To those who don't know I revised the last chapter. No plot changes, I just made it better.

Constructive criticism always welcome.

I don't own any of these characters or situations. As always the spelling errors are mine, as are the grammar mistakes. I do hope I'm getting better by now and there are less of them.
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Juuban part 11

*************

It was late in the afternoon when Ranma made her way back home. Akiko was sweeping the front of the restaurant as was her habit at that time of the day. She looked up from her labor and greeted Ranma with a smile.

"Hello dear, did everything work out as you hoped?'

"Yes granny, I think it worked out even better than I could have hoped. I think now the school will be moving in a better direction for it."

"How did you convince the Masters of your art to go along with you?"

"I... um... I kinda sorta made an ultimatum."

Akiko raised a eyebrow, "An ultimatum?"

Ranma felt like a deer caught in the headlights. "Uh... yeah. You see what they were doing, messing with peoples minds and stuff... well it was ... just... evil. There is no other way of putting it. So I made them stop."

Akiko raised her other eyebrow, "Really? I was under the impression, from what you told me, that they were a stubborn lot and would be hard to change."

"Well, ah... I kinda persuaded them."

Akiko closed her eyes and pinched her nose, looking as if she were in deep thought. After a moment she sighed and looked up at Ranma, "Dear, I know you think you have a good reason not saying anything, but how exactly did you persuade them?"

"I sorta promised... thatI'dkillthemiftheydidn'tchangethewaytheytestedtheircanidatesandsealthe mindalteringstuffaway." pant, pant, pant

Akiko blinked. After a moment she shakily asked, "What?"

Ranma swallowed hard, wishing she lied instead. She always found lying to Akiko hard to do. No scratch that - impossible to do. "I'm sorry Granny," Ranma finally said while looking down. "I just couldn't figure out a way to get them to stop - and they were doing evil things messing with peoples minds and stuff."

Akiko sighed again, "Ranma," she spoke softly, "were you prepared to carry out that threat?"

"Yes," Ranma said in a very small voice.

"Ranma," Akiko said equally softly, "I know you have the power to carry out the threat," she then set her broom down and took Ranma hands in hers, "but don't let that power rule you. Understand?"

Ranma looked up from their joined hands and into those hazel eyes that always seem to pierce her soul. "Granny?"

"I'm afraid if you always rely on your superior strength to get your way, then you will stop trying to reason and think through your problems. Using it in dealing with people who disagree instead of negotiating with them, you could... well, turn into the very thing you say you hate. A bully who preys on the weak."

Ranma paled as she stared at those eyes, and shook her head. "No. No way I'll ever be like that. Granny, you have to believe - ."

Akiko raised one of her hands, silencing Ranma. "I know you say that now, but what about ten years from now? Five years? Or maybe as little as one year from now?"

Ranma lowered her head, a million different thoughts seemed to race through her mind. After a moment she raised her head and looked at Akiko, "No. No way. I used force with the Masters because that's all they respect - and I had to be ready to carry out my threat or it would have been meaningless. I won't rely on strength, I'll use other ways if the situation calls for it. I won't become... a bully, someone who preys on the weak."

Akiko regarded Ranma for what seemed like a long moment. "See that you don't dear, I would be most disappointed in you if you did."

"Don't worry granny," Ranma said smiling. "I have the power to stop evil, I will not follow in its footsteps," the last said firmly with determination.

Akiko smiled in approval, "Very good, dear. As for anyone else that has given you grief in your past, how are you planning on dealing with them?"

"I haven't really thought beyond dealing with the Masters. I really don't know," Ranma answered somewhat subdued.

"I think you should give everyone the same chance." Ranma started to protest, but was halted again by Akiko's raised hand. "It would be only fair. After all, you gave the Masters another chance. It would only be right to extend that to others that have crossed your path."

Ranma thought for a moment before answering.

"I... I will give everyone another chance. I promise, but only one chance. I'm not going to be looking over my shoulder my entire life," Ranma said the last part resolutely.

"No one's asking you to, dear. Now won't you come inside and help Michiko and I get dinner together? Your aunts and uncles with their families are coming to visit this evening."

Ranma thought about that with eyes looking upward, "Oh yeah - I almost forgot with everything that has been happening today. I hope that uncle Shoji leaves the keraoki machine at home."

Akiko giggled at that, "Yes dear, we can only hope. I wouldn't take any bets on it though."

Ranma giggled with her, "Nope, I don't want to lose my tip money."

On that note both women retreated into the restaurant.

******************

The next morning Ranma woke with the sound uncle Shoji voice belting out "Hikari". No, that was last night. God it was amazing how a tune, no matter who sang it can stick in your mind. Ranma thought back to last night and how mortified she was when her sister dragged her up there and made her sing a duet. Ranma was just glad that at least Michiko picked a song she knew and had heard before on the radio, "Asia No Junshin," or she would have been lost. She had to admit that it was a lot of fun once you relaxed and went with it. Also, she thought, they didn't sound too bad - not too bad at all.

Of course she's not discounting her renditions of and Mosukoshi Ato Sukoshi either. Who knew keraoki could be so much fun?

Ranma rolled onto her back and wiped the sleep out of her eyes. Yawning and stretching in her futon she basked in the warmth of the movement. Blinking a few times Ranma then rose from her bed and proceeded with her morning routine.

******************

Sunday afternoon was a marvelously unproductive for Ranma. She and her new sister, Michiko hung around with friends all day and shopped and talked, walked and talked, sat in the park and talked and then talked and talked. Ranma was use to how much girls talked and she couldn't say she was guiltless either, with the amount of confiding to Akiko she had been doing in the mornings. Just as well, Ranma was a good listener too, when she was paying attention.

It was on this day where Ranma first noticed how much she really had changed since accepting her past memories.

The park was reasonably crowded for a Sunday and the five girls were gathered on one long bench, talking about the coming Art Show at the school that was scheduled for next week. Ranma not really being part of that project, let her mind and eyes wander Taking in the park as a whole and concentrating on appraising the fighting potential of people walking by. she had made it a practice over the years to do this. You may never know when an seemly innocent person may be trying to hide deadly skills under a veil normalcy.

[That one's definitely not a fighter, she's too out of shape...] Ranma thought as Hitomo droned on about how one of the boy's wasn't pulling his share of the work in putting the Art Show together.

"... and then he had the nerve to ask for a break after hardly doing..."

[That one's not to bad, had a little training - but probably not much though... ]

"... and I said that "What do you mean break? You hardly done anything." and he starts trying to make like..."

