I would like to thank Ghost in the Machine pre-reading this chapter with his trusty baseball bat and microscope.
Constructive criticism is always welcome.
I don't own any of these characters or situations. They belong to someone else. Also this is done purely for fun, not profit. Any resemblance to persons living, dead, yet to be born, or visiting from other dimensions is purely coincidental. I'm doing this for fun.
Boldly going where others had gone before and meekly going where few have been.
-o-o-o-o-o-o-
-o-o-o-o-o-o-
University Part 10
-o-o-o-o-o-o-
In the dimly lit and deserted walkway, Ranma and Tenchi embraced each other. Ranma was lost in the moment, a moment that was all too brief.
- Buzzzzzzz -
The annoying buzzing sound couldn't have come at a worse time. Ranma and Tenchi broke their kiss with a light 'smacking' sound as their lips parted. Ranma opened her eyes and looked into the eyes of the man she'd grown to love.
"Tenchi..," Ranma started to say before being interrupted again by the demanding buzzing from her purse.
- Buzzzzzzz -
Ranma sighed. She untangled one arm from Tenchi and opened their embrace slightly. They kept one arm around each other as Ranma fumbled in her purse with the other. Pulling the cell phone that Akiko gave her last summer from the depths of her purse, she hit the call button and held it up to her ear.
"Hello?" she asked into the phone.
- Buzzzzzzz -
Ranma pulled her face away from her cell phone and looked dumbly at it. Blink-blinking, she turned off the phone in her hand and once again dug into her purse. Reaching to the bottom, she pulled out a round, flat object - like a woman's compact - and opened it. Ranma - mindful of Tenchi's presence - pressed two buttons, one to kill the video, the other to turn off the speakerphone, and then held it up to her face like a cell phone and spoke into it.
"Hello?"
"Ranma?" The voice asked then continued on. "Thank god. It's Rei, listen: Something's just came up. Something big. Setsuna has called an emergency meeting. We need you and Ami to get here as soon as possible. Oh, we're not meeting at the shrine, get Ami and met us at the park where we fought the Protectors."
Ranma stared at Tenchi, whom she still had an arm around and did not want to let go.
"Now?" Ranma asked exasperatedly into the device as she glanced again at Tenchi before refocusing on the conversation.
"YES NOW!" an irate voice said loudly over the tiny speaker, nearly making Ranma drop her communicator.
"Okay. Okay. Jezz," Ranma said. "Be there as soon as I can." Ranma then groused to herself. "What in the hell can be so important after nothing for so long?"
Ranma closed the round communicator and turned her attention to the matter at hand.
"Um... Hi," she said shyly.
Tenchi raised an eyebrow. He didn't ask about Ranma having two cell phones. In Japan it was common for people to have more than one. "Is there anything wrong?"
"I really don't know," Ranma admitted. "Somethings happened to... one of my friends back home."
The stared at one another slowly drifting into a closer embrace.
"I'm sorry. I have to go," Ranma said quietly. "I promised I'd help out."
"Anything I can do?' Tenchi asked while hugging Ranma close, genuinely wanting to help.
Nose to nose, Ranma moved up closer to Tenchi's face and answered with a kiss.
-o-o-o-o-o-o-
Sailors Sun and Mercury stepped through the rent in space and into a dimly lit open area of Juuban Park where the rest of the Senshi rest were waiting.
"Hi guys," Sun said cheerfully. She was happy with the way things were turning out with Tenchi. Then she noticed the serious expression on Pluto's face. Then she noticed that all of the Senshi were present. "What's... up... ?"
"I have bad news," Pluto said gravely.
"What?" Mercury and Sun asked at the same time.
"The Gates of Time have been sabotaged. Deliberately," Pluto said.
"How?" Moon asked as the remaining girls focused on what had happened.
"Someone or something removed the Gates' reference points along the timelines," Pluto explained. "I was lost, until I was able to lock onto Ranma's tracker. That is how I was able to get back."
"I don't understand," Moon said. "What do you mean?"
"In a nutshell, I can see all the timelines from the big bang to the collapse of the universe," Pluto explained. "But without the reference marks that the Gates of Time use to lock onto individual lines, I can't find which one is our timeline or where it's going."
"How could this have happened?" Mercury asked, truly concerned at this change of events.
"I'm not sure," Pluto said. "It happened so suddenly that I really cannot say. I can say however, that it had to be a deliberate act."
Silence fell among the circle of girls in the park.
"Why?" Mercury questioned. "Could there have been some natural event that could have done this?"
Pluto shook her head. "No. The reference points that the Gates of Time lock onto were specifically targeted." Pluto looked at the others in the group with a stern look to get her point across. "There have been some natural events that have disabled or even destroyed some of the points in the past," she continued. "However, to have all of them wiped out, suggests a deliberate act."
Before that fact could fully sink in, Pluto pressed on.
"There's more," Pluto said, "Someone else is tracking Ra- Sailor Sun using the space/time tracker."
"Are they listening in?" Mercury asked, alarmed.
"No," Pluto answered assuredly. "It is a very low level tap, enough for tracking proposes, but nothing else. My guess is that they were afraid if they went any further it would have been detected instantly."
"Why didn't you say something before," Sun asked incredulously then with realization. "That's why you had us meet here at the park, isn't it?"
"Yes," Pluto confirmed. "This was the safest place away from where any of us live."
Sun looked at Pluto and then at the bracelet on her arm. "Well," Sun said and she made a motion with her free hand, "I'll just take this off and-"
"No," Pluto said suddenly. "You can't. Not yet."
Sun blink-blinked at Pluto along with the other Senshi.
"Why not?" Sun asked sharply.
"Your tracker is the only functioning reference point outside the Gates," Pluto continued. "The Gates of Time is using your signal to speed the replacing of the destroyed reference points."
"How does that work?" Mercury asked curious as to the workings of the Gates of Time.
"Ranma's tracker is keyed to her," Pluto explained. "If she removes the tracker, it would break the connection between her and the Gates. This would slow the process of replacing the reference point considerably."
Mercury nodded for Pluto to continue as the rest of the Scouts listened intently.
"As time passes from present to past, so does the tracker," Pluto said. "By using the tracker, which is locked onto the present timeline on one end, and to the Gates on the other, the reference points can be replaced by triangulation faster. Actually, more than simple triangulation is involved since what happens is carried out to a higher degree because of the various timelines, dimensions and spaces involved. So having a 'fixed' point in the present is important as well as helpful."
