(A/N : heh, alright, I just thought that I'd mention a bit of a disclaimer that I forgot earlier. The appearance and attacks of Ranko/Sailor Sun in this story aren't my original idea's. The credit really goes to the author Burgerbill and his/her friends. I based my Ranko on theirs because I think that if there is any Sailor sun that's how I'd imagine she would be as well. So sorry to those authors if they're not impressed with my use of their ideas without permission.)

Sailor moon

Court of Stars

Chapter 4: Debut battle

Ranma was restless.

As he stared up at the ceiling of their bedroom he couldn't help but feel there was something he should be doing. Somewhere else he should be. He turned his head to look at the young man sleeping next to him, dead to the world, and his expression softened to one of affection. He shifted and leaned over to kiss him on the forehead before he pulled away and slid out of bed. Getting dressed he opened the window and jumped out into the night, following his instincts he bounced lightly over the rooftops making no sound to disturb the people sleeping below and eventually he found himself standing at the edge of garden behind Juban high.

Although, he wasn't alone. Two figures stood in the center where the pathway's intersected. Studying their aura's Ranma was surprised to find he recognized one of them. It was the girl, Kotori. Her power had fused with the area around her once more, nearly blinding Ranma until it began to come under some semblance of control. The other figure, a male by the look of it, was speaking in a low voice, murmuring what sounded like instructions.

"Okay, can you feel the power now? Good. Try and focus on that power and pull a little of it into your hand and into the crystal." The aura surrounding her began to flow toward her outstretched hand making the object nestled in her palm glow. Craning his neck Ranma caught sight of it and blinked.

It was the same as the star crystal someone had sent to him.

"Now raise the crystal and say the first thing that comes into your head." The boy's voice cut through his stunned thoughts and dragged him back to reality in time to see Kotori obey the instruction.

"TERRA STAR CRYSTAL! MAKE UP!" Ranma went slack jawed as suddenly her aura spiked violently and was forcefully sucked back into her body, becoming visible to his normal sight as it swirled in a nimbus around her body. Kotori closed her eyes and floated up, her ponytail flaring above her in a powerful wind as her clothes disappeared. Vines shot from the ground to cover her torso, arms and legs before they magically became a white and green sailor suit, shimmering green knee high heeled boots and white gloves. Giant shimmering butterflies materialized and transformed into bows as they settled on her, one in her hair, one on her chest and the last one on her lower back. Silver stud earrings and a silver tiara set with a large opal completed the look. The transformation finished and glowing faintly she drifted to stand in the center of the garden once more. The boy was smiling at her, his gold eyes twinkling brightly.

"So how does it feel transforming into Sailor Terra?" He asked, amusement clear in his voice as he watched Kotori trying to examine everything about her new outfit, then she eep'ed.

"The skirt's to short!" She moaned pulling the green mini skirt down at the front in a futile effort to cover her legs. The boy laughed.

"You'll get used to it. I'm afraid there's nothing much I can do about it. Gender and status dictate the transformation. You are a princess therefore you get the royal battle garb. As you gain more experience you should be able to change your appearance somewhat." Kotori nodded nervously and let go of the skirt looking down at the star crystal that was attached to the front of the bow on her chest.

"This is unbelievable." She breathed quietly looking around and seeing the small creatures she'd been seeing for some time now. With her transformation had come a newly acquired knowledge of the planet and her own powers. The creatures where faeries, pure magical constructs that inhabited everything, from trees to the very earth itself. Everything had it's own aura that glowed in her sight as she looked around, then she saw something that made her jump in surprise.

Someone was watching them from the trees.

Bright steely blue eyes widened amid the aura of flame that concealed the figure from sight, where the forehead should have been, a gold symbol flickered into existence, representing what her subconscious told her was the symbol of the sun.

"I see you've found our audience." Both Ranma and Sailor Terra jumped and looked at Dante' in surprise. He was smiling in mild amusement at their shock. "Sailor Terra, I'd like you to meet your counterpart, Ranma, prince and subsequently, Princess of the Sun." Ranma didn't bother staying back now that he'd been identified and jumped lightly over the garden to land nearby.

"You're the delivery guy!" He said, slightly in awe as he recognized the man who had given him the crystal star pendant. Dante' smiled again.

"Indeed I am." He conceded in a lofty tone. "I thought it better that you receive it before you came into contact with Kotori, you can try to transform if you like?" It was more of a question than anything else. Ranma hesitated.

"I don't have the star crystal with me." He admitted sheepishly. Dante' smiled, not in the least put off.

"That's easily fixed." He flicked a wrist and there was the crystal floating in the air before Ranma's face. Ranma grabbed it from the air and stared at it before he looked back at Dante'.

"By the way, I never asked who you were." Dante' seemed to have an infuriating knowing smile fixed permanently on his face.