[Hmmm. She's not a fighter, but you can tell she works out at something. Flexible, must be something like Yoga or something similar. Nice body, good behind. Wouldn't mind meeting her...]

"... I didn't know what I was talking about and tries to ignore me. So I got Kenji who was in charge of arranging the gallery and..."

[Man that guy must be pathetic. It looks like he hardly knows how to walk much less fight. The girl next to him is not too bad, but still not a fighter...]

"... then they get into it. I mean Ichiro was just being lazy and Kenji called him on it and then Yoshiko came up and put her two cents in and..."

[Whoa! That guy over there had a lot of training. Good muscle tone, must work out a least four times a week... good shoulders, not bad, looks flexible and...]

"... well, that made Ichiro angry, and when he confronted Yoshiko, he started telling everyone how he did what Ken did. Right there in front of Ken! What do you know what happened then, Ranma? ..."

[... not bad looking either, I wonder what kind of personality he has? I wonder what he's like, someone like that I hope is not a jerk...]

"Ranma?"

[I wonder if he has a girlfriend?]

"RANMA?"

"Huh? What?" Ranma asked breaking from her thoughts.

"I was asking you a question," Hitomo smiled with eyes gleaming. "Who were you checking out? That college boy over there?" Hitomo said while slightly jerking her head in said direction.

Ranma stared wide eyed at Hitomo for a second before realizing that was exactly what she was doing. She was use to checking out girls and guys for hidden fighting potential, but checking them out as and material was something new for her. Ranma faced flushed with embarrassment before she stammered out, "No! I mean yes! It's not what it looks like!"

Ranma's sister and friends giggled at the sight of a red faced, poorly lying, and caught in the act girl, who was trying so desperately to deny what was so obvious. Ranma's sister, Michiko took pity on her.

"It's okay Ranma. It just means you're normal."

"Yeah, I've been eyeing him myself," Chiyo said giggling lightly.

"It's okay, Ranma. It just means you're not dead,"Tamami also added giggling.

"Yeah, hee, hee, hee. Normal. That's it," Ranma laughed a little while scratching the back of her neck.

"Does anyone feel up to some ice cream?" Hitomo asked breaking this train of events.

"That sounds good to me," Tamami seconded.

Everyone agreed that it was a prefect ideal. The five girls rose from the bench as one and headed out of the park towards the ice cream parlor. Ranma tagged along in the middle of the group, pondering this latest development. She remembered checking out a girl just before being distracted by the boy. What did this mean? As she understood it, she was bisexual in her past life and it would only be natural for her to steer what way again. But with a guy?! She didn't know about that. Ranma figured at that point she could ignore it for now, accept it, or see what happens. What really disturbed her about the whole thing was the fact that looking and girls and boys in "that" way didn't really seem to bother her that much. It just seemed so natural for her.

For her present sanity Ranma decided to ignore it and let whatever happen, happen.

Besides there was ice cream to concentrate on.

****************

The ice cream parlor was clean, white tiled and chrome establishment that attracted teenagers in droves in the warm afternoons of the waning days of summer. Also it was a good place to gather to gossip and discuss the going ons of who was seeing who. Hence, the crowded conditions. However, there was a group of girls that were there discussing more that what was going on in school.

Ami and the rest of the girls were at a table in a relatively quite corner, missing out on their favorite booth, eating ice cream and discussing yesterdays events. Ami steeled herself, the other girls may not like what she was going to say, but she knew that they should how she felt. She leaned toward the center of the table and signed everyone to follow suit. As they huddled there Ami whispered over the din of the room.

"I think going to Nerima was a mistake, I don't think well really know more about Ranma then we started."

"You think so?" Makoto said dryly.

Ami nodded. "There is way too much unaccounted for time between the time Ranma left Nerima and showed up here in Juuban. For all we know this may not be Ranma."

"Pluto seemed sure..." Minako said.

"Yeah, but if she is who Pluto was right, then why didn't she transform?" Rei interjected.

"Keep your voice down. I been thinking about that. Remember reading the section on Tuxedo Mask? The part where it said that females were better able to access the planetary powers?" Ami said.

"Ahh... we didn't read that part, you did mentioned it though - what about it?" Minako said.

"Well, think about it. Ranma was born a boy, right?" Ami ventured into unknown territory.

The other girls at the table nodded.

"Well, what if you had to be a girl not just in body. Maybe in order to change you had to be a girl." The emphasis was on the word be.

"What about Harua? You know how she is..." Rei said trailing off.

"Yes, I know but, she is still a girl. Deep down she is one, she could never truly think like a man because she's never truly been a man. At least in this life" Ami said.

"So what you're saying is that maybe the reason Ranma didn't change was because she was still thinking or... being more like a man?" Rei asked.

"Maybe, I'm just guessing. I really don't have anything to go on. I have a feeling though, that Ranma is more girl than boy now." Ami paused in her theorizing for a moment before continuing. "The human mind is a flexible thing. My guess Ranma would have to adapt to her girl side eventually or go insane. A person can't go through life and not be effected by the physical changes that happen when your a girl. The hormones alone would have been tough to deal with."

The other girls at the table just stared at her.

"Huh?" Usagi said for everybody, speaking for the first time since the conversation began.

"I'm saying Ranma probably had to adapt to being a girl, one way or another. Ranma doesn't strike me as the type of person who would just give up and die. So, she adapted and became a girl. But how did it come about? I bet Pluto knows more about this, but getting answers from her is like pulling teeth." Ami said the last part distractedly.

Just then the girl in question enter the shop, surrounded by a group of her friends. Ami leaned forward and whispered, "She just came in, nobody say anything."

"Why not go up and ask her where she's been?" Usagi asked in a very innocent voice.

Rei rolled her eyes and said, "We can't go up to her and say, "Hello my name is Rei, where have you been for the last six months?" Do you know how that would sound?"

"Like we're curious?" Usagi answered with a question.

"Look, let's go somewhere where we can talk a little more freely without worrying about Ranma overhearing us." Ami said.

"What about Ranma?" a voice asked.

The five scouts looked around for a talking potted plant, instead all they found was one of Ranma's friends standing near the table.

"I was coming over to see if you were through with the table so I could get it for my friends - what this about Ranma?" Chiyo asked again.

"I... er... its... well..." Ami stuttered out.

"We heard a rumor that she is a good martial artist and I was wondering if it was true." Makoto said, covering for Ami.