"So if Ranma removed her tracker..." Jupiter mused aloud.
"Ranma's space/time tracker is the only 'real' point in the present," Pluto answered the unasked question. "Removing the tracker would greatly complicate the repairs."
"I don't wanna be tracked!" Sun complained. "Is there another way?"
Pluto nodded. "Of course," she said while holding her Garnet staff up. "All we need to do is change the frequency that you're being tracked at. We'll encode it to a variable one keyed to the Gates to make it more difficult for our - opponents to crack. We'll tend to that after we discuss other matters."
Silence fell among the girls as they contemplated what was said.
"I have news myself," Mercury announced, nervous at the revelations. "I don't know if it is related, but I discovered that the Central Moon computer has been accessed - by someone other than me."
"What?" Pluto, Neptune, Mars, Jupiter and Moon said at the same time.
Mercury nodded. "Sometime during the summer an unknown person accessed the databases of the Moon Computer, specifically on us. Not only that, they managed to access the restricted files also."
"What!" Mars asked. "Why would someone want to do that?"
"With the Gates of Time disabled, we can't monitor what will happen," Pluto said. "And now someone is digging around for information on us on our own computers and tracking one of us using our own technology."
"My guess that something is going to happen that someone doesn't want us to know about," Mercury concluded. "And wants to make sure that we stay out of the way."
"Is there anyway to repair or undo what's been done to the Gates?" Jupiter asked.
Pluto nodded. "As I said, it was very fortunately that Sun was wearing a space/time tracking bracelet. Using that I was able to locate the 'here and now', but it will take the Gates time to replace enough reference points to get any readings for even the near future."
"How are you going to prevent them from getting wiped out again?" Mercury asked.
"I'm changing the 'phase' of the reference points so that they will be connected to, but slightly outside the space/time curvature that they're placed in. This means altering the Gates so it can read the new points correctly."
"Trying to hide them as you replace them...," Mercury mused aloud.
Pluto nodded. "A simplified way of putting it. But yes, I'm trying to hide them or at least make them harder to find. I hope hiding the new points is enough. I really don't understand how the olds ones could've been wiped out to begin with."
"How long will this take?" Venus asked.
Pluto held up her staff and gazed into the orb that capped the top of it.
"It will take at least three weeks for enough reference points to be created to get a good reading on what's going on... say about two months in the future."
"A lot can happen in that time..." Moon whispered. Moon paced back and forth, lost in thought. After a few moments she looked at the others.
"If this was a deliberate act," Moon began.
"It was, I assure you," Pluto interrupted.
"And the tracking of Sun and the access to the Moon Computer?" Moon asked.
"Deliberate as well," Pluto answered as Mercury nodded in agreement.
A heavy silence fell.
"Okay," Moon said, slightly irritated at this turn of events. "Since these were deliberate acts, we have to assume that this might be a precursor to an invasion."
The weight of the silence increased.
"Invasion?" Jupiter questioned. "That's quiet a leap. How do you figure that?"
"Well, in most cases an invader will either disable, mislead or misdirect the intelligence of the country they want to invade, " Moon explained. "The Gates of Time is the greatest intelligence gathering device we have. Without it, we can't tell what the possibilities are of what's going to happen. Essentially, we've been blinded."
The other girls looked at Usagi with bugged eyes.
"Then there's the fact that Sun is being tracked," Moon continued, unaware of the looks she was drawing. "This means that whoever tracked her also knows she is a Senshi... which most likely means that they know who we are. We need to be on guard people. If this is serious, they will most likely strike when we are in our non-Senshi forms."
The group continued to stare at Sailor Moon.
"Tapping into the Moon Computer...," Moon mused, still unaware of the looks directed her way. "Files that pertained to the Senshi. This means that this unknown party knows all about us and our powers, our limits and probably our weaknesses."
Moon stopped her pacing and pondered in silence before blinking and looking up ant the shocked looks around her. Silence continued to permeate the area as Moon became aware of the looks she was drawing.
"What?" she asked.
"It's just...," Venus said before faltering.
"You said something that made sense," Mars put in. "It just surprised us."
Sailor Moon huffed. "Well I have been paying attention in class, you know," she said indigently.
"I... mean, I...," Jupiter faltered.
Moon pouted more - looking rather cute while doing so.
"There's one thing that bothers me," Mercury piped in bring the conversation back on track. "Shouldn't you have seen this coming? I mean, it doesn't make sense that something this big could've been overlooked."
Pluto conceded the point. "You're right. The fact that I didn't see it concerns me as well."
Pluto had everyone's attention.
"You see the Gates of Time are not foolproof," she continued. "There are ways of escaping detection. Sailor Sun is a good example. She doesn't register to the Gates of Time. Without the bracelet she would be completely invisible."
"So whoever did this has the knowledge on how the Gates work and knew how to get around it..." Uranus said.
"I want everyone to be on guard," Moon reaffirmed. "We don't know what we're dealing with and I don't want anyone caught unawares."
The Senshi nodded in agreement.
-o-o-o-o-o-o-
Ranma and Tenchi crossed the campus together, walking side by side as they neared the Library. It was between classes and they used the free time to catch up on studies or just hang out and be near one another. Ever since she returned from helping her friend out a few weeks ago, Tenchi had picked up on a slight change in his redheaded love interest. It was like Ranma was worried or preoccupied about something.
"Ranma?" he asked. "Is everything alright?"
Ranma turned her head and looked at Tenchi's face as they continued to walk.
"Ah.. yeah. Why?"
"Well you seemed a little worried about something. Is there anything wrong?"
Ranma pondered a few moments. "No. Not really," she lied. "I'm just a little strung out by classes and... some personal problems."
Tenchi walked in silence for a few seconds. "I hope I'm not one of your problems."
Ranma smiled as Tenchi opened the door for her. "Not anymore," she said slyly as she ran the tips of her fingers under his jaw-line as she passed. Tenchi's face flushed a bit as he followed Ranma inside.
-o-o-o-o-o-o-
The Mistress had followed the tendril of energy here, to the Yoshi Cafe American. Not wanting to hurry, for she felt no real need too, she strung the simple task out so as to enjoy her surroundings more. Still disguised as a man, she stood outside and examined the invisible lines that flowed from the building. The Mistress studied the each and every one of the lines and was identifying them.
