Sailor ½
Chapter 2: Man, this place blows
"Geez." Ranma muttered as he walked down a dark alley, he was still freaked out by the alarming number of cats he had seen in this area. "Ah don't worry Ranma, I'm sure there'll be no cats down here!" Ryoga taunted. He loved it when Ranma tensed up at the mention of that word. "Hmmm." Ryoga looked around, before pulling a letter from his pocket and reading it. Visible at the bottom was a small paw print, which was the reason he was carrying the map, not Ranma. Ranma would freak out every time he saw the cat-sized print at the bottom, thinking somebody was out for revenge.
In the shadow cast by a dustbin, two eyes flashed open, revealing extremely cat-like eyes. Well, actually they were cat eyes. They looked up as two teenage boys walked past. "Hmmm.Yes, these are the boys I'm looking for." a small, but well spoken voice whispered.
"HEY! YOU!" The Cat backed into the shadows at hearing this. She wasn't expecting others to be in the Alley! "HEY RANMA! Wait up!" came the voice again. Ranma slowly turned around to see who it was. "Uhhh..do I know you?" Ranma blurted out. "Of course you do! I'm Ami, we're classmates!" Ami happily replied
"GAH! Ami! Whaddya spoil my plans for?" the cat muttered in plain English, before realizing everybody heard it "Uh oh."
"Uh oh indeed." Ami growled, before picking the cat up "Luna, what were you planning with these two?"
"AIEEEEEEEE! C-C-C-CAAAAAT!" Ranma bellowed, cutting off any chance of Luna replying "GETITAWAY! GETITIAWAY! GETITAWAY!" Ami and Luna were now wide eyed with shock. Ranma was afraid of cats?
"Ranma! Calm down!" Ryoga grabbed Ranma by the arm, and turned him away from Luna "There aint no cat, trust me!" Ryoga worked furiously to calm down Ranma, he was NOT in the mood to be on the receiving end of the Neko- ken. Luna was not impressed, and decided to make her point. "Who's not a cat? Of course I'm a cat, I'm cute, furry, and feline!" She put a bit more firmness into the last few words. Now it was Ryoga's turn to be afraid. "T-T-THERE'S A TALKING CAAAAT!" Ryoga Bellowed "Uhh.uhh.Miaow?" Luna replied
Everything went quiet as Ryoga and Luna stared at each other. Ryoga afraid the cat-demon had come back to possess him again. Luna afraid that this Human, who Usagi had told her was powerful for a mortal, might attack. Ami just stared, wondering what was so impossible about a cat who could talk. Then it hit her; the Alley was quiet, TOO quiet. Something bad was about to happen, and this Alley was the place. Danger seemed to come during quiet times, and right now it WAS quiet! That silence was broken by a deep throated "Mreeeeoooooowwww.."
Ryoga froze solid. He knew that meow all to well. Ranma. Ryoga slowly turned to face the boy, who was standing on all fours and giving Ryoga one hell of an evil look. "Uuuuuhhh.Girl, and..um..cat?" Ryoga stumbled backwards in his attempt to get away from Ranma. "Yes?" Ami and Luna replied in unison "RUN!" With that, Ryoga took off at an alarmingly fast speed. Luna and Ami were bowled over as a madly hissing, extremely angry looking, and insanely meowing Ranma chased after Ryoga. "What on earth happened to that boy?" Luna rubbed her head, before getting back up onto her paws. She was immediately knocked back down as a huge explosion shook the vicinity. Was Tokyo under attack? At that moment, the wall of the alley exploded into a hail of shattered rock and concrete, as an unconscious Ranma flew through it.
"Hehehehe.I finally beat Ranma!" Ryoga laughed as he limped towards the hole. Several red stains marked his shirt, and his leg was heavily bleeding, but apart from that he seemed okay. Well, seemed being the operative word in this case. About five seconds after raising his hands in the air, Ryoga fell flat on top of Ranma.
Ami looked on in total shock. This was definitely a first for her.