"Why yes it's true. I don't know how good she is but you can ask her - Oh Ranma!" Chiyo call over to the red head. The girls at the table cringed, they wanted to avoid Ranma like Pluto asked them to. It was not to be.

Ranma turned toward Chiyo's call and started walking over with cone in hand. Usagi picked that particular time to suddenly push her chair back so she she could turn to get a better view of the approaching girl. All she managed to do was push herself right into the oncoming Ranma. Caught off guard Ranma staggered backward a bit, cone flying high in air and with the scoops separating in midair. In a movement that was too quick too see, Ranma caught the cone between two fingers and then instantly caught the scoops with it before any got near the floor.

"Did you see that? I never seen anyone move so fast," Makoto said while the others at the table gaped.

"Ohmygosh,Excusemeplease.Ididn'tseeyou.Canyouforgivemeplease.Pleasedon'tbemadat meI'mreallysorry!" Usagi blurted out.

"It's alright, no harm done." Ranma said polity even though she was a little annoyed. [Jezz, how many times is this girl going to run into me, and the way she talks and wears her hair she reminds... me... of... Sailor Moon?] As if a fog had been lifted her mind, things started to click together in Ranma's head.

"Is it true you're good at martial arts?" Makoto asked, interrupting Ranma's thoughts.

"Yes," Ranma answered distractedly, then more softly, "I'm the best." [She one one them too, but who?] Ranma thought, trying to pull a name from somewhere in her mind.

"The best? That's a pretty big claim. Would you mind sparing with me sometime? You know, to see how we measure up," Makoto continued oblivious to Ranma's contemplation's.

"Yeah." Ranma answered absent mindedly, "Not today though, got stuff I need to do." [Who used to like to spar with me... or was it dance... who was it?]

"Okay, that would be fine with me. I have things to do today also. We can put it off until later. Say next week?" Makoto said.

"Yeah... fine." Ranma said even more distracted, [Jupiter - that's who. She's Jupiter.]

"You're from Nerima aren't you?" Ami said spoke suddenly and instantly regretted it. "That's what Tamami said when she introduced us a few weeks back." Trying desperately not to sound too interested.

Ranma, breaking from her thoughts narrowed her eyes a bit. "Yes that's true. What about it?"

"Ah... er... nothing. I just wanted to know if Nerima was as weird as I have heard. That's all." Ami tried to cover for herself some more.

"It depends," Ranma answered carefully. "I don't keep up with what's going on in Nerima, there's nothing for me there anymore." [She's one too, jezz is everyone at this table a scout?]

Ranma studied the still seated girls even more, trying to put faces and names together. Ranma knew somehow, that these were her... old friends. Even if the only time she had met the Senshi in this life she couldn't see there faces, something was adding it up for her. Like some sixth sense or instinctual thing she couldn't fantom. Without a doubt she knew that these were the Sailor Scouts. She studied them some more feeling a vague pang of disappointment that the two she was looking for - hoping to see - were not among them.

The girls at the table were growing nervous at Ranma's now obvious scrutiny. The seated girls became more nervous when the rest of Ranma's friends joined her. Ami looking for a way out asked, "Did you want this table? We were getting ready to go when you came up."

"Why thank you," Chiyo said. "We would like to sit down."

The standing girls then changed positions with the sitting ones. Ranma took the seat vacated by Usagi.

"It was nice meeting you," Makoto said. "We'll set a time for a spar next time we meet."

"Yeah, that would be nice. Oh! Hey... I didn't get your name." Ranma inquired.

"Oh. I sorry. I'm Makoto, and these are my friends Usagi, Minako, Ami, and Rei."

Ranma mentally filed the names away, "I'm Ranma as you know, and this is my sister Michiko and our friends Hitomo, Chiyo, and Tamami."

"Well it was nice meeting you all, bye." With that the five girls that Ranma knew were the scouts departed for parts unknown.

"They seem nice," Tamami commented.

"Yeah, but they seemed nervous about something. Did you catch how they were checking out Ranma?" Hitomo pointed out.

"I'm sure it's nothing - after all their friend wanted to spar with our friend. It's only natural to check out the competition," Michiko added in.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. Speaking of competition - who it going to judge the art show?" Tamami asked.

"Well, we have several..." Hitomo picked up the conversation from the park.

Ranma tuned out the conversation at this point and pondered. She knew who the scouts were, but could they be trusted? Were they as bad as Pluto, messing with other peoples lives or were they ignorant of Pluto's doings. Something in the pit of Ranma's stomach told her that these girls were about as clueless of what Pluto was doing as they were about fighting. Ranma having done a quick study, almost unconsciously gauging the fighting skills of the girls as they left. She was disappointed to find that they were not up to "snuff"... at least not yet. She had a vague feeling that they might have been, no - they were better before... in the last life. What happened? How much did they remember?

***************

All good things, like eating wasabi ice cream, must come to an end. Ranma and her sister, Michiko separated from the rest of their friends and headed home to help prep the restaurant for tomorrow. After that, Ranma plan to sit down and think about how she was going to handle the scouts. Strolling home, Michiko asked Ranma, " Do you think you can beat Makoto? I heard through the grape vine that she's pretty good."

Ranma responded, " Oh yes. She has had come training, but she is still nowhere near my level."

"Well, I hope you're right, because I want to know who to put my money on."

"Oh man, you're not going to bet on a sparing match are you?" Ranma asked worriedly.

"Nah, I just was wondering, I know you get early, too early, to practice in the mornings. Its just that I have never gotten up early enough to watch you. Are you really that good?" Michiko asked.

"I like to think so. I have been living the art for ten years before moving here. I never... well, except once, lost in all that time. And it's 'no' not 'nah'."

Michiko looked at Ranma for a moment before breaking into giggles. " I see you have been hanging around grandma a bit."

Ranma nodded and giggled with her and wondered the truth of her statement of never losing. She had to admit to herself now that she had lost plenty of times, she just never stayed that way.

***************

The next day at school Ranma was alert for any of the scouts that may show up unexpectedly her way. The night before she had some time to think about the situation and decided she would "check them out" to see how much they knew and didn't know. Ranma wanted to know for herself if they were in league with Pluto or were just as much in the dark as she was. Ranma hoped for the latter, remembering how the girls behaved at their first meeting. Ranma knew that it could have been an act and she wanted to know for sure. Until then, Ranma concentrated on her school work.