"Sun," she thought as she looked at the connection that she had followed.
"This one is Mercury, this one... Mars," she thought as she continued to mentally catalogue the lines. "Here's Moon," she smirked openly at that one. "Maybe I should... no - I'll have Sun do that once she's free. It'll be a little present from me to her."
Imagining Ranma, as Sailor Sun, crushing Sailor Moon's head between her hands slowly and painfully into a bloody pulp sent shivers of joy down the Mistress' spine. Shaking off the bloody image that warmed her heart, she entered the establishment and studied the faces in the crowd. It was lunch and every table was filled with people eating, talking or doing scraps of paperwork before returning to their jobs. Her eyes swept the room, looking for her prey.
A perky college age girl came up to him and bowed.
"Welcome to Yoshi Cafe American," she said with a smile. "I'm very sorry sir, but all our seating is full. Would you like to wait for table?"
The disguised Mistress looked at the youth and smiled a genuine smile. "No thank you," she answered. "I'll come back when you are not so busy."
The waitress bowed politely to the fake man and returned to waiting on her customers. The Mistress took one last look around, turned on his heel and departed.
"Yes," she thought. "The Queen is here. I'll return when there is no one around to have a little talk with her."
The Mistress started to whistle a lively tune as she made her way down the street.
-o-o-o-o-o-o-
Sparring turned from a serious endeavor of the art to more of a playtime.
Ranma and Tenchi were engaged in one of there regular sparring sessions and Ranma had tagged Tenchi for the second time in a row. In the middle of a parry, Ranma raised a hand, halting the fight.
"Tenchi," Ranma asked in a slightly irate tone. "What's wrong? For the last few times you've been... going easy on me."
Tenchi froze with his bokken held high and looked at Ranma with guilty eyes.
"Ten-chi!" Ranma pouted. "You have been holding back on me."
Tenchi scratched the back of his head and laughed nervously. Ranma cocked her head to one side.
"Yes?" She asked.
"Well...," Tenchi said slightly more nervous. "I was just thinking..."
Silence fell between the two for a brief moment.
"I've been thinking of taking a break from... sparring."
Ranma smiled.
"Oh?" Ranma questioned knowingly as she slinked toward the pigtailed man. "Do you have something else in mind?"
"Yeah," he breathed out, locking his eyes onto Ranma's.
"Well this park is pretty quiet," Ranma pointed out while batting her eyes. "Hardly anyone comes here at this time of day."
Tenchi smiled. "We should," he said rather seriously, "be mindful of public displays of affection."
Ranma smile broadened and said as she wagged her eyebrows, "Then let's find somewhere not so public."
And they did.
-o-o-o-o-o-o-
She had been planning for weeks. She didn't want to rush things, living long had taught her patience. Patience was going to be important since she was dealing with a new factor.
"I have identified all the Senshi," she thought, somewhat disappointed. "They're always so easy to find - no challenge at all."
She leaned heavily on her staff and smiled. "The real fun is going to be Sailor Sun." she cackled. "There's nothing like helping the birth of a goddess along. With her here, this is going to be more fun than the last time."
She twirled her staff around playfully.
"Once she achieves godhood, she'll see the truth of everything like I did."
Slicing the air with her staff, a glowing rent appeared floating in mid air.
"Now," she thought maliciously. "Time for the first moves."
-o-o-o-o-o-o-
Twenty ships from the Forty Ninth Juraian Space Forces were patrolling between the Oort cloud and the Solar System proper monitoring for the evacuation order to pull the royal family off the third planet if need be. As far out as the ships were from Sol, it would only take a small jump for the strike team to actually be over the royal family's airspace. The whole strike team would be in and out before anyone knew they were there.
It was an by all definitions, an ordinary and uncomplicated assignment. A baby-sitting chore. Ordinarily a quiet and unexciting duty. Just the way Commodore V'Scyoc, the person in charge of the fleet, liked it.
"Commodore?" a uniformed officer asked.
"Yes, Lieutenant?" the Commodore answered while signing some paperwork from his command chair.
"I'm getting... an anomaly," the officer nervously said. "Bearing three hundred twelve degrees, mark 6. Distance twenty four thousand miles and closing rapidly. "
"On screen," Commodore V'Scyoc said.
A semitransparent screen popped out in front of the Commodore and the bridge crew. In the center of the screen, a glowing dot was all that was visible.
"What is it?" Commodore V'Scyoc asked. "How did it get so close to the fleet without detection?"
"Unknown on both, sir," the science officer said. "The energy it is generating is enormous."
"Go to yellow alert," the Commodore said. "Shields up."
"Shields up, sir," a bridge crew echoed.
"Send the Spindrift and Marintha to investigate," the fleet commander ordered.
"Aye, sir," the communications officer said as she passed on the orders.
Two ships broke from the group and proceeded to the anomaly. The Commodore watched on the veiwscreen as the pair of Anne class ships approached the glowing dot in space.
"Sir," the science officer reported, voice filled with concern. "I'm measuring a huge energy spike."
"What kind of energy?"
The willowy man responded with panic lacing his voice. "I don't know," he said, panic growing in his voice. "It's too powerful to get an accurate reading on."
"Too powerful?" V'Scyoc questioned as he turned to his science officer. "Cross reference with the other shi-"
"Sir! The Marintha!"
The Commodore turned back to the screen in time to see a growing cloud of gas that was a starship a few moments before.
"What the hell happened?" V'Scyoc barked.
He was answered by a ball of light that exploded from the glowing dot that was the anomaly. From their viewpoint, the ball of streaking light looked tiny, insignificant - like a pinprick against the enormity of the Juraian ship. The small ball of light kissed the skin of the giant ship.
The ship glowed briefly and softly as if it was generating an aura, then became a cloud of expanding gas.
"Red alert!" the Commodore screamed. "All ships raise shields to full! All weapons systems on line and fire at will."
A chorus of 'yes sir's' resounded in the bridge.
"Sir, the target is closing on our position!"
"Record and transmit this to Juraian Space Command," V'Scyoc commanded. "I want a record of this sent back."
"Yes sir," the communications officer responded.
"Target acquired, sir! Firing port guns!"
Narrow beams of light lashed out across the void from several ships, the glowing object didn't even try to evade and was struck by several hundred powerful energy beams. The glowing object released more balls of light that disintegrated four more of the Juraian ships in quick succession.