* * * Following morning, Crown Game Centre
"OOOH! I'm winning!" Some random girl squealed as she randomly moved a stick while whacking buttons on a keypad. "AIYAH! I Lose!" "Hehehehehe.Rei, You'll NEVER win!" Usagi laughed "Oooh..you meanie!" Rei retorted "I'm getting bored waiting here!"
Artemis, a small white cat, laughed. Well, he tried to. Being stuck in a small flowerpot with Luna wasn't exactly his idea of comfort. "Oh stop shuffling!" Luna bit Artemis on the paw, causing a small yelp "They'll be here soon, and if either of them see us, expect the entire REGION to be blown apart."
As if by clockwork, the entire arcade shook, signifying that either some new demon was attacking, or their guests had arrived, and they were in a bad mood. The Arcade shook again, this time a lot more violently. "What's that?" Usagi whispered to the flowerpot in which the two cats hid. She got no reply, so obviously they didn't know.
"RANMAAA!" Bellowed Akane. She was angry with him, as usual. How dare he mock her new school uniform? Well, she'd show him the errors of his ways. Pulling her Mallet from a pocket, A pocket which in all rights was WAY too small to hold even a pencil.
"ACK! All I said was that the skirt looked a bit short for ya!" Ranma replied, dodging Akane's multitude of Mallet swings "Oh, and that the whole thing looked silly, made ya looked even more flat chested, and ruined your tomboy appearance"
"WHY YOU LITTLE!" WHAM! Ranma was now skywards at extreme speed, before rebounding off a nearby building and slamming head-first into a fire hydrant, thoroughly soaked, Ranma rebounded again and carried on through the air before being unceremoniously dumped on Ami. About five seconds after Ranma hit, a shower of glass followed. It seems that Ranma had taken the window route into the arcade.
Akane entered several minutes later, with Ryoga hot on her heels. This time, however, he wasn't supposed to be with her. He was supposed to be out shopping for groceries at the other side of Tokyo. Akane was angry. Now, not only after insulting her school uniform, Ranma was flirting with a new girl! Ryoga was equally angry, How dare Ranma cheat on Akane!
"Uhhh..Uhhh..this aint what it seems Akane!" Ranma blurted out. It was then that he noticed something. He was now a she. "Damn.stupid fire hydrant" Ranma muttered to herself, before remembering she was still on Ami.
Several things happened next. Ranma leapt off Ami as fast as she could, almost killing the girl in the process. In Ranma's hurry, she forgot to check what was around her, and tripped over a step. And finally, after stumbling across the floor for a bit, Ranma managed to crash into a girl, sending a small can flying from the girls hand and down the girls dress. Big Mistake.Ranma had learnt that once a girl got angry, there was no stopping her. And this girl looked angry.
"HEY! That's my fave dress!" She yelled, grabbing Ranma by the collar of her Chinese shirt. Ranma easily dislodged her arms, before jumping backwards a few feet and landing in a loose stance.
"Geez, what's up with this kid? It's only a spilt drink!" Ranma laughed at the thought of somebody whining over a spilt drink "WHO YOU CALLIN A KID?" She yelled "I happen to be Kino Makoto, The best fighter at Juuban High! YOU'RE the little kid, so beat it girl!"
"Uh oh." Ryoga walked over to Ami, Usagi, and Rei "Hey, is she a friend of yours?" He asked in the most polite tone possible. It was a wonder he even managed to talk, considering there were three extremely cute girls standing there.
"Um..yes, actually. Makoto's our friend, but we don't know who the other girl is" Rei responded "But I'm sure Mako'll beat her."
Ryoga laughed at the thought of a schoolgirl beating Ranma "I wouldn't put money on it."
"I Place 5000 Yen on Mako!" Usagi chipped in, putting a 5000 yen note in Ryoga's hand. Ryoga's eyes bugged out. They were willing to bet AGAINST Ranma? Ryoga could barely say no before another 2 notes were in his hand, while Ami and Rei stared at him with serious expressions.