At the end of the school day, Ranma was slightly disappointed that none of the scouts tried to approach her. Seeing them leave the school grounds, Ranma resisted the urge to follow and see where they went, but she had to get to work. Following her nightly routine of work, cleanup and homework, Ranma had little time to think about the current situation.

She thought about last week, what Pluto said about "We need you in a coming fight as Sailor Sun...". What fight? Ranma was ignorant as to what that meant outside the obvious. Monitoring the time stream was Pluto's job not hers. If there was something coming, something bad enough that Pluto felt justified screwing with her life, then maybe she should give her the benefit of the doubt.

Ranma shook her head. [No. She can't be trusted. She has always been more extreme in achieving her goals than she should be. She messed with me in both my lives, I should just beat the tar out of her.] Ranma paused in thought and sighed, [Then again, I did give the masters another shot, and I did promise Granny to give everyone else another shot. Well... Pooh.]

Ranma sighed and look at the clock, everyone should be asleep by now. It was time for her nightly training session. She would continue her self debate later, after she had practiced on toning down some more of her energy attacks. The close quarter fighting practice in the mornings that she did in the dinning room were coming into play. By combining what she had taught herself in the mornings with what she had learned in the past few nights, she could now do a "solar flare" without destroying a wide area, she managed to keep area of destruction limited to an area the size of a room if need be. Considering how she started, that was quite a feat.

Tonight though, Ranma was going to work on the warp bubbles and see what she could do with them.

Ranma was having fun exploring the warp bubbles or fields that surrounded her Senshi form. She found by experimentation and a little work that the effect that the bubble had on whatever it regulated, was in direct relation to the amount of power she put into it or took away. Some fields did nothing but regulate her interaction with her surrounding environment. She found she could control gravity, mass and time/space by varying the amount of power in that field. With it she could make things heavier or lighter, make time run slower or faster than normal and a weird effect on space that she was going to explore more latter on tonight.

The inner most field was an armored layer, after all that's pretty much what it did. It seemed to be a combination of all the fields that surrounded her and protected her from any outside effects. This was one of the few fields she had no conscious control on and it seemed that it regulated its power needs independently without her direct control.

One of the coolest things she discovered that she could split the fields into several ones of the same function and control each field independently.

Ranma split the field that regulated her interaction with gravity into two, then poured power into the inner of the two fields and left the outer one alone. The dead brush that was within the middle field as well as the surrounding ground was immediately crushed by it's own weight as gravity increased a thousand fold. The inner armor field protected Ranma from its effects while the outer one protected the surrounding environment. When Ranma returned gravity to normal she was surrounded by a circle of highly compacted and fused earth.

"Cool," was Ranma's only comment.

Playing with her different warp fields, she found she could do the same thing with the time, but she had no desire to have compressed time go even slower than she was already. She then turned her attention the the spacial one. The spacial field seemed tied into the field that regulated time in some way she couldn't figure out. Maybe it was a way of covering distances without using her sword.

Ranma decided to test that theory. Putting a little power into the spacial field she noticed how power was automatically being directed into the one that controlled time without her intervention. Ranma then focused on going 40 feet across her little corner of the outback. Nothing.

Ranma pondered and went with a impression she had. She stretched her feelings and felt the fabric of space between where she was and where she wanted to be and then folded it. That's when things got weird. She felt the space/time fields fluctuate like a heartbeat and during this she had an attack of vertigo and became disoriented. The next thing she knew she was in at the spot she was aiming for. Turning to check out the if anything else was affected by her test she spotted... herself at her starting point.

Ranma blink-blinked at that as her twin wavered and disappeared. Ranma cut all her fields to normal and looked about frantically. In the moonlight she didn't see anyone else in the barren landscape of the outback and her senses of space/time told her she was alone. Nothing else seemed affected by her test. With a shrug of her shoulders, Ranma repeated he experiment this time going for a longer distance.

The same feeling of vertigo and disorientation overcame her as she turned quickly to her starting point. Sure enough, there she was. Ranma's twin just disappeared again, wavering out of existence.

[What in the hell is this?] Ranma pondered. This was weird, even for her and she didn't really remember doing anything like this in her past life. What did it mean? Ranma sighed. More questions, just great. Ranma repeated the experiment again this time aiming for the Moon. Nothing happened.

[I guess there is a limit.] Ranma thought. [I wonder how many times I can do this?]

With that thought, Ranma zigzagged back and forth across the barren, flat plane until she couldn't stand anymore from the dizziness. Falling on her rump, Ranma watched multiple images of herself disappear across the landscape.

[Well it might come in handy for short teleporting in a fight, but too much could be a problem,] Ranma thought as she analyzed the practical combat usage of - whatever. Ranma shook her head clear and stood up wobbly.

[I think that's enough for tonight,] groan[I'll have to work on this later.]

Ranma summon her sword and headed home.

*************

It was Wednesday before Ranma gotten a chance to pursue her desire to trace down the scouts. The dinner crowd was unusually light, which made for a faster clean up. Her and Michiko were finished with everything just before 8:00. Being early, Ranma decided to go for a walk in the before in got too dark outside. Though Akiko knew that Ranma could take care of herself, she still insisted that she be indoors at a reasonable hour on school nights. Michiko still had to finish her homework, so Ranma went on without her. Quickly changing out of her waitress uniform, she folded it neatly and dressed herself in a pair of black slacks with a red blouse - an ode to her old trademark outfit.

The sidewalks were still fairly busy at this time of night. Ranma found she had to dodge around groups of people going here and there as she made her way the the wider street that was located near the restaurant. She noted the ice cream shop that she had run into the Senshi last weekend and wondered again how to approach the problem. That's when she saw them, the one with the short hair walking on the other side of the street with the twin ponytailed girl that Ranma identified as Sailor Moon. Something was clicking in Ranma's head, again on an instinctual level, [Mars? NO - Mercury!]

Ranma decided to stealthily followed.

****************

Ami and Usagi were making their way to the Cherry Hill Shrine. Ordinarily the scouts would get together sometime during the weekend to conduct Senshi business, but Rei had ben insistent and said even the Outers were going to be there. Pluto was not only coming, she was the one who called the meeting. Something big must be up and Ami had a feeling that it involved a certain red head.

Ami and Usagi made their way toward their destination as the light of the sun started to fade and the first of the streetlights began to turn on. Unknown to the girls, a figure that hugged the shadows was trailing them.

****************

Ranma cautiously follow the girls known to her as Mercury and Moon as they climbed the steps that lead to the shrine. Ranma was on full alert as she parrelled the pair as they neared the entrance of the house that was located beside the shrine itself. Ranma waited a few minutes before finding an out-of-the-way spot behind some bushes and transformed. She then compressed time and entered the house herself.

