Ranma ½ belongs To Rumiko Takahashi, Viz video and others. Any other works belong to their respective people as well. I don't own any of this so just sit back and enjoy the tale, oh and don't sue me please that would be bad.

Note: Where necessary, our Ranma will once again be referred to as Ranko to keep confusion to a minimum.

Chapter 15 – Confrontations part I

Ranko held her club steady, aimed carefully, then she struck with skill and precision. The purple ball went flying hit a corner, rebounded from another corner, and went into the hole. "Put me down for two Beryl."

Beryl pulled out a pencil and wrote a two down on the score card. She sighed and said, "I don't know Hotaru, we might have to handicap her even more. Let's make her play with one hand behind her back."

The exuberant black haired girl grinned back and the grayish pink haired girl and smiled. "Well Ranko-san did say that Taya was proficient in a form of this game. Perhaps you are correct, and two reflections per shot isn't enough."

Beryl said, "See Ranko? Now come on over here while I find something to tie around your arm."

Ranko just grinned and complained, "Aww come on! I'll spot you two points per hole. Okay?"

The two other girls looked at each other and then replied in concert, "Deal!" Then Beryl added, "Plus, the winner has to buy dinner."

The miniature golf game continued on and at the end when the girls tallied up their scores Ranko still came out ahead. At lunch Ranko sighed and said, "You know I would have usually sucked at this. No martial arts in it at all and yet Taya spent so many years playing the game it came naturally." The two girls across from her just smiled. Then Ranko became somewhat more serious, "So about yesterday?"

Beryl quivered a bit as she remembered. The previous evening she and Ranko had helped Hotaru defeat Mistress Nine and she had become the Senshi of Earth to do so. After it was all over, she told her big sister–or was it hunky boyfriend? She wasn't sure which. Anyway, she had told Ranko and Hotaru all about her past history with the Sailor Senshi. About how she had destroyed the Silver Imperium and almost brought the evil Metallia to earth by using youma to drain people's energy. That all ended when Sailor Moon used the Ginzuishou to kill Metallia and sent her spirit roaming in the remnants of the dark planes. Her spirit roamed until she received an offer from a spirit called Wiseman. He had given her the new body that she now inhabited and she had used it hoping to make Ranko destroy the Senshi and help Mistress Nine with her plans of world domination. That all changed after she started helping Ranko and Hotaru. She had changed once she had started being heroic, and so instead of helping Mistress Nine, she ended up destroying her.

After telling Ranko and Hotaru her story, the two were unsure of what to say that night. They could not decide what to do or anything else. The two had decided to sleep on it and when morning came, she had found them outside the apartment running around and playing tag in the vacant lot. Hotaru had come up to her and hugged her tight saying, "Beryl-san I'm well. Thank you so much!" Then she skipped along and said, "Oh and I convinced Ranma-san to get in touch with Taya. I think if he were to do that then perhaps Taya wouldn't try to control him so much. What do you think?"

Beryl had been somewhat flabbergasted by the active girl and was barely able to say, "That's fine." Before she finished, Hotaru had lept towards Ranko and told him, "She says it's a good idea, now change into your girl form and let's go find something that puts you in touch with Taya."

The search had lead to the miniature golf game and to the lunch that was now in front of her. It had also led to Ranko sitting in front of Beryl and saying what she had just said.

Ranko looked at the spaced out girl and said, "Yo! Beryl, you okay? I didn't surprise you too much did I?"

Beryl snapped out of it and said, "I'm sorry I seem to have missed it. Perhaps I was a little shocked… What exactly did you say?"

Ranko looked at her strangely and said, "It's okay. That's what I said." Hotaru nudged her and whispered in her ear. Then she stood up, went over to Beryl, and stiffly hugged her. Beryl hugged back and said, "Thank you Ranko, I hope that someday I'm just as much of a hero as you are."

Ranko just smiled and said, "Somehow I think you already are."