"Sorry, don't hit girls" Ranma stated, while folding her arms across her chest and looking at the taller girl. Everyone in the arcade sighed, except Makoto. She seemed to want a fight. Without warning, Makoto launched herself into a surprisingly fast side kick aimed at Ranma's head. She merely leaned to one side and dodged it. Okay, Makoto had seen people dodge her kicked before, probably beginners luck, better try a punch next. Makoto tried a punch, nothing fancy, just your bog-standard martial arts style punch. Ranma dodged, again. Okay, Maybe this girl had a run of luck, lets see her dodge this! Makoto launched into an extremely fast spin kick. Ranma merely took a few paces back and let her kick thin air. She tried another side kick. Dodged. Punch. Dodged. Uppercut. Dodged. Fly kick. Dodged.
"AW man, this is more embarracing than when I fought you!" Akane chipped in as the impressive display of attacking was matched by an even more impressive display of dodging.
"Aw Quit it Akane, you know you were worse'n this!" Ranma replied, while dodging a snap kick.
"How Dare you badmouth Akane like that!" Ryoga growled, before picking up his umbrella.
"Huh? Hey, Ryo-" WHAM! Ranma felt the business end of Ryoga's umbrella slam across the back of her head. "Ooooh..Pretty stars." She staggered around, before Makoto FINALLY managed to hit her with a punch. Ranma fell over, although it was the umbrella more than the punch that caused this. The punch merely unbalanced her.
"I WON I WON!" Makoto squealed, while doing a victory dance. Ryoga looked on in horror. His attack of Ranma had just lost him 15000 Yen..oh, what he would have given to have wandered off and gotten lost at that moment.hold on a minute, 15000 yen? Ryoga would be lucky if he could scrape together 15 yen! Oh boy.
"Don't worry Ryoga." Akane patted him on the back "I'll pay the bets off for ya."
Ryoga fainted from joy. Literally.
"Great." Luna muttered as she peeked out from under the flowerpot "Now Ryoga's out cold, and Ranma's nowhere to be seen"
"AIEEEE! A TALKING FLOWERPOT!" some random girl screamed. Artemis slapped his forehead.
* * * Ranma, Akane, and Ryoga's camp site, vacant lot, Juuban.
"Ranma.WAKE UP!" Ryoga yelled in Ranma's ear. She never even moved a muscle, instead she just.slept. "Stupid idiot had it coming." Akane muttered as she readied the kettle. No matter what she thought of Ranma, Akane knew letting the martial artist wake up in girl form after a nasty bash to the back of the head was.unusual, to say the least. She still remembered the time when Ranma woke up and thought she was a girl! Heaving the kettle above the redhead, Akane sighed, before pouring out the contents. "AIEEEE! HOT!" Ranma yelled as Akane finished pouring the water onto him. "Whaddya do that for?" "We hadta wake you up" Ryoga commented as he sifted through the mail. Somehow, somebody had found their campsite, and delivered a single letter to them. Ranma grumbled some more while Ryoga opened the letter "Hey Akane, did ya find that Artemis guy yet?" Ranma asked as he watched Ryoga read the letter. Akane shook her head. "Nope, maybe the old ghoul was wrong about this guy after all." She replied "So Ryoga, what's the letter about?" "Dunno, it's some sort of advert for a new hairdryer" Ranma and Akane both fell over from shock.
"Whaddya know about Artemis?" a voice came from outside the tent. Standing there were three girls wearing extremely short fuku's. Up front was Sailor Moon.
"Uhhh..we were sent by an old friend to find him and train under him so we can defeat some evil dude" Ranma replied.
**Flashback**
"SHAMPOO!" Ranma groggily yelled as he staggered into the Neko Hanten carrying his father's body, blood streaming from genma's neck "Shampoo! Where are you?" "Ah, Airen! Where you been?" Shampoo happily glomped onto Ranma's back. "Shampoo! Go get the old ghoul, I need her help!" Ranma replied as he dislodged the purple haired girl and placed Genma on an empty table. Genma let off a low whine as he felt the hard surface beneath him.