The interior of the house sort of reminded Ranma of the Tendo's, but she quickly pushed that comparison out of her mind. No use thinking about what might have been, even though it filled her her heart with a slight pain. Betrayal like that is seldom forgotten. Ranma walked openly throughout the house until came to a closed door near the rear of the building. Opening it carefully as to not injure anyone that could be on the other side, she peek in.

The room was crowded with girls. Ranma recognized five of the girls as the ones from ice cream shop, the others she didn't but still felt a instinctual recognition to anyway. She then closed the door and then went into normal time. Leaning close she pressed her ear to the door, hoping to listen in on the conversation.

"What's this all about?" a voice asked.

"It has to do something with that red head we meet last week, I bet," said another.

"I would like to talk to her," said another still, "I wanted to ask her about that spanking comment."

"Harua!" an exasperated voice cried out. "Let's not even go there."

Ranma blushed silently outside the room at the memory of the moment.

"Spanking?" a small voice said.

"Hee, hee, we don't need to talk about that now," the other voice said.

Silence.

"Good everyone's here," a dominating voice spoke out.

"EEEK! Don'tdothat,youscaredtheheckoutofme!Whydoyoualwaysdothat?" Ranma would know that voice anywhere.

"This is important," the new voice ignored Moon's outburst, "we may have a problem. There is a possible threat of Ranma going insane."

Silence.

"Insane? What makes you think so?"

"There is a distinct possibility of that. If she is going insane, then she will be a bigger danger than what is coming," Pluto said as Ranma finally made the connection to the speaker.

"What is coming?"

"We can discuss that later, right now we must deal with this possible crisis at hand."

"She didn't seem to be insane when we talked to her earlier," Moon said.

More silence.

"You have spoken with her?" Pluto asked.

"Yes, last Sunday at the ice cream shop. She seem fine to me at the time," a new voice ventured out.

"I haven't been able to observe her in about a week and a half. I have been monitoring other things and there are signs that she has been tapping into her powers. Perhaps on a subconscious level. If so, then she could be dangerous."

"By the way, why didn't she transform?"

"I... I don't know." Pluto admitted.

More silence.

"How dangerous could she possibly be?" Ranma heard the sound of the voice and finally connected it to Mercury.

"If she is going insane and taps into just part of her powers she could easily incinerate the Solar System," Pluto answered straightforward.

"No way."

"Yes, she could."

"No, I mean you answering questions with straight answers. No way."

A heavy sigh was heard.

"We must find out what the mental state of Ranma is. If she is showing any signs of becoming unstable, then we must deal with her," Pluto continued.

"Deal with her? How do you think we should deal with her?" a voice asked cautiously.

"We would have to kill her. Before she taps into anymore of her powers," Pluto said with finality.

"Wait, wait, wait. How do we know that's she going insane? You yourself have admitted to not being able to observe her for over a week. What makes you think she going nuts?"

Silence.

"I not sure if she is going insane. That's why we must have to find out. And quickly."

"How do you suggest we do that?"

"Who is Ranma anyway?" another voice interrupted, "We went all the way to Nerima to find out about her. And if that ward is any indication of her mental state, then she was probably already insane long before she got here."

"Ranma is the reincarnated Sailor Sun, the last and most powerful Senshi created. Her whole existence and training was designed so that she could wield those powers as effectively as possible." Pluto answered, "She was, unfortunately born a male in this life... we needed for her to be a female."

"So that's where the Cursed Springs came in..."

"Yes, we are fortunate that such a place exists."

"If she does go nuts, surely all of us can deal with-" the voice was cut off by Pluto.

"No, you don't understand. Sailor Sun is from the most advanced Senshi created. So advanced that she is the only one from that series. She's extremely powerful. All of us combined wouldn't stand a chance against her."

"Series? What are you talking about?"

"Project series numbers, right? The voice of Mercury rang out. tap, tap, tap "That would explain what these numbers that are before our project names are."

"I know you found the files, but there is more than what's in them to tell," Pluto carefully said.

Ranma still outside the room, pressed her ear closer to the door and listened carefully.

"What makes her so special?"

"All of us have potential weaknesses that can be exploited. Sun was designed from the ground up to not to have any. Everything from her upbringing, training, conditioning and infusing of the power was aimed solely at eliminating any potential weaknesses. So concerned about exploitable weaknesses they made it possible for her to tap her powers on a limited basis while untransformed. The Techo-mages didn't even build in a fail-safe for her," Pluto had since taken on a "lecturer's voice" by now.

How did they know she wouldn't turn on the Moon Kingdom? The voice of Mercury asked.

She had been selected for her almost inbred sense of honor, duty and loyalty. This was further enhanced by her upbringing, Pluto answered.

I can't believe that Serenity would allow anyone to be raised that way. We read the reports, what they did was cruel, Moon spoke with an almost accusatory voice.

I know, at the time it seemed the right thing. Serenity was pressured by her court advisors who feared Sailor Sun's power. She regretted deeply and always carried her guilt with her.

Silence. Outside the door, Ranma felt relief in the somewhat confirmation of her belief of Serenity's sincerity.

"How powerful is she?'

"Without transforming and under the right circumstances she can tap into power that could very well lay waste the entire Solar System."

"And transformed?"

A sigh was heard, "No one really knows, they were afraid to test her that high. Theoretically she could destroy a good quarter of the galaxy. Many of the Techo-mages felt her power was even greater," Pluto admitted.

More silence.

"Anything else?"

"Yes, there are other things, but it would take to long to tell."

"One question. Why wasn't she used in the war with the Negaverse."

Pluto sighed heavily again. Because of Sailor Sun's power. They made her too powerful to use.

Mercury said.

Pluto continued, She was a super weapon, an ultimate weapon of mass destruction. So powerful is Sailor Sun that using her in such close quarters, like a planet or a moon, would have just been just as dangerous as the invaders. Because of that their were no plans draw up on how to use her tactically in a intersystem conflict. The court advisors thought that her presents alone would deter any would-be invader.

That's crazy! [Mars, that's her name.] Ranma thought outside the door, You have a weapon, you use it. That's all.

I think I see what Pluto's getting at, Mercury said. It would be like... having an atomic bomb where all you need is a stick of dynamite. There was another pause before Mercury continued, And having a weapon that could basically wipe out the Solar System, you would want to be damn careful how you used it.