"I am the lost prince of the moon kingdom, Dante'." Ranma tipped his head to one side in confusion. He didn't quite understand what was going on.

"So how do I work this thing?" he asked waving the pendant.

"You can use it easily enough." Dante' eyed him with a calculating air. "But I'm afraid that you will have to activate your curse and become female to access it's full potential." Ranma stared at him in disbelief.

"What!?" Dante' rolled his eyes and clicked his fingers, causing water to appear from nowhere to trigger the transformation. Ranko spluttered indignantly.

"WHAT DID YOU DO THAT FOR?!" The red head demanded angrily. Dante' crossed his arms and smirked.

"Try transforming." He prompted. "Gather your energy, raise the crystal and say the first thing that comes into your head." He repeated the instructions he'd given to Sailor Terra earlier. Ranko glared briefly before she closed her eyes and raised her hand into the air.

"SUN STAR CRYSTAL! MAKE UP!" Power flared around her body in an overwhelming rush. Holding back a moan a huge ball of fire and plasma flowed around her floating form. Her hair fell from her pigtail and fell around her shoulders as the hot blue plasma encased her limbs and solidified into the white bodysuit and gloves while flames became her skirt and knee high boots. Gold earrings and tiara appeared, a large diamond that reflected the flames of her aura taking pride of place in the center. Finally was the bright red bows and a red metal headband that completed the look and let her fall back to the earth. She opened her eyes a few seconds later and let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding.

"Wow!" She muttered under her breath, staring at her gloved hands.

"I think she likes it." Dante's amused and taunting voice broke her dazed state, making her look back up at the other two occupants of the garden.

"Oh yeah, I like it." She replied going back to examining her new outfit, noting with distain the size of her skirt. "Oh Ryoga is going to have a cow when he finds out." She murmured to herself, drawing another laugh from Dante' to whom she promptly glared at. Off to one side though, Terra's face was creased in a frown, there was a wrong felling coming from somewhere nearby, she concentrated harder on the sensation before a faint memory realized what it was.

A heartsnatcher.

"Dante'!" Her head shot up in panic. "Something is very wrong." The moon prince gave her a look before his own expression fell into one of surprise and he spoke Terra's fears out loud.

"There's a heartsnatcher attacking someone! Hurry!" He turned and with a brief flash his body was replaced by that of a silvery gold colored hawk that took to the sky. Terra looked at the confused Sailor Sun before they came to a silent agreement and leapt after him.

They'd been right about the heartsnatcher. It had the features of a samurai, most likely from a statue and was attacking a young woman with a wicked looking Katana. Sun didn't hesitate, she lunged toward the Youma with a flying kick and sent it crashing into the wall that surrounded the Dojo. The dark haired girl they'd saved stared in disbelief at what Sun had done. Terra dropped in beside her, lightly as a cat and held out a hand for her.

"Are you all right?" She asked genuine concern weighed in her voice. The girl nodded and took the offered hand just as a cackle came from nowhere and a beam of black light pierced the girls back, ejecting a shining crystal from her chest. Terra stared at the crystal until something rushed forward breaking her from her trance. She looked up to see the Youma and two strange girls in suits similar to hers all racing to get the crystal at her feet. Looking at the Crystal, then at the scouts Terra made a split second decision.

"You won't have the crystal! FLOWER BOMB!!" As she shouted the incantation she threw her right hand out to one side and let her energy create a flower shaped construct on her splayed fingers before she hurled it like a disk toward the oncoming senshi. It landed at their feet and instantly threw them into the air and away from their target. Terra scooped up the heart crystal just as a ball of plasma emerged from off to the side and plowed down the Youma, turning it to ash into seconds. A violet pod emerged from the ashes and broke in half, dispelling its evil essence. Terra looked around again as Sun joined her by the heartsnatcher victim, not far away Eugeal screeched.

"WHERE DO ALL OF YOU KEEP COMING FROM!?" She cried in frustration. Seeing that she was out numbered four to one she decided not to stick around and in a shriek of tires she was gone in a cloud of dust. Sun watched the dust trail in the distance while Terra knelt by the girl. Holding out the crystal she willed it back to its owner. She stayed kneeling after it had vanished and held the girls hand as she slowly came back to consciousness.

"W...What happened?" Her voice was soft and confused brown eyes stared up at the concerned senshi.

"Shhh... don't worry, you're safe now." Terra soothed and the girl nodded dazedly. A coughing noise caught her attention once more and both senshi looked up to see Neptune and Uranus getting to their feet. Barely seconds later more senshi arrived, much later than usual to surround the strange pair. Terra stood and put her back to Sailor Sun's as Sailor Moon stepped forward.

"Are you?" Moon trailed off in confusion. "Are you Sailor Earth?"

Well there you have it, chapter four. I hope you enjoyed reading it... (I can't believe it took me three days to write all this!)

Don't forget to review!

Cya