Minutes later, Cologne - "The old Ghoul" to Ranma and his friends - hopped into the café and over to Ranma.
"What is it, son-in-law?" She cackled "Come to your senses and decided to marry Shampoo yet?" Cologne then noticed Genma, who was slowly turning a sickly brown colour. Cologne's eyes widened as Genma calmly rose to his feet, both eyes glowing blood red as if he had been possessed by some evil. "They're back." Ranma heard Cologne mumble as she took several steps backwards. Genma's now brown skin rippled madly before turning stone-like, while keeping the mobility and flexibility skin usually had. Genma let off an evil cackle, before standing up fully and walking towards Cologne. It was at this moment in which Ryoga entered, carrying a limping akane in one arm. He looked at Genma and froze solid.
"Holy cow." He muttered. Genma ignored him, instead raising one hand and slashing Cologne across the chest with speed which could make Ranma look slow. Ranma backed up even further as he saw the old ghoul fall to the floor. This was definitely not his old man anymore, pops wouldn't even contemplate killing the old ghoul, Maybe Happosai, but not Cologne.
"GREAT GRANDMOTHER!" Shampoo yelled, running to the fallen elder and cradling her in her arms. Ranma took up a defensive stance as Genma walked forward, his eyes now small, and barely visible through the masses of brown scales that were forming on his forehead. This thing.Genma.was evil!
"Son in law." Cologne croaked as blood trickled from her mouth "You must kill it, your father is already dead"
Ranma didn't even hesitate. He had learnt from his time around the old ghoul that when she said something, it was usually right. Tapping into his confidence, Ranma started glowing bright red, before letting loose with a Mokou Takabisha. Well, he tried anyway. It seemed he was in too much emotional turmoil to do anything more than a short spark.
"Damn you Ranma, do it properly!" Ryoga yelled from where he was stood, before resting Akane on a nearby wall. As soon as she was steadily against it, Ryoga stretched out a finger and leapt at Genma "BAKUSAI TENKETSU!" He cought Genma right between the eyes with his breaking point technique.
Genma, now being made mostly of stone, didn't stand a chance. He was thus shattered across the floor of the Neko Hanten, before promptly turning to dust. Ranma fell to his knee's, tears flowing from his eyes.
"Pops." He spoke, staring at the dust which lay across the floor.
"RYOGA!" Cologne coughed up blood, more blood than you would think a woman of her size would contain "Ryoga, you must take Ranma and Akane.go to the Juuban Ward of Tokyo, and look for somebody named Artemis. He is an old friend of mine, and knows more about what these things are than I do."
"What about Shampoo?" Shampoo asked, crying almost as much as Ranma
"Shampoo." Cologne went a pale shade of white "You must go to the village, inform the other elders.but first, you must kill me.I have been cut by the demon, and thus will soon become one"
"No, Shampoo not kill great grandmother" Shampoo replied
"As I thought.Ryoga! You must do it!" She coughed again, this time a brown sludge "Before it is too late!"
Ryoga didn't have any problem with the order, after seeing what it could do to Genma, he cringed to think the of the power one would gain from the old Ghoul.
**End Flashback**
All of the Senshi present were now crying furiously as Ranma told the story of his father's demise. Sniffing back tears, Moon asked a single question,
"How come it took you so long to get here?" She stared at Ranma, and he stared back. They had both been at the fight which had caused genma's infection and both knew it had been 3 months ago.
"Well..uhhh." Ranma pointed at Ryoga "We let him lead the way."
The Senshi, not knowing about Ryoga's directional sense, or lack thereof, had no idea what this meant. But Moon was determined not to let them search a day longer than needed.
"Uhhh.We know an Artemis.We'll take you to him!" She chirped in a happier tone, any sign she had been crying was now gone.
