simply absorbed the ice into itself, melted it and added to its own mass, making it grow in size.

"Stop! You're only feeding it!" Ranma cried out as he dodged another barrage of tentacles and water spikes.

"WAAAAAAHHHHH!" Sailor Moon cried out as she and Mars ducked for cover and more tentacles and spikes shot out.

Things were getting out of hand and the Hyrule Knight had to end this fast. "Navi, is there any way at all to get at that nucleus?"

The little fairy began using her magical senses on Morpha, then bobbed up and down in agreement. "Yes! The nucleus is shielded from individual attacks, so you'll have to do a combined attack." She began to telepathically transmit her plan to her partner, who nodded and called out, to the Inner Senshi.

"Sailor Mercury! Can you use that freezing attack again?"

"Huh?" Mercury replied as she swerved to avoid another tentacle. "But it doesn't work! That thing will absorb it again!"

"Trust me! We just need to freeze it for a few seconds!"

Mercury considered her options, then nodded as she began powering up again. After dodging a few more tentacles, she threw out her hands and launched her attack.

"SHINING AQUA ILLUSION!"

At the same time, Ranma took out his Fairy Bow and began launching Ice Arrows in rapid succession.

"ICE ARROW BARRAGE!"

The combined freezing attacks struck into Morpha and began to cause its body to stiffen. Fifteen freezing bolts and Sailor Mercury's attack caused Morpha to freeze up too fast for it to absorb all at once. Though Ranma knew that it would only be a few seconds before the monster would thaw out and grow ever larger.

"Jupiter! Venus! Use your attacks on that nucleus together!"

Both Senshi nodded as they called out their attacks!

"LOVE ME CHAIN!"

"SPARKLING WIDE PRESSURE!"

Just as they launched their energies, Ranma called forth the Longshot and fired off its harpoon. He began focusing the TriForce of Courage into the links, which caused Sailor Venus's chain and Jupiter's electrical blast to become attracted to it. The Longshot's chain merged with Minako's chain and Makoto's electrical energies began running down the length and focused at the point. Fortunately, Ranma's Golden Gauntlets insulated him.

"LONGSHOT SPARK-CHAIN ATTACK!"

The combined powers struck into Morpha, just as it was about to melt free. The nucleus was just starting to put up its defensive shield when the harpoon drove into it, causing a huge electrical and light energy discharge to occur. With the point firmly embedded into his target, Ranma smiled. Calling forth his Iron Boots to anchor him, he gave a mighty yank on the chain while activating the retracting switch.

"Time to reel in this fish!"

The huge nucleus tried to resist being pulled from its body, but in a couple of seconds, Ranma yanked it free from the pulsating mass. As it cleared its body, the mass of water it controlled, spilled all over the place, losing all cohesion as the nucleus was ripped out.

Ranma pulled hard and the nucleus was sent flying into the air. He then made his Iron Boots and Longshot disappear and readied his sword.

Sailor Moon and the rest of the Inner Senshi saw their chance and launched their attacks at the descending sphere.

"BURNING MANDALA!"

"SHINING AQUA ILLUSION!"

"CRESENT BEAM SHOWER!"

"SPARKLING WIDE PRESSURE!"

"MOON SPIRAL HEART ATTACK!"

The nucleus was blasted, scorched, frosted, shocked and then got hit by a huge heart, but still did not break apart.

Ranma knew that once it touched water, it would reform its body again. That wasn't going to be permitted as he focused the TriForce of Courage into his blade. Huge amounts of power were emitted as his aura took on the purest white. Then he leapt high and struck.

"TRIFORCE SWORD OF COURAGE!"

With a downward swipe, Ranma's sword cut a huge gash. The monster's brain, began pulsate uncontrollably as the power within it could no longer hold itself together. With an inhuman sound of death, the nucleus exploded into a shower of water droplets and light. All those present at the scene had to shield their eyes from the bright strobes, including Ranma and Navi as they were thrown back from the explosion. He landed hard on his back and was in a bit of a daze, while Navi fluttered down, when Mara decided to make her move.

It was at that time that Sailor Uranus, Neptune and Chibi-Moon appeared at the scene. On the other side, Yohko and her group were also recovering from the bright light.

The Demoness Mara decided that a simple illusion spell was all that was needed to turn the Sailor Senshi against the Hyrule Knight. And what better way than to endanger an innocent and make it look like Ranma had done the deed? Making her way toward the still dazed hero and his fairy partner, she took on an exact appearance of the Hyrule Knight, while cloaking the hero and his fairy in shadow, hiding both of them from view.

Navi looked up when she sensed the dark powers and saw an exact replica of her partner glaring down at her.

"Who are you...?" The disguised Mara grinned evilly as she made a replica of Ranma's bow appear and took aim at Rini. The Outer Senshi were just rushing over to where the Inner Senshi were standing and just recovering their eyesight when she let loose with her arrow.

"Are you all right?" Uranus asked.

"We're okay." Jupiter replied as the spots in her eyes began to disappear. "The Hyrule Knight saved us all. Sailor Pluto was wrong. He's really a good..."

"Look out!" Neptune cried out as she saw a projectile flying toward Chibi-Moon.

The next few seconds were like in slow motion as Neptune dived to push Rini out of the way. All the other Senshi turned to see what appeared to be the Hyrule Knight grinning as he loosed an arrow at Chibi-Moon.