Lunch continued and the three girls were quite happy sitting there and excitedly relating tales of their past to each other. This part of the conversation started to be dominated by Ranko as she related tales of her past in Nerima and the other two girls just stared at her and added comments like, "How many Fiancées?" and "A phoenix on his head?" and many more. By the time lunch ended, Hotaru and Beryl were amazed all over again with the girl/boy who was siting with them. They walked out of the establishment and Hotaru said, "Ranko. I think I'm ready to go back to my house now."

Ranko looked back at her and said, "You're a lot healthier now, but you're not completely trained. Are you sure you wanna to confront that witch and her daimons now? Not to mention the fact that your dad is still there."

Hotaru just looked back at Ranko and said, "After hearing about your life and the challenges you faced I think I'm ready. Besides Beryl was a bad person once too, maybe the three of us can combine our healing and make my daddy well?"

Ranko thought about that and realized the possibilities then she smiled a cocky grin and said, "Alright, those witches and their daimon armies won't know what hit them. Let's go!"

The three girls transformed into their sailor guises and headed for the Tomoe home.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Earlier that day Ryouga and the Inner Senshi were at the Aquarium. Mercury had her computer out and reported, "I am picking up dark energy readings."

Usagi nodded and looked regal for a moment as she said, "Alright people, this might be a trap, so be on the lookout. Mercury, keep your computer handy and search for that cloak thingy that Ranma can do. The rest of you stay close and be careful."

The Senshi followed their leader into the aquarium and were immediately assaulted by beams of energy. One of the powerful blasts slammed into Venus and knocked her over. She stood up while the rest of the group looked for the source of the blasts.

There down the hallway were two girls they were of similar height and similar build. In fact the two girls were almost identical in every way—even their star-tipped staves matched. There was, however, one difference: one of the girls had blue hair and the other red. The two girls raised their staffs and fired at the group again, scattering the Senshi and drawing return fire from the assembled group.

Ryouga pulled out his lightsabre and moved forward towards the girls. He intercepted each blast with his weapon and moved forward resolutely intending to attack the two witches in physical combat. Suddenly, he was struck by multiple fists to his gut. Standing in front of him was a Saotome clad in a black Chinese tang and pants. The evil boy looked at Ryouga and four extra black arms arose from his outfit. He grinned a cocky grin and said, "Hibiki, we have some unfinished business."

Ryouga attacked, but the Saotome boy just blocked his strikes with his arms. Smiling all the while he said, "I enhanced my daimon arms since last we met. Do you like the modifications?"

Ryouga just grunted and attacked again swinging his sword in a vain attempt to hurt the Saotome boy.

Meanwhile, the Senshi were being pummeled by the combined might of Cyprine and Ptiliol. Venus had been hit multiple times and was down while the rest of the girls were faring no better. Their magical attacks were useless against their two foes. Mercury looked down the hallway and saw Ryouga fighting a losing battle against the Saotome boy as he went down under a ruthless barrage of blows. Sailor Moon jumped into the fray to say the boy and was pummeled by a multitude of blows as well. That was when Tuxedo Mask arrived and threw a rose into Ranma's shoulder. The Saotome boy yelled out in pain, his attach interrupted while he stopped to pull the magical flower from his shoulder. Tuxedo Mask continued with his regular speech and said, "You can do it Sailor Moon you ca–Urk!" A dark energy blade slammed into the tuxedo-clad young man and sent him flying.

Mercury saw the trouble and sent a Shabon Spray out into the battlefield. This allowed the Senshi, Mask, and Ryouga to regroup. They started to plan their attack when a voice called out, "Come on Senshi! Why won't you come out and play?"

The group ignored the taunting as Ami said, "Our attacks aren't effecting the two witches and this Ranma is easily avoiding everything that Ryouga is throwing at him. Perhaps we could distract Ranma and send Ryouga and Tuxedo Mask after those two witches?"