"What the hell is that thing?" V'Scyoc yelled over the warning klaxons.
"Still unknown-," the science officer began before getting cut off.
"Incoming!" a panicked voice cried out.
There was an explosion, a large one, that made the whole ship shudder.
"The hull is breached!" one of the bridge officers reported. "Shields are firm and holding environmental integrity."
"Where is the enemy?" the Commodore demanded.
"Right here," a very feminine voice said while giggling, drawing the attention of everyone on the bridge.
The Commodore spun on the voice. The last thing he saw before he died with his ship and crew was a girl whose face was obscured by a rainbow effect and wearing a short skirt.
-o-o-o-o-o-o-
"What was that?" Ranma asked herself as she was torn from her deep sleep by a feeling of... something she was not sure of. She shook her head and looked over at her roommate, who was lightly snoring in her bed. Ranma sat up slightly, sorting out what she was feeling. Nothing surfaced immediately.
"It felt familiar somehow," Ranma's mind insisted. "It felt like... a nightmare."
Ranma turned the feelings over in her mind some more and still nothing surfaced. Troubled, she even waited for her 'senshi' self to produce something. After waiting what she felt was a long enough time without an answer popping out of nowhere, she mentally turned the feeling over in her mind some more.
"It did feel like a nightmare... that nightmare, but I don't remember having one."
Unable to grasp anything further from the feeling, Ranma laid back down and protectively covered herself with her blanket. She looked into the darkness of the room, seeking anything hiding there.
"Now I'm getting paranoid," she scolded herself. "Probably was just a stupid dream."
In spite of her self reassurance, it was quite some time before she drifted back to sleep.
-o-o-o-o-o-o-
"How are you and Tenchi getting along?" Megumi asked her redheaded roommate.
Ranma looked up from her studies and turned to Megumi.
"We're fine," she answered with a smile. "Things seem to be working out."
"Still sparring?"
Ranma nodded.
"... and other things?" Megumi added coyly.
Ranma gave her roommate a half lidded look before breaking into a wide smile. "I don't kiss and tell."
Megumi's eyes widened. "You didn't. Did you?" she asked incredulously.
Ranma blink-blinked.
"Did wha-," Ranma began before realization hit her like an anvil to the head. "No! We haven't. I mean, we've kissed and... stuff." Ranma blushed slightly before a goofy grin crept across her lips. She then readdressed her roommate. "But we haven't... you know."
Megumi looked slightly disappointed for a brief instant before blooming into a smile. "So... what are your plans?"
Ranma furrowed her brow as she seriously thought over the question. "Plans?"
"Yes, plans," Megumi said in a slightly exasperated tone. "Is he 'Mister Right'?"
Ranma considered that question, before answering. "Like you said about Tetsuyuki, he is probably as close to 'Mister Right' that I have met. But..."
"But what?"
"I don't know," Ranma confessed. "I sense that there's... it's like there is a part of him I haven't seen yet."
"Is it bad?" Megumi asked in a concerned voice.
Ranma shook her head. "I don't think so. Maybe it's something that he is embarrassed about and doesn't want to talk about."
"He should tell you," Megumi pointed out. "If he loves you, there should be no secrets."
Ranma blink-blinked at her roommate.
"No secrets?" Ranma whispered.
Megumi nodded. "There is nothing that ruins a relationship faster than not being open or honest with each other."
Ranma stared at her roommate. "Since when did you become the relationship expert?" She asked as she crossed her arms.
"I'm no expert," Megumi answered with a smile. "It's just sound advice that an old friend gave me."
Ranma pondered. Could she trust Tenchi enough to tell him her secrets? To tell him everything? There were the other Scouts to consider, but if he was truly the one, she should be able to trust him with anything. And if she felt that she couldn't, did that mean she couldn't really trust him and wasn't really in love?
"What are you going to do?" Megumi asked, breaking into Ranma's thoughts.
Silence descended between the two as Ranma lowered her head in contemplation.
"I guess I'll do what you are doing," Ranma finally answered while raising her head and looking at Megumi. "Go with it and see where it leads."
She had much to think about.
-o-o-o-o-o-o-
Ranma finished her homework and closed the text book with a sigh. It had been several weeks since the Senshi meeting and all was still quiet. Ranma felt she was on her guard, however with nothing tangible to watch for, she started to fall into a careless casualness.
She raised her arms and stretched her back out. Ranma held the full stretch for a less than a minute before coming down from it. She let the warmth flow through her body as it relaxed. Reaching up to a low shelf nabbed a few sticks of "Men's Pocky" and munched away.
"Jeez, that was easy," she thought on her studies. "I can't wait for Saturday though, I got the day off and Megumi wants us and our boyfriends to hit that bath house she's been talking about."
Ranma reached up and snagged two more Pocky sticks.
"I wonder what bath house? Megumi said it was close by."
Three more sticks of Pocky met their fate.
"She's trying to keep it a surprise - knowing her it's probably a communal bath."
Another two sticks of Pocky.
"Oh well, that doesn't bother me, it's not like Tenchi hasn't seen me naked before," Ranma mind drifted back to the unexpected peek at Tenchi's assets and blushed. "Maybe I should drop a hint to Megumi that a communal bath wouldn't be a good idea."
More Pocky disappeared.
"Man, these things are addictive," she finally thought as she munched on the last of her treat.
-o-o-o-o-o-o-
A glowing line that represented a rip in space/time appeared about two feet off the ground. It widened suddenly into a circular orifice that permitted passage of an elderly cloaked woman. She looked around the vast open room.
The room was huge, at least six hundred feet square with a two hundred foot ceiling. The interior walls were lined with heavy racks that were affixed to the them. On the racks were slightly humanoid shaped machines that were twenty-five feet tall and very nasty looking. Taking up most the space in the center of room were three long and wide bodied cigar shaped objects with blisters dotting their sides.
The room and its contents were covered in a layer of fine dust.
"The Imperial Power Suits and Strike ships are well preserved," the old woman thought. "It shouldn't take any time to get any of them moving," she smiled, "just a little will."
Reaching into the still existing gape in space/time, she pulled out a body of a young man.
"With this 'volunteer'," she thought smugly as she dragged the corpse behind her, "and a little tweaking of the powersuit's artificial intelligence, it will think that its pilot is dead and go into a high offense mode."