Mara smiled as she timed her next move, making herself vanish in a bright light while pressing her fake bow into Ranma's startled hands. The shadow spell she had around him faded away.

FFFFT-THOK!

Neptune cried out as the enchanted barb of Mara's arrow dug deep into her shoulder, just as Rini was pushed out of the way.

"NEPTUNE!" Sailor Uranus cried out as she saw her lover screech out in pain. As she saw blood began to flow from Micharu's shoulder, her eyes turned to a bloody haze as she glared at the one who would dare hurt her Micharu.

Ranma was just staggering to his feet as the light faded away, and was just looking up when he saw the not-so-pleasant visage of an angered Sailor Uranus. H also noted the looks of shock on the other Senshi's faces. When he saw the arrow protruding from Sailor Neptune's shoulder as she fell, then looked at the bow in his hand, he turned pale at what this situation must look like to them.

"Wait..."

"You... MONSTER!!!!" Sailor Uranus screamed and she charged at Ranma and then struck the ground before her. "WORLD SHAKING!"

Ranma had to drop the bow and move out of the way as Uranus' attack blasted at him. He tried to say some thing in his defense, but that was when the shorthaired blonde threw another one of her attacks at him while screaming.

"Sailor Pluto was right! You back-stabbing bastard! You are a threat to us all and WILL BE DESTROYED! WORLD SHAKING!"

Ranma saw that reason would not reach her as he took out his sword again. Navi flitted beside him and tried to say something but neither Ranma nor Uranus would listen. Ranma was too busy trying to fend off Uranus' attacks and the Outer Senshi was too enraged to heed anything.

The rest of the Senshi were still in shock over what had happened, but they could not deny what they had just witnessed. They had thought that Sailor Pluto was wrong and that the Hyrule Knight was in fact on their side. Now, it seemed that the Senshi of Time was right and they felt betrayed.

Yohko and her fellow Devil Hunters were also in shock at what they had just witnessed. The one hundred and eighth Devil Hunter of the Mano clan couldn't believe that such a hunk would do such a thing.

On Phoenix Mountain, Saffron nodded in satisfaction after seeing the chaos that Mara had just stirred up with her deceit. He then looked into the timestream and his grin became even more pronounced. With the TriForce of Power, he had only allowed Setsuna to see what he wanted to her to see: mainly the scene in which the Hyrule Knight tried to kill Rini. She did not know that it was really Mara in disguise and with no proof, the weakened Hyrule Knight was now going to be considered as their mortal enemies. On that note, he decided to release the hold he had on Sailor Pluto. The Senshi of Time vanished, though Saffron knew where she was going.

Ranma was near the breaking point as he kept trying to calm Uranus down so that he could explain. That hope however, was dashed when he saw the appearance of Sailor Pluto. She really didn't look like she was happy to see him.

The Senshi of Time leveled her staff at him and said in a cold tone, "Now that you have shown your true colors, as I had suspected, you will be eliminated. For the future of Crystal Tokyo!"

"Listen to me, I didn't..."

"DEAD SCREAM!"

Ranma had no choice but to call forth the Mirror Shield to defend against Pluto's attack. Navi floated behind him to lend any of her remaining energies. The Dead Scream attack slammed into the polished surface and was then reflected back at the Senshi of Time.

Pluto swerved to the side to evade her own attack, then called to the others. "The Hyrule Knight has shown himself to be an agent of evil and must be destroyed!"

The Inner Senshi were snapped out of their daze as they reluctantly nodded and began advancing on Ranma.

Ranma found himself being flanked on both sides and in front of him as the Senshi prepared to deliver the final blow. He was already weakened from the battle with Morpha and Uranus. Not to mention that Pluto's attack didn't help either. Now the Inner Senshi, Uranus and Pluto were powering up for their final attack. Even Neptune came up, despite that she had an arrow in her shoulder.

Ranma knew that this was the end, but he wouldn't give up. Summoning what little power he had left, he began focusing it into the Mirror Shield. TriForce of Courage... help me.

In response to Ranma's plea, the artifact began to give off a bright light as Ranma's form once again became silhouetted in a white aura. That was when the Sailor Senshi struck.

"OUTER SENSHI PLANET POWER!"

"INNER SENSHI PLANET POWER!"

At the same time, Ranma called out his protection spell. "NAYRU'S LOVE!"

The crystal shield appeared around him, just as the combined attacks struck his shield. The energies began competing against one another as they clashed. In the background, the Devil Hunters could only stare in shock as they witnessed a battle of titanic proportions. It was then that the place where Ranma was standing exploded. Everyone present covered their faces as debris went flying everywhere. The energies they had used in their attacks came reflecting back at the Sailor Senshi, knocking them off their feet and sent them sprawling.

When the smoke cleared and they all looked up, Ranma was nowhere to be seen. All that was left was a huge crater and some charred remnants of the Mirror Shield.

"The Time Stream is secured." Sailor Pluto declared.


In the temple home of Keiichi Morisato, Belldandy, the Norn of the Present was busy putting the finishing touches on dinner when she heard a loud crash of something landing in the back yard. She went out to investigate and gasped as she saw a battered and bruised figure lying in a large crater. Beside him was a faintly glowing ball of light with gossamer wings.

To be continued

Author's notes

Well, I'm finally finished with that chapter and it was a doozy! The Sailor Senshi are now against poor Ranma, though there will be even more conflict between the Inner and Outer Senshi as time goes on. There will be some more revelations in the next chapter, see you there!