The rest of the group agreed and as the mist cloud dissipated they all fired their attacks directly at the Saotome boy. Ranma just grinned and danced around the attacks. "Is that the best you girls can do? I'm disappointed." Something about this boy was frustrating Usagi but she wasn't sure if it was his annoying cockiness, his self assurance, or the pain from her injuries; whichever it was, she was angry. She watched Ryouga and Tuxedo mask head towards the witches and grabbed her transformation pen in her hands. "Moon Eternal Makeup!" She cried the transformation phrase and her regular costume was washed off her body, replaced with a diaphanous white gown, while feathered wings sprouted from her back and a golden crown appeared upon her head. The transformation completed as the Ginzuishou topped itself onto a golden scepter. She pointed the weapon at Ranma Saotome and yelled, "Moon Eternal Meditation!"

A kaleidoscope of deadly energy traversed towards the Saotome boy, but it missed him completely. He smirked at the transformed girl and said, "That would have hurt if you could just hit me with it." Then, he lept forward and attacked. Punches pummeled the sailor girl without hesitation or remorse. The only thing that prevented her death was the powers of the other Senshi being sent towards her battle. Ranma dodged away and allowed the attacks to impact Sailor Moon, taking her out of the fight. He looked at the remaining Sailor Girls left standing and said, "Man you guys just suck!"

Mercury, Mars and Jupiter were aghast as what they had just done. Then the girls looked at the pigtailed boy and his daimon armor and realized that they might just be in over their heads. Despite the odds, Mercury provided a concealing mist and they tried to regroup. But this time, Ranma ran into the mist after them saying, "Come now, the Saotome Secret Technique only works once girls. You should have thought up a better plan last time."

Then he was on the Senshi, kicking and punching as well as sending out blades of deadly black energy. It was all they could do to prevent themselves from perishing at the spot.

Meanwhile Ryouga and Tuxedo Mask were faring little better against Cyprine and Ptiliol. They had attacked multiple times with various attacks and maneuvers, but nothing seemed to faze the two witches. Still Ryouga and the Tuxedo clad boy fought on, dodging the attacks and trying various ways to injure the two witches. As the fight continued, Tuxedo Mask saw Sailor Moon once again fighting Ranma and losing. Without thinking, the Tuxedo clad boy jumped out of his fight and ran down the hallway. Ryouga yelled out, "Wait Mask you'll be hit!"

The warning was ignored and Cyprine fired a burst of energy right into Tuxedo Mask's retreating form, sending him sprawling onto the ground and out of the conflict. Ryouga grunted in annoyance and tried to think of another technique that he could use. Maneuvers and possibilities went through his head. The Breaking Point would not work, his lightsabre was doing no damage, the Kinjin Rashu Dan had just dissipated, and the two witches were not generating a hot enough aura to perform a Hiryu Shoten Ha.

Rei, Ami, and Makoto were bruised and bleeding on the floor. Ranma stared down at the three girls and smiled a cruel smile. A black energy globe started to grow in his hands but he stopped as a sound came from one of his pockets. He pulled a black shard out of the pocket and said, "Alright Eudi-Chan I hear you—and I'm on my way."

Ranma looked disappointedly at the three girls on the floor and said, "I'm sorry I won't be killing you today, but I have other business to attend to. Cyprine and Ptiliol should be more than a match for you pathetic weaklings." Then, he gathered his dark power and teleported away.

Ami assessed the situation. She saw Sailor Moon and Venus unconscious in front of them and Tuxedo Mask's form laying the hallway. Ryouga was still fighting the other witches, but they seemed to be unhurt. She looked at her computer and saw that it had traced Ranma's teleport to the cathedral. Then she sighed and said, "We were tricked, and there were no talismans here. Mars, Jupiter, see if you can extricate Ryouga from his battle. I'll stay here and see if I can rouse Moon, Venus, and Tuxedo Mask. It's time to retreat."

Jupiter and Mars nodded sadly and ran towards Ryouga. When they arrived at the battle Mars threw flames at the witches to distract them and Jupiter yelled, "Come on Ryouga it's time to leave."

Ryouga just stared at the flames that Mars had made and said, "Wait, we can win this."

Jupiter dodged an attack and said, "Ryo-chan it was just a trap to delay us all and keep us from the real Talismans."