She continued to easily drag the body behind her, cackling loudly at what fun it would all be. Soon the cackling gave way to a cheerful tune that she whistled out through aged lips.
"Oh this is going to be so great!" she thought in excitement. She giggled a bit more on that thought before returning to her cheerful tune.
-o-o-o-o-o-o-
Ranma sat cross legged on the floor of her dorm room. It was one of those moments that had been occurring more often since Megumi was out with her boyfriend. Ranma was taking advantage of the time alone by attempting some of the exercises in the scrolls. So far what she had learned had been helpful in containing the massive amount of ki that she generated, but did nothing for her Senshi powers. But today, Ranma was going to that place deep with in her - a place she hadn't visited since she joined and consolidated herself.
It took time, or at least it felt like it took time. Meditating and shifting her mental state to inner awareness, she passed through what seemed like a long, dark and hazy tunnel. There was a bright light at the end of this tunnel and Ranma made her mental way to it. The tunnel opened up into a room without walls, in the center was a glowing crystal with a thin band around it.
A mental representation of her soul and the powers that flow through it.
"Just like I remembered it," Ranma thought as she approached the crystal. "Though it seems... much stronger than recall."
The major difference that Ranma did note was that there were no 'other self's' there. Her mind was no longer fragmented by what she was in the Silver Millennium, and what she was born into in this life. Ranma was one mind, one body and one soul now. She found that rather peaceful.
Ranma studied the crystal closely looking for her answers there. It wasn't like it was one solid structure but a collection of many multi-facetted crystals joined together. Each crystal glowed with its own light, making up the whole. Ranma looked closer at the it. The overall crystal looked remarkably like the crystal that was in her dream when she got her powers. Her eye traced the band that kept, what was to her now, her cursed male body locked away. She smiled at that.
"Amazing what can happen when you remember what you really were or are," she thought. "Being a guy now would be kinda... gross."
Studying the hoop that banded the crystal Ranma started thinking, "Could I make one of these to control my power?"
She studied the band closer, looking for anything helpful. The band appeared to be made up of woven strands of blueish light. She shook her head.
"This is way beyond me," Ranma thought in dismay. "It's way too complex."
She turned her attention back to the crystal. It tickle a memory. "This looks familiar... but where?" She paused in thought for a moment. "My... dream?"
Ranma concentrated on the memory of the dream that she had. She tried to recall important bits and on certain things, hoping to find some answers.
... the focuser?... she recalled from her dream.
"Focuser? What's that?"
... power we're infusing... Another tidbit.
"Infusing power. How?"
... Infusion tubes... Came her answer.
"Infusion tubes. How would they work? How would the power be grafted into the person they were infusing it into?"
... A woman in blue placed a crystal in a three pronged receptacle... another scene from the same dream.
"The crystal." A feeling of disquietness crept into her a slow realization dawned on her. "This is the one from the dream."
Ranma stood back before the representation of her soul and pondered. "What did they do to us?"
-o-o-o-o-o-o-
The Mistress walked among the barren trees in the park. She ignored the crunching of the frozen grass underfoot as she followed the line of energy between the Queen and Ranma. While following it, she also studied it closely, more closely than before. Though she had been around for millennia, she had never attempted to do what she was about to do: Sever the ties gently.
Soon she found herself in a good spot: a secluded part of the empty part.
"Let's see, first I should separate and sort out the in-coming and out-going lines," she thought as she worked on the connection. "They based the connection on a loop - how stupid."
Soon the invisible line of energy bulged and the individual lines became clearer.
"Now let's take the out-going and short it out with the in-coming," she thought as she pinched the out-going and in-going flows together. "But slowly - slowly... I don't want my pet to be feel anything when the ties are severed, or the Queen for that matter."
Carefully and slowly, the Mistress joined each line - reducing the connection reaching Ranma incrementally to nothing, while looping the connection back into itself so that the Queen would never sense the tampering. Both Ranma and the Queen would be completely unaware of the tampering.
"Neither should notice a thing," the women thought as she mentally patted herself on the back for her cleverness. "The other Senshi will just have to suffer though when their ties are severed."
She smiled at that thought.
-o-o-o-o-o-o-
The long, light brown haired women stepped out on the shiny surface of a cabinet door, she straightened the flowing blue robes she wore as she looked about. She found herself in a long corridor lined with tall lockers, each having a number etched onto the smooth reflective surface. Moving toward one marked '1701' in a flowing, floating way, she stopped and reached into her robes and extracted a thermos.
Unscrewing the top, she carefully placed the red thermos on the floor and backed away of it. Within seconds a swirling mass erupted from the glass and refined itself into a young girl, about thirteen with a long handled mallet, like a croquet mallet, slung to her back. She had long flowing hair like the other, but it was black instead light brown. Her robes were similar in appearance to the older one's, but the color was red.
"Are you sure you altered the file correctly," the older one asked as soon as the other girl settled onto the floor.
The young girl nodded. "Yes, added it right into the inventory system. It will look like it has always been there. No one will suspect a thing. Just like father said."
"Good," Belldandy said while carefully opening the locker so nothing would spill out. "Father said this was important and she would be needing this."
"This is like granting a wish before it's... wished for," Skuld said slightly confused by their mission.
"I admit it is unusual, but Father was very specific and said it was very important," Belldandy said as she placed a small box with a number etched on the top of it on a crowded shelf in the locker. "Father said she would want and need these soon - more than anything else."
"Why?" Skuld asked. "Who is this Ranma?"
"I... can't tell you," Belldandy said. "I promised father."
Skuld wasn't satisfied with the answer, but she knew she wasn't going to do any good to ask.
"All I can tell you," Belldandy continued as she sealed the locker, "when she is ready - she won't need these anymore."
-o-o-o-o-o-o-
It was a cool day as Usagi and Makoto made their way down the wide sidewalk lined with the barren trees of late fall. It was the edge of winter as a light coating of snow covered the ground from an early snowfall. The two friends decided to get together to shop for warm clothes. Heading in the direction of the shopping district, they made light banter.
"How are you and Mamoru doing?" Makoto asked, her breath steaming in the air.
"Fine," Usagi beamed. "He's going to be in Tokyo for New Year's."
"I bet you'll be relieved to see him," Makoto said in a slightly suggestive way.
Usagi being sharper than she was two years ago, blushed lightly. "Maybe...," her voice trailed off.