Pluto, why waken her now if she too powerful to use?Mars asked.

Because in the end we may need her power to finish the coming conflict... once and for all.



By destroying a universe.

More silence.

"What do we do now?"

"We have to find out about Ranma's mental state. This means all of you will need to observe her and report back to me. I cannot monitor her from the Gates of Time anymore."

[Great], Ranma fumed outside the door, [It's bad enough that Pluto screwed with my life, but now she's going to get everyone to spy on me.]

Ranma considered her options. She could reveal herself to the Senshi and see what happens. She could go on like she has been, adding some odd behavior to freak them out a little - stringing them along for grins. Or she could ignore it and keep on living her life as she has been doing. Ranma thought about the last choice. No she would not do that, especially if there is something bad and nasty coming as Pluto had hinted at. The second choice was out, it would be fun though. Send them into a panic. Kind of a small and petty token of revenge against Pluto. In the end though, they might decide to come gunning for her and that definitely would not be fun.

So it was the first choice, but that didn't mean she couldn't have a little fun with it.

Ranma compressed time and moved into the room, carefully squeezing between the open door and one of the scouts with turquoise hair that stood near the entry. Ranma froze and looked at the girl carefully as feelings of excitement, like electricity moving up and down her spine started to flow through her. Shaking her head to clear it of anymore naughty thoughts, she carefully maneuvered around the frozen bodies of the rest of the girls. Crouching low behind Pluto, Ranma went into normal time.

"What's this about my mental state?" Ranma boomed loudly.

"EEEEEP!" Pluto screamed as she leaped across the room. She spun in mid air to face Ranma's direction. It would have been a graceful move if she had watched where she was going. As it was she tripped over the corner of the bed and collided with some of the other girls that were standing near there . Landing atop of them in a heap with Pluto's Garnet staff laying beside the pile of arms and legs.

"BWA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!"

Ranma and the rest of the girls that were still standing, along with some from the pile, turned their eyes upon Usagi. She was laughing so hard that she was holding her sides and leaning up against Rei for support.

"I always wanted to see what she would do if she were surprised like that!" Usagi choked out and renewed her laughter. "BWA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!"

While Usagi's laughter died down, the girls untangled themselves from the pile they found themselves in. All of the attention then turned to the newest addition to their little group. Ranma stood there as Sailor Sun, arms behind her back, rocking back and forth on the balls of her feet, whistling lowly and sweetly, looking as innocent as anyone can be.

"Don't do that!" Pluto yelled while reaching over and retrieving her staff.

"Who? Me?" Ranma answered back, while looking even more innocent.

Pluto huffed and stood, assisted by her staff to pull herself up. Ranma, with her arms still behind her back, twisted her body to and fro swirling her short skirt. This made it bellow up slightly exposing the bare flesh between the tops of her thigh-high white stockings and the bottom of her teal skirt. This caused two other members of the room to be very distracted.

"Well it seems you turned out alright," Pluto finally said.

"Yeah, no thanks to you and Happosai." Ranma snorted rather coldly, then angrily, "I came real close to ending everything.

"Happosai?" Pluto asked , ignoring the statement.

[She doesn't know about Happosai,] Ranma thought. "Just a perv that I already dealt with." Ranma answered while cocking her head slightly. "So... now what?"

Silence.

"I want to know about the spanking," a girl who looked all of twelve or thirteen spoke out.

"Hotaru, now is not the time," said a girl dressed in slacks and a shirt with short cropped blond hair.

Ranma upon realizing how young the person was stammered, "Yeah... that's it... not the time or place. Hee, hee, hee." Turning her attention to the one who spoke last. Uranus was the name that something in her brain supplied for her. "Not as sharply dressed as I remember, but still sharp none the less."

"We met?"

"Along time ago." Ranma paused and smiled in a certain way, "Let's just say - that you and Neptune know how to treat a lady."

Uranus and Neptune felt their faces heat.

The rest of the girls blink-blinked as one and watched as the conversation turned in an unexpected and interesting direction. That is, until Pluto spoke up, "I know you girls would love to get reacquainted, but we have a crisis coming."

Ranma sighed for the missed opportunity. She pinched the bridge of her nose as she thought for a moment before speaking. "Okay, what's up. And none of your usual vague hints and 'mysterious shit' you like to do. Give us the straight dope or I'm out of here."

The girls in the room were slightly taken aback by Ranma's attitude, but then again, they often felt like saying that to Pluto in their past dealings. No one said a thing as they watched the interaction between the two scouts.

Pluto regarded Ranma. "You don't think -"

"I know," Ranma said coldly as anger slowly built up within her again. "I know what you did to me in this life and what you did to me in my past one."

Pluto stared at Ranma, unmoving. Though it looked as if she did pale a little.

"The only reason I not tearing your head off is that I just gave a bunch of a**holes a second chance and I made a promise to extend the same courtesy to others," Ranma said.

Pluto exhaled explosively. Then she spoke just as cooly and with as much anger as Ranma did, "Listen, what I di -"

Only to be cut off again by Ranma's hand around her throat. No one even seen her move, she was just suddenly there. The shock of Ranma's sudden attack made Pluto drop her staff. "No! You listen," Ranma said through clenched teeth. "I've had it with you screwing with my life. Don't. Screw. With. Me. Again. Understand?" As Ranma said this, power leaked into her eyes turning them into twin blue suns.

The rest of the scouts backed away from the obviously annoyed and very powerful girl. Even thought she was much taller than Ranma, Pluto was hanging there from Ranma's outstretched arm. Pluto was starting to turn a little blue from the lack of air.

[It would be so easy to kill her,] Ranma thought. [Just close my hand and pay her back for all she did to me - in both my lives.]

Ranma's hand tighten slightly, Pluto gasped and grappled at the hand that was menacing her. While Ranma was busy, Ami thought about reaching for her transformation pen, but put that thought aside. If Sun was as powerful as all the evidence she had seen suggested, it wouldn't do any good to antagonize her any further.

Ranma looked at Pluto's bluing face and loosen her grip. [No! I can't do that. I have to keep my promises and I promised Akiko I would give everyone another chance. That goes for this bitch.]

Ranma released her grip. Pluto fell to her knees and began gulping air into her lungs. Ranma stood over her, thinking about how close she came to breaking her promise. It was a near thing too. The close call bothered her.