"That may be, but if we were to face Ranma again he might have the talismans and these two witches. We have to do something to get the odds into our favor and defeating these two witches is our only chance."

"Alright Ryo-chan what do you need us to do."

The group had to dodge some more attacks until Ryouga said, "Alright, both of you need to fire your attacks at those two witches again and again. I want them to be covered in lightning and to be standing in a veritable bonfire. Can you two do that?" The Senshi nodded and Ryouga said, "Alright go ahead."

Then he ran in, keeping to his Jedi-learned meditation and holding onto the Soul of Ice he dodged attacks and began the spiral. Ryouga continued in closer and closer to the witches and they were covered with more and more heat and energy as he spiraled in. They fired at him and at the two Senshi as well, but it had no affect on what Ryouga was doing. Just as he reached the center of the spiral Sailor Mars was taken down by a blast from Ptiliol, but it was too late Ryouga yelled out, "Hiryu Shoten Ha!" When the two witches saw him directly in front of them they started to fire their blasts, but doing so only powered the tornado even more. The two witches were quickly lifted up into the whirlwind. There was nothing the two witches could do as their own energies assaulted them as well ad the magical fire and lightning that made up the dangerous whirlwind. When it was over, the two evil witches fell to the ground lifeless.

Jupiter gathered Ryouga up into a gigantic hug as he sighed in relief. Then he looked around the aquarium at the damage and the wounded and said, "Now what?"

Mercury was tending to Usagi when she heard the commotion. She turned her head from her charge and was able to see the defeat of the two witches. Then Ryouga picked up Sailor Mars and Tuxedo Mask and brought them to her. As the Senshi were assembled a bright glow came from the Ginzuishou and enveloped Usagi and healed her. Sailor Moon stood up and then a glowing figure appeared from within her crystal. It was a woman with silvery hair who looked much like Sailor Moon. "You must retrieve the Holy Grail. There is not enough power to heal you all, but I can give Sailor Moon the ability to teleport without the additional Senshi, and thus transport those of you left to where the battle is now occurring. Go quickly!" Without thinking Mercury, Jupiter, Moon and Ryouga quickly held hands and teleported to the cathedral.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sailor Uranus and Neptune arrived at the Marine Cathedral for their battle with Eudial. Before going in, they again agreed to not worry about the other's safety and concentrate on getting the Talismans.

Then they went inside. When the door opened, they were immediately assaulted by hundreds of small spiked walls. The two Senshi dodged the walls and destroyed them with their powers, but each time they destroyed one wall it seemed as if another would appear.

"Damn it!" Swore Uranus and then she said, "It's just a trap; there are no talismans here. Somehow Eudial found out who we are and lured us here just to kill us."

After she finished speaking a spiked wall slammed into Neptune and knocked her out. Eudial appeared from behind the wall dressed in black daimon armor and grabbed the unconscious girl with the extra arms it had created. "So unkind Uranus! I'm not lying at all–you see Neptune here has one of the talismans."

Uranus tried to strike Eudial, but yet another black arm formed by the daimon armor blocked the blow and then Eudial jumped into the air and said, "If you want to see me take her Talisman, meet me in the cathedral!"

Uranus tried to immediately follow Eudial, but then she too was hit by one of the spiked walls. She had to slowly fight her way through an almost endless supply of spiked walls, but finally she reached the prayer hall. From there, she could see the injured Sailor Neptune strapped to a tablet by thorny vines. There was a narrow bridge which led to the altar where she was held.

Eudial saw Sailor Uranus enter the room and said, "Don't worry; I haven't taken her heart crystal yet."

Uranus heard that and charged directly towards the blonde witch. Eudial just smiled and slammed one of her daimon fists into the blonde Senshi's gut. "Tsk, tsk loosing your temper and all that. Why, I think I should punish you."