Chapter 2: Man, this place blows
"Geez." Ranma muttered as he walked down a dark alley, he was still freaked out by the alarming number of cats he had seen in this area. "Ah don't worry Ranma, I'm sure there'll be no cats down here!" Ryoga taunted. He loved it when Ranma tensed up at the mention of that word. "Hmmm." Ryoga looked around, before pulling a letter from his pocket and reading it. Visible at the bottom was a small paw print, which was the reason he was carrying the map, not Ranma. Ranma would freak out every time he saw the cat-sized print at the bottom, thinking somebody was out for revenge.
In the shadow cast by a dustbin, two eyes flashed open, revealing extremely cat-like eyes. Well, actually they were cat eyes. They looked up as two teenage boys walked past. "Hmmm.Yes, these are the boys I'm looking for." a small, but well spoken voice whispered.
"HEY! YOU!" The Cat backed into the shadows at hearing this. She wasn't expecting others to be in the Alley! "HEY RANMA! Wait up!" came the voice again. Ranma slowly turned around to see who it was. "Uhhh..do I know you?" Ranma blurted out. "Of course you do! I'm Ami, we're classmates!" Ami happily replied
"GAH! Ami! Whaddya spoil my plans for?" the cat muttered in plain English, before realizing everybody heard it "Uh oh."
"Uh oh indeed." Ami growled, before picking the cat up "Luna, what were you planning with these two?"
"AIEEEEEEEE! C-C-C-CAAAAAT!" Ranma bellowed, cutting off any chance of Luna replying "GETITAWAY! GETITIAWAY! GETITAWAY!" Ami and Luna were now wide eyed with shock. Ranma was afraid of cats?
"Ranma! Calm down!" Ryoga grabbed Ranma by the arm, and turned him away from Luna "There aint no cat, trust me!" Ryoga worked furiously to calm down Ranma, he was NOT in the mood to be on the receiving end of the Neko- ken. Luna was not impressed, and decided to make her point. "Who's not a cat? Of course I'm a cat, I'm cute, furry, and feline!" She put a bit more firmness into the last few words. Now it was Ryoga's turn to be afraid. "T-T-THERE'S A TALKING CAAAAT!" Ryoga Bellowed "Uhh.uhh.Miaow?" Luna replied
Everything went quiet as Ryoga and Luna stared at each other. Ryoga afraid the cat-demon had come back to possess him again. Luna afraid that this Human, who Usagi had told her was powerful for a mortal, might attack. Ami just stared, wondering what was so impossible about a cat who could talk. Then it hit her; the Alley was quiet, TOO quiet. Something bad was about to happen, and this Alley was the place. Danger seemed to come during quiet times, and right now it WAS quiet! That silence was broken by a deep throated "Mreeeeoooooowwww.."
Ryoga froze solid. He knew that meow all to well. Ranma. Ryoga slowly turned to face the boy, who was standing on all fours and giving Ryoga one hell of an evil look. "Uuuuuhhh.Girl, and..um..cat?" Ryoga stumbled backwards in his attempt to get away from Ranma. "Yes?" Ami and Luna replied in unison "RUN!" With that, Ryoga took off at an alarmingly fast speed. Luna and Ami were bowled over as a madly hissing, extremely angry looking, and insanely meowing Ranma chased after Ryoga. "What on earth happened to that boy?" Luna rubbed her head, before getting back up onto her paws. She was immediately knocked back down as a huge explosion shook the vicinity. Was Tokyo under attack? At that moment, the wall of the alley exploded into a hail of shattered rock and concrete, as an unconscious Ranma flew through it.
"Hehehehe.I finally beat Ranma!" Ryoga laughed as he limped towards the hole. Several red stains marked his shirt, and his leg was heavily bleeding, but apart from that he seemed okay. Well, seemed being the operative word in this case. About five seconds after raising his hands in the air, Ryoga fell flat on top of Ranma.
Ami looked on in total shock. This was definitely a first for her.