Ami who, along with everyone else in the room was watching from the side, breathed a sigh of relief. She more than a little frightened by what she had seen, and felt that trying to confront Sailor Sun wouldn't be a good ideal. She decided a distraction would work the best to try and calm Ranma down.

"So, what what are we up against?"

Pluto, whose face finally returned to it's normal color, looked up at Ranma before regaining her feet and addressing Ami and the rest of the girls in the room. "The First Enemy is coming," she stated rather horsily.

"The First... you mean the Protectors?" Ami asked.

Pluto hesitated in mild surprise before recovering, "Yes, and they're more cleverer than before."

"It's your job to monitor the time stream for events like this. How come you didn't notice this coming?" Ranma demanded, hands on hips.

Pluto didn't care for Ranma's tone, but was in no position to object so she let it slide. "I'm not sure how they pulled it off, but the First Enemy somehow manage to plant a temporal loop over one of the branches of the time stream thereby hiding their activities."

"Temporal loop?" Ranma asked, then shook her head, "Then how did you discover them?"

"I noticed a wrinkle in time that was stationary relative to the rest of the time stream. On closer examination I discovered that was the point where the temporal loop was inserted over the actual branch of the time stream."

"Hmmm," Ami thought aloud. "The effect would be like what you see in those old spy movies. Where someone takes a picture of a room from the angle of the security camera and then places that picture in front of the camera hiding what's really going on in the room."

"Exactly" Pluto affirmed.

"Great, now who are the First Enemy and why are they so dangerous. Dangerous enough for you to feel the need to ruin my life?" Ranma asked, fighting the urge to dished out some of what she felt was well deserved pay back. The memory of talking with Akiko and the promise she gave stayed her.

"The First Enemy or the Protectors as they were originally called, are bio-weapons developed in the early part of the Moon Kingdoms history..." Pluto went on to tell the tale about how the Protectors where conceived, programed, tested (in a controlled environment) and then commissioned with near disastrous results. ... from what I figure the Protectors will most likely consider most of the human race a threat to the preprogramed perimeters of the Moon Kingdom and will set out to eliminate any deviators."

"How much of the human race?" Minako asked.

Pluto sighed, "About ninety-seven percent."

"Ninety ..." Minako started.

"... Seven ..." Harua continued.

"... Percent?" Ami finished.

"Just lovely," Ranma said. "So just how strong are these guys?"

Pluto was disturbed by Ranma's behavior and kept eyeing her. Ranma was not acting as Pluto expected her to. After coming into her powers, Pluto thought that Ranma would be more... docile and eager to please like she was before, so long ago. Ranma was clearly not insane, but maybe just as dangerous. At least to Pluto.

"Pretty strong," Pluto answered. "The scouts have been tangling with them for the past few weeks now. You even took one out at the park where we first met."

"Those guys were the enemy you were so worried about? We could handle them with no problem. Heck, even Usagi could probably handle one by herself," Rei shot off.

"Hey, What's that suppos -" Uasgi began before being cut off by Pluto retort.

"One yes, but how about hundreds - maybe thousands? The Protectors had centuries to plan this. What you have been fighting were obviously probes, designed to feel you out. Nothing more."

"How many are we dealing with?" Ami asked.

"Unknown."

The room went silent.

"How did they know about you monitoring the time streams? They were banished long before you were... created?" Ami inquired of Pluto.

"I... am not sure," Pluto answered quietly. "There are so many unknown factors to account for that I don't think I'll ever know for sure."

"Great," Ranma snorted. "Well if that's it, I'll be seeing you guys later."

"Wait! Where are you going?" Michiru asked.

Ranma looked at the turquoise haired scout and locked eyes with her. Ranma hesitated before answering. "I gotta get home, granny will be worrying about me. Maybe we can get together sometime with Uranus and... talk about old times."

For some reason this simple statement made both Harua and Michiru's cheeks flush while little Hotaru looked between the three girls with confusion. Before anyone can ask anything more of her, Ranma was gone.

"What do we do now?" Minako asked.

"We wait," Pluto answered, before she too disappeared.

*************

It was Friday, near the end of the shift when a young woman in her early twenties came into the almost deserted dinning room. Ranma recognized her by sight, but not by name as one of the girls who worked waitressing during lunch hour. She looked around for moment before zeroing in on Akiko who was just coming out from the kitchen after checking on Yoshi and Michiko. The young women began talking to Akiko with pleading eyes, Akiko appeared to be listening deeply.

Curious as to what what could be the matter, Ranma approached the pair to see if she could be of any help.

"... you know I hate to ask this Mrs. Yonai, but I'm sure he is going to pop the question." Ranma overheard the now excited girl say.

"Well, then of course you can have tomorrow off, Fumiki. I'm sure Hitomi, my son and I can get by one day without you. It's about time your boyfriend did something, you two have been going together for over two years now."

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I won't forget this," the girl left. Practically dancing out the door.

"Granny?" Ranma ventured. "If you need help this Saturday, I would be more than happy to do it."

"Are you sure?" Akiko asked. "Don't you and Michiko have the art show going at the school this weekend?"

"That's okay," came Ranma's reply. "I don't have to be there till late in the afternoon around 5 o'clock to help clean up," Ranma said, having earlier gotten suckered into helping out with the Art show. Darn those puppy dog eyes of persuasion!

"Then that would be fine," Akiko smiled.

As Ranma walked away, a couple seated in her section signaled for more tea. As Ranma retrieved the hot tea kettle from the waitress station to refill their cups, a stray thought struck her. Would she find someone for herself? And would that someone be a man or a woman? Too bad she couldn't have both. Back in Nerima she thought she knew what love was, but had to admit to herself she really didn't have a clue. Since coming here, Ranma knew that love was something that should make you feel wonderful and not be expressed by giving and receiving pain. Unless you're a sicko. She then thought of Uranus and Neptune, but that was different, it was - in fun. She also felt that there was more to love than just the physical act, that there had to be something more - and what that was not really clear to Ranma though.

With a mental sigh Ranma carefully poured the hot tea into waiting cups.

*****************

Saturday morning was beautiful. The sun was peeking through between the buildings in the shopping district as a cool fall breeze filtered gently through the streets as it lifted stray leaves and papers and made them dance around the sidewalks. Ranma saw Michiko off, handing her lunch box to her and giving a gentle push in the right direction of the school. Michiko was never a morning person and it became obvious as she staggered and slept walked down the sidewalk. As she disappeared in the right direction, Ranma turned and reentered the dining room and prepared her morning workout. Ranma didn't have the dislike for school she once had and found it could be fun, but she couldn't understand volunteering to go to school some more - and on an off Saturday to boot.