Sailor Uranus tried to leap back, but Eudial was too fast for her. Multiple daimon arms grabbed and held her still, while Eudial slowly pulled out a large gun and pointed it at Uranus's chest. A cruel smile came over Eudial's features as she said, "You know what Uranus? Ranma Saotome taught me some lessons about fighting, strategy… and one other thing. Do you know what that was? It was about lying. I lied to you earlier, because I did take Neptune's heart crystal. It seemed silly to allow her to keep it and possibly break free from her bonds while I was busy with you, so I extracted her heart crystal."

Eudial slowly pulled out a mirror and murmured as if to herself, "Her heart crystal turned into this mirror and she died. It's a very pretty mirror though. Perhaps I will put it up in my bedroom and think about this day every time I do my makeup or perfect my hair. Wouldn't that be wonderful?"

Uranus struggled on to no avail and said, "You sick bitch!"

Eudial just smiled and said, "I wonder if your heart crystal will be as pretty as Neptune's." Uranus continued to struggle within the powerful grip of Eudial's daimon arms, but ultimately could only watch in horror as the witch laughed evilly and said, "Now, now don't struggle you won't make a pretty corpse if you do." Then she pointed the PHC extraction gun at Sailor Uranus and squeezed the trigger.

Slowly, her heart crystal came out and turned into a sword. Eudial took the sword in her hands and held it next to the mirror. She smiled at her conquest and as she started to walk away from the two dead sailor girls, a blast of magic slammed into her armor. Looking behind her she saw another sailor girl standing there –she had fired the magical blast at her.

Eudial smiled and said, "Which one are you? There are so many that I often forget your names."

Setsuna just stared at Eudial and said, "I, Sailor Pluto, will take back the talismans!" She held aloft her staff topped with a garnet gem, and Eudial realized that the gem had to be the third talisman. She practically danced with glee when she realized that it would be just her against this lone Sailor Girl. Ranma would be pleased by her progress and she wouldn't even need to call for his help.

Then the gem on top of Sailor Pluto's staff started to glow. The sword and mirror talismans that Eudial was holding ripped from her hands and formed a triangle with Pluto's gem talisman. Sailor Pluto's planet mark on her forehead began to glow, as did those on the bodies of Sailor Neptune and Uranus. Suddenly, Sailor Neptune and Uranus' bodies appeared behind their talismans. Their pure heart crystals came out of the talismans and went back into their bodies. Sailor Uranus and Neptune had come back to life!

Eudial cursed and a held a black shard aloft in her hands. She brought the shard to her ear and said, "Ranma I think I'm going to need your help now." Then she watched the three girls grasp their respective talismans. Light filled the room and The Holy Grail appeared before them. When the light show was over, the three Senshi looked at Eudial, who just smiled and held her hands in the air.

After the previous events the three warriors showed no mercy and each of them fired a blast of power right where Eudial was standing; but the girl disappeared before the blasts hit and was then nowhere to be seen. The three sailors looked around, but were unable to see anything at all until they heard a voice yell, "Kijin Dai Ran Bu revised Dark Flood"

Ranma appeared from out of nowhere and was spinning like a dervish. From his regular and Daimon hands he fired off numerous blades filled with dark energy. The energy blades flew right into the midst of the sailor girls and sliced into them, cutting the young women and their outfits to ribbons.

The girls survived the assault, but were bleeding and injured as the pigtailed boy smirked at them from across the room. Behind him was Eudial who was also smiling an evil smile. "Still standing eh? Well we'll have to…rectify that won't we Eudi-Chan."

Then the two rushed in and attacked. Pluto, Uranus, and Neptune fired their attacks, but the power just seemed to wash right over the pig tailed boy. Then, he and Eudial were attacking them with Daimon arms and regular fists. They were hard pressed to fight back against the attackers and were slowly being beaten down.

A kick slammed into Pluto's ribs. She heard them break and then went flying across the cathedral floor into one of the walls. She was briefly away from the fighting activity and was watching as Ranma and Eudial were slowly, but surely beating Neptune and Uranus to death. It was not a fight anymore it was just a slaughter. She tried to stand up and tripped on a solid object falling back to the ground. She absently fingered the object she had tripped on and realized that it was the Grail. In their lust for blood, both Ranma and Eudial seemed to have forgotten about it. Pluto held the cup in her hands and used it to fire a burst of energy into the fray.