Makoto giggled lightly at her friend's reaction. Usagi was always fun to tease.
Usagi and Makoto continued on their way down a sidewalk, oblivious to the fact that they were being followed. As the two friends entered the shopping district, their shadow trailed back and stopped.
"I wish I could stay around and watch the festivities, but I have a loose end to tie up and this will make a prefect distraction," the being masquerading as a thirteen year old child thought. "Time to have fun with these two."
Reaching into her pocket, the young looking girl pressed a small, mundane button.
The carefree discussion that Usagi and Makoto was ended by an eerie sound that echoed off the surrounding buildings. Many pedestrians stopped what they were doing and looked about, confused. Usagi and Makoto also stopped and looked around, trying to find the source of the annoying noise.
Overhead a dark shape formed, wavering into existence. On the lower flank of the hovering, elongated craft, a blister opened and a heavy dark object plummeted to earth. The object slammed into the concrete road and sidewalk, fracturing its surface and sending shards everywhere. The object in the air wavered out of existence leaving behind the large, humanoid thing.
It stood tall enough that it would have no problems looking into a second story window. It was made of black metal and had a domed head with many lenses dotting the surface. On the chest, over where the heart would be were it human, was an emblem of some sort done up in gold. The arms that hung down at its sides were clawed, each had several tubes or barrels that protruded, ringing the hand. The massive legs were planted firmly into the ground, each of its three toes digging slightly into the concrete rubble underneath, cracking it further.
"What is that?" Makoto asked.
Usagi shook her head as they studied the inanimate robot looking thing that landed about three blocks from them. "I don't know," she said. "But it can't be good. Let's get somewhere and transform just in case."
The two girls ducked into an alley and came back out as Sailors Moon and Jupiter just in time to see the massive, black robot begin to move. Then all hell broke lose.
The metal monster seemed to look about before focusing its attention on a five story department store opposite the narrow road. It was obviously studying the structure, with its wide glass front filled with shoppers looking back at it. After a few seconds something moved on the robot's back, coming over the shoulder. It looked like an oversize two pronged fork. The fork stopped, pointing in the direction of the multistory store. The people inside the building panicked as if they sensed the danger in what was happening.
The prong of the fork glowed, then exploded in a cascade of light as the robot fired a salvo into the heart of the building. The building shook with the impact of the explosions that rocked its innards. The building belched smoke and shuddered as if uncertain what to do. Acting like a living thing that accepted its fate, the building leaned forward and collapsed into the street in a great bellowing cloud of debris.
Sailors Moon would never forget the screams of the people in the building as it went down.
-o-o-o-o-o-o-
Ranma and Tenchi were in Ranma's dorm room working on their respective studies. Tenchi had commandeered Ranma's desk and Ranma was sitting cross legged on her bed with an open book in her lap. One hand was resting on her knee with the corner of a page between her fingers, the other hand held a highlighter. Tenchi was busy scribbling facts down in note-cards to carry around and study in his free moments. They had been doing this in relative silence until Ranma stretched and yawned loudly.
"Need a break?" Tenchi asked looking up from his note cards.
Ranma nodded tiredly, then proceeded to work the soreness out of her neck. "Yeah. This is getting old and I'm getting stiff."
Tenchi pulled back from the desk and stretched. Relaxing with his hands in his lap, he looked and the redhead. "You wanna go spar or go for a walk or something?"
Ranma tilted her head amid another stretch and returned Tenchi's look with one of her own. "I choose... 'or something'."
Tenchi raised an eyebrow as he watched Ranma place her book on the bed and glided over to him. Glide wasn't the right way to describe the graceful movements that Ranma used, nor the slight but noticeable sway in her hips. She brushed Tenchi's hands from his lap and replaced them with her bottom. Once seated, she put her arms around his neck and looked at him in the eye.
"How's this for something?" she asked coyly.
Tenchi smiled and leaned forward. "Just fine."
-o-o-o-o-o-o-
Akiko was busy counting the till from the rush. The waitresses she'd hired had made quick work of cleaning the dining area and had left for their respective afternoon classes. The evening waitresses were hours away from showing up and Akiko's son had finished cleaning and prepping for the dinner rush.
"See you in a few hours," Yoshi said merrily as he headed out the front door.
Akiko sent him off with a nod and smile as she continued to count out the take from lunch.
She was sorting through the last of the bills when a strange feeling came over her. It was an overpowering feeling of being watched. So creepy and strong was the feeling that a lesser person might have emptied their bladder at the sensation.
"Something's wrong," she thought as she headed to explore the kitchen, the source of her odd feeling.
She peeked through the order pick up window and stared into an empty kitchen. As she looked, the feeling passed, leaving her with an uncertain feeling.
"How odd," Akiko wondered. "What could it have been?"
"Hello - Queen Serenity," a harsh voice said from behind.
Akiko spun around to come face to face with a tall man in his early twenties. They both stared at each other for a few heartbeats.
"Who are you?" she managed to ask after she collected herself.
"Just a stranger - oh don't misunderstand, we've met, but not in this... space."
Akiko eyes narrowed. Alarm bells were going off. There was something familiar about the man, yet it was very different at the same time.
"What do you want?" Akiko asked warily.
The man smiled an unfriendly smile as he morphed into woman.
"I want," the woman spoke as Akiko eyes widened, "to free the goddess."
-o-o-o-o-o-o-
"What the hell is that thing?" Mars asked as she shot off a thin beam of fire at the rampaging thing. She had been in the shopping district looking for some new winter clothes herself when she was drawn by the sounds of combat. Instead of two Senshi, the robot was now facing off three.
The thin, flaming beam penetrated the robots left shoulder with a small entrance hole and blew out a good chunk of the back. The robots left arm fell and dangled uselessly at its side. Sailor Moon had already destroyed the two pronged weapon earlier in the fight.
Along the barrel chested torso of the robot, smoke was pouring out of the holes that the attacking Senshi blew into it. In spite of the damage it received, it kept fighting in the most destructive way it could, as if it were trying to take as many innocents with it as possible.
The robots right arm was still live and active as Sailors Mars, Jupiter and Moon dodged a barrage of high powered energy blasts coming from a gattling-gun like device that was part of the arm. The three Senshi found themselves behind a partially collapsed wall that once was part of a store.
"Mars!" Moon address said Senshi. "See if you can take that other arm out!"
She then turned to the other fuku clad girl.