Ranma was working up a sweat and thinking about last Wednesday night. She had no ill feelings toward any of the scouts with the exception of Pluto. She was sorta disappointed that she couldn't get a line on Uranus and Neptune, but school and work kept her too occupied to pursue that. Can't have everything. Ranma had no doubts if things got nasty as Pluto feared, she would be there to help in anyway she could. It seemed to be just part of her nature.

Pluto. Just thinking of her name made Ranma angry. Ranma also thought about how close she came to breaking her promise Wednesday night. That bothered her. Ranma felt it was important to keep the promises you make and she would go to great lengths and try to do so. She even kept Ryoga's secret after he started using that promise against her. No one else would've. Ranma figure that either made her better or stupider than most everyone else from her past. She hope it was better.

Ranma thought to herself she should try to show more restraint in the future when dealing with people from her past. No matter how badly someone needed their ass kicked.

**************

Ranma unlocked the front door and went to the waitress station in the rear of the dining room. She was making small talk with the other waitress Hitomi, mostly about school. Hitomi was a friendly and soft spoken woman in her early twenties. Her soft spokenness, however hid a will of iron. She was just slightly taller than Ranma, had amber eyes and wore her jet black hair in a pageboy haircut that made her look younger than she really was. Unlike Ranma, she wore the blouse of her waitress uniform to show more cleavage than Ranma would feel comfortable wearing. Hitomi was in her second year in University taking mostly afternoon and evening courses, majoring in business. Ranma also discovered that she was putting herself through school and between grants, loans, scholarships and working two jobs she had somehow managed to make ends meet.

"Your parents must be proud of you," Ranma said.

Hitomi answered carefully, "Don't know. I haven't really talked to them much in about two years."

Ranma looked at her, but didn't ask.

Hitomi knew Ranma was probably dying of curiosity and answered the often unasked question. "My father felt that a higher education would be wasted on a girl. After all "women don't do anything with it once they get married," the last said in an obvious imitation of a nasally speech that Hitomi had heard many times before.

"Forgive me for saying so, but your father sounds almost as much of a jerk than my ex-father."

"Ex-father?"

"Ahh... yeah. To make a long story short, he wanted me to marry his old training partner. The man was old enough to literally be my father. I said no, so he disowned me."

"How old are you?"

"Sixteen."

"He wanted you to marry someone who was that old? What did your mother think?"

"Don't know. I really never knew my mother. All I do know is she let my ex-father, take me away from her and home to train in martial arts when I was about five. I haven't really seen her since. Nor do I care to."

An awkward silence fell over the pair.

"Well, what about now?" Hitomi asked.

"Now..." Ranma paused in thought, "now I have a family who really cares for me and a life I can call my own. It's way better than my old one could ever hoped to have been. I have no regrets."

"Sometimes I wonder how my life would have been like if I had gotten a little more support from my parents."

"It would have probably made life easier, but in the end you wouldn't be near as strong as you are now."

"Strong?"

"Yes. You are defined by what you have done. You're doing what it takes to reach your goal without compromising yourself or your personal honor." Ranma's voice then trailed off, "Not many people I knew from my past can say the same thing."

"Oh," Hitomi replied as she thought about what Ranma had said.

Anymore of the conversation was put aside as the first customers started to dribble in.

*******************

Most of the trees in the park were just starting to change colors, a few were already well on their way in exchanging their green leaves for the bright reds and golden yellows of fall. It was mid day and the air had only warmed up slightly from the morning. The breeze gently ruffled the limbs of the trees as they reached skyward. The same breeze also created the small ripples that traveled the lake as couples walked the path around its parameter as children darted here and there.

Up in one of the brightly colored trees was a gray cat.

The pseudo-cat sat on its perch where it had a commanding view of the park. It had its hyper-space unlink activated and was monitoring the number of people in the vicinity of where wormhole was projected to appear. Soon, very soon it would pass the word to the council and the battle to resurrect the Moon Kingdom would begin.

Just a few more people was all it was waiting for.

***************

Fumiki, and her boyfriend Aki, were meandering through the park. She was walking with her right arm entwined with the left arm of the much taller Aki, who looked nervous. He kept fumbling with something buried in his pocket with his free hand. Fumiki was waiting with anticipation and hope on the inside, but was trying to stay calm and collected on the outside. She kept looking at Aki from the corner of her eye, wondering if and when he'll make his move.

The couple walked together looking and commenting on the few trees that had changed so far in the park. The air was still cool and Fumiki felt Aki shiver and was sure it wasn't from the cold. He must be as nervous as me, she thought and continued to walk beside him with arms locked. Dodging children that were playing a game of tag and were darting into and out of their path, Aki was leading Fumiki into a more secluded part of the park, but not far from the crowded path that looped the lake.

"Fumiki?" Aki asked suddenly.

"Yes?" Fumiki answered, heart beating faster.

"We've known each other a long time, haven't we?" he said while taking Fumiki's hands in his own sweating ones.

"Yes," she replied as her heart raced some more.

"Well... would you... er, will you marry me?" he at last worked out as he freed one hand and withdrew a small ring box from his pocket.

"Yes!" was her loud reply as she threw her arms around him and hugged him for all it's worth. Even though they were in a relatively secluded part of the park, they knew better and kept displays of affections to a minimum.

***************

It was time. The pseudo-cat signed the council.

**************

Breaking from their hug, Fumiki backed away a bit as Aki removed the ring from its box and placed it on her finger. She looked at it and back at Aki, "It's beautiful," she said.

"Not as beautiful as you," he answered with a smile.

Their eyes meet and...

Before anything more could happen between them, both were startled by a bright flash and a loud sound as if cloth were being torn. They looked over in the direction of the sound and spotted hanging in mid air a vortex of some sort that wobbled in and out of existence before stabilizing. Hanging there slightly spinning with an atmosphere of power emitting from it. The vortex then settled closer to the ground.

"What is it?" Fumiki asked, slightly frightened.

"I haven't the faintest ideal," Aki answered nervously. He backed away from the disturbance, taking Fumiki with him.

"You think it might be dangerous?" She worriedly asked.

"Let's not take any chances. We'll report this first and then..." Whatever else he was going to say was lost in a loud shrieking sound exploded from the vortex. The sound had the desired effect of stunning everyone nearby, making them freeze in the shock of having their ears assaulted.

Then fleshy things started pouring out of the vortex.

_______________________