* * * Following morning, Crown Game Centre
"OOOH! I'm winning!" Some random girl squealed as she randomly moved a stick while whacking buttons on a keypad. "AIYAH! I Lose!" "Hehehehehe.Rei, You'll NEVER win!" Usagi laughed "Oooh..you meanie!" Rei retorted "I'm getting bored waiting here!"
Artemis, a small white cat, laughed. Well, he tried to. Being stuck in a small flowerpot with Luna wasn't exactly his idea of comfort. "Oh stop shuffling!" Luna bit Artemis on the paw, causing a small yelp "They'll be here soon, and if either of them see us, expect the entire REGION to be blown apart."
As if by clockwork, the entire arcade shook, signifying that either some new demon was attacking, or their guests had arrived, and they were in a bad mood. The Arcade shook again, this time a lot more violently. "What's that?" Usagi whispered to the flowerpot in which the two cats hid. She got no reply, so obviously they didn't know.
"RANMAAA!" Bellowed Akane. She was angry with him, as usual. How dare he mock her new school uniform? Well, she'd show him the errors of his ways. Pulling her Mallet from a pocket, A pocket which in all rights was WAY too small to hold even a pencil.
"ACK! All I said was that the skirt looked a bit short for ya!" Ranma replied, dodging Akane's multitude of Mallet swings "Oh, and that the whole thing looked silly, made ya looked even more flat chested, and ruined your tomboy appearance"
"WHY YOU LITTLE!" WHAM! Ranma was now skywards at extreme speed, before rebounding off a nearby building and slamming head-first into a fire hydrant, thoroughly soaked, Ranma rebounded again and carried on through the air before being unceremoniously dumped on Ami. About five seconds after Ranma hit, a shower of glass followed. It seems that Ranma had taken the window route into the arcade.
Akane entered several minutes later, with Ryoga hot on her heels. This time, however, he wasn't supposed to be with her. He was supposed to be out shopping for groceries at the other side of Tokyo. Akane was angry. Now, not only after insulting her school uniform, Ranma was flirting with a new girl! Ryoga was equally angry, How dare Ranma cheat on Akane!
"Uhhh..Uhhh..this aint what it seems Akane!" Ranma blurted out. It was then that he noticed something. He was now a she. "Damn.stupid fire hydrant" Ranma muttered to herself, before remembering she was still on Ami.
Several things happened next. Ranma leapt off Ami as fast as she could, almost killing the girl in the process. In Ranma's hurry, she forgot to check what was around her, and tripped over a step. And finally, after stumbling across the floor for a bit, Ranma managed to crash into a girl, sending a small can flying from the girls hand and down the girls dress. Big Mistake.Ranma had learnt that once a girl got angry, there was no stopping her. And this girl looked angry.
"HEY! That's my fave dress!" She yelled, grabbing Ranma by the collar of her Chinese shirt. Ranma easily dislodged her arms, before jumping backwards a few feet and landing in a loose stance.
"Geez, what's up with this kid? It's only a spilt drink!" Ranma laughed at the thought of somebody whining over a spilt drink "WHO YOU CALLIN A KID?" She yelled "I happen to be Kino Makoto, The best fighter at Juuban High! YOU'RE the little kid, so beat it girl!"
"Uh oh." Ryoga walked over to Ami, Usagi, and Rei "Hey, is she a friend of yours?" He asked in the most polite tone possible. It was a wonder he even managed to talk, considering there were three extremely cute girls standing there.
"Um..yes, actually. Makoto's our friend, but we don't know who the other girl is" Rei responded "But I'm sure Mako'll beat her."
Ryoga laughed at the thought of a schoolgirl beating Ranma "I wouldn't put money on it."
"I Place 5000 Yen on Mako!" Usagi chipped in, putting a 5000 yen note in Ryoga's hand. Ryoga's eyes bugged out. They were willing to bet AGAINST Ranma? Ryoga could barely say no before another 2 notes were in his hand, while Ami and Rei stared at him with serious expressions.