"Jupiter, you're with me! Let's see if we can draw it's fire to give Mars a clean shot!"
Both girls nodded to Sailor Moon.
-o-o-o-o-o-o-
In another part of Tokyo, a young couple were blissfully unaware of the events around them. To say that they were lost in each other would be like saying the sun is only luke warm. Their kissing, which started out as merely a break from their studies, turned into a full blown make out session. As the the kissing intensified, the room seemed to warmed up considerably and the couple relieved the stuffiness by loosening their clothing a bit.
Hands started to roam.
Ranma inhaled sharply through their lip lock when Tenchi touched a particularly sensitive part of her anatomy. Instead of pulling away, she pressed herself closer to him.
The kiss broke and was replaced by panting. Ranma looked at Tenchi with sparkling eyes. "I love you."
Tenchi gazed into her eyes with equal interest. "I love you, too."
The young couple resumed their play.
-o-o-o-o-o-o-
The giant robots right leg was severed above the knee in mid-stride. Unable to compensate for its loss, since both arms were now out of commission, it fell into a crashing heap onto the ground raising great plumes of dust on impact. The three Senshi were on it before it could muster a counter offensive and soon the street was littered with scrap metal.
Sailor Moon opened a compact looking device and pecked at the tiny buttons with a dainty hand.
"Mercury?" she said into the device.
"Yes?" a tiny voice replied.
"Jupiter, Mars and I just took down a robot or something. It appeared and attacked for no reason," Moon said matter of factly. "I need you to get down here and examine it."
"On my way," the voice from the compact said. "Do you need more firepower?"
"Not at the moment, but get Sun anyway just in case and join us near the shopping plaza in Juuban," Moon responded as she looked about the devastated street. "We need to know what we are dealing with."
"Right. We'll be right there."
As Sailor Moon placed her communications device back into its storage pocket, she couldn't help but wonder, "Pluto would have seen this, if it wasn't for the Gates still being down. We haven't heard anything from her in the last few weeks. I wonder how the repairs are going?"
Any further thoughts were cut off as extreme pain racked through her body.
-o-o-o-o-o-o-
The sunlight danced and reflected off the waters of the lake as the mountains imposingly looked as if standing guard. Beside the lake, there stood a three story house with a drama unfolding inside.
The room was dimly lit by the knocked over lamp. In the room, two figures moved about in the half light. The taller man stood in the center of the wreak of the room, while the smaller woman stood by the window with her back to him.
Kaji moved over and stood behind Misato who was standing by the window, looking out it. Kaji reached up with his hand, contemplating whether or not to touch the angry young woman - the woman he truly loved.
"Why?" came her thinly stated question as she continued to look into the night.
Kaji sighed. "I'm sorry," he answered softly. "I wish it hadn't happened, but it did."
Misato spun around suddenly, facing him. Her eyes were afire with anger. "You said that you loved me! That there was no other!"
Kaji backed away from her as the woman's seething anger boiled to the surface.
"I come home early," she spat out. "To surprise you for our anniversary. And what do I find? You sleeping in OUR bed with that slut Asuka!"
Kaji hung his head in shame. "I'm sorry." he repeated pitifully. "I can't change the past. I'll... I'll do anything to make it up to you. To prove myself to you."
Kaji raised his head only to met the hard, cold eyes of his wife.
"Very well," she said coldly. "If you are serious about proving yourself and making it up to me, then you'll have to kill-"
The scene of the fighting couple was replaced by man wearing a tailored, gray suit and thin black tie. In his hands he had a shelf of papers that he was gripping tightly.
"We interrupt this program to bring you this important news event," the serious announcer said clearly. "Here is Shinji Ikari with this breaking news."
"Dammit!" Ryoko complained loudly to the image on the TV. "It was just getting good too!"
"Shhh!" Washu said. She was also annoyed that their soap opera had been interrupted. "This might be important."
"Thank you," the neatly dressed reporter said. "Today, not fifteen minutes ago, a large robotic thing attacked the Juuban Shopping district. The Senshi-"
Washu eyes widened as she devoted her full attention to the broadcast.
"- defeated the mechanized monster. Here is live footage from the scene of the disaster -"
Washu tuned out the newscaster as the screen changed to one of carnage. The rubble of what was a multi story shopping center filled the screen. Rescuers were digging through the pile of broken glass and concrete looking for survivors. Every now and then the camera would shift to get close ups of stretcher bearers carrying someone from the ruins. The camera shifted again to a three girls standing amid the wreckage of something, not much was able to be seen since the distance was too great for a clear shot.
But Washu recognized the rainbow effect that distorted the faces and heads.
"We have been informed that this station has obtained exclusive footage of the Senshi battling what appears to be a robot of some sort."
The scene of the wrecked building was replaced with a slightly jerky shot of two of the Senshi dodging as explosions erupted around them. The screen jerked sharply before settling smoothy as a large, bulky robotic man-like thing quickly stalked the short-skirted girls. The thing stopped and aimed a shoulder mounted gun at the pair.
Suddenly the fork-like gun exploded, staggering the robot-like thing. The camera managed to capture one of the Senshi as she caught a glowing object in her hand. Another short-skirted Senshi dashed into the scene. In that instant when the robot-like thing regained its balance, Washu eyes narrowed as she studied the image.
"That looks familiar," Washu thought aloud. "Where have I seen..." Washu eyes widened as the camera got another good shot of the seal on the chest of the battle mech.
"It can't be!" Washu's thought. "It can't be!"
The crest on the mech's chest left no doubt to Washu of its origin: Jurian Special Forces.
-o-o-o-o-o-o-
Ranma and Tenchi came up for air from their latest kiss. What started out as a few, light tentative touchings of lips had turned into a passionate, lip mashing, tongue wresting free for all. They embraced each other, clumsily at first as only first time lovers could, and held on to each other closely. Ranma bathed in the sensation of her body pressing up against Tenchi's. As they held each other with Ranma's head resting against Tenchi's chest, he reached up and stroked her long, red mane.
To Ranma, it felt pretty damn good.
Ranma curled up against Tenchi as he continued to caress her hair. If felt so good that Ranma was almost purring.
She was warm, she was felt safe, and she was comfy.
Everything seemed perfect.