Ranma broke Uranus' leg and then felt an energy blast impact into his armor. He looked towards the source and saw a bleeding Pluto holding the grail. He snorted and said, "Eudi-Chan kill these two. I'm going to get our property back." Then he stalked off towards Pluto.

Pluto fired another blast at Ranma, but he dodged it and then ran towards her at high speed; before she knew it he was standing in front of her with a leg smashed and the rest of her ribs cracked–a fist impacted into her face and then the real pain began, but somehow Setsuna held onto the Holy Grail throughout it all. Ranma broke bones and tore ligaments with each strike, but the sailor girl in front of him would not release her burden. Finally, he picked Pluto up with his Daimon arms and ripped the grail from her grasp. A loud snap came from across the room and he looked over to see Eudial finishing off Sailor Uranus and about to do the same to Sailor Neptune. He looked deep into Setsuna's eyes, then put his human arms on her neck and said, "Now you will die!"

"Dokuja Tanketsu Shö revised Lightsabre Strike!"

Ranma felt the energy blade enter his body just below his heart. The pain was mind blowing, but he clenched down into his reserves of dark power and flung himself into the air and onto a stained glass window high in the cathedral. Masking himself with the Umi Sen Ken he looked below from his new vantage point and saw the cursed Ryouga Hibiki alive, well and helping Sailor Pluto.

He also saw Sailor Moon and Jupiter attacked Eudial with their powers. Sailor Mercury was also standing next to the Hibiki boy with her computer out. "I think I have it. Yes, I have it." Then the girl pointed right at Ranma and said, "He's right there, Ryouga."

Ranma lept from his vantage point and landed next to Eudial. "Moon, Jupiter, look out he's right next to you!" The two sailor girls sent out their attacks. A bolt of lightning took Eudial down and he was barely able to dodge a large Kaleidoscope that came from the winged girls' scepter. He cursed and lept away again. Injured by Ryouga's lightsabre and without the power of the Umi Sen Ken he would not be able to defeat the Senshi today. He dropped his cloaking technique and held the Holy Grail aloft. "I may not have killed you today, but I have won. I, the Messiah, will bring the Silence and my master will destroy you all." With that, he used what was left of his powers to teleport away.

Eudial stared at the vacant spot and said, "Wait, Ranma, what about me?"

The silence within the cathedral answered her question and a final Supreme Thunder ended her life.

Sailor Moon looked sad and said, "What do we do now? We didn't retrieve the Holy Grail."

Ryouga stood with his lightsabre out and said, "We do what we should have done earlier. We find my brother and confront this evil madman together."

Sailor Moon's only question was, "How do we find her?"

Ami said, "I can possibly track down her silver millennium energy if she's active." The blue-haired Senshi opened her computer and said, "Bingo, I've got a lock. Sailor Sol, Saturn, and uhm…another signature are right here at a house that belongs to someone named Souichi Tomoe.

Pluto was only able to watch as the three sailor girls took Ryouga's hands in theirs and teleported away. She dragged herself across the floor to a wall and levered herself upright, grasping her staff in her hands. The staff glowed and then transported her to the Gates of Time. She rested at the gates and hoped that by using the time differential she could heal up in time to destroy Ranma Saotome and any other threat to Crystal Tokyo…

Author's notes: Thanks to everyone who has read the story so far. The next chapter will obviously be the confrontation between the two Ranmas and what is left of the Inner Senshi team. Not to mention a confrontation between Sailors Pluto and Sol. Plus, there will most likely be a reappearance of Baba Yaga herself and the black mist. Suffice it to say there is a whole bunch of content coming up in the next chapter.

Oh yeah I almost forgot. Dokuja Tanketsu Shö – In case you were wondering this is the technique that Ryu uses on Ranma during that arc. In the Manga Ryu almost puts his hand into Ranma's heart using this technique. I just imagined how powerful it would be if someone used a lightsabre instead of their hand. Too bad Ryouga missed the mark eh?