"Sorry, don't hit girls" Ranma stated, while folding her arms across her chest and looking at the taller girl. Everyone in the arcade sighed, except Makoto. She seemed to want a fight. Without warning, Makoto launched herself into a surprisingly fast side kick aimed at Ranma's head. She merely leaned to one side and dodged it. Okay, Makoto had seen people dodge her kicked before, probably beginners luck, better try a punch next. Makoto tried a punch, nothing fancy, just your bog-standard martial arts style punch. Ranma dodged, again. Okay, Maybe this girl had a run of luck, lets see her dodge this! Makoto launched into an extremely fast spin kick. Ranma merely took a few paces back and let her kick thin air. She tried another side kick. Dodged. Punch. Dodged. Uppercut. Dodged. Fly kick. Dodged.
"AW man, this is more embarracing than when I fought you!" Akane chipped in as the impressive display of attacking was matched by an even more impressive display of dodging.
"Aw Quit it Akane, you know you were worse'n this!" Ranma replied, while dodging a snap kick.
"How Dare you badmouth Akane like that!" Ryoga growled, before picking up his umbrella.
"Huh? Hey, Ryo-" WHAM! Ranma felt the business end of Ryoga's umbrella slam across the back of her head. "Ooooh..Pretty stars." She staggered around, before Makoto FINALLY managed to hit her with a punch. Ranma fell over, although it was the umbrella more than the punch that caused this. The punch merely unbalanced her.
"I WON I WON!" Makoto squealed, while doing a victory dance. Ryoga looked on in horror. His attack of Ranma had just lost him 15000 Yen..oh, what he would have given to have wandered off and gotten lost at that moment.hold on a minute, 15000 yen? Ryoga would be lucky if he could scrape together 15 yen! Oh boy.
"Don't worry Ryoga." Akane patted him on the back "I'll pay the bets off for ya."
Ryoga fainted from joy. Literally.
"Great." Luna muttered as she peeked out from under the flowerpot "Now Ryoga's out cold, and Ranma's nowhere to be seen"
"AIEEEE! A TALKING FLOWERPOT!" some random girl screamed. Artemis slapped his forehead.
* * * Ranma, Akane, and Ryoga's camp site, vacant lot, Juuban.
"Ranma.WAKE UP!" Ryoga yelled in Ranma's ear. She never even moved a muscle, instead she just.slept. "Stupid idiot had it coming." Akane muttered as she readied the kettle. No matter what she thought of Ranma, Akane knew letting the martial artist wake up in girl form after a nasty bash to the back of the head was.unusual, to say the least. She still remembered the time when Ranma woke up and thought she was a girl! Heaving the kettle above the redhead, Akane sighed, before pouring out the contents. "AIEEEE! HOT!" Ranma yelled as Akane finished pouring the water onto him. "Whaddya do that for?" "We hadta wake you up" Ryoga commented as he sifted through the mail. Somehow, somebody had found their campsite, and delivered a single letter to them. Ranma grumbled some more while Ryoga opened the letter "Hey Akane, did ya find that Artemis guy yet?" Ranma asked as he watched Ryoga read the letter. Akane shook her head. "Nope, maybe the old ghoul was wrong about this guy after all." She replied "So Ryoga, what's the letter about?" "Dunno, it's some sort of advert for a new hairdryer" Ranma and Akane both fell over from shock.
"Whaddya know about Artemis?" a voice came from outside the tent. Standing there were three girls wearing extremely short fuku's. Up front was Sailor Moon.
"Uhhh..we were sent by an old friend to find him and train under him so we can defeat some evil dude" Ranma replied.
**Flashback**
"SHAMPOO!" Ranma groggily yelled as he staggered into the Neko Hanten carrying his father's body, blood streaming from genma's neck "Shampoo! Where are you?" "Ah, Airen! Where you been?" Shampoo happily glomped onto Ranma's back. "Shampoo! Go get the old ghoul, I need her help!" Ranma replied as he dislodged the purple haired girl and placed Genma on an empty table. Genma let off a low whine as he felt the hard surface beneath him.