On Tenchi's part, he was very content being with and holding onto Ranma. Though he had no problem with Ranma, he knew that there was a dark cloud in this picture: How he was going to explain to the other girls in his life that he was now attached? Holding Ranma, he could imagine their reactions and he knew that he would have to handle and break the news to the girls carefully. Though Ranma was an extraordinarily skilled martial artist, she didn't have the power to stand up to Ayeka and Ryoko when they were angry.
But those thoughts were for later, just then he was busy.
-o-o-o-o-o-o-
Ami tried to call Ranma but got a busy signal. She considered using the Senshi communicator but discarded that.
"She's only a few minutes away," she thought. "We have to hook up anyway - I'll dash over there and get her."
As Ami headed for the door, she collapsed as a burning sensation painfully rushed through her body. She gasped out in pain and clutched her stomach as the pain reach a peak. So intense was the pain, Ami found it even impossible to scream. Just when she thought she was going to pass out, the pain subsided.
"What was that?" she wondered as she slowly climbed to her feet. She checked herself out quickly and carefully. Ami discovered that she now felt fine and suffered no ill effects. Ami dashed from the room and headed to Ranma's dorm.
-o-o-o-o-o-o-
"Jurian Special Forces battle suit?" Tsunami questioned. "Are you sure? They were decommissioned at least ten thousand years ago."
"Of course I'm sure," Washu snapped. "If I wasn't sure we wouldn't be having this conversation."
Tsunami remained silent as she waited for Washu to control her panic. Washu paced back in forth in front of her latest creation: A portable version of the communicator she used to contact Tsunami. The shadowy hologram of Tsunami followed Washu's pacing as she calmed.
"Sorry," Washu said softly. "We got to find out what's going on - the last thing we need is for something stupid to happen."
"How about the fleet stationed here?" Tsunami asked. "Did they have a hand in this?"
"I tried to raise them, but couldn't," Washu answered. "My scans showed that they are not in the system and I put in an inquiry with Jurian Fleet Command, but a reply from there will take at least three weeks."
Tsunami pondered the fleets involvement and shook her head. "I don't think they'd do anything like this - besides those suits have been deactivated for ten thousand years. Why would they have them? And why would they do this in the first place?"
Washu shook her head as she considered Tsunami's words.
"I'll check on the inventory and see who's appropriated one," Tsunami said. "In the meantime, don't panic and try to gather as much intelligence as you can."
"Could Zarkov be behind this?"
"I doubt it," Tsunami answered. "I have been keeping close tabs on him and as far as I've been able to determine, he and the Mistress haven't left the grounds of their estate for weeks."
Washu shook her head. "That may not mean much, we don't know anything about this Mistress or who or what she really is," Washu pointed out.
Tsunami nodded. "True, I'll redouble my efforts there, check on the battle suit inventories and get back to you."
"I'll check my sensors and see when the fleet moved out," Washu said. "They would have received or sent something if they had to move for some reason."
"We'll get together tomorrow and compare notes," Tsunami said.
Washu nodded as the image of Tsunami faded. Her shoulders stooped as she sagged. A chill seized her.
"I fear this is only the beginning," she whispered.
-o-o-o-o-o-o-
"Hello?" Ranma sang into the receiver of the phone. "Yes, this is she. Oh, hi Uncle Yoshi."
Tenchi watched Ranma's happy disposition change as she concentrated on the phone. Her face betrayed her emotions as her smile slipped to a stunned look. Tenchi noticed that she began to tremble.
"No," Ranma said quietly with a sniffle. The way she said it, it was clear that it wasn't a response to a question, but a denial of something that was said. Ranma's face became a mask of pain.
"Are... are they sure?" Ranma asked painfully. She then sat on the edge of the bed and hunched over as if she were punched in the gut.
Tenchi was unsure of what to do as he watched Ranma's knees shake as she sat in a ball on edge of her bed. What alarmed him the most were the tears that were flowing freely down her cheeks. Not knowing what else to do, he sat down next to her and carefully placed an arm around her. She responded by leaning into him.
"I... I'll come... right home," Ranma said between sobs. "I'll... see you... soon."
With a shaking hand, Ranma placed the receiver onto its cradle. Tenchi decided that whatever happened just now had hurt Ranma terribly. Hoping to ease her pain, Tenchi embraced her more fully. Ranma's face was looking into her lap as soft sobs escaped and tears dropped from the point of her chin onto her clasped hands.
"Ranma?" Tenchi asked carefully and gently. "What's wrong. What happened?"
Ranma sobbed harder and leaned forward into Tenchi. Tenchi collected the crying girl into his arms and hugged her closely, trying to comfort her in her moment of need. He held her close with one hand and rubbed her back with the other. He remained silent as he slowly rocked the trembling Ranma. Tenchi was silent, feeling too awkward to say anything.
Ranma's crying renewed briefly before she quieted down.
Tenchi mentally grasped to what to do. Knowing he was useless unless he found out what was going on, he screwed up his courage and asked in a low whisper, "Ranma, what's wrong?"
Breaking from the welcoming arms of her lover, Ranma looked at him with trembling lips before answering.
"Granny's dead."
-o-o-o-o-o-o-
-o-o-o-o-o-o-
Notes:
To those who pointed out that "Ranma reveal her curse the first time Tenchi asked her out", well yer right.
-Wahhh!-
My pre-reader, Ghost in the Machine, also noted this and the only answer I could give him was: I thought about it and decided that the relationship needed to move along with the story. I could cop out and say something like "Ranma remembered it wrong", but I won't. The truth is, I'll make adjustments in the first chapters when I rewrite them. I know that sounds like a weanie thing to do, but I didn't want the story to get bogged down handling that problem while I'm trying to get everything else in the story moving.
So call me a weanie, but that's what happened. When I originally wrote the 'one shot' I didn't think that it would grow into something this big. Though I tried my best, I couldn't make that part work without slowing the story down, and I wanted to get the plot moving with the intro of the villains.
On another note, I really had a hard time with this chapter. I suffered several bouts of writer's block that frustrated me to no end. The sad part is that I had it outlined and plotted, but when it can to fleshing it out - I stared at my keyboard and thought: "Cool! Letters! The alphabet. What do I do with 'em? Oh yeah! Words! - what do I do with words?"
You get the picture.
The writer's block was enough that I did a chapter and a half of my 'anti-writer's block' story before I finished this one. That bites.
I would like to and continue to thank those among you that took the time to leave a review. It keeps me honest.
Thanks for reading.