Minutes later, Cologne - "The old Ghoul" to Ranma and his friends - hopped into the café and over to Ranma.
"What is it, son-in-law?" She cackled "Come to your senses and decided to marry Shampoo yet?" Cologne then noticed Genma, who was slowly turning a sickly brown colour. Cologne's eyes widened as Genma calmly rose to his feet, both eyes glowing blood red as if he had been possessed by some evil. "They're back." Ranma heard Cologne mumble as she took several steps backwards. Genma's now brown skin rippled madly before turning stone-like, while keeping the mobility and flexibility skin usually had. Genma let off an evil cackle, before standing up fully and walking towards Cologne. It was at this moment in which Ryoga entered, carrying a limping akane in one arm. He looked at Genma and froze solid.
"Holy cow." He muttered. Genma ignored him, instead raising one hand and slashing Cologne across the chest with speed which could make Ranma look slow. Ranma backed up even further as he saw the old ghoul fall to the floor. This was definitely not his old man anymore, pops wouldn't even contemplate killing the old ghoul, Maybe Happosai, but not Cologne.
"GREAT GRANDMOTHER!" Shampoo yelled, running to the fallen elder and cradling her in her arms. Ranma took up a defensive stance as Genma walked forward, his eyes now small, and barely visible through the masses of brown scales that were forming on his forehead. This thing.Genma.was evil!
"Son in law." Cologne croaked as blood trickled from her mouth "You must kill it, your father is already dead"
Ranma didn't even hesitate. He had learnt from his time around the old ghoul that when she said something, it was usually right. Tapping into his confidence, Ranma started glowing bright red, before letting loose with a Mokou Takabisha. Well, he tried anyway. It seemed he was in too much emotional turmoil to do anything more than a short spark.
"Damn you Ranma, do it properly!" Ryoga yelled from where he was stood, before resting Akane on a nearby wall. As soon as she was steadily against it, Ryoga stretched out a finger and leapt at Genma "BAKUSAI TENKETSU!" He cought Genma right between the eyes with his breaking point technique.
Genma, now being made mostly of stone, didn't stand a chance. He was thus shattered across the floor of the Neko Hanten, before promptly turning to dust. Ranma fell to his knee's, tears flowing from his eyes.
"Pops." He spoke, staring at the dust which lay across the floor.
"RYOGA!" Cologne coughed up blood, more blood than you would think a woman of her size would contain "Ryoga, you must take Ranma and Akane.go to the Juuban Ward of Tokyo, and look for somebody named Artemis. He is an old friend of mine, and knows more about what these things are than I do."
"What about Shampoo?" Shampoo asked, crying almost as much as Ranma
"Shampoo." Cologne went a pale shade of white "You must go to the village, inform the other elders.but first, you must kill me.I have been cut by the demon, and thus will soon become one"
"No, Shampoo not kill great grandmother" Shampoo replied
"As I thought.Ryoga! You must do it!" She coughed again, this time a brown sludge "Before it is too late!"
Ryoga didn't have any problem with the order, after seeing what it could do to Genma, he cringed to think the of the power one would gain from the old Ghoul.
**End Flashback**
All of the Senshi present were now crying furiously as Ranma told the story of his father's demise. Sniffing back tears, Moon asked a single question,
"How come it took you so long to get here?" She stared at Ranma, and he stared back. They had both been at the fight which had caused genma's infection and both knew it had been 3 months ago.
"Well..uhhh." Ranma pointed at Ryoga "We let him lead the way."
The Senshi, not knowing about Ryoga's directional sense, or lack thereof, had no idea what this meant. But Moon was determined not to let them search a day longer than needed.
"Uhhh.We know an Artemis.We'll take you to him!" She chirped in a happier tone, any sign she had been crying was now gone.
